SECOND EDITION

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015 | Jyoistha 26, 1422, Sha’ban 21, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 57 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

150 BOATPEOPLE RETURN FROM MYANMAR PAGE 3

DB: HUJI MEN PLANNED BANK HEISTS PAGE 5

FAKE ROHINGYA PHOTOS SEEK COMMUNAL STRIFE PAGE 32

E-TIN a must if child in English mediumn Tribune Report

The government has proposed to make it mandatory for the guardians or parents to have electronic Taxpayers Identi� cation Numbers (e-TIN) for educating their children in English medium schools.

The proposal was incorporated in Finance Bill 2015, placed by Finance

Minister AMA Muhith in parliament on Thursday for the � scal year 2015-16.

“The guardians spend a large amount of money for educating their children in English medium schools. All of them have the ability to pay tax. So, we have decided to bring them un-der the tax net,” said an o� cial of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

The International School Dhaka

(ISD), one of the most expensive Eng-lish medium school in Bangladesh, charges up to $22,000 as tuition fee.

Once applicable, the guardians have to pay a big sum as tax, that will ulti-mately help boost the revenue collec-tion, o� cials said.

They, however, said the provision will not be applicable for guardians of

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Roadways accord aims to reconnect South Asia

n Shohel Mamun

Four South Asian nations are a week away from inking an in-ter-connectivity deal that could potentially change the region forever.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal, the BBIN countries, are scheduled to sign a motor vehicle agreement on June 15 at a high-level meeting that will bring the countries’ transport min-isters together in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan.

The agreement will allow personal, passenger and cargo vehicles to travel across borders to each of the other signatory countries without having to face the hassles of trans-shipment.

Transport Minister Obaidul Quader told the Dhaka Tribune: “The agreement will pave the way for a European Union-like road communication system among the four countries.”

Road Transport Division Secretary Chandan Kumar Dey said: “After signing the agreement, a committee will be formed to work out the details of how the new road connectivity will work.

“When the details are � nalised and agreed upon, a protocol will be signed. After that, travellers will be able to enjoy the new connectivity.”

Bangladeshis will be able to travel by road to India, Nepal or Bhutan in their own private car or aboard a passenger bus, if the agreement is � nalised. Likewise, businesspeople will be able to carry goods across borders without trans-shipment ar-rangements.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Changrabandha

Jaigaon

INDIA

BHUTAN

BANGLADESHBurimari

Phuentsholing

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TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Roadways accord aims to reconnect South AsiaCabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhui-yan told reporters after a cabinet meeting yester-day: “The deal will be signed at a minister-level meeting in Bhutan on June 15. The transport ministers of the four Saarc nations known as BBIN will attend the meeting in Thimphu.”

“The quadrangle comprised of the four countries had a similar mindset and so it was easy to strike the deal,” he added.

Cabinet approved the draft agreement yes-terday.

The four-nation agreement provides for other Saarc nations to join the framework at a later time, he added.

Chandan said: “A day before the ministerial meeting, the participating countries’ transport secretaries will � nalise the draft agreement.”

According to the proposed route, a Bangla-deshi traveller going to Nepal must leave the country at Banglabandha to arrive in India’s Phulbari, before heading for the India-Nepal border at Panitanki 31km across Indian territory. From there she can enter Nepal at Kakarvitta.

To travel to Bhutan from Bangladesh, the traveller � rst exits the country at Burimari to arrive in the Indian town of Changraband-ha. Next comes a 91km highway trip through India. At the Indian border town of Jaigaon the traveller then crosses into the Bhutanese town of Phuentsholing.

Bangladeshi travellers will also be permit-ted to enter India at the Benapole-Petrapole border crossing.

“The draft route will be � nalised at the sec-retary-level meeting,” Chandan added.

The cabinet secretary said: “According to the draft, the four countries will enjoy seam-less transit of passenger, cargo and personal vehicles between the countries.

“However, taxes will be � xed separately by the authorities of the four countries and nobody will be allowed to carry products deemed contraband in the countries they are planning to visit.”

At present, Bangladesh and India have a bi-lateral arrangement on passenger movement but with the new agreement in e� ect, Bang-ladeshi trucks and private cars can go on to Nepal or Bhutan via India.

Nepal and Bhutan are just 100 kilome-

tres from Bangladesh. The initiative is expect-ed to have a positive impact on tourism and trade.

The sub-regional BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement is similar to a Saarc-wide initiative that was never agreed upon because of Indi-an-Pakistani di� erences.

The Saarc e� ort had proposed that private cars, commercial buses, ambulances and car-go trucks be allowed to move freely across the region.

At last year’s Saarc summit in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, India o� ered to sign the deal but Pakistan opposed it.

The four other mainland countries of South Asia decided to go ahead with a roadways deal without Pakistan. l

NARAYANGANJ SEVEN MURDER

Order on no-con� dence petition July 8n Tribune Report

A Narayanganj court yesterday � xed July 8 to pass an order on the no-con� dence petition � led against the charge-sheet submitted by the detectives dropping the names of � ve ac-cused in the seven-murder case.

Selina Islam, wife of one victim Narayan-ganj City Corporation Councillor Nazrul Is-lam, � led the petition with the court of Sen-ior Judicial Magistrate HM Sha� kul Islam in Narayanganj on May 11.

After hearing the petition, Judge HM Sha� -kul � xed the date for passing an order. The petition said names of � ve people mentioned in the complaint was dropped from the sub-mitted charge-sheet.

Selina also claimed that many other names were also dropped although their involve-ment in the killings were found during the

investigations.On April 8 this year, the detectives sub-

mitted the charge-sheet of the seven-murder case against 35, naming local Awami League leader Nur Hossain as the prime accused. The others included 25 members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), including their ex-top o� -cials Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, Arif Hos-sain and SM Masud Rana.

In April 2014, seven people including Narayanganj city panel mayor Nazrul Islam and senior lawyer Chandan Sarker were ab-ducted and their bodies were later � shed out of the Shitalakkhya river.

Nazrul’s father-in-law Shahidul Islam al-leged that RAB personnel abducted and killed Nazrul in exchange for Tk6 crore from local ward councillor Nur Hossain.

The three former RAB o� cials have con-fessed their involvement in the killings. l

Anwar, Rizvi, Aman dropped from arson attack casen Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

Detectives dropped the names of 31 leaders of BNP-led 20-party alliance from a case � led for an arson attack that killed a policeman near Matsya Bhaban in the capital.

Those who were dropped include BNP leaders MK Anwar, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Aman-ullal Aman and Barkatullah Bulu.

On June 4, Sub-Inspector Dipak Kumar Das of Detective Branch (DB) of police, also investigation o� cer (IO) of the case, submitted a charge sheet against seven BNP men and sought discharge of 31 men from the case.

The other charge-sheeted accused are New Market thana unit BNP President Abdus Sat-tar, its two members Md Alfaz and Shah Alam, Dhaka College unit ex-JCD president Anwar Hossain alias Tipu, DSCC Ward 18 BNP acting president Md Hossain and Gauchhia Market unit BNP member Md Ra� q Akand.

Of them, Sohel, Anwar Hossain and Sattar were shown fugitives while four others were earlier arrested and they are now in jail. The IO also appealed to the court to issue arrest warrants against the fugitives.

The court authorities yesterday produced the charge sheet before the Dhaka Metropol-itan magistrate Aminul Islam. After signing the charge sheet, the magistrate � xed June 08 for the next hearing.

IO Dipak Kumar submitted the charge sheet dropping the 31 names mentioning that the in-volvements of the accused in the attack were not found during investigation. He also showed 23 people as prosecution witnesses in the case.

According to the case documents, miscre-ants carried out a petrol bombs attack on a po-lice bus near the Matsya Bhaban in the capital on January 17 during the BNP led-alliance’s blockade programme.

Police constable Shamim Mia, 28, su� ered injuries to his head while trying to escape from the petrol bomb attack on a police bus. At least 13 cops were injured in the attack. After bat-tling for life for 19 days, Shamim succumbed to his injuries at Square Hospital in the capital. l

Liquid cocaine not found in suspected container n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The scrutiny team yesterday said it found no liquid cocaine in the sealed container brought to the port from Uruguay.

The team suspected the container was car-rying liquid cocaine worth about Tk3,000 crore under the declaration of sun � ower oil import, a source in the Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Failing to � nd out the existence of cocaine in preliminary test, they had collected sam-ples from the container and sent them for fur-ther laboratory test.

The Chittagong Port sources said the con-tainer was loaded from Uruguay on March 30 and it arrived at Chittagong Port on May 13 via Singapore Port.

Since then, it has remained in the port’s yard and none has claimed the consignment grow-ing suspicion among the port scrutiny team.

The Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation authorities, with the information of police, on Saturday night sealed the contain-er in Chittagong Port’s CCT Number 3 Yard.

Yesterday around 11am, the scrutiny team comprising high o� cials of Chittagong Port, CMP, Directorate of Narcotic Control and Di-rectorate of Customs Intelligence and Inves-tigation conducted the physical examination.

According to the information, a special team of CMP’s Detective Branch led by its Additional Deputy Commissioner Tanvir Arafat, on Satur-day afternoon nabbed Nur Mohammad, owner of importer Khan Jahan Ali Limited.

In DB interrogation, the owner said one of his employees identi� ed as Sohel brought the consignment using the company’s pad and address. Later, the detective personnel nabbed Sohel while he confessed that his England expatriate cousin’s husband, through his friend, imported the consignment. l

E-TIN a must if child in English mediumstudents studying in Bangla medium schools.

With the same bill, the NBR has also brought some changes in the list of services requiring e-TIN and penalties for not follow-ing the rules.

Although having e-TINs is mandatory for directors or sponsor shareholders of a com-pany, the provision will not be applicable for non-residents. Foreigners will not require e-TINs for being directors or sponsor share-holders of a company in Bangladesh, the pro-posed bill said.

Changes have also been brought in the pro-visions for penalties and amounts.

If any new TIN-holder fails to � le income tax return, the NBR can impose a � ne not ex-ceeding Tk5,000. If any taxpayer submit fake audit report with return, they will have to face a penalty of Tk1 lakh.

If any service providing agency fails to verify the e-TIN of service seekers prior to delivering the service, the tax authority will impose a penalty of Tk50,000.

Currently, the submission of e-TIN is

mandatory for at least 25 services including issuance of trade licence, car registration, submission of tender documents,loans and credit cards from banks and obtaining commercial gas and electricity connections.

Electronic TINs will also be required for opening letters of credit, renewing trade li-cence, registering land and � ats, becoming members of trade bodies and issuance of practicising licence for doctors, chartered ac-countants and lawyers. l

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NEWS2DT

NEWS 3D

TTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

150 tra� cking victims return from Myanmarn Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

The BGB has brought back 150 Bangladesh-is who were found adrift near the Myanmar coast last month.

Buses carrying the rescued Bangladeshi na-tionals entered through the Ghumdhum border around 2pm, before taking them to the Ghumd-hum High School grounds for processing.

The repatriation was made following a � ag meeting between the Border Guard Bangladesh and Myanmar Border Police yesterday morning near the Ghumdhum-Dhekiboniya border.

The BGB team was led by BGB 17 Batallion Commander Lt Col Khondokar Saiful Alam, while the Myanmar delegation was led by Maungdaw Immigration Department Deputy Director Saw Naing.

BGB Cox’s Bazar Sector Commander Colo-nel Khalequzzaman said the rescued people hailed from di� erent districts of the country, with the largest number – 56 – from Narsingdi.

On May 21, the Myanmar Navy rescued 208 people from the sea, and later sent a list claim-ing 200 of them were Bangladeshi nationals. After scrutiny, 150 were identi� ed as Bangla-deshis.

Discussions are also going on between the two countries about the fate of 727 people – many of whom were reportedly Bangladeshis - who were rescued at sea on May 29.

Alleged human trafficker killed in gunfightA suspected member of a human tra� cking

gang was killed yesterday, allegedly in a gun-� ght with rivals in Alikhali Lobonmath area in Teknaf upazila.

The deceased was Amanullah Anu, 30, son of Mohammad So� , a resident of the upazila’s Rohingya refugee camp.

The police said two rival groups of human tra� ckers exchanged � re in Alikhali Lobonmath

early in the morning. On information, police went to the spot and recovered the body of Anu.

Ataur Rahman Khandakar, o� cer-in-charge of Teknaf police station, con� rmed the news to the UNB.

Mohammad Ullah, an o� cial of Noyapara Rohingya refugee camp, said Amanullah was a listed member of a human tra� cking gang. l

War crimes verdict on Hasan Ali todayn Ashif Islam Shaon

The International Crimes Tribunal will deliv-er its verdict today on alleged Razakar com-mander Syed Md Hasan Ali of Kishoreganj.

Hasan Ali – who remains on the run – faces six charges including killing, abduction and ar-son during the Liberation War in 1971. The tri-bunal 1, led by its Chairman Justice M Enayetur Rahim, yesterday � xed the date for delivering the verdict.

The 65-year-old accused, who is now po-litically inactive, was once involved with the anti-liberation organisation Nezam-e-Islami.

After concluding hearing of both prosecution and defence as well as the closing arguments, the court on April 20 had kept the case CAV, meaning the verdict could be delivered any day.

According to the prosecution, Hasan Ali had set up a camp of the anti-liberation force at Tarail’s local police station on April 23, 1971, from where he committed war crimes. Al-though the accused hailed from Brahmanbar-ia, he had been living in Tarail with his family for many years; he was there during the war.

On November 11 last year, the tribunal charged Hasan Ali with torching and looting seven houses of one Hasan Ahmed of Sachail village; complicity in killing one Tofazzal, abduction of two other people and burning of two houses in Konabhawal village; and in-volvement in killing 12 persons and torching 10 houses in Shimulhati village.

He was also charged with killing eight peo-ple and abducting 10 others in Borgaon vil-lage; abduction and murder of two and loot-ing one of their houses in Araiura village; and having links to the killing of Rashid Ali Bepari and torching 100 houses in Sachail village. l

Migrants who were found adrift at sea in a boat are repatriated across the Bangladesh-Myanmar border on the outskirts of Cox’s Bazar yesterday AFP

NEWS4DTTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

HC allows three colleges to hold admission testsn Ashif Islam Shaon

The High Court has allowed three colleges in Dhaka to hold admission test in order to admit students in Class XI for the academic year 2015-16.

Responding to a writ petition, the court yesterday stayed a government decision for Notre Dame College, Holy Cross College and St Joseph College for six months that asked the college authorities to admit students on the basis of their SSC results.

The court issued a ruling upon the government to explain in four weeks why its decision regarding the admission process should not be declared illegal.

The High Court bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir issued the order and the ruling, following the writ petition jointly � led by the principals of the three colleges on Sunday challenging the legality of the Education Ministry’s decision.

Their counsel Barrister Tamim Hossain Shawon said the Education Ministry issued a circular on June 1 that said students would be

admitted to colleges for their HSC course following a merit list, which would be prepared by the government based on the students’ SSC results this year.

The petitioners challenged six sections of the ministry’s circular regarding the admission of 2015-2016 education year. Tamim said the sections are not clear and will harm the students’ academic progress.

One of the section states that the circular will be applicable for all government and non-government colleges around the country. Another section says if any college violates the guideline, the non-government colleges will be out-listed from the MPO and will lose authority of running the HSC programme, and actions will be taken according to Government College Guideline against the government colleges it they do not follow the guideline.

Deputy Attorney General Kazi Zinat Haque said they would decide on going to the Supreme Court against the High Court order after consulting with the attorney general. l

Photojourno remanded over Ananta killingn Our Correspondent, Sylhet

A photojournalist of a local newspaper in Sylhet was remanded for seven days yester-day, after he was detained in connection with blogger Ananta Bijoy Das killing case.

Farzana Yasmin, judge of Sylhet Metropol-itan Magistrate Amoli Adalat 3, ordered Idris’ remand after the investigating o� cer pro-duced him before the court at noon.

Idris, who works at Sabuj Sylhet, a local daily,

was detained from Sylhet city on Sunday night.Ananta was hacked to death in Sylhet’s

Subidbazar area on May 12. Police initially began investigating the case but the CID was tasked with the probe on Friday.

Meherunnesa Parul, senior ASP of the CID, said CID’s organised crime unit was adminis-tering the probe from Dhaka.

Arman Ali, inspector of CID’s organised crime unit, said Idris was suspected of direct and indirect involvement in Ananta’s murder. l

Public servants fear delay in getting pay hike n Asif showkat kallol

Public servants are being promised bigger pay cheques from July 1 but Finance Minister AMA Muhith said nothing about this after the announcement of the budget for � scal year 2015-16.

Government o� cials have expressed frus-tration at this, and are worried that the Na-tional Pay Commission’s recommendations might not be implemented on time.

The � nance minister last year promised to implement the pay commission’s recommen-dations from January 1 this year but the govern-ment has allocated an additional Tk25,553 crore in the next � scal year’s budget for payment of the � rst phase of the new pay scale in line with the recommendations made by the review committee on the National Pay Commission.

Finance Division o� cials said there is enough allocation in the next budget, includ-ing Tk5,000 crore for implementation of the monthly pay order to selective schools and colleges and pay hike of the existing MPO schools and colleges.

Besides, Tk10,295 crore is hidden in assis-tance and grant head to pay salaries of civil servants and Tk5,000 crore for teachers of MPO schools and colleges.

According to Finance Division o� cials, lawmakers would pressure the � nance minis-ter to give monthly pay order to new schools

and colleges which is why the � nance min-ister refused to say when the new pay scale would be implemented.

Meanwhile, in the outgoing � scal year’s revised budget, a total of Tk14,374 crore has been earmarked for paying salaries of civil servants and defence sta� .

In the next � scal year’s proposed budget, Tk29,628 crore has been allocated for paying salaries of civil servants and defence sta� along with those engaged in development projects.

General Secretary of Bangladesh Secretariat Administration Association Abdul Mannaf told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “We will place our demands before the � nance minister after he returns from Dubai where he went to attend the Islamic Development Bank’s board meeting.”

He said Muhith was expected to be back on June 13.

“The National Pay Commission’s recom-mendations will be implemented in the next two years which will have a negative impact on market prices. That is why we will demand immediate implementation of the commis-sion’s recommendations. It will mean huge losses for government employees if pay scale recommendations are not implemented in one go,” said Mannaf.

“Government o� cials would face permanent � nancial losses after implementation of the pay scale as the time scale and section grades were not included in the recommendations.” l

Kalu Mia, 49, a bus driver’s assistant, is being carried by a policeman and a pedestrian at Manik Mia Avenue in Dhaka yesterday. A sergeant signalled the bus to stop but it skidded 15-20m before pulling over. When Kalu went to show the bus’ documents, the sergeant suddenly started beating him up. As he fell ill, pedestrians protested. Later, another tra� c sergeant arranged for Kalu to be taken to a hospital RAJIB DHAR

NEWS 5D

TTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

DB: Huji militants planned bank heists to raise fundsn Mohammad Jamil Khan

Detectives have found that a group of militants had been planning a bank heist to raise money for the so-called Bangladesh Jihadi Group, thought to be a common platform of the major outlawed out� ts.

The decision to form such a platform came more than a year ago when the leaders of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Harkat-ul Jihad Al Islami Bangladesh (Huji-B) and the Ansarullah Bangla Team held a secret meeting inside a jail. But that decision could not be materiliased because of a shortage of fund.

Detectives � rst came to know about such a group in October last year. The jihadi group has been molding itself in line with the international terrorist group Islamic State.

In April, nine people were killed when militants tried in vain to rob a bank in Ashulia near Dhaka. Earlier this month, police detained the mastermind of that attempted heist who is also known as a leader of the recently banned out� t Ansarullah. Other robbers have also confessed in police custody that they belonged to that out� t.

“We got such sensational information after arresting nine members of banned out� ts Huji-B and Ansarullah in separate drivers in Dhaka’s Sutrapur and Bansaree areas,” said Krishna Pada Roy, acting joint commissioner of police’s Detective Branch (DB), at a media brie� ng in Dhaka yesterday.

The nine are Kazi Iftekhar Khaled, 28, Fahad, 20, Rahat, 21, Din Islam, 25, Ariful Karim Chowdhury, 33, Nurul Islam, 29, Mawlana Nurullah Kashemi, 58, Delowar Hossain, 55, and Yeasin Arafat, 28.

Iftekhar, 28, a soil science graduate of Dhaka University who runs a printing press, is the operational chief of this nine-member group. Fahad, 20, is a bomb-making expert

and his father Nurullah Kashemi, who is now on the run, is the spiritual leader of this group.

Yeasin, Nurul and Din Islam work for a garment factory in Keraniganj near Dhaka. Of them, Nurul leads attacks and Ariful is the private secretary of their leader Kashemi.

In those drives, detectives have also seized 5kg explosives, an amount of bomb-making materials, a modern laboratory, eight bombs, six chocolate bombs, four machetes and Jihadi books.

Krishna Pada said that a DB team � rst conducted a drive in a garage of a house at Block L of Bansree around 3pm yesterday and arrested Khaled, Fahad, Kayes, Rahat, Din islam, Ariful and Nurul. Then based on

information given by them, they picked up the others in a house in Lalmohan street of Sutrapur in Old Dhaka.

During interrogation, the militants said they were planning to rob a number of banks in Dhaka and the northern districts. Krishna, however, did not disclose which banks were part of their plan.

“As of now, we still do not know whether they have links with the blogger-murders. We need to do more investigation for being able to tell more about this,” Krishna said.

Later yesterday, a Dhaka court granted police di� erent durations of remand – ranging from one to four days – for the criminals who were shown arrested in three robbery, explosives and anti-terrorism cases. l

The Detective Branch of DMP presents nine Huji militants who were arrested yesterday while preparing for a bank robbery. During raids at Banasree and Sutrapur in Dhaka, detectives also recovered weapons, gadgets, explosives and an Islamic State � ag MEHEDI HASAN

Another member of IS-linked out� t arrestedn Mohammad Jamil Khan

The Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested another member of newly formed militant out� t Junud at-Tawheed Wal Khilafah from the capital’s Banani area early yesterday.

“Based on information, a team of DB police arrested Fida Muntasir Saker from the DOHS area, says Krishna Pada Roy, acting joint com-missioner of DB police. Muntasir is the son of retired Navy commander Mohammad Saker.

One CPU, three laptops, three mobile sets, two hard disks, three mouses, two laptop chargers, one passport, di� erent types of 21 Jihadi books and a screen shot of one to 82 pages of his Facebook friends list were recov-ered from his possessions, he said.

Krishna, also the joint commissioner (crime) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, says that Muntasir is the associate of Abdullah Al Ghalib arrested last week.

Muntasir works as a recruiter of interna-tional terrorist group Islamic State.

In interrogation, Muntasir confessed to have worked as IS Bangladesh correspondent and collected members for the out� t from across the country through online.

“Muntasir recruits members, give them training and shelter before they join the IS,” says Joint Commissioner Krishna while ad-dressing a brie� ng at media and community center of the DMP.

Detectives, earlier, could trace the mili-tant out� t Junud at-Tawheed Wal Khilafah followed by the arrest of its founder Galib on May 31 this year.

The out� t is shaping up its organisation in line with the strategies of international terror-ist group Islamic State to establish caliphate in the country.

Galib told detectives that they had contact-ed ISIS through online and held meeting with 10 to 12 Ansarullah Bangla Team members to work out a plan for fresh IS recruits.

Based on Galib’s information detectives arrested Munsasir,” says Krishna Pada Roy, acting DB chief. l

Tk52.75cr disbursed for next Rooppur contract with Russian � rmn Asif Showkat Kallol

The Finance Division has disbursed Tk52.75 crore for the signing of the next contract with Russian state-run nuclear power equipment and service provider Atomstroyexport for the construction of the country’s � rst-ever nucle-ar power plant in Rooppur, Pabna.

Financial Division Deputy Secretary Sadia Sharmin signed circular in this regard on Wednesday. The disbursement is the fourth in-stalment from the fund for the nuclear plant al-located in the budget of the outgoing � scal year.

Sources at the Ministry of Science and Tech-nology said the contract, the fourth with the Russian � rm, will be signed in a few weeks when a delegation from the � rm visits Bangladesh.

The main construction of the nuclear power plant will start in the next � scal year, they added.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, State Minis-ter for Science and Technology Yeafesh Osman

said: “A team of Russian state-run � rm Atom-stroyexport will visit soon to sign the next deal to build the nuclear power plant in Rooppur.

“We hope that the power generated at Roop-pur will be added to the national grid in 2021, as per the government’s electoral promises.”

In the proposed budget for the FY2015-16, Tk1,028.92 crore has been allocated for further payment for the power plant’s construction.

Of the total amount, the government will provide Tk544.92 crore and the rest will be funded by the Russian government as per its ex-port credit contract.

In his budget speech, Finance Minister AMA Muhith hoped that the nuclear plant as well as the Padma Bridge would be completed during the current government’s tenure.

He said it would be possible since the two projects along with six others have been placed under a fast-track project monitoring commit-tee headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. l

NEWS6DTTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

TENSION OVER FACTIONAL FACE-OFF

Ershad leaves Barisal without declaring committeen Our Correspondent, Barisal

On the face of growing tension centring a con-ference between two factions, Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad yesterday left the city without announcing new committee as per the party rules.

Ershad attended the biennial conference of the city unit JP in Ashwini Kumar hall in the city as the chief guest, where he supposed to made the declaration as usual for the unit.

The JP chairman said he would announce the committee from Dhaka after getting the whole list.

Political scenario of the city turned into volatile as two JP factions announced pro-grammes on the hall premises at the same time. Consequently, local enforcement agen-cies also adopted additional measures to check possible any untoward incident.

However, JP district unit President Prof Mohsin Ul Islam Habul who leads a faction at last postponed his programme of “grass roots workers conference” on the request of Ershad.

Murtaza Abedin, convener of the confer-ence preparatory committee and councillor of Barisal City Corporation, leads another fac-tion.

In the event, Ershad opined the people have been passing tough time under the Awa-mi League-led g o v e r n m e n t and that was why they want relief from the su� ocating situ-ation.

Of them, women are most unse-cured and the disgusting state was not availa-ble during the JP rule, Ershad continued.

Later, the JP chairman as-sured of ensur-

ing good governance for the countrymen if he is voted to power.

He called upon his activists to work al-together shunning all factional disputes to make the party strong and dynamicfor gaining the state-power by wining in next

general election.JP Presidium Member and also Water Re-

sources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, LGRD State Minister Moshiur Rahman Ranga, and MP and Secretary General Ziauddin Bablu ad-dressed the event among others. l

Museum opens in Barisal eight years after completionn Our Correspondent, Barisal

Barisal divisional museum was inaugurated at the 200-year old Collectorate Bhavan in the city yesterday.

Cultural A� airs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor inaugurated the museum completed almost eight years ago.

High o� cials of the cultural ministry, archeology directorate, divisional and district administration as well as local elites at-tended the inauguration ceremony.

The museum is situated at Barisal Deputy Commissioner’s of-� ce complex opposite to Barisal City Corporation bhaban.

At the event, the cultural minister narrating the importance of a museum to preserve history said the new generation should be aware of the our enrich archeology.

After the inauguration, the minister visited di� erent galleries of the museum and put his comments on visitors’ book.

Then, local elites requested the minister to open regional of-� ce of the archeology directorate at Barisal.

The locals also urged the minister to expedite approval and appointment of 38-strong workforce, including curator, deputy director, assistant director, o� ce sta� s, security guards and care-takers.

The museum would be remained open on weekly working days from 10am to 6pm during summer and 9am to 6pm during winter season with entrance fee of Tk5 for minor aged above � ve-year, Tk10 for general, Tk 25 for SAARC countries’ citizens and Tk100 for citizens of other countries.

A good number of antiques have displayed at six galleries of the museum , said AKM Saifur Rahman, assistant director of ar-cheology department.

A gazette noti� cation was published on April 1, 2004 declar-ing the Barisal collectorate building a national heritage site and directorate of archeology.

The then state minister for cultural a� airs, Selima Rahman, and Barisal  city mayor, Majibur Rahman Sarwar MP o� cially laid foundation of Barisal  divisional  museum project on April 8, 2005.

The two-year project from July 2005 to June 2007 worth Tk2.43 core was scheduled to be opened for the visitors in June 2008. l

NEWS 7D

TTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:45PM SUN RISES 5:10AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

39.4ºC 24.7ºC

Jessore Sandwip

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 36 29Chittagong 32 27Rajshahi 40 29Rangpur 34 26Khulna 37 28Barisal 34 28Sylhet 31 25Cox’s Bazar 31 26

PRAYER TIMESFajr 3:40am

Sunrise 5:09amZohr 11:58am

Asr 4:38pmMagrib 6:45pm

Esha 8:15pm

WEATHER

TUESDAY, JUNE 9

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

Tofail reassures stable commodity prices during Ramadann Tribune Report

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has reas-sured that the prices of essentials will remain stable during the month of Ramadan as the commodities are su� ciently stocked to meet the increased demand.

“No one will be able to create an arti� cial crisis to make extra pro� t, as there are ade-quate supply of the essentials,” the minister said at a review meeting with businessper-sons concerned at Export Promotion Bureau in Dhaka yesterday.

He also thanked the traders for keeping their promise last year to keep the commodity prices stable and hoped that the same thing would happen this year as well.

Tofail urged the retailers to have a reasona-

ble pro� t margin to keep the prices at a tolera-ble level as there are allegations against them that they increase the prices whimsically.

He also asked the retailers to keep the price of sugar at Tk40 per kg.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Edible Oil Whole-sale Merchants’ Association President Md Go-lam Mawla blamed the retailers for the price hike during Ramadan.

He said there is a di� erence of Tk30 per kg on an average between retail and wholesale prices.

Golam Mawla urged the government to take initiatives to reduce the price di� erence by monitoring the market and ensuring fair prices for the consumers.

Predicting a stable market during Rama-dan, City Group owner Fazlur Rahman said: “There is no scope of an increase in the pric-

es of � our , sugar and edible oil as the stocks have one-and-a-half times more products than what is necessary to meet the demands.”

Beef Traders Association General Secretary Rezaul Karim also said the supply of cattle is starting to go back to normal and the beef prices will remain stable during Ramadan.

Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) will award the traders who keep the prices of commodi-ties at reasonable levels during Ramadan, said Abdul Matlub Ahmad, newly elected presi-dent of the apex trade body.

Senior Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, Meghna Group owner Mostafa Kamal and Madina Group owner Haji Moham-mad Selim were also present at the meeting, among others. l

Rajshahi city to go under IP cameras surveillancen Nazim Mridha, Rajshahi

Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) has taken an initiative to bring four vital zones under the surveillance of internet protocol (IP) dig-ital cameras with a view to checking criminal activities and tra� c congestion in and around the city.

Commissioner of the RMP Mohammad Shamsuddin said primarily the city’s Bindur intersection, Saheeb Bazar, Collegiate School intersection and Lakshmipur intersection would be brought under the project setting up a total 16 IP digital cameras.

In recent times, the number of crime inci-dents has increased in the city and during the political turmoil it went beyond the control of police, said the RMP boss Shamsuddin.

In the pre-general election mayhem, police constable Siiddarta was killed and PSI Makbul Hossain ost his legs in a bomb attack in the

city, but all attackers are yet to be identi� ed, Shamsuddin said, adding that they could eas-ily identify the criminals from video footage.

The city dwellers expressed satisfaction over installation of the cameras and hoped that the initiative would reduce criminal ac-tivities in the city.

Sikandar Ali, director of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said: “I wel-comed these initiatives of the RMP because if the IP cameras are set up, the aggressors would not dare to vandalise business estab-lishments in the city.”

General Secretary of Rajshahi Raksha San-gram Parishad Jamat Khan said the step of the RMP authorities was praiseworthy as it would help law enforcement agencies to identify the assailants and to ease tra� c congestion.

A project involving Tk8 lakh has been sent to police headquarters in the capital to take measures to boost up security in Rajshahi city

and later on the project has been approved, said Shamsuddin.

He said contractors had already taken steps to set up cameras on the respective spots.

“The IP cameras would be monitored re-motely over the internet from the city police headquarters,” Shamsuddin added.

Apart from this, general people could be able to see the recorded video footage click-ing a web link which will be given on the RMP website, he further added.

“In future, the entire city will be brought under this project,” he said.

Abdur Rahman Munna, proprietor of Labib Enterprise which was entrusted with the re-sponsibility of setting up cameras, said they had set up cable and IP cameras at the select-ed zones.

“After completion of a few technical works, the service will be launched at the end of this month,” he said. l

Teachers observe work abstention demanding pay scalen Tribune Report

Teachers of Rajshahi University (RU), Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology (DUET), Gazipur, and Khulna University (KU) observed 2-hour work abstention yesterday demanding pay scale.

Our Rajshahi Correspondent reports: Rajshahi University Teachers Association (RUTA) observed work abstention demand-ing revision of 8th national pay scale includ-ing the salary structure of a senior professor or professor, equalising to senior secretariat range.

They started the programme at 11am which continued till 1pm. No class of the university was held.

The teachers also staged sit-in in front of the Senate building on the campus in this re-gard.

The function was presided over by the RUTA president Prof Ananda Kumar Saha while Syed Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury, Prof Dr Zahidul Islam, Prof Habibir Rahman, Prof Dr Fazlul Haque and Mamun Abdul Kaoi-um spoke among others.

Meanwhile, the scheduled exams of di� er-ent department were held as usual during the work abstention.

RUTA president Prof Ananda Kumar Saha has said all the public university teachers have been disgraced in 8th pay scale.

“We urge the government to equalise the scale of university senior professor with the same grade of senior secretary and profes-sor’s scale with the same scale of secretary”, he also said. l

These two tra� c signal posts seemingly have other purposes beside � ashing tra� c lights – they are also supporting a massive bamboo frame, on which political activists hang their festoons and banners. The photo was taken at the Shahbagh intersection in the capital yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

WORLD8DTTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

Turkey facing turbulence after Erdogan poll blown AFP, Istanbul

Turkey yesterday entered a new period of po-litical and � nancial turbulence after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party lost its absolute majority in parliament for the � rst time since coming to power in 2002.

The uncertainty swiftly rattled � nancial markets, with stocks tumbling in morning trade and the Turkish lira plummeting in val-ue against the dollar.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has dominated Turkish politics for the last 13 years but came up well short of a majority of seats in Sunday’s legislative elections due to a breakthrough showing by the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP).

A coalition government and early elections are both now possibilities, in a situation un-precedented since the Islamic-rooted AKP swept to power.

The results wrecked the ambition of Erdo-gan – prime minister from 2003 to 2014 and now president – of agreeing a new constitu-tion to switch Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system.

Such a change would have required a two-thirds majority in parliament. Just months be-fore the election, Erdogan had been targeting 400 seats for the AKP.

However Erdogan’s statement remained strictly presidential, in contrast to his hugely partisan behaviour on behalf of the AKP in the campaign.

In his � rst reaction to the result, Erdogan ac-knowledged that the AKP would not be able to govern alone and urged Turkey’s political forc-es to show responsibility in “a new process.”

“According to the available results, no par-ty will be able to govern alone,” he said in a statement released by the presidency that

hailed the conduct of the elections.“Political forces (should) show responsi-

ble behaviour and the necessary sensitivity to preserve the atmosphere of stability and con� dence in our country and our democratic achievements,” he said.

The pro-government Yeni Safak said early elections were “on the horizon,” with “weak” possibilities of a coalition.

But Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kur-tulmus played down the chance of early elec-tions ahead of a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, saying it was the “most distant possibility.”

Analysts have seen the nationalist MHP as the most likely coalition partner for the AKP in the new parliament. Another Deputy Prime Minister, Bulent Arinc, even suggested that the MHP, CHP and HDP should try and form a coalition between themselves.

The result was a triumph for the HDP, which in the campaign had sought to present itself as a genuinely Turkish party and reach out to voters beyond its mainly Kurdish sup-port base to secular Turks, women and gays.

The parties now have 45 days to form a co-alition, after which new elections would have to be called. l

49 civilians dead in Syria regime raidn AFP, Beirut

At least 49 civilians, including six children, were killed yesterday in Syrian government air strikes on a town in Idlib province in the country’s northwest, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the raids hit a square in the town of Al-Ja-nudiyah, in the west of the province, which is now almost completely controlled by opposi-tion forces.

“It’s a public square, and a lot of people gather there because there are shops,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

He told AFP that people displaced from other areas of Idlib province had also sought refuge in Al-Janudiyah.

Regime military aircraft � red missiles on the town, he said.

Al-Janudiyah has been under opposi-tion control for some time, but much of the province has only recently fallen to a re-bel alliance that includes Al-Qaeda a� liate Al-Nusra Front.

Al-Janudiyah lies north of Jisr al-Shughur, which fell on April 25, less than a month af-ter the alliance seized the provincial capital Idlib city.

Government forces now hold only a hand-ful of positions in the province. l

China monitors university entrance exams with dronesn AFP, Beijing

Chinese students sat the annual make-or-break university entrance exams yesterday, with o� cials deploying drones or high-tech radio surveillance trucks at schools across the country to try and curb increasingly sophisti-cated cheating methods.

Nearly 10 million students will sit the cru-cially important two-day exam, known as the gaokao – or “high test.”

Authorities have become increasingly con-cerned about the risk of students using devic-es such as smart phones – some of which have become smaller and easier to hide – as an illic-it aid during tests.

Beijing deployed 17,000 police o� cers to redirect tra� c and increase security at the testing sites, and also set up service stations to treat anxious parents should any su� er heart attacks, the city government said in a statement.

The exam is the only method used to gain entry to the nation’s universities which for poorer children can mean the di� erence be-tween a white-collar o� ce job and a life as a migrant labourer.

O� cials in Luoyang, in Henan province purchased a drone designed to search for ra-dio signals that could indicate cheating stu-dents, according to the Dahe News, the o� -cial provincial newspaper.

It will monitor signals from 500 metres above the test site, the paper said.

Photos on the website of the govern-ment-run China Daily showed radio engineer-ing technicians using computers and scan-ning devices to search for signals that could be used to transmit answers to students.

In past years cheating devices have been found to be sewn into clothes. l

Cameron’s o� ce seeks to calm row over EU referendumn AFP, London

Prime Minister David Cameron’s o� ce sought to calm a row over the forthcoming EU refer-endum yesterday after appearing to suggest that ministers must campaign for Britain to stay in the bloc or quit.

The Conservative leader is negotiating with EU leaders to try to change Britain’s terms of membership with the European Union before holding an in-out referendum by 2017.

Speaking at the G7 summit in Germany on Sunday, Cameron said his position was to “re-negotiate, get a deal that’s in Britain’s interest and then recommend Britain stays in it.”

He added: “If you want to be part of the government you have to take the view that we are engaged in an exercise of renegotiation to have a referendum and that will lead to a successful outcome.”

His comments were viewed in the press and by eurosceptic Conservative lawmakers to mean that ministers who wanted to cam-paign for Britain to leave the EU would have to quit the cabinet.

“It’s pretty plain – there’s not much room to interpret – that anybody who is going to vote against and campaign against continued membership of the European Union would have to leave government,” former Europe minister David Davis told BBC radio.

A group comprising of more than 50 Con-servative MPs said at the weekend that it would lead calls for Britain to leave the EU un-less Cameron secured major concessions from Brussels. Its chairman in parliament, lawmak-er Steve Baker, said yesterday: “If we don’t get a sovereign parliament, I would be quite sur-prised if one or two (ministers) don’t resign.”

Cameron’s spokeswoman tried to calm the row, however, insisting that he had yet to de-cide whether ministers could campaign on opposing sides in the referendum.

“The prime minister was clearly talking about the position of collective responsibility during the renegotiation,” not the referen-dum campaign, she said. She said it would be an “over-interpretation” to suggest he was threatening to sack ministers if they wanted to vote for Britain to leave the EU. l

AKP

MHPHDP

CHP132

258

80 80

Near-complete official results (99.9% votes counted)

125

31118

1529 52

Outgoing parliament

Number of seats

Source: Turkish parliament

Turkish parliament

550seats

Others

AKP: Justice and DevelopmentParty Right-wingMHP: Nationalist MovementParty Far-right

CHP: Republican People’sParty Centre-left

HDP: People’s DemocraticParty Left-wing

Vacant

Washington Post reporter begins trial defence in Irann AFP, Tehran

Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post corre-spondent accused of spying on Iran, began his defence yesterday in a trial that is taking place behind closed doors in Tehran, local media reported.

Rezaian, a 39-year-old Iranian-Ameri-can, has been in custody since last July in a case that has clouded nuclear talks between Iran and world powers led by the United States.

In a short report Iran’s Tasnim news agen-cy said Rezaian, who is accused of collecting con� dential information, cooperating with hostile governments and disseminating prop-aganda against the regime, answered some of the charges against him.

The report did not give any details of what Rezaian said in court.

The o� cial IRNA news agency, quoting an informed source, said the date of the next hearing would be announced later.

The Post has said that Rezaian is being used as a pawn in an internal political power strug-gle about the ongoing nuclear diplomacy. l

WORLD 9D

TTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

G7 warns Russia of more sanctions, pledges climate action

n AFP, Elmau Castle

World leaders yesterday warned Russia it would face stepped-up sanctions for its “ag-gression” in Ukraine, as they wrapped up a G7 meeting also pledging strong action to � ght climate change.

At a luxury retreat nestled in the pic-ture-perfect Bavarian Alps, the leaders of the most powerful countries also tackled threats to global security posed by Islamist extremism and risks to the global economy from Greece.

For the third time, Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin was barred from the sum-mit due to what US President Barack Oba-ma termed his “aggression in Ukraine,” as the group of seven top powers closed ranks against Russia.

“We ... stand ready to take further restric-tive measures in order to increase cost on

Russia should its actions so require,” said the leaders in a joint communique after the two-day huddle.

“We recall that the duration of sanctions should be clearly linked to Russia’s complete implementation of the Minsk agreements and respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty,” the leaders added, referring to a peace deal struck in the Belarus capital.

The tough line from the world’s power brokers came as Ukraine’s defence minister accused pro-Russian rebels – backed by Mos-cow – of deploying an army of 40,000 men on the Ukrainian border.

Merkel and French President Francois Hol-lande, meanwhile, pushed their G7 counter-parts to reach consensus on another burning global issue, climate change, ahead of a crunch year-end United Nations summit in Paris.

The leaders stressed that “deep cuts in

global greenhouse gas emissions” were re-quired with “a decarbonisation of the global economy over the course of this century.”

The aim was to send a clear signal to push other nations taking part in the Paris meeting to commit to reducing dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, which threaten to melt ice caps and glaciers, raise sea levels and bring more violent storms and � oods.

Another pressing problem has been the haggling between debt-hit Greece and its in-ternational creditors – the EU, ECB and IMF.

Merkel warned “we don’t have much more time” to resolve the debt crisis, with Athens and its creditors – the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and European Central Bank – having been locked in negoti-ations for � ve months on reforms needed to unlock 7.2 billion euros ($8 billion) in rescue funds that Athens desperately needs. l

Ukraine says rebels have army of ‘mid-sized European state’n AFP, Kiev, Ukraine

Ukraine’s defence minister yesterday accused pro-Russian rebels backed up by Moscow’s forces of assembling a 40,000-strong army su� cient for a “mid-sized European state.”

Stepan Poltorak’s estimates � y in the face of Russia’s denials that it either backs the separatist � ghters or covertly sneaks troops across its southwestern border into the Ukrainian warzone.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko last week put the number of active Russian sol-diers in his former Soviet republic’s industrial east at more than 9,000.

But President Vladimir Putin de-scribes Russians � ghting against Ukraine’s pro-Western government troops as patriot-ic volunteers and o� -duty soldiers who are

answering “a call of the heart.”The Ukrainian defence minister said the

insurgent army – in control of parts of the Russian-speaking Lugansk and Donetsk re-gions that are home to about four million peo-ple – could muster more than 550 tanks and an arsenal of other heavy weapons.

“The combined size of the Russian armed forces and illegal armed formations...stands at more than 42,500,” Poltorak told a group of visiting lawmakers from NATO countries.

“This amount of weapons, as we all un-derstand, would be su� cient for a mid-sized European state.”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Kiev’s own eastern force had grown to more than 50,000 after being limited to 5,000 soldiers at the onset of the war 14 months ago. l

Hong Kong sets ‘serious’ response to S Korea MERS outbreakn Reuters, Seoul

Hong Kong upgraded to “serious” yesterday its response to an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in South Ko-rea, where the number of cases jumped and fears grew about the economic impact of the disease.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the progress of MERS, which has been spreading in South Korea since last month when a businessman brought it home from a Middle East trip, had to be halted, a day af-ter authorities began using mobile phones to trace people who violate quarantine.

With a surge in the number of cases to 87 from 44 the previous day, South Korea has the second highest number of infections after Sau-di Arabia, according to data from the European

Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.An 80-year-old man became South Korea’s

sixth fatality of a disease that � rst appeared in the Middle East in 2012. Most of the disease’s approximately 445 fatalities have been in the Middle East but memories are fresh in Asia of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in 2002-2003 and killed about 800 people worldwide.

MERS is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as the one that caused SARS.

Malaysia has advised its nationals to avoid South Korea while Singapore has postponed or cancelled school trips. In China, airports stepped up monitoring and authorities have asked airlines to report any passengers with high temperatures. Vietnam and Cambodia ordered heightened screening of arrivals from South Korea. l

Kremlin says nothing new in tough G7 line on Russian Reuters, Moscow

Russia said yesterday it saw nothing new in the tough line taken by leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) on Moscow over sanctions and suggested there were di� erences among its member states.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and European Council President Donald Tusk said they hoped the G7, meeting in Germany, would present a united front on sanctions to-wards Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

“Yes, we paid attention to the latest decla-rations on sanctions. These are not new the-ses,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“We also drew attention to the fact that among the participants of this meeting there are nuances in their approaches. Some talk about the need for dialogue with Russia and the impossibility of solving serious problems without this dialogue, so we continue watch-ing closely.”

European Union leaders agreed in March that its sanctions on Moscow over its role in Ukraine would stay until a cease� re agree-ment reached in the Belarussian capital of Minsk on Feb. 12 is fully implemented, but a formal decision has yet to be taken.

Russia, which annexed the Crimea penin-sula from Ukraine in March last year, denies providing pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine with weapons and soldiers.

Peskov said the G7 should be aware which side must carry out its obligations under the Minsk agreement - implying Kiev.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking separately yesterday, urged West-ern powers to ensure that Kiev meets its obligations under the agreement, which in-clude pulling back heavy weapons and al-lowing more autonomy in regions held by the separatists.

“We proceed from the fact that Germany and France, other colleagues in the EU and the United States ... will work with the Ukrain-ian authorities, encouraging them honestly to fully implement the Minsk agreements,” Lav-rov told a news conference. l

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures while chatting with US President Barack Obama sitting on a bench outside the Elmau Castle after a working session of a G7 summit near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany yesterday AFP

ADVERTISEMENT10DT

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

11D

TEDITORIALTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

INSIDE

Last week’s Budget proposes to more than double tax at source on garment exports from 0.3% to 1%.

We agree with the BGMEA and BKEMA that the proposed increase risks hampering the export growth of the ready-made garment sector and should be reconsidered.

Other export-oriented sectors will also see this tax increase to 1% from their current rate of 0.6%. While these increases follow a previous interim reduction from 0.8%, they are unexpected by exporters who have still been having to overcome obstacles from hartals and blockades.

In the � rst 10 months of the last � nancial year, political instability has kept export growth to only around a third of the national target of 10%.

The proposed increase also does nothing to broaden the tax base as it directly a� ects that are already contributing heavily to economic well-being and paying considerable taxes.

With four-� fths of Bangladesh’s export earnings coming from RMG, the sector can do more for the nation if it is helped to grow exports to meet its “$50bn by 2021” target and secure new jobs, rather than by paying higher taxes at source.

Now is not the time to increase costs that could hamper the sector when its growth is vital to helping the government achieve its stated target of 7% GDP growth.

The government should promise to use the increased revenues it is seeking from the industry for investment in helping export-oriented industries.

It should commit to go beyond the measures already announced such as exempting VAT on safety equipment and increase investment in skills development and promoting EPZs to attract the investment needed to increase productivity and exports.

Increase investment in skills development to help grow exports and secure new jobs

Channel taxes to help exporters grow jobs

Politics thrives on simplicity

Everybody gets oldAlthough both private and public sector jobs often provide pensions, the amount they get doesn’t su� ce for a decent living

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207

Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com

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

com www.dhakatribune.com

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PAGE 12

PAGE 13

PAGE 14

RAJIB DHAR

Hasina stands between us and the extremistsBangladesh is at the crossroads of Islamism and secularism

Whether it is something as high pro� le as gun control in the USA or something as under-represented as tribal cultural assimilation in Bangladesh, the intricacies are innumerable

OPINION12DT

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

n Masuda Bhatti

Hacking down four atheist bloggers in the last two years brought Bang-ladesh to the world’s headlines. In a couple of days, there may be an-

other name in these headlines. A spokesman from the Bangladeshi security agency says that there are not only bloggers, but writers and secular politicians also on the hit-list of Islamist groups.

It seems as if the country is no longer safe for free-thinkers. At least, that is what my Facebook friends are thinking. And nowadays, I choose these friends with great caution as I myself have been attacked online since I started writing for Bangladeshi news-papers. I cannot begrudge my friends their anxiety about my security.

In February 2015, a Bangladeshi-US atheist blogger was hacked to death and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina could not give con-dolences to the family in public because of the volatile political situation in Bangladesh. Mentioning this in an interview with Reuters, the son of the prime minister and advisor, Sa-jeeb Wazed Joy, said there were people who always wanted to prove that AL was atheistic.

In Bangladesh, this is the worst-case scenario for any party contesting an election, where voters are motivated by the religious actions taken by political parties. Many feath-ers were ru� ed at Joy’s comments, and many think this will encourage the Islamists to kill even more.

To understand Mr Sajeeb Wazed Joy’s stance, we have to go back to the country’s past. Achieving independence from Pakistan in 1971 was an unprecedented event for the Bengali nation. Soon after, the founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, presented a constitution praised by the democratic and secular world for including four principles: Bengali Nationalism, democracy, socialism, and secularism.

He also banned the political parties based on religion such as Jamaat-e-Islami, who not only opposed the country’s independ-ence, but was also involved in the genocide -- together with the Pakistani military -- of 3 million Bengalis and the rape of 200,000 Bengali women. Sheikh Mujib was, of course, later brutally killed along with his family members, except for his two daughters who were in Germany at the time.

After his death, however, Bangladesh started running exactly as Mujib had not envisioned it. The � rst military ruler of Bangladesh, General Ziaur Rahman, changed the four principles of the constitution by military ordinance. He threw out secularism, socialism, and Bengali Nationalism from the constitution, and gave the permission to religion-based political parties to do politics in the name of multi-party democracy.

Therefore, parties like Jamaat-e-Islami, whose leaders were exiled in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or elsewhere, came back to Bangla-desh. General Zia himself formed a political party from cantonment with the help of the leaders of China-supported socialist parties. Many religious leaders and ex-government and army o� cials also joined his party. The BNP, whose power relied on the military, on religion, and bureaucracy, became the

main opponent of Sheikh Mujib’s secular and democratic AL, whose leadership went to his daughter, Sheikh Hasina, in the 1980s.

After the assassination of Ziaur Rahman, General Ershad took power and declared Is-lam the religion of the state, instantly forcing the people of other religions to become sec-ond-class citizens by default. He also formed another political party, the Jatiya Party, and, like General Zia, he had the same political ideology, except this time he included the business tycoons of the country in his party.

In Bangladesh, there are many religion-based political parties, among which radical Isla-mist parties also exist. It is worth mentioning that none of these religion-based parties boast a connection to any religion other than Islam, and most of them are allied with the BNP-led 20-party alliance against the AL.

Moreover, in 2001, when the BNP and Jamaat-led government was in power, several Islamist groups came out of the woodwork, such as Ansarullah Bangla Bhai, Harqat-ul-Zi-had, and others. In 2005, there were at least 300 bomb blasts throughout Bangladesh, and other bomb blasts in cinema halls and cultur-al programs caused many casualties.

Much of the foreign media, including Time Magazine and the Far Eastern Economic Review, reported on the existence of Islamic terrorism in Bangladesh. But the BNP-Jamaat led government denied this and blamed the media for defaming Bangladesh. The Bang-ladeshi people were terri� ed by these acts of terrorism. But not many protests were held

against it, and, in the 2008 election, more than 30% of votes went to the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance, who were in support of religious extremism in the country. There is no doubt about why many independent researchers claim that religious fanaticism is an increas-ing reality in Bangladesh.

Till now, the AL is the lone soldier against this increasingly strong extremist current. There are some leftist political forces who have also tried to raise their voice against them, but they do not have public support.

Coming to power in 2008, Sheikh Hasina initiated the ICT to bring those perpetrators to justice, the ones who committed crimes against humanity in 1971, most of whom are members of Jamaat and BNP.

This decision, which betrays her pro-capi-tal punishment stance, has been picked up by international media outlets such as the BBC and Al-Jazeera, deeming Hasina a religious leader. She narrowly escaped several attacks on her herself, including a grenade attack in 2004 which killed 24 of her party members.

The situation has become crucial for her and her party. If she or any other member of her party criticises any Islamist act, then her party is blamed for being anti-Islam. Recent-ly, a cabinet member of AL made a comment on pilgrimages to Mecca, explaining that poor people do not need to go for Hajj as it is unnecessary expenditure. Subsequently, the Bangladeshi mainstream and social media were stormed by criticism of his words.

There were thousands of cases � led

against him for defaming Islam; he was oust-ed from the cabinet and ended up in jail. The court hearing is ongoing. On the other hand, if Sheikh Hasina or any member of her party says something slightly in favour of Islam -- for example, the aforesaid interview of her son (and advisor) with Reuters -- the secu-larists will blame her and her party for being supporters of extremism. It has become quite the dilemma for the AL.

What is Bangladesh then? A secular state? No, by its constitution it is not. A religious state? Not really, as a secular force like the AL is still ruling the country. However, it is not clear what the character of the state is even after more than four decades of its birth. Bangladesh is, rather, at the crossroads of Isla-mism and secularism. The country is strongly divided, but one can argue that the support-ers of Islamism will supersede secularism.

They can give evidence of the country’s 35,000 Islamic institutions, commonly known as madrasas, whose more than 20 million students and teachers will never vote for secularism. And one can easily predict that there are more of these religious-minded people within the government itself, and in our police force and army, and even in the AL, and when the time comes, they may very well stand against their own.

It is necessary to keep religious extremism out of Bangladesh for the stability of South Asia, as often Bangladesh is called the gate-way of this region. But it is not just the re-sponsibility of Sheikh Hasina and her party. It is the responsibility of others too. Then again, who else would be willing to come forward to volunteer their lives for this risky cause?

We can be happy blaming Sheikh Hasina, her son, or her party for compromising with the extremists, but this is also very true that only her government has had success tackling religious jingoists. However, the truth remains that our nation has become fertile ground for growing Islamic fanaticism over the last four-and-a-half decades, and we, as citizens, are cohabiting with Islamic extremism. l

Masuda Bhatti is a poet and columnist.

Hasina stands between us and the extremists

It is not clear what the character of the state is even after more than four decades of its birth. Bangladesh is, rather, at the crossroads of Islamism and secularism

Whether Islam is integral to the Bangladeshi identity remains a matter of debate REUTERS

OPINION 13D

TTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

n Najiba Nuren Khan andNaima Nuren Khan

Bangladesh, home to approximately 160 million people, has experienced a speedy decline in its birth rate and childhood mortality. In addition to

these two changes, there has also been an increase in life expectancy. The proportion of the elderly population of the country is expected to grow by over 200% between the years 2000 and 2030. This indicates that by 2030 the elderly population of Bangladesh is likely to be 17 million.

Alongside this ageing population, our society is undergoing many more transfor-mations, for instance modernisation, urban-isation, and more people moving from being extended to nuclear families. And these ongoing transformations are manipulating the current status and control of the elderly people in our community.

For Bangladesh, population ageing is a bigger concern because unlike the developed coun-tries, it has low income, insu� cient resourc-es, and less time to adjust with new changes. Thus, it ampli� es the di� culties of the older population of our society, particularly the un-der-privileged and elderly women. This has lead to a substantial increase in elder abuse and neglect.

Elder abuse and neglect has many di-mensions including psychological, physical, sexual, and � nancial exploitation. Due to the non-existence of a nationally perceived policy on ageing, the smaller programs by several development � rms lack direction and co-ordination in their work.

Moreover, in old age, people are exposed to more diseases, illness, and injuries, and thus expense on healthcare facilities for the elderly population is relative to the younger people to a greater extent. Even then, not enough emphasis is given on their nutritional needs and well-being. The elderly population is facing more problems, such as scarcity of fresh water, sanitation facilities, lack of proper healthcare, mistreatment at the hands of others, etc.

At present, there are very few public programs supporting the elder citizens of our society. Although both private and public sector jobs often provide pensions, the amount they get doesn’t su� ce for a decent living. However, the amount of pensions re-ceived is more than often insu� cient to meet

their rising needs. Thus, the family’s support is the primary source of living for the elderly of our community.

Currently, there are about three types of government facilities accessible to the elderly, which include the Old Age Allowance Program (OAAP), help for widowed and in-solvent women, and old age homes. OAAP is an arrangement for the elderly, in which � ve men and � ve women from every managerial division is granted Tk100 for each month.

This monetary support is given on a “prior-ity basis” just to those old people who are not in good health or have impairments, do not acquire any land, and whose yearly earning is below Tk3,000. Quite naturally, the program is insu� cient relative to the large number of needy elders in our society, and the amount given is inadequate in meeting their needs.

In the traditional context of Bangladesh, individuals rarely construct a � nancial plan for their old age support. Parents work all their lives to spend on their children’s wellbeing, and by the time old age comes, ownership of assets is also transferred to them. Often, � nancial dependency leads to a feeling of uselessness and may also result in elder abuse. It is the lack of proper � nancial planning for old age that stands as a prime factor for the mistreatment of the elderly.

When parents reach old age at an average age of 60, their children are in the middle of their career growths, with their own families to care for. With limited incomes and grow-ing expenditure, dependence on children for � nancial stability often results in neglect and abuse. Hence, it is essential for the older generation to adhere to the ownership of ad-equate funds or assets. And at the same time, it is important for all working individuals to plan ahead for future � nancial independence in their old age.

Another way to improve the elderly’s living standards is to increase public welfare services for the elderly by developing more old age homes and providing upgraded quality of service. Also, micro and macro level counseling may be used as an approach to eradicate stereotyping the elderly people, and encourage individuals to be engaged in more services catering to the elder citizens.

Bangladesh can also bring in the concept of paid home helpers, which has previously been used in many developed countries. Under this concept, the helper assists the elderly in their own homes which allows the elderly to be more comfortable.

With the current economic and social state, government support is important, but individual awareness and planning for old age sustenance is even more imperative. Although, as a nation, family bonds are held high, elder abuse and neglect is also a pre-vailing challenge. It is time to break free from the conventional ways of thinking and to independently prepare for one’s own old age rather than expecting old age care from any-one else. It is essential to hold the ownership of � nancial wealth and to systematically plan ahead for � nancial independence in old age to avoid old age abuse and neglect. l

Najiba Nuren Khan and Naima Nuren Khan are freelance contributors.

Everybody gets old

Although both private and public sector jobs often provide pensions, the amount they get doesn’t su� ce for a decent living

We must help our elderly stand on their own feet BIGSTOCK

OPINION14DT

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

n Ibtisam Ahmed

Take a look at any election campaign -- whether Bangladesh’s turbulent attempt in 2014, the UK’s surprise result this year, or the USA’s impend-

ing battle royale next year -- and the one thing that keeps coming back is the � ght to win grand debates in a nutshell.

Justice versus legitimacy. Patriotism ver-sus diversity. Security versus freedom. With news cycles becoming increasingly shorter and ways of disseminating information more varied, it is easy to understand the tempta-tion to take away nuance in favour of a sharp message that is easily taken in. However, it makes the practice no less forgivable.

Political dissent is a powerful tool, and one of the greatest features of any successful system of governance. After all, if everyone agreed on everything, there is no point in having such a system in place to begin with. Encouraging debate -- itself a rare occurrence in contemporary politics -- allows for more opinions to be heard and fairer compromises to be reached in the absence of unanimous consent.

While it is di� cult -- indeed, undesira-ble -- to accommodate di� erence when it comes to issues of basic rights, many political debates deserve a greater understanding of their depth than is actually a� orded to them. Fostering and engaging with di� erence, then, should be the hallmark of an ideal system. The reality is far less utopian.

Consider the conundrum facing Rudy Giuliani, New York’s 9/11 hero, and once a

front-runner for a Republican presidential nomination back in 2008.

Were he to run for the 2016 race, his credentials would set him apart from most, if not all, of his rivals. Yet, the former mayor has no intention of returning to the political arena because he does not � t neatly into the desired mould.

Giuliani is practically a Democrat, with his opinions being for less stringent immigra-tion laws and against large-scale foreign interventions. He is reportedly against mass surveillance as well. Yet, he � ts the tradition-al Republican bill by being anti-taxation and being in favour of greater power for states. He is, in short, a complex individual when it comes to political opinions and, therefore, an unwanted anomaly.

For a di� erent type of example, take a look at the gun control issue that is bound to be a hot topic during the presidential debates next year. At the moment, there are only two

stances to take. A candidate can either be in favour of blanket gun control, which is likely to get them branded as unpatriotic as it goes against the hallowed Second Amendment, or they can be in favour of protecting current gun legislation as set out by the constitution-al framework, in which case they have no regard for human life.

The fact that the actual discussions around regulating weapons ownership and usage are far more complicated than a simple for/against dichotomy is brushed aside on a regular basis. One side would advocate banning all sales without considering the ammunition already out there on the streets and what is needed to balance that. The other would pump more � repower into the system without acknowledging the thousands of gun deaths every year.

An added frustration is that political dis-course and political issues do not take place in a vacuum. Banning the use of � rearms is

all well and good in the wake of a shooting, but it does not address other factors that often play into such tragedies, such as mental health and institutional prejudices. These issues also play into each other, and a� ect further debates like education, policing, and even immigration.

Despite this interconnectivity, however, our leaders in their glorious omnipotence usually decide to summarise such topics into ten-word catchphrases. No time for more talking, they say. It is imperative to come up with quick solutions for society’s many ills and the best way to handle that, according to current practice, is to tackle them without a second thought.

Except that tried and tested method is clearly not working. The world’s problems, like the people who create them, are multi-faceted. Every once in a while there might come a discussion with an absolute right and an absolute wrong, but those are far and few in between.

For every other political debate, whether it is something as high pro� le as gun control in the USA or something as under-represented as tribal cultural assimilation in Bangladesh, the intricacies are innumerable. It might not be possible to address all of them in one go, but it would be a good start to recognise they exist instead of sacri� cing our capacity to think. l

Ibtisam Ahmed is a PhD candidate at the University of Nottingham, researching political utopianism and imperialism. He can be contacted on Twitter at @ibzor.

Politics thrives on simplicity

Whether it is something as high pro� le as gun control in the USA or something as under-represented as tribal cultural assimilation in Bangladesh, the intricacies are innumerable

Complexity can be hard to handle BIGSTOCK

15D

TBusiness TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

Apple set to turn up music dial17 Stocks shrug o�

pro-market budget 19Global economy pick-up continues as Greek drama plays on

16 Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund reaches its $30 million target

20

NBR to net well-o� people n Tribune Report

The National Board of Revenue is set to bring into tax net the well-o� people in society to accelerate revenue collection.

A series of drives will kick o� from the coming � scal year to tax those individuals, having assets like cars and houses, that are al-most twice the number of existing taxpayers, said Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

The minister yesterday made the observation to journalists at the NBR headquarters in the capital, following a meeting with NBR o� cials.

Muhith paid a visit to NBR to hear plans from the taxmen and to provide them with some guidelines on how to achieve the reve-nue target for � scal year 2015-16.

“We have conducted a survey in Dhaka and some other areas on people having houses, cars and other assets. The number of such people is almost twice the number of existing 11 lakh tax-payers. We will ‘attack’ on them,” said Muhith.

NBR o� cials said the board was able to identify a number of wealthy individuals and organisations. Individual or corporate tax will be imposed on them from this year while sur-veys will continue and be expanded to other areas beyond the capital to net taxpayers.

“There are many individuals in upazila who are capable of paying tax. The only way to bring them into the net is continuation of survey,” Muhith told reporters, adding that there will be tax o� ces in all upazillas by 2018.

Currently, NBR has tax o� ces in only 85 upazilas. With regard to revenue target Tk176,370 crore, Muhith said: “Target is ambitious un-doubtedly, but NBR is capable to achieve it.”

The lion’s share will be generated from in-come tax wing which is Tk65,932 crore. The VAT collection target is Tk63,902 crore and customs duty Tk46,536 crore.

As to income tax, Muhith said major chang-es will be brought in corporate tax, which now contributes around 36% to 38% of the total in-come tax, as the government considers it the top revenue mobilisation sector.

Currently, only around 12 lakh individuals and companies/organisations pay income tax in Bangladesh, according to NBR data.

As regards Value Added Tax (VAT), the minister said there will be 15% uniform rate in VAT, but that does not mean everyone has to pay 15% on their total income.

“Vat payers will have to pay 15% VAT only

on their value additions,” Muhith assured. The government is set to implement new

VAT and Supplementary Duty Act-2012 from 2016. With the introduction of the law, all lev-els of business have to pay a unique and a sin-gle VAT rate at 15%.

Regarding the supplementary duty on im-port, the minister said the duty will disappear overtime because of trade liberalistion.

The minister expected the board to be able to meet the target successfully as its size of manpower had been increased to 22,000 from 13,000 over the last six years. l

Assam, Meghalaya keen to import bandwidth n Ishtiaq Husain

Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya have shown interest to import bandwidth from Bangladesh during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limit-ed (BSNL) wants to import at least 30 Gbps for the two states within six months.

Bangladesh is assumed the best option for the Indian states to purchase bandwidth at cheaper rate than the other parts of India due to distance. BSNL will start importing 10 Gbps for Tripura state from September this year.

On June 6, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) signed a deal with BSNL to export bandwidth in presence of the Indian PM and his Bangladeshi counterpart.

An o� cial said BSCCL has connectivity up to Sylhet and the link has to be expanded to Tamabil - near Meghalaya’s capital Shillong. This connectivity can provide bandwidth to Assam also.

“If India wants, we have the ability to ex-port more bandwidth for another two states within six months. We can even increase bandwidth supply to Tripura in few weeks time,” BSCCL Managing Director Monwar Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We expect to export 100 GB bandwidth to the seven sisters, but not to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur states because of long distance.”

BSCCL will export the bandwidth at $10 per mbps—which is 33% higher than its local market price—and earn $1.2m (Tk9.6 crore) annually.

BSCCL will get the payment in advance at the beginning of every quarter, o� cials said.

The deal has been signed initially for a year and can be extended for two more years, said a BSCCL o� -cial, adding the bandwidth price will be reviewed after a year.

Bangladesh’s submarine ca-ble, whose lifetime will end in next 12 years, has a bandwidth capacity of 200 Gbps, while it sells only 32 Gbps. Bangladesh will get another undersea cable of around 1,400 Gbps in 2016.

Industry insiders say the country’s demand for band-width may reach 210 Gbps by 2021. l

Exports rise by 3% in 11 months n Tribune Report

The country’s export earnings rose by nearly 3%, riding on the RMG sector in the � rst elev-en months of the current � scal year.

According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, in July-May of FY2014-15, Bang-ladesh earned $28.14bn by exporting goods, which is 2.80% higher compared to the same period last year.

However, Bangladesh failed to achieve its set target by 6%. The government set the tar-get of earning $29.94bn during July-May of the current � scal year.

In May, Bangladesh fetched $2.84bn through export to the global markets, which is 4.37% higher compared to $2.72bn of the same period last year. But the country has failed to reach its export target of $3.1bn by 8.57%.

RMG sector, the highest export earner, posted a 3.37% growth to $22.92bn in Ju-ly-May period of the FY2014-15 compared to same period of last � scal year.

On the other hand, RMG export rose by 6.84% to $2.34bn in May, compared to the same period of last year.

According to EPB data, woven sector earned $11.76bn, which was 4.43% higher compared to the same period last year, while Knitwear earned $11.67bn, posting a 2.28% growth.

Among the other major sectors, pharma-ceutical sector posted a growth by 4.49% followed by leather products 2.52%, footwear 26.93%, jute and jute goods 5%, home textile 1.8% and bicycle 15.15%. while frozen food export earnings fell by 5.19%, which was fol-lowed by shrimps 4%, tea 23.37%, vegetable 25.79%, leather 21.26%, raw jute 14%, special-ised textile 4.32% and furniture 8.88%.

“The export growth including plastic goods could be better if the prices of Euro did not devalue against US dollar as EU markets are our prime export destination,” Md Jashim Uddin, President of Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) told the Dhaka Tribune.

He also urged the government to keep the tax at source at 0.60% for the development of export-oriented sector as it su� ers in the wake of recession in the global market. l

BUSINESS16DT

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

Global economy pick-up continues as Greek drama plays onn Reuters, London

Economic indicators are this week expected to show signs of continued, if modest, pro-gress in much of the world - all of which could be blown o� course if the stando� between Greece and its lenders leads to a rupture in the euro zone.

The currency bloc has been a millstone around the neck of the world economy since the � nancial crisis began and the ongoing dra-ma surrounding Greece and its ability to repay its debts has added to that burden.

Athens delayed a key debt payment to the International Monetary Fund on Friday, branding as “absurd” the terms of a proposed aid deal from lenders.

“Greece’s continued resistance to its cred-itors’ demands on key sticking points like pensions, coupled with the missing of Fri-day’s IMF payment, suggests that the risks of a Greek euro exit are still climbing,” said Jon-athan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics.

A G7 summit starts later on Sunday with the meeting focussing on global growth, climate change and the ongoing sanctions against Russia. Add to this Greece, which is not o� cially on the agenda but which is bound to be a major theme for world leaders on the sidelines.

After positive job data from the US on Fri-day focus this week will be on the European countries releasing industrial production numbers - largely expected to show accelerat-ing output - and revised GDP numbers which are likely to con� rm euro zone economic growth was subdued at the start of the year.

“However, forward-looking indicators, such as real narrow money, suggest a sharp acceleration in industrial production growth in the next 12 months,” economists at Credit Suisse wrote in a note to clients.

On Monday, � rst quarter GDP numbers out of Japan are expected to be revised up from initial projections, helped by a pickup in cap-ital spending.

“Growth data for January-March will likely con� rm a view that the economy is gradually recovering, but the data will not be something to be happy about,” said Yoshiki Shinke, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

“There is a risk that the economy over April-June will not be good, especially for pri-vate consumption.”

Japan has � nally escaped from nearly two decades of de� ation - although is yet to see any meaningful price rises - and central banks around the world have fretted that after oil prices tumbled their economies might also post negative in� ation for a prolonged period.

That has lead to ultra-loose monetary poli-cy for far longer than anyone would have pre-dicted and oil group OPEC stuck by its policy of unconstrained oil output for another six months on Friday, setting aside warnings of a second lurch lower in prices as some mem-bers such as Iran look to ramp up exports.

The central banks of Chile, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea and Thailand are all meet-ing this week but Reuters polls suggest there won’t be any action as they wait to see just when the US Federal Reserve � nally pull the trigger and raise interest rates.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney makes his annual Mansion House speech on

Wednesday but fears of a protracted period of low British in� ation have been superseded by concerns about the e� ect of sterling’s recent rise on growth.

It was his Mansion House speech a year ago when Carney warned interest rates could rise sooner than markets thought.

China, once pegged as a possible saviour of the global economy, will unveil industrial output and retail sales data on Thursday that will probably show Asia’s tiger was still only purring in May.

Gloomy business surveys out of China last week had already fuelled anticipation Beijing would have to roll out more aggressive poli-cy measures and any further signs of a slow-down will add to those expectations.

In India, where growth outpaced China for a second quarter between January and March, � gures on Friday are likely to suggest indus-trial production growth waned in April.

The Reserve Bank of India has chopped interest rates three times this year to buoy growth but won’t cut again until the fourth quarter as it waits to see how the monsoon season a� ects food prices, a Reuters poll said last week.

Annual monsoon rains arrived at the Ker-ala coast in southern India on Friday, � ve days later than expected. On June 2, India scaled down this year’s rainfall forecast, raising fears of the � rst drought in six years.

There is little market-moving data coming from the United States this week, although retail sales are likely to show a strong pick up in May with a surge in auto sales after house-holds cut back on purchases of big-ticket items in April. l

Participants attend the symposium ‘Towards a Dynamic Global Economy’ at the G7 � nance ministers and central bankers meeting in Palace Chapel in Dresden REUTERS

World Accreditation Day todayn Tribune Report

World Accreditation Day 2015 will be observed in the country today to raise awareness on ac-creditation.

Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB) has taken up di� erent programmes to mark the Day under the theme “Accreditation: Support-ing the Delivery of Health and Social Care”.

The BAB and Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) will jointly organise a seminar at the DCCI auditorium on the day.

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu is expected to be present as the chief guest at the event.

Technical persons, businessmen, regula-tors, academicians, development partners and experts from di� erent laboratories are also expected to attend the programme.

The BAB has published an attractive sou-venir, colorful posters. It will send messages among people through mobile telephone op-erators while Bangladesh Television will host a talk show to mark the signi� cance of the day.

Through the standardisation and regulato-ry process, coupled with accreditation, health and social care are provided e� ciently, using the most appropriate resources from around the world. l

CSE: Cut tax to woo foreign portfolio investment n Tribune Report

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) has demand-ed to cut tax on foreign investment to attract the potential investors in the stock market.

It has also urged the � nance minister to re-consider its proposal of � ve-year tax ex-emption facility for the demutualised CSE to help smooth transformation of corporatisation process and strengthening of the exchange.

Currently, foreign portfolio investors are to pay 10% tax on pro� t gained from the stock investment.

“This will help make the country’s stock market more attractive to foreign investors,” said CSE Managing Director Wali-ul-Maroof Matin while expressing his budget reaction at the CSE Dhaka o� ce yesterday.

He said: “Foreign investors know the risk of emerging stock markets like Bangladesh. So, the tax cut will help them adjust with the risk of return.”

Terming the budget 2016 positive for the market, Matin noted that it might bring vi-brancy in the stock market.

“But investors should make their invest-ment carefully as stock market is always risky,” said Matin in response to a question.

On demand of � ve-year tax exemption for the stock exchange, he said, “This incentive will help refurbish the bourses before netting potential strategic buyers for the demutulised stock exchange.” l

‘Investors should make their investment carefully as stock market is always risky’

BUSINESS 17D

TTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

Apple set to turn up music dialn AFP, San Francisco

Apple is expected to unveil a ramped up mu-sic service yesterday that builds on the iPhone maker’s strengths in a challenge to Spotify, Pandora and other established players.

In the biggest overhaul of iTunes since it was launched in early 2003, the service was set to include an option of subscribing to streaming music for $10 monthly.

Analysts and industry insiders say a re-branded “Apple Music” will be introduced on Monday during a keynote presentation kick-ing o� the company’s weeklong Wordwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Sony Music Entertainment chief executive Doug Morris con� rmed during an on-stage interview at Midem in Cannes that Apple was indeed poised to unveil “Apple Music” streaming service.

“Apple Music will be an Apple streaming company,” Morris said during an interview focused mostly on his rich career in the in-dustry.

“I think it will make a big splash,” he con-tinued. “It will have a halo e� ect on the entire business ... a rising tide lifts all ships.”

Apple has ample money for advertising a streaming music service, and some 800 million credit cards already linked to iTunes accounts.

The popularity of iTunes and Apple de-vices means that a broad audience could be provided an easy way to simply switch on the new music service.

“I absolutely think we will see a stream-ing music service,” Gartner analyst Van Baker told AFP.

“Apple is late to the game on this, but it may not matter.”

Morris reasoned that a boom in subscrip-tion streaming will pump cash into a music industry that has shrunk to $15bn annually from $30bn a decade ago.

“What is interesting about all the stream-ing services controlled by the tech companies is that they don’t work without music,” Morris told the audience at the trade event.

“So, we are really in a great position.”While iTunes transformed the way music

was distributed and sold, it also put Apple in a position to build extensive relationships with labels and artists.

Apple Music will likely have bene� ted from talent and technology acquired when Apple bought Beats Electronics and its streaming music service in a $3bn deal in May last year.

An Apple streaming music service would grab headlines at an annual gathering at which the California-based company courts

creators of fun, hip or functional apps that help drive the popularity of Internet-linked mobile devices.

Time for smartwatch appsApple will likely be keen to fuel enthusiasm for making apps to run on its freshly launched line of smartwatches.

“I think we will see a focus on doing new and unusual things on Apple Watch,” said in-dependent Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle.

Apple is likely to loosen the reins a bit on its smartwatch to let developers create apps that work right on the wrist instead of on iP-hones to which they are synched.

Enhancements were also expected to Ap-ple Pay, which allows contactless payments with iPhones or smartwatches. Improve-ments could include adding the ability to track rewards program information.

“What they announce will help determine if Apple Pay moves from the nice-to-have bucket to the must-have bucket for both mer-chants and shoppers,” said Forrester analyst

Sucharita Mulpuru.Forrester predicts US mobile payments will

top $142bn by 2019, up from $67bn this year.

Siri smartsBaker will be watching for Apple to improve Siri virtual assistant to better challenge Goog-le Now and Microsoft’s Cortana.

“I am hoping that is the case, because I think Siri is a distant third right now when it comes to virtual assistants,” Baker said.

Apple may also show o� improved privacy protection features in its software, in keeping with strong public comments made in recent weeks by chief executive Tim Cook.

And, true to the developer theme of the gathering, Apple will dive deeply into fea-tures of coming generation software for its computers and mobile devices.

Apple devices remain premier venues for developers to feature their creations, but Google-backed Android software has gained ground in the battle for devotion of app mak-ers.

About 62 percent of developer teams sup-port Android smartphones or tablets com-pared to 48 percent tuning applications to iPhones or iPads, according to research � rm Forrester.

“Apple needs to maintain its momen-tum and thought leadership coming out of WWDC,” Forrester analyst Frank Gillett said.

“Though Google isn’t making that too hard yet - due to Android fragmentation and low rates of adoption to the latest version.” l

Apple is expected to unveil a ramped up music service AFP

India seeks damages from Nestle after noodle scaren Reuters, New Delhi

India’s government has � led for damages from food group Nestle after a food scare in-volving reports of excess lead in Maggi noo-dles forced a nationwide recall, government o� cials said on Sunday.

“It’s a serious matter concerning public health and the law allows us to take suo moto legal steps, or legal actions, against erring en-tities,” said one o� cial in the consumer a� airs department of the food ministry.

The claim, made on behalf of Indian con-sumers, was not � led through the courts but

with the National Consumer Disputes Redres-sal Commission (NCDRC), which has semi-ju-dicial powers and will decide on the merits of the case and the size of any damages.

The o� cials said Nestle was being accused of unfair trade practices, adding this is the � rst case in which the Indian government has sought damages from a multinational.

A Nestle spokesman in India said the com-pany had not received any o� cial noti� cation as of Sunday, and could not comment. The food ministry sources said NCDRC would no-tify the company when the case comes up, likely next week.

Nestle has been under � re in India since one regional regulator said in May that it had found evidence of excess lead and monoso-dium glutamate (MSG) in some packets of Maggi instant noodles, a cheap and hugely popular snack.

Since then, several state regulators have followed, and Nestle said early on Friday that it would temporarily withdraw all Maggi noo-dles from the country’s shelves, though it re-iterated the products were safe.

Total Maggi sales in India, including sauces and condiments, account for less than 1% of Nestle’s group annual sales, but brand dam-

age could be signi� cant in a country where the noodles are ubiquitous, in homes and roadside eateries.

Nestle � elded its global chief executive on Friday to help quell one India’s most high pro-� le food scares in a decade.

Indian newspapers reported separately on Sunday that the national food safety agency planned to inspect all Nestle’s manufacturing facilities across India as a result of the scare. Nestle has eight factories in India, though not all produce Maggi.

Calls to the agency’s o� ce went unan-swered on Sunday. l

Apparel packaging, accessories makers demand source tax reduction n Tribune Report

The Country’s apparel packaging and accesso-ries makers yesterday urged the government to restore source tax on export to 0.30% from the proposed 1% to protect the industry.

Demanding cancellation of the proposed tax hike, Bangladesh Garment Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA) Secretary Shawkat Ali Khan said the tax hike will not bring any good to the garment accessories and packag-ing industry, which he termed a component of the ready-made garment industry.

The government has proposed to raise the tax at source on export, including that of the gar-ment sector, to 1% for � scal year 2015-16.

Currently, the apparel makers pay 0.30% tax at source while the other export-oriented sectors 0.60%.

Through a written statement, he also de-manded withdrawal of proposed 1% duty on capital machinery import, loan bene� ts with minimum interest and duty-free import of pre-fabricated building materials for accesso-ries and packaging makers.

The association also demanded � nancial donation from the government to set up a packaging institute in the country for produc-ing skilled manpower and increasing export from the sector.

Plastic goods exporters want source tax imposition on profit On the same day, Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPG-MEA) urged the government to re-think its pro-posal that would lead them to face uneven com-petition with foreign products for 1% source tax.

During a press brie� ng BPGMEA President Md Jashim Uddin said source tax hike at this moment will not be a suitable decision for the industry as it will create uncertainty for reaching the government’s target to reach $70bn export target by 2021.

If the new rate is to be imposed, he urged the government to do that on pro� ts rather than the export value. l

‘I am hoping that is the case, because I think Siri is a distant third right now when it comes to virtual assistants’

Apparel makers pay 0.30% tax at source while other export sectors 0.60%

BUSINESS18DT

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 398.61 6.80 98.07 11.76 496.68 7.42NBFI 129.27 2.21 9.22 1.11 138.49 2.07Investment 34.68 0.59 2.05 0.25 36.73 0.55Engineering 536.57 9.16 58.14 6.97 594.71 8.88Food & Allied 150.26 2.56 4.69 0.56 154.95 2.31Fuel & Power 1498.11 25.56 118.94 14.27 1617.04 24.16Jute 1.72 0.03 0.00 1.72 0.03Textile 329.61 5.62 25.99 3.12 355.60 5.31Pharma & Chemical 1039.38 17.74 73.76 8.85 1113.14 16.63Paper & Packaging 10.40 0.18 1.19 0.14 11.58 0.17Service 190.70 3.25 12.74 1.53 203.44 3.04Leather 16.46 0.28 0.12 0.01 16.57 0.25Ceramic 101.33 1.73 5.92 0.71 107.25 1.60Cement 298.69 5.10 284.94 34.18 583.63 8.72Information Technology 95.48 1.63 13.16 1.58 108.64 1.62General Insurance 45.91 0.78 0.70 0.08 46.61 0.70Life Insurance 76.20 1.30 3.79 0.46 80.00 1.19Telecom 261.20 4.46 33.15 3.98 294.35 4.40Travel & Leisure 289.60 4.94 58.06 6.96 347.66 5.19Miscellaneous 354.27 6.04 29.13 3.49 383.40 5.73Debenture 2.07 0.04 0.00 0.00 2.07 0.03

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

News, analysis and recent disclosuresACTIVEFINE: The Company has informed that it has credit-ed the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2014 to the respective shareholders BO Accounts on June 04, 2015.AFCAGRO: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2014 to the respective shareholders BO Accounts on June 04, 2015.KPCL: (Q1 Un-audited): Net Pro� t after tax from Jan15 to March15 was Tk. 831.89 million with EPS of Tk. 2.30 as against Tk. 140.38 million (KPCL-I only) and Tk. 0.39 respectively for the same period of the previous year.SAIFPOWER: The Company has informed that it has signed an agreement with Chittagong Port Authority regarding Refurbishment of six number of Straddle Carrier which includes supply, � tting, � xing and reconditioning of di� erent components of which contract price amounting of Tk. 219.66 million only.WATACHEM: The Company has further informed that due to unavoidable circumstances, the 33rd AGM of the Company will now be held on June 20, 2015 instead of June 11, 2015 at 11:00 AM at factory premises, Murapara, Rupgonj, Narayan-gonj. Other information of the AGM will remain same.Dividend/AGMDELTALIFE: 20% cash divi-dend, AGM: 21.06.2015, Record Date: 02.06.2015.FAMILYTEX: 10% stock divi-dend,EGM & AGM: 07.08.2015,

Record Date: 09.07.2015.KPCL: 40% cash, AGM: 25.06.2015, Record Date: 31.05.2015.BDWELDING: 5% stock divi-dend AGM: 25.06.2015, Record Date: 09.06.2015.NBL: 10% stock dividend, AGM: 14.09.2015, Record date: 30.08.2015.ORIONPHARM: 15% cash divi-dend, AGM: 28.06.2015, Record Date: 21.05.2015.ISNLTD: No dividend, AGM: 28.06.2015, Record date: 16.06.2015.PURABIGEN: 15% stock divi-dend, AGM: 30.07.2015, Record date: 07.06.2015. JANATAINS: 10% stock divi-dend, AGM: 25.07.2015, Record Date: 21.05.2015. AMBEEPHA: 28% cash divi-dend, AGM: 14.06.2015, Record Date: 25.05.2015. ISLAMIINS: 5% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 13.06.2015, Record Date: 19.05.2015.NCCBANK: 10% stock divi-dend, AGM: 24.06.2015, Record Date: 18.05.2015.PEOPLESINS: 13% cash dividend, AGM: 09.06.2015, Record Date: 18.05.2015.LEGACYFOOT: 5% stock, AGM: 13.06.2015, Record Date: 14.05.2015. UNIQUEHRL: 20% cash divi-dend, AGM: 25.06.2015, Record Date: 24.05.2015. WATACHEM: 5% cash and 25% stock dividend, AGM: 20.06.2015, Record Date: 14.05.2015. ARAMITCEM: 10% cash divi-dend, AGM: 13.06.2015, Record Date: 13.05.2015.

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z 6.99 7.99 15.54 15.30 15.70 14.50 4.855 0.08 194.3Uttara Finance -A 5.52 5.24 66.53 66.90 68.00 65.00 0.881 8.12 8.2Hakkani P& Paper -B 5.00 3.65 20.73 21.00 21.70 20.20 0.176 0.29 71.5Paramount Insur-A 4.55 5.75 13.98 13.80 14.50 13.50 0.147 1.32 10.6UNITED AIR-A 4.12 4.26 10.03 10.10 9.90 10.00 56.328 0.86 11.7Berger Paints-A 4.07 2.22 1535.00 1535.00 1550.00 1520.00 0.045 49.64 30.9Mithun Knitting -A 2.71 3.41 72.82 72.00 74.00 69.10 0.600 3.63 20.1PrimeFin. 1st MF-A 2.68 2.23 11.45 11.50 11.50 11.40 0.023 0.40 28.6ICB Emp. PMF-A 2.22 2.23 4.58 4.60 4.70 4.40 0.044 0.61 7.5IFIC 1st MF-A 2.13 1.50 4.75 4.80 4.90 4.70 0.014 0.73 6.5

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z 10.00 7.32 15.24 15.40 15.40 14.30 15.217 0.08 190.5Al-Haj Textile -A 9.97 6.84 79.62 81.60 81.60 74.30 49.989 1.07 74.4Pioneer Insur -A 9.65 9.92 37.58 37.50 37.60 37.00 26.605 5.44 6.9Hakkani P& Paper -B 7.14 5.08 20.68 21.00 21.40 19.70 2.086 0.29 71.3Prime Bank 1st MF-A 7.14 5.44 4.46 4.50 4.50 4.20 0.725 0.75 5.9GeminiSeaFood-B 6.96 4.75 232.27 236.80 240.00 226.50 1.166 9.58 24.2ICB Emp. PMF-A 6.67 5.73 4.80 4.80 4.90 4.40 4.452 0.61 7.9UNITED AIR-A 5.15 4.57 10.06 10.20 10.30 9.70 256.413 0.86 11.7Uttara Finance -A 4.87 4.81 66.91 66.70 69.90 64.00 17.915 8.12 8.2Desh Garments -A 4.01 3.94 72.46 72.70 73.50 68.70 4.720 1.47 49.3

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Samata LeatheR -Z -9.79 -9.79 17.50 17.50 17.50 17.50 0.009 -0.05 -vePrime Insur -A -9.68 -9.27 14.00 14.00 14.00 14.00 0.013 1.12 12.5Republic Insu.-A -9.41 -9.41 15.40 15.40 15.40 15.40 0.000 1.55 9.9Peoples Insur -A -9.09 -9.09 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 0.000 1.20 12.5Summit Power -A -8.71 -7.89 43.69 41.90 46.20 41.50 34.077 3.92 11.1S Purbanchol Power-N -8.60 -8.18 57.37 55.30 61.90 55.00 4.673 5.92 9.7Asia Pasi� c Insu. -A -8.38 -8.38 15.30 15.30 15.30 15.30 0.001 2.32 6.6SummitAlliancePort.-A -8.21 -6.02 61.35 58.10 64.50 57.60 7.098 1.00 61.4GreenDeltaInsu -A -8.19 -8.19 48.20 48.20 48.20 48.20 0.018 2.96 16.3United Power-N -7.99 -7.06 160.95 155.50 170.50 154.00 17.569 9.52 16.9

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Purabi G Insu.A -17.68 -17.22 15.05 14.90 15.70 14.80 3.148 0.92 16.4Rahima Food -Z -9.07 -5.15 33.32 32.10 35.80 31.80 1.107 -0.47 -ve Trust Bank-A -8.56 -3.73 21.18 20.30 22.10 20.00 70.950 4.24 5.0SummitAlliancePort.-A -8.33 -7.05 61.02 58.30 64.90 57.60 107.782 1.00 61.0Summit Power -A -8.30 -8.23 43.60 42.00 46.40 41.30 260.640 3.92 11.1ICB AMCL 1st NRB -A -8.26 -8.80 19.90 20.00 21.00 19.70 0.209 2.61 7.6S Purbanchol Power-N -8.10 -6.97 58.35 55.60 62.00 54.70 85.271 5.92 9.9BD Fixed Income MF-A -8.06 -12.84 5.70 5.70 5.70 5.70 0.532 0.51 11.2United Power-N -7.66 -7.43 160.80 155.50 170.80 153.70 166.979 9.52 16.9SAIF Powertec-N -7.25 -6.78 80.96 76.80 85.90 75.00 72.448 2.69 30.1

DSE key features June 8, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

5,860.51

Turnover (Volume)

150,173,698

Number of Contract

132,902

Traded Issues 319

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

56

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

259

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,525.95

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.62

CSE key features June 8, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

833.76

Turnover (Volume)

21,175,971

Number of Contract

21,769

Traded Issues 243

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

31

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

206

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,454.00

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.75

BUSINESS 19D

TTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

Stocks shrug o� pro-market budget n Tribune Report

Stocks tumbled yesterday, as investors went for prof-it booking on recent gains, shrugging o� positive budg-etary measures.

As soon as the market opened, it started falling and continued till the ses-sion closed.

Analysts said the inves-tors’ lukewarm response to the market-friendly budget was due to the overpric-ing of some stocks that re-mained bullish recently.

After marginal rise in the previous session, the bench-mark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, was sharply down by over 75 points or 1.7% to 4,542.

The Shariah Index DSES fell 18 points or 1.7% higher to 1,103.

The comprising blue chips DS30 declined 27 points or 1.6% to 1,748.

Chittagong Stock Ex-change (CSE) Selective Cate-gories Index, CSCX, ended at 8,459, shedding 174 points.

The annual budget was presented by Finance Min-ister AMA Muhith at par-liament on Thursday, pro-posing some incentives, including corporate tax cut for the listed � rms.

Most pro� t-booking took

place on power issues that experienced a heavy losses of more than 4% with four � rms of the sector featuring in the top losers’ chart.

Financial stocks—banks and non-banking � nancial institutions that dropped more than 1% each—also su� ered.

Cement and tannery was the only sector that per-formed positive.

Trading at the DSE re-mained relatively weak as turnover stood at Tk590 crore, down 9.6% over the previous session.

IDLC Investments said with trivial response both in terms of gain and turnover of the market to the budg-etary declarations, investors seemed to have been con-� rmed that the incentives are already priced in the market.

LankaBangla Securities said market surprisingly struck down below 4,600 level on pro� t booking.

It said investors were mostly churning their port-folios to safeguard stock po-sitions.

Khulna Power topped the liquidity chart with turnover worth Tk59 crore, followed by Beximco, Summit Power, United Airways and Lafarge Surma Cement. l

With trivial response both in terms of gain and turnover of the market to the budgetary declarations, investors seemed to have been con� rmed that the incentives are already priced in the market

ANALYST

Daily capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4542.27138 (-) 1.63% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1748.16311 (-) 1.55% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 13978.66460 (-) 1.82% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 11070.99630 (-) 1.31% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 8459.58850 (-) 2.02% ▼

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change % ClosingY DHIGH DLOW AvgPrice

LafargeS Cement-Z 2,141,029 282.47 33.88 129.80 0.62 129.00 133.90 129.10 131.93Brac Bank -A 2,304,789 80.69 9.68 35.60 0.85 35.30 36.10 34.60 35.01UNITED AIR-A 5,615,787 56.33 6.76 10.10 4.12 9.70 9.90 10.00 10.03Summit Power -A 779,998 34.08 4.09 41.90 -8.71 45.90 46.20 41.50 43.69Khulna Power-A 393,256 31.52 3.78 75.50 -6.21 80.50 84.90 74.60 80.16BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 696,756 24.99 3.00 35.10 -3.31 36.30 37.10 34.90 35.87BD Submarine Cable-A 156,217 23.50 2.82 145.70 -6.72 156.20 156.20 145.00 150.46United Power-N 109,157 17.57 2.11 155.50 -7.99 169.00 170.50 154.00 160.95BSRM Ltd. -N 206,295 14.65 1.76 68.90 -6.00 73.30 75.00 68.40 71.03AFC AgroBiotech-A 202,010 13.43 1.61 60.50 -6.92 65.00 67.90 59.00 66.50WesternMarine -N 292,255 13.39 1.61 45.00 -3.85 46.80 47.30 45.00 45.83MJL BD Ltd.-A 115,256 12.82 1.54 107.90 -4.68 113.20 114.10 107.00 111.26Keya Cosmetics -A 519,798 10.91 1.31 20.50 -4.65 21.50 21.70 20.20 20.99Grameenphone-A 29,677 9.65 1.16 324.10 -0.58 326.00 327.90 323.80 325.08FAR Chemical-N 190,702 9.02 1.08 46.10 -5.14 48.60 49.50 45.40 47.30

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

Khulna Power-A 7,292,028 588.24 10.04 75.60 -6.20 80.60 85.00 74.10 80.67BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 8,791,243 316.50 5.40 35.10 -3.04 36.20 37.10 34.90 36.00Summit Power -A 5,978,128 260.64 4.45 42.00 -8.30 45.80 46.40 41.30 43.60UNITED AIR-A 25,482,513 256.41 4.38 10.20 5.15 9.70 10.30 9.70 10.06LafargeS Cement-Z 1,602,726 210.15 3.59 129.30 0.78 128.30 132.80 128.00 131.12Beximco Pharma -A 3,143,534 187.48 3.20 58.10 -3.49 60.20 61.80 57.70 59.64United Power-N 1,038,401 166.98 2.85 155.50 -7.66 168.40 170.80 153.70 160.80Square Pharma -A 569,765 140.40 2.40 245.70 -0.49 246.90 248.80 245.00 246.41Grameenphone-A 423,594 137.59 2.35 323.60 -0.40 324.90 329.00 322.50 324.82AFC AgroBiotech-A 2,047,497 131.69 2.25 61.20 -5.12 64.50 66.80 60.30 64.32BD Submarine Cable-A 823,592 123.61 2.11 145.60 -6.43 155.60 158.80 144.50 150.09Brac Bank -A 3,229,317 116.38 1.99 36.10 3.14 35.00 36.30 35.00 36.04Baraka Power-A 3,210,592 112.37 1.92 34.30 -5.51 36.30 37.20 34.00 35.00SummitAlliancePort.-A 1,766,371 107.78 1.84 58.30 -8.33 63.60 64.90 57.60 61.02ACI Limited- A 201,455 102.42 1.75 496.30 -3.07 512.00 517.00 492.00 508.41

BUSINESS20DT

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

BRAC Bank Limited has recently joined the relief e� ort for the earthquake victims of Nepal. The bank has provided 520 tents towards the relief e� orts, which were handed over to the Bangladesh Bank Rangpur O� ce, to be distributed to Nepal. The bank’s employees also collectively donated the equivalence of a day’s salary towards the cause

REHAB Summer Fair begins today n Tribune Report

A four-day housing fair titled “REHAB Sum-mer Fair-2015” begins in the capital today with an aim to encourage the people for buy-ing plots and apartments.

The Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) will host the fair at Bangabandhu International Conference Cen-tre in the city.

Housing and Public Works Minister Engi-neer Mosharraf Hossain is scheduled to inau-gurate the fair at 5pm while REHAB President Alamgir Shamsul Alamin will preside over the inaugural ceremony, said a REHAB statement.

The fair will remain open for the visitors from 10:00am to 9:00pm everyday till June 12. There would no entry cost. A total of 150 real estates and housing companies will par-ticipate in the fair. l

Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund reaches its $30 million target n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund, formed to compensate the victims and the family mem-bers of the deadliest factory disaster that killed 1,135 workers, reached its US$30m tar-get needed to pay full-� edged compensation.

“The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) is de-lighted to announce a major campaign victo-ry with the con� rmation Donors Trust Fund has � nally met its target of $30m, following a large anonymous donation,” said a CCC state-ment yesterday.

Now, the victims of the Rana Plaza factory collapse are going to � nally receive full com-pensation for the loss of income and medical care, said the statement.

“This is a huge victory–but it’s been too long in the making,” said Ineke Zeldenrust of the Clean Clothes Campaign.

The brands with a collective annual pro� t

of over $20bn took two years and signi� cant public pressure to come up with a mere $30m is an indictment of the voluntary nature of so-cial responsibility, said Zeldenrust.

Zeldenrust said: This day has been long in coming. Now that all the families impact-ed by this disaster will � nally receive all the money they are owed, they can � nally focus on rebuilding their lives. This is a remarkable moment for justice.

The Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund was set up by the ILO in January 2014 to collect funds

to pay awards designed to cover loss of in-come and medical costs su� ered by the Rana Plaza victims and their families.

The Clean Clothes Campaign will contin-ue to support the Rana Plaza victims who are pursuing further payments in recognition of the pain and su� ering in� icted upon them as a result of corporate and institutional negli-gence, it added.

The Rana Plaza Coordination Committee also paid Tk76 crore, which is 70% of the com-pensation to the injured and the family mem-bers of deceased and missing workers.

Prime Minister Skeikh Hasina has so far distributed over Tk15 crore as compensation to 976 deceased victims’ family while over Tk4 crore to 38 severely injured victims.

On April 24 in 2013, Rana Plaza, which housed � ve garment factories, a shopping complex at Savar, collapsed, killing 1,135 workers and injuring over 2,500 workers. l

Exporter retention quota account launched for outsourcing professionals n Tribune Report

Standard Chartered Bangladesh has intro-duced exporter retention quota (ERQ) account in association with Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) to simplify international payment systems.

State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak formally launched the new product, which is � rst of its kind in the coun-try, at a function in Dhaka yesterday.

It’s a unique proposition for the individu-als and professionals involved in outsourced service exports with a bundle of a savings ac-count and a US dollar ERQ account.

Aditya Mandloi, Head of Retail Client of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, said the cus-

tomers can receive the proceeds of inward remittances as payment against outsourcing services. He said maximum 60% of such pro-ceeds can be parked in the ERQ account in foreign currency and the remainder in local currency savings account.

To facilitate the system, BASIS will issue testimonial or certi� cate at a cost of Tk3,000 to the outsourcing professionals, which will help them to avail the o� er of the bank.

The application form of this testimonial can be downloaded from the BASIS website (www.basis.org.bd).

Zunaid Ahmed Palak said Bangladesh is transforming from a labour-based society to a knowledge-based one, which is a good step on the way to become a middle-income state.

“This o� er would greatly help the out-sourcing professionals in both inward remit-tance and international payments,” said BA-SIS President Shameem Ahsan.

He said one of the pillars of the “One Bang-ladesh” vision for the IT industry is the reach-ing of $1bn milestone in exports by 2018.

“To facilitate that we need to simplify the inward remittance and international payment system among others, which this o� er will address,” Shameem Ahsan said.

BASIS secretary general Uttam Kumar Paul said as of now 6 lakh freelancers, working in Bangladesh in outsourcing sector, are not listed anywhere, but the newly launched ERQ account system will bring them under an um-brella. l

Now, the Rana Plaza victims are going to � nally receive full compensation for the loss of income and medical care

G7 leaders agree on new insurance fund after Rana Plaza disaster n Tribune Report

G7 leaders meeting in Bavaria have agreed to establish a new fund to help improve the global supply chain in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh.

The fund would help provide compensa-tion in the event of further similar disasters and provide cash to improve � re inspection and building safety regulations, reports the Guardian.

The G7 will recommend that western con-sumers have access to apps that better inform them about whether clothes they intend to buy were manufactured in decent working conditions.

It has take more than two years for a com-pensation fund for relatives of the Rana Plaza victims to reach its target of £20m.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, put the issue of textile industry working condi-tions on the G7 agenda, and the leaders’ com-munique calls for a “vision zero fund” – in essence an insurance fund – to compensate victims of future disasters and improve work-ing conditions.

The fund would be administered in con-junction with the International Labour Organ-isation, and require contributions from trade associations in developed countries repre-sented at the G7.

It would act as an insurance system for � rms that commit to prevention measures and help implement labour, social, environ-mental and safety standards, such as bet-ter-trained � re prevention inspectors.

Extremely low wages have led global brands and retailers to choose Bangladesh over China and other developing countries in recent years, but in many cases the big brands have either turned a blind eye to working con-ditions in pursuit of pro� t or knowingly taken no interest in how their clothes are manufac-tured.

The Rana Plaza collapse prompted de-mands for reforms in a sector that helps Bang-ladesh earn more than £12bn a year from ex-ports, mainly to the US and Europe.

The G7 communique states: “Given our prominent share in the globalisation process, G7 countries have an important role to play in promoting labour rights, decent working con-ditions and environmental protection in glob-al supply chains. Unsafe and poor working conditions lead to signi� cant social and eco-nomic losses and are linked to environmental damage. We will strive for better application of internationally recognised labour, social and environmental standards, principles and commitments.”

The communique says it is the responsibil-ity of governments and business to foster sus-tainable supply chains. National governments must persuade companies headquartered in their territory to conduct due diligence on how their clothes are manufactured.

Germany’s federal development minister, Gerd Müller, one of the politicians behind the initiative, said seamstresses in Vietnam or Bangladesh who worked on jeans that could be sold in Berlin for €100 a pair worked at an hourly rate of 15 cents. l

INSIDEnews

21D

TTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015T

-JUNCTION

23reviewWitcher 3: Wild Hunt

24appRide along

gadgetsSamsung “Triangle Air Conditioner”

The � nal escapade

NSUSS presents the 19th Annual Cultural Evening (ACE)ACE is the biggest and the most awaited event of NSU. For the past 18 years, ACE has established its landmark in its unique way. It is not only a cultural event, but it is also a phenomenal display of the spirit of youth and unity.

ACE has been consistent in breaking the stereotypical concept of private universities in Bangladesh being

concentrating only on westernised curriculum. The university has repeatedly proven that their students can play a big role in presenting the ever enriched Bengali culture and to preserve it with proper respect. This year the programme is being held in the auditorium of the North South University for the first time ever.

Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) collected samples of MAGGI instant noddles from the market as part of its regular market surveillance. After examining the samples, BSTI con� rmed that MAGGI instant noodles are safe for consumption. MAGGI instant noodles are fully compliant with BSTI standards for Instant Noodles as well as International CODEX standards. Nestle Bangladesh is reassuring Bangladeshi consumers that MAGGI noodles are safe to eat.

MAGGI Instant Noodles are produced in Bangladesh at Nestle’s factory in Sreepur, Gazipur.

The quality and safety of Nestle products are the top priorities for the company. Nestle has in place strict food

safety and quality controls, which include comprehensive testing by accredited laboratories, ensuring high standards of quality and safety for the consumers. l

Testing reveals MAGGI noodles are safe to eat

NewsTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

T-JUNCTION22DT

News

Samsung Electronics Bangladesh, for the � rst time in Bangladesh has launched a distribution warehouse in partnership with TNT. This is the � rst ever initiative by Samsung in Bangladesh where parts of devices and accessories will be delivered across the country based on prior orders from service centres.

A special inauguration ceremony was held at the warehouse where Choon Soo Moon, country manager of Samsung Electronics Bangladesh attended as the chief guest. Vice president, Shimyong Jung of the Customer Satisfaction Team, Samsung India Electronics Ltd; Tanjil Chowdhury, managing director, Bangladesh Trade Syndicate Ltd, and Tanveer Shahed, head of services also attended the ceremony as special guests. Among others, high o� cials of both Samsung Electronics Bangladesh and TNT with Samsung Service Partners were present at the occasion.

Commenting on the warehouse launch, Choon Soo Moon said, “The Samsung Warehouse is designed to provide the fastest delivery and easy solutions for all our consumers. Now

our service centres will be more e� cient and will provide quality repair work in the fastest turnaround time. With the association of TNT, we hope to establish an industry benchmark for premium customer service.”

Commenting on the launch Tanjil Chowdhury, managing director, Bangladesh Trade Syndicate Ltd (authorised associates of TNT in Bangladesh) said, “We are happy to enter into � rst 3PL logistics business with Samsung, which is an important milestone of TNT Express in Bangladesh. This warehouse operation will ensure Samsung’s Distributors to receive the service parts e� ciently which will enhance better customer service.”

The 2,000sqft warehouse is placed in the central location of Tejgaon. From now on, Samsung mobile parts will be distributed all over the country on a daily basis based on requirements from the service centres. This initiative will increase the availability of spare parts for Samsung devices to ensure further customer satisfaction as repair time will be lesser than before.

United International University handed over a cheque with a view to extending helping hands and welfare to the sufferings of general people of Nepal who had been severely injured and became homeless by the strike of the powerful

earthquake. H K Shrestha, ambassador, Embassy of Nepal received the cheque. Among others, Manjurul Haque Khan, director, International Affairs and Abu Sadat, asst director (PR) were also present from UIU.

Samsung Distribution Warehouse launched in Bangladesh

UIU handed over a cheque for the earthquake victims of Nepal

n Tribune Desk

The Brac University Office of Career Services and Alumni Relations (OCSAR) is holding a two-day career fair for its students in the field of engineering and computer science. The Engineering & Computer Science Career Fair (ECSCF) 2015 will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, and is open to all Brac University students. The career fair will host at least 27 companies over

the two days, including Accenture, Banglalion, Augmedix BD, BRAC IT Services Ltd, and Therap Services. The fair is free for all Brac University’s undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as Brac University alumni. BRAC University Electronics and Engineering Club, Brac IT Services Ltd, Banik Barta, Therap Services, Brac University Computer Club and the Dhaka Tribune are partners for the event.

Career fair at Brac starts tomorrow

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

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n Chisty Rahim

The idea of a man in shimmering armour riding in his horse to di� erent places challenging the evil as he goes - sounds like something from Hansel and Gretel. The name itself gives you a clear idea of the game. It has an “open world environment” feature which raises questions like, what can a Witcher do in an open world environment, where the environment has not much to o� er? If you don’t follow the story line and just ride on as you want, you might not have much to explore. No, the game cannot be compared with Grand Theft Auto but their e� ort in making it more interesting is well noted.

The game stars a character Geralt of Rivia, who travels to di� erent places defeating evil as it rises from the darkness. The action role-playing game allows you to roam free as you play mission after mission through the story line eventually all leading to a dramatic end. The coolest part is that most of the travelling is done either by foot or on horseback.

The story continues from where it was left o� in the last two productions of the series,

Geralt, is no longer sought by a now-defeated evil and has embarked on a mission of his own. In time, he � nds trails of a much more viscous evil leaving blood soaked soil and � ery remains of the dead. The evil army, wild hunt, is then hunted by Geralt as he turns out to be the only man one who can bring them down.

The game was released on May 19, 2015. with GameSpot rating it 10/10, and almost acing every other rating, Witcher 3 stole the market and is now among the best games released this year. Like Batman Arkham Knight this game also received the award for the Most Anticipated games. Even though the “open world environment” feature of the game was a massive failure, the real-life graphics and the thrilling story line compensated for it.

The developers CD Projekt RED in association with the publishers (cdp.pl and 1C company to name a few) did a spectacular job with the game. All doubts and suspicions removed after the game receiving countless awards within a month after release.

If you haven’t played the game yet, I’d say go get it! l

review

Better than the best

Minimum system requirementsIntel CPU Core i5-2500K 3.3GHzAMD CPU Phenom II X4 940Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 660AMD GPU Radeon HD 7870RAM 6GBOS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1)DirectX 11HDD Space 40 GB

Tech

Ride along

Samsung “Triangle Air Conditioner”

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n Mahmood Hossain

Chalo is a newly launched app that can give you rides from one destination to the other. It provides an on-demand car service with the highest level of customer service, safety and comfort. Well, at least that’s what the developers claim. But if that isn’t enough to in� uence you to giving this a shot, they make it clear for everyone to read and understand on their main website.

The drivers have been carefully selected, with a minimum of � ve years of driving experience. But it’s not only in length. They speak basic English - to avoid any confusion - and behave in a polite and co-operative manner. The aim here is to achieve the highest quality service when you need it the most. And the cars that Chalo uses are not below par either, they are newer and upscale models for maximum comfort. If that still isn’t enough for you, you’ll be relieved to know that each car has standard insurance.

As each driver attempts to pick you up within 10 minutes, you’ll be able to pay each fare by credit or debit card and bKash.

Convenience will be as important as your comfort. The fare seems to be, well, quite fair and justi� able, considering the service they are willing to provide. Chalo frequently changes their price based on supply and demand so there’s always a competitive factor. It’s comforting to know that the developers’ headquarters are in San

Francisco, California (with an o� ce here in Uttara as well). Yes, that’s right Silicon Valley. Rest assured you’re dealing with people who know their stu� .

The app can be downloaded on both the iOS and Android for free. For more information, such as prices, head on over to their website: chalo.com.bd. l

app

gadgets

Samsung Electronics has recently launched its Triangle Air Conditioner in Bangladesh. Triangle AC is engineered to deliver exceptional cooling comfort and hygienic bene� ts in a striking triangular design. This innovative design allows for a wider inlet, wider outlet and bigger fans while maintaining a compact exterior pro� le to enhance the overall air conditioning experience.

Triangle AC comes in three different capacities an with affordable price range for the valued customers of Samsung. The 1 Ton (Model AR12JCSNAWK2RG) is available at Tk61,900, the 1.5 Ton (Model AR18JCSNAWK2RG) is available at Tk81,900 and the 2 Ton (Model AR24JCSNAWK2RG) is available at Tk92,900 in the Bangladeshi market, along with a five year warranty.

Design that changes the � ow Designed to be exceptionally e� cient, its unique triangular features have a wider inlet, wider outlet and a bigger fan to ensure that air is cooled and expelled faster, further and wider with 54% larger side of supply area – reaching every corner of a room.

This new technology helps users to stay cool for long periods of time, while using the minimum amount of energy. The Fast Cool mode allows the air conditioner to cool any room quickly. It then automatically changes the mode to Comfort Cool to maintain the desired temperature. Users will not feel cold and do not have to manually keep changing the settings or turning the air conditioner on and o� .

Capacity control for e� ective use of energy Energy e� ciency is a key purchasing decision for consumers. The Samsung Air Conditioner’s Single User mode uses less compressor capacity, reducing power consumption, while still providing a cool and comfortable environment. This ensures that users won’t have to worry about the electricity bill even as the only person in a room.

Virus Doctor and Easy FilterThe new Samsung Air Conditioner features Samsung’s exclusive Virus Doctor and Easy Filter that eliminate dust, dangerous airborne contaminants and allergens, as well as 99.7% of bacteria and four viruses, including subtype H1N1– � rstly using a � lter

and secondly with Virus Doctor’s S-Plasma ion technology. The Easy Filter is located outside, on the top, for easy maintenance.

Stylish and smart The pure Crystal Gloss™ � nish and uniquely curved design of the Samsung Air Conditioner deliver a premium look. Like aerodynamic, high performance sports cars, every aspect of its streamlined body is encased in dual-injected, transparent material for an elegant � nish that blends seamlessly into any modern household.

Smart monitoring for maximum convenience The Smart Installation is a self-diagnosis feature that ensures the air conditioner is installed perfectly by the service engineer. It automatically checks for installation faults that can cause problems when using the air conditioner.

The Smart Check automatic error-monitoring system detects and diagnoses problems and provides easy troubleshooting solutions using a smartphone application, saving user’s time and preventing unnecessary costs prior to a service callout.

To know more about Samsung Triangular Air Conditioner, interested customers can call at 09612-300-300 or visit the nearest Samsung store. Triangle AC is available at Samsung authorised distributor showrooms of Transcom Digital, Electra International, and Rangs. l

The uber e� ect continues, this time in the streets of Dhaka

Exclusive design and engineering delivers powerful cooling performance and cleaner air quality

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‘BARCA MOVE IS MOST IMPORTANT DAY OF LIFE’

26 2827Aston Villa have released their record signing Darren Bent on a free transfer after four years at the Premier League

club, they said on Monday

FREE!

DJOKOVIC HAUNTED BY PARIS GHOSTS

ENGLAND IN SEARCH OF ODI REVIVAL

Leaking secrets are nonsense, says Mahmud‘I never begged BCB to assign me as the manager’n Minhaz Uddin Khan

“A recently published report in the media re-sulted in Khaled Mahmud’s resignation as manager of the Bangladesh cricket team” - a rumour that � ashed around most of the TV channels and online news sites yesterday morning. As usual, the curiosity and hype cir-culating the matter made the air at Bangladesh Cricket Board premises in Mirpur heavier.

The report on a local Bangla newspaper on Sunday questioned the BCB’s decision to as-sign Mahmud as the team manager over and over again despite counting heavy � nancial loss. Mahmud, a board director, gets a total Tk 6 lac (approximately) from two organisations as monthly salary, but since he is working as

the team manager the BCB pays Mahmud his salary lost.

The confusion of Mahmud resigning, how-ever, was cleared by the manager himself fol-lowing a meeting with the BCB chief execu-tive o� cer and Jalal Younus, chairman of the media wing.

He used words like “nonsense” while ex-pressing his stand against the rumour and said he emailed few selected BCB high-ups regard-ing the matter, but it was very “non-profession-al” the way the email got leaked to the media.

“I think this is (leaking information) never a wise thing to happen. This is why I shared some of my observations on the issue with the board through an email yesterday night (Sun-day). I needed some explanation. But you see

this has also come out in the media that I have sent an email where I have told I want to re-sign,” said a furious Mahmud.

“So you see there is nothing secret in the BCB at the moment. There is no privacy at all. This is utterly a nonsense and very bad for the board.”

He added, “I did have some points of discus-sion with the board but I never said that I want to resign. I told them it will be tough for me to continue as the national team manager if this issue goes on. I am contunuing with the job as the Bangladesh team manager for India series.”

However, for mysterious reasons the BCB have not settled with a permanent manager as Mahmud has been doing the job on a series-by-se-ries basis since India’s tour here last year.

“I don’t see is as anything else but a non-

sense. The email that I had sent yesterday (Sunday) was not sent to 100 people. So peo-ple who received the email should know it very clearly and now I think it’s the job of the board to investigate the matter, and that is what I discussed in the short meeting a while ago. I have questioned the reasons for all this unpleasant situations and the breach in priva-cy,” said Mahmud.

“Yes, I have told the media that BCB re-covers the salaries I lose while working as the team manager. I am a professional and I don’t work on charity for the team, so it is very much right for the board to recover the money I am losing from other organisations I work with. I am here as the national team manager because the board wants me,” he concluded. l

Not records, Mominul eyes more runsn Mazhar Uddin

One more � fty in either of the innings of the Test match against India, and Mominul Haque will climb another step in the prestig-ious ladder. One more � fty will see his name put beside world record holder South African star AB de Villiers for scoring 12 consecutive � fties in Tests.

However, records and awards hardly mat-ters to Mominul. The 23-year old kept his feet on the ground and answered rather smartly when he was compared to De Villiers.

“I am no way near to him, as we all know he is the king of all formats and I don’t think he is my competitor,” said Mominul before adding, “I am not thinking about such record as I will try to play my normal game as I have been playing so far. I will try to ful� ll my target along with the expectations from the fans.”

With a staggering average of exactly 60, Mominul scored 1380 runs in 14 Tests with four hundreds and nine � fties. A labeled Test specialist for the Tigers, Mominul wants to improve his performance in the shorter for-mats and change his tag of a “Test player.”

“I don’t see things that way, as I am play-ing well in Tests people are saying I am a Test specialist. But if I can perform well in the other formats the mindset of the people will change and they will start praising me and if I can work on my lacking I think I will be able to perform well in the shorter formats as well,” he added.

The left-handed genius is well aware of the threat Indian spin duo Ashwin and Harbha-jan possess but along with the whole Tigers unit he too is con� dent of a better Test outing against their superior neighbours. l

Mominul Haque, recently named in Wisden India’s Cricketer of the Year list, bats during Bangladesh’s practice session at Fatullah yesterday ahead of their only Test match against India at the venue tomorrow MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Sport26DT

l Wawrinka lost in the � rst round at Roland Garros last year, going down as the reigning Australian Open campion, to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez

l At 30 years and 71 days, Wawrinka is the oldest man to win the French Open since Andres Gomez in 1990, who was 32 days older

l He beat both of the two top seeds - Djokovic in the � nal and second seed Roger Federer in the quarter-� nals for the loss of just one set.

l Wawrinka was also seeded eighth when he won his � rst Grand Slam title in Australia at the start of 2014. He also beat the top seed in the � nal, and on that occasion it was Rafael Nadal.

l He is the � rst former winner of the French Open boys singles to also lift the senior title since Mats Wilander in 1988. Wawrinka won the junior title at Roland Garros in 2003.

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

Where is the bonus?n Mazhar Uddin

The Bangladesh cricket team players were rewarded huge cash bonuses by Prime Min-ister Sheikh Hasina after their triumph in the World Cup and the Pakistan cricket team. However, with a fresh series looming closer, the cricketers are yet to receive their bonus promised at the reception ceremony held at Ganobhaban on May 25.

“We did not receive any bonus reward which was announced during the reception programme after the Pakistan series. And we actually don’t know when we are going to receive those as another series is knocking the door,” said a senior member of the Bang-ladesh team requesting anonymity to Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Chairman of the Bangladesh Cricket Board media committee Jalal Younus, however, as-sured of distributing the rewards soon. When contacted he said, “Actually we have been planning to give away those bonus rewards through a ceremony at the presence of the Prime Minister but we are not being able to set up a schedule. We are planning to distribute the bonus rewards to the cricketers soon.”

The jubilant Prime Minister announced Tk 2 crore bonus money to the Bangladesh team for making it to the quarter-� nal of the World Cup 2015 and winning the ODI series agianst Pakistan 3-0.

The Tigers were promised a total of Tk 8.5 crore that includes Tk 1 crore as winning bo-nus, Tk 3 crore from the International Crick-et Council, Tk 1.3 crore from the Bangladesh Cricket Board and Tk 1 crore from Beximco.

The PM also announced her plans to allo-cate housing facilities for the cricketers and said she has already forwarded the matter to the concerned authorities. She also said that each cricketer will receive two � ats. l

Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma shares a light moment with his counterpart and Bangladeshi one-day international captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza in Mirpur yesterday. The scratches from a minor road accident recently on Mashrafe’s left-hand are visible MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Djokovic haunted by Paris ghosts of Sampras, Edberg, Becker n AFP, Paris

They came, they saw but never conquered and now Novak Djokovic is staring into the same Paris abyss that swallowed up the Grand Slam ambitions of Pete Sampras, Stefan Ed-berg and Boris Becker.

The world number one lost his third � nal in four years at Roland Garros on Sunday when his hopes of becoming just the eighth man to complete a career Grand Slam were swept away by Stan Wawrinka’s tide of killer one-handed backhands.

His 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 defeat left Djokovic on eight majors -- � ve Australian Opens, two

Wimbledons and a single US Open success -- against eight defeats in � nals at the majors.

Djokovic will be back in 2016, when he will be 29, for another attempt, his 12th in total, but statistics and history threaten to conspire against him.

Sampras won 14 majors -- seven Wimble-dons, � ve titles in New York and two in Aus-tralia.

But 13 times the great American tried to win the French Open and 13 times he failed.

His best was a semi-� nal in 1996 and his last appearance at the age of 30 was in 2002 when he lost � rst round to patched-up Ital-ian journeyman Andrea Gaudenzi, who was ranked 69.

“I don’t want to say it’s a jinx,” said Sam-pras at the time. 

Edberg won twice each in Australia, Wim-bledon and at the US Open, but his best Paris performance was runner-up to a teenage Mi-chael Chang in 1989, with his classical serve-and-volley game horribly unsuited to the slow clay.

“At the time I thought I played a great tour-nament and I thought I would get another chance to win it, but I never really got another chance after that,” the Swede told CNN.

Like Sampras, Edberg played 13 times at Roland Garros, the last time as a 30-year-old in 1996. l

Aus French Wim US

Becker 2 0 3 1

Sampras 2 0 7 5

Edberg 2 0 2 2

Djokovic 5 0 2 1

GRAND SLAM TROPHIES

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BANvIND on Radio ShadhinRadio Shadhin will provide live commentary broadcast of the upcoming Bangladesh’s home series againt India. Listeners will be able to tune to 92.4 FM and hear renowned commentator Jafarullah Sharafat, actor turned commenta-tor Iresh Zaker, Kumar Kallyan, country’s � rst female commentator Saria Tanzim Shumona, female cricketer Jesse relay the match while pre, mid and post match analysis from former cricketers and celebrities are an added feature. Radio Shahdin has obtained the commentary broadcast rights for international cricket matches in Bangladesh till 2020.

Tribune Desk

MSC win in handballFavourites Mohammedan Sporting Club contin-ued their winning streak in the Cute Women’s Handball League as they defeated Usha Krira Chakra 30-16 in their Super 4 encounter at the Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium yesterday. The victors led the � rst half 17-11. Niraz netted 12 goals for Mohammedan. Mean-while in the day’s other match, Dhaka Mariner Youngs Club outplayed RN Sports Home by 40-10. Gurmil and Sanjida scored 11 and 10 goals for the winners.

Tribune Desk

GM Rakib moves second in MumbaiBangladesh Grandmaster Abdullah al Rakib moved to joint second place in the Mumbai May-or’s Cup International Open Chess Tournament after the end of the ninth round yesterday. Rakib defeated Kulkarni Rakesh of India in the 9th round game in Mumbai and earned 6.5 points to share the second spot in the points table along with four other players. GM Ziaur Rahman also registered victory beating Indian IM Shivananda. He moved to third place jointly with 17 players with six points while other Bangladeshi GM Enamul Hossain Razib earned 5.5 points.

Tribune Desk

Primary school footballKolsindur Government Primary School emerged as the champions in the Bangab-andhu Gold Cup Primary School Football Tournament beating Polichora Government Primary School of Rangpur 1-0 in the � nal at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. Meanwhile, Korgram Government Primary School of Sylhet clinched the title of the Banga-mata Begum Fazilatunnesa Gold Cup crushing Faizunnesa Government Primary School of Cox’s Bazar 3-0 in the other � nal at the same venue. Nazim, Zia and Mamun scored one apiece for Korgram school.

Tribune Desk

Pistorius recommended for release on Aug 21 Oscar Pistorius, the South African double amputee sprinter who shot dead his girlfriend, is scheduled to be freed on parole on August 21 after serving ten months in jail, o� cials said Monday. “He has been recommended for correctional supervision on August 21,” Zach Modise, commissioner of the correctional services, told AFP.

AFP

QUICK BYTES

HEAD TO HEADMatches – 2

Bangladesh won – 0 Kyrgyzstan won – 2

FIFA RANKINGSBangladesh – 166 Kyrgyzstan - 177

Kyrgyzstan land todayn Tribune Report

Kyrgyzstan national team will arrive in the capital today evening to play the � rst match of Fifa World Cup quali� ers against Bangla-desh at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Thursday.

The match will mark a new beginning for Bangladesh in the football map and though they have never beaten Kyrgyzstan in their previous two encounters, the current lot of Red and Green booters promise to break the record as they host their opponets for the � rst time ever.

Kyrgyzstan, who features nine uncapped players in the squad, are ranked 11 places be-low Bangladesh in the latest Fifa rankings. However, the quality of footballers are rich as seven players carry the experience of playing in Europe – three from Germany, one each from Russia, Poland, Serbia and Ukraine. l

England in search of one-day revival against New Zealand n AFP, London

England, not for the � rst time, will try to re-launch themselves as a one-day international cricket side when they face World Cup � nal-ists New Zealand in the � rst of a � ve-match series at Edgbaston on Tuesday. 

Since they made the third of three losing World Cup � nal appearances back in 1992, England have struggled to keep up with changes in the 50-over game.

But this year’s World Cup represented a new low, with England failing to beat a single Test nation in a tournament where they su� ered a � rst-round exit after a defeat by Bangladesh.

An antiquated approach, where 300 was regarded as a par score, was damned as “pre-historic” by Paul Collingwood, still the only Englishman to skipper the side to a global lim-ited overs trophy -- the 2010 World Twenty20 in the Caribbean.

It also played a key role in Peter Moores be-ing sacked as England coach by incoming direc-tor of cricket Andrew Strauss and replaced by Australian Trevor Bayliss. For years now, Eng-land have tended to regard white-ball cricket as a necessary, money-spinning, evil with results in � ve-day Test matches all that matters.

But in omitting the likes of senior pacemen James Anderson and Stuart Broad, as well as experienced batsman Ian Bell, for the New Zealand one-day series and including the hard-hitting Alex Hales, Jos Buttler and Jason Roy, as well as leg-spinner Adil Rashid, Eng-land’s squad -- still led by World Cup skipper Eoin Morgan -- has something of a fresh look about it.

The 2019 World Cup will be staged in England, where pitch and overhead condi-tions sometimes mean that the huge scores achieved in the southern hemisphere are not always within reach. l

England captain Eoin Morgan (L) and New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum pose with the one-day series trophy at Edgbaston in Birmingham yesterday AFP

Sol Campbell bids to become London mayor n AFP, London

Former England footballer Sol Campbell an-nounced Monday that he will bid to become the Conservative candidate to replace Boris Johnson as mayor of London in 2016.

“I’m in it to win it,” the former Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur defender told the Sun newspaper.

The London-born 40-year-old con� rmed he will attend a question and answer debate on July 4 with other contenders for the Con-servative nomination.

“I know I’m not going to be a frontrunner,” he told the tabloid. 

“But I look at people who have been in pol-itics for � ve, ten, 15 years, see them muck up and think, ‘You guys are supposed to be pro’!

“I bring something new to the table. I come from a working class background, it wasn’t easy for me at all, but I worked hard. And now it’s about giving something back.”

Campbell campaigned alongside Tory can-didates in the run-up to this year’s general election, in which Conservative Prime Minis-ter David Cameron won re-election.

He had been touted as a possible candidate for the London parliamentary seat of Kens-ington and Chelsea, but said that his “ambi-tions lie elsewhere in the political arena”. 

Tessa Jowell and Sadiq Khan, both from the main opposition Labour party, are the cur-rent favourites for mayor.

The Tories have yet to � nd an instantly rec-ognisable candidate, although MP Zac Gold-smith has been tipped as one of the favourites if he decides to run.

Campbell refused to speculate on whether Tottenham fans might boycott his candida-cy after he left the White Hart Lane club for North London rivals Arsenal in 2001. l

Sport28DT

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

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BARCELONA TROPHIES SINCE 2005

European champions feted on return n AFP, Barcelona

Thousands of fans took to the streets of Barcelo-na on Sunday to celebrate their club’s � fth Cham-pions League win, decking the Catalan capital out with � ags, shirts, scarves and confetti.

“Champions, second treble, we continue to write history” was the triumphant message written on the side of the coach ferrying Luis Suarez, who scored the decisive goal in the 3-1 defeat of Juventus, Lionel Messi, and the rest of the team to the Camp Nou where a crowd of 67,000 were awaiting them.

“The treble of 2009 was magic because it was the � rst. But to do it twice, that’s enor-mous,” said one fan, Adrian Llamazares re-ferring to Saturday’s trophy in Berlin coming after the Liga and Cup titles.

“I was con� dent from the start of the season,”

chipped in Sara Marco with her grand-daughter enthusiastically waving a Catalan � ag.

But the sixty-something grandmother was perhaps the only one to have had belief at the start of January when Barcelona su� ered a major internal crisis with frosty relations be-tween coach Luis Enrique and Messi.

But then the Catalan giants pressed hard on the accelerator to become a winning ma-

chine after a 2013-14 trophyless season had hinted at their decline.

“We were speaking of the end of a cycle, but the cycle is Messi, regardless of the manager and the rest of the players, Barcelona can al-ways win,” suggested 41-year-old David Blasco.

With fans shouting out the name of their idols, and tourists joining in the party atmos-phere the team made its smiling way to their

iconic stadium, dancing and singing in the open top bus. “Where’s Messi?” a six-year-old boy asked his mother, Nuria Boada.

“In our house, our hero is Messi, because he’s the best in the world. He does incredible things, almost without blinking,” the 39-year-old Boada said.

“But we also want to say goodbye to Xavi,” she added quickly, in reference to the re-cord-breaking Barca captain who is leaving the club to join Qatari side Al Sadd.

Xavi’s name, along with Messi, Suarez and the third member of the strikeforce Neymar, were the names that rang out most.

“As long as the three forwards score Barce-lona can play as they wish. And next season, they will bring us back the sixth (European crown)!” predicted 27-year-old Eduard Cor-celles. l

Enrique will stay, says Barcelona presidentn Reuters, Barcelona

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has insisted Luis Enrique will stay on next season despite the coach refusing to commit to the club after wrapping up a treble of titles on Saturday.

Barca’s 3-1 victory over Juventus in the Champions League � nal meant they became the � rst team to win their domestic league and Cup and Europe’s elite club competition in the same season on two occasions, repeat-ing their feat from 2009.

Luis Enrique is coming to the end of the � rst year of a two-year contract but was clear-ly unhappy with the sacking of sporting direc-tor Andoni Zubizarreta. l

‘Barca move is most important day of life’n ESPN

Aleix Vidal has described his transfer from Se-villa to Barcelona as “the most important day of my life” after completing his Camp Nou re-turn on Monday.

Vidal, 25, who plays on the right wing, is un-able to play for Barcelona until they complete a FIFA-imposed transfer ban in January 2016.

Barca announced the signing a day after winning the Champions League on Saturday, completing a treble of trophies along with the Spanish league and Copa del Rey this season.

Vidal impressed for Europa League winners Sevilla this season after joining from Almeria last summer, and last month earned his � rst call-up to Vicente Del Bosque’s Spain squad. l

FC Barcelona players parade on a bus through the streets of Barcelona as they celebrate their Champions League victory on Sunday AFP

MOST TROPHIES EVER‘EUROPEAN FOOTBALL CLUBS’

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Star Sports 1Men’s FIH Hockey World League 2015 11:00AMGermany v Canada 1:00AM Netherlands v Japan 3:00AM Korea v New Zealand 5:00AMSpain v Argentina Star Sports 2

7:00PM New Zealand Tour of England 20151st ODI

DAY’S WATCH

Brazil extend winning run to 9n Reuters, Sao Paulo

Brazil took their winning run under coach Dunga to nine on Sunday when � rst-half goals gave them a comfortable 2-0 win over Mexico in Sao Paulo.

A week before they kick o� their Copa Amer-ica campaign against Peru, Brazil dominated a poor warm up match though there was a mo-ment of brilliant by Philippe Coutino when they opened the scoring after 27 minutes.

The Liverpool mid� elder dropped a shoul-der and wafted past a Mexican defender be-fore slotting the ball home from a tight angle to notch his � rst international goal.

Diego Tardelli doubled their lead nine minutes later after good work by Elias. The Corinthians mid� elder nutmegged a Mexican defender and his pass left Tardelli with the simplest of � nishes from six yards.

“It was good to come home and play at home again,” said central defender David Luiz. “We’re happy with the win and way we won.”

The game was played at a slow pace, es-pecially in a second half that had 12 substitu-tions and hardly a shot at goal.

Mexico were without Carlos Vela and Javi-er Hernandez, both of whom were rested for next month’s Gold Cup in the US.

Brazil, meanwhile, were missing Neymar, who was celebrating Barcelona’s Champions League triumph over Juventus.

The win means Brazil have won all nine of their games since Dunga took over in the wake of their 2014 World Cup 7-1 humiliation by Germany, a run that includes victories over Colombia, Chile, Argentina and France. l

RESULTSRepublic of Ireland 0-0 England

 Russia 4-2  BelarusKokorin 20, Golovin 76, Kislyak 51, 66Miranchuk 83,Kerzhakov 90+2

France 3-4 Belgium 4Valbuena 53-pen, Fellaini 17, 42, Fekir 89, Payet 90+1 Nianggolan 50, Hazard 54-pen

Serbia 4-1 AzerbaijanIvanovic 10, 63, Nazarov 39Ljajic 53, Markovic 89

Brazil 2 – 0 MexicoCoutinho 28, Tardelli 37

Brazil’s David Luiz (R) challenges Mexico’s Eduardo Herrera during a friendly match in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Sunday REUTERS

United the � rst club to smash $1b brand barriern Agencies

Manchester United have beaten Bayern Mu-nich and Real Madrid to reclaim their position as the biggest brand in world football, becom-ing the � rst club to pass the $1billion mark.

Despite another season without silverware, United have overcome Europe’s big-hitters at the top of The Brand Finance Football 50, according to a study released on Monday.

The Red Devils are now worth just over $1.2bn (£787.5m), almost $300m more than

second-placed Bayern. Real Madrid, Man-chester City and Chelsea round out the top � ve.

Barcelona’s Champions League � nal vic-tory over Juventus on Saturday added $28m to their brand value, but could not stop them falling two places to sixth below City and Chelsea - although their second Treble in six years will probably ease their pain.

Brand Finance CEO David Haigh said: ‘Manchester United’s success has been mas-terminded by Ed Woodward, the Cristiano Ronaldo of football’s commercial sphere. l

Deschamps not worried by leaky defence n AFP, Paris

French coach Didier Deschamps has said he is not unduly worried about his side’s struggling defence which was again exposed in a 4-3 de-feat by Belgium.

The home side’s back four took a hammer-ing in the friendly game at the Stade de France and from critics after Sunday’s defeat which followed a 3-1 home loss to Brazil in March. They have beaten Denmark in between.

Deschamps acknowledged the problems but said he prefers to go into Euro 2016, which France will host, with a challenge.

“Defensive discipline is important at the top level,” he said. “We have to perform better in the defence sector. Teams are better than us and we are su� ering.

“But I am not worried. It is a good choice to have your backs to the wall and we were like that with Brazil and Belgium.

“There is room to improve. We are capable

of getting into a higher gear but we need to work hard at it,” said the coach.

Belgium, now ranked second in the world with players like Eden Hazard and Marouane Fellaini on top form, dominated the game

despite the close result. Belgium were 4-1 up with two minutes of regular time left.

Fellaini scored twice and Hazard and Rad-ja Nainggolan got the others in what Belgium coach Marc Wilmots called a “great result.”

Deschamps acknowledged “its not an ideal time” for France but added he would not look for excuses. France were without � rst choice players such as striker Karim Benzema and Deschamps said some of those who played “did not perform well in this match.

“There is competition and those who get playing time must take advantage of it,” the coach said.

France’s World Cup winning defender Bix-ente Lizarazu said the team need a shakeup.

“We have too many defensive problems. I think there is also a problem of balance in this team because it is not just the defence,” Lizarazu said on RTL radio. “It is a problem of the global balance: we were not dangerous enough up front especially in the � rst half.” l

RANKING THE WORLD’S BIGGEST CLUBS (US$m)

Club Value 2014 Change

1 Man United 1,206 3 467

2 Bayern Munich 933 1 36

3 Real Madrid 873 2 104

4 Man City 800 5 290

5 Chelsea 795 7 293

6 Barcelona 773 4 151

7 Arsenal 703 6 198

8 Liverpool 577 8 108

9 PSG 541 10 217

10 Tottenham 360 12 111

Zinedine Zidane and his wife Veronique attend the match between France and Belgium REUTERS

DOWNTIME30DT

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

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

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKER

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 8 represents C so � ll C every time the � gure 8 appears.You have one letter in the control grid to start you o� . Enter it in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CROSSWORD

ACROSS1 Drinking vessel (3)3 The hoi polloi (6)8 Spoken (4)9 Large deer (3)10 Little wave (6)11 Delight (6)14 Stocking material (5)17 Heavenly body (5)20 Give up (6)24 Teacher (6)26 Anger (3)27 Comfortable (4)28 Cherry coloured (6)29 Arch (3)

DOWN 1 Season’s yield (4)2 Skin opening (4)3 Planet (4)4 Foreign (5)5 Part of � ower’s calyx (5)6 Old doth measure (3)7 Yam would in a coil (5)12 Zodiac sign (3)13 Top card (3)15 Japanese monetary unit (3)16 United (3)17 Droll (5)18 Niggard (5)19 Long lock (5)21 Sea eagle (4)22 Excavates (4)23 Gem (4)25 Land measure (3)

SUDOKU

SHOWTIME 31D

TTUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

WHAT TO WATCH

AvatarMovies Now 2pmA Paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home..Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & BlondeHBO 5:39pmElle Woods heads to Washington D.C. to join the sta� of a congresswoman in order to pass a bill to ban animal testing.Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Sally Field, Regina King

The Golden CompassWB 5:22pmIn a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organisation.Cast: Dakota Blue Richards, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig

CELEBS ON SOCIAL

n Showtime Desk

Daily soap Doll’s House 2: Saat-ti Tara’r Timir aired its 100th episode last Sunday - which, is by far, an admirable accomplishment for a drama serial.

Directed by Afsana Mimi, the serial chronicles a group of girls who share a � at and follows their intertwined lives in a vivid depiction of the ultimate metro life.

The serial boasts a strong female cast including Moutushi Biswas, Sanjida Preeti, Shormimala, Joyeeta Moholanobish, Moushumi Hamid, Mumtaheena Toya, Sadika Swarna, Suborna Mustafa, Khairul Alam Sabuj, Dilara Zaman, Intekhab Dinar, Wahida Mollik Jolly and Monir Khan Shimul, among others.

Commenting on this achievement, Afsana Mimi thanked the entire cast and

crew, sponsors, ATN Bangla and the TV audience for being a part of the serial’s success.Doll’s House, the � rst instalment of the serial, aired 380 episodes for two years now.

The serial, made by production house Greenscreen and powered by Ifad, airs Saturday through Tuesday on ATN Bangla at 10:55pm. l

Hugh Jackman @RealHughJackman No � lter. https://instagram.com/p/3qoB1YChHQ/

Akshay Kumar @akshaykumarOnly 2 days to go people! #BrothersTrailerIn2Days @Brothers2015 http://bit.ly/BrothersCountdown2Days…

Snoop Dogg @SnoopDogg Summer jam boston suit by @taliacoles https://instagram.com/p/3qoAUyP9Ne/

Doll’s House 2 reaches 100 episode milestone

n Mahmood Hossain

Netflix original. Get used to those two words, ladies and gentlemen. They have manged to crank out yet another hit of a show. Sense8 is a brilliantly shot Sci-fi thriller. With so many high-production value shows that blur the lines between the small screen and the big screen, this is an exciting exception. From the first hour of the show, the cinematic experience kicks in as fast as Neo can fly through The Matrix. That’s a reference to the Wachowski brothers, who are the creators, writers and directors of both the film and this new show. Alongside co-creator/writer J Michael Straczynski, the filmmakers have given television fans something to cheer about.With a few apparent elements of The Matrix, Sense 8 is very well thought out and shot on-location. The story tells of

eight strangers from around the world connected by dreams and visions from a mysterious event that takes place in the first episode. From Mumbai to Reykjavik, Iceland, the eight main characters (called The Sensates) develop telepathic abilities. The show features in nine different cities with plenty of familiar faces. In fact, you’ll get to see Anupam Kher and Shah Rukh Khan. Well, the latter is there in spirit. You’ll have to watch to find out, don’t feel

A mental roller coaster

guilty for getting hooked either. The entire first season has been released so binge away! l

BACK PAGE32DT

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

HASINA STANDS BETWEEN US AND THE EXTREMISTS PAGE 12

DOLL’S HOUSE 2 REACHES 100 EPISODE PAGE 31

NBR TO NET WELL-OFF PEOPLE PAGE 15

Fake Rohingya photos seek communal strife n Probir K Sarker and

Mohammad Jamil Khan

Radical Islamist groups have been instigating attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh by posting fake photos and false information on social media about the persecution of Ro-hingya Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myan-mar.

People behind some Facebook pages and pro� les, many from Bangladesh, are urging common Muslims to spread the false news and take revenge.

Photos of Thailand protesters forced by the army to lie on a shore in 2004, Tibetan Bud-dhists rescuing victims’ bodies after the 2010 earthquake in China, charred bodies from a 2010 gas tanker explosion in DR Congo, a Ti-betan youth running on a Delhi street after setting himself on � re in 2012 are all being as-sociated with the persecution.

The fake photos resurfaced after the recent media outcry over the fate of the Rohingyas and Bangladeshis rescued from the sea.

While extremists are spreading fake photos to draw the sympathy of common Muslims, many progressive activists are trying to make people aware and urging them to verify any photos on Google before sharing. They are also advising citizens to seek police protection.

The jihadi blueprint!Last year, after al-Qaeda chief Zawahiri an-nounced forming wings in India, Myanmar and Bangladesh, some local militant groups started working to establish an Islamic coun-try, detectives say.

Apart from local Muslims, many Rohingyas actively participated in the planned attacks on Buddhists at Cox’s Bazar in 2012 following sectarian clashes in Myanmar. They instigated the attacks by falsely claiming that one Bud-dhist youth had insulted Islam on Facebook.

Reports say Jamaat-e-Islami and some lo-

cal militant out� ts including Jama’atul Mu-jahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (Huji) and Ansarullah Bangla Team have been recruiting Rohingyas.

These local groups have links with the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) and international terrorist groups Islamic State, al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Police sources and locals say many un-registered Rohingyas have been involved in crimes such as tra� cking and smuggling yaba. Some of them have also joined RSO, an out� t banned in Myanmar, seeking independ-

ence of Rakhine state that houses most of the Rohingya Muslims.

Kushum Dewan, deputy commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, told the Dha-ka Tribune that they also had noticed fake posts and photos on social media.

“One of our specialised teams has started to track down the network responsible for spreading the propaganda,” he said.

He added that they had not received any complaints yet, “but since the issue is alarm-ing, we have volunteered.”

Kushum also said they had no information

about RSO’s activities in Bangladesh recently.Shaikh Nazmul Alam, deputy commission-

er of police’s Detective Branch (DB), said: “We have some information about some Facebook users and hope to arrest them soon.”

The Chittagong Metropolitan Police Com-missioner Abdul Jalil Mondol said most of the suspects using social media to instigate commu-nal violence were connected to Jamaat-Shibir.

State Minister for Home A� airs Asaduz-zaman Khan said the government had taken necessary steps against militant out� ts and extremist groups. l

Anger in India over Modi’s ‘despite beinga woman’ speechn AFP, New Delhi, India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi set o� a social media storm yesterday after he praised his Bangladeshi counterpart for having the cour-age to � ght terrorism “despite being a woman.”

Modi complimented Sheikh Hasina during a two-day visit to Bangladesh at the weekend, saying in Hindi it was “heartening that the prime minister of Bangladesh, despite being a woman, is openly saying that she has zero tolerance for terrorism”.

The comment sparked a � urry of sarcastic comments, jokes and pictures of successful In-dian women on social media. Many others ex-pressed anger, questioning whether Modi meant women were generally tolerant of terrorism. l

Activists of Islami Shashantantra Chhatra Andolan burn newspapers at Dhaka’s Paltan area yesterday during their protest against the mass killing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar DHAKA TRIBUNE

Modi visit: Analysts sound cautious noten Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 36-hour visit will have a long-term impact on local politics if Bangladesh fails to realise the national interest-related bene� ts from India, analysts say.

Modi met the leaders of all major political parties and everyone who have talked to the Indian PM have said that the visit would help in cementing bilateral relationship.

Mizanur Rahman Shelley, a noted political scientist, said: “Modi’s visit had a tremendous immediate impact; in broad terms the impact was largely positive. Nevertheless, if one takes a closer look, there are certain gaps which are not addressed tactfully and in time may lead to worsening rather than improvement of In-do-Bangladesh relations.”

Shelley, who is a former minister, also said:

“This would have a dangerous negative e� ect on domestic politics. The ruling party which has most to gain from Modi’s visit and improve Bangladesh-India relationship would lose its standing in the public eye if the issues of just distribution of common river waters, correct-ing the adverse balance of trade and border killing of Bangladeshi people by BSF are not addressed seriously and as soon as possible.”

He, however, cautioned that if timely ac-tion is not taken by India, the emotional up-surge in Bangladesh following Modi’s visit may not last very long.

Another political scientist Ataur Rahman said: “All the political parties showed that their sentiments were pro-India rather than anti-In-dia.” Ataur, however, cautioned that the politi-cal leadership has to be very careful during ne-gotiations so that India cannot take advantage of the political division in Bangladesh.

“Political leadership should keep in mind that national interests should not be com-promised. If that happens, anti-Indian senti-ments would grow and it will not be good for any government,” he said.

Before Modi came to Dhaka, the main po-litical opposition BNP in a press conference welcomed the visit. They said they were not anti-India and wanted to have a good relation. Right wing political party Jamaat-e-Islami, a key component of the BNP-led alliance, also welcomed Modi. On Sunday, Modi held a meeting with Khaleda, who said afterwards that it was a very good meeting.

Tareque Shamsur Rahman, professor of international relations at Jahangirnagar Uni-versity, said: “All the political parties praised Modi’s visit and saw it positively. But if peo-ple’s interests are not served properly, then anti-India sentiment will grow.”l

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