SANIA MIRZA CRIES OVER PAKISTANTAUNT

IN GAZA LULL, RESIDENTS RETURN TO DESTROYED AREAS

MAXIMISING THE TALENT BEYOND THE SHORES OF BANGLADESH

SHOULD WE ENCOURAGE POLITICAL STUNTMEN?

20 pages | Price: Tk12SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Shraban 12, 1421Ramadan 28, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 117

3 | NewsFinance and Telecommunications Minis-tries are likely to make a decision on re-ducing or withdrawing the Tk100 tax for mobile phone SIM card replacement.

5 | NewsAzizul Islam, a Jessore-bound passenger, had little hopes of reaching his village be-fore Eid-ul-Fitr as traditionally � nding an express service ticket on the last days of Ramadan becomes extremely tough.

B1 | BusinessBangladesh Bank yesterday unveiled monetary policy statement, keeping pri-vate sector credit growth and other key policy rates unchanged from the immedi-ate past policy.

6 | NationThe deed writers in Sreepur upazila of the district are at loggerheads with the sub-registrar over the latter’s excessive demand for bribe for deed registration.

SEHRI & IFTAR TIME

Day Sehri IftarRamadan 28/July 27 – 6.47pmRamadan 29/July 28 3.58am 6.47pm

INSIDE

8 | WORLD 11 | OP-ED 15 | SPORT8 | CAREER

PM bins dialogue; BNP promises warHasina slams US, Canada for ‘sheltering’ killersn Emran Hossain Shaikh

While the prime minister yesterday ruled out the possibility of holding talks to resolve the political crisis, the BNP warned of waging a war against the government if it did not respond to the call for dialogue.

“Many ask [me] to hold a dialogue with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. Will you able to discuss something with those who killed your parents and family members?...you will not be able to hold any dialogue with them,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told a press conference while responding to report-ers’ queries at Ganabhaban.

The event was organised to brief the me-dia about her three-day o� cial visit to the United Kingdom. Hasina had joined the � rst-ever Girl Summit in London.

Hasina, also chief of Awami League, blamed BNP founder Ziaur Rahman for killing her family members and others on August 15, 1975, and said dialogue could not be held with the killers.

She continued: “I have seen the lifeless bodies of my innocent broth-ers and other family members. It is not easy for me to forget these and forgive the killers.

“Despite all these, I called Khaleda Zia and invited her for the dialogue.

The nation witnessed how she misbe-haved with me, refusing my invitation to dinner. Enough is enough. I will not hold any dialogue with her anymore.”

About BNP’s demand for fresh polls under non-party administration, the premier said: “They boycotted the election only because of their wrong decision. Why will the people pay for their mistake? They will have to as-sume responsibility for their mistakes.”

She observed that the demand would have logical grounds had the

current government failed to rule the country.

The election was held and more than 40% people cast their votes. “The countrymen have accepted the elec-tion. Now the people are in comfort-able and peaceful moods. So why do you want to create a situation of un-rest?” she asked.

Referring to her phone call to Khaleda before the January 5 election, she said: “Why are you repeating the demand

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Drug smuggling out of control at the borders n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Huge quantities of illegal drugs are be-ing smuggled into the country through border points and its adjacent areas as drug dealers are stocking them ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious fes-tival of the Muslims.

Along with di� erent products such as saris and three-pieces, illegal drugs are also entering the country as its de-mands go up three times during the

Eid festival. The dealers are now busy stocking these drugs to meet the grow-ing demand because as many as � ve million people of the country, particu-larly youths are drug addicts.

Sources said among illegal drugs, Phensidyl is at the top of the list while Yaba is in the 2nd position. Phensidyl and hemp are smuggled into the coun-try from India while Yaba and heroin from Myanmar.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Police extortion in overdrive ahead of Eidn Mohammad Jamil Khan and

Tazlina Zamila Khan

With just a few days to go before Eid, the roads and streets of Dhaka, even the busiest and the most crowded ones, have turn into scary places for drivers of public transports because of rampant extortion by police.

Not just the vehicle drivers, even the pedestrians are not immune to this ex-tortion.

Victims say police extort public transport drivers more or less through-out the year, but the month of Rama-dan puts them into an overdrive.

The Dhaka Tribune has learned that a section of law enforcers have been ex-torting vehicle drivers at more than 50 points in the capital alone.

Estimates show that around 3,000 trucks, 5,000 covered vans enter and exit Dhaka through at least seven points. Additionally, around 1,200 CNG autorickshaws and 15,000 buses oper-ate within the boundaries of the city.

On that count, police extort more than Tk5 crore every day.

Trucker Mohammad Bijoy told the Dhaka Tribune: “While carrying goods from Kawranbazar to Jatrabari, I have to pay police money in at least four places. The rates go like this – Tk100 at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel, Tk100 at Tikatuli intersection, Tk50 at the Jatra-bari bus stand and Tk50 at the Jatrabari intersection.”

Depending on the routes the driv-ers follow, money have to be paid to

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

No trace yet of eight ‘abducted’ by RAB last yearn Adil Sakhawat

The families of eight BNP activists, who were allegedly picked up by RAB in De-cember last year, have said they still did not have any clue about the where-abouts of their dear ones.

The families yesterday talked to journalists in a media conference at the capital’s National Press Club.

Ferdousi Begum, sister of “abscond-ed” Sajedul Islam Sumon, alleged that RAB 1 members picked up her brother and � ve others in broad daylight on December 4 last year in the capital’s Basundhara Residential Area.

Later, upon getting information them, two other BNP activists were picked up from their residences on the same day, she said.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina briefs media at Ganabhaban on her recent UK visit

‘Did Cameron not term me prime minister? If he rejected the election, he wouldnot have invited me’

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, July 27, 2014

AMINBAZAR KILLING CASE

Police fail to submit report in 6 months n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

The trial in much-talked-about six stu-dents’ murder in Aminbazar of 2011 is yet to make any signi� cant progress since the police are delaying with � ling a report regarding the death of an ac-cused for the last six months.

So far, deposition of the � rst pros-ecution witness, the investigation of-� cer of the case, has been recorded partly in two sessions – on October 30 and November 27 last year.

Following the death of accused Rashad Miah on January 1 at his house, the court directed the Savar police to sub-mit a report before it mentioning rea-son behind his death. Sources say the accused died of a heart attack.

After that the court deferred the trial proceedings in four scheduled dates.

The case is pending with the Dhaka’s Second Additional District and Sessions Judge’s Court of Judge Md Helal Uddin.

Additional public prosecutor Anan-da Chandra yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune: “The prosecution witnesses are prepared to give deposition but the court is not since the police are yet to submit the report to the court.

“The trial is pending only for the po-lice report,” he added.

Mostafa Kamal, OC of Savar po-lice station, said he was not informed about the court directives as he joined the station recently. “I did not � nd any such report.”

A total of 92 names were mentioned in the charge sheet as prosecution wit-nesses.

A gang killed the six youths and left another critically injured in the early hours on July 18, 2011 near Aminbazar Bridge. Later they took the bodies more than half a kilometre away to Keblar-char on the advice of police and called the villagers saying that robbers had been caught.

The mob started bludgeoning the six, without knowing that the youths had already died. Subsequently, it was labelled as an incident of mob beating.

The deceased are Tipu Sultan of Te-jgaon College, Towhidur Rahman Pa-lash, Kamruzzaman Kanto and Ibrahim Khalil of Mirpur Bangla College, Shams Rahim Shamam of Maple Leaf Interna-tional School and Sitaf Jabi Munif of Bangladesh University of Business and Technology. Their friend Al Amin is the lone survivor of the incident.

Then Sub-Inspector of Savar police Anwar Hossain � led the murder case accusing 500-600 unidenti� ed people of Bardeshi village.

The court indicted 60 people on July 8 last year – seven months after Sharif Uddin Ahmed, an additional superin-tendent of RAB who is also the inves-tigation o� cer of the case, had submit-ted the charges sheet.

Fourteen accused gave confessional statements before magistrates. Of the accused, 46 are now on bail, four in jail custody while nine are fugitive. l

BNP slams government for 'distorting' UK PM’s remarks n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP yesterday accused the govern-ment of distorting British Prime Min-ister David Cameron’s remark about Bangladesh’s January-5 election.

Shomsher Mobin Chowdhury, vice chairman of the party, said: “The gov-ernment’s falsehood about the British PM’s remark has forced the Downing Street to issue a press statement on the

meeting.” He came up with the state-ment while addressing a press con-ference at BNP chairperson’s Gulshan o� ce.

“The Bangladesh Foreign Minister has said David Cameron told Hasina that the election was over. It’s past. Now we look at the future. But the Downing Street spokesperson’s state-ment on the meeting proved that the government resorted to lies,” Mobin

said. “Issuing such a statement from the British PM’s O� ce on the meeting with a foreign country’s head of gov-ernment is quite unusual,” he added.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday on PM’s UK visit, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said the Brit-ish government wants to strengthen its relations with Bangladesh on all fronts to help Bangladesh take its develop-ment trajectory to a newer height.

“The election is over. It’s past. Now we look at the future.

"We want to work with your gov-ernment and strengthen the ties,” he quoted British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron as saying during his meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The former foreign secretary said diplomatic ties would be hampered through such statement. l

Muggers stab two in the cityn Afrose Jahan Chaity

A gang of muggers stabbed a water trader and snatched Tk58,000 from him at 1pm yesterday from the capital’s Motijheel area.

The victim Monir Hossain, 30, is a resident of Khilgaon. He was intercept-ed by a gang of muggers near Motijhil Ideal School and College. The mug-gers stabbed Monir and snatched away Tk58,000 from his possession while he was on his way home.

In a separate incident, a gang of muggers snatched Tk2 lakh from a daily sales representative of Compu Gas In-ternational BD Ltd, an agent of Robi Ax-iata Ltd, after stabbing him yesterday at Mohanagar project area in the city.

The victim Abdul Hannan Sohel, 30, is a resident of Mogbazar. Police said: “A gang of three criminals, riding on a motorcycle, stabbed Sohel and snatched Tk2 lakh from him while he was headed to his o� ce in Gulshan at 2:30pm. His colleague got him admit-ted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.”

Ramna police station O� cer in-Charge Mohammad Moshiur Rahman said: “Upon receiving information from the locals, police rushed to the spot.”

Sohel, who is severely injured, is re-ceiving treatment at the hospital. l

No trace yet of eight ‘abducted’ by RAB last year PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Asked how they got sure that it was RAB 1, Ferdousi said: “Labourers work-ing in the area informed us that my brother and the others were picked up on to a car that had a RB 1 sticker.”

Sumon, Torikul Islam Jhontu, Ab-dul Kader Bhuiyan Masum, Mazharul Islam Rasel, Asaduzzaman, Jahidul Karim Tanvir were allegedly “abscond-ed” from Bashundhara. They were all activists of Chhatra Dal, BNP’s student front.

Later that night, Kawsar Ahmed, a leader of BNP’s volunteer’s wing Swechchhasebak Dal, and another Chhatra Dal activist AM Adnan Chow-dhury were taken from their own res-idences.

“RAB members went to Kawsar and Adnan’s house in the Shahinbagh area in Tejgaon late in the night. They said there were from RAB and were taking the two only for interrogation. They as-

sured that they would returned home safely” Ferdousi said.

Rasel’s sister Nusrat later told the Dhaka Tribune that her brother and their friends were all brilliant students of the Jagannath University. “Every-one in the area knew them as good kids. They were never involved in any crime.”

However, seeking anonymity, anoth-er member of one of the families told the Dhaka Tribune that Kawsar and Su-mon were wanted in political cases � led with the Tejgaon police station.

Members of the other families al-leged that the Bhatara police station did not accept even a general diary. The families of Masum, Tanvir, Rana and Rasel managed to � le general diaries with the capital’s Tejgaon and Mug-da police station – far from the area of concern.

Adnan’s mother Kanis Begum told the press conference: “How much time do

they [RAB] need interrogate my child? The RAB members took my son telling us they needed to interrogate him.”

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, con-vener of citizen movement Nagorik Oikya, said at the conference: “The Prime Minister is in charge of the Home Ministry. So, the prime minister must know about the forced disappearanc-es carried out by the law enforcement agencies. She has to take the responsi-bilities for these incidents.”

Terming RAB a “killer force,” Manna said: “Forced disappearances staged by law enforcement agencies should be investigated. But this never happens because the higher levels do not want it. Nobody can � le cases against them [RAB].”

Adilur Rahman Khan, secretary of rights organisation Odhikar, said: “Like 1971-74, abduction has again started in the country. We have to raise our voice against these crimes. This is also ex-

treme violation of human rights.”Constitution specialist Shadhin Malik,

who also attended the media brie� ng, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I have heard that UN representatives have arrived in the country to take more soldiers for peacekeeping missions. I request them to not take anyone from RAB.”

The Dhaka Tribune failed to reach the chief of RAB 1 despite repeated at-tempts to communicate over phone.

Mufti Mahmud, new director of RAB’s Media and Legal Wing, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We attach highest pri-ority to any reported case of abduction irrespective of the location.

“But everyone these days points � nger at RAB. There might be evil in-tentions behind this... The allegation you [the reporter] are talking about is still out of my knowledge. I will know more about this tomorrow and hold a media brie� ng tomorrow if needed,” he said. l

Drug smuggling out of control at the borders PAGE 1 COLUMN 3Major General Aziz Ahmed, director general of Border Guard Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune that their mem-bers remain alert to stop drug smug-gling at borders. “Vigilance has already been increased to prevent all drugs from entering the country ahead of Eid.”

According to Family Health Interna-tional, a voluntary organisation, there are over one lakh drug dealers in the country and of them, 10% are women. After getting information from this or-ganisation and collecting data from 49 police stations of the capital, Depart-ment of Narcotics Control had already made a list of 116 drug dealers who were controlling the drug market in the city.

They are yet to con� rm who are the godfathers behind these � eld level drug dealers. After dividing the city into 14 major sections, the DNC o� cials had al-

ready started conducting their drives to � nd out the dens of illegal drug dealers.

Pronab Kumar Niyogi, director (op-erations) of the DNC, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had launched special drive to stop drug sale and its use be-fore Eid. “Vigilance has been increased in Gulshan and Banani areas as per the instructions issued from the Ministry of Home recently,” he said.

They met the director general of Border Security Force during his recent visit at Banglabandh border point, he said, adding that at that time, they also sought cooperation to stop smuggling of drugs into the country.

Most of drugs are entering the coun-try through Benapole and Haridashpur points in Jessore, Kalaroa and Tala in Sat-khira, Godagari and Poradah in Rajshahi, Sona Masjid in Chapainawabganj, Jib-annagar in Kushtia, Akhaura in Comilla,

Kasba in Brahmanbaria, Hili in Dinajpur, Bhurungamari in Kurigram and Ja� ong in Sylhet. Besides, a huge amount of Yaba is entering the country from Cox’s Bazar.

There is no exact � gure of drug users in the country. But according to Family Health International, it has crossed 50 lakh. The DNC o� cials said they were trying their best to control the illegal sale of drugs, but facing di� culties in deal-ing with it due to shortage of manpower.

At present, there are 32 types of drugs available in the country. These drugs include heroin, hemp, local and foreign wine, beer, recti� ed spirit, phensidyl, pethidine, morphine, yaba, viagra, sanagra and ethanol.

The investigation agency said due to absence of proper investigation and witnesses, it is not possible for them to submit charge sheets in most of the drug cases. Sometimes negligence of

investigation o� cers also helps the drug dealers escape punishment.

According to sources in law enforce-ment agency, at least 30,000 drug cas-es are now pending across the country. Of them, police and Rapid Action Bat-talion are investigating 22,000 cases while DNC is investigating 7,815 cases. In most cases, local drug dealers are caught, but masterminds are at large.

Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, state minister for home, told the Dhaka Trib-une that it is not possible to control drug smuggling only by enforcing laws. “Our law enforcers are doing their level best to check drug smuggling. Special drives in this regard are also underway,” he said.

He stressed the need for creating awareness among the country’s people about the harmful e� ects of drug use, saying that all should come forward to prevent drug abuse. l

PM Hasina bins chances of dialogue; BNP warns of waging war against the government PAGE 1 COLUMN 3for dialogue? Do you want to humiliate me for a second time?”

The BNP has to wait for the next parliamentary election, she said. “The train they wanted to board has left. Now they have to wait for a new train to arrive at the station,” she claimed.

When asked whether the next elec-tion would be held under the prime minister, Hasina said it would be held in a democratic way as per the consti-tution.

She also accepted the BNP’s chal-lenge of an anti-government move-ment. “Let them take to the streets! We will meet them on the streets as a political party, Awami League, where the countrymen will also be [with us] there.

“It will be seen on the playground who scores the goal.”

She also threatened the BNP with strict measures if its supporters, in the name of a post-Eid anti-government movement, indulged in violence and killings. “Why will we be silent if they start killing and commit violence in the name of a so-called movement?” she said.

Regarding threats by BNP leaders in-cluding Standing Committee member ASM Hannan Shah that Hasina would be responsible if any incident occurred similar to that on August 15, the pre-mier said it was a direct threat to kill her.

“Earlier they issued similar kinds of threats and I faced attacks immediately after,” she said.

The premier also denied outright allegations of her party’s mutual agree-ment with the Jamaat-e-Islami, a key ally of the BNP. “We are not into that

kind of politics. Awami League works for the country’s interest,” she stated.

When asked about bringing back BNP’s Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman and putting him to trial, Hasi-na said all necessary initiatives would be taken at the right time.

The newsmen also asked Hasina whether the BNP’s claim that UK Prime Minister David Cameron had expressed discontent about the January 5 poll was true.

In reply, the premier said: “When I meet anyone, issues like participation in the election and MPs being elected uncontested may be discussed. But it does not mean that Cameron expressed disappointment.”

The foreign minister briefed the me-dia saying that Cameron had spoken for moving forward as they did not want to go back to the past, Hasina said.

Questioning the BNP and some me-dia outlets who disclosed information about the meeting partially, the pre-mier said: “Did Cameron not term me the prime minister of Bangladesh? If he had rejected the election, he would not have invited me.

“What is the bene� t of expressing our own weakness to the outsiders?”

Hasina described her trip to the UK as successful in terms of bilateral rela-tions between the two countries. “Dip-lomatic ties will be stronger as both sides discussed a number of issues of bilateral and common concerns during the visit,” she said.

Replying to reporters’ query about the repatriation of the convicted killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rah-man, Hasina said her government was trying its best to complete the process. “However, the matter largely depends

on the countries like the US and Cana-da where the fugitive killers have taken shelter.”

Criticising the US, she said: “This country is vocal on democracy and as-sesses elections with a scale to deter-mine whether it is free, fair or not. But on the other hand, they gave shelter to the killers.”

BNP to wage warIn response to the premier’s comment, BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi later in the day said: “In democracy, there is always a place for discussion or debate. But the Awami League does not believe in it. The prime minister wants to bring peace to the country by burying the di-alogue call. But if she does not respond positively, a tough war will be waged.”

Addressing a press brie� ng at the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters, the

BNP joint secretary general reiterat-ed the party’s demand to hold talks to oversee the next parliamentary elec-tion under a non-partisan interim gov-ernment.

Criticising Hasina as she said she did not � nd any reason for talks, Rizvi said: “Now she does not understand any-thing except repressing the opposition party.”

Terming the January 5 election “prime minister’s family birthday pro-gramme,” he said had the BNP partic-ipated in the election, it would have been a di� erent game.

“She has been terming the opposi-tion’s movement criminal activities. Then what about the Narayanganjkillings, the killing of Akram inFeni, the Kalshi incident, and the kill-ings of Sanaullah Babu and Twaki?” he asked. l

Police extortion in overdrive ahead of Eid PAGE 1 COLUMN 5police at Dainik Bangla, Paltan, Shah-bagh, Bangla Motor, Tejgaon, Science Laboratory and Farmgate areas in the capital.

Recently, one Tra� c Inspector Ra� q could be seen creating nuisance in broad daylight in the Farmgate area. He was randomly stopping vehicles and asking for money from them. If anyone refused, he would take them to the adjacent police box and keep them con� ned there until they paid the money demanded. Even the poor rick-shaw-pullers are not spared.

A CNG autorickshaw driver Abdul said: “We remain really scared when we cross the area. The inspector [Ra� q] does not let us go unless we gave him the money. He charges at least Tk100.”

Around 12am last Friday, Al Amin, an assistant sub inspector, set up a makeshift police check-post at Dhan-mondi road number 2. His main targets were motorbikes.

According to biker Zakir, even if a biker produced valid documents, the ASI would not let them go unless they paid him an amount.

Buses that ply the longer intercity routes are generally not allowed to en-ter the capital before 10pm. If anyone tries to enter earlier than that, they be-come easy targets of police extortion.

But that does not mean those who follow the 10pm-rule are spared. The only di� erence is that those who break the rule have to pay double the extor-tion.

By the time they enter the city, many have already paid Tk2,000-Tk3,000 ex-tortion including the amounts that are squeezed out by Dhaka police.

Mahmudul Alam Montu, secretary of an association of bus and covered van owners, said: “Highway police is

also involved in extortion. Their job is to provide security, but instead they take money.”

Md Ali Reza, president of another association of transport owners, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are forced to give money if we want to ply the vehi-cles on the roads. We cannot take any action against police.”

According to victims, a section of policemen get so desperate before Eid that they do not spare even the pedes-trians.

Drubo Sen, resident of the capital’s Narinda area, said: “I work in a private farm in Tejgaon. Sometimes, I come home late.

I have faced harassment in the name of security checking by police many times. They only freed me when I gave them money. The situation gets worse before Eid.”

Pedestrians have complained about facing the same fate in other places in the capital such as Jatrabari, Sutrapur, Demra, Kamrangirchar, Mirpur, Lal-bagh, Mugda and Darus Salam.

When asked whether they were aware of the situation, the police high ups never give any direct answer.

Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Media) Masu-dur Rahman said: “If anyone lodgesspeci� c complaint against anypolice o� cial, actions would be taken immediately.”

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hasan Mahmud Khandaker told the Dhaka Tribune: “If police is involved in extortion, then no one will be saved. Last year, we introduced a special team in plainclothes to resist extortion.”

Asked if they had plans for doing the same this year as well, he said: “We will not talk about it because there are some internal issues.” l

Sub-Inspector of Savar police Anwar Hossain � led the murder case accusing 500-600 unidenti� ed people of Bardeshi village

Members of eight families organised a press brie� ng yesterday at the national press club demanding return of their dear ones allegedly subjected to enforced disappearance. Story on Page 1 MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, July 27, 2014

Eid Mubarok to all our clients and friends wishingyou a happy and blessed Eid

Union Bank Ltd

Sima murder: 26 years passed, justice yet to prevail n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

Family members of Sima Mohamma-di, a girl who was brutally killed by her stalker in 1988, have yet to � nd justice since 26 years have passed but the trial of the sensational murder case has yet to be completed.

Sima Mohammadi lived with her family at their Jagannath Shah Road residence in the capital’s Lalbagh. She was killed by a stalker after her family refused a marriage proposal from him.

According to the case statement, on April 26, 1988, stalker Mohammad Ah-mad alias Amin forcibly entered Sima’s house with dagger and brutally hacked her to death.

Bench Assistant Alamgir Hossain

told to the Dhaka Tribune: “The trial proceeding is going on at Dhaka Jono Nirapotta Tribunal. The court recorded depositions of only two witnesses till now in the case as the police failed to produce the remaining witnesses be-fore the court for deposition, although 26 years have passed since the murder.”

Meanwhile, police have yet to arrest the lone accused of the case, Amin, who went into hiding after the murder.

Some 20 years later, on May 28, 2008, the victim’s brother Mobinur Rahman and her younger sister Tabba-sum, an eyewitness of the murder, gave depositions before the court in the case.

The victim’s mother Izhar Moham-madi � led the murder case with Lal-bagh police station.

On June 25, 1988, Investigation O� -cer (IO) Sub-Inspector Ayub Ali of Lal-bagh police station submitted a charge sheet with Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court against Amin as he was found to be guilty during the pri-mary investigation.

Later, the charge sheet was sent to the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court for trial. Then, it was sent to the � fth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court.

On April 29, 2001, the court framed charges against Amin.

According to the charge sheet, Amin, a stranded Pakistani, lived with his brother-in-law at a residence on Shajahan road in the capital’s Moham-madpur before committing the murder.

Apart from the victim’s family mem-bers, Investigation O� cer Sub-Inspec-tor Ayub Ali also named several others as witnesses in the charge sheet.

Among the witnesses Naiyem, Ish-aq and Babu are residents of Lalbagh, Dr Anwar conducted the autopsy on Sima’s body at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Farid made the inquest report of dead body, Mannan was the record-ing o� cer of the case and Ayub is the IO of the case.

Special Public prosecutor Anwar Sa-dat said: “The Sima murder trial had been delayed as the witnesses could not come to give their depositions though the court issued arrest warrants against them several times but police failed to bring them before it.” l

Tangail sadar ASI shot deadn Our Correspondent, Tangail

Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Nurul Islam of Tangail sadar police station succumbed to his injuries yesterday at Dhaka Medical College Hospital in the capital.

Nurul was shot on Friday night while he was conducting a drive at East Adalatpara in the town in order to ar-

rest terrorists. Tangail sadar police station O� -

cer-in-Charge (OC) Aktaruzzaman said, acting on a tip-o� , police conducted a raid at the house of alleged terrorist Nur Islam Ulka.

Ulka, however, managed to escape by shooting at the police. At that time, ASI Nurul sustained two bullet wounds to his chest and one on his hand.

Later, he was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in a critical condition where he was kept on life support.

At 11:45am on Saturday, the ASI suc-cumbed to his injuries, said the OC.

Following the incident, police con-ducted another raid at East Adalatpara and arrested four people involved in this connection. l

Bangladesh must adopt new business practices as per SDGs stipulations n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The private sector of Bangladesh will have to adopt a new set of business practices as the UN-sponsored Sustain-ability Development Goals (SDGs) stipu-lates new approaches in doing business.

“We have to change our approaches in line with global practice and trends,” chief of the apex trade body Kazi Akram Uddin told the Dhaka Tribune.

All the countries in the world formed the Open Working Group at the United Nations to hammer out goals and tar-gets for the Sustainable Development Goals to be e� ective from 2016 after the expiry of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015.

The OWG has concluded its negoti-ation this month after an unprecedent-ed negotiation that continued for 17 months and come up with 17 goals and 170 associated targets.

The targets that are directly related to production and consumption are diversi� cation, environment, decent work practice, labour rights, produc-tivity and less pollution.

FBCCI is working on environment and labour rights issues and there are certain achievements in this regards, he said. “Now the government does not allow doing business if environ-mental regulations are not compliant,” he claimed.

The global business is changing and Bangladesh cannot be immune to it, Akram said. He said: “We cannot depend on ready-made garment sector alone.”

Centre for Policy Dialogue Distin-guish Fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya said the SDGs would provide guide-lines for increasing productivity and diversi� cation.

The old approach of doing business will have to change, he said. “The do-

mestic constituents must understand that this is the future.”

The private sector cannot back o� from providing decent jobs or ensuring labour rights or creating less pollution, Debapriya said.

He said in the implementation of SDGs, the role of private sector, along civil society, local government, and parliamentarians, is very important.

For the smooth implementation of the SDGs, there needs to be � nancial package and non-� nancial policies.

The countries must decide where new money would come from to make the SDGs successful, he said.

Non-� nancial policies include sys-tematic reforms in all sector and the government will take the lead role in the issue, he added.

“Success will depend on how the countries craft the implementation policies,” Debapriya said.

The SDGs stipulates that by 2030 the countries should double the agricul-ture productivity and implement resil-ient agriculture practices that maintain ecosystems.

The factories would have to resort to

a new technology to eliminate dump-ing or minimize release of hazourdous chemical to water bodies by 2030.

In Bangladesh many factories, spe-cially tanneries and textiles ones, pol-lut water by releasing toxic chemicals into the water, resulting in the loss of � sheries. The private sector will have to attain higher productivity through diversi� cation and new technology and promote decent job creation and innovation and it must improve itself to such a level where it can use global resources e� ciently.

The governments and the private sector by 2030 must upgrade their in-frastructure and retro� t their indus-tries for sustainability.

Bangladesh with the assistance of Japan has undertaken a project to ret-ro� t several key installations like � re brigade o� ces and several administra-tive buildings and two garment facto-ries in the country.

Under the SDGs, all countries will formulate a 10-year framework of pro-grammes on sustainable consumption and production and implement it and by 2030.l

Hasina: Govt to restore article 96 n Kamran Reza Chowdhury and

Emran Hossain Shaikh

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said her government would restore the provision of the original constitution to make the apex court judges account-able to the legislature, authorising the Jatiya Sangsad to impeach the judges for misconduct and violation of rules.

The 1972 constitution had the pro-vision to make the judiciary account-able to parliament (subjected to vote of two-thirds majority), but military ruler General Ziaur Rahman changed the provision, changing Article 96 of the constitution.

He then transferred the power to the Supreme Judicial Council, headed by the chief justice, and comprising two other senior judges of the Supreme Court.

“Military ruler Ziaur Rahman formed the Supreme Judicial Council. This does not � t into democracy. This (accountability of the judiciary) should go to parliament as the representatives of the people. We are thinking about it (restoration of original article 96 of the constitution),” Sheikh Hasina told reporters at Ganabhaban, the o� cial residence of the prime minister.

On June 26, the Law Commission, headed by immediate-past Chief Jus-tice ABM Khairul Haque, placed a report on the ways of removing the backlog of the cases to the parliamentary standing committee on the law ministry.

The report proposed restoring the original provision of the � rst consti-tution, stating that all are equal in the eyes of the law. The watchdog dis-cussed the report and asked the law minister to consult with all stakehold-ers to revive Article 96 of the charter.

Two weeks ago, standing committee chairman Suranjit Sengupta told media that the judiciary must be accountable to the legislature for ensuring the “sov-ereignty of parliament.”

While responding to a question at the press conference, Sheikh Hasina also said the Supreme Judicial Council had not adapted with parliamentary democracy.

“In 2010, when we formed a par-liamentary committee for the amend-ment to the constitution after the repeal of the 5th amendment by the court, the issue of Supreme Judicial Council came up. And now, many, in-cluding the Law Commission and Hu-man Rights Commission, have given their opinions against it,” she said.

As there is a democratic rule in the country, many are talking about reviv-ing the article of 1972 constitution, she added.

Former Justice ATM Fazle Kabir cautiously welcomed Sheikh Hasina’s move to amend the constitution to re-place the Supreme Judicial Council.

“It is my personal opinion that it is a political decision; we should not oppose it. This is practised in many countries. It also existed in Bangladesh,” he said.

“But the fear is that it may be misused by the governments,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. He said given the vituperative politics practised by the two major polit-ical parties, restoration of the provision would cause “huge damage.”

“For instance, a government, out of political vengeance, may victimise the judges appointed by the previous gov-ernment. So, we should be very careful about it,” said Fazle Kabir, also a law commission member.

Senior lawyer Shahdeen Malik op-posed the government move.

“The question of change arises when a system does not function prop-erly or a major � aw surfaces. Hitherto, no allegation has come to the fore on the e� cacy of the Supreme Judicial Council. So, it should not be changed.”

“So, there are questions about the functioning of the original provision,” he said, adding that the MPs were not free in making their decisions accord-ing to Article 70 of the constitution that forced a lawmaker not to vote against the respective party decisions in the legislature.

“In case a judge commits serious crime but the treasury bench lacks two-thirds majority, then the errant judge will not be punished unless the oppo-sition or other parties agree,” he said. l

Holding a piece of garment a street child smiles standing beside his mother as Forum SDA yesterday distributed new clothes among street urchins at TSC of Dhaka University MEHEDI HASAN

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, July 27, 2014

High Court issues rule on allowing battery-run rickshaws n Tribune Report

The High Court has issued a rule upon bureaucrats and the police chief to ex-plain why contempt of court proceed-ings should not be taken against them for violating a previous order on allow-ing battery-run rickshaws to operate, giving them new licences and forming a regulatory body.

The respondents are senior secre-taries to Local Government Division Monzur Hossain and Home Ministry Secretary CQK Mustaq Ahmed (already on post-retirement leave), and Law and Justice Secretary Abu Saleh Md Jahirul Haque, DNCC Administrator Faruq Jalil and DSCC Administrator Ibrahim Khan and IGP Hassan Mahmood Khandaker.

On July 15, the bench of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Ashraful

Kamal issued the rule, giving them two weeks to respond.

The order came following a civ-il revision petition of Dhaka District Rickshaw Owners’ Cooperatives Soci-ety Ltd President Fazlur Rahman. The matter was disclosed on July 24, soci-ety’s Secretary Delwar Hossain said in a press release yesterday, quoting the petitioner’s lawyer MM Nuruzzaman.

According to the statement, on Oc-tober 17, 2012, the High Court bench of Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury delivered the previous order with 14 guidelines including allowing the rick-shaws having light machines to ply on the streets, beginning the registration of new rickshaws with new number plates and forming a regulatory body.

The court also ordered the author-ities concerned to inform the court

within two months what initiatives had been taken to implement the di-rectives and prepare a regulation as law to run the vehicles, by keeping the provisions of punishment or penalties for violation of the law, within four months.

Other guidelines include modifying the manual rickshaws, testing knowl-edge on tra� c laws and checking � t-ness before giving licenses, specifying areas and colour of operational rick-shaws, ensuring free treatment for val-id license-holders, and the registering of the owners’ and rickshaw workers’ organisations by the corporations.

The press release said the petition had been submitted to draw the atten-tion of the court to start proceedings for Contempt of Court against the o� -cials. l

EC sells electoral equipmentn Mohammad Zakaria

The Election Commission has decided to sell unusable and unnecessary electoral equipment from the 10th parliamentary and local government polls through tender. The funds raised by the sale will be deposited with the state public exchequer.

The commission will publish the tender notice in this regard soon, a senior EC o� cial told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Earlier, the commission sold electoral equipment used in the ninth parliamentary polls and third upazila parishad polls.

EC o� cials said the commission has asked not to sell electoral equipment which was related with cases lodged with the court and the election tribunal.

The commission will sell the electoral equipment as per the Public Procurement Act, 2006 and Public Procurement Procedure, 2008.

Seeking anonymity, a deputy secretary said usually the commission publishes tender for selling electoral

equipment after the polls, but the commission kept the equipment till now.

Election Commissioner Mohammad Abu Ha� z said the commission kept the electoral equipment after the polls as per the requirements of the EC. If the electoral equipment is kept longer, an anomaly will be created in the next election, so the commission has decided to sell the unnecessary electoral equipment to help the commission works, the commissioner added.

The commission issued a letter signed by Assistant Secretary of EC Golam Rashed which states that the commission is running the selling process similar to those after the ninth parliamentary polls and third upazila parishad polls.

EC o� cials said a committee has been formed in every district before � oating the tender in this regard.

The electoral equipment which will be sold are rubber stamps, pads, pens, ink, o� cial seals, marking brushes, brush seals, ballot papers, campaigning posters and election manuals. l

Novera Deepita’s death anniversary todayn Tribune Report

Today is the eighth death anniversary of Novera Deepita, who was a brilliant journalist, says a press release. She was also an outstanding student of the De-partment of Mass Communication and Journalism of Dhaka University.

To mark the day, Novera Deepita Memorial Trust has arranged elaborate programmes. It will award the Nove-ra Deepita Memorial Scholarship to a student who has secured the highest marks in the BA (Hon’s) examinations of the DU Journalism Department.

The awardee will receive Tk25,000 and a certi� cate. The other programmes include o� ering prayers at her grave at the Azimpur Grayeyard at dawn, and a doa and milad mah� l at the residence of Novera’s mother in the evening. l

Abducted boy found alive after seven days, � ve held n Our Correspondent, Feni

RAB rescued a 10-year-old boy who had been abducted from Feni seven days ago from Bhatiari in Chittagong on Friday night.

They also nabbed � ve people in connection with the abduction of Mush� qur Rahman Saurav, the son of Saidul Haque who is now an expatriate in Italy.

Four of the detained are Abul Kalam, 32, Md Gias Uddin, 30, Shahin, 25, and Abdullahil Hanif, 25.

The remaining arrested miscreant could not be identi� ed. All of them were detained from di� erent areas of Chittagong.

Saurav was abducted on July 18 while on his way home from the mosque, said Jasim Uddin, assistant director of Feni camp of RAB 7.

The kidnappers phoned Saurav’s mother Kamruzzahan and demanded Tk20 lakh as ransom. They also threatened that they would kill the boy if the money was not paid, Jasim said.

Kamruzzahan lodged a complaint with Feni Model police station and another with Feni camp of RAB 7 after she received the call, said the RAB o� cial. l

Muggers stab rickshaw puller to death n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A rickshaw puller was stabbed to death by two muggers after a scu� e yester-day in Chittagong city’s Halishahar. The muggers had attempted to steal the rickshaw.

The dead body of the victim, Mo-hammad Khokon, 20, a resident of Abbaspara area under Halishahar police station in the city, was sent to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) morgue for an autopsy, said police sources.

O� cer-in-Charge (OC) Syed Abu Mohammad Shahjahan Kabir of Hal-ishahar police station said: “The two

muggers, Shagor, 15, and Mithu, 19, hired Khokon from Boropul area at 6:15am. When they were in Chow-dhurypara, the muggers stabbed Khokon from behind and tried to snatch his battery-run rickshaw.”

“The commotion alerted the locals who rushed to the spot and nabbed Shagor while Mithu managed to escape. The locals took Khokon to CMCH in a critical condition. There, the duty doctor pronounced him dead,” added the OC.

With the help of information from Shagor, police later nabbed Mithu from a residence in the area. A case was lodged with Halishahar police station in this connection. l

Key meeting likely to settle SIM replacement tax issue todayBTRC says four mobile phone operators dodged over Tk3,000 crore tax n Asif Showkat Kallol and

Muhammad Zahidul Islam

In a key meeting today, the Finance and Telecommunications Ministries are likely to make a decision on reduc-ing or withdrawing the Tk100 tax for mobile phone SIM card replacement, sources have said.

In another meeting with mobile op-erators on July 14 at the Gonobhohon, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy reportedly assured them about withdrawing the Tk100 tax, implemented in the FY2014-15 budget.

The ruling Awami League says Joy is the prime minister’s information and communications technology adviser.

Joy agreed with the mobile oper-

ators’ idea of cancelling the tax on grounds that it would reduce the cost of internet usage in the country.

Today’s meeting that will accom-modate the National Board of Reve-nue (NBR), may also make a decision on the longstanding Tk3,062.16 crore six replacement tax claim between the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Com-mission (BTRC) and four private sector mobile operators.

The BTRC says the operators - Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Airtel – have dodged over Tk3,000 crore tax while replacing mobile SIM cards.

On the other hand, operators claim that they did not need to pay fresh tax because they had only replaced dam-aged or lost SIM cards for which taxes

were already paid.Earlier, a review committee, com-

prising members of the NBR, BTRC and mobile operators, proposed settling the tax issue for a payment of Tk511.6 crore, following a court directive to settle the issue out of the court.

The government did not accept that proposal.

However, in tomorrow’s meeting, there are chances that the government may propose a 10-12% administrative charge which may need the operators to pay settlement tax in the Tk300 crore to Tk370 crore range, sources have said.

Before that meeting, the telecom ministry is scheduled to sit in another meeting with the BTRC o� cials and representatives of the operators.

Despite being included the latest budget, implementation of the new tax for SIM replacement has remained pending because the operators are still to agree with it.

NBR Chairman Ghulam Hossain con� rmed the Dhaka Tribune that they were going to sit today.

However, he said if the provision for SIM replacement tax remained, the NBR would be able to collect a lot of additional revenue from the country’s “most lucrative sector.”

According to the FY2014-15 bud-get, the government wishes to collect Tk183,355 crore from indirect taxes.

Market sources said operators sold around 15 million SIM cards and re-placed around 1 million of them every year. l

3.5% pregnant women have hepatitis B infection n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

About 3.5% of pregnant women in the country have hepatitis B infection, according to the Liver Foundation of Bangladesh.

The institution says the incidence of di� erent kinds of liver disease such as hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer is common in our country, with nearly 4-7% of the population having hepatitis B and 1-3% hepatitis C infections.

Besides, alcoholic liver disease is also increasing in the country. Contaminat-ed food and drinks with many kinds of chemicals and preservative are contin-uously contributing to the increase in various kinds of liver diseases.

Professor Dr Mahmudur Rahman, di-rector of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told the Dhaka Tribune that hepatitis B and C are transmitted through blood and

sexual interaction while A and E are wa-ter- and food-borne diseases. Bangladesh, like other countries across the world, is going to celebrate the World Hepatitis Day 2014 tomorrow. This year’s theme of the day is: “Hepatitis: Think Again”.

“Of all the hepatitis infections, vac-cine is available for hepatitis B only. The Health Ministry is providing the vaccine for newborns at free of cost in order to protect them against the dis-ease,” said Mahmudur.

“The prevalence of the disease is not negligible and everyone should be on alert to protect themselves,” he added.

Viral hepatitis has in fact emerged as a “silent killer”, killing approximately half a million people every year in the 11 countries of the World Health Organisa-tion’s South-East Asia region. The WHO has urged countries to adopt a coordi-nated and multi-sectoral approach to protect people from hepatitis. l

Activists of Gonojagoron Moncho yesterday burned the e� gy of Motiur Rahman Nizami outside the National Museum in Shahbagh demanding his hanging MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Gonojagoron Mancho demands speedy trial of war criminals n Tribune Report

The six day long cartoon exhibition of Gonojagoron Mancho ended yesterday evening amid demands of speedy trial of war criminals.

The exhibition titled “A Flashback to the atrocity of Jamaat-Shibir” was ar-ranged by the opponent group of Imran H Sarkar, spokesperson of Gonojagoron Mancho, at Shahbag in the capital.

The activists of the Mancho brought the exhibition to an end by burning ef-� gies of Jamaat Ameer and war crimi-nal Motiur Rahman Nizami.

Prof Anwar Hossain, former vice-chancellor of Jahangirnogor Uni-versity, who attended the closing cere-mony said:“Those who took to the road once demanding the highest punish-ment of war criminals is now demand-ing to minimise the delay of their trial. Hence, the authorities should have to take necessary initiatives to ful� ll the demand by providing the highest ver-dict to the war criminals.”

Kamal Pasha, one of the organisers, said: “Every people of the country is eagerly waiting to hear the verdict of the war criminals. The delay was not expected by us.”

Shahjahan Khan, minister of ship-ping, visited the exhibition yesterday at 11 am. In the opinion book he wrote, “I’m appealing everyone to unite in the spirit of liberation war”.

Journalist Shaheen Reja Noor, pres-ident of Projonmo-71, Monoronjon Ghoshal, artist of Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro, Nasrin Chowdhury, daughter of an intellectual martyr, F M Shaheen organiser of the programme also at-tended the closing ceremony. l

Several structures are being built on the Corrector’s Field, one of the rare playing � elds in Rajshahi, by Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce who uses the � eld every year to host a month-long trade fair, depriving youths of a place to practice their sporting activities AZAHAR UDDIN

Protests continue against Israeli attacks in Gazan Tribune Report

A number of political and non-political organisations of the country held pro-test programmes in front of the Nation-al Press Club yesterday against the on-going Isreali attacks in the Gaza strip.

Communist Party of Bangladesh, Oikya NAP, Bangladesh Peace Council, Bangladesh Shadhinata Parisad and Bangladesh Shantir Dal separately or-ganised human chains in front of the club in between 10am and 11am.

Speakers said the barbaric military action by Israel on the innocent chil-dren, women and civilians of Gaza, was destructive to humanities.

Publicity and Publication A� airs sec-retary of the ruling Awami League and former Environment Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud alleged that regarding the Gaza issue, an online news portal of the country had misquoted him last week.

He repeated to clarify what he had said before: “BNP and Jamaat groups are not organising any protest or move-ment against the Israeli attacks on the Palestinians in a way it should, to sat-isfy the Jews.”

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's col-umn was published in the Washington Times last year through lobbying of the Jews. This indicates BNP's inclination towards the Jews, said Dr Mahmud.

The speakers at the human chains

urged the United Nations to compel Israel to stop the killings. They also called upon the Bangladeshi govern-ment to help the Palestinian people.

CPB President Mujahidul Islam Se-lim presided over one human chain. l

WEATHER

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, July 27, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 4:02am Sunrise 5:24am Zohr 12:05am Asr 4:44pm Magrib 6:45pm Esha 8:08pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:44PM SUN RISES 5:26AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW37.7ºC 25.1ºC

Rajshahi Khepupara

SUNDAY, JULY 27

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 33 27Chittagong 31 26Rajshahi 32 26Rangpur 35 27Khulna 32 25Barisal 31 26Sylhet 34 25Cox’s Bazar 30 26

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

LIGHT RAIN

Abducted boy rescued from Ctgn FM Mizaur Rahaman

Rapid Action Battalion-7 rescued a 10-year-old boy from Chittagong's Hal-ishahar  area yesterday and arrested � ve in this connection.

The rescued is Md Mus� qul Ho-que Sowraf, son of Sayedul HoqueFiroz, an Italian expatriate hailing from Feni.

The detained are Abdul Hannan, 21, Gias Uddin,33,  Abdullah Al Halim, 25, Tahmina,28, and Md Kamal Uddin, 52, according to a RAB press release.

Sohel Mahmud, assistant superin-tendent of police (ASP) of RAB-7, said the boy went missing from his resi-

dence under Feni model police station on July 18.

Failing to trace him, his mother � led a complaint with Feni model police sta-tion and later informed RAB.

Upon receiving the complaint, RAB men started conducting drives in Feni and adjacent areas and arrested Han-nan on July 25 from Bhatiyari area un-der Sitakunda upazila in Chittagong.

Following Hannan’s confessions, RAB conducted another drive in the Halishahar area and held Gias, the mas-termind behind the abduction plan, and his three associates, Abdullah, Tahmina and Kamal Uddin, said Sohel Mahmud. l

Wild bu� alo kills one in Ctgn FM Mizanur Rahaman,

Chittagong

A man was killed and three others were injured on Friday night in a wild bu� a-lo attack at Bakalia area of the port city.

The deceased Nurul Islam, 50, was a carpenter by profession.

Mohammed Mohsin, OC of Bakalia police station, said a bu� alo, which was brought by a local for sacri� ce be-

fore Eid-ul-Fitr, escaped captivity and attacked Nurul as well as three oth-ers at Wazer Para of the area around 10:30pm, leaving them injured.

Locals took Nurul to a private clinic, Peoples’ Hospital, where the on-du-ty doctors declared him dead, the OC added.

The three other injured were admit-ted to Chittagong Medical College Hos-pital (CMCH). l

Schoolboy 'kills himself'n Our Correspondent, Barisal

A 13-year-old schoolboy allegedly com-mitted suicide yesterday at New Circu-lar road in Foresterbari area in Barisal.

The schoolboy’s maternal aunt Tasli-ma Begum said in absence of the family members, Tarek, a class VII student at a local high school, hanged himself in his room around 3pm.

Tarek’s mother is a domestic helper who has been living there with her son after separating from her husband.

Shakhawat Hossain, OC of Barisal Kotwali police station, said police had visited the scene and handed the body over to the family members. l

Gazipur trader dies after bomb attackn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

A businessman, who sustained injuries in crude bomb attack by robbers on Wednesday, succumbed to his injures at a Dhaka hospital yesterday.

The victim Babul Hossain, 45, was a resident of Madobpur in Kashimpur area of Gazipur city.

Babul’s nephew Jobaed Alam Zeku said his uncle who undergoing treat-ment, died at Apollo Hospital in the capital around 6:30am.

On Wednesday, a gang of about 16 armed robbers attacked Babul’s house around 1:30am and hurled a crude bomb at him when he started shouting warnings about the miscreants’ pres-ence, leaving him critically injured.

He was admitted to Saver Enam Medical College Hospital and then shifted to the Dhaka hospital when his condition deteriorated. No one has been arrested yet in this connection. l

Unusual calm at the city's bus terminals n Abu Hayat Mahmud and

Ashif Islam Shaon

Azizul Islam, a Jessore-bound passen-ger, had little hopes of reaching his village home before Eid-ul-Fitr as tra-ditionally � nding an express service ticket on the last days of Ramadan becomes extremely tough due to the huge � ow of home-bound passengers.

But to much surprise, Azizul saw several bus sta� shouting “Jessore! Jes-sore! Seat empty! Seat empty!” when he arrived at the Gabtoli bus terminal in the capital.

“I was really surprised to see em-ployees of several luxurious transport operations inviting passengers during the Eid rush. I have never seen it be-fore,” he said while talking to the Dha-ka Tribune.

At a time when most people would expect bus terminals, railway stations and river ports in the capital to be jam-packed with home bound passengers like previous years, this year, the sce-nario was much di� erent.

Unlike previous years, home-bound passengers su� ered less this time as most launches and trains left stations without much delay, ferry services re-mained smooth and almost no tra� c grid locks were witnessed on the high-ways till yesterday evening.

Many bus operators claimed that they did not face any tra� c congestion on major routes out of the capital, such as Kachpur Bridge, Gazipur Chowras-ta, Chandra, Savar, Nabinagar, Baipail Bridge and others of the highways around the country.

“God knows what happened this year. This did not happen in the past. I think people have decided not to go home for Eid,” said Shakhwat Hossain, a counter sta� of Eagle Paribahan’s Jessore service, while expressing his frustration over the low turnout of passengers.

“Last year, we stopped selling tickets by noon. Some passengers made special requests and even o� ered extra money for a ticket,” he said adding that, how-ever, no bus had left the terminal with empty seats as the drivers were seen delaying the schedule for 30 minutes to one hour to � ll up all of the seats.

The transport workers hope that the crowd will intensify on Monday after gar-

ment factories announce their holidays.During a visit to the bus terminals,

the Dhaka Tribune found that many passengers were hovering from one counter to another and bargaining pric-es of bus tickets.

“The government has closed the school and colleges during the begin-ning of Ramdan. Many people have sent their families home earlier. We had moderate passengers since then. So, I think there will be no mad rush this year,” said Mohammad Tamal Hos-sain, a sta� of SP Paribahan.

The scenario was almost the same at Sayedabad Bus terminal in the capital.

As most low-income people could not a� ord tickets of long route buses, a large number of commuters, mostly labours and garment workers, were forced to pay extra charges in the local bus services.

Riajul, a Tangail-bound passenger said: “Generally, the fare for Dhaka to Tangail is Tk140, but for the Eid ser-vice, we had to pay Tk200 for a single ticket of Dholeshowri Paribahan.”

At the same time, home-bound peo-ple also faced harassment from ven-dors and beggars at the terminals.

Farida Ahker, a Chittagong-bound passenger at Sayedabad said: “When we reached at the bus terminal, a group of labors grabbed our luggages and started to drag them without taking any permission from us.”

Although vigilance teams of Bangla-desh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) had been working at the bus terminals to avoid such harassment, most pas-sengers said the vigilance made no dif-ference at all.

Hasanuzzaman, in-charge of a police camp at Sayedabad Bus Terminal said: “The teams are actively working in 24 hours. If any illegal activities � nd out in the area, steps would be taken against the criminals and extortionists.”

At Sadarghat Launch Terminal, it was found that the number of passen-gers increased in the afternoon. How-ever, since morning, passengers were seen boarding on the roof of launches and on the corridor of cabins.

A total of 56 launches left the ter-minal for Chandpur, Barisal, Bhola, Borhanuddin, Lalmohon, Charfashion, Letra, Barguna, Amtoli, Hularhat, Pat-uakhali, Kalaia, Rangabali, Madaripur, Torki and other destinations.

Some passengers, however, claimed that the launch sta� s were charging ex-tra fare.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) evicted hawkers from the pontoon for smooth moving of the passengers in the evening. BIWTA sta� s were also seen making announcements over loud speakers requesting passengers not to board on the roof of the launches.

“We are compelling the launches to leave terminals before becoming over crowded. We are also requesting passen-gers not to board overcrowded launch-es, but they it seems that they care less,” said BIWTA Joint Director Saiful Haque.

Meanwhile at Komalapur Railway Station, trains left the stations in 30 minutes to one hour delay, although most trains witnessed no extra pressure of passengers in the compartments.

Station Manager Khairul Bashir told the Dhaka Tribune that selling of stand-ing tickets was less than expected and claimed that trains that left the station did not miss schedule by a large scale.

“Presence of passengers was mod-erate but as the trains are not running late, pressure is not that high,” he claimed. l

Rundown road: Blessing in disguisen Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Dilapidated roads are causing im-mense su� erings to travelers, especial-ly home-bound people ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr, but ironically it such tum-ble-down highways that have saved lives for years.

The � gures compiled by the Bangla-desh Roads Transport Authorty (BRTA) show that the road accidents and the spot deaths have come down since 200 thanks to some preventive measures of the government, poor conditions of the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-My-mensingh highways and tra� c conges-tion in Dhaka metropolis.

According to the BRTA, 3765 people died in 4,427 road accidents across the country in 2008. Next year, 2,958 peo-ple were killed in 3,381 road accidents. In 2010, a total of 2,646 people lost their lives in 2,827 road crashes.

The death toll came down to 2,546 in 2,667 accidents in 2011 and 2,538

people lost their lives in 2,636 acci-dents in 2012.

In 2013, the reported death toll for the � rst time plummeted to below 2,000 mark in 2,029 crashes.

Up to June 2014, 1,020 people were killed in 1,000 reported road accidents.

The BRTA gets the accident data from the police headquarters that compiles all accident incidents across the country.

The o� cials say many of the road accidents are not reported to the po-lice. But the police are sure to record accident data if anyone dies in any ac-cidents, thanks to media and mobile phones.

“Dhaka-Aricha highway was the deadliest as most of the accidents

take place in some 11 curves along the busy road. But the government over the years have erected dividers on the highway making it one-way tra� c,” Osman Ali, the secretary of the Bangla-desh Sarak Poribohon Sramik Federa-tion, told the Dhaka Tribune.

On August 13, 2011, noted � lm mak-er Tareque Masud and senior journalist Mishuk Munier died in a road accident round a curve of Dhaka-Aricha highway. One secretary to the government died at another bend on the same highway.

“Besides, the government had 11 bends straighten. So, according to my assessment, 90% of the accidents com-paring with that of 2006-07 have been reduced,” said Osman, adding that the deaths of the transport workers had come down by at least 70% (than that of 2006) over the years.

“The condition of the Dhaka-Chit-tagong and the Dhaka-Mymensingh highways has deteriorated after 2007. On those roads, the vehicles move slow

for poor roads and frequent jams,” he said.

Transport workers' leader Shajahan Khan, now shipping minister, said at least 587 accidents took place on the Dhaka-Aricha highway in 2012, before the construction of dividers. Now it has come down to only 92 in 2013.

“Besides, death of Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier and of one secre-tary made the people conscious about road safety. Similarly, we gave counsel-ing to the transport workers and driv-ers to ensure safety of the passengers,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

The much-discussed road accidents in 2011 made many people turn to the railway, considered as the safest mode of transport.

The government also banned the movement of the Nosimon and Kori-mon – two locally made motors with shallow machine engine – on the high-ways. Many fatal accidents take place for Nosimon and Korimon. l

Leaders and activists of several political parties take out a rally, condemning the recent attack on the Gaza Strip, in front of the National Press Club yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Left: With only days left for Eid-ul-Fitr, people from all walks of life start arriving at the Mohakhali Bus terminal to set o� for their home towns to celebrate the holidays. Right: Hundreds of people crowd launches at Sadarghat Launch Terminal RAJIB DHAR/MEHEDI HASAN

The much-discussed road accidents in 2011 made many people turn to the railway

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, July 27, 2014

Poor embankments ruin Eid for 7000 familiesn Our Correspondent, Barguna

Eid-ul-Fitr will hardly bring joy to more than 7000 families in six upazilas of Barguna district this year, as they are living amid � lthy � ood water.

Poor reconstruction of embank-ments was the reason for all the su� er-ing, claimed the residents. They said

this year the area was � ooded by high tide during the full moon when the wa-ter level rose to double the usual height.

The residents along the coastal area are fearful since the embankments in the respective areas were not re-paired properly. Di� erent diseases are becoming rampant and the habitat is becoming unhygienic, said residents of Amtoli, Taltoli, Betagi, Bamna and Patharghata upazilas of the district.

Md Habib Miya, a resident of Boro

Baliyatoli area of Borguna sadar upazi-la, said the embankment that was bro-ken during Sidr in 2007 was never re-paired properly and as a result, it kept on breaking during every monsoon that followed.

Huge areas including crop land and � sh farms have been inundated, he said.

Md Enayet Hossain of the same area said: “How do we celebrate Eid when all our belongings have gone under wa-ter? There is no place to cook inside the house. The high tide of the new moon will occur before Eid, again causing massive � oods.”

The local administration has made a list of the victims, but the locals claim that the actual number was much high-er than that on the list.

Prokash Kumar, an o� cial of the District Relief and Rehabilitation Of-� ce, said rice and cash has been distrib-uted among the victims by the upazila nirbahi o� cers on an emergency basis. The allocation will be increased ac-cording to the list of victims.

On July 12, in the wake of the high tide, the embankments under the Wa-ter Development Board at around 80 villages of Barguna sadar upazila went under water. l

BRIBERY ALLEGATION

Deed writers at loggerheads with Sreepur Sub-registrar in Gazipurn Our correspondent, Gazipur

The deed writers in Sreepur upazila of the district are at loggerheads with the sub-registrar over the latter’s excessive demand for bribe for deed registration.

The stamp vendors and the writ-ers alleged that Sub-register Zaminul Haq had been demanding more than Tk300 he extracted as commission on every registration of deed valued at Tk100,000.

They also alleged that the sub-regis-trar was pressing them for more money for documentation ahead of the Eid be-sides the government-� xed charges for land regisration.

The undue demand led to a face-o� between the two sides while the sub-registrar Zaminul faced con� ne-ment on July 22 by the deed writers.

Sources said the sub-registrar asso-

ciate Faruk Ahmed collected the bribe from the deed writers.

If the extra was not paid, a lot of pitfalls were discovered in the deed writing and when paid, all those were ignored, said the members of Deed Writers’ Association.

They also alleged that the sub-reg-istrar had to be bribed Tk10,000 for out-of-o� ce deed registration and the bribe amount was hiked if the registari-on took place in the capital.

It was a open secret in Sreepur sub-registry o� ce, the stamp vendors and deed writers pointed out, adding that earlier all of them including land buyers and sellers were held hostage to the whim of sub-registrar.

They kept mum in fear of the sub-registrar’s threat that their writ-ing licence would be null and void if they protested, alleged the associa-

tion members. Sub-registrar Zaminul Haq used to allegedly defy the rule of self-presence when registering deed outside workstation, they said.

They also revealed that in most cas-es Zaminul sent his personal secretary Faruk Ahmed to do the job for him.

Besides Faruk, Tajuddin, Oazuddin, Alamgir and other o� ce bearers were also engaged in collecting thumb im-pressions of both land buyers and sellers who failed to put their own signatures. Witnesses said on July 22 the sub-regis-trar demanded a bribe of Tk100,000 for deed regirstration from the assocation president, Shahjahan Mondal.

They added that Sub-registrar Zam-imul used to press the deed writers to pay him Tk7,000 for per deed registra-tion. At one stage of the day, the writers lost their patience and they all � ew into a rage.

The sub-registrar was assaulted and kept con� ned to a room.

Zaminul’s associate Faruk Ahmed was also given a sound beating.

Faruk � led a case against the asso-ciation secretary, Shahjahan Mondal, and some association members.

Shahjahan also � led a complaint against Faruk and his associates with the police staiton. O� cer-in-Charge of Sreepur police station Mohsinul Kadir said on information they sent police to the regisry o� ce to bring the situation under control.

Contacted, Sub-registrar Zaminul declined to take bribe and the assult on him. He also described the allegations against him “baseless”. Asked why tension is running high in the registry o� ce, he refused to comment. Sreepur Upazila Nirbahi O� cer Sadekur Rah-man said he would see to it. l

One held with 432 bottles of beern Our Correspondent, Munshiganj

Police arrested an alleged drug trader on Friday and seized 432 bottles of for-eign beer from Mukterpool area in the Sadar upazila here.

The arrested is Dilip Biswas, a resi-dent of Pura bazar of Tongibari uapzila of the district. Munshiganj Sadar police station OC Shahidul Islam said acting on a tip-o� , a local police team stopped a microbus, which was moving towards the district, in front of Mukterpool Toll Plaza around 11:15pm. l

Lack of land record books make 400 copyists joblessn Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon

Around 400 copyists are unemployed since they have not been getting any land record book – locally known as “balam boi” – to work with from the six sub-registry o� ces in Thakurgaon.

They said they are living in hardship due to a lack of income from their long-held profession.

A copyist Shilpi Akter, who works at Pirganj sub-registry o� ce, says, “I got a balam boi [land record book] on May 8. After recording 64 property deeds in the book, the pages ran out and I am now jobless.” She added: “What I had copied will only earn me Tk7,200. I submitted the record book on July 23.”

Sources at the district registrar’s of-� ce said there are 100 people enlisted as copyists at Sadar, 82 at Pirganj, 60 at Rani Shankail, 42 at Haripur, 60 at La-hirihat and 32 at Bhulibazar.

It received 250 land record books in May this year. The books were lat-er given to the copyists at � ve other sub-registry o� ces except the ones at

Sadar upazila. With the record books that came in, they were employed for just one and a half months.

A total of 1,71,571 land deeds had piled up at the sub-registry land o� ces until June. Of them, 48,533 property deeds formed a pile at Sadar upazila sub-registry o� ce, 30,443 at Pirganj, 30,172 at Ranis-hankail, 15,932 at Haripur, 9,288 at Bhuli-bazar and 37,203 at Lahirihat. Additional-ly, over 3000 more land deeds have been added to the pileup this month.

Pirganj Sub-Registrar Md Nurul Hakim said: “We cannot go by the rules of pro-viding people with BG Press-provided re-ceipt books. We would have closed down our businesses and gone home if we had waited for the BG Press receipt books.”

Thakurgaon District Registrar Md Makbul Hossain said they are reporting to the director general (registry) every month but it has not yielded any result yet. There was an annual meeting at the Local Government Building in the capi-tal on June 22 where all district registrars were present. The meeting was apprised of the crisis of Balam books and so on. l

Tourist police in Cox’s Bazar set in motionn Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

With a view to providing security for tourists in Cox’s Bazar, tourist police has begun its o� cial journey as a sep-arate unit under the country’s police department.

The information was revealed on Friday at a meeting at the tourist police o� ce in Laboni Point of the beach.

Tourist police, which is the � rst of its kind in the country, began its jour-ney with 30 o� cials, last December. All the o� cials were from the police department. On Friday, however, 52 policemen led by an additional police super under the unit began o� cially discharging their duties on the beach.

Shamsun Nahar, additional police super of tourist police, said the unit has 621 members but not all of them have been assigned posts.

“Tourist police began its � rst o� cial journey in Cox’s Bazar, a key tourist at-traction of the country. They have been tasked with providing security at all the tourist spots in the area. We have increased the number of o� cials of

the unit and they will work in di� erent spots for 10 days after Eid day,” she said.

Cox’s Bazar Police Super Md Azad Mia said the tourist police was part of the police department’s initiatives to ensure security for holidaymakers trav-elling to Cox’s Bazar during Eid.

“The unit will have its full-� edged inauguration early next year. We have added more members to the unit be-cause of Eid. Among the members are an additional police super and an assis-tant police super,” he added.

Meanwhile, the news of the o� cial launch of tourist police has brought re-lief among tourism companies.

“Every year, both domestic and for-eign tourists are mugged or go through unpleasant experiences on the beach or other tourist attractions in the area,” said Rumi Siddiqi, chief executive of Seagull Hotel.

“Such incidents negatively impact the tourism sector as potential tourists feel discouraged to come here, ham-pering our business. I believe the intro-duction of tourist police will put an end to the woes of tourists,” he added. l

Tourist police make their � st public appearance in Cox's Bazar yesterday as a separate unit under the country's police department DHAKA TRIBUNE

Female alleged drug dealer held with 4 others n Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

In a drive, members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested a female al-leged drug dealer and her three accom-plices early yesterday from Chawl Ba-zar area of the district town and seized 1.6kg of heroin from them.

The elite force also recovered a large amount of ammunition and money from their possession.

The arrested are dealer Usha Ra-khain, her husband Soid Md Shakil and the couple’s cohorts Maichenu and Marchen.

Upon being tipped-o� , a team from RAB 7 conducted a raid on Usha’s house in Rakhain Palli of the area at night. She had been behind bars for a long time for involvement in several drug trading re-lated cases and has only recently been freed from jail on bail. The RAB 7 team arrested Usha and the other four from the house, said RAB 7 acting company commander SP Sajedur Rahman.

During the drive, the elite force re-covered the heroin as well as one for-eign-made pistol, three rounds of bul-lets, one machete and Tk1.7 lakh.

Usha Rakhain is listed as one of the leading drug barons in the records at the Home Ministry, the SP continued. l

Naogaon district unit Udichi Shilpi Gosthi, a pro-left cultural organisation, forms a human chain in the city yesterday in protest against the recent Israel's assault on the Gaza strip

Residents along the coastal area are fearful since the embankments in the respective areas were not repaired properly

Breaking through the cluttern Ahsan Sajid

How does a brand break into a market that is dominated by big names? Dhaka Tribune posed this question to Micro-max’s Vice President of International Business Amit Mathur, who believes that counting on innovations, targeting speci� c consumer requirements and understanding usage patterns is the key.

Micromax has in recent years shift-ed from cheaper phones to value for money products as a decided approach to cater to the needs and ful� l the as-piration level of a vast target audience. Democratisation of technology and in-novation is the core of their business.

Can you tell us a little about Micromax’s beginning, before Bangladesh, and since you joined in 2012?Amit Mathur: Micromax is an Indian mobile phone company that had pre-viously been a distributor. We made the move to mobile phones seven years back, because we saw a need at that time of a dual-sim phone which other companies were not o� ering. We got into the mobile phone business through feature phones, and started expanding our business in India.

As the smartphones started getting more and more popular, we jumped the Android bandwagon. We realised at this time that neighbouring coun-tries like Bangladesh and Nepal had a similar demography, and it only made sense to get into these markets. We were seeing a lot of traction in India, we were consolidating our base and at the same time entering these markets. We did get into these markets about three years back but real e� ort started about a year back with Android.

Since I joined in 2012, we as a com-pany have focused on the potential of the Android market. Not to say we are ignoring feature phones, in fact we have recently launched a feature phone, the X088 which I hear is one of the highest selling feature phones in the Bangladesh market; unfortu-nately there is no o� cial market data.

How did you get the word out in the Bangladeshi market?There are a number of satellite chan-

nels that are very popular in Bangla-desh, fortunately, so we had that. But instead of focusing on TV we started doing a lot of work at the ground level. We started a visibility drive, branding stores, dealer boards; we took it step by step. What was most important was for us to cover the entire country, and we currently have spread our dis-tribution network to 66 districts. The business is steadily growing and we are appointing more and more distrib-utors. We have a de� nite footprint.

As far as the retail market is con-cerned, we tried something new and innovative. We started a programme called “Bandhan” among all the re-tailers. Under this we have introduced a retail visibility contest, so that our retailers are competing against one another, very enthusiastically. We provide them with a variety of point of sales materials and it is up to their creativity to use it to decorate the shop. This competition is working for us because when a customer walks in, he is seeing Micromax branded all around. We have seen tremendous participation from retailers – almost 200 of them are participating from Dhaka and Chittagong alone.

The smartphone market is picking up in Bangladesh and we have a lot to do here. We are committed to being here and o� ering innovative, a� ord-able products.

How does one break into a market, specifically Bangladesh, which is already dominated by big names?If there is a big name that means they

have already put in a lot of hard work, so it is obviously di� cult to compete. Having said that, there is de� nite-ly scope for competition. Micromax breaking into a market dominated by big names � rst of all means � gur-ing out where the product gap is and where the price gap is. This is what we focused on. We o� ered features at more a� ordable prices which helped us gain a foothold in the market. Our team, partners and retailers all put in a lot of hard work.

What does “Nothing Like Anything” mean?What we are saying is that Micromax products are unique. Whether on fea-ture or smart phones, we are o� ering something more.

Does this reflect on the company as well?We are di� erent because we are very nimble-footed and we react fast. We have grown from the grassroots lev-el, having previously worked on dis-tribution, so we understand di� erent aspects of this business. We are a com-pany of young people hungry to grow. There is de� nitely scope for us to be a top player globally. We believe in democratising technology and this is what keeps us going.

When did you notice the Bangladeshi market?Bangladesh is a big market, it’s a growing market, and we also feel the economy will grow big time in Bangla-desh. We were doing well in India and the demographic being so similar, we

decided to look into it as well. When we analysed the market we quickly saw the opportunity. It’s a very keenly contested market, with a lot of local players and all doing well. There’s also a lot of growing potential for Android here, which is another thing that at-tracted us to it.

What similarities are there between Bangladeshi and Indian markets?There is a similarity in the very way business is done. As far as products are concerned, the needs are unique everywhere. We had notions about which products would do well here, but we quickly realised the demands are slightly di� erent here. We are working on introducing products here relevant to this market. Since Android is so popular here, on the occasion of Eid we have launched seven new models of Android phones covering a very broad price bracket, making sure there is a product for everyone.

Micromax is currently available across the SAARC countries and Russia. How is the future of the company looking?We take time to enter a market, but when we do, we become very aggres-sive. We have started operations in Russia this year, and gained a foot-hold, but it is too early to say any-thing yet. We are obviously looking forward to expanding, but as I have said, we will be cautious with our ap-proach. Before that we obviously need to build the product and the brand, and good customer support has to be available before you can make your mark in a country. We are spending a lot on brand building in Bangladesh, and have already introduced 18 ser-vice centres, which is part of our ag-gressive strategy. We will have put in six more before Eid. We do want to be-come one of the big names, but it will take time and we want to do it right.

We will be working on our service and introducing new products as part of our commitment to Bangladesh. We are looking at introducing smart-phones designed for easy transition from feature phones which we believe will be very helpful for an average fea-ture phone user here. l

7CareerDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, July 27, 2014

Maximising the talent beyond the shores of Bangladeshn Naiian Yazdani

My father recently joined Facebook and every week he emerges from his self-made “music studio” and excitedly announces the latest batch-mate from BUET, his Cadet College or even primary school. The locations of his buddies catch my attention. Like my father, who migrated with his family to Australia via Botswana, many of them made their homes and careers outside Bangladesh. The destinations are diverse, from the expected such as the US to more uncommon ones such as Norway.

As the list of nations rolls o� his tongue a clear picture of lost intellectual capital to wealthier nations emerges. The challenge now is to provide reasons and mechanisms for those who have already established themselves abroad to make contributions to Bangladesh. There is a multitude of interweaving issues from the emotive such as identity, duty, familial ties to the practical such as business transparency and formulating incentives.

The rationale for those leaving Ban-gladesh, referred to as non-resident Ban-gladeshis (NRBs), and settling elsewhere is simple; a better life for themselves and their families. This motivation is not absolved by social background, from labourers to lawyers; it is the same for all those who decide to make their lives abroad. The a� nity for Bangladesh re-mains strong amongst the diaspora. This is sustained by the extended fami-ly, which remain in Bangladesh and the sheer volume of Bangladeshis in most large cities, creating readymade com-munities and social outlets. It is this bond that helps NRBs retain the percep-tion of Bangladesh as their homeland and be prepared to invest.

The traditional mechanism for support has been through remittance, and according to Bangladesh Bank, $14.2bn has injected in for the 12 months ended June 2014. This has paved the way for institutions such as NRB Global Bank to provide a recognised medium to utilise these in� ows. While remittance will remain the cornerstone of the contributions for those abroad, globalisation and the willingness of the next generation to be part of the international conversation facilitates the diversi� cation of methods.

To understand what potential con-tributions NRBs may make, an under-standing of how they have progressed is required. They are now into their

third and sometimes even fourth gen-erations and have had opportune time to integrate themselves into their new homelands. Ingratiating themselves into the culture from a young age has meant the distinct disadvantages faced by the � rst generation such as the lack of domestic experience, recognition and cultural understanding has subsided. In other words, the starting point for the subsequent generations is the same as the wider society. As a second genera-tion Bangladeshi-Australian myself, I only need to look at those I have grown up with and I will � nd highly successful doctors, barristers, bankers, accoun-tants, engineers and entrepreneurs.

As a sidenote, it is worth recognising the immense sacri� ce that the � rst generation of Bangladeshi migrants have had to make and continue to make to ensure that the subsequent generations can ful� l their potential. In many cases it means taking positions well below their intellectual capacity and market value, simply because of their origin. This is not to say Bangladesh would have catered to these people, on the contrary, the lack of opportunity is the primary reason many had left, a somewhat catch-22 scenario. It can be a tough grind for the

ones who make the � rst jump and will remain so, as Bangladeshi experience and education still carries little weight internationally.

There is undoubtedly a dormant network comprising of successful people across all industries and educated across all institutions. However, support and encouragement is required so these people can make large, scalable positive impacts in Bangladesh. Sentiment will only sustain a minimum contribution, rather a capital approach is more suitable and a clear value proposition needs to be established. Bangladesh has a large labour force and is constantly up-skilling to compete globally not only on cost but also on quality. It serves as the primary opportunity for those looking to making strong returns. This is not to say it has to be restricted to a monetary form.

In the modern context where even the most menial tasks are shared, the � rst and immediate scope is to engage with the NRBs to � ll in knowledge gaps. There are many areas in which expertise have been attained and may not be in Bangladesh. This cuts across various industries from the established such as medicine to emerging ones such as insurance. There is potential to undertake such knowledge

sharing through videos, social media, conferences and articles.

Bangladesh is also increasingly engaging internationally and in doing so, facilitating contacts and networking will play a crucial role. Connections are required at both ends, those looking to access into Bangladesh and those from Bangladesh outward. NRBs have a signi� cant advantage, with one foot in each population they are in pole position to be the point of contact.

These are some simple notions and truthfully it is not idea generation that

is going to be the issue. Fundamentally, it is translating these ideas into reality and ensuring that all parties act in good faith. There are clear hurdles that need to be addressed in order for the risk to be worth the reward.

The preeminent issue is the lack of transparency in both the public and private spheres. The political instabili-ty and muddled relationships with the business world looms large over anyone wanting to commence any task. The ef-fect is compounded for those who have limited networks in Bangladesh, par-ticularly later generations of NRBs. It is not immediately clear who or what is reliable and how one may be able to � nd their way into Bangladesh. The lack of clarity and understanding of a viable approach perpetuates the perception of risk and needs to be reversed.

Leadership is required and ideally it starts with political, business and industry leaders, many of whom have strong NRB networks. However, it may be those farther down the chain that can make the most impact, particularly those returning after studying abroad and the young bright sparks who will always remain in Bangladesh. The graduates educated abroad, especially those who have spent time working are

often welcomed back with open arms and are highly sought after. They are in an ideal position to open avenues for both NRBs and Bangladeshis.

Finally, there are those from the lat-est generation who have grown up in the digital world and may never leave Bangladesh. What makes this group especially equipped to engage NRBs is their experiences, conversations, tastes and views are now exchanged imme-diately through social media. Thereby, the cord, which was once cut at the airport, remains strong as ever. For ex-ample my interaction with my cousins growing up was limited to the six week visit every second or third year. Howev-er, today, our conversations do not end simply because I have � own back to Sydney, rather they continue via email and Facebook on bus rides, waiting rooms and restaurants thousands of ki-lometres apart.

In my personal experience, as some-one who has directly supervised cur-rent undergraduate and postgraduate students in a start-up based in Dha-ka, the talent of these youngsters is unquestionable. The young men and women I have dealt with are far more engaged, inspired and determined re-garding their ambitions and approach to their duties than I was (admittedly, this may be saying more about me than them). What is particularly striking is their comfort as global citizens and having no underlying perception of in-feriority, an element, which in my ex-perience was exuded by earlier gener-ations. It really is both impressive and inspiring and they are ones who may be best capable of engaging NRBs.

The modern world, in which borders are increasingly meaningless, is primed to capitalise on those who have left Ban-gladesh. It is a large-scale task and re-quires leadership at all levels to not only initiate and design a mutually bene� cial sustainable model but also implement it. The accumulated knowledge of Ban-gladeshi diaspora is a valuable asset and is a resource worth utilising. l

Naiian is the Co-founder and Director of GradConnect and currently a MBA 2015 candidate at Said Business School, University of Oxford. GradConnect (www.grad-connect.com) is a PIER International-certi� ed � rm, advising international study aspirants through its International Education Service, and providing Career Intelligence through GradInsights (www.grad-insights.com). Naiian can be contacted atnaiian@grad-connect.com

Preparing for a work leaven Ahsan Sajid

Today the line between a profession-al and personal life has become quite blurred – it’s almost an everyday oc-currence to leave work and then end up spending a few more hours brain-storming with the team on Facebook from home or constantly checking up on project updates or worse, having to constantly update someone on prog-ress.

A leave is the only time that you can truly turn your brain o� from work. However, unless you prepare for it right, you will end up having to spend your leave doing this and that for work over the phone and social media.

Since we all have vacations coming up for Eid, the time is right to tie up loose ends and get ready to plug o� from work.

While leaves are ideally a great time to relax, the holidays, more speci� cally the days leading up to the holidays can be extremely stressful. It’s not just be-cause of preparations at home but for the long break and subsequent damage it might do to your prowess at work.

The following are a number of help-ful suggestions to help you get ready for the break, and switch o� complete-ly without any unwanted intrusions from work.

Do the researchThe � rst step is to do your research. Go through the memo. Exactly how many leaves are you entitled to? It is safest to meet with the HR department and your supervisor and make sure you know which days you can o� cially have o� .

Save up daysIf you are planning to go on a big leave and require a few more days o� than you have for vacations, save up on leaves the rest of the year.

Many companies have an addition-al privilege leave on top of vacation leaves. Find out if you can take them consecutively.

If you can add any additional days to your o� cial vacation days, you could give yourself that much-needed long break. However, before you start stock-piling your vacation time, make sure you run your plan by your employer. Some employers may not let you do

this, and you will have lost stored up time for nothing.

Inform colleaguesMake sure that everybody on your team is aware of your plans. You don’t have to go into personal holiday plans but it is best to mention if you’ll be out of town or out of country, in case you are needed for emergencies. Sharing just this little bit of information up-front will avoid uncertainties later. It reduces signi� cant stress for every-body when the team is aware of who is re-joining when.

Leave a replacementWhether someone is o� cially assigned to do your work during your absence or a colleague o� ers to pick up the slack, make sure you are sharing enough rel-evant information about all on-going projects you are handling with your team.

In case work has to move forward while you are gone and someone has to � ll in, the more information your tem-porary replacement has, the easier the time will be for everyone. It will also signi� cantly reduce the chance of you having to return to a growing pile on your desk on your � rst day back.

Do a final meetingEven if not an o� cial meeting, try ar-ranging a casual sit down before the vacation with your employer and fel-low colleagues. It will be easier for ev-eryone to leave things as neat and tidy as possible. Getting on top of as many projects, phone calls and emails as pos-sible before leaving is ideal.

Most importantly, use the meeting to set some ground rules for when you are not going to be there. In case you need to be contacted during the holi-days, make sure everyone knows how, when and where. l

One of Micromax’s marketing strategies has been a visibility contest among retailers

There is a dormant network comprised of successful people across all industries and educated across all institutions. Support and encouragement is required so these people can make large, scalable positive impacts in Bangladesh

Sunday, July 27, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

In Gaza lull, residents return to destroyed areasE� orts proceed to secure permanent cease� re after a 12-hour humanitarian truce, death toll in Gaza o� ensive tops 1,000n Reuters, Gaza Strip

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip poured into the streets yesterday to recover their dead and stock up on food sup-plies after a 12-hour humanitarian truce agreed by Israel and Hamas took hold on the 19th day of their con� ict.

Women in the northern town of Beit Hanoun wailed as medics pulled three dead relatives from a home struck overnight by an Israeli air strike, with hospital o� cials saying 85 bodies had been found after the guns fell silent at 8am (0500 GMT). Just before the truce started, 18 members of a sin-gle family, including � ve children, died in a strike near the southern town of Khan Younis, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Israel’s military pledged to hold � re for 12 hours but said it would carry on

searching for tunnels used by militants. The Islamist group Hamas, which dom-inates Gaza, said all Palestinian fac-tions would abide by the brief truce. US Secretary of State John Kerry has been spearheading international e� orts to end the � ghting.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll in the 19-day con� ict between Is-rael and Hamas militants has climbed to over 1,000, many of them civilians, Gaza’s health ministry said yesterday.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that the foreign ministers of all seven countries involved in the diplomacy – the United States, France, Britain, Italy, Germany, Turkey and Qatar – had called for an extension of the truce.

“All of us call on the parties to ex-tend the military cease� re that is cur-rently under way,” Fabius said.

War tollIsrael said two more of its soldiers were killed in pre-truce � ghting in Gaza, bringing the army death toll to 37 as troops battled militants in the tiny Mediterraneanenclave that is home to 1.8 million Palestinians.

Two Israeli civilians and a Thai la-bourer have also been killed by rock-ets � red from Gaza. Israel launched its o� ensive on July 8, vowing to halt re-peated rocket � re out of Gaza by Hamas militants who want to break a blockade of the territory.

Stunned residents of Beit Hanoun wandered through destroyed streets lined with damaged houses or mounds of rubble where once whole buildings had stood. Some who had not seen each other for days embraced as they surveyed the wreckage around them.

Many of Beit Hanoun’s 30,000 resi-

dents had � ed the area. “We hope the calm lasts and they � nd a solution so � ghting ends. We are afraid for our chil-dren’s safety,” she said, adding she will not leave her home. “There is no place to go.” Israeli tanks stood by as people searched through the debris for their belongings, packing whatever they could, blankets, furniture and clothes into taxis, trucks, rickshaws and don-key carts before � eeing the town.

Naser Tattar, director of Gaza’s main Shifa hospital, said most of the bodies recovered on Saturday came from Beit Hanoun, Khan Younis and Shejaia – a district east of Gaza City. Residents re-turning to that neighbourhood found entire blocks � attened.

Fighting continued until the truce took hold. Militants � red a barrage of rockets out of Gaza, triggering sirens across much of southern and central

Israel. No injuries were reported and the Iron Dome interceptor system shot down some missiles.

Eid al-FitrMinutes after the truce began, many Gaza residents rushed out of their homes and lined up outside banks to withdraw cash. Gaza City market was packed with people buying food and clothes for the coming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

“For us the Eid is going to be another day of war, another day of grief. I hope it all ends before we lose more people,” said Shaima Mahmoud who was shop-ping with her four-year-old daughter for a holiday dress.

Israel on Friday rejected internation-al proposals for an extended cease� re, a government source said. But Kerry said in Cairo that no formal proposals

had yet been put forward. He said there were still disagree-

ments on the terminology, but he was con� dent there was a frame-work that would ultimately succeed and that “serious progress” had been made, although there was more work to do.

Israel’s and Hamas’s positions are still far apart.

Hamas wants an end to an Israe-li-Egyptian blockade of Gaza before agreeing to halt hostilities. Israeli o� cials said any cease� re must al-low the military to carry on hunting down Hamas’s tunnel network that criss-crosses the Gaza border.

Israel says some of the tunnels reached into Israel and were meant to carry out attack on Israelis. Other un-derground passages serve as weapon caches and Hamasbunkers. l

EU edges to economic sanctions on Russia but narrows scopen Reuters, Brussels

The European Union has reached out-line agreement to impose the � rst economic sanctions on Russia over its behaviour in Ukraine but scaled back their scope to exclude technology for the crucial gas sector.

The EU also imposed travel bans and asset freezes on the chiefs of Rus-sia’s FSB security service and foreign intelligence service and a number of other top Russian o� cials, saying they had helped shape Russian government policy that threatened Ukraine’s sover-eignty and national integrity.

FSB director Alexander Bortnikov and Mikhail Fradkov, a former prime minister who now heads the foreign in-

telligence service, were among 15 Rus-sians or Ukrainians and 18 companies and other organisations named in the EU’s latest sanctions list.

Also sanctioned were the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who the EU said had made statements supporting Russia’s annex-ation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and the insurgency in eastern Ukraine, and several Ukrainian separatist leaders.

After months of hesitation, the EU is set to go beyond asset freezes by im-posing sanctions on sectors of the Rus-sian economy.

The 28-nation EU toughened its stance towards Moscow following last week’s downing of a Malaysian airliner,

killing 298 people, in an area of eastern Ukraine held by Russian-backed sepa-ratists. EU ambassadors reached a pre-liminary agreement on Friday.

European Council President Her-man Van Rompuy wrote to EU leaders asking them to authorise their ambas-sadors to complete an agreement by Tuesday. That would avoid the need for leaders to hold a special summit to approve the sanctions.

Van Rompuy said the proposed sanctions package “strikes the right balance” in terms of costs and bene� ts to the EU and in its � exibility to ramp up sanctions or reverse them over time.

“It should have a strong impact on Russia’s economy while keeping a moderate e� ect on EU economies,” he

wrote in the letter, seen by Reuters.But Van Rompuy said the sanctions

on access to capital markets, arms and hi-tech goods were likely to apply only to future contracts, leaving France free to go ahead with the controversial de-livery of Mistral helicopter carriers be-ing built for Russia.

The narrowing of the proposed measures highlighted the di� culty of agreeing to tough sanctions among countries which have widely di� erent economic interests and rely to varying degrees on Russian gas.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said late on Friday that following the ambassa-dor’s discussions the Commission had adopted a draft legal text for the

Russia sanctions package.“The � nal decision now lies with the

EU’s member states, but I believe that this is an e� ective, well-targeted and balanced package providing the � ex-ibility to adjust our reaction to chang-es on the ground. I hope that member states will agree on this package of re-strictive measures next week,” he said in a statement.

The measures are not an end in themselves, “but a means to achieve a negotiated and political solution to the crisis ... I call on Russia to take decisive steps to stop the violence and genuine-ly engage in peace plan discussions,” he said.

EU ambassadors will try to reach a � nal deal at a meeting on Tuesday. l

ISIS ‘may be‘ on UN war crimes list n BBC, Syria

Fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) may be added to a list of war crimes suspects in Syria, the chief UN investigator says.

“They are good candidates for the list,” Paulo Pinheiro said, referring to public executions and cruci� xions car-ried out by the militant group.

The con� dential list was revealed to the UN Security Council and reporters for the � rst time on Friday. People from both sides of the three-year Syria con-� ict are to be included. Isis militants, who control vast swathes of territory in northern Syria and neighbouring Iraq, have been engaged in � erce � ght-

ing with Syrian government forces in Raqqa province in recent days.

‘No accountability’“I can assure you that we are collect-ing information on perpetrators from all sides including non-state armed groups and Isis,” Mr Pinheiro, the head of the independent UN commission on Syrian war crimes, told reporters.

“I am not in a position to say who is winning the World Cup of human rights violations. Both sides are doing horri� c things and they will continue if there is no accountability,” he added.

As well as Isis, Mr Pinheiro speci-� ed the heads of Syrian intelligence branches and detention facilities, mil-

itary commanders who target civil-ians, airports where bombing attacks are launched and armed groups and individuals involved in “attacking and forcibly displacing civilians.”

UN human rights investigator Kar-en Koning Abu Zayd has also warned that more and more Syrian rebels are defecting from their own groups to join the hardline Isis insurgency.

Meanwhile, Isis rebels said on Fri-day they had seized control of a large military base on the outskirts of the northern city of Raqqa.

At least 170,000 people have been killed, a third of them civilians, since the start of the uprising against Presi-dent Bashar al-Assad in March 2011. l

Sistani: Iraq leaders must not cling to powern Agencies

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s top cleric, has called on political leaders to refrain from clinging to their posts, in an apparent reference to Prime Minis-ter Nouri al-Maliki, who has de� ed de-mands that he step aside.

Speaking through an aide who deliv-ered a sermon after Friday prayers in the holy city of Kerbala, Sistani said leaders should show � exibility so that political deadlocks can be broken and Iraq can confront dangers and terrorism.

Last month, Sunni � ghters from the Islamic State staged a stunning sweep through northern and western Iraq, posing the biggest challenge to Maliki’s Shia-led government since the depar-ture of US forces in 2011.

Critics say Maliki is a divisive � gure whose alienation of Sunnis has fuelled sectarian anger and played into the hands of the Islamic State, who have threatened to march on Baghdad, the capital.

Speaking through his aide, Sheikh Abdul Mehdi al-Kerbala’i, Sistani said it was time for politicians to think of Iraq’s interests, not their own.

“The sensitivity of this phase neces-sitates that all the parties concerned should have a spirit of national respon-sibility that requires the practice of the principle of sacri� ce and self-denial and not to cling to positions and posts.”

Maliki, a Shia who has been in power in a caretaker capacity since an election in April, has dismissed demands from Sunnis and Kurds that he step aside for a less polarising � gure.

Even some Shias oppose his bid for a third term, the Reuters news agency reported.

President electedIraq’s parliament elected senior Kurd-ish politician Fouad Masoum as presi-dent on Thursday, a long-awaited step in creating a new government capable of countering the Islamic State.

Politicians have been in deadlock over forming a new government since the election. The next step, choosing a prime minister, may prove far more dif-� cult as Maliki digs in.

Sistani’s call for � exibility could has-ten Maliki’s departure.

The 83-year-old has sway over mil-lions of Iraqis and is seen as a voice of reason in a country deeply divided along sectarian lines.

A recluse who favours a behind-the-scenes role, Sistani has called for Iraqis to take up arms against the Islamic State.

On Thursday, the cleric met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who urged Iraqi politicians to form an inclu-sive government that can confront the Sunni � ghters. l

Ukraine con� ict: Russia accuses US of ‘smear campaign’n BBC, Ukraine

Russia has accused the US of launching a “smear campaign” over its alleged involve-ment in the con� ict in Ukraine.

The foreign ministry in Moscow said on Friday it rejects “unfounded public insinu-ations” from the US government. But the Pentagon says it believes the movement of Russian heavy-calibre artillery systems across the border into Ukraine is “imminent.”

The row comes as more bodies of victims from � ight MH17, which crashed in Ukraine, arrived in the Netherlands.

Separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine have been accused of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines plane.

The US says it believes rebels shot down the passenger jet with a Rus-sian-provided SA-11 Buk surface-to-air missile, probably by mistake.

Russia has frequently denied sending heavy weapons into Ukraine but rebel leaders have given con� icting accounts of whether they had control of a Buk launch-er at the time the plane was downed.

‘Anti-Russian cliches’The Pentagon said on Friday that it had evidence to suggest Russia is preparing to transfer more rocket launcher systems to the rebels. “We have indications that the Russians intend to supply heavier and more sophisticated multiple-launch rocket systems in the very near future,” Col Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said.

On Thursday, a US state depart-ment spokesperson said there was also evidence Russian troops were � ring on Ukrainian soldiers from within Russia.

But in a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said the US was pushing “an-ti-Russian cliches” to protect their allies in Kiev by obscuring the “real reasons for events in Ukraine.”

The BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Moscow says that amid all the accusations of war-mongering, it seems Russia is keen to stress that so far, it has actually shown restraint. Meanwhile, the EU has formally announced that it is strengthening sanc-tions against Russia, adding “15 further persons and 18 entities” to an asset freeze and a visa ban.

A statement released on Friday said that those targeted are “responsible for action against Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”

The Russian o� cials targeted include Federal Security Service head Alexander Bortnikov and foreign intelligence head Mikhail Fradkov. The � ghting in eastern Ukraine erupted in April and is believed to have claimed more than 1,000 lives.

‘Spy or a big one?’Ukraine o� cials published the latest in a series of audio recordings on Friday that appears to be a conversation between rebels, minutes before MH17 crashed.

In the recording, which has not been independently veri� ed, a rebel tells a commander that a “bird had � own” in his direction. When the commander asks if it was a “spy or a big one?” the rebel says that he cannot tell because it is � ying too high.

All 298 people on board the � ight died in the crash on 17 July, including 193 Dutch citizens, 43 Malaysians and 27 Australians. About 200 bodies were recovered from the crash site in eastern Ukraine. l

From left: (1) A Palestinian man carries his belongings as he walks past destroyed houses in the Shejaia neighborhood, which witnesses said was heavily hit by Israeli shelling and air strikes during an Israeli o� ensive, in Gaza City . (2) A Palestinian woman reacts as she carries her belongings from her destroyed house in Beit Hanoun town in the northern Gaza Strip. (3) Palestinians look at the damaged hospital in Beit Hanoun town REUTERS

A � ghter from ISIS in Syria WIKI

9Sunday, July 27, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

Experts begin ‘di� cult’ Air Algerie crash proben AFP, Bamako

Investigators were due on the site of the Air Algerie plane disaster in Mali Saturday to try and determine why the jetliner came down with such force that it completely disintegrated.

O� cials who had already reached the remote, barren area described a scene of total devastation littered with twisted and charred fragments of the plane that was carrying 118 on board, including entire families.

No one survived the impact and France bore the brunt of the disas-ter with 54 nationals killed in Thurs-day’s crash of the McDonnell Doug-las 83, which had taken o� from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and was bound for Algiers.

“It is di� cult to retrieve anything, even victims’ bodies, because we have only seen body parts on the ground,” said General Gilbert Diendiere, chief of the military sta� of Burkina Faso’s presidency.

He was a member of a delegation sent to the crash site in the Gossi area, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Mali’s northern city of Gao, by Presi-dent Blaise Compaore.

Travellers from Burkina Faso, Leb-

anon, Algeria, Spain, Canada, Germa-ny and Luxembourg also died in the crash, increasingly being blamed on bad weather that forced the pilots to change course.

The French army released initial images of a scene of devastation, with fragments of the jet littering a scorched earth in what is clearly a desolate environment.

Such was the apparent violence of the crash that debris was barely recog-nisable as parts of an aircraft.

“Debris was scattered over an area of 500 metres which is due to the fact that the plane hit the ground and then probably rebounded,” Diendiere said.

- Entire families wiped out -Meanwhile, the scale of the tragedy

for some communities was becoming clear, as it emerged that 10 members of one French family died in the crash.

“It’s brutal. It has wiped an entire family from the earth,” said Patrice Dunard, mayor of Gex, where four of the Reynaud family lived.

And the small town of Menet in cen-tral France was left devastated when residents discovered that a local fami-ly of four – a couple, their 10-year-old daughter Chloe and their 14-year-old son Elno – had died. l

Malaysia and Dutch PMs to discuss access to plane crash siten Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said yesterday he would meet his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte next week to discuss how to secure full access for in-vestigators to the site in Ukraine where a Malaysian airliner was downed.

Pro-Russian separatists remain in control of the area in eastern Ukraine where the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was brought down last week on a � ight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, kill-ing all 298 on board.

Najib helped clinch a deal with sepa-ratist leaders to secure the return of the victims’ remains as well as the aircraft’s two “black boxes,” critical to determin-ing what happened to the � ight. It was now time, he said, to proceed with the full investigation.

“My priority now is to ensure the third part of the deal is honoured, and that international investigators are giv-en full and secure access to the site,” he said in a statement.

“This will require the cooperation of those in control of the crash site and the Ukrainian armed forces.”

The statement said Najib would � y to the Netherlands for talks on Wednesday, after Malaysia has

marked the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Difficult situation on groundMalaysian experts believe at least 30 investigators will be required to cover the full site of the crash, the statement said, in addition to Dutch investigators and an expert from the United Nations’ civil aviation body, the ICAO.

“Unfortunately events on the ground - including ongoing � ghting between Ukrainian and separatist forces - pre-vent such a large contingent of investi-gators being deployed,” it said.

Ukraine’s armed forces have been trying to dislodge separatists from towns in eastern Ukraine since April.

The United States and other Western countries suggest the separatists downed

the plane with a surface-to-air missile supplied by Russia. The separatists deny shooting down the plane and Russia says it has provided no such weapons.

A total of 193 Dutch nationals and 43 Malaysians were among the victims aboard MH-17.

The Dutch Safety Board said this week it had taken control of an inves-tigation into the crash and would co-ordinate a team of investigators from Ukraine, Malaysia, Germany, the Unit-ed States, Britain, Russia and the ICAO.

The European Union reached an outline agreement on Friday to impose the � rst economic sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March and suspicions that it is actively involved in destablising eastern Ukraine.

The 28-nation EU also imposed travel bans and asset freezes on Russian intelli-gence chiefs and other o� cials accused of undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty.

One o� cial added to the list, Alex-ander Tkachyov, the governor of Rus-sia’s southern Krasnodar region, said he had no regrets about any action he had taken. He said the West was “set-tling scores” for the success of the Win-ter Olympics at Sochi in his region in February. l

China denounces British parliament’s inquiry into Hong Kong a� airsn Reuters, Shanghai

China denounced the launch of a Brit-ish parliamentary inquiry into the af-fairs of Hong Kong that has begun 30 years after the two countries agreed on the return of the � nancial hub to Beijing.

Earlier last week, British parlia-ment’s Foreign A� airs Committee opened an inquiry into how British for-eign ministry monitors the implemen-tation of a 1984 agreement between Beijing and London that paved the way for the 1997 return of the British colony to China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokes-man Hong Lei urged Britain to stop in-terfering in China’s domestic a� airs.

“As Hong Kong is a Special Admin-istrative Region of China, a� airs of Hong Kong are purely China’s domes-tic a� airs,” Hong said in a statement published on the ministry’s website late on Friday.

“China is strongly dissatis� ed with and � rmly opposes Britain’s practice,

and has lodged solemn representa-tions,” he added.

Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 under the 1984 agree-ment that provided for Hong Kong to keep its wide-ranging freedoms and autonomy under the “one country, two systems” model.

The city had never been fully dem-ocratic during 150 years of British colo-nial rule.

Chinese o� cials have repeatedly bristled at British comments on Hong Kong’s democratic development, and a recent White Paper issued by China’s cabinet warned against “foreign forc-es” meddling in the city.

A British government report on Hong Kong, presented by then-For-eign Secretary William Hague to the British parliament earlier this month, expressed “serious concerns” about press freedom and self-censorship in its former colony and about reports that leading British banks had pulled advertising from a local pro-democracy newspaper. l

China’s Guangdong removes over 850 ‘naked o� cials’ from their postsn Reuters, Shanghai

More than 850 government workers in China’s southern province of Guang-dong have been forced out of their jobs as part of an anti-crackdown on o� -cials whose spouses and children have emigrated abroad.

An investigation by the provincial government identi� ed 2,190 “naked o� cials” and 866 of them have been removed from their posts, according to a report posted on the Guangdong government’s o� cial news portal on Friday and carried in local media on Saturday.

State media have reported that so-called naked o� cials will not be considered for promotion, as they are viewed as � ight risks whose abil-ity to escape overseas could make them more inclined to engage in acts of corruption.

Xinhua said naked o� cials were a serious problem in Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong. Guangdong prov-ince has traditionally seen high lev-els of emigration with communities of people originally from it scattered throughout Southeast Asia, Europe, Australia and North America. l

US tells Pakistan: Do not let Haqqani � ghters resettlen Reuters, Aspen, Colorado

The US government has urged Pakistan to prevent displaced Haqqani militants from returning to their traditional sanctuary after a Pakistani military of-fensive near the Afghanistan border.

The Haqqani network, which mainly operates out of Pakistan’s border areas, has been blamed for some of the dead-liest and most sophisticated attacks on Nato and Afghan troops in Afghanistan.

“What we’ve asked for is that the Haqqanis, yes they’ve been displaced, yes they’ve been disrupted, but that they not be allowed to regroup and reset-tle back into those historical areas,” said Je� rey Eggers from the White House’s National Security Council, speaking at a security forum in Colorado.

That would break a long tradition of tolerating those who did not target the Pakistani state. No one from the Haqqani network has been reported killed, however, since the o� ensive began in June in the remote region of North Waziristan.

The United States has long pressed for Pakistani action against the Haqqanis. Is-lamabad has said it would target any mil-itants, including the Haqqanis, as they proceed with the military operation.

Pakistan’s envoy to Washington, Jalil Abbas Jilani, sitting alongside Eggers and others at the event, ac-knowledged that Haqqani � ghters al-most certainly � ed the region ahead of the military operation because it was pre-announced.

But Jilani also urged more to be done across the border in Afghanistan to deal with any militants who may have � ed there.

“We are having good cooperation but I think something more is required to be done in order to make sure that the successes ... are conclusive,” Jilani said.

Afghanistan’s envoy to Washington, Eklil Hakimi, said his information sug-gested that Haqqani militants had safe passage inside Pakistan and were going elsewhere inside Pakistan.

John Allen, the retired four-star general who led US and Nato forces in

Afghanistan, voiced skepticism about Islamabad’s past willingness to go af-ter the Haqqanis, even as he acknowl-edged the opportunity presented by the ongoing o� ensive.

“When I was commander there, the Haqqani killed or wounded over 500 of my troops. And the opera-tions in Waziristan somehow missed them every time they conducted ops on the eastern side of the border,”

Allen said at the event.US lawmakers warn that Pakistan

will have to crackdown on the Haqqa-nis or lose millions in US military aid.

“What matters now is how this con-tinues and whether or not the Haqqa-nis are a� orded a sanctuary to return to when the operation gets into its ter-minal phase,” said Eggers, the senior director for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the NSC. l

Is earth in the early days of a new mass-extinction event? n Tribune Desk

Remember the mass-extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs? Earth is apparently on the verge of another great biological extinction, for which, experts say, humans are solely to blame.

Scientists have previously classi� ed � ve large-scale losses of animal life as mass-extinction events, all of which occurred millions of years ago. In recent years, the planet has seen the loss of hun-dreds of species of animals, and according to a new analysis from an international team, the planet may be in the early days of its sixth mass-extinction event, The Hu� ngton Post reported.

As part of the study, researchers ana-lyzed previous studies and scienti� c data to draw their conclusion that human ac-tivities and population surges worldwide – not a catastrophic event, like an asteroid impact, for example – are responsible for the drastic decline of animal life. Lead author Rodolfo Dirzo, a biology professor at Stanford University, cites actions like overexploitation of resources and habitat destruction as examples of harmful human activities.

Since 1500, 322 terrestrial vertebrates have become extinct, the authors said in their analysis, published Friday in the jour-nal Science. Of the remaining land-dwell-ing species of vertebrates, there has been a 25% average decline in abundance. The situation also appears to be dire for inver-tebrates, with a 45% decline in monitored species.

So what does this mean for the planet?There may be unforeseen consequenc-

es, aside from the possible extinction of threatened species.

“We tend to think about extinction as loss of a species from the face of Earth, and that’s very important, but there’s a loss of critical ecosystem functioning in which animals play a central role that we need to pay attention to as well,” Dirzo said in a statement.

Dirzo pointed to potential trickle-down e� ects, such as threats to ecosystems that are currently stable and even risks to human health. “Where human density is high, you get high rates of [animal decline], high incidence of rodents, and thus high levels of pathogens, which increases the risks of disease transmission,” he said in the statement, adding, “It can be a vicious circle.”

Biologists from Duke University report-ed in May that Earth is on the verge of the sixth mass-extinction event. Their study, which focused on the past and present rates of extinction, found that plant and animal life are going extinct 1,000 times faster than they did before the arrival of human populations.

While humans may be responsible for kickstarting another mass-extinction event, there might still be time to react. As Scienti� c American notes, current extinc-tion rates suggest that humans still have a century or two to change course.

Ben Collen, a lecturer at the University College of London and a co-author of the new mass-extinction analysis, says sci-entists need to focus on species that are thriving. “Prevention of further declines will require us to better understand what species are winning and losing in the � ght for survival.” l

Vietnamese ethnic Hmong men play traditional bamboo pipes known as Khen during a promotional event marking the launch of a brand of tea produced by the Hmong REUTERS

A group of armed Haqqani militants picturered sitting together WIKI

Pro-Russian separatists remain in control of the area in eastern Ukraine where the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was brought down l

T R A D I T I O N A L B A M B O O P I P E S I N V I E T N A M

Gluttony in disguise?July 24

Faysal Kabir Shuvo“Iftar bu� ets contradict the true purpose of Ramadan, resulting in meaningless festivity, waste of food, loss of time to pray, loss of humility, and most importantly, the reinforcing of the sin of gluttony.”

Very to the point and striking. Unfortunate-ly, the targeted audience is dumb and careless. Islam is now becoming a part of their daily fash-ionable out� t. :(

Tae-Il LeeFaysal Kabir Shuvo: Frankly, I am surprised and puzzled.

Shams IslamWe have no restraint. This is the very epitome of our society at large. Shameful and shameless.

Nondini MonwarYou are leading the pack, Mr Shams Islam. You fast regularly, buddy, only so you can eat haleem and a hundred other iftar items. :D

Thanks for sharing the article.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, July 27, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Self-satis� ed (4)4 Circle of light (4)8 Inferior horse (3)9 Dash (4)10 Jump rope (4)11 Nasty and insinuating (5)12 Examine (4)14 Old French coin (3)15 And not (3)17 Unruly crowd (3)19 Say further (3)21 Indian peasant (4)23 Gather for oneself (5)26 Notch (4)27 Fail to keep (4)28 In favour of (3)29 Writer of verse (4)30 Check (4)

DOWN1 Method (6)2 Single entity (4)3 Stares openmouthed (5)4 Female bird (3)5 Foreign (5)6 Boy (3)7 United (3)11 Den (5)13 Flies upward (5)16 Calculate (6)18 Indi� erent (5)20 Giver (5)22 Weary (4)23 High mountain (3)24 Cow’s call (3)25 Tennis term (3)

CROSSWORD

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

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 10 represents R so � ll R every time the � gure 10 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com

Send us your Op-Ed articles:opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.comJoin our Facebook community:

https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

Beyond buzzwordsJuly 24

Panuel Prince“Disaster resiliency, equality and women em-powerment, universal access to various services, energy independence, and sustainable develop-ment are all utopian concepts that have in� ltrated normal daily conversation. They have become trendy, fashionable buzzwords.”

All are buzzwords! I like your idea.

Silvia ZamanI think this article pointed out the actual buz-zwords and facts. Great read!!

Ashraful Alam SagarThese buzzwords need to be materialised in activity for ensuring sustainable development of Bangladesh.

Franklin Bonner Good read. I especially agree with your point on the indispensability of community-based exper-tise and participation in a sustainable develop-ment model.

Stop abuse of govt drug monopoly Public hospitals are being overcharged by the government’s drug

manufacturing company, Essential Drug Company Limited (EDCL), which has a monopoly on certain supplies to public hospitals.

EDCL is allegedly exploiting its monopoly within public hospitals for commonly used injections by selling them at upto three times the rate charged by other pharmaceutical companies.

Under the rules for public hospitals, when certain essential medicines or injections are produced by EDCL, public hospitals are obliged to purchase them from EDCL without � oating any tenders.

With EDCL now producing a wider variety of drugs, including the injections noted, public medical college hospitals are now buying over two thirds of their supplies from EDCL. As the government-owned company is charging excessive amounts for some items, which are readily available at lower cost from private competitors, unnecessary pressure is being placed on the budgets of public hospitals.

The director of Dhaka Medical College Hospital has reported that the rapid increase in the cost of common anti-biotic injections from EDCL is limiting its ability to supply anti-biotics free of cost.

It is incumbent on the government to act in all cases where monopoly powers are abused to the detriment of the public.

That in this case it is a state run company undermining the budget of public hospitals, makes it even more important for the government to take urgent action. If EDCL is not able to produce or sell drugs at competitive prices, its monopoly rights should be removed.

In praise of private sector food supplyIt is highly welcome that our nation is now self-su� cient in meeting local

demands for poultry products.The role of private enterprise in boosting production and improving

quality has been vital to bring the country to the stage where a growing number of food sectors are signi� cant exporters.

Frozen food exports, led by shrimp account for around 3% of total exports and GDP and Bangladesh accounts for 2.5 % of the world shrimp market.

Poultry producers and processors are an increasingly signi� cant part of our economy. With over Tk25,000cr of investment, the industry employs the second-largest number of people, and contributes to over 1% of GDP.

At present, despite self-su� ciency in production and growing demand, local poultry producers still face di� culties in exporting their products. Factors holding back coordination between demand and supply need to be tackled. The government should listen to the concerns of producers to help change things around.

The role of government is especially important to reassure consumers, both at home and abroad that our food supply chain meets the highest standards. It is encouraging that courts have belatedly listened to the demands of poultry producers to take action against factories which have been using waste material from tanneries in the production of feed.

With food safety and exports so important to the nation’s well-being, the government cannot a� ord to ignore the reasonable demands of consumers and food producers.

The role of government is especially important to reassure consumers our food supply chain meets the highest standards

The government must act in all cases where monopoly powers are abused

Highways to be � xed by next Eid, assures ObaidulJuly 22

Nadimul IslamIf the family lives in harmony, all a� airs will pros-per (or so says the Bangladesh Awami League).

Rzv Rehman Even better if he bears the same fate that travel-ers have to endure throughout the year.

Mithun Musabbir LOL. He’s joking, right??

Sand may be the next big thing in foreign tradeJuly 23

Kas MurshidShouldn’t Bangladesh also be thinking about extending its shoreline? We need to think of speeding up the coastal sedimentation process to help this process along. Exporting sand and soil sounds like literally selling our country o� !

Firoj AlamIt should be banned forever. Only river adminis-tration should be allowed. Bangladesh doesn’t know how to use its resources. The indiscrimi-nate extraction will change the course of rivers and the sea, and cause more damage. This kind of thinking needs to stop. If you don’t believe me, go to the northern areas of the country, and see how they have damaged their rivers and agricultural land.

‘Amnesty is BNP’s international front’July 22

Mohammad Akhter This is such an obtuse statement to make! Any-one who says such a thing belongs at a mental asylum. How did he get an opportunity to speak at a program like this?

Especially one that marked the 89th birthday of Tajuddin Ahmed?

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Ashraful appeals against BPL Tribunal’s sanctionJuly 22

Fahmida Sultana Love you Ashraful. For your honesty, love you more. You make us proud.

Rasel Mia No tension, Ashraful, as you must come back.

Sri Lanka claims Bangladesh refused visa to UNHRC teamJuly 23Tanzia Islam Seriously! Sri Lanka is one of the countries where people are quali� ed (they get respect regarding their educational quali� cations) and have a good relationship so far with Bangladesh. But now!?!

Radhakrishnan N GounderSupporting an outrageous rule can only be under-taken by one who refuses to understand why the rule is so outrageous. Shame!

Mirpur rape case: HC exempts o� cials from personal appearanceJuly 22P SarkerConfusing case. Can’t believe anyone!

BAMBA to go big with 3-day concert this EidJuly 20

Hac HimelReally looking forward to it. :)

n Mehrin Chowdhury

Toddlers who haven’t yet mas-tered the art of language and comprehension sway their chub-

by � ngers across tablets with the ut-most pro� ciency, resembling a sinister act almost akin to the work of a cult. This may just be a regular situation in an everyday household, but if we think deeply, how is this even possible? Why are we having a hard time teaching the little ones the traits of the real world, like how to say thank you or goodbye, while they learn automatically, with-out any assistance, how to penetrate the world of the internet, download their favorite games, and play them like a pro while earning points?

Once upon a time, people used to sit together during meal times to enjoy togetherness with their family and friends. For years, during this exclu-sive time, joys and sorrows have been shared, making it the best place for communication. However, the scenar-io today is very di� erent.

Everyone has a smartphone in their hands, and instead of talking to each other, they look at their respective phones browsing the internet, social-ising and chatting digitally. It reminds us of Einstein’s famous quote: “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will

have a generation of idiots.”Face-to-face conversations are a

thing of the past, people swear by the word “Facebook” and arti� cial emoti-cons have become the trendy new way of expressing one’s emotions. Children acquire this behaviour of dependency on tablets, phones, and TV, from their parents. They learn from an early age that communication is meant to be virtual. Some parents even use these technologies to babysit their children while they have some relaxation time or gets engaged in some kind of work.

We are to be blamed for the emotional-ly-weak zombies that we are creating. It has been scienti� cally proven that TV is extremely harmful during the development of a child, a� ecting their behaviour and learning ability. Yet we still we allow them to watch televi-sion more than necessary. Plus, most children don’t even face any parental

guidance in watching adult-oriented media such as horror movies or violent action � lms. This kind of behaviour only works towards forcefully ripping away the childhood years, compelling the kids to grow up faster than what is considered normal.

Most parents who have learnt the negatives of the new world order want to know how to save their children from addiction. The � rst step in curb-ing this obsession should be to let go of too much dependence on technol-ogy themselves, as the saying goes, “practice what you preach.”

Furthermore, this � xation can be easily curbed with simple, old-fash-ioned child-play. This kind of play helps children to learn bonding, to make friends, to express themselves, develop their linguistic capabilities, and enhance their cognitive behaviour. It makes them calmer and less prone towards any kind of addiction.

In order to prevent a future of hu-manoids being servant to technology, we need to encourage the develop-ment of real life bonding amongst our children, and that can only be initiated at home, as soon as we leave our un-healthy lifestyles, addiction towards the virtual life, and go back to living carefree lives free from mania. l

Mehrin Chowdhury is a freelance contributor.

n Zahin Hasan

Most of us would agree Israel should be punished for its crimes against the Palestinian

people. However, we often forget that the United States is an accessory to these crimes. US military aid to Israel is about $3bn every year. Who pays for the weapons which are used by the Israeli military? The answer is that those weapons were a gift from the United States.

UN Security Council resolutions constitute international law. Yet Israel has ignored UN Security Council reso-lutions for decades.

In 1967, the UN Security Coun-cil adopted Resolution 242 which declared that the Israeli armed forces should withdraw from occupied Pal-estinian territories (including the West Bank and Gaza). Israel has ignored this resolution; its armed forces restrict the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank while protecting the Israeli settlers who are engaged in ethnic cleansing. Israeli armed forces besiege Gaza, and periodically slaughter the civilian population of Gaza (as is hap-pening now).

In 1979, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 446 which de-clared Israeli settlements in occupied territories illegal. Israel has also ignored this resolution; settlements in the West Bank expand every year.

When other countries ignore UN resolutions, they are usually punished by economic sanctions imposed by the Security Council. However, Israel has never faced sanctions as it is protected by the US, which has the power to veto sanctions against any country. This is the only reason why there are no UN Security Council resolutions impos-ing punishment on Israel for its war crimes.

So let us be clear: Israeli war crimes are made possible by US military aid to Israel, and Israel gets away with war crimes because it is protected from sanctions by the US in the Security Council. The US should therefore be considered an active supporter of Israel’s war crimes.

Bangladesh does not allow any im-ports from Israel; Bangladesh as a state

is already boycotting Israeli goods. There is nothing more that Bangladesh (as a state), can do to punish Israel for its war crimes.

However, we can try to make the Unit-ed States think twice about its blind support for Israel’s war crimes.

Almost every famous brand you can think of is owned by an American company. These brands are the power

behind the American economy. Mil-lions of people around the world are sympathetic to Palestine. If we were all to express our anger at Israel by boy-cotting American brands, American companies would feel it, and would urge their government to distance itself from Israel.

As a country, Bangladesh cannot boycott US goods, as we need access to the US market for our garments. However, as individual consumers, all of us can choose to boycott American brands. That is the best way for us to protest US support for Israeli war crimes. l

Zahin Hasan is a businessman, and a member of the board of directors of Dhaka Tribune. His views are not necessarily shared by the Dhaka Tribune.

11Op-Ed Sunday, July 27, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Before he died a few months ago, “Hata Baba” was a source of immense curi-ousity for Dhaka people. He was just like Tom Hanks in

Forrest Gump – nobody knew why he walked. A man in ragged clothes, Hata Baba just started walking one day and soon gathered a signi� cant following.

The walking man, who was pro-moted to the status of a saint by his followers, is no more. But people now have a new Hata Baba. Only time will tell if he will also reach saint status; but for the time being, his actions look like nothing but cheap stunts meant for grabbing media attention.

Obaidul Quader was made the country’s communication minister a few years ago after his predecessor Abul Hossain got tangled up in the Padma bridge corruption scam. Soon after taking o� ce, Quader made a mark by taking things into his own hands. He would make sudden “on-foot” visits to bus stands and railway

stations, take the government o� cials there by surprise, and rebuke and punish them instantly if they were involved in any kind of irregularity.

All of it was quite reminiscent of Anil Kapoor in the Bollywood movie Nayak. The only di� erence is that while the � ctitious “nayak” did it from a genuine urge and fellow feeling that eventually led to the birth of a leader, Obaidul Quader’s actions, on the other hand, are looking more and more like

mere publicity stunts, mostly because of the vague and impossible-sounding pledges he has recently been making and the minor di� erence his stormy visits are making to the country’s over-all communication scenario.

People in the country are already calling him the new Hata Baba because the “vigilante” generally walks to places to “catch” irregularities.

Among the several pledges that he has made of late, there has been one for mending all the distressed highways in three days. Needless to mention, that pledge is nowhere near of being materialised. More recently, he pledged that people would not have to travel on wretched roads during the next Eid.

The catch lies in the word “next” because he did not say which Eid. He would get only about three months to complete the impossible task of taking care of all the highways in the country if he meant the coming Eid-ul-Azha, compared to next year’s Eid-ul-Fitr, which would give him a nearly one-year window to ful� ll his pledge. Then

again, even if given a year, the pledge still sounds impossible given the kind of performance that the Communica-tion Ministry has been showing over the years.

Because of the unreal pledges, people are already making fun of the minister in social media. The more serious “buzz” is that if the minister needs to take to the streets in order to take care of things, then what is the administration doing? Does that mean

the administration has failed?However, Quader does not look like

the kind of person to pay heed to in social media “gimmicks.” He is contin-uing his “walks” and pledge-making and the country’s mainstream media are giving him the coverage he wants, making him the most widely publi-cised minister in the country.

Giving coverage to someone is not bad. But the problem is, none of the pledges he is making are being implemented. People are saying that he is selling dreams to the people of a country that has been deceived many times in the past by “stuntbaaj” politi-cal leaders.

What then, is the secret behind all the coverage that he is getting?

Every time he goes to visit a spot, the public relations department of the Communication Ministry sends invita-tion letters to media houses, request-ing them to cover the “event.”

So, eventually when he reaches the spot for the event, he is accompanied by 15-20 camera units of television channels and scores of reporters from newspapers, apart from his own motorcade.

It is hard to tell whether Quader’s visits have any impact on how gov-ernment o� ces work, but one thing that can be said for sure is that the more frequent the minister’s visits are becoming, the larger the number of nuisances on the roads of the capital get, roads that are already choked by

the super-heavy Eid rush.The “followers” of this new Hata

Baba generally park their cars on the road, and everyone knows that no street in the capital is wide, spacious, or free enough to accommodate 15-20 idle cars parked on the roadside.

Quader has been criticised even from within his party for his love of the media spotlight. When the Awami League was forming the government for the second time in a row earlier this year, LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam had been o� ered two ministries, both of which, however, he declined.

He termed one of those ministries “sexier” than his portfolio because one of them, apparently the Commu-nication Ministry, o� ered the scope of

“being in the media round the clock.” The other, quite possibly the Foreign Ministry, gave the opportunity to trav-el the world.

“I could hog publicity if I took the o� ers,” Ashraf said at that time.

There is a saying that you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

The honourable minister must think that he can. If that is true, then he is in for a very unpleasant surprise. Our media colleagues only need to re-alise the truth is here, not out there. l

Mohammad Al-Masum Molla is a political reporter at the Dhaka Tribune.

Giving coverage to someone is not bad. But the problem is, none of the pledges he is making are being implemented

Should we encourage political stuntmen?

Walking to places makes little real di� erence FOCUS BANGLA

Technology need not replace real interaction BIGSTOCK

They learn from an early age that communication is meant to be virtual

Israel has never faced sanctions as it is protected by the US

When it is all too much How to protest US support of Israeli war crimes

BIGSTOCK

Mehazabien: Titanic’s Rose is my dream charactern Rezaul Karim

Model turned TV actor Mehazabien fan-cies the character of Rose, the female lead in James Cameron’s “Titanic.”

“I am in love with this character and I dream that someday 'Titanic' will get a Bangladeshi remake and I will play Rose,” said Mehazabien in an interview with the Dhaka Tribune.

The actor also said she is meticulous in selecting characters and always tries to act in diverse roles. “I try to present myself di� erently in each of my teleplays so that my fans never get bored of me.” Mehazabien talked about her Eid ventures say-ing that she has done 15 tele-plays for Eid.

“This Eid, the audience will get to see me in Redo-an Rony’s 'U Turn,' Sazzad Sumon’s 'Perfume,' Mostafa Kamal Raz’s 'Return' etc; but, I will not be sharing the roles and storyline of these plays as I want my audiences to � nd out by themselves,” said Mehaza-bien. However, the gorgeous diva only revealed that she learned riding a mo-torcycle for the two-episode serial “U Turn” and the experience was “very new and exciting” for her.

She added that she will not con� ne herself to teleplays only and will explore

new horizons by stepping into the � lm industry. “I am negotiating with a num-ber of � lm directors but I still haven't decided which production would be the perfect one to make my debut.”

The pretty actor is planning on cel-ebrating Eid in Dhaka with friends and family. It has been discovered that de-spite her busy schedule, Mehazabien has designed dresses by herself for the special occasion. l

Honeymoon

The song of the movie titled “Bhalo Na Bashley Bojha Ki Jai” has created quite a hype on YouTube. Directed by Sha� Uddin, “Honeymoon” is looking promising with Mahia Mahi as the heroine, not to mention Bappi who is very popular among the youths.

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, July 27, 201412

n Entertainment Desk

It is the holiday season and what better way is there to celebrate the festival than taking your friends and fam-ily to the movies. This Eid will see four new releases,

whether one is in the mood for action or heart-warm-ing drama, there is something for all movie enthusiasts. Another aspect of the releases is that, the ongoing rival-ry between Shakib Khan and Ananta Jalil has intensi-� ed recently when Ananta sued Shakib over some com-

ments about his work. Shakib had to provide an open apology and the audience are awaiting to see who wins at the box o� ce. Joining the race this time around is Bappi with two of his � lms “Honeymoon” and “I Don't Care.” Here are a few facts about the upcoming movies.

Most Welcome 2

Ananta, apart from being the protagonist opposite Barsha, has directed and produced the � ick. About the movie, Ananta said: “I have always tried to introduce something new to the audience and the � lm industry of Bangladesh. This time around, I have used Dolby Surround 7.1 sound system in ‘Most Welcome 2.’ I hope the movie enthusiasts will appreciate my e� ort.” Ananta also said many � lmmakers in Bangladesh falsely claim to have used Dolby Surround 5.1 in their movies and that “Most Welcome 2” is the only movie of the country with Dolby Surround 7.1 technology. “Most Welcome 2” is an action movie which received uncut censor certi� cate.

Hero: The Superstar

Shakib Khan’s debut production “Hero: The Superstar” will be overtaking Ananta’s “Most Welcome 2,” according to � lm analysts. Rumour has it that “Hero: The Superstar” will be the top one among the four movies. Bobby and Apu Biswas are the leading ladies of the � lm and for a while, Shakib had to face complications before he could convince both the actors to work in harmony. “Hero: The Superstar” also claims to have used the latest technologies available for � lmmaking. It is a big budget movie.

I Don’t Care

Another � lm of Bappi, “I Don’t Care” directed by Mohammad Hossain will see the sensational Bobby as one of the lead actors. It is a usual love story featuring the ups and downs of a relationship.

Bappi joins the race with Ananta and Shakib

Unplugged concert

n Entertainment Desk

A concert titled “Let It Be: Un-plugged” will be held on the night before Eid-ul-Fitr and it will either be on July 28 or 29 (subject to the appearance of the moon) at the Lambada Kabab, Uttara. The musi-cal show is arranged by InstruRave, an online community solely devot-ed to the analysis and review of in-struments used by musicians.

While everyone is speculating on

what to do on this speci� c night, the organisers are bringing a night full of acoustic magic with some of the as-piring bands in town. The attending music enthusiasts are going to expe-rience versatility of the musical genre including funk, jazz, indie rock and elements of pure rock and roll. A total of 8 bands con� rmed on performing at the event and the line up includes Circus Police, Blunderware, 42, Mi-nus+2, Martial Love, The Lemonade Theory, Freewater and Vowels. l

TheatrEX stages Dokkhina Sundori in Commonwealth Games n Entertainment Desk

TheatrEX’s play “Dokkhina Sundori” was staged on July 24 at the inaugural evening of the Commonwealth Games' theatre festival at South Rotunda.

Written by Shahman Maishan and directed by Sudip Chakrob-orthy, the production is support-ed by the British Council.

The play “Dokkhina Sundari” theatricalizes the epic canvas of primordial living and eternal aspirations in southern part of Bangladesh which is famous as the Sundarbans - world’s largest mangrove forest for its unique bio-geo-cultural diversity for hundreds of years.

The performance gives an interior view by incorporating narrations, conversations, lo-cation-speci� c choreographic bio-mechanics, prose, poetry, lyrics and musical dynamics in a unique form of expressibility. So that it can explores the theatrical aesthetics of fusion of local myths, legends, fairy tales, parables, and contemporary performance idi-oms that is enthusiastic to unfold the multi-strati� ed crises of current living in context of corporatized globalization. As a whole the performance travels towards the essence of pantheism.

Folk-tale and history are shaped into the plot of the play which opens with a song praising the beauty and livelihood

of the Sundarbans which was alternatively called Chandra-ban during the ancient period.

The antediluvian folk-tale of the Chandrabande race is portrayed through two main characters, Chandre and Bona, and the legendary tiger-haunter Pochabdi Gazi is an ineluc-table character depicting the story. The plot moves forward with a series of dispersed incidents showing the � ght for survival of these ignored minorities against the male� cent deeds of the antagonists, who systematically destroy the balance of life in the name of rescuing the forest. l

Tisha’s dilemma in Bajin Entertainment Desk

Tisha and Riaz will be seen in “Baji” on Channel 9 at 9:45pm on the third day of Eid.

Here, Tisha plays a carefree girl named Khushi who is a bit of a gambler. She en-joys a bet and tries her best to win against all odds. One day, her colleague Rakib entraps her with the bet that she has to propose to the person who arrives at the o� ce at 10am the next day. The following day, Khushi, Rakib and some of her col-leagues wait at the o� ce with sheer curi-osity. They all receive a big shock when a good-looking young man enters the o� ce at 10am. Later, they discover that the guy is their new boss. Khushi is faced with the dilemma of choosing her approach in pro-posing him or losing the wager. l

Bipasha Basu refuses to share stage with Chitrangada Singh

n Entertainment Desk

This is what Bipasha Basu told the organisers of a recent fashion week, throwing them into a tizzy. Bipasha Basu, Chi-trangada Singh and Madhur Bhandrakar were set to walk the ramp for the grand � nale of a recently concluded couture week in Delhi. But the plan went up in smoke.

Bipasha who made her Bollywood debut with the 2003 release “Ajnabee,” told the organisers of the event that she will not share the stage with Chitrangada, a “junior” actor since she had started her career four years later with “Haza-ron Khawishen Aisi.”

The organiser went into a state of panic, when no amount of pleas could convince Bipasha to change her stance. She even made it clear to the them that she would not rehearse with the junior in question. Left with no option, the jewel-lery brand that had invited the trio, changed the choreogra-phy of the � nale.

A source from the show said: “Bipasha, Chitrangada and Madhur took solo turns on the ramp. Bipasha’s stance was absolutely shocking.”

While Bipasha and Chitrangada remained unavailable for comment, the organiser Sunil Sethi said: “I didn’t have any control over this segment as it was put together by the jewellery brand. What the stars did was their decision. I was surprised not to see them taking the � nal bow together. Bi-pasha’s secretary informed my team that she had certain objections.

Chitrangada started the show in a black gown accesso-rised with a statement neckpiece, while Bipasha was dressed in a lehenga (traditional Indian dress) with diamond jewel-lery. l

Joaquin Phoenix to star in Marvel’s Doctor Strangen Entertainment Desk

J oaquin Phoenix is in early talks to star in M arvel’s “Doc tor Strange.”

Deal is far from complete but Phoe-nix is strongly considering the superhero role, which had previously been linked to Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy.

Scott Derrickson is directing with Jon Spaihts currently rewriting the script. The pic will be produced by Marvel

chief Kevin Feige and could be featured at Saturday’s Comic-Con presentation in San Diego, which is already expected to include the cast of “The Avengers.”

The comicbook follows a former neurosurgeon serving as the “Sorcer-er Supreme” — the primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats. Strange made his � rst appear-ance in the 1963 comicbook “Strange Tales” and would go on to have his own

comicbook series and would appear in several other comicbooks that includ-ed “The Fantastic Four,” “Spider-Man” and “Nick Fury.”

Marvel has teased “Doctor Strange” in several pics including “Thor” and “Cap-tain America: The Winter Soldier.” Phoe-nix can be seen next in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Inherent Vice.” He is repped by WME. Marvel had no comment. The Wrap � rst reported the news. l

Man vs Food on TLC todayn Entertainment Desk

Follow Adam Richman on his jour-ney across the United States facing o� against a pre-existing eating challenge at a local restaurant in TLC’s “Man vs Food” at 11:30pm today. In some ep-isodes, Richman takes on food chal-lenges involving very hot and spicy foods and also large quantities of food, such as a 5-pound-sandwich challenge. He � nds places in each city to indulge his appetite and visits local landmarks. Richman interacts with local restaura-teurs as they demonstrate the making of a house specialty or element of local cuisine. He gives a brief insight to the local community by talking to patrons at the establishments and asking about the most-talked about orders.

Episodes sometimes include a brief fantasy sequence where Richmanpretends to be a character to psych himself up for the episode’s big food challenge. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE13Sport

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt poses with children before his news conference at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland yesterday REUTERS

England seek self-respect against Indian AFP, Southampton

England won’t just be looking to end a sequence of 10 Tests without a win when they face India in the third Test at Southampton today, they will be aim-ing to restore their pride.

Monday’s 95-run defeat in the sec-ond Test at Lord’s, a result that put the tourists 1-0 up in the � ve-match series, came after England had won the toss on a pitch that might have been made to captain Alastair Cook’s speci� c in-structions and against an India side who had not won away from home in 16 previous Tests.

Whether it was Bhuvneshwar Ku-mar bowling like a classic seamer or opener Murali Vijay’s invaluable sec-ond-innings 95, India excelled in disci-plines that were once common to every

county, let alone England, team.And then compounding the ‘role re-

versal’ was the way the match ended, when several England batsmen suc-cumbed to a bouncer-trap baited by Is-hant Sharma who promptly took seven for 74 as India won only their sixth Test in England.

Signi� cantly, the only player who was told there was no way back at in-ternational level after England’s 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia was Kevin Pietersen, England’s all-time leading international run-scorer.

But if bringing back Pietersen won’t be a cure-all for England’s ills, what the preceding 1-0 series defeat at home to Sri Lanka and the ongoing campaign with India have both demon-strated is that he is not the sole source of their woes. l

Cook brushes aside Pietersen quit calln AFP, Southampton

Alastair Cook shrugged o� calls from Kevin Pietersen to resign as England captain ahead of the third Test against India at Southampton.

Pietersen used his Daily Telegraph column published Saturday to say he was only still in the job because it would be “yet another PR disaster” for the England and Wales Cricket Board to sack him now.

Meanwhile Cook’s form with the bat has also declined.

It is now 27 innings since he scored the last of his England record 25 Test hundreds, and the left-handed open-er’s last nine Test innings have yielded just 129 runs.

But Cook speaking at Southamp-ton, where England will start Sunday’s match 1-0 down in the � ve-Test series, following India’s 95-run win at Lord’s on Monday, insisted once again he would not resign.

“The last three or four weeks, every-one’s been saying that. It is no di� erent who else says it,” Cook told reporters at Southampton on Saturday when asked about Pietersen’s comments.

“I’ve just got to stay true to myself and say how good it would be if I could get through this as a person, as a player, as a leader and take huge strides from it,” the 29-year-old added. l

‘We’re hurting at Jadeja punishment’n Reuters, Southampton

India were hurting at the International Cricket Council’s (ICC)decision to � ne Ravindra Jadeja 50 percent of his match fee after the row with England’s Jimmy Anderson, Mahendra Singh Dhoni said on Saturday.

“It’s a very hurtful decision, frankly, because I felt a lot of things were ne-glected in judging the case,” said Dhoni.

“He was pushed so hard he could barely keep his balance. If something is said from behind, you instantly turn around which is what he did,” added Dhoni.

“I don’t think what Jadeja did was aggressive at all and that’s the reason we are very hurt by the wording that has been given.

“The beauty of it is that the allega-tion was of level two and he got � ned under level one.” l

SHEIKH RUSSEL IN GROUP B

AFC President’s Cup draw heldn Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh Premier Football League side Sheikh Russel KC were placed in Group B along with a North Korean and Mongolian club in the AFC President’s Cup which will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in September this year. The draw took place yesterday.

Sheikh Russel will play their � rst match, the inaugural game of the tour-nament, against Mongolian Premier League champions Erchim FC on Sep-tember 20 at Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo before facing North Korean side Rimyongsu Sporting Club four days later at the same venue.

Meanwhile in Group A, Sri Lanka Air Force SC were pitted with Turkmeni-stan club FC HTTU and Nepal’s Manang Marshyangdi. The � nal will be held on September 26.

Sheikh Russel earlier became the � rst Bangladeshi club to earn a second-round slot in the AFC President’s Cup. Sheikh Russel � nished at the top of Group A with seven points.

Dhaka Abahani were unable to go past the � rst round of the AFC Presi-dent’s Cup on � ve occasions although Dhaka Mohammedan did appear in the second round of the AFC Cup Winners’ Cup in 1996-97. l

Aussies dominate pool, Wales su� er doping shockn AFP, Glasgow

Australia continued to dominate the Com-monwealth Games swimming competi-tion with four more golds on Friday while

Wales were sent reeling by a second doping shock.

Australia’s men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team retained their title ahead of South Africa and England to claim their seventh victory from a possible 14 events.

Leiston Pickett became the � rst swimmer to retain a 50m Common-wealth breaststroke title, while there was an Aussie one-two in the men’s 200m freestyle as Thomas Fras-er-Holmes edged out Cameron McEvoy with Calum Jarvis claiming Wales’ � rst medal of the meet in third.

There was also a world record for Maddison Elliott in the women’s pa-ra-sport 100m freestyle S8 ahead of England’s Stephanie Slater and another Australian Lakeisha Patterson.

There was more joy for hosts Scot-land as Dan Wallace won the men’s 400m individual medley and Cana-da’s Katerine Savard took the women’s 100m butter� y.

Benjamin Proud claimed England’s

� rst gold of the swim meet in the men’s 50m butter� y ahead of South African duo Roland Schoeman and Chad le Clos.

Chris Walker-Hebborn ensured the men’s 100m backstroke Common-wealth title remained in English hands with a Games record time of 53:12sec.

The biggest cheer of the evening was de� nitely reserved for Wallace as he won Scotland’s third swimming gold in two days following the success of Hannah Miley and Ross Murdoch on Thursday.

Wallace admitted he had been in-spired by the � lm “Braveheart” as he edged out Fraser-Holmes and Canada’s Sebastien Rousseau.

Joanna Rowsell won England’s 20th gold medal in Commonwealth Games track cycling by shattering Australia’s and New Zealand’s dominance of the women’s 3000m individual pursuit.

The 25-year-old � nished nearly four seconds ahead of Australia’s Annette Edmondson with Amy Cure also of Australia edging out Scotland’s Katie Archibald for bronze. It was the � rst time that a country other than Austra-lia or New Zealand had won this event.

Sam Webster claimed gold for New Zealand in the men’s sprint � nal for his second gold of the Games following his victory in the team sprint on Thursday.l

Shooters, swimmers fail but lifters o� er hopen Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh’s hope of winning at least a bronze medal in shoot-ing hit dust as ace shooter Sharmin Akter Ratna � nished 6th in

the women’s 10m Air Ri� e event in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games yesterday. The 26-year-old Bangladeshi shooter scored 122 points.

Ratna, who was placed 7th in the same event in the last edition of Com-monwealth Games in Delhi in 2010, � n-ished third in the quali� cation round and sixth in the � nals until she got eliminat-ed despite scoring 10.5 in her last shot.

Apurvi Chandela of India won gold med-al while her compatriot Ayonika Paul and Malaysian shooter Mohamed Taibi clinched silver and bronze respectively.

It is worth mentioning here in this regard that Ratna showed glimpses of her talent in 2010 Commonwealth Shooting Championships in New Delhi by winning the silver medal, but she has failed to improve her skills while the other shooters have gradually improved. Ratna participated in the London Olympics also after attending a three month intensive training pro-gram in London prior to the Olympics.

Meanwhile, Syeda Sadia Sultana, Ratna’s partner in the 10 meter Air Ri-� e Team Event fared poorly also as she

failed to get even into the top eight. Bangladesh’s performance in swim-

ming also doesn’t depict a pretty pic-ture as Mahfuzur Rahman Sagor � n-ished 28th in the men’s 100m freestyle swimming and failed to qualify for the � nals. Sagor started well but fell behind in the last 25 meters and was placed 4th in heat 6 clocking 52.97s.

However, it was a decent start for Bangladeshi weightlifters in Glasgow yesterday as young Fayema Akther and veteran Hamidul Islam � nished second and third respectively in their respec-tive group. Fayema secured second place in the group B of women’s 58kg event while Hamidul became third in the group B of men’s 69kg event. l

England coach Peter Moores chats with captain Alastair Cook during a practice session in Ageas Bowl on Friday CRICINFO

DHAKA TRIBUNE14 Sport

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Name: Tebily Didier Yves DrogbaDate of birth: March 11, 1978Place of birth: Abidjan, Ivory CoastPosition: StrikerBorn: March 11, 1978 in Abidjan, Ivory CoastCLUB CAREER

Drogba begins career at French Ligue 2 club Le Mans.

Makes mark in the 2002-03 season, scoring 17 goals in 34 appearances for Ligue 1 side Guingamp.

Moves to Olympique Marseille in 2003 and scores 18 league goals to help them reach the UEFA Cup � nal.

Joins Chelsea in 2004 for 24 million pounds ($35.81 million) and wins the Premier League and League Cup in his � rst season, scoring in extra time in a 3-2 win over Liverpool in the � nal.

Wins another title the following season when Chelsea become only the second team to win back-to-back crowns in the Premier League era.

Scores in 2009 FA Cup � nal victory over Everton.

Scores only goal in 2010 FA Cup � nal victory over Portsmouth.

Scores winning penalty as Chelsea capture the Champions League title for the � rst time with a shootout victory in the � nal against Bayern Munich in 2012, his 10th and � nal trophy at Stamford Bridge.

Leaves Chelsea after the � nal having scored 157 goals in 341 appearances.

Has spells at Shanghai Shenhua in China and Galatasaray in Turkey before re-signing for Chelsea in July 2014.

INTERNATIONAL CAREER Makes Ivory Coast debut on Sept. 8,

2002 against South Africa and scores � rst goal on Feb. 11, 2003 against Cam-eroon in a 3-0 victory.

Captains team to African Nations Cup � nal in 2006 which they lose to 4-2 on penalties to Egypt after a 0-0 draw, with Drogba’s penalty saved.

Named African Footballer of the Year in 2006, edging out Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o by 79 votes to 74.

Helps his country through World Cup qualifying campaign in 2009, scoring � ve goals as the Ivorians � nish unbeaten.

Named African Footballer of the Year for a second time in 2009.

Wins 100th cap in a friendly against Bosnia in June 2014 before playing all three games as Ivorians are knocked out in � rst round at the World Cup in Brazil.

Regarded as his country’s greatest ever player.

Honours

With ChelseaPremier League (3): 2004-05, 2005-06, 2009-10FA Cup (4): 2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2011-12League Cup (2): 2004-05, 2006-07Community Shield (2): 2005, 2009UEFA Champions League (1): 2011-12With GalatasarayTurkish League (1): 2013-14Turkish Cup (1): 2013-14Turkish Super Cup (1): 2013IndividualLigue 1 Player of the Year: 2003-04African Footballer of the Year: 2006, 2009BBC African Footballer of the Year: 2009Turkish Footballer of the Year: 2013

FACT BOX

Former Portuguese mid� elder Deco (2R) walks down the pitch after the friendly football game between FC Porto 2004 and Barcelona 2006 at Dragao stadium, Porto on Friday AFP

(L-R) Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta, Thierry Henry, Aaron Ramsey and Tomas Rosicky greet fans at the PUMA and Arsenal Football Club Monumental Cannon in Grand Central Station on Friday AFP

IFA � nes Argentina for Falklands bannern AFP, Zurich

FIFA has � ned and reprimanded the Argentinian Football Association after the World Cup � nalists put up a banner laying claim to the disputed Falkland Islands before a recent match.

FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee im-posed a � ne of 30,000 Swiss francs ($33,000) for the gesture before Ar-gentina played Slovenia in a friendly in La Plata on June 7. Argentine play-ers displayed a banner proclaiming “Las Malvinas Son Argentinas” to the crowd before the game, which was � ve days before the World Cup started. Fifa found the action in breach of regula-tions on “political action” at games.

The Falklands, which were at the centre of a 1982 war between Britain and Argentina after an Argentinian in-vasion of the South Atlantic islands, are known as Las Malvinas in Spanish. l

Chelsea return for club great Drogban AFP, London

Premier League giants Chelsea an-nounced on Friday that their former striker Didier Drogba has returned to the club on a one-year contract.

Citing the in� uence of manager Jose Mourinho, Drogba told the club web-site: “It was an easy decision. I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to work with Jose again.

“Everyone knows the special rela-tionship I have with this club and it has always felt like home to me. My desire to win is still the same and I look for-ward to the opportunity to help this team.

“I am excited for this next chapter of my career,” added Drogba, who was pictured on the club website posing with Chelsea’s new home shirt.

Drogba, 36, was a free agent after leaving Turkish side Galatasaray at the

end of last season.The Ivory Coast star scored 157 goals

for Chelsea over an eight-year period and left the club in 2012 shortly after

scoring the winning penalty against Bayern Munich in the Champions League � nal.

“He’s coming because he’s one of the

best strikers in Europe,” Mourinho said.“I know his personality very well and

I know if he comes back he’s not pro-tected by history or what he’s done for this club previously. He is coming with the mentality to make more history.”

Mourinho brought Drogba to Stamford Bridge from Marseille in a £24 million ($40.7 million, 30.3 million euros) transfer in 2004 during his � rst stint as manager.

The burly, powerful centre-forward went on to become one of the greatest players ever to have played for the west London club. He was instrumental in three Premier League title successes and also won four FA Cups and two League Cups, in addition to the Cham-pions League triumph at Bayern’s Alli-anz Arena.

In total he has made 341 appearanc-es for the club, scoring nine cup-� nal goals, and was voted Chelsea’s greatest ever player in a 2012 fan poll.l

Attacking style will end West Ham tears: co-ownern Reuters, London

West Ham United’s lacklustre perfor-mances were so di� cult to watch last sea-son that David Sullivan sometimes had tears in his eyes, said the club’s co-owner.

However, his vision for a more attack-ing style of play in the future has been dealt a blow with the board seemingly at loggerheads with manager Sam Allardyce over the future of talented but tempera-mental mid� elder Ravel Morrison.

“There were games last season where I had tears in my eyes. It just wasn’t good enough,” Sullivan said in an interview with Talksport radio.

“We told the manager we want a more attacking form of football but at the same time the manager has to pick the team. It’s his decision what he does.”

West Ham, who � nished in mid-ta-

ble after � ghting against relegation from the Premier League for most of last season, appear to be entering a piv-otal period in their preparations for the new campaign.

Sullivan, who jointly owns the club with David Gold, wants Morrison to stay at Upton Park even though Al-lardyce has said he is open to selling the former Manchester United player.

“Sam has said Ravel is not part of his plans but we - as a board - see him as part of our plans,” he explained.

“We would like to sit down and give him a longer contract...but we have to agree it with the manager because there’s no point signing a player he’s not going to play.”

Sullivan believes Allardyce is willing to try to accommodate the vision for a more attacking style of play.l

Lallana injury doubt for Liverpooln AFP, London

New signing Adam Lallana could miss the start of the season for Liverpool af-ter sustaining a knee injury in training in the United States, the club said on Saturday.

The 26-year-old mid� elder, who moved to An� eld from Southampton earlier this month strained a ligament during a session at the Reds’ Harvard University training base in Boston.

There was no word on how long he would be sidelined for, but such inju-ries can result in a spell of anywhere up to six weeks out of action.

By chance Liverpool’s season-open-er is at home to Southampton on Au-gust 17, with Lallana now facing a � t-ness race to make the An� eld clash.

He has been assessed by Liverpool’s medical sta� and does not require surgery.

However, the news is clearly a setback for the England international, who will undergo further assessment by the club’s medical team in the United States and on his return to Liverpool.

Striker Rickie Lambert, Lallana’s England team-mate, also made the move from Southampton to Liverpool while Croatia defender Dejan Lovren is widely expected to follow the same path.

“No speci� c time frame has been placed on a return to � tness but inju-ries of this nature can result in a spell of anywhere up to six weeks on the sidelines,” the club said on their web-site (www.liverpoolfc.com). l

No ‘hard feelings’ for PSG Brazilian players: Blancn AFP, Hong Kong

Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc said Saturday that he was con-� dent that the club’s Brazilian players will add to the team’s success in the upcoming season despite their nation’s disastrous World Cup.

Brazil’s national team was knocked out in a humiliating 7-1 semi-� nal de-feat to Germany, the worst in the � ve-time champion’s history

The Paris club’s Brazilian players, including Thiago Silva and David Luiz, newly signed from Chelsea, will not have any “hard feelings”, Blanc told re-porters at a Hong Kong press conference as the team kicked o� their Asian tour.

“They are some of the best players on the team, so they will do their jobs and continue to do their work and they come back to the club... so there’s no hard feelings about whatever,” Blanc said of Silva, Brazil’s captain, and Luiz.

The club has � ve Brazilian play-ers, including fellow World Cup squad member Maxwell.

Luiz in May said he was happy to start a new phase of his career at PSG, who are reportedly paying £50 million ($84 million, 61 million euros) for him,

a world-record fee for a defender.Blanc, former player and former

manager of the French national team, also said France will have to work for the European Championships, which will be hosted in France in 2016.

“France has a very strong potential in new players and young players, so they will work very hard towards this goal and to be at the very high level such as with the Netherlands, such as the Ger-mans, this will not be easy,” he said.

The Ligue 1 champions, captained by 32-year-old Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahi-movic who also travelled to the south-ern Chinese city, will be playing local out� t Kitchee in a friendly on July 29.

“I know everybody has a dream to win the Champions league and I am one of them so we will try, work hard for it, which is not easy,” the striker said at the press conference.

Hong Kong is the � rst stop in the club’s � rst Asia tour followed by a visit to the Chinese capital of Beijing where they will participate in the Trophee des Champions against fellow French club Guingamp on August 2. PSG wrapped up their second straight Ligue 1 title in May and also won the French League Cup this season with a 2-1 victory over Lyon. l

EPL youngsters face loan lotteryn AFP, London

As the Premier League’s leading clubs step up their prepara-tions for the 2014-15 season, some of their

most promising young talents are step-ping out into the unknown.

With teams like Chelsea and cham-pions Manchester City boasting huge, star-studded squads, their younger players have no option but to go out on loan in search of the playing time vital to their development.

For some players it can prove a rich-ly rewarding experience.

Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois has re-turned to Chelsea after a three-year period at Atletico Madrid that saw him emerge as one of the world’s � nest goalkeepers.

Courtois’s club and international

colleague Romelu Lukaku has also ben-e� ted from time on loan, excelling at West Bromwich Albion and Everton, al-though it seems he has yet to convince manager Jose Mourinho of his worth.

Joel Campbell harbours hopes of breaking into the � rst team at Arsenal, meanwhile, after an impressive sea-son with Olympiakos that provided a launchpad for an excellent World Cup with Costa Rica.

Chelsea loaned out 27 players last season -- with six going to Dutch side Vitesse, with whom the London club have a strategic partnership -- but tech-nical director Michael Emenalo says the policy is well-intentioned.

Eight Chelsea youngsters have al-ready agreed loan moves for the com-ing season.

They include the Nigeria interna-tional Kenneth Omeruo, who has re-turned to Middlesbrough, and Thorgan

Hazard, younger brother of � rst-team star Eden, who has joined Borussia Mo-enchengladbach.

At Arsenal, 21-year-old forward Wel-lington Silva -- who played alongside Neymar for Brazil’s under-17s -- is gear-ing up for a � fth consecutive loan spell, this time at Spanish side Almeria.

It is a path similar to the one trodden by Mexican forward Carlos Vela, who was successively loaned out to four clubs by Arsenal before � nally leaving for Real Sociedad in 2012.

Andros Townsend knows more than most about being a perpetual loanee, having played for nine di� erent clubs before � nally getting a chance to shine at Tottenham Hotspur, but he says the experience was worthwhile.

“At a massive club like Totten-ham opportunities will come, but not straight away,” he told The Daily Tele-graph earlier this year.l

DHAKA TRIBUNE15Sport

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Brazil keeper Julio Cesar back at QPRBrazil World Cup goalkeeper Julio Cesar has ended his loan spell with Toronto and returned to promoted English Premier League team Queens Park Rangers. The keeper, who started all seven matches for the host nation at the 2014 World Cup, joined the Cana-dian club in February and made seven league appearances. “At Toronto FC we aspire to be internationally recognised as a leader in every aspect that involves our football club and to be a consistent contender for championships in North America,” general manager Tim Bez-batchenko said in a statement on Fri-day. “With this ambitious vision comes the need for acquiring players of great character that leave an impact both on and o� the pitch. Julio Cesar is certainly one of those players.” Harry Redknapp’s Rangers secured promotion by beating Derby County 1-0 in the Championship playo� � nal at Wembley in May.

–Reuters

United sell mis� t Bebe to Ben� caBen� ca have signed Bebe from Manchester United in a deal worth up to three million euros ($4.03 million), the Premier League club said on Friday as the forward ended a di� cult four-year spell in England. Bebe was bought for 7.4 million pounds from Vitoria de Guimaraes in August 2010 by then-manager Alex Ferguson who later said he had not seen the player in action either live or on video before complet-ing the deal. He failed to impress at United and quickly became known as one of Ferguson’s biggest mistakes in the transfer market, making just two substitute appearances in the league. Bebe was loaned out to Besiktas and Rio Ave before rebuilding his reputation in a third loan spell at Portuguese side Pacos de Ferreira. The 24-year-old joins a Ben� ca side who won the domestic treble last season but need attacking reinforcements after selling Serbian winger Lazar Markovic to Liverpool.

–Reuters

Sunderland land Van Aanholt from ChelseaSunderland signed Netherlands defend-er Patrick van Aanholt from Chelsea for an undisclosed fee on Friday. Van Aan-holt agreed a four-year contract with the Premier League club after failing to break into the � rst-team at Stamford Bridge. The 23-year-old is Sunderland’s fourth signing of the pre-season, follow-ing on from the arrivals of defender Billy Jones, goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon and mid� elder Jordi Gomez. Sunderland manager Gus Poyet was keen to sign a left-back after Marcos Alonso’s loan spell from Fiorentina � nished at the end of last term. Van Aanholt made just eight appearances for Chelsea in his � ve-year spell with the west London club and was sent out on loan to Cov-entry in 2009, Newcastle in 2010 and Leicester and then Wigan in 2011.

–AFP

Hanover swoop for Japan’s KiyotakeHanover 96 have completed the signing of Japan’s Hiroshi Kiyotake from relegat-ed Nuremberg on a four-year contract. “We are delighted Hiroshi Kiyotake has chosen to sign for Hanover 96 despite several other o� ers,” sporting director Dirk Dufner told the Bundesliga club’s o� cial website (www.hannover96.com) on Friday. “Kiyotake is only 24, he’s still developing. Despite this he has made people take notice of him after his � rst two seasons in the Bundesliga and pres-ence in the Japanese national team.” The attacking mid� elder, who spent two seasons at Nuremberg, was a member of his country’s squad at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Kiyotake played in Japan’s opening Group C game against Colombia and has made 26 international appearances in total.

–Reuters

QUICK BYTES

Star Sports 1, 3, HD1

4:00PMIndia Tour of England3rd Test Day 1Ten Cricket

10:30AMSouth Africa Tour of Sri Lanka2nd Test Day 4Sony Six

2:00AMCaribbean Premier LeagueRed Steel v Zouks Ten Sports Commonwealth Games 20142:00PM, 6:00PM

DAY’S WATCH

A woman prisoner shoots a penalty during a football game before a dance competition inside the Maximum Security prison of Chorrillos in Lima on Friday. The National Penitentiary Institute (INPE) organised a folk dance competition with four women’s prisons in Lima during the celebrations of the Independence Day in Peru. Peruvians celebrate Independence Day on July 28 REUTERS

Scotland’s Drew Christie competes in the skeet quali� cation at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Carnoustie, Scotland yesterday AFP

Misbah looks to spinners for Sri Lanka tourn AFP, Lahore

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq said Friday spin would be a key factor in his side’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka as he looked to Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Reh-man to beat the islanders.

The last time the two teams met was in January at the neutral ven-ue of Dubai with Pakistan edging the one-dayers 3-2 but tying the Tests one apiece.

Pakistan � y out to Sri Lanka on Au-gust 2 and start the � rst Test at Galle four days later.

“In Sri Lanka spin plays an import-ant role, the moment third, fourth and � fth day arrives spin has a major role, I think we have lots of chances and if

we play to our potential we have lots of chances to win,” Haq said.

Pakistan’s last tour of the island na-tion � nished in a 1-0 defeat in two Tests and 3-1 in � ve one-day matches, with one match rained o� .

Batting has been Pakistan’s ma-jor worry over the past few years especially after the retirement of greats Inzamam-ul-Haq and Moham-mad Yousuf.

But Haq, who has won 12 of the 27 Tests he has captained, said he was more con� dent than in the past thanks to the appointment of new batting coach Grant Flower of Zimbabwe.

“Whenever a coach comes in, he helps you out, he tries his best, but in the end you have to perform as a play-

er as a batsman, as a batting unit we should be more responsible and should apply those things which he is giving in training,” he said.

The two-Test three one-day series in Sri Lanka is the start of a busy pe-riod for Pakistan, who are set to host Australia and New Zealand in the Unit-ed Arab Emirates from October to De-cember.

Haq said the hectic schedule was ideal preparation for next year’s World Cup.

“We are trying to play maximum in-ternational cricket so that’s good that before World Cup we will be playing against Australia and it will bene� t the team,” he told reporters on the last day of a training camp. l

Defending champ Isner advances in Atlantan AFP, Atlanta

John Isner kept his Atlanta ATP title de-fense on track Friday with a 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 quarter-� nal victory over Austra-lian Marinko Matosevic.

A day after Isner � red 30 aces and still had to � ght o� two match points in a second-round win over Robby Gine-pri, the towering American � red 17 aces and won 84 percent of his � rst-serve points in his win over Matosevic.

Isner was broken in the � rst game of the match, but kept his composure to take the opening set in a tie-break, sav-ing a set point along the way.

He converted two of his own � ve break chances to seal the win, break-ing for a 4-3 lead in the second set and pounding an ace on his � rst match point.

“I knew he was struggling out there a little bit and he knew I was strug-gling out there a little bit,” Isner said. “A lot of times those situations are a big advantage for me because I can mus-ter up enough energy to pop some big serves in.

Isner, the champion in Atlanta in 2013 and runner-up to Mardy Fish in both 2010 and 2011, will face fellow American Jack Sock for a place in the � nal.

Sock rallied from an early 1-4 de� cit to dispatch Slovakian Lukas Lacko 7-6 (8/6), 6-2.

Sock, enjoying the best season of his career, was in his � fth quarter-� nal of 2014.

Israel’s Dudi Sela booked a semi-� -nal berth with a 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 upset of Canadian fourth seed Vasek Pospisil. l

Hamilton stays on top with fastest lap in � nal practicen AFP, Budapest

Lewis Hamilton completed a full set of perfect results on Saturday morning when he topped the times ahead of Mer-cedes team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg in � nal free practice for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Hamilton, 14 points behind Rosberg in the title race, is seeking his � rst pole position in seven races in Saturday af-ternoon’s qualifying session as he bids to complete a hat-trick of Hungaroring wins, and a record � fth, to close the gap.

The 29-year-old Briton delivered his fastest lap of one minute and 24.048 in the closing minutes, a time that was be-

yond the German as he completed his morning’s work on the super-soft tyres.

He was just 0.047 seconds adrift of Hamilton after another consistent set of laps that, by the end, had the Englishman requesting his team to give him sector updates on his speed throughout his laps.

Sebastian Vettel of Germany was third fastest for Red Bull, nearly half a second slower than Hamilton, in a ses-sion run in hot and dry conditions. His Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was � fth ahead of Valtteri Bottas of Wil-liams, two-time champion Spaniard Fer-nando Alonso and his Ferrari team-mate and 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen. l

Sania Mirza cries over Pakistan tauntn AFP, New Delhi

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, a Mus-lim wed to a Pakistani cricketer, broke down in tears Friday after being de-scribed by a Hindu nationalist politician as “Pakistan’s daughter-in-law” and un� t to be an Indian representative.

Mirza, 27, who is married to Paki-stani cricketer Shoaib Malik, wiped away tears as she told India’s NDTV net-work she was tired of continually being forced to defend her “Indian-ness”.

“I am a very patriotic person that is why I am so emotional right now,” Mir-za, who wed Malik in 2010, said in the interview aired on television.

In comments reported earlier this week by local media, K. Laxman, a re-gional legislator belonging to the nation-

al ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), questioned the credentials of Mirza to be “brand ambassador” for the country’s newest state Telengana in southern India.

Laxman was quoted as saying Mirza’s marriage to Malik made her a “daugh-ter-in-law” of Pakistan, India’s Muslim neighbour and nuclear-armed rival with which the mainly Hindu but o� cially secular country has fought three wars.

Mirza, who has played for India at all major-level sporting events, has been defended by leaders across the political spectrum, including BJP members who said its party member’s comment did not re� ect its o� cial stance.

“After winning medals for India af-ter I got married, (I) don’t know why I have to keep justifying that I am Indi-an,” Mirza told NDTV. l

Lauda apologises to Ferrari for derogatory commentn Reuters, Budapest

Niki Lauda has apologised to Ferrari for making critical comments about his former team’s Formula One car.

The retired triple champion, who is now non-executive chairman of cham-pionship leaders Mercedes and also a television pundit, was quoted in Span-ish newspaper El Pais last weekend as saying Fernando Alonso was driving a rubbish car.

Mercedes have won nine out of 10 races this year with Britain’s Lewis Hamilton and Germany’s Nico Rosberg. Ferrari have not won a race for more than a year and McLaren since 2012.

Lauda is famous in Formula One for his direct opinions, accompanied with earthy expressions that were brought to a cinema audience last year with the

release of the Hollywood movie ‘Rush’ about his 1976 rivalry with James Hunt.

“I have the utmost respect for Niki Lauda. For me he is an iconic � gure of my childhood and in particular for Fer-rari,” he said.

“Today he came to our pit to apologise and honestly I feel very uncomfort-able...receiving an excuse from such a champion that I think has been put in the middle of something.

“I think it’s clear he is a friend of Fer-rari and I have utmost respect for Niki. So chapter closed.”l

For me he is an iconic � gure of my childhood and in particular for Ferrari

Monday, June 16, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

16 DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

Sunday, July 27, 2014

MEDAL TALLY

1 ENGLAND 13 11 11 352 AUSTRALIA 12 9 14 353 SCOTLAND 7 5 5 174 CANADA 7 1 5 135 INDIA 4 6 3 136 NEW ZEALAND 2 2 4 87 CYPRUS 2 1 2 58 WALES 1 6 4 1113 BANGLADESH 0 1 0 1

Total

*Till Saturday (10:00pm)

South Africa captain Hashim Amla raises his bat in celebration after scoring a century during the third day of their second Test against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground in Colombo yesterday AFP

Canada’s Bezzoubenko wins � ve golds in Glasgown AFP, Glasgow

Canada’s Patricia Bezzoubenko was crowned queen of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Saturday, completing a � ve gold medal haul in rhythmic gymnastics

while the undisputed king Usain Bolt was arriving for Jamaican relay duty.

Bezzoubenko had already won two golds in the team and all-around events and she added three more on Saturday in the clubs, ball and hoop individual disciplines.

The one gold that escaped her grasp was in the ribbon which went to Francesca Jones giving Wales their � rst gold medal of the Games.

The other gold to be won early on in the third day of competition went to Australia’s Daniel Repacholi in the men’s 10m air pistol.

But the toast of the town in that event was third-placed Mick Gault of England who at 60 won a record-equalling 18th Common-wealth Games medal.

New Zealand meanwhile crushed Canada 39-0 to get the Rugby Sevens tournament underway on a day when 27 gold medals

were up for grabs notably in swimming, judo, shooting and cycling.

Set to make its Olympic debut in Rio in 2016, rugby union sevens, will have the chance to shine at Rangers’ Ibrox Stadium.

The line-up is staggeringly strong for the abbreviated form of the game with all-con-quering New Zealand bidding to maintain their remarkable unbeaten record and bid for a � fth successive gold medal that was kicked o� by the Jonah Lomu-inspired tri-umph in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

In netball, the two title favourites, Aus-tralia and England, played out a group stage thriller which the Australians edged 49-48.

In the morning qualifying session in the swimming pool there was more success for Scotland as Cameron Broady went faster that Olympic champion Chad le Clos in the 100m butter� y after being inspired by fel-low Scots Ross Murdoch and Dan Wallace.

Murdoch and Wallace’s success in the 200m breaststroke and 400m individual medley, allied to Hannah Miley’s gold in the women’s 400m individual medley, have giv-en Scotland a great start after just two days on competition in the pool.

And Broady is determined to claim a fourth Scottish gold in the � rst � nal of Sat-urday’s evening session. l

Sri Lanka on top despite Amla century

n AFP, Colombo

Captain Hashim Amla struck a gritty 139 not out but failed to stop Sri Lanka from taking the driver’s seat in the sec-ond and � nal Test against South Africa on Saturday.

Amla, 31, batted for more than eight hours to frustrate the Sri Lankan spin-ners who shared nine wickets between them to bowl out South Africa for 282 in their � rst innings.

Sri Lanka, who made 421 in their � rst essay, were 11-0 at stumps in their second innings for an overall lead of 150.

O� -spinner Dilruwan Perera (5-69) grabbed a � ve-wicket haul, his second in � ve Tests, while left-armer Rangana Herath chipped in with 4-71.

South Africa’s weaknesses against spin were left exposed as none of the batsmen, barring Amla, could even make a half-century despite the fact the wicket was no mine� eld.

For Amla, it was his � rst century as South Africa’s Test captain. He faced 382 balls and hit 12 fours in his mara-thon e� ort.

His century, also the � rst by a South African captain in Sri Lanka, proved crucial and helped the visitors avoid the embarrassment of a follow-on.

The South African innings was wrapped up in the � nal session with

Herath having Dale Steyn (30) caught by Kumar Sangakkara and Imran Tahir by Upul Tharanga at deep mid-o� .

Perera then sent back Morne Morkel for a duck to bowl out the Proteas with � ve overs remaining in the day.

Sri Lankan openers Kaushal Silva (� ve) and Upul Tharanga (six) saw o� the overs without any hiccups.

South Africa lost Jean-Paul Duminy and Vernon Philander (nine) to spin in the second session that saw them put on 71 runs at less than three runs an over.

Duminy (three) � ddled around for more than an hour before he was stumped by Niroshan Dickwella o� Herath while Philander was bowled by Perera.

Amla, dropped on 93 at short cover by Silva, completed his 22nd Test hun-dred with a single o� Herath, a � tting reward for his lonely toil on the crease.

The bearded batting wizard is lead-ing the side for the � rst time in this two-Test series after being named skipper last month following the retire-ment of Graeme Smith.

The � rst session saw Herath get rid of AB de Villiers (37) and Quinton de Kock for a duck in the space of three balls after South Africa had resumed at their overnight 98-3.

South Africa lead the series 1-0 after winning the opener in Galle by 153 runs. l

Sri Lanka 1st innings421 (M. Jayawardene 165, N. Dickwella 72; V. Philander 2-52)South Africa 1st innings(overnight 98-3)A. Petersen c and b Herath 2D. Elgar c Silva b Perera 1F. du Plessis c Dickwella b Lakmal 36H. Amla not out 139AB de Villiers lbw b Perera 37Q. de Kock b Perera 0JP Duminy st Dickwella b Herath 3V. Philander b Perera 9D. Steyn c Sangakkara b Herath 30I. Tahir c Tharanga b Herath 15M. Morkel c Silva b Perera 0Extras: (lb3, nb6, w1) 10Total: (for all out; 134.5 overs) 282

Fall of wickets1-3, 2-13, 3-71, 4-150, 5-150, 6-175, 7-204, 8-251, 9-279, 10-282BowlingLakmal 23-7-54-1 (1w, 4nb), Herath 45-17-71-4, Perera 41.5-11-69-5, Mendis 21-1-68-0 (2nb), Vithanage 4-0-17-0Sri Lanka 2nd inningsU. Tharanga not out 6K. Silva not out 5Total (for no loss; 5 overs) 11

BowlingSteyn 3-1-7-0, Philander 2-1-4-0

Sri Lanka lead by 150 runs with 10 wickets in hand

SCORECARD

Patricia Bezzoubenko of Canada performs in the Individual Ribbon � nal during the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland yesterday AP

www.dhakatribune.com/business SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2014

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

2015201420132012

IMF lowers growth forecasts

Source: IMF

1.41.1

43

7.1

1.52

As a percentage of GDP

Eurozone

Brazil

Japan

China

USA

World 3.52.8

7.7

-0.7

1

Forecasts

B3 Apple iPhones allow ex-traction of deep personal data, researcher � nds

B4 IMF cuts 2014 global growth forecast, sees rising risks

BB springs no big monetary surpriseIt releases monetary policy statement keeping credit growth and other policy rates unchanged n Kayes Sohel

Bangladesh Bank yesterday unveiled monetary policy statement, keeping pri-vate sector credit growth and other key policy rates unchanged from the imme-diate past policy.

It termed the policy invest-ment-friendly but cautious, aiming to keep in� ation under control and to spur the economic growth.

“The monetary policy has no big sur-prise but continuation of the previous version,” said Governor Atiur Rahman while releasing the monetary policy statement (MPS) for the � rst half (Ju-ly-December) of the � scal year 2014-15 at Bangladesh Bank headquarters in Dhaka.

BB will continue to focus on achiev-ing its in� ation targets while providing su� cient space in its monetary pro-gramme for lending to activities which support broad-based investment and in-clusive growth objectives, said the MPS.

The persisting in� ationary pressures over the past few months with the risks ahead related to the in� ation outlook imply that achieving the FY15 in� ation target of 6.5% will be challenging. As such, BB has decided to keep policy rates unchanged. However, the govern-ment had set � scal in� ation target at 6%.

The Cash Reserve Requirements (CRR) was raised in June 2014 by 50 ba-sis points to absorb part of the excess li-quidity and help contain in� ation – this remained unchanged.

The Governor said: “The new mon-itory policy will not only ensure price stability but � nancial stability too.”

The central bank aims to contain re-serve money growth to 15.5% and broad money growth (M2) to 16% by December 2014.

It also expects private sector credit growth will be 16.5% (including foreign borrowing by local corporates) as like as its January-June ceiling. The target was not achieved, however.

The current growth in the private sector credit is 15.7% including foreign borrowing as of May last, according to the BB data.

“Private sector credit ceiling is in line with output growth targets and is su� cient to accommodate any substan-tial rise in investment over the next six months ending in December 2014,” said

the Governor.Out of 16.5% ceiling for private sector

credit growth, 14% borrowing is expect-ed from local sources by December 2014.

“The BB views these � gures as indic-ative ceilings – banks continue to be ad-vised to lend only to creditworthy clients for productive purposes,” the MPS said.

At the same time these ceilings are � exible and the monetary programme could be recalibrated should economic growth pick up faster than projected, it said.

It said the projected pick-up in eco-nomic growth in FY15 should absorb some of the current excess liquidity though BB stands ready to use its range of instruments to further limit excess li-quidity as and when required.

It said � scal-monetary coordination will continue and the track record of containing government borrowing well within the budgetary target is expected to continue, further limiting any crowd-ing out e� ect of private sector borrowing.

In order to promote exports, BB has recently increased the Export Develop-ment Fund from US$1.2b to $1.5b.

“With a view to attracting foreign investment, BB has relaxed restrictions on foreign investor borrowing from the local market and their ability to access working capital � nancing from their parent company,” it said.

The BB governor said foreign com-panies operating in Bangladesh will be able to bring dollars from their parent companies abroad at zero rate of inter-est. E� ective transmission of monetary policy requires strengthening credit and debt markets and this will remain a key focus for the BB, he said.

To strengthen monitoring of state-owned banks activities, BB said quarter-ly performance targets will continue to be published on BB website to promote public accountability. “Clear progress on implementing automation bench-marks in the state-owned commercial banks is a precondition for sanctioning the release of additional recapitalisation funds,” it said.

Sticking to its market-based ex-change rate, the Governor said the BB’s e� orts to maintain stability in nomi-nal exchange rate will continue to en-

courage expatriates to send their hard-earned money in the country.

Taka and the US dollar nominal ex-change rate remained stable in H2 FY14 and BB’s interventions in the foreign ex-change market have signi� cantly limit-ed the loss of external competitiveness by stemming any signi� cant apprecia-tion of the Taka, according to the MPS.

Replying to question, the Governor hopes the investment will increase in months ahead. “When many mega infra-structure projects like Padma Bridge will start, demand for credit will increase.”

“We have given emphasis on quality credit growth and broadening SME loans to grow investment in agriculture,” he said. The BB has given its due emphasis on the agriculture sector which is helping bring down the food in� ation, he said.

Atiur said the foreign exchange re-serve might fall if investment rises as import of capital machinery will also rise. Decline in remittances has not ad-versely a� ected external stability in FY14, he said.

The central bank’s advisor Allah Ma-lik Kazemi said BB has been encourag-

ing cheaper foreign loan to make the exportable goods competitive. “Many goods produced in the country for the international market are not competitive following high domestic rate of interest.”

He also said the cheaper foreign loan is also creating a downward pres-sure in terms of interest rate for the local banks. Former BB Governor Sale-huddin Ahmed said monetary policy statement is a part of traditional one in recent time with no signi� cant mes-sage to boost the growth.

“The central bank should be more analytical rather than depending on data provided by many banks,” he said, adding that to my knowledge, SME loan has been diverted.

The central bank focused on pub-lic credit growth rather than private growth, which will not ensure quality economic growth, he said.

About falling down non-food in-� ation, he said non-food in� ation is declining. “It is not good news for the economy as it means fall in consumer demand, leading to lower economic ac-tivities.” l

Recipes for capital market rolled outn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank has come up with a set of recipes to make the capital mar-ket vibrant.

The banks with exposure below the regulatory limit has been encouraged to inject fund into the stock market, said the central bank deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury while unveiling the monetary policy statement for the Ju-ly-December period of 2014 yesterday.

But a few number of banks have such ability to do so, sources said in the bank. According to Banking Companies Act, no banks are allowed to invest more than 25% of their total capital in stocks, and the central bank gave them until July 2016 to bring down their exposure.

Sur said BB has extended provision-ing of banks for this year too against in � ve instalments to increase liquidity in the market. The central bank since 2011 gave an opportunity to the commercial banks for maintaining provisioning re-quirement for investment in stocks.

Under the provisions, the banks are allowed to maintain 20% provisioning in � ve instalments in a year instead of 100% against their own investments in the stocks. The deputy governor also said barriers have already been removed for smooth functioning of capital mar-ket re-� nance scheme of Tk900 crore.

A committee has already been formed for fast disbursement of Tk900 crore through Investment Corporation of Bangladesh among small investors a� ected in the stock market debacle in late 2010, deputy governor said.

Before taking any policy measures on � nancial market, the existing co ordination committee formed drawing representatives from di� erent regula-tory bodies, including BB, BSEC dis-cuss so that stock market might not be a� ected, he said.

“No stricter policy has been taken or will not be taken in the monetary policy, which hampers the growth of the capital market. The central bank always wants vibrant capital market.”

In its latest policy statement, BB said while primarily an SEC issue, BB will be supportive of the capital market through on-going regulatory coordina-tion and policy support. l

Steps to bring back money laundered through BASIC Bank to be taken n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank yesterday said it would take initiative to bring back money in case laundered through scam-hit BASIC Bank, if such case is found.

“Investigation is on about the is-sue,” said Deputy Governor and Ban-gladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) Chief Abu Hena Mohammad Razi Hasan.

Replying to a question, he said the money if laundered through the state-owned bank will be brought back. It is possible through a memorandum

of understanding Bangladesh already had with the 147-member global an-ti-money laundering body EGMONT Group and agreements with various countries.

On taking action against o� cials in-volved with the BASCI Bank irregular-ities, Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowd-hury said now the ACC is responsible for taking necessary legal action against the corrupt o� cials, since we have al-ready sent our investigative report and recommendations to the ACC.

They were speaking at the launch-ing ceremony of monetary policy statement for the � rst half of the cur-

rent � scal year at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka.

In mid-last month, Bangladesh Bank had sent a 4-page detailed in-vestigation report on the BASIC Bank to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Although the BB sent a � le relating to loan irregularities at Gulshan, Ba-nani and Shantinagar branches of the bank to the ACC on July 25 last year, the anti-graft watchdog is yet to re-spond with regard to taking actions in this regard, said a BB o� cial.

The government on July 6 dissolved the infamous board of BASIC Bank,

headed by Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu, over its role in � nancial irregularities that cost the lender Tk4,500 crore in the three branches between 2009 and 2013.

The seven-member board of the bank was dismissed “on the basis of an investigation report of the central bank” on various scams in the bank, the Bank and Financial Institutions Division of the � nance ministry had earlier said in a notice.

On July 7, the government appoint-ed a new board led by Alauddin A Ma-jid. The new board found that the bank has no audit reports of its own.

The BB earlier found di� erent types

of irregularities in the BASIC Bank in providing loans, which included non-veri� cation of customer’s cred-itworthiness, absence of “know your customer (KYC)” procedures, and ex-tending loans to defaulters.

Replying to another question on a large number of clients holding per-forming loans (NPL) from private com-mercial banks belong to the Chittagong trading zone, SK Sur Chowdhury said the central bank is preparing to take action against the o� cials involved with this loan.

He said banks were also asked to form task-force respectively to realise

such loans. Ali Reza Iftekhar, Chairman of the

Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB), a grouping of 39 PCBs, disclosed about it at a meeting of bankers at the BB last week.

He said the NPL volume is rising mainly due to the signi� cant accumu-lation of the bad loans in a particular district (Chittagong).

The central bank does not compile any data on NPL based on any partic-ular region. But according to central bank sources, more than 60% of those who open and settle LCs hail from Chittagong. l

Bangladesh gets time to execute anti-money laundering stepsn Asif Showkat Kallol

Bangladesh has got one more year to meet conditions of Asia Paci� c Group on anti-money laundering as well as to upgrade its related laws including that of terrorist � nancing.

APG decided to submit mutual evaluation report on Bangladesh’s an-ti-money laundering activities in Feb-ruary 2016 instead of February 2015, said Dr Aslam Alam, Secretary to Bank and Financial Institutions Division.

“APG on Money Laundering agreed at the 17th APG annual meeting and technical assistance forum this month (July) in Macao, China that it will sub-mit the mutual evaluation report in the 2016 annual meeting,” he told Dhaka Tribune.

Bangladesh has o� ered APG to hold the 2016 annual meeting in Dhaka when the APG is supposed to submit its mutual evaluation report on an-ti-money laundering e� orts of Bangla-desh, said Dr Aslam.

“It will be easy for us to endorse

APG mutual evaluation report at an annual meeting in Dhaka,” the secre-tary said.

In February 2014, Bangladesh suc-cessfully came out of the gray list of Paris-based International organisation Financial Action Task-Force (FATF) which said the country made “signi� -cant progress in its drives against mon-ey laundering and combating terror � nancing” in the past � ve years.

Secretary said, “We badly needed time to implement at least 40 condi-tions of APG which were placed just after Bangladesh came out from FATF gray list in February. So it was not pos-sible to meet all the conditions only in a year time.”

A team of APG on Money Launder-ing will visit Dhaka at the end of No-vember 2014 to oversee execution of 40 APG recommendations including upgrading of anti-money laundering and terrorist � nancing law and Mutual Evaluation law.

Under the Mutual Evaluation law, the two countries will exchange mon-

ey laundering information and the per-sons involved in the crime.

The government will have to look into the nine issues under the FATF for prevention of the money laundering.

They include evaluation of existing legal review, anti-money laundering law, investigation and judicial process, terrorist � nancing law, implementa-tion of UN resolution, international co-operation and mutual legal assistance, supervision and monitoring, NGO-re-lated matters, cross border issues and matters related with formation of com-panies and bene� ciary owners.

Meanwhile, Secretary M Aslam Alam recently expressed his concerns over the possibility of money launder-ing in the share market.

He came up with the concerns at a post-budget meeting between Finance Minister AMA Muhith and the stock ex-changes at the secretariat.

He said they had worked hard for last � ve years to pull the country out of the FATF gray list and was successful in February. l

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Net foreign assets

May ‘14Broad money

growthPublic sector

growthPrivate sector growth

excluding foreign loans

MONETARY AGGREGATES (GROWTH IN PERCENTAGE)

Monetary Programme

Actual

Target

Dec-14

Jun-15

First round of consultation on seed policy endsn Tribune report

Seed Regulatory Reform Committee has completed the � rst round of con-sultation on drafting a new national seed policy.

The committee, led by Additional Secretary and director general Seed Wing Anwar Faruque, is comprised of 19 members from relevant public and private sector representatives in the seed sector.

The Seed Wing of Agriculture Minis-try is leading the initiative to draft the seed policy and the consultation com-pleted last week.

The revised policy is expected to improve regulatory environment of seed sector, enhance trade and foster private sector growth in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund, managed by IFC, in partnership with the UK government and Europe-an Union, is supporting the agriculture ministry for the reform, said a press release. l

Will all garment workers get paid by today? n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Although the government-set deadline for the garment industry owners to make wage and Eid bonus payments ended on Friday, workers’ leaders claimed still nearly 20% factories have not paid.

However they promised to pay by today.

BGMEA claimed 95% of its member factories already paid their workers.

It said the remaining 5% would also make the payments by today.

BGMEA named four speci� c fac-tories which are still to decide on the payments as the association said they are facing some problems with one halting production. The factories are Tuba Group, Jokky Garment, S Nahar Garment and Trade Fashion.

But the workers’ leaders said about 20% factory owners, mostly of subcon-tracting units, were yet to pay.

They also promised to pay by today, said Sirajul Islam Rony, President of Bangladesh National Garment Work-ers-Employees League (BNGWEL).

Subcontracting factories neither belong to Bangladesh Garment Man-ufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) nor Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Associa-tion (BKMEA).

The deadline ended peacefully as there were no reports of violent anger and protests.

“We did not witness any case of un-rest today (Saturday),” said Mosharraf Hossain, Assistant Police Supper of In-dustrial Police, Gazipur Zone.

About the remaining factories who are set to make payments today, BG-MEA vice president Shahidullah Azim said they delayed as some of the own-ers had fund shortage, “however they will be paying dues tomorrow (today) as workers and owners have come to a consensus in this regard.”

“We received no major allegations of non-payment,” he said, adding four factories that “ The case is di� erent. Jokky has shut down production while Tuba is facing problems as its owners are behind the bar.” l

B2 Stock Sunday, July 27, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Weekly news from trade serverSQURPHARMA: The Board of Directors has recommended 30% cash dividend and 15% stock dividend for the year ended on March 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 25.09.2014, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Factory premises, Kaliakoir, Gazipur. Record Date: 26.08.2014. The Company has also reported NAV of Tk. 22,277.52 million, EPS of Tk. 8.36 and NOCFPS of Tk. 12.90 for the year ended on March 31, 2014.LINDEBD: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors has approved 200% interim cash dividend for the year ending 31st December 2014. Record date for enti-tlement of interim dividend: 03.08.2014.APEXSPINN: The Board of Directors has recommended 20% cash dividend for the year ended on March 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 28.09.2014, Time: 9:00 AM, Venue: Trust Milonayatan, 545 Puraton Biman Bandar Sarak (Adjacent to Shahid Bir Shresta Jahan-gir Gate), Dhaka Cantonment, Dhaka-1206. Record date: 07.08.2014. The Company has also reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 18.80 million, EPS with fair valuation surplus of Investment of Tk. 3.35, EPS without fair valuation surplus of Investment of Tk. 2.24, NAV per share of Tk. 49.75 and NOCFPS of Tk. 2.50 for the year ended on March 31, 2014 as against Tk. 18.49 million, Tk. 2.01, Tk. 2.20, Tk. 49.32 and Tk. 18.09 respec-tively for the year ended on March 31, 2013.SUNLIFEINS: The Board of Directors has recommended 5% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 15.09.2014, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Trust Milonayaton, 545, Old Airport

Road, Tejgaon, Dhaka-1206. Record Date: 07.08.2014.GP: The Board of Directors of the Company has declared 95% interim cash dividend for the year ending on 31 December 2014, out of the provisional net pro� ts of the Compa-ny for the half-year ended on 30 June 2014 and retained earnings as of 31 December 2013. The Company has also reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 10,601.27 million, EPS of Tk. 7.85, NAV per share of Tk. 25.91 and NOCFPS of Tk. 9.80 for the half-year ended on 30 June 2014. Record date for entitle-ment of interim dividend: 05.08.2014.MARICO: The Board of Directors of the Company has declared 150% interim cash dividend for the year ending on 31st March 2015 based on 1st Quarter � nancials for the period ended on 30th June, 2014. Record date for entitlement of interim cash dividend: 07.08.2014.NAVANACNG: The Board of Directors has recommended 15% cash dividend for the year ended on March 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 25.09.2014, Time: 9:30 AM, Venue: Bashundhara Convention Centre-2, Baridhara, Dhaka. Record Date: 10.08.2014. The Company has also report-ed EPS of Tk. 3.46, NAV per share of Tk. 28.14 and NOCFPS of Tk. 4.03 for the year ended on March 31, 2014.Audited/unaudited Financial Reports:STANDBANKL: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 644.78 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.13 as against Tk. 473.91 million and Tk. 0.83 respectively*.MJLBD: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 600.16 million

with consolidated EPS of Tk. 2.52. FASFIN: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 29.45 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.26 as against Tk. 0.57 million and Tk. 0.01 respectively*.UCBL: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 1,939.97 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 2.32 as against Tk. 1,058.61 million and Tk. 1.27 respectively*.LINDEBD: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 294.95 million with EPS of Tk. 19.38 as against Tk. 343.34 million and Tk. 22.56 respectively*.CITYGENINS: (H/Y): NPAT= 52.27 million with basic EPS of Tk. 1.12 as against Tk. 49.52 million and Tk. 1.06 respectively*.ISLAMIBANK: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 974.06 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.61 as against Tk. 1,537.86 million and Tk. 0.96 respectively.* FAREASTFIN: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 62.60 million with EPS of Tk. 0.39 as against Tk. 14.73 million and Tk. 0.09 respectively.*AZIZPIPES: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 1.02 million with EPS of Tk. 0.21 as against Tk. 1.94 million and Tk. 0.40 respectively.*PRIMEFIN: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 137.86 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.51 as against Tk. 76.29 million and Tk. 0.28 respectively.*SIBL: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 616.88 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.88 as against Tk. 240.96 million and Tk. 0.34 respectively.*IPDC: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 53.19 million with EPS of Tk. 0.46 as against Tk. 53.59 million and Tk. 0.47 respectively.*RELIANCINS: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 139.65 million with EPS of Tk. 2.34 as against Tk. 126.92 million and Tk. 2.12 respectively*.

Stocks stay positive for two straight weeksn Tribune Report

Stocks stayed positive for the second straight week, lifted by better than expected half-yearly earnings and anticipation of capital market friend-ly monetary policy for the � rst half of the current � scal year.

The policy was announced yes-terday. Some investors continued to remain in mood of cashing out ten-dency throughout the week to spend in the Eid festival.

The market will open on August 3 after nine-day long vacation begun Friday last.

During the past week ended Thursday, the benchmark DSEX rose 35 points or 0.8% to 4,427. It added 65 points in the last two weeks.

The DSE Shariah Index, DSES, gained almost 6 points or 0.5% to 1,004. The comprising blue chips DS30 was up over 23 points or 1.5% to close at 1,626.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, rose 54 points or 0.7% to 8,381

after witnessing gain in the previous week. Trading activities increased substantially in the past week with the DSE turnover standing at Tk321 crore, an increase of 54.7% over the previous week.

Among the major sectors, pharma-ceuticals was the only sector which closed negative. All the other large cap sectors closed in green. Telecommu-nication appreciated by a staggering 7.5% thanks to Grameenphone that gained 7.9% in the past week, spurred by its half-yearly earnings and divi-dend declared during the week.

Power, food and allied, banks and non-banking � nancial institutions also performed well.

“With improved half-yearly earn-ing disclosure and expectations on the upcoming monetary policy state-ment , it ended the downcast tone prevailing in last couple of weeks,” said IDLC Investments in its weekly market analysis.

Participation increased on the in-vestors’ meticulous re-balancing of portfolio ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, it said.

Lanka Bangla Securities said the market seems to be getting back some sort of momentum helped by good corporate earnings of listed companies in Q2.

Multinational companies per-formed well this quarter and some of the banks and cement companies also did well, it said.

Earnings of some � agship compa-nies like Grameenphone, BATBC, La-farge Surma Cement, Bata Shoe and Heidelberg infused optimism into the investors, according to it. l

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Progressive Life-A -25.07 -25.07 112.40 112.40 112.40 112.40 0.056 2.30 48.9Navana CNG-A -10.00 -9.81 52.88 53.10 60.00 52.00 7.901 3.46 15.3Nitol Insurance -A -9.66 -4.33 25.83 26.20 28.00 25.00 0.073 3.24 8.0Square Pharma -A -7.42 -7.68 252.87 254.60 260.00 248.00 64.722 8.36 30.2NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A -7.35 -7.35 6.30 6.30 7.00 6.30 0.157 1.52 4.1Meghna Life Ins. -A -7.11 -7.60 90.09 90.10 103.00 90.00 0.390 6.45 14.0Samata LeatheR -Z -6.78 -6.78 22.00 22.00 22.00 22.00 0.011 0.09 244.4Berger Paints-A -6.42 -6.19 1,020.00 1,020.00 1,022.00 1,020.00 0.102 57.68 17.7Union Capital -A -5.91 -5.57 19.15 19.10 21.00 18.90 1.170 2.08 9.2Prime Insur -A -5.85 -5.85 19.30 19.30 19.30 19.30 0.014 0.92 21.0

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Navana CNG-A -9.71 -9.28 52.97 53.00 60.40 48.30 73.104 3.46 15.3Wata Chemicals -A -8.51 -6.82 213.87 214.00 237.00 195.00 29.313 6.24 34.3Square Pharma -A -6.88 -7.35 253.14 255.70 270.00 231.00 729.993 8.36 30.3Midas Financing-Z -6.61 -6.38 21.26 21.20 23.50 19.10 4.774 -6.91 -veRenwick Jajneswar-A -6.38 -7.18 206.76 208.30 223.00 205.00 7.205 3.92 52.7BD. Thai Alum -B -6.05 -6.21 26.14 26.40 28.80 23.80 71.501 0.84 31.1Union Capital -A -5.42 -5.68 19.27 19.20 21.00 18.10 19.806 2.08 9.3Nitol Insurance -A -5.21 -2.00 27.50 27.30 29.00 25.00 0.806 3.24 8.5Standard Insurance-A -5.09 7.06 26.24 26.10 27.50 24.00 0.684 2.88 9.1EBL NRB M.F.-A -4.76 -4.76 6.00 6.00 6.30 6.00 0.079 0.47 12.8

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 6,701,090 244.25 17.63 36.00 2.27 35.20 39.10 31.90 35.62Shahjalal Islami -A 18,970,142 208.67 15.07 11.20 3.70 10.80 11.20 9.80 11.00Grameenphone-A 287,000 85.02 6.14 307.70 7.70 285.70 309.00 275.10 305.62Square Pharma -A 256,518 64.72 4.67 254.60 -7.42 275.00 260.00 248.00 252.87FAR Chemical-N 985,000 50.48 3.64 56.00 17.65 47.60 56.30 47.70 54.10The Peninsula CTG.-N 1,434,000 49.50 3.57 34.40 0.29 34.30 35.40 33.80 34.22UNITED AIR-A 2,735,317 33.24 2.40 12.20 -0.81 12.30 12.40 11.00 12.05BD Submarine Cable-A 177,696 32.06 2.31 180.70 0.89 179.10 184.50 175.00 180.48G Next Fashions-A 1,762,505 31.69 2.29 17.80 1.71 17.50 18.70 17.20 18.21Appollo Ispat CL -N 1,040,800 29.74 2.15 28.50 -1.38 28.90 29.40 28.00 28.53

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 58,556,554 2137.06 13.30 36.20 2.84 35.20 41.30 31.40 35.60Grameenphone-A 5,302,070 1575.98 9.81 307.90 8.00 285.10 309.30 270.00 305.98Square Pharma -A 2,893,397 729.99 4.54 255.70 -6.88 274.60 270.00 231.00 253.14Shahjibazar Power-N 11,162,200 591.79 3.68 58.70 31.03 44.80 58.70 43.70 56.91LafargeS Cement-Z 6,305,000 530.23 3.30 85.50 2.89 83.10 86.80 81.20 84.91Olympic Ind. -A 2,034,665 488.33 3.04 242.00 3.55 233.70 244.30 223.00 242.30Padma Oil Co. -A 1,407,629 457.86 2.85 333.00 7.01 311.20 333.00 295.00 330.15FAR Chemical-N 8,240,000 422.97 2.63 56.30 18.53 47.50 56.40 47.80 54.27The Peninsula CTG.-N 8,815,000 304.35 1.89 34.40 0.29 34.30 36.80 33.60 34.24BSC-A 535,570 294.02 1.83 542.00 2.60 528.25 568.75 526.75 545.04

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

FAR Chemical-N 17.65 16.44 54.10 56.00 56.30 47.70 50.479 3.92 13.8SummitAlliancePort.-A 15.65 12.47 26.06 26.60 27.30 20.70 9.993 0.96 27.1BGIC -A 9.86 9.76 23.39 23.40 24.00 20.00 0.953 2.94 8.0IDLC Finance -A 8.72 9.31 47.09 47.40 48.50 43.70 4.820 3.04 15.5Da� odil Computers -Z 8.55 7.50 12.61 12.70 12.90 11.20 0.400 0.68 18.5National Life I -A 7.92 8.95 234.40 234.40 236.00 210.00 0.067 12.46 18.8Grameenphone-A 7.70 6.66 305.62 307.70 309.00 275.10 85.022 15.70 19.5ISN Ltd. -Z 7.14 6.84 10.47 10.50 10.50 9.90 0.111 0.20 52.4Sa� o Spinning-A 7.07 7.61 19.80 19.70 20.00 17.50 0.278 1.08 18.3Padma Oil Co. -A 6.53 6.11 329.15 331.40 332.80 285.00 22.494 21.40 15.4

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Shahjibazar Power-N 31.03 30.74 56.91 58.70 58.70 43.70 591.785 3.04 18.7GeminiSeaFood-Z 24.24 23.00 147.60 147.60 147.60 120.00 1.247 -1.80 -veFAR Chemical-N 18.53 16.86 54.27 56.30 56.40 47.80 422.972 3.92 13.8SummitAlliancePort.-A 17.83 13.11 26.14 27.10 27.30 20.90 84.627 0.96 27.2EXIM Bank 1 MF-A 11.69 18.16 9.11 8.60 9.30 7.80 0.136 0.71 12.8Da� odil Computers -Z 10.26 7.74 12.67 12.90 13.00 10.90 3.826 0.68 18.6IDLC Finance -A 9.84 9.72 47.73 48.00 49.00 41.00 69.643 3.04 15.7BGIC -A 8.37 8.17 23.30 23.30 24.60 19.50 14.670 2.94 7.9Grameenphone-A 8.00 6.76 305.98 307.90 309.30 270.00 1575.975 15.70 19.5Standard Ceramic -A 7.91 6.21 53.20 53.20 53.20 49.00 0.975 1.32 40.3

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 1090.73 6.79 291.78 15.02 1382.51 7.68NBFI 472.62 2.94 40.83 2.10 513.45 2.85Investment 160.56 1.00 7.48 0.39 168.04 0.93Engineering 1312.94 8.17 109.32 5.63 1422.27 7.90Food & Allied 805.61 5.01 102.15 5.26 907.75 5.04Fuel & Power 2045.69 12.73 149.41 7.69 2195.10 12.19Jute 4.76 0.03 0.00 0.00 4.76 0.03Textile 1417.26 8.82 177.70 9.15 1594.95 8.86Pharma & Chemical 2446.22 15.22 170.46 8.78 2616.68 14.53Paper & Packaging 0.89 0.01 159.26 8.20 160.15 0.89Service 230.34 1.43 14.47 0.74 244.81 1.36Leather 84.81 0.53 163.54 8.42 248.35 1.38Ceramic 70.96 0.44 6.50 0.33 77.45 0.43Cement 798.77 4.97 50.97 2.62 849.74 4.72Information Technology 60.65 0.38 8.08 0.42 68.73 0.38General Insurance 163.13 1.02 4.55 0.23 167.68 0.93Life Insurance 182.63 1.14 9.68 0.50 192.32 1.07Telecom 1776.68 11.06 117.08 6.03 1893.76 10.52Travel & Leisure 471.64 2.94 84.18 4.33 555.81 3.09Miscellaneous 2466.86 15.35 274.68 14.14 2741.54 15.22Debenture 4.01 0.02 0.14 0.01 4.15 0.02

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4427.15510 (+) 0.80% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1626.51643 (+) 1.47% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 13596.8693 (+) 0.78% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 11180.6478 (-) 0.68% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 8381.1484 (+) 0.65% ▲

DSE key features Jujy 20-24, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

16,067.77

Turnover (Volume)

375,472,033

Number of Contract 364,503

Traded Issues 307

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

170

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

131

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,325.89

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.19

CSE key features Jujy 20-24, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 1,464.64

Turnover (Volume) 53,380,754

Number of Contract 51,815

Traded Issues 249

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

154

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

85

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

9

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,217.36

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.88

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 biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

ANALYSTMarket seems to be getting back some sort of momentum helped by good corporate earnings of listed companies in Q2

'With improved half-yearly earning disclosure and expectations on the upcoming monetary policy statement, it ended the downcast tone prevailing in last couple of weeks'

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, July 27, 2014

Apple iPhones allow extraction of deep personal data, researcher � nds n Reuters, San Francisco

Personal data including text messages, contact lists and photos can be extract-ed from iPhones through previously unpublicized techniques by Apple Inc employees, the company acknowl-edged this week.

The same techniques to circumvent backup encryption could be used by law enforcement or others with access to the “trusted” computers to which the devices have been connected, ac-cording to the security expert who prompted Apple’s admission.

In a conference presentation this week, researcher Jonathan Zdziarski showed how the services take a sur-prising amount of data for what Apple now says are diagnostic services meant to help engineers.

Users are not noti� ed that the ser-vices are running and cannot disable them, Zdziarski said.

There is no way for iPhone users to know what computers have previously been granted trusted status via the backup process or block future connec-tions.

“There’s no way to `unpair’ except to wipe your phone,” he said in a video demonstration he posted Friday show-ing what he could extract from an un-locked phone through a trusted com-puter.

As word spread about Zdziarski’s initial presentation at the Hackers on Planet Earth conference, some cited it as evidence of Apple collaboration with the National Security Agency.

Apple denied creating any “back doors” for intelligence agencies.

“We have designed iOS so that its di-agnostic functions do not compromise user privacy and security, but still pro-vides needed information to enterprise IT departments, developers and Apple for troubleshooting technical issues,” Apple said.

“A user must have unlocked their device and agreed to trust another computer before that computer is able to access this limited diagnostic data.”

But Apple also posted its � rst de-scriptions of the tools on its own web-site, and Zdziarski and others who spoke with the company said they ex-pected it to make at least some changes to the programs in the future.

Zdziarski said he did not believe that the services were aimed at spies. But he said that they extracted much more in-formation than was needed, with too

little disclosure.Security industry analyst Rich Mo-

gull said Zdziarski’s work was over-hyped but technically accurate.

“They are collecting more than they should be, and the only way to get it is to compromise security,” said Mogull, chief executive o� cer of Securosis.

Mogull also agreed with Zdziarski that since the tools exist, law enforce-

ment will use them in cases where the desktop computers of targeted indi-viduals can be con� scated, hacked or reached via their employers.

“They’ll take advantage of every legal tool that they have and maybe more,” Mogull said of government in-vestigators.

Asked if Apple had used the tools to ful� ll law enforcement requests, Apple

did not immediately respond.For all the attention to the

previously unknown tools and other occasional bugs, Apple’s phones are widely considered more secure than those using Google Inc’s rival Android operating system, in part because Google does not have the power to send software � xes directly to those devices. l

The exploded view of the home button which doubles as a � ngerprint sensor is seen on an image of the new iPhone 5S at Apple Inc's media event in Cupertino REUTERS

Standard Bank Limited has recently opened its 88th branch in Bakolia, Chittagong. The bank’s chairperson and president of FBCCI, Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed inaugurated the branch as chief guest

Aquamarine Distribution Ltd (ADL), distributor of Sano� Bangladesh has recently opened six new branches. Dr Asim Jamal, managing director of Sano� Bangladesh inaugurated the branches as the chief guest at an occasion held at a hotel in Dhaka

Pizza Hut, international restaurant chains has launched a new dine menu yesterday. Akku Chowdhury, managing director and CEO of Transcom Foods Ltd along with renowned celebrities Munmun, Bonna Mirza, Topu and Sharmin Lucky attended the launching programme

Standard Chartered Bank recently signed an agreement with Grameenphone to collect the mobile operator’s sales proceeds from across the country. The agreement was signed by Grameenphone’s CEO Vivek Sood and Standard Chartered Bank’s acting CEO Abrar A Anwar

Euro digs in after rebounding from lows n AFP, Tokyo

The euro held � rm against the dollar and yen on Friday after bouncing back from multi-month lows in the previous session in response to upbeat manufac-turing data.

The news out of Europe added an upbeat outlook fuelled by a surge in an index that gauges the manufactur-ing sector in China, the world’s number two economy.

The single currency bought $1.3464 in Tokyo, the same rate in New York late Thursday, while fetching 137.04 yen from 137.07 yen in New York.

It had sunk to an eight-month low of $1.3445 and a � ve-month low of 136.45 yen in Asia earlier Thursday on concerns about the e� ect of sanctions on Russia -- a key eurozone energy supplier - over its links to Ukrainian rebels accused of shooting down MH17 last week.

However, it rallied after private re-search � rm Markit said its purchasing managers index (PMI) jumped in July to 54 from 52.8 in June. A � gure above 50 points to growth in the sector while anything below suggests contraction. But Markit did warn that the crisis in Ukraine was still clouding the outlook.

The dollar fetched 101.77 yen, against 101.81 yen in New York. The greenback had rallied in US trade from 101.47 yen earlier in the day in Tokyo as investors welcomed a China PMI from banking giant HSBC that came in at 52.0 for July from a � nal reading of 50.7 in June.

The US currency’s advance was staunched later, though, when � gures pointing to a drop in new home sales o� set news that US unemployment in-surance bene� ts had hit an eight-year low last week.

It was “another disappointing hous-ing release that will again highlight housing concerns for the Federal Re-serve ahead of next week’s ... (policy) meeting”, said National Australia Bank.

The dollar was mixed against other Asia-Paci� c currencies.

It � rmed to 11,578 Indonesian ru-piah from 11,542 rupiah on Thursday, to 31.87 Thai baht from 31.83 baht, to Sg$1.2414 from Sg$1.2384 and to 60.11 Indian rupees from 60.02 rupees.

The greenback eased to 43.30 Phil-ippine pesos from 43.32 pesos, and to 1,026.15 South Korean won from 1,028.78 won.

The Australian dollar fell to 94.07 US cents from 94.42 cents, while the Chinese yuan was higher at 16.40 yen against 16.39 yen. l

Oil prices mixed in Asian n AFP, Singapore

Oil prices were mixed in Asia Friday as soft gasoline demand in the United States o� set upbeat manufacturing data from China, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Inter-mediate (WTI) for September delivery dipped eight cents to $101.99 a barrel in afternoon trade, while Brent crude gained two cents to $107.09.

“WTI prices are kept pressured under by gasoline inventories, which expanded for the third straight week despite the ongoing driving season in the US,” said Desmond Chua,market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore.

“Meanwhile the slide in Brent has been kept in check due to the possibili-ties of tougher sanctions against Rus-sia, which may spark an oil crunch in Europe,” he told AFP.

US gasoline inventories rose 3.38 million barrels to 217.9 million in the week ending July 18, according to the Energy Information Administration, even though Americans are taking to the road for their holidays.

However, hopes for a pick-up in demand were boosted by HSBC’s pre-liminary purchasing managers index of Chinese manufacturing activity, which leapt to an 18-month high of 52 in July, a further sign the world’s second-larg-est economy is gaining momentum. China is the world’s top energy con-suming nation.

Investors are also keeping an eye on events in eastern Europe as the US and its allies plan another round of sanc-tions on Russia for its support of rebels accused of shooting down a Malaysian Airlines jet last Thursday.

While tensions have eased over the past week since the rebels handed over the plane’s black boxes, Washington is still pressing ahead with sti� er mea-sures against Moscow.

However, Ukraine is a major conduit for Russian natural gas exports to Eu-rope, and there are concerns the sanc-tions could disrupt supplies. l

An EU source said Thursday that the European Union will add to its sanc-tions list 15 Ukrainian and Russian in-dividuals and 18 entities over their role in the Ukraine crisis. l

Indian govt has no proposal to reduce gold import duty n Reuters, New Delhi

India, the world’s second-biggest gold consumer, does not have any current proposal to cut the record 10% import duty on gold, Minister of State for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.

India, desperate to trim a gaping cur-rent account de� cit, took a slew of mea-sures last year to curb demand for bul-lion, its second-biggest import after oil.

Besides the duty imposed by the � nance ministry, the Reserve Bank of India also imposed the so-called 80-20 rule that requires a � fth of all bullion imports to be re-exported. l

German consumer con� dence edges higher n AFP, Frankfurt

Consumer con� dence in Germany is edging fractionally higher, driven by rising income expectations, a new poll found on Friday.

“Consumer sentiment remained very robust in July,” market research company GfK said in a statement.

“Despite an escalation in the situ-ation in Israel and Ukraine, German consumers remain optimistic this sum-mer,” the statement said.

“The shooting down of a passen-ger jet of Malaysia Airlines over east Ukraine also had no impact on consum-er con� dence,” because this month’s survey had already largely been com-pleted by that point, GfK said.

Of particular note was an increase in income expectations to the highest level since national uni� cation in 1990, GfK continued.

At the same time, the German vic-tory in the soccer World Cup champi-onships seems to have had no tangible e� ect on sentiment, as already widely

expected, it added. Looking ahead to next month, GfK’s

headline household con� dence index was forecast to rise to 9.0 points in Au-gust from 8.9 points in July.

This reading is based on responses from about 2,000 households regard-ing their expectations about pay and the economy as a whole in the coming months, as well as their willingness to spend money.

Sentiment in Europe’s top economy is currently positive, but appears to be stalling amid uncertainty about pos-sible fallout from the crises in Ukraine and Iraq.

Last month, the Ifo business climate survey fell more than expected to its lowest level in six months. l

Senate panel to consider ‘toobig to fail’ report n Reuters, Washington

A US Senate panel will meet next Thursday to discuss results of a much anticipated government study that looked at whether the biggest banks can borrow at lower interest rates because investors think they would be bailed out in a crisis.

Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a Democrat, and Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, a Republican, who serve on the Senate Banking Committee, asked the Government Accountability O� ce more than a year ago to determine whether banks that are deemed “too big to fail” are able to borrow more cheaply than smaller banks can. Bank critics say that cheaper borrowing represents a market subsidy for the biggest institutions.

Brown leads the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, which will take up the GAO report in a hearing on July 31.

The report has not been made publicyet.

US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and other o� cials have said publicly that any bene� t for big banks such as JPM-organ Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc has shrunk since the 2007-2009 � nancial crisis.

During the crisis, many � nancial services companies, including insurer American International Group Inc., were bailed out.

Regulators have worked to implement the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which sought to end bailouts by limiting banks’ reliance on debtand forcing banks to plan for future crises.

The GAO report is expected to � nd a reduced subsidy for size.

However, people familiar with the report said it would show that inves-tors would feel safer with the biggest banks in a future economic meltdown

because they still see a federal govern-ment bailout as possible.

That could be part of why some bor-rowing subsidy persists.

In March, the International Mon-etary Fund said subsidies for U S banks’ borrowing had fallen as of 2013 but that they might never disappear com-pletely.

On average, banks deemed systemi-cally important still enjoy implicit sub-sidies of around 60 basis points com-pared with their less weighty peers, the IMF said.

Big banks and their lobbyists, on the other hand, say that US lawmakers are not eager to bail out � nancial institu-tions.

The lobbyists and their banking clients also point out that the large players in other industries can borrow more cheaply than their smaller competitors, even though those big companies do not expect to be bailed out in a crisis. l

Despite an escalation in the situation in Israel and Ukraine, German consumers remain optimistic this summer

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, July 27, 2014

DILBERT

IMF cuts 2014 global growth forecast, sees rising risks n AFP, Washington

The International Monetary Fund warned Thursday that geopolitical risks in Ukraine and the Middle East are looming over a global economy already hit by slowdowns in the US and China.

After “negative surprises” from the United States and China, the global economy is now expected to grow only 3.4% this year, the IMF said, lowering its April estimate of 3.7%.

In 2013, the world economy grew 3.2%.

The downgraded 2014 growth out-look re� ects a “weak � rst quarter, par-ticularly in the United States, and a less optimistic outlook for several emerging markets,” the IMF said in an update of its semiannual World Economic Out-look (WEO).

“Geopolitical risks have risen rela-tive to April: risks of an oil price spike are higher due to recent developments in the Middle East while those related to Ukraine are still present.”

Heavyweight oil producer Iraq is under siege from an Islamist o� ensive, and � erce � ghting between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza has raged for more than two weeks.

The Ukraine crisis was exacerbated by the downing last week of Malaysia Airlines � ight MH17 over rebel-held ter-ritory in eastern Ukraine that killed all 298 people aboard.

Russia, the target of US and Euro-pean Union economic sanctions for its role in the separatist � ghting, was likely to see its economy brought to the brink of recession this year, the IMF said.

It slashed its Russian growth fore-cast by 1.1 percentage point, to 0.2%, saying “activity in Russia decelerated

sharply as geopolitical tensions further weakened demand.”

Eye on Russia “If things got worse and the con� ict es-calated then anything having to do, for example, with gas supplies to western Europe, could have much larger e� ects but for the moment these e� ects are not there,” said Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist, at a news con-ference.

Separately, IMF spokesman William Murray warned the US and EU sanctions could have a severe impact on trade in the region, “particularly in eastern and central Europe and central Asia.”

Blanchard noted that the Gaza con-

� ict “doesn’t seem to have large e� ects beyond the e� ects on Israel.”

As for the United States, the world’s largest economy, IMF on Wednesday lowered its 2014 growth forecast to 1.7%, from 2% in mid-June and 2.8% in April.

The US economy, accounting for near-ly a quarter of the world’s output, shrunk by 2.9 percent in the � rst quarter, in part because of severe winter weather.

“It’s really a story of something which has just happened and that is behind us,” said Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist, in discussing the WEO update.

The IMF projected US growth will pick up in the remainder of the year, but not enough to o� set the � rst-quar-

ter drag. China, the world’s second-largest

economy, will expand less than previ-ously thought, the IMF said, lowering its forecast to 7.4% from 7.6%.

“In China, domestic demand mod-erated more than expected,” it said.

The growth estimate for the euro-zone, still struggling to recover from re-cession, was unchanged at 1.1%, and the IMF reiterated concern about weak in-� ation in the 18-nation European bloc.

“In major advanced economies, there is a risk of stagnation in the me-dium term,” the IMF warned, recom-mending that major advanced econo-mies maintain “accommodative” monetary policies.

Emerging-market economies would slow a bit more than previously esti-mated, to a 4.6 percent growth pace.

“Emerging market economies - par-ticularly those with domestic weak-nesses and external vulnerabilities - may face a sudden worsening of � nan-cial conditions and a reversal in capital � ows in the event of a shift in � nancial market sentiment,” the IMF said.

Such a scenario occurred in 2013 when investors abruptly withdrew cap-ital from emerging-market economies anticipating that the Federal Reserve would raise its key US interest rate, stuck near zero since late 2008. That did not happen, but the Fed is expected to hike the federal funds rate in mid-2015.

“I don’t think we’ll see major � nan-cial chaos in the future ... but there are going to be bumps,” Blanchard said.

Despite the worse-than-expected global growth outlook for 2014, the IMF left its 2015 forecast unchanged at an annual rate of 4%, the fastest pace since 2011. l

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

2015201420132012

IMF lowers growth forecasts

Source: IMF

1.41.1

43

7.1

1.52

As a percentage of GDP

Eurozone

Brazil

Japan

China

USA

World 3.52.8

7.7

-0.7

1

Forecasts

Even modest GDP bounce may support market n Reuters, New York

Even if data next week shows a medio-cre rebound in US economic growth, that might be enough to keep the stock market aloft at record highs and the Federal Reserve steadfast in its wind-ing down of stimulus through bond purchases.

U S gross domestic product for the second quarter, due to be released Wednesday, is forecast to have grown 3.2%. Growth had shrunk 2.9% in the � rst quarter due to a harsh winter and spending cuts tied to the federal Af-fordable Care Act.

Still, some lackluster recent data on housing and capital spending, plus a mixed bag of second-quarter earnings, have raised the risk that even a moder-ate GDP bounce may fall short of ex-pectations.

Indeed, Friday’s disappointing re-port on durable goods orders in June spurred JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to shave their second-quarter outlook by 0.1 percentage point to 2.6% and 3% growth, respectively.

While recent anxiety over con� ict in Ukraine and Middle East has somewhat kept a lid on stock prices, it has not spooked investors enough to prompt them to dump equities for bonds and cash.

“The market has been resilient to these setbacks. They have taken bad news in stride,” said Steve Weiting, global chief investment strategist with Citi Private Bank in New York.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.4 percent on Friday after closing at a re-cord high of 1987.98 on Thursday, while benchmark 10-year Treasuries yield was little changed on the week at 2.48%.

There has been steady improve-ment on the job front. Domestic jobless claims in the latest week fell to their lowest since early 2006, while monthly jobs gains have jumped by more than 200,000 in each of past � ve months, a level of strength last seen in the late 1990s.

While more Americans have re-turned to work, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told two Congressional

panels earlier this month she remained worried about stagnant wage growth and a low in� ation rate that is below the Fed’s 2% target.

Those concerns have supported a notion that the Fed is in no hurry to move away from its near-zero interest rate policy.

On Friday, US short-term interest rate futures implied that traders priced in a 53% chance of a Fed rate hike in June 2015 and a 75% chance of such a move a month later.

“We expect very little new informa-tion from the Fed next week. We have been given a clear map going into Octo-ber,” Wieting said. l

India holds � rm on blocking global customs deal n AFP, New Delhi

India on Friday said it wanted “visible” signs the World Trade Organization would agree to its vast food subsidy schemes before approving a landmark global customs pact as talks went down to the wire.

Refusal by India to endorse the agreement streamlining customs pro-cedures could derail the � rst big global trade reform by the WTO in two de-cades.

The deal must be rati� ed by all WTO members by July 31 and is to be imple-mented in mid-2015.

But Indian Commerce Minister Nir-mala Sitharaman told parliament New Delhi “would � nd it di� cult to join the consensus” unless it gets WTO assur-ances on freedom to roll out food se-curity programmes for its hundreds of millions of poor.

Sitharaman’s statement came as WTO members were in Geneva for what was envisioned as rubber-stamp approval of the Trade Facilitation Agreement or TFA, reached in Bali last year.

The agreement is aimed at lower-ing trade barriers and spurring trade

between developing and developed countries and could add $1tn to the global economy, WTO o� cials say.

While there has been progress on the trade deal, other decisions on food stockpiling and other development is-sues “have been sidelined”, Sithara-man said.

India wants “visible outcomes” demonstrating WTO members “will en-gage in negotiations with commitment to � nd a permanent solution on public stockholding”, she said.

Separately, India’s government in a statement late Friday said it had told fellow WTO members it lacked “trust that there will be constructive engage-ment on issues that impact the liveli-hood of a very signi� cant part of the global population”.

Food stockpile ‘peace clause’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party government, elected in May, warned earlier this month it might not ratify the pact, cit-ing worries about WTO acceptance of its food stockpile and subsidies pro-gramme, a hot-button political issue with many poor voters.

The WTO can approve the trade

agreement by a simple majority but this would be highly unusual as it nor-mally operates by consensus.

Under India’s government stockpile programme, grain is bought from farm-ers at often higher-than-market rates and sold at subsidised prices to the poor.

Rich WTO member nations say food stockpiles and subsidies distort trade.

When the Bali deal was struck, WTO members agreed on a “peace clause” to allow India’s food stockpile programme with no penalties until a “permanent” solution by 2017.

But since then there have been 20 meetings on the trade pact and just two on agriculture, Indian o� cials say.

While the European Union said in a statement failure to adopt the pact would mean loss of “a great opportu-nity to mobilise trade as an instrument for growth” and damage WTO credibil-ity, Indian business leaders urged the government to stand � rm.

“India must hold its ground” and developed countries “must be told in clear terms the issue of farmers’ secu-rity and welfare of the poor is not nego-tiable”, the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India said late Friday. l

Nokia’s fortunes brighten on heavy network spending n Reuters, Helsinki

Nokia surprised investors with strong quarterly earnings and raised its full-year pro� t margin forecast as network operators install more powerful sys-tems to cope with surging mobile data tra� c.

The Finnish company sold its once-dominant phone business to Microsoft in April, leaving it more reliant on a mobile network equipment business that shrank by 8% in the April-to-June quarter.

Much of the decline was due to for-eign currency � uctuations and divest-ments and Nokia said it expected net-work sales to return to growth in the second half of the year after a period in which the company sought to exit un-pro� table contracts.

The company raised its pro� tability estimate for networks, saying its oper-ating margin this year would be at or slightly above the high end of a long-term target of 5 to 10 percent. It had previously said the margin would be towards the higher end of that range.

“This was a very strong report in every aspect,” said Inderes analyst Mi-kael Rautanen, who rates Nokia shares a “buy”. “Networks pro� tability was above all expectations and, as a cherry on top, they raised the network unit’s full-year pro� tability guidance.”

Nokia shares jumped 7.7% to 6.16 euros by 1013 GMT and hit their highest since March 2011.

Nokia’s numbers follow similar positive surprises from its bigger rivals, Sweden’s Ericsson and China’s Huawei, as network operators upgrade their ca-pacity to improve video and other ser-vices on customer smartphones.

Second-quarter operating pro� t in networks, which now account for almost 90% of Nokia’s business, was 281m euros ($378m), down 14% year on year but well above the 197m euro average forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts.

The operating margin for Networks was 11%, compared with the 7.7% fore-cast in the poll.

The quarter was the � rst with Chief Executive Rajeev Suri at the helm after he was promoted in April from head of networks.

'Deal momentum”'Suri said Nokia had gained an edge over rivals with a strong focus on mo-bile broadband systems and tight cost controls.

“I like to be slim and lean ... In mo-bile broadband we have scale in all technologies that are relevant. That’s how I look at scale, going deeper in the business you’re in rather than broad,”, he said in a telephone interview.

He said Nokia was especially well positioned to win Asian business, while “in Europe, we have signi� cant deal momentum that we think will play into new network deployment projects we expect to have in the second half (of the year)”.

“In North America, we are between projects at the moment in roll-out and expect it to accelerate in the coming quarters.”

Some analysts, however, said the share reaction was too strong given that much of the stock’s value was based on Nokia’s extensive patent portfolio as well as its strong cash posi-tion.

“If Nokia’s pro� tability outlook does not carry on in the long-term ... and next year they again hit the middle of the target range, then this reaction is oversized,” said Nordea analyst Sami Sarkamies, who had a “sell” rating on the stock.

Jari Honko, portfolio manager at Al-andsbanken, said the report did not of-fer much regarding Nokia’s other units - navigation business HERE and the Technology division, which includes patents.

“Here and Technology units remain as question marks. They were not able to report any growth,” said Honko.

Nokia’s net cash position at the end of June was 6.5bn euros, up from 2.1bn at the end of March, before the cell-phone unit sale closed, the company said.

Nokia has said it planned to return $3.1bn to shareholders, but has not re-vealed what it plans to do with the rest of the money.

During Suri’s tenure, Nokia has bought a couple of smaller companies, but he has stressed opportunities for organic growth, reducing expectations of an imminent large acquisition.

Struggling rival Alcatel-Lucent has been tipped as a possible target that could boost Nokia’s position in the United States.

“That speculation has maybe been dampened for the time being, but in the long run, it’s probably on the ta-ble,” said Inderes’ Rautanen. “Nokia has good preconditions to consolidate due to its strong � nancial position. The markets will be dominated by few play-ers.” l

Top one percent control a third of China’s wealth n AFP, Beijing

The top one percent of households in Communist-ruled China control more than one third of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 25% control just one hundredth, o� cial media said, citing an academic report.

The 2012 � gures contained in a Peking University report released late Friday reveal the massive breadth of China’s social inequality, a widespread source of anger in the country.

The wealth gap is also of signi� cant concern for the ruling Communist Party, which places huge importance on preserving social stability to avoid any challenge to its grasp on power.

“One percent of households at the top level nationwide control more than one third of the country’s wealth. Twenty-� ve percent of families at the bottom level only own one percent of the country’s wealth,” the website of the People’s Daily newspaper said late Friday in a report on the university’s statistics.

“The di� erence between wages in the cities and the rural areas is the main reason behind China’s unequal wealth,” the newspaper added.

The report includes an alarmingly high Gini coe� cient, a measure of inequality with 0 representing total equality and 1 representing total inequality.

Government statistics claim the � gure stood at 0.47 in 2012, which would put it close to the US, which had an index � gure of 0.56 in 2009, according to the World Bank.

The Peking University report puts the � gure for “family households” in China in 2012 at 0.73, the People’s Daily said.

It is unclear if the social groups analysed in the report are di� erent to those surveyed by authorities.

Since taking o� ce as president last year, Xi Jinping has touted the catchphrase “Chinese dream” which, though vaguely de� ned, is meant to encourage unity, national rejuvenation and pride. l

An AT&T worker demonstrates Fire� y scanning software on the new Amazon Fire phone at an AT&T store on July 25 in San Francisco, California. Amazon's Fire phone is going on sale today at AT&T stores for $199 with a two-year AT&T contract or $649 without a contract. The phone features a year of Amazon Prime service, Dynamic Perspective 3D imaging and Fire� y image recognition that allows users to scan objects and purchase the item from Amazon's online shopping site AFP

We expect very little new information from the Fed next week. We have been given a clear map going into October