7-murder motive still unknownin six monthsInvestigators say they have enough information for pressing charge but asked to go slow for Nur’s extraditionn Ashif Islam Shaon

Six months since the gruesome killings of seven people in Narayanganj, inves-tigators say they still do not know the accused RAB members’ motive behind the murders despite having enough information and evidence to submit a charge sheet.

The police have so far found that the planning and execution of the murders involved at least 38 people, including 23 members of the Rapid Action Bat-

talion. However, police sources said it would take more time to submit all their � ndings because of some “limita-tions” in the probe.

Several o� cials involved with the probe recently told the Dhaka Trib-une that they had been instructed by authorities concerned to go slow with the investigation as uncertainties still surrounded the extradition of Nur Hossain – the main accused in the case – from India. They added that the po-lice would wait for Nur’s extradition

but would go ahead in pressing charges if the government failed to bring him back within a “reasonable time.”

They also admitted that the inves-tigators were yet to � gure out whether the RAB men carried out the killing in exchange of money.

“There are instances when investi-gations in sensational cases took more time than normal ones. It can be six months, one year or more. The sev-en-murder was a sensational and com-plex incident. We are trying our best,” said Narayanganj Superintendent of Police Khandker Mohid Uddin recently.

On April 27, seven people, including Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam and senior lawyer Chandan Sarkar, were abducted in Narayanganj. Three days later, six bodies were found � oat-ing in the Shitalakkhya River, while another body was recovered from the river the following day.

Nazrul’s father-in-law Shahidul Islam complained that Nur Hossain, councillor of Narayanganj’s ward 4, and a few others had given some RAB 11 o� cials Tk6 crore to kill the panel mayor and his associates.

Three RAB o� cials – Lt Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, Major Arif Hossain and Lt Commander Masud Rana – were accused in the case and dismissed from service on May 6. They were arrested shortly.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM FROM EXTREME POVERTY

7 | LONG FORM

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Agrahayan 1, 1421Muharram 21, 1436Regd No DA 6238Vol 2, No 221

3 | NewsHundreds of internet professionals gathered for a day-long conference in the capital yes-terday, the � rst of its kind in the country, to mingle, network, share professional experi-ences and have fun.

5 | NewsThe construction works of Sylhet Hi-Tech Park is going to start soon as its � nancier World Bank has recently scrutinised the environmental im-pact of the project.

8 | PrescriptionIron de� ciency is more than just a small dietary problem that leaves you feeling a bit tired – ex-perts describe it as the most debilitating nutri-tional de� ciency today.

7 | WorldVladimir Putin is underlining his presence at a major summit of world leaders in Australia by stationing warships in waters o� the country’s northeastern coast.

15 | EntertainmentIshana recently wrapped up shooting for tele-� lm ‘Protidan.’ The story based on the Libera-tion War, she portrays a freedom � ghter who inspires people to join the resistance.

11 | Op-EdI would do an injustice if I didn’t thank Syed Ishtiaque Reza for writing ‘Cox’s Bazar is no place for tourists’ on November 11 in the Dha-ka Tribune.

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12 | SPORT

JUBAIR’S REACTIONP12Bangladesh leg-spinner Jubair Hossain, right, proudly holds aloft the match ball after scalping his maiden � ve-wicket haul during the third day of the third Test against Zimbabwe in Chittagong yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Ex-MP son arrested for wife’s deathn Ashif Islam Shaon

Son of former Jessore 5 constituency lawmaker Khan Tipu Sultan was arrest-ed for his alleged involvement in the murder of his wife early yesterday.

Twenty-four-year-old Dr Shamaruf Mahzabin Kona, wife of Humayun Sultan, was found hanging in the bath-room of her in-law’s Dhanmondi house on Thursday afternoon.

Abu Bakkar Siddique, o� cer-in-charge of Dhanmondi police station, said Kona’s father Nurul Islam � led a murder case around 1am yesterday.

Police then called Humayun to the police station for interrogation and showed him arrested after the � lling of the case.

Former lawmaker Khan Tipu Sultan and his wife Jesmin Ara Begum were also made accused in the case. The ex-MP’s family said it was suicide while the family of the deceased claimed that the girl was strangled.

Meanwhile, inquest into the death was prepared yesterday. The report says the victim bore black spots around her neck and another spot in her left wrist.

Police have collected tissues from the victim’s neck and sent it to the He-

matology Department for test. Prof Habibuzzaman Chowdhury of

Forensic Medicine Department told the Dhaka Tribune that after the test is done they would be able to say if the victim hanged herself or she was killed.

Asked, if police will arrest former lawmaker Khan Tipu Sultan and his

wife Jesmin Ara Begum as they were also made accused in the case, the OC said: “If they are found involved they will also be arrested.”

Police sent Humayun to a Dhaka court seeking a 10-day remand. The court � xed Sunday for hearing and sent

him to jail.Kona’s mother-in-law Jesmin Ara

Begum, who is also a doctor at the city’s Holy Family Hospital, claimed that Kona went out from their house Thursday morning and returned home around noon and locked her bedroom PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

31 illegal foreigners arrested in capitaln Mohammad Jamil Khan

Detective Branch (DB) of police in a special drive in capital’s Uttara, Ram-pura and Gulshan areas early yesterday arrested 31 foreign nationals of 10 Afri-can countries for staying in the country without having any legal documents.

It was the � rst drive conducted by DB police against the illegal foreigners in large scale.

The move came following the mur-der of Uttara O-level student Zubair Ahmed by an Algerian citizen Abuubai-da Kadir.

Shaikh Nazmul Alam, Deputy Com-missioner (north) of DB police, said Kadir, who killed the teenager, was stay-ing illegally in the country for the last 14 year. The Dhaka Tribune published a se-ries of stories on Zubair murder.

“We have conducted the drive as per a list of 350 foreigners living in Uttara, Rampura and Gulshan areas,” said DC Nazmul.

Apart from Zubair murder we have information about foreigners who are involved in currency forging and drug business,” he added.

About the drive, Krishna Pado Roy, deputy commissioner of (south) DB police, said DB o� cials raided around 147 houses of Uttara East, Gulshan and Rampura and they picked up 31 for-eigners for illegal stay.

DC Krishna, while addressing a brief-ing at media and community center of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said of the captured, 12 are from Nigeria, � ve from Uganda, four from Came-roon, three from Gambia, two from

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

JERUSALEM TENSIONIsrael ends age limit on holysite accessn BBC

Israel says it will allow men of all ages into Jerusalem’s holy site complex, af-ter months of restrictions.

The restrictions on Muslim male worshippers were imposed after ten-sion and unrest in the city between Is-rael and the Palestinians.

Extra police units were deployed in the city before Friday prayers, spokes-man Mickey Rosenfeld said.

Israel said the decision was linked to agreements reached during talks be-tween Israel, US and Jordan in Amman.

Jordan is the custodian of the com-pound, which includes the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque.

The compound - known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif - is the holiest site in Judaism, while al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam.

An 18-year-old man called Amir told Agence France-Presse news agency that Friday was the � rst time he had been al-lowed into the compound since July.

“It’s been four months that I haven’t been able to pray at al-Aqsa on Friday, even during the holy month of Rama-dan,” he said.

In recent weeks, Israeli police barred Muslim men under 35 from the site.

Kerry talksOrthodox Jewish campaigners in Israel

PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Five-star Jubair inspires Tigers � ghtbackn Mazhar Uddin from Chittagong

The Bangladesh spinners, spearheaded by 19-year old leggie Jubair Hossain, once again put in an impressive shift as Zimbabwe were all out for 374 in their � rst innings of the third and � nal Test at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday giving the hosts a lead of 129 runs. By the close of the third day’s play, Bangladesh scored 23 without loss and extended their lead to 152 runs with openers Tamim Iqbal (eight) and Imrul Kayes (11) unbeaten at the crease.

Jubair grabbed his maiden � ve-wick-et haul in his third Test while left-arm spinners Taijul Islam and Shakib al Hasan took one wicket apiece as Zim-babwe, resuming the third day’s play on 113/1, were dismissed for 374.

The overnight Zimbabwe batsmen – opener Sikandar Raza and second Test centurion Hamilton Masakadza – looked in ominous touch and contin-ued their good work of the previous day. The duo had already completed reaching their half-centuries on the second day and started the third day from where they had left o� .

The second wicket pair added a fur-ther 56 runs before paceman Sha� ul Is-lam provided the � rst breakthrough of the day. The right-arm seamer trapped Hamilton in front for a well-made 81. Thus ended Zimbabwe’s best ever sec-ond wicket stand in Tests. Sikandar and Hamilton’s 160-run stand is also the Southern African nation’s best ever partnership for any wicket against Bangladesh in Tests.

Then came Jubair’s match-alter-ing spell. The juvenile leg-spinner ac-counted for two Zimbabwean batsmen – Sikandar (82) and skipper Brendan Taylor (one) - in the same over to wrest

PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Key millionaire thieves excluded from CMP suspect listn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Masud Raihan is a millionaire; he owns six covered vans, a building in the Chit-tagong city’s Sabujbag area and a store in the posh shopping mall Akhteruz-zaman Center.

However, to the police, he is simply known as Don Masud – the linchpin of the port city’s covered van theft oper-ations.

Interestingly, the Chittagong Metro-politan Police has prepared a list of 34 covered van thieves in the city with-out the names of some in� uential gang leaders including Don Masud in it.

CMP o� cials claimed that the local police stations had excluded the alleged criminals from their initial lists of sus-pects. As a result, the names were not mentioned in the � nal list prepared by the Detective Branch (DB) of the CMP.

The omitted criminals included the name of Masud Raihan alias Don Masud – who is allegedly the biggest player in the van thieving trade in the port city.

The police, however, said they were updating the list, while the names of a few other thieves – most of whom were also millionaires – would be included in the latest report.

Anwar Hossain, assistant com-

missioner at the DB, told the Dhaka Tribune that Masud was the linchpin of covered van thieves; however, his name was not included in the list as they had not gotten the name while preparing the list.

“We prepared the list based on the names collected from the local police stations and the local police station had not included his name in the pri-mary list,” he said, adding that names

of Masud and other thieves would be included in the CMP list very soon.

However, Halishahar police station O� cer-in-Charge Abu Syed Mohammad Shahjahan claimed that he had included Don Masud’s name when he sent a list of covered van thieves to the DB.

DB Assistant Commissioner An-war said Masud has around 22 cases � led against him with di� erent police

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Confessions by the arrested RAB men however did not reveal why they chose to commit the crime

Former Jessore MP Khan Tipu Sultan was also accused

The ex-MP’s family termed the death suicide

The victim’s family claimed she was killed

Victim’s husband was put on a 10-day remand

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, November 15, 2014

31 illegal foreigners arrested PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Ivory Coast, one each from Senegal, Kenya, Togo, Mali and Mozambique.

A case was � led with Gulshan po-lice station against four illegal for-eigners identi� ed as Mbazira Patrick, 35, Mukuye Micheal, 30, and Batam-buze, 40, from Uganda and Onyango St Ephen Friday, 20, from Kenya.

Jahedur Rahman, DB sub-inspec-tor, � led the case with Gulshan Police against them for their illegal stay in Bangladesh.

Those who were arrested from Ut-tara West area are Kalu, 40, and Iken-na Marin Ozomena, 34, from Nigeria, Fidell Npire, 40, from Mozambique, Zoleba Betrice, 32, from Ivory coast, Ibrahim Ngouh Maoko, 35, from Cam-eroon, Koossi Romaric Agbo, 32, from Togo, Sohofotsing Alainpatrice, 30, from Cameroon, Traore Adarna, 21, from Mali, Joseph Etoondizoa, 32, from Mali, and Couassi N’Gorand Michel, 22.

Of the arrestees, two are women.In reply to a question DC Krishna

said those foreigners entered Bangla-desh with student and tourist visas.

DC Krishna later urged people not to rent out � at or house to foreigners with-out properly checking their documents

After the brie� ng, a high o� cial of DB police, who led one of the teams last night to conduct drive told the Dhaka Tribune that a total of 350 to 400 members of DB police dividing into 40-separate groups carried out the drives.

According to sources of intelligence agencies, nearly 80 thousand foreign-ers mostly from African and South East Asian nations are living in the country illegally for years.

Of them, some African and Thai nationals are involved in crimes like manufacturing fake currency, prosti-tution and drug dealing.

Law enforcers in 2013 arrested at

least 250 foreigners on charge of their involvement in such crimes.

A top o� cial of Special Branch of police (immigration) told the Dhaka Tribune that they have information that at least � ve to six thousands Afri-can nationals are now illegally staying in major cities of Bangladesh.

The o� cial requesting anonymity said their documents suggest that over 11,000 foreigners are now staying in Bangladesh.

In this regard, a senior o� cial of DB police, involved in yesterday’s drive, said they would verify a list of 500 more foreigners status living in other parts of the capital in a second phase.

A total of 8000 foreigners will grad-ually come under the close watch, the o� cial said requesting anonymity.

Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of DB police, said: “We are not against any country or foreigners but we are getting cautious so that no one would

ever dare involve themselves in crim-inal act while staying in Bangladesh.”

Meantime, police in the evening, produced the arrested foreigners be-fore the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court. Of the 11 arrested from Rampu-ra six – two from Nigeria, three from Gambia and one from Senegal – were sent to Jail.

Metropolitan Magistrate Ataul Haque passed the order.

Of the 16, arrested from Uttara 15 were sent to Jail. Metropolitan Mag-istrate Mohammad Erfanullah passed the order.

And of the four arrested from Gul-shan one was placed on a two-day re-mand while three others were sent to jail. Metropolitan Magistrate Ehsanul-lah passed the order.

The other foreigners who applied for their visa extension were released after paying a penalty of Tk20,000 to 30,000. l

Ex-MP son arrested for wife’s death PAGE 1 COLUMN 4from inside.

When Kona did not respond to the domestic help’s calls for lunch, the door was broken and Kona’s body was found hanging in the wash-room.

“She hanged herself with her scarf from the washroom window,” she told the journalists.

However, Kazi Firozur Rahman, un-cle of the deceased, said Kona’s in-laws were staging a drama after killing her. Claiming that Kona’s knees were touch-ing the � oor when she was found in the washroom.

He also pointed out that it was not possible for a person’s leg touching the ground if he committed suicide by hanging.

Kona’s father Nurul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that his daughter often complained to him about her in-laws barring her from sitting for the BCS exams and oppos-ing her decision to study for an FCPS degree.

Nurul added that he spoke to Kona for around half an hour in the morning of the incident. Kona also expressed her discontent at the way her in-laws treated her.

The death of Kona who had earned an MBBS degree from the Holy Family Hospital was a planned murder by Tipu Sultan, the father claimed.

Asked about the incident, Huma-yun, the victim’s husband, refused to say anything to the Dhaka Tribune, saying he submitted a written state-ment to the police.

On the other hand, Tipu said, if his son was found guilty he would have no objection to his trial. l

7-murder motive still unknown in six months PAGE 1 COLUMN 2On the other hand, Kolkata police ar-rested Nur Hossain on June 14 and he admitted his involvement in the ab-duction and gruesome murder on June 16 before a Kolkata court.

Mamunur Rashid, investigation of-� cer and inspector of district DB po-lice, said 12 people have so far given confessional statements in two cases � led in this connection. The reason be-hind the murder was, however, still a mystery, Mamunur said.

“Besides, we have got no proof re-garding Shahidul Islam’s complaint [of a Tk6 crore bribe], as most of the men he accused are still on the run. Sha-hidul also does not want to talk about the issue nowadays,” he added.

So far, 13 people have been arrested,

three RAB o� cials have been sacked, while nine people including Nur’s as-sociates Charchil and Ali Mohammad have given confessional statements un-der section 164, the DB inspector said.

Seven more people have given statements to the court saying they have witnessed either the abduction or the murder. The witnesses include three civilians and four RAB members.

Asked whether the police were waiting for Nur Hossain’s repatriation, district police chief Mohid Uddin said: “The government will arrange to bring him back, but the police will � nish the investigation without him if he is not extradited.”

An o� cial involved with the inves-tigation, however, said the confes-sional statements of three former RAB

o� cials had helped them a lot to sum up the � ndings. They now had enough evidence to submit the charge sheet, the o� cial said, but added that the process was waiting for Nur Hossain’s extradition.

The o� cial said they have found that Nur was not physically present during the killings but some of his as-sociates helped RAB members in kill-ing the seven victims using injections, carrying the bodies to a boat and help-ing RAB men drown the bodies in bags tied to bricks.

Ex-RAB member Major Arif admitted that he had abducted and taken the sev-en men to Narsingdi’s Tarabo, before calling Lt Col Tareque for instruction, who told him to kill all the kidnapped men and leave no witness. Tareque also

gave another nod to Arif when RAB men were preparing to drown the bod-ies under the Kanchpur Bridge.

However, Tareque told the police that Arif had killed the abducted men without his consent and Lt Command-er Rana was also involved in the ab-duction.

The confessions by the arrested RAB men however did not reveal why they chose to commit the crime, the in-vestigation o� cer of the case said.

Meanwhile, after recording dep-ositions of 374 persons, the govern-ment-formed probe committee looking into the seven-murders � nally submit-ted its progress report to the attorney general’s o� ce on Wednesday. The committee, however, sought four more weeks to submit the � nal report. l

Key millionaire thieves excluded from CMP suspect list PAGE 1 COLUMN 6stations including Bandar, Halishahar and Pahartoli in the port city, Sitakunda and Mirsarai in the district, and separate cases in Comilla and Jessore as well.

CMP Assistant Commissioner (port circle) Jahangir Alam said they were trying to nab the criminals and gather evidences.

Don Masud’s background Around ten years ago, Don Masud stepped into the world of crime with the help of covered van theft “pio-neer” Pichchi Masud. After working with Pichchi Masud for four years, � -nancial disagreements prompted Don Masud to form his own gang and loot goods-laden covered vans coming out from the Chittagong port.

Through six years of successful-ly running his gang of thieves, Don Masud has amassed large amounts of money, which he has kept deposited at di� erent banks. His other notable properties include a building and a shop in the city, as well as six covered vans.

Don Masud is currently on the run after being sued in two murder cases.

The CMP list also excludes the names of Don Masud’s gang mem-bers including Haidar, Rubel, Chakma

Jasim, Javed, Ershadul Islam Badsha, Mahfujur Islam Babul, and Ziaul Haq Zia alias Mukul.

Mukul was recently arrested and later confessed about the killings of Nasir and Khokhon, two former mem-bers of Masud’s group who were killed by their leader as they went against him.

The cohorts of Don Masud have also bagged huge amount by looting cov-ered vans and all of them have their own covered van.

Listed covered van thieves According to the CMP report, Jasim Uddin alias Loha Jasim, 65, who heads the list of covered van thieves, stands accused in six cases lodged with the city’s Bandar, Patenga, Pahartoli and Halishahar police stations.

Refuting the allegation, Jasim how-ever told the Dhaka Tribune that busi-ness rivals had intentionally provided false information about him to the po-lice in order to harass him.

Showing audacity, the listed thief said: “I am gaining popularity for free due to this campaign. However, there is no evidence against me.”

DB sources told the Dhaka Tribune that after Don Masud was forced to go into hiding, his mentor – Pichchi

Masud – also started to regain domi-nance in the illegal business with the help of his gang members Showkat, Halim, Belal, Jamal Hossain alias Chas-ma Jamal, and Koli Madam – the only female covered van thief operating in the port city.

Pichchi Masud – who has been named in the CMP list – is an accused in seven cases lodged with Bandar and Sitakunda police stations. He owns a residential hotel in Mynamati, where he stays with his cohorts most of the time.

CMP’s DB Assistant Commission-er (port) Anwar Hossain said Pichchi Masud was the pioneer of covered van theft in Chittagong and he bagged huge amount of riches through the misdeed.

On a separate note, he said the covered van thieves and robbers used 10 points on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway and three points on the Chit-tagong-Cox’s Bazar Highway to steal covered vans, while they also had their own warehouses to keep the stolen ve-hicles and looted goods.

The Dhaka-Chittagong Highway’s 10 points are Colonelhat area’s Jones Road and Mayor’s Baganbari adjoining open space in the city, in the district’s Baroiarhat and Mastan Nagar Crossing under Mirsarai upazila, Chowddagram

Jagannath Deghir Par, Kalakachua, Feni, Lalpul, Signboard and Jatrabari areas.

Warehouses in Feni, Lalpul, Sign-board and Jatrabari are maintained by listed criminal Nabi Sohag alias Nabi Newaj, while the rest of warehouses in Chittagong portion are controlled by Malek alias Lengra Malek who was not blacklisted in the CMP list.

Nabi Sohag has four cases lodged against him with Bandar and Pahartoli police station in connection with steal-ing covered vans, said Anwar.

Mamunur Rashid, another covered van thief excluded from the CMP list, earned money by selling stolen goods from covered vans as well as working as an informant for the police.

Listed thieves Toyeb, his associ-ates Ledu Majhi and Shah Alam stole covered vans and vehicles’ parts from near Kaptai Rastar Matha, Putia Cross-ing and Cox’s Bazar area on the Chit-tagong-Cox’s Bazar Highway; the trio also have their parts shops in Kaptai Rastar Matha.

CMP Additional Deputy Commis-sioner (West) Tanvir Arafat said some ill-motivated covered van owners were also involved with the o� ence to boost their business and transports.

Other listed criminals – Nur Moham-

mad, Ibrahim Sowdagor, Titu and Sa-habuddin – were involved with stealing fabrics from covered vans laden with garments’ goods. They have their own fabric shops in the city’s Teribazar.

Amir Hossain alias Driver Amin, of Lakhsmipur district, hired drivers and thieves for stealing and made huge amounts by charging large commis-sions from gang leaders.

Listed criminal Mohammad Biplob, known as Bedi, works as a helper in covered vans and collects information for the thieves. He has built a house and purchased a shop in his locality at Comilla by selling information.

The story, lifestyle and techniques of other listed thieves including Jasim alias Lengra Jasim, Bacchu, Kamal Hossain, Ismail, Mir Hossain alias Su-mon Mia, Azad Hossain, Mohammad Irfan, Tula Jashim, Azad, Jahangir Alam alias Babu, Mohammad Ali and Jasim are almost same.

All of them are accused in cases lodged with di� erent police stations in the port city, while they all own cov-ered vans, buildings and bundles of money in their bank accounts. Every one of them were in� uential in their localities and had their own lawyers to do the legal � ghting for them, said DB Inspector Mohammad Badrujjaman. l

Five-star Jubair inspires Tigers � ghtback PAGE 1 COLUMN 6the initiative away from the opposition.

Jubair sent Taylor back in the hut with a tossed up delivery. Sikandar then departed after being caught nicely at slip by Mahmudullah. The visitors headed for lunch on 172/4.

Following lunch, Craig Ervine (14) was Jubair’s third victim. Jubair’s harmless full-toss delivery shattered the timber after Ervine failed to connect a sweep shot.

Through wicketkeeper-batsman Regis Chakabva and Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwe then came back to the game courtesy a 113-run partnership for the sixth wicket that was also instrumental behind the crossing of the follow-on mark.

Zimbabwe would have been in a more dire situation had Chakabva and Chigumbura were not dropped on several occasions. However, Bangladesh did not have to pay dearly as both were soon dismissed.

Chakabva was adjudged leg-before o� an in-swinging Sha� ul delivery after scoring a patient 65. Ace all-rounder Shakib then joined in the party removing Richmond Mutumbami for 20. In the process, Shakib also created one more slice of history.

Shakib now has 18 wickets to his name in this series, equaling Enamul Haque Jr’s tally of 18 for the highest number of wickets by a Bangladesh bowler in a Test series. Shakib has one more innings to make the record his own.

Chigumbura though, at the other end, was proving to be a tough nut to crack. Having survived on more than one occasion, the right-handed batsman was heading towards his maiden Test hundred. However, having ridden his luck for a number of times, Chigumbura was � nally dismissed by Jubair for 88, his highest ever Test score.

Jubair completed his � ve-wicket haul dismissing Natsai M’Shangwe for eight.

Taijul earlier chipped in with the wicket of Shingi Masakadza (nought) as the Bangladesh spinners again dominated with the leather. The Bangladesh spin department took seven wickets in Zimbabwe’s � rst innings of the third and � nal Test and now require eight wickets in the second innings to create a rare feat.

No Test team’s spinners have ever taken more than 50 wickets in a three-match series in the history of � ve-day cricket. The Tigers spinners are now on the threshold of history with 43 wickets so far in this series. l

Israel ends age limit on holy site PAGE 1 COLUMN 1are challenging the long-standing ban on Jews praying at the compound.

A prominent rabbi and leading cam-paigner was shot and wounded by a Palestinian in Jerusalem last month.

Tensions were also increased by two deadly attacks by Palestinian mil-itants on pedestrians in the city and an-nouncements by Israel of plans to build more settler homes in East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967.

The decision to end the age limit came after US Secretary of State John Kerry met Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah II to try to ease tensions in Jerusalem.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority have blamed each other for the recent unrest in the city.

Caption: Palestinian youths clash with Israeli security forces in the West Bank town of Hebron, 14 Nov 2014. l

Admission seekers continue striken DU Correspondent

Some 20 students fell ill yesterday as the admission-seekers demanding a second chance to participate in the Dhaka University admission procedure continued their hunger strike at the Central Shaheed Minar for the third consecutive day.

Five of the students were severely ill and were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. They were later released after treatment.

The agitating admission seekers continued chanting slogans and singing protest songs and reciting poems in support for their demand.

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, president of Nagorik Oikyo also former VP of Ducsu, expressed solidarity with the students while they were staging another program in the Shaheed Minar. lKIBRIA MURDER CHARGE SHEET

Sylhet BNP to hold protest rally tomorrow n Our Correspondent, Sylhet

The Sylhet district and city units of BNP will stage a rally in Sylhet city on Sunday protesting the inclusion of the names of party leaders, including Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Ariful Haque Choudhury, in the supplemen-tary charge sheet in the murder case of former � nance minister Shah AMS Kibria.

BNP Vice-Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury announced the pro-

gramme at a press conference at a city hotel yesterday.

Speaking on the occasion, he said: “We will stage the rally peacefully. If anyone tries to obstruct our rally, we will launch tougher movements.”

He claimed that the charge sheet submitted against Ariful Haque and other leaders was politically motivated.

BNP Sylhet district unit president Nurul Haque, city unit president Dr Shahriar Hossain Choudhury, leaders MA Huq, Dildar Hossain Selim, Abul

Kaher Shamim, Abdul Ga� ar and Bad-ruzzaman Selim, among others, were present at the brie� ng.

Nine people have been accused in the supplementary charge sheet in the Awami League leader and former � -nance minister AMS Kibria case.

Meherunnesa Parul, assistant super-intendent of police of the Criminal In-vestigation Department submitted the charge sheet to the Habiganj District and Sessions Judge’s Court on Novem-ber 13. l

Future of Philae probe ‘uncertain’n BBC

The Philae lander has attempted to drill into the surface of comet 67/P, amid fears that its battery may die in hours.

Researchers at the European Space Agency (Esa) say the instrument is be-ing deployed to its maximum extent despite the risk of toppling the lander.

Scientists hope they will also be able to capture some samples for analysis in the robot’s on-board laboratories.

If the battery dies the results may not make it back to Earth.

Esa reported that the drill has ex-tended 25cm from the lander to try to start collecting samples.

Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander man-ager, said: “The drill has been active today, whether it will sample and will succeed in bringing these samples to ovens we shall know this evening.

“This would be fantastic but it is not secured - maybe the battery will be empty before we get contact again.”

The Esa team says that the solar panels on the lander are getting small amounts of sunlight, but not enough to maintain operations beyond today.

“We plan to rotate the lander a lit-tle bit so that at the position where we have now this one panel that gets sun, we’ll have a slightly larger panel and this would increase the chance that at a later stage the lander could wake up again and start talking to us again,” Dr

Ulamec added.Valentina Lommatsch from DLR, the

German Space Agency, added that she hoped Philae could bounce its way out of its dark spot.

“It’s very unlikely, we’re just throw-ing around ideas right now. Hopeful-ly, we’ll get the link; that’s the most important thing. What happens after that... is cream on the top right now.”

Prof Monica Grady of the UK’s Open University works on an instrument on Philae called Ptolemy - a shoe-box-sized laboratory.

“One of the other things about the drill, they are hoping it will move the lander but they don’t know how much it will move it, and they don’t know if it will bring it out to get more sunshine,” she told BBC News.

Scientists wanted to test the idea that comets like 67/P may have deliv-ered water to the early Earth billions of years ago. Philae had been due to sample some of the comet’s ices to see if their chemical signature matched the water found in our planet’s oceans.

But researchers told the BBC that attempts to test the isotopic content of water were power hungry and they are concerned that there will not be enough energy left for the analysis to be carried out.

Two other instruments were de-ployed overnight, including a ther-mometer (MUPUS). l

The Detective Branch of Police arrest 31 foreign nationals from di� erent areas across the capital yesterday, on di� erent charges, including living in the country illegally NASHIRUL ISLAM

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, November 15, 2014

BNP says HT Imam justi� es its concern over impartiality of January 5 electionn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP yesterday said its concern that a fair election under the Awami League govern-ment would never be impartial was proved in what the premier’s political adviser said.

The prime minister’s political advisers said ruling party men performed well at the time of BNP’s January 5 election resistance campaign.

“We have repeatedly expressed out doubt over a fair election under the Awami League rule. HT Imam’sa speech justi� ed our con-cern,” said Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, acting secretary general of the party.

HT Imam on Wednesday at a discussion said there are advantages of having party men in the administration.

He even hailed them saying that how much they helped Awami League to stave o� election resistance movement.

Addressing a press conference at party’s Nayapaltan headquarters in the capital, the

BNP leader said his party standing committee members strongly criticised the government for implicating Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Ari-ful Haque and Hobiganj district BNP leader GK Gaus in the supplementary charge-sheet of for-mer � nance minister SAMS Kibria murder case.

“The BNP leaders are being implicated in dif-ferent cases out of political vendetta in a bid to cripple the party,” he said.

Fakhrul, however, did not say anything about the Kibria murder charge brought against former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and Khaleda Zia’s Political Secretary Haris Chowdhury.

The BNP leader said the government was � l-ing false cases one after another and implicat-ing BNP leaders in those cases just to keep them away from politics.

Three BNP leaders, including Khaleda Zia’s former political adviser Harris Chowdhury, have been implicated in former � nance minis-ter Shah AMS Kibria murder case.

The two other leaders are Sylhet City Cor-poration Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury and Habiganj district unit BNP General Secretary GS Gaus.

Criminal Investigation Department Assistant Police Super Meherunnesa Khanum placed a supplementary charge sheet of the murder case before Habiganj Sadar court of Judge Rokeya Khatun.

Thirty � ve people, including Ariful Haque Chowdhury, were made accused in the supple-mentary charge sheet.

The spokesperson of the party said the policy makers of the party also strongly con-demned the government’s denial of holding its pre-scheduled rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on November 8.

When asked about party programmes, Fakhrul said: “We are in movement and we will announce movement programmes on time to compel the government to hold elec-tion under a non-partisan government.” l

Saarc states likely to sign energy deal at 18th summit n Aminur Rahman Rasel

The Saarc member states are likely to sign an agreement on energy co-operation during the Saarc summit scheduled for November 26 and 27 in Kathmandu, with a view to secure sus-tainable energy supplies in South Asia.

“The deal titled Saarc Framework Agreement on Energy Cooperation (Electricity) is expected to be inked by the foreign ministers of Afghani-stan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, India and Pakistan during the 18th Saarc Summit in the presence of their heads of states and governments,” a Foreign Ministry o� -cial said.

He said the countries would enable cross-border trade of electricity on a voluntary basis and it would depend on the laws, rules and regulations of the respective member states.

The o� cial said the member states would encourage sharing of knowledge and joint research, including exchange of experts and professionals working in the sectors of power generation, trans-mission, distribution, energy e� cien-cy, reduction of transmission and dis-tribution losses, and development and grid integration of renewable energy resources.

“The member states will enable the transmission planning agencies of the governments to plan the cross-border grid interconnections based on the needs of the trade in the foreseeable future through studies and sharing technical information,” he said.

On November 10, the cabinet ap-proved the draft of the agreement.

The Bangladesh delegation led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave Dhaka on November 25 for Kath-mandu to attend the summit.

The agreement was � nalised at the Fifth Saarc Energy Ministers’ Meeting.

The agreement has been pending since 2010 and is a crucial step towards developing a market for electricity in the region.

The process of regional cooperation in the energy sector among the Saarc member state began in January 2000 with the establishment of a technical committee on energy. l

A vendor � lls up empty jars with supply water of Wasa before delivering them to shops, o� ces and households in the capital as � ltered water, potentially putting his customers at severe health risk. The photo was taken near the Bangabandhu Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Internet professionals con� dent of contributing 1% to GDPn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Hundreds of internet professionals gathered for a day-long conference in the capital yesterday, the � rst of its kind in the country, to mingle, net-work, share professional experiences and have fun.

Internet professionals got tips from industry icons and information and communication technology (ICT) lead-ers at di� erent sessions designed to support them in their careers as inter-net-related service providers.

The young internet professionals expressed con� dence that the ICT sec-tor could contribute more than 1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the coming year.

Bangladesh Internet Profession-als Community (BIPC), a social media organisation, organised the day-long conference at Mahanagar Natto Mah-cha in the capital. Sessions that start-ed in the morning had around 1,200 internet professionals from across the

country in attendance.Organisers claimed it was the biggest

conference of internet professionals in the country comprising mostly of free-lancers, outsource service providers and other internet-related service providers.

“No doubt it is the largest profes-sional conference of people involved in digital services. This will enrich our on-line professionals,” Saidur Mamun Khan, country manager of Elance-Odesk, said.

A series of sessions on networking, learning, fun and entertainment, shar-ing ideas and women’s empowerment were held at the conference.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister to the Information and Communica-tion Technology (ICT) Division, inau-gurated the day-long gathering saying: “The � ourishing internet has opened the window of freelancing, which is why, from the very beginning, our gov-ernment has emphasised increasing the number of internet users.”

He said in 2009 there were only 1

million internet users, but now there are forty million.

Palak said: “The government has taken the initiative to add another 55,000 freelancers in the country over the next two years.”

Palak said formalities had been completed to appoint a contractor for the Kaliakoir high-technology park.

Russel T Ahmed, senior vice chair-man of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), said: “BASIS started the ‘One Bangladesh’ campaign for internet us-ers and under this vision, by 2018, the country will earn at least US $1 billion, adding that BASIS wants to create 1 million IT professionals.

Fahim Mashroor, chief executive o� cer of bdjobs.com and former pres-ident of BASIS, said: “Every internet professional is a � ghter who � ghts ev-ery critical and hostile situation.”

He said: “IT professionals always carry the national � ag of the country as their work represents the country

around the globe.”“We hope to organise the confer-

ence every year to bring internet pro-fessionals, who work for the interna-tional market, to a single platform,” Mobarak Hossain, a member of the BIPC, told the Dhaka Tribune.

BIPC arranged online registration at Tk300 per participant to attend the event.

The organisation said there are around 700,000 internet professionals working in the country.

Internet professionals urged the government to solve the PayPal issue.

PayPal is an online payment system that is a fast and safe way to send mon-ey, receive money or set up a merchant account.

BIPC Convener Abul Kashem said: “Freelancers of our neighbouring countries like India and Nepal’s enjoy PayPal support but we cannot solve our problem with them. This is a ma-jor barrier to freelances participating in the international job competition.” l

Newly-wed man kills wife in capitaln Tribune Report

A man � ed from his apartment yester-day after allegedly strangulating his newly married wife to death in capital’s Kodomtoli area.

The victim is Jesmin Akhter, 18, wife of Tuhin Mollah.

Yesterday morning police recovered Jesmin’s body from their apartment sit-uated on the second � oor of a four-sto-rey building in Paterbagh Road, Donia, in Shyampur area of the capital.

Quoting the victim’s family mem-bers, Kadomtoli police station Sub-In-spector Omar Farukh Sarker said on Thursday night the couple had attend-ed dinner at Jesmin’s father’s house lo-cated in the same area where Jesmin’s father had rebuked Tuhin as he had been pestering Jesmin for dowry for last few days.

The couple returned home late at night.

“Yesterday morning, Tuhin called their family friend Badshah and asked if Jesmin’s father had � led any case against him.

“Actually Tuhin left the apartment

after murdering his wife early in the morning and made the call to Badshah fearing that his in-laws might have got to know about the murder and con-tacted police. Hearing his query over phone, Badsha smelled a rat and in-formed Tuhin’s in-laws,” he said.

After talking to Badshah, Jesmin’s fa-ther Dulal Miya tried to contact Tuhin but found his mobile phone switched o� . He rushed to Tuhin’s apartment and found the main door locked from outside. Later with help of locals he broke into the house and found Jesmin lying on her bed, described the SI.

He said: “Jasmin’s neck was wrapped with a piece of cloth. We recovered the body and sent it to Sir Salimullah Medi-cal College morgue for autopsy.”

The couple had tied the knot on Sep-tember 12 this year.

SI Sarker said a case would be � led in this connection. l

Joy: No dialogue as long as Jamaat is involved in processn Abu Hayat Mahmud

Sajeeb Wazed Joy yesterday said the Awami League is always ready to talk with any party except Jamaat-e-Islami.

Apparently indicating the BNP, he said: “If a party wants to sit for a dialogue, we will not agree as long as they keep Jamaat involved in the process.”

Joy labelled the BNP as a party of collaborators “as the party collaborates with Jamaat-e-Islami and opposes the trial of the war criminals.”

Joy, the son and ICT adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, made the remarks while speaking at a discussion programme of Shuchinta Foundation at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Dhaka yesterday.

He said: “Jamaat-e-Islami is a party of war criminals. Since BNP has formed an alliance with, and has close connections to Jamaat, it is also a party of collaborators.

“If BNP believes in the country’s independence and sovereignty, it must sever all ties with Jamaat.”

Referring to the Jamaat-BNP

collusion, Joy further said: “We have seen conspiracies against the country several times. In 1970, an anti-liberation

group was against the general election. The same conspiracy occurred after August 15, 1975, mostly in 1978.”

He alleged that the trial of the war criminals and Jamaat leaders has not been possible in the last 43 years due to the actions of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, including the rehabilitation of Jamaat in politics.

“The collaborators have no right to continue political activities in Bangladesh. We need to be careful about the BNP-Jamaat conspiracies,” Joy said.

He asked people of the country to unite against international conspiracies, saying: “We must not fear any international conspiracy as we are more united than the past.”

Barrister Turin Afrose and Hashem Khan were also present at the discussion programme on the spirit of the Liberation War, democracy, development and good governance.

ICT Prosecutor Turin Afroz said: “A group of conspirators are trying to spread rumours that the Awami League wants to form a coalition with Jamaat again, and that is why the Supreme Court has revised Sayedee’s death verdict to life sentence.

“Let me inform these conspirators

that the trial of all war criminals will be completed, and the verdicts will also be executed.”

Turin also questioned those who doubt the standard of the International Crimes Tribunal.

Artist Hasem Khan said: “A few developed and powerful countries have always tried to dominate us. They have asked us not to � ght the Liberation War, and now they ask that we stop the trial of the war criminals. So, we should remain vigilant about these countries that have always protected the war criminals.”

Hasem was critical of people who continuously criticise the government, including its e� ort to try the war criminals, while maintaining that they want to see the recognised war criminals punished. “I do not know what they actually want,” he said.

The discussion programme was moderated by Shuchinta Foundation convener Mohammad A Arafat.

The speakers praised the various development initiatives undertaken by the present Awami League government. l

Shajib Wazed Joy, the prime minister’s ICT adviser, addresses a discussion titled ‘The Liberation War’s Spirit, Democracy, Development and Good Governance’ as chief guest at a city hotel yesterday. The event was organised by Shuchinta Foundation RAJIB DHAR

Jasmin’s neck was wrapped with a piece of cloth

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, November 15, 2014

Novel ‘The Lovers and the Leavers’ launched in Bangladesh

n Tribune Report

A book titled “The Lovers and the Leavers” by Abeer Y Hoque, a Nigeri-an-born Bangladeshi-American writer and photographer, was launched in Dhaka yesterday.

Bengal Lights Books (BLB) has re-leased the book in Bangladesh.

The Lovers and the Leavers is a novel consisting of 12 interconnected stories chronicling characters whose lives in-tersect over years and across continents.

Bangladeshi writer Mahmud Rah-

man, author of Killing the Water, de-scribed the book as lyrical, cosmopol-itan, and “loaded with quiet humour.”

Sheba Karim, author of Skunk Girl, said Abeer Hoque’s book is “a sensuous, poignant exploration of the joys, com-plexities, and consequences of human desire and connectivity in a global age.”

Speaking at the launching ceremo-ny, Dhaka Tribune Editor Zafar Sobhan said: “These are the kinds of stories that stay with you.”

The book will be available at major book stores in Dhaka, including The Bookworm, Omni Books and Boi Bichi-tra, from December 1.

The Lovers and the Leavers is priced at Tk400.

More information on the book and the author can be found at the BLB website, www.bengallights.com, and the author’s website, www.olivewitch.com. l

Death anniversaries of Azharul Huq, Humayun Kabir todayn Tribune Report

Today is the 43rd death anniversary of Dr Azharul Huq and Dr Humayun Kabir who were brutally tortured and killed by the Al-Badr, a paramilitary wing of the West Pakistan Army, in 1971.

They fell victim of the Al-Badr’s atrocities for treating injured freedom � ghters during the Liberation War.

On November 15, 1971, the Al-Badr men took them away from their houses located in capital’s Hatirpool and later killed them. The next day their bodies were found lying underneath a culvert in front of the Notre Dame College with eyes, hands and legs tied up.

That day in the evening the two were buried in capital’s Azimpur Graveyard during curfew. They are the � rst vic-tims of Al-Badr’s operation for killing intellectuals.

In observance of their death anni-versaries, a doa-mah� l will take place at the Azimpur graveyard after Asr prayers today. The well wishers are re-quested to attend.

Dr Azharul Huq is husband of a cen-tral leader of Ekattorer Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee Salma Huq. l

Archaeology experts stress the need to save the country’s historical sitesn Abu Bakar Siddique

Archaeological experts yesterday urged the government to take necessary ac-tions to save the country’s archaeolog-ical sites with proper and responsible measures, alleging that the initiatives that are being taken now were destroy-ing the history of the sites in most cas-es.

They also expressed the need of appointing adequate manpower with knowledge in the sector in order to get the best output in preserving history of the sites. The views were exchanged at a roundtable discussion organised by Poribesh Banchao Andolon (Poba) in its o� ce.

“In most cases, the conservation works in the country’s archaeologi-cal sites are not being carried out by professionals with knowledge in the sector, resulting in the destruction of

historical places,” said Prof AKM Shah Nawaz of Jahangirnagar University’s archaeology department.

Citing an example of Shait Gumbad Mosque in Bagerhat, he said the gov-ernment’s archaeology department used plaster in the mosque’s pillars during its renovation works. “The mosque is an infrastructure that was built during the Sultani regime when the use of plaster was absent, thus peo-ple might conceptualise the site wrong-ly from such kind of alterations that di-minish the originality.”

“The conservators often use di� er-ent types of materials to renovate the sites in absence of the original ones,” said Prof Samsul Wares, convener of Tradition Conservation Committee of Poba, adding that such usage had to be stopped.

In absence of the original materials, the archaeological sites should be kept

in its original state, he added.Mozamamel Haque, professor at JU

archaeology department, blamed that such occurrences were a result of lack in awareness regarding the importance of archaeology among both common people and authorities concerned.

He blamed the government’s idea of conducting archaeological renovations using contractors selected through a tender process.

Raising awareness among the com-mon people on the importance of ar-chaeological sites should be empha-sised from the very beginning, like school, in order to protect the history in the coming generations, he continued.

Prof Abu Sayed M Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Architectural Institute, said a literature on archaeology should be included in both primary and high school syllabuses so that students know the country’s origins and culture. l

INDIA-BANGLADESH RELATIONS

Not implementing bilateral treaties a major problemn Abid Azad

The non-implementation of many trea-ties signed between Bangladesh and India is the major problem in terms of the bilateral relations, said panel dis-cussants at the � rst ever India-Bangla-desh High Commissioners’ Summit at Dhaka University yesterday.

Terming the summit, which was organised by Dhaka University’s De-partment of International Relations in collaboration with India-Bangladesh Foundation, “brilliant and unique”, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mah-mood Ali said: “The relationship be-tween two countries has passed the test of time.”

“India’s new government is positive towards our government. There were many ups and downs in the past and yet, the bilateral relations has reached such a level that it will now continue to blossom only and the rest of the world is very eager to see it,” he said.

In the second part of the day-long programme yesterday, former high commissioners from India and Bangla-desh discussed many problems, crisis, challenges and possibilities regarding the relations between the two coun-tries in future.

The programme was divided into three sessions, Session 1 was on lessons from the past where seven speakers participated, Session 2 on contempo-rary challenges and hurdles and Ses-sion 3 on India-Bangladesh relations and its future, in which � ve speakers took part.

Speaking at the Session 2, Veena Sikri, who served as Indian High Com-missioner to Bangladesh from March

1995-July 2000, said: “Foreign poli-cy begins at home. India’s economic growth is dependent on the inter con-nection with its neighboring countries very much.

“But the problem is that though many treaties were signed, they are yet to be signed.”

Humayun Kabir, who served as dep-uty high commissioner of Bangladesh to Kolkata from 1999-2001, said: “One of the di� culties we have seen is that we have separate concept regarding our national securities. On the other hand, the people of my generation had the idea about India’s contribution to our Liberation War in 1971 but many questions come to our young genera-tion at present.”

“What do our young generation in both countries think about the bilat-eral relationship when they see border killing, no improvement of our water treaties along with many other issues? This is high time to think of establish-ing a strong bilateral relationship,” he opined.

In the last session, Pinak R Chakra-varaty, who was Indian high commis-sioner to Bangladesh from 2007-2009, said: “The future relationship will be dependent on security, radicalism, in-telligence cooperation, cyber security, trade, maritime exploration, connec-tivity and industrial corridor among In-dia-Bangladesh-Myanmar as Myanmar is now doing very well.”

He added: “E-retailing is another major concern for both countries as through e-retailing both governments are deprived of tax and revenue.”

Being current Indian High Commis-sioner to Bangladesh, Pankaj Saran refused to make any comment on the bilateral relations and its future though he was present there as one of the speakers.

Among the former high commis-sioners of Bangladesh to India, Faruq Ahmed Chowdhury, Harun ur Rashid, Tariq Karim, Mostafa Faruque Moham-med, Hemayetuddin were present.

Among the Indian high commission-ers to Bangladesh, IP Khosla, IS Chad-ha, Deb Mukharji, Rajeet Mitter attend-ed the programme. l

World Diabetes Day observedn Tribune Report

World Diabetes Day was observed yes-terday in the country with the motto: “Start a balanced diet from the morn-ing meal.”

Diabetic Association of Bangladesh (BADAS) distributed posters and leaf-lets to raise public awareness at a pro-gramme that started with a rally that set o� from the National Museum in the capital’s Shahbagh area and ended at the National Press Club.

The rally was inaugurated by BADAS president professor AK Azad Khan.

Free diabetes tests and check-ups for glucose were provided at major areas in the capital from 8am to11am. Later a discussion was held at Birdem Hospital auditorium.

Sano� Bangladesh Limited also or-ganized a programme at the National Press Club where a website titled “care-4diabetes” was inaugurated.

Earlier on Thursday, President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in separate messages called for creating awareness among people against diabetes.

They also wished success of all pro-grammes arranged to observe the day.

In his message, the president stressed the need for creating aware-ness to prevent diabetes.

The prime minister said diabetes is a chronic disease but living a healthy and normal life is possible by controlling it. l

RAB rescues minor from abductors, four arrested n Tribune Report

The Rapid Action Battalion rescued a four-year-old boy named Araf Hossain Shanto early yesterday from the capi-tal’s Pallabi area three days he was ab-ducted by a group of miscreants.

Lt Col Mohammad Sahabuddin Khan, commanding o� cer of RAB 4, said Shanto’s father Abdus Sattar � led a complaint with RAB saying his son had gone mission on Tuesday from their house in the capital’s Kafrul area.

Later, he received a phone call from some people who claimed to have ab-ducted his son and demanded Tk10 lakh in ransom for his release, the RAB o� cial said while addressing a press brie� ng at RAB 4 o� ce in Mirpur.

“Based on that information, we

started our investigation, and three days later we found Shanto in a house at Pallabi. We also arrested four of his abductors – Asma Sultana Shonda, 18, Mehedi Hassan Shaon, 20, Golam Mostofa, 20, and Mostofa’s wife Ayesha Akther, 20,” he told reporters.

“Asma, who is Sattar’s sister-in-law on his maternal side, was the mastermind behind the abduction along with her boyfriend Mehedi,” the RAB commanding o� cer said, adding that it was Mehedi’s house that they kept Shanto in.

During interrogation, the arrested confessed that Asma’s paternal cousin Lima, 22, was also involved in the abduction. RAB is currently looking for Lima to bring her in, the RAB o� cial said. l

Human resources summit held at Southeast Universityn Tribune Report

The World Academy for Research and Development (WARD) organised its second human resources summit at the Southeast University campus yesterday.

This year’s theme was ‘changes and transformation in human resources’.

Md Mosharrof Hossain, president of the Asia Paci� c Federation of Human Resource Management, presented the key note address.

He focused on Change Management Model, Global scenario of Human Re-source (HR) Transformation, Reasons of HR Transformation etc. Mosharrof thanked WARD for arranging such a programme.

Rupak Zaidi, head of HR, Prime Finance & Investment Limited and moderator of the Panel discussion, fo-

cused on the trend of HR transforma-tion globally, hindering factors for HR transformation in Bangladesh, strate-gic position of owners or management regarding HR transformation.

WARD Chief Executive O� cer (CEO) Shebok M F Zaidi thanked the vice-chancellor and pro-vice-chancel-lor of Southeast University, resource persons, media partners, registered participants, organizing team for their support and cooperation.

More than 200 HR practitioners, ac-ademicians attended the programme for sharing their knowledge.

Prof Humayun Kabir Chowdhury, vice-chancellor of Southeast Universi-ty, Monower Ahmed, lead consultant of Monower Associates, and Alkona Kabir Choudhury, head of HR, IFIC Bank, were present among others. l

Shah Newaz, a 22-year-old man, � nds out for the � rst time that he has a severe case of diabetes at a diabetes diagnostic campaign in front of the National Press Club yesterday. Observing World Diabetes Day, the campaign volunteered to run diagnosis for pedestrians in the capital yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Dr Azharul Huq Dr Humayun Kabir

Keynote speaker Mosharraf Hossain receives a crest from chief guest Monowar Ahmed on the inaugural day of the 2nd WARD HR Summit, organised by the World Academy for Research and Development, in the capital’s Southeast University yesterday RAJIB DHAR

E-retailing is another major concern for both countries as through e-retailing both governments are deprived of tax and revenue

WEATHER

DRY WEATHER

LIKELY

PRAYER TIMES Fajr 4:54am Sunrise 6:11am Zohr 11:43am Asr 2:52pm Magrib 5:14pm Esha 6:32 pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:13PM SUN RISES 6:14AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW32.2ºC 13.0ºC

Cox’s Bazar Chuadanga

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 30 20Chittagong 30 20Rajshahi 30 14Rangpur 30 16Khulna 31 18Barisal 30 18Sylhet 31 17Cox’s Bazar 30 20

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, November 15, 2014

90 held from hotel in Chittagongn CU Correspondent

Police arrested 90 people from a hotel in Chittagong on charge of their alleged involvement in unsocial activities on Thursday night.

The law enforcers also seized some contraband items from their possessions, said a press release of Chittagong Metro-politan Police (CMP). Of the arrestees 56 were male and 34 were females, it said.

On a secret information, a team of Double Mooring Police and Detective Branch jointly conducted a drive at the Hotel Agrabad around 10:00pm and nabbed the people from a DJ Party, it added. l

Women empowerment requires support n Syeda Samira Sadeque

Involvement of the whole community – including men – is pivotal in empow-ering women in the country, said the vice-chancellor of Begum Rokeya Uni-versity.

Professor AKM Nurun Nabi also said it was the community members who knew the problems and also the best solutions regarding empowerment of women.

“The community should bring about the changes. Researchers and policy-makers can always support and assist them,” he said as he addressed the In-ternational Conference on Gender and Women Empowerment at Lakeshore Hotel in the capital yesterday.

He added: “Involvement of men is important for women empowerment. Not all men are against gender equality which is why support from men could

be drawn as well.” Organised by the Institute of Mi-

cro� nance, the conference was held after the last month’s episode of BBC Sanglap, where speakers claimed Bang-ladesh had achieved enviable success in women empowerment.

“Bangladesh has achieved remarka-ble progress in empowerment of wom-en,” said Aminul Islam, a University of Dhaka professor, at the conference.

Both professors spoke on the second day of the two-day conference which began on Thursday and was attended by a range of speakers from di� erent parts of the world, including represent-atives from di� erent universities, and national and international organisa-tions. Eleven research papers were pre-sented in seven sessions. Papers and discussions covered various aspects of women empowerment such as poverty, equity, gender analysis and health. l

Works in Sylhet Hi-Tech Park in the o� ng World Bank has recently scrutinised the environmental impactn Our Correspondent, Sylhet

The construction works of Sylhet Hi-Tech Park is going to start soon as its � nancier World Bank has recently scru-tinised the environmental impact of the project.

It was learnt that the park was sup-posed to build in Borni area in Com-paniganj upazila on a piece of 162-acre khas land which acquisition was earlier � nished as well.

On Sunday, Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authorities Joint Secretary of Md Bilal Hossain and World Bank’s represent-ative Bonhee Shika visited the site to scrutinize the impact, as part of which they arranged a discussion meeting with the locals in the upazila’s conference hall to know their opinion in this regard.

Bilal Hossain Said the project would focus on human resources develop-ment and better compliance with en-

vironmental and social standard. com-puter software, computer hardware, communication software, design and consultancy, bioinformatics, manufac-turing and assembling products, de-sign and electrical products, new and advanced materials, automobile and metal Industries there.

The joint secretary continued that there is no possibility of environmental hazards in the project.

Companiganj UNO Md Rokon Ud-din said another WB team might come to look into the environmental e� ect and he was hopeful of starting the con-struction works of the project from January next year.

During a recent visit in the site, WB Country Director Johannes Jeutt said they were closely working with the au-thorities concerned to start the works as early as possible, which would also en-sure employment scope for the locals. l

People protest load shedding in Ctg n CU Correspondent

Dwellers in Chittagong city’s Ban-dar, EPZ and Patenga areas yesterday formed a human chain protesting fre-quent load shedding in the areas.

Bandar-Patenga Unnoyon Forum, a nonpolitical organization, orgranised the programme in the Cement Cross-ing Area of the city. Speakers at the programme said the inhabitants of the areas have been su� ering a lot due to the interruptions in the power supply.

The power connection is available for only four or � ve hours a day. Load shedding mostly occurred during their children’s study time, they said.

Despite paying the electric bills to the o� ce on time, the people of the ar-eas are being harassed by the o� cials of Power Development Board (PDB) be-cause of “ghost bills”.

The dwellers would go for tougher movement if the problems were not solved soon. l

Lighterage vessel sinksn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A lighterage vessel with 1200 tonnes of salt sank at the estuary of the Karnaphuli River near the Parki Beach area of Chittagong yesterday after collision with a shoal.

No one was hurt in the incident. Water Transport Cell Executive Director Mah-

bub Rashid told the Dhaka Tribune that the ves-sel, MV Na� z, was heading for Dhaka from the port city. A hole appeared on its deck after it col-lided with a shoal around 11am.

The captain tried to steer the vessel to the shore but failed in the wake of a strong current.

However, all 13 crew members managed to swim to shore safely, he said. l

Sust admission test today n Our Correspondent, Sylhet

The admission tests for the � rst-year honours courses at the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (Sust) for the academic session 2014-15 will be held held today.

The test under ‘A’ unit will be held at 9:30am while the test under ‘B’ unit will be held at 2:30pm at 27 centres.

Some 48,228 aspirants have submitted appli-cations against 1,463 seats including all quotas under six faculties at 25 departments. Around 33 students will vie for a single seat in the tests. l

Two Bangladeshis hurt in BSF bombing n Our Correspondent, Naogaon

Two Bangladeshi cattle traders were in-jured in handmade bomb explosions by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) on the Kormudanga border in Naogaon’s Sapahar upazila yesterday.

They were identi� ed as Ikbal Hossain, 35, son of Abdus Samad and Aminul Is-lam, 32, son of Alfaz Uddin, both being inhabitants of the Kormudanga village.

Captain of 14 BGB Battalion Lieuten-ant Colonel Ra� qul Hasan said the inci-dent took place around 2am, when 10 to 12 Bangladesh cattle traders intruded the Sonaghat area in India, just oppo-site Bangladesh’s Kormudanga village.

The BSF members from Sonaghat camp found and chased the cattle trad-ers who threw brick chips at them, which triggered a clash. Two Bangladeshis were injured in the BSF’s “counter attack” with handmade bombs, he said. l

Brac o� cial released 48 hours after abduction n Our Correspondent, Sylhet

A Brac o� cial was released at Hathajari in Chittagong in the early hours of yes-terday, 48 hours after his abduction.

Family members said the kidnap-pers had dropped Ra� qul Islam, 55, a resident of Bagbari area of Sylhet, at Hathajari with his eyes blindfolded.

Hearing the news, Brac o� cials from Chittagong went to the spot, found him, and was later to physicians, who the po-lice that he is in stable condition.

Towhidur Rahman Sagor, Ra� qul Islam’s son, said he would be brought back to Sylhet soon.

Quoting Ra� qul, Sagor said a gang of four people had abducted him from the

Bagbari area in Sylhet on his way to his residence in the Patantula area. He had been blindfolded for the entire journey on a micro bus.

“The miscreants behaved well with my father. He is now in good condi-tion,” he said.

Ra� qul Islam is the regional manager of Brac education programme in Sylhet.

Later, Ra� qul’s son Touhidur Rah-man lodged a general diary (GD) with Kotwali police station in this connec-tion. Reason behind the abduction could not be known immediately.

Sylhet Metropolitan Police formed an investigation committee to look into the incident, said Monirul Islam, o� cer-in-charge of Kotwali police station. l

While pet cat exhibits are quite common in many countries, the ‘Cat Show’ that took place at the outer auditorium of the National Press Club in the capital yesterday is the � rst in Bangladesh. Organised by Animal Concern of Bangladesh, the exhibit featured several species of cats, both local and foreign RAJIB DHAR

Student gather in front of the Central Shaheed Minar on Dhaka University campus yesterday to observe fast unto death, demanding the university authorities revoke their decision to let undergraduate candidates take admission test only once MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Quader: Easy bike main reason for frequent road accidents on highways n Tribune Report

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday said that no human hauliers would be allowed on the streets as they are the cause of fre-quent accidents on highways recently.

The Minister made the remark while talking to reporters at Paduar Bazar on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway after a sudden crackdown on illegal three-wheelers.

During the drive the minister with the assistance of law enforcers seized a good number of battery-run easy bikes.

He said: “Such un� t vehicles will continue to cause accidents on high-ways if they are allowed any longer.”

He urged politicians not to invite ac-cidents by allowing such unauthorised

vehicles on the highways.

He also said four lanes of the Dha-ka-Chittagong highway will be made � t for use by March next year.

Project director of Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway project Engineer

Ibne Alam Hassan, additional chief engineer of Comilla Roads and High-ways Department Shibir Ahmed and assistant police super of Comilla region highway police Mohammad Solaiman were present, among others. l

'Four lanes of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway will be made � t for use by March next year'

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, November 15, 2014

Fake journalists held in Brahmanbaria Three persons were held from Kalishima village of Brahmanbaria sadar upazila on Thursday night for realising extortion from local people posing as journalists and human rights activist. The arrested are Sajjad Hossain, Md Mohsin Miya and Shahdat Hossain. Among them, Sajjad and Mohsin claimed themselves as district correspondents of daily Din Protidin while Shahdat claimed himself to be associated with Human Rights Watch. Assistant Superintendent of Brahmanbaria police station Taposh Ranjan Ghosh said one more fake journalist � ed from the scene sensing the presence of police. – Our Correspondent, Brahmanbaria

Jail inmate dies in ChapainawabganjAn inmate of Chapai Nawabganj District Jail died of respiratory problems on Thursday night. The dead is Kalu, 35, son of late Faju of Udaynagar village of

Gomostapur upazila. District jail Superintendent Abdur Rahim said on Thursday night Kalu started feeling unwell inside the prison and was taken to the Chapai Nawabganj Sadar Hospital where the on-duty doctors declared him dead. Kalu was held on October 24 under the Narcotics Control Act. His body was handed over to the family members upon running autopsy. – Our Correspondent, Chapai Nawabganj

Girl’s body found in roadside ditch in SavarUnidenti� ed miscreants strangulated a woman in her mid-20s to death and dumped the body in a roadside ditch in Savar. On information, Ppolice recovered the body from the ditch by the Dhaka-Aricha Highway in Radio Colony area yesterday morning. Identity of the victim could not be found yet. The body has been sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for autopsy. Police said the miscreants had killed the woman somewhere else and later dumped the body in the ditch. – Our Correspondent, Savar

Child missing in Sangu RiverA minor boy went missing while swimming in Sangu River in Bandarban yesterday afternoon. Police said the missing child Kai Thowai Ko, 9, was playing football with his father Sayeen Thowai Bating by the riverside around 12:30pm. Later they went for a swim in the river where Kai drowned. Locals and � re service divers could not trace Ko. Bandarban police station Sub-In-spector Billal said collaborative e� orts were on for � nding the child. – Our Correspondent, Bandarban

Bus plunges in Barisal killing 1One was killed and 20 sustained injuries yesterday when the bus carrying them plunged into a roadside ditch in Baro-Kasba area of Gournadi upazila on the Barisal-Dhaka highway. The dead is Mohiuddin Haoladar, 44, son of late Mobarak Haoladar from Pramanandasaha village of Wajirpur upazila of Barisal. Police said the bus running on the Barisal-Keorakandi route, plunged into the ditch around 10am while trying to overtake a bus. – Our Correspondent, Barisal

NEWS IN BRIEF

WATER LOGGING IN MUNSHIGANJ

Uncertainty looms over cultivation on 20,000 hectares of land n Our Correspondent, Munshiganj

Farmers are in fear that water stagna-tion may hamper the cultivation of Rabi crops, including potato, on 20,000 hectares of land at Sirajdikhan and Louhajang upazilas in Munshiganj.

They said the canals linked to agri-culture lands have been � lled up with sands or silt and so water cannot be re-moved from agriculture lands.

They also blamed unplanned resi-dency in the district. People have been fast erecting their residential buildings on agriculture lands in the district since the multipurpose bridge was pro-posed over the Padma river.

Farmer Sunil Sarker, a resident from

Nagerhat village in Bikrampur upazi-la’s, said cultivation has become un-certain in many areas in the upazila be-cause of water getting stagnant there.

He also said he grows potatoes on around four acres of land every year. However it would not be possible for him this year due to shortage of better variety of potato seeds.

Farmer Sunil said he could not even collect better variety of potato seeds from local dealers.

Water has remained stagnant on the agriculture land at Jainsar, Uttar Chain Parha, Dakkhin Chain Parha, Bhatingb-hog, Bhobanipur, Batraishar, Koroitola and Sujanagar in Sirajdikhan upazila.

Farmers from the areas said they

were at a loss to understand what they should do at this time as they them-selves cannot drain water out of their land nor are the authorities yet to take any e� ective step about this.

Louhajang Upazila Agriculture Ex-tension O� cer Md Sha� qul Hasan said water had got stagnant on the agriculture lands because � ve canals, including Baligaon-Ghordaur canal, Atigaon-Morshdgaon canal, have been silted up and � lled up with sand.

Agriculture did not get hampered last year and nor would it happen this year. The agriculture lands have just been water logged this time since it rained a few times towards the end of the season, he said.

Agriculture o� cer Sha� q said he had already contacted the authori-ties about this and steps would soon be taken up about this and so farmers would not face any trouble growing crops on the � elds in the end.

Sirajdikhan Upazila Agriculture Ex-tension acting o� cer some lands are low and the others are high. Water dis-appear from the bil areas towards the end of Agrahayan month or the start of Paush month.

Echoing the Louhajang agriculture o� cial, he said this did not create any trouble in crop cultivation last season and nor would it do so this season if water went away from crop lands in time. l

Liquor worth Tk1.08 crore seized in Ctg n Tribune Report

Members of Bangladesh Coast Guard (East Zone) seized 1,800 bottles of whiskey worth of Tk1.08 crore from the outer anchorage of the Chittagong Port early yesterday.

None was nabbed in this connection. On a secret information that some

smugglers were smuggling the contra-band liquor by a trawler, a team of the coast guard conducted a drive in the area around 2:30am, said coast guard press release.

But sensing the presence of paramil-itary force, the smugglers � ed the area leaving some sacks of the liquor in the sea, it said.

Meanwhile, Detective Branch (DB) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) nabbed two persons with � ve kilo-grammes of hemp worth of Tk50,000, from in front of the Four Star Fuel Sta-tion in Kadamtoli area of Chittagong city yesterday, said a DB press release.

The arrested are Sagar Dey, 21, and Abul Hashem, 25.

The duo were arrested got down from a bus with the drug items in the area around 6:20am, the press release said.

A case was � led with Kotwali Police Station in this connection. l

13 injured in brick kiln blast in Barisaln Our Correspondent, Barisal

At least 13 people after a blast occurred at a brick kiln at Talukdarhat area under Bandar police station in Barisal metro-politan area on Thursday evening.

Reazul Islam, o� cer-in-charge of Bandar police station, said the own-er of SSB brick � eld arranged a milad mah� l to inaugurate the burner of a modern jig jag kiln � nanced by the Ba-risal branch Al-Arafah Islami Bank after Maghrib prayers.

After the milad, when the owner switched the burner on, a blast oc-curred which burnt the 13 victims, in-cluding the owner, two bank o� cials and some guests.

The victims were rushed to the Ba-risal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital around 7:30pm. The victims admitted at hospital are Abdur Rob, owner of the brick � eld, Musta� zur Rahman, bank manager, Ziaur Rahman, bank o� cer, Shahabuddin Khokon, for-mer chairman of Charamuddi union, guests at the event Khalek Hawladar, Helal Hossain, Ripon Bepari, Mijanur Rahman and Rezaul Kabir, and workers at the kiln Hasan and Aslam Ali.

Dr Nazrul Islam, head of the surgery department, unit 3 at the hospital, said the hospitalised injured had sustained 5-25% burn injuries.

Suspected robber lynched in Sylhet n Our Correspondent, Sylhet

A suspected robber was killed and three others were injured in a mass beating while taking preparation for committing robbery in the city’s Sen-para area early yesterday.

The deceased was identi� ed as Iqbal Hossain, 33, son of Shamser Ali of Ju-girgoan village in Doarabazar upazila of Sunamganj.

The injured robbers were undergo-ing treatment at MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital in critical conditions.

O� cer-in-Charge of Shahporan police station Shakhwat Hossain said a gang of robbers disconnected the electricity connection to the house of Mohsin Chowdhury and covered the CCTV camera with a piece of cloth before entering the house in the early hours.

But, residents of the house sensed

the presence of the robbers and in-formed neighbours of it over tele-phone.

Later, the neighbours rushed to their houses and encircled the robbers and managed to catch four of them. Later, local people gave them a good beating in which they injured critically.

On receiving information, police rushed to the spot and rescued them. They were taken to Osmani Medical College Hospital where Iqbal died.

Meanwhile, a gang of muggers looted valuables from two students of Osmani Medical College Hospital (OMCH) at Mirer Maidan in the city on Thursday night.

Sources said three muggers riding a motorbike intercepted a rickshaw carrying the two medical students – Nusrat and Nuzhat – near Police Lines while they were returning home from the hospital around 8pm. l

Five cops among 10 hurt in cops-robbers gun� ght in Sirajganjn Tribune Desk

At least ten people, includ-ing � ve policemen, were in-jured in a gun� ght between police and a gang of

robbers at Grosgram Ba-zar on Manannagar-Ranirhat road in Tarash upazila early yesterday.

Police said being tipped o� that a gang of robbers were taking preparation to commit robbery in the area, a team of police conducted a drive in the area around 2:30 am.

Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the rob-bers opened � re on them prompting them to retaliate, triggering a gun� ght, reports UNB.

Five alleged robbers re-ceived bullet injures during the gun� ght. l

Local people try to pull a bus which plunged into a roadside ditch at Kasba under Gournadi, Barisal yesterday. One person was killed and 20 others were injured in the road accident DHAKA TRIBUNE

Saturday, November 15, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World 7

EC Pakistan : EVMs can be manipulated more easily n Agencies

An o� cial of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) surprised members of the parliamentary committee on electoral reform on Thursday, when he told them that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were just as prone to fraud – if not more so – as traditional polling methods.

ECP’s Director General Information Technology Khizar Aziz candidly told the parliamentary body that the soft-ware used by EVMs could be manipu-lated to a� ect the results. He said that EVMs installed at polling stations were vulnerable to hacking via Bluetooth signals and other forms of wireless connectivity. In fact, he told members that the machines could even be tam-pered with while in storage.

Aziz, who delivered a technical brief-ing on the merits and demerits associ-ated with EVMs and biometric technol-ogy, said that it was a myth that EVMs could make the electoral exercise 100 per cent fair and transparent. He cited the examples of six European countries, which had switched back to conven-tional voting methods after abandoning EVMs because of a lack of transparency and trust, reports Dawn. l

ISIL leader calls for attacks in audio clipn Agencies

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Le-vant (ISIL) has released an audio re-cording it says is of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, just days after targeted air strikes in Iraq led to rumours he had been wounded or killed.

In the 17-minute message, the man, purported to be Baghdadi, made no direct reference to the strike against ISIL’s leadership, but made mention of a failed “crusade,” without going into any speci� c details of the air raids or how they were failing.

He also mentioned developments that have occurred since the strikes, including Egypt’s Ansar Beit al-Maqdis pledging its allegiance to ISIL.

This would place the recording posted on the web on Thursday as be-ing made within the past 36-hours.

In the message, Baghdadi called for the � ghting to continue, saying that the US and its allies feared the return of the Islamic Caliphate.

“Be assured, O Muslims, for your

state is good and in the best condition,” he said according to an English tran-script of the message released together with the recording.

The US said coalition aircraft launched attacks targeting ISIL leaders near Mosul on Friday, setting o� the speculation that Baghdadi had been wounded. Some re-ports pointed to another strike near Iraq’s border with Syria, saying Baghdadi was wounded there instead.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Baghdad, said the timing of the au-dio recording’s release was signi� cant.

“Since Saturday, rumours have been swirling saying Baghdadi was injured or killed. ISIL has denied this,” he said.

“This will be used by ISIL as evi-dence of the failure of the US to get their leader, and indeed, that is what this audio tape is intended to imply.”

The audio message was the � rst from Baghdadi since a video was released in July, shortly after ISIL proclaimed a ca-liphate over parts of Iraq and Syria, of him delivering a Friday sermon in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. l

Iraq troops ‘push Islamic State from oil town of Baiji’ n Agencies

Iraqi o� cials say their forces have driv-en out Islamic State (IS) � ghters from the oil re� nery town of Baiji, 200km (130 miles) north of Baghdad.

Gen Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi told Iraqi state TV that the town “had been completely liberated.”

There are still reports of heavy � ghting around the oil re� nery, which is Iraq’s largest.

IS seized Baiji in June during a light-ning advance through northern Iraq and laid siege to the re� nery.

The group, which also controls large parts of northern Syria, has been the target of a US-led military campaign since August.

LoudspeakersIraqi troops took control of large

parts of Baiji on Sunday, but stopped short of advancing on the re� nery, the road to which is believed to be heavily booby-trapped.

Iraqi war planes targeted � eeing IS � ghters near the re� nery on Friday, an Iraqi army captain told Reuters news agency.

Other reports suggested Iraqi troops

had now broken through to the be-sieged oil facility, which lies around 10km (6 miles) from the town centre.

O� cials told AP that the Iraqi army used loudspeakers to warn residents to stay indoors during the operation.

Around 200,000 people live in the town, and the re� nery accounts for around a quarter of Iraq’s oil production.

The town lies on the main road to Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, which is under the control of IS.

Iraqi troops could now use Baiji as a base for trying to take back the IS-con-trolled Tikrit to the south. l

Hong Kong student protesters plan Beijing visit, but may not be allowed inn Reuters, Hong Kong

Three Hong Kong student leaders plan to take their � ght for greater democ-racy to Beijing on Saturday as frustra-tion grows over the city government’s inability to negotiate on electoral re-forms in the former British colony.

Protesters have occupied some of Chinese-controlled Hong Kong’s most economically and politically import-ant districts for more than six weeks in their demand for free elections in 2017.

Hong Kong Federation of Students leader Alex Chow said on Thursday he planned to travel to Beijing with fellow

activists Eason Chung and Nathan Law and they hoped to meet Chinese Pre-mier Li Keqiang.

Beijing has called the protests in Hong Kong illegal, as has the Hong Kong government, and there is no guarantee that it will allow the activ-ists in.

Some Hong Kong business people have called for the protests to end, say-ing they are undermining con� dence in the free-wheeling capitalist hub and could threaten stability.

Media said on Friday that police could start to clear the key protest sites on Monday or Tuesday. A lawyer rep-

resenting two groups opposed to the protests said such a move could be de-layed by one or two days because the wording of a legal document allowing the clearance was too vague.

China rules Hong Kong under a “one country, two systems” formula that ac-cords the city a degree of autonomy and freedom not enjoyed in mainland China, with universal su� rage an even-tual goal.

But Beijing said in August that only candidates screened by a nominating committee will be able to contest a full city-wide vote to choose the next chief executive in 2017. l

STERILISATION DEATHS

Probe panel formed; drug � rm boss, son heldn Agencies

A single-member commission under retired judge Anita Jha was constituted on Friday to probe the botched steril-isation surgeries at Bilaspur’s govern-ment-run medical camps that have so far claimed lives of 13 women and left nearly 138 ill.

As Chhattisgarh chief minister Ra-man Singh came under attack over the deaths and allegations of spurious drugs being given, the director of a drug company, which allegedly supplied sub-standard medicines that were ad-ministered to the victims, and his son were arrested in state capital Raipur.

“A single-member probe commis-sion has been constituted and retd. District and sessions Judge Anita Jha has been entrusted with the responsi-bility of investigating the case of ster-ilisation surgeries at Sankri (Pendari), Gaurela, Pendra and Marwahi areas of Bilaspur district, where 13 women died and several fell critically ill after undergoing surgery,” a government statement said.

The commission has been asked to submit its report to the state govern-ment within three months, it said.

CM Singh had on Thursday an-nounced an unbiased and transparent judicial probe into the incidents fol-lowing which, the General Administra-tion Department issued a noti� cation last evening regarding formation of the panel.

The CM, meanwhile, rejected the Congress’ demand for his resignation. “Will by resignation resolve this issue. This is no option. Congress is only try-ing to politicise the issue,” he said.

While 83 women were operated upon at Nemichand Jain Cancer and Research Centre at Pendari village of Takhatpur block on November 8, around 56 women underwent surger-ies at three di� erent camps in Pendra block on November 10.

The commission will investigate the case on number of points, including if standard protocol was followed at these camps, circumstances that led to the incident, whether medicines used at the camps were of standard quality, who are those accountable for this in-cident, measures that can be taken to avoid recurrence of such incidents and others, the statement added.

Mahawar Pharma Pvt Ltd’s direc-tor Ramesh Mahwar and his son Su-mit have been arrested under section 420 for cheating, based on a com-plaint lodged by Food and Drug Ad-ministration authorities, Raipur SP OP Pal told PTI. l

UK to seize ‘foreign � ghters’ passports n AFP

British Prime Minister David Cameron has outlined plans to seize passports from British nationals linked to armed groups and stop them returning from � ghting overseas.

Cameron has also proposed land-ing bans on airlines that fail to comply with London’s no-� y lists.

“We will shortly be introducing our own new Counter-Terrorism Bill in the UK,” Cameron said in a speech to Aus-tralia’s parliament before travelling to the G20 leaders’ summit in Brisbane, adding that there was “no opt-out from dealing with this.”

“New powers for police at ports to seize passports, to stop suspects travelling and to stop British nationals returning to the UK unless they do so on our terms.

“New rules to prevent airlines that don’t comply with our no-� y lists or se-curity screening measures from land-ing in the UK.”

Some 500 radicalised Britons are es-timated to be � ghting in Iraq and Syria, both of which are facing a major o� en-sive from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

British media reports said the legis-lation, to be introduced in parliament this month, would block individuals from returning from Syria and Iraq to Britain for at least two years unless they comply with strict measures.

These could include being escorted back to Britain and then facing prose-cution, bail-style reporting conditions and deradicalisation courses. l

We’re here. So are our warships

n AP, Brisbane

Vladimir Putin is underlining his pres-ence at a major summit of world lead-ers in Australia by stationing warships in waters o� the country’s northeast-

ern coast, prompting the Australian prime minister to angrily accuse Rus-sia of trying to reclaim the “lost glo-ries” of the Soviet Union.

The diplomatic drama, which has been simmering since a Malaysia Air-

lines plane was shot down over an area of Ukraine controlled by Rus-sian-backed separatists in July, threat-ened to overshadow Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s goal of keeping this weekend’s G-20 summit focused

on economic growth.But Abbott, who had previously

said he would physically confront the Russian president over the Flight 17 di-saster that killed 298 people, including 38 Australian citizens and residents,

did little to dampen tensions with his latest critique of Putin’s Russia.

In recent days, four Russian war-ships have entered international wa-ters o� the northeast Australian coast to coincide with Putin’s visit to Austra-lia for the summit that brings together the leaders of the world’s 20 biggest industrialized and developing econ-omies. Australia, in turn, sent three warships of its own to monitor them.

The Russian embassy said on Friday that Russia’s Paci� c � eet was testing its range, and could be used as security for Putin.

Abbott was not impressed.“Russia is being much more assertive now than it has been for a very long time,” he said at a press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, also in Australia for the sum-mit. “Interestingly, Russia’s economy is declining even as Russia’s assertive-ness is increasing.”

The prime minister, who met with Putin earlier this week on the sidelines of the Asia-Paci� c Economic Coopera-tion forum in Beijing, aired details of his conversation with the Russian leader.

“One of the points that I tried to make to President Putin is that Russia would be so much more attractive if it was aspiring to be a superpower for peace and freedom and prosperity ... instead of trying to recreate the lost glo-ries of tsarism or the old Soviet Union.”

Abbott, an athletic 56-year-old for-mer amateur boxer whose government is a staunch US ally, has gained a high-er international pro� le by loudly de-manding more cooperation from Rus-sia on the Dutch-led investigation into the downing of Flight 17.

He raised eyebrows last month when he declared he intended to “shirtfront” Putin, using an Australian football term for a head-on shoulder charge to an opponent’s chest.

Cameron also took a swipe at Rus-sia, warning that Western sanctions against the country could increase if it continues to foster the rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor An-gela Merkel downplayed the appear-ance of Russia’s ships.

“I � nd it much more serious that there are violations of Ukraine’s ter-ritorial integrity,” Merkel said during a press conference in Auckland, New Zealand, which she is visiting en route to the G-20.

Putin was expected to arrive in Aus-tralia for the summit in the eastern city of Brisbane on Friday.

Abbott has pushed to keep the G-20’s agenda � rmly focused on a plan to add $2 trillion to global GDP over � ve years, with countries expected to present reports on how they will achieve that goal this weekend.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim on Friday praised the G-20, which is of-ten criticized for being all talk and no action, for setting a clear target.

“We’ll see what the results are, but we’re already encouraged,” Kim said. “If the countries will go through with the kinds of structural reforms that they’ve committed to, we could see a real bump in growth.”

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey has said the group will focus on infrastruc-ture investment to help meet the goal. The World Bank estimates the � nancing infrastructure gap in developing econo-mies is more than $1 trillion per year. l

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, front, walks down from his plane upon his arrival at the airport in Brisbane to take part in the G20 summit yesterday AFP

Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, and his son were arrested in Raipur

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, receives a hongi, a traditional Maori welcome, during an o� cial welcoming ceremony at Government House in Auckland yesterday AFP

W E L C O M E T O O Z , M U T T E R

Iron-rich menuBreakfast: Scrambled eggs and whole-meal toast or iron-forti� ed cereal and low-fat yoghurt. Fresh orange or grapefruit juice. Lunch: Bean, spinach and tomato salad and wholemeal roll or wholemeal pita and tuna, capsi-cum, avocado, spinach. Two kiwifruit. Dinner: Beef and vegetable stir-fry and basmati rice or wholemeal spa-ghetti and sauce (tomato, onion, cap-sicum, mushroom, red kidney beans). Fruit salad. l

Who needs supplements?Pregnant women and those with a di-agnosed iron de� ciency are most like-ly to bene� t from taking an iron sup-

plement. Don’t take iron supplements before talking to your doctor as excess iron can cause chronic iron overload. Large doses of iron can cause con-stipation, nausea and stomach pain. An overdose of iron pills can be toxic and even fatal, especially in children. If you need iron supplements, take them on an empty stomach before bed, rather than with meals or other mineral supplements to ensure you absorb as much as you need without compromising other nutrients.

Heart health and mental health are linkedA new study provides more evidence that mental health and phys-ical health are linked.

The study,  present-ed at a meeting of the Canadian Cardiovas-

cular Congress, shows an association between having a mental disorder- in-cluding schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and bipolar disorders and an increased risk of heart disease or stroke.

Speci� cally, researchers found that the likelihood of having heart disease or a stroke was doubled  for people who had a mental disorder during any point of their lives.

Researchers also found that the likelihood of having heart disease was doubled and the likelihood of having had a stroke was tripled among people on psychiatric medications, which include antidepressants, mood-stabilizing drugs and antipsychotics.

The study was conducted using data from the  Canadian Community Health Survey, which examined dif-

ferent health measures of people aged 12 and older living in the 10 provinces and three territories of Canada.

The study o� ered some potential reasons for the link. For one, behaviors that may be more common among

people with mental disorders – such as poor diet or tobacco or alcohol use - could then be tied to the heart risk. Another possible reason is that the use of psychiatric medications could lead to weight gain, which could then

lead to obesity and high cholesterol and pose a heart risk.

Yet another reason is that people with mental disorders may not be able to obtain appropriate care or they may not even seek care because of the symp-toms of their disorder. This is hardly the � rst study where mental health and heart health have been found linked. In 2013, a study published in the journal Circulation showed that men who were diagnosed with a mental disorder at age 18 had a higher risk of heart disease. l

| Compiled by Dr Israt Sadia

Ways to lower your risk for dementian Dr Fuad Shaheed

Aluminum is one of the most widely used metals in the world. Consider your morning commute: You hop into your car, where you’re protected from the ele-

ments by aluminum body panels. You sip your morning co� ee from an alu-minum travel mug. You arrive at your desk and pry open your laptop’s alu-minum case to check your email.

All of this exposure to aluminum, however, may come at a cost. Research suggests that the metal — a known neurotoxin — builds up in the brain over time, contributing to Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Because aluminum is so pervasive, it’s nearly impossible to avoid com-pletely. But taking certain steps can signi� cantly lower your risk of devel-oping dementia.

Watch your blood sugarEven mild elevations of blood sugar, well below the threshold for mak-ing a diagnosis of diabetes, have now been demonstrated to signi� cantly correlate with the risk of developing dementia. To keep blood sugar under control, limit the amount of carbo-hydrates you consume and choose healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, and seeds. If you choose to eat meat, pick grass-fed beef and wild � sh, which are higher in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

Keep up with cardioPhysical activity is a wonderful brain activity. Aerobic activity can make your brain more resilient against de-veloping dementia. At least 20 min-utes of sustained aerobic activity each day, such as running, brisk walking, or bike riding. 

Protect your nogginEven mild head trauma early in life — a hard knock during a high school football game or a rough crash while rollerblading — can set the stage for dementia later on. Always wear a hel-met when biking, skateboarding, or rollerblading.

Sip mineral waterSilicon is a common mineral in tap

and bottled water. It also chemically counteracts aluminum and is given to patients to treat acute aluminum poi-soning. A 2013 study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that drink-ing mineral water with silicon helped � ush aluminum from the body.

Lower your cholesterolIf your cholesterol levels are high, getting them under control may re-duce your risk for dementia. In stud-ies where large groups of people were followed for many years, people in midlife who were taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs reduced their risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s dis-ease by about 60 to 70% compared to those who weren’t taking statins for elevated cholesterol.

The health problem you have, you may not knowIron de� ciency impacts the health of one in four women and one in six men in the world, yet many don’t even know they have itn Prescription Desk

Iron de� ciency is more than just a small dietary problem that leaves you feeling a bit tired – ex-perts describe it as the most debilitating  nu-tritional de� ciency  to-

day. With more than two billion suf-ferers globally, this condition has even prompted the World Health Organiza-tion to form a plan of action. 

According to many researchers, iron de� ciency (ID), and particularly iron de� ciency anaemia (IDA), isn’t just an issue in the developing world. In fact, it’s impacting the health of 25% of women and 16% of men.

It a� ects more women than any other condition, constituting an epidemic public health crisis. Such a problem,if ignored and not addressed properly, can have a devastating e� ect onentire populations with serious consequences.

Very common symptomsAs well as the common symptom of  fatigue, low iron can lead to decreased productivity, increased risk of depression, and lower immunity and poorer outcomes for mother and baby in pregnancy. It’s also been linked to heart failure. ID and IDA are the most serious chronic conditions a� ecting people worldwide.

It’s costing millions of dollars a year in lost productivity, poorer educational performance and slower recovery after surgery leading to prolonged hospital stays.

What is iron deficiency?Our body needs  iron  to make haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in our blood, which transports oxygen from our lungs to every cell in our body so they can produce energy. The dietary mineral is so essential to the body’s function it knows not to

ditch any excess and instead stores it in the  liver. Levels can become low due to chronic blood loss (through menstruation or other causes), inadequate dietary intake, an inability to absorb or use it, or even excessive exercise.  

If left untreated, iron de� ciency

can lead to anaemia, which causes the body to make small red blood cells that don’t contain enough haemoglobin, and therefore can’t carry enough oxy-gen to the organs and tissues. Signs of IDA include fatigue, tiredness and de-creased immunity, but there are often no symptoms. 

Tests and treatmentA simple and inexpensive blood test can diagnose iron levels, it would be a routine part of primary healthcare. An annual blood test can keep an eye on your iron levels.

Pregnant women should all have their blood screened because of the strong links between ID in mums-to-be and birth complications and delayed development among newborns.

Oral supplements, often in the form of tablets, are an e� ective � rst-line treatment for ID. These are often as-sociated with symptoms such as  con-stipation, diarrhoea and nausea, which leads people to discontinue the treat-ment.

Anyone diagnosed with IDA need to to speak to their doctor about intrave-nous iron infusions, which he believes should also be a standard treatment for IDA in pregnancy. 

IV–iron has come a long way and has none of the gastrointestinal side e� ects that the tablets have. Patients will � nd an almost immediate increase in their quality of life and general wellbeing when their iron levels return to healthy.

The food factorBoosting your intake of iron-rich foods is essential in ID caused by inadequate diet. The best sources of well-absorbed iron are beef and lamb.

Iron-rich plant foods include whole grains, legumes, nuts and green leafy vegetable. Combining a vitamin C-rich source, such as orange juice, with a plant-based meal will boost iron absorp-tion. Avoid having  ca� eine  with your meal as it inhibits iron absorption. l

How can you get enough iron?Iron is an essential component of haemoglobin, a substance in red blood cells that carries oxygen around the body. An iron de� ciency means less oxygen is delivered to the cells, which can lead to fatigue, poor work per-formance and susceptibility to infections. If you do not absorb enough iron each day, your body’s stores gradually get used up. While symptoms of iron de� ciency may be subtle at � rst, it can eventually result in iron de� ciency anaemia, a condition associated with a shortage of red blood cells. Symptoms include pale skin, fatigue, irritability, and weakness, shortness of breath, pins and needles and impaired immunity.

Diets for iron

In most cases, diet is the key to restor-ing the balance. However, not all iron in food is created equal. There are two types of iron: haem iron (found in � esh foods, such as red meat, chicken and � sh) and non-haem iron (found in plant foods, such as wholegrain breads, iron-forti� ed breakfast cere-als, eggs, legumes and some vegeta-bles). Haem iron is absorbed four to � ve times more easily than non-haem iron, but the absorption of non-haem iron is three times greater when foods containing vitamin C are eaten in the

same meal. Vitamin C-rich foods in-clude oranges, kiwifruit, berries, to-matoes, capsicum and broccoli. Diets that include two serves of fruit and � ve serves of vegetables a day should provide enough vitamin C to boost non-heam iron absorption. But there are foods that inhibit iron absorption, such as calcium supplements, tea and co� ee. So eat more brightly coloured fruits and vegetables with meals and avoid drinking tea or co� ee with meals or taking calcium supplements at the same time as eating iron-rich foods.

Prescription8 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, November 15, 2014

| Compiled by: Shirsho Saaeadat

| Compiled by Dr Kazi Mahbuba Akhtar

QUICK TIPS

Overcoming period problems

Menstrual problems are one of the most common reasons that women see their doctor. Indeed, 80% of wom-en experience premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and between 40 to 70% su� er from period pain, with about one in 10 experiencing so much discomfort it in-terferes with their daily lives.

Heavy bleedingCalled menorrhagia, heavy bleeding can be caused by a hormone imbal-ance or uterine � broids and polyps.

If there is no underlying problem, bleeding can be reduced with non-hormonal tablets, oral contraceptives or by � tting a progesterone contraceptive coil. Surgery may also be considered, such as stripping the womb lining or removing the uterus. Supplements are given as an iron de� ciency is likely.

Infrequent periodsOligomenorrhoea refers to irregular or infrequent periods that occur between every six weeks and six months. This can be triggered by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal disor-der.

If the cause is PCOS, weight loss will be encouraged. The Pill may be o� ered to regulate your cycle.

Periods have stoppedSecondary amenorrhoea is the term used when a woman not in menopause has not had her period for six months. It can be triggered by stress, serious illness, and eating disorders and over-exercising. It can also indicate PCOS, hormonal problems or can occur when you stop taking the contraceptive pill.  Encourage weight loss, if neces-sary, and o� er the Pill.

Painful periodsReferred to as dysmenorrhoea, pain occurs in the lower abdomen and can radiate to the back and thighs. While it may indicate endometriosis, often there is no underlying disease as it in-volves prostaglandins, chemicals that initiate uterine contractions to expel tissue and � uids.

Take over-the-counter pain medi-cation, such as ibuprofen, when you feel the cramps coming, the earlier, the better. If this doesn’t help, the Pill may be o� ered.

Premenstrual syndromeThere are numerous symptoms associ-ated with PMS but the most common ones include low mood and irritability, breast tenderness and bloating.

Lifestyle changes such as improv-ing diet and increasing exercise. Eve-ning primrose oil and vitamin B6 may also be suggested. l

HEALTH FLASH

FOOD THERAPY

RESEARCH

DID YOUKNOW?

A study published in the journal Circulation showed that men who were diagnosed with a mental disorder at age 18 had a higher risk of heart disease

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9Long Form Saturday, November 15, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Colin Risner

Having read the � ve reasons why it probably won’t happen described in Part Three, you may have written me o� as a

somewhat jaded and cynical develop-ment hack who should be put out to grass. I don’t blame you. Nevertheless I assure you that this analysis is based on long experience. To balance the case let me present � ve reasons why I believe the fantastic objective of eradicating extreme poverty could actually happen. They are not in order of priority.

People

I have met a huge number of dedicated, talented and committed people willing to work tirelessly and often for very little reward to achieve positive development outcomes. I have been privileged to lead a couple of fantastic teams of Bangladeshis during two long stints as a team leader. Most recently the partnership between the shiree team and implementing NGOs that was built made me believe that almost anything we set out to do could be achieved.

There are armies of front line � eld workers in both NGOs, including thousands of very low paid “volunteers,” as well as government employees who do a great job. As an example of the latter, I was team leader of an Agricultural Support Services Project (ASSP) during the late 1990s and I am sure the strong cohort of DAE block supervisors (now entitled Assistant Agricultural Extension O� cers) dedicated to providing advice and support to farmers remains a potent force. There are thousands of no less dedicated public servants in other sectors who could do so much more, even with current resources, if empowered through e� ective management.

The experience in shiree is that the poorest of the poor when � rst enrolled in the programme often exhibit a ret-icence or sense of resignation to their

fate. However when revisiting groups after a relatively short period one can nearly always feel a palpable increase in con� dence, hope and happiness as people start to experience an improve-ment in their conditions and can see the prospect of a brighter future for their families.

This turnaround in fortunes, how-ever fragile and vulnerable to future setbacks, is associated with direct transfers but is also, I am sure, strong-ly contributed to by the counselling, contact and attention provided by � eld workers, the feeling of solidarity from being involved in group activities and the increase in self worth from becoming a producer – whether micro entrepreneur or employee.

Even enrolment into a social protection scheme such as a widows allowance or old age allowance, while providing what may be regarded as a pittance in terms of cash transfers (typically Tk300 per month), requires an element of recognition of current and future need by people in author-ity. A recognition that this person is a legitimate and valued member of the community with rights, aspirations and links to important people and the institutions of state.

New technologies

By this I mean both information and communications technology, the digital revolution, but also new approaches to undertaking poverty reduction embodied in the manner in which projects and programmes are undertaken and the results that can be expected. These two elements are interlinked.

One of the learnings of the shiree programme is that the circumstances of individual households facing extreme poverty are complex and may not be amenable to a simple or standardised solution. Hence a given asset transfer, for example in the rural areas the pro-vision of a cow with associated support such as training and fodder, will often be very e� ective but quite frequently will not be the very best option for a given household. This may be because the mix of labour available in that household is better suited to some other IGA or perhaps because the recip-ients are just not interested in raising cattle, but would perhaps be very keen on and well suited to some alternative.

One “technological” solution to this issue is simply to give cash and to leave the choice of IGA to the recipients. However for the extreme poor, many of whom have never

before been in receipt of an amount perhaps equivalent to a whole year of income, making the best rational choice between many alternatives may be di� cult. An alternative approach is to only select households deemed suitable for the particular asset that is on o� er but this implies leaving some of the extreme poor out.

The basic problem is one of manag-ing massive diversity at large scale and the solution is to equip bene� ciaries, project managers and � eld sta� with adequate choices and adequate infor-mation resources. This is where digital technology, while not a panacea, can make a huge contribution. Hence in shiree a real time information system has been developed that is operated through an application downloaded onto Smart phones provided to � eld sta� .

Through a snapshot (10 minutes) questionnaire undertaken regular-ly with bene� ciaries with results automatically uploaded to the central server the progress of all individual households can be continuously mon-itored. The tool does not substitute for the dedicated work of � eld sta� but provides the information needed for adaptive programming - managing diversity at scale.

Furthermore new applications can be developed that allow the identi� ca-tion of issues associated with a myriad of di� erent IGAs. In shiree there is already one such “app” in pilot that monitors the health of livestock and allows back-o� ce veterinary support to be remotely accessed. The scope for other “poverty impact apps” is limitless.

The opportunity for application of such technology in the realm of public service provision is no less exciting and potentially impactful. Hence, for example, access to government safety nets amongst 100,000 shiree extreme poor bene� ciaries is monitored reg-ularly and can be seen by all via the project website. This is a powerful tool for assessing the outreach of public services to the poorest that could easi-ly be extended to other poverty critical

sectors such as education or health, ensuring that the drive to create a “Digital Bangladesh” has an extreme poverty reduction pay o� .

NGOs

Bangladesh has probably the largest number and most diverse range of development sector NGOs for any country of similar size, including of course the world’s largest NGO and a number of organisations that have transitioned from NGO status into quasi commercial organisations. In addition the major international development NGOs are all active in the country with many having been contributors to national development since soon after liberation.

It is not fashionable to praise NGOs, they are not the primary drivers of macro economic growth, they are not the guardians of national policy and there have been notable instanc-es of corruption within the NGO sector. There are however many great NGOs in Bangladesh and more than anything, collectively they have the experience, � eld presence, expertise, mandate and commitment to reach the poorest of the poor. They can reach into areas and work with com-munities that government services cannot or do not reach. Hence if the objective is to eradicate extreme pov-erty it is critically important that NGOs are heavily engaged in the venture, that the lessons from NGO implement-ed programmes are drawn into public service provision for the poor. The community mobilisation, advocacy and “holding to account” function

of campaigning NGOs must also be respected and supported.

Proven approaches

As stated elsewhere in this article achieving the objective of the rapid eradication of extreme poverty from Bangladesh does not require the invention of radical new approaches but it does require a dynamic, committed and results oriented

national leadership, the expansion and e� ective targeting of social protection bene� ts by the government, the scaling up and further enhancement of successful project approaches such as those pioneered by the BRAC- Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty reduction (CFPR) programme and further developed in projects such as shiree, the Chars Livelihood Programme (CLP) and Food Security for the Ultra Poor (FSUP), measures to ensure that the extreme poor are not excluded from core public services, the full coordinated participation of the donor community, the full utilisation of available NGO capacity to access even the hardest to reach groups, a dynamic real time information system that provides rapid and honest feedback to programme implementers, the full support and participation of local administration and local elites as well as a dynamic role for the private sector especially in supporting access to formal employment opportunities. With strong political will and a broad national, non politicised, coalition of support all of the above are eminently achievable.

It’s a great objective

A � nal reason why the objective of the rapid eradication of extreme poverty may be achieved is because it has all the characteristics of being a great, smart, objective. Amongst these characteristics are that it is challenging but, as shown above, achievable, it is a truly national objective – as all regions experience extreme poverty, it is consistent with the global development agenda and will allow Bangladesh to continue to be at the cutting edge of poverty reduction e� orts worldwide.

It is a� ordable and will help to sustain economic growth by building productive potential. Most of all this is an inspiring objective that all sections of society can support and participate in achieving in some way.

As a next step readers may wish to consider endorsing the Manifesto for the Extreme Poor via the website.

I conclude by thanking all of my Bangladeshi colleagues for an inspiring period in my working life and to wish you all success in the continued � ght for freedom from all forms of poverty and deprivation. l

The author has 25 years of experience working in the development sector and he has spent nine years in Bangladesh. He was former CEO of shiree. colinrisner@gmail.com.

The � ght for freedom from extreme povertyHaving described reasons why it probably won’t happen, here are � ve reasons why I believe the fantastic objective of eradicating extreme poverty could actually happen. This is the concluding part of a four part series

The basic problem is one of managing massive diversity at large scale and the solution is to equip bene� ciaries, project managers and � eld sta� with adequate information resources

There are many great NGOs in Bangladesh and collectively they have the experience, � eld presence, expertise mandate and commitment to reach the poorest of the poor

PART FOUR – FIVE REASONS WHY IT REALLY COULD HAPPEN!

A given asset transfer will often be very e� ective but quite frequently will not be the very best option for a given household SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Be consistent in dealing with BCLThe government needs to show consistency in upholding rule

of law and putting the public interest ahead of its own party members.

Lack of consistency is a key reason why there is an expectation among some BCL leaders that they can expect favouritism and protection from the ruling party. An example of this was seen recently by the way in which the PM’s political adviser, HT Imam, blatantly contradicted the PM’s own exhortations to students to be self-reliant, by promising preferential treatment to BCL members in civil service recruitment process.

Allegations that many Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders have been involved with extortion and other criminal activities must be addressed urgently. Recent events highlight the fact that some BCL supporters believe that they can act criminally with impunity.

It is welcome that the prime minster’s adviser on ICT a� airs, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, has publicly told BCL o� cials not to allow any “criminal activities” on campuses, or get “involved in any activity that may defame” the ruling party. Similarly, the prime minister’s calling of an internal investigation to resolve the Chhatra League crisis that has disrupted Chittagong University is another acknowledgement that the government is aware of the public’s grave concerns about the activities of some BCL members.

However, it is imperative that this is followed up by clear and consistent action.

The government has to support law enforcers in ensuring all wrongdoings are openly investigated and any BCL members involved in criminal activities are brought to justice. The public deserves nothing less.

One bus can replace 30 carsLast week’s publication of the attractive new design for stations

in the Dhaka Metro Rail project provides a hopeful harbinger of better public transport in the years ahead.

However, it does not alleviate the need to urgently improve the city’s bus services.

Congestion costs Dhaka’s economy over Tk200bn every year. The most cost-e� ective way available to reduce gridlock is to improve the quality and e� ciency of bus services so that commuters are tempted out of cars, and journey times are speeded up for everyone overall.

One properly functioning bus route can easily remove 30 cars o� the road. Increasing public transport use can not only speed up tra� c � ow, but also reduce the pollution generated by allowing an ever increasing number of private cars to dawdle in tra� c jams.

Buses are the only means of transport available for most people. It is in everyone’s interest for the government and BRTC to put improving buses � rst. With space at a premium, bus services have to be prioritised ahead of the small minority of car owners.

This means introducing and enforcing public transport-only bus lanes on all major thoroughfares. It includes improving signage and bus stops to help make bus services more attractive and e� cient.

Only by adopting such an integrated approach can e� orts to improve the safety and reliability of buses, and to introduce new and more comfortable buses, make a real di� erence.

We cannot a� ord to neglect public transport any longer. Buses and improving public transport must come � rst, if we want to end the curse of tra� c jams.

Signs? What signs?November 7

Abida Ahmed“Showing utter indi� erence to the signboard put up by DMP tra� c unit, instructing pedestrians to use the nearby footbridge, these people risk their lives crossing the busy street in capital’s Bangla Motor area.”

Simply put, they must pay the � ne.

DU proctor: No more outsiders’ protest in campusNovember 7Shuvra Sheuly Roy Wow, really?? They can’t even sit and protest in certain places? Don’t people who block such protests have any shame?

Dr Kamal for facilitating multi-dimensional debate to resolve political crisisNovember 2Momoaswan Multidimensional. Sounds like a case for Doctor Who.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, November 15, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Employer (4)5 Pardon (5)8 Tempt (6)9 Illuminated sign (4)10 Consumed (3)12 Clergyman (6)13 Here (6)15 Halts (6)18 Went by (6)20 Insect (3)21 Matured (4)23 Make angry (6)24 Shy (5)25 Work units (4)

DOWN1 Backless seat (5)2 United (3)3 Plump (5)4 Wrongdoing (3)5 Venerated (7)6 Filled trench around castle (4)7 Stratum (4)11 Large volume (4)12 Went back (7)14 Modern Persia (4)16 Sweetener (5)17 Sports teams (5)18 Agreement (4)19 Slender support (4)21 Land measure (3)22 Incite (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 5 represents N so � ll N every time the � gure 5 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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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Gossip girlsNovember 2

RSI commented a few days back regarding this, that we women need to be aware of our rights. We need to be strong and work harder in order to achieve our rights.

SDThis article seems to bear evidence of the fact that women are more jealous, suspicious in nature than men, and also have the deep-seated scavenger mentality.

Zero-Agenda SD: Not necessarily. Men can be just as jealous and duplicitous as any of the individuals the author has chalked out in this piece.

SD Zero-Agenda: Yes, man can be, but less in degree.

Rahat SD: Some men are less, some are more. Men judge and make fun of other men based on di� erent

criteria … ones that re� ect masculine priorities. A man who acts feminine is likely to be

bullied. The owner’s son is likely to be judged as incompetent and undeserving of his position. As sexual “honour” or dressing conservatively is not a male priority, you will not � nd men being judged for dressing or acting lewdly.

But you will � nd jealousy and suspicion (and I’m not sure what scavenger mentality means so I’ll leave that out) to the same extent in men as well as women. Of course it’s less problematic for them as people do not generally infringe on a man’s freedom to work or to not marry.

SD Rahat: You are simply digressing from the main points raised in the original article on which we are discussing.

The author pointed out that women more than men keep watch on the movements and activities, etc of other women.

My contention is why and for what. Is it because they love and like their fellow women all around? Search for the answer and I hope you will understand better.

Mahmudul IslamThis writing deserves an accolade.

Andalah AftabDear author, your words make me feel stronger and con� dent. Thank you.

Congestion costs Dhaka’s economy over Tk200bn every year. We cannot a� ord to neglect public transport

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 ZPut the public interest � rst. Ensure all wrongdoings are openly investigated

Why the national power grid collapsedNovember 2

The TurminatorSure, here we go. Bangladesh says one thing, India says another. Neither side will admit its error.

tahsinWhy do we overlook the fact that there had been a massive solar spike yesterday noon? Which had caused a power outage in seconds?

Let us not be foolish like the person who allegedly said the blackout was done to bungle her rally. We have more important things to focus on than her show being ruined.

Would the media please look into this possibility, that a solar out-surge caused the daylong blackout?

Vikram KhanWhatever the reason is, the PM or ministry involved should have had the decency to apologise to the general public about this extremely shameful matter.

The unbeatable Modi waveNovember 2

Evil People PoliticsHopefully, the fretting over this man’s arrival will all be for naught.

Was� a selected National Geographic Adventurer

of the YearNovember 7

Istiaque Al Mahmud “Was� a has been selected for her activism and commitment to empower women through her

work in the � eld of adventure.”She is among 10 who were nominated, actually.

We should vote for her to be selected.

Abida AhmedWow! Great news!

Marla Singer To in� nity and beyond!!!

Yasin ShohagGood going, Was� a.

Yeu Yong YeoWell done, keep it up!

11Op-Ed Saturday, November 15, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Ekram Kabir

I would do an injustice if I didn’t thank Syed Ishtiaque Reza for writing “Cox’s Bazar is no place for tourists” on November 11 in the Dhaka Tribune. He was

tempted to write the piece after being enchanted by a TVC on Bangladesh tourism on a foreign TV channel.

And after that, he visited Cox’s Bazar. His observations remind me of our backwardness as far as tourism is concerned. Ishtiaque Reza has given a detailed picture of the environment, security, as well as facilities for the travellers in our country. He didn’t � nd anything there that matches the TV commercial.

When you look at the surroundings in Cox’s Bazar, “beautiful” is the last word that would pop up in your mind. The entire area can be compared to a slum. With human excreta � oating near the shore, there’s hardly any room for bathing in the sea water. The sand is littered with garbage.

The beach is not at all safe, even during the day, let alone in the evening. The presence of drug abus-ers, sex workers, muggers, beggars, and various types of vendors can ruin the aesthetics that would otherwise � ll your mind. And, when you see the on-duty beach police resting on the beach beds, you might take the decision not to return to Cox’s Bazar ever again.

Well, Cox’s Bazar may not be the only place infested with myriad prob-

lems. Almost every tourist spot in the country is plagued by similar setbacks. Most importantly, the element of beauty is quite absent in tourist places across our country. We, as a nation, may understand many things, but we surely don’t realise what the word “beauty” means.

The sense of beauty should start right from the airport and land ports, through which foreign visitors arrive. I don’t know about others, but airports in our country have never been able to evoke the feeling of being in a nice place.

Then, when you come out of the airport, the tra� c will certainly make you angry. Surely, our rowdy tra� c gives an idea about our psychology that positions us quite negatively in the minds of tourists. Their excitement of arriving at a new country is likely to evaporate when they land.

What do the tourists, both foreign and local, really seek when they visit

a place? To my mind, there has to be a wow factor in each of the tourist spots that will make you feel good about the place. When you visit a seashore near Kandy in Sri Lanka, the Bhaktapur Pal-ace in Nepal, the Brighton shores in the UK, or Goa in India, what do you feel? It won’t certainly be something that you felt in the Bangladeshi tourist spots.

Almost every country has turned at least one of their heritage sites into a “paradise on Earth.” Some countries already have readymade paradises! Some areas of Kashmir are often called “God’s paintings.” Those countries

have been successfully nurturing their paradises for a long time.

We too had many places that we could have called paradises, but our negligence and lack of maintenance have ruined those places. Sadly, we can’t even take care of our national mausoleums. I don’t think people who visit our national mausoleum in Savar or the Shaheed Minar feel good about

the environment there.Holidaymakers look for comfort.

But, surprisingly, the � rst discomfort that they face in Bangladesh is lack of communication, and good plac-es to spend the night. Going to the tourist venues in Sylhet or Bogra or Chittagong seem like Herculean tasks. They also can’t � nd any proper hotel in those places.

We have been constructing hundreds of structures in the past decades, but we haven’t bothered to worry about the wow and feel-good factors in our tourist spots. We say that our country is beautiful, but have we tried to match its beauty with global standards? What we say doesn’t match reality.

This reminds me of one of our mov-ie stars’ statements. In an interview with ABC Radio, Ananta Jalil said, when he makes movies, he tries to show the roads and towns of Bangla-desh to be as beautiful as possible.

He does that through animation, so that Bangladesh looks really beautiful. I appreciate his spirit and initiative, but what’s the end result? We’re trying to portray something which is not there, just like the video that Ishtiaque Reza watched on a foreign channel.

For how long should we fool ourselves with something that is not there? Most of the time, we forget that things don’t just happen, but we have to make them happen. l

Ekram Kabir, a journalist, is a DT columnist.

Slice of paradiseL A R G E R T H A N L I F E

We say that our country is beautiful, but have we tried to match its beauty with global standards?

n Farzana Sultana

The world debate on global warming and extreme weather conditions is taking new turns

and twists. The debate looms in when an extreme event, such as � ood, drought, or heatwave, crosses over the world. The electronic and print media hypothesise the event as a continuum of man-made environmental destruc-tion, with climate scientists warning that environmental hazards will occur more frequently in the coming years and decades.

It is now acknowledged that global climate has undergone severe changes and will continue to do so. The debate is primarily on the root cause, ie whether it is due to human-induced carbon emission or natural climate variability. Advocates of the human-induced climate change point to the extreme climatic events and current temperature trends. But, there is evidence that extreme climatic events happened even before the Industrial Revolution in 1760, and not due to man-made causes.

Many scholars such as Je� rey Sachs point to the rise in global temperatures right at the dawn of the Industrial Rev-olution. Nevertheless, the roots of the current global warming and climate change can be traced back to 18,000 years ago at the end of the Pleistocene Ice Age. At that time, much of North America, Europe, and Asia were buried under great glacial ice sheets. Fortu-nately, the current interglacial period is blessed by human civilisation and the current biosphere.

Some of the benchmarks over the time horizon are as follows: 15,000 years ago, the Earth was su� ciently warmed, halting the glacier process and causing the sea level to rise; fol-lowing the end of the Ice Age, Earth’s temperatures increased by 16 degrees Fahrenheit and the sea level by 300 feet; today’s warm temperatures start-ed from 1000 AD to 1350 AD, termed the “Medieval Warm Period.”

Periods of Earth’s warming and cooling occur in cycles. The smallest scale cycles of 40 years exists within a larger scale cycle of 400 years; the larger scale cycles exist in a still larger scale cycle of 20,000 years, or so on. During 1880-2006, two general cycles of warming and cooling were recorded in the US. Overall, US temperatures showed no signi� cant warming trend over the last 100 years. This has been well established but not publicised.

Climate change is a complex phenomenon with linkages to Earth’s rotation to the conglomerate e� ects of warming and cooling cycles. Therefore, it may not be rational to deduce a conclusion based on few years’ data. The preceding 20th century was declared as the warmest century of the last millennium, but man’s contribution, which has been manifested in many speeches and journal articles, is as small as 0.2% to 0.3% of the total greenhouse e� ect.

Both fortunately and regrettably, a lot of data and information is availa-ble and various projections are being made. These interpretations are based on short-term temperature trends and may not create accurate analytical projections about the signi� cance of man-made in� uences on climate change. l

Farzana Sultana works in the development sector.

True lies of climate change

Man’s contribution is as small as 0.2% to 0.3% of the total greenhouse e� ect

n Rabiul Islam

“What will you do after you � nish your educa-tion?” I asked one of

my friends, and she worriedly replied: “Before � nishing my education, I might end up getting married. If I am lucky, my in-laws might allow me to � nish graduating. After that, I’ll be a stay-at-home mom.”

A teacher at a women’s college I

know leaves early in the morning, and comes back in the evening. From morning till evening, her kids are under the supervision of a housemaid, who is an young teenager. Though the kids’ mother speaks in proper Bangla, the children speak in the local dialect which they have learnt from their housemaid. At home, these kids imi-tate what they watch on TV and what they see their housemaid do. They get very little time to interact with their

mother, and consequently fail to learn her ways.

Another mother works as a banker. Her mother stays at home and takes care of the grandchild when she is at work. In a way, this helps to instill comparatively better values and culture in the child’s mind, as she gets a close relative as a caregiver. But still, it relies on her grandmother’s stock of knowledge. That is how this child is going to grow up. This child will pick up her grandmother’s ways as she grows up.

But, not all mothers feel satis� ed with this idea of leaving their children at home in someone else’s hands. They want to raise their children in their own ways, as the tradition goes. They are constantly worried: “What if my child picks up bad language? What if my child cannot behave properly? What if she starts thinking like our housemaid?”

This is not the only reason why women want to be stay-at-home parents. Other social individuals, es-pecially their own husbands, parents, and in-laws often discourage the idea of working outside the household.

Husbands often claim that they marry someone in order to feel com-plete. When they come home from work, they don’t want to go to the

kitchen and cook. They come back from work to see their counterparts taking care of everything, as a partner would do. Parents also discourage their daughters-in-law to get jobs.

They argue that they don’t need � nancial assistance from the wives. Women are meant to do chores. If they stay out, like men, they won’t be able to lead a happy life. It will be very di� cult for them to raise kids and so on. In terms of persuasion, they repeatedly give examples of � ctional families where children became drug addicts, bad students, etc.

This is not an issue for Bangladesh only. Globally, families often face this problem. In developed countries, where gender inequalities are less em-inent, people make their own choices.

If the woman is more quali� ed and able to earn enough to support the family, then the man takes responsi-bilities at home.

Household chores are mostly

shared, because of a mutual under-standing. Even if men are in superior professions, women are not forced to stay at home if they are willing to work. In terms of raising kids, they ap-point nannies or babysitters at home, while they both try to work for their future. At a certain age, children are sent to daycare centres.

In Bangladesh, few o� ces and factories provide child daycare centres for working parents. But, these daycare centres are not available in the majority of the workplaces. As it is not very easy to � nd a reliable

person in the family who can properly take care of the kids, many educated women have to stay at home and become full-time mothers. These educated women even choose to resign from their workplaces permanently in order to take proper care of their kids and families.

If we grow up believing that we only have responsibilities towards our own individual families, it will a� ect the country badly. Certainly, individ-uals should value family, but they should also value a community where they get playgrounds, public institu-tions, hospitals, and security.

When women get public bene� ts such as public education, but choose to stay at home serving just the family, they only pay back their own fami-lies’ investment. But, when women become public o� cials and serve the nation, they pay back the whole popu-lation’s investment.

In order to ensure women’s empowerment, we need to do more research on how we can ensure safety and security of the kids growing up at home. We must � nd ways to make sure that women don’t feel uncom-fortable going to their workplaces. We must break out of these notions. l

Rabiul Islam is a freelance contributor.

Meeting our potential

If we grow up believing that we only have responsibilities towards our own individual families, it will a� ect the country badly

We need to stop spoiling our nation’s beauty SYED LATIF HOSSAIN

It’s time to cooperate with working mothers BIGSTOCK

BIGSTOCK

12 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, November 15, 2014

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Did you know?

Bangladesh 1st innings503 (Imrul Kayes 130, Tamim Iqbal 109, Shakib Al Hasan 71; Sikandar Raza 3-123, H Masakadza 2-23, T Panyangara 2-70, S Masakadza 2-77)Zimbabwe 1st innings(Overnight 113-1)S Raza c Mahmudullah b Jubair 82B Chari c Rahim b Rubel 0H Masakadza lbw b Sha� ul 81B Taylor c Taijul b Jubair 1R Chakabva lbw b Sha� ul 65C Ervine b Jubair 14E Chigumbura c Imrul b Jubair 88M Mutumbami lbw b Shakib 20S Masakadza c Mahmudullah b Taijul 0T Panyangara not out 6N M’shangwe c Mahmudullah b Jubair 8Extras: (b6, lb1, nb2) 9Total (all out; 106 overs) 374

Fall of wickets1-9 (Chari), 2-169 (H. Masakadza), 3-172 ( Taylor), 4-172 (Raza), 5-209 (Ervine), 6-322 (Chakabva), 7-356 (Mutumbami), 8-357 (S. Masakadza), 9-360 (Chigum-bura), 10-374 ( M’shangwe).BowlingSha� ul 18-5-50-2 (nb1), Rubel 9-1-46-1 (nb1), Taijul 30-2-100-1, Shakib 25-4-67-1, Jubair 20-1-96-5, Shuvagata 1-0-1-0, Mahmudullah 3-0-7-0Bangladesh 2nd inningsTamim Iqbal not out 8Imrul Kayes not out 11Extras: (b4) 4Total (for no wicket, nine overs) 23

BowlingS Masakadza 2-0-4-0, Panyangara 2-1-5-0, Raza 3-0-10-0, M’shangwe 2-2-0-0

Bangladesh lead by 152 runs with 10 wickets in hand

SCORECARD, DAY 3Hathurusingha delightedn Mazhar Uddin from Chittagong

Following the conclusion of the third day’s play of the third and � nal Test between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, the home side’s head coach Chandika Hathurusingha expressed his delight with the performance of his charges. After resuming the day’s proceedings on 113 for the loss of one wicket, Zim-babwe were dismissed for 374 in their � rst innings to give the hosts a lead of 129 runs. Juvenile leg-spinner Jubair Hossain was the architect of the visi-tors’ downfall, picking up his maiden � ve-wicket haul in his third Test.

Bangladesh extended the lead to 152 runs as the openers – Tamim Iqbal (eight) and Imrul Kayes (11) – added 23 runs in the nine remaining overs of the day.

With cracks starting to appear on the pitch going into the fourth and penulti-mate day’s play today, Hathurusingha reckoned a further 200 runs will present the Tigers with a good opportunity to seal the series sweep over the visitors.

“I think we are in a good position in this match after the third day and hav-ing the lead of 152 runs we are still not thinking about declaration. I think 350 is a good target to defend and I will be hap-py if we can reach that score,” Hathurus-ingha told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“I think the pitch already started to crack on some areas that might trouble the batsman on the fourth and � fth day.

We have to bat well and remain focused if we want to post a good target,” he said.

The 46-year old former Sri Lankan cricketer also hailed the promising dis-play of young leggie Jubair and predict-ed a bright future ahead of him.

“I am happy with everyone in the side and Jubair picking up � ve wickets was exceptional. He will be a big crick-eter in the coming days and has a very bright future if he continues to bowl in this manner,” he added.

The former assistant coach of New South Wales is experiencing a change in fortunes after taking over the responsi-bility of the Tigers. After conceding an ODI series defeat at home against a sec-ond-string Indian side in his � rst assign-ment, Hathurusingha’s fortunes refused to improve during the Tigers’ tour of the West Indies as Bangladesh lost both the Test and ODI series. The Tigers, however, gave the former Sydney Thunder coach something to cheer about as they clinched the three-match Test series against Zim-babwe even before the third and � nal match of the series got underway.

“Boys have made a good comeback and shown signs of improvement in this series after coming from a disap-pointing one-and-a-half years. It takes no time to lose the con� dence of a side but it requires time to bring back the con� dence and I am hopeful that the boys will get their con� dence back in future when we play against big teams like South Africa, England or India.” l

Jubair delivers earlier than expectedn Mazhar Uddin from Chittagong

Following a memorable international debut in the � rst Test in Dhaka in the ongoing three-match series against Zimbabwe, the Tigers faithful were waiting for better things from 19-year old leg-spinner Jubair Hossain. Little did they know that Jubair, or Likhon, would eventually deliver, and that too in the third and � nal Test at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.

The young leggie bagged his maiden � ve-wicket haul in just his third Test to bring Bangladesh back into the game. That Bangladesh � nd themselves in the driving seat going into the penultimate day’s play of the third and � nal Test to-day is down to Jubair who once again displayed an encouraging performance which belied his tender age of 19.

And just like any other humble Ban-gladesh cricketer, Jubair too thanked his family after grabbing a � ve-for.

“I am feeling great by the grace of Allah. It is my � rst � ve-wicket haul in international cricket. My parents and brother are here so that made me hap-pier. The last time they came to the ground, I did not do well. But today (yesterday) I did well so they are hap-py,” said an elated Jubair in the post-day conference yesterday.

Jubair acknowledged the advice provided by skipper Mush� qur Rahim during several of his spells.

“I sometimes talk with the captain. But since he stands behind the wicket, he has a better idea. I try to do as he tells me and today (yesterday) I was successful. When I was bowling to [El-ton] Chigumbura, he told me to make him drive and against [Brendan] Tay-lor, he asked me to � ight the ball.

“I had dismissed Brendan Taylor before so I was trying to do the same thing. He tends to drive the ball when there is a bit of � ight. Chigumbura too drives a lot. In his case too, I was trying to catch him on the drive,” he added.

With a cool head on his shoulders, the Jamalpur lad goes about his busi-ness with the utmost nonchalance. However, even a con� dent youngster like Jubair faced some jitters when he was on the brink of picking up his maiden � ve-wicket haul in Tests. The right-arm leggie though brushed aside the nerves, owing to the suggestions provided by senior cricketers like Shakib al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal.

“The captain and seniors like Shakib bhai and Tamim bhai give me advice. They always tell me to be patient, not to think about taking wickets and bowl in the right areas. I lost my focus after taking four wickets today (yesterday). Mush� qur bhai though told me that if I bowl well, I will pick up the wicket,” said Jubair.

And he duly did. Now for bigger things.l

Bangladesh openers Tamim Iqbal (L) and Imrul Kayes leaves the � eld after the end of third day’s play against Zimbabwe at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

BCB announces 13-man squad for Zim warm-upn Tribune Desk

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) yesterday announced a 13-member BCB XI squad for the upcoming one-day practice match against Zimbabwe. The practice match will be held at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong in four days’ time and will be followed by � ve one-day internationals between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. l

Sk Jamal begin King’s Cup campaign todayn Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh Premier Football League champions Sheikh Jamal will begin their King’s Cup campaign against Bhu-tan A-Division champions Druk United today at Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan.

Despite asserting that nothing but a title would do, the Sheikh Jamal players, however, are struggling to adapt with the cold conditions and high altitudes.

Maruful Haque, the head coach of the Dhanmondi-based club, admitted that they were having di� culties set-tling in with the conditions. “The main problem is that my players are yet to adapt to the unusual conditions. The height is also a concern for my team be-cause they are struggling to breath nor-mally due to altitude,’ said Maruf in the pre-match press conference yesterday.

The former Sheikh Russell coach is still optimistic that his side will get o� to a winning start. “Though we have to face an unknown opponent in the very � rst match, I am con� dent that the team will play better and attacking football and manage a win,” said Maruful.

The other representative from Ban-gladesh, Abahani, will face Indian side Assam Electricity in their � rst Group B match at the same venue tomorrow. l

Bangladesh women take on holders Indian Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh women’s football team vowed to give their best e� ort when they take on reigning champions India in their second group match in the 3rd Sa� Women’s Championship at Jinnah Football Stadium in Islamabad, Paki-stan. The match kicks o� at 3:30pm and PTV will telecast the game live.

Bangladesh might be con� dent after a � ying start to the tournament, having crushed Afghanistan 6-1 last Thursday, but today’s scenario will be di� erent against the strongest side of the tour-nament. India are not only the defend-ing champions but they also won the inaugural edition in 2010.

Bangladesh, however, can take heart from their recent form. Despite losing 2-1 against India in the recently concluded AFC U-16 Women’s Champi-onship 2015 Quali� ers in Dhaka, Ban-

gladesh put up a courageous display.Bangladesh’s Japanese coach Norio

Tsukitate is con� dent that his side will exhibit better football than the previ-ous game against the Afghans. “We will do our best and try to play better than the � rst match.”

Assistant coach Golam Rabbani Choton noti� ed that two players are injury worries going into the crucial match against India. Maynu Marma and Krishna Rani Sarkar, who slammed a hattrick on her debut against Afghan-istan, are both su� ering from muscle cramps.

On the eve of the game, Bangladesh skipper Suinu pru Marma said, “It is a very big match for both the teams. We will be up against a strong challenge. We will give full e� ort and try our best to get points from this match. Also we will give more e� ort than the � rst match.” l

Optimistic Chigumbura still hoping for a winn Mazhar Uddin from Chittagong

Following the end of the third day of the third and � nal Test yesterday, Ban-gladesh were batting on 23 without loss with Zimbabwe earlier all out for 374 replying to the hosts’ � rst innings tally of 503. Heading into the fourth day’s play today, Bangladesh lead the visiting Zimbabwe by 152 runs with 10 second innings wickets in hand at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.

Despite the tough task at hand, Zim-babwe batsman Elton Chigumbura said they are still targeting a win.

“They are leading by 152 so far. But it is upto us to come out hard and make sure we restrict them to a lesser score. We want to keep them to something chasable. It is going to be a big day for us tomorrow (today) in the � eld,” said Chigumbura in the post-day confer-ence yesterday.

“You can’t play the game to try and have a draw after � ve days. We play every game to win. If we get a chance, we will go for it. Any Test match the wicket will change on Day 4 and 5. So we just have to manage that, work hard and hopefully we can win this game,” he said.

The all-rounder earlier missed the

opportunity to register his maiden Test hundred, falling short by 12 runs. Chigumbura gave his thoughts later af-ter missing out on the milestone.

“It is always disappointing as every-one wants to reach the milestone but that is cricket. You have to concentrate until you get it. For me, it was maybe a lose shot. But it was also good to get runs as well,” he added.

Chigumbura concluded with a joke before going on to praise young leg-spinner Jubair Hossain following his maiden � ve-wicket haul.

“Oh, he picked � ve wickets? He bowled three balls to me! But any bowl-er taking � ve wickets is a good thing. No matter how you get the wickets, it is the same thing as scoring a hundred. Credit goes to him on getting that � ve-for,” said Chigumbura. l

Bangladesh women footballers attend a practice session yesterday ahead of their crucial match against current champions India in the 3rd Sa� Women’s Championship in Pakistan COURTESY

SQUADAnamul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Rony Talukder, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarker, Nasir Hossain, Shuvagata Hom, Mosaddek Hossain, Muktar Ali, Sha� ul Islam, Abul Hasan, Mohammed Shahid, Nazmul Hossain

AB de Villiers is the 34th player to reach 7000 ODI runs and also the fastest. He

beat Sourav Ganguly who did it from 174

ODI innings, de Villiers made it in 166

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 13Saturday, November 15, 2014

BTV, Gazi TV9:30AMBangladesh v Zimbabwe3rd Test, Day 4Sony SixNBA 14-15: Regular SeasonLA Lakers v San Antonio4:30PM World Kabaddi League Ludhiana: 40Euro Quali� ers 201610:45PMEngland v Slovenia1:35AM Spain v BelarusSony Six HDEuro Quali� ers 201610:45PMAustria v Russia01:35AM Switzerland v LithuaniaStar Sports 27:30PMIndian Super LeagueNorth East v Pune

DAY’S WATCH

Pele stable after kidney stone opBrazilian soccer legend Pele was in a stable condition Thursday following surgery for kidney stones, the Sao Paulo hospital treating him said. “He underwent surgery this morning to remove kidney stones and for now is clinically stable and recovering,” read a statement from the Albert Einstein clinic, signed by Dr. Fabio Nasri. The statement added: “The patient Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pele) remains hospitalised following tests which showed up kidney stones obstructing urinary � ow.” The facility did not indicate when the 74-year-old might be discharged. Pele was taken to hospital late Wednesday with what close associate and aide Jose Fornos Rodrigues initially indicated was a stomach ailment which forced him to miss a book launch.

–AFP

Arsenal star Ozil out for another 7 weeks Arsenal’s German mid� elder Mesut Ozil will be sidelined for a further sev-en weeks with a knee ligament injury, he announced on Wednesday. Ozil, 26, already out of action since early October, said in Berlin, where he was receiving an award: “I’ve already been injured for � ve weeks and I’m going to be out for another seven. It’s a long process. “Injuries are part of football, but life goes on and you have to keep your spirits up.” Ozil has already missed Germany’s Euro 2016 quali� ers against Poland and Ireland and will also miss Friday’s game with Gibraltar and the friendly against Spain four days later, as well as Arsenal’s last two Champions League group matches against Borus-sia Dortmund on November 26 and Galatasaray on December 9. “Injuries are part of football, but life goes on and you have to keep your spirits up,” Ozil added.

–AFP

Federer humiliates Murray, Nishikori advancesRoger Federer sent Andy Murray crashing out of the ATP Tour Finals in humiliating fashion with 6-0, 6-1 victory on Thursday that ensured Japan’s Kei Nishikori would qualify for the semi-� nals. Nishikori’s 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over alternate David Ferrer earlier on Thursday left Murray facing the daunting task of having to beat Federer in straight sets to go through from Group B. But Murray was routed in only 56 minutes in a defeat which equalled his worst ever result, a 6-1, 6-0 loss against Novak Djokovic in Miami in 2007. Federer, bidding for his seventh Tour Finals title, � nished top of the group after winning all three of his matches, and he will be joined in the last four by Nishikori on his maiden appearance in the prestigious season-ending event at London’s O2 Arena. “Clearly I’m very happy to play a good match today. I knew I was quali� ed so maybe I went in a bit more relaxed,” Federer said. “It’s not the way I thought it was going to go but there’s always next year for Andy.” It was a horrible way for Murray to end a disappointing campaign which saw him surrender his Wimbledon title, brie� y drop out of the top 10 for the � rst time in six years and fail to win a tournament until the � nal weeks of the season. But he could have no complaints after a lacklustre display was brutally punished by Federer, who becomes the ninth player ever to reach the landmark of 250 career indoor wins.

–AFP

QUICK BYTESSouth AfricaH. Amla c Wade b Johnson 8Q. de Kock c Wade b Johnson 2F. du Plessis c Marsh b Watson 31H. Behardien c Finch b Coulter-Nile 20A.B. de Villiers run out 80D. Miller c Marsh b Coulter-Nile 65R. McLaren c Wade b Coulter-Nile 0V. Philander c Wade b Hazlewood 1D. Steyn c Wade b Coulter-Nile 6M. Morkel not out 22I. Tahir c Warner b Maxwell 22Extras (b1, lb1, 9w) 11Total (all out; 48.1 overs) 268

Fall of wickets1-6, 2-18, 3-53, 4-76, 5-202, 6-202, 7-207, 8-215, 9-222, 10-268BowlingM. Johnson 10-1-38-2 (5w), J. Hazle-wood 10-0-50-1 (2w), N. Coulter-Nile 10-0-48-4, M. Marsh 7-0-50-0 (1w), S. Watson 6-0-48-1 (1w), G. Maxwell 5.1-0-32-1AustraliaD. Warner c McLaren b Philander 46A. Finch c de Kock b Philander 35S. Watson c Morkel b Tahir 13M. Clarke c de Kock b Steyn 11G. Bailey c du Plessis b Steyn 70M. Marsh b Philander 10M. Wade c Rossouw (sub) b Philander 35G. Maxwell c du Plessis b Morkel 29M. Johnson not out 13N. Coulter-Nile not out 9Extras (b1, lb14, w13, nb1) 29Total (eight wickets; 50 overs) 300

Fall of wickets1-94, 2-94, 3-112, 4-130, 5-144, 6-236, 7-256, 8-276BowlingD. Steyn 10-0-62-2 (2w), V. Philander 10-0-45-4 (1nb, 3w), M. Morkel 10-1-56-1 (2w), R McLaren 9-0-63-0 (6w), I. Tahir 10-0-54-1, F. Behardien 1-0-5-0.

Australia won by 32 runs

SCORECARD

South Africa opener Quinton de Kock walks as Australia’s Mitchell Johnson (L) celebrates his wicket during their � rst one day international of the series in Perth yesterday AFP

Clarke injured as Aussies win � rst ODI against Proteasn AFP, Perth

Australian captain Michael Clarke suf-fered a worrying recurrence of a ham-string injury as his side beat South Afri-ca in the opening one-day international at Perth’s WACA Ground on Friday.

After being sent in to bat in the opening encounter of the � ve-match series, the home team posted 300 for eight from their 50 overs.

In reply, South Africa threatened a record run chase at the venue when their skipper, AB de Villiers (80) and David Miller (65) put on 126 for the � fth wicket, but ultimately fell 32 runs short and were dismissed for 268.

Despite the e� orts of de Villiers and Miller, the South Africans were always behind on the back foot after losing early wickets, with paceman Mitch-ell Johnson (2-38) celebrating his an-nouncement as the ICC Cricketer of the Year by claiming both Proteas openers, Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla, in quick succession.

Recalled wicketkeeper Matthew Wade claimed � ve catches in the South African innings, while man-of-the-match Na-than Coulter-Nile claimed 4-48.

The 33-year-old Clarke reinjured his troublesome left hamstring as he made just 11 from 20 balls in the Australian innings and was immediately ruled out of taking any further part in the match.

Clarke has battled a degenerative back condition in recent years and hamstring troubles have plagued him, including missing matches on Austra-lia’s past two overseas tours, to Zimba-bwe and the United Arab Emirates.

The injury casts a signi� cant cloud over his immediate playing future. He is unlikely to play in the remainder of the one-day series, and the � rst Test against India is just three weeks away.

The World Cup, which is being co-hosted by Australia, starts in Feb-ruary.

The home side made the most of some good fortune with the bat, the Proteas dropping several catches, in-

cluding grassing four chances to re-move top scorer George Bailey, who made 70 from 75 balls as Australia rode their luck to recover from 144-5.

Hit on the back by the � rst ball he faced from Dale Steyn, Bailey was dropped twice in successive deliveries he faced when he was on just two, as South Africa struck back with a ven-geance following an opening stand of 94 by David Warner (46) and Aaron Finch (35).

David Miller dropped a sitter at point from the bowling of Morne Morkel, and then in the next over spinner Imran Ta-hir grassed a simple caught and bowled chance. Bailey had two more lives on 38 and 47, the latter one also resulting in South African � elder Farhaan Behar-dien being forced from the � eld with a minor shoulder injury sustained in a diving attempt to complete the catch.

Bailey’s luck came to an end when he skied a drive from the bowling of Steyn and was brilliantly caught by a back-ped-alling Faf du Plessis at mid-o� . l

Johnson wins best cricketer of the year awardn AFP, Dubai

Fiery Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson was named cricketer of the year by the International Cricket Coun-cil on Friday, matching his countryman Ricky Ponting’s feat of winning the award twice.

Johnson, 33, spearheaded Austra-lia’s attack during a 5-0 Ashes sweep of England last year and then helped his team beat South Africa 2-1, picking up 59 Test wickets between August 2013 to September 2014.

This is the second time the left-arm paceman has picked up the Sir Gar� eld Sobers trophy, named after the former West Indian great, after winning the award in 2009. His former captain Ponting also won the coveted prize twice in a row, in 2006 and 2007.

De Villiers won the ICC one-day in-ternational cricketer of the year while England’s Gary Ballance was named the ICC emerging cricketer of the year.

England’s wicketkeeper-batter Sarah Taylor also scooped the ICC women’s one-day cricketer of the year award.l

ICC AWARDS LISTICC Cricketer of the YearMitchell JohnsonTest Cricketer of the YearMitchell JohnsonWomen’s ODI Cricketer of the YearSarah TaylorODI Cricketer of the YearAB de VilliersEmerging Cricketer of the YearGary BallanceAssociate and A� liate Cricketer of the YearPreston MommsenT20I Performance of the YearAaron FinchT20I Women’s Cricketer of the YearMeg LanningSpirit of Cricket AwardKatherine BruntUmpire of the YearRichard KettleboroughLG People’s ChoiceBhuvneshwar Kumar

Legends of Rupganj, Abahani continue winning streak n Rashad Banna

Legends of Rupganj and Abahani won their second match in succession while Sheikh Jamal posted their � rst win in the second round of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League yesterday.

Legends of Rupganj, previously known as Gazi Tank Cricketers, regis-tered a 25-run win over Partex at Fatul-lah with Nayeem Islam Jr turning out to be the hero for the defending champi-ons of the premier 50-over tournament of the country.

Abahani were also triumphant in their second game, against Prime Doleshwar at Mirpur, as in-form open-er Liton Das guided the Sky Blues to an eight-wicket win.

Meanwhile in the day’s other game at BKSP 3, an unbeaten century from Englishman Liam Dawson and a � ve-wicket haul from spinner Arafat Sunny inspired the runners up of the previous season, Sheikh Jamal, to their � rst win in the ongoing edition, a 122- run victory against Kalabagan KC.

Legends of Rupganj v Partex, Fatullah A valiant 127-run stand for the fourth wicket between Rajin Saleh and Meh-rab Hossain Jr went in vain as Partex, in pursuit of 227 for victory, ended their chase on 201 with 11 balls to spare.

Partex skipper Rajin struck 105 while Mehrab scored 53 but Nayeem’s scalps at regular intervals halted their chase as they were eventually dis-missed for 201.

Nayeem took six wickets for 33 runs as Legends of Rupganj sealed their sec-

ond win in a row. The holders earlier posted 226 after

being asked to bat � rst courtesy Fais-al Hossain (52 not out), Ashar Zaidi (45) and Junaid Siddiqui (44). Partex’s Azim, Dewan Sabbir and Abdur Rah-man scalped two wickets each.Abahani v Prime Doleshwar, MirpurIn the face of some disciplined bowling by the Abahani bowlers, Prime Dolesh-war wilted and were subsequently skit-tled out for 147 in 48.4 overs. Nazmul

Apu scalped 3/22 while Ziaur Rahman, Al Amin Hossain and Shuvashish Roy shared six wickets between them as the Prime Doleshwar batsmen were never allowed time to settle at the middle. During their forlorn display with the bat, Habibur Rahman at No 8 was the only saving grace for Prime Doleshwar with a 41-run knock.

In reply, Abahani cantered to 148 for the loss of just two wickets in 37.2 overs, led by opener Liton. Liton, who

hit a � fty in the previous game against archrivals Mohammedan Sporting Club Limited, continued his good run of form. The right-handed batsman made 98 o� 111 balls with the help of 14 boundaries and a six.

Sheikh Jamal v Kalabagan KC, BKSP 3Sheikh Jamal recorded a convincing victory over Kalabagan with England’s Dawson striking a quick� re, undefeat-ed 113 from just 83 balls to lead the for-

mer to a competitive total of 296/5.Dawson carted � ve fours and as

many as eight sixes and he was ably supported by Shahriar Nafees (65) and Abu Sayeem (44).

In reply, Kalabagan were bundled out for 174 with 17 deliveries to spare. Arafat picked up � ve wickets conced-ing only 18 runs. With the exception of Shamsur Rahman (54) and Tasamul Haque (43), no other Kalabagan player were able to put up a � ght. l

Abahani opener Liton Das cuts a ball during their DPL match against Prime Doleshwar in Mirpur yesterday Dhaka Tribune

BRIEF SCORESAbahani Limited v Prime Doleshwar SC Prime Doleshwar 147 all out (48.4 ov)Habibur Rahman 41, Dawid Malan 27, Nazmul Islam 3/22,

Abahani 148/2 (37.2 ov)Litton Das 98, Abdul Mazid 27, Elias Sunny 2/40

Abahani won by 8 wickets

Kalabagan KC v Sheikh Jamal DCSheikh Jamal 296/5 (50 ov)Liam Dawson 113, Shahriar Nafees 65, Fariduddin 2/30

Kalabagan KC 174 all out (47.1 ov)Shamsur Rahman 54, Tasamul Haque 43, Arafat Sunny 5/18

Sheikh Jamal won by 122 runs

Legends of Rupganj v Partex SCRupganj 226/9 (50 ov)Faisal Hossain 52*, Ashar Zaidi 45, Abdur Rahman 2/34

Partex SC 201 all out (48.1 ov)Rajin Saleh 105, Mehrab Hossain jnr 53, Naeem Islam jnr 6/33

Rupganj won by 25 runs

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14 Saturday, November 15, 2014

100-cap Rooney faces England legacy questions

Falcao will soon get back to his best: Colombia coachn Reuters, London

Colombia striker Radamel Falcao is a world class player who will soon redis-cover his best form for Manchester Unit-ed and his country, his international coach Jose Pekerman said on Thursday.

Falcao, on loan from Monaco, has seen only limited action so far in En-gland with United under new manag-er Louis van Gaal, who has rebuilt the team with several new signings.

He is missing from Colombia’s squad, who are in London to play a friendly against the United States on Friday, due to injury.

Pekerman said the early season was often hard for players who may be ad-justing to new a club, coming back from a long injury absence as in Falcao’s case or having had a short pre-season due to playing at the World Cup � nals.

“This is a new stage for him and for the (United) team, needing time to adapt to numerous signings, playing in a new competition (like the Premier League),” Pekerman told a news con-ference at the team’s Heathrow hotel.

“Falcao is a top player, I’m optimis-tic he will overcome this stage and soon be at his level,” he added before an eve-ning practice at Fulham’s Craven Cot-tage ground. l

Garcia cries foul as Fifa clear Qatar, Russia for World Cup bidsn AFP, Paris

FIFA’s probe into the controversial bid-ding race for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups was thrown into turmoil Thursday after its own investigator Michael Gar-cia complained that a summary of his report misrepresented his conclusions.

Garcia, who carried out an exhaus-tive investigation into the bidding, slammed an “incomplete and errone-ous” version of his report and said he planned to appeal.

Football’s world governing body had earlier cleared Qatar and Russia of cor-ruption and ruled out a re-vote for the tournaments despite widespread alle-gations of wrongdoing.

Garcia, a former New York federal prosecutor, spent 18 months investi-gating the controversial World Cup race that ended with the selection of Russia for 2018 and Qatar for 2022.

Garcia’s 350-page report, handed to FIFA on September 5, summed up an investigation that involved interview-ing more than 75 witnesses and compil-ing a dossier with more than 200,000

pages and audio interviews.But he issued a statement on Thurs-

day saying: “Today’s decision by the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber contains numerous materially incom-plete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the investigatory chamber’s report. I intend to appeal this decision to the FIFA Appeal Committee.”

German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s independent ethics commit-tee, had stated that the investigation had not yielded evidence of corrup-tion and there would be no re-vote on awarding the tournaments.

The report admitted that even though there had been a series of wor-rying episodes in the bidding for both tournaments, there was not enough ev-idence to justify reopening the process.

The report also said that Australia’s bid contained “certain indications of potentially problematic conduct of speci� c individuals in the light of rele-vant FIFA Ethics rules.”

Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary-gen-

eral of the Qatar 2022 organising com-mittee, told AFP: “We were con� dent that any impartial investigation was to show that our record was clean and contains no irregularities.”

The report also found no evidence of misconduct related to the Russian bid for 2018, but added that not all records had been available to the investigation.

However, the English Football Asso-ciation (FA) was accused of “violating bidding rules” in its attempt to win the right to stage the 2018 event.

The report alleges that in an attempt to “curry favour” with Trinidad and Tobago o� cial Jack Warner, who was believed to control a block of FIFA ex-ecutive votes, the England bid team contravened bidding rules.

England 2018 is accused of helping “a person of interest to (Warner) � nd a part-time job in the UK” and spon-soring a gala dinner for the Caribbean Football Union at a cost of $55,000 (44,100 euros). The FA rejected the crit-icisms, while Simon Johnson, who led England’s 2018 bid team, described the saga as “farcical”. l

Suarez scores in Costa Rica winn Reuters, Montevideo

Luis Suarez scored an equaliser and was just wide with what could have been a spectacular winner as Uruguay were held to a 3-3 draw by Costa Rica in a friendly.

The Costa Ricans, who stunned Uruguay 3-1 in their World Cup opener in Brazil in June, levelled Thursday’s match at the Centenario through substi-tute Johan Venegas in the � nal minute.

Suarez will by mutual agreement with coach Oscar Tabarez miss Uru-guay’s next friendly against 2015 Copa America hosts Chile in Santiago on Tuesday.

Suarez is serving a nine-match sus-pension from competitive interna-tional football for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.

Alvaro Saborio headed Costa Rica, now coached by former striker Paulo Wanchope, into the lead � ve minutes before halftime.

Suarez, playing at home for his country for the � rst time since his ban, took Cristian Rodriguez’s pass on his chest and turned to � re past Keylor Navas in the 49th minute.

Costa Rica went ahead again within a minute through Bryan Ruiz before Uruguay turned the match around with goals from central defender Jose Maria Gimenez and striker Edinson Cavani.l

n AFP, London

Wayne Rooney will make his 100th En-gland appearance on Saturday when Roy Hodgson’s side attempt to extend their 100 percent record in Euro 2016 qualifying at home to Slovenia.

The Manchester United striker, 29, will lead the team out at Wembley Sta-dium accompanied by his two young sons, Kai and Klay, as he becomes the ninth England player to take his num-ber of caps into three � gures.

Rooney is on course to break for-mer goalkeeper Peter Shilton’s 125-cap appearance record and is also only six goals short of Bobby Charlton’s En-gland scoring record of 49 goals.

But having failed to shine for En-gland at a major tournament since making his breakthrough at Euro 2004, he accepts he still has to prove himself worthy of comparison with World Cup winners such as Charlton.

“To get 100 caps for England, there’s not many players who have done it,” Rooney writes in the programme for Saturday’s match.

“It would be a great achievement. I’ll be proud to join that club and it is something that myself and my family would be honoured by.

“But I could sit here saying I’ve got 200 caps and 100 goals for my country, but the ultimate is to win a trophy and that’s what we all want to do.

“That’s why we play football, to win. That’s the target and hopefully some-time soon we can achieve that.”

He adds: “Obviously I’m not going to be as big a legend as Sir Bobby Charlton - he’s won the World Cup with England - so to eclipse that I’d have to win the World Cup, which would be a massive achievement.”

After their group-phase exit at the World Cup, England have taken con-trol of Group E by winning their � rst three games without conceding a goal

and will be looking to record a re-cord-equalling sixth clean sheet.

With Liverpool striker Daniel Stur-ridge still sidelined by a calf problem, Arsenal forward Danny Welbeck is ex-pected to hold on to his place up front alongside former United colleague Rooney.

Raheem Sterling is in line for a re-call at the tip of Hodgson’s mid� eld diamond, having contentiously started

last month’s 1-0 win in Estonia on the bench after reportedly complaining of fatigue.

Arsenal winger Theo Walcott and 20-year-old Everton playmaker Ross Barkley are both back in the squad af-ter spells on the sidelines, while West Bromwich Albion striker Saido Berahi-no will hope to win his � rst cap.

Michael Carrick and Andros Townsend have been forced to

withdraw from the squad due to injury, but both players were more likely to have featured in England’s friendly with Scotland in Glasgow on Tuesday anyway.

Rooney’s Slovenia counterpart, vis-iting captain Bostjan Cesar, will also be celebrating a milestone as he stands to win his 81st cap, which will see him surpass Zlatko Zahovic as his country’s most-capped player.

In Group G, 2018 World Cup hosts Russia are in Vienna to play leaders Austria with a whi� of crisis hang-ing over manager Fabio Capello after Russia’s football federation admitted they were unable to pay the Italian’s multi-million dollar salary.

In Group C, Spain welcome Belar-us missing injured Chelsea mid� elder Cesc Fabregas, with Villarreal’s Bruno Soriano called up instead. l

FIXTURES Macedonia v Slovakia Spain v Belarus England v Slovenia San Marino v Estonia Switzerland v Lithuania Austria v Russia Moldova v Liechtenstein Montenegro v Sweden

FACTFILEWAYNE MARK ROONEYAge : 29Date of birth : October 24, 1985Place of birth : Liverpool, EnglandPosition : StrikerClubsEverton (2002-2004), Manchester United (2004-date)Everton appearances (goals): 77 (17)Man United appearances (goals): 450 (219)National teamEngland (2003-date)Appearances (goals): 99 (43)DebutFebruary 12, 2003 (v Australia, London)HonoursClub:Premier League (5): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13League Cup (2): 2005–06, 2009–10Community Shield (3): 2007, 2010, 2011Uefa Champions League (1): 2007–08Fifa Club World Cup (1): 2008Individual:PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association) Players’ Player of the Year: 2009–10, PFA Young Player of the Year: 2004–05, 2005–06, FWA (Football Writers’ Asso-ciation) Footballer of the Year: 2009–10, BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year: 2002, FIFPro World Young Player of the Year: 2004–05, FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball: 2008

Inter sack Mazzarri, Mancini waits in wingsn AFP, Milan

Roberto Mancini was expected to be con� rmed as Inter Milan’s new coach after the struggling Serie A giants con-� rmed the sacking of Walter Mazzarri on Friday.

A short statement by the club on www.inter.it said: “F.C. Internazionale announces that Walter Mazzarri has been relieved of his duties as � rst team coach.

“The club would like to thank Maz-zarri for the commitment, dedication and professionalism he showed over his 17 months in charge. Today’s train-ing session will be taken by Giuseppe Baresi.”

The announcement followed reports that Mancini, who won three league ti-tles in a successful four-year spell with the club, was on the verge of signing a two-and-a-half year deal to take over the Nerazzurri.

Although the club have yet to con-� rm Mancini as coach, former Inter goalkeeper Walter Zenga, practically did so when he posted a message on Twitter claiming that he had also been in the ‘frame’ for the job.

Expectations of Mancini’s immi-nent arrival also grew when former In-ter president Massimo Moratti denied

reports he had played a role in in� u-encing club president Erick Thohir to choose Mancini.

“It was Thohir’s idea,” said Moratti, who gave up his role as the club’s hon-orary president several weeks ago.

“I’m sorry for Mazzarri. Obviously he did everything he could to make it work.

“I’m happy for Mancini. He’s the coach with whom I won the most. He’s a very good person and a great coach.”

Former Manchester City manager Mancini has been out of work since leaving Galatasaray last season but, if con� rmed, will be welcomed with open arms by fans frustrated by Inter’s failure to perform to expectations un-der Mazzarri.

Inter, Italy’s last Champions League winners, in 2010, failed to qualify for the competition under previous coach Andrea Stramaccioni, and Mazzarri fared no better last season when In-ter could only qualify for the Europa League.

Inter have won only four Serie A games so far this season while su� ering heavy defeats to Cagliari (4-1 at home), Fiorentina (3-0 away) as well as falling 2-0 away to relegation candidates Parma. Inter currently sit ninth in the league, 12 points behind leaders Juventus. l

Luis Suarez of Uruguay and Junior Diaz (L)of Costa Rica vie for the ball during their international friendly in Montevideo on Thursday REUTERS

Germany’s Miroslav Klose and Philipp Lahm (R) pose with Honourary prizes during the Bambi 2014 media awards ceremony in Berlin on Thursday. The annual Bambi awards honours celebrities from the world of entertainment, literature, sports and politics REUTERS

England skipper Wayne Rooney (3R) takes part in a training session at St George’s Park near Burton-on-Trent, central England yesterday on the eve of their Euro 2016 qualifying match against Slovenia at Wembley Stadium today AFP

DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Saturday, November 15, 2014 15

Miami ViceStar Movies Action, 10:30pm

The � lm focuses on vice detectives Crockett and Tubbs as their respec-tive personal and professional lives become dangerously intertwined.

The Hunger Games:Catching FireHBO De� ned, 10:30pm

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mel-lark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hun-ger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem.

PIPRABIDYA’S team to share experienceat ULAB today n Entertainment Desk

The Media Studies and Journalism Department of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) has organised a public forum on “Pipra-bidya: The making and unmaking of Bangladeshi cinema”.

Noted � lm maker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and his team will share their thoughts about contemporary Ban-gladeshi cinema and their experienc-es of making the recently released � lm “Piprabidya” at the forum to be held at the university’s Campus A au-ditorium at 6:00pm today. l

ISHANA on a rebellious role in wartime drama n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

Ishana recently wrapped up shooting for a tele� lm titled “Protidan.” The story based on the Liberation War, she portrays a freedom � ghter who inspires people to join the resistance. The small screen star-let has her hands full with her TV plays and drama series. Dhaka Tribune caught up with her on her re-cent ventures and many more

Tell us about your work in Protidan.My character in the tele� lm, Kaniz, who travels to a rural area during the Liberation War and encour-ages the locals to join the resistance force. She even makes an e� ort of being role model to other girls joining the front line. It is a courageous role that I thoroughly enjoyed playing.

So you have been getting to play diverse characters recently.Yes. At the beginning of my career, I used to get of-fered to play the same type of characters, but it has changed these days. I am getting o� ers of di� erent characters. I think the directors now know that I am capable of portraying diverse roles and they can now rely on me, and it is my responsibility to do my best to keep their con� dence in my capability.

Any plans for the big screen yet?No. I think I should take some more time to prepare my-self for � lms. I am still learning and � lms are a big deal.

Any dream role you want to portray?I do have some dream roles. In fact, Kaniz from

“Protidan” is one of my favourite ones. But I would really love to play the character of Joyita from Samaresh Majumdar’s novel “Gorb-hodharini.”

What would you do if you were not an actor?I would probably immerse myself in the corporate world, as there was a time when I used to � nd that interesting. I would establish myself as an entrepreneur. However, in reality, I am completely into acting and modelling.

What are your preferences while choosing work?I really put stress on quality rather than quanti-ty. That way I feel comfortable working on the projects I choose.

What do you enjoy most at your spare time?I like to spend time with my close friends and read books. I enjoy spending quality time with my family. I am not much hyped about social media, but sometimes it helps me with work.

The � rst runner-up of Lux-Channel i Superstar 2009, Ishana has recently signed to appear another drama titled “Bokuler Sholoi December,” which is based on a true story from the Liberation War. Directed by Chanda Mahzabin, the drama’s shooting will start this month and will be aired on theVictory Day. l

n Entertainment Desk

The premier of the science � ction mov-ie, “Interstellar”, was held at the Block-buster Cinemas of Jamuna Furure Park yesterday.

Film fans can enjoy the movie at the theatre at 4:20pm everyday. Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica

Chastain, and Michael Caine stared in the � lm directed by Christopher Nolan.

The movie was released in UK on November 7.

The Si-Fi movie features a group of explorers who travel through a worm-hole to seek out the far reaches of the universe. The story details from the Fort Macleod Gazette reveal the mis-

sion’s motivation – to shade the light on climate change! More speci� cally, a crop famine that has been brought about by the e� ects of climate change, with corn as the last crop to be cultivat-ed. The scientists who head through the wormhole aren’t looking for alien life or Unobtainium – they just need a planet with a few decent � elds. l

INTERSTELLAR premieresat the Blockbuster Cinemas

n Entertainment Desk

Salma Hayek may have co-founded Chime for Change in 2013 a global cam-

paign focusing on � ghting for women’s rights around the world—but the actress says she’s not a feminist.

Just before being honored as a women’s rights advocate at Equality Now’s Make Equality Reality, Hayek told People mag-

azine she doesn’t see herself as a feminist.“I am not a feminist,” Hayek said. “If men

were going through the things women are going through today, I would be � ghting for

them with just as much passion. I believe in equality.”

“We need to make war against hate,” Hayek said. “I think that if you hate women you hate

humanity. You hate life itself because there is no man who came to this world that did not come through a woman. Until there is respect, equality and the curiosity to discover the magical miracle that is womanhood around the world we will not have a chance to find dignity for humanity.”

“I don’t preach my 7-year-old daughter every day,” Hayek told People. “She’s aware that her mommy � ghts for the rights of women, that there are many places in the world where they are not entitled to the rights.” l

I am not a

feminist

SALMA HAYEK:

CHRISTOPH WALTZ set for ‘nemesis’ role in next Bond movien Entertainment Desk

Two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz will star opposite Daniel Craig in the 24th James Bond movie, ac-cording to the Daily Mail.

The Austrian actor will play Bond’s nemesis, but the report also suggests that the role is not an out-and-out villain. “It’s not immediately evident whether the part’s friend, or foe, or a bit of both,” according to a production source.

The new � lm would shoot early next month on location in Mexico, Morocco, Austria, Italy and London. As previously reported, director Sam Mendes is to return following the $1bn success of 2012 outing “Skyfall,” which saw Daniel Craig in his third outing as the suave British secret agent. l

Got Talent to go with Shah Rukh and Priyankan Entertainment Desk

Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra’s TV show “Got Talent World Stage Live” (GTWSL) will aired on entertain-ment TV channel Colors soon.

“Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Don’ co-star, Priyanka Chopra too will be a part of this. The actress will be hosting the show along with the superstar and the two will add a lot of peppy and witty elements to it,” reported Bol-lywoodHungama.

Besides hosting the show, the duo will also perform on the stage

of “Got Talent World Stage Live”. “A few Bollywood celebrities like Jacqueline Fernandez and Varun Dhawan will be performing and judges of ‘India’s Got Talent’ Malaika Arora Khan, Kirron Kher and Karan Johar will also grace the event,” according to the website.

“Got Talent World Stage Live” is said to be a global version of the “Got Talent” franchise, whose pro-ducer Simon Cowell will helm this show as well. Reportedly, 10 Indian and international talents will per-form live on stage. l

Dhaka Theatre to stage Iti Potromita todayn Entertainment Desk

Dhaka Theatre brings in Selim Al Deen’s satirical play “Iti Po-tromita” on stage as their 40th production at the Studio The-atre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at 12noon today.

Originally written as a television drama, the play has been directed by Rubayet Ahmed for stage.

The story of the play revolves around two friends – Lomba Rinku and Baitta Rinku – who share an apartment and de-velop friendship with a girl named Pinku through writing letters. When Pinku arrives at their place she mistakes Baitta Rinku as Lomba Rinku with whom she had been exchanging letters for a long time. The story moves forward with a series of hilarious incidents.

Ra� qul Islam, Sumon Ibrahim, Hasnat Mithun, Joyosri Majumder Lota and Fahmida Kamal Ripa will be seen por-traying the di� erent roles. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, November 15, 2014

BRTA generous in issuing � tness certi� catesInadequate testing, rampant bribery getting un� t vehicles through inspection n Abu Hayat Mahmud

O� cials concerned at Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) have been issuing � tness certi� cates to vehicles without properly following the inspec-tion procedures set by the transport regulatory body itself.

Sources at the BRTA said there are at least 30 di� erent tests that all vehicles have to pass in order to get certi� ed for � tness. But most of the time the BRTA o� cials are only checking the colour of the vehicles’ bodies – and in case of some private cars, checking the en-gines – before issuing the certi� cates.

After the BRTA started a drive against un� t vehicles across the coun-try, a huge number of vehicles has been gathering at the BRTA o� ce in the cap-ital’s Mirpur area in order to get certi-� ed and avoid getting picked up by the mobile courts. The number is rising every day, several BRTA o� cials told the Dhaka Tribune.

On a visit to the BRTA o� ce on Thursday, this correspondent found a number of “agents” roaming around the o� ce entrance, asking vehicle owners and drivers whether they need-ed some “help” in acquiring the � tness certi� cate.

One such agent approached this cor-respondent and said: “Sir, do you need � tness certi� cate for your vehicle? I can help you get it without hassle, for Tk500 only.”

Entering the premises, this corre-spondent found a good number of bus-es, mini-buses, cars, CNG-run autorick-shaws and even a few law enforcers’ vehicles waiting in long queues to get � tness certi� cates.

However, though the privately owned buses were freshly painted, most of them were in poor condition inside. Despite that, the buses seemed to pass the inspection without much di� culties.

Further investigation revealed that the agents had worked out a system with the BRTA o� cials inspecting the vehicles.

One such vehicle, a pick-up with fad-ed body colour, got in front of the line. When one of the inspectors checked the vehicle and declared it un� t, an agent standing behind the inspector said: “Sir, I know the driver. Please give him the certi� cate.”

Interestingly, that pick-up got certi-� ed without further inspection.

When this correspondent asked the inspector why he had let the un� t ve-hicle pass, the inspector demanded to know who was asking.

When this correspondent provided identi� cation, the inspector said: “I do not have the authority to speak to press. If you have any queries, you can contact the assistant director.”

Before listening to the inspector’s advice, this correspondent approached the pick-up driver and asked how he had gotten his previously declared un-� t vehicle certi� ed.

Requesting anonymity, the driver said he had paid Tk500 to the agent who had spoken for him.

“I was in the line for an hour, and the BRTA o� cials said my vehicle was old and would not get certi� ed. So I got help from the agent,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

This correspondent then contacted Sha� quzzaman Bhuiyan, assistant di-rector of BRTA Mirpur Zone, who de-nied the allegations.

“I have been periodically monitor-ing the inspection process. Our inspec-tors and vehicle experts are properly checking the vehicles before issuing the � tness certi� cates,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

This is not the � rst time that al-legations of irregularities have been brought up against the BRTA. Many re-ports and studies by di� erent local and foreign organisations have claimed the prevalence of corruption at the trans-port regulatory body.

According to a recent World Bank study, the BRTA takes bribes for issuing driving licenses, blue books, registra-tion numbers and � tness certi� cates, and to provide timely service.

A portion of the funds collected goes to senior BRTA management, and to political and transport association leaders, the study report said.

In addition to these examples, where bus owners, drivers and sta� are the victims of corruption, these actors also engage in proactive corrupt prac-tices themselves.

Mini-bus sta� are given early warn-ings from BRTA – for a price – about when mobile courts will come into action, and the illegal, extra seats are taken out of the bus for the duration. l

Lucrative o� ers make farmers opt for tobacco cultivationAcreage for tobacco has been growing over the years, the DAE says n Abu Bakar Siddique

Lucrative facilities o� ered by tobacco product manufacturers are pushing farmers across the country towards cultivating tobacco instead of winter crops, making the government’s initi-ative to cut the tobacco farming futile.

A rough estimation by the � eld o� c-es of the Department of Agriculture Ex-tension shows that the tobacco yield this season will be more than that in previ-ous years, even though the government wants to reduce the volume gradually as it hampers the production of cereal crops such as Boro paddy and maize.

“Our � eld report says this year the tobacco harvest will be nearly double in Lalmonirhat, which will naturally reduce the acreage of Boro and maize,” said Safayet Hossain, deputy director of the DAE in Lalmonirhat district.

According to DAE statistics, the acreage of Boro paddy in the past three seasons were 4.81 million hectares, 4.76 million hectares and around 4.7 million hectares, respectively, which clearly indicates the decreasing trend of Boro land.

“Last year, we recorded tobacco

acreage of around 9,308 hectares in � ve upazilas of Lalmonirhat, which is near-ly half of the actual acreage,” he added.

The tobacco companies are provid-ing all sorts of agricultural supplies, such as fertilisers, seeds, pesticides and cash, in advance to the farmers to farming easy for them, on condition of growing tobacco in their land, several farmers told the Dhaka Tribune.

In addition, the companies o� er to buy their production in advance at high rates.

Sohrab Hossain, a farmer from Mir-pur area in Kushtia district, said: “I have been working with the company since last year as I made good pro� t. By working with the tobacco company, I do not have to invest anything other than labour.”

Ashraf Molla, a farmer in Bandar-ban’s Ali Kodom upazila who has been cultivating tobacco in his eight bigha of land for the past four seasons, said: “We have been instructed to reduce the number and acreage of tobacco farms, but such aggressive marketing policy by tobacco companies is making our plan to cut down tobacco farming go in vain,” Safayet, the DAE deputy direc-

tor, told the Dhaka Tribune. As per the � eld-level statistics of the

DAE, in the 2013-14 season tobacco acre-age was over 100,000 hectares, while in 2012-13 it was around 70,000 hectares.

Of them, about 40,000 hectares were in Kushtia, about 28,000 hectares in Bandarban, and in the compara-tively new areas like Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari districts, the acreage was 30,000 and 10,000 hectares, respectively.

According to the government sta-tistics, around 60,000 people die and 400,000 su� er from disabilities every year in Bangladesh due to the usage of tobacco goods. Growing tobacco also reduces the possibility of growing oth-er crops in the same land.

“Our � eld o� ces have been organ-ising di� erent programmes, including building awareness among farmers on the negative impacts of tobacco farm-ing, to cut down the cultivation, but we are failing to make them understand because of the tobacco companies,” said Md Musleh Uddin Faruque, depu-ty director (tobacco) at the DAE.

However, the British American To-bacco Company’s regional manager in Bandarban, Ha� zur Rahman, said they

are not doing anything illegal. “We are merely helping the interested

farmers to ensure their best production by giving suggestions, as we have to buy good-quality raw tobacco from the local market to run our business,” he said.

The anti-tobacco campaigns claimed that the government’s weak attempt at keeping farmers’ interest away from tobacco farming, including ensuring fare pricing of other crops, was a major reason behind the rise of tobacco cul-tivation.

Farida Akhter, executive director of Policy Research for Development Alter-natives, a Dhaka-based NGO, said: “The rising trend of tobacco cultivation is a result of government’s poor initiative to ensure fare pricing and marketing of other crops, thus leading to soil infer-tility, scarcity of food and deteriorating crop diversity in the country.”

“A large number of farmers have been engaged in tobacco farming to earn more money from their production. They are sure of getting a reasonable price for their yield and getting the farming ma-terials in advance from the tobacco com-panies, which the government does not provide for other crops,” she said. l

Obama rea� rms Rohingya rights, speaks up for Suu Kyi n Agencies, Yangon

Myanmar’s minority Rohingya Mus-lims, among the most persecuted peo-ple on earth, and advocates of their cause were hoping President Barack Obama would not only press the issue during his visit this week — they were hoping he would simply say their name.

Yesterday, the last day of his trip, he � nally did — uttering the word publicly for the � rst time on his three-day visit at a news conference with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Discrimination against the Rohing-ya or any other religious minority does not express the kind of country that Burma over the long term wants to be,” Obama said, in response to a reporter’s question about the status of reforms in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Myanmar’s government views the estimated 1.3 million Rohingya — living in dire, segregated conditions in west-ern Rakhine state — not as citizens, but as illegal migrants from Bangladesh en-croaching on scarce land. For that rea-son, they say the Rohingya ethnicity does not exist.

Since the start of this year, Myan-mar’s government has stepped up pres-sure on foreign o� cials not to use the word “Rohingya.”

During a private meeting with Presi-dent Thein Sein on Thursday which fo-cused largely on the Rohingya’s plight and a need for constitutional reforms ahead of 2015 elections, Obama used the word “Rohingya” multiple times

and did so purposefully, according to a senior US o� cial who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the of-� cial was not authorised to comment.

But in his public opening statement, Obama did not speci� cally mention the Rohingya, referring only to the “terri-ble violence in Rakhine state.”

Obama signals support for Suu Kyi candidacyThe United States has signalled its will-ingness to let the transition to democ-racy take shape and has avoided specif-ic demands. Nevertheless, Obama has told President Thein Sein that the next election, due in 2015, needs to be fair, inclusive and transparent.

Standing next to Myanmar’s de-mocracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, US President Barack Obama said yesterday that the law barring her from becoming president “doesn’t make much sense”.

It was the clearest statement Obama has made on Suu Kyi’s political future, but he stopped short of explicitly urg-ing that changes be made to allow her to run for the presidency.

“I don’t understand a provision that would bar someone from being pres-ident because of who their children are – that doesn’t make much sense to me,” Obama told reporters outside Suu Kyi’s lakeside home in Yangon without naming her.

Suu Kyi, like Obama a Nobel laure-ate, is barred from contesting for presi-dent in next year’s election because her two sons are foreign nationals. l

Robotics showdown at Buetn Arif Ahmed

Picture this...two robots – one controlled remotely and another pre-programmed – are working together to solve the same problem. They are designed to follow directives and coordinate tasks between themselves. When one works, the oth-er waits for its turn, and after � nishing their tasks individually, the duo work together to solve the given task.

That was a small description of what was happening at the robotic competi-tion held at Buet yesterday.

Though global robotics is way ahead of what is happening at the event, stu-dents of some engineering universities of the country participated with robots they “invented” that for the � rst time have the mechanism of working in co-ordination and solving a critical prob-lem following pre-installed or manual directions from the instructors.

These two-handed robots are called multi-taskers. The robots have bridge building capability and maze solving e� ciency.

With an attempt to make university students experts in robotics program-ming and facilitate a chance to partici-pate in world-class global competitions on robotics, the IEEE (Institute of Elec-trical and Electronic Engineering) of Buet organised the two-day long compe-tition on its campus from November 13.

Each competitor came with two robots and displayed their use both manually and automatically. At the event, the handmade robots were to achieve two objectives. One would have to maintain indication lines following pre-installed directions and another would work manually according to the instructor’s direction.

While talking about the practical uses of these robots Saki Ahmed, a stu-

dent of Buet, said: “Throughout the competition, we have tried to show how we can use several robots to solve a typical and single problem. We main-ly focused on the coordination of work between the two robots which is very rare in our country.”

“If we become successful, we can use the technology in large scale works like the moving of debris at the Rana Plaza collapse site or the rescue work during similar hazards in the future,” he added.

The two day festival was divided

into three categories - programming challenge, international robotic chal-lenge and Formula R.

At least ten teams from seven uni-versities, including Buet, Sust, IUT, Duet, Ruet and Kuet, from across the country took part in the competition. Among the teams, the best two will be participating in the IEEE worldwide competition in next year.

This was the third time IEEE have organised this competition in corpora-tion with Bangladesh Computer Coun-cil (BCC).

Jakaria Haidar, a student of EEE at Buet and also a participant, said: “We have a made a robot which can identify any objects and also can move objects from one place to another. He also said that proper patronisation and � nancial support by the authorities concerned can inspire students to highten their creativity.”

Organiser of the programme Navid Ibtehaj Nizam said the festival was or-ganised to encourage fresher’s to make robots and to spread the methods of in-vention among them. l

After vendors dump rotting oranges in a roadside dump near Beribadh in the capital’s Lalbagh area yesterday, three street children dive in to sort out the salvageable ones that they can eat and sell MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Students showcase their creations at a robot exhibit at the Institute of Information and Communication Technology building in Buet yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

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