Joishthya 8, 1421

Rajab 22, 1435

Regd. No. DA 6238
Vol 2, No 52

THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

B1 | RULES TO CUT IPO EXPENSES TO 30%

7 | DHAKAS OBLIGATION TO REFUGEES

20 pages | Price: Tk10

8 | BLASTS KILL AT LEAST 118 IN NIGERIA

14 | BRAZILS LUIZS SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

Was it intra- or
inter-party
feud?

Padma bridge
cost increases
by Tk3,000cr
n Asif Showkat Kallol

Minar and 34 other unidentified people

of the murder, said OC Morshed.
The OC said Minar, a BNP-backed
chairman candidate who lost to Ekramul in the recent upazila poll, was
made the prime accused.
Soon after the case was filed, police
started massive raids in different parts
of the district and detained 23 people
for their alleged involvement in the
killing.
When asked about the identities
of the detainees, Morshed refused to
divulge their names for the sake of

A Chinese firm is set to get the contract

for constructing the Padma bridge with
the project cost having increased by
Tk3,000 crore following three years
delay and complexity in the tender
process.
Bridges Division Secretary Khandokar Anwarul Islam yesterday sent
the proposal to the Cabinet Division
for appointing the China Major Bridge
Engineering Co Ltd as the construction
consultant.
The proposal will be placed today
at a meeting of the cabinet committee
on public purchase presided over by Finance Minister AMA Muhith, an official
of the Cabinet Division said.
The proposal says the Communication Ministry did not entertain the request placed by the joint venture of two
South Korean firms the Samsung C&T
Corporation and the DAELIM-Larsen
and Toubro Limited for extending the
time of its financial offer by 10 and 12
weeks.
On May 11, 2010, the government
floated the first tender for appointing
the constructor of the Padma bridge in
2011. At that time, the project cost was
Tk9,127.17 crore.
However, the tender process was
suspended in August 2011 following
allegations of corruption conspiracy
raised by the World Bank.
The final tender was floated on June
26 last year and the China Major Bridge
submitted its main financial offer on
April 24 this year.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A Feni weekly predicted a similar

political murder a day before
n Mohammad Jamil Khan, from Feni
Law enforcers might be in the dark
about the killers of Fulgazi upazila
chairman Ekramul Haque, but it appears that a local weekly newspaper,
owned by an expelled ruling party
leader, predicted it only a day before
the gruesome murder.
According to a report published
in Shaptahik Hazarika, its owner former Awami League MP Joynal Hazari,
Ekram along with Prime Ministers
Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury and
some other local leaders might be abducted or killed anytime.
Slain Ekram could not ignore the report and soon after reading it installed
two CCTV cameras at his Mastarbari
residence in Feni town.
He also told his brother Rezaul
Haque Jasim about his fears.
In conversation with the Dhaka Tribune, Jasim said: On Tuesday night,
Ekram was saying that he might be
killed somewhere near his residence.
Out of fear, he installed two CCTV cameras at home. Ironically, his statement

ACC to bring 3 sacked

RAB officers, Nur
under scanner

n Tribune Report
The Anti-Corruption Commission will
look into the wealth of the three dismissed Rapid Action Battalion officers
and Narayanganj City Ward 4 Councillor Nur Hossain, the prime accused in
Narayanganj seven-murder case.
We are collecting all possible
information and documents related to
the wealth of Nur Hossain. We are also
inquiring into the wealth of the three
RAB officials which will enable us to
track if any financial transaction was
made before the seven murders, ACC
Secretary Faizur Rahman Chowdhury
said.
He made the disclosure while responding to reporters questions at the
PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

came true in just a couple of hours he

was killed at a place only five minutes
from home.
When asked about who could be the
possible killer, he said: It may be a result of intra-party conflict. But he also
had an open conflict with BNP leader
Mahtab Uddin Minar. He lost to Ekram
in the upazila election.
After the murder, Jashim early yesterday filed a case with Feni model police station accusing Minar and 34 other unnamed people.
Minars name was included because he earlier tried to kill Ekram
twice during the upazila elections,
Jasim said. The real story might come
out if the law enforcers talked to the witnesses and the local businessmen.
Police have so far arrested around 23
people in connection with the murder
case. Minar is not one of them.
Feni Superintendent of Police Paritosh Ghosh said: Media can publish
whatever they want. But we will conduct investigation as per the complaints filed by the victims family.
PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Protesting the death of their leader, supporters of slain Fulgazi upazila chairman Ekramul Haque cut off road communication with
Parshuram upazila by prying off the planks of a bailey bridge near Fenis Bandua area yesterday
BANGLAR CHOKH

23 detained in Ekramul murder case

n Mohammad Jamil Khan, from
Feni and Tarek Mahmud,
from Chittagong
In a special drive yesterday, police detained around 23 people for their involvement with the murder of Ekramul
Haque, chairman of the Fulgazi upazila
in Feni.
Law enforcers also seized a private
car and two motorbikes suspecting that
those were used during the arson attack that left the chairman dead, Mahbub Morshed, officer-in-charge of the
Feni Model Police Station, said.

BTRC lying to government

about tariff cut proposal
n Muhammad Zahidul Islam
The telecom regulator has reportedly provided false information to the
government about the volume of legal
international incoming calls, in an attempt to show that a proposed reduction of termination rate would not affect
government income from the sector.
Termination rate is when one telecom operator charges another for terminating calls on its network.
Although a previous BTRC estimation, prepared seven months ago
when the reduction was first proposed,
had showed that the cuts would cost
around Tk1,073 crore worth of losses, a fresh proposal by the watchdog
claimed that the government will earn

an additional Tk162 crore if the change

is implemented.
The Dhaka Tribune has obtained
both the recommendations by the
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
Seeking anonymity, several BTRC
senior executives admitted to the Dhaka Tribune that they fabricated only
one number which changed the whole
scenario; however, the telecom watchdog refused to give any official comment on the issue.
This correspondent waited two
hours at the BTRC chairmans office
on Tuesday for his comments and also
tried yesterday, but there was no response.
PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

INSIDE
B4 | Business

Daunting political and fiscal

traps lie in wait that could
ensnare new centre-right
leader Modi as he embarks
on the gargantuan task of
fulfilling Indias undoubted
economic potential.

9 | World

3 | News

Leader of the Opposition

Rawshan Ershad yesterday
lost her temper in the face
of a volley of questions
from the media.

5 The government is likely

to revive the financial system
of the UZs by amending
the local government act to
empower them financially to
enhance their domination on
the public servants.

Narendra Modi has invited

Pakistans Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif as well as other
South Asian leaders to his
swearing-in ceremony.

11 | Op-Ed

Ask anyone in their 30s or

40s. They all are concerned
about their childrens health
and education. In their 50s
and 60s, they are concerned
about their own health.

12 | Entertainment

6 | Nation

Around 3,666 hectares of

agricultural land and 485
hectares of land taken up by
settlements along the banks
of the Jamuna, Ganges,
Padma and lower Meghna
Rivers will disappear due to
erosion, this year.

Noted artists in the country

expressed their reverence
towards the Nobel Laureate
Rabindranath Tagore through
their fascinating artwork.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ekramul, also

president of the Fulgazi upazila Awami
League, was shot and then burnt alive

Demonstrators called a
daylong hartal for today
in Fulgazi upazila
in his car by some unidentified assailants in broad daylight.
The victims elder brother Rezaul
Haque Jasim filed a case with the Feni
Model Police Station at 1am yesterday,
accusing BNP leader Mahatab Uddin

Ekram was killed

due to AL internal
feud, claims BNP
n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has
alleged that the Fulgazi upazila Chairman Ekramul Haque was killed due
to an internal feud within the ruling
Awami League.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza
Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made the claim
at a press briefing at the partys Naya
Paltan headquarters in the capital,
yesterday.

'The country has turned

into a death valley.
The killing in Fulgazi
took place under
the nose of the local
administration, which
shows the poor state of
law and order'
Mirza Fakhrul also alleged that the
Prime Ministers Office tried to blame
the killing on the erstwhile opposition
party by issuing a statement before
conducting any investigation.
The prime minister has been
trying to put the blame of Ekramuls
killing [on BNP] to conceal the
intra-party feud. After the incident,
without any investigation, the PMO
tried to accuse a specific person and
attempted to use the killing to serve

News

DHAKA TRIBUNE

their political purpose, the BNP

spokesperson said.
Referring to various newspaper
reports, Fakhrul said: It has become
clear that the killing occurred because
of an intra-party feud of the ruling
party.
Ekramul Hoque Ekram, 47, a twice
elected chairman of the Fulgazi upazila, was shot and burnt to death by unidentified attackers in Feni town on
Tuesday.
Ekram was also president of the
ALs Fulgazi upazila unit and a member of former AL lawmaker Joynal
Hazaris steering committee. There
was a longstanding dispute between
Ekram and Nizamuddin Hazari, Feni
district AL general secretary, over local
politics.
Expressing concerns over the prevailing law and order in the country,
Fakhrul said the whole nation has become worried after the Narayanganj
and Fulgazi killings.
The country has turned into a death
valley. The killing in Fulgazi took place
under the nose of the local administration, which shows the poor state of law
and order, Fakhrul said.
You [government] tried heart and
soul to conceal the involvement of AL
men in the Narayanganj killings, but
you failed. Your efforts to hide the
Fulgazi killing incident will also be in
vain, he added.
The BNP leader also demanded the
immediate arrest of Ekramuls killers. l

Hanif suggests
BNPs involvement
in Ekramul
killing
n Tribune Report
Awami League Joint General Secretary
Mahbubul Alam Hanif yesterday hinted
possible complicity of BNP in the killing of Fulgazi Upazila Chairman Ekramul Haque.
The killers of 1971 are still active.
Now they are with a party named BNP.
They are plotting conspiracies. A few
days back, they threatened to carry out
secret attack and it took place in Feni.
Ekramul Haque, a popular leader of
Feni, was subjected to a secret attack,
he said.
Hanif was talking to reporters while
visiting a book fair at Shilpakala Academy in the city.
The Awami League leader claimed
that the general people of the country
believe the BNP is involved in the incident because it happened after they
threatened with secret attacks. He said
BNP is blaming Awami League for the
Feni murder because it wants to hide
its complicity in the incident.
Following Ekramuls killing, BNP
acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul
Islam Alamgir alleged it was the result of an intra-party clash of Awami
League.
Masked criminals attacked Ekramul and investigators are yet to reveal their identities. So what made
him [Fakhrul] think that the murder
stemmed from Awami Leagues internal clash? It means the party is certainly involved in it, Hanif said.
Now the BNP men are blaming us
for the killing to divert peoples attention and to avoid their responsibilities,
he added. l

BTRC lying to government about tariff cut proposal

PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

However, more than a dozen senior officials confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune
that there was no truth in the claims
of potential government profit, adding
that they manipulated the numbers as
per their boss demand.
The false estimations were reportedly prepared to favour the cause of
international gateway (IGW) operators.
According to the fresh proposal, the
telecom watchdog claimed that the
existing daily 3.5 crore minutes of incoming international calls volume will
cross 9 crore minutes if the termination rate is halved from the existing 3
US cents ($0.03) per minute.
The Telecom Ministry is now scrutinising the proposal after receiving it
from the BTRC last week, and it might
be forwarded to the Finance ministry
for approval today.
The latest move comes only months
after the government also cut the annual
licence fee in half for the IGW operators.
Both proposals from the BTRC
claimed that the government is now annually earning around Tk1,851.1 crore
from this sector, with a daily average of
3.5 crore minutes of incoming calls.
Although the regulator previously
claimed that the government would be
able to earn only Tk777.99 crore every
year if the rate was reduced to 1.5 US
cents per minute, it is now claiming
that the earning will be Tk2,012.72
crore as the call volume has increased.
The regulators claim of an average
3.5 crore minutes of daily calls was also
found to be false, as BTRC figures show
that the daily call volume has not gone
below four crore minutes in any month
over the past year.
The Dhaka Tribune also found that
the current volume of daily incoming
international calls is six crore minutes,
while the average for the past year was
5.04 crore minutes.
BTRC statistics showed that during
February, total incoming calls were
153.7 crore minute and the daily average was 5.5 crore minutes. In March it
was 5.9 crore minutes per day and in
April it was 5.7 crore minutes every day
on an average.

BTRC BLUFF ON INTERNATIONAL CALL TERMINATION RATE

KEY POINTERS
Profit/loss
projection
Revenue sharing
International call
volume

Earlier figures

- Tk1,073cr

New figures

Tk162cr

(loss)
Governments existing
share

(profit)
BTRC-proposed
government share

BTRC claims
crore
minutes per day

DT finding shows
crore
minutes per day

51.75%
3.5

40%

5.04

S LATIF/DT INFOGRAPHIC

There were also some days when

call termination had reached 12 crore
minutes in a single day.
As the current call termination volume is around six crore minutes, there
is no need to reduce the rate, a former
senior officer of the BTRC, who was involved with the process for a long time,
told the Dhaka Tribune.
He estimated that if call volume increased up to 9 crore minutes after the
termination rate was cut in half, the
government would have to suffer losses worth hundreds of crore of taka.
The Telecom Ministry has also reportedly raised questions about the
issue, before passing it forward to the
Finance Ministry for approval.
BTRCs
recommendation
also
claimed that neighbouring countries
call termination rate is much lower
than Bangladesh, which sources said is
also a lie.
The VoIP Service Providers Association (VSPA) said the call termination
rates in neighbouring countries are three
to eight times higher than Bangladesh.
The per minute international call
termination rate in Sri Lanka is 9 US
cents, 9.5 cents in Nepal, 8.8 cents
in Pakistan and 25 cents in Maldives,
which is the highest, said VSPA Convener Rabiul Karim.

Only the Indian termination rate

is lower than in Bangladesh, but their
termination pattern is different than
Bangladeshs, sources said.
Apart from its proposal for reducing the termination rate, the BTRC also
recommended changing the revenue
sharing structure, proposing a reduction of the governments share from
the existing 51.75% to 40%, as well as
increasing shares for the IGWs and other operators.
Legal specialists, however, said the
government cannot arbitrarily change
the structure as the rate was fixed by an
open auction.
The revenue sharing structure had
been fixed through a public auction in
2008 and the BTRC cannot change it,
said Barrister Aneek R Haque, a Supreme Court lawyer.
Telecommunication Infrastructure
Operators of Bangladesh (TOIB), a platform of the IGW operators, however
wants to see strong monitoring over
illegal call terminations.
We know that the overall situation
will not improve even after the rate is
cut. Rather, the BTRC should become
more worried about the illegal call terminations and initiate more policing on
it, Mir Nasir Hossain, president of the
TOIB told the Dhaka Tribune. l

Padma bridge cost increases by Tk3,000cr

PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

The Bridges Division proposal says the

Chinese company offered to build the
Padma bridge at a cost of Tk12,133.39
crore an increase of Tk3,006.22 crore
from earlier.
Padma Bridge Project Director M
Shafiqul Islam said the increase was
normal because of the delay and
re-tendering.
But China Major Bridge has offered
12.62% [Tk1,752 crore] less cost than
the estimated Tk13,885.85 crore as
mentioned in the tender, he said.
Economist AB Mirza Azizul Islam
yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that
the main tender of the Padma bridge
would have been competitive and the
construction cost of the Padma bridge

would have been lower if the two South

Korean firms had participated.
He said the Communication Ministry had made the decision as the Bridges Division had not entertained the request of the Korean firms.
Mentioning that the upgrading work
of the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway to a
four-lane one by a Chinese firm was yet
to finish in around four years, the former adviser to a caretaker government
said Chinese companies had a bad reputation in the field.
The Bridges Division proposal has
not yet fixed the performance security for the constructor, saying it will be
settled according to the pre-contract
negotiation with the firm.
Ten firms participated in the tender

Thursday, May 22, 2014

of pre-qualification process and the

evaluation committee selected five of
them. The government cancelled the
China Communication Construction
Companys tender as the World Bank
had black-listed it.
According to the Bridges Division
proposal, the government will pay
25.6% or Tk3,106 crore in local currency and the rest worth Tk9,027.24 crore
in foreign currency, mainly US dollar.
The construction work of Jajira and
Mawa connecting roads and service
area 2 has already started under the
project. A joint venture of Bangladesh
and Malaysia named AML-HCM is carrying out the job with consultancy
from the Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh University of Engineering and

Pro-BNP lawyers come out from a special court in the capital's Lalbagh yesterday after submitting a time petition on behalf of BNP
Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

ACC to bring 3 sacked RAB officers

PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

monthly briefing of the anti-graft

body at its headquarters in Shegunbagicha.
The three accused officers are
former RAB-11 commanding officer
Lieutenant Colonel Tareque Sayeed
Muhammad, retired army Major Arif
Hossain and retired navy Lieutenant
Commander Masud Rana.
ACC sources said that they had al-

ready started collecting necessary

clippings and preparing to bring the
RAB officers under scrutiny as allegations were made against them
that they were involved in the
murders of the seven in exchange
for money.
When contacted, ACC Chairman
M Bodiuzzaman said the anti-graft
body would enquire into the source
of income of the officers to find out if

there was any inconsistency between

their regular incomes or if any major
changes were made to their financial
accounts prior to the killing of the seven people in Narayanganj.
Earlier father-in-law of Nazrul
Islam, who along with six others
were abducted on April 27, alleged
that those three RAB officers killed
the seven persons in exchange for
Tk6 crore. l

23 detained in Ekramul murder case

PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

proper investigation. He, however,

said no key accused in the case was detained.
About the vehicle, he said that they
recovered a private car and two motorbikes.
They were found abandoned in the
Birinchi area in Feni. We suspect that
the miscreants carried out their mission using those vehicles, he said.
Meanwhile, Ekramuls first namaze-janaza was held at Mizan Maidan in
the town at around 9am while the second one was held on the Fulgazi Pilot
High School grounds.
Communications Minister Obaidul
Quader, local lawmaker and Awami
League district unit General Secretary
Nizam Uddin Hazari and lawmaker Shirin Sultana were among the many who
attended the janazas.
After the Janaza, Obaidul Quader
told reporters that it was a planned
murder since Ekrams car was set on
fire by using gunpowder and petrol.

Ekramul Haque was buried in his

family graveyard after the last janaza
at his Banduya Daulatpur village of the
upazila, said Rezaul Haque, Ekrams elder brother.
Meanwhile, Fulgazi locals staged
demonstrations yesterday and put barricades on the Porshuram Road of the
upazila, demanding punishment of
Ekrams killers. The blockade suspended traffic movement in the area from
1:30pm to 8pm.
The demonstrators announced a
daylong hartal in Fulgazi today, Abdul
Alim, general secretary of the Fulgazi Awami League unit, told the Dhaka
Tribune.
The medical team of the Chittagong
Medical College Hospital (CMCH) has
collected Ekrams DNA samples for forensic tests.
Dr Pradip Kumar Nath of the CMCH
Forensic Department carried out a
post mortem on the dead body in the
CMCH Morgue on Tuesday at around
|5.30pm.

He told the Dhaka Tribune that they

collected DNA samples from Ekramuls
teeth and bones and forwarded those
to the One-stop Crisis Centre (OCC) of
the CMCH while sources of the OCC
said that the samples were further
forward to the Dhaka Medical College
Hospital.
Generally it takes about a month
to get the results of DNA tests, but in
case of emergencies, it can be done in
15 days, the doctor said.
Abu Jafor Mohammad Omar Faruk,
officer-in-charge of the Panchlaish Police Station in Chittagong city who was
present during the post-mortem, said
Ekrams entire body was burnt.
A bullet wound was found on
his back which indicates that he was
also shot, apart from being burnt,
he said.
A special police team from Chittagong visited Feni to determine the
motive behind the attack and help the
on-going investigation, said Paritosh
Ghosh, the SP of Feni. l

Was it intra - or inter-party feud?

PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

The Dhaka Tribune has also contacted Joynal Hazari about the report published in his weekly.
He said: It [the allegation about
forced disappearances] is an open secret but nobody has the courage to
bring it out to people.
He then told this correspondent to
find out more clues about the murder.
According to sources, Ekram was
known as the right-hand man of Joynal
Hazari in the 1990s.
He was also a party of the steering
committee, formed by the former lawmaker that used to collect tolls, extort,
mug, manipulate tenders and carry out
other criminal activities.
After the BNP came to power in
2001, both Ekram and Joynal left Fulgazi.
After they came back, Ekram defeated Joynal become the upazila chairman
in the 2009 elections. Soon after be-

coming the chairman, he established

his own den in the area and took control over all tenders and government
projects that were implemented there.
He came to be known as the tender
emperor of Feni.
The Dhaka Tribune has learnt from
some former local politicians that Nizam
Hazari, the current MP of the area who
emerged in the scene only in 2001, won
in the national election taking advantage of the rivalry between the duo.
Awami League leader Nizams name
was also mentioned in the Shaptahik
Hazarika report.
Things began to pacify between
Ekram and Joynal after a clash of interest developed between Nizam and
Ekram.
Nizam, as the local MP, wanted to
control the local tenders, but Ekram
would not give up his hold. Last year,
Ekram was attacked by a group of
Nizams men centring tenders of the

district diabetic hospital.

Recently, Joynal, angered by Nizam
becoming MP from the Awami League,
started supporting Ekram.
Local political leaders believe that
with the death of Ekram, the Awami League will lose its footing in the
upazila because now there is nobody to
contest against BNP leader Minar.
Abdur Rahman, the Feni unit Awami
League president, told the Dhaka Tribune that Ekram might have been killed
because of conflicts created during the
upazila election, held on March 15.
He, however, refused giving any detail saying it would not be a good idea.
MP Nizam, also secretary of the district unit Awami League, snubbed out
allegations that Ekram had been killed
over intra-party conflict.
Claiming that the stories of his conflict with Ekram were baseless, he
demanded exemplary punishment for
the killers. l

Technology (Buet). The army is looking

after the security of the project.
The mega project of the 6.15km
Padma bridge, which will connect 21
southern districts with the capital, is
expected to complete by the end of
2017 or early 2018.
The World Bank, which pledged $1.2
billion loan for the project, halted its
fund, raising corruption allegations in
2012.
Communication Minister Obaidul
Quader on Monday disclosed that the
China Major Bridge had got the construction work of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge.
Speaking at a discussion in the capital, he said it would take two more
weeks to complete all the procedures

and the Chinese company might be

given the work order within the next
three weeks if the cabinet committee
approves the financial proposal.
The work order for river training
of the Padma will be given by next August. The construction of the main Padma bridge will be completed by the end
of 2017 or the beginning of 2018, the
minister added.
China Major Bridge Engineering Co
Ltd was established on November 01,
2004 under the sponsorship of China Zhongtie Major Bridge Engineering Group Co Ltd in association with
Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corporation, China Railway Tunnel Group
Co Ltd, China Railway Shanhaiguan
Bridge Group Co Ltd and China Acad-

emy of Railway Sciences after restructuring and merging the assets in bridge,
road and railway construction and other civil work owned by China Zhongtie.
As per data up to June 2006, with a
total asset of $851.48 million, six subsidiary companies, nine sub-companies and a lot of offices both at home
and abroad, the China Major Bridge
possesses 2,434 sets of construction
equipment and plants and various
cranes ranging from 5t to 3,000t with
a value of $70.06 million and advanced
computerised design, construction and
management systems. With a fleet of
12,000 employees, including 5,800
engineers and technicians, the annual revenue earning of the China Major
Bridge is $2 billion. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Bombarded with questions, Rawshan Graft cases against 3

BNP leaders to continue
Ershad loses her temper
n Nazmus Sakib

n Manik Miazee
Leader of the Opposition Rawshan
Ershad yesterday lost her temper in the
face of a volley of questions from the
media.
It was a views-exchange meeting
with journalists on the parliament
premises. She talked to journalists for
about 40 minutes but she never gave a
direct answer.
When journalists said the Jatiya Party was a pet opposition party in the
public perception, Rawshan Ershad
snapped back.
Is it because we do not fight, we do
not throw files and boycott parliament
sessions that you people label us with
such a name? she snarled. People
have never seen an opposition like us.
The responsibility of the opposition is to help the government run its
state affairs smoothly for five years and
that is the role we are playing in the
parliament.
In response to a question she said
the January 5 election was a must for
the constitution and democracy.
When asked if they will demand any
mid-term election she said: If people
want, then there can be another election but the Jatiya Party is not taking
any initiative to this end right now.
About the seven murders in
Narayanganj, Rawshan said it was an
isolated incident. We formed a human chain there but I could not visit
Narayanganj as I was ill.

Opposition Leader Rawshan Ershad speaks at a views-exchange meeting with journalists on parliament premises
She denied answering to the questions of Narayanganj murders any further saying: It is a subjudice matter
and the case is under investigation.
On May 16, the JaPa leader said:
About 16 crore people live in Bangladesh. In a densely populated country,

such type of abductions and killings are

isolated incidents and everyone cannot
be blamed for it.
However, in the yesterdays programme, she avoided commenting on
the issue saying that the government
should decentralise the capital to curb

DHAKA TRIBUNE

such crimes.
Responding to the question on Indian election, Rawshan said no comparison should be made between the
election of India and Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has so many things to
learn from India. l

The top court yesterday paved the way

for continuing trial proceedings against
BNP Standing Committee members
Moudud Ahmed and Khandaker
Mosharraf Hossain, and Partex Group
Chairman MA Hashem, also a former
BNP lawmaker, in separate corruption
cases.
On the other hand, the apex court
upheld the acquittal of Mohiuddin
Khan Alamgir MP, currently a member
of Awami League Advisory Council, in
another corruption case.
A four-member Appellate Division
bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain delivered the judgements in separate cases.
The case against Moudud was filed
by the Anti-Corruption Commission
on September 16, 2007 for acquiring
illegally property worth around Tk7.4
crore as well as concealing an amount
of around Tk4.4 crore as his income.
Later, the former BNP minister filed
a petition under the Code of Criminal
Procedure seeking annulment of the
case which was turned down by the
High Court on October 7, 2012.
Gulshan police submitted the charge
sheet on May 14, 2008.
Khandaker Mosharraf is facing a corruption case of Tk15 crore filed on January 10, 2008. Charge sheet in the case
was submitted on September 17 the
same year. The BNP leader later lodged
a plea seeking cancellation of the case
which was rejected by the High court

on October 16, 2012.

ACC counsel Khurshid Alam Khan
told the Dhaka Tribune that the two
former ministers had obtained stay orders over the High Court judgements.
But the Appellate Division yesterday
dismissed their appeals.
The ACC on December 5, 2007 filed
a corruption case against MA Hashem
and submitted the charge sheet on
September 30, 2008. On January 19,
2012, the High Court quashed the case
following a petition of the former BNP
lawmaker.
The apex court yesterday set aside
the High Court judgement allowing an
appeal of the ACC.
Former home minister MK Alamgirs
acquittal in a corruption case was upheld yesterday by the top court.
The ACC filed the case on March
6, 2007 for illegally amassing wealth
worth Tk3.27 crore. A lower court on
July 26 the same year jailed him for 13
years.
However, the High Court on July
23, 2009 cancelled his punishment following an appeal filed by the Awami
League leader.
On July 4, 2010, the Appellate
Division upheld the High Court
judgement dismissing an appeal
of the ACC. Later, the commission
filed a petition seeking review of the
verdict which was disposed of with
observation yesterday. But the court
did not disclose the observation which
will be available after the release of full
text of the judgement. l

Moudud to be charged for grabbing Zia trust cases deferred till June 19
n
Tk300cr government property
Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

n Tribune Report
The Anti-Corruption Commission will
soon submit a charge sheet against BNP
Standing Committee member Moudud
Ahmed and his brother on charge of
grabbing a government land worth
about Tk300 crore.
Following a five-month-long investigation, the ACC has found Moudud
Ahmed and his brother Manzur Ahmed,
now living in London, responsible for
occupying the government property
valued Tk300 crore since 1978 through

different fake documents and abusing

power, an official said.
The charge sheet was approved at a
regular meeting of the ACC yesterday.
On December 17 last year, the ACC
filed a case against the duo in this regard.
The case says the house in the capitals Gulshan area belongs to Mohammad
Ehsan and his wife Inze Maria Flatz, two
Pakistani nationals who left the country
before the 1971 Liberation War.
Following their departure, the house
on 1.13bigha (0.374 acre) land on Gulshan Avenue was included in the list of

Prosecution in Mobarak
case stumbles
n Udisa Islam
At the end of the argument session in
the trial of Mobarak Hossain alias Mobarak Ali, the prosecution yesterday
failed to give explanations to many
questions posed by the International
Crimes Tribunal.
Later the tribunal set May 27 for further presentation of arguments in the
trial and asked the prosecution to appear with the replies to their questions.
Yesterday was set for submitting the
defence argument and rebuttal of the
prosecution. According to the usual
procedure, the case was supposed to be
kept for verdict after the rebuttal.
Defence counsel Tajul Islam submitted on legal points. He claimed that the
prosecution wanted to convict Mobarak
but they could not decide how they
could do so and therefore they became
confused. This situation has blurred
the case. He said the case was nothing
but an evil attempt to convict his client
who is a victim of the conspiracy.
Tajul claimed that the documents in
which the prosecution had relied upon
were not authentic and the accused
could not be convicted on the basis of
that. He also brushed aside the prosecutions suggestion that Mobarak had
been a razakar commander of Akhaura
during the 1971 Liberation War.
Later, prosecutor Md Shahidur Rahman stood for giving his rebuttal. There
he faced too many questions to which
he failed to give any answers.
Justice M Enayetur Rahim, chair-

man of the three-member panel, at first

drew the attention of the prosecutor to
the fact that he had submitted documents of around 170 pages, but referred
to only 10 or 15 pages before the court.
It seems that the investigation agency
handed over the documents to you and
you just rendered it before the tribunal.
Couple of days ago, the tribunal asked
the prosecutor to make sure that the list
of razakars was collected from the deputy commissioner of Brahmanbaria.
And at the final stage, when the tribunal
reminded the prosecutor about it, Shahidur could not answer sufficiently.
Justice Rahim also showed how the
investigation officer had left a footnote
on a page of the prosecution documents
and the prosecutor produced the documents to the tribunal including that
page even without erasing the footnote.
The footnote mentioned that the document was photocopied and not attested.
When Shahidur pointed out on a
clerical mistake where there were
two versions of time (am and pm) in
the formal charge, the tribunal said:
We cannot change any court record on
your verbal submission.
Shahidur with the help of his senior
colleague Syed Haider Ali faced the tribunal and concluded promising that
they would submit a petition for making the necessary corrections.
Defence lawyer Tajul opposed it
saying in that case, they would need to
cross examine the witnesses. The tribunal then said: You will get time for
hearing on this petition. l

governments abandoned property on

January 21, 1972.
On August 2, 1973, Moudud prepared
a fake power of attorney of Maria Flatz to
grab the land and used it to gain his own
interest. Since then, he had been living
in the house showing himself as a tenant
of Maria Flatz, the case document says.
While holding different posts as
minister during 1978-2006, Moudud
tried to grab the house misusing his
power. He made the fake documents
in the name of his expatriate brother
Manzur Ahmed. l

Victims wife
testifies against
Qaisar
n Udisa Islam
A new prosecution witness in the case
against former Jatiya Party state minister Syed Mohammad Qaisar said yesterday that the accused and his cohorts
had burnt their house and abducted
her husband after torturing him in
front of her eyes in Habiganj during the
1971 Liberation War.
Nisamon, 71, claimed that to get
back her husband, she paid Qaisar
Tk8,000, when the accused demanded Tk10,000. The witness, Golam Rouf
Masters wife, said she had known the
accused since Qaisars uncle was her
grandfathers neighbour.
In her statement, Nisamon said the
accused and members of the Qaisar
Bahini had surrounded their house on
eighth Ashar (third month of Bangla
calendar) of 1971, seeking her brotherin-law Golam Noor.
When my husband tried to flee, Qaisar chased and caught him and started to beat him brutally. Qaisar continuously asked him about Noor and my
husband answered in the negative.
When my father-in-law came to rescue
my husband, they started to beat him
too, she stated.
She said: My father-in-law died just
16 days after the torture.
The accused and his men then burnt
the house. They took my husband,
blindfolded with his hands tied behind
his back. Following this, we went here
and there to find him but failed. My
father went to Qaisar to find out the
whereabouts of my husband and the
accused refused to do anything, she
said.
At the end of deposition, she
claimed that the accused had demanded Tk10,000 to free her husband. Golam Rouf was freed after the family paid
Qaisar Tk8,000.
Defence counsel SM Shahjahan
cross examined her. At the end of the
questioning, the tribunal 2 adjourned
the trial until Sunday.
Meanwhile,
defence
counsel
Mizanul Islam ended the crossexamination of the prosecutions
seventh witness in the case against
Maulana Abdus Subhan. l

A Dhaka court yesterday deferred

for the second time the recording of
testimonies in Zia Charitable Trust and
Zia Orphanage Trust corruption cases.
Judge Basudev Roy of the Third Special Judges Court fixed June 19 following a defence petition.
On April 21, the witness deposition
was deferred until yesterday following

another defence petition.

Defence lawyer Sanaullah Miah said
the time plea had been lodged since
two petitions regarding appointment
of Judge Basudev Roy were pending
with the High Court. The hearing will
be held on May 25.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia filed the
petitions on May 12 seeking a rule upon
the authorities concerned asking why
the judges appointment should not be

declared illegal as no official gazette notification had been published following his
appointment. The petition also sought a
stay order on the cases trial proceedings.
The former prime minister, her son
Tarique Rahman and others were indicted on March 19 in the two cases.
On April 13, Khaleda filed two petitions
with the High Court to annul the lower
court order. The court rejected the petitions on April 23. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, May 22, 2014

More engagement
in place to solve
Rohingya issue
Foreign secretary terms deficit of trust
the main problem between the countries

n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Bangladesh and Myanmar will be more
engaged with each other in an attempt
to solve the Rohingya issue in the border areas.
I am told that the Myanmar president has given an indication that we
should move in that direction. We have
submitted an MoU [on security dialogue]. Hopefully that will be signed
this time around and we will have focused discussions on security issues
that are hurting the relationship between us and them, including the issue
of the movement of the people in that
area, said Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Huq.
He was speaking at a seminar titled
Contemporary Thoughts on Enhancing Bangladesh-Myanmar Relations
organised by the Bangladesh Institute
of International and Strategic Studies
in the city, yesterday.
A delegation from the Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International
Studies (MISIS) also attended the programme.
Last year, Shahidul had proposed
having the security dialogue during
the foreign secretary-level meeting
between Bangladesh and Myanmar
in Dhaka. The Myanmar deputy
foreign minister will come to Dhaka
to have a foreign office consultation
on June 18.
The foreign secretary said the Rohingya issue is a problem in the bilateral relationship and Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina, during her meeting
with Myanmar President U Thein Sein,
had formally offered Bangladeshs assistance in solving it.
Hasina also offered economic as-

Noorjehan
Murshids birth
anniversary today
n Tribune Report
The 89th birth anniversary of Noorjehan Murshid; a
leading
political
figure, educationist, social reformer
and writer, will be
observed today.
Noorjehan, who was born on May 22
in 1925, who worked towards establishing a democratic and secular society.
She actively took part in the movement
against the British colonial rule in this
sub-continent and also against the Pakistani military rule. Her speech delivered
at a joint session of Loksava and Rajyasava of India in 1971, as a special representative of the Bangladesh government in
exile, facilitated Indias all-out support
for the liberation of Bangladesh.
A distinguished activist for womens
empowerment, Noorjehan was elected a member of the then East Pakistan
provincial legislative assembly and became first state minister for health and
social welfare affairs of independent
Bangladesh in 1972.
Throughout her life, Noorjehan had
complete conviction in progressive
ideals for a modern and democratic
Bangladesh, clean politics, a just society and equal rights. l

sistance and expertise, if needed, to

improve the situation in the Rakhine
state, Shahidul said. For the past year,
the foreign office has tried to create a
space to have a dialogue to build the
trust, he added.
Shahidul said the main problem between the two countries is a deficit of
trust, stating, That is the main issue...
The most important thing is to change
the mindset.
Bangladesh has shown all kinds of
positive gestures as the prime minister
has directed everyone to create the
most and best possible relationship
with Myanmar, said the foreign secretary.
Chiefs of three forces army, navy
and air visited Myanmar while the
Myanmar naval chief already visited
Dhaka and the air force chief will be
visiting Bangladesh, he said.
Director General of the Border
Guard of Bangladesh will be going to
Myanmar next month after a gap of five
or six years to increase engagement between the countries in order to secure
the border, he added.
For the first time in 42 years, a
Myanmar Frigate was allowed to cross
the Naf River into Bangladesh and it is
expected that Naypyidaw will reciprocate such a positive gesture, Shahidul
said.
A member of the MISIS, Ambassador
U Wynn Lwin said Bangladesh, Myanmar and the UNHCR have agreed that
after verification, Rohingyas in Bangladesh will be accepted by the Myanmar
side and the process to give them citizenship will begin.
He said many Rohingyas have rejected the recent census in which they
should have been accepted. l

Litchi growers in Gazipur has got a bumper production this year. They gathered at the Raniganj Bazar to sell their produces yesterday

MPO still uncertain for new schools

n Asif Showkat Kallol and
Mushque Wadud

Uncertainty surrounding the fate of

the Monthly Payment Order (MPO)
continues, with the Finance Ministry
and Education Ministry at loggerheads
with each other on whether to allocate
funds in the next budget to bring in
new non-government educational institutions under the scheme.
At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office on Saturday, Finance Minister AMA Muhith
said there will be no fund allocated in
the next national budget for the MPO
scheme; a remark that was opposed by
several ministers, including Education
Minister Nurul Islam Nahid.
A Finance Division official who attended Saturdays meeting quoted
Muhith as saying the decision against
the MPO was made as many lawmakers

are misusing MPO funds to acquire illegal financial benefits.

Although there have been many
graft allegations surrounding the MPO
scheme, many lawmakers and bureaucrats have been demanding that new
educational institutions be included
under the scheme; a demand which
has also been raised by teachers since
the inclusion of new institutions was
suspended in 2010-11.
Sources said the prime minister also
directed Muhith to solve the MPO dilemma, as many lawmakers and different ministries are urging for it.
Even though Muhith had previously been vocal against the MPO scheme,
the minister recently backtracked from
his stance on the inclusion of educational institutions in the MPO, reportedly in the face of mounting pressures
from the lawmakers.
At a pre-budget meeting with the

parliamentary standing committees

last week, Muhith said he will restart
the MPO scheme, adding that he seeks
to carry out reforms to ensure that the
scheme will not be exploited.
Sources in the Finance Division also
hinted that the budget for the next fiscal
which is scheduled to be announced
on June 5 might elaborate on including new institutions under the MPO.
When asked about the issue, Major (retd) Rafikul Islam (Bir Uttam), a
member of the parliamentary body on
the Planning Ministry, said lawmakers
will not be able to face their electorates
if special allocation is not given under
the MPO. The discrimination in selecting institutes under the MPO scheme
should also be abolished, he added.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said: We are hoping the problem
surrounding the MPO scheme will be
solved soon as Prime Minister Sheikh

Elections to three upazila parishads

Madaripur sadar, Nokla in Sherpur and
Banchharampur in Brahmanbaria will
be held on June 26.
The Election Commission announced the polls schedule of these
three upazila parishads yesterday. The
commission has also fixed the date for
the polls of the postponed Narayanganj
Bandar upazila parishad which had
been stayed by the High Court. The
election for the Narayanganj Bandar
was supposed to be held on May 19.
Deputy Secretary of the EC Mihir
Sarwar Morshed said the last date for
filing the nomination paper is May
29 and the nominations will be scrutinised on June 3 as per the schedule.

Hasina is looking into the matter.

Claiming that a large number of
schools and colleges should be under
the MPO system, the minister however, admitted that the government has
its financial constraints.
Although there were allegations of
misusing MPO funds, there was tremendous pressure from difference quarters
for the inclusion of new institutions under the MPO scheme, Nahid added.
According to the Education Ministry, over 6,000 schools and colleges are
eligible to be included under the MPO.
The government brought 1,624
schools and colleges under the MPO
system and allocated Tk31 crore in the
budget for the 2010-11 fiscal, before suspending the scheme for new institutions.
The country currently has 352,661
teachers, at 25,894 educational institutions, who are enjoying benefits under
the MPO scheme. l

134 private hajj agencies fined Tk77 crore JU student dies in road
n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The Ministry of Religious Affairs has

fined 134 private hajj agencies Tk77
crore for their involvement in irregularities and mismanagement, including human trafficking and providing substandard services for last years hajj pilgrims.
The committee is said to have
recommended cancellation of licences
of eight agencies and suspension of
22 while clearing seven companies of
the charges. The other agencies were
fined different amounts, the highest
being Tk1.82 crore and the lowest
Tk75,000.
A three-member review committee,
headed by Religious Affairs Secretary
Chowdhury Md Babul Hasan, reviewed
the allegations against the agencies
and unanimously took the decision to
fine those. The other two members of
the committee are Md Shahiduzzaman,
joint secretary (administration), and
Md Abdus Sakur, joint secretary (planning) of the same ministry.
Of the agencies that were penalised,
United International Travels was fined
Tk1.48 crore, Cascades Travels and
Tours Tk1.82 crore, Janus Travels and
Tours Tk1.04 crore, and Munira Travels
and Tours Tk80 lakh.
Agencies that have had their licences suspended are Bright Travels, Chittagong Royal Air Services, Chittagong
Air International, Sincere Trade and
Tourism, Air Connections Travel and

Tours, Al Hazi Travels and Tours, Irana

Air International, Fiza Air Travels and
Tours, Ahsania Malaysia Hajj Mission,
Shamima Travels, Kibla Travels Limited, Anjum Overseas, Nayem International Travels and Tours, Al Habib
Hajj Group, Fahmid Travel and Tours,
First One International, Imam Travels,
MS Grand Sikder Air Travels, Mabruran
Hajj Agency, Makka Babe Jannat Travels & Tours, S Ahmed Tours and Travels, and Ullash Tours and Travels.

A committee of the
Religious Affairs
Ministry recommends
cancellation of licences
of eight agencies and
suspension of 22 others
Licences of United International Travels,
Cascades Travels and Tours, Humayera
Hajj Travels, Janus Travels and Tours,
Jiarot E-Kaba Tours and Travels, Al Zia
Travels, Salam Trading International,
and Munira Travels and Tours were recommended to be cancelled.
Meanwhile, agencies that were relieved from the charges include Sadek
Travels, Al-Qibla Hajj Tours and Travels, Good Way Aviation & Tourism, Mymensingh Travels Agency, Saad Uswah
Travels and Tours, Sajid Hajj Travels and
Tours, and South Asian Air Bangladesh.

The measures were taken following investigation into allegations of

human trafficking in the name of hajj,
violation of commitment to providing
comfortable accommodation, inadequate transport arrangement, supply
of substandard food, and inadequate
arrangement of tour guides.
Jahangir Alam, deputy secretary
(hajj), told the Dhaka Tribune a
committee was supposed to be formed
earlier to take punitive measures
against 193 private hajj agencies but
later on, the review committee was
formed to hear from the accused hajj
agencies.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs,
in a circular on May 18, directed all
agencies to deposit the fines in the
government treasury through chalan
(consignment receipt) code number (13501-0001-1901) and asked those to inform the ministry by submitting copies
of the chalan.
If an agency fails to pay the fine by
June 1, it will not be allowed to send
pilgrims.
A total of 87,854 pilgrims performed
hajj in October last year. Of them, 262
have not returned from Saudi Arabia.
Jahangir Alam said the punitive actions had been taken upon recommendations from both Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia officials.
The move will be a warning for other
agencies so that they do not involve in
any illegal practice, he added. l

crash, students torch

four vehicles
n JU Correspondent
The students of Jahangirnagar University torched and vandalised several
vehicles on the Dhaka-Aricha highway yesterday, after a JU student was
crushed to death by a pick-up van in
front of the universitys Dairy Farm
gate.
The deceased, Fatema Akhter, was
the daughter of Afsar Alim of the Sholabaria area under the Ataikula police
station in Pabna. She was a residential
student of the Pritilata Hall of the university and a third year student of the
JU Anthropology Department, sources
said.
Witness said Fatema and some
other passengers were waiting for a
bus at around 4:45pm in front of the
Dairy Farm gate, in order to return to
Dhaka.
At this moment, a pick-up van
driver lost control, and hit Fatema and
two others, sources said. Critically
injured, they were rushed to a private
clinic in Savar, the Super Clinic, where
the on-duty doctor declared Fatema
dead.
Hundreds of JU students demon-

Three upazila parishad

polls on June 26
n Mohammad Zakaria

BANGLAR CHOKH

The last day for withdrawing nominations is June 8, he added.

June 9 has been fixed as the date of
the Narayanganj Bandar upazila parishad polls.
Meanwhile, the EC has so far held
elections for 471 upazilas out of 487.
The first phase of polls in 97 upazilas
was held on February 19, the second
phase in 116 upazilas was held on February 27, the third phase in 81 upazilas
was held on March 15, the fourth phase
in 91 upazilas was held on March 23 and
the fifth phase in 73 upazilas was held
on March 31.
Earlier, the commission announced
that polls for the newly formed Noldanga upazila in Natore and Rangabali in
Patuakhali will be held on June 9 and
19, respectively. l

strated on the Dhaka-Aricha highway

and put a blockade on the highway
after they learned about the incident.
The blockade resulted in huge traffic
congestion on the both sides of the
road. Agitated students also torched
four passenger buses and vandalised at
least 25 vehicles on the road at around
8pm, sources said.
Meanwhile, the injured Rehana Akter and Nurul Islam were shifted to the
Dhaka Medical College Hospital when
their conditions deteriorated, sources
added.
Confirming the incident, JU Proctor
Professor Dr Tapan Kumar Saha told
the Dhaka Tribune: A pick-up van
crashed into Fatema and two other
people. Fatema died on the spot. The
driver and the vehicle were detained
by the Savar police.
The JU proctor said the authorities
held a meeting after the accident and
they are trying to pacify the agitated
students. They also assured the students that they will take all possible
steps regarding the accident, he added.
Officer-in-Charge of the Ashulia police station Badrul Alam was not available to comment. l

Court summons
225 in arson case
n Hasibur Rahman Bilu

Japanese Ambassador Shiro Sadoshima addresses a press conference at the National Press Club yesterday

NASHIRUL ISLAM

A Bogra court yesterday summoned 225

accused, including Nandigram upazila
parishad chairman, in the Nandigram
Upazila Parishad Complex arson case.
All the accused were ordered to appear before the court today.
Nandigram OC Md Shahjahan Ali
said the case was filed after several
hundred BNP-Jamaat activists led by
Bogra district BNPs Religious Affairs
Secretary Fazle Rabbi Toha and upazila unit Jamaat Secretary Monjurul
Rahman torched the upazila parishad
complex. The incident occurred surrounding the rumour that the image of
former Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain
Sayedee appeared on the moon.
The summon order was passed after
police filed charge sheet against 225 people, including newly elected Nandigram
UP Chairman Nurul Islam Mandal. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Government to empower
upazila parishads financially n

Impasse at Hili land port

results in loss of Tk20cr

n Mohosinul Karim
The government is likely to revive the financial system of the upazila parishads
by amending the local government act
to empower them financially to enhance
their domination on the public servants.
The initiative was taken considering
the demands of the upazila parishad
chairmen and following a recommendation of the national committee for
reviewing the inconsistencies in the
upazila parishad law.
The local government ministry has
prepared a proposal for amending
the law in the light of the recommendations put forward by the national
committee led by Cabinet Secretary M
Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.
It would be sent to the prime minister first and then to the cabinet, ministry officials told the Dhaka Tribune.
However, Monzur Hossain, senior

secretary of the Local Government

Ministry, refused to make any comment in this regard.
Deputy Secretary Sobur Hossain
told the Dhaka Tribunethat the initiative was at its primary stages.It is not
yet finalised. The ministry is considering the recommendations of the national committee, he said.
Officials said the national committee had recently approved the recommendations of a sub-committee led by
Local Government Departments Additional Secretary Shah Kamal.
The sub-committee proposed the
government to revive the 1984 upazila
parishad financial system to empower
the local government bodies.
According to the proposal, the ministries and divisions will hand over the
funds to the local government division.
The division will disburse the fund in
favour of the upazilaparishads.

According to ministry officials, financial authority of the parishadswill

eliminate the conflict between the upazila level government high officials and
the upazila chairmen.
The leaders of the upazila parishad
chairmens association also agreed to
the governments thought.
Harun-or-Rashid Hawlader, a leader
of the association, told the Dhaka Tribune: The initiative is very positive. It
will establish the parishads authority
over the public servants, if the law is
amended in line with the decision.
He also suggested the government
to amend the provision that governed
the nomination process of the members of the upazilaparishad.
The chairmen of union parishad
dominatethe process of nominating
members for the upazila bodies even
though they are not elected members,
he added. l

Our Correspondent, Dinajpur

The continued strike at the Hili port,

the second largest land port of the
country, has caused losses worth Tk20
crore over the last eight days.
SM Maniruzzaman Chowdhury, revenue officer (customs) of the port, said
importers and exporters operating at
the port have incurred losses amounting
Tk12 crore over the last eight days due to
the continued strike at the Hili port.
The government was also deprived
of about Tk8 crore, which would have
been raised in taxes.
Hili Customs C&F Association, Kuli
Sramik Samannoi Committee, Truck Sramik Samannoi Parishad and Truck Owners Association called the strike, making
a three-point demand, including an end
to their alleged harassment by the BGB.
Yesterday was the eighth day of the strike.
Hili C&F Agent Association Secretary Shahinur Islam Shahin said about
150 Indian trucks, carrying imported
products, enter Bangladesh daily. Over

1,500 such trucks are stuck on the Indian side of the border. As a result, perishable products like onion, fish and fruits
have gone bad, he added.
On the Bangladesh side of the border, about 110 trucks have also been
waiting to enter India.
SM Hayder, assistant manager of the
ports private operator Panama Port Ltd,
said: We are incurring losses worth Tk50
lakh daily and the porters who are dependent on the port activities are miserable
because they are currently jobless.
Harun-ur Rashid, the leader of the
Hili Land Port Importers Association,
blamed the Border Guard Bangladesh 3
battalion for the strike, because the local importers are protesting the system
the BGB adopted on April 27 of issuing
a pass card, the Manifesto Card (the
card states production place and date of
products), to the Indian trucks, claiming it to be a time consuming system.
Harun also threatened to go for
tougher movement unless their demands were met. l

European Union
and Oxfam
organise human
rights fair
n Tribune Report

Oxfam and the European Union jointly organised a human rights fair in
Sylhet with a festive inauguration to
celebrate the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development,
yesterday.
Four journalists were honoured at
the event for their courageous reporting on the rights of the indigenous
people.
European Union Delegation Chief
William Hanna, Oxfam Country Director Snehal Soneji, Ethnic Community Development Organisation
Executive
Director
Lakshimkanta
Singh and many other representatives from civil society, media and local administration made speeches at
the inauguration programme. Human
rights activist Sultana Kamal was the
chief guest.
William Hanna said: Bangladesh
has a rich culture with diverse communities of ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples, but they often suffer
because their rights are violated. To
protect their rights, the whole society
must stand together.
Here in Sylhet, we have also seen
the important role the media plays in
protecting the rights of the most vulnerable.
The Human Rights Fair was organized under the project Strengthening
the Voice of Human Rights Defenders
to Protect the Rights and Entitlements
of Ethnic Minorities.
Total funding for the project, under
the European Initiative for Democracy
and Human Rights (EIDHR), amounts
to 375,000. Currently, the EIDHR is
funding more than 1200 projects in
over 100 countries. l

WEATHER
THUNDERSHOWER
WITH RAIN

THURSDAY, MAY 22
DHAKA
TODAY
TOMORROW
SUN SETS 6:37PM
SUN RISES 5:13AM
FORECAST FOR TODAY
Dhaka

39

28

Chittagong

34

27

Rajshahi

43

29

Rangpur

40

26

Khulna

40

27

Barisal

38

28

Sylhet

37

24

Coxs Bazar

34

27

YESTERDAYS HIGH AND LOW

43.2C
Chuadanga

25.0C
Sylhet

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES
Fajar
Sunrise
Zohr
Asr
Magrib
Esha

3:48am
5:13am
11:55am
4:35pm
6:37pm
8:02pm
Source: IslamicFinder.org

Transport workers in Rajshahi barricade the Rajshahi bus stand intersection as part of their strike, demanding withdrawal of Nosimon, Korimon and other illegal human hauliers from
the highways
DHAKA TRIBUNE

Guidelines for examination of rape

victims near completion
n Moniruzzman Uzzal
The Health Ministry is set to finalise a
comprehensive guideline for how to
examine rape victims and submit it to
the High Court.
Dr
Habibuzzaman
Chowdhury,
member secretary of the 10-member
committee that is preparing the guideline, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday
that a comprehensive guideline is almost finalised; at the most recent committee meeting on May 12.
Another meeting would be held
tomorrow to make any final adjustment to the guideline if needed, then
submitted before the court soon, said
Habibuzzaman, also the head of forensic medicine department of Dhaka
Medical College.
According to the guideline, a copy of
which has been acquired by the Dhaka
Tribune, the police station would have to

record the rape case within three hours of

primary investigation and proceed with
sensitivity when handling the victim.
The victim would have to be sent
quickly to a nearby hospital or health

Dr Habibuzzaman says
a meeting will be held
tomorrow to make any
final adjustment to the
guidelines if needed
complex, where her medicolegal examination would be carried out by the
emergency department. The examination must be done with the victims
consent and in the presence of an NGO
worker or female police personnel.
The guideline also reads that no male
doctors will be allowed to be present

Thursday, May 22, 2014

during the examination, while recommending that female doctors and nurses
must be appointed in every concerned
health facilities that are carrying out the
medicolegal examination of rape victims.
With the exception of emergencies,
doctors will not be allowed to conduct
a two-finger test, while strict confidentiality will have to be maintained
throughout the medicolegal process.
The court will also have to be sensitive
while recording the statement of the victim, while the victim is in safe custody
by the magistrate court. The judge concerned will also have to finish the proceedings of the case as soon as possible.
On October 9 last year, Justice Mirza
Hussain Haider and Justice Khurshid
Alam Sarkar of the High Court Division
Bench issued a ruling, directing the
Health Ministry to prepare a comprehensive guideline for the examination
of rape victims. l

Temperature
crosses 42 degrees
in Rajshahi
n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi
As the ongoing heat wave continues to
loom over the entire nation, residents
of Rajshahi yesterday experienced the
highest temperature recorded this year.
Temperature in the district had been
on the rise for the past few days, and
yesterday it was recorded at 42.1 degree Celsius. Anowara Begum, senior
observer at the districts met office,
told the Dhaka Tribune that it was not
only the highest temperature this year,
but in the past 14 years.
The last time the temperature
crossed 42 degree Celsius in Rajshahi was
in 2000, she said. The scorching heat has
made life miserable for the Rajshahi residents. The frequent power cuts caused
by the increased power consumption has
only worsened the situation. l

ACC questions
Muktijoddha
Council officials
n Tribune Report
The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday questioned a deputy secretary
and five officials from Jatiya Muktijoddha Council with regard to its probe
against six secretaries who had allegedly forged freedom fighter certificates to
extend their retirement age.
Liberation War Affairs Ministry Deputy
Secretary M Nur Alam, Councils Director
General Syed Mahbub Ahsan, directors
AKM Khairul Alam and AKM Ali Ahad
Khan, Deputy Director Masudul Haque
and its Office Secretary Menhaz were
questioned at the ACC headquarters.
The ACC is currently conducting inquiries on how the six secretaries had
obtained freedom fighter certificates
prior to their retirement.
According to a circular, one has to declare himself as a freedom fighter at the
time of joining any service to avail the
benefits allotted to the freedom fighters.
Such claims may not be considered later.
The six secretaries, who are under
the ACC scrutiny, are Health Secretary
Niaz Uddin, Liberation War Affairs
Secretary KH Masud Siddiqui, Science
and Technology Affairs Secretary AKM
Amir Hossain, Housing and Public
Works Secretary Khandaker Shawkat
Hossain, Prime Ministers former secretary Mollah Waheduzzaman, and
Liberation War Affairs Joint Secretary
Abul Kashem Talukder. l

Transport strike causes

sufferings
n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi
The Rajshahi Bus Truck Malik Shromik
Oikya Parishad held a protest rally at the
citys bus terminal yesterday to bring
attention to their six-point demand.
Due to the strike, no vehicle left Rajshahi causing immense sufferings to
the commuters. The rally was held at
the Shaheed AHM Kamruzzaman Bus
Terminal around 4pm.
The bus owners and transport workers called the strike despite knowing
that their decision would cause suffering to people, said a commuter.
Suvomita Choudhury, a masters student of Rajshahi University, who was
also waiting for a bus for two hours in rail
gate area, finally started walking towards
the railway station to catch a train.
She told the Dhaka Tribune that the
transport workers in Bangladesh call

strike now and then for their own interest without considering the plight
of the commuters. Sources say the associations primary demand is stopping
of extortion by highway police. Their
other demands include stopping the
movement of three-wheelers (popularly known as nasimon, karimon), cancellation of road permits for CNG-run
auto rickshaws, reduction of renewal
fees for vehicles, and to discontinue
the BRTC bus services at upazila levels.
Rajshahi Road Transport Group
President Enamul Haque, General Secretary Munjur Rahman Pitar, among
others, spoke at the rally.
Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner
Mezbah Uddin Ahmed, however, said
he would convene a meeting immediately with the bus owners, workers,
and the officials concerned as soon as
possible to resolve the issue. l

Benapole mayor denies

abduction allegation
n Our Correspondent, Jessore
Benapole municipality Mayor Ashraful
Alam Liton has denied his involvement
in the alleged kidnapping of Tariqul
Alam Tuhin, panel mayor of the municipality.
Tuhin was my best friend. He was
my political fellow for 22 years. I am
not involved in his abduction, said
Liton while addressing a press conference at Jessore Press Club yesterday.
Some vested quarters are spreading the propaganda against me, he
observed.
Tuhin is also the former president
of Sharsha upazila unit of Chhatra
League. On May 18, his wife Salma
Akhter claimed at a press briefing that
her husband was abducted by RAB
onMarch 7 last year from the capital.
She also alleged Liton played a

role in her husbands abduction as he

(Tuhin) would protest against Litons
wrongdoings.
Tuhin disappeared onMarch 7 last
year after he went out of the NAM flat
of lawmaker Sheikh Afil Uddin around
11:30am. The last conversation we had
was around 9:17am. He has not returned since then, said Salma.
I think RAB abducted him as he was
on his way to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport because their activities
raised my suspicion, she further said.
In charge of Jessore camp of RAB 6,
Major Md Masudur Rahman said allegations against RAB officials suddenly
rose in the wake of some incidents in
the recent past.
RAB was not involved in the act. I
do not know what happened back then
because no complaint was lodged at
the time, he added. l

Mango traders display their produces at Baneshwar Haat in Rajshahi yesterday. Whole sellers and retailers of mango gather at Baneshwar
Haat to buy mangoes from the farmers
DHAKA TRIBUNE

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Thursday, May 22, 2014

20km Sirajganj
road project in
uncertainty
n Our Correspondent, Sirajganj
A cloud of uncertainty shrouds a
20-kilometre by-lane road construction
project in Sirajganj as it is yet to be finished, even though its deadline expired
in April 2012.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unveiled the Soydabad-Belkuchi-Enayetpur road project on April 9, 2011 after
roadwork on it had begun in October
2010.
Officials at the Roads and Highways
Department said they can neither replace National Civil Engineering Construction Limited with another contracting firm nor can they have the
project fast-tracked.
There is a risk that the project will
be delaying further or that it may be
scrapped for an uncertain period of
time in case the present contractors
cannot be replaced with another firm,
they explained.
Meanwhile, allegations have also
been raised against the firm for not
using the right measures of bitumen
and sand and for using low-quality
brick chips to the construct part of the
road.
On Saturday, Joint Secretary of the
Communication Ministry Mahbubur
Rahman visited the project and expressed his dissatisfaction with the
construction work done on the road.
He said lower proportions of sand
and bitumen have been used under
and above the road, respectively,
and warned the Roads and Highways
engineers to monitor the project
properly.
This correspondent visited the half
of the road that has thus far been completed and found cracks and potholes.
He also found the road had collapsed
in the recent rainfall because slopes
had not been made on both sides of the
road.
When questioned, former Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdul Latif

Biswas said he knew about all this and

had complained to the Communications Ministry about it quite a number
of times.
Sub-Assistant Engineer Iqbal Hossain said, We are embarrassed about
the project.
A team from the Communication
Ministry, led by its Joint Secretary
Mahbubur Rahman, visited the project
on Saturday and found irregularities in
the amount of sand used in some areas
of the constructed part of the road, he
added.
The joint secretary suggested setting that right as soon as possible, he
said.
Sub-Divisional Engineer-1 Ashraful
Islam frankly admitted that irregularities, slowness and delays have hampered the project.
The deadline for the project expired two years ago. The road construction cost was estimated in 2008 and so
it is not possible to have the work done
well now, he said.
We cannot fine the contractors or
post a new tender because it may further delay the project for an uncertain
period of time and so we are having
the project completed by the present
contractors as best as we can, he explained.
Executive Engineer at the Roads and
Highways Department Moniruzzaman
said, We appointed Dhakas National
Civil Engineering Construction Limited
in two agreements for the implementation of the project.
The first part of the project is
almost finished. The second part Belkuchi to Enayetpur of the project
will begin in the next fiscal year. If the
current contracting firm cannot do
that, we will find an alternative, he
added.
National Civil Engineering Construction Limiteds Project Manager
Yusuf Haidar Sujon Ahmed could not
be contacted over the phone. l

The Jamuna River is eroding the bank near Chandanbaish area in Sariakandi upazila of Bogra district

50 including UP
chairman injured
in clash
n Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj
At least 50 people including UP charman and women were injured yesterday in a clash between two rival groups
over previous enmity in Tarail upazila
of the district.
According to police and local sources,
two groups led by Azizul Haque and Hadis
Mia of Gojaria village in the upazila were
locked a firece clash with homemade
lethal weapons over previous enmity
around 10:30am at Gojaria area, leving 50
injured including Damiha Union Parishad
Chairman Mainuzzaman Nobab.
Of them, 30 were admitted to
Kishoreganj Adhunik Sadar Hospital
and Tarail Upazila Health Complex
while others were given first aid.
The UP chairman was injured as he
went to stop the clash. l

Erosion devouring arable land,

establishments on 4 riverbanks
n Our Correspondent, Bogra

n Our Correspondent, Kushtia

At least two people were murdered in
the district yesterday in two separate
incidents.
According to sources, a young man,
Esha Khan, 35, was allegedly killed by
his relatives over an altercation regarding land ownership in the Kunthiar
Char area of the Mirpur upazila.
Sources said Esha was given ownership of a piece of land by his father
few days ago. The incident made his

Outlaw hacked to death

by rivals in Pabna
n Our Correspondent, Pabna
Rivals murdered a member of the outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party
in the Sathia upazila of the district, yesterday.
SM Faruque Hossain, officer-incharge of the Sathia police station said,
Chand Ali Mollah, 45, a member of the
banned extremist group Purba Banglar
Communist Party [Lal Pataka] and the

son of late Abed Ali of Madhpur village, left his house at around midnight
yesterday, because the miscreants had
called him out.
They then slashed at Ali mercilessly,
and left his body in nearby jute field,
said Faruque.
On receiving this information, the
police recovered the body.
The police said he might have been
killed because of an internal conflict. l

Journalist found dead

in Chuadanga
n Our Correspondent, Chuadanga
Police recovered the body of a
local journalist from the Mominpur
Railway Station area of the district,
yesterday.
According to the deceased family
members, Sadrul Alam Nipul, 38,
a correspondent of the Dainik
Mathabhanga, a local daily, and the
son of late Nur Mohammad, had gone
out the night before after receiving a
call from an unknown number on his
mobile phone.
He did not return home.

SI Khorshed Alam of the GRP said

locals spotted Nipuls body lying on the
rail line and informed the police.
On receiving this information,
police recovered the body and sent it to
the Chuadanga Sadar Hospital morgue.
Local UP Chairman Golam Faruk
Joardhar said miscreants had killed
Nipul somewhere else and had later
dumped his body at the station.
Munshi Asaduzzaman, officer-incharge of the Sadar police station said
the motive for this murder can only be
known after an investigation.
A case was filed. l

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establishments including 64 educational institutions, eight government

offices and 41 mosques of 21 districts
located along the banks of those four
rivers will disappear.
Around 55 educational institutions
of seven districts on either side of the
Jamuna River, including Bogra, will go
under water.
The BWDB Bogra Circle Office sources said the department identified several vulnerable points including Chandanvaisha in the Shariakand upazila,
Bogra and Bahoka Simla in the Sirajganj Sadar upazila.
AKM Momtaz Uddin, an engineer
with the BDWD, Bogra said: The Jamuna River erosion threatens around
4 kilometres of embankment along the
right bank in the Chandanvaisha area.

Around 3,666 hectares of agricultural

land and 485 hectares of land taken
up by settlements along the banks of
the Jamuna, Ganges, Padma and lower
Meghna Rivers will disappear due to
erosion, this year.
The river erosion will also render
about 35 thousand people, landless.
In 2013 the Jamuna, Ganges and
Padma eroded away about 3190 hectares of agricultural land.
The Bangladesh Water Development
Board (BWDB) and Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) have prepared a
prediction report in April through the
analysis of satellite images.
According to the report, around 137

Two murdered in Kushtia

brother Molakka and sister Delwara
very unhappy.
Subsequently, Molakka and Delwara
attacked him at night, slashing up his
body, and leaving him critically injured.
Other family members rescued him
and got him admitted to the Kushtia
Medical College and Hospital where
on-duty doctors declared him dead.
Police later arrested Molakka and
Delwara.
Bheramara Circle Additional Superintendent of police Ashik Bin Hassan

DHAKA TRIBUNE

We have posted tenders for 25000

Geo-textile bags to protect from river
erosion in Bogra, said Momtaz Uddin.
BWDB and CEGIS sources said at
least 1,79,257 hectares of agricultural
land has been eroded between 1974
and 2014.
They predicted that around 8,596
meters of road will be completely destroyed this year.
According to the previous publication of the CEGIS, the rate of erosion by
the Jamuna River was 5,000 hectares a
year in the 1980s in Kurigram, Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Bogra, Sirajgang, Tangail
and Manikganj.
In the 1990s, erosion by the Padma
River was 2,300 hectares a year in Faridpur, Shariatpur, Dhaka, Madaripur and
Manikganj. l

BANGLADESH BANK
confirmed the incident.
In the Gangarampur area of the Daulatpur upazila, a young man, Mujibar, 22,
was hacked to death for allegedly plucking mangoes from an orchard.
Police sources said Mujibar was
plucking mangoes in Imtiazs orchard
in the morning. They got into a fight
over the incident and at one stage, Imtiaz hacked Mujibar to death.
On receiving this information, police recovered the body and sent it to a
hospital morgue. A case was filed. l

Husband
beats female
schoolteacher
to death
n Our Correspondent, Sirajganj
A female schoolteacher was allegedly
beaten to death by her husband and
in-laws over a family feud in the Mulkandi village of the Chauhali upazila on
Tuesday.
Locals said Hafiza Khatun, 25, assistant teacher of a local primary school,
was beaten to death by her husband
Shamim Hossain over a triviality.
Later, Shamim and his family members fled the scene, leaving the body at
home.
On receiving information about this,
police recovered the body and sent it to
the hospital for an autopsy.
Waheduzzaman, officer-in-charge
of the Enayetpur police station, said
the body bore several injury marks.
A case was filed. l

Indian national
detained
n Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon
An Indian national was detained by the
Border Guard Bangladesh in the Kochol
frontier area of the Pirganj upazila, yesterday.
According to sources, Bashonta
Roy, 45, of the Kourisingjat village in
Darjeeling, West Bengal, had entered
Bangladesh a month ago illegally.
He was arrested when he was trying
to cross the border into India and was
sent to jail.
Mohammad
Ishtiak,
officer-incharge of the Pirganj police station,
confirmed the incident. l

Common Services Department-1

(Equipment Section)
Head Ofce
Dhaka-1000.
Website: www.bb.org.bd

Tender Notice (Local)

Open Tenders are invited through e-tendering system from bonade local Agents/Suppliers/Dealers/Distributors/Retailers and Manufacturer
for Supply and Installation of 1000 (One thousand) Client Access License of Microsoft Exchange 2013 for Bangladesh Bank, Head Ofce,
Dhaka. Necessary Information is given below:
Sl. Procuring Entity Name
No.
1
Ministry/ Division
2
Agency
3
Procuring Entity Name
4
Procuring Entity Code
5
Procuring Entity District
6
Invitation For
7
Invitation Ref. No.
8
Date
KEY INFORMATION
9
Procurement Method
FUNDING INFORMATION
10 Budget and source of funds
11 Development Partners (If applicable)

Bangladesh Bank
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Bangladesh Bank.
Not used at present.
Dhaka.
The Procurement of IT Equipment.
CSD-1(EQUIPMENT)69(3)Tender-65/2014
21/05/2014
Open Tendering Method
Bangladesh Bank.
Not applicable.

PARTICULAR INFORMATION
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

Project/ Program Code (If applicable)

Project/ Program Name (If applicable)
Tender Package No.
Tender Package Name
Tender Publication Date
Tender Closing Date & Time
Tender Opening Date & Time
Name & Address of the Ofce(s)

-Receiving Tender Document

-Opening Tender Document

Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
22/05/2014
11/06/2014 up to 11.30 AM
11/06/2014 at 11.45 AM
Deputy General Managers ofce Chamber, Common Services Department-1, (6th Floor
of 30- Storied Building), Bangladesh Bank, Head Ofce, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000,
Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Bank Website, http://www.bb.org.bd
Common Services Department-1, 6th Floor, Annex-2 Building, Bangladesh Bank, Head
Ofce, Dhaka.

INFORMATION FOR TENDERER

20 Eligibility for Tendering

Tenderers having 05 years overall business experience and 03 years specic experience
in successful Supply and Installation of proposed goods in any Govt./Semi-Govt./
Autonomous Organizations or Multinational Registered Companies in Bangladesh.
21 Brief Description of Goods or Works
Supply and Installation of 1000 (One thousand) Client Access License of Microsoft
Exchange 2013 for Bangladesh Bank, Head Ofce.
22 Brief Description of Related Services
N/A
23
Lot
Identication of Lot
Location
Tender Security
Completion Time in Weeks/Months
No
Amount (Tk)
1 Lot-1: 1,000 (One thousand)
CSD-1
1,00,000/14days
Client Access License of Microsoft
Exchange 2013.
PROCURING ENTITY DETAILS
24 Name of Ofcial Inviting Tender
K.M. Gousuzzaman
25 Designation of Ofcial Inviting Tender General Manager.
26 Address of Ofcial Inviting Tender
Common Services Department-1, Bangladesh Bank, Head Ofce, Dhaka.
27 Contact Details of Ofcial Inviting
Tel: 9530148
Fax: 9564117
E-mail: km.gousuzzaman@bb.org.bd
Tender
28 The Procuring entity reserves the right to accept or reject any or all the tender without assigning any reason whatsoever.

DCP: 48/2014-1678, Date: 21/05/2014

DG-99/14 (104)

K.M. Gousuzzaman

General Manager

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Juris

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Bangladeshs obligation
towards refugees

Consequences of
non-appearance of
parties in civil litigations
n Raisul Islam Sourav

ppearance and non-appearance

of parties during trial before
the court is a crucial issue to
resolve civil dispute. Because, mere
appearance or non- appearance can
determine the ultimate result of a
civil litigation. The provisions of the
Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), 1908
are based on a general principle that,
as far as possible, no proceeding in
a court of law should be conducted
to the detriment of any party in his/
her absence. Also it is the duty of the
concern party to be aware of his rights,
show vigilance towards the court
and establish his/her claim by taking
proper measures.
In law, appearance means
appearance in person or through
advocate for conducting a case.
However, appearance by a pleader
within the meaning of CPC does not
mean mere presence in the court; it
means appearance by a pleader
duly instructed and able to answer all
material questions relating to the suit.

SYED LATIF HOSSAIN

n ABM Imdadul Haque Khan

cording to the Universal
Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR), 1948, all
persons are guaranteed
the right to life, liberty
and security of person, freedom
from slavery, freedom from torture
and cruel, inhuman or degrading
punishment, the right to be recognised
as a person before law, and equality
before the law.

Obligation under international

instruments
Bangladesh is not a party to the 1951
Refugee Convention or the UNHCR
Statute. However, Bangladesh has
ratified a number of major international
human rights instruments. Among them
the significant ones are the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),
Four Geneva Convention of 1949 and
their two Additional Protocols of 1977,
International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), International
Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention
on the Rights of the Child (CRC),
Convention on Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW), Convention Against Torture
(CAT) etc. All of these instruments have
a bearing upon Bangladeshs obligation
to protect refugees.
Even though the refugees are
foreigners in the country of asylum,
by virtue of Article 2 of the ICCPR,
1966, they could enjoy the same
fundamental rights and freedoms
as nationals. The right to equality
before the law, equal protection of the
law and non-discrimination which
form a cornerstone of international
human rights laws call for banning
discrimination against refugees based
on their status as such.
The Declaration and Programme
of Action of the World Conference on
Human Rights also reaffirmed the right of
every person to seek and enjoy asylum.
Furthermore, the CRC also obliges the
state parties to take care of the interest
and rights of the refugee children
including their birth registration.
In addition to the above

instruments, Bangladesh voted for

the United Nations Declaration on
Territorial Asylum in the General
Assembly, which strengthens its
obligations of protection, asylum and
non-refoulment. Bangladesh is also
a party to the International Labour
Organizations Convention Number 118,
which provides for social security to
refugees and stateless persons living in
the territory of the signatory state.
Additionally, Bangladesh has been a
member of the Executive Committee of
the High Commissioners Programme
(EXCOM) since 1995. EXCOM, a body
composed of 94 governments, oversees
UNHCRs budgets and advises on
refugee protection. Bangladeshs
membership in the EXCOM is certainly
indicative of its particular interest and
greater commitment to refugee matters.

Obligation under constitutional

framework
The constitution of Bangladesh
upholds the right to life and liberty of
all individual. Not only is the life of a
citizen of Bangladesh guaranteed, but
also everyone who inhabits the terrain
of this country is assured of protection
in respect of life and liberty.
The fundamental principles of state
policy as mentioned in the constitution
essentially reflect international law and
the principles enunciated in the UN
Charter. Article 25 of the Constitution
provides that the State shall base its
international relations on the principles
of respect for ... international law and
the principles enunciated in the United
Nations Charter.
The UN Charter, in its preamble,
specifically refers to the reaffirmation
of faith in fundamental rights, in
the dignity and worth of the human
person, in the equal rights of men and
women and of nations large and small.
The Charter in its articles of 1, 55 and
62 reiterates the observance of human
rights for all peoples of the world.
Part III of the Constitution
guarantees a series of fundamental
human rights, drawing heavily from
the international human rights
discourse. For example Article 27 of the
Constitution provides equal protection
of law for all. Article 31 provides that

not only the citizens are entitled to

have the protection of law but the
foreigners (non-citizen) who stay in
the country for the time being are
also entitled to have so. Furthermore,
Article 32 states that no person shall
be deprived of life and liberty save in
accordance with law.
It is to be noted that the word
person and not citizen has been used
in the Articles and therefore it is argued
that no person, irrespective of whether
she/he is a citizen of Bangladesh, can be
deprived of her/his life or liberty once
that person is on the soil of Bangladesh.
The Constitution also guarantees right
to life and personal liberty; safeguards
from arbitrary arrest and detention;
prohibition of forced labour; right of fair
trial; freedom of movement, assembly,
association, freedom of expression,
profession or occupation, religion; right
to property, etc.
However, for the translation and
execution of these constitutional
provisions in the interest of the
refugees, needs comprehensive
legal interpretations and pro-active
initiatives from the government. Till
now, there is no significant indication
in this regard.
In regards to statutory framework,
there is no domestic law or specific
national policy governing the
protection of refugees in Bangladesh.
In practice, foreigners, irrespective of
asylum seekers or simply visitors are
treated here under the purview of aged
old laws which are inadequate to meet
the need of the time.
The inadequate statutory
framework dealing with refugees in
Bangladesh offers a stark contrast
to the fundamental rights in the
Constitution and increasingly
evolved norms and principles under
international refugee law. The statutory
framework does not even acknowledge
refugees as a separate class of people
deserving separate treatment.
However, the relative success of
Bangladeshs policy of dealing with
refugees in an ad hoc manner without
committing itself to a general statutory
framework has silenced demands for
a legislation concerning refugees as a
separate class. To understand the law
governing refugees, it would be useful

to examine the respective regulatory

framework to deal with refugees.

Legislations dealing with refugees

Foreigners Act, 1946

Foreigners Order, 1951
Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939,
Registration of Foreigners Rules, 1966
Passports Act, 1920
Passport Rules, 1955
Bangladesh Passport Order, 1973
Citizenship Act, 1951
Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary
Provisions) Order, 1972,
Bangladesh Control of Entry Act, 1952
Extradition Act, 1974
Naturalization Act, 1926
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
Children Act, 2013

These laws make no distinction

between refugees and other
foreigners. Using the wide
discretionary powers derived from
Section 3 of the Foreigners Act of
1946, the Ministry of Home Affairs
may issue residential permits to any
foreigner, and it is on this basis that a
large number of UNHCR-recognised
mandate refugees have been able
to secure stay facilities which are
issued to mandate refugees on the
basis of an informal recognition of the
UNHCR-issued refugee certificates.
However, the constitutional laws
and ordinary laws through judicial
process alone are not sufficient and
adequate to deal with the refugee
problem in Bangladesh. Arguably, these
laws are not made for such specific
purposes. Hence, specific legislation
relating to the treatment and welfare of
refugees is necessary.
Considering the huge size of
refugee population inside Bangladesh
and recurrent history of refugee
phenomenon in the South Asian region
due to a number of reasons, it is also
necessary to enact a national law which
would provide specific guidelines to
the implementing agencies to uphold
the refugee cause. The need of the
hour is to have a well-defined national
refugee law. l
ABM Imdadul Haque Khan is a Lecturer,
Southeast University, Dhaka.

JURIS QUOTE
There is no crueler tyranny than that which is
perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name
of justice.
Charles de Montesquieu
(1689 1755)
French social commentator
and political thinker

Effect of non-appearance of the

plaintiff
On the first day of a trial, if it is found
that the summons which need to be
served upon the defendant has not
been served properly in consequence
of the failure of the plaintiff to pay the
court-fee or postal charges payable for
such service, the court may dismiss
the suit for the default of the plaintiff.
Again, on the date of peremptory
hearing, if the plaintiff does not show
up but the defendant appears before
the court, the suit will be dismissed
accordingly unless the defendant
admits the whole claim or any part of
it. In the latter case the court shall pass
a decree against the defendant upon
such admission, and, shall dismiss the
part of the claim not admitted.

Remedies against such dismissal

If a suit is dismissed for non-appearance
of the claimant, the plaintiff has two-

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the court at that day, only for nonappearance of the defendant and the
plaintiff will get an ex parte decree
from the court.
Further, on the date of peremptory
hearing, if the plaintiff is present but
the defendant is not then the suit
will also be decreed ex-parte on the
basis of plaintiff s claim. However,
the defendant has an opportunity to
adjourn the hearing by showing proper
reason for his/her absence. However,
to avail this opportunity, he/she needs
to pursue his/her suit by appearing in
person before the court.

Remedies against such ex parte decree

If an ex parte decree has been
passed against the defendant then
the defendant has to take any of the
following five actions against such
decision:
1. The defendant may file a petition
by swearing an affidavit within 30
days from the decision of the trial
court to set aside the decree with
a fine of not more than Tk3,000
and the defendant can get this
opportunity once in a suit according
to the provision of the Code of Civil
Procedure.
2. The defendant may apply for
setting aside the ex parte decree
after showing sufficient cause and
substantial reason for not appearing
before the court. However, the term
sufficient cause has not been
defined anywhere in the Code, it
is a question of fact and it will be
determined considering the fact and
circumstances of each case.
3. The defendant may file an appeal
under section 96 of the CPC to
reverse the decision of the trial
court.
4. The defendant may file a review
petition before the same decision
making trial court to set aside its
former decision.
5. The affected party may file an
independent suit for cancellation of
the decree under the Specific Relief
Act, 1887.

BIG STOCK

fold options to revive his/her case.

However, where concurrent remedies
are available at the same time it is the
duty of the concerned lawyer to choose
the best one for the protection of the
rights of his/her client. In that case the
remedies are:
a) Filing a fresh suit on the same cause
of action before the competent court
b) The plaintiff may file a petition to
set the dismissal order aside. The
petitioner shall have 30 days to
file the petition from the date of
cancellation of such suit. After the
expiry of that 30 days the petitioner
has another chance to file the
petition by virtue of Section 5 of the
Limitation Act.
Apart from these, in case of dismissal
of suit for non-attendance, the
defaulter may file an application to set
aside the dismissal order by swearing
an affidavit to the concerned court
within 30 days from the date of such
dismissal order, along with a fee of not
more than Tk1,000.

Effect of non-appearance of the

defendant

Consult you counsel

After the service of summons, the

defendant has to appear before the
court in person or represented by a
pleader on such date stipulated in the
summons. If the defendant is not
ready to defend his/her case at that
day, he/she may take further time to
answer after getting permission from
the court. If the party does not appear
in person or through his/her lawyer,
the suit will be determined finally by

It is the duty of
both the parties to
appear before the
learned court at
appropriate time
and to cooperate
with the court to
settle the dispute
effectively
Consequences of non-appearance
of both the parties
If both the contesting parties (plaintiff
and defendant) remain absent from
the hearing on the date of peremptory
or final hearing, the suit may be
dismissed by the court. In that case,
both the parties have the same remedy
that a claimant has against an order of
dismissal for non-appearance.
Finally, non-appearance of parties
in a civil litigation has a great impact
upon the whole proceedings of the
case.
It is the duty of both the parties
to appear before the learned court at
appropriate time and to cooperate
with the court to settle the dispute
effectively. l
Raisul Islam Sourav is a Senior Lecturer and
Coordinator, Department of Law at Dhaka
International University (DIU).

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Thursday, May 22, 2014

With Ukraine, Russia drives

wedge between EU, US
n AP, Washington

Rescuers and residents gather at the charred scene following a bomb blast at Terminus market in the central city of Jos

AFP

Blasts kill at least 118 in Nigeria

n

Reuters, Jos, Nigeria

Back-to-back bomb blasts killed at

least 118 people and wounded 45 in the
crowded business district of the central
Nigerian city of Jos on Tuesday, emergency services said, in an attack that
appeared to bear the hallmarks of the
Boko Haram insurgents.
There was no immediate claim of
responsibility. But the militant group
Boko Haram, which has set off bombs
across the north and center of Nigeria
in an increasingly bloody campaign
for an Islamic state, was likely to be
the prime suspect in what would rank
among their deadliest single attacks in
five years of insurrection.
Boko Haram grabbed world headlines by abducting more than 200
schoolgirls on April 14 from the northeastern village of Chibok. Britain, the
United States and France have pledged
to help rescue them.

If the Jos attack was the handiwork

of Boko Haram, it would show their
growing reach in Africas top oil producing and most populous country,
striking out beyond their heartland in
Nigerias semi-arid and weakly governed northeast. Several bombs have
exploded outside that region over the
past month.
It was also likely calculated to stoke
civil strife in Nigerias most combustible ethnic and sectarian tinder box. Jos
and the surrounding Plateau state have
seen thousands killed in tit-for-tat violence between largely Christian Berom
farmers and Muslim Fulani cattle herders over the past decade.
A Reuters reporter saw 10 bodies burned beyond recognition at
the bomb site opposite a hospital at
Terminus, the downtown area of Jos
which houses shops, some offices and
a market.
Weve now recovered 118 bodies

from the rubble, said Mohammed Abdulsalam, coordinator of the National

Emergency Management Agency in
Jos. This could rise by morning, as
there is still some rubble we havent yet
shifted.
Plateau state Police Commissioner
Chris Olakpe earlier confirmed a death
toll of 46, adding that other wounded
had been taken to hospital.
The first explosive went off around
3 p.m. The second was about 3:30 while
people gathered to help the victims,
he said by telephone. This is a very
busy area of Jos metropolis.
The back-to-back blast tactic, whose
aim is to maximize civilian casualties,
has also been used by militants in Iraq
and other places.
Jos has been relatively free of attacks by Boko Haram, but it claimed
responsibility for a bomb in a church in
the highland city, as well as two other
places, on Christmas Day in 2011. l

The crisis in Ukraine is giving Russia an

opening to drive a wedge between the
United States and Europe just as Western powers try to repair a struggling
trade deal and decide how to bolster a
cash-strapped Nato.
For years, the West has frustrated Moscow by offering former Soviet
states membership into economic and
military alliances, undercutting Russian President Vladimir Putins ambitions to build a regional economic powerhouse to rival the European Union
and expand his military reach throughout the old Eastern Bloc.
But sharp divisions between the US
and EU over how severely to punish
Russia for intervening in Ukraine have
given Moscow the chance to upend
Western unity on other key geopolitical
and long-term strategic issues. At the
same time, with the West rejecting his
approach to world affairs, Putin was in
Beijing this week getting support from
Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In an interview last week, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said
the EU is kept on a short leash by the
United States.
The real aim of the United States
is not to let Europeans to go on their
own, Lavrov told Bloomberg Television in Moscow.
Officials in Washington and Brussels insist they generally agree on how
to limit Russias alleged meddling in
Ukraine. Late last week, the top US and
British diplomats announced a new
threat to sanction Russian business,
financial, energy and mining sectors if
Moscow disrupts Sundays presidential
election in Ukraine.
Its always a temptation to divide,
to create this between the EU and US,
said Joao Vale de Almeida, the EUs ambassador to the United States. Our job
is to prevent that from happening and to
stay united and stay focused on what we
share. ... We want to preserve Ukraines
territorial integrity, its sovereignty; we
want to help Ukraine become a full,

prosperous country; we want to create

a diplomatic solution. I dont think anybody can divide us on this. Still, simmering tensions between the US and
EU have been evident for months.
Germany and France have shunned
sectorial sanctions without first trying
again to broker a dialogue between
Ukraines government and pro-Russian
separatists in the countrys east a
step that garnered only lukewarm US
support. The EU can only impose sanctions by unanimous agreement from all
28 of its member states, and the Obama
administration for months has pushed
Europe to embrace US plans for tougher penalties against Moscow.

Europe is Russias
largest trading partner
and therefore has huge
sway over Russias
shaky economy
The strain became clear in February,
shortly after the Ukraine unrest peaked
and the government in Kiev was overturned. A bugged phone call posted on
YouTube with Russian subtitles captured Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland dismissing the EU with a
common expletive in frustration over
Europes pace in helping Ukraine. Nuland later apologized, and the State Department described the incident as a
new low in Russian tradecraft.
The EU has been far more cautious
about sanctioning Russias economic
and energy sectors, in part because of
longstanding trade between Moscow
and European nations.
Europe is Russias largest trading
partner and therefore has huge sway
over Russias shaky economy. Yet some
European nations are reluctant to undercut their own financial stability and
endanger their main source of energy
by imposing harsh penalties against
Moscow. l

Prince Charles compares Egypt court sentences Mubarak to

three years in jail for graft
Putin to Hitler
n AFP, London
Prince Charles was mired in controversy
yesterday after he reportedly compared
the actions of Russian President Vladimir
Putin in Ukraine to those of Adolf Hitler.
The heir to the throne made the apparently unguarded comment during a trip to
a museum in Canada, in conversation with
a Polish-born woman who had fled the
Nazis as a child.
I had finished showing him the exhibit
and talked with him about my own family
background and how I came to Canada,
Marienne Ferguson told Britains Daily Mail
newspaper.
The prince then said: And now Putin is
doing just about the same as Hitler.
Ferguson, now 78, moved to Canada
with her Jewish family when she was 13.
She lost relatives in the Holocaust.
I must say that I agree with him and
am sure a lot of people do, she told the
newspaper.
But she added: I was very surprised
that he made the comment as I know they
(the royal family) arent meant to say these
things, but it was very heartfelt and honest.

The remark made headlines around the

world, and Russian media said it threatened to further complicate relations
between Britain and Moscow.
The future king and Putin are both
attending commemorations marking the
70th anniversary of D-Day on June 6th, although royal aides said no formal meeting
was scheduled.
The princes office would not confirm
his remarks but said he would not have
intended to make a political statement.
Members of the royal family by
convention do not comment on political
affairs, and Queen Elizabeth II is famous for
keeping her own counsel.
However, her 65-year-old son Charles
has come under criticism in the past for his
outspoken remarks about everything from
genetically modified food to architecture.
Opposition Labour lawmaker Mike
Gapes, a member of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, said the
royals should be seen and not heard.
If Prince Charles wants to make controversial statements on national or international issues, he should abdicate and stand
for election, he said on Twitter. l

n AFP, Cairo
An Egyptian court yesterday sentenced
deposed president Hosni Mubarak to
three years in prison on corruption
charges, in one of two trials after the
2011 uprising that ended his rule.
His sons Alaa and Gamal each received four-year jail terms, and four
other defendants were acquitted.
They were accused of embezzling
more than one hundred million Egyptian pounds (about $14m, 10m euros)
earmarked for the maintenance of
presidential palaces.
Mubarak, 86, wearing a grey suit, sat
on a wheelchair in the caged dock for
the verdict. His sons, in white prison
issue clothing, stood beside him.
Mubarak had technically been a free
man after a court ordered his release last
year following the end of the permitted
detention period, but has since remained
out of sight in a military hospital.
He is now likely to be returned
to prison.
The owners of public property are
the people, said judge Osama Shaheen

before reading out the verdict.

We will appeal, Mostafa Ali As,
one of Mubaraks lawyers, told AFP after the ruling.
Mubarak was sentenced to life in
prison in 2012 over the killings of protesters during the 18-day uprising that
ended his three-decade rule.
A court overturned that verdict on
technical grounds, and he is now being
retried along with seven police commanders.
He also faces corruption charges
in that trial, along with his sons and a
businessman who fled the country.
Mubaraks trial was a key demand of
protesters in the months after his overthrow, prompting the then ruling military to arrest him in a resort villa and
move him to a Cairo prison.
The country has moved on since,
with the rehabilitation of many
Mubarak era officials and his once despised police forces following the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed
Morsi last July.
Former military chief Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi, who had served as Mubaraks

military intelligence chief, is expected

to sweep to victory in a presidential
election next week.
Sisi has promised that there will be
no return to Mubaraks venal regime.
But he will keep on interim prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab, once a senior
member of Mubaraks National Democratic Party.
The party itself is still banned, and
a court has issued a ruling banning former senior party members from standing in parliamentary elections scheduled for later this year.
The police too enjoy new levels of
popularity, despite a brutal crackdown
that has killed more than 1,400 people,
mostly Islamists, in the months following Morsis overthrow.
Many now blame Morsis Muslim
Brotherhood, not the police, for violence during the anti-Mubarak rebellion.
The Islamist Morsi is himself now
on trial on charges relating to violence
during the anti-Mubarak uprising, and
also later involvement in the killings of
opposition protesters during his sole
year in power. l

China and Russia

sign huge gas
supply deal
n Reuters, Shanghai
China and Russia signed a $400bn
gas supply deal yesterday, securing
the worlds top energy user a major
source of cleaner fuel and opening up
a new market for Moscow as it risks
losing European customers over the
Ukraine crisis.
The long-awaited agreement is a
political triumph for Russian President
Vladimir Putin, who is courting partners in Asia as those in Europe and the
United States seek to isolate him over
Moscows annexation of the Crimean
peninsula.
Commercially, much depends on
the price and other terms of the contract, which has been more than a decade in the making. China had the upper hand as negotiations entered their
final phase, aware of Putins face-off
with the West.
This is the biggest contract in
the history of the gas sector of the
former USSR, said Putin, after the
agreement was signed in Shanghai
between state-controlled entities Gazprom and China National Petroleum
Corp (CNPC).
Our Chinese friends are difficult,
hard negotiators, he said, noting that
talks went on until 4 a.m.
Through mutual compromise we
managed to reach not only acceptable,
but rather satisfactory, terms on this
contract for both sides. Both sides were
in the end pleased by the compromise
reached on price and other terms, the
president said.
Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi
Jinping applauded as they witnessed
the deal being signed, just hours before
the Russian leader was due to leave
Shanghai at the end of a two-day visit.
The gas deal came in time for a major economic summit in the northern
Russian city of St. Petersburg starting
Thursday.
Around a dozen chief executives and
chairmen of major U.S. and European
corporations have withdrawn from the
forum over the Ukraine crisis. l

Video shows
fatal shooting of
Palestinians
n Agencies
A human rights group has released
footage that it says shows Israeli security forces shooting dead two apparently
unarmed Palestinian teenagers.
The video released on Tuesday allegedly showed the teenagers, who posed
no danger, being shot during a protest
last week on Nakba Day , when the Palestinians marked the loss of their homes in
the 1948 war that resulted in the creation
of the state of Israel and the flight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Defence for Children International
(DCI) posted the two-minute video on
YouTube, which it said was edited from
six hours of surveillance footage from
fixed security cameras at a Palestinian-owned business that overlooked the
scene. The group said the video showed
that troops had committed unlawful
killings where neither child presented a
direct and immediate threat to life at the
time of their shooting.
The Israeli rights group BTselem said
the images back its findings that troops
killed the teens by firing live rounds
from more than 200 metres away. l

Christian exodus shadows papal visit to Holy Land

n AP, Bethlehem
Pope Francis will arrive this weekend in
the land where Christianity was born
and where Christians are disappearing.
This ancient community has dwindled to around 2% of the regions population as economic hardship, violence
and the bitter realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have sent Christians searching for better opportunities
overseas.
The Christian exodus, underway
for decades, has reached critical levels
in recent years. Emigration is a central
concern to local Vatican officials, who
are trying to stave off the flight with offers of jobs, housing and scholarships.
I am sad to think that maybe the
time will come in which Christianity
will disappear from this land, said the
Rev. Juan Solana, a Vatican envoy who
oversees the Notre Dame center, a Jerusalem hotel for pilgrims that employs
150 locals, mostly Christians.
Solana said he employs Christians
to encourage them to stay here, to
love this land, to be aware of their particular vocation to be the witnesses

of Christianity in this land.

The Christian exodus is taking place
across the Middle East. Jordan, where
Pope Francis will begin his three-day
trip Saturday, has thousands of Christian
refugees from war-torn Syria and Iraq.
For the Church, the phenomenon is
particularly heartbreaking in the cradle
of Christianity. According to Christian
tradition, Jesus was born in the West
Bank town of Bethlehem, spent much
of his life in Nazareth and the northern
Galilee region of Israel, and was crucified and resurrected in Jerusalem.
The pope said in a November speech
that we will not be resigned to think
about the Middle East without Christians, lamenting that they suffer
particularly from the consequences of
the tensions and conflicts underway
across the region.
Christians in the Holy Land have
dwindled from over 10% of the population on the eve of Israels founding to
between 2 and 3% today, according to the
local Roman Catholic church.
The decline began with high Jewish
immigration and Christian emigration
after the 1948 war surrounding Israels

establishment, and has been abetted by

continued emigration and a low birthrate among Christians who stay.
Israeli restrictions in the occupied
West Bank have also persuaded Christians to leave.
The concrete and fence barrier Israel
built to keep out Palestinian attackers
has choked cities like Bethlehem and
separated Palestinians from their farmlands. Many Palestinian Christians are
prohibited from entering Jerusalem except during holidays.
Israeli-Palestinian violence has also
pushed people to leave, and instances
of Islamic extremism, particularly in
the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, have made
some Christians feel unwelcome in
some cases, though relations between
Palestinian Christians and Muslims are
generally friendly.
West Bank Christians are preparing
to share some of these grievances with
Pope Francis, and artisans are fashioning a cross with cement pieces of Israels barrier for the Palestinian president
to give the pope.
Sources say an estimated 80% of
Christian Palestinians live abroad. l

In this photo taken on May 19, a welcome banner for Pope Francis with his picture hangs on a building, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Pope Francis will be arriving this weekend to the land where Christianity was born, and where Christians are disappearing
AP

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Talks to end Thai crisis inconclusive

n Reuters, Bangkok

Thailand: the road to martial law

2013
Oct

Thousands of demonstrators join daily rallies in Bangkok

to protest an amnesty bill that opponents fear would allow
exiled former PM Thaksin Shinawatra to return

Nov
1

Lower house passes political amnesty bill,

triggering protests, upper house later rejects it

Nov
24

Up to 180,000 people join opposition protests in Bangkok

Nov
25-27

Opposition protesters besiege ministries in a bid to topple

the government

Nov
28
Nov 29Dec 3

PM Yingluck Shinawatra survives parliamentary

no-confidence vote
Protests escalate, several killed and over 200 injured

Feb 2
2014

Snap
elections
called by
Yingluck in
December.
Opposition
demonstrators
block voting at
10,000 polling stations

May 7

Constitutional Court dismisses

Yingluck and nine ministers from
office for abuse of power
Cabinet appoints new caretaker premier
Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan

May 20

Anti-government
protester, Bangkok,
April 1

The army declares martial law across the

kingdom

Thailands rival political factions

would not agree yesterday to stop their
protests at crisis talks aimed at ending
confrontation a day after the army declared martial law, a pro-government
activist said.
Although the military denied Tuesdays surprise intervention amounted to
a coup, army chief General Prayuth Chanocha appeared to be setting the agenda
by forcing groups and organizations with
a central role in the crisis to talk.
Issues raised during the meeting
included how to reform the political
system - a demand made by anti-government protesters - and ending the
demonstrations that have sparked violence, disrupted business and scared
off tourists.
When asked whether each group
can stop protesting, there was no commitment from either side, Thida Thawornseth, a leader of the pro-government red shirt political group, told
Reuters. There was no clear conclusion.
Puchong Nutrawong, secretary-general of the Election Commission, who
was also at the talks, said all sides
would meet again on Thursday.
The army chief asked us to go back
home and think about the things we
discussed in order to find a solution for
the country, Puchong told Reuters.
Thailand has been riven by rivalry
between populist former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the royalist
establishment for nearly 10 years.
Thaksin, a former telecommunications billionaire who won the
loyalty of the rural and urban poor,
has lived in self-exile since 2008 but

Kejriwal taken into custody after

refusing to seek bail
n Agencies
Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was yesterday sent to two-day
judicial custody by a court after he refused to furnish a personal bail bond in
a defamation case filed by BJP leader
Nitin Gadkari, the Hindustan Times
reported.
Metropolitan magistrate Gomati
Manocha fixed Friday as the next date
of hearing. Manocha had asked him
to furnish a bail bond of Rs. 10,000
but the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
leader refused.
Kejriwal was summoned by the

court for describing former Bharatiya

Janata Party president as a corrupt
person.
It is not necessary to furnish bail
bond. On four earlier occasions, we did
not take bail but filed only undertaking, the AAPs official Twitter handle
quoted Prashant Bhushan as saying
after Kejriwal was taken into lock up in
court premises. Based on his values
and principles, Arvind Kejriwal denied
taking bail, Bhushan added.
Former Delhi law minister and AAP
leader Somnath Bharti took an indirect
dig at the BJP by tweeting: First victim
of acchhe din @ArvindKejriwal arrest-

ed in defamation case by Sri gadkari.

Strange manifestation of acchhe din.
The BJPs Harsh Varshan attacked
the AAP convener for his statements
against Gadkari: Kejriwal put wrong
allegations against Nitin Gadkari and
the latter gave him a fitting reply by filing a case against him.
Earlier, Kejriwal told the court he
would not furnish a bail bond as the
case was a political one. Instead, he
promised to give an undertaking to appear before the court at every hearing.
I am fighting against corruption.
I will not seek bail as I have not done
anything wrong, he said. l

Kejriwal regrets quitting Delhi job,

seeks fresh polls
n AP, New Delhi
An Indian anti-corruption campaigner
who quit as New Delhis top elected
official just 49 days into the job apologized for the mistake yesterday, after
his upstart party fizzled nationally.
Today I would like to apologize
to the people of Delhi and the people
of this country. We have made a mistake and I apologize for our mistake,
Arvind Kejriwal said at a news conference, adding that his exit made people
think they were running away from responsibility.

Pakistani airstrikes
kill 60 militants
n AP, Islamabad
Pakistani military jet fighters and helicopter gunships pounded militant hideouts near the Afghan border yesterday,
killing 60 militants, the army said.
The airstrikes mainly targeted Mir
Ali, a town in the lawless tribal region
of North Waziristan, the army said in a
statement.
It said 60 terrorists, including some
of the important commanders and foreigners were also killed in the strikes,
which also wounded another 30.
One resident, who identified himself as Saeedullah Khan, said the army
had also been using artillery fire since
early morning. We heard big bangs,
he said. I saw some houses flattened.
The army didnt give more details on
the important commanders or the foreign who were killed.
The claims could not be independently verified. The lawless tribal
area is off limits to foreign journalists.
The army said investigation into
recent attacks against civilians and security forces had led it to the militant
hideouts that were targeted. l

Kejriwals Aam Aadmi, or Common

Mans, Party was formed on the back of
hugely popular street protests that galvanized Indias middle class against the
culture of corruption that is endemic in
this nation of 1.2 billion. The election for
the Delhi state legislature was the partys
first outing, and even its members were
surprised they won 27 out of 70 seats in
Delhis assembly in December.
But the minority government resigned in February after Congress party
voted with the opposition to block a bill
to create a strong ombudsman in the
capital. Rooting out graft and creating

the ombudsman position were the partys key aims, and Kejriwal said the party members left government because
they did not want to compromise their
principles.
Their detractors said Kejriwal and
his party quit because they were eager
to parlay their initial success into nationwide prominence.
But in the recent national election,
the party won only four seats in Indias
543-member lower house of Parliament.
Kejriwal himself lost by a wide margin to
the man who will become Indias next
prime minister, Narendra Modi. l

still exerts a huge influence, most recently through a government run by his
sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.
Yingluck was forced to step down as
premier by a court two weeks ago, but
her caretaker government remains in
power, despite the declaration of martial law and six months of sometimes
violent protests aimed at ousting it.
The turmoil has driven the country to the brink of recession and even
raised fears of civil war.

Homework handed out

The anti-government protesters are

opposed to an election, which Thaksins loyalist would be likely to win.
They want a neutral prime minister
installed to oversee electoral reforms
aimed at ending Thaksins influence.
The government, on the other hand,
sees a general election as the best way
forward and has proposed a new vote
on August 3. The anti-government protesters disrupted an election in February that was later annulled, and they
have vowed to do so again.
Whether all sides could accept an interim prime minister and what reforms
could be implemented were also raised
at the talks, Thida said.
An army spokesman said all sides
would go away to think.
There was no conclusion. It is as
though homework was handed out for
each side to work on, deputy army
spokesman Winthai Suvaree told reporters.
Military sources say Prayuth is
believed to favor the appointment
of an interim prime minister by the
Senate, who would then shepherd
through reforms. l

The two candidates who will face-off in the June 14 run-off vote
Official result of
April 5 election
% of votes won

45
Abdullah Abdullah
Age: 53

31.6

Ashraf Ghani
64

Foreign minister in
in the post-2001
transitional government
under Hamid Karzai,
until sacked in 2006

Finance minister in
2002-2004 and later
led the national
security transition
commission

Came second in the

2009 presidential
election, withdrew from
run-off amid allegations
that Karzai supporters
were involved in fraud

Came fourth in
2009 with less than
3 percent of vote,
but has performed
strongly in the current
campaign

Born to Pashtun and

Tajik parents
Qualified eye surgeon

A run-off
is required
because no
candidates won
more than
50 percent in
the first round

Ethnically Pashtun
Former World Bank
worker and academic

Indonesian election
presents US with Modistyle visa headache
n Reuters, Washington
The emergence of Prabowo Subianto as
a serious contender in Indonesias election this week means the United States
faces the awkward possibility of having
to welcome another Asian leader it had
denied entry to because of alleged links
to mass killings.
The situation has arisen days after
Washington found itself having to change
course and promise a visa to Indian Prime
Minister-Elect Narendra Modi after his
landslide election win. Modi was barred
from the United States in 2005.
The possibility of another Washington U-turn became apparent after
Indonesias second-largest party on
Monday suddenly switched its support
to Prabowo from frontrunner Joko Jokowi Widodo ahead of July 9 presidential polls.
Prabowo was once one of Indonesias most reviled men, accused of kidnapping, human rights abuses and a
coup attempt after the 1998 overthrow
of his former father-in-law, the late
President Suharto.
A New York Times report in March
said that in 2000 the US State Department denied the former general a visa
to attend his sons university graduation in Boston, but has never said why.
Prabowo told Reuters in 2012 he was
still refused a US visa due to allegations
that he instigated riots that killed hundreds after Suhartos overthrow. He has

denied wrongdoing.
Indias Modi was denied a US visa
in 2005 under the terms of a 1998 US
law which bars entry to foreigners who
have committed particularly severe
violations of religious freedom.
However, after Modis party swept to
victory in elections last week, US President Barack Obama was quick to telephone his congratulations and invite the
new leader of a country he has declared a
vital strategic partner to the White House.
The State Department said Modi
would be granted an A-1 visa accorded to heads of state. Modi has also has
denied any wrongdoing and has never
been prosecuted in India.
Asked if Prabowo would be treated
the same as Modi if he won Indonesias
election, a State Department official
responded with statements similar to
those before Indias poll result - saying
the department did not discuss individual visa cases.
Applicants traveling on official business on behalf of their government are
subject to limited grounds of ineligibility under US immigration law. However,
we cannot speculate on the outcome of
any visa application, he said.
The official added that the United
States remained committed to close
relations with Indonesia and expect
that relationship to continue.
Analysts believe that Prabowo, like
Modi, would be granted a visa if he
wins the election. l

Nawaz Sharif, other heads of state invited

for Modis swearing-in ceremony
n AFP, New Delhi
Prime minister-elect Narendra Modi
has invited Pakistans Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif as well as other South
Asian leaders to his swearing-in ceremony next Monday, a spokeswoman
for his party told AFP.
Nirmala Sitharaman, from the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said all
heads of government from the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) have been given
invitations to be present at Modis
swearing in.
Modi is to take the oath as Prime
Minister on May 26, ten days after a
landslide win for the BJP which secured the first majority by a single party in 30 years.
A senior official from the foreign
ministry confirmed that it was examining a proposal to welcome foreign
heads of governments, but said that
invites had not yet been sent.
We have not sent any invite yet.
There is a proposal but we cant
share the details yet, the official
told AFP.
Sharif has hailed Modis impressive
victory with many diplomats hoping the two men can engineer a thaw
in ties between the nuclear-armed
neighbours.
In 1999 during Sharifs second term
in power, Vajpayee rode a bus to Lahore
to sign a peace accord, raising the prospect of normaliszd ties.
Three months later, however, the
countries embarked on the Kargil conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. l

Afghan EC sacks thousands over fraud

Afghanistan presidential contenders

n Reuters, Kabul
Afghanistans election commission said
yesterday it had fired more than 3,000
staff accused of fraud in the first round
of the countrys presidential election,
as it sought to quell fears that it might
fail to deliver a legitimate outcome.
Afghans voted on April 5 in the first
round of the election to pick a successor to President Hamid Karzai, who is
barred by the constitution from standing for a third term after more than a
decade in power.
The winner will take charge at a
crucial time, with most foreign troops
due to withdraw by the end of the year,
the Taliban insurgency still raging and
a pact with Washington permitting
some US forces to stay hanging in the
balance.
Spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor
said the Independent Election Commission had blacklisted the fired staff,
so that they would not be hired in the
second round.
Some fraud was reported from
those polling stations, he added, referring to the sites where the fired staff
had worked. l

Firecrackers and colourful lighting are seen on the building of the BJP office in Ahmedabad
yesterday
AFP

China issues warning to Asia

over military alliances
n Reuters, Shanghai
Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared
to warn some Asian nations yesterday
about strengthening military alliances
to counter China, saying this would not
benefit regional security.
But he also pledged to peacefully resolve Chinas disputes over territory,
which have intensified in recent years, especially in the South and East China Seas.
To beef up military alliances targeted at a third party is not conducive
to maintaining common security in the
region, Xi said in a speech, following
a period when some Asian countries
have sought to reaffirm their security
ties with Washington.
During a visit to Asia last month, US
President Barack Obama also sought
to reassure allies such as Japan and
the Philippines that his long-promised
strategic shift towards Asia and the Pacific, widely seen as aimed at countering Chinas rising influence, was real.
Xi made his remarks at a regional conference in Shanghai in front of

Vietnamese Vice President Nguyen Thi

Doan, as well as representatives from
the Philippines, Japan and more than
40 other countries and organizations.
He did not mention the United
States.
China is embroiled in bitter disputes
with Vietnam and the Philippines over
maritime boundaries in the South China Sea. Beijing and Tokyo are also at
loggerheads over disputed islands in
the East China Sea.
Anti-Chinese violence flared in Vietnam last week after Chinese state oil
company CNOOC deployed an oil rig
240 km (150 miles) off the coast of Vietnam in waters also claimed by Hanoi.
The rig was towed there just days after
Obama left the region.
The move was the latest in a series
of confrontations between China and
some of its neighbors over the potentially oil-and-gas rich South China Sea.
Washington has responded with sharpened rhetoric toward Beijing, describing a pattern of provocative actions
by China. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Thursday, May 22, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Invest for green

growth

e welcome Bangladesh Banks addition of 26 new products

to its portfolio of green finance initiatives.
The central bank which has supported schemes to
encourage solar panels, bio-gas and industrial effluent treatment
plants since 2009, is expanding the range of products covered to
include among other items, solar driven cold storage, bio-energy
driven power generation, recyclable non-oven polypropylene yarn
and compost generation from municipal waste.
New avenues of finance
to help reduce pollution and
increase renewable power
generation need to be an urgent
priority.
It is encouraging to note that
the largest ever Nordic trade
delegation which is visiting the
country this week, is focusing
on seeking partnerships
through technology and
resource sharing to encourage
the efficient use of energy. The
Nordic team which consists of 21 Danish and Swedish companies and
a major investment fund, has received a positive response from local
firms and government.
This interest is particularly valuable in areas where specialist
technical expertise can be shared such as wind power. Danish
investors are contributing $50m towards the $120m deal that was
signed this week to set up a 60MW wind-turbine plant.
Such deals are important if the country is to reach its target of
securing 10% of total energy generation from renewable sources
by 2020. Sustainablity has to be a central component of future
economic growth and energy security.
It also helps to build resilience. Lifting more people out of poverty
in a sustainable manner is vital to increase the countrys ability to
withstand the negative impacts of climate change.

New finance to
reduce pollution
and increase
renewable power
need to be an
urgent priority

Be heard
Write to Dhaka Tribune
FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207
Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com
Send us your Op-Ed articles:
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www.dhakatribune.com
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Still lagging behind

iman Bangladesh Airlines is taking a variety of measures to

reduce losses, by suspending routes and raising prices.
These patchwork solutions to bring the loss-making state
airline back to health may be too little too late.
In the first eight months of the current fiscal year Biman incurred
a loss of over Tk118 crore. Even flights to popular destinations such as
Delhi and Bangkok are now being considered for suspension due to
heavy losses.
Uncertainty following the departure of CEO Kevin Steele gives little
cause for optimism that the
airline can attain profitability. In
a very competitive market with
many better-funded airlines
providing services, it is hard to
imagine that raising rates will
help much.
Political interference and
internal resistance to strong
leadership make it doubtful that
the inefficiency and corruption
that plagues Biman can be
rooted out anytime soon.
Band-aid solutions to keep propping up this drain on the public
coffers are no longer acceptable. Especially since public funds can be
spent on much more useful things such as improving airport hubs and
training more flight engineers and pilots within the country.
The government should by now recognise that the most feasible
way to turn Biman around into profit is for the government to take the
next logical step and privatise Biman.
This would both give the management more scope to make
improvements and free up taxpayer funds so that they can be used to
improve airline safety, training, and infrastructure.

Free taxpayer
funds to improve
airline safety,
training, and
infrastructure

You them in the appropriate squares in

the main grid, then use your knowledge
of words to work out which letters go in
the missing squares.
Some letters of the alphabet may not
be used.
As you get the letters, fill in other
squares with the same number in the
main grid, and the control grid. Check
off the list of alphabetical letters as you
identify them.

May 16
maksud
You people wear sunglasses and dont see the little
things under the radiant sun. You people always say
so many things about violence against women and
equal rights for women, but never see how many
women are deprived from very basic things that all
human beings need, like food, shelter, clean water,
and medicine.
Most beggars who knock on your doors are
women. They dont even have enough courage to
push the calling bell switch in your apartment (that
is, if they are able to make it as far as your front
door, as you have dogs and guards to stop them).
In posh areas, like Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara,
and Dhanmondi, many people always complain
about how many girls are deprived from access
to modern things, but they never seem to bother
about the beggars, because they never interact with

India election: BJP to take 335

seats

Take Biman off

life-support

How to solve: Each number in our

CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 10 represents A so fill in A
every time the figure 10 appears.

May 17

Bharat Patel
The only true, straight, reported results. No bias,
not for or against winners or losers. Well done.

Unreal city
May 17

Jiminy
The government needs to give more importance
to developing other cities so that people have
more of an incentive to move there, or stay there.

Sheikh Hasinas homecoming

day today
May 17

Vox Populi
Whats the big deal about this day? Is it so significant in peoples life? There is nothing to celebrate.

Government wants hybrid cars

to dominate streets
May 17

Delinthedesh
Will any in the government, such as ministers,
drive a hybrid? I doubt it. They should try building
roads and infrastructure suitable for modern
cars first, before the batteries start falling out of
hybrid cars. Theyll be wanting hybrid buses next.

Survivors blame negligence of

captains, master
May 17

vihan
Such tragic accidents will happen again, and again
and again, until ministers, authorities, and officials
will be held accountable for their negligence and
corruption.

them. So, you tell me, how can their complaints

have any substance?
I study economics, and think thats why I always
look at matters in this way, where I see much
violence against women activists, and activists
of groups such as One Billion Rising Organisers
Forum!, One Billion Rising, Jaago, among others
think in a right-based approach. To me, rights can
never be higher than the economic structure of
society, as Karl Marx has said.
nds
Please stop this boring and idiotic discourse on progress, which is a dead idea from this post-modern
world. Please dont irritate us with this nonsensical
repetition of garbage-valued narratives. We dont
want any further progress. Enough is enough. Now
allow us to die in peace.

Rawshan: Narayanganj
7-murder a stray incident
May 16

A Rashid
Why does the media give any prominence to
someone like Rawshan who everyone in the
country knows her to be lacking any semblance
of intelligence? She and her husband have shown
themselves to be a disgrace to themselves as well
as the whole nation! I hope to never see their
comments being published in future. If the media
does follow this, it will doing a great service to the
national Interest
Rawshan has reminded us once again, not that
we need reminding, that the political sector in
Bangladesh is Infested by people with no qualification, no common sense, or of self-respect. So, I
ask you, how can we ever establish a government
which citizens can be proud of??

CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Cowardly (6)
5 Melody (3)
7 Edge (3)
8 Picturesque (6)
11 Laundry item (3)
12 Vestige (5)
14 Oven for baking
bricks (4)
16 Trunk (5)
18 Zodiac sign (5)
20 Illuminated sign (4)
21 Long lock (5)
23 Drunkard (3)
24 Escapes artfully (6)
27 Friend (Fr) (3)
28 Prosecute (3)
29 Swift (6)

DOWN
1 Long-leaved lettuce (3)
2 Land measure (3)
3 Wine merchant (7)
4 Eastern ruler (4)
5 Electrical unit (6)
6 Area (6)
9 Coconut husk fibre (4)
10 Domestic animal (3)
13 Eat (7)
14 American state (6)
15 Small (6)
17 Part of a shoe (4)
19 Observe (3)
22 Strike with open
hand (4)
25 Pass away (3)
26 Secret agent (3)

Ronnie
Just as this woman happens to be the stray
member of parliament and a fictional leader of
the opposition. Rawshan Ershad never seems to
tire of plumbing the depths of intellectual depravity and absence of self-esteem.

Non-stop hartal if RAB men not

arrested
May 16

Dr Ahsan Habib
I have one comment for the current commander
of RAB 11: How can you claim Shahids allegations
are baseless and, at the same time, promise to
investigate? Such a statement proves to me that
your comment itself has no basis.

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

Modi on the brink of power

May 16

NS
If BJP wins an absolute majority, it would be a
disaster for India.

Development in secondary
education without spending a
single taka

CALVIN AND HOBBES

May 16

PEANUTS

Mawduda Hasnin
Many schools have more students than they
can hold. Some of their classes have more than
70 students, and some less than 15 students.
Recently, I saw a list of schools participating in
the JSC examination with less than 10 students.
The list was quite long.
Only a simple circular from the ministry of education can bring change and help ensure quality
education. A school cannot run a section/class with
less than 20 students or for more than 40 students.
The government should open new schools in other
divisional and district towns to even out the load.
Schools have to conduct a certain number
of classes, and are awarded on the basis of SSC
results, and also on how many classes were held,
and what other activities they offer, like games and
co-curricular activities, including debate. All class
tests should be taken according to the curriculum.
Teachers salaries are not high, so many have
taken up private tuition to survive, and find
they can make a sizeable profit from it. Emphasis should be on teaching, not tuition, and the
government should take proper initiatives so
that teachers go back to taking classes. A list of
teachers, along with their designation should be
hanged on a board in the head teachers room so
as to make sure that unqualified teachers, without
a professional degree or qualifying NCRTA are not
allowed to teach in any educational institution.

YESTERDAYS SOLUTIONS
CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

Thursday, May 22, 2014

11

Ways of being human

n Garga Chatterjee

We need to invest in a healthy population

BIGSTOCK

Our greatest wealth

n Mamun Rashid
sk anyone in their 30s
or 40s. They all are
concerned about their
childrens health and education. In their 50s and
60s, they are concerned about their
own health. They want to stay away
from doctors few can afford the
costs. Health expenditure is increasing every day in Bangladesh. Very few
have access to good medical care and
most people with meager incomes do
not.
The common people of Bangladesh are being deprived of free or
low cost healthcare services as the
health budget is shrinking every
year.Though few in the large cities,
mainly the capital and port cities, now
have access to good healthcare, the
entire rural population is dependent
on the public health infrastructure,
where even increasing kitty could not
bring much of a change. The death toll
of mothers during childbirth has not
reduced significantly, malpractice by
doctors or in their absence by nurses is
also rampant in rural places.
Though budgetary allocation for
the health sector has increased over
the years, the percentage in the total
budget outlay is actually decreasing.
Bangladesh reportedly has the lowest
per capita health expenditure in South
and Southeast Asia, which makes it
more challenging for the public health
sector to offer full-fledged, free, and

more importantly, effective medical care to the common people.Our

government has been failing to spend
even half of what the World Health Organisation (WHO) has set as the minimum per capita health expenditure,
leaving the ailing people to be ripped
off by expensive private hospitals and
clinics now available even in remote
rural places.

People of Bangladesh
are being deprived of
healthcare as the health
budget is shrinking
every year
As per the recommendation of the
WHO, minimum per capita health
spending by the government should
be $44. It is only $27 in Bangladesh,
while India is spending $59, Nepal $33,
Sri Lanka $97, Pakistan $30, Indonesia $95, and Vietnam is spending $96
as per capita health expenditure.No
doubt, low per capita health expenditure in Bangladesh creates obstacles
to render proper healthcare services to
the poor and destitute.
Our health budget is shrinking
every year though around 2 million people are being added to our

population, for which more budgetary allocation is needed to meet the

ever-growing healthcare needs.
The size of the national budget gets
bigger every fiscal, but allocation for
the health sector has been shrinking
in terms of its proportion to the total
budget. This creates a problem for
public healthcare institutions to
provide proper medical services to
the poor at primary, secondary, and
tertiary levels. The price of medicine
is another factor that has made
medical treatment too expensive for
the poor.
Pharmaceutical firms in the country are now producing some 23,000
categories of medicines, but some
medicines are very expensive and
beyond the reach of the poor people.
Pharmaceutical companies are more
interested in producing medicine
which do not have compulsory price
tags or are beyond the 117 restricted
price list.
More shockingly, those who are
producing at the prescribed price,
on the other hand, are compromising quality. Budgetary allocation in
the health sector therefore needs to
be increased to provide medicine to
the poor, free of cost. Most in rural
Bangladesh are either not treated well
or wrongly treated by the doctors and
medical assistants. Nurses are small
in number and not trained well. Many
public hospital nurses are more interested in working for private hospitals
than paying minimum attention to

their core public hospital jobs. The

number of casualties due to wrong
treatment is increasing.
A nation needs to invest continuously in its health sector to get a
healthy population. Access to health
services for the poor is a must for any
developing country. At the same time,
we need to ensure availability of good
hospitals, good doctors attending to
the patients on time, trained nurses
treating distressed patients with care,
and more importantly, effective medicine. Ensuring all of these not only
requires more money to be put on the
table, it also warrants good governance in the health sector, accountability, and political commitment.
The drug administration launched a
drive against adulterated and smuggled medicine at medicine hub Mitford
in Dhaka during the third quarter
of last year. Local medicine sellers
went to the local legislator to stop the
administrator. The local legislator took
this personally, as a threat to himself,
and his partys popularity in view of
the upcoming election.
It was unfortunate for the drug
administrator who came from a politically wrong district in the countrys
northern region. The entire drive had
to be put on hold. A better health
budget thus also warrants a better
health administration, with the right
medicine for the right patient. l
Mamun Rashid is a business professor and
financial sector entrepreneur.

Tensions on the fault line

n Nicholas Farrelly

ho did this? I asked

the monk on a recent
afternoon in Ramu,
southeastern Bangladesh. It was the
Islamists, he replied. He pointed to
the marks beneath the glistening new
paint where a Buddhas head had been
cleaved asunder. When asked about
the culprits miscreants in the local
application of English he gave me
a glimpse of monastic resignation.
I dont know. They are people who
dont understand.
While many people have rightfully focused on the plight of Muslim
Rohingya in Myanmars Rakhine
State, an adjacent and similarly messy
conflict erupted in September 2012 on
Bangladeshs southeastern extremity
Coxs Bazar.
Sparked by an anti-Islam Facebook
post of ambiguous provenance, 22
Buddhist temples were torn down
and set ablaze, with dozens of Buddhist-owned houses destroyed. The
Bangladesh government, acutely aware
of the sensitivities, quickly sought to
dampen the anti-Buddhist fury.
With reports that thousands or even
tens of thousands of Muslims marched
against the perceived blasphemy, its
hard to apportion blame. The attacks
on the countrys longstanding Theravada Buddhist minority a group with
a large, settled presence for centuries
were a slap in the face to Bangladeshs
tolerant and inclusive self-image.
What is most remarkable about the
official response to this violence is its
rapid and overwhelming implementation. Instead of leaving charred neighbourhoods and demolished pagodas,
the governments security and construction arms got down to work fast.
At Buddhist pagodas all over Ramu,
gleaming compounds have risen from
the ashes. In some cases, parts of the

old structures survived, or have been

salvaged in renovated form.
In these rebuilt compounds, piles
of carefully curated Buddha fragments
are a stark reminder of the damage
done. They sit reverently next to the
new Buddha statues donated from
across the world.
Thais have been particularly
committed to re-seeding Buddhism in
Ramu. In one of the re-built buildings
hangs a portrait of King Bhumibol
Adulyadej from when he was a young
man. In another, a Buddha image
gifted by a Thai organisation proclaims that the body of Dharma sits
inside every human being. One other
is an exquisite, shiny, golden figure
inscribed with the name of its donor, a
Thai police colonel.
Across Ramu, other recently
installed signs announce the work
of Bangladeshs security forces in
rehabilitating the regions Buddhist
sites. Pictures of heavy machinery are
pinned to new fences, while posters
thank the government and army for its
support. Indeed, it was a huge effort
to suture these wounds. In a country
where construction is often slow and
inadequately budgeted, it is remarkable to see what has been done in less
than two short years.
Buddha images, decapitated, have
been fashioned back together. Fresh
paint hides other scars. Multi-storey
pagodas have risen from the rubble,
with new gardens planted and monastic accommodation built. There are
well-funded programs for Buddhist
education too.
The government has taken charge
of these efforts. It is embarrassed by
the violence, but also hoping to prove
a point about its own inclusive and
secular credentials.
Asking the locals about who was
responsible for the violence draws a
mixed response. There are those who

point the finger at some of Bangladeshs political parties, especially

those with a nationalist and Islamic
bent. These are the groups locked
in a deadly and disreputable stoush
with the incumbent regime of Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina. There are few
saints in Bangladeshs rough-and-tumble national life, and some will assert
that the prime ministers own party
activists were also involved.
The attacks on Buddhists around
Coxs Bazar happened when turmoil in
Myanmars adjacent Rakhine State was
at its hottest. Much has been made of
the Myanmar governments lacklustre response to this violence, with
widespread dismay at the dearth of
resolute efforts to stamp out hard-line
Buddhist factions.

Back in Ramu, the

wounds are yet to heal
and there is trepidation
among those Buddhists
who have chosen to stay
Even Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, so often
deemed beyond reproach, has weathered criticism. On the Bangladesh
side of the border, many people fail to
hide their bewilderment at what they
perceive to be her weak response to
Myanmars communal conflicts.
For now, the rebuilding of Bangladeshs Buddhist monuments and the
neighbourhoods that support them
has left a stark contrast. The Bangladesh government has sought to make
amends, while in Myanmar there
is lingering resentment that senior
leaders are unwilling to condemn
anti-Muslim pogroms.
On the ground in Rakhine State,

mosques remain in ruins. Muslims

who have been displaced from their
homes are left in squalid camps, a
tragic purgatory seemingly designed
to encourage them to leave for good.
Back in Ramu, the wounds are yet
to heal and there is trepidation among
those Buddhists who have chosen
to stay among the Muslim majority.
Women in burkas and men with long
beards are common on the streets
in this part of Bangladesh. It is this
imagery, and the politics it represents
that so worries Myanmars Buddhist
nationalists it is the future they are
seeking to avert.
Along this Muslim-Buddhist fault
line, among the people of Ramu,
resentment still simmers close to the
surface. Even monks speak through
clenched teeth. In Bangladesh, the
precarious status of Buddhists has
hardly changed, even after all of the
governments re-construction efforts
and largesse. For these minorities
the nightmare is a future where the
government is less inclined to support
their presence one where Islamist
strains dictate the national mood.
From this edge, there looks to be
no end to the reincarnation of conflict.
When I asked whether such violence
could happen again, the monk in
Ramu hesitated. His answer was resigned, uncommitted, impermanent.
He said that there was no way to know,
and that Buddhists must carry on in
any case. The future, in his words, is
not ours to control. l
Nicholas Farrelly is a Research Fellow in
the College of Asia and the Pacific at the
Australian National University, Canberra, and
is currently based in Myanmar. Dr Farrelly
visited Bangladesh as part of his ongoing
Australian Research Council-funded research
on Southeast Asian political cultures. This
article was originally published in The
Myanmar Times.

t the very outset, I should make

my position on certain things
very clear. I believe that there
are many, many ways of being human
none of them being better or
worse, progressive or regressive,
forward or backward than others.
There is no rank order of civilisations, cultures, millenia and the like.
For that matter, I am not sure what
civilisation means, unless you define
it by a set of arbitrary parameters and
ascribe those parameters some kind of
inherently positive value, just because
you fancy them.
This line of thought may be particularly irritating to those who, after their
unfortunate birth in brown-land, were
born-again when exposed to White
peoples worldviews. But the irritation
of such dwijas (twice born) is irrelevant. They would have been altogether irrelevant if a deep democracy were
able to function in the subcontinent.
I hope such a time comes soon,
before the dwijas are able to stamp out
all diversity and cultural rootedness
from this world. I hope they are soon
kicked off the centre-stage that they
have occupied for too long, by keeping
the people out by sheer power. Till
such time, before the story of the hunt
is rewritten and the lions still lurk,
some will continue to make hay. But
let me get back to the many, many
ways to being human.
Now that we have the clap-trap
about higher and lower humans
out of the way, let me come to the
elections to the Indian Union parliament. Using the principle of one-man
one-vote, this exercise seeks to present an opportunity to the people to
determine and influence the nature of
the power that will rule over them.
But that is not all. This exercise
also re-legitimises (kind of like license
renewal) the structure and apparatus
that imposes itself on the people. Thus
power structures seek legitimacy by
offering a pre-determined amount of
decision-making power. It does not
give all powers to the people. For example, the people who are supposedly
the only sovereign in this schema cannot alter the basic structure of the
Indian Union constitution, even when
fundamental rights of the individual
are protected.
The crucial part of such schemes
is that they are all-pervasive. The
intense focus of resources and energy
by modern nation-states on maintaining and defining territorial limits
is not accidental. Within that zone, it
is supreme. Which is precisely why
territories where such monarchic supremacy is not established are sources
of unending paranoia for the powersto-be.
The smokescreen of peoples welfare is used to unleash the non-pretentious forces of a nation-state money
and military. In places where people
dont live, powers dangle the notion of
strategic importance.

We are as human as
anyone else. This
is before there is
consciousness of the
state, Gandhi, Nehru,
New Delhi
We are born from our mothers womb.
We are born where our mother lay
pregnant with us. When we are born,
we are as human as anyone else. This
is before there is consciousness of the
state, constitution, Gandhi, Nehru, tricolour, New Delhi, etc. Is it a pre-condition of being human that these
notions have to be built up within our
heads for an individual to be considered fully human?
Clearly not. Our bloodlines and
human consciousness predates all
flags and constitutions and gods
willing, will outlive them too. So, one

has a right to be fully human and not

be impinged upon, counted, exercised
power upon, demanded loyalty from
by institutions like the nation.

The distance from

birth-rights to fullcitizenship is a journey
that requires surrender
of rights
One has a right to exist in the land
one was born upon, to mingle in the
society into which one is born or
welcomed, live a glorious life among
ones kins and so on. Institutions that
place themselves as mediators of
these rights, without being called to
mediate, are inhuman and anti-social
in a very fundamental sense. They
may well be legal, depending on how
many guns back up the self-imposed
mediator. Legality is different from
justness only the people can create
the latter. No paper document written
in their name can.
Whether one votes or not votes or
boycotts it, all of these positions are
vis--vis the voting process and the
state that sponsors it. The all-pervasiveness of such schemes means that
you will be counted, not matter what
you will be classified, even if you dont
belong. Lack of consciousness is not
an option and in any case, irrelevant.
Institutions that intensively survey
uninhabited islands, wrap the remains
of the dead in distinct flags, teach
loyalty through school syllabi do face
a problem when they face people who
regard the state as alien. Some of the
indigenous peoples of Andaman and
Nicobar Islands like the Shompen are
such aliens. But they are Indian
citizens, irrespective.
Are they proud of Gandhi? Do they
respect the tricolour? Do they have a
stake in Siachen and Sir Creek, given
what happens there is done in their
name too? Do they believe in unity in
diversity given that their numbers
have sharply dwindled ever since they
were claimed as Indians? It is
from the perspective of the Shompen
people of the Great Nicobar island that
the all-pervasive state starts looking
not so pervasive a hint that there is
an outside, even when high resolution
maps and detailed anthropological
surveys have been done.
This outside consciousness is an
extremely dangerous thing. Hence,
when the Shompen people voted in
Indian Union elections for the first
time, whatever that act means, there
was a sigh of relief at the deepest heart
of the state. A portal to an outside,
however small, was technically sealed.
There is an outside and there will
always be an outside. It comes with
every child who is born.
Hence, there is a persistent and
dangerous glimmer. To live without
certain indoctrinations makes a dynamite of a people, even if they dont
know it. The distance from birth-rights
to full-citizenship is a journey that
requires surrender of rights, without
consent or with indoctrination that
there is no outside.
I remember a four-panel cartoon.
At first, a bear stands in a jungle. Then
some trees are cleared, encroachers
arrive. The bear looks on. Finally,
everything is clean and someone is
taken aback that there is a bear in the
midst of civilization and asks where it
came from. The bear was always there.
I am sure they created a sanctuary for
the bear thereafter.
Maybe it will start speaking Hindi
and English and straighten up its spine
when the band plays Jana-Gana-Mana.
With enough aspiration, it might go
on to sing The world will live as one.
There wont be any bears left anymore.
Such is progress in a world without
outsides. l
Garga Chatterjee is a freelance contributor.
He can be followed on twitter @gargac.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Tagore
re-imagined
n

SADIA MARIUM

Chompaboti to be staged today

SADIA MARIUM

Shadma Malik

Noted artists in the country expressed their reverence towards the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore through their
fascinating artwork. An eight-day exhibition featuring the
works and replicas of Tagores paintings is being held at the
National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
To mark the legends 153rd birth anniversary, BSA has organised the exhibition which showcases a total of 45 replicas
and 80 artworks by 40 renowned artists.
The replicas of Tagores paintings were commissioned by
the Indian government and gifted to Shilpakala by the Indira
Gandhi Cultural Centre in Dhaka .
Among the works of the prominent artists, Qayyum
Chowdhury s Rabindranath contrasted Tagore in his
aristocracy finery in vibrant colours, alongside a brilliant
backdrop of rural Bangla. The composition depicts blue sky
with birds, green fields and floating boats are showcased. A
visual representation of Tagores popular poem Shonar Tori
has also been depicted in Qayyums canvas, as golden fibers
on a golden boat against the backdrop of a black sky.
Artist Hashem Khans painting is inspired by Tagores popular song Eidin Aji Kon Ghore Go Khule Dilo Daar. His canvas of the same title narrates the tale of rural Bangalee women
who, in harmony, cultivate crops that generate new hopes in
life.
Rafiqun Nabis artworks show Tagore sitting in an arm
chair with a pen and a notebook and images of butterfly, people and trees are revolving around his head.
Sculptor Hamiduzzaman Jocchna Rate Padma Boat
and Thakur Bari unfold the moments he spent here
in Bangladesh. The paintings aim to help the viewers
understand the way Tagore has experienced the beauty of
Bangladesh.
Mohammed Yunus Onek Robir Alok Dharai portrays
Tagores face-- in different ages from young to veteran-- showcases the versatile genius who developed an acute sensibility
towards literature, poetry, dance and music, painter. l

n Entertainment Desk
Shadhonas
experimental
production Chompaboti is
based on poet Jashimuddins
play Beder Meye and has
been adapted into a dance
drama by the renowned
playwright Syed Shamsul
Haq. Watch out for the production, which gives newlife to the age-old narrative,
this evening at the Shilpakala Academy in the capital.
Choreographed by Shabbir Ahmed Khan Biju, the
recital is an entertaining folk
dance presentation drawn
from our traditional game
lathi-khela and different folk
dance genres of the subcontinent such as jhumur, raibeshe, chhau, mayurbhanj, and kalaripayettu.

Celebrated artists like

Anusheh Anadil, Shafi Mondol and Kangalini Sufia
lent their voice in various
folk songs that makes this
dance-drama unique.
The story is about the
interactions between the
wandering bede community and the villagers
of Bengal. It portrays the
conflicting ways of life within
the same society through the
stories of three women
named Chompa, Maleka
and Asmani. Chompa is
known for her skills in faithhealing and snake-charming, Maleka is the wife of the
village head who is bullied
by her abusive husband,
and,
Asmani
is
the
wife of Champas ex-paramour Goya. l

Citycell Taroka Kathon

turns 11
n Entertainment Desk
Citycell Taroka Kathon, a popular TV show on
Channel i, step into 11 years yesterday as the programme was first aired on May 21 in 2004.
A press conference and a celebration programme was arranged at the Channel i premises
where noted personalities including Shykh Seraj,
director and head of news of Channel i, Taslim
Ahmed, head of marketing and communications
of Citycell, Mamunur Rashid, renowned actor and
theatre activist, Asif Akbar, famed singer and the
guest of the first episode of this show in 2004,

Shimul Mustafa, reciter, Sohana Saba, actor, Shibli

Mohammad, dancer, Aminul Haque, the football
star, Shams Sumon, actor, Murad Parvez, actor
and model Suzana were present and celebrated the
eleven years of journey expressing their thought
about the programme and cutting a cake.
Citycell Taroka Kathon, a talk-and-interview
TV show and call-in show which takes live phone
calls from callers listening at home and sometimes
presented celebrity shows performance upon
request. Not only in the studio, Citycell Taroka
Kathon team went elsewhere where it needed to
communicate with the viewers. Though duration
of the programme is 30 minutes, but in case of any
renowned person its time is extended. Yesterday
the programme aired its 2906 episode. l

Mehajabien
two timing
in Ekti
Anakankhito
Premer
Golpo

TODAY IN DHAKA
Exhibition

Mukh O Mukhosh 5
Time: 11am 8pm
Galleri Kaya, Sector- 4, Uttara

EMK Center, 9th floor, Midas Center,

House 5, Road 27
Dhanmond

Theatre

Film

Exhibition on Rabindranath Tagore

Time: 11am-7pm
National Art Gallery
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy

Dog, Woman, Man

Time: 7pm 9pm
Goethe Institut Bangladesh
Road 9(new)
House 10
Dhanmondi

Trailing the Root: One Step Ahead

Dhaka Art Center
House 60, Road 7/A, Dhanmondi

Eminent singer Fatema Tuz Zohra will

perform at live musical show Tomay Gaan
Shonabo to be aired on 12:02am tomorrow

Bornil Pandulipi
Time: 12pm 8pm
Shilpangon Gallery

Goodnight Ma
Time: 7:30pm 9:00pm

Model-turned-actor Mehajabien will

be seen dating two men simultaneously in a TV play titled Ekti Onakankhito Premer Golpo,
The plot revolves around Anna and
her two friends, Sadiq and Ratul. All of
them are very good friends and both
men have feelings for the beautiful
Anna.
Anna also enjoys their company
and dates both of them. They freak
out, when they discover that Annas
two timing. Anna struggles to under-

stand her own desires and tries to

reconcile her friendship with both of
them.
Winner of the Lux Channel i Superstar, Mehajabien said: I have never
come across such a story. To portray
my feelings for two men was really
challenging.
But I gave it my best. Now a days I
am focusing on enhancing my acting
skills. I want to establish myself as a
prominent actor.
Written by Sajal Ahmed and directed by BU Shuvo, the play will be aired
on a satellite channel during Eid. l

Shah Rukh Khan second richest

actor in the world

Ranbir Kapoor
takes up boxing
lessons

n Entertainment Desk

Boxing seems to be the flavour of

the season in Bollywood. And actors seem rather keen on picking up
the gloves as part of their training
for a role. On the list are Priyanka
Chopra and Sonakshi Sinha who
have received boxing training for
their upcoming films.
The latest entry in the ring is
Ranbir Kapoor. It has been reported
earlier that Ranbir has been learning Mixed Martial Arts for his upcoming Anurag Kashyap directorial
Bombay Velvet.
A trainer was flown in from Kenya for the actor and they worked
together for roughly four months.
The actor reportedly had trouble maintaining his lean physique in
spite of the heavy physical training
which led to him going on a strict diet.
Bombay Velvet is a neo-noir film
where Ranbir plays a street fighter.
I havent worked on my physique for a film so far, but Bombay
Velvet demands it. And I have always maintained that I would make
the effort for the right film, he told
a leading newspaper. l

I, Frankenstein
Children of War
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (3D)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
(3D)
STAR Cineplex
Level 8, Bashundhara City
13/3 Ka, Panthopath

n Entertainment Desk

n Entertainment Desk

GODZILLA
at Blockbuster Cinemas
n Entertainment Desk
Grameenphone is going to release
Hollywood flick Godzilla tomorrow
at Blockbuster Cinemas in Jamuna
Future Park.
The 2014 American science fiction monster film is a reboot of the
Godzillafilm franchise. It retells the
origins of Godzilla in contemporary
times as a terrifying force of nature.
The highly anticipated movie released in USA on May 16.

STAR customers of Grameenphone will have exclusive rights to

the screening of the movie for the
first 10 days from May 23. After that,
the screenings become available to
the general public. Grameenphones
customers will get free popcorn facilities by sending an SMS to a certain
number using a certain key word.
Grameenphone is in agreement to
release a total of 4 movies this year
for its valued customers at Blockbuster Cinemas. l

Wealth-Xs Hollywood and Bollywood

Rich List released on Wednesday puts
comedian Jerry Seinfeld right on top of
the list of wealthy entertainers. With an
estimated net worth of $820 million, the
60-year-old comedian emerged as the
wealthiest actor.
Shah Rukh Khan, was the only Indian
actor in the top 10 combined rich list of
Bollywood and Hollywood stars. Khan
was found to be richer than Hollywood
giants like Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks,
Clint Eastwood or Adam Sandler.
Wealth X said Khan is estimated
to be worth $600 million. Immensely
popular around the globe as well as in
his home country, India, Khan is also a
producer, TV host, co-owner of an Indian cricket club and a philanthropist.
He has appeared in more than 50 Bollywood films and is a regular at the annual Cannes Film Festival.
Tom Cruise is the third richest actor
worth $480 million followed by Johny
Depp and Tyler Perry both tied at
$450 million.
Several Academy Award winners are
featured on the list, including threetime Oscar winner Jack Nicholson, who

has a net worth of $400 million, which

puts the 77-year-old actor in 7th spot.
Tom Hanks, who won best actor Oscars
for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, is
in 8th place with a personal fortune of
$390 million.
Clint Eastwood, who at 84 is the

oldest actor in the Rich List, has an estimated personal fortune of $370 million, making him the 9th wealthiest
actor on the list.
Bill Cosby stands 8th in the list with
$ 380 million while Adam Sandler is
10th being worth $ 340 million. l

Did you know?

England have failed
to win any of their
last 4 bilateral T20I
series (L3 D1) after
being unbeaten in the
preceding 8 (W5 D3)

Sport

Thursday, May 22, 2014

14 Prandelli plays

down racist taunt

aimed at Balotelli

14 Pakistan ball

maker to fulfill
World Cup dream

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 McIlroy breaks

off engagement
to Wozniacki

Naveed demands
professional
hockey set-up
n
Naveed Alam, the head coach of Bangladesh national hockey team has
urged the hockey federation to ensure
his as well as the players mental peace
in order to produce a satisfactory result
in the upcoming Asian Games which is
scheduled to be held at Incheon, Korea
in September next.
Naveed, whose current contract
expires on June 30 this year and is set
to renew his contract with Bangladesh
Hockey Federation, has also placed a
number of demands to the federation.
First of all, I made it clear that the level of competition in the Asian Games
are far higher than the qualifiers and I
would take all the responsibility of the
success and failure if a number of demands are met, said Naveed.
The federation must form a panel
of coaches who will work with specific
sections. The formation of the national
team also goes through some changes.
The team also needs a good video analyst, the plan of preparation including
the tours and the warm-up matches,

Farashganj eye
BPL promotion
n

Farashganj Sporting Club moved one

step closer to returning to the top flight
football after they came from behind to
beat Wari Club 3-2 in the Premier Bank
Bangladesh Championship League at
the Kamalapur Stadium yesterday.
Palash put Wari ahead in the 4th minute before Shakib doubled the lead in
the 43rd minute. Farashganj never gave
up and made a spectacular comeback in
the last half hour with Babu reducing the
margin in the 60th minute while Biplob
scored the equalizer seven minutes later. However, it was Gafur who completed the stunning comeback as his goal
sealed the victory in the 74th minute to
put his side in the second place.
Apart from table leaders Rahmatganj there will be another club from
the second tier and it now seems most
likely that Farashganj will grab that
vacant slot as they are in an advantageous position with two points ahead
of third-placed Agrani Bank with one
game in hand. l

and the peace of mind of the players

and the coaches above all. In short, I
asked the federation to ensure a fully
professional set up, added Naveed.
Naveed further added that he had
asked the federation to increase his
salary also. Bangladesh Hockey Federation has provided 3500 US dollars per
month to me. I asked them to increase
the amount. However, I did not specifically say what the amount will be
and its up to the federation to decide.
I want to say that I am committed to my
work and I believe Bangladesh has the
potential in hockey.
Naveed said that he had talked with
some provincial hockey teams of Pakistan
during his vacation and among them,
Punjab has agreed to play practice matches against Bangladesh. It can be here or
in Pakistan and the reason why I chose
them was they have a number of Pakistan national team players. So it would be
a good warm-up for the team before the
Asian Games, Naveed revealed.
Naveed said that he is all set to start
the Asian Games camp with 35 players
from June 1. l

Englands Jack Wilshere (2L), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (C), Frank Lampard (2R), Ross Barkley (R) attend a training session in Vale do Lobo, near Almancil, southern Portugal, yesterday.
England will play the World Cup in Brazil in Group D with Uruguay, Costa Rica and Italy
AP

ULAB, AIUB in final

n

University
of
Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB)
has made it to
the finals of the Walton Refrigerator
University Challenge Cup 2014. They
registered a convincing nine-wicket
victory over Bangladesh Agricultural
University (BAU) in the first semifinal
of the tournament at BKSP yesterday.
ULAB will face American International University Bangladesh (AIUB)
in the final today at the same venue.
AIUB emerged as the other finalist after
defeating Rajshahi University by nine
wickets.
BAU won the toss and opted to bat
first but could only manage 89 runs losing all of their wickets due to a top-order failure. Utshos 30-ball 20 was the
highest in the BAU innings. Ratul and
Shuvrato scored 18 runs each.
Morsalin Bin Mortaja scalped four
wickets for ULAB and was later adjudged player of the match. Anjam
Ahmed and Avishek Mitra took two

wickets each.
In reply, ULAB chased down the
target in 7.5 overs with nine wickets
to spare. Skipper Hasanuzzamans 26ball 49 upfront propelled the chase. He
hammered six fours and two sixes and
added 83 runs with Avishek Mitra for
the opening stand.
Avishek was unbeaten on 30 off
20 balls. His innings included three
boundaries and a six. Oni picked up the
only wicket for BAU.
In the other semifinal, Rajshahi batted first and garnered only 83 runs.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Himel scored
the highest, 16. Towfiqul Haq grabbed
four wickets for AIUB while Tanvir
Haider took two.
Chasing the target, AIUB reached
the target in 9.2 overs despite an early
hiccup, that of opening batsman Mehrab Hossain Jr who departed in the third
ball of the innings.
Anamul Haque guided the chase
with authority scoring an unbeaten 37ball 70. He hammered eight boundaries
and five sixes. Tanvir was unbeaten at
the other end on 10 runs. l

University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh players celebrate winning the Walton Refrigerator
University Challenge Cup 2014 semifinal against Bangladesh Agricultural University at
BKSP yesterday
COURTESY

Australia team is corruption free: Clarke

n
Australia captain Michael Clarke is disappointed at the alleged involvement
of international cricketers in matchfixing but was happy, satisfied and
confident that his own team were not
corrupt, he said on Wednesday.
Testimony from an ongoing International Cricket Council probe into corruption leaked to a British newspaper this
week has detailed alleged matchfixing
in cricket involving at least two former
international players from New Zealand.
Clarke, who has led his team back to
the top of the ICC test rankings over the

n
The womens cricket league titled the
Metropolitan Womens Cricket League,
scheduled to get underway in less than
a week, will be following the same
by-laws as the mens Dhaka Premier
League. However, with less than a week
remaining to the start of the league, the
clubs are yet to know the bylaws.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) womens wing chairman Abdul Awal Chowdhury Bulu though informed that the bylaws will be prepared within the next two
days. We have made a huge change in
the bylaws but we are yet to complete the
new bylaws. I am hopeful about finishing
it by one or two days and then I will forward it to the clubs, said Bulu.
The womens cricket league was
originally set to begin from May 25 but
it was pushed back by two days as BCB
president Nazmul Hasan is not in the

country at the moment. Our president

is outside the country and is expected
to return soon and we will be starting
the tournament within May 27, informed Bulu.

As per the foreign

players quota each
club can enroll four
cricketers in their
squad with two players
permitted to play in the
eleven
A total of 14 teams will participate in
the tournament with the players transfer already taking place on Tuesday.
The clubs had to pay Tk10,000 as entry
fee for the competition and according to the latest bylaws, each club can

register a maximum of 24 cricketers in

their side.
As per the foreign players quota
which was introduced last year, each
club can enroll four cricketers in their
squad with two players permitted to
play in the eleven.
Bulu also notified that the Super
League phase might be introduced
from this season. We are going to introduce the Super League phase from
this season and in order to improve the
quality of the tournament we are going
to start the first division league as only
the top sides could participate in this
league, said Bulu.
The chairman of the womens wing
also informed that the board is going to
increase the financial aid for the clubs
from Tk1,20,000 to Tk1,50,000 and he
also added that the board is planning
to provide match fees for the cricketers
from this season. l

Nuns, backed by
pope, warn of
human trafficking
n

Jewel Rana set to

become MSC coach
n Tribune Desk
Jewel Rana is set to become the new head
coach of Mohammedan Sporting Club
Limited after the sudden departure of
Portuguese head coach Rui Jose Capela
Batista. The former national striker, who
also played for Mohammedan, is likely
to be seen in the dugout during Mohammedans todays Bangladesh Premier
League match against Brothers Union.
Batista left the club on May 11 following Mohammedans match against
Abahani and the club informed that the
Portuguese coach had to leave immediately due to his wifes sickness. Jewel
Ranas salary will be fixed in the next
two weeks. l

Womens cricket league by-laws

yet to be prepared

last year, said any kind of corruption in

the greatest sport in the world was
unwelcome but did not think it was a
problem in Australia.
As an Australian cricketer, Im very
proud of what this current team has done
and achieved and I think we are educated very well in what is right and what is
wrong, he told reporters on Wednesday.
Im extremely confident about the
players Im playing with, this Australian
team, all know very clearly that theres
no room for corruption in our team.
A big part of our job is to uphold the
integrity of our sport and I think we do
that well.

Although Australians have not been

involved in any of the string of scandals
that have emerged over the last two decades, the countrys cricketing authorities were condemned for covering up
the Bookmaker John case in 1995.
Two of Australias greatest cricketers,
Shane Warne and Mark Waugh, were
privately fined for accepting thousands
of dollars from an Indian bookmaker to
give weather and pitch information
punishments that were not revealed until 1998. Clarke said he thought Cricket
Australias current system of educating
players had helped keep the sport free
of the taint of corruption Down Under. l

Cute Premier Handball

begins tomorrow

Roman Catholic nuns

backed by Pope Francis
on Tuesday raised the
alarm over increased
risks of human trafficking, exploitation of
workers, forced prostitution and sexual tourism at the soccer World Cup in
Brazil next month.
The nuns, whose campaign is also
backed by the U.S. embassy to the
Vatican, announced an international
campaign called Play in Favour of Life
- Denounce Human Trafficking, on the
risks they say will be associated with
the June 12 - July 13 tournament.
We need to make people conscious
of what happens on the margins of big
world events such as the FIFA World
Cup and the suffering of those who are
trafficked, said Sister Carmen Sammut, a Maltese nun and one of the campaign organisers.
Without this awareness, without
acting together in favour of human dignity, the World Cup finals may turn out
to be a terrible shame instead of a feast
for humanity, she told a news conference at the Vatican.
Sammut said the initiative had the
full backing of Pope Francis, an avid
Argentine soccer fan who has called
several conferences at the Vatican to
study ways of combating human trafficking. l

The nine-team Cute Premier Division

Handball League will roll at the Shahid
Captain M Monsur Ali National Handball Stadium tomorrow.
Apart from defending champions
Menzis Krira Chakra and runnes-up
Narinda Pragati Boys Club the other
participants are Surjodoy Krira Chakra,
Dhaka Mariner Youngs Club, Old Ideals, Bhatritta Samaj Kalyan Sanghstha,
Victoria Sporting Club, Prime Sporting
Club and Arambagh Krira Sangha.
To boost this years campaign Narinda has flew in two Indian players
as they look to clinch the title of the
league that will conclude on June 2.

Cute has been sponsoring the league

since 1984 and the cosmetics and the
toiletries producers pledged to continue their support in a press conference
held at the Bangladesh Olympic Association auditorium yesterday. Kazi Rajivuddin Ahmed Chapal, the director
of Mousumi Industries and the head
of Marketing and Sales Kazi Niaz ibne
Mahtab said their long relation with
handball is surrounded by the vision of
raising the standards.
Sheikh Md Maruf Hasan, the chairman of the organising committee,
handball federation general secretary
Asaduzzman Kohinoor and the tournament secretary Md Jahangir Alam were
also present on the occasion. l

Sheikh Md Maruf Hasan (C), the chairman of the Cute Primer Handball organising
committee, speaks at a press conference at BOA auditorium yesterday
COURTESY

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Colombia pray for Falcao miracle

Ribery says this is his last World Cup

FIFA launch Favela World Cup in Brazil

Radamel Falcao, Colombias big hope for the World Cup, but also a major injury
doubt, will join their squad in Buenos Aires in preparation for the tournament
in Brazil, the Colombian Football Federation (FCF) said on Tuesday. That ended
rumours that the striker was set to travel to Bogota to announce that he would
not be going to Brazil, having failed to fully recover from knee ligament surgery.
Radamel Falcao Garcia will join his team mates in Buenos Aires. At present, the
forward is continuing with his physical work at his club Monaco, the FCF said in a
statement.
Reuters

France star Franck Ribery declared on Wednesday that the 2014 World Cup finals
would be his last but the Bayern Munich forward left the door open to compete
at Euro 2016. Ribery, 31, who burst on to the international scene at the 2006
World Cup in Germany, told broadcaster RTL: This will be my final World Cup.
Assessing his chances of leaving the World Cup stage on a high in Brazil the European footballer of the Year said: We have to go there to achieve something, to
try to win the World Cup, quite simply. French football chief Noel Le Graet said
Ribery was jumping the gun announcing his World Cup retirement.
AFP

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke took to the pitch Tuesday with
Brazilian great Ronaldo in a Rio de Janeiro favela to launch a project promoting
sporting opportunities for disadvantaged youths during the World Cup. Valcke,
best known in Brazil for haranguing local World Cup organizers to pay more
attention to deadlines, showed a lighter side as he kicked the ball around a small
pitch with Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo, two-time World Cup winner
Ronaldo and a group of children and teens at the Football for Hope launch
event.
AFP

Prandelli plays
down racist taunt
aimed at Balotelli
n
Italy coach Cesare Prandelli played
down a racist incident aimed at striker Mario Balotelli at a pre-World Cup
training camp but striker Ciro Immobile said players have to help stamp out
the scourge.

AC Milan striker Balotelli was believed

to be the target of a racist insult from
a youth as players were put through
their paces during the second day of a
10-day training camp at Coverciano in
Florence.
When asked about the incident,
Prandelli said: I didnt hear what was
said. All I heard were pleasantries.
Police stationed at the national team

Costa gets
horse placenta
for CL race
n
Atletico Madrid sent star striker Diego
Costa to Serbia for special horse placenta treatment in a bid to get him ready
for Saturdays Champions League final,
media reports said.
Costa, who will also be a key player
in Spains World Cup squad, is a major
doubt for the Lisbon final against Real
Madrid because of a right hamstring
injury.
Manager Diego Simeone said he will
give Costa every chance to be ready for
the match. And Atletico sent him on a
private plane to Belgrade for treatment
by Marijana Kovacevic, AS newspaper
and other media reported. l

centre intervened and although the incident did not appear to faze Balotelli
the striker hit out afterwards.
Only in Rome or in Florence do you
here these kinds of things, said Balotelli, who has been subjected to racist
taunts sporadically during his Serie A
career.
Italian football federation (FIGC)
president Giancarlo Abete called the
incident unacceptable.
It was an isolated incident from
someone who should not even have
been there, but its unacceptable, said
Abete, speaking from Milan.
Immobile, one of seven strikers at
the 30-strong training camp and hoping to make Prandellis final 23-man
squad, said the incident was symptomatic of widespread racism and discrimination in the country.
The Torino forward, who with 22
goals finished the season as Serie As
top striker, is from Napoli, a city which
sits in the shadow of the Mount Vesuvius volcano and whose fans are regularly taunted by rival fans.
Asked if he bearing witness to such
an incident made him feel ashamed
to be Italian, Immobile said: No Im
not ashamed to be Italian when I hear
things like this being said.
But it saddens me. Were in 2014
and to be hearing racist insults from
people, whether youre yellow, black or
white is just unacceptable.
Im from Napoli and to hear fans
shouting, wash them with the lava
from Mount Vesuvius isnt very pleasant.
Fortunately, Mario let it pass over
him and he got on with his training. But
we as players should do more to help
stamp this out. l

Banners of the Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid football clubs hang on the facade of the Madrid City Hall on Tuesday. The two football teams of Madrid will play the Uefa Champions
League final in Lisbon on May 24
AFP

Atletico inspired by spirit of Aragones

n

Atletico Madrid face Real Madrid in

the Champions League final on Saturday attempting to put to bed one of the
clubs most painful nights.
Los Rojiblancos missed out on the
European Cup by a matter of seconds to
what became an all-conquering Bayern
Munich side 40 years ago.
Bayern, featuring Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Mueller, went on to win
three European Cups in a row, and yet
they almost never won the first, as they
went into the final minute of extra time

Etoo calls Mourinho puppet

n
Chelsea striker Samuel Etoo has
had another dig at his manager, Jose
Mourinho, calling him a puppet in
a Confederation of African Football
(CAF) website interview on Tuesday.
Mourinho suggested in a private
conversation last March that the
33-year-old Cameroonian might be
older than he claimed.
Record four-time African Footballer
of the Year Etoo branded the
Portuguese manager a fool during a
visit to the Ivory Coast last week.
And in the CAF interview, the
star who will captain Cameroon at
the World Cup in Brazil during June
criticised his boss again.
Asked about the nature of his
relationship with Mourinho, Etoo,

who is out of contract next month,

replied:
Contrary to what a puppet says
about my age, I am still physically fit.
At 33, I feel real good. I have proven
that I can do better than youths.
... I am not going to the United
States or to the Middle East. I will
continue at the top level. I will continue
to play the Champions League.
My romance with this competition
is far from over. I will not tell you
where, but I will be at the top level.
I am 33 and I have two World Cups
to play. Before me there are other
players who went on until the age of 41.
So I can continue.
Cameroon legend Roger Milla was
42 when he scored during a 6-1 loss to
Russia at the 1994 World Cup in the
United States. l

1-0 down.
The goal had been scored by Atleticos greatest player of all-time, Luis
Aragones, just six minutes from the
end of extra time, but the Spaniards
were denied when Miguel Reina -- father of current Napoli goalkeeper Pepe
Reina -- let Hans-Georg Schwarzenbecks hopeful effort slip through his
grasp.
In the days before penalty shootouts, Bayern went on to win 4-0 in the
replay in Brussels just two days later.
On Sunday an estimated 200,000
Atletico Madrid fans crowded round

It was when he felt the roar of the crowd at the

2006 World Cup in Germany that Pakistani
factory owner Khawaja Akhtar first dreamt up a
goal of his own: to manufacture the ball for the
biggest soccer tournament on the planet.
The people were chanting all around me. I
just thought, This is the real thing, Akhtar told
Reuters. I was part of the crowd. I never had
that kind of feeling before.
His factory in eastern Pakistan had made
balls for the German Bundesliga, French league
and Champions League, but he had never
snagged a World Cup contract.
Last year he finally got his chance - but only
33 days to make it happen.
When Akhtar heard last autumn that Adidas Chinese supplier for the World Cup couldnt
keep up with demand, he immediately invited
executives to his plant in Sialkot, a wealthy Pakistani manufacturing town with a long history
of leatherwork.
Their first visit was not a success.
They said You have Stone Age equipment, said his oldest son, Hassan Masood Khawaja, laughing. After they left, my father called
a meeting and said: This is our only chance. If
we show them we cant do it, well never get
another chance again.

An employee adjusts outer panels on a football inside the factory that produces official
match balls for 2014 World Cup in Brazil, in Sialkot, Punjab province on Friday REAUTERS
It usually takes six months to set up a production line, but the factory only had a month
- Adidas, the German sports equipment maker, was in a hurry. So Khawaja designed, made
and moved the equipment into place within 33
days. Everything had to be done from scratch.
But it was a success, and the firms previous
investment in thermal bonding technology paid
off. Only thermally bonded balls - made using a
glue that reacts with heat - are round enough

for the World Cups strict standards.

Local legend tells of a poor cobbler who
made his fortune by repairing the punctured
footballs of colonial-era British soldiers, then
studying how to make them himself.
He was so successful that soldiers all over
the region started buying from him. Business
blossomed - but so did child labour.
A series of scandals, and changing technology, forced many factories to close. Others

ration for arguably the most successful

season in Atleticos 111-year history.
A picture of Aragones adorned the
plane that took the players to the away
leg of their Champions League last-16
tie against AC Milan.
- Win, win and win again Once the seven-time European
champions had been easily disposed
of 5-1 on aggregate, it was one of Aragones famous decrees win, win and
win again that met the players in a
spectacular display by the Vicente Calderon crowd as they hosted Barcelona
in the last eight. l

Beckham suffers
fresh blow to Miami
stadium plans
n
David Beckhams hopes of seeing his
new Miami football team play at a
prime spot at the port of Miami were
Tuesday all but blown out of the water
in a major setback for the former Manchester United idol.
The ex-Real Madrid and England
midfielder wants to build a $250 million
state-of-the-art open-air stadium with
25,000 seats for his recently acquired
MLS team. His preferred site, at PortMiami, would have spectacular sweeping
views of Biscayne Bay and downtown
Miami. But shipping interests and local
authorities have opposed the proposal,
fearing it will disrupt port operations. l

Pakistan ball maker to fulfill World Cup dream

n

the Neptuno fountain and surrounding

streets in the centre of the Spanish capital to celebrate their sides first La Liga
title in 18 years.
However, amongst chorus upon
chorus of chanting, it wasnt inspirational manager Diego Simeone or top
scorer Diego Costa who was the most
prominent name, but that of Aragones.
The man who also coached Spain
to the first of three successive major
tournament victories at the European
Championship in 2008, died on February 1 this year aged 75.
Since then he has become an inspi-

had to clean up their acts. These days foreign

brands frequently inspect Sialkot factories that
make their footballs. Large signs on Akhtars
factory walls sternly proclaim that child labour
is forbidden and unions are allowed.
Workers that Reuters spoke to privately
confirmed that conditions were good - the salary was mostly minimum wage, around $100
a month, but social security, life insurance and
transport were extra benefits. A small government hospital sits on the premises. In the past
40 years, Akhtars own family business, called
Forward, has grown from 50 men to 1,400 employees. Unusually for Pakistan, nearly a quarter of them are women.
Some wear the niqab, a long black covering
that leaves only a pair of brown eyes exposed.
Others flaunt bright sandals with imitation jewels and wear robes the colour of tropical birds.
Almost all say they are the first woman in
their family to work.
Shakila Ashrafi, a 38-year-old mother
whose long beige coat reached down to her
ankles, said one of her first purchases was a
television.
When the World Cup kicks off in Brazil
on June 12, they plan to invite their neighbours - all avid cricket supporters - to come
and watch the strange foreign game being
played half a world away. l

Brazil football players David Luiz (R) and Paulinho shave their beards during a promotional
event in Sao Paulo on Tuesday
REUTERS

World Cup pressure giving

Brazils Luiz sleepless nights
n
Brazil defender David Luiz says he is
having sleepless nights worrying about
the World Cup, while his team mate Dani
Alves describes the intense pressure of
being tournament hosts as delicious.
We are anxious, I wish it was starting tomorrow, Luiz said at a commercial event in Sao Paulo on Tuesday.
Some nights we dont sleep. But
thats all part and parcel. It is a great
chance and we are privileged to play
a World Cup in front of our own fans. I
cant wait for it to start.
The articulate Chelsea defender said
the atmosphere in the Brazil squad was
the best he has experienced in more
than a decade as a professional player.
He added that their unity of purpose
would help them to cope with the pressure of playing a home World Cup.
We have to find a balance, the
27-year-old Luiz told reporters. Up to
a certain point (anxiety) is good, it gets
you thinking about the game. But too
much is harmful so well have to work
on that and that is easier to do as a
group.

This group is very open, everyone

has the right to give their opinion, and
everyone is going to help each other.
He added: We really want this, our
group is true in all we do, there is a
great atmosphere.
We are happy, anxious and we have
two more games in which well make
last-minute adjustments and be ready
to start with maximum force.
Brazil kick off the World Cup against
Croatia on June 12 in Sao Paulo and
then face Mexico and Cameroon in
their other Group A games.
They play two warm-up matches
against Panama in Goiania on June 3
and then Serbia in Sao Paulo on June 6.
The host nation are favourites to lift
a record-extending sixth World Cup,
but they will come under pressure
from their often fickle fans.
Barcelonas Alves said that although
Brazils 23-man squad might not have
much World Cup experience they have
all played at the highest levels and will
not be fazed.
Its a delicious pressure, its
pressure we like to feel, he told
reporters. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

QUICK BYTES

Brazil installs jersey

vending machines
Fans in Brazil can now buy World Cup
shirts while waiting for the metro
after a major online retailer installed
special vending machines in stations.
Netshoes has supplied machines similar
to those used to sell soft drinks and
snacks for two metro stations and two
private universities in Brazils biggest
city, Sao Paulo. The machines, which
will also have instructions in English
for fans attending next months World
Cup, sell Brazils traditional yellow shirt
for just over $100. Our delivery was
super-quick, now its instantaneous,
said Juliano Tubino, Netshoes chief
marketing officer.
Reuters

Ex-Bremen coach
Schaaf takes over at
Frankfurt

Former Werder Bremen coach Thomas

Schaaf has taken over as Eintracht Frankfurt boss after signing a two-year contract, his new Bundesliga club confirmed
on Wednesday. The anticipation is enormous, I have had a long break, so now I
am excited, said Schaaf having been out
of coaching for a year. I am hoping for a
good season, but there is some work to
do. The 53-year-old replaces Armin Veh,
who stepped down as Frankfurt coach at
the end of the season to take over at VfB
Stuttgart after the Hessen giants finished
13th in the Bundesliga table. Schaaf is
one of the longest-serving bosses in the
Bundesliga. He coached Bremen from
1999 until 2013 after joining the north
German club in 1978 as a defender and
spent his whole career with Werder until
stepping down in May 2013.
AFP

Heat re-group to
snuff out Pacers

Cairns denies being Player X, Tuffey says he is clean

n
The International Cricket Council will
investigate how evidence given to a
matchfixing probe had been leaked
to the media and take action against
anyone employed by them if involved,
chief executive Dave Richardson said
on Wednesday.
The latest matchfixing scandal broke
last December when New Zealand media reported that three former international cricketers had been linked to an
investigation by the ICCs Anti-Corruption Security Unit (ACSU) into alleged
matchfixing.
Last week, British newspapers published excerpts of confidential statements from former New Zealand batsman Lou Vincent, who had earlier said
he was co-operating with the ACSU, and
current captain Brendon McCullum.
Richardson said the ICC deeply regretted the leaks and re-iterated that
McCullum was not under investigation.
We are taking all steps available to
us to urgently investigate how certain
information in the form of statements
has come to find its way into the media, he said in a statement.

Alonso tips Red Bull to

challenge in Monaco

An emotional Rory McIlroy on Wednesday announced he had broken off his

engagement and split with Danish
tennis player Caroline Wozniacki only
days after sending out the wedding invitations.
The 25-year-old Northern Irishman
and two-time major champion said
the issuing of the invitations had made
him aware that he was not ready for
marriage.
There is no right way to end a relationship that has been so important
to two people, he explained through
a statement issued by his Dublin-based
communications consultants.
The problem is mine, McIlroy said.
The wedding invitations issued at
the weekend made me realise that I
wasnt ready for all that marriage entails.
I wish Caroline all the happiness
she deserves and thank her for the
great times weve had. I will not be saying anything more about our relation-

DAYS WATCH
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4:30PM
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7:00AM
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Star Sports 1
12:30PM, 6:00PM
Badminton
Li-Wing Thomas and Uber Cups
2014
Star Sports 2
2:00PM
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Practice Sessions
6:00PM
England v Sri Lanka
1st ODI

Of course, we recognise that this is

a deeply concerning development for
the stakeholders in the fight against
corruption in the sport of cricket, and
we wish to emphasise that Brendon
McCullum is not under investigation in
this matter.
New Zealand Cricket said earlier this
week they were disappointed that McCullums statements had been made
public and would ask the world governing body to investigate the source
of the leaks.
Richardson told Radio New Zealand
on Wednesday that the investigation
into the leaks had already been launched
but said it was premature to suggest they
had come from within the ICC.
This is an investigation that crosses
three or four jurisdictions and involves
liaison with other stakeholders, law
enforcement agencies, players who
have been interviewed, Richardson
said.
Of course we are devastated with
these leaks, but it is premature to say
exactly where that leak came from and
whether anyone involved in the ACSU
was involved.
But certainly if we are able to find

Malinga leads SL to 9-run

T20 win over England
World champions Sri Lanka held off an
England fightback to win by nine runs
in a Twenty20 international at the Oval
on Tuesday helped by an explosive
innings from Thisara Perera and superb
bowling from Lasith Malinga.
Pereras quick-fire 49 runs from
20 balls, having survived a dropped
catch by Michael Carberry, enabled the
tourists to post a total of 183-7 from
their 20 overs while Malingas figures
of 3-28 kept England at bay in response.
The last couple of years Ive been
used to bowling in pressure situations,
Im used to it and I work hard in those
situations, Sri Lanka captain Malinga
told Sky Sports.

Sony Six

15

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Devastated ICC to
probe fixing leaks

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined for 45 points as the Miami Heat
rallied to beat the Indiana Pacers 87-83
on Tuesday and even their NBA playoff
series at 1-1. James and Wade scored
or assisted on the last 33 points for the
Heat who re-grouped from an embarrassing 107-96 loss in Sundays game
one of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final series. Wade said he had
great chemistry with James on Tuesday
night. What we envisioned coming in
here is having two guys who are able to
be dynamic. We just make plays that feel
right, Wade said. I always know where
number six is on the floor. Him touching
the ball, or me touching the ball, is the
best thing for our team, Wade said.
Wade shot 10-for-16 en route to a teamhigh 23 points, while James tallied 22
with seven rebounds, six assists and
three blocked shots. Norris Cole came
off the bench to score 11 points.
AFP

Fernando Alonso may hold few hopes of

winning this weekends Monaco Grand
Prix for Ferrari, but he does believe
that champions Red Bull can mount a
challenge to runaway leaders Mercedes.
This year, he said, after the recent
Spanish Grand Prix, I think Monte Carlo
will be one of the few possibilities to
challenge Mercedes -- especially for Red
Bull. It is a chance, but not I think for us.
The 32-year-old Spaniard has not won
in the principality since the second of
his two successive victories in 2007, in a
race that ended amid controversy as he
led his then-Mercedes team-mate Lewis
Hamilton home. Hamilton, then a rookie,
claimed he should have won because he
was faster than Alonso, but was told to
obey instructions and hold position. A
post-race inquiry vindicated the teams
position in controlling their drivers as
they claimed a crushing one-two victory.
AFP

Sport

BRIEF SCORE
Sri Lanka 183/7 (20 ov)
Thisara 49, Thirimanne 40, Vithanage 38,
England 174/7 (20 ov)
Hales 66, Bopara 28*, Malinga 3/28
Result: Sri Lanka won by 9 runs
MoM: Thisara Perera (SRI)
I really enjoy it, it doesnt matter, I
used to say to captains to give me the
ball.
Sri Lankas innings had been ticking
along at a steady pace with Kithuruwan
Vithanages 38 runs from 26 balls
and Lahiru Thirimanne, who was
eventually dismissed for 40, helping
them to 122-5 when Perera came to the
crease. l

out where the leak came from that

person will be removed from the situation.
The statements by Vincent and McCullum detailed being approached by
a former international player about the
possibility of matchfixing. The excerpts
of McCullums statements identified
the former international as Player X.
The New Zealand Herald newspaper then identified Player X as former
New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns,
who has consistently denied being involved in any matchfixing.
I am aware that former cricketer
Lou Vincent and current New Zealand
captain Brendon McCullum have made
a range of allegations against a cricketer dubbed Player X, Cairns said in a
statement to Fairfax Media.
It is well known that the ICC/ACSU
has been investigating allegations of
corruption and my name has been
linked by others to these allegations. I
am being asked whether I am Player X.
Based on the limited information I
have received during this investigation,
I believe it is being alleged that I am
that player. These allegations against
me are a complete lie. l

England captain Alastair Cook (L) and Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews pose for a picture
with the ODI series trophy at the Oval cricket ground in London yesterday
AFP

Cook under pressure as never before

n

England captain Alastair Cook will be

under pressure as never before when
he tries to return the team to winning
ways this season, according to former
skipper Michael Vaughan.
Despite leading the side in their 5-0
Ashes rout by Australia and enduring a
loss of form as well, Essex opener Cook
has retained his position as Test and
one-day captain. But the fall-out from
a wretched tour programme has seen
Andy Flower step down as coach and
be replaced by Peter Moores, now in his
second spell in the job.
Significantly, Cook was also involved in the decisions to end the international career of Kevin Pietersen, Englands all-time leading run-scorer, and
ditch his Essex mentor Graham Gooch
as the teams batting coach.

In the circumstances, Vaughan believes Cook will be desperate for a successful series against Sri Lanka and India, Englands opponents in their home
international programme this season.
The pressure is on him. Any failure,
any disappointment will be jumped on
by a lot of people, Vaughan, who led
England in 51 Tests from 2003 until
2008, told BBC Sport.
Even though hes won an Ashes and
won in India, Cook will probably feel
like this is a fresh start, what hes going
to be judged on as an England captain.
He has made some tough calls.
He has got rid of his best pal -- batting
coach Graham Gooch -- although I believe it was a management decision
and a Peter Moores coaching decision
as much as Alastair Cooks.
He has got rid of the man who has
scored more runs for England than

McIlroy breaks off engagement to Wozniacki

n

ship in any setting.

The golden sporting couples high
profile break-up came on the eve of
McIlroys appearance at the European
PGA Championship.
He later told a Wentworth press conference that he had never considered
pulling out of the European Tours flag
ship event.

Amla example inspires

Saracens Hargreaves
n
Alistair Hargreaves will hope to follow
the quiet, humble approach of former
schoolboy cricket team-mate turned
South Africa run-machine Hashim
Amla should he play for Saracens in this
weekends European Cup final.
Saracens captain Steve Borthwicks
chest injury problems are threatening
to sideline the former England skipper
from what could be a memorable finish to his 16-year playing career by ruling him out of both Saturdays match
against defending European champions Toulon in Cardiff and next weekends English Premiership final with
Northampton at Twickenham.
Borthwick now has to prove his fitness during a Thursday training session
if he is to face Toulon at the Millennium Stadium, with four-times capped
Springbok lock Hargreaves standing by

to take his place in the second row if he

fails to make the grade.
Locks are generally known for their
physicality and aggression but former
Natal Sharks forward Hargreaves insisted playing cricket alongside the
reserved Amla at Durban High School
had made a big impression on him.
We had a proud cricketing history and I enjoyed being a bit of an
all-rounder, Hargreaves said.
I was selected for South African
schools and made the decision to
choose rugby and thats been the story
ever since.
Bowling at Hashim in the nets
wasnt fun! His average was in something like the 90s as a schoolboy, and
thats incredible.
Hes very quiet, humble, a very respectful guy and a hard worker. Hes
everything youd want in a world-class
sportsman. l

I just want to get my head into golf

and concentrate on the tournament
and try and do well, the Irishman told
reporters.
I want to drive straight into it and
keep myself busy.
I am not going to lie - it is going to
be very difficult but at least when I get
inside the ropes I can try and concen-

trate on the shots at hand.

I didnt think there was any reason
to pull out.
There is no good time to end a relationship - I had made a commitment
to be here. This is the European Tours
flag ship event and I am very proud to
be part of the European Tour.
The Tour has been very good to
me over the last number of years and
I thought it was my duty to come back
and play in this event. Once I gave my
word I was never going to go back on it.
My schedule is here, Memorial, US
Open, Irish Open, Scottish Open and
British Open and I dont think that is
going to change.
It is no different to anyone else.
Everyone has been through break-ups
and I want to concentrate this week on
answering questions on golf.
McIlroy and Wozniacki met nearly
three years ago in Munich at a boxing
match between David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko and the relationship has
been in the news pages ever since. l

anyone else in Kevin Pietersen so, although the public will be behind him,
there will also be more pressure on the
England side.
Cook is set to lead England in the first
one-day international against Sri Lanka
at The Oval on Thursday and former
off-spinner Graeme Swann, who dramatically retired during the Ashes, said
an early win would do wonders for the
morale of both players and fans alike.
Alastair Cook will be desperate for a
couple of new heroes to emerge and really stamp their names on proceedings
for the summer and become the new
faces of English cricket, Swann told
BBC Radio Five.
We need to play in front of full houses, we need to play exciting cricket, but
most importantly we just need to win.
Three or four wins at the start of this
summer and all will be forgotten. l

Supreme court
restores Sethi
n

The Supreme Court on Wednesday restored Najam Sethi as chairman of the

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) just four
days after the Islamabad High Court
(IHC) had reinstated his predecessor,
Zaka Ashraf, as head of the organisation.
A three member bench of the apex
court, while hearing a petition filed by
the governments Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination against the reinstatement of Ashraf last Saturday, annulled the lower courts order but set May
27 as the next date of hearing for the case.
It is not a decision but a stay order
and we will be vigorously pursuing this
case because I am the legally elected
chairman of the board, Ashraf told.
Ashraf, who was restored as PCB
chief for the third time in a year last
Saturday, said he would personally
state the facts before the apex court,
adding that Pakistan cricket needed
stability and a clear direction. l

Bulls injure three

matadors, halting
Madrid bullfight
n

Half-tonne fighting bulls skewered or

trampled all three matadors in an extraordinary upset at Madrids prestigious Las Ventas bullring, forcing the
entire spectacle to be cancelled.
For the first time in 35 years, the
San Isidro festival, which opens the
bull-fighting season in Spain, had to be
suspended on Tuesday evening because
all the matadors had been injured.
Drama in Las Ventas ran the front
page headline of conservative daily
ABC over a full-page photograph of a
huge bull plunging its right horn into
the side of the most seriously injured
matador, David Mora, before he fell to
the ground.
Spanish media devoted broad coverage to the bloody turning of the tables
in Las Ventas, reputed to be the most
important bullring in the world. l

Barcelonas new coach Luis Enrique (R) pose with club president Josep Maria Bartomeu
after signing his contract at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona yesterday
AFP

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Thursday, May 22, 2014

It was mango
mealybug,
not giant
Bangladeshi scientists do not agree
with the USDA finding
n Kamran Reza Chowdhury
US scientists have said the alien insect
that Bangladeshi professionals have
identified as the dangerous giant mealybug is actually a mango mealybug.
A swarm of the insect, said to have
originated in Africa, recently scared
the students of a college in Dhaka, forcing authorities to shut the it down for
a while. Before that, a large number of
these insects were first reported at a
naval base in the city.

We talk on the basis

of expert opinion. The
USDA is the world
leader in this area; so
I think their report is
right
Entomologists from the Bangladesh
Agricultural Research Institute (BARI),
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University
and the governments Department of
Agricultural Extension (DAE) identified
the insect as giant mealybug and said it
was alien to Bangladesh. They said the
insect might have travelled here with
the baggage of the Bangladeshi soldiers
returning from UN peacekeeping missions in the African countries.
The quarantine section of the Bangladesh governments plant protection
wing recently sent samples to the agricultural research services of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

On May 9, the US service said in a

report that the scientific name of the
insect was Drosicha mangifera, commonly known as the mango mealybug.
The Dhaka Tribune has obtained a
copy of the letter that the US scientists
have sent to the Bangladesh government.
Joe Floyd, a domestic diagnostics
coordinator of the USDA in Maryland,
sent the letter to MonzurulHoque, an
entomologist posted at the quarantine
wing of the Dhaka airport. Monzurul
sent the samples in March.
Ahsan Ullah, a quarantine entomologist of the DAE, told the Dhaka Tribune
that initially, the Bangladeshi scientists
thought it was the giant mealybug, but
the US report said something different.
We talk on the basis of expert
opinion. The USDA is the world leader
in this area; so I think their report is
right, he said.
Debashish Sarker, a BARI entomologist who was part of the team that
detected the insect as giant mealybug,
told the Dhaka Tribune that he had no
idea about the USDA report.
He has also been involved with controlling the pest that has recently attacked the Jatiya Sangsad premises.
Mango mealybug and giant mealybug belong to the same family, he said.
When asked why they had said it
was giant mealybug, Debashish said
the BARI had sent a sample to the commonwealth agricultural wing to know
more about it.
Let the report come, he said. l

A birds eye view shows a boat plying on Buriganga water that has turned pitch-black from years of pollution. The photo was taken recently in the citys Babubazar

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Uncertainty grips Fifa World Cup broadcast

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

25 days to respond.
The TSM declined to comment as it
is a sub-judice issue.
The consortium sources said they
would involve Bangladesh Football
Federation in the process and would
approach Fifa authorities as well if
necessary.
Another source said every stateowned TV channel reserves priority
to broadcast Fifa World Cup with
a concessional rate and BTV could
have it as private channels are locked in
legal battle. l

Meanwhile, Seven3Sports sent another email to Gazi TV and the TSM,

saying the deal was terminated based
on mutual consent. However, Gazi TV
and TSM said it was a false claim.
Gazi TV and TSM officials went
to court and on Thursday the court
issued a ruling, asking why the
defendants shall not be restrained
from termination of the agreement
and entering into any agreement with
any third party relating to broadcast of
the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Bangladesh
territory. The respondents were given

Meghalaya HC:
Pre-1971 Bangladeshi
settlers are Indians
and can vote

A status quo order delivered by a Dhaka

court has thrown live transmission of
the 2014 Fifa World Cup in the country
into uncertainty.
The order was delivered by the Dhaka District Court on Tuesday as the
consortium Total Sports Marketing
(TSM) and Seven3Sports, an appointed
agency of Sony Television which has
won the transmission right for this region, were locked in a legal tangle over
the transmission, barrister Aneek R

Haque, lawyer of the consortium, told

the Dhaka Tribune.
The TSM, which has Gazi TV as its
partner, signed a $1.41 million primary
deal with Seven3Sports on March 25
and half the money was paid immediately. Seven3Sports also gave the nod
to start promotional activities in the
first half of April.
In an email, Abhishek Saklani, a
senior executive at Seven3Sports, told
the TSM: Please go ahead and float
your sales or marketing packages in the
Bangladeshi market.

Where have the Tk1

coins gone?

n Tribune Report

A group of young boys takes a dip in Padma River to get relief from a scorching 42.1 degrees Celsius temperature recorded in Rajshahi
yesterday
DHAKA TRIBUNE

Maldives
concerned about
undocumented
Bangladeshis
n Rabiul Islam
A seven-member delegation from the
Maldives yesterday alleged that a large
number of undocumented Bangladeshi
migrant workers were in the island
country.
The delegation expressed its concern
at a meeting with the representatives of
the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira).
Alia Hirji, programme manager of
the IOM Maldives, said there were
100,000 migrant workers in the country
and most of them were Bangladeshis.
Hassan Khaled, chief principal immigration officer of the Maldives, claimed
a large number of undocumented Bangladeshis were staying in the country.
However, Baira Senior Vice-President
Ali Haider Chowdhury said people from
villages could not differentiate between
recruiting agencies and travel agencies.
With the assistance of travel agencies, innocent people went to the Maldives using visitor visas and tourist visas, he noted.
The Maldives delegation also held a
meeting with the officials of the Bureau
of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET). l

Status quo on drive against

vehicles with tinted glasses
n Nazmus Sakib
The High Court yesterday in a directive
asked the government to maintain status quo for two weeks on its drive to
free vehicles from tinted glass excepting microbuses.
The bench of Justice Mirza Hussain
Haider and Justice Khurshid Alam
Sarkar passed the order in response to
a writ petition filed by two lawyers.
Following the recent abduction
spree, the Home Ministry issued a
press release on April 30 asking owners
to remove black or tinted glass from
their vehicles.
The government decided that other
than built-in tinted or coloured glasses, such types of glasses should be removed from all vehicles by May 10 otherwise the law enforcement agencies
will take appropriate legal action.
On May 11, the law enforcers launched
the drive and fined many people.
On May 14, two lawyers of the Supreme
Court Asaduzzaman Siddiqui and
Aklas Uddin Bhuiyan lodged a petition
challenging the government order.
Their lawyer Manzill Murshid told
the court that as per relevant laws the
home ministry had no authority to slap
a ban on glasses. The authority to do so
lies with the BRTA.

He said using black glasses in private

car protect people from severe heat,
provide security to women as well as
children and ensure safety of citizens
with many other advantages.
So, the prohibition contradicts with
the constitution that guarantees protection of right to life, personal liberty
and freedom of movement, he said.
The government banned black
glasses on excuse that abductions
were taken place by the perpetrators
who used black glasses in microbuses,
Manzill said.
But the government did not proscribe use of knife and rope though seven people in Narayanganj were slaughtered with knife and later corpses of the
deceased were tied with ropes.
Assisted by Deputy Attorney General
Al-Amin Sarker, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said those who need dark
glasses in private cars could seek permission from the government and the BRTA.
The court also issued a rule asking
the government why the prohibition
should not be declared without lawful
authority and of no legal effect.
The home secretary, IGP, DMP commissioner, joint commissioner (traffic) and home deputy secretary were
asked to respond to the rule within four
weeks. l

In a historic judgement, the Meghalaya

high court said Bangladesh nationals
who have settled in this northeastern
state before March 24, 1971 should be
treated as Indians and be enrolled on the
voters list, Press Trust of India reported.
The judgement was based on a petition by more than 40 refugees originally from Bangladesh, who were denied
enrolment in the electoral roll by the
district administration citing their citizenship as doubtful.
The refugees, from Amjong village
near the Assam-Meghalaya border in
Meghalayas Ri-Bhoi district, went to
the Indian court after their citizenship
certificates were seized by the deputy
commissioner.

The Indian court said

there was no scope for
the deportation and
issued directive for
their rehabilitation
Justice SR Sen, in his May 15 order, directed the district deputy commissioner Pooja Pandey to return the seized
certificates to the petitioners and enrol
them on the voters list before the next
elections.
Justice Sen said there was an understanding between the two countries as to
who should be allowed to stay and who
should be deported back to Bangladesh.
It is clearly understood that the
forefathers of the petitioners entered
India much before March 24, 1971. As
such, there is no question of deporting
them at this stage when they have acquired the right of permanent rehabilitation in Amjong village, he said.
Ruling out the contention that they
were Bangladeshi citizens, the court
said there was no scope for their deportation and directed the state government and the Centre not to disturb
them, but to provide them with proper
rehabilitation.
The state government had earlier argued that the petitioners and their forefathers were not permanent citizens
and were rehabilitated temporarily by
the autonomous district council. l

n Hitler A Halim
When has one last seen a Tk1 coin?
Although, one of the DGs of the central
bank says they have a huge stock of metal
coins, people who need them every day
say the coins cannot be found anywhere.
With allegations rife that these coins,
made of a metal alloy, are being smuggled
across the borders, economists say the
absence is hurting peoples micro savings
habit, which may end up damaging the
countrys economy in the long run.
The journey from the capitals
Farmgate to Paltan intersection on a
local bus costs a commuter around
Tk6. If the commuter gives the conductor of the bus Tk7, the conductor will
not return the change.
He will say: I do not have Tk1
change.
If one buys a product for Tk7 from a
local grocery and gives a Tk10 bill, the
shopkeeper would inevitably give him a
Tk2 note and a Tk1 candy in return. His
reason is the same as the bus conductor.
Even about a year or so ago, small vendors could be seen selling coins in small
sacks in the capitals Mirpur, Farmgate,
Gulistan and Motijheel areas. Their main
customers were the bus conductors.
However, these coin sellers are
hardly seen these days.
Jasimu Uddin, the conductor of a
bus that runs on the Banani-Motijheel
route, told the Dhaka Tribune: There
was a time when our pockets used to
overflow with coins. Now you see, I do
not have a single coin in my pockets.
When we go to the banks, they say they
do not have them.
Md Saiful Islam Khan, a director general of the Bangladesh Bank, said: We
have sufficient coins in stock and can
entertain demands of any amount...
We have seen in our investigation of
banks that they
need
separate
counters for dealing with coins.
But,
because
the commercial
banks have limited space and
manpower, they
are reluctant to
exchange coins.
Sources said at
present, the central bank has a
stock of 4.47 crore

Tk1 coins. The bank has plans to release

15 crore more by the end of June.
The central bank has approved a number of branches of three state-owned and
six private banks for selling coins.
But sources say because these branches do not have enough space in their
vaults, they cannot store enough at once.
An official of the Gulshan branch
of the Standard Bank told this correspondent: We have boxes full of coins.
But nobody wants them.
Economists say common people are
used to getting change in return when
they shop or ride a bus. That is why
they do not go to banks to collect coins.
The Dhaka Tribune has learnt that
a syndicate of coin collectors, who
allegedly amass the coins from bus
conductors and grocery shops, are
smuggling them through the western
districts such as Kushtia, Meherpur,
Jhenaidah and Chuadanga.
Hebul Mia, a resident of the Harimpur village in Meherpur near the Indian
border, said: A lot of coins have been
smuggled through this area in the last
one and a half years. The old Tk1 coins,
which are made of copper and are golden in colour, are in high demand.
However, he could not explain what
was done with the smuggled coins.
Economist Anu Muhammad said:
If coins have any value other than
their monetary value, then there is a
chance that they may be used for unusual purposes.
Others said another reason could be
the reduced number of counter bus
services in the city.
Khandakar Enayetullah, secretary
general of a bus owners association,
said: Getting the coins and keeping
them both involve lots of hassle.
That is why the conductors say they
do not have change. l

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 Office: 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

B4 Obama discusses US

investment with
corporate executives

B4 India Inc bets big on

Modi, but can he deliver?

THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Rules to cut IPO expenses to 30% Kamal: FY14 GDP growth

to stand at 6.2%

n Kayes Sohel
A company could now save a substantial amount of money on the expenses
for initial public offering (IPO), following introduction of the new subscription system for public shares.
Presently, the IPO expense eats up
on an average 4% to 6% of the total issue depending on the IPO size, shrinking available fund for investment, according to industry people.
Our best estimates suggest the IPO
expenses will come down to 30% of
the present expenditure once the new
system becomes effective, said MA
Hafiz, a director of AAA consultant a
leading issue manager.
He said bigger IPOs cost less and
smaller ones higher.
Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) will make
new application process for IPO subscription effective from July 15 next.
Under the new system, retail investors will have to apply for IPO shares
allotment through their respective
brokerage firms and merchant banks,
and deposit money to their beneficiary
owners (BO) accounts.
The money will be transferred from
the investors account to the issuer companys escrow account if the investor
gets share allotment after IPO lottery.
As per the present procedures, investors need to submit money with
their applications for IPO shares to
their bank accounts where hours wasted standing in queues.
The new system will substantially reduce post-IPO management cost

Kay Telecom
vanished with
Tk125cr dues
n Muhammad Zahidul Islam
The telecom regulator has found no
existence of IGW operator Kay Telecommunications Ltd in its registered
address.
The International Gateway (IGW)
company owes Tk91.5 crore to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory
Communication (BTRC) and around Tk35
crore to different mobile phone and Interconnection exchange (ICX) operators.
Ruling party lawmaker of Narayanganj
Shamim Osman owned the company before the recent sale of his stock to another person. He, however, claimed all dues
were paid before selling the company.
Shamim Osman got the IGW licence
in 2012 and launched Kay Telecommunications at the end of that yea.
BTRC blocked the firm last year as
its outstanding bills increased to nearly
Tk100 crore. But the IGW operator paid
only Tk9 crore to the regulator, said official sources.
BTRC recently sent a notice to Kay
Telecommunications official address
as registered. But the office was not
found in the address.
The telecom watchdog has now
decided to publish a notice on newspapers before taking any legal action
against the company.
Shamim Osman reportedly transferred his shares in the company to another person few months back.
As per the current document, he has
no stock in the Kay Telecommunications. This is not my concern anymore
as I have sold all the shares last year,
Shamim Osman told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday evening.
The MP said he sold the company
with a huge loss and paid all dues to
BTRC. BTRC, however, didnt send any
notice in this regard to Shamim Osmans Narayanganj address.
According to telecom sources, the
vanished company owes Grameenphone Tk15.48 crore, around Tk15 core
to other mobile phone operators and a
few crores to ICX operators. l

n Tribune Report

Investors are seen trading at a broker house in the capital amid a debudant stock in the country's two bourses after its initial public
offerings recently
TAHMIDUR RAHMAN
that is bigger than any other charges or
fees, said MD Muniruzzaman, managing director of IDLC Investments.
He said some Tk3 or Tk4 per application is charged from lottery draw to
refund warrant.
Now-a-days, people prefer to apply
in the primary market rather than secondary market, leading to increased
IPO applications and thus shooting up

post-IPO expenses, he said.

Union Capital managing director
Akter H Sannamat said: Fees fell a lot,
making it harder to be profitable.
He said the overall IPO expenses
came down today than few years ago,
as many players came in, making business competitive. Another fact is that
since the regulator fixes fees for mangers to the issue, IPO expenses fell, he

said. The regulator has fixed the charge

at maximum Tk20 lakh. This fee
should not be fixed as quality of service of all issue mangers is not equal.
IPO expenses include listing fee,
underwriter commission, prospectus
submission fee to stock exchange, application fee to the regulator, consent
fee, bankers to the Issue commission
and CDBL fee. l

No consensus yet to avert

RMG factory inspection twice
n Tribune Report
The Accord and the Alliance have not
yet come to a consensus on factory inspection to decide whether both the
platforms of the global retailers would
inspect the same factories.
We stick to our plan to inspect all
the 1,600 factories, said Brad Loewen,
chief safety inspector of Accord on Fire
and Building Safety in Bangladesh.
The factories have been identified
for inspection as the global brands
source apparel items from the units.
As there is no agreement between
the Accord and Alliance, duplication in
inspection can take place, Brad said,
after a meeting at Bangladesh Secretariat in Dhaka yesterday.
Officials of the ministries of commerce, labour and employment and
foreign affairs, and ambassadors of Canada, US and Netherlands, and representatives of European Union were present.
The meeting, chaired by Canadian
ambassador Heather Cruden, was to
discuss the report of factory inspection
done by the Accord and Alliance on
fire, electrical and building structure.
At a meeting on March 27, the Accord and the Alliance had agreed not to

inspect a factory twice once done by

anyone to avert double-inspection.
We do not want to inspect factories
again, which has already been inspected by the Accord. But the Accord wants
to inspect the factories again after being inspected by us, M Rabin, managing director of Alliance for Bangladesh
Worker Safety, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Labour and Employment Secretary
Mikail Shipar said the meeting discussed
about the report of factory inspection
and the factory closures, and the condition of workers of the closed factories.
We urged the Accord to pay workers salaries for the period when the
factories remain closed for remedial
works, he said, adding that the Accord
gave no decision.
The meeting also talked over concrete strength and the Accord agreed
to follow the PSI at 2050 for brickmade structure and 2350 for stonemade structure for buildings which
have been built after 2005. But it did
not take decision on buildings which
were built before 2005, said a meeting
source, seeking anonymity.
A total of 12 factories have so far
been closed through conducting inspection. l

Spanish envoy happy with

Siddhirganj plant progress
n Aminur Rahman Rasel

Spanish Ambassador in Bangladesh

Luis Tejada has expressed satisfaction over the progress of construction
works of 335 megawatt gas-based combined cycle power plant at Siddhirganj
in Narayangaj.
I am happy to see the progress of
the project. Once completed, the national grid will get power from the
plant, he told journalists during a visit
to the project site yesterday.
After one year delay, the power plant
B3 COLUMN 5

Spanish Ambassador Luis Tejada

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal

yesterday said the countrys economic
growth would stand at 6.2% in the current fiscal year.
The figure announced more than
one month ahead of ending the fiscal on
June 30 beats the forecasts earlier made
by the economists and donor agencies.
They predicted growth will be below
6% due to political unrest in the run up
to the January 5 general election.
The planning minister said per capita income would increase from $1,044
to US$1,180 in the fiscal 2013-14.
He declared the GDP growth figure while briefing the outcome of the
meeting of the Executive Committee of
the National Economic Council (Ecnec)
in Dhaka.
The ministers declaration is higher than Bangladesh Banks projection
of around 6%, the World Banks 5.7%,
ADBs 5.6% and International Monetary Funds 6%.
About the implementation of the annual development programme (ADP),
Kamal said the rate of implementation
for the current fiscal year is 55%.
At the Ecnec meeting, the government approved expansion of power
distribution network through 39 Palli
Bidyut Samities across the country.
The project titled Strengthening
the Distribution System of Rural Electrification will cost over Tk5,198 crore.
With this enhancement of electricity transmission network in the rural areas, a total of four development

projects worth Tk6,386 crore were

approved at the meeting, with Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Under the power distribution network project, system loss during power
distribution would be reduced by 2.5%
through strengthening the distribution
network in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions, Kamal told newsmen
after the meeting.
He said distribution network of 39
Palli Bidyut Samities would be strengthened through increasing their capacities by 1840 MVA (mega volt ampere).
The distribution system of rural
electrification would require a cost of
Tk5,198.33 crore, of which, the government will provide Tk1,293.33 crore and
Tk3,705 crore will come as project assistance and concerned organisations
will contribute Tk200 crore. Rural Electrification Board (REB) will implement
the project scheduled by June, 2020.
Of the total outlay of four projects,
the government will provide Tk1,843.47
crore from the national exchequer while
Tk4,317.15 crore will come as project assistance and concerned organisations
will contribute Tk225.45 crore from own
sources, according to the minister.
The ECNEC approved another project
titled Installation of Wireless Broadband Network for Digital Bangladesh involving Tk956.84 crore to ensure broadband internet at a cheaper rate for all.
Government will provide Tk344.69
crore from the national exchequer and
rest Tk612.15 crore would come as project assistance.
B3 COLUMN 6

Demand for removing SIM tax illogical

n Syed Samiul Basher Anik

The mobile phone operators demand
for complete removal of SIM tax is not
logical, said Post and Telecommunication Secretary Abu Bakar Siddique.
SIM tax was reduced half previously, now the operators want it be
eliminated completely. Its not a rational demand at all, he said.
In the current fiscal year, the government reduced tax on the purchase
a SIM to Tk300 from Tk600.
The telecom operators have demanded reducing tax to zero in the
upcoming fiscal year as they have to
pay it from their own pockets.
Mobile operators pay the tax (on
behalf of subscribers). If it is withdrawn, we can contribute more to the
national exchequer, said TIM Nurul
Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of
Bangladesh (AMTOB).
But the secretary said the mobile
operators only look at their benefits
and never think of how the government
would collect its expected revenue.

He suggested the tax should continue for more one or two years as
there was a 50% reduction in the current fiscal year.
After 1-2 years, we will consider if
the tax should be in effect or not, but
not now.
Former finance adviser of a caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul
Islam suggested following international standard rate of tax on mobile
SIM cards.
As the VAT on SIM card could be
subjected to a universal VAT structure, we should analyse the rates of
other countries.
At different meetings and press
conferences recently, the telecom
operators urged the National Board
of Revenue (NBR) to cut Tk300 tax
on SIM saying the tax is against the
growth of mobile penetration.
It contradicts the governments
vision of building Digital Bangladesh,
they said.
At present, the operators pay a total of Tk300 tax for a SIM card sale,
which includes Tk109.96 value added

tax (VAT) and Tk190.05 supplementary duty.

Industry insiders said the mobile operators have been left with no
choice other than paying the tax from
their fund considering the economic
conditions of subscribers in Bangladesh and market competitiveness.
They claimed the SIM tax withdrawal will widen mobile connectivity and contribute to taking the
penetration to more than 80% of the
population by 2015.
Industry people said the government income will increase at least
20% after SIM tax is lifted.
In the FY2005-06, the government
introduced Tk800 SIM tax. It was
reduced to Tk600 in FY2010-11 and
Tk300 in FY13-14.
During years since 2010, the industry witnessed a modest average
growth of 18%.
The subscribers increased 23.6% in
FY2010-11, 20% in 2011-12 and 10.9% in
2012-13. The subscribers growth rate
was only 9% during the current fiscal
year when the tax was cut by half. l

Tofail urges WTO to help ease manpower export

n Tribune Business Desk
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed
has called upon the World Trade Organisation to take effective steps in
easing visa procedure as well as improving connectivity to facilitate expansion of world trade.
Complexities in issuing visa have
created a roadblock to trade in services in the form of exporting human
resources, he told a conference ti-

tled World Economic Forum on East

Asia of commerce ministers from
different countries in Manila, Philippines yesterday.
The minister also called upon the
WTO to remove all the barriers to facilitate free trade for the least developed
countries like Bangladesh as agreed in
the ninth WTO ministerial conference
in Bali, Indonesia in December last year.
We want implementation of the
decision adopted in Bali.

He said Bangladesh is gradually becoming economically stronger

with its exports reaching to around
US$30bn at present and accumulating around US$20bn of foreign exchange reserve, mainly aided by a
robust remittance inflow of around
$15bn annually.
Bangladesh would do even better, subject to getting enhanced access to international trade, he said.
Tofail said the country is making

efforts to diversify its export items

as well as export market in one hand,
and trying to sign free trade agreements with different countries to
boost exports.
He said Bangladesh is making
progress in a planned manner to
achieve a strong footing in its export
trade and expected the WTO would
take effective measures to implement
the Bali Package to act as a catalyst in
the countrys endeavour. l

B2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

61,160,829
66,582

Traded Issues

288

Issue Gain
(Avg. Price Basis)

212

Issue Loss
(Avg. Price Basis)

68

Unchanged Issue (Avg.

Price Basis)

Market Capital Equity

(Billion. Tk.)

2,261.07

Market Capital Equity

(Billion US$)

27.41

CSE key features

May 21, 2014
Turnover (Million Taka)

235.88

Turnover (Volume)

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index :

2,713.52

Number of Contract

creased substantiality, turnover

still remained low. The DSE turnover stood at Tk271 crore, a sharp
increase of nearly 38% over the
previous session.
Lanka Bangla Securities, in
its market analysis, said market
made an impulse bounce-back, as
economic data exhibited some improvement.
On the economic front, the import of capital machinery has increased by 19.7% in the first nine
months of FY14. Industrial raw
material import rose by 10.7%
during the July-March period of
FY 14.
This higher import is indicating higher business activity as
there is stability in the economy,
said Lanka Bangla.
Zenith Investments said market
showed signs of recovery as enormous buying activity took place in
almost all sectors after heavy downfall for the past couple of days. All
the three indices began the days
proceedings on a firm note, and later pared gains and elevated above,
from negative positions.
Square Pharmaceuticals was
the most traded stock of the session with turnover of Tk20 crore,
followed by Lafarge Surma Cement, Meghna Petroleum, Hwa
Well Textiles, BSRM Steel and
Grameenphone. l

Stocks rebounded yesterday after

eight days of losses in a row thanks
to the buying binge mainly on
power, bank and textile stocks.
The benchmark index DSEX
gained 47 points or 1% to cross
over 4,400 level and settle at
4,410, recovering from its previous
sessions seven-month low.
Shariah Index DSES rose 11
points or 1% to 982. The blue-chip
comprising DS30 was up 14 points
or almost 1% to 1,604.
Chittagong Stock Exchange
Selective Category Index, CSCX,
surged 70 points to 8,472.
After long correction and profit-taking, the market was back to
the green naturally, which is inevitable, said a leading stock broker.
Almost every sectors close
positive except telecommunication which edged lower. Among
the major sectors, power, bank,
cement, textile and, fuel and
power were in strong buying interest which revolved the market
breadth remarkably after a straight
eight days of sluggish movement
in the market.
Textile sector rallied 0.8% on
the news of 25% growth in exports
of denim products to the US and
EU markets in 2013.
Though trading activities in-

Company

Turnover
(Million Taka)
Turnover
(Volume)

5,884,956

Number of Contract

8,373

4410.63295

(+) 1.08%

Traded Issues

212

982.64411

(+) 1.11%

Issue Gain
(Avg. Price Basis)

157

1604.61517

(+) 0.93%

Issue Loss
(Avg. Price Basis)

49

CSE All Share Index:

13615.13450

(+) 0.95%

Unchanged Issue (Avg.

Price Basis)

CSE - 30 Index :

11179.46010

(+) 0.83%

Market Capital Equity

(Billion. Tk.)

2,166.27

8472.38960

(+) 0.84%

Market Capital Equity

(Billion US$)

26.26

DSE Shariah Index :

DSE - 30 Index :

CSE Selected Index :

DSE LOSERS

Square Textile -A
GeminiSeaFood-Z
Imam Button -Z
Midas Financing-Z
Progressive Life-A
Reliance Insur -A
Standard Ceramic -A
Apex Footwear-A

-10.58
-6.55
-4.94
-4.88
-4.11
-3.28
-2.94
-2.80

Average (%
change)
-11.97
-6.55
0.00
-4.68
-4.14
-3.36
-2.91
-1.18

ICB Islamic Bank-Z

National Bank - B

-2.22
-1.79

-1.11
-0.89

Company

Closing (%
change)

CSE LOSERS

Apex Footwear-A
Popular Life Insu. -A
Square Textile -A
Midas Financing-Z
Nitol Insurance -A
Peoples Insur -A
Mercantile Insur -A
BGIC -A

-27.01
-18.13
-11.23
-9.96
-7.79
-7.41
-7.27
-6.02

Average (%
change)
-27.02
-18.12
-11.88
-9.96
-7.79
-7.41
-7.27
-6.02

Delta Brac HFCL-A

GreenDeltaInsu -A

-4.44
-4.14

-4.37
-0.82

Company

Closing (%
change)

ANALYST

Closing
average

Closing

Bank
NBFI
Investment
Engineering
Food & Allied
Fuel & Power
Jute
Textile
Pharma & Chemical
Paper & Packaging
Service
Leather
Ceramic
Cement
Information Technology
General Insurance
Life Insurance
Telecom
Travel & Leisure
Miscellaneous
Debenture

DSE
Million Taka
257.52
63.87
56.84
325.74
138.66
282.06
0.89
359.47
513.33
0.87
68.75
35.31
11.18
335.27
14.85
30.77
47.88
107.91
16.92
45.39
0.06

Turnover
in million

Daily low

Latest
EPS

Latest
PE

87.17
135.50
8.00
19.54
114.33
64.76
43.00
343.26

87.90
135.50
7.70
19.50
114.30
64.80
42.90
339.80

88.20
135.50
7.80
20.50
116.50
65.00
44.90
359.00

84.00
135.50
7.70
19.00
112.10
61.00
42.40
337.10

14.548
0.108
0.016
0.127
0.343
0.327
0.215
16.957

6.60
-11.90
-1.85
-6.91
2.30
5.84
1.32
-11.44

13.2
-ve
-ve
-ve
49.7
11.1
32.6
-ve

4.46
11.13

4.40
11.00

4.70
11.30

4.10
10.20

1.401
21.207

-1.12
0.92

S. Alam CR Steel -A
BSRM Steels-A
GPH Ispat Ltd-A
Premier Cement-A
MeghnaCement -A
Appollo Ispat CL -N
ConfidenceCement A
AramitCementA
SummitAlliancePort.-A
Global Heavy Chemicals-N

Closing (%
change)
9.80
9.34
8.44
7.10
6.75
6.13
5.95
5.83
5.45
5.10

CSE GAINERS
Company
MeghnaCement -A
S. Alam CR Steel -A
BSRM Steels-A
Global Heavy Chemicals-N
GPH Ispat Ltd-A
ConfidenceCement A
Argon Denims Limited-A
AramitCementA
SummitAlliancePort.-A
Appollo Ispat CL -N

Closing (%
change)
10.00
10.00
9.86
7.35
7.17
6.61
6.42
6.08
5.94
5.30

Average (%
change)
7.80
7.56
7.21
4.89
5.70
4.39
4.16
4.92
4.74
5.00
Average (%
change)
8.72
8.97
7.60
5.94
4.28
4.89
3.13
5.04
4.24
3.76

Closing
average
32.05
70.71
47.86
87.35
127.08
27.37
126.04
43.08
23.00
44.92

Closing
average
128.29
32.55
70.61
44.75
47.97
126.89
55.39
43.17
22.87
27.31

Closing
32.50
72.60
48.80
89.00
128.10
27.70
128.30
43.60
23.20
45.30

Closing
129.80
33.00
72.40
45.30
49.30
129.10
58.00
43.60
23.20
27.80

Daily high
32.50
73.00
49.50
89.90
131.40
28.20
129.40
44.00
23.50
46.00

Daily high
129.80
33.00
72.40
45.90
50.00
130.00
58.00
43.90
23.30
28.20

Daily low
28.00
66.00
45.00
84.90
122.40
26.20
112.00
38.00
20.00
43.70

Daily low
125.00
29.90
62.00
44.00
46.00
122.50
50.00
41.60
21.80
26.50

Turnover
in million
14.681
91.263
33.350
8.683
21.540
44.826
23.691
9.942
7.446
25.831

Turnover
in million
0.513
1.745
6.632
1.163
1.241
1.690
0.028
1.382
1.580
10.307

Latest
EPS
1.90
4.72
2.42
3.67
7.00
1.69
8.52
0.68
1.08
2.48

Latest
EPS
7.00
1.90
4.72
2.48
2.42
8.52
4.04
0.68
1.08
1.69

Latest
PE
16.9
15.0
19.8
23.8
18.2
16.2
14.8
63.4
21.3
18.1

Latest
PE
18.3
17.1
15.0
18.0
19.8
14.9
13.7
63.5
21.2
16.2

News from trade server

IDLC: Emerging Credit Rating Limited
(ECRL) has assigned the surveillance rating
of the Company as "AAA" in the long term
and ECRL-1 in the short term along with a
stable outlook to the Company based on
financials of the Company up to December
31, 2013 and other relevant qualitative
information up to the date of rating.
ASIAPACINS: (Audit Opinion): The
auditor of the company has given the
following Audit Opinion in the audit report
of the company for the year ended on 31
December 2013: Opinion: IFRS-9 requires
all gains or loss on the financial assets
measured at fair value to change in the
statement of comprehensive income.
The loss or gain will be charged in the
comprehensive income only when the (i)
instrument is part of hedging relationship
or (ii) the equity instrument is designated
as held for trading. The only provided
BDT 16,079,615 as loss on financial asset
measured at fair value, which is only 20%
of the actual loss.
SUMITPOWER: (Basis of Qualified Opinion): The auditor of the company has given
the following Basis of Qualified Opinion

in the audit report of the company for the

year ended on 31 December 2013: "Basis of
Qualified Opinion" The Bangladesh Labour
(Amendments) Act 2013 has been enacted
in July 2013, which requires 5% of the
company's profits to be distributed each
year to a workers' profit participation fund
(WPPF). The subsidiaries of the company
have not made WPPF provisions as per
said Labour Act requirements. Management disclosure on the issue is given in
Note-48 to the financial statements. Had
this provision been made in the accounts
the net profit for the year ended 31 December 2013 would have been decreased
by Tk. 17,983,009 for Summit Uttaranchol
Power Company Limited, by Tk. 29,953,151
for Summit Purbanchol Power Company
Limited and by Tk. 42,759,363 for Summit
Narayanganj Power Company Limited.
Like the subsidiaries the company also has
not made any provision in this regard, otherwise profit of the company (SPL) would
decrease by Tk. 50,795,862.
SPPCL: (Basis for Qualified Opinion): The
auditor of the company has given the
following Basis for Qualified Opinion in

the audit report of the company for the

year ended on 31 December 2013: "Basis
for Qualified Opinion" The Bangladesh
Labour (Amendments) Act 2013 has been
enacted in July 2013, which requires 5%
of the company's profits to be distributed
each year to a workers' profit participation
fund (WPPF). The company has not made
WPPF provisions as per said Labour Act
requirements. Management disclosure on
the issue is given in Note-41 to the financial statements. Had this provision been
made in the accounts the net profit for the
year ended 31 December 2013 would have
been decreased by Tk. 29,953,151.
SONARGAON: (Basis for Qualified Opinion): The auditor of the company has given
the following Basis for Qualified Opinion
in the audit report of the company for the
year ended on 31 December 2013: "Basis
for Qualified Opinion" We could not verify
quantity, quality and existence of inventory balances of Tk. 831,567,976 as on 31
December 2013. However, we have relied
up on the management's certification on
quality, quantity existence and valuation of
the inventories as on 31 December 2013.

-ve
12.1

Closing
average

Closing

Daily high

Turnover
in million

Daily low

Latest
EPS

Latest
PE

332.05
203.23
87.18
20.80
29.60
25.00
20.40
23.40

332.10
203.20
87.70
20.80
29.60
25.00
20.40
23.40

345.00
205.00
87.70
20.80
29.60
25.00
20.40
23.50

319.10
201.10
86.20
20.80
29.60
25.00
20.40
23.00

0.133
1.016
2.105
0.010
0.030
0.010
0.010
0.043

-11.44
17.00
6.60
-6.91
3.24
2.28
2.40
1.36

-ve
12.0
13.2
-ve
9.1
11.0
8.5
17.2

60.34
81.08

60.30
81.10

63.00
81.10

60.00
81.00

0.272
0.105

5.05
3.00

11.9
27.0

Market made an impulse bounceback, as economic data exhibited

some improvement

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company
Square Pharma -A
LafargeS Cement-Z
Meghna Petroleum -A
Hwa Well Textiles-N
BSRM Steels-A
Grameenphone-A
Active Fine Chem.-A

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector

Daily high

Thursday, May 22, 2014

DSE GAINERS

DSE key features

May 21, 2014

Stocks rebound
on buying binge
n Tribune Report

Stock

% change
9.49
2.35
2.09
12.00
5.11
10.39
0.03
13.25
18.92
0.03
2.53
1.30
0.41
12.36
0.55
1.13
1.76
3.98
0.62
1.67
0.00

Million Taka
22.45
6.58
2.51
28.83
10.17
20.45
39.44
62.55
12.11
3.25
12.84
1.41
22.57
1.32
0.78
3.41
11.83
3.26
6.14
0.00

CSE

% change
8.26
2.42
0.92
10.60
3.74
7.52
0.00
14.50
23.00
4.45
1.20
4.72
0.52
8.30
0.49
0.29
1.25
4.35
1.20
2.26
0.00

Million Taka
279.98
70.46
59.34
354.56
148.83
302.51
0.89
398.90
575.88
12.98
72.00
48.15
12.59
357.84
16.17
31.55
51.29
119.74
20.18
51.52
0.06

Total

% change
9.38
2.36
1.99
11.88
4.99
10.13
0.03
13.36
19.29
0.43
2.41
1.61
0.42
11.99
0.54
1.06
1.72
4.01
0.68
1.73
0.00

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

HeidelbergCement -A
Eastern Housing -A
Matin Spinning-N

Mercantile Bank -A
AFC AgroBiotech-N
Appollo Ispat CL -N
Jamuna Oil -A
Emerald Oil Ind. -N

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company
Square Pharma -A

Hwa Well Textiles-N

LafargeS Cement-Z
Appollo Ispat CL -N
BD Submarine Cable-A
BSRM Steels-A
Matin Spinning-N
Grameenphone-A
Meghna Petroleum -A
HeidelbergCement -A
Active Fine Chem.-A
National Bank - B
AFC AgroBiotech-N
Mercantile Bank -A
UNITED AIR-A

Volume
shares
756,662
2,604,500
343,140
2,192,000
1,290,707
320,308
994,963
115,550
975,727
1,254,400

2,988,565
752,500
1,637,600
172,169
742,000

Volume
shares

167,790
287,000
168,500
377,400
38,975
93,924
110,200
17,800
14,500
7,800
53,000
329,565
52,000
175,472
254,498

Value in
million
199.10
178.18
97.85
96.51
91.26
83.66
69.85
59.52
59.26
58.83

50.92
44.84
44.83
37.69
36.66

Value in
million

44.37
12.62
11.52
10.31
7.17
6.63
5.17
4.66
4.15
4.03
3.72
3.70
3.11
2.96
2.95

% of total
turnover
7.34
6.57
3.61
3.56
3.36
3.08
2.57
2.19
2.18
2.17

1.88
1.65
1.65
1.39
1.35

% of total
turnover

19.30
5.49
5.01
4.48
3.12
2.89
2.25
2.03
1.80
1.75
1.62
1.61
1.35
1.29
1.28

Daily
closing
261.80
69.20
283.70
43.60
72.60
260.40
70.30
518.60
60.20
46.50

17.10
59.10
27.70
219.10
49.00

Daily
closing

263.30
43.50
69.60
27.80
184.00
72.40
46.50
260.40
284.00
520.50
70.10
11.10
60.10
17.00
11.60

Price
change
-0.80
3.13
0.75
0.93
9.34
-0.34
2.63
3.70
-0.99
0.43

Daily
opening
263.90
67.10
281.60
43.20
66.40
261.30
68.50
500.10
60.80
46.30

Price
change

Daily
opening

3.64
0.51
6.13
1.76
1.24

-0.34
1.16
4.66
5.30
1.15
9.86
1.09
-0.42
0.78
4.20
2.64
-0.89
1.69
3.66
0.00

16.50
58.80
26.10
215.30
48.40

264.20
43.00
66.50
26.40
181.90
65.90
46.00
261.50
281.80
499.50
68.30
11.20
59.10
16.40
11.60

Daily
high
267.00
70.00
287.00
44.70
73.00
263.50
71.50
521.00
63.00
47.50

Daily
low
258.00
67.10
260.00
43.20
66.00
240.00
63.50
504.00
57.10
46.20

Daily
average
263.13
68.41
285.17
44.03
70.71
261.20
70.21
515.08
60.73
46.89

Daily
high

Daily
low

Daily
average

17.40
60.50
28.20
220.00
50.00

266.00
44.60
69.90
28.20
185.00
72.40
47.50
264.00
288.00
521.90
71.30
11.40
60.80
17.20
11.70

14.90
58.50
26.20
210.00
48.80

263.00
43.10
66.90
26.50
182.50
62.00
46.00
260.00
280.00
507.10
69.00
11.10
58.10
16.50
11.00

17.04
59.59
27.37
218.91
49.41

264.44
43.99
68.39
27.31
184.00
70.61
46.88
261.72
285.96
516.36
70.16
11.24
59.80
16.89
11.60

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

B3

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Obama discusses US investment with Yen rises in Asia after

BoJ holds fire on
corporate executives
easing measures
n Reuters, Washington

President Barack Obama gathered executives from several major international

companies on Tuesday, including Ford
Motor Co and Deutshe Lufthansa AG,
to discuss a White House initiative to
encourage investment in the United
States.
The White House says the program,
SelectUSA, has assisted in winning
more than $18bn in business investments in 17 states and territories.
Obama, Commerce Secretary Penny
Pritzker and other economic advisers
joined the executives in a discussion
about their US investments.
We have the most dynamic and
creative and innovative economy in
the world, but we dont always do what
it takes to go after business around the
world and make sure that they know
the benefits of investing in the largest
market on Earth, Obama said at the
beginning of the meeting, addressing
reporters.
And we want to be more systematic
about it. We want to make sure that the
federal government is working in sync
with state and local governments when
it comes to locating businesses here in
the United States.
Companies represented at the meeting included Swedish telecom supplier
Ericsson and Zurich NA, a subsidiary of
Switzerlands Zurich Insurance.
These businesses have recognized

n AFP, Tokyo

US President Barack Obama talks to international business leaders at a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington
REUTERS

the many advantages of locating, growing and hiring in the United States, said
Jeff Zients, director of the White House
National Economic Council, in a conference call with reporters on Monday.

SK Sur elected chairman

of APRACA
n Tribune Report
Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor
SK Sur Chowdhury has been elected
as chairman of Asia-Pacific Rural
and Agricultural Credit Association
(APRACA).
He has been elected for next two
years at the 19th general assembly of
APRACA held at a city hotel on Monday.
Under the sponsorship of FAO,
APRACA promotes cooperation and
facilitates mutual exchange of information and expertise in the field of rural
finance among its members.
A total 68 rural finance and agricultural credit institutions from 21
countries of Asia-Pacific region are the

Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten

Spohr said low energy prices and infrastructure were good reasons for companies like his to invest in the country.
I think the United States has dis-

Facebook to expand
video ads to seven
countries outside US
n Reuters, San Francisco

members of the organisation.

The member organisations from
Bangladesh are Bangladesh Bank, ASA,
PKSF, MRA and BRAC. l

Sheikh Nahar Mahmud has been

appointed as the managing director of
Novartis Bangladesh and country head
of Sandoz, a generic pharmaceuticals
division of Novartis. Mahmud brings with
him extensive experience of working
in the pharmaceutical and fast-moving
consumer products industry both within
the country and internationally. Prior to
the appointment, he worked in Sanofi
Bangladesh as head of commercial
effectiveness. Mahmud is succeeding
Kuntal Baveja, who will be taking the
responsibility of Sandoz Philippines as
country hea

covered or re-discovered that industrial jobs are creating value, that you
need to attract those investments into
the country, he told Reuters in an interview after the meeting. l

Facebook Inc is expanding its new

video advertising service, allowing
marketers to show the television-like
spots to users of the social network in
Britain, Brazil and five other countries,
the company told Reuters.
The move marks a significant
ramping up of one of Facebooks most
closely watched new advertising
products, which analysts believe
could help the Internet company
capture a bigger slice of lucrative brand
advertising budgets.
The 15-second video ads appear in
users newsfeeds and play automatically with the sound muted until they are
clicked on. Facebook began selling the ads
in the United States in March to a small
group of marketers including insurance
company Progressive Corp and television
broadcaster NBC, a unit of Comcast Corp.
Facebook said the performance of
the initial group of video ads in the
United States has been strong, but declined to elaborate.
As it did in the United States, Facebook
is moving cautiously to roll out the autoplay video ads in its overseas markets to
avoid annoying users. The company will
initially work with a limited group of
advertisers in France, Germany, Brazil,
Japan, Canada, Australia and Britain
starting next month. Each ad must pass

a quality-control test that Facebook

administers in conjunction with video
analytics firm Ace Metrix.
Most of the commercials in international markets will not appear on
Facebooks website until September, as
the Internet company spends several
months working closely with marketers to ensure that the spots meet its
quality standards, a Facebook spokesman told Reuters.
But he said that companies whose
commercials are deemed acceptable
could begin airing them on Facebook in
June, in time for the World Cup international soccer tournament, a popular
event for brand advertisers.
Video ads, along with ads on the
Facebook-owned Instagram photosharing app, are among the new businesses that analysts believe could turn
into important money-makers for Facebook, though the company has said it
does not expect video ads to contribute
meaningfully to its business this year.
Facebooks ad revenue grew 82%
year-on-year to $2.27bn in the first
quarter.
The price that marketers pay to run
a video ad on Facebook is determined
by the size of the audience as measured
by measurement firm Nielsen. Marketers can choose specific times of day for
their spots and can target ads according
to age and gender. l

DHL, a logistics provider has provided its support to World Red Cross and Red Crescent
Day in Bangladesh by organising an annual blood donation campaign as part of its annual
Global Volunteer Day initiative. DHL Global Forwarding Bangladesh Country Manager
Nooruddin Chowdhury was present on the occasion

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited Bogra Zone recently organised a daylong workshop on
women entrepreneurship development in Bogra. General manager of Bangladesh Bank,
Mizanur Rahman Jodder inaugurated the workshop as chief guest while workshop was
presided over by Md Mosharraf Hossain, Executive vice president and head of Islami Bank
Bogra zone

Trust Bank Limited CEO and managing director, Ishtiaque Ahmed Chowdhury seen
attending a national seminar on international financial regulations at BIBM Auditorium
in Dhaka. Md Abul Quasem, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank was chief guest at the
seminar

Modhumoti Bank Limited recently signed a participation agreement for the refinance
scheme called Brick Kiln Efficiency Improvement Project. Abul Mansur Ahmed, general
manager and project director of Green Banking and CSR department of Bangladesh Bank
and Md Mizanur Rahman, MD and CEO of Modhumoti Bank signed the agreement

The yen rose against the dollar in Asia

yesterday after the Bank of Japan (BoJ)
held off fresh easing measures, saying
the worlds number three economy was
picking up pace.
The dollar was trading at 101.17 yen
in Tokyo afternoon trade after the BoJ
announcement, down from around the
101.30 mark before the news and 101.32
yen in New York on Tuesday afternoon.
The euro slipped to 138.65 yen from
138.82 yen in US trade while it bought
$1.3701, unchanged from US trade.
Japans central bank policy board after
a two-day meeting unanimously agreed
to keep its stimulus drive unchanged and
said the economy was gathering speed,
despite fears that an April 1 sales tax rise
will dent consumer spending.
Markets are now looking to comments from BoJ Governor Haruhiko
Kuroda at about 3:30 pm (0630 GMT)
for clues about when the bank might
introduce further measures.
The optimistic tone of recent BoJ
communication suggests that the
chances of additional stimulus being
announced as soon as July have shrunk
substantially, but we still think that more
easing will eventually be required, said
London-based Capital Economics.
Investors were also waiting for
Wednesdays release of minutes from the
US Federal Reserves last meeting. The

minutes cover a two-day Fed gathering

that concluded on April 30 at which the
Fed trimmed its stimulus programme by
another $10bn to $45bn a month.
But the bank then repeated its view
that benchmark interest rates would
remain low for some time.
The minutes will be closely scrutinised for any changes to forward guidance, National Australia Bank said in
a note.

Japan's economy
was gathering speed,
despite fears that an
April 1 sales tax rise
will dent consumer
spending
The dollar was higher against other
Asia-Pacific currencies.
It rose to 58.82 Indian rupees from
58.59, to 11,502.50 Indonesian rupiah
from 11,446.30 and to 43.77 Philippine
pesos from 43.69.
The greenback also climbed to
1,027.15 South Korean won from 1,021.94
won, to Sg$1.2531 from Sg$1.2508, and
to Tw$30.17 from Tw$30.13.
The Australian dollar sank to 92.30
US cents from 92.93 cents and the
Chinese yuan dropped to 16.19 yen
from 16.24 yen. l

Spanish envoy happy

B1 COLUMN 3

is now expected to go into partial operation in July next year. The full operation has also been delayed by one year
and is expected to begin in March 2016.
Officials said 60% works of the project have already been completed.
The joint venture of Isolux Ingenieria SA and Samsung C&T Corporation, a
Spanish-Korean consortium, obtained
the EPC (engineering, procurement
and construction) contract and started
work in August, 2012.
Isolux signed a contract with American General Electric in Dhaka to get
equipment supply for the power plant.
But following the start of the work,
when the contractor went to do the
heavy piling work, it found a huge water body at a depth of just 12-15 meters
beneath the construction site.
The state-owned Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB)
is implementing the project with joint
funding from World Bank and the government.
The fund is $339m for the power
plant along with 230 KV S/S and 11 km
230 KV transmission line and 60 km
Gas Pipe Line from Bakhrabad to Siddhirganj.
Earlier, the EGCB signed a contract
with its EPC contractor on 28 May, 2012
to set up the gas-based combined cycle
plant. About the EPC contractor, Isolux,
the envoy said its already a well-established company in South Asia.
The company has signed a contract
with the American General Electric
for supply of equipment for the power
station.
Besides this Siddhirganj plant,

Isolux built a 150MW combined cycle

power plant in Khulna, the third largest industrial city of Bangladesh, said
Luis Tejada.
He said Spain is the eleventh largest
investor worldwide with a stock of foreign direct investment $640m, which
accounts for 3% of global investment.
Spain is the fourth largest economy
in the Euro zone, the fifth in the European Union and thirteenth in the world
in terms of GDP.
In Latin America, it is second largest
investors after the United States, the
ambassador said.
According to him, Spanish companies are world leaders in sectors with
high added value and high growth potential, such as infrastructure management, electricity, renewable energy,
high speed rails and water treatment. l

Kamal: FY14 GDP

B1 COLUMN 6

Bangladesh
Telecommunications
Company Limited (BTCL) will implement the project by June, 2017.
Under the project, two core networks will be set up in Dhaka while
300km optical fibre will be laid in seven divisional headquarters, districts
and upazila levels with the installation
of 670 base transceiver stations (BTSs).
The planning minister said the project will expand the ICT related services
through ensuring high speed Internet.
The ECNEC also approved projects
including Construction of Divisional
and District Shilpakala Academy involving Tk193.97 crore and Uttara Lake
Development Project at Tk37 crore. l

Gigabyte launched a new series of motherboard named as 9 Series at a press conference

held yeaterday. Regional manager of Gigabytes Asia Pacific region, Alan Szu and General
Manager of Smart Technologies (BD) Ltd Zafor Ahmed was present at the conference

National Bank Training Institute recently organised a foundation course for its 27
probationary officers. A K M Shafiqur Rahman, managing director and CEO of National
Bank Limited inaugurated the course

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Thursday, May 22, 2014

India Inc bets big on Modi, but can he deliver?

n AFP, New Delhi
Daunting political and fiscal traps lie in wait
that could ensnare new centre-right leader
Narendra Modi as he embarks on the gargantuan task of fulfilling Indias undoubted
economic potential, observers say.
The landslide election win by Modis
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) could be a game-changer, they say, but
any economic transformation will take time
in the emerging-market giant of 1.25 billion
people where competing interests abound.
Expectations have built up very quickly,
too quickly, Sidharth Birla, president of
the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
Mumbais headline share index extended a heady rally on Tuesday to a new
closing high and one of Indias top investors, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, forecasts the
mother of all bull runs.
The prime minister-elect has stoked
the expectations by saying he could make
the 21st century Indias century within 10
years.
But Modi will need to exercise reality
management to temper investor and voter
hopes, Birla said, as the 63-year-old finalises
his ministerial team before taking office on
Monday.
The BJP ousted the left-leaning Congress, riding a tide of public anger over
tepid growth, high inflation, rampant graft
and a sclerotic political system.
Modi oversaw double-digit annual
growth in a dozen years as chief minister of
Gujarat state, and campaigned for national
leader on his Modinomics mantra of less

Sacred cows

government, more governance, pledging

to spread his economic model nationwide.
Top of a 12-point business wish list issued by the FICCI is a call to sweep away the
remainders of the so-called Licence Raj.
That refers to bureaucratic controls
dating from British colonial rule that have
stalled multi-billion-dollar projects as well
as small investors wishing to start up businesses.
Analysts say India is also in dire need of
more roads, ports and other infrastructure
to boost productivity if it hopes to emulate
rival Chinas economic miracle, along with
a simplified tax system and reform of a
cumbersome land acquisition process for
industrial projects.

Exporting Modinomics
In Gujarat, Modi centralised control and
gained a reputation for browbeating Indias
notoriously slow bureaucrats.
He was known as a tough taskmaster
and reports say his office has already
begun sounding out chief secretaries in
various ministries asking them why stalled
infrastructure or industrial projects have
been held up.
But the challenge is greater on the national stage, where high consumer inflation
has kept interest rates elevated, discouraging consumer spending and investment.
Meanwhile, a hefty fiscal deficit means
the new BJP administration has no fiscal
firepower to spur an economy growing at
4.9% - half the level notched up as recently
as 2011.
Serious structural economic problems complete Modis difficult hand, as

highlighted in a new World Bank Ease of

Doing Business survey that ranked India at
a lowly 134th among 185 nations - below its
BRICS peers Brazil, Russia, China and South
Africa.
We have got to change how India is
perceived, said Birla, citing years of project

clearance delays, graft and red tape which

have tarnished India as an investment
destination.
An average infrastructure project, for
instance, needs approval from around 20
federal ministries. A convenience stores
needs close to 30 licences to sell milk,

bread and other goods, the Retailers Association of India says.

The lowest-hanging fruits (to improve
the investment environment) are fasttracking of projects in the pipeline, said
Roopa Kudva, managing director of rating
agency CRISIL.

Japan retailers target new big

spenders, the tourists
n Reuters, Tokyo

A Mikado drone of German Federal Armed Forces Bundeswehr is operated during the
International Air Show ILA in Schoenefeld near Berlin. According to the organisers, 1,203
exhibitors from 40 countries will attend the aerospace trade show running until May 25,
2014
AFP

Driven by government tourism promotions and lately a weaker yen, the

number of inbound travelers has quietly doubled in the past decade to top
10 million for the first time last year. In
2013, they spent $14bn on everything
from powdered green tea to Prada
handbags, to rare, red-coral rings.
With a doubling to 20 million visitors targeted by 2020, the year of the
Tokyo Olympics, the growing flow of
cash is welcome for Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe as he seeks to nurse a recovery in consumer spending through
a national sales tax hike. Its also sending retailers scrambling to tap into the
so-called inbounds windfall through
marketing channels from social media
to street signage.
Until now, weve been rather passive with inbounds, said Hideyuki
Murakami, executive officer of department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi
Ltd. But as their numbers surge, well
need to really step things up - whether
its with language, facilities or product
selection.
Japans department stores association on Tuesday said duty-free spending at 46 stores across the country
spiked 54% in April to 6.09bn yen
($60m) compared with the same month
a year ago, while overall sales at 241
department stores nationwide slipped
12% to 417.2 billion yen. Visitors have

surged particularly from Thailand,

which along with Malaysia received
visa exemptions for short-term stays
last July.
Many spend freely on their trips.
Yijia, a 16-year-old from Shanghai who
asked to be identified only by her first
name, showed off a 90,000 yen ($890)
haul from Mitsukoshis swank Ginza
store that included a pair of Kenzo designer shoes.
I love coming to Japan to eat and
shop, said the high school student, on
her third visit to Japan with her mother. Everyone loves the food in Tokyo,
including French cuisine.
The 1.42 trillion yen ($14 billion)
spent by in-bounds was up more
than a third from 2012, according to the
Japan Tourism Agency. Thats less than
half a percent of Japans total private
consumption, yet it still offers retailers
welcome relief from the hangover of
the April sales tax increase to 8% from
5%, now discouraging local shoppers.
Japans visitor numbers are dwarfed
by the 83 million travelers that made
France the worlds most popular tourist destination in 2012, the last year
for which the United Nations World
Tourism Organization has published
estimates. Ranked 33rd by visitor numbers, Japan trailed Asia tourism destinations like Hong Kong, Macau and
South Korea.
Yet their contribution to the economy will take on increasing importance

as Japans population dwindles - estimates suggest as Japan gets older its

population will decrease by 10 million
people by 2030. By then, the government hopes that further visa liberalization and a possible legalization of
casino gambling will bring in 30 million
visitors.

Politics of shopping

Though the weaker yen and its attractions appear set to drive Japans popularity as a destination, its ambition of
moving up in the world rankings for
inbound visitors has not been without
hiccups beyond local retailers control.
Visitors from mainland China, by far
the top spenders per head, fell 7.8 percent last year after Japans dispute with
China over islands they both claim ignited anti-Japanese sentiment.
South Koreans were scared away
towards the year-end by media reports
highlighting radiation fears left over
from the March 2011 nuclear disaster,
which in turn caused a big drop in overall visitors that year.
If you look at whats happening
now with Vietnam and China, things
can take a turn overnight, said Mitsukoshi Ginzas Murakami, referring to
the anti-Chinese riots in Vietnam this
month, also over territorial issues.
But if you take a really long view,
inbounds offer the biggest hope
to fill the hole of Japans shrinking
population. l

But even with the BJPs lower house

majority, the government wont have
everything its way since power is dispersed
in India, said Capital Economics analyst
Mark Williams.
Many reforms, such as introducing the
wish-list proposal of a simplified national
tax, require state approval under the nations federal system, Williams noted.
The BJP and its allies control only eight
of the 29 state governments. Congress
remains in control of the upper house of
parliament, which must sanction legislation.
Business leaders would also like India to
relax strict hire-and-fire labour laws they
say discourage industry from creating jobs
for its youthful population, but this is not on
the to-do list as easing job protection is
seen as unpopular with voters.
Nervousness about jobs is also a reason
the BJP says it will not allow foreign
supermarkets into the lucrative retail
market dominated by small convenience
stores - overturning a Congress government
policy.
Meanwhile Modi showed no sign on
Tuesday of departing from some of the
populist policies of the previous Congress
government, emphasising how his administration aimed to serve Indias hundreds of
millions of poor.
To meet their aspirations and hopes,
this is our responsibility because our weakest, poorest have sent us here, he said,
breaking down briefly in a rare display of
emotion, as he faces up to fulfilling the
sky-high expectations of the worlds biggest
electorate. l

Yahoo! looking
to buy video
streaming
startup
n AFP, New York

Yahoo Inc, eager to strengthen its video

streaming activities, is close to buying
the Israeli startup firm RayV, the Wall
Street Journal reported yesterday.
The paper, quoting people familiar
with the deal, said negotiations are
nearly complete. it did not say what the
sale price might be.
Founded in 2006, video streaming
start-up RayV has set up its headquarters in Los Angeles but has kept its research and development teams in Tel
Aviv.
The company specializes in developing software for high definition video streaming over the Internet.
Acquiring RayV would be a boost
for Yahoo! which has suffered several
setbacks of late in its strategy of
broadening its video offerings.
Bids to acquire the French video
site Dailymotion and TV portal Hulu
failed.
Yahoo this year launched negotiations with online video services
Fullscreen Inc and News Distribution
Network Inc., the Journal said.
The report came shortly after US
online entertainment powerhouse
Netflix announced what it called
significant expansion into Europe,
promising viewers in six countries
online video by the end of the year. l

Microsoft takes aim at laptops with new Surface tablet Google overtakes Apple as
n AFP, New York
Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled a new
Surface Pro tablet designed as a powerful all-purpose computer fit to replace
a laptop.
Surface Pro 3 was touted as slimmer, bigger and more powerful than its
predecessor and crafted for a world in
which people want to work as well as
play on tablets.
We want products and technologies that enable people to dream and get
stuff done, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella said at a press event in New York.
Pro 3 has a high-resolution screen
that is 12 inches (30.5 centimeters)
measured diagonally, weighs approximately 28 ounces (800 grams) and is
slightly more than a third an inch (0.9
centimeters) deep.
The tablet has the Surface trademark keyboard cover, but modified to
let users tilt it as they wish and more
securely anchor the device while being
used, say, in a persons lap.
It also comes with a pen that can
be used to remotely activate Pro 3 with
clicks or to write on it as though it were
a notepad.
We are super proud of Surface Pro
3, Microsoft corporate vice president
Panos Panay said while introducing the
tablet at the event.
I am sure that this is the tablet that
can replace the laptop.

Available mid-year

Surface Pro 3 will be available for preorder beginning Wednesday with a

starting price of $799.
A version of Microsofts latest champion in the tablet war, powered by an
Intel Core i5 chip, will hit the market in
North American on June 20.
Additional models, including a top-end

There is a lot of elegance in the device, but they have to prove they can
communicate that, Silver said at the
unveiling event.
If everything works as good as it
looks, you are getting pretty close to
a device that can replace a notebook
computer for a high percentage of
people.

'The motivation is to create new categories; we

want to build productivity experiences'

Pro 3 with an Intel Core i7 chip, will be

available in the US and 26 other countries including France, China, Australia
and Germany by the end of August, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft is being innovative and
counterintuitive with the Pro 3, touting
a large-screen tablet while rivals
boast smaller, pocket-sized devices,
according to Gartner analyst Mike
Silver.
Much care and thought went into
technical features of the Pro 3, and a
challenge for Microsoft is to get that
message to mainstream consumers
who arent geeks.

Leave laptops behind

Pro 3 has the potential to strike chords

with people who want to leave their
laptops behind and just carry a tablet
when they are on the move, according
to the analyst.
Panay cited research indicating that
more than 95% of laptop owners also
have tablet computers. But Microsoft has barely made a dent in a tablet
market dominated by Apples iPad and
others using Google Android. Gartner
surveyed showed the Microsoft operating system had just two percent of the
global market in 2013.
Nadella stressed that Microsoft,

which built its software empire working with partners who make computing
hardware, wants to pioneer a merging
of laptops and tablets and not to compete with device manufacturers.
We clearly are not interested in
building refrigerators or toasters; we
are not building hardware for hardwares sake, Nadella said.
The motivation is to create new
categories; we want to build productivity experiences.
Microsoft in March released Office software tailored for iPads, and it
soared to the top of the charts at Apples online App Store.
While Office applications for iPad
are free, subscriptions to Microsofts
online Office 365 service are needed
to be able to create or edit documents,
spreadsheets or presentations.
More than a billion people use Office, according to the Redmond, Washington-based technology titan.
The Pro 3 signals that Microsoft
has decided to play into its strengths
in business software and avoid going
head-to-head with bargain-priced tablets powered by Googles free Android
software, according to analyst Jack
Gold of J. Gold Associates.
Further, Microsoft finally seems to
understand it can not go head to head
with Apples iPad, Gold added in a research note, saying the Pro 3 is a superior business device for work. l

worlds top brand

n AFP, Paris

US search engine Google has overtaken rival technology titan Apple as the
worlds top brand in terms of value,
global market research agency Millward Brown said yesterday.
Googles brand value shot up 40% in
a year to $158.84bn (115bn euros), Millward Brown said in its 2014 100 Top
BrandZ report.
Google has been extremely innovative this year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a
range of partnerships, said Benoit Tranzer, the head of Millward Brown France.
Google Glass is Internet-linked eyewear for which the firm has joined
hands with Luxottica, a frame giant
behind Ray-Ban and other high-end
brands, to sell the new product in the
United States.

DILBERT

All these activities send a very

strong signal to consumers about the
essence of Google, Tranzer said.
Apple, which dominated the top position for three straight years, saw its
brand value fall by 20% to $147.88bn.
The top 10 of the 100 slots were dominated by US firms. IBM was in third place
at $107.54bn, a fall of 4%, followed by
Microsoft at $90.19 billion - a 29% rise.
Fast food chain McDonalds ranked
next at $85.71bn, followed by Coca Cola
($80.68bn), it said. China led in the insurance sector with Ping An valued at
$12.4bn and China Life ($12bn).
French luxury goods manufacturer
Louis Vuitton ranked 30th overall but
was the top luxury brand with a value
of more than $25bn.
Brand value is calculated on the basis
of the firms financial performance and
their standing among consumers. l