25 march 2014

AL turns the table with 31 full panelsBNP gets all three posts in � veupazilas and Jamaat in threen Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The ruling Awami League has sealed an “impressive” performance in terms of securing vice-chairman and vice-chair-woman posts in the upazila parishad panels in Sunday’s fourth phase of the local body polls.

In the � rst two phases, when elec-tion-centred violence was negligible, BNP-backed candidates not only won more chairman posts but also more vice-chairman and vice-chairwoman posts than the candidates blessed by the Awami League.

Although the ruling party bagged more chairman and vice-chairman seats than the BNP in the third phase when vi-olence � rst escalated, it was still behind its arch rivals in terms of the vice-chair-woman posts of the local bodies.

But this time around, with chaos and rigging reported from almost half

of the polling areas, the Awami League-backed contenders presented a clean sweep, securing all the three seats of the panels in 31 upazilas, while the BNP-Jamaat managed 20.

However, the BNP alone has clinched the full panel in only � ve upazila parishads and Jamaat in three.

So far, after the conclusion of the four phases, Awami League-backed candidates have won 127 vice-chair-man posts while the BNP-Jamaat-backed ones won 194.

In the ongoing upazila elections, the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami are backing candidates as an alliance.

In Sunday’s fourth phase, Awami League-supported candidates emerged victorious in 41 vice-chairman posts, compared to 13 by the BNP. Interesting-ly, Jamaat-backed candidates won 22 vice-chairman posts.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Hosts, holders seek turnaround n Mazhar Uddin

It will be a very di� cult task for Bang-ladesh to overcome their qualifying round defeat to Hong Kong and stand strong in front of the defending cham-pions West Indies who will be looking to win to survive in the World Twen-ty20 today.

However, it won’t be totally surpris-ing if the Tigers, inspired from their record against West Indies, pull an up-set and send the Caribbean’s closer to elimination at the Sher-e-Bangla Na-tional Stadium. Bangladesh’s only win in the World T20 was against West In-dies in 2007 while in total they have a

50% win ration in four matches played. The home side is expected to alter

their line up from the Hong Kong de-feat as all rounder Ziaur Rahman, who replaced Rubel Hossain in the squad, is likely to replace Farhad Reza while Mashrafe bin Mortaza, despite not fully � t, might also return in place of Rubel.

Sohag Gazi is also likely to get the nod given his impressive record against

West Indies who have already exposed their weakness in spin bowling.

The batting unit is also likely to be shu� ed with Shamsur Rahman, who is yet to get a game in the tournament, coming in place of Sabbir Rahman at No 3. Meanwhile it is high time Tamim Iqbal, Nasir Hossain and Mahmudullah show some urgency and contribute to the team or else it will once again be too much on the shoulders of Shakib al Hasan and Mush� qur Rahim.

None of the captains in the World Twenty20 so far has opted to bat after winning the toss as the slow tracks and dew factor in the night games makes

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

20 pages plus 16-page T-Mag tabloid | Price: Tk10

Chaitra 11, 1420Jamadiul Awal 21, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 1 No 361 TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

BusinessB1 Investors gave cold shoulder to the dividend payouts for 2013 by listed companies, which were more or less same dividends compared to the previous year.

News4 The health ministry has restarted an initiative to introduce regulations for the organ transplant act, around 15 years after the act was enacted in parliament.

5 Most of the public playgrounds under two city corporations in Dhaka have become virtually o� -limits to children and youngsters due to lack of proper monitoring and maintenance by the authorities concerned.

Op-Ed11 Crimea is not an expression of Russia trying to expand or the political leadersof the vulnerable Baltic states.

INSIDE

T-MAG | VOICES OF INDEPENDENCE 14 | REFEREE NOT UP TO CLASICO STANDARD

Details in sport page-15

9 | UN ON WEATHER EXTREMES7 | RUSSIA’S LOSS

VICE-CHAIRMANAL BNP-Jamaat

1st phase 27 552nd phase 33 663rd phase 26 384th phase 41 35Total 127 194

VICE-CHAIRWOMANAL BNP-Jamaat














Sri Lanka cricket captain Dinesh Chandimal (2L) celebrates after Netherlands batsman Mudassar Bukhari was clean bowled by Lasith Malinga (L) during the ICC World Twenty20 tournament cricket match between Netherlands and Sri Lanka at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday AFP

June 292010

Arrested

January 92012

Cognisance

November 132013

Trial ended

March 102014

Rehearing starts

December 11 2011

Charges pressed

May 282012

Indicted

January 242014

Tribunal reformed

NIZAMI TRIAL TIMELINE

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DT IN

FOGR

APHI

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529 Morsi backers sentenced todeath in Egyptn AFP, Cairo

A court ordered the execution of 529 supporters of deposed Islamist presi-dent Mohamed Morsi after two hear-ings yesterday, in the largest such sen-tencing in Egypt’s modern history.

The military-installed authorities have arrested thousands of Morsi sup-porters and put many of them on trial since the army deposed the Islamiston July 3.

The defendants in the southern province of Minya are part of a larger group of more than 1,200 alleged Isla-mists accused of killing policemen and rioting on August 14, after police killed hundreds of protesters while dispers-ing two Cairo protest camps.

Of the 529 defendants sentenced, 153 are currently in detention and the rest were tried in absentia. They au-tomatically get a new trial if they turn themselves in.

Another 17 defendants were acquit-ted.

The verdict can be appealed at the Court of Cassation, which would prob-ably order a new trial or reduce the sentences, said legal expert Gamal Eid, who heads the Arabic Network for Hu-man Rights Information.

‘Judge rammed sentencing through’In yesterday’s session, the court

referred its decision to the mufti, the government’s o� cial interpreter of Islamic law, for rati� cation. The mufti has upheld death sentences in the past.

Defence lawyer Mohamed Tousson said the judge rammed through the sentencing after he was angered by

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

ELECTION VIOLENCE

Moral boost for BNP, AL circumspectn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The results of the fourth phase upazila polls may not trigger happy memories for the BNP, but its leaders believe that widespread violence and vote rigging will end up cementing its stance that “fair polls are not possible under parti-san arrangements.”

However, leaders of the ruling Awa-mi League believe that the escalation of violence is a result of “rising intol-erance” as “everybody wants to win at any cost.”

After three closely contested phases of the upazila parishad elections, the Awami League came up with a land-slide majority in Sunday’s fourth spell,

winning 54 of the 91 chairman posts. The BNP managed only 24.

In the � rst three phases, the rul-ing party and the BNP were neck andneck in terms of winning chairman posts, clinching 124 and 123 seats re-spectively.

Compared to these phases, violence PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Nizami’s trial ends � nally; verdict any dayn Udisa Islam

The trial in the war crimes case against Jamaat-e-Islami incumbent chief Mo-tiur Rahman Nizami ended yesterday after rehearing of closing arguments by both the defence and the prosecution.

The three-member International Crimes Tribunal 1 headed by Justice

M Enayetur Rahim heard the prose-cution’s rebuttal on the defence argu-ments, the last stage of the trial pro-ceedings, yesterday. The tribunal may pronounce the verdict any day.

Prosecutor Tureen Afroz sought capital punishment for Nizami; Mohammad Ali, the conducting

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Genocide began on March 25, 1971n BSS

The nation will recall the “Black Night of March 25” today in commemoration of the cowardly attack on the unarmed Bangalees by the barbarous Pakistani occupation forces in 1971.

In the dreadful operation dubbed as “Operation Searchlight,” the Pakistani occupation forces mercilessly killed

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, March 25, 2014

529 Morsi backers PAGE 1 COLUMN 6a lawyer who demanded his recusal in the � rst session.

“He didn’t even ascertain the pres-ence of the detained defendants, he only got to the 51st defendant,” Tous-son said.

“A lawyer then demanded his rec-usal. He got very angry, and adjourned the trial for sentencing,” he said.

A second group of about 700 de-fendants, including Mohamed Badie, the supreme guide of Morsi’s Mus-lim Brotherhood movement, are due in the dock today.

Egypt has been rocked by continu-ous protests by Morsi supporters and by militant attacks that have killed more than 200 members of the security forces since his overthrow.

Rights group Amnesty Internation-al says at least 1,400 people have been killed in violence nationwide, and thousands more have been arrested.

Morsi is himself currently on trial in three di� erent cases, including one for inciting the killing of protesters outside a presidential palace while he was in o� ce.

The army removed Morsi, the coun-try’s � rst democratically elected pres-ident, after a year in o� ce following mass street protests demanding his resignation.

Jazeera trial resumesThe government crackdown has also targeted prominent activists of the 2011 revolt against former president Hosni Mubarak, as well as journalists.

On Sunday, a court released on bail leftwing activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, a leading symbol of the anti-Mubarak uprising.

He had been detained for joining an unsanctioned and violent protest in November.

The targeting of activists such as Ab-del Fattah and journalists has prompt-ed fears of a return to the authoritarian practices of the Mubarak era.

Also on Monday, another court is set to hold the third hearing in the trial of a group of journalists working with the Doha-based Al-Jazeera satellite televi-sion network.

The journalists, including Australian reporter Peter Greste, are charged with spreading false news and aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood.

Their trial comes against the back-drop of strained ties between Egypt and Qatar, which backed Morsi and the Brotherhood.

Journalists around the world have staged protests demanding the report-ers’ release, with Washington and the United Nations also voicing their sup-port. l

AL turns the table with 31 PAGE 1 COLUMN 2In the previous three spells, BNP-Ja-maat-backed contenders triumphed in 159 vice-chairman posts while ruling party-backed runners won in 86.

In case of the women panellists, rul-ing party-backed candidates triumphed in 42 upazilas while BNP-backed wom-en won in 30.

Jamaat-backed women candidates won only six vice-chairwomen posts.

Other than these three parties, candidates backed by the Jatiya Party (Monju) and the PCJSS clinched full panels in one upazila each, namely Bhandaria of Pirojpur and Jurachhari of Rangamati respectively.

Two vice-chairman contenders backed by the Islamic Front came out on top in two upazilas – Rangunia and Boalkhali in Chittagong.

A candidate backed by the Com-munist Party of Bangladesh won a vice-chairman post in Botiaghata upazila of Khulna.

A vice-chairwoman candidate backed by the Workers Party of Bangla-desh came out winner in Narail Sadar upazila.

After the completion of the four phases, the tally for BNP-Jamaat-backed women panellists stands at 202 while the � gure is 138 for the ruling party-backed women. l

Hosts, holders seek turnaround PAGE 1 COLUMN 5it easy to chase a target instead of set-ting it. The toss will be crucial for Bang-ladesh given the number of spinners at Mush� q’s disposal.

After going down to India, West In-dies will be eyeing a win against their comparative weaker opponents. Their batsmen carry the reputation of big hitting and it will be interesting to see how they approach the Tiger spinners

who have from time to time made them su� er.

Chris Gayle struggled against the slow Indian bowlers and his input in the match will be crucial for both sides while Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Darren Sammy will be looking forward to a better per-formance.

They might include their experi-enced fast bowler Ravi Rampaul in

place of Krishmar Santokie while the number one bowler in the shortest for-mat of the game Sunil Narine holds the key in the bowling unit.

When the Bangladesh side attend-ed the 27th birthday party of Shakib at his home yesterday the all round-er might also serve some experience and calmness with the birthday cake may change the approach of the tigers which they need the most today. l

Moral boost for BNP, AL circumspect PAGE 1 COLUMN 3marked a signi� cant rise in the fourth, with media reports showing ruling party men occupying polling centres, attacking election o� cials, illegally stamping ballot papers and assaulting opposition supporters in half of the ar-eas that voted on Sunday.

The BNP boycotted and vowed to re-sist the January 5 national election, de-manding non-partisan caretaker arrange-ments. But the party eventually failed to hold the Awami League back despite stag-ing months of violent and bloody street protests prior to the national poll, whose credibility was also tainted.

Last year, the Awami League-led administration held polls in � ve city corporations relatively peacefully and fairly, and the BNP-backed candidates came out on top in all those elections, strengthening the ruling party’s claim that free polls were possible under par-tisan arrangements.

But all the good work done in those city elections were turned to dust after violence and rigging made a return in

the second phase of this year’s upazi-la polls and the trend continued until Sunday with at least four deaths re-ported from various places.

BNP Standing Committee member Tariqul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “The upazila elections have proved that fair polls are not possible under parti-san arrangements and only strength-ened our demand for reinstallation of the caretaker government system.

“When the Election Commission has been failing from every aspect, the prime minister is claiming that the commission is independent and suc-cessful. It only proves that the Election Commission is subservient to the gov-ernment. We will soon wage a tough movement against its role.”

On the other hand, Awami League Presidium member Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin said violence that was concentrat-ed only in some areas could not be a one-sided thing.

“It is because intolerance is rising. If everyone wants to win, violence be-comes inevitable,” he said.

“[BNP chief] Khaleda Zia might have got a moral boost, but in the long run, she would not be able to get anything to work in favour of her demand for a non-partisan poll-time government be-cause we cannot go beyond the scope of the country’s constitution,” Lenin said.

BNP Vice-Chairman Abdullah Al-No-man said what happened on Sunday was “vote robbery” rather than vote rigging.

Awami League Organising Secre-tary Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said: “The BNP has been trying to make the electoral process questionable for the last � ve years. It tried its best to resist the January 5 election, but failed. It boycotted the national election but participated in the local body [upazila] polls only to make the electoral process controversial and prove that boycotting the national poll was right.”

Asked if he thought that the EC had failed to curb violence, Khalid said: “The Election Commission tried to check vio-lence; but there are many dimensions to the local body polls and BNP-Jamaat ex-ploited those opportunities.” l

Nizami’s trial ends � nally PAGE 1 COLUMN 3prosecutor, said they had proved all the charges brought against Nizami and death penalty was the only pun-ishment for such an accused.

Earlier, the two prosecutors and senior prosecutor Syed Haider Ali had placed closing arguments for three days.

Tureen yesterday answered to some questions on incitement raised by the defence. She told the tribunal that in-citement had long been recognised as an independent o� ence in many coun-tries including the UK.

Nizami is facing 16 war crimes charges for his alleged involvement in the crimes against humanity, genocide, rape and incitement, especially in Pab-na and Dhaka, during the 1971 Libera-tion War.

On November 13 last year, the tri-bunal, then led by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, kept the case waiting for the ver-dict.

It drew conclusion to the case against the backdrop of continuous failure of the defence to appear before the court. However, it also gave the de-fence an opportunity to place its argu-ment.

Justice Kabir retired on December 31 before pronouncing the judgement. On February 24, Justice Enayetur was appointed as the new chairman of the tribunal. Following a defence petition which was also supported by prosecu-tor Mohammad Ali, the tribunal decid-ed to hear afresh the closing arguments that began on March 10.

In their arguments over four days, the defence termed Nizami “innocent” and said he had not been involved with any crimes stated in the charge sheet.

Earlier, chief defence counsel Abdur Razzak placed legal arguments while this time Mizanul Islam and Tajul Islam did the job.

The defence said Nizami in his ad-dresses had not directed to kill or de-

stroy in whole or part any racial, reli-gious, ethnic or national group that are components of genocide charge. Since he did not target any of those groups, it would not be genocide.

The defence admitted that Nizami was the chief of Islami Chhatra Sang-ha, the student body of Jamaat at that time, but also strongly claimed that the prosecution could not produce any ev-idence to prove that the accused was also the chief of al-Badr – the notorious group responsible for systematic ab-duction and killing of intellectuals at the fag end of the Liberation War.

Tribunal 1 earlier gave verdicts against Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, its former chief Ghulam Azam and BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.

It took the tribunal 30 days to de-liver the verdict in Sayedee’s case after the closing arguments had been com-plete, two months in Ghulam Azam’s case and more than two months in the case against Salauddin Quader. l

Genocide began on March 25, 1971 PAGE 1 COLUMN 1the Bangalee members of EPR (East Pa-kistan Ri� es, now BGB) and police, and students and teachers as well as thou-sands of sleeping common people.

It killed anywhere between 25,000 people to a 100,000 that night in Dhaka alone, according to independent sourc-es, diplomats and foreign journalist, who were in Dhaka.

It was a complete military opera-tion – one of the very few military op-erations in post-World War II history which ultimately was planned against civilians, just to kill a smart percentage of them and to scare the survivors.

The atrocities triggered the struggle for independence.

Di� erent political parties and so-cio-cultural organisations have chalked out elaborate programmes to pay deep homage to the martyrs.

The military resorted to genocide in Dhaka, the provincial capital of the then East Pakistan, in the guise of a mock dialogue to implement their blueprint to negate the Awami League’s election mandate of 1970.

The morning of March 25 was tense, as reports of the breakdown of talks

and total collapse of the administration led to the death of more than a thou-sand people in Syedpur, Rangpur, Khal-ishpur and Chittagong the day before.

Besides this, there was no news of then president Yahya Khan or their aides. There was rumour that they had left the city under heavy armed escorts.

Around 8pm, the tanks rolled out of the Dhaka cantonment. Some went towards the Dhaka University, some to the EPR headquarters in Pilkhana and others towards Rajarbagh Police Lines – the “Operation Searchlight” begun.

The � rst target in Dhaka University was the Iqbal Hall (now Sergeant Zahurul Huq Hall) where most of the Bangalee nationalist activities took place. To clear their way, the Pakistani Army set � re to the slums, which straddled the old rail-way line that ran west of Dhaka University and killed thousands of poor men, wom-en and children within a few minutes.

From Plassey point they crawled to-wards the dormitory expecting tough resistance. Of the few still staying there was Chisty Shah Hilalur Rahman, as-sistant secretary of East Pakistan Stu-dents’ League. Also a sub-editor of the Daily Azad, Chisty was shot point-

blank after being bayoneted. Another victim was Zafar Alam, a student of the university. Most of those who died were on-duty security men.

The army also killed a number of teach-ers on that night, inside their houses. Dr Moniruzzaman, head of statistics depart-ment, was killed along with his entire fam-ily. So was Dr Jyotirmoy Guha Thakurda, reader of English, and Govinda Chandra Dev, head of philosophy department.

In Rajarbagh, the policemen were short-shifted. They stood little chance against the heavy weaponry. But in Pilkhana, the EPR resisted and it contin-ued for a few more hours before the EPR men retreated across the river to safe area.

In the wake of military crackdown, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared independence of Bangladesh through EPR wireless at 00:30 hours on March 26 from his historic Road 32 residence at Dhanmondi.

He called upon the people to build a united resistance against the Pakistani occupation forces. Later, the Pakistani military junta arrested Bangabandhu on that night. He was taken to the then West Pakistan where he had to spend long nine months in a dark condemned cell of a jail. l

Nizami faces 16 charges of crimes against humanity.Some of the major allega-tions are: Involvement in intellectuals’ killingOrdering killing of several youths including Rumi, son of Jahanara Imam, at MP hostel in DhakaInvolvement in mass killing, rape and loot at Karamja and Brishalikha villages in Santhia of PabnaInciting speeches across the country

EC: Amu, 2 MPs violated electoral coden Mohammad Zakaria

The Election Commission has noti� ed the cabinet division and parliament secretariat about the violation of the electoral code of conduct by a minister and two ruling-party lawmakers during the upazila polls.

Drawing the attention of Prime Min-ister Sheikh Hasina, the commission in a letter to the cabinet division said Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu violated the electoral code of conduct during the upazila polls.

In another letter to the parliament sec-retariat, the commission accused AL law-makers Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju and Benjir Ahmedon of violating the electoral code.

However, the commission did not send any letters the accused.

Earlier, the previous commission, led by ATM Shamsul Huda, took actions against some ministers and MPs for vi-olating the electoral code of conducts during the third upazila parishads polls and also � led cases against them.

The letter to cabinet division stated: “Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu,

at a rally on March 21 in Rajapur Upazila in Jhalakathi, sought votes on behalf of Awami League-backed candidate Mon-iruzzaman, which was a violation of the upazila electoral code of conduct.”

In another letter to parliament secre-tariat, the commission said AL lawmak-er Rajiuddin Raju and his wife Kalpana Raju threatened voters and asked them to work for Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury in Raipura upazila and, which was a clear violation of the electoral code of conduct. The same allegation was made against ruling party lawmaker Benjir Ahmed. l

EWG: 4th phase saw 66.5% voter turnout, new level of violencen Mohammad Zakaria

Widespread violence and vote rigging marked the fourth phase of the upa-zila parishad elections despite a large turnout of voters, the Election Working Group (EWG) said yesterday.

The network of civil society organi-sations monitored 680 polling centres in 23 upazilas during the fourth round of polls on Sunday.

In a preliminary report, the group noted 122 violent incidents and 184 cases of vote rigging in 16 upazilas, while voter turnout was recorded as 66.5%.

At a programme in the capital yes-terday, the EWG also alleged that its members had faced obstacles while monitoring the polls.

Citing an example, the EWG said supporters, including a 10-year-old boy, had been seen snatching and stu� -ing ballot papers in favour of their can-

didates in at least two centres in Piro-jpur Sadar upazila.

Addressing a press conference in the capital yesterday, EWG’s election ex-pert Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah said the Election Commission’s e� orts to hold peaceful polls had been foiled due to the huge number of “unprecedented” incidents of violence.

“The � rst phase of polls were held normally, but incidents of violence increased in the third phase,” Nazmul said, adding: “The violence reached a new level in the fourth phase that crossed the limits, and tarnished the image of our election culture.”

Nazmul also claimed that the EWG observers had been sent out of 18 poll-ing stations while some had had their mobile phones “unexpectedly” taken away.

EWG Director Abdul Alim was pres-ent at the programme held at the Na-tional Press Club. l

Question raised on receiving gold boat as giftn Emran Hossain Shaikh

Legislator for Jatiya Party (JaPa) AKM Mayeedul Islam in the Jatiya Sangsad yesterday raised a question about a gift of a gold boat received by a state min-ister and wanted to know whether the law in this regard is in force.

The lawmaker (Kurigram 3) not men-

tioning anyone speci� cally said the in-cident of the gift was very embarrassing and due to an uproar in the media, the state minister later sold o� the boat and the money was donated to an orphanage, which he termed a violation of law as well.

The MP said: “According to my knowl-edge, it is mandatory to deposit the gift to treasury (Toshakhana) if the price of

any gift exceeds more than Tk500.”“The Toshakhana Rules, 1974 is in

force now and it is mandatory for the president, prime minister, speaker, dep-uty speaker, ministers and state minis-ters, MPs and government employees to deposit gifts priced more than Tk30,000 with the treasury,” the minister said in response to the question. l

Street lights are seen to be kept lit at around 3:30pm in the afternoon in the capital's Paribagh area yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Violence by AL men helps Jamaat candidate win in Satkania n Tushar Hayat, Chittagong

The violence created reportedly by the supporters of ruling party-backed chairman candidate played a sig-ni� cant role in the victory of Ja-maat-e-Islami-supported candidate in the election to Satkania upazila in Chittagong held on Sunday.

Local sources said as Ja-maat-backed candidate Jashim Ud-din, who was also vice-chairman of the upazila parishad, was arrest-ed after the announcement of the polls schedule, he got sympathy from the voters.

They said the activists of BNP-backed candidate Sheikh Moham-med Mohiuddin became inactive when the ruling party men started snatching ballot papers and ballot boxes at di� erent polling centres.

“Most of our supporters, who went to polling centres, cast their votes for Jamaat candidate as they got annoyed with the violence of

ruling party men,” said Majibur Rahman, president of upazila unit BNP, adding that their party men became inactive following the vi-olence as they did not want to see losses of lives and properties.

Mohammed Salim Uddin, a lo-cal leader of Liberal Democratic Party, said their party president Oli Ahmed extended support to the BNP candidate, but most of the par-ty leaders and activists could not cast their votes due to the violence created by the ruling party men.

“Those who went to the centres voted for Jashim, although LDP never supports Jamaat,” he said, adding that the violence created by the ruling party had become bless-ing for Jamaat at Satkania.

Mohammed Ishaque, acting president of district (south) unit of Jamaat, said the people have given a be� tting reply to the oppression of the government on Jamaat lead-ers and activists through voting.

“Not only the chairman post, we have also won two vice- chairman posts even after snatching of ballot papers, ballot boxes and stamping ballots by the ruling party men at many centres,” he said, adding that their chairman candidate has won the polls, although he is in jail.

He said it has been proved that Satkania is a Jamaat stronghold as they have won the victory � ghting not only against the ruling party but also alliance partner BNP and LDP in the election.

During visit to di� erent polling centres at Satkania on Sunday, the supporters of AL-backed candidate Nazrul Islam Chowdhury were found involved in vote rigging.

However, Jamaat-backed candidate Jashim Uddin was elected chairman. He bagged 64,627 votes while his nearest rival Nazrul Islam got 45,840 votes and BNP-backed candidate Mohiuddin 27,000 votes. l

British envoy concerned at ‘transgressions’ in upazila pollsn UNB

British High Commissioner in Dhaka Robert Gibson yesterday expressed concern over the me-dia reports of “interference” and “transgressions” in upazila polls.

“It is not acceptable, if it is true,” he said while talking to reporters after opening new a UK-Australia

joint visa centre in the city. He also hoped that such allegations would be dealt “appropriately” by the authorities concerned.

About future elections, he said major political parties need-ed to take steps to engage in dialogue to � nd out ways for a “sustainable political solution” for national election. l

European Parliament delegation holds talks with Khaledan UNB

The visiting European Parliament (EP) delegation met BNP Chairperson Khale-da Zia yesterday.

The hour-long meeting started around 6:30pm at the BNP chairper-son’s Gulshan o� ce. However, neither BNP nor the EP team briefed reporters about the meeting.

A source close to Khaleda said various issues related to the January 5 election, latest condition of politics, human rights and the RMG sector of the country, had come up in the discussion.

Chairperson of the Delegation for Relations with South Asia Jean Lam-bert led the EP team to the meeting.

Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh William Hanna, BNP Vice-Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, BNP chairperson’s advisers – Reaz Rahman and Sabihuddin Ahmed, were present at the meeting. l

1 execution, 10 convictions in war tribunal’s 4 yearsSecond phase needs more patience, say activists; trial to continue, assures minister n Udisa Islam

Four years into its inception, the Inter-national Crimes Tribunal is now deal-ing with cases against some accused who are not big � sh.

War crimes activists have expressed frustration as the tribunal’s investigation agency and the prosecution are not tak-ing the second phase of trial seriously.

So far, the two tribunals gave ver-dicts in the cases against 10 war crim-inals including then Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam who masterminded the anti-liberation activities. Of the con-victs, Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mol-la has been executed after the appeals case was disposed of at the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. The case of Delawar Hossain Sayedee is near end at the same Appellate Division bench.

The war crimes tribunal was estab-lished on March 25, 2010 in line with the International Crimes (tribunals) Act 1973, and the � rst trial began in October 2011 with the case against Sayedee.

Then the law minister, Sha� que Ahmed, said they were thinking about the trial of 16 alleged war criminals at the � rst stage. Later another tribunal was formed to speed up the trails.

The government represents the vic-tims or their families who � led cases against alleged war criminals.

Until date, the tribunal has convict-ed nine men – three in absentia – on charges of genocide, murder, rape, ar-son, looting, religious persecution and incitement. They have been sentenced to either life in prison or death penalty.

Six war crimes suspects are current-ly on trial while investigation is under-way against several others.

Since the beginning, the BNP-Ja-maat alliance and the war criminals have tried their level best to foil the trial, but failed. Even they also tried to leak draft of a verdict before its pro-nouncement to create controversy. The tribunal handled all these hassles care-fully. However, in the recent times, the

prosecution members have engaged in some controversies within the team.

Shahriar Kabir, a renowned writer and activist, said there was no di� er-ence among the war criminals. “All of them are same. So if anybody takes the accused of the second phase as weak criminals, they are wrong.”

He said the justice seekers lost their patience as it took more than one month to reconstitute the tribunal 1. Two of the three-member panel resigned while the chairman went on retirement. “But now we need more patience, especially within the prosecution team,” said Ka-bir. The government should sack imme-diately anyone who tries to create divi-sion within the prosecution.

The tribunal o� cials say since the trials of almost all the “big � sh” ended now the boat was near the bank.

Ma� dul Huq, a trustee of the Liber-ation War Museum, said there was no scope to identify the continued trial as second phase.

“We just got the probe report against Jamaat-e-Islami as an organisation for its role during the war. We need pa-tience and have to be responsible.”

The special tribunal established to bring to justice those responsible for atrocities during the 1971 Liberation War is itself in the dock. It has been criticised for political biasness and fail-ing to meet international standards of due process and fair trial.

After the execution of Quader Molla, several international-acclaimed media labelled him as “prominent Islamist leader,” “opposition politician” or “Mus-lim leader” – not a war criminal. Over 60 people were killed in demonstrations carried out to protest the tribunal ver-dicts. These happened because of Ja-maat’s propaganda against the tribunal.

According to the government, war crimes accused and Jamaat leader Mir Kashem Ali had given a US lobbyist � rm $25m to make the tribunal controver-sial. He is an Executive Council member of the party and also its treasurer.

Imran H Sarker, spokesperson of Gonojagoron Moncho, said: “We want a permanent tribunal. We have raised our voice to achieve this. We are not in a hur-ry, but want to see the end of trial against Jamaat as a criminal organisation.”

The government in February last year amended the ICT Act to incorpo-rate provisions of � ling appeal against a tribunal order by the prosecution and trying parties or groups for such o� ence.

Law Minister Anisul Huq assured that there was nothing that could break patience. He said: “We are conducting the trial in our own way and with in-ternational support. We will continue it until we try the last war criminal of the country.” Admitting that there had been haphazard situation in the recent times, the minister claimed: “Now we have settled most of the issues.”

‘Trials would be symbolic’After assuming power in 2009, LGRD Minister of the Awami League-led gov-ernment Syed Ashraful Islam assured then US ambassador James F Moriarty that the trials of suspected war crimi-nals would be “symbolic” and would not become a witch hunt.

According to a US embassy cable released by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks in 2011, Ashraf said the trials would involve only a handful of peo-ple. “Those convicted would likely [to] receive lenient sentences,” Ashraf said while talking to the US envoy on June 18, 2009. He predicted that the process of gathering evidence and taking the cas-es to trial would be a “long process” that likely would take more than � ve years.

While Ashraf acknowledged the trials could strain national unity, he said it was necessary to bring closure to a topic that continued to bitterly divide the country.

“Ashraf acknowledged that Pakistan strongly opposed the planned trials but said Bangladesh would pursue bilateral talks at the highest level in Islamabad to explain why the trials would go for-ward,” Moriarty wrote in the cable. l

ACC to quiz Khandaker Mosharraf’s wifen Syed Samiul Basher Anik

The Anti Corruption Commission is set to interrogate Bilkis Akhter Hossain, wife of detained BNP Standing Com-mittee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, in connection with an inquiry into the BNP leader’s alleged involve-ment in laundering Tk9.54 crore to the United Kingdom.

The ACC Deputy Director Ahsan Ali yesterday served a notice to Bilkis Akhter asking her to appear before commission at its Segunbagicha head-quarters on April 8, an o� cial said.

According to the case statement, Khandaker Mosharraf, a former min-ister, illegally acquired over £800,000 (Tk95,395,381) by abusing his capacity between 2001 and 2006, and conceal-ing information.

The sum has been put in a joint � xed-term deposit account at Lloyds TSB O� shore Private Banking at Guern-sey in the UK. The joint account be-longs to him and his wife Bilkis Akhter Hossain.

“Since the bank account belongs to both the BNP leader and his wife, we will question her and will try to veri-fy the information. We will also try to trace whether she was involved with the irregularity or not,” the o� cial add-ed.

On the same day, Ahsan Ali also served notices to top eight o� cials of state-run Petrobangla, including two managing directors of its sister con-cerns, to appear before commission in connection with its inquiry against

Petrobangla Chairman Md Hossain Monsur on charge of acquiring illegal wealth.

The ACC has primarily found that Titas Gas Transmission and Distribu-tion Company Limited managing direc-tor Nowshad Islam has earned a huge amount of money by providing illegal gas connections in commercial and res-idential buildings.

“He has allegedly received bribes of Tk15 lakh to Tk20 lakh for each il-legal gas commercial connection and Tk1lakh for residential connections,” o� cials said.

After speci� c allegations, the ACC on March 9 assigned Ahsan Ali to in-vestigate into alleged involvement of Petrobangla chairman in accumulating illegal wealth through appointments in 13 of its companies, violating rules. The allegation said the chairman in conniv-ance with some of his associates ap-pointed a good number of employees violating the rules of the company.

Meanwhile, the ACC has also served a notice to Narcotics Control Depart-ment Inspector (Ramna circle) Azizul Islam to appear before the commission on April 6 for questioning on charge of accumulation of illegal wealth.

Quoting the allegation, ACC o� -cials said that Azizul Islam, commonly known as Danga Aziz, joined the nar-cotics department as an inspector in 1998 and within a short time, he had accumulated numerous assets, includ-ing a shop at Eastern Plus market at Shantinagar worth around Tk1.5crore, among others. l

‘Large-scale uncontested MPs a concern’ n Ahmed Zayeef

Visiting former chief election commis-sioner of India Dr SY Quraishi has said there is nothing wrong with uncontested election until it takes place extensively.

“Uncontested election also happens in India. There is nothing wrong...But, if a large number of MPs are elected un-opposed, then I’ll have to think about what I’ll have to do in such situation. Because, this sort of situation never happened in India,” he told a seminar in the city yesterday.

He said Indian elections never

missed the deadline, and the credibil-ity never challenged.

A total of 153 lawmakers were elect-ed unopposed in the January 5 election.

Dr Quraishi is visiting Bangladesh as part of a curtain raiser to the 16th Lok Sabha elections in India scheduled to be held from April 7 to May 12.

He said: “...boycott of election is to-tally democratic and none should pre-vent or force anyone to exercise their franchise or not.”

He also expressed concern over the role of money power during polls and criminalisation of electoral politics.

ATM Shamsul Huda, the former CEC, said it would be helpful for Bang-ladesh to gain experience from the In-dian electoral system.

Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), Brac Universi-ty organised the event titled “Under-standing India’s General Elections: 2014” at the Daily Star Centre. Barrister Manzoor Hasan, institutional adviser of BIGD, chaired the seminar, which was also attended by Brig Gen (retd) Sakhawat Hossain, a former election commissioner, among other civil soci-ety members. l

Witness: Mir Kashem was al-Badr commandern Udisa Islam

A new prosecution witness in the case against war crimes accused Mir Kashem Ali, also Jamaat-e-Islami Ex-ecutive Committee member, yesterday described about his abduction and tor-ture at Daleem Hotel – a torture camp of al-Badr in Chittagong.

SM Sarwar Uddin, 59, said al-Badr members had called the accused “com-mander.” He is the 19th prosecution witness in the case. On Sunday, his brother SM Jamal Uddin, 75, testi� ed at the International Crimes Tribunal 2.

Sarwar said: “On November 29, I was at my cousin’s house. Around 4:30am, some al-Badr members along with the Pakistani Army came and started beat-ing me. They also captured my elder brothers Kamal, Jamal Uddin, Emran and Kibria. They took us to Daleem Ho-tel with our hands tied from the back.

“At night, Kashem came with some al-Badr members and asked me about the position of freedom � ghters. When I an-swered in the negative, he ordered them to beat me. After torturing me brutally, they took me to the � rst � oor where at least 45 persons were con� ned.”

Sarwar said he had heard that dur-ing his con� nement, the al-Badr mem-bers addressed Mir Kashem as “com-mander” and “Khan Shaheb.”

Mir Kashem, a key � nancier of Jamaat and also its treasurer, is facing 14 charges.

The same tribunal earlier in the day recorded cross-examination of Moham-mad Ali Tipu, 64, in the case against war crimes suspect Syed Mohammad Qaisar.

The witness testi� ed on March 20. l

Sonia, 15, and Mim, 13, both tuberculosis patients, wait for attendant to administer their daily doses of medication at the chest diseases hospital in the capital’s Mohakhali yesterday. Both the girls have been receiving treatment at the hospital for the last three months as regular medications can help them recover from this much-feared disease MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, March 25, 2014

City High Low

PRAYER TIMESFajar 4:42am

Sunrise 5:57amZohr 12:05am

Asr 4:29pmMagrib 6:12pm

Esha 7:27pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Thundershowers or rain likely n UNB

Rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely to occur at a few places over Dhaka, Bari-sal and Sylhet divisions and at one or two places over Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Chittagong divisions with isolated hails at places until 6pm today.

Day and night temperatures might remain nearly unchanged over the country, Met O� ce said.

Country’s highest temperature 34.0 degree Celsius was recorded Mongla and lowest 17.0 degrees in Dinajpur yesterday.

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

Dhaka 33.0 22.0 Chittagong 30.2 22.8Rajshahi 32.4 19.9 Rangpur 31.3 18.2 Khulna 33.3 22.8Barisal 33.2 22.5Sylhet 29.8 18.8 Cox’s Bazar 31.8 22.5

Members of a national committee for safeguarding natural resources takes out a rally from in front og the National Press Club yesterday, protesting the recent hike in electricity prices and demanding the cancellation of the Rampal Power Plant project to save the Sundarbans RAJIB DHAR

Reserved seat MPs to be put under ACC scannern Syed Samiul Basher Anik

Alongside the probe into the wealth of lawmakers and ministers, the Anti-Corruption Commission will investi-gate the wealth of newly elected fe-male MPs to reserved seats.

“We are yet to receive any complaint about female candidates’ wealth. We are looking into media reports and after analysing them, we might bring them under scanner,” said ACC Secre-tary Faizur Rahman Chowdhury yes-terday.

“The commission will take action against those candidates who will be found guilty,” he said while addressing a monthly brie� ng at the commission’s headquarters at Segunbagicha in the city.

Responding to a question on the wealth of lawmakers and ministers, the secretary said it is an ongoing process.

“We are collecting information from media reports and our internal sources. We will bring the lawmakers under scanner if found guilty,” he added.

However, he denied giving infor-mation on how many people would be brought under scanner in the future.

He said the commission has asked the lawmakers to submit their wealth statements. “One of them has already submitted the statement. If anyone fails to submit the wealth statement as per due procedure, we will take action against him or her,” he said.

The ACC is now conducting inquiry against former health minister AFM Ru-hal Haq, former state minister for hous-ing and public works Abdul Mannan Khan, former state minister for water resources Mahbubur Rahman, and law-makers Abdur Rahman Badi of Cox’s Bazar-4, Aslamul Haque of Dhaka-14, Enamul Haque of Rajshahi-4 and for-

mer Satkhira- 2 lawmaker Abdul Jabbar.The secretary said that the ACC

might form a special cell or committee to deal with it if necessary.

“The special investigation depart-ment is now dealing with the com-plaints in regard to lawmakers’ wealth. If we see necessity for setting up a separate cell or committee, we will do that.”

He, however, said the commission will observe corruption prevention week, beginning on March 26.

In reply to another query, Chow-dhury said the inquiry into the Tk70 lakh alleged graft by former railway minister Suranjit Sengupta would be easier if the ACC could have found his driver Ali Azam.

“Azam is a key witness and the case would be easier if we could � nd him. We are seeking support from media to hunt him down,” he added.

The secretary also said the anti-graft body has almost completed the report on the wealth of Sohel Rana, owner of Rana Plaza at Savar that collapsed on April 24 last year, killing over 1,100 people.

“Rana is now in custody. So, we have taken more time to complete the investigation, but we are expecting to complete the probe report soon.”

Focusing on the regular activities of the anti-graft body, he said that the ACC in February approved � ling of 21 cases against 41 people on charges of corruption.

Of the total, 28 were government service-holders and the rest were from other professions.

Judgments on 10 cases investigated by the ACC were pronounced, he said, adding that two persons were con-victed and eight others acquitted of charges. l

NZ PM’s envoy praises Bangladesh’s MDG successesn BSS

Special Envoy of New Zealand premier yesterday appreciated Bangladesh’s successes in human development and millennium development goals (MDGs).

Sir Jim Bolger came up with the ap-preciation when he called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her Jatiya Sangsad O� ce yesterday evening.

Sir Bolger, also a former New Zea-land premier, mentioned that Bangla-desh had been maintaining over 6% GDP growth since 2009 despite the global economic recession.

Bolger also praised Hasina’s dynam-ic and visionary leadership in steering the country.

In response, Hasina said: “The peo-ple of Bangladesh have stood the coun-try’s economy on the solid foundation through hard labour.”

Later, Sir Bolger witnessed the par-liamentary proceedings sitting on the VIP Gallery of the Jatiya Sangsad Bha-ban. l

UK, Australia visa process from single booth in Dhakan Tribune Report

The UK and Australia have opened a joint visa application centre in the capi-tal, said a press release yesterday.

All kinds of visa-related tasks for both the countries can be processed from the booth. Another such centre would be opened in Sylhet soon to expand its pur-view of services, the release added.

The o� ce of the joint visa applica-tion centre is located at Delta Tower Building on Road 90 in Gulshan 2 and VFS Global will run it until 2019.

British High Commissioner Robert W Gibson said: “The joint VAC move is aimed for providing an e� cient and cost management service to the applicants.”

Australian Regional Director for South Asia Jose Alvarez said: “The joint VAC re� ects our government’s commit-ment to provide high standards of visa services to our clients.” l

EC announces polls schedule of two reserved seatsn Tribune Report

The Election Commission has announced polls schedule of the rest two reserved seats for women to be held on April 17.

The last day of � ling nomination pa-per is April 1 and the nomination will be scrutinised on April 2, while the last day of withdrawing nomination paper is April 9.

The commission yesterday an-nounced the schedule through a letter signed by Sirajul Islam, acting secre-tary of the EC.

Earlier, 48 women MPs were elected unopposed and two nomination papers were cancelled because of default in phone bills. The commission published gazette of 48 MPs on March 20 and they took oath on March 23. l

42 students to receive BYLC leadership training n Tribune Report

Forty-two students have been selected by Bangladesh Youth Leadership Cen-tre for its upcoming leadership training programme.

They were selected from 239 appli-cants from over 86 English and Bangla medium educational institutions and madrasas of the capital, according to a press release.

BYLC President Ejaj Ahmad said: “I hope the training at BYLC will both in-spire and prepare you for a lifetime to develop society.”

M Mahfuzur Rahman, executive di-rector of Bangladesh Bank, said: “I am inspired to see the best and the bright-est students of Dhaka here at BYLC.”

Under the programme titled “Building Bridges through Leadership Training,” the selected participants will spend a month and half at BYLC’s training centre.

Bangladesh Bank will provide full scholarship to all the students to par-ticipate in the programme. l

National Committee protests construction of Rampal’s Power Plantn Tribune Report

Activists of National Committee to Pro-tect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports held a rally yesterday in the capital to protest against the govern-ment plans to set up a power plant in Rampal where the world’s largest mangrove forest, a recognised Unesco World Heritage Site, maybe in threat.

They said that the mangrove forest in the Sundarbans, a unique for biodi-

versity and protection against natural disaster would be destroyed if coal-� red power plant was set up.

Member secretary of the commit-tee, Anu Mohammad said: “The coun-try has a lot of natural resources from which quick and huge electricity can be produced. But the government are in-terested in destroying the Sundarbans instead of using these resources.”

“Several costly projects have been undertaken by the government being

in� uenced by some local and foreign organisations. The government should � nd some alternatives,” he said.

The committee organised the pro-gramme in front of National Press Club as part of its countrywide protest pro-gramme demanding implementation of its seven point demands.

The committee also announced sev-eral programmes including mass oath for ensuring national wealth for nation and countryside tour from March 27-30. l

POST-POLL VIOLENCE IN DOHAR

13 sent to jail upon surrender n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court has sent 13 accused to jail in a case � led over murder of three people during post election violence in Dohar upazila of Dhaka.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Afroza Shiuli passed the order after they sur-rendered before the court and pleaded for bail yesterday in the morning.

The court rejected their bail pleas.The 13 accused are Mohammad Yu-

nus Ali, Mohammad Isa Haq, Moham-mad Akhter, Tota Sheikh, Jahangir Ali, Mohammad Shahjahan, Mohammad Anis, Alamgir, Mohammad Rasel, Li-aqat, Taru Mia, Mohammad Rohim and Mohammad Humayun.

On January 6, the supporters of Jatiya Party candidate Salma Islam and

Awami League’s former state minister for public works Abdul Mannan Khan, locked into a clash that left three peo-ple dead in Bigha village in Bilaspur union of the upazila.

The three deceased are Murshed Khandakar, 50, his son Masud Khanda-kar, 28, and Makbul Munshi, 36.

Later, a case was � led with Dohar police station in this connection.

On January 27, the High Court grant-ed bail to the 13 accused in the case.

On March 4, Investigation O� cer of the case and also sub-inspector of the Detective Branch Abu Bakkar Sidiq submitted a charge sheet accusing 60 people.

Though there were 56 names in the case statement, 60 people were ac-cused in the charge sheet. l

Organ transplant regulations on the cards n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The health ministry has restarted an initiative to introduce necessary rules and regulations for the organ trans-plant act, around 15 years after the act was enacted in the parliament.

Earlier in 2012, the Directorate Gen-eral of Health Services (DGHS) prepared a draft for an updated organ transplant act, along with the necessary rules and regulations. Although the draft was submitted to the health ministry, the issue had been left pending after the law ministry raised objections saying the proposed rules contradicted the existing act.

Health Minister Mohammed Nasim held a meeting on Sunday with organ transplant specialists, doctor leaders, and senior o� cials of the health and the law ministry, as part of the fresh ini-tiative for � nding solutions to the di� -culties of the organ transplant process.

Additional Attorney General MK Rahman, who attended the meeting, criticised the health ministry for taking two years to hold a meeting for discuss-ing a draft that was prepared in 2012.

The health ministry would need to go to the parliament to pass an updated law, MK Rahman said, adding that there would be no need to get the parliament involved if the rules and regulations were based on the existing Transplan-tation of Human Organ Act 1999.

Professor Dr Harun-Ur-Rashid, head of the national committee for the for-mation of updated law, rules and regu-lation, told the Dhaka Tribune that the committee wanted to quickly intro-duce rules and regulations instead of updating the existing act. The previous draft for the rules and regulation has

again been handed over to the health secretary for making it � nal, he added.

The draft proposes separate organ donation forms for donor, recipient and medical board, as well as recom-mending DNA tests for con� rming the blood relation (parent-children) be-tween donors and patients in the case of kidney transplants, Dr Rashid said.

However, if the donor or the recipi-ent was an uncle or aunt in relation, they would need to bring a letter of ap-proval from the union parishad chair-man, magistrate or a city mayor.

The committee also plans to clarify which hospital and authority would be allowed to declare patients as brain dead, in an e� ort to popularise cadaver organ donation across the country, the committee chief said.

The proposed rules and regulations would also make it mandatory for any health facility to have at least six well-equipped beds and four ICU beds for running a kidney transplant unit, along with having at least three professors (professor, associate professor and as-sistant professor), doctors, nurses and technologists present round the clock, Dr Rashid added.

Professor Dr Zamanul Islam Bhui-yan, director of National Institute of Kidney Diseases and Urology, told the Dhaka Tribune that organ transplants in the country were facing setbacks for the absence of proper rules and regu-lations, causing the number of kidney transplants to drastically fall over the last couple of years.

Around 900 kidney transplants have been performed since 2010, while sources claimed that less than 100 of those transplants had been carried out in the last three years. l

Police superintendent sent to jail in bribery case n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday sent a convict-ed police superintendant to jail in con-nection with a bribery case � led by SA Paribahan on November 20, 2003.

Judge Basudev Roy of the Special Judge’s Court 3 passed the order after the police o� cial surrendered to it, seeking bail.

On December 19 last year, the same court sentenced Superintendent of Police (SP) Mostafa Kamal to 35 years imprisonment in connection with the case.

The court also � ned the convict Tk30 lacs, or in lieu to serve one more year in jail.

SA Paribahan Proprietor Salauddin Ahmed � led the bribery case against two police o� cials for demanding Tk50 lacs from him.

The two were SP Mostafa Kamal and Sub-Inspector of DB Wahid Miah (rtd).

Wahid Miah, however, was acquit-ted of the case as his involvement in the bribery allegation was not proven.

Mostafa’s defence counsel � led an appeal with the High Court against the conviction order and also got bail.

Later, the appellate division of the High Court ordered Mostafa on March 11 to surrender before the judge’s court within two weeks following a petition lodged against the HC order by the plainti� .

In compliance with the court order, he surrendered before the court yesterday.

According to the prosecution, SA Pa-ribahan Proprietor Salauddin Ahmed, along with his o� ce sta� members, was going to Sylhet by private car on December 22, 2002 with Tk20 lacs in a bag.

A team of Madhabpur police from Habiganj district intercepted them, seized the money and asked them to � le a general diary with local police sta-tion for security reasons.

After they arrived at the police sta-tion, SP Mostafa Kamal ordered the on-duty policemen to detain them and � led a money-laundering case against them.

The SP and the sub-inspector also demanded Tk50 lacs from SA Pariba-han’s head o� ce in exchange for their release.

Salauddin refused to comply with the demand while police � led three cas-es against him and his sta� under the money laundering, narcotics control and women and children repression acts with Madhabpur police station.

Salauddin and his sta� members were acquitted in all three cases.

Later on November 20, 2003, Salahuddin � led a case with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka against the two police o� cials, for demanding Tk50 lacs as bribe from him.

On April 4, 2010, a Dhaka court framed charges against the accused.

The court recorded � ve prosecution witnesses and arguments ended on Dec 3, 2013. l

The accused in a post-poll violence case in the capital's Dohar are sent to jail following a court order yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Public playgrounds o� -limits to public! Authorities turn a blind eye to misuse of grounds

n Abu Hayat Mahmud

Most of the public playgrounds under two city corporations in Dhaka have become virtually o� -limits to children and youngsters due to lack of proper monitoring and maintenance by the authorities concerned.

The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has 10 public playgrounds un-der its authority while Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has only one.

Some of these grounds are being used for city corporations’ infrastruc-tural development purposes while sev-eral are being used by private clubs for their own purposes in de� ance of sep-arate directives of the High Court and the Prime Minister.

Although the rest seem unoccupied, they are in a sorry state due to negli-gence shown by the city corporation authorities.

Back in September 2010, Prime Min-ister Sheikh Hasina directed the au-thorities concerned to take immediate steps to recover all the children parks and playgrounds in the capital.

Acting on the directive, the former Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) conducted a survey in di� erent areas of the capital and identi� ed a number of playgrounds that were occupied illegally or were be-ing used for other purposes which is still the case at present, sources say.

According to sources, the Jatra-bari-Gulistan � yover authorities have been using two playgrounds since 2010. Equipment and construction materials stored in the areas continue to prevent

children from playing there. Meanwhile, Sheikh Jamal Dhan-

mondi Club authorities have taken control of Dhanmondi playground

despite repeated directives from the High Court to keep it as a public place. Sources say the club has itself been ille-gally occupying the ground beside road

number 8 since 1962, with city corpo-ration authorities continually playing a dubious role in this regard.

The Kalabagan playground in the

capital is also controlled by Kalabagan Krira Chakra. Residents of Dhanmondi, Kalabagan and Shukrabad claim only members of the clubs have unhindered access to the playgrounds while the general people can only use those in the absence of the club members.

Other playgrounds under the ju-risdiction of the two city corporations include Dhupkhola playground, Go-lapbagh playground, Sadeque Hossain Khoka playground, Bangladesh play-ground, Basabo playground, Lalbagh Shashanghat playground, Killar More playground and Banani playground.

During a recent visit, this corre-spondent found that the places were a shambles. There was no grass there and the � elds were only covered with sand. Locals said the places become muddy during the rainy season, thus becoming o� -limits to children at the time.

This correspondent found several makeshift shops in the playgrounds run by small traders. They were seen indiscriminately dumping waste in those places, thus making them untidy.

Asked, Md Ansar Ali Khan, chief ex-ecutive o� cer of DSCC, told the Dhaka Tribune: “All the playgrounds are un-der our control. The private clubs are using those for the time being.”

“The playgrounds are open to all. If anyone faces trouble entering any of those places, I would suggest him to complain to me,” he added.

Asked, DNCC chief estate o� cer Md Fasiullah said: “We have taken steps to revamp the Banani playground along with other open spaces.” l

Sale of return tickets for Maitree Express train starts April 14 n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

The railway o� cials of Bangladesh and India will sign an agreement today, al-lowing the passengers of Maitree Ex-press train to collect return tickets ei-ther from Dhaka or Kolkata.

At present, passengers travelling by this express train must collect tickets from Dhaka and Kolkata for a return journey.

For instance, a Kolkata-bound pas-senger must collect ticket from Dhaka’s Kamalapur railway station and buy the return ticket from Fairly Palace in the Paschimbanga capital.

If the proposed agreement is signed, the passengers from Dhaka can collect both Kolkata-bound and return ticket from Kamalapur railway station. Simi-larly, a passenger from Kolkata can col-

lect both tickets from Fairly Palace.Sarder Shahadat Ali, joint director

general (operations) of the Bangladesh Railway, and A Madhukumar Reddy, executive director (passenger market-ing) of the Railway Board, New Delhi, will sign the agreement at 3:30 pm at the railway building.

The proposed agreement will take e� ect from April 14, marking the six years of the launch of Maitree Express, the � rst and lone cross-boundary pas-senger train between Bangladesh and India.

Due to the war between India and Pakistan in 1965, the Dhaka-Kolkata train was snapped.

“This will facilitate the passengers very much; the hassle of collecting tickets from two stations will go,” Sha-hadat Ali told the Dhaka Tribune.

According to the agreement, any-one desiring to cancel the return tick-et must inform the railway authorities of it 39 hours before the journey to get money back. But, the passengers must get money back from the counter from where they will buy tickets.

Maitree Express, now very popular among the passengers, has 326 seats in Bangladesh train and 388 seats in Indi-an train.

The Bangladeshi train departs from Dhaka cantonment station at 8:10 am (BST) on Fridays and return on Satur-days. The Indian train starts from Kolk-ata (Chitpur) station at 7:10 am (IST) on Tuesdays and goes back to Kolkata on Wednesdays.

The train takes 10 hours and 25 min-utes to cross the 396 kilometres dis-tance. l

First ever commercial Bangladeshi-made video game ‘Hatirjheel’ launchedn Tribune Report

The � rst commercially developed Ban-gladeshi video game ‘Hatirjheel: Dream Begins’ was launched by Massive Star Studio yesterday in a programme or-ganised by Information and Communi-cation Technology Division.

State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak inaugurated the game at the programmeheld at Bangladesh Com-puter Council (BCC) auditorium.

Massive Star Studio, a video games research and development company, developed the game with the ICT Divi-

sion as its associate partner.At the programme,Palak said: “Vid-

eo games are not only for children, older people also play them frequently. Video games also bring the opportunity to explore a new economic side and we need to address it.”

After the inauguration, CEO of the Massive Star Studio SM MahabubAlam demonstrated the game. Ex-president of BASIS Mahaboob Zaman and Chief Editor and Managing Director of Ekattor TV Mozammel Babuwere were present at the occasion, amongothers. l

One dead, � fteen electrocutedn FM Mizanur Rahaman

A female worker was killed and 15 others were injured yesterday afternoon after a high voltage electric wire tore and fell on them while working on an excavation of a drain in New Market intersection un-der Chittagong’s Kotwali police station.

The dead was identi� ed as Parul Aktar, 30, said Chittagong Medical Col-lege Hospital Outpost sources. Of the injured, four were admitted to CMCH in critical state. The identities of the in-jured could not be known immediately.

Sub-Inspector Ra� qul Islam of Kot-wali police station said a group of 18 workers were engaged in excavating the drain under a renovation project of Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) at New Market area.

“A cable of 11,000 voltage tore and fell on them around 5:15pm, leaving 16 work-ers injured,” he said adding that duty doc-tors at CMCH declared Parul dead after they were taken to the hospital.

Five of the injured workers were undergoing treatment at CMCH, said Jahirul Islam, sub-inspector of CMCH Police Outpost. l

Bone marrow transplant patient ‘out of danger’ n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The country’s � rst ever bone marrow transplant patient is now o� cially “out of danger.” The blood cancer patient, who was operated upon on March 10, was soon set to be moved to a cab-in from the bone marrow transplant (BMT) unit at the Dhaka Medical Col-lege Hospital.

The patient – 52-year-old bank of-� cial Omar Ali – remains under close monitoring and supervision of special-ists, as he continues his recovery from the BMT procedure.

Omar is expected to be brought be-fore the media on the second week of April.

Professor Dr MA Khan, head of the BMT unit, told the Dhaka Tribune on Sunday that the patient was out of dan-ger, with di� erent clinical and patho-logical tests showing that Omar was gradually recovering.

Claiming that the patient was ready to go home now, Dr MA Khan however said it was necessary to make sure that he would not be infected from the envi-ronment of his house.

Sources said the patient’s white blood cell and platelet counts were still low, while Omar was still physically weak with his weight dropping from 65kg to 56kg.

On March 10, a team of bone mar-row transplant specialists success-fully carried out the transplant on Omar, who had been � ghting a type of blood cancer called Multiple Myelomasince 2009. l

Fake medicine factory, vaccines bustedn Kailash Sarkar

A large quantity of fake vaccines against hepatitis virus and an illegal herbal medicine factory were busted yesterday in the city’s Rampura and Gulshan areas respectively.

A series of mobile court drives with RAB personnel and health directorate o� cials conducted the operations.

Yesterday’s operation was a part of the continuous mobile court drive con-ducted in recent times to seal o� fake medicine factories and their produc-tion.

The mobile courts have recently closed down several dozens of fake medicine factories and 27 blood cen-tres for their illicit acts and jailed over 200 people.

Led by Executive Magistrate Sharif Md Farhad Hossain, the mobile court busted “Green Herbal Medicine” on 58/1 Wapda Road, Rampura, and � ned 14 people including the owner of the building which housed the medicine factory.

Factory Manager Osman Ali had been � ned Tk2,00,000, or in default to serve a three-month jail sentence while others were � ned Tk5,000 each, or in default to spend one month in jail.

“As the factory owner had been on the run, a separate case had been � led against him,” said the magistrate.

The magistrate said the illegal fac-tory had been manufacturing various stimulating medicines and marketing them illegally over the last � ve years, endangering public health.

“Apart from sealing o� the factory, a large quantity of stimulating medicines has also been seized and 14 people have been detained and � ned.

In a separate drive in Gulshan, an-other mobile court led by its Executive Magistrate AHM Anwar Pasha jailed an employee of an NGO – Health Vision Bangladesh – for one year for illegally

commercialising fake hepatitis vaccines.The magistrate told the Dhaka Tri-

bune acting on a tip-o� they caught Md Tushar Imran, 21, of the NGO from Safura Tower at Kemal Ataturk Avenue in Gulshan.

“Health Vision Bangladesh has so far pushed fake hepatitis injections to over 150 people,” said the magistrate.

The NGO is located in Sajeeb Dha-li Tower on road 2 of section 12 in the capital’s Pallabi.

“We have information that there are similar organisations dealing in fake vaccines against hepatitis virus,” said Pasha.

Two separate cases were � led against the organisation, he added. l

Sohel Rana bail protested n Tribune Report

Several hundred garment workers yes-terday demanded the cancellation of Sunday’s High Court bail, awarded to Sohel Rana, owner of Rana Plaza, the building that collapsed on April 24 last year in Savar killing at least 1,100 peo-ple and injuring many more.

Sources said, a few hundred ap-parel workers who survived the col-lapse gathered in front of the debris of Rana Plaza in the morning, while more workers from nearby garment factories joined them to express solidarity with the demand.

During the programme, the workers identi� ed Rana as chie� y responsible for the collapse and demanded capital punishment, through a murder case, be handed down to him for the o� ence.

They also demanded “April 24” to be declared Mourning Day for RMG work-ers.

The workers then threatened to go on an inde� nite hunger strike on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway from April 24 unless compensation and rehabilita-tion for them are ensured by then.

Meanwhile, some organisations, including Garments Sramik Oikya Forum, Sharbostarer Chhatra-Shik-khak-Sromik-Krishak and Peshajibi Parishad, held a rally in front of the Na-tional Press Club in the afternoon pro-testing the bail.

In the rally, leaders of the various bodies said the government has insult-ed the people by granting bail to Sohel Rana and they demanded a cancelation of it.

The HC on Sunday granted bail to Sohel Rana in a case � led for � outing the building code. l

Multi-storey building catches � ren Kailash Sarkar

A � re that broke out in a six-storey building in capital’s Panthapath area around 8pm yesterday gutted a Nokia customer care centre.

After over an hour of frantic e� ort, seven units of the Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) doused the � re.

The � re broke out on the third � oor of the Barek Mansion that houses a number of o� ces and is situated oppo-site to the Bashundhara City Shopping Complex in the area.

“The � re was originated from an electric short circuit”, said Mamun Mahmud, a deputy assistant director of the FSCD.

“No casualty was reported. We res-cued at least 52 people from di� erent � oors of the building,” he said.

However, � re gutted machineries, furniture and other equipment of the Nokia customer care centre that is sit-uated on the third � oor.

“We were able to douse the � re be-fore it could spread to di� erent � oors

and adjacent buildings”, said the dep-uty assistant director.

Siyam Ahmed, who was caught amid � re on the third � oor and later rescued, said the � re had spread through the en-tire � oor within moments after a spark in the electric line.

“The heavy black smokes and heat caused us di� culty in breathing,” he said.

Witnesses said windows and doors of the building were badly damaged. People from the adjacent buildings came out on the street and thronged the building.

Eight incidents of � re have been reported in last three days in di� erent areas of the capital. Of them, four inci-dents occurred on Sunday while three on Saturday.

FSCD Deputy Assistant Director Ma-mun Mahmud did not make any com-ment over the frequent occurrences of � re incidents.

“Fire incidents can occur any time anywhere for di� erent reasons”, he said. l

A magistrate displays illegal herbal medicines to the media which was recovered in the capital yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Locals block a portion of a playground at the capital’s Lalbagh area by piling up sacks of waste materials. This picture was taken yesterday ABU HAYAT MAHMUD

MASSIVE STAR STUDIO

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, March 25, 2014

I am Mohammad Zunaid Bhuiyan. Before, it was Golam Mohammad. My name has been recently changed which is Affi davit by Greg Curry, Registration number: 16183/2013, Date: 03 December 2013. From now on I am using my name Mohammad Zunaid Bhuiyan.

Affi davit

Marriage registration becomes tradition in char areas n BSS

Marriage registration has been turn-ing into a tradition in the remote char areas on the Brahmaputra basin now eradicating superstitions though it was unbelievable even a decade ago.

The things are changing fast as the char people are overcoming social curses like child marriages, dowry and polygamy and arranging marriages of their sons and daughters now with proper registration.

Besides, the char people, who were married some 10 to 50 years back or even earlier, are now registering their

marriages though the cent percent wedding was child marriage without registration even a decade ago.

The success has been achieved fol-lowing motivational activities being conducted by di� erent NGOs as im-plementing organisations of the Chars Livelihood Programme (CLP) since 2004 in the riverine char areas.

According to o� cial sources, the UKaid through the Department for In-ternational Development, Australian Government through Australian Agen-cy for International Development have been funding implementation of the CLP activities. l

4TH ROUND UPAZILA POLLS

Ctg BNP leaders blame poor candidate selection for defeatn Tushar Hayat, Chittagong

The local BNP leaders in the district blamed the party for not choosing popular aspirants to vie in the Sun-day’s third round of upazila elec-tions, which led to the disgraceful defeats of their candidates in all seven upazilas here.

The leaders also blamed lack of coordination with its alliance’s partner Jamaat during the polls, and rampant rigging by the ruling AL.

They said their rebel candidates in most upazilas also contributed to the defeat, though they had se-cured victory in � ve upazilas out

of six here in the third round of upazila polls.

Enamul Hoque Enam, sen-ior vice-president of Chittagong (south) unit BNP, said many rebel candidates vied from their party due to wrong selection of candi-dates in � ve upazilas. “This is a reason behind our appalling de-feat.”

“Despite being a partner of 19-party alliance, Jamaat took po-sition against our candidates in most of the upazilas, which is an-other reason for the defeat,” Ena-mul said, adding that the results could have been di� erent had the AL not rigged the polls.

Aslam Chowdhury, general sec-retary of Chittagong (north) unit of BNP, said rigging occurred with the help of administration, and this contributed signi� cantly to their defeat.

“The ruling party started ma-nipulating the polls nakedly from the third phase after witnessing their debacle in the � rst two phas-es,” he said.

Aslam added that their candi-dates were not even able conduct their campaign properly owing to widespread violence by the AL ac-tivists, and the results could have been a little bit better had they take part in campaign with Jamaat. l

Two get life for murder n Our Correspondent, Netrakona

A court yesterday awarded life term to two convicts in a murder case in the district.

The convicts are Ershad, son of Abdur Rahaman of Shibnagar village and Nurul Islam son of Abdul Jabber of Panchkaha-nia village under Sadar upazila.

According to the prosecution, on December 26, 1998, the convicted per-sons killed Abul Kashem of Goalakanda

village under Purbadhola upazila over previous enmity.

Later, Jahura Begum, wife of Abul Kashem � led a case with Purbadhola police station in this connection.

After investigation, police submit-ted charge sheet to the court against the convicts.

Additional District and Session Judge Abdul Hamid after examining the witnesses and evidence handed down the verdict. l

All set to observe Independence Day in Rangpur divisionn BSS, Rangpur

The concerned administrations have completed all preparations to observe the Independence and National Day-2014 in Rangpur division on Wednes-day next with huge enthusiasm and festivity.

According to o� cial sources, a 31-gun salute will herald the observance of the day followed by placing of wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minars and monuments of martyred freedom � ghters at the district headquarters at zero hours on March 26.

The district administration has chalked out programmes like hoisting of the national � ag atop all govern-

ment, semi- government, private and public buildings, institutions, recep-tions to the freedom � ghters (FFs) and family members of martyred FFs.

Separate colourful rallies, march-past of FFs, police, Ansar and VDP, boy-scouts, girl-guides, � re service and civ-il defense personnel, jail guards, BNCC, students and children will be held.

Screening of documentary � lms at cinema halls and open places will also be organised.

Di� erent competitions for children on independence, sports competitions, cultural functions, discussion meet-ings and prize distribution ceremonies have also been arranged.

The main streets and roadside is-

lands in the district towns will be deco-rated with national � ags, posters and miniature � ags and the government buildings will be illuminated.

Special prayers will be o� ered at the mosques, temples, pagodas and churches. Improved diets will be served to the inmates of all hospitals, jails, vagabond centers, shishu paribars and orphanages tomorrow.

The FFs, family members of the martyred FFs and their relatives will be accorded warm receptions at Town Hall auditorium and special discussion meeting participated by the women on the War of Liberation and Independ-ence will also be arranged.

Rangpur Kendra of Bangladesh

Betar will air special programmes and local dailies, weeklies and monthlies will publish special supplementary is-sues glorifying the importance and dig-nity of the Independence and National Day.

Rangpur Community Medical Col-lege Hospital in association with Dr Mo� z Uddin Foundation will arrange a day-long blood donation camp in the city in observance of the Day.

The district administration will ar-range the main discussion meeting at Central Shaheed Minar premises and Divisional Commissioner Muhammad Dilwar Bakht will address it as the chief guest with the Deputy Commissioner Farid Ahammad in the chair. l

Watermelon brings pro� t for Rangamati farmersn BSS, Rangamati

Farmers of Langadu upazilaof the dis-trict become self-reliant and changed their fortune through cultivating wa-termelon this season.

Most of the people were in abject poverty of the areas, nowthey are lead-ing a happy life with three-time meals in a day andtheir children going to schools regularly.

Abdul Malek, a watermelon farmer of the area has cultivatedthe fruits on his 2 bighas of land spending Taka 40,000 andexpects that he will earn over Taka 2 lakh by selling the fruit.

Sukanto Chakma, another farmer said he would earn Taka1,70,000 by selling watermelon under 3 bighas of hilly landwithout production cost.

Upazila Agriculture o� cer M M Shahnewaj said a total of 150 hectares of land have been brought under the cultivation in the upazila with the pro-duction target of 6,000 tonnes of wa-termelon.

O� cials of Department of Agricul-ture Extension (DAE) are motivating the farmers to cultivate the fruit on their land in a large scale to meet the demand of people and make the growers eco-nomically bene� ted, he added. l

Residents of Barisal gather for a � ashmob centring the T20 Cricket World Cup at a city park yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

District Law and order committee meeting heldn BSS

The meeting of the district law and order committee to review the law and order situ-ation in the district was held here on Sun-day.

The meeting presided over by DC Abu Hena Morshed Zaman was attended by dis-trict law enforcing agencies chiefs, Upazilla Chairmen, UNOs, government o� cials, law-yers, members of the civil society and jour-nalists.

It was decided in the meeting to conduct frequent mobile courts to prevent adultera-tion in food and also to check preservatives

injurious for health.In view of the tra� c congestion in the

town, it was decided to rearrange tra� c ar-rangements for easy vehicular tra� c and pedestrians\’ safety. It was further decided to check movement of battery driven three wheelers and \’Nosimon\’ vehicles on high-ways to avoid road crashes.

The meeting expressed satisfaction at maintaining law and order during the recently held upazilla polls in nine upazillas in three phases peaceful, fair and acceptable. The meeting extended thanks to the people and concerned o� cials in holding such fair polls. l

Public awareness for TB patients to ensure treatments stressedn BSS

Health experts at a discussion yester-day stressed for creating public aware-ness in detecting tuberculosis (TB) patients to bring them under free treat-ment facilities to eradicate the curable disease once for all.

They were addressing the discus-sion arranged by the health administra-tion at the conference room of the Civil Surgeon O� ce

in observance of the World Tubercu-losis Day-2014 with the theme `Reach the 3 Million- Find, Treat, Cure TB.’

Earlier, a colourful rally participated by the GO-NGO o� cials, teachers, stu-dents, health workers, nurses, public representatives, religious leaders, civil society members, professionals, socio- cultural activists and elite, was brought out in the city.

The Divisional Director (Health) O� ce in association with health ad-ministration and NGOs organised pro-grammes under the National Tubercu-losis Prevention Programme (NTP) of the Health Directorate under Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), TB CARE-II Programme and BRAC extended assistances in arranging the programmes in observance of the day.

With Civil Surgeon (CS) Dr Reajul Islam in the chair, Divisional Director (Health) Dr Nuruzzman Haque attend-ed and addressed the post-rally the dis-cussion as the chief guest. l

A farmer returns home after working at his paddy � eld in Bagmara upazila in Rajshahi yesterday. As many water bodies in the district have already dried up, many farmers are now using those fertile lands for cultivating paddy DHAKA TRIBUNE

7Long Form Tuesday, March 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Arild Eng elsen Ruud

Crimea is not an expres-sion of Russia trying to expand, as some voices in the media will have it, or the political leaders of the

vulnerable Baltic states. Quite on the contrary. Crimea may well be read as the desperate and angst-ridden attacks of a dying empire, a shrinking superpower refusing to adjust to new realities, the last gasping growls of the Russian bear.

Not that Crimea is not important. It is important to both Russia and to the people who live there. It is important to Russia because it gives Russia naval presence in the Black Sea and beyond. But Russia wanted something else, something much more. This we may see from two di� erent yet intercon-nected contexts.

One is that Russia over the last year has played for the whole of Ukraine. The Ukrainian president, Yanukovich, was on the verge of signing a signi� cant agreement with the European Union, an agreement

that would have bene� tted the coun-try’s economy and drawn it closer to Europe politically.

Russia managed to convince him otherwise, and in a surprise move he ditched the agreement with the EU and announced a new cordial relation-ship to Russia. He was always known to be a bit Russia-friendly anyway. But this surprise move angered many Ukrainians, in particular the young who hoped an approachment to the EU would improve their country’s eco-nomic future and their own opportu-nities in life. And this was the start of the uprising that led to Yanukovich’s removal.

By the time of the vote against him in parliament he had already � ed, to Russia probably, and people were wandering around his private estate looking through the windows and wondering at the luxury of his personal life style. He had lost. And so had Russia. New forces took over in Kiev, nationalist forces, anti-Rus-sian forces.

What is it that Russia has lost? To understand that, we must understand why Russia convinced Yanukovich to break relations with the EU and risk the disapproval of the population.

The EU agreement was tempting and popular. Russia would have to pay for it to be annulled and was ready to pay much. The primary reason for this generosity was that Russia wanted a friendly state on its southwestern border.

This is a fairly natural trait in states, big states in particular. Russia depends for instance on its export of gas to the EU, and most of it is sent through enormous pipelines running through Ukraine. Another reason to want a friendly neighbour is that much of Russia’s western border consists of countries aligned to the EU and NATO.

If Ukraine had gone the same way, and that was the expressed desire of a good proportion of the Ukrainian population and of some of its leaders, then Russia would have faced a very strong rival too close for comfort. Not that relations with the EU are bad, but Russia and its president, Putin, see the EU and the US-led military pact NATO as rivals on the world scene.

Russia and Putin have expressed

over and over again that they disap-prove of neighbouring countries join-ing NATO. Russia and Putin expressed on several occasions that Russia would take a very dim view of any measures of approachment between Ukranie and NATO. The Russians were very upset when Poland, a former ally, joined NATO.

A few years earlier Georgia tried to do something similar, aligning itself closer to the EU and sought an agreement with NATO. It ended up in a short war in which Russian troops reached the outskirts of the Georgian capital in a matter of hours. Later the Russians withdrew, but Russian troops still occupy a section of Georgia just north of the capital. In addition Russia has taken the small regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia.

So Putin was playing for the whole of Ukraine and was willing to pay for it. He wanted Ukraine to be closer to Russia than to the EU. He and prob-ably most of his generals feared the proximity of that twin headed power, the EU and NATO, the Europeans and the Americans.

But the Russians have not played well. They come across as clumsy

diplomats, heavy-handed at best, incompetent at worst. The deal with Yanukovich is dead; Yanukovich has � ed and a new anti-Russian president installed.

The vote on Crimea may be su� cient justi� cation for Putin to send in troops and occupy the peninsula. But in the process they have earned the enmity of Ukraine, and of the EU. Instead of having a Russia friendly Ukraine on its southwestern border, it will have the relatively small peninsula of Crimea but a large, hurt, angst ridden and hostile Ukraine. And a sulking EU, protesting, boycotting.

The Russian expansion

But what I wrote in the beginning is not right. Russia is expansionist. My point was to underline that it has failed this time around and to explain why I think it is so. But that Russia is an expansionist state should not be forgotten. And Ukraine should be particularly apprehensive. This is the second context that is important for an understanding of what is happen-ing in Crimea.

Perhaps the most successful colonial enterprise of all is not the British, although the British created the largest empire ever. It is not the Spanish empire, in spite of the fact that the mother tongue of a portion of a relatively small European country is now one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.

The most successful colonial enter-prise is perhaps the Russian. From be-ing a relatively small kingdom around Moscow, the Russians expanded over the centuries to establish a large and sprawling state on the vast planes west of the Ural mountains.

In the 1700s they annexed, for instance, the lands that had belonged to a Lithuanian-Polish kingdom and the Tatar state along the Black Sea’s north coast: lands that today are known as Ukraine. From the late 1800s Russia expanded east and south, annexing the vast but largely empty plains of Siberia on the one hand, all the way to China, and vir-tually the entirety of what had once been the � ourishing and cultured states of Central-Asia.

The countries which today are Ka-zakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kirgistan were once home of the century old Muslim emir-ates, established way back in the days of the Silk Road, grown rich in culture: Bokhara, Samarqand, ancestral home of the Mughal dynasty. By the 19th century these states were weakened by ine� ectual rulers and corrupt aristocracies, and one by one they were gobbled up by an expansionist Russian empire.

The Russians also took other regions in the 19th century: the Cau-casus, home of the wild tribes of the Chechens and others, and then the ancient Christian kingdoms of Geor-gia and Armenia. There were other

regions as well. The Russians gained Finland from the Swedish crown after the Napoleonic wars, and new parts of Poland.

Some of these territories were lost in World War One, when Lenin decided to give up land rather than jeopardising the revolution he had successfully become head of. Many of the territories were regained after a few years, anyway, including Ukraine where successive governments had tried to set up an independent state. After a few years and several coups and countercoups, a Soviet style government was established and the state merged with the Soviet Union.

That was the beauty of the Soviet Union. It was the heir of a colonial empire, but changed into a Socialist (or Communist) empire that gave it the semblance of treating all parts of the empire with equality.

Then of course this equality con-sisted to some extent of equal brutali-ty rather than measures of autonomy. But to some very important extent the Soviet Union was fairly even-handed when it came to many of its minor-ities. The Muslims in the Caucasus and in Central-Asia were probably the least equal, but the Ukrainians and others were no worse o� than the Russians themselves.

This may lead us to the question of what an empire is. Is it a multi-ethnic state where one ethnic group rules, or can it be a multiethnic state where several or all ethnic groups are treated with equality, or measures of equality?

The Soviet empire, with its mighty set of allies and satellite states, was open to a multitude of ethnic identities. But it was also, at its core, Russian. Just as English is the lingua franca of the American world, so was Russian the language of the Soviet empire.

At its height during the Cold War the Soviet empire was one of the two great superpowers; states of such might had never been seen before. Its armament was desired in faro� plac-es, the Russians welcomed in allied countries on all continents, its self esteem sky high.

But eventually the empire fell apart, having overstretched itself on Afghanistan. And then it went from bad to worse. Gorbachev had it dis-solved, and Yeltsin squandered away its wealth. The economy contract-ed, the population decreased, and friends and allied countries found new playmates. It was a terrible, rude shock.

Rebuilding the empire

Unpleasant as it was, one option would have been to say that this is what we have, this is Russia, a na-tion-state within its own set borders. This would have allowed the state to spend time and energy on rebuilding the economy and ensuring a healthy and happy population.

But much of the Russian state’s

energy is directed at rebuilding, if not an empire, at least a cordon of friendly states. The Commonwealth of Independent States and the Eurasian Union are both expressions of this wish to establish a Russian presence beyond the national borders. In the eyes of staunch Russian nationalists, Russia is not a country, it is a civilisa-tion.

At its core of this civilisation is its conception of the individual as less important than the nation. The nation is above all. This is a conception of the world that is opposed to western civilisation, where the individual is above the nation – at least as they understand it.

Russia, in this conception, is equal to, on the one hand, the western civilisation, represented by Europe and the US, and China and other eastern civilisations on the other. It is not likely that the Russian President Putin shares the entirety of this sort of thinking. He is too much of a clear-headed and strategic politician for that. But it is clear that he does use these thoughts to bolster his regime, to give himself added legitimacy among sections of the population.

A consequence of all these cen-turies of expansion is that there are Russian speaking groups in many are-as outside of the Russian nation state. One such place is eastern Ukraine, including Crimea.

In the days of the empire, whether the Tsarist or the Soviet, this mat-tered little. They were all covered by that all-embracing Russian umbrella. In fact it mattered so little that the Soviet premier, Khrushchev, decid-ed that Crimea, which at that point belonged to the Russian republic, should be transferred to the Ukraini-an republic.

Today, because of the particular nationalist interpretation in Russia, it has become paramount to protect the Russian speaking people wher-ever they live. Or, at least this is a rhetorical device Putin can make use of when building his strong-man image. Russians outside of the borders are considered part of the Russian nation, moved beyond the motherland in a time of expansion. Is it not the motherland’s obligation to protect them?

Ukraine?

A particular problem with Ukraine is that there is no natural border to Russia. It is all a vast plain, populat-ed with villages and towns where the language changes indiscernably from Russian to Ukrainian. Arguably, up to and including Kiev, Ukraine is Russian.

Equally, there is no historical border for, except for a brief three-year period after World War One, there has never been any Ukrainian state. Moreover, Kiev, the capital of today’s Ukrainian state, is historically a Russian city. In fact, it is where the Russian nation was born, from the mixed aristocracy that emerged in Kiev a thousand years ago and that was called Rus, pronounced Roos.

There is a Ukrainian nation, though, with a language, a literature, and a cultural identity. They are the inhabitants of what is now western Ukraine. Many among them have a strong dislike for Russians.

During the two World Wars Ukraini-an nationalists sided with the Ger-mans against the Russians, in the vain hope that the Germans would liberate them from Russian rule. The seeds of mistrust that were planted then have reemerged now, generations later, in strong Russiaphobic elements being made part of the newly established Ukrainian government.

It is this situation that Putin tried to avoid, the establishment of an anti-Russian government in a neighbouring country. The more he threatens, the more noises he makes with his arms, the more brutal he is in securing Russian interests in Crimea, the more enemies he makes in Kiev. Such a scenario is a contraction of Russian in� uence, not an expansion.

His want to create a larger sphere of Russian in� uence, and although his Crimean adventure has probably made him more popular at home, in the medium run has made enemies of the EU and the US in addition to Ukraine. In this reading, the Putin regime’s e� ort to expand Russian in� uence has failed. l

Arild Engelsen Ruud is Professor of South Asia Studies, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental languages, University of Oslo, Norway.

Ukrainian soldiers load weapons and amunition into trucks at the Ukrainian marine battalion in the Crimean city of Feodosia AFP

Russia’s Loss

The vote on Crimea may be su� cient justi� cation for Putin to send in troops and occupy the peninsula. But in the process they have earned the enmity of Ukraine, and of the EU

It is this situation that Putin tried to avoid, the establishment of an anti-Russian government in a neighbouring country

Tuesday, March 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

‘Qaeda attack’ kills 20 Yemen soldiersn AFP, Aden

Gunmen killed 20 Yemeni soldiers in a dawn attack on a checkpoint yesterday, most of them in their sleep, in the latest in a wave of deadly violence blamed on Al-Qaeda. The assaul t came in the east-ern province of Hadramawt were the security forces have su� ered repeated losses which prompted President Ab-drabuh Mansur Hadi to � re his interior minister earlier this month.

“Twenty soldiers were killed in the armed attack on an army checkpoint” near Reida, 135 kilometres (85 miles) east of the provincial capital Mukalla, the o� cial Saba news agency reported.

The assailants drove up to the checkpoint in a convoy of vehicles, rak-ing the soldiers on duty with automat-ic weapons before hurling grenades at an adjacent tent where the majority of the contingent were asleep, a military source told AFP.

The attack “bore all the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda,” the source added.

The global jihadist network’s Yemen branch, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Penin-sula (AQAP), is viewed by Washington as its most dangerous and has claimed repeated deadly attacks, some of them in the heart of the capital Sanaa.

A military helicopter landed at the scene of the attack in the middle of the day to recover the bodies of the slain soldiers while a � ghter aircraft pa-trolled overhead, witnesses said.

New Interior Minister Abdo Tareb ordered the province’s security chief General Fahmi Mahrus and its special forces commander detained for ques-tioning over how the attackers had been able to overwhelm the check-point, Saba added.

The attack came two days after three suspected Al-Qaeda militants, one a Saudi, were killed in the southern province of Shabwa when a car bomb they were preparing apparently deto-nated prematurely. l

Assad cousin killed in Syria’s Latakian Agencies

Hilal al-Assad, a cousin of Syrian Pres-ident Bashar al-Assad, has been killed along with seven of his � ghters during � ghting in the border town of Kasab in Latakia province, after shells from rebels targeted his vehicle, Aljazeera reported.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, report-ed Assad’s death. It was con� rmed by Syrian state television, which described Hilal as the head of the National Defence Force in the province of Latakia.

Hilal founded the National Defence Army, a group of pro-government civilians � ghting alongside the Syrian army.

The Syrian rebel group Jaish al-Islam claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement published on its website.

“The � rst rocket was � red around 7:15pm, followed by another � ve min-utes later. The rockets targeted a house where Hilal was holding a meeting with other members of the National Defence Army” the statement said.

Latakia province, which includes Assad’s family village, is considered a government stronghold and many of its residents are from his Alawite minority. l

Ban: Syria’s war foes hinder aid accessn Reuters, United Nations

The United Nations accused Syria’s government and rebels of hindering aid access, suggesting both sides could be violating UN Security Council de-mands that emergency relief reach civilians caught in the cross� re of the three-year civil war.

A month after the 15-member coun-cil achieved rare unity to unanimously approve a resolution demanding rapid, safe and unhindered aid access, in-cluding across borders, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the situation “remains extremely challenging.”

In Ban’s � rst report to the council on the implementation of the Feb. 22 res-olution - obtained by Reuters on Sun-day - he said 175,000 people remain besieged by government forces and 45,000 people trapped by opposition groups in several areas.

No new cease� res were brokered to gain access to these areas and there were breaches of existing cease� res, Ban said.

Some 9.3m people in Syria need humanitarian assistance, Ban said, while another 2.6m have � ed the three-

year civil war, sparked in March 2011 by a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

“Humanitarian access in Syria re-mains extremely challenging for hu-manitarian organizations,” Ban said. “Delivering life-saving items, in partic-ular, medicines, remains di� cult. And the assistance reaching people contin-ues to fall far short of what is required to cover even their basic needs.”

The Security Council expressed “its intent to take further steps in the case of non-compliance” with the resolu-tion. But diplomats say Russia is un-likely to agree to any action, such as sanctions, if Syria’s government was found to be at fault.

The Security Council is due to discuss Ban’s report on Friday, diplomats said.

Russia, supported by China, has shielded its ally Syria on the Securi-ty Council during the three-year war. They had previously vetoed three res-olutions that would have condemned Syria’s government and threatened it with possible sanctions.

In the 13-page report, Ban said there were signi� cant challenges to the de-livery of aid in Syria. l

Eight killed, 18 missing in massive US landsliden AFP, San Francisco

At least eight people were killed and up to 18 were believed missing when a massive landslide slammed “like a freight train” into a mountainside com-munity in the northwestern United States, o� cials said late Sunday.

The wall of mud, rocks and trees smashed into the rural town of Oso, northeast of Seattle, on Saturday, destroying houses and part of a highway.

Travis Hots, chief of the regional Snohomish County Fire districts, an-nounced at an area community meet-ing late on Sunday that the death toll had risen to eight.

“I’m saddened to inform you that we have assured four additional fatal-ities” to the four deaths con� rmed ear-lier, Hots told reporters.

The � eld of rubble is about 2.4 kilo-metes (1.5 miles) across and some four to six (15-20 feet) deep in areas, The Se-attle Times reported.

Rescuers reported hearing voices calling for help on Saturday, but Hots told reporters that they “didn’t see or hear any signs of life” on Sunday.

Snohomish County spokeswoman Shari Ireton told AFP: “We are able to con� rm we know that 18 people who may have been in the area are unac-counted for. We do not have identi� ca-tion for those people that we are releas-ing at this time.”

John Pennington, head of the coun-ty Emergency Management depart-ment, said that rescuers would contin-ue searching for survivors overnight Sunday to Monday.

Six homes and much of a two-lane highway in the area were destroyed in the landslide, while as many as 16 oth-er homes were damaged, the Snohom-ish County Sheri� ’s O� ce said.

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, who declared a state of emer-gency for the area, told reporters there is “a full-scale, 100-percent, aggressive rescue effort” going on, adding that helicopters, hovercrafts and rescue personnel had rushed to the scene.

The muddy area was so unstable that some rescue workers “went in and got caught literally up to their armpits” and had to be pulled out themselves, Inslee said. l

Guinea scrambles to contain Ebola outbreakn AFP, Conakry

Aid workers a nd medics battled yester-day to contain west Africa’s � rst out-break of the deadly Ebola virus as tests on suspected cases in Conakry allayed fears that it had spread to the capital.

More than 60 people have died in an outbreak of the virulent virus raging through Guinea’s southern forests but tests on three haemorrhagic fever cas-es – two of them fatal – in Conakry were negative, the government said.

“The Pasteur Institute in Dakar worked urgently all last night on sam-ples taken from suspected cases here in Conakry which were all negative,” said Sakoba Keita, the health ministry’s chief disease prevention o� cer.

“So for now, there’s no Ebola in Con-akry, but haemorrhagic fever whose nature remains to be determined.”

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement on Sunday that the Ebola virus “has quickly spread from the communities of Macenta, Gueckedou, and Kissidougou to the capital, Conakry.”

Keita said however that the Pasteur Institute was still working on identify-

ing the virus behind the fever cases in the capital and would know more “in the coming hours.” O� cials from the health ministry and the World Health Organization met on Sunday in Cona-kry for urgent talks on the crisis.

“From January to March 23 Guinea has recorded a total of 87 suspected cases of viral haemorrhagic fever, in-cluding 61 deaths,” they said in a state-ment yesterday, indicating that most cases had been reported in the south of the west African country.

The � rst analyses of samples conduct-ed by the Pasteur Institute in the French city of Lyon showed that the cases in the south of Guinea were due to Ebola virus. To date, no treatment or vaccine is avail-able for Ebola, which kills between 25 and 90% of those who fall sick, depend-ing on the strain of the virus.

The organisation urged Guineans not to attend funerals and to avoid all contact with the sick and the dead.

Ebola, one of the world’s most vir-ulent diseases, was � rst discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1976 and the country has suf-fered eight outbreaks. l

New Titanic letter gives account of ‘unforgettable scenes’ of horrorn Agencies, LONDON

A distressing letter that provides � rst-hand account of “unforgettable scenes” of horror and heroism from the night the Titanic sank in the Atlantic waters in 1912 has emerged.

The letter, written in French and dated August 8, 1955 — more than 43 years after the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean — is from a French woman called Rose Amelie Icard who survived the disaster.

The letter describes scenes of “hor-ror” and “sublime heroism” as passen-gers tried to escape the sinking vessel.

Icard is believed to have been a maid to a wealthy American passenger called Martha Stone, the widow of the president of Canadian telephone company Bell Cie.

The pair escaped in a lifeboat and were rescued by the Carpathia vessel before being taken to New York. It is believed that Icard wrote the letter to the daughter of another woman whose mother also survived the disaster.

The letter, written in blue ink, is ad-dressed to a woman believed to be called Madame Ausein, ‘The Telegraph’ reported.

The letter emerged after a user of the online community Reddit requested help in translating a set of letters written by Icard that he bought at an auction around two years ago.

In the letter, Icard wrote how even 43 years after the tragedy on April 15, 1912, she still had nightmares.

“Towards eleven o’clock Mrs Stone and I went to bed. Three quarters of an hour later, as the liner was cruising at full speed, a terrifying shock threw us out of bed,” Icard wrote in the letter.

She later helped Stone dress and the duo went to the deck.

“At this moment we witnessed unfor-gettable scenes where horror mixed with the most sublime heroism. Women, still in evening gowns, some just out of bed, barely clothed, dishevelled, distraught, scrambled for the boats,” she wrote.

“Firm and calm, in the throng, o� cers and sailors were taking the women and children by the arm and directing them towards the lifeboats,” Icard wrote.

She also talked of scenes on board as wives were put aboard lifeboats, leaving their husbands on board to die with the sinking vessel.

At one point the crew sung a hymn to help lift the passengers spirits before the lifeboats were lowered, she wrote.

Icard was one of just 745 people who survived out of 2,229 passengers and crew who were on board the Titanic on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. l

Obama tries to rally world to isolate Russian AP, Amsterdam

President Barack Obama delved into a day of delicate diplomacy yesterday as he sought to rally the international com-munity around e� orts to isolate Russia following its incursion into Ukraine.

Hours after arriving in the Neth-erlands for a nuclear summit, Obama held one-on-one talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. China has often sided with Russia in disputes with the West, but US o� cials have been ap-pealing to Beijing’s well-known oppo-sition to outside interference in other nation’s domestic a� airs.

Obama treaded carefully in state-ments with Xi before their meeting, saying only that they planned to dis-cuss the situation in Ukraine.

“I believe ultimately, that by work-ing together, China and the United States can help strengthen internation-

al law and respect for the sovereignty of nations and establish the kind of rules internationally that allow all peo-ples to thrive,” Obama said in a subtle appeal for Chinese support.

Xi, for his part, pointed to areas of po-tential cooperation with the US as he settled in for what Obama described as a wide-ranging session. “It is like a menu — and a rich one at that,” Xi said through an interpreter.

Obama’s meeting with Xi opened a week of international travel where crisis

in Ukraine tops the agenda. After arriv-ing in the Netherlands on a sunny and brisk yesterday morning and meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Obama asserted that the US and Europe stand together behind Ukraine.

No issue commands more of Obama’s and Europe’s attention than Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the fear that Moscow could decide to expand further into Ukraine. But Obama also is attempting to use his weeklong trip to personally reconnect not only with Europe but Asia and the Middle East, all strate-gically crucial regions with their own tensions and qualms about the US

Meanwhile, China has been wary of Obama’s e� orts to increase US in� uence in the Asia Paci� c region. The US has also called for restraint in China’s mari-time territorial disputes with Japan and its Southeast Asian neighbors. l

Ukraine orders Crimean troop withdrawaln AFP, Kiev

Ukraine yesterday ordered its outnum-bered troops to withdraw from Crimea following the peninsula’s lightning seizure and annexation by Russia in re-sponse to the fall in Kiev of a pro-Krem-lin regime.

The dramatic but seemingly inevita-ble announcement came after the fall of another Ukrainian base in Crimea and as world leaders gathered in The Hague for a security summit dominat-ed by concerns over the most explosive East-West stando� since the Cold War.

“Europe and America are united in our support of the Ukrainian govern-ment and the Ukrainian people, we’re united in imposing a cost on Russia for its actions so far,” US President Barack Obama told reporters shortly after landing in the Netherlands.

A top commander in NATO had warned on Sunday that the Western military alliance was carefully watch-ing massive Russian troop formations on the eastern border of Ukraine that could theoretically make a push across the vast ex-Soviet country at any point.

Moscow has denied any such plans despite President Vladimir Putin’s open ambition to resurrect vestiges of the Soviet empire and stamp his authori-ty over eastern European nations that sought protection from the West fol-lowing the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

But the Kremlin has made clear it intends to “protect” compatriots in the Russi� es southeastern swaths of Ukraine that it says have been victimised by vio-lent nationalists since last month’s rise to power of a pro-European team.

‘Enormo us loss’ Ukraine’s acting president Oleksandr Turchynov sombrely told top lawmakers that both servicemen and their families would now be relocated to the mainland.

“The national security and defence council has reached a decision, under in-structions from the defence ministry, to conduct a redeployment of military units stationed in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,” Turchynov said in nationally televised remarks. “The cabinet of minis-ters has instructions to resettle the fam-ilies of soldiers as well as everyone else who today is forced to leave their homes under the pressure and aggression of the Russian army’s occupying forces.”

Crimea’s pro-Kremlin deputy pre-mier Rustam Temirgaliyev told Rus-sia’s RIA Novosti state news agency that “all Ukrainian soldiers have either switched to the Russian side or are leaving the territory of the Crimea.”

Turchynov’s announcement came less than a month after Putin won au-thorisation to use force in response to the February 22 ouster of pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych regime by more nationalist leaders who are seeking a closer alliance with Europe.

Ukraine’s increasingly demoralised forces had been steadily losing ground on the Black Sea peninsula and saw their main airbase outside the regional capital Simferopol stormed on Saturday.

The Kremlin stamped its claim on Crimea yesterday with a symbolic vis-it by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu – the � rst top Moscow o� cial to visit the mostly Russian-speaking region of twom people since its March 16 inde-pendence referendum. l

A picture dated May 14, 1995 shows a patient a� ected by the deadly Ebola virus carried on a stretcher at the Kikwit hospital, 530km southeast of the Congolese capital Kinshasa. The Ebola virus has been identi� ed as the source of an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever in southern Guinea, the west African nation said on March 22 as the death toll rose to more than 60 AFP

Russian troops block the Ukrainian marine battalion in the Crimean city of Feodosia. Elite Russian troops � ring into the air and backed by armoured vehicles stormed a Ukrainian airbase in Crimea on Saturday as Russia’s de� ant march across the rebel peninsula rolled on AFP

China abstained a week ago from voting on a UN resolution declaring Crimea’s secession referendum illegal

9Tuesday, March 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

China demands explanation from US on Huawei spying reportn Reuters, Beijing

China wants a clear explanation from Washington over a report that the US Na-tional Security Agency in� ltrated servers at the headquarters of telecoms giant Huawei Technologies Co., a Chinese for-eign ministry spokesman said yesterday.

Hong Lei, the spokesman, said Chi-na was “extremely concerned” about the spying allegations.

“Recently, the international media

has put out a lot of reports about the evesdropping, surveillance and steal-ing of secrets by the United States of other countries, including China,” he told a regular brie� ng.

“China has already lodged many complaints with the United States about this. We demand that the United States makes a clear explanation and stop such acts.”

The New York Times and German magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday re-

ported on classi� ed documents, pro-vided by former agency contractor Edward Snowden, that detailed the spying operation.

Der Spiegel also reported that the NSA was targeting China’s political leadership, including former Presi-dent Hu Jintao, as well as the trade and foreign ministries. Questions over cy-ber-espionage have cast a shadow over China-US ties, with each side accusing the other of spying. l

Hong Kong fails to protect human tra� cking victims, report saysn AFP, Hong Kong

Hong Kong is failing to protect victims of human tra� cking for forced labour, a report said yesterday, calling for new legislation to prevent “modern-day slavery” in a city which relies heavily on migrant workers.

The report come s at a time of grow-ing anger over the abuse of foreign domestic helpers in the southern Chi-nese city, and a day before the trial of a Hong Kong employer accused of

torturing her Indonesian maid is set to resume.

“Current legislation merely prohib-its human tra� cking ‘for the purpose of prostitution’, but not for the pur-pose of forced labour or other forms of tra� cking,” said the joint report by Justice Centre Hong Kong and Liberty Asia.

New legislation expanding the de� nition of tra� cking would help in tackling forced labour abuse by perpe-trators including placement agencies,

loan companies and employers, it said.“Recent allegations of domestic

helper abuse in Hong Kong bear many of the characteristics of forced la-bour,” said report co-author Victoria Wisniewski Otero, adding that a com-prehensive anti-tra� cking law could help protect the city’s maids.

Hong Kong is home to nearly 300,000 domestic helpers, mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines, and criticism from rights groups over their treatment is growing. l

Indian girl strangled in ‘honour killing’n Agencies

A 26-year-old IT worker has been found strangled at home in what po-lice say is a rare “honour killing” in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, BBC reported. Police say her parents, who are in custody, have ad-mitted to murdering their daughter after she married against their wishes.

She wed another IT professional on 21 February. But her parents thought her husband came from an unsuitable community, police say.

“The parents have confessed to the crime. They strangled her with her chunri [scarf] by tying it to the bed post in their house,’’ Gopinath Jatti, super-intendent of Guntur police, told BBC Hindi’s Imran Qureshi.

“When the pressure built up, the girl informed her parents that she was in love with her friend. She tried to con-vince them but they obviously weren’t.”

The couple got married in Hyder-abad and then her parents took them to Guntur with the promise of a traditional ceremony. “The murder got to be known when the friends of the bridegroom got suspicious and went to the woman’s house,” the superintendent added.

The o� cial added that so-called honour killings are rare in this part of India. Her parents have yet to make any public comment. l

India minister asks people to vote twicen AFP, New Delhi

An Indian cabinet minister found him-self at the centre of a vote-rigging row yesterday, after he asked supporters to vote twice for his party in elections which begin next month.

Speaking at a rally on Sunday, Ag-riculture Minister Sharad Pawar urged voters to wash o� the ink which would be daubed on their � ngers after casting their ballots and then go to a di� erent constituency and vote again for his Na-tionalist Congress Party (NCP).

After pointing out that voting in two neighbouring parts of Maharash-tra state was taking place on di� erent days, Pawar told supporters in the state: “Vote for the ‘Clock’ (his party’s symbol) there and come back to vote for the ‘Clock’ here as well,” he said to loud laughter.

The comments were seized upon by a number of rivals in the elections which begin April 7, including the an-ti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party.

That party said it would complain to the election commission over the “blatant contravention” of its code of conduct.

Pawar, currently an ally of the rul-ing Congress party but who has been flirting with the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, later tried to laugh off his remarks, saying they

were meant as “a joke.”“Party workers get bored with the

same cliched electoral speeches. The statement which I made earlier in the day was in lighter vein,” he added.

NCP spokesman DP Tripathi said he was con� dent that the election com-mission would understand “these were not serious comments.”

“We are con� dent that they (the election commission) are very mature and will realise the context of the state-ment,” Tripathi told AFP. Polls show corruption is one of the most pressing concerns for voters in India. l

Opponents resume protests as Thai PM risks impeachmentn Reuters, Bangkok

Anti-government demonstrators in Thai-land resumed street protests yesterday after lying low for weeks, piling pressure on increasingly beleaguered Prime Min-ister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is expect-ed to face impeachment within days.

Her opponents were emboldened by a Constitutional Court decision on Friday to nullify last month’s election, delaying the formation of a new administration and leaving Yingluck in charge of a care-taker government with limited powers.

Yingluck’s opponents � rst took to the streets in late November. Twen-ty-three people were killed and hun-dreds wounded in the political vi-olence before the protestsbegan to subside earlier this month. But the court ruling appears to have given her foes a second wind.

The protests are the latest instal-ment of an eight-year political battle broadly pitting the Bangkok mid-dle class and royalist establishment against the mostly rural supporters of

Yingluck and herbnaire brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.

There are growing fears that Thai-land could be heading towards serious civil unrest. After months of restraint, Thaksin’s “red shirt” supporters have begun making militant noises under hardline new leaders.

They plan a big rally on April 5, pos-sibly in Bangkok, and the political at-mosphere is expected to become even more highly charged in coming days.

Yingluck has until March 31 to de-fend herself before the National An-ti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for dereliction of duty over a ruinous rice-buying scheme that has run up huge losses. If the commission recom-mends her impeachment, she could be removed from o� ce by the upper house Senate, which is likely to have an anti-Thaksin majority after an election for half its members on March 30.

The protesters want an unelected “people’s council” installed to oversee necessary electoral changes. l

UN: Weather extremes ‘consistent’ with man-made climate change n AFP, Geneva

The Philippines’ devastating Typhoon Haiyan and drought in Australia are among recent weather extremes con-sistent with man-made climate change, the UN’s weather agency said yesterday.

“Many of the extreme events of 2013 were consistent with what we would expect as a result of human-induced cli-mate change,” Michel Jarraud, secretary general of the World Meterological Orga-nization (WMO), said as he released his agency’s annual climate report.

“We saw heavier precipitation, more intense heat, and more damage from storm surges and coastal � ooding as a result of sea level rise – as Typhoon Haiyan so tragically demonstrated in the Philippines,” he added.

While individual extremes can-not be pinned on man-made climate change alone, due to a complex web of factors, Jarraud said they are part of a clear trend.

He pointed to data from Australia showing that record heat there last year would have been “virtually im-possible” without human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

Other 2013 weather events � agged by the agency included extreme cold in Europe and the United States, � oods in India, Nepal, northern China, Russia, central Europe, Sudan and Somalia, snow in the Middle East, and droughts in southern China, Brazil, southern Af-rica and the western United States.

Extreme cold in no way undermines the idea of global warming, Jarraud said, noting that climate change by

de� nition skews weather patterns.“When some people say global

warming has stopped, what is now a re-cord cold year is actually warmer than any year before 1998,” he said.

Phenomena such as volcanic erup-tions or the El Nino and La Nina weath-er patterns in the Paci� c have always in� uenced temperatures and sparked disasters, but human activity is an ac-celerator, Jarraud explained.

“There is no standstill in global

warming,” he said.“Levels of these greenhouse gases

are at record levels, meaning that our atmosphere and oceans will continue to warm for centuries to come. The laws of physics are non-negotiable,” he added.

The report said 2013 tied with 2007 as the sixth warmest on record.

The average global land and ocean surface temperature for the year was 14.5 degrees Celsius (58.1 degrees Fahrenheit) – 0.5 C (0.9 F) above the 1961-1990 aver-

age and 0.03 C (0.05 F) higher than the average for 2001-2010, which was already the warmest decade on record.

Thirteen of the 14 warmest years on record occurred in the 21st century, and each of the last three decades has been warmer than the last.

Researchers have long warned that the chance is ebbing fast to lim-it global warming to 2.0 C (3.6 F) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels – the UN target. l

US, Japan in historic plutonium return dealn AFP, The Hague

Japan pledged yesterday to return hun-dreds of kilos of weapons-grade urani-um and plutonium given to Tokyo for resear ch during the Cold War era, in the � rst major deal announced at a summit on nuclear security.

“By removing this nuclear materi-al, we can prevent the risk of nuclear terrorism,” Japan’s special nuclear ad-visor, Yosuke Isozaki, said on the side-lines of the 2014 Nuclear Security Sum-mit (NSS) in The Hague.

Washington has been pressing To-kyo over the return of weapons-grade material, stored at Japan’s Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) northeast of Tokyo, which experts said made a tempting target for extremists.

According to reports, Japan has more than 300 kilos (660 pounds) of plutonium and almost 200 kilos of highly-enriched uranium 235, supplied by Britain and the United States and now stored at the FCA facility in Tokai about 140 kilometres (87 miles) from the capital.

Japan does not have the bomb but the material could be used to build dozens of nuclear weapons.

Yesterday’s announcement is seen as a major victory in President Barack Obama’s push to secure the world’s ra-dioactive civilian stockpiles.

“This is a very signi� cant nuclear security pledge engaging hundreds of kilogrammes in weapons-usable mate-rial,” US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told journalists.

“The material will be transported to the United States for conversion into

proliferation-resistant forms,” he said.“It a� rms that most research and de-

velopment can be done without using weapons-grade material,” Moniz added.

“This is a very signi� cant announce-ment because it removes this nuclear material from a potentially dangerous situation,” Miles Pomper, a senior re-searcher at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, told AFP.

“Although the FCA is a small mock-up facility to do nuclear tests, they have a lot of material stored there,” he added.

Japanese media reports said Japan has strongly resisted returning the plutonium, saying it was needed for researching fast reactors.

Since last year, Japan and the Unit-ed States have been actively discussing the matter, The Japan Times reported.

The third NSS being held in The Hague is Obama’s brainchild after an-nouncing in 2009 that “nuclear terror-ism was one of the greatest threats to international security.”

But the summit, set up to discuss ridding the world from nuclear terror, has been overshadowed by the esca-lating crisis in Ukraine, after Russia’s absorption of the Crimean peninsula. l

Malaysian co-pilot was on � rst 777 � ight without mindern AFP, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia Airlines revealed yesterday the co-pilot of its missing jet was � ying the Boe-ing 777 for the � rst time without a so-called “check co-pilot” looking over his shoulder.

Co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid has come under intense scrutiny, along with Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, after Malaysian authori-ties said � ight MH370’s disappearance was due to “deliberate” action in the cockpit.

However, nothing has yet emerged publicly to implicate the two men.

The � ag carrier said Fariq, 27, had come through his initial outings in the 777 model with no issues under a standard arrange-ment in which a First O� cer’s � rst � ve � ights in a new model of plane are done under the watchful eye of a “check co-pilot.”

“The � rst � ve � ights, the co-pilot normally � ies with what we call the check co-pilot. He actually passed the � rst � ve � ights. We do not see any problem with him,” the airlines’ chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a daily press conference on the crisis.

Flight 370 disappeared o� civilian radar about an hour into its journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying 239 people, sparking an unprecedented international search across huge swathes of the Indian Ocean and South China Sea.

Ahmad Jauhari added that Zaharie, 53, was himself an experienced 777 examiner.

“You must realise that he (Fariq) is � ying with an examiner. The captain is a 777 examiner,” he added, referring to Zaharie.

Aircraft and ships from several nations are zeroing in on suspected plane debris in the southern Indian Ocean, but have been

prevented from recovering anything for con� rmation due to the distances involved and rough weather.

Fariq, who joined Malaysia Airlines seven years ago, was accused in an Australian tele-vision report of allowing two young South

African women into the cockpit of a plane he piloted in 2011, breaching rules imposed after the 9/11 attacks in America.

Police also removed a � ight simulator from Zaharie’s home and were examining it for any clues. l

Man-made climate change is amplifying risks from drought, � oods, storm and rising seas AFP

Japan does not have the bomb but the material could be used to build dozens of nuclear weapons

A ground controller guides a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion to rest after sunset upon its return from a search operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines � ight MH370 over the Indian Ocean, at Pearce Airbase in Bullsbrook AFP

12 reserved seat candidates millionairesMarch 20

Politics is a business and the candidates need to invest to earn more! So parties need more rich people to join politics. None should question this business – rubbish.

PB

What steps should be taken to stop violence against women?March 20

The media (both TV and newspaper) should highlight these reports, especially those related to arrests, trials and punishment.

P Bidhan

The parties need new scriptsMarch 18

ndsNo, the author is wrong, as he is probably still young, and has yet to get to know the collective mentality of his fellow countrymen. He simply does not know to what extreme we can go to reach the lowest depths of barbarity.

Sam nds: Well said. His romanticised idealism is praiseworthy, but he obviously has little idea about the venality of Bangladeshi politicians.

“The old politics of bullying will be over soon.” Nope, dear author, we have been saying that for over 40 years.

239 greater than 370March 18

PriyankaOne of the most frustrating things about the MH370 coverage has been the insistence on conspiracy theories and where the plane might have “forcibly landed” instead of on the victims. It is nice to know that there are still writers out there who care about what truly matters in these tragic cases.

Salman24 of the 153 Chinese are national treasures – a distinguished group of calligraphers, artists who had attended a cultural exhibition in Kuala Lumpur. 1 of the 3 Americans was making one last trip to China before settling in Malaysia with a new job, 1 of the 5 Indians and his Chinese wife were returning home to their children, 2 of the 38 Malaysians were going on their honeymoon. I did not know a single one of these details, not even the 24 accomplished Chinese victims. A pity that not more people are looking at the human cost of this tragedy.

What’s in a name?March 18

oneThis banning of names has nothing to do with religion. It is simply bigotry that stands as the biggest threat against religion.

VKWell said!

KMAKLet’s consider two names, Abdul Saleeb and Abdullah. Since there is no such thing as a Mus-lim name, is it Islamically appropriate to name a Muslim as Abdul Saleeb?

No cause for satisfaction

We are disappointed the acting chief election commis-sioner has expressed “100% satisfaction” with the fourth phase of the upazila elections which were held

on Sunday.As four people were killed and dozens injured in poll–related

violence, there is plenty of reason to be dissatis� ed. It is especially concerning that the latter two phases of these

polls in particular have seen an increase in violence and wide-spread allegations of irregularities, including ballot box snatching and rigging attempts. Polling had to be suspended at 32 polling centres in 11 of the 91 upazilas where elections were held this week.

Incidents of electoral irregularity or violence are never acceptable, but there is even less excuse for the number of incidents growing as the four phases of these polls have taken place.

The EC should have been in a better position to prevent abuses and deter perpetrators as the polls went on. Instead, by acting slowly or only after complaints have been received, it has shown a regrettable degree of complacency in standing up to election abuses.

We call on the EC to act � rmly and speedily in response to all the allegations it has received.

Allegations involve activists and candidates from and amongst all the parties, but there is also a concerning pattern that as the number of reported abuses have increased, so has the number of AL wins.

For its own credibility, the government must support the Election Commission in taking a stand against all allegations of poll irregularities. Anyone, from whatever party, found to be involved in violence must brought to justice.

Open new trade frontiers

Bangladesh’s exports to Turkey crossed the US$1bn mark last year.

With a new free trade agreement now being discussed with Ankara, there is every possibility that the country can further boost its exports to Turkey’s large growing market.

This is great news for our industries and demonstrates the bene� t of expanding our horizons and seeking out lucrative new mar-kets around the world. The trade partnership with Turkey is a good example of how govern-ment e� orts can help bolster private sector led growth.

It is encouraging to see moves to extend this further into wholly new markets, with reports of a preferential trade agreement being discussed with Macedonia.

Of course, for logistic and historical reasons, a lot of gov-ernment time is tied up with traditional business partners. The foreign minister recently remarked that the government is focusing on improving relations and reaching bilateral agree-ments with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. While reducing barriers to trade with these countries will no doubt be bene� cial, the government must also look more widely and fo-cus diplomatic e� orts on developing other new trade partners.

Emerging economies in regions such as Latin America and Eastern Europe have already proven promising destinations for our RMG export goods.

The government needs to be more nimble and pragmatic in its e� orts to expand and diversify the country’s export destina-tions.

We have to keep looking more outwards to ensure that the economy stays robust against future shocks in the global economy.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, March 25, 2014

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

Abandoned girl in DMCH for seven monthsMarch 18The “disposable children” of our society!! Shame, shame, shame!!

Vikram Khan

Rana Plaza: Primark to pay $10m moreMarch 18

Now it’s up to the government whether this $10 million will reach the hands of the victims of Rana Plaza. The public will see.

People

RMG safety: Inspections lead to fear of job lossMarch 19Another factory, Tropica Garments Ltd at Mohakhali, is going to close on March 31 for good after 30 years of operation. 1,000 workers will be unemployed.

Forhad

Upazila polls: Dhaka, Barisal reject JamaatMarch 18

This is how I’d like them to go – democratically (and consequently ideologically) ousted by the Bangladeshi people themselves. Although obviously we’re still quite far away from that.

Traveller_23

We have to keep looking outwards to diversify the country’s export destinations

The EC should have been in a better position to prevent abuses as the polls went on

Be HeardWrite to us at: Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C PanthapathSukrabad, Dhaka-1207

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Taking the AL to task March 23

A while back, the PM had said if a large power-station is established to generate power, quick rental plants will not be needed. In that case, why hasn’t this option been looked into all these years? The public deserves to know. And if this is indeed a workable solution, then we need to stop turning to quick rental plants immediately.

With the AL back in power, the public expects the government to work for the nation, and to declare a date for the national election, in which all can participate by casting their votes.

MM Khaleed Ahsan

Crossword

Sudoku

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS1 Cowardly (6)5 Hawaiian dish (3)7 Female fox (5)8 Foreign-looking (6)10 Beak (3)12 Starchy food (4)13 Meshed fabric (3)14 Cult (4)16 Commotion (4)17 Spoil (3)18 Festivity (4)20 Rodent (3)23 Chooses by vote (6)24 Illustrious (5)25 Eyelid a� iction (3)26 One who grants a lease (6)

DOWN1 Masticate (4)2 Embellishes (6)3 Expel by legal process (5)4 Agreeable (4)5 Female swan (3)6 United (3)9 Neckwear (4)11 Wager (3)14 Satisfy fully (4)15 Builds (6)16 Distant (3)17 A� ray (5)18 Tumbled (4)19 Consumer (4)21 Insect (3)22 Plaything (3)

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

SUDOKU

n MJ Akbar

Anyone who speaks in public, whether master orator or ordinary word-shu� er, comes

to a platform after some preparation. The one eventuality no one can quite prepare for is a crisis; and there is no crisis greater for an individual than a threat to one’s life. At that moment, the reaction is more likely to emerge from the heart than the head.

The bombs that began to burst at Narendra Modi’s Patliputra rally were aimed at the crowds, of course, but also at him. His instant response was to ask a powerful question of both Hindus and Muslims that went to the crux of the principal challenge before our nation, and included its solution as well. He asked these two great

communities of our country to choose: They could either � ght each other, or together they could confront that shaming curse called poverty.

This placed everything in context and priority: We need peace in our country as an absolute fundamental necessity. This gives us the chance to rescue an economy that has been sent to the hospital in the last decade before it sinks to a deathbed. The primary purpose of economic growth

is to lift the poorest from their awful misery; and this can best be achieved only when every Indian, across di� erences of creed and caste, works hand in hand. We either move together or we barely move at all. It was an incisive de� nition of inclusive growth. At a time when Modi could have been forgiven for being emotional, he was

practical, clearly focused and deter-mined to pursue an economic vision.

This � t a pattern. In a speech on August 15 last year, he said that the religion of anyone in public service was the constitution of India. A compilation of his views by Siddharth Mazumdar, released a few weeks ago, opens with this sentence: “The es-sence of secularism is that all religions are equal before the law.” It asserted that sarva dharma sambhav was the philosophical magnet that united India from an ancient age.

But how do such principles accord with the fact of the Gujarat riots, which is a constant theme in all attacks on him? I raised questions at the time of the riots as much as any other jour-nalist did. Paradoxically, these ques-tions were answered over ten years by the UPA government.

There has never been, since inde-pendence, such intense scrutiny, or such absolute determination to trace guilt to a chief minister, as Modi faced from institutions loyal to the UPA government over two fullterms. Every relevant instrument of state was assigned the task of � nding something, anything, that could trace guilt to Modi. They could not. The Supreme Court, which is above politics and parties, and which is our invalua-

ble, independent guardian of the law and constitution, undertook its own enquiries. Its � rst � ndings are in, and we know that the answer is exonera-tion. Moreover, there has been judicial accountability to an unprecedented degree in Gujarat. We are still waiting for justice in a hundred previous riots.

One suspects that only some politicians have a vested interest in the past during an election when Indians want to vote for their future. The young want a government that gives them jobs; parents want their entrepreneurial skills to turn into food on the plate, into schools for their children, and into a horizon of hope. When Modi talks of building a hundred new cities, they can see jobs and opportunity rise with every � oor of a new township.

One signi� cant indicator of the public anger lies in a statistic: Em-ployment has grown, on an average, at only 2% in the past decade. If the rate was higher in the � rst � ve years of UPA, when the economy was faring better, then one assumes it must have sunk to less than 2% in the second UPA term. A nation that was soaring on achievement and hope has sunk into depression.

We need a national recovery mis-sion. Only someone who has delivered

can o� er a credible promise of leading such a critical mission. For those on the wrong side of 30 or 40, � ve years is just another passage in life. For those who are 20, � ve years is the di� erence between aspiration and despair. If a young person does not � nd a job in these � ve years, he or she begins to lose that vital energy whichcomes from self-con� dence. If the young do not power the economy

then the economy will be stuck in the quagmire of idle waste.

There is only one way forward. And there is, among the visible choices, only one person best suited to lift the nation out of a septic swamp. You know his name as well as I do. l

MJ Akbar is a journalist and ex-Congress Member of Parliament. This article was � rst published in The Economic Times.

n Raihan Hadi

I wonder at times whether our coun-try is truly united from the base or not. I see so many examples of how

united a country can be, for example, our closest neighbours. It puts me to shame when I overhear conversations among certain children of our country, such as: “Hey, let’s not speak to that other kid because he’s from that Ben-gali medium school and he will not be able to mix with us.” Tell me if it would not hurt you to hear your own kids utter such words. I’m sure it would, because you probably would want them to learn and know better.

The one problem I see here is the various mediums of education we have to o� er in our country. Not only are there three basic mediums of education – English, Bengali, and Arabic (madrasa) – but there are also English and Bengali standards within Bengali medium schools. Then there are external authorities who have made quite a business in our country’s education sector by o� ering interna-tional standards of education for a cost that is far beyond the reach of regular middle-class families.

I, myself, am a product of di� er-ent mediums of education, and I had some discriminatory experiences at my school during my childhood. You see, our school o� ered education in both English and Bengali mediums. However, while the English medium boys and girls could play in the � eld everyday with their separate sports uniforms, we – the less fee-paying, worthless Bengali medium time-wast-ers – had to wait in line even on that one day we were allowed to get inside the playground wearing red socks and black formal shoes. Does it stir your mind even a little as to why a school would be so discriminative towards its own students?

Also, after studying for 10 years (or maybe 12) under the British system of education, kids move on to do their undergraduate programs in the Amer-ican system. How is that practical in any way?

As a consequence of studying in di� erent mediums of education under di� erent boards and authorities, our nation has slowly become a mixture of generations where it’s been divid-ed into groups of children who are automatically discriminative towards those from di� erent educational backgrounds, and I strongly believe it is becoming a constant blow to our unity. If children are not taught to be united from the very early stages of their lives, how will they understand

the true value of education and unity when they grow up? And surprisingly, it is also very stylish to not know much Bangla nowadays for many of these children.

It has also become a matter of pride for many parents nowadays to send their kids to very expensive schools in brand new luxury cars, simply to become more popular parents and to show o� . What they are forgetting in the process is that their children are not learning anything about the real world, like being friends with chil-dren from di� erent backgrounds who necessarily do not have the luxury of carrying an iPhone or a Macbook, and have to � nish their school projects by probably using someone else’s computer.

Is it a good thing that they are not learning how other children around them are living their lives? Is the lux-urious way of life teaching them how great it feels to mix with people from di� erent religious, ethnic, and social backgrounds, and being united by heart? These kids will de� nitely learn about adjusting to life in Canada, UK, or Australia when they are sent there for higher education. But will they be able to tell the “true story” of life back in their native country? I don’t think so.

The Ministry of Education should take a stance in the near future and start reforming our education system into a uni� ed one where the standard would de� nitely be an international one, English would be the base medium, Bengali would be a compulsory subject for everyone until they pass their 10th grade, and religion as a subject would be taught equally to everyone so that they can respect each other despite their di� erences.

Of course it is a long process and would probably take 10 years to come into e� ect even if the process is started right now, but at least that will be a start and it will gradually help our chil-dren to learn more about the di� erent values and norms of people within the society they live in, thus making them more aware about the lives of their fellow citizens.

Not only will this help to build a better united Bangladesh, it will also save the huge amounts of money our parents would otherwise be paying to foreign authorities. However, that is a completely di� erent issue for discussion. l

Raihan Hadi is the founder of Ideas for Bangladesh, and Senior Executive of Korea-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KBCCI).

11Op-Ed Tuesday, March 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n MAB Siddique

The ever-increasing in� ow of fortune-seekers into Dhaka has turned it into one of the most densely-packed cities in the world, and one

of the toughest places to live in. This has happened despite the fact that the marginalised people, who come into the city to merely eke out a meagre living, would only be working for, and hence doing a favour to those who are sedentary. Recently, the reduction of the pressures of over-population has emerged as a burning necessity.

We know that there are not enough e� ective ideas to solve the problem, without harming at least some of the people who call this city home. So it is now nearly impossible to think of improving the situation so as to make the city even a little bit more liveable, and to elevate the indicators of living standards to some extent.

As the city grows more and more crowded every day, low-skilled labourers who rush to the city have to su� er. They have been forced to em-brace the migration, and have literally been evicted from their homes in the pretext of increasing living expenses. These poor people have only their primary occupations to rely on. This is bringing forth the need to look into the issues surrounding what is leading people to pile up into a city already overburdened in its population.

Talking about the population problem is nothing new in Bangladesh. From policy-making to textbooks,

from sociologists to politicians, from social thinkers to the common folk, everyone knows about the fundamen-tal hindrances in the path towards the development of Bangladesh. But what is growingly becoming an issue to brood over is the disproportionate dis-tribution of population, which means the plight of intra-migration. That has only intensi� ed over the decades, almost the whole of it funnelled to Dhaka. This has been increased further by the recent development in com-munication and connectivity with the furthest corners of the country.

At the same time, we can see the post-colonial endowment which never entirely showed the potential to be turned into a city which might give rise to industries. Neither was the city blessed by government policies or by foreign investment. A background of political unrest has always overshadowed the possibility of consistent implementation of a certain economic regime that could give hope to the people who come to seek their livelihood, other than the garment � rms that remain a myth of

hope for the economy and a resort for the marginalised.

This grim economic reality never was enough to discourage the in� ux of people from any part of the country into the capital, which the rulers, colo-nisers or not, always wanted to use for administrative purposes. So they did not need too many people, but people at the impoverished extreme had nothing to do but claim whatever part they could gain from the share of the surplus that gave rise to the adminis-trative establishments. They reluctant-ly adhered to Dhaka, the hub.

As a result of the inexorable slum-like transformation, not unlike many other post-colonial settings, Dhaka has been always been turbulent with dissatisfactions, a place where predatory corruption is rampant. Crime has become a source of earning, while prostitution is the prevailing form of enslavement.

We have seen how the rural-urban gap has translated into sustained political unrest in various countries, giving rise to militancy in recent years.

Bangladesh is badly in need of a more balanced economy to discourage more concentration in Dhaka. Creating more economic opportunities in the pe-ripheries and connecting them to the market e� ciently could be one way of enhancing the process.

To this end, the location of the new industries has to be at varied places so that the plights of commuters get new direction. Foreign investment could be directed to di� erent places with new policies and incentives.

Helping the rural economy � ourish would discourage further migration. Boosting allocation for agriculture might have a good impact by discouraging people to commute to Dhaka. A su� cient number of industries through private initiative which could accommodate labourers weren’t allowed to grow. In the coming days, the climate change is likely to displace more people from their own places and make them migrate into the city. Political stability cannot be sustained without a balanced economy.

So, if we want to ensure a balanced distribution in the demographic, we need to look into certain factors – his-toric, economic, cultural, social, and environmental factors – related to the migration to Dhaka. This is an issue on which the question of whether we can let the urban population get any higher – brewing more crime, unrest, and dysfunction – depends on. l

MAB Siddique is a Sta� Writer at the Dhaka Tribune.

A city too crowded

What is growingly becoming an issue to brood over is the disproportionate distribution of population

I had some discriminatory experiences at my school during my childhood

The Ministry of Education should start reforming our education system into a uni� ed one

We need peace in our country as an absolute fundamental necessity

A divided learning

Why I joined the BJP

No breathing room SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

AFP

Michael Jackson resurrected in Lady Gaga’s new videon Entertainment Desk

G.U.Y. – an artpop � lm released recently on Lady Gaga’s VEVO channel, and it’s a whopper even by Gaga’s standards: 11 minutes and 46 seconds of unfet-tered camp-pop delirium that falls somewhere between a Cocteau movie and an episode of Watch What Happens Live, complete with Andy Cohen as Zeus and the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as a Greek cho-rus.

Directed by Gaga herself, it’s way more than one song could hold, so the clip trots out a medley of Artpop, Venus, Manicure, and G.U.Y. We open on a shot of a bunch of angry suits out for � oating dollars while Gaga,

dressed like a multiplatinum California condor is slumped in the ground, shot down by an arrow. She stumbles to her feet and makes her way to Hearst Castle, the stately pleasure dome of William

Randolph Hearst, where Charlie Chaplin used to swim in the Neptune Pool

and nobody ever, under any circumstances, mentioned Citizen

Kane. Then there’s some kind of

water burial, lots of dancers, some ankle-length Donatella wigs, and a bizarre subplot that may or may not be

about Gaga resurrecting Jesus and Michael Jackson. It’s worth repeating. Lisa Vanderpump gives that tambourine a shaking not

seen since the glory days of Tracy Partridge. l

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, March 25, 201412

ExhibitionI Bow My Head to You in Deep ObeisanceBy Shahid KabirTime: 12pm – 8pmBengal Shilpalaya, House 42, Road 16 (New) / 27 (old), Dhanmondi,

Color of Natural Disposition By Bipad Bhanjan Sen KarmakerTime: 3pm – 9pm

La Galerie, Alliance Francaise de Dhaka, Dhanmondi

Soil and SpiritBy Samar MajumderTime: 3pm – 8pmDhaka Art Center (DAC)House-60, Road-7ADhanmondi R/A

TODAY IN DHAKA

ON TV

COMEDY 12:30pm Star WorldTwo Broke Girls10:30pm Comedy CentralAnger Management

DRAMA9: 00pm Star Jalsha Bojhena Shey Bojhena11:00pm Sony TVBade Achhe Lagte Hain

n Entertainment Desk

Ronger Manush is favourite to everyone who regularly follow TV serials. The hit serial (began airing in 2004) saw landmark popularity and that was director Salahuddin Lavlu’s turning point in his directorial ventures.

Actor-cum-director Lavlu is set to remake the mega serial with the title Kemon Ache Ronger Manushera which is scheduled to air during Eid

on NTV. It will be a seven-episode serial and playwright Masum Reza promises to entertain the viewers once again with hilarious dialogue in the script.

The shooting for the play has been already start-ed in in Pubail and Hotapara this month. The star studded serial will come back with the same cast: ATM Shamsuzzaman, Wahida Mollick Jolly, Pran Roy, Agun, Tania, Bonnya Mirza, Fazlur Rahman Babu and many more.

“The storyline of the drama will begin in line with the last episode of the previous serial. I have very personal attachment with this drama since it changed my career. I’m very excited to work with the team again,” said Lavlu.

Ronger Manush (2004) was his debut as a tele-novela director. Following its success, he pursued making more of them. Since then he has directed and acted in � ve telenovelas. Two of these include Bhober Hat (2007) and Ghor Kutum (2008). l

Ronger Manush set to colour next Eid Ontor Kotha describes inner feelingsn Afrose Jahan Chaity

A group art exhibition Ontor Kotha is going on at the Monobhumi Art Space until March 31. Monubhumi Art Space is an organisation for art-ists. The exhibition is open for all, every day from 12-9pm.

Samarjit Roy Chowdhury inaugurated the exhibition on March 2. Six promising and well-known artists - Tarun Ghosh, Bi-pul Shah, Anisuzzaman, Ishrat Zahan Kakon, Pijush Kanti Sarkar and Masudur Rahman – are exhibiting their paintings.

A total of 24 skilfully done artworks based on acrylic and woodcut media are on display at the exhibit. The paintings focus on various aspects of nature and people’s personal feelings.

In Tarun Ghosh’s paintings, his personal feelings are re� ect-ed through the use of vibrant colors with ink and scattered motives. It is focused on co-lours and textures and gradu-ally moves on to experimenting with pure geometrical forms.

Symbols of hidden evil are found in a painting titled Mukhosh. The horri� c and evil looking masks are used to portray social norms and the ugly inside of a human mind. This unique and intriguing piece is created by Bipul Shah and is done in acrylic.

Assiuzzaman explores the complexities that goes on inside human brains and his works dis-

play zoometrics shapes and motives with vi-brant colours, especially in Complexity which is done by woodcut.

Each person have their own complex zone. Vivacious use of acrylic colours give life to Ish-

rat Zahan Kakon’s Color of memory. Pijush Kanti Sarker used light shades with dark colours on white space, the painting titled Hidden agenda is a work of lines. The paintings are an insight-ful observation of the inner spirit of humans. All the artworks have their own inner story to tell in a symbolic and captivating way. l

Artwork by Bipul Shah

Mimodrama Jadur Prodeep by theatre troupe Swapnadal was staged on Sunday at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy honouring great mime artiste late Marcel Marceau QUAMRUL ABEDIN

Intekhab Dinar and Swagata in a scene of Dhonni Meye

A scene from � lm Nree

Film Nree based on the struggles of undertakers lacks funding n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

Aspiring � lmmaker Rasel Ahmed considers Satyajit Ray as his idol. Rasel’s debut feature � lm Nree at present is facing the same di� -culties as Ray’s Pother Panchali did sixty years ago. Ray’s wife, Bijoya, was forced to pawn her jewels while Rasel sold his family’s asset to start shooting for the � lm. Unfortunately the funding was inadequate and the producing company Theme Theatre Wizard Valley- which is owned by Rasel himself could not back the project any longer. Subsequently, a benevolent expat living in Saudi Arabia, Dr Arifur Rahman came to know about the funding crisis through social media and o� ered some � nancial sup-port. Recently, when 85 percent of the shoot-ing for the � lm is done, the production com-pany again runs short of money and stopped the funding.

A teaser trailer of the digitally manufactured � lm broadcast in youtube and was highly appreciated by � lm enthusiasts of the country. Rasel was inspired to write story

of the � lm while talking to two embalmers who deal with the disposal of corpses of the Hindu community. These absolutely lower caste Hindus, who formerly considered untouchables, traveled a lot and when they used to come back to their root, they had interesting stories to tell. Their thought on humanity and religion inspired the director to make the � lm. So, the � lm contains message about “treating every human with compassion and not to show negligence towards anyone regardless of their class or caste.”

The shooting started in 2012 with amateur casts. The principal cinematographer is Daniel Danny. Editing, sound designing and color grading portion of the � lm is being readied while the production company is seeking an immediate solution of the � nancial crisis.

Rasel told the Dhaka Tribune: “I faced nu-merous hurdles making an international stan-dard � lm which contains our cultural legacy and I tried adopting and developing our own � lmmaking language. We are ready to � nish the � lm as soon as we manage funds.” l

Dhonni Meye airs tonightn Entertainment Desk

Watch out for drama series Dhonni Meye to-night at 8:30pm on Channel 9. Popular starts of the small screen including seasoned actor Abul Hayat, Dolly Johur, Shilpi Sarker Opu, Dipanwi-ta Halder, Samia Purba, Sadika Sarna, Swagata, Intekhar Dinar, Imtiaz Borson, Mahmudul Islam Mithu, Irfan Sajjad and others will be seen in the drama.

Anwar is a government employee. He is mar-ried to a simple woman named Rabeya and has three daughters and an only son. Kabir, his son is the eldest in the family and quit studies to set up his own business. His elder daughter Bipasha is very beautiful. But she was never really inter-ested in completing her studies and after having several a� airs with men from their locality, she

married an unemployed man. Anwar’s second daughter Monisha is a meritorious student. She was the only child who never did anything out of line to bring dishonour and disappointment to her parents. She even completed her studies with her scholarship fund. She is all set to ap-pear for BCS exam. A sophisticated man from and elite family is in love with Monisha and wants to marry her. After a length of time and many hurdles, they get married before she man-aged to sit for her BCS exam. However, after her marriage, she faces di� culties in continuing her studies as her mother-in-law did not like the fact that she wanted to pursue a career. With support and love from her husband she manag-es to pass the exam and get into a job. But, she faces the challenge of going against her in-laws’ wish and work. l

n Entertainment Desk

Disney India’s studio business today announced plans to bring The Ma-habharata, Indian Mythology’s great-est epic, to the big screen.

The Studio is gearing up to recreate the magic of this remarkable story in live action at a scale never seen before in Indian cinema which will be directed by Abhishek Kapoor and written by renowned author Ashok Banker.“Indian mythology has a great wealth of stories which have inspired legions of creative minds and The Mahabharata unarguably is the most ambitious and all-encompassing of them all. We believe this epic which has engaged generations of Indians will translate into a magni� cent silver screen saga,” said Siddharth Roy Kapur, Managing Director - Disney India.

“The Mahabharata expresses the universal truth, it has de� ned my un-derstanding of spirituality and of all humanity. I aim to translate this onto the big screen, engage minds and de-liver a world class cinematic experi-ence,” said director Abhishek Kapoor. “It’s an epic as relevant and powerful today as it was millennia ago. Our at-tempt is to make the Mahabharata that brings alive the great human drama, the terrible con� ict, and unforgetta-ble characters, in a way you’ve never seen or thought of them before.” added Ashok K Banker. l

Disney India to bring The Mahabharata on screen

13DHAKA TRIBUNETuesday, March 25, 2014

Sport 14 Majestic Messi sinks Real in thriller

15 Sri Lanka toy with Dutchmen

Did you know?

Netherlands’ 39 all out is the lowest

T20I total and second lowest in all Twenty20 matches

Steyn-gun � res for Proteasn

Riding on speedster Dale Steyn’s brilliant last over South Africa registered their � rst win in the World Twenty20 after edging New Zealand by two runs in a nail biting � nish at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.

The win kept the Proteas alive in the tournament, after they had lost their � rst match to Sri Lanka, and moreover made the Group 1 wide open.

South Africa never lost a game de-fending more than 170 runs and Steyn made sure it stayed that way. The spearhead led the defence of 29 o� the last three overs and seven o� the � nal over to keep South Africa in the hunt for a semi-� nal spot.

The 30-year-old leaked only � ve runs in the � rst two overs he bowled – 3rd and 14th in the innings. South Af-rica skipper Faf du Plessis stored Steyn for the � nal phase of the innings and the strategy worked wonders.

New Zealand had a good start to the chase with openers Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson putting up 57 runs for

the opening stand before Albie Morkel got the valuable breakthrough dismiss-ing Guptill on 22. Imran Tahir removed the dangerous Brendon McCullum (4) early to keep the game balanced.

Williamson and Ross Taylor added 51 for the 3rd wicket but once the part-nership was broken by Steyn in the 14th over, the Kiwis lost momentum and the game.

They lost � ve wickets in last four overs with three dismissals coming in the ultimate over when only seven runs were needed. The � eld on the leg side for Taylor was mostly up in the last ball with three needed, with boundary-rid-ers on the o� -side. Steyn pitched the ball up as Taylor only managed a push back to him. He ran anyway, but Steyn beat him to run him out as the Proteas went joyous over the win.

Earlier, South Africa never got the propelling start but recovered superbly with JP Duminy leading the way. They reached hundred in 15 overs before Duminy’s onslaught fetched 70 runs in the last � ve overs. He made 86 from just 43 balls while Hashim Amla con-tributed 41 from 40 deliveries to help South Africa post 170. l

South AfricaQ. de Kock c Ronchi b Mills 4Hashim Amla c and b Anderson 41Faf du Plessis c N. McCullum b Southee 13AB de Villiers b N. McCullum 5JP Duminy not out 86D. Miller c and b Anderson 6A. Morkel b Southee 13D. Steyn not out 1Extras: (w1) 1Total: (for six wkts; 20 overs) 170Did not bat: M. Morkel, Imran Tahir, L. Tsotsobe.Fall of wickets: 1-16 (de Kock), 2-32 (du Plessis), 3-42 (de Villiers), 4-97 (Amla), 5-131 (Miller), 6-159 (A. Morkel).Bowling: Mills 4-0-29-1, McClenaghan 4-0-30-0 (1w), Southee 4-0-46-2, N. McCullum 4-0-24-1, Anderson 3-0-28-2, Williamson 1-0-13-0New ZealandM. Guptill c de Kock b A. Morkel 22K. Williamson c de Villiers b Steyn 51B. McCullum st de Kock b Tahir 4R. Taylor run out 62C. Munro c Amla b Tahir 7C. Anderson c Miller b Steyn 7L. Ronchi c de Kock b Steyn 5N. McCullum c du Plessis b Steyn 4T. Southee not out 0Extras: (lb2, w4) 6Total: (for eight wkts; 20 overs) 168Did not bat: K. Mills, M. McClenaghan.Fall of wickets: 1-57 (Guptill), 2-66 (B. McCullum), 3-117 (Williamson), 4-140 (Munro), 5-148 (Anderson), 6-164 (Ron-chi), 7-168 (N. McCUllum), 8-168 (Taylor).Bowling: Duminy 3-0-30-0, Tsotsobe 4-0-29-0 (1w), Steyn 4-0-17-4, M. Morkel 3-0-50-0 (1w), A. Morkel 2-0-13-1, Tahir 4-0-27-2 (2w).Result: South Africa win by two runsToss: New Zealand

SCORECARD

Mush� q seeks 200% from playersn

Bangladesh had been through several ups and downs in their re-cent past, but yet they have managed to sneak in to the Super 10 phase of the World Twenty20

where they face defending champions West Indies in their � rst game today.

Pitted in Group 2 against three for-mer World T20 champions and Aus-tralia, Bangladesh skipper Mush� qur Rahim thinks they have nothing to lose which should make them put more ef-fort in the games.

“Even though we had played badly during the Asia Cup and the Sri Lanka series, I didn’t expect it to be so bad [against Hong Kong] it is alarming. The only message to the team is that we have nothing to lose so we better give 200%,” said Mush� q at the Sher-e-Ban-

gla National Stadium yesterday.“The opponent must feel that we are

here to give them a hard time. If we can do that, I am sure we have the ability to win a few of the four matches,” he said.

The poor form of Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah and Abdur Razzak is a big concern for the side, but Mush� q in-formed that it wouldn’t take too much for a player to return to form.

“A crucial 10 or 20, even a catch, can change your mentality, we are working towards this. We don’t look at the play-ers’ past to choose our best eleven. We look at what’s happening at the moment and who our opponents are, what the conditions are.”

West Indies has already been ex-posed to spin bowling against India in their � rst match and Mush� q is count-ing on his spinners too and also hinted o� spinner Sohag Gazi, who has a good record against Chris Gayle, might get an opportunity today.

“We have two specialist spinners, plus a few all-rounders. We will decide after seeing the wicket, and if there’s some help, then why not take the extra spinner? They (West Indies) are a little weak against spin, like to play big shots and not rotate strike,” he said.

The 25-year-old informed that it’s di� cult to set a target rather than chas-ing under lights in this tournament where dew can play a big part and it will be easier if they could restrict their op-ponent under 150 runs.

Meanwhile, Mashrafe bin Mortaza is unlikely to be rested despite not fully re-covering from his side strain. “We have no options left, only Mashrafe bhai can say what is his actual condition at the moment and even he is ten percent � t he is ready to play. I hope that he will be playing as much as he can deliver saving his injury and absorb the pain to his lim-its, we have only two pacers and both will play,” said Mush� q.

West Indies cricketers were criticised for not rotating the strike and instead got out looking for big shots against India. However, their coach Ottis Gibson coun-tered the criticism and said it’s in their advantage that they have big hitters.

“We are blessed with players who can hit the ball to the stands, I am sure people will look at Chris Gayle to hit the ball to the stands rather than take a quick single and pull a hamstring,” said Gibson.

“If you look back at the game, most of our best players are in the IPL and I think they [India] know them quite well, and a lot of the plans from last night seem to come out of IPL. Bangladesh are di� er-ent and we look forward to it. We have to focus on winning, to survive in the tournament,” said Gibson.

The former fast bowler added that they have to adjust the mindset and will be aware of what the opposition will be trying against them and coun-teract that. l

Zia, fans delightedn Fans were seen carrying out a series of protests on social media websites over all-rounder Ziaur Rahman not being a part of Bangladesh’s World Cup Twen-ty20 squad. The protests were fuelled further as Farhad Reza, a player of sim-ilar standard who was picked ahead of Zia, failed miserably to deliver in the qualifying round when the team need-ed him to deliver the most.

However, the fans’ protests perhaps did not fall into deaf ears as an unlucky � nger injury to pacer Rubel Hossain has � nally opened the door for Zia’s entry into the World Cup squad which eventually has brought smiles back into the faces of the fans and Zia ob-viously. Zia has already cemented his name as a hard hitter among the crick-et-crazy fans of the nation with his hefty hitting as his remarkable strike-rate of over 140 in the shortest format of cricket bears the testimony of his calibre as an ideal player of this format. His versatility to adapt to team’s needs also gives him and the team an extra edge as evidenced in the past by his ability to open the innings as well as to slog down the order during the � nal stage of an innings.

“It has become normal for me. My luck is like that actually – always have to come in and go out. So I don’t get surprised anymore now. It’s true I had a dream to play in this World Cup at home,” Zia said. “I thought it’s just not my luck as it didn’t happen so. I thought I have to do something good so that I can at least get an opportunity to play in the matches after the World Cup. Then suddenly I heard on the day before yesterday that Rubel got injured and I’ve been called up. I’m happy.”

“I don’t bother about those in Face-book. Yes, I have a desire of my own. I must be able to show that. Now I just have one wish – I must play well if an opportunity comes my way,” said Zia ahead of today’s match against the

cricketers from the Caribbean islands. “It’s all down to luck actually. I’m

not thinking about what happened in the past. I’m rather thinking that I’m in good form; now that I’m in the team, I have to deliver with both bat and ball if I get an opportunity. I hope to con-tribute to the team’s causes by doing something myself. Keep me in your prayers”, he added.

Zia said the expectation from the spectators can only be ful� lled if he gives something to the team. “I can provide something extra to the spec-tators only if I can capitalize on the chance given to me. It’d be bene� cial both for the team and myself. I can fail as well after so much speculation. So it’s not right to speculate so much be-forehand”, he opined.

Meanwhile, the fans were also de-lighted to have Zia back in the squad as they think it will make the team more balanced. Some said the strong Khulna-lad will bolster the tigers’ bat-ting unit while others thought it would be his bowling making the di� erence.

Foyez Morshed, a private IT � rm employee, said, “I don’t know how he will play with the bat, but his bowl-ing will make the di� erence. His slow bowling and steady line and length are perfect for the pitches here.”

Another private � rm employee Fuad Sajjad thought, “Zia’s inclusion in the team has given Bangladesh a great balance in the line up. The lower bat-ting order has been enriched alongside the bowling as Zia is in great form.” l

Du Plessis hails Steynn

South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis, who returned from a hamstring injury, informed that he had the con� dence of defending the game, a game which was a must win in order to survive in the World Twenty20.

“I did have the con� dence in the back of my mind, at the back of my mind I said anything under 8 would be tough. We got it down to seven, but when you start like that, with three dot balls you feel like you have a chance and also we didn’t want Taylor on strike and we did exactly that,” said du Plessis to the me-

dia after the game yesterday.“We are a very happy team at the

moment, I felt you know it was a great innings (from JP Duminy). He played

a fantastic knock, he gave us a chance and then Dale Steyn proved today why he has been the world’s best bowler for such a long period team. I thought New Zealand got themselves in a position

where they should have won the game and something special was required for us to try and get away,” he added.

Steyn’s four-over spell went for just 17 runs and fetched four wickets, but it was Duminy who grabbed the man of the match award for his unbeaten 43-ball 86 that had aided South Africa post the chal-lenging target after some shaky moments.

“I guess there was a little bit of surprise factor to it. Like as I said Dale’s last over was exceptional it was a collective e� ort from the burning unit. Like as I men-tioned Morne even Imran’s four overs was also big contribution so as much as he put up e� ort in the last over, the other bowl-ers also did a good job,” said Duminy. l

Teams Mat Won Lost Pts RR

Sri Lanka 2 2 0 4 +3.225New Zealand 2 1 1 2 +0.276South Africa 2 1 1 2 -0.075England 1 0 1 0 -1.688Netherlands 1 0 1 0 -6.050

GRO

UP A

Borren feels embarrassed n

Dutch skipper Pe-ter Borren admit-ted that his players are very embar-rassed after the Sri Lankan drub-bing at the Zahur Ahmed Chowd-hury Stadium yes-

terday. “Everything was a bit of a rush. It’s

not the � rst time the top-order has played at this level and it’s not been this bad. Obviously Myburgh was going to play that way, but down the order it was quite bad. It was always going to be a struggle for the lower order against Mendis and Malinga. Surprised by the result, not something we saw coming but we have three more chances. The guys up in the dressing room are very embarrassed and hopefully we can show you guys in the next few games of what we can really do. We’re constantly striving for more � xtures and more funding and this sort of performance doesn’t help. It’s gonna have to improve, I don’t really know what else to say” said Borren.

“ Sri Lankan skipper Dinesh Chandimal thought they bowled well. “ We bowled really well,Angelo gave a good start and Malinga and Ajantha � nished it o� . I’m very happy. We won’t be underestimating any team. We have two more games and we’re keeping our � ngers crossed to win them as well. Happy with Dilshan getting a few runs. Hope he continues throughout the series” l

West Indies’ players attend a training session ahead of their ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup match against Bangladesh in Dhaka, Bangladesh yesterday AP

Dhoni backs Yuvrajn As he took o� his helmet, tucked his bat under his arm and trudged back to the pavilion after a 19-ball struggle in the World Twenty20 on Sunday, Yuvraj Singh looked a shadow of the talisman-ic all-rounder who delivered two World Cups for India.

The dashing southpaw hitting Eng-land fast bowler Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over remains the de� ning moment of India’s victory in the inau-gural World Twenty20 in 2007.

His player-of-the-tournament per-formance helped India win the 50-over World Cup in Mumbai four years later,

and he showed his battling qualities o� the pitch too by overcoming a cancer-ous lung condition.

“Yuvraj is perhaps the best player in Twenty20. You can say he’s not in his rhythm but it’s always tough after you’ve been dropped from ODI side and return in Twenty20,” Dhoni said after the victory against defending champions West Indies.

“There is invariably some pressure on an individual returning to the side. It takes a couple of games at least.

“We are only hoping that he gets a good match. We all know the kind of match winner he is. He can really turn the game around on his own.” l

South Africa’s Dale Steyn breaks the stumps to run out New Zealand’s Ross Taylor (not in the picture) in the last ball of their World Twenty20 match at ZACS yesterday ICC

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Del Potro to undergo wrist surgeryJuan Martin del Potro will undergo surgery Monday on his troublesome left wrist

after a visit to his US doctors in Minnesota, the player announced. The Argentine world number eight has been bothered by the problem since early January when he � rst felt pain in an opening match at the Australian Open a few days after winning the Sydney tournament title. He withdrew from events in Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami. “After a period of medical treatment my doctor Richard Berger decided that I should have surgery to � x the problem on my left wrist,” Del Potro said . –AFP

Marquez edges Rossi in Qatar GPWorld champion Marc Marquez won the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix on

Sunday just a month after breaking his leg. The Honda rider fought o� a thrilling, wheel-to-wheel challenge from nine-time champion Valentino Rossi on a Yamaha to win by just 0.259sec. Dani Pedrosa, on the second factory Honda, took third. Marquez, who broke his right leg in a dirt-bike accident in his native Spain at the end of February, came into the new season having become the youngest ever world champion in 2013. –AFP

Scott blows bid for title, top spot Adam Scott stumbled with a chance to all-but ensure himself of becom-

ing world number one, leaving Matt Every to claim his � rst PGA title Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Reigning Masters champion Scott, who led by a record seven strokes through 36 holes and by three when the day began, struggled to a � nal-round four-over par 76 and settled for third. “I really think the putting let me down,” Scott said. “I am annoyed I didn’t putt at all today. Poor, just out of sorts for whatever reason.” –AFP

Majestic Messi sinks Real in thrillern AFP, Madrid

Barcelona moved to with-in a point of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga as they twice came from behind thanks to a Lionel Messi

hat-trick to edge a thrilling El Clasico 4-3 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The sides went in level 2-2 at half-time as a record 19th goal against Ma-drid from Messi cancelled out Karim Benzema’s double after Andres Iniesta had put Barca in front.

Cristiano Ronaldo then put Madrid back in front from the penalty spot, but the hosts were reduced to 10-men when Sergio Ramos pulled down Neymar in-side the box 10 minutes later and Messi levelled once more from the spot.

And the Argentine won the game with another penalty seven minutes from time after Iniesta had been felled by Xabi Alonso.

A � rst defeat for Real in 32 games means Atletico Madrid remain top of the table thanks to their better head-to-head record.

The game got o� to a blistering start as after Neymar and Benzema had ear-ly e� orts easily saved, Barca opened the scoring when Messi played in Ini-esta behind the Real defence and the Spanish international smashed the ball in o� the underside of the bar.

Benzema made amends for his earlier miss 20 minutes in when Victor Valdes just failed to keep out his header from Di Maria’s cross.

Barca were level when Messi con-trolled a loose ball inside the area and slotted home at Diego Lopez’s near post.

However, the game turned again 25 minutes from time when Messi re-leased Neymar and he was brought down by Ramos. Real’s captain for the evening was shown his 19th red card for Los Blancos for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity and Messi converted from the spot to make it 3-3.

Alves then struck the inside of the post from 25 yards as Barca went in search of the goal that would salvage their title chances. And they got it when Mallenco awarded a third pen-alty of the evening as Iniesta tumbled inside the area and Messi again dis-patched it perfectly high past Lopez. l

Referee not up to Clasico standard: Ronaldon AFP, Madrid

Two-time World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo slammed referee Al-berto Undiano Mallenco after Real Ma-drid were beaten for the � rst time in 32 games 4-3 by Barcelona on Sunday.

Mallenco awarded three penalties on the night with Ronaldo scoring the � rst one for Madrid to put them 3-2 up 10 minutes after half-time.

However, Sergio Ramos was then sent-o� for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity for a foul on Neymar inside the area before Xabi Alonso was ad-judged to have tripped Andres Iniesta seven minutes from time.

Lionel Messi converted both spot-kicks to complete a hat-trick after can-celling out Karim Benzema’s double at the end of the � rst-half to become the all-time leading scorer in games be-tween the two sides.

“There were a lot of mistakes for just one game. A match between Real and Barca ought to have a high level of ref-eree,” said Ronaldo.

“You can’t make correct decisions when you are nervous. It makes me think that it is not just on the � eld that you win games, a little help from out-side helps too.

“My penalty might have been just outside the area, but there are many things that went on. It is di� cult when many people didn’t want us to win to-day.”

Ronaldo’s coach Carlo Ancelotti was more level-headed about Mallenco’s decisions, but did agree that Ramos’ red card swung the game in Barca’s favour.

“I haven’t seen it again and it is dif-� cult for me to comment on the deci-sions of the referee because there were many.

“However, it was the key moment. We were winning 3-2 and controlling the game well, but it is much more dif-� cult to control the game with a player less.”

Defeat leaves Madrid still joint top of the table on 70 points alongside Atletico Madrid, but in second place due to their inferior head-to-head against their lo-cal rivals with Barca a point further back in third.

And Ancelotti is seeking a immedi-ate response from his side with a di� -cult looking away game against in-form Sevilla to come on Wednesday.

“Obviously we are not happy be-cause we have lost a big opportunity, but we will continue � ghting until the end.

“There are nine games left and it will be an intense race. The league is open for all three teams and any game could

be decisive. “We need a good reaction on Wednesday because that could be the key game of the season.” l

United eye derby delightn AFP, London

Four of the Premier League’s biggest clubs will go in search of victo-ry in upcoming midweek

matches as the race for the title enters the home straight.

Tuesday sees third-placed Manches-ter City, six points behind leaders Chel-sea but with three games in hand, up against a resurgent Manchester United in an eagerly-anticipated derby at Old Tra� ord.

Meanwhile Arsenal will try to re-cover from a 6-0 defeat by Chelsea last weekend – a humiliating way to mark Arsene Wenger’s 1,00th match in charge of the Gunners – at home to Swansea.

And Wednesday could witness sec-ond-placed Liverpool move to within a point of Chelsea, having played the same number of games, if Brendan Rodgers’ in-form side defeat relegation-threatened Sunderland at An� eld.

Last week, United kept those doubt-ing the wisdom of appointing David Moyes as their manager in succession to Alex Ferguson at bay by advancing to the Champions League quarter-� nals and seeing o� West Ham, courtesy of a Wayne Rooney double that included a long-range wonder goal.

However, they are still 11 points be-hind fourth-placed Arsenal and now, without injured striker Robin van Persie, face a City side who thrashed bottom-of-the-table Fulham 5-0 last weekend.

City triumphed in the � rst of this sea-son’s Manchester league derbies with a 4-1 win at Eastlands in September.

United have won just once against teams in the top nine so far this season, a fact not lost on former Everton man-ager Moyes.

“In the end you get three points for winning any game but there is an added importance of winning the big games,” the Scot said. “It’s not been something we have done well enough this season.”

City’s Yaya Toure, who scored a hat-trick against Fulham, insisted his side were in no mood to ease up despite having already lifted the League Cup this season.

“I think the club and the fans need trophies, need history and need great players to come here and try to make this club great,” he told City TV. l

Li � nds Keys to victory, reaches Miami fourth roundn Reuters, Miami

World number two Li Na � nally made her � rst appearance at the Sony Open on Sunday, taming Madison Keys in an unsteady e� ort while three-time champion Venus Williams was also made to work under a blazing Florida sun for her spot in the fourth round.

Li had to � ght o� three set points and an early break in the second set before clinching a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 win over her American opponent.

Williams, seeded 29th at the tourna-ment she considers her home event, bat-tled Casey Dellacqua for almost two and a half hours before subduing the deter-mined Australian wild card 6-4 5-7 6-4.

Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland continued to con� rm she is over the knee problem that plagued her in the � nal in Indian Wells last Sun-day, registering a 7-5 6-3 victory over Russian Elena Vesnina.

Williams was not at her best against Dellacqua committing 44 unforced er-rors and six double faults but she did not lack for � ght in the blistering mid-day sun.

In other third round action, Slova-

kia’s Dominika Cibulkova, the 10th seed, was a 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 winner over Frenchwoman Alize Cornet. l

Barcelona's Lionel Messi (2nd R) and Neymar (R) celebrate a goal as Real Madrid's Pepe (3rd R) takes Cesc Fabregas (2nd L) by the neck near goalkeeper Diego Lopez (L) during La Liga's second 'Clasico' match of the season at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on Sunday REUTERS

Tevez winner restores Juve’s 14-point cushionn Reuters

Both coaches were sent o� as leaders Juventus scram-bled a 1-0 win at bottom club Catania on Sunday with a performance which

was anything but polished.AC Milan ended a four-match losing

run by holding Lazio 1-1 in a meeting of the league’s two crisis clubs and In-ter Milan hit the woodwork four times before going down 2-1 to a late goal at home to Atalanta.

Fourth-placed Fiorentina boosted their hopes of a Champions League spot with a 1-0 win at third-placed Napoli who had Faouzi Ghoulam sent o� for a foul on Marko Bakic in the 37th minute.

Udinese beat relegation-threatened Sassuolo 1-0 after both teams missed penalties and Sampdoria responded to last week’s stinging criticism from coach Sinisa Mihajlovic by thrashing Verona 5-0.

Carlos Tevez’s 16th goal of the sea-son kept Juventus 14 points clear at the top and on course for a third successive title under coach Antonio Conte.The champions have 78 points from

29 games while Roma, 2-0 winners at Chievo on Saturday, are on 64 with a game in hand. They are followed by Napoli (58) and Fiorentina (51).

Conte and his opposite number Ro-lando Maran were ordered from the touchline simultaneously in the � rst half for dissent as the match threat-ened to boil over. l

RESULTSParma 1 1 Genoa Schelotto 31 Co� e 21

Bologna 1 0 Cagliari Christodoulopoulos 78-pen

Inter Milan 1 2 Atalanta Icardi 36 Bonaventura 35, 90

Sampdoria 5 0 VeronaSansone 4, Renan 23,Soriano 28, 38, Palombo 58

Udinese 1 0 SassuoloDi Natale 26

Napoli 0 1 Fiorentina Joaquin 87

Lazio 1 1 AC MilanGonzalez 61 Konko 43-og

Catania 0 1 Juventus Tevez 59

Arsenal v Swansea Man United v Man City Newcastle v Everton

FIXTURES

Monaco’s title challenge in tattersn Reuters, PARIS

Monaco’s Ligue 1 title chal-lenge all but ended when they drew 1-1 with at home to Lille on Sunday to leave them 10 points adrift of leaders Paris St Germain.

Divock Origi cancelled out Mounir Obbadi’s early opener as second-placed Monaco moved to 63 points with eight games left.French champions PSG have 73 after beating Lorient 1-0 away on Friday. Lille remained third on 54 points and occupy the Champions League quali-fying third round spot, three points ahead of St Etienne who beat Sochaux 3-1 on Sunday.

Dimitar Berbatov, who created two and scored one last weekend for Mo-naco, fought hard up front but his 69th-minute header went just over the bar. l

Bayern eager to claim title recordn AFP, Berlin

Bayern Munich travel to Germany’s capital on Tuesday determined to � -nally secure the Bundesliga title in re-cord time by taking three points from Hertha Berlin.

A 19th consecutive league victory at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium will give Bay-ern their 24th German title with seven matches left, beating their own record they set last season.

Bayern’s 2-0 win at Mainz 05 on Sat-urday kept them a massive 23 points clear in the league and they will � nally be uncatchable if they win at Hertha having dominated all season.

“There’s obviously a great sense of anticipation,” said Bayern’s Austria left-back David Alaba.

“We know that we haven’t achieved anything yet, so we’ll be going there in a serious mood. “We want to win the Bundesliga trophy as quickly as pos-sible.” l

RESULTSOsasuna 1 2 SevillaAcuna 90+4 Jairo 27, Bacca 45-pen

Real Betis 0 2 Atletico Madrid Gabi 57, Diego Costa 63

Valencia 2 1 Villarreal Javi Fuego 35, 43 Dos Santos 83

Real Madrid 3 4 Barcelona Benzema 20, 24, Iniesta 7, Messi 42,Ronaldo 55-pen 65-pen, 84-pen

RESULTSMonaco 1 1 Lille Obbadi 4 Origi 38

Saint-Etienne 3 1 Sochaux Erding 46, 89, Tabanou 51 Butin 66

Guingamp 0 1 Lyon Gomis 46

FIXTURES Dortmund v Schalke, Werder Bremen v Wolfsburg Eintracht v Mainz 05 Hertha Berlin v Bayern Munich

Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos is shown a red card during the Spanish league "Clasico" match against FC Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Sunday AFP

Li Na of China celebrates match point against Madison Keys of the USA during their match on day 7 of the Sony Open in Key Biscayne, Florida on Sunday AFP

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, March 25, 2014 15

Ref retained despite Arsenal red-card blunderReferee Andre Marriner will remain a part of next weekend’s Premier League games despite his high-pro� le ga� e in sending o� the wrong Arsenal player at Chelsea on Saturday. Marriner will take charge of Southampton against New-castle United on Saturday, the Premier League said. The referee caused uproar when he awarded a penalty against Arsenal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s handball and then sent o� Kieran Gibbs by mistake despite the real culprit owning up at the time. Arsenal went on to lose 6-0 at Stamford Bridge but Marriner’s blunder was the talk of the afternoon, with the referee later expressing his ‘disappointment’ to Ar-senal. Former World Cup referee Clive Thomas told BBC radio the referee had made a “disgusting, shocking decision” and suggested Marriner should be stood down for the rest of the Premier League season. The visitors had been trailing 2-0 to early goals from Samuel Eto’o and Andre Schuerrle when Mar-riner awarded the 15th-minute penalty after Oxlade-Chamberlain handled a shot from Eden Hazard on the goalline.

–Reuters

Prandelli set to sign two-year extensionItaly coach Cesare Prandelli is set to sign a two-year extension to his contract that would see him remain with the Azzurri through to the 2016 European Championships. Pran-delli’s contract with the Italian football federation (FIGC) was set to end after this summer’s World Cup in Brazil. However reports on Monday claimed the 56-year-old coach was on the verge of adding two years to his current deal. The FIGC told AFP the � ner details of the deal had yet to be ironed out but that a contract extension was “ex-pected”. If con� rmed, it would prove a boost to Italy ahead of this summer’s showpiece where Prandelli’s side will meet England, Costa Rica and Uruguay in Group D. Prandelli took over the Azzurri helm following their � rst-round exit from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and against all expectations led them to the � nal of Euro 2012, where Italy succumbed to a 4-0 drubbing by Spain. They also � nished third at the 2013 Confederations Cup, after losing 7-6 on penalties in the semi-� nals against Spain, before beating Uruguay on spot-kicks in the consolation � nal.

–AFP

Bayer slump to eighth defeat in nine gamesBayer Leverkusen’s horror run of results continued on Sunday as they su� ered their eighth defeat in nine games after losing 3-2 at home to Ho� enheim in the Bundesliga. Sami Hyypia-coached Leverkusen last won at the start of Feb-ruary and have since dropped from sec-ond to fourth in the Bundesliga, crashing out of both the Champions League and German Cup in the process. Hyypia’s side have failed to recover since Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Paris St German routed them 4-0 at home in mid-February and are in danger of slipping out of the Ger-man league’s Champions League places. Mid-table Ho� enheim claimed a historic � rst win at Leverkusen when striker An-thony Modeste netted the 89th-minute winner. “I have no explaination for our poor performance in the � rst-half,” said Hyypia. “I wasn’t happy with attitude, our commitment and our concentra-tion.” “We improved after the break, but it wasn’t enough.” The guests took the lead at Leverkusen’s BayArena when Bosnia striker Sejad Salihovic netted an early penalty, then Kevin Volland put them 2-1 up just 87 seconds after Stefan Kiessling had levelled for Bayer.

–AFP

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DAY’S WATCH

The NetherlandsS. Myburgh c Malinga b Kulasekara 0M. Swart c Sangakkara b Mathews 0W. Barresi c Chandimal b Mathews 1T. Cooper lbw b Mendis 16P. Borren lbw b Mathews 0B. Cooper run out 8Mudassar Bukhari b Malinga 4L. van Beek b Malinga 1P. Seelaar c Mathews b Mendis 3T. Gugten not out 0Ahsan Jamil lbw b Mendis 0Extras: (lb6) 6Total: (all out; 10.3 overs) 39Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Myburgh), 2-1 (Swart), 3-1 (Baresi), 4-9 (Borren), 5-25 (B. Coo-per), 6-33 (T. Cooper), 7-36 (van Beek), 8-39 (Bukhari), 9-39 (Seelaar)Bowling: Kulasekara 2-2-0-1, Mathews 4-0-16-3, Malinga 2-0-5-2, Mendis 2.3-0-12-3Sri LankaK. Perera c Swart b Jamil 14T. Dilshan not out 12M. Jayawardene not out 11Extras: (nb1, w2) 3Total: (for one wkt; 5 overs) 40Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Perera)Did not bat: K. Sangakkara, D. Chandimal, A. Mathews, T. Perera, N. Kulasekara, S. Senanayake, B. Mendis, L. MalingaBowling: Van der Gugten 3-0-22-0 (1nb, 1w), Jamil 2-0-18-1 (1w)Result: Sri Lanka won by nine wicketsToss: Sri Lanka

SCORECARD

Soccer Club move to quarters, Brothers heldn Soccer Club, Feni con� rmed their quarter-� nal slot from Group D in the Modhumoti Bank Independence Cup with a 3-2 win over Rahmatganj MFS at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. In the other match of the day Brothers Union were held to a 1-1 draw by Chittagong Abahani.

Rahmatganj, the Bangladesh Cham-pionship League out� t drew 1-1 with Team BJMC in the group which saw them � nish their campaign with one point. However if Feni Soccer beat Team BJMC by a big margin then the goal di� erence will decide the fate of the last slot from the group while a win for BJMC will stop Rahmatganj for pro-gressing further.

Feni Soccer’s new Gambian mid� eld-er Landing Darboe showed admirable control and pace as he scored a brace on his debut match. In the 7th minute he headed a Rony Islam cross using his height and doubled the lead in the 31st minute with an intelligent upward placing shot o� a goal mouth melee.

Rahmatganj, however, staged a comeback with striker Nurul Absar con-

verting the spot kick in the 37th minute after he was tackled from behind by Soccer captain Abu Su� an Zahid. Rah-matnganj drew level with Md. Jahan-gir’s � erce shot from 20 yards out which gave Feni Soccer goalkeeper Piru hardly any chance to react before defender Abdullah Al-Mamun’s calm headed � n-ish in the last minute triggered wild cel-ebrations in the Soccer tent.

In the other match, Brothers Union took the lead in the 22nd min-ute with Rubel Miah’s easy strike from the near post. Chimezie Mike sent a long ball from the mid� eld to Jewel Rana who took control at the left edge of the box before cutting a square pass to onrushing Rubel.Chittagong Abahani regrouped and equalised in the 38th minute with Guin-ean forward Ousmane Cherif’s power-ful shot from 20 yards out. In the 42nd minute Chittagong Abahani forward Sohel Mia made his way through the Brothers defence but shot wide. In the dying stage of the second half Brothers forward Abdul Malek failed to score in a one-on-one situation with Abahani goalkeeper Nahiduddin as both teams shared points. l

BHF keen to continue success runn Bangladesh Hockey Federation plans a long term preparation camp for the national hockey team in order to face the upcoming challenges of the Asian Games billed to start in Incheon, Korea in September next.

Bangladesh hockey team, still re-joicing in the 6-1 win over Oman and the top position of the Asian Games Hockey Quali� ers, went to Cox’s Bazar on a recreation tour yesterday. Howev-er, federation’s General Secretary Kha-waja Rahmatullah was not in a light mood. “The level of the Asian Games is far higher than the quali� ers. We have to prepare the team ideally. We have plans to run a three month long

preparation camp for the team. We want to sustain the ascending graph of the progress of the national team”, said the general secretary.

Meanwhile, coach Naveed Alam hoped his boys would get better with the time. “I am pleased to see that the boys put the best when it was needed the most. It was a morale and con� -dence boosting win for the team as they were eager to beat Oman. However, I would like to see the team play some warm-up matches against formidable opponents before the Asian Games be-gins. It would have two e� ects. Firstly, it will boost the con� dence level and secondly but most importantly, they will be able to rectify their mistakes”, said Naveed.

Naveed Alam’s contract with the federation expires in June next and the hockey federation will also have to renew the deal with Janata Bank who sponsors the salary of the national coach. “We will sit with the Janata Bank authority about the issue. If they agree to renew the deal for another year then it would not be a problem. We hope that Janata Bank will con-tinue the support”, said Khawaja Rah-matullah.

It was learnt that interim goalkeep-ing coach of the team, the former Pakistan national goalkeeper Monsur Ahmed will return to his country on 31st March. Naveed has said he wants to bring Monsur again ahead of the Asian Games. l

AFM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn speaks at the press conference of the Independence Day wrestling at the BNS yesterday. Tabiur Rahman Pahlawan, the general secretary of the Bangladesh Bodybuilding Federation and SM Zahid Hasan are also seen in the picture

Uni-Beach Cricket at Cox’s Bazar n Anjan’s Uni-Beach Cricket, comprising eight private universities starts at the Sports Zone of the Cox’s Bazar beach tomorrow. As many as eight teams including teams from the University of Asia Paci� c, Presidency University, Bangladesh Islami University, Bangla-

desh International University, Sapporo Dental College and Hospital, East Delta University, Southern University and Cox’s Bazar International University will feature in the three day competi-tion. Initially, all the teams will be split into two groups. Then the top two teams from each group will compete in the semis. l

Walton Independence Day Wrestling tomorrow n The Walton Refrigerator Independence Day Open Wrestling will be held at the Kabbadi Stadium tomorrow.

Around 100 wrestlers from across the country will participate in the daylong meet. Wrestlers from BGB, Bangladesh Police, Bangladesh Ansar, Dhaka Me-tropolis and Bangladesh Army will also lock horns for the titles in eight catego-ries in the men’s and women’s sections. The weight categories include 57, 61, 65, 70, 75, 85, 97 and 125+ kg for men and 48,

51, 55, 59, 63, 70, 75, 80 kg for women.Tabiur Rahman Pahlawan, the gen-

eral secretary of the Bangladesh Wres-tling Federation presented the meet to the press in a press conference held at the Bangabandhu National Stadium conference room yesterday. A.F.M. Iqbal Bin Anwar Dawn, the Additional Director of Walton; S.M. Zahid Hasan, the Executive Director of Walton; Mez-bahuddin Azad, the Joint Secretary of the federation and Nazrul Islam, an ex-ecutive committee member were also present on the occasion. l

Sri Lanka toy with Dutchmenn

Sri Lanka stamped their authority over Netherlands in a one sided game which they won by nine wickets to boost their net run rate in the ICC

World Twenty20 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.

The world No 1 T20 side, Sri Lanka � rst got the Dutch all-out in 10.3 overs with only 39 runs on the scorecard, the lowest ever T20 score, and then reached shore in � ve overs, another re-cord, losing a wicket.

Sri Lanka dominated Netherlands with a casual approach. Right-arm pacer Nuwan Kulasekara’s opening over set the most dramatic collapse the format has seen after Ducth opener Stephan Myburgh top-edge to � ne leg.

In the next over, Angelo Mathews

delivered two unremarkable half-trackers back-to-back, and found him-self on-a-hat-trick, as Michael Swart and Wesley Barresi attempted attacks went wrong.

There was a � oodlight malfunction too in between all the Dutch wickets. The low-voltage had had turned por-tion of each of the four � oodlights o� . The nine-minute which took for the lights to start burning in full seemed greater obstacle to a Sri Lanka victory than their opponents did, with the bat.

Sri Lanka spearhead Lasith Malinga picked up two wickets after disman-tling the middle stump twice with the

slower yorkers.Spinner Ajantha Mendis came into

attack with an expensive � rst over. But in next nine deliveries, Mendis grabbed three wickets after Netherlands lower order played like batsmen who have never faced his brand of mystery spin before. The googly accounted for two of his three wickets to see The Oranjes get all out in the 11th over.

Sri Lanka lost one wicket, opener Kusal Parera on 14 chasing the low-est ever total. The other opener, Tilla-karatne Dilshan was unbeaten on 12 o� 11 balls with Mahela Jayawardene was not out on 11 from 10 balls. l

Ahsan Malik walks back as the scoreboard con� rms Netherlands' plight against Sri Lanka during their World T20 match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday

Lowest totals in T20Team Score Overs Opposition Ground DateNetherlands 39 10.3 Sri Lanka Chittagong 2014Kenya 56 18.4 Afghanistan Sharjah 2013Kenya 67 17.2 Ireland Belfast 2008Ireland 68 16.4 West Indies Providence 2010Hong Kong 69 17.0 Nepal Chittagong 2014

Broad � ned for ‘distinctly average’ umpires blastn England captain Stuart Broad was � ned on Sunday after blasting umpires as “dis-tinctly average” who put players in dan-ger when lightning hit his team’s World Twenty20 clash with New Zealand.

New Zealand were declared winners by nine runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method after the umpires called o� the Group One match due to persis-tent rain in Chittagong on Saturday.

Broad had sought guidance on when the weather should stop play after on-� eld umpires Aleem Dar of Pakistan and Paul Rie� el of Australia failed to stop the game despite thunder and lightning when New Zealand were chasing a 173-run target.

The umpires waited until heavy rain fell. Even after a 25-minute delay the match could not be resumed.

At 52-1 after 5.2 overs -- nine runs ahead of what they needed under the Duckworth-Lewis method, New Zea-land were declared the winners.

Broad, who was � ned 15% of his match fee, felt aggrieved because had play been stopped before the end of the � fth over it would not have counted as a complete match, resulting in one point for each team. He said the umpires’ de-cision cost his team the match. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, March 25, 2014

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Government: BNP-Jamaat violence slashed GDP n Asif Showkat Kallol

The country’s GDP growth as well as its foreign assistance had fallen drastically because of destructive activities during October-December last year, which af-fected the economy as a whole during the � rst half of the current � scal year, a government report has said.

The projected GDP growth of 7.2% was not achieved because of the un-rest during those three months, but the analysis of the country’s macroe-conomic indices for the last six months shows that GDP growth might still reach 6.5%, Finance Minister AMA Mu-hith told parliament yesterday after placing before it the half-yearly (Ju-ly-December) report on the implemen-tation of the current � scal budget.

Although violence by BNP and Ja-maat-e-Islam activists cost lives and caused damage to property, citizens re-sisted and saved the country from eco-nomic ruin, the minister claimed.

The revised 6.5% GDP would be achieved if the government sped up its existing plans and programmes, he further said.

Credit from foreign sources has also

declined compared to the last � scal, but foreign grants have increased dur-ing the same period, Muhith said.

As per the half-yearly budget im-plementation report, the net foreign assistance declined drastically, by 64% during the � rst half of the current � scal year, compared to the same period of the last � scal.

Former � nance adviser Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam, however, rejected claims that violence slashed GDP growth.

He told the Dhaka Tribune that the ministry now wanted to slash budget-ary goals as the � nance minister had not set up “logical” budget targets, which was poor budget preparation.

Mirza also said: “Most of budget tar-gets including the GDP and foreign assis-tance were overestimated in the budget announcement and I calculated that GDP growth is 5.6% instead of 7.2%.”

The overestimation might cause the budget de� cit to increase and cause a negative impact on in� ation, he added.

After six months, net foreign credit stood at Tk613 crore while during the same period it was Tk 1702 crore in 2012-13 � scal year. The current � scal year budget target is Tk21,068 crore.

Foreign credit during the � rst half of the current � scal year was Tk4,706 crore, compared to Tk4,982 crore for the same period last � scal.

Foreign grants stood at Tk434 crore at the end of the � rst half of the � scal, which was an increase of 33.53% com-pared to last � scal year’s Tk325 crore, according to the report.

The overall expenditure in the � rst half of the � scal stood at Tk76,881 crore or 34.56% of the total budget of Tk222,491 crore. For the same period of last � scal, the expenditure was Tk63,848 crore or 33.32% of the total budget.

Total revenue earning was Tk64,715 crore, which was 38.6% of total earning target of Tk167,459 crore for the � rst half of the � scal year; while revenue earning was Tk59,882 crore during the same period last year, according to the budget implementation report .

At the end of the � rst half of the � scal, fund disbursement was 23.48% or Tk15,869 crore of the current � s-cal year’s ADP worth Tk65,872 crore, which was also 20.64% of the total budget implementation.

During the last � scal year, it was Tk12,815 crore or 23.33% of the total

ADP of Tk55,000 crore, according to the report.

Budget de� cit during the � rst half of the last � scal year was only Tk3,985 crore, but this year it increased to Tk12,166 crore, which is about 22.10% of the total de� cit of Tk55,032 crore budgeted for the current � scal year.

As a result, borrowing from the bank-ing system stood at Tk9,630 crore in the � rst half of this � scal year, compared to Tk8,377 crore in the last � scal year.

The � nance minister said the gov-ernment had tried to control bank bor-rowing, despite shortage of the de� cit � nancing by foreign sources to meet the budget de� cit.

In the second quarter of this � scal, 10 big ministries and divisions spent only 26.38% of their allocation. These ministries and divisions received 82.7% allocation of the total ADP outlay.

Of them, Power Division spent 5.4 %, Road Division 29.4% and Bridges Di-vision spent 3.1%. The railway ministry spent 32.9%, primary education min-istry 39.8%, education ministry 29.2% and public works ministry spent 9.9%. The Local Government Division spent the highest amount of 41.1% during the

half of � scal year.Former commerce minister and

BNP chairperson’s adviser Amir Khas-ru Mahmud Chowdhury told Dhaka Tribune that the total responsibility for slashing the current � scal year GDP growth falls on the present government.

“Awami government has stayed in power through state sponsor terrorism and in those circumstances local busi-ness con� dence is always low,” he said.

He also said private sector business con� dent will not grow and foreign in-vestment will not come to the country unless fair and creditable elections are held in the country. The former com-merce minister also said the country’s growth rate is declining during the years of an Awami league government because of vast corruption among ministers, gov-ernment o� cials and party men.

Jamaat-e-Islami working committee member Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher told the Dhaka Tribune,

“The government has destroyed the country’s economy with their corrup-tion and other activities. Now they are blaming the opposition, trying to shift the responsibility for their miss deeds,” He said. l

Minor girl rapedto deathn Our Correspondent, Jessore

In a ghastly incident that will chill an-ybody to the bone, a minor girl had to embrace death the time she was being raped because of excessive bleeding.

The incident took place in Arenda village of Jessore Sadar upazila on Sun-day night.

The victim, Sabina Yeasmin, was just eight years old and a third grader at Arenda Government Primary School.

Police recovered her body from the spot around 11pm.

O� cer-in-Charge of Kotwali po-lice station Emdadul Haque Sheikh told reporters that the girl had died when she was being raped in a jute � eld by two locals named Anwarand Lavlu.

The two had picked her up from her residence at night when she was study-ing, he said, adding that her body bore marks of rape.

Outraged at the gruesome incident, locals torched residences of the alleged rapists yesterday morning.

No case was, however, lodged and none was arrested in connection with the incident as of 10pm last night. l

Cox’s Bazar to be turned into the biggest energy hubn Aminur Rahman Rasel from

Cox’s Bazar

The government has undertaken a plan to make Cox’s Bazar the country’s big-gest power hub.

According to the plan, state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) will set up ultra-supercritical coal-based thermal power plants with capacities of 6,000MW in di� erent phases at Ma-heshkhali upazila in Cox’s Bazar, as well as constructing lique� ed natural gas (LNG)-based combined cycle power plants of 3,000MW capacities in di� er-ent phases.

The projects, estimated to cost around $13bn and expected to be in op-eration by 2025-27, will be set up under joint venture, government-to-govern-ment, independent power producer and self-� nance initiatives.

State Minister for Power, Ener-gy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Ha-mid made the disclosure to reporters during a three-day tour to Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong from March 21 to 23.

Nasrul said four to � ve power plants would be set up in 5,000 acres of land in Maheshkhali union of the upazila,

while a 1,200MW supercritical coal- based power plant will be constructed by the state-owned Coal Power Gener-ation Company Limited on 1,400 acres of land in Matarbari union of Mahesh-khali. There are also plans to set up two more plants in Matarbari, he added.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) will provide a $4bn soft loan for the 1,200MW plant, which is supposed to be in operation by 2024.

The government has already started the acquiring land for the power plants which would be run with imported coals and LNG, the state minister added.

“The government has a plan to set up a series of coal-� red power projects to generate 20,000MW of electricity by the year 2030,” said Nasrul.

Assuring that the government would not take steps that would a� ect the local residents; the state minister said the power plants would be built providing proper compensation to the landowners.

The land of Maheshkhali was cho-sen for the projects as the salty grounds could only be used for salt harvest, while no other crop could be cultivated on the soil, Nasrul said.

While visiting the only existing unit of the Eastern Re� nery Limited (ERL) in Chittagong, the state minister also said a second unit of the ERL – capa-ble of re� ning around 3.5m tonnes of crude oil annually – was likely to be set up by June 2016.

“It is necessary to establish a second unit in the company to ensure power security of the country,” he said.

The country’s lone re� ner Eastern Re� nery currently re� nes 1.3m tonnes of crude oil per year, meeting only 10% of the country’s demand.

The state minister added that 30 acres of land near the Eastern Re-� nery has already been acquired forexpansion.

On a separate note, Nasrul said a single point mooring (SPM) would be installed at deep sea in Maheshkhali. Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation will implement the project, expected to be completed by June 2016, he added.

The cost for constructing the SPM, which ensures the easy and safe un-loading of imported crude oil and � n-ished products in a cost-e� ective and time-saving manner, has been estimat-ed at $327m. l

RCC ‘intentionally’ dumping waste in front of a city building n Our Correspondent, Rangpur

Residents of Rangpur city have been su� ering immensely as Rangpur City Corporation (RCC) allegedly started dumping garbage and culled animals in front of a high-rise commercial building.

The residents have complained that three banks, several restaurants, commercial o� ces, shops and a com-munity centre, housed at the high-rise building “Shah Bari Tower” was badly a� ected after the RCC authorities took the unwanted move.

“I came to pay my electricity bills at a bank in the building, but I could not enter as garbage was piled up there,” Aziz Mun-shi, a resident, told the Dhaka Tribune.

“If there is a problem, it should be solved internally,” he added while urg-ing the mayor to clear the wastes from

in front the building.“The High Court has given a stay

order on the ‘Upgrading of RHD Roads of Rangpur Divisional Sadar to 4 (Four) Lane Project’ following my writ petition for which the mayor has been dumping the waste in front of my building inten-tionally,” the building’s owner Mohibul Islam Jiju claimed.

The work of the construction of the four-lane road started two years back, and roads and highways department started acquisition lands from Paira Chat-tar to Shapla Bridge for the project. We found the land acquisition processes to be faulty and � led four writ petitions with the High Court on 2012 and 2013. Later, the court has stayed the construc-tion work at the area until the hearings of the two writs were announced, he added.

“Violating the order, a vested quar-

ter, in the name of Citizens’ Society has announced eviction of the shops at my building using loudspeakers on March 10 and 11, and on March 11, the city cor-poration mayor gave us a notice of 15 days for the eviction,” he claimed.

Jiju alleged that following the may-or’s instruction, City Corporation had been dumping the wastes in front of his building.

Rangpur citizen Abdur Rashid Babu said demolishing the building was im-portant for the development of the city, but dumping waste in front of the building can never be justi� ed.

When contacted, RCC Mayor Shar-fuddin Ahmed Jhantu said he has not instructed dumping of the wastes there.

“As part of the protest, locals are dumping waste there for the sake of de-velopment of the city,” the mayor said. l

Highways and bridges to come under toll bracketn Rabiul Islam

The government has formulated a policy to collect toll ranging from Tk5 to Tk1,000 from people using all sorts of transports operating on district, regional and national highways and bridges across the country.

The policy will be implemented in phases and the money collected will be utilised in the repair, maintenance and development of roads.

The Toll Policy 2014, placed by the communication ministry, got its � nal

approval at the cabinet’s regular weekly meeting held at the secretariat yesterday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting attended by ministers, state ministers and o� cials concerned.

Brie� ng reporters following the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Moham-mad Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the policy was formulated to collect toll from passengers of vehicles moving on regional, national and district highways.

He said the policy would be applica-ble to road networks under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) but

not those under the LGED. The RHD road networks cover 22,000 kilometres of roads and highways.

The government, however, would determine which roads the tolls would be collected from, the cabinet secre-tary noted.

Asked about the possible impact of the policy on people, Mosharraf said: “I don’t think this will have any impact at all because of the size of our economy and GDP growth.”

Quoting the premier, a minister told the Dhaka Tribune that she asked the

department concerned to arrange more services as people would have no prob-lem to pay for those.

The policy de� ned 13 categories of vehicles that would fall within the remit of toll. For medium-sized trucks, the toll will be Tk400, while Tk800 and Tk1,000 will be applicable to heavy trucks and lorries respectively. However, vehicles crossing bridges up to 200 metres in length will not charge any toll.

According to the policy, there will be scope to readjust and rationalise the ceiling of toll every three years. l

Malaysia: Missing plane crashed in Indian Oceann Reuters

The Malaysia Airlines plane that disap-peared over two weeks ago crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, Prime Min-ister Najib Razak said yesterday.

New satellite analysis from Britain had shown that Flight MH370, with 239 people on board, was last seen in the middle of the Indian Ocean west of Perth, Australia, he said in a statement.

“This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites,” Najib said.

“It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, ac-cording to this new data, Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.”

Najib added that the families of those on board had been informed of the developments.

His comments came as an Australian navy ship was close to � nding possible debris from the jetliner after a mounting number of sightings of � oating objects that are believed to parts of the plane.

The objects, described as a “grey or green circular object” and an “orange rectangular object”, were spotted on Monday afternoon, said Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, adding that three planes were also en route to

the area.Flight MH370 vanished from civilian

radar screens less than an hour after taking o� from Kuala Lumpur for Bei-jing on March 8. No con� rmed sighting of the plane has been made since and there is no clue what went wrong.

Attention and resources in the search for the Boeing 777 had shifted from an initial focus north of the Equa-tor to an increasingly narrowed stretch of rough sea in the southern Indian Ocean, thousands of miles from the original � ight path.

Earlier on Monday, Xinhua news agency said a Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 air-craft spotted two “relatively big” � oat-ing objects and several smaller white ones dispersed over several kilometres.

Over 150 of the passengers on board the missing plane were Chinese.

In a further sign the search was bear-ing fruit, the US Navy was � ying in its high-tech black box detector to the area.

The so-called black boxes - the cock-pit voice recorder and � ight data re-corder - record what happens on board planes in � ight. At crash sites, � nding the black boxes soon is crucial because the locator beacons they carry fade out after 30 days. l

Sadia, a survivor of the Tazreen Fashions blaze, and her son join a human chain demanding compensation for the victims of RMG disasters, in front of the National Press Club in the capital yesterday. Sadia was pregnant at the time of the � re and had to jump o� from the � rst � oor of the factory building to save herself MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

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Investors give cold shoulder to dividend payouts n Kayes Sohel

Investors gave cold shoulder to the div-idend payouts for the year 2013 by the listed companies, which were more or less same dividends compared to the previous year, analysts say.

It was clearly re� ected in continu-ously declining volume of trade with high volatility in share prices even in the season of dividend declarations that usually pour during the period of February to April in the country’s stock markets.

Volume of trade declined more than 40% to 551 crore shares and, in value term, more than 50% to only Tk298 crore from February 27 as of yesterday at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

The benchmark index DSEX re-mained range-bound with a band be-tween 4700-4400 during the period.

“Dividend payouts fail to boost in-vestor tempo,” said Wali-ul-Maroof Matin, managing director and chief ex-ecutive o� cer of Alliance Capital Asset Management Company.

Dividend declaration trend was � at, as out of the 257 companies listed with the DSE, so far 45 companies have de-clared dividends for 2013 to their share-holders.

Of them, 16 declared higher, 10 low-er and 19 same dividends compared to the previous year.

But the bottom line is that gradu-al selling instead of buying shares by institutional investors, particularly banks, in line with the central bank’s directive might have caused the trad-ing volume to decline, said Matain, also former chief executive o� cer of Chittagong Stock Exchange.

Bangladesh Bank asked the com-mercial banks to reduce their capital market exposure to 25% of their equi-

ty by July, 2016 in accordance with the new bank company law.

Most companies have been able to declare dividends like previous year despite political unrest, as relaxation in some rules and incentives boost corpo-rate earnings.

Of the incentives, the government provided 5% cash incentives to ex-porters to help them recover the losses caused by political unrest.

The central bank also relaxed loan rescheduling rules for businesses af-fected by the political instability, by suggesting lenders to reconsider the matter of loan rescheduling and down payment period on case-by-case basis for the a� ected borrowers in all sectors until June next year.

“Dividends paid out by the listed companies are mostly � at in 2013,” said Yawer Sayeed, a market expert.

Investors fail to gauge the market pulse amidst ongoing high volatility that dampens investor mood, he said. Moreover, investors are yet to heal wounds of 2010 market debacle.

A DSE o� cial at the surveillance de-partment said the market is now dom-inated by the institutional and some big individual investors. “Most insti-tutional investor is engaged in � nancial netting, leading to decrease volume of trade, as no new funds have been in-jected into the market.”

Under the � nancial adjustment or money netting facility, anyone is al-lowed to purchase shares of any cate-gory of one’s choice immediately after completing a sale of any share.

A big individual investor said less than expected dividend declarations and some rules from the central bank put damper on investors. “In the last six months, I have not made any prof-its from the market. So, for what I’ll bet money.”

He said institutional investors, even like state-owned ICB, have become day-trader for short term pro� ts, creat-ing market volatility in the market.

Mohammad Kashem, a retail inves-tor, said volatility and falling volume is not encouraging investors, particularly retailers, to engage in stock trading.

Most of the � nancial institutions, in-cluding banks, failed to meet investors’ expectations of lucrative stock divi-dend, he said. l

China king in mobile handset supply to Bangladesh marketEven local brand Symphony, Indian Micromax, Maximus and Korean Samsung are imported from Chinan Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Bangladesh mobile handset market has been captured almost fully by the Chinese products which o� er cheaper price and attractive look.

According to National Board of Revenue (NBR), 96.46% of the total imported handsets came from China during July-December period last year.

The declared value of those sets made up 91.54% of total handset im-port value of the country.

The country imported 1.36 crore mobile handsets at over $240bn from 19 manufacturing countries in the world in six months.

Handset importers said the Chinese sets had � ooded the market as they were cheaper than others’.

“The local users want a beautiful set at an a� ordable price and Chinese handset makers are o� ering this,’’ Mostafa Aminur Rashid, chairman of Symphony, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said Bangladesh had now stepped to import high-end smart-phones from China when it once brought only low-end handsets from the country.

Not all the products imported were of Chinese brands, but some of them were Bangladeshi, Indian and other coun-tries’ brands being assembled in China.

Mostafa Aminur Rashid said Sym-phony, a Bangladeshi mobile handset brand, also uses factories in China.

“Other Bangladeshi brands are also fully produced and assembled in Chi-na. But some of them make false claim that their products are assembled in Bangladesh,” he alleged.

Hong Kong is the second supplier

of handsets to Bangladesh after China, according to the NBR statistics.

But Bangladesh imported 2.26 lakh sets from this country in the six-month period, which constituted only 1.66% of the total handset import.

In terms of import value, Hong Kong was the third largest supplier with $4.33m after Vietnam which exported 1.39 lakh mobile sets worth $11.9m.

Switzerland is another supplier ex-porting 32,000 handsets at $660,000 during July-December.

Bangladesh also imports Indi-an Maximus and Micromax sets and South Korean Samsung from China

where they are assembled.“Why only mobile handsets? Almost

every products are coming from Chi-na,” said Faysal Alim, secretary general of Mobile Importers Association.

On setting up mobile factory in Bangladesh, Mostafa Aminur Rashid argued it would not be economically viable as Bangladesh market was not a big one to that extent.

Earlier in 2009, the government tried to launch mobile manufacturing units in Telephone Shilpa Sangstha, where the state-owned company was assembling laptop computers. But no progress could be made to this end. l

www.dhakatribune.com/business TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2014

B3 China condemns ‘NSA spying’ on tech giant Huawei

B4 IMF chief: China faces ‘serious obstacles’

Breakdown ofimported 1.36cr

mobile sets

96%

2% 1% 1%

China 96%Hong Kong 2%Vietnam 1%Others 1%

Mobile internet users rise in Februaryn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The number of mobile internet users in Bangladesh is back to growth again with an increase of 6.18 lakh in February.

With the increase, the number rose to 3.46 crore but was still away from the October � gure which was 3.67 crore, showed data released by the telecom regulator yesterday.

During the November-January peri-od, the number dropped by 11.26 lakh and stood at reached 3.39 crore.

Operators said the decline was due to political unrest which largely a� ect-ed the country’s economy.

Like other sectors, the unrest also hurt the expansion plans of the mobile internet business in Bangladesh, the operators said.

According to them, as unrest has eased to some extent, the recovery from the setback begins.

“No doubt political unrest created burden on us for our penetrations last couple of months and hopefully we can overcome the situation,” a senior exec-utive of mobile operator Robi told the Dhaka Tribune.

The country’s total internet users were 3.55 crore as of January. Of it, the � xed operators had 12.25 lakh while the Wi-max operators 2.99 lakh.

February data showed the mobile phone operators have a total of 11.58 crore active subscribers.

The largest operator Grameenphone has 4.82 crore, Banglalink 2.90 crore, Robi 2.58 crore, Teletalk 32.12 lakh, Air-tel 83.62 lakh and Citycell 13.98 lakh.

Grameenphone witnessed an in-crease of 5.71 lakh active users while the state-owned Teletalk could attract over 2.32 lakh new active subscribers last month. l

ONE-FIFTH OF THE LISTED COS' RECENTLY RECOMMENDED PAY-OUTS

Name of the companies Dividend for the year, 2013

Dividend for the year, 2012

AB Bank Ltd. 5%C & 7%B 12.5%BAl-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd. 13.50%B 17%BAramit Cement Ltd. 10%C 10%CBank Asia Ltd. 10%B 10%BBRAC Bank Ltd. 10%C & 10%B 15%BBritish American Tobacco Bangladesh Company Ltd.

520%C 500%c

BSRM Steels Ltd. 15%C 10%C, 5%BDutch-Bangla Bank Ltd. 40%C 40%CEastern Bank Ltd. 20%C 20%CFirst Security Islami Bank Ltd. 10%C & 1R:2 10%BGBB Power Ltd. 15%B 15%BGlaxoSmithKline Bangladesh Ltd. 300%C 150%CGrameenphone Ltd. 140%C 140%CGreen Delta Insurance Company Ltd. 15%C & 15%B 15%C & 15%BH.R. Textile Mills Ltd. 15%C 15%CIDLC Finance Ltd. 5%C & 25%B & 1R:2 30%BLafarge Surma Cement Ltd. Nil NilLankaBangla Finance Ltd. 15%C & 5%B 10%BLinda BD 310% 310.00%Mutual Trust Bank Ltd. 10%B 10%BPrime Bank Ltd. 12.50%C 10%C, 10%BPrime Finance & Investment Ltd. 15%C 10% C, 20% BPrime Insurance Company Ltd. 15%B 15%BPubali Bank Ltd. 10%B 10%CR A K Ceramics (Bangladesh) Ltd. 15%C & 10%B 15%C, 10%BReliance Insurance Ltd. 15%C & 15%B 15% C, 10%BS. Alam Cold Rolled Steels Ltd. 13%C 15%C Safko Spinning Mills Ltd. 10%B & 3R:2 10%BSinger Bangladesh Ltd. 100%C & 25%B 125%C, 25%BSinobangla Industries Ltd. 10%C 11%CSoutheast Bank Ltd. 16%C & 5%B 15%CTrust Bank Ltd. 12%B 10%BUnion Capital Ltd. 10%B 5%BUnique Hotel & Resorts Ltd. 25%C 25%CUnited Commercial Bank Ltd. 20%C 10%CUnited Leasing Company Ltd. 5%C & 10%B 5%C, 15% BUttara Finance and Investments Ltd. 30%C 20%C, 10%BGLOBALINS 10%B 12% BPIONEERINS 10% C & 20% B 10% C & 20% BBERGERPBL 220%C 180%CDHAKABANK 17%C & 5%B 16%BIPDC 5%C & 10% B 10%CSAPORT 15%C 10%C & 10%BFLEASEINT 10% B 25%BREPUBLIC 12.5%B & 1R:1 12%BUnited Insurance 10%C 7.5%C &

10.19%BBIFC 5%B & 1R:2 5%BIFIC 15%B 10%BIslami Bank 8%C & 10%B 8%C & 17%B

Robi joins Samsung to launch Galaxy S5 in Bangladesh n Tribune Report

Bangladesh’s mobile phone operator Robi and South Korea’s handset maker Samsung will soon hold a joint launch-ing of Galaxy S5 sets in the local mar-ket, said a press release said yesterday.

Robi and Samsung will organise ex-clusive events to introduce the Galaxy S5 smartphone in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet.

O� cials of the two companies signed a strategic partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently.

Robi customers will be able to pre-book their desired Galaxy S5 smart-phones at the Samsung-authorised outlets across the country from March 28 to April 8.

The selected Robi service points will also o� er pre-booking.

Galaxy S5 combines an advanced camera, the fast network connectivity, dedicated � tness tools and enhanced device protection features as “con-

sumers stay � t and connected in style.” Additionally, Samsung is introduc-

ing the Gear Fit, the industry’s � rst curved, Super AMOLED wearable de-vice for the active consumer.

The Gear Fit o� ers the unmatched convenience of Samsung Gear tech-nology with the most comprehensive � tness tools available, empowering consumers stay physically active with-out sacri� cing personal style or mobile connectivity.

“It is very exciting to be a part of the global launch of one of the world’s most anticipated smart products,” said Supun Weerasinghe, managing direc-tor and CEO of Robi, after signing the MoU.

Choon Soo Moon, managing direc-tor of Samsung Electronics Bangla-desh said: “With this strategic part-nership, we can serve our customers better by combining technology in-novation with meaningful, consumer centric o� ers." l

Banks restricted from agent banking in rural areas n Tribune Report

The country’s commercial banks have been restricted from agent banking in the rural areas.

A Bangladesh Bank circular issued yesterday said the agent banking activ-ities will be conducted out of the rural areas (metropolitan or city corporation or municipality).

Only sharia-based banks could provide islami banking service in the agent banking levels. Agent money will

be brought under insurance coverage. Every agent will have a current

account with respective bank to conduct the agent banking activities. The highest status limit of the account will be Tk10 lakh.

Bank clients will be allowed to de-posit or withdraw highest Tk25,000 in each transaction (cash with-draw or cash deposit) and two times per day. But the limit will not be applicable in case of remittance withdrawal. l

In the last six months, I have not made any pro� ts from the market. So, for what I’ll bet money

Jute goods makers struggle for raw materialsn Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Jute goods manufacturers are strug-gling to boost exports as they are fac-ing short supply of raw materials – jute yarn and fabrics.

The jute mills are not willing to sell the raw materials to the local goods producers, who require too small quan-tity of materials as compared to the production size of the mills.

The producers demanded of the government to establish a supply chain from the state-run mills for the small jute goods enterprises. “We do not get enough fabrics and yarns from the mills as per our demands,” Khaleda Sultana, managing director of Jute Mart, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

She alleged the millers are not provid-ing the raw materials to the local market and higher prices push the products cost up. “We cannot receive bulk orders as required by the buyers, as a resul.”

The government could provide fabrics and yarn from its own source for boosting up of the jute diversi� ed products, she added.

She also urged the government to make it mandatory to sell a certain portion of yarn and fabrics produced by the private mills to local jute goods producers to make the supply available in the domestic market.

“Higher prices and scarcity of raw ma-terials are great challenges for the sector, reducing our competitiveness in the global market,” Rashedul Karim Munna, secretary general of Bangladesh Jute Di-versi� ed Product Manufactures and Ex-porter Association (BJDPMEA), said.

“To resolve the issue, we have made a successful negotiation with state-owned Karnaphuli Jute Mill. They as-sured us to provide yarn and fabrics,” said Munna.

He said compliance is another chal-lenge for the sector as the retailers had asked us to make the factories fully safe for the workers. He stressed the need for government support to make the factories safer.

Private jute mills set higher prices for the local market supplies, which is 35% higher compared to the Indian market, said an entrepreneurs, seeking anonymity. Currently in the private mills, one gouge of fabric is being sold at Tk67 while state-owned mills sell at Tk45, he added.

Jute products add 100% value as the country’s entrepreneurs are not importing raw materials, while the other sector has to import raw materials. The producers urged the government to provide cash incentives for the exporters.

“If the government provides the cash incentives and low interest loan, the sector would be able to restore the past glory of golden � ber,” said Md Mo� zul Islam, CEO of Renu Jute Hand-icrafts.

In July-February of 2013-14, Bangla-desh earned nearly $535 million from jute and jute goods exports - nearly 21% less than the same period of previous � scal. Of the total amount, jute yarn and Twine fetched $347 million, and Jute sacks and bags earned $75 million.

In the last � nancial year, Bangladesh exported raw jute and jute goods worth $1.03 billion.

The BJDPMEA along with Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangla-desh, Furniture Exporters Associa-tion, Banglacraft, Jute Diversi� cation Promotion Centre (JDPC) orgainsed a 3-day fair to showcase the variety and excellence of local furniture and home furnishing products and attract buyers from home and abroad. l

ANALYST

B2 Stock Tuesday, March 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

DSEX falls to 10-week lown Tribune Report

Stocks dropped for the second con-secutive session yesterday, with benchmark index DSEX falling to 10-week low.

The market was pulled down by mainly pharmaceuticals, non-banking � nancial institutions and, food and allied that declined more than 1% each.

The DSEX was down 53 points or 1% to close at 4,466. It was its low-est level since January 15, 2014. The index value is also 7.8% down from its recent peak of 4,845 recorded on February 6, 2014.

Shariah Index DSES lost 11 points or 1% to 968.The blue-chip com-prising DS30 fell 26 points or 1.6% to end at 1,589.

Chittagong Stock Exchange Se-lective Category Index, CSCX, shed 103 points to 8,699.

Trading activities continued to remain sluggish despite rising turnover at DSE. It stood at Tk298 crore, recovering from its previous session’s 5-month low.

All the sectors lost their ground except the two small cap sec-tors – paper and printing andjute that rose 1.6% and 0.3% respec-tively.

Pharmaceuticals was the big-gest loser which closed almost 2%

lower, followed by cement 1.9%, � -nancial institutions 1.8%, food and allied 1.2%, power 1%, telecommu-nications 0.9% and banks 0.7%.

ILDC Investments in its dai-ly market analysis said another gloomy session passed by yester-day amid fear continuing and grip-ping investors tighter.

“As sentiment was shaky amid cloudier investment outlook, bear-ish spell remained strong and dom-inated the market throughout the session.”

Lanka Bangla Securities said market remained in a deep consol-idation phase for the second con-secutive week after giving some intra-day gains on sector speci� c stocks.

“Market has lost some ground on cue of panic sell after Bangla-desh Bank ruled to reduce the cap-ital market exposure of banks, los-ing 6% in a month from now.”

Newly listed company Emerald Oil was the most traded stocks with shares worth nearly Tk20 crore changing hands, making up 4% of the total DSE turnover.

It was followed by Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Square Phar-maceuticals, Lafarge Surma Ce-ment, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd, Bangladesh Building and Padma Oil. l

News from tradeserverUNITEDINS: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 30.04.2014, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: Trust Milonayaton, 545, Old Airport Road, Dhaka. Record date: 06.04.2014. The Company has also reported pro� t after tax including unrealized share of pro� t of associate (Tk. 54.99 million) of Tk. 110.89 million, EPS of Tk. 2.77, NAV per share of Tk. 23.82 and NOCFPS of Tk. (0.04) for the year ended on December 31, 2013.BIFC: The Board of Directors has recom-mended 5% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. The Board has also decided to issue Rights shares @ 1R:2 (i.e. 1 Rights share for every 2 shares) at an issue price of Tk. 10.00 each at par on paid up capital after considering bonus shares subject to approval by the share-holders and the Regulatory Authorities. The purpose of Rights Issue is to meet up the regulatory requirements of Bangladesh Bank. Date of AGM: 24.04.2014, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: 'Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh', IDEB Bhaban, 160/A, Kakrail VIP Road, Dhaka-1000.

Record Date: 03.04.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 0.71, NAV per share of Tk. 19.29 and NOCFPS of Tk. 7.82 for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Another record date for entitlement of the proposed rights shares to be noti� ed later after obtaining approval from BSECBDBUILDING: The Company has informed that, its banker namely United Commercial Bank Limited (UCBL) enhanced composite credit facilities (Working Capital) from Tk. 57.00 crore to Tk. 86.00 crore and also sanctioned a Lease Financing Facilities of Tk. 15.00 crore for the introduction of a new product line (Fire Protection Door) and modernization of existing facilities.ICBAMCL1STMF: ICB Asset Management Company Limited, the asset manager of the fund has informed that, ICB AMCL First Mu-tual Fund has been converted to an Open ended fund namely "ICB AMCL Converted First Unit Fund" and the fund has started to sell its units from 23rd February, 2014. It is to be noted that, the procedure of issuing certi� cates to the unit holders of the "ICB AMCL Converted First Unit Fund" has been started as well. If any investor purchased

units of the fund through using margin loan from any brokerage houses of DSE, the con-cerned brokerage houses are requested to send the detailed information regarding the same to ICB Asset Management Company Limited within 27th March, 2014. After this date, no complaints/objections/claims will be taken into consideration.GREENDELT: The Company has requested the concerned shareholders to collect their dividend warrants in person or through their authorized representatives for the year ended on December 31, 2013 from 24th March 2014 to 30th March 2014 from the Registred O� ce of the Company at Green Delta Aims Tower (6th � oor), 51-52 Mohakhali C/A, Dhaka.BoardMeeting: CONTININS on March 25, 2014 at 3:00 PM. UTTARABANK on March 24, 2014 at 3:30 PM. APEXFOOT on March 29, 2014 at 11:00 AM.From BIASL Desk: Impact after declaration: UNITEDINS price dropped up by 5.20%, close at taka 40.10 with PE 14.48. BIFC price dropped up by 5.38%, close at taka 15.80 with PE 22.25.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

BD Finance-A -6.52 -6.43 17.16 17.20 18.20 16.90 0.694 0.40 42.9B I F C -A -6.51 -5.19 16.08 15.80 17.00 15.70 0.233 0.71 22.6 ICB -A -5.03 -4.86 1,757.00 1,757.00 1,757.00 1,757.00 0.088 40.46 43.4Republic Insu.-A -4.54 -3.52 42.20 42.10 42.50 42.10 0.084 2.76 15.3MeghnaCement -A -4.44 -4.43 135.71 135.70 140.30 135.00 0.407 6.29 21.6Bay Leasing.-A -4.40 -4.69 32.50 32.60 32.60 32.00 0.020 1.56 20.8Padma Islami Life*-N -4.40 -4.49 71.54 71.70 73.00 71.00 0.930 1.10 65.0Apex SpinningA -4.39 -4.39 98.13 98.10 98.30 97.00 1.021 1.85 53.0 Argon Denims Limited-A -4.10 -4.61 58.94 58.50 61.00 55.00 0.085 3.33 17.7IFIC Bank - A -4.00 -3.06 29.15 28.80 30.00 28.60 0.598 3.60 8.1

DSE LOSERS


Aver-age (%

change)


in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

BD Finance-A -7.57 -8.04 17.05 17.10 18.50 16.70 13.542 0.40 42.6Stylecraft -A -6.24 -6.24 1022.00 1022.00 1022.00 1022.00 0.204 47.83 21.4Reckitt Benckiser -A -6.02 -6.05 940.00 940.20 941.20 940.00 0.470 28.52 33.0B I F C -A -5.39 -3.95 16.05 15.80 16.70 15.80 1.550 0.71 22.6United Insur -A -5.20 -5.20 40.10 40.10 41.00 39.20 0.397 2.77 14.5 Argon Denims Limited-A -4.41 -4.06 59.33 58.50 61.20 56.00 6.097 3.33 17.8AramitCementA -4.23 -3.57 54.77 54.40 56.10 54.10 4.573 2.56 21.4Jamuna Bank -A -3.92 -3.37 14.92 14.70 16.50 13.80 1.854 0.79 18.9Rahim Textile -A -3.85 -3.02 297.05 292.00 309.20 288.30 1.307 11.56 25.7Aziz PipesZ -3.83 -2.83 20.28 20.10 21.50 20.00 0.143 0.59 34.4

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

BSC-A 32,325 22.31 10.68 678.30 -1.05 685.50 703.00 671.00 690.15BD Submarine Cable-A 94,311 19.21 9.20 201.60 -2.98 207.80 209.50 201.00 203.73BD Building Systems -A 170,600 12.46 5.97 72.50 2.69 70.60 74.30 71.20 73.06Square Pharma -A 41,812 10.85 5.19 257.60 -2.65 264.60 264.70 257.00 259.41Appollo Ispat CL -N 239,400 6.67 3.20 27.60 -2.47 28.30 28.40 27.30 27.88LafargeS Cement-Z 119,500 5.74 2.75 47.30 -2.87 48.70 49.20 47.00 47.99Bengal Windsor-A 100,400 5.62 2.69 56.00 2.00 54.90 56.80 54.80 55.93Padma Oil Co. -A 16,012 5.32 2.55 332.20 -0.84 335.00 335.00 332.00 332.52Grameenphone-A 23,800 4.96 2.38 208.10 -0.53 209.20 210.00 207.70 208.52Paramount Textile Ltd.-A 107,960 4.74 2.27 44.30 0.91 43.90 44.80 43.30 43.95UCBL - A 174,930 4.12 1.97 23.40 -2.50 24.00 24.00 23.30 23.57Southeast Bank-A 197,500 3.67 1.76 18.40 -2.13 18.80 18.90 18.20 18.60Quasem Drycells -A 76,000 3.53 1.69 47.00 3.52 45.40 47.30 45.20 46.49Jamuna Oil -A 14,244 3.20 1.53 224.80 -0.75 226.50 225.10 224.10 224.64BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 99,682 3.09 1.41 30.90 -0.32 31.00 31.30 30.80 31.02

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Emerald Oil Ind. -N 3,579,000 198.77 6.65 56.70 4.04 54.50 58.00 52.80 55.54BSC-A 233,620 161.19 5.39 678.00 -1.09 685.50 702.00 671.50 689.95Square Pharma -A 550,746 142.77 4.78 257.30 -2.69 264.40 270.00 242.00 259.24LafargeS Cement-Z 2,958,000 141.63 4.74 47.20 -2.68 48.50 49.40 46.80 47.88BD Submarine Cable-A 568,584 115.66 3.87 201.30 -3.17 207.90 215.00 189.90 203.41BD Building Systems -A 1,484,725 108.24 3.62 72.30 1.26 71.40 74.40 68.00 72.90Padma Oil Co. -A 283,737 94.29 3.15 331.40 -0.75 333.90 336.00 307.20 332.33National Tubes -A 455,188 78.30 2.62 174.70 6.39 164.20 175.00 160.00 172.02Quasem Drycells -A 1,470,593 68.13 2.28 46.90 3.99 45.10 48.00 43.90 46.33Meghna Petroleum -A 249,647 67.95 2.27 272.00 -1.23 275.40 277.00 252.00 272.19Olympic Ind. -A 302,500 62.41 2.09 204.90 -2.52 210.20 209.00 204.10 206.30Grameenphone-A 211,200 44.02 1.47 208.00 -0.62 209.30 210.40 207.50 208.44Atlas BD-A 212,717 43.19 1.44 200.90 0.65 199.60 206.90 183.00 203.05Delta Life Insu. -A 175,850 42.44 1.42 239.40 -2.17 244.70 246.80 238.10 241.34Bengal Windsor-A 761,480 42.37 1.42 55.60 1.46 54.80 56.40 54.50 55.64

CSE GAINERS


Aver-age (%

change)


in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Janata Insur -A 6.99 6.85 24.50 24.50 24.50 24.50 0.015 0.76 32.2National Polymer -A 5.74 2.74 72.24 73.70 74.50 70.70 1.596 1.70 42.5Northern G Insur-A 5.04 3.93 47.39 47.90 48.00 47.70 0.116 3.04 15.6Rupali Life Insur.-A 4.52 4.26 119.90 120.20 120.20 119.60 0.120 5.33 22.5GQ Ball PenA 4.30 2.75 157.95 160.00 162.80 154.00 1.192 4.01 39.4Anwar Galvanizing-B 3.91 4.42 31.44 31.90 32.40 30.00 1.367 0.02 1572.0Quasem Drycells -A 3.52 4.85 46.49 47.00 47.30 45.20 3.533 2.28 20.4Samorita Hospital -A 3.05 3.16 105.06 104.90 106.00 104.50 0.263 2.74 38.3Anlima Yarn -A 2.82 2.46 25.43 25.50 25.80 25.20 0.114 0.80 31.8BD Building Systems -A 2.69 2.30 73.06 72.50 74.30 71.20 12.465 2.92 25.0

DSE GAINERS


Aver-age (%

change)


in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Savar Refractories-Z 9.62 9.19 63.33 63.80 64.00 63.50 0.057 0.60 105.6Northern Jute -Z 9.59 8.33 75.83 75.40 75.60 75.00 0.091 -10.24 -veRenwick Jajneswar-A 8.74 6.81 353.03 364.40 364.40 340.00 16.963 5.32 66.4National Tubes -A 6.39 5.73 172.02 174.70 175.00 160.00 78.302 2.26 76.1Kay & Que (BD) -Z 5.88 5.70 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 0.009 -0.89 -veDesh Garments -B 5.72 2.47 119.47 125.70 129.00 114.10 15.137 1.18 101.2National Polymer -A 5.49 2.30 71.93 73.00 73.50 65.00 31.719 1.70 42.3GQ Ball PenA 4.89 2.48 158.41 160.90 162.90 141.00 12.867 4.01 39.5ICB AMCL IslamicMF-A 4.48 4.27 21.00 21.00 21.00 21.00 0.011 2.56 8.2Samorita Hospital -A 4.23 3.51 106.15 106.00 108.00 102.00 10.498 2.74 38.7

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 215.63 7.21 21.76 4.57 237.39 6.85NBFI 113.53 3.80 7.12 1.49 120.65 3.48Investment 40.86 1.37 2.13 0.45 43.00 1.24Engineering 521.67 17.45 38.46 8.07 560.13 16.16Food & Allied 396.33 13.26 45.34 9.51 441.67 12.74Fuel & Power 284.49 9.52 55.00 11.54 339.49 9.79Jute 5.81 0.19 0.00 5.81 0.17Textile 236.62 7.91 54.93 11.53 291.55 8.41Pharma & Chemical 275.55 9.22 21.11 4.43 296.65 8.56Paper & Packaging 1.65 0.06 76.50 16.05 78.15 2.25Service 20.98 0.70 1.37 0.29 22.35 0.64Leather 51.61 1.73 79.82 16.75 131.43 3.79Ceramic 11.83 0.40 1.13 0.24 12.96 0.37Cement 220.08 7.36 8.54 1.79 228.62 6.60Information Technology 20.60 0.69 1.87 0.39 22.47 0.65General Insurance 50.05 1.67 2.09 0.44 52.14 1.50Life Insurance 118.73 3.97 4.78 1.00 123.51 3.56Telecom 159.68 5.34 24.18 5.07 183.86 5.30Travel & Leisure 29.82 1.00 3.78 0.79 33.60 0.97Miscellaneous 210.87 7.05 26.68 5.60 237.55 6.85Debenture 3.27 0.11 0.01 0.00 3.28 0.09

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4466.08002 (-) 1.18% ▼

DSE Shariah Index : 967.97169 (-) 1.10% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1589.38043 (-) 1.60% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 13826.3830 (-) 1.25% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 11606.1361 (-) 1.24% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 8698.8986 (-) 1.18% ▼

DSE key features March 24, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

2,989.67

Turnover (Volume)

55,174,943

Number of Contract 80,946

Traded Issues 290

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

53

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

235

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,214.59

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.84

CSE key features March 24, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 247.08

Turnover (Volume) 5,210,489

Number of Contract 10,844

Traded Issues 213

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

45

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

160

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,116.46

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

25.65

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to [email protected] or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Market has lost some ground on cue of panic sell after Bangladesh Bank ruled to reduce the capital market exposure of banks, losing 6% in a month from now

China condemns ‘NSA spying’ on tech giant Huawein AFP, Beijing

Beijing yesterday condemned Wash-ington over reports that the US Nation-al Security Agency had for years had been secretly tapping the networks of Chinese telecoms and Internet giant Huawei.

The New York Times and Germany’s Der Spiegel said that the NSA had ac-cessed Huawei’s email archive, com-munications between top company of-� cials, and even the secret source code of some of its products.

The reports were based on docu-ments provided by fugitive NSA con-tractor Edward Snowden.

Beijing is “seriously concerned” about reports that the US had com-promised Huawei’s networks, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a regular brie� ng on Monday.

“China has launched representa-tions to America on many occasions,” Hong said, citing reports of US surveil-lance activities in countries across the globe. “We ask America to give a clear explanation and stop such behaviour.”

Beijing itself has repeatedly been ac-cused of large-scale cyber-espionage, which it vehemently denies.

The Chinese reprimand came af-ter a top Huawei o� cial similarly de-nounced the NSA.

“If the actions in the report are true, Huawei condemns such activities that invaded and in� ltrated into our inter-nal corporate network and monitored our communications,” Roland Sladek,

Huawei’s vice president for interna-tional a� airs, said in a statement.

He added that Huawei “disagrees with all activities that threaten the se-curity of networks” and stressed the company’s willingness to “jointly ad-dress the global challenge of network security”.

‘Networks of interest’Shenzhen-based Huawei was founded in 1987 by former People’s Liberation Army engineer Ren Zhengfei and is now among the world’s top makers of telecommunications equipment.

Washington has long seen it as a security threat due to perceived close links to the Chinese government, which the company denies, and both the United States and Australia have barred it from involvement in broad-band projects over espionage fears.

The original intent of the NSA’s Op-eration “Shotgiant” was to search for connections between the tech giant and the Chinese military, according to a 2010 document cited by the Times.

But the programme’s goal eventu-ally grew to include the penetration of Huawei communications products sold to third countries in order to “gain ac-cess to networks of interest” across the globe, the paper said.

The New York Times website is blocked in China and the report could not be accessed on the Chinese Inter-net.

The NSA defended its intelligence-gathering operations, which it main-tained were focused only on “valid for-

eign intelligence targets”.In a statement, the NSA did not cite

the New York Times or Der Spiegel by name but criticised the “continuous and selective” publication of details on its surveillance methods, arguing that such reports endanger US national se-curity.

It insisted that NSA activities “are focused and speci� cally deployed

against - and only against - valid for-eign intelligence targets in response to intelligence requirements”.

It also pushed back against sugges-tions by Snowden and others that spy agencies were waging an industrial es-pionage campaign on behalf of US busi-nesses.

“We do not use foreign intelligence capabilities to steal the trade secrets

of foreign companies on behalf of - or give intelligence we collect to - US com-panies” to enhance their competitive-ness, the NSA said.

‘Great firewall’ The New York Times and Der Spiegel reports were published days ahead of a planned meeting between US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi

Jinping on the sidelines of this week’s Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague.

The last summit between the two - at the secluded Sunnylands estate in California last June - also came amid revelations about the scope of the NSA’s surveillance activities.

Obama said last year that he and Xi had “very blunt conversations” about hacking at the summit.

Beijing maintains a vast domes-tic surveillance network, including a “Great Firewall” that blocks online content deemed unfavourable by the ruling Communist Party.

A report released last year by the security � rm Mandiant said that China was devoting thousands of people to a military-linked unit that has pilfered intellectual property and government secrets abroad.

In November, the US-China Eco-nomic and Security Review Com-mission said in its annual report to Congress that China has not curbed rampant spying on American interests.

The report accused China of “direct-ing and executing a large-scale cyber-espionage campaign,” penetrating the US government and private industry.

In his remarks to reporters Monday, Hong said that China was “� rmly op-posed to hacking” and believes that telecom activities “should not be used for surveillance, spying or espionage”.

“China has always maintained that the international community must make joint e� orts to work out regula-tion and (defend) a peaceful, open, comprehensive cyberspace,” he said. l

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, March 25, 2014

5-day SME fair to begin on April 4n Tribune Report

A � ve-day SME fair will begin from April 4 in the capital to promote small and medium enterprises in the coun-try.

A number of SMEs from agriculture,

agro-processing products, clothing, home textile, handicraft, leather, light engineering, foods, beverage, electri-cal and electronics, herbal and furni-ture sectors from across the country will participate in the exhibition.

Industries Minister Amir Hossain

Amu is expected to inaugurate the fair styled National SME Fair-2014. The SME Foundation is arranging the fair at the Bangabandhu International Con-ference Centre.

The fair will remain open for all from 10 am to 8 pm. l

South Korea opens spot market for physical gold traden AFP, Seoul

South Korea launched a gold trading exchange for the � rst time yesterday in a bid to help counter the country’s bur-geoning black market in the precious metal.

Smuggled gold is traded secretly through underground markets in South Korea and is used as an e� ective way to hide income and avoid tax.

“The gold spot market will help nor-malise the unregulated circulation of gold,” Shin Je-Yoon, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said, vowing to step up a crackdown on black-market transactions.

Of the country’s total gold trading volume - estimated at more than 100 tonnes annually - about 70% is traded illegally, according to Shin’s o� ce.

Currently eight securities � rms and 49 dealers, importers and wholesalers are registered as members of the new gold bourse.

On the � rst trading session, a total of 5,987 grams of bullion worth 280 mil-lion won ($259,000) were traded. One gramme of bullion closed at 46,950 won, after rising to as high as 47,400 won at one point.

The exchange o� ers one-gramme units of bullion of 99.99% purity to fa-

cilitate liquidity.As an incentive, traders get a waiver

on the three percent import duty for gold, but they are still required to pay 10% value-added tax for taking physi-cal delivery of bullion.

Individuals are allowed to partici-pate in the gold exchange through reg-istered securities � rms.

Tax reductions are the main perk for joining the bourse, but there has been debate over whether the cuts are big enough to attract distributors into the open market.

South Korean individuals hold an estimated 72 0 tonnes of gold, com-pared with 104 tonnes kept at the coun-try’s central bank, which has increased its reserves to hedge against global � -nancial volatility.

In recent years, gold has become a popular investment as the economy has slowed, with a prolonged slump in property markets.

During the 1997-1998 East Asian � nan-cial crisis, members of the public collect-ed the precious metal from their homes to help their country overcome the crisis.

Since the 2008 � nancial meltdown, gold has become increasingly attractive to central banks worldwide, and prices have risen as it is considered a safe haven. l

A National Security Agency (NSA) data gathering facility is seen in Blu� dale, about 25 miles (40 kms) south of Salt Lake City REUTERS

ADB: China economy on track, no immediate need for stimulusn Reuters, Beijing

China’s economy may still grow around 7.5% this year despite signs of a slow-down, and there is no immediate need for the government to roll out fresh stimulus measures, Asian Develop-ment Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao said yester day.

Nakao, former Japanese vice � nance minister for international a� airs, told Reuters he expects China’s economic growth to be still roughly in line with the government’s target.

ADB is revising its forecast on Chi-na’s growth for 2014, currently at 7.5%, he said, but did not elaborate.

Chinese leaders face a challenge to keep the economy on an even keel while forging ahead with a long list of market-based reforms announced at a key party meeting late last year, he said.

He said that some short-term stimu-lus might be needed to smooth out ups and downs in the economy, but there was no immediate need as growth re-mains healthy due to the country’s ongoing urbanisation and rising con-

sumption.“At this moment, I don’t think China

needs to resort to a stimulus package,” he said.

“Our judgment of China’s economic growth is that it will continue to grow at the rate of around 7.5%.”

Concerns about the health of the Chinese economy are mounting after a string of data showed growth is falter-ing, raising doubt over the ful� llment

of the growth target in the absence of fresh stimulus measures.

Activity in China’s factories slowed for a � fth straight month in March, a preliminary private survey showed on Monday, raising market expectations of government stimulus to arrest a loss of momentum in the world’s second-largest economy this year.

Nakao said he was impressed by Chi-nese leaders’ commitment to market-oriented reforms to help put the econ-omy on a more sustainable footing, but they needed time to implement them.

Liberalising interest rates and the currency regime in China should “go hand in hand”, and interest rate liber-alisation could be carried out in a step by step manner to ward o� possible banking risks, he said.

He said Asian economies were more prepared to cope with any economic turbulence and the region’s fundamen-tals were much stronger than there were during the Asian � nancial crisis in the late 1990s.

“They are more prepared to take ac-tion quickly if there are signs of insta-bility,” he said.

“Fragility? I don’t buy that idea. Of course, we cannot be complacent, we should always be prepared.”

Japan’s monetary policy easing, which has supported the economy and boosted the country’s foreign direct investment � ows to the rest of Asia, could help o� set any impact from the withdrawal of US monetary stimulus, Nakao said.

Nakao was named ADB chief in April 2013, replacing Haruhiko Kuroda, who became Bank of Japan governor. l

REACTION ON CHINA'S PMIB4

National Bank Limited has celebrated its 31st anniversary on Sunday. Zainul Haque Sikder, the bank’s chairperson inaugurated the ceremony

Delta Brac Housing Finance Corporation Limited’s cumulative home loan disbursements crossed Tk5,000 crore on handing over a loan cheque to its clients Sawda Sharmin and Md Mahbubur Rahman by the head of operation, Nasimul Baten at a function at the company’s head o� ce in Gulshan

Beximco Limited yesterday opened a parenting resource centre at the Beximco Industrial Park to serve its employees’ children and working mothers. Syed Naved Husain, CEO and group director of Beximco Ltd, and Michael McGrath, country director of Save the Children in Bangladesh, signed an MOU on this regard yesterday

The directors of NCC Bank Ltd held a board meeting at its head o� ce in Dhaka recently. The bank’s chairperson, Md Nurun Newaz Salim presided over the meeting

Rehab fair bags Tk900cr business n Tribune Report

The realtors have got spot orders of Tk522 crore during a 5-day fair ended in Dhaka yesterday.

In addition, 320 � ats and 207 plots worth Tk387 crore have also been sold during the fair organised by Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangla-desh (Rehab), said a press release.

A total of 155 organisations, includ-ing 141 real estate companies and 14 � nancial institutions, took part in the fair at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

“There was a great enthusiasm in the fair where 121,186 people visited,” said the release.

Earnings from entry ticket selling will be spent for the welfare of the poor people. The results of ra� e draw have been published in the Rehab website. l

RMG workers database to be launched Thursdayn Tribune Report

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yes-terday said the workers database for the country’s readymade garments in-dustry would be launch on Thursday.

He spoke about the schedule after a meeting with 7-member EU delegation, led by Jean Lambert, at his ministry o� ce.

The visiting delegation wanted to know the progress of implementation of the Action Plan, taken after the Rana Plaza building collapse, he said. “I’ve informed the delegation there have been some visible improvement, and the remaining three conditions, which is under progress, would be done by March 31.”

Talking about appointment of fac-tory inspectors, the minister said it would be completed by March as the

government already had talks with the Public Service Commission.

He said the delegation also wanted to know about introduction of trade union at the factories of Export Process-ing Zones. In response, he informed that the government had amended the labour law and would take time to bring changes in the EPZ laws.

“I’ve been able to make the team understand that it will take time to re-locate the factores,” he said.

“The people of the EU countries are worried about the safety and security of the RMG workers as we have came to know the progress of the action plan taken to improve the safety standards,” said Lambert.

The EU continues its assistance to Bangladesh for the improvement of the apparel sector after Rana Plaza and Tazreen Fashion disasters, she said. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, March 25, 2014

DILBERT

EU’s plans for growth to bring shadow banking in from the coldn Reuters, London

European Commission proposals due to be published on Thursday on how to fund long-term investments to boost Europe’s economies brings the start of a rehabilitation for the image of “shad-ow banking”, the largely unregulated market-based provision of credit which lay at the heart of the � nancial crisis.

The EC plans envisage engineering a fundamental shift in how the continent raises money for investment in infra-structure like roads and technology while at the same time moving away from an over-reliance on banks for fu-elling growth in the economy.

A core element involves reviving securitization or the bundling of loans into interest-bearing bonds, a market which was fatally wounded by its cen-tral role in the � nancial crisis seven years ago when bonds which packaged up subprime U.S. home loans became untradeable.

Now the market for asset backed se-curities, currently has 650-700 billion euros worth of bonds in circulation, half its pre-crisis size.

This shrinkage, coupled with banks being wary of lending as they rebuild their capital bu� ers, makes it harder than ever to seed economic growth in Europe.

In the immediate aftermath of the � nancial crisis regulators called for a tough crackdown on the $71 trillion global shadow banking sector that also includes debt market repurchase agreements, securities lending, money market investment funds and some hedge funds.

But with the worst of the crisis now over, government attention has turned to growth and with it the regulatory mood music has also changed.

Policymakers are thinking twice about imposing new rules on one of the few sources of funding that can plug

a gap left by retreating banks and the EU plans are a major milestone in this change of tack.

“It’s a sign that regulators believe one aspect of shadow banking - secu-ritization - is something to be encour-aged and not discouraged, but they need to foster private sector involve-ment,” said David Covey, head of strat-egy for European asset-backed securi-ties at Nomura bank.

Last week a top regulator said ef-forts by global supervisors to revive securitization will be intensi� ed with proposals due soon, a step welcomed by bankers who say clarity on rules is key to encouraging investors to return to the market.

“If there is regulatory uncertainty, it’s very damaging,” Covey said.

The EC estimates that a trillion euros is needed in long term � nance for transport, energy and telecoms up to 2020 to boost competitiveness and jobs and hopes that by encouraging market-based � nancing it can reduce the continent’s reliance on banks for raising up to 70% of funds for the economy.

Some European policymakers look to the United States, where markets in-stead fund about 70% of the economy, as a model to emulate.

“There is no single action or ‘magic bullet’ which will revolutionize the � -nancing landscape in one go; rather a range of di� erent responses is required in parallel,” the EC said in a draft of the proposals seen by Reuters last month.

The European Commission will also publish a separate set of action points to help foster the still tiny crowdfund-ing sector and fund more start-up busi-nesses.

Shadow banking may also get a boost in other ways this week when the 11 euro zone countries that have pledged to reach a deal by May on tax-ing � nancial transactions meet. l

IMF chief: China faces ‘serious obstacles’n AFP, Beijing

International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde yesterday urged China to carry out reforms to make its economic growth model more inclusive, cleaner and sustainable.

“While headline growth numbers remain impressive, this disguises some serious obstacles that need to be over-come,” Lagarde said in a speech at a fo-rum in Beijing.

“The challenge is clear: to make growth more inclusive, friendlier to the envi-ronment, and more sustainable,” she said, according to the text of the speech as prepared on the IMF’s website.

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.7% in 2013, unchanged from the year before. Though stronger than most other economies, it remained the country’s worst result since 1999.

A string of economic indicators an-nounced recently have suggested that the economy has continued to lose mo-mentum this year. Manufacturing activi-ty contracted in March at its worst rate in eight months, according to British bank HSBC’s preliminary purchasing manag-ers’ index (PMI) released Monday.

To unleash China’s next-stage growth potential, the government should in-crease the role of the service sector and private investors, Lagarde said.

A globally integrated � nancial sys-tem will be “essential” to support Chi-na’s next transformation, she said, add-ing more competition and transfer of knowledge will bene� t Chinese banks.

A gradual opening up of China’s capital account will make the economy more resilient to shocks and strengthen the potential role of the yuan as a glob-al currency, she said.

Inequality and environmental pollu-tion have been deteriorating as China’s economy grows, Lagarde said.

“For growth to be sustainable, it needs to be inclusive, its bene� ts need to be more widely shared, and it needs to be environmentally viable,” she said.

China’s leadership says it wants to transform the country’s growth model away from an over-reliance on often wasteful investment, and instead make private demand the driver for the coun-try’s future development, even if it may lead to slower growth rates.

It has also declared “war” on pol-lution, vowing to shut down tens of thousands of coal-� red furnaces and remove millions of high-emission ve-hicles from the roads this year.

Beijing earlier this month has set its growth target for this year at 7.5%, the same as that set last year. Many econo-mists expect actual growth this year to miss the target, something that has not happened in 16 years. l

Fed guessing game intensi� es while West isolates Russian Reuters

The guessing game over US interest rates is likely to intensify this week af-ter new Fed Chair Janet Yellen raised the prospect of a hike early next year, while Russia’s annexation of Crimea will keep investors focused on its next move.

In a week heavy with diplomacy - US President Barack Obama will meet Chi-nese counterpart Xi Jinping yesterday in The Hague - markets will seek clar-ity from the US Federal Reserve on its monetary policy and from Russia over its intentions in Ukraine.

While the US data calendar is rela-tively light, Yellen has got investors talking by suggesting interest rates could start rising next spring, com-pared with most economists’ expecta-tions for the second half of 2015.

The question is whether the host of Fed policymakers due to speak this week, including the Fed’s Chicago Pres-ident Charles Evans, will try to distance themselves from Yellen.

“We have to consider the possibil-ity of the � rst rate hike coming in April 2015,” said James Knightley at ING in London. “Market pricing is still favor-ing the third quarter of 2015, but a de-cent rise in employment and business activity may see this change,” he said.

Last week the Fed, in its � rst policy-setting meeting under Yellen, said it would factor in a wide range of eco-nomic measures as it judged the cor-rect timing for raising rates.

Investors are wondering how much of the slowdown in the US economy this winter was due to bad weather. Data this week may not clear up that uncertainty because home sales, goods orders and consumption data will be from February, rather than March.

Still, a Reuters survey of economists shows that Yellen’s comments have not altered their views. Ten dealers of 17 polled see rate hikes in the second half of 2015, with another four saying in-creases would not start until 2016.

That suggests a normalization of US interest rate policy has yet to be fac-tored into the US dollar exchange rates versus the yen and the euro, econo-mists say.

“We can only conclude that despite all the Fed’s forward guidance and ef-forts to improve its communication, the Fed’s probable course of action is not fully priced into dollar exchange rates,” said Ulrich Leuchtmann at Com-merzbank.

“A phase of serious dollar strength will only set in later in the year. But then it will do so with a vengeance,” he said.

G7 meets to discuss russiaInternational diplomacy will be domi-nated by the response to Russia’s an-nexation of Crimea. Leaders of the world’s leading industrial democra-cies will hold a Group of Seven meet-ing without Russia on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in The Hague this week to consider further responses to the crisis.

Russian markets ended last week by taking fright at a US decision to slap sanctions on Russian President Vladi-mir Putin’s inner circle of money men and security o� cials. Finance Minis-ter Anton Siluanov said Russia might cancel its foreign borrowing for 2014, though it has enough foreign reserves and a low enough budget de� cit to be able to put o� borrowing plans.

Russian stocks may be in for an easi-er ride if investors have a sense that the stand-o� with the West is not inten-sifying for now, even though big risks remain.

Given that US sanctions targeting Russian elites were stronger than antic-ipated and that EU leaders added more names to their list, retaliation from Russia cannot be ruled out.

“While the situation remains tense,

it likely remains stable in the com-ing weeks,” said Mujtaba Rahman, a political analyst at Eurasia Group. “Wildcards include the possibility of a � are-up of Ukrainian versus Russian violence in eastern Ukraine, which would heighten the possibility of Rus-sian invasion.”

Di� cult as it may be to look beyond Russia, China’s release on Monday of the HSBC � ash manufacturing purchas-ing managers index (PMI) will be argu-ably the most watched release in Asia, as investors question how the Chinese economy has fared in the � rst quarter.

“The February round of data point-ed to the weakest growth momentum since the global � nancial crisis,” said Mole Hau at BNP Paribas, referring to the recent slump in investment, retail sales and factory output.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has said the economy faced “severe challenges” in 2014. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has cut its � rst-quarter growth forecast to 7.3% from 8.

The paris speechA week before the European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary policy meeting on April 3, President Mario Draghi has

investors wondering what it will take for him to counter the very low rate of in� ation in the euro zone.

Draghi will speak in Paris on Tues-day to try to drive the message home that the ECB will stick to its very ac-commodative policy stance for a long time, not raising rates even if in� ation picks up.

Draghi has said the ECB would keep a close eye on the euro exchange rate, one of the key parameters a� ecting in� ation that is at a four-year low. The Fed’s rate hike talk has taken some steam out of the euro’s rise, though that might not last.

A string of euro zone PMIs will also give a sense of the bloc’s recovery, with many economists expecting a slight increase in the euro area composite PMI, driven by a modest rebound in the manufacturing sector.

Economists expect French PMIs to improve, while in Germany better manufacturing surveys could compensate for last month’s weakness. “The gradual recovery continues,” Citi economists said in a note to clients. “We still expect the ECB to cut rates in June but the window seems to be narrowing gradually.” l

China brakes as euro z one gears upn Reuters, London

China’s huge manufacturing engine stuttered in the early part of 2014 while a return to growth in French business activity this month suggested a solid, broad-based recovery was taking shape in the euro zone, surveys showed.

Weaker-than-expected readings from China pointed to a contraction in the � rst three months of the year and will raise market expectations of gov-ernment stimulus to arrest a loss of momentum in the world’s second-larg-est economy. “It tells you something

about the extent to which market con-cerns about a slowdown in China are justi� ed,” said Peter Dixon at Commer-zbank. “In the euro zone, the economy is bowling along at a reasonable pace.”

A solid expansion in both the euro zone’s manufacturing and services industries in March, and growth in its second-biggest economy France, meant the bloc’s recovery pace barely slowed from February’s 2-1/2-year high.

Data due later from the United States is expected to show manufactur-ing growth in the world’s top economy eased this month from February’s near

four-year record high.China’s � ash Markit/HSBC Purchasing

Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to an eight-month low of 48.1 in March from Febru-ary’s � nal reading of 48.5. The index has been below 50 since January, indicating a contraction in the sector this year. Out-put and new orders both weakened but new export orders grew for the � rst time in four months, the survey showed, sug-gesting the slowdown has been driven primarily by weak domestic demand.

“Usually, for the month of March, the PMI will rebound, because after Chinese New Year, there should be some activity

coming back, but this PMI is disappoint-ing,” said Wei Yao, China economist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong. “The government probably will have to pro-vide some supporting measures.”

Earlier this month, sources told Re-uters the central bank in Beijing was prepared to loosen monetary policy in order to keep the economy growing at 7.5%. Last year, China’s economy grew 7.7%, the same pace as in 2012.

Premier Li Keqiang said last week investment and construction plans would be accelerated to ensure domes-tic demand expands at a stable rate. l

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen answers a question at a news conference following the March 2014 Federal Open Market Committee meeting, while at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington Reuters

The photo shows a child running before the entrance to the 'Expo Science Park', the site of the 1993 world expo, in Daejeon, South Korea. The theme of the exposition was "The Challenge of a New Road of Development" and was used to showcase advanced technologies such as magnetic levitation trains and solar cars. South Korea was reportedly the � rst developing country to host an Expo, which drew some 14 million visitors AFP

'The challenge is clear: to make growth more inclusive, friendlier to the environment, and more sustainable'

25 march 2014

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