JMB leaders used cellphones in jailRoles of police and jail sta� suspiciousn Kailash Sarkar

The three top JMB leaders who had been whisked o� a prison van on Sun-day on their way to Mymensingh from the jail in Gazipur had mobile phones inside their prison to communicate with other JMB men outside, sources said.

The JMB men masterminded their escape while being in jail by keeping a regular connection with their cohorts that took part in the operation.

A section of policemen are suspected to be involved in the operation and plan-ning while questions have also been raised on the poor security measures as the hardened JMB cadres were being taken to Mymensingh from Gazipur.

Police, Rab and Jail sources said the cadres, who took part in operation, were the JMB operatives and two of the three microbuses used in the operation

were purchased recently at Tk21 lakh from the capital.

Three members of Majlish-e-Sura, the highest decision making body of JMB – Salauddin Salehin, Rakib Hasan Rasel and Saidul Islam, alias Boma Mi-zan – were taken away from the prison van on their way to a Mymensingh court, killing a policeman Sunday morning.

Within six hours of whisking away of the JMB men, Rakib had been re-ar-rested in Sha� pur. He also died in a re-ported gun� ght between police and a gang of criminals early yesterday.

Besides, two of the microbuses used in the operation were recovered by ar-resting three other JMB men, including a driver of one of the microbuses, Zaka-riya Himel, his wife Swapna Begum and another JMB man Anwar Hossain, alias Rasel.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Ha-sibul Alam, acting superintendent of police (SP) of Tangail district, admitted

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Political position, agesave them from gallowsn Julfi kar Ali Manik and Ashif

Islam Shaon

The gravity of o� ences committed by former BNP lawmaker Nasirud-din Ahmed Pintu and Awami League ward-level leader Torab Ali in the BDR carnage warranted death penalty.

But the court awarded both of them life-term jail sentences considering Pin-tu’s political status and Torab’s old age.

The Third Additional Judge’s Court of Dhaka found the duo guilty of being involved with the killing of 74 people including 57 army o� cers during the bloody mutiny at Pilkhana in 2009.

Pintu, a former president of BNP’s

student front Chhatra Dal, was also convicted for instigating the massacre while Torab for conspiring.

Torab Ali came to know about the mutiny conspiracy on the night of Feb-

ruary 24 from Zakir Hossain, owner of Prime Coaching Centre. The BDR sol-diers published their lea� ets from that tuition home.

But despite the knowledge, Torab did not inform the law enforcers or the authorities concerned. Instead, the next day – that is the � rst day of the

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

n Julfi kar Ali Manik

Five years have passed, several probes have been completed and verdict has been delivered in a carnage case, but the mystery behind the BDR mutiny and the brutal killings inside Pilkhana is yet to be unearthed.

The judge of a trial court that deliv-ered verdict in the carnage case, said in his judgment that the killing of so many army o� cials was not a ration-al consequence of the grievances that had piled up among the BDR soldiers.

During the bloody mutiny in the force’s Pilkhana headquarters on Feb-ruary 25-26, 2009, BDR (now BGB) rebels killed 57 army o� cers and 17civilians.

The mutineers tried to hide the dead bodies by burying them in mass graves inside Pilkhana and throwing some others in the sewerage lines. They also brutally tortured army of-� cers and their families and ransacked their houses and properties. Those murdered included the force’s the then director general and this wife.

According to a home ministry probe committee formed after the mutiny, further investigation was required

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

BusinessB1 Representation from the Ministry of Commerce to the third BIMSTEC Summit early next month has been ignored – even Minister Tofail Ahmed is not aware about the disappointment.

News5 The Moghbazar-Mouchak road in the capital has virturally turned impassable due to the ongoing construction of the � yover on the road. Commuters of di� erent vehicles have to wait for hours on the road. Vehicles are often stuck in potholes in the dilapidated road.

Op-Ed11 February 25 could be like any other day, but now it is marked as a red-letter day because on this day we lost 57 of our men who had to give their lives in the most barbarous manner possible.

Entertainment12 A biography on ace � lmmaker Tareque Masud has been un-covered at the Amor Ekushey Book Fair-2014 recently. The book is published by Bangladesh Film Archive. The writer Rubayet Ahmed assumes that the book will stand as a reference to all who want to know and study the life and works of thelate � lmmaker.

20 pages plus 16-page T-Mag tabloid | Price: Tk10

Falgun 14, 1420Rabius Saani 24, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 1 No 333 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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BDR CARNAGE February 25-26, 2009Casualties: Army 57 + Jawans 10 + Civilians 7 = Total 74

CarnageCase � led28 February, 2009Charge sheet submitted12 July, 2010Indictment10 August, 2011Verdict5 November, 2013Accused 846Death 152Life 161Jail term 256Acquitted 277Witness 1,350

MutinyCases � led 57Special courts 11

in Dhaka 6out of Dhaka 5

Jail term 5,926(Min 4 months, max 7 years)

Acquitted 115

ExplosiveAccused 834Prosecution witnessesexamined 26Next hearing3 March, 2014

Family members of the victims of the BDR mutiny hold a candlelight vigil in front of the National Press Club on MondayMAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Recaptured JMB Rakib killed in ‘gun� ght’n Tribune Report

Death row convict Jama’atul Muja-hedin Bangladesh (JMB) leader Rakib Hasan, alias Hafez Mahmud Rasel, 35, was killed in a ‘gun� ght’ at Beltoil Ceramic area under Mirjapur upazila in Tangail early yesterday. He was re-captured by law enforcers after being snatched away by fellow JMB men from a police van earlier on Sunday.

Police claimed the gun� ght took place at around 4:00am, when they went to arrest two other JMB leaders snatched from their custody, and other JMB activists who took part in the po-lice van attack.

On Sunday, JMB members killed a policeman and snatched three of their top detained operatives from a prison van in Trishal of Mymensingh on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway, while they were being taken to Mymensingh from jails in Gazipur. The snatched JMB men were death row convict Rakib Hasan, Salauddin Salehin and Saidul Islam ali-as Boma Mizan, who had been awarded lifetime imprisonment.

Hasibul Alam, acting superinten-dent of Tangail district police, told the Dhaka Tribune that Rakib Hasan Rasel

was killed during a gun� ght between police and a gang of criminals, who at-tacked the police members in a bid to snatch Rasel again.

“Police went to the place along with Rasel as per his information about the presence of two other JMB leaders, Salehin and Boma Mizan,” said Hasibul Alam adding: “To free Rasel, the crim-inals opened � red on the police mem-bers, who retaliated with gunshots leading to the gun battle.”

He said: “It was a � erce gun� ght that lasted for more than half an hour. At one point, Rasel tried to escape and sustained bullet injuries to his chest and throat.”

He said three police members also sustained injuries in the gun battle and a shutter gun was also recovered on the spot.

Although Hasibul could not give de-tails on the injured policemen, he said they were admitted to Tangail Hospital.

The drive was conducted by a joint team of police comprising of members from Mirzapur and Sha� pur police sta-tions in Tangail, additional forces from Mymensingh and the detective branch.

Police later handed over the body PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Shibir a top non-state armed group: IHS Jane’s n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The US-based defence think-tank IHS Jane’s has termed Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Is-lami, as one of the most active non-state armed groups in 2013. In its latest Global Terrorism and Insurgency At-tack Index in February,it revealed the

top 10 non-state armed groups in 2013.“In 2009, a worldwide total of 7,217

attacks were recorded from open sources. In 2013, that number in-creased by more than 150% to 18,524,” said Matthew Henman, manager of IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Cen-tre (JTIC), which carried out the study.

A total of 492 attacks were reported

in Bangladesh in 2013, while it was only 28 in the previous year.

It said the epicenter of activities was in the Middle East, with signi� -cant pockets of violence radiating out to neighbouring regions in Africa and South Asia. The six most active Mid-dle Eastern states – Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Lebanon – accounted

for 52% of all global attacks in 2013 and 71% of all fatalities.

The six Middle East states and South Asia’s Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh – numbers three, four, � ve and seven on the IHS list of most ac-tive states in 2013 – constituted 73% of all attacks and 86% of all fatalities in-curred in 2013. l

Real cause of BDR mutiny still a mystery

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 25, 2014

PM: Find out militant � nancers, take actionn Mohosinul Karim

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yester-day asked the ministers and o� cials concerned to take tough actions to pre-vent the rise of militant groups and to stop terrorism � nancing from inside or outside the country.

The cabinet meeting yesterday dis-cussed the issues of rising militancy, terror � nancing in the country and the ruling party’s dismal performance in the � rst phase of upazila polls.

A minister, seeking anonymity, said some of the ministers informed the premier that a section of police o� cials who were involved with the security of the Jama’atul Mujahidin Bangladesh (JMB) convicts, were involved in the JMB snatching incident.

The minister also said the miscreants talked to the police o� cials over mobile phone to be con� rmed about the location. The convicted criminals also talked to the snatchers during the incident from the prison van, he added.

While addressing the meeting, the premier said: “It is being investigated whether the incident happened due to lack of security measures.”

Expressing her content over the immediate arrest of one of the JMB members, the premier said the other convicted JMB members who � ed away would be arrested soon.

Expressing her dissatisfaction over the performance of her party candi-dates in the � rst phase of upazila par-ishad polls, the premier ordered the ministers and the party’s seven teams, which were given the responsibility to oversee issues related to upazila polls, to ensure single candidate in the up-coming polls. She also ordered to take steps against rebel candidates if neces-sary.

Communication Minister Obaidul Quader was given charge to monitor and look after the issue seriously. The action would be taken considering the report of Obaidul Quader, another min-ister con� rmed the Dhaka Tribune.

Regarding the participation of Kad-er Siddique in the by-polls of Tangail 8 constituency, several ministers com-mented that though he boycotted the January 5 polls supporting the BNP-led 19-party alliance, he was willing to participate in the by-polls because he realised that it was a mistake to boycott general elections. l

136 foreign students selected for MBBS and BDSn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The health ministry has declared the names of 136 selected foreign students for admission into the � rst year-MBBS and BDS courses for 2013-2014 in gov-ernment medical and dental colleges.

Of the total selected students, 67 for the MBBS and six for the BDS course have been selected from Saarc coun-tries India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

On the other hand, 48 others have been selected for the MBBS and 15 for the BDS course from non-Saarc coun-tries including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Palestine and Malaysia.

This year, there were 341 foreign applicants (291 from Saarc and 51 from non-Saarc countries) for the MBBS course and 22 applicants (seven from Saarc and 15 from non-Saarc countries) for the BDS course.

Dr ABM Abdul Hannan, director of medical education and manpower de-velopment at the Directorate General of Health Services, said all applicants had submitted applications through the Bangladeshi Embassy at their countries.

The ministry has issued a circular for the selected students to get admit-ted by March 11.l

Real cause of BDR mutiny still a mystery PAGE 1 COLUMN 6because the “real cause and motive be-hind the barbaric incident could not be established beyond doubt.”

However, the report that the com-mittee placed identi� ed “the negative attitude of the general BDR members towards the army o� cers and their dis-content over unful� lled demands” as the primary causes of the mutiny.

“An analysis of the demands gives the impression that such small de-mands cannot be the main cause of such a heinous incident. These points have been used to in� uence the gener-al BDR soldiers. The main conspirators may have used these causes to instigate the incident; they themselves worked from behind the curtains to destabilise the nation,” the report said.

However, no initiative to “unearth the real reason behind the killing” has been visible since that report came out

in 2009.When contacted, State Minister for

Home A� airs Asaduzzaman Khan, who took over last month, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that he could not comment on the matter because he was yet to examine the reports � led in connection with the mutiny.

On November 5 last year, a Dhaka court handed down death sentences to 152 people, including a civilian, and various jail terms to hundreds of BDR personnel in the carnage case.

Although Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of the Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court of Dhaka dis-cussed many possible reasons behind the mutiny and the killings, he could not come to any conclusion in this regard.

The judgment said: “Some griev-ances piled up among the BDR soldiers based on some logical/illogical allega-tions and demands. But killing of so

many army o� cers did not match with their grievances.”

“It seems that a quarter took the op-portunity to serve their narrow inter-ests by destroying the overall security and stability of the country using the demands of BDR rebels,” the judge ob-served.

According to the judgment, there were � ve possible reasons that could have led to the mutiny: those were mil-itary and security, diplomacy, econo-my, politics and society.

Just like the judge and the probe committee, the families of the victims are also still in the dark about the rea-sons behind the bloody mutiny.

After the pronouncement of verdict in the carnage case, some family mem-bers, including the widows, of the slain army o� cers expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that the verdict failed to throw any light on the “real cause.” l

Political position, age save them from gallows PAGE 1 COLUMN 6mutiny – he organised and brought out processions at gates no 1 and 5 of the Pilkhana headquarters.

The processions chanted slogans such as “BDR, Janata bhai bhai,” (the BDR soldiers and the people are broth-ers), said the court that handed down death sentences to 151 former mem-bers of the paramilitary border security force for killing 57 army o� cers and 17 civilians during the two-day mutiny.

“One of his [Torab’s] associates said the BDR men held clandestine meet-ings at his residence. The BDR men also contacted Pintu before the mutiny. He instigated the rebel soldiers to bring out processions inside the BDR headquar-ters,” the court said in its judgment.

The prosecution proved that both of them were involved with the conspiracy. But considering their political pro� le and old age, they had been given life term sentences instead death, the court said.

The court in its judgment on No-vember 5, however, ordered for puni-tive departmental actions to be taken against CID Special Superintendent Ab-dul Kahar Akhand, investigation o� cer in the BDR carnage case, for conduct-

ing incomplete probe. Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of the

Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court also linked chief public prosecutor Anisul Huq and his deputy Mosharraf Hossain Kajal with the in-complete investigation.

Anisul Huq is now the law minister of the Awami League-led government. Kajal was one of the prosecutors of the Bangabandhu murder case as well.

“The investigator could not extract [any other] information from Torab apart from the confessional statement [that Torab had given]. He also told the court that none of the witnesses gave deposition against him. If nobody gave deposition, then why did he charge him [Torab]?” the judgment said.

The court suspected that the investi-gator did not record any witness account against Torab out of bias. The judgment against Torab was delivered on the basis of the confessional statement.

Meanwhile, for Pintu, the court took two witness accounts into consider-ation. The court also said Pintu was a feared person, especially among wit-nesses, because of his power and in� u-ence in his area. l

JMB leaders used cellphones in jail PAGE 1 COLUMN 2that the JMB militants had their own mobile phones inside their prison cells and prison van for keeping communi-cation with the other JMB men.

The acting SP, however, said: “So far we have come to know that those three JMB cadres had been supplied with a mini-size cellphone of a company for keeping regu-lar contact with their fellows.”

Asked, the acting SP said the mobile phone had been supplied to them when they were taken to a Dhaka court in con-nection with their court appearance for one of the cases, but he failed to specify when the cellphones were supplied.

“During primary interrogation Za-karia Himel disclosed their plan to car-ry out the operation and the ways of how they maintained communication,” said Hasibul Alam.

He said: “Zakariya hails from Chapa-inawabganj and he is an active JMB operative, who played key role in the operation.”

“Zakariya helped purchase the two of three microbuses used in the op-

eration at Tk21 lakh from ‘Car Hut’ in front of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, he said, adding that one of the microbuses was purchased only four days before the operation and another around two weeks ago.”

Replying to a query, SP Hasibul Alam said those who launched the operation to whisk o� the three JMB leaders and carried out attack in Mirjapur where Rakib Hasan Rasel was killed were also JMB cadres.

Col Ziaul Ahsan, additional director general of Rab, agreed with the Tangail SP, saying, “We suspect that the attack-ers were JMB cadres.”

However, o� cials of the High Secu-rity Jail and Kashimpur 1 prison denied the claim of SP Hasibul Alam and they traded blame between each other.

They said police were trying to cover up their failure by shifting blame on the jail authorities.

“There is no scope of keeping any mobile phone inside the jail. We keep a close watch so that nobody can use mobile phone,” said Abdur Razzak, se-

nior superintendent of the High Secu-rity Jail.

Jamil Ahmed Chowdhury, senior su-perintendent of Kashimpur 1 Jail, add-ed: “It was a foul mouthed tirade that the JMB leaders had their own phone inside the jail.”

Meanwhile, the committees formed to probe the role of police in connec-tion with the � eeing of three JMB cad-res started their activities yesterday.

Additional Deputy Inspector Gen-eral of Police (Dhaka Range) Faruq Hossain, chief of one of the probe com-mittees, told the Dhaka Tribune they already started investigation into the incident.

Asked why only three policemen were assigned for escorting such hard-ened JMB cadres, the police o� cer said: “We are carrying out investiga-tion, paying highest attention to the question.”

“We are verifying whether police in Gazipur had negligence or had their in-volvement in the � eeing of those pris-oners.” l

JMB Rakib killed PAGE 1 COLUMN 2of Rakib Hasan to his family members yesterday afternoon, said Mirzapur police station O� cer-in-Charge Golam Mostafa.

“The body was handed over to Rakib’s father Abdus Sobahan around 5.20pm,” he informed.

Bounty amount increasedPolice yesterday increased the

bounty from Tk 2 lakh to Tk 5 lakh each for the capture of the JMB men, who were snatched away by fellow activists from a police van.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Qa-mrul Ahsan, senior information o� cer at the Police Headquarters, con� rmed the matter and said: “Tk5 lakh will be rewarded to anyone who will be able to capture or help in the arrest of any of the two convicted JMB leaders.”

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Dhaka Range Police Mahfujul Huq Nuru-zzaman, earlier on Sunday evening, announced a Tk2 lakh as bounty on the heads of three convicted JMB men.

Meanwhile, the driver of one of the microbus used in the JMB operation, Zakariya Himel, and another JMB sus-pect Anwar Hossain Rasel were placed on a 20-day remand in two separate cases. l

Government agencies to outsource vacant positionsn Asif Showkat Kallol

The ministries and divisions are likely to analyse the existing posts that are emp-ty, and carry out recruitments under the new outsourcing policy to meet the shortage of human resources. Private � rms would be given the task to � nd suitable candidates for the positions.

The identi� ed posts however would not be turned into permanent or semi-permanent posts in the near fu-ture, sources said.

Finance minister AMA Muhith ap-proved the Outsourcing Policy 2014 last week to meet the shortage of human resources at government agencies, said a senior o� cial of the Finance Division, adding that the government would send it to the secretaries’ committee to enact the policy.

As per the new outsourcing policy, third and fourth-class sta� s would be recruited in the ministries and divi-sions under the revenue sector through outsourcing.

However, the ministries and divi-sions that are sensitive to exposing state secrets would not recruit people through outsourcing.

The ministries, divisions and semi-government organsations would be able to recruit 18 to 60 fourth-class employees each year to meet the work-force shortage.

According to the approved outsourc-ing guidelines, candidates would need to have passed at least class eight or the JSC examination. Guidelines however would be relaxed for recruiting vehicle drivers in ministry and divisions.

Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain said outsourcing the workforce would largely depend on the � nance ministry. The draft policy aims at regulating appointment, sala-ries, service charges, duration and per-formance, the secretary added.

Ministries and divisions would not sign contracts with private organsa-tions or a person without the clearance of the � nance ministry, while agree-

ments would also not be penned with private � rms that do not have public recognition.

The private � rms that would sign agreements with the government would determine the service charge, security performance, leave of absence and discipline of the appointed work-forces.

Private � rms would also con� rm the nationality, age, education quali-� cation and police veri� cation of the persons who would be recruited to the ministries and divisions through out-sourcing.

The ministries and divisions con-cerned would have to ensure that the whole process is carried out under the outsourcing policy.

Salaries or remuneration would be � xed in line with the national pay scale of the government, and if necessary, the service charge would also be � xed according to the directive of the au-thorities concerned, according to the new outsourcing policy. l

Rana Plaza victims urge to publish complete list of dead and missing n Adil Sakhawat

Relatives of those who died or were injured in the Rana Plaza collapse gath-ered in front of the tragic site yester-day, demanding their compensations and urged the government to publish the complete list of dead and missing workers as soon as possible.

They also warned that they would go for tough movement if their de-mands were not met.

Over 200 workers and relatives of the victims demonstrated at the site under the banner of Bangladesh Gar-ments Workers Solidarity.

Many workers complained that though 10 months had passed, they did not get any compensation yet.

Lovely, a victim, said: “Every month we come here but the government is yet to give us any compensation.”

When asked, many survivors said they lost everything and they would demonstrate till they get their actual compensation.

“We did not want to work on that day. We only worked as the owners forced us. Some of us lost their limbs; some have lost capability to work again. So, the government should as-sume our responsibility,” Arzina, a sur-vivor, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Taslima Akhter, coordinator of Ban-gladesh Garments Workers Solidarity, said: “The government should take im-mediate action to publish a list of dead and missing workers and � nd out their

actual relatives and provide them com-pensation.”

Many relatives claimed that they were the actual relatives of some miss-ing or dead workers, but DNA author-ities told them that the DNA sample provided by them did not match with unidenti� ed bodies.

Taslima also said: “A committee has already been formed according to high court order to provide compensation to survivors and victims of Rana Plaza, but the government and the BGMEA are yet to take initiatives to provide compensation.

“As far as we know, the government has got $40 million as compensation from many foreign retailers, but yet the victims are compelled to demonstrate for their legal compensation.” l

Khaleda bashes DU Chhatra Dal leadersn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Terming the party’s student wing Jati-yatabadi Chhatra Dal a failure in waging street movements, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday said a new com-mittee of the allied body would soon be formed comprising regular students.

“Madam [Khaleda] lambasted us and said a new committee would be formed soon as we had failed to wage any movement on the streets. Regular

students will get priority in the new committee,” a Chhatra Dal leader told the Dhaka Tribune, seeking anonymity.

The leader said Khaleda had bashed the president and general secretary of the present committee for complete-ly failing to wage movement and thus would now face the music.

Khaleda held a meeting with the Dhaka University Chhatra Dal leaders at her Gulshan o� ce yesterday, where they blamed the top leaders of the stu-

dent organisation, alleging that most of the committee posts were sold.

Khaleda said there was no problem with Chhatra Dal, but the problem be-gan after Sultan Salahuddin Tuku and Amirul Islam Alim had assumed the top positions.

“Chhatra Dal was active until Tuku and Alim took the helm of the organi-sation. They will face dire consequenc-es,” the Chhatra Dal leader quoted Khaleda as saying. l

Constable Sohel Rana receives treatment after being injured in the JMB prison van ambush in Mymensingh on Sunday DHAKA TRIBUNE

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Hasina’s life was at riskn Ashif Islam Shaon

The prime minister’s life was at risk and the erstwhile BDR authority was liable for this as the premier had vis-ited Pilkhana a day before the mutiny to attend the annual parade, and the rebellion had already been planned by that time.

The rebels were in the � nal stage to implement their plans – they held a se-ries of secret meetings, even on the day Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit.

A court observed that analysing the Pilkhana tragedy and its brutality, it could not be claimed that the prime minister’s security had been tight and she had been safe there.

It questioned the necessity of hold-ing the extravagant annual parade for

a paramilitary force like the BDR (now BGB) as it also takes part in the Victory Day parade.

“In history there are some examples that the head of state was assassinated while visiting parades,” it said.

It said the Ri� es Security Unit (RSU), the intelligence wing of the now de-funct Bangladesh Ri� es, had been aware of some development towards the February 25-26, 2009 mutiny in which 74 people, including 57 army o� cials, were killed. But despite such suspicions, the BDR authority still in-vited the premier to attend the annual parade.

“Either the RSU chief and his sub-ordinates failed to realise the depth of the grievances among the BDR rank and � le, or they knew [about the griev-

ances] but did not inform the authority [of it] willingly,” the court that held the trial of BDR carnage case has observed in the verdict recently.

It also underlined the indi� erence of the BDR authorities as a failure. It said the authorities concerned had been aware of the grievances but chose to conceal the information fearing that once revealed, it would result in the cancellation of the PM’s visit.

“Lt Col Atiquzzaman, commanding o� cer of the RSU, had told the court that the rebels spread a lea� et against the army o� cers, addressing the prime minister, and they got a copy of that on February 21. They were supposed to identify the accused persons and take departmental actions against them. But they did not,” it said.

“The language of the lea� et proved that the BDR men together had made plans and they were trying to gain sympathy from di� erent persons and authorities by spreading the lea� ets so that the grievance can be spread among people,” it said.

In the lea� ets they highlighted the BDR’s “Operation Dal Bhat” and urged the premier to investigate DG Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed, his wife, and sector commander’s bank accounts to � nd out what they had achieved from the programme.

They also expressed discontents about the facilities of army o� cers, running the BDR fair price outlets, de-lays in getting payments of dearness allowances for duty during the national election, and control of tenders inside

the BDR Pilkhana headquarters.The rebels also said BDR chief

Shakil Ahmed, his wife Naznin Shak-il and Dhaka Sector Commander Col Mujibul Haque had been involved in tender manipulation and irregularities in children’s admission to schools and the governance of an English medium school in Pilkhana.

They said if the army o� cers were not withdrawn, they would remove them through a movement.

“Grievance among the BDR rank and � le against the army o� cers deputed there was increasing day by day. They [jawans] were waiting for a chance to bite the army o� cers. I do not under-stand why the authority invited the premier on February 24 even after all this,” the court said. l

Explosives case transferred as judge felt embarrassedn Ashif Islam Shaon and

Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

The case � led under the Explosives Act in connection with the 2009 BDR mutiny has been transferred from the court of Additional Metropolitan Ses-sions Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman to that of Metropolitan Sessions Judge Jahurul Haque because the former felt embar-rassed to conduct the trial.

On February 6, Jahurul Haque is-sued an order stating that the case had been withdrawn from Md Akhtaruz-zaman’s court and placed in his � le “for the sake of justice;” but did not men-tion why the judge felt embarrassed.

However, sources at the law min-istry said Akhteruzzaman would be transferred to the Judicial Administra-tion Training Institute in Dhaka soon.

Supreme Court Registrar AKM Sham-sul Islam said a proposal for a government order to transfer him to the training insti-tute had been sent to the law ministry.

“The proposal includes the names of some other o� cials as well. As far as I know, Akhtaruzzaman will be transferred to the Judicial Administration Training Institute,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

In the explosives case � led with the New Market Police Station, a total of 834 BDR (now BGB) members have been made accused and 26 prosecution wit-nesses have been examined so far. March 3 had been � xed for further hearing.

Apart from the explosives case, a mur-der case was � led with the same police station in connection with the killing of 74 people including 57 army o� cials in-side Pilkhana on February 25-26 in 2009.

Trial of both the cases began at Ja-hurul Haque’s court; but on September 15, 2013, the cases were transferred to Akhtaruzzaman’s court. On November 5 last year, Akhteruzzaman handed down death sentences to 151 former BDR personnel and one civilian in the carnage case. In the meantime, the ex-plosives case remained pending.

In the verdict, Akhtaruzzaman ob-served that Additional Chief Prosecutor Musharraf Hossain Kajol had not coop-erated with the court since the case had been transferred. The court also put the same blame on Chief Prosecu-tor Anisul Huq, now the Law Minister in the Awami League-led government.

Recently, the law minister was asked if there was a connection between the transfer of the case and the observa-tions the judge had made. In reply, he said: “It’s [the case transfer] only be-cause the judge felt embarrassed.

He also said trying the explosives case in a di� erent court would be a good idea because Akhtaruzaman had already delivered judgment in another case � led in connection with the same incident. l

Resentment, insecurity led to BDR angern Ashif Islam Shaon

The failure of the erstwhile Bangladesh Ri� es’ authorities to realise the depth and seriousness of the grievances – both long-term and short-term – among soldiers and address those were one of the reasons that led to the bloody muti-ny in February 2009.

In 1991, members of the erstwhile Bangladesh Ri� es revolted at a border outpost, placing a list of 19 demands. They distributed lea� ets with their de-mands, and threatened to oust army of-� cers from the force. The situation was resolved by sentencing the mutineers with light punishment.

In 2009, authorities at the BDR’s Pilkhana headquarters had come to learn about the jawans’ demands as they distributed lea� ets, but they did not take the matter seriously.

The lessons from recent history were forgotten, resulting in the deaths of 74 people, including 57 army o� cers, in the mutiny at Pilkhana on February 25-26, 2009, a court has observed recently.

The court handed down death sen-tences to 151 former BDR personnel and a civilian on November 5 last year for murder and torture.

It said the prime intelligence agen-cies of the country – the Special Branch of police, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and BDR’s own Ri-� es Security Unit – had shown negli-gence in dealing with the conspiracy and conspirators before the mutiny broke out. A few RSU members had links with the rebels and the o� cers failed to keep them under watch.

After the RSU members had found a lea� et in Pilkhana on February 21, they informed the o� cer concerned about it who in turn informed the BDR Director General. The DG ordered them to pre-pare counter-lea� ets within a day and distribute them.

However, no such lea� ets were ever made.

In its observation, the court said: “The BDR members had both ration-al and irrational demands. This court does not understand what made the authorities think that merely distribut-ing counter-lea� ets would resolve the problem.”

“Spreading lea� ets was not a new technique for soldiers to air their griev-ances, especially before the annual parade. But it is true that the lea� ets

distributed before the 2009 mutiny contained clear threats to the o� cers. The authority failed to realise and eval-uate the depth of those threats.”

The BDR authority also did not let other intelligence forces know about the lea� ets and the threats. Some RSU members had connections with the re-bellions.

The court said the paramilitary force had been commanded by army o� cers for 218 years and there had been a gap between the o� cers and soldiers since

the very beginning. It was clear that the commanding o� cers did not trust their divisional BDR o� cers. A vested interest group used the dissatisfaction and mis-trust to spread anger against the o� cers.

The court also identi� ed some loop-holes which had helped the rebels revolt. It said the BDR authority had acted unprofessionally in containing the mutiny and the rescue process. The BDR and the home ministry had lacked coordination, supervision and accountability.

Some jawans also tried to give their demands a political twist, while some former BDR members in the neigh-bourhood, their relatives and business-men also helped the mutineers.

The court recommended that the authority should bring changes to its recruitment and promotion system.

A grade III employee, who is a soldier with an educational quali� cation in-cluding SSC, gets the chance to become a grade I o� cer as deputy assistant di-rector but their educational background remains the same. They cannot cope up with a Captain who comes from the army on deputation. As a result, they su� er from psychological insecurity. Their sal-ary structures also do not match.

The court recommended opportuni-ty of higher education for soldiers and a probationary period for becoming a grade I o� cer. There should also be posts of second class o� cers.

The court also suggested 100% ration for the members of the Border Guard Bangladesh similar to what the army gets, and keeping the BGB members away from any monetary work like the Dal Bhat programme. To upgrade their mentality, the jawans should be trained properly and all BGB members should be provided housing inside Pilkhana.

“The practice of contacting with the force members by political leaders be-fore elections should be banned. Thus political leaders cannot use them, and they cannot use political leaders. Their demands should be placed through proper channels, not through the polit-ical leaders.”

The retirement age should be re-� ned and the yearly parade should be stopped. The army o� cers should be trained before they were posted in the BGB,” it said.

The government should check if there is any deep dissatisfaction in any force like the BDR. l

WAR CRIMES TRIAL

Witnesses : Mir Kashem threatened to chop us into piecesn Udisa Islam

Two new prosecution witnesses against Jamaat leader Mir Kashem Ali have said the accused had threatened to chop them into pieces and dump them in Karnaphuli River during the Liberation War. During their testimonies, the wit-nesses also accused Kashem of forcing them to disclose information about the plans and positions of freedom � ghters.

Sixty-year-old Salauddin, who is the nephew of eighth prosecution witness Eskander Alam Chowdhury, submitted his deposition at the ICT 2 yesterday and corroborated the deposition of his uncle.

“Mir Kashem grilled me at Dalim Hotel and repeatedly asked about the Freedom Fighters. When he failed to get any information, he told me, ‘If you

do not tell me, I will cut you in pieces and dump those in the river Karnaphu-li.’ Mir Kashem then asked al-Badr men to beat me more,” said Salauddin alias Chuttu Miah.

Salauddin said his uncles, Eskender and Jakaria, and cousins, Nazim and Jafar, were abducted by al-Badr men on November 30, 1971. All of them were con� ned and tortured at the Dalim Ho-tel, before they managed to free them-selves with the help of family members.

Following Salauddin’s deposition, his uncle Jakaria, 72, also testi� ed at the court and gave similar description of events as his nephew.

He said armed al-Badr men captured them from their home just four or � ve days after the Eid-ul-Fitr in 1971. The ab-ducted men were � rst taken to the MMC Model School in Chandgaon, while all

the con� ned people were later moved to the Dalim Hotel, Jakaria added.

The witness told the tribunal that some al-Badr men came and � ooded the room with water to prevent them from sleeping on the � oor.

After their brief depositions, de-fence counsel Advocate Mizanul Islam cross-examined the witnesses, sug-gesting that both of them were giving deposition under the instructions of the prosecution. Both witness disa-greed with the defence counsel.

Following the cross-examination, the two-member ICT 2 adjourned the hearing until Tuesday.

Kashem, who is facing 14 charges for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971, was produced at the tribunal during the deposition. l

UPAZILA POLLS

BNP wins in Hasina’s seatn UNB, Rangpur

BNP-backed candidate Nur Moham-mad Mondal was elected chairman of Pirganj upazila in the upazila parishad poll yesterday.

Nur Mohammad bagged 74,992 votes against Awami League-backed Chhayadat Hossain Bakul’s 70,877

votes and Awami League’s rebel candi-date Habib Mukit’s 13,872 votes.

The results of the election to the upazila, which is in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s constituency, were an-nounced around 11:45pm.

Voting in the upazila ended peaceful-ly amid tight security. There were 262,735 registered voters in the upazila. l

Prosecution witness in SQ Chowdhury case diesn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A prosecution witness in the crimes against humanity case against BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury died at a private clinic in Chittagong early yesterday.

Nazim Uddin, 60, died from cardiac arrest at Medical Centre in the port city around 12:30am, said his son Shamsud-din Rokon, adding that his father was buried at his village home of Hathazari upazila.

Nazim Uddin was the 34th prosecu-tion witness in the case.

Nazim, who used to carry arms and ammunition for the freedom � ghters during liberation, in his deposition told the court that he had witnessed SQ Chowdhury and his followers detain freedom � ghters from di� erent areas of Chittagong and torture them brutally. l

File photos show glimpses after the February 25-26 BDR massacre at the paramilitary force’s Pilkhana headquarters in 2009. A total of 74 people, including 57 army o� cers, were killed in the carnage SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Court accounts brought back a realm of horrorn Ashif Islam Shaon

The Pilkhana headquarters in Dhaka of the then Bangladesh Ri� es turned into a realm of horror during the 33-hour nerve-wrecking mutiny which saw in-discriminate use of � rearms and sharp weapons by the soldiers of the coun-try’s border security force.

Prosecution witnesses of the carnage case concluded in November last year, comprised mostly family members of the slain army o� cers; those o� cers who survived the onslaught; and a num-ber of soldiers of the paramilitary force.

During the trial, they gave accounts

of what had happened on those two fateful days inside Pilkhana some of which the judge had cited in his judg-ment.

Some of the accused confessed that they had violated some female army o� cers, the wives of the male o� cers and some female domestic helps. Some of them they released and others they had killed.

Two of the rape victims, who were gang raped, also narrated their predica-ments and experiences from that time. Some other survivors narrated how their family members were physically and psychologically brutalised.

According to witness accounts, Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed, the then chief of the force, was killed moments after the mutiny broke out. A group of BDR re-bels rushed to his house inside Pilkha-na soon after. Sensing danger, Skhakil’s wife Naznin Ahmed took refuge in the kitchen but to no avail as the soldiers tracked her down, dragged her out, tor-tured and eventually shot her to death.

A BDR soldier told this to the court in his confessional statement given un-der section 164 of the penal code.

Some rogue soldiers violated a 12-year-old domestic help of an army o� cer and shot her dead.

The mutineers ransacked the hous-es and looted belongings of many other army o� cers.

Many army o� cers’ wives and chil-dren, who were spared death, were dealt with abusive words and merciless beating.

“Two soldiers broke into our house. They dragged me out of the bedroom and kicked my nine-year-old child. He fell on the staircase and dropped to the ground � oor,” a victim’s wife told the court.

After looting ornaments from the cabinet, the BDR men left and she, along with her son, rushed to one of the gates of the headquarters to escape,

she narrated.“They [BDR men] stopped us at

the gate, beat me up with ri� es and rammed me with boots. Half an hour later, we were con� ned to the Quarter Guard where many other families were kept,” she recounted.

O� cers hunted and killedImmediately after the mutiny start-

ed, some army o� cials took shelter in the toilet of the Darbal Hall. At one stage, they broke open a window and slid to a shade behind the hall. The kill-ers hunted them down and killed them by brush� re.

These brutal murders came out in

confessional statements given by the accused and the witness depositions.

What the court said “They ripped the skin o� and cut

limbs from the dead bodies of some o� cers using knives and other sharp tools. The faces of the dead bodies were smashed beyond recognition... [muti-neers] killed some o� cers by shoving ri� e barrels and � ring right into their mouths. The faces of some o� cers, who were already dead by then, were burnt with acid.” That was how the trial court described the brutality witnessed by the Pilkhana headquarters of the then BDR, now BGB. l

FIVE YEARS AFTER THE BDR MUTINY

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 25, 2014

City High Low

PRAYER TIMESFajar 5:08am

Sunrise 6:23amZohr 12:12am

Asr 4:22pmMagrib 5:59pm

Esha 7:15pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Weather to remain dryn UNB

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

Night and day temperatures might remain nearly unchanged over the country, Met O� ce said.

The sun sets in the capital at 5:59pm today and rises at 6:24am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 31.6 degree Celsius was recorded in Sita-kunda and lowest 12.9 degrees in Sri-mangal yesterday.

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

Dhaka 28.8 18.7 Chittagong 30.2 17.4 Rajshahi 28.5 15.8 Rangpur 27.8 16.4 Khulna 29.5 17.0 Barisal 29.4 16.2 Sylhet 31.2 15.9 Cox’s Bazar 31.0 18.8

Two arrested for killing Swechchasebok League leader n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Members of Detective Branch of police in a special raid arrested two persons early yesterday on charges of killing Swechchasebok League leader Mahbu-bur Rahan Rana on January 23.

The two are Kamran, 20, and Sad-dam, 21, close associates of Roni, the city’s Mogbazar-based godfather.

The DB said the duo confessed to them about the murder.

The lawmen also recovered a � re-arm and two rounds of bullets from their possession.

Addressing a press brie� ng yesterday morning at media and community centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of DB, mentioned that Roni and his cohorts killed the leader in a preplanned way to establish supremacy over cable business in Mogbazar area.

The killers used sharp weapons and � rearms for killing the leader, Monirul said, adding that they also blasted crude bombs and � red gunshots while leaving the murder spot.

He added that they found the pistol and bullets recovered from the arrest-ees’ possession matched with those re-covered from the killing spot.

Acting on a tip-o� , a DB team made the arrest of the two from Shibchar po-lice station under Madaripur district, said Monirul.

“The arrestees would be produced before the court for a 10-day remand to know the details of the incident and we are looking for other criminals who are still hiding,” he added. l

Witness: Attack was pre-planned to occupy property n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Fifth prosecution witness Nirmal Shil of the Banshkhali carnage case yester-day said the attackers set his house on � re in a pre-planned manner to occupy his property.

In his witness deposition before a Chittagong court, Nirmal also said: “Amin Chairman and his cadres at-tacked our house and torched it, leav-ing 11 family members including an in-fant burnt alive.”

Third Additional District and Ses-sions Judge Hla Mong, after recording the deposition, adjourned the case pro-ceedings till March 2.

In his deposition, Nirmal described what he had listened from his elder broth-er Bimal Shil, the lone survivor of the at-tack. He said being informed by Bimal

over phone around 3:30am, he reached his residence around 6am and found 11 of his family members burnt alive.

A group of miscreants on November 18, 2003 set the house of Tejendra Shil at Shilpara in Banshkhali of Chittagong on � re, killing 11 members of the fam-ily, including a child.

Tejendra’s son Bimal Shil � led a case the next day against 30-35 unidenti� ed people on charges of murder, looting and arson attack.

Investigation O� cer Hla Ching Pru on January 9, 2011 submitted a supplementary charge sheet against 39 people including Aminur, chairman of Kalipur union, also the president of Kalipur union BNP.

On September 12, 2011, the court framed charges against 38 accused in-cluding Amin Chairman. l

Rajshahi city mayor, former mayor sent to jail n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

A Rajshahi court yesterday sent City Corporation Mayor Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul and BNP Joint Secretary Gener-alMizanur Rahman Minu to jail along with 34 other BNP-led alliance activists in connection with police constable Siddhartha Sarker murder case.

Judge Sheikh Merina Sultana of Ad-ditional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court passed the order, rejecting their bail pleas after they surrendered before the court in the afternoon.

Bulbul and Minu were, however, en-joying bail granted by the High Court.

Among the accused that were sent to prison are 15 BNP-backed candidates of Rajshahi City Corporation. They were councillors Mahbub Sayed Tuku of ward 2, Habibur Rahman of ward

3, Ruhul Amin Tulu of ward 4, Sohrab Hossain Sheikh of ward 7, Iqbal Hossain Dildar of ward 12, Robiul Islam Milu of ward 13, Mohammod Tutul of ward 14, Belal Ahmed of ward 16, Monir Hossain of ward 18, Nuruzzaman Tito of ward 19, Tarikul AlomPoltu of ward 25, Nu rMohammod Mollah of ward 26, Anowarul Alom Azom of ward 27 and Shahjahan Ali of ward number 29.

On 26 December 2013, at least nine policemen were injured as miscreants hurled several crude bombs at a police pick-up van at Rajarhata in Rajshahi. The BNP-led alliance was holding a procession at that time. The team of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police came under attack when a convoy of police was patrolling in front of Loknath High School in the city. l

Tk60lakh snatched from bKash agents n Our correspondent, Barisal

Masked miscreants hijacked Tk60lakh from agents of bKash, a mobile banking service provider company, from near one of its transaction points in Hospital Road area in Barisal around 1:30pm yesterday.They � red four rounds of bullets and hurled � ve crude bombs injuring four people, three bKash agents and one pe-destrian.

Shahinur Rahman, a bKash agent and manager of a shop, Wave Enterprise in the area, lodged a case with Kotwali po-lice station in this connection

He said Monir Hossain and Md Ibra-him, two sales executives of bKash were on their way to o� ce on a rickshaw after collecting Tk5lakh from sub-agents and withdrawing Tk54.5lakh from IFIC bank which was situated about half a kilome-ter away from the o� ce.

“As they reached near the o� ce, a group of masked miscreants came on a private car and � red gunshots. They punctured the tires of the rickshaw and snatched away the two bags � lled with the money from the two o� cials,” he said.

They also blast cocktails on the spot that created panic in the area and injured a pedestrian Chanbaru, 60, said police.

“Local youths chased the hijackers on motorcycle and stopped it at Boidyapara area, about two kilometers from the spot, They caught the driver Shahidul Islam, 35, and gave him a good beating, however, the other miscreants managed to � ee,” said Shahinur Rahman.

The car and the driver were handed over to police. The three injured bKash agents are Monir Hossain, 26, Md Ibra-him, 28, and Reaz, 25.

Nineteen crude bombs were re-covered from the car and two sharp

weapons from adjacent areas, said Shakhawat Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of Kotwali police station.The arrested driver Shahidul claimed to be innocent and told that the three

dacoits had rented him from capital’s Mirpur-2 area on Friday.

“They � rst went to Subidpur village under Patuakhali district and stayed there. After getting assurance from their

sources, they headed for Barisal in the morning when another man had joined them,” said police quoting the detainee.After visiting the spot, ATM Mujahidul Islam, deputy commissioner (south)

of Barisal Metropolitan Police, said a nine-member team of police and Rapid Action Battalion had started conducting drives to nab the absconding miscreants and recover the money. l

Ruhal Haque sorry for ‘mistake’ in a� davitn Syed Samiul Basher Anik

Former health minister AFM Ruhal Haque yesterday apologised through the media for making an unintentional mistake on wealth information while � ling the a� davit for vying for the 10th parliamentary poll.

He said: “While � ling the a� davit for participating in the poll in 2014, I unin-tentionally and accidentally mentioned my wife’s bank balance as Tk75,311,240, while the actual � gure would be Tk4,517,092, as of June 30, 2013.

“Later, I have submitted the amend-ment to the district returning o� cer through a� davit, and as per my knowl-edge, the Election Commission has received the amendment. I apologise to the activists of Bangladesh Awami League, doctors and physicians society for the unintentional mistake,” the for-

mer minister added. Ruhal Haque, who was elected an MP in the 10th parliament uncontested, was addressing reporters after the Anti-Corruption Commission questioned him yesterday at its Segun-bagicha headquarters on charges of ac-cumulating illegal wealth and assets.

In response to other queries on ap-pointment irregularities and accumula-tion of illegal wealth, the AL leader said he has given statements to the ACC in these regards.

An ACC team, which included Dep-uty Director Mirja Zahidul Alam, inter-rogated the Awami League leader from 11am to 1:45pm regarding the allega-tions of illegally acquired wealth and property and the phenomenal rise of wealth by the former minister.

Ruhal Haque had Tk88 lakh in his bank account in 2008, but the amount jumped to Tk2.63 crore in 2013. l

HC: Sue alleged rapist within 48 hoursn Nazmus Sakib

The High Court yesterday ordered po-lice to � le cases against the accused in the rape case of a college girl within 48 hours, in response to a writ petition of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.

The writ was lodged on Sunday following a local media report pub-lished on February 16 that a college girl in Baroikhali of Srinagar upazila of Munsiganj district had been raped by her neighbour Salam Sheikh, 52, on February 12.

The report said Union Parisad mem-bers Jaher Morol and Kalam had � ned

Salam Sheikh with Tk3lakh and ex-empted him. On February 13, the son of the alleged, with the help of Kalam, threatened father of the victim to leave the area. Two days later, the victim committed suicide.

It was alleged that Srinagar Police O� cer-in-Charge Mahbubur Rahman refrained from � ling a case in exchange of bribe, according to the report.

The bench of Justice Salma Ma-sud Chowdhury and Md Habibul Gani passed the order.

Manzill Murshid, the lawyer of the petitioner, said the HC had ordered the police to take legal action against the

responsible persons “in accordance with the provision of law.”

Therefore, two cases should be lodged – one for rape and another for suicide, he said. Yesterday the High Court also ordered Srinagar OC to appear before the court on April 2 and submit an updated re-port in the case within 10 days follow-ing the court order.

The HC also directed the home sec-retary to form a committee of civilians within seven days for investigating into the allegation of taking bribe against the OC and submit a report in this re-gard within 30 days. l

Health Services get new DG n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Prof Din Md Nurul Hoque, director of National Institute of Ophthalmology Hospital, has been appointed as the new Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

On the other hand, the incumbent DG of the DGHS Prof Khondokar Md Sifayetullah was made the OSD (O� cer on Special Duty).

A circular was issued yesterday in this regard.

Asked about the transfer, MM Niazuddin, health secretary, said he did not know about this change, adding that the health minister knew the reason well. At one stage of public job, transfer was a regular process, he also said.

One of the high o� cials of the health ministry, seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that current DG was not “physically � t” to run such a big administration.

Despite several attempts over mo-bile phone, Health Minister Moham-med Nasim could not be reached for his comments in this regard.

Sources said a few more transfer or-ders of high o� cials of the DGHS would be issued within a short time. l

Supreme Court cancels Mosharraf’s bailn Tribune Report

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday canceled the High Court verdict that granted a six-week anticipatory bail to BNP standing com-mittee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain in a money laundering case.

The � ve-member top court bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain yesterday came up with the ruling in response to an appeal lodged on February 16 by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

ACC Counsel Khurshid Alam Khan said: “As a result of the Appellate Divi-sion verdict, the commission if neces-sary can arrest Mosharraf.”

Khurshid told the court Mosharraf could not be granted anticipatory bail as there was speci� c allegation against him relating to money laundering, a � nan-cial crime. Moudud Ahmed and AJ Mo-hammad Ali argued for the BNP leader.

On February 10, the High Court bench of Justice Naima Haider and Jus-tice Zafar Ahmed gave the anticipatory bail to the BNP leader. l

ARNAB MURDER CASE

5 asked to surrender to lower court n Tribune Report

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday ordered � ve accused in Arnab murder case to surrender before the lower court.

The four-member top court bench led by Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana passed the order after permitting the prosecution to lodge an appeal against a High Court verdict that acquitted the � ve accused.

Moreover, the bench also directed the lower court to grant bail to the ac-cused after their surrender, Khurshid Alam Khan, the lawyer of the petitioner told the Dhaka Tribune.

According to the case statement, Arnob Das, 8, of Kaliganj upazila’s Sai-hati village was found dead on June 21, 2000 after Mukul Gazi had taken the child in the name of giving a parrot. l

Workers use a sta� bus as a ladder to renovate the entrance of the National Museum at the capital's Shahbagh yesterday. The National Museum will celebrate its 100th anneversary this year RAJIB DHAR

A local brings out crude bombs from a bag and disposes them in a bucket full of water is Barisal yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Moghbazar-Mouchak road turns impassablePeople face unbearable miseries travelling through the road for the construction works of Moghbazar-Mouchak � yover n Abu Hayat Mahmud

The Moghbazar-Mouchak road in the capital has virturally turned impass-able due to the ongoing construction of the � yover on the road.

The commuters have to face un-bearable miseries travelling through the roads in Moghbazar, Mouchak, Malibagh, Shantinagar Eskaton, Dilu Road, Siddeswari, FDC intersection, Shatrasta and Rampura due to ongoing construction works of the Moghba-zar-Mouchak � yover project.

Commuters of di� erent vehicles have to wait for hours on the road.

Vehicles are often stuck in potholes in the dilapidated road.

Locals, commuters and pedestrians said the roads went out of order as the contractor and the authorities con-cerned for the under-construction � y-over did not take necessary steps.

Anwar Hossain, a resident of Mogh-bazar, said: “Due to potholes in the roads, vehicles cannot move easily.”

“Paddled rickshaw and CNG-run auto-rickshaws get stuck up in the pot-holes and also topple down leaving the commuters injured,” he said.

“Not only rickshaws but also buses top-ple down, causing accidents,” he added.

Anwar also said it has become very di� cult to come out of home as the roads have turned dilapidated.

Jahanara Begum, standing at the Moghbazar intersection, said: “I have been waiting for Skyline bus service for half an hour. But the bus failed to reach the station due to tra� c jam, which is a daily hassle in the area.”

She said the road narrowed for mis-

management of the contactors of the � yover project.

“The contactors have put construc-tion materials on the road making it very narrow and they have not taken steps to � ll up the potholes in the rest parts of the road which are used for ve-hicular movements,” she said.

While visiting the Moghba-zar-Mouchak road yesterday, it was found that a passenger bus of Sky Line toppled on a bus of Ajmeri Paribahan, while the wheels had become stuck into the potholes.

Glasses of both buses had broken down and many passengers were in-jured critically due to accident.

The Moghbazar-Mouchak � yover project is being implemented by the local government engineering depart-ment under the ministry of local gov-ernment and rural development and cooperatives. The estimated cost of the four-lane � yover is around Tk 7.73 billion.

The Danish and Bangladesh joint venture � rms M/S Simplex-Navana JV and Bangladesh-India joint venture � rm, MCCC-4 ACL-ODC will complete the construction of the � yover. Toma Construction carries out construction works on sub-contract. 

Sanjay Kumar, project manager of Toma Constructions told the Dhaka Tribune: “We continuously � ll up the potholes. But it is only a temporary solution.” Sanjay attributed the delay to an unplanned and faulty installation of utility lines.

He, however, hoped the � yover con-struction will be completed by Decem-ber, 2015. l

Scu� e at DMCH over patient’s deathn Mohammad Jamil Khan

A scu� e broke out between doctor and relatives of a patient who died at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) yesterday.

According to sources, Jahanara Be-gum, 53, wife of Mohammad Islmail, hailed from Bakerganj of Barisal was admitted to medicine ward at the DMCH on February 21 for cardiac relat-ed disease.

As her condition deteriorated, doc-tors transferred her to the nephrology department where she died at 5.00pm.

Sohid , son of Jahanara, became up-set at the incident and became violent inside the hospital.

Noticing such incidents, Dr Ayesha Begum of the department tried to run away from the spot and fell down on the stairs, hurting her nose.

Later, she made a complaint with on duty police o� cials against Sohid and Ma-

sud Rana, son-in-law of victim. Following the complaint, the police arrested them.

Contacted, Dr Ayesha Begum said: “The patient died as she had been suf-fering from di� erent diseases including cardiac problems and we had nothing to do about it.”

“But her relatives attacked me,” she said.

Dr Khaja Abdur Gafur, assistant di-rector at the DMCH said the patient’s relatives con� rmed the attack on the doctor.

Asma Khatun, sister of victim, told the Dhaka Tribune that the hospital was almost out of doctors, and her mother died due to irresponsibility of doctors.

“Despite all of this, they illegal-ly � led case against my husband and brother,” she said.

“We already lost my mother and are now facing new harassment,” Asma said with tears. l

Two illegal ship-breaking yards evicted after � ve yearsn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A joint team of district administration and forest department yesterday evict-ed two shipyards which were set up by destroying coastal forest at Maddha Sonaichhari of Sitakunda upazila � ve years back.

After the eviction drive, the Forest Department has already started plant-ing about 17,500 di� erent varieties of plants on about 15 acres of recovered land, said RSM Munirul Islam, deputy conservator of forests in Chittagong.

Abdullah Arif Mohammad, assis-tant commissioner of Chittagong, who led the drive, said they had evicted SK Steel and SK Shipyard, owned by AKM Aminul Islam following a direction of the Supreme Court.

He said a bench of the appellate divi-sion of the court led by the chief justice on October 6, 2013 had ordered to evict

the shipyards built in 2009 while the bench gave a timeframe to complete the eviction by February 27.

“The court also ordered the district administration not to lease the land in future,” said the assistant commissioner, adding that the court also asked to sub-mit report after re-foresting on the land.

In 2009, the illegal occupiers de-stroyed the forest under Banshbaria beat of Sitakunda range of Forest de-partment and then the forest depart-ment � led a case against the grabbers.

The defence received a short-term stay order from the Supreme Court af-ter � ling a writ petition with a claim that they have taken the land on lease from the district administration, how-ever, the forest department obstructed them in setting up their establishments.

After visiting the spot, the Dhaka Tribune found that the local people are happy with the eviction.

O� cials and employees of the forest department were found busy to plant di� erent trees on the land.

Kamal Uddin, one of the relatives of owner AKM Aminul Islam, said they had not get any notice from court.

The drive started around 10am and continued till 6pm.

One Selim, a local resident, said an in� uential quarter felled all trees in 2009 and set up the ship-breaking yards which are causing environment pollution in the areas.

The deputy forests conservator Mu-nirul said about 400 acres land of for-est department were occupied by 22 ship-breaking yards.

“We lodged cases against the il-legally occupiers who destroyed the forest,” he said; adding that the forest department built the mangrove and non-mangrove forest in 1991-92 to pro-tect the coastal belt. l

JnU students besiege VC o� cen Mohammad Jamil Khan

On the ninth day of the continuous movement by the students of Jagan-nath University to retrieve one of their grabbed residential halls, the agitated students besieged the o� ce of their vice-chancellor yesterday.

The university authorities, in an emergency syndicate meeting, yester-

day formed a � ve-member probe body led by Prof Habibur Rahman, univer-sity syndicate member and pro-VC of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.

JnU Vice-Chancellor Mizanur Rah-man told the Dhaka Tribune that the committee would submit a report on the irregularities and untoward inci-dent surrounding the students’ move-

ment that happened on Sunday within seven working days.

The agitated students and teach-ers of JnU as part of their demonstra-tion besieged the VC o� ce at 2pm for around 20 minutes to press home their demand.

Earlier around 9am, the students and teachers brought out separate pro-test rallies from the campus and staged

demonstration near the National Press Club by blocking the road around 11:30am.

The agitated members of JnU Teach-ers’ Association also wore black badges as part of their demonstration.

During the demonstration, agitated students set fire on tires, suspending all vehicular movement in the area.

Later, they withdrew the blockade and formed a human chain in the area.

Shibli Noman, assistant commis-sioner of Raman division, said the ve-hicular movement remained suspend-ed for an hour and was restored after the students withdrew the barricade around 1:30pm.

During the human chain, the teach-ers’ association protested Sunday’s police attack on the demonstrating stu-dents and teachers.

The teachers claimed that police attacked the innocent students while they were holding demonstration peacefully for their legal demand.

The ninth day demonstration ended with declaration of today’s programme – the teachers will hold human chain on the campus, and agitation and pro-test rally by the students.

Meanwhile, JnU Journalist Associa-tion expressed their concern over the police attack and demanded a fare in-vestigation.

Earlier on Sunday, at least 200 hun-dred students were injured during a clash with police.

The students had been agitating to retrieve Tibbet Hall and nine other halls that were grabbed by in� uential quarters.

The students declared that they would continue agitation till their de-mands were met. l

Nahid for legal action against errant private universities n Tribune Report

The government will take legal action against the universities which are not being operated as per law.

Education minister Nurul Islam Na-hid said yesterday at the 13th convoca-tion of East West University, held at its campus .

“Some private universities could not ful� ll conditions of temporary certi� -cate. We have given them time. Some of them have failed to accomplish condi-tions even after giving time,” Nahid said.

Nahid presided over the function as a representative of President Abdul Ha-mid, chancellor of the university.

Mentioning the EWU one of well performing private universities, he said: “Some private universities are do-ing well.”

He urged the new graduates of the university to use their knowledge for the development of the country.

A total of 1341 students received their certi� cates this year-convocation. Of them, four students got gold medal for their outstanding performance.

Eminent writer Selina Hossain deliv-ered the convocation speech. She urged the students to be a complete human beings by cultivating human values along with achieving academic degrees.

President of the Board of Trustees of the EWU and former Governor of Ban-gladesh Bank Mohammed Farashud-din said: “Most of the graduates of the university are employed and in good position in di� erent national and inter-national organizations. He said Tk40 crore was given to the students in the last 17 years. l

The ongoing construction of the Moghbazar-Malibagh � yover forces buses line up along the capital’s Malibagh area yesterday FOCUS BANGLA

Students of Jagannath University stage a demonstation in front of the National Press Club area in the capital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Students of East West University take part in the 13th convocation of the university in the city yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

AL-backed panel sweeps RUTA pollsn RU Correspondent

The Awami League-backed yellow panel teachers won all 15 executive committee posts in the Rajshahi University Teach-ers’ Association (RUTA) polls yesterday.

The election was held at Zubeeri building from 8am to 2pm. Chief Elec-tion Commissioner Professor Saiful Is-lam declared the result of the polls at 6:45pm. He said a total of 969 votes out 1,183 was recorded to be cast.

Yellow panel Professor Kamrul Hasan Majumdar of Geology and Min-ing Department was elected as the president receiving 507 votes. Profes-sor Pranab Kumar Pandey of Public Ad-ministration Department was elected as the general secretary with 459 votes.

Professor Morttuja Khaled of His-tory, Professor M Habibur Rahman of Chemistry and Professor Moshi-hur Rahman of Mass Communication and Journalism Department were also elected as vice-president, treasurer and joint secretary respectively. l

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Noakhali residents reel from gas crisis Consumers get only one-fourth of their demanded gas as productionat Sundalpur � eld falls sharply n Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur

Thousands of people in Lakshmipur have been su� ering for the last two months because of a serious shortage of gas at Sundalpur � eld at Shahjadpur, but the authorities are yet to tackle the situation.

Apart from hampering household ac-tivities, the ongoing gas crisis is also en-cumbering trading at di� erent business establishments, especially in hotels and restaurants, as well as � lling stations.

Sources at Bakhrabad Gas Company Ltd, Lakshmipur o� ce, said there are a total of 4,874 household gas lines in di� erent residential areas in the dis-trict. Moreover, the numbers of com-mercial gas lines are 65. Two CNG � ll-ing stations and two captive power plants also running with gas, but un-

fortunately most of them have almost stopped running since the gas scarcity.

Deputy Assistant Engineer Md Borhan Uddin of Bakhrabad Gas Com-pany Ltd, Lakshmipur o� ce acknowl-edged the gas crisis. He said: “The problem will be solved immediately.”

Around 2.25 MMSCFD (million standard cubic feet per day) gas is needed to meet the demand of the con-sumers of the district and the amount of gas are supplied from Sundalpur gas � eld at Shahjadpur in Noakhali.

Consumers of the district is now get-ting only one-fourth of their demanded gas as gas supply from the � eld is being hampered because of saline water and sand.

A visit to di� erent areas of the dis-trict, including Lamchori, Modin Ul-lah Housing, Mobarak Colony, Shilpy

Colony and Banchan Nagar, the corre-spondent found that many people can-not cook for lack of gas.

Housewives have to wait till mid-night to cook food, but then they also get very minimum gas as industrialists run their factories at that time.

Many of consumers, � nding no al-ternatives, have already bought stoves to cook food.

People, who do not have ability, have made earthen ovens to cook food by using � rewood.

“We are compelled to adopt a changed lifestyle for the ongoing gas crisis,” said a housewife, who lives in Lamchori area.

A consumer, expressing irritation, said: “We have not stopped paying bill in the last two months, why they do not provide gas most of the time of a day?”

He said there were no gas supply in the district from 7am to 11am every day which is pick time for consumers.

Besides, the correspondent has also found that over 200 CNG-run auto rick-shaws and microbuses were waiting in queue gas in front of Green Life Fill-ing Station located in Police Line area beside the Dhaka-Raipur Highway for refueling their vehicles.

A truck driver said they started standing in queue every day from 7am and got gas around 1pm.

Manager of the � lling station Md Ab-dus Salam said every day around 3,000 vehicles came to the � lling station to refuel their vehicles.

“For the last two months, they have been su� ering much as gas production has drastically reduced at the local gas � eld. l

2ND PHASE OF UPAZILA POLLS

‘Recurrence of violence to be stopped’n Tribune Report

The Election Commissioner yesterday asked the returning o� cers and presid-ing o� cers to take stern actions against those who will violate electoral code during the 2nd phase of upazila poll.

“Some stray incidents of violence occurred in the � rst phase of upazila polls. The commission has directed the returning o� cers and law enforcers to take stern actions so that no incidents of violence take place again during the upazila elections,” said Election Com-missioner Mohammad Shah Nawaz while talking reporters at the EC secre-tariat.

The second phase elections to 116 upazila parishads is scheduled to be held on February 27.

The EC said Army, Rab, police, Bor-der Guard Bangladesh and Ansar mem-

bers will be deployed at the upazilas on today.

The EC has asked all concerned to � nish campaign by the midnight today.

The commission has also appointed 464 executive and 116 judicial magis-trates for the second phases of upazila poll, the commissioner said.

In the phase, 1,376 candidates are contesting. Of the total candidates, 515 will vie for chairmen posts, 521 for vice-chairmen and 340 for reserved women vice-chairmen posts.

Of total, 1, 98, 51, 176 would apply their voting rights where 99, 37, 741 are male and 99, 13, 435 are female. The commission has setup 8, 136 polling centres and 54, 436 polling booths for holding the polls.

EC o� cials also said the EC has ap-pointed 8136 presiding o� cers and 1,08, 872 polling o� cers in these polls. l

Broom rally protests pollution n Our Correspondent, Natore

Local people brought out a broom pro-cession in Natore yesterday, protesting throwing of chemical-mixed wastage into the Narod River from Jamuna Distillery.

Hundreds of people from all strata of life started the procession in Kanaikhali area of the district town and gathered in front the Natrote Press Club after parad-ing di� erent thoroughfares of the town.

Narod Banchau Andolon District Committee President Monjurul Mor-shed Lulu, Secretary Abdul Kaiyum and Organising Secretary Jakir Hus-sein, among others, spoke at the rally.

Speakers at the protest rally urged the Jamuna distillery authorities to stop throwing of chemical-mixed wastage into the river to save the river from pollution.

They also demanded the government arrest Chairman of Jamuna Group Nurul Islam Babul immediately for the o� ence. After the meeting, the participants burned a few pieces of Jamuna group’s daily newspaper the daily Jugantor. l

Student council poll held in Panchagarhn Tribune Report

The elections to the Student Council in all 653 Government Primary Schools in � ve upazilas of Panchagarh were held yesterday.

The primary school students con-ducted the elections on their school premises successfully at their own, practiced their franchise and elected a seven-member executive committee of their SC in each of the schools through the successful voting process.

After the elections, the elected chil-dren leaders, their teachers and par-ents hoped that the process that began from their early childhood would help them creating leadership, democratic norms and values by ex hibiting toler-ance to the opinions of others.

The students of class three, four and � ve cast their votes from 9am to 1pm and elected the seven-member SC among the competing candidates in each of the 653 Government Primary Schools in the district.

O� cials of the Upazila Primary Edu-cation Department, teachers and school managing committee members, guard-ians and commoners of all ages enjoyed the elections. The students conducted the duties as the executive magistrates, presiding o� cers and assistant presid-ing o� cers, polling o� cers, security o� cers and law enforcers under the su-pervisions of their teachers.

Panchagarh District Primary Educa-tion O� cer Nasir Uddin Ahmed said the main objectives of SC elections are to create democratic mentality and at-titude among the child students and � ourish their vision and virtues for fu-ture leadership to lead the nation. l

Three houses looted in Satkhira n Tribune Desk

Robbers looted cash money, gold orna-ments and other valuables from three houses at Thalna village in Kaliganj upazila early yesterday.

Police and locals said a gang of armed robbers, numbering 12-14, en-tered the house of one Shashan Bairagi at about 1:30am breaking open grill and door.

The hoodlums took the family members hostage at gunpoint and loot-ed � ve tolas of gold ornaments, Tk 18, 000 in cash and other valuables from the house, reports UNB.

Later, the criminals looted valu-ables and gold ornaments from two other people of the minority commu-nity – Keshob Kumar Sarkar and Haran Mandal--from a house adjacent to Shashan’s in the same way.

They also attacked the � sh enclo-sure of Dulal Bairagi of the village and chopped him with sharp weapons, leaving him injured.

Critically injured, Dulal was admit-ted to Kaliganj Health Complex.

O� cer-in-charge of Kaliganj Police Station Ghulam Rahman said on information, police visited thespot and they were trying to arrest the robbers. l

One stabbed to death in Bogra n Our Correspondent, Bogra

A person has been stabbed to death by miscreants in the Atgram Kalitoli area under Dupchanchia upazila in Bogra on Sunday night.

The deceased was identi� ed as Binchher Ali. Dupchanchia police sta-tion O� cer-in-Charge Riaz Uddin Ahmed said: “He was called out of his house over the cell phone at night.”

“Later his body was found near the house on Monday morning,” he added.

The OC said the reason behind the murder could not be known. l

Students vote at a student council election at a primary school in Rajshahi yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Passengers ride a shallow-engine run vehicle, commonly known as Nosimon-Korimon or Votvoti, in Jhenaidah yesterday, even though there is a direct prohibition from the High Court over such vehicles FOCUS BANGLA

BCL men mutilate two Chhatra Dal activistsn Our Correspondent, Noakhali

Chhatra League activists alleg-edly amputated body parts of two Chhatra Dal activists in Gangchil village of Companiganj upazila in Noakhali district on Sunday.

The victims are two brothers – Aminul Hoque Masud and Serajul Hoque Babul – sons of Haji Sayedul Hoque of the same village and activ-

ists of the local unit of Chhatra Dal. Witnesses said a group of

Chhatra League activists had ar-rived at the Gangchil market area on motorbikes and attacked the Chhatra Dal men around 10pm.

First they cut o� Masud’s hand from the wrist and when his broth-er Babul tried to protest they cut o� his � ngers.

They vandalised the local BNP of-

� ce for half an hour and left the spot. Locals and relatives of the vic-

tims admitted them to the Noakhali Medical College Hospital.

Sajedur Rahaman Sajid, o� cer-in-charge of Companiganj police station, said upon information po-lice had gone to the spot and taken the situation under control.

Three suspects had been arrest-ed in this connection, he said. l

Database formed to curb child migrationn Our correspondent, Barisal

Bangladesh National Women Law-yers Association (BNWLA) issued identity cards to children under risk of migration in Barisal yesterday.

They introduced a unique online registration system for children to contain child migration and pro-mote migrated children’s rights.

The programme held at Barisal Circuit House is a part of BNWLA’s Rural Urban Child Migration Project.

The organisers called up to im-plement the system countrywide.

“Under this system, registra-

tion cells have been set up at the local government unit o� ces. The cells will issue registration cards containing photo and detail of the child and his family, to the children marked as vulnerable in the locali-ty,” said Advocate Salma Ali, execu-tive director BNWLA.

“A copy of the card would be pre-served by the employer of the child and another would be preserved by the child itself. The children’s data would remain saved on the com-puter network. The data would be provided upon request with due monitoring,” she said.

Referring to a statistics, the pro-ject o� cials said 2,183 children aged in between 5-17 years were under the risk of migration in Chandramohon, Tungibaria, Charkawa and Charbaria unions under Barisal while 777 chil-dren from ward 9 and 10 under Baris-al City Corporation had already been registered on the database.

A total of 2250 children would be issued with identity cards under the programme within the current month. European Union and Save the Children International provided technical and � nancial assistance to the project. l

Executive Engineer, Laxmipur O&M DivisionBangladesh Water Development Board

S.R. Road, Laxmipur

INVITATION FOR E-TENDERInvitation Reference No. T-1/631 Date: 19-02-2014Tender ID (form e-GP portal) 6626Name of the Work Temporary protective work at

Chandragonj from km. 38.605 to km. 38.650 & km 37.710 to 38.755, Total = 90 m in connection with Non-Development Revenue Budget under Laxmipur O&M Division, BWDB, Laxmipur during the year 2013-2014

Tender ID (form e-GP portal) 6632Name of the Work Repair & maintenance work of existing

pipe sluice & brech closing from km. 5.500 to km. 5.537 at Polder 59/2 (Tie embankment) in connection with Non-Development Revenue Budget under Laxmipur O&M Division, BWDB, Laxmipur during the year 2013-2014.

Tender ID (form e-GP portal) 6634Name of the Work Re-sectioning of Embankment from km.

167.500 to km. 167.800=0.300 km. of Polder 59/2 at Upazilla Kamalnagar, District-Laxmipur in connection with Non-Development Revenue Budget under Laxmipur O&M Division, BWDB, Laxmipur during the year 2013-2014.

Tender ID (form e-GP portal) 6637Name of the Work Re-sectioning of Embankment in

connection with Polder 59/2 (extension) at Balurchar from km. 4.000 to km. 4.350 in connection with Non-Development Revenue Budget under Laxmipur O&M Division, BWDB, Laxmipur during the year 2013-2014.

This is an online Tender, where only e-Tender will be accepted in the National e-GP portal and no offl ine/hard copies will be accepted. To submit e-Tender, registration in the National e-GP System Portal (http://www.eprocure.gov.bd) is required. The fees for downloading the e-Tender Documents from the National e-GP System portal have to be deposited online through any registered Bank’s branches up to Banking hours on 19.03.2014.Further information and guidelines are available in the National e-GP System Portal and from e-GP help desk (helpdesk@eprocure.gov.bd) (01762625528-31). (http://www.eprocure.gov.bd/).

(A.T.M Khalequzzaman) Executive EngineerPani-553/13-14 Laxmipur O&M DivisionDG-36/14 (9"×3) BWDB, Laxmipur.

7DHAKA TRIBUNE Long Form Tuesday, February 25, 2013

n Moin Ghani

Our Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex (parlia-ment building), designed by the renowned architect Louis Kahn, is recog-

nised globally as one of the greatest architectural monuments of the 20th century. Today it may be considered as part of our cultural heritage.

However, the sanctity of the design of this majestic building complex could not be protected due to lack of artistic sensibilities on the part of gov-ernment o� cials, the greed for land, and paranoia about security of public servants.

All these factors have led to the creeping dis� gurement of this national monument; the latest being the mind-less construction of a metal bar fence around the main building of the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban.

The unplanned urban expansion of Dhaka city over the last few decades has meant that today the � elds sur-rounding the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex are one of the handful of open spaces where the citizens can go for recreation.

The current wall construction project will e� ectively cage the parliament building and fence o� the citizens from the surrounding � elds. This will mean that yet another open green space will be taken away from the citizens.

History of the construction

Louis Kahn, the famous and well-re-spected American architect based in Philadelphia, was commissioned to design a national assembly complex in the 1950s by the Pakistan Government. Apparently, the Pakistan Government wanted to create a monument, which would rival and surpass the Chandi-garh Legislative Assembly Building in India designed by another leading architect of the time, Le Corbusier.

Kahn was thus commissioned to design what was to become the “second capital” of Pakistan in Dhaka. When Kahn provided the initial Master Plan it contained a blueprint for the future construction of the entire city. The Master Plan envisaged a planned urban city with the national assembly building as the focal star at its centre.

The construction of our Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex began in 1961, almost a decade before the birth of Bangladesh. Louis Kahn himself visited Dhaka and supervised some of the initial works. During his visit he inspected the site and got a feel for the country and this was re� ected in his designs.

He ensured that the materials used for the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban could be obtained from local sources. He went as far as to train the local masons and the construction workers how to create the rough concrete blocks which are inlaid with bands of white marble. He supervised the creation and production of the red bricks which were to be used in the surrounding buildings.

The construction of the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban took over two decades and was completed in 1982. Since its completion it has come to be recognised as not just the most signi� cant building in Bangladesh but, architecturally, one of the most signi� cant works of the 20th century in the world.

Significance of the compositionof the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex

Louis Kahn designed the entire complex and designated appropriate spaces for the buildings, lawns, water bodies, stairs, and columns. The geometric patterns of the buildings of the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex has been designed, laid out, and built after careful and thorough considera-tion by one of the greatest architectur-al minds of the last century.

Each segment, each space, each col-

umn of light, and each brick has signif-icance and contributes to the overall ascetic beauty of the entire complex. Deviations and changes in the compo-sition and structure of the individual buildings, without any thought as to the overall composition and beauty of the complex, only diminished the value of the entire monument.

When one gets a bird’s eye of the entire complex one realizes that the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban is actually meant to be a star in the middle of a crescent, signi� ed by the crescent lake. This was symbolic of the star and crescent that existed in the Pakistan � ag at the time the project was com-missioned.

The core of the building that houses the legislative assembly is a domed amphitheatre that also allows natural light to enter the premises. These spaces and corridors surrounding the amphitheatre in the centre are meant to be surrounded by what has been described as “light and air courts.”

Kahn’s aim was to create a modern building while utilizing the local herit-age and culture. To this end the water bodies on the three sides of the core of the building portray the rivers of Bangladesh. The steps from these wa-ter bodies leading to the main complex are meant to represent the riverbanks of Bangladesh.

The open green lawns surrounding the main building complex obviously represent the greenery of Bangladesh. However, there is a deeper symbolic

meaning to the lawns. The lawns were designed in such a manner so as to be open and accessible to the citizens of the state.

It was envisaged that citizens, young and old, would be able to visit the areas surrounding their national legislative building, which would house the members elected by them. The purpose of this openness was to make the people realise that the elected legislature in a democratic polity belongs to them, the people. The lawns and open spaces were never

meant to be restricted areas. The leg-islative assembly of lawmakers inside the house was meant to complement the assembly of citizens on the lawns.

This was designed to re� ect the deep-rooted notion that in a dem-ocratic society the people were the ultimate source of power. They were never meant to be marginalised. In a philosophical sense, the institution of democracy was meant to emerge from the light, columns, and open spaces of the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex.

Attacks on the design envisaged in the Master Plan by Louis Kahn

Much like the state of democracy in Bangladesh, the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex has su� ered periodic attacks and defacements in violation of the Master Plan envisaged by Louis Kahn. The scars borne by the building today are testaments of the authori-ties, who have been insensitive to the architectural beauty of the majestic complex.

At present the grave of Ziaur Rah-man lies at the base of the crescent lake, which was symbolic of the cres-cent of the Pakistan � ag. This place was never designated as a shrine. The bridge over the crescent lake was never meant to dissect the crescent of the Pakistan � ag. The space where the grave is was designed in Louis Kahn’s Master Plan for the Secretariat of the Government in order to facilitate the smooth functioning of the bureau-cracy at the door-step of the national parliament.

The palm trees around the Jati-ya Sangshad Bhaban complex were planted during General Ershad’s time apparently to decrease the visibility of the National Assembly Building and increase security. Symbolically, today it probably also represents a time when the state went through a process of Islamisation with the palm trees imported from the Middle East by a military dictator paranoid about the power of the people. In a sense the palm trees are remnants of the paranoia and lack of transparency that epitomised that military regime.

Even during democratic rules of both the BNP and Awami League the design and composition of the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex was not immune from attacks. In yet another violation of the Master Plan by Louis Kahn, the NAM (Non-Alligned Move-ment) � ats were built for the Members of Parliament in the 1990s.

And to top all these, the most egregious violations were the grabbing of a huge segment of the open lawns, meant for the citizens, by the public authorities to build houses of the speaker and the deputy speaker. The

projects were initiated at the insist-ence of the then honourable speaker of the parliament.

This action of the authorities to build the houses for the speaker and the deputy speaker were challenged before the High Court Division of the Supreme Court and buildings were declared to have been constructed illegally by the High Court.

Unfortunately, in the face of oppo-sition by the State, spearheaded by the then Attorney General himself, that judgment was overturned on appeal, in unusual circumstances, at the end of the last BNP regime.

Duty to protect the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex

The signi� cance of the Jatiya Sang-shad Bhaban complex as a masterpiece of architectural beauty is often not appreciated by us. The public author-ities responsible for preserving and protecting this monument are often the very people with the least respect for the cultural and architectural sig-ni� cance of the complex.

On numerous instances, over the years, mindless constructions and alterations have been made to the complex. In most occasions the duty of making these changes is handed over to constructors, civil engineers, or bureaucrats involved in public housing works.

These individuals, more often than not, have little or no sense of the archi-tectural signi� cance of the complex, which is considered the magnum opus of Louis Kahn.

When dealing with the con-structions in and around the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex, the public authorities in Bangladesh have not only been insensitive to the aesthetic signi� cance of the monument but have been acting in violation of the Constitution of Bangladesh. Article 24 of the Bangladesh Constitution states:

“The State shall adopt measures for the protection against dis� gurement, damage, or removal of all monuments, objects, or places of special artistic or historic importance or interest.”

Public o� cials have also ignored the fact that they are not free to deal with public property in any manner they please. The Constitution of Bangladesh does not give unfettered power to the public authorities to deal with public property in any whimsical manner they please. Iconic cultural heritage monuments have not been bestowed upon the public authori-ties so that they can be dealt as their private property.

The Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban com-plex can be compared to the Taj Mahal in Agra, St Paul’s Cathedral in London,

or the Washington Monument in Washington DC. In each of those countries there are building codes and laws which are e� ectively implement-ed to protect the respective national monuments.

These landmark buildings are seen to represent the heritage and culture of the states that house them, and the public authorities are bestowed with

a special duty to preserve and protect them. In India, the courts have held that factories resulting in air pollution causing damage to the Taj Mahal are to be removed from the vicinity of the monument.

In Washington DC there are build-ing restrictions which ensure that none of the buildings are built higher than the Washington Monument. Similarly, the authorities in London ensure that the views of St Paul’s Cathedral from various prominent locations around the city are not ob-structed by construction.

Unfortunately, in Bangladesh neither laws nor the public authorities have been active in preserving and protecting our Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex.

The present fencing of the complex

It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that one has to see the start of another mindless project to ring fence the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex with metal barriers. All this is being done in the name of security even though there has not been any secu-rity breach or incident which would merit such a draconian measure.

The current plans would not only destroy the architectural beauty of the complex, but would also make inac-cessible to the public a large portion of the open spaces around the main building. In addition it would be a vio-lation of Article 24 of the Constitution of Bangladesh.

These open spaces had always been open to the public. In this city of ours, with ever-shrinking open space for the citizens, this latest fencing o� attempt

is another of the series of measures aimed to take away from the public what should be rightfully theirs.

Conclusion

Regrettably, no attempt has been made to explain why such a measure of fencing o� the main building was required or how it was proportionate

to the so-called security threat to the National Legislature.

As far as security is concerned, while the parliament is in session, the area around the parliament can been guarded or patrolled without having to fence o� the entire area.

It may be pertinent to consider whether we want a democracy where the citizens have to be cordoned o� from even the lawns and steps outside of the parliament, which is meant to re� ect the hopes and aspirations of the people.

If military generals could run their parliaments keeping the adjacent � elds open to the public, why would a democratic parliament need to fence o� the lawns? Why should we be so in-sensitive to the architectural value of the only globally recognised building that we have in Bangladesh? Is this the price of security?

We, the citizens, appeal to the Speaker of the parliament, under whose Secretariat the construction is taking place, to take necessary steps to halt construction of the wall or fence. Madam Hon’ble Speaker, you have taken an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.

Please help us prevent the dis� g-urement and damage to our Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex in viola-tion of Article 24 of the Constitution. Please explore alternative means of ensuring security, which would not destroy the artistic and architectural beauty of the complex. Please do not deny the citizens the open lawns which they have always enjoyed. l

Moin Ghani is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

An appeal to our sensesNo wall around the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex, please!

The parliament complex have su� ered periodic defacement at the hands of the authority which have been insensitive to its architectural beauty SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

If military generals could run their parliaments keeping the adjacent � elds open to the public, why would a democratic parliament need to fence o� the lawns?

The lawns and open spaces were never meant to be restricted areas. The legislative assembly of lawmakers inside the house was meant to complement the assembly of citizens on the lawns

Obama climate change agenda faces � rst Supreme Court testn Reuters, Washington

The US Supreme Court considers on Monday whether President Barack Obama’s administration overstepped its authority by imposing new regulations to reduce pollu-tion in response to climate change.

In a 90-minute oral argument, extended from 60 minutes because many parties are involved, the justices will examine a relatively narrow challenge by industry groups and Republican-leaning states to one aspect of a suite of regulations issued by Obama’s Dem-ocratic administration in 2009 and 2010. The regulations represent the � rst major federal e� ort to tackle greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are the driving force behind cli-mate change. Obama has been going it alone on climate change, largely because of opposi-tion from Republicans and some Democrats in Congress. The Clean Air Act has been the Environmental Protection Agency’s main tool for addressing emissions since the US Senate rejected a cap-and-trade bill in 2010.

The nine justices will weigh whether the agency has authority to regulate green-house gases under a program for issuing permits for stationary sources of pollution, such as power plants and oil re� neries. A decision is expected by the end of June.

When it agreed to hear the case in Octo-ber, the court declined to consider several broader questions that would have more directly attacked the authority of the EPA in its regulation of greenhouse gases. l

Tuesday, February 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Egypt government resigns suddenlySisi, resigned from the duties of defence minister, can now run for presidency

n Reuters

The military-backed government of Egypt has resigned, said the prime minister yesterday, paving the way for army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fat-tah al-Sisi to declare his candidacy for president of a strategic US ally gripped by political strife.

“(The government) made every e� ort to get Egypt out of the narrow tunnel in terms of security, econom-ic pressures and political confusion,” Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in a live nationwide speech.

Beblawi, who was tasked by interim President Adly Mansour with running the government’s a� airs until the elec-tion, did not give a clear reason for the decision.

For Sisi to run for president he would � rst need to leave his post as defense minister. “This (government resignation) was done as a step that was needed ahead of Sisi’s announce-ment that he will run for president,” an Egyptian o� cial said.

He told Reuters that the cabinet had resigned en masse as Sisi did not want to appear to be acting alone.

The top military commander has unveiled a political roadmap meant to

lead to elections after toppling Islamist President Mohamed Mursi of the Mus-lim Brotherhood in July following mass protests against his rule.

The vote is expected within months in Egypt, which has great geo-strategic importance due to its peace treaty with Israel and control over the Suez Canal, a vital global

shipping lane that is the shortest be-tween Asia and Europe.

Egypt’s stock market rose 0.26% after news of the government’s depar-ture to 8029.37 points, reversing losses from earlier in the day.

Mursi’s removal triggered the blood-iest political crisis in Egypt’s modern history, with security forces killing

hundreds of Brotherhood supporters, jailing thousands and putting top lead-ers on trial.

The Muslim Brotherhood accused Sisi of plotting a coup, and human rights groups say that abuses under his watch are growing by the day, alle-gations the army-backed government denies.

The government has also cracked down on some secular activists who were instrumental in unrest that over-threw autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and who supported Mursi’s removal. They are languishing in prisons and face trial.

Compounding the instability in the Arab world’s largest country, Islamist militants based in the widely lawless Sinai Peninsula have intensi� ed at-tacks on police and soldiers, killing hundreds.

The Sinai-based group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing which killed two South Koreans last week, in� icting yet more harm on a tourism industry al-ready gutted by political turmoil and protests.

Ansar also said that it was behind high-pro� le assassinations of top Inte-rior Ministry o� cials. l

European integration ‘priority’ for Ukrainen Agencies

Oleksander Turchinov, Ukraine’s act-ing president, has said that his country is ready for talks with Russia to try to improve relations, but made clear that Kiev’s European integration would be a priority.

Turchinov said that Ukraine’s new leadership was ready to put Kiev-Mos-cow relations on a “new, equal and good-neighbourly footing that recog-nises and takes into account Ukraine’s European choice.”

“Another priority ... is the return to the path of European integration,” he said, in an address to the nation on Sun-day, one day after the removal of Viktor Yanukovich from the presidency.

Hours later, Russia recalled its ambassador in Ukraine to Moscow for consultations on the “deteriorat-

ing situation” in Kiev.“Due to the deteriorating situation

in Ukraine and the need for a compre-hensive analysis of the situation, the decision was made to recall the Rus-sian ambassador to Ukraine for consul-tations in Moscow,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

In a phone call on Sunday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry “under-scored the United States’ expectation that Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and democratic freedom of choice will be respected by all states.”

According to a senior State Depart-ment o� cial, Kerry also expressed Washington’s “strong support” for the Ukrainian parliament’s move to name an acting president and acting prime minister, the AFP news agency reported.

These actions “o� er the best and

most promising path forward to restore peace and stability to Ukraine quickly, and to address Ukraine’s pressing � -nancial challenges in the coming weeks and months,” Kerry said, according to the o� cial.

Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s parlia-ment voted to temporarily hand over the duties of president to Turchinov, the speaker of the assembly, who told deputies to agree on the formation of a national unity government by Tuesday.

The development comes one day after parliament voted to oust Yanu-kovich from the presidency, setting May 25 as the date for new presidential elections, and two days after an agree-ment was reached with Yanukovich on the need to form a national unity gov-ernment.

Turchinov is a close ally of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the

president’s main rival.Parliament also voted to oust the

foreign minister and was told by the country’s acting prosecutor that an order had been given to detain the former incomes minister and the former prosecutor-general.

The whereabouts of Yanukovich remained unclear on Sunday, a day after he left the capital and rival Ty-moshenko was freed from prison, re-turning to Kiev to address a massive, adoring crowd.

The centre of Kiev, meanwhile, was calm on Sunday.

Protesters on Saturday took con-trol of the presidential administration building, and thousands of Ukrainian-sroamed the suddenly open grounds of the lavish compound outside Kiev, where Yanukovich was believed to live. l

The threat of Israel boycotts more bark than biten Reuters, Jerusalem

Though voices are getting louder in-side and outside Israel about the threat of economic boycotts for its continued occupation of Palestinian territories, there seems little prospect of it facing measures with real bite.

With a number of European � rms already withdrawing some funds, Is-raeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid has warned that every household in Isra-el will feel the pinch if ongoing peace talks with the Palestinians collapse.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has also warned that Israel risks a � nancial hit if it is blamed for the failure, but in-vestors and diplomats say they are un-convinced. It is true that some foreign

� rms have started to shun Israeli busi-ness concerns operating in East Jerusa-lem and the West Bank - land seized in the 1967 war - and the European Union is increasingly angered by relentless Jewish settlement expansion.

But the bulk of Israeli business is clustered on the Mediterranean coast, a world away from the roadblocks and watchtowers of the West Bank, and not even the Palestinian leadership is demanding a total economic boycott. “The boycott is being used like a bo-geyman, a scary story you tell a child at night,” said Jonathan Medved, CEO of OurCrowd, a crowd funding platform looking to provide venture capital to Israeli companies.

“The truth is that Israel is a world

leader in water technology, next-gen-eration agriculture, cyber-security, healthcare innovation and start-ups. What sane person is going to walk away from that?” he said, speaking by tele-phone during a visit to South Africa to seek out potential partners.

Europe stirsEmbargoes, sanctions and boycotts, along with internal resistance, helped bring about the isolation and eventual-ly the end of apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s.

Pro-Palestinian, or anti-Israeli, ac-tivists hope to use the same tactics to force Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sign a deal to create an independent Palestine based on the

1967 borders. They believe recent ac-tion by a handful of European � rms to distance themselves from Israel might be the start of something big.

Bycott from european � rms sent a jolt through the Israeli government. The � nance minister supports the need to pull back from much of the occupied territories in an e� ort to secure an elu-sive peace accord. Lapid said failure to strike a deal could lead to a 20% drop in exports to the European Union and a halt in EU direct investment.

The European Union matters because it is Israel’s largest trading partner and it is the only place where murmurings of sanctions have so far been raised outside the Arab world, where only Egypt and Jordan have formal ties with Israel. l

Maduro to meet opposition leadern Reuters, Caracas

A meeting between a top Venezuelan opposition leader and President Nico-las Maduro on Monday may help ease nearly two weeks of violent anti-gov-ernment protests that have killed at least eight people. State governor Hen-rique Capriles will meet Maduro at a routine gathering of governors and mayors and will likely get a chance to present the opposition’s grievances.

The daily unrest has sharpened the bitter divide between critics and support-ers of the ruling Socialist Party, although even Maduro’s rivals appear to be grow-ing weary of blocked streets and constant clashes between students and police.

“Dialogue is not about listening to what the government wants to say, it’s about making sure the demonstrators’ voices are heard,” Capriles, a two-time opposition presidential candidate, wrote on Sunday in his weekly column.

Five people have died from gunshot wounds in the unrest that began on Feb-ruary 12 with the death of a student pro-testor and was later fuelled by the arrest of hard-line opposition leader Leopol-do Lopez. Maduro, who has vowed to nurture the self-styled socialist revo-lution he inherited from late president Hugo Chavez, calls the demonstrations acts of terrorism by “fascists” seeking a coup similar to the one that brie� y ousted Chavez in 2002. l

Pentagon to propose shrinking army

n Reuters, Washington

Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel will propose on Monday a reduction in the size of the US Army to its smallest size since before World War Two and scrap-ping a class of Air Force attack jets, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

The plans, which the paper said were outlined by several Pentagon o� -cials on condition of anonymity, would be aimed at reducing defence spending in the face of government austerity af-ter a pledge by President Barack Obama to end US involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It would leave the military capable of defeating any enemy but too small for long foreign occupations, and would involve greater risk if US forces were asked to carry out two large-scale military actions at the same time.

“You have to always keep your in-stitution prepared, but you can’t carry a large land-war Defence Department when there is no large land war,” the Times quoted a senior Pentagon o� cial as saying.

It added that some of the plans may face political opposition in Congress, but quoted the o� cials as saying that they had the endorsement of the Joint Chiefs of Sta� . l

Yanukovich arrest warrant ‘issued’by policen Agencies

Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Ya-nukovich is wanted by police for the “mass murder of peaceful civilians,” according to a statement posted on the Facebook page of the country’s acting interior minister.

Arsen Avakov said on Monday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Yanukovich, who � ed the capital Kiev on Saturday following months of bloodshed and political upheaval.

“A criminal case has been launched over the mass murder of peaceful civil-ians. Yanukovich and a number of oth-

er o� cials have been put on a wanted list,” Avakov said in a statement post-ed on his Facebook account. Later on Monday, the interior minister’s person-al assistant con� rmed that the state-ment had come from Avakov, but that the warrant had yet to be � nalised by the attorney general. The personal as-sistant also said that legal proceedings were underway.

Reuters news agency said that the former leader was last seen in a private residence in Balaclava, Crimea. Al Ja-zeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Kiev, said there was confusion over the arrest warrant and of Yanu-kovich’s precise whereabouts. l

Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi AFP

Cattle roam on brown-dirt � elds of a ranch on the outskirts of Delano, in California’s Central Valley, on February 3. At this time of the year normally, the � elds would be covered in lush green grass but the western US states’s worst drought in decades has reduced the land to a parched moonscape. California rancher Nathan Carver whose family has owned a ranch nearby for � ve generations, remembers tales his grandparents told of the Dust Bowl years in the 1930s, but this is as bad as he has ever seen it in his lifetime, he said AFP

US now bugging German ministersin place of Merkeln Reuters, Berlin

The National Security Agency (NSA) has stepped up its surveillance of senior Ger-man government o� cials since being or-dered by Barack Obama to halt its spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bild am Sonntag paper reported on Sunday.

Revelations last year about mass US surveillance in Germany, in particu-lar of Merkel’s mobile phone, shocked Germans and sparked the most serious dispute between the transatlantic allies in a decade.

Bild am Sonntag said its information stemmed from a high-ranking NSA em-ployee in Germany and that those be-ing spied on included Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, a close con� dant of Merkel.

“We have had the order not to miss out on any information now that we are no longer able to monitor the chancel-lor’s communication directly,” it quot-ed the NSA employee as saying.

A spokesman for the German Interi-or Ministry said it would not comment on the “allegations of unnamed indi-viduals.”

To calm the uproar over US surveil-lance abroad, President Obama in Jan-uary banned US eavesdropping on the leaders of close friends and allies of Washington.

Germans are especially sensitive about snooping due to their experienc-es in the Nazi era and in Communist East Germany, when the Stasi secret police built up a massive surveillance network.

Berlin has been pushing, so far in vain, for a “no-spy” deal with Wash-ington. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is due to visit the United States on Thursday but he has said he doubts such a deal would have much e� ect.

Bild am Sonntag quoted a security adviser to Obama, Caitlin Hayden, as saying: “The United States has made clear it gathers intelligence in exactly the same way as any other states.”

The mass-circulation paper said the NSA was monitoring 320 people in Germa-ny - mostly politicians but also business leaders. Hayden said Washington did not spy on corporations in order to help US � rms gain competitive advantage. l

The warrant was yet to be � nalised by the attorney general

9Tuesday, February 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE WorldPakistan Taliban � gurehead killedn AFP, Miranshah

Unknown gunmen on Monday killed a senior commander of the Pakistani Taliban who had a government bounty on his head, o� cials and family said, in what is seen as a case of internal rivalry.

Asmatullah Shaheen, who was be-lieved to be in his mid-40s and a for-mer interim chief of the militant group, had a 10-million-rupee ($95,000) bounty on his head. He was ambushed in Dargah Mandi village near Miransha, the main town of the troubled North Waziristan tribal district.

Despite his seniority, Shaheen was also seen as a highly controversial � g-ure within the Pakistani Taliban and observers do not believe his death will have a major impact on the future of stalled peace talks with the govern-ment that began earlier this month.

“Unknown attackers opened � re on Asmatullah Shaheen’s car. He along with three associates died on the spot,” a security o� cial in Miranshah told AFP.

A close relative of Shaheen told AFP that in addition to those killed, two other people travelling in the car were critically wounded.

The attackers � ed the scene in a sep-arate vehicle, the security o� cial said.

No group has yet claimed responsi-bility for the killing, but a local security

o� cial blamed a rival militant group.Shaheen was leader of the Bhittani

tribe and also chairman of the Tali-ban’s supreme council for more than two years. But a militant source close to Shaheen told AFP he was removed from the post in December after de-veloping several di� erences with some militant commanders.

Shaheen gained notoriety after claiming responsibility for a suicide attack on a Shiite procession in Paki-stan’s largest Karachi city which killed at least 43 people and wounding more than 100 in December 2009.

He was responsible for storming a paramilitary outpost in the northwest-ern district of Tank in 2011, killing one troop during the � ghting and kidnap-ping 15. Eleven of the detainees were later executed while the rest escaped.

An intelligence o� cial in Pesha-war said Shaheen was also wanted for mastermind other attacks on Pakistan troops that included suicide attacks.

Imtiaz Gul, an security analyst and author of “The Most Dangerous Place ? Pakistan’s Lawless Frontier” told AFP that the killing was the result of Sha-heen’s several enmities.

“Militant groups have fought against each other in past and killing of Asmat-ullah Shaheen is apparently because of those internal di� erences.”

Earlier this month, Pakistan entered

into talks with the Taliban aimed at ending their seven-year insurgency.

But the militant group continued carrying out attacks on a near-daily basis, and the dialogue was suspended last week after the insurgents claimed they had executed 23 kidnapped sol-diers in a northwestern tribal region.

Since then the Pakistan Air Force has been carrying out air strikes in the volatile tribal regions which border Af-ghanistan, killing dozens.

Gul, the analyst, said he was scepti-cal the process could resume.

“The future of these talks is bleak,” he said. l

China rejects Modi’s expansionism chargen AFP, Beijing

China on Monday rejected remarks by Indian opposition leader Naren-dra Modi that it has an “expansionist mindset,” saying it has never grabbed the territory of another nation. “I believe all of you can see that China has never waged a war of aggression to occupy any inch of land of other countries,” foreign ministry spokes-woman Hua Chunying said at a reg-ular briefing.

Modi, the prime ministerial candi-date of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and favourite to win this year’s polls, was speaking during an election rally on Saturday.

He warned China to shed its “expan-sionist mindset” as he toured the remote northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, an eastern stretch of the Hima-layas that China claims as its own.

“The world has changed. An expan-sionist mindset will not be accepted. China will also have to do away with such a mindset,” Modi said.

“Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and will always remain so. No power can snatch it away from us.”

China and India fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962 over Arunachal Pradesh and now share a de facto frontier known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which has never been formally demarcated.

The unresolved border dispute has

soured relations which are often prick-ly and marked by mutual distrust.

Hua said the dispute was one “left over from history,” adding it was “very sensitive and complicated.”

She added that while it cannot be immediately resolved, both countries were committed to doing so peacefully.

“There have never been any armed clashes in border areas over the years, so there is very strong evidence that we have the capability to maintain peace there.”

The border dispute with India � ared again last April, with New Delhi accus-ing Chinese troops of intruding deep into Indian-held territory. A three-week stand-o� was only resolved when troops from both sides pulled back.

The two countries have since signed accords and held meetings to maintain peace on the border.

At an annual defence and securi-ty dialogue in New Delhi on Monday, the two countries agreed to hold a high-level military meeting in India this year to discuss “practical measures for management of border issues,” a statement said.

The talks, led by Indian defence sec-retary RK Mathur and China’s deputy chief of general sta� Wang Guanzhong, also decided that their next joint army exercise would be in India in 2014 after a “successful” one in China last year.

China has been embroiled in a series of territorial and other disputes with its neighbours over the years, which on occasion have led to armed con� ict. l

India drops piracy charges against Italian marinesn Reuters, New Delhi

India has dropped a plan to prosecute two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian � shermen under a tough anti-piracy law, a government lawyer said on Monday, o� ering a chance to end a diplomatic row between the two countries.

Italy had strongly opposed India in-voking the law, arguing that it would amount to treating the men as “terror-ists” and last week it recalled its ambas-sador to New Delhi in protest against the delay in the two-year-old case.

The sailors, part of a military secu-rity team protecting a privately-owned cargo ship, say they mistook the � sh-ermen for pirates and � red warning shots into the water during the inci-dent in February 2012, o� the coast of Kerala state. l

TTP negotiators awaiting govt contact: Ibrahimn Reuters, Peshawar

Professor Ibrahim Khan of the Ja-maat-i-Islami (JI) on Monday said no communication had been made by the negotiators representing the gov-ernment towards those representing the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), adding that the TTP side was awaiting contact, DawnNews reported.

Khan, who is a member of the com-mittee representing the TTP in the peace talks, said a deadlock currently existed on the issue. He said the TTP committee was waiting for government negotiators to establish contact which the latter hadn’t done so far.

Khan said the matter could not move forward without the two sides sitting together, adding that after reluctance from the government’s side, talks were now being carried on and analysed via television programs. l

Scores killed in Pakistan air raid and blastn Agencies

Pakistani air strikes on hideouts of armed groups have killed at least 38 people, while a bomb planted near a bus stop killed 14 people in two sepa-rate incidents in the northwest of the country, o� cials say.

The Sunday morning strikes on the Tirah valley of the Khyber tribal dis-trict were Pakistan’s third military op-eration on the hideouts since February 20, retaliating to attacks by Pakistani Taliban and its linked groups that have derailed peace talks.

They follow the claimed execution of 23 Pakistani soldiers by a faction of Taliban last week, which cast doubts over dialogue initiated by Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif on January 29.

“There are con� rmed reports that 38 terrorists including some important commanders were killed,” a military statement quoted by AFP news agen-cy said, adding that “six hideouts were completely destroyed.” l

Kejriwal’s four questions for Rahuln Tribune Desk

Kicking o� the Aam Aadmi Party’s Lok Sabha campaign in Haryana on Sun-day, Arvind Kejriwal launched a blis-tering attack on both the BJP and Con-gress, calling Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi agents of Mukesh Ambani.

“Mukesh Ambani has Modi in one pocket and Rahul in the other ... whoever is in power, Modi or Rahul, it’s Ambani who will run this country. We have to stop the rule of Ambani,

which is like the East India Compa-ny,” he said.

Raking up the gas pricing controver-sy, the AAP chief said, “I have written to both (Modi and Rahul) and asked them how much they will pay Ambani if their government comes to power, but they have not replied.”

Here are four questions Kejriwal posed to Gandhi in his letter:

1) Do you support the decision to pay Mukesh Ambani’s company $8 per unit for gas? If not, will you tell the gov-

ernment to scrap this deal?2) What relation do you and your

party have with (Mukesh) Ambani?3) How much money is being spent

on your election campaign and what is the source of the money?

4) Will you give (M Veerappa) Moily a Lok Sabha ticket? Several Congress ministers such as Salman Khurshid, Kamal Nath, Sharad Pawar, P Chid-ambaram, Kapil Sibal, etc., have faced charges of corruption in the past. Will you give tickets to all of them? l

Revolt in Lalu Prasad’s RJD 13 MLAs quit party, 6 ‘return’

n Agencies

In a major jolt to Lalu Prasad, 13 Bihar MLAs of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have submitted their resignation from the party to the speaker of the state’s assembly on Monday. However, ac-cording to TV reports, 6 of them have returned to the party.

RJD has 22 MLAs in the Bihar as-sembly. The rebel MLAs are likely to join hands with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) for the com-ing Lok Sabha elections according to reports.

Earlier on Sunday, there had been reports that Lalu’s long-time ally Ram Vilas Paswan decided to join hands with archrival BJP. A senior leader from Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party had said that his party has decided to go with

BJP in the next Lok Sabha polls.After a meeting of LJP leaders at

Paswan’s residence, former MP and party leader Surajbhan Singh told re-porters,”Alliance between LJP and BJP has been � nalized.”

However, LJP secretary general Ab-dul Khalik told PTI that no � nal deci-sion has been taken, and only parlia-mentary board of LJP can decide it.

In a recent interview with Times Now’s Arnab Goswami, Lalu Prasadhad said that he would “one day” become Prime Minister as he refused to accept that conviction in the fodder scam was the end of the road to his prime min-isterial ambition. He said he was con-� dent that the higher courts would overturn his conviction and his party workers would � ght the elections till he is acquitted. l

Thai PM rules out resigning as bombs, gun� re punctuate unrestn Reuters, Bangkok

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the target of anti-government protests in Bangkok, has been staying outside the city and on Monday ruled out resigning despite a series of deadly attacks heaping pressure on her administration.

Yingluck, who attended a trade show in Saraburi province, 100 km (60 miles) north of Bangkok, called for dialogue to resolve a crisis that has dragged on for months, with key intersections in the capital blocked by protest camps. “It’s time all sides turned to talk to each other,” Yingluck told reporters. “Many people have asked me to resign but I ask: is resignation the answer? What if it creates a power vacuum?”

The protests have been punctuated by gun� re and bomb blasts, including one on Sunday that killed a woman and a young brother and sister.

They are aimed at unseating Yin-gluck and erasing the in� uence of her brother, former premier Thaksin Shi-nawatra, who is seen by many as the power behind the government.

Yingluck’s o� ce would not con� rm how many days Yingluck had been

working outside the capital.She was last seen in public in Bang-

kok nearly a week ago, last Tuesday, when both anti-government protesters and farmers angry about not being paid under a rice subsidy scheme were trail-ing her and some of her ministers. She is due to attend a corruption hearing in Bangkok on Thursday.

Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichak-chaikul said Yingluck would hold a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

“It is highly likely that we will hold the cabinet meeting outside of Bang-kok,” Surapong told reporters.

The political crisis, which pits the mainly middle-class anti-govern-ment demonstrators from Bangkok and the south against supporters of Yingluck from the populous rural north and northeast, shows no sign of ending soon. l

This video grab taken on November 7, 2013, shows Asmatullah Shaheen (R), caretaker chief Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), announcing the new leader of TTP AFP

China denounces appointment of US special coordinator on Tibetn Reuters, Beijing

China will never recognize the United States’ appointment of a special coor-dinator for Tibetan issues, China’s for-eign ministry said on Monday, saying it opposes any foreign intervention in its internal a� airs.

President Barack Obama held low-key talks with the Dalai Lama on Fri-day, prompting condemnation and warnings from the Chinese govern-ment that the meeting with the ex-iled Tibetan spiritual leader would damage ties.

Washington urged the Chinese gov-ernment on Friday to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his represen-tatives without pre-conditions as a means to reduce tensions.

To encourage those talks, US Secre-tary of State John Kerry said on Friday he had named one of his o� cials, Sarah Sewall, as a special coordinator for Ti-betan Issues.

“The Chinese government resolute-ly opposes any foreign country using the so-called Tibet problem to inter-fere in China’s internal a� airs,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news brie� ng.

“China has never and will never rec-ognize the US’ so-called special envoy for the Tibet problem.”

China calls the Dalai Lama, who � ed

to India after a failed uprising in 1959, a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” who seeks to use violent methods to establish an independent Tibet.

The Dalai Lama says he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet and denies advocating violence.

Human rights groups say China tram-ples on the rights of Tibetans and em-ploys brutal methods to enforce its rule. More than 120 Tibetans have set themselves on � re since 2009 in pro-test against China. Most have died.

Communist Chinese troops took control of Tibet in 1950. China says it “peacefully liberated” the remote region that it says was mired in pov-erty, exploitation and economic stagnation. l

China, eyeing Japan, seeks WW2 focus for Xi during Germany visitn Reuters, Beijing

China wants to make World War Two a key part of a trip by President Xi Jin-ping to Germany next month, much to Berlin’s discomfort, diplomatic sourc-es said, as Beijing tries to use German atonement for its wartime past to em-barrass Japan.

China has increasingly contrasted Germany and its public contrition for the Nazi regime to Japan, where re-peated o� cial apologies for wartime su� ering are sometimes undercut by contradictory comments by conserva-tive politicians.

Ties between the two Asian rivals worsened when Japanese Prime Minis-ter Shinzo Abe visited Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine on December 26, which China sees as a symbol of Tokyo’s past milita-rism because it honours wartime leaders along with millions of war dead.

Xi will visit Germany in late March, as well as France, the Netherlands and Belgium, Beijing-based diplomats said. China’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Xi’s agenda as the trip has yet to be formally announced.

“China wants a strong focus on World War Two when Xi visits Germa-ny and Germany is not happy,” said one diplomatic source who has been briefed on China’s plans for the Xi trip.

The German government declined to comment. But the diplomatic sourc-es said Germany did not want to get

dragged into the dispute between China and Japan, and dislikes Chi-na constantly bringing up Germany’s painful past.

A second diplomatic source with knowledge of the trip said China had proposed Xi visit the Holocaust Me-morial in Berlin. When that was imme-diately rejected by Germany, Beijing suggested Xi go to Berlin’s Neue Wache Memorial, which honours war dead but not recognized war criminals.

“The Holocaust is a no go area,” the source said, adding it was unclear if the Neue Wache Memorial visit would go ahead.

Germany does not want the nega-tive legacy of the war to dominate or take centre stage during a state visit, the source added, explaining the objec-tion to the Holocaust Memorial visit.

China wanted German o� cials to go to Japan and tell them how to cope with history, the source added. l

General view of the Berlin holocaust AFP

‘Is resignation the answer? What if it creates a power vacuum?’

‘China has never and will never recognize the US’ so-called special envoy for the Tibet problem’

Getting Bangladesh wrong for 40 yearsFebruary 18

SamThe author says: “BNP asserted that a fair election could not be conducted without a caretaker government without stating why.” Actually, had he taken his blinders off he would have not only known why the BNP (or any other real party) refuse to take part but have seen the reports in this very paper as well as others of people openly stuffing ballot boxes even in an uncontested election. Why on earth would a party want to be a sacrificial lamb in such an election?

nds Sam: But do you honestly think that BNP has absolute faith and confidence in a caretaker government and is sincere about a free and fair election? If they hold such confidence, then why has its leader, Khaleda Zia, accused the CTG, when led by Fakruddin, of its partisan role in influencing the 2008 election and thereby causing defeat of her party? It appears she will accept a government to run the election if and only if she is given a guarantee that her party will come out the winner. Just recall that her choice for CTG chief was Professor Eiasuddin, a time-tested BNP devotee. She believes in democracy so long as it caters to her interests. Of course I don’t believe that the January 5 election conformed to any democratic norms, but it was definitely thrust upon Hasina by BNP, not out of her own choice.

Sam nds: You have no quarrel from me on this: Begum Zia is not much more of a democrat at heart than the PM is.

Ronnie Sam: But Begum Zia remains “more” inclined to rudimentary principles and democracy, and certainly plain old-fashioned decency.

WaliulHaqueKhondkerBrian, my hats o� to you! You gave words to my thoughts by coming up with a full-� edged response to Milam’s piece of February 14.

If Milam sees the emergence of an authoritarian regime now in Bangladesh, my suggestion would be for USA to remain patient and let the people of Bangladesh chart their own course for the future. Bengalis have a historical record of launching inclusive popular movements and bringing down tyrannical regimes to its knees, both in recent history and in earlier periods.

Had the liberation war in 1971 not started, preced-ed by a popular and inclusive popular movement and then a landslide election victory under a martial law regime, there was all likelihood that the liberation war would have been reduced to a separatist war like the one fought and lost by LTTE.

Secular forces in Bangladesh have got their last chance to get organised and get the better of non-secular forces in all future political encounters. Let’s not forget that Talibans have been knocking at our door for quite a while!

Bangladesh was created as a sovereign, secular and nationalist state, it is good for all of us to try and stay as such.

Apprehend Chhatra League accusedIt is concerning that four of the six Chhatra League activists

accused for the murder of Zubair Ahmed, a student of Jahangi-nagar University, were able to escape from the dock soon after

their bail had been cancelled. We are disappointed that authorities were not able to take bet-

ter precautions to prevent such a gross lack of respect, not only to our justice system, but to the deceased and his family.

Why the accused in a murder trial were granted bail in the � rst place is di� cult enough to comprehend. That four peo-ple charged with the murder of their fellow student were not detained but allowed to return home on bail was a failure itself.

However, in view of the recent actions and behaviour of the accused, it seems inexcusable that there were hardly any po-lice deployed in the court premises, which allowed the culprits to � ee.

Considering that these o� enders had also been threatening the victim’s friends recently, and especially since the investigation report � led in this regard found the allegations to be true, steps should have been taken earlier to secure them.

Law enforcement is entrusted with making sure that defend-ants do not skip bail or escape justice. When o� enders can skip bail and trials are left un� nished, it weakens public con� dence in our justice system.

The entire bail process has to be administered more e� ective-ly, and police must do everything necessary to catch those who absconded.

Our duty to protect language diversity

With language day just behind us, it is an apt time to re� ect on the fact that Bangladesh is a nation that is enormously proud of its linguistic heritage. Our struggle

to preserve the rights to our mother tongue has even resonated at the global level anda few years ago UNESCO adopted February 21st as international mother language day. In this context, it is right to ask the question of how we ourselves are treating the language rights of minorities and indigenous people.

Currently there are more than 45 indigenous groups in Bangladesh, most of whom do not use the Bengali script and are struggling to preserve their language from extinction. Not only are these languages not taught in schools, communities even lack the facilities to print these books in Bangla-desh which would help in teaching the next generation.

While some language centres have been set up by international NGOs, these are too few in number to have a meaningful impact and more systemic help is needed from the government.

Recognition of local languages will help indigenous and minority communities make their voices heard and it will allow us to learn from their cultural heritage, which will in turn enrich Bangladeshi culture as a whole. It will also go a long way towards enabling better dialogue and harmonious coexistence between Bengalis and minority communities.

As a nation with a history of struggle for its language it is only appropriate that we take a more inclusive stance towards ther-ights of minority communities to their linguistic heritage.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 25, 2014

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

Mush� q: We went down due to mistakes as a teamFebruary 18While Mush� q is right, I would venture to say that what we need are good batsmen. That’s where we fall short.

Md Phk

Tribunal asks Bergman to explainFebruary 20This is insidious harassment of a journalist that makes the ICT look even more contemptible. The government should guard itself against self-defeating acts of vengeance.

Fugstar

Ethiopian plane hijacked to Geneva by co-pilot February 17

Hijacked by the co-pilot?!? Haha … there’s a � rst time for everything!

Joi Bangla

The ICT and our politicsFebruary 18

Haritha AvaniIt seems to me that Bangladesh ICT is being used to carry out the judicial murder of opposition leaders.

Shah Ali Farhad Haritha Avani: It is not the ICT’s fault that most major war criminals (from amongst the local collaborators) belonged to Jamaat-e-Islami in 1971 or later on joined BNP after Mujib was assassinated. Hence, you cannot hold that as a de� ciency of the tribunal. It is however, a clear indication of how even after 42 years of independence, both Jamaat and BNP have failed to instill the spirit of 1971 in their ideology and activities. That is a matter of shame not only for them, but us too, because they also happen to be Bangladesh’s main opposition parties. So, before making the comment you made, perhaps you should have asked Jamaat and BNP why they harboured such notorious war criminals for so long in such major party positions.

Recognition of local languages will help indigenous and minority communities make their voices heard and allow us to learn from their cultural heritage

When o� enders can skip bail and trials are left un� nished, it weakens public con� dence in our justice system

Medical college in SunamganjFebruary 22Sunamganj is a new district in Sylhet. It is far away from the main city in Sylhet, where there is a public medical college, but there aren’t any in Sunamganj town, which is a good location for one.

The college could be set up as an attachment to the Sunamganj government hospital, with an expan-sion of departments and increasing the number of beds. No doubt, it will increase the availability of health services for the locals as well as open up opportunities for thousands of higher secondary level students who are interested in studying medicine. Bangladesh needs thousands of physicians to provide medical care services to its citizens. We urge the government to look into this.

Md Ashraf Hossain

Crossword

Sudoku

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS1 Su� ering (4)3 Permits (4)7 Golf mound (3)8 Authoritative command (5)11 Talk wildly (4)12 Unwelcome task (5)13 Brilliance of success (5)15 Place of trade (4)18 Regrets (4)19 Puzzling question (5)20 Make e� ort (5)21 Church service (4)23 Cautions (5)24 Consumed (3)25 Stagger (4)26 Kill (4)

DOWN1 Like better (6)2 Frozen formation (6)4 Greek letter (3)5 Time of holding (6)6 Become � rm (3)9 Pursues (6)10 Toddler (3)11 Sucking � sh (6)14 Clergyman (6)16 Starry (6)17 Reliable (6)19 Church seat (3)21 Spoil (3)22 Bishop’s territory (3)

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

SUDOKU

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n Ikhtisad Ahmed

Six hundred and forty-two miles from the bloodstained streets of a capital that has been the scene of a people’s movement set the stage for

professional athletes to showcase their talents on snow and ice. Their achievements and celebrations were witnessed by crowds una� ected by the upheaval across the border that will hopefully bear fruit to see the pop-ulace be the only victors.

It was supposed to have been very di� erent. The masses were supposed to have been outraged by Putin’s dra-conian anti-equality laws, not jubilant cheerleaders either ignorant of or indi� erent towards injustices.

The most vocal opponent of the Sochi games, owing to Russia’s oppression of sexual minorities, was the USA. As with all things American, however, the shock, horror, and denunciation of what Putin did reeks of hypocrisy. Hidden behind the verbosity of saying the right thing is a staunch, uncompro-mising refusal to do the right thing.

Secretly, American politicians sup-port Putin’s stance of deftly turning a social and human issue into a political one. The US, the duplicitous country of Defence of Marriage Act and SB 1062 fame, is notorious for the ambivalence of its policymakers towards rights of sexual minorities, and culpability in creating a bigger problem by refusing to execute the most sacred doctrines of human rights, the very same ones they purport to champion the world over.

The UK’s polite castigation has been less sincere. David Cameron passed the bipartisan Gay Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 despite his party’s e� orts to sabotage it – 136 opposed the Bill, 35 did not vote and 5 abstained – because, while he courted voters, MPs on the other side of the aisle and from

their coalition partners were decidedly humane. Nevertheless, the Conservative Party abandoned its leader during one of his rare attempts at humanity. The prime minister tried to force the Tories to be more palatable, have a larger appeal by being more equal. Instead, his leaders ran to the right in a manner reminis-

cent of the Republicans, whose soul has been lost to the Tea Party.

The civil society, human rights organisations, and NGOs have their part to play in enforcing human rights. In a world where the great tragedy is that rights need to be enforced rather than unconditionally protected and preserved, these institutions are, sadly, limited.

Their agendas are dictated by their funds and the sources of the money. This makes them beholden to special interest groups and lobbies that may be directly opposed to the work they are trying to do, but still � nd the best policy to be to fund these projects in order to dictate terms. This being the pathetic reality, the only way in which anything concrete can happen is if governments serve their people. The US and Russia have repeatedly failed. The UK has dithered and � oundered.

India has been no better. In 2009, the High Court repealed section 377 of the Penal Code, which, of course, was enforced by the epitome of equality, the antiquated British Raj. Homosex-uality was decriminalised, sending ripples of hope throughout the region. The quiet murmurs of campaigning for such equality were silenced by the Su-preme Court’s decision to reverse this decision last year, thereby preserving the status quo of inequality in India.

One concrete step taken by a government recently to ensure rights for gender and sexual minorities has come in the shape of hijras being given legal standing as a separate gender in Bangladesh. Supposedly a conserva-

tive country, this could not have been a popular decision, especially outside of the bourgeois circles.

A nationwide poll, conducted in line with the recent trend of assert-ing everything for the people, will prove that a plebiscite on the subject would not have been favourable. It was passed nonetheless, and it was a signi� cant step in the right direction. The counter argument is that equality, mandated by the Constitution, is abso-lute, and should not need speci� c laws to rea� rm or enforce.

Unfortunately, inequality is rife in Bangladesh, and even the passage of laws intended to counter it is rarely

enough. Otherwise, the government would certainly have risked the wrath of the upper and middle classes by enacting laws to wrestle wealth and power away from them and a� ord protection to the masses who barely qualify as belonging to the lower class.

The only surprise is that more of the equal rights warriors locally and interna-tionally have not rallied behind the hijra laws, and pushed for the same benevolent luxuries to be extended to other minori-ties. Perhaps they have been polling. l

Ikhtisad Ahmed is a writer and an erstwhile lawyer. He can be contacted on Twitter via @Ikhtisad.

11Op-Ed Tuesday, February 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Lt Col Waliullah

February 25 could be like any other day, but now it is marked as a red-letter day because on this day we lost 57 of our men who had to

give their lives in the most barbarous manner possible.

History cannot bear testimony to a war when the country lost 57 of their men on a single day. The previous day, the smartly turned out contin-gent did salute the head of the state. An impressively colourful parade was presented after the soldiers were drenched in sweat.

The day after, the soldiers expected thanks from the leader who led them in the march. What could have been a day full of merriment turned out to be a day when the sky turned gloomy – a day when the blessings of the seniors were to be showering on the juniors turned into one of hatred.

Bangladesh Ri� es had a golden legacy of being the torchbearer of the national standard. The role of the East Pakistan Ri� es men in the glorious Lib-eration War can never be forgotten. It

was during the onset of the Liberation War that the BDR men did show their courage, and the grateful nation still remembers that.

The carnage that took place tar-nished the image of the disciplined force, blood was spilt over the grass so green, within no time the killing started. The led killed their leaders, and they were so cruel that they did not even show their kindness to the dead ones.

What kind of Muslims were they, who burnt the bodies and mutilated them, and left them uncared for without observing the rituals? Did the men who led them deserve the barbaric manner they were put into? What training did

the men receive to treat the prisoners if otherwise apprehended?

They were men who were comrades both in war and peace, all of them were supposed to � ght the enemy and defend the sovereignty of their motherland. The green � ag with the red circle was what was dear to all of those who inspired them to use their guns and � re at the leaders who prepared them to � ght the enemy. The friend turned out to be their enemy.

The BDR tragedy is one which makes us con� dent to believe that we have made ourselves insecure. People who were destined to make us secure have become insecure. After almost � ve years, can we believe

that we have taken enough measures to battle against insecurity for ensur-ing security? The BDR men did fall in a conspiracy.

The pertinent question is what we did for the families of the men who were said to have killed and conspired. Nobody can replace the sorrow of the dead ones; nobody can bring them back to God’s earth.

Nobody can wipe the tears of their loved ones. We can only pray that the departed ones rest in heaven. They have earned an untimely departure in the most barbaric manner. On this day, we would urge upon all to view the matter of those who fell prey to this conspiracy in the most humane way, and help the lives of the families come out of distress. The ones behind this heinous act should have received exemplary punishment. It is di� cult to � nd words to console the families of the departed ones. We can only say God is sure to give you strength, and the dear ones are sure to rest in peace. l

Lt Col Waliullah (retired) is a columnist and has earned a Diploma on Public A� airs from DINFOS, USA.

n Mohammad Ali Sattar

Amidst the hullabaloo of the ongoing local government elections and the continuing

political diatribe, a cricket contest has just � nished.

If not the whole nation, a large chunk of cricket fans were in high spirits to see the Sri Lankan team visit Dhaka to watch our boys for a fairly long series that included two tests, two T20s and three ODIs.

It has been a happy break from recent political turmoil. Hapless fans and followers of the game would have been happier if our boys fared better. It was a remorseful a� air.

The outcome of the tour was dismal and disgracing to say the least. I say disgracing simply because I am one of the ardent followers of cricket, have been since my childhood. Having played cricket up to a signi� cant level, I can’t ignore or not be drawn in the proceedings of each game.

The joy and hope know no bounds when we have our team in the contest. However hard we try to downplay our team and their e� orts and performanc-es, deep down in our hearts, we want them to shine and win, or show the best they can to make us proud.

We have been struggling for some time to get our stature right. We are not being o� ered test matches by countries that matter. The recent crisis in the ICC (brought on by the so-called Big Three) regarding amending the ICC regulations and country status also nearly put us out of the regular test rank. However, this has been tackled with our support and conviction.

At home, we have had the BPL match-� xing scams. One time great Ashraful comes out of the closet and ad-mits his association with the � xing nex-us and loses his reputation and career, and Bangladesh loses a prized wicket.

Add to it the recent shameful act by none other than the top ranking cricketer Shakib al Hasan, who has been handed a three match ban and a � ne. His penalty should have been harsher. He has several times in the past created such nuisances, and many expect he will do it in the future as well.

The last couple of series played against the West Indies and New Zealand were simply outstanding. All thought that the boys had at last come of age.

Nobody imagined what awaited the team and the nation in the series against Sri Lanka.

The � rst test was miserably lost. We did not � nd the boys who beat New Zealand comprehensively. Our boys, in the � rst test match, did not have any clue what was going on out in the mid-dle. It was an innings defeat by a huge margin, and a very big humiliation.

The second test was a drawn a� air.

When this match was drawn and a few of our boys fared well, it was rightfully expected that the following series of shorter versions would be much better performed. And we thought rightfully that we stood a fair chance of winning a match or two of the series altogether.

That dream was also dashed. In both T20s, we lost, although the matches went down to the wire and both were decided in the � nal delivery of the � nal over of the innings. In the � rst match, our batsman could not connect the � nal ball suitably and got out, losing the match by a mere two runs.

The second T20 was a further tragedy. Our bowler could not contain the Sri Lankan batsmen from scoring 9 runs o� the � nal over. Farhad Reza bowled a sweet rising delivery to be hit for a boundary, giving away the match. This was unquestionably a wrong pick by our skipper to have invited Farhad Reza to bowl the � nal over.

If the T20s were a tragedy, the ODIs were catastrophe. When you allow a team with 67 for 8 to score a formidable 180, you are already at the receiving end. Then our boys could not get to 180 in 50 overs, thanks to some senseless batting and lousy � elding!

In the second ODI, again some mindless and rash batting and display of overcon� dence in Shakib and others let us down.

Let’s not talk about the third one. We lost all and that too in a manner quite unacceptable. Our boys need not only vigourous physical training out in the middle, they also require serious psychological counseling, for cricket is a game of mind and nerves.

Our boys should learn how not to play unnecessary shots, how to leave balls outside o� stumps, when to go for big hits, and so on. They should shun the habit of premeditated ac-tions.

The players should keep in mind that if the bugs of overcon� dence eat you, you will perish, and so will the team. When you are brimming with false con� dence, you lack commitment. Clean up your mind and body, and think hard next time. The Asia Cup tourney is knocking on the door. l

Mohammad Ali Sattar is a journalist and DT columnist.

For those who died

F R O M T H E M A R G I N S

It wasn’t cricket

Deep down in our hearts, we want them to shine and win, or show the best they can to make us proud

More qi than Sochi

The carnage that took place tarnished the image of the disciplined force, blood spilt over the grass so green, within no time the killing started

The masses were supposed to have been outraged by Putin’s draconian anti-equality laws, not jubilant cheerleaders either ignorant or indi� erent

It is di� cult to � nd words of consolation SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

The jubilation remains una� ected by the chaos across the border AFP

Aamir Khan is back on TV with Satyamev Jayate 2n Entertainment Desk

In the � rst season of Satyamev Jayate Bollywood actor and philanthropist Aamir Khan touched upon sensitive is-sues in India like female foeticide, child sexual abuse, dowry related issues, Khap Panchayat, among others.

The issues were aptly addressed in the show and now Aamir Khan is back with the second season of the show

which unnerved India like never before.According to reports the season’s

� rst episode is dedicated to Dasrath Manjhi, who single-handedly carved out a road by cutting through a hill in Bihar. His son Bhagirath Manjhi and daughter-in-law Basanti Devi are liv-ing in abject poverty in Dasrathnagar and now hope that Aamir Khan will tell the world the real story of their lives through Satyamev Jayate.

Other issues that Aamir Khan may address in the second season is about the growing farmer suicides, education for girls, the youth of India and many others. Looks like Aamir Khan has a lot to say this time and this time he expects his audience to really ponder on the subjects he is about to discuss. The � rst episode of Satyamev Jayate is set for telecast on March 2 and will telecasted for � ve consecutive Sundays and will then return after a break. l

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 25, 2014 12

FilmJibon DhuliBy Tanvir MokammelTime: 3pm – 11pm, Shawkat Osman AuditoriumPublic Library47 Ronin (3D), Aakash

Koto Dure, Thor: The Dark World 3D, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in 3D, Frozen in 3D, Shunte Ki Pao, AgneeTime: 10am - 10pmStar Cineplex,Bashundhara City

ExhibitionDuet Art ExhibitionBy Hashem Khan and Mohammad IqbalTime: 12pm – 8pmGallery Twenty One,751 Satmasjid Road

ON TV

MOVIES

6:00pmStar MoviesSchindler’s List9:30pmHBO10,000 B.C.

DRAMA

9:00pm SonyEk Nayi Pehchaan10:00pm Star PlusYeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain

MISC

11:00am TLC Fast Food Mania7:30pm AXNSo You Think You Can Dance

TODAY IN DHAKA

Dhaka audience gets to see 35 rare photographs of WWI n Entertainment Desk

On the occasion of the commemoration of the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, the Alliance Française de Dhaka has organised an exhibition and an international conference on the theme of War and Colonies. The exhibition showing 35 rare photographs of colonial troops in the Great War was inaugurated by H E Mr Michel TRINQUIER, ambassador of France in Bangladesh, yesterday. Dr Ferdinand von Weyhe, deputy head of mission, German Embassy Dhaka, KH Masud Siddiqui, secre-tary, ministry of Liberation War a� airs and world famous mime artiste Partha Pratim Majumder were also present as distin-guished guests among others.

The exhibition will continue till March 8 and will remain open on Monday to Thurs-day from 3pm to 9pm and Friday from 9am to 12 noon and Saturday from 5pm to 8pm.

This exhibition will also be shown at the Liberation War Museum from March 11 to 18.

The two-day conference will begin to-day at the Senate Building of the University of Dhaka. It will bring together French, German, Irish, American, Indian and Ban-gladeshi historians who will present papers related to the chosen theme. Besides pre-senting relationship between WWI and the colonies from diverse angles, this two-day seminar will o� er an exceptional focus on Bengal during the period, with no less than � ve papers devoted to it. l

Jazz-funk fusion band The Mahaphon Clang enthralls audiencen Hasan Mansoor Chatak

The musical supergroup Mahaphon Clang, consisting of the emergent Germany-based band Lautstark!4 and internationally renowned per-cussionist Ramesh Shotham per-formed at the Goethe-Institut Berlin Hall on February 23, as a part of their Mela Thing-2014 tour.

The jazz-funk fusion band sur-prised the crowd with their rendition of instru-vocal, funk guitar work and a variety of percussion instruments with dexterity. All the musical pieces presented at the concert re� ects real life experiences of the performers, such as Ramesh Shotham’s experi-ence of getting lost in the busy push and pull of the city, the band mem-bers’ six to seven hour long jour-ney from Chennai to Bangalore and many more. Thus, the music of Ma-haphon Clang can be best described as multi-folklore, urban improvised music and is determined by contin-

uously changing in� uences from the exterior.

The Mahaphon Clang is electrify-ing and enthralling the audiences in every concert and every session, by shifting to a di� erent direction caused by any newly gained inspiration. And � nally, it is about the courage of both the musicians and the audience to en-ter a stage or a concert without really knowing what might happen.

Jan Friedrich Kurth, frontman of the supergroup revealed the philos-ophy of their kinetic music to Dhaka Tribune: “We are not representing German music here, it is just one of the aspect of the German music scene. Our music is the eccentric sound which lies underneath every human’s mind or soul. We try to ren-der that sound by sudden improvisa-tion onstage.”

The jazz-funk band is highly in-spired by New York based trio Medes-ki Martin & Wood and additionally by the rock music from the 70s, free

jazz, contemporary improvised mu-sic, classical south Indian, Europe-an avant garde, bhangra, Tamil pop, dubstep, funk, cacophony in streets and the di� erent languages they heard in foreign lands.

The name Mahaohon Clang is de-rived from the Sanskrit word “maha” meaning great, from the Greek Ex-pression “phon,” which refers to the physical of the perceived volume and from the English word “clang,” which means rattling or crashing. Thus, even the band-name alone promises a unique experience of various musi-cal encounters.

The ensemble includes Jan Frie-drich Kurth (vocals), Matthias Kurth (electric guitar), Lutz Streum (sax-ophone and clarinets) and Ramesh Shotham (percussions, vocals). At present, the band is managing post-production works of their � rst record with the German label Jazz Werkstatt and plans on releasing it on Septem-ber 1, 2014. l

Tareq Masud’s bio at Amor Ekushey Book Fairn Entertainment Desk

A biography on ace � lmmaker Tareque Masud has been uncovered at the Amor Ekushey Book Fair-2014 recently. The book is published by Bangladesh Film Archive. The writer Rubayet Ahmed as-sumes that the book will stand as a refer-ence to all who want to know and study the life and works of the late � lmmaker. The cover is illustrated by Masuk Helal. The book is available at the Bangladesh Film Archive’s stall number-507.

Tareque Masud is the most interna-tionally acclaimed � lmmaker from Ban-gladesh, who is also renowned as a � lm producer, screenwriter and lyricist. His � lm Matir Moyna was Bangladesh’s � rst to compete for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was also awarded at Cannes Film Festival. He died in a dreadful road accident on 13 August 2011 while returning to Dhaka after visit-ing a � lming location. In 2012, he received Ekushey Padak, the highest civilian award of Bangladesh posthumously. l

Babla Seeth displays exotic metal sculpturesn Shadma Malik

The third series of metal artworks Metal-Metaphorsis-II by Babla Seeth was held on February 23 at his Gulshan residence. The metal installation was once again based on his series of recycling art. Babla has mastered the art of recycling industrial wastes such as nails, old chains, nut, bolts, washers, old wires and many other materials through creating beautiful pieces of art with them.

Like every year, the visual artist made an attempt to produce incredible art and artifacts. His artworks include faces, statues, masks and lanterns that are vibrant and attractive tolook at.

The artist’s mastery of using metals to turns into unique sculptures and decorative wall pieces is quite notice-able and each and every of his work has originality that emanates talent. His work itself is open to interpreta-tion but his unique style and curious material choice certainly sets him apart in the contemporary and visual art arena. His � rst metal art exhibition was on love and then, on the faces of freedom � ghters. This time, his stat-ues represent working class people.

Using wire, brass, copper and nuts, the statuary are extensively powerful to look upon.

Distortion and mutation of the hu-man body is portrayed through sculp-tures. His sculpture Drummer has a folk essence in its form. His one-of-a-kind statue of Jesus is a magni� cent piece of art and will surely get critics appreciation. All the masks displayed at the exhibit were made with preci-sion and detail.

On his artwork Lantern Chimney, the artist said: “When I went to the glass factory, the idea popped in my mind to produce a lantern with glass.”

To blend in the digital era, Babla has used a waste hard disk and turned it into a table lamp. About the arti-fact, he said: “These hard disks were thrown out. I made an attempt to give them an aesthetic view and sell it to art lovers.

“I am an eco-conscious person. It is always my attempt to convey the message to people to go for recycling,” said Babla.

Babla Seeth is an American of In-dian origin who is currently living in Bangladesh. He loves to design fur-niture, paint, stitch, and weld among other works. l

Prachyanat to stage Koinya todayn Entertainment Desk

Prachyanat will stage its acclaimed play Koinya at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Acade-my today at 6:30pm.

Scripted by Murad Khan and di-rected by Azad Abul Kalam, Koinya is based on a mythical story of Koinya Peer (holy lady) of the greater Sylhet region. The Koiya Peer transforms her-self into a � sh and lives in a pond as a � sh in a village. The head of the com-munity, Naior, is able to communicate with her while the religious leader of the village challenges him. Finally they get involved in a con� ict and Naior � -nally wins by an apparent act of self- annihilation that convinces the ortho-dox group to believe Naior.

The play carefully deals with the debate between Shariah, the funda-mental religious concept of Islam, and Marefat, seeking God through love. l

COURTESY: ANIL ADVANI

Inauguration moment of the War and Colonies exhibition QUAMRUL ABEDIN

Highway earns Rs139.7m and mixed responsen Entertainment Desk

Despite rave reviews from critics, Imtiaz Ali’s H i g h w a y made a mea-gre Rs34.2m on Friday. How-ever, the Alia Bhatt, Randeep Hooda-starrer � lm picked up over the weekend. The movie collected Rs48m on Day Two and the col-lections further rose on Sunday to Rs57.5m.

Highway has grossed a total of Rs137.5m over the � rst weekend.

Alia Bhatt plays a rich, city girl who gets kidnapped by Randeep Hooda and then � nds her inner freedom during her abduction. Despite a bad show at the ticket win-dows, the � lmmakers seem to have got a pretty de-

cent feedback on the � lm. Sajid Nadi-adwala, who has shared distribution for Highway with UTV Motion Pic-tures, said: “The � lm was pro� table even before release but the way High-way has been winning hearts since

Friday is really very encouraging. Hope the love for the movie

keeps pouring in.”Director-writer of the � lm Imtiaz

Ali said: “I have not received such warmth from the theatre audience before. Will always remember this time.”

As for the mixed reponse, Imtiaz said: “At least there are opinions. It is actually dangerous when people just

say, it’s good.” l

13DHAKA TRIBUNE

Pakistan, Sri Lanka open Asia Cup n After all the uncertainty of hosting the Asia Cup in Bangladesh for security rea-sons, � nally the stage is set as the curtain rises for the 12th Asia Cup cricket when defending champions Pakistan facing an enthusiastic Sri Lanka side at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah today.

It was uncertain if Bangladesh would host the mega event after Pakistan ex-pressed concerns about the security sit-uation in the country but all is clear now.

Misbah-ul-Haq and his side will be con� dent today facing Sri Lanka after they recently won the � ve match ODI se-ries 3-2 in UAE with Junaid Khan, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal leading their bowl-ing attack.

New coach Moin Khan earlier in-formed that they are looking to retain their title before coming to Bangladesh, but Pakistan will have to � ght hard against the spirited Lankans, who had a great time against in the ODI series against Bangladesh, which they won 3-0.

Sri Lanka, who have been in Bangla-desh for over a month now, will surely have the advantage in terms of having adapted to the conditions. However, Pakistan are used to playing on the type of pitches they will encounter in Bangla-desh.

The Lankans will be looking to the senior pair of Mahela Jayawardene and

Kumar Sangakkara - both of whom have been in superb form in Bangladesh – but will miss hard hitting opener Tilla-karatne Dilshan,who has been ruled out of the tournament due to a hand injury.

Mahela Jayawrdene may open the innings, as he has done before with great success, along with Kusal Perera – whose aggressive style has earned him a reputation for being the next Sanath Jayasuriya – a status he demonstrated in smashing a century against Bangladesh in the last ODI.

It will be test for both Pakistan and Sri Lanka as both the side will be looking to start the tournament on a high note to gain the con� dence for the rest of the tournament. l

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Sport 14 Man United narrow focus for Olympiakos trip

15 ‘We want to show our talent to the world’

0 1 9

Did you know?In 1990 Diego Maradona was

fouled 50 times making him the

most fouled player for the third World Cup � nals in a row

DAYS TO GO

Faruk annoyed with Mush� q remarksn Faruk Ahmed, the 48-year-old chief se-lector of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) doesn’t believe that he erred by not consulting the national captain Mush� qur Rahim before announcing the squad for the Asia Cup. 

The captain has expressed his shock at not being consulted by the chief se-lector and said that certain inclusions and exclusions have been made in the team without his knowledge. 

Faruk, with other national selec-tor Habibul Bashar, is in India for two reasons - � rstly to see his ailing sister and secondly to play for Dhaka Club against CCFC (Calcutta Cricket and Football Club).

Speaking exclusively over tele-phone from his hotel room, Faruk said, “Yes, the captain was not consulted for the composition of the team but we had already discussed the team with head coach (Shane Jurgensen) and

physio (Vibhav Singh) before announc-ing the 15 members. 

“Even the coach was present in the selection committee meeting,” he said.

“When we discussed the team with the head-coach it was assumed that the coach has brought the feedback from the captain. It is not mandatory for us, rather me, as a chairman of the National Selection Panel, to discuss separately with the coach and cap-tain,” he further added.    

“Mush� qur Rahim  is a good cap-tain and we have retained him till next year’s World Cup. On my return to Ban-gladesh today, I shall certainly speak to him about his so-called outburst but there is no question of compromise. The BCB has no policy to make captain the part of the selection committee meeting though we do speak to him on a regular basis,” said Faruk. 

Faruk Ahmed and Bashar were scheduled to leave for Bangladesh yes-terday evening. l

BFF declare 28-man prelim squadn Bangladesh Football Federation yester-day declared a 28-member preliminary squad for the Fifa International Friend-ly against India scheduled to be played at Goa on March 5.

Head coach Lodewijk de Kruif how-ever thought he has very little time to prepare his team for the match and said, “It’s a tough situation but we have to proceed with what we have.

“I am not getting the full squad before February 28 as Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russell players have their league commitments, so it’s a tough situation,” Kruif said.

Four new faces - mid� elders Hemanta Vincent, Jewel Rana, Rubel Mia and defender Tutul Hossain Bad-sha - got their � rst national call up and the Dutch head coach stated it as a regular process. Among them it is a new horizon for Under-19 defender Tu-tul Hossain Badsha as he is yet to play any Bangladesh Premier League match for Abahani Ltd. “There are a few new faces in the squad as apprentices are required for grooming the future play-ers, we will see whether they are ready to take the senior’s responsibility,” said Kruif.

Defenders Waly Faisal, Ariful Islam, mid� elder Omar Faruk Babu, forwards Sakhawat Hossain Rony and Wahed Ahmed were the unlucky ones as they were omitted from the squad that played in the Sa� Championship in Ne-pal in September.

The coach revealed that Denmark expatriate Jamal Bhuiyan will � y di-rectly to Mumbai on Feb 3 to join the squad. “I will also see the injuries as Mishu is sick for last � ve days, the tour party will consist 18 players,” added the Dutch. l

We need to start fresh, says Mathewsn Angelo Mathews walking in at the press conference yesterday pretty much sug-gested how used to he has become to the path in the last one month in Bangla-desh. The 26-year-old Sri Lankan captain walked in without his manager or the ACC media manager, sat on the chair and looked at all the familiar faces of the Bangladeshi journalists before he wore a smile and said “start”.

Having completed a successful full series against Bangladesh three days ago, the Sri Lankans will take the � eld at Fatullah today for the Asia Cup opener against defending champions Pakistan. However, no matter how familiar he and his troop got with the conditions here, Mathews said they need to start fresh as he expects a tough contest from all the sides.

“We have been here for the past month and played some good cricket. But that’s not going to win us games and we need to start fresh. This is a new tournament and sides are new as well,” said Mathews. “It’s going to be an even

contest and we need to play consistent cricket and better cricket to win against our oppositions.”

Playing away from home can be a dif-� cult task, especially when it is in only one place. The Sri Lankans have two ma-jor tournaments in the line-up, Asia Cup and World Twenty20, so the question is whether the monotony of staying at the same place, Bangladesh, will get to the players. “This couple of tournament, the Asia Cup and the World Cup, is going to be important for all of us. It’s about man management and keeping yourself � t, because day in day out you have to wake up and perform consistently. That’s the challenge we have to face as players and I think we are up for it,” Mathews replied.

“The physios and trainers are doing good and the support from the support sta� has been excellent. We look forward to play better cricket,” added the captain.

The all-rounder admitted of playing India and Pakistan often in the recent past, but did not agree that it will give them the advantage over their oppo-nents.

“We played a lot against Pakistan

and India in the recent past. We know about their strengths and weaknesses, and they know about ours too. It will be about who makes less mistakes because it is going to be an even contest as all the sides are evenly balanced. We look for-ward to play positive cricket and win,” he said.

Mathews also did not agree with the fact that beating Bangladesh fair and square in the full series will help them win the Asia Cup as it will be a tough con-test. “As a team there is always room for improvement in all aspect of the game. We need to go from strength to strength and we are not going to think that beat-ing Bangladesh 3-0 will win us the Asia Cup.” The Sri Lankan skipper also said that the spinners will play a vital role in these pitches where “the ball might turn a little bit” or “get slower”.

“Spinners will be the main challenge in these wickets and all teams have good spinners. It’s going to be tough for the batters too and since all teams have good batters it’s going to be tough for the spin-ners as well. Like I said it will be an even contest,” said Mathews. l

Nazmul out to straighten teamn The recent performance and some o� the � eld issues already raised many questions about the current national cricket team and it was observed by the BCB boss Nazmul Hasan, who said that they side had lost some rhythm as a result and that the board would take corrective action after the T20 World Championship at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

Nazmul said, “I am watching there is some sort of rhythm-loss in the team for a long time, there are certain things that should not have happened. If you ask me, I am noticing this from the Zimbabwe tour.

“We are hearing a lot of things that

we expected not to have happened and we were quite bemused hearing it.” Nazmul added that he wanted to take action immediately but refrained as his co-members in the BCB believed that it was not the right time.

“Everyone wants some time.    Let the world cup get � nished and we will sort out everything in the next six month,” he added. However he informed that whatever is happening was unacceptable, particularly the lack of discipline in the side.

“I believe that even if we do badly in Asia Cup and World Cup there should be discipline. Nobody is indispensable,” he said, going on to point out the board’s decision to suspend Shakib al Hasan for three games to illustrate his point. l

Tamim to seek treatment in Singaporen National opener Tamim Iqbal will � y to Singapore on Thursday for treatment to his injured neck. It was learnt the south-paw failed to get a concrete answer on his injury from the panel of the Ban-gladesh Cricket Board physiotherapists and thus after getting permission from the board president Nazmul Hasan, Ta-mim will see a doctor in Singapore.

“The MRI reports revealed that I am su� ering from disc bulge and muscle strain. No one in Dhaka is being able to give a tentative time of the recovery.

This is why I am going to Singapore. I have applied for the visa and will leave on Thursday,” Tamim told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Tamim sustained the neck injury ahead of the second Twenty20 against Sri Lanka earlier this month in Chit-tagong. However he appeared in the second T20 game but the increasing trouble due to the injury kept him out of the three match ODI series which Bangladesh lost 3-0. Later he was also kept out of the Asia Cup squad.

The hard-hitting batsman wished Bangladesh the best of luck for the tour-

nament. “The series against Sri Lanka was not a good one for us for which it is important for us to regroup and gain the con� dence. I will request the fans and the media to keep less pressure on the team,” said Tamim.

Tamim thinks that the weight of ex-pectation caused the Tigers to perform badly against Sri Lanka and added, “Everyone wants Bangladesh to per-form and we also want to play well. I believe Bangladesh will perform well in the Asia Cup. This is important as there is another big event (ICC World Twen-ty20) after this.” l

n Pakistan: Sharjeel Khan, Ahmed She-hzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohaib Maqsood, Misbah-Ul-Haq (capt.), Umar Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Bila-wal Bhatti/Anwar Ali, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khann Sri Lanka: Kusal Perera, Mahela Jay-

awardene, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Dinesh Chandimal, Ashan Priyanjan, Angelo Mathews (capt.), Thisara Per-era, Sachithra Senanayake, Lasith Mal-inga, Ajantha Mendis, Suranga Lakmal

Form guide(last � ve matches, most recent � rst)Pakistan: L W W L WSri Lanka: W W W W L

PROBABLE XI

GoalKeepers- Biplob Bhattyacharya, Sha-hidul Alam Sohel, Mazharul Islam Himel, Mamun KhanDefenders- Raihan Hasan, Md. Linkon, Tapu Barman, Nasir Uddin Chowdhry, Di-darul Haque, Yeasin Khan, Atikur Rahman Meshu, Yamin Ahmed Chowdhury, Tutul Hossain Badsha Mid� elders- Jamal Bhuiyan, Mobarak Hos-sain, Zahid Hossain, Rubel Mia, Mamunul Islam, Sohel Rana, Shahedul Alam, Imon Mahmud, Hemanta Vincent, Jewel Rana, Towhidul AlamForwards- Toklis Ahmed, Jahid Hasan Emily, Aminur Rahaman, Mithun Chowdhury

PRELIM SQUAD

The respective captains of the Asia Cup teams pose for an o� cial photograph during the trophy unveiling ceremony at a local hotel yesterday MUMIT M

Pakistan ‘more than happy’ with securityn The pre-national election tension and political turmoil in Bangladesh had the Pakistan Cricket Board most concerned among the teams partici-pating in the Asia Cup, but the secu-rity arrangement in Bangladesh has made the tourists more than happy, informed the Pakistan team manager Zakir Khan yesterday.

“We are more than happy with the arrangement here (in Dhaka). All seems to be on track and we are think-ing of the games ahead,” said Zakir to the media.

O� the 11 editions of the Asia Cup, Pakistan took the title home twice

–2000 and 2012, and in both occa-sions Bangladesh was the host. As the reigning champions, Zakir informed that Pakistan will � ght to defend the title.

“The competition in the tourna-ment will be tough but we don’t want to take the pressure as the defend-ing champions. The players look for-ward to perform which is the key to the positive results,” said the former Pakistan national cricketer.

Zakir also showed faith in the team’s new coach Moin Khan and said, “He (Moin) knows how to keep the players happy and he himself is a spirited per-son. Hope the team will perform well under his supervision.” l

Date Match Venue Time (BDT)February 25 Pakistan v Sri Lanka Fatullah 2:00PMFebruary 26 Bangladesh v India Fatullah 2:00PMFebruary 27 Afghanistan v Pakistan Fatullah 2:00PMFebruary 28 India v Sri Lanka Fatullah 2:00PMMarch 1 Bangladesh v Afghanistan Fatullah 2:00PMMarch 2 India v Pakistan Mirpur 2:00PMMarch 3 Afghanistan v Sri Lanka Mirpur 2:00PMMarch 4 Bangladesh v Pakistan Mirpur 2:00PMMarch 5 Afghanistan v India Mirpur 2:00PMMarch 6 Bangladesh v Sri Lanka Mirpur 2:00PMMarch 8 Final Mirpur 2:00PM

ASIA CUP 2014BCB turns down Mush� q appealn BCB turned down national skipper Mush� qur Rahim’s pledge to recon-sider the ban on all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.

Shakib’s inappropriate gesture dur-ing the second ODI against Sri Lanka last week got him suspended for three ODIs and was � ned Tk300,000.

“There is no scope of dipping his punishment. The BCB will stick to the decision,” said the BCB media commit-tee chairman Jalal Younus yesterday.

Mush� q along with teammates re-quested the BCB to reduce Shakib’s suspension so that he doesn’t miss the � rst two games of the Asia Cup. l

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Van Gaal open to Spurs approachLouis van Gaal has said he would consider joining Tottenham Hotspur once

his contract with the Dutch national team � nishes after this year’s World Cup in Brazil. The 62-year-old, who has coached Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona and Bay-ern Munich, was linked to the Premier League club when Andre Villas-Boas was sacked in December. Spurs eventually appointed youth development manager Tim Sherwood on an 18-month contract, but the Dutchman said he was still interested in the job. –Reuters

Pakistan o� ers Taliban cricket matchA top Pakistani minister provoked derision on social media Monday after he

suggested the Taliban could swap their guns for cricket bats and o� ered to host a match with the militants to revive stalled peace talks. Pakistan’s government entered into a formal dialogue with the Taliban earlier this month, but the pro-cess faltered after the militants executed 23 kidnapped soldiers. The military has retaliated with a series of air strikes in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan and are home to the Taliban’s top leadership, killing dozens. –AFP

Balotelli denies reported scu� esAC Milan striker Mario Balotelli on Sunday denied being involved in an alter-

cation with a photographer following media reports of an alleged assault outside a nightclub. Domestic news agency ANSA said Balotelli, who was ruled out of his side’s trip to Sampdoria on Sunday due to injury, had travelled to Liguria, on Italy’s north-west coast, to watch his brother play in a football match. The report said Balotelli later refused a photographer’s request for a photo when he showed up at a restaurant with his � ancee Fanny Neguesha and some friends. –AFP

Manchester United's Dutch striker Robin van Persie (R) and mid� elders Marouane Fellaini (C) and mid� elder Ryan Giggs (L) take part in a training session at their Carrington complex in Manchester, north west England, yesterday ahead of the UEFA Champions League football match against Olympiakos today AFP

Dortmund jet to Zenit with injury, form worriesn AFP, Saint Petersburg

Borussia Dortmund head to Zenit Saint Petersburg for Tuesday’s Champions League last 16, � rst-leg

clash on the back of a shock Bundesliga defeat and injury worries.

Last year’s Champions League � nal-ists Dortmund slumped to a shock 3-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Ham-burg on Saturday and lost defensive mid� elder Sven Bender for the next 10 weeks with an in� amed pelvis.

Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp has promised improvements in Saint Pe-tersburg. Zenit certainly have the squad to trouble Dortmund with the likes of Brazilian striker Hulk and ex-Arsenal attacking mid� elder Andrei Arshavin.

Zenit’s director of sport Dietmar Beiersdorf was at Hamburg’s Imtech Arena to witness Dortmund’s debacle.

Bender’s injury does not help Klopp, who is already without centre-back Neven Subotic and winger Jakub Blaszczykowski who both miss the rest of the season with torn knee ligaments.

Dortmund’s Germany defensive mid� elder Ilkay Gundogan has not played since August after su� ering from a back injury and virus. Mats Hummels did not train on Sunday and is struggling with an ankle injury.

Likewise, Poland striker Robert Le-wandowski missed training with ill-ness, but will � y to Russia.

Zenit quali� ed for the last 16 de-spite winning just one of their Group G matches, but Beiersdorf said Dort-mund will run out into a volatile atmo-sphere. l

Man United narrow focus for Olympiakos tripn AFP, London

With hopes of a top-four � nish in the Premier League fading, Manches-ter United approach Tues-day’s Champions League

last 16 � rst-leg match at Greek cham-pions Olympiakos desperate for a posi-tive result.

Not only does the competition rep-resent United’s last realistic hope of sil-verware this season, but David Moyes’s side may need to win the Champions League just to qualify for next season’s tournament.

United are currently 11 points be-low Liverpool, who occupy the fourth and � nal Champions League place, and with only 11 games of the season remaining, quali� cation via the league may already be beyond them.

United have won only four of their 11 matches since the turn of the year, but the Champions League provided a respite from their domestic woes dur-ing the European autumn.

The three-time continental champi-ons quali� ed comfortably as Group A winners, winning four and drawing two of their six matches and enjoying hand-some 4-2 and 5-0 victories over last year’s runners-up Bayer Leverkusen.

Nevertheless, with Arsenal and Manchester City having already lost their own last 16 � rst-leg matches, to

Bayern Munich and Barcelona respec-tively, the tournament � nal in Lisbon on May 24 remains a long way o� .

United warmed up for Tuesday’s game at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus by winning 2-0 at Crystal Pal-ace in the Premier League on Saturday, with Van Persie opening the scoring from the penalty spot.

Wayne Rooney doubled United’s lead to mark his 300th league appearance for the club with a goal and celebrate his new � ve-and-a-half-year contract, which is reportedly worth £300,000 ($500,000, 360,000 euros) a week.

United are unbeaten against Greek teams and Olympiakos have not reached the Champions League quar-ter-� nals since 1999, although they have won at home to Arsenal twice in the last two seasons.

The Greek giants can nonetheless take heart from their breathtaking do-mestic form, having won 24 and drawn two of their opening 26 league games and reached the semi-� nals in the Greek Cup.

With top scorer Kostas Mitroglou having left for Fulham last month, Ni-gerian forward Michael Olaitan is ex-pected to lead the line on Tuesday.

Olympiakos coach Michel, the for-mer Real Madrid mid� elder, believes that his side’s performance against OFI proves that they are ready for the chal-lenge of tackling United. l

Tevez gives Juve derby winn Reuters, Rome

Carlos Tevez scored a stun-ning goal as Serie A leaders Juventus beat Torino 1-0 on Sunday to continue an extraordinary dominance

of their neighbours.Torino, who have not scored in the

last 10 meetings with Juventus and have failed to beat their rivals since 1995, were furious at having a late penalty appeal turned down while the hosts notched their 13th straight home win in the league this season.

Sampdoria were also fuming after losing 2-0 at home to AC Milan and In-ter Milan coach Walter Mazzarri joined the chorus of discontent after his team were held 1-1 at home by lowly Cagliari.

Juve’s win kept them nine points clear of AS Roma, who won 1-0 at Bo-logna on Saturday, and on course for a third successive title.

Juve have 66 points with Roma on 57 and Napoli a further seven back in third.

Tevez scored the only goal on the half hour when the Argentine bril-liantly controlled Kwadwo Asamoah’s pass and � red a low shot into the net on the turn.

Torino were by no means outplayed and believed they should have had a penalty when Omar El Kaddouri ap-peared to be tripped by Andrea Pirlo 10 minutes from time. l

Atletico defeat leaves Real clearn Reuters, Madrid

Atletico Madrid’s La Liga title challenge took a nose-dive when they slumped to a shock 3-0 defeat at Osasu-na on Sunday, leaving Real

Madrid three points clear at the top.Champions Barcelona and Real were

held to draws at Osasuna’s El Sadar sta-

dium earlier in the season and Atletico fell behind in the sixth minute when Alvaro Cejudo arrived unmarked at the back post to volley a corner into the net.

An error by fullback Juanfran allowed Emiliano Armenteros space to score with a long-range drive in the 21st min-ute and Roberto Torres nodded a third goal three minutes before the break.

It was the � rst time Atletico conced-ed three goals in the � rst half since Ar-gentine coach Diego Simeone took over at the end of 2011.

Simeone left several regulars out of his starting lineup before bringing on playmakers Koke and Arda Turan and attacking mid� elder Raul Garcia in the second half.

Barca, chasing a � fth title in six years, and Atletico have 60 points with the Catalan giants ahead on goal di� erence. l

LA LIGA POINTS TABLETeam P W D L GD PTS1 Real Madrid 25 20 3 2 47 632 Barcelona 25 19 3 3 50 603 Atlético Madrid 25 19 3 3 40 604 Athletic 25 14 5 6 15 475 Real Sociedad 25 12 7 6 11 436 Villarreal 24 12 4 8 15 407 Valencia 25 10 5 10 2 358 Sevilla 25 9 8 8 2 359 Levante 25 8 9 8 -7 3310 Espanyol 24 9 5 10 -2 3211 Celta Vigo 25 8 6 11 -4 3012 Osasuna 25 8 5 12 -13 2913 Granada 25 8 3 14 -10 2714Elche 25 6 8 11 -15 2615 Getafe CF 25 7 5 13 -17 2616 Almería 25 7 5 13 -18 2617 Málaga 25 6 7 12 -11 2518 Valladolid 25 4 10 11 -16 2219 Rayo 25 6 2 17 -34 2020 Real Betis 25 3 5 17 -35 14

EPL POINTS TABLETeam P W D L GD PTS1 Chelsea 27 18 6 3 28 602 Arsenal 27 18 5 4 25 593 Man City 26 18 3 5 42 574 Liverpool 27 17 5 5 35 565 Tottenham 27 15 5 7 3 506Man United 27 13 6 8 12 457 Everton 26 12 9 5 10 458 Newcastle 27 12 4 11 -5 409 Southampton 27 10 9 8 6 3910 West Ham 27 8 7 12 -3 3111 Hull City 27 8 6 13 -2 3012 Swansea City 27 7 7 13 -4 2813 Aston Villa 27 7 7 13 -10 2814 Norwich City 27 7 7 13 -19 2815 Stoke City 27 6 9 12 -15 2716 Crystal Palace 26 8 2 16 -18 2617 West Brom 27 4 13 10 -8 2518 Sunderland 26 6 6 14 -16 2419 Cardi� City 27 5 7 15 -29 2220 Fulham 27 6 3 18 -32 21

Defeat will harm CL hopes: Sherwoodn Reuters, Norwich

Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 loss at Norwich City on Sunday was a major blow to their hopes of

Champions League soccer next season, manager Tim Sherwood said.

Sherwood refused, however, to blame Spurs’ midweek trip to Ukraine in the Europa League for the defeat.

Robert Snodgrass’s calm � nish early in the second half was the di� erence between the two sides, and despite a � urry of chances for Tottenham the result could have been worse had the Scot’s long-range free kick not hit the crossbar late on.

Spurs are � fth in the Premier League

standings, six points behind Liver-pool who occupy the � nal Champions League quali� cation spot after they defeated Swansea City 4-3 in a thrilling match at An� eld.

“That’s the � rst really major setback that I’ve had (since taking the job) and we need to be spirited and show what we’re made of,” Sherwood, who took over from Andre Villas-Boas in Decem-ber, told reporters.

Asked about the six-point gap to Liverpool, he said: “It looks big. It’s a real blow to us but we’ve got to bounce back and we need characters in the dressing room to be able to do that.”

Spurs have lost � ve of the nine matches they have played after a Europa League outing, the latest on Thursday

against Dnipropetrovsk, but he did not use it as an excuse for Sunday’s defeat.

“The result was very disappoint-ing,” he said. “The � rst half perfor-mance was disappointing, the second half wasn’t but too late and if you don’t take the chances which we clearly had you aren’t going to win many football matches unfortunately.

“We were stronger in the second pe-riod so you can’t use (tiredness) as an excuse. Second half we looked like we were the far better side.”

“We took a real blow early on in the second half going behind to a sloppy goal and then we started playing from there and created a few chances and unfortunately we couldn’t take them,” Sherwood added. l

Bayern win 14th in a rown Reuters

Runaway leaders Bayern Munich appeared to bare-ly break sweat in a 4-0 win at Hanover 96 to chalk up their 14th Bundesliga win

in a row on Sunday, leaving them a huge 19 points clear at the top.

The defending champions, unbeat-en in their last 47 league matches, look well-placed to beat last season’s record when they wrapped up the title with six matches to spare.

Thomas Mueller scored twice while Thiago Alcantara and Mario Mand-zukic helped themselves to one piece in an embarrassingly one-sided a� air watched in near silence by a demor-

alised 49,000 crowd.Bayern, who have 62 points from

a possible 66 and a goal di� erence of 52, went ahead with their � rst clearcut chance when Ra� nha broke free on the right and crossed for an unmarked Mueller to head in at the near post.

Nine minutes later, Bastian Sch-weinsteiger chipped a diagonal ball over the Hanover defence and Alcan-tara � red past Ron-Robert Zieler.

Mandzukic cleverly set up the third for Mueller in the 59th minute with a neat backheel and the Croatia forward headed the fourth himself from anoth-er Ra� nha cross seven minutes later.

Bayern kept a clean sheet for the sixth consecutive match in all compe-titions. l

Robben frustrates Schweinsteigern Reuters

Germany mid� elder Bastian Schwein-steiger was brie� y upset with Bayern Munich team mate Arjen Robben when the Dutch winger failed to pass to him during Sunday’s 4-0 win at Hanover 96.

“When I went o� I was upset Rob-ben didn’t give me the ball when I ran behind him,” Schweinsteiger told Sky Sports Deutschland, laughing o� the incident. “At this age I don’t run as much but I’m not the � rst not to get the ball when chasing Arjen.” l

Pardew compares Remy to Cruy� and Bergkampn Reuters

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew compared striker Loic Remy to Dutch greats Johan Cruy� and Dennis Bergkamp after his injury-time winner earned a much-needed 1-0 victory over Aston Villa on Sunday.

The 27-year-old, who is on loan from Queens Park Rangers, took his Premier League tally this season to 12 goals on his return from a three-match ban.

“Somebody just said to me the game seemed a little bit slower when he was on the ball and I think when you get a quality player that’s what they can do,” Pardew told reporters.

“Players like Cruy� and Bergkamp, they can slow the game down and he can do that. He’s going to be hot prop-erty, he’s going to get a lot of press to-morrow.”

“I was a little happier after Loic’s goal went in than I was before,” he add-ed. “It was a strange game and I was beginning to wonder.

“I think we’ve had a decent season. The recent bad run has put pressure on my sta� and my team. I don’t feel com-fortable with that, my sta� being under pressure,” said Pardew.

“You can be very resilient as a man-ager but I was desperate to get a result for my team and our fans who have had to be very patient. We’ve not been very good at home since beating Stoke on Boxing Day but the win will settle us down.” l

Porto su� er � rst home league defeat in � ve yearsn Reuters

Porto lost a league match at home for the � rst time in more than � ve years on Sunday when they were beaten 1-0 by Estoril at the usually impregnable Dragao Stadium.

A 78th-minute penalty won and converted by Evandro ended an in-credible 81-match run that stretched back to October 2008 when Porto lost 3-2 to Leixoes.

The Portuguese champions, who squandered a 2-0 lead when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Eintracht Frank-furt in the Europa League on Thurs-day, were jeered o� the � eld by furious fans and coach Paulo Fonseca said he would now ponder his future.

It is the � rst season in charge for Fonseca.

To add to Porto’s misery, defender Eliaquim Mangala was sent o� for the foul which caused the penalty. l

RESULTSRayo Vallecano 0 1 Sevilla Coke 57

Real Betis 0 2 Athletic Bilbao Muniain 34-pen, Guillermo 81

Valencia 2 1 GranadaAlcacer 63, Vezo 90 Piti 47

Osasuna 3 0 Atletico Madrid Cejudo 6, Armenteros 21,Torres 42

RESULTSJuventus 1 0 TorinoTevez 30

Lazio 3 2 SassuoloRadu 36, 83, Floccari 72, Klose 74 Floro Flores 79

Juventus' Argentine forward Carlos Tevez celebrates after scoring against Torino during the Italian Serie A match at Juventus Stadium in Turin on Sunday AFP

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

Premier Bank renews BCL tien Raihan Mahmood

The Premier Bank continued its involve-ment with the Bangladesh Champion-ship League, the second tier league of professional football circuit in the coun-try, for the third consecutive year. The tournament is scheduled to kick-o� at the Shahid Sipahi Mohammad Mostafa Kamal Stadium, Kamalapur tomorrow.

Premier Bank, one of the leading banks of the private sector contin-ued their sponsorship with a purse of Tk2.5m. Victoria Sporitng Club, Wari Club, Badda Jagoroni, Arambagh, Rah-matganj, Farashganj and Agrani Bank are the seven teams who will vie for the two promotional slots to the Bangla-desh Premier League while one will be relegated to the � rst division.

The three-phase league will see the champion team bag Tk500000 while the runners-up will be provided a purse of Tk300000. Bangladesh Football Fed-eration also plans to host some matches at the Manikganj stadium.

In a press conference held at the BFF House yesterday Abdus Salam

Murshedy, the senior vice president of BFF, lauded Premier Bank for the spon-sorship and said, “Premier Bank’s as-sistance will de� nitely add pace in the development process of the game in the country, we are thankful to them.”

Dewan Anwarul Latif, the DMD of the Premier Bank hoped football will proceed by meeting the demand of time

and Bangladesh will enjoy a better fu-ture in the football arena.

BFF general secretary Abu Naeem Shohag, executive committee member Harunur Rashid, professional league committee member Abdur Rahim, Pre-mier Bank o� cials Md Imtiazuddin and Syed Nawsher Ali were also present on the occasion. l

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 25, 2014 15

BFF picks � ve for the national award Bangladesh Football Federation nomi-nated � ve football personalities for the National Sports Award 2013 from their part in an Emergency Committee meeting at the BFF House yesterday. The names will be sent to the National Sports Council who will pick the winner. BFF selected Shamsul Haque Chow-dhury, the BFF executive committee member and football organiser, former national footballers Elias Hossain and Jewel Rana, organisers Fazlur Rahman Babul and Monjur Kader for the highest sports award of the country.

–RM

Nadal proves his form with masterful Rio winWorld number one Rafael Nadal shrugged o� the injury concerns that wrecked his Australian Open bid as he dismantled Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgo-polov 6-3, 7-6 to win the Rio Open on Sunday. The 13-time Grand Slam winner showed no evidence of the back injury that hampered him in Melbourne as he wrapped up his 48th ATP title against an opponent with no answer to the relentless pressure exerted by the Spanish clay-court legend. And by winning a 43rd career clay court title, the 27-year-old threw down a gauntlet to pretenders to his French Open crowd which he defends in Paris in May. Nadal went into the match with a 4-0 winning record against Dolgopolov with the Ukrainian never having even broken the world number one’s service. And the Spaniard was on top quickly in the � rst set, breaking Dolgopo-lov’s second service game to love as the Ukrainian made a succession of unforced errors. Dolgopolov could � nd no rhythm against Nadal’s trademark topspins on the Rio clay and made little inroads into the world number one’s service games as he raced into a 4-1 lead in less than 20 minutes.

–AFP

Red-hot Cilic downs Anderson for Delray crownCroatia’s Marin Cilic defeated former champion Kevin Anderson of South Af-rica in three sets on Sunday to win the ATP Delray Beach Open and notch his second title in three weeks. Cilic, seed-ed seventh, defeated fourth-seeded Anderson 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (7/9), 6-4 to notch his ATP Tour leading 18th match victory of the year. He added another title to the Zagreb trophy he claimed earlier this month. He also reached the � nal in Rotterdam last week. Cilic needed three hours and eight minutes to claim the victory, which was especially sweet after Saturday’s rain delay saw him start late and labor until the early hours to beat second-seeded John Isner in the semi-� nals. “It feels awesome, especially after waiting for a long time last night and � nishing after 1 am,” the 29th-ranked Cilic said. “Then, today to come back and win it, I’m really happy with this victory.” Cilic needed seven match points to snatch the title, � ring 16 aces and bene� ting from 12 double faults by Anderson. He converted four of his 14 break points and saved 10 of the 13 faced. After claiming the � rst set in a tie-break, Cilic was poised to raise the trophy soon after. However, he was broken while serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set, and dropped his � rst match point when Anderson belted a backhand winner cross-court a game later. Anderson would � ght back again in the ensuing tie-break, surviving a 4-1 de� cit and three more match points to level the match at a set apiece.

–AFP

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DAY’S WATCH

Moustache, you beauty! n Reazur Rahman Rohan

The moustache has a long and storied history in cricket with Australia leading the way. Merv Hughes, David Boon, Dennis Lille and a host of others are famous for their moustaches aside from their breathtaking performances on the � eld. In the modern era, one does not get to upper lip hairstyles as much as before, until last year.

It was the Indian Shikhar Dha-wan who made an incredible debut against Australia and continued to im-press with his each approach last year while Ravindra Jadeja, of course with a moustache, also played a vital role with the ball for the Indians.

After being said to be “not good enough” for the Australian team, Mitchell Johnson came back with a new face,and the new face had a mous-tache. Though Johnson initially grew a moustache to raise money for men’s health charity “Movember” last year, his comeback can be called as one of the greatest as he rattled the English batsmen during the Ashes to help his country regain the glory.

Cricketers have always tried out di� erent styles with their moustaches and beards. Be it Kevin Pietersen or Da-vid Warner or even Rahul Dravid, they have all tried it out at some point.

There are new members in the moustache club, as Afghanistan cap-tain Mohammad Nabi and Pakistan all-rounder Fawad Alam have also de-cided to fancy their chances with the Asia Cup starting today. To many the moustache had elevated their perfor-mance and though Nabi said it is “just the fashion,” maybe he too believes the success that comes along with the fashion.

During the 80s when Bangladesh rose as an international side, they had their own Lillees and Bothams. Dipu Roy Chowdhury, Samiur Rahman, Ashraful Haq, Doulat uz Zaman, You-suf Rahman along with few others car-ried the moustache with boldness.

Having experienced a nightmare of a time on home soil recently, some of the Bangladeshi players might consid-er going for the stylish look.

Who knows, it might turn the tables around! l Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi (R) and his teammates walk during their practice session at the SBNS yesterday MUMIT M

‘We want to show our talent to the world’n Reazur Rahman Rohan

Afghanistan will make their maiden Asia Cup appearance when they face defending champions of the tourna-ment Pakistan on Thursday. The team, known all over for their die hard ap-proach, did very well in the past two years and they can surely consider the Asia Cup as their reward.

Appearing for the � rst time and playing against some top teams in a tournament will be a tough task and Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi said they just want to stage their ability in front of the world.

“It’s a tough tournament and we are playing for the � rst time in Asia Cup. Our challenge is to prove how we can play against full members and show our talent to the world that Afghani-

stan is the best team among Associate members,” said Nabi during a press conference at their team hotel yester-day.

Afghanistan has been a talking point for most captains, especially from Bangladesh as both teams hold the capability of beating each other. The other day Mush� qur Rahim, dur-ing their press conference, did say that he was concerned about their game against the Afghans.

Nabi was very honest in admitting the praise and said, “They know how we play, that’s why they talk about us.It’sgood news that other team cap-tains are talking about Afghanistan team. We will try our best to play good cricket in this tournament.”

In the recent Dhaka Premier League, there were a few Afghanistan

players recruited by the clubs which certainly proves about their ability to play in foreign leagues. Nabi, among the others, played � ve matches for Mohammedan Sporting Club and scored 223 runs at an average of 44.6. His best score was in the form of a match winning 146 o� 90 balls against Prime Doleshwar on his Dhaka league debut.

“Yes I have played in BPL and the Dhaka Premier League. In both tour-naments I performed very well and I know the grounds and pitches in Ban-gladesh. It’s good for me and we will try our best to perform.

“Rahmat Shah, Asghar Stanikzai, Gulbadan Naib, Shahzad and Shapoor, maybe half of team played in Bangla-desh and this is good experience for them and also good for Afghanistan,”

said Nabi.The Afghans have been in Sri Lan-

ka for the last month for a condition-ing camp as part of their build up to the Asia Cup and the World T20. It is very much possible for them to pull an upset against the hosts and Nabi said though they are not targeting any team in particular but Shakib al Hasan miss-ing from the Bangladesh line-up will be an advantage.

“We will try our best against every team. There is no target. We will play good cricket and when time comes, we will win. I hear about Shakib al Hasan banned for three matches. This is a good chance as he is a key player for Bangladesh. We will take it as a priority and look forward to it,” said Nabi.

It doesn’t often happen that Af-ghanistan plays top ranked teams and

with very little experience against the Asian teams, Nabi hoped to give them a tough time and also look for a win when possible.

“It’s a very good feeling to play against big teams. We played against India and Pakistan in big events like World Cup and against Pakistan we played T20 and ODI in Sharjah. That was a very good experience at that time, may be they know how Afghani-stan plays and we hope to give them a tough time,” he said.

The 29-year-old was con� dent of his teammates and also indicated young-ster Najeeb Zadran as their rising star. “We have a new talent from U-19, Na-jeeb Zadran. A good talent and a young guy andhe already performed against Pakistan in T20.I hope he will perform here as well,” said the skipper. l

Walton Club and Inter Service Weightlifting starts tomorrow n Raihan Mahmood

The Walton Smartphone National Club Weightlifting Championship and the 1st Inter Service Weightlifting starts at the National Sports Council gymna-sium tomorrow.

The three-day meet will see the male and female weightlifters of 21 clubs across the country and the lifters of the seven services teams vie for 45 medals in 15 weight categories.

In a press conference held at the conference room of the Bangaband-

hu National Stadium yesterday Wing Commander (rtd) Mohiuddin Ahmed, the general secretary of weightlifting federation said the meet is virtually a quali� er for the lifters as four best lift-ers will be selected for the Common-wealth Games.

Walton additional director A.F.M. Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn handed over the sponsorship money of Tk250,000 to Mohiuddin. Federation o� cials Kazi Golam Quddus Nabi, Ra� quzzman, Mariam Mina and Mojibur Rahman were also present on the occasion. l

Airtel ‘Rising Stars’ � nalised n Raihan Mahmood

Airtel Bangladesh Limited completed the � nal selection of the Airtel Rising Stars second season at the event’s closing ceremony in BKSP. The top 12 players selected from 120 participants will travel to Manchester United for a training programme at the Old Tra� ord.

The selected � nal 12 young footballers are Md Mustajik Khan - BKSP, Savar, Dhaka, Md. Mahadud Hossain Fahim - BKSP -Savar, Dhaka, Md. Anik Hossain- Isdaeer Rabia Hossain High School Narayanganj, Md. Nayeem Islam- Shitolai Alim Madrasa, Rajshahi, Md. Emon Biswas-BKSP, Dinajpur, Mahbubur Rahman- Victoria High School, Moulivibazar, Srimangal, Md. Ha� zur Rahman- Badshah Faisal Islami Institute, Jessore, Md. Solaiman Haque - Chandrabaj Rashida Begum School and College, Jamalpur, Md. Mashiur Rahman- Chai Moria Bohumukhi High School, Gaibandha, Md.Khokon Miya- Chandrabaj Rashida Begum School and College, Jamalpur, Md. Sabbir Hossain-Torun Sangha Taka Para High School, Rajshahi, Md. Sohanur Rahman- BKSP, Khulna. l

Grameenphone rope in star trio n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Grameenphone, one of the leading mo-bile network providers of the country, declared three of the leading national cricketers of the country – Mush� qur Ra-him, Tamim Iqbal and Nasir Hossain as the brand ambassadors of the company. In a press conference held at a local hotel in Dhaka yesterday, chief corporate af-fairs o� cer of Grameenphone, Mahmud Hossain informed that the three cricket-ers will promote Grameenphone’s “in-ternet for all” campaign.

Grameenphone played the role of a pioneer in revolution of mobile phone use Bangladesh and now in order to take the country to next step, the company has decided to make internet reach all people in the country.

Bangladesh national captain Mush-� qur Rahim informed that he is proud of being part of Grameenphone that also

holds the track of contributing in Ban-gladesh cricket. “They (Grameenphone) have always been there for cricket as far as I remember and it is an honor for being able to be a part of the corporate house. I hope I will be able to contribute in their mission which I personally be-lieve will have a positive impact in the society,” said Mush� q.

While another ambassador, Tamim said that company are the leaders. “I think it was Grameenphone that intro-duced mobile phone to the common people and that every other network providers are followers to it,” said Ta-mim.

“Sea without water, city without peo-ple and Grameenphone without Bangla-desh – that’s how important they have become to the country,” Tamim added.

The third ambassador, Nasir Hossain failed to join the ceremony due to un-avoidable reasons. l

BFF SVP Abdus Salam Murshedy speaks in the press conference of the Premier Bank BCL at the BFF House yesterday COURTESY

High Commissioner of United Kingdom HE Robert, W Gibson, ABM Ruhul Azad, director (Training), BKSP, Shamima Sattar Mimu, deputy director (Training), BKSP, Bayzid Zubair Alam Nipu, technical director of Bangladesh Football Federation, Faridur Reza Sagor, managing director Channel i, Rajnish Kaul, chief operating o� cer, Airtel Bangladesh Limited, and Mir Nawbut Ali, head of marketing, pose with the Rising Stars at BKSP yesterday COURTESY

Walton additional director AFM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn hands over the sponsorship money to BWF general secretary Wing Com. Mohiuddin Ahmed yesterday COURTESY

National cricketers Tamim Iqbal and Mush� qur Rahim � anked by GP o� cials share a light moment during the brand ambassador signing ceremony yesterday COURTESY

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Let the buying begin

n Ahmed Zayeef

As this year’s Amar Ekushey Book Fair is nearing its end, book lovers seem to be in a rush to grab as many books as possible.

Like in previous days, yesterday also saw the fair packed with visitors. This time however, more readers were actually making purchases, as opposed to merely browsing through their favourite titles.

Many of the bibliophiles came to the fair solely to buy books, on the 24th day of the fair, after spending previous visits browsing through the book and price lists.

“Although I had visited the fair many

times during the � rst three weeks, I did not buy that many books. After going through the newspapers and collecting pamphlets of di� erent publishing houses, I made a list of my own. That is how I usually buy books,” said Natasha Abedin, faculty member of a private university.

Another visitor, Giasuddin Mahmud, was also seen checking through his own personal list. He said: “After going through a number of pamphlets distributed by publishers, I have made own personal list of 17 books. I am now simply going to buy them all.”

“It is di� cult to carry all the books in one go, so I’ve come to the fair multiple times, which makes it all the more fun for me,” he added.

Publishers opined that readers thronging the fair during the last days and making bigger purchases has become a common phenomenon.

Tofazzol Hossain, another reader who was visiting for the � fth time, was found

instructing two children carrying sacks of books.

He said: “I have bought books worth around Tk12,000 for a social library. I usually do it every year, after deciding on which books would match the interest of my readers. I prefer to buy books during the last days as it helps me to get all the information sorted on newly published books.”

A total of 98 new books arrived at the fair yesterday.

Syed Shamsul Haque’s “Chompaboti” and “Golposhomogro 4” from Charulipi Prokashon, Gaji Azizur Rahman’s “Shahitte Shomaj Bastobotar Dhara” from Merit Fair Prokashon, Binoy Mojumdar’s “Dhushor Jibonanondo” from Kobi Prokashoni are mention worthy.

A total of 38 new books were unveiled at Nazrul mancha.

A discussion titled “Bankim Chandra: Pinjorer Boyan” was held at the central stage where Professor Masuduzzaman presented the key note paper. l

38new

books published

AMAR EKUSHEY BOOK FAIR 2014

RAJIB DHAR

BJP strongly opposes LBA with Bangladeshn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The Bharatiya Janata Party has strongly opposed any move to settle border dis-putes with Bangladesh “hurriedly.”

“The BJP is � rmly opposed to any hurried border dispute settlement with Bangladesh and it must be a part of comprehensive solution of all issues, including the most important issue of in� ltration,” said a political resolution passed in a BJP national council meet-ing in New Delhi last month.

Bangladesh and India signed the land boundary agreement to resolve border disputes in 1974. Dhaka rati� ed the agreement the same year, but New Delhi is yet to ratify it.

After repeated attempts, Indian For-eign Minister Salman Khurshid placed the bill in Rajyasabha, the upper house of Indian parliament, last year – amid strong resistance from di� erent stake-holders – to amend the constitution to pave the way for the rati� cation.

In response to a question on BJP’s re-sistance on the issue at a press brie� ng last year, Salman said: “We are moving forward with full consultations and full involvement of all stakeholders and it will be of course my duty to ensure that it gets passed in the parliament with cooperation of all parties, including the main opposition, the BJP.”

The BJP resolution blamed that massive Bangladeshi in� ltration was the main reason behind recurring vio-lence in Assam.

“The BJP � rmly believes that Con-gress collusion in massive Bangladeshi in� ltration is the root cause of recur-ring violence in Assam.”

The party viewed that Assam problem should be treated as Indian versus for-eigner issue, not as Hindu versus Muslim.

“However, those Hindus who are forced to leave both Pakistan and Ban-gladesh because of religious persecu-tion must be given due safety and se-curity and refugee status.”

BJP prime minister candidate Norendra Modi at a meeting in Assam a few days ago reiterated the same view.

About the relationship with neigh-bours, the resolution said: “Today rela-tionship with practically all the neigh-bouring countries is at an all-time low. There has been a repeated incursion by China into our territory.”

BJP President Rajnath Singh at the

national council meeting alleged that China was trying to create an anti-In-dia atmosphere in the neighbourhood. “And it’s not just Pakistan that is under China’s in� uence, but anti-India ele-ments have become active in countries like Bhutan,” he said. He also alleged that Washington ignored New Delhi’s view on Bangladesh issue.

“The US has sought Pakistan’s views on Bangladesh while completely ignor-ing India’s interest. This is highly objec-tionable,” Rajnath said.

In an interview with the Hindu newspaper last December, Salman Khurshid said: “There were obviously some di� erences of perception [with

respect to Bangladesh] that I noticed last time I was there [Washington], par-ticularly in the dealing of the present government with some of their own internal institutions.”

Salman said: “While the US is at some distance from Bangladesh, we are right next to it. So, our understand-ing of the region and understanding of sentiments of the people in the region should be helpful in the positions they want to take.”

The BJP president at the council meeting congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on again forming the government. “[He] expects her to dis-play the same promptness in protect-ing minority communities and their places of worship that she showed in dealing with the extremist elements.”

However, BJP leader of the oppo-sition in Rajyasabha Arun Jaitly in a statement just after the January 5 elec-tion said: “India, which has thousands of kilometres of borders with Bangla-desh, would like to see a peaceful poll accompanied by continuation or trans-fer of power. It has not happened. We hope that the political process in Ban-gladesh stabilises and important po-litical parties are in a position to settle their domestic political issues.” l

ICT WAR CRIMES TRIAL

Campaigners unhappy at hints of dissolvingone tribunaln Udisa Islam

Those seeking justice against the alleged war criminals, along with the activists who have been vocal on the issue, have expressed their disappointment following hints from government o� cials on the possible dissolution of one of the International Crimes Tribunal.

Blaming the government of going slow with the trials by ignoring calls to increase the number of tribunals, ac-tivists also urged the government to be more serious about the ICT.

Earlier, Law Minister Anisul Huq, after assuming o� ce, had comment-ed that one tribunal would be enough if there were only a few cases to be tried; a comment which contrasts claims by the investigation agency that it had more than 500 complaints toinvestigate.

The minister, however, said he was not ready to talk about plans on lim-iting the number of tribunals, but en-sured that the trial of war criminals would continue until the last criminal was alive.

Sources concerned with the trial process said the government had plans to close down one tribunal after the trials of the top-level war criminals ended.

Speaking about the possible move of reducing the number of tribunals, Shahriar Kabir, leader of Ekattor-er Ghatok Dalal Nirmul Committee, said media reports on the potentialdissolution of a tribunal was disap-pointing, as it comes at a time when activists were raising voice for more tribunals to expedite the whole trial process.

He also criticised the government for not yet being able to pass any wit-ness protection law, adding that the government should end the trials of local-level collaborators soon, as only the top war crimes suspects have been tried so far.

Referring to the women victims of

the Liberation War, Shahriar Kabir said the government had no right to deprive any victim of their justice.

Prosecution sources said the ap-pointment of the new tribunal chair-man, M Enayetur Rahim, makes it apparent that the government has backtracked from its earlier decision of reducing the number of tribunals. The trial process may run even faster now, they added.

Prosecutor AKM Saiful Islam said any decision regarding dissolving the tribunal, when several war crimes cas-es were ongoing and nine more cases were being prepared to go to the tri-bunal, may hurt the sentiment of the people who have eagerly been waiting for justice.

Seeking anonymity, a top-level o� -cial of the related ministry also said the government had already backed from its previous plan.

Prosecution o� ce documents state that investigations are going onagainst Mohammad Nasir and Syed Hossain from Kishoreganj, Lahar Ali Shah from Rajshahi, Abdul Jabbarfrom Pirojpur, Sakhawat Hossain from Jessore, Ataur Rahman Nonifrom Netrakona, Ashraf Hossain from Jamalpur and Sirajul IslamMaster from Bagerhat.

They allegedly acted as collabo-rators with the Pakistani occupation forces and were involved in di� erent o� ences in 1971 at di� erent places in the country.

Ten persons were convicted for war crimes by the two tribunals last year. Of the convicts, seven were sentenced to death, while the others were awarded long-term imprisonments. In addition, the verdict against Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami is pend-ing at the ICT 1.

In both tribunals, war crime tri-als are proceeding against seven top suspects including Mir Kashem, ATM Azhar, Syed Kaiser, Mobarak hossain, Jahidul Islam alias Khokon razakar and Abdus Subhan. l

ROAD DEVELOPMENT

Government allows felling trees in Bhawal forest n Mohosinul Karim

The cabinet has given nod to felling 498 Shal trees in Bhawal reserve forest on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway for road development work. It is basi-cally the relaxation of a ban imposed on tree felling in the area.

The approval came at a regular meet-ing of the cabinet yesterday with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

In October 2012, the government gave permission to cut over 5,000 for development of the same highway.

After the meeting cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told media that the authorities would plant same number of trees in the area.

The cabinet secretary said the engi-neering core of Bangladesh Army was implementing half of the development project. l

Chhatra League posters convey wrong historyn Ahmed Zayeef

Ruling Awami League’s student front Chhatra League has recently published two posters that depicted history wrongly about the death of three of its leaders 1980s and 1990s.

The posters, depicting late student leaders Md Delwar Hossain and HM Ibrahim, could be seen on the walls of the Modhur Canteen, TSC, Arts build-ing , Social Science Faculty and Karjon Hall inside the campus.

The posters show they died on 28 February, 1948, during the movement for education policy. But on the same poster say it was 30th death anniversary.

In the other poster, tribute was paid to former Shohidul Haque Chunnu, who died on February 25, 1990 in a clash be-tween Chhatra League and Chhatra Dal. The poster wrongly claimed that BNP was in power at that time.

According to the Daily Ittefaq, Md Delwer and Ibrahim died on February 28, 1984 while they were attending a

procession near Fulbaria Bus Terminal.Shohidul Haque Chunnu died on 25

February, 1990 when General H M Er-shad was in the state-power.

Shahrukh Miraj, publicity secretary of central BCL agreed that wrong informa-tion in the posters triggered controversy. l

‘Government, not NGOs, should see to acid survivors’n Muktasree Chakma Sathi

The acid attack survivors want the gov-ernment come forward to e� ectively ensure their rehabilitation and inclu-sion in the society and take care of their mental health, according to a study.

It said the survivors’ reliance on the NGOs was comparatively low.

The research also found the acid survivors believed that only the gov-ernment could help them as they suf-fered a lifelong trauma which needed support.

The study � ndings were presented at an international conference titled “Setting standard for psychosocial and mental health service provision for vic-tims of acid and burn violence” organ-ised by the Acid Survivors Foundation at the Bangabandhu International Con-vention Centre.

At the programme, Professor Diana Harcourt of the University of the West of England revealed the � ndings of study.

Diana said although 16% population of Bangladesh su� ered mental health problem, the government only spent

0.05% of the total budget in this regard.“Psychosocial and mental health are

vital requiring proper care that must be provided for the su� erers along with other care.”

Pointing out that most acid survi-vors are faced with social stigma which works against their life and live-

lihood, Runa Liala, an acid survivor, said: “We are not allowed to go to any social programme like wedding cere-mony because everybody looks down upon us, not the acid throwers.”

“Despite being a victim of acid vi-olence we are treated as ominous, but not those who threw acid on us,” she

said. Runa Liala added that they (acid

survivors) could have lived in peace even with such social stigma if the per-petrators had been punished.

State Minister for Women and Chil-dren A� airs Ministry Meher Afroze Chumki admitted that the rate of pun-ishment and implementation of laws remained low despite several laws on violence against women including acid violence.

According to the government Acid Crime Case Monitoring Cell, more than 3,500 victims and a total of 1,812 cases have been � led accusing 4,682 people.

Participants from across the world and acid survivors – male, female and children – came up with their several recommendations regarding their in-clusion in the society and promotion of mental health.

The recommendations include en-suring exemplary punishment to the perpetrators, lifelong mental help to the survivors, inclusion of acid survi-vors in social activities and household work, providing the survivors with � -nancial help and rehabilitation. l

Three acid survivors attend a conference organised by Acid Survivors Foundation at BICC in the capital yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Dhaka and Pentagon discuss security issuesn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque held a meeting with o� cial from the Pentagon of the United States last week to discuss security-related issues.

“The foreign secretary of Bangla-desh visited Washington last week, where we had a very robust set of en-gagement for him across all of the var-ious agencies, including our ministry of defence, the Pentagon, and the state department,” US Deputy Assistant Sec-retary for South Asia Atul Keshap said at a press brie� ng yesterday.

When contacted, the foreign secre-tary said overarching security issues were discussed with the US o� cials.

“We discussed about the agenda of the third security dialogue with Penta-

gon o� cials,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.Anti-terrorism, natural disaster, cli-

mate change and other security issues were discussed during the meeting, he added.

Shahidul met Deputy Assistant Sec-retary of Defence for South and South-east Asia Vikram J Singh at the Pentagon.

Bangladesh and the US will have its third defence dialogue on April 22, while the third security dialogue will be held on April 16. The third partner-ship dialogue between the two coun-tries will be held in mid-June.

“All aspects, including defence and security issues, are discussed in part-nership dialogue which the foreign sec-retary leads from Bangladesh side and that’s why I wanted to meet all the US interlocutors,” he said.

The foreign secretary also discussed anti-terrorism issues with the State De-partment Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Securi-ty Rose Gottemoeller.

“Anti-terrorism issue is coordinated by the State Department and I had a meeting with the under secretary and discussed the issues,” Shahidul said.

Atul Keshap at a press brie� ng, said there are many di� erent areas in defence where Bangladesh and US cooperate.

“We have robust cooperation with the military here and we will continue to do so,” he said.

“It is dedicated very much to work-ing together in ways that are to our mutual bene� t and particularly for the bene� t of our people,” he added. l

The BJP resolution blamed that massive Bangladeshi in� ltration was the main reason behind recurring violence in Assam

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

Continue to the Business section...

Business

www.dhakatribune.com/business TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014

B3 Bajaj to launch four-wheel vehiclebut it’s not a car

B4 Nokia succumbs toAndroid appeal in low-cost phone battle

Start setting up CETP in a weekAmu asks agencies at tannery relocation meeting

n Abu Bakar Siddique

The government has directed the relat-ed agencies, including the contractor � rm, to begin work within a week on setting up the central e� uent treat-ment plant (CETP) at the Savar leather estate to ensure the relocation of the much-talked tannery industries.

“Nobody will be spared if dilly-dal-ly is noticed in complying the order,” Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu told a meeting on tannery relocation at the ministry yesterday.

He urged the tanners to gear up ac-tivities for relocating the factories from Hazaribagh in the city to its outskirt Sa-var, some 15-kilometer away from the existing site.

Regarding the delay of setting up the CETP at the leather zone, Ban-gladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder said they would approve the design by next two days which was a major concern of the contractor com-pany JLEPCL-DCL, a Chinese venture.

A total of 82 factory owners submit-ted their layout plan and of them, 35 received approval so far.

The meeting also called upon the tanners to start their factory reloca-tion in line with the priority list. The tanners were assured of releasing the

allocated fund of Tk250 crore as com-pensation after starting the relocation.

After remaining suspended for a decade due to disagreements between the authorities and tannery owners over bearing the cost of the tannery relocation, the BSCIC, Bangladesh Tan-ners Association (BTA) and Bangladesh Finished Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association (BFLGFEA) re-cently signed an agreement to expedite the work.

The tanners said they would start factory relocation works within one month. Of them, primarily 25% of the total factories will be shifted and the rest will shifted gradually.

Owing to the long delay, the tannery relocation cost now doubled to stand at Tk1,079 crore, a sharp increase from the � rst revised project proposal worth more than Tk550 crore taken in Octo-ber 2007.

The government, which initiated the tannery relocation move in 2003, deviated from its original plan and im-posed the relocation expense on the owners under a loan agreement over 15 years, after the CETP is installed.

The government signed an agree-ment with the CETP provider company in 2012 which was supposed to � nish the work by September 17 of 2013 and

B3 COLUMN 5

Expo on Fire Safety concludesn Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

International Trade Expo on Building and Fire Safety concluded yesterday in the city with a positive note as a huge number of apparel makers thronged the fair on the last day to learn more about the latest � re safety technologies and their usages.

The two-day show was organised by C&A Foundation in association with BGMEA, Bangladesh Knitwear Manu-facturers and Exporters Association, the Alliance and Accord for Bangladesh Workers’ Safety and International Fi-nance Corporation.

A total of 52 stalls displayed prod-ucts including � re and electrical safety at the show, � rst of its kind in the coun-try, aimed at making RMG factory own-ers aware about the latest � re, building and electrical safety equipments.

“After visiting the expo, a large num-ber of factory owners have shown their keen interest to install the latest � re safety equipments at their factories,” Md. Khausarul Hakim, Managing Direc-tor of Bangladesh Techno Rise Limited, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“However, most of the potential vis-itors wanted to know about the quality of the latest products as well as their certi� cation.”

A visitor Sadek Ahmed said, “It will be useful for the RMG owners if they can install the latest � re safety equipments at their factories as the exhibitors have not only exhibited the products but also explained the bene� ts of those products.”

“Although setting of those type machineries will costs a bit more but it would be really essential for every factory to ensure full-proof � re safety to workers and properties,” he added.

In recent past, the country’s apparel B3 COLUMN 5

Mobile World Congress calls for bringing all services under one platformn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

from Barcelona, Spain

The GSMA Mobile World Congress, the biggest annual telecom event of the globe, kicked o� in Barcelona, Spain yesterday with a call for bringing the service and the telecommunication sector under a same platform for the sake of their mutual interest.

“The collaboration of the service and the communication sectors will be the key for the overall advancement in the coming days, which the indus-try people should put their e� ort for,” said aid GSMA Chairman Jon Fredrik Baksaas while inaugurating the GSMA Mobile Congress 2014.

“Billions of people are now availing the internet facilities across the world and the number is increasing exponen-tially.

At this point, we need to join hands together to create an atmosphere con-genial for harmonising the service and the communication sectors,” said Baksas, who is also the Presidnet of Telenor, parent company of the Ban-gladesh’s leading mobile operator Grameenphone.

“Collaboration is required between the mobile operators, handsets pro-viders, system providers and di� erent service providers in the entire eco-sys-tem that will drive us for reaching our common goal.”

“80,000 participants are attending

in the GSMA’14, which proves that the industry has the hunger for further ad-vancement,’’ he added.

Earlier, mobile congress organisers in-formed that a world-class thought-lead-ership conference featuring visionary keynotes and panel discussions will also take place during the event.

Addressing the opening ceremony, the GSMA Director General Anne Bouverot said, “The mobile companies, vendors and other businesses across the globe are attending the event, which will help them in networking in the coming days.”

CEO of Etisalat Ahmad Abdul Karim Julfar, said, “Voice service of our network is currently holding the � fth position while internet, entertainments

dominate the other areas.’’“But, voice is dying day by day,’’

said Abdul Karim sharing a data which showed that an user with a Smart-phone uses data of 25 minutes roughly every day against the voice uses of only 12 minutes.

Daniel Hajj, chief executive o� cer of America Movil, a leading mobile oper-ator in South America, has opined that it is a must to have a proper eco-system to deliver proper services to the cus-tomers.

Panelists of the session said, face-book can o� er free services but it would be harmful for them if facebook and Whatsapp jointly o� ered such a free service.

Recently facebook authority has bought whatsapp at a cost of US$19bn.

Both Mark Zuckerburg, the founder and CEO of Facebook and WhatsApp boss are participating the event.

Telecommunication and ICT min-ister Abdul Latif Siddique is leading a seven-member delegation from Ban-gladesh to the annual gala event.

Among others, the delegation in-cludes Post and Telecommunication di-vision secretary Md Abubakar Siddique, ICT division secretary Md Nazrul Islam Khan and Bangladesh Telecommuni-cation Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose.

Nazrul Islam Khan and Sunil Kanti Bose will participate at two di� erent sessions as panelists. l

HSBC’s global head of trade and receivables � nance visits Bangladeshn Tribune Business Desk

James Emmett, global head of trade and receivables � nance in HSBC, is visiting Bangladesh from February 24 to 27.

During his stay, James will meet his colleagues in the country, a number of key HSBC clients and stakeholders.

James is responsible for HSBC’s global trade and receivables � nance business, which provides customers, from SMEs to multinationals, with the � nancing and risk mitigation solutions to meet their international and domes-tic trade requirements.

These encompass products, which � -nance the supply chain end-to-end, from raw materials – to manufacturing and

shipment – to discounting and collecting invoices, across more than 60 countries.

James is focused on ensuring that HSBC’s trade and receivables experts work with colleagues across the world, to help customers to make the most of opportunities across both established and emerging trade corridors. l

Freight forwarders allowed to open FC accountn Tribune Report

Shipping lines, air lines and multi-modal transport operators licenced as freight forwarders by customs au-thorities can now open and maintain foreign currency accounts to facilitate their payments related to transporta-tion of cargo to and from Bangladesh.

The accounts can be opened in US dollar or other freely convertible curren-cies with the authorised dealer banks in Bangladesh, in which their receipts in foreign currency against their handling of FOB (freight on board) export cargos from Bangladesh to be credited.

Funds from these accounts will be usable in foreign currency for payments abroad towards costs and charges relating to their handling of FOB imports into Bangladesh, according to a circular Bangladesh Bank issued yesterday. The new decision takes immediate e� ect.

For FOB imports the AD banks may, at request of their importer clients, make payments of freight charges in Taka or in equivalent foreign exchange to shipping lines, air lines and eligible licensed freight forwarders out of the total value of the LCAF issued for the import covering costs of goods and freight.

The receipts in foreign exchange will be used through the foreign cur-rency accounts maintained by the

B3 COLUMN 5

Campaign launched to raise $40m for Rana Plaza victims n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

An international campaign has been launched to raise $40m for the Rana Plaza victims by April 24 when � rst anniversary of the catastrophe will be observed.

The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) along with trade unions and workers – both local and international – has urged to donate the amount to the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund.

In a statement yesterday, the CCC urged major international brands “to make signi� cant contributions” so payments could begin to the victims.

It particularly mentioned the names of Benetton, KiK and Children’s Place who all had orders at one of the � ve

factories in Rana Plaza at the time of or just before the collapse.

According to the global union, $40m is required to fairly compensate the in-jured and the families of the workers killed in the incident for medical ex-penses and loss of their incomes.

To date, the clothing brands El Corte Ingles, Mascot, Mango, Inditex and Loblaw have all publicly committed to the Donor Trust Fund, CCC said.

The campaign comes just two months before the � rst anniversary of the catastrophic collapse of Rana Plaza, which killed over 1,100 people and in-jured over 2,500.

The Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund which is collecting voluntary dona-tions on behalf of the Rana Plaza Ar-

rangement is overseen by the Interna-tional Labour Organisation (ILO).

The fund is open to all companies, donors and individuals who wish to express their solidarity and compassion.

Compensation e� orts to date have been completely haphazard, unequal, unpredictable and non-transparent, and have left large groups of victims with nothing.

The Arrangement has set up the entire operational structure, which will put an end to this unpredictabili-ty quickly and completely, said Ineke Zeldenrust of CCC.

“All that is needed is for companies to pay up and we encourage the entire industry to make generous contribu-

tions,” Zeldenrust said.Hameeda Hossein of Bangladesh

Worker’s Safety Forum said: “Now is the time for all of us to act and ensure $40m is donated before April 24, 2014.”

Roy Ramesh Chandra, secretary general of IndustriALL Bangladesh Council, labelled the e� ort as “unprec-edented” and said it allowed brands, government, employers’ organisations and unions to work together for the Rana Plaza victims.

“Ten months after the worst indus-trial disaster to hit the garment indus-try, there can be no further excuses. Brands can show that they can be part of the solution if they pay up now,” Roy said. l

Commerce ministry left out from BIMSTEC team n Asif Showkat Kallol

Representation from the Ministry of Commerce to the third BIMSTEC Sum-mit early next month has been ignored – even Minister Tofail Ahmed is not aware about the disappointment.

A high o� cial of the ministry ex-pressed surprise at the decision that they have been left out from a big 40-member delegation, expected to be led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to the summit scheduled to be held in the Myanmar Capital city of Nay Pyi Taw during March 1-4.

The minister inquired two days ago about the reason why the ministry has been excluded from the activities of the seven-nation Bay of Bengal Initia-tive for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) with trade and commerce having ma-jor stake, said the o� cial, requesting anonymity.

An inter-ministerial meeting held last week at the foreign ministry dis-cussed the impediments to the way of making the next BIMSTEC summit a success, a senior o� cial at the foreign ministry said.

State Minister for Foreign A� airs Shahriar Alam presided over the meeting that, however, failed to take any decision ahead of the summit, other than stocktaking of progress and failures of BIMSTEC after it was launched in 1997.

Meeting sources said there is no prog-ress on cooperation in technology, ener-gy, transportation and communication, tourism, � sheries, agriculture and cul-ture since its last meeting in 2011.

O� cials at the commerce ministry said the summit is highly signi� cant for the country as it would take de-cision on holding the 20th meeting of the trade negotiation committee, which is also essential for making prog-ress on signing trade related agree-ments.

The trade negotiation committee meeting is expected to sign agreements on trade in goods of the BIMSTEC free trade area, protocol to amend the framework agreement on the BIMSTEC free trade area, agreement on dispute settlement procedures and mechanism of the framework agreement on BIMSTEC free trade area and agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters for BIMSTEC free trade area.

Both Bangladesh and India are the members of BIMSTEC. The other mem-bers are Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.

A row between Dhaka and Colombo over hosting the secretariat of BIMS-TEC held back the ministerial meeting and stalled the process of endorsing the draft agreements, sources in the commerce ministry said.

Sri Lanka, one of the founding members of the group, has been show-ing zero interest over going ahead with the four negotiated agreements as the country was denied to host the BIMS-TEC secretariat at the second summit of the block in 2008.

The summit approved Dhaka to host the secretariat that resulted in the non-cooperation from Colombo to forge ahead with trade and economic cooperation, o� cials said. l

BUILDING AND FIRE SAFETY EXPO SURVEY

42% participants view standard good, but hard to implementn Tribune Report

More than 42% participants of a building and � re safety show viewed the stan-dards exhibited were good, but hard to implement, according to a survey that also found 35.5% think the standards should be implemented from now.

Around 11%, however, opined that the standards are too stringent to im-

plement, said the survey conducted on 467 participants of the two-day show concluded in Dhaka yesterday.

The organisers of the international trade expo for building and � re safe-ty conducted the survey among the participants – 64% of them were from factory representatives, 18.1% brands, 4.7% consultants and 2.8% from NGOs and unions.

Bangladesh Garment Manufactur-ers and Exporters Association (BG-MEA) and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety in cooperation with the Accord, IFC, C &A Foundation and El-evate jointly organised the � rst ever expo of its kind.

Untrained management and super-visors, wrong attitude of management

B3 COLUMN 5

A � gure dressed as � re � ghter stands while a man looks on at a stall in the � re and bilding safety fair in Dhaka yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

'The collaboration of the service and the communication sectors will be the key for the overall advancement in the coming days, which the industry people should put their e� ort for'

ANALYSTCurrently, market has been tightly trading between a strong support and resistance which is signaled by a sideways movement of index

B2 Stock Tuesday, February 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks back to black with higher turnovern Tribune Report

Stocks closed higher yesterday, af-ter a day of pro� t-booking, driven by telecommunications, � nancials and mutual funds.

The benchmark DSEX index gained 24 points or 0.6% to end at 4,751. Shariah DSES index rose 6 points or 0.7% to 991.The blue-chip comprising DS30 index ended at 1,686 with a rise of 19 points or 1%.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, soared 78 points to close at 9,351.

Participation in trading improved as the total market turnover stood at Tk527 crore, which was 25% higher over the previous session.

“Currently, market has been tightly trading between a strong support and resistance which is signaled by a sideways movement of index,” said Lanka Bangla Secu-rities in its market analysis.

Rise in market turnover indi-cates that investors are herding on the DSE making higher turnover value, it said.

Financial stocks and mutual funds were mostly in buyers’ inter-est. All other sectors closed positive except power and cement which ended � at.

Telecommunication was the market mover as the sector post-

ed the highest gain of 2.3%, led by heavy weight Grameenphone.

Among the major sectors, phar-maceuticals, engineering, � nancial institutions were the best perform-ers.

IDLC Investment said having a correction in previous session, bargain hunters snuck in, pushing market back on track.

Volatility remained vigilant, es-pecially in micro cap and large cap scrips, it said.

It said 32 scrips posted more than 4% movements, demonstrating scrip-wise swings and surge in fresh funds pulled up turnover above Tk500 crore after six sessions.

Zenith Investment said buyers seem to be back in control, after previous session’s shallow pullback of the index.

“The market continues acting well with high turnover volume. Despite some mixed performance in the middle of the trading day, the buying pressure from traders weighed heavily which ultimately lifted the sectors.”

Olympic Industries was the most traded stocks worth Tk37 crore, fol-lowed by Square Pharmaceuticals, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Lanka Bangla Finance, Singer BD, Generation Next and Meghan Pe-troleum. l

News from trade server RELIANCINS: The Board of Directors has recommended 15% cash dividend and 15% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 30.03.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: La-Vita Hall, Lake Shore Hotel, House # 46, Road # 41, Gulshan-2, Dhaka-1212. Record date: 05.03.2014. The Company has also report-ed net pro� t after tax of Tk. 277.06 million, EPS of Tk. 5.33, NAV per share of Tk. 64.89 and NOCFPS of Tk. 5.04 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

TRUSTBANK: The Company has further in-formed that due to unavoidable circumstanc-es, the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will now be held on February 25, 2014 at 8:00 PM instead of February 24, 2014 to consider, among others, audited � nancial statements of the Company for the year ended on December 31, 2013.LANKABAFIN: With reference to their ear-

lier news (disseminated by DSE on February 17, 2014) regarding issuance of Zero Coupon Bond of Tk. 3,000.00 million, the Company has further informed that the 7th EGM of the Company will be held on March 31, 2014 at 10:00 AM at Spectra Convention Center, House # 19, Road # 07, Gulshan-1, Dha-ka-1212. Record date for EGM: 06.03.2014.

Board of Directors’ Meeting: SINOBAN-GLA on February 25, 2014 at 3:00 PM. IS-LAMIBANK on March 22, 2014 at 3:00 PM. ALARABANK on February 27, 2014 at 3:00 PM. SINOBANGLA on February 25, 2014 at 3:00 PM. ISLAMIBANK on March 22, 2014 at 3:00 PM. ALARABANK on February 27, 2014 at 3:00 PM. BSRMSTEEL on February 25, 2014 at 5:00 PM. UCBL on February 27, 2014 at 3:00 PM.

From BIASL Desk: Price slides after declaration: Despite

36% increase of EPS and 5% increased stock dividend, price of Relience Insurance fall by 1.36% yesterday after such declara-tion. 15% Cash and 15% Stock Dividend was declared for the year 2013. Eps was taka 5.33 and NAV per share was taka 64.89. Yesterday’s closing price was taka 79.60, PE ratio 14.93 whereas PE of General Insurance sector at DSEwas 18.59.

RIGHT SHARE: ARAMITCEM: Subscription 23.03.2014 to 17.04.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 09.01.2014. RUPALILIFE- Subscription 06.04.2014 to 05.05.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 16.01.2014. BRACBANK: Subscription 20.04.2014 to 15.05.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 10.02.2014. GENNEXT: Subscription 18.03.2014 to 09.04.2014, Record date: 25.02.2014.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Kay & Que (BD) -Z -9.05 -9.30 18.05 18.10 18.10 18.00 0.018 -0.89 -veLafargeS Cement-Z -5.11 -4.38 39.33 39.00 41.10 38.60 7.590 1.63 24.1Rupali Life Insur.-A -4.29 -4.29 100.50 100.50 100.50 100.50 0.050 5.33 18.9Rahima Food -Z -3.76 -0.45 66.20 64.00 68.50 64.00 0.166 -1.00 -veI P D C -A -3.64 -3.64 21.20 21.20 21.30 21.10 0.170 0.91 23.3Northern G Insur-A -3.53 -3.65 49.14 49.20 49.50 48.30 0.123 3.04 16.2AFC AgroBiotech-N -3.18 -4.32 67.59 67.00 69.80 66.50 12.032 1.53 44.2Samata LeatheR -Z -2.95 -2.95 23.00 23.00 23.00 23.00 0.023 -0.04 -veIFIL Islamic M.F.1-A -2.94 -4.18 6.65 6.60 6.80 6.60 0.123 0.88 7.6S. Alam CR Steel -A -2.74 -1.87 39.35 39.00 39.70 39.00 0.944 1.16 33.9

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

5th ICB M F-A -6.21 -6.61 175.10 175.10 175.10 175.10 0.070 21.32 8.2LafargeS Cement-Z -5.81 -4.91 39.35 38.90 41.50 38.50 88.862 1.63 24.1Aziz PipesZ -5.12 -5.70 20.52 20.40 21.60 20.10 0.196 0.59 34.8Rahima Food -Z -4.44 -1.62 66.72 64.60 69.40 63.00 6.438 -1.00 -veSinobangla Indu.-A -3.75 -3.62 28.51 28.20 29.40 28.00 6.985 0.64 44.5Kohinoor Chem -A -3.56 -3.41 313.86 314.00 320.00 305.00 1.275 7.88 39.8Phoenix Fin. 1st MF-A -3.23 -1.13 6.14 6.00 6.30 6.00 1.056 0.60 10.2H.R. Textile -A -3.10 -3.31 34.78 34.40 36.20 34.40 5.287 1.56 22.3AFC AgroBiotech-N -2.90 -4.31 67.71 67.00 69.50 66.10 72.378 1.53 44.3Peoples Insur -A -2.80 -2.01 35.08 34.70 36.00 33.00 2.214 2.20 15.9

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

BSC-A 81,405 49.65 10.51 628.50 7.44 585.00 628.80 573.00 609.96BD Submarine Cable-A 186,155 40.44 8.56 219.70 2.66 214.00 221.00 211.50 217.25Beach Hatchery -A 653,056 19.28 4.08 30.10 8.27 27.80 30.30 27.60 29.52UCBL - A 615,455 17.36 3.68 28.40 1.43 28.00 29.00 26.00 28.21LankaBangla Fin. -A 196,500 14.34 3.04 73.60 2.79 71.60 74.30 71.60 72.98G Next Fashions-A 444,720 13.24 2.80 29.60 -1.33 30.00 30.20 29.30 29.78Grameenphone-A 61,800 12.75 2.70 207.30 2.37 202.50 208.00 203.00 206.24Prime Finance-A 399,484 12.29 2.60 31.00 6.90 29.00 31.30 29.50 30.77AFC AgroBiotech-N 178,000 12.03 2.55 67.00 -3.18 69.20 69.80 66.50 67.59Square Pharma -A 45,247 11.70 2.48 263.30 3.13 255.30 264.20 253.00 258.65IDLC Finance -A 122,577 10.08 2.13 82.30 0.24 82.10 84.40 80.30 82.19Olympic Ind. -A 45,635 9.61 2.04 213.40 4.00 205.20 215.00 205.00 210.59Singer BD -A 37,162 8.81 1.87 239.80 0.33 239.00 240.00 233.70 237.04Appollo Ispat CL -N 280,800 8.79 1.86 31.20 -1.27 31.60 31.90 31.10 31.31LafargeS Cement-Z 193,000 7.59 1.61 39.00 -5.11 41.10 41.10 38.60 39.33aamra technologies-A 140,125 5.59 1.18 40.00 0.00 40.00 40.50 36.00 39.90GPH Ispat Ltd-A 94,560 5.23 1.11 56.80 7.37 52.90 57.40 54.00 55.35UNITED AIR-A 325,860 5.09 1.08 15.60 -0.64 15.70 15.80 14.50 15.61Padma Oil Co. -A 15,400 5.06 1.07 331.40 0.98 328.20 333.00 326.00 328.80Meghna Petroleum -A 17,060 4.81 1.02 282.00 0.79 279.80 283.00 279.10 281.71

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Square Pharma -A 1,434,683 372.17 7.06 263.10 3.18 255.00 265.00 235.00 259.41Olympic Ind. -A 1,772,393 371.83 7.05 213.70 4.19 205.10 214.90 188.00 209.79BSC-A 395,215 240.19 4.55 627.50 7.45 584.00 627.75 570.00 607.73BD Submarine Cable-A 851,789 183.88 3.49 219.70 2.90 213.50 229.00 196.00 215.87LankaBangla Fin. -A 2,277,502 166.02 3.15 73.90 3.21 71.60 74.60 65.00 72.90Singer BD -A 643,934 152.65 2.89 239.60 1.14 236.90 240.40 224.00 237.06 Prime Bank-A 6,197,094 151.84 2.88 24.60 0.82 24.40 24.70 22.00 24.50G Next Fashions-A 5,074,860 151.10 2.87 29.60 -1.33 30.00 30.30 27.00 29.77Meghna Petroleum -A 488,566 137.66 2.61 282.20 0.89 279.70 285.00 270.00 281.75IDLC Finance -A 1,403,590 113.67 2.16 80.80 0.25 80.60 83.70 73.00 80.98Mithun Knitting -A 1,232,061 111.03 2.11 92.60 9.59 84.50 92.90 78.00 90.11Grameenphone-A 462,200 95.40 1.81 207.90 2.21 203.40 208.50 203.80 206.41LafargeS Cement-Z 2,258,000 88.86 1.69 38.90 -5.81 41.30 41.50 38.50 39.35Jamuna Oil -A 351,978 80.97 1.54 231.10 0.87 229.10 231.90 215.00 230.05AFC AgroBiotech-N 1,069,000 72.38 1.37 67.00 -2.90 69.00 69.50 66.10 67.71Prime Finance-A 2,305,851 70.75 1.34 30.90 7.67 28.70 31.10 27.00 30.68GPH Ispat Ltd-A 1,235,430 68.39 1.30 56.20 6.44 52.80 56.60 47.60 55.36Delta Life Insu. -A 222,800 59.46 1.13 266.30 0.11 266.00 268.80 265.50 266.89Beach Hatchery -A 1,915,450 56.81 1.08 30.30 9.39 27.70 30.40 25.00 29.66Active Fine Chem.-A 570,661 53.01 1.01 93.00 -0.43 93.40 94.00 85.00 92.88

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Eastern Cables-Z 9.96 9.94 124.66 124.70 124.70 123.00 0.748 1.40 89.0Mithun Knitting -A 9.43 7.51 91.17 92.80 93.20 85.40 4.537 2.42 37.7Popular Life Insu. -A 8.74 8.74 250.10 250.10 250.10 250.10 0.125 17.00 14.7Beach Hatchery -A 8.27 4.50 29.52 30.10 30.30 27.60 19.279 0.79 37.4BSC-A 7.44 5.09 609.96 628.50 628.80 573.00 49.654 24.00 25.4GPH Ispat Ltd-A 7.37 4.57 55.35 56.80 57.40 54.00 5.234 2.42 22.9Prime Finance-A 6.90 6.07 30.77 31.00 31.30 29.50 12.292 0.75 41.0ACI ZERO Bond-A 4.85 4.88 930.13 930.00 935.00 920.50 0.007 0.00 -Bay Leasing.-A 4.84 2.82 38.65 39.00 39.00 38.00 1.433 1.56 24.8Miracle Industries -B 4.63 2.89 22.42 22.60 23.10 22.00 0.649 0.22 101.9

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Al-Haj Textile -A 9.91 11.18 109.77 110.90 110.90 91.00 18.058 2.06 53.3Mithun Knitting -A 9.59 7.25 90.11 92.60 92.90 78.00 111.027 2.42 37.2Beach Hatchery -A 9.39 5.03 29.66 30.30 30.40 25.00 56.811 0.79 37.5Eastern Cables-Z 8.52 8.46 123.99 124.80 126.20 108.00 5.920 1.40 88.6Prime Finance-A 7.67 5.94 30.68 30.90 31.10 27.00 70.748 0.75 40.9BSC-A 7.45 4.69 607.73 627.50 627.75 570.00 240.185 24.00 25.3Eastern Lubricants -A 7.22 4.83 347.00 354.90 356.20 339.90 1.388 6.02 57.6GPH Ispat Ltd-A 6.44 4.20 55.36 56.20 56.60 47.60 68.393 2.42 22.9Samorita Hospital -A 6.16 3.79 93.67 94.80 95.00 88.00 10.132 2.74 34.2Miracle Industries -B 6.05 2.41 22.49 22.80 23.00 20.00 5.039 0.22 102.2

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 508.57 9.64 51.59 10.92 560.16 9.75NBFI 502.02 9.52 54.12 11.46 556.14 9.68Investment 121.20 2.30 6.39 1.35 127.59 2.22Engineering 547.22 10.38 42.16 8.93 589.37 10.26Food & Allied 573.28 10.87 38.83 8.22 612.11 10.65Fuel & Power 474.42 9.00 32.47 6.87 506.89 8.82Jute 9.37 0.18 0.00 9.37 0.16Textile 565.07 10.71 42.94 9.09 608.01 10.58Pharma & Chemical 696.88 13.21 41.07 8.70 737.95 12.84Paper & Packaging 0.77 0.01 0.13 0.03 0.90 0.02Service 30.56 0.58 1.88 0.40 32.44 0.56Leather 74.96 1.42 7.46 1.58 82.43 1.43Ceramic 15.31 0.29 3.83 0.81 19.14 0.33Cement 185.13 3.51 13.58 2.87 198.70 3.46Information Technology 42.05 0.80 6.67 1.41 48.72 0.85General Insurance 77.37 1.47 2.67 0.56 80.03 1.39Life Insurance 208.39 3.95 7.51 1.59 215.90 3.76Telecom 279.28 5.30 53.19 11.26 332.47 5.79Travel & Leisure 51.56 0.98 6.24 1.32 57.80 1.01Miscellaneous 309.86 5.88 59.51 12.60 369.37 6.43Debenture 0.39 0.01 0.03 0.01 0.42 0.01

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4751.58408 (+) 0.51% ▲

DSE Shariah Index : 991.75068 (+) 0.67% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1686.29033 (+) 1.14% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 14733.1814 (+) 0.50% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 12418.4574 (+) 0.66% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 9333.5304 (+) 0.65% ▲

DSE key features February 24, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

5,273.63

Turnover (Volume)

97,593,878

Number of Contract 112,437

Traded Issues 292

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

117

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

169

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,302.68

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.91

CSE key features February 24, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 472.26

Turnover (Volume) 10,193,023

Number of Contract 18,013

Traded Issues 321

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

102

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

125

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,197.17

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.63

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

Bajaj to launch four-wheel vehicle but it’s not a carn Reuters, Mumbai

It’s got four wheels and seatbelts, but Bajaj Auto, the creator of India’s � rst quadricycle, would rather you didn’t call it a car. Bajaj Auto is marketing the RE60 as a more stable and comfortable alternative to the three-wheeled autorickshaws ubiquitous on India’s roads even though it looks like a small hatchback car and is expected to cost less.

Weight, top speed and other speci� cations, including safety standards, mean the RE60 will not be classi� ed as a car. But that didn’t stop executives from top automakers such as Tata Motors from comparing it to a car and � nding its safety features come up short.

Rajiv Bajaj, the company’s managing director, insists the RE60 is neither a car nor an autorickshaw. The government is even creating a new classi� cation cat-egory for the vehicle, which is expected to be launched within months.

“In every market that a three-wheel-er is available the quadricycle should be relevant,” Bajaj told Reuters in a phone interview.

“Because at the end of the day it provides a very logical upgrade from a three-wheeler for people who want to pay a little more and want to have the

comfort and safety of four wheels, four doors, a roof and seatbelts,” he said.

In India, autorickshaws typically have no doors and a soft roof. The ve-hicles are usually turned into taxis and known in many countries as tuk-tuks.

The RE60 is part of a long-term ex-pansion strategy by Bajaj to boost sales growth at home and abroad.

The company is the world’s largest autorickshaw maker and India’s second

largest motorcycle maker, and sales of both these vehicles have decelerated over the last two years, hit by falling demand in a slowing economy.

Bajaj’s three-wheeler sales fell 6% in the 2012/13 � nancial year compared to a 17% increase in the previous year and a 28% rise in 2010/11.

Motorcycle sales also showed a simi-lar trend: they fell 2% in 2012/13 com-pared to a 13.2% gain in 2011/12 and a

35% increase a year earlier.Exports of motorbikes and autorick-

shaws account for more than a third of Bajaj’s sales. The company counts Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, TVS Mo-tor Company Ltd and Italy’s Piaggio as competitors in the three-wheeler seg-ment.

Safer, but not cheaperThe RE60 weighs 400 kilograms (880 pounds), about 100 kg more than Ba-jaj’s smallest autorickshaw and half as much as a small hatchback. The engine, which can run on gasoline or compressed natural gas, goes up to 70 kilometres per hour (about 40 miles per hour).

The vehicle is likely to be priced between an autorickshaw and a small car. Analysts expect the RE60 to cost 200,000 rupees, more than the rough-ly 150,000 rupees for the most basic Bajaj three-wheeler but less than the 270,000 rupees for India’s bestselling car, the Maruti Alto hatchback.

Bajaj spent 5.5bn rupees develop-ing the vehicle, according to media re-ports. The company can initially make up to 5,000 vehicles a month and has been waiting for two years to get them on India’s roads. l

G20 growth pledge easier in the making than the executionn Reuters, Sydney

The Group of 20’s proposal to lift eco-nomic activity by 2% over the next � ve years has so many holes in it, there’s no wonder it was the � rst o� cial target that all members felt happy to agree on.

Each country has until November to come up with its own supposedly “con-crete” plans, but there is nothing to en-force their implementation except the moral suasion of other members. The International Monetary Fund has said it will be watching for progress on the plans, but it has no power to compel or punish.

The target is also a moving one, as it is based on beating an estimate for growth which itself is just a best guess. Forecasting is by its nature a highly im-precise art and the IMF is forever revis-ing its forecasts up or down. Predicting growth for the next quarter is tough enough, no matter over � ve years.

“We’re not even sure where we are now on growth. How will we be able to judge if these targets are being met?” said Michael Blythe, chief economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Indeed, the Germans were reluctant to sign up to any hard target at the G20, but accepted the growth goal because it was not binding. Others also stressed it was an aspiration, not a locked-in promise.

“The results of this process can not be guaranteed from politicians,” Ger-man Finance Minister Wolfgang Schau-ble said after the deal was signed on Sunday.

And � nancial markets took little no-tice of the agreement, instead focusing on Monday on the same concerns they had on Friday - the impact of the US Federal Reserve’s taper of its stimulus and uncertainty over China’s economic performance.

Long listFor the G20, the prospect of higher

growth is an incentive to help sell the need for structural reforms around the globe - take some hard decisions now, and end up wealthier and stronger in � ve years.

The IMF does have a laundry list of reforms that it says will boost growth and productivity. It includes every-thing from liberalising domestic ser-vice industries, to spending more on infrastructure, to attracting more women into the workforce.

Some are country speci� c, such as boosting private savings in the United States to improving healthcare and the social safety net in China.

But all are politically or � scally di� -cult.

“Some of the reforms potentially have a big payo� but they tend to be unpopular and entail hard grind,” says Blythe.

“Take the aging of populations that so many countries are struggling with. There’s no way they can meet future pension obligations, but dealing with that is a politician’s nightmare.”

One theme running through many of the proposals was making it harder for workers to retire early. Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey who hosted the G20 meeting in Sydney, has started a “national conversation” about raising the retirement age toward 70, from the current 65.

Japan: the bad exampleLowering barriers to trade is another much-touted reform, but the seem-ingly never-ending talks on the Trans-Paci� c Partnership (TPP) show how

intractable that can be.Twelve countries are pursuing a

trade deal that optimists have estimat-ed could add nearly $300bn a year to global income, but the talks are bogged down in disputes over everything from tari� s to patent rights to environmen-tal protection.

Japan has become a particular stick-ing point as it tries to protect its rice, wheat, beef and pork, dairy and sugar sectors, all of which wield great politi-cal in� uence at home.

The world’s third-largest economy is a perfect example of how hard it will be to meet the G20 goals. Prime Minster’s Shinzo Abe’s so-called third arrow of reforms are exactly the kind of change recommended by the IMF, but they are yet to be launched and are meeting � erce opposition at every turn.

There has been scant progress on breaking the divide between well-pro-tected regular workers and a growing army of temporary sta� , while signi� -cant immigration remains a social ta-boo.

“In short, if there is a nice free lunch with plus-2% growth out there, why haven’t policymakers found it?” wondered Mark Crosby, an associate professor of economics at the Melbourne Business School. “It’s just not credible.”

Indeed, he argued that there was a good chunk of the world economy where the reforms being suggested would likely to lead to slower, not fast-er growth.

“How is China going to meet the tar-get, particularly if it is able to achieve the switch from investment-driven to domestic-demand-driven growth which will lead to slower, not faster growth?” asked Crosby.

Still, he saw the aim of increasing in-frastructure spending as admirable and said there could be ways to � nd new � nancing mechanisms that would be a modest spur to growth. l

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Jamuna Bank Foundation recently organised a seminar on “International Mother Language Day” at its bank branch in Comilla. Kanutosh Majumder, chairperson of Jamuna Bank Limited was present in the seminar as chief guest

BD Finance Capital Holdings Limited, a full-� edged merchant bank, has signed a brokerage service agreement with Multi Securities and Services Ltd on Thursday. Mohd Ahsan Ullah, managing director and CEO of BD Capital and Abdul Awal, managing director of Multi Securities and Services Ltd signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies

Delta Brac Housing and Finance Corporation Ltd. (DBH) has been rated ‘AAA’ (Triple A), topmost of the rating scale for long term and ST-1 for short term for the eighth consecutive year. Hamidul Huq, managing director of Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh (CRAB) recently handed over the Credit Rating Report of DBH to QM Shariful Ala, managing director and CEO of DBH at a function recently

Super Fresh Drinking Water is sponsoring in the Asia Cup 2013 as the o� cial drinking partner. A signing ceremony on this regard was held last Sunday among Meghna Group of Industries and Techfront International FZE at Pan Paci� c Sonargaon Hotel. Mostafa Kamal, chairperson and managing director of Meghna Group of Industries and high o� cials of Techfront International FZE were present at the ceremony

Expo on Fire Safety concludes B1 COLUMN 6sector had witnessed several � re inci-dents, which created question about the � re safety in the RMG work place.

Fire safety equipment sales has seen a sharp rise in the recent time as the factory owners are now installing � re  equipments to meet the buyer’s condition as well as to save the life of the workers and properties, said M Azharul Islam Khan, chief executive o� cer of Vega Trading.

The main aim of the expo was to edu-cate the factory owners about the latest � re safety technologies and it has already achieved a great success as the numbers of visitors were remarkable, he added.

“The fair has been a great success to the organisers as the factory owners have got a clear idea about the latest � re safety equipments, said BGMEA president Atiqul Islam.

The seminars, aimed at present-ing advantages of installing � re safety equipments, also witnessed an over-

whelming presence by the factory owners, which also clearly indicates that entrepreneurs are now keen to make their factory safer, although it will take some time, he added.

Energy e� cient products also got huge response from the factory own-ers as it could help save the cost by re-duced power consumption.

Renowned groups have shown keen their interest to introduce energy ef-� cient and eco-friendly technologies including energy lights, � re proof emergency lights and automated � re extinguishers, said Mustaeem Billah Chowdhury, managing director of Re-Green Bangla Industries Limited.

But, still a good number of apparel makers are not ready to invest in � re safety equipments as they are facing trouble in getting fresh orders from the buyers, and also the prices of the prod-ucts did not increase as per expecta-tion, said a BGMEA director on condi-tion of anonymity. l

IBFB members to get US visa preferencen Tribune Report

The members of International Busi-ness Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) will get some preferences and facilities to apply for and to obtain the US visa.

“The US Consul General in Bangla-desh Jemmy B. Fouss has disclosed that the IBFB members will get some preferences and facilities to apply for and obtain the US visa,’’ says a IBFB press statement released yesterday.

According to the statement, the US Consul also declared that IBFB mem-bers, who applied through proper channel, will get appointment for visa from the US Embassy within 2 days of their submission of application.

In addition, any IBFB member having US visa from January 2008 and onward will get special facilities to renew their visas within 3 days, reads the statement.

The US Consul General was address-ing a seminar titled “How to apply and obtain US Visa” organised by IBFB Chittagong Chapter on 20th February 2014 at Hotel Agrabad in Chittagong.

Speaking as chief guest, Jemmy B.

Fouss put emphasis on increased bi-lateral relations especially in the areas of development partnership, trade and business between the two countries.

He also noted that the US exports to Bangladesh has increased 44% in 2013 compared to the previous year, and appli-cation for non-immigrant US visa has also remarkably been increased over the years.

Regarding the visa procedures, he clari� ed that if a non-immigrant visa applicant can guarantee to return home from USA, it becomes easier for them to obtain the US visa.

In this context, he further said the US government has made the US visa process much easier than before. A consular o� -cer from the US Embassy in Dhaka briefed the participants on di� erent types of US visa, application procedures, required documentations and related issues.

The seminar presided over by the Engr. Sakhawat Hossain, was addressed, among others, by chairperson of IBFB Chittagong Chapter and Managing Director of West-ern Marine Services Ltd. Dr Md Omar Shafayat Kausar, and IBFB Vice-President Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury. l

Google team calls on BASIS leaders n Tribune Business Desk

Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) has urged the internet search engine Google to ap-prove the use of Bangla contents in its programmes AdSense and AdWords.

It made the call as a Google delega-tion met BASIS leaders in Dhaka yester-day, said a BASIS press release.

BASIS also requested to give the op-portunity to upload the Bangladeshi paid apps in the Google play store.

The Google team assured of intro-ducing the services very soon.

Google’s country consultant (Ban-gladesh) Kazi Monirul Kabir, country lead, policy and governance a� airs Al-exander Long and country lead, policy and governance a� airs for Asia Paci� c region Mike Orgill were in the team. l

BWCCI demands trouble-free creditsfor women entrepreneursn Tribune report

The leaders of Bangladesh Woman’s Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BWCCI) have demanded trouble-free credit � ow for the women entrepre-neurs across the country.

Accusing the commercial banks for not providing necessary credits to the women entrepreneurs, the BWCCI leaders yesterday came up with the de-mand at a meeting with the state min-ister for � nance MA Mannan held at � nance division auditorium.

Among others, BWCCI president Sangi-ta Ahmed, former president of BWCCI Se-lina Hossain, and owner of Shama shops Sha� a Shama attended the meeting.

“Some of the commercial banks are re-luctant to give loans to the real women en-trepreneurs soon after they provide loans only two or three entrepreneurs,” Shama Sha� a alleged to the state minister. l

Start setting up CETP B1 COLUMN 3it has also received another time exten-sion for the work till January 06 of the year.

SN Paul, deputy general manager of the leather estate said they would ex-tend the time frame for CETP establish-ment and tannery relocation within a few days for the last time.

More than 200 factories in Hazarib-agh release several thousand liters of untreated and highly toxic liquid waste into the Buriganga River, posing a seri-ous threat to the public health.

The Department of Environment re-ported that some 22,000 cubic meters of raw and liquid waste from tannery units in Hazaribagh � ow into the Buri-ganga, where the oxygen level is zero instead of the minimum six required for aquatic species.

In addition to environmental hazards, Environment and Forest Minister Anwar Hossain Manju reminded the tanners that export of leather goods might be stopped in the Europe Union market from Decem-ber this year unless the environment is-sue is not taken into account. l

Freight forwarders allowed B1 COLUMN 1shipping lines, air lines and eligible li-cenced freight forwarders.

Shipping lines and air lines may ac-cept freight charges on FOB exports in foreign currencies from the eligible li-cenced freight forwarders. In such cas-es, the shipping lines and air lines will themselves submit necessary encash-ment certi� cates with routine monthly returns to Bangladesh Bank.

The banks will inform Foreign Ex-change Operation Department (FEOD) at head o� ce, or relevant area o� ce of Bangladesh Bank immediately (by the next business day) as and when each such foreign currency account is opened.

All receipts and payments transac-

tions through these accounts will have to be included in the monthly collec-tion and disbursement statements rou-tinely submitted to Bangladesh Bank by shipping lines/air lines through their banks.

Eligible licenced freight forwarders shall, through banks, also submit month-ly statements to Bangladesh Bank of col-lections and disbursements against the handling of FOB exports and imports.

Transaction statements of these for-eign currency accounts will also have to be submitted to Bangladesh Bank on a quarterly basis for post facto checking to satisfy that reasonable amounts from the foreign currency accounts have been encashed to Taka towards defray-ing of local costs and tax liabilities. l

42% participants view B1 COLUMN 5and untrained workers are the top three challenges behind ensuring the safety in the country’s readymade gar-ment sector, according to the survey. The survey suggested three remedial measures.

“To train the managers and workers, and increase external monitoring are on top of the remedial measures identi� ed by the survey,” M Rabin, managing direc-tor of the Alliance told a post-expo press brie� ng at a city hotel in Dhaka yesterday.

Protecting the safety of Bangladesh factory workers means “we all have a role to play,” he said. “That is why we are pleased to be working so closely with our partners on the ground to en-sure factory safety improvements will be swift, integrated and sustainable over the long-term.”

The participants expected the expo

would � nd solutions for the � re and building safety challenges to contrib-ute to improve safety in RMG factories, the survey found.

Replying to a question, the Accord Executive Director Rob Wayss said they have got some complains over the withdrawal of orders by some big buy-ers from the factories located at shared or rented buildings. He assured that the Accord will look into the issue.

Regarding the standards, the Ac-cord ED said the standards are set in a harmonised way with consultation with the Alliance and law of the land, but there are some additional require-ments like sprinkler.

BGMEA President Atiqul Islam said the expo measure of success included its ability to provide safe conditions for workers, and it is our hope that this expo will help achieve that. l

'The results of this process can not be guaranteed from politicians'

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Age of transient advantagen Zahedul Amin

The notion of sustainable competitive advantage is dead. Sounds outrageous, sacrilegious, but this probably is nearer to the reality. Let me explain why.

A closer look into the global competitive landscape reveals many interesting case studies of companies’ falling from grace – be it Nokia, which recently had to sell its phone unit to Microsoft and IBM which divested their personal computer division to Lenovo at a dirt cheap price. With the rapidly changing market scenario, fueled by techno-logical advancement, the notion of striving for long-term competitive advantage remains, at best, wishful thinking.

Many with business backgrounds can relate to the age old theory of competitive advantage. The main proponent Harvard Busi-

ness School Professor Michael Porter asserted is that companies should endeavor to identify and establish their unique core competences, while looking to restrict competitors from acquiring resources to nullify the advantage.

With democratisation of the competitive scenario, it is proving increasingly di� cult to retain core competence, as others are simply building on existing products at little or no cost. For example, though Apple cre-ated the tablet market with their iPad, the market is currently � ooded with cheaper alternatives, like Kindle (Amazon), Galaxy Tab (Samsung) and Nexus (Google).

Technology has reduced the barrier to entry to such an extent that tech startups are entering the market armed with a small army of developers. For example, popular app maker, WhatsApp Inc, starting out just four years back, was bought o� by Facebook

for a staggering USD 19bn. The founder was reportedly � ltered out of Twitter and Facebook’s recruitment process.

Amazon, a � rst generation e-commerce company is giving a run for their money to traditional “brick and mortar” bookstores like Barnes & Nobles and retail powerhouses like Walmart. Amazon’s success has prompted both companies to rethink their business mod-els by focusing on e-commerce front ends.

Rita Gunther, Columbia University Professor, addressed this issue in her newly published book – “End of Competitive Advantage” – which identi� ed the fallacy of the long held assumption of sustained competitive advantage. She boldly asserts that strategy is stuck and virtually all strat-egy frameworks and tools in use today are based on a single dominant idea: That the purpose of strategy is to achieve a sustain-

able competitive advantage. This idea is the status quo of a strategy’s most fundamental concept. It’s every company’s Holy Grail. And it’s no longer relevant.

For further analysing the scenario of transient advantage, another concept needs to be introduced, the idea of Disruptive Innovation. Clayton Christenson, Profes-sor of Harvard Business School, coined the term to describe the process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and relentlessly moving up the market, eventually displacing established competitors. Disruptive innovation is usually known to be brought in by new entrants, in many cases by newly established start-ups. Innovation remains the core of disruptive innovation, as new companies � nd ways to solve customers’ problems in cheaper ways.

But why is disruptive innovation inevitable in all industries?

Many established companies face the “mouse trap” problem. They look to make a better products, in this case a better mouse drop. But the consumers want a better solution, and new comers are usually in a position to upend the market by infusing innovation-driven customer solutions. For example, Apple entered the consumer electronics market in 2001 and permanently disrupted the market by marrying consumer electronics with computing expertise. Hence, smartphones and tablets were even-tually born. While companies like Apple and Samsung forged ahead, traditional mobile phone manufacturers like Motorola, Erics-son, and Nokia stumbled and lost their way.

Summing up, transient competitive advantage is here to stay. And no company

in any industry is immune to the onslaught of potential competitors, be it from start-ups or companies coming from other industries. As Schumpeter had stated in his works on cre-ative destruction, no company, however big, powerful, cash-rich, is immune from the cusp of destruction. In order to survive, companies must constantly look for ways to consolidate position, while at the same time looking for “blue ocean markets.” The race for survival and supremacy is perennial and all players must � nd ways to keep providing innovative solu-tions to customers in order to stay relevant.

Like they say, evolve or die. l

Zahedul Amin is the director of � nance at LightCastle Partners, an emerging market specialized business planning and intelligence � rm. The article was originally published in the LCP Blog

LG Electronics aims for smartphone growth double the market raten Reuters, Seoul

LG Electronics Inc aims to broaden its range of smartphones so sales this year grow at double the rate of the market, as the South Korean company seeks to retake the position of world’s third-biggest maker.

LG, who slipped behind Huawei Technologies Co la st year with a market share of just under 5%, also plans to sell a smartwatch capable of connecting with rivals’ phones, mobile division president Park Jong-seok told reporters ahead of a Barcelona trade fair this week.

LG shipped a record 47.7 million smartphones last year, 81% more than a year earlier. But its mobile unit needs more growth to return to pro� t, after spending heavily on marketing to narrow the gap with leaders Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc.

The company aims to increase sales through more models appealing to a wider consumer group, with the Barcelona launch of the G2 Mini - a lower-priced version of the � agship G2 - coming just weeks after unveil-ing a larger-screen G Pro2.

“I expect competition among tier-2 manu-facturers for more market share to become tougher this year, and price competition will also naturally intensify,” Park said.

LG’s mobile unit may take a while to become pro� table after swinging to a loss in the three months ended December, as it will continue to spend heavily this year to promote its high-end models, Park said.

Growth of high-end sales in advanced economies is slowing as smartphones become more widespread, likely bringing overall sales growth to the market consensus of 10 to 15% this year, Park said.

Overall sales grew 38% last year to 1 billion smart-phones, showed data from researcher IDC.

Park also said LG plans to continue reducing its reliance on local retailers in China where competitors include Lenovo Group, whose $2.9bn o� er for Google Inc’s Motorola handset division could see it leapfrog LG to global No 3 from No 5.

LG also has to contend with the low-priced phones of other local makers Huawei, ZTE Corp and Xiaomi. l

Microsoft resets Windows Phone to reach lower cost marketsn Reuters, Barcelona

Microsoft Corp is pushing to reach a far wider audience for smartphones run-ning its Windows Phone software by turning to cheaper chipsets and easing restrictions on how phone makers use its software to encourage them to drive down costs.

Nick Parker, Microsoft’s senior vice president for handset makers, said the changes have attracted a range of new handset makers to build Windows Phones, including South Korea’s LG Electronics, India’s Xola and Karbonn, and ZTE, Foxconn, Lenovo, Gionee and Longcheer.

“We are open for business on Win-dows Phone to anyone who wants to build a Windows phone,” Parker said at the Mobile World Congress trade fair on Sunday.

Windows Phones typically sell for several hundred dollars a piece, al-though Nokia’s Lumia 520 handset has an unsubsidized price of about 139 eu-ros ($190) in Europe.

The sub-$100 smartphone market, however, is dominated by Google’s An-droid operating system, which has low-er licensing costs, is more adaptable by device makers, and runs on more, and cheaper, chip sets that run radio and other functions.

Android phones from dozens of handset makers accounted for almost four out of every � ve smartphones sold, or 781.2 million units, last year, according to Strategy Analytics. l

Nokia succumbs to Android appeal in low-cost phone battlen Reuters , Barcelona

Nokia, soon to be acquired by Micro-soft Corp, is turning to software created by arch-rival Google for a new line of phones it hopes will make it a late con-tender in the dynamic low-cost smart-phone market.

Its � rst models, Nokia X, X+ and XL, rely upon an open version of the An-droid mobile software system created by Google that has become the world’s most popular software used in smart-phones.

The release of the phones just days before Nokia sells its handset busi-ness to Microsoft in a $7.2bn deal, is an attempt to stay relevant in emerg-ing markets, where low-cost Android phones are being snapped up by hun-dreds of millions of buyers.

Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop said the market had “shifted dramati-cally”, and the group needed to ad-dress a sub-$100 segment that is set to grow four times faster than more ex-pensive phones.

He told a crowded press conference at the Mobile World Congress trade fair in Barcelona that rather than being an 180-degree turn in its strategy of using Microsoft’s Windows Phone for smart-phones, it was a move that introduces the “next billion” users to Nokia’s hard-ware and Microsoft’s services.

“We see the X family being comple-mentary to (Windows Phone) Lumia at lower price points,” he said. “Even as you see Lumia push lower and lower, you will see us push lower with Nokia X below that.”

But the strategy shift underlines

the many missteps made by the Finn-ish company since Apple launched its ground-breaking iPhone in 2007.

Nokia was caught between a rock and a hard place - committed to using Microsoft’s Windows Phone software but needing Android software to reach more cost-sensitive customers, CCS Insight’s head of research Ben Wood said.

“That a company soon-to-be owned by Microsoft, the creator of the original operating system, is moving to Android is almost an “admission of failure”, he said.

Global smartphone shipments grew 41% annually to reach nearly 1 billion units in 2013, according to market research � rm Strategy Analytics. Android phones from dozens of handset makers accounted for almost four out of every � ve smartphones sold, or 781.2 million units.

In the past year, Apple shipped 153.4 million smartphones worldwide for a 15% share of the market, making it the second largest smartphone platform af-ter Android.

Microsoft was a distant third in mar-ket-share terms, shipping 35.7 million units worldwide with its Windows mo-bile software platform, but still strug-gling to gain traction in the low-tier and premium-tier smartphone categories, Strategy Analytics said.

Windows shut outIn February 2011, Elop famously com-pared Nokia’s failing smartphone strat-egy - based on multiple software plat-forms of its own making - to a man on a burning platform.

He chose to jump into the arms of Microsoft, producing high-end Lumia-branded smartphones that have been well received by critics, but less popu-lar with customers and app developers, the people who make the software that turns phones into multi-purpose tools.

Elop said on Monday he had not jumped the wrong way.

“There’s quite a lot of vendors ... who made the Android decision but couldn’t di� erentiate,” he said. “We wanted to build with Microsoft a third

ecosystem, and that’s what we are do-ing while others fall by the wayside.”

But the Microsoft technology does not work on the chip sets found in cheaper smartphones, the fast-growing market crowding out Nokia’s Asha fea-ture phones, which lack the full Inter-net capabilities of smartphones.

The company rejected Android three years ago, when it tied its for-tunes to Microsoft’s Windows Phone. But Monday’s announcement shows it has quietly been working on an open Android device for months.

Product Marketing Vice President Jussi Nevanlinna told Reuters the num-ber one requirement from customers was access to Android apps.

“Our fans oftentimes tell us ‘We love your hardware, we love your products, but we also love our Android apps’,” he said. “Can you make something happen so the Android apps magically run here?’”

IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said Nokia had a made a “rational move” that allowed it to address a much big-ger market, but it should have been made three years ago. “It would have given Nokia a complete di� erent posi-tion from where it stands today, under Microsoft’s control,” he said.

CCS Insight’s Wood also said Nokia needed to do something dramatic in low-cost smartphones: “Asha has failed to deliver the volumes they needed to be competitive in the low-cost smart-

phone space, while Android remains completely rampant.”

The Nokia X family uses the open source version of Android, which runs most apps without the right to custom-ize Google’s basic software.

For Nokia, it was a question of mak-ing this humiliating reversal in its strat-egy or facing irrelevance in this catego-ry of phones, Wood said.

Nokia servicesThe open version of Android software means that the new Nokia phone does not have rely on Google’s services and ac-cess to the Google Play app store. Instead, Nokia is bundling it with its own music and map o� ers, and Microsoft’s email,

cloud, messaging and search services.Apps will be available in Nokia’s

own app store, as well as a host of other app stores, Elop said.

The look of the Nokia X devices is starkly di� erent from the usual An-droid phone, with nods to Lumia and Asha interfaces.

Elop said rather than confusing cus-tomers, Nokia X - where X indicates a cross between Nokia hardware, An-droid apps and Microsoft services - will be a stepping stone to Lumia, and will share the same cloud services.

“Lumia continues to be our primary smartphone strategy,” Elop said. “Lu-mia is where we will continue to intro-duce the greatest innovation. l

Smartphone giants scramble for pro� ts in tough marketn AFP, Barcelona

Smartphone giants released eye-catching new devices as the world’s biggest mobile fair opened yesterday, � ghting for new ways to pro� t in a tougher market.

Besides a slew of sleek, new pre-mier smartphones, the world’s biggest smartphone maker Samsung and its ri-vals unveiled an array of smart watches and bracelets to unlock new revenues.

The four-day Mobile World Con-gress in Barcelona, Spain, opens after a deceptively buoyant 2013, when sales

surged

42.3% to 968 million units.The growth was powered almost

entirely by developing markets, how-ever, disguising a slowdown in mature markets such as Western Europe and the United States, which are the most pro� table.

The big buzz at the conference was Samsung’s launch Monday of its � ag-ship device, almost certainly a Gal-axy S5 smartphone rumoured to be equipped with a � ngerprint scanner and larger screen.

The South Korean giant made about 30% of all smartphones sold in the world last year, about twice the share of archrival Apple, which traditionally skips the annual industry fair.

But Samsung is nevertheless scram-bling for new revenue sources as com-petition in mature markets intensi� es.

Samsung thus launched an updated smart watch, the Gear 2, on the eve of the gathering, adding new features and ditching Google’s Android in favour of its own operating system.

Featuring sports tracking software and a heart rate monitor, the Gear 2 marks an important and widely antici-pated step towards independence from Android.

But Samsung faces other signi� cant challengers for potential customers’ wrists both at home and abroad.

Hours after Samsung launched the Gear 2, rising Chinese smartphone maker Huawei revealed a connected watch of its own.

Huawei, already a major force in building mobile networks and the world number three smartphone mak-er in 2013, showed o� its TalkBand, to

be sold for 99 euros ($136).South Korean manufacturer LG said

on the same day that it would launch its � rst smartwatch in 2014.

Sony revealed its Xperia Z2 smart-phone yesterday, the � rst new edi-tion of its � agship device since it an-nounced this month the sale of its stagnant PC business to focus instead on smartphones and tablets.

The waterproof phone, available from March, has a full high de� nition 5.2-inch screen and a 20.7 megapixel camera that can take ultra-high resolu-tion 4K video, along with noise-cancel-ling audio.

The struggling Japanese group re-vealed, too, an Xperia Z2 Tablet, also waterproof, and a more a� ordable Xpe-ria M2 smartphone.

But Sony Mobile also entered the fray for wearable devices, releasing the SmartBand SWR10, a bracelet that comes with an application allowing users to log events and photographs taken during the day as well as tracking how far they walk and checking their sleep cycle.

“Our SmartWear experience goes far beyond health and � tness,” Sony Mo-bile chief executive Kunisama Suzuki boasted.

Zuckerberg is star speakerAt the same time, the online world is el-bowing its way into the mobile market.

Facebook’s 29-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg is the star speaker on the opening day of the fair in Barce-lona, fresh from his $19bn (14bn euro) takeover of smartphone messenger WhatsApp. l

'We see the X family being complementary to (Windows Phone) Lumia at lower price points'

The Samsung Gear smartwatch is presented at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona yesterday AFP