Alhamdulillah, polls 100% peaceful, says acting CECn Mohammad Zakaria

Several candidates, mainly those backed by the BNP, made allegations of irregularities in the third phase of upazila parishad polls held yesterday.

In complaints submitted to the Election Commission and returning o� cers, they claimed that capturing of polling centres by supporters of ri-val candidates, stu� ng fake votes and violence were rampant during the local elections in 81 upazilas.

However, the Election Commission said the polls were held in a totally free, fair and peaceful manner.

“Alhamdulillah (praise to Allah), the third phase polls were held hundred percent free and fair, and the commis-sion is satis� ed with holding the polls peacefully. The polls were held prop-

erly by Allah’s grace,” acting chief elec-tion commissioner Abdul Mobarak told reporters yesterday at the EC media centre in the capital.

Mobarak claimed that the elections were more free, fair and peaceful than previous local polls.

“It is not a question of failure. When holding elections, some stray incidents may take place. The violence cannot be controlled beforehand,” he said.

About assaults on EC o� cials in Barisal’s Hizla upazila, the commis-sioner said the perpetrators would not be spared as the attacks were criminal o� ences.

“The responsible persons will not be spared. They will be brought to jus-tice,” Mobarak said.

However, he added, the commission did not have jurisdiction in investigat-ing criminal o� ences.

“As per a court order, the commis-sion cannot investigate a criminal of-fence. The aggrieved person can � le

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

MISSING MALAYSIAN PLANE

Communication system ‘deliberately disabled’n Agencies

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak yesterday said the communications sys-tems of missing Malaysia Airlines � ight MH370 were deliberately disabled.

According to satellite and radar evi-dence, he said, the plane then changed course and could have continued � ying for a further seven hours.He said the “movements are consistent with the deliberate action of someone on the plane”.

The plane disappeared a week ago with 239 people on board.

Mr Razak stopped short of saying it was a hijacking, saying only that they were investigating “all possibilities”.

He said the plane could be anywhere

from Kazakhstan to the Indian Ocean.The developments have added fur-

ther uncertainty to the relatives of the 239 people on board the Kuala Lumpur to Beijing � ight.

Some in the Chinese capital said the news had made them more hopeful that their loved ones are alive, but one woman said they were on an emotional rollercoaster and she felt “helpless and frustrated”.

Search enters new phaseThe � ight left Kuala Lumpur for Bei-jing at 00:40 local time (16:40 GMT) on

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

At least two people were killed and hundreds more injured across the country yesterday during the staging of the third phase of upazila parishad elections in 81 upazilas; while another person was also killed in an incident of pre-poll violence ahead of the fourth phase voting in Netrokona.

The deceased included a Shibir ac-tivist, an Awami League activist and a BNP activist in Bagerhat, Shariatpur

and Netrokona respectively. The level of violence was signi� -

cantly higher than the previous phas-es, with a large number of reports about clashes, postponement of voting and allegations of ballot box snatching coming in from a number of upazilas.

Earlier, the Election Commission had postponed poll in Shreepur upazila of Gazipur, while violence also caused voting to be suspended yesterday at 26 polling centres. Hartals were also called in eight upazilas.

The people injured during the third phase of voting included law enforcers, voters, supporters of di� erent political parties, election o� cials and observers.

In Megnitola area of Bagerhat’s Ka-chua upazila, miscreants stabbed Man-jurul Islam, an activist of Islami Chha-tra Shibir, to death.

Jamaat-e-Islami’s Bagerhat unit Sec-retary Abdul Wadud blamed Awami League activists for the killing.

In Shariatpur’s Naria upazila, PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

News3 The law ministry may take steps this week to settle the disagreements within the prosecution team. The prosecutors, divided into two groups, are trying to protect their post and position by lobbying.

5 Only 50% of the construction of the Purbachal Link Road has been completed during 14 years.

20 pages | Price: Tk10

Chaitra 2, 1420Jamadiul Awal 14, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 1 No 352

INSIDE

DHAKA JOINS SEARCHP16

13 | ONLY A WIN WILL SATISFY MUSHFIQB1 | TELCOS’ NO TO IPTSPS’ SMS PERMISSION 8 | VIOLENCE FLARES UP IN UKRAINE

SUNDAY, MARCH 16, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

7 | BARREL OF A SOCIAL SCIENCE MAJOR

MORE STORIESP2

AL takes lead in third spell of pollsFour ruling party rebels win chairman post while JaPa fails to secure even one

Polls-related violences kill three

Members of the Bangladesh national cricket team take part in a practice session in Dhaka yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Two factions of Awami League armed with bamboo stick lock in a clash to take control over a polling centre at Daganbhuiyan in Feni yesterday BANGLAR CHOKH

Tigers readyto rumblen Mazhar Uddin

The stage is all set at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium for a cracking start to the ICC World Twenty20 with an up-beat Bangladesh side taking on Afghan-istan in the tournament opener today.

The hosts went through a tricky situa-tion when questions were raised earlier this year regarding the security during the tournament.

With passing days the matters were solved and Bangladesh groomed itself

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Government decides not to slash fund for Padma Bridge project n Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has decided not to curtail the fund allocated for the Pad-ma Bridge project this � scal year  as it may give out ‘negative signal’ to pro-spective foreign bidders.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith in a letter has recently asked the � nance division not to cut the fund for Padma Bridge project in the revised budget for the draft Annual Development Pro-gramme in a bid to attract foreign in-vestment.

The revised budget might be placed at a meeting of the National Econom-ic Council to be held sometime after March 20.

The letter also revealed that the bridges division will take decision to

allocate around Tk 8,100 crore  for its fast-track Padma Bridge project in the next budget, o� cial sources said.

An o� cial of the � nance division said  if such amount of fund allocated, it would be higher by about Tk 1,248 crore than that of the current � scal year.

Earlier, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal put forward a proposal to the � nance division to slash the al-location for the Padam Bridge project by 70% to Tk  2,108 crore in the revised budget for the current � scal year, but the � nance division rejected the proposal.

The o� cial said the � nance division has decided not to slash any fund for the construction of Padma Bridge this � scal year. The bridges division and planning ministry have already been informed of the matter, he added.

The � nance division has also dropped the move to cut fund for Pad-ma Bridge which was supposed to be spent on dearness allowance, subsidy and allowance for freedom � ghters, the o� cial said.

Initially, Tk 6,888 crore was ear-marked for the mega project in the cur-rent � scal year and only Tk 2,601 crore was released during the period from July to January in the � scal year 2013-14 which is only 4% of the total amount.

The bridges division allocated Tk6,852 crore for the construction of the bridge this � scal year.

Earlier, the � nance minister said ‘major foreign contractors’ were yet to sign any agreement to construct the multipurpose bridge because the

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Mahathir: Wait until next polls n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Either boycotting or rejecting election will not help the democratic process to work, the visiting former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohammad said yesterday.

“If you boycott election, you reject the results and you question everything, then it will not work at all,” Mahathir, who led government in Malaysia for 22 years, told a press conference.

The Malaysian leader arrived in Dha-ka on Saturday to attend the 2nd con-vocation of University of Information Technology and Sciences (UITS) held at the Bangabandhu International Con-ference Centre.

“There is a need for us to accept that the system is not meant for us to win, it’s meant for the nation to win,” Ma-hathir said.

Whoever gets the support of the people for the next � ve years, others have to let that person or that party rule the country, he said.

“If you question that, if you take to the streets, then when you win and set up the government, the same thing will happen and what you will get is of course anarchy and inability to be sta-ble and without stability you can never develop the country.

“So, we need to wait until the next election before you begin to change the government. But, if you take to the streets, then there will be no govern-ment,” Mahathir said.

About the manpower situation in Malaysia he said, “We have problems not only with Bangladesh, we have problems with Indonesia, with many other countries in the region.”

Malaysia has three million foreign workers and it needs to regulate them and wanted to reduce their number.

“It’s not easy to manage them be-cause they are of di� erent nation-alities. Some of them are not quite good people, some of them indulge in

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

n Mohammad Al-Masum Mollaand Mohammad Zakaria

After lagging behind in the � rst two phases, the ruling Awami League took lead in early uno� cial results in the third spell of elections to 81 upazila parishads yesterday amid allegations of violence and vote rigging.

This time the Awami League-backed chairman contenders bagged 40 seats while BNP-sponsored candidates se-cured 28 seats.

The candidates backed by the Ja-maat-e-Islami continued to keep up its winning trend with seven chairman posts.

Vote count was still going on in three upazilas – Haziganj in Chandpur, Mukta-gachha in Mymensingh and Hizla in Ba-risal – as the report was being prepared.

However, the Election Commission postponed voting in two centres in Haziganj and three each in Muktagach-ha and Hizla.

Interestingly the candidates belong-ing to the Awami League won almost all the seats where there were allega-tion of vote rigging and violence like Bagerhat, Kurigram, Feni, Chandpur, Barisal, Bhola and Shariatpur.

Ershad’s Jatiya Party performed worse than the last two phases as they failed to secure even a single chairman post till � ling of this report at 2.30pm.

Like the previous phases, region-al parties Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) maintained its hold in the upazilas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The PCJSS has claimed two chairman posts.

In Tungipara of Gopalganj – the home of Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina – the rebel candidate of the Awami League won the chairman post by a big margin of around twenty thousands. In this upazila The BNP � eld no candidate.

Four Awami League rebel candi-dates won chairman post in Tungipara

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

UPAZILA POLLSPhase III

TOTAL 81RESULT 78AL 40BNP 28JAMAAT 7PCJSS 2LDP 1

Phase I & II

TOTAL 213RESULT 209AL 79BNP 94JAMAAT 20JAPA 2OTHERS 14

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014

Ballot boxes snatched, magistrate harassed n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

Compared to the last two phases, the third phase of upazila polls in the dis-trict was vivid when more or less all the stakeholders of the electoral process came under attack of rivals in Tungipa-ra yesterday.

Reports of violence, taking pos-session of polling centres, snatching of ballot boxes, blockade and � ring of rubber bullets by police marked the polls in the upazila – a stronghold of the ruling Awami League and hometown of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Violence were seen in Madhukha-li, Tarail, GT Government High School, Purbo Gimadanga Government Primary School, Baladanga Government Primary School, Gopalpur High School, Goadha-na-Silna School and other polling centres.

Election was cancelled at Tarail Gov-ernment Primary School centre after snatching of ballot boxes by the sup-porters of an Awami League candidate. An executive magistrate and polling o� cials were locked inside the centre after the poll was cancelled.

Around 25 people were injured during clashes between the support-ers of rival candidates in Gopalpur High School and Goadhana Silna High School centres.

The election was peaceful from 8am to 1pm. Later supporters of AL-backed chairman candidate Solaiman Bishwas

entered Madhukhali centre and ousted all polling agents of Gazi Golam Mosta-fa, a rebel candidate of the party, from the centre.

With the help of Presiding O� cer Abu Sayeed, they then took hold of around 700 ballot papers, stamped seal on those and put inside the ballot boxes. When interrupted, they beat up two supporters of the rebel candidate – Ra� qul Islam and Didarul Islam.

Md Russel, an agent of chairman candidate Rawshan Ara, said: “Solaim-an’s men locked us inside a room.” She also alleged that the presiding o� cer had helped the supporters of Solaiman.

Assistant Police Super Badsha Bep-ari, also in-charge of the centre, con-� rmed the incident and accused the presiding o� cer of helping the sup-porters.

Other police o� cers said they failed to control the situation as Solaiman’s supporters had entered the centre all of a sudden.

The presiding o� cer said: “Solaim-an’s men entered the centre forcefully and then put seals on 400 ballot pa-pers. I asked help from the police, but they did not help me that time.”

In Tarail Government Primary School centre, the supporters of So-laiman were caught red handed by Ex-ecutive Magistrate SM Manjurul Haque while returning after putting seals on ballot papers illegally around 2pm and

he decided to cancel election in the centre.

After learning the matter, the locals locked the polling o� cer along with the executive magistrate inside the centre. The agitated mob hurled also brick chips at the centre.

On information, members of the army and the police charged batons on the protesters to disperse them and rescued the polling o� cers.

Manjurul said: “The round-shaped seal was missing in the ballot papers. So, the election will be cancelled.”

Presiding O� cer of the centre Md Azizul Islam said: “Kalu Bishwas snatched 200 ballot papers from me and more from the assistant presiding o� cer. He put seal on the papers and dropped those inside the ballot box.”

Sub-Inspector Shah Alam said: “Po-lice � red 13 rounds of rubber bullets in Baladanga Government Primary School centre when the supporters of Solaim-an were snatching ballot papers around 3:45pm. Sridham Bala, a supporter of the Awami League-backed candidate, received bullet during the � ring.”

Later, BGB, army and police teams controlled the situation.

Earlier, ballot boxes were snatched from Gimadanga Purbopara Govern-ment Primary School centre. Voting was postponed in the centre over the incident, said Assistant Returning O� -cer Md Ruhul Amin. l

OC assaults election o� cern Mohammad Zakaria

The Election Commission’s own o� cial and assistant returning o� cer of Hizla upazila, Zahidul Islam, and his assis-tant were physically assaulted by the o� cer-in-charge of Bakerganj police station when the former went to visit a centre during polls yesterday.

Senior Election O� cer and also

Returning O� cer Dulal Talukder in-formed the EC about it in writing around 2pm. Following this, the victim also sent the EC a written complaint.

“The OC forcefully shoved him out of the centre [Hizla Government Primary School] after assaulting him and his assis-tant Hiron Bepari. The OC insulted them in public,” the letter sent by Dulal says.

The Bakerganj OC, who could not be

named immediately, was on duty at the polling centre.

When the returning o� cer informed the superintendent of police of the dis-trict about the incident, the authorities withdrew the OC immediately. The district police chief also directed Ad-ditional Superintendent of Police Jah-angir Mallick to submit a report after investigating the spot. l

Tigers ready to rumble PAGE 1 COLUMN 2for the big event with utmost pleasure. However, since only one team will qual-ify from Group A of the World T20’s � rst round, result of this particular game between Bangladesh and Afghanistan, with the threat of elimination hanging over both teams, will set the mood of the tournament in the country.

The Afghan’s are a con� dent side after their recent success against the same opponents in the Asia Cup and they will be eyeing a similar upset in front of a packed Bangladesh crowd.

Injury blows were a major concern for the Tigers in the recent past, but the on time recovery of Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe bin Mortaza and Sohag Gazi is a major boost. Meanwhile, Mush� qur Rahim taking up his job behind the wicket is also a relief for the home side.

Rankled 4th in T20I all-rounder list, Shakib al Hasan will be a key � gure in today’s clash. It is not only his part with the bat and ball, but the presence of the country’s leading all-rounder has always proved to be a booster for the home side. It is likely Anamul Haque will open the innings with Tamim who showed a glimpse of his class in the last two warm-up matches after returning from a neck injury.

The number three position is still for grab for either Sabbir Rahman or Mominul Haque, but in a crucial match like this the latter is expected to take the � eld.

The middle-order should be con-trolled by Mush� q and Shakib like they did in the warm-up game against Ire-land, which will allow players like Na-sir Hossain, Mahmudullah and Gazi to cash in from the death overs.

Spin will play a major role today as it was seen in the Asia Cup that the Afghans are a bit weak against the spinners. Along with Shakib, the spin department will be handled by left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak while Gazi and Mahmudullah must be used to make things as uncomfortable as possible for the associate nation. A win today will also break Bangla-desh’s 10-match losing streak in the World T20 as their only win in the tour-nament came against West Indies in the inaugural edition in 2007.

Meanwhile the pressure on the home side is an added advantage for Afghanistan. Since their win in Asia Cup, whenever they had the chance they expressed their desire to achieve the feat again.

The Zadran’s, Shapoor and Daw-lat, will be a threat with the new ball while the hard hitters like Mohammad Shahzad, Ashgar Stanikzai and Mo-hammad Nabi will be key in any score Afghanistan makes or chase.

However, the Afghans have lost some momentum in their last four outings and it remains to be seen whether they have the temperament and calmness to overcome the huge hurdle today. l

Alhamdulillah, polls 100% peaceful, says acting CEC PAGE 1 COLUMN 6tried accordingly,” Mobarak noted.

He said some stray violence had occurred in some upazilas due to per-sonal and political reasons, and the commission suspended voting in those polling centres.

The commission suspended polls at 26 centres in 13 uapzilas, out of a to-tal of 5,444 centres in 81 upazilas, the commissioner said.

The a� ected centres included four at Kachuan and two at Hajiganj in Chand-pur; three at Muktagacha in Mymens-

ingh; three at Hizla in Barisal; three at Nangolkote, one at Titash and two at Chouddagram in Comilla; three at Dag-onbhuiyan in Feni; and one each at Char-ghat (Rajshahi), Kuliachar (Kishoreganj), Monirampur (Jessore), Kamalnagar (Laxmipur) and Bhola sadar.

When asked about interference by ministers and MPs in local polls, Mo-barak said the commission was con-cerned about the issue and took action according to the law, sparing none.

“When I got information that the lo-cal MP of Chandais in Chittagong was

staying in the area, I talked to him and asked him to leave the upazila in 10 minutes. The MP left the area within that time,” he said.

The commissioner, meanwhile, said it would take more time to hold polls without any violence, “when people become more tolerant.”

Replying to query on why the 2008 parliamentary polls were relatively free of violence, he said, “It may be that people were tolerant at that time. If people are intolerant, violence may erupt.” l

Missing Malaysian plane ‘deliberately diverted’ PAGE 1 COLUMN 5March 8 and disappeared o� air tra� c controllers’ screens at about 01:20.

Mr Razak told a news conference that new satellite evidence shows “with a high degree of certainty” that the one of the aircraft’s communications systems - the Aircraft and Communications Ad-dressing and Reporting System - was dis-abled just before it had reached the east coast of Malaysia.

ACARS is a service that allows comput-ers aboard the plane to “talk” to comput-ers on the ground, relaying in-� ight infor-mation about the health of its systems.

“Shortly afterwards, near the cross-over point between Malaysian and Viet-namese air tra� c controllers, the plane’s transponder - which emits an identifying

signal - was switched o� ,” he said.According to military radar, the aircraft

then turned and � ew back over Malaysia before heading in a north-west direction.

“A satellite was able to pick up a sig-nal from the plane until 08:11 local time - more than seven hours after it lost radar contact - although it was unable to give a precise location,” Mr Razak said.

He went on to say that based on this new data, investigators “have deter-mined the plane’s last communication with a satellite was in one of two possible corridors”: a northern corridor stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turk-menistan through to northern Thailand and a southern corridor stretching from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Investigators will now focus on try-

ing to obtain the radar data from any of the countries the Boeing 777 may have passed over. This could include Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India and Pakistan.

Mr Razak said that in light of the new evidence, the investigation had “entered a new phase” and would focus on the crew and passengers on board.

Shortly after the news conference � nished, Malaysian police searched the Kuala Lumpur home of the plane’s pilot, 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

Malaysia’s prime minister con� rmed much of what had been leaked to the me-dia, from US agencies and satellite com-panies, in the last 48 hours.

His government had been facing se-vere criticism for not being more open

about what it knows.China - which had 153 citizens on

board the � ight - has urged Malaysia to continue providing it with “thorough and exact information” on the search, state news agency Xinhua said.

The foreign ministry said it was send-ing technical specialists to participate in the investigation, and appealed for the help of other countries and organisations.

Along with the Chinese passengers, there were 38 Malaysians and citizens of Iran, the US, Canada, Indonesia, Australia, India, France, New Zealand, Ukraine, Rus-sia, Taiwan and the Netherlands on board.

An extensive search of the seas around Malaysia - involving 14 countries, 43 ships and 58 aircraft - since the plane disappeared had proved fruitless. l

Polls-related violences kill three PAGE 1 COLUMN 5Ripon Majhi, a polling agent of Awami League-backed candidate Jakir Hos-sain, was killed, when he and some oth-er people allegedly tried to snatch away ballot papers from the polling centre.

Witnesses said Ripon was killed when police opened � re trying to stop miscreants from snatching ballot pa-pers from the polling centre at Bhu-mghara Government Primary School. However, Ehsan Saha, additional police superintendent of Shariatpur, claimed that Ripon was not killed by police � re.

Meanwhile, a factional clash of the BNP left one of its activists dead in Netrokona’s Madanpur upazila, where voting is scheduled to be held during the fourth phase of upazila poll.

Witnesses said the clash between the supporters of BNP-backed candi-date MA Haresh and BNP’s rebel can-didate Ra� que Miah killed Genu Mia, a supporter of the rebel candidate.

Relatives of the deceased said Haresh’s supporter Abdur Rahim opened � re on the supporters of the rebel candidate, seriously injuring Genu, who was later declared dead at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.

Seven candidates including � ve BNP-backed chair candidates in Barisal, Bagerhat, Feni and Shariatpur districts boycotted the elections bringing alle-gations against ruling party activists of vote-rigging and ousting agents and voters from di� erent polling centres.

In Chauddagram, BNP-backed can-didate Kamrul Huda demanded sus-pension of ballot casting, alleging polls irregularities and vote rigging.

Law enforcers detained seven people for occupying Mahalpara polling station in Brahmanpara upazila of Comilla.

In Kurigram Sadar upazila, pickets snatched 246 ballot papers at Halokha-na High School polling centre.

In Manirampur upazila of Jessore, miscreants attacked Hajrakathhi Gov-ernment Primary School polling centre and snatched away ballot boxes. Police � red 47 rounds of bullets to bring the situation under control.In Kachua upazila of Chandpur, at least 15 people were injured in a clash between the supporters of the Awami League and the BNP in Shilasthan Gov-ernment Primary School polling centre.

In Dhanbari upazila of Tangail, three people including a presiding o� cer

were injured when miscreants tried to snatch away the ballot papers. Witness-es said supporters of Awami League-backed candidate Meer Faruk Ahmed tried to snatch away ballot paper from the Patol Akkas Alo primary school.

On the other hand, a presiding of-� cer was detained by law enforcers in Dhobaura upazila of Mymensingh be-cause of negligence in duty.

In Babuganj upazila of Barisal, mis-creants occupied and snatched away ballots from di� erent polling centres. Assistant Residing O� cer Nurul Haque said miscreants stamped and cast 66 ballots. Witnesses also said � ve people were injured during chase and count-er-chase between Awami League and BNP-backed contenders.

In Kaliganj upazila of Satkhira, the Jamaat backed chairman contender boycotted the polls and called day-long hartal for Sunday in the upazila, alleg-ing vote rigging and ballot snatching.

In Bhola Sadar upazila, 30 people including two policemen were injured in a clash between supporters of BNP and Awami League-backed chairman candidates. Witnesses said violence caused voting to be suspended for an

hour in at least � ve polling centres.In Kuliarchar of Kishoreganj, miscre-

ants snatched ballots from voting cen-tres in government primary schools in Barchara, Abdullahpur and Kolakopa, while voting in these centres remained suspended for around two hours.

In Damurhuda upazila of Chuadanga, BNP and Jamaat-backed chairman can-didates boycotted the elections alleging vote rigging and centre occupying.

In Tungipara of Gopalganj, two election observers were allegedly beaten up by supporters the Awami League-backed chairman candidate, while nine observers withdrew from � eld citing security reasons. Violence, ballot snatching, illegal ballot stamp-ing, attack on magistrate’s vehicle also marked voting in Tungipara.

Voting was temporarily suspended in two centres in Shibganj of Chapain-awabganj, following clashes between supporters of Awami League and BNP-backed candidates.

In Rajshahi’s Charghat upazila, BNP activists allegedly stabbed a Chha-tra League man at Paranpur Primary School centre when he reportedly tried to obstruct voters. l

Padma Bridge PAGE 1 COLUMN 3tender process could not be completed within last year.

“We will need the amount [foreign currency] after � nishing the selection of foreign contractors,” he said.

The minister also said state-run Agrani Bank had been tasked with han-dling $2.1bn from the money market in the next � ve � scal years (FY2013-14 to FY2017-18). According to the � nance division, around $200m will be needed

for the current � scal year while $700m for FY15, $600m for FY16, $500m for FY17 and $100m for FY18.

The � nance minister last year ruled out Russian and Chinese proposals to construct Padma Bridge. “My position is very clear. I am not prepared to accept any � xed contractor. We’ve invited inter-national bidders. That’s my view,” he said.

The communications minister pro-posed investing $2.4 billion in the Pad-ma Bridge project. l

Mahathir: Wait until next polls PAGE 1 COLUMN 6crimes and things like that,” he said.

Bangladesh and Malaysia have gov-ernment-to-government arrangement to send workers to Kuala Lumpur, but the process is very slow as only 3,000 people could go in the last one year as per the agreement.

At the convocation, President Ab-dul Hamid awarded six gold medalists while Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid also spoke on the occasion. l

‘None can stop BNP from waging movement’ n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yester-day said none would be able to bar the party when they would take to the streets demanding parliamentary elec-tion under a non-partisan interim gov-ernment.

“We will de� nitely take to the streets at the right time...no matter what obstacles you [government] cre-ate. None can prevent us,” she said at a reception programme of the members of newly-elected Supreme Court Bar Association at her Gulshan o� ce.

The former premier also urged polit-ical parties to get united to wage move-ment against the “killer and repressive government.”

BNP-Jamaat backed Jatiyatabadi

Ainjibi Oikya Parishad has swept the SCBA election against the Sammilita Ainjibi Samannay Parishad, supported by the ruling Awami League.

Khaleda asked the lawyers to form Legal Aid Committee to give assistance to the opposition men who are facing “false cases.” She also asked them to visit districts to inspire the party lead-ers and activists.

Alleging vote rigging in the upazila polls, the 19-party alliance chief said: “If the ruling party men do not occupy the polling centres, the Awami League will face massive debacle.”

Claiming that fair election was not possible under the Awami League gov-ernment, Khaleda said no election had taken place on January 5, rather it was a “mockery.”

Regarding the independence of judicia-ry, the former premier said: “Today judges cannot conduct fair trial due to interfer-ence from the top of the government.”

Pointing her � nger at neighbouring India, Khaleda said: “We do not get anything but we are giving them what-ever they want. Now we have only the country to give them. We want to say clearly that we will not allow it.”

Slamming the government for in-creasing electricity prices, Khaleda said the recent hike would adversely a� ect the people of all sections, especially the lower- and middle-income groups.

She alleged that the prices were increased to give subsidy to the quick-rental power plants, through which thousands of crores of taka had been plundered. l

RAB members take part in a counter-terrorism drill at the Army Stadium ahead of the T20 World Cup in Dhaka yesterday RAJIB DHAR

AL takes lead in third spell of polls PAGE 1 COLUMN 1in Gopalganj, Bhanga in Faridpur, Dhu-baira in Mymensingh and Raumari in Kurigram.

In Kishorganj Sadar Upazila, the pa-ternal cousin of Awami League Gener-al Secretary and LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam was defeated by the BNP-backed contender.

Like the previous two phases, the BNP-backed candidates failed to en-sure a single chairman seat in Barisal and Bhola districts.

However, in Noakhali and Feni dis-tricts, the stronghold of BNP, contend-ers loyal to the ruling party won one and BNP-backed candidate managed to secure one.

In the � rst two phases BNP-backed candidates won the chairman post in 98 upazilas, the Awami League 82, the Jamaat-endorsed aspirants won 20, the Jatiya party two, the PCJSS four while three goes to the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF). l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014

Muhith for quota to directly recruit quali� ed job seekersn Asif Showkat Kallol

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has re-portedly rejected students’ demand for extending the government’s recruit-ment age limit.

In a letter to the public administra-tion ministry, Muhith, however, recom-mended the introduction of a quota for the direct recruitment of quali� ed job seekers at every level of the ministries and divisions.

Sources in the ministry said the pub-lic administration ministry was now ex-amining the matter.

The observations from the minis-ter came following demands raised by

Shadharan Chhatra Parishad, a body of students, last week for extending the age limit of government recruitment from the existing 30 to 35 years.

In his letter, dated March 3, Muhith wrote a personal note saying that he was against extending the age limit, but recommended a quota for educated job seekers at every level of ministries and divisions.

The recent labour survey 2010 by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistic (BBS) revealed that a large number of peo-ple with a master’s degree were unem-ployed in the country, while unemploy-ment was low among the uneducated and informally educated people.

The BBS � ndings also said the coun-try had around 25.68 lakh unemployed people in 2010.

The survey also found that of the total unemployed, 14.27% were doctors and engineers, while 31% of all women doctors were unemployed. The unemployed also included 13.78% people with higher sec-ondary degrees, while 10.25% of the un-employed were masters degree holders.

Shadharan Chhatra Parishad General Secretary Al Ammin Raju told the Dha-ka Tribune that educated people would not be bene� tted from the � nance min-ister’s recommendation, as he did not mention the age limit of direct recruit-ment at the ministry and divisions for

educated people. The students would graduate by the

age of 23 in an ideal world, Raju said, adding that mismanagement by the country’s universities force students to spend three to � ve extra years for higher studies.

“Recruitment should be based on a candidate’s competence and not age,” he added.

Current and former students, under the banner of Shadharan Chhatra Pari-shad, termed the 30-year age limit un-fair, and said most students could not graduate until they were nearly 28 as the public universities were burdened with session jams. l

‘Anti-liberation forces still active’n BSS

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yester-day said the anti-liberation forces were still active in the country, but none could suppress the Bengali people in the past and they would not be able to do so in future.

Addressing a seminar organised by the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rah-man Memorial Trust titled “Speech of March 7: A Masterpiece Speech of Lib-eration in the World History” yester-day, the premier made the comment.

Hasina also said no political speech except that of Bangabandhu could in-spire people of a country for a long time.

Speakers at the seminar also ech-oed the premier’s voice, and said the speech of Bangabandhu on March 7, 1971 was a source of inspiration for all freedom-loving people of the world.

Terming the historic speech of Bang-abandhu as one the best impromptu speeches of the liberation in the world history, they laid importance on estab-lishing its inherent spirit in the mind of the future generation of Bangladesh.

They said the speech inspired the Bengali people to get prepared for a potential war of independence, amid widespread reports of armed mobilisa-tion by the then West Pakistan, declar-ing civil disobedience.

Father of the Nation Bangaband-hu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave the speech at the then Ramna Race Course Maidan in Dhaka at a time of increas-ing tensions between East Pakistan and the powerful political and military es-tablishment of West Pakistan. l

Ministry to intervene in tribunal crisis this weekn Udisa Islam

After almost 15 days, the law ministry may take steps this week to settle the disagreements within the prosecution team. In the meantime, the prosecu-tors, divided into two groups led by the chief prosecutor and the chief coordi-nator, are trying to protect their post and position by lobbying.

Some prosecutors think that the situation cannot recover without re-arranging the team. Meanwhile, activ-ists are concerned that things might go worse if the government cannot handle the matter properly.

Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune: “I have been informed about everything, but took some time. I will sit with all of them this week and try to settle the issues.”

He, however, did not elaborate any-thing, saying: “Whatever I say now may go against me. So let us wait some more days.”

The prosecution team has been in an embarrassment for the last two weeks after Mohammad Ali, conducting law-yer in the case against Motiur Rahman Nizami, in a recent TV interview criti-cised the whole team and particularly attacked prosecutor Tureen Afroz.

The incident has brought the oth-er issues to front which had remained subdued in the past.

Tureen on March 3 complained to Chief Prosecutor Golam Arif Tipoo in writing. He then asked the law ministry

on March 5 to take proper measures in this regard.

Last week, Ali was reluctant to allow Tureen taking part in the closing argu-ments in Nizami case, even though the chief prosecutor had mentioned the two names in a letter issued before re-hearing of the arguments.

In the last two weeks, the chief co-ordinator-led prosecutors held several meetings at the prosecution o� ce ex-cluding some members to deal with the situation. Sources said they were trying to save their posts by any means. They are likely to raise some questions about the chief prosecutor.

These prosecutors have never dealt any case and alleged to have acted like political appointees and created unwanted situation at di� erent times over the issues of media coverage and personal bene� ts.

Syed Rezaur Rahman, a member of the Awami League advisory council, is one of them. He was active when the tribunal started but lately he had been engaged with the case on August 21 grenade attack, of which he is the chief prosecutor.

He reportedly leads the group of some 11 prosecutors loyal to the chief coordinator, MK Rahman, also an ad-ditional attorney general. The coordi-nator is not regular at the prosecution o� ce and for that, Rezaur leads the group in his absence.

Prosecutors Mir Iqbal Hossain and Altaf Hossain were replaced by Ali for

“poor performance” in the trial against Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami.

These prosecutors think that they are harassed by the others who are close to the chief prosecutor.

Meanwhile, some members of the team claimed that the division came forth just after MK Rahman was ap-pointed as chief coordinator last year. Prosecutors who are inactive are grouping with him for their survival.

MK Rahman refutes the claim. “I did not come here for grouping, I have my particular responsibility.”

Tipoo recently termed his appoint-ment made through a special circular in January last year “unacceptable.” As per the law, the post of the prosecu-tion’s chief coordinator is illegal.

Senior prosecutor Rheshikesh Saha told the Dhaka Tribune that the chief prosecutor had been a wrong choice by government as he was not able to do any work due to his old age. So the team cannot work properly.

Shahriar Kabir, an activist for the trial of war criminals, said: “In this situation, if the government does not take a particular strategy to settle the situation, then they may create nuisance.

“Since the situation has been get-ting worse day by day, the government should not take more time to solve this. To try the war criminals, we need a po-tential team, not the one who quarrels for their posts only,” he said. l

Clockwise from top left: Voters queue in lines to cast their votes at a polling centre in Shatkhira upazila. Miscreants vandalise ballot boxes and loot ballot papers at Alia Madrasa polling centre in Bhola. Election o� cials unload ballot boxes for counting at a polling centre after the upazila elections ended in Gaibandha. Miscreants cast fake votes in front of the presiding o� cer at a polling centre Daganbhuiyan in Feni BANGLAR CHOKH/FOCUS BANGLA

No contractual appointment in adminn Mohosinul Karim

No contractual appointment will be al-lowed in the civil administration from now as the government has already taken decision to encourage fresh re-cruitment and retirement process, of-� cials said.

However, the government may al-low contracts for technical experts and most senior o� cers for any particular sector for a certain period. It would not be more than six months to one year, the o� cials of the public administra-tion ministry said.

The decision was taken as per the desire of the prime minister who is against contractual appointments in the administration after extending re-tirement age of public servants to 59 from 57 years.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has recently sent letters to the state min-ister for public administration, cabinet secretary, principal secretary to the prime minister, public administration secretary and � nance secretary re-questing them not to allow contractual appointment in the administration, cit-ing its inconveniences.

According to the ministry o� cials, at least 160 people, including some secretaries of the civil administration, are now in service on contractual basis. Most of the appointments were given based on political consideration.

State Minister for Public Admin-istration Ismat Ara Sadique told the Dhaka Tribune that the � nance minis-ter issued letters as per the decision of the prime minister. The ministry has already taken steps against contrac-tual appointments as the premier also wants to make the civil bureaucracy more e� ective.

The government usually gives con-

tractual appointments to get additional services from senior and skilled o� cers who gained professional competence and expertise. They get contracts for one or two years, she said.

“So, it’s not necessary to give them contracts again for getting extra servic-es. It will create barriers to the promo-tion of other o� cers and recruitment process of new o� cers in the admin-istration. We want fresh blood to get their services,” she added.

The Awami League-led grand alli-ance government in December, 2011 extended the retirement age of public servants, taking account of increase in average life expectancy of people in the country.

As a result, the retirement process of senior o� cials was stuck. It began again since December, 2013.

At least 100 senior o� cials have al-ready started enjoying leave prepara-tory to retirement. The vacancies of senior o� cials were � lled temporarily with putting them in charge of the of-� ces or posting new o� cers. Finally, the vacant posts would be � lled by pro-moting them.

Ismat Ara said, “We will be able to pro-mote and recruit some new o� cers soon as some vacancies have already been cre-ated. At least 276,000 out of 1.3m posts lie vacant in the administration.”

“We have already started the re-cruitment process for � lling the vacan-cies. It would be completed as early as possible,” she added.

The � nance minister requested the public administration ministry and oth-ers to prepare a guideline on contractual appointment of retired public servants and � x the age limit to be considered for public service. The contractual ap-pointment would remain stopped until the guideline is prepared. l

Consumers remain apathetic, wary of state-run watchdogWorld Consumers Rights Day observedn Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Although the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) has received only 101 complaints re-garding adulteration and cheating by food producers and grocery stores un-til December 2013, its o� cials claim that violation of consumer rights is still rampant across the country.

Urging to address the su� erings in-curred in availing di� erent services, the directorate has sent over 50 crores of SMSs to mobile phone users of all telecom operators since its inception in 2010.

However, despite the rigorous cam-paign, people’s response remained negligible as the directorate had re-ceived only 101 complaints in between January 2012 and December 2013, ac-cording to a paper presented by Com-merce Minister Tofail Ahmed in the parliament.

Abul Hossain Mia, director gener-al of DNCRP, told the Dhaka Tribune that people “are not interested in � ling complaints to the directorate because of mistrust and fear of hassle.”

Out of the 101 complaints, 45 charg-es were genuine while 52 allegations were found baseless through investiga-tion and four allegations were current-ly under investigation, he said.

He said people’s positive attitude was necessary to make the directorate a success in its bid to eliminate adul-teration through strict implementation of the Consumer Rights Protection Act 2009.

The state-run watchdog to monitor the quality of goods and manufactured items observed the World Consumers Rights Day yesterday.

In line with the law, the government set up the DNCRP that started func-

tioning on April 6, 2010.“Since establishment, we have sent

each of the 11 crore SMSs six times to the mobile users urging them to lodge complaints against any kind of con-sumer rights violation but people are reluctant towards our calls,” said Abul Hossain.

“Most of the people do not even read the SMS which is unfortunate. Cit-izens should play their roles in order to protect their rights,” said the director general.

Two days ago DNCRP had sent its last message.

“Can you guarantee that they [the directorate] will investigate my com-plaints with honesty?” said Abdul Mannan, a resident of capital’s Pallabi area, who was found throwing away a packet of milk on Sunday founding it to be rotten.

“They will simply collect � nes from the company if I � le a complaint,” he said. Denying such allegation Abul Hossain Mia � agged out the shortage of manpower in his o� ce.

According to the o� cial � gure, the directorate had searched 24,750 com-mercial entities until February 16 this year and collected � nes amounting to around Tk7.47 crore for adulteration.

In line with the Consumer Rights Protection Act, the government set up a National Consumer Rights Protection Council headed by the Commerce Min-ister in 2010.

The deputy commissioners of the 64 districts head the district consumer rights protection committee while 487 upzila nirbahi o� cers head the com-mittee at the upazila level.

On February 25, the Commerce Min-ister told the parliament that the gov-ernment would form similar protection committees at the union level. l

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014

City High Low

PRAYER TIMESFajar 4:51am

Sunrise 6:06amJumma 12:07am

Asr 4:27pmMagrib 6:08pm

Esha 7:23pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Dry weather likely n UNB

Weather is likely to remain dry with temporary partly cloudy sky over the country until 6pm today.

Day temperature might rise slightly and night temperature might fall slight-ly over the country, Met O� ce said.

The sun sets in the capital at 6:08pm today and rises at 6:06am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 34.5 degree Celsius was recorded in Cox’s Bazar and lowest 14.6 degrees in Sri-mangal yesterday.

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

Dhaka 32.1 19.0 Chittagong 33.5 21.8Rajshahi 32.5 15.6 Rangpur 31.6 17.0 Khulna 33.0 19.5Barisal 32.0 18.5Sylhet 34.1 17.8 Cox’s Bazar 34.5 21.4

Homogenization & Majoritarian State Ideal causes CHT problem: NU VC n Tribune Report

The National University Vice Chancellor Harun-or-Rashid on March 7 said “CHT Problem in Bangladesh stemmed from pursuance of a policy of Homogenization and Majoritarian State Ideal.”

The VC made the remarks at a semi-nar on his research titled” Process of Marginalization of indigenous people In Their homeland: A Study on CHT in Ban-gladesh” at Ryukoku University in Kyo-to, Japan, said a media release signed by NU director (Public Relations, Informa-tion & Coun-sel-ing) Md Faizul Karim.

He also said the 1997 CHT Peace Ac-cord is a landmark in the country’s po-litical history, which shows the policy of homogenization and majoritarian state ideal as the root cause of the CHT problem resulting in an insurgency spanning over two decades.

Dr Harun-or-Rashid termed the growth of a nexus of vested interests encompassing all segments - civilian, non-civilian, administration, business, corporate houses, politicians, settlers, NGOs and other bodies, a section of tribal leaders, individuals- centering land as the main impediment to the implementation of the accord.

The VC is now on a two-month visit at the university on the research. l

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina receives donations for the upcoming T20 World Cup from representatives of di� erent private organisations and companies at Ganabhaban in the capital yesterday FOCUS BANGLA

Nick Beresford, deputy country director of UNDP Bangladesh, speaks at the inaugural session of a two-day conference on violence against women at Hotel Ruposhi Bangla in the capital yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Appointment of female personnel for female victims demandedn Tribune Report

Speakers at a two-day conference on “Violence Against Women” yesterday said it would be convenient if the gov-ernment appointed female personnel to help female victims in seeking jus-tice.

Additional Attorney General MK Rahman said: “If female police o� -cials investigate the cases � led under Women & Children Repression Preven-tion Act, female doctors examine them, female lawyers help them on the dock, the justice seekers would feel more comfortable in the social context of our country.”

Addressing the inaugural session of the conference organised jointly by Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamen-

tary A� airs and UNDP’s Justice Sector Facility project at a city hotel, MK Rah-man made the comment.

He also said the defence lawyers and also the investigation o� cers should be trained to be soft on the female victims, while the investigation o� cers should be make bound by law to keep contact with public prosecutors so that no fe-male victim was deprive of justice.

The conference aims at working with the commitment to address such issues through the project’s goals to ensure delivery of better justice ser-vices for women and other vulnerable groups.

Addressing the programme, Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain said: “Our judiciary has always been highly sensitised about the rights, liberties

and status of women under the inter-national covenants and treaties rati� ed by Bangladesh and those under the constitution and laws of Bangladesh.

“Special and exclusive court/tribu-nals with special procedural laws have been established in each district to deal with women rights and violence against women. We still have to go a long way.”

Deputy Country Director Nick Beresford of the UNDP said they would help Bangladesh improve delivery of justice and develop a gender oriented police force.

Among others ASSM Zahirul Haque, secretary in charge of law and justice division, Additional Inspector General of Police Nazmul Haque were also present. l

Jagannath University female student found dead in cityn UNB

A female student of Jagannath Univer-sity allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in the city’s Sabujbagh area yesterday.

The deceased was identi� ed as

Indra Rani, 20, a 2nd year student of History Department of Jagannath University. Daughter of Sunil Ku-mar, Indra, was residing at a house at Kadomtoli School Road under Sabu-jbagh police station with her parents. Hospital sources said Sunil and his son

Shourav found the hanging body of In-dra at her room at about 5:00 pm and rushed her to the Dhaka Medical Col-lege Hospital where doctors declared her dead.

The body was sent to the DMCH morgue for autopsy. l

50 hurt in rival group clash n Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

At least 50 people were injured in a clash between two rival groups of ter-rorists over establishing supremacy in Moheshkhali area of Cox’s Bazar yes-terday.

Locals say that the clash ensued be-tween Jonab ali group and Jalal group around 5.30am in Kathaltali and Kala-zirpara area of Moheshkhali. The clash continued until around 11.00am on the

day and during the time the terrorists damaged over 50 residential houses.

Contacted, Mohammad Alamgir Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of Moheshkhali police station, says that on information, they rushed in and take the situation under control. Investigation in this regard is on and action will be taken against all responsible, he added.

Jafar Alam, local Awami League leader, says that around 200 terrorists

led by Jonab Ali, who is also prime ac-cuse of police o� cer Porosh murder case, made the attack on 50 residen-tial houses and looted valuables from there. The injured were admitted at di� erent hospital of Moheshkhali and Cox’s Bazar.

In this regard, Enamul Haque, Upazila Chairman says that he was out of the area but on information, he sent police force to the area and Union Pari-sahd guards and o� cials. l

Social Business Design Lab held at Yunus Centren UNB

The 13th Social Business Design Lab was held at the Yunus Centre in the capital yesterday with around 150 dif-ferent organisations taking part in it.

Innovators of six new social busi-ness plans presented their projects at the Design Lab.

Chaired by Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus via live stream,

the Design Lab was also attended by a delegation from Yunus Centre at Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, and Diabetic Association of Bangladesh President Prof AK Azad Khan.

Prof Yunus provided a summary of the projects that were presented at the previous 12 labs. Of the total 86 social business projects presented at the De-sign Lab, 73 have already received ap-proval for implementation.l

Malarial mosquitoes � y highern Tribune Report

Things are looking up for the little par-asite that infects 200 million people a year, and kills more than 600,000 of them.

As global temperatures rise, so will the altitude at which the Anopheles mosquito and its plasmodium parasite can survive, and so will the numbers at risk from malaria, reports London-based Climate News Network.

The global war against malaria has always been an uphill struggle, but populations in highland regions have usually been safe, because the parasite cannot replicate at low temperatures.

Amir Siraj of the University of Den-ver in Colorado in the US and col-leagues in the UK and Ethiopia report in the journal Science that they have started to consider the e� ect of climate change on the spread of the disease.

Projections of hazards such as these are di� cult: the likelihood of infection can depend on steps civil, national and international health authorities may take, the preparedness of communities depends on spraying programmes and the availability of drugs, and the num-bers at risk alter as populations grow and economies develop.

All malaria needs is somewhere warm and wet, and a steady supply of potential hosts. The disease was once endemic in mild, low-lying or marshy areas of Europe (the name comes from the Italian mal aria or bad air).

It can be controlled by spraying, and by public education. But it remains an enduring hazard in Africa, parts of Asia and South America. Upland communi-ties, however, have tended to be safe.

In Bangladesh, malaria is one of

the major public health problems. Out of the total 64 districts, 13 are in the high endemic areas of malaria trans-missions. In these 13 endemic districts there are 70 endemic upazilas covering 620 unions with the total population of over 1 crore, according to the govern-ment’s National Malaria Control Pro-gramme.

The high endemic districts are Chit-tagong, Cox’s Bazar and three districts of the hill tracts; Kurigram, Sherpur, Mymensingh, Netrakona, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Moulvibazar and Sylhet. They have bordering areas with India and Myanmar that are full of forests and hills – breeding ground for malaria carrying mosquitoes.

Over 98% of the total cases in the country are reported from these areas.

The Denver team decided to forget about all the complex possibilities and just look at some very precise data from Colombia between 1990 and 2005, and Ethiopia from 1993 to 2005.

They reasoned that a match of sea-sonal temperatures and reported cases would tell them what to expect. Sure enough, they found that during warm-er years, there were more reported cas-es of malaria in both countries.

As average temperatures rise, so will the numbers of potential victims soar, and so will the need for investment in mitigation and insect control.

“With progressive global warming, malaria will creep up the mountains and spread to new high altitude ar-eas,” said Menno Bouma of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medi-cine, one of the authors. “And because these populations lack protective im-munity, they will be particularly vul-nerable.” l

Matia: Foreign ambassadors interfering in internal a� airs n Tribune Report

Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury yesterday alleged that foreign ambassadors in Dhaka were interfering with Bangladesh’s internal a� airs, including its politics.

“Do not interfere or say whatever you like. We will not allow such activi-ties. Try to understand that we need not to beg to anyone for anything anymore,we have enough food and clothes,” she said while addressing a rally of Bangladesh Krishak League in the capital.

Hinting the US ambassador in Dhaka, Matia, who is also a presidium

committee member of the ruling Awami League, noted that even when they say that were against militancy but still hold discussions with Hefazat-e-Islam.

“Do we talk about your election, so why do you talk about ours? We can judge what is right and what is wrong on our own.”

Mentioning the government’s ini-tiative to support farmers across the country, the minister said: “Now, one kilogram of MoP fertiliser costs less than a bottle of drinking water.”

“Farmers now pay Tk22/kg for TSP fertiliser and Tk27/kg for GSP fertiliser,” he added. l

SI beats a lawyer for bribe in Naogaon n Our Correspondent, Naogaon

A Sub-Inspector (SI) of Manda police station allegedly assaulted a lawyer of Naogaon Judge Court for not giving bribe in Naogaon yesterday.

The victim was identi� ed as Dipen Kuma Sarker, 35, son of Sri Dinesh Cahndra Sarker of Manda upazila of the district while the name of the ac-cused SI was Sha� qul Islam who had allegedly threatened of killing Di-pen in cross� re and making accused under false cases such as robbery and murder.

Dipen’s uncle Bishwajit Sarker sub-mitted an application to the o� cer-in-charge of the Manda police station seeking justice.

Bishwajit said Sha� qul arrested Golam Rabbani, an accused under a

robbery case, on a one-day remand on March 11. The accused’s father along with Dipen went to the police station. The SI allegedly demanded Tk20,000 as bribe for not beating the accused. Sha� qul beat him when Dipen refused to pay the money and took Tk5000 from him and took his signature on a blank paper.

Dipen’s family came to know the matter on Friday and admitted him at a local hospital.

Refuting all allegation Sha� qul Is-lam said: “I detained him as Dipen tried to bribe me Tk1,000. Later on, I freed him on request from his family.”

O� cer-in-charge of the Manda police station, Abdullah Hel Baki said: “I have heard the matter. Legal action will be taken after necessary investigation.” l

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014

President urges private universities to enroll poor studentsn BSS

President Abdul Hamid yesterday asked the authorities of private uni-versities to increase numbers of schol-arships so that poor but meritorious students could get access to higher education alongside the students from well-o� families.

“I urge all concerned to consider the issue,” he said while presiding over the second convocation of University of Information Technology and Sciences at Bangabandhu International Confer-ence Centre in the capital.

The convocation got a new look as former prime minister of Malaysia Ma-hathir Bin Mohamad, who is widely called as the architect of modern Ma-laysia, spoke as the convocation speak-er.

Abdul Hamid expressed his grati-tude to the former Malaysian premier

for visiting Bangladesh.“On behalf of the University and

on my own behalf I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to you [Maha-thir] for honouring us with your kind presence and delivering convocation speech at this august gathering,” he said.

Nearly 6,000 students were con-ferred graduate and post graduate de-grees from di� erent disciplines while six students received gold medals for their outstanding academic results.

Terming the graduates as higher human resources of the country, Pres-ident Hamid said: “Keep in mind that the country as well as the state has helped you to reach this level. So you are in debt to the country. If you are able to serve the nation through your acquired knowledge and merit, that debt will be paid to some extent.”

The president also stressed the need

for combining joy with education, say-ing a� ection for people, humanity, culture, tradition, and knowledge and technology-based techniques must be infused in education.

“We need such education that can produce creative and enlightened peo-ple, not certi� cate oriented education or the kind of education which rely on reading of textbooks and memorising guide books,” he said.

Bangladesh needed an education that would teach students to wipe out all superstitions, narrowness and fun-damentalism as well as gave emphasis on unity among human race eradicat-ing all discrimination, the president said.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Na-hid, UITS board of trustees Chairman Mohammad Mizanur Rahman and Vice-Chancellor Muhammad Samad also addressed the programme. l

‘Comply with building code in constructing RMG factories’ n Tushar Hayat, Chittagong

Speakers at a seminar yesterday stressed the need for complying with the building code while constructing garment factory buildings to ensure the safety of workers and avert any un-toward incident.

“We are ready to o� er the technical support needed in constructing RMG factory buildings properly,” Professor Dr M Shamim Z Basunia, president of Engineers’ Institution Bangladesh, said while addressing the seminar.

The seminar, titled ‘Building, Fire and Electrical Safety of RMG Facto-ries’ was organised by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association as part of the ongoing Chit-

tagong Apparel, Fabric and Accessories Exposition (CAPAXPO-2014), at the Mahabub Ali Auditorium in the port city.

Chittagong Development Authori-ty (CDA) Chairman Abdus Salam, who was present at the seminar as chief guest, stressed the need for abiding by the building code and added that the CDA would extend its all out coopera-tion in providing approvals for proper plans.

Dr Hazrat Ali, professor of civil en-gineering at Chittagong University of Engineering Technology, who was the special guest at the seminar, advised the garment owners to take advice from the construction engineers and architects while building their factory buildings. l

JnU suspends 2 BCL activists for assaulting teacher over tender dispute n Mohammad Jamil Khan

The authorities of Jagannath Univer-sity (JnU) yesterday suspended two Bangladesh Chhatra League activists for allegedly assaulting a teacher over a procurement dispute.

The suspended students were iden-ti� ed as SM Sirajul Islam, secretary of Chhatra League’s JnU unit, and Sham-im Ahmed.

The university also served a notice to Shamim Mollah, a former JnU student, demanding to know “why the universi-ty would not cancel his certi� cate” for his alleged involvement in the matter.

JnU proctor Asoke Kumar Saha con-� rmed the suspensions, saying the de-cision was taken yesterday in an emer-gency meeting of the university’s law and order committee.

In a press statement, the JnU author-ities said the students were accused of assaulting Mohammad Sayed Alam, a

professor of the chemistry department, last week. The university also planned to � le a case in this regard, it added.

According to the statement, the JnU authorities had formed a committee with Sayed Alam as convener to pro-cure furniture for the students’ com-mon room through inviting tenders.

The statement claimed that Sirajul Islam went to Sayed Alam’s o� ce room on Thursday and asked him to stop the bidding process. Sirajul also asked the professor to issue a statement declar-ing that the tendering was over.

But when Sayed Alam refused to do so, Sirajul and his supporters assaulted him, the press statement added.

Sirajul, however, denied the allega-tion against him.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, he claimed that the JnU teachers’ asso-ciation was “staging a false drama” against him to foil an ongoing student movement to recover university dormi-

tories from illegal occupiers.He also alleged that the university

authorities and teachers’ association had taken huge sums of money from local lawmaker Haji Mohammad Selim and other property “grabbers” to stop the students from demonstrating.

“For this reason, they staged the drama just before the day of our grand rally today at Shaheed Minar,” claimed Sirajul, who is also the member secre-tary of the “hall recovery committee” formed by the agitating students.

Meanwhile, Sarkar Ali Akkas, pres-ident of JnU teachers’ association, re-futed the student leader’s claims.

“We are always with the students and we are also holding protests in sup-port of their demand. So, we are not against their demonstrations,” Sarkar said, adding, “He (Sirajul) was pun-ished as per the decision of the law and order committee following a primary investigation.” l

50% progress in 14 years for Purbachal Link RoadRajuk appoints new contractor for one lot following repeated delaysn Abu Hayat Mahmud

Only 50% of the construction of the Purbachal Link Road has been complet-ed during 14 years since the project was � rst initiated by Rajuk, as authorities concerned repeatedly shifted respon-sibility of the project to di� erent agen-cies and contractors

The snail’s pace of the project, wrong choices in appointing contractors and repeated suspensions of construction work have allegedly been caused by indi� erence from the state agency Ra-jdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).

Rajuk originally initiated the con-struction of the road in 2000 to con-nect the satellite city Purbachal with the capital, with the proposed road supposed to make commuting easier in the northeast parts of the city.

The road was also planned to im-prove the capital’s road communica-tions with Chittagong, Sylhet, Narsing-di, Narayanganj, Munshiganj and other northern and eastern districts, in a bid to save time and huge amount of mon-ey every year.

Earlier in 2000, Rajuk initiated the construction of the link road, while in 2004, the Roads and Highways Depart-ment (RHD) was tasked with its con-struction. However, Rajuk took charge of the project in mid-2008 after the RHD failed to make progress.

Later in 2010, Rajuk decided to con-struct the road with funds under the Purbachal New Town Project at a cost of Tk350crore.

Rajuk o� cials said the construction of the 300-feet wide Purbachal Link Road started in October 2011 and was scheduled to end last April, while the deadline was later extended to August of the same year.

The under-construction 13.3km link road has been divided into two lots;with the lot 1 consisting 6.9kmof road from Balu bridge to Kanchan bridge on Shitalakkha, while the lot 2 consisting 6.4km of road from Kuril � y-over to Balu bridge.

The contractors have reportedly halted construction demanding addi-tional funds as cost adjustment for the rising price of building materials.

The suspension of the construction came at a time when the link road as-sumed a far greater importance than pre-vious times following the inauguration of the Kuril � yover, as one of its ramps

was linked to the Purbachal link road, and another face of the road was linked with the Dhaka bypass road in Rupganj.

ZahirulAlam, a resident of Dumni, said hundreds of people used the link road daily to save time.

“People living in Kuril, Khilkhet, Barua, Dumni, Isapura, Rupganj and di� erent adjoining areas are using the road as a shortcut,” he said.

Zahirul also said the incomplete and bumpy road allows only CNG-run au-to-rickshaws and battery-run three-wheel-ers to operate on the road, adding: “Driv-

ers charge Tk70 as fare for each trip from Khilkhet to Kanchan Bridge.”

Jahanara Akhter, another Dumnire-sident, said travelling on the potholed road was uncomfortable, especially for the children and the elderly people.

Uzzal Mallick, project manager of Rajuk, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Rajuk has cancelled contracts with former two venture companies – CTCL-Monico of lot 1 and ACL-RP Construction of lot 2 – for the delay of construction.

“Rajuk cancelled contract with ACL-RP Construction in September last

year, and also cancelled contract with CTCL-Monico this month,” he added.

Uzzal said construction for lot 2 has restarted after Rajuk signed new con-tracts with two joint venture compa-nies NCEL-FF CRUZ in December last yearfor the cost of around Tk142 crore. No new contract, however, has been signed for lot 1, he added. Answering to a query, he said around 50% of the con-struction has been completed.

Rajuk Chief Engineer (implementa-tion) Md Emdadul Islam admitted that the construction has been suspended,

adding that agreements with the for-mer contractors had been cancelled be-cause of delays in construction.

Rajuk o� cials said the 12-lane road is planned to have a four-lane express-way with two service roads on its both sides, as well as seven bridges, six un-derpasses and two culverts.

During a visit to the project area, the Dhaka Tribune found that although the road was incomplete, the bridges and culverts were almost completed. The new construction companies have also started work on lot 2. l

GOPIBAGH KILLINGS

Police remains clueless even after three months n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Police investigators are yet to arrest any suspects or � nd any clues in the killings of six people, including a father and son, inside a � at in the capital’s Go-pibagh area nearly three month ago.

While an investigation is on, family members of the victims are reportedly passing their days in hiding, fearing repri-sals by those responsible for the murders.

On December 21, the slain bodies of a local religious leader, “Pir” Lutfar Rahman Faruk, his son, Sarowar Islam Faruk, and four followers Monzurul Alam, Mohammad Rasel, Mohammad Shaheen and Mujibar Sarker, were found in their rented � at at 64/6 Gopibagh.

Abdullah-Al-Faruk, Lutfar Rahman’s younger son and plainti� of the mur-der case � led with police, told the Dha-ka Tribune that the family’s everyday lives were disrupted due to fear of the killers as police had failed to make any progress in their investigation.

“We are living in hiding although it is the criminals who are supposed to be in hiding,” Faruk said.

During a primary investigation, law enforcers on examining the crime scene suspected that some militant Islamic group might be behind the killings.

However, the Detective Branch of Police, which is now in charge of the case, has failed to identify any suspects or ascertain a motive.

DB inspector Abul Khayer Matubbor, the investigating o� cer of the case, said they suspected that a militant group was involved in the killings, but were yet to � nd any trace of the killers.

“The killers were experts, and they did not leave a single clue at the crime scene. We sent samples collected from the spot to a laboratory for examination, but could not get much information,” he said.

Meanwhile, a high DB o� cial claimed that “Pir” Lutfar Rahman often used to give confusing statements about Islam which might have angered some mil-itant group and led to the killings. The o� cial named banned Jama’atul Muja-hideen Bangladesh, Hizbut Tahrir and Harkatul Jihad as possible suspects. l

50 injured as RMG workers clashwith police n Tribune Report

A clash between cops and a garment factory workers who have been pro-testing the factory closure left at least 5o protesters injured at city’s outskirt Savar yesterday.

The clash erupted when the workers of Dhaka Sweaters Limited of Genda tried to occupy the Dhaka-Aricha high-way in the morning. Police charged ba-tons, hurled tear shell canisters while workers hurled brick chips in retalia-tion that left the injuries, police said.

According to the workers, since the last few days workers have been agitat-ing demanding increase in piece rate, basic salaries, providing ID cards in-cluding 10-point demands.

To curb the agitation, the factory au-thority closed the factory for an inde� -nite period. l

President Abdul Hamid awards a student at the second convocation of University of Information Technology and Sciences, at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital yesterday. Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad was also present at the event PID

Workers resume construction of the Purbachal Link Road after authorities � nally appointed a new contractor to � nish the project. This picture was taken yesterday ABU HAYAT MAHMUD

‘We are living in hiding although it is the criminals who are supposed to be in hiding’

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014

ZILLA PARISHAD, MEHERPUR(www.zpmeherpur.org)

Memo No.Z.P.Meher./Eng./2014-35(100) Dated: 12-03-2014.

INVITATION FOR TENDER (IFT)Tender Notice: 02/2013-2014

Sealed tender are hereby invited from The Zilla Parishad, Meherpur enlisted Contractor, as defi ned in the tender documents for the under mentioned works as per terms and conditions stated below:

Group No

Name of work Upazilla Estimated Cost(Tk)

Tender Security

(Tk)

Time of completion

(Days)

Price of tender

documents (Tk)

01. Completion of incompletion work of Gate with Father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and National four leaders in front of Zilla Parishad offi ce Campus.

MeherpurSadar

4,40,000/- (ADP)

11,500/- 75 Days 300/-

02. Completion of incompletion work on waterfall/Fountain in front of Zilla Parishad offi ce.

-Do- 4,90,000/- (Revenue)

12,500/- 75 Days 300/-

03. Repairing & Painting of Zilla Parishad offi ce Bhabon.

-Do- 1,50,000/- (Revenue)

4,500/- 60 Days 100/-

04. Maintenance of chief executive offi cer`s Resident and approach road.

-D0- 2,00,000/- (Revenue)

5,000/- 60 Days 200/-

05. Repair and maintenance of Latrines at Zilla parishad Sadar Dakbanglo-1 & 2.

-D0- 3,60,000/- (Revenue)

9,000/- 60 Days 300/-

1. Source of Fund : ADP & Revenue.2. Last date, time & places of selling

tender documents.: Date : 01-04-2014. Time : up to offi ce time

Place : (a) Deputy Commissioner, Meherpur. (b) Zilla Parishad, Meherpur. (c) Executive Engineer, LGED, Meherpur. (d) Upazilla Nirbahi Offi cer Meherpur Sadar,

Meherpur.3. Last date, time & places of receiving

tender documents.: Date : 02-04-2014. Time : up to 12.30 P.M

Place : Zilla Parishad, Meherpur.4. Date, time & places of opening

tender.: Date : 02-04-2014. Time : 2.00 P.M.

Place : Zilla Parishad, Meherpur5. Tender security will be in favour of “Chief Executive Offi cer, Zilla Parishad, Meherpur” in the form of Pay

Order/Bank Draft from any schedule Bank in Bangladesh.6. If the quoted amount of any tender is more than 5% above or less than the estimated cost, his/her tender

shall be rejected.7. If the quoted rate become same for any group then the lottery will be held after tender evaluation report

at Zilla Parishad, Meherpur.8. The Tenderer will have to apply in their original letter pad and submit attested photocopy of the up-to-date

Trade License, VAT Registration, Income Tax Certifi cate, Cash fl ow and Liquid Assets for purchasing tender document.

9. Tender shall be valid for a period of 120 days after bid submission and must be accompanied by the tender security specifi ed above. Interested Tenderers may obtain further information from the offi ce of the undersigned and purchase the tender documents in cash from the places mentioned above. The tenderers or their authorized representatives are allowed to attend the opening of tenders. The authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all the tenders without assigning any reasons whatsoever.

(Md Liakat Ali) Assistant Engineer Zilla Parishad, MeherpurGC-31/14 (10"×4) Email-meherpurzp@gmail.com

6th Death Anniversary of Advocate Aminul Islam

Today (16th March 2014) is the 6th death anniversary of Advocate “Md. Aminul Islam”, a member of the then East Pakistan Civil Service (Judicial), Advocate Aminul Islam, worked with Sherpur Bar for about 50 years.

Govt preparing visitor’s policy to protect Sundarbansn BSS

The government is preparing a visitor’s policy to protect the world’s largest mangrove forest the Sundarbans.

The policy will include comprehen-sive guidelines for the tourists as part of the government e� ort to save the mangrove forest from pollution cre-ated by the vessels and visitors.

“We are exchanging views with both the government and private stakehold-ers, who are directly involved with the tourism industry,” Faiz Ahmed, joint secretary of the Ministry of Environ-ment and Forests, said.

He said the policy would be � nalised immediately after getting the opinion of the people concerned in the tourism sector.

O� cials of the ministry said the government had initiated the process of preparing visitor’s policy nearly two years back.

As part of the process, the ministry sent letters to di� erent stakeholders, including the tour operators, seeking opinion.

Apart from the tour operators, all the organisations concerned have giv-en feedback in this regard.

Yunus Ali, chief conservator of For-ests, said the policy was needed for the sake of greater interest of the Sundar-bans.

“All the tourists and vessels are used to leave solid wastages which are not decomposed properly, polluting the environment of the Sundarbans se-verely,” he added. l

Slaughtered body recovered n Our Correspondent, Khagrachari

Police yesterday morning recovered the slaughtered body of a man in Chen-guchara village under Manikchari upa-zila in Khagrachari.

The deceased was identi� ed as Mo-hammad Zakir Hossain, 30, son of late Ali Hossain Patwary of Eksatya Para in the same upazila of the district.

O� cer-in-charge of Manikchari Po-lice Station Keshob Chakrabarty said the man might have been killed any time following Friday night.

“Either he was killed by snatchers who snatched his motorcycle or by his neighbours whom he had long-stand-ing dispute with over land,” the o� cer-in-charge observed.

“We recovered the body and have sent it to Khagrachari Modern Sadar Hospital for autopsy,” he added. l

Law � outed as trees sold from government landn Our Correspondent, Magura

A government o� cer sold trees recent-ly worth about Tk 12 lakh in Magura district from the Water Development Board compound, without informing higher authorities or calling tender.

According to sources, the WDB planted the trees on the bank of the Ganga-Kapatakha canal in Sreepur upa-zila under social plantation programme with a view to enhancing beauty and maintaining ecological balance.

But Shanta Kumar Dutta, WDB sec-tional o� cer, in collusion with Nakol union council member Ebadat Hossen sold the trees. When contacted, Eba-dat Hossen said that the trees were cut down and sold directed by WDB sec-tional o� cer Shanta Kumar. l

4 killed in Mymensingh road crashn Our Correspondent, Mymensingh

At least four people were killed and more than 50 others injured in a road accident on the Shambhuganj-Paran-ganj road at Faliamari in sadar upazila here yesterday.

Of the deceased, three are Sultan Miah, 45, son of Helal Uddin, Abdur Rahim, 40, son of Mujibur Rahman, and Hasmat Ali, 35, son of Nuru Sheikh, who hail from Boror Char village in the upazila while the identities of the rest could not be con� rmed immediately.

Kotwali police station OC Golam Sarwar said the accident took place on the road around 11:45am when a speeding Boror Char-bound bus from Netrokona veered o� the road and fell into a roadside ditch after losing con-

trol, leaving the four dead on the spot and the 50 injured.

On information, police and � re brigade personnel from the district rushed to the spot and rescued the victims after an hour of frantic e� orts, said Abul Hossain, assistant director of Mymensingh Fire Service and Civil De-fence.

However, the driver of the vehicle � ed the scene after the crash.

Quoting locals, police said the pas-sengers, most of them are residents of the village were returning home by bus from a mazar (shrine) of Modanpur of Netrokona.

“The bus was overcrowded that led to the accident”, police added.

Principal Motiur Rahman, minister for religious a� airs, visited the spot. l

Husband kills himself, wife n Our Correspondent,

Mymensingh

A young husband commit-ted suicide by hanging him-self after allegedly killing his wife at Habirbari village under Bhaluka upazila in Mymensingh district on Fri-day night.

Police sources said Kho-kan Miah, 28, hailing from village Bhayaboh in Bhaluka upazila and a mason by pro-fession allegedly strangled his wife Sabina Yeasmin, 21, a worker at Square Fashions Ltd Bhaluka upazila around 9pm over a family feud on Friday night.

Khokon and Sabina got married one and a half

years ago and they couple were residing at Habirbari for their job purposes, po-lice said.

Primarily it was suspect-ed that Khokon killed him-self after killing his wife as there was mark of injury in Sabina’s neck, said Abul Kal-am Azad, o� cer-in-charge of Bhaluka police station.

Being informed by the locals, police rushed to the spot and recovered the bod-ies by breaking open the door around 10pm on Fri-day night.

We are looking into the incident, said the OC. A case was lodged with Bhaluka police station in this con-nection. l

Businessman picked up again n Our Correspondent,

Narayanganj

Detective Branch (DB) of police allegedly detained a businessman yesterday who was hassled in Navy police outpost earlier for protest-ing extortion in the district.

The victim was identi-� ed as Md Ezaz who was tortured and beaten up on March 6. According to sources, Sub-Inspector of

DB police-Sha� q picked up Ezaz from a shop in Riv-erview Market. The police showed recovery of an empty bottle of phensidyle and a knife, wrapped with polythene from the shop.

During the arrest, Sha� q wanted to know if Ezaz had any clash with SI Nazrul, in-charge of Navy outpost.

The businessmen of the market said Ezaz was arrest-ed without any reason. l

A bus topples upside down after falling into a roadside ditch at Mirkandapara in sadar upazila in Mymensingh yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

‘Water sharing issue should be taken to international forum’n Our Correspondent, Jessore

Speakers at BBC Bangladesh Sanglap held on Jessore Collectorate premises yesterday stressed the need to take the issue of water sharing with India to the international forum.

“Water sharing concerning several rivers having links with India will not be possible without taking the issue to the international forum,” the speakers

observed. In reply to questions, speakers said

opening session of the T20 World Cup in the capital city focused largely on Indian culture. “Bangladeshi culture was neglected during the programme. We need to focus and promote our cul-ture more because Indian culture has invaded ours.”

Opening ceremony of the Asia Cup last month coincided with the nation

commemorating the killing of 65 army o� cials, said speakers.

“Imposition of ban on Indian chan-nels is needed,” they added.

Highlighting attacks on the minorities, the speakers said people belonging to these groups were being subjected to torture not only in Bangladesh but also across the world. They also described upazila polls as farce. l

Sultana Kamal: Cross� re, a threat to humanity and good governancen Our Correspondent, Jhenaidah

Ain O Salish Kendra Executive Director Sultana Kamal said extrajudicial killing, widely known as crossfire by the law enforcement agencies, was one of the barriers in establishing good governance in the country.

Such type of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearance must be stopped immediately, she added.

While unveiling the cover of a new book in Jhenaidah, Sultana Kamal made the comments.

She also said the incidents of hu-man rights violation, especially to the women, were increasing in an alarming rate. Mentality of the people should be changed to ensure human rights equal-

ly for men, women and children, she added.

Condemning torture and repres-sion on women, rape, killing and other crimes, Sultana Kamal said an inde-pendent country could not move for-ward if such crimes were not swept away.

The people should protest the mis-deeds of the government to establish a just society free from terrorism, killing and abuse, she said.

The programme was presided over by Deputy Commissioner Sa� qul Islam, while Assistant Police Super Nazrul Islam, Upazila Nirbahi O� cer Julkar Nayon, Human Rights Lawyers’ Association President Dabir Hossain addressed the programme among others. l

Organisational communication: Makes it or breaks it?n Farah Iqbal

In today’s global busi-ness environment, ef-fective organisational communication has sig-ni� cant impact on the organisation’s success. To provide a thorough de� nition, organisa-

tional change, or the systematic change e� ort may be de� ned as the usage of behavioral science knowledge and skill to change or transform the organisation to a more advanced and e� cient state. 

Ideally, the department of human re-sources facilitates organisational com-munication by sharing of information, project coordination, and social inter-action within the organisation—but role’s importance is often questioned. Many assume human resources only deals with employee management– but that is not entirely true.

One could argue that internal com-munications build on the relationships that in� uence employees to double the e� ciency of each department and ca-ter to increasing the business size. The necessity to hire individuals who are particularly trained to handle this side of the business did not seem to be of utmost importance until very recently.

Corporate o� ces in Bangladesh have � nally entered the global trend to prioritise the importance of ensur-ing that their human resources and communications are catering towards the company’s overall growth. It could therefore be assumed that the public representation of the company is in essence the re� ection of the internal communications, e� ective resource management between functions, and the necessity to build and develop em-ployee relationships.

The demand for public relations and communications o� cers had not been a trend, or mainstream per se, until multinational companies started publi-cising their e� orts to bring their human resources team to the forefront of the company.

Public relations research is not only a fundamental part of identifying and resolving important issues in the or-ganisation in a strategic manner, but also signi� cant to enhance the worker productivity level.

It provides a multidimensional plat-form for the organisation to scan the environment to identify key issues early, and resolve them via strategic

planning and strenuous teamwork. Re-search uncovers potential areas of con-cern so that the organisation can build relationships, develop programmes and take corrective action to prevent small problems from becoming major issues both internally and externally.

One area where public relations can play an important role in organisational communication is by recognising areas of not only actual agreement and dis-agreement, but also of perceived agree-ment and disagreement.

Debatably, organisational commu-nication will become the “next big thing” to indicate a company’s growth and forecast. Human resource manage-

ment has mainstreamed over the past couple of years to primarily recognise essential aspects of maintaining e� -cient standard of structural changes that are actually a major reason behind the company’s road to perfection.

Public relations, media relations, and various kinds of practical training can be identi� ed as structured organi-sational communication; not only does this ensure a positive stride towards improving a company’s infrastructure, but also helps move towards a more de-veloped direction. 

In the process, organisational com-munication can aid in enhancing team building and worker productiv-

ity. Change can be very di� cult, yet healthy relationships within the organ-isation can help build a platform to pro-vide opportunities to strengthen team-work, increase employee productivity, and construct resourceful third party business rapports.

It is extremely important that while an organisational change is taking place, the media keeps the positive as-pects of the change in the limelight with the least amount of criticism. Dealing with the media presents unique chal-lenges, since the news media cannot be controlled — they have ultimate control over whether stories pitched to them are of interest to their audiences.

Because of this, an ongoing relation-ship between an organisation and the news media is vital. One way to pos-sibly ensure a positive working rela-tionship with media personnel is to be-come deeply familiar with their areas of interests — a good enough reason as to why the necessity of organisational communication personnel should be prioritised.

Google’s theory that the most pro-ductive workers are happy workers has reached the corporate houses in Ban-gladesh today. Top authorities of every organisation are now ensuring that em-ployees are kept happy in an e� ort to increase the level of productivity; fur-thermore, the concept of organisation-al hierarchy has more or less become extinct and teamwork has become the new trend of corporate houses.

When a company is lean and en-sures a good relationship between their management sta� and their non-man-agement sta� , the achievements such as increased worker productivity and satisfaction, smooth structural chang-es are highlighted with little or no em-phasis on the negative impacts.

Training and worker development is one of the most important pillars of organisational communication that is used to facilitate change and develop-ment. It comes in many forms includ-ing unstructured, small-group sessions

where participants share their experi-ences and learn from their interactions. It focuses the attention on the dynam-ics of group or team interaction, pro-vides a basis for team building through individual attention, and in turn in-spires workers.

As a result, they are more positive about adapting to the idea of a di� erent work setting, a diversi� ed corporate culture, and even reporting to a di� er-ent set of top level management.

This article is not suggesting that local corporate houses do not give any importance to communications, but rather, there is always room for im-provement. There is no one particular

department of an organisation that is more prestigious, or more important than the other – just as the spine of a human body is incomplete with only 25 ribs—consider the “least important” department to be the 26th rib.

Each organisation may be particu-larly well known for a department, but it is the other supporting functions that have brought the strength into lime-light. With Google’s proven theory of the correlation of happiness and high productivity, Bangladeshi corporate houses should be commended for their e� ort in taking a leaf out of the multi-national giant’s book to enhance their corporate settings and double their business sizes.

Poor communication in a nonfunc-tional organisational change leads to confusion, lowered morale and loss of productivity. Therefore, it is important that quali� ed leaders are guiding the employees to remain strong during the structural changes, since their oppor-tunity costs are higher than the rest.

If not already, it is recommended that to experience a smooth organi-sation transition, the department of human resources should partner with each function/department to enhance the growth of business, and eliminate weak links. l

Farah Iqbal is a freelance contributor.

Staring down the barrel of a social science majorJob prospects and career insights for graduates of social science backgroundsn Anita Zeba Bakhtiar and

Naiian Yazdani

Social sciences are comprised of a vari-ety of subjects, many of which often do not appeal to those who are opting for a safe and secure op-tion. Some perceive

that the more conventional routes, such banking, are the only way ahead. However, once the surface is scratched opportunities emerge in social scienc-es, and as the name suggest there is scope to make a wider impact.

Social science subjects include economics, anthropology, political science, psychology, journalism and sociology. Bangladeshi students that choose “the road not taken” do so from these disciplines. Often in such sce-narios, students are misrepresented as naive and unable to make wise career choices for themselves.

Furthermore, there is a belief that social science graduates � nd it more di� cult to attain jobs that are satisfy-ing and of a high stature. These beliefs may have been legitimate concerns in the past but are less so today, when everything around us is evolving and opportunities are springing up in areas like never before.

Drawing inspiration from what is happening globally, it is clear that grad-uates with majors in social sciences are leaving a mark in today’s world. A good place to start is right at the top with Dr Mohammad Yunus, who majored in Economics from Dhaka University, and went on to found the organisation called the Grameen Bank, later bring-ing in Bangladesh’s � rst Nobel Peace Prize (jointly his and the Grameen Bank’s) through microcredit schemes and social businesses.

While Dr Yunus represents the pin-nacle, what are the options available to students who have commenced down this path? Although a rewarding career at an NGO may appear to be the only

available career option for social sci-ence graduates, it is not the case.

For example, a graduate of psychol-ogy who chooses to do a masters in child education could work as a child psychologist, helping children a� icted by mental ailments, supporting them as they recover from hardships and deal with trauma. Today as the awareness of the importance of mental health ris-es, as will roles such as these. This is an

example of the changing landscape of Bangladesh and creating opportunities in social sciences which were unavail-able previously.

An alternative career choice for majors in political science, anthropol-ogy or sociology could be to work for organisations such as the World Bank, the ADB or the UN, in which case, a pro-� ciency in English, along with another language (preferably French, German,

or Spanish) is a must. A career in such institutions is a

privilege and the work can not only be ever changing, fascinating and intense but also provide the opportunity to travel and to serve on a global platform.

Students of international relations can join corporate jobs after complet-ing their bachelors and secure an MBA majoring in human resources manage-ment. Roles include acting as liaisons

between o� ces of MNCs such as Brit-ish American Tobacco in Bangladesh and overseas.

They could also work as assistants of high-ranking o� cials in these MNCs who have come from abroad, and need an organised person to manage their itinerary. This should be an interesting and ful� lling choice for the adventur-ous as it might involve travelling to for-eign countries every now and then.

On the other hand, one can choose to continue academics, for example ob-tain a PhD in political science and be a full-time professor or faculty mem-ber in any one of the leading public or private universities o� ering the subject currently. There is scope to be a politi-cal analyst and provide commentary to the media and foreign embassies.

A prime example is Professor Dr Piash Karim, who majored in anthro-pology, and is currently a full-time faculty member at BRAC University. His wide knowledge of current a� airs and his interest in Bangladeshi politics means that he is often called to analyse politically motivated scenarios both lo-cally and globally.

The common thread through all these occupations is they all deal with the current issues a� ecting people. In truth, the science subjects with its job security and technical requirements may not be able to o� er the dynamism which the social sciences do.

While they may be riskier indus-tries, the chance to shine and engage with the world makes them attractive. Therefore, although one cannot predict one’s own fate, if you are ready to be high performer and have a social bent, then with the right attitude, spirit, determination, and perhaps luck any-thing is possible - even a Nobel Prize. l

Anita Zeba Bakhtiar recently completed her research internship at GradConnect, an international career information and advisory � rm. Naiian Yazdani is the Director of Strategy at GradConnect. You can email him at naiian@grad-connect.com and � nd more career information at www.grad-insights.com and www.grad-connect.com.

Sales idioms: Sell like a silver-tonguen Career Desk

Buyer’s market – a situation where there are more sellers than buyers of a product or service and the buyers have an advantage 

Come down in price – to lower the price of one’s product, to become cheaper

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

Come in low – to o� er a low amount of money for a product or service

Corner the market – to dominate a particular market with your product

A hard sell – a way of selling something that is very aggressive and uses much pressure

Have good contacts – to know people who can help you get a job or do some kind of business

Knock down the price – to lower the price of something

Land an account – to acquire an account

Line of products – a group or category of products that are similar to each other

Make a cold call – to visit or telephone a potential but unknown customer from a list of people

Make an o� er – to make a � nancial proposal for a product or service

Move a product – to sell a product

Preferred customer – a customer who does much business with you and who you give special discounts to

Sell like hotcakes – to sell very quickly

Seller’s market – a situation where there are more buyers of a product/service than sellers so the sellers have an advantage

BIZVOCAB

Career 7DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014

The common thread through all these occupations is theyall deal with the current issuesa� ecting people

Top authorities of every organisation are ensuring that employees are kept happy in an e� ort to increase the level of productivity and the concept of organisational hierarchy has become extinct

CAREERASCENT

Sunday, March 16, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Deadly violence � ares up in Ukraine; stage set for biggest east-west showdown since Cold Warn AFP, Kharkiv

Ukraine braced on Saturday for a break-away vote in Crimea as deadly violence � ared again in the ex-Soviet country’s tinderbox east amid the biggest east-west showdown since the Cold War.

The second successive day of deadly unrest that has now claimed three lives in the mainly Russian-speaking east of the country came hours after Mos-cow, whose forces have seized control of Crimea, warned that it reserved the right to “protect” compatriots in the whole of Ukraine.

US secretary of state John Kerry had on Friday failed to either avert Sunday’s Crimea ballot or win Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s assur-ance that Moscow may delay annexing the Black Sea region that Ukraine only received as a “gift” from Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1954.

The rugged Black Sea peninsula — home to two million mostly Russian speakers and the base of czarist and Kremlin navies since the 18th century — is widely expected to vote in favour of joining Russia after its lawmakers declared independence from Kiev ear-lier this month.

The referendum comes weeks after a pro-Kremlin regime was toppled in Kiev after months of deadly protests and replaced with western-leaning leadership, which has denounced Sun-day’s vote as illegal.

But Moscow, whose troops seized control of Crimea in the days af-ter Ukraine’s president was ousted, strongly backs the referendum despite international condemnation and a new round of painful sanctions against top Russian o� cials that Washington and EU nations are expected to unveil as early as Monday.

The latest deadly violence � ared on Friday evening in Kharkiv when a group of nationalists opened � re on pro-Rus-sian supporters in the heart of the east-ern industrial city of 1.4 million.

No one was hurt but police said the pro-Russians then chased the gunmen to the headquarters of a far-right group called Patrioty Ukrainy (Ukrainian Pa-triots) — an o� shoot of the Pravy Sek-tor (Right Sector) organization that was at the heart of the Kiev anti-govern-ment protests.

Police said a pro-Russian protester and a passerby were killed when the nationalists holed up inside the build-ing opened � re. Six others were hurt — including one o� cer — when police arrived at the scene.

The group of about 30 gunmen eventually gave up their arms and handed themselves over to the police.

The Russian foreign ministry’s hu-man rights pointman Konstantin Dol-gov urged Kiev in a tweet to immedi-ately ban all organizations “inciting inter-ethnic hatred.”

The Kharkiv clashes came one day after a 22-year-old man was killed in another eastern city of Donetsk when 2,000 pro-Russian supporters attacked a smaller group rallying on the same square in the defence of Ukraine’s sov-ereignty.

Ukraine’s acting president Olek-sandr Turchynov blamed the Donetsk death on thugs “sent in” from Russia.

The worst stando� in east-west re-lations since the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall found no solution when Kerry and Lavrov locked horns in six-hour talks in London that ended in a handshake and an agreement that the two sides still remained far apart.

“We have no common vision of the situation,” Lavrov grimly told reporters.

A US diplomat said Kerry found himself at check-mate when Lavrov “made it clear that President (Vladimir) Putin is not prepared to make any de-cision regarding Ukraine until after the referendum on Sunday.”

That timing is far too late for US of-� cials who accuse Crimea’s separatist leaders and their Kremlin backers of holding the vote at “gunpoint.” l

Egypt protest leader Abdel Fattah faces trial on March 23n AFP, Cairo

Prominent Egyptian activist Alaa Ab-del Fattah will stand trial on March 23 for allegedly participating in a violent protest, state media reported Satur-day, amid concerns the military-in-stalled regime is increasingly sti� ing dissent.

Abdel Fattah was a well-known ac-tivist and blogger during the 2011 up-rising that overthrew strongman Hosni Mubarak, and supported the military’s ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi two years later.

But he and other activists have since clashed with the new military-installed government, which has waged an ex-tensive crackdown on both Islamists and secular activists like him.

He had been hailed as an “icon of the revolution” by the military-installed presidency after Morsi’s overthrow, before he began protesting against the new regime.

Abdel Fattah will face trial with 24 other defendants for a November pro-test against a clause in the constitution allowing the military to court martial civilians, the o� cial MENA news agen-cy reported. l

Gaza’s only power plant ‘shuts down for lack of fuel’n AFP, Gaza City

The Gaza Strip’s only power plant shut down Saturday due to a lack of fuel from Israel, which closed a goods crossing after militant rocket attacks, the energy authority said.

“The plant has completely ceased to function due to a lack of fuel caused by (Israel’s) closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing,” said Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil, deputy director of the energy authority in the Palestinian territory ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas.

On Thursday, Israeli Defence Minis-ter Moshe Yaalon ordered the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza and the Erez pedestrian crossing “until further security assess-ments.”

In response, the energy authority cut the plant’s operation from only 12 hours a day to six until the fuel ran out.

The facility, which supplies some 30 percent of Gaza’s electricity needs, has been forced to shut down several times, most recently in December. l

Lebanon reaches Hezbollah arms compromisen AFP, Beirut

Lebanon’s new cross-party govern-ment, formed last month, adopted a political programme Saturday after reaching a compromise over the thorny question of the arsenal of Hezbollah, one of the coalition’s members.

The Shiite movement, known as the “resistance” because of its opposition to Israel, never disarmed after Lebanon’s

15-year civil war ended in 1990, and its military power rivals that of the army.

The group sent its � ghters into neigh-bouring Syria last year to support Bashar al-Assad, fuelling tensions in multi-con-fessional Lebanon.

Hezbollah insists its arms are nec-essary for protecting Lebanon from Israel, but detractors argue that its ar-senal allows it to impose its will on the country. l

US defends surveillance before UN rights paneln AFP, Geneva

The United States defended its controls on mass surveillance on Friday before a UN watchdog body amid a sweeping review of Washington’s record on civil and political rights.

The US government has faced a cas-cade of scandals over online and tele-phone snooping around the globe by the US National Security Agency (NSA) since fugitive former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden went public in 2013.

During a session of the United Na-tions Human Rights Committee, ex-perts from the 18-member panel repeat-edly quizzed Washington’s delegation about the scale and scope of spying.

Bruce Swartz, deputy assistant at-torney general for the criminal division at the US Department of Justice, under-lined that the intelligence programmes in the spotlight were “lawful under the law of the United States.”

In addition, Swartz said, there was “rigorous oversight” by a host of au-thorities and the courts. l

US to relinquish key oversight role for Internetn AFP, Washington

The US governme nt announced Friday it was giving up its key role overseeing the Internet’s technical operations, handing over those functions to “the global multi-stakeholder community.”

The move “marks the � nal phase of the privatization” of the management of the Internet domain name system, said a statement from the US Com-merce Department.

The US agency called for “global stakeholders to develop a proposal” for a transition to a new plan with the In-ternet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a non-pro� t group that took over some of the functions in 1997 under an agreement with the US gov-ernment.

The decision comes with Washing-ton under pressure following revela-tions about vast surveillance programs operated by the secretive National Se-curity Agency to collect intelligence and other data through a variety of methods.

ICANN leaders said during a con-ference call that the move by the US was a sign that the organization has matured and that it was in the works long before leaked documents showed massive online snooping by intelligence agents.

“Every president, every board of ICANN since its inception has been working toward this day,” ICANN presi-dent and chief executive Fadi Chehade said during a conference call.

The end of the US oversight role has no immediate impact for Internet users, and ICANN will continue to ad-minister the network’s key technical functions.

The change a� ects US government oversight of “root zone” of databases underlying the Internet which makes Washington a steward of that system, even though the functions are con-tracted out to ICANN and the infra-structure company Verisign.

ICANN said its role as administrator of the Internet’s unique identi� er sys-tem remains unchanged. l

Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Calls Kerry ‘Murderer’n Reuters, Caracas

Venezuela’s foreign minister lambast-ed US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday as a “murderer” fomenting unrest that has killed 28 people in the South American OPEC member nation.

Since street demonstrations began against President Nicolas Maduro’s so-cialist government in early February, Venezuelan o� cials have been accus-ing Washington of stirring the country’s worst political troubles in a decade.

US o� cials say Venezuela is using them as a scapegoat, inventing accu-sations to distract from internal eco-nomic and political problems. In the sternest words during the crisis from Washington, Kerry said on Thursday the Venezuela government was using a “terror campaign” to repress its own citizens.

“Every time we’re about to isolate and reduce the violence, Mr. Kerry comes out with a declaration and im-mediately the street protests are acti-vated,” Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said

in a speech carried on state TV.“Mr. Kerry, we denounce to the

whole world, you encourage the vi-olence in Venezuela ... We denounce you as a murderer of the Venezuelan people.”

After tense relations during the 14-year rule of the late Hugo Chavez, there had been some hopes on both sides of a rapprochement between Venezuela and the United States.

Kerry and Jaua did actually meet in June last year, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of American States in Guatemala, with both govern-ments saying they wanted better ties.

But the bitterness and incidents have continued, with Maduro last month expelling three US diplomats he accused of recruiting protesters. Wash-ington responded in kind.

“In Guatemala, you said to me ‘you have to lower the tone’,” Jaua added in his speech. “We are not going to lower the tone to any empire until you order your lackeys in Venezuela to cease the violence against the people.” l

Left: People take part in an anti-war rally in Moscow, yesterday. Participants, including opposition activists and supporters, protested against the incursions of the Russian army into Ukraine’s Crimea, according to organizers REUTERS

Bottom: Pro-Kremlin activists march in Moscow, on March 15, 2014, during a rally in support of recent Russia’s move on Crimea. Around 50,000 people rallied today in central Moscow in protest at Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, a day before the Crimean peninsula is expected to vote on switching to Kremlin rule, an AFP team estimated. A rival demonstration, which appeared to be well-organised, attracted 15,000 people in support of Putin, police estimated AFP

Palestinian president heads to USn Reuters, Jerusalem

With pessimism growing by the day over the future of Middle East peace talks, US President Barack Obama will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington on Monday to try to break the stalemate.

The deadline for the negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, aimed at ending their entrenched conflict, expires next month and Washington is eager to persuade the two sides to prolong their discus-

sions within a new framework.But expectations of imminent prog-

ress are minimal.After eight months of initial talks,

and at least 10 trips to the region, US Secretary of State John Kerry sound-ed unusually gloomy during a Con-gressional hearing on March 12, in-dicating that little progress had been made so far.

“The level of mistrust is as large as any level of mistrust I’ve ever seen,” said Kerry, a veteran of Middle East di-plomacy. l

Syria troops advance in Yabrud as war enters fourth yearn AFP, Damascus

Syrian troops advanced Saturday on the key rebel bastion of Yabrud as the coun-try’s civil war entered its fourth year, with more than 146,000 dead, millions displaced and peace e� orts stalled.

Army troops were locked in � erce clashes with rebel forces, including the Al-Qaeda a� liate Al-Nusra Front, after they entered the town on Friday.

The strategic stronghold is the last rebel-held town in the Qalamun re-gion, which lies along the border with Lebanon and on the key highway be-tween Damascus and third city Homs.

The latest � ghting illustrated the intractability of the con� ict that began on March 15, 2011 after popular upris-ings that toppled dictators in Tunisia and Egypt.

Protests erupted in Syria’s south-ern city of Daraa after teenagers were arrested over gra� ti declaring: “The people want the fall of the regime.”

President Bashar al-Assad’s regime reacted with force, and people began to die in the demonstrations that grew week after week.

Civilians took up arms, soldiers be-gan to desert and an insurgency be-came full-scale civil war after the re-gime bombed the central city of Homs in February 2012.

Two years later, the war appears to have reached stalemate, with some predicting it could last another 10 or 15 years, like the 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon.

Rebels control large swathes of the country, but are � ghting both the re-gime and an Al-Qaeda-inspired group they once welcomed.

And the government holds the more densely-populated regions, seeking to protect “useful Syria” – the coast, ma-jor towns and key roads.

The regime is advancing on three fronts, south of Damascus, in the stra-tegic Qalamun region and in Aleppo in the north. l

This combination of photos shows the Ei� el tower (R) in central Paris through a haze of pollution taken on March 14, 2014 and during clear weather (L) on August 17, 2012. More than 30 departments in France are hit by maximum level pollution alerts since the day before, prompting Ecology Minister to say air quality was ‘an emergency and a priority for the government.’ AFP

AIR POLUTION PRIORITY FOR PARIS

9Sunday, March 16, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

China’s Xi assumes new role overseeing military reformn Reuters

Chinese President Xi Jinping has tak-en on a new role overseeing a group in charge of deepening military re-form, state media said on Saturday, adding to the list of bodies Xi is tak-ing charge of in his rapid consolida-tion of power.

Xi is already head of the military in his role as chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission.

The o� cial news agency Xinhua said Xi had chaired the � rst meeting of the new leading group for deepen-ing reform on national defense and the military, in the � rst mention of the group by state media.

Xi has already taken charge of similar bodies overseeing economic reform and internet security, besides running the new national security commission.

During the military meeting, Xi

“stressed the country’s military reform should be guided by the objective of building a strong army,” Xinhua said.

Xi’s speech, full of turgid commu-nist phrases, gave no speci� cs of how China will modernize its military.

“National defense and military re-form are an important part and an im-portant symbol of China’s overall re-form,” Xi said.

With “being able to combat and win battles” as the focus, Xi said re-forms should “target key problems in strengthening combat preparedness and weak links in honing combat e� ec-tiveness.”

The goal is to build an army that “obeys the Party’s command, is capa-ble of winning battles and has a sound work style,” he added.

China this month announced its big-gest rise in military spending in three years, a strong signal that it is not about to back away from its growing assertiveness

in Asia, especially in disputed waters.The government said it would in-

crease the defense budget by 12.2 per-cent this year to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.57 billion), as China seeks to de-velop more high-tech weapons and to beef up coastal and air defenses.

The increase follows a nearly un-broken run of double-digit hikes in the Chinese defense budget, second only to the United States in size, for the past two decades.

The 2014 defense budget is Xi’s � rst since becoming president last year, and the spending increase appears to re-� ect his desire to build what he calls a strong, rejuvenated China.

Xi also recently urged military lead-ers to speed e� orts to get the country’s sole aircraft carrier combat-ready.

Aside from the carrier, China is de-veloping a range of high-tech weapon-ry, from stealth � ghters to systems to shoot down satellites. l

Court cuts jail term of Pakistan doctor who helped � nd bin Ladenn Reuters

A court in Pakistan on Saturday re-duced by 10 years the jail term handed down to a Pakistani doctor who helped the United States track down al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in a blow to his supporters who have been � ghting for his release.

Shakil Afridi, hailed as a hero by US o� cials, was arrested after US sol-diers killed bin Laden in May 2011 in a raid in a northern Pakistani town that outraged Pakistan and plunged rela-tions between the strategic partners to a new low.

Pakistan arrested Afridi and sen-tenced him to 33 years in jail for being a member of a militant group, a charge he denies.

On Saturday, a court in the city of Pe-shawar reduced his sentence to 23 years following repeated calls by the United States and his legal team for his release.

“We will receive a complete court order on Monday and will then chal-lenge it at the FATA Tribunal,” said Af-ridi’s lawyer, Qamar Nadeem, referring to a higher tribal court.

Afridi has become a new irritant in the complex ties between Wash-ington and Islamabad that have been deteriorating over past years despite Pakistan’s pivotal role to US interests in Afghanistan, counter-terrorism and nuclear security.

The day after Afridi was sentenced, the US Senate expressed its anger by vot-ing to dock Islamabad $33 million in aid - $1 million for every year of the term. l

India ‘disappointed’ at US re-indictment of diplomatn AFP, New Delhi

India on Saturday said it was “disap-pointed” by new US visa fraud charges against an Indian diplomat over her employment of a domestic servant and warned the move could reignite a bitter row between the countries.

Government spokesman Syed Akba-ruddin said India was “disappointed” the US justice department “chose to obtain a second indictment” against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade even though a US judge threw out simi-lar charges earlier in the week.

“Any measures consequent to this decision in the US will unfortunately impact upon e� orts on both sides to build the India-US strategic partner-ship, to which both sides are commit-ted,” the Indian spokesman warned.

“This was an unnecessary step,” Ak-baruddin said in a emailed statement to AFP, calling the case “without mer-it” and adding the Indian government will “no longer engage on this case in the United States’ legal system.”

A New York grand jury re-indicted the senior diplomat accusing her of two counts of visa fraud and making false statements.

Khobragade, who has since re-turned to India, was arrested Decem-ber 12 outside her children’s school and later strip-searched, enraging the Indian government and some of the Indian public.

The row fanned resentment between the two countries, which had embraced each other as strategic partners.

Indian lawmakers denounced the diplomat’s treatment as a violation of national sovereignty and said Wash-ington should not ride roughshod over Indian interests.

The deeply unpopular Congress government, struggling to win back fa-vour in general elections starting next month, has been under heavy domes-tic political pressure to act tough with Washington.

The fresh charges came two days after a US judge threw out a previous case on grounds the former New York deputy consul-general was granted full diplomatic immunity after her arrest.

The new indictment paints a devas-tating picture of the lengths to which Khobragade allegedly went to in-fringe US laws in hiring an Indian nan-ny-cum-housekeeper when moving to New York in 2012. l

Rahul Gandhi dubs poll surveys as ‘jokes’n Agencies, New Delhi

Rahul Gandhi today dubbed poll sur-veys predicting that Congress could get just 100 seats in Lok Sabha polls as “joke,” and said opinion polls are “not the law” and there is no question of Na-rendra Modi and BJP coming to power.

Holding a ‘Google Hangout’ with party workers, the � rst such interac-tion by any Congress leader, Gandhi also hit out at the main Opposition par-ty over reports of an internal war with-in BJP over candidatures of senior lead-ers including Modi, PTI has reported.

“The talk of 100 seats is a joke and you have to understand that... the en-tire campaign of the Opposition is to demoralise you. If you are not demor-alised, we shall smash them.

“If you do not have a doubt in your mind, we are getting 200 plus seats. The entire game is to demoralise the Congress workers, to create doubts in

their mind,” Gandhi said while replying to a question on what would Congress do after polls if it gets about 100 seats.

“First of all we fought in 2004. Ev-ery single opinion poll said we are go-ing to get thrashed. Congress won that election. In 2009, every single opining poll said we are going to get thrashed. We doubled our tally.

“We are now � ghting a third election. They always say Congress will not do well. Let us not start with the assumption that opinion polls are the law. We have to � ght a strong election,” Gandhi said seek-ing to dispel the notion that Congress is down in the dumps and enthuse the cad-

res to go out in the � eld and propagate the UPA government’s achievements.

Asking the partymen from di� erent parts of the country “not to fall in the Opposition trap,” Gandhi said Congress is a party which believes in revolution while the BJP symbolises conserva-tionism and status quo.

“If you look at our Opposition, ev-ery single candidate is decided by one man. Their senior leaders are saying that every single candidate is decided by one man. They are heading in one direction and we are heading into en-tirely another direction,” Gandhi said extolling the primary initiative of the party to select candidates.

To a query as to how Congress should � ght the communal forces if Mr Modi and his party come to power, Mr Gandhi said, “we are going to win the next election. Therefore, BJP coming to power, their leader coming to power is a non-question.” l

‘Deliberate’ disappearance of Malaysian � ight fuels Chinese families’ worriesn AFP, Beijing

Relatives of the passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines � ight MH370 voiced fear and concern Saturday after reports that the jet’s diversion may have been intentional, demanding answers one week after the plane’s disappearance.

As emotions over the missing plane continued to run high, China’s foreign ministry and o� cial news agency add-ed to the urgency, upping their calls for greater clarity from the Malaysian gov-ernment and other parties.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters in Kuala Lum-pur that the plane’s sudden chang-ing of direction after vanishing from civilian radar was “consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane” and that its final satellite communication came more than six-and-a-half hours after it vanished from civilian radar.

The � ight’s 153 Chinese passengers comprised nearly two-thirds of the 239 people on board, and relatives gath-ered at the Lido Hotel in Beijing said after watching Razak’s televised press conference that the prime minister’s

remarks did little to ease their nerves, with some openly suggesting foul play on the Malaysian side.

“I feel (Malaysia Airlines) had a role to play in this incident,” Wen

Wancheng, a man from east China’s Shandong province whose son is among the passengers on the missing � ight, told a gaggle of reporters after watching Razak’s news conference.

He expressed scepticism at the latest update given by Razak regarding the time of the plane’s � nal communica-tion, calling the � ight’s disappearance “a conspiracy...from the beginning.” l

Japanese rally against nuclear powern AFP, Tokyo

Thousands of campaigners rallied against nuclear power in Tokyo Sat-urday, as the government and utilities move toward resumption of reactors in southern Japan.

More than 5,000 protesters gathered at Hibiya Park in downtown Tokyo to urge the government not to restart nu-clear plants, as regulators review wheth-er to let Kyushu Electric Power to restart two reactors at its Sendai power plant.

“Japan is prone to earthquakes. We have to seriously think about whether nu-clear power is a good idea for Japan,” said Masatoshi Harada, 60, as he joined fellow protesters at the park and later to march toward the Ginza shopping district.

“This is an opportunity for Japan to drop nuclear power,” he said.

Last week tens of thousands held a rally at the same site to voice fears about any reliance on nuclear power.

Saturday’s event came days after Ja-pan marked the third anniversary of a 9.0-magnitude earthquake that struck northern Japan in March 11, 2011.

The quake prompted killer tsunami along the northern Paci� c coastline.

The twin disasters killed 15,884 people and left 2,633 people still unac-counted for.

Huge waves swamped cooling sys-tems of the Fukushima plant, which went through reactor meltdowns and explosions that spewed radioactive materials to the vast farm region.

No one died as a direct result of the atomic accident, but at least 1,656 people died as a result of complications related to stress and other conditions while their lives in evacuation become extended.

Supporters of nuclear power, in-cluding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, say Japan needs atomic energy to ensure the economic health of the world third largest economy. l

Sri lanka arrests Tamil woman who pressed case for disappeared rebel sonn Reuters, Colombo

An ethnic Tamil woman who has be-come a prominent face in the e� ort to � nd out what happened to the tens of thousands who disappeared in the � nal stages of Sri Lanka’s 26-year war has been arrested, the main Tamil par-ty TNA said on Friday.

Sri Lankan police said Balendran Jayakumari, a 50-year-old widow and mother of four, was arrested in Sri Lanka’s former northern war zone of Kilinochchi on the charge of harboring a criminal who shot at a police o� cer to evade arrest.

The Tamil National Alliance, which was the political proxy of the now-de-feated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said she was being punished for repeatedly protesting over the fate of her son, an under-age rebel who disappeared after the Tigers surrendered to the gov-

ernment at the end of the war in May 2009. “I think they have been targeted and charging her will send a message to the other relatives of disappeared peo-ple. Those people may not come out to tell what happened to their beloved ones in the future,” TNA lawmaker Eswarapa-tham Saravanabavan told Reuters.

International pressure is growing on Sri Lanka’s government to address alle-gations that tens of thousands of civil-ians were killed by the army in the � nal weeks of the war and some thousands are still missing or unaccounted for.

The TNA said in a statement several hundred security personnel surrounded Jayakumari’s house on Thursday, con-� scated her mobile telephones and in-terrogated her for more than four hours before taking her and her daughter away.

Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said Jayakumari was arrested “on the o� ence of harboring an escaped criminal.” l

Thailand sentences suspected Uighur asylum seekersn AFP, Bangkok

Thailand on Saturday sentenced doz-ens of asylum seekers thought to be from China’s Uighur minority for illegal entry, an o� cial said, despite a US ap-peal for their protection.

About 120 adults among the group were � ned 4,000 baht ($124) each by a court in southern Thailand, according to police, who said they were waiting to identify the families before deciding their fate.

The men will be detained by immi-gration and the women and children will be taken to a shelter, Police Major General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot said by telephone.

The group of roughly 200 people was discovered in a raid on a suspected people smuggling camp on Wednesday in the kingdom’s deep south.

They presented themselves to po-lice as Turkish, but US-based activists have identi� ed them as Uighurs, a Tur-kic-speaking, predominantly Muslim group from China’s northwestern Xin-jiang region.

Thailand, which says their nation-ality is still uncon� rmed, has not said whether they might be forced to return to China, but the kingdom has a history of repatriating illegal immigrants.

The Turkish embassy and the UN refugee agency have been providing as-sistance. On Friday the US State Depart-ment urged Thailand “to provide full protection” to the asylum seekers. l

No alliance with Congress, says Telangana’s KCRn Agencies, Hyderabad

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi has said it will go alone in the ensuing elec-tions to state assembly and parliament.

Ruling out any alliance with the Con-gress party, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao said after a meeting of the election committee of the party in Hyderabad today, that the Congress had only de-livered a state but failed to do justice in terms of getting resources, water or jobs for Telangana. “Telangana needs its own political identity and regional leadership who can � ght for Telangana and its development,” KCR said.

He also pointed out that they had pro-posed merger of TRS with the Congress to secure statehood for the region and prevent suicides by hundreds of youth.

“But now, people are against our

merger and hence we are going by their wish,” he added. Newly-appointed Tel-angana Pradesh Congress committee chief Ponnala Laxmaiah said the TRS had o� ered to merge by itself and went back on their own word. “We are strong and con� dent,” he said.

An opinion poll by NDTV shows that KCR will win 11 of the 17 parliamentary seats in Telangana, to be o� cially born as India’s 29th state on June 2. The Congress is likely to get � ve seats.

KCR had recently rejected an over-ture by the Congress for a merger.

The Congress had reportedly re-jected KCR’s demand to be made chief minister of the new state during the negotiations for a merger. He was also irked by the fact that the new state will not be formally founded till after the national election. l

In this photograph taken on March 14, an Indian widow adorned with coloured powder looks on from the doorway of a bedroom following celebrations for the spring festival of Holi at the Meerasahabhagini Ashram in Vrindavan, some 135 kilometres (80 miles) south of New Delhi. Widows are considered social outcasts in Indian society and usually refrain from celebrating Holi, but in a break from tradition around 1,000 widows living in the holy city of Vrindavan celebrated the spring festival. Holi AFP

REDISCOVERING COLOURS

In 2004. every single opinion poll said we are going to get thrashed

People watch a live TV feed of Malaysian Prime Minister speaking at a press conference, at a hotel in Beijing yesterday AFP

In praise of two womenMarch 8

RonnieEnjoyable read! I won’t begrudge Mr Sobhan’s inclination to feel this way about these two enduring ladies in our national politics, because I find so much to agree with him here. I’m not so sure, though, that average Bangladeshi girls are all that optimistic about emulating these two women and clinching the top job in the country someday. But gosh, the scale and scope of male subordination that Begum Zia and the present PM enjoy must surely be a hugely tempting aspiration, in its own right, for ambitious girls in Bangladesh. I can’t help but point out that many ordinary people (supporters of both parties, included) often actually bemoan the longevity of the two women in our politics, and the stagnation in leadership that they feel has been the consequence. But no, Mr Sobhan is right; it would be churlish not to acknowledge the impact of the two ladies.

Shah Ali FarhadGood one Zafar bhai. While I am not a fan of Khaleda’s, I have no problem in giving credit where it is due. However, let me remind you that as far as empowerment of women goes, Khaleda does not even come close to Sheikh Hasina. One fights (literally) on behalf of women, whereas the other shelters elements who would rather see women going back to caves.

Ronnie Shah Ali Farhad: Empowering women isn’t merely about granting a few women cabinet appointments in government, or making empathetic, insincere

speeches of fake promises at rallies. So, let’s get real here.I hate to have to say it here, but since you needlessly came out with this phony jibe at Begum Zia, I have to remind you that the PM’s litany of obscene and abhorrent personal attacks on another woman, ie the BNP chairperson, have been an affront to the PM’s office, and diminished her own stature and image as a leader and a woman.

Shah Ali Farhad Ronnie: Perhaps to you, but I’m sure, certainly not to any objectively observing bystander. Unless you can objectively point out why I should speak with any single iota of respect for Zia, I would take your comment as a personal expression owing to your fondness for her maybe?

Ronnie Shah Ali Farhad: Oh, so you’re actually saying that the PM’s habitually atrocious personal rants against Begum Zia are perfectly okay? You have some gall, mister!

I’m obviously not the only one who feels utter contempt for the PM’s despicable personal attacks on Begum Zia. Legions of “objective” (your word) people certainly feel the same way about it. Now, I have no desire to try and make you respect Khaleda Zia. I couldn’t care less whether you do, or not. And she’s doing just � ne without your respect and ad-miration. Begum Zia has more principles, scruples, dignity and humanity than many of her detractors will ever have.

Welcome to the T20 World Cup

Its’ � nally here. Warm up matches have been completed and Bangladesh is all set to host the � fth ICC T20 World Cup.

The roads to Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium will be packed today, as Bangladesh take to the � eld in the opening match against Afghanistan.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world will be drawn to the country by television. We are con� dent that our enthusiastic cricket fans will give a good impression and the country will be a friend-ly host for the many overseas spectators travelling to see their teams.

Experience from pre-vious occasions when Bangladesh has been a co-host for World Cup matches, guarantees that the stadiums will be busy. Tickets for all but four matches in this year’s expanded 18 team tournament, sold out in record time online.

With new and hungry cricket nations joining the jamboree, which has seen four di� erent winners on four previous occa-sions, there is every potential for great competition.

The excitement generated by the tournament will be wel-comed across the land. We earnestly hope the Tigers put on a good show and make a solid start to see themselves through to the Super-10 round featuring the top eight Test nations.

A strong tournament will of course also do no harm for Bangladesh’s case to host IPL matches and franchises. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There is a World Cup to be played.

We wish all the teams and spectators the best of luck. And hope the Tigers make Bangladesh proud.

Sonadia proposals herald hope for deep-sea port The economic future of Bangladesh would be greatly

boosted by development of a new deep sea port.As the economy continues to develop, Chittagong

which handles nearly all the country’s sea-borne trade, faces severe bottlenecks. With container tra� c rising by more than 11% a year, it is important for the government to make progress on plans to increase the country’s capacity by building a deep sea port at Sonadia island, north of Cox’s Bazar.

With two of the world’s largest marine terminal operators, the UAE owned DP World and the Rotterdam Port Authority, which runs Europe’s busiest port, among the � rms making presentations to the government’s high-level committee this week, there are signs of re-newed progress on this key project.

By its nature, a port at Sonadia will require long term multi-billion dollar commitments to be made. The business case for it is strong, as such a port will not only ease congestion at Chit-tagong, but will be a key sea access point for all neighbouring countries in the region.

Its location near an existing large port, with the potential for close land links with India, gives it an advantage over other deep sea port proposals which are currently being developed around South Asia, particularly in Myanmar.

The government must act pro-actively to support invest-ment in this project, by developing more detailed plans and looking at the way it can help the deep-sea ports logistics, by building more e� cient road and rail links.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

Joy: World standard Hi-Tech park in Gazipur soonMarch 12

Abu Ahmed Majumder Majumder If this is true, and it does come to pass, then it is very good news indeed!

Ahnaf Saber I beg to di� er. It’s another “overpromise” only to be “under-delivered.”

AR Rahman ‘lights up’ DhakaMarch 13The whole city is now lit up like a red-light district!

Parveen

Diana ‘gave royal phone book to NoW’March 13She was a fairy tale princess indeed!

Javed Arun Zaman

The business case is strong. Its location give’s it an advantage over other proposals around South Asia

The country will be a friendly host. We hope the Tigers make Bangladesh proud

ICCT20 World Cup 2014: Bangladeshi performers deemed secondaryMarch 13

My friend said: “What if a guy from China sees this? He will think this is an Indian concert.” My thoughts exactly! But isn’t it a world cup opening ceremony? Why have all Bangladeshi media shown only Akon and AR Rahman? Is this a promotional program for them? Or does it simply mean Bangladeshis do not think there are enough artists here? Was it necessary to telecast and prioritise Indian artists and performers instead of Bangladeshi ones? So, the Bangladeshi organisers have � nally reached consensus that there are no suitable artists in Bangladesh to promote Bangladesh, and instead they found it easier to entertain people with borrowed cultures!

What kind of a low mentality is this and for how long will we follow it? And why would any Bangali buy a ticket to these concerts? There are 16 countries vying for the glory of winning the cup. It could have been a glorious ceremony if the organisers had invited all representative artists and performers from all respective nations. This event has brought shame to this country, and even to the glory of an international event. In-stead of remembering this event, we will try to forget how it was organised and managed.

Ayan RahmanUniversity of Rajshahi

Be HeardWrite to us at: Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C PanthapathSukrabad, Dhaka-1207

Email us at: letters@dhakatribune.comSend us your Op-Ed articles:opinion@dhakatribune.com

Visit our website: www.dhakatribune.comCome join our Facebook community:

https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

Crossword

Sudoku

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS1 Additional payment (5)4 Wager (3)6 Worshipped image (4)8 Tra� c light (5)9 Inter (4)11 Love god (4)12 Lustre (5)15 Burnt remains (5)18 Network (4)20 Veinlike deposit (4)21 Time in grammar (5)22 Therefore (4)23 Extinct bird (3)24 Scottish dances (5)

DOWN1 Alloy (5)2 Illustrious (5)3 Sea nymph (5)4 Make indistinct (4)5 Playthings (4)7 Follows orders (5)10 Acting part (4)13 Brave man (4)14 Duck with soft down (5)15 Thespian (5)16 Door � tting (5)17 Oozes (5)18 Gloomily sullen (4)19 Notion (4)

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

SUDOKU

n William B Milam

Last December, a month before the January 5 election in Bang-ladesh, in this space, I wrote

that history does not always repeat itself. It was an e� ort to dissuade all those who believed that some-how, somebody or something – the army, the international community, the West, a leader on a white horse – would appear and stop the clearly de-fective election that was in the o� ng. 

Of course, the political opposition believed that extreme violence and chaos would force the Awami League from its catbird seat to the negotiating table to work out a more equitable election structure. Those hopes hinged on the history of the past 25 years re-peating itself – a period when election crises were the rule, not the exception, and some combination of violence and intervention always served to put things right. But that history failed them this time.

Instead, it suddenly seems that Bangladesh may be on the verge of repeating an older version of its histo-ry, the attempt to create a one-party

authoritarian state 40 years ago. With India at its back, and only a token (captive) opposition, the AL pushed through to what automatically became a one-party government.

With no real opposition in the Na-tional Assembly, Bangladesh is again, in e� ect, if not constitutionally, a one-party state. The 1975 e� ort ended very badly; is it likely to succeed this time around?

In the December article, I opined that there were two possible scenar-ios in the aftermath of the one-party election. One was to foment su� cient violence to force the AL to step down and call another election, vis 1996. But if the opposition couldn’t mus-ter the muscle before the election, it seemed unlikely that it would be able to bring down the government after the election.

Clearly, violence has no place in democratic politics; yet this seemed to many the best-case scenario (of a bad lot of scenarios). The alternative was worse – an AL one-party government that would move inevitably, as author-itarian parties do, towards a formal one-party authoritarian state.

Perhaps, the only good decision that the opposition alliance, led by the BNP, made was to eschew an all-out campaign of post-election violence to try to force another election.

Many innocent people would have lost their lives and the economy would have been pulled down immiserising many more. There were those who hoped that such violence would force the army’s hand and lead it to take over and install another technocratic civilian reform government. But this army seems to have washed its hands o� politics. And that is not a bad thing, even considering the political direc-tion of the country.

Those who lament the outcome of the election because of its political im-plications for the future of democracy in Bangladesh are accused of assuming that the BNP was the “wronged party.” At least for me, that is a complete fabrication. In my view, the wronged party was the people of Bangladesh, who may either su� er under a growing authoritarian government, or spend much life and treasure trying to overthrow it. They will be adversely a� ected by a deteriorating economy

that will result from the political uncertainty that will characterise the next few years.

The BNP is equally responsible for the “farcical election” (as it contin-ues to refer to it) because of its many errors of strategy and judgment. Had it contested and won even 50 seats in a rigged election (a low estimate, my friends tell me, given its popularity in the polls), there would be a brake on the AL ambitions, even if the AL had a two-thirds majority.

Many still wish for a “third force,” but I can’t see the AL providing po-litical space. The BNP it is, and after success in the recent upazila (local) elections, this moment for reform must not be lost. The election and its role as the opposition could have presented the BNP with the oppor-tunity to re� ne its image, construct a coherent centre-right voice – to contrast with the centre-left AL – and to use that voice in the national assem-bly and in the public to constrain the increasing authoritarian actions of this government.

This would be a juicy agenda – the rapid rise of extrajudicial killings, the

increasing attacks on minorities, and the growing attempts to intimidate opposition leaders and media voices, who speak out against such govern-ment acts.

It would be important for a reformed opposition to re-establish that the true intellectual and moral foundations of the state are political rights, freedom, and economic equality, and insist that a one-party government leads away from these foundations. l

William B Milam is a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, DC, and former US Ambassador to Pakistan and Bangladesh. This article was � rst published in The Express Tribune.

n Khawaza Main Uddin

He could have been rather proud of his ability to make or break a regime. He should have at least

relished his survival many years after his fall from the “heaven” of power. But now, in his 80s, Ershad’s hands are tied with an invisible rope which is tethered to Nazimuddin Road. He is fully aware of the consequence of the “betrayal” with his masters.

In 2014, Ershad regretted frequent shifts in his political stance, saying he was not a free man. So what he said, or rather admitted, did not necessarily re� ect his views. Now could he recall that he had compelled someone at gunpoint in 1982 to say what he was not willing to say?

In a recorded address to the nation on March 24, 1982, the then president Justice Abdus Sattar said it had been essential to proclaim martial law in the country. Cabinet Secretary Keramat Ali was directed to ask the president at Bangabhaban to read out the speech authored by Ershad’s collaborators to justify his usurpation.

During his rule in the 1980s, he used to claim that his hands were not drenched in blood. Assuming he was right, history has done justice to him by not seeing him as a victim of the bloodshed during or soon after his downfall. His name is also associat-ed with allegations of some political killings.

Interestingly, the � rst court verdict against him after 1990 was related to the possession of � rearms. He used � rearms on a di� erent occasion nine years ago – to force president Sattar to relinquish his o� ce. In a turnaround of political events, today Ershad has by his side JSD leader Hasanul Haque Inu as an ally who sued him in 1991 for hijacking state power.

Ershad resorted to political adven-turism by deciding to boycott the 10th parliamentary elections held on Janu-ary 5. One of the vocal student leaders of the 1980s who led the anti-autocra-cy movement told me that they might have forgiven Ershad had he stuck to this “moral” position at this stage of his life. He befooled everyone, includ-ing himself.

He could have smiled a bit seeing the quality of governance in the after-math of his rule. He might argue that the “prime ministerial” form of gov-ernment, reintroduced after his exit, was no better than the presidential system which was blamed for encour-aging autocracy. He may also think that he is not the only ruler who faced allegations of killing and displayed “shamelessness” to stay in power.

Ershad’s Jatiya Party (JP) contrib-uted to the formation of the govern-

ment and electoral victory of the AL in 1996 and 2008 respectively. He had the credit of postponing for two years the elections scheduled for January 2007 when his nomination paper was cancelled.

The man who assassinated the char-acters of many politicians managed to make the entire process of the one-sid-ed elections on January 5 more contro-versial by announcing his withdrawal from the race. Ultimately he had to pay some price and land in a virtual jail at CMH before the polls. And again, from captivity, he has been made a part of the AL-led grand alliance government of democratic de� ciency.

He has lost control over the JP par-liamentary party. For quite a number of years, the JP looked divided into two streams – pro-AL leaders and pro-BNP leaders. The irony of fate is that others are now doing to him what he did to others during the formation of the party.

However, the biggest casualty of the January 5 elections, to date, is the JP. The party, which once had command over up to 10% of all votes, has been razed to the ground in the ongoing upazila polls. It won only two upazila chairman posts so far out of 210. Who would say that it was during Ershad’s reign when the upazila or sub-district system was introduced?

Still, Ershad has no regret in public. The Sheikh Hasina-led government addressed his major worry. Delivery of the judgment on the General Manzur murder case against him has recently been deferred once again. What else could he expect from the govern-ment which has given him freedom in exchange for alignment with it? He should appreciate it even if there is political blackmailing, just for the sake of impunity.

Nobel Laureate poet Pablo Neruda died 12 days after General Augusto Pi-nochet had overthrown Chile’s elected president Salvador Allende in 1973. His aides called it a murder. His body was exhumed last year. O� cials claimed that he was not poisoned. But hardly anyone seemed to be convinced about it, for Neruda, critical of the coup, was planning to go into exile before his sudden death.

Is Ershad smarter than Pinochet?A bicyclist ruler in his early days,

Ershad emerged as a poet and lyricist and started patronising other poets. He was not found writing any longer once he had more leisure time outside the realm of power. Poems bid him goodbye, according to him, for his fear of going to jail. Critics have never believed this poet. l

Khawaza Main Uddin is Executive Editor at ICE Business Times.

11Op-Ed Sunday, March 16, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Matthew Islam

Brattish puritanism ensues and so commences the whining. My God! What is happening to this nation? Why are we so insecure and

childish? Why does every big entertain-ment event hosted here have to enrage nationalists, VIPs, or be an occasion of war to protect our heritage? Is our thousand-year-old culture really going to go extinct? Is chomchom going to be less sweet tomorrow?

Do we not celebrate March 26 or Po-hela Boishakh the way we always do? Are all our own TV and radio channels broadcasting in Hindi? Why can’t a show be just that, a show? Why does it need politicisation? It wouldn’t be far-fetched to label us the leading drama queens of South Asia.

Please have some dignity or display restraint in your paranoia, so that some of us, with our diminishing stocks of self worth, may continue to retain it more easily. The stench of hypocrisy in the current � ow of bor-derline racist and bigoted outrage is all pervasive. We must make a concerted e� ort to be a part of this century, lest we be abandoned completely, at which point we truly will see a hijacking of our culture.

Following pre-show “India is taking over Bangladesh’s culture” rants on Twitter and Facebook to the post-show conspiracy theories as to why it’s unfair to have Hindi songs play in our opening ceremony, to our baseless lamenting of public funds being used in the show prominently featuring Indian artists; our image to those who believe in a cooperative global village abroad is getting smaller with each instance of such demented close mindedness. 

For one, this is an opening ceremo-ny/celebration concert for a sport that is multicultural and global; we don’t own cricket, and no one else does. To

stage a global sporting event in its full glory, it requires that we summon our resources and contacts globally and present a show that’s “entertaining” and of a “world standard.”

Everything – the lights, the budget, the artists – must represent a global standard and display our abilities to host events like this in the future. There must be an element of novelty and brevity. An attempt must be made on such instances to display a vision that’s global, that we too can compete with the world. Whether we succeed or not is a di� erent question meriting perhaps a debate, but we must intend to put our best foot forward.

FIFA World Cup musical ceremonies, like that of the Olympic ones, no mat-ter in which country they are hosted, often prominently feature headlining artists of varying nationalities. Think Shakira, a Colombian, at the football World Cup in Africa.

Hosting a celebration for a global sport often requires that you present your nation’s strengths “in organising” such events and in this instance our headliner was AR Rahman, an Oscar winner and multiple Grammy winner who has in the past performed in numerous distinguished global events such as the Oscars and the Nobel Peace Prize concerts, amongst many such other illustrious examples.

It strikes me as odd and selectively political in its tone that the uproar in one section of our society centres on AR Rahman performing, yet little noise

was made on account of Mr Akon. Is there more to this selective protest by nationalist advocating of local artistic protectionism? Would the guardians of our culture please stand up?

Can the non-religious elitists amongst you please explain to me how perhaps having Shakira or Justin Timberlake would make you less an-gry? Why was Bryan Adams’ opening turn at the cricket World Cup more palatable?

One must be realistic and pragmatic about our artistic image in the world. I � nd it hard, with due respect to our own crop of legendary performing artists in the show, to claim that they

could, by merit, stand shoulder to shoulder with other artists worldwide perhaps with the exception of Arnob and friends.

Who really are the only artists that we can be proud of on a global stage? If the others could, and had it in them, we’d have seen it by now, and have witnessed universal appreciation for them, both critically and commercially the world over, like that of an AR Rah-man and Akon, who they claim, they are better than.

Then after all that, to argue that we are deprived of opportunities world-wide, so on our soil we must make exceptions for them, is really taking the cake and burning it. That would be a true waste of our phantom public funds. 

To the proponents of the anti-Hindi language movement in Bangladesh,

you are overlooking that we are a pretender progressive nation, and must on the face of it, in events such as this, regardless of personal biases, pretend to uphold the tenets of what that means. To be less bigoted. To be more accepting of diverse cultures. To be more humble and kind to guests. To believe that we have still lots to learn as a nation from others in the world. These are all qualities we must begin schooling on if we are to grow in the world stage. 

To end, seriously ask yourself, where’s the novelty in seeing Miles or LRB perform for the umpteenth time the same songs they have performed for two decades? Why should we be protecting their interests? What would be their universal draw in such a cere-mony? A cover of Santana?

The only fair thing would be to leave these matters to the free market capitalistic community that we truly are, and I see nothing wrong in that. There must be a freedom to plan these kinds of mega events in our country, and for us to not shiver and acquiesce every single time to the unreasonable demands of being represented, be-cause that is what a progressive nation does.

We must � ght and compete for our representation worldwide. We must reject free handouts. We must enhance our art to international standards and � ght for recognition. We must make a global impact with our art. We must collaborate with open hearts with other artists, and not condemn their art because of misplaced pride and ego. That is how our brethren across the borders progressed to the front stage of world entertainment, and we’d be wise to take a leaf out of their book. l

Matthew Islam is a Barrister-at-Law, a textile businessman, and a columnist at the Dhaka Tribune. He can be contacted on Twitter via @matthewislam.

T H E O T H E R S I D E

Not a cultural hijack

Can the non-religious elitists amongst you please explain to me how perhaps having Shakira or Justin Timberlake would make you less angry?

Many still wish for a ‘third force,’ but I can’t see the AL providing political space

The irony of fate is that others are now doing to him what he did to others during the formation of the party

The party, which once had command over up to 10% of all votes, has been razed to the ground in the ongoing upazila polls

Poetic justice

Is the worst yet to come?

Did AR Rahman’s performance expose some double standards? MUMIT M

n Entertainment Desk

Bombay Velvet, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma, seems to be making

more news for the lead pair’s real-life re-lationships than their onscreen chem-istry. So while Katrina Kaif has � own to Sri Lanka to catch up with beau Ranbir at every given opportunity, it’s now Vi-

rat Kohli’s turn to spend some quality time with rumoured girlfriend, Anushka Sharma.

After returning from Bangladesh, the cricket-er apparently � ew down to Sri Lanka last week

in order to meet Anushka. Virat joined Anushka in Sri Lanka where the latter has been shooting for her � lm over the past few weeks. “He came in for a few days and they would hang out together during her free time. They were also put up in the same hotel, but they were a lot more discreet this time around. They made sure that they weren’t get clicked together, so not many crew members knew about this,” said a source.The cricketer apparently had some time on hand before the start of the next series, and he wanted to make the most of it. He returned to Mumbai from Sri Lanka on Thursday morning in time to join the Indian team for the ICC World T20 Championship. l

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 201412

Emon-Prosun-Sumonin Ochena Hridoyn Afrose Jahan Chaity

Sha� qul Islam Khan is well on his way to hit the cinemas with his debut � lm Ochena Hridoy. The � lm will release in � fty cinemas at the same time.

Filming of the movie is already completed as it is now in post-produc-tion after which it will be submitted to the censor board for approval. Ochena Hridoy is co-produced by Film Life Factory and New View Pictures.

The 134-minute � lm features the � rst runner-up of Lux Channel i Su-perstar 2012 Prosun Azad who will be sharing the lead role with Emon and newcomer ABM Sumon. The plot focuses on love involving three people and the promising movie falls into the mixed category of ro-mantic action thriller.

The story is bound to hold the in-terest of the audience with its strik-ing cast and unique script. Plot of the story revolves around a univer-sity student named Rupa falling in love with her senior. There is a sec-ond man in the picture who is also in love with Rupa. But unaware of her other admirer, Rupa gets involved in a relationship with the man she loves. But then the sad reality sets in as she loses her love and also begins to lose her memories as the afteref-fects of that trauma.

Speaking of the � lm, Prosun said: “This is the � rst time I am working with Sha� qul Islam Khan. He is a

good director and has a knack for coming up with unique scripts. I hope I will be able to meet expec-tations of the audience and will strive to deliver my best in my debut � lm. After all, � rst impres-sions are a big deal in all � elds and that is why I chose this � lm as my debut on the silver screen.”

Another attractive aspect of the � lm is its music. With direction from Emon Saha, the � lm features six songs while music of the � lm was composed by Belal Khan and Pinto Ghosh. Singers including Konal, Naomi, Sukonna Tithi and Shamim Hasan lent voice as playback singers on the lyrics of Wahid Babu and Pinto Ghosh.

“Right now, I am work-ing on the post-production phase of the � lm. The mov-ie is packed with social messages for our soci-ety. It is a representation of the ideas, emotions and social values of the young generation. I even went ahead with a sur-vey to determine the name of the � lm. The initial decision was to name it Nisshobdo Artonad, but, after the survey, we changed it to Ochena Hridoy,” said Sha� qul Is-lam Khan. l

n Entertainment Desk

The Bengal Art Lounge presents a group exhibition titled MA (mother) by renowned artists which will continue till March 30.The exhibition is comprised of more than 30 works including paintings, drawing, sculpture and ceramic works. Exploring the various interpretation of motherhood, the display features � gurative images and is inclined towards projecting a more realistic image of a woman. It is diverse and will give an insightful view to the art lovers of the country.

The modernist movement, introduced a new interpretation of motherhood and a more realis-tic image began to appear of a woman with pain, � aws and tried weaknesses. The di� erences and changes in the images of a mother are triggered by the development of public opinion of femin-ity and the role of women as well as the process

of creation. The exhibition strives to deliver these dimensions with artworks such as Monirul Islam’s art which is enclosed with symbols of growth and creation, Ra� qun Nabi’s Mother and Child in an urban setting with a morose feel, Kalidas Karma-kar’s abstract artworks with elements pointing at the mystery of creations and many others.

Bringing together artists of varying generations and practices, the exhibition aims to analyze the experience of motherhood from di� erent angles. Other artists in the show include Rokeya Sulta-na, Bishwajit Goswami, Yasmin Jahan Nupur, ce-ramist Ashim Halder Sagor, Jon Den Hartigh and creative director and artist Khaled Mahmud. l

MA portrays di� erent aspects of motherhood

Deshghorer Gaan celebrates traditional folklores and performancesn Entertainment Desk

On the occasion of birth anniversary of Waheedul Haq – the founder of Chhayanaut – one of the leading cultural organisation, hosted a two-day programme titled Deshghorer Gaan at the Bokul-tola of Charukola – Faculty of Fine Arts, Dhaka University – inaugurated by Toronikanta Roy on March 14. Md Asad Ali Mondol and his troupe (Joypurhaat), performed Kissapala: Kolaboti Konya, and followed by Kirtan: Nouka Bilash by Manindranath Bishwas and his troupe (Khulna). Last day, at the same venue, featured folk songs by Belal Hossain (Noakhali), Zaynab Tabassum Banu (Bogra), Shahiduzzaman Mamun (Barisal) and Pareshchandra Mondol (Potuakhali), and Palagaan: Mohua Shundori by Udichi Shilpi Goshthi (Mymensingh). l

Aranyak’s heartwarming Swapnopothik staged at Shilpakala n Entertainment Desk

The tragedy of Rana Plaza which claimed the lives of over one thou-sand workers is still fresh in the memory of the people of the coun-try. To pay tribute to the lives lost, theatre troupe Aranyak produced a heartwarming production titled Swapnopothik. On March 14, the play was showcased at the Jatiyo Nattyashala of Bangladesh Shilpa-kala Academy at 7pm.

The touching play showcases how the tragedy snatched nor-malcy from the lives of a stagger-ing number of people. Key factors that led to the tragedy was shown through performances, set in the backdrop of the innovative set de-

sign and a touching script. The misdemeanors of facto-

ry owners who built illegal death traps, politicians bribed to look the other way and large retailers hiding behind policies that deem them untouchable are portrayed in the production. The tragic tale of the victims, their rescue and the role of police and media was also shown in an adept manner.

The play is written by Harun Rashid and directed by thespian Mamunur Rashid. The cast of the production is comprised of popular theatre actors Mamunur Rashid, Momena Chowdhury, Tamalika Karmaker, Arif Ahmed Apel, Abu Hasib Masuduzzaman, Chitra Cho-bi, Shaju, Kamrul, Monir Zaman. l

SUBRIN AL AZAD

LRB quits Bamba n Entertainment Desk

Popular Bangladeshi band LRB (Love Runs Blind) has decided to withdraw its membership from the Bangla-desh Musical Band Association, Bamba permanently.

LRB has sent a letter signed by Ayub Bachchu, lead vocal of the band, to the member in charge of Bamba on Friday. LRB shared the letter on its Facebook page also.

When contacted to the lead guitarist Ayub Bachchu of the LRB, he con� rmed to the Dhaka Tribune about the move. He said: “The reason behind leaving Bamba for lifetime is our band’s personal issue. Ac-tually, we are busy with our band’s own activities, and not able to give time in Bamba anymore. So, we thought of leaving it.”

On the other hand, the social network buzzed with criticism of the concert ahead of Twenty20 World Cup on Thursday. Several people alleged that local band Miles was prevented from their scheduled perfor-mance at the programme. A number of Facebook pro� les also slammed LRB for play-ing 40 minutes instead of 20 minutes in the concert. lSHAWON

No wall around Louis I Kahn’s magnum opus, demandedn Hasan Mansoor Chatak

On March 14, conscious citizens of Dhaka took to the streets of Manik Mia Avenue to express their dis-sent on the government’s decision to put up fencing around the Sangsad Bhavan. Numerous cultural and professional organisations and individual from all walks of life have demonstrated a peaceful protest against the move. Watching the protesting artistes peacefully prove a point through their niche was a treat and a lesson for the passersby audience.

The organisers strongly believes that constructing the 8.5 foot high fencing will destroy the aesthet-ic value of the Sangsad Bhavan designed by famed American architect Louis I Kahn and will also create a psychological hurdle between the people and the par-liament. An assembly of live arts performance, song, pieces of artwork, recital, street painting, drama and mime act were presented by various art groups and individuals including Prachyanat, Tirondaz, Botto-la, Aranyak, Theatre Art Unit, Nattyadhara, Podatik, Shonglap, Jahangirnagar Theatre, Shamageet, Chit-kar, Ka� l Ahmed, Neela, Shadhona, Short Films Soci-ety, Pathsala and Institute of Architects Bangladesh.

Live arts performances by individual art per-formers were more interesting and eye catching and blended well with the theme of the protest. A per-former demonstrated his body being entrapped with iron fencing while another performer installed a case of birds to his body.

Renowned artist Hashem Khan said: “Erecting a fence around the parliament building is morally ille-

gal. No example of fencing will be found across the world in a democratic system unless the country’s system is despotic.”

Mubasshar Hussain, the president of the Institute of Architect Bangladesh said: “The parliament build-ing stands as a democratic icon to the nation. The lawns in the east and west and the south plaza must remain open to people as per the master plan of the parliament complex, but the government violated

the committee’s plan led by the deputy speaker.”Public Works Department is implementing the

project in which 8.5-foot high iron fencing would be set up on three sides of the complex - South Plaza and the lawns in the east and the west - replacing an ex-isting four-foot high barrier.  World famous architect Louis I Kahn designed the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on 200 acres of land in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and it was inaugurated in 1982. l

SUBRIN AL AZADVirat Kohli in Sri Lanka for his ladylove

13DHAKA TRIBUNESunday, March 16, 2014

Sport 1414 Starc spell sets up Australian win

West Brom sacks Anelka

15 Bangladesh face Hong Kong today

Did you know?Edin Dzeko’s goal

ended his run of 10 hours and two min-

utes without scoring a competitive goal

for Manchester City

India don’t look at stats: Kohli

India begin their ICC World Twenty20 campaign with one of the most hyped-up � xtures in the cricketing world. India have never lost to Pakistan in a World Cup, but that hardly puts any pressure on the team as their last one-day international captain Virat Kohli expressed that they don’t look at the past statistics rather they go out to play their best.

“The excitement is created by the crowd. For us, we don’t look at past stats and we just go out in every game trying to perform our best and win, no matter which team is against us,” said Kohli at India’s open media session yesterday.

Kohli’s batting is a big asset for India and the right-handers said he wants to carry his recent Asia Cup success in the World T20 while the presence of other seniors in the team will also be crucial.

“In a T20 game you have to bat as a unit, you might be the most important player even by playing the last three balls of the innings. It’s not only me, ev-eryone can play a part. Of course I want to contribute to the team but the others - Ajinkya, Rohit, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Raina - everyone would want to contribute to the team. I did well in the Asia Cup, will try to maintain those factors and do well here too,” he said. “It was a very young team and we fought well in the Asia Cup. We brought that con� dence

here and we will try to carry in this T20 World Cup,” added Kohli who led India in the Asia Cup in absence of Dhoni.

Meanwhile, Ravinchandran Ash-win was asked during the session that whether it will be di� cult to adopt as India as a unit has played very few T20 internationals in the past two years.

“As such, there is enough T20 cricket being played. As Dhoni has mentioned, we have played a lot of IPL cricket, ev-erybody has gone through it. In that re-gard, we are not falling short. Yes, it’s a di� erent format, the World T20, it’s not the IPL. I understand that. Still, the ex-perience of T20 cricket is obviously the same all over the world,” said Ashwin.

Ashwin is considered a player of an aggressive mindset and though it has

sometimes brought the worst instead of best, he said, “De� nitely, adaptation is the key to playing at the internation-al level. If you ask anyone, they will tell you that.

“Yes, there are going to be scars that you carry from the previous game, but predominantly, the scars that the Indian team carries are from what they read. We eventually don’t read nowadays.

“When we go into a game, I try and replicate as many times as possible to take an aggressive mindset into a game. When I am not able to do it, I still will tell my mind to get around to doing it. I try to be aggressive 99% of the time and it eventually works out that way 80% of the time, which is not a bad thing at all,” said the 27-year-old o� spinner. l

Not here for India game only: Hafeez

No one could have asked for a better start to the main stage of the ICC World Twen-ty20 as the archrivals India and Pakistan are set to clash in the opener on March 21 at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, and as expected Pakistan cap-tain Mohammad Hafeez faced a bulk of questions involving the match when he turned up for the pre-tournament media conference yesterday.

“I have always maintained that an India-Pakistan game is full of pressure,” said Hafeez, who seemed well aware it was only the � rst of several questions on the match. “You enjoy playing it. We as a team are very happy and as a captain, I am delighted that the � rst match itself is

such that if we do well in that game, then the ones to follow will look easier as far as pressure is concerned.”

Pakistan had beaten an Indian side that didn’t have the experienced MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina in it in the recent Asia Cup at the same venue. How-ever, the return of the trio and most im-portantly with Dhoni back at helm hardly adds any pressure revealed Hafeez.

“MS Dhoni’s leadership, there is no doubt that he has led the Indian team very well in the last six years. But we are not going into the match thinking we won in the Asia Cup because he wasn’t there or that it will be di� cult now be-cause Dhoni is in the Indian team. We will try to perform well against any team that is put out against us,” said the

33-year-old all-rounder. In the Group of Death, Group 2, the former T20 champi-ons will also face Australia and defending champions West Indies and Hafeez said that they have plans again all the teams and not only India.

“No team is easy in this format and especially in a tournament of this nature. Our group has all the favourites of the tournament, all the teams that are fan-cied to win the title are in our group.

“We are here to go all the way, we are not here just for the one game. The me-dia and people will focus more on the India game because it is about more pres-sure and it is something people want to watch. But we are not targeting only one team. We have our plans against Austra-lia and West Indies as well,” he said.

Shahid Afridi is a name that comes automatically when Pakistan cricket is concerned and the type of player he is added with the rediscovered batting form, he will be a key member if Paki-stan clinches glory. Hafeez said, “Afridi is � t, his rehab is going on. We have giv-en him some extra time so that he joins the team after he is fully � t. He is joining us on March 17 and I hope he will recov-er very well.”

Meanwhile, Umar Akmal, who has taken up the glove work from his brother Kamran Akmal, will also be instrumental in any success they get.

“The batting order depends on the match situation. My team management decides when to send me and I try to give my best whenever I am sent in,” he said. l

Pressure on Bangladesh, says Nabi

It was not long ago that for Afghanistan playing in an international event was just an achievement, but their recent performance certainly takes them a force to recognise. The associate mem-ber is all set to upset the home side as skipper Mohammad Nabi informed that they are a better Twenty20 unit.

Though Afghanistan carry the edge over Bangladesh in their Asia Cup win, the 29-year-old skipper added that it’s a di� erent format of the game, “Asia Cup is totally a di� erent game - 50 overs game - this is Twenty20 game. Both are

di� erent format game. Afghanistan, you know, is better in Twenty20. We’ll try our best to perform very well and � ght for the next round,” said Nabi at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yes-terday.

The Afghan captain added that they will be more relaxed as the pressure will be on the home side for their sup-porters’ expectation, “We will play a relax game here, but I don’t know how it will advance. But pressure will to-tally be on Bangladesh at their home ground from supporters. They have already lost to Afghanistan, so totally pressure on Bangladesh.”  

The home side is bolstered by the return of Tamim Iqbal, Shakib al Hasan and Mashrafe bin Mortaza, but Nabi said, “We are not playing the names. We’re playing the game. That’s why, we just play the game. We don’t know who is in the other side Shakib (Al Hasan), Tamim (Iqbal) and Mortaza. We just play the game out of inspiration.”

Nabi added that, “We have four-� ve-six all-rounder in the team. That’s why we are good side in T20. Also plus point is � elding. We’ve good � elders.”

The Afghans lost their last warm-up game against Zimbabwe and despite the defeat Nabi thought they played

well. “Last game we played really well. Not a bad game. But (Hamilton) Masakadza played very well for the side. We lost the game. We pushed the game in the last over. That’s Good � ght against Zimbabwe,” he said.

Bangladesh faced Afghanistan in this format only twice – once in Trini-dad and Tobago and the other time in the Asian Games T20, which was played by a second string Bangladesh side. However, Nabi expressed, “They beat us one time in T20 in Asian Games. Both of them were a close game. That was not won easily. This time it will be tougher (for winning).” l

Shana clinches Gold in Archery GP

Mohammad Ruman Shana came from behind to clinch gold medal in the men’s Recurve event of the 1st Asian Archery Grand Prix in Bangkok as Ban-gladesh enjoyed their most successful international archery outing in recent years yesterday.

This is the biggest success for Ban-gladesh in four years since Imdadul Haque Milon won gold in the same event of youth Asian quali� ers.

Shana beat men’s Olympic silver medallist Takahara Furukawa of Japan in the quarters and showed persever-ance with a semi-� nal single-arrow shoot-o� win. Shana matched up in the � nal against Russian Recurve archer Bair Tsybekdorzhiev.

Three of Shana’s sets totalled just 26 points, while his Russian opponent started with a 29 which put the Bangla-deshi athlete 3-1 down at the halfway.

But while Tsybekdorzhiev struggled to keep his arrows inside the red zone with strong wind blowing, Shana’s groups were tighter. Two set wins in a row reversed the advantage, and he sealed a well-deserved gold medal in a last-set draw, 6-4.

All three members of Bangladesh’s Recurve men’s team � nished in the top 16 at this Asian Grand Prix, and the team � nished on an impressive � fth place after losing a quarter� nal shoot-o� to Russia. l

Nothing but a win will satisfy Mush� q

Bangladesh captain Mush� qur Rahim is con� dent of putting on a good show in their crucial World Twenty20 opener against Afghanistan

today and said experience will make the di� erence in the result.

“I think in the T20 format every team has the � fty-� fty chance and it really matters who plays well on the given day and I think we have played more T20 matches than Afghanistan and we have more experience than our opponent. Even we are ahead of them in terms of skills and we are con� dent to play better than Afghanistan, rest is up to the almighty,” said Mush� q after their practice session at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.Only one team will qualify from the group and though Bangladesh face a tough challenge today, Mush� q said they want to win every match and progress further. The 25-year-old said they are not only thinking about Af-ghanistan as they also look to beat Ne-pal and Honk Kong.

“No I am not thinking that way and we will be playing for win in every match and as our � rst match is against Afghanistan we want to start with a win. As you know Nepal and Hong Kong also played very well in their warm up

matches and I think they are also good sides. My aim is to become the group champion so we de� nitely want to win tomorrow (today),” he said.

The expectation will be sky high and it can add some extra pressure on the home side, but Mush� q remained con� dent in ful� lling the expectations instead of taking extra pressure.

“I don’t think there is any extra pres-sure on us there’s always some pressure in the international match and I think the way we played last two years we could not ful� ll that recently and these pressures will be there. We are looking forward to ful� ll those expectations and I think as we are playing on the home soil we will also have the crowd support and hoping to do well,” he added.

The wicket-keeper informed that they worked on their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and they will try to cre-ate pressure on Afghanistan. After a se-ries of defeats, the two warm-up wins over UAE and Ireland brought back some lost con� dence and Mush� q revealed they are hungrier for a win than ever.

“We know how hard we worked the last three months. But it was not re� ected on the result. We know how one or two good games could change the whole scenario which we felt after winning the last two warm-up games. We are now more aggressive and more hunger than any other time which is what the motivational factor of the team,” said Mush� q. l

Bangladesh skipper Mush� qur Rahim sweats it out in the indoors of SBNS ahead of the crucial Afghanistan tie of the ICC T20 World Cup yesterday MUMIT M

Afghan captain Mohammad Nabi enjoys a light moment during a practice session at SBNS yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Indian stars Virat Kohli (2R), Ashwin and others arrive at the open media session at Sonargaon Hotel yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Djokovic books semi clash with IsnerSecond-seeded Novak Djokovic swept past unseeded Frenchman Julien

Benneteau on Friday to set up a semi-� nal showdown with American John Isner at the Indian Wells ATP Masters. Djokovic, a two-time champion in the California desert, needed just 68 minutes to power past Benneteau 6-1, 6-3. The world number two didn’t face a break point in the match, but had the chance to break Benneteau in all but the � rst of the Frenchman’s service games. “I have done everything I wanted,” said Djokovic. –AFP

Heat su� er � fth loss in six gamesDenver’s Kenneth Faried scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Friday

to spark the Denver Nuggets over the reigning NBA champion Miami Heat 111-107. Darrell Arthur came o� the bench to contribute 18 on 7-of-11 shooting to help the Nuggets give the Heat consecutive home losses for the � rst time since the 2010-11 season. The Heat have lost � ve of their past six games overall. “We haven’t been in a stretch like this since probably the 2010-11 season,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. “When we were in that stretch, we had to � gure it out. –AFP

Hamilton snatches Aussie poleLewis Hamilton snatched pole position from home favourite Daniel Ricciardo

in the dying seconds of a thrilling Australian Grand Prix qualifying session Saturday, as world champion Sebastian Vettel failed to make the top 10. Australia’s Ricciardo, embarking on his � rst race with Red Bull, stormed to the top of the � eld on his last run, before he was trumped by Mercedes’ Hamilton in a � ying � nal lap in treacher-ous wet conditions. Nico Rosberg, placed third, with McLaren rookie Magnussen fourth and Ferrari’s Alonso � fth in the season’s � rst qualifying session. –AFP

FIXTURES Elche v Real Betis Barcelona v Osasuna Sevilla v Valladolid Real Sociedad v Valencia

South AfricaQ de Kock c Haddin b Hogg 41H Amla lbw b Starc 2F du Plessis c Hogg b Maxwell 5J Duminy c Henriques b Maxwell 13A de Villiers c Hodge b Hogg 11D Miller c Bailey b Henriques 2A Morkel b Starc 18W Parnell not out 17B Hendricks not out 12Extras (b1, lb2, nb1, w3) 7Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 128

Fall of wickets1-15, 2-20, 3-44, 4-68, 5-75, 6/81, 7-103 BowlingStarc 4-1-16-2, Coulter-Nile 4-0-33-0, Maxwell 4-0-19-2, Henriques 3-0-15-1, Hogg 4-0-31-2, Watson 1-0-11-0

AustraliaA Finch c Miller b Imran Tahir 39C White c Imran Tahir b Parnell 14S Watson c Du Plessis b Imran Tahir 35G Maxwell lbw b Hendricks 17G Bailey not out 12B Hodge not out 11Extras (w1) 1Total (4 wkts, 15 overs) 129Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-67 BowlingDuminy 2-0-27-0, Tsotsobe 2-0-19-0, Hendricks 3-0-21-1, Parnell 2-0-15-1 (1w), Imran Tahir 4-0-21-2, Morkel 2-0-26-0

Australia won by six wickets.Australia won the three-match series

2-0 (1 match abandoned)

SCORECARD, SA V AUS

Test bowling performanceMitchell Johnson7/40 v England, Adelaide

Test batting performance187 v Australia, Mohali

Odi bowling performanceShahid Afridi7/12 v West Indies, Georgetown

Odi batting performance Rohit Sharma209 v Australia, Bangalore

Debut of the yearMohammed Shami

Contribution to cricketTarak Sinha

Cricketer of the generationSachin Tendulkar

ESPNCRICINFO AWARDS 2013 WINNERS

Juventus aim to tighten stranglehold

Verona and Parma could throw a spanner into the European ambitions of both Milan giants this weekend while Juventus travel to Genoa looking

to tighten their stranglehold on Italy’s Serie A.

For city neighbours AC Milan the situation is dire.

Three days after elimination from the Champions League last 16 at the hands of Atletico Madrid, Clarence Seedorf’s side host Parma knowing that anything less than a win would deal a massive blow to their top � ve hopes and a place in Europe.

Milan currently sit 10th, but are nine points adrift of Inter, eight behind Par-ma and � ve behind Verona.

Juventus, meanwhile, travel to Ge-noa on Sunday looking to build on the momentum of a precious 1-0 win over Fiorentina last week when second-place Roma fell 1-0 at Napoli.

Genoa will start as underdogs but defender Luca Antonelli is hoping a red-hot Luigi Ferraris stadium gives

the hosts a much-needed edge.“There’s a massive di� erence in

terms of value and where we sit re-spectively in the league table, but we want to make the impossible possible,” Antonelli told Genoa’s o� cial website.

Last week Napoli launched their bid for a second successive runner-up � nish thanks to a 1-0 win over Roma, who are three points ahead with a game in hand.

Although still in Europa League con-tention, despite losing 1-0 at FC Porto on Thursday, and facing Fiorentina in the Italian Cup � nal, goalkeeper Pepe Reina said claiming second and an automatic Champions League spot is Napoli’s priority. “We believe we can � nish second,” Reina told La Gazzetta dello Sport. l

'Neymar a� ected by controversy'

Barcelona boss Gerardo Martino be-lieves star striker Neymar’s inability to live up to high expectations in his � rst season with the club could be related to the intense scrutiny of his transfer from Santos.

Sandro Rosell resigned as the club’s president in January as he faces legal action for misappropriation of funds, whilst Barca were also charged with tax fraud over the deal.

The Brazilian was also sidelined by an ankle injury for a month at the start of the year and Martino also thinks that has also played a part in the 22-year-old’s return of just one goal in 2014.

“Returning after a month out in-jured it is always di� cult to get back into rhythm and then the problems with his signing appeared,” he said at a press conference on Saturday. If I had to choose one reason I would focus in the non-sporting issues.” l

Top dogs Liverpool scent blood at Man United

Liverpool hold the whip hand over Man-chester United for the � rst time in decades and could land a dev-

astating blow on their rivals’ top-four challenge at Old Tra� ord on Sunday.

Having endured year upon year of United supremacy, Liverpool have turned the tables this season and ap-proach this weekend’s match 11 points above their � oundering foes in the Pre-mier League table.

While Liverpool still have eyes on the title, United’s bid for Champions League quali� cation is in dire straits as they trail fourth-place Manchester City by nine points, having played two games more.

David Moyes’s side have already lost at home four times in the league this season and they can expect no sympa-thy from a Liverpool team whose fans have endured season after season of torment at United’s hands.

While Rodgers has been eager to

play down Liverpool’s title chances, he says that silverware, rather than success against United, will be the only reliable barometer of his team’s progress.

Devoid of distractions in the cup

competitions, Liverpool have found � ne form in recent weeks, winning seven and drawing two of their last nine league games.

Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, the division’s two leading scorers, have now amassed 42 goals between them, which is only four fewer than United’s entire squad.

United enjoyed breezy wins over Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Al-bion in their last two league outings, but disaster has never been far away for Moyes this season and on Wednes-day his side must attempt to overturn a 2-0 de� cit against Olympiakos in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Moyes can also now call upon winger Nani, who has recovered from a long-term hamstring problem, while centre-back Jonny Evans (calf) and striker Javier Hernandez (knee) could also be in contention to play.

Liverpool, who last tasted victory at United in March 2009, have been given a boost by the returns to � tness of mid-� elder Lucas Leiva (knee) and centre-back Mamadou Sakho (hamstring). l

West Brom sacks Anelka after he quits

West Bromwich Albion announced Fri-day that it had sacked banned French striker Nicolas Anelka for “gross misconduct”, just hours after he an-nounced on Twitter he was leaving.

Anelka, who turned 35 on Friday, was due to start a � ve-match ban after being punished for his controversial “quenelle” goal celebration at West Brom’s 3-3 draw at West Ham on December 28.

“Following discussions between the club and me, proposals have been made to me that I rejoined the group under certain conditions,” Anelka wrote on his o� cial Twitter account.

“I cannot accept. Wishing to keep my integrity, I decided to free myself and to terminate the contract linking me with West Bromwich Albion until 2014 as of now.” l

WORLD TWENTY20 FIXTURE PRELIMINARY ROUNDGroup ABangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Hong Kong

Group BZimbabwe, Ireland, UAE, NetherlandsSunday, March 16

Bangladesh v Afghanistan at Dhaka 3:30PMNepal v Hong Kong at Chittagong 7:30PMMonday, March 17

Zimbabwe v Ireland at Sylhet 3:30PMUAE v Netherlands at Sylhet 7:30PMTuesday, March 18

Afghanistan v Hong Kong at Chittagong 3:30PMBangladesh v Nepal at Chittagong 7:30PMWednesday, March 19

Zimbabwe v Netherlands at Sylhet 3:30PMIreland v UAE at Sylhet 7:30PMThursday, March 20

Afghanistan v Nepal at Chittagong 3:30PMBangladesh v Hong Kong at Chittagong 7:30PMFriday, March 21

Zimbabwe v UAE at Sylhet 11:30AMIreland v Netherlands at Sylhet 3:30PM

SUPER-10 ROUNDGroup 1South Africa, Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand, B1

Group 2India, Pakistan, Australia, West Indies, A1Friday, March 21

India v Pakistan, at Dhaka 7:30PMSaturday, March 22

South Africa v Sri Lanka, at Chittagong 3:30PMEngland v New Zealand, at Chittagong 7:30PM

Sunday, March 23

Australia v Pakistan at Dhaka 3:30PMIndia v West Indies at Dhaka 7:30PMMonday, March 24

New Zealand v South Africa at Chittagong 3:30PMSri Lanka v B1, Chittagong 7:30PMTuesday, March 25

West Indies v A1 at Dhaka 7:30PMThursday, March 27

South Africa v B1 at Chittagong 3:30PMEngland v Sri Lanka at Chittagong 7:30PMFriday, March 28

Australia v West Indies at Dhaka 3:30PMIndia v A1 at Dhaka 7:30PMSaturday, March 29

New Zealand v B1 at Chittagong 3:30PMEngland v South Africa at Chittagong 7:30PMSunday, March 30

Pakistan v A1 at Dhaka 3:30PMAustralia v India at Dhaka 7:30PMMonday, March 31

England v B1 at Chittagong 3:30PMNew Zealand v Sri Lanka at Chittagong 7:30PMTuesday, April 1

Australia v A1 at Dhaka 3:30PMPakistan v West Indies at Dhaka 7:30PM

SEMI-FINALSThursday, April 3

Group 1 winners v Group 2 runners-up at Dhaka 7:00PMFriday, April 4

Group 2 winner v Group 1 runners-up at Dhaka 7:00PM

FINALSunday, April 6 at Dhaka 7:00PM(Reserve day - Monday, April 7)

WORLD TWENTY20 SQUADSAfghanistanMohammad Nabi (capt), Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Hamid Hassan, Hamza Hotak, Karim Sadiq, Mirwais Ashraf, Najibullah Taraki, Najibullah Zadran, Nawroz Mangal, Samiullah Shenwari, Mohammad Shahzad, Sha� qullah, Shapoor Zadran.BangladeshMush� qur Rahim (capt), Al-Amin Hossain, Anamul Haque, Farhad Reza, Mahmudul-lah, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hos-sain, Sabbir Rahman, Shamsur Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Sohag Gazi, Tamim Iqbal.Hong KongJamie Atkinson (capt), Aizaz Khan, Mark Chapman, Ehsan Nawaz, Haseeb Amjad, Babar Hayat, Irfan Ahmed, Roy Lamsam, Munir Dar, Nadeem Ahmed, Najeeb Amar, Nizakat Khan, Kinchit Shah, Tanwir Afzal, Waqas Barkat.IrelandWilliam Porter� eld (captain), Alex Cusack, George Dockrell, Ed Joyce, Andy McBrine, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Andrew Poynter, James Shannon, Max Sorensen, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Gary Wilson, Craig Young.NepalParas Khadka (capt), Pradeep Airee, Prithu Baskota, Binod Bhandari, Naresh Budhaayer, Shakti Gauchan, Sompal Kami, Avinash Karn, Subash Khakurel, Gyanendra Malla, Jitendra Mukhiya, Sagar Pun, Basant Regmi, Sharad Vesawkar, Rahul Vishwa-karma.NetherlandsPeter Borren (capt), Wesley Barresi, Logan

van Beek, Mudassar Bukhari, Ben Cooper, Tim Gruijters, Timm van der Gugten, Tom Heggelman, Vivian Kingma, Ahsan Malik, Stephan Myburgh, Michael Rippon, Pieter Seelaar, Michael Swart, Eric Szwarczynski.United Arab EmiratesKhurram Khan (capt), Ahmed Raza, Amjad Ali, Amjad Javed, Asadullah Shareef, Faizan Asif, Kamran Shahzad, Manjula Guruge, Moaaz Qazi, Rohan Mustafa, Swapnil Patil, Rohit Singh, Shadeep Silva, Shaiman Anwar, Vikrant Shetty.ZimbabweBrendan Taylor (capt), Sikandar Raza, Tendai Chatara, Elton Chigumbura, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Timycen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza, Shingi Masakadza, Natsai M’shangwe, Tinashe Panyangara, Vusi Sibanda, Prosper Utseya, Brian Vitori, Malcolm Waller, Sean Williams.AustraliaGeorge Bailey (capt), Daniel Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Brad Haddin, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, James Muirhead, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson, Cameron White.EnglandStuart Broad (capt), Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Jos Buttler, Jade Dernbach, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Michael Lumb, Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan, Stephen Parry, Ian Bell, Ben Stokes, James Tredwell, Luke Wright.IndiaMahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Varun Aaron, Stuart Binny, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran

Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Mohammad Shami, Mohit Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh.New ZealandBrendon McCullum (capt), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Anton Devcich, Martin Guptill, Ronnie Hira, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Colin Munro, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson.PakistanMohammad Hafeez (capt), Ahmed She-hzad, Bilawal Bhatti, Junaid Khan, Kamran Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, So-hail Tanvir, Mohammad Talha, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Zul� qar Babar.South AfricaFaf du Plessis (capt), Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, Farhaan Behardien, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Beuran Hendricks, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.Sri LankaDinesh Chandimal (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Rangana Herath, Mahela Jayawar-dena, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachithra Senanayake, Lahiru Thirimanne.West IndiesDarren Sammy (capt), Samuel Badree, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith.

Starc spell sets up Australian win

Left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc led a strong Australian bowling perfor-mance and set up a comfortable six-wicket win against South Africa in the third and � nal Twenty20 international at SuperSport Park on Friday.

South Africa struggled to 128 for sev-en after being sent in. Aaron Finch hit 39 and Shane Watson 35 as Australia cruised to victory with � ve overs to spare.

Man-of-the-match Starc started with a maiden and dismissed Hashim

Amla in a second over which cost only three runs. He came back later and bowled big-hitting Albie Morkel to � n-ish with two for 16 in his four overs.

Australia got o� to a rapid start, with Finch and Cameron White putting on 43 for the � rst wicket before White slashed Wayne Parnell to third man o� the � fth ball of the � fth over.

Tahir dismissed both Finch, who made his 39 o� 27 balls, and Watson, whose 35 was scored o� 28 deliveries.

Both were deceived by the � ight and were caught going for big hits. l

Tendulkar voted Cricketer of the Generation

One of the greatest batsmen of all time, the iconic Sachin Tendulkar was on Friday voted Cricketer of the Genera-tion as he staved o� sti� competition from spin legend Shane Warne and all-rounder par excellence Jacques Kallis at the ESPNcricinfo awards function.

The award is meant to honour the most outstanding cricketer between the years 1993 and 2013, and the occa-sion also marked the 20th anniversary celebrations for the cricket website.

“I am speechless, honestly,” said Tendulkar after receiving the award.

“Thanks to ESPNcricinfo for consid-ering me worthy enough. When Martin (Crowe) and Rahul (Dravid) both spoke about me, I didn’t know how to react.”

Tendulkar has been the most suc-cessful batsman of his generation, hav-ing set innumerable records in both Tests and ODIs.

He rewrote some of the most cov-eted batting records, including those for most Test runs and Test hundreds, and for most ODI runs and ODI hun-dreds. The Mumbaikar is the only cricketer to score hundred internation-al centuries.

On Kallis, Tendulkar said, “I � rst saw him in 1996. He looked an okay player and I thought, this guy could become a decent allrounder. But over a period of time, how he changed his batting technique and worked on his bowling was incredible.

“Kallis used to walk with his head down and I used to tell my teammates that once he has realised which way the blades of the grass are, he is going to make you pay.”

Talking about Warne, he said, “I � rst played against Warne in 1992 and you could make out he had the talent, but he wasn’t consistent enough in the � rst game.

“The second time I faced him was in Sri Lanka and I was beaten by his spin. I charged him next ball and was lucky to get away. Warne came up to me and tried to charge me up, but I turned to-wards square leg and ignored him. Post match, i asked him, ‘Warne, what were you trying to say?’ From then onwards, we became good friends.”

Tendulkar ended his glorious 24-year international career last Novem-ber, signing o� with an elegant 74 against the West Indies in his � nal Test innings. l

Australia players celebrate a wicket against South Africa at SuperSport Park on Friday AFP

FIXTURES Atalanta v Sampdoria AC Milan v Parma Cagliari v Lazio Livorno v Bologna Sassuolo v Catania Fiorentina v ChievoVerona Genoa v Juventus

FIXTURES Man United v Liverpool Tottenham v Arsenal

Suarez at Messi–Ronaldo level, says Rooney Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has hailed Liverpool counterpart Luis Suarez as “one of the best players in the world” ahead of the teams’ Premier League encounter on Sunday.

“Suarez, for me, is up there with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as one of the best players in the world,” Rooney told United’s in-house television station, MUTV. “He has been that good and the two of them together have been in great form this season. We will have to do every-thing we can to stop them on Sunday."

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014 15

Maasranga TV, Gazi TV, Star Sports 1, HD1ICC World T20 20143:30PMBangladesh v Afghanistan7:30PMNepal v Hong KongSony SixNBA 2013-146:00AMChicago v Sacramento11:00PMToronto v Phoenix08:30AM UFC 171Johny Hendricks v Robbie Lawler1:30AM Major League Soccer 2014Portland Timbers v Chicago FireStar Sports 411:45AMFormula OneAustralian Grand PrixEnglish Premier League7:30PMMan United v Liverpool10:00PMTottenham v ArsenalItalian Serie A1:45AMGenoa v JuventusStar Sports HD1La Liga10:00PMBarcelona v Osasuna12:00AMSevilla v Real Valladolid2:00AMReal Sociedad v ValenciaTen Action10:00PM French Ligue 1 2013/14Olympic Lyon v AS Monaco

DAY’S WATCH

Siddikur remains at 13th after 3rd roundSiddikur Rahman remained at 13th position after playing an equal-par 71 in the third round of the Solaire Open yesterday. The Bangladeshi gol� ng ace totaled a 2-under 211 after the end of third round. Filipino star Angelo Que � red a third round two-under-par 69 to hold a one shot lead over a persistent Miguel Tabuena. Que stayed on track for a fourth Asian Tour title despite missing a 10 footer par putt on the last to settle for nine-under-par 204 at the challeng-ing The Country Club, where blustery conditions made life di� cult.

–Tribune Desk

Ranjan, Mamun in tennis � nalRanjan Ram of International Club and Mamun Bepari of BKSP moved into the � nal of the Runner Group Independence Day Open Tennis Championship after winning their respective semi-� nal matches at the National Tennis Complex in Ramna yesterday. Ranjan Ram outplayed Mofazzal Hossain of Uttara Club 6-4, 6-1 while Mamun thrashed Rustam Ali of American Club 6-3, 6-3 to claim the � nal spot. The � nal matches in both men’s and women’s section will be held today at 3pm. Meanwhile in the men’s doubles, Amol Roy and Ranjan Ram pair defeated Alamgir Hossain and Rustam Ali 6-4, 6-1 in the semi-� nal while the team of Mofazzal Hossain and Milon Hossain beat Anwar Hossain and Dipu Lal by 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 to reach the � nal.

–Tribune Desk

QUICK BYTES

ASIAN GAMES HOCKEY QUALIFIERS

Bangladesh face Hong Kong

Bangladesh opens their Islami Bank Asian Games Hockey Quali� ers against Hong Kong China at the Maulana Bha-shani National Hockey Stadium at 4pm today.

In the last edition of the hockey quali� ers in 2010 Hong Kong held Ban-gladesh to a 2-2 draw, but Bangladesh hold the upper hand as they beat the same opponents 6-1 in their last en-counter in the World Hockey League. Bangladesh skipper Mamunur Rahman Chayan expects to go o� a winning note. “We are not taking any match lightly, we have respect for Hong Kong and we will take the � eld with all our cylinders � ring. We want to make a winning start and make an impact,” said the drag and � ick specialist.

Mark Kawiti Kake, the New Zealand-er coach of Hong Kong, said his team is ready for the challenge. “Bangladesh is a strong team and we are ready to � ght it out, we will not let anything go with-out a � ght,” said Kake.

Meanwhile Oman kicked o� their Is-lami Bank Asian Games Hockey Quali-� ers with Khalfan Qasim Moosa scor-ing the only goal in their 1-0 win over Chinese Taipei while Sri Lanka was held to a 1-1 draw by Qatar in the open-ing day matches yesterday.

Oman started in an attacking mode as Chinese Taipei opted for a counter attacking strategy in an evenly con-tested match.

Chen Yuan Fan, the Chinese Taipei skipper failed to � ick the ball into an open net in the 25th minute while two minutes later Rajab Basim Khatar, the tall Omanese forward made his way through the Taipei defence only to see his weak push cleared from the goal line.

Oman took the lead in the 47th min-ute after Rajab Basim Khatar cut a � erce cross from the right � ank as Khalfan took control at the left edge of the box before striking the board with a � erce reverse hit. Rajab Basim Khatar was adjudged as the man of match.

Meanwhile in the second match, Qatar took the lead in the 25th minute through a combined attack. Mid� elder Ali Sheraj saw his � erce hit rebound o� the pad of Ishara Madhushanka as unmarked forward Aslam Adnan un-leashed a � erce hit to score.

Sri Lanka reacted sharply and initi-ated a series of attacks but lack of � n-ishing saw the chances go wide. In the 33rd  minute Shanaka Nandaslochana missed and open net in a one-on-one situation with the Qatar goalkeeper Ali Shazad.

In the 44th  minute Sanadaruwan Priyalanka saw his hit miss the side post by a whisker while three minute later Chulalankara Asanka’s slap hit was saved by Shahzad once again.

The lead was however cancelled three minutes before the stipulated time when Sri Lankan mid� elder Sanadaru-wan Priyalanka equalised with a reverse hit from the edge of the box. l

Jamal’s BPL wait continues

The two postponed matches of Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in the Bangla-desh Premier League has been deferred once again by at least a day due to un-playable pitch condition at Bangaband-hu National Stadium.

The crucial match between defend-ing champions Sheikh Russell and Sheikh Jamal will now be held tomor-row which was earlier rescheduled to take place today, con� rmed Bangla-desh Football Federation general sec-retary Abu Nayeem Shohag yesterday.

“We went to inspect the stadium today and it was left in an unplayable

state after the BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board) concert. We were not convinced by the condition. The ground has been cleaned but it’s still dry and hard. The ground has been watered today (yes-terday) and so we had to defer the � x-ture,” said Shohag.

Sheikh Jamal, who � ew to Kolkata to play in the IFA Shield where they � nished runners-up, will now face Uttar Baridhara in their last match of BPL � rst phase on March 20 instead on March 19.

Meanwhile, the delay in completing the � rst phase of BPL is likely to see the Independence Cup shifted by two days and start on March 22, hinted Shohag. l

Big stage for Nepal, Hong Kong

Nepal will take on Hong Kong on the opening day of the ICC World T20 2014 in Bangladesh today to qualify for the tourna-ment’s major group.

The second opening match of the tour-nament will be played at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong in Bangladesh.

Hong Kong lost a last-ball thriller to Nepal in the quarter-� nal of the ICC World Twenty Quali� er UAE 2013 last November, but went on to beat Papua

New Guinea by 29 runs to qualify in sixth place for its maiden ICC global event.

Hong Kong may hope for explosive beginning with batsmen Irfan Ahmed and Jamie Atkinson, who scored 241 runs at a strike-rate 115.31 in the quali-fying tournament. Hong Kong � rst became an ICC member in 1969 and played four One-Day Internationals in the Asia Cup tournaments of 2004 and 2008.

Hong and Nepal � nished third and � fth in ICC World Twenty20 quali� er 2013 in UAE.

Nepal has won twice in previous Twenty20 meetings with Hong Kong in

the past at the 2012 and 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Quali� er tournaments.

In the very � rst match, Paras Khad-ka hit the highest score for Nepal in T20 matches – 68 from 62 balls. The same match had the third-best � gures for Nepal in T20 matches – Chandra Sawad’s 4-24 from four overs.

In their recent meeting, in the quali-fying tournament for this event, Ne-pal won but with the � nal ball of the match.

Irfan Ahmed of Hong Kong has re-corded the two highest scores in T20 matches (100 against Canada in No-vember 2013 and 91 not out against Denmark in March 2012). l

Salahuddin eyeing Club Cup in Dhaka

Kazi Salahuddin, the president of South Asian Football Football Federa-tion pledged to host the � rst ever SAFF Club Cup Championship in Dhaka in a felicitation program held at the BFF House on Saturday.

The Executive Committee of BFF, the Professional League Committee, the Referees Committee, the Women’s Wing, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club combinedly felicitated Salahuddin for being elected as the president of SAFF again.

“The Club Cup Championship will be held in August next, the top eight clubs of the eight SAFF countries, one invited club by the hosts will be play-ing in the inaugural tournament, there will be two clubs of the host country making it ten, I am every hopeful that Dhaka will be the � rst venue” said Sala-huddin.

Salahuddin added that national U-19 skipper Vincent Hematna and national u-16 defender Tutul Hossain Badshah may � y to Belgium under the auspices of national head coach

Lodewijk de Kruif.Meanwhile Monjur Kader, the presi-

dent of Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Ltd, who was also present on the oc-casion, said he had brought two Nige-

rians who will sign for the club in the second transfer window. Wasiu Asas, an attacking mid� elder and Daniel, a forward will be taking the place of Femi Orunimi and Okemiri. l

A Sri Lankan players goes air bound to avoid a hit of a Qatar player during their AGHQ match yesterday COURTESY

BFF executive committee members hand over a garland to SAFF president Kazi Salahuddin at the BFF House yesterday COURTESY

ISPAHANI CORPORATE BADMINTON

Triple Crown for Mahbub

Mahbubur Rab clinched triple crown in the Ispahani Corporate Badminton Grand Slam winning the title of men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed dou-bles at the O� cers Club yesterday. With Mahbub playing for the O� cers Club it emerged as the champions of the meet.The winners are as follows-Men’s singles winner: Mahbubur Rab

(O� cer’s Club). Runner-up: Linkon (Banglalink). Men’s Doubles: Mahbubur Rab & Hasem (O� cer’s Club). Runner-up : Linkon & Mujib (Banglalink), Wom-en Single’s : Jafry (O� cer’s Club). Run-ner-up: Daisy (O� cer’s Club), Women’s double’s: Daisy & Jafry (O� cer’s Club). Runners-up :Maria & Rajasree (City School), Mixed double’s : Mahbubur Rab & Daisy (O� cer’s Club). Runners-up: Linkon & Rubayyat (Banglalink). l

O� cer’s Club emerged as the champions of the Ispahani Corporate Badminton yesterday

Silva, Dzeko kickstart City title charge

Manchester City sur-vived the 10th-minute dismissal of captain Vin-cent Kompany to win

2-0 at Hull City on Saturday and reduce Chelsea’s lead in the Premier League to six points.

Kompany saw red for a last-man foul on Nikica Jelavic, but David Silva put City ahead with a glorious curling e� ort just four minutes later and Edin Dzeko made sure of victory at the death.

It was City’s � rst league match for three weeks and they still have two games in hand on Chelsea, although the leaders can reassert their nine-point advantage with victory at Aston Villa later on Saturday.

City were missing top scorer Sergio Aguero due to injury and they received a further setback in the 10th minute when Kompany was given his march-ing orders.

Jelavic appeared to foul Kompany as they jostled for possession, but play was allowed to continue and when the City captain hauled the Croatian down, referee Lee Mason immediately bran-dished the red card.

Kompany kicked out at a door in frustration as he stalked down the tun-nel, but City reacted in stirring fashion, with Silva gathering a pass from Yaya Toure and arcing a beautiful shot in-side the left-hand post from 25 yards.

Meanwhile, bottom club Fulham gave their chances of avoiding relega-tion a boost with a 1-0 win at home to

Newcastle United that kept them four points from safety.

West Bromwich Albion manager Pepe Mel tasted victory for the � rst time as an 85th-minute Youssouf Mulumbu goal saw his side complete a 2-1 come-back win at Swansea City that sent them three points clear of the drop zone.

Sunderland remain in the bot-tom three after a 0-0 draw at home to Crystal Palace, but they moved above Cardi� City, who fell to an injury-time Seamus Coleman strike in a cruel 2-1 defeat at Everton.

Goals from Morgan Schneiderlin, Rickie Lambert, Jay Rodriguez and Sam Gallagher saw Southampton beat Nor-wich City 4-2, while Peter Odemwingie scored twice as Stoke City sank West Ham United 3-1 at the Britannia Stadium. l

Dortmund shocked at home by 10-man Gladbach

Borussia Dortmund stay second in the Bundesliga despite slumping to a 2-1 defeat at home to ten-man Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday.

Gladbach earned their � rst win in ten games to dent Dortmund’s con� -dence ahead of Wednesday’s Champi-ons League last 16 clash at home to Ze-nit St Petersburg when they hold a 4-2 lead from the � rst leg. Mainz moved up to � fth with a sensational 4-2 victory at Ho� enheim with Japan’s Shinji Okaza-ki netting their last two goals. l

Pennetta shocks Li to reach Indian Wells � nal

Flavia Pennetta shocked Li Na in the semi-� nals at Indian Wells on Friday, beating the Australian Open champion 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 to set up a title clash with Agnieszka Radwanska. Li had pounded winners past Pennetta in a crushing 6-2, 6-2 victory in the Australian Open quar-ter-� nals in January.

Pennetta will vie for the title on Sunday against Poland’s Radwanska, who beat sixth-seeded Romanian Si-mona Halep 6-3, 6-4. l

RESULTSEverton 2 1 Cardi� Deulofeu 59, Coleman 90 Cala 68

Fulham 1 0 NewcastleDejagah 68

Hull 0 2 Man City Silva 14, Dzeko 90

Southampton 4 2 NorwichSchneiderlin 5, Elmander 85, Lambert 57, Rodriguez 72, Snodgrass 86Gallagher 90

Stoke 3 1 West HamOdemwingie 33, 79, Carroll 5Arnautovic 69

Sunderland 0 0 Crystal Palace

Swansea 1 2 West BromLamah 2 Sessegnon 52, Mulumbu 85

RESULTSDortmund 1 2 M'gladbachJojic 77 Ra� ael 31, Kruse 40

Werder Bremen 1 1 StuttgartHunt 79 Niedermeier 55

Ho� enheim 2 4 Mainz 05Polanski 49, Choupo-Moting 67, Saller 73, Roberto Firmino 53 Okazaki 75, 90+2

Braunschweig 1 1 WolfsburgBellarabi 48 Luiz Gustavo 36

Hertha Berlin 0 3 Hanover 96 Stindl 49, Schlaudra� 57, Huszti 90+1

Man City's David Silva celebrates scoring against Hull City during their EPL match at the KC Stadium in Hull yesterday AFP

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014

Baby of raped migrant gets sheltern Rabiul Islam

The Bangladesh National Women Law-yers Association has taken over the responsibility of the child who was conceived after the alleged rape of his mother by an employer in Dubai.

Kohinur Khatun (not her real name), a Bangladeshi female migrant worker al-legedly raped by her employer’s son in the UAE, gave birth to the child on March 5.

Kohinur later left the infant at BN-WLA’s safe home in the capital and re-turned to her home in Mymensingh on March 13.

“I have come to my village home for an important family matter and my baby is now at a safe home in Dhaka,” Kohinur told the Dhaka Tribune on Fri-day. “I would go to Dhaka to see my son on Sunday,” she added.

BNWLA Executive Director Salma Ali told the Dhaka Tribune: “The baby is now in good health at our safe home.”

With the help of non-government or-

ganisation Bangladeshi Obhibashi Mo-hila Sramik Association (BOMSA), the baby was born in Mymensingh, while both the mother and the child later came to Dhaka to receive treatment at a health facility. On March 8, the child’s care was handed over to the BNWLA.

Kohinur, who has a daughter and two sons with her husband in Mymens-ingh, claimed that earlier in March 2013, middlemen helped her � nd work in the UAE, where she was raped by her employer’s son and eventually sent back home in October after becoming pregnant with her rapist’s child. Kohi-nur alleged that her recruiters had promised her the job of a cleaner at a madrasa, but later forced her to work as a domestic help.

Salma Ali said: “We � nd many in-consistencies in her statement; still we consider her claim to be true.

“We are collecting the documents based on which recruiting agency and travel agency sent Kohinur to the UAE,

and we would go for legal steps next,” Salma said, adding: “It is very unfortu-nate that Kohinur wants to sell the baby.”

She also claimed that the BNWLA had taken up three such cases, but the embassy did not cooperate, as there was no bilateral agreement between the countries concerned on this regard.

“There is no adoption system in our law and sometimes many people come for a child. We hand over babies to their custody through court for bearing up the children,” Salma added.

She said, “For legal steps we need Kohinur’s assistance and we can realise compensation for her.”

Kohinur said she would cooperate with the organisation, and that she would � le a complaint at the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.

Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said the government would try to realise com-pensation for the victim if she would � le a complaint. l

Bangladesh joins Malaysian plane searchn UNB

Two frigates and two maritime patrol aircraft of Bangladesh Navy have been deployed in the Bay of Bengal and its adjoining areas as part of a search oper-ation for the missing Malaysian aircraft.

The move came following the direc-tive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said a press release of the Inter-Servic-es Public Relations.

The Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, with 239 people on board, dropped o� the air tra� c control screens on Satur-day, less than an hour into a � ight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

It is one of the most ba� ing myster-ies in the history of modern aviation as there has been no trace of the plane since nor any sign of wreckage despite a search by navies and military aircraft of over a dozen countries across Southeast Asia. l

Study: Abuse of veterinary drugs endangering vulture species n Abu Bakar Siddique

The local vulture population has been on a steady decline due to an excessive use of veterinary medicines which con-tinues unabated, researchers have said.

They observed veterinary medi-cines and painkillers like Diclofenac and Kitoferon, used on local cattle, contributes to the death of vultures, a trend that might have disastrous ef-fects on local ecology.

A research in 2012 shows that the vulture population in the country has been reduced by 60% between 2008 and 2012 and 98% in the last two dec-ades due to lack of food, habitation and excessive use of animal drugs.

Of four species of vultures in Bang-ladesh, the White-rumped vulture, popularly known as “Bangla Shokun”, has been hit the most.

Its number came down to only 816, according to the study titled “White-rumped vulture population in Bangla-desh, breeding and threats.”

The study found that the reason for the extinction of White-rumped vulture was the food and habitation shortage and excessive use of ani-mal painkiller drugs like Diclofenac and Kitoferon and fattening pills like Butaphosphan.

A researcher, Prof Monirul H Khan, who led the study, said the White-rumped vulture was a common species even two decades ago, but the popula-tion came down sharply in recent years.

Besides the White-rumped vulture, three other species – Cinereous Vul-ture, Himalayan Gri� on and Eurasian– are also found in the country, though they are very few in numbers now.

Another two species of vulture, Long-billed vulture and Red-head-ed vulture, have not been seen in the country since 1980s.

Bodies of cattle that die after su� er-

ing reactions to the drugs posed a great threat to the vulture population be-cause their livers had failed to tolerate the hazardous chemicals found in such medicines, he said.

Birdlife International, a wildlife plat-form, working for conservation of na-ture, declared the species as “critically endangered” in Bangladesh back in 2001.

Another census of the vulture pop-ulation across the country is being conducted under a project named White-rumped vulture conservation in Bangladesh under International Union for Conservation of Nature. The census will end by June next.

Anybody could easily spot dozens of vultures in the north-eastern part of the country only a few years ago, but they were rarely found in the same area these days, said Prof Monirul, a vul-ture specialist. He called for immediate steps to conserve the vulture popula-tion in the wild.

Nowadays, vultures are mostly seen

in Sylhet division, greater Mymensingh and some parts of the world’s single larg-est mangrove forest, the Sundarbans.

The environment and forest m inistry took an initiative to impose ban on use of hazardous medicines for cattle in 2011.

The researchers say the ban has slowed down the trend of extinction of White-rumped vulture to some extent.

Prof Monirul suggested the govern-ment should ban the use of another an-imal drug – Kitoprofen– which is now largely being used as a substitute for Diclofenac.

The vulture specialist also advocat-ed the use of Meloxicam as a substitute for Diclofenac, though it was costlier.

Bangladesh National Vulture Recov-ery Committee headed by an additional secretary to the Ministry of Environ-ment and Forest recently made recom-mendations to establish two safe zones with the radius of 100km where the number of White-rumped vulture pop-ulation was comparatively higher. l

Crimea to vote in Russia referendum,Moscow vetoes U.N. moven Reuters

Pro-Russian leaders in Crimea made � nal preparations on Saturday for a referendum widely expected to trans-fer control of the Black Sea region from Ukraine to Moscow, despite an outcry and threat of sanctions from the West.

Russia vetoed a United Nations Se-curity Council resolution that declared the referendum invalid, as Ukraine’s defense ministry said it scrambled air-craft and paratroops to confront a Rus-sian encroachment beyond Crimea’s regional boundary.

Ukraine’s new rulers accused “Krem-lin agents” of fomenting deadly vio-lence in the Russian-speaking east and urged people not to respond to provo-cations Kiev fears Moscow may use to justify further incursions its takeover of Crimea. Russia issued a new statement

saying it was ready to protect Ukraini-ans from nationalist militants it said were threatening eastern cities.

Sunday’s vote in Crimea, dismissed by Kiev and Western governments as il-legal, has triggered the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War and marks a new peak in turmoil in Ukraine that goes back to November when now ousted President Viktor Yanukovich walked out on a trade deal with the European Union.

Though the situation was calm on the Black Sea peninsula itself on Saturday ahead of the vote, tensions remained high in eastern Ukraine where two peo-ple were killed in Kharkiv late on Friday.

Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Ak-syonov, whose election in a closed ses-sion of the regional parliament is not recognized by Kiev, said there were enough security personnel to ensure the poll would be safe.

“I think we have enough people - more than 10,000 in the self-defense forces, more than 5,000 in di� erent units of the Interior Ministry and the security services of the Crimean Re-public,” he told reporters.

In Kiev, the Ukrainian parliament voted to dissolve the Crimean regional assembly which has organized the ref-erendum and backs union with Russia.

And on Kiev’s Independence Square or Maidan - lodestar of the revolt against the Moscow-backed Yanukovich - hun-dreds of people chanted “Crimea is Ukraine! Crimeans, we support you!”

One Ukrainian nationalist leader in the Kiev legislature said the Crimean assembly must be sanctioned to dis-courage separatist movements in the mainly Russian-speaking east.

Aksyonov and Moscow do not of-� cially recognize that Russian troops

have taken control of Crimea, and say that thousands of unidenti� ed armed men visible across the region belong to “self-defense” groups created to en-sure stability.

But the Russian military has done little to hide the arrival of thousands of soldiers, along with trucks, armored vehicles and artillery. Masked gunmen surrounding Ukrainian military bases in Crimea have identi� ed themselves as Russian troops.

Polling stations will open at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Sunday and close 12 hours later. Preliminary results are ex-pected within hours of polls closing on Sunday night.

Crimea’s electorate of 1.5 million, ac-cording to a format of the ballot paper issued last week, will choose between one of two options - but both imply Russian control of the peninsula. l

Police claim to � nd foreign links with JMB snatching n Ashif Islam Shaon and

Mohammad Jamil Khan

The law enforcers have claimed that they found speci� c foreign links with the snatching of three convicted JMB militants at Trishal of Mymensingh.

“We have received speci� c infor-mation of foreign aid to the JMB mil-itants in planning and carrying out the snatching, but for the sake of in-vestigation, we cannot disclose the names of those involved and their country of origin,” Joint Commission-er of Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Monirul Islamsaid yesterday.

He said they received information by interrogating the JMB men arrested so far since the incident.

At least 20 days have passed since the two convicted JMB men were whisked away. A large group of young thugs intercepted a prison van, opened � re on police that killed a consta-ble and whisked away three includ-ing two death row activists of JMB in Trishal upazila of Mymensingh onFebruary 23.

Later, police recaptured one militant Rakib, who was killed in “cross� re” on February 24.

However, two remaining militants Salauddin Salehin and bomb specialist Mizan are still on the run.

The DB and Dhaka district police yesterday arranged a joint press confer-ence to announce the update of their drive against JMB men.

They said they had so far arrested 11 suspected militants who were involved with the incident of snatching.

The seized materials also included a Pakistan intelligence manual’s Bangla translated copy which described how the JMB men would carry out operation dodging law enforcers, added police.

Of the arrestees, � ve including two � nancers of the outlawed organisation were arrested in the last 36 hours from inside and outside the capital.

Though several high-ups of di� erent intelligence agencies had earlier sus-pected that the two JMB men slipped out of the country through northern frontier, the DB chief claimed that the JMB men were in the country.

“There is no speci� c information that they escaped the country. So, we believe that they are still in our territo-ry,” he said.

However, the DB chief said they

sought help from intelligence agencies of some countries to capture the JMB men by sharing information with them.

“We have been searching for the runaway JMB operatives also in the bordering areas. Border Guard Bang-ladesh and the Coastguard have been kept on high alert,” he said.

The latest arrestees are Ruhul Amin, alias Raju, Amin Rahat, Azmir and Jitu.

Raju was arrested from the city’s Badda area yesterday while Amin Ra-hat, Azmir and Jitu were held from Hatirjheel area Thursday.

The law enforcers also seized 4.5kg explosives, motorbike, training manual and maps from the possession of the detainees.

Police said Rahat and Azmir were garment factory owners. They had been � nancing the organisation, giv-ing jobs to its members and providing monetary support to the arrestees’ families.

Recently, Azmir bought a garment factory at Tk5.80 crore in Satarkul, po-lice said, adding that Rahat had also a factory at Kalyanpur in the capital.

The out� t also runs hundi and fake note business.

“These garment factories are local source of money for the JMB opera-tives. We have also found some other sources,” the DB o� cial said.

He claimed that they had detected the whole network and the � ed con-victs would be arrested soon.

“A section of the old JMB network somehow revived and carried out the snatching. We have broken the net-work already,” he said.

The investigators found that con-victed Rakib used to make plan with some other JMB men who were about to get bail within some days.

As per the plan the men come out of jail and take steps to collect moneyand arms.

The men behind bars contacted their cohorts over mobile to carry out the attack, said police.

They � rst thought of the snatching at Gazipur and rented some houses out there eight months back. But as they found it di� cult, they changed the plan and set their mission at Bhalu-ka-Trishal in Mymensingh.

Dhaka range DIG Nuruzzaman, Additional DIG Sha� qul Islam and Additional Deputy Commissioner Sa-nowar Hossain were present at thepress brie� ng. l

VETERINARY DRUGS ENDANGER VULTURES IN BANGLADESH

2011-20122010-20112009-20102008-2009

1,972

1,456

991816

DIMINISHING WHITE-RUMPED VULTURE

Reasons of extinction• Lack of food• Shortage of habitations• Excessive use of painkillers and cattle-

fattening drugs

Varieties of vultures found• Cinereous Vulture • Himalayan Griff on• Egyptian Vulture• Eurasian Vulture

Inhabiting regions: • Sylhet • Mymensingh • Sundarbans

Critically endangered ones• White-rumped vulture

[Bangla Shokun]

Not seen since 1980’s• Long Billed Vulture• Red Headed Vulture

[Raj Shokun]

White-Rumped Vulture Photo: Monirul Khan SLH/

DT IN

FOGR

APHI

CS

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina greets former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad when he arrived at Ganabhaban in the capital yesterday BANGLAR CHOKH

www.dhakatribune.com/business SUNDAY, MARCH 16, 2014

B3 Banks to be hit with Mi-crosoft costs for running outdated ATMs

B4 Fed’s balance sheet reaches $4tn at end of 2013

Telcos oppose SMS permission to IP service providersThe internet telephony operators now cater to mainly corporate clients with voice marketn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Mobile phone companies have strong-ly opposed the regulator’s decision to allow Internet Protocol Telephony Ser-vice Providers (IPTSPs) to operate SMS service.

They argued that SMS service was the mobile phones’ business and oth-ers should not be allowed to intrude it using their network.

Besides, SMS and data business would gradually take the front line against the voice market which was on the wane also in Bangladesh like other parts of the world, mobile operators said.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) made the decision at a meeting in January.

The government too has given per-mission.

IPTSPs said the mobile phone com-panies were creating “obstacles” to the regulator’s move and claimed they would o� er better service at cheaper rates.

IPTSPs now mainly cater to corpo-rate clients with voice service.

In the wake of the debate, BTRC called a meeting on Thursday with the stakeholders to discuss the matter.

Only three IPTSPs and four mobile phone operators - Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Airtel - attended the meeting.

“If the regulator or government tries to give our cake to others, what will happen to us? They have to think about it,” Mahmudur Rahman, executive vice president of mobile operator Robi, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Mobile operators said while they

had to spend millions of dollars for spectrum, IPTSPs literally had no in-vestment.

If IPTSPs are given SMS permission, there will be no di� erence between the two sides – one is investing high while other is making almost no investment, mobile operators said.

But according to the IPTSP oper-ators, they would never grab mobile operators’ business as the services of-fered by the two are di� erent.

“For a healthy market, it is manda-tory to open scopes for everybody to o� er better services for their clients,” Saykot Raihan, AGM and head of IPTSP business for BDcom online Limited told the Dhaka Tribune.

“But mobile operators are trying to create obstacles to this goal,” he al-leged.

BTRC has currently awarded licenc-es to 46 IPTSPs.

Out of them, only � ve to eight IPTSPs are prominent and trying to introduce SMS service for their customers.

BDcom Online Limited, the market leader among IPTSPs, along with other two operators applied late last year for the SMS licence.

The telecom regulator prepared a directive recently making only Tk10 as interconnectivity charge for each SMS.

“Even after taking the charge (Tk10 interconnectivity) we can o� er the ser-vice at the cheapest price,” said a high o� cial of another IPTSP.

According to statistics of the te-leom regulator, in Bangladesh around 5 crore local SMS are generated cur-rently every month through mobile phones. l

Small-cap stock prices jump sky-highn Tahmidur Rahman

Small-cap companies at the Dhaka Stock Exchange registered substantial gains in the recent sessions what ana-lysts considered to be abnormal in ab-sence of any corporate disclosures.

Shares of three such companies – Standard Ceramic, Renwick Jajneswar and Eastern Cables – have gained sub-stantially in last week as they recorded 38.8%, 38.3% and 31.8% increase re-spectively to close at Tk52.6, Tk288.5 and Tk165.7 each.

Apart from Eastern Cables, two oth-er companies showed fall in pro� ts in the last quarter as compared to same period a year earlier. However, the disclosures came almost a couple of months ago.

The “A” category scrip, Renwick Ja-jneswar, saw a rise in its price of 76% in the last 18 trading sessions while the “Z” category stock Eastern Cables surged 59% in last 19 trading sessions.

Two of the companies belong to the engineering segment at the bourse while one belonging to ceramics sector.

“Price manipulation of such sort is not a new phenomenon at our bourses and it is sad to witness it over and over again,” said Md Moniruzzaman, man-aging director of IDLC Investments Ltd.

He said investors would need to be made aware about the dynamics of our capital markets.

The three companies were traded of a value of Tk12 crore last week at DSE.

Stocks of Renwick Jajneswar were traded valued Tk7.2 crore last week, which is 12% of its market value of Tk57.7 crore. The company has also an accumulated loss of Tk7.7 crore as of last year-end.

Analysts suggested that looking at the major buyers and sellers of the stock could help the concerned author-ities take steps towards putting a stop to such price manipulations.

“It is a sheer manipulation and the reg-ulator is not acting on it,” said a capital market analyst, asking his name not to be mentioned.

Recently, Renwick Jajneswar and Eastern Cables have informed that they have no undisclosed price sensitive in-formation of their company for recent unusual price hike, in response to DSE and CSE queries. l

Bearish spell continues to hit stockn Tribune Report

Bearish spell continued to hit stock markets for the third consecutive week, putting damper on investor mood in trading.

Even, dividend declaration of sev-eral companies particularly banks failed to create any positive impres-sion on overall investors’ sentiment, analysts said.

During the past week that ended Thursday, the benchmark DSEX fell over 64 points or 1% to 4635, which is 7-week lowest.

The blue chips comprising DS30 was down 20 points or 1% to close at 1,670. However, Shariah Index DSES gained almost 3 points or 0.3% to 1,014.

Chittagong Stock Exchange Selec-tive Categories Index CSCX lost 172 points or nearly 3% to 9,035.

The average daily turnover came down to Tk410 crore, registering a fall of more than 11% decline over the pre-vious week, indicating that investors cautious in trading.

“Lack of direction of the market made investors behave passively to-

wards the market. This week, market experienced four red days and only one green day with mild return,” said LankaBangla Securities in its weekly market analysis.

It said investors remained sluggish about major sectors like banks and � -nancial institutions as price is not re-� ecting fundamentals properly.

Some of the banks are being traded below their net asset value according to � nancials posted for the year 2013, it said.

Also, after registering signi� cant growth in earnings some banks failed to uphold the momentum in price as investors are waiting to see whether these earnings are sustainable or not, the brokerage � rm said.

In the past week, banking sector su� ered most losing 4%, followed by non-banking � nancial institutions that shed 2.5% and mutual fund 1%. Tele-communications and power edged lower.

IDLC Investments said ripples in in-vestors’ sentiment and apparent lack of directions prompted much more market level volatility this week.

Additionally, shifts across selective large cap and micro cap scrips steril-ized the market sentiment to retain � at endings throughout the week, it said.

“Sectoral preference shifted from one to another and investors’ switch prolonged for lucrative price hunts. Sup-ported by these, DSEX remained below 4,700 points level for the whole week”.

It said dullness continued through-out the week, which bet on market sentiment in frequent intervals. As a result, the detracted market scenario approached to third week, it said.

The losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 299 issues trad-ed during the week, 185 declined, 103 advanced and 11 issues remained un-changed at DSE.

Top gaining sectors of the past week was cement that rallied almost 5%, driven by Lafarge Surma Cement. The sector was followed by engineering that rose 0.9%, food and allied 0.5% and pharmaceuticals 0.08%.

Fuel and power and pharmaceutical sectors attracted the investors attention as they accounted for 15% and 12% of the total turnover of the past week.

Square Pharmaceutical was the week’s most traded stocks with shares worth Tk 110 crore changing hands, followed by Lafarge Surma Cement, Padma Oil, Meghna Petro-leum and Bangladesh Shipping Corpo-ration. l

Financial data recovery centre to be set up at Jessore software parkn Tribune Report

The government has decided to set up a Disaster Recovery Site (DRS) centre at the Software Technology Park in Jes-sore to protect data of the banks and � nancial institutions, o� cial sources said.

Investment Corporation of Bangla-desh (ICB) will provide the � nancial assistance to set up the DRS.

Sources in the Banking and Finan-cial Institutions Division (BFID) said the state-owned commercial banks will sign a Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) with the ICT ministry in this regard.

The DRS centre would be set up with joint venture as it is too costly for

one business entity to establish. Now, each of the � nancial institu-

tions has their own data centre.Secretary of ICT ministry Md Naz-

rul Islam Khan held an inter-minis-terial meeting recently on setting up of the DRS with the representatives from Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, Rupali Bank, Bangladesh Devel-opment Bank and Sadharan Bima Cor-poration.

The meeting decided to set up the data centre as soon as possible as the Prime Minister already gave her con-sent to the project.

Rupali Bank and Sadharan Bima have already expressed their interest to invest in the joint venture project, sources said. l

The DRS centre would be set up with joint venture as it is too costly for one business entity to establish

Tea prices dip again on poor qualityn Reuters, Dhaka

Tea prices in Bangladesh plunged for a seventh straight week at a weekly auc-tion last week, dragged down by end-of-season leaf that tends to be of poor quality, brokers said.

Bangladeshi tea fetched an aver-age of Tk144.19 ($1.85) per kg at the auction, down from 146.71 taka in the previous week’s sale, when prices fell 6.5%, said an o� cial from National Brokers Limited.

More than 2.68 million kg was o� ered at the auction centre in Chittagong, with nearly 50% remaining unsold. At the previous auction, nearly 3.2 million kg was o� ered, of which 61% went unsold.

“There was huge demand for quali-ty tea, which is in short supply. Larger volume of poor grade tea pulled down

prices and almost half of the tea that was o� ered in the auction went un-sold,” the o� cial said.

Bangladeshi buyers have imported tea in bulk from neighbouring India, contributing to a glut in the domestic

market and reducing demand at the auction, industry sources said.

The large volume of unsold tea prompted authorities to extend the season by two weeks to April 15, allow-ing for two more auctions. l

SMS business should not be intruded, say mobile phone operators SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Price manipulation of such sort is not a new phenomenon at our bourses and it is sad to witness it over and over again

WEEKLY REVIEW

B2 Stock Sunday, March 16, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Weekly news from trade serverUNIQUEHRL: The Board of Directors has rec-ommended 25% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. The Company has also informed that an EGM will be held to extend time for implementation/utilization schedule of IPO fund. Date of EGM and AGM: 08.04.2014, Time of EGM and AGM: 10:00 AM and 10:30 AM respectively, Venue: Spec-tra Convention Center, House #19, Road #7, Gulshan-1, Dhaka-1212. Record Date for EGM and AGM: 18.03.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 3.44, NAV per share of Tk. 87.40 and NOCFPS of Tk. 5.34 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.MTBL: The Board of Directors has rec-ommended 10% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 10.04.2014, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Bashundhara Convention Centre 2, Block C, Umme Kulsum Road, Bashundhara R/A, Baridhara, Dhaka 1229. Record date: 20.03.2014. The Company has also reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 573.25 million, EPS of Tk. 2.05, NAV per share of Tk. 19.48 and NOCFPS of Tk. 15.47 for the year ended on December 31, 2013 as against Tk. 327.87 million, Tk. 1.17, Tk. 17.28 and Tk. 13.79 re-spectively for the year ended on December 31, 2012.SAFKOSPINN: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. The Board has also decided to issue Rights shares @ 3R:2 (i.e. 3 Rights shares for every 2 Ordinary shares held) at an issue price of Tk. 10.00 each after considering 10% bonus share for the year ended on December 31, 2013 subject to approval by the shareholders and the regulatory authorities. Date of AGM:

12.04.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Mill premises, Noyapara, Saihamnagar, Habigonj. Record Date: 20.03.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 1.14, NAV per share of Tk. 22.88 and NOCFPS of Tk. 0.73 for the year ended on 31.12.2013. Another record date for entitlement of the proposed rights shares to be noti� ed later after obtaining approval from BSEC.ARAMITCEM: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 10.04.2014, Time: 12:00 Noon, Venue: Hotel Saint Martin Limited, 25 Sheikh Mujib Road, Chittagong. Record Date: 20.03.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 2.56, NAV per share of Tk. 16.22 and NOCFPS of Tk. 4.21 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.ABBANK: The Board of Directors has recom-mended 5% cash dividend and 7% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. The Board has also decided to issue 'AB Bank Subordinated Bond' up to Tk. 250.00 crore for Tier-II Capital subject to approval of the concerned Regulatory Authorities and EGM of the Company. Date of EGM and AGM: 21.04.2014, Time of EGM and AGM: 9:00 AM and 9:15 AM respectively, Venue: Bashund-hara Convention Centre-02, Block-C, Umme Kulsum Road, Bashundhara R/A, Baridhara, Dhaka. Record date for EGM and AGM: 25.03.2014. The Company has also reported Consolidated EPS of Tk. 2.20, Consolidated NAV per share of Tk. 34.78 and Consolidated NOCFPS of Tk. 1.03 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.FIRSTSBANK: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend only for

Shareholders except Sponsors/Directors for the year ended on December 31, 2013. The Sponsors/Directors holding total 210,974,520 shares of the Company will not be entitled to recommended dividend. The total amount payable to public Sharehold-ers as dividend is Tk. 200,464,200.00. The Board has also decided to issue Rights shares @ 1R:2 (i.e. 1 Rights share for every 2 Ordinary shares) of Tk. 10.00 each at an issue price of Tk. 12.00 each (including a premium of Tk. 2.00 per share) subject to the approval by the shareholders and regulatory authorities. Purpose of the Rights share issue is to enhance and strengthen the capital base of the Company. Date of AGM: 25.04.2014, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Hotel Agrabad, Agrabad, Chittagong. Record date: 25.03.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 1.87, NAV per share of Tk. 15.64 and NOCFPS of Tk. 18.41 for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Another record date for entitlement of the proposed rights shares to be noti� ed later after obtaining approval from BSEC.GBBPOWER: The Board of Directors has recommended 15% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 16.04.2014, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Conference Hall, Hotel Naz Garden, Silimpur, Bogra-5800. Record Date: 25.03.2014. The Company has also reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 139.26 million, EPS of Tk. 1.90, NAV per share of Tk. 24.44 and NOCFPS of Tk. 2.91 for the year ended on December 31, 2013 as against Tk. 117.69 million, Tk. 1.61 (restated), Tk. 22.63 (restated) and Tk. 1.46 (restated) respectively for the year ended on December 31, 2012.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

IDLC Finance -A -23.66 -22.59 58.93 58.40 61.00 57.10 7.070 3.33 17.7UCBL - A -17.31 -16.68 23.72 23.40 29.00 23.00 55.953 3.66 6.5Eastern Bank - A -16.82 -16.43 27.16 27.20 31.60 27.10 0.740 4.15 6.5Brac Bank -A -16.67 -16.45 24.18 24.50 29.00 24.10 1.544 2.91 8.3Pubali Bank - A -15.13 -14.35 30.26 30.30 36.00 30.10 3.701 2.64 11.5Singer BD -A -14.87 -14.69 218.44 218.10 263.50 200.00 39.466 6.23 35.1Phoenix Insur -A -10.21 -10.21 42.20 42.20 46.00 40.90 0.098 3.81 11.1Northern G Insur-A -9.62 -9.62 45.10 45.10 48.40 45.00 0.367 3.04 14.8Prime Finance-A -9.41 -9.52 23.19 23.10 25.50 23.00 7.879 1.10 21.1Islami Ins.BD-A -9.37 -9.31 30.00 30.00 30.00 30.00 0.030 1.60 18.8

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

IDLC Finance -A -23.79 -22.78 58.83 58.30 62.10 53.30 108.819 3.33 17.7UCBL - A -17.08 -16.73 23.55 23.30 29.00 22.40 244.690 3.66 6.4Brac Bank -A -16.21 -15.58 24.44 24.30 31.00 22.00 33.670 2.91 8.4Singer BD -A -15.06 -14.61 219.21 218.80 275.00 190.00 498.055 6.23 35.2Pubali Bank - A -14.69 -13.15 30.37 30.20 36.50 27.70 46.260 2.64 11.5Eastern Bank - A -12.89 -12.31 28.06 27.70 32.00 26.00 39.144 4.15 6.8First Lease- A -10.20 -8.54 26.76 26.40 29.70 25.90 54.160 2.07 12.9Northern Jute -Z -10.00 -10.00 57.60 57.60 57.60 57.60 0.035 -10.24 -veAl-Haj Textile -A -9.70 -11.61 122.57 122.90 135.00 109.70 115.895 2.06 59.5United Leasing - A -9.24 -8.18 27.96 27.50 31.00 26.00 29.409 2.09 13.4

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

BSC-A 212,635 133.12 7.02 631.00 0.99 624.80 650.00 591.00 639.32BD Submarine Cable-A 574,366 128.04 6.75 219.70 -3.68 228.10 233.00 210.00 220.61Square Pharma -A 376,731 107.87 5.69 285.20 1.89 279.90 295.00 255.50 285.68LafargeS Cement-Z 2,123,500 98.83 5.21 48.90 13.72 43.00 49.60 42.60 48.96Padma Oil Co. -A 241,897 82.98 4.38 348.70 5.76 329.70 353.80 301.00 349.14Grameenphone-A 288,000 62.22 3.28 214.60 0.23 214.10 219.90 212.50 215.03BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 1,834,425 60.37 3.18 31.80 1.27 31.40 34.20 28.30 31.96UCBL - A 2,193,257 55.95 2.95 23.40 -17.31 28.30 29.00 23.00 23.72Square Textile -A 475,266 55.62 2.93 116.00 2.75 112.90 120.90 112.00 114.82Singer BD -A 175,961 39.47 2.08 218.10 -14.87 256.20 263.50 200.00 218.44

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Square Pharma -A 3,864,455 1106.45 5.39 285.00 1.86 279.80 295.00 265.00 285.98LafargeS Cement-Z 23,155,660 1090.71 5.31 48.80 13.49 43.00 49.70 43.00 48.93Padma Oil Co. -A 3,058,834 1045.64 5.09 348.20 5.68 329.50 355.00 302.00 349.98Meghna Petroleum -A 2,583,537 739.11 3.60 288.00 1.44 283.90 292.80 257.00 289.37BSC-A 1,042,445 654.48 3.19 634.50 1.68 624.00 651.00 592.50 641.07BD Submarine Cable-A 2,840,522 631.43 3.08 220.40 -3.33 228.00 235.00 198.90 221.30Olympic Ind. -A 2,679,290 591.97 2.88 222.30 -0.76 224.00 226.00 205.00 221.55Grameenphone-A 2,707,498 584.54 2.85 214.60 -0.05 214.70 219.50 200.00 215.35Square Textile -A 4,824,406 561.39 2.73 115.30 2.31 112.70 120.00 104.00 114.62Singer BD -A 2,169,942 498.06 2.43 218.80 -15.06 257.60 275.00 190.00 219.21

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Eastern Cables-Z 33.60 30.18 159.94 164.20 164.20 125.20 2.187 1.40 114.2Samata LeatheR -Z 28.16 28.16 31.40 31.40 32.00 26.50 0.740 -0.04 -veApex SpinningA 23.24 23.21 105.00 105.00 105.00 90.00 1.131 1.85 56.8Samorita Hospital -A 19.89 17.74 107.14 109.10 110.00 92.20 3.841 2.74 39.1Apex Foods -A 15.79 16.65 131.18 132.00 135.00 114.50 8.648 3.56 36.8LafargeS Cement-Z 13.72 14.61 48.96 48.90 49.60 42.60 98.833 2.19 22.4Sa� o Spinning-A 13.64 13.71 30.02 30.00 31.20 26.00 5.925 1.14 26.3Standard Ceramic -A 12.77 17.86 53.00 53.00 53.00 44.50 0.396 1.06 50.0Anlima Yarn -A 12.55 11.54 27.55 27.80 28.10 24.50 1.616 0.80 34.4The Ibn SinaA 11.66 10.47 125.02 126.40 127.00 114.50 9.082 3.12 40.1

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Eastern Cables-Z 30.88 29.21 162.13 165.70 165.90 120.00 44.767 1.40 115.8Renwick Jajneswar-A 18.77 16.87 275.07 288.50 290.00 235.00 71.785 5.32 51.7Apex SpinningA 18.51 16.63 102.17 103.10 107.00 88.00 37.927 1.85 55.2Samorita Hospital -A 16.86 16.75 107.36 108.10 110.90 85.00 68.941 2.74 39.2Apex Foods -A 15.05 13.79 127.90 130.70 135.00 114.60 132.161 3.56 35.9Samata LeatheR -Z 15.04 12.93 30.04 30.60 31.20 26.50 3.259 -0.04 -veDesh Garments -B 13.95 10.64 106.90 110.30 112.00 95.10 53.200 1.18 90.6LafargeS Cement-Z 13.49 14.06 48.93 48.80 49.70 43.00 1090.70 2.19 22.3Hakkani P& Paper -B 13.40 13.20 34.65 34.70 35.90 30.00 8.026 0.28 123.8Standard Ceramic -A 13.36 13.95 52.53 52.60 53.20 43.00 3.658 1.06 49.6

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 1743.10 8.49 170.32 8.57 1913.42 8.50NBFI 744.43 3.63 67.87 3.41 812.30 3.61Investment 343.85 1.68 19.14 0.96 362.99 1.61Engineering 2015.27 9.82 149.64 7.53 2164.91 9.62Food & Allied 1156.94 5.64 104.27 5.24 1261.21 5.60Fuel & Power 3038.93 14.80 207.79 10.45 3246.72 14.42Jute 39.31 0.19 0.00 0.00 39.31 0.17Textile 2332.15 11.36 215.17 10.82 2547.32 11.31Pharma & Chemical 2497.72 12.17 246.29 12.39 2744.01 12.19Paper & Packaging 8.03 0.04 28.58 1.44 36.61 0.16Service 127.91 0.62 11.96 0.60 139.87 0.62Leather 477.04 2.32 80.54 4.05 557.58 2.48Ceramic 104.18 0.51 15.97 0.80 120.16 0.53Cement 1792.36 8.73 138.87 6.99 1931.23 8.58Information Technology 168.87 0.82 18.31 0.92 187.19 0.83General Insurance 278.16 1.36 14.12 0.71 292.28 1.30Life Insurance 1159.25 5.65 52.44 2.64 1211.69 5.38Telecom 1215.97 5.92 190.26 9.57 1406.22 6.25Travel & Leisure 255.16 1.24 47.33 2.38 302.48 1.34Miscellaneous 1025.26 4.99 208.95 10.51 1234.21 5.48Debenture 3.50 0.02 0.27 0.01 3.77 0.02

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4635.33883 (-) 1.37% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1669.67708 (-) 1.21% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14348.5468 (-) 1.52% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 12099.0782 (-) 1.81% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 9030.4387 (-) 1.93% ▼

DSE key features March 09-13, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

20,527.39

Turnover (Volume)

354,231,981

Number of Contract 475,254

Traded Issues 299

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

108

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

189

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,297.25

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.85

CSE key features March 09-13, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 1,908.94

Turnover (Volume) 37,845,826

Number of Contract 67,840

Traded Issues 247

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

91

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

152

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,193.72

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.59

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

ANALYSTRipples in investors’ sentiment and apparent lack of directions prompted much more market level volatility this week

Mutual FundsLTP Daily

HighDaily

LowLatest clos-ing price

Change %

GRAMEEN1 44.20 44.90 44.10 44.40 -1.34%

RELIANCE1 9.30 9.40 9.30 9.30 0.00%

AIMS1STMF 43.70 43.70 42.90 43.10 0.46%

LRGLOBMF1 7.10 7.20 7.10 7.10 0.00%

TRUSTB1MF 7.60 7.80 7.60 7.60 0.00%

SEBL1STMF 8.30 8.40 8.30 8.30 0.00%

1STICB 855.00 855.10 855.00 855.00 -0.62%

2NDICB 0.00 0.00 0.00 273.90 0.00%

3RDICB 220.10 220.10 218.00 219.80 2.37%

4THICB 216.00 216.00 214.90 215.10 2.86%

5THICB 186.00 190.00 182.00 186.00 1.86%

6THICB 62.80 62.90 62.10 62.50 1.13%

7THICB 0.00 0.00 0.00 95.00 0.00%

8THICB 66.40 69.50 66.40 68.20 -4.05%

PRIME1ICBA 6.00 6.00 5.90 6.00 0.00%

POPULAR1MF 6.70 6.70 6.50 6.50 1.52%

PHPMF1 6.30 6.30 6.10 6.20 1.61%

PF1STMF 5.70 5.90 5.70 5.70 -1.72%

ABB1STMF 7.50 7.60 7.50 7.50 -1.32%

NLI1STMF 8.80 9.00 8.80 8.80 -1.12%

NCCBLMF1 8.30 8.40 7.80 8.10 5.06%

MBL1STMF 8.00 8.20 7.90 7.90 -1.23%

IFILISLMF1 6.80 6.90 6.80 6.80 0.00%

IFIC1STMF 6.80 6.90 6.80 6.80 0.00%

ICBEPMF1S1 6.00 6.00 5.80 5.90 3.45%

GRAMEENS2 16.80 17.50 16.70 16.70 0.00%

1JANATAMF 6.70 6.80 6.60 6.70 0.00%

EBLNRBMF 7.60 7.60 7.60 7.60 2.70%

EBL1STMF 6.80 6.90 6.80 6.80 0.00%

FBFIF 9.20 9.90 9.20 9.50 2.22%

ICB2NDNRB 10.90 11.00 10.60 10.60 -1.80%

AIBL1STIMF 7.90 8.10 7.90 7.90 -1.25%

DBH1STMF 6.40 6.60 6.40 6.40 -1.54%

GREENDELMF 6.00 6.10 6.00 6.00 0.00%

1STPRIMFMF 19.90 20.10 19.70 19.80 0.51%

ICB1STNRB 27.80 27.90 27.60 27.80 0.72%

ICB3RDNRB 5.40 5.50 5.30 5.30 1.89%

ICBAMCL2ND 6.80 6.80 6.60 6.70 1.49%

ICBISLAMIC 21.50 21.50 21.40 21.40 0.00%

EXIM1STMF 0.00 0.00 0.00 7.80 0.00%

ICBSONALI1 8.90 8.90 8.70 8.70 1.14%

Banks to be hit with Microsoft costs for running outdated ATMsn Reuters, London

Banks around the world, consumed with meeting more stringent capital regulations, will miss a deadline to up-grade outdated software for automated teller machines (ATMs) and face addi-tional costs to Microsoft to keep them secure.

The US software company � rst warned that it was planning to end sup-port for Windows XP in 2007, but only one-third of the world’s 2.2 million ATMs which use the system will have been up-graded to a new platform, such as Win-dows 7 by the April deadline, according to NCR, one of the biggest ATM makers.

To ensure the machines are protect-ed against viruses and hackers many banks have agreed deals with Microsoft to continue supporting their ATMs un-til they are upgraded, extra costs and negotiations that were avoidable but are now likely to be a distraction for bank executives.

“There are certainly large enterprise customers who haven’t � nished their migrations yet and are purchasing cus-tom support,” a spokesman for Micro-soft said, declining to name those cus-tomers or to quantify the extra revenue it is earning.

“The cost will depend on both the speci� c needs of the customer and what support they already have in place, so it’s di� erent for every cus-tomer.”

Britain’s � ve biggest banks - Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scot-land, HSBC, Barclays and Santander UK - either have, or are in the process of negotiating, extended support con-tracts with Microsoft.

The cost of extending support and upgrading to a new platform for each of Britain’s main banks would be in the region of 50 to 60m pounds ($100m), according to Sridhar Athreya, London-based head of � nancial services advi-sory at technology � rm SunGard Con-sulting, an estimate corroborated by a source at one of the banks.

Athreya said banks have left it late to upgrade systems after being over-whelmed by new regulatory demands in the wake of the 2007-08 � nancial crisis.

“They were probably not very seri-ous about the directive that came in from Microsoft. There’s a lot of change going on at these banks at this moment

in time and they would have seen Win-dows XP as one more change,” he said.

Windows XP currently supports around 95% of the world’s ATMs.

About 440,000 - or one-� fth of the world’s ATMs - are located in the Unit-ed States and many of the banks oper-ating them will still be running their ATMs with Windows XP for a while after the April 8 deadline, said Doug Johnson, vice president for risk man-agement policy at the American Bank-ers Association.

“One thing in our favor is that XP is battle-hardened,” Johnson said. “Peo-ple will bene� t from years of � ne-tun-ing of XP...It has been through wars.”

Stand in lineThe queue of banks waiting to upgrade means there aren’t enough people to do the work.

“There is a little bit of a bottle-neck,” said Johnson.

Some banks are using the upgrade as an opportunity to introduce new features to their ATMs such as being able to read cards that have microchips rather than magnetic stripes.

Banks in the United States, where the old-fashioned swipe and sign mag-netic stripe credit cards are still in use, have to upgrade their ATMs to read chip cards.

JPMorgan, which has 19,200 ATMs, will start converting its machines to Windows 7 in July, with a goal of � n-ishing by the end of the year. With the change, JPMorgan expects to improve data encryption and ensure machines take software upgrades more e� cient-ly and be o� ine for less time.

A spokeswoman for the bank de-clined to say how much JPMorgan is paying Microsoft for the extended XP coverage.

Bank of America also said it would ask Microsoft to extend support for its machines still running on Windows XP.

Citigroup Inc, which has more than 12,000 ATMs worldwide, said it is in the process of upgrading its machines from XP and declined to give further details.

In Britain, RBS, which has been hit by a succession of IT problems, has agreed a fee with Microsoft in return for it continuing to support its 9,000 ATMs for up to three years, a source

familiar with the arrangement told Re-uters.

RBS will begin upgrading its ATMs to run on Windows 7 next year and ex-pects to complete the process within three years, the source said. The in-vestment is part of the 1.4bn pounds each year which new Chief Executive Ross McEwan has committed in order to improve the bank’s computer sys-tems.

McEwan admitted in December that RBS had neglected its technology for decades.

Lloyds said it had agreed to pay Microsoft an undisclosed amount to extend support until 2016 while it up-grades its 7,000 ATMs. The bank will start upgrading its ATMs later this year.

HSBC, which has 3,200 ATMs, said it was two years into a three-year pro-gramme of upgrades which it expects to complete next year. It had also reached a deal with Microsoft.

Barclays, which has 4,300 ATMs, said it was still negotiating with Mi-crosoft while Santander UK, which has 2,370 ATMs, said it had already agreed a deal. l

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in Bangladesh, with support from Chinese Chamber of Commerce, has recently organised a discussion platform on the topic of ‘Bangladesh - China Business Outlook’. Li Jun, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Andrew Tilke, CEO of HSBC Bangladesh, Li Zhen, head of China outbound of HSBC China, Bai Junkun, chairperson, China Chamber of Commerce and Shahidul Islam, research fellow and consultant at the Institute of Governance Studies (IGS), BRAC University in Dhaka, were the speakers of the session

NRB Global Bank Limited formally opened its Motijheel branch in Dhaka on March 13. Nizam Chowdhury, the bank’s chairperson inaugurated the operations of the branch as chief guest

Bank Asia has provided higher studies scholarship to 17 insolvent meritorious students of Lohagara Upazila of Chittagong recently as a part of its corporate social responsibility. Md Mehmood Husain, the bank’s president and MD handed over the scholarship money to the students at a function held at a local hotel

In a grand ceremony at hotel in Dhaka, mobile handset company Symphony has launched Octa Core run smart phone, ZIII on Friday. Chairperson of Edison group Md Aminur Rashid introduced the Octa Core handset after a laser and fashion show

Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited has signed International Air Express Services Agreement with DHL Express Bangladesh on March 10 at the bank’s board room. Md Habibur Rahman, the bank’s MD and Desmond Quiah, country manager of DHL Express Bangladesh signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides

Standard Bank Training Institute organised a course on banking laws and practices during March 9-13. Mr. Md. Nazmus Salehin, MD and CEO distributed the certi� cates among the participants in concluding ceremony as chief guest

India in� ation falls to surprise nine-month lown AFP, New Delhi

India’s in� ation slipped to a surprise nine-month low in February, o� cial data showed Friday, o� ering the gov-ernment some respite ahead of elec-tions that kick o� next month.

The Wholesale Price Index - the most widely watched price barometer - eased to 4.68% in February from a year earlier from 5.05% the previous month.

The data - the last before a central bank policy meeting in April 1 - beat market forecasts of 4.9%.

But the good news may come too late to boost the fortunes of the Con-gress-led government, which is trailing in opinion polls and which has been desperate to tame in� ation and revive the economy as it seeks a third term.

Asia’s third-largest economy has been gripped by “stag� ation”, econo-mists say, with prices accelerating briskly while economic growth slowed last year to 4.5%, its lowest in a decade.

Business has been clamouring for a cut in the benchmark lending rate, now at a hefty eight percent, to boost slumping growth by lowering borrow-ing costs.

Earlier this week, retail in� ation,

which uses a smaller basket of goods - hit a 25 month low of 8.1% in February, but still twice as high as the long-term target of 4% targeted by the central bank, which has hiked rates three times since September to curb price rises.

The slip in February’s in� ation the back of a drop in food costs but lashing rains in the past few weeks have hurt crops, which could see prices rise again, econ-omists say.

India’s right-wing Hindu national-ists, p erceived by business as more likely to get the economy back on track, are tipped to win the general elections, whose results are due in May. l

Yen rises in Asian trade on China, Ukraine woesn AFP, Tokyo

The yen rose in Asia Friday, extending gains in New York on concerns about China’s economy and the Ukraine cri-sis, while the euro fell after the head of Europe’s Central Bank pledged to take action to � ght de� ation.

The dollar fell to 101.73 yen from 101.85 yen late in New York and well below 102.73 yen in Tokyo earlier Thursday.

And the euro 141.14 yen against 141.28 yen and 142.81 Thursday in To-kyo.

The single currency also eased to $1.3860, from $1.3870 - after touching a 29-month high of 1.3967 at one point in

the previous session.Global markets have been in turmoil

this week after China at the weekend released surprisingly weak trade data

that compounded lingering fears of a downturn in the world’s number two economy and key growth driver.

Another batch of disappointing � g-

ures Thursday added to those worries, sending investors into lower-risk assets such as the yen, which is viewed as a safe haven in times of economic uncer-tainty.

Investors are also on edge as the Crimea prepares for a referendum Sun-day on becoming part of Russia, a vote the West has called illegal.

The top diplomats of the US and Russia are due to meet in Londo n to de-fuse the crisis but the West has warned Moscow of a serious backlash over the vote as the US and EU prepare sanc-tions against those blamed for stirring the tensions.

The euro came under pressure after European Central Bank chief Mario

Draghi said Thursday that the risk of de� ation in the eurozone was limited, but said he was ready to act decisively in case in� ation expectations shift down.

He also noted that medium and long-term expectations remain an-chored to the ECB’s objective of just be-low 2% but acknowledged “the longer in� ation remains low, the higher the probability of such risks emerging”, ac-cording to a text of his speech released by the bank.

The euro on Thursday touched its highest level since late 2011 after up-beat eurozone industrial output data raised hopes for recovery in the trou-bled economy. l

A man walks past automated teller machines (ATMs) outside a HSBC bank in London REUTERS

Facebook airs TV-style advertisementsn AFP, San Francisco

Facebook on Thursday began weaving video ads into people’s news feeds at the leading online social network in a move to grab revenue from the lucra-tive television market.

Premium Video Ads that Facebook began testing at the end of last year are being gradually integrated into accounts of its more than 1.2 billion members, product marketing manager Susan Buckner said in an online post.

“Brands now have another way of engaging people on Facebook with compelling video experiences,” Buck-ner said.

“We’ll roll out Premium Video Ads slowly and monitor how people inter-act with them.”

The 15-second video ads play auto-matically when they pop-up in news feeds and are designed for advertis-ers who want to reach large audiences

with sight, sound and motion, accord-ing to Facebook.

Facebook did not disclose rates, but online reports indicated daily spots aimed at wide numbers of members at prime times could cost as much as $2.5m a day.

“Premium Video Ads are bought and measured in a way that’s similar to how advertisers already buy and mea-sure ads on TV,” Buckner said.

Facebook has teamed with a compa-ny called Ace Metrix to measure such creative components of ads as watch-ability, meaningfulness and “emotion-al resonance.”

Facebook said it is working with a small set of advertisers at the start to develop high-quality campaigns.

New video ads should begin appear-ing in Facebook members’ news feeds on desktop computers and mobile de-vices over the course of the next few months, according to Buckner. l

GoDaddy eyes initial public o� ering n Reuters

Web hosting company The GoDaddy Group Inc is preparing for a second run at an initial public o� ering, according to two people familiar with the matter, as the 2014 tech IPO pipeline continues to grow.

GoDaddy, the Internet domain registrar and web host known for its racy ads, would join a number of high-pro� le technames expected to go public this year in the wake of Twitter Inc’s successful debut. They include “Candy Crush” developer King Digital

and cloud services providers Box and Dropbox.

The company is in the process of selecting underwriters for its IPO, one of the two sources said on condition of anonymity.

GoDaddy was not immediately available for comment.

GoDaddy had � led to go public in 2006 but was told at the time that it would be required to take a 50% hair-cut - a percentage that is subtracted from the par value of assets that are being used as collateral - on its initial public o� ering. l

Asia’s third-largest economy has been gripped by 'stag� ation' economists say, with prices accelerating briskly while economic growth slowed last year to 4.5%, its lowest in a decade

The dollar fell to 101.73 yen from 101.85 yen late in New York and well below 102.73 yen in Tokyo earlier Thursday

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014

DILBERT

O P I N I O N

The curious case of rights sharen Asif Khan

On the morning of July 30, 2013, Barclays saw its share price come down by 5%. The reason was a declaration by the bank that they will raise GBP 5.8bn via a rights o� ering. The move was mainly driven by the banking regulator’s new rule requiring banks to have more capital. Shareholders clearly did not like it. In a similar fashion, National Grid, which is a power utility company in the UK and US, saw its share price come down by 7% on May 20, 2010 following an announcement to gather around GBP 3.2bn through a rights o� er.A rights o� ering is basically a form of rais-ing capital. Companies in need of capital for various purposes can ask its existing shareholders to provide additional funds in exchange for newly issued shares. Stocks in

developed markets typically can go either way when a rights o� ering is announced. For example in our Barclay’s example, the stock price came down on the announce-ment. In Bangladesh, the direction mostly goes one way, which would be upwards. This phe-nomenon explains the title of this article.For the typical retail (and even institutional investor) in Bangladesh “rights share” is a magical word full of promises, and the smell of it can cause stock prices of companies to skyrocket. Back in the golden era (pun in-tended) of 2009-2010, stock prices would easily double due to such rumours. This is clearly ine� cient, because the price of the company’s shares, following an announce-ment for rights, should actually depend on what the company plans to do with it. In layman terms, if the company can invest these newly-injected funds for highly

pro� table businesses with high Return on Investment (ROI), stock price should go up. If the historical ROI is low, then there is a very high chance that this marginal capital will also lead to suboptimal returns. There is absolutely no reason on earth for stock prices to jump upwards. Even compa-nies with high ROI have seen stock prices slump as they planned to do costly acquisi-tions with the money raised by the rights. Just like any other investment, for rights shares also “the devil lies in the details.” Stock market is not a place for speculation; and unless careful analysis is done before making investment decisions, it is very easy to get burned. l

The writer is deputy head of equity research at BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage who writes on � nance and economics at www.asi� han.info

Pedestrians pass giant sunglasses in Piazza Farnese, d Rome as part of an advertising campaign AFP

Coca-Cola hoping to score big at World Cupn AFP, New York

The world’s football stars will not be the only ones competing for glory at this year’s World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. Coca-Cola will also be running hard.

The US soft-drink giant, facing low-er sales in North America, is an o� cial sponsor of the 20th World Cup, consid-ered along with the Olympics as one of the world’s top sporting events.

Coca-Cola plans a marketing blitz with commercials featuring football stars and jingles celebrating the foot-ball extravaganza. The beverage maker has also sponsored a tour of the FIFA World Cup trophy that will visit 90 countries overall.

“The event is a win-win for Coke,” said William Chipps, an analyst at IEG, a leading sponsorship consultancy.

“With an event, especially a global event like the World Cup, that’s a very unique platform for global brands. There’s only a handful of properties that will allow you to have a global campaign built around it.”

Brazil seen as growth market Along with a massive global audi-

ence, Coca-Cola has high hopes that Brazil itself will be a major growth mar-ket that will make up for headwinds in its huge US market.

Soft-drink consumption in Brazil remains relatively low on a per-capita

basis. So far there has been scant atten-tion paid to concerns about potential health ills from the carbonated soft drinks that have hit US sales.

US states such as California and Il-linois have proposed taxes on soda. In Mexico, a major Latin American mar-ket, the government recently imposed a tax of one peso per liter on soda to counter the risks of obesity and diabe-tes from the sugary drinks.

Coca-Cola expects to invest $7.6bn in Brazil between 2012 and 2016 to build its soda-making and distribution businesses.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based giant holds 27% of the market in non-alco-holic drinks in Brazil, a sector estimat-ed at $43bn in 2013 and which could grow by six percent through 2017, ac-cording to analysts at Tre� s.

Brazil accounted for seven percent of Coca-Cola’s sales by volume last year.

Charm o� ensiveThe World Cup, which starts June 12,

is expected to be watched by four bil-lion fans worldwide, according to IEG.

Major advertising is planned not only for the company’s iconic soda brands, such as Coke and Diet Coke, but also for other beverages, like its Dasani water brand and Minute Maid fruit juices.

A commercial spot for Coca-Cola’s Powerade sports drink will feature An-dre Iniesta, who scored the goal in 2010

that won the World Cup for Spain.The company will manufacture

about 300 million pieces of merchan-dise with the World Cup logo.

It has also commissioned singer David Correy to record “The World is Ours” with Brazilian band Monobloco.

Coca-Cola says it has already spent millions on early marketing e� orts. A spokeswoman declined to disclose the marketing budget.

“The 2014 FIFA World Cup is the most important marketing initiative for the company in 2014 - in terms of both short-term volume growth and long-term brand-health scores,” said Coca-Cola spokeswoman Kate Wharton.

Wharton said the spending would be higher than it was for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa or last year’s Eu-rope Cup.

IEG estimates an overall Coca-Cola marketing budget in the “multi-mil-lions,” plus $30 million per year in its multi-year partnership with FIFA, the international governing body of asso-ciation football.

“When you look across the world at consumer passions, one of the things that resonates almost everywhere is soccer,” Chipps said, using the Ameri-can name for football.

“It is an opportunity for Coke to associate its brand with consumers’ passion.” l

'Sanctions will badly squeeze Russian economy'n AFP, Moscow

A former Russian � nance minister and one-time close con� dante of Vladimir Putin said the country’s already-trou-bled economy could be in serious dif-� culty if the West imposes sanctions over Crimea.

Alexei Kudrin, who remains well-re-spected in business circles despite be-ing � red from his post in 2011, said the knock-on e� ects of Russia’s apparent annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula were already being felt.

“I can already say that the credit taps for Russia are being turned o� ,” he said.

“Russian companies have around $700 billion-worth of outstanding loans.

“The amount of money available is already starting to fall because some lines of credit are being stemmed, and this has already started,” he said in comments published on his

website on Friday.“That means some joint projects

will have to be stopped.”Moscow and the West are facing o�

over the fate of Crimea, a largely Rus-sian-speaking peninsula in Ukraine, where pro-Kremlin forces have taken control ahead of a referendum on Sun-day over whether to join Russia.

Washington and its allies say the referendum is an illegal � g leaf for Rus-sian annexation. Moscow claims it is protecting ethnic Russians who should be allowed to determine their own identity.

The West have threatened economic and political penalties unless Putin withdraws from Ukraine, but with only two days to go before the vote, there is no sign of his backing down.

“I think in these circumstances (economic growth) will be less than one percent, maybe even zero,” said Kudrin. l

Fed’s balance sheet reaches $4tn at end of 2013n AFP, Washington

The Federal Reserve said Friday its bal-ance sheet swelled to $4tn at the end of 2013 as it made massive asset purchas-es to support the US economy.

The Fed, in a report of its 2013 � nan-cial results, said net assets increased by $1.1tn compared with its balance on December 31, 2012.

It paid net pro� t of $79.6bn to the US Treasury. By law, the non-pro� t central bank is required to turn over any pro� t in excess of operating and other expenses to the government.

Last year’s Treasury payment was

less than the record $88.4bn in 2012. The Fed said it had reaped no gains on the sales of US Treasury securities in 2013 compared with $13.3bn in gains in the prior year.

While earnings are generated by the interest rate the Fed charges to banks in re� nancing operations, the bulk of the Fed’s 2013 earnings came from in-terest accrued from the asset-purchase program, which is aimed at tamping down long-term interest rates to en-courage US lending and hiring.

Interest income on securities grew to $90.4bn at the end of 2013, an in-crease of $9.9tn from a year earlier.

The central banked racked up $85bn a month in asset purchases every month last year. In January and Feb-ruary it cut that back by $10bn each month, slowing the buying pace to $65bn.

By the end of the year, the Fed’s holdings of US Treasury securities increased by $550.2bn, and federal agency and certain mortgage-backed securities grew by $583.5bn.

The Federal Open Market Commit-tee is widely expected to decide an-other $10bn cut to asset purchases at its policy meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday. l

Global powers sign declaration on sustainable � shingn AFP, Athens

O� cials from some of the world’s top � shing powers signed a declaration in Greece on Friday to promote sustain-able management of � sh stocks.

The signatories - the EU, United States, Japan, Philippines, Colombia and Indonesia - pledged to support measures to address � shing overcapacity.

These include developing interna-tional � shing vessel records, limiting the number of licenses and vessel ton-nage and eliminating � sheries subsi-dies that contribute to overcapacity and over� shing.

“We bear responsibility for the con-servation of living marine resources and thus for addressing overcapacity when it undermines conservation and sustainability objectives,” the state-ment said. The event was organised in Thessaloniki under Greece’s rotating EU presidency.

According to the European Com-mission, the EU imports 70% of its � sh intake. Overall, the bloc accounts for a fourth of the world’s seafood resources.

Some progress has been made.In 2013, 25 stocks were � shed sus-

tainably in the North Sea and Atlantic, � ve times more than in 2009, the Euro-pean Commission says. This is expected to increase to 31 stocks in 2015.

But environmental group Greenpeace stressed that more action is needed.

“EU countries should start by scrap-ping the largest and most destructive industrial � shing vessels, initiating a shift towards small-scale low-impact � shing, which is more environmentally sustain-

able, creates jobs and supports local com-munities,” the group said in a statement.

The organisation’s oceans policy ad-visor Sebastian Losada added: “Better management of � shing capacity is criti-cal and long overdue. Governments must ensure that excess � shing capac-ity is removed and not just dispatched to new � shing grounds.”

EU Maritime A� airs and Fisheries Com-missioner Maria Damanaki conceded in an online article this week that enforc-ing compliance by states has been a “struggle”.

“To achieve the right balance between � shing power and natural resources, all global actors need to pull together,” she wrote in a Hu� ngton Post article.

But she noted that scrapping � shing vessels piecemeal was not in itself an answer to the problem.

“The solution must be a well-de-signed mix of structural and conserva-tion tools, rights-based management systems, tighter controls and, especial-ly, incentives for diversi� cation,” Dam-anaki said in the article, jointly written with former World Trade Organisa-tion director-general Pascal Lamy and South African national planning minis-ter Trevor Manuel. l A woman walks in front of the Federal Reserve Building in Washington while the Fed is inside meeting REUTERS

LEADERSHIP SUMMIT 2014Building business through connectivityn Tribune Business Desk

Before joining Grameenphone Ltd in January 2013 as CEO, Mr Vivek Sood was Executive Vice President and Chief Fi-nancial O� cer (CFO) of the Indian mo-bile operator Uninor. With more than 42 million subscribers, Uninor is one of the fastest growing mobile operators in India. As CFO of Uninor, Mr Sood was responsible for setting performance measures and achieving � nancial goals. His 22 years of experience also include executive positions in companies like Tata AIG life Insurance, Hutchison Tele-com, Tupperware India and Hindustan Lever Limited (Unilever).

“Throughout my career I have al-ways been driven by a hunger and pas-sion to build business. I am therefore delighted and pleased to be o� ered the opportunity to head Grameenphone, the leading telecom operator in Ban-gladesh, and one of the country’s most recognised brands. I look forward to working with the employees in devel-oping the company further to bene� t customers, employees and the Bangla-deshi community,” said Vivek Sood, ap-pointed CEO of Grameenphone.

In the Leadership Summit 2014 Mr Sood’s discussion will revolve around the topic, Communication to Connectivity. l

Scrapping � shing vessels piecemeal was not in itself an answer to the problem