15 Dec, 2014

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Paush 1, 1421Safar 21, 1436Regd No DA 6238Vol 2, No 251

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A MAN OF PEACE

7 | LONG FORM

PLAN TO BRING NEW DIMENSION IN ADP IMPLEMENTATION UNVEILED

B1 | BUSINESS

COLD WAR NUANCESOF 1971

11 | OP-ED

DE GEA STARS AS UNITED DEEPEN LIVERPOOL GLOOM

14 | SPORT

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3 | NewsThe state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) is set to sign a contract with two companies from Spain and South Ko-rea for the construction of the 400MW gas-based combined cycle Bibiyana South Plant in Habiganj.

4 | News

Eminent columnist, poet, litterateur and veteran of the language movement of 1952 Abdul Ga� ar Chowdhury was awarded the PIB-Sohel Samad Memorial Award-2014.

5 | NewsDhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and RAB have ramped up security in the capital ahead of the 43rd Victory Day, which will be celebrated tomorrow.

6 | NationMore than 1.5 lakh people in Mad-

hyanagar of Sunamganj are deprived of quality healthcare services due to lack of a healthcare centre and quali� ed doctors in the area.

8 | World

A carbon-curbing deal struck in Lima yes-terday was a watered-down compromise where national intransigence threatened the goal of a pact to save Earth’s climate system, green groups said.

15 | EntertainmentShomi Kaiser, noted actor and cultural activist, is making a doc-umentary on the life and work of Shahidullah Kai-ser, her father and one of the

intellectuals who was killed by the Paki-stan Army during the Liberation War.

I N S I D E

Toll on wildlife rises in the SundarbansShipping Ministry turns down request to permanently shut down Sela route n Abu Bakar Siddique from the

Sundarbans

The shipping minister must have been in a mood of denial when he said the oil spill would not hurt too much, because it is now becoming clearer with time that what is happening in the Sundar-bans is nothing short of a major disaster.

A day after the � rst sighting of an Irawaddy dolphin corpse, hundreds of marine birds, small � shes and otters could be seen struggling with their lives looking for food in the oil-mixed mud on the banks of Sela River.

The oil has not just polluted the water, it has also crippled the miniature crea-tures that marine birds like maasranga, small � shes like the mud-keeper and aquatic animals like the otter depend on for food.

“Animals like otter whose body is covered with wool are one of the most a� ected ones. Because they have to get into water to catch � sh forfood, they will never survive in the contaminat-ed water. Moreover, the oily water also damages their furry skin,” said Abu Naser Mohsin Khan, an assistant con-servator of the Forest Department.

Fishermen, who depend on the riv-ers inside the single biggest mangrove

forest in the world for a living, have also reported seeing the remains of di� erent types of small � sh, shrimps, snakes and crabs.

“I have seen three dead crabs, some shrimp and some other small � sh such as the meni while � shing in the Sorki canal in the Chandpai forest range,” said Jamal Hossain Khan, a resident of the Joymonir Gol area.

Some of the � eld-level o� cers of the Forest Department have also had the same sightings, Divisional Forest O� cer Zahidul Kabir told the Dhaka Tribune.

“The actual extent of the damaged caused to the wildlife cannot detailed right now. It will take time,” he said.

The Forest Department yesterday formed a monitoring team tasked with patrolling the Sundarbans to measure the damage caused by the oil.

O� cials fear that the oil, which has already reached the Boleshwar River through canals of the Sela River, will also cause health hazards to humans.

“Local shrimp yards take saline water from these rivers. If humans consume the shrimp cultivated in these oil-con-taminated water, there may be conse-quences,” said forest o� cer Abu Naser.

The body of Mokhelsur Rahman, shipmaster of the distressed ship, was recovered yesterday. He went missing af-ter jumping into the water along with his crew members when the vessel was hit.

Oil collectionLocal people were never going to get too far with manually collecting the

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

‘I have seen three dead crabs, some shrimpsand some other small � shes such as meni’

This little king� sher, looking for food in the oil slick on the banks of Sela River in the Sundarbans, is as distressed as the � ora around, turned pitch black by the oil spilled from a tanker six days ago. The little helpless bird, trapped in the oily mud, was later rescued SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

CU Chhatra League in� ghting kills onen FM Mizanur Rahaman

An activist of the ruling party’s student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) was killed and four others injured dur-ing a factional clash at Chittagong Uni-versity yesterday, ensued over placing wreaths on the Martyred Intellectuals’ Day.

Tapos Sarker died at Chittagong Medical College Hospital. He was a � qrst year student of the Sanskrit de-partment, Sub-Inspector Jahirul Islam of the hospital police outpost said. He used to stay at room 235 of Shah Amanat Hall. “Tapos had bullet injury in his chest,” he added.

A probe body was formed by the authorities at an emergency meeting in the evening. Police were preparing to � le a case until � ling of this report around 9:30pm.

These two groups locked in clash-es on the campus at least seven times in the last three months. Latest, they

engaged in � erce armed clashes three times between September 23 and Sep-tember 27.

The central Chhatra League dis-solved the university unit on June 10 following a factional clash.

Campus sources said the clash erupted in the morning between shut-

tle train-based Chhatra League factions – Choose Friend with Care (CFC) and Varsity Express (VX).

The CFC is led by former vice-president Amit Kumar Basu and former joint secretary Sumon Mamun while the VX activists are led by former organising secretary Ariful Islam and

o� ce secretary Jalal Ahmed.Both groups are loyal to Chittagong

city unit Awami League President ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, the former city mayor.

Witnesses and police sources said an altercation took place between the ac-tivists of the two groups during placing � oral wreaths at the Buddhijibi Chhat-tar of the campus around 10am.

Later the VX men pelted stones on the CFC activists from the roof of Shah Jalal Hall during their way back trigger-ing a clash around 11am. The groups clashed with � re arms and sharp weap-ons at a place between the yards of Shah Amanat and Shah Jalal dormito-ries, police said.

“Tapos was shot by the VX men while closing the main gate of Shah Amant Hall during the clash,” Syed Nazrul Islam, a masters student of phi-lology department who witnessed the incident, said.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

UN talks agree building blocks for new-style climate deal in 2015n Reuters

About 190 nations yesterday agreed the building blocks of a new-style glob-al deal due in 2015 to combat climate change amid warnings that far tougher action will be needed to limit increases in global temperatures.

Under the deal reached in Lima, gov-ernments will submit national plans for reining in greenhouse gas emissions by an informal deadline of March 31, 2015 to form the basis of a global agreement due at a summit in Paris in a year’s time.

Most of the tough decisions about how to slow climate change were post-poned until then. “Much remains to be done in Paris next year,” French For-eign Minister Laurent Fabius said.

The texts, agreed two days into overtime after two weeks of talks came close to collapsing, appeased emerging economies led by China and India, con-cerned that previous drafts imposed

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

DHAKA ELEVATED EXPRESSWAY

Land acquisition problem holdsback start of constructionn Shohel Mamun

Having already missed three deadlines in starting construction, the proposed Dhaka elevated expressway is facing uncertainties again centring land ac-quisition.

Construction company Ital-Thai has recently sent a letter to the Bridg-es Division saying they could not start work unless they got � nal con� rmation about land acquisition, sources said.

On September 29, while visiting the Shahjalal airport point of the express-way, Road Transport and Bridges Min-ister Obaidul Quder said land acqui-sition problems have been solved and the construction would start soon.

However, having visited several spots on the proposed route, the Dhaka Tribune reporter has not seen any activ-ity that may suggest that the work has begun.

Sources said the work for building

the � rst phase of the expressway from the airport to Banani in the capital, could not be started because of com-plication centring an 1.4-acre land in the Kuril area. At least six multi-storied buildings still stand on that land and of

the owners had � led a petition with the High Court.

Project Director Kazi Mohammad Ferdous has also admitted that there is a problem.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

Martyred IntellectualsDay observedn Tribune Report

The nation yesterday observed the Martyred Intellectuals Day yesterday by paying tribute to the brave sons of the soil who were killed by Pakistani soldiers and their local collaboratorsin 1971.

President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia paid tribute to the mar-tyred intellectuals by placing wreaths at the Martyred Intellectuals’ Memorial at Mirpur in the capital.

Other political parties, socio-cultur-al organisations and citizens of various walks of life among others also paid homage to the martyred intellectuals.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina placed � oral

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

These two groups locked in clashes on the campus at least seven times in the last three months

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 15, 2014

Toll on wildlife rises in the Sundarbans PAGE 1 COLUMN 2oil from the water. Yesterday, several oil collectors said they had lost interest be-cause the owner company was not pay-ing them the promised Tk30 per litre.

As of yesterday, Padma Oil Compa-ny, owner of the oil, has only collected around 20,000 litres of the spilled oil from the locals which is merely one-tenth of the 200,000 litres feared to have spilled and spread over an 80km area in the forest.

Around 6am on Tuesday, oil tank-er Southern Star 7, carrying 357,664 litres of furnace oil for a power plant in Gopalganj, sank in the Sela River, a sanctuary of dolphins, after being hit by another cargo vessel.

When the vessel was salvaged more than two days later, around two-thirds of the oil spilled into the river. Furnace oil, which comes in thick black chunks, have already covered the vegetation

on the banks of the Sela River in a thick black sheet of oil.

Amir Hossain Chowdhury, another divisional forest o� cer, said the local people can collect 50,000 litres at best. “As more time elapses, the oil will get more di� cult to collect because it will settle everywhere,” he said.

Shipping Ministry adamantIn an inter-ministerial meeting at the secretariat yesterday, the Shipping Ministry yet again turned down a For-est Ministry recommendation to per-manently make the Sela River o� limits for large commercial vessels.

Emerging from the meeting, Ship-ping Minister Shajahan Khan, who said on Saturday that the oil spill was not a matter of big concern, told journalists yesterday: “Because the Sela channel is temporarily shut down, vessels [to and from the Mongla port] are having

to travel 100 additional kilometres.”He has been saying from the begin-

ning that the Sela route could not be per-manently shut down because it would “virtually cripple the Mongla port.”

The meeting yesterday made an-other decision to raise the price of crowd-collected oil to Tk40 per litre from the existing Tk30.

Shajahan also said the vegetation along the riverbanks will be cleared by trimming and using sprays.

Yesterday’s meeting also decided to arrange emergency relief for the local people who depend on catching crab, oyster and small � sh.

Human chain A number of pro-environment groups yesterday formed a human chain at the Mongla port town demanding a ban on commercial vessels plying the Sela River.

They also demanded neutral inves-

tigation into the accident and adequate safety measures for the mangrove for-est which plays the role of a natural shield for the country.

Poribesh Bachao Andolon (Poba), Mongla Nagorik Samaj, Save the Sun-darbans Foundation, Bangladesh Re-source Centre for Indigenous Knowl-edge (Barcik) and Service Bangladesh jointly organised the human chain.

CorrectionIn yesterday’s front page lead story titled “First dead dolphin spotted,” it was written that Dhaka Tribune photo-journalist Syed Zakir Hossain had actu-ally taken the accompanying photo of the dolphin corpse on Saturday.

The photo was actually taken on Friday. But because the he had gone deep into the forest and could not send the picture right away as the area was out of Internet network coverage. l

UN talks agree building blocks PAGE 1 COLUMN 1too heavy a burden on emerging econ-omies compared to the rich.

“We’ve got what we wanted,” said Indian Environment Minister Prakash-Javedekar, who said the text preserved a notion enshrined in a 1992 climate convention that the rich have to lead the way in making cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

It also satis� ed rich nations led by the United States who say it is time for fast-growing emerging economies to rein in fast-rising emissions. China is now the biggest greenhouse gas emit-ter ahead of the United States, the EU and India.

US Special Climate Change Envoy Todd Stern said that a joint US-Chi-na deal last month to curb emissions had helped show new ways to bridge a stando� between rich and poor. “The announcement of a few weeks ago came in handy here,” he said.

“This is a good document to pave the way to Paris,” EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Ari-as Canete told Reuters at the end of the talks about limiting more � oods, deserti� cation, heat waves and rising sea levels.

Some environmental groups, how-ever, said the deal, reached at a tent city on a military base in the Peruvian capital, was far too weak.

“We went from weak to weaker to weakest,” Samantha Smith of the WWF conservation group said of successive drafts at the Lima talks.

New Style dealThe idea of a UN deal with obligations for all nations marks a shift from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which obliges only the rich to cut emissions.

Christiana Figueres, the UN’s cli-mate chief, said Lima found a new ways to de� ne the obligations of rich and poor. “That is a very important breakthrough,” she said.

“What we are seeing is a new form of international cooperation on climate change where all countries participate with a new set of rules,” said Jennifer Morgan of the World Resources Insti-tute think-tank.

The UN Climate Change Secretariat says that the combined pledges by all nations likely in Paris will be too weak to achieve a goal of limiting warming to an agreed goal of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.

Under the Lima deal, national pledges will be added up in a report by November 1, 2015, to assess their aggregate e� ect in slowing rising tem-peratures.

But, after opposition led by China, there will not be a full-blown review to compare each nation’s level of am-bition.

And the text lays out a vast range of options for the Paris accord, including the possibility of aiming for zero net global emissions by 2100 or earlier in a drastic shift from fossil fuels towards renewable energies such as wind and solar power. l

CU Chhatra League in� ghting kills one PAGE 1 COLUMN 5The injured – SM Alauddin Alam and Fahim of philosophy; Rimon of bot-any; and Sabbir Hannan of soil sci-ence departments received primary treatment at the medical centre. Of them, Alauddin is the former human resource a� airs secretary of Chhatra League’s CU unit while the others are assistant secretaries.

Md Ismail, OC of Hathazari police station, said they had � red 30 rounds of rubber bullets and tear gas canisters to quell the clashing groups. Tapos and the injured were � rst taken to the CU medical centre.

Additional police have been de-ployed on the campus to avert further clashes.

Following the killing, police raided the Shah Jalal dormitory and detained at least 30 Chhatra League activists. They also recovered a light gun and � ve rounds of bullets and a number of sharp weapons, Additional Superintendent of Police (North) Mohammed Shahidullah told the Dhaka Tribune.

After a post-mortem examination, the body was handed over to Tapos’ relatives around 3:30pm.

CFC group leader Amit blamed Proctor Siraj Ud Dowla for not resolv-ing the long-standing feud amongst the Chhatra League factions due to his personal interest.

Amit accused Ashrafuzzaman Asha, Rupom Bishwas, Asifuzzaman, Mi-zanur Rahman Bipul, Shohel Khan, Shahrid Shuvo and Kawsar for carrying out the attack on the CFC men under

the order of Ariful Islam and Jalal.The CFC leaders and witnesses said

during the clashes, neither the proctor nor any assistant proctor was seen to quell the situation.

Amit claimed that Tapos would not have died had the proctorial body per-formed their duties properly.

Awami League leader Mohiuddin demanded immediate arrest and trial

of Tapos’ killers, after visiting Tapos’ body at the college morgue.

CFC demands removal of VC, proctorAfter the killing, Chhatra League ac-tivists belonging to the CFC group at a press conference demanded immediate removal of Vice-Chancellor Professor Anwarul Azim Arif and Proctor Siraj.

They met the journalists at the Chittagong Press Club around 5:30pm. Former president of the unit Mamunul Haque and former vice-president Sha-hadat Hossain Juel were present.

Probe body formedA � ve-member investigation committee was formed in the evening at an emer-gency meeting of the university’s deans, provosts and proctors led by the VC.

Prof Tawhid Osman, the dean of Biological Sciences Faculty, has been made convener of the probe body, Pro-VC Prof Dr Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune. They were asked to submit report in two weeks.

The meeting also agreed not to declare the university closed. Police would deal with the legal matters re-garding the murder and recovery of arms, he added. l

Land acquisition problem holds back start of construction PAGE 1 COLUMN 4“We hope that the problem will be solved this month and construction work would start in January,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The work for the country’s � rst ex-pressway was scheduled to be com-pleted by this June.

In January 2011, the government signed an agreement with Bang-kok-based Ital-Thai to build the 4-lane expressway at a cost of Tk8,703 crore

under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

Soon after the signing, Ital-Thai re-portedly fell into a fund crisis. It failed to convince � nanciers to get the funds needed for conducting the feasibility study; detailed design; soil test; assess-ing environmental impacts; and reset-tlement plan after land acquisition.

On April 3, 2011, groundwork began at a snail’s pace and at the end of that month, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

laid the foundation. Construction was scheduled to kick o� in July 2011 and be completed in 42 months.

The proposed expressway starts at the Shahjalal airport and runs along-side the New Airport Road via Mo-hakhali, Tejgaon and Moghbazar to the Kamalapur Railway Station and connects with the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway near Kutubkhali via Golap-bagh and Jatrabari.

The Ital-Thai Development

Corporation Limited has entered a $1.062bn contract with the China Railway Construction Corporation to build the Dhaka elevated expressway.

“With help from the Bangladesh Army, we have almost resolved the prob-lem centring land acquisition for the � rst phase. The � nancial problem has also been resolved through the agree-ment between CRCC and Ital-Thai,” Bridges Division Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam said yesterday. l

Martyred Intellectuals Day PAGE 1 COLUMN 6wreaths at the pedestal of the Martyred Intellectuals’ Memorial in the capital early in the morning.

Both of them stood in solemn si-lence there for some time. The pres-ident and the PM also talked to the war-wounded freedom � ghters there.

On his arrival at the memorial, the president was received by Prime Min-ister Sheikh Hasina. Members of the cabinet, the chiefs of the three servic-es and high civil and military o� cials were also present.

Flanked by central leaders of the party, Sheikh Hasina, also the presi-dent of Bangladesh Awami League, laid another wreath at the memorial.

Hasina then went to Dhanmondi and placed wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on road 32.

Around 10am, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia along with the party’s act-ing secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Is-lam Alamgir and other central leaders paid homage to the martyred intellec-tuals by placing wreaths at the memo-rial.

On the night of December 14 in 1971,

over 200 Bangali intellectuals includ-ing professors, journalists, doctors, artistes, engineers and writers were picked up in Dhaka by the Pakistani occupation forces, aided by their local collaborators.

The intellectuals were taken blind-folded to torture cells in Mirpur, Mo-hammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajarbagh and other locations in di� erent parts of the city and most notably Rayerba-zar and Mirpur. Since then, the day is being observed as the Martyred Intel-lectuals Day.

Hundreds of people gathered at the memorial to honour the intellectuals who were murdered in the killing � elds of Rayerbazaar during the last days of the Liberation War.

Yesterday, a group of children staged a symbolic act, replicating the Rayerbazar killings.

This year’s observances are di� er-ent because four of the masterminds – Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Syed Ashrafuzzam-an – have been sentenced to death by the war crimes tribunals. The verdicts are awaiting execution. l

PM: BNP movement with killers of intellectuals doomed to fail n BSS

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yester-day said a BNP movement together with the killers of the intellectuals to save war criminals from facing justice would not be successful.

“Khaleda Zia is threatening to wage a movement during victory month. But her movement with the killers of the il-lustrious sons of the soil to protect 1971 war criminals will not be successful,” she said.

Hasina, the Awami League president, said this while addressing a discussion on Martyred Intellectuals Day, at Bang-ladesh Krishibid Institution in Khamar-bari in the capital this afternoon. Dep-uty Leader of the House and Senior Party Presidium Member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury chaired the discussion.

It was addressed, among others, by Advisory Council members Amir Hos-sain Amu, Tofail Ahmed and Suarnjit Sengupta, Presidium members Matia

Chowdhury and Sahara Khatun, joint secretaries Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif and Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Organising Secre-tary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Food Min-ister Qamrul Islam, Dhaka City acting president MA Aziz and General Secre-tary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdury Maya.

The prime minister came down heavily on the BNP leader for address-ing a meeting in Narayanganj on Satur-day with al-Badr and Razakar leaders.

“How could she address a meeting on December 13, the day before Mar-tyred Intellectuals Day, with al-Badr, Razakar and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders on the same dais?” she asked.

Sheikh Hasina said it was Ja-maat-e-Islami leaders who were with Khaleda Zia on the dais and there were festoons, banners and balloons in-scribed with pictures of war criminals as well as Razakar and al-Badr chiefs at the meeting.

She said the meeting had been ar-ranged to protect war criminals and the

killers of the intellectuals. “From the meeting, Khaleda Zia also

wished curses upon my head to save the war criminals,” the prime minister said.

She quoted a saying that goes: A cow would not die because of a vulture’s prayers. If that happened, not a single cow would be alive,” she said, adding that there were some vultures in the country who want to save war crimi-nals and destroy the country.

The Prime Minister said: “Insha Al-lah all of the verdicts will be execut-ed.”The prime minister called upon her countrymen to be vigilant so that Pro-Pakistan collaborators never come to state power.”

She urged Bangladeshis to vow to realise the dream of the martyred intel-lectuals.

“We will have to renew our vows to build a hunger-free and poverty-free Bangladesh for which the illustrious sons of the soil embraced martyrdom in 1971,” she said. l

BNP: AL shatters dreams of martyred intellectuals n Tribune Report

The BNP yesterday alleged that the rul-ing Awami League had destroyed the dreams of the martyred intellectuals by driving democracy into exile.

Murders, abductions and enforced disappearances have plagued the coun-try like 1971, said Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, acting secretary general of BNP.

Martyred intellectuals dreamed of an independent and democratic Bang-ladesh. “But what are we experiencing today? Awami League assumed the of-� ce by force without any voting,” said Fakhrul.

The spokesperson of the party also alleged that conspiracy was hatched in 1971 to kill the intellectuals in a bid to turn it into a merit-less country and the same e� ort is still on.

“Fascism and absence of democracy contributed to such a state.”

Fakhrul came up with this allegation after placing wreaths at the capital’s

Martyred Intellectuals Memorial. Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia along

with her senior party colleagues paid homage to the intellectuals murdered during the Liberation War.

Later, at a discussion at the Institu-tion of Engineers, Bangladesh, Fakhrul said the way the Pakistani occupiers killed the intellectuals of the country on the eve of victory, the same way the government is plotting to eliminate the opposition views.

“Pakistani occupiers killed those who could build an independent and democratic Bangladesh on the eve of victory in 1971. Now a conspiracy is going on to annihilate those having di� erences of opinions and beliefs,” he alleged.

“Everyday opposition leaders are becoming victims of killing and abduc-tion.”

The BNP leader said restoration of democracy in the country is the only way to overcome such situation.

“Today we have to vow that fascist Awami league will be ousted and de-mocracy will be restored in the coun-try and for this intellectuals have to be united.

“Mujib Bahini was formed bypass-ing Mukti Bahini in 1971 with a view to eradicating those who fought in the battle � eld and expressed di� erences of opinions. It is history,” he said.

As the deputy chief of Liberation War AK Khandakar revealed the truth in his book on the Liberation War but unfortunately Awami League branded him as rajakar.

Ziaur Rahman, who proclaimed in-dependence of the country, was labe-led as an agent of Pakistan and even Tajuddin Ahmed also came under their scathing criticism, he alleged.

BNP standing committee members MK Anwar and Abdul Moyeen Khan and former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University Emajuddin Ahmed, among others, spoke at the discussion. l

Case � led against MP Badi’s brothers n Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

Police have � led a case against two brothers of Cox’s Bazar lawmaker Ab-dur Rahman Badi for giving shelter to illegal Rohingyas.

The accused are Md Sha� que and Md Foysal. Badi and � ve of his brothers including the duo are named as yaba traders by the Home Ministry.

Teknaf police OC Moktar Hossain said they raided the house of the accused in Chowdhurypara area around 2:30am on information that they were giving shelter to Rohingyas. The duo was not at home at that time. Md Shamsul Islam was held for illegal stay in Bangladesh. He was later produced before a court. l

HC summons 26 school heads for charging extra SSC fees n Tribune Report

The High Court has summon the heads of 26 schools in Dhaka to appear before it on January 6 for charging additional ex-amination fees from the SSC candidates.

The bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman passed the orders during the hearing of a suo motu ruling.

The headmasters or principals of these schools and the chairpersons or managing directors of their governing bodies have to appear before the court to explain why they have charged the excess fees in addition to the amount

� xed by the government. Deputy Attorney General Biswojit Roy

told the Dhaka Tribune that the sum-mons came after going through a probe report submitted by Dhaka Education Board. It said these institutions charged extra fees for the 2015 academic year.

The institutions are Motijheel Ideal School and College, Viqarunnisa Noon School, Mirpur Bangla School and Col-lege, Dhaka Residential Model College, Rajuk Uttara Model College, Holy Cross Girls High School, Siddheswari Girls High School, Government Laborato-ry High School, National Ideal School and College, YWCA School, Milestone

College, Udayan High School, Cambri-an School and College, Raihan College in Lalbagh, Alimuddin High School in Mirpur, Mohammadpur High School in New Market, Armanitola Government High School, West End High School, Anandamoyee Girls High School, Ahmed Bawani Academy, Monipur High School, Mirpur Adorsha High School, Mirpur Shaheed Smriti High School, Jannat Academy in Mirpur, and Haji Bil-lat Ali Adorsha High School in Azampur.

On November 10, the same bench ordered the government to immediate-ly stop charging additional fees at the schools across the country. l

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pay tribute at Mirpur on the ocasion of Martyred Intellectuals Day yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 15, 2014

Garment worker gang raped in Gazipurn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

A garment worker was gang-raped by six unidenti� ed men on Friday while she was looking for a place at Beraider-chala in Gazipur to rent, but she alleged that the local police station refused to register a case.

The woman aged 21 also alleged that O� cer-in-Charge for investigation at Sripur Model police station Khan Md Abul Kashem had threatened with � ling the rape case against her neigh-bours who had accompanied her there to � le the complaint on Saturday night.

Coworkers told the Dhaka Tribune that the young girl, daughter of a farmer in Kandipara village of Gafar-gaon upazila, Mymensingh, had been a worker at Sadsain Apparel of Noman Group in Jamirdia area of Bhaluka for two months. She had to leave her pre-vious rented residence as the owner asked all tenants to � nd accommoda-tion elsewhere.

On Friday, the woman was looking for a place for rent in Beraidercha-la around 4pm when two unknownpeople told her they knew a few houses to let.

On the way, the woman sensed that the men were up to something else and wanted to leave, but they forcefully took her to a � ve-storey building un-der construction. They took her to the makeshift room for construction work-

ers; four more men were there.They tied the girl’s hands and

gagged her. They beat her severely as she tried to get free. Then the six men raped the girl.

The victim told this correspondent that two of the rapists were aged 18-20 while others were between 28 and 35. One of the rapists was called by the name of Asadullah Prodhan.

She said three of her perpetrators at-tempted to kill her by strangling when another told them to let her go as she did not know any of them. After that the rapists left the place, leaving her there seriously injured.

After about an hour the woman came out of the building and returned to her residence by an auto-rickshaw.

The next day she disclosed the inci-dent to her land lord Ma� z Uddin and a few neighbours. Kabir Hossain, son of the land lord, and neighbours Sha� qul Islam and Bala Master took her to the police station around 9:30pm on Sat-urday.

The woman alleged that hearing her complaints OC (investigation) Abul Kashem got furious and started hurling abuses at her and threatened her com-panions with a rape case against them.

When contacted, Abul Kashem, however, denied the allegations, say-ing: “The authority to register a case lies with the OC; I am no one to sayyes or no.” l

Contract to be signed for Bibiyana South plantn Aminur Rahman Rasel

The state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) is set to sign a contract with two companies from Spain and South Korea for the construction of the 400MW gas-based combined cycle Bibiyana South Plant in Habiganj.

“We will sign the companies [Isolux Ingenieria SA of Spain and Sam-sung C&T Corporation of South Korea] up as EPC contractors on Monday,” PDB Chairman Md Abduhu Ruhulla told the Dhaka Tribune.

For the � rst time, the govern-ment will be using the Energy Develop-ment and Maintenance Fund - created by introducing an additional amount to electricity prices to � nance this proj-ect – for building the plant in place of the cancelled Bibiyana 1 project by the Summit Group.

The PDB – under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resourc-es – will implement the project.

The gas-based power plant

project was planned considering the availability of gas. US-based oil gi-ants Chevron recently completed the Bibiyana gas � eld expansion project, launched two years ago, aiming to pro-duce an additional 300mmcfd of gas.

The government selected Isolux Ingenieria SA of Spain and Sam-sung C&T Corporation of South Korea, which made the lowest bid of $288m out of six bidders in the tender call, to build the plant as engineering, procure-ment and construction (EPC) contrac-tors.

“After signing of the EPC contract, the PDB requires the owner’s engineer for the implementation of this project. The construction period for this project is 900 days, including a simple cycle completion time of 720 days,” Abduhu Ruhulla said.

The PDB invited the expres-sion of interest (EOI) from reputed international engineering consulting � rms for providing consultancy ser-vices as owner’s engineer for the con-

struction of the plant. Alongside the Bibiyana

South, another plant named Bibiyana 3 with 399MW gas-based power plant will be built under the PDB.

Around Tk2,000 crore will be used from the Energy Development and Maintenance Fund, the consum-ers’ bill fund created by the Bangla-desh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), for constructing the power plant.

“This is a good sign for us. I am very happy to know that for the � rst time funds will be used from the consumers’ bill fund to build the power plant. We created the fund to develop the power sector,” BERC Chairman AR Khan told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We are pleased. We want to see the power plant completed in time as there will be no fund crisis to build the plant. Even gas is available there,” said Prof M Shamsul Alam, energy af-fairs adviser for the Consumers Associ-ation of Bangladesh (CAB). l

Tazreen Fashions owner sent to jail n Our Correspondent, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday sent Md Delwar Hossain, owner of Tazreen Fashions, to jail in a money embezzle-ment case.

Metropolitan Magistrate Syed Mash-� qul Islam passed the order rejecting Delwar’s bail plea.

Chittagong Metropolitan Police Ad-ditional Deputy Commissioner (prose-cution) Kazi Muttaki Ibn Minan said the court adjourned its proceedings until December 26.

According to the case, Tazreen Fashions purchased accessories worth Tk34.74 lakh from KDS Accessories Limited in 2010-11 � scal year but it has not paid the dues in the last four years.

As Delwar harassed KDS Accesso-ries in di� erent ways, its Legal Assets Department Assistant Manager Shimul Sen lodged a case with the court in 2013.

Delwar was on a four-week bail from High Court in the case. But the court or-dered him to surrender before a lower court after completion of the bail peri-od. But he did not do so.

Delwar surrendered yesterday be-fore the court. l

ACC quizzes Range police commandant Mizanurn Adil Sakhawat

The Anti-Corruption Commission yes-terday interrogated Mizanur Rahman, the commandant of Range Reserve Force under Dhaka Range Police unit, on charges of accumulating illegal wealth worth around Tk100 crore.

The ACC authorities quizzed Mi-zanur, also a former SP, from 11am-

12:30pm yesterday, an ACC o� cial said seeking anonymity. Deputy Director Hamidul Hasan recorded his statement.

The anti-graft body initiated inquiry against the police o� cial in 2012. The two previous inquiry o� cers – Chit-tagong district unit Deputy Director Gol-am Morshed and Deputy Director Fazlul Haque of the headquarters – suggested disposal of the allegations against him.

But the commission decided to run an-other inquiry against him.

An ACC source said the commission had asked Mizanur to submit all the documents of his bank accounts – both personal and business transactions – within this month. “The police o� cial has three fertiliser manufacturing fac-tories – in Savar, Matuail and Rayerba-zar areas – � outing government service

rules. But he showed the ownership of those companies in his wife’s name.”

When contacted, Mizanur said he had gone to the ACC o� ce for having a cup of tea with Director General Sha-hiduzzaman. “I did not face any inter-rogation. There is no inquiry running against me,” he claimed.

In 2010, Chittagong-based fertiliser trader Omar Faruq � led a written allega-

tion with the then IGP alleging that Mizan, then SP of Faridpur, had forced him to pay Tk11.5 lakh, with threats of putting him in “cross� re.” He also claimed that Mizan had been threatening people claiming that he had been a relative of the prime minister. Mizan was withdrawn the same year with the police headquarters on charges of attempting to grab farm-lands in Gopalganj district. l

Ex-Jubo Dal leader of Hazaribagh shot deadn Tribune Report

A ward-level BNP youth leader was shot in broad daylight and killed by unidenti� ed gunmen yesterday at the Hazaribagh area of the capital.

The deceased was Afzal Hossain Sat-tar alias Gal Kata Sattar, 37. The now raw-hide trader used to be the presi-dent of the Ward-48 Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal. He is a resident of Hazaribagh, a locality that is under Ward-48 of the Dhaka South City Corporation.

Afzal is also accused in at least 14 criminal cases under the Hazaribagh Police Station.

An eyewitness of the incident said Afzal was buying � sh from hawkers around the Tin Matha Mosque – at a walking distance from his house – af-ter saying Zuhr prayers. Some 5-6 armed men suddenly surrounded him, and � red several rounds. The youths � ed on motorbikes before localscould react.

Police have con� rmed the inci-dent while the shooters could not be identi� ed by the time this report was

being � led. Afzal’s son Ishtiaque and broth-

er Saidul Haque rushed him to Dha-ka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) as soon as they were noti� ed of the shooting. Doctors declared him dead around 2:30pm. The body has been sent to Dhaka Medical College morguefor autopsy.

According to sources at DMCH, one of the bullets hit him on the head while three others hit his waist and back.

Saidul told reporters at DMCH that as his brother was involved with BNP city unit’s politics, political opponents might have killed him.

“Some local Jubo League mem-bers were pressuring him to join their party. As he denied, they killed him,”he said.

O� cer-in-Charge of Hazaribagh police station Kazi Moinul Islam said Afzal was a known criminal of Hazarib-agh. He was accused in over 14 cases, 10 of which were murder charges.

Saidul claimed that all of the cases � led against him were “politically mo-tivated.” l

MONEY LAUNDERING & TAX EVASION

ACC summons 10 Nasir Group o� cialsn Adil Sakhawat

The Anti-Corruption Commission has summoned 10 senior o� cials of Nasir Group, including the company’s chair-man, to appear in front of the commis-sion before 2pm today in connection with their alleged involvement with money laundering and tax evasion.

ACC Assistant Director SM Ra� qul Islam issued the summon on December 11 to the o� ce address of the accused, an ACC source told the Dhaka Tribune.

Those summoned are Nasir Group of Industries Chairman Nasir Uddin Biswas, his wife and also Nasir Leaf To-bacco Industries Director Taslima Sul-tana, General Manager (import) Alfaz Uddin, GM (commercial) Abu Said, GM (marketing & sales) Shamim Ahmed, GM (admin) Abdus Sobhan, GM (ac-counts & Finance) Sidddiqur Rahman, GM (export) AKM Shahiduzzaman, As-sistant GM (purchase) Mobaidul Islam and Cashier Mohammed Shamim.

The commission is investigating the

summoned individuals’ involvement in laundering over Tk200 crore annually by evading tax against every letter of cred-it (LC) to import products. The amount might be much higher.

According to the allegations, Nasir Group used bank accounts to pay only 40%-50% of the total money for every LC to import products. The remaining amount was paid by using hundi busi-nesses to evade tax.

The source also said the group was siphoning the money through seven to eight hundi trading organisations who mailed Nasir Group documents ac-knowledging the transfer of funds.

When contacted, ACC Chairman M Bodiuzzaman said: “We found the al-legations against Nasir Group last year. After evaluating the allegations, the commission decided to run an inquiry against Nasir Group.

“The commission will take action against anyone who we found to be in-volved with the allegations,” the chair-man added. l

Not so happy any moren Mohammad Jamil Khan and

Sanaul Islam Tipu

The forensic report of actress Naznin Akhter Happy, conducted in connection with a repression of women case that she � led, will be ready within 10 days, the head of Dhaka Medical College fo-rensic department yesterday said.

Prof Habibuzzaman Chowdhury con� rmed that a three-member board would prepare the report.

Happy � led the case against nation-al cricket team paceman Rubel Hossain with Mirpur police on Saturday under the Women and Children Repression Preven-tion Act. Forensic department sources said X-rays, a physical examination and blood and saliva samples were taken to run various tests, including a DNA test.

SI Masud Parvez, also IO of the case, said police took Happy to the Tejgaon Victim Support Centre for security rea-sons. “Once we get the medical report, we will conduct a DNA test on Rubel who is currently under police watch,”he said.

Metropolitan Magistrate Meher Ni-gar Suchona yesterday accepted the FIR � led by Happy and � xed January 11 to � le the investigation report.

According to the FIR, Rubel told Hap-py that they would marry and had an af-fair that included physical relations for the last nine months. The couple was together as recently as December 1.

Happy, the heroine of “Kichhu Asha Kichhu Bhalobasa,” said they � rst met through friends and then stayed in touch via Facebook and mobile telephone.

“We had an a� air and he used me,” she said. “If he marries me, then I will withdraw the case.”

The Dhaka Tribune tried contacting Riubel over the phone but found it had been switched o� . l

Sirajul ordered killing of 42 Hindusn Tribune Report

Freedom � ghter Nimai Chandra Das yesterday described before the Inter-national Crimes Tribunal 1 how Sheikh Sirajul Haque and his accomplices including Khan Akram Hossain and Abdul Latif Talukder had shot dead 42 Hindus at Shakhari Kathi Bazar of Bagerhat on November 5, 1971.

Nimai, 62, the seventh prosecution witness, said his maternal uncle Nokul Das was among those killed on that day.

Sirajul, Akram and Latif are facing eight charges of crimes against human-ity and genocide committed in Bager-hat in 1971.

The witness said razakar founder AKM Yusuf, Sirajul, one Rajab Ali of Bagerhat and leaders of Jamaat-e-Isla-mi and Muslim League had gone to Ko-chua after the war began to form Peace Committee, an auxiliary force to the Pakistani occupation forces.

They appointed one Modasser Mol-lah chief of its Badhal union unit. After the meeting, they set � re on the houses of Andhar Manik, Kholisha Khali, Chor-kathi and Baroikhali villages.

“That committee recruited around 25-30 people in razakar, another auxil-iary force, and sent them to Khulna for

training.” Nimai said: “After the training, raza-

kars set up camp at Bishwas Bari of Doiboggohati of Bagerhat. Khan Akram was the commander of the camp. After setting up of the camp, razakars began looting and torturing villagers.”

Nimai said he along with others went to India for training on June 4 and returned home on July 7 or 8.

At the end of July, members of that razakar camp “invited” Hindus at Sho-naton Das’s house in Shakhari Kathi vil-lage to convert them into Islam saying that they would not have to go to India or if they took Islam as their religion.

“We saw from a far place that a cow was slaughtered at the house and wearing Tupi around 200-250 Hindus ate beef. Maulvi Mokbul administered prayers,” Nimai said. Akram among other razakars was present on the spot.

“At one point, someone set � re to two haystacks and people began run-ning. After that incident, torture of the razakars increased,” he added.

On November 4, freedom � ghters at-tacked the Doiboggohati razakar camp; but they had to retreat due to heavy rains. On the following morning they came to know that the razakars had moved to elsewhere.

Nimai and three other freedom � ghters then went to Shakhari Kathi Bazar. After some time, around 50-60 razakars came to the place and created blockades at three di� erent points.

Quoting accused Sirajul, the witness said the razakars took position there to catch the freedom � ghters who had at-tacked the Doiboggohati camp.

They saw the razakars tying the Hin-dus together in a queue. “Apart from Sirajul, I could recognise Akram and La-tif among other razakars,” Nimai said.

On Sirajul’s instruction, razakars took the detainees at the bank of a nearby canal. “Siraj Master blew whis-tle three times and all the razakars opened � re.”

Around 42 people were killed and many others injured in that shooting. The bodies were taken by the razakars to Ramchandrapur village buried in a large hole the following day.

Nimai identi� ed the trio in the dock.The witness said he had � led a complaint with the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Bagerhat on May 10, 2009 accusing 19 persons for the killing. The case was later transferred to tribunal.

The case was adjourned until to-day when the defence counsels would cross examine the witness. l

Bangladesh Rukhe Darao, a platform for pro-liberation forces, bring out a � ag procession starting from Central Shaheed Minar and ending at Shikha Chirantan in the capital yesterday in observance of the Martyred Intellectuals Day MEHEDI HASAN

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 15, 2014

Swapno launches winter clothing drive to help the homelessn Tribune Report

To help the homeless this winter, Swapno, a charitable, non-political organisation formed by students of di� er-ent universities, has started “Operation Ushnota.”

Under the programme, they are distributing warm clothes among the poor in Dhaka, Rajshahi and Chapa-inawabganj.

Under the slogan “Let’s spread warmth,” they have distributed warm clothes among at least 200 people living on the streets in the capital in the last two days.

On Saturday night their op-eration started in the capital’s

Nilkhet and gradually cov-ered New Market, Dhanmon-di, Shyamoli, Kalyanpur, Mir-pur, Bijoy Sarani, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh, and the High Court area.

Mamunur Rashid, a fourth year student of po-litical science at Dhaka University and convener of Swapno’s Dhaka unit, said Swapno had distributed warm clothes among around 600 poor people in di� erent villages of the two other dis-tricts so far.

The donations and warm clothes were collected through campaigning at di� erent public and private universities of the capital. l

Third death anniversary of Quazi Azher Ali today n Tribune Report

Today is the third death anniversary of Quazi Azher Ali, former secretary of the government of Bangladesh.

The founder president of Ban-gladesh University died in 2009 of old-age complications.

Quazi Azher Ali joined the civil ser-vice of Pakistan upon completion of his education from Cambridge University in UK. He had served as the sub-divi-sional o� cer, additional deputy com-missioner and deputy commissioner during the Pakistani regime.

After independence, he served as the chairman of the Power Develop-ment Board. Construction of power line from Teknaf to Tetulia is worth mention among his contributions.

Apart from serving the government, he has also written books on various subjects including rural development and district administration. l

Abdul Ga� ar Chowdhury gets Samad Memorial Awardn Tribune Report

Eminent columnist, poet, litterateur and veteran of the language move-ment of 1952 Abdul Ga� ar Chowd-hury was awarded the PIB-Sohel Sa-mad Memorial Award-2014.

Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu handed over a crest to Ga� ar Chowdhury at a programme at the auditorium of the Press Insti-tute of Bangladeshi (PIB) in the capi-tal yesterday.

Meanwhile, Sohel Samad’s fami-ly member Belal Samad handed over a cheque of Tk 50,000 and PIB Chair-man Habibur Rahman Milon handed over a certi� cate to the veteran jour-nalist at the programme.

Speaking on the occasion, Gaf-far Chowdhury said: “This award should be given to those who will have outstanding performances in

journalism to keep alive the memory of Shohel Samad.”

Immoral practices are becoming more prominent in journalism, and journalists becoming businessman in the country, he said.

“We need objective journalism to

remove the prevailing situation,” he added. Inu said though Abdul Ga� ar Chowdhury is a man of certain peri-od, but he has succeed to transcend his period. He has a vast experience of observations on Bangladesh. He is a witnesses of three pillar of Bangla-

desh like Language Movement of 52, Liberation War of 71 and Democracy Movement of 90, the minister said.

Cultural personality Kamal Lohani said the song “Aamar Bhaiyer Rokte Rangano Ekushe February” by Abdul Ga� ar will remain as long as Bangla-desh and Bangla language exist.

Abdul Ga� ar writes against bad politics, fundamentalism, racism and corruption, he said.

Golam Sarwar, editor of Bangla daily Samakal, said although there are some criticism about the col-umns by Ga� ar Chowdhury, people read the columns even who does not like him personally.

PM’s Media Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury Iqbal Sobhan Chowd-hury, Information Secretary Mortu-za Ahmed, Belal Samad and Habibur Rahman Milon also spoke on the oc-casion. l

22 people donate bodies, eyesn Tribune Report

Twenty two people donated their bodies and eyes to di� erent medical colleges for medical research at a post-humous organ donation programme in the capital yesterday.

Marking the Martyred Intellectuals Day, the Sandhani National Eye Donation Society (SNES),a voluntary organisation of medical students, and the Posthu-mous Body Donation Programme, a platform of volunteers, jointly organised the programme at the Sandhani Hospital auditorium.

Among the 22 donors, veteran cul-tural personality Kamal Lohani, ac-tor Piyush Bandapaddhay, architects Mobasher Hossain, Shamsul Wares, poet Rabiul Hussain, human rights activist Aroma Dutta, researcher Reza Rahman,

journalist Sagar Lohani donated bodies and eyes.

On behalf of the donors, Kamal Lo-hani handed over their declaration pa-pers to the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Anatomy Department Chairman Prof Khandakar Manzare Shamim.

Speaking on the occasion, Kamal said: “I think the bodies of the donors will be now used for the people who are really in need those... But there is a religious taboo that actually make barriers to such contri-butions. So, we need to raise awareness from our families.”

On the religious perspective on the do-nation of body after death, Maulana Ziaul Hasan said: “There is no religious prohibi-tion to donate posthumous body. Rather it will bring more virtues to a donor.”

Religious scholars can also play a vital

role to raise awareness among the people and to reduce religious taboo, he said.

Architect Rabiul Hussain said a person can contribute to the society even after his or her death by donating posthumous body or any part of body.

With the donation by the eminent personalities, the country’s people will now be encouraged to donate their bod-ies, said Laila Anjuman, a professor at the anatomy department of the BSMMU. It will bring a great contribution to the med-ical education in the country,” she said.

“But we have some problems in pre-serving the body due to lack of modern technological supports and systems in the medical colleges, she added.

Magician Jewel Aich and his wife Bi-pasha Aich were the � rst people who donated their posthumous bodies in the country. l

DB arrests four suspects involved with Khilgaon mugging n Tribune Report

Detectives have arrested four armed suspects thought to be involved in hi-jacking Tk20 lakh from the capital’s Khilagon area.

The arrestees were identi� ed as Mo-stak, Sohel alias Banuti Sohel, Rasel and Arju. During the time of arrest, two foreign-made handguns, four maga-zines, 12 rounds of bullets, Tk 45,000 in cash, and two motorcycles were recov-ered from their possession, said Krish-na Pada Roy, Deputy Commissioner of DB police.

Krishna, while addressing a brie� ng at the media and community centre of Dha-ka Metropolitan Police, said a team of DB police arrested the alleged muggers from the Hatkhola road of the Wari area in old-Dhaka, upon receiving a tip-o� .

The detectives were investigat-ing a mugging case in which muggers snatched Tk 20 lakh after shooting Ako-ta Store Manager Ahbdus Salam around noon on December 7. The incident hap-pened in the Goran Bazar, Khilgaon.

DC Krishna Pada con� rmed that the arrestees confessed to being involved with the mugging during primary in-terrogation, and that separate action is also being taken for possession of ille-gal weapons. l

Tk18 lakh robbed in front of a bankn Tribune Report

Muggers snatched a bag full of mon-ey away from an employee of Bexim-co Pharma at the staircases of Janata Bank’s Shyampur branch in the capital around noon yesterday.

“The victim, Harun-ur-Rashid, 45, was carrying Tk18 lakh in the bag. He was on his way to deposit the money in the bank when the miscreants blocked his way and physically assaulted him, leaving with the money,” Sub-Inspec-tor Mohidul Islam of Kadamtoli police station told the Dhaka Tribune. l

Committee probing Zaglul’s accident gets extensionIt will also invite witnesses to testify via newspaper circularn Shohel Mamun

The probe committee investigating the accident that killed veteran journalist Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury were given seven more days as both the commit-tee and police have failed to identify the killer bus or its driver.

Mohammad Iqbal, o� cer-in-charge of Kalabagan police station where a case was � led in this connection, said: “Our investigation is going on, and we hope to detain the driver and � nd the bus.”

The accident took place at Kawran Bazar on the night of November 29.

The committee requested the Road Transport and Highways Division for a seven-day extension, which was grant-ed yesterday, sources at the division told the Dhaka Tribune.

Asked about the progress of the in-vestigation, Moshiar Rahman, director of administration at Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and head of the committee, told the Dhaka Tri-bune: “We have taken testimonies of a few witnesses and also held a few meetings in this regard.

But when asked about the � ndings from the testimonies, he refused to an-swer and said: “We need more time.”

When asked about the extension, MAN Siddique, secretary at the Road Transport and Highways Division, told the Dhaka Tribune: “At � rst, the min-istry gave the committee three days to submit a report on this accident, which was later received a seven-day exten-sion. But they were unable to identify

the driver and the bus in that time. So they were given another seven-day ex-tension.”

Shyamal Dutta, editor of the Dai-ly Bhorer Kagoj and a member of the probe committee, said the committee had published a notice in newspapers on December 2 and December 3, asking witnesses to appear before the commit-tee or at the BRTA o� ce to give their accounts of the accident, but no one showed up.

Another circular would be pub-lished tomorrow in this regard, and the witnesses who came forward to testify would be rewarded by the late journal-ist’s family, Shyamal told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The identities of the witnesses would not be disclosed, he added.

The other members of the commit-tee Imtiaz Ahmed, deputy commis-sioner of the Tra� c Division (north) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Nah-mudul Hasan, urban planner at Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority, and Khandakar Mahbubur Rahman, tra� c control o� cer at Dhaka North City Cor-poration.

Road Transport and Bridges Minis-ter Obaidul Quader announced the for-mation of the probe committee during the inauguration of tra� c awareness campaign at Manik Mia Avenue in Dha-ka on November 30.

He said: “The nation has su� ered an irrevocable loss with the demise of Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury. We have ensure punishment of the person re-sponsible for this.” l

Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu hands over crest for PIB-Sohel Samad Memorial Award to columnist Abdul Ga� ar Chowdhury yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Road accidents kill 5, injure 13 across the countryn Tribune Report

Five people were killed and 13 others injured in road accidents in Savar, Gazipur, Sylhet, and Jessore yesterday.

A man was killed in an accident on Baipile-Abdullahpur highway in Jirabo Bus Station area in Ashulia, reports our Savar correspondent.

The victim is Mus� qul Islam, 20, of the Kotwali area in Rangpur.

Police said Mus� qul was killed on the spot as a truck ran him over as he fell onto the road after the truck hit the rickshaw carrying the victim. Police

seized the bus, but its driver managed to escape.

In Sylhet, two people were killed and four others injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a CNG-run auto rickshaw on Dhaka-Sylhet highway in the South Surma upazila, reports our Sylhet correspondent.

The deceased are Anfor Ali alias Nunu Miah, 60, of Kazirgaon village and Joynal Abedin, 23, of Mazlispur village of the Osmaninagar upazila.

Police said Anfor and Joynal were killed on the spot when the two vehicles collided head-on in the Tetly

area. Police seized the vehicles after the incident.

In Jessore, two people were killed in a road accident on Jessore-Khulna highway in the Padmabila area, reports our Jessore correspondent.

The deceased are Sheikh Shaheen,31, of Narendrapur area in Jessore Sadar, and Ramjan Ali, 30, of the same area.

Police said the accident took place as a truck hit the motorcycle of the victims around 11am, killing Ramjan on the spot.

Locals put a blockade on the road for sometimes after the incident.

In Gazipur, nine people were injured

in an accident on the Dhaka-Tangail highway in the Bimile area, reports our Gazipur correspondent.

The victims are Chand Mia, Ra� qul Islam, Bristi Aktar, Dabir Uddin, Shahera Begum, Shahdat Hossain, and Misbar Alam. The identities of the two other victims could not be known.

Police said the accident took place as a truck hit a human hauler injuring its passengers including its driver.

Locals rushed the injured to the Konabari Clinic. Later, two of them were shifted to Gazipur Sadar Hospital as their condition deteriorated. l

Police present four suspects, arrested for mugging Tk20 lakh, at the capital’s DB o� ce yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

WEATHER

PRAYER TIMES Fajr 5:12am Sunrise 6:31am Zohr 11:53am Asr 3:37pm Magrib 5:13pm Esha 6:33 pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:14PM SUN RISES 6:34AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW31.0ºC 11.8ºC

Chittagong Jessore

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 27 17Chittagong 28 18Rajshahi 28 15Rangpur 27 14Khulna 26 13Barisal 26 16Sylhet 28 15Cox’s Bazar 29 20

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 15, 2014

DRY WEATHER

LIKELY

Security tightened in capital ahead of Victory DayVehicles are asked to take alternative routes because of a special programmesn Tazlina Zamila Khan

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and RAB have ramped up security in the capital ahead of the 43rd Victory Day, which will be celebrated tomorrow.

Motor vehicles were asked to take alternative routes because of a special programme to be attended by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, other minis-ters, diplomats, political leaders and freedom � ghters. It is scheduled to be held at the Bangabhaban at 12 noon.

A DMP o� cial said tra� c � ow would be regulated at Zero Point, Gulistan un-derpass and Rajuk Crossing, and only vehicles using the � yover would be al-lowed to move.

“Vehicles running from Ahad Box to Ittefaq Square and from Alico Gap

to Dilkusha commercial area will also be regulated. All Rajuk o� ce- and Gu-listan-bound buses that travel along Dainik Bangla, EBL Crossing and Na-tional Press Club can also take alter-native routes. No commercial vehicles will be permitted to move from Dainik Bangla to Rajuk,” he said.

Except for the guests invited to the National Parade Square, all vehicles were requested to avoid the marked � ve routes from 7am to 1pm. The routes are Khezur Bagan Crossing-Uro-jahaj Crossing-Rokeya Sarani to Mir-pur 10 Square, Shyamoli Shishumela Crossing-Agargaon Light Crossing to Rokeya Sarani, the new road in front of the prime minister’s o� ce to Agargaon Link road, from Bijoy Sarani Crossing to Urojahaj Crossing, from Crescent Lake

to Ganabhaban Crossing, and from the Defence Ministry Gap-Planning Com-mission to BICC Crossing.

VVIPs, VIPs and invited guests will start placing � oral wreaths at the Na-tional Martyrs’ Memorial in Savar from 4am. All minibuses, trucks and lorries were asked to take the Gabtoli Amin-bazar bridge to Savar road from 4am to 9:30am.

Dhaka-bound buses from Aricha were asked to enter the capital through the Nabinagar Bazar route while bus-es from Tangail would take the Kali-akair-Gazipur Sqaure-Tongi route.

DMP Additional Deputy Commis-sioner Saidur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune: “The DMP has taken adequate security measures ahead of the special day for the sake of security. There will

be constant vigilance by plainclothes police to avert any criminal activity.”

Meanwhile, RAB o� cials will also be on alert at key areas of the capital. Se-curity checkpoints will be set up while RAB personnel will patrol to ensure se-curity at victory day arrangements such as meetings and cultural programmes. Security will be tightened at Shaheed Minar, National Martyrs’ Memorial and also entertainment hubs.

Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of legal and media wing of RAB, told the Dhaka Tribune the force started taking measures to ensure se-curity on Saturday.

“O� cials of all battalions have been instructed to keep programme venues across the country under watch,” he added. l

ATTACK ON HTI STUDENTS

Police � nally admit fault, four constables suspended n Our Correspondent, Barisal

The probe committee of the Barisal Metropolitan Police (BMP) submitted a report on the attack and injury on a number of Health Technology Institute students.

The report acknowledged that a number of students were injured se-verely because of the excessive use of force and lack of control of high o� -cials over � eld level law enforcers.

It also suggested the immediate sus-pension of four constables and the issue of show cause notices to three o� cials.

Shoibal Kanti Chowdhury, BMP commissioner, acknowledging the facts of the report yesterday said the authority had already suspended Khal-ilur Rahman, Nure Alam, Ra� kul Islam, constables of police line, and Manowar Hossain, constable of Kotwali police station, for the attack.

Besides, Shakhawat Hossain, of-� cer-in-charge of Kotwali police sta-tion, Abu Zafar, reserve force inspector of police line, Sarwar Hossain, assistant sub-inspector and also in-charge of female police barracks, were asked to show cause why they failed to control subordinate forces on that day.

At least 18 students of Barisal Health Technology Institute, mostly females,

were injured as police went into action to disburse them while they were hold-ing a rally in front of Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College on December 3.

In the process the male police beat female students after entering the campus area. The rally was called by the Bangladesh Diploma Medical Tech-nology and Pharmacy Students Asso-ciation to press home their  10-point demands, including forming separate education board, upgrading job status and expanding employment scopes.

The BMP formed a three-member investigation committee on December 5 to investigate the matter.

The committee was headed by Shoyeb Ahmed, deputy commissioner (headquarters), Abu Raihan Md Saleh, deputy commissioner (tra� c) and Runa Laila, assistant commissioner (city special branch) of the BMP.

The photo body scrutinised photos and video footages collected from jour-nalists and statements of witnesses.

The committee in observation ac-knowledged that police used excessive force to disperse agitators, � eld level o� cials failed to control subordinate forces and higher authority was mis-guided by � eld level o� cials, said Shoyeb Ahmed, head of the probe com-mittee. l

49 tra� cking victims to return home from India n Our Correspondent, Jessore

Forty-nine Bangladeshi women, vic-tims of human tra� cking will return home on Sunday after languishing in an Indian shelter home for one year.

The decision of repatriating them came after India’s Mumbai based non-government organisation Rescue Foundation issued a letter to Rights Jessore, a human rights organisation in Jessore.

Escorted by 10 o� cials of the Mum-bai police, the victims will be brought to Kolkata from Mumbai around 3:30am from where they will be taken to the Haridaspur border in Benapole. After completing formalities with the local police station, o� cials of Rights Jessore will receive them in presence of Lina Javed, superintendent of Res-cue Foundation.

Sources in Rescue Foundation said around two years ago a number of women and children working at di� er-ent garment factories in Dhaka were trapped and lured by the their co-work-

ers, on the pretext of giving well-paid jobs in India.

The victims mostly hailed from Jes-sore, Norail and Satkhira districts. They were gathered at the di� erent border points in Satkhira and Jessore � rst and then tra� cked to India.

After crossing the border illegally, they were engaged in prostitution. Lat-er Rescue Foundation freed them and took them to a shelter house in Mum-bai where they stayed for one year.

Rights Jessore Executive Director Binoy Krishna Mollick said after receiv-ing the letter from Rescue Foundation they carried out an investigation to con-� rm the identity of the victims. On ob-taining permission from the Home Min-istry the process for repatriation started.

The victims will � rst be taken under the custody of Rights Jessore and later handed over to their families. Rights Jessore is handling the cases � led by many of the families of the victims. The rescued victims will be asked to give depositions in those connections before returning to families. l

ENVIRONMENT POLLUTION

DoE � nes four washing, dyeing factories in Gazipur n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

The Department of Environment (DoE) � ned Tk80 lakh from four dyeing and washing factories at the Tongi Bisic In-dustrial Area yesterday.

M and M Washing and Dyeing Mills, Colour Mark Washing Ltd, Unique Tex-tile Mills Ltd, and Laundry Gate (Pvt) Ltd (Hossain Washing and Dyeing) were � ned Tk20 lakh each for pollut-ing the environment and damaging the ecosystem and biodiversity by emitting harmful chemicals into the Turag river, said Md Ha� zur Rahman, an assistant director at the DoE.

As a part of drives against polluters, Alamgir Hossain, director (monitor-ing and enforcement), summoned the owners or representatives of the facto-ries to a hearing at the DoE headquar-

ters in Dhaka, he said. Earlier on December 9, the four fac-

tories were sealed o� for polluting the environment, in presence of Deputy Minister for Environment and Forests Abdullah Al Islam Jakob.

Owners and representatives of the accused factories told the DoE that they have been trying jointly to set up a central e� uent treatment plant (CETP) for long time and soon set the plant.

With contribution from owners of factory at the Tongi Bisic industrial area, they have created a fund of Tk 3 crore to set up the plant, they informed the DoE.

Attending the hearing, Md Mo-hiduddin, president of Tongi Bisic In-dustrial Area Factory Owners’ Associa-tion, pledged to install the plant within four months. l

Illegal hospital busted in capital, two jailed n Tribune Report

A mobile court yesterday busted an illegal hospital and sealed o� it in the capital’s Rayerbagh area.

After sealing o� the hospital, the mobile court also jailed two employees of the hospital.

The mobile court led by Executive Magistrate AHM Anwar Pasha conduct-ed a drive at Salema Hospital and Lab located at Rayerbagh.

During the drive, the mobile court found that a couple who did not have medical degree has been running the hospital.

The mobile court sentenced ASM Rabiul Awal, 43, and his wife Momtaz Begum, 36, to two years of imprison-ment and � ned Tk1 lakh each.

Fake nurse Sonia Akhter, 22, and a helper Lutfunnahar Begum, 36, were � ned Tk1 lakh each by the mobile court.

The four convicted will have to serve three months behind the bar if they fail to pay � nes, said the executive magistrate.

“The hospital had no license. The couple was caught while they were treating patients.. The nurses and tech-nicians there are also fake. We could nab two of them,” he said.

The mobile court during the drive found that Rabiul was dressing up the abdomen of one Hosne Ara who had a surgery a few days back from the hos-pital. There was an infection in her ab-domen as the operation was conducted wrongly, said the magistrate.

Citing Hosne Ara, mobile court sources said she had gone to Matoail Shishu Hospital for a surgery, but bro-kers had allured her saying that she would get treatment in cheaper rate if she comes to the hospital.

Another patient Parvez Hossain Dipu

went to the hospital with his broken hand. The fake doctors were preparing for a surgery in his hand when the law enforcers’ team arrived there, he said.

“We have also found some preg-nant women who came here for follow-up medical check up,” the mag-istrate said.

The hospital has 27 beds. According to the law, a 27-bed hospital should have at least three doctors and six nurses.

“During interrogation, Momtaz claimed that she had nursing training form a hospital, but could not produce any document. Nurse Sonia is almost illiterate,” he said.

Major Tow� qul Bari of RAB 10 said they were collecting information of some other fake hospitals in the area and will conduct drives soon.

Dr Swapan Kumar Topadar, a repre-sentative from the Directorate General of Health, was present during the drive. l

‘Govt to build green satellite towns around capital’n Tribune Desk

In an e� ort to reduce the mounting pressure on capital Dhaka, the govern-ment will build modern and green sat-ellite towns surrounding the city, said Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain yesterday.

As part of the initiative, the Jhilmil Residential Project is being built as a ‘green city’ with an independent pow-er plant, water and waste management system and modern facilities, he said.

The Housing Minister said this while visiting the Jhilmil project at Kerani-ganj. State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid

was also present. Mosharraf Hossain said a � yover linking the Jhilmil Resi-dential area and hantinagar of the city by 2019 for ensuring a better communi-cation system, reports UNB.

“Alignment works on the � yover are done and tender under the public-pri-vate partnership will be � oated by the next 10 months,” he said.

About plot allocation, Mosharraf Hossain said nobody will be able to hold more than one plots. “If anybody owns more than one, all will be can-celled keeping only one.” Housing and Public Works Secretary M Moinuddin Abdullah and Rajuk Chairman GM Join-al Abedin were also present. l

Airplanes of the Bangladesh Air Force rehearse yesterday for the special � y-by scheduled for the celebration of the nation’s 43rd Victory Day tomorrow MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

RAB 10 raids and seals o� an illegal hospital in the capital’s Rayerbagh area yesterday. Four people, including a quack-couple, have been sent to jail MAHMUD HOSSAIN O PU

visit our website @www.dhakatribune.com

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 15, 2014

No hospital for 1.5 lakh people in Madhyanagar n Himadri Shekhor Bhadra,

Sunamganj

More than 1.5 lakh people in Madhyan-agar of Sunamganj are deprived of quality healthcare services due to lack of a healthcare centre and quali� ed doctors in the area.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, many people said 43 years have been passed of the country’s independence, the successive governments have failed to provide treatment facilities for the poor people of 147 villages under four union parishads in the remote area.

Akram Hossain, former chairman of Dakshin Bongshikunda Union Pari-shad, said: “We face a lot of su� erings for medical treatment as there is no healthcare facilities in the area.”

“We need to go to Kolmakanda and Dharmapasha Upazila Health Complex-es, which are far away from the locality, for any kinds of treatment.”

The Awami League led government during its � rst tenure had assured of constructing a hospital in the area. But no hospital has been constructed till to-day, Manik Mia, a resident of Madhyan-agar village. While addressing a farmers’ rally at Taherpur in 2010, Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina assured of building a hospital. But her assurance has not been materialised till today, he said.

Children and pregnant women face unbearable miseries due lack of treat-

ment facilities in the area, Paritosh Sarkar, a resident of the same village.

In several cases, patients died before taking them to hospitals which are lo-cated far away from the locality, said Biplob Sarkar of Dakshinura village.

Although, there are two union healthcare centres at the Uttar Bangshi-kunda and Ramdigha villages, people have never availed treatment from any doctor at the cnetres till today, he said.

For any physical problem, they need to go either to the Kalmakanda Upazila Health Complex or to the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, he added.

Engineer Moazzem Hossain, a law-maker for Sunamganj 1 constituency, said they had submitted an application to the authorities concerned seeking establishment a hospital when the AL government came to the power in 1996.

Following the application, a project for constructing the hospital was ap-proved in 1998. The tender for the pro-ject was scheduled to be � oated in 2002. But it was canceled in 2004, he said.

Meanwhile, the then caretaker gov-ernment in 2007 initiated the process for constructing the hospital. Some manpower were also recruited for the project, he said. The lawmaker said the government has enlisted the hosptial project in the � fth � ve year plan.

“We hope to begin the construction of the hospital in the current � scal,” Moazzem Hossain said. l

64 brick � elds face setback for coal shortage n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

The very season to produce brick has started, but it is not possible to � re about 64 brick kilns in the district due to short-age of coal.

Construction works are being ham-pered as timely supply of bricks from the kilns has become low.

Karimul Sarder, the worker of MMB Brick Field said that brick-� elds are near

to closure and raw bricks which have already been prepared would be dam-aged if coals are not sent to the burners in time.

The president of Gopalganj brick-� eld owners’ association Abu Nayem Khan said: “If coal is not supplied in due time, the brick � elds will su� er a huge loss.”

“The brick � led has been set up in zig zag method where only coal can be used. We have to face serious di� cult situation

as the coal has to be bought from India,” he said.

“About 1200 workers of the brick kilns su� er a lot with their family members as they have no work,” he added.

Rakibul Hasan, owner of the � eld said: “I have invested already Tk1crore. But the bricks cannot be processed due to shortage of coal.”

“If it is not possible to � re within next 15 days, I have decided that I will close

the business,” he added.Worker Mir Mosarraf said the work-

ers were passing inhuman life as there was no work for them. Brick � led owner Kashem said that he had to count losses Tk12 lakh in last 7 days as his raw bricks had been damaged.

SM Nuruzzaman, contractor of Messrs Sharif Bricks Ltd said: “If this situation is going on, the development work of con-struction will be hampered seriously.” l

Children cleaning cucumbers by the side of a cucumber � eld in Rajshahi Godagori area yesterday. The abundant production this season has earned farmers a good deal of pro� t there. The photo was taken from Nakara Dighi village of Rajshahi AZAHAR UDDIN

Kishoreganj Modern Sadar Hospital in the grip of brokers, touts n Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj

At least 32 medical representatives were � ned by a mobile court in Kishoreganj Modern Sadar Hospital yesterday for harassing patients and doctors.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Abu Taher Md Sayeed detained the medical representative while they were roaming around the hospital around 2pm and � ned Tk1,000 each.

However, they were released after paying � ned and signing a bond that they would not come there during hospital hour further.

Patients and their attendances alleged that they were frequently harassed by medical representatives, touts and brokers.

According to hospital sources, the troublemakers deceive patients and their attendance in many ways taking advantages of the vulnerable situation of patients.

Ruhul Amin, a patient, said: “Move-

ments of medical representatives, bro-kers inside the hospital is so random that one could be confused whether they are hospital sta� of not.”

Interestingly, they work together with nurses and ward boys since after admission of patients to the hospital, he said.“Even they are seen pushing saline and injection and do some minor works for the patients alongside the hospital sta� s,” said Shamsul Alam Shahin, a patient who came from Sadar upazila area.

The patients also alleged that many of the wrongdoers take advantage of ignorance of patients and their attendances and take away them to di� erent private clinics saying that they would get better treatment there.

Being lured by them, patients go to private clinics and thus they were compelled to count extra money which they do not need to spend if they stay at the government hospital.

Dr Mrinal Kanti Pandit, civil surgeon of Kishoreganj, told this correspondent that excessive pressure of the patients hamper proper management of the hospital.

At least three attendances stay with every patient. In this way, around 1,200 attendances stay with only 400 indoor patients in the 250-bed hospital every day.

In adverse situation, it is very di� cult to detect who are sta� s or attendance or tout, he said.

He admitted that the services are being hampered to the patients because of prevalence of the outsiders.

He, however, asserted that punitive measures will be taken against the troublemakers.

Not only against the middlemen, if any hospital sta� s were found guilty must be brought to book, he said, add-ing that the hospital administration is trying its best to free the hospital from all sorts of corruption and irregulari-ties for the interests of patients. l

Bird poachers active in Gaibandhan Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

Bird hunters have become active as dif-ferent species of migratory birds have begun coming to the char areas and shoals in Gaibandha.

During the winter, the charlands and shoals in Ghaghat, Teesta river, Brahmaputra river and Jamuna river see a large number of migratory birds every year in the district, locals said.

But poachers are indiscriminately hunting and selling birds posing a seri-ous threat to wildlife.

Under The Wildlife (Protection and Safety) Act 2012, hunting birds is banned in the country.

Poachers said they catch the birds, that are in good demand for consump-tion, without facing restrictions from the authorities concerned. The poachers are mainly hunting di� erent species of swans by using various locally made traps.

During a recent visit, various migra-tory birds, including swans of di� erent species, were found � uttering their wings in Hansdhara, Kharjani chars in Gaibandha sadar. l

Robber injured in mob beating dies in Tangailn Our Correspondent, Tangail

A suspected robber, who was critically injured in a mob beating at Mirzapur upazila in Tangail district on Saturday died at hospital yesterday.

The deceased was identi� ed as Jewel, son of Anwar Akand in Kalikapur village of Madaripur district.

Mirzapur police station O� cer-in-Charge Abdur Rashid said Jewel was critically injured in the mob beating while he along with his associates were returning after committing robbery in house of Mondirpara village under the upazila.

On information, police rescued him and sent to the upazila health complex from where he was shifted to Tangail Sadar Hospital. He died in the hospital. Jewel was accused of many cases and he was sentenced to 28-year jail, OC said. l Schoolgirl stabbed by

stalker in Jhenaidahn Our Correspondent, Jhenidah

A stalker allegedly stabbed a schoolgirl while she was going to her school in Kanchannagar area of Jhenaidah yes-terday morning.

The girl is Mou Aktar, 13 daughter of Nazrul Islam of Dhopaghata village of sadar upazila. She is a student of class VII at Fazar Ali Secondary School.

Eyewitnesses said Mou and her classmate were going to school to ap-pear at the annual examination. When they reached Kanchannagar area, a

stalker started teasing them. As they raised voice against it, the

stalker stabbed Mou indiscriminately and left the scene.

Hearing her screams, locals rushed to the spot and admitted her to Jhenidah Sadar Hospital. But locals could not recognise the stalker.

Father of the victim Nazrul Islam demanded exemplary punishment for the culprit. O� cer-in-charge of sadar police station Shahbuddin Azad said they were trying to identify the stalker and arrest him. l

Shibir leader arrested in Gazipurn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

A shibir leader was arrested in Shalok-chura Bashpatti area under Gazipur district yesterday.

The arrested was identi� ed as Ani-sul Islam,24, a trainer of the organiza-tion in the area hailed from Chittagong.

Kazi Ismail Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of Tongi Model police station said on a tip-o� , police arrested Anisul from the area with some secret docu-ments. l

Prayer o� ered at the of memorial of Bir Sreshtho Mohiuddin Jahangir in Chapainawabganj on his 43rd death anniversary yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

7Long Form Monday, December 15, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Tanvir Haider Chaudhury

This is the story of a holy man. He is a man of sub-stance, someone who has made something of himself in this world. He left his

homeland as a young man, leaving behind his career as a journalist in the erstwhile East Pakistan to gradually reinvent himself as a community activist and something of a spokesper-son for those who subscribe to his par-ticular brand of politicised religiosity in the far distant shores of the United Kingdom.

It is hard not to admire the sheer feat of imagination it took for this man to achieve what he did. At the tender age of 23, he left the only home he had ever known for a place he possibly had no previous experience of and whose lifestyle and mores he would quite probably have been at odds with. Yet this young man made a mark on his adoptive country.

At various times, he became a spe-cial editor of a weekly that preached the religious doctrine he held dear and a member of an organisation built around those beliefs. He went on to attain the position of Director of Spiritual Care Provision for people of his faith in the UK’s National Health Service, became a member of the Mul-ti Faith Group for Healthcare Chaplain-cy, and a chairman and later a trustee of the charity known as Muslim Aid. In short, he molded himself into a verita-ble pillar of his community.

He is a man of strong beliefs and unshakable certitude, this holy man. When a writer, admittedly of some repute, became a little too big for his breeches and published a work of the imagination that some in his commu-nity perceived to be o� ensive, he was strident in his condemnations of this heretic and led the protest initiative.

Around this same time, he helped to establish the Islamic Forum of Europe, an organsation whose views were perceived to be somewhat extreme by those lacking his staunch convictions in these matters. The organisation’s stated objective was to create a Sharia (Islamic jurisprudence) based state in Europe, so there may have been some basis to what those people of little faith were thinking.

Be that as it may, our holy man has shaped himself into a person of imposing stature and substantial in� uence. He manages big budgets, vice-chairmans houses of worship,  is a key � gure in the education and pro-liferation of his distinct type of faith, and hobnobs with princes – quite literally as in when his photograph was famously taken with the current Prince of Wales while inaugurating an extension of the house of worship he is the vice chairman of. An eminent

individual. And, as the Islamic faith he subscribes to is avowedly a doctrine of equanimity, a man of peace, one would be forgiven for supposing.

This is also the story of another man. This individual was not quite as dogmatic in his views as the � rst, not as quick to preach or to judge. In his own way, however, he was just as steadfast and committed as the other. His views were closest in nature to those of a secular humanist’s: he held that individuals had the capacity for self-realisation through pure reason. He did not reject religion; in fact, for most of his life, he was a practicing Muslim. He simply believed that reli-gion was a personal matter that should not infringe on one’s public life.

He also thought one’s cultural heritage was just as signi� cant as any other aspect that contributed towards making up the self. Now this last belief is important because he lived through a period in history where in his home-land – again the erstwhile East Pakistan – the cultural and religious identities of most of his countrymen were seeming-ly at con� ict with each other.

This was the 1950s; the so-called “Tomuddun” movement was at its peak and a section of the local intelli-gentsia was proposing the creation of an East Pakistani literature that would contain no work by non-Muslim, spe-ci� cally Hindu, authors. Some were going as far as to say it should contain nothing created before the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.

This individual that we speak of was a scholar of Bangla language and literature and an acknowledged authority on the work of Rabindranath Tagore, the great Bengali poet and Nobel Laureate.

While he did not have our holy man’s worldly connections and high o� ce, he did possess an exception-al academic record and an incisive understanding of his roots. He instinctively spoke up against these hidebound sentiments. “If we left out

everything that came before the par-tition,” he wrote, “some of the major works of Pakistan’s national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam would be lost, as well as the works of other ‘Tomudduni’ favourites like Golam Mustafa and Forrukh Ahmed.”

He was scathing on the irony of cel-ebrating Nazrul as Pakistan’s national poet and playing him up as a Muslim icon, when in fact the great man had celebrated all the great religions of his heritage, and indeed, the universality of the human experience.

He also took on the people who were conspiring to leave out Ra-bindranath from the University sylla-bus: “Some � nd an un-Islamic � avour in Rabindranath’s songs such as ‘Ekti Nomoshkare’ or ‘Amar Matha Noto Kore Dao,’ when in fact these songs are expressing heartfelt devotion to a merciful and compassionate God, ex-actly as we do when we pray. The only di� erence is that the word being used is ‘Nomoshkar’ and not ‘Sizda’.”

Now bear in mind  that these words were written in the profoundly xen-ophobic and paranoid climate of the

East Pakistan of the 50s and the 60s.You will have noticed that I speak

of this second gentleman in the past tense. That is because he is no longer alive. He was murdered almost for-ty-three years ago.

This man, this academician who was self-e� acing as a person but forth-right in his views of who and what his people were, was named Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury. He was a teacher of the Bangla department of (the erst-while) Dacca University. He was also my father, whom I have not seen since I was four years old.

The � rst man, the holy man who casts such a large shadow in his adopt-ed land, is Chowdhury Mueen Uddin, and he was responsible for my father’s death. He came in person to abduct my father and seventeen of his peers on December 14, 1971, just two days before East Pakistan became Bangla-

desh, at the culmination of a bloody nine-month liberation war.

These individuals - nine teachers, six journalists, three doctors - were then taken to an isolated place where they were savagely tortured. An eyewitness, the only individual to have survived the incident, recounts that he saw individ-uals with eyes gouged out and the � oor of the entire room awash with blood.

My father and Munier Chowdhury, another eminent academician and a famous playwright, were beaten with iron rods. All of them were then taken out in the early hours of December 15 and bayonetted or shot to death.

The reason that I am so unequiv-ocal in my statement that Mr Mueen Uddin was part of the team of abduc-tors is this: there were eyewitnesses. The abduction happened from the house of Lutful Haider Chaudhury, my father’s youngest brother. My father, my mother, my uncle and my aunt all recognised Mueen Uddin. In fact, Mueen Uddin o� ered words of reassurance to all of them, saying no harm would come to my father and he would be returned presently.

You see, before he � ed his home to become a holy man in the British Isles, Chowdhury Mueen Uddin was a stu-dent of my father’s at (the erstwhile) Dacca University. As a journalist, he worked with Ehtesham Haider Chaud-hury, another brother of my father’s, at the Daily Purbodesh. The entire extended family knew him.

My aunt Dolly Chaudhury, Lutful Haider Chaudhury’s wife, can be seen testifying to this e� ect in the documen-tary War Crimes File, a British Channel 4 � lm made by the journalist David Berg-man. My cousin Iftekhar Haider Chaud-hury, who was then eight years old, narrated the entire abduction episode, including Mueen Uddin’s involvement, in his testimony during Mueen Uddin’s trial in absentia at the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh.

Mueen Uddin categorically denies all this, of course. He claims the abun-dant evidence against him has been put forward by people who are “misled by the media.” He keeps repeating this while there are eyewitnesses who re-late his complicity. Captured members of the Al-Badr, the notorious paramil-itary force comprised of local collabo-rators of the Pakistani army during the 1971 war, have stated that he was their operation in-charge. Mueen Uddin still seeks to evade and deceive.

Mueen Uddin’s own editor at the Purbadesh during 1971, Atiqur Rahman, relates a story where he was asked for his home address by Mueen Uddin during those troubled times. Fearing that he too would be abducted, Mr Rahman supplied a false address. Mr Rahman’s name, complete with the fake address, appeared on an Al-Badr death list found just after the

war. Mr Rahman is quite certain that he gave the address to nobody else.

On November 3, 2013, the Interna-tional Crimes Tribunal set up by the government of Bangladesh to judge the crimes against humanity com-mitted during the 1971 liberation war found Chowdhury Mueen Uddin guilty of the murder of eighteen teachers, journalists and doctors, and sentenced him, in absentia, to death.

Mueen Uddin is now a citizen of the United Kingdom, a country that does not have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh. A spokesperson of the UK High Commission in Bangladesh has also said that his country is opposed to “the application of the death penalty in all circumstances.”

There seem to be exceptions to every rule, however. Abu Qatada al-Filistini, a Jordanian national of Palestinian origin who has been described as being a� liated with al-Qaeda, was indeed deported to Jordan, a country that practices the death penalty, on July 7, 2013, after the UK and Jordanian governments agreed and rati� ed a treaty “satisfying the need for clari� cation” that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him in his trial.

Mueen Uddin has stated in an interview last year that he can’t be hanged. He has said this: “Those who tried me may get to hang, but they can’t hang me.”

Now that sounds like a none-too-subtle threat to me. And not the words of a holy man. Not a man of peace after all.

They sound like the words of a man who will spend the rest of his life look-ing over his shoulder, terri� ed every time there is a knock on his door. l

Tanvir Haider Chaudhury has spent most of his career as a banker and is now running a food and beverage company. He is avowedly Bangali and unabashedly opinionated.

A man of peace

The holy man who casts such a large shadow in his adopted land, is Chowdhury Mueen Uddin, and he was responsible for my father’s death. He came in person to abduct my father and seventeen of his peers on December 14, 1971, just two days before East Pakistan became Bangladesh

Mueen Uddin has stated in an interview last year that he can’t be hanged. He has said this: ‘Those who tried me may get to hang, but they can’t hang me.’ Now that sounds like a none-too-subtle threat to me. And not the words of a holy man. Not a man of peace after all

He’s a great humanitarian, he’s a great philanthropistHe knows just where to touch you, hon-ey, and how you like to be kissedHe’ll put both his arms around youYou can feel the tender touch of the beastYou know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace

– From ‘Man of Peace’ by Bob Dylan

Monday, December 15, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Observers slam ‘lackluster’ Lima climate dealn AFP, Lima, Peru

A carbon-curbing deal struck in Lima yesterday was a watered-down com-promise where national intransi-gence threatened the goal of a pact to save Earth’s climate system, green groups said.

The hard-fought agreement sets out guidelines for the submission of national greenhouse-gas pledges next year.

But, the groups said, initially am-bitious standards became weaker the longer the talks wound on.

In a tug-of-war between rich and developing nation interests, the end result was a “lackluster plan with little scienti� c relevancy,” said WWF’s cli-mate expert, Samantha Smith.

“Against the backdrop of extreme weather in the Philippines and poten-tially the hottest year ever recorded, governments at the UN climate talks in Lima opted for a half-baked plan to cut emissions,” she added.

NGOs and developing nations alike had hoped the agreement would com-pel rich countries to include informa-tion in their pledges on climate adap-tation and other � nancial help.

They had also sought a robust as-sessment of the pledges’ aggregate e� ect and a mechanism for ramping up contributions, if they were judged inadequate to meet the UN goal of lim-iting global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels.

But expectations were mostly dis-appointed.

The talks, which spilled more than 30 hours into overtime, got bogged down early on in a � ght over “di� eren-tiation” – how to divide responsibility

for carbon cuts between rich and poor nations.

The outcome, said the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, re-� ected “the bare minimum” to keep negotiations on the road to inking a climate-saving pact in Paris next De-cember that will have the pledges at its heart.

Rather than imposing a require-ment, the text merely “urges” parties to “consider including an adaptation component” in their pledges, and on � nance similarly “urges” developed countries to provide support.

In a nod to poor country concerns, the new text did reintroduce a refer-ence to “common but di� erentiated re-sponsibilities” that had been dropped from earlier drafts.

Political expediency ‘won’ “The package... puts in place a draft of a Paris agreement without narrowing down any of the di� cult political is-sues that have plagued global e� orts to address climate change for more than 20 years,” said Oxfam.

“The deal does not require that the initial pledges parties make in 2015 re� ect their fair share, does not guar-antee that these o� ers will use com-mon or comprehensive information, or have any mechanism to review whether they will prevent catastrophic warming or not.”

To give the process a boost, rich na-tions will have to bring detailed plans for how they intend to meet a promise to ramp up their climate funding to $100bn per year by 2020, said the ob-servers.

“The limited progress that was achieved in Peru, in particular on the provision of � nancial support to poor

countries to adapt to climate change or repair the damages from extreme weather events, is a big letdown,” said Wendel Trio of Climate Action Net-work (CAN).

These critics also feared guidelines were too vague for cutting fossil-fuel emissions leading up to 2020, when the Paris pact will enter into force.

“The science is clear that delaying

action until 2020 will make it near im-possible to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, yet political expedien-cy won over scienti� c urgency,” said WWF’s Smith. l

EU funds help Poland build ‘ghost’ airports n Reuters, Lodz

The European Union has given Poland more than 100 million euros ($125m) to build at least three “ghost” airports in places where there are not enough pas-sengers to keep them in business.

The result is gleaming new airport terminals which, even at the peak of the holiday season, echo to the sound of empty concourses and spend mil-lions trying to attract airlines.

Poland is not the only country in Europe to have built airports that struggle to attract � ights. Around 80 airports in Europe attract fewer than 1 million passengers a year, and about three-quarters of those are in the red, according to industry body Airports Council International. Some cost much more to build than the Polish projects. One airport in eastern Spain, open for three years, has so far re-ceived not a single � ight.

But Poland is striking because the country received so much money for

its projects from EU funds.Poland received 615.7 million euros

in EU support for airports between 2007 and 2013, according to � gures supplied to Reuters by the European Commis-sion. That was almost twice as much as the next biggest recipient, Spain, and more than a third of all member states’ money for airports. The government de-clined to provide all the information on which it based its decisions to invest in the airports, but Reuters has reviewed data on three sites where tra� c fell dra-matically short of forecasts.

Poland is often touted by Brussels as one of the most e� cient users of EU aid, and there is no suggestion the country used EU airport money cor-ruptly. European help has been vital in improving Poland’s aviation infra-structure, only a small share of the country’s airport spending has been on white elephants, and passenger shortfalls may have been exacerbat-ed by the 2008 global � nancial crisis. Spokespeople at some airports said the

projects could be considered a success because they were creating jobs, bring-ing in tourists, and driving investment in the regional economy.

But it is clear mistakes were made in Poland, planning o� cials and aviation executives say. The whole experience raises questions about how the govern-ment will handle the next big injection of EU money, which it expects to be 82 billion euros over the next seven years.

The problem is most striking at the recently rebuilt Lodz passenger termi-nal, where passenger numbers in 2013 fell almost one million short of fore-casts, according to European Commis-sion documents examined by Reuters.

On a relatively busy day this sum-mer, just four � ights arrived and four departed. In between, the place was almost deserted. In the early afternoon a single passenger, a woman in a blue-and-white striped T-shirt, sat in a 72-seat waiting area. Outside on the tar-mac, � ve sets of movable steps stood waiting for a jet to land. l

Britain to seek access to CIA torture report n AP, London

A UK parliamentary panel wants access to information not made public in a US Senate report that may pertain to Brit-ain’s role in the interrogation and ren-dition of terror suspects following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Malcolm Ri� ind, chairman of Parlia-ment’s Intelligence and Security Com-mittee, told the BBC yesterday that the panel would request access to the � nd-ings related to Britain on these matters.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s Downing Street o� ce has acknowl-edged that some parts of the report were blacked out for national security reasons, but says none of it related to British involvement in the mistreat-ment of prisoners.

The Senate Intelligence Commit-tee’s report on CIA interrogations re-leased this past week exposed years of misrepresentations that seem de-signed to boost the case for the e� ec-tiveness of brutal interrogations. l

Farc ‘amnesty’: Colombian marchers reject ‘impunity’ n BBC

Thousands of people have joined protests in Colombia against a pos-sible amnesty for Farc rebels as part of a peace process to end 50 years of conflict.

Many of the marchers were support-ers of former President Alvaro Uribe, an opponent of his successor, Juan Manuel Santos.

They argue that peace should not come at the price of impunity.

In two years of talks in Havana, a number of issues have been agreed.

Negotiators are now discussing how the left-wing rebels should lay down their arms, and whether they should face prosecution for human rights atrocities and drug tra� cking.

The rallies in several cities across the country were organised by the Co-lombia Quiere movement and backed by the Centro Democratic Party of for-mer President Uribe.

In Medellin, where Mr Uribe led the march, he said: “We call on the army to support us by � ghting and defeating the guerrillas, if the government wants it or not.”

On social media he said: “ It is better to protest than to let them deliver the country to terrorism.”

Mr Uribe and his allies have argued that the Farc should answer for kill-ings, kidnapping and drug tra� cking.

They have accused President San-tos of overlooking rebel atrocities in order to drive through the peace process. l

France claims ‘neutralising’ 200 jihadists in Sahel n AFP, Paris

French forces have either killed or cap-tured nearly 200 jihadists in the Sahel region of west Africa in the past year, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said yesterday.

“There have been many operations, nearly 200 terrorists have been neu-tralised in a year, around 50 since Au-gust” when France launched a massive counter-terrorism operation across � ve nations in the semi-arid Sahel, Le Drian told French radio and television.

In separate comments to Jeune Af-rique magazine in an interview to ap-pear Monday, he said some important leaders were among those killed or captured, mostly in Mali and Niger.

In what was seen as a massive blow to Islamist � ghters, the French army on Thursday said it had killed Ahmed el Tilemsi, the Malian leader of the

notorious Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s Al-Murabitoun group.

The French military in 2013 routed radical Islamist groups who had seized large swathes of northern Mali, and in August this year launched Operation Barkhane as part of a wider count-er-terrorism operation.

A total of 3,000 troops are now tak-ing part in the operation across Africa to track and combat Islamist militants.

They are currently building an ad-vance base close to the Libyan border in the north of Niger.

Le Drian said that the south of Libya had become a hub for jihadists operat-ing in the region.

“Southern Libya has become a place of recovery, a petrol station, a place of rest, re-organisation and training for a number of terrorist groups,” he said in the interview broadcast on Radio France Internationale and TV5 Monde. l

Iran hackers may target US energy, defense � rms, FBI warnsn Reuters, Boston

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned US businesses to be on the alert for a sophisticated Iranian hack-ing operation whose targets include defense contractors, energy � rms and educational institutions, according to a con� dential agency document.

The operation is the same as one � agged last week by cyber security � rm Cylance Inc as targeting critical infrastructure organisations world-wide, cyber security experts said. Cy-lance has said it uncovered more than 50 victims from what it dubbed Opera-tion Cleaver, in 16 countries, including the United States.

The FBI’s con� dential “Flash” re-port, seen by Reuters on Friday, pro-vides technical details about malicious software and techniques used in the attacks, along with advice on thwart-ing the hackers. It asked businesses to contact the FBI if they believed they were victims.

Cylance Chief Executive Stuart Mc-Clure said the FBI warning suggested that the Iranian hacking campaign may have been larger than its own research revealed. “It underscores Iran’s deter-mination and � xation on large-scale compromise of critical infrastructure,” he said.

The FBI’s technical document said the hackers typically launch their at-tacks from two IP addresses that are in Iran, but did not attribute the attacks to the Tehran government. Cylance has said it believes Iran’s government

is behind the campaign, a claim Iran has vehemently denied.

An FBI o� cial did not provide fur-ther details, but said the agency rou-tinely provides private industry with advisories to help it fend o� cyber threats.

The Pentagon and National Security Agency had no immediate comment.

Tehran has been substantially in-creasing investment in its cyber capa-bilities since 2010, when its nuclear program was hit by the Stuxnet com-puter virus, widely believed to have been launched by the United States and Israel.

Cyber security professionals who investigate cyber attacks said that they are seeing evidence that Iran’s invest-ment is paying o� .

“They are good and have a lot of talent in the country,” said Dave Ken-nedy, CEO of TrustedSEC LLC. “They are de� nitely a serious threat, no ques-tion.”

Iranian hackers are increasingly being blamed for sophisticated cyber-attacks.

Bloomberg Businessweek on Thursday reported that Iranian hacker activists were responsible for a devastating February 2014 at-tack on casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp, which crippled thou-sands of servers by wiping them with destructive malware. It said the hackers sought to punish Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson for comments he made about detonating a nuclear bomb in Iran. l

Kerry heads to Italy for Palestine talksn AFP

John Kerry, US secretary of state, has left for a series of meetings in Europe seeking to head o� an end-of-year UN showdown over a Palestinian bid for statehood.

His � rst stop yesterday was to be Rome, where he will meet separately both Sergey Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, and Benjamin Netanyahu, Is-raeli prime minister.

Diplomats say negotiations on a UN resolution to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects are making little head-way, with Europeans waiting for a US response to proposals.

Jordan last month circulated a draft

Palestinian text to the Security Council setting November 2016 as a deadline for the end of the Israeli occupation.

But the text ran into opposition from the US, which has veto power, and other countries that felt it lacked balance, diplomats said.

It was never put to a vote.France stepped in last month to try

to draft along with Britain and Germa-ny a resolution that would win consen-sus at the 15-member council.

The Palestinians have said they would like a draft resolution to go to a vote before the end of the year.

The text would call for a return to negotiations with a view to achieving a two-state solution by which Israel and

a Palestinian state would co-exist.Negotiations have hit hurdles over

whether to include a two-year dead-line for talks on a � nal settlement to be completed.

France is also proposing to host an international conference to launch the new peace track.

Kerry met on Thursday with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius on the sidelines of climate talks in Lima, to discuss the tensions in the Middle East.

Supporters of a UN resolution are now hoping to win US backing or at least ensure Washington will not oppose the measure, which would be the � rst text adopted by the council on the Israe-li-Palestinian con� ict since 2009. l

Russia denies military jet in near-crash with passenger planen Reuters, Stockholm

A Russian military jet nearly collided with a commercial passenger airplane in international airspace near southern Sweden on Friday, the Swedish author-ities said, but Russia insisted yesterday that its jet had kept at a safe distance.

Relations between Russia and the West have soured over Moscow’s role in the con� ict in Ukraine and its an-nexation of Crimea. Many European countries have reacted with alarm to suspected displays by Russia of its mil-itary prowess.

A squadron of Russian warships en-tered the English Channel last month and Sweden said it had proof a for-eign submarine was operating illegally in its waters in October. Britain also launched a submarine search, helped by Nato allies.

Friday’s passenger � ight SK1755 from the Danish capital Copenhagen to Poznan in Poland was diverted by Swedish authorities before a collision occurred, the authorities said.

The � ight was operated by Cimber, owned by Scandinavian airline SAS.

Russia’s Defence Ministry denied yesterday that its airplane had come close to colliding with a civilian airlin-er, o� cial news agency TASS reported.

“A � ight was carried out in strict accordance with international rules on air space and did not violate the borders of other countries and was at a safe distance from the � ight paths of civilian airplanes,” Defence Min-istry spokesman General Major Igor Konashenko was quoted as saying. l

A delegate yawns during a plenary session of the UN Climate Change Conference COP 20 in Lima on Saturday. UN talks on slowing climate change were threatened with collapse on Saturday after China clashed with the United States and led emerging nations to reject a compromise outline of an agreement REUTERS

A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to throw stones at Israeli troops during clashes near Israel’s Ofer Prison, near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday REUTERS

Monday, December 15, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World 9

China bans national anthem at weddings and funeralsn Reuters, Beijing

China’s national anthem can no longer be performed at weddings, funerals, balls or other non-political functions and should only be performed at cer-tain digni� ed events, state media said on Friday.

The rule is to “standardise prop-er etiquette for the national anthem, which re� ects national indepen-dence and liberation, a prosperous, strong country and the a� uence of the people,” the o� cial Xinhua news agency said.

“The March of the Volunteers” may, however, be played at the start of im-portant celebrations or public political gatherings, formal diplomatic occa-sions or signi� cant international gath-erings, it added, citing a Communist Party statement.

The anthem can also be performed when Chinese athletes win medals and “at arenas where national dignity should be fought for and safeguarded.”

People who break the rules will be “criticised and corrected,” Xinhua added.

The stirringly patriotic national anthem dates back to days before the 1949 Communist revolution, and in-clude the lyrics “Brave the enemy’s � re, march on!” l

Gender sensitisation programme for taxi driversn Agencies

In the aftermath of the Uber rape case, all taxi drivers in the national capital will have to go through gender sensiti-sation programme to get � tness certi� -cate for their vehicles.

The state government is taking the step to sensitise the drivers about en-suring safety of women passengers.

A senior o� cial of transport depart-ment said that after attending the spe-cial classes, taxi drivers will be issued a certi� cate and then, they will have to show it at the time of getting the � t-ness certi� cate.

“From December 22, they will � rst have to produce certi� cate of attend-ing gender sensitisation classes and then, they will be issued � tness certif-icate for their taxis,” a senior o� cial of transport department said.

According to the transport depart-ment, the two-hour programme will be organised for drivers of every type

of taxis, including radio taxi, economy taxi and all India permit taxis.

The government is going to make it mandatory for all the taxi drivers to undergo gender sensitisation pro-grammes to get � tness certi� cate for their vehicles from December 22.

“Our main aim is to sensitise all the taxi drivers about ensuring safety of women travelling in their vehicles. We have made it mandatory for every driv-er to attend sensitisation programme, which will last for two hours,” the of-� cial said.

The department has involved some NGOs for such special classes.

The classes will be organised at Institute of Driving and Training Re-search (Loni Road), at Sarai Kale Khan and Driving Training Institute (Burari).

Cab driver Shiv Kumar Yadav, em-ployed with the US-based cab service, allegedly raped the 27-year-old � -nance company executive in the com-pany’s car. l

PM Abe’s coalition cruises to big win in Japan election, turnout feeblen Reuters

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition cruised to a big elec-tion win yesterday, but feeble turnout could weaken his claim of a mandate for policies including re� ationary steps to revive the economy.

Most media exit polls showed Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner, the Komeito party, winning more than 317 seats in the 475-member lower house, enough to maintain its “super-majority” that smoothes par-liamentary business.

But many voters, doubtful both of the premier’s “Abenomics” strategy to end de� ation and generate growth and the opposition’s ability to come up with a better plan, stayed at home, putting turnout on track for a record low, interim � gures showed.

Turnout had already hit a post-war record low of 59.3% in the 2012 poll that returned Abe to power for a rare second term on pledges to reboot an economy plagued by de� ation and an aging, shrinking population.

Hopes for Abe’s “Three Arrows” of hyper-easy monetary policy, govern-ment spending and reforms such as deregulation were tarnished after the economy slipped into recession in the third quarter following an April sales tax rise. Recent data suggest any re-bound is fragile.

Abe decided last month to put o� a second tax hike to 10% until April 2017,

raising concerns about how Japan will curb its huge public debt, the worst among advanced nations.

“I worry that Japan’s public � nanc-es will get even worse,” said 38-year-old Tokyo voter Akihiro Fujihara.

“I wish there was a party out there that would come up with actual pro-posals to make Japan a better place to live.”

Opposition gains little tractionThe main opposition Democratic Par-ty of Japan (DPJ) was unable to gain much traction, largely due to voters’ memories of a 2009-2012 rule plagued by policy � ip-� ops, in� ghting and three premiers in three years.

Exit polls showed the DPJ gaining from the 62 seats it held before the vote, but falling well short of the 100 seats it had uno� cially targeted.

Abe called the election in a bid to strengthen his grip on power before tackling unpopular policies such as re-starting nuclear reactors taken o� -line after the 2011 Fukushima disaster and a security policy shift away from post-war paci� sm.

The LDP-led coalition victory could make it easier for Abe to be re-elected in a party leadership race next Septem-ber, boosting the chance he stays in power through 2018 and becomes one of Japan’s rare long-term leaders.

Aside from local elections in April, his coalition will probably not need to face voters until a 2016 election for the

upper house, where the LDP and the Komeito party now hold a majority.

Doubts, however, persist over whether Abe will knuckle down on his “third arrow” of reforms in politically sensitive areas such as labor market deregulation that would make it easi-er to shift workers to growth areas but also to lay o� employees, and reform of the highly protected farm sector.

Critics say progress has been lim-ited, partly due to opposition from members of Abe’s own party.

“My personal assessment is that we are likely to see more of what we’ve seen - piecemeal reforms mov-ing more or less in the right direction, but at a fairly slow clip and no bold breakthroughs because of this elec-tion,” Columbia University professor Gerry Curtis said before the results were in.

Some experts say Abe could also turn attention away from the econo-my to his conservative agenda that in-cludes laying the groundwork to revise the post-war, paci� st constitution and recasting Japan’s wartime past with a less apologetic tone.

That agenda raises hackles in China and South Korea, where bitter mem-ories of Japan’s past militarism run deep.

The LDP had 295 seats and Komeito 31 in the 480-member lower house when it was dissolved for the election. Five seats were cut through electoral reform. l

Afghan president vows security shake-up after Taliban attacks surge n Reuters, Kabul

Afghanistan’s new President Ashraf Ghani vowed to shake up security in the capital Kabul in an angry speech yes-terday and denounced a recent surge in Taliban attacks on civilian and mil-itary targets as “un-Islamic.” In recent weeks, Afghanistan has seen waves of suicide bombings and commando-style assaults by the Islamist insurgents, who are seeking to make territorial gains and to spread uncertainty as most foreign troops withdraw this month.

“It is enough and it’s no longer ac-ceptable,” Ghani yelled while on a visit to a school. He called on religious lead-ers to speak out against the Taliban.

“These acts are not Islamic and are inhuman,” he said.

The Taliban’s increasingly bold at-tacks in Kabul have led to the govern-ment being criticised for serious secu-rity failures.

Ghani said he was seeking to revive a security body last seen during a So-viet-backed government in the 1980s. He did not give more details, but his spokesman said the new body would coordinate between police, military and intelligence agencies.

“The number of forces we have in Kabul is su� cient, but the way they are being used is a problem, we have to change that,” spokesman Nazifullah Salarzai said after the event.

Kabul houses thousands of soldiers and police armed with light and heavy weapons. It is forti� ed with razor wire-

topped concrete blast walls and dotted with checkpoints. But this does not seem to have curbed the Taliban’s con-� dence.

On Thursday, a suicide bombing at a French cultural center guarded by the army in central Kabul killed a Ger-man man, who was attending a perfor-mance of a play denouncing suicide bombs.

When two Kabul guest houses used by foreigners were targeted within days of each other last month, the Kabul police chief lost his position, although the o� cial reason for his dis-missal remains unclear.

In the past two days, Taliban � ghters shot dead a dozen workers removing landmines in the south of the country, killed seven soldiers and blew up a mili-tary convoy, killing two US soldiers near Bagram Air� eld, north of the capital.

On a trip to northern Afghanistan on Saturday, German defense minister Ursula von der Leyen described the se-curity situation as “fragile.”

Ghani has yet to announce a cabi-net two months after he took o� ce in a power-sharing agreement with his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, a sit-uation critics say has left the country adrift while the Taliban are cranking up violence.

Salarzai said the president devot-ed a third of his time to security and that, in the long run, the slow selection of o� cials would assure good gover-nance in a country plagued by political corruption. l

32 dead, 76 missing in central Indonesia mudslide n AP, Banjarnegara

Rescuers pulled more bodies from the debris Sunday after heavy rain in central Indonesia loosened soil and collapsed a hill, setting off a land-slide that killed at least 32 villagers and left 76 others missing under piles of mud.

About 2,000 rescuers, including soldiers, police and volunteers, were digging through the mud and the wreckage of crumpled homes, get-ting some relief from clear weather following days of heavy rain. Excava-tors, meanwhile, shoved aside earth and the remains of decimated wood-en homes.

Residents of Jemblung village in Central Java province’s Banjarnegara district said they heard a roaring sound followed by the raining down of red soil that buried more than 100 houses late Friday.

“The landslide looked like it was spinning down,” said one resident, Subroto, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. “I managed to res-cue a pregnant woman, but could not save the other man.”

He said one side of the hill col-lapsed, then another. “In � ve minutes, there were three (major landslides) and they swept away everything,” Sub-roto said.

By late afternoon Sunday, 32 bodies had been pulled from the debris, while hopes faded that the 76 people still missing would be found alive, said Su-topo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Many roads and bridges were de-stroyed, hampering rescue e� orts, Nu-groho said.

Indonesian President Joko Wido-do arrived at the scene Sunday. He pledged to relocate the hundreds of people left homeless by the disas-ter, and assured that the government would help provide aid for those who were injured. Eleven injured villagers were hospitalised. l

Srinagar tense as Indian-held Kashmir elections continue n AFP

Indian-held Kashmir’s main city of Sri-nagar voted Sunday in continuing elec-tions in the troubled region, where the party of Indian Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi is making an unprecedented bid for power.

As armed police patrolled the streets in bulletproof vests, voters queued to cast their ballots in freezing weather in Srinagar and the Kashmir Valley, where a separatist campaign is centred.

Some 1.4 million residents are el-igible to vote in 18 seats in the latest phase of the elections in the region, where a dozen rebel groups have been � ghting Indian rule since 1989.

After winning power at national elections in May, Modi and his Bharati-ya Janata Party (BJP) are trying to take control of the state’s parliament with a

promise of economic development.The BJP is � elding 32 Muslim can-

didates across the disputed region, where voters have so far ignored calls from separatists to boycott the election.

Election results are due on Decem-ber 23. BJP candidate and Muslim Hina Bhat said voters might not like Modi, but like the rest of the country they believed his promise of economic prosperity.

“People will support Modi because now, like Muslims in India outside Kashmir, they know he delivers,” the dentist-turned-politician said.

“The local parties have treated Kashmiri people like cattle,” Bhat, 35, said recently in an interview while campaigning in Srinagar. “Here [in Kashmir] also people know in their hearts that going with Modi is good for them,” Hina added.

The BJP has traditionally had no base in the Kashmir Valley, where resentment against Indian rule runs high.

The picturesque Himalayan region is disputed between India and Paki-stan and has been the scene of two wars between the countries.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have died in vio-lence between Indian security forc-es and rebels fighting for Kashmir’s independence or for its merger with Pakistan.

So the idea of the BJP taking even a share of power in Kashmir would have been unthinkable only a few months ago. But Modi’s landslide na-tional election win, and a meltdown in support for the incumbent chief minister after deadly floods in Sep-tember, have given the BJP hope of a breakthrough. l

‘Vietnam’s sea dispute arbitration case vs China promotes peace’ n Reuters, Manila

Vietnam has helped ensure peace in the South China Sea dispute with Bei-jing by following the Philippines in seeking UN arbitration, Manila said, despite the fact that Beijing has re-fused to take part.

Beijing claims almost the entire ener-gy-rich South China Sea but Brunei, Ma-laysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Tai-wan also have claims. Only Brunei has not occupied and garrisoned territory in

the potential � ashpoint in the region.Vietnam on Thursday submitted its

position to a UN arbitration tribunal initiated by the Philippines over the festering dispute. China called on Viet-nam to respect its sovereignty and has refused UN arbitration.

“The Vietnamese position is helpful in terms of promoting the rule of law and in � nding peaceful and nonvio-lent solutions to the South China Sea claims based on international law,” the Philippine Foreign Ministry said.

China, Vietnam and the Philippines are signatories to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, an internation-al agreement that grants the right to explore and exploit resources within 200 nautical miles of a state’s shore. Both Hanoi and Manila say Beijing is extending beyond the limit.

In May, China placed its largest mo-bile oil rig close to Vietnam’s coast in the Paracel islands that prompted an-gry protests in Hanoi against Chinese business interests. At the same time,

Beijing began reclamation in the Sprat-ly islands and appeared to be building airstrips in the area.

Beijing has also seized control of Scarborough Shoal near the Philip-pines’ main island of Luzon and chased civilian ships delivering supplies to Philippine-held Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratlys.

The Philippines and Vietnam ap-pear to be ending decades of distrust. Last year, the two sides held a � rst-ev-er navy-to-navy talks and last month,

Hanoi displayed its two most powerful missile-guided stealth frigates in Ma-nila during a port call. The two states will hold the � rst strategic defence dia-logue early next year.

“Vietnam’s legal opinion puts po-litical weight on the Philippine legal case,” Professor Rommel Banlaoi, a se-curity analyst, said on television.

“What Vietnam did was in fact sup-porting, rea� rming and even rallying behind the Philippine legal action and that’s good for our national interest.” l

Election o� cials open ballot boxes at a counting centre in Tokyo yesterday REUTERS

A man dressed as a Santa Claus poses at the front of the Kollho� Tower at Potsdamer Platz square in Berlin yesterday REUTERS

S E A S O N ’ S G R E E T I N G S

Toughen witness protection laws

An individual has been arrested this week in connection with an attack on the prime witness in the Bishwajit Das killing case, which was tried in December last year.

While this is welcome, this arrestee is not the only person alleged to have threatened or attacked witnesses and family members of the victim in this high-pro� le case.

Hence, although it is appreciated, the police are addressing this particular allegation, which is receiving new media attention because of the scandalous way in which some individuals convicted of Bishwajit Das’s murder remain at large, the government still needs to address the bigger picture.

Fear of intimidation and violence are still major factors deterring or preventing witnesses from assisting the courts in many serious criminal cases.

In view of the large number of delayed cases in which senior police o� cers and criminologists have highlighted corruption, negligence, and political in� uence as the key reasons for criminals evading justice, it is imperative the government does more to protect and reassure witnesses.

Unless law enforcers are able to ensure punishment for criminals in such cases, the probability of their repeating such crimes is vastly increased.

An e� ective Witness Protection Law, based on the draft held in abeyance since 2011, must be implemented urgently. It needs to be backed up by adequate resources to help law enforcers to protect all witnesses and strong penalties to deter witness tampering.

If fewer cases were held back by witnesses being reluctant to give evidence, it would become much easier to root out corruption and to uphold rule of law.

Work together against sexual harassment

As a leading national institution, Dhaka University authorities should take more of a lead in ensuring students treat others with respect, and that no tolerance is shown for sexual

harassment.In recent months, a rising number

of female students have reported the university is not taking clear action to respond to complaints about unwanted sexual attention and verbal coercion.

While the acting proctor has acknowledged such incidents are occurring more frequently and provided some assurances, local police have corroborated student concerns by saying it has often been di� cult to initiate legal proceedings because the university authorities have not always cooperated as expected.

It is highly concerning that more is not being done to combat sexual harassment within our leading public universities.

As a society, we need to act collectively against all forms of non-physical harassment. It is the persistence and prevalence of archaic and discriminatory attitudes that encourage some men to harass women and young girls from all walks of life, with impunity. Recent research notes that over three quarters of female school and college students have been subjected to so -alled “eve teasing” at one time or another. and this is a major factor behind female dropout rates.

If nothing is done to stigmatise and prevent sexual harassment, this makes it even harder for society to deter and bring down violent crimes against women. such as dowry-related violence, rape, tra� cking, and acid attacks.

University authorities have to become more e� ective in punishing o� enders and in raising awareness to prevent sexual harassment.

Man sacri� ces 3-month-old daughter for treasureNovember 29Susan GSchizophrenia, probably.

RS“Monjuwara, Nusrat’s mother, said her husband, Nazmul Islam, was a carpenter by profession. Recently, he started following a fake spiritual leader, who instigated him to sacri� ce their daughter for hidden treasure.”

Nazmul and the fake spiritual leader should be caught and punished as soon as possible.

Answer the real question, ministerNovember 30MomoaswanBut will he? Alas, I have no doubts about the quality of the advice ministers get and give; it’s mostly below average, authoritarian, bureaucratically high-handed, or just nonsensical.

The real threat of global warmingNovember 30Son Zoo“Continuing our current policies of exploiting all fossil fuels available will literally ensure the end of the Earth as we know it.”

A very informative and well-researched article. Shows how utterly scary the prospect of a changing climate is.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 15, 2014

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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Help law enforcers protect and reassure all witnesses

Act collectively to raise awareness and punish o� enders

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Inns (6)6 Faucet (3)9 Silly (5)10 Large volume (4)11 Looks after (5)12 Monkey (3)13 Arachnid (6)15 That which catches (4)18 Had knowledge (4)21 Waver (6)24 Top card (3)25 Embellish (5)28 Kill (4)29 Assumed a position (5)30 Perfect score (3)31 Soaks (6)

DOWN1 Make fast (5)2 United (3)3 Dance (5)4 Finish (3)5 Fewer (4)6 Ugly amphibian (4)7 Electrical unit (6)8 Look narrowly (4)14 Vex (3)16 Wise utterance (6)17 Out� t (3)19 Hangman’s rope (5)20 Coils about (5)21 Quick (4)22 Incline (4)23 Transported with emotion (4)26 Female deer (3)27 Corded cloth (3)

CROSSWORD

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 24 represents V so � ll V every time the � gure 24 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z‘Controversial and unnecessary’ new zebra crossing

November 30

Osmania“Without coordinating with the tra� c division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) marked a controversial zebra crossing just north of the Saarc Fountain at the Karwan Bazar intersection in the capital, barely one hundred feet from an underpass.”

The police need to get their priorities right – safety before � ning people. There’s nothing wrong with more zebra crossings. What we need are drivers who will obey them.

Mikail Sattar Osmania: And what exactly is the point of having a zebra crossing 100 feet away from an underpass?

Osmania Mikail Sattar: Take a look on Google Earth and count how many zebra crossings and pedestrian-controlled lights there are in central parts of a city like London or Amsterdam. (Spoiler alert, it’s loads.) And then tell the world you don’t think Bangladeshis in a busy central area don’t deserve the same. What’s wrong with more zebra crossings?

In favour of bad studentsNovember 29

rose“These so-called ‘bad’ students seek love, not hate from their teachers.”

We should not turn a deaf ear to this particular problem. Teachers should learn to be sensible and more understanding regarding their students, so that students love and respect their teachers instead of abhorring them.

FoxymophandlemamaExcellent piece; a point that a lot of the teachers (and guardians) throughout our nation need to understand.

Sinking public laptop project to face lawsuitNovember 29

Dr Ahsan Habib“The DOEL laptop project is a concern of the state-owned Telephone Shilpa Sanghta Ltd (TSS).”

The problem is no one cheated the Bangladesh government. It is within the mega scheme of government corruption and stealing. And while individual government members bene� t, like Raju and other IT experts, it is the government who will make up the loss from public money.

An inspiration for the disabledNovember 30

Mush� que“Through the years of her involvement and activities, Rokeya has achieved a lead role at national level by working for disabled people. She is a councillor of National Grassroots Disability Organisation, and later became the vice-president of National Council of Disabled Women.” This was a good story!

MausMush� que: Yes, it was. We need more such stories of people who can inspire us, who have not let their disabilities hold them back from success, and who can pave the way forward for all of us.

Actor Khalil Ullah Khan passes away

December 7

DPAll villains in this world, be they reel or real,

eventually leave this world.

AnonDP: Yes, may he rest in peace.

Abu Musta� z HassanNo Bangali will ever see the likeness of a villain

such as Khalil Ullah Khan. I remember I would get scared whenever I saw him on screen. “I want your

money, or your land.” Salute, sir. Rest in peace.

State move demanded to protect Khasia land

December 7

PB“There is no enmity between the two groups, but the tea garden owner is propagating such

falsehood to put the Khasia leaders behind bars. It will make it easier for them to grab the land.”

#Indigenous #Khasia people are facing inhuman torture by #NaharTeaGarden

management #Bangladesh #workers

Jaywalking drive can only go so far

November 29

Dev Ismail“Educating vehicle users and owners needs to be the top priority.” Exactly, and it’s not just cars. It’s

not even safe to walk on pavements, thanks to motorcyclists treating them as their own lane.

11Op-Ed Monday, December 15, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Abdullah Zobair

The country’s economy is not in a good shape. Internal economic recession began due

to political uncertainty following the 15th constitutional amendment which erupted the political turmoil. Contrarily, the world economy has regained from the recession.

Variables of macro economy are in the red for the absence of an investment-friendly atmosphere despite the liquidity at banks remaining super� uous. Shortage of con� dence forced local investors to be reluctant in initiating new ventures resulting in a deadlock of the entire economy.

Top-to-bottom corruption in gov-ernance has gobbled up big chunks of revenue, and unchecked expenditures aiming at sustaining bureaucrats’ sup-port ultimately laundered pockets of the masses. Aggressiveness to extract VAT, tax, levy, and tari� s for swelling revenue and raising prices of gas and electricity utilities, mount pressure on ordinary people who are in a battle to survive.

The policy taken by the government to reconstruct the economy has failed, as the systematic corruption is leaking out of all oratory initiatives. Because of poor moral strength to govern, and failure in securing con� dence of the investors, the incumbent government has put the economy in a trap.

In spite of escalating external debt on high interest, excessive internal borrowings from banks and non-banking � nancial institutions, increasing taxes, raising utility costs, and printing currency notes to meet the government expenditures, our sinking economy has failed to bounce back.

The government’s borrowing from the banking system unprecedentedly soared to 263% on a year-on-year basis in the � rst nine days of the current � scal year as the expenditures exceeded revenue incomes, according to Bangladesh Bank estimation. The amount was Tk5,011cr during July 1-9, against Tk1,380cr in the same period of 2013, according to the central bank.

Moreover, the government has set a target to borrow Tk31,221cr from the banking system during the � scal. But this oversized government borrowing from banks will only fail to achieve in� ation-taming targets, and will pro-vide less space for the banks to lend to the private sector.

Meanwhile, the government’s non-bank borrowing also surged in November because of its utter failure to make better use of available foreign funds due to poor project implemen-tation. As a result, the government’s debt servicing cost would rise in � scal 2014-15.

To plug the holes in de� cit � nancing, the government, during the July-September period, depended heavily on non-bank borrowing through the sale of savings instruments. If the current trend continues, the sale of the savings instruments would total 301% higher than that of the original target by the end of this � scal year, which will further increase the government’s debt-servicing costs, jeopardising the economy.

In this situation, the government has recently framed a medium-term

debt strategy, estimating to borrow as much as 60% of its total borrowing from external sources like WB, ADB, and IDB, including those of costly commercial loans.

Reports said the government could not utilise the foreign funds due to its perennial poor record of project implementation, although more than $19bn low interest loans were available for the country. In monetary terms, the net foreign � nancing declined by Tk1,699cr, and the bank � nancing by Tk34cr in the � rst quarter of this FY.

In the meantime, the government’s overall revenue earning was very poor in the � rst quarter of this FY. In July-September, the total revenue declined by 0.04% on a year-on-year basis. During the period, the total reve-nue collection was Tk34,785cr, which was Tk36,231cr in the same quarter last � scal. The non-NBR revenue collection was the worst, slumping 45% on year-on-year basis to Tk6,543cr.

To meet the government’s vigorous expenditures demand, the central bank recently sold greenbacks of $45mn to � ve banks that explores the central bank’s inadequacy also. A plan was chalked to increase the tari� s of gas and electricity from January 2015 for households to businesses and industries.

Depending on users, gas prices might increase between 5% to 122%. The citizens are already battling to survive being struck by an ailing econ-omy. The proposed pay hike of the government employees will push them further back.

Moreover, share market scams, the loan scams of Hall-Mark and Sonali Bank, Destiny, and money siphoning in state-owned Basic Bank slowed the once boosting economy. All e� orts of the people to spell their fortune are being swallowed by the politics of vengeance.

The embattled economy of the country is further being mired by � nancial mismatches. The corruption in the state-owned banks has laun-dered millions in collaboration with the high-ups of the government, and the ruling party is pushing the banking system to the verge of a collapse.

The state apparatus of intimidation and punishment through NBR and ACC are all out to fetch more money for the corrupt appetite of the government. But the people are so pressed that they have hardly any money left to survive with dignity. This condition of the economy is caused by nothing but the total failure of the government. We demand a people’s government through free, fair, credible, and inclusive elections. l

Abdullah Zobair is Executive Director, Bangladesh Initiative for Political Development (BIPD).

A troubled economy

n Khawaza Main Uddin

These famous lines from a Bangla poem – “this is the right time for he who is now a youth, to join

the procession” – are of little relevance or appeal to the youth born after 1990. That was the year which witnessed the last student-demonstration-turned-mass-upsurge of our time to restore democracy.

Why would the younger generations go to (holy) war, no matter how euphemistically poet Helal Ha� z narrates the greatness of sacri� cing oneself for altruistic purposes? We can’t blame them either, since we never try to know what they think of the country or even of themselves.

Today’s youth have shown smarts, because they have avoided the Bohemian path they probably consider to be wrong, which was followed by many of their predecessors. Instead of venturing on violent politics or spending years reciting poems, as we experienced during our university life, a Bangladeshi youth, during this age of globalisation, prefers pursuing a job and building a family.

How unlucky the new generations

are, that they have not been made the torchbearers of the senior ones! What about the role of the old leaders? Sorry, they are not leaving too many role models to be followed by the posterity.

Perhaps as a result of natural justice, the present-day leaders have been reduced to a position in which they can no longer exploit even the emotions of the more junior citizens. These morally bankrupt leaders had to bank on the Shahbagh-based movement in 2013, spearheaded by some ambitious youngsters, for their political survival, at the cost of democracy being derailed.

Inevitably, our society has undergone a generation gap, wherein the latest one, disillusioned with politics and volunteerism, has turned sel� sh, setting the trend of pursuing mere individualistic pursuits. Earning money, dining at fancy restaurants, using costly mobile phones, buying a motorbike, owning a � at, and shopping outside the country are some samples of the dreams of the average youth, and a career is only the vehicle for securing those dreams.

In 1971, it was the young freedom � ghters who risked their lives to

pursue the dream of an independent Bangladesh. Before and in 1990, the youth of our generation sel� essly fought a war between autocracy and democracy. Today, the young people have no collective dream that could bring positive changes to their very surroundings.

We, as a whole, have failed to realise that a culture of utter sel� shness instigated by alienation of individuals from society, ultimately cannot serve the sel� sh interests of all men and women.

Unfortunately, after every revolutionary change in this country, the youth were either misguided or excluded from the next ladder of leadership. No sector, except groups of a few elites and family-owned businesses, has created a second tier of leadership to succeed the current one.

Rather, showing signs of hypocrisy, the dominant leaders often describe the youth as being the future of the country but never welcome any new ideas from them, let alone providing any space for them to grow. I wonder how the bene� ciaries tasked with building and leading Bangladesh would be held accountable to history

for pushing future generations into a state of uncertainty.

The dreams of each youth at an individual level is also constrained by a wholesale absence of independent minds to think freely.

We once employed social e� orts to produce servants for the colonial setting, now we have joined the spree of making only business executives and technicians with a restless education in which enlightenment and big dreams are hardly of any value.

It’s dangerous sometimes to raise criticism targeted at the evil system. Still, British author of Bangladeshi origin Zia Haider Rahman described this country as a “land of dead

ideas.” He said in Dhaka recently: “This country belongs to people with extraordinary power and privileges.”

The state is treating the youth accordingly, just not o� ering what they need and deserve. In the client-

patron relationship of the statecraft, Chhatra League and Jubo League cadres have emerged as the most powerful agents, though minor portions, of the Bangladeshi adults of the 21st century.

They and their political masters are the virtual owners of public goods, be it in the form of contracts, kickbacks, extortion, public service recruitments, or land-grabbing.

In such a regime, no authority,

irrespective of paper-based legal provisions, guarantees fair opportunities for the youth. Those who frequently talk about dreams and the spirit of independence are out to deny, consistently, any fair rules of the game for newcomers. This system of governance has purported to prove that the youth are not ready for leadership roles.

Also, over-pampering parents and guardians think their children are not competent enough to lead the family or the nation. But practically, the successors do lead, making breakthroughs in their own lives and society in the process. This poor and troublesome legacy of being left behind by the elderly generation remains a matter of serious concern.

The contemporary Bangladeshi youth, lacking education proper and missing the wisdom of seasoned personalities, may � nd themselves in the awkward position in which they would be o� ered leadership, in a sudden but inevitable transition, in the near future. l

Khawaza Main Uddin is Executive Editor at ICE Business Times.

The young and the complacent

Dominant leaders often describe the youth as being the future of the country but never welcome any new ideas from them

n Towheed Feroze

It is a well-known fact, or I can assume a lot of people are aware, that in 1971, the US government was not in favour of a liberated Bangladesh. At least, the White

House was actively against the idea of a dismembered Pakistan.

Declassi� ed records, as mentioned in several books related to the 1971 War of Independence in Bangladesh, state unequivocally that the Nixon admin-istration was unwilling to see dents in their relations with the West Pakistan junta. Pakistan was a key player at that time in improving US relations with China.

Therefore, even after heart-wrench-ing telegrams were sent by US diplo-mat Archer Blood from Dhaka about the atrocities committed, the reaction in Washington was diplomatic silence. Blood later on was admonished and, reportedly, his career path made di� cult for his candid appraisal of the situation on the ground.

Whatever the case, within the USA, the opinion was split as further declassi� ed papers, mentioned in BZ Khosru’s book, clearly state that a large number of common Americans plus many serving lawmakers opposed the stance of the White House and also resorted to strategic � libustering to delay shipments of weapons to the invading army.

Yet, even after so many years, if a political analyst is asked to comment on the role of the USA and then the USSR during the 1971 war, the former won’t be painted favourably. If you are the devil, then you are vile out and out … no chance for the little virtues to be noticed.

After all, history only remembers

decisions made at the top. The fact that many Germans within the Ger-man defence system wanted to depose Hitler and end a war begun on lunatic whim is usually brushed aside when WW2 is deconstructed. Anything to do with Hitler’s military might is regarded with suspicion, though e� orts were made right within the German military by Claus von Stau� enberg to kill the dictator in what is known as the “20 July plot.”

Come to the Vietnam War, where the US role is still enveloped in infamy. At the height of the Cold War, poking a nose, and then directly getting in war-fare, in Vietnam turned the US into the new imperial juggernaut. Within the US, millions of people, imbued by the 60s philosophy of peace and spiritual emancipation, protested, though this hardly did anything to improve the US image globally.

In the then East-Pakistan, a wave of socialist ideals spurred by Fidel Cas-tro’s de� ance of the US and relentless struggle of the Vietnamese people had transformed a generation. The 1971 American aloofness only cemented an anti-Western feeling. To be precise, for about a decade after liberation, young men wanting to enter politics had to embrace socialist values and reject

what they termed “Markin sham-rajjobad” (US imperialism). However, as we step into the 43rd year of inde-pendence, maybe history should be interpreted not by acts of the govern-ment only but also by humanitarian deeds of the general people.

A recent news of four US Hercules planes helping India transport � oods of refugees from the then East Paki-stan after the March 26 crackdown, opens up a new hitherto unknown

dimension to the compassionate American involvement in the war.

Of course, if we look at the overall picture, Nixon’s lethargy in acknowl-edging genocide in Bangladesh and the subsequent sending of the seventh � eet will always overshadow all the other acts that were in favour of Bang-ladesh.

Even then, sometimes good deeds need to be recognised. One cannot forget the role of the American mis-sionaries based in Dhaka, Narinda, and Kaliganj who came to the help of the common people during those turbu-lent times of hopelessness. Nor can we forget Senator Edward Kennedy who stood at Congress supporting the cause for Bangladesh.

As we approach Victory Day, the role of the USSR during the war cannot

and should not be sidelined either. They indirectly hinted that if any superpower entered on the side of Pakistan, the USSR would act, thus ruling out the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh from turning into a major cause for global con� ict.

Later, it was the Soviets who cleared the ports of Bangladesh of thousands of planted mines and scuttled ships. Of course, to take a wide-angle perspective, the 70s was the period of high communism-capitalism tensions. Any state-to-state episode of warfare was inevitably caught in the vortex of the ideological divide.

One may ask why these nuances from another era matter so much. Af-ter all, the Cold War is over and there’s nothing called the Soviet Union. Well, for starters, accurate history is essential because unless the facts are known, new generations’ understand-ing of the political evolution of the sub-continent will be distorted.

Just a concluding point, leading Arab countries from where millions of Bangladeshis now send back much needed foreign currency did not recognise Bangladesh’s struggle for independence on the rationale that the movement was aimed at dividing a Muslim country. Saudi Arabia gave for-mal recognition to Bangladesh in 1975-1976. Today, the Saudi government is a generous friend to Bangladesh.

On the eve of Victory Day, let’s also try to understand a little bit of global politics and how they have evolved, with Bangladesh now � rmly secured in the global map as a developing country. l

Towheed Feroze is a journalist currently working in the development sector.

Cold War nuances of 1971S E R P E N T I N E D E N

Nixon’s lethargy in acknowledging genocide in Bangladesh will always overshadow all the other acts that were in favour of Bangladesh

Let’s not forget the help we received BIGSTOCK

The people are so pressed that they have hardly any money left to survive with dignity

12 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 15, 2014

Sport1413 Germany lift Champions Trophy

Japan teens become youngest champions

14 Evergreen Lampard proud to match Henry tally

Did you know?Only once (9 v

Tottenham in Aug 2011) has David de Gea made more saves in a Premier

League game than he did against Liverpool

yesterday (8)

Rupganj opener Tamim Iqbal gestures during their DPL match against Sheikh Jamal in Mirpur yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Sk Jamal want to play Busan IParkn Shishir Hoque

Following South Korean top � ight club Busan IPark’s interest to play in Bangladesh, professional football league champions Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club have con� rmed that they want to face the former AFC Champions League winners in a friendly on December 27.

Sheikh Jamal, the King’s Cup champions, forwarded their interest to the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) yesterday. All that remains now is for Busan IPark to � nalise the friendly.

“Sheikh Jamal expressed their interest to play against Busan IPark. We will start communicating with the club o� cials (Busan IPark) and come to a decision soon,” said BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag yesterday.

Busan IPark earlier sent an invita-tion letter to the BFF last Monday ask-ing if the national side or any premier league club are interested in playing a friendly in Bangladesh against the K-League team. l

V Day Handball begins todayn Raihan Mahmood

The Walton Home Appliance Victory Day Handball, comprising three teams each in the men’s and women’s events, starts at the Paltan Ground handball stadium today.

Border Guard Bangladesh, Bangla-desh Police and Bangladesh Ansar will take part in the men’s section while the women’s category will feature Ansar, BJMC and Bangladesh Police.

In a presser held at the conference

room of Bangabandhu National Stadi-um yesterday, Bangladesh Handball Federation general secretary Asaduz-zaman Kohinoor said they are expect-ing enterprising clashes in the tourna-ment. “We have invited all the services teams who are superior in strength and skills. The tournament will display top level handball.”

The tournament will conclude this Thursday. Walton additional director FM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn was also present on the occasion. l

MSC, Doleshwar, Rupganj seal Super League placesn Mazhar Uddin

Mohammedan, Prime Doleshwar and holders Legends of Rupganj all con-� rmed their places in the six-team Su-per League phase of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League yesterday after winning their respective matches in the 11th and � nal round.

Mohammedan defeated Kalabagan Krira Chakra by 22 runs in Fatullah, Prime Doleshwar beat Partex by eight wickets in Savar while Rupganj in� ict-ed a six-wicket defeat on Sheikh Jamal in Mirpur.

Prime Bank and Abahani earlier sealed their berth in the Super League while Kalabagan Cricket Academy will also join them irrespective of their re-sult against Victoria today in Savar.

Although a win for Victoria will take them level on points with Kalaba-gan CA, a better head-to-head record means it will be the latter who will take their place in the Super League.

Mohammedan v Kalabagan KCBatting � rst, Mohammedan put up 194 on the board losing all of their wick-ets in a match that was reduced to 43 overs-per-side owing to foggy weather.

Middle-order batsman Ariful Haque led the way for the traditional Black and Whites with a 107-ball 83.

National paceman Shahadat Hos-sain was the chief destroyer for Kalaba-gan KC with a � ve-wicket haul.

In reply, Kalabagan KC managed 172 before being bundled out with four de-liveries of their innings remaining.

Shamsur Rahman (47) and Jupiter Ghosh (44) tried their best to guide the chase but a � urry of wickets in the mid-dle overs ensured they would eventual-ly fall short by 22 runs.

Mohammedan’s Afghan recruit Rah-mat Shah scalped four wickets conced-ing 29 runs.

Prime Doleshwar v PartexOpener Abdullah al Mamun (93 o� 103 balls) and skipper Mehrab Hossain Jr (60* o� 79 balls) shone for their side as Partex posted a respectable 233/10 in 48.5 overs after taking � rst strike.

Prime Doleshwar duo Dawid Malan (4/25) and Elias Sunny (3/38) shared seven wickets between them.

In pursuit of 234, Prime Doleshwar romped to victory with eight wickets intact and 32 deliveries in hand.

The second-wicket partnership of Rony Talukder (112* o� 123 balls) and captain Mush� qur Rahim (70 o� 78 balls) added 140 runs as Partex wilted under pressure.

Rupganj v Sheikh Jamal DCAsked to bat � rst, Sheikh Jamal regis-tered 167/8 in their allotted 45 overs as yet another match of the lone 50-over tournament of the country was cur-tailed yesterday.

Sheikh Jamal skipper Tushar Imran scored 64 while Nahidul Islam was un-beaten on 43 o� just 34 balls.

Sharif Ullah scalped three wickets while Abul Hasan picked up two.

Rupganj though were unhindered in their chase as the defending champi-

ons cantered to their destination with six wickets in hand and 52 deliveries re-maining. National opener Tamim Iqbal blasted 73 o� 90 balls, his innings fea-turing 10 boundaries. l

NSC to provide Tk380m for renovation work of sporting infrastructuresn Raihan Mahmood

National Sports Council (NSC) will disburse a fund of Tk380m for upgra-dation and renovation of the sporting infrastructures, including the Paltan Ground.

NSC secretary Shibnath Roy revealed the fact in a press conference at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

“The government has agreed to pro-vide a purse of Tk500m for renovation and upgradation of various sporting infrastructures. We have pursued the sports ministry to allocate Tk120m for the purpose of training. We have the South Asian Games in India next year and we are focused on repeating the feat of winning 18 gold medals like the edition of 2010 in Dhaka. The money will be spent to prepare the athletes properly.”

Shibnath admitted a number of sporting infrastructures are in sham-bles. “Yes, I am aware of the situation of the Paltan wooden � oor gymnasium. We have allocated Tk17m for the re-in-stallation of the wooden � oor.”

Shibnath added that the Mirpur In-door stadium, the Sultana Kamal Wom-en’s sports complex and several other gymnasiums across the country are also in the list.

The NSC secretary also said the na-tional women’s handball team will be honoured in a felicitation programme following their triumph in the Interna-tional Handball Federation Challenge Cup recently in Pakistan.

NSC director of development and planning, Ziaul Hasan, director of sports Narayan Chandra Debnath and director of � nance Mohammed Sha-hidullah were also present on the oc-casion. l

Negre to inaugurate school hockey n Raihan Mahmood

International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Leandro Negre will inaugu-rate the installation of a sand-based hockey turf at BAF Shaheen School today. This will be the Spaniard’s third o� cial visit to Dhaka.

During his four-day visit, Negre will also inaugurate the First Security Islami Bank National School Hockey Championship and commence the in-stallation work of the blue turf at Mau-lana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium.

The FIH president was scheduled to land in the capital yesterday night.

In a presser held at the conference room of National Sports Council yes-terday, Bangladesh Hockey Federation general secretary Khaja Rahmatullah said Negre’s arrival this time will be a signi� cant one. “The FIH president desperately wants to promote hockey in the sub-continent and desires to see Dhaka as an active international venue. He inspired me to take the initiative of hosting a tournament comprising India and Pakistan. We hope to host it at the end of next year.”

FIH provided 25 percent of the cost

of the new blue turf and Rahmatullah said the federation will now take the initiative to set up the � oodlights. “It is a costly issue but with the assistance of the government and the FIH, I think it is possible. We will seek assistance from both the parties.”

Meanwhile, Azam Khan, the head of development and marketing of First Security Islami Bank Ltd, hoped that the pipeline of the future stars will be formed through the second edition of the school tournament. “We spon-

sored the � rst edition and continued the trend with a vision of creating the future players.”

Tournament secretary Mamunur Rashid said the number of participating teams this time will be 120, an increase of 19 teams from the previous edition. “The response is very good. We received 145 applications but could take only 120. Moreover, we have made arrangements with the BKSP about providing privileg-es for the players who will be selected through this tournament.” l

Tamim not delving into distractionsn Mazhar Uddin

Defending champions of the Dhaka Pre-mier Division Cricket League, Legends of Rupganj have been going through a tough time lately. Their owner Lutfur Rahman Badal was slapped with a life-

time ban from all kinds of cricket activ-ities for disparaging comments against the Bangladesh Cricket Board and a few directors.

The club’s joint secretary Tarikul Islam Tito was handed a � ve-year ban

while manager Sabbir Ahmed Rubel was banned for three years.

The cricketers of the club would have been forgiven if their heads were not in the right place but for national opener Tamim Iqbal, it was business as usual.

A focused Tamim spoke to the me-dia yesterday in Mirpur following their 11th and � nal round match against Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club where the holders con� rmed their berth in the Super League phase with a six-wicket win.

“Their presence would have been better but we are focused on our duties for the club. We had a meeting where we decided not to focus on the oth-er issues and keep concentrating on our games. We might have been going through tough times as we lost four matches in a row after winning the � rst � ve games in succession,” said Tamim.

“However, we have managed to win the last two matches. I am con� dent and the boys are looking forward,” he added. l

Bangladesh Boys Club smell foul-playn Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh Boys Club yesterday urged the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) to take necessary action against Shadhinota Krira Sangha. In their letter to the BFF, Boys Club accused Shadhi-nota KC of match-� xing in their Bengal Group Senior Division Football League second-leg match against Mohakhali XI that took place last Friday.

The match ended 1-1 after Mohakh-ali took the lead. The match was equal-ly important for both the relegation battlers Shadhinota KC and Boys Club. While the draw saved Shadhinota KC from being relegated to the second di-vision, Boys Club were not so lucky as they were demoted from the Bengal Group Senior Division Football League.

Boys Club went on to claim in the letter that another match between Shadhinota KC and Friends Social Welfare Associa-tion on Nov 27 was also � xed. Several me-dia reports indicated the same. The club requested the BFF to review the video footage of both the matches and take nec-essary initiative against the clubs. l

BRIEF SCORESRupganj v Sheikh Jamal DC

Jamal 167/8 in 45 overs (maximum)Tushar 64, Nahidul 43*; Sharif 3/13, Abul 2/26Rupganj 171/4 in 36.2 overs (Tamim 73)

Rupganj won by six wicketsPrime Doleshwar v Partex

Partex 233 allout in 48.5 oversAbdullah 93, Mehrab Jr 60*; Dawid 4/25, Elias 3/38Prime 235/2 in 44.4 oversRony 112*, Mush� q 70

Prime won by eight wicketsMohammedan v Kalabagan KC

Mohammedan 194 allout in 41.5 overs (maximum 43)Ariful 83; Shahadat 5/40, Anjum 2/43Kalabagan KC 172 allout in 42.2 oversShamsur 47, Jupiter 44; Rahmat 4/29

Mohammedan won by 22 runs

Khaja Rahmatullah, the general secretary of the hockey federation (2R) speaks in the press conference at National Sports Council yesterday COURTESY

FM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn, the additional director of Walton (R) speaks in the press conference at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday COURTESY

Naznin Akter Happy, the actress who has � led a treachery case against national pacer Rubel Hossain, arrives at Mirpur Model Police Station yesterday MI MANIK

Their presence would have been better but we are focused on our duties for the club. We had a meeting where we decided not to focus on the other issues and keep concentrating on our games

POINTS TABLETeams M W L Pts NRRPrime Bank 10 9 1 18 +0.940Abahani 10 8 2 16 +1.029Mohammedan 11 7 4 16 +0.019Prime DSC 11 7 4 14 +0.685Kalabagan CA 10 7 3 14 +0.627Rupganj 11 7 4 14 +0.501

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 13Monday, December 15, 2014

Star Sports 210:00AMRanji Trophy MPCA v UPCA1:45AMSpanish La LigaDeportivo v ElcheStar Sports 11:45AMItalian Serie AChievo v Inter Milan Star Sports 4English Premier League2:00AMEverton v QPR

Mkhitaryan out for six weeksBorussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga crisis took a turn for the worst on Sunday with attacking mid� elder Henrikh Mkhitaryan ruled out for the next six weeks. The 25-year-old playmaker limped o� after 35 minutes of their 1-0 defeat at Hertha Berlin on Saturday which dropped Borussia back into the bottom three having started December last in the league. A scan has con� rmed Mkhitary-an has torn his right thigh muscle and misses their last two Bundesliga match-es of 2014 on Wednesday at home to Wolfsburg and Saturday away to Werder Bremen with his side battling to escape the relegation places. With the Bundesli-ga due to break for winter next Sunday, Mkhitaryan will only be available for Dortmund’s � rst league game of 2015 on January 31 at Bayer Leverkusen.

–AFP

Female Saudi fan red-carded for entering mens-only stadiumA female fan who disguised herself to in� ltrate the male-only domain of a football stadium in Saudi Arabia has been red-carded, a police statement obtained on Sunday says. Men and women are strictly segregated in the kingdom, and football stadiums are out of bounds to women. But one female supporter managed to sneak into a Friday � xture of the Abdul Latif Jameel Saudi professional league at Al-Jawhara stadium in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. She wore men’s clothes “and deliber-ately covered her head so as not to be detected by security and not to draw attention,” police spokesman Atti al-Qurashi said in the statement. A video posted on YouTube purported to show her sitting by herself among some empty seats in a section reserved for fans of the visiting Al-Shabab club from the capital Riyadh.

–AFP

Sangakkara � ned for dissentSri Lanka’s star batsman Kumar Sangak-kara was Sunday � ned 15 percent of his match fee for showing dissent at the umpire’s decision in the sixth one-day international against England in Kandy. The proli� c left-hander was found to have breached the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct for players during the game on Saturday which the hosts won by 90 runs. The incident took place during Sri Lanka’s innings when Sangakkara got involved in a “prolonged discussion” with on-� eld umpire Bruce Oxenford in the 34th over, the ICC said in a statement. San-gakkara was disputing the umpire’s de-cision not to allow Sri Lanka to take the batting powerplay at that time, it said. “Two balls later, following the dismissal of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara turned to Oxenford and made another inappropriate comment.”

–AFP

Zhang set to become fourth Chinese in BundesligaWolfsburg are set to present China mid� elder Zhang Xizhe as a new signing to become the fourth Chinese to have played in Germany’s top � ight -- with more likely to follow. Zhang landed in Germany at Frankfurt airport on Satur-day and with only details of the 23-year-old’s transfer from Beijing Guoan to be � nalised, he is set to o� cially become a Wolves player in the coming days. He would be the only currently active Chinese player in the German league, but not the � rst. He is set to follow in the footsteps of Hao Junmin, who made 14 league appearances for Schalke 04 in 2010 and 2011, Shao Jiayi, who joined 1860 Munich in 2003, then Energie Cottbus in 2006, and striker Yang Chen, who made 65 Bundesliga appearances for Eintracht Frankfurt up until 2001, scoring 16 goals.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES

DAY’S WATCH

Juve held, Lazio down Atalantan AFP, Milan

Manolo Gabbiadini struck in the second half to put the brakes on Juventus’s ti-tle charge on Sunday as Sampdoria grabbed a 1-1 draw in Turin to hand Roma a scudetto lifeline on Sunday.

Frenchman Patrice Evra gave the Italian champions a half-time lead when he headed home from a corner in the 12th minute to score his � rst goal for the club.

However Sampdoria, who handed Juventus their last home defeat, in Jan-uary 2013, were back on level terms six minutes after the restart after � edgling Italy striker Gabbiadini beat Gianluigi Bu� on with a � ne curling drive.

Juve’s third draw of the season, and their � rst at home, has left Massimilia-no Allegri’s side with a four-point lead on Roma, who can reduce their de� cit to a point if they account for third-placed Genoa later Sunday.

Allegri steered his side into the last 16 of the Champions League with a scoreless draw at home to Atletico Ma-drid on Tuesday.

But the 47-year-old coach’s decision to keep Andrea Pirlo on the bench, as the club look towards the Italian Super Cup against Napoli in Doha on Decem-

ber 22, looked to have back� red.Allegri also left Fernando Llorente

on the bench with fellow Spaniard Al-varo Morata spearheading the Juve at-tack with Carlos Tevez.

Sampdoria coach Sinisa Mihajlovic called for “11 warriors” on the pitch at Juventus Stadium, but his side looked

lost in an opening half dominated out-rageously by the hosts.

Earlier, two goals from skipper Stefa-no Mauri helped Lazio to a 3-0 win over Atalanta on Saturday that moved the Rome out� t into third place in Serie A.

With Miroslav Klose left on the bench in favour of Filip Djordjevic, it was captain Mauri who stepped up to the mark after a lacklustre � rst half for both sides.

Mauri opened the scoring after 51 minutes from a cross by Felipe Ander-son and added his second 20 minutes later after smart work down the left.

Senad Lulic headed home Lazio’s third goal after 81 minutes o� a cross from Dusan Basta.

Mauri could have had a hat-trick if Stefan de Vrij hadn’t got in front of him to miss the target from a 38th-minute centre by Stefan Radu or if a smart left-footed volley hadn’t just missed the target in the 54th minute. l

Juventus defender Patrice Evra (2R) heads to score against Sampdoria during their Italian Serie A match at the Juventus stadium in Turin yesterday REUTERS

Indian Aces team players celebrate after winning the International Premier Tennis League in Dubai on Saturday REUTERS

Aussies may freshen pace attack for second Testn AFP, Adelaide

Australia, already without injured skip-per Michael Clarke, may also freshen up their pace attack with Josh Hazle-wood and Mitchell Starc for this week’s second Test in Brisbane, coach Darren Lehmann said Sunday.

Clarke is out for the rest of the India Test series with a torn right hamstring su� ered while � elding in Australia’s 48-run win over India on Saturday, amid fears his Test career could be over after a spate of injuries.

Shaun Marsh has been named to take Clarke’s place for Wednesday’s Test at the Gabba, with vice-captain and wick-etkeeper Brad Haddin expected to be-come Australia’s 45th Test skipper.

But with just three days between Tests, selectors must consider the pace attack for Brisbane, Lehmann said.

“We will see how they pull up,” he told reporters.

“We will pick the best team to get 20 wickets. A couple of them are sore but the next day or two will tell. It’s a quick turnaround.”

Left-armer Starc has been placed on stand-by for Brisbane, while Hazle-wood was the 12th man in Adelaide.

Ryan Harris, making his Test re-turn after major knee surgery, worked through a total of 40 overs in Adelaide and may need to sit out in Brisbane.

“I literally don’t know. He’s just come back in the side,” Lehmann said of Harris.

“If they are not 100 percent they won’t play.”

Peter Siddle may also be under scru-tiny after taking just six wickets in his past four Tests.

“Obviously getting some more wick-

ets if possible. He knows that, but he is doing everything he can behind the scenes. He’s OK.”

Australia will again rely heavily on o� -spinner Nathan Lyon to get through a large workload in Brisbane. Lyon cap-tured a career-best 12 wickets in the match at the Adelaide Oval, triggering a � nal-session collapse to steer Australia to victory.

In the space of 18 overs, Lyon snared six wickets as India slumped from 242 for two to be all out for 315. Lyon � n-ished with seven for 152 o� 34.1 overs.

“He did a really good job (in Bris-bane) last year against England, got some key wickets,” Lehmann said. “He enjoys the bounce at the Gabba.

“He’s dispelled that (notion that Lyon couldn’t bowl teams out on day � ve)... I’m really pleased for him. It was an emotional day for him.”l

Cook’s World Cup captaincy in doubtn Reuters, London

Alastair Cook’s role as England captain for next year’s World Cup was cast into doubt when head coach Peter Moores said his position would be reviewed af-ter the team’s current one-day series in Sri Lanka.

Cook was last week named as skip-per of a provisional 30-man squad for next year’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand but has continued to cut a beleaguered � gure at the helm of the one-day side.

The 29-year-old has averaged under 18 with the bat as the tourists slipped to a 4-2 series defeat in Sri Lanka with one game remaining.

“We review everything at the end of every series, we’ve always said that,” Moores told Sky Sports when asked if Cook would be captain at the World Cup.

“We make no bones that we’re pas-sionate to try and get our best side to go

out and win a World Cup. Cook needs runs but he’s also had some great times as an England player. He’s in a tough patch at the moment but that’s some-thing he’s working hard to get out of.”

Cook’s performance during England’s 90-run defeat in the sixth one-dayer on Saturday typi� ed the form that has led to a growing number of critics question his captaincy and his place in the team. He dropped a routine catch o� Kumar San-gakkara, on 41 at the time, and the left-hander went on to make a game-chang-ing 112. The England captain scored just one run before succumbing to the sec-ond ball he faced.

Cook still believes he is the man to lead the side for the Tri-Series against Australia and India in January and the World Cup.

“We came into today with some high hopes so it’s been a frustrating day all round, and days like these don’t make the job any easier,” Cook said. l

Japan teens become youngest championsn AFP, Bangkok

Fourteen year-olds Mima Ito and Miu Hirano on Saturday became the young-est ever winners at the $1 million table tennis World Grand Finals in Bangkok.

The schoolgirls took the women’s doubles title, beating Natalia Partyka and Katarzyna Grzybowski of Poland 11-7, 11-6, 11-4, 11-5, to claim a $40,000 share of the prize money. The Japanese teens had already defeated the Polish women at the German Open this year and Ito said “we knew we could beat them, but of course this was a new match and it was a very special match.”

Japan’s men’s pair Kenta Matsudaira and Koki Niwa lost their � nal against South Korea’s Cho Eon-Rae and Seo Hyun-Deok in a seven game thriller - 11-8, 10-12, 5-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-6, 9-11.l

Warner, Dhawan and Kohli � ned by ICCn Reuters

Australia’s David Warner and India’s Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli have been � ned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for ill-tempered incidents during the fourth day of the � rst Test in Adelaide.

Warner and Dhawan were � ned 15 and 30 per cent of their respective match fees for a confrontation after the Australian opener was bowled by a no-ball.

India captain Kohli, deputising for the injured MS Dhoni, was docked 30 per cent of his match fee after an ar-gument with Australian bowler Steven Smith following a rejected lbw appeal against Rohit Sharma.l

Dortmund have ‘awesome’ problems, admits Kloppn AFP, Berlin

Borussia Dortmund’s Jurgen Klopp says the 2013 Champions League � -nalists have “awesome problems” af-ter dropping back into the relegation places following their defeat at Hertha Berlin.

They are the only team in Germa-ny’s top � ight to have lost nine match-es having started December bottom of the table.

Despite Saturday’s defeat, Dort-mund’s fans applauded the squad after the � nal whistle at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium and Klopp led his side to their fans’ corner to acknowledge them.

“We need all the support we can get, we hear week after week that we are a great team, but this ‘awesome’ team also

has awesome problems,” admitted Klopp.“The � rst half was the complete op-

posite of how we wanted to play.“We weren’t determined enough

which is completely the wrong path to take in a game like this.”

Klopp, who steered Borussia to the 2011 and 2012 Bundesliga titles, has a contract until 2018 and has been told his job is safe, but last season’s run-ners-up were poor in Berlin.

“We’re in a relegation battle, we’ve accepted the situation the way it is,” admitted Klopp.

Dortmund host second-placed Wolfsburg on Wednesday, then are away to fellow strugglers Werder Bre-men next Saturday in the last game of the year before the Bundesliga breaks for the winter.l

Mima Ito (R) and Miu Hirano

BCB condoles Saber’s father’s death n Tribune Desk

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) ex-pressed deep shock over the death of Hedayet Hossain Chowdhury, father of Saber Hossain Chowdhury MP, the for-mer BCB president. Bangladesh Foot-ball Federation and Bangladesh Sports Journalists Association also condoled the death of Saber’s father.

Hedayet passed away yesterday due to old age complications. He was 87. l

SERIE APalermo 2-1 SassuoloRigoni 3, Belotti 90+3 Pavoletti 85

Lazio 3-0 AtalantaMauri 51, 71, Lulic 81

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14 Monday, December 15, 2014

Manchester United’s Netherlands striker Robin van Persie (C) celebrates scoring the side’s third goal with teammate Juan Mata of Spain (L) and English forward Wayne Rooney during their English Premier League match against Liverpool at Old Tra� ord yesterday INTERNET

Wanderers run ended by Cruz Azul, Auckland advancen Reuters, Rabat

Western Sydney Wanderers came with-in two minutes of a dream Club World Cup semi-� nal meeting with Real Ma-drid before losing 3-1 after extra time to Mexican side Cruz Azul on Saturday.

A memorable year for Wanderers, who de� ed the odds to overcome much wealthier Asian teams and win the conti-nent’s Champions League in November, ended on a waterlogged pitch with a rash of red cards as they let a late lead slip.

Concacaf champions Cruz Azul will face European champions Real in Rabat on Tuesday.

In Saturday’s other quarter-� nal, Auckland City’s John Irving struck in the second-half to secure a shock 1-0 win over Algerians ES Setif and a last four place for the � rst time.

The Oceania champions will meet Argentina’s San Lorenzo, the Copa Lib-ertadores title holders, in Marrakesh on Wednesday. Wanderers, who � nished with nine men, took the lead in the sec-ond half against overwhelming favour-ites Cruz Azul with a long-range strike from Iacopo La Rocca.

Wanderers were unhappy with Ivory Coast referee Noumandiez Doue and the condition of the pitch that made passing di� cult and ball control a lottery fol-lowing continuous torrential rain.

“The whole 120 minutes was dis-gusting,” Wanderers goalkeeper Ante Covic said.l

Evergreen Lampard proud to match Henry tallyn Reuters, London

Manchester City mid� elder Frank Lam-pard notched a trademark goal on Sat-urday to draw level with Thierry Henry in fourth place on the list of leading Premier League scorers.

Lampard arrived late in the box to steer in a cross and secure his team’s 1-0 win at Leicester City, the 175th league goal of his proli� c career.

The evergreen 36-year-old’s latest crucial contribution to City’s cause left manager Manuel Pellegrini reiterating his keenness to ensure the champions enjoy the former Chelsea favourite’s ser-

vices on loan for the rest of the season.Of his goal, Lampard told the BBC:

“I’m very happy with it, I thought it was going to be out of my reach.

“I have respect for Henry, he is one of the greatest in Premier League his-tory and to be up there with him is in-credible,” Lampard added, referring to the former Arsenal and France striker Thierry Henry.

Lampard started his career at West Ham United before moving to Chelsea in 2001 and he scored 147 league goals for the Stamford Bridge club before joining City on loan at the end of last season. l

Germany lift Champions TrophyGermans beat Pakistan 2-0, Australia defeat India to become thirdn AP, Bhubaneswar

Olympic champion Germany displayed superb precision play Sunday to carve out a 2-0 victory over Pakistan in the � nal of the Champions Trophy � eld hockey tournament.

Christopher Wesley and Florian Fuchs scored for Germany, which dom-inated the Champions Trophy � nal with a tight game.

Once again, Germany strangled the free-� owing game of the opposition.

After getting past England and Aus-tralia in the quarter� nals and semi� -nals, Germany marked Pakistan tight-ly and virtually eliminated the Asian

team’s dangerous counter-attacks. The green shirts has deprived of its two outstanding players Amjad and Toseeq due to India unnecessary complaint to International hockey federation.

German team has taken lead over Pakistan in start of the match and the green shirts players attempted several tries to level the lead but they could not get success. From German side Ve-zlay scored the goal for its team and in last minute of the match German made another goal and con� rmed its victory against Pakistan.

Germany has won the trophy last time in 2007 and Australia who got third position in the trophy on Sunday

was continues winner of the trophy for last � ve years.

Earlier, � ve-time defending and 13-time overall champion Australia won 2-1 to dash India’s hopes of winning only its second bronze medal in the Champions Trophy.

Eddie Ockenden (19th minute) and Matt Gohdes (52nd) scored for the world champions Australia while Lal-it Upadhyay (42nd) scored the Indian goal.

While the � rst quarter remained goalless, Australia tasted their � rst success in the beginning of the second quarter when skipper Ockenden hit the net in 18th minute.l

Nantes down Bordeaux, Bastia beat Rennesn AFP, Paris

A freak own goal helped Nantes to a 2-1 win over Bordeaux, struggling Bastia beat Rennes and a brace from Brazilian Diego Rigonato helped Reims past Evi-an in Ligue 1 action on Saturday.

Nantes ended their three-match losing run thanks to Jordan Veretout’s opener, cancelled out by Kian Hansen’s own goal. Nantes remain seventh with Bordeaux in � fth, on 31 points, one be-hind Saint-Etienne who face Nice on Sunday.

Sixth-placed Rennes were thwarted 2-0 at Bastia, playing much of the game a man down after Fallou Diagne’s 26th minute red card.

A � rst half stoppage time goal from Ryad Boudebouz and Yannick Cahu-zac’s e� ort nine minutes from time earned Bastia a precious fourth win of

the season.They climbed one place into third

from bottom, on 17 points, one behind Guingamp.l

Man City face striking Christmas injury woesn Reuters, London

Manchester City are in danger of facing the busy Christmas and New Year Pre-mier League programme without their top strikers and captain as manager Manuel Pellegrini counted the cost of Saturday’s win at Leicester City.

Edin Dzeko, back-up to City’s in-jured striking totem Sergio Aguero, suf-fered a calf problem in the warm-up be-fore the 1-0 win while skipper Vincent Kompany limped o� late in the game with a recurrence of his niggling ham-string injury.

It left Pellegrini admitting ruefully that all three would almost certainly miss the festive programme, which will see City play � ve games in 15 days.

Though there is also the possibility that he could be without the injured

Stevan Jovetic, Pellegrini was putting on a brave face as he said: “We won’t complain about injuries.”

With Kompany, returning on Satur-day after missing three games through injury, and Aguero absolutely key as attacking and defensive lynchpins, it is a huge blow to be without them both, with Pellegrini’s striking options espe-cially being tested.

On Saturday, he had to blood 18-year-old Jose Pozo, a Spanish youngster with an exciting future but still a little lightweight amid the rough and tumble of the Premier League.

“It is impossible that Vincent and Edin will be ready before the new year,” said Pellegrini, who is already resigned to being without Aguero for at least a month after he damaged his knee against Everton. l

Schalke assistant coach injured by cigarette lightern AFP, Berlin

Schalke 04’s assistant coach Sven Huebscher needed stitches after be-ing hit on the head by a lighter thrown from the crowd during Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Cologne.

Robert di Matteo’s assistant was left dazed by the blow at Schalke’s Veltins Arena as he was helped from sidelines before the deep cut was stitched.

“We hope the perpetrator can be identi� ed. That is unacceptable,” said Schalke’s director of sport Horst Heldt.

Having scraped into the Champions League’s last 16, Di Matteo’s Schalke had their three-match winning streak end-ed by Cologne. Nigeria striker Anthony Ujah scored just after the break before mid� elder Matthias Lehmann netted a penalty to put the visitors 2-0 up. l

LIGUE 1Nantes 2-1 BordeauxVeretout 23, Jug 66-og Hansen 28-og

Reims 3-2 EvianRigonato 14, 80, Wass 57, Mandi 78 Cambon 68

Montpellier 3-3 LensSanson 1, Valdivia 17, Barrios 16, Guillaume 34, Mounier 63 Touzghar 80

Bastia 2-0 RennesBoudebouz 45+1, Cahuzac 81

Lorient 3-1 MetzJ Ayew 13, Guerreiro 37, N’Gbakoto 46Jeannot 45+1

260 Alan Shearer (Blackburn, Newcastle)187 Andy Cole (Newcastle, Man Utd, Blackburn,

Fulham, Man City, Portsmouth)178 Wayne Rooney (Everton, Man Utd)175 Frank Lampard (West Ham, Chelsea, Man City)175 Thierry Henry (Arsenal)163 Robbie Fowler (Liverpool, Leeds Utd, Man City)149 Les Ferdinand (QPR, Newcastle, Tottenham,

West Ham, Leicester, Bolton)149 Michael Owen (Liverpool, Newcastle, Man Utd)147 Teddy Sheringham (Nottingham Forest, Spurs, Man

Utd, Portsmouth, West Ham)127 Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Leeds, Chelsea, Middlesbrough,

Charlton)

EPL GOAL LIST

CLUB WORLD CUPSetif 0-1 Auckland City Irving 52

Cruz Azul 3-1 WS WanderersTorrado 89-P, 118-P, La Rocca 65Pavone 108

Ben Arfa on way out of Hull Cityn AFP, Paris

French winger Hatem Ben Arfa has re-turned to his home country and will not appear again for English Premier League side Hull City, sports daily L’Equipe reported on Saturday.

L’Equipe said that the 27-year-old, who hails from the Paris suburbs, has been back in the French capital for the last three days, working with a � tness trainer while he searches for a new club.

Ben Arfa, who won the last of his 13 caps for France at Euro 2012, joined Hull on a season-long loan from Newcastle United in the summer, but has failed to make an impact in his eight Premier League appearances.

The report added that talks are underway to release Ben Arfa from his loan at Hull, who wish to get his 250,000-euro (£198,000, $311,000) monthly salary o� their wage bill. l

De Gea stars as United deepen Liverpool gloomn AFP, Manchester

Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Robin van Persie scored as Manchester Unit-ed rubbed salt into Liverpool’s wounds with a crushing 3-0 home victory in the Premier League on Sunday.

Rooney and Mata both found the net before half-time, the latter apparently from an o� side position, before van Persie added a third to avenge United’s loss to Liverpool by the same scoreline at Old Tra� ord in March.

Victory, United’s sixth in a row, al-lowed Louis van Gaal’s side to move back to within eight points of lead-ers Chelsea and � ve of champions Manchester City, fuelling hopes of a slow-burning title push.

United’s fans � nished the game by chanting “You’re getting sacked in the morning!” at Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers, whose side limped out of the Champions League in mid-week and now trail United by 10 points.

But Liverpool might have emerged

from the game with more credit had it not been for a stunning display by United goalkeeper David de Gea, who denied Raheem Sterling and substitute Mario Balotelli three times each.

Rodgers had reacted to the poor form of his own goalkeeper, Simon Mi-gnolet, by dropping him in favour of Brad Jones, and the Australian’s pres-ence on the pitch at kick-o� was not the only novelty.

Both teams lined up with three-man defences, with mid� elder Michael Car-rick marshalling United’s back line and Liverpool full-back Glen Johnson play-ing in a narrower role than usual.

De Gea was presented with Unit-ed’s player of the month award prior to kick-o� and he demonstrated his value to van Gaal in the 12th minute by slid-ing out to thwart Sterling from Adam Lallana’s incisive pass.

Within a minute, United were ahead. Antonio Valencia left Joe Allen chasing shadows with a cute nutmeg on the right � ank before cutting the ball back for the unmarked Rooney to sweep home from 15 yards. With Rickie Lam-bert named on the bench alongside the � t-again Balotelli, it was left to Sterling to give Liverpool a cutting edge.

Meanwhile, Olivier Giroud and San-ti Cazorla each scored twice as Arsenal beat Newcastle United 4-1 in the Pre-mier League on Saturday to ease the pressure on long-serving manager Ar-sene Wenger. l

RESULTSMan United 3-0 LiverpoolRooney 12, Mata 40, Van Persie 71

On Saturday

Arsenal 4-1 NewcastleGiroud 15, 58, Perez 63Cazorla 54, 88-P

German players celebrate after beating Pakistan 2-0 to win the Champions Trophy � eld hockey in Bhubaneswar yesterday AP

DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Monday, December 15, 2014 15

Fun SizeHBO Hits, 8:30pm

While looking for her little brother, Wren goes on an unexpected and unforgettable journey!

EvolutionStar Movies, 5:30pm

A � re� ghting cadet, two college professors, and a geeky-but-sexy government scientist work against an alien.

Deep Blue SeaHBO Hits, 11:15pm

Searching for a cure to Alzheimer’s disease a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the bait as a trio of intelligent sharks � ght back.

I SpyStar Movies Action, 8:30pm

A professional athlete has to help a US government agent recover a missing jet.

Exhibition16th Asian Art Biennale BangladeshTime: 11am – 8pmNational Art GalleryBangladesh Shilpakala Academy

Meet the FacesBy Nasreen Sultana MituTime: 3pm – 9pmAlliance Francaise

Be Smart About ArtTime: 10am – 8pmAthena Gallery of Fine Arts

Shifting SandsTime: 12pm – 8pmBengal Art Lounge, 60, Gulshan Avenue

FilmRoar, Fury, Ek Cup ChaBig Hero 6 (3D)Pipra Bidda, OuijaStar Cineplex

NASIMA KHAN depicts the seasons in the chars

n Nadia Sultana Ava

Artist Nasima Khan does magic with watercolours in her depictions of the sky during the monsoon season in her current solo exhibition centring on the shoals, locally called chars, of the country.

Her paintings are on display at the Bengal Art Lounge in the capital. The show titled “Shifting Sands” features 69 paintings.

Nasima merges the merciless physical landscape of

the chars with monsoon rain that softens the harsh landscape of the chars.

The stark and barren lands in the paintings are transformed and revitalised by the rain even as the audience is transformed by Nasima’s skill.

“Monsoon,” one of the � nest works in the exhibition, portrays dense clouds unburdening themselves on the inhabitants and cattle of the chars.

Though her depiction of the monsoons will probably appeal most to audiences, Khan’s work on the other seasons are equally compelling.

A painting titled “Winter’s Day,” depicting dried out marshes and the skeletons of shrivelled trees transports viewers to the wasteland of the chars and leaves them shivering, without ever requiring them to move an inch.

With an acute sense of observation, the artist portrays rice � elds, sandy shores, � shing nets, misty mornings and still water in her paintings.

The exhibition which started on December 13 is open to all from 12pm to 8pm everyday until December 27. l

Liberation War-themed � lm festival at Balaka n Entertainment Desk

Balaka Cineworld is holding a week-long � lm festival, with the Liber-ation War as its theme, to honour Victory Day and will screen seven � lms between December 19 and 25.

It will open with a screening of “Ora Egaro Jon” on December 19, a portrayal of Bangladesh just after independence. The following day, “Aguner Poroshmoni,” a � lm about the resistance to the occupation, will be shown. On December 21, “Amar Bondhu Rashed,” based on the story of a boy who sensitises his peers to the crucial issues underly-

ing the independence movement in 1971 will be screened.

Audiences will get to view “Joyja-tra” on December 22, a � lm about the sacri� ces and inspiration of those who took part in the freedom strug-gle. The well-known � lm, “Guerril-la,” will be screened the next day.

On December 24, “Megher Pore Megh,” an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Rabeya Kha-tun will be shown. The � nal � lm to be shown, “Matir Moina,” is a por-trayal of a family that must come to grips with its culture, faith, and the brutal changes taking place all around it. l

n Shadma Malik

Shomi Kaiser, noted actor and cultural activist, is making a doc-umentary on the life and work of

Shahidullah Kaiser, her father and one of the intellectuals

who was killed by the Pa-kistan Army during the Liberation War.

Working on the project since 2007, Shomi has been in-terviewing people and visiting West Bengal to accumu-late information for her documentary. She expects that the documentary can be a rich source

of historical facts about the country’s independence.

The documenta-ry is expected to be released in March next year.

The Dhaka Tri-bune caught up

with the actor and asked her about the sig-

ni� cance of Victory Day. “For me, Victory Day embod-

ies the sense of freedom. It also signi� es the value of ‘71, the legacy of the freedom of speech which was achieved in the war.”

Asked to send a message to people on this occasion, Shomi said: “On this occasion, I would like to say our freedom � ghters shed their blood to gain indepen-dence. They paid a price to free the country. I would like to ask everyone to support the Interna-tional Crimes Tribunal (ICT) . It is my e� orts to tell our next genera-tion not to be confused about the ICT’s verdicts.

“Trying the well-known Raza-kars who betrayed the country is not an act of revenge; it is justice. I urge our young generation to learn about the country’s histo-ry and understand the sacri� ces people made in 1971. I believe the next generation will uphold the legacy of our Liberation War.”

Asked how she planned to spend Victory Day, Shomi said: “I usually spend time with my fam-ily. We visit Projonmo ‘71 and put � owers as a tribute to our mar-tyrs.” l

SHOMI KAISER: Next generation will uphold the legacy of Liberation War

JAMES BOND � lm script stolen in Sony Pictures hackn Entertainment Desk

Early villains have emerged in the next James Bond � lm “SPECTRE”: hack-ers who stole a version of the screenplay as part of a devastating cyberat-tack on Sony Pictures.

Producers of the James Bond � lms said they learned on Saturday morn-ing that an early version of the “SPECTRE” script was among material stolen and made public by hackers who in� ltrated computers at the Sony studio.

“Eon Productions is concerned that third parties who have received the stolen screenplay may seek to publish it or its contents,” Eon said in a state-ment, while warning that the script is protected by UK copyright laws.

“SPECTRE,” starring Daniel Craig as 007, is set for release on November 6, 2015. Filming began this month after producer Barbara Broccoli and di-rector Sam Mendes unveiled the title, cast and new car, but little about the plot.

“I was so excited to tell this story but to explain why, I would have to tell you the plot and I can’t do that,” said Mendes at the presentation in England, a reminder of Sony’s might in the movie world.

The Bond franchise is one of the most lucrative for Sony Pictures and the last instalment “Skyfall” brought in $1.1 billion worldwide, more than any other Bond � lm.

A Sony spokesman said news reports that the cyberattack forced the studio to stop production on � lms, including “SPECTRE,” were wrong.

“Productions are still moving forward,” Robert Lawson told Reuters.Hackers launched an attack on the Sony Corp entertainment arm on

November 24, disabling the computer network and stealing and leaking a trove of sensitive information in the most severe cyberattack on a company on US soil. The identity of the hackers has yet to be determined. l

AR RAHMAN, Jal in Oscar racen Entertainment Desk

India’s music maestro AR Rahman may end up getting his third Oscar nomi-nation in the best original score cat-egory after making it to the list of 114 probables, while Hindi � lm “Jal” also features in the long list of best picture Oscar hopefuls.

Rahman, who has previously been nominated for “127 Hours” and “Slum-dog Millionaire,” for which he won two Oscars, has made it to the list for three of his � lms including Hollywood movies “The Hundred-Foot Journey” and “Mil-lion Dollar Arm” and Rajinikanth-star-

rer Tamil � lm “Kochadaiiyaan.”As congratulations poured in from

fans on twitter, Rahman tweeted in Tamil “All praise is for God.” Girish Ma-lik’s directorial debut “Jal,” a � lm based on water scarcity issue, has also found a place among the 100 � lms shortlist-ed for nomination in the best picture category as well as in the best original score list for Sonu Nigam and Bickram Ghosh’s rustic compositions.

“Jal” features in the best picture list as an independent submission, while India will o� cially be represented in the best foreign feature category by Li-ar’s Dice. l

TAYLOR SWIFT in her bitter battle with Spotify

n Entertainment Desk

Taylor Swift has addressed her decision to pull her album catalog from Spotify, including the multimil-lion-selling 1989, and expressed her hope that the mu-sic industry “can work together to bond technology with integrity” at Billboard’s Women in Music Awards.

The 24-year-old singer, who is “open to change and progress” and “not open to the � nancial model that is currently in place,” said at CipriWall Street that she has taken this year to stand up for her value as a song-writer, as a businesswoman and a content creator, the

New York Post reported.Swift, who is the only artist with a platinum album

in 2014 ‘1989’ that sold nearly 1.3 million copies in its � rst week, added that she thinks they can teach a younger generation about an investment in music.

According to the ‘Shake it O� ’ singer, if you deliver the younger generation a bold statement, they will lis-ten, and when you pour your life into an album, they will buy it. Swift’s label Big Machine recently said Swift had been paid less than 500,000 dollars in 2013 from streaming and in comparison, her album was project-ed to hit 12 million dollars in sales in its � rst week. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 15, 2014

HC orders end to blood sportn Tribune Report

The High Court yesterday issued an or-der to stop animal-� ghting competitions in Sunamganj and asked the govern-ment to explain why such competitions would not be banned in the country.

The High Court bench of Justice Nai-ma Haider and Justice Jahangir Hossain passed the order in response to a writ

petition � led by Obhoyaronno-Bangla-desh Animal Welfare Society.

The court banned bull-� ghting, cock-� ghting, goat-� ghting and dog-cull-ing at Chhatak in Sunamganj for the next eight weeks. It also issued a ruling asking why the court shall not order a stop to bull-� ghting, cock-� ghting, goat-� ghting and dog-culling across the country.

The respondents, including the law

secretary, home secretary, IGP, deputy commissioner of Dhaka, Sunamganj po-lice super and two blood sport organisers were asked to reply within three weeks.

Nadia Chowdhury, who � led the pe-tition, termed such competitions cru-el, arguing that these certainly violate Sections 7 and 11 of the Cruelty to An-imals Act 1920 as well as Sections 268 and 289 of the Penal Code 1860. l

Users unhappy with performance of internet in the countryn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

A large number of internet users are unhappy with the internet speed and service quality available in the country, a survey has found.

Out of 900 respondents in the survey – conducted by Bangladesh ICT Journalist Forum (BIJF) and event organiser Expo Maker – only a meagre 2.3% said they found the internet speed excellent; 10.8% were satis� ed; 57% said the speed was “not bad;” and 29.8% said they were not satis� ed at all.

The study report was presented at a programme titled “The Internet We Want” at the capital’s Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

An overwhelming majority of 74% internet users said the performance of their internet operator was “not bad,” 5.3% were not satis� ed, 17.2% were satis� ed, while only 3.7% of the respondents termed the performance excellent.

On network quality, 46.25% respondents claimed they found frequent network disruptions, 9.2%

experienced disconnection sometimes, 12% said the connection was hampered now and then, while 32.6% said they found disruptions very often.

A large number of young people at the programme urged the government to reduce the tari� on internet cost.

Present at the event, State Minister for ICT Division Junayed Ahmed Palak said the government was working relentlessly to ensure people’s right to a� ordable and fast-paced internet connection across the country.

“Although the government has

repeatedly decreased the cost of internet, organisations concerned did not act accordingly. The government will take necessary actions regarding this,” Palak said.

He also pointed out that over the last � ve and a half years, the government has helped open up computer labs in 8,000 colleges and 25,000 schools.

To spread the power of the internet, the government has also provided licence for 3G and provided optical � bre connections in unions, Palak added.

The ICT state minister said a� ordable internet throughout the country would have a great impact on the economy.

Also present at the programme, Grameenphone’s Head of Strategy Erlend Prestgard said technological neutrality or a chance to provide internet through any band was needed to spread easy and a� ordable internet throughout the country.

Former senior vice-president of BASIS Syed Almas Kabir said decreasing bandwidth price was not the only

solution; the government should decrease VAT on internet as well as slash prices of internet-related devices.

General secretary of Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB), Md Imdadul Haque, and president of Bangladesh Women in IT, Luna Shamsuddoha, also spoke at the programme.

The event was presided over by BIJF President Muhammad Khan and moderated by Bangladesh Open Source Network (BDOSN) General Secretary Munir Hasan. l

Tk61.78 lakh looted from Janata Bank vault n Raihanul Islam Akand, Gazipur

Robbers looted Tk61.78 lakh from the vault of Gazipur corporate branch of Ja-nata Bank sometime on Saturday night after one of them drugged the security guard of the branch.

Guard Nurul Islam was detained for his alleged involvement in the incident. He was found unconscious as he had been drugged by a person named Zakir Hossain, who owns a garment leftover warehouse in front of the bank, before the incident, police say.

The bank is situated on the � rst � oor of Tanvir Plaza in Gazipur town. It has no CCTV camera. Following the inci-dent, the branch o� cials wrote to the head o� ce of the state-owned bank to install the facility.

A case was � led in this connection yesterday evening. The bank authorities have not formed any probe committee.

The Banking Division formed a com-mittee on March 9 to review security of the government bank vaults and formu-late measures to stop further robbery incidents.

The move came after a heist at a Sonali Bank Branch in Bogra from where robbers on a holiday took away Tk30.8 lakh through a 30-feet tunnel

dug from a nearby furniture shop to the vault. In the same fashion, robbers looted Tk16.4 crore from the bank’s Kishoreganj branch on January 24.

On September 27 this year, burglars looted more than Tk1.95 crore from the vault of Brac Bank’s Joypurhat branch after breaking its wall open.

On the robbery, Assistant General Manager of the Janata Bank branch Mo-hammed Solaiman said: “Around 10pm on Saturday, Zakir entered the branch with the help of the security guard on duty, Nurul Islam, with some fruits and drinks. Zakir shared those with Nurul after sometime and the latter fell con-sciousness.”

Zakir then opened the vault and � ed away with the money. When the bank of-� cials joined work yesterday, they found the branch locked from inside. Opening the main gate, they found Nurul lying unconscious on a couch and informed the high o� cials of the branch.

Later it was found that Tk61.78 lakh was looted from the vault. Being in-formed, police came to the spot and detained Nurul for interrogation. He was given � rst aid.

The matter of keeping more than Tk40 lakh in the vault violating rules has already raised questions. Moreo-

ver, the lock was found undamaged which means Zakir might have a dupli-cate key as the vault’s key is kept with high o� cials of the branch.

Asked about the amount and un-broken lock, AGM Solaiman refused to make any comment.

Nurul admitted his friendship with Zakir. He said: “On Saturday night, Za-kir came to the branch as he wanted to use the toilet.”

Zakir gave him some fruits to eat. “I cannot remember anything after eating those,” Nurul told the police.

Additional Superintendent of Gazi-pur Mohammed Delowar Hossain said police were trying to arrest Zakir.

Visiting the spot yesterday, police and o� cials found leftovers of fruits, empty beer cans, yaba pills and some cloths scattered on the � oor.

Apart from high o� cials of Janata Bank, Deputy Commissioner of Gazi-pur Mohammed Nurul Islam, Addi-tional Deputy Commissioner (revenue) Sazid Anwar, and senior o� cials of Gazipur police, RAB and detectives vis-ited the spot.

Deputy Manager of the area o� ce Abdul Zabber told the Dhaka Tribune that they were yet to form a probe com-mittee and lodge a case. l

Re-enacting scenes of the massacre of intellectuals at Rayerbazar killing grounds in 1971, children lie on bricks at the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial yesterday

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014

B3 India to reap $12bn plus budget windfall from oil slide - sources

B4 Desperate in crisis, Spaniards turn to fortune-tellers

HC order on IGWs call termination rate stayed n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Chamber judge yesterday stayed an appel-late division’s stay order over the revenue sharing at a reduced rate by IGW operators with BTRC and di� erent telecom compa-nies.

The row is the result of a disagreement between International Gateway (IGW) oper-ators and the regulator over the date of ef-fect of call termination rate reduction from 3 US cents to 1.5 cents per minute.

On September 18, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved a recommendation to re-duce the termination rate. BTRC and tele-com ministry o� cials said the recommen-dation would take into e� ect on the day of PM’s approval.

According to IGW operators, it should take retrospective e� ect from July 1. They claimed PM also agreed with them on retro-spective e� ect.

If it is made e� ective retrospectively, the IGWs can enjoy the reduced rate from July 1 and save Tk500 crore payment under 40%

revenue sharing rule. Then BTRC and ANS (mobile and landline operators) will lose the amount.

If it is e� ective from September 18, the IGWs, however, will need to make the pay-ment at the previous rate for two and half months.

The matter was taken to the court for solution as IGW Operators Forum (IOF) re-cently � led a writ petition with the High Court challenging the BTRC’s order to pay the dues of the period. The court issued a stay order over the regulator’s claim on De-cember 8.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regu-latory Commission (BTRC) appealed to the chamber judge of Appellate Division. The chamber judge stayed the High Court order until January 18, 2015.

“The High Court order has been stayed and the Appellate Division will hold another hearing on the matter on January 18,” BTRC secretary Md Sarwar Alam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

IOF chairman Shamsudoha said: “PM rec-

ommended implementing the reduced rate from July 1. But the telecom division secre-tary is making it e� ective from September 18.”

However, the approval letter says the new rate and revenue sharing structure will come into e� ect from the date of issuance, that is September 18.

According to available data, during the months of July, August and the � rst 17 days of September, the total incoming interna-tional call duration was 4.65bn minutes.

If the termination rate and revenue shar-ing structures are calculated as per the pre-vious rates, the market price of the calls would be valued at $139.5m (over Tk1,000 crore), including a $72.2m share (51.75%) for the BTRC.

If the IGWs paid under the slashed rates, BTRC’s share came down to only $27.9m.

The share for the ANS (mobile and land phone) operators, which would have been $27.9m under the previous rate, would also reduce to $15.7m.

If the de� cit between the shares of the IGW and ICX operators under the previous

and the new rates is also taken into account, the total de� cit between the two rates of payment would be around Tk500 crore.

On September 18, BTRC also issued a letter to authorities concerned, setting a six-month test period for the new rate and structure; but as the date for implementa-tion was not mentioned, confusion arose over which date the new rates should take e� ect. Later they corrected the order.

However, the then telecom minister Ab-dul Latif Siddique and in� uential industry � gures had reportedly tried to give the fresh rate a retrospective e� ect from July 1.

Taking advantage of the confusion, sev-eral IGW operators have followed the new slashed rates to pay the bills for the months of July and August to the stakeholders, espe-cially the ANS operators.

Powerful IGW operator like Digicon, Unique Infoway Limited and Roots Com-munication – also made their payments to all mobile operators in accordance with the new rates, considering the retrospective ef-fect from July 1. l

BTRC and GP serve notices on Citycell n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Citycell goes through a heavy pressure from stakeholders as it owes more than Tk10.17 crore to di� erent banks, tele-com operators, regulator and National Board of Revenue (NBR).

The oldest mobile phone operator in Southeast Asia had already been served with a � nal show-cause notice form BTRC for payment of outstanding money while Grameenphone served a legal notice recently demanding out-standing bills.

The regulator served the notice on December 4, giving a 15-day ultimatum to pay its dues.

A source said Citycell Chief Exec-utive O� cer (CEO) Mehboob Chowd-hury has already met with BTRC Chair-man Sunil Kanti Bose to seek more time to pay Tk252 crore of dues.

A senior executive of the mobile op-erator said they will reply the BTRC’s notice on December 18 and pray for more time.

Bangaldesh Telecom Regulato-ry Commission Secretary Md Sarwar Alam told the Dhaka Tribune on Thurs-day, “We have issued � nal notice, but we also have responsibility to give room to the cellphone company to con-tinue its business.”

“After December 18, we will decide on what the next course of action to follow.”

GP served its legal notice on Decem-ber 7, giving a 14-day time for paying its outstanding amount of Tk10.17 crore for interconnection charge.

“We have received the legal notice and we will solve the issue within next week through talks,” Taslim Ahmed, head of corporate communication, Citycell, told the Dhaka Tribune.

The legal notice says: “In the event, you fail to comply with our client’s de-mand within the stipulated time, our client shall consider taking appropriate legal actions against you.”

The cellphone company didn’t pay any interconnection charge since Sep-tember 2013, says the notice.

As the practice goes, Citycell has to

pay GP Tk0.18 per minitue for intercon-nection.

Other operators like Banglalink and Robi are also seeking to realise their outstanding interconnection charges from Citycell.

The two operators have already started making contact for realising their dues, sources said.

The cellphone company also owes a total of Tk1,040 crore to 12 banks as of June, and Bangladesh Bank appre-hends that the loans would have to be classi� ed as sub-standard.

In fact, the loans are up for consid-eration as classi� ed after the end of September quarter, said a central bank executive.

The operator also owes NBR billions of taka, remaining outstanding.

The cellphone came into operation in 1993 and currently has a base of 13.49 lakh subscribers as of September, low-est among the operators in Bangladesh. It currently holds 1.23% market share.

Back in July 2010, it had around 20 lakh subscribers and enjoyed 3.23% market share.

Another senior executive of Citycell said the authorites are on the look out to sell the company and once the deal is � nal, all debts will be paid.

The net loss of the company stood at Tk196 crore in 2011, Tk226 crore in 2012, Tk320 crore in 2013 and Tk480 crore in 2014, according to a central bank report.

The mobile compnay currently has 44.54% shares owned by SingTel Asia Paci� c Investment Pet Ltd, 37.95% by Paci� c Motors Limited shares and 17.51% by Far East Telecom Limited. l

Plan to bring new dimension in ADP implementation unveiledPlanning Ministry to work with long-identi� ed, but so far ignored di� culties to expedite implementation from next � scal year n Tribune Report

The government is expecting to intro-duce project-wise monitoring of devel-opment projects from next � scal year, as one of a planned multipronged strat-egy to expedite implementation.

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Ka-mal yesterday disclosed the plan what previous governments spoke about repeatedly on several occasions in the backdrop of disappointing implemen-tation performance.

He said the development expendi-ture that su� ers years after years will take a new turn from the next � scal year as his ministry recommended tak-ing a set of measures for expediting the project execution.

He did not, however, elaborate what he meant for the project-wise imple-mentation monitoring. The plan is to back up a fast-progressing project with necessary fund release on priority basis.

But, the previous governments meant it for “physical progress” of implementation instead of implemen-tation based on fund release against a project. The plans could not be imple-mented so far.

The minister unveiled the plan at a press brie� ng at the ministry while releasing the performance report on performance of project implementa-tion under the current Annual Devel-opment Programme (ADP).

In the � rst � ve months (July-No-vember) of the current � scal year, the government spent only 21% or Tk159,897 crore out of the total annual outlay of Tk80,315 crore.

It was 20% or Tk13,156 crore out of Tk65,872 crore ADP outlay in the same period a year earlier.

“Frequent changes of project direc-tors and sluggish fund disbursements are the stumbling block in executing

the projects,” Kamal told the press brie� ng. “We have devised some strat-egies by identifying causes to remove barriers behind the poor performance.”

The ministry listed 11 problems in execution of development projects, in-cluding di� culties in getting promised grants from donor agencies, slow land acquisition, weak work-plan, frequent changes in rate schedule on construc-tion, incomplete project design, delay in appointing � rms or consultants and workforce, ine� ciency in work and purchase plans, procrastination in ten-der process and executing project by the contractor at the � eld level.

To make ADP implementation fast-er, it proposed measures included also stopping frequent changes of project directors, evaluation of tender process on weekly basis, strong monitoring, in-troducing monthly instead of quarterly basis fund disbursement system, com-pleting project design before approval and giving responsibility to district councilors concerned for land acquisi-tion.

Among the ministries, Ministry of Foreign A� airs failed to spend any money in the � rst � ve months of this � scal in three projects costing Tk95 crore allocated for the current � scal

while Ministry of Science and Technol-ogy spent highest 80% in terms of per-centage and Local Government Divi-sion highest Tk3,695.22 crore in terms of value.

In � rst � ve months of this � scal, some 24 ministries and divisions wit-nessed an implementation rate more than 20%, 13 between 15-20%, three between 10-15% and 15 below 10%.

Replying to a question about Dha-ka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensin-gh highways projects, Kamal said the work of Dhaka-Chittagong highway is in progress and it is expected to be completed by the next � scal year. l

Government disburses Tk216 crore to buy ICB rights share n Asif Showkat Kallol

Finance division has disbursed Tk216 crore to buy the rights share Invest-ment Corporation of Bangladesh of-fered for its shareholders.

The division issued a circular yes-terday regarding the disbursement, setting three conditions.

The conditions are that ICB has to deposit yearly dividend to the govern-ment exchequer, follow rules and reg-ulations about utilisation of the gov-ernment fund and the fund will not be used for other purposes.

According to the circular, the government instructed ICB to use Tk68.34 crore which it got as pro� t from the previous investment in ICB in

2011-12 and 2012-13. ICB o� ered two against existing

one rights share at an o� er price of Tk500, including a premium of Tk400 for each Tk100 share, according to the circular.

Of the 284.76 crore, Tk68.34 crore will come from the previous pro� t while the remaining fund from recap-italisation head of the current 2014-15 � scal budget.

The government has 27% stake in ICB.

The Finance Division has allocated Tk5,000 crore for recapitalisation of state-owned � nancial institutes.

In July 2014, Securities and Ex-change Commission approved the rights share o� er of the ICB. l

Coordinated economic policy ‘a must’ to accelerate growth n Tribune Report

A coordinated economic policy is a must for accelerating the economic growth of the country.

Speakers at a seminar yesterday called for establishing harmonisation in the economic policies for ensuring further economic growth of Bangla-desh.

They made the call at the seminar titled “Harmonisation of Economic policies in Bangladesh” organised by the Board of Investment (BoI) held at BIAM auditorium in the capital. Execu-tive Chairman BoI S A Samad moderat-ed the seminar.

The speakers also urged the gov-ernment to bring harmonisation in between the market price and the � eld level price of the agricultural products to increase production, ensuring best

price for the farmers. Planning Minister A H M Mustafa

Kamal said, “To make decisions on time and to stop extra expenditures are the main keys to attain the goal for becoming a middle-income country by 2021.”

In the Sixth Five Year Plan, the govern-ment has given importance on work-ers’ productivity and product diversi-� cation. And in the Seventh Five Year Plan, importance would be given on banking, bond market, acquisition and

merger, hinted Mustafa Kamal. “We should concentrate on the ur-

banisation process and it should also be complied with the harmonisation, convergence and compatibility, as the urbanisation rate would be 67% in 2050,” said Kamal.

Establishing harmonisation among the government organisations is a must to accelerate the economic growth, viewed Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, chairman of the Parliamentary Stand-ing Committee on Public Accounts, while presenting his keynote paper.

“Harmonisation, convergence and compatibility are the keys of economic growth of a country,” said Khan.

Regarding the current bank interest rate, Khan also observed, “Any busi-nessmen would be able to establish business with the existing bank inter-est rates.” l

2nd tranche approved for a� ected stock investors n Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has approved the second instalment of the re� nanc-ing scheme fund amounting to Tk300 crore for small investors a� ected in the stock market debacle about four years back, sources said yesterday.

The second instalment came after releasing � rst installment in August 26, 2013 out of total Tk900 crore allocated for the investors a� ected between Jan-uary 2010 and November 2011 in stock market crash.

The government had formed the re� nancing fund to release in four in-stallments by three years to provide � nancial assistance to the small inves-tors. The investors who made invest-ment below Tk10 lakh are eligible for the assistance. l

The construction of four-lane Dhaka-Chittagong highway goes on at a snail’s pace, much to the concern of business lifeline MEHEDI HASAN

‘We have received the legal notice and we will solve the issue within next week through talks’

‘Harmonisation, convergence and compatibility are keys to economic growth’

B2 Stock Monday, December 15, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

News, analysis and recent disclosuresJUTESPINN:The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Com-pany has taken the following decision: The Mill will set up a sacking unit with 50 Looms and ancillary machines by investing an estimated amount of Tk. 2.00 crore as soon as possible as a step to overcome the rough situation.ALARABANK: The Company has in-formed that the Board of Directors of the Company has taken decision, to purchase 51% share of Millennium Information Solution Ltd. i.e. 93,69,343 no. of share Tk. 16.01 (including premium) totaling Tk. 15.00 crore subject to obtaining approval from Regulatory Bodies.IPO Subscription: Shasha Denims Limited subscription date 14 to 21 December 2014, NRB upto 30 December 2014. @ taka 10, face value taka 35 and market lot 200. Zaheen Spinning Limited subscription date 28 December 2014 to 04 January 2015, NRB upto 13 January 2015. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500.Right Share: ICB: Subscription period for rights issue will be from 07.12.2014 to 30.12.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 09.09.2014. FIRSTSBANK Subscription period for rights issue will be from 07.12.2014 to 28.12.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 20.11.2014.

Dividend/AGMHFL: 10% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 30.12.2014, Record Date: 22.12.2014.SONALIANSH: 10% cash AGM: 30.12.2014, Record Date: 21.12.2014.KEYACOSMET: 20% cash, Record Date: 21.12.2014. Date, Time and Venue of the AGM will be noti� ed later.RECKITTBEN: 175% interim cash dividend (second time), Record date for entitlement of interim dividend: 15.12.2014.ICB: 45% cash, AGM: 20.12.2014, Record Date: 03.12.2014.BATBC: 100% interim cash dividend, Record date for entitlement of interim dividend: 03.12.2014.BENGALWTL: 23% cash, AGM: 28.12.2014, Record Date: 02.12.2014.MPETROLEUM: 95% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 16.01.2015, Record date: 04.12.2014. ENVOYTEX: 12% cash and 3% stock dividend, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record date: 02.12.2014. AFTABAUTO: 17% cash, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record date: 30.11.2014.JAMUNAOIL: 90% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 07.02.2015, Record date: 11.12.2014.GEMINISEA: 7.50% cash, AGM: 22.12.2014, Record Date: 08.12.2014. KBPPWBIL: 10% stock, AGM: 29.12.2014, Record Date: 08.12.2014.

RAHIMAFOOD: No dividend, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record Date: 04.12.2014. DACCADYE: 10% stock dividend, AGM: 12.12.2014, Record date: 25.11.2014. ORIONINFU: 15% cash dividend, AGM: 18.12.2014, Record date: 25.11.2014.KOHINOOR: 25% stock dividend, AGM: 18.12.2014, Record date: 25.11.2014.PHARMAID: 25% cash, AGM: 28.12.2014, Record Date: 02.12.2014.TALLUSPIN: No dividend, AGM: 23.12.2014, Record Date: 01.12.2014.MITHUNKNIT: 20% stock, AGM: 23.12.2014, Record date: 20.11.2014.WMSHIPYARD: 5% cash dividend to the general shareholders only, and 10% stock dividend to all the shareholders, AGM: 21.12.2014, Record date: 20.11.2014. PRIMELIFE: 10% cash and 15% stock dividend, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record Date: 20.11.2014.OLYMPIC: 20% cash and 35% stock, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record Date: 27.11.2014.PADMAOIL: 100% cash, AGM: 14.02.2015, Record date: 22.12.2014. EASTRNLUB: 30% cash, AGM: 17.01.2015, Record Date: 25.11.2014.ATLASBANG: 35% cash, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record date: 27.11.2014.NPOLYMAR: 18% stock, AGM: 18.12.2014, Record Date: 19.11.2014.

Bearish spell hitting stock market DSEX falls to 2-week low n Tribune Report

Bearish spell continued at the stock market with benchmark index slip-ping further yesterday, as investors took time to adjust with new trading platform that launched Thursday.

The market opened with back foot in the morning and the nega-tive trend became stronger as days passed.

The benchmark DSEX shed over 40 points or 0.9% to close at 4,892, sinking to two-week low and ex-tending its losing streak for the third consecutive session.

The Shariah index DSES was down 5 points or 0.5% to 1,150. The comprising blue chips DS30 ended at 1,808 with a fall of 15 points or 0.9%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, settled at 9,167, dropping more than 89 points.

The market continued to expe-rience sluggish sentiment due to launching automated trading plat-form by the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

The DSE turnover stood at Tk-200crore, an increase of more than 46% from previous session’s 14-month low.

Lanka Bangla Securities said market passed another sluggish trading session and slumped to two

weeks’ low as investor upheld cau-tious mode and were taking time to be accustomed to the new trading system.

All the major sectors declined except cement and IT, which rallied more than 1% each. Financial stocks battered most with banks falling 1.2%, followed by non-banking � -nancial institutions, textile, engi-neering and pharmaceuticals.

Under the new trading platform, the DSE will review its charges on share trading in its board meeting scheduled for today, following a jump in the number of trades for share transaction after the introduc-tion of the lot-free trading system.

IDLC Investments said the mar-ket observed another major slump, while sellers outnumbered the buy-ers amid low turnover.

It said despite improved turnover from the previous day, total trade value was only around Tk200 crore. “Sluggishness in turnover was part-ly explained by the adoption of new trading software in DSE.”

Zenith Investments said broker-age houses were facing di� culties using new DSE software which is one of the major reasons for the on-going downtrend.

“Index became crippled under massive selling pressure with nar-row turnover volume.” l

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Jamuna Oil -A -14.77 -15.59 211.06 210.70 215.00 207.00 3.330 20.98 10.1Progressive Life-A -10.00 -10.00 95.40 95.40 95.40 95.40 0.000 2.30 41.5PragatiLife Insu. -Z -9.84 -9.84 87.00 87.00 87.00 87.00 0.006 2.38 36.6Midas Financing-Z -9.83 -9.98 15.60 15.60 15.60 15.60 0.021 -7.00 -veNitol Insurance -A -9.15 -9.15 28.81 28.80 29.00 28.70 0.015 2.79 10.3Kay & Que (BD) -Z -8.76 -8.76 12.50 12.50 12.50 12.40 0.005 -1.41 -veShahjibazar Power-N -8.74 -2.48 563.56 216.10 244.00 216.10 1.998 9.00 62.6Standard Ceramic -A -8.33 -8.33 44.00 44.00 44.00 44.00 0.002 0.60 73.3Paramount Insur-A -7.78 -2.52 16.66 16.60 17.00 16.30 0.044 1.13 14.7National Tea -A -7.47 -7.47 706.00 706.00 706.00 706.00 0.007 -6.49 -ve

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Jamuna Oil -A -14.19 -14.12 212.07 212.30 214.80 210.00 40.522 20.98 10.1Shahjibazar Power-N -8.76 -10.41 217.67 213.60 233.10 213.60 10.643 9.00 24.2Prime Islami Life -A -6.27 -3.82 66.15 65.80 68.50 64.10 0.409 4.95 13.4Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z -6.25 -4.34 18.75 18.00 20.00 17.90 20.106 0.08 234.4Premier Bank -A -5.05 -2.55 9.57 9.40 10.00 9.30 9.961 0.32 29.9Kohinoor Chem -A -5.03 -4.77 350.79 351.30 360.00 350.50 0.288 10.40 33.7Apex Footwear-A -4.30 -2.91 447.66 442.90 464.00 438.50 12.403 20.48 21.9BD Finance-A -3.68 -2.47 15.82 15.70 16.30 15.50 4.784 0.69 22.9Padma Islami Life*-N -3.68 -3.38 36.63 36.60 39.90 36.40 1.793 1.10 33.3Aziz PipesZ -3.56 0.40 27.51 27.10 28.80 26.60 0.831 -0.37 -ve

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change % ClosingY DHIGH DLOW AvgPrice

R. N. Spinning-Z 1,067,810 37.23 13.17 32.90 1.23 32.50 35.70 32.50 34.86WesternMarine -N 295,394 15.09 5.34 52.60 9.81 47.90 52.60 47.10 51.09Keya Cosmetics -A 463,275 12.81 4.53 28.10 4.46 26.90 28.30 26.80 27.65Hamid Fabrics -N 262,896 12.00 4.25 46.20 5.72 43.70 47.00 42.80 45.66SummitAlliancePort.-A 121,530 10.49 3.71 85.80 -1.49 87.10 88.40 84.20 86.32Khan Brothers-N 277,186 10.17 3.60 37.40 9.36 34.20 37.60 34.00 36.69BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 229,000 8.65 3.06 37.60 -0.53 37.80 38.40 37.50 37.79UNITED AIR-A 769,978 7.11 2.51 9.10 -2.15 9.30 9.40 9.10 9.23Tung Hai Knitting -N 332,366 6.75 2.39 20.10 -0.50 20.20 21.00 19.80 20.31LafargeS Cement-Z 54,541 6.21 2.20 114.30 1.69 112.40 115.90 112.30 113.80Grameenphone-A 16,528 5.95 2.11 356.00 -2.39 364.70 369.00 353.00 360.23Agni Systems -A 175,049 5.64 2.00 32.20 5.23 30.60 33.00 31.10 32.25Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A 186,121 4.23 1.50 22.50 -1.32 22.80 23.10 22.40 22.72City Bank - A 173,527 3.90 1.38 22.00 -0.90 22.20 23.20 21.80 22.50Jamuna Oil -A 15,776 3.33 1.18 210.70 -14.77 247.20 215.00 207.00 211.06

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

Agni Systems -A 4,376,143 141.65 7.06 32.40 5.88 30.60 33.10 30.90 32.37R. N. Spinning-Z 2,199,655 75.88 3.78 32.80 0.00 32.80 36.10 32.10 34.50SummitAlliancePort.-A 722,476 62.38 3.11 86.60 -0.92 87.40 88.20 84.60 86.34Grameenphone-A 149,704 53.86 2.68 355.80 -2.01 363.10 370.00 352.00 359.74Beximco Pharma -A 821,160 52.04 2.59 63.10 -1.25 63.90 64.00 62.90 63.37Keya Cosmetics -A 1,810,700 50.33 2.51 28.00 4.48 26.80 28.20 26.80 27.80BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 1,169,831 44.05 2.20 37.50 -1.06 37.90 39.00 37.30 37.66Tung Hai Knitting -N 2,137,061 43.90 2.19 20.10 -1.47 20.40 21.00 19.80 20.54BD. Thai Alum -B 813,612 42.14 2.10 51.10 -3.40 52.90 53.70 50.80 51.79Square Pharma -A 158,734 41.15 2.05 259.00 -0.69 260.80 261.00 258.40 259.25Quasem Drycells -A 544,178 40.85 2.04 74.80 -3.36 77.40 78.00 73.10 75.07Jamuna Oil -A 191,082 40.52 2.02 212.30 -14.19 247.40 214.80 210.00 212.07LafargeS Cement-Z 348,263 39.72 1.98 115.50 2.48 112.70 117.00 112.20 114.05Moza� ar H.Spinning-A 1,426,994 39.62 1.97 28.00 1.45 27.60 28.10 27.00 27.76Hamid Fabrics -N 849,467 38.77 1.93 46.20 5.48 43.80 47.00 43.30 45.64Alltex Industries -Z 4,845,000 113.67 1.51 22.90 4.09 22.00 24.20 20.50 23.46

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 199.42 9.94 26.62 8.94 226.05 9.81NBFI 139.81 6.97 11.47 3.85 151.28 6.57Investment 17.36 0.87 2.75 0.92 20.11 0.87Engineering 258.28 12.88 34.23 11.50 292.51 12.70Food & Allied 59.45 2.96 5.38 1.81 64.83 2.81Fuel & Power 221.08 11.02 21.87 7.35 242.95 10.55Jute 2.69 0.13 0.00 2.69 0.12Textile 303.43 15.13 79.28 26.63 382.71 16.61Pharma & Chemical 245.82 12.25 29.58 9.94 275.40 11.96Paper & Packaging 12.34 6.80 2.28 19.13 0.83Service 86.37 4.31 13.80 4.63 100.17 4.35Leather 18.44 0.92 5.27 1.77 23.71 1.03Ceramic 8.83 0.44 1.83 0.61 10.66 0.46Cement 53.40 2.66 9.38 3.15 62.78 2.73Information Technology 164.68 8.21 7.61 2.56 172.29 7.48General Insurance 12.02 0.60 1.57 0.53 13.59 0.59Life Insurance 17.27 0.86 1.33 0.45 18.61 0.81Telecom 59.03 2.94 7.56 2.54 66.59 2.89Travel & Leisure 24.12 1.20 9.00 3.02 33.12 1.44Miscellaneous 102.07 5.09 22.31 7.50 124.38 5.40Debenture 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.01 0.04 0.00

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4892.95893 (-) 0.81% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1808.05234 (-) 0.85% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 15054.99770 (-) 0.83% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 12308.09770 (-) 1.08% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 9167.92290 (-) 0.96% ▼

DSE key features December 14, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

2,005.91

Turnover (Volume)

56,006,161

Number of Contract 77,501

Traded Issues 306

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

114

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

188

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,612.35

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.66

CSE key features December 14, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 284.77

Turnover (Volume) 9,350,621

Number of Contract 23,330

Traded Issues 259

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

74

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

181

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,521.82

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.57

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to [email protected] or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Brokerage houses were facing di� culties using new DSE software which is one of the major reasons for the ongoing downtrend

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Miracle Industries -B 9.82 7.89 17.64 17.90 17.90 16.70 2.178 0.40 44.1WesternMarine -N 9.81 4.03 51.09 52.60 52.60 47.10 15.093 1.80 28.4Premier Leasing-Z 9.68 8.53 10.18 10.20 10.20 9.00 0.696 0.08 127.3Khan Brothers-N 9.36 7.91 36.69 37.40 37.60 34.00 10.170 1.36 27.0Shurwid Ind. -N 9.06 7.12 31.90 32.50 32.70 30.50 2.472 0.76 42.0Apex Footwear-A 5.91 5.91 466.00 466.00 466.00 466.00 0.002 20.48 22.8Hamid Fabrics -N 5.72 2.77 45.66 46.20 47.00 42.80 12.005 3.12 14.6Agni Systems -A 5.23 6.89 32.25 32.20 33.00 31.10 5.645 1.32 24.4Alltex Industries -Z 5.02 3.51 29.16 29.30 30.00 28.70 3.271 3.28 8.9Fareast Finance-Z 4.61 2.63 15.63 15.90 16.10 14.80 0.986 1.08 14.5

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Miracle Industries -B 10.24 9.47 18.03 18.30 18.30 17.10 13.375 0.40 45.1WesternMarine -N 9.92 4.73 50.72 52.10 52.10 48.00 32.367 1.80 28.2Khan Brothers-N 9.41 8.07 36.44 37.20 37.30 32.30 29.466 1.36 26.8Shurwid Ind. -N 9.36 7.44 31.91 32.70 32.80 29.90 14.277 0.76 42.0Premier Leasing-Z 8.33 9.75 10.36 10.40 10.50 9.50 2.562 0.08 129.5Agni Systems -A 5.88 8.15 32.37 32.40 33.10 30.90 141.649 1.32 24.5Hamid Fabrics -N 5.48 3.21 45.64 46.20 47.00 43.30 38.772 3.12 14.6Eastern Lubricants -A 5.41 5.41 390.00 390.00 390.00 390.00 0.002 2.08 187.5B I F C -A 5.20 1.72 17.73 18.20 18.40 17.30 5.738 1.41 12.6Jute SpinnersA 4.83 4.17 49.68 49.90 52.30 47.70 0.077 -43.64 -ve

ANALYST

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 15, 2014

CORPORATE NEWS

Dhaka Regency has recently unveiled its Royal Membership Programme at its premier club members’ night 2014. Shahid Hamid FIH, executive director of the Dhaka Regency inaugurated the grand night

Union Bank Training Institute has recently organized a concluding ceremony of its foundation-training course. The bank’s managing director, Md Abdul Hamid Miah was present at the occasion as chief guest among others

Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, Chairman of Standard Bank Limited has recently handed over 20,000 blankets on behalf of the bank to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her Relief & Welfare Fund Prime Minister’s O� ce. The bank’s managing director and CEO, Md Nazmus Salehin was also present on the occasion

India to reap $12bn plus budget windfall from oil slide - sources n Reuters, New Delhi

A plunge of nearly half in oil prices could help Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reap a � scal windfall of at least $12bn when he presents his 2015/16 budget in February, two government sources told Reuters.

The savings would come in the form of reduced fuel subsidy costs and higher petrol and diesel levies, the sources said. In addition, � nance ministry o� -cials have proposed restoring a crude oil import duty that was scrapped in 2011.

As a result, the government would claw back most of the money that India saves on oil imports. That would help Jaitley hit borrowing targets but dilute any boost to consumption in Asia’s third-largest economy.

Energy-hungry India imports around 4 million barrels of oil per day and the net cost of the country’s oil imports is expected to total $88bn in the � scal year to next March, based on a budgeted oil price of $105 per barrel.

O� cials drawing up Jaitley’s � rst full-year budget are pencilling in a view that oil prices will average $65-$70 in 2015/16. That would cut the national import bill by $18bn - or 0.9% of GDP, they reckon.

“Bene� ts from the fall in oil prices would re� ect in the budget through lower oil subsidies and higher tax pro-jections next year,” one senior � nance ministry o� cial told Reuters.

The sources estimate that the overall � scal boost can total 750bn rupees ($12bn). More than half, 400bn rupees, would come from savings on oil subsidies.

Tax and don’t spend Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in pow-er since May, has freed prices for diesel, which account for 40 percent of con-sumption of re� ned fuels.

Taking advantage of the resulting fall in pump prices, his government

has raised factory gate duties on petrol and diesel twice in the last month. That means state co� ers, and not drivers, will bene� t to the tune of $1.6bn this � scal year and nearly $5bn next year.

A revival in the pro� tability of state-owned oil re� ners like Hindustan Pe-troleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation could generate another $1bn in extra revenues.

Further, ministry o� cials recom-mend restoring the old 5% crude oil import duty in full. This would require Modi’s approval, and if implemented could raise up to $4 billion more, lifting total potential � scal gains to over $16bn.

“A proposal to impose import duty on crude oil is under consideration,”

said another � nance ministry source. “The � nal decision could be announced in the budget.” Both sources requested anonymity, because they were not au-thorised to speak to the press on the record.

Jaitley is struggling to hit his � scal de� cit target of 4.1% of gross domestic product this � scal year. He wants to cut it to 3.6% in 2015/16, and 3% in 2016/17.

BUDGET BAILOUT Fiscal constraints leave little over

for the wider economy, with consum-ers still cautious about their prospects and concerned that recent falls in in� a-tion will be only temporary.

Although the price of diesel, used by truckers and farmers, has fallen by 6%

in the past � ve months, drivers in India are now paying more to � ll up than in the United States.

“The boost to household consump-tion is likely to be small,” said Shilan Shah, India Economist at Capital Eco-nomics in London. “The government has been able to take advantage of the windfall.”

By Shah’s reckoning, the oil wind-fall could help cut the budget de� cit by 0.5% of GDP, as well as narrowing the current account gap and easing price pressures.

“This could lead to the RBI begin-ning to cut interest rates early next year, which on its own should have impact on economic growth,” said Shah. l

A worker � lls petrol in a car at a fuel station in Jammu REUTERS

After years of doubts, Americans turn more bullish on economy n Reuters, Washington

Pessimism and doubt have dominated how Americans see the economy for many years. Now, in a hopeful sign for the economic outlook, con� dence is suddenly perking up.

Expectations for a better job market helped power the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of con-sumer sentiment to a near eight-year high in December, according to data released on Friday.

U.S. consumers also saw sharp drops in gasoline prices as a shot in the arm, and the survey added heft to strong November retail sales data that has showed Americans getting into the hol-iday shopping season with gusto.

“Surging expectations signal very strong consumption over the next few months,” said Ian Shepherdson, an econ-omist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

While improvements in sentiment haven’t always translated into similar spending growth, consumers at the very least are feeling the warmth of several months of robust hiring, in-cluding 321,000 new jobs created in November.

When asked in the survey about recent economic developments, more consumers volunteered good news than bad news than in any month since 1984, said the poll’s director, Richard Curtin.

Moreover, half of all consumers ex-pected the economy to avoid a recession over the next � ve years, the most favor-able reading in a decade, Curtin said.

The data bolsters the view that the US economy is turning a corner and that worker wages could begin to rise more quickly, laying the groundwork for the Federal Reserve to begin hiking its benchmark interest rate to keep in-� ation from eventually rising above the Fed’s 2% target.

Overall, the sentiment index rose to a higher-than-expected 93.8, mirroring levels seen in boom years like 1996 and 2004. Many investors see the Fed rais-ing rates in mid-2015, and policymak-ers will likely debate at a meeting next week whether to keep a pledge that borrowing costs will stay at rock bot-tom for a “considerable time.”

Consumers see faster in� ation ahead. Over the next year, they expect a 2.9% increase in prices, up from 2.8% in November, according to the senti-ment survey. l

Fed considers time to end free money pledge n Reuters, Brussels

The US Federal Reserve would give the clearest signal next week that its easy money stance is ending if, as some ex-pect, it drops its two-year long pledge to keep interest rates close to zero for a “considerable time”.

The Fed, which meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, � rst inserted that wording in its post-meeting state-ments in December 2012, promising then to maintain its highly accom-modative monetary stance for a con-siderable time after its asset purchase programme ends and the economic re-covery strengthens.

Both have occurred. The US unemployment rate slipped

below 6.5%, a Fed mark of healthier re-covery, in April and is now at a six-year low of 5.8% even as more people enter the labour force. Its asset buying ended in October, when all but one of its vot-ing members opted to keep the “con-siderable time” language.

The market has understood the term to mean at least six months, with cur-rent expectations for a � rst rate hike in mid-2015.

Since October, the more hawkish Dallas Fed chief Richard Fisher has said the Fed should drop the pledge, while more moderate Cleveland counterpart Loretta Mester told Reuters the refer-ence was “really stale”.

Some economists believe markets will take a change of wording in their stride, but others hark back to “taper tantrums” after the Fed � rst men-

tioned the idea of gradually reducing monetary expansion in May 2013.

“It has to be done at some point, but it’s like taking o� a sticking plaster. It’s going to hurt,” said Rob Carnell, chief international economist at ING, who questions central banks’ propensity to use set terms rather than just rely on data.

Carnell believes U.S. headline in-� ation may well fall below 1% in the March-May period, when seasonal ad-justments would give a greater weight-ing for a weak oil price than at present.

“It’s then a hard sales act to start hiking in May or June,” he said.

Eu growth summit The week, for many the � nal working days before Christmas and New Year holidays, will conclude with a Euro-pean Union Summit focussed � rmly on the faltering economy.

In an ideal world for some econo-mists, France and Italy, the number two and three euro zone economies, would pledge more growth-driving reforms and budget restraint, providing cover for the European Central Bank to un-leash new weapons to � ght de� ation.

Pressure on the ECB to start print-ing money and buying sovereign bonds rose further last week as its o� ering of low- cost loans to banks drew only tepid interest.

Banks have taken barely half the 400bn euros ($497.4bn) of loans on o� er this year, implying they have little con� dence in lending to the euro zone’s backbone of small companies.

ECB policymakers have dropped hints that it could move in the direction of money printing as soon as January, but a small group of countries led by Germany are opposed, fearing it would lead to reckless borrowing by debt-lad-en states.

“(ECB President Mario) Draghi has seven weeks to get everyone in line. I don’t think he’ll pull it o� before Christmas,” said BNP Paribas Fortis Chief Strategy O� cer Philippe Gijsels. “We’re very much driven by central banks into next year.”

As a reminder that the euro zone debt crisis is not fully extinguished, Greece’s parliament holds the � rst round of its presidential vote on Wednesday. A like-ly third and � nal round is expected on Dec 29.

If Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s candidate does not secure the required three-� fths of votes, more than the government majority, it would trigger parliamentary elections, which polls show anti-bailout party Syriza would probably win.

Samaras warned on Thursday Greece risked a “catastrophic” return to the depths of its debt crisis if his government fell, his comments driving Greek stock and bond losses.

However, while Greek 10-year bond yields have passed 9%, with shorter-dated paper even higher, the yield on 10-year Italian bonds was around 2% on Friday and for Spanish bonds just below.

The prospect of quantitative easing from the ECB, whose president prom-ised in 2012 to “do whatever it takes” to save the euro, means this is not a repeat of 2010-2012, when fears of contagion to other EU members raged.

Those hoping for respite from con-cern over a China slowdown will have an eye on a private survey due on Tues-day . It is expected to creep back into growth territory in December after stalling in November. l

Little in� ation pressure on Fed to speed up rate hike n AFP, Washington

The US Federal Reserve holds its � nal policy meeting this week facing a co-nundrum most countries would love to have: slowly accelerating economic growth with no sign of in� ation.

The good signs in the US economy ironically make it harder for the Fed to move closer to what it knows it must do sooner rather than later: begin lifting the benchmark federal funds interest rate from the zero level, where it has been for six years now.

Anticipation of the move has rivet-ed markets for two years, feeding into volatility in stocks and bonds and sharp shifts in currency markets.

The two-day meeting beginning Tuesday will amount to an update to markets about where the Fed stands on its indicated plan to begin raising rates around mid-2015.

No major policy announcements are expected. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) could make a mod-est change in its messaging policy on the eventual rate hike.

Over the past year, it has repeatedly said that a Fed funds increase would only come a “considerable time” after the end of the quantitative easing pro-gram, which was wound up in October.

That language could be dropped for an even more opaque quali� er that would give it more � exibility, to either move quickly if growth and prices pick up unexpectedly, or hold o� inde� nite-ly if growth stalls.

To this end, one Fed o� cial has sug-gested the FOMC just say it will be “pa-tient.”

“The Fed is striving to avoid any unpleasant market surprises,” said IHS Global Insight in an analysis Friday.

The central bankers will need pa-tience to decide what exactly the data is telling them. US economic growth over the past two quarters has been the strongest since 2003. The fourth quar-ter looks strong as well.

November job creation stunned with a high 321,000 new jobs, underscoring

the sharp 1.2-point fall in unemploy-ment over the past year to 5.8%.

Retail sales in November, the kicko� to the holiday shopping season, were strong, up 5.1% from a year earlier.

That trend is expected to even strengthen with the sharp fall in gaso-line prices, enough to add a $700 or more annual boost to the average fam-ily’s spending power.

“Retail sales in the fourth quarter are so far running 1% higher than the third quarter on average, suggesting consumer spending will help drive yet another healthy GDP increase in the � -nal quarter of the year,” said Chris Wil-liamson of Markit.

But after having helped bring the unemployment rate down, the FOMC wants to see in� ation up around 2% to con� rm the economic recovery. So far, prices are not cooperating.

Recent data shows de� ationary pressures, partly driven by the fall in oil and other commodity prices, and partly by the slower growth in China, Europe and Japan.

A key in� ation indicator, the pro-ducer price index, showed a 0.2% fall in November. The main reason was the steep drop in energy prices, which the Fed does not weigh much when assess-ing in� ation.

But wholesale prices stripping out energy also fell, for the second straight month, by 0.1%.

And year-on-year overall producer prices were up 1.4% , the slowest rate of annual increase since January.

Without pressure from in� ation, the Fed has little need to advance plans for a rate increase. The one key variable in focus is wages. Pay for Americans has gone nowhere in the recovery.

An uptick in wage growth would more clearly signal � rm growth and that the economy would not su� er from higher interest rates.

Widely noted in November’s jobs market data was an uptick in hourly wages that, if sustained for a quarter or more, would likely be seen as proof of that strength. l

A man wears US dollar sign rings in a jewelry shop in Manhattan in New York City REUTERS

It has to be done at some point, but it’s like taking o� a sticking plaster. It’s going to hurt

A shopper walks down an aisle in a newly opened Walmart Neighborhood Market in Chicago REUTERS

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 15, 2014

DILBERT

Desperate in crisis, Spaniards turn to fortune-tellers n AFP, Barcelona

Maite Izquierdo and her family are doing their best to get by in Spain’s economic crisis, but work and money don’t come by magic. Or could they?

After years looking for a job in a country where one in four is unem-ployed, this 48-year-old mother of two has turned to alternative ways to try and improve her fortunes.

Around her neck hangs a necklace of shungite - a shiny black mineral from Russia, said by occultists to bring emotional stability. In her bag she has a statue of a smiling Buddha and another of a three-legged frog - Asian charms reputed to bring wealth.

They are her latest purchases at Magic International, a spirituality fair in crisis-hit Barcelona where crowds browse over magic stones and spiritual tomes and countless fortune-tellers seek new clients.

“Any kind of help is welcome,” said Izquierdo, who has curly dark hair and bags under her eyes.

“In our house, we’ve had enough. My husband can only � nd temporary, badly-paid jobs. My eldest son can’t � nd anything and neither can I.”

The government says Spain is recov-ering from recession, but many Span-iards are still struggling. Attendance at the occult fair has surged to 50,000 this year compared to 30,000 before the cri-sis started in 2008.

At one stall, hung with red drapes and gold stars, a woman waits for a tarot card reader to tell here whether her small family restaurant can escape bankruptcy.

“I often come for a reading, espe-cially when times are hard,” says the woman, Natalia Herrero. “It calms me and gives me an insight into how to face my problems.”

The tarot-reader, dressed in a white robe, reassures Herrero that her restau-rant will survive.

Business consulting For Izquierdo, it is the � rst time she has consulted spiritualists since she lost her job as a factory administrator four years ago.

She didn’t use to believe in the oc-

cult, but says she was persuaded by friends. At the fair, she asks a public panel of four seers whether she should sell a � at in order to pay o� her debts.

“It looks like a di� cult time to do that,” replies one of them, Maria del Mar Tort, one of Barcelona’s best-known tarot-readers, scanning the cards. “The price seems a bit high. You should lower it and in a year or so, you’ll sell.”

Tort runs a tarot-reading school where she teaches 200 pupils the eso-teric ways she learned from her mother.

The recent years of recession in Spain have brought fortune-tellers a new class of client, people “rather disoriented by the situation who are looking for guid-ance to move forward”, she says.

“Sometimes I feel like a real estate administrator or an employment coun-sellor instead of a tarot-reader,” she said.

“They ask you about their homes, their jobs, their businesses. And I ask

myself: whatever happened to asking about your love life?”

Addicted to tarot Specialists at the Ancora psychological clinic in Madrid say they have seen a rise in the number of patients addicted to occult consultations since the crisis hit.

“They have low self-esteem and re-sort to that in search of quick answers: you will meet the love of your life, ev-erything will get better. They tell them what they want to hear,” said one of the psychologists, Belen Sanchez.

“That causes emotional depen-dency. They get so they cannot make any decisions without consulting the fortune-teller.”

Late-night television in Spain is full of tarot-reading and fortune-telling shows.

Psychologist Jose Elias says the pop-ularity of these is in� uenced by Spain’s Catholic tradition with its doctrine of

divine predetermination, as well as the sti� ing experience of the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975.

“Franco over-supervised citizens. He did not teach them to � ght and grow by themselves,” said Elias, a member of the Madrid College of Psychologists.

“Psychotherapy emerges in demo-cratic societies, because dictatorships are not about promoting personal de-velopment.” The director of Magic Inter-national, Sebastia d’Arbo, warns that the occult arts should not be dismissed light-ly, however. He says a growing number of businesses are consulting fortune-tellers.

He said a chemist’s store in Barcelo-na nearly went bust for lack of custom-ers before it called in spiritualist help.

“It turned out to be a feng shui prob-lem,” he said, referring to the ancient Chinese method of harmonious house-hold alignment. l

A demonstrator burns a � ve euro note during a protest in downtown Madrid against capitalism REUTERS

Spain PM promises fresh economic reforms n AFP, Madrid

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday promised fresh reforms to boost Spain’s economic recovery and warned he would continue to resist the drive for independence of the Catalo-nia region.

Responding to calls for constitu-tional reform to answer Catalan sepa-ratists’ demands, Rajoy vowed that his conservative Popular Party would ward o� any threat to the unity of Spain and tried to shift the focus to the tentative economic recovery.

“We will support any future reform that is necessary, but for the Popular Party, national sovereignty is not ne-gotiable,” he said in a speech to party leaders.

“What Spain needs now is more eco-nomic and social reforms to improve people’s lives and overcome the crisis de� nitively, and there will be more,” he said, also promising further anti-cor-ruption measures, without elaborating.

Rajoy did not name Catalonia, but the speech was one of his most high-pro� le statements on the constitu-tional question since the region held a symbolic vote last month on whether to break away from Spain.

Rajoy has consistently vowed to pre-serve the unity of Spain as it recovers from six years of economic crisis that have left it with a current unemploy-ment rate of nearly 24% .

Faced with lawsuits over the banned symbolic polls on November 9, Cata-lan leaders are now debating the next step in their drive for a full vote on in-dependence for their rich northeastern region.

The opposition Socialist Party also opposes Catalan independence but has called for a reform to the system of de-volved regional governments in Spain’s 1978 constitution to answer separat-ists’ demands.

Rajoy has not ruled out a consti-tutional reform but rejects any bid to break up Spain. He said on Saturday he was set on integrating the country more closely with the European Union. l

Oil price slump sorts the hedged from the unhedgedn Reuters, New York

Oil’s slide to the lowest price in more than � ve years is carving a divide between US shale drillers who heavily hedged future production and those who didn’t.

While � nancial hedges are commonly required by many oil� eld lenders, the in-dustry’s mid-sized US-focused shale � eld producers pursued varied strategies when it came to protecting future revenues, ac-cording to a Reuters review of � lings and interviews with bankers and experts.

Those decisions are now coming back to haunt some drillers. Best-known is Continental Resources, which lifted its hedges in early November, when oil was trading at around $83 a barrel, leaving it unprotected as prices slipped another $20, the most dramatic drop since the 2008 crisis. Continental’s share price has been more than halved since late June.

Apache Corp and Whiting Petroleum are also exposed to lower prices and have underperformed some peers over the past two weeks.

Oil producers typically hedge against lower prices by locking in some of their future production at favorable prices through swap transactions sold by banks, or by buying options as insurance against lower prices.

Among major and mid-sized explora-tion and production companies, some 35% of all 2014 oil production was hedged at an average of $95.5 a barrel as of November, according to an analysis prepared by RBC. Yet only 14.3% of 2015 production was hedged.

With OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia refusing to cut supply and shore up prices any time soon, � rms face the prospect of lower revenues for months to come. US crude fell below $60 a barrel on Thursday for the � rst time since 2009.

At Devon Energy Corp, the e� ect of tumbling prices “may not be nearly as large as you think” because of hedging, said Dave Hager, Devon’s chief operating o� cer, at the CapitalOne Energy Confer-ence on Wednesday. “We’re in outstand-ing shape as a company.”

Devon, which pumped over 80% of its oil from US shale � elds last quarter, stands out as the most aggressive hedger among

the larger-cap US oil drillers. It has hedged about 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude for all of next year, equivalent to 80% of its third quarter output, according to company � lings.

If US crude prices were to remain at about $65 a barrel next year, those hedges could net Devon an extra $1.3bn in rev-enue, according to Reuters calculations.

Devon has been “very good at not drinking the Kool-Aid” in an industry that had been counting on years of high prices, said Rick Rule, chairman of Sprott US Holdings, an asset management � rm that doesn’t own stock in Devon.

STEADY PACE For the past several years, hedging

was a relatively minor consideration for investors. Oil prices stayed fairly steady at about $100 a barrel, meaning most hedged positions were neither heavily in nor out of the money.

Now that the crude price has almost halved in the past six months, and predictions grow for a prolonged slump in prices, investors are scrutinizing � lings to understand which corporations were clever enough to have locked in prices prior to the slump and therefore have enough cash on hand to pay increasingly expensive service contracts.

“The purpose of hedging is to secure cash � ow regardless of price scenario,” said Robert Campbell, head of oil prod-ucts research at Energy Aspects in New York. “The whole thing with (shale drillers) is cash preservation.”

Most large-cap producers, unlike Dev-on, don’t hedge as a rule, and many such as Occidental Petroleum and ConocoPhil-ips have even outperformed Oklahoma City-based Devon in recent months, aided in part by their re� nery holdings, which generate additional revenue when oil prices are down.

Some analysts point to Apache as an example of the perils of not hedging. While Devon’s shares have fallen by 32% since June, Apache’s have dropped by 44% as investors raise alarms about a potential cash crunch.

“They’re basically naked and don’t have any cash � ow protection,” said Leo Mariani, a senior analyst at Capital Markets. l

India buys less gold as traders await clarity on import policy n Reuters, Singapore

India is importing lower quantities of gold despite a recent move to ease curbs as bullion banks and traders await clari� cations on new import poli-cies, market sources said.

The world’s second-biggest bullion buyer scrapped a rule late last month mandating traders to export 20% of all gold imported into the country, even as the market was expecting it to tighten the curbs.

But customs o� cials, awaiting di-rections from the Reserve Bank of India on the new import procedures, were not clearing fresh imports, prompting importing agencies to hold back, trad-ers said.

“Banks are holding back because we are waiting for clari� cation on the new rules from RBI and customs,” said a trader with a top bullion bank in India.

“Customs o� cials are not clearing fresh imports as they are waiting for in-structions. There is no point in importing now and having gold stuck with them.”

Struggling with a high trade de� cit, India last year imposed a record 10% import duty on gold and the so-called 80-20 rule to limit purchases.

The export rule had triggered chang-es in the way imports were cleared, re-quiring � rms to show proof of exports. The reversal of the rule will likely re-quire more changes.

Traders had expected clari� cations to the 80-20 rule earlier this week, but there have been none yet. Another reason for the lack of strong imports is the adequate supply of bullion in the market.

Anticipating tighter rules, dealers had stocked up in the previous months, with imports likely to have crossed 100 tonnes for a third straight month in No-vember.

“Imports in December are going to be less than that because people are waiting for clari� cation,” said Bachhraj Bamalwa, director at All India Gem and Jewellery Trade Federation.

Consumer demand has also weak-ened because of the slowdown in the number of weddings, with demand ex-pected to pick up again after mid Janu-ary, Bamalwa said.

Gold prices in India were either � at or at a small premium of $2 an ounce, down from last week’s $5, traders said.

“There is no incentive to import at low premiums and there is enough supply in the market,” said another trader at a bank.

Elsewhere in Asia, buying was steady as gold prices moved higher.

Premiums in top consumer China ranged between $1 and $2, while in Hong Kong and Singapore, they were unchanged at a little over $1. l

Only emerging market reformers like India will keep investors as tide turns n Reuters, London

Emerging markets’ popularity with in-vestors is ebbing as a strong dollar lures money away and commodity prices fall, but some governments promising tough economic reforms may stem the � ow of capital leaving.

India and Indonesia currently look the most promising, fund managers say, following the election of pro-busi-ness governments on a ticket to intro-duce reforms that will open up state companies to foreign investment and cut red tape.

“Reformers are performers,” said Bill Street, head of investments for Eu-rope, the Middle East and Africa at State Street. “You need to di� erentiate your exposures in emerging markets .. We have some select funds that pull out re-formers. We’ve seen some good reform happening in India and Indonesia”

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government plans to sell state stakeholdings in major companies, shake up labour laws and cut populist subsidies on fuel.

Craig Botham, an emerging markets economist at UK fund manager Schrod-ers, said he expected success on those fronts “to lead to greater investment, picking up momentum going into 2016” but was only “cautiously positive” on similar claims by the government in In-donesia. So far the two countries have had mixed success in retaining foreign portfolio capital.

According to Lipper - a Thomson Reuters company that tracks the funds industry - net sales for India themed

investment funds domiciled in Europe amounted to 303 million euros in Sep-tember, making them the one of the fastest selling emerging market invest-ment products.

In contrast, Indonesian-themed funds saw an out� ow of 64m euros. The country’s president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who was elected in July, does not hold a parliamentary majority - limiting his ability to deliver on his promises to liberalise the economy and attract more foreign investment.

OUT OF FAVOUR Investors are also unenthusiastic

about prospects for Turkey, where poli-ticians hoping to win elections sched-uled for mid 2015 are unlikely to in� ict economic pain on voters despite rec-ommendations by the IMF to tighten � scal and monetary policy, as recom-mended by the IMF.

“Economic populism remains a risk in Turkey, and the country’s struc-tural reform agenda will likely remain stalled ahead of parliamentary elec-tions in June,” JP Morgan said in a re-search note.

European equity funds focusing on Turkey saw a net out� ow of 68.5 mil-lion euros in September, according to Lipper - a trend also re� ected in the falling value of the Turkish lira in 2014, down around 5% against the dollar.

South Africa, which has seen de-mand for its commodity exports sink as key customer China slows down, is also out of favour with investors - as a result of which the rand currency has fallen more than 10% against the dollar since May. l

Consultants from Flyspan Solutions demonstrate a drone intending for police use during the � rst-ever Drone Expo in Los Angeles on December 13. The expo is the sponsored by the largest commercial drone association the UAVSA (Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle Systems Association) is open to the general public and aims to discuss how this technology can safely utilized for business, health, public safety, urban planning, entertainment and other commercial purposes AFP