PAGE 4Freedom � ghter’s suicide probe in limbo

PAGE 5Cocaine haul accused on � ve-day fresh remand

PAGE 7Advance train ticket sale begins

PAGE 3SC: Form new medical board for Mirza Fakhrul

PAGE 32Congress too for citizenship of Bangladeshis in India

SECOND EDITION

ENERGY DIVISION PLANS TWO NEW LNG TERMINALS PAGE 3

BANGLADESH RANKS 86TH IN CRI INDEX PAGE 32

NBR TO HONOUR 119 TOP VAT PAYERS PAGE 20

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015 | Ashar 25, 1422, Ramadan 22, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 88 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages plus 24-page Weekend | Price: Tk10

Muhith: Graft eats up GDP’s 2-3%n Tribune Report

Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said corruption swallows 2 to 3% of the country’s total GDP (gross domestic product) while po-litical unrest 1%.

“So, corruption and political unrest im-pede the economic growth of the country,” said the minister while delivering his speech at a meeting with development partners at the NEC yesterday.

According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statis-tics, the country’s GDP size is more than Tk-15tn. The � nance minister’s estimate means that Bangladesh is losing Tk450bn yearly due to corruption and Tk150bn for political unrest.

The � nance minister recently came up

with his strong voice against corruption as in the parliament a few weeks back he said the government failed to take action against the Hallmark loan scamsters because of opposi-tion from the ruling Awami League.

In sharp contrast, Muhith in 2012 was strongly criticised for his comment that the Hallmark loan scam was not a big deal as the amount is only 10% of the total credit dis-bursement of the year.

Hallmark borrowed Tk35bn from Sonali Bank providing fake documents between 2010 and 2012 – the biggest ever credit scandal in the country that rocked the � nancial market.

The AL-led alliance government’s immedi-ate past 5-year tenure was marked by number

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Rumour comes truen Shohel Mamun and

Abu Hayat Mahmud

LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam was relieved of his duties and made a minister without portfolio yesterday, after three days of rumours over his position in the council of ministers.

The Cabinet Division made the disclosure in a gazette noti� cation yesterday afternoon.

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Em-ployment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hos-sain has been given the LGRD Ministry as an additional charge.

Also general secretary of the ruling Awami League, Syed Ashraf had been serving as the LGRD minister since the party came to power in 2009. The same year he was made the par-ty’s general secretary. He retained his position after the party returned to power last year.

When contacted repeatedly, Syed Ashraf did not respond to calls and SMSs.

Sources said that he went to the Prime Minister’s O� ce yesterday afternoon to meet party chief Sheikh Hasina. Ashraf stayed there for around an hour. The gazette was published nearly two hours after he had left the PMO.

It could not be con� rmed whether Syed Ashraf, son of national leader Syed Nazrul Is-lam, wanted to resign or he was removed by the premier over his absence from Tuesday’s Ecnec meeting.

In the afternoon, he joined an iftar par-ty hosted by the Jubo League, youth wing of the ruling Awami League, at its city o� ce

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Ashraf’s removal embarrassing for governmentn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The decision to relieve Syed Ashraful Islam of the duties of the LGRD Ministry and making him a minister without portfolio was made to engage Ashraf more in party activities, Awami League insiders have said.

Political analysts, however, have opined that yesterday’s move has proved to be em-barrassing for the government and shown that the cabinet was not cohesive.

A senior Awami League leader told the Dhaka Tribune that Syed Ashraf held a one-on-one meeting with Sheikh Hasina at her o� ce yesterday, shortly before the announce-ment was made regarding his removal.

On condition of anonymity, the leader said the decision came following that meeting, adding: “Ashraf was reassigned to give more time to strengthen the party.”

Hours after his removal, Ashraf – the in-cumbent general secretary of the Awami League – attended an iftar party hosted by Jubo League at Bangabandhu Avenue.

He was seen smiling throughout the event and appeared to be in a relaxed mood. When approached by reporters, he however refused to comment on the latest developments.

Political commentator’s viewsAtaur Rahman, a political scientist, said ministers of a democratic country are usu-ally removed for three di� erent reasons:

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Proteas to test Tigers’ resolve

n Minhaz Uddin Khan

With the aim of continuing their recent surge in 50-over cricket, Bangladesh will lock horns with South Africa today in the � rst of three one-day internationals at Sher-e-Bangla Na-tional Stadium. The Tigers’ primary goal, however, will be to not repeat the mistakes they had committed in the 2-0 series loss in

the Twenty20 internationals.The hosts will also have another goal in

mind when they shift their gears from the shortest format to their favourite one. Despite back-to-back series wins against India and Pa-kistan, the Tigers’ Champions Trophy berth became uncertain following the impromptu announcement of a tri-series involving hosts Zimbabwe, the West Indies and Pakistan. The Tigers therefore, will be desperate to register a positive performance against the Proteas and achieve quali� cation.

With 93 rating points, Bangladesh current-ly sit at seventh in the International Cricket Council’s ODI rankings and require one vic-tory to retain or improve on their pre-series

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Biman o� ers reduced fare on Eid n Tribune Report

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has reduced fare by Tk200 to Tk500 for di� erent domestic routes on the occasion of Eid ul-� tr.

The o� er will remain valid until July 31, said a statement from the national airlines yesterday.

Many choose air travel to reach home to celebrate Eid-ul-� tr with near and dear ones.

Considering the increased number of passen-gers during the biggest Muslim festival, the state-run airlines decided to operate special � ights to Jessore, Rajshahi and Syedpur routes from July 15. Biman said passengers would also enjoy re-duced fares up to Tk1,000 on return � ights.

The airlines also o� ers Tk2,000 fare in Syl-het-Dhaka BG-607 � ight Tuesdays and Thurs-days and Tk2,500 in Sylhet-Dhaka BG-605 � ight Saturdays. l

Ashraf’s removal embarrassing for governmentperformance, policy di� erences, or scandals.

“But I do not think that Syed Ashraf was re-moved for performance, because there are some other ministers who have performed worse than Ashraf. The other point is that Ashraf does not have any scandal or corruption allegation. So this point is also void. The third point is of poli-cy di� erences. I think there is a policy di� erence between the prime minister and Ashraf,” he said.

Ataur added that the move was embarrass-ing for the government and had projected the lack of cohesiveness in the cabinet.

“To my understanding, a crack is surfacing

within the Awami League because of policy di� erences, and gradually this will be more clear and Ashraf will be ousted from the party.”

Afsan Chowdhury, a political commenta-tor, said as there was no strong political oppo-sition in the country, intra-party feud of the ruling party would come to the surface.

“The government’s embarrassment will increase, but that does not mean that the gov-ernment will change,” he added.

Context of Ashraf’s removalSyed Ashraful Islam’s removal from the LGRD

minister’s post came after repeated rumours over the years that he might be relieved of his portfolio for regularly remaining absent at o� ce.

As recent as this Tuesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her anger when her party’s general secretary skipped the day’s meeting of the Executive Committee of Na-tional Economic Council.

Party sources said an important project proposal was placed at the Ecnec meeting but neither the LGRD minister nor the state min-ister was present. Seeing this, Finance Minis-ter AMA Muhith proposed postponing discus-

sion on the topic as a huge amount of money was involved.

According to sources, Ashraf was at his of-� cial residence in Bailey Road when the Ecnec meeting was going on at the council auditori-um Tuesday morning. After the meeting, the premier called Ashraf to the parliament, where she had a one-on-one meeting with him.

Hasina then reportedly asked Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed to take charge of the LGRD Ministry, but he refused and instead proposed the name of Khandker Mosharraf Hossain. l

Rumour comes trueon Bangabandhu Avenue.

While addressing the function as chief guest, Ashraf spoke about politics but re-frained from making any comment on his meeting with the prime minister.

He also evaded reporters after the func-tion, when they inquired about the govern-ment decision.

After getting the additional responsibility, Khandker Mosharraf told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday evening: “I am now in Faridpur. I will return to Dhaka on Saturday and join my o� ce at the new ministry Sunday morning.”

He would brief reporters on Sunday.

In response to another question, the min-ister said: “I have no information about more changes in the cabinet.”

At the Ecnec meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reportedly ordered re-moval of Syed Ashraf. Finance Minister AMA Muhith raised the issue of Ashraf’s absence and expressed frustration since it hindered the allocation process for the LGRD Ministry, an o� cial present at the meeting said.

Hasina then proposed Commerce Minis-ter Tofail Ahmed’s name for the charge of the LGRD Ministry but the veteran Awami League leader would not accept it. Instead, he pro-

posed Khandker Mosharraf’s name.“The prime minister said that it will be bet-

ter to remove him [Ashraf] since he does not attend meetings,” the o� cial, who requested not to be named, said. Asked for comments, Syed Ashraf the following day had asked the media not to pay heed to rumours.

The allegation of his absence from party and cabinet meetings is nothing new. Party’s senior leaders raised the issue on several occasions.

Meanwhile, another rumour suggests that the cabinet would be reformed soon. Sources say there will be major changes – more than four lawmakers could take oath as ministers

and state ministers. However, the senior Awa-mi League leaders and cabinet members are tight-lipped on the matter.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said he had no idea about such decision. “If there is any shu� e or induction, the authorities concerned will inform you [media] and the people imme-diately,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Awami League’s Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif said the premier knows better than anyone about the betterment of the government activities. “She [Hasina] observes everything. She may have felt it necessary to relieve him [Syed Ashraf] of the duties.” l

Muhith: Graft eats up GDP’s 2-3%of scandals like stock market, Padma bridge project, Destiny Group, Bismillah Group, Un-ipay– 2, railway recruitment business, VOIP (Voice Over Internal Protocol), swindling of public money from banks like BASIC and lat-est wheat scandal.

Speaking at the event, the � nance minis-ter said the government had laid emphasis on e-commerce development through which corruption might be reduced.

He expressed disappointment over the rising income disparity among the people despite the fact that the country is under the world’s best social safety net programme. The country spends more than 1% of GDP on social safety net programmes.

He termed the 1.87 crore job creation scheme in the seventh � ve-year plan ambi-tious which will be di� cult for the govern-

ment to implement. “Unemployment rate in the country is

much higher than the estimate,” he said. According to BBS survey in 2010, the coun-

try’s number of unemployment is 19.51 lakh out of over 3.4 lakh educated youth.

The � nance minister also came down heavily on the country’s education quality saying that though primary education quality is satisfactory, it is not good in the secondary and higher secondary level.

The projected economic growth in the sev-enth � ve-year plan to be implemented from the new � nancial year is more than 8% and the poverty rate is planned to cut down to 18% from the current over 24%.

To achieve this, Bangladesh needs Tk31.9tn (3,19,000 crore) in investment to implement the upcoming FYP by 2020.

About Tk28.85tn or 90.4% of the total in-vestment was projected to come from domes-tic sources and Tk3.05tn or 9.6% from exter-nal sources. To woo donors, including World Bank, European Union and DFID, for funding the seventh � ve-year plan, the government held a meeting with them on the day.

The development partners were informed in details about the salient features of the up-coming seventh � ve-year plan. Member of the Planning Commission Professor Dr Shamsul Alam provided a sector-wise detailed over-view of the upcoming plan at the meeting.

The donors recommended improving the quality of project implementation at lower cost. The recommendations include ensuring transparency and accountability in fund man-agement, taking policy in democratic way and land reformation. l

Proteas to test Tigers’ resolverating points. A 3-0 series sweep by the Pro-teas, however, will see the Tigers’ rating points drop to 90.

On the other hand, if the Tigers maintain their recent run of form and win the series, then they will cement their quali� cation in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy in England. A 2-1 series win for the Tigers will take their rating points tally to 96 while it will elevate to 99 in case of a 3-0 series sweep.

In spite of the 2-0 defeat in the T20Is, Bang-ladesh’s con� dence, derived from 13 victories in their last 17 ODIs, will enable them to ap-proach the series in a positive frame of mind. The absence of champion batsman AB de Villiers, who was granted paternity leave by Cricket South Africa, will also aid the Tigers’ prospects.

New pace sensation Musta� zur Rahman

extracted a lot of purchase from the wicket during the ODI series against India but the bite might be missing in the pitch this time around if the recent South Africa T20Is are an-ything to go by.

Heading into the South Africa ODIs, batting seems to be the Tigers’ main source of worry. The batsmen failed to address the match sit-uation and conditions in the just-concluded T20Is. Even experienced campaigners like Tamim Iqbal, Shakib al Hasan and Mush� qur Rahim failed to deliver the goods in either of the matches. The Proteas spinners, including Aaron Phangiso and Eddie Leie, troubled the opposition batsmen a great deal. And with the addition of world class leg-spinner Imran Tahir in the Proteas arsenal, the Bangladesh batsmen need to be on their toes.

Mush� q, ranked 21st and currently the Ti-

gers’ best batsman, will don the wicket-keep-ing gloves after a lot of distractions and con-fusion in recent times. Having recuperatedfully from a right ring � nger injury, Mush� q will be expected to come up trumps in the middle-order.

The Proteas, on the other hand, will also have certain goals of their own. Today’s ODI will be their � rst since their heartbreaking loss to New Zealand in the 2015 ICC World Cup semi-� nal. They will be eager to post a win and forget that heart-rending defeat at Eden Park, Auckland once and for all.

Veteran cricketer Hashim Amla will lead the side in the absence of De Villiers. There is no Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander either, so Kyle Abbott and Morne Morkel will spearhead the pace-bowling department. Leie made a fantastic debut in the second T20I but given

the weather, the inclusion of a second spinner in the starting XI is highly unlikely. Accord-ing to forecast, there are chances of thunder-storms throughout the day.

The match will begin at 3pm and GTV and Star Sports 3 will telecast the game live.

Probable Bangladesh squadTamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudul-lah, Mush� qur Rahim (WK), Shakib al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mashrafe bin Mortaza (C), Arafat Sunny, Jubair Hossain, Musta� zur Rahman.

Probable South Africa squadHashim Amla (C), Quinton de Kock (WK), Faf du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw, David Miller, JP Duminy, Farhaan Behardien, Wayne Parnell, Kyle Abbott, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir. l

NEWS2DT

NEWS 3D

TFRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Energy Division plans 2 new LNG terminalsn Aminur Rahman Rasel

The government has new plans to set up two more land-based lique� ed natural gas (LNG) terminals at Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar and Paira Seaport area.

According to the fresh plans by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD), Petrobangla – the state-owned oil company under the Ministry of Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources – will implement the projects.

The new plans come despite the fact that the government is yet to set up the country’s � rst ever � oating storage and re-gasi� cation unit (FSRU) – better known as an LNG termi-nal – in the � ve years since the plan was orig-inally hatched.

The EMRD has reportedly asked Petrobang-la to appoint a consultant and to invite an expression of interest (EoI) from prospective bidders to implement the land-based LNG projects.

“We are planing to set up two land-based lique� ed natural gas terminals. There are 6,000 acres of land at Paira Seaport area. We have sought 200 acre of land out of the total 6,000 acre,” Energy Division Secretary Abu

Bakar Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune yes-terday.

The purpose of setting up the terminal is to import LNG, so that the country does not have to face any sudden energy crisis because of supply shortfall in the near future.

Earlier, the Power Division also initiated a project to set up the country’s � rst-ever land-based LNG terminal at Anwara in Chittagong or Moheskhali in Cox’s Bazar.

Under that plan, the Power Cell has already sought the Power Division’s approval to short-list three international � rms for awarding contract to build the country’s � rst onshore LNG terminal.

However, energy sector insiders told the Dhaka Tribune that the lack of coordination between the Power Division and the EMRD might hamper implementation of the projects as well as deny the country their bene� ts.

After assuming o� ce in 2009, the Awami League-led government decided to import LNG to feed the national grid by 500mmcfd from 2013.

At present, the country’s gas production is about 2,745mmcf per day against a demand of 3,200mmcfd. l

Five new Aman varieties set to be introducedn Abu Bakar Siddique

With an aim to boost rice production, the gov-ernment is planning to introduce � ve more paddy varieties soon for the Aman season.

Four of those new varieties have been developed by Bangladesh Rice Research In-stitute (BRRI), while the other one has been developed by Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA).

“The newly invented varieties have al-ready got their nod from the Seed Certi� -cation Board and are now waiting for � nal approval,” said Jibon Krisna Biswas, director general of BRRI. The � nal decision on releas-ing the varieties would be made at a meeting on July 12, he added.

According to the developers of the varie-ties, the new forms of paddy would have the capacity of higher yield than the average pro-duction rate.

The BINA-invented variety named BINA Dhan 17 is able to produce seven tonnes of Aman paddy per hectare, compared to the � ve tonnes per hectare rate for the average Aman paddy.

“The government is trying to ensure food security of the country by enhancing the use of high-yielding seeds to get more production in the gradually reducing agricultural land,”

the BRRI DG said.Since the country’s independence, govern-

ment-owned research institutes have invent-ed 78 rice varieties. Of them, BRRI introduced 62 varieties and BINA introduced 16 varieties. Of the total rice varieties, BRRI introduced 29 Aman and BINA released 12 Aman varieties.

According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), the annual paddy produc-tion, in Bangladesh is around 3.38 million tonnes.

In addition to the regular paddy varieties, a total of 132 varieties of hybrid paddy have been introduced in Bangladesh. Of them, the BADC developed two varieties, the BRRI developed six, and private companies devel-oped the rest.

Around 10-12% of the total paddy produc-tion in the country comes from hybrid seeds. l

BSMMU asked to form new medical board for Fakhruln Ashif Islam Shaon

The Appellate Division has asked the BSMMU authorities to form a new medical board to examine the health of BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam.

A four-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, gave the order yesterday.

It asked the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) authorities to form a � ve-member medical board consist-ing a cardiologist, two vascular surgeons, a

respiratory medicine specialist and a general surgery specialist to conduct a full-� edged check up.

The court asked the BSMMU authority to submit the medical report within 3pm on July 12. The court also � xed July 13 for hearing the order on the bail of Fakhrul in three cases.

The order for a fresh medical board came as Fakhrul’s lawyers raised question over the report submitted on Wednesday afternoon by a four-member BSMMU medical board in compliance with the Supreme Court’s July 5 order.

During the hearing, Khandker Mahbub Hossain argued for the BNP leader while At-torney General Mahbubey Alam represented the state.

Khandker Mahbub told the court that the medical board’s report had missed out some of the problems Mirza Fakhrul was su� ering from.

Later, he told reporters that the BSMMU medical report claimed that Fakhrul had been su� ering from neck pain, while in truth the BNP leader had been su� ering mainly from a cardiovascular problem. l

High Court grants anticipatory bails to four BNP leaders in 56 cases n Tribune Report

The High Court yesterday granted anticipa-tory bail to BNP leaders MK Anwar, Tariqul Islam, Abdul Awal Mintoo and Amanullah Aman in 56 arson and vandalism cases.

The bench of Justice Syed Md Ziaul Karim and Sheikh Md Zakir Hossain granted bail to the BNP leaders for four weeks after they � led separate bail petitions.

“Anwar secured bail in nine cases, Tari-qul in four cases, BNP Chairperson’s adviser Mintoo in one case and Aman in 42 cases,” said one of their lawyers AKM Ehsanur Rah-man.

He said the cases were � led on charges of vandalism and arson attacks carried out dur-ing BNP’s countrywide blockade and general strikes early this year.

The cases Aman was accused in were � led with police stations in Paltan, Shahbagh and Motijheel. Of the nine cases Anwar got bail in, � ve were lodged with Paltan police station, one with Jatrabari police station and Khilgaon police station each, and the two others with Chauddagram police station in Comilla.

Tariqul’s four cases were � led with Jessore police station and Mintoo’s one case with Pal-tan police station.

Khandker Mahbub Hossain, Joynul Abe-din, Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Sagir Hossain Leon, AKM Ehsanur Rahman and Sazzad Hay-der stood for the defence while Deputy Attor-ney General Forhad Ahmed represented the government. l

The newly invented varieties have already got their nod from the Seed Certi� cation Board and are now waiting for � nal approval

Policemen bar the readymade garment workers of Swan Garments as they march towards the Prime Minister’s O� ce to place their demand for payment of four months’ due wages yesterday. The photo was taken in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka MEHEDI HASAN

NEWS4DTFRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Braving the torrential rain, a betel leaf trader heads towards the Hatirpool Bazar on a van yesterday to eke out a living. The photo was taken in the capital’s Shahbagh area RAJIB DHAR

GP to localise Khan Academy contents n Tribune Report

Grameenphone will help localise high quality educational contents from Khan Academy for students of Bangladesh.

Under the initiative “Localising Khan Academy”, Grameenphone is partnering with Agami Education Foundation (Bangladesh) and Agami Inc (USA) to translate the Khan Academy platform into Bangla and open the Khan Academy Bangla Live Site.

Grameenphone came up with this disclo-sure at a press conference at the Pan Paci� c Sonargaon Hotel in the capital yesterday.

Sayed Talat Kamal, head of External Communications of Grameenphone, said Grameenphone has been actively trying to connect education to Internet in Bangladesh under its “Internet for All” ambition.

“We believe internet is the right tool to take quality education to people.” l

IFC teams up with Prime Bank, others for safer RMG sectorn Tribune Report

International Finance Corporation, a World Bank wing, is set to provide Bangladeshi banks with $50m and form partnerships with leading international buyers to make Bangla-desh’s garment industry safer for workers.

This is IFC’s � rst deployment of long-term � nancing to Bangladeshi banks, says an IFC press release.

Under the programme, the IFC will pro-vide $10m each in � nancing to � ve Bangla-deshi banks which will allow the participating banks to increase lending to garment factories speci� cally to improve their structural, elec-trical and � re (SEF) safety infrastructure.

Prime Bank Limited has already signed up to the initiative, and four other Bangladesh

banks are expected to follow in the coming weeks.

In addition, the IFC signed separate co-operation agreements with the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (Alliance) and the Accord on Fire Safety and Building Safety in Bangladesh, who represent dozens of the world’s leading garment brands.

The two organisations will assist the gar-ment factories to undertake the SEF up-grades, and monitor compliance.

The Alliance and the Accord will each con-tribute $250,000 to support the programme implementation.

Together with the IFC, Accord and Alliance have both provided training to participating banks on the factory re-mediation process and understanding the resulting SEF correc-

tive action plans (CAPs), and they are moni-toring factory progress on compliance against these CAPs.

“Innovative partnerships are necessary to improve the safety of workers in this critical industry,” said IFC CEO and EVP Jin-Yong Cai.

“Banks, international buyers, and manu-facturers have a shared interest in this issue because it’s indispensable to making Bangla-deshi garment factories more competitive.”

Bangladesh’s ready-made garment in-dustry employs more than 40 lakh people in about 4,500 factories. The sector accounts for about 80% of the country’s exports.

Despite strong desire to improve worker safety, many factories have found it di� cult to access the capital necessary to make the improvements, the IFC statement says. l

Freedom � ghter’s suicide investigation in limbon Kamrul Hasan

Who would investigate the recent freedom � ghter suicide case in the capital is now a question the authorities are puzzling over.

Liberation War A� airs Minister AKM Mo-zammel Haque claimed that the case was handed over to the specialised police division Criminal Investigation Department (CID). However, CID spokesperson Abdullah Hel Baki denied the claim to the reporters.

In the meantime freedom � ghter com-manders in the capital con� ned the accused Liberation War A� airs Secretary MA Hannan in the conference room at the secretariat yes-terday after he denied knowing the deceased freedom � ghter Ayub Khan – who committed suicide after being insulted by the secretary.

Later, the police freed him. The investigating o� cer of Shahbagh po-

lice station Sub-Inspector (SI) Mamun Farazi, also said he was investigating into the case. And only the letter were sent to CID for ver-i� cation.

Earlier in the day, the Secretary MA Han-nan told reporters that he did not remember the freedom � ghter who committed suicide for allegedly being grabbed by the neck and driven out of the secretary’s residence. He claimed the incident described in the suicide note never took place.

On Tuesday morning, Ayub Khan, the former commander of Satkania upazila unit of the Muktijoddha Sangsad, was rescued in critical condition from a hotel room at Dha-ka’s Topkhana Road 10. He had been staying

there for the last 15 days.On that morning, as stink of pesticide came

out of his room, the hotel authorities contact-ed police. When police broke the door in, Ayub Khan was found unconscious.

A handwritten note was found beside his body that read “...after being insulted and pushed away by Liberation War A� airs Min-istry Secretary M A Hannan, I’m committing suicide,” police source said.

The 62-year-old was immediately taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where he died around 11am.

An unnatural death case over the incident was � led with the Shahbagh police station.

The investigating o� cer SI Mamun Farazi said police had sent the suicide note to CID at Malibagh to con� rm that it was written by

Ayub. Asked about the progress, he said po-lice had made some progress but that could not be expressed right now.

In the meantime, Secretary MA Hannan said many people pay visit to the minister and him at the ministry. That freedom � ghter may have went to him but he said he could remem-ber Ayub. Hannan added that no one can eas-ily enter his Eskaton house. “Such an incident did not happen at Eskaton Garden or even at the ministry.”

When journalists asked the reason behind involving him in the suicide note he said: “That’s my question, too.”

He claimed that the Muktijoddha Sangsad unit mentioned in the suicide note was not under his jurisdiction. So, Ayub did not need to contact him about the matter. l

Mukto-Mona blog claims no one contacted Bonyan Tribune Report

Neither the Bangladesh Police nor the US agency Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have ever contacted with Ra� da Ahmed Bon-ya regarding the probe into the murder of her husband Avijit Roy, founder of Mukto-Mona blog, since she had returned to the US four days after the attack.

In a post published yesterday, Mukto-Mo-na blog termed “baseless” the recent news reports run by local media outlets, quoting detectives, that Bonya had identi� ed two of the seven suspected killers.

The post, written by its editor, also said: “We want punishment of the killers of Avijit and [Mukto-Mona blog writer] Ananta Bijoy Das; but not such kind of false and baseless news.”

On June 6, a senior o� cial of the Detective Branch of police told the Dhaka Tribune that they had sent the photos of the suspects to the FBI for veri� cation, and Avijit’s wife, who was also injured in the attack, identi� ed two of them as being at the scene of the murder. l

NEWS 5D

TFRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

CHITTAGONG COCAINE SEIZURE

Khan Jahan Ali employee on 5-day fresh remandn FM Mizanur Rahaman, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday again put an employee of Khan Jahan Ali Ltd on a � ve-day remand, who was arrested in connection with the import of liquid cocaine in the name of sun� ower oil at Chittagong port.

Chittagong Metropolitan Police Additional Deputy Commissioner Kazi Muttaki Ibn Mi-nan told the Dhaka Tribune the court of Met-ropolitan Magistrate Farid Alam remanded Golam Mostafa Sohel after the investigating o� cer of the case produced him before the court with a � ve-day remand plea in the af-ternoon.

Sohel, manager of Prime Hatchery Limited which is a sister concern of Khan Jahan Ali Ltd, was earlier remanded for � ve days by the same court. Khan Jahan Ali Ltd was named in documents as the consignee.

Minan said the fresh remand was neces-

sary to further interrogate the accused as part of the probe.

Sohel was arrested on June 6 while the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Direc-torate (CIID) arrested three others on June 30 in connection with the case � led with Bandar police station on June 28.

Police initially found that Sohel imported the consignment using the company’s o� cial documents. He was later nabbed and during primary interrogation, he said one of his rel-atives, who is an expatriate in England, had actually imported the consignment through a friend.

On Wednesday night, the court asked the in-vestigating o� cer of the case to send samples collected from the consignment for fresh ex-aminations in the Armed Forces Food and Drug laboratory at Dhaka cantonment, Criminal In-vestigation Department laboratory and Depart-ment of Narcotics Control laboratory in Dhaka.

The investigating o� cer was also asked to contact the Foreign Ministry if he wished to have the samples tested in any foreign labo-ratory.

On June 6, the CIID sealed the container at Chittagong port which was suspected to contain 2,140 kilogrammes of liquid cocaine. The container was boarded onto ship from Uruguay after being imported from Bolivia and arrived at Chittagong port on May 13 via Singapore.

In the primary examination of the sealed container on June 8, the existence of cocaine was not found. On June 27, cocaine’s presence was found in one of the drums through fur-ther laboratory tests.

Meanwhile, a team of the United Nations O� ce on Drugs and Crime at the request of the CIID is expected to come to Bangladesh soon to determine the actual weight of the cocaine. l

Girl found with slit throat in Mirpurn Kamrul Hasan

A young woman was found with her throat slit inside her own home in the capital’s Mir-pur area yesterday afternoon.

The victim, Amena Khatun Reshma, 18, was a second-year student at BCIC College in Mirpur.

Police said Reshma’s body was found in-side the � rst-� oor � at in an under-construc-tion � ve-storey building in Mirpur’s Rainkho-la area; Reshma lived with her mother Mariam Begum and step-father Alamgir in the � at.

Masud Ahmed, additional deputy commis-sioner of Mirpur Division at Dhaka Metropoli-tan Police, said police suspected that Reshma was murdered as a result of a family feud, and her step-father and 21-year-old step-brother are the primary suspects.

Reshma was the owner of the � at they were living in and Alamgir, a fourth-class em-ployee at the BCIC Bhaban in Motijheel, want-ed her to transfer the ownership in his name, sources at police said.

Police arrested Alamgir as well as Reshma’s mother Mariam. The step-brother does not live with the family and is yet to be arrested.

Before getting arrested, Mariam claimed that she had left home for Hajipara in the morning, and Reshma and Alamgir were in the � at. Later, Alamgir left for his o� ce.

When Mariam returned home an hour later, she found her daughter’s body lying in a pool of blood with a deep gash on her throat. A sharp kitchen knife was found beside the body.

Mariam told police that the house had been robbed and some money was missing.Alamgir rushed back home from work around 2:30pm after he was informed of the incident.

He claimed that he locked the � at from out-side when he had left for work, because both he and his wife had keys; Reshma was alone in the � at. The dead body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for an autopsy. l

BGB seized drugs, smuggled items worth over Tk79cr in Junen Tribune Report

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh have seized drugs and smuggled items worth around Tk79.73 crore in countrywide drives conducted last month, said a press release is-sued by BGB headquarters yesterday.

The release said among the seized drugs, there were 1.63 lakh pieces of yaba, 42,158 bottles of phensidyl, 875kg of marijuana, 18,104 bottle foreign liquors, 1.5kg of heroin, 1.54 lakh pieces of stimulant tablet, 10,562 ampoules of drug injection and 13.45 lakhs intoxicating tablets.

During the drive, the paramilitary force also seized 20,602 saris, 9,434 three-piece salwar-kameez set, 1.80 lakh metres of plain cloth, 20,409 pieces of garment product, 458 pieces of di� erent machinery parts, 3,666 cft wood and 23 stone statues.

Besides, eight pistols, two crude bombs, 12 round of bullets and four magazines were also seized.

A total of 140 people were arrested and handed over to police by BGB while 2,872 cas-es were � led in this regard, added the press release. l

Bar council polls deferred until August 26n Ashif Islam Shaon

The Supreme Court has deferred the Bangla-desh Bar Council election until August 26.

Responding to a writ petition � led by the council authorities, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha issued the order and asked the authorities to publish the voter list

by July 30. The court set August 3 as deadline for resolving any dispute over the voters’ list.

It also ordered voters to carry their national identity cards or passport while casting votes.

Earlier on May 28, � xing the polls date on August 13, the court had asked the attorney general, who is the council’s chairman, and the council’s secretary to review the voter list and update the list by July 12.

Yesterday, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam pleaded to the court for more time.

The election was � rst scheduled on May 20, as per an announcement on March 25, and the authorities published a list of 48,465 vot-ers on April 9. But � ve members of the council and 101 lawyers claimed that the voters’ list was vague as it had repetition of names. Later the voting day was shifted to May 27. l

Holding her children, Afsana Nur Juli breaks into tears whose husband went missing on Friday. Some men posing as Detective Branch o� cials picked up her husband Giasuddin Kushum, a businessman, from Uttara sector 10 on Friday in a micro-bus with tinted glasses. Kushum had been missing since then, claims Juli at a press conference at the National Press Club arranged to draw Prime Minister’s attention to the matter MEHEDI HASAN

NEWS6DTFRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Eid shoppers stuck in incessant rain n Our Correspondent, Khulna

Local traders hoped of a big sale centring Eid-ul-Fitr have been upset as a continual two-day rain has battered the city life pushing the shoppers to stay in home.

Besides, repeated load-shedding has wors-ened the situation vastly although local pow-er o� ce authorities claimed falling of tree branches on their wire amid rain in line with strong wind ensued it.

Sources said waterlogging appeared at Totopara, Purbo Baniakhamar, Rupsha Ghat, Royar Moorh, Santidham Moorh, Phulmarket, joragate, Khalispur and Dawlatpur in the city. As a result, the vehicles have been facing se-vere problem in easy movement.

Khulna Met o� ce sources said they record-ed 139mm rain in 42 hours, which started from Tuesday afternoon while the rain might contin-ued about three days more as the depression on the north-western bay remained active.

Kamrul Islam, leader of Khulna traders, said: “Eid sale spree has just started increas-ing after the 15th Ramadan, but the situation has turned into negative owing the nonstop rain.” l

Girl gang-raped n Our Correspondent, Brahmanbaria

A girl was gang-raped yesterday at Umedpur village in Akhaura of Brahmanbaria.

According to sources, auto-rickshaw driver Robin, son of Mohmmad Ali of Hirapur village took the girl to bordering Umedpur village while she was going to her brother’s in-laws’ residence.

Later, he along with his four associates raped the girl at a jungle near the village.

Hearing her scream, on-duty Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel rushed in and rescued the girl in critical condition.

The BGB members also detained Robin in this connection.

Akhaura police station O� cer-in-Charge Mo� z Uddin Bhuiyan said the victim was sent to Brahmanbaria sadar hospital for medical test. He said police were trying to arrest the rapists.

The victim � led a case against seven persons with the police station in this connection. l

Ghorasal-Palash Road in dire state n Our Correspondent, Narsingdi

A large portion of the Ghorasal-Palash Road in the district has been lying in dire state for long time due to lack of maintenance.

According to local sources, the road has turned un� t for vehicular movement as no re-pair work was done in last 2 years.

The unpaved road dotted with numerous potholes has turned into virtually a ditch for thousands of passengers who travel on the road every day. During the dry season, the road is covered in dust, but in rainy season, commuters’ su� erings have no bound.

The road connects 2 fertilzer industries, a sugar mill, 2 cement factories, 5 jute mills, 3 food procesing industries and many small industries and factories. Everyday more than thousands of truck and heavyweight vehicles ply on the road.

On the otherhand, CNG-run autorickshaw, battery-run autorickshaw and rickshaw van run on the road and these types of small vehi-cles have to go slow taking hours to travel the eight-kilometre distance.

Morshed, a CNG driver of Ghorasal pouras-ava said: “It is very di� cult to drive vehicle with passengers on the dilapidated road.

“Sometimes, passengers fall down from

the van and get hurt, ” he said.“Why the authorities are not taking steps

to repair the road?,” he raises question.Mahbub, a commuter said it was a must to

repair the road immediately as it had become un� t to move. Ruhul Ahmed, CNG driver and also resident of the pourasava, said it took 20 to 25 minutes to cross the road in a better con-dition, but now it took almost an hour.

When visited, it was found that big pot-holes developed on the three kilometers road from Ghorasal Bus Station to Baghmara Pran Industrial Park. The road cannot be passed on foot let alone by vehicle due to the big hole here and there.

Teachers and students of several educa-tional institutions in the area also have to suf-fer due to poor condition of the road.

Shahabuddin, headmaster of Janata Jute Mill School, said students had to su� er a lot as the road houses a number of schools.

“Students of my school fall in di� culties for the dilapidated road. “Their su� erings had no bound during the rainy season,” he said.

In rainy season, students fall in pothole as they cannot see because it is covered by rain-water, he added. Kanailal Gope, headmaster of Somobai Adarsha School echoed Shahabuddin.

Abdullah Al Emon, student of Class VIII of Ghorasal High School said: “ We cannot at-tend the school timley as the vehicles move slowly due to poor condition of the road.”

Truck driver Ra� qul Islam said: “Everyday a large number of vehicles ply on the road to carry goods as its an industrial area.”

The concern authority should take steps to re-pair the road considering its importance, he said.

Mahbub, a resident of the area said, the road had taken bad shape as heavyweight ve-hicles ply on it.

Fazle Rabbi, assistant manager of RFL Group Ghorasal unit said: “Everyday, our 500 vehicles ply on the road. Recently, we cannot run the vehicles as the road is in bad shape.”

Businessman Kajal said: “ The vehicle owners charge extra fare to carry goods as the road is not good condition.” Contacted, Shariful Haque, Ghorasal Pourashava Mayor said:“Road and Highway department asked us to repair the road on the condition that we could not take advantages after the work.”

Roads and Highway engineer Md Moniruz-zaman said: “The pourasava had taken the re-sponsibility of the repair but they did not do. We want to complete the work before Eid with the help of them.” l

Un� lled posts hamper medical servicesn Our Correspondent, Joypurhat

A shortage of specialised doctors at Joypur-hat Mother and Child Care Centre has been disrupting sophisticated medical services for a year, compounding the woes of � nancially insolvent patients.

A doctor of another hospital has been de-puted to dispense primary medical services to mothers every Monday and Thursday but there is no one to perform complex opera-tions on patients.

The 20-bed facility is where more than 600 mothers and 600 children up to � ve years old used to be treated in a month but now there has been no gynaecologist or anaesthetist for a year, forcing pregnant mothers to go else-where for medical services they need.

Gynaecologist Dr Nahida Naznin and anaes-thetist Dr Tahmidur Rahman were transferred elsewhere last year and the posts remain vacant since then. Dr Abdul Mannan Mia, anaesthetist of Bogra Sadar Mother and Child Care Centre, and Dr Jahedul Islam, a gynaecologist in Nilphamari, were transferred to Joypurhat Mother and Child Care Centre but they did not join.

Dr Sohana Ashkari Srishti, medical o� cer of Joypurhat Sadar Upazila Hospital who sees pa-tients at Joypurhat Mother and Child Care Cen-tre every Monday and Thursday, suggests preg-nant mothers to be admitted to the sadar upazila hospital if their case involves any complication.

Umme Salma, a woman from Aima Jamalpur village who is in her eighth month of pregnancy, went to the healthcare centre on Monday and was advised to give birth to her child elsewhere.

She told the Dhaka Tribune she was wor-ried about how much it would cost her for the operation in another hospital.

Abdus Salam, a mason hailing from Bamanpur, said he took his wife to the health-care centre for routine check-ups.

“But for further medical care, I had to take my wife to the sadar upazila hospital because there was no doctor at the healthcare centre.

“But I had to pay a total of Tk7,000 for the whole package that included doctor’s fees, and medicine and cabin costs. It would have cost me nothing if my wife could get the ser-vices at the healthcare centre,” he said, ex-plaining the � nancial burden that low-income people face to get private medical care.

Farida Akhter, who observes family wel-fare services at Joypurhat Mother and Child

Care Centre, said the shortage of specialised physicians had caused the number of pa-tients, especially pregnant mothers, to dip.

“There was a time when we would serve at least 80-90 expectant mothers every day. The facility would look very busy at the time but now the picture is entirely di� erent.

“Because we have no doctors now, patients feel reluctant to depend only on nurses for medical care,” she said.

Dr Abu Nasar Nurul Islam Chowdhury, deputy director of Joypurhat District Family Planning Department, admitted the dearth of doctors at the mother and child care centre was hindering medical services.

“We are trying to � ll the vacant positions. The problem will no longer exist once we get new sta� ,” he added. l

Shopping malls in Rajshahi pass busy hours as a huge number of shoppers turn up at the markets across the city to complete their shopping ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. The picture was taken yesterday from Saheb Bazar AZAHAR UDDIN

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:50PM SUN RISES 5:18AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

31.6ºC 22.5ºC

Rangpur Rangamati

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 31 26Chittagong 32 26Rajshahi 30 26Rangpur 27 25Khulna 31 26Barisal 32 27Sylhet 29 25Cox’s Bazar 30 26

PRAYER TIMESFajr 3:48am

Sunrise 5:17amJumma 12:04am

Asr 4:44pmMagrib 6:50pm

Esha 8:20pm

WEATHER

FRIDAY, JULY 10

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

Illegal billboard pulled downn CU Correspondent

A mobile court of Chittagong City Corpora-tion (CCC) yesterday pulled down an illegal billboard installed in GEC intersection area of the city.

Executive Magistrate Najia Shirin led the eviction drive while District Administration Ex-ecutive Magistrate Habibul Hasan assisted her.

Najia said the court demolished the biggest billboard of 2,625 square feet on the footpath which was installed illegally.

Three advertising farms illegally installed the giant billboard on the footpath hiding the panorama of GEC area in the city which is the busiest intersection in the port city, she said.

CCC sources said three advertising farms-Ad Valley, Ad Frame and Adway Publicity got permission of three billboards of 600 feet, two billboards of 150 feet and one billboard of 525 feet respectively.

Of the three farms Ad Valley’s owner was the Chittagong City unit Jubo League conven-er Mohiuddin Bacchu while Chittagong city unit Chhatra League’s former o� ce secretary Arshedul Alam Bacchu and one Juber Alam Shaheen are the proprietors of the rest farms, said CCC sources.

But the three farms illegally put the giant billboard measuring 2,625 square feet.

As per CCC billboard’s codes, the billboard which is 20 feet in length and 40 feet in height could be installed. l

Advance train ticket sale begins14 special trains for home-bound people ahead of Eidn Tribune Report

Advance railway ticket sale to home goers ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr have started in Dhaka and Chittagong railway stations from yesterday morning. The tickets would be available both online and the counters till July 13.

The tickets for the July 13 journey were sold yesterday. Long queues of passengers were seen in the morning at Kamlapur Rail-way Station while many of them took position there just after Sehri.

Railway Minister Muzibul Haque Chunnu during visiting the station said every possible step to reduce the hassle of journey had been taken and there will have no harassment dur-ing the next Eid to have received the excess boogies and engines.

A Dhaka University student named Ab-dul Kaiyum, who waited in a queue till 10am since Sehri, came out with smiling face from the station as he � nally managed a ticket.

But a housewife named Shahana Khatun collected her ticket without standing in queue and she was astonished at the rare incident.

When asked, Kamlapur Station Manager Si-tangso Chakraborty said the small queue might appear for selling tickets for the July 13 trains.

Tickets for the July 14 journey would be available today while July 15 on July 11; July 16 on July 12 and July 17 on July 13.

A passenger can buy at best four tickets that are not refundable.

On the other hand, BR would operate 14 special trains, of which four are to Solakia of Kishorganj while the movement of the rest will start before three days of Eid and seven days after the festival.

Sources said the railway authorities took the initiative to lessen the su� ering of the Eid goers.

Later, BIWTA will begin operating a special launch service from Sadarghat on July 14.

While visiting the station, Rab Chief Benzir Ahmed said they had taken measures to en-sure safe journey of the home goers.

On the other hand, the sale of advance train tickets began in Chittagong Railway Sta-tion yesterday morning.

On the � rst day, the railway authorities sold advance tickets for July 13, said the rail-way station sources.

The advance tickets sale started around 9am. However, yesterday’s rush for the ad-vance tickets was competitively less than the previous year, said railway o� cials.

During a visit to Chittagong Railway Sta-tion, people were seen in queue at the ticket counters to buy their desire routes tickets.

Md Mizanur Rahman, divisional commercial

o� cer of Bangladesh Railway East Zone, told the Dhaka Tribune the railway had allocated around 4,200 advance tickets for the � rst day while 25% tickets would be sold through online and mobile and 5% tickets had been allocated for the VIP and railway sta� s respectively.

A student of Chittagong University Imran Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that he could manage an advance ticket for Dhaka from the counter e� ortlessly as there was little rush at the station in the morning.

Chittagong Railway Station Manager Abul Kalam Azad said the demands of the Air Con-ditioned (AC) tickets were high on the day.

Various steps were taken to make the sale of advance tickets smooth and to avert any kind of

unpleasant situation, said the station manager.Plain clothes police, Railway Nirapatta Ba-

hini, Ansar and Government Railway Police (GRP) have been deployed at the station to pre-vent ticket scalping and keep the overall situa-tion under control while a temporary camp of Rapid Action Battalion was set up, he added.

The tickets for the journey for July 14 will be sold on Friday, tickets for July 15 will be sold on 11 July, tickets for July 16 on July 12 and tickets for July 17 will be available on July 13.

In addition, this year the railway authority (East Zone) would provide two special trains which will plying from July 15 to July 19 for Chandpur to make home-bound people’s journey safe. l

Five DU students expelled for distributing lea� ets of Hizb ut-Tahrirn DU Correspondent

Dhaka University authorities expelled � ve students for their alleged involvement in disseminating lea� ets and compact discs of banned Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir among students.

According to a press release of the universi-

ty, the accused students were caught on CCTV camera while they were distributing lea� ets and CDs in some classrooms of business faculty.

The students are Mohammad Shihad Ud-din and Saydee Hasan Sajib, students of man-agement department, Tarikul Islam, Nakib Farhun and Mohammad Alamgir Hossain, students of accounting and information sys-

tem department.Acting proctor of the university Amzad

Ali said: “The students have been expelled according to the disciplinary rules of the uni-versity.”

He also said the suspended students would be asked why they would not be suspended permanently from the university. l

Tired and sleepy, women sit in queues to buy tickets at the Kamalapur Railway Station where sale of advance rail tickets for Eid started yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

NEWS 7D

T

WORLD8DTFRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Inside Thailand’s tra� cking crackdownn Reuters, Bangkok

Sheltering in the backroom of a provincial Thai police station is a 35-year-old street vendor who triggered a human tra� cking investigation that has reverberated across Southeast Asia.

He is a Rohingya Muslim, a mostly stateless group from western Myanmar. He had scraped a living for the past decade selling fried bread, or roti, from a push cart in Nakhon Si Tham-marat, a city in southern Thailand.

Then his nephew fell into the hands of mur-derous human tra� ckers.

The roti seller’s desperate bid to save him ul-timately led to the discovery of scores of jungle graves on the Thai-Malaysia border in May and sparked a regional crisis over boatloads of un-wanted Rohingya.

Now the roti seller fears tra� ckers could tar-get him. His new home in the police station is a primitive form of witness protection.

Thailand’s investigation comes ahead of a new US report card on its anti-tra� cking ef-forts, due out in mid-July. Police spearhead-ing the campaign on the ground told Reuters they encountered o� cial indi� erence about the evidence they had gathered on tra� cking networks - even after the US State Department identi� ed Thailand in June 2014 as one of the world’s worst tra� cking o� enders.

Police Major General Thatchai Pitaneela-boot, who led early anti-tra� cking e� orts in southern Thailand was told his investigation was damaging Thailand’s image, though he de-clined to be more speci� c about who was telling him that. “No one cared.”

Deputy National Police Chief Aek Angsan-nanont, who is in charge of the anti-tra� cking crackdown, said the military government took the issue seriously.

After last year’s coup, Thailand’s military junta promised what it called a “zero tolerance” policy to human tra� cking. Yet Thailand con-victed fewer perpetrators of human tra� cking last year than in 2013.

The Thai crackdown has disrupted the re-gion’s tra� cking infrastructure for now but some experts question how lasting that will be.

The investigation has “made tra� cking in Thailand a bit harder,” said Steve Galster, di-rector of FREELAND Foundation, an anti-traf-� cking NGO that has given technical help to the Thai police. “The question remains, however, if anyone higher up the chain … will be inves-tigated.”

The number of people leaving on boats from Myanmar and Bangladesh has nearly tripled in three years – from 21,000 in 2012 to 58,000 last year, according to The Arakan Project. Most of them came ashore in Thailand and were moved to tra� cking camps.

The camps along the jungly border between Thailand and Malaysia had been exposed as early as 2013. But they became impossible to ignore in May after police from both countries found the graves of 175 suspected migrants at dozens of hastily vacated tra� cking camps on both sides of the border.

The ensuing crackdown meant tra� ckers could no longer bring their human cargoes ashore so they simply abandoned them at sea. The boats eventually washed ashore in Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar, their passengers sick and thirsty. At least 1,200 re-mained stranded at sea, according to a June

16 United Nations report.The roti seller, who Reuters interviewed at

the police station, said his nephew fell into the hands of tra� ckers last year.

Last October, he said his family paid 95,000 baht ($2,800) in ransom money to free their 25-year-old nephew from a camp in southern Thailand. Tra� ckers typically hold boat peo-ple for ransom and often torture them until their relatives pay up. Those whose relatives couldn’t pay were left to die in the camps or sold into slavery on Thai � shing boats.

Despite getting the ransom payment, the roti seller said the alleged operator of the camp his nephew was in, a Myanmar man known as Anwar, refused to release his nephew.

So, two months later in December, the roti seller � led a complaint against Anwar with local police. “They didn’t take me seriously.”

Police Colonel Anuchon Chamat, deputy commander of Nakhon Si Thammarat Provin-cial Police, admitted they were “not that inter-ested” in the complaint at the time.

That changed on Jan 11 when Anuchon’s men intercepted � ve trucks in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Hidden inside were 98 tired and malnourished Rohingya. One woman had suf-focated to death, two later died in hospital.

Police interviews with the survivors con-� rmed what the roti seller had described: “That there was buying and selling of humans,” Anu-chon said.

Anuchon mapped out a transportation net-work that led from Ranong, a port city on the Andaman Sea, to jungle camps on the Malay-sian border, an overnight’s drive away. He con-cluded that the malnourished Rohingya and the roti seller’s nephew were in thrall to the same syndicate. Anuchon’s discovery, howev-er, was too late to save the roti seller’s nephew.

On Jan 27, camp guards called the roti seller and placed a phone to his nephew’s face. The roti seller wept as he described what happened next. The tra� ckers, he said, had found out he had gone to the authorities. Anuchon con-� rmed the roti seller’s story.

“They’re going to kill me,” his nephew said. “What did you do?”

The roti seller heard the phone drop and his nephew screaming. Then a voice said: “He’s dead already,” and the line was cut.

After intercepting the truck convoy, Col. Anuchon enlisted the roti seller’s help in tracking down a Rohingya witness who had survived 10 months at the same camp as the nephew. At the request of police, Reuters has agreed not to reveal the survivor’s name for safety reasons.

The Rohingya survivor said Anwar, the al-leged camp operator, had ordered the nephew killed. On April 28, police grabbed Anwar after staking out his house and took him to Nakhon Si Thammarat’s main police station.

Anwar, 40, also known as Soe Naing from Myanmar’s Rakhine State, is himself a Rohing-ya. During an hour-long interview at the police station, Anwar insisted he was not a human tra� cker, but a rubber tapper – and a roti seller himself.

Three days after Anwar’s arrest, the Rohing-ya survivor led police to the camp a few hun-dred metres from the Malaysian border. Police believed it had been hurriedly evacuated just days before. They discovered shallow graves marked with bamboo sticks.

Police and rescue volunteers unearthed 26 corpses on May 1. Some were shrouded in cloth or simple bamboo mats. Others were little more than skeletons.

When asked if there were more graves yet to be discovered along Thailand’s border, Police Maj. Gen. Thatchai replied: “Absolutely.”

After Anwar came big-name arrests. Patchu-ban Angchotipan – a wealthy businessman from Satun province – gave himself up on May 18. Patchuban, the former chairman of Satun’s provincial administration, has been charged with a range of o� ences, including human traf-� cking, holding people for ransom and deten-tion leading to bodily harm.

Fighting his case in court will be Wirat Ka-layasiri, the chief legal advisor of Thailand’s Democrat Party, which has close links to the military and royalist establishment. Pakkapon Sirirat, another Democrat Party member, is rep-resenting Lieutenant General Manus Kongpan,

who surrendered to police on June 2. Manus previously headed an operation to

intercept migrants in the Andaman Sea for the Internal Security Operations Command, Thai-land’s powerful, military-run equivalent to the US Department of Homeland Security.

The trials could be lengthy and convictions are far from certain, police said.

The United Nations estimates people-smug-gling across the Bay of Bengal has generated about $250 million since 2012. Thailand has so far seized assets worth only $3.5 million.

The roti seller dares not leave his new home in the provincial police station. He recently stopped praying at a nearby mosque after he heard that some men had turned up to look for him there.

Many known tra� ckers remained at large, which was why he hoped to be relocated to another country after the trial. “Otherwise,” he said, “I will be killed.” l

Policemen and reporters monitor as forensic experts dig out human remains near the Thailand border at Bukit Wang Burma in northern Malaysia in this May 26, 2015 � le photo REUTERS

WORLD 9D

TFRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Egypt sentences 10 to death for killing judge’s guardn AFP. Cairo

An Egyptian court yesterday sentenced to death 10 men for killing a security guard for one of the judges hearing a case against ousted president Mohamed Morsi, an offi-cial said.

Sergent Abdallah Metwally was part of a team of policemen guarding the home of judge Hussein Kandil, when he was gunned down in February 2014 in the city of Mansou-ra north of Cairo.

Kandil was the presiding judge in Morsi’s trial for escaping from jail during the 2011 up-rising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

The 10 men sentenced to death yesterday were among 24 tried in connection with Met-wally’s murder, the o� cial said. l

5 dead, 13 missing in Aegean migrant boat sinkingn AFP, Athens

Greek and Turkish coastguards have recov-ered the bodies of � ve migrants after a boat sinking in the Aegean Sea and another 13 are still missing, o� cials said yesterday.

“Two bodies were recovered by the Greek coastguard and another three by the Turkish coastguard,” a Greek coastguard spokeswom-an said.

“The search continues to � nd another 13 people,” she added.

The boat sank on Tuesday o� the Greek Aegean island of Agathonissi, near the Turk-ish coast, and survivors told authorities be-tween 33 and 37 people had been on board.

Greece is one of the main entry points into the European Union for migrants making risky sea voyages, the number of which has greatly increased in recent months.

According to the UN, some 137,000 mi-grants tried to cross the Mediterranean in the � rst six months of the year. l

Afghan intel claims third IS commander killed in drone striken Reuters, Kabul

The Afghan intelligence agency yesterday said a third top Islamic State (IS) commander in Afghanistan was killed in a US drone strike.

Shahidullah Shahid, a former member of the Pakistani Taliban who defected to the IS and was operating in Afghanistan, was killed along with � ve militants on Tuesday.

“He wanted to expand IS operation in the country and with his death, it will have an im-pact on their activities,” Hasib Sediqi, spokes-man for the Afghanistan National Directorate of Security (NDS), told Reuters.

Shahid was killed in the same strike that killed Islamic State number two in Afghan-istan Gul Zaman, along with 49 militants in Nangarhar province where Islamic State mili-tants have recently gained ground after push-ing out the Taliban. One other commander was also killed. l

Iran nuke deal closen Reuters, Vienna

Iran and six world powers were close to an historic nuclear agreement yesterday that could resolve a more than 12-year dispute over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, but they remained deadlocked on the issue of Iranian arms and missile trade.

Over the past two weeks, Iran, the Unit-ed States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China have twice extended a deadline for completing a long-term deal under which Tehran would curb sensitive nuclear activ-ities for more than a decade in exchange for sanctions relief.

The latest extension of the talks to Friday left open the possibility an agreement would not arrive in time to secure a 30-day review period by the US Congress. l

ECB ready to contain market e� ects of Greece crisisn Reuters, Rome

The European Central Bank is ready to take all measures available to contain undesired � nancial e� ects of the Greek debt crisis but it cannot prop up Greek banks much longer, ECB Governing Council member Ignazio Vis-co said on Wednesday.

In a speech in Rome Visco, who is gover-nor of the Bank of Italy, said the outcome of negotiations betweeen Athens and its credi-tors remained “profoundly uncertain” after inconclusive talks in Brussels on Tuesday.

Visco said the ECB, which has been pro-viding cash-strapped Greek banks with emer-gency liquidity, could not continue to support

them for long without progress on a cash-for-reforms deal at the political level.

“To maintain support it is necessary that there is a clear prospect of a political agree-ment on a programme,” he said.

Visco said the ECB’s bond-buying pro-gramme known as quantitatve easing (QE) had not so far been signi� cantly weakened by the Greek crisis and the bank was “deter-mined to “fully carry out” the programme to increase in� ation.

“Any unwanted restrictions in mone-tary conditions will be strongly countered,” he said.

“The Governing Council is closely watch-ing developments on � nancial markets and

their implications for monetary conditions and price stability in the euro zone; it is ready to use all instruments at its disposal,” Visco said.

Without mentioning the risk of Greece leaving the euro zone which many analysts now consider probable, Visco said the direct e� ects of the crisis on the euro zone were likely to be modest.

“However the crisis could have more se-rious repercussions if it rekindles the fear among international investors that the euro zone is not irreversible,” he said.

“In this case coordinated action by nation-al and European authorities (to counter mar-ket market tensions) will be indispensable.” l

Russia opposes MH17 tribunaln AFP, United Nations

Russia said yesterday it will oppose a draft UN resolution circulated by Malaysia on estab-lishing an international tribunal to prosecute those behind the downing of Flight MH17 over Ukraine.

Deputy UN Ambassador Petr Iliichev con-� rmed Moscow’s opposition to the plan, say-ing: “It’s not a good time and it’s counterpro-ductive.”

Asked whether Russia would push against the proposal, Iliichev responded “yes.”

A day earlier, Malaysia had circulated the draft Security Council resolution.

It says a UN tribunal would guarantee an in-dependent trial for those behind the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane on July 17, 2014.

The text, obtained by AFP, calls for estab-lishing the tribunal under Chapter Seven of the UN charter, which means that the court’s e� orts to prosecute those responsible could be enforced by sanctions.

All 298 passengers and crew on board the Malaysia Airlines � ight – the majority of them Dutch – died when the plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine.

Suspicions immediately turned to pro-Russian separatists who may have used a surface-to-air missile supplied by Russia to down the plane.

Russia has denied the claim and suggested that a Ukrainian missile may have hit it.

The tribunal would be “an e� ective guaran-tee for an independent and impartial account-ability process,” the draft resolution said. l

A woman cries beside a truck carrying 136 co� ns of newly identi� ed victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in front of the presidential building in Sarajevo July 9. The bodies of the 136 recently identi� ed victims of Srebrenica massacre will be transported to the memorial centre in Potocari where they will be buried on July 11, the anniversary of the massacre when Bosnian Serb forces slaughtered 8,000 Muslim men and boys and buried them in mass graves in Europe’s worst massacre since World War Two REUTERS

WORLD10DT

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Jet Airways plane diverts to Muscat after bomb threatn AFP, New Delhi

A Jet Airways � ight from Mumbai to Dubai made an emergency landing in Muscat yes-terday after a bomb threat, an o� cial said, in the second such incident in two days.

All 54 passengers and seven crew mem-bers were evacuated once the plane land-ed safely in an isolated area at Muscat’s international airport, a senior Jet Airways spokesman told AFP.

“There was a bomb threat on the � ight. It was a serious threat prompting the pilot to land at the closest airport,”

said Manish Kalghatgi.“All guests and crew disembarked without

any incident and were taken to the airport terminal,” Kalghatgi said, adding the Omani security agencies were carrying out a search of the aircraft, baggage and cargo.

Jet Airways is one of India’s biggest airlines with a � eet of 116 aircraft.

On Tuesday, a Turkish Airlines � ight from Bangkok to Istanbul made an emergency landing in New Delhi after a bomb threat was scrawled in lipstick on a bathroom mirror.

It was the third such bomb threat to a� ect Turkish Airlines this year alone. l

New hostage crisis feared as Israel says two held in Gazan AFP, Ashkelon

Two Israelis are being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip after having crossed into the Palestinian territory, Israeli o� cials said yes-terday, raising fears of another hostage crisis.

In 2011, Israel released more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held by Hamas for � ve years, and critics said that would encour-age further abductions.

And the Shalit case already appears to be having a bearing on this one, with a Hamas o� cial saying former prisoners re-arrested by Israel last year must be freed before there is any talk about releasing the Israelis.

The defence ministry said that, “according to credible intelligence” Avraham Mengistu, an Israeli of Ethiopian descent, “is being held against his will by Hamas in Gaza.”

Mengistu had “independently crossed the security fence” into Gaza, the Palestinian ter-ritory ruled by Hamas, a statement said.

“The defence establishment is currently deal-ing with an additional case of an Israeli Arab also being held in Gaza,” it said, without elaborating.

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said the two were “held by Hamas,” and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “we hold Hamas responsible for their welfare.”

“I expect the international community, which expresses its concern over the humani-

tarian situation in Gaza, to issue a clear call to release the citizens and ensure their return,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

The defence ministry said Mengistu en-tered the Palestinian territory on September 7, shortly after last summer’s war between Israel and Hamas. Israel does not allow its citizens to enter Gaza, partly out of fears that they may be used as bargaining chips to demand con-cessions, including the release of prisoners.

The case had been kept quiet due to an Israeli gag order, which was lifted yesterday by a judge in the southern city of Ashkelon, where Mengistu lived, local media reported.

The reports said information on the Israeli Arab was still under a gag order, but implied

he had been missing for a number of months.Mengistu’s family brie� y addressed jour-

nalists outside their home yesterday, calling on Hamas to release him and the Israeli gov-ernment to work toward his safe return.

“The family chose until now to remain discreet,” said brother Asho Mengistu, sur-rounded by other family members, including his mother, who had tears in her eyes.

Asho Mengistu said his brother was not in good health but did not provide details.

A friend of the family, wearing a shirt with Mengistu’s name on it, told reporters outside their home that many questions remained unanswered. The family was told earlier on that they should keep quiet, he said. l

India top court orders federal probe into job scandaln AFP, New Delhi

India’s top court yesterday ordered a federal investigation into a cash for jobs scandal af-ter a spate of recent deaths fuelled claims of a mass cover-up by a state government.

The Supreme Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the so-called Vyapam scam in which thou-sands of people are alleged to have bribed o� cials and politicians in Madhya Pradesh in return for jobs on the state payroll or places in training institutes.

“The Attorney General on instruction states that Madhya Pradesh has no objection whatso-ever for transferring the investigation of crim-inal cases relating to Vyapam scam to the CBI and the cases related to deaths of those alleg-

edly connected with the scam for free and fair probe,” the court ruled in a judgement, a copy of which has been seen by AFP.

The court also issued notices to the fed-eral and state governments seeking their re-sponse to calls by petitioners for the sacking of Madhaya Pradesh governor Ramnaresh Ya-dav over his alleged involvement.

The court was hearing a batch of petitions � led by activists and opposition leaders ask-ing for it to intervene and order a free and fair probe in the Vyapam scam which dates back to 2013.

The CBI, India’s top federal investigation agency, will take over the investigations from the Madhaya Pradesh state police who have arrested around 2,000 people since the scan-dal came to light. l

Top Tibetan monk faces India money-laundering chargesn AFP, New Delhi

A top Tibetan monk who is seen as a poten-tial successor to the Dalai Lama is to be pros-ecuted for money-laundering after an Indian court overturned a decision to drop charges, police said yesterday.

At a hearing on Wednesday at the Him-achal Pradesh High Court, a judge issued an order for authorities to open criminal pro-ceedings against Karmapa Urgyen Trinley over the recovery of around $1 million in for-eign currency during a raid on his Buddhist monastery four years ago.

Although criminal conspiracy charges were � led in the aftermath of the raid, a dis-trict court had dismissed the case in 2012 in a verdict that was later appealed and the sub-ject of Wednesday’s hearing.

The case dates back to a raid in January 2011 on a monastery in the Himalayan town of Dharamshala in which investigators say stacks of bank notes from 26 di� erent cur-rencies were recovered, including more than $100,000 worth of Chinese yuan.

The raid came after two people were pulled over by police in a car containing large amounts of cash. During interrogations, the

pair said the money was meant for a land deal involving a trust headed by Trinley.

The 30-year-old Trinley has denied any wrongdoing, saying the bank notes found in the monastery were donations from devotees which had accumulated over the years and that he had no involvement in the land deal.

The monk is revered by followers as the 17th incarnation of the head of the Karma Kagyu lineage, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

He � ed Tibet at the turn of the century at the age of 14, reaching India after an eight-day journey by foot and horseback over the Himalayas.

Since � eeing, he has mainly lived at the Gyuto Monastery in Dharamshala, the north-ern Indian hill station that is the seat of the Tibetan government in exile.

Trinley is recognised by both China and the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Karmapa Lama, head of the Karma Kagyu lin-eage, one of Tibetan Buddhism’s four major schools.

He is seen as as having the highest pro� le of a cast of young lamas who could succeed the Dalai Lama who has just turned 80. l

11D

TEDITORIALFRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

INSIDE

We are pleased to see a a growing number of Bangladeshi businesses exporting renewable energy equipment and expertise overseas.

SOLARIC, a local renewable energy company, is now sending 1,000 3G solar home systems to Tanzania every month. It is also producing SHS converters and solar systems for customers in India and Nepal.

Its expansion adds to the success of other companies, such as Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy, which are exporting solar panel products to places such as Dubai.

The International Renewable Energy Agency reported last year that over 114,000 people are already working in the solar industry in Bangladesh. While most of this is driven domestically, rising global demand for cleaner energy means there is huge potential to create new export jobs as well.

Bangladesh has made much positive progress in developing solar home power systems through the Infrastructure Development Company Limited, which is on course to achieving its target of installing 6 million solar home systems in the country by 2016.

Solar home systems and cheap local grids are playing a growing role in supplying unmet demand for power in households. Such programs are paying for themselves by delivering social and economic bene� ts more cheaply and quickly to the households in rural areas which need them most.

The government should join-up policies closer to help meet the twin goals of raising living standards and reducing fossil fuel dependence, while also creating new spin-o� manufacturing and export opportunities.

It should do more to incentivise increased renewable energy production, by cutting wasteful subsidies on fossil fuels. This will not only bene� t emissions targets, but also create new jobs and help Bangladesh play a greater part in the clean-energy revolution.

Solar home systems and cheap local grids are playing a growing role in supplying unmet demand for power in households

Boost renewable energy targets to grow green jobs

Felani: Remember the name

Respecting each other in RamadanMy individual liberty should not be infringed upon, and in return, I ought to respect the sentiments of people who are following through on the fast for spiritual attainment

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The law of unintended consequencesIf the BNP is wiped o� the face of the Earth, I think the chances of it being re-placed by a similar, saner political party are far lower than the chances of that space being occupied by a much more hard-core right-wing party

For the powerless, something lasts for a long time -- the wait for justice

BIGSTOCK

OPINION12DT

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

n Zafar Sobhan

With the announcement that Khaleda Zia is likely to be brought to trial for the � re-bombing deaths during

the BNP anti-government campaigns in the � rst few months of this year, and with arrest warrants issued against 28 BNP leaders and activists in association with a bus burning on January 30, it is clear that the government is heading towards a � nal solution to the BNP problem.

The march towards a de facto one-party state thus seems close to unstoppable. By the time the next elections roll around in 2019, the BNP may well have ceased to exist as any kind of a political force capable of providing any kind of challenge to the AL.

The question then of whether the party will contest in the next national elections or under what dispensation such elections will be held becomes a moot point.

Come 2019, there is every chance that the BNP will no longer be with us, or at least not in any recognisable form or in the form of a viable opposition party that has a realistic chance of coming to power.

In short, it looks as though the AL will get its wish, which, if you have been following the public and private pronouncements of its leaders and fellow travelers for the past few years, has been made pretty clear.

The AL feels that having to alternate in o� ce with the BNP throughout the 1990s and 2000s has kept them from being able to enact the policies this country needs and to see through their vision for developing Bangladesh into a middle-income country and beyond.

What Bangladesh needs, according to this school of thought, is steady, uninterrupted,

and focused leadership for the next decade or so, with none of the distractions and ine� ciencies that come with regular alternating of power, and the end result will be a thriving, prosperous, and developed nation.

The catch-phrase (which, interestingly enough, was precisely the same one used by the BNP, who had a remarkably similar vision, di� ering only in that they envisaged themselves at the epicentre of power) in vogue is the “Malaysia Model.” Another one is “development before democracy.”

Now, I very much doubt that the AL will abandon the party’s commitment to formal democracy in the sense that regular elections will still be held. The only di� erence will be that without an opposition worth the name, the election results will be a foregone conclu-sion and elections will appear as little more than a small blip in the multi-year planning for Bangladesh’s future.

Is this all bad? Proponents of the scheme and supporters of the government will point out that de facto one-party rule has worked very well for the countries in South-East Asia, and that it was the ability to stay in power for a long period of time to see through the vision of the ruling party that was instrumen-tal in their development.

The argument is that being able to stay in power for a long time allows the government to be able to focus on the long-term and not govern according to electoral cycles.

In addition, constantly switching govern-ments means that continuity is lost, espe-cially in a country like Bangladesh where each incoming government typically spends the � rst few years undoing the policies and projects of its predecessor in o� ce, ensuring that growth and development take place at a glacial pace, if at all.

The key is delivery. If the government in question really can deliver growth that makes the lives of the Bangladeshi people palpably better and improves the standard of living visibly, then my guess is that a multitude of other sins will be forgiven.

But it cannot be a question of pointing to high economic growth or GDP numbers and then haranguing the public for not recog-nising how good we have it. Numbers don’t tell the whole story and people recognise improvement in their standard of living when they see it, or, to be more precise, when they feel it.

But there are a number of factors weighing against a de facto one-party rule being able to deliver us to the promised land of develop-ment and middle-income nation status, and this is something that the government should bear in mind as it draws up its plans for our brave new world.

The � rst is that the entire edi� ce of democracy is built upon the premise that a strong opposition is what keeps the govern-ment honest and in check, and that without any opposition worth the name, the gov-

ernment of the day would constantly run the risk of descending into criminality and corruption.

The real danger for AL is that without an opposition it will � nd it very di� cult to rein in its worst elements, who are already caus-ing havoc around the country and harming the image and reputation of the government and the ruling party.

But there is another cause for concern. The ideas of Prof Mushtaq Husain Khan

of SOAS are pertinent here. He has pointed out that part of what has allowed Bangladesh to function is that the spoils of power have been fairly evenly distributed between the two sides, and it was the recognition that they would one day be out of power that kept those in o� ce in check, and hope of coming back to power at the next election that kept those in opposition within the frame.

With no hope of returning to power, these people will now have no incentive to stay their hand and to engage constructively with the government, instead of working towards the destruction of the system and everything that entails. In short, if both sides do not get a share of the spoils, the one on the outside will do everything in its power to make the country ungovernable.

This has more than the ring of plausibil-ity to it, and we have already seen to what

lengths an increasingly desperate BNP is willing to go to disrupt the government and put pressure on it. The fear is that we haven’t seen anything yet, and that whoever comes after them will have even less reason to play by the rules of the game and even less scru-ple about doing whatever it takes to derail the government.

The BNP is today now more of an insur-gency than an opposition party, but this is nothing compared to where things could go in future. If the BNP is wiped o� the face of the Earth, I think the chances of it being replaced by a similar, saner right of centre political party (that many would hope for) are far lower than the chances of that space being occupied by a much more hard-core right-wing party, if we are lucky, and by radicals or militants, if we are not.

There will always be opposition to the AL. For the last four decades, the BNP has been the face and focal point of this opposition. If they go, I am not at all sure that what will rise to take their place will be an improvement. l

Zafar Sobhan is the Editor, Dhaka Tribune.

The law of unintended consequences

If the BNP is wiped o� the face of the Earth, I think the chances of it being replaced by a similar, saner right of centre political party (that many would hope for) are far lower than the chances of that space being occupied by a much more hard-core right-wing party

Is Khaleda waving goodbye? MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

OPINION 13D

TFRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

n Syed Shehzar M Doja

Every year, during the month of Ramadan, a natural, recurring phenomenon takes place in almost all Muslim countries, including

ours. The brunt of mass societal judgment, which is normally reserved for the more destructive components of society, seems to be redirected en masse towards the sinister silhouette of a shivering minority that somehow confounds the masses with that singular burning question “why are you not fasting?” or trailing along the same myriad paths of questioning. The zealous fervour that seems to reverberate from these prying eyes if one were to even take a sip of water or try and dare slip in a Tic-Tac is simply surreal.

TS Eliot in “The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock” posed a deep question: “Do I dare disturb the universe?” Whereas the energy of this question was directed towards the un-derstanding of a deeper metaphysical bearing of oneself in the universe, it would seem that anyone who dares to break the normal conventions of Ramadan etiquette could feel themselves forced to ask that same question, in very di� erent tones.

As someone who cannot fast due to com-plicated health issues, I � nd myself deeply disturbed by the repetitive nature of my apologetic mannerisms during this period. I may as well be fasting when I am outside my house (which comprises of the larger portion of my day) as it feels like a voyeuristic shad-ow is always lingering and ready to catch me performing the blasphemous act of ingesting food at the ungodly hour of “before Iftar.” Even though the particulars of that given time does not apply to me.

I am no scholar of religion, nor do I even attempt to lay a claim at knowing anything for further talks or debates.

Even by the paltry standards I hold, I came to the reasonable understanding that fasting should deter the masses from these forms of insidious judgment rather than steering them towards it.

The didactic ambience is evidently marked by a few simple but synonymous etiquettes (please keep in mind I do not intend to insult anyone who keeps their fast genuinely, only those who adhere to the following):

Do not eat or drink in public, even if you are not Muslim, or if you are and have a per-fectly legitimate reason not to fast.

Do not call us out on our hypocritical stances whilst fasting. If we swear or become extremely irritable and attempt to run down people in the middle of the road to get to iftar, it is perfectly allowed and you are not allowed to bring it up.

Eat and pray loads. More than the year combined, just to prove … actually I have not � gured this part out yet. What does it even mean?

A friend of mine who is agnostic by faith was recently accosted by some very interesting comments.

Rather than meandering to an emphatic con� uence of ideas that his colleague and himself might indulge in exchanging, my friend was blatantly told that the consumption of iftar was somehow an earned right if one fasts, and not to be consumed otherwise.

Other permeating ideas consisted of him not being able to watch television, listen to music, or engage in conversations with members of the opposite gender. As forward thinking or revolutionary as those ideals may be, I remain entrenched in the sceptical belief that somehow, this theological discourse may be somewhat wayward in its vivid interpretation.

I understand that all this may be just the ramblings of someone who has completely misunderstood “the meaning of it all” and I am genuinely willing to accept that as a critique from my end, but I honestly feel that there has to be a more cohesive form of mutual understanding, acceptance, and recognition of another’s belief or situation.

That my individual liberty should not be infringed upon, and in return, I ought to respect the convictions and sentiments of

people who are following through on the fast for genuine and spiritual attainment. I feel that a reciprocating atmosphere such as that may set a lot of tensed individuals, such as myself, at ease.

As someone who thoroughly enjoys the diverse range of delicacies available through-out the month, I can never be too enamoured by the scented aromas circulating through-out the month or the festive spirit of the Eid countdown.

This communal feeling is, in fact, a very important part of my identity as a Muslim and as someone brought up in this culture. But if there is a disproportionate rise in attitude that mirrors my friend’s colleague’s ideologies, then where would that leave alienated Muslims such as myself?

I am grateful, however, that as a secular country (by name), I cannot be dissuaded physically from acting on momentary impulses of food consumption if desired or

required.There are no binding repercussions by law

(that I know of), such as in Iran and Saudi Arabia, so I, like many others, am protected somewhat from intimidation that is physical, but alas not from the psychological kind. Does that make protection under law purely a conceptual stance? I honestly cannot say. l

Syed Shehzar M Doja is Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Luxembourg Review.

Respecting each other in Ramadan

My individual liberty should not be infringed upon, and in return, I ought to respect the convictions and sentiments of people who are following through on the fast for genuine and spiritual attainment

A feast only for those who are fasting?

OPINION14DT

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

n Garga Chatterjee

In case you missed it, the “Berlin Wall” fell when New Delhi concluded certain agreements with Dhaka just a few weeks ago. Calling something “historic” must

be one of the most vacuous cliches of these times. PR-wallahs and make-up artists with English-language skills spent sleepless nights to � nd adjectives over and above the “histor-ic” so that the aroma of that visit is nothing short of fair and lovely.

But Bengalis, being shorter and darker, can’t appreciate that aroma in an air that is still heavy with the smell of blood of Felani Khatun. Knowing more about Felani Khatun might be useful in getting clues to that timeless question that the more powerful

and violent often ask, a question that has been asked by certain Indians to Bangladesh, ever since 1971, with an air of innocence that only the extremely powerful and ruthless can carry o� shamelessly in public: “Why do they hate us?”

Some readers may have heard of Kolkata’s Ho Chi Minh Sarani. Its earlier name was Harrington Street -- Harrington being a white man who came to Bengal to make money as a “judge” and “civil servant” during its colonial occupation by the British. The renaming happened at the height of the US’s brutal occupation and invasion of Vietnam. This was Kolkata’s own way of protesting against a behemoth, whose guns and steel were more powerful than the voice of Kolkata’s protestors.

But they were not more powerful than the grit and perseverance of the “little people” of Vietnam, as the events later showed -- resulting in the driving away of Yankee military occupiers by the Vietnamese. Kolkata’s street-renaming stunt was designed to be something of a minor shame and predicament to an outpost of the US in Kolkata, for they now had to print the name of Ho Chi Minh, the supreme leader of the Vietnamese patriots, in their stationery and other things.

It turns out that the tactic of renaming streets to embarrass the powerful can be infectious. Infections spread more easily

among the same people. Hence, this re-naming event of West Bengal had its newest avatar in East Bengal, when many in Dhaka demanded the renaming of the street in front of the Indian High Commission to Felani Khatun. Who is Felani Khatun and why did the protesters want this speci� c street to be renamed after her?

Felani Khatun was a poor 15-year-old from East Bengal who lived in New Delhi for work. She was an “illegal.” She also happened to be a human -- something that no shadow of illegality can hide. In 2011, while she was crossing the barb-wired border between the two Bengals, she was shot. The murdered, bloodied body of this child hung grotesquely on the barbed-wire fence erected by the Bor-der Security Force (BSF) of the Indian Union.

We live in times of re� ned aesthetics. Pictures of murdered bodies are o� ensive; murder of children by men in uniform drawing monthly salaries from the public isn’t. And it is this sensibility that we want inculcated in our children so that they become “good human beings.”

And Anglophone make-up artists are never in short supply in boardrooms, news-rooms, universities, “Lok” Sabhas, and other places to help you understand the meaning of words such as “good” and “human” under this over-arching tri-colour tent. The “free” media of the Indian Union did not disturb your morning cup of tea with the horri� c

pictures of Felani, the murdered child, or her Khaki killer.

However, the rest of the world did. And from that arose the street-renaming push in Dhaka. But inside the Indian Union, we are safe from being ashamed. Let’s relax. At the end of the day, Felani’s family is poor -- so her death will become a number and a date. So a protest about her case wouldn’t last for too long. But for the powerless, something lasts for a long time -- the wait for justice.

The prime accused of the Felani case is Amiya Ghose, a BSF man. In June 2013, BSF’s own inquiry court pronounced him “not guilty,” hence another “good” human being. Felani’s family saw what went on in the name of “inquiry” but took India’s “Satyamev Jayate” slogan seriously.

Another “special” BSF court again ac-quitted this BSF man on July 3, 2015. And if this trial of a BSF man by other BSF men without any public scrutiny seems okay as the victim was an “illegal” Bangladeshi, let us remember that most allegations of major human rights violations against BSF men in the Bengal border pertain to crimes against people of West Bengal.

Clearly, people living near the border, under the protection of the BSF aren’t “good” human beings. All they do is habitually con-coct lies about murders, torture, rape, slave labour, beatings, etc done by the BSF. Since rape, torture, and forced labour are minor things, the “good” local police mostly don’t dare register these cases, so that their Indian nationalist credential of being the greatest defenders of truth and justice on Earth isn’t tarnished.

The Indian Union must come up with a plan to inject nationalist morale into these areas, so that the morale of the BSF men are not a� ected by minor charges of murder, torture, rape, slave labour, beatings, extor-tion, and stealing -- in short, activities that are pre-conditions of ensuring “national security” of a nation-state built on the edi� ce of truth and nothing but the truth.

Otherwise, such allegations of crimes may diminish the value of “national security” in the minds of these citizens of the Indian Union, and they may start � nding resonance in the murdered Punjabi poet Avtar Singh Paash: “Jey desh di surakhya eho hondee hai kay be-zameeree zindagi lei shart ban javey/ Akh di putli vich han ton bina koi bhi shabd ashleel howe/ Tay man badkaar ghadiyan de samne dandaut’t jhukiya rahe/ Tey saanu desh di surakhya ton khatra hai” (If a life without conscience is a pre-condition of the coun-try’s security, if anything other than saying “yes” in agreement is obscene, and the mind submits before the greedy times, then the security of the country is a danger to us).

Hence, “wicked” people say that there isn’t enough tri-colour Khadi in the world to cover the shame of shielding a Khaki murderer. We have no shame. But we must remember that in the other world, Ma Durga metes out justice, irrespective of colours in this world, however powerful. l

Garga Chatterjee is a political and cultural commentator. He can be followed on twitter @gargac.

Felani: Remember the name

For the powerless, something lasts for a long time -- the wait for justice

Felani’s death speaks of the moral corruption in the BSF

REUTERS

15D

TBusiness FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

STOCKS END MARGINALLY HIGHER19 NBR TO HONOUR 119 TOP VAT PAYERS 20

Aid pledges fall 18% in 11 months n Tribune Report

The foreign aid pledge has dropped more than 18% in the � rst 11 months of � nancial year (FY) 2014-15 as the development partners are dissatis� ed over the utilisation of loans and continuing with adopting wait and see policy, o� cials said yesterday.

The donors committed assistance worth US$2.83bn from July through May period in FY15, down from $3.46bn in the same period of previous � scal year, according to the Eco-nomic Relations Division (ERD) data released in the capital yesterday.

Out of entire foreign aid commitments, de-velopment partners pledged to give $2.43bn as concessional loans and $393.36m as grants. In the corresponding period of the previous year, it was $2.98bn as loans and $481.54m as grants.

During the period, foreign loan disburse-ment remained almost same as Bangladesh received $2.63bn in FY15, which was $2.62bn in FY14.

Of the total credit disbursement, the devel-opment partners had disbursed concessional loans worth $2.16bn and grants worth $468m.

In the corresponding period of FY14, it was $1.96bn as loans and $654.58m as grants.

In FY2015, Bangladesh has set a target of harnessing concessional loans and grants worth $3.3bn from development partners.

Among the development partners, the

World Bank remained on top of the aid-dis-bursement list, providing $803.55m in 11 months.

It was followed by Asian Development Bank with $622.84m, Japan International Co-operation Agency $276.12m, Russia $130m, Chinese government $120.56m, Islamic De-velopment Bank $120m and India $7m.

During the period in FY15, Bangladesh government paid back $1.02bn against the outstanding loans to the bilateral and multi-lateral lenders.

Out of the amount, $852.88m was paid as principal of the loans and $167.77m as interest. In the corresponding period of FY14, the gov-

ernment repaid $1.15bn, of which $968.53m as principal and $184.57m as interest.

Bangladesh was supposed to sign a deal valued almost $1.2bn with Japan by March last, which is yet to be done, said an o� cial.

Moreover, the government failed to utilise funds worth more than $20bn in the pipe-line, making donors reluctant to make further commitment, they said.

However, they are hopeful that the de-velopment partners will come forward and extended their support to Bangladesh’s de-velopment, as the government continuously is making its utmost e� orts in e� cient use of fund and the political � eld remains calm. l

Growth slows in emerging markets, picks up in advanced economiesn Tribune Report

Moderate growth continues, with global growth forecast to be slightly down for 2015, re� ecting an unexpected setback to economic activity in the � rst quarter of 2015, mostly in North America, says the IMF’s latest update on the World Economic Outlook released yesterday.

General evolutions are unfolding very much as forecast in April, said Oliv-ier Blanchard, IMF Economic Counselor and Director of Research, “namely, an improving recovery in advanced econ-omies and a slowdown in underlying growth in emerging markets and devel-oping economies.”

Forecasts for the world economy are for 3.3% this year, marginally lower than in 2014, and 3.8% next year.

“As dramatic as the events in Greece are,” Blanchard said, “e� ects on the rest of the world economy from the further su� ering of the Greek economy are like-ly to be limited.” Of course, he said, “we continue to hope for and work toward

a positive solution by which Greece re-mains in the Eurozone.”

As for other developments, the WEO Update said that oil prices rebounded during the second quarter of 2015, the risk of de� ation decreased, and � nancial conditions for corporate and household borrowers in most advanced economies remained broadly favorable.

The increase in global growth in 2015 will be driven by stronger growth in advanced econ-omies. Growth in these economies is forecast to increase from 1.8% in 2014 to 2.1% in 2015 (falling about 0.3 percent-age points short of the forecast in April), and 2.4% in 2016.

Growth in emerg-ing market and developing econo-mies is projected to

slow from 4.6% in 2014 to 4.2% in 2015. The slowdown re� ects the dampening impact of lower commodity prices and tighter external � nancial conditions.

In 2016, growth in emerging market and developing economies is expected to pick up to 4.7%, largely on account of the pro-jected improvement in economic condi-tions in a number of distressed economies, including Russia and some economies in the Middle East and North Africa. l

Agrani Bank MD gets one-year extension n Tribune Report

Managing Director & CEO of the state-run Agrani Bank Syed Abdul Hamid gets one-year extension as his previous tenure expires today.

The government has extended his tenure by one more year with any prior approval from the Bangladesh Bank, said an o� cial.

Bank and Financial Institutions Division yes-terday sent a letter singed by Deputy Secretary M Motiar Rahman to the Chairman of Agrani Bank Zaid Bakht with an instruction to extend the ten-ure of Syed Abdul Hamid by one more year.

However, Bangladesh Bank o� cials claimed that the Banking Division did not get any consent from the central bank for the re-appointment of Abdul Hamid as Managing Director of the bank.

On the contrary, o� cials of the Banking Di-vision said, “The bank got the consent from the Bangladesh Bank two years back.”

It is alleged that the current MD of Agani Bank is reportedly involved with irregulari-ties like sanctioning loans for SunMoon Group from the bank, said an BB o� cial on condition of anonymity.

In a revised Bank Company Law, the au-thorities concerned need to get prior consent from the Bangladesh Bank for any appoint-ment or promotion of the bank directors, MDs or CEOs, excepting the specialised banks. l

2.95

0.48

2.43

0.39

Concessional loans (USDbn) Grants (USDbn)

FOREIGN AID COMMITMENT TREND

FY14 (Jul-Mar)FY15 (Jul-Mar)

● Of the FY15 pledges, concessional loans $2.4bn and grants $393m

● Donors’ dissatisfaction over aid utilisation holds back commitment

● Bangladesh could not utilise funds worth $20bn so far in the pipeline

● Aid disbursement remains same at US$2.6bn level in FY14 and FY15

ADD

ADD

BUSINESS18DT

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 250.24 5.24 12.56 3.81 262.80 5.15NBFI 199.93 4.19 15.06 4.56 214.99 4.21Investment 50.81 1.06 1.97 0.60 52.78 1.03Engineering 963.71 20.19 75.13 22.77 1038.84 20.36Food & Allied 240.13 5.03 8.46 2.56 248.58 4.87Fuel & Power 653.66 13.70 40.12 12.16 693.78 13.60Jute 4.96 0.10 0.00 4.96 0.10Textile 268.00 5.62 21.17 6.42 289.18 5.67Pharma & Chemical 829.32 17.38 44.06 13.35 873.38 17.12Paper & Packaging 31.56 0.66 4.25 1.29 35.80 0.70Service 46.45 0.97 3.32 1.01 49.77 0.98Leather 15.76 0.33 1.59 0.48 17.36 0.34Ceramic 62.38 1.31 4.07 1.23 66.45 1.30Cement 163.98 3.44 20.18 6.12 184.16 3.61Information Technology 31.39 0.66 2.54 0.77 33.93 0.66General Insurance 19.22 0.40 0.94 0.29 20.17 0.40Life Insurance 54.52 1.14 1.42 0.43 55.94 1.10Telecom 329.12 6.90 17.03 5.16 346.15 6.78Travel & Leisure 223.98 4.69 22.17 6.72 246.15 4.82Miscellaneous 333.48 6.99 33.82 10.25 367.30 7.20Debenture 0.01 0.00 0.09 0.03 0.09 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

News, analysis and recent disclosuresMHSML: Alpha Credit Rating Limited (AlphaRating) has rated the Company as ‘BBB’ in the long term and ‘AR-4’ in the short term along with a Negative out-look based on audited � nancial statement of the Company up to June 30, 2014, six months period ended December 31, 2014 and relevant qualitative information up to July 08, 2015.FASFIN: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has announced the rating of the Company as ‘BBB1’ in the long term and ‘ST-3’ in the short term along with a stable outlook based on audited � nancial statements of the Company up to 31 December 2014, and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.LRGLOBMF1: (Q3-Unaudited): Net Pro� t/(loss) from April’15 to June’15 was Tk. 199.58 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.64 as against Tk. (93.54) mil-lion and Tk. (0.30) respectively for the same period of the pre-vious year. Whereas Net Pro� t from Oct’14 to June’15 was Tk. 91.94 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.30 as against Tk. 148.19 million and Tk. 0.48 respectively for the same period of the previous year.AIBL1STIMF: (Q1 Un-audited): Net Pro� t/(loss) from April’15 to June’15 was Tk. 119.95 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 1.19 as against Tk. (14.29) million and Tk. (0.14) respectively for the same period of the previous year.IDLC: With reference to their earlier news (disseminated by DSE on 30.10.2013) regarding

setting up of a wholly-owned subsidiary Company of IDLC Finance Limited for establishing an Asset Management Company (AMC), subject to the approval of BSEC, the Company has further informed that recently Bangladesh Bank issued a No Objection Certi� cate (NOC) to the Company for the establish-ment of the AMC. The Company has further informed that they have revised the paid up capital of the proposed AMC from Tk. 6.00 crore to Tk. 15.00 crore. Other information will remain same.SHAHJABANK: The Company has informed that the cash divi-dend for the year 2014 has been disbursed to the respective shareholders’ Bank Accounts through Bangladesh Electronic Fund Transfer Network (BEFTN) System.Dividend/AGMFAREASTLIF: 35% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 16.08.2015, Record Date: 23.07.2015.STYLECRAFT: 60% cash, AGM: 27.08.2015, Record Date: 30.07.2015.BIFC: No dividend, AGM: 03.09.2015, Record Date: 23.07.2015.SANDHANINS: 22% stock, AGM: 01.09.2015, Record Date: 12.08.2015.PRIMELIFE: 15% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 31.08.2015, Record Date: 14.07.2015.UTTARAFIN: 20% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 29.07.2015, Record date: 08.07.2015.NATLIFEINS: 45% cash , AGM: 09.08.2015, Record Date: 30.06.2015.

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

AramitCementA 9.79 12.58 31.33 31.40 31.40 30.00 2.153 0.72 43.5Samata LeatheR -Z 9.76 9.44 31.41 31.50 31.50 31.00 0.148 -0.05 -veH.R. Textile -A 9.48 9.67 23.14 23.10 23.20 23.00 0.082 0.86 26.9Aramit -A 8.71 8.71 228.30 228.30 228.30 228.30 0.001 13.84 16.5Delta Brac HFCL-A 8.38 8.01 82.52 82.80 83.00 80.00 0.152 6.04 13.7MBL 1st M. F.-A 8.33 6.03 3.87 3.90 3.90 3.70 0.116 -0.42 -veAIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A 7.32 8.05 4.43 4.40 4.50 4.20 0.048 4.76 0.9Fine Foods A 6.32 5.37 10.01 10.10 10.10 10.00 0.079 -0.27 -veSonargaon Tex -Z 6.17 5.12 8.63 8.60 8.70 8.60 0.017 -2.17 -veFAS Fin. -A 5.93 5.93 12.50 12.50 12.50 12.50 0.062 -0.32 -ve

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

AramitCementA 9.79 14.48 31.39 31.40 31.40 31.00 3.958 0.72 43.6Jute SpinnersA 9.57 10.32 51.85 51.50 51.70 51.00 0.021 -31.68 -veBD Fixed Income MF-A 8.57 9.18 7.61 7.60 7.70 7.10 1.326 0.51 14.9Zeal Bangla Sugar -Z 5.97 8.74 7.09 7.10 7.30 6.80 0.124 -45.17 -veGolden Son -A 5.42 5.84 30.99 31.10 31.50 29.40 75.354 1.20 25.8MBL 1st M. F.-A 5.26 3.42 3.93 4.00 4.10 3.80 2.008 -0.42 -veLR Global BD MF1-A 5.00 6.08 4.19 4.20 4.40 4.00 2.208 0.40 10.5AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A 4.76 4.80 4.37 4.40 4.60 4.10 3.991 4.76 0.9Unique Hotel RL - A 4.44 2.84 53.59 54.10 54.60 52.20 32.181 3.04 17.6People`s Leasing-A 4.14 4.27 15.14 15.10 15.50 14.50 38.931 0.56 27.0

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Uttara Finance -A -12.68 -11.92 53.81 53.70 56.00 53.00 0.707 8.12 6.6Prime Insur -A -9.43 -7.04 14.78 14.40 15.00 14.40 0.023 1.12 13.2Aziz PipesZ -9.09 -9.09 19.00 19.00 19.00 19.00 0.002 -2.64 -veStandard Ceramic -A -8.80 -15.26 45.91 45.60 52.50 45.00 1.386 0.49 93.7Rupali InsurA -8.77 -8.77 15.60 15.60 15.60 15.60 0.001 2.60 6.0Monno Ceramic -B -6.38 -4.38 32.99 32.30 34.10 32.30 0.765 0.16 206.2Rupali Bank - A -5.58 -5.52 40.60 40.60 40.60 40.60 0.000 5.84 7.0Takaful Islami Insu-A -5.00 -5.00 17.10 17.10 18.00 16.50 0.299 1.40 12.2Zaheen Spinning -N -4.87 -3.08 21.73 21.50 22.10 21.40 1.250 1.18 18.4Provati Insur.-A -4.32 -4.03 13.34 13.30 13.80 13.20 0.016 1.84 7.3

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Uttara Finance -A -13.94 -14.22 52.90 53.10 53.80 51.90 10.945 8.12 6.5Monno Ceramic -B -7.60 -9.16 32.23 31.60 34.10 31.00 4.434 0.16 201.4Standard Ceramic -A -7.58 -8.67 47.31 46.30 50.00 46.00 5.562 0.49 96.6BD. Autocars -Z -5.88 -6.83 22.25 22.40 23.50 22.30 0.033 0.19 117.1Standard Insurance-A -5.14 -5.13 16.63 16.60 17.00 16.30 0.200 2.88 5.8Imam Button -Z -5.08 -3.25 11.32 11.20 12.00 11.00 0.538 -1.21 -veSonali Ansh -A -4.94 -5.02 110.22 107.70 113.90 106.00 4.871 0.87 126.7IFIC 1st MF-A -4.00 -2.80 4.86 4.80 5.00 4.80 0.402 0.73 6.7Hakkani P& Paper -B -3.99 -5.63 53.17 52.90 56.00 51.30 6.205 0.29 183.3Reliance Insur -A -3.71 -3.30 43.95 44.10 44.40 42.60 0.109 5.12 8.6

DSE key features July 9, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

4,772.61

Turnover (Volume)

124,060,649

Number of Contract

106,519

Traded Issues 317

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

150

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

157

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

10

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,593.50

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.44

CSE key features July 9, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

329.94

Turnover (Volume)

10,322,063

Number of Contract

15,424

Traded Issues 242

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

120

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

115

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,501.00

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.32

BUSINESS 19D

TFRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Stocks end marginally highern Tribune Report

Stocks � nished marginally higher yesterday, extending their gaining streak for the third straight session.

The benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, rose more than 20 points or 0.5% to close at 4,599.

The Shariah index, DSES, inched over 7 points or 0.7% up to 1,133. The blue chip comprising index DS30 was up 11 points or 0.7% to 1,795. The Chittagong Stock Ex-change gained 57 points to settle at 8,630.

Trading activities, how-ever, declined with trade volume in value standing at more than Tk477 crore, down from over Tk495 crore.

Investors mostly kept their focus concentrated on engineering and pharma-ceuticals sectors, which cap-tured more than 19.4% and 16.7% respectively of the to-tal turnover.

Prices of majority scrips moved up as out of 316 is-sues traded, 145 advanced, 119 declined and 52 re-mained unchanged.

All the major sectors ended slightly higher. Bank, telecommunication, non-banking � nancial insti-

tutions and textile gained 0.2%, 1.8%, 1.5% and 0.09% respectively, while non-banking � nancial in-stitutions, IT and pharma-ceuticals were down by 2%, 0.3% and 0.6% respectively.

LankaBangla Securities said the market remained in the green zone. How-ever, throughout the day, pro� t booking by the inves-tors were clearly observed as during the past few days rally of the fundamentally sound, large cap and foreign � rms stocks stopped.

IDLC Investments said investors maintained their participation anticipating a solid half-yearly and year-end declaration, due in com-ing weeks.

It said the turnaround in economy was expected by the investors in the mid-term, as political chaos rest-ed and interest rate lowered.

G r a m e e n p h o n e — t h e country’s top mobile phone operator—continued to be-come most traded stocks for the second straight session with shares worth Tk29.4 crore changing hands.

It was followed by IFAD Autos, Khulna Power Com-pany Limited, United Air-ways, ACI Limited and Bex-imco Limited. l

Investors maintained their participation anticipating a solid half-yearly and year-end declaration, due in coming weeks

ANALYST

Daily capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 11585.87750 (+) 0.44% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1795.24923 (+) 0.62% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 14173.84960 (+) 0.36% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 11585.87750 (+) 0.45% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8626.87050 (+) 0.34% ▲

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change % ClosingY DHIGH DLOW AvgPrice

Olympic Accessories -N 380,699 23.92 7.25 63.30 1.44 62.40 64.90 60.50 62.84UNITED AIR-A 1,710,623 19.10 5.79 11.10 1.83 10.90 11.40 10.70 11.16BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 445,610 15.18 4.60 34.00 -1.16 34.40 34.60 33.90 34.06Grameenphone-A 41,648 14.04 4.26 339.20 1.77 333.30 340.00 334.00 337.17LafargeS Cement-A 115,361 13.21 4.00 114.30 0.35 113.90 115.20 114.00 114.48Golden Son -A 348,754 10.81 3.28 31.10 5.78 29.40 31.60 29.20 30.99Khulna Power-A 144,901 10.59 3.21 73.50 3.09 71.30 74.00 70.00 73.06Beximco Pharma -A 135,805 8.78 2.66 65.00 -0.15 65.10 65.20 64.20 64.69National Feed-A 326,686 8.24 2.50 25.70 4.05 24.70 26.00 24.20 25.21Khan Brothers-N 258,509 7.80 2.36 30.60 3.38 29.60 30.90 28.90 30.18Appollo Ispat CL -N 342,763 7.44 2.25 21.40 -0.93 21.60 22.10 21.30 21.70Square Pharma -A 28,364 7.35 2.23 259.30 -0.35 260.20 260.00 258.50 259.29MJL BD Ltd.-A 62,309 6.78 2.05 107.40 -0.83 108.30 110.10 106.70 108.77United Power-N 39,444 6.18 1.87 156.70 -0.32 157.20 158.10 155.60 156.72BSRM Ltd. -N 78,339 5.64 1.71 71.80 0.70 71.30 72.90 71.00 71.95

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

Grameenphone-A 873,207 293.89 6.16 339.20 1.98 332.60 340.00 333.20 336.56Ifad Autos -N 2,047,412 208.80 4.37 101.20 -1.27 102.50 104.90 100.10 101.98Khulna Power-A 2,420,453 176.78 3.70 73.70 2.93 71.60 73.90 71.70 73.04UNITED AIR-A 15,134,670 169.11 3.54 11.10 1.83 10.90 11.40 10.90 11.17ACI Limited- A 274,418 164.47 3.45 597.40 -0.30 599.20 611.90 588.00 599.34BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 4,551,404 155.30 3.25 34.00 -1.16 34.40 34.60 33.80 34.12Olympic Accessories -N 2,252,369 142.01 2.98 63.30 1.77 62.20 64.90 60.60 63.05Beximco Pharma -A 2,023,697 130.64 2.74 64.70 -0.46 65.00 65.40 63.90 64.55AFC AgroBiotech-A 1,781,855 119.01 2.49 66.40 0.91 65.80 67.60 65.80 66.79Square Pharma -A 411,267 106.62 2.23 258.80 -0.42 259.90 260.50 258.00 259.25BD. Thai Alum -B 2,973,192 106.14 2.22 37.60 3.30 36.40 38.10 33.40 35.70Khan Brothers-N 3,459,075 103.23 2.16 30.50 3.04 29.60 30.90 28.70 29.84ACI Formulations-A 441,748 103.09 2.16 231.20 -0.39 232.10 239.00 230.00 233.37Appollo Ispat CL -N 4,617,542 100.47 2.11 21.50 -1.38 21.80 22.20 21.20 21.76LafargeS Cement-A 822,856 94.22 1.97 114.30 0.18 114.10 115.10 114.10 114.50

BUSINESS20DT

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

NBR to honour 119 top VAT payers n Tribune Report

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is set to award 119 business organisations in recogni-tion of their contribution to national excheq-uer through payment of highest amount of Value Added Tax in the � nancial year 2013-14.

The nine highest VAT-paying companies on national level and 110 from district level will be awarded with crests and certi� cates under three categories – production, service and business.

The VAT payers on national level and Dha-ka division will receive the award at a func-tion on July 12 to be held at Bangabandhu In-ternational Conference Center, with � nance minister AMA Muhith as the chief guest.

Under the national category, Titash Gas Field (Brahmanbaria), Koilastila Gas Field (Sylhet) and Rashidpur Condensate Fractionate Plant (Habiganj) topped the list in production cat-egory while Rural Electri� cation Board (Joar Sahara, Dhaka), Chowdhury Tea Warehouse (Chittagong), and National Television Ltd (NTV) topped the list under service category.

Under the business category, Gallery Apex (Tongi), Aarong (Lalmatia, Dhaka) and Mosta-fa Mart Pvt Limited (Bashundhara City) se-cured positions in the top three list.

NBR is honoring the top VAT payers as part of its programmes taken up for the obser-vance of National VAT Day today and National VAT Week that also began today and will con-tinue till July 16.

The Board is hosting the programmes for the � fth consecutive year to create more awareness among people and businesses about paying VAT.

In the district level, 39 companies will be honored under production category while 35 under services and 36 under business. These companies will also receive the crest and cer-ti� cates at programmes to be organised by the divisional headquarters.

The award recipients will enjoy a number of bene� ts for one year from the issuance of the date of award.

NBR to take action against dishonest busi-nesses

The National Board of Revenue will soon take action against the dishonest businesses while it will support the honest ones, NBR Chairman Nojibur Rahman said yesterday.

He said there are allegations against busi-nesses for harassing tax o� cials.

“Some businesses threaten and harass the honest tax o� cials. The tax authority will identify such businesses and take action against them while keeping good relations

with good businesses and supporting them,” Nojibur said at a press meet at NBR headquar-ters yesterday.

He also said the board will also take action against tax o� cials if allegations are found against them for harassing businesses.

The chairman added that there will be no manipulation of VAT collection and payment once the VAT Online project goes fully oper-ational. l

Business Category01 Panna Distribution Ltd (Dhaka)02 Sajeeb Enterprise (Munshiganj)03 RH Trading (Narayanganj)04 Penta Trading Limited (Manikganj)05 Jupiter Enterprise (Tangail)06 Bajaj Utshab (Netrokona)07 Bajaj Corner (Sherpur)08 Interfold Trading (Chittagong)09 Asian Paints Limited (Comilla)10 Haji Enterprise (Feni)11 Aarong (BRAC) (Sylhet)12 Rahman Enterprise (Habiganj)13 Abul Leise and Sons (Sunamganj)14 Asian Paints Limited (Khulna)15 RK Trading (Satkhira)16 M/S Abdul Matin Mridha (Barisal)17 M/S Akon Trading (Pirojpur)18 Ajij Gazi (Jhalakathi)19 Bajaj Center (Shariatpur)20 Sigma Traders (Madaripur)21 M/S Humayun Store (Barguna)22 A Rahman and Sons (Bhola)23 Sikder Autos (Patuakhali)24 Pride Saree (Rajshahi)25 Asian Paints Bangladesh Limited (Bogra)26 Abdul Hamid Bhuiyan (Sirajganj)27 Meghla Enterprise (Naogaon)28 Hasan Trading (Joypurhat)29 Animon Store (Chapainawabganj)30 Shakil Motors (Nilphamari)31 SB Enterprise (Thakurgaon)32 Sharanika Enterprise (Panchagarh)33 Nibaran Chandra Saha (Gaibandha)34 Taj International (Faridpur)35 Khan Bajaj Center (Chuadanga)36 Tekerhat Traders (Gopalganj)

District wise top VAT paying companies and � rms

Production Category01 Promi Agro Foods Limited (Dhaka)02 Olympic Industries Limited

(Narayanganj)03 Pran Dairy Limited (Narsingdi)04 Perfette Van Mele Bangladesh

(Gazipur)05 Takwa Marketing Network (My-

mensingh)06 North Bengal Cycle Industries Limit-

ed (Tangail)07 MM Khan Foods (Kishoreganj) 08 Jenson and Nicholson (Chittagong)09 PEB Steel Alliance Ltd (Comilla)10 Star Line Food Product (Feni)11 Farid Industries Limited (Noakhali)12 Ashuganj Fertiliser and Chemical

Company Ltd (Brahmanbaria)13 Suntech Energy Limited (Sylhet)14 Star Ceramics (Habiganj)15 Varaura Tea Estate (Moulvibazar)16 Nur Laim Works (Sunamganj)17 Abdullah Battery Company Pvt Ltd

(Khulna)18 Dubai Bangladesh Cement Mills

(Bagerhat)19 Sundarban Textile Mills (Satkhira)20 Padma Boeing Ltd (Barisal) 21 Asia BD (Shariatpur)22 Haq Chemical Works (Barguna)23 Panja Biri (Patuakhali)24 Muslim Ayurbedik (Rajshahi)25 PCL Plastic (Bogra)26 Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd (Pabna)27 Bangladesh Milk Producers

Co-Operative Union Ltd (Milk Vita) (Sirajganj)

28 New Brothers Biscuit (Naogaon)29 Jaypurhat Sugar Mill (Joypurhat)30 Igloo Foods (Chapainawabganj)31 Anandomoye Stainless Steel

(Natore)32 Prime Pushti Ltd (Rangpur)33 Akij Bidi Factory (Nilphamari)34 Laon Soap Factory (Thakurgaon)35 Akij Bidi Factory (Lalmonirhat)36 Oriental Oil Company Ltd (Jessore)37 BRB Cable Industries Ltd (Kushtia)38 Asia Biscuit Limited (Chuadanga)39 Badrunnesa Chemical (Rajbari)

Service Category01 Fiber At Home Limited (Dhaka)02 Bhagyakul Cable Network (Munshiganj)03 Meghna Energy Limited (Narayanganj)04 Dream Holiday Limited (Narsingdi)05 Linkers Automobile (Gazipur)06 Woodmark Furniture (Manikganj)07 Elenga Resort Limited (Tangail)08 Ma Mistanno Bhandar (Jamalpur)09 Hotel Castle Salam (Kishoreganj)10 KCJ and Associated Ltd (Chittagong)11 Matri Bhandar (Comilla)12 Star Line AC Bus (Feni)13 Biswanath Karmakar and Others

(Noakhali) 14 One Minute (Chandpur)15 Al Helal Hotel (Brahmanbaria)16 Panch Bhai Restaurent (Sylhet)17 Hotel Amad (Habiganj)18 Southern Automobiles Ltd (Moulviba-

zar)19 Fulkoli (Sunamgonj)20 City Inn Limited (Khulna) 21 Hotel Al Amin (Bagerhat)22 Bhagyakul Mishtanno Bhandar (Satkh-

ira)23 Best Food Garden (Barisal)24 Chandra Rest House (Madaripur)25 Rajshahi Mishtanno Bhandar (Rajshahi)26 Asia Sweetmeat (Bogra)27 Loksmi Mishtanno Bhandar (Pabna)28 Naogaon Mishtanno Bhandar-1 (Naoga-

on)29 Sharma Mishtanno Bhandar (Jaypurhat)30 Alauddin Hotel and Restaurant (Chapa-

inawabganj)31 Natore Town Press (Natore)32 Gawsia Hotel and Restaurant (Thakur-

gaon)33 Pabna Sweets (Dinajpur)34 Hasan International (Jessore)35 Shahabaj Tourism (Narail)

The award recipients will enjoy a number of bene� ts for one year from the issuance of the date of award

Oil prices bounce on China stock rebound, strong economic datan Reuters, Singapore

Crude oil prices bounced yesterday on strong economic data from Japan and Germany, and as Chinese stocks picked up after the govern-ment launched new steps to halt a rout in its share markets.

Front-month US crude futures were up 84 cents at $52.49 per barrel at 0652 GMT, but re-main almost 7.5% lower than the end of last week.

“Rising uncertainties from the Greek debt bailout and China’s stock market turmoil put global demand at risk,” said Sanjeev Gupta, who heads the Asia-Paci� c Oil and Gas prac-tice at professional services organisation EY.

“Commodity prices fell sharply this week with crude prices su� ering their largest sell-

o� in � ve months, slumping more than 8%.”Brent crude was 9 cents higher at $57.72 a

barrel, though still 4% below last Friday.Chinese stocks rallied yesterday after the

securities regulator banned shareholders with large stakes in listed � rms from selling, in Bei-jing’s most drastic step yet to stem a sell-o� that has roiled global � nancial markets.

“A stock market bust can... leave a lot of people out of pocket and that could dampen domestic spending, which has already been waning,” said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets.

“Also, smaller market capitalisations will mean Chinese businesses cannot borrow as much for expansion, limiting employment opportunities and further curtailing spend-ing,” he said in a market commentary.

The police are also investigating clues pointing to potentially “malicious” short-sell-ing of Chinese shares, state news agency Xin-hua said yesterday.

“There’s some sense that stabilization might start to take place,” said Herald Van Der Linde, head of Asia equity strategy at HSBC.

Demand for oil was also supported by the return from maintenance of a 120,000-barrels per day crude distillation unit in Japan, where machinery orders hit a 7-year high in May.

German exports rose at their fastest pace this year in May, boosting expectations that Europe’s largest economy will pull o� strong-er growth in the second quarter after expand-ing modestly in the � rst.

But analysts said the oil market remained under pressure and that big gains were unlikely.

“Oil is being pressured on multiple fronts, and China’s equity wobble, the prospect of Iran’s re-entry to the market and low liquidity all add up to an extremely fraught environment. Oil needs to establish a new range and we would see the WTI crude low around $50 with the upside capped at $58,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said in a note.

A surprise increase in US stockpiles despite the peak demand American summer driving season added to global oversupply as the Organ-ization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia produce at near record levels.

Iranian exports could also increase strong-ly if major global powers and Iran � nd a com-promise in nuclear talks this week that could lead to a lifting of western sanctions against Tehran. l

24listology Airborne

news Symphony launches new � agship smartphone

Iftar party organised by Star Ceramics Limited

INSIDE

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TFRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015T

-JUNCTION

Spiced up authenticityPhoto: Courtesy

22Hakka-� edPlating a tempting rendition of classic Chinese cuisine through Hakka Dhaka.

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FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015T-JUNCTION22D

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Hakka-� edOur sweet take with Hakka Dhaka, with little sour moments and a mesmeris ing spicy experience

review

n Rad Sharar Bin Kamal

Getting straight down to business, let's begin with the overall layout, for that had an overall e� ect. For starters, it was clean, classy and organised; just su� ciently inviting yet not intimidatingly posh. They invested a little more on creating a comfortable and spacious setting outside. All of which, again, makes you feel closer to home. The service deserves a thumbs up at the very least, for it all added to the warm, welcoming ambience of this humble joint. This leads us to the question, what's all the fuss about?

Looking at their menu, the Ramadan deal o� ers to di� erent platters, a regular platter (Tk1,300 and Tk2,500) and the MEGA platter (Tk2,000 and Tk4,000), served for either two or four people respectively. On any other day of the year, it’s just a regular platter with two alternate combinations to choose from, all at the same price. Not much freedom involved in this sector but it does make things relatively simple and fast, if you're hungry and impatient. So far so good. Then, comes the food.

Not much of a looker, but the � rst bite gives you an entirely � ipped second impression. The moist chicken inside was surprisingly juicy and makes you crave for another bite with or without the sauce, which made little di� erence.

A unique discovery of the most regular nature, the noodle wrapped prawns are like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on father’s day, hard on the outside but soft on the inside. The crunch of the fried noodles were perfect. The mushy prawn inside seemed lonely of � avour though, but that was quickly remedied by a dip of garlic mayo sauce.

An unbelievable � nd, these wings are what you may say the perfect blend of sweet and sour, and a nuke going o� inside your mouth. The surprising part was that it tasted di� erent than the usual wings presented at other restaurants, yet

under the same banner of spicy, sweet and sour. That part was quite distinctive. However, the smoky � avor may leave some of you a tad overwhelmed. As for the punch-lovers, these wings are a heart-felt recommendation.

Chicken dumplings

Wrapped prawns

Hakka chicken wings

The � avours tick all the right boxes for this dish, but you may have an issue with the shortfall of tenderness of the prawns itself. It’s essentially chewy and has a superb balance of all sweet, sour and spicy, yet calls for a bit of e� ort to cut and munch.

This, got to us. A new kid on the Hakka block, this crunchy little bag of chicken and cheese goodness made a heavenly entrance from the very � rst bite. And there weren’t many of those bites either, as we stu� ed our mouths with it. The green sauce served with it made a complimentary addition to the dish as well. With cheese being an uncommon ingredient for the Chinese-themed cuisines served in Dhaka, this was nicely blended without abashing the original � avours. l

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FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Hakka noodles The rice’s best friend has similar characteristics; � ne on its own and a delight for spice lovers. Apart from that, it’s more or less the regular version made very well.

After all that, the Hunan chicken made no improvement in the impression but just missed denting it. For one, it was oily and thick, which showed. Secondly, the initial tickle of sweetness could not stop the nuclear of hotness resonating in your mouth. That sort of left the � avour of the chicken stranded helplessly. However, you remember it to be soft and tender after you recover.

If there is one dish you should visit Hakka repeatedly for, it’s this. Call it the Chinese cousin of the infamous “kala bhuna,” and even Manny Pacquiao would commend on the punch it packs. The treacly hug in the � rst few seconds are quickly drowned in a spicy hangover of bliss, while the slightly chewy beef gives you a proper bite and makes you work for it. It serves as a wonderful addition to the rice.

This delightful � nd was an outlier when it came to the rest of the pack. It uses your expectations of spiciness and whirls it around with a subtle hello of sweet, yet not too much at all. The aftertaste of the well-blended spices leave a blissful grin.

Coming back to a few points to note, it was amazing how none of these dishes lost its identity on the menu. Apart from the ever-lasting spice fest, there was no average or consistent � avour connecting one dish to the other. Regardless, this is actually worth the try.

Hunan chicken

Mongolian beef

Chicken with mushrooms

Chili garlic prawns

Chicken cheese wonton

Address: House 34, road 10, block D, Banani, Dhaka

Auckland Center (3rd Floor), house 11, Road 6, Sector 4, Uttara

Egg fried riceReally? Yes, and we ask you to hear us out before you make your assumptions. Basically, it had enough of a kick to it to have it eaten separately, but did not overpower the additional dishes that ride along with it. It is simply balanced, which is truly commendable. Their free re� ll of the rice doesn’t harm either, not that you would need it after the � rst serving.

Photos: Courtesy

NewsT-JUNCTION24DT

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

listology news

Symphony launches new � agship smartphone model ZVIThe number one mobile handset brand in the country, Symphony launches its new � agship smartphone ZVI. The phone is enriched with all updated technology, along with diamond cutting CNC aluminum material that makes the outer look of the handset more attractive. The phone has a 5-inch HD AMOLED display, which makes the screen brighter with vibrant colours. That is why images, videos and di� erent apps will look more vivid and clearer. The display also has Gorilla glass 3, which prevents certain scratches and outside pressures. ZVI has a 13MP rear camera with LED � ash, and a 5MP front

camera for those sel� e lovers. Besides zero shutter delay, gradient, noise reduction, self timer qualities, the cameras also has face beauty mode, panaroma mode and multi-angle view. The ZVI has a 1.4 GHz Octa Core Processor, full HD videos and apps will run smoothly. In addition, 2GB of RAM will allow the user to use many apps simultaneously. With 16GB storage, users can store as many videos, songs and pictures as they want.

The handset is available in white, grey and champagne gold, priced at only Tk14,990. l

n N Anita Amreen

The raging alcoholicUsually an unhealthy mix of airport pervert and travel virgin, the raging alcoholic can be spotted from miles away, thanks to their nasty liquor infused stench and rapidly roving eyes. They board the plane with one mission: Mission Bhodka. They may not know what exactly they’re serving on board, but if it’s free, they want it and they want it now. And if it’s free alcohol, Eid just came early for them. They’ll hog the attention of any � ight attendant that will listen, they’ll beg for more alcohol and � nally, they’ll constantly refuse to take no for an answer.

The travel virginThese aerophobics have never been in an airport, let alone on a plane. The world is just a huge, dangerous place and boarding a � ight is an unsolvable maze. Clutching onto their passports, these virgins are just as anxious about losing their luggage as they are about losing their minds. Approach with caution since they have a knack for sucking you into their hotbed of anxiety.

The out of control family What’s an airport without that one big

fat Bengali family. Loud, boisterous and extremely annoying, they’ve got every kind of irritating traveller in their midst. The shouting children, the bratty teen, the screaming mom and the dazed, � rst-time travelling aunts. Add to that the angry dad and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

The motormouthWhether they’re seated next to you on the � ight or standing behind you at baggage claim, you’ll � nd them just about everywhere. With Bangladeshis having a knack for being overly friendly (read: creepy), you can’t help but meet one of these. You’ll never have to ask them about their lives because rest assured, they’ll tell you. You’ll know what they do for a living, how much money they make, where their kids go to school and much more. It’s not that they want to “make friendship,” they just have this deep seated need to talk to anyone who’ll listen (or won’t).

The divaSay hello to our very own, modern day version of the deshi Deepika Padukone. Think high heels, � tted pants, dark sunglasses and air of innocent arrogance. Every stride has a purpose and every look, an intention. They strut away in their stilettos, with their neat designer luggage in tow, smoothly making their way through VIP lounges, never having to look back. These bombshells usually manage to have their own fan following of onlookers in and around the airport, no matter where they go.

Hell spawnSatan’s own work of art, the demon child is usually found alone or in groups (God forbid). Throwing tantrums in the air, beating the hell out of your seat and playing hide and seek, the demon child knows what’s up. They’re loud and they’re annoying. The worst kind of child is the wailing infant. Cute and cuddly at � rst, the moment they’re in the plane and out of their element, that’s it. Screams ensue, patience is lost, but the child gives you not one moment of silence. You know you all are contemplating just how to smother them to death, but no one dares say a word, because after all, they are poor, sorry little infants. l

Star Ceramics Limited, the largest tiles and sanitary ware manufacturer of the country, had organised an Iftar and Dinner party at one of the prestigious � ve star hotels in Dhaka on 6th July, 2015. The Honourable Chairman of the company Dr. Khater Massaad, Managing Director Mr. S.A.K. Anwaruzzaman, Chief Operating O� cer

Mr. Md. Moallimul Islam, Head of Sales and Marketing Mr Syed Ali Abdullah Jami, other directors and senior o� cials of the company were present for this occasion. A special prayer was also arranged for the welfare of the country and its people, as well as for the entire Muslim community around the world. l

Iftar party organised by Star Ceramics Limited

Airborne6 kinds of Bangladeshis you meet at airports

25D

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GASQUET HALTS TOP FOUR CHARGE TO SEMIS

ROGERS MAKES HAY FOR AUSSIES

26 2927

Former Germany defender Marcell Jansen has quit professional football at the age of just 29

following his release by Hamburg. He was a member of the Germany squad in the 2006 World Cup and

played in the Euro 2008 � nal

RETIRES AT 29!

Sport‘NOT THINKING ABOUT CHAMPS TROPHY’

Pitch, spinners, partnership, catching and a little bit of Musta� zurn Reazur Rahman Rohan

In the last � ve months, Bangladesh have faced seven nations in the one-day international arena and played a total of 12 matches – six at home and six away. In the World Cup down under, the Tigers maintained a 50-50 record by winning three and losing three. However, as hosts, the Tigers have been dictating terms as they beat Pakistan 3-0 and India 2-1 to en-joy their most dominating home year.

With yet another bilateral home series on the horizon, here are � ve factors that will play a vi-tal role behind the outcome of the three-match one-day international series between hosts Bangladesh and visitors South Africa, starting at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.

The pitch It seemed the curator deliberately produced slow wickets for the Twenty20 encounters, probably

to nullify the Proteas pacers, but the outcome was worse than expected. If that remains the plan for the ODI series, Bangladesh could su� er. The wicket must produce true bounce allowing the batsmen to play their natural game.

SpinnersWho would have thought Bangladesh to crumble against spinners Eddie Leie and Aar-on Phangiso? What Bangladesh did, South Africa did better. Coming for the one-dayers, leg-spinner Imran Tahir’s input will make a vast di� erence on the pitches that more or less assist spinners. Arafat Sunny and Shakib al Hasan will be relied upon for 20 good overs while Nasir Hossain’s knack of picking up wickets at crucial times will also be needed.

Partnerships at the topIt is important for both teams. The visitors will feel the absence of the miraculous bats-

man AB de Villiers, who has been South Af-rica’s one-day captain for some time now, at the top. With couple of days practice in Dha-ka, a lot depends on stand-in skipper Hashim Amla. If the Bangladesh bowlers are able to � nd cracks at the top, the sort of attacking approach they have been displaying recently, it will be curtains for the visitors. However, the home side must also organise their own deck. The 30s and 40s need to be extended by the batsmen and either of Tamim Iqbal or Soumya Sarkar needs to score big and not throw away their wicket once settled.

Mustafizur’s magic The 19-year old kid was the reason the Tigers’ four-man pace attack ba� ed the mighty In-dians in their last home series. The left-arm seamer’s o� -cutters and slower ones left bats-men like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina dejected as Musta� zur took 13

wickets in the three matches. With another young fast bowler Taskin Ahmed already ruled out of the � rst two one-dayers with a side strain, a lot will be on the young shoulders of Musta� zur. Will South Africa be able to decode Musta� zur? The answer is just a cutter away.

Catching and fieldingLast but not the least by any means, the � eld-ing standard needs to be lifted up as far as the hosts are concerned. Bangladesh have exhibited some fabulous � elding displays recently but haven’t been at their best in the Twenty20 series. It was only a day before in the � rst Ashes Test where Australian wick-et-keeper Brad Haddin dropped Joe Root on zero as the right-handed went on to make 134 to save England’s skin. Although Bangladesh are playing in the one-day format, Mush� qur Rahim must make sure he doesn’t provide his counterparts with such gifts.l

Bangladesh wicket-keeper Mush� qur Rahim trains at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday ahead of the � rst one-day international against South Africa today. Mush� q, who has been spotted training extremely hard recently, has not been at his best – neither with the bat nor with the gloves

MAINOOR.ISLAM.MANIK

Sport26DT

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Amla banks on sub-continental experience n Mazhar Uddin

South Africa captain Hashim Amla is counting on his previous sub-continent experience and their recent Twenty20 series win to deliver the goods in the three-ODI series starting today at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. Speaking to the media at the home of cricket yesterday, Amla said they are alert of the Tigers’ home record in ODIs and expects some of the new faces in his team to perform in the absence of big names likes AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn.

Right-handed opening batsman Amla, who has so far scored 251 runs in six games, including a hundred, against Bangladesh, added that his side have been doing pretty well as a unit in the sub-continent.

“They (Bangladesh) are certainly doing well over the last few months. I think their one-day record is a lot better than the T20 re-cord. So, we will be giving Bangladesh all the respect they deserve. I haven’t followed those series personally but I know that they have won the last couple of series playing very good cricket. As I have said we will be giving them the respect they deserve,” said Amla.

“We have been here for quite a few times over the last few years so I think everyone has gained lot of experience playing in the subcon-tinent. I have been fortunate to get some runs against Bangladesh having played here as well.

“I think we will join that type of experi-ences to take us to the series. And the guys were extremely well in the Twenty20 series so I think the rest of the team will come with some con� dence as well as real experience of what had happened a couple of days ago.”

32-year old Amla, the South Africa Test captain and the ODI vice-captain who as-sumed the captaincy responsibility in the absence of De Villiers, believes its a great op-portunity for the new cricketers to showcase their talent and cement their place in the side.

“We have a lot of new guys in the bowling attack. Dale is not there. So it gives chance to guys like [Kagiso] Rabada and Chris Morris to get a few games under their belt so I think it will be exciting for us. And AB is not around

so it gives the batters the opportunity. So I think this type of thing is really healthy after a long season and with a long season to come. I hope we will be seeing some good perfor-mances,” he said.

Traditionally, South Africa have always

been a team who depended on its faster bowl-ers and with the arrival of leg-spinner Imran Tahir and Eddie Leie complimented by left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso, Amla is looking forward to utilising his resources accordingly against the Tigers. l

Not thinking about Champs Trophy, says Mashrafen Minhaz Uddin Khan

The sudden announcement of the tri-series involving hosts Zimbabwe, the West Indies and Pakistan poured cold water over Bang-ladesh’s 2-1 triumph against India in the

three-ODI series recently. As things stood following the success against the Indians, the Tigers were well set for a berth in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy in England. However, the declaration made by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union put paid to all the joy and excitement

of the Bangladesh fans.According to the latest permutations, the

Tigers require one victory against the Proteas in the three-ODI series, starting today, in or-der to clinch a Champions Trophy berth but Mashrafe bin Mortaza said all the probable equations are very much in the back of their minds and informed that they will only take each game as it comes.

“Champions Trophy quali� cation is dis-tant thinking for us. I think we should only think about the game tomorrow (today). We will have to ensure of continuing the good things that we have done recently. We will have to be consistent against South Africa if we expect good results and we are think-ing only about that at the moment,” ODI and Twenty20 skipper Mashrafe told the press conference previewing the � rst match at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

“It will not be wise to think much about it. Rather, we should think of the application in the game. I think we have handled bigger spinners (than those of South Africa) and we have played a lot of cricket under such conditions. I have not seen the wicket for tomorrow (today). It was all covered because of the rain. So, we will have to put up our best and adapt to the conditions quickly, let it be with the bat or the ball or the wicket. We will have to perform in all the departments if we want a win against South Africa,” explained Mashrafe.

The South African bowling attack is what stands between Bangladesh and a potential Champions Trophy berth. In the just-con-cluded T20I series, the Proteas bowlers, es-pecially the spinners, were able to cause a lot of trouble to the opposition batsmen. When queried if the visitors’ spin attack is better than the hosts’, Mashrafe denied, saying, “Shakib’s [al Hasan] records indicate that he is a world-class spinner so I will have to keep our spinners on top. But, Imran [Tahir] is in great form at the moment and their other bowlers will be con� dent, given the perfor-mances in the T20 series. But, our spinners should lead because they have the advantage of the home condition. I hope we utilise it.” l

South Africa captain Hashim Amla (L) and his Bangladeshi counterpart Mashrafe bim Mortaza unveil the ODI series trophy yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Shakib, Mashrafe on verge of 200-clubn Mazhar Uddin

Ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan and Bangla-desh ODI and Twenty20 captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza are just a few steps away from reach-ing the 200-wicket club. Shakib and Mashrafe, who have 198 and 197 wickets respectively, will be looking to join veteran campaigner Abdur Razzak in the club.

Razzak is currently the highest Bangla-deshi wicket-taker with 207 wickets in 153 ODIs while Shakib and Mashrafe have played 153 and 154 matches respectively.

Shakib’s best bowling � gure is 4/16 against the West Indies, back in 2008, while Mashrafe’s best of 6/26 came against Kenya. l

M W BBI Ave Eco

Shakib 153 198 4/16 28.32 4.30

Mashrafe 154 197 6/26 30.93 4.73

Bangladesh’s Arafat Sunny (L) looks for

the pass from ace all-rounder Shakib

al Hasan (R) as Mahmudullah tries to intercept during their

practice session at SBNS yesterday

MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Sport 27D

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FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

ENGvAUS, DAY 2ENGLAND 1ST INNINGS 430 all out, 102.1 overs (Joe Root 134, M. Ali 77; Starc 24.1-4-114-5, Hazlewood 23-8-83-3)AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS R BC Rogers cButtler b Wood 95 133 D Warner c Cook b Anderson 17 42S Smith c Cook b Ali 33 56M Clarke c & b Ali 38 52A Voges c Anderson b Stokes 31 75S Watson not out 29 51 N Lyon not out 6 10Extras (b2, lb6, w2) 10Total (5 wkts, 70 overs) 264

BowlingAnderson 16-6-36-1; Broad 12-1-55-0 (1w); Wood 16-3-59-1; Ali 14-1-67-2; Stokes 12-5-35-1 (1w)Australia trail by 166 runs

Cech set to make Arsenal debut in SingaporeGoalkeeper Petr Cech is likely to make his Arsenal debut in Singapore next week after being named Thursday in Arsene Wenger’s 27-player squad for the Barclays Asia Trophy. The 33-year-old Czech international joined Arsenal last month on a “long-term contract for an undisclosed fee” from Premier League champions Chelsea after more than a decade at Stamford Bridge.

–AFP

Injured McIlroy to miss OpenRory McIlroy has withdrawn from next week’s British Open at St Andrews after failing to recover from an ankle injury he sustained playing football. “After much consideration, I have decided not to play in the Open Champi-onship at St. Andrews,” the world number one said Wednesday on his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

–AFP

Nzonzi close to Sevilla moveFormer France Under-21 international mid� elder Steven Nzonzi is on the brink of a glamour move to two-time Europa League defending champions Sevilla from mid-table English Premier League out� t Stoke City. The 26-year-old -- who the two clubs have agreed upon a reported £7 million pound ($10.7million, 9.7million euros) fee -- is to hold talks over his personal terms with the Spanish side.

–AFP

PSG sign German keeper TrappParis St Germain have signed German goal-keeper Kevin Trapp from Eintracht Frankfurt, the Ligue 1 club said on Wednesday. The 25-year-old, who made 114 Bundesliga appear-ances with Eintracht and before that Kaiser-slautern, has signed a � ve-year contract. PSG, however, are already thought to be well served in his position with Italian goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu and his reserve Nicolas Douchez.

–Reuters

Hugo Almeida joins Anzhi MakhachkalaPortugal forward Hugo Almeida has joined Anzhi Makhachkala from fellow Russian Premier League side Kuban Krasnodar, the club announced on Wednesday. Almeida, who has scored 19 goals in 57 internationals, signed a two-year contract with Anzhi the club’s o� cial website (www.fc-anji.ru) said.

–Reuters

Striker Fekir commits to LyonStriker Nabil Fekir committed his future to French side Lyon on Wednesday after signing a contract extension until 2020, the club said. The 21-year-old, who scored 13 goals for Les Gones last season as they � nished as runners-up to Paris Saint-Germain, has agreed a deal estimated to be worth around four times more than he was earning last season.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES

Bangladesh drop down three places in Fifa rankingn Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh dropped three places to 169th in the latest Fifa men’s rankings, released by the world football governing body yesterday.

Poor display in the recent international matches was the main reason behind the fall in rankings for the men in red and green. In their opening 2018 Fifa World Cup second round quali� ers, Bangladesh lost 3-1 and drew 1-1 against Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan respectively.

Among other changes, India dropped 15 places to 156th but still topped all the other Sa� (South Asian Football Federation)

nations. India’s fall was due to their twin qualifying defeats to Oman and Guam last month. The lowest ranked Sa� nation is Nepal, who occupy 185th place.

The other teams in Bangladesh’s World Cup qualifying group, Australia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are ranked 59th, 92nd, 157th and 148th respectively.

Wales are the biggest movers with 226 points achieved in the speci� ed time period while Belize (37 places) were the biggest movers in terms of position. Second-placed Germany dropped the highest number of points – 364 – while Central African Republic (down by 29 places) were the biggest losers in terms of position. l

12th South Asiad deferred, againn Shishir Hoque

The upcoming 12th South Asian Games has been deferred yet again, this time for two months, by the South Asian Sports Council last Wednesday. According to the latest sched-ule, the event will take place next February in Guwahati and Shillong. The decision was tak-en in a meeting of the governing body of the regional multi-sporting event where the top o� cials of the National Olympic Committees of the eight South Asian nations were present.

Indian Olympic Association secretary gen-eral was quoted as saying in Press Trust of India that the participating countries needed more time for their preparation. On top of that, it will be extremely cold in Shillong in December.

The last edition of the regional multi-sport-ing event was held in Dhaka in 2010. l

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza falls to her knees as she becomes the � rst Spanish woman to reach the Wimbledon � nal since 1997 when she beat Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 3-6 6-3 in an engrossing Centre Court duel yesterday. Meanwhile in the second semi-� nal world No 1 Serena Williams maintained her 11-year mastery of Maria Sharapova with a 6-2, 6-4 demolition. Williams took just 79 minutes to blitz Sharapova o� Centre Court with 13 aces and 29 winners as the � ve-time Wimbledon champion secured her 18th career win in 20 meetings with her bitter rival AFP

Rogers makes hay for Aussiesn Reuters, Cardiff

Australia were 264 for � ve in reply to Eng-land’s � rst innings 430, a de� cit of 166 runs, at the close of the second day of the � rst Ash-es Test at Sophia Gardens yesterday.Shane Watson was 29 not out and night-watchman Nathan Lyon six not out after Chris Rogers made 95.

Earlier, opener Chris Rogers equalled the world record with his seventh consecutive half-century as the tourists lost David Warner (17) and Steve Smith (33) but Rogers made se-rene progress with an unbeaten 74.

The 37-year-old, who survived a leg before review before lunch, thrived in the afternoon sunshine as runs came quickly - 119 in the

second session.He becomes the � fth player to score sev-

en successive test 50s, matching Everton Weekes, Andy Flower, Shivnarine Chander-paul and Kumar Sangakkara, and will hope that, unlike in the previous six, he goes on to complete a century.

Rogers and Warner added 52 before the lat-ter, who had looked in good touch, was dis-missed, England captain Alastair Cook taking a � ne catch at � rst slip o� James Anderson.

Smith, the world’s number one test bats-men, clubbed Moeen Ali to the boundary three times in one over but the spinner had the last laugh by inducing a leading edge which Cook caught at short mid-on, ending a stand of 77 with Rogers. l

Sport28DT

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Argentina top Fifa rankingsn Reuters, London

Argentina have moved to the top of the FIFA rankings for the � rst time in seven years de-

spite being beaten by Chile in the Copa Amer-ica � nal.

Argentina lost on penalties in Santiago on Saturday but Gerardo Martino’s side rose two places to top the rankings a year after losing to Germany in the 2014 World Cup � nal. Chile’s victory moved them up eight spots to 11th.

Argentina’s rise to the top means Germany and Belgium each drop a place to second and third respectively.

Following a string of solid results, Wales have risen to their highest ever world ranking of 10th, earning them a Pot 1 seeding in UE-FA’s 2018 World Cup quali� ers draw behind held later this month. A 1-0 win over Belgium in Euro 2016 qualifying last month moved Chris Coleman’s side to the top of Group B on 14 points from six matches.l

Jamaica hold Costa Rica in Gold Cupn AFP, Los Angeles

England-based striker Jobi McAnu� scored a superb individual goal to give Jamaica a sur-prise 2-2 draw with highly-rated Costa Rica in the CONCACAF Gold Cup here Wednesday.

McAnu� , who plays for English lower league side Leyton Orient, jinked his way past a series of Costa Rican defenders to prod home a 48th-minute equaliser at Los Ange-les’s StubHub Center.l

Sterling escalates Liverpool battle with training no-shown AFP, London

England winger Raheem Sterling did not re-port for training on Wednesday amid reports that the restless young star is refusing to go on Liverpool’s Asia and Australia tour next week.

The 20-year telephoned the club to say he is ill, according to English media.

But the new tensions between Sterling and Liverpool will add to speculation of a new Manchester City bid for the player considered one of the hottest talents in Europe.

He has rejected a new 100,000 pound (140,000 euro) a week contract with Liver-pool. He has two years remaining on his cur-rent deal but has reportedly told manager

Brendan Rodgers he wants to leave.The Reds did not comment on Sterling’s ab-

sence from training. But it will be a new blow to Rodgers’ e� orts to keep the young gun.

Sterling is understood to have telephoned Rodgers on Monday to tell him he did not want to go on the pre-season tour. Liverpool are due to leave Sunday for their � rst game against a Thai All Stars side in Bangkok on Tuesday.

They then play Brisbane Roar and Adelaide United in Australia before taking on a Malay-sia XI on July 24 at the National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. Manchester City have had bids of 30 million pounds (40 million euros) and 40 million pounds (55 million euros) re-jected, according to English media.l

RESULTSCosta Rica 2-2 JamaicaMiller 33, Ramirez 37 McCleary 13, McAnu� 48

Canada 0-0 El Salvador

Jamaica defender Kemar Lawrence (R) crosses while defended by Costa Rica’s Christian Gamboa during their CONCACAF Gold Cup match at Stub Hub Center on Wednesday AP

Building a club from nothing into championsn AFP, Washington

Frank Lampard might be forgiven for feeling a sense of apprehension as he embarks on his new career at New York City FC.

The former Chelsea and Manchester City mid� elder has joined a newly formed club that has spent most of its � rst season in the basement of Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference and in the absence of its own home is playing at Yankee Stadium.

David Beckham, the former England star who is launching his own Miami team, will also be taking a keen interest in the fortunes of New York City, built from scratch with the eye-watering wealth of Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owners.

But history suggests that all the money in the world does not necessarily attract fans, ensure supporter loyalty and bring on-� eld success.

So what does it take to build a football club?

Beckham and the City money men might want to take a look at DC United, who sit 11 points clear at the top of the Eastern Con-ference and are among the most successful teams in MLS history.

The key to long-term sustainable success, chief operating o� cer Tom Hunt told AFP, is for DC United to have their own stadium --

which will happen as early as 2017.Since being founded 20 years ago they

have played at the ramshackle RFK Stadium.“If you’re creating a nice little stew, one of

the primary ingredients has to be owning and operating your own stadium,” he said.

“Here at RFK, we are a tenant, and being a tenant we don’t have access to the revenue

streams that you need to have to be success-ful as a business -- not having the ability to sell naming rights, building our partnerships on the sponsorship side.

“If you’ve been to any modern facility -- stadium or arena -- (they have) technology, food options. The whole guest experience is very di� erent from what we can potentially

provide here at RFK.” The club has lost money for 20 years run-

ning and Hunt does not expect that to change until DC United are in their own home.

The supporters might be passionate and the team top of the league, but home attend-ances have been falling -- a sore point for many fans, some of whom accuse the club of not doing enough to get bums on seats.

According to a fan study posted on the Black and Red United blog, DC United con-sistently had over 17,000 for home games from 1996 to 2010.

But that dipped to less than 15,000 since 2011, among the poorest in the MLS, accord-ing to the study.

Chris Dodds, a season-ticket holder and member of the Screaming Eagles supporter group, agrees that the lack of amenities at the crumbling RFK is hurting attendances.

“The club also has failed to invest su� -cient resources into marketing and promot-ing the team,” said Dodds, who was among a group of fans who recently met club o� cials to o� er feedback.

“This is one area that has started to im-prove this season. The front o� ce has taken visible steps to reach new fans.”

Dodds and Hunt agree that it is not much good having a great stadium if the team is useless.l

RANKINGS Position Change1. Argentina 1473 (+2)2. Germany 1411 (-1)3. Belgium 1244 (-1)4. Colombia 1217 (-)5. Netherlands 1204 (+1)6. Brazil 1186 (-1)7. Portugal 1177 (-)8. Romania 1166 (+4)9. England 1157 (+6) 10. Wales 1155 (+12)

Man United interest ‘an honour’: Hummelsn AFP, Singapore

Borussia Dortmund captain Mats Hummels on Wednesday said he was honoured to at-tract interest from Manchester United but slammed the door shut on any move this year.

The Germany centre-back has been tipped as one of United’s top transfer targets but, speaking to media in Singapore, he con� rmed earlier reports that he was staying put for now.

“When the big clubs, and Manchester United is one of the biggest clubs in the world, is interested in you, it’s an honour and it’s a kind of an acceptance of what you play... so it’s a good thing,” he said during Dortmund’s Asian tour.l

Sport 29D

T

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Gazi TV, Star Sports 3South Africa tour of Bangladesh 1st ODI 3:00PM

Star Sports 14:00PM Australia tour of England 1st Test, Day 3 11:58 PMNatwest T20 Blast Kent v Somerset Star Sports 26:00PM Wimbledon Championships Star Sports 4ICC World T20 Quali� er 20156:45PM UAE v Afghanistan Ten Sports 7:40PM Tour de France 2015: Day 7Ten Cricket1:00 PMIndia tour of Zimbabwe 1st ODI Sony Six5:50 AMCaribbean Premier League T20 St Kitts & Nevis Patriots v St Lucia Zouks

DAY’S WATCH

Richard Gasquet of France unleashes a backhand during his quarter� nal against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland at the Wimbledon in London on Wednesday REUTERS

Gasquet halts top four charge to semisn Reuters, London

Just as the top four men’s seeds seemed set to contest the Wimbledon semi-� nals for the � rst time in 20 years, dashing Frenchman Richard Gasquet � red a broadside

of backhands straight through the script on Wednesday.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic, sev-en-times title holder Roger Federer and home hope Andy Murray all kept to their side of the bargain with straight sets wins. But Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, the French Open cham-pion, let the side down.

Then again, there was no shame in a 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-4 11-9 defeat against a daring man playing one of the matches of his life in a con-test dubbed “the battle of the backhands”.

Gasquet, a former world junior champion who has fallen short of the heights expected of him, served for the match at 5-3 in the � fth set but fourth seed Wawrinka broke back, ges-turing with a � nger pointed to his head that he had the mental edge.

But Gasquet, whose trademark single-hand-er, like Wawrinka’s near identical backhand stroke, has the purists purring, showed re-markable resolve to withstand a barrage.

With Wawrinka a proven warrior and a bona � de member of the elite after winning the 2014 Australian Open and succeeding Rafa Nadal as French Open champion, you feared the worst for Gasquet.

As the backhands � zzed diagonally across

the net with ever-increasing intensity the 21st seed kept his nose in front.

Five times Wawrinka held serve to stay alive. At the sixth time of asking, however, Gasquet forged 0-40 ahead and, although two match points went begging, Wawrinka � red a backhand long to end the duel.

“It was very di� cult for me to lose that serve at 5-3,” Gasquet, who destroyed Andy Roddick at the same stage in 2007 only to lose to Federer in the semi-� nal, told reporters.

“I kept � ghting. That made the di� erence.”While Gasquet in full � ow has always been

a joy to behold, his mental fortitude has been questioned.

He lost to Australian Nick Kyrgios here last year despite having nine match points and two years ago at Roland Garros he went down 8-6 in a � fth set to Wawrinka.

“It’s a revenge for me a little bit,” he said. “I’m proud because there are big players in the semis. I’m the worst when you see Feder-er, Djokovic and Murray.”

Gasquet will have to scale the same heights, and some, to have any hope of reach-ing his � rst grand slam showpiece at the 43rd attempt as Djokovic awaits in the semi-� nal.

A few weeks ago on Paris clay he managed only six games against the world number one Serb who clinically took U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic apart 6-4 6-4 6-4 on Wednesday.

After Djokovic’s scare against Kevin Ander-son in the previous round, when he extricated himself from a deep hole, Djokovic cruised into his 27th grand slam semi-� nal after extending his domination of Croatian Cilic to 13-0. l

India fringe players hope to star in Zimbabwen AFP, Harare

India’s fringe players will have the opportu-nity to showcase their talents when they take on an improving Zimbabwe side in a three-match one-day international series, which starts on Friday.

With India resting seven players for the tour, including one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Test skipper Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane has been tasked with leading an inexperienced squad that possesses just

479 one-day caps -- 229 of which belong to recalled spinner Harbhajan Singh.

India’s decision to bring a second-string side to Zimbabwe two years ago did not stop them from whitewashing the home side 5-0, and they will still be favourite to win the three ODIs and T20s on this short tour.

“It’s a good opportunity for all of us to ex-press ourselves. We’re taking Zimbabwe very seriously,” said Rahane. “This is a good plat-form to showcase our talent here, and do well at the international level. We want to play our

game and back our strengths.”Despite losing star batsman Brendan Taylor

to county cricket after the World Cup earlier this year, Zimbabwe have shown improve-ment under experienced coach Dav Whatmore and they ran Pakistan close in the majority of games on a recent trip to the subcontinent.

Captain Elton Chigumbura and Sikandar Raza Butt registered maiden international centuries, while fellow batsmen Hamilton Masakadza, Sean Williams and Chamu Chib-habha also showed progress.l

Fifa bans Blazer for lifen AFP, Zurich

FIFA on Thursday ordered a life ban against Chuck Blazer, a central � gure in the corrup-tion scandal that has engulfed world football, for taking millions of dollars in bribes.

“Mr Blazer committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeat-edly during his time as an o� cial in di� erent high-ranking and in� uential positions at FIFA and CONCACAF,” said a statement.

“In his positions as a football o� cial, he was a key player in schemes involving the o� er, ac-ceptance, payment and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, bribes and kickbacks as well as other money-making schemes.”

The ban on the 70-year-old American was ordered by FIFA’s ethics committee adjudi-catory chamber after investigations by foot-ball’s world body and US prosecutors.

The one-time powerbroker of North Amer-ican football is a former ally of FIFA leader Sepp Blatter who has agreed to step down be-cause of controversy over US and Swiss inves-tigations into the world body and World Cup tournaments.

Blazer has given evidence to US authorities investigating football corruption and is grave-ly ill in a New York hospital su� ering from cancer. Blazer has acknowledged to US inves-tigators that he took more than $11 million in bribes from 2005 to 2010. l

DOWNTIME30DT

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

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

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKER

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 4 represents P so � ll P every time the � gure 4 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Plunder (4)3 Make suitable (5)8 Woodwind instrument (4)9 Bird (4)11 Tantalise (5)12 Part of a church (4)14 Become � rm (3)15 Fish (5)18 Inward feeling (5)19 Tree (3)21 Small valley (4)24 Servants (5)26 Tibetan priest (4)27 Heap (4)28 Tendency (5)29 Curve (4)

DOWN 1 Grassy expanse (4)2 Frank (4)4 Female deer (3)5 Make ashamed (5)6 Assumed attitude (4)7 Dentures (5)10 Back of the neck (4)11 Concise (5)13 Sells (5)16 Prison room (4)17 Entice (5)18 Show amusement (5)20 Den (4)22 Body of water (4)23 Musical group (4)25 Study (3)

SUDOKU

SHOWTIME 31D

TFRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

WHAT TO WATCH

GoalZStudio 12:35 pmThe extremely talented Santiago Munez is given a chance at professional football, after being spotted by a scout who has ties with Newcastle United.Cast: Kuno Becker, Alessandro Nivola, Anna Friel, Stephen Dillane, Gary Lewis

Superman ReturnsWB 1:07 pmSuperman reappears after a long absence, but is challenged by an old foe who uses Kryptonian technology for world domination.Cast: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Parker Posey

TitanicStar Movies 9:00 pmA seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind, but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Frances Fisher, Victor Garber

CELEBS ON SOCIAL

BBC News (UK)@BBCNews Memorials are being held across the UK to remember the 52 people killed in 7 July 2005 bombings. Continuing coverage http://bbc.in/1NKLovm

Kate Walsh@katewalsh In honor of #NationalFriedChicken Day, one of my favorite holidays... :)

Sushmita FC Universe@SushmitaFC Look At This Art Of Miss Universe @thesushmitasen By Armenian Painter @Seda_Artist !! It’s MAGNIFICENT !! #IAMFamily

n Showtime Desk

Recently hitched, Bollywood superstar Shahid Kapoor reached out to his fans, friends and well-wishers from the fraternity, thanking them for the overwhelming account of wishes and blessings received.

“Thank you to each and every one of you for your wishes. Means a lot,” the 34-year old posted on his Twitter account after posting a sel� e of him and his gorgeous wife, Mira Rajput on Instagram, two days ago.

The couple from Delhi was wed in a small, low-key ceremony but a grand reception is to be held on July 12, with celebs from B-Town and outside, who are expected to grace the event. l

n Mithul Roy

Bollywood heart-throbs Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone may go to extraordinary lengths to keep their alleged relationship under wraps, but it seems that nothing can escape the paparazzi. The couple, who have recently been rumoured to be engaged, have added fuel to the gossip with their secret getaway to London. On the occasion of Ranveer’s 30th birthday on July 6, his lady love � ew out to London to celebrate his birthday intimately.

The duo was spotted at terminal 5 of Heathrow Airport on Sunday morning, and both were on leave from the � lming of their upcoming historical love story Bajirao Mastani (set to release this

December), directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.Seems � tting, as the couple met and started dating on the sets of Bhansali’s Ram-Leela. Earlier, it was reported that Deepika Padukone wouldn’t be able to make it for Ranveer Singh’s birthday in London as she wanted to spend some time with her parents in Bangalore. The love-birds were spotted shopping in London and even obliged eager fans by having pictures clicked with them. Reportedly, Deepika arranged for a birthday party for her eccentric beau, who is surely delighted by her gesture of love as he has been the more vocal one in their relationship. Such romantic gestures indeed make their denial of their relationship less credible by the moment. l

n Showtime Desk

The sizzling Bidya Sinha Mim’s sixth big screen venture Padma Patar Jol is waiting for its release before Eid. This is a historical romantic drama, written by Latiful Islam and directed by Tanmoy Tansen. It has been scheduled to be released on July 15, 2015.

Emon, the rising star, will play the lead role, alongside Mim as co-stars. Emon said, “It will be one of the best movies of my life.” According to Mim, this movie is very di� erent from other � lms releasing at the same time and that, her main challenge was to � t herself into the character properly.

The plot has been centred around the love story between a land-lord and a courtesan from a hundred years ago. In this � lm, Mim takes on the role of Fulesshori, who is a court-dancer and Emon plays the role of the Jamidar. The entire � lm was shot on location on a hill at Bandarban. l

Shahid thanks well-wishers

Deepika � ies o� to London to celebrate Ranveer’s birthday

Shimla to recur the Madam Fuly role

Padma Patar Jol set to hit cinemas this Eid

n Showtime Desk

The beautiful Shimla broke into the big screen sixteen years ago with a vengeance driven action � ick Madam Fuly. And after those long years on screen with various mainstream � lms, she now reprises her famous role in the sequel.

Madam Fuly 2 will be directed by Ashiqur Rahman, who has earned the sequel-making rights from the 1999 � lm's director Shahidul Islam Khokon.

A week earlier, the actress who bagged the National Film Award for her impressive role as Madam Fuly, ensured her engagement with the sequel through signing a contract. She now awaits for the screenplay to be completed.

A source close to the production team revealed that the � lm may go on the � oor next November, and is currently in the pre-production stage. l

BACK PAGE32DT

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

NOT THINKING ABOUT CHAMPS TROPHY, SAYS MASHRAFE 26

PADMA PATAR JOL SET TO HIT CINEMAS THIS EID PAGE 31

AID PLEDGES FALL 18% IN 11 MONTHS PAGE 15

Bangladesh ranks 86th in CRI indexn Kayes Sohel

Bangladesh is ranked 86th out of 127 coun-tries globally in absorbing political, econom-ic, � nancial, social and natural shocks, says a new study.

According to the Global Change Readiness Index (CRI) 2015, a list that is generated by the world’s leading and largest professional service company KPMG, Bangladesh is placed 4th among the eight South Asian nations.

Bangladesh performed better than Paki-stan, Nepal and Afghanistan which secured 94th, 103rd and 124th positions respectively.

Sri Lanka, which is in a year of political transition, was ranked 62nd topping the countries from the region. Sri Lanka has shown immense growth in terms of change and has surpassed most of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets set for 2015, according to the report.

The two other South Asian countries ahead of Bangladesh are India 67th and Bhutan 76th.

Earlier in 2013 CRI index, Bangladesh ranked 54th out of 90 countries.

The CRI is the only global study of its kind ranking 127 countries, covering 94% of the world population, for their capacity to pre-pare for and respond to accelerating change

brought about by everything from natural disasters and economic and political shocks to long-term trends such as demographics and new technologies.

Singapore leads the list, which is dominated by smaller open economies: Switzerland, Hong Kong, Norway, United Arab Emirates, New Zea-land, Qatar, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

The least prepared country according to the list is Chad followed by Guinea, Burundi and Afghanistan.

Standing at 97th position, Myanmar saw a signi� cant decline from its 52nd place in 2013.

In assessing capability for change readiness, the CRI measures a country’s capacity in three areas: enterprise capability, government capa-

bility and people and civil society capability. Bangladesh secured the 81st, 88th and 91st

places in these three pillars respectively. The 2015 CRI provides unique insights with

smaller, less wealthy and resource-endowed countries often outperforming larger econo-mies on key measures of change readiness.

The report said a number of lower-income countries performed well demonstrating the bene� ts of e� ective policy and investment in compensating for lower levels of wealth.

The Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia are lower-income countries that all ranked within the top 50 of the index.

As governments and businesses compete for investment and resources on a global stage, and cope with population growth, climate change, urbanisation and resource scarcity, such detailed understanding could help break down barriers to growth and development and ensure better preparedness for change.

Produced in partnership with Oxford Eco-nomics, the CRI is designed to be used by both the public and private sectors for informed decisions on policy making and investments.

The release of the CRI comes as United Nations member states prepare to adopt Sus-tainable Development Goals in September to help guide policies for the next 15 years. l

Congress too for citizenship of Bangladeshis living in Indian Tribune Report

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee has called for granting citizenship to all the Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh.

“We urge the Central government to grant citizenship to all Bengali Hindu people, who crossed over to Assam after being subjected to inhuman torture following the partition of the country,” The Statesman newspaper quot-ed APCC President Anjan Dutta.

These people had been the citizens of un-divided India and were forced to � ee to save their lives after being tortured on the basis of religion, Anjan told reporters on Monday. “This resolution was taken during the execu-tive meeting of APCC on May 25 in the pres-ence of AICC General Secretary and Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi,” he added.

Congress’ move is a deviation from their earlier stand of opposing di� erent treatments to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants on the basis of religion. The BJP, however, has been sup-porting the idea of giving citizenship to all Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh and oth-er neighbouring countries.

“Some Hindus have come from Bangla-desh due to religious disturbances. The BJP

will give all of them citizenship with religious sympathy once we come to power in Assam next year,” BJP President Amit Shah had told at a rally in Guwahati on April 26 this year.

Following this, the Congress had strongly criticised the BJP and the Centre.

Anjan on Monday also said the Congress expressed grave concern for “Buddhists and people from other communities” who had come to Assam and India after being tortured on the basis of religion.

A senior party functionary, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Congress changed its stand and toed the BJP line in fear of losing the votes of Bengali speaking Hindu people in the forthcoming elections.

In his speech, Amit Shah had reiterated PM Narendra Modi’s promise in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls that other states would share the burden of providing shelter to the Hindu refugees from Bangladesh.

“I want to assure you that Hindus who have su� ered religious persecution [in Bang-ladesh] need not worry. The BJP will give all the necessary protection to them. Assam alone will not have to bear the burden of shel-tering the Hindu refugees. Other states will also share the responsibility,” he said. l

SC stays HC order on Brazilian wheatn Ashif Islam Shaon

The Supreme Court has stayed a High Court order that on Wednesday directed the govern-ment to take back the wheat imported from Brazil if anyone wanted to return it.

Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Hasan Foez Siddique gave the or-der yesterday in response to a petition � led by the government on Wednesday’s HighCourt order.

The judge also sent the petition to the Appellate Division’s full bench for hear-ing on July 26. This means the stay or-der will be in e� ect until the petition isdisposed of.

The High Court on Wednesday also di-rected the government not to force anyone to consume the wheat imported from Bra-zil. The court observed there was no report before the court that the wheat, which had already been distributed, caused illness or harm to anybody’s health.

“Based on the report of the Directorate General of Food, the court said the wheat is perhaps all right and suitable for human con-sumption,” Deputy Attorney General Tapash Kimar Biswas said on that day.

But the court also mentioned some of the local laboratories that claimed they had found insects in the wheat, he said. l

RAB to monitor Eid rushn Kamrul Hasan

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has set up tem-porary monitoring camps at the exit points of the capital in order to ensure safe journey of the home-bound people ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.

Speaking at a press brie� ng yesterday morning, RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed said: “The security of the home-bound people is a priority for us and RAB will ensure safe travel for every person going home.”

The areas where camps are set up in Dhaka include Gulshan, Mohakhali, Tongi, Bokchat-tar, Mirpur, and Sadarghat launch terminal, RAB Media and Legal Wing Director Major Mufti Mahmud Khan said.

Besides the capital, camps have been set up at Mawa, Paturia, Kewrakandi and Daulat-diya launch ghats to prevent overloading of launches during passenger boarding.

Citing the past incidents of overloaded launches capsizing, Benazir said: “Overload-ing of passengers is one of the prime reasons behind launch capsizes, and we want to pre-vent such incidents from happening, espe-cially amid the Eid festivities.”

No launch carrying passengers beyond its capacity will be allowed to leave Dhaka, he said.

Around seven or eight million people will leave Dhaka for Eid, leaving at least 150,000 homes vacant. To tighten security, RAB teams will patrol the city streets during that time, the RAB chief said. l

OVERALL CRI

COUNTRY ENTERPRISE CAPABILITY

GOVERNMENT CAPABILITY

PEOPLE AND CIVIL SOCIETY CAPABILITY

62 Sri Lanka 53 68 7367 India 51 69 8376 Bhutan* 93 47 8886 Bangladesh 81 88 9194 Pakistan 57 113 99

103 Nepal 116 109 84124 Afghanistan 123 124 122

2015 CHARGE READINESS INDEX RANKINGS: SOUTH ASIA

Source: KPMG Survey*Countries that are new to the 2015 CRILower-middle income

Lower income

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