Child, father wounded bypolice bulletsn Kailash Sarkar

A six-year-old boy and his father sus-tained bullet wounds during a clash be-tween police and Jamaat-Shibir in the capital’s Malibagh yesterday.

Md Maher Alam, an upper-play group student at the Shahid Lieutenant Selim Shikkhaloy, and his father Mohammad Abdul Majed, 45, an o� cial of Centre for Mass Education and Science, were returning to their Noyatola residence in Moghbazar from the Malibagh bazar around 11am, when they got caught.

The two were taken to the Dhaka Med-ical College Hospital with splinters of rubber bullets on the forehead and head of Maher and back and legs of his father.

Majed told the Dhaka Tribune: “There was no procession or gathering. But suddenly, several bombs exploded. Then we tried to run to safety, but bul-lets hit us.”

Witnesses said 10-12 Jamaat-Shibir men exploded a number bombs on the road prompting police to open their shotguns.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

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News3 Businessmen had threatened to besiege the o� ces of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia if they did not take appropriate steps soon to resolve the country’s prevailing political gridlock.

Nation5 Hundreds of farmers demonstrated in front of a fertiliser dealer’s shop and con� ned him by blockading the Lalmonirhat-Mogholhat road on Friday, while others demonstrated at Hatibandha in Lalmonirhat yesterday protesting the unexpected pricehike of fertilisers.

INSIDE

B1 BusinessWTO adopts historic trade reform deal

6 FeatureNelson Mandela: No ordinary politician

UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco calls on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Ganabhaban yesterday PMO

Rawshan, Anisul, Bablu buying time n Abu Bakar Siddique and

Manik Miazee

Two Jatiya Party ministers Rawshan Ershad and Anisul Islam Mahmud and PM’s Adviser Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu were yet to submit their resignation let-ters to the party chief until yesterday.

Rawshan did not go to the party chairman’s residence President Park,

located at Baridhara, yesterday while Anisul last met him on Thursday, when HM Ershad had declared to boycott the polls, and directed all his party men to submit resignations and withdraw can-didature.

But Bablu did not meet Ershad for a single day since that day. He has also been absent at the party o� ce.

Meanwhile, JP Secretary General

Ruhul Amin Hawlader and Mujibul Haq Khan Chunnu, who among four submitted resignations to Ershad on Thursday, are trying to convince him not to quit the polls-time government, party insiders say.

“We are trying to persuade Er-shad so that he changes his decision and participate in the 10th general

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

UN asks if polls can be deferredHasina shows Taranco way to the EC n Kamran Reza Chowdhury,

Sheikh Shahariar Zaman and Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The UN chief’s visiting envoy Oscar Fernandez-Taranco yesterday at a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina enquired whether there was scope to shift the 10th general election date, now scheduled for January 5, apparently to ensure main opposition BNP’s participation.

He also observed that negotiation for restoration of a non-party caretak-er government was not needed, rather “an even-playing � eld for all political parties is a necessity,” Prime Minister’s Adviser Gowher Rizvi told reporters af-ter the meeting at Ganabhaban.

Hasina said changing the election date was completely the decision of the Election Commission, which is consti-tutionally mandated to hold the elec-tions, not the government.

She said her government “want-ed an inclusive election,” as Taranco stressed, provided that it must be held

within the constitutional provisions.Meanwhile, BNP chief Khaleda Zia

in her meeting with Taranco later re-portedly said suspending or deferring the election schedule would not re-solve the crisis.

When Taranco reminded the BNP chief about the constitutional obliga-tion to hold the polls by January 24, according to sources, Khaleda had re-ferred to several formulas presented by di� erent parties and civil society members on the formation of an inter-im government as a possible solution.

Apart from holding a meeting in presence of other Awami League lead-ers, the UN assistant secretary-general for political a� airs and the PM had one-to-one session for more than one hour.

For around two hours Taranco dis-cussed di� erent issues with Khaleda and her team at the opposition leader’s Gulshan residence. BNP leaders Abdul Moyeen Khan, Reaz Rahman, Shamsh-er Mobin Chowdhury and Sabihuddin Ahmed were present.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Police reinforcement on the cards to tame violence centring polls n Kailash Sarkar

Police are going to reinforce their positions by arming themselves in a bid to rein in the volatile political situation and stabilise the law and order in the country ahead of the national election.

As part of the move, the pur-chase of huge arms and ammuni-tion and other operational equip-ment is underway.

Sources in the equipment unit at the police headquarters said it recently � oated separate tenders to purchase 3,500 � rearms, 71,800 gas grenades, gas guns and tear gas shells, 55,000 batons, 7,500 handcu� s, 26,000 jackets and vests, 5,000 ropes, 20,000 head safety gears, 8,000 bandoliers (bullet keepers), 25,000 slings for preserving bullets, 90,000 pairs of boots and various other necessarymaterials.

According to the sources, the us-age of a large quantity of bullets and

tear gas shells to deal with clashes centring the verdict against the war criminals, face-o� s with the Hefaz-at-e-Islam and the ongoing hostile encounters between police and an-ti-government elements resulted in a shortage of the stockpiles.

“The purchase of arms and ammu-nition and other combat equipment is a regular process, but this year the police had to spend a record number of bullets and tear gas shells along with a large number of gas grenades and sound grenades in various encounters with Hefazat and the Jamaat-e-Islam,” said a sen-ior police o� cial in the headquar-ters on condition of anonymity.

He said on May 5 and 6, the

highest amount of bullets, tear gas shells, gas grenades and sound grenades were spent on the con-frontation with the Hefazat in Dha-ka, Manikganj, Narayanganj andChittagong.

Besides, to tame the ongoing violent political situation, police resort to � ring of tear gas canistersand charging of batons almostregularly.

“Police reinforcement will be necessary to deal with any unto-ward situation centring the up-coming election,” added the police o� cial.

Kamrul Hasan, assistant inspec-tor general (equipment), however, did not make any comment on the purchase, terming it “secret.”

It should not be made public, added the police high-up.

But sources in the “Equipment” unit said a tender was � oated on September 26 asking for the sup-ply of 1,000 pieces of 9mm pistols,

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

The highest amount of bullets, tear gas shells, gas grenades and sound grenades were spent on the confrontation withthe Hefazat-e-Islam

Violence marks beginning of 72-hour blockaden Tribune Report

The fresh spell of nationwide 72-hour road-rail-waterway blockade, called by the BNP-led 18-party alliance was marked by stray incidents of vandalism including arson attack on steamers and buses, clash between pickets and po-lice yesterday.

In Jessore, blockaders attacked a convoy of the Border Guard of Bangla-desh, in response the troops � red 50 rounds of bullets.

A bus helper su� ered severe burn injuries after pickets set � re to the vehicle, which he was sleeping in at Louhajang upazila in Munshiganj. The pro-blockade activists also set � re to three launches, and a bus while they vandalised a water vessel in the district, a couple of hours before the blockade began at 6am.

The opposition activists blasted crude bombs, vandalised vehicles, brought out processions and clashed with law enforcement force at di� erent parts of the capital, including Rampura, Bhasantek, Khilgaon, Tejgaon and Jatra-bari areas in the morning. Several peo-ple were arrested from di� erent areas.

In the capital’s Dholaipar, block-aders burned a stationed bus around 4:30am in the morning.

Meanwhile, a minor boy and his fa-ther su� ered bullet wounds as police opened � re on a Jamaat-Shibir proces-sion at the city’s Malibagh Chowdhury Para area around 11am.

The injured were, NGO employee Majedur Rahman, 45, a resident of East Nayatola in the city and his son Mahir Ahmed, 6.

Besides, blockaders blasted crude bombs and set � re to a vehicle in Gabtoli. Later, Gabtoli police arrested a man along with a handmade bombs.

Police in Old Dhaka and Rampura, rounded up seven people including six Jamaat-Shibir activists.

At Islampur, a clash between Shibir activists and police took place around 8:45am. Jamaat-Shibir members brought out a procession in the morn-ing, and tried to restore to vandalism in Rampura as well. After being resist-ed by police, they hurled several crude bombs at the law enforcers.

The blockade in capital was appar-ently slack compared to previous ones with vehicles on road, and launches running the waterways, but no in-ter-district bus left the terminals.

The opposition alliance has already enforced 202 hours of road-rail-wa-terway blockade across the country in two spells – 71-hour and 131-hours. The back-to-back programmes were being

enforced since the announcement of the schedule for the 10th parliamenta-ry elections on November 25.

Several incidents of clashes, arson and vandalism were also reported in Jessore, Munshiganj, Chittagong, Gazi-pur, Jamalpur and Satkhira.

After being attacked by blockaders, the BGB � red around 50 rounds of gun shots to disperse them at Rupdia un-der Kotwali police station in Jessore around 3pm on Saturday. At least sev-en blockaders were hurt in the attack, claimed Jamaat.

Lieutenant Colonel Matiur Rahman, commanding o� cer, 26 BGB Battalion told the Dhaka Tribune that the escorts of Brigadier General Shamsur Rahman, regional commander of Border Guard Bangladesh � red around 50 rounds in the air as his motorcade came under at-tack by the blockaders at Rupdia on the Jessore-Khulna Highway around 3pm.

“The BGB o� cial was returning from Khulna after attending a meet-

ing,” he said.“The blockaders hurled cocktails at

the BGB vehicle.”However, Master Noor-un-Nabi,

general secretary, Jessore district unit of Jamaat-e-Islami told the Dhaka Tri-bune that at least seven of their activ-ists were hurt as the BGB men charged baton on them. He, however, refused the information of attacking BGB.

In Munshiganj, Alamgir, 23, a help-er, was sleeping inside a bus of Great Bikrampur Paribahan parked on the Mawa launch terminal parking yard, when pro-blockade activists torched it. He was brought immediately to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital with 20% burn injuries.

Doctors said his throat was critically burnt making him vulnerable.

The pro-blockade activists also set � re to MV Rajib-2, MV Masum and vandal-ised MV Sajal-1 anchored at Mawa Termi-nal and torched a bus of Gangchil Parib-ahan parked at a petrol pump’s parking.

Fire service and locals put out the blaze, said Abul Kalam, o� -cer-in-charge at Louhajang PoliceStation.

In Gazipur, pro-blockaders torched a sub-inspector’s motorcycle at Joy-debpur bus stand from a procession. Police said the procession was parad-ing from Joydebpur bus stop, where several small vehicles were vandalised. As police barred the procession, they torched the motorcycle parked beside and engaged in a clash with cops.

In Chittagong, pro-blockade activ-ists torched at least two vehicles and vandalised 10 others. They also blasted crude bombs and attempted to block roads at di� erent areas in the port city and elsewhere in the district while po-lice dispersed them and took control of the situation. No casualty was reported.

Creating blockade on roads, chas-es-counter chases between AL and BNP activists, and exchanging bullets marked the blockade in Jamalpur.

AL Activists chased the opposition activists to take position at Chapar Kona Jamtola intersection under Shar-ishabari upazila in the morning which turned into the chase-counter chase. Later, police came and � red 8-9 rounds of blanks and charged baton, leaving � ve people injured.

Meanwhile, at Melandaho upazila, BNP activists brought out a procession wearing shrouds. They torched a local Al o� ce.

In the meantime, three youths sus-tained serious injuries while making bombs at an abandoned house at Lax-mipur under Motbee union of Feni Sadar around 5pm. The injured were identi� ed as Ripon, 34, Saiful, 32, and Shwapon.

Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, mean-while, has called hartals in Chittagong for Sunday and in Rangpur and Narail for Monday, demanding immediate re-lease of the party president and general secretary. l

Rawshan, Anisul, Bablu buying time PAGE 1 COLUMN 5election,” Chunnu told the Dhaka Tri-bune yesterday evening.

The four ministers had series of meetings with Awami League leaders and Ershad yesterday. The two others are Ershad’s brother GM Quader and Salma Islam.

They also went to the Prime Minis-ter’s O� ce yesterday to meet premier Sheikh Hasina, but failed to get her ap-pointment.

Howlader told journalists that the four ministers were awaiting the pre-miere’s appointment.

While brie� ng media after a meeting with the party chief, he said the JP min-

isters were set to submit their resigna-tion letters to the prime minister today.

“Though we need to seek an ap-pointment with the prime minister, we are yet to get it,” he added.

Six ministers of the 29-member polls-time cabinet, who took oaths on November 18, are from the Jatiya Party.

However, Ershad is yet to with-draw the three nomination papers he had submitted to the returning o� cer’s o� ce though timeline for withdrawal of nomination papers be-gan yesterday. The deadline ends onDecember 13.

Sunil Shuvo Roy, press and politi-cal secretary of Ershad, told the Dha-

ka Tribune that the party would issue a letter to the Election Commission. It would be applicable for all the JPcandidates.

Meanwhile, expelled Jatiya Party leader Kazi Zafar Ahmed yesterday said: “I have information from reliable sourc-es that Rowshan Ershad will replace HM Ershad as the party chairman.”

At a press brie� ng held at his Gul-shan residence, he said: “I have also heard that Ershad may travel abroad citing health reasons.”

Kazi Zafar added that several Jati-ya Party ministers including Hawlader were not willing to give up their posts.

Refuting the claims, Ershad said

he would remain the party chief until death. “There is even no chance for anyone to take up the post of an act-ing chairman. Those who are spread-ing rumours are intending to confusepeople.”

Speaking to journalists at his res-idence, the former military dictator said: “The chairman of Jatiya Party is still alive. I am the chairman until death. I do not give power to anyone else.”

Regarding the resignation of his party leaders, Ershad said: “It does not matter at all whether the ministers re-tain or leave, resign or not. I am all-in-all in the party.” l

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 8, 2013

Police reinforcement on the cards to tame violence PAGE 1 COLUMN 6500 SMGs, 2,000 pieces of 12 bore shotguns and 65,000 pieces of tear gas shells while a similar tender on October 13 asked for armored personnel carriers and 14 other vehicles.

Besides, on September 08, police department tendered for a supply of 4,800 38mm tear gas shells, 2,000 gas grenades and 2,000 sound grenades.

Accordingly, on September 10, a ten-der was � oated for the supply of 6,500 pieces of bullet-proof vests 14,500 pieces of splinter-proof jackets, 20,000 safety head gears, 20,000 pieces of shin pads, 2,000 litres of arms cleaner oil, 2,000 litres of arms cleaner grease and 5,000 pieces of life jackets.

On September 25, police asked the bidders to supply 55,000 pieces of ba-tons, 75,000 pairs of handcu� s, 5,000 pieces of prisoners-ropes, 8,000 piec-es of bandoliers for keeping bullets, 25,000 pieces of slings for carrying � re-arms and 90,000 pairs of boots. l

Child, father woundedby police bullets PAGE 1 COLUMN 6This correspondent tried to talk to the boy but he seemed severely trauma-tised from the incident.

Md Ashrafuzzaman, deputy com-missioner of police, said although the injuries were not serious, police could have been more responsible.

“I have decided to visit the child and would take measures for counseling if required,” the DC said. l

UN asks if polls can be deferred PAGE 1 COLUMN 2Later, the UN envoy also had one-to-one meeting with Khaleda for about 10 minutes.

BNP would not formally disclose the content to the media. “This is not pos-sible to say anything at this moment. It can be possible to brief the media after the process is complete,” Shamsher told waiting reporters after the meet-ing.

However, sources in the BNP said Khaleda had told Taranco that no elec-tion was possible under the current administration and the prevailing po-litical circumstances.

The BNP has long been opposing to participate in the general elections un-der Sheikh Hasina as the chief of inter-im government.

Neither the BNP chief nor the UN envoy gave any formula, said sources.

Taranco will again meet the BNP chief tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Awami League briefed media twice about the meet-ings with the UN envoy – � rst, after a delegation led by General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam met him, then again after the meeting with the PM.

Brie� ng the reporters, Gowher Riz-vi, who attended the meeting that held from 4:10pm to 4:49pm at Ga-nabhaban, said Taranco had brought with him a special message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who referred Bangladesh as a model of “de-velopment, democracy and communal harmony.”

He said the UN wanted no change to the “status.”

“The election issue came at one stage of the meeting,” the adviser said.

Gowher Rizvi said the UN chief had

appreciated the prime minister’s move to hold an election participated by all parties.

“He [Taranco] said restoration of the [non-party] caretaker government is not a necessity. He stressed whether the need for an even playing � eld can be ensure.

“Taranco has enquired whether the election date can be shifted. The hon-ourable prime minister has replied that [Taranco should] ask the Election Com-mission [about it].”

According to the adviser, the prime minister has made it clear that the gov-ernment is not intervening in the func-tions of the EC to hold a free, fair and unbiased election.

“Our e� ort is to hold an election with the participation of all parties, but it must be within the [framework of the] constitution,” Gowher Rizvi quot-

ed the prime minister as telling Taran-co, who came to Dhaka on Friday.

Immediately before meeting the premier, the UN envoy sat with a del-egation of the ruling Awami League at the Sonargaon Hotel. Ashraf led the delegation that included Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Gowher Rizvi, Col (retd) Faruk Khan, Mahbub-Ul-Alam Hanif and Shahed Reza.

“We have not discussed any spe-ci� c issue,” Ashraf told reporters after the meeting adding that they would discuss speci� c issues in the next two meetings.

Citing the visit of Ban Ki-moon to Dhaka in 2008, Ashraf said they had a very fruitful meeting with him, and as a result, a participatory election could be held.

“We hope that this dialogue will also be successful,” he said.

Taranco’s meeting with For-eign Minister AH Mahmood Ali waspreceded by sittings with Foreign Sec-retary Shahidul Haque and the Dha-ka-based diplomats who reportedly briefed him about the country’s polit-ical situation.

In his meeting with the foreign min-ister, the UN envoy said time was very limited and the door should be kept open for dialogue to reach a solution to hold a non-violent, credible and inclu-sive election, said a diplomat.

He also expressed serious concern over the violent activities, the diplomat said, adding: “He categorically said vi-olence is not acceptable.”

Since his arrival on a political mis-sion, Taranco also had meetings with the members of diplomatic community including US Ambassador Dan Mozena yesterday. l

Babunagari urges Ershad to stick to his decisionn Tushar Hayat, Chittagong

Junaid Babunagari, secretary general of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, has urged Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad to remain � rm on his decision of not joining the upcoming parliamentary election.

He made the urge in a statement is-sued yesterday by the Chittagong-based

Islamist group.“The role of Jatiya Party Chairman

HM Ershad is very important during such critical turning of politics,” he said.

His decision for not joining the polls without participation of all parties had ful� lled the expectation of the people, the Hefazat leader said.

He said the JP chairman could play a signi� cant role in the current politi-cal perspective to ensure level playing � eld for the next general polls.

He added that the devoted Muslims had never expected the JP chairman to be used for establishing atheism in-stead of playing his due role.

The giant neighbouring country did

not want the Bangladeshi nationalist force to come to power. Therefore, it was high time for Bangladeshi national-ist force to remain united forgetting all di� erences to recover the nation from present uncertainty, Babunagari said.

Earlier on November 23, Babunagari stated that though Ershad had taken blessings from the Hefazat-e-Islam

chief Shah Ahmad Sha� , his current political stance would turn it into a “curse” for him.

He made the remark six days after the former military dictator met Sha-� in Chittagong. He went to the port city a day after announcing he was leaving the ruling alliance to form anew one. l

More uncontestedMPs if Jatiya Party withdrawsn Mohammad Zakaria

As the Election Commission’s scrutiny has been completed, it is evident that 33 Awami League candidates will be declared elected – uncontested – in the January 5 elections. But the number may increase if Jatiya Party candidates withdraw their nominations in line with the party chairman’s announcement.

According to the EC report, only two candidates are contesting in 103 parlia-mentary seats, where most of contend-ers are from the Awami League and HM Ershad-led Jatiya Party.

So far, seven Jatiya Party candi-dates have applied for withdrawingnominations.

An o� cial said the commission had not collected applications for with-drawing nomination papers from the � eld-level. “We will start the process from Sunday [today].”

Ershad backtracked from the polls only a day after joining the polls-time gov-ernment and announcing MP aspirants. He has asked party leaders to tender res-ignations and withdraw their nomination papers. However, he later agreed to join polls if the schedule was changed and participation of all parties was ensured.

The ruling Awami League and its al-lies are determined to hold the election on January 5 while the opposition alli-ance has been observing blockades and hartals since the announcement of the schedule on November 25.

After the beginning of parliamenta-ry democracy in 1991, no candidate was elected uncontested in the elections except for the 1996 one. That election was boycotted by all parties except for the BNP and some other small parties.

In the much-disputed elections held on February 15 that year, 49 candidates of the BNP were elected uncontested. The BNP then won 279 seats out of 290. Elections to 10 parliamentary constit-uencies were not held due to unavoid-able circumstances.

In the January 22, 2006 election, 18 candidates of the BNP were elected un-contested. But the polls were cancelled after the declaration of emergency.

A senior o� cial of the EC yester-day told the Dhaka Tribune that if the election was held in participation of all parties, there would be no uncontested candidates. l

Two held with Tk19.30 lakhn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Police held two with Tk19.30lakh from Patiya upazila in Chittagong yesterday while going to Cox’s Bazar from the city in a Pajero jeep carrying the national � ag.

The arrestees are Syed Alam, 25, and Rabiul Alam, 21, both hailing from Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar district, said Ma� z Uddin, o� cer-in-charge of Patiya police station.

He told the Dhaka Tribune that on-duty police seized the duo around 1:30pm as their vehicle was carrying the national � ag. l

Scared passengers jump out of the windows of a bus as blockade supporters set the vehicle on � re in city’s Shajahanpur area on the � rst day of 72-hour countrywide blockade enforced by the BNP-led 18-party alliance DHAKA TRIBUNE

News 3DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 8, 2013

BNP asks public servants not to serve ‘illegal’ ordersn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Main opposition BNP has urged the government o� cials to not get in-volved with the procedures for the “one sided” election and also urged the Election Commission to suspend the schedule.

“We urge all government o� cials to carry out their duties neutrally to serve the people and the country. Do not be used as tools for any person or party’s illegal intentions,” Salahuddin Ahmed, BNP’s joint secretary general, said in a video message.

Urging people to get united to force the government to step down, the op-position spokesperson said: “The in-ternational community does not want a one-sided election. A large sectionof teachers has already expressedtheir reservation about carrying out polls duty.”

Salahuddin alleged that the govern-ment wanted to hold “farcical polls” because it was scared of a “level play-ing � eld.”

Asking the EC to suspend the schedule, Salahuddin said: “Suspendthe election schedule immediately, otherwise you will have to face justice one day.”

The BNP leader claimed that on the � rst day of the ongoing 72-hour nation-wide rail, road and waterway blockade, more than 217 had been injured, at least 103 bullet hit and over 300 opposition leaders and activists arrested.

Salahuddin has been maintain-ing communication with the media through video messages and press releases since November 30, whenBNP’s crisis-time spokesperson Ru-hul Kabir Rizvi was arrested from the Nayapaltan o� ce.

Designated opposition spokes-person Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir,also the acting secretary general of BNP, along with most of the senior opposition leaders, has been hiding to avoid arrest. l

Two ‘Chhatra Dal’ men nabbed for Shahbagh arson attackn Kailash Sarkar

Detective Branch of Police on Friday night arrested a “ward-level leader and an activist of Chhatra Dal” at the cap-ital’s Shantinagar and Bongshal areas, claiming they were among those who had set � re to a bus in Shahbagh on No-vember 28.

DB produced Md Uzzal Hossain, 26, president of ward 70 unit Chhatra Dal of Dhaka, and Sohel Chan alias Milin, 28, before journalists in a brie� ng yes-terday. DB o� cials said Uzzal was the alleged planner of the arson attack.

However, no one was allowed to talk to the two arson attack suspects.

The two were placed on a three-day remand yesterday after they had been produced before a Dhaka court. Sanwar Hossain, additional deputy commis-sioner of DB, said police had sought 10 days’ remand for each.

The arson attack left 19 people se-verely burnt, of whom three had al-ready died and several others were undergoing treatment at the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of the Dhaka Medi-

cal College Hospital.“A group of seven to eight criminals

took part in the arson attack and with Uzzal and Milon. So far, we have three of them. Another Chhatra Dal activist Sabbir was arrested two days ago in the capital,” said DB Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam said at the brie� ng.

Monirul also said: “Following direc-tives from senior party leaders, the de-tained criminals have so far carried out some 50 attacks on vehicles with petrol and crude bombs.

“In exchange of money, the gang car-ried out almost all the arson and bomb attacks on vehicles and on public, that took place in last few months at the cap-ital’s Bongshal, Kotwali, Sutrapur, Pal-tan, Motijheel, Ramna, Shahbagh and the adjoining areas,” said the DB o� cial.

When asked, he claimed that the other members of the gang and their � nancers were known to police, but he declined to disclose their identities.

ADC Sanwar, who led the arrest drives, got con� rm about their involve-ment with the arrest using modern tech-nology which showed that the two were present at the spot during the attck.

After the deadly arson attack, police � led a case accusing 14 top leaders of BNP and its wings. BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi was arrest-ed on December 4 and Vice-Chairman Sadeq Hossain Khoka on December 5 in connection with the case. l

Businessmen warn Hasina and Khaledan Tribune Report

The Country’s businessmen had threat-ened to besiege the o� ces of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia if they did not take appropriate steps soon to resolve the country’s prevailing political gridlock.

From a human chain programme organised by the BGMEA, BKMEA and BTMA in front of the BGMEA premises in the capital’s Kawran Bazar yester-day, the warning was made. The pro-gramme was organised with an aim to put pressure on political parties to

come to a consensus in resolving the ongoing political crisis.

Meanwhile, the FBCCI is scheduled to hold a � ag demonstration bearing “white � ag” with participations of the country’s businessmen on December 15.

“If the political leaders do not take any steps within 3-4 days, we will protest along with our four million workers,” BG-MEA President M Atiqul Islam warned.

“If the political crisis continues, we will not be able to pay workers’ salary and over times, banks loans, LCs pay-ment, insurance premiums,” Islam said.

FBCCI Vice-President Helal Uddin

urged the politicians to stop politics of arson and vandalism.

The apparel apex trade body leaders also urged the political parties to keep the vehicles carrying RMG goods out of purview of hartals and blockades.

“Ensure security, or quit from pol-itics,” said Sha� ul Islam Mohiuddin, former BGMEA president, pointing a � nger to the government.

“We were supposed to stay in fac-tories but because of sick politics we are on the streets,” said Annisul Huq, former FBCCI president, and added: “Please, open the motherly heart and

close the violent heart.”Anisur Rahman Sinha, former BG-

MEA president, said, “Do not push the country along with this industry to-wards destruction for the sake of par-ty’s interests.”

Meanwhile, Mostafa of Dress Up Limited said, “It is high time to boycott the fake politicians,” adding that they did not want the politics, which would push the country backward.

The country’s RMG sector and econ-omy were at stake for the interest of the politicians, said Abdul Muktadir, direc-tor of FBCCI, adding that only the poli-

tician would be bene� tted from politics and it [the RMG industry] would be the victims.

Civil society members, several chamber leaders and workers’ leaders expressed solidarity with the BGMEA, demanding an end to the ongoing po-litical unrest in the country and to take necessary measures to come to a con-sensus.

Meanwhile, the businessmen ob-served “one minute silence” to show respect to Nelson Mandela, the great South African leader, who passed away on Friday. l

Secretariat’s pro-opposition sta� reorganisen Mohosinul Karim

Ahead of the parliamentary elections, leaders of pro-opposition employees’ organisations at the Secretariat have resumed their activities to realise sev-eral demands – breaking the silence af-ter roughly � ve years.

Their activities are seen inside the country’s administrative hub recently, when the country’s political situation is volatile centring the next general elections, slated for January 5.

The pro-government organisations term those activities baseless as most of the seven demands put forward by the pro-opposition organisations have already been met or are under consid-eration.

Some suspect that untoward inci-dents might take place given the con-fronting atmosphere prevailing in the Secretariat between the two groups.

Nazrul Islam, president of Shachiba-loy Karmakarta Karmachari Sangjukta

Parishad, claimed that they had no ill motives behind being reorganised.

“We have already submitted to the government our seven-point demands which are promotion and creation of new posts, upgrading job status, increasing pay scales, eliminating discriminations, introducing risk al-lowances and con� rmation of service for the work-charged employees. We are moving ahead to realise these de-mands,” he said.

On December 2, they had been chased by the pro-government o� cials and employees when supporters of the pro-opposition organisation went to the � nance ministry to meet the minister. Other o� cials and law enforcers inter-vened to quell the untoward situation.

In late October, a section of pro-op-position public servants, terming themselves “patriot” employees, dis-tributed anti-government lea� ets in-side the Secretariat raising allegations of corruption and misuse of power

against several ministers, advisers and top-level civil bureaucrats.

The pro-opposition organisations are Bangladesh Shachibaloy Karmakar-ta Karmachari Sangjukta Parishad led by Nazrul Islam and Mahe Alam; Sec-retariat Personal O� cers’ Association of Sultan Ahmed and Kamal Hossain; Stenotypist cum Computer Operators’ Association led by Hannan Sardar and Zillur Rahman Rashed; O� ce Assistant cum Computer Operators’ Association of Md Salauddin and Yusuf Mridha; Secretariat Computer Employees’ As-sociation led by Nizamul Hassan and Nazrul Islam; Secretariat Accounts O� cers’ Association headed by Aktar Hossain and Parvez Ahmed; and Secre-tariat Grade IV Employees’ Association led by Rahmat Ullah and Azim Uddin.

The Sangjukta Parishad was earlier led by pro-government leader Nizamul Haq Bhuiyan Milon. A section of pro-opposition employees coming out of the organisation formed a new one

with the same name under the leader-ship of Nazrul and Mahe Alam.

Their movement is backed by a non-cadre assistant secretary of the � -nance division and two pro-opposition senior journalists, pro-government employees’ leaders allege.

They said there was no signi� cant issue to launch a movement as most of the demands had already been ful-� lled. The government also announced the pay commission to increase salaries and facilities for the public servants.

Ruhul Amin, secretary general of Bangladesh Secretariat O� cers and Employees’ United Council, claimed that the pro-opposition o� cials and employees had been reorganising to create an anarchic situation in the ad-ministration.

Milon said, “A section of pro-oppo-sition o� cers and employees are trying to achieve their goals by cashing in the current political turmoil. The employ-ees and o� cials will resist them.” l

Members of business community after holding a humane chain in front of BGMEA o� ce join a mass signature campaign expressing their concerns over current political crisis and requesting the government and the opposition to resolve the political deadlock to create a favorable environment for business SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

The arson attack left 19 people severely burnt, of whom three had already died and several others were undergoing treatment at Burn Unit of the DMCH

On the � rst day of the ongoing 72-hour nationwide rail, road and waterway blockade, more than 217 had been injured and at least 103 bullet hit

EC cancels 260 nominationsn Mohammad Zakaria

Election Commission cancelled 260 nominations out of a total 1107 submit-ted for the 10th parliamentary election slated for January 5.

About 46 out of the 260 till yes-terday appealed to the commission against the rejection of their nomina-tion during the scrutiny.

The returning o� cers cancelled maximum 76 independent candidates’ nominations for anomaly on their one percent of voters’ signature. Nomina-tion of both Awami League and Jatiya Party candidates were cancelled as they did not submit proof of the party nomination.

The EC cancelled 40 candidates’ nominations for loan, bill and tax de-faults, 39 candidates’ nomination were cancelled for providing wrong and in-complete information and 12 nomina-tions were cancelled for participating in the polls without leaving their posts at o� ce of pro� t.

Besides, 23 candidates’ nominations were cancelled for not submitting the proof of party nomination and 45 can-

didates’ nominations were cancelled for other reasons.

The commission did not provide any reason for cancelling the rest of the 25 candidates’ nominations.

Those whose nominations were cancelled on December 6, can � le ap-peal to the EC till Monday and those whose nominations were cancelled on December 5, can appeal by Sunday.

A senior EC o� cial yesterday said the commission would hold hear-ing of appeal from December 10 toDecember 12.

There were 847 valid candidates for the 10th parliamentary polls while 1,450 candidates for the February 15 elections in 1996.

Meanwhile, following the scru-tiny, there was no valid candidate in the Laxmipur-3 parliamentaryconstituency.

The returning o� cer cancelled Jain-al Hazari’s nomination for not paying up gas bill and taxes.

According to the EC, 20 out of the 40 registered political party were contesting in the 10th parliamentaryelections. l

A man in Chittagong expresses pent-up anger over the violent political atmosphere yesterday by holding a placard that says 'I neither support Sheikh Hasina nor Khaleda Zia; I only want to live a safe life and enjoy the rights a citizen is entitled to' DHAKA TRIBUNE

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 8, 2013

City High LowDhaka 28.7 16.8Chittagong 27.1 18.2Rajshahi 28.0 15.0Rangpur 27.5 15.4Khulna 28.8 16.5Barisal 28.6 15.5Sylhet 29.0 16.8Cox’s Bazar 30.0 18.5

PRAYER TIMESFajar 5:09am

Sunrise 6:28amZohr 11:50am

Asr 3:35pmMagrib 5:11pm

Esha 6:32pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Dry weather likely n UNB

Weather may remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky over the country hav-ing chances of light rain or thunder-showers at one or two places over Chit-tagong division until 6pm today.

Night temperature might rise by 1-2 de-gree Celsius and day temperature might fall slightly over the country, Met o� ce said. The sun sets in the capital at 5:12pm today and rises at 6:30am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 30.2 degree Celsius was recorded at Comilla and Sitakunda and lowest 12.5 degrees at Dinajpur yesterday. Highest and low-est temperatures recorded in some ma-jor cities yesterday were:

A CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver tries to put o� the � ame as blockade supporters set his vehicle on � re in the city’s Shajahanpur area on the � rst day of 72-hour countrywide blockade imposed by the BNP-led 18-party alliance DHAKA TRIBUNE

‘Political psychopaths will dry out’ n Tribune Report

Political psychopaths are destining to be doomed, former chief adviser to the 1996 caretaker government Justice Habibur Rahman said yesterday.

“Let the present state of things not be a cause for despair. Do not get dis-heartened. Like cyclone and sidr, the activity of political psychopath will not be able to sustain themselves. They will dry out. They are destining to be doomed,” he said at the 15th convoca-tion of Independent University, Ban-gladesh (IUB) at the Army Stadium.

“I say, you shall overcome all hur-dles on your way and you will surely

conquer,” he told the students. As many as 182 students, made up

of 179 undergraduates and three gradu-ates, have earned academic honours. Five of them – two from the under-graduate and three from the graduate classes – have received the Chancellor’s Award (gold medal) for completing their programmes with a perfect CGPA of 4 out of 4. They are Tanzina Ahmed Choudhury (valedictorian), Nazia Sul-tana (valedictorian), Shampa Sadia, Sayema Sultana and Ahmad Mufassir Masum.

A record number of 1,955 students attended the convocation. Of them, 1,246 are undergraduates and 709 grad-

uates from various programmes of the university.

The convocation began after paying homage to South Africa’s anti-apart-heid leader Nelson Mandela, through one minute of silence.

As delegated by the president and chancellor of IUB, Abdul Hamid, Vice-Chancellor Prof M Omar Rahman con-ferred the degrees to the graduates. Justice Habibur was the Convocation Speaker.

IUB Board of Trustees Chairman Rashed Chowdhury, IUB founding Trust Chairman Saifur Rahman and Registrar Tanvir A Khan also spoke on the occasion. l

BBC BANGLADESH SANGLAP

AL is negotiating with JP: Suranjitn Rabiul Islam

Awami League advisory council mem-ber Suranjit Sen Gupta has hinted that the party is engaged in a negotiation with Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad, who has recently declared to boycott the upcoming polls.

“Of course, we cannot expect that there would not be any bargaining and counter-bargaining in politics,” Suran-jit said while speaking as a panelist of BBC Bangladesh Sanglap at Biam audi-torium yesterday.

He also pointed out that Ershad had

joined the polls-time government be-cause he had earlier decided to contest the polls. “I believe that the latest prob-lem with Ershad would end through talks,” he said.

Another panelist BNP chairperson’s adviser Khandker Mahbub Hossain claimed that Ershad’s decision to not go to the polls had “jeopardised” the government. He expressed hopes that Ershad would maintain his stance.

The BNP leader also said if army came for the greater interest of the country and democracy, then it was a di� erent thing but they did not “want

interference because it was dangerous.”Founding president of Bangladesh

Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry Selima Ahmad observed: “We never want army interference.”

Suranjit Sen said: “We have to solve our problems ourselves because an ‘umpire’ cannot establish democracy anywhere in the world.” Political analyst Forhad Mazhar said: “We do not expect interfer-ence of army; but given the current situa-tion, it is hard to assume anything.”

Khandkar Mahbub observed: “The foreign diplomats can give us good ad-vice during political crisis.” l

Government lying about CHT accord: Santu Larman Our Correspondent, Rangamati

Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council President Jyotirindra Bodhipriya (San-tu) Larma yesterday said the govern-ment was always lying about the CHT accord.

If Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council (CHTRC) and three hill districts council acts do not become e� ective immediately, the hill people would be deprived of their basic rights, he said.

Santu Larma said this while speak-ing on the present condition and e� ec-tive steps necessary to implement the CHT accord.

The discussion was organised by Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Coun-cil supported by Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Facility (CHTDF) to mark the 16th anniversary of the CHT accord.

The civil society people and media personalities attended the programme.

The government violated the accord through the 15th amendment by labelling the indigenous people inhabiting in the region as Bangalee, added Santu Larma.

He also demanded that the CHTRC and there hill district council acts plus CHT accord be fully implemented in no time. l

JSC QUESTION LEAK

Probe committee blames coaching centres n Mushfi que Wadud

The committee, formed to investigate allegations of Junior School Certi� cate and Junior Dakhil Certi� cate examina-tion questions being leaked, blamed coaching centres for spreading ru-mours about the leak.

The committee suggested law-enforc-ing agencies to take actions against coaching centres to prevent such inci-dents in future.

“We have got the report and will take action according to the sugges-tions of the report,” said Chairman of Board of Intermediate and Secondary

Education Taslima Begum.She, however, told the Dhaka Tri-

bune that the committee did not � nd any proof that question papers were leaked.

“We have collected some questions that were said to be leaked but they did not match with the main question pa-per,” she added.

She also said because of blockade and hartal programmes, schedule of the examinations were disorganised and this too was a reason for creating much confusion amongst guardians and teachers.

The board formed a three member committee in mid November following allegations of question paper leaks.

In several examinations, there were rumours that the question papers were allegedly leaked. Many guardians claimed that they purchased question papers from di� erent coaching centres. l

Chhatra Dal locks the CU main gaten FM Mizanur Rahaman

Activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of BNP, of Chittagong University unit yesterday locked the main gate of the university, protesting the arrest of its unit president.

Earlier on Thursday, Abdul Kadir Bhuiyan Jewel, president of CU Chha-tra Dal, was arrested from the capital’s Uttara in an arson case.

Witnesses said a group of Chhatra Dal men locked the main gate of the university around 8am and staged a demonstration.

Ra� qul Islam, o� cer-in-charge of CU police outpost, said on informa-tion they rushed to the spot and broke the lock after 30 minutes, adding that the Chhatra Dal activists � ed the scene sensing presence of police. l

Freedom � ghters’ rally on December 10n Mohosinul Karim

To protest against the ongoing destruc-tive activities of anti-liberation Jamaat-e-Islami and its student front Chhatra Shibir, freedom � ghters across the coun-try will organise a rally on December 10.

The rally will be held at 2pm at the Central Shaheed Minar under the ban-ner of “Muktijuddher Chetona Basto-bayan Moncho,” a new platform of free-dom � ghters formed on December 4.

Shajahan Khan, shipping and libera-tion war a� airs minister and convener of the platform, announced the pro-gramme at a press conference held at the liberation war a� air ministry yesterday.

The minister urged all freedom � ghters and their spouses, students, political, cultural and business lead-ers, journalist leaders, o� cials and em-ployees, and the pro-liberation people to join the rally.

He claimed that main opposition BNP and its allies Jamaat-Shibir activ-ists were conducting violence and sab-otages all over the country to foil the initiative of the government to execute the war crimes trial verdicts.

“They are destroying the state’s as-sets, attacking the houses and business organisations of freedom � ghters and believers of liberation war’s spirit. We should resist them together,” he said. l

MARITIME BOUNDARY DISPUTE WITH INDIA

Hearing to begin tomorrow n UNB

The hearing on the case related to the Bay of Bengal maritime boundary dis-pute between Bangladesh and India will begin at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Netherlands on Monday.

A Bangladesh delegation is sched-uled to leave Dhaka for Hague on Sun-day to join the eight-day hearing at the � ve-member tribunal.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmud Ali, former foreign minister and agent of the case Dr Dipu Moni and Foreign Sec-retary M Shahidul Haque are likely to be in the delegation.

As Dipu Moni is the agent of the case, the government is sending her to attend the hearing considering the country’s interest, said a diplomat.

The Netherlands-based PCA is ex-pected to deliver its judgment by the � rst half of the next year, foreign min-istry sources said.

The arbitrary tribunal members are Prof Dr Rüdiger Wolfrum (President), Judge Thomas A Mensah, Dr Pemma-raju Sreenivasa Rao, Prof Ivan Shearer,

Judge Jean-Pierre Cot, according to PCA documents.

Bangladesh is represented by Dipu Moni (Agent) and Deputy Agent of Ban-gladesh and Secretary of the Foreign Ministry’s Maritime A� airs Unit Rear Admiral M Khurshed Alam (retd).

On the other hand, India is repre-sented by Agent and Joint Secretary and the Legal Advisor of the Ministry of External A� airs Dr Neeru Chadha and Co-agent Joint Secretary (BSM), Minis-try of External A� airs, Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Deputy Agent Director (BSM), Ministry of External A� airs, Puneet Agrawal.

On October 8, 2009, Bangladesh in-stituted arbitrary proceedings concern-ing the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Bangladesh and In-dia pursuant to article 287 and Annex VII, Article 1 of the United Nations Con-vention on the Law of the Sea.

Bangladesh won a landmark verdict against Myanmar on March 14, 2012 at the ITLOS and through the verdict, Bangla-desh sustained its claim to the 200-nauti-cal-mile exclusive economic and territo-rial rights in the Bay of Bengal. l

US for immediate talks to end unrestn Tribune Report

Political parties in Bangladesh must come together immediately to halt a spate of violence and ensure free and fair elections next month, a top US of-� cial said.

“We believe the need is now even more urgent for the major political parties to engage immediately in con-structive dialogue, to � nd a way for-ward, to hold elections that are free, fair and credible,” said Deputy Spokes-woman of the State Department Marie Harf.

Violence of any kind was “not ac-ceptable” and it “must stop immedi-ately,” she said, according to an AFP report.

It says at least 67 people have died in clashes since October when an 18-par-ty opposition movement launched a wave of protests calling on Prime Min-ister Sheikh Hasina to resign before the January 5 polls.

The opposition, led by Hasina’s bit-ter rival, Khaleda Zia, fears the premier

will try to rig the vote in a country which for decades has been plagued by coups and political upheaval, says the report.

In the latest incident, suspected opposition activists on Wednesday derailed a train in Gaibandha by re-

moving metal links holding the tracks together, killing at least three people and injuring dozens.

The opposition movement intensi-� ed recently after the Election com-mission announced the polls schedule on November 25. l

Sammilito Nari Samaj, a women’s organisation, yesterday brings out a procession holding black � ag in the city’s Shahbagh area demanding cancellation of upcoming ‘one-sided election’ MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

The board formed a three member committee in mid November following allegations of question paper leaks Marie Harf (right) FILE PHOTO

Nation 5DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 8, 2013

Farmers protest price hike of fertiliser Retailers claim they have to buy at high prices as blockades hamper supplyn Our Correspondent, Lalmonirhat

Hundreds of farmers demonstrated in front of a fertiliser dealer’s shop and con� ned him by blockading the Lal-monirhat-Mogholhat road on Friday, while others demonstrated at Hati-bandha and blockaded the Lalmonir-hat- Burimari Highway in Lalmonirhat yesterday protesting the unexpected price hike of fertilisers.

Farmers alleged that the dealers suddenly increased the price of fer-tilisers by saying that they do not have enough stock as vehicles cannot move because of the countrywide blockades.

Retailers claimed that they sell the products at a high price as they had to buy the products at high prices, while dealers claimed that they had to in-crease the price of fertilisers as they do not get enough supply as transport facilities are not available due to coun-trywide blockades.

But the assistant director of Ban-gladesh Agriculture Development Cor-

poration (BADC) of Lalmonirhat said there is no fertilizer crisis in Lalmon-irhat as there are at least 6,500 metric

tonnes of MOP, DAP and TSP fertilisers in the bu� er store house.

Farmers said they are now frustrat-

ed as they have been purchasing di� er-ent fertilisers at high rates that are dou-ble than the government � xed rates in the local markets in Lalmonirhat.

Now per kg urea has been selling at Tk26 to Tk28 while the government � xed rate is Tk14; per kg MOP has been selling at Tk24 to Tk26, per Kg DAP at Tk48 to Tk50 and per kg TSP has been selling at Tk35 to Tk40 while the government rate for the products are respectively Tk13, Tk25 and Tk20 in the local markets.

Haider Ali, 38, a farmer from Dura-kuti village of Lalmonirhat sadar, said he purchased per kg urea at Tk29, TSP at Tk40 and DAP at Tk50 from Bogdadi traders last week.

He also said, “I purchased fertilisers at high rate as the dealer Ra� qul Islam created arti� cial crisis.”

Another farmer Mantaz Ali from Karnapur village in Lalmonirhat sadar, said: “I purchased fertilisers at double rate from a local fertiliser trader Bhola Miah at Mogholhat Bazar last week.”

He added that “If we try to purchase

fertilisers at government � xed rate, traders denied to sell the products.”

Bhola Miah, a retailer at Mogholhat Bazar in Lalmonirhat sadar, said as a re-tailer, he had to sell the products at high prices because he had to purchase the fertilisers from the dealers at high rates.

Ra� qul Islam, a dealer at Duraku-ti Bazar in Lalmonirhat sadar, whom farmers con� ned for four hours on Fri-day, said not only he, but all the deal-ers are selling fertilisers at high rates as they do not take the allotment from the bu� er store room because of lack of transport facility due to the blockades.

But the Assistant Director of Lalmon-irhat BADC Abdul Goni said there is no fertiliser crisis in Lalmonirhat as they have enough fertilisers in their stock.

He said a total of 115 dealers in Lal-monirhat are contracted with the gov-ernment to sell the fertilisers at govern-ment � xed rates, and the dealers who increased the prices illegally will be black listed and the black listed dealers will lose their dealerships. l

Six killed, two injured in road accidents in three districtsn Tribune Report

A total of six people were killed and two others were injured in separate

road accidents in the country over the last two days.

In Chittagong, a motorcyclist was killed after being hit by a truck on

the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway near Barawlia of Sitakunda upazila in Chit-tagong yesterday, reports our corre-spondent.

The dead Md Amir Ali, 30, was the son of late Omor Uddin from Shalmara in Kurigram district.

O� cer-in-Charge Sayed Jakir Hos-sen of Barawlia Highway Police Out-post said the accident took place after a speeding truck hit the motorbike from behind in front of International Islamic University, Chittagong.

In another incident, a college stu-dent was killed after a bus hit his bicy-cle at Badamtoli in Mirsarai upazila of the district yesterday.

The deceased Riaz Mahmud, 17, was a second year student of Prof Kamal Uddin Chowdhury College at Abu Tor-ab in the upazila.

Witnesses said the accident took place around 8:30am when a Green

Line bus hit Riaz’s bicycle while he was on his way to private coaching classes, leaving him dead.

Police recovered the body and sent it to Chittagong Medical College Hospi-tal morgue for autopsy and managed to seize the bus, the driver unfortunately managed to escape.

In Narayanganj, at least three people were killed and two others injured af-ter a private car rammed into a covered van on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Kanchpur early yesterday.

The deceased were identi� ed as Jashimuddin, 36, son of Abdul Jalil of Bajankara village in Chauddagram up-azila of Comilla district, Mostofa Mia, 56, son of Hafez Ahmed of Charipur village, and Abdul Alim, 32, son of Ab-dul Haque of Daulatpur village in Feni district.

Sohel Ahmed, in-charge of Kanch-pur highway police camp, said the ac-

cident took place in the area when the Dhaka-bound private car slammed into the covered van from behind, leaving three passengers of the car dead on the spot and two others injured.

In Sylhet, a schoolgirl was killed in a road accident on the Sylhet-Fen-chuganj Road in Mohammadpur area in the Dakkhin Surma upazila on Friday.

The deceased Mashrafa Ahmed Suma, 11, was daughter of Helal Ahmed of the area and a class V student of a lo-cal primary school.

Sources said the accident took place on the road around 4pm when a pri-vate car ran over Suma when she was returning home from a marriage cer-emony on foot along with her family members. Duty doctors declared her dead after she was taken to the hospi-tal, sources added.

The car sped away after the inci-dent, they said. l

Pregnant wife strangled byin-lawsn Our Correspondent, Narsingdi

A pregnant wife was strangled death by her in-laws at Baznab village under Shibpur upazila of Narsingdi yesterday over family feud.

The deceased Tania Khatun, 22, wife of Rokan Mia, was a � ve-month preg-nant.

Police and witnesses said Tania mar-ried Rokan of the same village around 16 months ago, adding that Rokan works in a foreign country and in ab-sence of her husband, her father-in-law and other in-laws used to torture her.

Yesterday, Tania had a quarrel with her father in-law Benu Molla and at one stage Benu with help of other in-laws strangled her to death and tried to make up the incident a

Suicide, they added.On information, Shibpur police re-

covered the body and sent it to Nars-ingdi Sadar Hospital for autopsy.

A case was � led with Shibpur police station, but no one was arrested till � l-ing the report. l

NETRAKONA BOMBING

Verdicts yet to be executed after 8 years n Our Correspondent, Netrakona

Though eight years have passed, the convicts of the Netrokona JMB bomb-ing are yet to be executed.

On December 8, 2005, nine people were killed and over 50 were injured after suicide-bombers of Islamist out-� t Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh plotted an attack.

Netrakona Udichi Shilpi Goshti has taken up various programmes includ-ing a protest procession and a discus-sion meeting to observe the day.

Khwaza Haider, 38, joint secretary of Netrakona Udichi Shilpi Goshti, Rani Begum, 35, wife of a police sub-inspec-tor and beggar Joinal, 55, lost their lives that day on the spot.

Moreover, according to the victims’ families, no government o� cials have visited them and neither have they re-ceived any aid from the administration.

During a visit to the house of Shah-anaz Begum, 31, wife of Khwaza Haid-er, the Dhaka Tribune found out that her family was yet to get any monetary help from the government.

She said, “No minister, not even the Netrakona deputy commissioner visit-ed my house or came to our aid.” “We

have become simply helpless after the death of Haider as he was the only earn-ing member of the family,” she added.

Shahanaz, mother of two– Shiplu, 16, and Shaon, 8 – maintains a family of four including her elderly mother-in-law.

In reply to a question, she said, “I do not feel like seeking any help from the government because of its failure to punish the culprits involved.”

Udichi leader Sudipta Paul Shelly, another dead of the attack, was also the lone earning member of her family. After her death, Shelly’s elderly parents Su-shil Paul, 69, and Aruna Paul, 59, along with her ailing brother have also become helpless. Aruna Paul is su� ering from a serious disease but is unable to buy medicine because of monetary prob-lems. They too claimed that they did not receive any help from the government.

On 17 February, 2008, Dhaka’s Speedy Tribunal Court 2 sentenced three JMB bombers, Salah Uddin, Asha-duzzaman and Yunus, to death for their involvement in the Netrakona blast but the verdicts are yet to be executed.

On the issue, Golam Mohammad Khan Pathan Bimol, public prosecutor of Netrakona Judge Court, said police have yet to arrest one of the bombers, Yunus. l

Farmers block Lalmonirhat-Burimari Highway yesterday protesting the price hike of fertiliser yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal blockade a road at Siddhirganj of Narayanganj demanding the release of a local leader yesterday FOCUS BANGLA

Depression turns into storm ‘Madi’ northwardsn UNB

The depression over the southwest Bay and adjoining areas moved slight-ly northwards and intensi� ed into cy-clonic storm “Madi” over the same area yesterday.

Met o� ce sources said it was likely to intensify further and move in a norther-ly direction. Sea will remain very rough near the storm centre.

Maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Mongla had been advised to hoist distant warning signal no two.

All � shing boats and trawlers over the deep sea had been advised to come close to north Bay and proceed with caution till further notice.

They were also advised not to ven-ture into the deep sea. l

Promotion of raised-bed technology underscoredn Tribune Report

Substantial and sustainable promotion of raised-bed technology in the farming � eld has become an urgent need for boosting crop production to feed the gradually increasing population.

Sharing his expertise Dr Israil Hossain, principal scienti� c o� cer of regional wheat research centre (RWRC), said the raised-bed facilitates sowing without waste of time al-lowing crop growth to better match water availability.

In addition to wheat, the farmers were seen adopting the method in some other seasonal crops like mugbean, maize, potato and lentil for the last couple of years.

Under the conventional system, he said, the single largest constraint requires plant-ing of wheat in the region late in winter lead-ing to a poor yield. Sowing bed could be a

good alternative to the country’s dominant wet culture, he said.

Bed planting improves water distribution and irrigation e� ciency, gives better results in using fertilisers and pesticides and re-duces weed infestation and crop lodging. It saves crops from disturbance from rats, Hos-sain opined.

The pattern helps farmers save 30% irri-gation water and 30 to 40% of seeds and fer-tilisers. To maintain soil health, he said, it could be advisable to grow rice using a di� erent sys-tem in order to improve compatibility between monsoon rice and upland winter crops.

Senior Scienti� c O� cer Dr Ilias Hossain said the agriculture system of the region including its drought-prone barind tract has started facing problems especially wa-ter-stress condition due to multifarious rea-sons including the adverse impact of climate change. l

Mother of Riaz Mahmud breaks down in tears at her son’s death FOCUS BANGLA

6 FeatureDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 8, 2013

A leader locked up: Mandela’s life in captivityn Tribune Desk

In 1961 Nelson Mandela and became the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress. In 1962 he was captured, and sentenced to � ve years in prison for leaving the country illegally and incit-ing a strike. In 1963 he was sentenced to life for sabotage.

On June 12, 1964, Mandela and his co-accused were � own by a military plane to Robben Island Prison.

In his autobiography, “A Long Walk to Freedom,” he wrote: “Prison is itself a tremendous education in the need for patience and perseverance. It is, above all, a test of one’s commitment.”

Upon arrival at the Robben Island airstrip, Mandela, with others, was handcu� ed, loaded into a vehicle and taken into an old building, where he was issued with prison clothes, shorts pants, no socks and sandals - not shoes.

As the apartheid logic of racial seg-regation extended to the prison sys-

tem, African prisoners received di� erent food rations and clothes in contrast to their Indian and Col-oured inmates.

“Like everything else in prison, diet is discriminatory,” Mandela wrote in his autobiography. “Food was the source of many of our pro-tests, but in those early days, the warders would say: ‘Ag, you kaf-� rs are eating better in prison than you ever ate at home!’ For supper, Coloured and Indian prisoners re-ceived a quarter loaf of bread and a slab of margarine. Africans, it was presumed, did not care for bread as it was a “European” type of food.”

Mandela remembers the guard who brought his food saying: “Here is your brown sugar for the porridge. You know - the white sugar is reserved for us white peo-ple.”

Mandela’s former prison cell, was about four square metres in size. A

deep and a shallow plate, a spoon, a small wardrobe, a two-centimetre-thick sleeping mat and a blanket were all that lay inside. It was Mandela’s home for 18 years. Here his name was simply “46664.”

“Every hour seemed like a year,” Mandela wrote of his time in captivity. “I found myself on the verge of initiat-ing conversations with a cockroach.”

Another inmate, Mac Maharaj, who

went on to serve as transport minis-ter under Mandela’s presidency, re-members the close bonds the inmates formed in prison.

“All around the world, prison has got its black humour, and we did laugh a lot and rib each other in those times. With extreme su� ering and physi-cal and psychological pain it is part of your defence mechanism; to be able to laugh at yourself.”

“Sometimes you miss it, and there’s something to miss because we were forced to live so closely with each other - you had no material trappings to sur-round yourself with, none of the peo-

ple you would normally count as fam-ily and loved ones to be cushioned by. You had to rely on a sense of comrade-ship - that was the only thing that held you together.”

During his time at the quarry at Rob-ben Island, Mandela was exposed to the glare of the sunlight re� ecting o� the bright lime, resulting in eye dam-age. This was in spite of a three year � ght against prison authorities to ob-tain dark glasses for protection.

In later years, prisoners used to en-joy certain privileges, such as garden-ing and playing tennis.

“We opened up tennis balls and put in secret messages. We casually threw the balls over the wall into the other section - so we could communicate with each other,” said Itumeleng Mak-wela, an ANC member and fellow in-mate of Mandela’s.

Mandela and his co-prisoners were not allowed any newspapers and did not have a radio. Mandela and his com-rades were also forbidden from keeping watches or clocks. He initially made a calendar on the wall of his cell. Later he was allowed to order a desk calendar a year from South African Tourism, with scenic photographs and the words ‘Land of Golden Sunshine,’ an Irony indeed considering the misery of Robben Island.

In 1986, Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison outside Cape Town. For the next six years he was kept in al-most total solitary con� nement.

He was released in 1990. l

A funeral � t for the father of a nationn Tribune Desk

South Africa is readying itself for the arrival of a � ood of world leaders for the funeral of Nelson Mandela. Thousands of mourners continued to � ock to sites around the country Saturday to pay homage to icon of the struggle for freedom.

The gathering of world leaders wil be the largest in South Africa since Mandela was inaugurated as its � rst black president in 1994.

South African President Jacob Zuma on Friday an-nounced a 10-day period of mourning following the death of Nelson Mandela.

Dec 6: Mandela passed away at 8:50 pm on Thurs-day (local time), surrounded by his family. During his � nal hours, Mandela would have also been surrounded by Thembu elders.

Dec 8: Declared as a national day of prayer and re-� ection. “We call upon all our people to gather in halls, churches, mosques, temples, synagogues and in their

homes to pray and meditate, re� ecting on the life of Madiba and his contribution to our country and the world,” President Zuma said.

Dec 9: Both houses of parliament will be recalled from recess for a special joint sitting in honour of Man-dela’s legacy.

Dec 10: A memorial service will be held at a 90,000-plus capacity stadium in at Johannesburg’s Soccer City, which hosted the 2010 World Cup � nal, where Mandela made his last major public appearance.

Dec 11-13: Mandela’s remains will lie in state at the seat of government, the Union Buildings in Pretoria, where he served as the � rst president of this young de-mocracy

Dec 15: The o� cial state funeral, after which he will be � own to Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, for a private burial. Qunu is the hilly rural area where Mandela was born and grew up. Mandela will be buried next to the remains of his family, including his three deceased children. l

Mandela’s visit to Bangladeshn Tribune Desk

Mandela visited Dhaka in March 1997 to celebrate Bangladesh’s 25th year of independence. At the time, he was the president of South Africa. Also present were Palestine’s president Yasser Ara-fat and Turkey’s president Suleyman Demirel.

They visited Sriti Shoudho, laid lau-rels for the fallen martyrs of the war, and planted trees around the premises. Following the festivities the three lead-ers visited Suhrawardy Udyan, where Nelson Mandela delivered his only speech in Bangladesh. Here are ex-cerpts from that speech:

“I have come to Bangladesh to pay homage to a nation that has fought for its sovereignty. Celebrating this blood-

soaked independence, I am here to say today that escaping the clutches of op-pression and autocratic rule is never easy.

“I have deep respect for Bangaband-hu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Standing in this great country today, I also want to be a friend of Bangladesh. While Bangladesh celebrated its independ-ence, our democracy was in its infancy. We were just crawling from the dark-ness of racism towards the light of free-dom.

“Despite being so far away, the peo-ple of Bangladesh were not callous to what South Africa was facing. You all know that freedom is not complete till everyone is free. Standing here as a friend of Bangladesh, I want to say that we will � ght hunger, poverty and any other problem facing us.” l

Nelson Mandela: No ordinary politician

n AFP, Bryan Pearson

So what, exactly, is it that makes Nel-son Mandela so special?

Apart from the fact that he emerged from 27 years in apartheid prisons bear-ing so little malice. And that he insisted on “reconciliation” being central to a truth commission in order to heal

wounds caused by years of bitter racial hatred.

And that he donned a Springbok jersey and took to the � eld during the 1995 rugby World Cup � nal in a bold bid to unite the nation behind the mainly-white South African team.

And that he stepped down after just one term as president, unlike too many

world leaders who, once given a whi� of power, cling to it until it destroys them or they destroy the nation they are leading.

These are some of the anti-apart-heid icon’s better known qualities.

But for journalists lucky enough to track his remarkable career there was more, much more.

This was no ordinary politician. On the campaign trail,  Mandela  never failed in the morning to ask journalists how they had slept and whether they had managed to get some breakfast. He came to know many reporters and pho-tographers by name, stopping often to speak to them and adding without fail: “How very nice to see you again.”

One of the many de� ning moments of his relentless e� orts to reconcile deeply divided communities came when he visited Betsie Verwoerd, wid-ow of the architect of apartheid, Hen-drik Verwoerd, who had e� ectively put Mandela in jail.

The “tea with Betsie” meeting took place at her home in a whites-only enclave known as Orania in Northern Cape in August 1995. Mrs. Verwoerd, then 94 and very frail, afterwards said

little apart from the fact she was happy the president had visited her.

Her granddaughter, Elizabeth, was less welcoming, reportedly stating that she wished rather that he had been “president of a neighbouring country.”

Mandela  was gracious and gener-ous, saying the way he had been re-ceived in Orania “was as if I was in Soweto,” the sprawling black township outside Johannesburg where he is re-garded as a hero.

Months earlier, on April 27, 1994, journalists gathered at a school outside Durban where  Mandela  was to cast his ballot in the country’s � rst all-race election. We all thought: “Is this really happening? Is Mandela really voting? Is apartheid really ending?”

Yes it was.  Mandela  made a brief speech stressing the dawning of “a new South Africa where all South Africans are equal.” Then he dropped his ballot into the box and, literally glowing in the early morning sunlight, smiled long and happily. It was the kind of smile that you know is not put on for the cameras. The kind that wells up from the very depths of the soul. In Mande-la’s case, a very rare soul indeed. l

Mandela’s former prison cell, was about four square metres big. A deep and a shallow plate, a spoon, a small wardrobe, a two-centimetre-thick sleeping mat and a blanket were all that lay inside

Standing in this great country today, I also want to be a friend of Bangladesh. While Bangladesh celebrated its independence, our democracy was in its infancy

1918 Born in the

Eastern Cape

1962Arrested, convicted of incitement and leav-ing country without a passport, sentenced to � ve years in prison

1990 Freed from prison

1994 Elected � rst black

president of South Africa

1993 Wins Nobel Peace Prize

MADIBA’S WALK TO FREEDOM

2013Dies after prolonged illness

While he passes from this physical world, his vision, his strength and courage, his perseverance and integrity, his humility and magnanimity are a shining example to all those who strive to create a better and more just world, and will remain so for generations to come. -Muhammad

Yunus

A letter Madiba wrote in the most beautiful Afrikaans in 1975 to Tafelberg Uitgewers

n Farzana Nawaz

As you make your way through the narrow, crowded, muddy and un-paved streets of Dhaka’s Natun Bazaar, bu� eted

by a mixture of smells of sewage, snack stalls, garbage and sweat of the people around you, the last thing you would expect to � nd here is a factory that produces beautiful, handcrafted toys that are sold at upscale shops in Europe and North America. And yet, improbably, this is the neighbourhood that houses the head o� ce and � nish-ing centre for Hathay Bunano, a social business that does just that.

The Hathay Bunano o� ce and production/� nishing centre is housed in a modest four-story building, so modest, in fact that there isn’t even paint on the walls (although, I was told that they have moved in there very recently).

However, it’s clean, with lots of windows that let in sunlight and fresh air. Inside, one would � nd stacks of un� nished toy parts (a bunny rabbit with a missing face), or � nished toys packed in clear plastic bags, yarn in all the cheerful colours of the rainbow. In the midst, groups of women sit at tables knitting, joining pieces and put-ting the � nishing touches on toys with assured, astonishing speed.

Just like their head o� ce, the story of Hathay Bunano is one made up of seemingly incongruent parts that still somehow come together to form a tru-ly inspiring tale of entrepreneurship, ingenuity, and a uniquely Bangladeshi success story.

Hathay Bunano is the brainchild of Samantha Morshed, a Brit, and her British-Bangladeshi husband Golam Morshed. The company was started in 2004 out of a conviction that the handicraft tradition in Bangladesh can be used to create world-class products while providing decent employment opportunities for poor rural women.

On one of her � rst visits to Bang-ladesh in the mid 90s, Samantha was taken aback by the desperate poverty of rural women. Many of these women were artisans, making traditional embroidered items that were sold in the local market to tourists. However, there was little possibility that these would reach the scale where decent, sustainable income can be generated for the artisans.

At the same time, Samantha was in-spired by the fast-growing ready-made garment industry (RMG) in Bangla-desh that was producing clothing at the scale, quality and attractiveness required for the global market. An avid knitter herself, Samantha combined these elements to come up with the idea of knitted and crocheted chil-dren’s clothing and toys that can be produced by rural women with a small amount of training. And thus, Hathay Bunano was born.

Putting the welfare of the workers first

From the very beginning, the welfare of the women workers has been at the heart of the Hathay Bunano approach. It follows a distributed production model where the basic toy parts are made in rural production centres, thus bringing the work to the women who need it.

This allows the women to stay in their own communities and work within walking distance of their homes. Flexible working hours aim to accommodate the lifestyle and responsibilities of the women, such as agricultural seasons or attend school while working.

Since most of the women are be-tween 18 to 30 years of age, availability of childcare is crucial to their ability to work. Young mothers working for Hathay Bunano can leave their babies at the crèche in the production centre premises until the age of three.

This enables them to check up on and breastfeed their babies when

necessary. For children between three and six years, preschool facilities with trained teachers are also provided on the premises.

In fact, one of the loveliest parts of my visit to the Natun Bazar � nishing centre was to see groups of happy children noisily participating in their pre-school classroom right next to the production � oor or occasionally running over to their mothers who were working.

The crèche for the babies is clean, bright, with lots of toys. This is a stark contrast to the conditions in the RMG sector where it’s not unusual for a woman to be � red for getting pregnant and childcare facilities are provided in only a fraction of the factories.

The Hathay Bunano women are paid according to the number of pieces they produce, a model that incentivis-es the more-skilled workers. The rate of compensation is 25 percent higher than the o� cial minimum wage and 150 per cent higher than similar work in rural areas.

Considering that living costs are much lower in rural areas, this means that the disposable income available to the women often end up being much higher than their counterparts in the RMG sector.

The workers are provided free training on knitting and crochet for six weeks. Women who show particular

aptitude can develop and grow within the organisation by receiving further training to become supervisors or trainers themselves.

Ultimately, some of these women go on to assume overall responsibility for entire production centres. Training on administrative tasks and account-ing is also provided, when the role requires these skills.

Bringing employment opportunities to the most disadvantaged

As a social business, Hathay Bunano also makes it a point to work with the most disadvantaged and margnisal-ised. Their rural production model enables them to employ relatively low-skilled, sometimes illiterate women at the villages for the more labour-inten-sive tasks, whereas the more high-skilled tasks, such as � nishing, quality control, etc, are done at the Dhaka head o� ce.

It also works with organisations such as the Centre for the Rehabili-tation of the Paralysed (CRP) to � nd

employment for disabled women.In fact, the nature of the work isparticularly well-suited for thedisabled.

At the Natun Bazar � nishing centre I met Shima, a young woman in a wheelchair who has been working with Hathay Bunano for over � ve years. Shima was a patient at the CRP when she found out about Hathay Bunano and decided to come to work for them. In addition to working there, she also lives on the o� ce premises, along with a few other disabled col-leagues, an arrangement she seemed quite happy about.

Hathay Bunano has also teamed up with NGOs and development organi-sations to bring employment oppor-tunities to the extreme poor living on

chars, refugees and indigenous people living in the hill tracts.

Making the most of local resources

Samantha and Golam are equally crit-ical of both traditional development projects that are overly prescriptive to their bene� ciaries and of the RMG sector, which has centralised econom-ic activity in the urban centres, forcing young women to move to the cities where the high living costs lead them to live in slum-like conditions.

The Hathay Bunano approach, on the other hand, brings the work to the workers and takes advantage of one of the abundant resources of Bangla-desh – labour. They have opted for a labour-intensive production process that minimises investment in mecha-nisation but creates more jobs.

For example, at the Natun Bazaar centre I saw a woman spinning organic cotton yarn by hand. This is surely a slower method than using a machine, but when asked about it the man-agers informed me that not only is hand-spinning cheaper, but it also pre-serves the integrity of the yarn better than machine spinning. Of course, it also creates a job for the spinner.

Hathay Bunano has demonstrated that a distributed production model can work e� ciently and pro� tably in spite of the meager transportation infrastructure in Bangladesh. All the raw materials and the � nished parts are transported around the country on top of public buses as unaccompanied baggage.

Mobile phones are put to excellent and innovative use to ensure that pack-ages arrive safely, a method that Hathay Bunano claims has a 100% success rate thus far. When packages are checked in at the bus station at either end, a mobile phone number is provided with the package. When an employee comes to collect the package on the other end they are identi� ed using a missed call from the registered number.

The Morsheds also stress the im-portance of working with local people as partners so that their knowledge and innovative potential can be put to good use. One story that Samantha

relishes telling is, in the early days of the business they received a lucrative order where the pattern required using a cable needle (a miniature knitting needle).

Samantha couldn’t � nd this type of a needle in the local market and she despaired that the order would need to be turned down as it is too expensive to import the needles. Then, a woman working at one of the rural production centres asked her what a cable needle looked like. When Samantha showed her she said she would try to see if a solution could be found.

A few days later she returned with a batch of cable needles made from bamboo (at the bargain price of Tk. 2 per piece) and the order was saved. This story wonderfully demonstrates

that many surface obstacles business-es face can be overcome if the local knowledge is consulted.

The innovative business model of Hathay Bunano has received accolades and praise in the international arena, including from the Clinton Global Initiative. Samantha was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for her work and most recently a detailed case study on Hathay Bunano was featured in MIT’s Innovations magazine.

What’s next for Hathay Bunano?

Since its humble beginning in 2004 with one rural centre, Hathay Bunano has steadily grown over the years and it currently employs 6,500 women in 64 rural production centres around the country. Spurred by this success, in 2010 they launched their own brand of children’s toys, Pebble, which is cur-rently being sold in upmarket toy stores in Europe, North America, South-East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The Pebble children’s items are labelled “Made in Bangladesh,” with tags that include a Bangladeshi � ag, something that surely contributes to a positive branding for Bangladesh. A new, special line of animal toys

have been also created which features animals native to Bangladesh, such as the Bengal tiger, Tokay gecko, owl, and otter.

One of the remarkable aspects of Hathay Bunano’s growth is that all of it happened without external investors or debt. The owners have made it their mission statement to prove that it is possible to create market-drive rural employment in Bangladesh without donor grants or bank loans. By any measure, their e� ort is a success.

Pebble toys are now available in a growing number of stores in Bang-ladesh. In line with the ethos of the company, the aim is to sell them within a price range that is a� ordable for the middle class customers here. Samantha is determined that the toys

are not perceived as luxury items only a� ordable to the very rich.

The story of Hathay Bunano brings together two of Bangladesh’s greatest traditions – handicrafts and social business. It also shows what is possible if entrepreneurs are willing to exercise creativity to make the local conditions work for their business.

But most importantly, it shows that pro� tability doesn’t have to come at the expense of the workers and that given the chance, poor rural artisan women in the villages can create prod-ucts that can compete with the best in the world. And that’s no child’s play. l

Farzana Nawaz is a GIZ returning expert and editorial fellow at the Dhaka Tribune. She can be reached at farzana.nawaz@gmail.com.

7DHAKA TRIBUNE Long Form Sunday, December 8, 2013

No child’s playHow handmade toys have reimagined rural employment in Bangladesh

One of the loveliest parts of my visit to the Natun Bazar � nishing centre was to see groups of happy children noisily participating in their pre-school classroom right next to the production � oor or occasionally running over to their mothers who were working

As a social business, Hathay Bunano also makes it a point to work with the most disadvantaged and margnisalised. Their rural production model enables them to employ relatively low-skilled, sometimes illiterate women at the villages for the more labour-intensive tasks

The Pebble children’s items are labelled “Made in Bangladesh,” with tags that include a Bangladeshi � ag, something that surely contributes to a positive branding for Bangladesh

PHO

TOS:

CO

URT

ESY

Sunday, December 8, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE InternationalDHAKA TRIBUNE8

Germany to sell two destroyers to Israeln AFP, Berlin

Germany will sell two destroyers to Is-rael for one billion euros ($1.3 billion), the Bild daily reported Saturday.

The torpedo-carrying war vessels will be used to protect Israeli pipelines, the paper said, without citing a source.

The report said Israel’s national se-curity adviser, Yossi Cohen, was in Ber-lin last week.

A German government spokeswom-an reached by AFP con� rmed Cohen’s visit but declined to elaborate. l

US war veteran released from N Korea as Biden visits DMZn AFP, Seoul

North Korea Saturday released a de-tained American veteran of the Korean War as US Vice President Joe Biden vis-ited the world’s last Cold War frontier.

US o� cials said Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old from California, headed home after arriving in Beijing.

North Korea deported him “from a humanitarian viewpoint,” its o� cial Korean Central News Agency said, cit-ing his “sincere repentance” as well as his age and health condition.

His release came hours before Biden visited the demilitarised zone which has split the Korean peninsula since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Wearing a baseball cap and brown bomber jacket, Biden visited a front-line hilltop observation post and sur-veyed the North Korean landscape through a pair of binoculars.

“The DPRK (North Korea) today released someone they should never have had in the � rst place, Mr. New-man,” Biden said earlier after laying a wreath at the war memorial in Seoul.

“It’s a positive thing they’ve done,” said Biden, visiting South Korea as the last stop on a three-country Asia tour that has already taken him to Japan and China.

Biden also urged Pyongyang to free another US citizen, Kenneth Bae, a 45-year-old tour operator who was ar-rested a year ago and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour on charges of seek-ing to topple the government. l

IAEA inspectors in Iran for heavy water plantn AFP, Tehran

Inspectors from the UN nuclear watch-dog arrived in Iran Saturday to visit the still-un� nished Arak heavy water plant for the � rst time in more than two years, the ISNA news agency reported.

The two inspectors from the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency will begin their work on Sunday at the site, 240 kilometres (150 miles) southwest of the capital, but ISNA did not say how long they would be there.

The inspection comes within the

framework of a mid-November agree-ment between Iran and the IAEA that also allows the IAEA access to a ura-nium mine in Gachin, in the country’s south.

The IAEA regularly visits the works on the reactor, but says it has not re-ceived any new design details since 2006. And inspectors have not been to the heavy water plant since August 2011.

The Arak reactor is of concern to the international community because Teh-ran could theoretically extract weap-

ons-grade plutonium from the its spent fuel.

Under a deal reached last month with world powers in Geneva, Iran agreed that it would not commission the reactor or transfer fuel or heavy water to the site for a period of six months.

However, construction delays have e� ectively made that a moot point, as the authorities had not hoped to � nish work before the end of 2014. Subse-quently, they said that target would not be met, without giving a new date. l

Tolerance can resolve Iran political prisoner issue: Rouhanin AFP, Tehran

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told university students Saturday that tol-erance could resolve the issue of politi-cal prisoners, as some of them chanted for opposition leaders under house ar-rest to be freed.

“My government is committed to the promises it has made to the people, but we need to create internal consen-sus to achieve the objectives,” Rouhani told students at Shahid Beheshti Uni-versity in Tehran.

“We need tolerance and patience... We need to distance ourselves from an emotional atmosphere. Reason and moderation can resolve the issues,” he added during the meeting, organised to mark Students’ Day.

He was speaking in reaction to some students chanting slogans call-ing for the release of political prison-

ers. Among them are opposition lead-ers Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who have been kept under house arrest since February 2011 and without being o� cially charged.

Those chants provoked opposing slogans from students a� liated with the Basij militia, who called for “sedi-tionists” to be hanged. That is a term coined in the aftermath of the disputed 2009 presidential election to describe pro-reform supporters of Mousavi and Karroubi, who took to street in massive protests.

In response to the chanting, some of which was broadcast on state televi-sion, Rouhani called for the resolution of this thorny issue, which has shad-owed his government since taking of-� ce in August.

“If we cannot solve an internal issue of ours with calm and reason, within the framework of the law and with in-

ternal consensus, how can we resolve the complicated issues of the region and the world,” he asked.

Rouhani, a moderate mid-ranking cleric who campaigned for more do-mestic freedom, defeated a pool of conservatives with key backings from Iran’s marginalised pro-reform fac-tions.

Following the release of several pris-oners in September, he expressed hope that more would be freed but made no direct promises.

Government spokesman Moham-mad Baqer Nobakht said last week that “lifting the house arrests” was on “the president’s agenda,” adding that the ad-ministration preferred to talk less and instead take more action on such issues.

“People should trust this adminis-tration. For some issues, it is better for the government to act instead of talk,” Nobakht said. l

Iran diplomacy must be backed by military power: USn Manama, Bahrain

Diplomacy with Iran must be backed up by US military might, Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel said Saturday in a speech to Gulf allies anxious over a nu-clear deal with Tehran.

Hagel promised the United States would maintain a 35,000-strong force in the Gulf region, as well as an armada of ships and warplanes, despite the re-cent accord with Tehran.

Speaking at a security conference in Bahrain, he said the interim deal with Iran to roll back its nuclear programme was a risk worth taking, but that West-ern diplomacy should not be “misinter-preted.”

“We know diplomacy cannot oper-ate in a vacuum,” he said.

“Our success will continue to hinge on America’s military power, and the credibility of our assurances to our al-lies and partners in the Middle East.”

The Pentagon “will not make any adjustments to its forces in the region – or to its military planning – as a result of the interim agreement with Iran,” he added.

In a trip meant to reassure Gulf allies wary of America’s diplomatic opening with Iran, Hagel highlighted an array of US weaponry and resources deployed in the region.

“We have a ground, air, and naval presence of more than 35,000 military personnel in and immediately around the Gulf,” he said.

The military footprint includes 10,000 US Army troops with tanks and Apache helicopters, roughly 40 ships at sea including an aircraft carrier battle group, missile defence systems, radar,

surveillance drones and warplanes that can strike at short notice, he said.

“Coupled with our unique muni-tions, no target is beyond our reach,” said Hagel, in an apparent reference to “bunker buster” bombs designed to penetrate deeply buried targets.

A senior US defence o� cial, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters the speech sent a message of solidarity to Gulf allies while also con-veying a warning to adversaries “that any sort of mythology of American re-treat is just wrong-headed.”

Gulf allies, especially Saudi Arabia, are concerned over the November 24 interim accord between world powers and Iran that o� ers limited relief from Western sanctions in return for Tehran rolling back elements of its nuclear pro-gramme.

The nuclear deal has strained US re-lations with the mostly Sunni Gulf Arab states that view Shia Iran as a danger-ous rival.

The Iran accord topped the agenda in Hagel’s talks with Gulf counterparts on Friday, which included a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s new deputy de-fence minister, Prince Salman bin Sul-tan.

Hagel stressed “the centrality of the defence partnership in maintaining the long-standing ties” between the United States and the Saudi kingdom, o� cials said.

Hagel said he would hold talks in Saudi Arabia on Monday and also visit Qatar, but he headed � rst to Afghani-stan, where e� orts for a deal allowing NATO troops to stay in the country be-yond next year have stalled.

Washington’s reluctance to inter-vene against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a staunch ally of Tehran, as well as budget pressures and a US “rebalance” to Asia, have added to the doubts among Gulf governments about America’s staying power in the region.

Hagel acknowledged that “anxiet-ies” in the Gulf were running high.

“Questions have been raised about America’s intentions, strategy, and commitment to the region,” he said.

But he promised Washington “will remain fully committed to the securi-ty of our allies and our partners in the region.”

Although the Pentagon faced the prospect of steep budget cuts, Hagel suggested the big presence in the Mid-dle East would remain a top priority and largely shielded from spending re-ductions.

In addition to keeping a robust US force in place, Hagel vowed to bolster the military strength of Gulf states, urging regional cooperation on missile defence.

Hagel only brie� y mentioned the popular unrest that has swept aside or challenged regimes across the Middle East. l

14 of 21 female protesters given suspended sentencesn AFP, Alexandria

The lawyer for 21 Egyptian women and girls jailed over an Islamist protest told appeal courts Saturday there was no evidence of their guilt and urged judg-es to free them.

Wearing handcu� s but holding red roses, the 21 appeared in Alexandria courts in white prison garb in a case that has sparked an outcry.

Many bore the word “Freedom” written in Arabic and English on the palms of their hands, and smiled from

the metal-caged dock. The women and girls were convicted last month of tak-ing part in a violent protest demanding Islamist president Mohamed Morsi’s reinstatement following his overthrow by the army in July.

Fourteen women previously sen-tenced to 11 years in jail were ushered into the cage in the courtroom as the appeal by the seven girls was heard in an adjacent juvenile court.

Their harsh sentences had shocked even supporters of the military-in-stalled government. l

Peace with Palestinians not imminent: Liebermann AFP, Jerusalem

Israeli Foreign Minister Foreign Minis-ter Avigdor Lieberman has said Israe-li-Palestinian peace talks are unlikely to bear fruit within the envisioned nine-month timeframe but that dia-logue should continue.

His remarks Friday evening con-trasted with those of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who said peace was closer than it had been in years.

Speaking to the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy in Washington and quoted on its website, Lieberman said: “Today the trust between the two sides is about zero. It’s impossible to create peace if you don’t have any credibility.

“I don’t believe it is possible in the

next year... to achieve a comprehen-sive solution to achieve some break-through but I think it is crucial to keep our dialogue.”

He said it was crucial “because, even if you are not able to resolve the con� ict, it’s very important to manage this con� ict.”

Kerry, speaking Friday at the end of a visit to Israel and the Palestin-ian territories and talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, was upbeat despite the negoti-ations he brokered having made little visible headway since they began in late July.

“I believe we are closer than we have been in years to bringing about

the peace and the prosperity and the security that all of the people of this region deserve,” Kerry said.

Lieberman is on his � rst trip to Washington since regaining his post last month after being cleared of cor-ruption charges, and is there for talks with Kerry and with UN chief Ban Ki-Moon.

The right-wing leader quit in De-cember 2012 after being charged with fraud and breach of trust.

His trip comes as Israel lobbies in-tensely for a tougher position from Washington in talks between major powers and Iran on its controver-sial nuclear programme, which were buoyed by a landmark interim deal last month. l

Hagel visits Kabul with a hung troop accordn AFP, Kabul

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel � ew into Kabul on Saturday amid frustra-tion in Washington over the Afghan president’s refusal to sign an accord allowing NATO troops to stay in the country beyond next year.

US o� cials said no meeting was scheduled with President Hamid Kar-zai, but the president’s spokesman said Karzai and Hagel were due to hold talks later Saturday – the latest sign of discord between the allies.

Washington and its allies have ap-pealed to Karzai to sign the Bilateral

Security Agreement (BSA), which lays out the rules for US and NATO troops to operate in the country after 2014 on a mission focused on training and coun-tering Al-Qaeda-linked extremists.

“Secretary Hagel does not plan to meet with President Karzai while in Af-ghanistan,” a senior US defence o� cial told reporters at the start of Hagel’s un-announced visit.

“The United States has made its posi-tion on the BSA clear. And just two days ago, President Karzai repeated his posi-tion to senior US o� cials that he is not yet ready to sign the BSA and provided no timeline or practical step for doing so.”

But Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi told AFP that the Afghan president was expecting to hold talks with Hagel – setting the stage for another diplo-matic row after a long series of public disagreements.

“In our schedule for the president today we have a meeting with Secretary Hagel this evening with the president followed by a dinner with him,” Faizi said, adding that Afghanistan was keen to discuss sticking points over the BSA.

“If there is any story around that the guest will be in Kabul but will not meet with the president that is false,” Faizi said. l

Outraged Ukrainians protest leader’s Russia overturen AFP, Kiev

Outraged Ukrainians rallied in central Kiev on Saturday after President Viktor Yanukovych discussed a new strategic partnership agreement with Russia’s Vladimir Putin upon rejecting a histor-ic EU deal.

Several thousand supporters of Western integration braved swirling winds and a heavy snowfall to main-tain control of the capital’s iconic In-dependence Square for the seventh successive day.

Some volunteers wrapped them-selves in wool blankets as they handed out breakfast from a makeshift kitch-en to the multifaceted crowd. Others swept up garbage around a few dozen tents set up between barricades on the sprawling square.

Protest organisers expect up to 300,000 to turn out on Sunday for the largest demonstration since the 2004

pro-democracy Orange Revolution � rst nudged the former Soviet nation of 46 million closer to the West.

The embattled Ukrainian president held unannounced talks with Putin in Russia on Friday after completing a mission to China aimed at drumming up backing for his cash-strapped gov-ernment.

Yanukovych’s o� cial website said the meeting at Putin’s Black Sea re-treat in Sochi – their fourth in just over a month – focused on “trade and eco-nomic cooperation ... and preparation for the future treaty on strategic part-nership.”

But some reports said the two also talked about Russia providing Ukraine with billions of dollars in loans and cheap gas in return for its decision to spurn an EU trade agreement that would have opened the way to its membership in the 28-nation bloc. l

A piano decorated with the EU � ag is displayed in front of riot police during a picket held outside the presidential o� ce in Kiev on December 7 AFP

Egyptian women members of the Muslim Brotherhood hold roses as they stand in the defendants’ cage dressed in prison issue white during their trial at the court in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of Alexandria on December 7 AFP

The military footprint includes 10,000 US Army troops with tanks and Apache helicopters, roughly 40 ships at sea including an aircraft carrier battle group, missile defence systems, radar, surveillance drones and warplanes that can strike at short notice

French militaries, arriving from Cameroon, drive on a road leading to Bouar on December 7, 2013. France deployed nearly 1,000 troops on December 6, 2013 to help restore security in simmering Central African Republic as residents sought refuge from sectarian clashes which the Red Cross says has killed at least 300.

All 1,200 French troops pledged for a UN-mandated force in the violence-hit Central African Republic have now deployed, France’s defence ministry said Saturday.

“We are 24 hours ahead of schedule with the total deployment,” a ministry o� cial said, after a 200-strong contingent of reinforcements crossed the border from neighbouring Cameroon on Saturday.

France already had several hundred troops stationed in the CAR before the latest outbreak of violence in its former colony.

President Francois Hollande announced the deployment on Thursday after receiving UN approval, saying it was designed to protect the population and restore stability AFP

9Sunday, December 8, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE International

Thai police to rebuild barricades after protest warningsn AFP, Bangkok

Thai authorities said Saturday they would rebuild barricades around key state buildings in Bangkok after oppo-sition protesters called for a � nal push to topple the government.

The kingdom remains tense fol-lowing several days of street clashes between police and demonstrators seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and curb the po-litical in� uence of her brother Thaksin.

After the clashes, during which riot police used tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets against stone-throwing demonstrators, the government or-dered police to ease tensions by taking down barriers around key buildings in-cluding Government House.

But the barricades are set to be re-built ahead of a threat by anti-govern-ment protest leaders to turn Monday into “judgement day” for their e� orts to overthrow the government.

“Police will erect barricades – es-pecially around Government House and Parliament,” said Paradorn Pat-tnatabut, chief of the National Security Council.

Although the protests are “losing momentum” he said thousands of po-lice would still be deployed on Monday.

“I am con� dent that there will be no violent incidents on Monday,” he said, expressing hope the � ve week stand-o� could still be resolved through ne-gotiation.

Firebrand protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, who faces an arrest war-rant for insurrection, on Friday issued a rallying cry for a � nal push to over-throw the government.

Vowing to surrender to authori-ties unless enough people show up for Monday’s rallies he said protesters would target the government’s head-quarters.

Suthep has repeatedly set deadlines for his movement, but protests have continued.

“If people turn out in their millions (on Monday) it’s sure that things will change,” Akanat Promphan, Suthep’s step-son and spokesman for the oppo-sition protesters, told reporters Satur-day.

He said he was concerned there could be “violent clashes and loss of life.”

Thailand has been periodical-ly rocked by sometimes bloody un-rest since Thaksin, a billionaire ty-coon-turned-premier, was deposed by royalist generals in a coup seven years ago.

His sister’s government has been shaken by weeks of rallies by protest-ers, a mix of royalists, middle class and other Thaksin opponents, attempting to unseat her and suspend the coun-try’s democracy in favour of an un-elected “People’s Council.”

The unrest has left � ve people dead

and more than 200 injured in Bangkok.Demonstrators and police in Bang-

kok have observed a temporary truce since Wednesday for the 86th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is treated as a near-deity by many Thais.

Thailand’s political con� ict broadly pits a Bangkok-based middle class and royalist elite backed by the military against rural and working-class voters loyal to Thaksin.

He went into exile in 2008 to avoid jail for a corruption conviction which he says was politically motivated, but critics say he still controls his sister be-hind the scenes.

The recent protests were triggered by an amnesty bill, since abandoned by Yingluck’s ruling party, which op-ponents feared would have cleared the way for his return.

They are the biggest and deadli-est street demonstrations since 2010, when dozens of people were killed in a crackdown on mass pro-Thaksin rallies in Bangkok. l

Honduras left seeks annulment of presidential vote resultsn AFP, Tegucigalpa

The leftist Libre party in Honduras late Friday formally asked election o� cials to overturn the results of the Novem-ber 24 presidential election, which their candidate claims to have won.

A document formally requesting the annulment was delivered by ex-pres-ident Manuel Zelaya, accompanied by his wife, Libre candidate Xiomara Castro. O� cials earlier declared con-servative Juan Orlando Hernandez the election winner.

Zelaya told AFP that the document he submitted included proof of “clear” voter fraud.

“It was a well-done fraud,” said Ze-

laya, who claimed that o� cials at 2,800 voting stations conspired to throw the election for Hernandez.

He insisted that votes were also bought, “because at the other voting stations, all 12,000 of them ... Xiomara won.”

Zelaya was deposed at gunpoint in a June 2009 coup after he aligned Hon-duras with the leftist governments of Cuba and Venezuela.

This led to 100 days of unrest that included massive street protests and a crackdown on leftist activists.

The possible unrest poses a serious threat to governing in Honduras, the second poorest country in the western hemisphere after Haiti. l

Three members of ‘Muslim patrol’ jailed in Londonn AFP, London

Three members of a self-styled “Mus-lim patrol” in London who harassed passers-by for wearing short skirts, holding hands and drinking alcohol have been jailed, in a conviction wel-comed by the local mosque on Satur-day.

The men were jailed for up to 16 months on Friday after admitting a variety of public order and assault charges during ‘patrols’ in December 2012 and January 2013.

One of the incidents was � lmed by the gang and posted on YouTube, caus-ing widespread public outrage and rais-ing tensions in an area already targeted by far-right groups because of its large Muslim population.

“These men routinely threatened and intimidated innocent members of the public whom they perceived to be behaving in an ‘un-Islamic’ manner,”

said prosecutor Baljit Ubhey.“They would roam the streets, seek-

ing out victims whom they could tar-get, and chanting threats to ‘kill the non-believers.’

“On the nights in question they con-fronted and aggressively intimidated a couple who were holding hands in the street, a group of friends who were drinking alcohol, and a girl whom they deemed to be dressed provocatively.”

Some of the patrols took place near the East London Mosque in Whitecha-pel, which hosts 7,000 worshippers on a typical Friday and has strongly con-demned the harassment.

The mosque says Muslims in the area have been attacked and it has re-ceived hate mail as a result of the pa-trols.

Executive director Dilowar Khan welcomed Friday’s convictions, saying bullying was un-Islamic and the men’s actions were “pathetic.” l

Oman opposes union of Gulf statesn AFP, Manama

Oman opposes upgrading the Gulf Co-operation Council to a union of six na-tions, an idea � rst mooted by regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, Muscat’s foreign minister said on Saturday.

The union issue is on the agenda of the GCC summit to be held on Tuesday in Kuwait.

“We are against a union,” Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi said at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.

The annual forum on security is also being attended by senior world o� -cials including British Foreign Secre-tary William Hague and Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel.

Alawi was speaking after Saudi As-sistant Foreign Minister Nizar Madani in a speech called on Gulf states to uni-fy against dangers in the region.

“We will not prevent a union, but if it happens we will not be part of it,”

Alawi told AFP on the sidelines of the gathering.

If the � ve other GCC members – Sau-di Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar – decide to form a union, “we will simply with-draw” from the new body, he said.

Riyadh’s idea of upgrading the GCC was � rst proposed in 2011 and supported by Bahrain. But because of reservations by some members, it was put on hold.

Kuwait and Qatar have since ex-pressed their backing, but the UAE’s position on the proposal is not known.

Formed in 1981 as a bu� er against Shia-dominated Iran across the Gulf, the mainly Sunni GCC states sit on around 40 % of proven global crude re-serves and around 25  % of natural gas deposits.

Unlike Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, locked in a decades-long rivalry with Iran, Oman maintains good relations with Tehran. l

Mandela’s village awaits the � nal return of their son n AFP, Qunu, S Africa

In Nelson Mandela’s childhood village of Qunu residents are solemnly prepar-ing for the � nal return of their beloved son, who will be laid to rest among them a week from now. Meanwhile, the rest of South Africa has been preparing for a funeral for the ages.

Elderly men in the picturesque village dotted with traditional round huts bow their heads and lower their voices when they speak of the an-ti-apartheid hero who has “returned to his ancestors.”

Here there has been no explosion of public emotion as seen in Johannes-burg, no singing to celebrate Mandela’s 95 years, no all-night vigils.

His home, overlooking the hills and valleys of the Eastern Cape – where Mandela said he spent his happiest childhood days – is sombre and eerily quiet.

“We are in mourning, he deserves our greatest last respects,” said Chief Mfundo Mtirara, Mandela’s nephew.

Mean while, South Africa has pre-pared a sweeping, emotional farewell to Nelson Mandela – a funeral that will draw an unprecedented gathering of world leaders and luminaries, re� ect-ing the anti-apartheid icon’s transcen-dent in� uence.

Presidents, heads of government

and royalty from every corner of the globe will be among those seeking to pay their respects to modern South Africa’s founding father, who died late Thursday aged 95, surrounded by friends and family.

The sheer scale of the event and of the global attention and emotion sur-rounding it has had observers search-ing back decades for a precedent, with

some citing the funerals of Mahatma Gandhi and Winston Churchill.

The government announced Saturday that his co� n would be taken in a cortege through the streets of Pretoria each morning, giving the millions of South Africans still coming to terms with the death of their � rst black leader an opportunity to say a � nal farewell. l

Iran says Afghan president to visit Sundayn AFP, Tehran

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is to visit Iran on Sunday straight after an awkward visit to Kabul by US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, an Iranian o� -cial said.

To the growing dismay of Washing-ton, Karzai has been refusing to sign a deal allowing Nato troops to stay in Af-ghanistan beyond next year, a position strongly backed by Iran.

Hagel � ew into Kabul on Saturday amid disagreement over whether he would even meet the Afghan president in the face of the security pact row.

US o� cials said no meeting was scheduled, but in the latest sign of dis-cord between the allies, the president’s spokesman said Karzai and Hagel were due to hold talks later Saturday.

Washington and its allies have ap-pealed to Karzai to sign the Bilateral Se-curity Agreement (BSA), which lays out the rules for US and other Nato troops to operate in the country after 2014 on a mission focused on training, and coun-tering al-Qaeda-linked extremists.

“Secretary Hagel does not plan to meet with President Karzai while in Af-ghanistan,” a senior US defence o� cial told reporters at the start of Hagel’s un-announced visit.

“The United States has made its po-sition on the BSA clear. And just two days ago, President Karzai repeated his position to senior US o� cials that he is not yet ready to sign the BSA and pro-vided no timeline or practical step for doing so.”

Iran voiced criticism on Tuesday of the proposed pact, saying it would not serve the interests of its eastern neighbour.

“Iran does not see the signing and ratifying of this security pact to be ben-e� cial for the long-term interests of the people and government of Afghani-stan,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh A� ham said. l

Afghanistan won’t bow to US ‘pressure’ over security pact -o� cialn Reuters, Kabul

A senior aide to Afghan President Ha-mid Karzai accused the United States on Friday of trying to pressure elements of his government to accept a security deal that would shape the post-2014 US military presence in the country.

The bilateral security pact (BSA) was thrown into doubt last month when Karzai said he would sign only if new conditions were met, and even then only after April elections.

If the pact is not signed Washington says it will consider a complete military withdrawal from Afghanistan, which remains embroiled in the insurgency of the Islamist militant Taliban.

Failure to sign could could also put Western aid running to billions of dol-lars in serious jeopardy, exposing the central Asian country’s shaky economy to collapse.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, Na-tional Security Advisor Susan Rice and Washington’s top diplomat for Afghani-stan and Pakistan, James Dobbins, have all visited Karzai recently to convince him to sign by the end of the year.

“There is no doubt that certain ele-

ments within the Afghan government are facing pressure from the US How-ever, this will not achieve anything,” Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, told Reuters in an emailed statement.

“If there is a perception in Washing-ton that certain elements in Kabul can force President Karzai to succumb to any pressure, it is seriously � awed and mistaken.”

Faizi declined to elaborate on who these “elements” were.

Robert Hilton, spokesman for the US embassy in Kabul, declined to respond, only repeating that it was the view of the United States that signing the doc-ument “promptly” was in the interests of both countries.

There are 47,000 US troops in Af-ghanistan. The United States has been in discussions with Afghan o� cials about keeping a residual force of about 8,000 troops after the end of the Nato combat mission next year.

On Wednesday Karzai reacted an-grily to a comment by Kerry at a Nato meeting in Brussels that the Afghan defence minister, Bismillah Khan Mo-hammadi, could sign the document in-stead of the president.

A year-long negotiation over the text of the document was thought to have been concluded last month when an assembly of Afghan tribal elders and politicians, called a loya jirga, approved the pact. But Karzai surprised everyone during concluding remarks by saying he still had important demands.

They relate to a desire for the Unit-ed States to kick-start a nascent peace process with the Taliban, and an end to raids on Afghan homes by US forces pursuing militants.

“We cannot allow business as usual for the US after the signing of the BSA,” Faizi said. “It simply cannot be anoth-er ten-year chapter of raids on Afghan homes, civilian casualties and seeking peace in Afghanistan.”

On Thursday, in� uential US Demo-cratic SeNator Carl Levin questioned the Obama administration’s insistence that Karzai was the appropriate person to sign a security deal, and by the end of 2013. [ID: nL2N0JK26J]

In a letter to US President Barack Obama, Levin suggested Washington wait for a “more reliable” leader to take o� ce. (Editing by Mark Heinrich) l

An anti-government protester carries his breakfast past a mural near the Government House in Bangkok on December 7 AFP

Children hold earthen lamps in tribute to former South African President Nelson Mandela, organised by Aa� a Movement in Karachi December 6 REUTERS

MARS AVANT FOR PEACE

Stop killing us, people urge politiciansDecember 3

Tajia E Barkat We need more of this! More of it!!

Iqbal Uddin Yes, we want responsible politics and leaders.

Sha� Brave faces of the people of Bangladesh. We salute you, we all are with you. In every part of the country, the ordinary citizens should come out and warn politicians: End your greed for power, carry out responsible politics, and love and work for the people. Only then people will vote for you.

Hanif Repon Thanks for your selfless initiative. I salute you. You are real patriots. Thanks again. May the great Allah bless you.

Shopno Lok I do agree with all of the points, but if the majority of the general people like “family’ism” in the politics, and choose their representatives from them, then what can you and I do? One just cannot force them.

Sha� q Majumder Educate people, vote only for caring politicians.

Tanvir Hossain That’s more like it.

Government thinks political unrest won’t a� ect economy December 1

Tahmidur RahmanThe headline cracks me up, haha!

Shahid ImonI do agree with Dr Mirza Aziz that the economy is already facing downward trends that Prof Shamsul Alam and other AL-aligned economists cannot hide. Economic growth has declined for the past three consecutive years, and there has been a large gap between the projected growth of the 6th � ve year plan and actual growth. The economy was expected to grow at 7.6% in 2013-14, yet most projections indicate that it could grow between 5.5 to 6%.

Wake up to the economic costs of political unrestEvidence is mounting of the damage being done to the

economy by the prolonged period of blockades and hartals caused by the political crisis.

The Centre for Policy Dialogue and Policy Research Insti-tute have highlighted disruption to transport and the supply chain as the main reason for food in� ation hitting a seven month high of 8.55% in No-vember. Supplies of essentials like � sh, pulse and vegetables are being slowed down and the resulting price hikes are hitting consumers hard

Export industries have been particularly hard hit as they su� er not only from lost pro-duction days when factories are closed, but the disruption to transport is reducing both access to raw materials and their ability to ship � nished goods to market.

Another concern is that Bangladesh Bank’s latest data shows that remittances received fell 14% in November. While this vital source of income which accounts for 11% of GDP has tended to grow throughout past periods of political strife, it will be a major concern if remittance income continues to drop.

Last week government economists claimed that the har-tals and unrest would have no major e� ect on the economy, but this data shows that political turmoil is already having a major negative impact. Regardless of the lip service political leaders are paying to the plight of innocent victims, the cost of the economic damage being done by blockades and strikes is mounting.

Our leaders must wake up to reality and take action to stop damaging the country further.

Risk of losing EU market access is real

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht has warned that there is still a risk of Bangladesh’s privileged access to the European market being suspended if the ongo-

ing programmes to improve safety and compliance do not succeed.

Bangladesh enjoys duty-free and quota-free access to the EU which is the largest export destination for the garment sector. The commissioner’s statement underlines the seriousness of the challenge facing the RMG sector. While the suspension of the US GSP was largely symbolic and had a minimal e� ect on our export revenues, any similar measure from the EU could have bigger, devastating consequences.

Thus far the EU has been a collaborative trade partner and they have worked with the government to develop a mutually agreed roadmap to improve the security of facto-ries and working conditions in the Bangladeshi RMG sector. However, the lack of progress in implementing the roadmap is threatening to jeopardise one of our most valuable trade relationships.

The statement of the EU commissioner is not dissimilar to recent statements made by other foreign delegates on our current political crisis, urging our leaders to act for compro-mise before the country succumbs to complete political and economic catastrophe. The government must work to ensure that all stakeholders in the RMG sector make progress on improving compliance and modernising the industry.

Capable mature leadership is required by all political par-ties to prevent the country’s economy falling into the abyss.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 8, 2013

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

Government economists claimed that the political turmoil would have no major e� ect on the economy, but this data shows it is already having a major negative impact

While the suspension of the US GSP was largely symbolic any similar measure from the EU could have bigger, devastating consequences

BGMEA: Trained goons attack Standard Group factoryNovember 30

This is an act of terrorism. The purpose was to scare the factory owners into surrendering to the mercy of the attackers. They destroyed property and put lives at risk. Furthermore they rendered thousands of workers out of work.

Though the cause of worker’s rights, fair wages and right to speak their demands must be upheld, this is not an example of the exercise of their rights. This was an act of war against the economy and people of Bangladesh.

F138

Syed Ashraf’s motorcade attackedDecember 2

The public safety of the general people is worsening day by day. Now our Bangladesh has been turned into a country of violence, torching public wealth including garment factories, shops, auto rickshaws, tempus, buses, cars, and state-owned trains, and uprooting rail lines. The 72-hour blockade has been extended to Thurs-day. The commoners don’t know what will be BNP’s next programme, or how long it will last. Before declaring the next programme, we re-quest the government to do something to ease the ongoing political deadlock. The whole coun-try is burning now. The poor are su� ering as they cannot go out to earn their daily bread. The economic condition has been paralysed. If the government cannot bring BNP to the election, it is a political failure for the government. And if the government cannot handle the opposition properly (stop BNP from declaring destructive political programs), then this is nothing more than a failure to protect democracy.

Lutfor Rahman

Khaleda: Government using intel agenciesNovember 30If the government doesn’t use intelligence ser-vices to � gure out the masterminds behind the arson and anarchy, then the obvious mode of dealing with such brutalities would be to arrest in an arbitrary manner. She (Khaleda) should have rather made a televised statement to tell her supporters to not use destructive tactics, ie burning people and destroying national infrastructure.

Binodbangali

Rizvi arrested in dramatic pre-dawn raidDecember 1The sudden call for blockade in the pre-mid-night hours that has plunged the nation into a deep sea of random killings, burnings, lootings, and you name it, was no less dramatic.

nds

‘Govt wants permanent solution on polls-time cabinet’December 3

Inu is wrong in saying this. A caretaker govern-ment is the only permanent solution.

Khwaja Anas Nasarullah

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

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS1 Insect (4)4 Not hollow (5)8 Incentive (6)9 Self-satis� ed (4)11 Of the tides (5)12 Dash (4)14 Golf mound (3)15 Laid bare (6)19 Garb (6)21 First woman (3)22 Court attendant (4)24 Farm animals (5)27 Criminal group (4)29 Drapery hiding curtain rail (6)30 Very hard mineral (5)31 Ooze (4)

DOWN1 Fuel (3)2 Talisman (6)3 Roman garment (4)4 Use a seat (3)5 Sheeplike (5)6 Was ahead (3)7 Deceive (6)10 Encounter (4)13 And not (3)14 Confused mass (6)16 Vigour (3)17 Nullify (6)18 Level (4)20 Bury (5)23 Matures (4)25 Monkey (3)26 Arch (3)28 Opening (3)

Crossword

Code-Cracker

SUDOKU

11Op-Ed Sunday, December 8, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE

T H E O T H E R S I D E

A disunited nationn Matthew Islam

For the purpose of this piece, let me pretend as if I am not insulted gravely by everyone in the world telling us how to conduct

an election. Let me for a moment forget how in� nitely puny, petty, and self-destructive we look to an external audience. I am particularly perplexed about the sudden drum beat around the world regarding our domestic political discourse.

Let me not even address the New York Times’s most uninformed and childish editorial suggestions recently, about sanctions being levied on Bangladesh related to our present set of political problems.

Look, I don’t underestimate that the present situation is a serious problem that needs addressing, but I do not believe for a moment that we are totally impotent to resolve it ourselves. Resolution to any problem lies in facing what makes it a problem in the � rst place.

That often means seeing circumstances to their bitter realisations without interruption. In this instance, that means, to see how far the opposition will go in its thirst for power and how hard the incumbent grabs on to it. 

Everyone is watching closely what is happening and when push comes to vote, they will judge what is right and what is wrong. In a one-sided election, that will mean not going to the booth as an ultimate rejection of political rhetoric and if an all party

participatory election is held, (one can only dream) the Bangladeshi people will choose, like in many instances before, the inept leaders that best suits their swinging moods.

Besides, if our voting right, the only say we have in our fate as a people every half a decade, is truly taken away, the people, I believe, will resolve to � ght such a move in great numbers without a doubt.

The opposition in that scenario wouldn’t have to resort to the desperate measures of terrorising common people in the way they are today. People don’t care about what’s going on beyond being safe and going about their daily chores because they know they will have a chance to express their discontent in the booths come January 5 or boycott the polls altogether. 

All the last minute shuttle diplomats, including Mr Taranco must acknowledge that reality. We are an disunited nation of people. There are serious divisions rooted in decades of bloodletting but that we have major consensus on one issue from every side excluding the opposition, that maiming of innocents must cease. If

the UN has to help broker anything, there must be only one demand: All violence must stop.

That demand must not be contingent on anything else. The “hop on, hop o� ” attempts of world leaders and their representatives coming to Bangladesh to help a situation will do any real measurable good, if that benchmark is the only goal.

Threats, warnings and coercions

to have dialogue with a petulant opposition, who have now voluntarily boycotted an election, are not going to bear any fruit because it will seem too inclusive of those who are perpetrating acts of terrorism on the people of Bangladesh on purpose and hence the discussions will not happen in good faith and will be futile.

Unless the opposition publicly commits to renounce violence, they should not be party to any dialogue at all. Bending backwards cannot be a legitimate recommendation. 

For the UN, US, India, UK and Europe, the advisable call right now would be to under the present circumstances, ask emphatically for violence to cease, to invite all parties to join the January 5 elections and if

such a deal were to be brokered, to ask the EC to accommodate such a move and assist the government to have an internationally monitored elections by January 24, 2014, if so invited.

Under our present legal framework, if something is problematic and unacceptable than to recommend, for appropriate changes be made by any future government. If anything else is demanded, proposed or coerced, that would be intervening in the internal politics far beyond the acceptable levels that they have already done within our political landscape.

We all must be alert to the rami� cations of belittling democracy to a level where it is seen only to function with the assistance and interference of foreign powers. That is a most dangerous and irresponsible perception to set, and will set a preposterous precedent that we will revert to every � ve years without working hard amongst ourselves to reach some sort of an agreement.

Finding a solution to this is part of our democratic development that we need to work out ourselves. Addressing foreign insecurities and interests must remain a distant second to our journey as a democratic nation. So feel free to help Mr Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, but tread cautiously because you may be negatively interfering in the natural course of things. l

Matthew Islam is a Barrister-at-Law, a textile businessman, and a columnist at the Dhaka Tribune. He can be contacted on Twitter via @matthewislam.

AFP

n Dwitiya Jawher Neethi

Bangladesh is in a state of more turmoil than usual. Seeing the instability and the su� ering is

making some people, with a strange psychological condition called “hu-manity,” very agitated. Amongst all the turbulence, our political leaders are trying hard to restore peace and harmony.

The prime minister is inviting talks and deliberation between the two parties. She is in no mood to negoti-ate, but wants to talk. Fair enough! But inviting the BNP for a nice, warm dialogue after yanking their sorry bottoms to prison may not be accept-able to them. Or, since the PM knows exactly where they are (in prison), she could meet them there and have the lively discussion she has been o� ering.

The PM also needs to make sure her

bid to HM Ershad is the highest. She is causing a lot of stress for the poor man and his accountant. Because of these shenanigans, HM Ershad threatened to kill himself.

I personally wouldn’t worry too much about it though. A man needs one bul-let from one gun to pop his clogs. This man had four pistols ready and we all

know it is nearly impossible for him to make up his mind.

On the other hand, Begum Khaleda Zia’s nonchalance, while her Jamaat and Shibir men burn the country to the ground, is completely justi� ed. After all, she is reading “The Political Thought of Tarique Rahman.” Reading a deep and complex political text has that e� ect on you.

These thoughts came to author Tarique Rahman while he was either ill or being enlightened (we are not sure) during his exile in the UK. His innocent friends were in jail at the time, and that must have also a� ected his intellectually riveting political thoughts.

Along with awe-inspiring political leaders, we also have a very active and responsible civil society. They are very civil. They have trouble accepting the political situation. Hence, they try

to do something direct about it. That direct-initiative-taking nature has led them to talk at talk shows late at night. So many talk shows and so much talk-ing helps make this country a better place every day.

Although, private property has been vandalised, minority communi-ties attacked, railway tracks uprooted, and people have been burned alive, I am perfectly comfortable leaving this situation up to our benevolent leaders. I look forward to voting in the next election (if any) and � aunting the black mark on my thumb. That real mark of democracy � lls me with pride and honour.

People around the world demand jobs, a review of their tax money, better public services and so on from their governments. Such morons! Do they not know that the people in government are busy striking

lucrative business deals and grabbing resources? Where are they getting these crazy ideas? Our demands are plain simple.

Please don’t kill us, and if possible, only if it is not too much trouble and only if you have other forms of enter-tainment, don’t throw that cocktail at us. l

Dwitiya Jawher Neethi is a researcher at the Centre for Policy Dialogue.

Of blockadesand apologiesn Mahdin Mahboob

Enough has been said about blockades, hartals, and the related violence in Bangladesh

in talk shows, newspapers and in the media in general. Unfortunately, not enough has been done to stop it from happening.

What I � nd most disturbing, as a common citizen of this country, is that most of the politicians here care little about the people they represent and care much more about either getting to power or holding on to it by any means possible.

It is no secret that some of the major political parties in this country have strong ties with foreign powers, and it is speculated that some of these external powers spend huge amounts of money during our national elections to see their favourite party in power. Understandably enough, they do this so that after the elections, decisions and policies are taken in their favour.

A few days back, there was an o� -cial apology from a political party for their picketers having thrown a brick at an embassy car on a hartal day. Also, it was seen in the recent past that dur-ing the visit of foreign high o� cials, hartals and blockades by opposition parties were not announced, or were postponed.

Very nice. As a Bangladeshi I appre-ciate the party’s o� cial apology to the concerned country and embassy (in the � rst case) and the courtesy shown to foreign diplomats by not calling hartals during their visits (the second case mentioned above).

But isn’t it about time that all polit-ical parties apologise to the nation for all their misdeeds done over the years during their enforced hartals and obo-rodhs and promise to never call for such things again? There have now been too many cocktail and petrol bomb casu-alties, too many thousands of working and schooling hours lost, too many

millions of Takas in � nancial losses, and the politicians have tested the general people’s patience far too much.

The 160 million people of Bang-ladesh want an immediate stop to the killing, mayhem, and excessive violence that they are tired of seeing and su� ering from. All we want is a guarantee to be able to come back home safe and sound after a hard day’s work.

If the opposition really has prob-lems, they should discuss them in either the parliament, or organise peaceful sit-in programs in public plac-es, like it was done by the Shahbagh Ganajagaran Mancha, and press home their demands. Some might argue that if they try to do so, law enforcers would drive them away.

Firstly, the people would like to see an opposition who would be brave and resilient enough to participate in sit-in programs even if the law enforcers try to drive them away. Secondly, the people would like to see a government who would listen to people’s demands and protests, not one that uses brute force to stop the people’s voice.

It is important for our politicians to understand that the vast majority of people in the country, at the end of the day, do not really care about who comes to power. They want their own and their family’s safety, security, and happiness. Mad, brutal � ghts on the streets at the cost of human lives are only taking the people further away from the politicians and the parties.

If the “aam jonota” really do wake up from their slumber, like they did to get rid of the colonial British and the West Pakistani rulers, they will be very di� cult to control. l

Mahdin Mahboob teaches engineering at ULAB.

The advisable call right now would be to ask emphatically for violence to cease, to invite all parties to join the January 5 elections and if such a deal were to be brokered, to ask the EC to accommodate such a move

A man needs one bullet from one gun to pop his clogs. This man had four pistols ready and we all know it is nearly impossible for him to make up his mind

People of Bangladesh want an immediate stop to the killing, mayhem, and excessive violence. All we want is a guarantee to be able to come back home safe and sound after a hard day’s work

Isn’t it about time that all political parties apologise to the nation for all their misdeeds done over the years

A spineless response

People around the world demand jobs, a review of their tax money, better public services and so on from their governments. Do they not know that the people in government are busy striking lucrative business deals and grabbing resources?

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Three brothers to appear together on screenn Entertainment Desk

Three brothers, Shatabdi Wadud, Shamapti and Auditi Mahmood have appeared together for the � rst time in the new three-episode story of popular drama series DB which began on ATN Bangla yesterday.

The story revolves around a betray-er who opens a fake Facebook account by the name of a director who o� ers those people who are interested to work the in media. In this story, Sha-tabdi acts in the director’s character where Samapti is seen as a DB o� cer and Auditi is playing the character of another such betrayer.

While talking about acting in the drama together, Shatabdi Wadud shared, “I felt really great to act in this drama with my brothers together. I feel more energetic when my brothers are around me.”

The drama series is written by Litu Shakhawat and directed by Shahiduz-zaman Selim. l

Guitar used by Bob Dylan to ‘go electric’ auction recordn Entertainment Desk

The electric guitar Bob Dylan played at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, when the acoustic troubadour shocked tra-ditionalists with a set of rock and roll, sold for $965,000 on Friday, a world auction record for a guitar.

The 1964 Fender Stratocaster, along with � ve song lyrics left on a private airplane by the songwriter and his band in the months after the Rhode Island festival, were part of six lots in a spe-cial sale of Dylan material in New York.

An absentee bidder bought the Fender Stratocaster with a classic sun-burst � nish, its original case and black leather guitar strap for nearly double its high pre-sale estimate.

The previous auction record for a guitar was for Eric Clapton’s Fender Stratocaster, which fetched $959,500 in 2004.

Only one of the � ve lyrics sheets sold for $20,000, bringing the auction total to $985,000. That was a handwrit-ten and typed version of 1965’s I Wanna Be Your Lover.

Friday’s sale came just a day after rocker Bruce Springsteen’s 1974 hand-written draft for Born to Run went for $197,000 in New York.

Rolling Stone magazine has cited Dylan’s performance at the Newport festival as one of the most notable events in music history, according to Christie’s.

Dylan, one of rock’s most in� uential songwriters, wrote and sang Blowin’ in the Wind, Like a Rolling Stone, Mr Tam-bourine Man and the 2001 Oscar-win-ning Things Have Changed. He also used the guitar in 1965 for recording sessions for the album Bringing It All Back Home. l

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 8, 201312

FilmPaci� c Rim in 3DPurno dhorgho prem kahiniRiddickThe ConjuringTitanic (3D)Level 8, Bashundhara CityPanthapath

ExhibitionSolo Painting Exhibition By Nurun Naher SuptiTime: 3pm – 9pmAlliance Francaise de Dhaka26 Mirpur Road, Dhanmondi

Quest for RealityRa� qun Nabi

Time: 12pm-8pm Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts House No 42, Road No 16, Sheik Kamal Sarani, Dhanmondi,

City of RhythmKazi Salahuddin Ahmed Time: 12pm to 8pm

Institute of Asian Creatives House 9, Road 36, Gulshan 2

TheatreTringsha ShatabdiTheatre troupe SwapnadatTime: 6:30pm – 8:30pmBangladesh Shilpakala Academy

TODAY IN DHAKA

Tareque Masud Festival endsn Shadma Malik

The two-day Tareque Masud Festival ended yesterday at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy with the screening and DVD launch of Fera, a 38-minute documentary on Tareque Masud made by Proshoon Rahmaan and produced by the Tareque Masud Memorial Trust.

The Tareque Masud Memorial Trust organised the festival to inspire the cre-ative young minds by showing his works. The organisers said although Tareque died untimely, his work was still boost-ing the potential of young � lmmakers.

The last day also featured the awards giving ceremony of the Tareque Masud Short Film Competition.

The festival began on December 6, to mark the 57th birth anniversary of the proli� c � lmmaker. On the � rst day, a book titled Cholochitra Lekha: Scripts & Songs by Tareque Masud was launched. Tareque’s book is divided into three segments: documentary, feature and short � lms; and his seventeen most ac-knowledged songs.

About the book, Catherine, his wife, said: “This book is about the creative process - about how a screenplay is turned into a movie. His screenplays and songs would surely bene� t the in-stitutional study of � lm in the country.”

Moreover, the � rst day programme featured a premiere show of the dig-itally remastered version of Tareque Masud’s � rst � lm Adam Surot.

Based on noted artist SM Sultan’s life, A dam Surot, subtitled The Inner Strength, was cinematographed by Mi-shuk Munir, who was also killed in that

road crash that took away Tareque.Catherine, also executive director

of the � lm, said the artist himself was the � rst audience of Adam Surot. They showed him the � lm at his Narail home two decades ago.

The new 47-minute remastered ver-sion is an intimate portrait of Sultan and the transition period of his style, said Khushi Kabir, one of the distin-guished guests on the closing day.

Adam Surot starts with a scenic por-trayal of Chitra River that has always immensely in� uenced Sultan’s work. It highlights how the life and philosophy of Sultan were re� ected in his creations.

A con� rmed bachelor, Sultan lived in a house in Narail, his hometown, and showed children how to paint. With the talent that he had, he could have lived a life of extreme grandeur and acclaim

in a developed country; but instead, he chose the life of solidarity in his small hometown because he was in love with the peasants of Bangladesh.

In the interview in the documenta-ry, Sultan talks about how the peasants became the subjects of his paintings. “My painting is about peasants and they are for the commoners. In every painting, their muscles grow more powerful, depicting their bravado.”

The programme also presented an half an hour interview, that was shown before the screening of the documen-tary, where Tareque talks about the making of Adam Surot in 1981. He men-tioned writer Ahmed Chhafa’s writing inspired him to make a � lm on Sultan. But Sultan never wanted to be the fo-cus of the � lm – that was his condition. The artist wanted the peasants – the subjects of his paintings – to be the sub-ject of the � lm as well.

Travelling with Sultan, Tareque was inspired by his philosophy. The direc-tor learnt to see the graam Bangla – the countryside – through Sultan’s eyes. Tareque said it was the artist’s ideolo-gies that made him give up the short-cuts and take the di� cult but proven way to become a � lmmaker.

In the interview, Tareque also said Adam Surot was his � rst e� ort at making a � lm and also to uphold Sultan’s philos-ophy. But it was his next � lm Matir Moi-na – subtitled The Clay Bird – actually re� ected the experiences that he had gained from making Adam Surot and also the time he had spent with Sultan.

The DVD of the digitally remastered Adam Surot will be released next year. l

Popular band Meghdol performs at Chhobir Haat as a part of a series of programmes marking the occasion of tenth anniversary of Chhobir Haat on December 6. The programme started with the folk songs performed by a newly formed band of folk singers Lokorong. By playing Jaari song and other genres of folk songs, the band captivated the audience and gave them the feel of get back to their roots once again. The programme was followed by a lively performance of folk fusion band Joler Gaan who enchanted the city audience by performing songs having � avours of serenity of nature and simplicity of rural life. On December 16, 2003, a group of creative young minds who graduated from the Fine Art, University of Dhaka initiated Chhobir Haat as an artistic development and exchange SADIA MARIUM

n Entertainment Desk

Actor Aditya Roy Kapur, who is work-ing under � lmmaker Habib Faisal’s di-rection in Daawat-e-Ishq, says he is one of the � nest in the industry. He also has praises for his co-star Parineeti Chopra.

Faisal’s earlier works include Do Dooni Chaar and Ishaqzaade.

“It’s a pleasure to work with Habib. He is one of the � nest � lmmakers in the industry. It makes a big di� erence to work with such a � lmmaker,” said Aditya.

“His vision and the way he shoots his � lms is di� erent. We have � nished shooting for our � lm in Lucknow and Hyderabad and the rest of it will be shot in Mumbai,” he added.

Praising Parineeti, he said: “She is full of fun and she is very spontaneous. We are having a good time shooting for the � lm. The � lm is a light-hearted love story.”

Parineeti has earlier worked with Faisal in Ishaqzaade, but it’s a � rst-time experience for Aditya. l

Parineeti and Aditya begin shooting for Daawat-e-IshqR... Rajkumar gets negative reviews n Entertainment Desk

Shahid Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha pair up for the � rst time in Prabhu Deva’s R... Rajkumar, but their sizzling chem-istry fails to impress the critics for hav-ing a poor screenplay in the movie.

R... Rajkumar attempts to make you laugh, but fails. Shahid Kapoor tries to � t into Salman Khan and Akshay Ku-mar’s action-hero mould, but disap-points. Prabhu Deva intends to make another blockbuster like Rowdy Ra-thore and Wanted, but messes up. Read what critics feel about the movie.

From one critic’s point of view, watching this � lm is like being trapped. Hindustan Times review says: “For all of two-and-a-half excruciating hours, in a torture chamber with no escape channel in sight. It is a dreadfully pain-ful and numbingly grotesque drama that could put one o� Bollywood ac-tion � icks for a while. Saddled with a scratchy screenplay that goes round in circles, Shahid Kapoor ends up looking

more moronic than macho.”Shubhra Gupta, Indian Express,

writes: “Prabhu Deva has designed a � lm that gives us everything that Bol-lywood doesn’t need at this point: a setting that has no roots (where is this village, who are these people?), an at-mosphere brimming with viciousness, crudity, and misogyny (the lead female part is barter between men), and a hero who stands for nothing.”

First Post’s Mihir Fadnavis’ take: Never before in the history of Hindi cinema has a � lm so astutely relayed its intentions from the makers of the � lm to the viewers. The � lm is a thoroughly laugh-free, idiotic, juvenile, madden-ing, moronic, outdated gulag of guano that galls and irritates with every pass-ing second of its interminable stream of swill pretending to be humour.”

Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama, writes: “Shahid is at home when he has to sing songs and romance Sonakshi, but looks far from convincing when he has to act as a super-hero.” l

ON TVMOVIE

9:30pmWB 219:30pm HBOIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade

COMEDY2:30pm Star WorldThe Crazy Ones9:00pm Z CafeMalibu Country

MIXED10:30am Travel XPHills And Valleys8:30pm Vh1Top Ten

DRAMA4:30pm Colors Ranjhana 8:00pm Sony Aadalat

NEWS6:00pm Boishakhi TvEvening news bulletin6:00pm Maasranga TvMaasranga National News

Drama series Ghurnipak airs on SATV

n Entertainment Desk

Drama series Ghurnipak depicting hic-cups in love a� airs in common peo-

ple’s lives will air on SATV tonight at 8:30pm.

The plot of the drama revolves around a few characters who fall in

love, experience some unexpected troubles and sometimes, life em-brace them with good turns and boast them to move forward with positive spirit.

Young hearts Tushar and Rashi are in deep love but the guy’s family does not accept Rashi primarily. The heart-broken Tushar then commits suicide. Realising their fault, his family then apologises to Rashi and begins to take care of her as a daughter.

Another story goes parallel which is about Toma and Likhon. Toma was born and brought up in Canada but while visiting Bangladesh, she falls in love with Likhon. They get married soon but later she � nds they don’t have a good understanding. However, they

also try to continue their family but doctor says Toma is unable to conceive. The frustrated Toma asks Likhon for divorce and after that she � ies for Can-ada. When Likhon starts for a new life with Laboni, Toma comes back with her child Tonmoy from Canada after four years. Likhon discovers that he is the father of the child. Toma, Laboni and Likhon start for an unknown jour-ney from there on.

Written by Faria Hossain and direct-ed by Ziya Rayhan, the drama series features popular soap actors, Jitu Ah-san, Romana, Mimo, Sabbir Ahmed, Abid Rehan, Shorna, Jahid Hossain Shobhon, Shorna, Ferdousy Lina, Sheli Ahmed, Momin Babu, Rimu and many more. l

Poster of Tareque Masud’s landmark documentary Adam Surot

13DHAKA TRIBUNESunday, December 8, 2013

SportDid you know?

India’s 141-run defeat was their second

heaviest run-margin loss against South

Africa. They lost by 157 runs at Durban in

Nov 2006

14 Rain helps West Indies great escape

15 Johnson takes magni� cent seven to scar England

RESULTMuktijoddha 1-1 Team BJMCKingsley 76” (5-3) Bangoura 87”

DAYS TO GO

0 9 8

Muktijoddha goalkeeper Rasel Mahmud Liton saves a penalty during the tie-breaker against Team BJMC in the Walton Federation Cup semi-� nal match at BNS yesterday MUMIT M

Mobil Cup beginsn Raihan Mahmood

The two-day long Mobil Cup Golf tour-nament commenced at the Kurmitola Golf Course yesterday. Lt General Abu Belal Mohammad Sha� ul Huq, Prin-cipal Sta� O� cer, Armed Forces Divi-sion, Dhaka Cantonment inaugurated the tournament as chief guest.

Tanjil Chowdhury, director, MJL Bangladesh Limited Md Sanaul Haque, CEO, MJL Bangladesh Limited, Major General Mizanur Rahman, Area Commander, Logistics Area, Dhaka Cantonment & Vice-President, KGC, Brig Gen Abidur Reza Khan (Rtd), chairman Tournament Committee, senior o� cers of Bangladesh Armed Forces & MJL Bangladesh Limited were among others present during the occasion. l

T20 Challenge series deferred by a dayn Minhaz Uddin Khan

The Twenty20 Challenge series be-tween the national team and Bangla-desh “A” has been postponed by a day due to the ongoing political unrest in the country. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) through a media release yesterday in-formed that the � rst game of the three-match series will be held on December 11 instead of December 10 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.  

The second and third match will be played on December 12 and 14 respec-tively at the same venue. 

The � rst two matches will begin at 5pm while the � nal game will be a day match starting at 1pm. Both the nation-

al and “A” team squad will start train-ing from tomorrow. 

BCB arranged the series between the top string sides as part of the Ti-gers’ preparation for the ICC World Twenty20 in March.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Mush� qur Rahim will be leading the national side while Nasir Hossain will be in charge of the second string national side.

The series will also be an acid test for middle-order batsman Nasir who is on the radar of the national se-lectors for becoming the next national vice-captain. The national selection panel at the moment are looking to replace Mahmudullah as the vice-cap-tain and Nasir is a top candidate for the position. l

Manik furious over penalty decisionn Raihan Mahmood

Muktijoddha coach Sha� qul Islam Man-ik termed the win over Team BJMC in the second semi-� nal of the Walton Fed-eration Cup as the victory of the truth.

Manik said the decision of the pen-alty against them during the game was pre-decided. “Firstly I will say that it was not a penalty, the BJMC forward can’t touch my goalies body. It was a foul in our favour, but instead the ref-eree awarded a penalty to them. I think it was pre-decided because within one minute two decisions went against us. The o� -side against us in the previous minute was not an o� -side as per the new rule” said Manik during the post-match conference at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

However, Manik was relieved to see that his team reached a major � nal after 2005 and said, “We took the � eld for a win, that was our motivation and we proved that with our � ghting spirit. The conditions were tough and the win will boost us for a tough � nal against Sheikh Jamal, de� nitely a powerful side.”

Russell Mahmud Liton, who came on as a substitute goalkeeper in place

of experienced Aminul said, “I was not nervous when the match went to tie-breakers. I played a couple of tough matches for the national U-19 team and went through the same situation.

“As the second choice goalkeeper I always have the feelings that I have to topple Aminul bhai whenever I get a chance,” said Liton who is also the elder brother of national defender Ma-mun Khan.

BJMC coach Ali Asgar Nasir said his team did not play to the expected level. “The way we played in the quar-ters was not present in the semis. The foreign players of Muktijoddha played better than my foreign players. How-ever, I also have to say they did not practice with the team for a long time,” said Nasir who also thought that the referee was the best person to adjudge the penalty.

Meanwhile, Ismael Bangoura re-� ected his thoughts on the penalty shout and said, “As per the rules I don’t want to touch the goalkeepers body, but I tried my best as we were trailing by a goal. I don’t know whether I com-mitted an o� ense as it happened in a fraction of a second.” l

Muktis � nally break jinxn Shishir Hoque

M u k t i j o d d h a Sangsad Krira Chakra will � nally get a shot to end their title drought

as the Reds edged past Team BJMC in the penalty shootout to reach the � -nal of the Walton Federation Cup yes-terday. The 5-3 win in tiebreaker also meant Muktijoddha broke the eight-year curse of reaching the � nal of any major competition.

The sides couldn’t be separated in the stipulated time as the score was locked 1-1 before Muktijoddha’s substi-tute goalkeeper Rasel Mahmud Liton

became the hero denying Khan Md Tara of BJMC in the third kick of the shootout.

All eyes were on the African strik-ers of both the sides as it was expected that they would make the di� erence in the end. Muktis’ Nigerian recruit Eleta Kingsley marched ahead by grabbing the lead in the 76th minute, before BJMC’s Guinean forward Ismael Ban-goura hit back three minutes from time to cancel the lead through a controver-sial penalty decision. 

However, Kingsley had the last laugh as he successfully converted the last penalty kick after Liton, who replaced veteran Aminul Islam in the second-half, produced a superb save to

earn them the advantage. Muktijoddha could have easily tak-

en the lead in the 13th minute of the game but Kingsley’s attempted header on a long throw hit the second bar be-

fore Bipul headed the ball over the crossbar o� the rebound. Four minutes later, Kingsley was again denied and this time BJMC goalkeeper parried the header away for a corner.

BJMC was equal to their task and almost scored from a quick counterat-

tack, but Abdullah Al Parvez’s clever back heel from a close range went straight to Aminul Islam’s gloves.  

Zahid Parvez’s corner from the right found Kingsley unmarked inside the box and this time the Nigerian made no mistake in � nishing the header inside the opponents net. 

BJMC was not to end the game without a � ght and they went all out in search of the equaliser. It seemed it was Muktis goalkeeper Liton against BJMC as the goalie made two great saves, Bangoura’s powerful volley from 20 yards out and Samson’s header, in successive minutes, 81 and 82, to keep them in the game. 

O� side ruled out a goal for Muktijod-

dha before Bangoura won a penalty in the next minute and converted it himself.

BJMC’s Aminul Rahman Shojib had the � rst real chance three minutes into the extra time but his shot went just wide from the edge of the box. Mukti-joddha also squandered an opportunity in the 102nd minute when Nkwocha received a long ball from Biplob only to send it over the bar.

The thrilling victory will de� nitely work as a motivation for Muktijoddha who will face a stronger Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in the � nal on Decem-ber 13 (Friday). Muktijoddha has not won the Federation Cup since 2003-04 and last reached the � nal in 2005 when they lost to Brothers Union. l

Shakib invites Ershad to his receptionn Minhaz Uddin Khan

National ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan met Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad yesterday evening to invite him at his wedding reception. Shakib reached Ershad’s Baridhara residence at 6:29pm in the evening and stayed there for around 15 minutes.

The star cricketer got married last year and due to unavoidable circumstances failed to host the reception. His wedding reception is to be held on December 15.   

Close sources to Shakib informed that most of the invitation cards have been dispatched. It was learnt that Shakib will also meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and leader of the op-position party Begum Khaleda Zia and invite them to the reception. l

Yogendran clinches Bangladesh Open n Raihan Mahmood

Former Malaysian international Yo-gendran Khrishnan pulled an upset to beat top seeded Chinese Taipei shut-tler Hsu Jen Hao 23-21, 21-14 in the � -nal of the men’s singles of the Yonex-Sunrise Bangladesh Open International Badminton Challenge at the Shaheed Sohrawardi Indoor Stadium yesterday. 

However Pai Hsiao Ma, the top seeded Chinese Taipei woman faced no di� culty to win against Saili Rane of India 21-10, 21-13 in the women’s singles.

The � nal arrived as a golden day for Khrishnan, who in his peak was the 26th ranked player in the world in 2006. He retired from the international circuit in 2008 and became a coach. He also brought seven budding Malaysian players and two New Zealand players from his academy for the meet. “I played in the tournament for two reasons, to test where I stand now and to motivate my students. It’s de� nitely

a big motivation for them to see that their coach won a title. I believe they will also try to win titles very soon,” said Yogendran.

Yogendran is not a tourist in Dhaka as he has played in Dhaka badminton league for two clubs. “It’s my fourth visit to Dhaka, I played for Knit Con-cern in 2010 and Dewan Textiles and I also have idea about the Bangladesh badminton,” he said.

“I think Bangladesh has the talents, but no consistent training program, without the consistent training program it almost impossible to � ourish in the international circuit, my realisation is in 2010 the standards were higher than the present, maybe all those players have got old and the pipeline was not adequate. In our country the players can get consistent training in both national and club levels,” added Yogendran.

The title was not a new one for Yogendran as he has earlier won Malaysian national junior, Australian

Open, New Zealand Open in his heydays. 

Hsu Jen Hao, the student of National Sports University liked the overall atmosphere of and said Bangladesh players need improved training to � ourish.

However it was a heart break for Indian Saili Rane who was looking forward to win the title. The Mumbai girl, an amid follower of Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal, tried her best but could not match the prowess of her Taipei opponent who deservedly won the title. 

Liang Jui Wei and Liao Kuan Hao Chinese Taipei became the champions in the men’s double event with a 21-13, 21-14 points victory over their compa-triots Hung Ying Yuan and Cheng Heng Su in the � nal.

Meanwhile in the women’s doubles, Indian pair Prajakta Sawant and Arathi Sara Sunil defeated their countrymen Dhanya Nair and Mohita Sahdev by 22-20, 15-4 to win the title. l

Bangladesh Badminton Federation President Rubaba Dowla hands over the prize to the men’s singles winner Yogendran Khrishnan after the Yonex-Sunrise Bangladesh Open International Badminton Challenge � nal at the Shaheed Sohrawardi Indoor Stadium yesterday COURTESY

National all-rounder Shakib al Hasan (L) visits Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad at his Baridhara residence yesterday evening DHAKA TRIBUNE

Brazil already eyeing last 16 after favourable drawn Reuters, Costa Do Sauipe

World Cup hosts Brazil might not admit it but they will already have one eye on the last 16 and a potential clash with holders Spain or Netherlands after a fa-vourable draw on Friday.

Brazil’s Group A opponents came out as Croatia, who they face in the opening match on June 12, Mexico and Cameroon and they are hot favourites to qualify in � rst place.

If they do they will face the runners-up in Group B, which contains world and European champions Spain plus Netherlands, who lost to the Spanish in the 2010 � nal, Chile and Australia.

The winners of Group B will face the Group A runners-up. l

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 8, 201314

FIXTURES Arsenal v Everton Fulham v Aston Villa

RESULTSLleida 1-2 Real BetisMilla 56 Verdu 26-p, Molina 44

Villarreal 2-2 ElcheDos Santos 22, Pelegrin 61, Aquino 90 Boakye 66

Algeciras 1-1 Real SociedadAlfaro 64 Griezmann 59

Racing Santander 0-1 Sevilla Jairo 5

Valladolid 0-0 Rayo Vallecano

Cartagena 1-4 BarcelonaFernando 16 Pedro 36, 75, Fabregas 43, Dongou 90

NEW ZEALAND 1ST INNINGS609-9 dec (Taylor 217 n.o., McCullum 113, Rutherford 62, Fulton 61; Best 3-148)WEST INDIES 1ST INNINGS 213(Chanderpaul 76; Southee 4-52, Boult 3-40)WEST INDIES 2ND INNINGS (overnight 443-6)D. Bravo b Boult 218D. Sammy c Sodhi b Southee 80S. Shillingford c Taylor b Wagner 15T. Best c Taylor b Wagner 3S. Gabriel not out 0Extras (b4, lb7, w5, nb2) 18Total (all out; 162.1 overs) 507

BowlingSouthee 29.1-4-101-2, Boult 35-11-81-2 (1w), Wagner 30-3-112-3 (2nb), Anderson 14-2-29-1, Sodhi 49-7-155-2, Redmond 5-1-18-0NEW ZEALAND 2ND INNINGSP. Fulton c Ramdin b Shillingford 3H. Rutherford c Gabriel b Shillingford 20Redmond c Deonarine b Shillingford 6R. Taylor not out 16B. McCullum c Ramdin b Shillingford 9C. Anderson not out 20Extras (b1, lb3, w1) 5Total (4 wickets; 30 overs) 79

BowlingBest 8-1-26-0, Shillingford 15-5-26-4, Gabriel 5-1-16-0, Deonarine 2-0-7-0

Match drawn

SCORE CARD

BRAZIL, CROATIA, MEXICO, CAMEROON

REACTIONS TO WORLD CUP DRAW

SWITZERLAND, ECUADOR, FRANCE, HONDURAS

COLOMBIA, GREECE, IVORY COAST, JAPAN

GERMANY, PORTUGAL, GHANA, USA

SPAIN, NETHERLANDS, CHILE, AUSTRALIA

ARGENTINA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, IRAN, NIGERIA

URUGUAY, COSTA RICA, ENGLAND, ITALY

BELGIUM, ALGERIA, RUSSIA, SOUTH KOREA

GROUP A

GROUP E

GROUP C

GROUP G

GROUP B

GROUP F

GROUP D

GROUP H

LUIZ FELIPE SCOLARI (Brazil coach)

“I am satis� ed with the draw. But we shall be paying

close attention to the opening phase. That should give us an incentive. I am not concerned with the second phase. Mexico is a classic going way back, I am happy with the match sequence.”

OTTMAR HITZFELD (Switzerland coach)

“This group will not be a stroll. Ecuador and

Honduras are technically and tactically strong. France are the favourites. We hope to make the last 16 with them.”

JOSE PEKERMAN (Colombia coach)

“I think it will be a very even group and attractive

thanks to the styles of the teams. We have faith in our own potential, but the people of Colombia must understand that a World Cup is something di� erent.”

JOACHIM LOEW (Germany coach)

“So, we will be meet-ing old friends. It’s already something

special to have the USA in our group. Klinsmann and I have had a very good and close relationship for a long time. We have always exchanged ideas on a regular basis, but that will certainly change before the World Cup match.”

VICENTE DEL BOSQUE (Spain coach)

“It is another draw, it is obviously go-ing to be di� cult

to qualify. I said to people this morning we were going to get Holland and we did, in the � rst game no less.”

ALEJANDRO SABELLA (Argentina coach)

“We did not go into a group of death, there are

other groups which are more complicated, more di� cult. Geographically, the draw was also positive.”

DIEGO LUGANO (Uruguay captain)

“I believe this is the most di� cult group, it will be

the biggest challenge of our careers, of our lives. If we could have chosen, we would not have chosen to have two other former champions in our pool.”

MARC WILMOTS (Belgium coach)

“It could have been worse. There are three � nals to play.

Belgium and Russia are perhaps the favourites. The aim is to get out of the � rst round. I am satis-� ed as all the matches are close to our base.”

VOLKER FINKE (Cameroon coach)

“You know when you play a group match against Bra-

zil it’s more than just a normal game given you’re up against the emotion of the whole country.”

LUIS FERNANDO SUAREZ (Honduras coach)

“I leave with a good taste in my mouth, with one

exception: I didn’t want to face Ecuador. Not only for them, but also for the country. Ecuador helped me to develop my ca-reer, I owe them many things.”

ALBERTO ZACCHERONI (Japan coach)

“With due respect to Greece, we are pleased to have

avoided a top European team. It is one thing to � nd the Neth-erlands or France in your group and completely another to take them on.”

JURGEN KLINSMANN (USA coach)

“That’s one of those crazy stories football writes. It is

a tough group, which couldn’t have been harder. But we have built up our self-con� dence over the last two and a half years and we have the most successful year in the 100 years of US football behind us.”

ANGE POSTECOGLOU (Australia coach)

“This is the World Cup. It’s the best football nations on

the planet and we will embrace the challenge that lies ahead of us. We wanted to play some big nations. We want to test our-selves against the best nations on the biggest stage”

CARLOS QUEIROZ (Iran coach)

“It is an honour, it’s just for us to enjoy now. We will play

against the best teams in the world and it’s a great opportu-nity for us to progress and be a better team.”

CESARE PRANDELLI (Italy coach)

“It’s a di� cult group. It will be tough, but we’ll

be going there well prepared and determined to do well. You never win matches on paper, it’s 11 against 11 and if we pre-pare well we can win all three of our matches.”

HONG MYUNG-BO (South Korea coach)

“We played a friendly against Russia in Novem-

ber but we will have to study them again, things changed. People may think it’s an easy group, but it’s not true.”

MIGUEL HERRERA (Mexico coach)

“This group is hard. The teams are strong and solid,

but the style will allow Mexico to play nice football. Mexico always gives Brazil indigestion.”

DIDIER DESCHAMPS (France coach)

“It’s always di� cult to talk about a draw but it’s true,

I won’t hide it from you (my happiness), it could have been tougher.”

YEO MARTIAL (Former Ivory

Coast coach)

“In the last two World Cups, the

draw was unkind. We lost to Argentina and the Netherlands in 2006 and Brazil and Portugal in 2010. This time, God has an-swered our prayers. The draw has given us a good chance.”

KWESI APPIAH ( Ghana coach)

“All the teams in our group are good. Our opening

game is against the United States, who have improved greatly, but I have total con� -dence in my team. I believe we will prepare very well and go past the group phase.”

LOUIS VAN GAAL (Netherlands coach)

“It’s di� cult, Spain want to get to the � nal as do we.

Even if we win the group we may have to play Brazil in the last 16. Chile are also a good side and Australia, well our his-tory against them is very bad. We play Spain � rst – I hope they will not be in their peak form.”

DANIEL AMOKACHI (Nigeria ass. coach)

“It’s a good group for us. Argen-tina are the world

powers, but you cannot a� ord to under-rate Iran or Bosnia. We will respect all the teams and take it game after game. Overall, it’s a good draw.”

ROY HODGSON (England coach)

“It’s a tough group. In Italy and Uruguay it’s almost as though

we have got two number one seeds in our group. Italy were very unlucky not to be seeded in the � rst eight. We know how good Italy are because we lost to them in the quarter-� nals at the Euros.”

FABIO CAPELLO (Russia coach)

“I’m pleased with the draw. Some of the other groups

consist of much stronger teams. Belgium is currently one of the strongest European teams. We have met South Korea recently in a friendly in Dubai and they also look serious and competi-tive.”

NIKO KOVAC (Croatia coach)

“Brazil in the � rst game with the whole world

watching, it will be something. We will try to make it di� cult for them. Look at 2006, we gave them a very di� cult game. I think Brazil is the obvious favourite but second place is wide open.”

REINALDO RUEDA (Ecudaor coach)

“I was the coach of Honduras in 2010 and now destiny

makes me face them with Ecua-dor. That’s football, and that’s life. They will be di� cult opponents. Switzerland and France? Both of them have di� erent styles.

FERNANDO SANTOS (Greece coach)

“I am happy with the draw. There were more di� cult

teams than those that are in our group. Every football school is di� erent and they say we play defensively, but we will see that in practice.”

PAULO BENTO (Portugal coach)

“I consider Ger-many as favourites because of their

potential and history. The USA and Ghana are well-organised sides who have players with lots of experience in the European leagues. We lost 1-0 to Germany in the � rst match of Euro 2012, but we played a good game.”

JORGE SAMPAOLI (Chile coach)

“Really tough group, so we will try to be com-

petitive enough to qualify. Del Bosque didn’t want Chile, but we also didn’t want Spain.”

SAFET SUSIC (Bosnia coach)

“We can’t be unhappy despite the fact we are in

a group with Argentina who are one of the favourites for the title. Of the other teams, one is weaker than us – Iran

JORGE LUIS PINTO (Costa Rica coach)

“I believe in my team because we know how to

act against the big teams. The other three are all world cham-pions and we will play them with pleasure.”

VAHID HALILHODZIC (Algeria coach)

“We could have had a much more di� cult group but

there’s no easy group. Belgium have a lot of quality. In my opin-ion, they could well be one of the surprises. I also know Russia well, they have a great coach. South Korea are also very skilful, lots of passing, movement.”

West Indies skipper Darren Sammy and New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum shake hands after their match was called o� as draw because of rain on the � fth day of their 1st Test at University Oval in Dunedin yesterday AP

Rain helps WI great escapen AFP, Dunedin

New Zealand were stranded an ago-nising 33 runs short of their � rst Test victory in more than a year Saturday when rain washed out the � nal session of the � rst Test against the West Indies in Dunedin.

After four days of bright sunshine, the heavy downpour began at tea on the � nal day when New Zealand were 79-4 chasing 112 for victory.

After wrapping up the West Indies second innings for 507 before lunch, the modest target appeared a formality despite the forecast rain.

However, the New Zealand batsmen faltered from the start and were rapidly reduced to 44-4 before Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson arrested the slide.

Anderson � nished not out 20 with Taylor on 16, and a Test that at one stage looked as if it would be over in four days instead petered out to a draw on the � fth.

“We would have won that, I believe, if it hadn’t rained,” said a dejected Brendon McCullum who is yet to taste

success in 10 Tests since replacing Tay-lor as captain after their last win in Sri Lanka in November last year.

“It was disappointing to set our-selves up and be 33 short.”

The New Zealand top order failed to read spinner Shane Shillingford, who was inconsequential in the � rst innings but produced exceptional � gures of four for 26 o� 15 overs on a well-worn pitch in the second.

After lunch Aaron Redmond (six) turned Shillingford into the hands of Narsingh Deonarine at leg slip and Hamish Rutherford (20) was lured into a favourite heave shot that went straight to Shannon Gabriel waiting at long on.

It was a New Zealand performance far removed from the determination shown in the � rst innings when they amassed 609-9 declared, led by a career-best 217 not out from Ross Taylor, and whittled the West Indies out for 213.

West Indies were eventually dis-missed for 507 on the � nal day, with Bravo, who was dropped on 82, making a career best 218. l

Barca back to winning ways in Cup openern AFP, Madrid

Barcelona bounced back from consecu-tive defeats away to Ajax and Athletic Bilbao with a 4-1 win at third-tier Cart-agena in the � rst leg of their Copa del Rey fourth round tie on Friday.

Fernando � red the hosts into a shock lead after just 16 minutes.

Pedro Rodriguez calmed the visi-tors’ nerves eight minutes before the break with an equaliser and Fabregas completed the turnaround with a neat � nish seven minutes later.

Pedro did eventually � nally make it 3-1 15 minutes from time when he � n-ished expertly from Sanchez’s pass.

Jean Marie Dongou rounded o� the scoring in stoppage time with

his � rst senior goal for Barcelona on the rebound after Pedro had struck the post. l

Hangeland ruled out for six more weeksn AFP, London

Fulham’s bid to avoid relegation from the Premier League su� ered a major blow on Friday when Brede Hangeland was ruled out for another six weeks.

Hangeland had already been side-lined for a month with sciatic nerve damage in his right leg, but the Norway defender has now been told he needs surgery to cure the problem. Fulham had hoped to bring the 32-year-old back to full � tness without an operation.

But Cottagers manager Rene Meu-lensteen revealed on Friday that Hange-land has decided to have the surgery and will need six more weeks to recover.

Meulensteen, whose team are third bottom of the table and three points from safety. l

Everton set crosshairs on Gunnersn AFP, London

The strength of Arsenal’s grasp on top spot in the Premier League will be tested on Sunday when

Manchester United’s latest conquerors Everton visit the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal have bounced back from their 1-0 loss at United last month with three consecutive victories, culminat-ing in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Hull City, but the chasing pack remain on their tails.

The London club could have had their lead whittled down to a single point by the time they take to the � eld on Sunday, if second-place Chelsea emerge victorious from their trip to Stoke City 24 hours earlier.

Third-place Manchester City and

fourth-place Liverpool also have op-portunities to close the gap, while Everton themselves know that a win would take them to within just four points of Arsene Wenger’s side.

While Arsenal have twice tasted de-feat this season, and both United and City have been beaten on four occa-

sions, Everton have lost just once, at City on October 5.

Wednesday’s 1-0 win at Old Traf-ford was Everton’s � rst league success at United since August 1992 and will give them the belief that they can end a similar run of 17 games without victory

at Arsenal that stretches back to Janu-ary 1996.

Bryan Oviedo was Everton’s match-winner at United, netting in the 86th minute to claim his second goal since coming into the team at left-back in place of injured England international Leighton Baines.

Baines has been linked with a move to United but manager Martinez re-jected suggestions that the Costa Rica international was being groomed as his successor. Wenger, meanwhile, is likely to restore Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere and Olivier Giroud to his starting XI, having made � ve changes for the vic-tory over Hull.

However, right-back Bacary Sagna and forward Lukas Podolski are not yet ready to return from their respective hamstring injuries. l

South Africa, India go ahead with ODI cricket seriesn Reuters, Cape Town

The second one-day international between South Africa and India will go ahead in Durban today and will be marked by a tribute to former president Nelson Mandela

Cricket South Africa con� rmed the � xture would be played after discussions with the government following Mande-la’s death on Thursday at the age of 95.

“We have taken this decision in con-sultation with Sport and Recreation South Africa,” CSA chief executive Ha-roon Lorgat said in a statement on Friday.

“We will, of course, appropriately mark the passing away of Nelson Roli-hlahla Mandela, the father of our nation and one of the world’s greatest icons.”

Soccer and golf had already stated they would go ahead with their pro-grammes.

The League Cup soccer � nal between Orlando Pirates and Platinum Stars will take place on Saturday evening after an emergency meeting of stakeholders.

The local Premier Soccer League also con� rmed that all other matches in the top two tiers would be played as sched-uled, though none will be staged on the day of Mandela’s funeral on Dec. 15. l

15SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 8, 2013

Woods ties course record 62 for World Challenge leadTiger Woods matched his own Sher-wood Country Club course record on Friday with a 10-under 62 to take the lead in his World Challenge. The world number one, who started the day four shots o� the lead, had 10 birdies and no bogeys for an 11-under total of 133. That gave him a two-shot lead over � rst-round leader Zach Johnson, who had four birdies in a four-under 68 for 135. “It was good today,” said Woods, who has won this 18-man tournament he hosts for the bene� t of his charitable founda-tion � ve times. He set the course record of 62 in the second round in 2007, en route to one of those triumphs. “I only made probably two putts that were downhill. I hit a lot of good shots, leav-ing myself in these spots so my putts weren’t really that di� cult to make.” Woods saw a long putt at the seventh curl around the hole and drop in the back for birdie. He kept his momentum with a key two-putt par at the par-three 12th and birdied 13 despite a tough lie in a bunker with an acorn behind his ball.

–AFP

Tendulkar mourns ‘truly inspirational’ MandelaIndian cricket superstar Sachin Ten-dulkar on Friday remembered South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela as a “truly inspirational human being” who would live in his “heart forever”. Tendulkar was part of the Indian team that toured South Africa in 1992-93, the � rst side to play a Test series after it was brought back into the sporting mainstream following an apartheid-induced ban. The touring squad met Mandela, who was then yet to become president, at the African National Congress headquarters in Johannesburg and presented him with a bat signed by all the team members. The players got another opportunity to meet Mandela when he came to the Wander-ers stadium in Johannesburg to watch a match. “When I met Mr Mandela it was one of the most memorable days of my life,” Tendulkar, who retired last month as the world’s leading Test and one-day batsman, tweeted on Friday.

–AFP

'Pakistan will not take Afghanistan lightly'Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez stressed his team will not take Afghani-stan lightly in the � rst-ever Twenty20 international between the two nations in Sharjah on Sunday. War-ravaged Afghanistan have earned a reputation of being a dangerous team in the shortest format of the game, having last month quali� ed for their third successive World Twenty20 -- to be held in Bangladesh in March-April next year. Earlier this year, Afghanistan also quali� ed for the 2015 World Cup (50 overs) to be held in Australia and New Zealand. They have an improved Twenty20 record, winning 11 of the 21 they have played so far, although all their four matches against Test playing nations in the last two World Twenty20s ended in defeats. They lost to South Africa and India in the 2010 World Twenty20 held in the West Indies and two years later lost to England and India in Sri Lanka. But Hafeez warned his team, which slumped from two to four in ICC T20 rankings after losing three of their four games against South Africa last month, on com-placency. “We will de� nitely not take Afghanistan lightly because they are a dangerous side and the shortest format suits them,” Hafeez said on Saturday.

–AFP

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6:00AM (Monday)Australia v England Second Test, Day 5

DAY’S WATCH

RESULTSCrystal Palace 2-0 Cardi� Jerome 6, Chamakh 58Liverpool 4-1 West HamDemel 42-og, Skrtel 66-ogSakho 47, Suarez 81, O’Brien 84-ogMan United 0-1 Newcastle Cabaye 61Southampton 1-1 Man CityOsvaldo 42 Aguero 10Stoke 3-2 ChelseaCrouch 42, Schurrle 9, 53Ireland 50, Assaidi 90West Brom 0-2 Norwich Hooper 13, Fer 89

RESULTSM’gladbach 2-1 Schalke 04Ra� ael 25, Farfan 17-pKruse 45+1-pVfB Stuttgart 4-2 HanoverHarnik 13, Sobiech 28, Ibisevic 33, Sane 31Traore 51, Rausch 83Werder Bremen 0-7 Bayern Munich Lukimya 21, Buyten 27, Ribery 38, 82, Mandzukic 60, Mueller 68, Goetze 90Hamburg 0-1 Augsburg Bobadilla 18Frankfurt 1-2 Ho� enheimJoselu 48 Schipplock 46, Roberto Firmino 51

Bangladesh top order batsman Marshal Ayub and his newly wedded wife Sharmin Ahmed Bithi pose for a photo during their wedding reception on Friday COURTESY

Johnson takes magni� cent seven to scar Englandn Reuters, Adelaide

Wrecking ball Mitchell Johnson laid further scars on England’s battered psyche with a stunning seven-wicket haul that skittled the tourists for 172 and put Australia in complete control of the second Ashes test after the third day on Saturday.

The red-hot Queenslander un-leashed a withering spell of pace bowl-ing at Adelaide Oval to take three wick-ets in his second over after lunch, then cleaned up the tail before tea to leave England 199 runs short of avoiding the follow-on.

With the luxury of a further two days’ play, Australia captain Michael Clarke sent his batsmen in to give his bowlers a rest and � red by an unbeaten 83 from opener David Warner, they pushed the lead to a mammoth 530 runs.

Australia will make England sweat in the � eld until close to lunch on day four, which is forecast to be a sweltering 32 degrees Celsius, before their bowlers push for the win on a pitch showing ample turn and reverse swing.

No team has ever made more than 418 in a fourth innings chase, and

England, improbably, are staring at a 2-0 de� cit in the � ve-test series ahead of a trip to Johnson’s favourite hunting ground in Perth where England have not won since 1978.

Only months after returning home from England in ignominy after a third straight Ashes defeat, Australia’s turn-around has been little short of aston-ishing, and the principal architect has been the man selectors snubbed for the northern series.

Following nine wickets and a man-of-the-match performance to rout Eng-land in the series-opener in Brisbane, Johnson’s 7-40 was the best Ashes haul in over 100 years at Adelaide Oval and featured two hat-trick chances that ul-timately went begging.

In Australia's second innings, Eng-land paceman James Anderson cap-tured two quick wickets in opener Chris Rogers and Shane Watson but Warner and Clarke steadied the ship with a 61-run partnership.

Clarke was bowled by Panesar for 22 with a delivery that turned sharply and would give plenty of encouragement to Australia’s spinner Nathan Lyon. Ste-ven Smith (23 not out) added another 67 with Warner before stumps. l

United sink further, Chelsea crash at Stoken AFP, London

Manchester United’s dismal season lurched into crisis on Satur-day after a 1-0 loss at home to Newcastle

United condemned the champions to their � fth defeat of the campaign.

Yohan Cabaye’s goal just after the hour gave Newcastle their � rst vic-tory at Old Tra� ord since 1972 and con-signed United to back-to-back home defeats in the league for the � rst time since May 2002.

Having lost 1-0 to Everton on Wednesday, United have now lost as many games as they did in the whole

of last season’s title-winning campaign and David Moyes’s side could fall 15 points behind leaders Arsenal before the weekend is out.

United restored Robin van Persie to their starting XI following a four-game absence with a groin strain, but the closest they came to scoring was a Pa-trice Evra header that hit the post early in the second half.

Newcastle hit the champions with a sucker-punch in the 61st minute, with Moussa Sissoko galloping down the right � ank after winning a duel with Evra before cutting the ball back for Cabaye to sweep home.

The dominant team of the Premier League era, United remain in ninth

place in the table, 12 points below Ar-senal, while Newcastle climb to sixth.

Chelsea slipped to third place after on-loan Liverpool winger Oussama Assaidi scored a stunning last-minute winner to give Stoke City a 3-2 victory at the Britannia Stadium.

Jose Mourinho’s side were on course for a point after Andre Schurrle claimed a brace either side of goals from Peter Crouch and Stephen Ireland, only for As-saidi to cut in from the left and dispatch a glorious decisive strike at the death.

City fell one place to fourth, � ve points behind Arsenal, after drawing 1-1 at Southampton.

Sergio Aguero gave City a 10th-minute lead by dispatching a low cross

from Aleksandar Kolarov, but Dani Osvaldo produced a stylish equaliser shortly before the interval, slipping past Vincent Kompany and Pablo Za-baleta before curling home.

Liverpool capitalised on Chelsea and City’s slip-ups to steal into second place – above Chelsea on goal di� er-ence – by winning 4-1 at home to West Ham United in a game that featured three own goals.

Goals from Cameron Jerome and Marouane Chamakh saw third-bottom Crystal Palace close to the brink of safe-ty with a 2-0 success at home to Cardi� City, while goals from Gary Hooper and Leroy Fer gave Norwich City a 2-0 win at West Bromwich Albion. l

Juve open up six-point leadn AFP, Milan

Arturo Vidal and Giorgio Chiellini struck in either half to hand Juventus a 2-0 away win at Bologna on Friday which gave the Serie A leaders a six-

point lead over second-placed Roma.Four days ahead of a crucial trip to Is-

tanbul, where Juve need a point against Galatasaray to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League, coach Antonio Conte left a host of regulars on the bench.

However their absences did not hin-der the champions, who opened the scoring through Vidal on 12 minutes be-fore Chiellini headed home at the death.

Fabio Quagliarella and Mirko Vucin-ic led Juve’s attack, leaving Carlos Te-vez and Fernando Llorente to make lat-er appearances from the bench, while Angelo Ogbonna replaced centre-back Leonardo Bonucci.

Mauricio Isla and Federico Peluso were also deployed as wing-backs in place of Stephan Lichsteiner and Kwadwo Asamoah, while Paul Pogba took the injured Andrea Pirlo’s role in the centre of mid� eld.

Despite the reshu� ing, Juve had no trouble dictating play against a side that has only one home win so far this season and were sent crashing out of the Italian Cup at home by Serie B side Siena on Tuesday.

Juve should have had several goals by the interval but Quagliarella and Claudio Marchisio spurned early chances against impressive home ‘keeper Gianluca Curci. l

Seven-star Bayern crush Bremenn AFP, Berlin

France’s Franck Ribery produced a commanding display as Bayern Mu-nich extended their record unbeaten Bundesliga run to 40 matches with a 7-0 away romp at Werder Bremen on Saturday.

Ribery staked his claim for the 2013 world footballer of the year award, which will be announced on January 13, by creating two goals and scoring twice in the rout as European champi-ons Bayern warmed up for Tuesday’s � nal Champions League match at

home to Manchester City.Fourth-placed Borussia Mo-

enchengladbach stayed in touch with the league leaders as they picked up their sixth-straight win with a 2-1 win at home to Schalke 04, whose coach Jens Keller has been told a decision on his future will be made over the winter break.

Schalke must beat Swiss champions FC Basel on Wednesday to reach the Champions League’s knock-out phase and another defeat could be Keller’s last having taken charge of the Royal Blues in December 2012. l

Southampton's Dani Osvaldo (L) shoots to score a goal during their English Premier League match against Manchester City at St Mary's stadium in Southampton yesterday REUTERS

Australia 1st innings570 for 9 declared (M. Clarke 148, B. Haddin 118; S. Broad 3-98)England 1st innings(overnight 35 for 1)Alastair Cook b Johnson 3Michael Carberry c Warner b Watson 60Joe Root c Rogers b Lyon 15Kevin Pietersen c Bailey b Siddle 4Ian Bell not out 72Ben Stokes lbw b Johnson 1Matt Prior c Haddin b Johnson 0Stuart Broad b Johnson 0Graeme Swann c Clarke b Johnson 7James Anderson b Johnson 0Monty Panesar b Johnson 2Extras (lb3, w2, nb3) 8Total (all out; 68.2 overs) 172BowlingJohnson 17.2-8-40-7 (2nb, 1w), Harris 14-8-31-0, Lyon 20-5-64-1, Siddle 14-4-34-1 (1nb, 1w), Watson 3-3-0-1Australia 2nd inningsChris Rogers c Haddin b Anderson 2David Warner not out 83Shane Watson c Carberry b Anderson 0Michael Clarke b Panesar 22Steve Smith not out 23Extras (b1, lb1) 2Total (3 wkts; 39 overs) 132BowlingAnderson 7-1-19-2, Broad 6-0-19-0, Swann 9-3-31-0, Stokes 7-3-20-0, Panesar 10-0-41-1

SCORE CARDJUST MARRIED

Truck freight cost goes through the roof The carrier owners charge shippers much more than normal for transporting goods to seaport n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Truck freight charges have risen � ve times more than normal over the last three weeks in the wake of political unrest causing disruption in domestic and international supply chain man-agement.

As of Friday, a truck fare rose to Tk125,000 from Tk20,000 to carry goods back and forth between Dhaka and Chittagong in comparison with the freight charges in the third week of No-vember.

Generally, a lorry charges Tk12,000 to Tk20,000 on the Dhaka-Chittagong route, but because of blockades and har-tals the fare has gone through the roof.

As per the data of Bangladesh Truck and Covered Van Owners’ Association, the freight rate on the route has risen to Tk1,25,000.

In the third week of November, a trucker charged between Tk12,000 and Tk20,000 to transport goods between the two metropolises.

The hike in freight rate ranged be-tween Tk40,000 and Tk50,000 following a 72-hour blockade enforced on Novem-ber 26 by the BNP-led 18-party alliance.

The fare further rose to Tk1,00,000-Tk1,25,000 after the second phase of the six-day blockade that ended in the � rst week of December.

“I freighted goods to the Chittagong port by a truck which charged me TK1,25,000,” said Syed Faizul Ahsan, managing director of Dotcom Sweater Limited.

There was no way but to comply with the freight cost as it was neces-sary to deliver the shipment before the deadline, he added.

Talking to the Dhaka tribune, Ashra-ful Alam, owner of Top and Bottom, RMG factory, said on Friday he sent RMG products to the port city on a freight cost of Tk85,000 which was

Tk16,000 only in normal circumstances.“Since there is hardly any scope for

domestic air freight, we are compelled to use lorries for transportation of goods to the seaport and we have now been hostage to high freight charges,” he said, adding that the volatile politi-cal situation hit the business hard.

“Having no alternative to send-ing RMG products to the port for sea

freight, we are subjected to pay as much as the carrier owners charge us as freight cost,” said Shahidullah Azim, BGMEA vice-president.

“I will incur a loss of Tk4m to Tk4.5m if I fail to deliver a shipment before deadline.”

Truck owners capitalised on the sit-uation, said Rustom Ali Khan, Bangla-desh Truck and Covered Van Owners’

Association. “Over the last couple of weeks, most

truck owners had no business, and Fri-day was an opportunity for us to com-pensate for the loss,” he added.

On the other hand the owners are re-luctant to ply their vehicles witnessing several incidents of arson attack on their vehicles during hartal and blockades.

According the association, over 80

vehicles had been torched by blockad-ers recently.

“Our business is now crippled as we cannot ply our trucks fearing vandal-ism and arson attack,” said Rustom.

Meanwhile, apparel manufacturers show little interest in sending products under police escort to Chittagong port during the ongoing countrywide block-ades crippling the country’s economy. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 8, 2013

Another bus helper burnt in sleepn Mohammad Jamil Khan

Yet another bus helper is now su� er-ing from 20% burn injury at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) after pro-blockaders set ablaze a parked bus at Mawa in Munshiganj in the early hours of Saturday.

The condition of bus helper of Great Bikrampur Paribahan Mohammad Alamgir Sheikh, 25, was critical as his respiratory track was badly a� ected by the burn, Partha Shankar Pal, residen-tial surgeon of the burn unit said.

Mohammad Abul Kalam, o� -cer-in-charge of Munshiganj Police Station, said pickets set � re to three launches and two parked passenger buses at the terminal around 2:30am.

Kanak, driver of the bus, last night said after dinner they left Alamgir alone to take care of the bus around 2am. Mis-creants broke open the window of the bus and sprayed petrol before they put it on � re.

As Alamgir woke up and shouted for help terminal guards came to his rescue but by the time the � re burnt his face, neck, two hands and legs, says Kanak.

Coming from Shreenagar of Munshi-ganj he is the son of Younus Sheikh.

Alamgir was taken to the DMCH around 4am. His elder brother, Anis Sheikh, told the Dhaka Tribune that he was scheduled to visit his village home on Saturday.

As this correspondent visited the hospital he found Alamgir writhing in pain and was unable to speak as his neck was severely damaged from the � re.

Victim’s maternal aunt Jhanu Akter was taking care of him as his mother was yet to come because of blockade.

Earlier on Thursday evening, a bus helper died after pickets set � re to a parked bus in Sayedabad area while the helper was fast asleep.

Meanwhile, the condition of � ve blockade victims undergoing treat-ment at the ICU were stated to be stillcritical. l

Citycell subscribers out of network n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

At least 15% of Citycell subscribers, the country’s oldest mobile phone opera-tor, have been without network since Friday night.

According to Citycell o� cials, more than 250,000 subscribers went out of network.

They said the dilemma occurred be-cause of a hard disk crash on their da-tabase.

“We are trying our level best to solve the problem. We have already recov-ered networks of about 200,000 sub-scribers, only a few are left,” Mehboob Chowdhury, chief executive o� cer of Citycell told the Dhaka Tribune yester-day.

“The tension would ease within hours of the problem being solved,” he said.

Many Citycell subscribers, mostly from the capital, said they had been facing disruptions on their mobile net-works since Friday evening.

Some even went out of network at night, they alleged.

Contacted, Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Regulatory Commission o� -cials said they did not know anything about the issue.

“Hearing about the debacle, we thought that Citycell’s license might have been cancelled as the issue had been on discussion for quite some time,” said Ha� za Begum, an advo-cate of Chief Metropolitan MagistrateCourt.

Earlier on Wednesday, BTRC issued a letter to Citycell giving a 15-day ulti-matum to pay its license renewal fee, revenue sharing and social obligation fund and annual spectrum charges, totalling to an amount of aroundTk2.5b.

Failure to deposit the outstanding amount within the deadline, Citycell would lose its license as per the deci-sion of BTRC, which came on Novem-ber 24.

However, a Citycell o� cial said they

had not faced any problem regarding the license yet.

“After solving the problem we will send SMSs to the a� ected subscrib-ers’ regretting the inconvenience. We will also compensate them with Tk20 which will be valid for next 15 days” the o� cial added.

For last 18 months, the number of Citycell subscribers has been declining continuously.

In October the number came down to 1,340,000 which was 1,800,000 in April 2012.

45% of Citycell is owned by Singa-pore’s SingTel, 31.43% by Paci� c Mo-tors Ltd and 23.57% by Far East Tele-com Ltd.

SingTel had stopped funding City-cell in 2012, and according to its 2013 annual report it placed a zero value in its ownership stake in Citycell.

Earlier this year, other telecom op-erators of the country faced similar problems with their networks while processing 3G services. l

Victims of political violence face long-term e� ects, traumasn Ashif Islam Shaon

Victims of the recent political violence, who have been recovering from their injuries at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Reha-bilitation in the capital,were faced with risks of sustaining long-lasting e� ects of the trauma.

Among the six victims, the young-est, Lima would apparently be the worst su� erer. The three and a half yearsold baby-girl lost � ngers from her right handwhile, among the two police constables, who were hurt in a bomb blast near the BNP slum area, Consta-ble Abdul Mannan’s hand would take more than a year to recover, the doc-tors said.

Yesterday Lima was seen sleep-ing in a bed around 3pm. Her mother, garment worker, Shohagi and father a driver, Al-Amin were beside her.

“Doctors have given her sedatives asshe cries out in pain, whenshe is awake,” said Shohagi.

Shohagi has remained absent in his workplace since her daughter was injured while playing with a cocktail ducked in red tape, mistaking it asa ball.

Now, her parents had three things to worry about, if their employers would

sack them for being absent at their work place, how they would a� ord Li-ma’s treatment costs over Tk1000 ev-ery day and lastly, when Lima grows up, who would marry a girl without � ngers, said Lima’s parents.

“Those who had made the bomb or abandoned it in front our house, will never know what they have done to us. May Allah bless them so they do not do these things again,” said Al-Amin.

He said many people came to the hospital to see her daughter since the incident. Hospital doctors were also be-ing kind, taking extra care.

“A woman came here three days back and gave Lima a set of dolls to play. See, apart from the criminals, there are kind people in the world as well,” said Shohagi.

“Lima wakes up sometimes and stares at those dolls. She seems happy at that time,” she said.

In another room in the same hospi-tal,Constable Abdul Mannan was lying down on a bed, with serious injuries in his left hand, throat, and legs. His collogue Md Habil was in the bed next to him,in a relatively condition thanMannan.

Mannan, who drove a police vans, said god saved him that day.

“We were on petrol duty near the BNP slum, and I was on the driving seat. Suddenly someone hurled a bomb that broke the windshield and explod-ed inside the driver’s cabin,” he said.

“I lost grip of the steering, but kept going. They hurled three more bombs at the car.”

Finally, Mannan, who could not use the hands to open the door to escape, jumped o� the running car. The car stopped some yards away after hitting a road island.

“The youths were chasing our car. They charged two more bombs, as I fell and was crippling on the road. But Habil Bhai, who was beside the driver’s seat came out from the car and � red his shotgun to drive away the youths,” he said.

Doctors have so far conducted three operations on his left hand. Mannan is in better shape now but yet to be � t enough to be released from thehospital.

Asked if he was scared of going back on duty again, he said, he did not care.

“It’s not easy to be a driver of a po-lice van. Previously I was in the riot police. So, I know what the worst situ-ation can look like. I will de� nitely go back to his work again with courage,” he said. l

Over 1,000 export goods-laden vehicles strandedn Tushar Hayat , Chittagong

Over 1,000 export goods-laden vehicles remained stranded at di� erent points on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway yes-terday due to the blockade enforced by the BNP led 18-party alliance.

Later, they were taken to the Chit-tagong Port under police protection.

Sayad Zakir Hossain, OC of High-way police outpost at Barabkund, told the Dhaka tribune that they had giv-en protection to more than 1,000 ve-hicles, mostly container lorries and trucks, while passing through theSitakund area.

“Rush of export goods-laden vehi-cles began on the highway forthwith the pause of blockade. However, many vehicles got stuck at Comilla, Feni, Morsharai and Sitakund because of the fresh blockade,” he said.

Sayad Farhad Uddin Ahmed, secre-tary to the Chittagong Port Authority, said: “We are taking measures to bring export containers from Kamalapur ICD by the waterway.”

CPA sources said they had released 5,912 TEUs of containers from the port on Thursday night and Friday. There were 21,000 TEUs of imported contain-ers at the port currently, they added.

Sources at CPA and depots said there was no apprehension of contain-er congestion immediately at the port that has the capacity to house 30,000 TEUs of containers.

Mahabubul Alam, president of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, appreciated the move of the law enforcing agencies.

He said the business community would have been bene� ted had such move was taken earlier.

“We are requesting to continue such cooperation for carrying export and import goods for the sake of keep-ing the national economy on roll,” headded. l

A relative tenders Alamgir Sheikh at the DMCH burn unit yesterday Mahmud Hossain Opu

A truck, laden with 17,600kg of � ne rice burnt, at the Bypass Muslim intersection in the Rajshahi city after miscreants set � re to it Friday night. The truck was going to Kushtiavia Rajshahi DHAKA TRIBUNE

Six-year old Maher, lying in his mother’s lap at the DMCH, has not been talking since he was hit by bullet splinters after police opened � re during a clash with Jamaat-Shibir men in the capital’s Malibagh yesterday. Story on Page 1 MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

Continue to the Business section...

Business

Businesswww.dhakatribune.com/business SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013

Businesses demand interest waiver

Insurer skips claimfor 11yrs

B3

B2

WTO adopts historic trade reform deal Bangladesh to get greater market access n Meer Saiful Islam, from Bali, Indonesia

The world Trade Organisation (WTO) has adopted its � rst ever trade reform deal in a historic move concluded in Bali, Indonesia yesterday with Bangladesh reaping its de-sired outcome for a greater duty-free and quota-free market access in the developed and developing countries.

The approval came after Cuba dropped a last-gasp threat to veto the package of meas-ures.

The objectives of the deal is to slash red tape at customs around the world, give im-proved terms of trade to the poorest countries, and allow developing countries to skirt the normal rules on farm subsidies if they are try-ing to feed the poor, WTO said, releasing the draft on the last day of the four-day meeting.

“For the � rst time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered,” WTO chief Roberto Azevedo told ministers, who were exhaust-ed after the talks which had dragged into an extra day.

“This time the entire membership came together. We have put the ‘world’ back in World Trade Organisation,” he said. “We’re back in business ... Bali is just the beginning.”

The talks, which had opened on Tuesday, nearly came unstuck at the last minute when Cuba suddenly refused to accept a deal that would not help open the US embargo of the Caribbean island, forcing negotiations to drag into yesterday morning. Cuba later agreed on a compromise with the United States.

Products of Bangladesh as also other least developed countries will get an increasingly

greater market access to the developed and developing countries as the members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) closed the deal.

Bangladesh, being a member of the LDCs, will also be bene� ted from the Bali deal, as all products from all LDCs will enjoy ze-ro-duty under the agreement, WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo said on the side-lines of the press conference.

“Bali package is a strong commitment by the WTO member countries. Bangladesh will also enjoy greater market access to the developed countries under the package.”

According to the deal, the developed and developing countries that do not yet provide

duty-free and quota-free market access for at least 97% of products originating from LDCs shall seek to improve their existing DFQF coverage to provide increasingly greater market access to LDCs prior to the next ministerial conference.

The members shall notify DFQF schemes and any other relevant changes pursuant to the transparency mechanism for Preferen-tial Trade Arrangements.

“Countries like Bangladesh will get the enhanced trade facilities through negotia-tion,” said an o� cial.

He said Ticfa would provide a platform to facilitate the negotiation with USA – a market Bangladesh is eagerly waiting for du-

ty-free market access.“We’re satis� ed... what we had proposed

was accommodated,” said Commerce Secre-tary Mahbub Ahmed, who led the Bangla-desh delegation to the ministerial meeting.

Another o� cial said it was good to see that a roadmap for Doha Development Agen-da should be � xed within 12 months from the declaration.

All the developing countries, including LDCs, would also enjoy the advantage until a decision is taken in this regard, he added.

The other issues having interest of Bang-ladesh and other LDCs, were simpli� ed preferential rules of origin for LDCs, making it easier to identify products as their own products, and qualify for preferential treat-ment in importing countries.

In the � nal negotiation held Friday night, � rstly, Cuba opposed the trade facilitation issue as US has some embargoes in trade with Cuba. Later, three other Nicaragua, Bo-livia and Venezuela also joined in the league of Cuba and started opposing the trade facil-itation issue.

“The deal will bene� t to all of the WTO members,” Azevedo told the press confer-ence after striking the deal.

According to an estimate, at least 10% to 15% cost of doing business which is near-ly equivalent to $1trn of the annual global trade, is possible to save through implemen-tation of trade facilitation agreement.

“In the agreement, I will focus on devel-opment issues. We have 12 months in our hands to prepare a roadmap for Bali pack-age,” he said. l

No development fund to be released in December Over-disbursements mark � rst half of � scal; IMF mission due this month for ECF review n Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has decided not to release any fund until the end of December as expenditures have already exceeded the limit set for the � rst half of current � scal year.

During the month, money will be disbursed only to meet urgent necessities, said o� cial sources.

An International Monetary Fund team is due in Dhaka in late this month for a review decide on the release of � fth instalment of extended credit facility loans.

As per IMF condition, there cannot be any � nancial mismanagement in the government such as over expenditures that cross periodical limits.

The government wants to show the IMF mis-sion a good picture of its co� er condition. Political

considerations were allegedly there in the fund releases, leading to over disbursement.

The � nance division is not currently dealing with any fund release proposals from di� erent ministries and divisions.

It has also temporarily stopped disbursement of equity and entrepreneurship fund and giving money to overcome of capital shortage of four state-owned commercial banks.

Foreign tours of high government o� cials have been halted for the time being. Former adviser to a caretaker government Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam blamed the � nance division for the situation.

“It (� nance division) has not performed its duties properly. As a result, the

government has to halt fund release at the end of its tenure to remain in conformity with IMF conditions,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

“The government says that more than half of total � scal budget (Tk2.22tr) has been released already. But it does not usually happen ashartals and blockades slow down projects imple-mentation.”

O� cial sources said a huge fall in revenue earning also had a negative impact on the budget fund.

An o� cial said � nance ministry disbursed half of contingency fund of Tk1200 crore in � rst � ve months of the � scal while the remaining fund is booked already for the ministries, he added.

O� cials said the next elected government might face problems to meet any extra or un-predicted expenditures. They apprehended that

budget discipline could be further compromised in the coming months.

“Such indiscipline in � nancial management is not new during the tenure of the present govern-ment. It also happened before this time,” said Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam.

In 2011-12, the national budget came under severe pressures due to heavy bank borrowings to pay subsidies on fuel oil, fertilisers and food.

In the same year, the government borrowed in less than eight months Tk18,957 crore, the target set for the � scal, to meet de� cits, pushing the � rst quarter’s in� ation to 11.41%.

The government’s budget management is now heading towards same direction of two years ago as it has already borrowed Tk9,634.11 crore from commercial banks in � rst three months of the current � scal, o� cials fear. l

IMF RAISES CEILINGB3

Director-General Roberto Azevedo gestures as he is congratulated by delegates after the closing ceremony of the ninth World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Nusa Dua, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali REUTERS

DHAKA TRIBUNE Business2 SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013

ICCB President: Over cautious steps hamper credit � ow to private sectorn Tribune Business Desk

Over cautious steps by the commercial banks are hampering the credit � ow to the private sector of the country, said Mahbubur Rah-man, president of International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICCB).

He said so while attending an ICC work-shop on credit risk management, organised by ICCB in Dhaka yesterday, according to a press release.

“The much needed credit � ow for the pri-vate sector is very low and depressing due to over cautious steps by the commercial banks,” said the ICCB President.

He suggested that the commercial banks and � nancial institutions must develop a sound and accountable credit management system for avoiding such risks, said the press release.

To avail of trade facilitation opportunities and also to become a middle- income country within the next few years, Bangladesh must create a congenial environment for develop-ment of a sustainable private sector, he added.

“For this, credit to the private sector as well as investment to the infrastructure is of utmost importance,” he said.

More than Tk4,000 crore have been si-phoned out from two state-owned banks alone, he mentioned, adding such incidents have raised serious question as to the e� -ciency of the bank managements, including the board as well as the central bank’s failure to take drastic and timely action to stop such practices.

Mamun Rashid, chairman of ICCB Stand-ing Committee on Banking, Technique and Practices along with Mohammed Hossain, former National Fraud Risk Detection and Mitigation Adviser of Bangladesh Bank, among others, spoke at the workshop.

A total of 88 senior and mid-level execu-tives from banks and � nancial institutions participated in the workshop. l

Hotel Peninsula holds corporate night in Chittagongn Tribune Report

Four-star hotel, Peninsula Chittagong organ-ised a corporate night in Chittagong city on Friday. The festival was held at the Club-21 located inside the hotel.

Forest and Environment Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud attended the programme as chief guest while Engineer Mosharraf Hos-sain, a presidium member of Awami League, and Mohammed Sa� qul Islam, commission-er of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) were special guests.

The event was presided over by Mustafa Tahseen Arshad, managing director of the hotel. l

Union Bank opens its Khatunganj Branchn Tribune Report

The Union Bank has launched a branch at Khatunganj in Chittagong yesterday.

The bank’s managing director Abdul Ha-mid inaugurated the branch at Siddique Tower of the area as chief guest in pre-sense of SAM Hamidullah, senior executive vice-president and Abdul Kader, public rela-tion o� cer at the inauguration programme.

Abdul Hamid said they would provide best services with latest banking technology in di� erent sectors, including export-import, agriculture and micro-credit businesses. l

Mercantile Bank Limited (MBL) Chairman M Amanullah inaugurated 88th branch “Nawabpur Road Branch” as chief guest of the opening ceremony at N B C Tower, Nawabpur Road in Dhaka

The sixth branch of NRBCB was inaugurated at Chinishpur, Narsingdi. NRBCB Sponsor Ra� qul Islam Khan inaugurated the branch on Saturday

The 300th Meeting of the Board of Directors of Social Islami Bank Limited (SIBL) was held at the Corporate O� ce of the bank on Friday. SIBL Board of Directors Chairman Major (Retd) Dr Md Rezaul Haque presided over the meeting. Managing Director Md Sha� qur Rahman, Directors, and senior executives of the bank were present in the meeting

Meghna Bank opens new branchThe � fth branch of Meghna Bank Limited (MBL) was inaugurated by its Vice Chairman Abdul Alim Khan Selim at Ashulia yesterday. Director M A Malek, Md Ali Azim Khan, Man-aging Director & CEO Kaiser A Chowdhury, Additional Managing Director Md Mohash-in Miah, sponsors, senior executives, local elites and business persons were also pres-ent in the inauguration ceremony. l

Businesses demand interest waivern Tushar Hayat, Chittagong

Hurt by the ongoing political turmoil, busi-ness leaders in Chittagong demanded ex-emption from loan interest and deferment of repaying instalments.

They were speaking at a views exchange meeting held in the port city yesterday.

“Many of the businesses in the port city will be bankrupt if they are forced to pay loan interests and instalments now,” said Maha-bubul Alam, president of Chittagong Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI).

He said they are also facing di� culties in paying salaries of their employees.

“We are hurt by political unrest. Produc-tion in factories has slowed while shops re-main closed.”

In these circumstances, CCCI president demanded interest-waiver and rescheduling of loans.

Former CCCI president Mirza Abu Mansur urged the � nance minister and Bangladesh Bank governor to take steps in this regard.

“Most of businesses are incurring huge losses as political instability continues. In this situation, it is not possible to meet high interest rates of banks,” he said.

Besides, Shakhawat Hossain, general sec-retary of Export Oriented Ship Building In-dustry Association, alleged that businesses in Chittagong are being refused loans by the banks for the past four months.

“All the banks are saying loan proposals will be considered only after the national polls.”

In response to the demand of businesses, Shahabuddin Alam, vice chairman of Mer-cantile Bank, said exemption from loan in-terests is not possible, but time for paying in-stalments could be deferred by four months.

KM Mosta� zur Rahman, deputy general manager of Bangladesh Bank in Chittagong, suggested the business community place and discuss the issue with � nance minister, Bangladesh Bank governor and chairman of National Board of Revenue.

The meeting was also addressed by Sayad Jamal Ahmed, vice president of CCCI, Abdul Wahab, � rst vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ As-sociation (BGMEA), Abdur Rab, general man-ager of Sonali Bank, and Mazharul Hoque Shah, a CCCI director. l

BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE 3SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013

Insurer skips claim for 11yrsEven the regulator’s intervention could not settle the issue n Jebun Nesa Alo

A client could not recover its insurance claim for last 11 years from an insurance company which didn’t show any care to the existing rules and the regulator’s directives.

The intervention of the country’s insur-ance regulator has so far failed to settle the issue.

Dhaka Tribune availed of the information from Insurance Development Regulatory Authority (IDRA) in this regard.

Uttara Cold Storage Ltd, a company that stores perishable food items in a refrig-erated condition, alleged that its claim of Tk800,000 has been constantly denied by Purabi Life Insurance since 2002.

After having failed to get the money in last one decade, Uttara Cold Storage, on 15th September 2013, � led a complaint in this re-gard with IDRA.

While dropping the complaint, Uttara sought intervention of the regulator to make Purabi responding to the claim.

On the basis of the complaint, IDRA, through a letter on 24 October, asked the insurer to present their arguments in this respect within seven days of receiving the letter.

Purabi Insurance, however, has not re-plied the regulator’s letter yet.

When contacted, Purabi General Insur-ance’s managing director MA Kashem said he was not aware of it.

According to the IDRA papers, Uttara Cold Storage took three � re insurance policies in 2002 from Purabi.

In the same year, Uttara met an accident

in which the key machineries broke down and got out of operation.

The policy term period was till February 27, 2003.

Uttara said it � led the claim to the insurer within the valid period of the policy.

The insurer appointed a surveyor namely Dolphin Survey and Inspection to conduct a survey on the claim in 2002. The surveyor submitted an inspection report citing damages worth Tk829,234.

Uttara appealed to then regulator to take necessary steps to get their money as per the survey report.

The regulator sat with the o� cials of Pu-rabi Insurance and its client Uttara Cold Stor-age in December in the year.

After reviewing all documents, the regu-lator directed the company to meet the claim within 30 days.

There are allegations from di� erent � rms that Purabi Insurance adamantly deny to meet claims of its clients.

When contacted MD of Purabi Insurance

recently, he refused to talk on the issuewith this correspondent. But few min-utes later, a man introducing himself as ajournalist called this correspondent on be-half of MD.

That “journalist” asked: “Why did you call MD, and what is your interest.”

He was talking on many irrelevant issues like “I have contact all journalist leaders,” etc., but was never responding to any ques-tions from this side.

Though that man said he was a journalist, he never revealed at which media house he worked or he was a freelancer.

However, denying claims is not the case of only Purabi Insurance. The country’s most of the insurance companies common-ly refused to meet the clients’ claims as per policies.

Even IDRA often fail to recover money of claims from the insurers.

“Many companies have a tendency of not honouring the claims,” said IDRA Chairman M Shefaq Ahmed.

The companies also allegedly do not in-form IDRA about claim settlements, defying a recent directive of the regulator.

On March 24, 2013, IDRA issued a letter directing all insurance companies to inform the regulator about claims within two days of submission by the policyholders, share-holders or stakeholders.

Besides, companies are also bound to in-form the authority about monthly reviews on initiatives taken against the claims.

But no company has complied with the directive so far, except the foreign insurance giant, Metlife Alico. l

Bearish mood grips stock market n Tribune Report

Bearish sentiment continued to hit stock market for the second consecutive week, as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines in the wake of deepening political crisis.

The market, however, recovered some losses in the past week that ended on Thurs-day in comparison to the previous week.

The benchmark DSEX rose marginally 46 points or 1% to close at 4277, lifted by heavy-weight banks that rallied more than 6%.

However, the DS30 Index comprising blue chips 40 points or 2.6% to close 1504.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Se-lective Category Index gained 90 points or 1% to close at 8372.

Investor present on the trading � oor was very thin throughout the week because of the blockade enforced by BNP-led 18-party alliance.

Risk-averse investors refrained from put-ting fresh funds in the past week, making the turnover to decline more 30% to Tk400 crore over the previous week’s average of Tk600 crore.

Although the market managed to close positive, quick pro� t booking and politi-

cal uncertainty have ruled the market, said stock brokers.

They said investors adopted ‘wait-and-see’ policy due to fresh deepening political turmoil in the run up to the general election scheduled for early next month.

Market recovered from previous week’s shock but investors are still fragile about fu-ture direction, said Lanka Bangla Securities, in its weekly market analysis.

The week started with a huge red day in continuation of last week. Following two days were under the control of buyers. Again last two trading days were mild reds.

The leading brokerage � rm Lanka Bangla said investors are skeptical about the domes-tic business climate. “If this sort of political deadlock prolongs, corporate pro� tability will be seriously hampered.”

It said RMG export is being seriously ham-

pered as road transport is being hampered due to continuous nationwide strikes. On the other hand, domestic market is swelled with idle liquidity. Call money rate has come down to around 6%.

IDLC Investments, one of leading mer-chant banks, said so market participants are in a continuous � x whether to take position or stay in a side line to observe where politi-cal situation of Bangladesh goes.

Nevertheless, the week was not dull; rath-er confusion spurred sharp volatility in the market, generating signi� cant return from

micro cap stocks, it said.Banks gained over 6%, the most in the

past week, followed by telecommunications with 1.6% and pharmaceuticals 0.6%.

Fuel & power and � nancial institutions were the worst losers edging lower.

Delta Life Insurance was the week’s top turnover leader with shares worth Tk200 crore changing hands followed by Para-mount Textile, Generation Next Fashion, RN Spinning and Bangladesh Building Systems.

Rahima Food was the week’s top gainer, posting a rise of over 39% while Meghna Pe-troleum was the week’s worst loser with a fall of 20%. l

On March 24, 2013, IDRA issued a letter directing all insurance companies to inform the regulator about claims within two days of submission by the policyholders, shareholders or stakeholders

‘If this sort of political deadlock prolongs, corporate pro� tability will be seriously hampered’ Dollar edges up

in Asia beforeUS jobs datan AFP, Tokyo

The dollar edged up in Asia Friday ahead of US jobs data later in the day that are seen as key to the Federal Reserve’s plans for its stimulus programme.

The greenback fetched 101.91 yen in To-kyo afternoon trade, up from 101.77 yen in New York Thursday.

The euro bought $1.3663 and 139.30 yen, against $1.3666 and 139.08 yen in US trade. l

GP brings 3Gto Khulnan Tribune Report

Mobile phone operator Grameenphone has launched third generation (3G) mobile broadband service in Khulna.

Ferdousi Ali, a social worker, inaugurated the service yesterday at a colourful function at the Grameenphone’s regional o� ce.

Khulna city mayor Moniruzzaman Moni, president of Khulna Chamber Of Commerce and Industry Kazi Aminul Haque, CEO of Khulna City Corporation Shapon Kumar Ghosh, commanding o� cer of RAB-6 Lt Col Enamul Ali and Khulna Club president Kazi Monirul Haque were present in the evening session.

The areas of Khulna City and its outskirts brought under Grameenphone’s 3G coverage include Chanmari, Rupshaghat, Tootpara, Launchghat, Khan Jahan Ali, Sondanga, Uni-versity, Kotwali, KUET, Faragi Para, New Mar-ket, Shib Bari, Moyla Pota, Boyra, Gollamari, Boikali, Kahlishpur, Notun Rastha, Fulbari-gate, Shiromoni and Chalna Ferry Ghat. l

IMF raises external debt ceilingn Asif Showkat Kallol

International Monetary Fund has raised ceiling of non-concessional external debt by $1.25bn as of June 2014 for Bangladesh.

Earlier, the ceiling of the debt taken from international sources now reached $5.75bn from $4.5bn, according to an IMF sta� report.

The lender added the new ceiling would be $6bn for the July-December period of 2014.

Bangladesh’s o� cials said ceiling has been raised to meet appetite of external borrowing for the projects taken by the government at the end of its tenure. The last-moment pro-jects are usually politically motivated.

The report came after approving the fourth instalment of ECF on November 27.

According to the report, the total loan and guarantee stands at $5.89bn from July 2013 to December 2014.

The government has already received non-concessional loans and supplier credits from China and India at the end of its tenure.

Dr Zaid Bakht, research director of Bang-ladesh Institution of Development Stud-ies (BIDS) said such high cost foreign loans might result in macro-economic instability in future. l

Resume faux pas one needs to avoidn Saif Kamal

It is a common practice for job seekers to cre-ate one generic resume and send it for every single job. This hardly ever works. Each company has its own set of skills which they are looking for in prospective candidates for speci� c roles. These are skills that you might have gained through a speci� c task at your current or previous job, but are not emphasised enough or hidden behind inept language. Do not fall victim to the most com-mon ga� es job seekers make when sending their resumes to organisations.

Know the needs: Having a generic resume does not set you apart from the crowd. Be-fore applying for a position, make sure you read the job description thoroughly. Pick out and highlight key words from it to use apt-ly in your resume. I shouldn’t even have to mention the importance of running a gram-matical check.

Photo dilemma: It surprises me how few people know about pictures on resumes. It is best not to have a picture. However, if you are interested in showing your impressive face, please do not put a side pro� le picture. Take a picture with a white background and a friendly expression. Do not attach the pic-ture separately with the resume; make it a part of it.

For international � rms: Internationally, many companies usually do not insist you mention your sex and marital status. Why? It may unintentionally a� ect their decision and you may become an inadvertent victim of discrimination.

Things they do not need to know: The potential employer does not need to know the names and birthdates of yourparents, siblings, pets, their professions, the number of children you have or your religion! l

CAREERASCENT

Navigating the waters at networking events10 tips for shy and introverted professionals to conduct themselves welland succeed at networking eventsn Career Desk

The attempt to break the shell of introverted individuals starts at school – through a variety of show and tell, presentations and team assignments. As time progresses, one participates in debates, monologues,

research, job interviews and a plethora of group activities. These are all mandated by schools and universities and there is no way out of it, so one has to make do. However, as an adult and a professional at a networking event, your motivation is no longer that you have to, but that you should because it will potentially pay unanticipated dividends to you career success.

Not everyone is a social butter� y, and for more withdrawn and reserved individuals, it can be extremely trying to successfully network with people at work events. You are in the midst of strangers, all seeking similarly self-interested outcomes, and your only value is whatever value you hold for the person that you are talking to. Following is a compilation of tips that may help you navigate successfully through a networking event.1. Use impersonal networking prior to

the event. The easiest way is to email the organisers to ask them a relevant question such as expected dress code, guest list or directions to the venue. This way, you have an excuse to start a conversation with the person who helped you once you get to the venue. You can also ask this person to introduce you to people.

2. Use networking sites to connect with guests before and after the event. If the event has a page on networking sites,

connect with other guests on the page with relevant discussion. After you have met them at the event, you may connect further through the site.

3. Research the people that you expect or hope to meet at the event. Google their names and their companies to learn more about them. When you speak with them, they will be impressed with how well in-formed you are. They will also be inter-ested in the conversation because people

love to talk about themselves. Make sure you do not research them so thoroughly that you come o� as a stalker.

4. Prepare some topics of discussion in advance that are relevant to your � eld. Search online and read up on current events that are relevant for discussion at the event. When discussing a topic, ask open-ended questions such as “What do you think of - ?” and “What are your thoughts on - ?”

5. Bring a wingman who can work as your own personal PR agent. Find someone you are comfortable with and more im-portantly someone who is relevant to the event, and you will not feel awkward or alone. Having someone you can count on is an instant con� dence boost. Additional-ly, you can network as a duo and manage

to slip in praises for one another. You can also meet people individually, and intro-duce each other to new acquaintances.

6. Arrive early, before people have already formed little conversation groups. This also allows you to � gure out the venue and possibly have a look at the guest list and make a mental note of people you must meet. This also allows you to wel-come people as they arrive, which is the easiest ice breaker.

7. There are two di� erent areas at any event – high tra� c areas and low tra� c areas. It is easier to strike up a conversation at high tra� c areas (such as washroom queue, bu� et table, balcony or terrace) but these conversations are shorter in length. For a longer conversation, target low tra� c areas.

8. When targeting groups, stand about an arm’s length away, listen to the conversa-tion and make eye contact with a friendly face. If you are invited into the conversa-tion, join in, and if not move on within a minute. If there are more than three peo-ple already in a group, everyone will not be equally included in the conversation. If there are just two people talking to one another, chances are they do not want a third person joining in.

9. Keep your � rst contact with people sim-ple. Make eye contact, smile, say hello, extend hand for a handshake and intro-duce yourself. Be the � rst to say hello in-stead of waiting for others to greet you.

10. Think positively and be friendly to everyone. All the friends that you have now were once strangers. Treat every-body you meet at the event as potential friends. They are there because they want to meet new people, so do not be afraid to walk up to a stranger and intro-duce yourself. l

All the friends that you have now were once strangers. Treat everybody you meet at the event as potential friends.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE Career4

Four hacks to expertly close a job interviewn Ahsan Sajid

In spite of the uniqueness of each position, all em-ployers use common prac-tices to select their number one candidate. Whether the job is to conduct a traf-� c survey or write copy, it is possible to ace a job inter-

view with the same tactics if you anticipate the interviewer’s expectations and play to it. Closing an interview well is paramount to its success – it is also the step a lot of people often miss. Use the following � ve hacks to close a job interview expertly.

Ask for a card: This is a basic, and chances are you probably will not have to ask for it. But in case you are not presented a card at the beginning of the interview, once it is over, ask for it before saying thank you and making your exit.

Make a follow up plan: Before leaving, make

sure you plant a seed for a follow up. Tell your interviewer how exciting you � nd the compa-ny and how it is in line with your vision for your career, adding that you’ll be in touch with them. This way when you do a follow up call or email, it will not be out of the blue.

Send a thank you note: The faster you fol-low up, the better the chances that they’ll remember you. However, you cannot exactly follow up regarding the interview the same day without coming o� as obstinate. It is bet-ter to email them a thank you note right after the interview. It might not make a big di� er-ence but it’ll de� nitely put you at the top of their mind.

Call back during early hours: Find out from the front desk what the company’s hours of operation are, and when you make a follow up call, make sure it’s right after your po-tential interviewer gets to work. Generally people make more positive decisions in the morning and it also shows that if you are hired, you will be a punctual employee. l

Jason Averbook @jasonaverbookJason Averbook is recognized as one of the top thought lead-ers in the space of HR and workforce tech-nology and currently holds an executive position with  Ap-

pirio—one of the fastest growing cloud pow-ered � rms in the world. Prior to Appirio, Jason was the chief executive o� cer of the company he co-founded Knowledge Infu-sion and held senior positions at both Peo-pleSoft and Ceridian Corporation.

Thus far, he has gained 20 years of inval-uable experience helping organisations re-solve common business problems through the use of technology solutions.

Jason has been a contributor to Inc., Busi-nessweek, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CIO Magazine, HR Executive Online, Talent Management Magazine, NPR, SHRM, IHRIM and other well-known publications. He has been named as one of the 10 World’s Most Powerful HR Technology Experts. l

Import-Export lingon Career Desk

Bill of lading (noun) – list of goods and shipping instruc-tions; waybillC&F (abbreviation) – cost and freight: includes shipping to named port but not insuranceCIF (abbreviation) – cost,

insurance and freight: includes insurance and shipping to named portCerti� cate of origin (noun) – a document that shows where goods come fromDeclare (verb) – to make a statement of taxa-ble goodsFreight (noun) – goods being transported; cargoLetter of credit (noun) – a letter from a bank authorizing a person to draw money from an-other bankPacking list (noun) – a document that is sent with goods to show that they have been checkedPro forma invoice (noun) – an invoice or request for payment sent in advance of goods suppliedQuay (noun) – a solid, arti� cial landing place for loading and unloading ships; wharf l

GraphicDesigner: I’ve been into art since I was a kid, and I’ve since moved to dig-ital media, and while I was in university I worked on a number of inter-university newsletters as an illustrator.

After university, I started working as a man-agement trainee like almost all of my friends. What I really want to do is graphic designing, but my only experience with it is university newsletters and nothing professional. What are the chances of me � nding a decent job as a graphics designer in Dhaka without much of a portfolio or job experience? I’m very good at what I do; I just don’t have any expe-rience to prove it right o� the bat.Mentor: Well, the world of such creatives in Bangladesh is divided into two, the semi skilled operators (with not much creative skill) and the creative graphic designers. The latter is as low in numbers as the number of jobs available. However, things are now gradually becoming better and you have animation companies such as Toon Bangla, and a number of � rms which take outsourced work. Ideally, people think of advertising as the place to be. I feel for someone who is creative, it is a place for su� ocation. You

should get into a � rm, learn the skills and make the connections, and get into freelancing. 

MastersHopeful: I did my undergrads in the country, and assumed with my grades it’d be easy to do my postgraduate work at a dream university in Canada. However, I realise that despite the grades, given my � -nancial situation it is not feasible right away. I have about two years set out to save for my postgrads, but some friends are suggesting if I do a Master’s here right now, it’ll be easi-er to get into my university of choice in two years. This doesn’t sound like the smartest idea, I need to know if there is any truth to this? I love being involved in academic work, and the thought of continuing right away in-stead of waiting two years is appealing, but I do not want to waste money or time.Mentor: It truly depends in what you plan to major in. Canadian universities have some tricky thing when it comes to masters, usually business grads need work experience in the subject he wants to major in, unlike their counterpart in the US. Work experience always helps when it comes to masters, however if you want to study a sub-ject that requires research (mainly scienti� c) then going directly for your masters is a good option.

ASK MENTOR

Email us at career@dhakatribune.com for your opinions, feedback and career-related queries.

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BIZVOCAB

Are you procrastinating?n Career Desk

Simply de� ned, procrastination is putting o� to-do things that one should be focusing on right now, usually in favour of doing some-thing that is more enjoyable or comfortable but not as important. Procrastination oc-curs when there is a signi� cant gap between when one intends to do a task, and when one actually does it.

If you have found yourself procrastinating, you’re not alone. Everyone procrastinates to some degree. However, some fall prey to a cycle of procrastination so unceasingly that it disrupts their life and career and gets in the

way of them ful� lling their potential.If you are honest with yourself, you

should already know if you’re procrastinat-ing or not. To be sure, check the following list of common procrastination habits and ask yourself if you are guilty of it.

Putting o� an unimportant task isn’t pro-crastination; it’s prioritisation. If you have a genuinely good reason to put something o� , you are probably not procrastinating.However, if you are simply making an ex-cuse, and you should know if you are, you are procrastinating and the more you do it, the more exponentially your to-do list isgoing to grow! l

Are you � lling out your entire day with easy, low-priority tasks from your listof things to do?

Do you have to read an email several times before starting work so you can � gure out what to do with them?

Do you feel the need to get some fresh air, stretch your legs and get a cup of co� ee a minute after you sit downwith a high priority task?

Are you intentionally avoiding look-ing at your to-do list even though you know you’ve left something important undone?

Are you getting sucked into unimportant conversations in real life, or online, or saying yes to unimportant tasks to � ll your time instead of attending to the important ones already on your list?

Are you simply waiting for the “mood” to strike?

CareerDHAKA TRIBUNE SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013 5

BANKABBANK | 2.95 | 32.60 | Vol. 2819065 D: 27.10 ⇑ 1.50% | 27.33 | 29.50 / 23.50 C: 27.40 ⇑ 2.24% | 27.44 | 28.90 / 25.00CITYBANK | 1.15 | 25.97 | Vol. 2501700 D: 20.60 ⇑ 1.98% | 20.54 | 21.50 / 18.00 C: 20.50 ⇑ 0.99% | 20.48 | 21.30 / 19.00IFIC | 1.10 | 18.34 | Vol. 6984986 D: 33.20 ⇑ 4.73% | 33.46 | 35.70 / 29.00 C: 33.40 ⇑ 5.36% | 33.45 | 35.50 / 30.90ISLAMIBANK | 3.78 | 27.16 | Vol. 1465356 D: 35.70 ⇑ 0.56% | 35.65 | 37.00 / 32.00 C: 35.60 ⇓ 0.28% | 35.67 | 36.80 / 35.10NBL | 1.05 | 15.76 | Vol. 11565711 D: 12.20 ⇑ 1.67% | 12.18 | 13.00 / 11.00 C: 12.20 ⇑ 0.83% | 12.15 | 12.80 / 11.00PUBALIBANK | 1.92 | 21.18 | Vol. 1944647 D: 32.30 ⇑ 3.86% | 32.32 | 33.10 / 28.00 C: 32.10 ⇑ 2.88% | 32.10 | 33.00 / 30.50RUPALIBANK | 6.70 | 64.27 | Vol. 198250 D: 65.40 ⇑ 2.67% | 64.84 | 67.00 / 61.00 C: 66.20 ⇑ 1.85% | 66.17 | 67.90 / 63.00UCBL | 1.90 | 21.72 | Vol. 12911761 D: 24.70 ⇑ 1.23% | 24.65 | 27.00 / 21.20 C: 24.70 ⇑ 1.23% | 24.66 | 25.90 / 23.00UTTARABANK | 3.42 | 26.97 | Vol. 2055553 D: 31.70 ⇑ 3.26% | 31.81 | 33.10 / 28.00 C: 31.60 ⇑ 2.60% | 31.60 | 32.80 / 29.80ICBIBANK | -1.60 | -13.03 | Vol. 4835800 D: 6.90 ⇑ 11.29% | 6.91 | 7.40 / 6.00EBL | 3.91 | 28.22 | Vol. 612013 D: 29.40 ⇑ 4.63% | 29.38 | 30.00 / 25.30 C: 28.70 ⇑ 3.24% | 28.72 | 29.00 / 26.70ALARABANK | 2.03 | 14.91 | Vol. 11496671 D: 19.60 ⇑ 4.26% | 19.51 | 20.90 / 16.90 C: 19.70 ⇑ 5.91% | 19.95 | 21.10 / 18.20PRIMEBANK | 2.89 | 22.40 | Vol. 3887259 D: 24.50 ⇑ 6.06% | 24.51 | 25.30 / 21.00 C: 24.50 ⇑ 6.99% | 24.50 | 24.80 / 21.00SOUTHEASTB | 1.89 | 22.66 | Vol. 4376620 D: 18.50 ⇑ 3.35% | 18.55 | 19.00 / 16.00 C: 18.60 ⇑ 4.49% | 18.47 | 18.80 / 17.10DHAKABANK | 1.46 | 18.08 | Vol. 835041 D: 19.10 ⇑ 1.60% | 19.03 | 20.00 / 16.80 C: 18.90 ⇑ 0.53% | 18.85 | 19.50 / 17.70NCCBANK | 1.90 | 15.88 | Vol. 3888955 D: 13.90 ⇑ 0.72% | 13.84 | 15.00 / 11.90 C: 13.90 ⇑ 1.46% | 13.88 | 15.00 / 13.00SIBL | 2.05 | 14.47 | Vol. 3436498 D: 13.50 ⇑ 1.50% | 13.55 | 15.00 / 11.60 C: 13.60 ⇑ 1.49% | 13.53 | 14.00 / 11.90DUTCHBANGL | 11.57 | 54.27 | Vol. 128150 D: 98.80 ⇑ 3.24% | 98.76 | 100.9 / 90.00MTBL | 1.17 | 17.27 | Vol. 202296 D: 15.80 ⇑ 1.28% | 15.85 | 16.60 / 14.50 C: 16.20 ⇑ 3.18% | 16.00 | 16.40 / 14.80STANDBANKL | 2.33 | 14.41 | Vol. 3017478 D: 15.20 ⇑ 2.70% | 15.13 | 16.00 / 13.20 C: 15.20 ⇑ 4.11% | 15.02 | 15.60 / 14.00ONEBANKLTD | 2.35 | 15.34 | Vol. 7144752 D: 16.70 ⇑ 3.73% | 16.70 | 18.00 / 14.40 C: 16.70 ⇑ 3.73% | 16.69 | 17.60 / 15.10BANKASIA | 1.35 | 20.80 | Vol. 1357621 D: 18.70 ⇑ 1.08% | 18.62 | 19.70 / 16.60 C: 18.80 ⇑ 0.53% | 18.80 | 19.20 / 17.80MERCANBANK | 2.07 | 16.59 | Vol. 11522664 D: 16.40 ⇑ 5.81% | 16.25 | 17.20 / 14.00 C: 16.30 ⇑ 5.16% | 16.15 | 17.40 / 14.90EXIMBANK | 1.80 | 14.31 | Vol. 4244900 D: 12.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 12.65 | 14.00 / 11.00 C: 12.80 ⇑ 1.59% | 12.73 | 13.50 / 11.00JAMUNABANK | 2.47 | 18.56 | Vol. 804077 D: 16.40 ⇑ 0.61% | 16.37 | 17.00 / 14.80 C: 16.10 ⇑ 1.90% | 16.10 | 16.60 / 15.00BRACBANK | 1.51 | 24.87 | Vol. 1308417 D: 31.70 ⇑ 3.26% | 31.64 | 32.40 / 28.00 C: 31.40 ⇑ 3.63% | 31.36 | 32.60 / 27.20SHAHJABANK | 2.61 | 14.47 | Vol. 2980918 D: 17.40 ⇑ 0.58% | 17.30 | 18.30 / 15.00 C: 17.40 ⇑ 1.75% | 17.11 | 18.50 / 15.80PREMIERBAN | 1.18 | 13.95 | Vol. 2866261 D: 11.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 11.56 | 12.20 / 10.10 C: 11.60 ⇑ 0.87% | 11.57 | 12.10 / 11.10TRUSTBANK | 0.50 | 18.00 | Vol. 4949248 D: 20.90 ⇑ 7.73% | 20.91 | 21.80 / 17.40 C: 21.20 ⇑ 9.28% | 21.12 | 21.70 / 18.50

FIRSTSBANK | 1.85 | 13.89 | Vol. 4685005 D: 15.40 ⇑ 1.32% | 15.40 | 17.20 / 13.40 C: 15.40 ⇑ 0.65% | 15.35 | 16.60 / 14.50

NON BANKING F IIDLC | 4.43 | 29.18 | Vol. 504706 D: 59.80 ⇓ 0.33% | 59.97 | 62.90 / 53.00 C: 60.40 ⇓ 0.33% | 60.29 | 62.30 / 56.00ULC | 1.80 | 14.90 | Vol. 726638 D: 28.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 28.95 | 31.20 / 26.00UTTARAFIN | 7.16 | 41.54 | Vol. 338506 D: 79.00 ⇑ 0.13% | 79.54 | 82.00 / 71.10 C: 79.90 ⇑ 1.27% | 80.31 | 81.90 / 76.80MIDASFIN | 0.16 | 10.21 | Vol. 21165 D: 29.30 ⇑ 1.03% | 29.33 | 30.00 / 27.50 C: 27.10 ⇓ 1.45% | 27.05 | 27.20 / 27.00FLEASEINT | 2.34 | 13.93 | Vol. 3159217 D: 29.30 ⇑ 1.74% | 29.27 | 30.90 / 26.00 C: 29.10 ⇑ 1.04% | 29.20 | 31.10 / 27.00PLFSL | 1.37 | 17.48 | Vol. 2235212 D: 23.20 ⇓ 0.85% | 23.28 | 25.00 / 21.00 C: 23.30 ⇓ 1.27% | 23.31 | 24.50 / 22.40PRIMEFIN | 0.87 | 17.88 | Vol. 832039 D: 24.00 ⇑ 1.27% | 24.14 | 25.50 / 22.50 C: 24.00 ⇑ 0.84% | 24.15 | 25.20 / 23.10PREMIERLEA | 0.10 | 11.37 | Vol. 539218 D: 10.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 10.02 | 10.20 / 9.10 C: 10.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 10.03 | 10.50 / 10.00ISLAMICFIN | 1.03 | 15.48 | Vol. 1577782 D: 16.30 ⇓ 1.21% | 16.43 | 17.50 / 14.90 C: 16.30 ⇓ 1.21% | 16.47 | 17.40 / 15.90LANKABAFIN | 1.61 | 31.07 | Vol. 1997750 D: 53.70 ⇑ 1.32% | 53.88 | 57.50 / 47.80 C: 53.60 ⇑ 0.94% | 53.84 | 56.80 / 51.20BIFC | 0.15 | 18.58 | Vol. 634446 D: 15.90 ⇓ 1.24% | 15.98 | 16.40 / 14.90 C: 15.80 ⇓ 2.47% | 15.93 | 16.70 / 15.00IPDC | 1.23 | 19.43 | Vol. 225027 D: 18.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 18.15 | 18.60 / 16.00 C: 18.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 18.30 | 18.30 / 17.10UNIONCAP | 0.54 | 17.85 | Vol. 169705 D: 28.40 ⇓ 0.35% | 28.37 | 29.90 / 26.00 C: 27.50 ⇓ 4.51% | 27.53 | 28.50 / 27.50BDFINANCE | 0.57 | 14.77 | Vol. 829167 D: 18.50 ⇑ 1.65% | 18.48 | 19.30 / 16.50 C: 18.30 ⇑ 0.55% | 18.31 | 19.00 / 17.00ILFSL | 0.35 | 12.19 | Vol. 1153826 D: 14.30 ⇓ 0.69% | 14.40 | 15.20 / 12.80 C: 14.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 14.51 | 15.40 / 12.80PHOENIXFIN | 2.46 | 19.39 | Vol. 1254179 D: 31.90 ⇑ 1.27% | 32.12 | 34.20 / 28.00 C: 32.20 ⇑ 2.55% | 32.18 | 34.00 / 30.00FASFIN | 0.19 | 13.56 | Vol. 1419691 D: 13.70 ⇓ 0.72% | 13.82 | 14.30 / 12.90 C: 13.80 ⇑ 0.73% | 13.85 | 14.60 / 13.00DBH | 4.47 | 21.27 | Vol. 183874 D: 54.30 ⇑ 1.50% | 54.35 | 55.00 / 48.00 C: 55.50 ⇑ 2.59% | 55.50 | 56.00 / 54.70NHFIL | 0.57 | 12.70 | Vol. 941927 D: 30.40 ⇑ 1.67% | 30.57 | 31.00 / 28.00 C: 30.50 ⇑ 1.33% | 30.57 | 31.00 / 29.00BAYLEASING | 0.72 | 25.55 | Vol. 508053 D: 28.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 28.33 | 30.00 / 25.00 C: 28.40 ⇓ 1.05% | 28.34 | 31.00 / 26.00ICB | 89.23 | 607.74 | Vol. 14400 D: 1499 ⇓ 1.20% | 1505 | 1529 / 1480 C: 1520 ⇑ 0.61% | 1520 | 1520 / 1500GSPFINANCE | 1.63 | 22.23 | Vol. 386371 D: 25.10 ⇓ 1.18% | 25.33 | 26.50 / 22.40 C: 25.50 ⇑ 0.39% | 25.43 | 26.10 / 24.20FAREASTFIN | 0.68 | 13.64 | Vol. 4482500 D: 14.20 ⇑ 2.16% | 14.26 | 14.80 / 13.50 C: 14.20 ⇑ 2.16% | 14.28 | 14.90 / 13.50

INVESTMENT1STICB | 75.63 | 942.30 | Vol. 450 D: 878.0 ⇑ 0.92% | 878.00 | 878.0 / 878.02NDICB | 44.10 | 253.11 | Vol. 1000 D: 272.0 ⇓ 1.38% | 272.00 | 272.0 / 265.03RDICB | 26.16 | 235.16 | Vol. 450 D: 190.4 ⇓ 2.46% | 191.11 | 192.0 / 190.05THICB | 23.45 | 188.92 | Vol. 2100 D: 150.0 ⇓ 3.29% | 150.00 | 150.1 / 146.56THICB | 10.99 | 60.14 | Vol. 46100 D: 53.00 ⇑ 0.38% | 53.00 | 54.00 / 51.508THICB | 12.47 | 70.07 | Vol. 29000 D: 53.80 ⇑ 1.51% | 53.78 | 55.00 / 52.50AIMS1STMF | 3.02 | 15.70 | Vol. 1139000 D: 38.70 ⇓ 0.51% | 38.69 | 39.90 / 37.70 C: 38.20 ⇓ 2.05% | 38.21 | 39.00 / 37.50

ICBISLAMIC | 2.21 | 26.81 | Vol. 147000 D: 18.00 ⇑ 0.56% | 18.00 | 18.50 / 17.40GRAMEEN1 | 6.26 | 33.23 | Vol. 562500 D: 43.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 43.27 | 44.80 / 42.00 C: 43.10 ⇓ 0.23% | 43.13 | 44.80 / 42.10ICB1STNRB | 4.06 | 35.31 | Vol. 21000 D: 25.30 ⇓ 2.69% | 25.30 | 26.00 / 25.20ICB2NDNRB | 2.49 | 16.24 | Vol. 576500 D: 9.80 ⇓ 1.01% | 9.84 | 10.10 / 9.70 C: 9.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 9.86 | 9.90 / 9.50GRAMEENS2 | 2.17 | 16.41 | Vol. 2034350 D: 16.00 ⇓ 1.23% | 16.14 | 16.70 / 14.50 C: 16.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 16.19 | 16.60 / 15.801STPRIMFMF | 0.64 | 11.63 | Vol. 2838000 D: 21.90 ⇑ 3.79% | 22.01 | 22.90 / 20.50 C: 22.00 ⇑ 3.77% | 22.30 | 23.00 / 19.10EBL1STMF | 0.55 | 12.62 | Vol. 1637284 D: 7.10 ⇑ 1.43% | 7.17 | 7.40 / 6.40 C: 7.10 ⇑ 1.43% | 7.10 | 7.30 / 6.80ICBAMCL2ND | 0.60 | 12.12 | Vol. 416500 D: 5.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.93 | 6.10 / 5.80 C: 5.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.90 | 6.00 / 5.90ICBEPMF1S1 | 0.52 | 11.32 | Vol. 333000 D: 5.90 ⇓ 1.67% | 5.98 | 6.10 / 5.90 C: 5.90 ⇓ 3.28% | 5.90 | 6.10 / 5.90TRUSTB1MF | 0.75 | 11.65 | Vol. 1902837 D: 7.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.40 | 7.80 / 6.70 C: 7.50 ⇑ 1.35% | 7.48 | 7.70 / 7.00PRIME1ICBA | 0.42 | 11.18 | Vol. 1001000 D: 5.60 ⇑ 3.70% | 5.63 | 6.00 / 5.20 C: 5.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.52 | 5.90 / 5.40DBH1STMF | -1.12 | 10.15 | Vol. 846500 D: 5.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.65 | 5.80 / 5.60 C: 5.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.57 | 5.80 / 5.50IFIC1STMF | 0.83 | 11.88 | Vol. 1215113 D: 6.70 ⇑ 3.08% | 6.74 | 6.90 / 6.00 C: 6.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.61 | 6.80 / 6.20PF1STMF | 0.51 | 11.11 | Vol. 696000 D: 5.50 ⇓ 1.79% | 5.57 | 5.80 / 5.50 C: 5.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.59 | 5.80 / 5.40ICB3RDNRB | 0.00 | 10.60 | Vol. 1007000 D: 5.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.33 | 5.40 / 5.10 C: 5.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.30 | 5.40 / 5.201JANATAMF | 0.78 | 10.68 | Vol. 589500 D: 6.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.00 | 6.10 / 5.90 C: 6.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.22 | 6.30 / 5.90GREENDELMF | -0.82 | 9.72 | Vol. 704000 D: 5.40 ⇑ 1.89% | 5.40 | 5.60 / 5.30 C: 5.50 ⇑ 1.85% | 5.45 | 5.50 / 5.30POPULAR1MF | 0.77 | 11.38 | Vol. 2274276 D: 6.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.11 | 6.60 / 5.50 C: 6.10 ⇓ 3.17% | 6.14 | 6.50 / 5.90IFILISLMF1 | 0.00 | 10.45 | Vol. 2287500 D: 5.70 ⇓ 1.72% | 5.78 | 6.10 / 5.60 C: 5.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.80 | 6.10 / 5.70PHPMF1 | 0.63 | 10.92 | Vol. 2362500 D: 5.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.67 | 5.80 / 5.50 C: 5.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.58 | 5.80 / 5.50AIBL1STIMF | -0.07 | 9.25 | Vol. 102500 D: 7.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.08 | 7.40 / 6.90 C: 6.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.81 | 6.90 / 6.50MBL1STMF | -0.16 | 9.08 | Vol. 355000 D: 6.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.27 | 6.30 / 6.00 C: 6.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.40 | 6.40 / 6.10SEBL1STMF | 0.94 | 11.85 | Vol. 1724200 D: 8.00 ⇑ 1.27% | 8.03 | 8.30 / 7.20 C: 8.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 8.08 | 8.20 / 7.90EBLNRBMF | 1.07 | 10.88 | Vol. 215000 D: 7.50 ⇑ 1.35% | 7.55 | 7.80 / 7.40RELIANCE1 | 0.95 | 10.33 | Vol. 1281700 D: 8.50 ⇓ 1.16% | 8.55 | 9.00 / 7.70 C: 8.50 ⇓ 3.41% | 8.52 | 8.80 / 8.40LRGLOBMF1 | 0.45 | 10.78 | Vol. 319500 D: 6.70 ⇓ 1.47% | 6.70 | 6.90 / 6.60 C: 6.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.70 | 6.70 / 6.70ABB1STMF | 0.92 | 10.63 | Vol. 1115728 D: 7.20 ⇓ 2.70% | 7.21 | 7.50 / 7.00 C: 7.40 ⇑ 1.37% | 7.40 | 7.80 / 7.40NLI1STMF | 1.17 | 12.22 | Vol. 3317750 D: 9.10 ⇑ 1.11% | 9.18 | 9.70 / 8.30 C: 9.10 ⇑ 1.11% | 9.10 | 9.40 / 8.90FBFIF | 1.30 | 10.27 | Vol. 22000 D: 8.90 ⇑ 1.14% | 8.91 | 9.20 / 8.40NCCBLMF1 | 1.16 | 10.48 | Vol. 71000 D: 8.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 8.25 | 8.60 / 8.10ICBSONALI1 | 0.00 | 10.39 | Vol. 1401500 D: 7.90 ⇓ 1.25% | 7.96 | 8.40 / 7.70 C: 8.00 ⇓ 1.23% | 7.98 | 8.30 / 7.70

EXIM1STMF | 0.00 | 10.91 | Vol. 52500 D: 7.80 ⇑ 1.30% | 7.88 | 8.00 / 7.80

ENGINEERINGAFTABAUTO | 4.03 | 56.91 | Vol. 2096800 D: 101.7 ⇓ 1.26% | 102.37 | 108.0 / 92.00 C: 101.6 ⇓ 1.17% | 102.39 | 103.9 / 100.0AZIZPIPES | 0.39 | -42.04 | Vol. 35350 D: 17.40 ⇑ 0.58% | 17.63 | 17.80 / 17.40 C: 17.80 ⇓ 1.66% | 17.80 | 18.30 / 16.90OLYMPIC | 5.23 | 14.73 | Vol. 959964 D: 152.6 ⇓ 0.78% | 153.00 | 156.3 / 140.0 C: 152.8 ⇓ 0.71% | 152.69 | 156.1 / 146.0BDLAMPS | -5.31 | 37.07 | Vol. 128198 D: 141.0 ⇑ 10.76% | 140.31 | 144.0 / 120.0 C: 140.2 ⇑ 6.45% | 140.53 | 142.8 / 124.5ECABLES | 2.04 | 18.87 | Vol. 320200 D: 84.90 ⇑ 6.13% | 84.97 | 87.90 / 80.80 C: 80.10 ⇑ 10.79% | 80.05 | 88.00 / 73.30MONNOSTAF | 5.31 | 44.78 | Vol. 7300 D: 315.9 ⇑ 2.66% | 316.47 | 329.0 / 296.0SINGERBD | 9.99 | 45.74 | Vol. 325934 D: 195.9 ⇑ 1.45% | 196.66 | 198.5 / 182.0 C: 193.2 ⇑ 0.10% | 193.90 | 197.6 / 188.0ATLASBANG | 9.14 | 222.05 | Vol. 85454 D: 163.2 ⇓ 2.39% | 162.63 | 165.0 / 146.0BDAUTOCA | -0.43 | 5.68 | Vol. 500550 D: 35.80 ⇑ 23.45% | 35.48 | 36.00 / 28.70QSMDRYCELL | 1.06 | 52.31 | Vol. 1007201 D: 35.50 ⇑ 1.14% | 35.54 | 37.00 / 32.00 C: 35.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 35.45 | 38.40 / 33.00RENWICKJA | 5.77 | -31.13 | Vol. 65700 D: 149.3 ⇑ 6.64% | 152.71 | 159.0 / 138.0NTLTUBES | 0.67 | 311.00 | Vol. 318864 D: 76.30 ⇑ 6.42% | 76.33 | 77.90 / 68.00BDTHAI | 0.43 | 39.35 | Vol. 1662892 D: 28.30 ⇑ 5.60% | 28.41 | 29.00 / 24.00 C: 28.40 ⇑ 5.19% | 28.44 | 29.10 / 25.70ANWARGALV | 0.52 | 8.10 | Vol. 1966000 D: 29.30 ⇑ 20.08% | 29.50 | 30.20 / 24.30 C: 30.10 ⇑ 22.86% | 29.65 | 30.60 / 24.30KAY&QUE | -3.89 | 6.03 | Vol. 46500 D: 15.60 ⇑ 1.30% | 15.60 | 16.00 / 14.60 C: 15.90 ⇑ 7.43% | 15.90 | 15.90 / 15.00RANFOUNDRY | 2.84 | 18.62 | Vol. 706000 D: 99.20 ⇑ 20.39% | 100.97 | 104.9 / 82.00 C: 98.50 ⇑ 28.42% | 101.65 | 110.0 / 83.50SALAMCRST | 3.31 | 20.00 | Vol. 1379160 D: 42.70 ⇓ 2.95% | 42.79 | 44.00 / 38.00 C: 42.80 ⇓ 2.51% | 42.94 | 45.40 / 37.90GOLDENSON | 3.70 | 28.70 | Vol. 2744714 D: 49.00 ⇓ 2.78% | 49.14 | 51.00 / 44.00 C: 49.00 ⇓ 2.97% | 49.09 | 52.00 / 47.00BSRMSTEEL | 3.06 | 19.53 | Vol. 1019394 D: 71.40 ⇓ 0.83% | 72.01 | 76.00 / 65.00 C: 71.30 ⇑ 0.28% | 71.39 | 76.00 / 68.00NAVANACNG | 4.09 | 27.04 | Vol. 474591 D: 65.90 ⇓ 2.51% | 66.60 | 69.50 / 60.00 C: 66.00 ⇓ 0.75% | 66.28 | 67.50 / 62.00DESHBANDHU | 0.26 | 10.67 | Vol. 2799750 D: 19.10 ⇑ 4.95% | 19.12 | 19.50 / 16.30 C: 19.10 ⇑ 3.80% | 19.08 | 19.40 / 17.50GPHISPAT | 2.11 | 15.27 | Vol. 2942690 D: 56.00 ⇓ 7.44% | 56.61 | 62.00 / 51.00 C: 56.20 ⇓ 6.80% | 56.66 | 61.00 / 53.90BENGALWTL | 3.85 | 24.30 | Vol. 9159400 D: 61.90 ⇑ 3.00% | 62.54 | 67.00 / 58.20 C: 62.00 ⇑ 3.33% | 62.55 | 66.80 / 58.40BDBUILDING | 1.33 | 12.70 | Vol. 8489000 D: 71.60 ⇑ 8.32% | 71.18 | 76.60 / 63.50 C: 71.70 ⇑ 8.14% | 71.31 | 76.50 / 63.60NPOLYMAR | 2.38 | 32.89 | Vol. 1818889 D: 61.80 ⇑ 11.96% | 63.25 | 64.50 / 54.00 C: 62.00 ⇑ 13.76% | 63.90 | 65.60 / 54.90

FOOD & ALLIEDAPEXFOODS | 2.54 | 90.81 | Vol. 273950 D: 95.00 ⇑ 8.70% | 96.10 | 97.80 / 85.70 C: 95.90 ⇑ 10.10% | 96.27 | 98.00 / 86.00BANGAS | 7.20 | 50.27 | Vol. 426357 D: 497.5 ⇑ 12.33% | 501.77 | 511.9 / 415.0 C: 496.0 ⇑ 12.55% | 500.33 | 510.0 / 441.1BATBC | 65.69 | 117.22 | Vol. 97150 D: 1702 ⇑ 2.46% | 1753 | 1757 / 1635GEMINISEA | -15.39 | -5.70 | Vol. 5100 D: 164.0 ⇑ 2.56% | 164.21 | 174.5 / 152.0NTC | 29.88 | 110.05 | Vol. 3000 D: 815.4 ⇑ 0.77% | 815.24 | 820.0 / 800.0 C: 815.0 ⇑ 0.83% | 815.00 | 815.0 / 815.0

ZEALBANGLA | -28.94 | -221.34 | Vol. 2100 D: 7.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.50 | 7.70 / 7.50AMCL(PRAN) | 6.85 | 57.14 | Vol. 414980 D: 198.8 ⇑ 9.35% | 202.86 | 207.8 / 179.3 C: 196.6 ⇑ 8.98% | 202.20 | 209.9 / 175.1SHYAMPSUG | -45.77 | -396.49 | Vol. 10900 D: 7.00 ⇑ 4.48% | 7.00 | 7.30 / 7.00RAHIMAFOOD | 0.52 | 4.45 | Vol. 4620650 D: 64.30 ⇑ 39.18% | 64.41 | 65.90 / 48.30 C: 64.60 ⇑ 38.92% | 64.39 | 66.00 / 49.00FUWANGFOOD | 0.94 | 12.28 | Vol. 2358635 D: 23.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 23.71 | 24.00 / 21.00 C: 23.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 23.66 | 24.00 / 22.50MEGHNAPET | -0.50 | -1.52 | Vol. 125000 D: 6.50 ⇓ 1.52% | 6.58 | 6.70 / 6.40MEGCONMILK | -7.48 | -23.70 | Vol. 123000 D: 7.20 ⇑ 1.41% | 7.18 | 7.40 / 7.10BEACHHATCH | 1.01 | 12.48 | Vol. 2296877 D: 21.50 ⇑ 1.90% | 21.57 | 23.00 / 19.00 C: 21.50 ⇑ 1.42% | 21.65 | 22.00 / 19.70FINEFOODS | 0.05 | 10.63 | Vol. 4512801 D: 21.70 ⇑ 16.04% | 22.33 | 23.20 / 18.30 C: 21.90 ⇑ 16.49% | 22.33 | 23.00 / 19.00RDFOOD | 0.91 | 16.84 | Vol. 3194532 D: 24.30 ⇑ 1.67% | 24.27 | 25.00 / 21.90 C: 24.10 ⇑ 0.84% | 24.23 | 24.70 / 22.80GHAIL | 2.31 | 24.36 | Vol. 4416450 D: 43.00 ⇓ 1.38% | 43.10 | 45.50 / 38.00 C: 43.10 ⇓ 1.15% | 43.21 | 45.60 / 41.00

FUEL & POWERLINDEBD | 31.71 | 144.00 | Vol. 37286 D: 632.9 ⇑ 1.82% | 632.99 | 635.0 / 600.0PADMAOIL | 27.62 | 79.74 | Vol. 983399 D: 317.7 ⇑ 1.18% | 320.51 | 330.0 / 298.0 C: 318.7 ⇑ 2.25% | 320.29 | 329.9 / 309.0EASTRNLUB | 5.33 | 71.01 | Vol. 2100 D: 324.3 ⇑ 4.58% | 323.75 | 338.0 / 308.0BDWELDING | 0.33 | 16.82 | Vol. 1727080 D: 22.00 ⇑ 0.92% | 22.18 | 23.00 / 19.90 C: 22.10 ⇑ 1.38% | 22.14 | 22.60 / 21.10SUMITPOWER | 3.17 | 19.26 | Vol. 3620124 D: 38.70 ⇓ 2.03% | 38.84 | 40.60 / 35.00 C: 38.70 ⇓ 1.28% | 38.87 | 40.60 / 37.00DESCO | 2.34 | 31.27 | Vol. 484469 D: 59.60 ⇓ 0.17% | 59.81 | 60.40 / 55.00 C: 60.30 ⇑ 1.01% | 60.45 | 63.60 / 54.00POWERGRID | 2.19 | 63.69 | Vol. 508726 D: 54.80 ⇓ 3.18% | 54.96 | 55.80 / 49.00 C: 54.10 ⇓ 4.08% | 54.23 | 57.00 / 52.00JAMUNAOIL | 19.83 | 57.32 | Vol. 2118871 D: 210.2 ⇓ 13.60% | 210.84 | 242.5 / 200.0 C: 209.1 ⇓ 13.99% | 210.57 | 246.0 / 208.4MPETROLEUM | 21.34 | 59.26 | Vol. 3983938 D: 225.1 ⇓ 20.26% | 227.12 | 238.5 / 210.0 C: 226.3 ⇓ 19.75% | 227.32 | 232.9 / 220.0TITASGAS | 9.20 | 46.26 | Vol. 1509478 D: 75.20 ⇑ 0.80% | 75.06 | 75.50 / 66.10 C: 75.20 ⇑ 0.67% | 74.88 | 75.50 / 72.50KPCL | 4.73 | 15.86 | Vol. 1113807 D: 49.40 ⇓ 1.40% | 49.55 | 51.40 / 44.00 C: 49.10 ⇓ 2.58% | 49.24 | 51.60 / 45.00BEDL | 1.48 | 19.43 | Vol. 4089940 D: 32.10 ⇓ 2.43% | 32.12 | 34.50 / 28.30 C: 32.20 ⇓ 2.13% | 32.18 | 34.00 / 29.50MJLBD | 2.73 | 30.24 | Vol. 534333 D: 75.60 ⇑ 3.56% | 75.13 | 77.00 / 66.00 C: 75.40 ⇑ 4.29% | 74.81 | 75.80 / 68.20GBBPOWER | 1.86 | 22.63 | Vol. 3498354 D: 29.00 ⇓ 1.69% | 29.20 | 30.50 / 26.00 C: 29.10 ⇓ 1.36% | 29.34 | 30.50 / 27.00SPPCL | 3.81 | 23.34 | Vol. 4358890 D: 61.20 ⇓ 2.86% | 61.36 | 64.30 / 55.00 C: 61.00 ⇓ 3.63% | 61.18 | 64.20 / 58.00

JUTEJUTESPINN | -48.14 | -39.89 | Vol. 45500 D: 85.70 ⇑ 7.39% | 85.21 | 86.00 / 77.10NORTHERN | -9.98 | -18.22 | Vol. 7000 D: 32.00 ⇑ 0.31% | 32.00 | 32.80 / 29.30SONALIANSH | 2.65 | 226.00 | Vol. 133680 D: 149.7 ⇑ 11.80% | 147.38 | 150.0 / 130.0

TEXTILEAL-HAJTEX | 2.22 | 16.53 | Vol. 574233 D: 79.70 ⇑ 9.48% | 79.17 | 80.60 / 65.00STYLECRAFT | 20.00 | 287.30 | Vol. 100 D: 1077 ⇓ 6.25% | 1077 | 1077 / 1077RAHIMTEXT | 4.65 | 56.68 | Vol. 11350 D: 250.6 ⇑ 13.19% | 246.29 | 251.5 / 224.0

6 DHAKA TRIBUNE Share SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE Share6

DSE Broad Index: 4277.39 ⇑ 1.10%, Turnover: 21434.86 M.Tk ⇓30.47%, PE: 13.16 Turnover: 24,222.20 MTk. ⇓29.86% 1-5 December 2013 MarketCap. 2,067.26 BTk. ⇑ 1.11% CSE All Share Index: 13241 ⇑ 1.10%, Turnover: 2787.89 M Tk. ⇓ 24.85%, PE: 12.92

Combined Turnover Leader Vol. TO M.

Tk.% of TTL Avg. P

Delta Life Insu. -A 7562540 2,209.39 9.12 292.15

Paramount Textile Ltd.-N 21224250 1,211.06 5.00 57.06

Meghna Petroleum -A 3983938 895.06 3.70 224.67

Generation Next Fashions-A 24519880 795.56 3.28 32.45

R. N. Spinning-A 21817203 790.46 3.26 36.23

DSE Gainer C % A % CP

Rahima Food -A 39.18 44.13 64.30

AramitCement-A 23.64 24.90 86.30

BD. Autocars -B 23.45 18.82 35.80

Rangpur Foundry-A 20.39 22.06 99.20

Anwar Galvanizing-B 0.08 20.36 29.30

DSE Loser C % A % CPMeghna Petroleum-A -20.26 -19.16 225.10

Jamuna Oil-A -13.60 -13.28 210.20

Dacca Dyeing-A -12.06 -11.98 24.80

Envoy Textiles Ltd-N -10.41 -10.89 55.10

GPH Ispat Ltd-A -7.44 -4.73 56.00

CompanyCode | EPS | BV | Volume Traded (Share)DSE/CSE: ClosePrice ⇓/⇑ Chn % | Avg.Price | Hi / Lo

ShareDHAKA TRIBUNE SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013 7ShareDHAKA TRIBUNE 7

DEC 01-05, 2013 Sectotal Index: BANK: 37,670.50 ⇑ 5.08% NBFI: 20,108.15 ⇑ 2.66% INVS: 4,796.07 ⇑ 1.01% ENGG: 6,359.78 ⇑ 3.14% FOOD: 10,013.85 ⇑ 3.10% F&P: 10,347.59 ⇑ 1.63% TEXT: 3,549.23 ⇑ 4.58% PHAR: 18,233.82 ⇑ 2.11% PAPR: 1,124.84 ⇑ 7.72% SERV: 3,036.77 ⇑ 2.00% LEAT: 5,332.73 ⇓ 0.42% CERA: 534.23 ⇑ 3.69% CMNT: 4,346.28 ⇑ 3.20% INFO: 7,514.36 ⇑ 2.85% GINS: 9,127.86 ⇓ 0.04% LINS: 122,294.16 ⇑ 2.79% TELC: 1,365.28 ⇑ 3.04% MISC: 6,538.04 ⇑ 1.90%

SAIHAMTEX | 2.75 | 29.50 | Vol. 1653900 D: 27.90 ⇓ 4.45% | 28.04 | 28.90 / 27.00 C: 28.00 ⇓ 4.11% | 28.17 | 29.00 / 27.00MODERNDYE | 0.91 | 10.37 | Vol. 18300 D: 101.1 ⇑ 9.06% | 102.33 | 109.9 / 95.00DSHGARME | 0.88 | 12.12 | Vol. 382400 D: 73.50 ⇑ 10.53% | 75.60 | 77.90 / 66.40DULAMIACOT | -1.90 | -29.70 | Vol. 26500 D: 7.80 ⇑ 2.63% | 7.76 | 8.00 / 7.30TALLUSPIN | 1.75 | 16.17 | Vol. 6999643 D: 38.20 ⇑ 5.52% | 37.85 | 38.70 / 32.50 C: 38.30 ⇑ 5.51% | 37.88 | 38.80 / 34.40APEXSPINN | 2.01 | 49.32 | Vol. 53000 D: 72.40 ⇑ 6.63% | 72.33 | 73.40 / 66.80 C: 73.00 ⇓ 9.77% | 73.00 | 73.00 / 73.00MITHUNKNIT | 2.87 | 20.53 | Vol. 885480 D: 83.00 ⇑ 14.96% | 82.80 | 85.00 / 70.50 C: 83.60 ⇑ 16.60% | 84.05 | 86.70 / 69.00DELTASPINN | 3.06 | 26.84 | Vol. 2055900 D: 30.00 ⇑ 0.67% | 29.85 | 30.70 / 26.50 C: 30.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 29.90 | 31.60 / 27.90SONARGAON | 0.27 | 34.50 | Vol. 760590 D: 17.90 ⇑ 1.13% | 17.93 | 18.20 / 16.50 C: 17.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 17.94 | 18.50 / 16.50PRIMETEX | 1.21 | 59.34 | Vol. 668000 D: 25.10 ⇑ 0.40% | 25.06 | 25.70 / 24.20 C: 25.20 ⇑ 0.80% | 25.18 | 25.50 / 24.40ALLTEX | -1.26 | 8.10 | Vol. 460000 D: 7.20 ⇓ 2.70% | 7.21 | 7.30 / 7.10 C: 7.20 ⇓ 1.37% | 7.23 | 7.50 / 7.10ANLIMAYARN | 1.36 | 11.99 | Vol. 1247530 D: 28.50 ⇑ 9.20% | 28.42 | 30.10 / 23.50 C: 28.70 ⇑ 10.38% | 28.49 | 29.00 / 25.70HRTEX | 2.08 | 14.92 | Vol. 1947350 D: 43.10 ⇑ 5.12% | 41.64 | 43.20 / 37.00 C: 43.40 ⇑ 5.85% | 41.75 | 43.50 / 37.20CMCKAMAL | 1.37 | 19.31 | Vol. 7101714 D: 32.10 ⇓ 4.18% | 32.24 | 35.00 / 29.00SAFKOSPINN | 0.95 | 21.78 | Vol. 1194078 D: 26.10 ⇑ 1.95% | 26.06 | 27.20 / 22.50 C: 26.20 ⇑ 1.95% | 26.14 | 27.40 / 24.50SQUARETEXT | 4.32 | 31.82 | Vol. 397532 D: 92.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 92.67 | 94.60 / 89.00 C: 92.40 ⇑ 0.11% | 92.62 | 94.90 / 91.20METROSPIN | 0.56 | 17.71 | Vol. 4129974 D: 20.90 ⇓ 5.43% | 21.07 | 22.10 / 20.00 C: 21.10 ⇓ 4.95% | 21.14 | 22.70 / 20.40MAKSONSPIN | 0.16 | 20.55 | Vol. 16699139 D: 19.20 ⇑ 2.13% | 19.11 | 20.00 / 16.40 C: 19.10 ⇑ 1.60% | 19.07 | 19.70 / 17.50DACCADYE | 0.93 | 25.85 | Vol. 2462258 D: 24.80 ⇓ 12.06% | 24.91 | 26.20 / 23.00 C: 24.80 ⇓ 12.37% | 24.70 | 26.00 / 24.10RNSPIN | 2.80 | 16.58 | Vol. 21817203 D: 35.90 ⇓ 3.23% | 36.09 | 38.10 / 32.00 C: 36.10 ⇓ 2.43% | 36.22 | 37.90 / 34.80BXSYNTH | 0.93 | 25.42 | Vol. 2093167 D: 16.50 ⇓ 4.07% | 16.63 | 17.50 / 15.00 C: 16.60 ⇓ 2.92% | 16.73 | 17.40 / 16.40MALEKSPIN | 2.81 | 43.48 | Vol. 5912750 D: 28.00 ⇓ 3.11% | 28.24 | 29.80 / 25.00 C: 28.20 ⇓ 2.42% | 28.33 | 29.70 / 25.00ZAHINTEX | 1.20 | 31.07 | Vol. 1009650 D: 26.80 ⇓ 1.47% | 26.82 | 28.70 / 25.00 C: 26.80 ⇓ 1.47% | 26.95 | 27.10 / 26.00SAIHAMCOT | 1.92 | 23.62 | Vol. 2658750 D: 23.90 ⇓ 5.16% | 24.01 | 25.00 / 23.30 C: 24.00 ⇓ 4.38% | 23.97 | 25.10 / 23.30GENNEXT | 1.68 | 15.15 | Vol. 24519880 D: 33.40 ⇑ 3.09% | 33.35 | 33.90 / 28.50 C: 33.50 ⇑ 4.04% | 33.39 | 34.10 / 29.70ENVOYTEX | 3.10 | 37.86 | Vol. 5755670 D: 55.10 ⇓ 10.41% | 54.60 | 59.50 / 48.50 C: 55.30 ⇓ 9.49% | 54.75 | 59.50 / 53.00ARGONDENIM | 1.89 | 38.86 | Vol. 6550035 D: 80.60 ⇑ 14.33% | 78.75 | 80.90 / 63.00 C: 81.20 ⇑ 14.04% | 78.27 | 81.80 / 67.90FAMILYTEX | 3.72 | 14.68 | Vol. 3728000 D: 53.00 ⇑ 1.34% | 53.22 | 54.60 / 48.10 C: 52.40 ⇑ 1.16% | 52.35 | 53.90 / 48.00PTL | 2.12 | 20.06 | Vol. 21224250 D: 63.10 ⇑ 12.48% | 61.13 | 63.20 / 49.80 C: 62.80 ⇑ 11.74% | 60.59 | 62.80 / 49.70

Pharmaceutical & ChemicalAMBEEPHA | 3.94 | 26.15 | Vol. 85916 D: 285.7 ⇑ 8.96% | 292.31 | 298.0 / 257.0 C: 284.0 ⇑ 10.94% | 289.00 | 295.0 / 266.0BXPHARMA | 3.77 | 52.55 | Vol. 1116156 D: 46.40 ⇓ 2.93% | 46.61 | 50.00 / 41.80 C: 46.50 ⇓ 1.90% | 46.51 | 48.70 / 43.00

GLAXOSMITH | 20.25 | 123.32 | Vol. 3000 D: 964.6 ⇓ 1.05% | 965.00 | 970.0 / 921.0ACI | -5.82 | 126.42 | Vol. 39242 D: 174.1 ⇑ 0.93% | 173.99 | 183.0 / 158.0 C: 171.0 ⇓ 0.58% | 171.00 | 175.0 / 166.2RENATA | 33.57 | 138.83 | Vol. 46859 D: 738.6 ⇑ 1.03% | 737.70 | 741.0 / 700.0RECKITTBEN | 27.16 | 78.89 | Vol. 700 D: 890.4 ⇑ 0.04% | 890.00 | 902.0 / 881.0PHARMAID | 1.39 | 26.19 | Vol. 350250 D: 181.3 ⇑ 13.60% | 177.03 | 181.3 / 156.6KOHINOOR | 11.46 | 15.99 | Vol. 3130 D: 348.7 ⇓ 1.77% | 348.45 | 350.0 / 340.0IBNSINA | 3.44 | 34.02 | Vol. 523196 D: 107.7 ⇑ 6.42% | 108.13 | 110.3 / 96.00 C: 107.2 ⇑ 5.51% | 109.73 | 111.1 / 100.4LIBRAINFU | 4.21 | 1567.59 | Vol. 10000 D: 456.7 ⇑ 17.10% | 456.88 | 470.0 / 410.0ORIONINFU | 1.27 | 7.00 | Vol. 592600 D: 41.70 ⇓ 0.48% | 41.73 | 43.50 / 38.60 C: 41.50 ⇓ 0.95% | 41.50 | 42.90 / 39.40SQURPHARMA | 6.93 | 37.18 | Vol. 2199503 D: 194.9 ⇑ 0.83% | 194.56 | 200.1 / 179.0 C: 195.0 ⇑ 1.30% | 194.79 | 196.0 / 188.0IMAMBUTTON | -1.51 | 4.16 | Vol. 88500 D: 7.20 ⇓ 4.00% | 7.29 | 7.60 / 7.00 C: 7.20 ⇓ 1.37% | 7.20 | 7.50 / 7.20KEYACOSMET | 1.55 | 21.54 | Vol. 5730116 D: 27.00 ⇓ 0.74% | 27.13 | 29.00 / 23.90 C: 27.00 ⇓ 1.46% | 27.01 | 28.10 / 24.00BERGERPBL | 32.46 | 100.20 | Vol. 5900 D: 835.0 ⇓ 1.42% | 835.00 | 859.0 / 825.0ACIFORMULA | 3.33 | 38.08 | Vol. 149070 D: 77.90 ⇑ 6.13% | 77.11 | 79.00 / 73.00 C: 78.00 ⇑ 5.69% | 77.56 | 79.00 / 73.00MARICO | 27.53 | 62.47 | Vol. 21400 D: 761.8 ⇑ 0.73% | 762.18 | 765.0 / 746.3BEACONPHAR | 0.04 | 12.01 | Vol. 1215400 D: 12.90 ⇓ 3.73% | 12.98 | 14.30 / 11.70 C: 13.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 13.03 | 13.40 / 11.90ACTIVEFINE | 3.23 | 13.89 | Vol. 1669251 D: 86.90 ⇑ 3.58% | 87.22 | 90.00 / 75.00 C: 86.20 ⇑ 4.11% | 86.78 | 88.00 / 81.00GHCL | 2.14 | 57.31 | Vol. 3206250 D: 58.50 ⇑ 5.60% | 58.55 | 62.00 / 54.90 C: 58.40 ⇑ 5.04% | 58.82 | 61.40 / 55.00ORIONPHARM | 5.02 | 68.68 | Vol. 5969945 D: 60.80 ⇓ 2.56% | 60.98 | 63.50 / 54.00 C: 60.80 ⇓ 2.41% | 60.91 | 63.80 / 55.00JMISMDL | 1.12 | 12.83 | Vol. 1330000 D: 225.8 ⇑ 19.03% | 226.53 | 232.0 / 190.0 C: 226.5 ⇑ 18.46% | 228.24 | 231.9 / 193.0CENTRALPHL | 1.62 | 12.24 | Vol. 11099175 D: 41.90 ⇓ 2.56% | 41.46 | 45.00 / 35.10 C: 42.00 ⇓ 2.10% | 41.68 | 44.20 / 37.90

PAPER & PACKAGINGHAKKANIPUL | 0.51 | 31.01 | Vol. 450000 D: 32.60 ⇑ 18.12% | 32.39 | 32.70 / 27.00 C: 33.30 ⇑ 16.43% | 32.52 | 33.30 / 27.40

SERVICESAMORITA | 2.49 | 57.42 | Vol. 444602 D: 99.80 ⇑ 9.91% | 100.42 | 105.0 / 88.30 C: 100.0 ⇑ 10.86% | 100.28 | 101.3 / 91.00SAPORTL | 1.23 | 38.39 | Vol. 2091884 D: 29.60 ⇓ 1.33% | 29.88 | 33.00 / 27.00 C: 29.70 ⇓ 0.67% | 29.93 | 31.00 / 29.00EHL | 2.81 | 18.44 | Vol. 3349733 D: 57.30 ⇑ 9.14% | 56.08 | 58.00 / 49.00 C: 57.20 ⇑ 8.95% | 56.29 | 58.00 / 48.00

LEATHERAPEXTANRY | 6.57 | 69.38 | Vol. 595950 D: 124.7 ⇑ 4.53% | 125.47 | 129.0 / 115.0 C: 124.7 ⇑ 4.97% | 125.68 | 133.3 / 115.1

BATASHOE | 49.12 | 135.53 | Vol. 70300 D: 726.2 ⇑ 0.28% | 726.72 | 747.0 / 719.9 C: 706.5 ⇓ 3.65% | 706.50 | 752.0 / 706.5APEXADELFT | 23.01 | 203.26 | Vol. 338810 D: 400.1 ⇑ 6.69% | 399.65 | 407.9 / 370.0 C: 400.0 ⇑ 2.56% | 401.00 | 405.0 / 400.0SAMATALETH | 0.22 | 12.93 | Vol. 89000 D: 16.70 ⇑ 19.29% | 16.75 | 16.80 / 14.00 C: 16.50 ⇑ 19.57% | 16.45 | 16.50 / 13.90LEGACYFOOT | 0.63 | 17.19 | Vol. 4038674 D: 43.00 ⇑ 17.17% | 43.59 | 44.50 / 35.00 C: 42.90 ⇑ 16.26% | 43.24 | 44.50 / 36.80

CERAMICMONNOCERA | 0.35 | 95.30 | Vol. 272350 D: 34.00 ⇑ 0.59% | 34.73 | 35.40 / 32.60 C: 34.00 ⇓ 0.29% | 35.24 | 35.80 / 32.60STANCERAM | 1.12 | 15.49 | Vol. 24020 D: 39.30 ⇑ 1.81% | 38.98 | 39.90 / 36.60 C: 37.50 ⇑ 0.54% | 37.50 | 37.50 / 35.30FUWANGCER | 0.65 | 12.70 | Vol. 10308373 D: 21.50 ⇑ 1.42% | 21.82 | 23.00 / 17.90 C: 21.70 ⇑ 1.88% | 22.05 | 22.90 / 19.20SPCERAMICS | 0.62 | 30.92 | Vol. 1849848 D: 18.10 ⇓ 4.23% | 18.25 | 19.50 / 16.40 C: 18.20 ⇓ 2.67% | 18.33 | 19.20 / 17.60RAKCERAMIC | 1.98 | 16.76 | Vol. 734137 D: 52.70 ⇑ 0.96% | 52.82 | 53.80 / 46.00 C: 52.60 ⇑ 0.96% | 52.59 | 53.80 / 50.00

CEMENTHEIDELBCEM | 22.85 | 111.50 | Vol. 210860 D: 386.3 ⇑ 0.91% | 386.17 | 394.0 / 375.1 C: 386.0 ⇓ 0.34% | 385.17 | 390.5 / 375.0CONFIDCEM | 6.23 | 90.76 | Vol. 589559 D: 123.6 ⇑ 1.90% | 124.35 | 126.5 / 117.0 C: 123.8 ⇑ 1.89% | 123.91 | 125.2 / 118.4MEGHNACEM | 6.28 | 33.81 | Vol. 281700 D: 128.9 ⇑ 4.88% | 129.02 | 132.0 / 122.1 C: 128.3 ⇑ 2.64% | 129.27 | 131.0 / 121.5ARAMITCEM | 3.03 | 14.65 | Vol. 1349425 D: 86.30 ⇑ 23.64% | 86.97 | 89.00 / 69.50 C: 87.00 ⇑ 24.11% | 87.00 | 87.00 / 70.10LAFSURCEML | 1.60 | 7.22 | Vol. 3239000 D: 32.90 ⇑ 0.92% | 33.14 | 33.80 / 32.20 C: 32.90 ⇑ 1.54% | 33.22 | 33.50 / 32.00MICEMENT | 4.48 | 37.67 | Vol. 568137 D: 82.80 ⇑ 0.24% | 83.35 | 87.00 / 74.00 C: 82.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 82.65 | 83.90 / 80.30PREMIERCEM | 5.00 | 32.60 | Vol. 772800 D: 101.7 ⇑ 1.90% | 102.61 | 106.4 / 96.50 C: 102.1 ⇑ 2.10% | 102.74 | 105.0 / 96.00

IT IINDUSTRIESISNLTD | 0.28 | 17.31 | Vol. 1065368 D: 18.90 ⇑ 10.53% | 19.10 | 19.50 / 16.00 C: 19.10 ⇑ 11.70% | 19.21 | 19.50 / 17.30BDCOM | 1.40 | 14.41 | Vol. 692218 D: 25.90 ⇓ 0.38% | 26.04 | 28.00 / 23.40 C: 26.30 ⇑ 4.37% | 25.81 | 26.50 / 23.50INTECH | 0.94 | 10.08 | Vol. 1202327 D: 16.30 ⇑ 4.49% | 16.40 | 16.80 / 14.20 C: 16.40 ⇑ 3.80% | 16.41 | 16.70 / 15.60AGNISYSL | 0.96 | 14.90 | Vol. 981384 D: 21.30 ⇓ 0.47% | 21.46 | 22.00 / 19.00 C: 21.30 ⇓ 1.84% | 21.39 | 21.70 / 20.00DAFODILCOM | 0.85 | 10.99 | Vol. 1311789 D: 13.50 ⇑ 1.50% | 13.56 | 14.50 / 13.20 C: 13.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 13.55 | 14.50 / 12.30

GENERAL INSURANCEBGIC | 1.65 | 20.33 | Vol. 197690 D: 29.50 ⇓ 1.01% | 29.85 | 30.10 / 27.00 C: 29.30 ⇓ 0.68% | 29.28 | 30.40 / 28.50

GREENDELT | 4.05 | 64.44 | Vol. 806758 D: 86.10 ⇑ 1.53% | 85.84 | 96.00 / 78.00 C: 84.50 ⇑ 0.24% | 84.56 | 96.00 / 84.50UNITEDINS | 2.47 | 21.04 | Vol. 28110 D: 45.50 ⇑ 5.32% | 46.00 | 46.30 / 41.50PEOPLESINS | 2.05 | 20.72 | Vol. 539114 D: 34.90 ⇓ 0.57% | 35.44 | 37.50 / 31.60 C: 34.90 ⇓ 0.29% | 35.13 | 36.00 / 33.00EASTERNINS | 2.22 | 35.88 | Vol. 70099 D: 37.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 37.91 | 38.80 / 34.50 C: 37.70 ⇓ 0.79% | 37.72 | 40.00 / 35.30JANATAINS | 0.78 | 17.07 | Vol. 476800 D: 27.50 ⇓ 1.43% | 27.59 | 28.70 / 25.50 C: 27.50 ⇓ 1.43% | 27.49 | 28.80 / 27.00PHENIXINS | 2.70 | 20.96 | Vol. 191686 D: 42.30 ⇑ 0.71% | 42.05 | 45.00 / 37.00 C: 42.50 ⇓ 2.75% | 38.44 | 42.50 / 40.40EASTLAND | 4.06 | 23.29 | Vol. 334182 D: 47.90 ⇑ 0.42% | 48.12 | 51.70 / 43.50 C: 48.10 ⇓ 3.22% | 48.06 | 49.00 / 47.80CENTRALINS | 1.54 | 19.04 | Vol. 74021 D: 29.20 ⇓ 0.68% | 29.27 | 30.30 / 26.80 C: 29.20 ⇑ 0.69% | 26.30 | 29.20 / 29.10KARNAPHULI | 1.56 | 19.42 | Vol. 190776 D: 24.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 24.05 | 25.20 / 22.00RUPALIINS | 2.76 | 23.38 | Vol. 344983 D: 33.30 ⇓ 1.48% | 33.48 | 34.90 / 31.80 C: 34.70 ⇑ 3.27% | 33.39 | 34.70 / 32.50FEDERALINS | 1.10 | 10.98 | Vol. 634157 D: 24.20 ⇓ 1.63% | 24.30 | 25.90 / 22.00 C: 24.30 ⇓ 0.41% | 24.23 | 25.50 / 23.50RELIANCINS | 3.93 | 61.52 | Vol. 13357 D: 72.50 ⇑ 3.57% | 69.90 | 73.90 / 69.00PURABIGEN | 1.05 | 18.71 | Vol. 614516 D: 23.50 ⇓ 0.42% | 23.53 | 24.20 / 22.00PRAGATIINS | 2.01 | 50.30 | Vol. 32771 D: 57.00 ⇓ 1.21% | 57.13 | 59.50 / 55.00 C: 56.00 ⇓ 8.05% | 56.00 | 56.00 / 56.00PRIMEINSUR | 2.14 | 14.14 | Vol. 212604 D: 32.00 ⇓ 0.31% | 31.99 | 32.90 / 30.00 C: 31.00 ⇓ 7.74% | 31.00 | 31.00 / 31.00PIONEERINS | 3.11 | 23.84 | Vol. 328420 D: 67.00 ⇓ 0.30% | 67.17 | 70.80 / 63.00 C: 65.00 ⇓ 7.14% | 65.00 | 65.00 / 65.00MERCINS | 1.53 | 14.50 | Vol. 300368 D: 26.90 ⇓ 1.47% | 27.08 | 28.60 / 24.50 C: 28.40 ⇑ 1.43% | 28.22 | 28.40 / 25.70AGRANINS | 1.73 | 14.39 | Vol. 250642 D: 26.90 ⇓ 1.10% | 27.03 | 29.00 / 24.30GLOBALINS | 1.09 | 11.78 | Vol. 145185 D: 28.20 ⇑ 0.71% | 28.28 | 29.00 / 25.90NITOLINS | 2.59 | 15.41 | Vol. 66085 D: 34.30 ⇑ 1.18% | 34.37 | 35.00 / 32.50 C: 37.00 ⇑ 5.71% | 37.00 | 37.00 / 35.00ASIAPACINS | 1.84 | 13.76 | Vol. 202750 D: 29.70 ⇓ 2.62% | 29.84 | 31.10 / 28.00 C: 29.90 ⇓ 4.47% | 29.20 | 29.90 / 28.50SONARBAINS | 1.68 | 13.38 | Vol. 395881 D: 24.20 ⇓ 1.63% | 24.34 | 26.00 / 22.00 C: 24.40 ⇑ 1.67% | 24.40 | 24.40 / 24.40PARAMOUNT | 1.26 | 13.19 | Vol. 183579 D: 24.00 ⇓ 2.83% | 24.20 | 25.50 / 22.00 C: 26.70 ⇑ 9.88% | 26.70 | 26.80 / 23.70CITYGENINS | 1.65 | 14.26 | Vol. 468912 D: 27.30 ⇓ 2.50% | 27.17 | 28.20 / 24.90 C: 27.50 ⇓ 2.48% | 27.15 | 28.90 / 26.80CONTININS | 1.41 | 15.68 | Vol. 454835 D: 29.40 ⇓ 1.67% | 29.43 | 30.90 / 27.50 C: 29.80 ⇓ 0.67% | 29.76 | 31.00 / 29.00TAKAFULINS | 2.19 | 15.17 | Vol. 713201 D: 38.30 ⇓ 0.78% | 38.56 | 40.00 / 35.00 C: 38.50 ⇓ 1.28% | 38.45 | 39.90 / 36.00STANDARINS | 2.58 | 13.99 | Vol. 166668 D: 40.90 ⇓ 0.24% | 39.96 | 42.90 / 37.00 C: 40.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 38.00 | 40.00 / 40.00NORTHRNINS | 1.77 | 11.15 | Vol. 147175 D: 41.20 ⇓ 1.20% | 41.20 | 45.00 / 37.50 C: 41.50 ⇑ 0.48% | 43.57 | 44.60 / 40.40REPUBLIC | 2.14 | 12.42 | Vol. 399763 D: 42.10 ⇓ 0.94% | 42.27 | 44.00 / 38.50 C: 42.20 ⇓ 0.71% | 41.84 | 43.00 / 41.00ASIAINS | 1.56 | 17.34 | Vol. 165685 D: 27.20 ⇓ 0.37% | 27.39 | 28.30 / 24.50 C: 27.20 ⇓ 1.45% | 27.15 | 28.10 / 26.00ISLAMIINS | 1.29 | 11.96 | Vol. 142725 D: 33.30 ⇑ 0.30% | 33.43 | 36.00 / 30.00 C: 33.00 ⇑ 1.23% | 33.00 | 33.00 / 33.00PROVATIINS | 1.90 | 14.30 | Vol. 322759 D: 28.20 ⇓ 0.35% | 28.35 | 31.00 / 26.00 C: 28.50 ⇑ 0.71% | 28.50 | 29.50 / 27.30

DHAKAINS | 2.84 | 18.02 | Vol. 351350 D: 40.80 ⇓ 0.97% | 40.73 | 42.70 / 37.00 C: 40.80 ⇓ 0.73% | 40.80 | 43.30 / 39.90

LIFE INSURANCENATLIFEINS | 12.34 | 80.99 | Vol. 57824 D: 264.5 ⇑ 6.83% | 263.66 | 269.0 / 245.0 C: 260.0 ⇑ 4.00% | 260.00 | 265.0 / 248.0DELTALIFE | 38.53 | 189.40 | Vol. 7562540 D: 289.4 ⇑ 9.83% | 292.83 | 313.0 / 259.8 C: 290.1 ⇑ 8.77% | 292.65 | 313.4 / 260.0SANDHANINS | 2.39 | 28.22 | Vol. 279990 D: 72.60 ⇑ 2.98% | 73.16 | 75.90 / 65.00 C: 72.60 ⇑ 1.26% | 72.60 | 75.60 / 68.00POPULARLIF | 3.70 | 715.41 | Vol. 90736 D: 230.9 ⇑ 0.35% | 230.54 | 248.0 / 217.0 C: 225.0 ⇓ 9.27% | 225.00 | 246.1 / 225.0FAREASTLIF | 9.21 | 60.79 | Vol. 306473 D: 100.2 ⇑ 1.73% | 101.43 | 105.9 / 88.00 C: 98.10 ⇓ 0.10% | 98.11 | 108.1 / 95.00MEGHNALIFE | 10.82 | 48.87 | Vol. 327640 D: 111.2 ⇑ 3.83% | 112.04 | 114.8 / 100.0 C: 109.0 ⇑ 1.87% | 109.00 | 113.0 / 105.0PROGRESLIF | 2.30 | 31.45 | Vol. 54023 D: 115.4 ⇑ 3.87% | 115.63 | 128.0 / 105.0 C: 115.6 ⇑ 21.56% | 115.60 | 130.0 / 110.1PRAGATILIF | 0.60 | 30.15 | Vol. 141379 D: 155.4 ⇓ 3.90% | 155.59 | 176.9 / 145.0PRIMELIFE | 5.51 | 27.10 | Vol. 98057 D: 100.1 ⇑ 3.84% | 101.10 | 105.0 / 90.00 C: 100.0 ⇓ 3.75% | 100.00 | 100.0 / 94.00RUPALILIFE | 3.75 | 31.25 | Vol. 653300 D: 113.8 ⇑ 11.02% | 114.62 | 123.0 / 92.50 C: 112.4 ⇑ 7.05% | 112.20 | 122.0 / 101.1PADMALIFE | 1.63 | 25.76 | Vol. 2168420 D: 65.40 ⇑ 13.94% | 66.64 | 72.80 / 51.90 C: 65.40 ⇑ 13.94% | 66.72 | 69.30 / 57.00SUNLIFEINS | 0.00 | 0.00 | Vol. 2198600 D: 61.00 ⇑ 9.32% | 61.27 | 64.50 / 50.00 C: 60.60 ⇑ 9.19% | 60.91 | 65.00 / 54.60

TELECOMGP | 12.96 | 26.26 | Vol. 1933000 D: 206.4 ⇑ 1.57% | 205.82 | 208.1 / 199.5 C: 206.3 ⇑ 2.03% | 205.51 | 208.2 / 199.6BSCCL | 5.82 | 26.38 | Vol. 1300074 D: 173.7 ⇑ 1.64% | 174.67 | 180.1 / 155.0 C: 173.2 ⇑ 2.12% | 175.03 | 184.8 / 155.0

Travel & LeisureUNITEDAIR | 1.10 | 12.87 | Vol. 16724388 D: 16.50 ⇓ 2.37% | 16.61 | 17.30 / 14.80 C: 16.60 ⇓ 1.78% | 16.64 | 17.40 / 15.30UNIQUEHRL | 4.02 | 86.29 | Vol. 2308868 D: 81.70 ⇓ 2.97% | 82.28 | 84.50 / 74.00 C: 81.80 ⇓ 2.73% | 82.12 | 84.50 / 81.00

MISCELLANEOUSARAMIT | 16.07 | 99.93 | Vol. 28700 D: 342.8 ⇑ 1.39% | 352.27 | 369.9 / 333.0 C: 327.0 ⇑ 2.19% | 327.00 | 327.0 / 310.0BSC | 1.77 | 565.82 | Vol. 292480 D: 441.5 ⇑ 2.14% | 444.12 | 450.0 / 426.0 C: 442.3 ⇑ 2.50% | 443.60 | 453.0 / 425.0GQBALLPEN | 6.55 | 250.45 | Vol. 292570 D: 152.1 ⇑ 7.64% | 149.46 | 152.9 / 132.0 C: 152.5 ⇑ 8.23% | 150.45 | 153.8 / 138.5USMANIAGL | 3.45 | 27.20 | Vol. 347002 D: 138.5 ⇑ 7.53% | 139.25 | 141.7 / 124.0 C: 138.7 ⇑ 9.90% | 139.33 | 140.9 / 127.0SAVAREFR | 0.14 | 10.57 | Vol. 3850 D: 60.50 ⇑ 4.49% | 60.00 | 61.90 / 53.20BEXIMCO | 3.24 | 86.74 | Vol. 7716531 D: 33.40 ⇓ 3.47% | 33.56 | 36.00 / 29.70 C: 33.50 ⇓ 2.33% | 33.60 | 35.50 / 31.00SINOBANGLA | 1.75 | 21.01 | Vol. 630500 D: 22.40 ⇑ 2.75% | 22.39 | 22.60 / 21.10 C: 22.60 ⇑ 3.67% | 22.55 | 22.80 / 21.20MIRACLEIND | 0.09 | 14.41 | Vol. 1875657 D: 17.10 ⇑ 11.76% | 17.07 | 17.60 / 15.00 C: 17.30 ⇑ 11.61% | 17.18 | 17.90 / 15.20

BONDIBBLPBOND | 0.00 | 1000.00 | Vol. 985 D: 986.0 ⇑ 0.38% | 985.71 | 990.0 / 970.3 C: 1002 ⇑ 0.20% | 1002 | 1004 / 1000ACIZCBOND | 0.00 | 1000.00 | Vol. 1104 D: 882.0 ⇑ 0.23% | 888.89 | 890.0 / 880.0 C: 880.0 ⇑ 0.00% | 880.00 | 900.0 / 880.0BRACSCBOND | 0.00 | 0.00 | Vol. 10 D: 1010 ⇑ 1.00% | 1000 | 1020 / 1000

8 SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE Business

Trade pact deadline in doubt as talks start in Singaporen AFP, Singapore

Trade ministers from the United States and 11 other countries opened talks yesterday in an attempt to meet a US deadline to forge a trans-Paci� c trade pact before the end of the year.

However, analysts said an agreement on the proposed Trans-Paci� c Partnership (TPP) was unlikely to be reached during the four-day meeting, and activists slammed the US for its “manipulative” tactics in a bid to get a deal done.

The TPP is being negotiated by 12 nations - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singa-pore, the United States and Vietnam - that to-gether make up 40% of the global economy.

Washington has spearheaded the secre-tive talks, which have been denounced by non-government groups for their alleged lack of transparency.

The ministers, who arrived in Singapore from the just-concluded World Trade Organ-ization talks in Bali, did not issue any state-ment as they began the meeting.

President Barack Obama has hailed the TPP as a centrepiece of renewed US engage-ment in Asia, saying it contains market-open-ing commitments that go well beyond those made in other free-trade accords.

But the complexity of the issues has al-ready caused negotiators to miss the original 2012 deadline set by Obama to reach a deal, with the new target also looking unlikely.

“They aren’t very far away from a deal but my own guess is that they are more likely to conclude around March,” said Deborah K. Elms, a specialist on the TPP at the S Rajarat-

nam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.

She said that the year-end deadline had already “looked problematic for months” as di� erences remained.

Elms, however, said there was a “very slim chance” that the ministers might an-nounce a “political agreement”.

“This means that they take the photo-graphs in Singapore ... and announce a deal and then � nish up the hard parts later,” said Elms, head of the Temasek Foundation Cen-tre for Trade and Negotiations at RSIS.

“But this strategy seems a bit risky to me, as it means that they really have to sort out the last remaining tough spots and do it rath-er hastily afterwards.”

US Vice President Joe Biden, who is in South Korea on the � nal leg of a Northeast Asia tour, said that more work would be needed to secure a deal before the year-end deadline.

“We have to end the bureaucratic hurdles that close o� trading in key sector trading like autos and agriculture,” said Biden, who also welcomed South Korea’s interest in join-ing the TPP talks.

“We have to agree on � nal regulations that allow � nancial institutions to operate fully.”

While in Japan on Tuesday, Biden pushed Tokyo to step up e� orts to open its auto and farm markets.

Foreign automakers have long com-plained that Japanese authorities erect huge barriers to its lucrative market and Tokyo has insisted it will never lift all tari� s on sensi-tive farm products amid strong domestic op-position to opening up the sector.

TPP negotiators have also been divided

over patent issues, in particular on medi-cines.

US negotiators, backed by the powerful pharmaceuticals industry, want drug compa-nies to extend patent protection beyond the typical 20-year limit.

Drug � rms say this is necessary to allow them to recover investments and continue research for fresh cures.

But activist groups like humanitari-an organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) say such patent protection would restrict access to cheaper generic drugs for millions of poor people.

Negotiators are ironing out kinks over a provision that allows companies in any of the TPP countries to bid for governmentprocurement contracts within the trade grouping.

There are also disagreements over textiles as well as on the treatment of state-owned enterprises deemed to have an undue advan-tage over private � rms, analysts said.

Activists monitoring the talks criticised the US for its negotiating tactics.

Nobuhiko Suto, a Japanese former MP from the opposition DPJ party, said the US was breaking the rules by holding parallel talks with individual countries on issues that should be discussed multilaterally.

“The US acts as if it knows everything,” he told reporters at a press brie� ng on the side-lines of the talks.

Jane Kelsey, a law professor at the Uni-versity of Auckland, called the talks a “very manipulative process because it marginalis-es those that are potential critics and makes it harder for them to continue rejecting com-promised deals”. l

Trade ministers and representatives attend the Trans-Paci� c Partnership (TPP) Ministerial Meeting in Singapore on December AFP

No fear of ‘Mandela crash’ for Africa’s largest economyn AFP, Johannesburg

Economists slapped down speculation that Nelson Mandela’s death could prompt an economic and � nancial slump in South Afri-ca, but warned the gains he inspired remain fragile.

Analysts pointed to a strong showing by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Fri-day and the rand despite news of his death, dismissing doomsayers who predicted the 95-year-old’s demise would spark a crisis.

The JSE All Share index was up around one percent and the rand rose against the dollar by almost the same amount.

“The lack of reaction in ZAR (rand) today has been notable - the Zimbabwe scenario doomsayers have been silent so far,” said Pe-ter Attard Montalto of Japanese bank Nomu-ra. “However, there is a disturbing minority in the South African � nance community who push this line.”

Still, Mandela’s death prompted some introspection about his role in shaping the economy and its direction.

“Mandela’s role in the political develop-ment of South Africa is unquestionable,” said Shilan Shah, Africa Economist with Cap-ital Economics.

“Signi� cant economic progress was also made under his leadership. However, this is now in danger of being undone.”

Mandela’s boosters say he provided a sta-ble political platform for the South African economy to recover from years of economic sanctions, while involving black workers.

He also rebuilt institutions riddled with nepotism, which for decades employed white workers regardless of their skill.

“Between 1980 and 1993, real GDP growth averaged 1.4% per annum. Between 1994 and 2012, average growth has risen to 3.3%,” said Shah. But twenty years after the end of apartheid South Africa remains one of the most unequal places on earth. The economy is growing far too slowly to bring down un-employment, which stands at around 25%.

Some blame Mandela’s administration for sowing the seeds for today’s problems, particularly corruption and mismanagement on the part of the ANC government. Critics say Mandela was too eager to promote an-ti-apartheid allies to positions of power, de-spite shortcomings.

“Did he have weaknesses? Of course he did,” said friend, archbishop emeritus Des-mond Tutu Friday.

“Among them his steadfast loyalty to his organisation, and to some of his colleagues who ultimately let him down. (He) retained in his cabinet, underperforming, frankly in-competent ministers.”

Attard Montalto also questioned Mande-la’s decision to “create a cadre of rich black empowerment businessmen who were not in-dustrialists or really (if we are honest) job crea-tors.” The drive to rebalance white dominance of the economy remains highly controversial.

And his embrace of labour may have led to a governing alliance between the ANC, unions led by COSATU and the South African Communist party, which while creating sta-bility, seems to have made serious economic reform all but impossible. l