Bureaucrats indark about role after Oct 26PM’s September 2 statement induced confusions about the interim administration

n Mohosinul Karim

Top civil bureaucrats are confused about their role after October 26 when they would have to run the administra-tion as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently said in a meeting with them that the cabinet would not make any policy decision.

Most of the secretaries who attend-ed the meeting do not know who will run the administration after October 26 and how many members that adminis-tration will have.

They are also confused about their duties and which decisions will be con-sidered as “policy decisions.”

The secretaries are waiting for in-structions from the high-ups, which they expect to get after October 26 when the government turns into an “interim one” to oversee the next gen-eral elections.

In her meeting with the secretaries on September 2, Hasina said her govern-ment would continue after October 26, but it would not make any policy-level decision in that period. She also told the secretaries that during that period the bureaucrats would have to play a major role as ministers would be busy with electioneering.

On September 12, the cabinet secre-tary sent a letter to all secretaries, ask-ing them to stay alert and careful about their duties until the next generalelections.

A secretary said the cabinet secre-tary had asked them to continue the “stability of the administration and development activities” of the govern-ment and be prepared to hold general elections in a free and fair manner.

However, a number of secretaries, seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tri-

bune that despite the letter from the cabinet secretary they were unclear about the system of the interim gov-ernment, number of its members and their responsibilities.

The cabinet secretary also instruct-ed them to coordinate and dictate the law enforcement agencies “properly” during election time.

Emphasising coordination between the law enforcement agencies, judicia-ry and administration, the letter said it must be ensured that the activities of one organ did not interrupt the activi-ties and duties of the others. The sec-retaries would have to ensure that the democratic system was not interrupt-ed, it said.

Mentioning that the ministers would not make any policy decisions, the let-ter asked the secretaries to ensure that the routine work of the administration was not interrupted in the absence of the ministers. The secretaries would have to make decisions in consultation with the ministers and other secretar-ies concerned.

The prime minister during her meet-ing with the top bureaucrats also asked them to remain alert so that no undem-ocratic force could take power.

“But, if any such force comes to power, it will suspend the constitution. What will be our role in such situa-tions?” a secretary close to the govern-ment high-ups told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Another secretary, who belongs to the 1982 BCS batch, said most of them were not sure about their positions during the period of interim govern-ment as according to the proposed amendment to the RPO, the Election Commission would be given the power to transfer and reshu� e the civil ad-ministration.

“We cannot decide on our role during the period until we are sure about our positions,” the bureaucrat said.

“However, we are aware about the directives given by the prime minister

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Long FormFarzana Nawaz:Island of hope

5 InternationalElection monitors accuse Sri Lanka army

8

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

Ashwin 10, 1420Zilkad 18, 1434Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 1 No 184 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2013 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

BusinessB1 Bangladesh is expecting to get out of the list of “high risk country” of the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) as the country already addressed the terrorist � nancing and anti-money laundering issues.

News6 The Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra dam will continue to face various di� culties until the two ministries - water resource and local government division – resolve their di� erences over development plans for the area.

Nation7 More than 100 families of Bochagari Mouza under Gaibandha’s Sundarganj upazila are facing immense hardships, as erosion of the Brahmaputra river has claimed their homesteads and forced them to live under the open skies for the past couple of days.

International9 A Sikh professor at Columbia University who had written about hate crimes against the community said Monday he became a victim himself during a group attack in New York.

INSIDE

Secretaries are unclear about the system of the interim government, number of its members and their responsibilities

TreehouseTales fromthe city

Fishermen set sail on Buriganga River to get their catch for the day. The photo was taken from the Basila Bridge recently RAJIB DHAR

ROOPPUR NUCLEAR POWER PROJECT

Dhaka signs $265m deal with Rosatomn Aminur Rahman Rasel

The government yesterday signed a second deal, worth $265m with the Russian State Atomic Energy Com-mission (Rosatom) for the preparato-ry stage work of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Project (RNPP).

The deal comes following a negoti-ation between both parties which has been going on since the � rst week of September. The deal was signed at the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commis-sion’s o� ce.

Yeafesh Osman, state minister for the ministry of science and technology on behalf of Bangladesh and a repre-sentative of Rosatom signed the deal.

The $265m is part of the $500m Rus-

sia has agreed to provide to � nance the groundwork at Bangladesh’s � rst nu-clear power project.

The amount will be spent on de-velopment of design documentation,� rst priority working documentation and engineering survey for design stage of RNPP.

Another $45.9m, which was part of the � rst deal, would be spent on pre-construction works including fea-sibility evaluation (FE), environment impact assessment (EIA), and develop-ment and engineering survey etc at the RNPP site.

These will be done by the govern-ment-appointed Russian � rm, Atom-stroyexport. It will also run a series of 63 tests as part of pre-construction works.

Meanwhile, a third deal comprising the rest of the amount would be signed soon, once the � elds of expenditure is con� rmed through negotiations be-tween both parties.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is ex-pected to inaugurate groundwork of the 2,000 megawatt (MW) plant in Pab-na on October 2.

Yeafesh Osman said 2,000MW elec-tricity will be added to the national grid once the project goes operational in 2020.

“The government is working to-wards implementing the project with highest importance given to public safety,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Bangladesh in this regard had signed PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Lack of representation turns RMG workers violentn Tribune Report

The recent spate of apparel industry un-rest has spiralled out of control due to the absence of a recognised representa-tion of workers who can e� ectively ne-gotiate with owners over the prevailing dispute, industry insiders have said.

Neither the factory owners nor the labour union leaders could single out a factor or a group that might account for the recent, or for that matter the last three years’ spike in turbulence in the biggest foreign currency earning sector of the country’s economy.

“No single organisation or union can control the unrest. Besides, there is no organised group [that represent the

workers],” said Nasir Uddin, a director of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

“The general practice is that when workers demonstrate, we meet with them and settle down the issues through discussion,” he added.

The BGMEA stalwart said union or federation leaders appear on the spots of violence when workers move with national issues such as wage hike; but they did not maintain direct connec-tion with the workers all the time.

“Union leaders take the credit when workers come to the BGMEA with alle-gations of violation of rights, although they seldom have any contribution

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Unrest in RMG industrycontinuesn Tribune Report

Thousands of garment workers took to the streets for the third consecutive day yesterday demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk8,000.

In several places in and outside the capital, agitated workers blockaded roads and highways, vandalised ve-hicles and factories and locked into clashes with law enforcers.

While in some places they peace-fully moved away upon request from police, in most other places police had to charge batons, � re rubber bullets and teargas canisters to disperse theangry mob.

Workers of at least 15 factories in Kh-ilkhet and Kuril areas in Dhaka, Ashulia of Savar and Fatulla of Narayanganj ab-stained from work and demonstrated on the roads.

Because of the demonstration of the workers, who blockaded roads in many of these places, vehicular movement remained suspended for several hours on the Airport Road, at Kuril, Praga-ti Sharani and Bhatara in the capital. Tra� c also remained suspended for several hours on the Dhaka-Aricha and the Dhaka-Tangail highways, and long tailbacks were created in Ashulia and some other parts in Gazipur and Fatulla in Narayanganj. In some of these plac-es, workers set barricades on the roads and torched tyres in other places.

Chowdhury Lutful Kabir, deputy commissioner of police of Gulshan Division, told the Dhaka Tribune that workers moved away from the Kuril area after law enforcers had told them

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

CPD proposes Tk6,560 minimum wage for � rst yearn Kayes Sohel

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) has come up with a formula for � xing monthly minimum salary of garment workers with an e� ort to put an end to the ongoing unrest in the sector.

For an entry level worker it pro-posed Tk8200 as monthly minimum salary, a � gure which is 1% higher than the workers’ and 128 % higher than the garment owners’ proposals.

The CPD formula for minimum wage was prepared based on internation-al methodological practices. It inter-viewed workers located in Savar, Ton-gi and Rampura and collected data on household income and expenditure of di� erent strata.

Taking into consideration the limita-tions of di� erent categories of factories the minimum wage can be implement-ed in phase-wise, said the CPD, a civil society think tank.

In the � rst year of the phase-wise implementation the minimum wage could be 80% of the required level which is about Tk6560.

To achieve this target the basic sal-ary of Tk4300 with 40% house rent equivalent to Tk1720 along with Tk540 as medical allowance would need to be provided.

The rest 20% could be provided in the second year after in� ationary ad-justment. But based on a model diet the minimum salary should be Tk17800, it suggested.

“Since the minimum wage should not be higher than the national aver-age level we are not recommending the

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

11 Bangladeshi exchange houses in UK to face closuren Rabiul Islam

Bangladeshi expatriates in the Unit-ed Kingdom are set to face di� culties remitting through formal channels, as the country’s Barclays Bank will close accounts of many exchange houses, including 11 Bangladeshi ones, on Sep-tember 26.

“Expatriate Bangladeshis may face trouble sending money, which they may send through informal channels, if Bar-clays Bank closes accounts of 11 Bangla-deshi exchange houses on September 26,” Md Nurul Amin, managing director

of NCC Bank and chairman of Associa-tion of Bankers, Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.

Saying he was busy working on the issue in the UK, Amin said: “We are trying to extend the deadline or make other arrangements.”

Of the 14 Bangladeshi exchange houses in the UK, Barclays did not serve notice to Sonali Bank, Prime Ex-change Co and BRAC Sajjan Exchange.

According to Bangladesh Bank, the exchange houses of Bangladesh which will be closed are: EXIM Exchange Company, Standard Exchange Compa-

ny, Pubali Exchange Co, Premier Ex-change Company, Bank Asia Exchange Co, AB Exchange, IFIC Money Transfer, Mercantile Exchange House, MTB Ex-change, Southeast Financial Services and NCCB Exchange.

“The expatriates will face problem to send money through legal channel and the pro� tability of the exchange houses will be stopped,” Deputy Direc-tor of Bangladesh Bank’s foreign ex-change policy department Md Sha� ul Alam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Barclays decided to close the ac-counts of small exchange houses, Alam

said, adding the bank did not elaborate the cause behind the decision.

However, an o� cial of the AB Bank, seeking anonymity, said the UK gov-ernment is discouraging the banks to remit money through exchange houses of foreign countries.

According to the Bangladesh High Commission in the UK, around 500,000 to 600,000 Bangladeshi expatriates are living there.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday, o� cials at Bangla-desh High Commission said the move

PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Germany wants RMG unrest to endn Shahidul Islam Chowdhury

Bangladesh authorities need to take substantial steps to stop the ongoing unrest in the readymade garment in-dustry, said German Ambassador Al-brecht Conze yesterday.

“Widespread violence, unrest and turmoil are in nobody’s interest,” said the ambassador when he met journalists from four newspapers including the Dha-ka Tribune. He said a pay hike in the sec-tor “is necessary” and some substantial steps need to be taken, which includes ensuring the right to form trade unions.

Asked about the repercussions of a workers’ rally that was attended by the Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, the ambassador said it was “altogether a vol-atile and risky situation” because the ap-parel sector needs to be “depoliticised.”

On e� orts made by the government, owners’ association BGMEA and workers’ organisations to contain the situation, Al-brecht Conze said several tripartite com-mitments had already been agreed on.

EU member states have been ob-serving closely steps taken to ful� l commitments to improve working conditions for workers, especially safe-

ty measures, after the � re at Tazreen Fashions and the collapse of Rana Pla-za, and the ambassador warned that the “RMG industry needs to improve.”

The Ambassador who was posted to Bangladesh last year also commented on the stalemate between the two po-litical parties - Awami League and BNP – over poll-time government. He said Germany supported the e� orts of the UN Secretary General and other inter-national communities to ensure partici-patory elections are held in Bangladesh.

“Election without everybody partic-ipating is never of the same quality as one that has full participation,” he said.

He said political dialogue sooner rather than later would be the “obvi-ous” way to break the deadlock.

“I am told that miracles always hap-pen in Bangladesh,” the ambassador quipped, and then added: “It is up to your own political process…not any-body from outside to determine.”

He shared the German experience with the recently held German national election where the Christian Democrat-ic Union won the majority, making An-gela Merkel as the German Chancellor the most powerful woman in the world.

BDR CARNAGE CASE

Allegation of torture in custody against CID, Rabn Ashif Islam Shaon

An accused of the BDR carnage case yesterday claimed that after his arrest, he had been tortured in the custody of Criminal Investigation Department as he rejected the authorities’ o� er to tes-tify as a prosecution witness.

Soldier Aiyub Ali, who claimed him-self not guilty, told the special court that he had also talked over phone with high o� cials at the Army Headquarters on the � rst day of the mutiny.

They were frequently asking him about what was happening inside Pilkhana. But he could not provide them detail information except that the miscreants had pointed gun at then the BDR chief Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed at Darbar Hall who was later killed, the ac-cused said while being cross examined at the court.

Earlier in the day, his wife Nasrina Akhter Sumi as a defence witness told the court that Ayub had returned the residence, inside the Pilkhana, shortly after the mutiny broke out from Darbar Hall on February 25, 2009. “He did not go out of home after that,” she said.

Aiyub said he had left the Darbar Hall after some armed men entered the

auditorium around 9:30am. Along with some other soldiers, frightened Aiyub ran for a safer place and for instruction, phoned his former boss Brig Gen Gol-am Rabbi, who was a deputy director general of BDR that time.

“Sir told me to stay safe and I came back to my quarter around 9:40am. I continuously kept contact with him,” he said. The next morning, his wife went to a safe place with neighbours while Aiyub said he had left Pilkhana around 2:30pm following announce-ments in loudspeakers to do so.

As prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajol asked him why he had not called his current boss, Aiyub said being the former personal assistant of Golam Rabbani, he had good relation with him.

“Lt Gen Jahangir, former DG of BGB, and Col Mizan among other army o� -cials also talked with me over Rabbani sir’s phone,” he said. “I also phoned my immediate boss Subedar Jahangir, but he could not give me any instruction. There was no situation to phone others.”

Aiyub said after the mutiny, he had joined Pilkhana headquarters on March 1, 2009 and kept discharging duties. On February 19 next year, the sadar Ri� es

commander-in-charge o� ered him to be a prosecution witness of the case, he claimed.

“Maj Mazhar told me if I did not agree, I would be � red from job and indicted in the carnage case,” he said adding that he had not accepted the proposal since he did not know details about the killings and arson.

The next day, a CID team picked him up from Pilkhana and he was taken to its headquarters. Aiyub claimed that he had been tortured until March 11.

“While in CID custody, Investigation O� cer of the carnage case Senior ASP Abdul Kahar Akand also o� ered me to be a prosecution witness. But I denied,” he claimed.

The prosecution suggested that Ai-yub had named some high rank army o� cials to get free. The accused refut-ed the claim.

As the Additional Metropolitan Ses-sions Judge’s Court 3, set up in the capi-tal’s Bakshibazar, asked, Aiyub gave his phone number. The prosecution then said they would check the call list to know whether Aiyub had talked to the army o� cials.

The two-day mutiny broke out at the Pilkhana headquarters in the capital on

February 25, 2009, killing at 75 people including 57 high and mid ranked army o� cers deputed to the border force.

Yesterday, one of the prime accused former deputy assistant director Ab-dul Jalil Sheikh, who was the quarter master of BDR hospital, also gave state-ment as defence witness.

He told the court that he had been hiding in a store room of the hospital from 10am to 3pm on the � rst day of mutiny. Some masked rebels appeared there and tried to take him into a car. He resisted and the masked men shot bullets in his left leg. Then he was tak-en to gate four.

“They took me to Holy Family Hos-pital in the evening where I was un-der treatment until March 5, 2009. On that day, Rab 2 members blind folded me and took me to their o� ce,” Jalil claimed. After two months, they pro-duced him before court, he said.

Jalil also presented some documents of treatment he had taken at BSMMU after the alleged torture on him.

The prosecution suggested that he had gone to the gate to join the rebels’ delegation which went to the prime minister’s residence negotiation. Jalil replied, “It is not true.” l

‘Rational’ wage by November: BGMEAn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) expects the wage board formed to set minimum wage for garment workers will declare the minimum wage by No-vember.

“We, the apparel makers hope the wage board will declare a rational and a� ordable new minimum wage for the workers by November,” said SM Man-nan Kochi, BGMEA acting president at a press brie� ng at his o� ce yesterday.

The BGMEA, BKMEA and BTMA jointly organised the press conference given the recent unrest in the country’s RMG sector.

Kochi said, following the meeting with the Minister for Home A� airs, Shamsul Huq Tuku and Shipping Min-ister Shajahan Khan, we have decided to open factories, pay bonus and salary before the Eid. We have also urged the wage board to declare the minimum wage by November.

Commenting on the proposed min-imum wage by the BGMEA, Kochi told

the media: “We have proposed Tk3,600 as the minimum wage, considering the in� ation adjustment and industries capacity while the workers’ represen-tative has proposed Tk8,114. The � nal wage would be � xed by the board.”

He also urged the workers to join their workplaces, show patience, and rely on the wage board.

Fixing the wage is a continuous pro-cess, and the next meeting of the wage board will be held on October 21, the BGMEA acting president said.

“The country’s RMG sector is passing through a crucial time, while a vested interest group are creating anarchy to destabilise the sector. It is part of a both international and local conspiracy. If this anarchy continues, many owners would not be able to pay salaries and bonuses before Eid-ul-Azha,” he said.

Kochi claimed while the price in the global market is falling continuously, the domestic production cost has in-creased by 13%. It would only make the task of meeting the workers’ demand only for the owners.

Meanwhile, commenting on a recent

report by the BBC, Kochi said, the BG-MEA will investigate the allegation and would take punitive action against the factory, if found guilty.

He said: “We will invite the BBC to carry out inspection in our RMG fac-tories, but they should be cautious in reporting as well.”

M Sha� ul Islam Mohiuddin, former BGMEA president said a vested quarter are engaged in destroying the country’s RMG sector, and we should investigate it.

“Vandalism is not a solution. Its (gar-ment) a national industry and politics should not be involved in it,” he said.

BGMEA Vice-president Shahidullah Azim and Riaz Bin Mahmood, AKM Selim Osman, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Export-ers Association (BKMEA), President of Bangladesh Textiles Mills Associa-tion (BTMA), Jahangir Alamin, former BGMEA president Abdus Salam Mur-shedy, M Sha� ul Islam Mohiuddin, BG-MEA former vice-president M Siddiqur Rahman and BGMEA directors were present among others at the press con-ference. l

Bureaucrats in dark about role PAGE 1 COLUMN 2and the cabinet secretary, and we will stay alert so that no anti-democratic and militant force can arise. We will also try to ensure the rule of law,” he said.

When contacted, Cabinet Secre-tary Mohammad Mosharraf HossainBhuiyan told the Dhaka Tribune last night that the letter contained “pre-paratory” instructions as per the PM’s directive.

“There should not be any confusion. The administrative guideline clearly mentions which decisions have to go through the cabinet, which ones can be made at the minister level and which decisions can be made by the secretar-ies concerned.

“Yet, if any secretary thinks there are confusions, they can discuss the issues with me. Confusions can also be cleared even discussing with the prime minister, if necessary,” he said. l

Unrest in RMG industry continues PAGE 1 COLUMN 6that their demands would be discussed with the factory owners.

After being chased by law enforcers in a number of places including Pragati Sharani in Badda in the capital; Mulaid area of Chandra, Sreepur and Kaliakair upazila of Gazipur; and Shibu Market area in Fatulla of Narayanganj, work-ers hurled stones and bricks at vehi-cles and ransacked a number of factory buildings.

In Gazipur, at least 20 workers were injured in clashes with law enforcers on the Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dha-ka-Tangail highways, and Chandra and Sreepur areas of Gazipur.

Police charged batons, hurled rub-ber bullets and tear gas canisters in these areas to disperse the mob, who retaliated with stones and bricks.

In Tangail, at least 35 people, includ-

ing a journalist, were injured in similar clashes in the Hatubhanga area in Mir-zapur upazila.

Mosta� zur Rahman, superintendent of Industrial Police in Ashulia, said ad-ditional law enforcers have been de-ployed in the area to prevent any fur-ther worsening of law and order.

Labour leader MA Shahin from Narayanganj expressed hopes thatthe workers would agree to sit withthe factory owners to settle theirdemands.

Industrial zones in Gazipur andSavar and some parts of the capital turned into battle� elds yesterday as well as workers hit the streets de-manding payment of all due wages and allowances and a minimum wage of Tk8,000.

More than 140 people were injured in yesterday’s clashes. l

CPD proposes Tk6,560 minimum wage PAGE 1 COLUMN 6aspirational � gure based on a mod-el diet at this time,” said Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of the CPD, while presenting proposals for minimum wage.

He said workers are less aware about their entitlements related to minimum wage as well as the grade which they belong to in the factory. Professor Mus-ta� zur Rahman, CPD executive direc-tor, said while moderating the event.

MM Akash, a professor of Econom-ics at Dhaka University, said actually the minimum wage should be deter-mined on an average condition of a factory for saving $20bn industry and protecting the workers’ interest.

“When in 2010 salary was increased for the workers factory owners said their factories would be closed down. But it did not happen,” he said.

He said if an owner pro� ts $2 by in-vesting $100 his or her annual pro� t stands at Tk32bn. “Of the pro� t, 25% is required to implement the workers’ demand for minimum monthly salary.”

Nazrul Islam Khan, secretary gen-eral of Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), said the salary should

be logical considering the present situ-ation. The owners can share their prof-its to implement the minimum wage and to save the lives of workers.

Referring to BILS study he said mini-mum living cost of a worker is Tk12000 in Dhaka, Tk13244 in Gazipur, and Tk13480 in Narayanganj and Tk11411 in Chittagong.

Criticising the CPD’s proposal he said it should have been more logical and an-alytical. “We are just trying to save the interest of the factory owners not the workers’ and the industry as well.”

Sirajul Islam Rony, president of Ban-gladesh National Garment Workers Employees League, said garment work-ers draw the lowest salary in the world. “This is not an insigni� cant issue. This is important both for the development of the industry and economy as well.”

He was critical of the garment owners’ proposal for a 20% increase in worker’s basic salary raising the amount to Tk3, 600. “This proposal is unacceptable and not well-calculated.”

Chairman of Parliamentary Stand-ing Committee on Labour and Employ-ment Ministry Mohammad Isra� l Alam said the sooner the minimum wage was

settled the better it would be for the economy and the industry.

“If it takes a long time to solve the issue some might play games with the issue.”

Ashiqur Rahman, a director of Ban-gladesh Garments and Manufactures Association of Bangladesh, said: “We are passing through a hard time now. The issue of minimum wage should be solved immediately in an amicable manner to save the industry.”

About the owner’s proposal for a minimum wage he said this is not the � nal proposal. “It is a primary propos-al. The door is open for discussion.”

Wajed-ul Islam Khan, general secre-tary of Bangladesh Trade Union Coun-cil, said workers’ minimum wage pro-posal is not unrealistic. “But owners’ proposal is inhuman.”

Babul Akter, a labour leader, said there is big loophole in the owners’ pro-posal. “To implement our demand, buy-ers and owners should sit together to in-crease our cutting and making charges.”

Nazma Akter, president of Sammili-to Garment Sramik Federation, said the wage board should � x minimum wage at Tk8114 considering the increasing living cost. l

Lack of representation turns PAGE 1 COLUMN 5in the arbitration,” Nasir Uddin slammed the labour leaders.

On the other hand, Sirajul Islam Rony, president of the Bangladesh Na-tional Garment Workers Employees League, said: “We do not have any con-trol over the workers’ violent protests. Unknown groups give rise to the vio-lence out of the blue.

“We generally try to control the workers through our wings in the re-spective factories. But in most cases, we have very little representation in the individual factories,” he said.

Regarding the unrest that has been going on over the last two days, Rony told the Dhaka Tribune: “Workers should not turn violent centring pay hike. The national board will decided on the minimum wage.”

Although could not place any con-crete evidence, Rony said: “To a great extent, the [latest] unrest is induced by outsiders.”

Bahrain Sultan Bahar, president of Jago Bangladesh Garments Sramik Federation, claimed: “On behalf of the workers, we negotiate with the owners regarding their complaints.”

He also said: “We do not control them as they are not our servants; but the fed-eration leaders try to manage them.”

Bahar, however, refused to com-ment on the role of the union leaders at turbulent times.

Seeking anonymity, a BGMEA direc-tor said: “In most cases, the workers go wild without any logical reason. They do not have the least idea or knowledge about their or the unions’ rights.

“They just follow rumours and fall prey to the manipulation of vested in-terests. The union leaders of a poor country [like Bangladesh] just enjoy the cream of such a demonstration and re-main busy serving their own interests.”

He also suggested that the govern-ment should introduce a guideline re-garding union rights. l

Dhaka signs $265m deal PAGE 1 COLUMN 3a deal with Russia on January 14 this year, during the Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina’s visit to Moscow – on extension of state export credit to � -nance the preparatory stage of the nu-clear power plant.

On April 2, the Executive Commit-tee of the National Economic Coun-cil approved the construction of theRooppur plant involving a cost of Tk52.42bn, of which Tk40bn would be provided by Russia as state credit while the rest would come from local resources.

The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, under the science and

technology ministry, will implement the project. Bangladesh plans to pro-duce 1,000MW of electricity by June 2017 and another 1,000MW by 2022 from the RNPP. The tenure of the plant would be 60 years, with options to ex-tend it by another 20 years.

In November 2011, the two countries signed a memorandum of understand-ing and framework agreement.

Russian State Atomic Energy Com-mission (Rosatom) will build, operate and provide fuel to the plant and take its waste back to Russia regularly. The total cost of the proposed plant has been estimated between $1.5bn and $2bn. l

11 Bangladeshi PAGE 1 COLUMN 6would create serious problems.

“We are trying to � nd out ways so that the expatriates can remit through legal channel,” an o� cial said seeking anonymity, as he was not authorized to brief media. The o� cial said British parliament member Rushnara Ali was also trying to solve the problem.

According to Bangladesh Bank, re-mittance received from UK amounted to a total of $991m in 2012-2013, $987m in 2011-2012 and $889m in 2010-2011.

On a separate earlier incident, the HSBC Bank in the UK served notices to close accounts of 40 embassies and missions including the Bangladesh High Commission in the UK.

“We have closed the accounts with HSBC which is not willing to maintain bank account with us,” Asad Alam Siam, DG (Europe) of the foreign ministry, told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.

About the cause, he said HSBC had a problem with one embassy. l

Next polls to make constitutional rule sustainable: PMn UNB, New York

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yester-day expressed her � rm con� dence about holding the next election in a free, fair and neutral manner, saying the polls would make Bangladesh’s democratic process and constitutional rule sustainable.

“We will have to uphold the con-stitution and to begin the practice of transferring power under a democratic process from a certain stage,” she told Commonwealth Secretary General Ka-malesh Sharma in a meeting.

Hasina has been in New York on an eight-day o� cial visit to attend the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

PM’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed reporters after the meeting.

Hasina said nearly 6,000 elections at di� erent tiers had been held in Bangla-desh during the tenure of the present government, electing around 64,000 public representatives, and in many of the polls opposition candidates had de-feated those from the ruling party.

She said no one could question the neutrality of those polls as the govern-ment had played a very fair role in the elections and had not intervened in the duties of the Election Commission. “The Election Commission in Bangla-desh is now totally independent and is discharging its duties without any sort of government interference.”

Hasina reiterated that the EC would hold the next general election in a free, fair and fully neutral manner.

Abul Kalam Azad said the Common-wealth secretary general had renewed his invitation to the prime minister to attend the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in November.

Kamalesh told Hasina that her pres-ence was important in the meeting, which would discuss the issue of climate � nancing for the member countries, particularly for the LDCs. Besides, the meeting would especially focus on pov-erty alleviation and the issue of inclusive development of the member states. l

RMG workers blockade Kuril-Biswaroad in the capital yesterday, demanding minimum monthly wage of Tk8,000 NASHIRUL ISLAM

News 3DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Sayedee appeals case begins with defence submission n Nazmus Sakib

The hearing on appeals in the war crimes case of death-row convict Del-awar Hossain Sayedee began yesterday when the Appellate Division rejected the defence’s adjournment plea seek-ing more time for preparation.

A � ve-member apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain passed the order after hearing both sides.

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 acquitted the Jamaat leader on 12 other charges.

Sayedee appealed against the tribu-nal verdict on March 27 seeking acquit-tal, while the government on the same

day appealed for sentencing Sayedee on the six charges that had been proved against him.

Earlier, September 17 was set for beginning of the hearing in the appeal case. But the Appellate Division bench deferred the hearing date until yester-day, considering a defence plea.

Yesterday, after the bench had re-jected the petition for extension of time, defence counsel Khandker Mah-bub Hossain told the court: “So, should we presume that you want to � nish the trial hurriedly?” Then the chief justice replied: “It is up to you.”

The petition was lodged on Mon-day, defence counsel Tajul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune. During the petition hearing, Khandker Mahbub said he had been instructed to seek time for prepa-ration as he had been appointed recent-ly in the case.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam

opposed the plea saying that the de-fence had got enough time for prepara-tion. He said the government side was ready to begin the hearing.

After rejecting the defence counsel’s plea, the apex court started hearing chief defence counsel Abdur Razzaq, who gave a brief on the background of the case. He completed reading out 21 of the 120-page verdict of the tribunal. The court will hear the defence today.

The other judges of the bench are Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Sham-suddin Choudhury. Justice Hasan has replaced Justice Syed Mahmud Hos-sain, who was one of the members of the bench that sentenced another Ja-maat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla to death. Justice Mahmud also participated in the pre-hearing proce-dures in Sayedee case. lRelatives of Roksana, who was killed in a road accident, burst into tears in front of the hospital yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

‘Ma, please come back’n Ashif Islam Shaon

Yet another life was lost in road acci-dent in the capital yesterday. This time a six-year-old minor had to watch her mother got crushed under the wheels of a bus right in front of her.

The deceased Roksana Begum Lai-la, 37, was returning her Rayerbagh residence, Jatrabari along with her school-going daughter Nusrat Samia by a rickshaw.

“An Ananda Paribahan bus of the Gulishtan-Narayanganj route hit their rickshaw from behind around 12pm near the north gate of Kamlapur’s In-land Container Depo,” Masud Kader Jewel, an eye-witness, who works as a clearing and forwarding agent in the area told reporters.

“The collusion threw the daugh-ter to the left-side of the road and the mother on the right and the bus ran over the latter,” he added.

Rokasana’s husband Saifullah, a medicine shop owner at Mitford area of the capital, said they had recently bought a car to carry his and his two

brothers’ children to and from school.“As Nusrat’s classes were supposed

to end at 11am while the classes of her cousins at 12pm, Rokhsana told the driver that she would take Nusrat home by rickshaw and asked him to take the other children home.”

Recalling a past conversation with his wife, Saifullah said: “Rokhsana was unwilling to ride rickshaw with chil-dren, as she always feared that the chil-dren would slip from their seat.”

The deceased’s family members were seen bursting into tears and hold-ing each others’ arms on the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital premises.

Mehedi, the elder son of the victim, was seen crying: “Who will take care of us? Who will feed Nusrat and Leon now? There is nobody left.”

“Mom, please come back. Someone please tell her not to go,” he went on crying.

Contacted, O� cer-in-Charge of Shah-jahanpur police station Zia-uz-Zaman said: “After the accident the bus was seized but both the driver and the helper managed to abscond in the crowd.” l

COMMENTS ON SUB-JUDICE MATTER

Channel24 faces contempt chargen Udisa Islam

The prosecution of the war crimes tribunal yesterday � led a contempt petition against the concerned o� cials and participants of a programme on the private television network, Channel24, for commenting on the trial against war crimes accused Salauddin Quader Chowdhury. The verdict is expected to be pronounced any day in Salauddin’s case.

In its contempt petition, the pros-ecution has identi� ed eight accused – the channel’s managing director, chief executive o� cer, executive director, head of program, producer of talk show named “Muktobaak”, anchor of the programme Mahmudur Rahman Man-na, and participants Zafrullah Chowd-hury, trustee of Gonoshasthaya Kend-ra, and Mahfuz Ullah, secretary general of Centre for Sustainable Development.

On September 18, the private chan-nel aired the talk show where Zafrullah

and Mahfuz Ullah suggested that Sa-lauddin Quader had not got the oppor-tunity to place defence witnesses and that his rights had been curtailed.

The prosecution submitted the peti-tion to the registrar of the International Crimes Tribunal.

Terming the allegation “biased, baseless, utterly false, fabricated and ill-motivated,” the prosecution said such remarks would cast doubts on the tribunal’s proceedings.

“Such a statement was made only to taint the tribunal and its process and to undermine the con� dence of the peo-ple in the integrity of the tribunal and its processes.”

In the petition, the petitioner has sought the issue of contempt order by the court, a ban on further broadcasting, circulation or use in any manner or in any other form of the “scandalous statement” made on the said talk show, and upon their guilt being proven, to sentence the accused

to imprisonment of one year and/or adequate � ne.

Prosecutor Tureen Afroz told the Dhaka Tribune that the accused did not even know the privileges accorded to Salauddin Quader. “Their intention is clear: to discredit this tribunal and its process.”

Another prosecutor Tapos Kanti Bol said Salauddin Quader’s verdict could be pronounced any time. “The accused have tried to criticise the tribunal at this time; it is clearly a contempt of court as it is a sub-judice matter.”

BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader was allowed to produce � ve witnesses to testify in his favour. He was the � rst witness to defend himself. The tribunal closed deposition after recording testimonies of four witnesses since the other witness had not appeared within the stipulated time. The defence had submitted several time petitions to allow the � fth witness – a Supreme Court judge. l

ONE-PARTY POLLS

We will show how to resist it: Khaledan Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yester-day again issued a note of warning to the government saying that its plan to hold a one-sided election would be re-sisted by waging a people’s movement.

“We have given time to the gov-ernment until October 25. We will see whether they amend the constitution within the time or not. If the govern-ment tries to hold a one-party election, we will show you how to resist it,” she said while exchanging views with the party leaders from Rangpur division at

her Gulshan o� ce.“BNP is ready for movement. The

misrule of the government has reached the extreme level. People are now look-ing after shelter and people � nd the BNP [as their shelter].”

She said: “The BNP is getting ready together with the people to foil the government’s plot to hold a one-sided election.”

Terming the incumbent Election Commission “subservient” to the gov-ernment, the BNP chief said: “It is not possible to hold a free and fair election under this voter list. The voter list of

2008 elections was also a faulty one but we took part in the election for the interest of the country.”

Khaleda also provided � nancial as-sistance to the family members of two BNP activists – Abed Ali and Bulbul – who died in a road accident on their way back home after attending the BNP’s ral-ly in Rangpur on September 15.

BNP acting secretary general Mir-za Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Organising Secretary Asadul Habib Dulu, Rangpur district BNP convener Moza� ar Ahmed and Joint Convener Shirin Barsha were also present. l

Defence starts charge framing hearing in Azhar casen Udisa Islam

The defence lawyers for Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam yesterday be-gan hearing on charge framing in a war crimes case and a discharge petition.

On the � rst day, two defence coun-sels argued on behalf of their client and pleaded for another session as their senior lawyer Abdur Razzaq wanted to place his arguments. The tribunal then set October 3 for further hearing on the indictment.

Earlier on August 29, the prosecu-tion of the International Crimes Tribu-nal 1 ended hearing on the charge fram-ing matter. Later, the defence sought some time for preparation and the tri-bunal deferred the hearing on two oc-casions.

On July 25, the tribunal took into cognisance the formal charges against the Jamaat assistant secretary general. On July 18, the prosecution submitted the charges against Azhar on six counts

of crimes against humanity he had al-legedly committed in Rangpur during the 1971 Liberation War.

Yesterday, defence counsel Shishir Monir argued on whether the formal charges had been done properly.

The defence also spoke on the charge related to superior responsibility. Barris-ter Imran Siddiq said in all the charges, the prosecution had claimed that Azhar had held the superior responsibility because of his cohesion and commu-nication with the Pakistani occupation army. But, he said, the prosecution had not mentioned in the charges whether Azhar had any subordinate and what they had done during the war.

According to the charges, Azhar had been involved with Islami Chhatra Sangha, then student wing of Jamaat, and al-Badr, a para militia force that sided with the Pakistani army. He had allegedly been involved in mass kill-ings, torture and abduction in the dis-trict between March-December 1971. l

BNP seeks time for national counciln Mohammad Zakaria

The main opposition BNP has applied to the Election Commission seeking eight more months to hold the party’s national council, saying that BNP is unable to hold the council because of police attacks on its party headquar-ters and because many of its leaderswere in jail.

BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi submitted an application to the Additional Secretary of EC Sirazul Islam at the EC secretariat yesterday.

Rizvi told reporters that BNP had sought time till May 31 next year, for electing its national executive commit-tee through the national council.

“We have written in detail why BNP cannot hold its national coun-cil. We would hold our party national council when the situation is normal,”he added.

Rizvi said it would not be possible for the party to hold its national coun-cil in a short time, as many important documents and computer data were destroyed during police attacks on the BNP headquarters, while many BNP leaders remained in jail and had to ap-pear before the court in di� erent cases.

However, he said as per the party charter, BNP has to hold its national council every three years and submit the names of its new executive com-mittee members to the EC.

The BNP elected its existing national executive committee during the party’s national council in December 2009. The party is yet to hold a new national council, although more than a year had passed since its stipulated time. l

Railway to sell Eid tickets from Oct 2n Mohosinul Karim

Bangladesh Railway would begin to sell tickets for the vacation of Eid-ul-Azha in advance from October 2, which would continue until October 6. The tickets for October 11 to 15 would be sold in this period.

The return tickets of the railway would be sold from October 9 to 13 when the tickets for October 18 to 22 would be sold, Abu Taher, director gen-eral of Bangladesh Railway, informed the reporters at a press conference held at Railway Bhaban in the city yesterday.

Railway Minister Mujibul Haque said the leaves of the railway o� cials would be cancelled during the Eid vacation. The weekly holidays of the trains under railway would also be can-celled during the period.

Nine special trains would operate from October 13 to 15.

Four special trains would be operat-ed in the Eid day at Bhairab-Mymens-ingh-Kishoreganj route. l

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, September 25, 2013

City High LowDhaka 35.0 28.4Chittagong 33.2 25.1Rajshahi 37.9 27.4Rangpur 35.5 27.6Khulna 34.8 27.4Barisal 33.5 27.3Sylhet 32.1 25.7Cox’s Bazar 33.0 27.0

PRAYER TIMESFajar 4:33am

Sunrise 5:47amZohr 11:50pm

Asr 4:11pmMagrib 5:52pm

Esha 7:07pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Temperature unlikely to changen UNB

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

Moderately heavy falls were also likely at places over the country, Met O� ce said.

Day and night temperature may re-main nearly unchanged over the country.

The sun sets in the capital at 5:52pm today and rises at 5:49am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 37.9 degree Celsius was recorded at Rajsha-hi and lowest 23.7 degrees at Rangama-ti yesterday.

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

New voters to get ID from today n Mohammad Zakaria

The Election Commission starts distri-bution of national identity card among newly-enrolled voters of Dhaka, Gazi-pur and Manikganj today.

Information collectors will visit door to door to hand over the ID cards to the � rst-time voters.

Distribution of national ID cards will begin tomorrow in Faridpur, EC Secre-tary Mohammad Sadik told reporters.

Information collectors are supposed to deliver ID cards to new voters at their homes in the � rst two weeks. If anybody is left out, he or she will be able to collect it from information col-lectors in next two weeks, Sadik added.

Those who will not get ID cards within four weeks have been advised to approach thana and upazila election o� ces.

Earlier, election commissioner Md Shah Newaz told media that the EC would start distribution of NID cards to

voters in Dhaka today and distribution across the country will start in phases. ID card distribution will be completed by October.

According to the EC, there are 508,465 new voters in Dhaka district and 367,460 in the Dhaka City Corpora-tion area. There are around 1, 70, 844 new voters in Gazipur and 1, 37, 120 Manikganj, who will get national ID cards.

The commission updated the voter list from March 10 to December 15 last year and a � nal voter list was published on January 31 this year.

About 6.9 million new voters were included in the latest list, previous up-date between 2010 and 2012 added over 7m voters, reaching the total number to 92,198,029, according to an EC o� cial.

The commission, which began giv-ing ID cards in 2008, is spending Tk3 against each card, with the total costs exceeding Tk21m. l

EC sta� to wage movement for promotionn Mohammad Zakaria

Sta� s of the Election Commission across the country have threatened to wage a tough movement if their de-mand for promotion is not met by the end of this month.

The EC is taking preparation to hold the next general parliamentary polls in a few months.

Bangladesh Election Commis-sion Services Association had startedthe movement recently demanding promotion for the � eld level o� cials and provide them with wages at a greater scale.

They have also demanded that the in-house o� cials be appointed as re-turning o� cers.

On Saturday, it had urged the EC to take immediate steps to ful� ll the de-mands within shortest possible time.

Members of the association would wear black badges on September30 and October 1 and would go for tougher movements after Eid-ul-Azha, if the demands were not met by Sep-tember 29.

President of Bangladesh Election Commission Services Association Jes-min Tuli said: “Many of the o� cials had not been promoted for quite a long time. If the commission does not ful� ll our demands, we would wage a tough-er movement.”

On the other hand, the Karmachari Oikya Parishad of the Election Com-mission had been engaged in the move-ment demanding promotion for the third and fourth-class employees of the

commission for last couple of months.They declared to go for hunger

strikes if the commission does not re-alise their demand by September 30.

Some of the EC o� cials complained that the commission authority had de-layed in promoting � eld-level o� cials to the secretariat.

They demanded that 50% of the employees in upazila and thana level be appointed to the secretariat with an increased pay.

Secretary General of Karmachari Oikya Parishad, Rezaul Mostafa, said the commission must ensure the rights of the employees. We would go for a continuous movement against it if it fails to do so, he added.

According to sources at EC, o� -cials of 64 district o� ces, 512 thanao� ces and 10 regional o� ces had been holding on to same posts for last 25-28 years.

Election Commissioner Md Shah Newaz said the commission was con-cerned to meet the demands of its workforce. If the demands were logi-cal, the commission would grant them.

Many � eld-level o� cials who are engaged in the movement, hadalready submitted applications seeking promotion.

The sources said so far, the EC did not have any policy on appointing its o� cials

It is learnt that the EC has formed a � ve-member committee headed by Md Sirazul islam, additional secretary of EC, to prepare a policy regarding ap-pointment of sta� inside EC. l

37 prisoners to walk free before Eid-ul-Azhan Mohosinul Karim

The government will free 37 prisoners from 20 jails in the country under the president’s special clemency order, be-fore Eid-ul-Azha.

The clemency is a common tradi-tion, awarded to some prisoners con-victed for minor o� enses during spe-cial occasions. During this year’s Eid ul-Fitr, 48 prisoners were freed.

Home ministry sources said it had sent a proposal, mentioning the names of the prisoners, to the law ministry.

“Following the law ministries’ opin-ion, the list will be sent to the prime

minister. Then it will go to the presi-dent’s o� ce,” sources said.

Ministry high-ups said the list was prepared on basis of intelligence reports.

Of the prisoners, who are being considered for clemency, 3 are from Dhaka central jail, 1 from Kashimpur, 2 from Mymensingh, 2 from Netrokona, 1 from Faridpur, 3 from Comilla, 3 from Chittagong, 1 from Cox’s Bazar, 2 from Rangamati, 2 from Sylhet, 2 from Mou-lavibazar, 2 from Rajshahi, 1 from Pab-na, 1 from Joypurhat, 2 from Rangpur, 1 from Nilphamary, 3 from Dinajpur, 2 from Bhola, 2 from Bagerhat and 1 from Kushtia. l

‘ICT-led innovations needed for development’n Tribune Report

Innovations led by information and communication technology could solve Bangladesh’s development chal-lenges, said discussants and partici-pants at the second annual Social Good Summit’s Dhaka meet-up yesterday.

Speakers at the programme, organ-ised by United Nations Development Programme in partnership with Brac, Ericsson and BASIS at Dhaka Universi-ty’s Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Sen-ate Bhaban  , said today’s youths have adopted the new wave of technologies at an accelerated pace and continue to play a pioneering role in the forward march of the country.

Parliament Speaker Dr Shirin Shar-min Chaudhury, who addressed the event via a live stream from the parlia-ment, spoke of a new world order that

has been brought about by rapid surge of globalization.

“The world today is all about connec-tivity and people-to-people connect. Af-ter China and India, facebook is now the world’s biggest country. Paradigm shift has already taken place in the way we connect to others, in our own life styles and in the way get together,” she said.

The digital transformation had posi-tively impacted the country as it paved the way to save millions of lives from nat-ural disasters by sending out early warn-ings through mobile phone messages, she pointed out. Action to Information (a2i) Policy Advisor Anir Chowdhury gave a detailed account of how Bangladesh has transformed in the last 17 years, partly be-cause of technological development.

“The GDP per capita tripled now from just $300 - seventeen years back. Parents preferred not to send their children to

school as they used to feel schooling was counterproductive for income. Now all children are enrolled in school because parents � nally understood it’s the only way out of poverty,” he said.

“Our government o� cials at dis-trict, upazila and union level, whom we thought as very unlikely to utilize the power of technology, are increasingly using email and social media for o� cial work,” he mentioned.

Dhaka University Pro-Vice-Chan-cellor Prof Nasreen Ahmad also high-lighted the convergence of technology and education as a catalyst for develop-ment in Bangladesh.

“In the last couple of decades, es-pecially with the rise of mobile tech-nology, we have witnessed waves of change in Bangladesh, where we are � nding ways to improve our quality of life through innovations. The govern-

ment is taking the initiative to convert all public school textbooks to digital talking-books for the visually chal-lenged,” said Prof Ahmad.

Managing Director of Ericsson in Bangladesh Gary Dewing said the tim-ing of Social Good Summit- a confer-ence that aimed at bringing together social good community and generating conversation for a better future - could not be better with the introduction of 3G round the corner.

A pre-recorded message by UNDP Resident Representative Neal Walker was played where he spoke about the power of human-centric technology - simple, available and accessible tech-nology that has saved millions of lives.

Other speakers at the event included UNDP Country Director Pauline Tames-is, Brac Senior Director Asif Saleh and community organizer Iresh Zaker. l

Court grants 4-day remand against fake ACC o� cialn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday granted four-day remand against a fake ACC o� cial in connection with an extortion case.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Hasibul Haque passed the order, reject-ing a bail petition.

According to the remand prayer, Papiya Akhter Popy was a fraudand had been cheating people for a long time.

She needed to be in police remand for further interrogation for � nding out if others were involved.

On September 23, the ACC detained Papiya, who allegedly demanded money from a businessman in Uttara, claiming that she was an ACC o� cial. l

Meena Media Award honours 33n Md Atiqur Rahman

A total of 33 media professionals from print and electronic media achieved Meena Media Award 2013 yesterday for their outstanding works in promoting child rights during the last one year.

Meena Media Award, named after the iconic animation character “Mee-na” that imparts messages as a change agent, was � rst initiated in 2005 and had been promoting children’s issues in the media since then.

The awards were given in two dif-ferent age groups: Under-18 and 18 & above, and under six categories: print media (creative and reports), television (creative and reports) and radio (cre-ative and reports).

Sumaya Barkat Ullah achieved � rst prize in print (creative) under-18 cat-egory, while in the print (reports) un-der-18 category, Rubaya Porshi Onta was the winner.

Meanwhile, Rokeya Khatun Rubi secured � rst position under the print (creative) 18 and above category.

Radio version was added last year in the Meena Media Award. Golam Kibria Sarkar of ABC radio won the � rst prize in the radio (creative) above 18 category, while Shahnaz Sharmeen and Shakil Mahmud of the same radio station re-ceived � rst and second prize in radio (reports) above 18 category respectively.

In the television (creative) under-18 category Sadma Karim and Srijon re-ceived the � rst prize, while Sumona Sid-

dique and Dr Shawakt got the � rst prize in the television (creative) over 18 category.

Furthermore, in the television (re-ports) under 18 category Sushmita Sen got the � rst prize and in the television (reports) over 18 category, Atika Rah-man and Md Asad Hossain bagged the � rst position.

Pascal Villeneuve, Unicef represen-tative in Bangladesh, said there are still challenges remain although there are some “remarkable achievements” in child rights issues.

Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu said: “Society, media and administration can help the children to grow up without any form of oppres-sion.” He urged all to identify the places of oppression. l

Three to hang in Chittagong gangrape case n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday awarded death sentence to three accused and � ned them Tk 100,000 each for gang-raping an indigenous girl in 2011.

The same court also acquitted two other accused as their guilt could not be proved.

Md Rezaul Karim, judge of Women and Children Oppression Repression Tri-bunal 2, passed the verdict when the ac-cused were produced before the court.

Those convicted were Kamal Uddin alias Jewel, 22, Md Iqbal Hossain, 20 and Suman Robi Das, 18, all from Ran-gunia upazila of Chittagong.

Advocate Md Idris, counsel for the plainti� , said four persons took the victim, who was a Marma ethnic lady, from Kaukhali upazila of Rangamati district to the port city on November 8, 2011, on the pretext of getting her a job.

The accused con� ned the young lady in a house in the city’s Sholosha-har area for three days and gang-raped her, he said.

On November 12, she managed to � ee and later, lodged a case with Ran-gunia police station accusing four per-sons in the case.

After completing the investigation, police submitted charge-sheet before the court, naming � ve persons as ac-cused on April 8, 2012.

Later, the court framed charges against the convicted three on Novem-ber 3, 2012.

The court gave the verdict after hearing the testimony of seven pros-ecution witnesses. l

Children, accompanied by Unicef’s goodwill ambassadors and information minister, light up candles at the 9th Meena Media Awards 2013 at a city hotel yesterday. Unicef honoured 33 media professionals for their outstanding contribution to promoting child rights in media in the last one year DHAKA TRIBUNE

National Committee to protect Oil-Gas-Mineral Resources, Power and Ports activists start a ‘long march’ demanding cancellation of Rampal power project MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

AL to extend IT coverage for electioneeringn Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee

The ruling Awami League is planning to bring the 35% people, who are still to enjoy the bene� ts of information tech-nology, within the coverage and tell them about its achievements.

The party sees this as a unique chance to reach that part of the population ahead of the parliamentary polls by making the best possible use of technology, especial-ly, motivate the youth to come under the party fold through social media.

The publicity cell of the Awami League discussed these possibilities in a three-hour long meeting at the party chief Sheikh Hasina’s Dhanmondi of-� ce yesterday evening.

Redwad Mujib Siddique Boby, Sheikh Hasina’s nephew, said 35% of the population of the country were still far from using even radio and televi-sion. He also stressed the needs for making the best usage of the 3G tech-nology in the build up to the parlia-mentary polls, meeting sources said.

Boby, son of Hasina’s younger sister Sheikh Rehana, also reportedly told the meeting that the party needed to use all possible modes of publicity to woo those voters, who were currently not in favour of the Awami League. The meeting also stressed the needs to make the secretar-ies of the party’s district units tech-savvy.

A meeting insider told the Dhaka Tribune that Boby had also said a co-ordination was need among the vari-ous methods of electioneering that the party was conducting. l

5DHAKA TRIBUNE Long Form Wednesday, September 25, 2013

n Farzana Nawaz

At the Berlin � lm festi-val earlier this year, I attended the screening of a documentary called Moddhikahne Char (Char:

No Man’s Land) which tells the story of a young boy, Rubel, whose family lives on a char on the Padma river. The documentary heartbreakingly details the precarious lives of the char dwell-ers – their existence dependent on the mercy of unpredictable natural forces.

The people in Rubel’s village have very few options to earn an income and many of them take to smuggling rice and medicine across the border from India. They live in fear of the Indian border guards (BSF), a force just as unpredictable and no less cruel than the river.

At the end of the documentary we � nd that Rubel is forced to drop out of school so that he can work full-time to pay the dowry for his sister’s marriage. It was clear that, in spite of their courage and resilience, the future looked grim for Rubel and his fellow villagers on the char. By the time the movie ended, many in the audience were in tears.

As luck would have it, within the � rst month of my return to Bangladesh I was invited to accompany the head of the British Development Agency (DFID), Sarah Cook, to visit a large aid project funded by DFID/UK Aid and AusAid on the chars on the Jamuna river, in the northwestern part of Bang-ladesh. Needless to say I was eager to take up this opportunity to � nd out for

myself whether the lives of the char dwellers here re� ected what I saw in the documentary.

The drive out of Dhaka is a bumpy one and within half an hour of leaving the perimeters of the city one is presented with a very di� erent picture of Bangladesh. The open spaces and � elds are a welcome relief from the sardine-can density of Dhaka; however, the pot-hole � lled roads and dilapidated infrastructure of the small-er cities really makes one question the ever-so-popular prediction of Bangla-desh reaching middle-income status in the near future.

The main purpose of our visit is to meet the bene� ciaries of the Char Livelihoods Programme (CLP), which has been running here since 2004. The programme is aimed towards the ex-treme poor living on the chars in order to help lift them out of poverty, which is de� ned as income of less than Tk181 per person per day. In addition to the

basic income criteria, households need to meet some other parameters to qualify for CLP assistance. These include residency on the char for at least six months, no ownership or access to land, no productive assets worth more than Tk5,00 0, ownership of no more than two goats/sheep, or 10 fowl or one shared cow, not receiving cash/ asset grants from another pro-gramme and having no regular source of income.

The typical bene� ciary of the char livelihoods programme also has little or no access to services such as health-care, education or micro� nance. They are at risk of illness, � oods, erosion and seasonal hunger known as monga.

After an overnight stay in Bogra, we made an early-morning start to our destination, a village named Chan-danshwar on a char on the Jamuna river. As our speedboats made their way through the mud-coloured water, I couldn’t help but be struck by the desolate, melancholy beauty of the surroundings.

The main mode of transport to the char is through manually pulled wooden boats, which take consider-ably longer time than our motorised transport. This makes even the closest town, Gaibandha, with its very few modest amenities, di� cult to access for most char dwellers.

Once we arrive at the char, the lush, open landscape is a stark contrast to the dilapidated cities we had travelled through on the way here. We are told that this char is a relatively stable one which has been in place for over 32 years, giving its inhabitants some measure of stability, a rare blessing in char living.

Since 2004, the CLP programme has been working here to raise houses on plinths above the � ood level, provid-ing access to clean water, sanitary latrines and health services, providing stipend payments and income-gen-erating assets to households (usually livestock), trainings on skills such as gardening, � nancial management through village savings and loans groups and trainings on social issues, for example, child marriage.

One of the remarkable aspects of the CLP is that the principle bene-� ciaries are the women – the assets are given to the women and women are the recipients of various trainings and skill-building activities. There are several reasons behind this.

First, most of the men are not around to participate in the pro-gramme since they leave the chars to � nd employment in the city or they work on the farms during the day. Second, there is an explicit goal of empowering women since it is thought to be the best way to have an impact on increasing the nutrition and health goals and sustainably lifting the in-come levels of the families.

Our interactions with the villagers quickly make it apparent that these initiatives aimed towards women have made a di� erence. Our � rst stop is a meeting of a social development group being held in a narrow tin-roofed shed

next to patches of vegetable gardens. About 20 women are gathered there, some with babies in their arms. The topic of the meeting is discrimination against the disabled.

When asked what they have learned from the course, the women are quick to volunteer and put on an impromptu sketch about how the disabled ought to be treated. Their wit and sense of humour shines through even in such a short demonstration – they clearly enjoy and take pride in participating in the training programme.

Afterwards we ask them about how and whether their lives have changed since participating in the CLP pro-gramme. Several women share their stories eagerly – they speak about how receiving the assets helped them to leave work as hired household help and generate their own income.

They spoke about how they are now able to eat two to three meals a day instead of one. Many of them speak about sending their children to school for the � rst time, and surprisingly, a few mothers speak with a lot of pride about their daughters and their achievements in school.

We move on from the social development group to visit some of the homes of the CLP bene� ciaries and on the way the team leader of the programme, Dr Malcolm Marks, describes to us the impressive range of activities that are being undertaken to ensure that people who receive CLP assistance are able to be self-su� cient and keep themselves out of poverty in the long run.

These include partnering up with private sector � rms such as Danone and Bengal Meat who purchase milk and meat from the char residents and building the capacity of the residents to use these types of opportunities; building � nancial capacities of the village women, including the use of mobile banking, such as Bkash, so that they can easily receive money from their husbands who work in the cities; and working with local government to allocate khas land (state-owned land) on the char to the poor.

We arrive at a cluster of houses owned by bene� ciaries from the � rst stage of the CLP project. The women proudly show o� their homes, cows and small patches of gardens. One of the better-o� houses even has a solar energy panel mounted on the roof. The accommodations are fairly mod-

est, but the joy on the faces of these women speaks to how far they have come to achieve this.

By this point of our tour we have picked up a small entourage of village children. As I raise my camera to take pictures, most of them turn away with a shy smile, except for one young girl in her nicely pressed school uniform. Unlike the other children, she stares intently at the camera lens, refusing to be intimidated by this paltry machine.

Our last stop is a meeting of the village savings and loan (VSL) group. Despite the apparent ubiquity of mi-cro� nance institutions in Bangladesh, the majority of char participants are unable to access credit and during cri-ses often resort to taking high-interest loans from informal money-lenders. The VSL o� ers the poorest with access to credit and also a safe place to save for the future.

The VSL meeting was a fascinating display of the bond of trust between the village women. All the women in the group knew by heart how much money was in the till and how much was owed by whom. They also vouched for each other about the legitimacy of their needs when some-one needed to take out a loan.

Due to its popularity, the VSL is open to all women in the village, not only those who qualify for the CLP programme. It is clear that in addition to meeting their immediate needs, participation in the VSL builds much-needed � nancial skills among the women which can have a huge long-term impact on their economic futures.

On the way back from the char I ask DFID head Sarah Cook about her impression of the programme and the people of the char. She speaks about being enormously impressed by how with a small amount of help people can lift themselves out of poverty. But most of all, she said that she was

touched by the con� dence of the women and their sense of optimism and hope.

I couldn’t help but agree. It is a known fact that Bangladesh still strug-gles with the issue of gender equality, and women are signi� cantly disadvan-taged when it comes to education and access to economic resources. In fact, this brought to mind one of the ques-tions that one of our colleagues from DFID, who was acting as the interlocu-tor between us and the villagers, kept asking the various groups of women: “Do your husbands beat you up?”

Thankfully, the answer, seemingly given in good faith, was never “yes.” However, the necessity of asking the question showed that this was a reality in not too distant a past for many of these women. Under these circum-stances, programmes such as the CLP that speci� cally aim to socially and

economically empower women can make a powerful dent in the lopsided power dynamics between men and women in the long run.

On the drive back to Dhaka I was thinking about Rubel and how di� erent my experience on the char was compared to what I had expected. Then I remembered the young girl with her perfectly pressed school uni-form and fearless look, clutching her textbooks close to her heart.

I wonder what I would � nd if I returned a few years later. Would she go on to study at a university? Grow up to be a journalist, a doctor or a lawyer? Perhaps a community leader or a politician? Considering what her mother, aunts and older sisters have accomplished already, nothing seems impossible. l

Farzana Nawaz is a GIZ returning expert and editorial fellow at the Dhaka Tribune. She can be reached at farzana.nawaz@gmail.com.

Island of

hope

SYED LATIF HOSSAIN

SYED LATIF HOSSAIN

The main mode of transport to the char is through manually pulled wooden boats. This makes even the closest town, Gaibandha, with its very few modest amenities, di� cult to access for most char dwellers

As I raise my camera to take pictures, most of them turn away with a shy smile, except for one young girl in her nicely pressed school uniform. Unlike the other children, she stares intently at the camera lens

6 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Miles to go before DND dam area is developed Peoples su� ering will continue until two ministries resolve their di� ernces

n Mohosinul Karim

The Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) dam will continue to face various dif-� culties until the two ministries - wa-ter resource and local government di-vision – resolve their di� erences over development plans for the area.

The Ministry of Water Resource is eager to hand over responsibility to the Local Government Division (LGD), un-der the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development & Co-opera-tives. However, the LGD is reluctant to take charge of the area.

An unplanned residential area has mushroomed around the embank-ment, but the area is prone to water logging and lacks adequate roads and drainage, causing various di� culties for residents.

The DND embankment area com-prises Matuail, Konapara, Par Dogair, Mogholpara, Rasulpur, Dholeshwar,

Adarshapara, Sarulia, Dogair, Deil-lah, Munsibagh, Baghmara, Boxnagar, Sarulia Bahir Tengra, Kandapara and Mredhabari.

The water resources ministry was responsible for an irrigation project in the area, which is no longer viable with urban development taking over the land. The ministry is therefore keen for the LGD to take responsibility, but the LGD is reluctant because it is con-cerned about the cost of developing the area.

On September 18, an inter-ministe-rial meeting attended by ministry and LGD o� cials, representatives of Dhaka South and Narayanganj city corpora-tions, and Wasa (Water Supply and Sewerage Authority) failed to reach an amicable solution.

The LGD continues to balk at the thought of taking charge of the area, however they did agree to look after the area’s development until a � nal de-

cision is reached by all concerned. Until a meeting is called again in a month’s time, nothing can be � nalised said sources who attended the meeting.

According to sources, Parimal Chandra Saha, joint secretary of the water re-sources ministry, said because the DND dam area is no longer suitable as an ir-rigation project and also because the

ministry does not have the resources to meet urban residential needs, it would make sense for the local government to take over.

Abu Alam Md Shahid Khan, sec-retary of LGD, however said at least Tk50b would be required to develop the area; residences would have to be resettled while the land is re� lled, and they don’t have the money either. He said: “We don’t have enough resources to maintain development expenditures for the area. So, how could we take re-sponsibility?”

Nearly 2m residents might have to be relocated if development work is started in the area. In the meantime, lo-cal residents continue to su� er because of the authorities’ indecisions, which might only be resolved when high level o� cials take matters into their hands and a concrete decision is reached.

To resolve the difficulties faced by the residents of such an unplanned

residential area, a decision was taken in 2008 to hand responsibility to the LGD.

A series of inter-ministerial meet-ings followed but o� cials failed to come to any understanding by resolv-ing their di� erences so that residents of the DND dam area can hope for bet-ter days. The LGD continues to be re-luctant about taking responsibility for infrastructural development in the un-planned residential areas.

The DND dam’s construction began in 1962 and was completed in 1968, with the land placed under an irriga-tion project so it could be used to cul-tivate at least three harvests annually.

The Bangladesh Water Development Board even proposed a Tk2.35b project to improve livelihood of people from the area in 2005, which was based on � eld studies conducted by JICA in 1992, but was not given government approval. l

Newly-elected KCC mayor takes charge todayn Our Correspondent

The newly-elected mayor of Khulna City Corporation, Moniruzaman Moni, is expected to take charge from today.

Recalling his election pledges at a press conference yesterday on the eve of his inaugural, Moniruzaman prom-ised to build up the city corporation area and act as a “friend” of its residents.

The mayor-elect vowed to solve the city’s water-logging problem within a few days and repair all dilapidated roads. He also pledged to improve play-grounds at schools and colleges to cre-ate a sportive environment in the city, which lacks a stadium.

Moniruzaman was elected mayor in the June 15 polls, beating his rival, outgo-ing mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque. l

34 Shibir men held in Chittagong, 25 sued in Sylhetn Tribune Report

Jamaat-Shibir activists yesterday vandalised vehicles and set o� crude bombs in Chittagong, in protest against the arrest of 34 Shibir men in the port city. Also, 25 activists from Shibir, the student wing of Bangladesh Jammat-e-Islami, were sued in Sylhet on charge of attacking a policeman on Monday.

Dhaka Tribune’s Chittagong cor-respondent reports that at least eight vehicles were vandalised and 10 crude bombs were set o� in the city’s An-derkilla intersection yesterday after-noon.

Chittagong police said one pedes-trian named Pulak Das, 25, was injured in the violence.

Earlier, police nabbed 34 Islami

Chhatra Shibir activists, including 10 top leaders of the party, in the early hours of yesterday morning, on the charge of undertaking preparations for subversive activities.

Md Sohel, president of Chhatra Shi-bir Chittagong City (north) unit, and Nurul Amin, general secretary of the party’s Chittagong city (south) unit, were among the arrestees.

Acting on a tip-o� , Chittagong Met-ropolitan Police raided the party o� ce in the city’s Chandanpura area around 2:30am and detained the activists.

Police also seized many books, lea� ets, posters, banners and bamboo sticks from their possession.

Protesting the arrest of its mem-bers, at least 25-30 Jamaat-Shibir men brought out a procession from An-

derkilla intersection around 1:10pm, during which they vandalised cars and set o� crude bombs.

Islami Chhatra Shibir threatened that if police do not release the arrestees within 24 hours, they will enforce a half-day-long general strike in Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban district on Thursday.

The government’s news agency UNB reports, a case was � led against 25 activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir on charge of attacking a policeman in the city.

On Monday, a group of Jamaat-Shibir men brought out a procession in Bandarbazar area of the city as part of their scheduled programme, and vandalised cars including a police motorcycle. l

Three JCD activists hurt in clash with BCL at CUn Tribune Report

Three Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) activists were injured in a clash between the JCD and Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists at Chittagong University yesterday.

The injured, Md Yamin, a masters student of � nance department, Abul Basar Sohag and Khorshed Alam Shaown, students of political science department of the university, were treated at the university’s medical centre, the police said.

Witnesses said around 100 JCD activists brought out a procession at the campus at 11am as part of their countrywide protest programme against the submission of charge sheet against JCD President Abdul Kader Bhuiyan, for his alleged involvement in the bomb blast at the information minister’s residence.

When the procession reached the CU Central Library, a group of BCL activists swooped on the procession and allegedly beat the JCD activists, leaving three injured, they added.

Later, the police rushed to the spot and dispersed the crowd from the area.

O� cer-in-charge of CU police outpost Ra� qul Islam said the police nabbed Yamin from the spot and handed him over to the proctor of the university. l

Khulna health complexes plagued with manifold problems n Tribune Report

People in Khulna are not getting proper healthcare services as upazila health complexes are beset with manifold problems.

Almost all the health complexes in the district, including those of Rupsha, Dighalia and Terokhada upazilas, are unable to provide basic treatment to the patients due to shortage of medical and other sta� , and lack of necessary equipment.

Some health complexes have X-ray machines but no technicians to operate them, while others lack the relevant equipment.

Defying government directive, many doctors of the upazila health complexes continue to live in Khulna.

As a result, the upazila level public hospitals fail to provide the required health services to the common people.

DR ABM Golam Faruq Sarwar, health and family planning o� cer of Rupsha Upazila Health Complex, said two posts of night guards remained vacant at pre-sent, compromising the security of the health complex, reports UNB.

Though the health complex had an ambulance, there was no one to drive it and its pathological laboratory had been closed for a long time since there was no health technician to run it.

The posts of residential medical of-� cer, medical consultant and surgery consultant have also been lying vacant for a long time.

In Batiaghata health complex, only two people are employed against the

nine sanctioned posts and a single guard is posted for providing security to the entire complex, health o� cial Dr Shushanta Kumar Roy said.

The Terokhada health complex has neither X-ray machines nor techni-cians.

Although the 50-bed health com-plex was inaugurated by the local MP, it has yet to get administrative ap-proval. As a result, the health complex is still able to cater to only 31 patients as earlier.

Against 15 posts sanctioned, only � ve o� cials are working in the health complex, upazila health o� cial Dr Ab-dul Naser said.

Patients at Dakope health complex are being forced to go to the private clinic of its health o� cer at Gallamari

in the city, for treatment, since the care provided at the health complex is not good.

At the Koira health complex, an em-ployee is indulging in corrupt practices and there are no e� orts made to check him.

The Dumuria health complex and Dighalia health complex also su� er from lack of machines and personnel, whereas the lone X-ray machine in Ful-tala health complex, has remained out of order for the last 12 years.

Paikgachha health complex also fac-es an acute crisis of manpower.

The Khulna University Hospital suf-fers much of the same fate and its act-ing chief health o� cer is reportedly employed at a private o� ce on Ahsan Road in the city. l

n Tribune Report

Transport owners and workers have called a 24-hour strike on 60 routes from Chittagong, to protest against at-tacks on vehicles by students of a pri-vate university.

Ka� l Uddin, president of Bangladesh Bus Paribahan Malik Samity, told the Dhaka Tribune that the strike would be enforced from this (Wednesday) morning.

A private university student’s death in a road accident sparked protests by fel-low students yesterday. The agitated stu-dents blockaded the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway near the Bypass Road area in Chittagong’s Sitakunda upazila.

Starting from 10am, for four hours the students burned at least three and van-dalised nearly a dozen vehicles. Due to the blockade vehicular movement came to a standstill which triggered 30km long tailbacks on the highway, causing delays and di� culties for vehicles and travelers.

Police said Rabiul Hossain Rubel, 22, from International Islamic Univer-sity Chittagong’s (IIUC) Kumira campus was run over by a Chittagong-bound bus when he was crossing the road around 9:30am.

When news of the accident reached the university, hundreds of IIUC stu-dents rushed to the spot and went on a rampage, vandalising vehicles and set-ting them alight, said Assistant Super-intendent Md Iqbal Ali from Sitakunda circle in Chittagong range. l Students of International Islamic University Chittagong set a bus on � re, protesting the death of one of their fellows in a road accident FOCUS BANGLA

Transport strike following protest over student’s death

JU Chhatra Dal protests charges against it’s presidentn JU Correspondent

Activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal’s Jahangirnagar University unit set a public bus ablaze in front of the uni-versity demanding withdrawal of the case � led against its Central Commit-tee President Abdul Kader Bhuiya for hurling bombs at the information min-ister’s residence in June.

Three of the activists of JCD, the student wing of BNP, were held in this connection.

Witnesses said Sohel Rana, organ-ising secretary of JCD’s JU unit, along with six to ten other activists, took out a � ash procession on the Dhaka-Aricha highway near Dairy Gate area around 10am.

When a Gazipur-bound bus of Titas Paribahan stopped in front of the main entrance of the university to drop o� passengers, the Chhatra Dal activists started hurling bricks at it breaking its windows.

They also sprayed petrol on the bus and set it on � re, said Md Ayub Ali, driver of the bus. No one, however, was hurt from the incident, he said.

A team from Savar � re service sta-tion doused the � re around 11:30am.

Ashulia police reached the spot half an hour later. JU Proctor Prof Dr Md Muzibur Rahman and Assistant Proctor Saiful Islam also visited the spot.

Police detained three Chhatra Dal activists, said Savar police station OC Md Mostafa Kamal. They were Moniru-zzaman Sagor, Ahsan Habib and Faruk Hossain, all associates of Sohel Rana.

Prof Dr Md Muzibur Rahman said police did the right thing by taking nec-essary action against the miscreants.

Mahmudur Rahman Jony, president of ruling party’s student front Chhatra

Leagues’s JU unit, told Dhaka Tribune: “Chhatra Dal activists are trying to de-ter the environment on the campus but Chhatra League will stop them.”

He said the unruly Chhatra Dal ac-tivists would be handed over to the law

enforcers if they were seen on campus.Jakir Hossain, president of JU unit Chhatra Dal, told Dhaka Tribune: “Chhatra Dal did nothing on campus yesterday. So our organisation will not take any responsibility.”

Sohel Rana could not be reached over cell phone despite several at-tempts.

Following the incident, some Chhatra League activists allegedly at-tacked Shamsul Haque, joint convener of Al-Beruni Hall unit Chhatra Dal.

Shamsul Haque, who was allegedly attacked with iron rods and sticks, was later sent to hospital, said Prof Dr Md Muzibur Rahman.

Meanwhile, Narayanganj city unit Chhatra Dal brought out a procession yesterday, protesting the charge sheet pressed against the party activists in connection with the bomb attack on the minister’s house.

The agitators reportedly exploded 10-12 handmade bombs from the pro-cession.

Narayanganj police station OC SM Monjur Kader said the attackers could not be identi� ed and none was injured in the incident. l

Debate contest begins at JUn JU Correspondent

A � ve day long National Debate Compe-tition, 2013 began at the Jahangirnagar University (JU) with a slogan “Droher shikhay roktim pran, chetonay tobo muktir gaan” yesterday.

JU Debate Organisation (JUDO) ar-ranged the competition, which will continue till September 28.

The organisers said they had ar-ranged the debate competition with a view to upholding the glory and con-sciousness of the great Liberation War of 1971 to the country’s young genera-tion and establishing a militant free, non-communal and a rationalist soci-ety.

The JUDO President and convener of competition Nur-E Alam said a total of 40 universities, 45 schools and colleges were participating in the competition, while over a half thousand of debaters would attend the competition.

A freedom � ghter would also be honoured at the event, he added. l

When a Gazipur-bound bus of Titas Paribahan stopped in front of the main entrance of the university to drop o� passengers, the Chhatra Dal activists started hurling bricks at it breaking its windows

A series of inter-ministerial meetings followed but o� cials failed to come to any understanding by resolving their di� erences so that residents of the DND dam area can hope for better days. The LGD continues to be reluctant about taking responsibility for infrastructural development

Nation 7DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, September 25, 2013

River devours homesteadsOver 100 families live under open sky in Gaibandhan Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

More than 100 families of Bochagari Mouza under Gaibandha’s Sundarganj upazila are facing immense hardships, as erosion of the Brahmaputra river has claimed their homesteads and forced them to live under the open skies for the past couple of days.

Sources said the erosion of the riv-er recently took a turn for the worse in the area, devouring homes of over 100 families.

The victims have moved to elevated grounds along the riverbanks, where they are living without any shelter, with their cattle and belongings.

The locals said an application has been sent to the deputy commissioner, seeking permission to use the khas land in the area to construct new homes. However, the administration is yet to grant permission, they said.

Boduzzaman, Hamela Begum and Surutun Begum, some of the victims, who have lost their homes, said it would be highly bene� cial for them if they received khas lands for building either temporary or permanent homes.

The victims urged the authorities con-cerned to take necessary steps to mit-igate their su� erings by o� ering them khas land for building new homes.

When contacted, the chairman of the union parishad M Monzu Miah ad-mitted that people had been su� ering the last few days due to losing their homes to river erosion. l

JAMAAT HORTAL VIOLENCE Bogra drivers protest death of fellow n Tribune Report

Transport workers blocked Dhaka-Bogra Highway at Banani intersection in Bogra at 10am Tuesday, protesting the death of the truck driver who succumbed to his injuries from violence during Ja-maat-e-Islami’s 48-hour general strike.

All of the three severely burned driv-ers have died of their injuries reported on Monday.

Among the three Truck drivers, Sam-su, 55, was going to Panchagarh from Shirajganj with a truck loaded with fertiliser. When he stopped for a break near the Bogra-Shahjahanpur road on Wednesday night, a group of hartal activ-ists attacked the truck and set it ablaze.

The Truck Shramik Union of Bogra organised the two-hour long blockade and demanded punishment of those involved in the attack. They gave an ultimatum demanding the arrest of the killers by September 30. l

Juba Dal man murdered in BenapoleA local activist of Juba Dal, youth front of the main opposition BNP, was murdered by miscreants at Raghunathpur village in Chowgacha upazila of the district on Mon-day night. The deceased was identi� ed as Atiar, 35, an activist of Singhajhuli Union Juba Dal unit in the upazila. The victim’s family members said a gang of armed miscreants numbering about eight, led by one Ashik, and swooped on Atiar at night when he was sitting at a tea stall in front of thier house. At one stage, he ran away from the spot in panic. Later, the attackers, after a short chase, could get hold of him and hacked him indiscriminately and � ed leaving him seriously injured in a nearby ditch. He was rushed to Jessore Medical College Hospital where on-duty doctors declared him dead. – UNB

Two jailed for taking, peddling drugsA mobile court here on Monday sentenced two young men to six months’ impris-onment each for taking and peddling drugs. The convicts were identi� ed as Belal Sikder, 30, son of Mobarok Ali, and Monir Sikder, 21, son of Monsur Sikder of Krishnakathi area of the town. Police said they conducted a drive in the bus stand area of the district town at 12 at noon and arrested them along with hemp. Later, they were produced before a mobile court led by Executive Magistrate Asif Iqbal who handed down the verdict. – UNB

One killed in Jessore road accident A man was killed and 12 others injured when a bus fell into a pond at Deoara- Narangali area on the Jessore-Chutipur road under Sadar upazila of the district on Monday. The deceased was identi� ed as Dinobhondhu, 80, hailed from Telkupa village in Bagherpara upazila of the district. Police and eyewitnesses said, the accident occurred when a Jessore bound bus from Chutipur fell into a road side pond in the area as its driver lost control over the steering, leaving Dinobhondhu dead on the spot and wounding 12 other passengers. The injured were sent to Jes-sore 250-bed Hospital. A case was � led with concerned thana in this connection. – BSS

One hacked to death in JessoreA man was chopped to death by some miscreants at Jagonnathpur village under Chowgacha upazila of the district last night. The deceased was identi� ed as Ati-er Rahman, 35, son of Bador Uddin of the same area. Police and locals sources said, some unidenti� ed miscreants chopped Atier with sharp weapons and leaving him critically injured while he was sitting at a tea stall of the village around 8pm. He was taken to Jessore 250-bed Hospital where on duty doctors declared him dead. – BSS

Two drown in separate incidents in LakshmipurTwo people, including a newly married woman, drowned in separate incidents in Sadar and Ramganj upazilas on Monday. A newly married woman drowned in a pond at Pashchim Lakshmipur village in sadar upazila of Lakshmipur on Monday afternoon. The deceased was identi� ed as Baby Akhter, wife of Mohon Mia of the village. The victim’s husband Mohon said Baby drowned slipping all of a sudden into water of a pond near their house in the afternoon. Sub-inspector Jasim Uddin of Lakshmipur Sadar Police Station said they learnt about the drowning news of the woman but no one informed them about this. On the other hand, a boy named Mahtab Hossain, son of Nazrul Islam, drowned in a pond at Noagaon village in Ramganj upazila on Monday. – UNB

Schoolboy beaten to death in JhenaidahA schoolboy of Phulhari village, Sailkupa upazila, Jhenaidah was beaten to death at a local graveyard on Monday night. The deceased was Al Mamun, 15, a student of class nine at Phulahari High School of the village under the same upazila. Sailkupa police station O� cer-in-Charge Anwar Hossain said on receiving information from the local people, police recovered the body from Biswaspara graveyard. The police found injury marks on the body, but they could not discover the motive behind the killing. The body was sent to Jhenaidah Sadar Hospital morgue for post mortem examination, Anwar said. Mamun had been missing since Monday noon. A case was � led with Sailkupa police station in this connection. – Our Correspondent

Three found dead in three districtsn Tribune Report

Police recovered the bodies of three people from separate places in Netra-kona, Jamalpur and Chapainawabganj.

Our Netrakona correspondent re-ported that police recovered the body of a housewife from a jungle adjacent to her residence at Fata village under Khaliajuri upazila yesterday morning.

Local people found the body of Rok-shana Begum, 30, and informed police about the matter.

Police sent the body to Netrakona Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.

O� cer-in-Charge of Khaliajuri po-lice station Abul Kalam said motive behind the killing could not be known immediately.

In Jamalpur, police recovered the body of Hasan Mia, 35, son of Tara Mia, of Fatehpur village of the upazila, from a roadside ditch at Godashimla Taltola in sadar upazila on Monday morning. Police said Hasan had been living on by driving motorcycle.

Police suspected that Hasan might have been killed by muggers for snatch-ing his motorcycle. A case was � led with Jamalpur sadar police station.

In Chapainawabganj, police recov-ered the body of a housewife from a sugarcane � eld in Namochokpara area in Shibganj upazila.

The deceased was identi� ed as Seli-na Begum, 30, wife of Shahabul of the area.

Selina might have committed suicide by hanging herself from a mango tree beside the sugarcane � eld, police said. l

One gets 14 years, two � ve years in Madaripur arms, drug casesn UNB

Two courts here in two separate cases on Monday sentenced a man to 15 years’ rigorous imprisonment for keeping firearm and two others to five years in jail each for carrying drugs.

According to the prosecution, be-ing tipped o� , a team of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) - 8 conducted a drive in Mostafapur area of sadar upazila on April 25, 2010 and arrested Jahangir Hawladar,34, son of Sohrab Hawladar of Ghatakchar village of Sadar upazila, along with one LG (light gun).

Sub-inspector M Alamgir Hossain of Rab-8 � led a case against Alamgir un-der the Arms Act.

Examining witnesses and evidence, Judge of the Special Tribunal-3 Aminul Islam handed down the verdict.

On the other hand, police arrested Helal Uddin Sarkar of Naria upazila of Shariatpur district and Aminul Islam of Khowajpur-Tekerhat village of the dis-trict Sadar upazila along with 192 bot-tles of phensidyl syrup from in front of Shibchar Upazila Health Complex on April 1, 2010.

Shibchar thana Sub-inspector Nur Hossain � led a case against them under the Narcotics Control Act.

Judge of the Special Tribunal-2 Nurul Islam handed down the verdict after examining witnesses and docu-ments.

The court also � ned the two con-victs Tk20,000 each. l

Government primary teachers start week-long work abstention in Barisal n Anisur Rahman Swapan, Barisal

Twenty-two thousand school teachers from 951 government primary schools in Barisal began a week-long work ab-stention program from Monday, to press home three of their 12-point demand that the government is yet to meet.

Mobarak Hossain, district vice-pres-ident of the Bangladesh Primary Teach-ers’ Association and Nizamul Haque, the district secretary of the association said the authorities concerned have been asked to grant primary school headmasters Grade II o� cer status, � x the salary of the assistant teachers who are one step below that of the head-masters, and to promote quali� ed as-sistant teachers to headmasters.

They said the teachers would shut

schools across the country and go for a fast-unto-death program at the Central Shaheed Minar, if their demands were not met by an October 1 deadline.

The district association leaders sought the prime minister’s interven-tion in the matter and alleged that dif-ferent ministries, including those of � -nance and public administration, were not implementing the proposal put forward by the ministry of primary and mass education and department of pri-mary education – to upgrade the rank of headmasters to Grade II and to in-crease the salary of assistant teachers.

Tawhidul Islam, Barisal district pri-mary education o� cer, said he was informed about the teachers’ work ab-stention and had reported it to higher authorities. l

Pirate leader killed in ‘gun� ght’, cohort lynchedn Our Correspondent, Noakhali

A leader of a pirate gang in Noakhali was killed during an alleged “gun� ght” with police on Monday night, while one of his associates was beaten to death by a mob at Ali Bazar in Hatiya.

The pirate leader Emran and his co-hort Jasim were fugitives who escaped from police custody earlier on Monday morning.

Police managed to track down the fugitives at Hatiya’s Ali Bazar on Mon-day night, where a gun� ght allegedly ensued between police and the fugi-tives, leaving Emran dead on the spot and � ve police personnel injured.

Meanwhile, agitated locals caught Jasim and lynched him to death.

Police recovered � ve rounds of bul-let, a ri� e and � ve explosives from the area.

Earlier on Sunday night, Emran and

Jasim were arrested from Bayezid Bost-ami in Chittagong, from where they were later sent to the Sudharam police station in Maijdee.

The police said both men com-plained of stomach aches at night, so station o� cer-in-charge Jahidul Islam Roni sent them to Noakhali General Hospital on Monday morning with two constables on a CNG-run auto rick-shaw. On the way to the hospital, they pushed the two constables out of the vehicle and � ed.

Noakhali Police Superintendent Md Anisur Rahman “closed” the two con-stables who accompanied Imran and Jasim in connection with their escape.

The SP said Emran was a notorious pirate leader who had 14 cases � led against him with the Hatiya police sta-tion. The bodies of the deceased have been sent to the Noakhali General Hos-pital for autopsy. l

Road accidents kill � ve, including woman and her child n Our Correspondents, Barisal,

Tangail and Narsingdi

At least � ve people were killed and several others were injured, in separate road accidents in Barisal, Tangail and Narsingdi.

A mother and her son were killed yesterday at Illa Mridhabari area in Barisal’s Gaurnadi upazila, when a truck ran them over on the Barisal-Dhaka highway.

The victims were Beauty Bepari, 30, wife of Kamal Sardar from Mahilara union of the upazila, and their two-year old son Ferdous.

Witnesses said Beauty was visiting her parents in the area and was waiting at the local bus stand with her son, when a speeding truck ran over them, killing the two on the spot.

Agitated locals blocked the highway for half an hour, before calling o� the protests following assurance from the police of arresting the driver.

Police managed to seize the truck

from the Torki area, but the driver managed to � ee, said Humaun Kabir, sub-inspector of Gournadi highway police station.

Police also lodged a case of unnatural death, and sent the bodies to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Meanwhile, a head-on collision between a bus and a microbus in Tangail’s Korati Para left one person killed and three others injured yesterday morning.

The deceased was Forhad Hossen, 45.

Gorai highway police O� cer-in-Charge Jobaidul Alam, who is also the younger brother of the deceased, said the accident took the place when a Dhaka-bound microbus collided head-on with a bus of Shamim Enterprise.

Forhad was killed on the spot, while three others were admitted to the Tangail General Hospital with critical injuries.

Elsewhere, in Narsingdi’s Belabo

upazila, at least two people were killed and three others were injured in a head-on collision between a microbus and a truck on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway.

The accident took place at around 11pm on Monday near Dhukundi, claiming the lives of Altaf Hossain, 28, the driver of the microbus, and Md Ilias Mia, 50, the owner of the microbus – both residents of Khudir Jangleband village in Kishoregan’s Karimganj upazila.

Witnesses and police sources said the victims died on the spot, while three others were rescued by the locals and admitted to the Narsingdi Zila Hospital. Two of the injured, Tobarak and Arju, were later sent to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital in critical conditions.

Belabo police station personnel sent the deceased’s bodies to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital for autopsy. A case was also � led with the Belabo police station, while the truck driver and his helper managed to � ee. l

Abducted trader rescued in Khagrachhari n Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari

Police in Khagrachari sadar upazila yesterday rescued a businessman, who was abducted by a group of six crimi-nals and detained three of the abduc-tors from Adalot Sarak area.

The three abductors were identi� ed as Mohammad Almas Hossain, 25, son of Nur Hossain of Shalbon, Mohammad Mainul Hossain, 30, son of Saidul Islam of Mollapara and Jamir Hossain, 32, son of Kalu Mia of Baibonchhara under the Sadar upazila.

O� cer-in-Charge at the Sadar po-lice station, Mohammad Musta� zur Rahman said a group of six abductors, blocked the road of a businessman, Jahangir Alam, 32 at the Hospital Gate area, and kidnapped him through a CNG-run auto-rickshaw.

Police was preparing to � le a case against the three detained and the three unidenti� ed, OC con� rmed. l

Transport workers of Bogra blockaded Dhaka-Bogra Highway yesterday , protesting death of a truck driver during the recent 48-hour hartal FOCUS BANGLA

NEWS IN BRIEF

Government Workers’ Samanay Parishad lay siege to the o� ce of Thakurgaon deputy commissioner demanding steps to ful� l their � ve-point demand Focus Bangla

The victims have moved to elevated grounds along the riverbanks, where they are living without any shelter, with their cattle and belongings

Wednesday, September 25, 20138 DHAKA TRIBUNE International

Obama says quit smoking because he was ‘scared of my wife’US President Barack Obama says he quit smoking for a reason that many husbands can relate to: “I’m scared of my wife.” The president’s quip about � rst lady Michelle Obama was picked up on an open microphone on Monday as he spoke to a UN o� cial at an event in New York. Obama said he had probably not had a cigarette in six years. He is known to chew Nicorette gum to reduce the craving for nicotine.

China police probe death of girls in washing machineAn investigation into the mysterious death of two young sisters has been launched in eastern China after a family member claimed they died in a washing machine, police said Tuesday. Police in Jiangxi province said they received a call on Sunday enquiring about possible compensation payments for the family of two sisters aged two and three who died after climbing into a washing machine the day before. China’s Haier Group, the machine’s manufacturer, said that the machine would not operate under the

conditions that were described, the state-run newspaper reported. Haier had sent sta� to help with the probe, the Global Times added.

Two policemen detained in Mexico mass grave caseTwo Mexican police o� cers were arrested for allegedly participating in the killing of 12 young people found in a mass grave after being kidnapped from a Mexico City bar, prosecutors said Monday. The broad daylight kidnapping happened just steps from the city’s main boulevard in a case that dented the capital’s reputation as a relative oasis from the nation’s drug-related violence. Prosecutors say the mass kidnapping was ordered as revenge for the murder of a drug dealer in the trendy Condesa district amid a dispute between two city gangs.

Parisian cat cafe offers “purr therapy” to animal-loversCustomers braving the rush at Paris’s newest cafe to order their co� ees and croissants, are now able to enjoy them in the company of a dozen resident cats.

The “Cafe des Chats” in the heart of the capital’s chic Marais district is home to a dozen felines who weave in between the tables or curl up on armchairs as diners tuck in. The establishment is aimed at Parisians unable to keep pets in cramped city-centre apartments and though the idea may seem eccentric, cafe manager Margaux Gandelon says the potential health bene� ts of “purr therapy” are real.

Anti-social Dallas Zoo gorilla being shown doorThere will be no rose ceremony for a 195kg bachelor gorilla that failed to form any meaningful relationships with fellow apes during an 18-year stay at the Dallas Zoo. Patrick, the 23-year-old Western lowland gorilla known for being gregarious with zoo sta� and the public, while being ambivalent toward his female counterparts, has been handed his walking papers. The silverback will be transferred to the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, SC where he will be allowed more solitude, according to a statement issued Monday by the Dallas Zoo.

WORLD WATCH

Party for Nicaraguan cancer teensn AP, Managua, Nicaragua

For many a teenage girl in Latin America, a “quinceanera” party is a cherished rite of passage, a traditional coming-out celebra-tion for 15-year-olds.

Not all families can a� ord the colorful gowns and other niceties for such parties, though. So for each of the past � ve years, Nicaragua’s Association of Mothers and Fathers of Children with Cancer and Leuke-mia has put on a quinceanera for girls from poor, rural families — teens who have the added burden of dealing with cancer.

This year’s party feted 37 girls between ages 14 and 16 on Saturday night at a hotel

in Nicaragua’s capital, Managua.Donors, taking the role of “padrinos,” or

godparents, paid for the girls’ dresses and shoes, the � oral arrangements, cakes and other refreshments. Each padrino also paid for medicine for three or four of the girls.

Nicaragua’s Military Academy sent cadets to be the girls’ escorts and dance partners.

Yamileth Barrera, a 16-year-old from San Jose de Bocay, 240km north of Managua, said she really enjoyed being with the other girls and wasn’t kept from dancing by the wheelchair she uses because of bone can-cer. “I am happy because only once in a life do you celebrate your 15th year,” she said. l

Shabab threaten new attacks if Kenya does not leave Somalian AFP, Nairobi

Somalia’s Shabab insurgents warned Tuesday they would follow the ongo-ing siege in Nairobi’s Westgate shop-ping mall with further attacks if Ken-yan troops did not pull out of Somalia immediately.

“If not, know that this is just a taste of what we will do... you should expect black days,” Shabab spokesman Ali Mo-hamud Rage said, speaking in Arabic in an audio broadcast released by the ex-

tremists.Kenyan troops invaded southern

Somalia to attack Shabab bases two years ago, joining forces with a Soma-li militia warlord and wresting the key port of Kismayo from the extremists.

AU vows to press on with fight against ShababThe African Union vowed Tuesday to press on with its � ght against al-Qae-da-linked Shabab militants in Somalia following a deadly siege in Kenya that

is now in its fourth day.“Our resolve is to � ght now more

than ever before,” the deputy head of the AU’s executive branch, Erastus Mwencha, told AFP.

Mwencha said the bloody siege underscores the di� culty of � ghting Shabab rebels, whose threat extends beyond the borders of Somalia.

“This is a moving target which we must constantly update ourselves (on) and continue to be vigilant in our � ght,” he said, adding that the interna-

tional community must work together to exchange intelligence and expertise to stamp out the Shabab threat.

The 17,000-strong African Union mission in Somalia, or AMISOM, has been battling Shabab extremists in So-malia since 2007.

Mwencha said AMISOM troops – which have liberated large swathes of southern Somalia including the capital Mogadishu – are � ghting Shabab rebels who have “melted into society,” mak-ing them harder to pin down. l

Islamists say still holding hostages in Kenya mall siege n AFP, Nairobi

Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants said Tuesday they were still holding hostages as Kenyan troops battled for a fourth day to end the bloody siege at a Nairobi shop-ping centre, as of 8pm BDT when this re-port was � led.

Sporadic gun� re and a series of ex-plosions at the upmarket Westgate mall broke out again at dawn, hours after o� -cials claimed Kenyan troops had wrested back “control” of the sprawling complex from Somalia’s Shabab insurgents, who are said to include Americans and a Brit-ish woman.

At least 65 shoppers, sta� and soldiers have been killed and close to 200 wound-ed in the siege, but concerns are high that the toll may rise, with the Shabab boasting about “countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall”.

The fate of 63 people listed as missing remains unclear. “The hostages who were being held by the mujahedeen inside West-gate are still alive, looking quite disconcert-ed but, nevertheless, alive,” the Shabab said in their latest Twitter message.

However, Kenyan o� cials have said all the hostages are believed to have been freed, with the interior ministry saying Tuesday the assault was “very near the end”. Security sources said “one or two” militants were barricaded in or around a casino on one of the upper � oors of the complex.

Meanwhile, explosive experts were defusing devices set up by the militants, police said, adding another dangerous element to the siege, which has now dragged on for over 72-hours. Part of the mall’s rooftop parking also collapsed on Tuesday, security sources said, following a � erce � re the day before.

Shabab � ghters stormed the crowded mall midday on Saturday, tossing gre-nades, � ring automatic weapons and sending panicked shoppers � eeing. Ken-yan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said among the � ghters were several American nationals and a British wom-an, which media reports have speculated could be a Muslim convert known as the “White Widow.” Kenyan army chief Julius Karangi said the attackers were from “dif-ferent countries”. Many foreign � ghters, including Somalis with dual nationalities, are members of the Shabab force.

‘White Widow’ in spotlightIn an interview with US public broad-caster PBS, Kenya’s foreign minister said Americans and a British woman were among the attackers.

“The Americans, from the information we have, are young men, about between

maybe 18 and 19,” Mohamed said.Asked if the Briton was a woman, she

replied: “Woman. And she has, I think, done this many times before.”

Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku had said earlier that all the attackers were men but “some of them had dressed like women.” Britain’s Home Secretary There-sa May said she was aware of the reports, adding: “But until we can see the inves-tigation is completed it is not possible to give further details or to con� rm or deny that issue.”

There is growing media speculation at the role of wanted British extremist Sa-mantha Lewthwaite, daughter of a Brit-ish soldier and widow of suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay, who blew himself up on a London Underground train on July 7, 2005, killing 26 people. Lewthwaite is wanted in Kenya, and is accused of links to the Shabab. l

Nicaraguan girls su� ering from cancer prepare for a “quinceanera” party in Managua, Nicaragua AP

Afghan mortars kill two in Pakistan: o� cialsn AFP, Miranshah

Mortar shells � red from Afghanistan hit a border village in northwest Paki-stan on Tuesday, killing two civilians, security o� cials said.

Two o� cials in the country’s north-west told AFP that six mortar shells � red from the eastern Afghan province of Khost landed in Bange Dar village in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal dis-trict.

Firing incidents across the border are not uncommon and have added to long-running tensions between Kabul and Pakistan, which last week released a senior Taliban commander as part of attempts to restart Afghan peace ef-forts.

A senior security o� cial in Pesha-war, the region’s main town, said the mortars hit a house around 3km from the border.

“All the victims were from same family,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity.

An intelligence o� cial in Miran-shah, the main town of North Wa-ziristan con� rmed that mortars were � red from Afghan province of Khost.

Both Taliban and NATO forces use mortars as part of combat operations and the intelligence o� cial in Miran-shah said mortars were � red from the Tarkhobi check post in Khost.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share a disputed, porous and unmarked 2,400km border, and have tricky dip-lomatic relations, accusing each other previously of cross-border violations and sending gunmen to create unrest.

Pakistan has been a frontline in the US-led war on terror in Afghanistan to eliminate al-Qaeda and Taliban mili-tants from the war-torn country. l

Election monitors accuse Sri Lanka armyn AFP, Colombo

Sri Lanka’s military harassed and intim-idated ethnic minority Tamils and at-tacked supporters of a Tamil candidate during a key election in the former war zone, foreign observers said Tuesday.

The main opposition Tamil party won a landslide victory in weekend elections for a regional council in the battle-scarred north, a poll hailed inter-nationally as a step towards ethnic rec-onciliation after decades of ethnic war.

An election monitor said he had ev-idence of the military’s involvement in an incident in which a Tamil candidate was forced to � ee after a dozen armed men surrounded her home on the eve of the poll on Saturday.

Some of her supporters were hos-pitalised after being beaten up during the incident in Ja� na, 400km north of Colombo, in the heart of the former war zone, according to party o� cials.

“I am 101% sure the army was involved in that attack,” N. Gopalaswami, a former chief election commissioner of India and head of a South Asian monitoring team, told AFP in Colombo.

Gopalaswami also said the military was directly involved in campaigning for candidates of the national ruling party, including distributing lea� ets and discouraging Tamil voters in key areas from heading to polling booths.

The election, the � rst in the north since semi-autonomous councils were formed in 1987, was held amid international pressure for President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government to share power with Tamils four years after the end of the bloody separatist con� ict.

The Tamil National Alliance won 30 out of the 38 seats to the council, raising hopes of some degree of self-rule for the ethnic minority after decades of war in the Sinhalese-majority country.

A separate four-member monitoring

team from the Commonwealth said turnout was high for the election at 68% despite the military’s e� orts at intimidation during campaigning and on polling day.

“The role of the military in the elector-al campaign was consistently described to the mission as a signi� cant obstacle to a credible electoral process,” the Common-

wealth secretariat said in a statement.“We learned that opposition

candidates and their supporters, as well as voters at large, faced instances of intimidation and harassment, and that the freedom to hold campaign meetings and openly interact with the electorate was restricted,” it said in a statement.

The statement comes as dozens

of world leaders are set to attend a Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Colombo in November, but with a boycott from Canada over human rights concerns.

Military spokesman Ruwan Wanigasooriya denied the observers’ claims, pointing to the high turnout.

“If the military were an obstacle, the

people could not and would not have come in such large numbers and voted,” Brigadier Wanigasooriya said.

The group of South Asian monitors, who were invited by Sri Lanka’s election commission for the poll, said the commission should be given wider powers to prevent such abuses in future. l

Sri Lankan election o� cials carry ballot boxes to be transferred to a main counting centre in Ja� na AFP

South Korea rejects Boeing, says F-15 not good enoughn AP, Seoul

South Korea on Tuesday rejected Boe-ing Co’s bid to supply 60 � ghter jets in the country’s largest-ever weapons purchase even though it was the sole remaining bidder.

Boeing had o� ered its F-15 Silent Eagle, but South Korean critics have said the warplane lacks state-of-the-art stealth capabilities and cannot e� ectively cope with North Korea’s increasing nuclear threats.

Defence Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said o� cials decided at a meeting Tuesday to delay naming a winning bidder for the 8.3 trillion won ($7.7bn) purchase, and would restart the bidding process at an early date.

He said South Korea must have better air power in line with an inter-national trend to develop “� fth gener-ation” � ghters, and said the rejection of Boeing’s bid was made in consider-ation of North Korea’s nuclear program

and other factors. Ministry o� cials said he was referring to a plane with cutting-edge radar-evading stealth functions which Boeing’s plane does not have.

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and EADS’ Euro� ghter Typhoon earlier competed in the bidding process but were eliminated for exceeding Seoul’s budget cap. The F-35 jet, which has been plagued by schedule delays and cost overruns, is widely regarded as a much more advanced and capable aircraft than its predecessors.

Japan announced in 2011 that it would buy 42 F-35 jets in a deal expect-ed to cost more than $5bn. Japan hopes to receive its � rst F-35s in 2016, at a cost of about $120m per plane. Last year it threatened to cancel the multibil-lion-dollar deal if prices continue to rise or delays threaten the delivery date.

South Korea has traditionally fa-voured importing � ghter jets and other weapons from the US, which stations

28,500 troops in the country as deter-rence against potential aggression from North Korea.

This spring, tensions on the Korean peninsula rose sharply, with Pyongyang threatening nuclear wars to protest toughened UN sanctions after its third nuclear test in February. The US took the unusual step of sending its most powerful warplanes — B-2 stealth bombers, F-22 stealth � ghters and B-52 bombers — to drills with South Korea in a show of force. B-2 and B-52 bombers are capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

In recent days, South Korean media, retired generals and weapons experts had pressed the government not to pick the F-15 Silent Eagle, arguing better stealth capabilities were needed.

“Only with stealth capabilities can (warplanes) covertly in� ltrate North Korea and get rid of its nuclear threats,” a group of 15 former air force chiefs of sta� said in a recent letter addressed to President Park Geun-hye. l

9Wednesday, September 25, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE InternationalDHAKA TRIBUNE International

n Reuters, Beirut

Syrian insurgents pressed a new as-sault in the strategic, heavily-defended southwestern suburbs of Damascus on Tuesday, saying they aimed to break an army blockade of rebel-held areas.

Rebels � red mortars at government forces while army shelling hit the sub-urb of Derayya, the scene of recurrent � ghting during the 30-month-old Syrian con� ict, activists and rebels said.

Insurgents have dug in around a crescent of suburbs outside the capital for about a year and a half, but President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have halted or reversed their advances in several stra-tegic districts that are now e� ectively blockaded.

Assad’s air power and bet-ter-equipped ground forces have so far fended o� attacks by rebels whose main arms supply routes into the suburbs were severed by the army earlier this year.

Fighting in Damascus subsided when the United States threatened pu-nitive military action against Assad, but picked up after a diplomatic bargain for Syria to give up its chemical weapons averted the immediate threat of a strike.

The rebels’ new o� ensive, which they named “If You Return, We Return,” united several factions operating in the area, including the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

Ahrar al-Sham, another big Islamist faction, also said it was playing a major role, along with the Sahaba Battalions, a powerful Damascus-based rebel unit.

A Sahaba commander said the oper-ation aimed to relieve residents of the Derayya and Mouadamiya areas in the capital’s southwestern outskirts from a “su� ocating blockade” that was cutting o� food, medicine and arms.

“There are big shortages of human-itarian and medical supplies,” said the spokesman, who goes by the name Abu Moaz, adding that the operation had started on Monday night.

“The situation is very bad. No food, no water. There had to be military ac-tion,” he said. The southern suburbs will be a tough target for the rebels, given that they house several major military sites, including a military airport and a base for elite Republican Guard forces.

A Damascus-based activist who calls himself Bassem Mohammed said the rebels were unlikely to gain from the latest assault. l

Court reviews Delhi gang rape casesn AP, New Delhi

Lawyers for four men sentenced to death for raping and murdering a young woman on a New Delhi bus challenged the verdicts at a High Court hearing Tuesday.

The brutal attack in December sparked public debate and fury over chronic sexual violence faced by wom-en in India.

“I am challenging this verdict,” said AP Singh, who has defended all four men at various times.

All death penalty cases in India must be con� rmed by a higher court. As part of the proceedings for that, the High Court said Wednesday it would begin hearing prosecution arguments sup-porting the guilty verdicts and death

penalties issued earlier this month, while the defence lawyers � le their ap-peals.

“We have to deal with this as expe-ditiously as possible because the sword of death is hanging over them,” Judge Pratibha Rani said.

It could take weeks or months for the court to hear arguments, review ev-idence and consider the appeals before deciding whether to con� rm the execu-tion orders.

For Tuesday’s hearing, the men walked under police escort from a bus into the High Court complex. Three had their faces uncovered in public for the � rst time since the crime, while one wore a handkerchief tied over his nose and mouth.

They each raised a hand when called

on by the judge, but they did not speak in the court.

In sentencing the four, trial court Judge Yogesh Khanna said the crime had “shocked the collective con-science” of India.

The four had been joy-riding through New Delhi on a bus the night of Decem-ber 16 when they lured the 23-year-old woman and her male friend into board-ing. They then beat the friend, took turns raping the woman and violated her with an iron rod. She died from in-ternal injuries two weeks later.

Another defendant hanged himself in prison, though is family insists he was killed. And an 18-year-old who was a juvenile at the time of the attack was sentenced in August to a maximum of three years in a reform home. l

Sikh professor who wrote on US hate crimes assaultedn AFP, New York

A Sikh professor at Columbia University who had written about hate crimes against the community said Monday he became a victim himself during a group attack in New York.

Prabhjot Singh, an assistant professor at the Ivy League university’s School of International and Public A� airs, said he was assaulted Saturday evening after dropping o� his wife and one-year-old son.

Around 20 teenagers, some on bicycles, shouted “Get Him!” and “Osama!” at Singh, who as an observant Sikh maintains a beard and turban, he said.

Singh said that he was repeatedly punched and his beard was pulled during the attack just north of Central Park in Harlem. He spent a day undergoing surgery for displaced teeth and other wounds.

Singh, 31, who conducts community health projects in Harlem, said the

attack made him “ever more committed to our community.”

“It’s not the Harlem I know and it’s certainly not going to change how I move about the neighborhood,” he told a news conference.

Asked what he would say to his assailants if he encountered them, Singh said he would invite them to a Sikh temple, known as a gurdwara.

“I would ask them if they had any questions, if they knew what they were doing,” he said.

“I think that the bottom line is when you’re 14 or 15, you pick up messages all across the community,” he said, calling for e� orts to counter factors that “gave these kids the green light of hate.”

Sikhs have faced a wave of violence in the United States following the September 11, 2001 attacks, sometimes by assailants who mistakenly believe they are radical Muslims.

Sikhism, founded in South Asia � ve centuries ago, requires men to

maintain beards and turbans.In the deadliest attack, white

supremacist US Army veteran Wade Michael Page shot dead six Sikh men at their temple in Wisconsin in August 2012.

After that attack, Singh co-authored an opinion piece in The New York Times that encouraged the US government to document anti-Sikh violence.

“Whatever the roots of Mr. Page’s hatred, it is wrong to assume that every attack against a Sikh is really meant for a Muslim,” it said, pointing to the “long history of discrimination and hatred directed at Sikhs in America.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced last month that it would start documenting hate crimes against Sikhs and several other groups. It already compiled statistics on anti-Muslim attacks.

The latest attack came days before Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, visits Washington and the United Nations in New York.l Sikhs have faced a wave of violence in the United States following September 11 AP

Syrian rebels � ght to break blockade of Damascus suburbs

A Syrian displaced child lies on a matress in an abandoned factory in the Sheikh Najjar industrial zone near Syria’s northern city of Aleppo on September 20, 2013 AFP

UK woman attempting solo row reaches Alaskan AP, Alaska, Anchorage

A 28-year-old British adventurer became the � rst woman to row solo across the North Paci� c Ocean Monday, arriving in Adak in Alaska’s Aleutians after 150 days at sea.

Sarah Outen celebrated with a bottle of champagne and greeted community members and supporters, her � rst human contact in nearly � ve months, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

She left Japan on April 27 and had been at sea for 6,035km. It is part of her plan for a global trek by an ocean rowing shell, kayak and bike.

On Monday afternoon, Outen came within 800m of land before winds and current started pushing her onto the rocks. Her support team decided it was safer to tow her into Adak’s small boat harbour.

“I’m so pleased and relieved to tell you that Sarah is putting her feet up in her cabin,” Mel Johnson, a spokeswoman for the expedition, said on Outen’s blog.

On the North Paci� c row she battled dangerous seas, isolation, cargo ships,

sickness and currents that often tossed her boat in the wrong direction, the newspaper reported.

In recent days she was nearly hit by a cargo ship after her radar failed. Outen also tweeted about whiteout fog and exhaustion-induced hallucinations in the � nal, treacherous miles to Adak.

Johnson wrote that Outen plans to return to the point she was towed in to shore in the spring of 2014 to continue her expedition by kayak.

Outen’s � rst attempt ended in 2012 when she and another ocean rower had to be res-cued near Japan after their boats were badly damaged in a tropical storm. She was shaken and boat-less when she returned to England.

Before that, Outen became the young-est person and the � rst woman to row alone across the Indian Ocean in 2009. Outen re-turned to Japan in April after raising money for a new boat and training all winter.

After leaving Chosie, Japan, she has been followed by a school of tuna and became engaged by satellite phone to her longtime girlfriend in the United Kingdom. l

Delhi policemen stand guard as the four men convicted in the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a moving New Delhi bus last year, are to be brought to the High court AP

Egypt police raid Islamist strongholdn AP, Cairo

Egypt’s state TV says security forces have raided a village near the Giza Pyramids west of Cairo hunting for suspects in the brutal killing of 15 policemen last month.

The Tuesday security sweep of Nahya, a stronghold for Islamist groups, is the latest move by authorities to assert control over towns and villages seized by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi. The police o� cers were killed in the nearby village of Kerdasa, and their bodies mutilated, in apparent retaliation for an August 14 assault by the security forces on pro-Morsi protest camps that left hundreds dead. l

Obama for diplomatic push on Irann Reuters

US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the United States was ready to engage diplomatically with longtime foe Iran but put the onus on the new Iranian president to prove he is serious about pursuing a nuclear deal.

Striking a cautiously optimistic tone in a speech to the United Nations Gen-eral Assembly, Obama said he was de-termined to test President Hassan Rou-hani’s recent overtures and challenged him to take concrete steps toward re-solving Iran’s long-running nuclear dis-pute with the West.

“Conciliatory words will have to be matched by actions that are transparent and veri� able,” Obama told the annual gathering of world leaders in New York.

Rouhani’s recent gestures, including agreement to renew long-stalled talks with world powers on its nuclear pro-gram, have raised hopes for a historic opening in relations between Washing-ton and Tehran after more than three decades of estrangement.

The White House has left open the possibility that Obama and Rouhani could meet - at least for a handshake on the U.N. sidelines - later on Tues-day. Even a � eeting encounter would be important given that it would be the � rst face-to-face contact between U.S. and Iranian heads of government since before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the U.S.-backed shah. l

Second Yemeni colonel killedn Reuters, Sanaa

A Yemeni air force o� cer was shot dead by gunmen in Sanaa on Tuesday, the De-fence Ministry said, the second such inci-dent in as many days.

Gunmen riding a motorbike opened � re on Colonel Ali al-Dilmi in front of the military hospital, killing him instantly and � eeing the scene, the ministry said on its website. The attack is the latest in a series of killings of security and military o� cers in Yemen. On Monday, gunmen shot dead

Colonel Abdul Wahab Azzam as he slowed down at an intersection while driving his car in Sanaa.

Dozens of Yemeni security and mili-tary o� cers have been assassinated in the past two years, many by bombs planted in their cars or in drive-by shootings, often blamed on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Penin-sula or a� liated groups.

Last month, at least one air force of-� cer was killed and several others were wounded when a bombed tore through a bus carrying them to their base in Sanaa. l

8 killed as militants attack police in Iraqn AFP, Iraq

Attacks on two police stations and a lo-cal o� cial’s house northwest of Bagh-dad killed eight people on Tuesday, seven of them policemen, o� cers and doctors said.

Militants attacked police stations in the towns of Rawa and Aana near the highway to Syria in Anbar province, and also killed the brother of a local o� cial, the sources said. Militants including those linked to al-Qaeda frequently target Iraqi security forces and other government employees. The violence came after four days of attacks that have raised the spectre of a return to the all-out Sunni-Shiite sectarian con� ict that peaked in 2006-2007 and killed tens of thousands of people.

A bombing against Sunni mourners in Baghdad on Monday killed 15 peo-ple, while another at a Sunni funeral the day before killed 12. Those attacks were preceded by bombings targeting Shiite mourners in the Iraqi capital on Saturday that killed 73, and two blasts at a Sunni mosque north of Baghdad in which 18 died on Friday. l

British tourist hit by NYC cab remains upbeatn AP, New York

The British tourist who lost a leg after a runaway taxi struck her in midtown Man-hattan says the bystanders who came to her aid show “there are good people in the world.”

Sian Green of Leicester said Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show that even seeing a yellow car brings back memories of that day. It was her � rst public appearance since the August 20 accident, which hap-pened in Rockefeller Centre. Quick-think-ing bystanders including a nurse and TV’s Dr Oz rushed to her aid. A plumber ap-plied a tourniquet made from a belt.

However, Green says her most viv-id memory of the day is walking around the city, getting a drink, going to Times Square and having a great time with her best friend, who also appeared on the show. l

Dutch euthanasia cases up 13% n AP, Amsterdam

The commission that vets cases of euthanasia in the Netherlands says cases rose by 13% in the Netherlands in 2012 from 2011, the sixth consecutive year of increases.

Doctor-administered euthanasia for terminally ill people facing unbearable su� ering was legalised in the Netherlands in 2002. For several years, the reported number of cases declined, but since 2006

they have risen steadily. In 2012, 4,188 cases were recorded, or approximately 3 percent of all deaths in the Netherlands — a record, and up from 1,923 in 2006. Most cases are due to cancer.

The commission said in its annual report published Tuesday the reasons for the increase cannot be determined with certainty. Leading theories include a growing awareness and acceptance of the practice among both Dutch doctors and patients. l

Man wakes up to � nd croco-dile under bedSeptember 18

Scary! Did he just leave the doors open to let the crocodile in?

Umme Hani Meem

Must be his worst nightmare! lolFarah Nusrat

Looks like a friendly crocodile.Arif Bhuiyan

Owners propose Tk600 increaseSeptember 18

Tunazzina Iqbal Sahaly Outrageous! How dare they? Living wage in 2012 for garments sector was above Tk11,000!

Malcolm Arnold This is a disgrace. In fact, these owners make huge profits at these workers’ expense. Slave labour should be a thing of the past, but not here.

Shaquib Quoreshi If they [employers] cannot afford this, as they say, they should sell off their businesses.

Kumar Devasish Dey Slavery never goes, just changes its face.

Sujoy Barua Stupid increase.

Iftekhar Amin How relevant is the minimum wage, when most employees make more based on their productivity? Has anyone done a study to � nd out exactly what proportion of the garments workers make nothing but the minimum wage?

Living the dream: Mahfuzur Rahman Tushar racing at top speedSeptember 18

Keep up the hard work! Godspeed, Tushar!Wali

Good luck!Armaan Ahmed

Awesome bro! Keep up the good work and all the best for your future endeavours.

F1 dreamer

Thank you!Car Boy

Making the metro rail project a realityIt is high time that construction work on the metro rail

project from Uttara to Motijheel was started. Talks on the project have been ongoing for a few

years now, and all decisions regarding its funding, land acquisition, the probable consulting � rm, etc are being made far too slowly.

The communication ministry’s roads division has � nally announced that construction work on the foundation will begin next month, with the main construction beginning in 2017, and nearing completion in 2021.

While it is a relief to see the planning phase nearing its end, we fail to see why projects such as this, which are so essential for our city, take so long to complete. It almost seems as if the government is dragging its feet, which would be unfortunate if true.

We need the metro rail system to cut down on tra� c in Dhaka city. The government should bear this in mind and make the metro rail a priority.

It should put more of an e� ort into ensuring this rail system is built properly and safely as this is a very important investment in our city.

Take a look at our neighbouring developing nations who have implemented metro rail systems. Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and even India come to mind. They did not dither when building their rail systems, and we shouldn’t either.

We need to improve the transportation situation in Dhaka, and make it a more livable city for everyone.

Party leaders culpable for violence of party activists

Three bus and truck drivers were burned to death on Monday after horri� c arson attacks on their vehicles by Jamaat-Shibir activists. A further 60 people

including 13 policemen were injured in the disorder, which erupted during Jamaat-e-Islami’s 48-hour general strike this week.

Violence and vandalism in pursuit of hartals can never be justi� ed. Everyday life is disrupted and ordinary people are held to ransom through fear, intimidation and violence.

This culture of political strikes in which it has become accepted for some party activists to engage in vandalism and violence has to stop. All political parties share responsibility for bringing this about.

Jamaat in particular needs to do far more to demonstrate that it is a lawful, peaceful party. Too often this year, Jamaat-Shibir activists have been notorious for setting � re to vehicles containing people. Such acts can only be described as deliberate murder.

By calling hartals in the full knowledge that its activists are capable of such crimes, Jamaat leaders are culpable for their acts, as they are knowingly inciting violence.

The Law Commission should urgently consider whether existing laws on incitement to violence are being adequately applied during violence brought about by hartals and whether the law needs to be strengthened.

If political parties are not able to make it clear that they have zero tolerance for violence including during hartals, their calls for strikes should potentially be seen as incitement. In such instances, their party leaders should be answerable before the law.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, September 25, 2013

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

Development at what cost?September 19Are there no other ways to meet our ener-gy demands than this? It’s a question we all need to ask.

matthewislam

Popular actions, unpopular governmentSeptember 18In place of the author, I would respond by saying, it may even be worse in many respects, like disengagement with war crimes trial, being soft on Islamic radicals, siphoning out public funds etc, but one good thing would de� nitely happen; the only Nobel Laureate of our country would be saved. Whether this is a good enough reason, let the electorate decide.

WaliulHaqueKhondker

Teenager ‘mentally ill’ after forced marriage and beatings by local goonSeptember 19

It’s terrible how men treat women. Men should be more respectful towards wom-en. How can a world improve, when wom-en are exploited and treated so badly?

Andi

This culture of political strikes in which it has become accepted for some party activists to engage in vandalism and violence has to stop

While it is a relief to see the planning phase nearing its end, we fail to see why projects such as this, which are so essential for our city, take so long to complete

How fair is the verdict against Quader Mollah?September 20I very sincerely want war criminals to be tried. But before accepting the verdict against Quader Mollah, I need to know the answer to a few questions. If he were such a notorious criminal: 1) How could he become the student of Dhaka university in 1972 and a resident student of Shahidullah Hall? 2) How could he work as a teacher at Uddayan School during 1974-1975? 3) How could he work as an o� cer of Islamic Foundation when Bangandhu was prime minister of the country? 4) How could he work as a senior teacher and acting principal of Ri� es College in 1977, and 5) How could he became the vice president of Dhaka Journalist Union in 1982 and 1983? 6) Why was no case � led against him in 1971 and 2010? If the allegations against Quader Mollah are false, then after his death, the people of this country will consider our media and the judiciary as collaborators in the killing of some innocent leaders.

Nazrul Islam

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 Drowsy (6)5 Mineral spring (3)7 Land measure (3)8 Stitch (6)11 Groove (3)12 Money bag (5)14 Nuisance (4)16 Brings up (5)18 Zodiac sign (5)20 Send out (4)21 Prepares for publication (5)23 Donkey (3)24 Tantalised (6)27 Female sheep (3)28 Greek letter (3)29 State as true (6)

DOWN1 Distress signal (3)2 Consume (3) 3 Broke out (7)4 Country (4)5 Brook (6)6 Bear witness to (6)9 Consumer (4)10 Do wrong (3)13 Playground items (7)14 Roof of the mouth (6)15 Midday rest (6)17 Prevalent (4)19 Use a chair (3)22 Gol� ng aids (4)25 Bishop’s territory (3)26 Morse element (3)

Crossword

Code-Cracker

SUDOKU

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11Op-Ed Wednesday, September 25, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Ikhtisad Ahmed

Mario Cuomo, America’s greatest president who never was, observed: “You campaign in poetry. You govern in

prose.” With the next general election possibly, hopefully just around the corner, and the Dhaka air thick with deja vu, Cuomo’s quote is what Bang-ladeshis ought to be reminded of.

Except, in Bangladesh, governance has always been devoid of poetry, prose, theme, diction and all other lit-erary constraints, save for metaphor. Speci� cally, a metaphor for failed promises. 

Campaigns, therefore, are about burying ambiguous, disingenuous promises deep underneath spiteful, petty mud-slinging. Blaming the other person, after all, and money, not poli-cy and solutions, get people elected.

The elite have done an excellent job in preserving a reverse democracy: people do not elect governments, the government uses people as pawns to get elected. Politicians, thus, have a mandate to serve themselves, each other, and the elite, but not the people.

They are fortunate enough to have a poverty ridden population at their disposal – one that wants what it needs: food and clothing. The latter is negotiable. So is the former. The people – excitable as they are on occasions, much to the bene� t and the chagrin of the politicians – are not even greedy enough to make demands

about shelter.Existing in this world, where the

political system is not about making and delivering on promises, makes it easy to reverse positions without a thought. Since the objective is ruling and not governing, � exibility is neces-sary. Nothing displays this better than cutting through the rhetoric lacking in subtlety and rhetoric regarding the matter of the caretaker government.

The BNP wants now what it was ve-hemently opposed to when in power, because it is viewed as the only means to the only end. Awami League’s role has been reversed for the same reason.

Power, not democracy, is what both thought about then, and what dictates their thoughts and actions now. It is why the opposition, whoever it is, invariably stages parliamentary walk-outs and inevitably cripples the nation with the plague of hartals, increasing in frequency towards the ends of their tenures.

In 2008, the two parties publicised their respective election manifestoes. They kept with tradition in doing so, and in reiterating promises of bygone years. It may be heartening for some to know that the politicians promised to free the country of corruption and establish a system of good governance.

Given the bene� t of doubt at the last general election, Awami League has since followed in BNP’s footsteps until this point, at least so asserts the World Bank. Both prefer nepotism instead of clean politics, which means neither has a leg to stand on regarding boisterous, oft-repeated claims about rooting out corruption.

They also promised in 2008, as they did in 2001, to put a stop to the rise in the prices of essentials, and to generate jobs. Sadly, in� ation and un-employment have both increased year on year since 2001. A look at the cars being driven on the streets of Dhaka

today, compared to ten years ago, they bear testament to the rich getting progressively richer.

The leaders have reaped the rewards of this as well. However, the average Bangladeshi’s real wage and purchasing power have not shown the same upward movement, set against the backdrop of a 1.59% mode popula-tion growth rate.

Statistics rarely tell the full story; for instance, the literacy rate went up from 47.9% in 2001 to 57.7% at present, an indication that the parties’ pledges about education have been delivered upon. What the numbers leave out is the role of non-governmental organisations. They have almost single-handedly dragged these figures up, despite the obstacles thrown at them by the politicians.

Setting goals are important for good governance, even if they are not real-ised. Campaign pledges set goals and force politicians to try harder, do better. Bangladeshis, however, do not concern themselves with forcing their leaders to make promises that they are held to.

They seem to have as little time for solutions as the leaders do. Even if they did, the elite make sure that the people do not form part of the equation. This helps immensely, since all politicians stand for being in power, and are opposed to not being in power.

When that is the only goal, good governance becomes an impossibil-ity. Given those margins, words are gibberish in a land of failed promises. Campaigns are pointless, meaningless, and always the same. With The Who singing: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss” in the background, Bangladesh will get fooled again. l

Ikhtisad Ahmed works as a lawyer in the � elds of law and education and is also a writer.

n Pascal Fletcher

When Islamist � ghters from Somalia’s al-Shabaab group stormed a Nairobi mall

at the weekend, they knew they were hitting a high-pro� le symbol of Ken-ya’s economic power in booming Af-rica.

The Israeli-built Westgate mall of-fering multiple levels of shops, cafes and restaurants epitomised the African consumer bonanza that is drawing for-eign investment – from West and East – to one of the world’s fastest growing continents.

Like the Algerian gas-plant attacked by Saharan Islamists in January, the beige-coloured mall o� ered a high-im-pact target for militants to kill dozens and sow panic as they increasingly wage cross-border jihad, challenging Africa and the wider world.

Kenya said its security forces were in control of the mall on Tuesday after Saturday’s assault, which killed at least 62 people, and a stand-o� lasting several days.

From Mali to Algeria, Nige-ria to Kenya, violent Islamist groups – tapping into local poverty, con� ict, inequality or exclusion but espousing

a similar anti-Western, anti-Christian creed – are striking at state authority and international interests, both eco-nomic and political.

John Campbell, a former US am-bassador to Nigeria, said he believed insurgents like those who rebelled in Mali last year, the Nigerian Boko Har-am Islamist sect and the Nairobi mall raiders were also partly motivated by anger with what he called “pervasive malgovernance” in Africa.

“This is undoubtedly anti-Western and anti-Christian but it also taps into a lot of deep popular anger against the political economy in which they � nd themselves, in which a very small group of people are basically raking o� the wealth,” he said.

Campbell saw a darker side of the “Africa Rising” story, where growing social inequalities and tensions in os-tensibly booming nations were being ignored or obscured by positive eco-nomic growth numbers that distorted the real picture.

“The statistics aren’t describing the reality,” said Campbell, the Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies at the New York-based Council on foreign relations.

He noted that the more than 60 vic-tims of the mall attack included mem-bers of the Kenyan elite, including a nephew of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, and foreign expatriates.

Mark Rosenberg, senior analyst for Africa of the Eurasia Group consul-

tancy, said the Nairobi attack would “increase the risk pro� le for Africa.” This was always a “jumpy” baro-metre, he added, because there was “an unfortunate tendency to treat the continent as one country.”

Nevertheless, he saw no “structural threat” from the African Islamist in-surgencies to the growth trend on the continent over the last decade.Rosenberg noted the Kenyan econo-my had bounced back strongly from the 1998 bombing by al-Qaeda’s East

Africa cell of the US Embassy in Nairo-bi, which killed more than 200 people.

Al-Shabaab spokesmen cited the presence of Kenyan troops � ghting

them in neighbouring Somalia as a motive for the mall raid. However, survivors said some of the attackers had picked victims according to their religion.

They “called on all Muslims to leave the shopping centre,” Israeli business-man Yariv Kedar wrote in an eyewit-ness account published by the Tel Aviv daily Yedioth Ahronoth.Other survivors told reporters that those who identi� ed themselves as Muslims were ordered to recite a verse

from the Koran, or to name the Proph-et Mohammed’s mother. Those who could do so were allowed to go; those who failed the test were killed.

This religious factor is a common denominator of nearly all of the insur-gencies and con� icts across the Sahel, northern Nigeria and the Sudans, into east Africa and the Horn of Africa. It follows the historical fault lines of where the mostly Islamicised north of the continent meets the predominant-ly Christian and non-Muslim south below the Sahara.

Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat, founder member and adviser of the Nairobi-based African Peace Fo-rum that researches peace and security issues, saw these militant strains of Islamism multiplying in Africa and across the globe.

“Something is fermenting in the world. There is a religious factor, an Islamic factor, but it is not main-stream Islam,” he said. He pointed to a weekend of apparently religion-in-spired bloodshed that included suicide bombers killing 78 outside a Church in Pakistan on Sunday, and continu-ing violence between Iraqi Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims that killed 16 on the same day.

“There is a struggle over what the nature of a state should be, religious or secular,” said Kiplagat, adding that universal values of sanctity of life, freedom and justice were under attack from these diverse forms of Islamist violence. “They want to take us back to the 10th or 11th century,” he said. l

This article has been syndicated from Reuters.

Roots of regional and Bangladeshi militancyn Hafeejul Alam

Bangladesh is still recognised by the world community as a moderate Muslim country and

rightly so. Muslims, Hindus and other communities have lived harmoniously in this part of the sub-continent for centuries.

However, it appears that the tag “moderate Muslim country” has started to wane fast, thanks to Islamist radicals and fundamentalists � exing their muscles all over the country.

Extremist religious elements never got more than 5% votes in the previous national elections, that too as parts of electoral alliances, but things may not be the same again, and one would not be surprised if the said � gure were to grow.

In recent times, both BNP and JP have blatantly sided with the radical Islamists and are using their clout to get to power at any cost. On the other hand, to the utter dismay of the mil-lions of pro-liberation people, Awami League has visibly resorted to a policy of appeasement toward Islamist groups – probably as an election strategy even though this proved utterly ine� ective in the recent civic elections.

This signi� es that secular pro-lib-eration nationalist forces are losing ground to those intent on turning the country into a haven for fundamental-ist ideals, or even the terrorist out� ts of Pakistan or Afghanistan.

According to a recent report com-missioned by the European Parlia-ment’s directorate general for external policies in June, it’s not merely faith and oil that � ows out of the Middle East. Key oil-rich Arab states are busy � nancing Wahabi and Sala� militants all across the globe.

The report claims that “no country in the Muslim world is safe from their operations, as they always aim to ter-rorise their opponents and arouse the admiration of their supporters.”

The nexus between Arab charities promoting Wahabi and Sala� tradi-tions and extremist Islamic move-ments has emerged as one of the major threats to people and governments across the globe.

From Syria, Mali, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to Bangladesh, and Indone-sia, a network of charities is funding militancy and mayhem to coerce Mus-lims of diverse traditions to conform to Sala� and Wahabi rules.

The said report notes, although these Arab states never allow militan-cy to turn violent on their own soil, they liberally export the same to other countries. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the worst victims in South Asia.  

Despite the overt threats emerging from the oil-rich Arab states, many governments continue to ignore the security imperative and are unwilling to do much to challenge fundamental-ist ideologies. The Muslim world has to su� er the consequences as a result.

The European Parliament’s report estimates that over $10bn has been spent to promote Wahabism through charitable foundations and this has included support for violent militant

franchises from Libya to Syria. It may be recalled that the linkage

between Middle East-based charitable organisations and militants began in late 70s Pakistan. This network grew to provide the front for channeling bil-lions of dollars to � ght the Soviets in Afghanistan. Since then, the militant networks have spread globally, emerg-ing as a major threat to international security.

Ordinary citizens in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries have suf-fered the deadly consequences of mil-itancy supported by Wahabi and Sala� charitable organisations. In fact, as per the European Parliament’s report, evidence suggests that the aforesaid charities have been actively � nancing militants in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Mali, and Indonesia.

In this context, the Bangladesh government needs to wake up and try � nding the roots of the militancy in Bangladesh, before it’s too late.

The country has already witnessed the militancy of Jaamat in har-tals which jeopardise not only our economy, but also our education and social set-up. And the Hefazatis have already vehemently opposed wom-en’s empowerment and declared their 13-point charter to turn the country into a regressive state. Their leader even sarcastically compared women with tamarinds.

In the backdrop of such develop-ments, the nation must rise to the occasion, and protect religious minori-ties from the atrocities of the terror-ists. The country is now at a critical juncture, politically and otherwise. It needs e� ective leadership.

The people are now desperately hoping that both the government and the opposition refrain from commit-ting any further blunder that may plunge the country into darkness.

Let Bangladesh never be a Pakistan or an Afghanistan. Let Bangladesh continue to remain a moderate Muslim country with the blessings of the Su� -saints who preached Islam in this part of the world, with love and a� ection, and whose holy shrines at Sylhet, Chittagong and elsewhere in the country and in other parts of South Asia still inspire the people at large in their spiritual lives. l

 Hafeejul Alam is a former civil servant.

Promises, old and new

Given the bene� t of the doubt at the last general election, Awami League has since followed in BNP’s footsteps on this point, at least so asserts the World Bank

Nairobi mall attack: A strike on Africa’s boom image

No country in the Muslim world is safe from their operations, as they always aim to terrorise their opponents and arouse the admiration of their supporters

Something is fermenting in the world. There is a religious factor, an Islamic factor, but it is not mainstream Islam

BIGSTOCK

A sign pointing to the direction of Westgate shopping centre is pictured as smoke rises in the vicinity REUTERS

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, September 25, 201312

ExhibitionUnseen SplendorLegendary artist SM Sultan artworksTime: 12pm-8pmBengal Gallery of Fine Arts Dhanmondi

Neuralgic WindowMustapha Khalid PalashTime: 10am-8pmAthena Gallery,Pragati Sarani, Badda

Handicraft ExhibitionNational Art GalleryBangladesh Shilpakala AcademyTime: 11am-8pm

TheatreMuktodhakaTheatre Time: 7pm National Theatre HallBangladesh Shilpakala Academy

Nishimon Bishorjon Mohakal Natya SampradayTime: 7 pmExperimental Theatre Hall

Dakghar Sharabhuj (Kolkata)Time: 7pm ChhhyanautDhanmondi

FilmDespicable Me 2 3DOz The Great and PowerfulNishwartha BhalobasaJurassic Park in 3DStar CineplexBasundhara CityPanthapath

FestivalNorth & South Indian Food FestivalSeasonal Tastes restaurantThe Westin DhakaGulshan-2

TODAY IN DHAKA

COMEDY

MOVIE9:30pmStar MoviesBean11:34pm HBOMadagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

2:30pm Star WorldHow I Met Your Mother9:30pm Comedy CentralTwo Guys And A Girl

ONTV

Popy signs fornine moviesn Afrose Jahan Chaity

Popy, one of the most popular divas of silver screen, currently signed up for nine new � lms. The pretty actor has drawn in audience with her diverse skills and appealing appearance. Her debut � lm “Kuli” is a super hit that brought her into the limelight. Recently, Dhaka Tribune caught up with the starlet:

Tell us about your recent ventures.Right now I am well occupied with the shooting of my upcoming � lms. At pres-ent, I am at the shooting location of “Char Okkhorer Bhalobasha” directed by Jakir Khan, from here I will go for the shooting of “Biye Holo Bashor Holo Na” by Sadd-am. I will also start working on “Shortcut -e Borolok” by Chandan, “Poush Masher Piriti” by Nargis Akter and � ve more � lms.

On the occasion of Eid, one of my � lms “Jibon Jontrona” directed by Jahid Hos-sain will hit the cinemas.

What is the favourite character you are playing in the recent � lms?In “Jibon Jontrona,” I am playing the char-acter of a singer who works in a brothel. Plot of the story is based on 71’s Libera-tion War. I get married with a simple guy who becomes a freedom � ghter with my support. He leaves for the war but, never comes back.

To me, one of the best features of the � lm is that, I got the opportunity to work with late eminent actor Manna. I really hope the audience will appreciate my ef-fort.

What kind of roles do you enjoy playing in � lms?Well, I love challenges in my characters, also � lms with unconventional story line holds a great deal of appeal for me. I al-ways try to work with people who write a script especially for me.

Occasionally you are seen on TV nowa-days. What do you think about appearing on small screen?Well, this Eid, I will appear on two tele-� lms – “Notebook” directed by Rezanur Rahman and “Putul Rohoshyo” directed by Kaiser Ahmed.

I am an actor, so I want to work, it really does not matter whether I am working on small screen or silver screen. l

Anya and Yaz to host MTVshows in Bangladeshn Shadma Malik

Anya Alam and Yaz Dani have been an-nounced as the � rst ever VJs of MTV Pro-gramme Platform Bangladesh at an event on September 23 at Lakeshore Hotel.

The two VJs were introduced to the au-dience through a live music performance which was a blend of traditional and western instruments. It demonstrated the nature of the shows the VJs would be hosting in near future.

The two young and stylish VJs expressed their determination to give all their e� orts in making MTV programmes popular in Bangla-desh and ensure the standard of MTV. The energetic duo shared the challenges they had faced during the VJ hunt. They shared their reactions about � nally winning the contest.

The search of VJ was conducted through Facebook and was commenced on August 25 to September 8. Initially, hundred applicants were chosen and thirty got shortlisted. Then six � nalists and two wildcard entries were sent to MTV Asia o� ce, where the two VJs got selected.

Creinse Limited, the o� cial programme syndication partner of Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), Asia, initiated the MTV Programme Platform Bangladesh.

Rabeth Khan, Managing Director of Cre-inse Limited said at the programme: “This is indeed a great occasion where we see the

� tting emergence of the initiation of MTV association with Bangladesh as part of its glocalisation aspirations. We believe the tal-ented VJs will bring out a fresh approach in programme presentation in Bangladesh. It is a hallmark of MTV across the world to create

VJs who become the connecting medium be-tween youth and television.”

Maasranga Television will air the localised versions of popular shows of MTV like “MTV Hits,” “My Celeb MTV,” and “MTV Chart At-tacks.” l

Leading Bangladeshi singers to perform in India

n Entertainment Desk

A seven member cultural delegation led by Partha Barua, lead singer of popular band Souls, will participate in a series of musical concerts in India.

The team is comprised of eminent singers Samina Chowdhury, Fahmida Nabi and Bappa Mazumdar,

and three accompanying musicians. These handful of singers dominate the current music industry and are fantastic stage performers.

They will perform in musical shows at Bhubanesh-war on September 27, at Patna on September 30, and at Varanasi on October 3. Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) of Government of India has organ-

ised the event to develop cultural tie between the two neighbouring countries.

Fahmida and Bappa have just � nished a month long tour in US and participated in six concerts in Atlanta, Atlantic City, New York, Dallas, Houston and Boston. The Bangladeshi expatriates in US hugely ap-preciated the concerts. l

International Theatre Festival 2013 on in Jessoren Entertainment Desk

A six-day festival featuring six plays from Bangladesh and India is currently taking place in Jessore. For the prosperity of native culture and it’s blending with global culture, theatre troupe Tirjok, Biborton and Drishtipat have organised International Theatre Festival 2013 titled “Hridoye Bangla Natok.”

The festival is also a step towards establishing stronger bonds between the two Bengals. This is the � rst installment of the festival.

Three plays from Bangladesh and three from India are being staged at the auditorium of Jas-

sore Shilpakala Academy, everyday at 6:45pm till September 27.

Today Drishtipat will stage “Raja Himadri,” while “Romy o Julie” and “Supari Killer” will be staged by Indian theatre troupe Prachya on Sep-tember 26 and 27.

On the second day, Tirjok theatre troupe from Chittagong staged “Roktokorobi” at JSA. Indi-an theatre troupe Shorbhuj staged “Dakghor” on the third day of the festival, while Biborton theatre troupe from Jassore staged “Bishorjon” in the opening day on September 22. Aim of the theatre festival is to enrich our theatrical educa-tion and involve music and dance with it. l

Battle for supremacy: Katrina vs Deepikan Entertainment Desk

At the top of their game, the battle for supremacy between Deepika Padu-kone and Katrina Kaif is intensifying like never before. Being the “only” leading ladies in Bollywood who are ar-riving with � ve straight successes each to their name, both Deepika and Ka-trina are on the verge of scoring a dou-ble hat-trick each. Interestingly, their respective sixth � lm would be separat-ed by a mere one month.

Deepika Padukone has made it � ve in a row already with “Chennai Ex-press,” “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani,” “Race 2” and “Cocktail” being solid hits and “Desi Boyz” too managing to sail through,” says a source, “Now her ‘Ram Leela’ is looking ultra hot too. With Sanjay Leela Bhansali appearing to be in a terri� c form, Eros is going all out to pitch it as a movie of the season. They have all the right reasons to do so, after all Deepika is on the top of the game and Ranveer Singh is said to be the big surprise element of the � lm with a complete image transformation.”

If “Ram Leela” is a hit, Deepika would be the only leading lady from the current era to have scored six suc-cesses in a row.

On the other hand, Katrina Kaif is pretty much assured that there won’t be any hassles as far as, scoring a dou-ble hat trick is concerned. After all, many in the industry and trade believe that the Aamir Khan starrer would take the best opening of the year. That, cou-pled with multiple holidays from 20th December (when it releases) till New Year eve would be punctuated by at least � ve holidays.

“Katrina should be ending the year with a bang too,” an insider adds, “’Jab Tak Hai Jaan,’ ‘Ek Tha Tiger,’ ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan,’ ‘Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara’ were four straight hits and ‘Tees Maar Khan,’ contrary to (misplaced) be-liefs, made money as well. Now it is time for Katrina’s presence to help Yash Raj Films mint some big time money as well. They have successfully managed to keep the � lm in news for last year or so. Now it is time to reap bene� ts out of it.”

With both actresses in a continued successful run of their lifetime, it is time for the makers of “Ram Leela” and “Dhoom 3” to rejoice. Meanwhile one looks forward to the kind of collections that these � lms reap. As of now it is Deepika who is leading the race when it comes to “moolah” brought in from her last � ve � lms. l

Grand Theft Auto 5 earns$1bn in � rst 3 daysn Jason Kabir

“Grand Theft Auto 5” has achieved $1bn as worldwide sales in its � rst three days of launch. Publisher Take-Two interactive reveals that it is possi-bly the fastest that any entertainment property has sold in such a short period since release. In video games, the pre-vious record was held by “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2,” which managed to reach the one billion mark in 15 days, while

in � lms “The Avengers” took 19 days to reach the same amount.

One week into the market, the game has sold more in its commencing week than the launch week sales of all the other games in the series combined. “Grand Theft Auto 5” currently holds the top spot in UK chart and is the country’s fastest selling and the 24th biggest-selling game, the 11th biggest on Xbox 360 and the 10th biggest on PlayStation 3. l

Yaz Dani, left, and Anya Alam MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Samina ChowdhuryPartha Barua Fahmida Nabi Bappa Mazumder

14

13DHAKA TRIBUNEWednesday, September 25, 2013

SportDid you know?

14 15 Venus stuns World No. 2 Azarenka

Manchester United manager David Moyes

has never won a game at An� eld Satium, Liverpool in his managerial career.

Before United, Moyes was the manager of

Everton for 11 seasons

Suarez back to deepen Utd gloom

‘Bale � t for Madrid derby’

Gazi Tank’s Kiwi recruit Scott Styris cuts one during their DPL match against CCS at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday MUMIT M

BCB ELECTION

Akram set to resign as selectorWants to help uno� cially for the upcoming NZ home seriesn Mazhar Uddin

Former national cricketer and chief of the national selection panel Akram Khan has been con� rmed as the coun-cilor from Chittagong District Sports Association (CDSA) for the upcom-ing Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) election while another former skip-per Naimur Rahman Durjoy has been nominated in the “A” category from Manikganj.

The former captain of Bangladesh revealed that his contract as a selector is due to expire this month and that he would only be helping the selection panel for the upcoming New Zealand series uno� cially.

“My contract as a chief selector will expire this month and I have already been con� rmed as a councilor from Chittagong district recently but as the New Zealand series is right around the corner, I will help the selection panel uno� cially, as I am going to resign af-ter talking with the board president to-morrow (today),” Akram said.

The former national cricketer also informed that he will be running in the upcoming BCB election so he would not be available as a chief selector. Akram, along with Minhazul Abedin Nannu, will also be attending Hajj soon, and said that Habibul Bashar would be the sole o� cial in charge of selection matters.

Bangladesh’s � rst Test captain

Naimur Rahman has also been nomi-nated from Manikganj and expressed his desire to develop the game in the country further.

“I have played cricket but never done coaching. I always wanted to help Bangladesh cricket and because of that, I want to be the director of BCB,” said Naimur.

Meanwhile, another former captain Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu has been nominated from category “C” and Khaled Mahmud has been named a councilor from NSC.

Saber Hossain was unable to person-ally deliver his letter as he was attend-ing a political meeting. The former BCB boss was named a councilor of Barid-hara Dazzlers, a � rst division out� t. Saber said that he believes the election process is unfair and he has decided to take part in it as a protest rather than sitting idle.

A total of 174 names have been sub-mitted yesterday from category “A”, “B” and “C” and it was learnt that a lot of money was involved in the councilor nominations.

Yesterday, Lutfar Rahman Badal and Gazi Golam Mortuza also submitted their letters for Gazi Tank, while Ismail Haidar Mollick and Jalal Yunus sub-mitted letters for Brothers Union and Rayer Bazar.

Current BCB Marketing Committee chief Ahmed Sajjadul Alam Bobby sub-mitted his letter for Sheikh Russel KC.l

BOA awards the record setters  n Raihan Mahmood

Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) handed over its promised monetary award of Tk100,000 to the athletes who broke records at the 8th Bangla-desh Games last June, at the Kurmitola Golf Club yesterday.

A total of 22 new records were set by the athletes in the disciplines of cycling, swimming, weightlifting, ar-chery and athletics.

The prize money for team events were split among the members of the team. BOA disbursed a total of Tk2.2m as prize money.

General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan, the chief of army sta� and the president of BOA, distributed the prize money to the record setters. BOA secretary general Syed Shahed Reza and other BOA o� -cials were also present on the occasion.

Later, the BOA also felicitated the sponsors of the games in a separate programme.

Among the record setters, ace swim-mer Mah� zur Rahman Sagar bagged the highest amount of Tk. 400000 alone as he was awarded for four of his seven new records. Swimmer Romana Akther bagged Tk 200000 for her two new national marks.l

Doleshwar magic continues, Styris steers Gazi n Mazhar Uddin

High � ying Prime Doleshwar moved to the top of the Dhaka Premier League table after they once again

put an impressive performance to beat Prime Bank Cricket Club by � ve wickets in their fourth round match at BKSP-3 yesterday. It was the veteran Kiwi all-rounder Scott Styris whose century guided Gazi Tank Cricketers to a � ve-wicket win against bottom table Cricket Coaching School (CCS) at Mirpur.

Meanwhile at Fatullah, Anamul Haque and Shalika Karunanayake’s half century was well supported by skipper Nasir Hossain’s three-wicket haul as Vic-toria Sporting Club defeated Kalabagan Krira Chakra by 85 runs.

Doleshwar, Gazi and Mohammedan all have six points each, but a better net run-rate saw Doleshwar lead the chart. However, Mohammedan will have the chance to reclaim their lead as they are yet to play their fourth match of the league.

Prime Bank CC v Prime DoleshwarAfter being put in to bat, last season’s runners-up Prime Bank could only post the modest total of 182 all out in 48.5 overs. After losing Ziaur Rahman for 2

and Zimbabwean captain Brendan Tay-lor for 12, it was left to opener Saikat Ali and Sri Lankan Lahiru Thirimanne to salvage the innings.

Saikat was eventually dismissed for

52 by Sabbir Rahman and Thirimanne fell LBW to his countryman Tillakaratne Sampath for 51. Late in the innings, left hander Taibur Parvez added 34.

O� spinner Sohag Gazi and Tilla-karatne Sampath took three wickets each while skipper Forhad Reza bagged two for Prime Doleshwar.

In reply, Doleshwar were left stagger-ing after losing their � rst four wickets for 78, with in form Mominul Haque (21), Sabbir Rahman (0) and opener Robiul Islam (12) unable to get going.

Roshane Shiwanka Silva and Tilla-karatne Sampath then added 89 runs to-gether before Sampath fell for 34. Silva however remained to the end with 63 not out and with captain Forhad Reza (14*), saw Doleshwar home comfortably.

Gazi Tank v CCSCCS opted to bat � rst after winning the toss at the Sher-e-Bangla National Sta-dium. Salman’s 73 from 115 balls (seven fours), Sri Lankan Gihan Rupasinghe’s 55 from 30 balls (seven fours, four sixes) and opener Amit Majumdar’s 37 helped CCS to post a challenging total of 255/7.

Left arm spinner Arafat Sunny took three wickets and national pacer Rubel Hossain picked up two for Gazi Tank.

Chasing 256, Gazi’s opener Imrul Kayes and New Zealand star Scott Styris added 122 runs for the third wicket before

Imrul was out for 54 from 84 balls. Styris went on to make a � ne century, 102 from 119 balls (nine fours, one six) and nation-al discard Rakibul Hasan’s unbeaten 58 steered Gazi to a � ve wicket win.

For CCS, Asif Ahmed took two wick-ets while Nazmul Milon, Thilan Thush-ara, Sujeet Parbatani claimed one each.

Victoria v Kalabagan KCWinning the toss and electing to bat � rst at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Victoria recovered from 44-2 through an 88-run partnership between opener Anamul and Sri Lankan Karunanayake.

Anamul scored 70 from 84 balls (three fours, three sixes) and Karunanayake also made 70 from 79 balls (four fours, three sixes) to take Victoria to 231 all out in 48.4 overs.

Sri Lankan Jehan Mubarak took three wickets while Syed Rasel, Chinthaka de Silva and Forhad Hossain claimed two each.

In reply, Kalabagan were bundled out 146 in 46.5 overs with Tasamul Haque top scoring with 34 while Mahabubul Karim made 26. The most successful bowler was left-arm spinner Enamul Haque, who returned � gures of 3-20 and he was ably supported by Nasir, who took 3-21. Sri Lankan Milinda Siriward-ana and Monir Hossain also took two wickets each. l

Faridpur stadium to reopen with MSC, Jamal friendly n Shishir Hoque

Mohammedan Sporting Club will play their � rst pre-season friendly against Dhanmondi out� ts Sheikh Jamal DC at the newly renovated Faridpur district stadium at 3:30pm today.

The stadium has been renovated, that cost Tk50m, and renamed as Sheikh Jamal District Stadium.

In order to make the day memo-rable, the Faridpur District Football Association (FDFA) invited the two Bangladesh Premier League giants for a friendly.

Sheikh Jamal started their pre-season camp a month ago and already played a practice match against Ban-

gladesh national team before the Sa� Championship while Mohammedan started their camp four days ago.

Meanwhile, Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Engineer Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain will inaugurate the newly named stadium as the chief guest.

Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president Kazi Salahuddin is also expected to be present there.

Faridpur District Commissioner Mainuddin Ahmed, Sheikh Jamal DC president Manzur Kader and Mohammedan’s director in-charge of administration Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan will also be present on the occasion. l

Nazmul weighs Saber downn Raihan Mahmood

The ad-hoc committee chief of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Nazmul Hasan Papon weighed down his possible BCB presidency election opponent Saber Hossain Chowdhury at an Abahani Ltd board meeting on Monday.

Saber had asked the director in charge of the club, Kazi Shahed Ahmed, to arrange the meeting which was at-tended by 18 Abahani directors. At the meeting – the � rst since 2010 – Nazmul and Shayan F Rahman were named the two councilors for the club for the up-coming BCB election.

Customarily, the process of naming councilors involves the cricket com-mittee making nominations which then have to be approved by the direc-tor in charge and chairman and this is the � rst time that councilors have been � nalised at a board meeting.

Kazi Shahed Ahmed revealed that the cricket committee of the club has opted for Papon and Shayan as the councilors of the club.

“Over the years, we have followed the custom of nominating the councilors from the recommendation of the cricket committee, but this time, we have discussed the matter at the meeting. It has never happened before. We unanimously recommended Nazmul Hasan Papon and Shayan F Rahman as the two councilors,” he said.

Golam Rabbani Helal, one of direc-tors of the club, thought the meeting had been unnecessary. “It’s never hap-pened before and I think it was not required now. All of the present direc-tors supported Papon and Shayan for councilors, nobody supported Saber,” said Helal.

However, Saber thought the meet-ing was a signi� cant one. “I wanted to have the meeting to assemble the Aba-hani directors together and get some momentum over the proposed sports complex development. I think it was a good one,” said Saber.

It was Saber’s � rst appearance at the club since 1997. “I am one of the three founding directors of Abahani Ltd. I don’t have to show and tell that I am of Abahani. My bond to the club goes without saying,” he explained. l

Brief ScoresPrime Bank v Prime Doleshwar

Prime Bank 182/10, 48.5 overSaikat Ali 52, Lahiru Thirimanne 51, Sohag Gazi 29/3

Prime Doleshwar 183/5 in 45.4 overRoshane Shiwanka Silva 63

Prime Doleshwar won by � ve wickets

Gazi Tank v CCS

CCS 255/7 in 50 overSalman 73, Gihan Rupasinghe 55, Arafat Sunny 50/3

Gazi Tank259/5, 49.1 overScott Styris 102, Rakibul Hasan 58*

Gazi Tank won by � ve wickets

Victoria v Kalabagan KC

Victoria 231/10, 48.4 overAnamul Haque 70, Karunanayake 70, Jehan Mubarak 38/3

Kalabagan KC 146/10 in 46.5 overTasamul Haque 34, Enamul Haque 20/3, Nasir 21/3

Victoria won by 85 runs

Wali Ullah to be ousted n Shishir Hoque

The executive committee of Bangla-desh Olympic Association (BOA) yester-day decided in principle to terminate its Director General Col (retired) Wali Ullah in the light of allegations of misuse of power, corruption, misbehavior with BOA members and unlawful activities during his eight-year reign.

However, the decision has not been taken o� cially yet, but top BOA o� -cials con� rmed that the move had been agreed on at an executive committee meeting yesterday, where BOA presi-dent Gen Iqbal Karim was present.

“Misuse of power, unethical activ-ity, autocracy and misbehaviors are the reasons behind terminating him and the decision was taken after everyone agreed in principle. The verdict will be triggered soon,” said Mizanur Rahman Manu, vice-president of BOA yesterday.

Wali was appointed COO in 2005 and later became CEO and Secretary General of BOA. l

Abahani eye Aussie coachn Shishir Hoque

Nathan Hall, former Australian asso-ciation footballer and head coach of In-dian I-League club United Sikkim may join Abahani Limited as head coach for the upcoming season of Bangladesh Premier League.

Kazi Nabil Ahmed, the director of Abahani said the chances of roping in the 28-year-old Australian is 80 percent. “He has the experience of working in Asia. He has worked in Indonesia, Thai-land and last time in India. I think he will also be suitable for us,” said Nabil. The Abahani director also said he start-ed talks with Hall and will let Hall know his � nal decision within a day or two. l

BOA president Gen Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan hands over the prize money to a record setter of the Bangladesh Games yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, September 25, 201314

Goetze could make Bayern’s German Cup squad: Guardiolan Reuters, Berlin

Bayern Munich’s Mario Goetze could be included in the treble winners’ squad for their German Cup second round game against Hanover 96 today, coach Pep Guardiola said yesterday.

Germany international Goetze has fully recovered from the ankle injury he picked up three weeks ago and trained

on Tuesday with the team in the � nal session before Wednesday’s game.

“He needs time because he was out injured for a long time and then got in-jured again,” Guardiola told reporters. “We will decide tomorrow if he will be included in the squad.”

The mid� elder, brought in from Borussia Dortmund for 37 million eu-ros in a surprise transfer coup, has yet to put in a run at Bayern following a muscle injury in Dortmund’s Cham-pions League semi-� nal against Real Madrid. l

Leaders Monaco outto extend stay at topn AFP, Paris

Ligue 1 pace-setters Mo-naco will aim to build on Sunday’s battling 1-1 draw at defending champi-ons Paris Saint-Germain when they host Bastia on Wednesday.

Monaco were second best at the Parc des Princes but came away with a point in the � rst meeting between France’s two biggest spenders, to open up a two-point lead at the top of the table.

Claudio Ranieri’s side welcome 10th-place Bastia to the Stade Louis II as part of a full programme of midweek � xtures in France, leaving Monaco just three days to recover from Sunday’s trip to the capital. Monaco are one of the league’s two remaining unbeaten sides, along with PSG, and 60-million-euro ($81 million) striker Radamel Fal-cao has adapted well to life in Ligue 1, having netted � ve goals in six matches,

including the equaliser on Sunday.PSG, who climbed a spot to sec-

ond after surpassing Saint-Etienne on goal di� erence, travel to lowly Valen-ciennes, who have lost � ve in a row

following their lone victory on the opening weekend of the season. Ibra-himovic’s partnership with Edinson Cavani again failed to sparkle, but the former stressed the need for patience.

However, Marseille, who are a point behind Tuesday’s opponents, could also move to the summit should they win by a three-goal margin. l

Player revolt triggered Di Canio dismissaln Reuters

Paolo Di Canio was forced out of Sun-derland after a player revolt at the Ital-ian’s abrasive management style, me-dia reported on Tuesday.

British newspapers carried detailed reports of how players, led by former captain Lee Cattermole, went to club owner Ellis Short to demand his dis-missal after an angry showdown with the mercurial manager.

In an angry exchange after Satur-day’s 3-0 Premier League defeat at West Bromwich Albion, players told Di Canio on Sunday they would no longer play for him, with the Italian telling them to go to the owner if they wanted him sacked.

Short then � red Di Canio by tele-phone, with the announcement of his departure made on Sunday night.

Sunderland winger Adam Johnson complained last week that constant public criticism from Di Canio “could kill players’ con� dence”. l

'Bale � t for Madrid derby'n AFP, Madrid

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has con� rmed that Gareth Bale will be � t to � nally make his home debut for the club in the Madrid derby against Atleti-co on Saturday.

Bale was due to make his bow at the Santiago Bernabeu in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Getafe, but had to withdraw from the match after pulling up with a slight thigh strain in the warm-up.

The Welshman, who joined Ma-drid earlier this month for a reported world record fee, will however not be in Ancelotti’s squad to take on Elche on Wednesday evening to make sure he is ready for Real’s biggest game of the season to date at the weekend.

“He began to train individually yes-terday and I don’t think there will be any problems for the game on Satur-day,” Ancelotti told a press conference yesterday.

“He won’t be included tomorrow because we have to prepare him well for Saturday. He wasn’t happy after the game on Sunday, but his mood has changed quickly because he has begun to think about Saturday’s match.”

Ancelotti played down suggestions that Bale had been forced into com-petitive action too soon after joining Madrid having hardly featured in pre-season for Tottenham Hotspur.

Bale’s last match for Spurs came in a friendly on July 17 and he didn’t play an-other game until after sealing his drawn out move to Madrid when he featured as a second-half substitute in Wales’ 3-0 defeat to Serbia on September 10.

The 24-year-old then scored on his Real debut against Villarreal four days later before playing the � nal half hour of Los Bancos’ 6-1 hammering of Gala-tasaray last week.l

Roma lead under pressure as Napoli host Sassuolon AFP, Milan

Roma’s bid to tighten their grip on Serie A is likely to be kept in check Wednesday when the Italian top � ight’s whip-ping boys Sassuolo visit

bona � de title challengers Napoli.Roma � nished a disappointing sev-

enth last season but are enjoying some time in the spotlight having won their opening four games, including a 2-0 derby win over Lazio Sunday, under new coach Rudi Garcia.

Despite feeling buoyant ahead of their visit to Sampdoria, Roma’s time in the hot seat may soon be over.

Napoli sit second, also on 12 points, and only failed to retake command of the league later Sunday when an inju-ry-time goal by Mario Balotelli reduced arrears for Milan in a 2-1 win for Napoli at the San Siro.

Only a one-goal di� erence separates the sides but with Inter putting seven unanswered goals past hosts Sassuolo on Sunday, Napoli’s fans will expect nothing less than three points and plenty of goals when the league’s new boys visit the San Paolo on Wednesday.

Napoli will be without Italy mid-� elder Christian Maggio after it was revealed Monday that he is to undergo knee surgery after picking up a menis-cus injury.

But his loss is unlikely to a� ect Na-poli’s expected domination of Sassuolo, who are reportedly looking to replace Eusebio Di Francesco as soon as possible.

In the meantime the under-� re coach said he took “full responsibility” for Sunday’s humiliation and expects his team to bounce back.

With Inter v Fiorentina arguably the biggest clash of the midweek games on Thursday, Juventus, Lazio and above all Milan will be looking to capitalise against inferior opposition to move up the table.

Juventus sit � fth only two points adrift of Roma and Napoli and are away to struggling Chievo, while Lazio, a fur-

ther four points adrift, host struggling Catania looking to make amends for the derby defeat.

Milan, meanwhile, face a potential banana skin away to Bologna where the Rossoneri will make the trip with-out Balotelli, who has been handed a three-match ban.

Against Napoli on Sunday, an un-convincing Milan side produced a much improved performance in the second half but missed the net on sev-eral occasions and � nished the game in 11th, eight points behind the leaders. l

Suarez back to deepen United gloomn AFP, London

Buoyed by Luis Su-arez’s return, Liver-

pool will visit Manchester United in the League Cup today eager to in� ict more misery on a team reeling from a brutal derby defeat.

Sunday’s 4-1 loss at Manchester City completed United’s worst start to a season in nine years and prompted re-newed scrutiny of new manager David Moyes’s methods.

Since succeeding Alex Ferguson, Moyes has seen his side beaten by Liv-erpool and City and held to a 0-0 draw by Chelsea, leaving the defending cham-pions � ve points o� the pace in the Pre-mier League.

Another loss to arch rivals Liverpool would only add weight to the steadily creeping doubts about his aptitude for the job, but striker Wayne Rooney be-lieves Wednesday’s game has arrived at just the right time.

“We have all grown up, whether it is Manchester, Liverpool or somewhere else, having local derbies,” Rooney told United’s in-house television channel, MUTV. “It is not nice when you lose one. I have been there as a fan and now as a player. Thankfully we have another massive game against Liverpool.

“It is the ideal game for us. Any game against Liverpool, whether it is a friend-ly, Capital One Cup or Premier League,

is massive. “We have to try and get the victory so we can put this defeat to the back of our minds.”

Rooney appears to have put an un-settled close-season to the back of his mind, scoring four goals in his last three games, and Liverpool will hope that Su-arez is able to draw a line beneath his own recent trials and tribulations.

The Uruguayan will be playing in his

� rst o� cial club game since April 21, having now completed a 10-game ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last season.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodg-ers chose an unfortunate turn of phrase when he said the striker was “champing at the bit”, but Suarez’s return falls at a timely juncture after Saturday’s surprise 1-0 loss at home to Southampton.

Suarez tried to force through a move to Arsenal during the close season, even accusing Liverpool of breaking promises made to him, but Rodgers is con� dent that he will be forgiven by the club’s fans. Referencing Liverpool’s backing of Suarez after he was banned for racially

abusing United left-back Patrice Evra in 2011, Rodgers said: “This club has given every single player here everything in the time I’ve been here, and none more so than Luis.

“He will show that and demonstrate that in his performances and that is what the players and people want to see. They want to see him with a red shirt on, � ghting for the club.

“The great thing about this football club is no matter what a player has done – or supposedly said – the sup-porters are 150 percent behind every player that pulls on that shirt and they back them to the hilt.

“I am sure that is something we will see and aligned to that will be his com-mitment, and that will be nothing more than I would expect.

“I have no doubt, having been out, he will be even hungrier but his com-mitment and � ght for the cause will still be the same.” Rodgers will decide on Tuesday whether or not to hand Suarez a starting berth in the third-round tie at Old Tra� ord.

Both managers are expected to rotate their starting line-ups, with Robin van Persie a candidate to start for the hosts despite missing the loss at City with a groin strain. Elsewhere on Wednesday, Arsenal visit West Bromwich Albion, fresh from a 3-1 defeat of Stoke City that sent Arsene Wenger’s side to the top of the Premier League table. l

Luis Figo (L) of Old Real Madrid FC � ghts for the ball with Li Xiao of Shanghai Clever FC during their friendly match in Shanghai yesterday. The Old Real Madrid team comprised of former Real Madrid players REUTERS

Athletic Bilbao's forward Iker Muniain (R) vies with Espanyol's mid� elder David Lopez during their Spanish league match at the Cornella-El Prat stadium in Cornella de Llobregat on Monday AFP

Fixtures Birmingham v Swansea Man United v Liverpool Newcastle v Leeds United Tranmere v Stoke City West Brom v Arsenal

Fixtures Kaiserslautern v Hertha Berlin Saarbrucken v SC Paderborn Frankfurt v VfL Bochum FSV Frankfurt v FC Ingolstadt 04 Bayern Munich v Hanover 96 Freiburg v VfB Stuttgart Darmstadt 98 v Schalke 04 Osnabrueck v Union Berlin

ResultEspanyol 3-2 Athletic BilbaoSánchez 24, 49, De Marcos 44, Sergio Garcia 66 Gomez 90+2

Fixtures Ajaccio v Lyon Bordeaux v Reims Guingamp v Sochaux Nantes v Nice Toulouse v Lorient Valenciennes v PSG Monaco v Bastia

Fixtures Bologna v AC Milan Chievo Verona v Juventus Lazio v Catania Livorno v Cagliari Napoli v Sassuolo Parma v Atalanta Sampdoria v AS Roma Torino v Verona

Sport 15DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Star Cricket2013 CLT 20 LIVE4:20pm Otago v Scorchers at Jaipur8:20pm Lions v Royals at Jaipur

Palash, Shoma clinch TT titlePalash and Shoma won the men’s and women’s titles at the Walton Mobile 1st Open Table Tennis Tournament 2013 at the Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Indoor Stadium in Paltan yesterday. In the � nals, Palash defeated Ripon 4-3 while Shoma of Abahani thrashed DISSC’s Rumi 4-0. Meanwhile in the cadet’s singles’ U-15, BKSP’s Sabbir beat Sakib 3-0 while in the U-18 boys � nal, Hridoy defeated Antu 3-1.

- SH

Zia, Rakib and Sagar share leadGrandmasters Ziaur Rahman and Abdullah Al Rakib posted victories in the 4th round to share the top spot with International Master Minhazuddin Ahmed Sagar with 3.5 points each in the Berger Paints 39th National ‘A’ Chess Championship-2013 yesterday. The two GMs will lock horns with each other in the 5th round today. Rakib of Mohammedan defeated overnight leader Sha� q Ahmed of Golden Chess Club to move to the top while Zia beat Md Jamal Uddin of Titas Club at the Bangladesh Olympic Associa-tion media centre yesterday and Sagar defeated Fide Master Mohammed Javed. Another Grandmaster Enamul Hossain Razib of Duronto Rajshahi is placed joint second with Sha� q Ahmed with three points. Razib beat FM Kh Aminul Islam. In the day’s other games, FM Debaraj Chat-terjee drew with GM Niaz Murshed, IM Abu Su� an Shakil beat FM Mehdi Hasan Parag and FM Sk. Nasir Ahmed beat Mohammed Ha� zul Islam Chapal.

- SH

Balotelli gets three-match ban for red cardAC Milan striker Mario Balotelli has been given a three-match ban for his sending-o� at the end of Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat by Napoli, the Italian league said in a state-ment on Monday. Balotelli, who missed a penalty and scored a late goal in the game, was given a second yellow card after the � nal whistle for arguing with match o� cials. In addition to the automatic one-match ban, he was given an additional two games for “directing insulting and intimi-dating expressions to the referee at the time of the sending-o� ,” said the league in a statement. AC Milan were also ordered to partially close the San Siro stadium for their next home game because of insulting chants by their fans aimed at Napoli sup-porters. The disciplinary tribunals said the chanting “expressed discrimination based on their territorial origin”.

– Reuters

French footballer gets suspended prison term for ref attackA French amateur footballer who reacted to being sent o� by assaulting the referee was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence on Monday. A court in the northern town of Arras heard that Francky Joly, 34, exploded after receiving a second yellow card for repeatedly contesting the o� cial’s decisions during a match for his club, Etoile de Vendin-le-Vieil in April. The 33-year-old referee was felled by a punch to the face then kicked twice, once in the back of the neck. Joly has already been banned from all French football stadiums for 20 years by the sport’s governing body in France. The referee, who missed four days of work due to the injuries he su� ered and then had two months o� with depression linked to the incident, has given up o� ciating at matches.

– AFP

Hamburg announce Van Marwijk as Fink successorGermans Hamburg con� rmed the ap-pointment of former Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk as the club’s new boss on Monday. The 61-year-old takes over from Thorsten Fink, who was � red after two years at the helm last Tuesday, two days after his side were crushed 6-2 by Borussia Dortmund. Van Marwijk, who coached pre-viously in the Bundesliga at Dortmund, has signed a two-year deal worth 1.4 million euros ($1.9 million) a year, Hamburg said. The Dutchman, who had two spells as Fey-enoord coach either side of his two-year stint in Dortmund, has been out of work since resigning from the Netherlands job following the country’s abject elimination after three group defeats at Euro 2012. He had previously led the team to the World Cup � nal in South Africa in 2010.

– AFP

Quick Bytes

Day’s Watch

Media cricket begins in high spiritn Raihan Mahmood

The Pran-Frooto BSJA Media Cup Cricket got underway at the Moulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium with ATN News, Manabzamin, Pro-thom Alo, Kaler Kantho, Channel i and Channel 24 registering victories yester-day.

ATN News (35/0) beat Naya Diganta (34/5) by � ve wickets, Manabzamin (98/1) outplayed Channel 71 (94/3) by four wickets, Prothom Alo (118/2) thrashed New Nation (60/5) by three wickets, Kaler Kantho (56/0) overpow-ered (New Age 54/2) by � ve wickets, Channel i (88/3) defeated BSS (60/5) by 28 runs and Channel 24 (105/2) routed Alokito Bangladesh (80/4) by 25 runs.

Rifat of ATN News, Samon of Manabzamin, Rony of Prothom Alo, Navid of Kaler Kantho and Sadman of Channel 24 were adjudged as the man of the matches in their respective games.

Sujan Mahmud, the media manager

of Pran-RFL inaugurated the tourna-ment as the chief guest. Khwaja Rah-matullah, the general secretary of Bangladesh Hockey Federation was the special guest. ATM Saeeduzzaman and

Saidur Rahman Shamim, the president and the general secretary of BSJA, and tournament committee chairman Ari-fur Rahman Babu were also present on the occasion. l

Bangladesh Hockey Federation general secretary Khwaja Rahmatullah hands over the MOM award to ATN News’s Rifat in the Pran=Frooto BSJA Media Cricket yesterday MUMIT M

Venus Williams of the US hits a backhand against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus during their women's singles match at the Pan Paci� c Open in Tokyo yesterday REUTERS

Usain Bolt extends contract with Puman AFP, Frankfurt

Jamaican sprint sensation, Usain Bolt, has renewed his sponsorship contract with German sportswear maker Puma “through and beyond the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio,” Puma said yesterday.

The six-time Olympic champion, aged 27, has been training and compet-ing in Puma since 2003.

“We are very proud to extend our sponsorship contract with him because Usain is the perfect ambassador of the Puma brand,” said chief executive Bjo-ern Gulden.

“He will play a crucial role in our fu-ture product concepts as well as brand communications leading towards the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 and be-yond.”

The � nancial terms of the contract

were not disclosed but according to Forbes magazine the deal will earn Bolt some $9 million per year.

Last week, Bolt revealed that he may not retire in 2016 after the Rio Olympic games as expected.

“I think that my sponsors and ev-erybody wants me to continue so I’ve really sat and thought about it and maybe I will go on for one more year, and just make everybody happy,” he told AFPTV.

“My fans also are saying I should go on, so I think I might do another year.”l

Cilic faked injury to disguise doping ban: ITFn AFP, London

Croatia’s Marin Cilic pulled out of this year’s Wimbledon Championships with a knee injury in order to avoid the “adverse publicity” from a failed drugs test, the International Tennis Federa-tion (ITF) announced yesterday.

Cilic was banned for nine months last week for testing positive for a banned supplement and Tuesday saw the ITF’s independent anti-doping tribunal pub-lish the full � ndings of his case.

The No 10 seed at Wimbledon, hav-ing lost in the � nal of the Queen’s grass-court warm-up tournament in London to Britain’s Andy Murray, pulled out of his Grand Slam match against France’s

Kenny de Schepper on June 26 having accepted a provisional suspension for a positive test.

However, he cited a knee injury as the reason and with seven players in all withdrawing there was speculation the hardness of Wimbledon’s courts was behind the unusual number of injury-enforced pull-outs.

The tribunal’s � ndings stated: “He (Cilic) played and won his � rst round match at Wimbledon on 24 June. He has not played in a competitive match since.

“On 26 June his lawyers in Brussels responded on his behalf, voluntarily accepting a provisional suspension un-til a decision in the case, and waiving

his right to analysis of the B sample. He withdrew from Wimbledon, citing a knee injury to avoid adverse publicity.”

The 24-year-old tested positive for banned supplement nikethamide after taking Coramine glucose tablets pur-chased at a pharmacy in Monte Carlo.

The tribunal was told the accompa-nying information lea� et warned ath-letes that taking the tablets they could lead to a positive test, but Cilic said he could not understand French.

However, the tribunal found Cilic could have checked before taking the tablets, although they accepted he had inadvertently ingested the niketh-amide and “did not intend to enhance his performance in doing so”.l

India’s cricket chief faces last-minute legal hurdlen AFP, New Delhi

India’s powerful cricket chief faces a last-minute legal challenge to his at-tempted return to the top job following a betting scandal that has rocked the sport, a lawyer said yesterday.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition on Friday seeking to ban Na-rayanaswami Srinivasan from running for president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during crucial elections this weekend.

Srinivasan, considered one of the most in� uential men in the sport, agreed to step aside as BCCI president in June after his son-in-law was arrested, and later released on bail, over alleged involvement in the betting scandal in

the Indian Premier League.A petition, � led by Aditya Verma on

behalf of the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), claims Srinivasan has no “moral authority” to vie for a third year as BCCI chief during elections in Chennai on Sunday.

“We moved the Supreme Court seek-ing an urgent hearing. The court has agreed to hear our plea on Friday,” Ver-ma told AFP.

There was no immediate comment from Srinivasan. He has declared his in-tentions to run for president, saying he cannot be held accountable for the ac-tions of a family member.

Mumbai police on Sunday charged his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and scores of others with cheating, forgery

and criminal conspiracy over the betting scandal that has engulfed the country’s ritzy Twenty20 competition.

Meiyappan, former owner of the Indi-an Premier League (IPL) team Chennai Su-per Kings, allegedly handed critical team information to a Bollywood actor, who is accused of passing it on to bookmakers during this year’s IPL competition.

Gambling is mostly illegal in India, but betting on cricket matches thrives through networks of underground bookies. The charges come after three cricketers from the Rajasthan Royals, another IPL team, were also charged in July as part of a police investigation into spot-� xing, in a separate scandal that sparked outrage among fans in the cricket-mad nation.l

Murray on the mend after back opn AFP, London

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray is on the mend after undergoing minor surgery on his back.

The 26-year-old Scot gave the thumbs up sign lying in his hospital bed in a pic-ture he posted on his Twitter account to show he was in good spirits after the operation. The world number three an-nounced last week that he had decided to have a minor operation to sort out a disc problem in his lower back that has been bothering him for most of this year.

That means it is unlikely he will play again this year missing the last four tournaments of the season in Asia, Paris and the World Tour Finals in London.l

Pro� table Arsenal prepared to spend againn Reuters, London

Premier League leaders Arsenal are prepared to spend more on their squad after the record signing of German playmaker Mesut Ozil, the club’s chair-man said on Monday.

The arrival of Ozil for 42.5 million pounds ($68 million) at the start of the month has lifted the mood among sup-porters angry at the departure of strik-er Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas over the past two years.

Arsenal have not won a trophy since 2005 and some fans of the north Lon-don club had questioned the club’s ambition under Stan Kroenke, the American sports entrepreneur who is its majority shareholder.

Chips Keswick, whe became Arsenal chairman in June, said manager Arsene Wenger would be given more money to spend as he reported another season of

� nancial pro� t o� the pitch.“With the Ozil transfer I believe we

have made a signi� cant statement and when Arsene decides the time is right to invest again, Stan Kroenke, myself and the rest of the Board will be de-lighted to support him,” Keswick said in a statement. Keswick said Arsenal would stick to their principles of run-ning a � nancially sustainable club and developing young players but said their ambition should not be questioned.

“We have a controlling owner in Stan Kroenke and a Board which is united in our resolve to keep Arsenal Football Club at the pinnacle of the game both here and in Europe.”

The sale of striker Van Persie to Manchester United helped Arsenal re-main in pro� t in 2012-13. On the pitch, United won a record 20th English league title, helped by 26 goals from Dutchman Van Persie.l

Venus stuns World No. 2 Azarenka n Agencies

Venus Williams defeated world No. 2 Victoria Azarenka in a second-round match yesterday at the Toray Pan Pa-ci� c Open tennis tournament in Tokyo.

Williams led throughout a 6-2, 6-4 win over Azarenka. She is 3-0 versus Azarenka in her career, not having dropped a set.

Williams, whose play has been lim-ited by health issues that have dropped her ranking to No. 63, capitalized on serving issues for Azarenka in posting three breaks in the � rst set. Williams had two more breaks in the second set, including one that put her in position to serve for the match at 5-4.

Azarenka was one of four upset vic-tims Tuesday with No. 3-seeded Sara Errani, ninth-seeded Sloane Stephens and No. 14 Kirsten Flipkens all losing second-round matches.

Svetlana Kuznetsova improved to 6-1 all-time against Errani with a 6-4, 6-4 win that included � ve breaks. Eug-enie Bouchard ousted Stephens 5-7, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 with two third-set breaks. Magdalena Rybarikova stopped Flip-kens 6-2, 6-3 without losing her serve.

Second-seeded Agnieszka Rad-wanska, coming o� a tournament win Sunday in Seoul, advanced to the third round with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 decision over Aleksandra Wozniak, winning 12 of 14 points receiving serve in the second set.

Carolina Wozniacki, the No. 4 seed, defeated Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-3 by taking two-thirds of the points on serve and dropping serve just once. l

I think that my sponsors and everybody wants me to continue. So I am going for one more year

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, September 25, 2013

HC issues contempt rule against BB governorn Tribune Report

The High Court yesterday issued a rule against the Bangladesh Bank governor and one of its general managers, asking why it should not initiate the proceed-ings of contempt of court against them for not following its order.

Following a contempt plea lodged by a private � rm named International Designer, the HC bench of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Md Ashra-ful Kamal asked BB Governor Atiur Rahman and one his colleague in the Banking Regulatory and Policy Depart-ment to respond within two weeks.

Hasan Rajib Prodhan, counsel of the petitioner, said Chittagong Power Devel-opment Board paid his client Internation-al Designer over Tk3.2m by six cheques of Standard Chartered Bank for a work.

As his client could not draw any cash against the cheques, they asked the Bangladesh Bank to resolve the issue on November 29 last year, he added.

They appeared before the HC on February 11 this year since the BB did not do anything in this regard, and the HC asked the BB to resolve the issue within one month, the counsellor said.

Despite the HC order, the issue was not settled within the stipulated time, which prompted the � ling of the con-tempt of court petition, the counsellor added. l

11kg gold seizedn Tribune Report

Customs intelligence seized gold bars weigh around 11kg from an arriving passenger and detained the person at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital yesterday.

The detainee Masud Rana, was a passenger of Emirates Airlines, who landed from Dubai around 4:45pm.

Custom o� cials said the seized gold is worth around Tk47.5m.

Musta� zur Rahman, deputy direc-tor of customs intelligence and inves-tigation, said on top-o� , they searched Masud after his arrival and found 104 gold bars in his pant and in shoes.

Another custom o� cial said the de-tainee primarily confessed that he had was carrying the gold for few jewellery shop owners who ordered him to bring the gold.

Just before the � ve days of yester-day’s incidence, the customs intelli-gence recovered another lot of gold bars that weight 100 tolas on Septem-ber 19.

On July 24, customs o� cials seized 1,064 gold bars weighing around 124kg from the luggage chamber of a Biman � ight.

A day before, a man was arrested with 146 gold bars that weight 17kg at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong.

On July 6, customs o� cials recov-ered 25.3kg gold bars from a Biman � ight. The gold bars were found unat-tended and unclaimed. l

Bangladesh receives IOSSC awardn Tribune Desk

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has re-ceived an award given to Bangladesh for its stellar performance in � ghting pover-ty by the International Organisation for South-South Cooperation (IOSSC).

Ambassador Francis Lorenzo, president of IOSSC, handed over theaward to the Bangladesh premier at a function in New York on Monday, ac-cording to UNB.

Haisna dedicated the award to the people of the country.

PM’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters that she had thanked the IOSSC for recognising Bangladesh’s achievement in reducing poverty.

“I proudly accept the award as rec-ognition of Bangladesh’s e� orts, and e� orts of the developing countries from the global south that are � ghting to eliminate poverty,” Azad quoted Ha-sina as saying.

Appreciating the continued support of Ambassador Lorenzo to the cause, Hasina said: “The award will inspire us to work harder to win the war against poverty.”

Recognising the valuable support of development partners like the World Bank, the UN agencies and other inter-national bodies, she said: “Their great-er involvement in terms of � nancial resources and technological support would enable us to overcome poverty.”

Hasina also highlighted her govern-ment’s achievements in other � elds.

“We have been implementing var-ious activities for which Bangladesh has been able to make its place atthe global stage as a digni� ed nation,” Hasina said. l

Bishwajit murder case likely to end soonn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

Detective Branch (DB) Inspector Md Tajul Islam, also the current investi-gation o� cer in Bishwajit Das murder case, will testify on September 26.

The cross-examination of the previ-ous IO, Md Mahbubul Alam, ended yes-terday at the Speedy Trial Tribunal 4. The defence counsels of eight detained accused questioned him.

Mahbub, who was the then sub-in-spector of Sutrapur police station, during his deposition on September 22, said he identi� ed 16 accused, who had chopped and beaten Bishwajit in pub-lic, through print media reports and video footage.

He handed over the case docket and necessary documents to the present IO on December 15 last year.

Public prosecutor SM Ra� qul Is-lam said deposition of all the import-ant witnesses had been complete. “We will decide after the testimony ofthe current investigation o� cerwhether we need more witnesses in the case or not.”

Generally, an IO is placed as the last witness in a case.

The tribunal has so far recorded depositions of 31 out of 60 prosecution witnesses in the case. The trial began on July 14 with the � rst witness’ state-ment.

The case was transferred to Speedy Tribunal 4 from the Dhaka’sMetropolitan Sessions’ Judge’s Court on June 30. Charges were framed against the 21 Chhatra League activists on June 2.

The Speedy Trial Act stipulates wrapping up of a case within 135 work-ing days. However, the judge can ex-tend the time with valid reasons.

Of the 21 accused, all activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League of Jagan-nath University unit, eight are current-ly in jail. They were placed at the court yesterday.

Bishwajit, a 24-year-old tailor, was hacked to death near Victoria Park in Old Dhaka by the Chhatra League ac-tivists during the opposition’s coun-trywide road-blockade programme on December 9 last year. l

Five more coal-based powerprojects to get go-aheadOrion and S Alam o� er to generate over 2000MW in plants planned in Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal and Munshiganj n Aminur Rahman Rasel

The Power Division has cleared the way for awarding another � ve coal-based power projects to local private sector entrepreneurs having combinedcapacity to generate 2,087MW ofelectricity.

The proposal is now awaiting nod from the cabinet committee on pur-chase, Power Division o� cials said.

If the proposal gets the go-ahead, the Orion Group will be awarded with three more power projects having a combined capacity of 1,199MW while S Alam Group for the � rst time is likely get two power projects having a com-bined capacity of 888MW.

“We forwarded the proposal last week for approval of the cabinet com-mittee on purchase,” a top o� cial of the Power Division told the Dhaka Tri-bune.

According to the proposal, the Ori-on Group is likely to be awarded the 635MW Dhaka coal-based power proj-ect to generate electricity at Tk6.70 per unit and another 282MW project in Chittagong to produce power at Tk6.72 per unit for 25 years.

Earlier, the government awarded Orion two units – one Khulna power project of 282.5MW capacity to pro-duce power at Tk4.45 per unit and an-other in Munshiganj, which produces power at Tk4.79 per unit.

Electricity produced at the country’s

lone coal-� red power plant at Bara-pukuria costs Tk6 per unit.

The S Alam Group, which was main-ly involved in transport sector and then expanded its role to other ventures, is eyeing two coal-� red power projects having a combined capacity to gener-ate 888MW of electricity in Chittagong and Barisal.

It o� ers to sell electricity at Tk6.60 per unit from the proposed 612MW Chittagong plant and at Tk6.75 perunit from the 276MW Barisal power project.

Orion Group, a big local conglomer-ate having presence indi� erent sectors, has already been awarded three coal-� red projects to be set up in Khulnaand Munshiganj having a combined capacity to generate 1,087MW of elec-tricity.

On June 27 last year, the government signed an agreement with the Orion Group to this end.

The Orion Group planned to install one of the plants at Mawa of Munshi-ganj with a capacity of 522MW while two others with a total capacity of 565MW in Khulna region.

According to the agreements, the company was supposed to complete � nancial closings by March 25 this year. However, it is yet to mobilise funds, a top o� cial of the Power Development Board told the Dhaka Tribune.

The government has extended the time until this month to arrange fund

for the projects, granting time exten-sion by six months, the o� cial said.

The Dhaka Tribune contacted several times over the last two dayswith the spokesman of Orion Group, Chowdhury Khaled Masud, but he re-fused to make any comment on the issue.

State Minister for Power and Ener-gy Muhammed Enamul Huq told the Dhaka Tribune that he was yet to say anything about this power plant as the purchase committee would not permit the order till date.

The government has so far taken initiatives to set up eight coal-based power projects in public and private sectors.

Of them, the Orion Group was sup-posed to build three 1,087MW coal-based plants while two 1,450MW plants are under government initiative and three 7,960MW plants are joint-venture projects.

The government has a target to gen-erate around 20,000MW of electrici-ty from coal-based power projects by 2030.

The Orion Group is involved in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and toi-letries, infrastructure, real estate and construction, power, and textiles and other sectors.

The S Alam Group has its presence in transport, cement, shrimp hatchery, gas refuelling, edible oil, re� ned sugar, agro and other sectors. l

Professionals slam doctors for unethical practicesn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Unethical practices by doctors have emerged as a big obstacle for ensuring quality healthcare at low cost for every-one in the country.

Statistics show that more than 40,000 doctors, whose primary job is to treat patients in the public hospitals, spend more time in private engage-ments that bring them more money.

Professionals said many of these doctors have developed “unholy al-liances” with the private medical colleges; non-government hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres; and the pharmaceutical companies.

They allege that many doctors these days prescribe unnecessary drugs, including high-power antibiotics, pathological tests and even surgeries, jeopardising the lives of the hapless pa-tients because they bene� t � nancially by writing such prescriptions.

It is an open secret that many doc-tors accept gifts from pharmaceutical companies in exchange for prescribing their drugs. Sometimes even their fam-ilies enjoy pleasure trips abroad spon-sored fully by these companies.

There are allegations that some doc-tors, who work in the private medical and dental colleges, give pass marks to incom-petent students in exchange of bribes.

Noted health experts and profes-sionals expressed concerns with the alarming picture at a consultative meet-ing titled “Ethical guidelines for medi-cal practice,” organised by the Bangla-desh Medical and Dental Council.

The Rockefeller Foundation sup-ported the meeting held at the confer-

ence room of BMDC on Monday.National Professor Dr MR Khan said:

“Our backs are pressed against the wall. We should immediately � nd a way to stop such unethical practices by doctors.”

He also said: “Nowadays, doctors want to own money, car, � at and every-thing overnight. And for that they get involved in unethical practices. I have reached this position after going through 40 years of hardship in this � eld.”

Professor Dr Abu Sha� Ahmed Amin, president of BMDC, said a two-year pro-gramme had been undertaken to raise ethical awareness among the doctors and the process of formulating a “medi-cal ethics guideline” was underway.

He added that starting this year, three new courses, namely medical ethics, communication skills and be-havioural science, were being included in the new undergrad syllabus.

Prof Dr Moazzem Hossain, former treasurer of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mu-jib Medical University, said: “There is no control over the private medical colleges, clinics and diagnostic centres. We will have to build a social movement.”

BSMMU Pro-VC Shahidullah said: “Doctors are taking commission from hospitals and clinics. But it is like ‘ha-ram’ [prohibited] for them.”

Professor Azad Chowdhury said: “We have recently interviewed some doctors who had passed from private medical col-leges. I was surprised to see that they do not have even the basic knowledge about medical science. Some even seemed like they were not doctors at all.”

Dr Nihar Ranjan said the standard of education in private med schools had slid to the level of the primary schools. l

‘Destiny’ throws little girl into dustbinn Mohammad Jamil Khan

At lunchtime at the neurology ward of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, a small girl opens her eyes slightly and glances at the plate of rice and � sh set next to her.

With a smile on her lips, she starts eating eagerly, lying down as she is unable to lift her head from the pillow. But after eating just a little, she stops and is not able to continue.

The girl, who came to the capital a couple of months ago dreaming of square meals, is now languishing on a hospital bed with head wounds and in-jury marks all over her body.

Calling herself Aduri, which means “beloved” in Bangla, she says she is 11 years old, but due to malnutrition, she looks about seven.

She says her father’s name is Kha-leq Mridha and her mother is Sha� a Begum. But she is too traumatised to remember the name of her village, or recall the person who brought her to Dhaka to work as a house maid.

Talking to this correspondent yes-terday, she said her employers used to call her Monika, but she did not know their names. In a feeble voice, she

claimed they often beat her and did not feed her properly, despite her repeated prayers. And then one day, they threw her out like garbage.

Aduri was rescued by a police o� cer a day earlier from a dustbin in the city’s Baridhara area.

Abdul Mannan, an assistant sub-in-

spector of Cantonment police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that while he was patrolling the area on Monday, he noticed a crowd in front of an open dustbin and stopped to have a look.

There was something moving in the mound of rubbish, and Mannan discov-ered it was but a little girl, barely alive.

He immediately rushed her to the hos-pital.

Mannan said the owners of the house where she worked might have dumped her in the dustbin after tor-ture, thinking she was dead.

“We are investigating the incident. Once she is able to give a statement and her guardians are found, it will be easier to take action against the people who did this to her,” he said.

Rajiul Haque, a doctor of the neu-rosurgery department, said they were treating the child with medicines and food to help her recover from herinjuries.

“When she was admitted, she was unable to utter a single word. We gave her saline and some medicines. Now, she is able to speak a little, and we hope she will regain her health with good treatment and care,” Haque said.

Momtaz Begum, a patient in the bed next to Aduri’s, expressed her disgust at how some people were able to tor-ture such a small child.

“They are nothing but a group of animals who are living in the capital wearing the mask of people,” she said angrily, demanding capital punish-ment for such people. l

Aduri, a housemaid, found in a declining condition at a dustbin of the city’s Banani area, is now undergoing treatment at the DMCH. The photo was taken yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

Quake kills 150 in Balochistan n Tribune Online Report

A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit southwestern Pakistan yesterday killing hundreds in Balochistan and cre-ating a new island o� the Gwadar coast-line in its wake, reports Express News.

Tremors were felt as far as the Indi-an capital New Delhi.

The deputy speaker of Balochistan As-sembly stated that at least 150 people had died from the disaster in the province, says Karachi-based Express Tribune.

The quake struck at 4:29pm local time (1129 GMT) around 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of the city of Khu-zdar in Balochistan province, at a depth of 15 kilometres.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the earthquake at magnitude 7.7, recording its duration as eight seconds.

The areas most a� ected by the quake were Awaran and Khuzdar, with over 90% of the villages or communi-ties in Awaran were destroyed.

Pakistan Army started an emergen-cy rescue operation immediately.

Director General of ISPR Maj Gen Asim Bajwa tweeted that 300 soldiers were already in the area, with the num-ber expected to rise to 1000 by Wednes-day morning. Khuzdar would be used as base for the rescue e� ort.

On the Gwadar coastline, the quake created a small island about half a mile

into the sea near an area called “Jhan-da,” according to Express News.

The newly-appearing island is said to have a mountainous terrain rising up to a hundred feet. A large crowd was seen gathering at the site to see the new island.

The area of the epicentre is sparsely populated, but the USGS issued a red

alert for the quake, which left after-shocks of up to 5.9 magnitude, accord-ing to the meteorological department.

Minor tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi, while o� ce workers in the city of Ahmedabad near the border with Pakistan ran out of buildings and into the street.

Mumtaz Baluch, senior local admin-istration o� cial in Awaran district, 350 kilometres southwest of Quetta, told the AFP: “There are reports of houses being collapsed in the district due to earthquake. We have dispatched our teams to the a� ected area to ascertain the losses.” l

Pakistani pedestrians and o� ce workers leave an o� ce building after an earthquake in Karachi yesterday. A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit southwestern Pakistan with tremors felt as far away as the Indian capital New Delhi AFP

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

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Business

Businesswww.dhakatribune.com/business Wednesday, september 25, 2013

Clients not happy with banks

Stocks edge higher to end five-day losses

B3

B2

Bangladesh hopes to get out of FATF ’high risk country’ listIt may help cut cost of foreign transactions for businessnSheikh Shahariar Zaman

Bangladesh is expecting to get out of the list of “high risk country” of the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) as the country al-ready addressed the terrorist financing and anti-money laundering issues.

The cost of foreign transactions for busi-ness would fall, as a result.

The country would make its case in FATF plenary in Paris next month and the glob-al body would dispatch an on-sight team to visit Dhaka in November, said a senior official of Bangladesh Bank told the Dhaka Tribune.

“The on-sight report would be accepted in FATF Plenary in February. We’re expect-ing Bangladesh to be delisted from the list of high risk countries.”

He expected the country would no longer be termed as a high risk country after Febru-ary next year, and it would become a compli-ant country as far as terrorist financing and anti-money laundering issues are concern.

Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hassan said the Anti Terrorism Act [ATA] in Bangladesh meets all the elements of international standards.

Asia Pacific Regional Review Group, a

FATF committee, has expressed satisfaction over the anti-terrorism and money launder-ing laws and regulations Bangladesh enact-ed recently, he said.

“We met the APRRG team in Malaysia and they also endorsed the same view,” he added.Bangladesh is now framing the rules of

Anti Terrorism Act, which would be issued soon, Hassan told a World Bank organised training programme on UN Security Coun-cil Resolution (UNSCR) related to terrorist financing.

In addition, Bangladesh is complying with the requirements of the UNSCR since the inception of financial intelligence unit (FIU) in Bangladesh Bank, he said.

The FIU has now a wide coverage in line with the FATF recommendations in Febru-ary, 2012 and it included prevention, sup-pression and disruption of proliferation of weapons of mass destructions, and financ-

ing to it, Hassan added.Another Bangladesh Bank official said, in

general, the charge for confirmation of let-ter of credit (LC) ranges between 0.25% and 0.5% of the LC value. But in case of Bang-ladesh like all other high risk countries the charge is 1% higher.

“If the high risk country label is with-drawn, we will not have to pay the addition-al amount as risk premium.”

Bangladesh during the last three years enacted a number of laws related to terror-ist financing and anti-money laundering and became a member of the Egmont Group in July 2013, an organisation of the financial in-telligence units all over the world, said the official.

Bangladesh in 2009 submitted a report to the Asia Pacific Group, the Asian wing of FATF, but it received poor rating and brand-ed as high risk country.

“Bangladesh was put into the basket of FATF listing in 2010 as its rating was not satisfactory and it was termed as a high risk country that resulted in foreign exchange transactions costlier,” the official said.

In the last fiscal, the two-way internation-al trade of the country stood at about $60b, about 60% of the gross domestic product. l

Venture capital gaining momentumnTahmidur Rahman

Venture capital is gradually gaining momentum in Bangladesh with having huge potential to accumulate fund for entrepreneurship develop-ment.

BD Venture Limited and US-based DEFTA Part-ners signed a memorandum of understanding in Dhaka yesterday to co-finance business ventures in Bangladesh.

The venture capitalists, however, considered absence of a regulatory body and poor financial reporting standards as the major challenges to the initiative.

Unlike private equity, venture capital is an in-vestment instrument widely used especially in the start-ups business or in the equity of an existing company’s new operation with a clause that the company might buy back the shake at a particular predetermined period in future.

The fundamental difference between ven-ture capital and any other loan product is the price of the company’s stake being not predeter-mined.

“The opportunity in Bangladesh is tremendous as the young entrepreneurs are dealing with prov-en technologies for developing new businesses,” DEFTA Partners CEO George Hara told a press conference after the signing ceremony.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune on the sidelines, the special advisor to the cabinet office of the Prime Minister of Japan said: “Bangladesh will be the next Japan in two decades riding on the back of the venture investment.”

Investment Manager of SEAF Bangladesh Agri Ventures Limited Nazmul Karim said despite sol-id potentials for venture capital investments in Bangladesh, issues like poor corporate govern-ance, shortcomings in the regulatory framework, lack of policy support and awareness among

entrepreneurs restricts the development of this sector.

The venture capital is more risky than private equity or providing loans because it has no col-lateral to claim when the business ventures fail to establish.

“I don’t think venture capital financing has any prospect in the country unless the financial re-porting and auditing standards improve substan-tially,” said Shahidul Islam, CEO of VIPB (Venture Investment Partners Bangladesh) Asset Manage-ment Co Ltd.

“To avoid being labeled as a defaulter by Bang-ladesh Bank due the defaults by the investing companies, venture capital companies in Bangla-desh seek to hold only minority stakes.

Therefore, the protection of minority share-holders rights ensured by proper regulatory au-thority and the legal system is critical for develop-ment of the industry.”

Earlier, the venture capitalists had requested Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission to take initiative to prepare a regulatory guideline for such investment. l

‘Bangladesh will be the next Japan in two decades riding on the back of the venture investment’

‘The on-sight report would be accepted in FATF Plenary in February. We’re expecting Bangladesh to be delisted from the list of high risk countries’

Hydro-automated dredger launched in BangladeshnTribune Report

Bangladesh announced the launch-ing of a first-ever hydro-automated dredgers yesterday after unsuccessful operation of some locally made prod-ucts.

United Dredging and Engineering Co. Ltd manufactured the dredger named “United Dredger 1” which was announced at a function in Dhaka yes-terday.

Eastern Bank’s chief executive of-ficer and managing director Ali Reza If-tekhar formally inaugurated the dredg-er through unveiling a replica of it.

Many dredgers were manufactured in the country previously, but could not be operated successfully.

Officials hope the successful operation of the newly launched United Dredg-er could put an end to the import of dredgers.

“With the launch of the dredger, a dream of mine has come true. If the operation is successful, no import of dredger will be needed,” Ehsan Yusuf, managing director of United Dredging and Engineering, told the Dhaka Trib-une.

“It is a unique invention. In the country like Bangladesh which is crisscrossed by rivers, dredgers are in demand. Considering this fact, we financed the project,” said Easter Bank’s CEO Ali Reza Iftekhar.

He said the SME team of Eastern Bank continues to give supports and provide loans to the country’s young entrepreneurs.

“Financing in the making of hy-dro-automated dredger was one such effort of the bank,” added the Ali Reza.

Engineer Ruhul Kuddus, one of the two main engineers of the project, said: “As many as eight such initiatives were taken earlier, but all were unsuc-cessful.”

“If the new becomes successful, it would be the first successful dredger in country. Then, we can go into man-ufacturing more dredgers.” l

‘With the launch of the dredger, a dream of mine has come true. If the operation is successful, no import of dredger will be needed’

dHaKa trIbUne Business2 Wednesday, september 25, 2013

GP reaches 45m customersnMuhammad Zahidul Islam

Grameenphone users have crossed 45 mil-lion as on August 31.

According to the second quarter (Jan-Jun) report of its parent company Telenor Group, GP’s contribution to the group now stands 29.4% of the total customer base of 153 mil-lion of the group.

There has not been any official announce-ment about the latest customer base by the country’s largest mobile phone operator, but the company insiders have confirmed about the information.

The company, however, apprised Bangla-desh Telecommunication Regulatory Com-mission (BTRC) of the customer data to be published in the BTRC website soon, said an official.

Grameenphone roughly acquired almost

7,500 subscribers per day during a peri-od from March 26, 1997 up to August this year.

“We have been so busy for a long period of time with 3G auction that we could not inform the stock exchanges and Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission about the land mark achievement,” a senior execu-tive of GP told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said not only in Bangladesh, Grameen-phone is the top of the list on Telenor’s table for a long time. It has also been placed in a prestigious position of Telenor and in the globe.

Grameenphone awarded license in 1996 and started just after that year. From the beginning, Telenor is the major share holder with 55.8% stake. Grameen Telecom holds 34.2% and remaining 10% offloaded to the capital market. l

Clients not happy with banksnTribune Report

Bangladesh Bank has received from cus-tomers 70% more complaints of banks’ cor-ruption and irregularities in last fiscal year compared to the previous year, said a Bang-ladesh Bank report.

Bangladesh Bank governor Dr Atiur Rah-man yesterday unveiled the annual report of 2012-13 of the Customer Services Division.

The high officials of the central bank were also present during the unveiling of the report.

Over the past two years since the estab-lishment of the Customer Service Division in March 2011 till June 2013, the central bank received a total of 7,144 complaints written and over phone about corruption and irregu-larities of the banks.

While the number of such complaints was 2,526 in the fiscal 2011-12, the number increased to 4,296 in 2012-13, the report said.

Dr Atiur Rahman urged the banks to im-prove the quality of their service.

He said: “The clients are the real owners of a bank. So, the bank’s authorities must lis-ten to them.”

While addressing the function held at the Bangladesh Bank headquarters in Dhaka, the governor informed that 56% of the peo-ple are now within the coverage of banking service.

He put emphasis on continuing efforts to include the remaining 44% in the banking service.

Most of the complaints received over phone were connected with the banks’ gen-eral banking, followed by loan and advance,

remittance, bill, ATM and mobile banking services.

Of the written complaints, the most were about non-payment of recognised bills against letters of credit, followed by general banking and loan and advance.

As many as 45% of complaints were against the private banks while around 38% were against the state-owned commercial

banks.The customer complaints against the

specialised banks were 14%, followed by the non-bank financial institutions with 0.15%.

Bangladesh Bank’s deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury said the performance of the scheduled banks were not satisfactory. He urged the banks to try to establish transpar-ency in banking service. l

Airtel, Arkay Group ink deal nTribune Business Desk

Airtel Bangladesh Limited has recently signed an agreement with Arkay Group to provide voice and data connections, SMS and other solutions, says a press release.

Airtel CEO Rajnish Kaul and Arkay Group DMD Raqien Karim signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies at the Airtel office. Arkay Group CEO Ashok Hakoo, Airtel Head of Corporate and SME Sales Adil Hossain and other officials of the companies were present at the ceremony. l

Grey shines in Commward nTribune Business Desk

The third edition of the Commward hosted by the Bangladesh Brand Forum to recognise excellence in creative communications was held at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel re-cently.

This year, Grey won 11 awards including 7 Grand Prix, namely for the Grameenphone Internet Tab Outdoor, Grameenphone-Start-up jingle, Pizza Inn activation, the Fast Glue radio commercial, DnetAponjon Social, Spelling Bee television commercial and the Berger Beyond Just Paint PR campaign.

Moreover, it won two golds respectively for Grameenphone Network outdoor and Kaalmegh Online. It also won 2 silvers for the TV commercial for New Zealand Dairy Diplo-ma and Grameenphone Clear Cut Academy Integrated. Consequently, it was the most awarded agency at the Commward 2013.

The Grey was also the only creative agen-cy that won an award for each of its depart-ments including the newly ventured online, activation, social and the Public Relation de-partments. l

NCCB Securities holds its third AGMnTribune Business Desk

NCCB Securities and Financial Services Lim-ited held its third Annual General Meeting at its Head Office recently.

NCCB Securities Chairman and NCC Bank Managing Director Mohammed Nurul Amin presided over the meeting, said a press re-lease.

Directors AK Md Siddique, Gazi Hasan Mahmud, Md Mizanur Rahman, CEO Md Ab-dul Bari Sarker and NCC Bank Company Sec-retary AKM Nurul Islam were also present in the meeting. l

Oil prices edge lower on easing Middle East concernsnAFP, Singapore

Oil prices fell further in Asian trade yester-day on easing concerns about supplies from the Middle East, but upbeat economic data from Europe and China capped losses, ana-lysts said.

New York’s main contract, West Tex-as Intermediate for delivery in November was down two cents at $103.57 in afternoon trade, while Brent North Sea crude for No-vember eased three cents to $108.13.

WTI dipped $1.16 in New York Monday, while Brent fell $1.06 in London trade.

“Oil prices edged lower...due to higher output of crude from Iraq and a potential improvement in US-Iran relations, easing supply concerns,” Teoh Say Hwa, head of investment at Phillip Futures in Singapore, said in a note.

Officials from Iraq, the second largest pro-ducer in oil cartel OPEC, on Monday were quoted as saying that the country has re-stored normal output after completing repair work on a pipeline leak.

The European Union on Monday an-nounced that Iran’s foreign minister would meet major powers this week on Tehran’s nuclear programme in what could be historic top-level contact with the United States. l

bangladesh bank governor dr atiur rahman unveils the annual report of Customer services division yesterday BAnglAdesh BAnk

BusinessdHaKa trIbUne 3Wednesday, september 25, 2013

DSE suspends CVO Petrochemical share trading nTribune Report

The Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday sus-pended share trading of CVO Petrochemical Refinery for its unusual price hike of shares.

“For the sake of investigation about its re-cent abnormal price hike, CVO share trading has temporarily suspended,” said a DSE of-ficial. In the last one month, its share prices rose more than 50% to Tk876 each.

Earlier in reply to a DSE enquiry, the com-pany said there is no price sensitive informa-tion about the price hike.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) called the Chittagong Stock Exchange for hearing about its demutualisation scheme proposal. Today, it will take hearing of the Dhaka Stock Ex-change.

The demutualisation scheme proposals submitted by both the stock exchanges sepa-rately earlier to the regulator are expected to be approved by this week. l

Stocks edge higher to end five-day lossesnTribune Report

The market edged higher yesterday, ending five-day losses in a row, amid lacklustre trad-ing activities.

The market began on positive note but the momentum failed to sustain as selling pressure, mainly on textile and banks, came in, chipping away some of early gains.

The benchmark DSEX index gained slightly 9 points or 0.2% to 4,030. The blue chip index DS30 was up 4 points or 0.3% to 1,472. The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, rose near-ly 19 points to 7,872.

Trading activities took a jolt as the turno-ver value stood at Tk4.7bn, registering a fall of 10% over the previous session’s value.

“The opening hype could not sustain against profit booking after mid-session. Regardless of this situation, investors’ posi-tioning in most of the large cap and mid cap scrips assisted indices to end in green zone,” said IDLC Investments.

Investors mostly focused on sector wise shuffling during the day’s session. Besides, scrips wise swings persisted throughout the session, it said. “However, investors were seemed to be indecisive backed by apparent lack of future market direction.”

The gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 291 issues traded, 151 ad-vanced, 116 declined and 24 remained un-changed in the prime bourse.

“Investors seem to churn their portfolio positioning on one stock to another based on their anticipation about market ahead of Eid-ul-Azha and political upheavals,” said Lanka Bangla Securities.

A meager recovery in DSE index and a fall in turnover is a clear indication that the mar-ket is still in the grip of fluctuation, said Ze-nith Investment. It was mainly the small cap scrips that gained handsomely to push the DSEX, giving an indication that these scrips

looks to strengthen their position in the mar-ket over the upcoming days, it said.

Most of the sectors ended flat and a cou-ple of them did quite well. Once again Insur-ance was the top gainer, as most of the in-surance companies’ performance was quite laudable.

The cement sector gained more than 6%, driven by MI Cement that rallied around 3% in terms of turnover.

The major sectors posted mixed results - telecommunications, which was the big los-er previous day, made a quick recovery on the day with a rise of 2%.

Fuel and power and non-banking finan-cial institutions advanced 0.5% and 0.3% re-

spectively. Banks and pharmaceuticals close flat.

Amid the slower participation, activity centralisation continued in textile and phar-maceutical sectors, contributing over 22% and 9% respectively of the total turnover.

CMC Kamal became the top turnover leader with shares worth Tk174.6m changing hands. Three other issues from the Textile sector featured in the top ten turnover chart.

Rahima Food was the day’s highest gain-er, posting a rise of more than 9% while Modern Dyeing was the day’s worst loser, slumping by almost 10% following the news that the company’s production was closed since 31 January, 2010. l

Dollar holds steady in Asia amid Fed stimulus uncertaintynAFP, Tokyo

The dollar held steady against the yen in Asian trade yesterday amid uncertainty about the Federal Re-serve’s plans for its huge stimulus programme.

In Tokyo afternoon trading, the greenback bought 98.87 yen, nearly unchanged from New York overnight but down from levels above 99 yen in Asia earlier Monday.

The Fed last week surprised markets by keeping its bond-buying scheme unchanged, confounding economists who had expected the bank to begin reeling it in as the US economy shows signs of strengthening.

On Friday, two days after the Fed announcement, senior bank official James Bullard said the cutbacks could still come this year.

But on Monday, other Fed officials reinforced the message that the central bank needed to see more concrete im-provement in the economy before cut-ting back on the $85 billion-a-month bond-buying scheme.

“Dovish remarks... yesterday failed to lift market sentiment as investors remained cautious over Fed tapering amid contrasting signals from offi-cials,” Credit Agricole said.

In other trading, the euro was at $1.3494 against $1.3493 in New York and well off the $1.3529 touched in Asia Monday, while it also eased to 133.31 yen from 133.37 yen.

The single currency suffered sell-ing after European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi voiced concern Monday about rising interest rates on the inter-bank markets and said the ECB could provide fresh liquidity.

The euro’s initial uptick after German chancellor Angela Merkel clinched her third term in a convincing election victory Sunday proved to be short-lived.

“The ‘sell the news’ response to the German election also obscured any favourable reaction to good German, French and eurozone services (data),” National Australia Bank said.

The dollar was mixed against other Asian currencies.

The greenback rose to 11,156 Indo-nesian rupiah from 11,495 rupiah on Monday, to Sg$1.2533 from Sg$1.2494 and to Tw$29.58 from Tw$29.55.

It also rose to 31.27 Thai baht from 31.13 baht, to 62.69 Indian rupees from 62.53 rupees, and to 43.35 Philippine pesos from 43.15 pesos.

The US unit sagged to 1,075.28 South Korean won from 1,076.24 won.

The Australian dollar slipped to 94.13 US cents from 94.26 cents, and the Chinese yuan sank to 16.12 yen from 16.20 yen. l

BSRM teams up with MRDI for CSR activitiesnTribune Business Desk

The women who are often victims of vio-lence and trafficking are being liberated from insecurity and hardcore poverty through an initiative of Management and Resources De-velopment Initiative (MRDI) with the fund-ing support of BSRM.

This is like a new beginning, a new lease of life for the poverty hit women of Bahadurpur, a village near Benapole border in Jessore. A skill training centre for women is expected to bene-fit ten thousand people of the village.

Alternative Development Organisation for Raising Entrepreneurship and a local daily Gramer Kagoj will jointly implement the pro-ject under the supervision of MRDI. To this effect, an agreement signing ceremony among the organisations was held in Dhaka yesterday.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman was present in the ceremony to encourage the initiative. Chairman of BSRM Alihus-sain Akberali, Executive Director of MRDI

Hasibur Rahman and corporate dignitaries were also present. This project is a part of joint effort of MRDI and Manusher Jonno Foundation to use CSR funds as an alterna-tive social development support.

BB governor highly appreciated the joint initiative of BSRM and MRDI in using CSR funds to address poverty. He termed it as an important step towards building partnership between corporate and civil society organi-sations for optimum utilization of CSR funds in development.

Referring to the CSR activities of BSRM, Akberali said BSRM wants to focus and en-gage in a few interventions related to educa-tion, health care, livelihood, and renewable energy to reach and affect the lives of many under its CSR programme.

This Jessore project would give the young vulnerable girls of the border area an oppor-tunity to gain skills to make a livelihood and save themselves from the dirty hands of hu-man trafficking gang. l

people walk past the dhaka stock exchange premises dhAkA TrIBune

dHaKa trIbUne Business4 Wednesday, september 25, 2013

China says only ‘heavy punches’ will dent rising monopoly behaviournReuters, Beijing

A heavy-handed approach is needed to halt a rise in monopolistic behaviour by companies in China, a senior official said yesterday, in a sign that an antitrust campaign which has already ensnared top global firms could get tougher.

“Only heavy punches will work,” Xu Kunlin, head of the anti-monopoly bu-reau at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said in a speech to a business forum in Beijing.

“It’s easy to find evidence on many firms’ monopolistic behavior in China,” Xu said. “Some of it could be found on the Internet,” he added, noting the ease of discovery was the reason why investi-gations had been so successful this year.

The NDRC is China’s top economic planning body but it also regulates pric-es. It has launched a spate of antitrust in-vestigations across sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals to milk powder and jewellery in recent months.

In particular, authorities are paying attention to whether manufacturers are forcing retailers to set minimum prices for products, which would contravene a 2008 anti-monopoly law.

China’s leaders are trying to restruc-ture the economy to one where growth is driven by consumers, and while Xu did not mention any specific companies or industries, he said investigations would focus more on sectors affecting the lives of ordinary people.

He added that competition policy should be a key economic policy area for China.

Speaking later to Reuters, Xu said authorities had some targets for future investigations but he declined to give specific details.

During his speech, he reiterated that the investigations were not aimed at specific companies or foreign firms.

“It would not be objective to say that the investigations target foreign firms because they involve foreign firms,” Xu said, adding that antitrust investiga-tions would become routine and people would get used to them.

The NDRC has launched nearly 20 pricing-related probes into domestic and foreign firms in the last three years, ac-cording to official media reports and re-search published by law firms.

It fined a group of mostly foreign milk powder producers, including Mead Johnson Nutrition Co and Danone, a to-tal of $110m for price fixing last month.

The agency is also investigating the pricing practices of 60 local and foreign pharmaceutical firms. Autos, telecoms and banks might come next, regulators have suggested.

Some antitrust experts argue foreign companies have been more vulnerable to regulators since they lack domestic political backing. l

Leaders to discuss Japan importing Canada gasnAFP, Tokyo

Japan and Canada will hold talks today on Canadian shale gas exports to Japan, reports said, as the resource-poor Asian country looks to diversify its sources of fuel.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is in Ottawa at the start of a five-day trip to North America, was set to meet Canadian Prime Min-ister Stephen Harper later in the day.

The two men will discuss Tokyo’s giving assistance in the construction of pipelines and infrastructure to encourage the early ex-port of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan,

national broadcaster NHK said.Those exports were likely to start around

2020, according to Kyodo News, while the Nikkei newspaper said they might begin in late 2018.

Japan, the world’s third largest economy, is the world’s biggest LNG consumer, but pays a higher price for LNG than that charged in Europe and North America because Asian contracts are often long-term and linked to oil prices.

The trend has remained despite increas-ing global production of LNG, particularly in light of the US shale gas revolution, Japanese

officials have said.Hefty prices for LNG have hit Japanese

utilities, which are now entirely without working atomic reactors because of a public backlash in the aftermath of the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

LNG-powered thermal plants used to pro-vide about a third of Japan’s electricity be-fore the tsunami-sparked crisis. They now account for about a half.

A gas trade deal with Canada would fol-low an earlier agreement by the United States to ship shale gas to Japan from around 2017. l

Facebook, other banned sites to be open in China free trade zonenReuters, Shanghai

Facebook, Twitter and other websites deemed sensitive and blocked by the Chinese government will be accessible in a planned free-trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.

Citing unidentified government sources, the Hong Kong newspaper also said author-ities would welcome bids from foreign tele-coms firms for licenses to provide Internet services in the zone.

China’s ruling Communist Party aggres-sively censors the Internet, routinely delet-ing online postings and blocking access to websites it deems inappropriate or politi-cally sensitive. Facebook and Twitter were blocked by Beijing in mid-2009 following deadly riots in the western province of Xin-

jiang that authorities say were abetted by the social networking sites. The New York Times has been blocked since reporting last year that the family of then-Premier Wen Jiabao had amassed a huge fortune.

The recently approved Shanghai FTZ is slated to be a test bed for convertibility of China’s yuan currency and further liberali-zation of interest rates, as well as reforms of foreign direct investment and taxation, the State Council, or cabinet, has said. The zone will be formally launched on September 29, the Securities Times reported earlier this month.

The idea of unblocking websites in the FTZ was to make foreigners “feel like at home”, the South China Morning Post quot-ed a government source as saying. “If they can’t get onto Facebook or read The New

York Times, they may naturally wonder how special the free-trade zone is compared with the rest of China,” the source said.

A spokesman for Facebook said the com-pany had no comment on the newspaper report. No one at Twitter or the New York Times was immediately available to com-ment.

China’s three biggest telecoms companies - China Mobile, China Unicom and China Tel-ecom - have been informed of the decision to allow foreign competition in the FTZ, the sources told the newspaper.

The three state-owned companies had not raised complaints because they knew the decision had been endorsed by Chinese leadership including Premier Li Keqiang, who has backed the Shanghai FTZ, the sources added. l

the sun rises behind the entrance sign to Facebook headquarters in menlo park before the company’s IpO launch reuTers

BusinessdHaKa trIbUne 5Wednesday, september 25, 2013

Gold jewellery exports nearly halve in AugustnReuters, Mumbai

Gold jewellery exports climbed in August from the previous month on improving US demand even though exporters faced tight supplies of the metal on Reserve Bank of In-dia (RBI) steps to tackle the country’s rising trade deficit.

Exports could climb in the coming months as the Reserve Bank of India has tied metal imports by the world’s biggest bullion buyer to its overseas shipments and the gov-ernment recently clarified how the rule will work, potentially easing the tight supply sit-uation for exporters.

India exported $561m worth of gold jewel-lery in August compared with July’s $441.4m, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said in a statement on Tues-day. In tonnage terms, this would mean 12-14 tonnes depending on quality.

“Exporters were using their old stocks... August to November have generally been stronger months, and we have seen more sales to the US,” said Colin Shah, managing director of Kama Schachter, a gold jewellery exporter based in Mumbai.

India’s efforts to stem buying of gold, the second-biggest item in its import bill, and protect its currency include a rule that 20% of all imports must be turned around and sold for export as jewellery.

But confusion over how the rule would work had virtually stopped imports since the end of July. They are expected to resume soon after a high-level meeting of govern-ment officials last week to clarify the rules.

“Right now, their issue is getting the raw material even if they have export orders. From October onwards, exports will recover after exporters start getting delivery of the yellow metal from the banks,” said Shah.

Most banks would re-start placing orders with their suppliers after their stock, which is estimated to be at about one tonne, is cleared by the customs department at the airports just ahead of the peak Christmas season. A majority of India’s gold imports are made through banks.

India shipped out $2.68bn worth of gold jewellery in value terms from April to Au-gust, down 59.4% on year. Total gems and jewellery exports fell 13.4% to $13.84bn dur-ing the same period.

Exports usually total only about 60-70 tonnes per year and compete for markets from the Middle East to the United States against jewellery from Thailand and Turkey.

India had imported a record 162 tonnes of

the metal in May, about three times the nor-mal monthly average. Imports totalled more than 380 tonnes in April-July.

India’s total gold imports could now be below 750 tonnes in the year to March 2014, Arvind Mayaram, economic affairs secretary at the finance ministry said last week, about 60 tonnes per month under the new rule.

Silver jewellery exports rose 68% to $120.11m in August on year, and jumped 143% in April to August to $634.16m.

“Exports of silver jewellery will continue to rise as a majority of the jewellers who are in fashion segment have turned to silver,” said Ariez Tata, managing director of Mum-bai-based Yash Jewellery, which ships 75% of its output to the United States. l

German ‘grand coalition’ would be good for Europe: analystsnAFP, Frankfurt

Germany will not change course on Europe following weekend elections, victorious Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday, even as analysts suggested she could adopt a slightly softer tone towards austerity-hit partners.

In a stunning election triumph, Merkel and her conservatives scored their best re-sult in 23 years in general elections Sunday winning 41.5% of the votes, not far off an ab-solute majority.

But Merkel must now start the process of haggling with potential partners to find a gov-erning alliance for Europe’s biggest economy.

And a so-called “grand coalition” with the Social Democratic

Party (SPD) - a power-sharing arrange-ment Merkel used in her first term between 2005 and 2009 - is looking the most likely outcome.

Asked by reporters at her Christian Dem-ocratic Union (CDU) headquarters whether Germany would now be more flexible in its demands for structural reforms and bal-anced budgets from European partners, she responded: “Our course on European policy will not change.”

“We must come out of the crisis stronger,” she added.

Germany had been considered the “sick man of Europe” around a decade ago but is now “an anchor of stability” in the EU.

“The others can also achieve that,” said Merkel, who has insisted on stringent re-forms in return for bailouts in debt- wracked eurozone countries. With regard to a possi-ble coalition with the SPD, Merkel said: “We are open for discussions.

“I had a first contact with the SPD chair-man who understandably asked that the SPD first hold its party meeting on Friday,” she said.

But she added she did not rule out talks on a potential coalition with the ecologist Greens.

Analysts believe that a centre-right, cen-tre-left coalition between the CDU, its Ba-varian allies the CSU and the SPD will herald no major policy changes, particularly with regard to Europe.

“Most Germans want a grand coalition led by Merkel according to opinion polls,” said Berenberg Bank chief economist Holger Schmieding.

“The impact on policy will be small, with hardly any change on the European level and a modest tilt towards a centre-left agenda at home,” he said.

“Overall, the election outcome should be interpreted fairly positively: a grand co-alition would have large parliamentary ma-jorities in both houses of parliament,” said analysts at Citi Research in a note to inves-tors. l

Austria’s economic success - not just Red Bull ‘wings’nAFP, Vienna

Slot machine giant Novomatic, mounted cranes market leader Palfinger and bricks be-hemoth Wienerberger are hardly household names, but they are all highly successful and call the same country home: Austria.

Alongside the better-known energy drinks trailblazer Red Bull or iconic handgun maker Glock, such companies have made this Alpine country, which holds elections on Sunday, an economic success story.

Unemployment is 4.8% - close to full em-ployment and the lowest in the European Union - while gross domestic product per capita is the 10th highest on the planet, ac-cording to the World Bank.

The landlocked eurozone member of 8.4 million people is neighbours not only with economic giant Germany, with which it shares a common language, but also majority-German-speaking Switzerland, and Italy.

Once the centre of a great empire, it also shares borders with the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia, making it a gateway to the emerging economies of cen-tral and eastern Europe.

While the global economy stumbled last year, with the eurozone - its main trading partner - in recession, Austrian exports still rose 1.5% to 124bn euros ($168 billion). In the first half of 2013 they were up 1.1%.

It did not escape the sharp global slow-down of 2009 in the wake of the financial crisis, with GDP contracting 3.8%, but it bounced back to expand 2.1% in 2010 and 2.7% in 2011 before slowing to 0.8% last year.

Austria’s banks, meanwhile, are less of a success story, with the government forced to nationalise two lenders following the world financial crisis and overly aggressive expan-sion into eastern and central Europe.

The International Monetary Fund warned in a report this month that Austrian banks’ exposure there amounted to 105% of Austri-an GDP.

By eurozone standards, Austria’s public fi-nances are in solid shape, with the outgoing government of Chancellor Werner Faymann projecting a balanced budget in 2016.

But the IMF report noted that reforms were needed in pensions, health care and subsidies, with the country’s generous social security system “complex and costly” and labour taxes “high and distortionary”.

Voters though appear less concerned, and Sunday’s election is expected to result in Faymann’s outgoing coalition of centrist parties, which have dominated politics since 1945, winning another term.

This is due not least to Austria’s low un-employment rate, which is thanks to excel-lent youth training, schemes to find new jobs for workers made redundant and the ease with which firms can hire and fire, said Hed-wig Lutz from the WIFO economic institute.

Having Germany as your closest trading partner also helps, Lutz told AFP.

“Austria is a small country with a strong export-oriented sector. There are very good connections with neighbouring countries, in particular with Germany, and Germany man-aged the crisis well,” he said. l

a craftsman makes a gold necklace at a workshop in new delhi reuTers

BANKABBANK | 2.95 | 32.60 | Vol. 193292 D: 23.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 23.11 | 24.00 / 20.80 C: 22.60 ⇓ 1.74% | 22.70 | 23.20 / 22.50CITYBANK | 1.15 | 25.97 | Vol. 317090 D: 15.10 ⇓ 0.66% | 15.23 | 15.50 / 14.00 C: 15.10 ⇓ 0.66% | 15.24 | 15.60 / 15.10IFIC | 1.10 | 18.34 | Vol. 240540 D: 19.20 ⇓ 1.03% | 19.33 | 19.80 / 18.00 C: 19.40 ⇓ 0.51% | 19.38 | 19.60 / 19.20ISLAMIBANK | 3.78 | 27.16 | Vol. 1366475 D: 36.20 ⇓ 0.55% | 36.32 | 37.00 / 33.00 C: 36.10 ⇑ 0.28% | 36.00 | 36.20 / 35.00NBL | 1.05 | 15.76 | Vol. 1284944 D: 10.50 ⇓ 0.94% | 10.59 | 11.60 / 9.80 C: 10.60 ⇓ 0.93% | 10.63 | 10.70 / 10.50PUBALIBANK | 1.92 | 21.18 | Vol. 355244 D: 30.90 ⇑ 0.65% | 30.97 | 31.10 / 28.00 C: 31.00 ⇑ 1.64% | 30.65 | 31.10 / 29.60RUPALIBANK | 6.70 | 64.27 | Vol. 4920 D: 59.60 ⇑ 1.36% | 59.69 | 61.00 / 55.00 C: 57.50 ⇓ 0.17% | 57.25 | 57.50 / 57.20UCBL | 1.90 | 21.72 | Vol. 1157606 D: 16.90 ⇓ 1.17% | 17.03 | 18.10 / 15.40 C: 17.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 17.02 | 17.10 / 15.50UTTARABANK | 3.42 | 26.97 | Vol. 270637 D: 25.00 ⇓ 0.40% | 25.13 | 26.40 / 22.90 C: 24.90 ⇓ 0.40% | 24.93 | 25.10 / 24.70ICBIBANK | -1.60 | -13.03 | Vol. 182100 D: 5.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.84 | 6.00 / 5.40EBL | 3.91 | 28.22 | Vol. 181018 D: 26.20 ⇓ 1.13% | 26.16 | 26.80 / 26.10 C: 26.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 26.04 | 26.10 / 24.50ALARABANK | 2.03 | 14.91 | Vol. 257252 D: 13.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 13.89 | 14.00 / 12.70 C: 13.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 13.88 | 14.10 / 13.00PRIMEBANK | 2.89 | 22.40 | Vol. 1207798 D: 16.90 ⇓ 3.43% | 16.94 | 17.50 / 16.00 C: 17.20 ⇓ 4.44% | 17.20 | 17.50 / 17.10SOUTHEASTB | 1.89 | 22.66 | Vol. 325339 D: 14.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 14.83 | 16.00 / 13.50 C: 14.90 ⇑ 1.36% | 14.68 | 14.90 / 14.60DHAKABANK | 1.46 | 18.08 | Vol. 655111 D: 17.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 17.30 | 18.30 / 16.00 C: 17.10 ⇓ 1.16% | 17.10 | 17.20 / 17.00NCCBANK | 1.90 | 15.88 | Vol. 302528 D: 11.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 11.06 | 11.30 / 10.00 C: 11.00 ⇓ 0.90% | 11.01 | 11.20 / 10.90SIBL | 2.05 | 14.47 | Vol. 497962 D: 11.20 ⇑ 0.90% | 11.26 | 12.00 / 10.00 C: 11.30 ⇑ 1.80% | 11.19 | 11.50 / 10.00DUTCHBANGL | 11.57 | 54.27 | Vol. 67000 D: 91.80 ⇓ 0.33% | 92.12 | 94.50 / 91.50MTBL | 1.17 | 17.27 | Vol. 84705 D: 14.50 ⇑ 0.69% | 14.34 | 14.70 / 13.00 C: 14.40 ⇓ 1.37% | 14.37 | 14.50 / 14.30STANDBANKL | 2.33 | 14.41 | Vol. 240743 D: 12.50 ⇑ 0.81% | 12.59 | 13.60 / 11.40 C: 12.30 ⇓ 1.60% | 12.43 | 12.70 / 12.30ONEBANKLTD | 2.35 | 15.34 | Vol. 404657 D: 14.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 14.16 | 14.50 / 13.00 C: 14.00 ⇑ 0.72% | 14.07 | 14.20 / 13.50BANKASIA | 1.35 | 20.80 | Vol. 155235 D: 19.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 19.15 | 19.40 / 17.20 C: 18.80 ⇓ 1.05% | 18.89 | 19.00 / 18.70MERCANBANK | 2.07 | 16.59 | Vol. 216317 D: 11.10 ⇓ 0.89% | 11.16 | 11.50 / 10.50 C: 11.10 ⇓ 0.89% | 11.14 | 11.20 / 10.10EXIMBANK | 1.80 | 14.31 | Vol. 527057 D: 10.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 10.76 | 11.70 / 10.00 C: 10.90 ⇑ 1.87% | 10.86 | 11.00 / 10.70JAMUNABANK | 2.47 | 18.56 | Vol. 116139 D: 13.30 ⇓ 0.75% | 13.44 | 13.60 / 12.20 C: 13.10 ⇑ 0.77% | 13.13 | 13.30 / 13.10BRACBANK | 1.51 | 24.87 | Vol. 156608 D: 27.60 ⇑ 1.47% | 27.48 | 29.00 / 25.00 C: 27.20 ⇑ 0.74% | 27.12 | 27.40 / 26.90SHAHJABANK | 2.61 | 14.47 | Vol. 189240 D: 13.70 ⇑ 0.74% | 13.70 | 14.50 / 12.50 C: 13.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 13.59 | 13.70 / 13.50

PREMIERBAN | 1.18 | 13.95 | Vol. 378595 D: 9.20 ⇓ 2.13% | 9.31 | 10.00 / 8.50 C: 9.20 ⇓ 2.13% | 9.33 | 9.60 / 9.20TRUSTBANK | 0.50 | 18.00 | Vol. 66957 D: 16.50 ⇑ 0.61% | 16.51 | 16.70 / 14.80 C: 16.40 ⇓ 4.09% | 16.40 | 16.40 / 16.40FIRSTSBANK | 1.85 | 13.89 | Vol. 103780 D: 11.10 ⇓ 0.89% | 11.19 | 11.40 / 10.20 C: 11.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 11.22 | 11.30 / 11.10

NON BANKING F IIDLC | 4.43 | 29.18 | Vol. 173715 D: 58.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 59.03 | 60.30 / 55.00 C: 58.30 ⇓ 1.85% | 58.50 | 60.00 / 58.10ULC | 1.80 | 14.90 | Vol. 173749 D: 26.70 ⇑ 0.38% | 26.94 | 27.80 / 24.00UTTARAFIN | 7.16 | 41.54 | Vol. 56641 D: 75.60 ⇑ 1.07% | 75.27 | 82.00 / 67.40 C: 75.10 ⇑ 0.94% | 75.08 | 75.20 / 68.00MIDASFIN | 0.16 | 10.21 | Vol. 5813 D: 30.70 ⇑ 2.33% | 30.45 | 32.80 / 28.00FLEASEINT | 2.34 | 13.93 | Vol. 315275 D: 25.30 ⇑ 2.85% | 25.20 | 26.00 / 23.00 C: 25.00 ⇑ 2.88% | 25.34 | 25.80 / 24.80PLFSL | 1.37 | 17.48 | Vol. 599299 D: 22.60 ⇑ 0.44% | 22.97 | 23.60 / 20.30 C: 22.80 ⇑ 0.88% | 22.95 | 23.30 / 22.70PRIMEFIN | 0.87 | 17.88 | Vol. 268006 D: 23.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 24.10 | 25.00 / 22.70 C: 23.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 23.97 | 24.70 / 23.70PREMIERLEA | 0.10 | 11.37 | Vol. 250535 D: 10.80 ⇑ 5.88% | 10.37 | 11.00 / 9.50 C: 10.70 ⇑ 2.88% | 10.61 | 10.90 / 10.40ISLAMICFIN | 1.03 | 15.48 | Vol. 609699 D: 16.30 ⇑ 3.16% | 16.28 | 16.60 / 15.00 C: 16.30 ⇑ 3.16% | 16.17 | 16.60 / 15.60LANKABAFIN | 1.61 | 31.07 | Vol. 586148 D: 59.40 ⇑ 1.71% | 59.67 | 60.60 / 53.00 C: 59.30 ⇑ 1.37% | 59.68 | 60.50 / 59.00BIFC | 0.15 | 18.58 | Vol. 180376 D: 17.00 ⇑ 1.19% | 17.27 | 17.70 / 15.40 C: 17.40 ⇑ 6.10% | 17.40 | 17.70 / 17.10IPDC | 1.23 | 19.43 | Vol. 659900 D: 20.00 ⇑ 3.09% | 20.37 | 21.00 / 19.50 C: 20.00 ⇑ 2.56% | 20.44 | 20.70 / 19.40UNIONCAP | 0.54 | 17.85 | Vol. 50775 D: 28.80 ⇑ 1.05% | 28.83 | 29.20 / 25.70BDFINANCE | 0.57 | 14.77 | Vol. 269516 D: 19.90 ⇑ 4.19% | 20.09 | 20.40 / 17.50 C: 20.10 ⇑ 5.24% | 20.02 | 20.50 / 18.30ILFSL | 0.35 | 12.19 | Vol. 817950 D: 15.00 ⇑ 3.45% | 15.13 | 15.50 / 13.50 C: 15.20 ⇑ 4.83% | 15.16 | 15.60 / 14.60PHOENIXFIN | 2.46 | 19.39 | Vol. 121768 D: 29.90 ⇑ 2.75% | 29.82 | 30.10 / 28.00 C: 29.60 ⇑ 1.37% | 29.45 | 29.60 / 28.00FASFIN | 0.19 | 13.56 | Vol. 1428547 D: 15.60 ⇑ 3.31% | 15.62 | 15.90 / 14.50 C: 15.50 ⇑ 3.33% | 15.58 | 16.00 / 15.30DBH | 4.47 | 21.27 | Vol. 84718 D: 62.70 ⇓ 0.79% | 63.11 | 64.50 / 57.00 C: 62.50 ⇓ 1.57% | 62.98 | 62.50 / 62.50

INVESTMENT1STICB | 75.63 | 942.30 | Vol. 50 D: 865.0 ⇑ 5.30% | 865.00 | 865.0 / 865.03RDICB | 26.16 | 235.16 | Vol. 100 D: 182.0 ⇑ 6.50% | 182.00 | 182.0 / 182.04THICB | 29.24 | 229.24 | Vol. 1400 D: 169.8 ⇑ 0.59% | 170.00 | 170.0 / 169.05THICB | 23.45 | 188.92 | Vol. 1500 D: 169.3 ⇑ 0.36% | 169.33 | 170.0 / 160.06THICB | 10.99 | 60.14 | Vol. 16700 D: 47.20 ⇑ 0.21% | 47.31 | 47.90 / 46.508THICB | 12.47 | 70.07 | Vol. 15500 D: 53.50 ⇑ 2.10% | 53.42 | 54.00 / 51.101STBSRS | 14.43 | 161.88 | Vol. 74500 D: 96.50 ⇓ 0.41% | 99.20 | 109.6 / 94.00 C: 86.60 ⇓ 9.41% | 86.60 | 86.60 / 86.60AIMS1STMF | 3.02 | 15.70 | Vol. 416300 D: 39.20 ⇑ 0.26% | 39.53 | 40.30 / 39.00 C: 39.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 39.35 | 40.00 / 39.00

ICBAMCL1ST | 7.14 | 48.54 | Vol. 30500 D: 26.90 ⇓ 9.73% | 26.90 | 26.90 / 26.90 C: 32.90 ⇑ 8.94% | 32.90 | 32.90 / 32.90ICBISLAMIC | 2.21 | 26.81 | Vol. 32500 D: 17.00 ⇓ 1.16% | 17.11 | 17.30 / 17.00GRAMEEN1 | 6.26 | 33.23 | Vol. 293000 D: 45.00 ⇑ 0.90% | 45.48 | 46.20 / 44.50 C: 44.30 ⇓ 0.45% | 44.30 | 44.30 / 44.30ICB1STNRB | 4.06 | 35.31 | Vol. 9000 D: 23.00 ⇓ 2.13% | 23.00 | 23.00 / 23.00ICB2NDNRB | 2.49 | 16.24 | Vol. 150500 D: 9.20 ⇑ 1.10% | 9.26 | 9.40 / 9.10 C: 9.00 ⇓ 3.23% | 9.02 | 9.10 / 9.00GRAMEENS2 | 2.17 | 16.41 | Vol. 566900 D: 16.10 ⇑ 0.63% | 16.18 | 16.50 / 15.50 C: 16.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 16.13 | 17.00 / 16.001STPRIMFMF | 0.64 | 11.63 | Vol. 1393000 D: 21.10 ⇑ 3.43% | 21.36 | 22.10 / 19.80 C: 21.50 ⇑ 4.88% | 21.84 | 22.40 / 21.00EBL1STMF | 0.55 | 12.62 | Vol. 439412 D: 6.30 ⇓ 1.56% | 6.41 | 6.50 / 5.80 C: 6.50 ⇓ 1.52% | 6.51 | 7.00 / 6.00ICBAMCL2ND | 0.60 | 12.12 | Vol. 66500 D: 5.40 ⇑ 1.89% | 5.40 | 5.50 / 5.30 C: 5.20 ⇓ 3.70% | 5.20 | 5.20 / 5.20ICBEPMF1S1 | 0.52 | 11.32 | Vol. 385500 D: 5.80 ⇑ 1.75% | 5.86 | 5.90 / 5.70TRUSTB1MF | 0.75 | 11.65 | Vol. 197665 D: 6.90 ⇑ 1.47% | 6.97 | 7.40 / 6.50 C: 7.00 ⇑ 1.45% | 7.00 | 7.10 / 6.90PRIME1ICBA | 0.42 | 11.18 | Vol. 65000 D: 5.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.09 | 5.10 / 5.00 C: 5.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.08 | 5.10 / 5.00DBH1STMF | -1.12 | 10.15 | Vol. 335500 D: 5.20 ⇓ 1.89% | 5.31 | 5.50 / 5.20 C: 5.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.32 | 5.40 / 5.30IFIC1STMF | 0.83 | 11.88 | Vol. 798043 D: 6.10 ⇓ 1.61% | 6.15 | 6.30 / 6.00 C: 6.00 ⇓ 1.64% | 6.08 | 6.20 / 6.00POPULAR1MF | 0.77 | 11.38 | Vol. 611084 D: 5.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.83 | 6.00 / 5.30 C: 5.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.79 | 5.80 / 5.70IFILISLMF1 | 0.00 | 10.45 | Vol. 420000 D: 5.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.19 | 5.30 / 5.10 C: 5.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.10 | 5.10 / 5.00PHPMF1 | 0.63 | 10.92 | Vol. 1007500 D: 5.30 ⇓ 1.85% | 5.34 | 5.50 / 5.30 C: 5.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.35 | 5.50 / 5.30AIBL1STIMF | -0.07 | 9.25 | Vol. 57500 D: 6.10 ⇓ 3.17% | 6.10 | 6.30 / 6.00 C: 6.00 ⇓ 1.64% | 6.03 | 6.10 / 6.00MBL1STMF | -0.16 | 9.08 | Vol. 92000 D: 6.00 ⇓ 1.64% | 6.03 | 6.10 / 6.00 C: 6.50 ⇑ 8.33% | 6.50 | 6.50 / 6.50SEBL1STMF | 0.94 | 11.85 | Vol. 341350 D: 7.60 ⇓ 1.30% | 7.71 | 7.80 / 7.60 C: 7.60 ⇓ 1.30% | 7.69 | 7.80 / 7.60EBLNRBMF | 1.07 | 10.88 | Vol. 49500 D: 7.80 ⇑ 2.63% | 7.84 | 8.00 / 7.50RELIANCE1 | 0.95 | 10.33 | Vol. 514100 D: 7.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.90 | 8.10 / 7.50 C: 7.70 ⇓ 1.28% | 7.80 | 7.90 / 7.70LRGLOBMF1 | 0.50 | 10.82 | Vol. 43000 D: 6.50 ⇓ 1.52% | 6.51 | 6.60 / 6.50ABB1STMF | 0.92 | 10.63 | Vol. 22290 D: 6.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.82 | 7.00 / 6.80NCCBLMF1 | 1.16 | 10.48 | Vol. 13000 D: 7.90 ⇓ 1.25% | 7.92 | 8.00 / 7.90EXIM1STMF | 0.00 | 10.91 | Vol. 6000 D: 6.80 ⇓ 1.45% | 6.83 | 6.90 / 6.80

ENGINEERINGAFTABAUTO | 4.29 | 52.65 | Vol. 323832 D: 111.6 ⇑ 1.18% | 112.30 | 113.4 / 100.0 C: 111.3 ⇑ 0.82% | 112.10 | 114.0 / 110.2AZIZPIPES | 0.39 | -42.04 | Vol. 9150 D: 17.30 ⇓ 1.70% | 17.27 | 17.70 / 17.00OLYMPIC | 5.94 | 14.91 | Vol. 189564 D: 220.0 ⇓ 0.14% | 221.14 | 230.0 / 210.0 C: 220.8 ⇓ 0.18% | 221.02 | 223.0 / 219.1BDLAMPS | -5.31 | 37.07 | Vol. 51305 D: 166.5 ⇓ 4.53% | 172.05 | 178.0 / 165.6 C: 164.7 ⇓ 5.83% | 171.48 | 177.0 / 162.2

ECABLES | 2.04 | 18.87 | Vol. 11100 D: 77.90 ⇓ 2.63% | 77.69 | 80.00 / 77.20 C: 78.00 ⇑ 5.69% | 78.60 | 78.90 / 78.00MONNOSTAF | 5.31 | 44.78 | Vol. 4600 D: 459.6 ⇓ 5.90% | 460.22 | 525.9 / 451.9SINGERBD | 9.99 | 45.74 | Vol. 178237 D: 209.5 ⇓ 1.18% | 211.31 | 216.5 / 205.0 C: 210.2 ⇓ 1.13% | 211.24 | 215.0 / 210.0ATLASBANG | 11.98 | 207.70 | Vol. 14308 D: 185.0 ⇓ 0.80% | 185.28 | 190.0 / 170.0BDAUTOCA | 0.25 | 6.23 | Vol. 149956 D: 55.20 ⇓ 1.60% | 55.15 | 60.00 / 51.00QSMDRYCELL | 1.17 | 57.54 | Vol. 358625 D: 36.00 ⇓ 1.91% | 37.06 | 38.30 / 33.10 C: 36.00 ⇓ 1.10% | 37.22 | 38.00 / 36.00RENWICKJA | 5.62 | -90.00 | Vol. 24950 D: 180.6 ⇓ 2.85% | 181.40 | 195.0 / 180.0NTLTUBES | -2.52 | 312.10 | Vol. 109648 D: 82.40 ⇑ 1.10% | 83.72 | 86.50 / 75.00BDTHAI | 0.43 | 39.35 | Vol. 970999 D: 32.40 ⇓ 5.81% | 33.23 | 35.00 / 31.00 C: 31.90 ⇓ 7.27% | 33.42 | 35.40 / 31.10ANWARGALV | 0.51 | 8.08 | Vol. 361500 D: 31.60 ⇓ 5.95% | 32.00 | 33.50 / 30.40 C: 32.00 ⇓ 7.78% | 32.55 | 37.50 / 31.50KAY&QUE | -3.89 | 6.03 | Vol. 23500 D: 17.10 ⇑ 3.64% | 16.85 | 17.60 / 15.60RANFOUNDRY | 2.84 | 18.62 | Vol. 93500 D: 106.8 ⇓ 8.09% | 110.07 | 118.1 / 104.7 C: 106.3 ⇓ 9.15% | 108.92 | 112.5 / 106.0SALAMCRST | 3.31 | 20.00 | Vol. 161700 D: 41.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 41.54 | 42.30 / 41.30 C: 41.20 ⇓ 0.72% | 41.51 | 42.40 / 41.00GOLDENSON | 3.70 | 28.70 | Vol. 541492 D: 43.10 ⇑ 2.38% | 42.61 | 43.90 / 38.00 C: 43.00 ⇑ 1.90% | 43.01 | 43.60 / 42.30BSRMSTEEL | 3.06 | 19.53 | Vol. 162015 D: 69.00 ⇓ 0.58% | 69.68 | 70.40 / 66.50 C: 69.50 ⇑ 0.29% | 70.10 | 70.50 / 68.00NAVANACNG | 4.09 | 27.04 | Vol. 125322 D: 67.60 ⇓ 0.29% | 67.79 | 69.60 / 62.00 C: 67.80 ⇑ 0.59% | 67.76 | 69.00 / 66.00DESHBANDHU | 1.16 | 12.02 | Vol. 799748 D: 23.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 24.14 | 24.80 / 21.30 C: 23.80 ⇓ 0.42% | 24.03 | 24.50 / 23.70GPHISPAT | 2.11 | 15.27 | Vol. 137300 D: 42.70 ⇑ 1.18% | 42.46 | 43.10 / 38.00 C: 42.60 ⇑ 1.19% | 43.21 | 44.30 / 42.00BENGALWTL | 2.42 | 20.72 | Vol. 195000 D: 44.40 ⇓ 2.42% | 44.75 | 45.50 / 44.30 C: 44.10 ⇓ 1.34% | 44.15 | 44.50 / 43.80NPOLYMAR | 2.01 | 324.37 | Vol. 189891 D: 65.00 ⇓ 0.91% | 67.89 | 69.90 / 64.50 C: 64.60 ⇓ 3.44% | 65.95 | 67.00 / 64.20

FOOD & ALLIEDAPEXFOODS | 2.54 | 90.81 | Vol. 77650 D: 102.3 ⇓ 3.76% | 104.54 | 108.0 / 101.6 C: 103.2 ⇓ 4.09% | 104.68 | 108.0 / 102.5BANGAS | 7.20 | 50.27 | Vol. 167465 D: 527.3 ⇓ 2.75% | 535.85 | 582.8 / 501.6 C: 525.3 ⇓ 3.10% | 535.79 | 567.0 / 507.0BATBC | 65.69 | 117.22 | Vol. 1200 D: 1419 ⇑ 0.38% | 1419 | 1435 / 1414GEMINISEA | 10.88 | 9.69 | Vol. 3750 D: 235.1 ⇓ 7.91% | 238.93 | 250.0 / 233.1NTC | 29.88 | 110.05 | Vol. 2850 D: 819.2 ⇑ 0.20% | 821.79 | 836.0 / 815.0 C: 821.0 ⇑ 0.60% | 821.00 | 821.0 / 821.0ZEALBANGLA | -23.01 | -193.09 | Vol. 50 D: 8.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 8.00 | 8.00 / 8.00AMCL(PRAN) | 6.53 | 53.37 | Vol. 160700 D: 285.7 ⇓ 6.08% | 297.04 | 318.0 / 282.1 C: 286.4 ⇓ 6.25% | 298.47 | 319.5 / 283.0SHYAMPSUG | -36.87 | -355.85 | Vol. 300 D: 8.00 ⇓ 6.98% | 8.00 | 8.00 / 8.00RAHIMAFOOD | 0.62 | 4.46 | Vol. 1659000 D: 41.20 ⇑ 9.57% | 40.29 | 41.30 / 37.20 C: 40.70 ⇑ 10.00% | 40.19 | 40.70 / 38.00FUWANGFOOD | 1.26 | 12.37 | Vol. 549838 D: 26.20 ⇓ 0.38% | 26.64 | 27.90 / 24.00 C: 26.60 ⇑ 0.76% | 27.05 | 27.60 / 26.50

MEGHNAPET | -0.58 | -1.02 | Vol. 10000 D: 6.20 ⇑ 3.33% | 6.30 | 6.60 / 6.00MEGCONMILK | -6.68 | -16.22 | Vol. 14000 D: 7.90 ⇓ 1.25% | 8.00 | 8.20 / 7.80BEACHHATCH | 1.01 | 12.48 | Vol. 1137423 D: 23.40 ⇓ 0.85% | 23.74 | 24.70 / 22.00 C: 23.40 ⇓ 0.85% | 23.87 | 25.00 / 23.20FINEFOODS | -0.11 | 10.58 | Vol. 595950 D: 26.90 ⇑ 1.13% | 27.93 | 29.00 / 24.00 C: 27.70 ⇑ 1.84% | 27.94 | 29.00 / 26.90RDFOOD | 0.91 | 16.84 | Vol. 1281960 D: 23.90 ⇓ 1.24% | 24.45 | 25.00 / 22.00 C: 24.10 ⇓ 0.82% | 24.43 | 25.00 / 24.00GHAIL | 1.01 | 22.08 | Vol. 464520 D: 43.30 ⇓ 1.14% | 43.58 | 44.10 / 39.50 C: 43.70 ⇓ 0.23% | 43.62 | 45.00 / 43.20

FUEL & POWERLINDEBD | 31.71 | 144.00 | Vol. 14418 D: 704.4 ⇑ 0.49% | 710.52 | 723.0 / 680.1PADMAOIL | 16.38 | 43.67 | Vol. 205438 D: 341.5 ⇓ 0.03% | 345.99 | 350.0 / 325.0 C: 341.8 ⇑ 0.03% | 345.82 | 350.0 / 341.1EASTRNLUB | 6.32 | 68.68 | Vol. 1400 D: 403.2 ⇓ 2.18% | 403.57 | 416.1 / 391.9BDWELDING | 0.33 | 16.82 | Vol. 1312247 D: 25.20 ⇓ 1.18% | 25.99 | 27.00 / 23.00 C: 25.30 ⇓ 1.56% | 26.05 | 27.00 / 25.00SUMITPOWER | 3.17 | 19.26 | Vol. 223986 D: 33.00 ⇑ 0.30% | 33.06 | 33.60 / 30.00 C: 33.30 ⇑ 1.22% | 33.11 | 33.70 / 32.80DESCO | 2.80 | 35.25 | Vol. 77687 D: 76.90 ⇑ 0.65% | 77.39 | 79.00 / 73.00 C: 77.70 ⇑ 2.91% | 77.23 | 78.00 / 77.00POWERGRID | 2.56 | 48.08 | Vol. 62064 D: 56.90 ⇑ 2.15% | 56.41 | 57.50 / 53.00 C: 56.90 ⇑ 5.57% | 55.62 | 56.90 / 55.00JAMUNAOIL | 22.78 | 50.24 | Vol. 278963 D: 231.0 ⇓ 0.43% | 232.57 | 235.0 / 222.0 C: 231.7 ⇑ 0.61% | 232.17 | 234.8 / 230.3MPETROLEUM | 16.98 | 40.41 | Vol. 172332 D: 266.3 ⇑ 0.15% | 268.90 | 272.0 / 243.0 C: 266.4 ⇑ 0.26% | 267.16 | 272.0 / 265.0TITASGAS | 9.01 | 36.56 | Vol. 1086434 D: 82.50 ⇑ 0.73% | 82.49 | 83.50 / 78.00 C: 82.20 ⇑ 0.74% | 82.04 | 82.80 / 82.00KPCL | 4.73 | 15.86 | Vol. 120707 D: 47.40 ⇓ 0.63% | 47.63 | 48.00 / 44.50 C: 47.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 47.58 | 48.00 / 47.20BEDL | 1.48 | 19.43 | Vol. 1127055 D: 33.50 ⇑ 4.36% | 33.09 | 34.10 / 29.00 C: 33.30 ⇑ 4.39% | 32.69 | 34.00 / 31.80MJLBD | 2.73 | 30.24 | Vol. 132226 D: 70.40 ⇓ 0.14% | 70.37 | 71.70 / 64.00 C: 70.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 70.25 | 71.00 / 64.00GBBPOWER | 1.86 | 22.63 | Vol. 720329 D: 26.90 ⇑ 0.37% | 27.18 | 27.50 / 24.30 C: 27.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 27.14 | 27.70 / 26.60SPPCL | 3.81 | 23.34 | Vol. 515700 D: 54.60 ⇓ 0.73% | 55.20 | 60.50 / 51.00 C: 55.20 ⇓ 0.18% | 55.21 | 55.80 / 55.00

JUTEJUTESPINN | 2.06 | 17.42 | Vol. 30350 D: 129.2 ⇓ 1.60% | 133.28 | 143.0 / 126.6NORTHERN | -13.80 | -6.19 | Vol. 200 D: 25.80 ⇑ 9.79% | 25.80 | 25.80 / 25.80SONALIANSH | 5.54 | 218.80 | Vol. 29950 D: 161.7 ⇓ 4.21% | 166.68 | 174.9 / 160.1

TEXTILEAL-HAJTEX | 1.35 | 15.64 | Vol. 190653 D: 114.4 ⇓ 5.38% | 116.62 | 121.0 / 109.0STYLECRAFT | 20.00 | 287.30 | Vol. 1500 D: 1115 ⇑ 2.77% | 1115 | 1150 / 1090RAHIMTEXT | 0.51 | 73.88 | Vol. 6000 D: 306.2 ⇓ 1.26% | 318.17 | 337.0 / 301.1SAIHAMTEX | 2.75 | 29.50 | Vol. 1682600 D: 34.20 ⇓ 4.47% | 35.05 | 36.90 / 34.00 C: 34.20 ⇓ 4.47% | 34.81 | 35.80 / 34.00MODERNDYE | 0.91 | 10.37 | Vol. 2500 D: 135.0 ⇓ 9.88% | 135.60 | 138.0 / 134.9

dHaKa trIbUne Share Wednesday, september 25, 20136 dHaKa trIbUne Share6

DSE Broad Index: 4030.10 ⇑ 0.22%, Turnover: 4684.27 M.Tk ⇓ 10.15%, PE: 12.70 Turnover 5,087.00 MTk. ⇓ 10.11% September 24, 2013 MarketCap. 1,963.67 BTk. ⇑ 0.43% CSE All Share Index: 12464 ⇑ 0.25%, Turnover: 402.73 M Tk. ⇓ 9.56%, PE: 12. 47

CompanyCode | EPS | BV | Volume Traded (Share)DSE/CSE: ClosePrice ⇓/⇑ Chn % | Avg.Price | Hi / Lo

Combined turnover Leader Vol. tO m.

tk.% of ttL avg. p

CMC Kamal Tex. -A 5042207 174.59 3.43 4.63

G Next Fashions-A 6365720 157.03 3.09 24.67

Active Fine Chem.-A 1441245 138.35 2.72 95.99

UNITED AIR-A 6539866 118.77 2.33 18.16

BD Submarine Cable-A 467800 116.16 2.28 248.32

dse Gainer C % a % Cp

Northern Jute-Z 9.79 9.79 25.80

Dulamia CottonZ 9.68 5.03 10.20

Rahima Food -A 9.57 7.21 41.20 Hakkani P& Paper-B

9.54 9.05 42.50

Agrani Insurance-A 9.09 13.25 31.20

dse Loser C % a % Cp

Modern Dyeing-B -9.88 -9.26 135.00

ICB AMCL 1st M F-A -9.73 -10.00 26.90JMI Syringes MDL-A -8.72 -6.22 294.00Rangpur Foundry-A -8.09 -3.09 106.80

GeminiSea-Food-A -7.91 -4.05 235.10

SharedHaKa trIbUne Wednesday, september 25, 2013 7SharedHaKa trIbUne 7

September 24, 2013 Sectotal Index: BANK: 31,433.56 ⇓ 0.19% NBFI: 20,364.13 ⇑ 0.82% INVS: 4,592.96 ⇓ 0.17% ENGG: 6,184.26 ⇓ 0.28% FOOD: 10,214.84 ⇓ 0.45% F&P: 10,535.66 ⇑ 1.10% TEXT: 3,274.39 ⇓ 1.91% PHAR: 17,376.33 ⇑ 0.06% PAPR: 1,281.68 ⇑ 3.48% SERV: 2,979.81 ⇓ 0.83% LEAT: 5,497.91 ⇑ 1.29% CERA: 528.87 ⇓ 0.71% CMNT: 4,592.01 ⇑ 1.31% INFO: 8,546.49 ⇑ 0.30% GINS: 9,853.72 ⇑ 2.38% LINS: 112,473.47 ⇑ 0.33% TELC: 1,358.02 ⇑ 1.89% MISC: 6,367.14 ⇓ 0.39%

DSHGARME | 0.72 | 12.00 | Vol. 102300 D: 95.40 ⇓ 6.10% | 98.39 | 108.0 / 91.50DULAMIACOT | -8.46 | -27.78 | Vol. 43700 D: 10.20 ⇑ 9.68% | 9.82 | 10.20 / 8.80TALLUSPIN | 2.56 | 12.06 | Vol. 1811630 D: 44.70 ⇓ 2.83% | 45.16 | 46.70 / 43.00 C: 44.90 ⇓ 2.60% | 45.15 | 45.80 / 44.30APEXSPINN | 2.01 | 49.32 | Vol. 17000 D: 86.30 ⇓ 4.22% | 86.94 | 89.90 / 85.00MITHUNKNIT | 4.54 | 30.39 | Vol. 337200 D: 114.3 ⇓ 5.85% | 118.74 | 124.0 / 112.0 C: 114.3 ⇓ 5.30% | 116.38 | 123.9 / 112.0DELTASPINN | 3.06 | 18.12 | Vol. 576700 D: 36.00 ⇓ 3.23% | 36.81 | 38.40 / 35.80 C: 36.10 ⇓ 2.96% | 36.61 | 38.00 / 35.90SONARGAON | 0.27 | 34.50 | Vol. 512659 D: 22.50 ⇓ 7.41% | 22.88 | 24.40 / 22.00 C: 22.60 ⇓ 7.76% | 22.83 | 24.00 / 22.30PRIMETEX | 1.01 | 63.54 | Vol. 816000 D: 31.00 ⇓ 5.20% | 32.05 | 34.20 / 30.80 C: 31.30 ⇓ 5.15% | 31.97 | 34.50 / 31.10ALLTEX | -0.11 | 23.81 | Vol. 92500 D: 8.80 ⇑ 2.33% | 8.63 | 8.90 / 8.20 C: 8.80 ⇓ 2.22% | 8.71 | 8.80 / 8.60ANLIMAYARN | 1.19 | 11.01 | Vol. 516000 D: 37.10 ⇓ 7.25% | 38.77 | 41.60 / 36.50 C: 37.60 ⇓ 5.29% | 37.79 | 39.00 / 37.20HRTEX | 2.08 | 14.92 | Vol. 645405 D: 47.80 ⇑ 6.70% | 47.15 | 49.00 / 42.00 C: 46.90 ⇑ 6.83% | 46.92 | 48.20 / 45.10CMCKAMAL | 1.37 | 19.31 | Vol. 5042207 D: 34.60 ⇓ 3.08% | 34.63 | 39.00 / 32.20SAFKOSPINN | 0.95 | 21.78 | Vol. 765486 D: 29.20 ⇓ 4.58% | 30.14 | 31.60 / 27.60 C: 29.20 ⇓ 4.58% | 30.29 | 31.50 / 28.40SQUARETEXT | 4.32 | 31.82 | Vol. 122875 D: 91.80 ⇓ 0.33% | 92.17 | 93.60 / 87.90 C: 92.10 ⇑ 0.55% | 92.27 | 93.50 / 90.80METROSPIN | -1.00 | 19.59 | Vol. 749152 D: 19.80 ⇓ 4.35% | 20.05 | 21.40 / 18.70 C: 20.00 ⇓ 3.38% | 20.07 | 20.70 / 19.60MAKSONSPIN | 0.16 | 20.55 | Vol. 2782786 D: 17.10 ⇓ 4.47% | 17.56 | 18.50 / 16.50 C: 17.20 ⇓ 4.44% | 17.67 | 18.20 / 17.10DACCADYE | 1.21 | 31.13 | Vol. 1119079 D: 29.50 ⇓ 6.05% | 30.31 | 32.80 / 29.00 C: 29.60 ⇓ 5.43% | 30.09 | 32.00 / 29.40RNSPIN | 2.80 | 16.58 | Vol. 3089849 D: 31.40 ⇓ 1.26% | 31.73 | 32.40 / 29.00 C: 31.40 ⇓ 1.57% | 31.60 | 32.20 / 31.30BXSYNTH | 0.93 | 25.42 | Vol. 584456 D: 17.00 ⇓ 2.30% | 17.18 | 17.70 / 15.70 C: 17.00 ⇓ 1.16% | 17.21 | 17.90 / 16.90MALEKSPIN | -1.44 | 46.87 | Vol. 2760140 D: 27.90 ⇓ 0.71% | 28.69 | 29.70 / 25.80 C: 28.00 ⇓ 0.36% | 28.45 | 29.30 / 27.80ZAHINTEX | 1.91 | 35.25 | Vol. 1242150 D: 34.20 ⇓ 0.87% | 35.91 | 37.40 / 31.10 C: 35.00 ⇑ 1.16% | 36.38 | 37.90 / 34.60SAIHAMCOT | 1.92 | 23.62 | Vol. 1765250 D: 26.70 ⇓ 3.61% | 27.18 | 28.70 / 26.50 C: 26.70 ⇓ 3.61% | 26.98 | 27.80 / 26.50GENNEXT | 1.68 | 15.15 | Vol. 6365720 D: 24.20 ⇑ 0.41% | 24.67 | 25.80 / 21.70 C: 24.10 ⇓ 0.82% | 24.65 | 25.30 / 23.90ENVOYTEX | 3.26 | 39.26 | Vol. 725580 D: 53.50 ⇑ 1.33% | 53.65 | 54.40 / 49.00 C: 53.40 ⇑ 0.95% | 53.39 | 53.80 / 53.00ARGONDENIM | 1.89 | 38.86 | Vol. 460620 D: 37.70 ⇓ 1.05% | 38.21 | 39.00 / 34.30 C: 37.60 ⇓ 0.79% | 37.72 | 38.50 / 37.50FAMILYTEX | 3.72 | 14.68 | Vol. 146000 D: 36.20 ⇓ 2.16% | 36.55 | 37.20 / 36.10 C: 35.50 ⇓ 3.53% | 35.62 | 36.40 / 35.40

PHARMACEUTICAL & CHEMICALAMBEEPHA | 3.94 | 26.15 | Vol. 29550 D: 290.0 ⇓ 5.84% | 310.82 | 331.9 / 286.0 C: 292.3 ⇓ 8.17% | 297.06 | 310.0 / 291.1BXPHARMA | 3.77 | 52.55 | Vol. 152949 D: 47.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 47.27 | 47.60 / 42.50 C: 47.00 ⇓ 0.21% | 47.02 | 50.00 / 45.00GLAXOSMITH | 20.25 | 123.32 | Vol. 1900 D: 1024 ⇑ 1.68% | 1023 | 1037 / 1005

ACI | -5.82 | 126.42 | Vol. 27844 D: 171.7 ⇑ 0.18% | 172.51 | 178.6 / 170.0 C: 171.0 ⇓ 0.81% | 171.26 | 172.0 / 170.7RENATA | 33.57 | 138.83 | Vol. 9313 D: 769.6 ⇑ 0.98% | 774.19 | 815.0 / 760.0RECKITTBEN | 27.16 | 78.89 | Vol. 500 D: 831.9 ⇓ 2.82% | 832.00 | 848.0 / 816.1PHARMAID | 5.06 | 26.30 | Vol. 45950 D: 207.3 ⇓ 1.24% | 209.29 | 216.0 / 206.0KOHINOOR | 9.52 | 10.49 | Vol. 1500 D: 476.2 ⇓ 7.50% | 476.20 | 476.2 / 476.2IBNSINA | 3.44 | 34.02 | Vol. 103220 D: 121.5 ⇓ 2.72% | 123.19 | 130.0 / 120.0 C: 122.8 ⇓ 1.21% | 124.96 | 134.9 / 122.0LIBRAINFU | 4.64 | 1565.37 | Vol. 3800 D: 550.0 ⇓ 3.42% | 550.00 | 570.0 / 530.0ORIONINFU | 8.72 | 1.73 | Vol. 158800 D: 48.30 ⇓ 2.23% | 48.96 | 51.30 / 48.00 C: 48.30 ⇓ 4.17% | 48.55 | 49.50 / 47.50SQURPHARMA | 6.93 | 37.18 | Vol. 501080 D: 172.3 ⇑ 0.06% | 172.37 | 189.4 / 167.0 C: 171.6 ⇑ 0.00% | 172.00 | 173.4 / 171.3IMAMBUTTON | -1.68 | 5.67 | Vol. 80000 D: 8.00 ⇑ 8.11% | 7.81 | 8.00 / 7.20 C: 9.50 ⇑ 5.56% | 9.48 | 9.50 / 9.40KEYACOSMET | 1.55 | 21.54 | Vol. 1144420 D: 25.00 ⇓ 0.79% | 25.35 | 25.90 / 22.70 C: 25.10 ⇓ 1.18% | 25.30 | 25.90 / 24.80MARICO | 27.53 | 62.47 | Vol. 9750 D: 818.2 ⇑ 0.09% | 831.98 | 850.0 / 800.0 C: 839.3 ⇑ 4.23% | 839.33 | 840.0 / 839.0BEACONPHAR | 0.33 | 11.97 | Vol. 335625 D: 14.40 ⇓ 2.70% | 14.54 | 14.90 / 13.40 C: 14.70 ⇓ 1.34% | 14.74 | 14.80 / 14.70ACTIVEFINE | 3.23 | 13.89 | Vol. 1441245 D: 95.80 ⇑ 2.90% | 96.00 | 97.50 / 83.80 C: 95.40 ⇑ 2.58% | 95.84 | 97.80 / 94.90SALVOCHEM | 0.68 | 10.57 | Vol. 808891 D: 23.40 ⇑ 1.30% | 23.69 | 25.00 / 20.80 C: 23.60 ⇑ 1.29% | 23.90 | 24.60 / 23.40GHCL | 2.14 | 57.31 | Vol. 178000 D: 47.20 ⇓ 2.07% | 47.71 | 48.50 / 47.00 C: 46.90 ⇓ 3.10% | 46.94 | 47.50 / 46.70ORIONPHARM | 5.02 | 68.68 | Vol. 457370 D: 63.00 ⇓ 0.32% | 63.12 | 64.50 / 57.00 C: 63.20 ⇑ 0.32% | 63.08 | 63.80 / 63.00JMISMDL | 1.12 | 12.83 | Vol. 309500 D: 294.0 ⇓ 8.72% | 301.59 | 330.0 / 294.0 C: 286.8 ⇓ 8.72% | 293.25 | 339.0 / 286.8CENTRALPHL | 0.61 | 10.99 | Vol. 585500 D: 35.00 ⇓ 3.58% | 35.60 | 37.10 / 34.90 C: 35.10 ⇓ 2.50% | 35.47 | 36.30 / 34.90

PAPER & PACKAGINGHAKKANIPUL | 0.64 | 11.02 | Vol. 260500 D: 42.50 ⇑ 9.54% | 42.31 | 42.60 / 38.80 C: 43.10 ⇑ 9.95% | 42.67 | 43.10 / 39.20

SERVICESAMORITA | 2.31 | 17.25 | Vol. 100184 D: 122.7 ⇑ 3.72% | 127.53 | 130.1 / 117.0 C: 121.1 ⇑ 9.99% | 121.10 | 121.1 / 121.1SAPORTL | 1.23 | 38.39 | Vol. 361048 D: 27.00 ⇑ 1.12% | 27.49 | 28.30 / 24.10 C: 27.00 ⇑ 1.50% | 27.21 | 27.80 / 26.90EHL | 2.87 | 18.48 | Vol. 380103 D: 58.10 ⇓ 1.86% | 59.18 | 62.80 / 53.30 C: 58.20 ⇓ 1.85% | 58.82 | 61.00 / 57.50

LEATHERAPEXTANRY | 6.57 | 69.38 | Vol. 198650 D: 134.5 ⇑ 0.22% | 136.46 | 139.5 / 133.5 C: 134.8 ⇑ 0.45% | 136.17 | 143.9 / 134.0

BATASHOE | 49.12 | 135.53 | Vol. 4488 D: 756.8 ⇑ 0.19% | 758.09 | 770.0 / 710.0 C: 750.0 ⇑ 2.43% | 750.00 | 750.0 / 750.0APEXADELFT | 23.01 | 203.26 | Vol. 73750 D: 389.1 ⇓ 0.54% | 391.84 | 403.9 / 360.0 C: 389.8 ⇑ 0.39% | 389.75 | 398.0 / 387.0SAMATALETH | -0.07 | 12.08 | Vol. 2000 D: 14.10 ⇓ 6.00% | 14.10 | 14.10 / 14.10LEGACYFOOT | 0.63 | 17.19 | Vol. 1570806 D: 47.80 ⇑ 2.80% | 49.52 | 51.10 / 42.00 C: 49.60 ⇑ 1.02% | 49.64 | 53.90 / 45.10

CERAMICMONNOCERA | 0.71 | 96.33 | Vol. 121050 D: 38.50 ⇓ 4.70% | 39.33 | 41.60 / 38.00 C: 38.50 ⇓ 5.64% | 38.59 | 40.10 / 38.10STANCERAM | 1.07 | 15.97 | Vol. 40000 D: 42.00 ⇓ 4.76% | 42.38 | 44.50 / 41.00FUWANGCER | 1.43 | 13.25 | Vol. 587769 D: 21.20 ⇓ 1.40% | 21.49 | 22.10 / 19.50 C: 21.30 ⇓ 0.93% | 21.63 | 22.00 / 21.20SPCERAMICS | 0.62 | 30.92 | Vol. 2088918 D: 17.50 ⇓ 1.13% | 17.22 | 18.90 / 16.00 C: 17.50 ⇓ 1.13% | 17.50 | 18.50 / 17.00RAKCERAMIC | 1.98 | 16.76 | Vol. 195968 D: 53.30 ⇑ 0.57% | 53.61 | 55.00 / 48.00 C: 53.60 ⇓ 0.19% | 53.78 | 54.20 / 53.50

CEMENTHEIDELBCEM | 22.85 | 111.50 | Vol. 159910 D: 407.8 ⇑ 0.99% | 410.34 | 418.0 / 403.4 C: 406.0 ⇑ 0.59% | 405.80 | 412.0 / 400.0CONFIDCEM | 6.23 | 90.76 | Vol. 152689 D: 126.1 ⇑ 0.48% | 128.25 | 131.0 / 118.0 C: 126.8 ⇑ 1.20% | 128.40 | 131.0 / 126.2MEGHNACEM | 6.28 | 33.81 | Vol. 328800 D: 150.7 ⇑ 2.87% | 151.60 | 154.6 / 148.7 C: 150.6 ⇑ 3.15% | 150.73 | 150.8 / 150.5ARAMITCEM | 3.03 | 14.65 | Vol. 82600 D: 81.50 ⇑ 0.62% | 84.06 | 85.90 / 80.20 C: 80.80 ⇑ 1.00% | 82.88 | 85.00 / 80.60LAFSURCEML | 1.60 | 7.22 | Vol. 802500 D: 33.80 ⇑ 1.20% | 33.82 | 34.00 / 33.60 C: 33.80 ⇑ 0.90% | 33.65 | 33.90 / 33.50MICEMENT | 4.14 | 40.00 | Vol. 1075637 D: 97.00 ⇑ 2.75% | 97.98 | 102.0 / 86.00 C: 97.00 ⇑ 2.75% | 97.38 | 99.50 / 94.20PREMIERCEM | 3.59 | 22.92 | Vol. 172600 D: 110.4 ⇑ 2.13% | 112.17 | 114.9 / 109.0 C: 112.4 ⇑ 3.59% | 113.19 | 117.0 / 111.0

IT IINDUSTRIESISNLTD | 0.28 | 17.31 | Vol. 803294 D: 27.50 ⇑ 3.38% | 28.18 | 29.20 / 24.00 C: 27.50 ⇑ 1.48% | 27.49 | 29.20 / 25.00BDCOM | 1.00 | 14.91 | Vol. 1495631 D: 29.10 ⇓ 1.02% | 29.02 | 30.30 / 26.50 C: 28.90 ⇓ 0.69% | 30.12 | 30.90 / 28.10INTECH | 0.94 | 10.08 | Vol. 1767175 D: 22.10 ⇑ 5.24% | 22.72 | 23.10 / 19.00 C: 22.90 ⇑ 8.53% | 22.99 | 23.20 / 21.10AGNISYSL | 1.07 | 25.52 | Vol. 1287534 D: 26.20 ⇓ 1.13% | 26.77 | 28.00 / 24.00 C: 26.30 ⇓ 1.87% | 26.86 | 27.60 / 26.20DAFODILCOM | 1.12 | 11.14 | Vol. 1758237 D: 21.20 ⇑ 0.95% | 21.90 | 23.00 / 19.50 C: 21.20 ⇑ 0.95% | 21.71 | 22.70 / 20.80AAMRATECH | 1.17 | 20.44 | Vol. 602900 D: 36.90 ⇓ 1.34% | 37.40 | 38.40 / 36.50 C: 37.10 ⇓ 0.54% | 37.42 | 38.40 / 36.90

GENERAL INSURANCEBGIC | 1.65 | 20.33 | Vol. 143122 D: 29.80 ⇑ 2.05% | 30.24 | 30.70 / 27.00 C: 30.00 ⇑ 1.01% | 30.31 | 31.00 / 29.50GREENDELT | 4.05 | 64.44 | Vol. 91817 D: 102.8 ⇓ 1.81% | 106.93 | 112.0 / 100.0 C: 102.5 ⇓ 2.84% | 102.50 | 105.0 / 102.0UNITEDINS | 2.47 | 21.04 | Vol. 17417 D: 48.70 ⇑ 4.28% | 49.03 | 49.70 / 42.10PEOPLESINS | 2.05 | 20.72 | Vol. 990416 D: 30.20 ⇑ 8.63% | 30.26 | 30.50 / 27.80 C: 30.20 ⇑ 9.82% | 30.02 | 30.20 / 28.20EASTERNINS | 2.22 | 35.88 | Vol. 76492 D: 41.50 ⇑ 0.24% | 42.72 | 43.50 / 39.00 C: 40.00 ⇓ 2.44% | 40.00 | 40.00 / 40.00JANATAINS | 7.84 | 170.69 | Vol. 92737 D: 298.5 ⇑ 3.47% | 306.59 | 313.5 / 288.5 C: 298.8 ⇑ 2.22% | 308.01 | 317.0 / 298.0PHENIXINS | 2.70 | 20.96 | Vol. 180147 D: 43.30 ⇑ 5.87% | 43.16 | 44.00 / 38.00 C: 41.20 ⇑ 5.64% | 41.18 | 42.90 / 40.00EASTLAND | 4.06 | 23.29 | Vol. 668227 D: 51.30 ⇑ 5.56% | 52.40 | 53.40 / 43.80 C: 50.30 ⇑ 1.21% | 51.71 | 52.90 / 49.00CENTRALINS | 1.54 | 19.04 | Vol. 126055 D: 30.10 ⇑ 6.36% | 30.31 | 30.80 / 25.80 C: 29.70 ⇑ 10.00% | 29.70 | 29.70 / 29.70KARNAPHULI | 1.56 | 19.42 | Vol. 303260 D: 24.10 ⇑ 0.84% | 24.91 | 25.80 / 22.00RUPALIINS | 2.76 | 23.38 | Vol. 403738 D: 34.10 ⇑ 2.71% | 34.84 | 35.40 / 30.00 C: 34.40 ⇑ 3.61% | 34.85 | 35.20 / 33.60FEDERALINS | 1.10 | 10.98 | Vol. 864349 D: 24.60 ⇑ 4.24% | 24.88 | 25.50 / 21.50 C: 24.60 ⇑ 3.80% | 24.96 | 25.40 / 24.00PRAGATIINS | 2.01 | 50.30 | Vol. 65520 D: 59.70 ⇓ 0.50% | 60.90 | 63.80 / 55.00 C: 68.20 ⇑ 8.95% | 68.20 | 68.20 / 68.20PRIMEINSUR | 2.14 | 14.14 | Vol. 154575 D: 34.50 ⇑ 2.68% | 35.42 | 36.80 / 31.00 C: 35.00 ⇑ 7.36% | 34.54 | 35.00 / 34.20PIONEERINS | 3.11 | 23.84 | Vol. 91977 D: 70.60 ⇑ 0.14% | 72.39 | 74.00 / 69.00MERCINS | 1.53 | 14.50 | Vol. 637233 D: 29.00 ⇑ 3.94% | 29.25 | 30.00 / 25.20 C: 28.20 ⇑ 9.73% | 28.16 | 28.20 / 27.50AGRANINS | 1.73 | 14.39 | Vol. 556775 D: 31.20 ⇑ 9.09% | 31.29 | 31.40 / 27.00GLOBALINS | 1.09 | 11.78 | Vol. 242042 D: 32.20 ⇑ 4.21% | 32.59 | 33.50 / 30.00NITOLINS | 2.59 | 15.41 | Vol. 106753 D: 37.00 ⇑ 3.64% | 37.60 | 38.40 / 35.00 C: 37.40 ⇑ 10.00% | 37.40 | 37.40 / 37.40ASIAPACINS | 1.84 | 13.76 | Vol. 123500 D: 29.90 ⇑ 2.75% | 30.12 | 30.90 / 29.80 C: 30.80 ⇑ 3.70% | 30.84 | 31.60 / 30.00SONARBAINS | 1.68 | 13.38 | Vol. 568110 D: 26.70 ⇑ 2.30% | 27.35 | 28.40 / 24.00 C: 27.50 ⇑ 4.17% | 27.39 | 28.80 / 25.00PARAMOUNT | 1.26 | 13.19 | Vol. 313817 D: 26.20 ⇑ 1.95% | 26.76 | 27.50 / 24.30 C: 26.40 ⇑ 3.13% | 26.40 | 26.40 / 26.40CITYGENINS | 1.65 | 14.26 | Vol. 517295 D: 28.30 ⇑ 1.80% | 28.74 | 29.30 / 26.00 C: 28.50 ⇑ 4.01% | 28.81 | 29.30 / 28.40CONTININS | 1.41 | 15.68 | Vol. 384200 D: 35.90 ⇑ 1.41% | 36.67 | 37.90 / 33.00 C: 35.00 ⇓ 0.85% | 35.50 | 36.00 / 35.00TAKAFULINS | 2.19 | 15.17 | Vol. 398970 D: 44.30 ⇑ 7.00% | 45.00 | 45.50 / 39.00STANDARINS | 2.58 | 13.99 | Vol. 216380 D: 43.20 ⇑ 5.11% | 43.28 | 43.90 / 39.50 C: 40.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 36.00 | 40.00 / 40.00NORTHRNINS | 1.77 | 11.15 | Vol. 255779 D: 45.50 ⇑ 3.41% | 46.28 | 47.00 / 42.00 C: 45.30 ⇑ 2.03% | 46.52 | 47.90 / 45.00REPUBLIC | 2.14 | 12.42 | Vol. 173450 D: 51.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 52.91 | 53.90 / 50.00 C: 51.90 ⇓ 3.89% | 52.84 | 54.40 / 51.50ASIAINS | 1.56 | 17.34 | Vol. 268928 D: 29.40 ⇑ 2.80% | 29.58 | 31.00 / 26.80 C: 28.90 ⇑ 0.70% | 28.93 | 30.00 / 28.30ISLAMIINS | 1.29 | 11.96 | Vol. 640273 D: 35.60 ⇑ 7.88% | 35.54 | 36.30 / 30.00 C: 35.20 ⇑ 10.00% | 34.68 | 35.20 / 28.80

PROVATIINS | 1.90 | 14.30 | Vol. 223339 D: 29.90 ⇑ 3.10% | 30.58 | 31.50 / 27.50 C: 29.90 ⇑ 2.40% | 30.07 | 31.00 / 29.70DHAKAINS | 2.84 | 18.02 | Vol. 531385 D: 42.90 ⇑ 5.15% | 43.53 | 44.30 / 37.00 C: 43.40 ⇑ 8.77% | 43.14 | 43.80 / 42.50

LIFE INSURANCENATLIFEINS | 12.34 | 80.99 | Vol. 17339 D: 252.2 ⇑ 1.94% | 252.42 | 257.0 / 245.0 C: 249.0 ⇑ 0.00% | 270.00 | 249.0 / 249.0DELTALIFE | 38.53 | 189.40 | Vol. 5490 D: 5985 ⇓ 0.60% | 6001 | 6047 / 5950SANDHANINS | 2.39 | 28.22 | Vol. 57399 D: 72.10 ⇑ 1.55% | 72.30 | 73.40 / 65.00 C: 72.50 ⇑ 3.72% | 72.40 | 73.00 / 72.00POPULARLIF | 3.70 | 715.41 | Vol. 12452 D: 169.8 ⇑ 2.54% | 169.69 | 173.0 / 160.0FAREASTLIF | 9.21 | 60.79 | Vol. 44350 D: 94.20 ⇑ 0.64% | 94.58 | 96.60 / 90.00 C: 93.20 ⇓ 1.69% | 93.31 | 95.00 / 93.00PROGRESLIF | 2.30 | 31.45 | Vol. 3082 D: 99.20 ⇑ 5.53% | 99.32 | 100.9 / 97.00PRAGATILIF | 0.60 | 30.15 | Vol. 45888 D: 122.6 ⇑ 5.33% | 121.93 | 127.0 / 110.0PRIMELIFE | 5.51 | 27.10 | Vol. 24012 D: 97.10 ⇑ 2.21% | 96.60 | 97.50 / 85.50 C: 95.00 ⇑ 1.60% | 95.00 | 95.00 / 95.00RUPALILIFE | 3.75 | 31.25 | Vol. 70787 D: 102.5 ⇑ 7.44% | 103.12 | 104.9 / 94.00 C: 103.0 ⇑ 4.04% | 102.97 | 103.0 / 102.9PADMALIFE | 1.63 | 25.76 | Vol. 54500 D: 61.10 ⇑ 1.33% | 61.05 | 61.70 / 60.30 C: 62.00 ⇑ 2.82% | 61.08 | 62.00 / 60.90SUNLIFEINS | 0.00 | 0.00 | Vol. 257300 D: 54.70 ⇑ 1.30% | 55.70 | 56.90 / 50.10 C: 54.50 ⇑ 1.68% | 54.72 | 56.00 / 54.00

TELECOMGP | 12.96 | 26.26 | Vol. 418784 D: 190.4 ⇑ 2.09% | 190.89 | 194.9 / 175.0 C: 189.8 ⇑ 1.99% | 190.96 | 194.0 / 188.0BSCCL | 6.69 | 30.34 | Vol. 467800 D: 251.3 ⇑ 1.54% | 248.23 | 254.0 / 230.0 C: 251.3 ⇑ 1.62% | 249.20 | 252.9 / 243.0

TRAVEL & LEISUREUNITEDAIR | 1.10 | 12.87 | Vol. 6539866 D: 18.10 ⇓ 1.63% | 18.16 | 18.50 / 17.00 C: 18.20 ⇓ 1.62% | 18.18 | 18.50 / 18.00UNIQUEHRL | 4.02 | 86.29 | Vol. 357350 D: 85.60 ⇓ 0.12% | 86.19 | 87.30 / 77.20 C: 85.70 ⇓ 0.23% | 86.04 | 86.80 / 85.10

MISCELLANEOUSARAMIT | 16.07 | 99.93 | Vol. 132050 D: 358.2 ⇑ 3.74% | 371.15 | 375.5 / 355.0 C: 356.0 ⇑ 8.74% | 355.37 | 356.0 / 350.0BSC | 1.77 | 565.82 | Vol. 95785 D: 578.3 ⇓ 0.26% | 582.70 | 591.0 / 577.0 C: 578.0 ⇓ 0.22% | 581.12 | 591.0 / 575.5GQBALLPEN | 6.55 | 250.45 | Vol. 102282 D: 156.2 ⇓ 1.88% | 158.43 | 162.9 / 150.0 C: 156.4 ⇓ 2.19% | 157.82 | 162.0 / 154.0USMANIAGL | 0.50 | 26.03 | Vol. 83866 D: 163.3 ⇓ 1.09% | 165.41 | 172.0 / 162.5 C: 165.0 ⇓ 0.18% | 165.76 | 167.2 / 162.5BEXIMCO | 3.24 | 86.74 | Vol. 1109156 D: 31.60 ⇓ 0.32% | 31.73 | 34.00 / 28.60 C: 31.70 ⇓ 0.31% | 31.76 | 32.30 / 31.30SINOBANGLA | 1.75 | 21.01 | Vol. 773000 D: 25.10 ⇑ 6.36% | 25.13 | 25.70 / 24.20 C: 25.40 ⇑ 5.83% | 25.59 | 26.40 / 24.60MIRACLEIND | 0.14 | 14.90 | Vol. 433004 D: 18.60 ⇓ 6.06% | 19.32 | 20.80 / 17.90 C: 18.60 ⇓ 6.53% | 18.82 | 20.00 / 18.30

BONDIBBLPBOND | 0.00 | 1000.00 | Vol. 145 D: 955.5 ⇑ 0.08% | 954.55 | 955.8 / 955.5 C: 943.0 ⇓ 1.15% | 944.29 | 944.5 / 943.0ACIZCBOND | 0.00 | 1000.00 | Vol. 246 D: 870.0 ⇑ 0.00% | 868.85 | 871.0 / 870.0 C: 851.0 ⇑ 0.89% | 851.00 | 851.0 / 851.0BRACSCBOND | 0.00 | 0.00 | Vol. 5 D: 1100 ⇑ 1.85% | 1100 | 1100 / 1100

8 Wednesday, september 25, 2013dHaKa trIbUne BusinessBottom 100 million: Facts, myths and the invisible peoplenDr Ashikur Rahman

In popular political discourse, it is important that politicians quote statistics that highlight their achievements. From Oba-ma to Sonia Gandhi, political leaders of all creeds follow this simple recipe. After all, in electoral democracy, we do want to reward governments that serve the basic needs of the peo-ple and guide them to social and economic emancipation. Yet, an essential drawback of such mind-set “to cash in on success” is to develop a paradigm where essential pockets of our society fail to find voice in the system.

These pockets mostly constitute people whose lives re-main unmeasured through our statistics, whose freedoms re-main unquantified through our indicators and whose scopes remain unaddressed through our policies. Furthermore, the political dynamics within the nation can reach such state that no critical actors (for instance, political parties or media) will have any incentive to provide voice to such constituents. These citizens, slowly and over time, evolve into the “invisi-ble people” of our society. This remains the fundamental po-litical economy challenge of development.

In order to illustrate the basic argument, let us revisit our development journey. First, there is no doubt that Bangla-desh has achieved a notable reduction in poverty from 1991 to 2010 as depicted in the long-term poverty trend.

More specifically, the figure highlights that head count rates under the national poverty line has fallen by nearly 50% between the noted time intervals and a substantial decrease has occurred from 2005 to 2010. Second, sustained economic growth over the last two decades is argued to have triggered such achievement.

Nonetheless, a crucial issue that has received little men-tioning within both the development and political discourse is the increasing state of economic inequality in Bangladesh. To be precise, the top ten percent households of the income distribution generate more than 35% of the country’s income in 2010. In fact, if we consider the economic role of the top 20%, it is evident that they account for more than 50 percent of the country’s income – while the bottom 50% account for less than 20% of the country’s income. This is a dire scenario and both policymakers and academic community have sys-tematically ignored it.

In light of the preceding statement, questions that emerge

as pivotal are: How can such economic disparity prevail with-in a democratic political landscape? Surely the masses “in the middle” will have any incentive for advocating redistrib-utive policies by demanding greater tax contribution from the affluent segments of our society? As illustrated in table titled “Income tax as a percentage of GDP,” a contrary picture is evident since total income taxes in Bangladesh amount to less than 2.5% of GDP in 2012. This is also remarkably low if we compare our performance with India.

Besides, an acute governance scenario is visible if we re-mind ourselves that top ten percent households of the in-

come distribution generate more than 35% of the country’s income. What is indeed more amusing then is the fact that less than 1.5% of the population have undertaken income tax assessment.

Collectively, these facts raise some more pertinent issues: A) Why are the affluent class contributing so little to our state? B) Is it because the state has minimum capacities to ex-tract taxes? C) Is there collusion between political forces, me-

dia and the upper middle and affluent class (constituting the top 20%) which has effectively captured most state policies?

If truth is self-evident in the last question, then surely the “invisible people” constituting roughly the bottom 100 million need to revisit our notion of state and politics, which promises to provide them “bare minimum” services and cre-ate in the process a myth about its commitment to human development, as long as the bottom 80% turn up every five year to vote and offer the ruling elites the legitimacy to gov-ern.

To conclude, 18th century Scottish political philosopher Adam Smith, noted elegantly in his work The Theory of Mor-al Sentiments that: “What is the end of avarice and ambition, of the pursuit of wealth, of power, and pre-eminence? Is it to supply the necessities of nature? The wages of the meanest labour can supply them ... why should those who have been educated in the higher ranks of life, regard it as worse than death, to be reduced to live, even without labour, upon the same simple fare with him, to dwell under the same lowly roof, and to be clothed in the same humble attire?... To be ob-served, to be attended, to be taken notice of with sympathy, complacency, and approbation, are all the advantages which we can propose to derive from it. It is the vanity, not the ease, or the pleasure, which interests us”

Thus, if such perspective on human motivation holds true, then surely the bottom 100 million people of our society have enough reasons to display grievance, since the failings or deficiencies of the state in carving out a path for inclusive development is absent not due to scarcity of resources. Rath-er, it is the unholy collusion and political nexus between the actors within the top 20%, which has made 100 million souls invisible in their own land. l

The writer is a senior economist in Policy Research Institute.