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Chaitra 30, 1420Jamadius Sani 12, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 15

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Mamata bashes central govt over Teesta��Tribune Online Report

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is regarded responsible for not signing the Indo-Bangla Teesta water-sharing pact, has again started playing politics with the issue.

Also the Trinamool Congress chief, Mamata at an election rally yesterday urged the people to teach the central government a lesson “through bal-lots” as “the centre wanted to deprive the people of [India’s] north Bengal of drinking water by giving away Teesta water [to Bangladesh].”

She made the call while addressing election rallies in Dinhata of Cooch Be-har district and Jalpaiguri of Jalpaiguri district in north Bengal of India.

“Mamata accused the central gov-ernment of trying to deprive the state’s northern parts of drinking water and asked the people to teach it a lesson,” reports Zee News.

Referring to the yet-to-be-inked Teesta water sharing deal between the two neighbours, Mamata said: “Teesta

has dried up. There is acute drinking water problem. Yet, the central govern-ment was giving away Teesta water.”

She also hit out at the central gov-ernment of trying to impose its deci-sions without public consent.

The Teesta water agreement has been put on hold after the Trinamool’s strong opposition, which has expressed fears that the treaty could spell disaster for north Bengal.

In September 2011, Mamata had em-barrassed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by pulling herself out of a dele-gation visiting Bangladesh to settle the water sharing agreement. Her decision prompted India to drop the issue from the agenda.

At a meeting with Manmohan on the sidelines of Bimstec Summit on March 4, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina emphasised on early comple-tion of Teesta water sharing agreement and hoped that the land boundary agreement would be rati! ed as soon as possible. The Indian premier assured Hasina of looking into the issue.

The Bangladesh government has " agged its concern over the drastic fall of Teesta water in the recent months. Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque raised the issue while meeting his Indian counterpart Sujatha Singh and the Indian water resources secretary on March 20.

Sujatha on Teesta water said they were taking it very seriously and had

ii PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

‘We cannot impose decisions on people.It is up to the publicto decide the fateof enclaves’

Dhaka University students set ablaze the merchandise of makeshift roadside shops during clashes with book traders in the capital’s Nilkhet area yesterday. The violence erupted following petty disputes over price. More photos on Page 3 MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Fish trader now turns surgeon��Ashif Islam Shaon

Just ! ve years back, Ratan Krishna Ma-jumder was a ! sh trader by profession. The eighth-grade passed ! sh trader used to work nights during that period. After switching to medical profession, his fate had been changed overnight.

The incredible thing was that Ratan, 43, used to conduct surgery in a private hospital at Mohammadpur in the cap-ital. His brother-in-law Babul Chandra Paik, 42, also owner of the hospital, had abetted him carry out orthopae-

dic surgery. Babul had only passed theSSC exam.

Babul appointed Ratan as an opera-tion theatre assistant. After a couple of years, they started doing minor opera-tions when the lone doctor of the hos-pital was not on duty.

Law enforcers yesterday raided the hospital named National Care General Hospital on Babar Road and arrested seven people, including the two. A mo-bile court later sentenced the duo to one year imprisonment and ! ned them Tk1.05 lakh each.

The magistrate, aided by a Rapid Ac-tion Battalion (RAB 2) team, also sealed o# the hospital.

“Babul established the hospital renting a " oor of the ! x-storey build-ing seven years ago. We conducted the raid on information that not doctors, but the owner and ward boys had been providing treatment there,” said Major Rakibul Islam of RAB 2.

He added: “Some middlemen used to poach uneducated patients going to Pangu Hospital, the country’s biggest

ii PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Clash at Nilkhet leaves 25 injured��Kailash Sarkar and Arif Ahmed

Clashes between the students of Dhaka University and traders from di# erent markets in the capital’s Nilkhet area left over 25 people, including 15 stu-dents, injured yesterday.

Witnesses and police said the entire area turned into a battle! eld during the skirmishes.

DU students set several shops on ! re and vandalised many others. During the clash, all the markets in the area re-mained shut and vehicular movements suspended, triggering panic among other students and traders.

Police had to ! re several rounds of blank shots and lob sound grenades to disperse the mob and bring the situa-tion under control.

Sources said the clash had erupted when a group of book traders beat up some students following an altercation over purchasing books.

Following the altercation, some traders con! ned one of the students inside the market and allegedly lashed him belts. Learning the news, sev-eral hundred students got organised and launched an attack on the market around 5pm, witnesses said.

Among the injured, Abdul Alim, Shahadat Hossain, Khan Mohammad Shimul, Sabbir Ahmed, Mohammad Shahin, Sohan, Abu Sayeed, Nur Hos-sain, Babul, Sadi and Abul Hossain of Dhaka University were admitted to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital

ii PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

SUNDAY, APRIL 13, 2014 ! www.dhakatribune.com ! SECOND EDITION

DU proctor says book traders beating up students is nothing new

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, April 13, 2014

Clash at Nilkhet leaves 25 injuredhh PAGE 1 COLUMN 6and the Dhaka University Medical Cen-tre. Nur Hossain, ! rst-year student of the Public Administration Department and a resident of the Zahurul Huq Hall, said the keepers of the Sonia Book Centre beat him and one of his friends Shimul after the altercation over the price of a book. He said the shopkeeper was asking for too high a price for the book which they protested.

Nurul Islam from Janata Book Cen-tre said although the incident took place between the students and the employees of Sonia Book Centre, the students vandalised and set ! re to many other shops.

Professor Amzad Ali, acting Proctor of DU, said the incident of torture on the students by the traders was not a new one.

“We will not allow the market to open until and unless the matter is solved,” said the DU Proctor. “We will sit with the leaders of the book traders for a permanent solution,” he added.

Maruf Hasan Sarder, deputy com-missioner of Ramna Division of Police, said police had no other option but to go into action.

The DC also said police had been looking into the matter and trying to talk with the traders and university au-thorities in this regard.

None had been arrested until the ! l-ing of this report around 8pm yesterday, although the DC said they had been try-ing to identify the attackers and would launch a drive to arrest them. z

Fish trader now turns surgeonhh PAGE 1 COLUMN 5hospital for orthopaedics treatment and rehabilitation, promise them bet-ter treatment and take them to Nation-al Care General Hospital.

The RAB team also found a drill ma-chine Ratan used to carry out operations. He bought it from a hardware shop. This kind of machine is used to drill walls.

“We used high anaesthesia so pa-tients did not feel pain for high RPM (revolutions per minute),” Babul was quoted as saying.

Executive magistrate Anwar Pasha said patients from remote areas fell victim to brokers at the gate of Pangu Hospital. “They tell the patients that renowned doctors give treatment at the hospital and they will not be admit-ted to Pangu Hospital until they visit the doctors personally.”

He said, “The brokers get Tk500 for each patient and a 30% of the hos-pital charge. Babul also admitted that they had 25 brokers who would prowl around Pangu Hospital.”

Babul used to work as manager and later became a business partner of anoth-er private clinic. Few months back, his hospital got licence as a 50-bed hospital from the Directorate of Health Services.

“Though the hospital must have at least 15 doctors and 30 nurses, it had only one doctor. For complicated op-erations, the owner used to hire sur-geons. Babul and Ratan along with a number of ward boys would conduct minor operations,” he said.

The law enforcers revealed that for minor operations, the hospital issued excess bills. The authority also con-! ned some patients in the hospital as they failed to pay the bills.

“For example, a patient named Farid from Jamalpur has been con! ned in the hospital since last one month for unpaid bill of Tk90,000 while Arup Miah from Sylhet for a week for Tk1.6 lakh. Babul admitted that they would hire a surgeon for doing major operations at Tk10,000-15,000. Thus they made fortune from operations,” the magistrate said.

After sealing o# the hospital, the RAB members shifted the patients to Pangu Hospital. Dr Ariful Islam, an o$ -cial of the Directorate of Health Service, was also present during the raid. z

Mamata bashes central govthh PAGE 1 COLUMN 2already asked the technical people con-cerned to immediately look into it. She informed that they were in the process of building necessary domestic consen-sus for signing the Teesta agreement.

Demonstrations have been staged recently in Dhaka and at the Teesta Barrage in Lalmonirhat district follow-ing reports that the northern districts of Bangladesh are drying up because of low or no " ow of Teesta water as the Indian side is withdrawing water from the common river unilaterally. Di# er-ent political parties and organisations have also announced long march pro-grammes this month demanding equi-table share of the Teesta water.

On the land boundary agreement, under which 162 adversely held en-claves are to be exchanged between the two countries, Mamata said: “We cannot impose decisions on people. It is up to the public to decide the fate of

Chhitmahal [enclaves].”The Mamata government has al-

ways opposed any move to hand over to the neighbouring nation 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh in exchange for 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India. The regime has argued that West Bengal would lose more land than it would get from Bangladesh. She had expressed strong reservations over the introduc-tion of the Land Boundary Agreement Bill in the Rajya Sabha last December.

The Land Boundary Agreement be-tween the two nations was signed in 1974, while the neighbours concluded an enabling pact in 2011 during Man-mohan’s trip to Dhaka. Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), she said it only talked of enclaves “and other divi-sive issues” during elections.

Mamata said the previous Left Front government had not done any-thing either, but her government was undertaking survey and census. z

Hefazat: Ban Kadianis, Ahle Hadith followers��Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The government should ban Kadianis and the followers of Ahle Hadith be-cause they are not Muslims, Hefazat Secretary General Junaid Babunagari has said, claiming that those who be-lieve in Allah cannot live in Bangladesh.

He made the comment yesterday evening in an Islamic conference at the Laldighi ground in Chittagong city.

He also asked the government to “withdraw Gonojagoron Moncho” label-ling its activists as “Shahbagi atheists.”

Junaid also demanded immediate release and withdrawal of “false” cases against all Hefazat leaders and Islami scholars including Mufti Wakkas and Ha-run Izahar, who had been behind bars.

“Our battle is against the atheists, Kadianis and Ahle Hadith followers and their associates because they give derogatory speeches against Prophet Muhammad,” he said.

He also said Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and the followers of other religions could live in the country but the atheist could not.

The Hefazat leader alleged that the followers of Ahle Hadith had connec-tions with the JMB and other militant groups and the Kadianis were not fol-lowers of Islam at all. “So, the govern-ment should ban them and they would have to live in the country like the mi-nority communities,” he declared. z

Jamaat-Shibir active to make Hefazat conference a success in Chittagong��Tushar Hayat, Chittagong

The leaders and activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Chhatra Shibir were found active in making the two-day Islamic conference of radical Islamist group Hefazat-e-Is-lam Bangladesh, which started in Chit-tagong city on Friday, a success for the past two days.

More than 100 trucks and bus-es laden with leaders and activists of Jamaat-Shibir reached the Resalat Conference of Hefazat at Laldhighi Maidan in the city from Satkania, Lo-hagara, Banskhali and Sitakund upazi-la known as the stronghold of Jamaatin the region.

While visiting the 3rd Karnaphuli

Bridge, the entry point of the city from southern part of the port city, trucks and buses carrying the leaders and ac-tivists of Jamaat were found entering the city although there was no party programme in the area.

Abdus Salam, an activist of Jamaat in Awchila area of Satkania upazila, said their party had arranged vehicles for the interested persons to attend the Resalat Conference of Hefazat.

He added that there was also an in-struction to the party leaders and activ-ists to attend the programme.

After getting down from a bus at Kotwali crossing at noon yesterday, Salam said their party men had also at-tended the programme on the ! rst day.

Harunur Rashid, a bus driver who

parked his vehicle in CRB area, said he had carried Jamaat-Shibir men from Khagoria area.

He added that more than 50 buses and trucks carried people to the con-ference venue from Satkania.

“There was no banner in front of my bus, however, the passengers contin-ued chanting slogans against the death penalty all the way,” he added.

Kutub Uddin, a truck driver who came from Sitakund municipality area, said a locally known Jamaat leader had hired his vehicle to carry people to the conference; however, there was a ban-ner of Hefazat in front of the truck.

Several other drivers of buses and trucks, who parked their vehicles in CRB area, also admitted to carry Ja-

maat-Shibir men from Lohagara, Banskhali and Sitakund.

They said at least 50 such vehicles had reached the city from the upazilas.

Rabiul Hossain, assistant general secretary of district (north) unit Ja-maat, said there was no question of in-struction to the party leaders and activ-ists to join the programme as they had no cooperation with Hefazat.

“As it was a religious programme, a few persons might have joined the con-ference on their own,” he added.

Azizul Hoque Islamabadi, organis-ing secretary of Hefazat, reputed the al-legation that Jamaat-Shibir men joined the programme.

It was a baseless propaganda, he said. z

BSF ransacks Bangladeshi’s house in Lalmonirhat��Our Correspondent, Lalmonirhat

India’s Border Security Force (BSF) ran-sacked the house of a Bangladeshi on the Dhabolguri border in Lalmonirhat’s Patgram Upazila yesterday.

Witnesses said six members of the BSF at Lalongi Camp under Falkata-35 BSRF Battalion under Kuchbihar intruded into Bangladesh while chasing a smuggler.

“On suspicion, they stormed into my house (near Pillar No 886) and be-gan ransacking it,” said Sirajul Islam Munshi, the homeowner. `“When my daughter protested, the BSF men as-saulted her. Immediately, I went to call in the BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh). But before they rushed in, the BSF had rushed back (into India),” he said.

The Indian border force also van-dalised the fence around his house, Munshi added. Second-in-command of Rangpur 7 BGB Battalion major Ruhul Amin con! rmed the incident and said they had lodged a protest and sought a " ag meeting about this. z

City roads to see special road dividers ��UNB

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) will introduce special road dividers at the end of this month to deter the preva-lent tendency of driving in wrong di-rections on city roads.

Whenever a vehicle will be driven in the wrong direction on the road, sharp steel spikes, which are the hidden de-vised of these special road dividers, will automatically spring out and puncture the tyre, according to sources at the DMP.

The ! rst of such road dividers will be installed at a point on Hare Road ad-jacent to Ramna Park by the end of this month.

These special road dividers will gradually be introduced on all the roads where a high tendency of driv-ing in the wrong direction is observed, added the sources. z

Khaleda greets Hasina on Pahela Baishakh ��UNB

Reciprocating the Prime Minister’s greetings, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Saturday sent a card to Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina congratulating her on the occasion of Bengali New Year 1421.

BNP assistant o$ ce secretaries Ab-dul Latif Jony and Asadul Karim Sha-heen handed over the greetings card to Awami League central leader Syed Ab-dul Awal Shamim at the AL President’s Dhanmondi o$ ce in the afternoon. Jony told UNB that they on behalf of the BNP chief handed over the card to Sheikh Hasina’s political o$ ce.

The nation will celebrate Pahela Baishakh, the ! rst day of the Bangla calendar, on Monday amid traditional fanfare and festivity.

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina greeted Leader of the Op-position Begum Raushon Ershad, PM’s Special Envoy and Jatiya Party Chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia on the occasion of Bangla Naba Barsha 1421. z

Six more gas projects on cards ��UNB

The Energy Ministry has worked out a plan to implement six more gas proj-ects involving Tk1,237 crore under the Gas Development Fund (GDF), a spe-cial fund created by the government through consumers’ money derived from increased gas prices.

The energy watchdog asked the government to utilise the extra mon-ey received from the consumers by hiking the price for the developmentof gas sector. O$ cial sources said a re-cent high-level meeting at the Energy Ministry recommended the projects.

Under the six projects, they said, three development and two apprais-al wells will be drilled at di# erent gas ! elds, while a compressor station will be set up and re-completion drilling work will be done in the Bakhrabad Gas Field. z

Victims of the Rana Plaza collapse and Tazreen Garment " re form a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday demanding fair compensation RAJIB DHAR

Members of Rapid Action Battalion nab a group of impostors, who had been running a fake orthopedic hospital, from the capital's Babar Road yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Obama rating rising in Bangladesh, says Gallup poll ��Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

A poll by Gallup World has found that the rating for US leadership – which, for most of the world, likely means its president, Barack Obama – jumped to 47% in Bangladesh last year.

It was 37% in 2012 and as low as 19% in 2007, the last year of George W. Bush’s presidency.

The US Global Leadership Report, a joint e# ort of Meridian International Cen-tre and Gallup, was prepared to provide a comprehensive assessment of how the world residents view US leadership.

In Bangladesh, the survey was con-ducted from April to May last year and 47% of the respondents approved the US leadership while 24% disapproved and 30% said “don’t know” or “re-fused” to make comment.

The results are based on face-to-face interviews with 1,000 adults – aged 15 and older – conducted in the Bangla language. In contrast, 22% respondents

in India approved the US leadership while 59% disapproved last year. It was 26% in 2012.According to the report, US leadership received 45% approval in Asia – the highest rating Gallup has ever mea-

sured in the region during both the Obama and the Bush administrations.

The US rating also went up by dou-ble digits in Afghanistan, Myanmar and Pakistan last year.

The image of US leadership may be bene! ting from the administration’s attempts to strengthen its alliances

and trade partnerships throughout the Asia-Paci! c region, the report says.

“After hitting a low point at the end of President Barack Obama’s ! rst term, US leadership ratings worldwide rallied in 2013 as he began his second. Median approval of US leadership across 130 countries stood at 46% last year, up from Obama’s ! rst administration low of 41% in 2012,” it adds.

The report, however, cautions that although the image of the US leader-ship shows signs of rebounding last year, it will continue to face more chal-lenges this year and beyond.

“Chief among them in the near term will be how the US and its NATO partners respond to Russia and the United States’ ongoing pursuit of a ‘rebalancing’ with Asia. These challenges make the strength of US alliances and partnerships – and the soft power of what the world thinks of the US – more important than ever,” Gallup says. z

In Bangladesh, 47% respondents approved US leadership, 24% disapproved and 30% said 'don’t know' or 'refused' to comment

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, April 13, 2014

Clockwise from top-right: Agitators hurl brickbats in front of burning roadside book shops in Nilkhet during clashes between Dhaka University students and local book traders z A book shop owner tries to douse the # ame and save his shop during the rampage z An agitator smashes the windshield of a microbus belonging to Buet, which was parked at the Nilkhet fueling station when the clash erupted z Dhaka University students carry an injured fellow student away from the violence z Armed with sticks and makeshift weapons, agitators block the road in Nilkhet during the clash between DU students and local book traders MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

DHAKA CITY POLLS

EC yet to get LGRD go-ahead��Mohammad Zakaria

The Election Commission has yet to get a green signal from the local govern-ment ministry for holding elections of the bifurcated Dhaka city corporations.

The city corporation polls have been upheld for a year – even after the clear-ance of all legal complexities – as the ministry concerned has not completed demarcation of areas under the new-ly-split city corporations.

“We have asked the local govern-ment and rural development ministry (LGRD) to complete the delimitation complexity soon. But the ministry has yet to reply to the commission about the matter,” Election Commissioner Mohammad Abu Ha! z told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Elections of Dhaka north and south city corporations were originally slat-ed for May 24, 2012. But the polls were postponed after the High Court issued a three-month stay order fol-

lowing a petition by a lawyer on de-marcating the new city corporation areas, and preparing a voter list. On May 13, 2013, the HC withdrew the stay order, clearing the way for holdingthe elections.

Ha! z said the EC was prepared to conduct the much-awaited city elec-tions, but could not do so without getting a green signal from the LGRD ministry.

The commission will discuss the matter after Chief Election Commis-sioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad returns home on Monday from a trip abroad, he added.

Senior assistant secretary Farhad Hossain also said there was no legal bar in holding the city polls, and the com-mission was only waiting for a request from the LGRD ministry.

About two months ago, the ministry sent a letter to the commission about adding Uttara sectors 1 to 14 under Dha-ka North City Corporation, said Farhad,

and “the commission then asked the ministry to demarcate the area, but there was no response from it on hold-ing the city polls,” he added.

When asked about the letter, LGRD secretary Manjur Hossain said he did not know anything about it as he was a newcomer in the ministry.

“If any directive comes from the up-per level, we will follow it,” he added.

The erstwhile Dhaka City Corpora-tion was split in two on November 30, 2011 by the amendment of the 2009 Lo-cal Government Act.

The amended bill showed the door to then mayor Sadek Hossain Khoka and 92 ward councillors. However, they were allowed to stay in o$ ce for four years beyond their expired ten-ures in 2007.

The last elections of the undivided Dhaka City Corporation were held in April 2002, and Khoka, then a minister of the BNP-led government, was elect-ed mayor for ! ve years. z

Sramik Dal’s sixth council ends without new committee��Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

A festive mood was prevailing yester-day at the Engineer’s Institute in the capital centering the sixth council of Sramik Dal – labour wing of the BNP.

Councilors from various wards and thanas of the capital started thronging the council venue since early morning. The entire area was decorated with banners and festoons; music was being played in loudspeakers. Leaders and activists were gossiping here and there with a traditional band party setting the festive tone.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia arrived at the venue around 11am and hoisted the national and party " ags. After ! nishing the 50-minute speech, she left the ven-ue and the main attraction of the coun-cil started – the councilors of Sramik Dal were gearing up to elect their next leadership.

Up until that point, things were peaceful and the mood was nothing short of festive. But all of a sudden, cha-os gripped the programme as two lead-ers of Sramik Dal raised a hue and cry.

Soon after, things took a turn to-wards the worse as the supporters of

those two leaders vandalised more than a hundred chairs. Some people could be heard chanting: “We do not accept this illegal council.”

Witnesses said at 5pm, labour lead-ers Bajlul Alam Sabuj and Moham-mad Sumon were thrown out of the venue because they had been giving statements demanding voting to electleadership.

Eventually, the council ended with-out ! nalising the new committee of the party.

A Sramik Dal leader told the Dhaka Tribune that: “We want voting to elect the leadership; but instead of election, the central leaders are selecting the leaders. That is why such a situation was created.”

A few days ago, pro-BNP profession-al Chowdhury Zafarullah criticised the party for not having democratic prac-tices within.

The last council of Sramik Dal was held 10 years ago. In that council too, the leadership was selected.

Khaleda Zia in her speech said those who could play courageous role, the new committee would incorporate them, otherwise restructuring he party would be “meaningless.” She also said leadership should not be selected on the basis of relationships.

Jafrul Hasan, general secretary of Sramik Dal, said some people gave rise to violence during the councilsession.

“I do not know them. They do not belong to my party. The situation is calm now... We could not ! nalise the committee because all the council-ors were not present. On April 16, the president and general secretary will be elected through voting,” he said. z

No progress in Sagar-Runi murder investigation��Kailash Sarkar

The law enforcement agency investi-gating the sensational murder case of the journalist couple, Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi, yesterday said they had no new evidence, except the ge-netic pro! les of two yet unidenti! ed suspects.

Sagar Sarowar, who was a news ed-itor of Maasranga Television, and his wife, Meherun Runi, who was a senior reporter of ATN Bangla, were found brutally murdered in their apartment at West Razabazar in the capital on Feb-ruary 11, 2012.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) o$ -cials said they collected the DNA sam-ples of two people from the apartment back in 2012. But since February this year, there has been no progress in the investigation.

“We have the DNA pro! les of two persons, who are yet to be identi! ed,” said ATM Habibur Rahman, director of RAB’s legal and media wing, “but we are not sure whether the DNA pro! les belong to the killers or are of acquain-tances of the couple.”

Meanwhile, a report by the UNB

news agency claimed that RAB investi-gators were sure that two killers were involved in the couple’s murder, but they are yet to be identi! ed.

Habibur Rahman, however, reject-ed the UNB report, saying, “The news agency twisted information provided by the director general of RAB in Feb-ruary.”

“Actually, we have no idea about how many people took part in the kill-ings or how many were present in the apartment at the time,” the RAB o$ cial said.

The Detective Branch of Police ini-tially began investigating the murders. But after DB investigators failed to make any headway in the case by April of last year, a court ordered RAB to take over the investigation.

Since taking charge of the case, RAB investigators have collected DNA sam-ples of more than a dozen suspects. The samples were sent to two laborato-ries in the USA for comparison with the samples found at the crime scene.

However, the samples did not match any of the eight suspects who were arrested by RAB and are now in jail, sources said. z

Khaleda: Movement when time comes��Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Apparently backtracking from her pre-vious announcement of waging tough anti-government movement after the upazila polls, BNP chief Khaleda Zia yesterday said the movement would be lodged when “time would come.”

Addressing the council of the Dhaka city unit of Sramik Dal – labour front of the party – in the capital yesterday, Khaleda said programmes would be given after organisational restructuring was complete.

“Only clapping and chanting slogans will not work. You will have to work. Those who can play courageous role and take risks and take to the streets, will feature in the new committee, oth-erwise the restructuring initiative will be meaningless. Leadership should not be selected on the basis of relation-ships,” she told the Sramik Dal leaders and activists.

“It is not true that the BNP is not staging any movement now. The coun-cil of Sramik Dal is going on and the new Dhaka committee will be announced. New leadership will be brought to the forefront because even the old leaders want new leadership,” Khaleda said.

The last council of the Dhaka city unit Sramik Dal was held in 2005.

In her speech, the former premier asked the government to take immedi-ate steps to hold political talks regard-ing the issue of who would oversee the next elections.

Criticising Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, Khaleda said: “Ershad is a betrayer. People do not trust him. The government has made him special en-voy [to the PM]. Foreigners also do not trust him. What advice will he give?”

There are many corruption alle-gations against Ershad and he killed many people. Those killings and cor-ruption are yet to be tried. But one day those will see justice,” she said.

Regarding the recently concluded Upazila Parishad Elections, Khaleda said if free and fair elections were held, Awami League would have got only a few seats.

“The ! rst phase was good. The sec-ond phase was also good apart from some stray incidents of violence. We were in the leading position. But from the third phase Awami League crimi-nals, civil administration, law enforce-ment agencies and the Election Com-mission jointly started rigging votes. It proved that fair election was not possi-ble under this government,” she said. z

Labour leaders Bajlul Alam Sabuj and Mohammad Sumon were thrown out of the venue because they gave statements demanding voting to elect leadership

600 grams of gold seized at Shahjalal ��Kailash Sarkar

An expatriate Bangladeshi was held along with 600 grams of smuggled gold at the Hajarat Shahjalal Inter-national Airport in the capital onFriday night.

Abul Hossain, 41, was detained by the Armed Police Battalion (APBn) immediately after he reached the airport from Singapore on a " ight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines around 10pm.

Originally a resident of Shariyatpur district, he had in his possession six bars of gold hidden inside his shoes, said Alamgir Hossain Shimul, senior assistant superintendent of APBn at the airport.

“The expatriate was challenged for his suspicious movement while he was crossing the green channel,” said the APBn o$ cial.

The cost of the seized gold was estimated at Tk24 lakh, said APBnsources.

Later, the detained man was hand-ed over to airport police and a case was ! led in this connection. z

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, April 13, 2014

Price rate for surgery items to be revised ��Moniruzzaman Uzzal

More than a year behind schedule, the health directorate has ! nally taken an initiative to update the standard price rate of over 2,200 medical surgery requi-site items for the country’s medical col-leges, and district and upazila hospitals.

In a bid to ensure competitive mar-ket prices, a 21-member committee of the Directorate General of Health Ser-vices (DGHS), led by one of its direc-tors, has been verifying the compara-tive prices of di# erent requisite items.

Sources said the standard rate re-vise committee met on March 18 to scrutinise and compare past and pres-ent market prices of di# erent items. The committee proposed a 5%-10% increase of di# erent essential items, as well as forming a six-member sub-committee for conducting a com-parative study and verifying the justi-

! cation of the proposed increase be-fore submitting its report within three working days.

Professor ABM Abdul Hannan, DGHS director (hospital and clinic) and head of the standard rate revise com-mittee, told the Dhaka Tribune that the body was waiting for the sub-com-mittee’s report – which was supposed to be submitted within three working days from the meeting – before ! nalis-ing new standard price rates.

The move comes amid allegations that most public hospitals ignored the existing standard rate set by the DGHS.

There are six categories of medical surgery requisite items including 1485 items of equipment, 34 items of linen, 43 items of cotton-bandage-gauze, 564 items of chemical reagent and 82 items of furniture. Medicine – which is the other category of requisite items – has no standard rate as its rate is ! xed on

retail price. According to the annual report of

the health ministry, a Tk300 crore bud-get for medical surgery requisites is provided annually to a total of 14 pub-lic medical college, 13 specialised, den-tal, homeopathic and Unani hospitals and 60 district hospitals.

Brigadier General Dr Musta! zur Rahman, director of the Dhaka Medi-cal College Hospital (DMCH), told the Dhaka Tribune that they were facing di$ culties while buying medical sur-gery requisite items, as the prices of essential items had increased greatly since the DGHS last revised standard rates over three years ago.

The hospital had to buy several items based on decision by a commit-tee on local market rates, as the DGHS failed to follow existing rules, which dictate that standard rules should be revised every two years. z

Naeem Mohaiemen receives Guggenheim Fellowship for Young Man Was project ��Tribune Report

Writer and visual artist Naeem Mohaie-men has received a 2014 Guggenheim Fellowship in the “Creative Arts-Film-Video” category to work on the next chapter of his project The Young Man Was.

Since 2006, Naeem has worked on this project as a fragmentary history of the left in 1970s Bangladesh. One of the chapters is United Red Army, a ! lm about the 1977 hijack of Japan Airlines that was " own to Dhaka. The ! lm was shown widely in Bangladesh, and is in the col-lection of the Tate Modern museum.

The next chapter, the ! lm Afsan’s Long Day (inspired by the work of jour-nalist and historian Afsan Chowdhury), premiered this spring at Museum of Modern Art, New York. Naeem will work on the next chapter of this project through his Guggenheim Fellowship.

Naeem studied at Dhaka University, and then completed his B.A. degree at Oberlin College, USA, in 1993. Since 1994, he has worked in New York, and

for extended periods in Dhaka, most recently from 2007-2011. He is also a Ph.D. student in Anthropology at Co-lumbia University.

His visual work is a composite of ! lm, photography, and mixed media, and is in the collection of the British Museum. Most recently, he created Shokol Choritro Kalponik, an imagi-nary newspaper from the year 2024, for the 2014 Dhaka Art Summit.

Naeem’s written research work in-cludes a comprehensive critique of

Sarmila Bose’s revisionist history book on 1971. His response essay has been widely cited and reprinted. He is the editor of Between Ashes and Hope: Chittagong Hill Tracts in the Blind Spot of Bangladesh Nationalism (Drishtipat/Manusher Jonno Foundation).

Established in 1925, the Guggenheim Fellowships are “mid-career” awards given for scholarship in academia, or creativity in the arts. The fellowship is open to residents of the United States and Canada. This year, the Guggen-heim Memorial Foundation awarded 177 fellowships to scholars, artists, and scientists. Fifty-six disciplines, 83 aca-demic institutions, 29 US states and 2 Canadian provinces are represented by this year’s fellows.

Past South Asian Guggenheim Fellows in the Creative Arts category include the authors Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake), Rohinton Mistry (Fine Balance), Kiran Desai (The Inheritance of Loss), Suketu Mehta (Maximum City) and Pico Iyer (Video Night in Kathmandu). z

ACC likely to scrutinise wealth of reserved women MPs Nine re-elected lawmakers’ assets rose by 224% in ! ve years ��Syed Samiul Basher Anik

The Anti-Corruption Commission is looking into the wealth information of newly-elected women lawmakers to re-served seats in parliament. However, it is in dilemma on dealing with the mat-ter extensively since only nine out of 50 served as lawmakers in the previous parliament.

O$ cials say since most of the re-served seat lawmakers are ! rst-timers, it is di$ cult to ascertain the growth of their wealth in the past years due to lack of data.

The special inquiry and investiga-tion department of the state agency is working on the issue. ACC Secretary Faizur Rahman Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune that the commission would take action against the candi-dates if found guilty.

According to an analysis by citi-zens’ body for good governance Shu-shashoner Jonno Nagorik (SHUJAN), total assets of the nine MPs increased on an average by 224% between 2008 and 2013 while income by 151%.

Among them, the assets of Awami League lawmaker Pinu Khan witnessed the highest rise – 25 times. Jatiya Par-ty MP Mahjabin Morshed’s wealth rose by around 15 times while her party col-league Noor-e-Hasna Lily Chowdhury’s seven times.

ACC Chairman M Bodiuzzaman told the Dhaka Tribune that the commis-sion was not ready yet to make a “for-mal move” in this regard as many of the lawmakers were ! rst-timers.

“We have collected newspaper clip-

pings and forwarded those to our spe-cial inquiry and investigation depart-ment. They will analyse the documents and make a decision considering the ! ndings,” he said.

“We are yet to receive any allegation against them. But if we get any, the ACC will surely conduct inquiry into their wealth.”

Currently, the ACC is inquiring into the wealth of at least three former min-isters including AFM Ruhal Haq and Abdul Mannan Khan; six sitting MPs including Awami League’s Cox’s Bazar lawmaker Abdur Rahman Badi, Dhaka 14 MP Aslamul Haque Aslam, Rajshahi 4 lawmaker Enamul Haque and Jatiya Party MP Ruhul Amin Hawlader; and three former lawmakers.

Anti-corruption watchdog Trans-parency International Bangladesh’s Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman observes that if there is inconsistency between wealth and legitimate income of a publicly-exposed person, it should be brought under the law.

Increase in wealth is nothing unusu-al, but it should be considered whether it is accumulated through a legitimate way and whether the person has mis-used power.

“The Anti-Corruption Commission should come forward to work into the disproportionate wealth of lawmakers, if any,” he said.

“Since a faction of lawmakers have been elected unopposed, the authorities should disclose their wealth information prior to the poll. It will help the authori-ties later to look into the inconsistencies, if any,” Iftekharuzzaman added. z

2 arrested over Sramik Dal leader killing ��Our Correspondent, Tangail

Police have arrested two people, in-cluding the prime accused, in con-nection with Sramik Dal leader Golam Azam murder case from Gharinda area in Tangail Sadar upazila on early Fri-day. They also recovered a ! rearm.

The arrestees were identi! ed as Shakil Kabir Sohel alias Don Sohel, 22, joint convener of Tangail City unit of Ch-hatra League, and his brother Shamim Kabir Rasel, 24, son of Md Azharul Islam of Sabali in Tangail municipality area.

Ghulam Mahfeejur Rehman, o$ -cer-in-charge of Detective Branch of Tangail police, said they arrested the two from Gharinda on Friday morning.

Police later recovered a foreign gun with four rounds of bullets from an un-der-construction building in Charjana area of Sabali.

The two were involved in the killing of Golam Azam and we are also trying to nab other accused, recover arms and mo-torcycle used in the murder, said the OC.

Sramik Dal leader Golam Azam was shot and hacked to death in broad day-light in Beel Gharinda area of Tangail Sadar upazila on April 1. z

Jaago Foundation’s ! rst batch graduation ceremony held��Tribune Report

Jaago Foundation, a civil society or-ganization, celebrated its ! rst batch of students’ graduation ceremony at Dhaka National Museum Auditorium on Friday.

It was the celebration of excellent achievement of the students who gave the PEC (Primary School Certi! cation) examination, says a press release of the foundation.

Primary and mass education min-ister advocate Mosta! zur Rahman at-tended the function as the chief guest while British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert W Gibson was the special guest.

They handed over certi! cates to the children.

Speaking on the occasion, Mo-sta! zur Rahman said, “I hope that Jaa-go Foundation’s graduates would en-courage people to join Jaago’s mission to break the cycle of poverty through education”.

“Let us work together for ensuring

quality education for all children,” he added.

Robert W Gibson said, “Jaago Foundation is an inspiration for all. Today’s convocation ceremony is a testament to the vision of providing free education to the underprivileged children”.

On the occasion the supporters of Jaago Foundation Anisul Haq and Rubana Haq from Mohammadi Group, Sonia Bashir Kabir from Dell, Akku Chowdhury from Transcom Foods, Sanjida Qasem from Qasem Group, Nazim Farhan Chowdhury from Adcomm, Rabbu Reza from Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Bitopi Das Chowdhury from Standard Chartered Bank, Mahfuz Anam from The Daily Star, Zafar Sobhan from Dhaka Tribune, Tahmid Azizul Hoque from Grameen Phone were also present.

Jaago Foundation is working to-wards eradicating poverty and illitera-cy from Bangladesh. Founder of Jaago Foundation, Korvi Rakhshand was also present. z

Foreign media team to visit Dhaka Tribune ��Tribune Report

A 10-member foreign media delegation arrived in the capital yesterday under the “Visit Bangladesh” programme. They will be visiting two media houses – Dhaka Tribune and SA TV.

They will also visit Savar Mausole-um, Dhaka Export Processing Zone and Beximco Industrial Park.

The journalists – two each from Egypt, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Qatar, and one each from the US and Myanmar – will stay in Bangladesh till April 19.

They will have an opportunity to see the colourful celebrations of Pahela Baishakh and Chaitra Sangkranti. z

Minister: 1 lakh WiFi hot spots to be installed��UNB

State Minister for Post, Telecommu-nication and Information Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak yesterday said the government will soon install WiFi facil-ities in at least one lakh public places across the country.

“WiFi hotspots will be set up at market places, bus and launch terminals and ed-ucational institutions all over the coun-try,” he added while addressing a work-shop titled “Info Government-3 What we want”, at the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) auditorium in the capital.

Saying that the project will be im-plemented under Development of Na-tional ICT Infra-Network for Bangla-desh Government Phase-3” project, he further said the government wants to take Information and Technology ser-vices to the grassroots.

ICT Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan presided over the programme which was also attended by Post, Telecommu-nication and Information Technology Minister Abdul Latif Siddique. z

ICDDRB stops using oral saline produced by its sta" ��UNB

International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) has instructed its hospitals and treat-ment centres to stop using glucose and rice-based saline obtained from the icddr,b Employees’ Multipurpose Co-operative Society.

The decision has been taken by the icddr,b management, pending the co-operative’s registration with the Ban-gladesh Directorate-General of Drug Administration, which regulates oral saline under the Drug Act of 1982, said a media release yesterday.

Employees’ Multipurpose Coopera-tive Society, an independent registered entity, is separately managed by icddr,b employees. “We have no concern about

the quality of ORS produced by the co-operative,” said icddr,b’s Executive Director Professor John D. Clemens. “But we have contracted an alternative supplier until this matter is resolved.”

Chairman of the sta# co-operative Dr Anowar Hossain con! rmed the de-cision saying, “The cooperative has stopped production and sale of all for-mulations of oral saline with immedi-ate e# ect, and we are now in the pro-cess of obtaining registration.”

The icddr,b management has also con! rmed that patient care will not be interrupted during this transition.

ORS was developed by icddr,b, for-merly the Cholera Research Laborato-ry, in the late 1960’s, and since then, is estimated to have saved at least 50mn lives worldwide. z

Jaago Foundation celebrates the graduation ceremony of its " rst batch of students at Dhaka National Museum Auditorium on Friday DHAKA TRIBUNE

President Abdul Hamid visits the Bhabaniganj Bangabandhu Complex Museum at Rajshahi’s Bagmara yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, April 13, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 4:21am Sunrise 5:38am Zohr 11:59am Asr 4:31pm Magrib 6:19pm Esha 7:37pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Source: Accuweather/UNB

SUNNY

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 37 27Chittagong 35 24Rajshahi 39 23Rangpur 38 22Khulna 37 23Barisal 37 25Sylhet 38 22Cox’s Bazar 34 25

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:19PM SUN RISES 5:39AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW37.8ºC 17.7ºC

Rajshahi Dinajpur

WEATHER

SUNDAY, APRIL 13

DSCC extends controversial Golap Shah Mazar Urban planners, historians oppose the move, terming it ‘unacceptable’ and ‘illegal’ ��Abu Hayat Mahmud

The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has allegedly occupied a por-tion of a road at Gulistan intersection in the capital to extend the Golap Shah Mazar (shrine) building.

Although DSCC authorities are mon-itoring the extension work, they are yet to make public the exact historical background of the two graves in the building. Construction is going on oc-cupying a portion of Gulistan road.

Workers employed on the site told the Dhaka Tribune they were working according to the directive of the city corporation. A foundation stone was also laid on the north of the shrine building on December 19 last year.

“The foundation stone of construc-tion and repair of Hazrat Golap Shah (R) Mazar was laid jointly by Md Ansar Ali Khan, DSCC chief executive o$ cer, also president of the shrine and the mosque committee, and the DSCC ad-ministrator,” it read.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Ansar Ali Khan said extension to the shrine would not be built on the road.

“Besides, the shrine’s own fund is being used for the construction. The city corporation is not funding it,” he added.

He, however, refused to talk when asked about the historical information on the shrine.

Muntasir Mamun, a Professor of History at the University of Dhaka, told the Dhaka Tribune that erecting any structure to extend the shrine was un-acceptable and illegal because its back-ground was questionable.

“I’ve discussed about the shrine in my book Dhaka Samagra 3. Earlier, the city corporation relocated a mosque, which was part of the shrine, to Osmani Udyan from Gulistan road. But I don’t understand why they did not shift the shrine from its current location,” said the professor.

In a story titled “Shob mazar mazar noy (every shrine is not a shrine)” in Dhaka Samagra 3, Muntasir wrote: “Go-lap Shah Mazar is located at Gulistan intersection and it was once known as Neemtala Mazar because there was a

big neem tree there.” The history professor mentioned

that people sometimes would call it Sikandar Shah Mazar because they were uncertain about its authentic background.

“An individual named Golap Shah would take care of the shrine. He was buried there following his death and from then on, it began being referred to as Golap Shah Mazar,” wrote Muntasir.

In a directive issued on February 26,

2012, the High Court asked the DSCC to take steps against encroachment on the footpaths from the capital’s Zero Point to Sadarghat within 48 hours. No direc-tive, however, was issued concerning Golap Shah Mazar.

Commuters and pedestrians in the area told the Dhaka Tribune that it of-ten creates a tailback at Gulistan inter-section when murids (followers) gather near the shrine in large numbers.

“Vehicles often move at a snail’s

pace in the area because of tra$ c jam. The main reason behind this is that the intersection is a very narrow one and the shrine has occupied a portion of that tiny space,” Alauddin Bhuiyan, a resident of Bangshal, said.

“Now that it is being extended fur-ther, there will be intolerable tra$ c jam in the area,” he added.

Professor Nazrul Islam, chairman of the Centre for Urban Studies, told the Dhaka Tribune it was unacceptable to

extend the shrine occupying a busy road.

“Smooth tra$ c movement should be prioritised above all else. But as the shrine culture is commonplace in our country, a minimal space may be allo-cated for the Golap Shah Mazar.”

Poribesh Bachao Andolan (Poba) chairman Abu Naser Khan also opposed the extension of Golap Shah Mazar, saying the DSCC should relocate the shrine elsewhere like the mosque. z

Four-tier security system in city for Pahela Baishakh ��Mohammad Jamil Khan

Dhaka Metropolitan Police is all set to enforce a four-tier security to celebrate Pahela Baishakh, the ! rst day of the Bengali New Year – 1421 – in a peaceful manner.

“We have designed the security measures keeping all the visible and invisible risks in mind. The security measures have been taken using our maximum strength,” said DMP Com-missioner Benazir Ahmed while ad-dressing a press brie! ng at DMP Media Centre yesterday.

He sought cooperation from city dwellers so that the Pahela Baishakh celebrations can be held smoothly and

asked that all open space programmes end by 6:00pm on the day.

“We are asking this to ensure max-imum security for a peaceful celebra-tion,” he added.

The DMP chief also requested city dwellers not to carry any kinds of arms, explosives or handbags to Dhaka University’s Ramna Batamul, TSC and its adjoining areas. He further urged the city dwellers not to smoke in pub-lic and put contact information notes in the pockets of children.

Benazir also suggested that city dwellers should contact police watch towers, camps and sub-camps for any kind of assistance, including for searches for children who go missing

in the area. The four-tier security system

will put the entire Dhaka University and Ramna area under surveillance through close circuit camera. Besides, a number of watch towers have also been set up within the area and mem-bers from law enforcement agencies will be monitoring security in uniform and plain clothes.

“Tra$ c barricades will be enforced in 22 spots to ensure security at the festival. There will be six entry gates to the Ramna Batamul premises, the main venue for celebration of the festi-val, and four exit gates,” he added.

On militancy issues, Benazir said law enforcers will be monitoring

things closely to ! nd out if anyone is attempting any unusual anti-cultural activities. Besides, activities regarding militancy will be also be monitored by two special units in coordination with intelligence o$ cials, he said.

Other than Ramna, public security centres will be set up at Rabindra Sara-bor and other public spots. The DMP chief also suggested that vehicle owners should park their vehicles at selected ar-eas to ensure a hassle free program.

DMP additional commissioners Ab-dul Jalil Mondol, Mili Biswas, Ibrahim Fatemi, Maruf Hassan, and joint com-missioners Shahabuddin Khan and Monirul Islam were also present at the occasion, among others. z

Two bodies recovered ��Tribune Report

Police recovered the bodies of two persons, including a domestic help, in Dhaka city yesterday.

One was identi! ed as that of Salma alias Sajeda, 24, wife of Mohammad Faruk from Faridpur village, Jessore, while the other could not be identi! ed, police said.

“On information, we went to a house in Ramna’s Shantipur Residen-tial Area where she (Salma) used to work as a domestic helper and recov-ered the body around 9:00am,” said Shah Mojahidul Islam, a sub-inspector at Ramna police station.

“This appeared to be a suicide. But it can only be con! rmed after carrying out an autopsy on the body,” he added.

The body has been sent to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) for an autopsy.

Meanwhile, the police ! shed out a body, yet to be identi! ed, from a lake in the north of the Airport Padma Oil Gate around 1:25pm.

The deceased seems to be aged around 45 years. He was wearing a check lungi. The body was sent to the DMCH for an autopsy according to Ja-hidul Islam, a sub-inspector at the Air-port police station.

Two separate cases were ! led. z

BRTA: Drive against un! t vehicles starts May 31 ��UNB

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority has set May 31 as the deadline for the transport owners to collect the ! tness certi! cates afresh for their all kinds of un! t vehicles plying roads and high-ways across the country.

“If any motorised vehicle is found plying roads and highways without ! tness certi! cate after the deadline, tougher legal actions will be taken,” said BRTA chairman Nazrul Islam at the secretariat yesterday referring to a government decision.

He said mobile courts are being oper-ated against vehicles plying roads even after the expiry of their age-limit. Be-sides, those vehicles already declared un! t for movement are also seen plying the streets taking risk of accidents.

The BRTA chairman alleged that most owners are yet to repair their un! t vehicles although they were given ade-quate time in the past to do so.

About the vehicles in dilapidated condition, the BRTA boss said the ! tness certi! cates of faded vehicles operating on the city streets will not be renewed further unless those get a facelift.

Sources at the Communications Min-istry said two committees were formed at a meeting held on March 16 with Com-munications Minister Obaidul Quader in the chair to take e# ective measures against the vehicles in bad shape.

One of the committees comprising

eight members with the BRTA chair-man as its head was asked to take prob-able steps against the discoloured and un! t vehicles.

Meanwhile, the committee has al-ready submitted its recommendations to the Communications Secretary and the Minister.

The remaining seven-member com-mittee, led by a senior secretary, was asked to ! nd out ways for implement-ing tra$ c signal system.

According to sources at the minis-try, the recommendations made by the ! rst committee are: Carrying out mo-bile courts, drive against all motorised vehicles violating tra$ c rules by BRTA o$ cials and police, continuing the on-going drives, taking action against the covered-van owners who extended the bodies of their vehicles illegally and stringent action against un! t and worn-out vehicles after the month of May.

The sources mentioned that the cov-ered-van owners had earlier given six months’ time to remove illegally-ex-tended body parts of their vehicles.

BRTA secretary M Shawkat Ali said they are continuing drives through mobile courts against un! t vehicles following which the number of such vehicles will come down signi! cantly.

The owners of un! t vehicles were given a speci! c time to collect fresh certi! cates from the BRTA, he said adding that unauthorised vehicles in no way will be allowed to ply roads. z

GSP RESTORATION

Dhaka to submit action plan report ��UNB

The government will submit a prog-ress report on “Bangladesh Action Plan 2013” to the o$ ce of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) by Tuesday though the review for reinstating Ban-gladesh’s Generalized System of Prefer-ences (GSP) bene! ts still looks uncertain.

The legal authorisation for the GSP programme expired on July 31, 2013 and the US Congress is considering a legislation that would extend the au-thorisation of GSP beyond this date, according to the USTR.

As long as the GSP programme re-mains with no authorisation, there will be no public hearing and no request for public comments for the ongoing GSP country and product reviews and no ! nal disposition of these reviews.

“We will send the progress report by April 15,” Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed said yesterday mentioning that he cannot tell about possible hearing or review on GSP restoration soon.

Asked whether the progress is sat-isfactory, the Commerce Secretary de-clined to make comment at this stage.

Another o$ cial at the Ministry said an inter-ministerial meeting might be called for Sunday to give the ! nal shape to the progress report.

The Ministry may send the report to the Bangladesh Mission in Washington, if not sent directly to the USTR, and the mission will send it to the USTR.

Voicing satisfaction over the prog-ress on GSP Action Plan, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed reiterated that Bangladesh would get back GSP bene! t in the US market if politics is not associ-ated with the restoration process.

US Ambassador Dan Mozena, on his return from US tour recently, said there has been progress but much more needs to be done.

On June 27, 2013, US President Barack Obama announced his decision to suspend Bangladesh’s trade bene! ts under the GSP in view of insu$ cient progress by the Bangladesh government in a# ording Bangladeshi workers internationally-recognised worker rights. z

Models showcase Pahela Baishakh traditional dresses and party attires, as they walk on the ramp during a fashion show organised in the city’s Gulsan area yesterday by Style Sell, a local fashion house DHAKA TRIBUNE

Construction workers are extending the construction of the Golap Shah Mazar at the capital’s Gulistan intersection yesterday ABU HAYAT MAHMUD

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, April 13, 2014

Robbers kill one, injure 5 in Bandarban��Our Correspondent,

Bandarban

A man was gunned down and ! ve others were in-jured during a robbery at a house in the Kagojikhola area of Naikhongchhari upazila here, early yester-day.

The robbers killed Ahmed Sofa Chowdhury, 48, a resident of the area.

The injured - Jobayer, Ruhul Amin, Ali Johar, Hossain Ahmed and Zihad – were whisked o# to Chit-tagong Medical College Hospital in a critical condi-tion.

Quoting locals, Baishari Investigation Centre SI Anis said a gang of armed robbers swooped into Ahmed Sofa’s house in dead of the night while his brother’s wedding pro-gramme was taking place, and shot him, leaving him dead on the spot.

During the robbery, the dacoits also looted about 40 tolas of gold ornaments from the guests and the groom. z

Acute water crisis grips Rajshahi city��Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

Load shedding, low voltage and a de-crease in ground water level, the water supply system of Rajshahi City Corpo-ration has virtually collapsed and the city dwellers have been facing an acute water crisis over the last few days.

The worst a# ected areas are Dho-rompur, Mirzapur, Dashmari, Bodh-para, Meherchandi, Satabongram, Binodpur, Kazla, Talaimari, Shiroil, Lakshmipur Bhatapara, Ponchaboti, Hazrapukur, Horogram and Rajshahi court area.

Water supply and sewerage authorities are supplying water from 70 deep tube wells and one surface water treatment plant. These, however, are unable to meet the public demand.

As the Padma River dried up, things got worse, said o$ cials of Rajshahi water supply and sewerage authority (RWASA).

Hydro-Geologist Choudhury Sar-war Jahan Sajol, pro-vice chairman of Rajshahi University, said the under-ground water level had gone down by 35 to 40 feet in the city areas and 85 to 110 feet in Barind tract including Goda-gari, Tanore, Bangmara, Puthia and Durgapur, creating a severe crisis in drinking water supplies.

Bahar Uddin Mridha, executive en-

gineer of Public Health Engineering Department reports that at least 50 per-cent of the tube wells and Tara pumps installed by PHED in di# erent upazilas of the district are not functioning at present.

He also added that every year un-derground water level goes down by six to seven feet in the city and on its outskirts.

Monowara Begum, resident at Darikharbona in the city who is su# er-ing through this water crisis feels that “the authorities concerned should take whatever steps necessary to resolve the problems.”

Tarikul Islam, a resident of Hetom-khan, pointed out that the tube wells and WASA could not supply su$ cient water, which RWASA caretaker engi-neer Parvez Ahmed explained, saying, “A man needs at least 145 litres of water per day but the WASA hardly supplies 108 litres.”

He added that at present 67 percent people of the city are getting water from the WASA and rest of the people are reaming out coverage.

In addition, around 2,000 tube wells in the city lay inoperative and 1,500 more were unable to lift water due to depletion of underground water, said WASA sources.

Many of the city dwellers are com-pelled to purchase mineral water to meet their drinking water needs.

Dhirendranath Sarker, managing director of RWASA, said that they had a plan to operate four water treatment plants to avert the crisis of surface wa-ter treatment plant.

He added, “A delegation from Ko-rea has recently visited the city. The delegation approved a project of TK4000crores to set up a surface water treatment plant. We can include more 20 percent people under their coverage if the project is implemented.” z

Bandarban in festive mood as Sangrain begins today��Our Correspondent, Bandarban

A festive ambience has been prevailing over the hilly district, Bandarban, as the six-day New Year celebration pro-gramme Sangrain is going to be held today.

Sangrain, which is widely known as “Boisabi Utsab,” is a festival for all castes of the ethnic people. On the

other hand, the Tripuras and Chakmas term it Boisuk and Biju respectively.

The Marma community of Bandar-ban, as well as other castes, celebrates the festival to leave behind the passing year with all its sorrows and to wel-come the New Year with a hope for a brighter future.

In this regard, Bandarban Sangrain Committee president Ong Cha Mang

Marma said they had already taken all sorts of necessary preparation to cel-ebrate the festival.

On the ! rst day, the Marmas would bring out a colourful procession from Puratan Rajar Math of the district and the following day they would bath the Buddha statue in the Sanghu River.

On the third and fourth days, they will observe the festival’s most attrac-

tive programme, “Pani Barsan Utsab”, in di# erent areas here.

And the last day (April 18), the com-munity will end the festival through the “Dharmo Desona Sraban” function.

As part of the festival, the Tangcon-gaia community also arranged the tra-ditional “Ghila Khela Utsab” in the ! eld of Raichha High School in the district town. z

Janata Bank o# cials caught in Gopalganj credit scam��Our Correspondent

About half a crore of rural credit has reportedly been misappropriated by a section of Janata Bank Kotalipara Branch o$ cials in association with middlemen.

It was alleged that loan o$ cers Sud-honno Kumar Halder and Upanondo Bala were involved in the embezzle-ment. They were alleged to have pock-eted the large amount of loans sanc-tioned in the name of debtors.

The embezzlement surfaced as Ko-talipara Branch new manager Kazi Im-dadul Huq took steps to collect unre-alised debt. As the incident was made public, Sudhonno Kumar Halder went into hiding. After getting default no-tice, a large section of former debtors rushed to the bank to show their loan paid documents.

They also made allegations against three Janata Bank Kotalipara Branch o$ cials – Sudhonno Kumar Halder, Upanondo Bala and Ashis kumar Bis-was – who branded them as defaulters.

Digbijoy Biswas, a resident of Zo-horerkandi village of Kotalipara upazila, said two separate notices regarding bank loan was served in the name of his father Khitish Biswas and uncle Kumod Biswas who died 10 and 12 years ago respectively.

Bijoy claimed that none of their fam-ily actually took any loan amounting to

Tk90,000 from the bank in 2011 in the name of his father and uncle as the no-tice said.

Majbari village resident Mujibor of the upazila said he paid back the loan of Tk60,000 that he took from the bank a year year ago, but the bank o$ cials embezzled the amount of money with-out depositing it to the bank.

“I showed the loan paid document to the bank last March after a default notice was served to me,” he said.

Ramshil village resident Balai Chand Mondol made the same allegation as Mujibor. “I never took any loan from the bank, but I was served a notice from the bank. I was surprised to see the notice,” he said.

Satpar Branch Manager Ashis Ku-mar Biswas said the two debt collectors might have committed some petty cor-ruptions in his absence.

“I personally am not involved in it, nor did I issue any such loan,” he said.

Kotalipara Branch Manager Kazi Im-dadul Huq said a large amount of rural credit of the bank remained unrealised and the system of giving “bad loan” was responsible for this.

Janata Bank Faridpur Zone Deputy General Manager Md Jayen Uddin ad-mitted the fact.

He said the bank would take steps against the accused and no one would be spared if proven guilty. z

Fearing and $ eeing in Sherpur��Our Correspondent, Sherpur

Around 4000 people have been " ee-ing from their homes at ! ve villages in Sherpur’s Nalitabari Upazila for 16 days, fearing arrest over two cases – one under narcotics act and another for obstructing police duty.

Earlier on March 25, locals snatched an alleged drugs dealer at the Upa-zila’s Nanni Bazar, beating up ! ve po-lice men. Police then ! led the casesagainst 250-300 people, naming none of them.

People of Dekrapara, Bajupara, Nayapara, Bandhdharha and Baigarpa-ra villages said they have been " eeing from their homes as police are detain-ing even those who were not involved in the attack on police. They said ear-lier on Sunday night, police detained innocent HSC examinee Abdul Kadir and so he could not sit for the exams on Monday.

The police released him in the end though, but that is only after the sched-

uled time for his Monday exams ended, said the villagers. Visually-impaired Abdul Awal, son of Abdul Majid of Nayapara village, was not even spared of police arrest though the police later freed him, they added.

Police so far detained 13 and re-leased three of them.

Nanni Bazar Babsayee Samity Presi-dent Mahmud said, “It is unfortunate that the police have been attacked. We want those who attacked the police to be punished. But the innocent must not be harassed.”

Detective Branch of Police’s Of-! cer-in-Charge Nazrul Islam, how-ever, brushed aside the allegation and said that they have not yet harassedany innocent person. Only the houses of those facing allegations are being raided.

Nalitabari police station’s O$ cer-in-Charge Monirul Islam declined any comment on this, saying, “We are not handling this issue. It is being handled by the district police o$ ce.” z

Police recovered hanging body of a school girl Police recovered a hanging body of a school girl from Jadupur Bonikkandi vil-lage under Vodrason union of Shibchar upazila in Madaripur district yesterday morning. The deceased is Jhumur Banik, 14, a ninth-grade student of Vandari-kandi AM High School. She hang herself by a scarf from the ceiling of her room. Her family member found the body at the room. They said, she had an alterca-tion with her mother and centering the issue he committed suicide by hanging herself. O" cer-in-charge of Shibchar Thana AKM Masud said, “The body was sent to Madaripur Hospital morgue.”– Our Correspondent

Gambler son killed father A father was killed by his gambler son at Andarchar village under Sahebrampur Union of Kalkini upazila of Madaripur. The deceased is Fazle Hawlader, 55. The incident occurred on yesterday around 10.30am. The body was sent to Madari-pur morgue for autopsy. Police said, Fazle’s son Abul Hossain is a gambler. He used to beat everyone in the house. Abul’s son Miron, 12 informed the mat-ter of his father to his grandfather Fazle. After hearing the matter, Fazle went to Abul’s house but didn’t ! nd the latter at home. When Abul came home and heard that his father verbally abused him, he hit at the head of his father with an iron rod. Fazle fell on the ground. Later, local rescued him and brought to a village doctor while the doctor decalred him dead. On information, Kalkini Thana police recovered the body. O" cer-in-charge of the police station Nazmul Huda said, “The father was killed by his son. We are trying to arrest the murderer.” – Our Correspondent

85 mounds of hilsha fry seized Coast Guard men grabbed 85 mounds of Hilsha fry and 33,000 current nets in a drive on Meghna River in Chandpur on Friday late night. Coast Guard said, the drive was conducted in di# erent areas of the river was a part of Hilsh fry protection programme. No one was ar-rested in this regard. The Hilsha fry was seized from a Dhakabound passenger launch MV Samrat On the other hand, current nets were seized from Horina Ferryghat area. Coast Guard O" cer Md Habibur Rahman said, “The seized hilsha fries will be distributed to orphanages and poor people with the presence of ! sh o" cer, administrative o" cers and journalist on Saturday morning.”– Our Correspondent

NEWS IN BRIEF

Tribal girls in Bandarban district splash each other with water in celebration of Baisabi, the biggest social festival for the ethnic communities DHAKA TRIBUNE

Around 2,000 tube wells in the city lay inoperative and 1,500 more were unable to lift water due to depletion of underground water

People of di$ erent professions and social organisations form a human chain at Birganj police station intersection demanding an end to unsocial activities going on in the name of Muktijoddha Welfare Club in Dinajpur DHAKA TRIBUNE

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How to be a better you at workGet rid of negative habits that are holding you back at work��Career Desk

We employ a number of communica-tion techniques in our day-to-day in-teractions to make a point, persuade, demand, suggest, etc. Many of these “techniques” such as examples, allego-ries, anecdotes, hypotheses, etc comes so naturally to us that we hardly ever think about it.

Similarly, like bad habits, there are a number of negative communication behaviours and styles that we are all guilty of to an extent without being aware of it. One can imagine how detri-mental this might be at the workplace, where how e# ectively and well we communicate may determine how fast and far we succeed.

These negative behaviours get in the way of e# ective relationship build-ing, networking and simple civility. At the work place, they are more notice-able, as one wouldn’t be as forgiving of a colleague as they would of a family member, and thus they seem more am-pli! ed and reproachable.

Getting rid of certain negative com-munication behaviours which we are not even aware of is not an easy task. It means having to be aware of what you are saying and how, when and where you are saying it at all times.

Following is a short list of common negative communication behaviours or styles that many of us are guilty of. If you spot any that you think may ap-ply to you, you de! nitely have room for improvement.

Constant disagreementsA number of people get used to routine-ly disagreeing with everybody, espe-cially when their job involves constant public interface. Next time you ! nd

yourself disagreeing with something again, whether you are right or not, try some tact. Unless you are talking about something related to work, most

chatter at work is usually exactly that – chatter and small talk. If someone says something you disagree with, your life does not depend upon turning your

cafeteria into the parliamentary " oor.

ComplaintsThere are a number of levels to this

particular problem. Continuous whining about the heat, tra$ c or your workload may all be legitimate complaints or even common grounds

to start a conversation with a colleague, but you do not want to be known as a complainer. Ask yourself if you are always complaining about something or the other, and how interested others are to hear about it. It doesn’t matter whether your complaints are legitimate or petty. This isn’t a di$ cult habit to eliminate.

Knowing-it-allPeople with this character " aw are usually guilty of pushing others with words. No matter how much more ex-perience and wisdom you have than the person you are communicating with, nobody likes to constantly hear “you should.” Stop telling people what they should or shouldn’t do.

InterruptionsDisrupting others’ train of thought is something we have always been told not to do. This is something all parents teach their children from an early age and yet a surprisingly large number of people never pay heed. Do not start talking while another person is still talking. If you have something to say wait till the other person is done, or in-terject politely. Do not hijack the con-versation.

Seeking approvalDon’t persistently look for approval.It comes o# as insincere because most of the times when someone isseeking for approval, they hardly care for feedback or suggestions and just want everyone else to agree with them. If someone agrees with you, they’ll make it clear. Do not attempt to engineer situations where you try to get others to agree with you orcompliment you. z

Touch base with idioms��Career Desk

Ball park ! gure - a rough estimate or ! gure

Bang for the buck - value for the money spent

Banker’s hours - short work hours (similar to a bank)

Bankroll someone - to supply someone with money, to ! nance someone

Bean counter - an accountant

Bottom line - the total, the ! nal ! gure on a balance sheet, the results (of a business)

Bottom out - to reach the lowest or worst point

Bounce a check - to write a check in which you do not have enough money in your bank account

Boys in the backroom - a group of men making decisions behind the scenes

Buy a stake in (something) - to buy part ownership of a company or other enterprise

Call a loan - to demand the immediate and complete payment of a debt/loan

Captain of industry - a top corporation o" cer

Carry a motion - to support or win accep-tance for a motion or proposal or idea in a meeting

Carry over ! gures/numbers/costs - to transfer a ! gure or number or cost from one column or time to another

Circulate the agenda - to distribute a list or other information about what will be discussed in a meeting

Close the books - to stop taking orders, to end a bookkeeping period

Come in high - to charge too much for your services, to ask for a price that is too high

Come in low - to o# er a low amount of money for a product or service

Come on strong - to overwhelm others with very strong language or personality

Company man - a person who always works hard for his company and supports the company policies

Company town - a town dominated by one industry or company

Corner the market - to dominate a partic-ular market with your product

Cut corners - to economise, to try to spend less money

Cut one’s losses - to do something in order to stop losing additional money or time etc.

Defeat a motion - to defeat an idea or proposal in a meeting

Draw up a contract - to make or draft a contract

Face value (of something) - the o" cial value or worth of something

Fair play - equal and correct action toward someone, justice

Fill the bill - to be just what is needed

Float (someone) a loan - to loan someone money

Gain ground - to go forward, to make progress

Give (someone) the green light - to give someone permission to go ahead or proceed with something

Go belly up - to go out of business because of ! nancial problems

Go over the books - to check and analyze the accounting records of a company

Go public - to become a public company and to sell the company stock to the public

Hang out one’s shingle - to open one’s own business (usually as a professional in some ! eld)

Have one’s ! nger in the pie - to be involved in something, to receive money for something

Have the " oor - to have permission to speak in a meeting

Heads will roll - someone will be punished

In black and white - in writing

In the black - to be successful, to be mak-ing money, to be pro! table

In the loop - part of a group of people that is kept up-to-date with information about something

In the market for (something) - to be ready to buy something, to want to buy something

In the red - to be losing money, to be unpro! table

BIZVOCAB

Career 7DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, April 13, 2014

Skills development programme aims at budding economists��Career Desk

The Young Economist’s Forum (YEF) of North South University is organising a workshop called the “Skills Devel-opment Program,” a two-day event to be held at the university’s campus on April 16 and 17.

The event consists of seminars and workshops which will provide a plat-form for the rising enthusiasts and budding economists to enrich their skills and academics.

The programme is tailored to ed-ucate young and enthusiastic minds about good public-speaking, research in economics, IELTS scopes of an econ-omist, and how the Bangladeshi econ-omy works. The reputed institutes attending the event are Bangladesh Bank, CPD, United Commercial Bank Ltd, Small Enterprise Assistance Funds

(SEAF) and British Council. Among others, some of the notable

speakers during the workshops aregoing to be Md Nazmul Karim of

SEAF and Dr Golam Sarker of Bangla-desh Bank. The workshop on public speaking is going to be conducted by G Sumdany the manager of consumer

engagement at Philip Morris Interna-tional while the workshop on research in economics will be led by Dr Khon-doker Muazzem, the additional direc-tor at CPD.

British Council will conduct the workshop on IELTS and a number of prominent personalities will speak at the rest of the sessions. The event is being supported by radio partner Radio Today and sponsor United Commercial Bank.

The workshop calls for all the inter-ested students and young economists to take advantage of the valuable sem-inars and workshops. The programme is open for students of all institutions; to pre-register for the event, please sign up at nsuyef@yefonline.net. Fur-ther information regarding the work-shop may be found at: www.facebook.com/nsu.yef. z

What’s in your brown bag?��Ahsan Sajid

The lunch hour at work is blessed. It is a moment of relief at work where you get to recharge before the usually busi-er half of the day begins. You can spend this time taking in some fresh air or hav-ing a walk to clear your mind, spending some time with friends and colleagues in and around the o$ ce, getting a leg up on a project, or simply eating.

One of the most fun things to do during the lunch hour is to go out to eat with you colleagues. Given the amount of new places to eat out at these days, this is a very popular option but the quality of food and level of nutrition you are getting is doubtful at best while going out more than even once a week will drill too big a hole in your wallet.

The obvious way to overcome these problems is of course to bring your own lunch. It may not be the “cool” option, but you’ll be happier for it in the long run. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when brown-bagging your own lunch.

Cook larger batches Plan your lunches for the whole week and cook during the weekend, when there’s little or no work. If you put portions in the fridge separately, with each day of work indicated, you have to spend no time packing before work.

Make it reheat friendlyOpt for foods that reheat well. Most soup taste as good as when ! rst cooked or even better if you reheat it. Other foods that reheat well are curries, pasta (leave it al dente, as reheating will cook it further), rice etc.

Eat it coldThe easiest thing to do is to bring foods that can be eaten cold. If you don’t even

have time to reheat or don’t want the trouble, bring foods that are best eaten cold like sandwiches, cold pasta, salads, etc.

Make it countPack ! lling lunches. No one wants to be hungry an hour after lunch break and have to go out for more food despite bringing lunch from home. Packing ! lling lunches like rice, lentils, beans and other ! bre-rich foods en-sures a full stomach and a good second half of the workday.

Raid your fridgeIf all of the above sounds like too much work for you, go for leftovers. Leftovers

from last night are probably ending up in the trash anyway. Bring them to work for the most hassle-free lunch. z

BIGSTOCK

BIGSTOCK

BIGSTOCK

8 Sunday, April 13, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

White House, spy agencies deny NSA exploited ‘Heartbleed’ bug��Reuters, Washington

The White House and US intelligence agencies said neither the National Se-curity Agency nor any other part of the government were aware before this month of the “Heartbleed” bug, denying a report that the spy agency exploited the glitch in widely used Web encryp-tion technology to gather intelligence.

The White House, the NSA and the O$ ce of the Director of National Intelligence issued statements after Bloomberg reported that the NSA was aware of the bug for at least two years and exploited it in order to obtain pass-words and other basic information used in hacking operations. The Bloomberg report cited two unnamed sources it said were familiar with the matter.

The Heartbleed bug is considered one of the most serious Internet securi-ty " aws to be uncovered in recent years.

“Reports that NSA or any other part of the government were aware of the so-called Heartbleed vulner-ability before April 2014 are wrong,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

Bloomberg was not immediately

available to comment.The discovery of Heartbleed by re-

searchers with Google Inc and a small security ! rm, Codenomicon, prompted the US Homeland Security Department to advise businesses on Tuesday to re-view their servers to see if they were using vulnerable versions of widely used software known as OpenSSL.

OpenSSL is used to encrypt email and other communications and to protect the websites of big Internet companies, in-cluding Facebook Inc, Google Inc and Ya-hoo Inc. The bug, disclosed Monday, al-lows hackers to steal data without a trace.

NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines said: “NSA was not aware of the recent-ly identi! ed vulnerability in OpenSSL, the so-called Heartbleed vulnerabil-ity, until it was made public in a pri-vate-sector cybersecurity report.”

Hayden said the federal government relies on OpenSSL to protect the priva-cy of users of government websites and other online services. “If the federal gov-ernment, including the intelligence com-munity, had discovered this vulnerabili-ty prior to last week, it would have been disclosed to the community responsible for OpenSSL,” Hayden added. z

French far-right leader backs Russia’s Ukraine stance��AFP, Moscow

The leader of France’s far-right Nation-al Front voiced her support for the fed-eralisation of Ukraine during a visit to Moscow yesterday, Russian news agen-cies reported.

Marine Le Pen, who is also a Euro-pean Parliament lawmaker, told the speaker of Russia’s lower house Sergei Naryshkin she backed Moscow’s call for Ukraine to devolve greater powers to its regions.

The National Front leader also criticised European Union sanctions against Russians including Naryshkin, a member of President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.

“We consider this decision on fed-eralisation to be quite wise,” the RIA Novosti state news agency quoted her as saying in comments translated into Russian.

“I am very surprised that the Eu-ropean Union has now announced a kind of Cold War against Russia, which absolutely doesn’t ! t with the tradi-tionally friendly relations between our countries.

“I continue to say that sanctions, and even threats of sanctions, are a counterproductive measure.”

Russia said on Monday authori-ties in Kiev needed to heed the “le-gitimate demands” of people in the Russian-speaking eastern regions of Ukraine, where there have been calls for independence from the central authorities.

Le Pen, who also visited Moscow last summer, is not the ! rst European far-right leader to have criticised the EU’s stance on Ukraine.

Last month Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s eurosceptic UK Independence Party, accused the EU of having “blood on its hands” for backing protesters who toppled pro-Russian former pres-ident Viktor Yanukovych.

Le Pen’s National Front won control of 11 towns and more than 1,400 mu-nicipal seats nationwide in municipal elections last month.

She is the daughter of the former National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen and has worked to soften the party’s image since taking over as leader in 2011. z

Iran not for alternative UN pick��AFP, Tehran

Iran signalled its de! ance yesterday over America’s refusal to grant a visa to its chosen UN ambassador, saying it does not plan to pick an alternative envoy.

Tehran also said it was examining its legal options over the row, which has undermined a cautious thaw in rela-tions after decades of enmity following the storming of the US embassy in 1979 and the hostage crisis that followed.

The United States has said it will not issue a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi be-cause of his links to the students who seized the embassy just months after the Islamic revolution.

However, Iran’s deputy foreign min-

ister said the country was not consid-ering any potential replacement for Aboutalebi, an experienced diplomat who has previously attended sessions at the UN headquarters in New York.

“We are not considering an alter-native pick,” Abbas Araqchi told the Mehr news agency, noting that Iran would pursue the issue of visa denial “through legal mechanisms at the UN.”

The visa row poses a challenge to US President Barack Obama’s drive for a diplomatic breakthrough and a global deal over Iran’s disputed nuclear pro-gramme. As the host government, the United States is obliged to issue visas to diplomats who serve at the United Na-tions. It is believed that Washington has

never previously denied a visa for a UN ambassador, although Tehran withdrew its nominee once in the early 1990s.

Fierce political pressure from Con-gress, which has overwhelmingly passed a bill barring Aboutalebi from US soil and where scepticism about Obama’s nuclear diplomacy runs high, has put the White House in a corner.

“We have informed the United Na-tions and Iran that we will not issue a visa for Mr Aboutalebi,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Friday.

White House lawyers are study-ing constitutional issues raised by the bill which landed on Obama’s desk on Thursday. Carney did not say whether Obama would eventually sign it. z

Pro-Russian gunmen seize more buildings in east Ukraine��AFP, Slavyansk

Kalashnikov-wielding gunmen yester-day seized a police station and a securi-ty building in Ukraine’s restive eastern industrial heartland amid spreading protests to press for the heavily Russi-! ed region to join Kremlin rule.

The coordinated attacks and a failed assault on the prosecutor’s o$ ce in the local capital Donetsk underscored the volatility of the crisis ahead of peace talks between EU and US diplomats and their Moscow and Kiev counter-parts in Geneva on Thursday.

Ukraine’s interim leaders have been facing unceasing pressure from Russia since their February ouster of an unpop-ular Kremlin-backed president and de-cision to seek closer ties with the West.

The morning raid on the police sta-tion and a subsequent attack of the regional security service centre hap-pened in Slavyansk – a riverside town of 100,000 about 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of the regional capital Donetsk.

Ukraine’s interior ministry said the ! rst assault was led by 20 “armed men in camou" age fatigues” whose main purpose was to get a hold of 20 machineguns and 400 Makarov guns stored in the police headquarters “and to distribute them to protesters.”

“Our response will be very severe,” Interior Minister Arsen Avakov wrote on his Facebook page.

It was not immediately clear how the local police responded or whether the gunmen had taken any hostages.

But Avakov said that Ukrainian special forces had been dispatched to the scene. “There is zero tolerance for armed terrorists.”

An AFP reporter saw the Slavyansk police station being surrounded by armed men in masks and camou" age who had set up a barricade of old tyres and dumpsters in front of the police headquarters.

The gunmen aggressively shoved aside Western reporters and only al-lowed Russian-speaking media any-where near the building.

“The entire city... will defend the guys who seized this building,” Slavyansk Mayor Neli Shlepa told Rus-sia’s Life News television outside the police headquarters. z

Risk of ‘gas war’ grows as Ukraine halts payments to Russia��Reuters, Kiev

Ukraine said yesterday it was suspend-ing payments to Russia for deliveries of gas, ratcheting up the tension in a stand-o# that has the potential to leave Euro-pean Union states cut o# from the Rus-sian gas supplies on which they depend.

In eastern Ukraine, where groups of pro-Russian activists have been em-boldened by the Kremlin’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, a band of armed men in mismatched camou" age out! ts seized a police station in the town of Slaviansk.

Russia and Ukraine have been locked in confrontation since protests in Kiev forced the Moscow-backed president from o$ ce, and the Kremlin sent troops into Crimea. Now, the gas dis-pute threatens to spread the impact across Europe.

A large proportion of the natural gas which EU states buy from Russia is pumped via Ukrainian territory, so if Russia makes good on a threat to cut o# Ukraine for non-payment of its bills, customers further west will have sup-plies disrupted.

Andriy Kobolev, chief executive of Ukraine’s state-run energy company Naftogaz, said the increased price Rus-sia was demanding for its gas was un-justi! ed and unacceptable.

“Accordingly, we have suspended payments for the period of the price negotiations,” Kobolev was quoted as saying in an interview with Ukraine’s Zerkalo Nedely newspaper.

In fact, Ukraine has de facto stopped

payments already because it failed to make an installment of over $500 mil-lion due earlier this month to Russian state gas giant Gazprom.

But the decision to formally sus-pend payments shows there is no sign of a compromise with Moscow, and may push the two sides closer to a re-peat of past “gas wars,” when Ukraine’s gas was cut o# , with a knock-on e# ect on supplies to EU states.

Kiev and Brussels have been scram-bling to blunt the impact of any decision by Moscow to cut o# gas to Ukraine.

In particular, they are working out ways to keep supplies " owing to EU states, and for those countries to then pump the gas to Ukraine by reversing the " ow in their pipelines.

Moscow says it does not want to turn o# Ukraine’s gas if it can be avoided, and that it will honor all commitments to supply its EU customers. Gazprom could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday.

Armed menThe dispute over Ukraine, precipitated by the overthrow of Ukrainian presi-dent Viktor Yanukovich after he reject-ed closer ties to the EU, has brought Russia’s relations with the West to their most fraught state since the end of the Cold War in 1991.

In Slaviansk, masked men armed with pistols and ri" es stood guard near the police station as hundreds of locals gathered around, some building barri-cades with car tires, according to a Re-uters photographer on the scene.

They were wearing orange and black ribbons, a symbol of the Soviet victory in World War II that has been adopted by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

Slaviansk is in the Donetsk region about 150 km (90 miles) from the Rus-sia-Ukraine border. Pro-Russian groups have also occupied public buildings in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, and are demanding autonomy from Kiev.

O$ cials in Kiev’s Western-leaning interim government say Russian forces may be preparing to cross the frontier into Ukraine on the pretext of protecting the pro-Russian activists from persecu-tion, though Moscow denies this. z

US faces reluctant partners in sanctioning Russia��AP, Washington

As it warns Russia to step back from Ukraine or su# er another ! nancial hit, the US is simultaneously trying to coax along a reluctant Europe, which is try-ing to balance its desire to punish Mos-cow against its fear of economic tur-moil from the e# ects of a new, harsher round of Western trade sanctions.

Economists say the US risks appear-ing weak without support from Eu-rope, which is Russia’s largest trading partner and therefore has huge sway over Russia’s already shaky economy. But Europe is far from ready to issue sanctions on Moscow that would un-dercut its own ! nancial stability while risking its main source of energy.

The fate of new sanctions — and how tough they might be — depends on Moscow’s next moves, and wheth-er Russia deepens or pulls back its meddling in Ukraine. President Barack Obama already has signed orders that would allow the US to sanction key Russian industries, and Europe-

an Union foreign ministers will meet Monday to decide what new penalties should be issued if Moscow continues to ignore the West’s warnings.

Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told a Senate panel this week that current US and EU sanctions are “biting” and “pinching” the Russian economy, “and we’re now considering further measures.” Nuland said Moscow has spent an estimated $25 billion to bol-ster the value of the ruble over the last ! ve to six weeks since sanctions were in-troduced. Russia su# ered more capital out" ow in the ! rst three months of 2014 than the $62.7 billon it lost for all of last year, she said. The next round of sanc-tions will likely merely expand the list of high-ranking Russians whose Western assets have been frozen and are barred from traveling to the EU or US

Last month, the EU sanctioned 33 individuals and the US sanctioned 31. The US also has barred American companies or individuals from doing business with Bank Rossiya, which has about $10 billion in assets and is owned

by members of Russian President Vlad-imir Putin’s inner circle.

On Friday, the Treasury Department issued sanctions against seven Crimean separatists and a Crimea-based gas com-pany for undermining the government in Kiev. Additional US sanctions target-ing Russia’s energy, metals and mining sectors also have been prepared in what Treasury Undersecretary David Cohen has called “a very powerful yet " exible tool that will allow us to respond quickly and meaningfully as events develop in Ukraine.” The EU treads more carefully than the US in sanctioning Russia. The bloc’s leverage is greater because of its close commercial and ! nancial links with Moscow, including energy pipe-lines that pass directly through Ukraine.

Putin has mocked the current sanc-tions and on Thursday warned 18 Eu-ropean leaders that their gas supplies were in danger. Yet apparently wary of antagonizing the EU too much, Rus-sia has chosen to retaliate against the sanctions imposed by Washington but not by those issued in Brussels. z

UK defends Falklands exercises�� AFP, London

The Foreign O" ce of UK yesterday brushed o# condemnation by Argentina of British military exercises in the Falkland Islands, saying they were "routine.”

Buenos Aires condemned the manoeu-vres, set for April 14 to 27, as a new "act of aggression" against Argentina and said it was summoning the British ambassador in protest.

The islands in the South Atlantic have been ruled by Britain since 1833 but Argenti-na claims them as their own and in 1982 at-tempted to seize control in a brief but bloody war. Tensions have resurfaced between the two countries in recent years after Britain opened the area to oil exploration.

In a statement, a Foreign O" ce spokes-man said the military manoeuvres were "routine exercises in the Falkland Islands that have happened approximately twice a year for many years.”

He said advanced warning was always given to people working in the area, as well as to Argentina and to international hydrographic and maritime bodies.

Argentina President Cristina Kirchner claimed earlier this month that the Falklands served as a nuclear base for the Nato alli-ance, of which Britain is a member.

The Foreign O" ce spokesman said Saturday: "Argentine claims that we are 'mil-itarising' the South Atlantic are wholly false. UK forces numbers have declined to the minimum necessary to defend the islands. z

A pro-Russian activist squints as he warms himself near a " re outside the headquarters of Ukraine’s security agency building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk on April 12, 2014. Separatists demanding a referendum to join Russia seized the building a week ago as a wave of secessionist anger swept eastern Ukraine AFP

Turkey PM threatens to 'go after' Twitter for tax evasion��AFP, Ankara

Turkey's prime minister said yesterday he will "go after" Twitter, accusing the site of tax-evasion, after it was used to spread damaging leaks implicating his inner circle in corruption scandals.

"Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are international companies established for pro! t," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in televised remarks. "Twitter is at the same time a tax evader. We will go after it."

Erdogan's government on March 20 banned access to the social media site, sparking outrage among Turkey's Nato allies and international human rights groups who viewed it as a setback for

democracy in the EU-hopeful country. Ankara had to lift the block on April 3 after its highest court ruled the ban breached the right to free speech.

Erdogan again criticised the court verdict on Saturday. "We abided by the (court) ruling on (Twitter), but I say it again, I don't respect it," he said.

The ban had been widely circum-vented by many of Turkey's almost 12 million Twitter users, who have in-stead sent tweets via text message or by adjusting their Internet settings.Last week, the government said it would keep its block on YouTube in place despite two separate courts or-dering it be lifted. z

Veterans of the 1982 Falklands (Malvinas) War and relatives participate in a ceremony to honour the soldiers who died in the South Atlantic con# ict between Great Britain and Argentina, in Buenos Aires on April 2, during the 32nd anniversary of the war AFP

Ukraine has de facto stopped payments already because it failed to make an installment of over $500m due earlier this month to Gazprom

9Sunday, April 13, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

Amit Shah to seek review of Election Commission’s ban��Agencies

BJP leader Amit Shah said yesterday he would urge the election commission to review its order banning him from hold-ing public meetings in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly making “hate speeches” during the election campaign.

The EC on Friday banned Shah and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan from holding any public meetings or road shows in the state.

“The EC has asked me to reply by today (Saturday) evening. I will send a request to it to review its decision. I will also explain in what context that speech was given,” Shah said.

Meanwhile, the EC has also asked the Uttar Pradesh government to lodge an FIR against Shah and Khan for mak-ing hate speeches during the election campaigns. Shah is a close aide of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. z

Manmohan in o# ce but ‘not in power,’ book claims��AFP, New Delhi

A tell-all book by an ex-aide to India’s Premier Manmohan Singh depicting him as a powerless political puppet hit boo kstores this weekend, stirring new controversy in the midst of a bitterly fought election.

The book, giving ammunition to opposition critics during the marathon polling which winds up May 12, paints a damning portrait of a premier who was in o$ ce – but “not in power” – while ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi called the shots.

Entitled “The Accidental Prime Min-ister – The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh,” the book is by aca-demic and journalist Sanjaya Baru, a for-mer media advisor to the current prime minister, who left his post in 2008.

Traditionally, the president of In-dia’s ruling party is also premier. But

Gandhi, who led Congress to power in 2004 and 2009, turned down the job, fearing her Italian birth would become an explosive political issue as Hindu nationalists said her foreign origin made her un! t to rule India.

She handpicked Singh for the job but Baru said Gandhi’s much hailed “renunciation of power” was more a “political tactic than a response to a higher calling.”

Baru said Singh decided early on to “surrender” to Gandhi and quotes the premier as saying he had “to accept the party president (Gandhi) is the centre of power.”

Critics have long charged Gandhi held the reins of power in the Singh ad-ministration but Baru’s book is the ! rst by a close advisor to the prime minister to make that claim.

In a strong criticism of the soft-spo-ken premier, he said Singh “averted his

eyes from corruption” to ensure his scan-dal-tainted government’s “longevity.”

While Singh, 81, who retires after this election, maintained the “highest standards of probity in public life,” he “turned a blind eye to the misdeeds of his ministers.”

Singh thought he could choose cab-inet ministers but “he was defanged” as “Sonia nipped that hope in the bud.”

Baru said Singh had little authority over his cabinet and a senior bureaucrat would seek Gandhi’s “instructions on the important ! les to be cleared by the PM.”

Singh’s spokesman Pankaj Pachauri told AFP the book “smacks of ! ction” and alleged Baru misused a “privileged position” for “commercial gain.”

The book’s release comes as India’s multi-phase election is well under way, with the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party tipped to win. Results are due May 16. z

Myanmar’s ! rst census in three decades extended amid controversy��Reuters, Yangon

A group of women dressed in green sarong-like longyis and simple white blouses stand around a table piled with census forms, entering neat notations on spreadsheets by hand.

The women will have to go through 37,579 family census forms, according to o$ cials, using calculators to tally the total numbers because they have no access to computers.

The scene underscores the chal-lenges of carrying out a census in this poor and sprawling, predominantly Buddhist nation. It was supposed to

end last Thursday, but was extended yesterday until the end of May, due to “technical and logistical problems.”

The census - the ! rst in three decades - has long been mired in controversy, much of it concerning the counting of Rohingya - Muslims who live in western Rakhine state and often described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

O$ cials say some 100,000 school teachers have fanned out across Myan-mar on foot collecting data for the cen-sus, expected to count between 48 mil-lion and 65 million citizens.

On April 10, on what was supposed to

be the ! nal day of the census, volunteers went door-to-door in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital, racing to gather data for a census estimated by rights groups and other groups to cost $74 million.

Meanwhile, rights organizations and ethnic groups in Myanmar have called for the census to be postponed until it can be carried out fairly and safely.

The government had promised in-ternational sponsors that ethnic groups could choose their classi! cation. But a day before the census kicked o# , pres-idential spokesman Ye Htut indicated that use of the term Rohingya would be prohibited. z

N Korea blasts reuni! cation o" er as ‘psychopath’s daydream’��AFP, Seoul

North Korea yesterday blasted South Korean President Park Geun-Hye’s proposal on laying the groundwork for reuni! cation through economic ex-changes and humanitarian aid as the “daydream of a psychopath.”

The blistering attack from the North’s powerful National Defence Commission (NDC) was the ! rst o$ cial reaction from Pyongyang to a propos-al Park made in a speech last month in Dresden in the former East Germany.

She urged the North to expand re-unions of families separated by the di-vision of Korea and increase cross-bor-der economic and cultural exchanges, starting with the South bolstering hu-manitarian aid. “Germany’s unity is for us an example and model for a peace-ful reuni! cation.”

An NDC spokesman noted that Ger-man reuni! cation came about with the West absorbing the East and accused Park of begging foreign countries to help a reuni! cation in which South Ko-rea absorbed the North.

“This is merely a daydream of psy-chopath,” he said, denouncing Park’s proposal, billed as the “Dresden Decla-ration” by Seoul, as “nonsense” full of “hypocrisy and deception.”

“The fact that in that particular place, Park Geun-Hye lashed her tongue about reuni! cation gave away her sinister mind,” he said in a statement.

Reuni! cation is however enshrined as a national priority in both the South and North Korean constitutions, but pro-merger sentiment in the prosper-ous South has waned considerably in recent years.

The North Korean spokesman urged Seoul to abide by earlier agreements in-cluding a landmark agreement signed in 2000, stressing all these previous ac-cords gave priority to addressing the is-sue of easing military confrontation. z

Pakistan court drops attempted murder case against baby��AFP, Lahore

A Pakistani court yesterday threw out charges of attempted murder against a nine-month-old baby, in a case that high-lighted endemic $ aws in the country’s legal system and provoked widespread ridicule.

The court also launched a separate case to look into how police pressed charges against baby Mohammad Musa after his family clashed with gas company o" cials in a working class neighbourhood in the eastern city of Lahore. Police lodged a case against the whole family.

The case drew international attention and sparked ridicule against the Pakistani criminal justice system, after the toddler was photographed crying desperately while being ! ngerprinted in court. His grandfather was later seen trying to comfort him with a milk bottle.

Inspector Kashif Muhammad, who was at the crime scene and pressed attempted

murder charges against the baby, has since been suspended. The charges were in direct contradiction with Pakistan’s mini-

mum age of criminal responsibility, which was raised from seven to 12 years in 2013 except in terrorism cases. z

Modi stands by Hindu customs but wants progress for Muslims��Reuters, New Delhi

Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, lead-ing the race to be India’s next prime minister, yesterday sought to blunt criticism that he is hostile to Muslims, the country’s biggest minority group.

Modi, candidate of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was asked by a television interviewer to explain his refusal to wear a skullcap o# ered to him by a Muslim cleric in the state of Gujarat three years ago.

“I live by my tradition which is why I would not like to wear a skullcap and pose for a photograph just to deceive people,” Modi said, according to a tran-script provided by the television station.

Hindus have no prescribed head-gear, but the wearing of skullcaps is ! rmly within the Muslim tradition.

Hindu-Muslim relations have been a key issue in the Indian general elec-tion, with critics accusing Modi of not doing enough to protect Muslims in a spasm of religious violence in the west-ern state of Gujarat in 2002 that left at least 1,000 dead.

About 13% of India’s 1.2 billion peo-ple are Muslim. Critics say the Hindu nationalists harbor a deep-seated bias

against the Muslims and that Modi’s rise as the potential leader of a country as diverse as India is a threat to its sec-ular foundations.

Modi, who is a three-time chief min-ister of Gujarat and a veteran member of the right-wing Hindu group Rashtri-ya Swayamsevak Sangh, denies that he or his party has any religious bias.

He talked about progress for Mus-lims, who are seen as lagging behind the Hindu majority in government jobs and in the broader economy.

“I believe that while those with skullcaps on their heads hold the Ko-ran in one hand, they should also have a computer in the other hand,” Modi said in the interview due to be broad-cast later on Saturday.

Modi’s BJP hopes to oust the ruling Congress Party of Rahul Gandhi, with its promises of jobs and new infrastructure.

On Friday Modi’s closest aide, Amit Shah, was banned from election rallies and meetings after a series of speech-es deemed to have stoked tensions with Muslims.

Shah is also awaiting trial over ex-tra-judicial killings during the 2002 Gu-jarat riots when he was serving under Modi in the state government. z

Rahul ! les nomination papers from Amethi��Agencies

Congress vice-president Rahul Gand-hi ! led his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections of India yester-day, setting the stage for a high-pro! le, three-cornered contest in the family fortress Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

Challenged by BJP’s crowd-puller, actor Smriti Irani, and Aam Aadmi Par-ty’s (AAP) poet-turned-politician Ku-mar Vishwas, the two-time MP Gandhi arguably faces the toughest electoral battle of his political career.

Amethi goes to the polls on May 7.Prior to ! ling his nominations, Ra-

hul Gandhi undertook a 42-km-long roadshow from Amhart in Sultanpur to Gauriganj in Amethi and was accompa-nied by sister Priyanka Vadra and her husband Robert Vadra.

Rahul’s cousin Varun Gandhi is the BJP candidate from Sultanpur. He is pitted

against Congress nominee Amita Singh, wife of Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who had won from the seat in 2009.

The event evoked curiosity as this is for the ! rst time Rahul organised such a political campaign from a con-stituency where another Gandhi family member is ! ghting against a Congress candidate. When asked whether she expects Rahul to win by bigger margin, she replied “it will all be known later.”

Amethi was earlier represented by the country’s ! rst prime minister Jawa-harlal Nehru and later by Sanjay Gand-hi once and four times by former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi also represented the seat but later shifted to Rae Bareily to vacate the seat for Rahul. Incidentally, the Congress has lost three of the ! ve assembly seats falling under Amethi parliamentary seats during the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in 2012. z

Search for missing jet resumes amid fears black box battery has died��Reuters, Perth

The search for a missing Malaysia Air-lines jetliner resumed yesterday, ! ve weeks after the plane disappeared from radar screens, amid fears that bat-teries powering signals from the black box recorder on board may have died.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned on Friday that signals picked up during the search in the re-mote southern Indian Ocean, believed to be “pings” from the black box re-corders, were fading.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared soon after taking o# on March 8 from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, triggering a multina-tional search that is now focused on the Indian Ocean.

Search o$ cials say they are con! dent they know the approximate position of the black box recorder, although they have determined that the latest “ping,” picked up by searchers on Thursday, was not from the missing aircraft.

Batteries in the black box recorder are already past their normal 30-day life, making the search to ! nd it on the murky sea bed all the more urgent. Once they are con! dent they have lo-cated it, searchers then plan to deploy a small unmanned “robot” known as Autonomous Underwater Vehicle.

“Work continues in an e# ort to nar-row the underwater search area for when the Autonomous Underwater Ve-hicle is deployed,” the Australian agency coordinating the search said yesterday. “There have been no con! rmed acoustic detections over the past 24 hours.”

The black box records data from the cockpit and conversations among " ight crew and may provide answers about what happened to the plane, which " ew thousands of kilometres o#

course after taking o# .The mystery has sparked the most

expensive search and rescue operation in aviation history.

Narrowing search areaAnalysis of satellite data has led in-vestigators to conclude the Boeing 777 crashed into the ocean somewhere west of the Australia city of Perth. So far, four “ping” signals, which could be from the plane’s black box recorders, have been detected in the search area in recent days by a US navy “Towed Pinger Locator.”

“We are now getting to the stage where the signal from what we are very con! dent is the black box is starting to fade and we are hoping to get as much information as we can before the signal ! nally expires,” Abbott said on Friday.

The US supply ship USNS Cesar Chavez has joined the Australian-led task force to provide logistics support and replenish Australian navy ships, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Up to nine military aircraft, one civ-il aircraft and 14 ships were scouring a 41,393 sq km (25,720 sq mile) patch of desolate ocean some 2,330km (1,445 miles) northwest of Perth.

The extensive search and rescue op-eration has so far included assets from 26 countries.

Australia’s Ocean Shield, which has the towed pinger locator on board, is op-erating in a smaller zone, just 600 sqkm (232 sq miles) about 1,670km (1,040 miles) northwest of Perth. That is near where it picked up the acoustic signals and where dozens of sonobuoys capable of transmit-ting data to search aircraft via radio sig-nals were dropped on Wednesday.

Experts say the process of teasing out the signals from the cacophony of background noise in the sea is slow and exhausting. z

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi (2nd L) are showered with # ower petals by supporters as they ride on top of a car before Rahul " led his nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha (lower house) elections at the district collector’s o% ce in Sultanpur, Amethi AFP

A rickshaw puller who never gave upApril 5

Jahangir ShahHis life history should be the inspiration of many a frustrated person.

Mohammad Tanvir KhalidThis news makes me rather angry. Against all odds, he keeps moving forward. I wonder what he could achieve with some support from society and from the state. I know there are millions like him who collectively could change the country. What are we doing for them??

Are we overly critical of Bangladesh?April 5

Constructive criticism is good. In 43 years of independence, how much independence has the Bangladeshi people actually achieved!?

Xiao Xing

Reviving BNPApril 5

SamI think the best definition of the party’s base was provided by the editor of this paper some years ago in a blog entry he made, titled something like “Voter types.” But the author raises a very valid point, a point already raised by Amb Milam asking BNP to become an alternative on the basis of something more than “we are not AL and we are not Jamaat.”

deep purple blueInteresting article – BNP activists and supporters should deal with the questions raised here.

RonnieInteresting, challenging appeal to the BNP and its committed supporters. I had assumed that the author would readily state his/her own take on the issue.

In responding speci! cally to the author’s ana-lytical premises, I believe that the party certainly (albeit mostly unfairly) su# ers somewhat from an image (“brand”) problem. The lengthy, largely coun-ter-productive electoral alliance with an extremist entity like Jamaat-e-Islami and other fringe Islamists only exacerbates BNP’s public perception woes.

It’s especially unfortunate because BNP is a de-cidedly democratic, progressive, pro-liberation, fu-ture-oriented political party. It is not, and had never embraced extremism (or extremists) within its own ranks. It has never had any truck with “terrorism,” despite the malicious, mendacity of BNP’s political opponents who allege otherwise. This image de! cit can (and should) be remedied by a ruthlessly realis-tic recalibration by BNP heavy-hitters of the party’s highest political priorities today, and its unsavoury alliance with Jamaat, in terms and conditions that are deemed in the best interests of BNP’s own fu-ture.

The corruption problem – both real and imagined – stems from BNP’s notorious mis-steps in its last

term in o" ce. That, too, needn’t be an insurmount-able hurdle, if the embattled party commits itself to a merciless purging of elements that practice and perpetuate corruption, and so besmirch the party’s public image, at home and abroad. So yes, a revamp of the party leadership surrounding and subordi-nate to the chairperson is imperative. And it isn’t as di" cult to pull o# as it appears, notionally.

The ! nal point about BNP’s “product” being in-decipherable is the one that I ! nd most provocative, because I had grappled with, and argued about the same point myself, even on this very site. Today, it’s more urgent than ever for BNP to robustly articulate and persuade more Bangladeshis of the fact that there’s always been much more to the party than its strident anti-Awami League politics. It’s vital to start emphasising everything that they are “for,” rather than everything that they are “against.”

I’ve been advocating for BNP to move beyond the seemingly one-point, be-all demand for ar-rangement of an election-time government, and the holding of a credible, free and fair national election, without delay. That demand is crucial and cannot be ceded.

But BNP is too big, too important, too popu-lar to be de! ned today by only a single issue, ie its just crusade for a legitimate national election. BNP must begin to forcefully spell out their alternate vi-sion and policies for Bangladesh’s future. BNP is not merely anti-AL for its own sake. It has always been a distinctly di# erent political (ideological) party to the AL, in both clear and subtle ways. Many people fail to recognise that. People who cockily write and an-nounce daily premature obituaries of BNP only $ at-ter themselves, yet again. It will be a travesty for the country, though, if BNP itself, from lack of collective courage, foresight and initiative, squander precious time, self-destruct and hand an undeserved victory to their implacable ill-wishers. If that happens (I ex-pect it won’t), more than just BNP supporters stand to lose.

BCL must endcampus violence Hundreds of students have been protesting the murder of

Saad Ibne Momtaz, a student and former BCL activist, at Bangladesh Agriculture University.

Two suspects, both fellow BCL activists, Sujoy and Rokon are now being held by police over his beating to death in an internal BCL feud on campus

The government needs to crack down hard on the violent behaviour and culture of intimidation carried out by some BCL activists.

Occasional repri-mands are insu$ cient.

The Saad killing is not an isolated example of this kind of unac-ceptable conduct. Eight students were hurt as a result of a BCL factional clash at Dhaka Universi-ty on Friday.

Students should not have to live with a culture of intimidation and violence enforced by party activists in the name of politics. The BCL needs to listen to public concerns and seriously reform its methods.

Unfortunately, many teachers and senior political leaders in-dulge this culture of fear and intimidation, as many of them see it as the only way they can play politics. This futile and destruc-tive culture of intimidation using muscle must be rooted out in our university campuses if we are to have an atmosphere that fosters education and the right type of political debate.

Our campus political culture is stuck in a vicious cycle of at-tacks and counterattacks, which must be brought to an end. The best way to honour the victims is for all the groups and parties concerned to mend their ways and break out of the cycle and culture of thuggery.

Urgent need toimprove urbanplanning A new study of urban growth shows that 44 million people,

or around 30% of the population, now live in cities, com-pared to just 15% thirty years ago.

Much of this growth is implemented in violation of planning standards. It is essential to raise standards to improve the quality of life and reduce risks posed by unplanned development.

In the last seven years, at least a ! fth of all agricultural land and water bodies in and around Dhaka have been ! lled in, main-ly by residential development. This trend increases " ood risks and must be remedied so that canals, designated wetlands, and " ood " ow zones are properly protected.

With more and more people migrating to urban areas for a better living, our cities must become better prepared to provide good quality housing and employ-ment. Failure to do so will increase the risks of urban disaster from " oods and poorly built developments, and jeop-ardise economic growth.

The formation of cabinet sub-committees to review the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) for areas around Dhaka can help, but must be followed up by comprehensive action to improve urban planning in all areas of the country.

City authorities and government must ensure better enforce-ment of rules to prevent illegal encroachments and take action against land grabbers.

The government must also strive to make better use of idle or unproductively occupied state land.

Most importantly, it must show vision in building better trans-port infrastructure and services to enable the private sector to disperse development around the country and reduce pressures on congested central land areas.

Editorial10

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DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, April 13, 2014

LETTER OF THE DAY

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30% of the population now live in cities. It is essential to make better use of land

The culture of intimidation and violence must end

Reform ICT Act to stop jail for Facebook messagesApril 6Dear Editor, Can you recall any time in the history of Bangladesh (save the three short periods of non-party caretaker rule) that a government did not crack down on dissent? Let us be honest about this: We Bangladeshi have many virtues, but it seems to me that a tolerance of dissent is not one of them, notwithstanding the fond recollections of non-existent history.

Sam

Crossword

Sudoku

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONSACROSS1 Quick (4)4 Identical (4)8 Domestic animal (3)9 Fruit (4)10 Not imaginary (4)11 Attacks (5)12 Flower (4)14 Inferior horse (3)15 Pinch (3)17 Faucet (3)19 Joke (3)21 Dash (4)23 Out of order (5)26 Fashion (4)27 Lawsuit (4)28 Marsh (3)29 Woody plant (4)30 Plies the needle (4)

DOWN1 Fail to recall (6)2 Cicatrix (4)3 Hooked claw (5)4 Mineral spring (3)5 Foreign (5)6 Wet, soft earth (3)7 Printers’ measures (3)11 Kingly (5)13 Wise men (5)16 6th order of angels (6)18 Balance (5)20 Sports (5)22 Not any (4)23 Perform (3)24 Spoil (3)25 Observe (3)

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

SUDOKU

��Ekram Kabir

The recent interview by our star cricketer Shakib Al Hasan with a vernacular daily has

given rise to many questions. To my mind, it seemed Shakib had tried to defend our team’s perennial failure in this particular sport. It was quite natural for him though. But here lies an element to worry about. It clearly displayed a lacuna of will that actually wins matches in the international arena.

Shakib had defended many things, but to my mind, playing as a team has been plaguing our cricketers since we achieved Test status. Then on, our squad hasn’t been showing any team spirit during matches. A few years back, they were taken to cantonment to be made psychologically strong, but nothing really happened.

This reminds me of a quote by the American basketball legend Michael Jordan: “Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships.” This isn’t only true for basketball, but for all games and sports. And a lack of team spirit has been re" ected in almost all games and sports in Bangladesh.

We talk about the cricketers as they are in the limelight and considerable money is spent on them. The need of the hour is to come out of this mentality and perform like real players. And Bangladesh badly needs a big players’ line up. The purpose of this piece is, once again, to humbly propose a simple suggestion to our cricket o$ cials.

This writer has appealed to BCB high o$ cials on several occasions to visit cadet colleges in order to hand-pick some cricketers if they ! nd them worthy enough. But before that, the sports o$ cials (not only cricket and football) need to visit these colleges. Each cadet college has its own games and sports competitions among its

houses (halls of residence). And then, the governing bodies of the colleges organise inter-cadet college sports meets in which all colleges participate in order to become the champion.

To my mind, it’s possible to get top-class players from these colleges. These boys and girls start their lives away from their families at the age of twelve. By the time they are ! fteen, they become physically hardened and mentally strong enough to withstand any challenge – both on the ! eld as well as in education. They are trained to win obstacles; they are taught to be ambitious and to be number-one in every arena.

The prime focus in these colleges is education, but their performance in games and sports is equally good. This writer had the opportunity to witness their performances on many occasions. These boys and girls play to win, to be the champions. With a strong willpower to win, they don’t play only for fun but winning becomes a religion for them.

Education is also very important to perform well and win international matches. They enter these institutions through a tough test. A class-seven boy or girl learns to do research on games and sports and they learn to formulate winning strategies at a very tender age. And another aspect of

their character is that they will never undermine a teammate. To them, teammates are everything.

When these cadets graduate from their institutions, their skills in games and sports are completely wasted. It’s disquieting to see that their skills remain unutilised at the national level. Yes, the majority of them may not want to become professional players. Only a few would show interest. But ! rst, they need to be assessed and approached. The o$ cials need to understand the level of their skills. If we can ! nd, say, ten interested people from these colleges, it should be more than enough.

For this to happen, the cadet college authorities also need to cooperate. They would have to create an atmosphere for the cadets to join the sports arena at the national level. They need to imbue the realisation among the cadets that it’s possible to be a professional cricketer or footballer.

For a start, the governing body of cadet colleges can form a combined team in each game and invite the national teams to play against the cadets. This could be a great way to assess the ability of these boys and girls. If they are found not worthy, throw the idea in the bin. But we need to know what these cadets have learnt on their campuses and whether they can break the barriers. Only the educational skills of these cadets are highlighted by our media, but it’s time we tried to explore their others skills as well.

I’m not at all undermining the talent and skills of the non-cadet population, but if these young boys and girls were encouraged to become national players, these colleges would also have an opportunity to contribute more to our nation. z

Ekram Kabir is Executive Editor of Natunbarta.com.

11Op-Ed Sunday, April 13, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

��Rainer Ebert and Matthew Islam

Animals are the weakest members of our society. They cannot vote, they cannot call hartals, and they cannot hold rallies.

They have no legal rights, and – even if they had – they could not go to court and demand that their rights be enforced. They have no voice, and cannot speak for themselves.

Animals are subject to our whim, easy to exploit, and even easier to abuse. If we do not abuse them and instead treat them with the respect they deserve, it is not because of their eco-nomic or political clout, but because of our good will and our compassion. The true test of our humanity hence is not how we behave when dealing with the powerful and privileged, but how we behave when dealing with animals. Mahatma Gandhi must have been thinking along these lines when he famously said: “The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

The animal market at Katabon in Dhaka is probably the biggest of its kind in Bangladesh. In more than 60 shops, businessmen o# er mice, rats, guinea pigs, foreign and local dogs and cats, rabbits, turtles, and hundreds of species of birds and ! sh.

By Gandhi’s measure, Katabon is surely failing the basic test of human-ity. Cats, many injured and sick, are kept in small cages, often without wa-ter or food for many hours, exposed to the merciless Bangladesh sun. There are animals with nasty, untreated skin diseases, and dogs frantically walking in circles in cages with " oors made of bare iron rods. Fish are being injected with colour dye and have their ! ns cut to appeal to consumers, and dozens of mice are cramped in cages the size of a sheet of paper. 

The horri! c conditions in which animals are kept at the Katabon animal

market are unacceptable, and we are con! dent that every reader who has ever been there will agree with our assessment. Remember that animals have complex mental lives and are capable of experiencing many of the same emotions we experience, such as pain, joy, sadness, fear, and anger. Next time you walk or drive by Kata-bon, look at the animals and imagine how you would feel if you were in their place.

Bangladesh’s 1920 Cruelty to Ani-mals Act makes keeping “any animal in such a manner […] as to subject the animal to unnecessary pain or su# er-ing” a punishable o# ence, but, like all too many laws in this country, this law too is not enforced. The government has so far failed to a# ord the animals at Katabon the protection to which they are entitled.

The University of Dhaka that owns the premises on which the Katabon animal shops are built does not seem to care much either, and one wonders whether this indi# erence is compat-ible with the spirit of a university where higher education is of para-mount importance, and where we try to prepare students to be moral, just, and compassionate future leaders of our country. 

But not everybody turns a blind eye. Obhoyaronno, Bangladesh’s larg-est animal welfare organisation, has been urging people for years not to buy animals at Katabon or elsewhere, and to adopt homeless animals instead. A few days ago, a petition was created, calling on the government of Bangla-desh and the University of Dhaka to shut down the Katabon animal market.

Within less than 24 hours, more than 500 people had signed the pe-tition which continues to spread like wild! re on social media. Bangladesh has a big heart and has always been sensitive to injustice. Katabon hence strikes a nerve.

The great power we have over animals comes with great responsi-bility. It is the most vulnerable who deserve our protection most. Closing Katabon is not only our duty, but also a great chance. What does it say about us if we allow animals to be mistreated in broad daylight at the heart of the country’s capital? We can turn Kata-bon from a symbol of the vanishing humanity in us into a symbol of moral strength and the civilisation we hope to build together.

The government of Bangladesh and

the lovers of animals of all kinds in our society must speak up for the neces-sity of animal conservation and of treating animals with respect, and be united in their stand on this issue.

We must, in each of our houses, teach our sons and daughters the value of a healthy ecology, the roles the animals around us play in our ecosystem.

We must teach them that our com-panion animals and other animals are not toys but a lot like us, deserving of love, empathy, respect, and adoration, regardless of species, breed, or origin.

They need our attention and care. We need to make people understand that, if we fail to protect the silent beings amongst us, we will also become

irresolute with regard to our responses to the su# ering of humans, those who, unlike animals, always have a means to voice their discomfort.

We must strive harder as a society to work towards building an empathet-ic public opinion about animal rights in general and showing how easy it is to make a positive di# erence, to chart a di# erent path than the ignorance we now so easily engage in.

The future of our nation’s reputa-tion hinges a lot on how we deal with these kinds of issues. Our developing civilisation cannot progress leaving our animals behind. Progress will be slow but in the end compassion will prevail, as it always has, provided we do not close our eyes to the truth that we witness at Katabon. We are beyond the point where contriteness is enough. We need to act.

If we end the animal trade at Katabon and provide an alternative subsistence to the shopkeepers, for example in the form of loans to enable them to start new businesses, we will have achieved something that does more to display the good that a united Bangladesh can achieve than any of the record-breaking attempts that we feel so proud about. Are those 250,000 honourable nationalistic patriots willing to sing for the rights of our ani-mals? Are we up for this challenge? z

Rainer Ebert is a graduate student of phi-losophy at Rice University, and an Associate Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. You can follow him on Twitter at @rainer_ebert. Matthew Islam is a Barrister-at-Law, a textile businessman, and a columnist at the Dhaka Tribune. He can be contacted on Twitter via @matthewislam.

Only the educational skills of these cadets are highlighted, but it’s time we tried to explore their others skills

We can turn Katabon from a symbol of the vanishing humanity in us into a symbol of moral strength

The government has so far failed to a# ord the animals at Katabon the protection to which they are entitled

Play to win Time to make room for meritL A R G E R T H A N L I F E

All creatures great and small

Katabon is failing the basic test of humanity RAINER EBERT

��MH Bari

The quota system is a hiring policy where a speci! ed number or percentage of members in

speci! c groups is to be hired. In Bang-ladesh every government job indulges the quota system.

The quota system was introduced in the recruitment of government services after independence, aiming to elevate the more disadvantaged sectors in our society. It was hoped that this system would be abolished after a certain period, but it exists still. The quota system was introduced into the government service by an execu-tive order in 1972, where 45% of the jobs are reserved on merit, while 30% are distributed among the children of freedom ! ghters, 10% among women, 10% among districts, and 5% among indigenous people.

Recruitment into various cadres of the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) is in accordance with the provisions of this rule. No direct appointment can be given in BCS cadre service without the recommendation of the Public Ser-vice Commission.

But the present quota system has proven to be a serious obstacle in re-cruiting deserving candidates into civil services. It has weakened the stand-ards of the civil service tremendously, causing an administrative snag.

Taking this matter into consid-eration, the Public Administration Reform Committee’s (PARC) recom-mendation of abolishing the quota system in government services is praiseworthy. The PARC report said: “The region-based or other quotas are contrary to the spirit of the constitu-tion, and are also making the govern-ment employment system complicat-ed.” The Public Service Commission’s annual report also advocated quite heavily for the abolition of the quota system in government services.

The bottom line is that we should not compromise the selection of em-ployees at the highest level of govern-ment service. We have obligations to the children of our freedom ! ghters, and we also want women, tribal peo-ple, and people from less developed districts to have a higher level of par-ticipation in the government service. But how should we do that?

We should ensure better education for the children of our freedom ! ght-ers by giving support to their families, by lending stipends and scholarships to their children, by enrolling them in better schools and colleges. We have already extended a lot of support for the education of women which has yielded results with more female can-didates qualifying based on merit, and we should extend support to the tribal children in the same way.

For less-developed districts, we should take measures towards improv-

ing the schools and colleges in those districts so that students come out with competitive results. As a conscious cit-izen, I am in favour of a long-term plan to support the needy without compro-mising the ultimate selection. The issue is delicate but we would not be prudent in trying to tend to the interests of all.

Almost all non-partisan segments of the academia and civil society concur that the quota system needs a total revision. None think that quota should be completely wiped o# . None disagree with keeping quota for the family of the deceased or disabled freedom ! ghters or minorities, up to a rational level, to comply with consti-tutional provisions. But it is also nec-essary to make space for meritorious applicants so that they can take part in respectably building our nation. z

MH Bari works in the global marketing of seafood from Bangladesh.

The quota system should be abolished on the following groundsz�According to Article 19 of the constitution describing the policy of Equality of Oppor-

tunity: “The State shall endeavour to ensure equality of opportunity to all citizens.” If 55% of all candidates come from the quota, how will the state ensure equality of opportunity for all citizens? Is the quota system not violating this article and going against the spirit of the constitution? 

z�The quota policy, as enshrined in the constitution, is an exception for the advance-ment of the backward sections of society. Hence the quota system can in no way supersede the universal principle of merit for ensuring equal employment opportuni-ties for all citizens without discrimination. 

z�Since our liberation in 1971, the majority of the posts in civil services have been reserved for people from preferred groups under the quota. Moreover, the quota has always been implemented without much transparency. 

z�Quota may be necessary for the advancement of the backward sections of society, but it can never be continued for an inde! nite period. The country has been advanc-ing steadily and now there are no speci! c sectors that need a special quota.

z�Due to the quota policy, o" cers of relatively poor calibre get entry into the civil ser-vice. This has long-term bad impacts on the whole administration as it has lowered the quality of our civil servants.

z�The 30% quota reserved for the wards of freedom ! ghters, though sanctioned by a wave of sympathy and gratitude, has no legal leg to stand on unless the bene! ciaries are proven to be disadvantaged. 

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, April 13, 201412

Eliminating sorrows of bygone yearCelebrating Choitro Shongkranti, the last day of Bangla calendar��Punny Kabir

Choitro Shongkranti, the last day of Bangla calendar, will be celebrated today through a host of rituals across the country. This is an occasion when vows are made to forget the pains, ag-onies and bitter memories of the by-gone year and look ahead to a happy and meaningful future.

Choitro Shongkranti has a distinc-tive colour of its own, but people re-gardless of their creed, religion and so-cial status generally participate in the rituals and festivals observing the day, giving it a transcultural perspective.

One of the main rituals of Choitro Shongkranti is Charak Puja, a tradi-tional Hindu festival organised on the last day of the Bangla month Chaitra. Hindu devotees believe that through this ritual they can eliminate their pains and su# erings of the departing year and be positive about the year they are about to enter.

The highlight of the ritual is the part where devotees portray God Shiva’s miracle by hurting their body parts but not expressing any pain. Usually 10-12 persons perform the ritual while one of them, the key performer, known as Deoboinshi, is tied to a hook on his back and moved around a sacred tree-trunk.

On this occasion, village fairs are also organised where toys, fruits and sweets as well as goods made of bam-boo, plastic and clay are sold. Bioscope shows, puppet shows, acrobatic feats, kite " ying and other displays also take place at the fair premises.

On the other hand, people in cities also organise programmes under the banners of di# erent cultural organi-sations. Cultural programmes featur-ing dance, music and drama are held,often at night so that revellers can stay up to see the ! rst dawn of the Bangla year.

Indigenous people have their own

ways of celebrating the year-end. “Baisabi” is the main festival of people living in the hill districts of Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari. While most indigenous tribes call the festival “Baisabi,” it is known by the Chakma and Tanchyanga tribes as “Biju,” by Marma tribe as “Shangra,” and by Tri-

pura tribe as “Baisuk” or “Baisu.” Members of Chakma and

Tanchyanga tribes hold celebrations for three consecutive days – the last two days of Chaitra and the ! rst day of Boishakh, the ! rst month of Bangla calendar. They refrain from killing any living creature during these days. The

last day of Chaitra is celebrated as the main festival day.

On this day, a mixed curry called Pachan is cooked with ! ve types of vegetables. In the afternoon, teen-agers play tug-of-war and traditional games. The Marmas celebrate Shan-grai for four days and the most in-

triguing part of the event is the wa-ter-throwing ritual attended by young boys and girls.

They believe that doing so washes away all their sorrows, pains and bit-ter feelings. The members of Tripura worship God Shiva and pray for his blessings. z

A performer of the Charak Puja- a traditional Bangla festival celebrated by the believers of the Hindu religion on Choitro Shongkranti PRANABESH DAS

Kailash Kher makes Dhaka audience his

Deewani��Limana Solaiman

Kailash Kher, interna-tionally popular for his unique rendition of su! songs such as Teri Dee-wani, made the audience of Dhaka astonished by his brilliant live perfor-mance on Friday at the “Tri Nation Music Fest” at the Army Stadium in the capital. The show also featured Ali Azmat from Pakistan and Bangladeshi prominent musician Ayub Bachchu.

The programme started with the performance of Ayub Bachchu. This time around, the celebrated musician got his due re-spect and response from the crowd. Previously, at the “BCB Celebration Con-cert,” the lack of enthusi-asm of the crowd during the performance of Bangladeshi artistes led Bachchu to thank the audience for listening to Bangla songs and to save their claps for better artistes.

Ayub Bachchu rocked the show with his rendition of the popular tracks Rakhe Allah Maare Ke, Ural Debo Akashe, Bangladesh and oth-ers. The crowd sang along with Bachchu, who is a master enter-tainer. He urged the audience to participate with him and when he started presenting his song Shei Tumi, the crowd seemed to be-come one voice and repeated the lyrics of the song which has won the hearts of millions across the country.

A while later, Pakistani artiste Ali Azmat, former lead vocal-ist of internationally acclaimed band Junoon, took to the stage and opened his performance with the rendition of his popular track Dosti. However, it took time for the artiste to wake the crowd’s enthusiasm. When performing the upbeat song Yaar Bina, Ali Azmat got down from the stage and walked to the centre of the audience’s seating arrangement,

where, a mini stage was setup for the artists to get closer to the audi-ence. Ali performed one renowned track after another and praised the audience of Bangladesh as one of the best crowd he has performed for. Sadly, his overall performance failed to live up to the high expec-tation of the audience.

The main attraction of the evening, Kailash Kher appeared before the audience an hour later and started his show with the song Jogi. The su! singer mesmerised the audience with his rendition of the songs Apni Khoyi Huyi Peh-chaan, Main To Tere Pyar Mein De-ewana Ho Gaya, Baare Baare and many more. Kailash has a great sense of humour and in between every song, he made the audience laugh and interacted with them. He complimented the women-folk of the crowd and invited a handful of female audience to dance with him on-stage. His performance was enjoyed and well received by the crowd, specially his songs Teri Deewani and Tu Jaane Na.

In a nutshell, the Tri-Nation concert was an enjoyable event for the music lovers of Bangladesh. z

Orchestra at Bokultola��Afrose Jahan Chaity

Sporsho – a classical orchestra group – will perform today at Bokultola of Charukala, Dha-ka University at 6:30pm. Mo-hammed Shoeb is the composer and music director of the music troupe.

Shoeb informed the Dhaka Tri-bune that the troupe will perform two music pieces. One of them is based on raga Bhairav which will enhance the beauty of early morn-ing. The composition will open the programme. The other piece is based on raga Yaman which will express the beauty of sun set. It is based on the relationship of

human life with the setting of the sun that announces the end of a day. The performances will be car-ried out by 21 performers, includ-ing four vocalists who will sing to the tune of violins, " utes, classi-cal guitar, tabla, ghottom, jambay and chajon. About performing in the programme, Mohammed Shoeb said: “Nowadays use of acoustic instruments are becom-ing extinct. People are much more into electronic sounds. But mu-sic with acoustic instruments are classic and soothing. Therefore, it is Sporsho’s aim to popularise the soothing tune of acoustic instru-ments among the mass people of the country.” z

Tele" lm Mon will be aired on ATN Bangla at 11pm today. The story revolves around Shayan and Meghla. Shayan is highly engrossed in his o% ce works and cannot spend ample amount of time with his wife Meghla, who is a housewife. After a while, Shayan notices that a mysterious call is coming in Meghla’s phone and that she does not take the call in his presence. One day, he follows Meghla to a restaurant and discovers that the situation was a ruse created by Meghla to attract his attention

One of the major galas of Choitra Songkranti and Pohela Boishakh is the music school Surer Dhara’s two-day long programme featuring more than a thousand singers from across the country which will start today evening at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre. The show will continue till noon of the next day SADIA MARIUM

SADIA MARIUM

Diverse events in Dhaka welcome Boishakh��Entertainment Desk

On the eve of the New Year 1421, the capital city of Dhaka is gearing up with innumera-ble festivity organised by dif-ferent cultural organisations. Two back-to-back occasions, Choitro Shongkranti and Pahela Boishakh, will make the whole city a platform of carnival be-ginning from today and will continue till the midnight of to-morrow.

Major points of the city will be occupied by millions of peo-ple, willing to have a blast on the biggest secular event of the na-tion and the cultural organisa-tions will demonstrate the best of their abilities in bringing out joy and colourfulness during the festival.

Chhayanaut’s BarshabaranArtistes and students of Ch-hayanaut are all set to usher in this year’s Pahela Boishakh in a be! tting manner with spon-taneous participation from the masses. Chhayanaut’s Boishakh celebration at the Ramna Bata-mul carries a deep rooted legacy and is one of the oldest events of its kind. The melody of esraj, " ute and violin, will present the untainted tune of morning ragas at 6:15am tomorrow. To shake away the old gloom and reju-venate the spirit and passion, the artistes will recite poems and render traditional songs highlighting the non-commu-nal spirit to welcome the Bangla New Year at the event.

Rendezvous at CharukalaThe three-day programme or-ganised by the Faculty of Fine Arts, popularly known as Cha-rukala, will begin at 5pm today at the Bakultala premises. The students will present music and dance while the whole faculty will be tempted in the last min-ute preparation of the next day’s Mangal Shobhajatra, the tradi-tional procession with colourful masks and paper made dum-mies of di# erent animals which the Charukala students bring out every year on the occasion of Bangla New year.

Bengal Foundation’s three day programme begins today Bengal Foundation’s celebra-tion at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts will begin from 10am today. Today’s event will start with the performance of Faizur Rahman on dotara, followed by Susmita Debnath Suchi, Farha-na Rahman Kanta, Shahid Kabir Polash, Shimu Dey, Anindita Chowdhury performing Nazrul Geeti and raga. Besides, sarodist Rajrupa Chowdhury and folk singers Kiran Chandra Ray and Chandana Majumdar will also perform today.

On the day of Pohela Boishakh, Litoner Dol will per-form along with folk songs by Sha! ul Alam Raja, Halima Parveen, Siddiqur Rahman and Bhajan Baul.

The concluding day will fea-ture sitarist Firoz Khan, recita-tion artiste Hasan Arif, musical session by Aditi Mohsin, Mita Haque, Saadi Mohammad, Rez-wana Choudhury Bannya and I# at Ara Dewan. Songs of Lalon will be performed by Farida Parveen.

Cultural Programme at Shilpakala AcademyBangladesh Shilpakala Acade-my will present a programme at the open ! eld of the academy at 4:00pm. The show will feature presentations of songs in cho-rus and solo, dance recitals and poem recitations.

OthersSammilito Sangskritik Jote is go-ing to organise a cultural show at the Rabindrosarobar in Dhan-mondi in the afternoon.

The students of the Bengali Department of the Dhaka Uni-versity have organised a cultur-al programme in the afternoon at Mal Chattar of the university campus. z

13DHAKA TRIBUNE

Reza-Sanjamul record partnership marks ! rst day��

The Walton 15th National Cricket League resumed yesterday with the teams locking

horns in the ! rst day of round 6. The participation of the all the current na-tional team cricketers added a charm to the four games taking place at four di# erent venues around the country which produced four centuries, two half-centuries and a ! ve-wicket haul.

Rajshahi v ChittagongRiding on all-rounder Farhad Reza’s unbeaten 182 runs and Sanjamul Is-lam’s 172 runs, Rajshahi posted a mam-moth 424 runs at stumps on day one against Chittagong at BKSP.

Rajshahi’s skipper Mush! qur Ra-him opted to bat ! rst after winning the toss. The decision, however, looked to have back! red with his side reeling at 77 for 6 in the 25th over before a record 347 runs partnership for the seventh wicket between Farhad and Sanjamul brought the innings back on track. San-jamul scored 172 o# 196 deliveries, hit-ting 22 fours and 2 sixes before he lost his wicket in the second last over of the day.

Farhad, however, courtesy of 26 boundaries and 5 over boundaries, remained unbeaten on 182 o# 209 de-liveries. Ali Akbar, Abdullah Al Mamun and Mehedi Hasan Rana picked two wickets apiece for Chittagong.

Dhaka Div. v BarisalAt the end of day one, Dhaka Division were trailing by 309 runs in reply to Barisal’s 323 runs in the ! rst innings at Chittagong’s Zahur Ahmed Chowd-hury Stadium.

Batting ! rst, riding on skipper Shah-riar Nafees’ 129 runs and 79 from Nu-ruzzaman, Barisal scored 309 losing all wickets in 79.2 overs. Nafees, in his 143 ball innings, slammed 21 bound-aries and 2 sixes. Shuvagata Hom and Nazmul Apu bagged three wickets each for Dhaka Division.

Later, Dhaka batted eight overs in the day and scored 14 runs without any loss.

Rangpur v SylhetAt Fatullah Outer Stadium, Rangpur scored 256 runs at the cost of 7 wickets after the end of day one against Sylhet division.

Rangpur, electing to bat ! rst after winning the toss, got o# to a horrible start as ! ve wickets were down with only 57 runs on the board. But a 199 runs partnership for the sixth wicket between Naeem Islam and Tanvir haider saved the innings from further catastrophe. Naaem scored 144 o# 289 deliveries. His innings included 17 fours and 2 sixes. Tanvir was unbeaten on 62 o# 165 deliveries. Nasum Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers with ! ve wickets for Sylhet.

Khulna v Dhaka MetroAt stumps on the ! rst day, Khulna were 126 runs behind in their ! rst in-nings against Dhaka Metro at Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium.

Batting ! rst, Metro were all out for only 172 runs in 70.5 overs. Opener Shadman Islam scored 40 runs, the highest of Metro’s innings. Spinner Ab-dur Razzak bagged four wickets while Nazimuddin Ripon picked up three for Khulna.

In reply, Khulna were 46 for 1 after 21 overs. Robiul Islam Robi was unbeaten on 23 runs. Mahmudullah picked up the only wicket to fall for Metro. z

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Sport 1414 Bielsa sees Marseille edge late win

Wolves climb to fourth in Bundesliga

15 Everton clinch top four spot, Spurs held

Did you know?Fulham are the " rst

team in Premier League history to use

38 di$ erent players in a single Premier League campaign

Chittagong v RajshahiRajshahi (1st innings): 424/8 in 89 overs (Farhad 182*, Sanjamul 172, Rana 2/52)

Dhaka Div v BarisalBarisal (1st innings): 323/10 in 79.2 overs (Shahriar 129, Nuruzzaman 79, Hom 3/59) Dhaka Div (1st innings): 14/0 in 8 overs (Majid 6*, Rony 7*) Dhaka Div trail by 309 runs

Sylhet v RangpurRangpur (1st innings): 256/7 in 90 over (Naeem 144, Tanvir 62*, Nasum 5/58)

Khulna v Dhaka MetroMetro (1st innings): 172/10 in 70.5 overs(Shadman 40, Sharif 34, Razzak 4/78)Khulna (1st innings): 46/1 in 21 overs(Robiul 23*, kayes 13*, Mahmudullah 1/14)Khulna Division trail by 126 Runs

BRIEF SCORE

Practicing penalties pay dividends for Batista’s Mohammedan��Dhaka Mohammedan’s Portuguese coach Jose Rui Capella Batista said practice made them perfect after his team clinched the title of the Modhu-moti Bank Independence Cup Football by beating Feni Soccer in a penalty shootout at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

The tall Portuguese said that he was ready for the shootout and had con-ducted penalty practice for the last few days. “It’s a ! nal and I knew the time will be hard. Feni Soccer was not an easy team as the others thought. The inclusion of the four foreigners have transformed them into a strong unit. However, I was ready for the shoot-out and all the ! ve players and the goal-keeper had gone through shoot-out practice for the last few days,” said Ba-tista.

The coach was happy with his team’s performance although his forwards missed a lot of chances. “It’s my 4th career title and I am happy to win the title. Yes, it was more desired that the ! nal should be wrapped up in the stip-ulated time but my forwards wasted a good number of chances. It can happen in football. I want to see the trophy as the token of success. It’s not the time to think about the negatives. We will try

to sort them out later.” said Capella. Capella’s counterpart, the Gambian

coach of Soccer Club, Feni tried to keep a cool composure. “We came close but did not win the title. At the end of the road, I can say that we have proved we are a changed team now. We will draw inspiration from the success. We were not the favourites and we were the un-derdogs. But we stretched the match to the limit and we will take the impetuses from this tournament in the upcoming challenges in the Bangladesh Premier League where we stay at the bottom. All I want to say is that Feni Soccer want to stay in top " ight football,” said Omar.

However, Omar seemed to have no clue regarding his forwards who mis-! red. “I don’t know what happened to them. I have no answer as they were supposed to score from all the chances they created. May be the pressure of the ! nal took its toll,” said Omar.

Mohammedan goalie Mamun Khan thought he had to contribute for the team in the most crucial time. “I was ready and motivated myself to save at least two in the shoot-out. I have been through this kind of situation for a cou-ple of times before and was fully con! -dent to put my best. I saved the ! rst one and at last it made all the di# erence. I am happy to serve my team,” said the tall goalie. z

Mohammedan win Independence Cup title ��

Mamun Khan emerged as the hero for Mohammedan once again as his gal-lant display helped the traditional Black

and Whites clinch the Modhumoti Bank Independence Cup title by beat-ing a spirited Feni Soccer Club 5-4 in penalty shoot-out in the ! nal yester-day evening at the Bangabondhu Na-tional Stadium. Mamun was also Mo-hammedan’s hero in their Super Cup ! nal triumph against Sheikh Russell last season which also rolled into a tie-breaker.

Feni Soccer can still leave the ! eld with their heads high as they pro-duced a courageous display and kept

the score goalless after the end of 120 minutes with a never-say-die attitude on the pitch. The only missed penalty which ultimately proved to be the dif-ference between the two sides, was taken by Kabba Jobe. Credit must be given to Mohammedan keeper Mamun Khan who denied the Gambian striker with a decent save.

The Black and Whites proved the signi! cance of experience in big stage with a solid display but it was Feni Soc-cer, who actually won the hearts with their speedy, fearless and dominating performance backed up by a solid de-fense even though they were playing in a ! nal of a professional football tourna-ment for the ! rst time in their history.

It seemed like Mohammedan had worked extra hard on taking penalties prior to the ! nal as all of

their ! ve players - Emily, Damian Chigozie, Sohag, Zongo Ousseni, Ubom Henry made no mistake in the penalty shootout by giving Feni keeper Nehal no chance. Nehal was outstanding for 120 minutes and could have been the best player if Feni had won the game. However, he was later adjudged the most valuable player of the tournament. After Kabba missed the opening penalty, Mathew Mendy, Abdullah Al Mamun, Chuka Charles and Landing successfully converted their spot kicks for Feni Soccer.

The scoreline, however, tells very little about what happened in the stip-ulated time which ended goalless. Both the side created abundance of oppor-tunities since the beginning and it was a great surprise to see the match ! nish goalless even after extra time.

Tawhidul Alam Sabuj had the ! rst opportunity to put Mohammedan ahead after just six minutes of the match. Feni defender Liton failed to clear a long ball which allowed Sabuj to sprint forward into the box. But his an-gular shot was saved brilliantly by Feni keeper Nehal.

Azmal Hossain Bidduit wasted his chance a minute later as he shot straight at the keeper after a nice build-up play. Captain Akbar Hossain Ridon could have scored the opener in the 15th minute when Kabba Jobe cut the ball back to him in the middle of the box but the captain wasted time and chance to see his e# ort eventually blocked by a defender.

Emily, who scored four goals in the tournament prior to the ! nal, squan-dered a chance in the 28th minute

when the national striker failed to get to the end of a cross from Arup Kumar Baidya inside the six-yard box.

Opportunities came knocking again after the resumption. A cutback from Sabuj allowed Emily to dribble past a defender and then the striker ! red the ball over the crossbar after three minutes into the second half. Feni re-sponded quickly with a counter attack that ended with Chuka Charles’ shot blocked by a defender.

Mamun Khan produced a brilliant save to rescue Mohammedan’s day in the 55th minute. After a pass from Kab-ba, Landing Darboe unleashed a pow-erful strike from 25 yards out but Ma-mun Khan denied the Gambian with a " ying ! ngertip save.

If Mamun’s save was Mohammed-an’s best then Nehal perhaps made

the save of the tournament in the 72nd minute. With great technique and con-trol, Emily took a powerful left-footed shot from the top of the box but Nehal reacted promptly and stretched fully to dive to his right to produce a stunning save.

The game rolled into the additional 30 minutes where both sides wasted incredible chances. Landing had a 25-yard strike " ying inches over the bar. Mohammedan had the best chance. In the 25th minute of the extra time, Zon-go, the unmarked Burkina Faso striker, failed to put the ball into the empty net after Emily’s grounder de" ected o# a defender. 

As even 120 minutes couldn’t sepa-rate the two teams, the match had to be decided on a tie-breaker inevitably where Mohammedan came up on top. z

BFF to reinspect outer Dhaka venues��The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) will re-inspect the out of the capital venues of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) to ! nally decide whether to hold matches outside Dhaka.

Currently Feni, Chittagong and Gopalganj are the three venues where the second phase matches are scheduled to take place.

BFF was thrown into the new complexity after Sheikh Jamal DC, Mohammedan SC, Brothers Union and Uttar Baridhara Club opposed to play their away matches in Feni, Chittagong

and Gopalganj. To deal with the crisis, an inspection

committee was formed by the BFF yesterday and the committee has been asked to submit its report immediately. It has been learnt that the members of the committee may start the inspection of the venues from today.

“The second phase of the league will start on time from Tuesday and the matches outside Dhaka are likely to be suspended until the BFF comes to a ! -nal decision based on the report of the venue inspection committee,” said BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag after the meeting yesterday. z

Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid inaugurates the Metropolis School Table Tennis yesterday COURTESY

Metropolis School TT starts�� Armanitola High School, Dhanmondi Tutorial, BPS Green, Summer! eld Inter-national School, St. Joseph red, Ahmed Bawani School, St. Joseph Green, DPS Red, Australain International School and Scholastica Mirpur Red registered victories in the Walton Smart TV Me-tropolis School Table Tennis yesterday.

The three day meet started at the Shahid Tajuddin Ahmed Indoor Sta-dium with education minister Nurul Islam Nahid inaugurating it. A total of 155 boys and37 girls are participating in the tourney that has seen light again after a gap of 12 years.

BTTF president Abdul Karim, gen-eral secretary Zobera Rahman Linu, A.F.M. Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn, the ad-ditional director of Walton were also present on the occasion. z

Mohammedan Sporting Club players and o% cials celebrate with the trophy after defeating Soccer Club, Feni in their Modhumoti Bank Independence Cup " nal match at the Bangabondhu National Stadium yesterday MUMIT M

Pakistan may cut Ajmal’s county stint��Pakistan o# -spinner Saeed Ajmal’s stint with English county Worcester-shire may be set for a shorter duration to compensate for his country’s hast-ily-arranged Test and one-day series against Sri Lanka.

“We are still discussing how much time he (Ajmal) can be away as we now have a scheduled series in Sri Lanka,” Pakistan Cricket Board chief operating o$ cer Subhan Ahmed told AFP. z

Costa back in Atletico squad for Getafe game��

Atletico Madrid top scorer Diego Costa has been given the all clear by medical sta# and included in the squad for Sunday’s game at

Getafe after shaking o# a thigh strain, the La Liga leaders said on Saturday.

Brazil-born forward Costa missed Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-! nal, second leg win against Barcelona after picking up the injury in the ! rst leg the previous week.

Costa’s was the ! nal name on the 19-man squad list for the game at Getafe’s Coliseum stadium that Atletico published on their o$ cial Twitter feed.

Atletico are a point clear of Barca with six games left and three clear of third-placed city neighbours Real Madrid.

Barca and Real play on Saturday, with the champions at Granada and Real at home to Almeria.

Atletico coach Diego Simeone, who has transformed his unfancied team into genuine contenders in Spain and Europe since taking over at the end of 2011, said 18th-placed Getafe would be a dangerous opponent as they are ! ghting to avoid relegation.

“Tomorrow’s game is di$ cult because of the need Getafe has,” Simeone, who was playing for Atletico the last time they won La Liga in 1996, told a news conference on Saturday. z

Wolves climb to fourth in Bundesliga��VfL Wolfsburg continued their push for a place in next season’s Champions League after a thumping 4-1 win over Nuremburg saw them go fourth in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

With champions Bayern Munich later hosting second-placed Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena, there was plenty of movement lower down the table.

Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking saw his former club take the lead when Markus Feulner ! red home for second-from-bottom Nuremberg on eight min-utes. But Wolfsburg hit back with two goals in four minutes from Croatian pair Ivica Olic and Ivan Perisic.

The win saw Wolfsburg leapfrog Leverkusen, who play on Sunday, and Borussia Moenchengladbach, who were held to a 1-1 draw at home to V& Stutt-gart. Stuttgart are now one point clear of third-from-bottom Hamburg, who lost 2-1 at Hanover.

Hamburg coach Mirko Slomka re-turned to Hanover 96 for the ! rst time since his sacking in December but his new team fell behind on nine minutes when Lars Stindl headed home Edgar Prib’s cross.

Hamburg’s Rafael van der Vaart then cleared Didier Ya Konan’s header o# the

line before Leonardo Bittencourt saw his de" ected shot hit the post.

In the other meeting of two relega-tion candidates, Freiburg saw o# bot-tom club Eintracht Braunschweig 2-0.

Damir Vrancic headed into his own net from a corner to hand the home side an early lead.

Three minutes into the second half Freiburg got another stroke of luck when Julian Schuster’s speculative ef-fort de" ected in o# Braunschweig de-fender Ermin Bicakcic.

Meanwhile Europa League hopefuls Mainz swept aside mid-table Werder Bre-men 3-0. An own goal from Nils Petersen set the home side on their way before Christoph Moritz doubled their advan-tage on 16 minutes. Yunus Malli com-pleted the scoring before half-time. z

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Rossi return gives Italy World Cup boostItaly international striker Giuseppe Rossi has given his country a pre-World

Cup boost by returning to training with Fiorentina on Friday. Former Manchester United forward Rossi injured his knee on January 5 but just two months out from the beginning of the World Cup in Brazil. The 27-year-old was greeted by around 500 fans for his return. It was the second major knee problem he has su# ered in his career having missed the majority of a two-year period from 2011-13, during which time he transferred from Villarreal to La Viola –AFP

Spurs secure best record in NBADanny Green drained seven three-pointers and scored 33 points on Friday as

San Antonio assured themselves of the best record in the NBA with a 112-104 win over Phoenix. Green connected on 12 of 17 shots from the ! eld and seven of 10 from three-point range for the Spurs, who rallied from a 21-point de! cit for a win that clinched home-court advantage throughout the playo# s. San Antonio point guard Tony Parker, who sat out Thursday’s victory against the Dallas Mavericks, scored 18 points as the Spurs won their 15th straight home game. –AFP

Pole vault champion Hooker retiresAustralia’s Olympic and world pole vault champion Steve Hooker said Saturday

he was retiring from competition, citing mental fatigue. Hooker, 31, said it was not the way he expected his illustrious career to ! nish: in prime physical condition, but men-tally burnt out. “I honestly thought the body would be the one that would give way, and that would be the end. But it has almost been the opposite,” he said. Hooker’s halcyon days were in 2008-2010, a period when he held every major pole vault title available: Olympic, world outdoor, world indoors, Commonwealth Games. –AFP

FIXTURES Real Betis v Sevilla Valencia v Elche Getafe v Atletico Madrid Espanyol v Rayo Vallecano

Liverpool, City set for emotional tie��

Carried by a wave of raw emotion, leaders Liverpool will look to land a potentially de-

cisive blow in the Premier League title race when they host Manchester City on Sunday.

Tributes to mark the 25th anniver-sary of the Hillsborough disaster will frame the encounter and with Liver-pool on course for a ! rst title since 1990, An! eld is likely to be a cauldron of fervour and belief.

As with every other game in England this weekend, kick-o# will occur seven minutes later than scheduled as a mark of respect for the 96 Liverpool fans who died after a fatal crush at She$ eld Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium during an FA Cup semi-! nal in 1989.

The timing re" ects the moment at

which that game against Nottingham Forest was called to a halt.

Former players from the two sides will exchange wreaths prior to the match, which will also be preceded by a rendition of the Liverpool anthem, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, and a min-ute’s silence.

Fresh inquests into the deaths opened recently after the original coro-ner’s verdicts of accidental death were quashed following a campaign by vic-tims’ families, whose wounds remain as fresh as ever.

While no amount of on-pitch success will ever provide adequate consolation, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says that his side’s title bid is inspired by memories of the Hillsborough dead.

“We can’t say too much about Hill-sborough because the inquests are un-der way,” he said earlier this week.

“But as a manager coming into the

football club, I know there are 96 peo-ple in the sky who will always be sup-porting this football team.

“If we are to achieve anything this year, they will always be in our thoughts -- the 96 in the sky and the families that go with them.”

Pellegrini has also claimed that it is “not a game that will decide the title”, but a win for either side would alter the picture signi! cantly, as both sides know that they will be champions if they win all of their remaining matches.

City, who trail Liverpool by four points with two games in hand, re-ceived a huge ! llip prior to the game with the news that top scorer Sergio Aguero will be ! t to play after ! ve games out with a hamstring problem.

Apart from centre-back Matija Nas-tasic, who has an ongoing knee com-plaint, Pellegrini has a fully ! t squad to select from, while left-back Jose

Enrique (also knee) will be the only ab-sentee for the home side.

With 29 goals to his name, Liverpool striker Luis Suarez needs just two more goals to equal the Premier League scor-ing record for a 38-game season, but he says that the team’s requirements come ! rst.

“Of course it would be special,” said the Uruguayan. But for myself, it is more important that Liverpool ! nish in a good position. I try in every game to score because I am a striker.”

Back-to-back defeats at City and Chel-sea left Liverpool six points below lead-ers Arsenal at the turn of the year, but a burst of nine consecutive wins (during which they have plundered 32 goals) has propelled them to the summit.

City have an impressive record against Liverpool in recent seasons, however, having avoided defeat in their last ! ve league encounters. z

Bielsa sees Marseille edge late win��

Former Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa, who is widely tipped to take charge at Marseille, watched the struggling French giants clinch an 89th-minute win-

ner for a 3-2 triumph at Montpellier on Friday.

The 58-year-old Bielsa, who has also coached Chile and Althletic Bilbao in Spain and is favourite to succeed the be-sieged Jose Anigo, took his seat at Mont-pellier 45 minutes before kick-o# .

He then looked on as Marseille twice gave up a one-goal lead before going on to record their sixth away win of the sea-son.

The three points kept them in sixth

place in Ligue 1 on 51 points, the same as Lyon, who host leaders Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday.

They are still nine points o# the ! -nal Champions League qualifying place for next season. Marseille captain and goalkeeper Steve Mandanda said he was unaware that Bielsa was watching from the sidelines.

Andre Ayew, who scored a hat-trick in Marseille’s 3-1 home win over Ajaccio last weekend, was denied by the wood-work before Mathieu Valbuena, with a clever lob, put Marseille ahead three minutes from half-time.

Montpellier, the 2012 champions who had made sure of their Ligue 1 status for next season with a 2-1 win at Guingamp last week, were level after 48 minutes. M’Baye Niang was the man on

target after being set-up by Remy Cabel-la, who will leave the club at the end of the campaign.

Marseille were back in front on the hour mark when top-scorer Andre-Pierre Gignac scored with a half-volley for his 14th league strike of the season with Dja Djedje creating the chance down the right wing.

Back came Montpellier for 2-2 after 78 minutes when Mandanda could only parry Cabella’s drive into the path of Morgan Sanson, who had come on as a substitute just two minutes earlier.

But in the 89th minute Marseille substitute Dimitri Payet grabbed the winner with a shot which de" ected o# the foot of a defender and looped over the head of stranded goalkeeper Geof-frey Jourdren. z

Mourinho wants cure for travel sickness��Jose Mourinho has told Chelsea to be on their guard as they bid to end a three-match losing streak away from Stamford Bridge when they travel to Swansea on Sunday.

Mourinho’s men head to south Wales having lost on the road at Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Paris Saint-Germain in recent weeks.

Chelsea headed into this weekend in second place in the Premier League table and buoyed by their 2-0 midweek win at home to Paris Saint-Germain that saw them into a Champions League semi-! nal with Atletico Madrid.

But Mourinho said Chelsea could take nothing for granted against a

Swansea side just six points above the relegation zone.

“They are a good team, they play good football,” Mourinho said. “Especially at Swansea it is never easy and Chelsea knows that better than other teams.

“They still need the three points, they are not in big danger like other teams but they still need a couple of points to stay in the Premier League and of course they will try to get points out of this game.”

Eden Hazard is out with a calf injury, but Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah are available after being ineligible in Eu-rope and Ramires is back from a three-match ban. Chelsea striker Demba Ba could be given a ! rst Premier League start since October at Norwich after

starring in midweek against PSG.“People are working well and hard,”

Portuguese manager Mourinho added.“The ones that are not playing so regu-

lar, all of them are being good profession-als to try to be ready. You could see Dem-ba as an example as a player who doesn’t play a lot and was ready to try to respond.

“All of them, they were ready. They are a good group, they are good friends, they have a good relationship.

“I think when one of them goes onto the pitch he goes to help the other players.”

Chelsea are currently second in the table, two points behind leaders Liver-pool and two in front of third-placed Manchester City, who meet in Sun-day’s early kick-o# match at An! eld. z

Hull City chase FA Cup history��Hull City manager Steve Bruce insists he won’t let his players be distracted by the prospect of making history as they prepare to face League One minnows She$ eld United in the FA Cup semi-! nals on Sunday.

Bruce’s Premier League team head to Wembley for their ! rst semi-! nal in 84 years as the clear favourites against third tier opponents who are the last remaining obstacle between Hull and the ! rst major ! nal in the club’s 110-year history.

Former Manchester United defend-er Bruce, a three-time FA Cup winner as a player, said: “We won’t do any-thing di# erent. We want it to be like a normal game. z

Schuster slams 'dreary' Bayern��Former Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster has branded holders Bayern Munich “uninspired and dreary” ahead of their Champions League semi-! nal clash with the Spanish giants in a little over a fortnight.

“What Bayern have recently o# ered in the Bundesliga and against Manches-ter United was uninspired and so drea-ry,” Schuster, who coached Real from 1988-1990, told German daily Bild.

European champions Bayern won this season’s Bundesliga title with a re-cord seven games to spare last month and beat United 3-1 on Wednesday in the Champions League quarter-! nal, second leg tie to progress 4-2 on ag-

gregate.Bayern will face Real at Madrid’s

Bernabeu stadium on April 23 with the second-leg at Munich’s Allianz Arena on April 29.

Schuster said the absence of Bayern’s play-maker Thiago Alcantara through injury has weakened their passing game and the 54-year-old rates Munich’s chases as “50-50” against Madrid.

Bayern are too reliant on their short-passing game, according to Schuster.

The key battle when Bayern face Madrid will be in mid! eld, accord-ing to Schuster, with the likes of Ger-many’s Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mario Goetze and Thomas Mueller up against Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso and Gareth Bale. z

Kewell’s farewell game ends in loss��Western Sydney Wanderers scored twice in the last nine minutes to defeat Melbourne Heart 3-2 and spoil Harry Kewell’s farewell A-League match in Melbourne on Saturday.

Late goals to Brendon Santalab and Dutchman Youssouf Hersi claimed all three points for the Wanderers to ! n-ish second on the ! nal standings and avoid the opening round of the post-season ! nals next week.

Australian international Kewell, 35, the former Leeds United, Liverpool and Galatasaray star, had announced this would be his last match after 18 years in the game. z

Schalke's mid" elders Max Meyer (C), Leon Goretzka (R) and defender Sead Kolasinac celebrate during their German Bundesliga match against Eintracht Frankfurt in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany on Friday AFP

Montpellier forward Mbaye Niang jumps past Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda during their French L1 match at the Mosson stadium in Montpellier on Friday AFP

RESULTSM'gladbach 1 1 VfB StuttgartArango 89 Didavi 12

Freiburg 2 0 BraunschweigVrancic-og 8, Schuster 48

Hanover 96 2 1 Hamburg Stindl 9, Ya Konan 86 Calanoglou 48

VfL Wolfsburg 4 1 Nuremberg Olic 19, Perisic 22, 83, Malanda 69 Feulner 8

Mainz 05 3 0 Werder BremenPetersen-og 5,Moritz 16, Malli 39

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15

SABA 3 on 3 Basketball starts Tuesday��Bangladesh will eye the title of the City-cell South Asian Basketball Association 3 on 3 Basketball that starts under the auspices of the Bangladesh Basketball Federation at the Dhanmondi Basket-ball Gymnasium from Tuesday. Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh will participate in the two-day meet.

With sub-continental powerhouse India yet to con! rm their participation, the host team comprising their best cag-ers of the country look forward to grab the silverware. Rasheduzzaman, Mit-hun Biswas, Shoyeb and Akash are the four members of the Bangladesh team. The 3 on 3 basketball is played in a half of the regulation court and the team that scores 21 point ! rst win the match.

However AK Sarker, the general sec-retary of BBF did not rule out the arrival of the Indians. “The Indian team are go-ing through some visa complicacies, if

they arrive before the meet then we will divide the six teams into two groups, if they don’t then it will be a league, we have won the South Asian Basketball last year, if India remain absent we are con! -dent that Bangladesh will win title, but it does not mean that if India come we will not try to be the champions” said Sarker.

Taslim Ahmed. Head of Corporate Communications & PR of Citycell ex-pressed satisfaction over the progress of basketball in the recent past. “The

national team in the recent past have performed well and we look forward to more successes, we also congratulate BBF for organising local and foreign tournaments successfully” said Taslim.

AK Sarker added that at the moment Pakistan Basketball Federation is tem-porarily suspended by International Basketball Federation so they were not invited.

The congress of the SABA will also be held on Monday. z

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Marquez dominates MotoGP practiceWorld Champion Marc Marquez dominated practice on Friday for the Grand Prix of the Americas, signalling his intent for Sunday in his return to the site of his ! rst MotoGP win. The 21-year-old Spaniard - whose victory in Austin last year made him the youngest rider to win a MotoGP race and launched him on his precocious championship charge - ended the second free practice of the day with a 1.005sec margin over Andrea Dovizioso, with Dani Pedrosa third-fastest. After topping the ! rst practice with a time of 2min 04.704sec, Marquez set the day’s best time in the afternoon of 2min 03.490sec. –AFP

Ajax on brink of 33rd Dutch titleDutch giants Ajax can clinch their fourth successive Eredivisie title this weekend with three games of the season remain-ing if results fall in the Amsterdam side’s favour. Ajax are placed six points clear of Feyenoord and will be crowned cham-pions if they manage a better result than their closest pursuers on Sunday. This would be the 33rd title for the club managed since 2010 by Frank de Boer who also picked up ! ve league titles as an Ajax player in the 1990s. If and when he secures his fourth title as a manager he will outdo a number of his illustrious predecessors including Dutch national coach Louis van Gaal and Rinus Michels.

–AFP

Rangers Cup dream ended by UnitedA howler from Rangers stand-in ‘keeper Steve Simonsen sealed Dundee United’s place in the Scottish Cup ! nal following a 3-1 win at Ibrox on Saturday. Rangers had chances through Bilel Mohsni and Dean Shiels before Stuart Armstrong ! red Unit-ed in front in the 23rd minute. Jon Daly should have had Rangers level before a de$ ected shot from Gary Mackay-Steven made it 2-0 in the 36th minute. Nicky Law hit the bar and then Steven Smith pulled one back for the fallen Glasgow giants with a 42nd-minute free-kick that Radoslaw Cierzniak fumbled in.

–AFP

Verdasco powers into Houston semi-! nalsFernando Verdasco booked his ! rst ATP semi-! nal of 2014 on Friday, powering home to beat Donald Young 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 in the US Men’s Clay Court Championship. The fourth-seeded Spanish veteran admitted Young’s solid play had him feeling “uncomfort-able” in the opening set, but once he’d pocketed the tiebreaker he was on his way. “He played great tennis in the ! rst set,” Verdasco said. “I kept ! ghting and he didn’t serve well in the game I broke him. After that he started missing a little more, including in the tie-break. After I won the tie-break I took extra con! dence and started to be more stable on the court.”

–AFP

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DAY’S WATCH

Clemon Indoor University Cricket ��

Twelve matches ware played on the third day of the Clemon Indoor Univer-sity Cricket, featuring forty universities all over the Bangladesh, at the Mirpur

Sohrawardi Indoor Stadium yesterday. There were some close matches

where Asa beat BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology by only one run and Bangladesh University of Tex-tiles won by three runs against South Asian University. On the other games

of the day Manarat Int’l University beat Atish Diponkar Bishawbiddalay by four wickets while Jagannath Univer-sity won by 74 runs against IUBAT and North South University clinch a 37-run win over City University.

Asian University lose to prime Uni-versity by seven wickets while defend-ing champion AIUB won by 37 runs against Gono Bissobiddaloy and Brac University beat Southern University Bangladesh (CTG) by 29 runs. Also, Dhaka University thrashed UITS by 67 runs and European University bagged a huge 96 runs over RUET yesterday. z

Walton Cycle Rally o" to CTG��The Walton Friendship Cycle Rally comprising cyclists of Bangladesh and West Bengal started their journey to Chittagong from the Bangabandhu Na-tional Stadium yesterday.

A total of 15 cyclists from Kolkata and 10 from Bangladesh started their rally from Kolakta on Wednesday and crossed the border through Benapole, stayed Narail before reached Dhaka, the rally stayed at Comilla yesterday and is scheduled to reach Chittagong

today. The Kolkata cyclists will return home from Chittagong.

State minister for youth and sports Biren Sikder initiated the rally at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. Mi-hir Das, the general secretary of Kol-kata Football Lovers Association who are the organisers in Kolkata said the cyclists donated blood in each other’s country and set a unique instance. AFM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn, the addi-tional secretary of Walton and Mazha-rul Haque were also present on the oc-casion. z

A K Sarker, (L), the general secretary of Bangladesh Basketball Federation speaks at the press conference of the Citycell SABA 3 on 3 Basketball yesterday COURTESY

Bangladesh Dragon and Lion Dance Association organised the prize giving ceremony of ‘China-Mridha Friendship Lion Dance Competition 2014’ at the National Sports Council gymnasium yesterday. An interesting piece of dance recital was presented by the Dragon and Lion Dance Association members, where they donned colourful Lion dance costumes and performed to the beats of drum-roll. State Minister for Youth and Sports Shri Biren Sikder and the Chinese Ambassador Li Jun was present as chief guests along with other special guests MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

An action from the game between Bangladesh University of Textile (batting) and University of South Asia in the Clemon Indoor Uni Cricket at Shaheed Sohrowardi Indoor Stadium yesterday COURTESY

State minister for youth and sports Biren Sikder initiates the Walton Friendship Cycle Rally at the BNS yesterday COURTESY

Everton move into top-4, Spurs held��

Everton leapfrogged Ar-senal into fourth place in the Premier League with a 1-0 win at bottom of the

table Sunderland on Saturday as Eng-lish football marked the 25th anniver-sary of the Hillsborough disaster.

Fresh from their 3-0 victory over the Gunners last weekend, Roberto Martinez’s side had to wait until the 75th minute to score at the Stadium of Light when former Manchester United defender Wes Brown put Gerard Deulo-feu’s cross into his own net.

Victory moved Everton in the Cham-pions League places, two points ahead of Arsenal, who were in FA Cup semi-! nal action against Wigan at Wemb-ley, with both clubs having ! ve league games remaining this season. All major matches in England kicked o# seven minutes late as a tribute to the looming 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough di-saster that killed 96 Liverpool fans.

At the Hawthorns, West Brom squan-dered a 3-0 lead in a 3-3 draw with Tot-

tenham Hotspur. Matej Vydra gave West Brom a ! rst-minute lead from close range when Spurs and France goalkeep-er Hugo Lloris palmed a Morgan Amal-! tano cross into his path.

Things got even better for the Bag-gies three minutes later when Chris Brunt volleyed home after Spurs failed to clear a Steven Reid cross.

Travelling Spurs fans must have feared the north London club’s luck was out when, after Amal! tano brought down Danny Rose, Emmanuel Adebay-or’s weak penalty was saved by England goalkeeper Ben Foster. West Brom then made it 3-0 in the 31st minute when a poor backwards header by Spurs’ Younes Kaboul allowed Stephane Sesse-gnon to run through and score.

Spurs, however, did pull a goal back three minutes later when Jonas Olsson de" ected Aaron Lennon’s ball across the box into his own net. The visitors made it 3-2 with 20 minutes left when Harry Kane headed in a Lennon cross and sixth-placed Spurs’ comeback was complete in stoppage time when Chris-tian Eriksen smashed in an equaliser. z

Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane (L) celebrates after scoring his team's second goal with teammate Christian Eriksen during the English Premier League football match against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns in West Bromwich yesterday AFP

Federer back as Nadal seeks ninth Monte Carlo title��Roger Federer returns to the Monte Carlo Masters starting on Sunday with a mission to try and topple king of clay Rafael Nadal as the Spaniard seeks an unprecedented ninth title in the prin-cipality.

Federer, his season taking " ight and his ranking back to a more-than-respectable world number four, last competed at the optional Masters in 2011, when he was shuttled out in a quarter-! nal surprise by Austrian Jur-gen Melzer.

The 32-year-old Swiss who lost three straight ! nals here to Nadal be-tween 2006 and 2008, will hope for the kind of week which Novak Djokovic

produced a year ago.The Serb defeated Nadal for the title

12 months ago, meting out to the Span-iard only his second loss at the tourna-ment since ! rst playing it as a 16-year-old in 2003.

Federer made the decision to play after helping Switzerland into the Da-vis Cup semi-! nals last weekend, a boost to his rising con! dence.

He opens after a bye in the second round against the winner from the veteran pair of Radek Stepanek and Ivo Karlovic. Nadal is starting his huge spring task of defending four 2013 titles on his surface of choice, with the Span-iard winning Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and an eighth trophy at Roland Garros.

After losing the Miami ! nal a fort-

night ago to arch rival Djokovic, Spain’s world number one ! nds himself back in his tennis comfort zone at precisely the right moment, with the top seed opening against either a quali! er or Frenchman Gilles Simon.

And with all the pressure on his game for the next two months on the dirt, Nadal needs to keep his con! -dence sky-high.

“I’m now at the top of the (points) race arriving to the clay court season,” he said.

“That’s positive for me, but I need to be my 100 per cent. To make a dif-ference I need to try to be aggressive, to try to move myself very well on clay, and to try to ! nd the best feeling pos-sible as soon as possible.” z

Amir won’t play in World Cup even if ban reduced��Banned Pakistan fast bowler Moham-mad Amir will not be eligible for next year’s World Cup even if he returns early to domestic cricket, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Friday.

PCB Chairman Najam Sethi told a news conference in Lahore that under the amended anti-corruption laws of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Aamir’s ! ve-year ban could be reduced by 12 months.

Aamir, 21, was banned for a minimum ! ve years in 2011 for spot-! xing during Pakistan’s fourth test against England at Lord’s in 2010. His captain Salman Butt and fellow fast bowler Mohammad Asif were also banned for the same o# ence and the three players served jail terms

in Britain in 2011-12. Sethi said Pakistan had pushed for a reduction in Aamir’s suspension because of his age.

“The message we got from the ICC committee at this week’s meeting in Dubai was that Amir could get a one-year relaxation under the amended anti-corruption laws,” he added.

The amended ICC anti-corruption code should ensure quicker returns to international cricket for players serving long-term bans. PCB chief operating of-! cer Subhan Ahmed said that although Amir could play ! rst-class cricket he will not be eligible for next year’s World Cup.

“They are no indications even if the ICC reduces the ban it will allow him back to international cricket before the ! ve- year ban period ends,” Ahmad told Reuters. z

Watson leads Masters at halfway��Bubba Watson made ! ve birdies in a row to snatch the halfway lead at the 78th Masters on Friday as Augusta Na-tional turned on some of its favourite sons.

The roars that normally echo through the Georgian pines were replaced by groans and sighs as some of golf’s big-gest names, including Phil Mickelson, failed to make it past the second round.

While most of the world’s best golf-ers struggled to make par in the brutally tough conditions, the free-swinging Watson surged into contention for a sec-ond green jacket in three years.

The American produced a masterful display on the back nine to grab the out-right lead at seven-under-par and hold a three-shot advantage over Australia’s John Senden.

Another four players, including de-fending champion Adam Scott, were tied for third at three-under on a con-gested leaderboard.

The Australian battled to a 72 to join Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn (68), Swede Jonas Blixt (71) and American Jordan Spieth (70), the last pair being among the record 24 rookies in the ! eld.

“It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for,” Scott said. “But given everything, I’m absolutely satis! ed with that.” z

Boy, tortured by employer, ! ghts for life at DMCH��Mohammad Jamil Khan

A minor boy has been ! ghting for his life in Dhaka Medical Col-lege Hospital after being alleg-edly beaten by his master in thehouse he worked as domestic help in the capital.

The victim was 10-year-old Masum who came to Dhaka from Kishoreganj in search of food and was placed in Mo-hammadia Housing area two and a half months ago.

In a feeble voice, Masum said he faced excruciating torture from the master and mistress of the house No 208 located on road No 1 in the housing estate area.

“They used to con! ne me to the bathroom at night and often kicked me in the abdomen. I hardly got food to eat,” Masum said, lying in a bed of 210 No Child Surgery Unit of the hospital.

The minor boy said “Khalamma” (mistress of the house) hit me in the hand with spoons and Iron road for a little mistake.

Only one of the three boys in the family showed me sympathy, Masum said, adding that when he was locked inside the bathroom, he was given food by that boy.

About his physical condition, Dr Shamima Sultana, indoor medical of-! cer and assistant registrar of child surgery unit, told the Dhaka Tribune the boy had been su# ering from mal-

nutrition.Besides, there were some marks of

injury to his hands and other parts of his body including head, she added.

Afroza Begum, acting coordinator of One-Stop Crisis Centre of DMCH, said the boy would be receiving treatment till he came round.

“We would go for legal action after the boy recovered from his injury,” she said.

Masum hails from South Rajkunti

village of Kishoreganj and is the ! fth among eight children of Shohor Banu and Abdur Rahim.

Abdur Rahim – a farmer by profes-sion – sent Masum to the capital with his cousin Yeasmin to earn livelihood.

Asked about how Masum was placed in the house, Yeasmin told the Dhaka Tribune she had contact with some Kishoreganj women who worked in the capital.

“I got my brother the employment

in the house through those women,” added Yeasmin.

The girl said she went to the house last Thursday to see her brother but failed, and later she came to know about the torture on her brother, whom she rescued with the help of landlord of the building.

About the identity of employer, Yeasmin said she only knew that “Kh-alu” (master of the house) used to work in a private ! rm and had three children.

To delve into the fact, the Dhaka Tribune correspondent approached Mohammadia Housing area and came across master of the house, Shahidul Islam, who was an employee of a buy-ing house, and his wife was Sanjida Is-lam.

Both of them refused the allegation of torture against them.

They told this correspondent that this was nothing but a drama for realis-ing money from them.

Asked about marks of injury to Ma-sum’s body, the couple said the boy bore the injury marks long since and they did not know anything more about it.

Contacted, Azizul Haque, o$ cer-in-charge of Mohammadpur police station, told the Dhaka Tribune they learned about the incident and action would be taken about it shortly.

No one was arrested and no case was lodged till ! ling this report on Saturday evening. z

Ilish prices soar ahead of Pahela Baishakh��Asif Showkat Kallol

Despite its adequate supply in the city markets and chain shops, the prices of Ilish shot up yesterday, two days before Pahela Baishakh, the ! rst day of the Bangla calendar.

Stakeholders said the prices of Ilish increased by 10 % this year compared to the same period in last year.

They also expected that the prices of Ilish may drastically fall this evening be-cause of a huge supply in city markets.

Ilish stored one and half months ago are selling at Tk1,000-Tk1,500 in city kitchen markets and a pair of Ilish are selling at Tk3,000 which was only Tk1,500 two weeks ago. At Karwan Bazar, two pieces of Ilish weighing six kilograms are selling at Tk26,000.

Fish traders said few fresh Ilish also come into the kitchen market. Small Ilish called J atka are selling at Tk200 per piece.

In the chain shops, Ilish less than one kg are selling in between Tk580 and Tk700 yesterday while it was be-low Tk500 two weeks ago, according to market sources.

The local market of Ilish has squeezed over the year due to water pollution and import of Ilish-like for-eign ! sh, o$ cial sources said.

In the name of Ilish, some traders are selling “Chokori” and “Chandria” imported from Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Oman and Yemen, posing a challenge to the local market.

Market sources said 12,000-13,000 tonnes of Chokori and Chandria were imported from Myanmar, Vietnam and Oman in last seven months which are sell-ing in local markets in the name of Ilish.

Director General of Fisheries Direc-torate Syed Arif Azad said that industri-al waste being released from factories and tanneries had been polluting river water, posing threat not only to Ilish, but also to " ora and fauna.

Catch of Ilish will sharply go down within a short time if the government does not take stern action against the polluters right now, he pointed out.

Fisheries directorate sources said in the ! rst and second weeks of September, mother Ilish lay eggs in the rivers. Mother Ilish lay eggs in the areas of Shahari chan-nel in Mirsarai upazila to Hikhandi point, North Tazumuddin in Tazumuddin upazi-la of Bhola to North Syed Asualia point, Latachaparti point of Kalapara upazila and North Kutupdia Godigram point.

Vice–President of Bangladesh Frozen Food Association Ashraf Hossain Mazud told the Dhaka Tribune that because of ban on the export of Ilish, they had already shifted their business from Ilish. Prices of the local ilish will go down if the prices of its export fall in West Bengal market, he pointed out.

Shortage of local Ilish is now acute as small Ilish from Myanmar directly goes to Indian market, he also said.

Fixed income groups of people in the country started consuming the ! sh in the recent times thanks to an export ban in July 31, 2012. A total of 32 crore people of Bangladesh and India is the main mar-ket of Ilish and total of 6-7 lakh tonnes Ilish catch in Bangladesh in a year. z

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, April 13, 2014

Indian Maoists kill 12 in poll violence��AFP, Raipur

Maoist rebels killed 12 people in two poll-related blasts yesterday in an in-surgency-hit region of central India, police said, highlighting security wor-ries in the nation’s marathon election.

The attacks came as Indians cast bal-lots in the southern resort state of Goa and in the far-" ung northeast in anoth-er round of the multi-phase polls that wind up May 12 with results due May 16.

Six polling team o$ cials were killed when Maoists blew up their bus in the state of Chhattisgarh, senior police of-! cer Gurjinder Pal Singh told AFP.

“The Maoists triggered the land-mine blasts,” Singh, a key o$ cial in ensuring election security in the state, told AFP.

Five security men engaged in an election safety operation and another victim were killed in a separate land-mine blast that created a huge crater in the road.

The men were blown up near Darb-ha, where Maoists massacred the top leadership of the Congress party of Chhattisgarh last May.

The blasts, just an hour apart, came just days after Maoist rebels killed

three soldiers guarding polling o$ cials in Chhattisgarh in a gunbattle.

The deaths underscored the securi-ty challenges facing election organisers in India.

Separatist and Maoist insurgencies a) ict large swathes of  India’s north-east, northwest and central regions.

The elections, which the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Par-ty are tipped to win, ousting the ruling Congress party after a decade, kicked o# earlier in the week.

The vote is held in stages to allow security forces to be moved around the country to protect voters. In part of Chhattisgarh, polls began on April 10. Two more rounds of voting are sched-uled in the state on April 17 and April 24.

Maoist rebels killed 16 people in a massive attack on security forces in central India in March in the deadliest attack so far this year, heightening fears of more unrest in their stronghold.

The Maoists, who have been de-scribed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the country’s most serious in-ternal security threat, have been ! ghting since 1967 for a communist society by toppling what they call India’s “semi-co-lonial, semi-feudal” form of rule. z

Future 0f 2 RMG factory workers uncertain��Tazlina Zamila Khan

Workers of Softex Cotton Pvt Ltd and Fame Knitwear Ltd have been pass-ing their days in uncertainty following temporary closure of both the factories a month ago.

Of a total of 6,000 workers, many are yet to manage jobs elsewhere fol-lowing the decision of the authorities.

The factories were shut down as they had failed to meet standards set by Bang-ladesh Accord Foundation. This is a group of 150 global clothing brands and retailers who intend to improve RMG factory con-ditions and working environment.

A worker named Su! a said: “My daughter and I worked at Softex. We have already been paid for the next three months but we are concerned about what will happen next. I must ! nd a new job to run my family.”

A worker at Fame Knitwear, Mon-wara Begum has four children, three of who are studying in school. Her hus-band is a rickshaw-puller.

“I could not ! nd any job. It will be a burden for our family if I fail to manage another source of earning. I am wor-ried,” she told the Dhaka Tribune.

On March 6, the o$ cials concerned decided to close the two factories tem-porarily because they were dilapidated.

During a recent visit, this correspond-ent saw owners of the factories evacu-ating the establishments. Most of the equipment and machinery were being

transferred to other factories of the own-ers in Gazipur, Mirpur and other areas.

Md Milon, production manager at Softex Ltd, told the Dhaka Tribune that since the factory had been declared closed, they were shifting the equipment from the upper " oors to the third " oor.

“Each of the workers was given three months’ salary. We were in operation for many years and nothing happened. Now this Accord came out of the blue and we had to suspend production for the time being,” he said.

Established in 1994, Softex produces sweaters and exports those to France. Their annual turnover in 2012-13 ! scal year reached around $25m.

Rezwan Selim, managing director of the factory, told the Dhaka Tribune: “There has not been any measure yet to revamp the factory. Once complet-ed, we will be given a certi! cate. I may think of reopening the factory then.”

The authorities of Fame Knitwear Ltd are also transferring their equip-ment, though they were allowed to re-

sume production following evacuation of the Softex factory.

Md Moshiul Azam Shajal, a BGMEA director and owner of the factory, said: “I was thinking of relocating the fac-tory in 2015. I recently asked the sta# to transfer the equipment to the other factories in Gazipur and Mirpur. I do not want to take any risk.

“The factory was built in 1993 and I bought it in 1997. I may incur a loss of $4-$5m. But my biggest loss will be the loss of reputation.”

The factory exports to France, Switzer-land, Germany and Italy. It recorded an annual turnover of $2.5-$3m in 2012-13.

BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim said workers were the worst su# er-ers following such closure of factories.

“Columns of the buildings became weak. So those were shut down because accident may occur any moment.”

The executive director of Bangla-desh operations of the Accord, Rob Wayss, said: “This is an agreement among global clothing brands, retailers and trade unions. The agreement is the product of thorough negotiations be-tween the industry and the labour sig-natories. All are equally committed to successful implementation of it.”

He hoped that the initiative would improve safety and sustainability of the RMG industry in Bangladesh. “This success will bene! t workers, factory owners, the industry and the country as a whole.” z

Little known Kamal ‘removes’ Imran��Ahmed Zayeef

The latest drama surrounding the Gonojagoron Moncho intensi! ed, when a group claiming to be a part of the Moncho allegedly backed by the Awami League and its student wing yesterday “removed” Imran H Sarker from the spokesperson role of the an-ti-war criminal platform.

The faction also announced that a ! ve-member spokesperson panel would conduct the activities of Mon-cho from now on.

Kamal Pasha Chowdhury, claiming to be an organiser of the platform, made the announcement at a press confer-ence held under the banner of “Gono-jagoron Moncho Activists and Organis-ers” in Shahbagh.  

At yesterday’s press conference, Ka-mal Pasha said: “We removed him [Im-ran] as the spokesperson of the organ-isation and from now on, none of his statement shall be counted as the state-ments of the Moncho... A ! ve-member spokesperson panel will work as the mouthpiece of Gonojagoron Moncho.”

Earlier on April 6, the same group “expelled” Imran H Sarker, the spokes-person for the Moncho, declaring him “unwanted” in the platform.

Most of the people who attended

yesterday’s press conference were alleg-edly directly involved with the politics of Awami League and Chhatra League.

However, leaders of  JSD Chhatra League, Chhatra Moitree, Chhatra Andolan and Chhatro Somity, whose mother organisations are all allied with the ruling party, did not attend yester-day’s programme.

Bappadyitto Basu, president of Chhatra Moitree, said: “We urged Im-ran to ! x all these disputes by arrang-ing meeting with all groups. We also do not support the group which made the announcement of removing Imran. What they did is totally undemocratic.”

In his reaction to the latest develop-ments, Imran said: “As the Moncho is not a political organisation, no one per-son is allowed to discharge me from my responsibilities.”

He claimed: “The announcement surprised me. I heard that it was made as per the directive of a central leader of Awami League... It is the platform of the people and only they have the right to discharge me anytime,” Imran added.

On the other hand, HM Bodiujjaman, president of Chhatra League, claimed that the BCL did not know anything about the activities of the group that made yesterday’s announcement and did not have any involvement with them. z

Masum, a 10-year-old domestic help, lies unconscious in a bed in DMCH yesterday after being inhumanely tortured by his employers for long MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Members of Chhayanat get prepared for the traditional Pahela Baishakh celebrations at the Ramna Batamul yesterday RAJIB DHAR

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Of a total of 6,000 workers, many are yet to manage jobs elsewhere following the decision of the authorities

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www.dhakatribune.com/business SUNDAY, APRIL 13, 2014

B3 Ad hoc reforms for IMF seen unlikely

B4 World ! nance chiefs fall short on growth plan

BTMA for keeping 15% income tax

��Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Bangladesh Textiles Mills Association (BTMA) will urge the government for keeping the existing 15% income tax on pro! ts in the upcoming budget for the ! scal 2014-15.

The apex trade body will also seek for withdrawing tax at source for spinning, weaving, dying, printing and ! nishing mills as it plans to place its proposal to the National Bureau of Revenue (NBR) during a pre-bud-get discussion with NBR, to be held shortly, according to a proposal pre-pared by BTMA.

BTMA o$ cials are also going to press its demand for tax cut at source in case of trading cottons through lo-cal letter of credits (LCs), as it has in-creasedthe yarn prices.

According to income tax ordi-nance of 1984, textile mills have to pay 1% tax at source for trading cot-ton through local LCs up to Tk5 lakh, while 2.5% for trading worth in be-tween Tk5 lakh and 15 lakh, 3.5% for Tk15-25 lakh and 4% for Tk25 lakh to Tk3 crore while 5% for Tk3 crore and above.

BTMA proposal will also urged the government to increase the cash incentives to 15% from 5% with a request for not imposing tax at source on 5% cash incentives to en-courage entrepreneurs for availingincentives.

The other demands include-with-drawal of import duty on Polyeth-ylene Terephthalate Chips (Pet Chips) and removing import duty and tax on synthetic ! lament tow, modal lyocell,

sizing material and dyes and chemi-cals used in the textile industry, ! re rated steel frame and steel door for spinning, weaving and dyeing-print-ing-! nishing sector.

“We will appeal the government to ! x all the taxes under a same um-brella as the existing taxes set under di# erent heads create lot of trou-ble for us,” said BTMA president,Jahangir Alamin, told the Dhaka Tri-bune.

“We urge the government to main-tain the same 15% income tax for us in the next budget as the production costs have been increased.”

As the ! laments are not being used widely in the country, we are going to urge the government to reduce im-port duty on it to encourage usage of ! laments, he added. z

An employee works inside a cotton factory REUTERS

Bangladesh tea prices plunge on poor grade leaf��Reuters, Dhaka

Tea prices plunged again at a week-ly auction on Tuesday, after a brief rise in the previous session, dragged down by inferior quality leaf near the end of the season, brokerssaid.

The country’s tax authority on Monday trebled regulator duties to 15% on imports of tea to discourage overseas buying amid a drop in local prices due to ample supplies.

Bangladeshi tea fetched an av-erage of Tk97.16 ($1.25) per kg at the auction, sharply down from Tk118.81 at the previous week’s sale, an o$ cial from National Bro-kers Limited said.

Nearly 1.18 million kg was of-fered at the country’s sole auction centre in Chittagong, and 46% re-mained unsold. At the previous auction, more than 2 million kg waso# ered, of which nearly 60% went unsold.

Buyers sought huge discounts to buy end-of-season tea that tends to be of inferior quality, the o$ cial said.

Pakistani buyers took part in the auction to buy cheap tea, headded.

The auction season, typically to end-March, has been extended through April.

Bangladeshi buyers have im-ported tea in bulk from neighbour-ing India, contributing to a glut in

the domestic market and reducing demand at the auction, industry sources said.

Bangladesh’s tea production in 2013 rose 1.6% from a year earlier to a record 63.5 million kg due to fa-vourable weather.

That still fell short of domestic consumption of about 65 million kg. Bangladesh has moved from becoming a net exporter to a netimporter of tea as consumption has risen. z

Lending rate still high, deposit rate comes down��Jebun Nesa Alo

The banks are still charging high inter-est on credit, although most of them have reduced the deposit rates, ending the rat race for accumulating funds.

Lending rate of all the commer-cial banks still remained high despite awash with excess liquidity, lack of credit demand and increase in foreign loan in" ow since last one year ahead of national election, bankers said.

They said the central bank had ear-lier undertaken a move to encourage foreign loan in" ow in order to make pressure on local banks to cut their lending rates, but went in vain.

The average lending rate of all com-mercial banks increased slightly to 13.4% in February from 13.39% in Jan-uary while average interest rate on de-posits decreased to 8.34% from 8.40% during the same period of last year, ac-cording to the Bangladesh Bank data.

The interest rate spread between the lending and deposit rates crossed again the desired level of 5% in Febru-ary only after a month it stayed below the level.

The gap between average lending and deposit rates of 19 local commer-cial banks went up to 5% in February from 4.99% in previous month due to increase in the lending rates, said a se-nior executive of the central bank.

Foreign loan in" ow increased sig-ni! cantly in the last two years as big en-trepreneurs were keen to take foreign loans below 5% interest rate against the local lending rate of up to 13.50%.

Bangladesh Bank approved a total of US$1.18b in 2013 and $1.49b in 2012

where only $819m foreign loans were entered into Bangladesh in 2011.

The excess liquidity in the banking sector has increased by Tk29,000 crore or 48% to stand at Tk89,000 crore in January 2014 from Tk60,000 crore in the same month last year.

It resulted in an average inter-est rate in the call money market of around 7.78% during the last year as compared to an average of above 12% in the previous year.

Excess liquidity piled up in the banking sector during the last one year due to the sluggish investment and lack of credit demand amid political

unrest. As a result, all the commercial banks had lost their pro! ts in 2013, said a senior executive of a private bank.

He said: “Banks were supposed to cut their lending rate in December, 2013, to reduce the spread. Though some banks have reduced their lending rates, most of the banks could not com-ply with the obligation due to their own increased maintenance expenses.”

All the banks could not take enough return from their deposit funds due to sluggish credit disbursement, but they had to pay interest rate against the de-posit that they already committed. As a result, interest expense increased than

income. Under the circumstance, the banks are not able to cut their lending rates, he said.

“But to compete with the interna-tional banks, ultimately all the com-mercial banks have to reduce lending rates as already big borrowers have started taking loans from the foreign loan market at lower rates.”

The foreign companies engaged in manufacturing or services output activities for three years or longer in Bangladesh can have access to term loan in Taka term from the domestic market subject to all applicable credit norms. z

Bapex starts supplying gas from Semutang��Aminur Rahman Rasel

Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex) yesterday started supplying 7 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas per day to the national grid from its six wells of Semu-tang gas ! eld in Khagrachhari. “The drilling ended recently at 3032 metres, but we found commercially viable gas reserves at a depth of 1100 metres.

These are development wells.” Abdul Halim, director of the well-drilling proj-ect of Bapex told the Dhaka Tribune. The company, a subsidiary of the state-owned Petrobangla, initiated the drilling of the well through Gazprom, a Russian state-run gas exploration company.

Petrobangla sources said more than 2,300 million cubic feet of gas is being supplied every day against a daily de-mand of 2,700 to 3,000 million cubic feet. The government in April, 2012 signed a deal with Gazprom on drilling 10 gas wells at a spending of $193.55 million across the country without any tender under the Power and Energy Quick Supply (special provision) Act.

Bapex is currently producing and sup-plying 104 million cubic feet of gas to the national grid every day from its six gas ! elds in Saldanadi, Fenchuganj, Shahba-zpur, Semutung, Sundalpur and Srikail. z

BASIS to hand out outsourcing awards today��Tribune Report

A total of 100 including individuals and organisations will receive “BASIS Outsourcing Award 2014” today at the Institute of Diploma Engineers audito-rium in Dhaka.

Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) has chosen them from 2,000 candidates

for the fourth edition of the award.They have been selected in

four categories which include organisations, freelancers, female freelancers and one freelancer from one district.

Fifteen organisations, 18 freelanc-ers, three female freelancers and 64 freelancers from 64 districts will be awarded for outstanding performance

in outsourcing software and IT- en-abled services.

Telecommunication and Informa-tion Technology Minister Abdul Lat-if Siddique is expected to attend the function as chief guest while State Minister for Telecommunication Zu-naid Ahmed Palak will be present as special guest at the annual mega award ceremony of BASIS. z

LENDING RATE STILL REMAINED HIGH Awash with excess liquidity: Jan 2014 Tk89,000 crore from Jan 2013 Tk60,000

Lack of credit demand: Due to the sluggish investment and lack of credit demand amid political unrest

Increase in foreign loan in!ow: BB approved foreign loans of

US$1.18bn in 2013 and $1.49bn in 2012 and $819m in 2011

CHANGE IN FEBRUARY AGAINST JANUARY:

Lending rate rose from 13.39% to 13.4% Deposit rate dropped from 8.4% to 8.34%

Spread crossing 5% again

Average interest rate in the call money market 7.78% in 2013 while it was 12% in 2012A H MAMUN/DT INFOGRAPHICS

Production suspended at 3 more apparel factories ��Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Another three readymade garment units have suspended production as Accord inspections found structural " aws in the buildings located at Mir-pur, Dhaka.

The units belong to Four Wings Limited, Attune Garments and Natural Apparel. A review panel on Accord in-spection reports made the suspension orders last week for 15 days.

Final decisions will be taken after further assessment of the buildings, a panel member told the Dhaka Tribune.

Around 3,000 workers were em-ployed in the factories.

“We asked them to suspend produc-tion for 15 days. Further assessments will be carried out and then decisions will be made whether they (units) need to be retro! tted or relocated,” the panel member said asking not to be named.

After the start of ! rst-phase inspec-

tions by Accord on February 20, a total of 26 factory units have so far suspend-ed production as structural faults were unearthed.

Of them, eight units have resumed their production following necessary remediation. Inspection reports on more six factories are under the pan-el’s scrutiny now.

Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh is an initiative by 150 European retailers to improve work-place safety in the apparel sector.

The review panel is comprised of representatives from the government, the Accord, the Alliance, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Tech-nology (BUET), Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Associ-ation (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knit-wear Manufacturers and Exporters As-sociation (BKMEA).

Alliance is another such initiative by the American retailers. z

Bangladesh to submit report on GSP action plan on April 15��Tribune Desk

The government will submit a prog-ress report on “Bangladesh Action Plan 2013” to the o$ ce of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on April 15 though the review for reinstating Bangladesh’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) bene! ts still looks uncertain.

The legal authorisation for the GSP programme expired on July 31, 2013 and the US Congress is considering a legislation that would extend the au-thorisation of GSP beyond this date, according to the USTR.

As long as the GSP programme re-mains with no authorisation, there will be no public hearing and no request for public comments for the ongoing GSP country and product reviews and no ! -nal disposition of these reviews.

“We’ll send the progress report by April 15 (Tuesday),” Commerce Secre-tary Mahbub Ahmed told UNB on Sat-urday, mentioning that he cannot tell about possible hearing or review on GSP restoration soon.

Asked whether the progress is sat-isfactory, the Commerce Secretary de-clined to make comment at this stage.

Another o$ cial at the Commerce Ministry said an inter-ministerial meet-ing might be called for Sunday to give

the ! nal shape to the progress report.The Commerce Ministry might send

the report to the Bangladesh Mission in Washington, if not sent directly to the USTR, and Bangladesh mission will send it to the USTR.

Voicing satisfaction over the prog-ress on GSP Action Plan, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed reiterated that Bangladesh would get back GSP bene! t in the US market if politics is not asso-ciated with the restoration process.

US Ambassador Dan Mozena, on his return from US tour recently, said there has been progress but much more needs to be done.

On March 25, US Senator Robert Me-nendez, in a letter to BGMEA President M Atiqul Islam, said, “As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Rela-tions and a member of the Senate Com-mittee on Finance, I cannot support the renewal or expansion of Bangladesh’s GSP bene! ts as long as union organisers and members are subject to harass-ment, intimidation, and violence from BGMEA factory owners and managers.”

On June 27, 2013, US President Barack Obama announced his decision to sus-pend Bangladesh’s trade bene! ts under the GSP in view of insu$ cient progress by the Bangladesh government in af-fording Bangladeshi workers interna-tionally-recognised worker rights. z

Garment workers walking towards their work places in Dhaka NASHIRUL ISLAM

B2 Stock Sunday, April 13, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Weekly news from trade serverNORTHRNINS: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 08.06.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: "Hotel Agrabad", Karnafully Hall, Agrabad, Chittagong. Record Date: 16.04.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 2.00, NAV per share of Tk. 13.15 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.41 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.BDLAMPS: The Board of Directors has recommended 20% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 20.05.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Emmanuelle's Banquet Hall, House # 4, Road # 134-135, Gulshan-1, Dhaka. Record Date: 17.04.2014. The Company has also reported NAV of Tk. 590.82 million, EPS of Tk. (1.16) and NOCFPS of Tk. 6.15 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.PHOENIXFIN: The Board of Directors has recommended 20% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 29.05.2014, Time: 11:30 AM, Venue: Muktijuddho Smrity Milonayaton (1st $ oor), Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh, 160/A, Kakrail, VIP Road, Dhaka-1000. Record Date: 17.04.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 2.58, NAV per share of Tk. 20.96 and NOCFPS of Tk. 0.61 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.FASFIN: The Board of Directors has rec-ommended 5.20% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 22.05.2014, Time: 9:30 AM, Venue: Hotel Abakash, Mohakhali C/A, Dhaka-1212. Record Date: 22.04.2014. The Company

has also reported consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.24, consolidated NAV per share of Tk. 13.84 and consolidated NOCFPS of Tk. (6.53) for the year ended on December 31, 2013.RECKITTBEN: The Board of Directors has recommended ! nal 400% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 06.05.2014, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: Trust Milonayatan, Shaheed Jahangir Gate, 545 Old Airport Road, Dhaka Cantonment, Dhaka-1206. Record Date: 20.04.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 27.42, NAV per share of Tk. 91.30 and NOCFPS of Tk. 32.98 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.NITOLINS: The Board of Directors has recommended 5% cash dividend and 12% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. The Board has also decided to revalue its own o" ce space at Bijoy Nagar O" ce, Sky Lark Point (5th Floor), Bijoy Nagar, Dhaka and Chittagong Zonal O" ce, Yunusco City Centre (10th Floor), GEC More, Chittagong. Date of AGM: 09.06.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: "Trust Milonayaton", Dhaka Cantonment, Dhaka. Record Date: 27.04.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 3.57, NAV per share of Tk. 17.65 and NOCFPS of Tk. 3.85 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.Audited/unaudited Financial Reports:NCCBLMF1: (Q1): As per un-audited quar-terly accounts for the 1st quarter ended on 31st March 2014 (Jan'14 to March'14), the fund has reported net pro! t/(loss) of Tk. 40.81 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.38 as against Tk. (7.27) million and Tk.

(0.07) respectively for the same period of the previous year.GREENDELMF: (Q3): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 3rd quarter end-ed on 31st March 2014 (Jan'14 to March'14), the fund has reported net pro! t/(loss) of Tk. 59.06 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.39 as against Tk. (84.69) million and Tk. (0.56) respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas net pro! t/(loss) was Tk. 92.81 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.62 for the period of nine months (July'13 to March'14) ended on 31.03.2014 as against Tk. (40.63) million and Tk. (0.27) respectively for the same period of the previous year.DBH1STMF: (Q3): As per un-audited quar-terly accounts for the 3rd quarter ended on 31st March 2014 (Jan'14 to March'14), the fund has reported net pro! t/(loss) of Tk. 33.92 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.28 as against Tk. (77.45) million and Tk. (0.65) respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas net pro! t/(loss) was Tk. 72.93 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.61 for the period of nine months (July'13 to March'14) ended on 31.03.2014 as against Tk. (60.38) million and Tk. (0.50) respectively for the same period of the previous year.RECKITTBEN: (Q1): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 1st quarter end-ed on 31st March 2014 (Jan'14 to March'14), the Company has reported pro! t after tax of Tk. 48.57 million with EPS of Tk. 10.28 as against Tk. 23.26 million and Tk. 4.92 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

Stocks stay " at last week Heavyweights dominate trading ��Tribune Report

The stock market stayed " at in the past week after registering gains in the previous week.

Lafarge Surma Cement came to the spotlight in the week ended Thursday after the announcement of its merger with Holcim of Switzerland.

Investors snapped up its shares, making it week’s second most traded stocks after heavyweight Grameen-phone (GP). But cautious investors booked quick pro! ts on ! nancials and some other stocks, pulling down the market.

The benchmark DSEX lost 28 points or 0.7% to close the week at 4,592. The blue chip index DS30, how-ever, gained 5 points or 0.4% to 1,675.

The Shariah Index DSEX rose 12 points or 1% to 1,020. The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Cate-gories Index, CSCX, shed 58 points or 0.7% to close the week at 8,900.

The average daily turnover of the past week stood at Tk510 crore, up by 34% over the previous week’s average of Tk380 crore.

Lanka Bangla Securities said mar-ket passed a mixed week. “Turnover activity was very high. But these ac-tivities were highly concentrated,” it said.

Over enthusiasm was seen in some stocks, especially GP, Heidelberg and Lafarge. Heidelberg declared last week a huge cash dividend of Tk38 for the year 2013. Investors took this positively and Heidelberg rose by over 20%, the brokerage ! rm said in its

weekly market analysis. It said Lafarge’s probable merg-

er with Holcim also boosted Lafarge price. Investors were also very upbeat about GP in the past week. “Probably they are expecting GP to show good ! -nancial ! gures this year, as last year’s adverse tax e# ect will not be there.”

Among the top gaining stocks of the past week, ! ve of them were mul-tinational companies.

The ! nancial sector banks and non-banking ! nancial institutions fell almost 2% and 4% respectively. Among the major sectors, telecom-munication was the week’s best per-former with a rise of 11.8%, driven by GP that surged over 13.1% just ahead of its ! nancial disclosure.

It was followed by cement, tan-nery and pharmaceuticals that closed higher.

A new textile company – Matin Spinning Mills Ltd. – saw dismal de-but at the stock exchanges in the past week. The newcomer gained 13.3% from IPO price of Tk37 each.

IDLC Investments said since heavy-weight segments performed well for a couple of sessions, some cautious investors drove for booking pro! t or re-balancing portfolio.

“The resultant impact was a num-ber of " at endings in the ! nal session of the past week.”

Investors concentrated only on heavyweights GP, Square Pharmaceu-ticals (including block trade), Lafarge and Heidelberg, making up 10%, 8%, 7% and 6% respectively of the past week’s total turnover. z

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Rahima Food -Z -19.57 -19.37 40.80 40.70 50.00 40.20 1.266 -1.00 -veMercantile Bank -A -16.23 -14.21 16.18 16.00 20.00 14.40 13.178 2.68 6.0Standard Ceramic -A -15.97 -16.14 39.95 40.00 46.90 39.90 0.744 1.06 37.7Islami Bank BD - A -15.77 -15.49 28.64 28.30 30.10 28.00 8.288 3.14 9.1Eastland Insur -A -15.22 -15.00 39.10 39.00 45.40 38.10 0.275 3.71 10.5One Bank -A -13.69 -11.28 14.86 14.50 17.20 13.70 13.846 2.44 6.1Rupali Life Insur.-A -11.50 -11.48 110.00 110.00 124.10 110.00 11.527 5.33 20.6Northern G Insur-A -11.28 -8.87 34.63 34.60 41.50 34.00 0.129 2.00 17.3Prime Textile -A -11.15 -11.25 23.19 23.10 26.10 23.00 1.649 1.12 20.7Bangladesh Lamps -A -10.94 -9.19 126.23 124.50 140.00 124.00 1.326 -1.16 -ve

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Northern Jute -Z -25.06 -25.06 90.00 90.00 109.00 90.00 0.060 -10.24 -veRahima Food -Z -18.57 -18.14 40.48 39.90 49.50 39.50 15.513 -1.00 -veMercantile Bank -A -18.04 -14.51 16.20 15.90 20.00 14.30 332.459 2.68 6.0Islami Bank BD - A -17.70 -17.52 28.10 27.90 31.00 26.00 80.201 3.14 8.9Eastland Insur -A -15.12 -15.24 39.42 39.30 46.80 38.20 22.751 3.71 10.6One Bank -A -14.29 -13.07 14.57 14.40 17.00 12.70 96.417 2.44 6.0Midas Financing-Z -13.90 -13.99 25.46 25.40 30.40 25.40 0.944 -5.96 -veNorthern G Insur-A -13.46 -13.38 35.98 36.00 41.00 33.00 6.003 2.00 18.0Global Insurance -A -12.19 -11.91 24.63 24.50 28.20 21.80 2.928 1.09 22.6Rupali InsurA -11.08 -11.61 29.08 28.90 32.80 28.50 13.768 1.98 14.7

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Grameenphone-A 903,400 219.68 10.74 255.50 13.10 225.90 257.00 223.10 254.48LafargeS Cement-Z 2,674,000 157.46 7.70 58.20 13.67 51.20 63.10 51.20 58.18HeidelbergCement -A 232,850 125.83 6.15 589.90 21.15 486.90 590.60 500.00 565.95BSC-A 155,640 100.72 4.92 626.80 -5.46 663.00 680.00 620.30 648.27BD Submarine Cable-A 450,915 96.67 4.73 209.30 -1.69 212.90 220.00 208.50 210.36Padma Oil Co. -A 242,770 88.12 4.31 353.60 -2.00 360.80 375.00 352.10 354.59Matin Spinning-N 1,976,200 86.32 4.22 41.80 0.00 0.00 53.00 41.50 41.94Square Pharma -A 275,146 77.58 3.79 279.70 0.54 278.20 287.60 275.20 281.92BATBCL -A 24,450 59.80 2.92 2513.70 1.81 2469.00 2638.00 2460.00 2522.75Meghna Petroleum -A 154,248 44.71 2.19 283.70 -1.46 287.90 295.80 282.30 284.02

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Grameenphone-A 11,103,579 2708.34 10.61 256.00 13.12 226.30 260.00 224.00 253.44Square Pharma -A 6,810,427 1900.70 7.45 280.30 0.65 278.50 290.00 255.00 281.87LafargeS Cement-Z 30,937,020 1789.95 7.01 56.40 10.16 51.20 63.00 51.50 57.26HeidelbergCement -A 2,591,580 1422.21 5.57 589.00 20.94 487.00 590.00 490.00 571.00Olympic Ind. -A 5,918,857 1330.06 5.21 226.90 2.76 220.80 232.10 200.00 225.53Padma Oil Co. -A 3,376,336 1226.35 4.81 353.80 -1.91 360.70 377.00 330.00 354.30Meghna Petroleum -A 3,095,108 891.82 3.50 283.10 -1.39 287.10 295.20 260.00 283.15BSC-A 975,240 628.70 2.46 624.50 -5.95 664.00 668.00 617.25 641.78BD Submarine Cable-A 2,480,856 531.43 2.08 208.20 -2.21 212.90 221.00 193.00 209.64Jamuna Oil -A 1,627,052 379.14 1.49 229.10 -1.63 232.90 240.00 215.00 229.53

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Reckitt Benckiser -A 35.63 35.63 1302.00 1302.00 1388.00 1174.00 0.193 41.12 31.7HeidelbergCement -A 21.15 17.01 565.95 589.90 590.60 500.00 125.830 26.09 21.7AB Bank - A 18.40 17.19 29.24 29.60 29.90 22.60 19.857 2.06 14.2LafargeS Cement-Z 13.67 15.05 58.18 58.20 63.10 51.20 157.459 2.19 26.6Grameenphone-A 13.10 13.51 254.48 255.50 257.00 223.10 219.685 10.23 24.9Golden Son -A 10.48 8.94 60.35 60.10 62.00 54.90 22.753 3.35 18.0Bata Shoe Ltd. -A 7.82 7.84 999.67 999.50 1042.50 925.00 2.068 52.75 19.0Marico BD Ltd-A 7.16 8.06 1285.90 1285.90 1317.00 1183.00 1.774 46.53 27.6Aziz PipesZ 6.00 6.10 21.22 21.20 21.50 19.50 0.015 0.59 36.0Singer BD -A 4.96 7.74 229.40 226.60 238.70 214.50 20.647 6.23 36.8

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

HeidelbergCement -A 20.94 18.04 571.00 589.00 590.00 490.00 1422.210 26.09 21.9Reckitt Benckiser -A 20.04 21.78 1,266.46 1,249.40 2,000.00 1,010.00 62.175 41.12 30.8AB Bank - A 17.00 16.22 29.30 29.60 30.00 22.50 266.359 2.06 14.2Grameenphone-A 13.12 13.08 253.44 256.00 260.00 224.00 2708.341 10.23 24.8Samata LeatheR -Z 10.34 10.19 35.26 35.20 35.90 30.60 1.245 -0.04 -veLafargeS Cement-Z 10.16 13.21 57.26 56.40 63.00 51.50 1789.947 2.19 26.1Golden Son -A 10.15 9.39 60.23 59.70 65.00 51.00 326.443 3.35 18.0ICB AMCL IslamicMF-A 8.78 9.82 22.58 22.30 23.50 19.50 8.938 2.56 8.8Bata Shoe Ltd. -A 8.48 8.15 996.40 1,008.80 1,070.00 915.20 215.760 52.75 18.9Renata Ltd. -A 8.27 6.61 1,070.82 1,079.20 1,100.00 970.00 277.078 41.39 25.9

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARYSector DSE CSE Total

Million Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % changeBank 2095.24 8.21 192.02 7.90 2287.26 8.18NBFI 676.29 2.65 54.07 2.23 730.36 2.61Investment 294.39 1.15 19.77 0.81 314.17 1.12Engineering 1897.34 7.44 142.69 5.87 2040.03 7.30Food & Allied 1986.97 7.79 196.64 8.09 2183.61 7.81Fuel & Power 3261.32 12.78 254.62 10.48 3515.94 12.58Jute 18.26 0.07 0.00 0.00 18.26 0.07Textile 1910.75 7.49 273.00 11.24 2183.75 7.81Pharma & Chemical 3203.95 12.56 147.36 6.07 3351.31 11.99Paper & Packaging 5.74 0.02 110.64 4.55 116.38 0.42Service 329.72 1.29 14.91 0.61 344.63 1.23Leather 692.67 2.71 137.89 5.68 830.57 2.97Ceramic 172.52 0.68 29.50 1.21 202.02 0.72Cement 3534.99 13.85 306.06 12.60 3841.05 13.74Information Technology 123.32 0.48 23.37 0.96 146.68 0.52General Insurance 253.71 0.99 8.24 0.34 261.95 0.94Life Insurance 608.61 2.39 35.98 1.48 644.59 2.31Telecom 3239.77 12.70 316.35 13.02 3556.12 12.72Travel & Leisure 170.20 0.67 28.55 1.18 198.75 0.71Miscellaneous 1009.39 3.96 137.24 5.65 1146.63 4.10Debenture 32.05 0.13 0.36 0.01 32.41 0.12

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4592.73414 (-) 0.62% W

DSE - 30 Index : 1675.63449 (+) 0.33% V

CSE All Share Index: 14185.6313 (-) 0.39% W

CSE - 30 Index : 11920.0626 (-) 0.36% W

CSE Selected Index : 8900.7070 (-) 0.65% W

DSE key features April 6-10, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

25,517.20

Turnover (Volume)

387,800,980

Number of Contract 479,710

Traded Issues 301

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

65

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

232

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,342.39

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.39

CSE key features April 6-10, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 2,100.57

Turnover (Volume) 38,340,929

Number of Contract 68,091

Traded Issues 251

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

49

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

196

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,245.62

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.22

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

ANALYSTTurnover activity was very high. But these activities were highly concentrated

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, April 13, 2014

Associates of sales team at Pan Paci" c Sonargaon Dhaka pose after a successful completion of Global Hotel Alliance Week held on April 7 to 11

Singer Sewing Instructress Meet 2014 was held at Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development in Comilla on April 7 and 8. The MD and CEO of Singer Bangladesh and vice-president of Singer Asia, AM Hamim Rahmatullah, inaugurated the event that was attended by 45 sewing instructresses from all over the country

Prime Bank Limited signed a memorandum of understanding with Bangkok Hospital and My Health, a representative of Bangkok Hospital in Bangladesh, on April 9 at a ceremony held at the bank’s head o% ce. The bank’s MD and CEO, Md Ehsan Khasru and MD of My Health, Dr Nilanjon Sen signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations

Moin Uddin and Manna Shome recently joined Sheltech Brokerage Ltd as CEO and HOP respectively. Before joining Sheltech Brokerage, Moin worked at City Brokerage Ltd and IDLC Finance Ltd while Manna worked at UCB Bank Ltd, Grameenp hone and Unilever (Bangladesh) Ltd

Standard Bank Training Institute has recently organised a two day-long workshop on application of negotiable instruments in banking. DMD & group company secretary, AFM Nizamul Islam Chowdhury, head of HRD, M Ahsan Ullah Khan and principal of SBL Training Institute, Md Zakaria were present on the occasion

Ad hoc reforms for IMF seen unlikely��Reuters, Washington

Global ! nance o$ cials appear inclined to give the United States more time to endorse a series of long-delayed In-ternational Monetary Fund reforms aimed at giving more weight to emerg-ing economy nations, rather than try-ing to implement alternative proposals to get around US intransigence.

Finance ministers gathering in Washington this weekend for the twice-yearly meetings of the IMF are set to debate a handful of ad hoc measures to achieve at least some of the 2010 gov-ernance overhaul for the global lender without a formal US approval.

Last month, Democrats in the US Senate dropped an e# ort to include the reforms as part of an aid package for Ukraine because the Republican-led House of Representatives refused to consider the matter.

Frustrated by the US foot-dragging, international ! nance o$ cials are ban-dying about a clutch of alternatives.

These include proceeding with an ad hoc increase in the voting share of emerging economies, which like the formal reforms would reduce the US voting weight, and a more drastic pro-

posal to refuse to extend the IMF’s emergency borrowing authority, Aus-tralian Treasury Secretary Martin Par-kinson said.

The options will be debated at a meeting of the IMF steering committee and the top 20 economies on Friday.

“They are all legitimate options,” Parkinson said ahead of the start of the meetings.

Still, Parkinson and others say that a likely outcome is to just give the United States more time.

“It would be a mistake not to give the United States the opportunity to get it done,” Mexican Finance Minister Luis Videgaray said in an interview.

Videgaray said there would be a window for the US Congress to pass re-forms increasing funding and widening representation at the IMF following US midterm elections in November.

The United States has faced backlash from other countries over the refusal to approve the reforms, particularly from emerging economy countries whose voting share at the IMF would increase under the overhaul.

“I think failure to deliver the 2010 IMF reform is a serious damage to the G20 leadership,” People’s Bank of Chi-

na Vice Governor Yi Gang said. “And I think failure to deliver this reform ... is a threat to IMF legitimacy.”

“It creates some uncertainty for the future resources of the IMF,” Yi said at a conference in Washington ahead of the spring meetings.

The governance reforms were ad-opted by the IMF in 2010, and initially a deadline of the end of 2012 had been

set for all member countries to endorse them. The administration of U.S. Presi-dent Barack Obama has so far been un-able to persuade Republicans in the House to act on the measure.

Many Republican lawmakers com-plain that the reforms would cost too much at a time the United States is fac-ing high de! cits and budget cuts, and would lessen US in" uence at the IMF. z

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde (2nd right) takes a question during a news conference in Washington Reuters

IMF’s Lagarde: ‘Bold action needed’ for global economy��AFP, Washington

The global economy has picked up but bold action is needed to surmount se-rious dangers and deliver the bene! ts more evenly, International Monetary Fund managing Director Christine La-garde said Thursday.

Lagarde said the Ukraine crisis, slower growth in emerging economies, the threat of de" ation in the eurozone, ! nancial sector vulnerabilities in the two leading economies and market tur-bulence generally are serious hurdles to extending the global recovery.

Spelling out the policy challenges for the world’s economic policy-mak-ers at the start of the annual IMF and World Bank spring meetings, Lagarde said determined e# orts were needed to strengthen growth, after a “subdued” rebound from the economic crisis.

“The global economy is turning the corner, but the recovery is still too weak and too slow....Bold actions are needed,” she said.

“For some, despite the fact that growth is strengthening, they’re not feeling it. We still have 200 million people unemployed.”

The IMF laid out a detailed policy agenda for its meetings with ! nance ministers and central bank chiefs from around the world, which highlights the need for vigilance in countries at all points on the economic cycle.

Advanced economies need to be sure not to mishandle the shift from easy-money regimes set during the ! nancial crisis, and the Fund warns that tighten-ing too fast could derail their recovery and hurt growth in other countries.

China needs to deftly handle its non-banking credit bubble, and the United States needs to address new risks in corporate debt, margin lending and leveraged ! nance, the IMF warns.

Japan needs to push through on the “third arrow” of its turnaround - struc-tural reforms - while emerging markets must themselves redo policies to ad-just to a world of tighter capital.

Lagarde reiterated the IMF’s advice to the European Central Bank. urging it to quickly embark on operations to

fend o# de" ation which could reverse Europe’s recovery.

While saying the fund respects the ECB’s judgement, she urged it to act “sooner rather than later”.

Both the IMF and the World Bank stressed that the Ukraine crisis could also damage the world’s economic pros-pects, as both bodies marshall billions of dollars to prop up Kiev’s ! nances af-ter the ouster or pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovich in February.

In the wake of its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region last month, Russia stepped up the tensions Thurs-day with President Vladimir Putin threatening to cut o# its supply of nat-ural gas to Ukraine.

Finance ministers of the G7 industri-al powers will hold discussions mainly on Ukraine Thursday on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings, according to diplomats.

Their view is likely to be put to a meetings late Thursday and Friday in Washington of the G20 economic chiefs.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim warned that the crisis will have far-reaching e# ects on Russia, which could be forced into recession.

“This is a very serious issue for Rus-sia - a very serious issue for its growth prospects,” Kim told reporters. “So we simply urge all of the parties to contin-ue with negotiations and ! nd a peace-ful means of moving forward.”

The IMF has forecast global growth at 3.6% this year, and 3.9% next year. But Lagarde noted that the G20 itself in February observed that with the right policies and the right cooperation between countries, growth could be higher by two percentage points over the next half-decade.

“That is the kind of growth trajectory that would help create jobs,” she said.

In response, Nicolas Mombrial, of the anti-poverty group Oxfam, said the IMF needs a plan that would address another part of the picture, inequality.

“There’s no trade-o# between growth and inequality. There will be no inclusive growth if economic inequal-ity remains out of control.” z

Parts supplier Delphi Automotive also repeatedly tested switches and found they did not meet GM speci! cations, according to emails and other memos

Documents show GM’s early knowledge of switch defect��Reuters, Washington

General Motors engineers were well aware of serious problems with igni-tion switches in GM small cars, but rejected several opportunities to make ! xes, according to dozens of con! den-tial documents released on Friday by a Congressional committee investigating the deadly defect.

Parts supplier Delphi Automotive also repeatedly tested switches and found they did not meet GM speci! -cations, according to emails and other memos.

The internal documents from GM, Delphi and a US safety agency chart nu-merous examples of switch failure, of the sort that led GM earlier this year to

recall 2.6 million cars to replace defec-tive switches now linked to at least 13 deaths.

The documents, the ! rst tranche of some 250,000 pages, were released by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which last week grilled GM Chief Executive Mary Barra on the au-tomaker’s slow response to problems that GM ! rst documented in 2001.

Committee Chairman Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, said the docu-ments illustrate “failures within the sys-tem.” Other lawmakers have questioned whether GM’s action are criminal.

Meanwhile, a top o$ cial with the National Highway Tra$ c Safety Ad-ministration told General Motors in a July 2013 email that the automaker was

“slow to communicate, slow to act” on defects and recalls.

Still to be answered is whether top GM executives were aware of the issues early on, as engineers struggled to pin-point causes and solutions for ignition switches that could be turned o# inad-vertently with the vehicle in motion, causing the engine to stall and cutting power to steering, brakes and airbags.

GM says it is cooperating with Con-gress and conducting its own “unspar-ing” investigation of the circumstances that led to the recall.

The documents show the automaker repeatedly elected not to ! x or replace the faulty switches, because there was no acceptable “business case”, an in-dication the solution was deemed too expensive.

Federal regulators as early as 2007 were concerned that GM was drag-ging its heels on safety measures as consumer complaints mounted, but top o$ cials at NHTSA never followed through on sta# ers’ recommendations to open a broad investigation, accord-ing to the documents. z

US and China appeal WTO rulings��Reuters, Geneva

The United States and China have both appealed against recent rulings in dis-putes at the World Trade Organization (WTO), ! lings published by the WTO showed on Friday.

The United States said it wanted to correct some legal issues in a case that it brought jointly with the Euro-pean Union and Japan, handing China a heavy defeat over its restrictions on exports of rare earth metals.

The ! ling said the US concerns would not need to be dealt with if there was no appeal from China. China has not ap-

pealed the ruling, but it still has time to do so, with a 60 day window from the time of the ruling on March 26.

In a separate ! ling, China lodged an appeal in a WTO case that it brought to challenge US punitive tari# s on exports including photovoltaic cells and mod-ules, windtowers and certain steel and aluminum products.

Although Beijing scored a partial victory in that case, by successfully saying the United States had been wrong to punish some Chinese exports twice over, it lost the bulk of the argu-ment against US laws targeting unfair trade subsidies. z

Google Glass available in US as of April 15��AFP, San Francisco

Google will makes it controversial In-ternet-linked Glass eyewear available for purchase for a limited time in the United States beginning on April 15.

Anyone in the United States with $1,500 to spend on Glass will be able to join the ranks of “explorers” who have gotten to test out the devices prior to them hitting the market, the California-based Internet titan said Thursday in a post at Google+ social network.

“Our Explorers are moms, artists, surgeons, rockers, and each new Ex-plorer has brought a new perspective that is making Glass better,” Google said in the post.

“But every day we get requests from those of you who haven’t found a way into the program yet, and we want your feedback too.”

On April 15, Google will commence what it billed as the biggest expansion of the Explorer program to date by let-ting anyone in the US buy the eyewear online at google.com/glass/start/how-to-get-one/ .

Google said online sales would take place “for a limited time,” but did not specify how long that might be.

Selling the image Google in March said it is joining

forces with the frame giant behind Ray-Ban and other high-end brands to create and sell Glass Internet-linked eyewear in the United States.

The partnership with Luxottica was portrayed as Google’s “biggest step yet into the emerging smart eyewear market.”

Luxottica brands include Oakley, Alain Mikli, Ray-Ban, and Vogue-Eyewear. z

Consulting materials engineer Mark Hood shows the ignition assembly which has a faulty 2005 ignition switch (black piece at left), in the mechanical testing laboratory at McSwain Engineering, Inc. in Pensacola, Florida REUTERS

Crude oil prices fall further in Asia��AFP, Singapore

Oil prices extended losses in Asian trade Friday as data showing a slow-down in China’s giant economy sparked concerns about weak demand.

Expectations that Libyan oil will return to the market after rebels lifted a blockade of crude terminals also helped push prices lower, analysts said.

New York’s main contract West Texas Intermediate for May delivery eased 16 cents to $103.24 a barrel in mid-morning trade while Brent North Sea crude tumbled 12 cents to $107.34 for its May contract.

“Global demand is waning due to the slowing growth in China,” said Des-

mond Chua, market analyst at CMC markets in Singapore.

Chinese imports slumped 11.3% in March from a year ago and exports fell 6.6% in the latest data pointing to a slowdown in the world’s second big-gest economy.

For crude oil alone, China imported 5.54 million barrels per day in March, a decline of 8.0 percent from February and the weakest import volume in ! ve months, according to German lender Commerzbank. In Libya, the National Oil Co lifted its force majeure notice from its Al-Hariga oil terminal in east-ern Libya as of 1000 GMT Thursday, signalling a resumption of exports that could begin as soon as today. z

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, April 13, 2014

DILBERT

Inequality: A budgeting challenge��Sabbir Ahmed

Growth was prone to be associ-ated with rising equality – known as Kuznets hypothesis – is generally ac-cepted as an inevitable feature of the development process.

National economic and ! scal poli-cies are generally perceived from Kuznets dictum. In all western phi-losophy-dominated so-called open market economies, when economic and ! scal policies are formulated, it is assumed that the market is perfect-ly competitive (e$ cient), and thus would engage in ensuring equality.

However, Nobel laureate econo-mist Joseph E Stiglitz, in his 2012 book The Price of Inequality, showed how markets are neither e$ cient nor stable and will tend to accumulate money in the hands of the few rather than engender competition.

He demonstrates how government policies and political institutions, far from countering these trends, often enhance them, and that politics fre-quently shapes markets in ways that advantage the richest over the rest. This in turn weakens democracy and the rule of law by putting more and more political power in the hands of the wealthy. Though The Price of In-equality was written in the context of the United States, the observations are applicable in Bangladesh, as capital-ism and capitalists behave in the same way irrespective of time and space.

A market is e$ cient when it is free from all sorts of private and pub-lic restrictions, except for property rights and free " ow of information to market players. E$ ciency of an open market cannot achieve without free-dom of the individual and arti! cial individuals, companies are ensured.

In reality, market is heavily dis-torted by so many practices to please few wealthy and powerful, for ex-ample: Duties, tax holidays, licenses, permits, quota, unavailability of re-quired market information, infringe-ment of property rights, corruptions, mastanies, exercise of undue politi-cal power, dominance of big monies on policies, etc.

Thus, in no way can Bangladesh’s market be called an e$ cient market. Absence of an e$ cient market is the main reason for which even pro-people policies cannot bring desired results.

Economic and ! scal policies in Bangladesh have been devising based on open-market philosophy since 1976, keeping an e$ cient mar-ket in the illusion. These illusionary policies have resulted more than a 5% GDP growth and ushered a high level of inequality in the distribution of income.

According to data from the World Bank, Gini Coe$ cient (a widely used measure of income inequality which assumes value between 0 and 1, with higher values indicating greater in-equality) has risen from 0.26 in 1984 to 0.33 in 2005. It had reduced to 0.32 during the 2005-10 period.

On the other hand, income for the top 20% of the population has in-creased by 5.57% while income for the remaining 80% has decreased by the same amount between 1984 and 2010. Meaning, the wealthy and powerful 20% have taken away the income of the middle and lower class folk, making them poorer.

This social injustice had occurred because of ine$ cient national policies and their implementations. Inequality has a price. It hinders the implemen-tation of poverty-reducing policies, thwarts economic growth, and throws the economy into a poverty spiral.

The government can reduce in-equality through the redistribution of income and wealth. The poor and marginalised people have ac-cess to few resources, which is being grabbed by the wealthy and powerful by way of land-developing, inciting communal atrocities, lower wages in ! rms and factories, unreasonably high pro! tability of industrial and

! nancial products including micro! -nance loans, low price of agricultural produces, and such.

The rule of law is the means for ensuring social justice, including economic justice. It can safeguard resources in the hands of the middle and lower class from the unscrupu-lous wealthy and powerful people.

The government has initiated many safety net projects in order to redistribute social resources among vulnerable and poor people. Some of which are: Free primary education, kabikha, test relief, cash bene! ts for freedom ! ghters, elderly citizens, vulnerable women, and physically challenged people. These projects are theoretically sound and their e# ec-tiveness is visible.

However, according to social ob-servers, about 40% of the expendi-

tures are being eaten up by bureau-cratic labyrinth. Payments directly made to vulnerable people through bank accounts are a comparatively better method of redistribution of so-cial funds.

Nothing is perfect. In this case, because of widespread nepotism, a signi! cant number of undeserving people are receiving public funds. In the past, the government has tried to distribute khash lands and houses among deserving people.

Many wealthy and powerful indi-viduals exploited the opportunity in disguise. These initiatives were also unable to bring in desired results be-cause of the chronic nepotism of the wealthy and powerful.

Safety net programmes, along with free education, allowances for education, and such, should contin-ue defying nepotism and corruption in order to save the vulnerable and towards forging a skilled workforce.

Vocational and diploma engineer-

ing institutions and their education system should be made attractive. These institutions can produce a skilled workforce for both the local and international market.

Though with improved and ef-! cient safety net programmes, the vulnerable portion of society can be saved but it cannot address the 9% unemployed youth. For our country to eliminate poverty and be promoted to a middle-income nation by 2020, the solution is in the creation of enor-mous employment opportunities.

Bangladesh is ready to " y high with its 65% workforce, nearly US$ 300bn gross domestic product, US$ 19bn reserve, US$ 14bn annual remit-tance and US$ 25bn export market.

Now she needs infrastructure and investment climate. Remittances are generally being used for household consumptions and purchasing real estates. That pushes consumer price to higher level, creates real estate bubbles. Families that do not receive foreign remittances are becoming marginalised.

Government and private entrepre-neurs can collect this huge amount and use for infrastructure develop-ment and in constructing manu-facturing factories, IT labs, cottage industries, and farming. Software de-velopment and other IT related ser-vice providing could become another big sector like readymade garments and create enormous employment for educated people. Investment in agro based industries would create huge employment in rural Bangla-desh. Factories are to be erected in coastal areas that would save trans-portation costs and ease pressure on metropolitan cities.

The government can bring all these dreams to the reality using up-coming national budget. The budget should not only be devised for higher economic growth it should also be formulated for bringing social justice ! ghting inequality.

 The writer is a fellow chartered accountant and can be reached at sabbahme@yahoo.com

Illusionary economic and ! scal policies have resulted more than a 5% GDP growth and ushered a high level of inequality in the distribution of income

Apple is believed to be planning its own smartwatch launch soon, while Google is moving towards a wider consumer launch of its Internet-enabled eyewear Glass

World ! nance chiefs fall short on growth plan��AFP, Washington

Leading economic policymakers meet-ing in Washington voiced worry Friday that the Ukraine crisis could hurt the world economy, but fell short of taking concrete action to strengthen growth amid signs of discord.

Meeting on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank spring meetings, G20 ! nance ministers and central bank chiefs pledged to follow up on reforms and support a $27 bn rescue program for Ukraine, even as Russia continues to menace its neighbour.

But there was little ! rm action on how to stimulate world growth fur-ther, prompting Australia’s Treasurer Joe Hockey, whose country leads the G20 this year, to label the sketchy plans “clearly inadequate.”

The G20 reiterated last year’s prom-ise to boost collective growth by two percentage points, but there was dis-agreement on how to do so.

Hockey said individual members’ plans for contributing to that goal, of-fered after they met in Australia in Feb-ruary, fell short of what is needed.

“The comprehensive growth strate-gies that were submitted by countries following the meeting in Sydney were clearly inadequate,” he told reporters.

“Some countries put forward pro-posals that re-heated initiatives from previous occasions, or were already an-nounced.”

When the G20 made the commit-ment to enhance growth, he added, “we really meant it. It wasn’t just a rhe-torical ! gure put in the communique for publicity purposes.

“Instead of simply spending a lot of time re" ecting on the lessons of the past, we need to be ambitious for the future. And that’s where the two-per-cent strategy is real.

“We’re not going to let it just remain in the too-hard-to-achieve basket. That’s unacceptable.”

A statement identi! ed key issues, in-cluding increasing and rebalancing de-mand and making exchange rates more " exible, the latter an issue regularly raised with China - the world number two economy - by the United States.

But with many countries at di# er-ent stages of the economic cycle, there

were stark di# erences on what was im-portant.

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew at-tempted to sound a more upbeat tone.

“Over the last couple of days the international community has made it clear that boosting growth is our top priority,” he said.

Hockey said G20 members were pressed to deliver more concrete growth plans by the group’s next meet-ing, in September, in Cairns, Australia.

“Every country has to come with de-liverables,” he warned.

Ukraine concernsDespite rising tensions with Russia - a G20 member that looks increasingly isolated - the group was cautious in speaking about Ukraine.

“We are monitoring the economic situation in Ukraine, mindful of any risks to economic and ! nancial stabil-ity,” they said in a statement.

Even so, it made it clear that they see Ukraine’s fragile economy, and the rising security threat after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea last month, as a serious problem for the global economy.

Much hangs on Ukraine being pulled back from the brink, including a $27bn rescue being mounted for the country by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and Western powers.

That includes $14-$18bn from the IMF, in a package to be formally decid-ed late this month or early May.

Reza Moghadam, director of the IMF’s European Department, said it was hoping for more contributions from other countries and institutions “so we don’t have to put as much.”

The G20 meanwhile criticized the United States over its holding up of a four-year-old quota reform and fund-ing increase for the IMF.

Saying it was “deeply disappointed” with the delay, it pressed the United States to ratify the reforms, which can-not move ahead without the backing of Washington, the largest IMF sharehold-er. Increasingly there was talk of a com-plicated “Plan B” which could poten-tially diminish US in" uence at the Fund.

The G20 said it would give the US until the end of this year to ratify the reforms before it seriously mulls an-other path. z

Group of 20 nations " nance ministers and central bankers pose for the International Monetary and Financial Committee family photo at the IMF/World Bank Spring meetings AFP

Samsung Galaxy S5 makes global debut��AFP, Seoul

The latest version of Samsung’s " ag-ship Galaxy smartphone went on sale worldwide Friday, days after the elec-tronics giant announced it was facing a second consecutive quarter of pro! t decline.

The Galaxy S5 has a lot riding on it to steer the South Korean ! rm’s pro! t-making machine back on track as growth in smartphone sales slows, with mature markets like North Ameri-ca and Europe near saturation.

Reviews of the S5 have mostly con-cluded that it is one of the best high-end smartphones on the market, but there is also a general consensus that it lacks the “wow” factor needed to dif-ferentiate it from its predecessors and competitors.

“It can swim, but it won’t make any waves,” was the verdict of the Wall Street Journal, referring to one innova-tion in the S5’s waterproof covering.

“The Galaxy S5 is a good phone. It earns an unreserved recommenda-tion,” said the Washington Post.

“But the truth of the matter is that there’s really nothing here that’s worth breaking your contract to buy,” it added.

Samsung’s mobile unit has been the driving force behind the record pro! ts of recent years, and it needs the S5 to perform well as a retort to doom-mon-gers who say the company lacks a clear strategy to " ourish in an increasingly competitive, saturated market.

Samsung made more than 30% of

all smartphones sold in the world last year, nearly twice the share of its arch-rival Apple.

But on Tuesday, the company esti-mated its ! rst quarter operating pro! t at 8.4tn won ($7.96bn), marking a sec-ond straight year-on-year decline.

As well as the constant challenge from Apple, Samsung has had to face the rapid expansion of smaller rivals like China’s Huawei, which has pres-sured it into rolling out cheaper hand-sets to woo consumers in emerging markets, especially China.

Falling smartphone prices In a sign of the challenge the company faces, the S5 was priced lower at its commercial launch Friday than the previous S4 model.

Research ! rm IDC estimated the av-erage selling price of smartphones will fall to $265 globally by 2017 from $337 in 2013 and $387 in 2012.

Samsung is believed to have re-duced its marketing spend on the S5 and is also under pressure to set aside more cash for legal bills as years-long patent battles against Apple continue.

The two have locked horns in patent suits in several nations involving de-sign and technologies on their smart-phones and tablet computers.

A fresh patent trial opened in the United States last week, with Apple vowing to prove that Samsung " agrant-ly copied iPhone features and should pay more than $2bn in damages.

Major handset makers have recently stepped up e# orts to develop wear-able devices, seen as a new source for growth - though few have managed to garner large consumer excitement or sales.

Samsung’s ! rst Internet-enabled smartwatch, introduced last Septem-ber, was greeted coldly by consumers who viewed it unfashionable. Its sec-ond edition, the Gear 2, was launched in February.

Apple is believed to be planning its own smartwatch launch soon, while Google is moving towards a wider con-sumer launch of its Internet-enabled eyewear Glass. z

Amazon to release smartphone later this year��AFP, Washington

Amazon is preparing to release a smartphone in the second half of 2014, thrusting itself into a market already crowded with Apple and Samsung models, The Wall Street Journal re-ported.

The company aims to announce its new product by the end of June and ship to customers by the end of Sep-tember in time for the holidays, the Journal said in a Friday report, citing unnamed people briefed on the matter.

Amazon, it said, hopes to di# erenti-ate its phone from other models with a screen that displays hologram-like three-dimensional images, which can

be viewed without special glasses.The company has been showing

versions of the phone to developers in San Francisco and Seattle, the sources said.

Earlier this month the retailer un-veiled a new media streaming device, Amazon Fire TV, which it touted as simplifying the experience of watching video online.

The new device is part of Amazon’s strategy to expand from retail to mul-timedia, leveraging its Kindle tablets and streaming video.

The smartphone market is currently dominated by rivals Samsung and Ap-ple as well as low-cost Chinese rivals like Lenovo and Huawei. z

Tax burden on wages in rich countries rose again in 2013��Reuters, London

Taxes on wages rose across industri-alised countries last year, as govern-ments sought to reduce budget de! cits blown out by e# orts to tackle years of economic weakness following the ! -nancial crash.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), whose members include the world’s richest nations, said the total burden of taxes on labour rose to 35.9% in 2013 from 35.7% in 2012.

The OECD said the growing “tax wedge”, which includes income taxes and the taxes employers pay on wages, was a disincentive to employment cre-ation.

The Paris-based body believes lift-ing taxes on property and reducing tax breaks on pension saving for the better o# , would be less damaging for em-

ployment and growth. However, data across the OECD

showed little correlation between em-ployment and taxes on wages.

Belgium had the highest tax burden at 55.8%, last year but had an unem-ployment rate just fractionally above the OECD average.

Germany had the second highest tax burden at 49.3% but the fourth lowest unemployment rate, according to data on the OECD website.

OECD statistician Maurice Nettley said the absence of direct correlation was probably due to the fact econo-mies in the group di# ered so much and many other factors were at play.

However, the tax burden has fallen on one group - since 2007 low paid workers with children have seen their burden drop relative to average and higher earners, the OECD said in its an-nual “Taxing Wages” survey. z