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Khaleda: Zia wasfirst presidentof BangladeshnMohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yester-day claimed that party founder ZiaurRahman was the first president ofBangladesh as he proclaimed the inde-pendence of the country.

Tarique Rahman, eldest son ofKhaleda Zia and Ziaur Rahman, at a

discussion in London first claimed thathis father was the first president of thecountry citing the same logic.In 1971 when nobody was saying any-thing Ziaur Rahman proclaimed the in-dependence. Thats why he is the firstpresident of the country. Awami leagueis scared of Ziaur Rahman as he is theannouncer of independence, Khaledasaid addressing a discussion at the In-stitution of Engineers, Bangladesh.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Cornered Tigers face high flying IndianMazhar Uddin

When a team is low in confidence forreasons both on and off the field, oneshould guard against expecting any-thing outstanding from that team. Un-fortunately and sadly, that is the currentstate of Bangladesh cricket team as theyface the high flying India in their secondencounter of the super ten stage of the

World T20 Championship at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium this evening.

The cricket-crazy fans of the nationwould be hoping for a better display

today as the Tigers look to put the dis-appointments of losing against Hong

Kong and West Indies behind themand roar back to their vintage best. Themain challenge for the Tigers wouldbe to actually gather mental strengthwhich they have been lacking recently.They must know a win today will es-sentially take them out of the focus ofall the negativity and criticism whichhave recently engulfed the team bad-ly. However, only their on field per-

formances will prove whether BCBPAGE 2 COLUMN 4

WHAT HISTORY SAYSP2

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World9 Kim Jong Uns distinctive hairstyle

is the do of the day on the Internet,

thanks to a viral report that every male

university student in the capital is now

under orders to get a buzz just like it.

News5 The Science and Industrial

Technology Fair 2014 began in the

capital yesterday.

INSIDE

B1|NEXT BUDGET MAY SEE 5YEAR ROADMAP

Bangladeshi players do stretching exercises during a training session yesterday in Dhaka ahead of their ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup match against India AP

PM to Biman: Make profit or face closurenMuhammad Zahidul Islam

Despite offering all-time best services,national flag carrier Biman is incurringmassive losses, which the authoritiesclaim was because of the political cha-os and a fall in manpower export to theMiddle East.

The airliner lost 18.59% of revenueand 18.49% of passengers in the first

eight months (July-February) of the on-going fiscal (FY 2013-14) compared tothe same time a year ago.

Revenue for July 2013 to February2014 stood at Tk1,858.27 crore, downfrom Tk2,282.48 crore during thesame period in the previous fiscal. Theamount is just a touch over two-thirdsof what the carrier targeted for theeight-month period.

At present, Biman is operatingflights on a total of 19 routes, the high-est ever in history. It is going to intro-duce a new flight to Frankfurt on March31 and New York in June.

It has recently added a new Boeing777 aircraft called Ranga Provat to itsfleet. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in-augurated the aircraft yesterday.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Bangladeshpolio-freeNot a single case of polio has beenreported in the country since 2006nMoniruzzaman Uzzal

Bangladesh could have got the po-lio-free status five years ago had itnot been for its neighbours India andNepal, who took three and four more

years respectively than what Bangla-desh took to eliminate the fatal diseasefrom its soil.

Yesterday, the South-East Asia Re-gional Certification Commission forPolio Eradication (SEARCCPE), an in-dependent panel of 11 experts in publichealth, epidemiology, virology, clinicalmedicine and related specialties, de-clared the region polio-free.

Before that, the commission met fortwo days in New Delhi to review evi-dence from 11 countries, prior to decid-ing that the countries had met the cer-tification requirements, which includedensuring at least three years of zero con-firmed cases due to indigenous wild po-liovirus; excellent laboratory-based sur-veillance for poliovirus; demonstratedcapacity to detect, report, and respondto imported cases of poliomyelitis; andassurance of safe containment of polio-viruses in laboratories.

According to the World Health Or-

ganisations (WHO) South East AsiaRegional Offi ce (SEARO), the polio -free

countries are Bangladesh, India, Nepal,Indonesia, Myanmar, Bhutan, NorthKorea, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand,and East Timor.

Professor Dr Mahmudur Rahman, amember of the SEARCCPE, confirmed

the news. The announcement ceremo-ny was also attended by State Ministerfor Health Zahid Maleque, Director ofprimary healthcare Dr Abu Zafor MdMusa, and Dr Shafiqur Rahman, pro-gramme manager of the Expanded Pro-gramme of Immunisation (EPI).

The WHO South-East Asia Region,home to a quarter of the worlds pop-ulation, became the fourth of six WHORegions to be certified polio-free. Withthis step, 80% of the worlds populationnow lives in certified polio-free regions.

Dr Tajul Islam Bari, former pro-gramme manager of the EPI, told theDhaka Tribune that six SEARO coun-tries Bhutan, North Korea, Maldives,Sri Lanka, Thailand, and East Timor have been polio-free for more than15 years, while the rest have remainedpolio free for different time periods(Bangladesh and Indonesia since 2006,Myanmar since 2007, Nepal since 2010,and India since 2011).

Certification of the region came asPAGE 2 COLUMN 2

WT| TEACHING TO WRITE OWN HISTORIES 7| WORKING FOR DISASTER PREPAREDNESS 13|LANNING HITS RECORD 126 IN AUSSIE WIN

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News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, March 28, 2014

Members of Rapid Action Battalion present before the media two drug peddlers with 2,825 bottles of phensidyl seized at Kaliganj upazila of Jhenaidah yesterday BANGLAR CHOKH

CURBING CRIMES

Benazir blamespolitical culture

nMohammad Jamil Khan

Benazir Ahmed, commissioner of Dha-ka Metropolitan Police (DMP), yester-day said curbing crime was not possi-ble as law enforcers remained occupiedwith tackling political programmes.

The ongoing political culture is re-sponsible for this. Police are always busychasing people accused in politicallymotivated cases and which is why theycannot squeeze out time to curb crimeand arrest criminals, Benazir added.

DMP commissioner made such

statement while addressing a view-ex-change meeting at the DMP headquar-ters organised by the Coalition againstTobacco Bangladesh.

Mili Bishwash, additional commis-sioner (tra ffi c), Abdul Jalil, a ddition-al commissioner (admin), IbrahmiFatemi, joint commissioner and AliNiamat, president of the Coalitionagainst Tobacco also spoke on the oc-casion.

We have given all-out effort tomaintain security of people during po-litical unrest but if we had given thesame effort to arrest criminals, peoplecould have lived a more peaceful life.We could also have busted drug nets.

We have arrested over 400 drugdealers in the capital over the last threemonth and the mobile courts punishedthose drug dealers, he said.

He claimed that there has no phen-sydil factory in the capital. He urgedpeople to help police in controlling

crime and stop the use of drug. l

BNP website: Zia seventh presidentnTribune Report

It appears that the BNP has been con-tradicting itself on its claim regardingZiaur Rahman being the first presi-dent of Bangladesh as Khaleda Ziaand Tarique Rahmans claim does notmatch the information on the partysoffi cial webs ite.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yes-terday claimed that Zia was the firstpresident of Bangladesh. Her elder sonand the partys Senior Vice-Chairman

Tarique Rahman made the same claimon Wednesday.

However, on the BNP website,https://bangladeshnationalistpar-ty-bnp.org, the party acknowledges Zi-aur Rahman as the seventh president ofthe country.

Founded in 1978 by Major GeneralZiaur Rahman, the Seventh Presidentof Bangladesh, the party has evolvedinto one of the most powerful politicalentities in South Asia, reads the found-ing history section on the website.

On the note of authenticity of the web-site, the Dhaka Tribune looked up theaddress with www.whois.com a websitethat looks up website registration. It saysthe website is registered to the Bangla-desh Nationalist Party with registrant IDCR81094577 and offi ce address of 28-1Nayapaltan, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rah-man was the first president of Bangladeshafter independence up to January 1972,national encyclopedia Banglapedia says.

Abu Sayeed Choudhury was the sec-

ond president from January 1972 untilDecember 1973 and then Mohammad-ullah from 1973 to January 1975.

Bangabandhu was the president forthe second time from January 1975 un-til his assassination in August that year,after which Khondakar Mostaq Ahmedtook charge for a brief period.

Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem wasthe president from November 1975 toApril 1977. It was Ziaur Rahman whocame as the seventh president of thecountry. l

Afil and Monirulapologise forviolating codenMohammad Zakaria

Sheikh Afil Uddin and Monirul Islamelected from Jessore-1 and Jessore-2constituencies yesterday sought apol-ogy for violating the electoral code ofconduct during the 10th parliamentaryelections held on January 5.

They sought the apology during ahearing on the issue held at the ElectionCommission. However, the commissionwill give its order on Sunday, ECs seniorassistant secretary (law wing) MosharafHossain told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said the hearing started at 11:00am and ended just after five minutes.

Acting chief election commissionerAbdul Mobarak, election commission-ers Mohammad Abu Hafiz, Md ShahNewaz, Zabed Ali and acting secretaryof EC Sirazul Islam were present.

On January 7, the EC issued show

cause notice to Afil and Monirul, askingthem why their candidature would notbe cancelled for v iolating the electoralcode of conduct.

On January 1, an agent of indepen-dent candidate Rafiqul Islam broughtthe allegation against the duo. Theelectoral inquiry committee that sub-mitted its probe report to the commis-sion on January 3 found that the two

violated the code of conduct.On January 15, the two MPs-elect re-

plied to the show cause notice. They crit-icised five dailies Dinkal, Prothom Alo,Manabzamin, Dhaka Tribune and DailyStar for publishing biased reports.

The two said they think the commis-sion cannot cancel their candidature asper Article 91E in the Representation ofthe People O rder. The returni ng offi cercould apply the laws before announc-ing the results, but there was no chanceto enforce the laws after they had beendeclared elected, they added.

They filed writ petitions with theHigh Court, seeking order to publish thegazette of election results. The HC, how-ever, asked the EC to resolve the matter.

On December 30, Afil, also vice-pres-ident of Jessore district Awami League,called on the ruling party activists to bringout a victory procession by 11:59am on

January 5 after casting false votes forMonirul by occupying the polling centres.He gave the directives while speak-

ing as the chief guest at a views- ex-change meeting of Moniruls pollingagents on the Parbazar High Schoolpremises in Jhikargachha upazila.

The commission has yet to publishthe gazette of election results of thetwo constituencies. l

Sabiha gets ALnomination again

nTribune Report

The ruling Awami League has againchosen Sabiha Nahar Begum whosenomination paper for elections to re-served women seats was cancelled bythe Election Commission because ofhaving default telephone bill.

The decision was made by the partysParliamentary Board at its meeting yes-terday at Ganabhaban, presided over byPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Offi ce Sec-retary Abdus Sobhan Golap told reporters.

Shabiha got the party ticket alongwith 38 others on March 6 and she filedthe nomination paper. After scrutiny,the EC on March 11 cancelled her nom-ination paper for defaulting telephonebills worth Tk11,835. The EC also reject-ed her appeals.

Apart from Sabiha, the EC also can-celled the nomination paper of JatiyaParty candidate Khurshid Ara Haquefor the same reason.

The EC on March 23 declared fresh

schedule for the two vacate seats. Thelast date of filing nomination is April 1. l

Chhatra League criticises GonojagoronnArif Ahmed

Ruling Awami Leagues student bodyBangladesh Chhatra League and somestudents of Dhaka University yesterdaydemonstrated against Gonojagoron Mon-cho and its spokesperson Imran H Sarkerfor using the national flag colours on astage at Projonmo Chattar on Wednesday.

They formed a human chain underthe banner of Conscious Students onDU campus, protesting the wrongdo-ing. Later, they brought out a silentprocession.

Chhatra Leagues central unit Depu-ty Secretary for Cultural Affairs SheikhAsman and DU unit Organising Secre-tary Aditya Nandi demanded punish-ment for Imran for demeaning the

dignity of the national flag.When contacted, Imran told the

Dhaka Tribune that it was a conspiracy.He claimed that Chhatra League leaderAsman, a student of DU Fine Arts Insti-

tute, had demanded toll from Monchoactivists on March 25 midnight whenthey were working on the stage.

As the activists declined to pay themoney, Asman arranged the demon-stration [yesterday] to take revenge.

About Chhatra Leagues protest

against the used of red and green on thestage, Imran said the agitators did not

know the use of the national flag and sowere spreading such propaganda.Gonojagoron Moncho made the

stage at the Shahbagh intersection fora rally and cultural programme to ob-serve the Independence Day.

Imran that day bitterly criticised thegovernment for not implementing theMonchos six-point demand, includingbanning Jamaat-e-Islami and its stu-dent wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, andtaking action against Jamaats finan-cial institutions. He also slammed thegovernment and the Awami Leaguesassociate bodies for frequently takingdonations from pro-Jamaat organisa-tions, including the Islami Bank. l

REPOLLS IN SIX UPAZILAS

AL bags two morechairman postsnTribune Report

In the re-elections to three upazilasheld yesterday for chairman posts,

Awami League-backed candidates wonin two upazilas while the BNP in one.Polls were also held yesterday for

vice-chairman posts in two upazilasand vice-chairwoman post in one.

Both the BNP and the AwamiLeague secured vice-chairman posts inKuliarchar upazila of Kishoreganj andTitas upazila in Comilla.

The Election Commission post-poned the polls in some centres in thesix upazilas because of violence onMarch 15, loca l offi cials have sai d.

So far, the ruling Awami League-backed candidates secured 180 chairmanposts, BNP 148 and Jamaat-e-Islami-sup-ported candidates won 33 chairman posts.

In Muktagachha of Mymensingh,BNP-backed candidate Zakaria Harunwon the chairman post defeating hisnearest candidate Billah Hossain, sup-ported by the Awami League.

In Hizla upazila of Barisal, AwamiLeague-backed Sultan Mahmud Tipu

was declared winner yesterday. Hedefeated BNP-backed Dewan Shahidul

Islam following re-voting at three poll-ing centres. Rebel BNP candidate AbdulGaffar Talukdar bagged the third high-est number of votes.

The BNP-backed candidate boycottedthe elections and the upazila BNP an-nounced hartal for Sunday in the upazila.

In the re-elections held in two cen-tres of Hajiganj upazila in Chandpur,Awami League-backed candidate AbdurRashid Majumder secured the chairmanpost defeating Nazrul Islam who wasbacked jointly by the BNPJamaat.

In the upazila, ruling party-backedvice-chairwoman candidate ParveenIslam won over her nearest BNP-backed candidate Rabeya Aktar.

In Comillas Titas upazila, rulingparty-backed vice-chairman candidateShahinul Islam won the polls wherere-election was held at one centre yes-terday. His nearest contender was Ja-maat-backed Sagir Hossain.

In Kishoreganjs Kuliarchar upazila,BNP-backed vice-chairman candidateMesbah Uddin Ahmed won the post.Re-election was held at one centre.

In Kamalnagar upazila in Lakshmi-

pur, BNP-backed vice-chairwoman can-didate Hosna Ara Bashar won the post.l

Khaleda: Zia was first presidentPAGE 1 COLUMN 6

Jatiyatabadi Mukktijodha Dal organ-ised a discussion to mark the Inde-pendence Day where the former pre-mier questioned the freedom fighters:Did you free the country from theshackle of Pakistan to get shackled toanother country?

Khaleda on behalf of her husbandZiaur Rahman received the crest for hisglorious role in the independence war.Khaleda Zia was also honoured with acrest for her role in the war.

Criticising the government for hon-ouring the foreigners for their rolein the Liberation War, Khaleda said:The way foreigners were honoured itseemed that people of Bangladesh didnot fight in the Liberation War.

Reminiscing her ordeal in 1971 shesaid: During the Liberation War, I

along with my two sons and wife of

Colonel Mahfuz came to Dhaka fromChittagong by a steamer. I was thenarrested and detained in different can-tonments.

She however recognised the contri-bution of the Awami league and Bang-abandhu to the liberation war, Theyinspired people in the Liberation War.We will not deny it.

The BNP chief also said she was notproud of being the wife of a presidentor prime minister rather she feels proudof being the wife of the proclaimer ofindependence.

She said fair election was not possi-ble under a partisan government and itwas proved once again in the upazilaparishad elections.

Khaleda asked the government totake the initiative to hold talks to re-store caretaker government system to

oversee the polls. l

PM to Biman: Make profit, or face closurePAGE 1 COLUMN 5At the programme organised to markthe inauguration, Hasina stressed onthe needs for profitability for the sur-vival of the national flag carrier.

You all know very well what willhappen if it [Biman] is shut down.Everyone will lose their jobs. We wantyou to work properly so that Biman canbecome a profitable organisation, thepremier told the Biman employees.

October 2013 happened to bethe only recent month when Bimanachieved its target. It earned Tk347.58crore against a target of Tk331.91 crore.The performance was mostly propelledby the Hajj flights. However, in October2012, Biman earned Tk369.10 crore.

January 2014 turned out to be theworst month for Biman in terms of pas-senger and revenue. Around 118,000passengers traveled with Biman inthe month, resulting in a revenue of

Tk175.54 crore, against a target of

Tk365.20.Movement from Bangladesh and

inbound traffi c declined ma ssively be-cause of the political unrests, badly af-fecting our business, Mohammad ShaNewaz, director (marketing and sales)of Biman, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said: In 20 11-12, our total traffi cwas more than 17 lakh. It came down15 lakh during the last fiscal. It may godown further during the current fiscal.

We have very few leisure passen-gers. Most of our passengers are [Mid-dle East-bound] labourers and ethnic.As labour export to the Middle East hasbeen facing problems, it is affecting ourbusiness, he also said.

According to Sha Newaz, 90% ofBimans traffi c comprise la bourers andethnic people.

A Biman offi cial s aid at on e pointearlier this year, a Biman aircraft flewto Jeddah in Saudi Arabia with only

nine passengers.

However, despite all the miseries inpassenger services, state owned airlin-ers cargo services earned some goodrevenues in recent times. From Julylast year to this February, Bimans cargoservices earned Tk178.32 crore, a touchhigher than what it earned a year ago.

During yesterdays programme,Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina advisedthe carrier to induct more cargo air-crafts to its fleet so that it could earnmore revenue. Currently, aircrafts areleased for cargo services.

Biman Managing Director KevinSteele, who resigned last week citingpersonal reasons, took a number ofinitiatives such as opening new routessince he joined last March. Sources saidmost of those initiatives did not workout.

The Dhaka Tribune tried to contacthim via e-mail on Wednesday placingtwo questions for him. He, however,

has not responded till last night. l

Cornered Tigers face high flying IndiaPAGE 1 COLUMN 5

presidents statement that there wouldbe drastic changes in the team after the

tournament has had a negative effect.None of the cricketers except Shakib

al Hasan has played to their potentialsso far with star opener Tamim Iqbalscoring a duck and five against HongKong and West Indies respectively.Anamul Haque also seems to have losthis supreme touch which was promi-nent during the Asia Cup. Therefore,this lack of solidity at the top of theorder has disabled the middle order toactually have a foundation to unleashattack onthe opponent later on. Per-haps its now also the right time to giveShamsur Rahman a chance as young-ster Sabbir Rahman has failed to justifyhis selectionby scoringonly three runsin the last two matches.

The middle order has also failed toire when required where Nasir Hos-sain,the most consistent cricketerof the Bangladesh side in the recent

past, had to pay the price by losinghis place in the starting XI in the lastmatch for the irst time in his career

since he made his debut three yearsback.However, the all-rounder mayget the opportunity today in place ofMahmudullah who averages just fourin T20s and 11 overall in 2014 whileSohag Gazi who played against WestIndies and conceded 38 runs fromfour overs is likely to be replaced bythe experienced campaigner AbdurRazzak who was dropped againstWest Indies.

Veteran pacer Mashrafe bin Mor-taza is expected to lead the pace attackalongsidethe ever-learning youngsterAl Amin who was the pick of the bowl-ers against West Indies with figuresof 3-21. The home side can take somepositives from the past when they f aceIndia asthey have beaten the Indiansthree times in limited overs cricket.

On the other hand, India have beenplaying some outstanding cricket

throughout the tournament so far andhave rightly won both their match-es against Pakistan and West Indies

comprehensively. They know a wintodayagainst the Tigers will all but en-sure a berth in the semi-final for them.They are again likely to bank on theirspin triowhich include Amit Mishra,Ravichandran Ashwin and RavindraJadeja who so far been have been in-strumental behind Indias success sofar in the tournamentand surely posethe biggest threat for the Bangladeshibatsmen.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at thetop of the Indias batting order are alsoin terrific form.With Suresh Raina andMS Dhoni following these two downthe order, the Tigers better be at the topof their game to avoid any embarrass-ment. Rohit Sharma said at the pressconference that this was the best Indi-an team so far to win the competitionafter they clinched the inaugural tour-nament in 2007. l

Bangladesh polio-freePAGE 1 COLUMN 2

countries prepare for the introductionof inactivated polio vaccine in routineimmunization as part of the eventu-al phasing out of oral polio vaccines,while also committing to the global po-lio endgame plan which aims to ensurea polio-free world by 2018.

A press release by the WHO quotedDr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regionaldirector for the WHO South-East AsiaRegion, as saying: This is a momen-tous victory for the millions of healthworkers who have worked with gov-ernments, nongovernmental organi-zations, civil society and internationalpartners to eradicate polio from theregion. It is a sign of what we can be-

queath our children when we work to-gether.

At present, only three countries arepolio-endemic: Afghanistan, Pakistan,and Nigeria. According to a WHO re-port, cases of polio have decreased byover 99% since 1988.

Banglade shi EPI offi cials termedroutine immunisation as the root ofthe success in eradicating polio in thecountry, as it popularised oral poliovaccines among parents.

Although only 2% of Bangladeshichildren under five years of age wereimmunised before 1985, the numberjumped to 60% within 10 years afterthe introduction of routine immunisa-tions in 1985. l

BCL demandedpunishment for Imranfor demeaning thenational flag

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3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, March 28, 2014

Government formstaskforce to list fugitiveBangladeshis living abroadnMohosinul Karim

The government has taken an initiativeto bring back fugitive Bangladeshi na-

tionals, including the killers of Bangab-andhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, fromabroad for trial or executing the sentenc-es that were already given against them.

Already, the cabinet division hadformed a high-power ten membertaskforce, led by Law Minister Ani-sul Haque, to prepare a list of fugitiveBangladeshi criminals or accused liv-ing abroad and their whereabouts afterconsulting with stakeholders.

Other members of the taskforceare State Minister for Foreign AffairsShahriar Alam and State Minister forHome Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Ka-mal, the attorney general, senior secre-tary of the home ministry, the foreignsecretary and law and justice secretary,the inspector general of police and thedirector generals of the DirectorateGeneral of Forces Intelligence and theNational Security Intelligence.

According to a recently issued cab-inet division order, the taskforce will

prepare a list of the fugitive convicts

and accused, which would include theirnames and whereabouts, so that thegovernment can take necessary steps tobring them back into the country for tri-

al or execution of the convictions.The taskforce would also carry out

the groundwork needed to bring themback and monitor the returning process.

The order also said the taskforce willalso suggest the government on whatsteps that may be taken against thosewho had already gained citizenship ofthe country where they now reside.

The taskforce has been given the au-thority to co-opt new members if nec-essary and will find ministerial supportfrom the home ministry. It will remaineffective until further notice.

According to c abinet di vision offi -cials, the taskforce was formed to bringback a huge number of criminals whohad been living in abroad.

Six out of 12 convicted killers ofBangbandhu killing case and BNPChairperson Khaleda Zias two sonsTareque Rahman and Arafat RahmanCoko, who had been convicted in vari-ous cases, have been living in out of the

country for a long time. l

Subhans case transferred to tribunal 2nUdisa Islam

The International Crimes Tribunal 1yesterday transferred the case againstwar crimes accused Maulana AbdusSubhan to the other tribunal on its ownvolition.

It also rejected a review petitionagainst the tribunals indictment orderafter a hearing. Lawyer Shahjahan Ka-bir took part in the hearing for Subhan,a Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-ameer whofaces nine charges of crimes againsthumanity.

Subhan faces the charges of superior

responsibility in the crimes, planningacts of genocide, killings, abduction,confinement, torture in confinement,arson and looting committed at differ-ent places in Pabna during the 1971 Lib-eration War.

Prosecutors Zead-al-Malum, SultanMahmud Simon, Tapos Kanti Baul andRezia Sultana Chaman opposed the re-view plea in their part of hearing.

Malum said the matter which thedefence was trying to raise had alreadybeen decided. There is no way to cre-ate ambiguity. Sultan Mahmud saidthe charges had been framed againstSubhan following the laws and dueprocedure.

After hearing both sides, tribunalChairman Justice M Enayetur Rahimrejected the review plea.

Accused Subhan, 84, was indictedon December 31. The charges are based

on more than nine separate incidentsof crimes against humanity, in whichmore than 400 unarmed people hadbeen killed. He was the acting chief ofPabna unit Jamaat and vice-presidentof Peace Committee.

In 1972, Subhan was accused by aspecial tribunal of collaborating withthe Pakistan Army during the war andsummoned. However, he did not facethe trail as he had already fled to Paki-stan with former Jamaat chief GhulamAzam. He became a lawmaker in 2001from Pabna 5 constituency.

Meanwhile, the tribunal 2 yesterday

adjourned until March 31 the hearingon explanation of British journalist Da-vid Bergman upon a time petition.

On February 20, the tribunal askedBergman to explain his writings onpersonal blog on the trial process byappearing before it or through counsel.The order came after High Court lawyerAbul Kalam Azad submitted a petitionlast month.l

Hefazat nayeb-e-ameer faces arrestwarrant in blast casenTushar Hayat, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday issuedarrest warrant against Nayeb-e-Ameerof Hefazat-e-Islam Mufti Izharul Islam

Chowdhury in a case filed over grenadeblasts at his Lalkhan Bazar Madrasawhere three students were killed in Oc-tober last year.

Second Metropolitan Sessions JudgeSM Abdur Rashid issued the arrest war-rant against Mufti Izhar, also chairmanof a faction of Islami OikyaJote, and fixed April 6 forhearing on charge framing inthe case.

The accused is currently onbail from the High Court.

Public prosecutor KamalUddin Ahmed said the war-rant was issued as Mufti Izharhad not appeared at the courtafter submission of the chargesheet in line with the HighCourt directives.

Charge sheet in the blastcase was submitted beforethe court on February 10 ac-cusing nine persons, includ-

ing Izhars son Mufti Harun.

The court accepted the charge sheet onMarch 2.

Mufti Harun, a leader of radical Is-lamist group Hefazat, and seven otheraccused were produced at the court

yesterday.Several locally-made grenades were

blasted at Jamiatul Ulum Al IslamiaMadrasa, a Qawmi madrasa headed byMufti Izhar, around 11am on October 7last year leaving five students injuredcritically. Later three of them suc-

cumbed to injuries.Four live grenades were recovered

from the spot after the incident. Lawenforcers also seized 18 bottles of pic-ric acid, used to amplify the magnitude

of explosion, from the residence of theHefazat leader on the madrasa p remis-es. The madrasa is known as a den ofoutlawed Islamist group Huji.

Police on October 10 filed three cas-es in connection with the blast, killingand recovery of picric acid.l

Rowshan plans toquit politicsnManik Miazee

Leader of the Opposition Rowshan Er-shad yesterday announced her inten-tion to retire from politics and said shewould not take part in the next election.

She made the announcement at aprogramme where her husband HM

Ershad, also chairman of the Jatiya Par-ty, said the countrys politics has beenfacing a lot of problems because mostof the politicians do not have propereducation.

I have got a lot from politics andhave nothing to get, Rowshan said.

They made the comments whileaddressing the programme at Diplo-ma Engineers Institute in the capitalmarking the 31st founding anniversaryand council of Jatiya Chhatra Samaj,student front of Jatiya Party.

Rowshan claimed that particular cir-cumstances forced her to take part inthe January 5 general election. I didnot want to take part in the election,but the situation had forced me.

The opposition leader said she hasno conflict with party chief HM Ershadand there is no question of axing himfrom the party.

Ershad also said there is no internalconflict in the party and they always re-

main united. l

Fakhrul sent backto jailnMd Sanaul Islam Tipu

BNPs acting secretary general MirzaFakhrul Islam Alamgir was sent back tojail yesterday after he was rejected bailin two murder cases filed with Shabaghand Ramna police stations.

The court rejected his bail petitionsin two bus arson attack cases. The cas-es were filed with Shahbagh and Ram-na police stations.

On January 20, the High Court grant-ed eight weeks (till March 29) anticipa-tory bail to Fakhrul in the three murder

cases. However, he was granted bail intwo other cases.

He was granted bail for six months ina case registered with Ramna police sta-tion on charge of a petrol bomb attack ona requisitioned police bus Bangla Motorarea on January 3 that left a number ofpolice offi cials injured. A vacation benchcomprising Justice Rezaul Hasan andKhurshid Alam Sarkar passed the order.l

Prosecution eyes setting history by trying JamaatnUdisa Islam

The war crimes tribunal prosecutionwill soon submit the formal chargesagainst Jamaat-e-Islami for its role dur-ing the 1971 Liberation War, after scru-tinising the report submitted by theinvestigation agency yesterday.

Investigat ion Offi cer Md MatiurRahman handed over the probereport and other related documentsto Chief Prosecutor Ghulam Arif

Tipoo yesterday afternoon at theprosecuti ons offi ce.Tipoo said: A prosecution commit-

tee headed by Tureen Afroz will nowgo through the documents and preparethe formal charges. He claimed thatthey could set history by this case as itwas unusual to try an organisation forwar crimes.

Prosecutor Tureen, team leader forthis particular case, said: After theNuremberg trial [in Germany againstAdolf Hitlers Nazi Party], it is the sec-ond instance in the world of bringingan organisation to justice for its alleged

crimes.The investigation agency on March25 disclosed the summary of the probe

report, praying for a ban on Jamaat, itsassociate bodies and mouthpiece thedaily Sangram, and action against fi-nancial institutions.

The probe began after the agencyhad filed a complaint with the Inter-national Crimes Tribunal on August 18last year.

The probe body brought seven typesof charges against Jamaat, its then stu-dents wing Islami Chhatra Sangha thatwas renamed Islami Chhatra Shibir in

1977, associate organisations PeaceCommittee, razakar, al-Badr and al-Shams for committing crimes against

humanity and genocide and violatingthe Geneva Conventions.

The report states that all the pol-icymakers, organisers, directors andleaders at all levels of the organisationsare responsible for the crimes againsthumanity.

Members of Jamaats Majlish-e-Surain 1971 are likely to be summoned todefend the partys role. Chief Coordi-nator of the probe body Abdul HannanKhan earlier said: If they want, the

central leaders of the party can defendin the court. Otherwise, the trial willbegin in absentia.l

Man gets life term forraping minor girl in CtgnTarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday sen-tenced a person to life and fined himTk50,000 on charges of raping an eight-year-old girl in Chandanaish upazila ofthe district in 2011.

Judge Md Rezaul Karim of Womenand Children Repression PreventionTribunal 1 passed the order when ac-cused Shamsul Alam, 44, was pro-duced before the court, said Prosecutor

Chandan Talukder of the tribunal.He said the court gave the sentence

under section 9 (1) of Women and Chil-dren Repression Prevention Act.

The tribunal also ordered the dis-trict revenue collector to receive thefines from the convict and give it to thevictim.

According to the case statement,Shamsul raped the girl near a pond at

Bhandaripara of Chandanaish on Octo-ber 2, 2011 and fled while the locals res-cued the victim and took her to Chit-tagong Medical College Hospital.

On October 4, 2011, the mother ofthe victim lodged a case with Chan-danaish police station, accusing Sham-sul, while the accused gave his confes-sional statement under section 164 ofCriminal Procedure Code after beingarrested.

The victim gave her statement un-

der section 22 of Women and ChildrenRepression Prevention Act.

Police submitted the charge sheetof the case before the court on January8, 2012 against the accused while thecourt framed charges on February 29,2012.

The court sentenced the verdict af-ter listening to the testimonies of eightprosecution witnesses.l

Hasina brushesaside allegationsof vote riggingElectronic voting system to beintroduced in next elections

nEmran Hossain Shaikh

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hasbrushed aside the allegations of voterigging against her party-backed candi-dates in the ongoing upazila polls, say-ing that a section of media was spread-ing propaganda against her party.

Jamaat has won several chairmanand vice-chairman posts in the upazilaelections. If the Awami League wouldrig votes, Jamaat could not win a singlepost, Sheikh Hasina, also p resident ofthe ruling Awami League, said whileaddressing a discussion in the capitalyesterday.

The Awami League organised the pro-gramme to mark the countrys 44th In-dependence Day.

The premier declared her plan toput into operation the electronic votingsystem in election next time.

None will be able to stuff the ballotpapers if we introduce the electronicvoting system. Election will be held infuture by using EVMs (Electronic Vot-ing Machine), she said.

The Awami League president ex-pressed her opinion to hold the localbody elections under party banner.

As the upazila polls are non-parti-san, we have no control over anything,she said.

Though there has been no chancefor the candidates to use party symbolsin the local body elections, all politicalparties extend support to them.

AL General Secretary and LGRD Min-ister Syed Ashraful Islam has recent-ly hinted that the government wouldbring an amendment to the law to holdsuch elections under the party banner.

Mentioning the results of the ongoingupazila polls, the Awami League chiefsaid the Awami League had many a can-didate in each upazila but as the partywas careful about the matter this time,it could ensure single candidate thathelped Awami League win the victory.

When our candidates suffer defeat,

some media say AL has lost popularityand when it secured a large number ofseats, they blamed us for rigging, thepremier said.

The government came under hugecriticism as the candidates backed bythe ruling party won a majority seats inthe third phase of upazila polls.

The premier blamed BNP SeniorVice-Chairman Tarique Rahman fordistorting the history.

Tarique, who has been in London onparole, recently said that Ziaur Rahmanwas the countrys first president.

Pointing her finger at the BNP, theprime minister said once they used tosay that Zia was the proclaimer of inde-pendence and now they are saying thatZia was the first president.

She said Sheikh Mujibur Rahmanwas the first president of Bangladesh.

Senior leaders Amir Hossain Amu,Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Ma-tia Chowdhury, Syed Ashraful Islam

also addressed the programme withparty presidium member Syeda SajedaChowdhury in the chair. l

Members of various cultural groups bring out a colourful procession in the capital yesterday, marking the World Theatre Day

In 1972, Subhan wasaccused by a specialtribunal of collaboratingwith the Pakistan Army

during the war andsummoned

The premier blamedBNP Senior Vice-Chairman TariqueRahman for distortingthe history

5/28/2018 Print Edition: 28 March 2014

4/20

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, March 28, 2014

Government of the Peoples Republic of BangladeshLocal Government Engineering Department

Office of the Upazila Engineer

Upazila: Rajbari Sadar, District: Rajbari.

Memo No. LGED/UE/Raj/Sadar/2013-14/191 Date: 23.03.2014

CORRIGENDUMThis is to notify that due to unavoidable circumstances some corrections have been

necessary& made for the following Tender Notice No 06/2013-14 vide memo num-

ber stated as bellow

Tender Notice Number,

memo number &. Date

Instead of to be read

Tender Notice No. 06/2013-

2014, Memo No. LGED/

UE/Raj/ Sadar/2013-I4/142,

Date: 02.03.2014

Last date of selling: 24/03/2014

Tender closing date: 25/03/2014

Tender opening date: 25/03/2014

Last date of selling: 30/03/2014

Tender closing date: 31/03/2014

Tender opening date: 31/03/2014

All other terms& conditions in this Tender Notice will remain unchanged.

(Md. Jalal Uddin Sheikh)

Upazila Engineer

Rajbari Sadar, Rajbari,

Tel No. 0641-65570

Memo No. LGED/UE/Raj/Sadar/2013-14/191/1(50) Date: 23.03.2014

GC-36/14 (5"x3)

ACC lodges cases against BarisalBIWTA offi cials, contractorsnOur Correspondent, Barisal

The Anti-Corruption Commissionlodged two separate cases against fouroffi cials of Ban gladesh Water Transp ortAuthority and two contractors for sub-standard work at Barisal River Port de-velopment project.

However, Nahid Serniabad, a Ban-gladesh Chhatra League activist, whodid the port development works on be-half of the contractors, was not accusedin the cases.

Neamul Ahsan Gazi, sub-assistant di-rector of the ACC, lodged the cases withBarisal Kotwali police station on March25 night, alleging misappropriation ofTk7.88 lakh through substandard works.

Superintendent Engineer Zulhasud-din Ahmed, Executive Engineer AZAMShahnewaz Kabir, Assistant EngineerSM Ashrafuzzaman, Sub-Assistant En-gineer of BIWTA Tariqul Islam and twocontractors Bazlur Rahman, owner ofBijli Construction of Barisal and Abdus

Salam, owner of Salam Enterprise ofDhaka, were made accused in the cases.

Bazlur Rahman allegedly misap-propriated Tk4.8 lakh by not using11.76 tonnes of rods in constructing 12spades of the port.

On the other hand, Abdus Salam mis-appropriated Tk2.77 lakh by not using6.9 tonnes of rods in constructing rail-ing of the veranda of the port.

The BIWTA offi cials were acc usedbecause of helping the contractors inmisappropriating public funds, thecomplainant said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinainaugurated the modernised Bari-sal Port on March 20, 2012, althoughmany portions on the work remainedincomplete.

Only three weeks after the inaugura-tion, a big crack developed on the roofof main o ffi ce buildin g of the n ewlyconstructed Barisal River Port on April13, 2012, which was repaired instantly.

Saydur Rahman Rintu, presidentof Barisal Chamber Of Commercesand Industries, said quality of the ofthe port development work was of lowquality.

Meanwhile, Chhatra League leaderNahid Serniabad said huge increase inmaterial and labour costs in betweenthe tender calling and project imple-mentation period were to blame for thesubstandard quality.l

ACC hails media for itsfight against graftnTribune Report

The media is playing a vital role in com-bating corruption, ACC Chairman MBodiuzzaman yesterday said.

The anti-graft body finds evidenceand information from the media re-ports on the basis of which it conductsinquiry and takes steps to ensure pun-ishment to corrupt people, he said.

The ACC picked up 155 media re-ports for inquiry in last year, 115 reportsin 2012, 97 in 2011, 82 reports in 2010and four in 2009.

The chairman was addressing at theACC Media Award 2014" ceremonyheld at the ACC auditorium at Segun-bagicha marking the week-long Cor-ruption Prevention Week 2014.

The anti-graft body yesterday award-ed Anti-Corruption Commission MediaAward 2014 to three reporters fromprint and electronic media for their in-vestigative reports on corruption.

A three-member jury board headed

by former editor of the IndependentMahbubul Alam scrutinised the re-ports before it finalised three reportersfor award.

The other two members of the boardare editor of daily Samakal Golam Sar-war and Editor-in-Chief and Chief Ex-ecutive Offi cer of the Boisha khi Televi-sion Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul.

The reporters who received theawards are New Age Staff Correspon-dent Sadiqur Rahman, ABC Radio Se-nior Reporter Amin Al Rasheed andIndependent Television Staff Corre-spondent Muhammad Rishad Huda.

All three reporters were awarded acrest, certificate and prize money.

ACC Commissioner M Shahabuddinsaid journalists were the prime sourcethat unveils corruption.

The ACC thinks that the media canplay the strongest and effective role incurbing corruption, he said. ACC Com-missioner Nasir Uddin Ahmed was alsopresent at the programme. l

INDEPENDENCE DAY EXPLOSION

Arrest of bombers demandednTribune Report

Students, teachers and guardians in

Kurigram yesterday protested againstthe attack on school students duringtheir Independence Day celebration.

They also demanded arrest of theculprits for carrying out explosion inwhich five students were injured.

The demand came yesterday at a hu-man chain held at Zero point in Phul-bari Bazar area of the district as policefailed to arrest any yet.

The protesters demanded immedi-ate arrest and punishment of the of-fenders, according to our correspon-

dent in Kurigram. On Sunday, a groupof unidentified people carried out anexplosion on the ground of Jashimia

Model High School, leaving at least fivestudents seriously injured.Headmaster Abed Ali, Assistant

Teacher Obaidul Haque, teacher Akhta-ra Begum, a guardian Nazir Hosain anda 10th grader Mahabubul Haque of theschool spoke at the programme.

In Chapainawabganj, a dawn-to-dusk hartal enforced by the BNP-led19-party alliance protesting the deathof a BNP leader was observed peace-fully yesterday.

The hartal supporters brought out a

procession in the morning in Shibganjupazila. However, no picketing wasreported. No goods-laden trucks and

long-route buses of Chapainawabganj,Sonamoshjid and Rajshahi plied ac rossthe districts, but small vehicles wereseen running on the road. Besides, theshops were shut for the day.

Law enforcers were active in orderto tackle any untoward incidents.

The hartal was called protesting thedeath of district BNP president andconvener of 19-party alliance Asaduz-zaman Sujan, 25, who was killed in ablast at a Shaheed Minar in the upazilaon March 26. l

National grid getsfresh gas supply

nAminur Rahman Rasel

The Bangladesh Gas Field CompanyLtd (BGFCL) yesterday started supply-ing 12 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gasper day to the national grid from the22nd well of the Titas gas field.

BGFCL Managing Director Md Nurul

Absar confirmed the news and expressedhopes that the fresh supply would helpthe country to ease the gas crisis.

The company, a subsidiary of thestate-owned Petrobangla initiated thedrilling of the well through Bapex forexploration of gas.

Absar also said the BGFCL expectedto add at least 50mmcf of gas per day tothe national grid from two wells withinMay this year. Wells 19 and 27 at the Ti-tas gas field would separately produce25mmcf of gas every day, he added.

On the other hand, Bapex has complet-ed the drilling work of the six wells of Se-mutang gas field of Khagrachhari, AbdulHalim, director of Bapexs well-drillingproject, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He also expressed hopes of adding atleast 10mmcf of gas per day to the na-tional grid from the well within the firstweek of April.

Wells 4 and 5 at the Fenchuganj gasfield will produce 40mmcf of gas perday within May, MA Baki, managingdirector of Bapex, told The Dhaka Tri-bune. The well 3 at the Shabazpur gasfield would also produce 20mmcf ofgas per day, he added.l

BU students protestcampus violencenOur Correspondent, Barisal

Barisal University students formed ahuman chain on campus yesterday,protesting violent incidents and illegalactivities allegedly perpetrated by rul-ing party supporters.

On Wednesday, at least five studentswere injured when two factions of Bangla-desh Chhatra League, reportedly aided byoutsiders, clashed over delivering speech-es at a national day programme, organisedby the university authorities. Three of theinjured students, meanwhile, were admit-ted at the Barisal Medical College Hospital.

Speakers at yesterdays demonstrationblamed the BU authorities for failing to

ensure security of general students, anddemanded punishment of the culprits.Not only factional clashes be-

tween BCL rivals, but also outsidersbacked by leaders of the ruling partysstudent wing, cause disturbances onthe campus, one speaker said.

Vice-Chancellor Harunor Rashid saiddisciplinary as well as legal a ctions wouldbe taken against the trouble-makers.

Shakhawat Hossain, Kotwali policestation OC, said patrolling was intensi-fied on the BUs temporary campus. l

Policymakers blamed fordepletion of forestsnAbu Bakar Siddique

The governments indifference to-

wards conservation of forests andbiodiversity has caused fast deple-tion of the countrys forest areas,pushing most of the flora and fau-na into danger, professionals havesaid.

Saving forests should be the firstinitiative to save the biodiversityliving there, Yunus Ali, the chiefconservator of forest, said at theinauguration of a workshop titledUpdating Species Red List of Bangla-desh Project at the capitals SpectraConvention Centre yesterday.

The Red List estimates the riskof extinction of a certain specieswhich will help to take conserva-

tion plansand settingpriority.

It [sav-ing forests] isnot happen-ing in most

cases due to

the intervention of local policymak-ers, and to some extent, the respect-ed heads of authorities, including the

minister himself, Yunus said.Citing an example of the Mad-hupur sal forest, he said the areahad come down to around 10,000hectares from around 45,000 hect-ares. The forest has now turnedinto an orchard of banana andpineapple, he added.

Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmad, countyrepresentative for the IUCN Ban-gladesh, echoed Yunus.

He later told the Dhaka Tribunethat like the Madhupur forest, otherprominent sal forests, including theone in Mymensingh-Gazipur, hadbeen disappearing due to wrong pol-icy intervention of the government.

The Mymensingh-Gazipur salforest that spreads over an area ofaround 65,000 hectares was de-pleting for not being declared as areserved forest. These activitiesput the wildlife in a vulnerablesituation, Ishtiaq said.

The former chief forest conser-

vator said the government shouldtake initiatives to transform theexiting forest areas into reserve

forests to save the land from grab-bers and industrialisation.The Updating Species Red List

of Bangladesh Project was jointlylaunched by the IUCN and the ForestDepartment and will end by 2015.

In 2000, the IUCN published aRed List of Fauna Species in Ban-gladesh, covering the status of895 species under five categories mammals, birds, amphibians, fishand reptiles.

According to the list, differenttypes of species including Ganget-ic ghorial, saltwater crocodile, ho-olock gibbon, phayres leaf mon-key, ritha fish, pungus fish andbaghair fish were labelled as criti-cally endangered due to habitatloss and food sc arcity.

The new Red List will includetwo more categories butterflyand crustacean (snails, crabs andshrimps), and the number of species

will be increased to around 1,700.l

Bangladeshi farmershot by BSF

nOur Correspondent, Rajshahi

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) shota Bangladeshi farmer at Char Asharia

Dah frontier under Godagari upazila inRajshahi yesterday.The injured is Mohammod Tota of

Char Asharia Dah village of Godagari.Family members of Tota said some

BSF jawans who were patrollingthe border had opened fire on Totaaround 7am while he was working onhis paddy field. The bullet had hit hisback.

Later, locals rescued him and ad-mitted to the Godagari upazila healthcomplex where doctors suggested tak-ing him to Rajshahi Medical CollegeHospital.

Tota was admitted to the Rajsha-hi Medical College Hospital around3:30pm where he is currently under-going treatment on bed number 23 ofward 6.

Confirming the news, Rajshahi 37BGB Comma nding Offi cer Lieut enantColonel Nazim Khan told reporters thatthey had sent a protest letter to BSF and

had called for a flag meeting; however,the BFS men were yet to response. l

nAbu Hayat Mahmud

The citys road network across most ofLalbagh in old Dhaka has been left un-repaired for months, putting the resi-dents in perennial sufferings.

The roads in the vicinity are worn

out and narrow, with shops on bothsides grabbing up space.

Re-carpeting, re-construction ormajor repairs to the roads are longoverdue.

The Dhaka South City Corporation entrusted with the task of road devel-opment in the areas attributes fundcrunch to the derelict condition of theroads.

Besides potholes and broken slabson drains, the old Dhaka residents suf-fer congestion while indiscriminateparking of vehicles on both sides of theroads has added to the woes of com-muters.

Sultan Mohammad, a resident ofNur Fatah Lane in Lalbagh, said: Theconditions of most internal roadsacross the area remain pathetic all theyear round.

The poorly-shaped lanes make itdiffi cult for us to drive a long and s oevery vehicles driver turn to the mainroad stretching from Azimpur to Lal-bagh area to avoid bumpy journeys, re-sulting in u nbearable tr affi c jam.

Sultan also blamed the city corpora-

tion for the sorry state of the internalroads that were repaired almost a de-cade ago.

During a recent visit to the Lalbaghand its adjoining areas, the Dhaka Tri-bune correspondent found that most ofthe drains were open, with some hav-

ing broken slabs on them.Asked about it, Munsur Ali, care-

taker of Asia Tower in Lalbagh, said likethe roads and lanes, the drains also re-mained dilapidated for a long time.

Locals called for immediate steps bythe Dhaka South City Corporation torepair and carpet the roads stretchingfrom board offi ce to Dhakes hwari, BCDas road, Nur Fatah lane, Kazi Riaz Ud-din road, KR road, JN Shaha road, Lal-bagh road, Atosh Khanna road and Az-impur roads crisscrossing Daira Sharifresidential areas, Chhapra Mosquevicinity, Sheikh Saheb Bazar and NewPaltan areas.

Asked about bad shapes, ZahangirAlam, chief engineer of DSCC, told theDhaka Tribune correspondent, I amnot bound to speak about anything tothe media. I dont know which roadsare in derelict condition.

Md Ansar Ali Khan, chief executiveoffi cer of DSCC , said: We do not havesuffi cient fun ds to repai r and recon-struct all roads in old Dhaka.

We will see to it i f there is su ffi cientfund.l

Lalbagh roads left unrepaired for long

Two pedestrians watch their steps before they walk past a broken covering of a sewerage line in the capital's Lalbagh area yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Schoolgirl raped bydrug peddler

nOur Correspondent, Kurigram

A drug peddler was arrested yester-day for allegedly raping a girl in Sadarupazila of Kurigram district.

Police and locals said Dail Alam, 25,son of Nurul Islam, took the school-girl to an under-construction buildingby luring her into giving food duringschool tiffi n break and ra ped her las tSunday.

The victims parents wanted to hidethe matter first, but now they are de-manding punishment to the culprit astheir daughter fell ill.

The locals detained the rapist andhanded over to local police.

The victim was taken in police cus-tody for physical examination.

Locals said Alam had once fled po-lice custody after being detained oncharges of phensidyle business.

Sub-Inspector Abdul Gafur of Kuri-gram Sadar police station said: Wewill file a case against the detainee oncharges of raping a minor girl.l

The BIWTA offi cialswere accused of

helping the contractorsin misappropriatingpublic funds andthe contractors forsubstandard work

5/28/2018 Print Edition: 28 March 2014

5/20

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, March 28, 2014

PRAYER TIMES

Fajar 4:39am

Sunrise 5:54am

Zohr 12:04am

Asr 4:29pm

Magrib 6:13pm

Esha 7:29pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

FRIDAY, MARCH 28

More Russian scholarshipsfor Bangladeshi studentsnMohosinul Karim

The Russian Federation has expressedintentions to extend academic scholar-ship for Bangladeshi students.

Deputy Head of Russian FederalAgency for Cooperation with ForeignCountries Alexander Chesnokov said:Russia will offer more scholarships toBangladeshi students if response is re-ceived by the government.

The foreign delegate came up withthe offer at a press conference in thecapital on Thursday after a meetingwith Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduz-zaman Noor.

Earlier, a four-member delegationled by Chesnokov met the minister athis offi ce.

About 650 international studentsare enrolled in Russia for higher edu-cation under government scholarship

programme, Chesnokov said.It would be increased to 1,000 by

this year, he said.The quota of scholarship for Ban-

gladeshi students has already been

raised to 61 this year. It will increase ifwe get response. he added.Regarding employment for Bangla-

deshis, Chesnokov said Russia wouldconsider job opportunities for quali-fied and effi cient per sons with prof es-sional expertise in the federation.

Noor said, Russia gave tremendoussupport during the Liberation War.

The Russian Federation was also in-terested to heighten the collaborationwith Bangladesh in cultural and educa-tional sector.

Russia is interested to exchange del-egation between the two countries forcultural exchange between the young-er generations.l

Hall-Mark bigwigs summonedin three fresh casesnMd Sanaul Islam Tipu

A special court for loan recovery yes-terday summoned Hall-Mark Man-aging Director Tanvir Mahmud andhis wife, its Chairman Jasmin Islamin three cases filed anew by the state-owned Sonali Bank authorities for loandefault.

The banks Execu tive Offi cer Md Ab-dus Salam filed the c ases with the new-ly launched Artho Rin Adalat (Court ofLoan) in the capital, of which judge MdRabiuzzaman summoned the defen-dants after taking the cases into cog-nizance and ordered them to submit

written statement by April 4 through

their counsel.In the cases, other defendants are

Hall-Mark Accessories Limited, Hall-Mark packaging Limited, Hall-MarkStyle Limited.

The cases filed for the recoverywas for a total of Tk217,122,901 fromthe three companies. Of the amount,Tk109,254,385 from Hall-Mark acces-sories, Tk9,186,958 from Hall-MarkStyle Limited and Tk16,061,558 fromHall-Mark packaging.

With the three, Sonali Bank au-thorities has filed a total of nine casesagainst Hall-Mark group for the recov-ery of Tk62cr default loan.

Abdus Salam said: Sonali Bank will

file 12 more cases against the MD, itsChairman and its other sister compa-nies,

According to the earlier filed six cas-es, Tanvir and Jasmin opened Tk41crletters of credit (LCs) with RuposhiBangla Branch of Sonali Bank to importequipment for the three companiesfrom 2007 to 2011, which did not paymoney to the bank.

Earlier, on October 4, 2012, the ACCfiled 11 cases against the Hall-Markowners as well as its higher employ-ees and some Son ali Bank offi cials i nconnection with the much-talked loanscam of Tk 3,500 crore. Tanvir is now

behind bars while Jasmine is on bail.l

Chinese Yunanprovince governordue tomorrownSheikh Shahariar Zaman

Governor of Yunan province of China LiJiheng will come to Dhaka on a goodwillvisit tomorrow.

It is a goodwill visit to strengthencooperation between the two countriesand boost up regional connectivity, For-eign Ministry Director General AshudAhmed told the Dhaka Tribune.

The visit of the governor is importantas Kunming is the capital of Yunanprovince and four countries, Bangladesh,China, India and Myanmar are engagedin negotiations to have an economiccorridor to connect Kunming to Kolkatathrough Myanmar and Bangladesh toboost up regional connectivity.

Li Jiheng is scheduled to meet Com-munications Minister Obaidul Quaderand State Minister for Foreign AffairsShahriar Alam, he said.

He is also likely to meet Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina during his trip and Feder-ation of Bangladesh Chambers of Com-merce and Industries will also have a viewexchange meeting with him, Ashud said.

Bangladesh has started working onthematic areas for the BCMI corridor

linking Bangladesh with China, Myan-mar and India.The report on the study will be pre-

sented in the joint study group meetingof the BCIM corridor project scheduledto be held in Chittagong in June this year.

Under the BCMI project, the fourcountries in last December in its firstmeeting in China decided to establishphysical connectivity between them. l

850 young scientists showcase their innovationsA total of 210 projects, including drones, power generators and fertiliser savers, demonstrated

nMushfique Wadud

The Science and Industrial TechnologyFair 2014, organised by the BangladeshCouncil of Scientific and IndustrialResearch (BCSIR), began in the capitalyesterday.

A total of 210 projects were show-cased by 850 students across the coun-try in the fair which is scheduled toend tomorrow.

Speaking at the inaugural pro-gramme, famous writer and ShahjalalUniversity of Science and TechnologyProfessor Muhammad Zafar Iqbal saidBangladesh had three crore school go-ing students and a country having suchhigh number of young students did notneed any other resources. If it is possi-ble to make these students knowledge-able, the country would become moresuccessful, he observed.

Sharing an experience of one of hisstudents who made an experimentaldrone, Zafar said youth only need en-couragement which could lead to out-standing successes.

He urged government to take ini-

tiatives so that the science studentsgot jobs in their own field of work andcould conduct researches and otherdevelopment activities, adding thatbudget for science and technology sec-tor needed to be inc reased.

State Minister for Ministry of Sci-ence and Technology Yafes Osmansaid without practice of science, thecountry cannot reach its potential.

Tawhidur Rahman, a higher sec-ondary student of Rajshahi College,dreams to be an aeronautical engineerand wants to work to strengthen thedefence system of his motherland. Heand his friend Rashedul Hasan havemade an experimental drone namedRCSRO2 that can fly for 30 feet.

Tawhidur said they had been work-ing on this project for the last six monthsand expressed hopes saying: One day Iwant to make an original drone.

Binoy Pramanik, a class ten studentfrom Natore, brought an innovativeidea of producing electricity withoutany source. His project can generate1,000 volt power by charging two ca-pacitors at once.

Binoy said he has been working onthis project when he was in class six.Load shedding inspired him to conductsuch a project, he said, adding thatsome electronic devices in his housewere run by electricity produced by hisinvented device.

Four students of University of AsiaPacific showcased a multipurpose ro-bot named Rover BD which can be

made commercially viable by usinglocal materials.Meanwhile, some young scientists

with little or no formal education alsoattended the fair with their innovativeprojects.

Jasim Uddin Khan from Gaiband-has Gabindaganj came up with an ideaof making flour from potatoes. He saidfarmers often cannot sell their pota-

toes or had to sell at low price, and thisproject would save the country thou-sand crores of taka.

Yahiya Molla invented a fertilisersaving machine that is able to save

30% use of fertiliser and increase 25%of production.

Belal Mia, an electrician by pro-fession, invented a security systemin which by spending only Tk8,000-

10,000, security of lockers or cars canbe ensured with a mobile device. Ifused, the owner will get a mobile callto warn him of potential burglary at-tempt.l

A student describes his project to Professor Muhammad Zafar Iqbal at the Science and Industrial Technology Fair at the BCSIR in the

capital yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Smuggled gold seized again at Chittagong airportnTarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Only two days after the biggest everseizure of smuggled gold in Chittagong,a fresh cache of gold bars worthTk2.7 crore was seized again at theShah Amanat International Airportyesterday, prompting the port city

police to strengthen its initiative toseek out the culprits behind the goldsmuggling trade.

Acting on a tip-off, cus toms offi cialsof the airport nabbed MohammadRezauddin Rana, Osman Gani andMohammad Ayub, who arrived on aBangladesh Biman flight from Dubaicarrying 54 gold bars that weighedaround 6.29kg, said Moshiur RahmanMondol, assistant commissioner (AC)of Chittagong Customs House in theairport.

The detained men hid the goldin their shoes, Moshiur said, addingthat the bars were handed over to theBangladesh Bank. The three men were

later handed over to Patenga policestation, where a case has been lodged.

We [CMP] sat in a meeting today,where both the police and the DetectiveBranch were instructed to look into thematter seriously, as the gold smugglinghas increased recently, said AnwarHossain, assistant commissioner (port

zone) of the DB.

The Detective Branch would re-investigate the gold seizure cases,while the 10 arrestees of Tuesdays goldseizure would be taken into remand forinterrogation, he said.

On Tuesday, 10 people were heldwith 923 gold bars, weighing 107kg andworth Tk46.15 crore, in the biggest ever

gold recovery in the port city.Airport sources said a syndicate of

the airports daily-based contractualworkers and unscrupulous employeesof different airlines and civil aviationwere involved with the smuggling.

Most of the smuggled gold wasseized from flights coming in from

Middle East countries, especiallyflights of Oman Airlines, Flydubai andBangladesh Biman, the sources added.

Nahid Nawshad Mukul, assistantdirector (AD) of the Directorate ofCustoms Intelligence and Investigationin Chittagong, said smugglers wereusing Dhaka and Chittagong as theirtransit points after the duty on gold wasincreased in neighbouring countries.

Banaz Kumar Majumder, additionalcommissioner (crime and operation)of the CMP, told the Dhaka Tribunethat the smuggling masterminds couldnot be identified as the gold changedmany hands before reaching thecarriers abroad, while the receivers in

the country also stayed anonymousby only using mobile phones tocommunicate with the carriers.Customs AC Moshiur said the airporthad no network of closed-circuittelevision to follow the movements ofthe passengers, staffs and employees;which was one of the reasons behind

rampant gold smuggling.Masud Saik, commissioner ofChittagong Customs House, however,said surveillance has been increasedover the airports daily-basedemployees, while Shah Amanat AirportManager Wing Commander Nur-E-Alam said more CCTV cameras wouldbe introduced to improve monitoringat the airport.

Customs sources said along withyesterdays recovery, more than 1,600gold bars worth Tk80 crore have beenseized from the airport in 46 drives thisyear so far, which is a massive increasefrom the seizure of 686 gold bars worthTk35.3 crore in 16 drives in 2013.l

Weeklong programmesto be held at LiberationWar MuseumnTribune Report

The authentic history of the LiberationWar of Bangladesh should be dispersedacross the country so that every c itizencan realise the significance of indepen-dence.

Speakers called for the move at a dis-cussion held at the Liberation War Mu-seum premises yesterday.

Everyone should know the actualhistory of the war of independence.Then the dreams of the freedomfighters would come true, said DirectorGeneral of the museum AKM Mahbub UlAlam.

The discussion was held as part of aweek-long programme launched yes-terday, organised by the Liberation Warmuseum to mark the countys 44th

Independence Day and its 18th found-ing anniversary. Different cultural pro-grammes, including a book fair, havebeen organised on the occasion.

Liberation War Museum,Bangladesh was established in 1996 tocommemorate the heroic struggle ofBangalees for democracy and nationalrights and the armed struggle thatled to emergence of Bangladesh as asecular democratic state in 1971.

Through its extended activities, themuseum works for generating interestin the history of the war among themass.

Dr Sarwar Ali, Aly Zaker, RabiulHusain, Ziauddin Tariq Ali, Sara Zaker,Asaduzzaman Noor, Mofidul Haqueand Akku Chowdhury are the foundertrustees of the museum. l

Chittagong court grantsbail to ABM MohiuddinnTushar Hayat, Chittagong

A court here yesterday grantedbail to former Chittagong City Cor-poration Mayor ABM MohiuddinChowdhury in a case filed by the An-ti-Corruption Commission for conceal-ing information in his wealth state-ment.

Chittagong Divisional Special JudgeSM Ataur Rahman granted the bailupon the submission of a Home Minis-try recommendation by Mohiuddin towithdraw the case.

The court, however, did not giveany direction to the next procedure in

this regard.

On January 27, the court issued anarrest warrant against Mohiuddin, alsopresident of Chittagong city unit AL, ashe did not appear before it, which onFebruary 16 granted an ad-interim bailto him in his presence.

ACC Deputy Director Abu Moham-mad Arif Siddique launched the caseagainst Mohiuddin on December 2,2007 for amassing wealth illegally andnot mentioning it in his wealth state-ment.

On November in 2008, charge of thecase was framed and the court indictedhim on February 5, 2009.

Later, the High Court gave a stay or-

der on the case.l

Dancers perform at a cultural programme marking the Independence Day at the Liberation War Museum in the capital yesterday RAJIB DHAR

CMP to re-investigategold seizure casesfor stopping rampantsmuggling

MOSTLY

SUNNY

City High Low

nUNBRain or thundershowers accompaniedby temporary gusty wind is likely tooccur at one or two places over Dhaka,Khulna and Sylhet divisions and the re-gion of Comilla until 6pm today.

Mild heat wave that is sweepingKhulna division and the regions of Ra-jshahi, Pabna and Dhaka.

Highest and lowest temperatures record-ed in some major cities yesterday were

Dhaka 36.0 25.2

Chittagong 30.8 23.5

Rajshahi 37.2 22.8

Rangpur 33.8 21.6

Khulna 36.8 24.5

Barisal 35.2 24.4

Sylhet 32.8 21.5

Coxs Bazar 33.0 23.0

D H A K A

SUN SETS 6:13PM SUN RISES 5:54AMTODAY TOMORROW

TEMPERATURE (Nationwide)

37.2C 18.5CRajshahi Hatia

5/28/2018 Print Edition: 28 March 2014

6/20

Friday, March 28, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Naked Yanukovych exposedat Ukrainian anti-cafenAFP, Kiev

First he was stripped of his presidency,

then his lavish mansion and opulent tastes

were laid bare, and now ousted Ukraine

leader Viktor Yanukovych has beenexposed even further, in an infamous nude

painting on display in central Kiev.

A burly and grim Yanukovych slouches

in an unflattering position, with no detail

left to the imagination, in the painting

called The Naked King which swept to

accidental fame during the revolution that

forced him to flee the country in February.

Olga Oleynik, 25 was -- and still is -- just

a struggling artist painting what she calls

unusual pieces, when she scored a lucky

break: a friend working for a local television

station got her a spot on air to show her

painting of the reviled president.

But her opportunity coincided with rap-

id-fire change in Ukraine after months of

protests reached a bloody zenith, leaving

around 100 dead, prompting parliament to

oust Yanukovych.

On the same day Yanukovychs arch-ri-

val Yulia Tymoshenko was freed from

prison and Oleynik was sidelined by the

breaking news.

So Im taking the painting and start to

leave, but all of a sudden a photographer

takes a picture of me holding the art piece

in the corridor, she told AFP in an interview.

As opposition protesters and ordinary

Ukrainians discovered with horror theopulence at Yanukovychs lavish mansion

Mezhygirya, the picture went viral as many

said it had been found along with luxury

cars, a private zoo and golden toilets.

I came home and in the morning the

picture was all over the Internet already

and saying that the picture was from Me-

zhygirya, said Oleynik.

In reality the image was painted in 2012

as part of a series of nudes of well-known

politicians called I am a man. Appreciation

of the artwork ranged from amusement to

awe and outrage.

The artist might be crazy, very

strange masterpiece, one Facebook user

commented on the picture. Another called

Yanukovych a renaissance victim while

another suggested the picture be nailed to

the refrigerator to spoil an appetite.

The now-famous painting has taken

up residence in a corner of an anti-cafe

owned by Oleynik in a basement in the

heart of Kiev.l

Bin Laden son-in-lawguilty of terrorismnAgencies

A US jury has reached a guilty verdict ina terrorism-related case against a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, Aljazeerareported. The verdict on Wednesdaycame after about five hours of deliber-ation in the case against Sulaiman AbuGhaith, the highest-ranking al-Qaedafigure to face trial on US soil since theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks.

The jury returned a guilty verdict onthree charges: conspiracy to kill Amer-

icans, conspiring to provide supportto al-Qaeda and providing supportto al-Qaeda. He was more than justOsama bin Ladens propaganda minis-ter, US lawyer Preet Bharara said.

Within hours after the devastating9/11 attacks, Abu Ghaith was using hisposition in al-Qaedas homicidal hi-erarchy to persuade others to pledgethemselves to al-Qaeda in the cause ofmurdering more Americans.

Defence lawyer Stanley Cohen

emerged from court promising to appeal.Abu Ghaith had testified during

a three-week trial that he answeredbin Ladens request in the hours afterthe attacks to speak on widely circulat-ed videos used to recruit new follow-ers willing to go on missions similar tothose on September 11, 2001.

The storm of airplanes will not stop,Abu Ghaith warned in an October 2001video that was played for the jury.

Asked about the trial of Abu Graithand those accused of the September 11,

2001 attacks, US Senator John McCaintold Al Jazeera: The process obviouslyhas been incredibly slow.

Pointing out how long the Abu Graithcase had taken to come to trial, McCainsaid: Its many years later, whether itwas in New York or Guantanamo.

Captured in Jordan last year, AbuGhaith has actively participated in histrial. He listened to testimony and argu-ments through headphones linked to anArabic translator.l

Catalans keep up pressure forvote to split from SpainnAFP, Barcelona

Student Marc Cots believes Catalans want

an independence referendum so badly,they would turn out to vote even if Spainsent tanks to the region to stop them.

We have to vote. If they want, on theday of the referendum they can bringtanks to Catalonia but we are going tovote all the same, said the 20-year-oldafter signing a petition in central Barce-lona in favour of the referendum.

The Catalan government has alreadyset November 9 as the date for the refer-endum -- two months after an indepen-dence vote in Scotland that has beenauthorised by the British government.

But Spains Constitutional Court onTuesday ruled unconstitutional andnull a declaration by the Catalan re-gional parliament which claimed Cat-alonia had a sovereign right to hold avote on its future.

The court upheld a legal challengeto that declaration by Spains nationalgovernment, which argues referen-dums on sovereignty must be held na-

tionally and not regionally.

For me, the Constitutional Courtruling doesnt change anything, Cotssaid, however. Catalonia is a nation

due to its history, its language and itsdifferent culture. We have a right tovote whether they like it or not.

He was one in a steady stream ofpeople that included pensioners, youngfamilies with children and tourists whovisited a stand set up in Barcelonas Cat-alonia Square by the Catalan NationalAssembly, a powerful pressure group,to gather signatures on the petition.

The petition urges Catalonias polit-ical leaders to do as much as they can,that they exhaust all of the paths opento a referendum.

The group has not revealed the totalnumber of signatures it has collected sofar, but said that over the weekend ofJanuary 11-12 it gathered over 200,000at booths set up across Catalonia,which is home to 7.5 million p eople.

People are very excited becausewe have never been so close to achiev-ing it, said Maria Lluisa Forcadell, a55-year-old volunteer who staffed the

stand on Catalonia Square.

The stand was decorated with theCatalan independence flag, which fea-tures red and yellow stripes and a white

star inside a blue triangle.You cant negotiate anything with

Madrid. They have made their re-sponse clear. So we have to press aheadeven if it is outside of the law, said Ser-gi Codina, 32, a restaurant manager, ashe signed the petition.

Polls show that 70-80 percent ofCatalans want the referendum to beheld, said Barcelona University politi-cal science professor Jordi Matas.

There is a parliamentary majoritythat is behind it and above all a majorityof the population that does not stop de-manding this referendum, he added.

Proud of their distinct languageand culture, many in Catalonia saythey feel short-changed by the centralgovernment which redistributes theirtaxes. Spains economic woes, with 26percent unemployment and drasticpublic spending cuts, have sharpenedthis feeling, prompting calls for inde-pendence to grow louder in the past

two years.l

Sisi may revive strongman era toquell Egypt unrest, analysts say

nAFP, Cairo

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is assured of win-ning Egypts forthcoming presidentialvote but at the cost of reviving the eraof strongman rule as he faces a dilapi-dated economy and rising militancy.

Analysts say Field Marshal Sisi, who onWednesday announced he was quittingthe army to run for president, was certainto continue the crackdown on Islamiststhat started when he overthrew electedpresident Mohamed Morsi in July.

And, the experts say, with security is-sues likely to hamper Sisi from deliveringon his promise of economic recovery, hecould resort to repression more and more.Sisis widely-anticipated candidacy is be-ing hailed by the millions of Egyptianswho are weary of more than three years of

turmoil since the Arab Spring overthrow

of veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.But it is likely to further inflame Is-

lamist protests and worry those secularactivists who fear a return to rule bymilitary men and the strong-arm tac-tics of the Mubarak era.

Aside from Morsi, whose year in of-fice deeply polarised the country, ev-ery Egyptian president has been drawnfrom, or installed by, the army.

Dressed in army fatigues for the lasttime in public, Sisi promised in a tele-vised address to bolster the precariouseconomy and crush the terrorism thathas surged since Morsis overthrow.

Michele Dunne, a senior associateat the Carnegie Endowment for Peace,said Sisis address suggested he wouldcontinue the crackdown on the Isla-mists that has made little headway in

restoring stability.

I didnt hear Field Marshal Sisi sayanything in the initial speech to sug-gest there will be a shift in the securitystrategy, she said.

Since Morsis overthrow, his sup-porters have staged weekly and attimes violent protests, leading to thedeaths of at least 1,400 people, mostlyIslamists, in clashes with police.

Militants in the same period havekilled more than 200 security person-nel in bombing and shooting attacks.Encouraged by many Egyptians whoview the Islamists as destructive, theauthorities have arrested some 15,000people and placed thousands on trial.

If the crackdown goes on and peo-ple continue to be killed every week, itwill be diffi cult, perha ps impossibl e, torestore stability and get the economy

on its feet, Dunne said.l

Amnesty revealsglobal surge inexecutions

nAFP, London

The number of known executionsworldwide rose to at least 778 last yearfollowing a surge in Iraq and Iran, Am-nesty International said yesterday, butChina remains the worlds biggest stateexecutioner by far.

Beijing is thought to have killedthousands of its own citizens, morethan the rest of the world put together,the London-based human rights organ-isation said.

But the charitys annual report ondeath sentences and executions world-wide said the Chinese authorities con-tinue to treat the figures on death sen-tences and executions as a state secret.

The rise in the known judicial usesof the death penalty -- from at least 682in 2012 -- was chiefly due to Iraq andIran, the report said.

Iran put at least 369 people to deathin 2013, up from at least 314 in 2012, andAmnesty said there was credible evi-dence from sources in the country thatat least 335 further executions were car-ried out in secret. Iraq executed at least169 people in 2013, a sharp rise on the

40 given the death penalty in 2011 and101 put to death in 2010, with death sen-tences there often passed after grosslyunfair trials, the report said.

People were executed in 22 coun-tries in 2013, one more than the previ-ous year, although Indonesia, Kuwait,Nigeria and Vietnam all resumed use ofthe death penalty.

Outside China, almost 80 percent ofexecutions worldwide were carried outby Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Only fiveother countries have executed in each ofthe past five years: Bangladesh, North Ko-rea, Sudan, the United States and Yemen.In the US last year, Maryland becamethe 18th abolitionist state, with Texasnow accounting for 41 percent of all ex-ecutions in the Americas.

Worldwide, people were execut-ed for murder, drug-related offences,adultery, blasphemy, economic crimes,rape, aggravated robbery, treason,collaboration with foreign entities, and

acts against national security.l

Obama tells PopeFrancis he is agreat admirer

nAP, Vatican City

A visibly energized President BarackObama held a nearly hourlong audi-ence with Pope Francis at the Vaticanyesterday, expressing his great admira-tion for the pontiff and inviting him tovisit the White House.

Although Obama and the churchremain deeply split over abortion andcontraception, Obama considers thepontiff a kindred spirit on issues ofeconomic inequality, and their privatemeeting in the Papal Library ran longer

than scheduled. After they emergedto cameras, Francis presented Obamawith a copy of his papal mission state-ment decrying a global economic sys-tem that excludes the poor. Obama saidhe will keep i t in the Oval Offi ce.

The president and pope both ap-peared tense at the start of the audi-ence, when they initially greeted oneanother, but then were all smiles by theend of the meeting and seemed to havefound a rapport, though they spokethrough interpreters.

It is a great honor. Im a great admir-er, Obama said after greeting the popewith a slight bow as they shook hands.Thank you so much for receiving me.

Obama arrived at the Vatican amidall the pomp and tradition of the Cath-olic Church, making his way in a long,slow procession through the hallwaysof the Apostolic Palace led by color-ful Swiss Guards and accompanied byceremonial attendants. The president

bowed as he shook hands with the pon-tiff in the Small Throne Room, beforethe two sat down at the popes desk.

The two were scheduled to meet forjust half an hour, but their private dis-cussion lasted 52 minutes. At the end,they exchanged gifts, with the popeoffering Obama two medallions and acopy of his apostolic exhortation TheJoy of the Gospel.

Obama presented the pope with aseed chest with fruit and vegetableseeds used in the White House Gar-den, mentioning that he understandsthe pope is opening the gardens at thepapal summer residence to the public.The chest was inscribed with the dateof their meeting and custom-made ofleather and reclaimed wood from theBaltimore Basilica one of the oldestCatholic cathedrals in the US

It is likely that Francis will travelto the US in September 2015 for thechurchs World Meeting of Families in

Philadelphia.l

UN watchdog urgesObama to reviewdeadly drone policy

nReuters, GenevaA UN human rights watchdog called onthe Obama administration yesterdayto review its use of drones to kill sus-pected al-Qaeda and Taliban militantsabroad and reveal how it chose its tar-gets.

In its first report on Washingtonsrights record since 2006, it also calledfor the prosecution of anyone who or-dered or carried out killings, abductionsand torture under a CIA program at thetime of President George W. Bush, andto keep a promise to close the detentionfacility at Guantanamo Bay.

US offi cials di d not immedi ately com-ment on the findings of the UN HumanRights Committee, which is made up of18 independent experts.

The Obama administration increasedthe number of drone strikes after takingoffi ce in 2009 but attacks have droppedoff in the last year. It has been underpressure from affected governments, theUnited Nations and activists to rein in thestrikes and do more to protect civilians.

The United States should give moreinformation on how it decided someonewas enough of an imminent threat tobe targeted in covert operations in Paki-stan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somaliaand other countries, the report said.

Meagre number of criminal charges

The committee also called for more in-

vestigations into intelligence operations

launched by the administration of Presi-dent George W. Bush in the wake of theSeptember 11 2001 attacks on America.

Critics say the CIA program usedharsh interrogation methods, includingwaterboarding or simulated drown-ing, that constituted torture banned byinternational law.

There has only been a limited num-ber of investigations into unlawfulkillings ... and the use of torture orcruel, inhuman or degrading treatmentor punishment of detainees in US cus-tody, including outside its territory, aspart of the so-called enhanced inter-rogation techniques program, it said.

The report welcomed Obamas orderin January 2009 to end the CIA program.But it noted with concern that all re-ported investigations into alleged abus-es were closed in 2012 leading only toa meagre number of criminal chargesbrought against low-level operatives.

The panel said many details of the

CIA program remained secret, hinderingaccountability and redress for victims.In an apparent reference to lawyers

who drew up memos justifying the Bush-era interrogation techniques, it said:The responsibility of those who provid-ed legal pretexts for manifestly illegal be-havior should also be established.

Death penalty, detentionsThe UN experts also voiced concern atthe US use of the death penalty and inparticular racial disparities in its im-position that affects disproportionatelyAfrican Americans.

They regretted mandatory detentionof immigrants for prolonged periods oftime, deportations of immigrants andthe exclusion of millions of undocu-mented immigrants and their childrenfrom coverage under the AffordableCare Act. The 18 experts examined UScompliance with a landmark treaty oncivil and political rights at a two-day

session earlier this month.l

Syrian refugee Majd Ammari, 13, performs the role of King Lear as he and others like him rehearse one of Shakespeares great tragedies

at the sprawling Zaatari refugee camp in Jordanian desert near the border with Syria. Syrian actor-turned-director