8 | MALALA IN NIGERIA: BRING BACK OUR GIRLS

20 pages plus 16-page T-Mag tabloid | Price: Tk12TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Ashar 31, 1421Ramadan 16, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 105

14 | LOEW HAILS MIRACLE BOY GOETZE

SEHRI & IFTAR TIME

Day Sehri IftarRamadan 16/July 15 6.53pmRamadan 17/July 16 3.50am 6.52pm

7 | A BOON MISUNDERSTOODTMAG | LIVING IN A MATERIAL WORLD

People wishing to go home for Eid-ul-Fitr queue up at a ticket counter at Gabtoli Bus Terminal yesterday as sale of advance tickets kicked o . Most counters in the capital were overwhelmed by crowds MEHEDI HASAN

Launch tickets sold out!Travel syndicates and in uential people grab it all even though the date of starting sale is yet to be xed n Mohammad Jamil Khan South-bound people going home for Eid holidays will be facing a serious scarcity of launch tickets as all the tick-ets have already been sold out long be-fore they have been made available at ticket counters.

Sources say an illegal travel syndi-cate has taken hold of a portion of the tickets, which they will re-sell later at a premium, while the rest has been ac-quired by top government o cials and relatives of lawmakers.

At Sadarghat launch terminal, super-visors of vessels like Suravi, Kirtankho-la, Aanchal, Agradut Plus and Parabat, taking the Dhaka-Barisal-Bandaria route, yesterday told the Dhaka Trib-une all advance cabin tickets had been sold out a couple of days earlier.

Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, chairman of Bangladesh Inland Waterways (pas-senger carriers) Association (BIWA), said: Although tickets were o cially to be sold a week before Eid, it does not mean we cannot decide to do it before

the schedule. The sooner the sales end, the better it is for us.

We have nothing to do about sale of advance tickets as almost all the tick-ets have boon booked by government high-ups and relatives of parliamentar-ians, he added.

BIWA Vice-Chairman Shahab Uddin Milon said scalping cabin tickets would be di cult as there are only 2,500 cab-ins in launches, but the demand is for 10,000 seats before Eid.

Most of the cabins are usually booked at least two months in advance, he said.

Saiful Haque Khan, joint director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, said: Selling tickets actu-ally depend on launch owners, but a meeting with them was scheduled for July 16 and they were not supposed to sell tickets before that.

If we receive any complaint that the schedule has been violated, we will take action, he added.

BIWTA Chairman Shamsuddoha PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Brazil celebrates rival Argentinas World Cup defeatn AFP, Rio de JaneiroBrazilians, bitter about their teams disastrous World Cup, celebrated Ar-gentinas defeat to Germany in the nal Sunday by dancing and launching re-works, relieved that their arch-rivals failed to triumph on their soil.

In Brasilia and Sao Paulo, reworks exploded after Mario Goetze scored in extra-time to give the Germans a last-gasp victory at Rio de Janeiros Maraca-na Stadium.

At a bar near the stadium, Brazilians chanted Cry! Cry! Argentina! in a nod to the song Dont cry for me Argentina.

Tens of thousands of Argentine fans who had swarmed Rios Copacabana Beach to watch the game on a jumbo screen fell silent while Brazilians broke into song and danced. Some even waved German ags.

Thank God, thank God that Germa-ny won, said Caio Ferraz, 45, a Brazil-ian looking up at the stars on the leg-endary beach.

If Argentina had won, they would have made fun of us for years, said Ferraz, who wore the jersey of Rio club Flamengo, whose red and black stripes match Germanys away jersey.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Mix of tears, cheers and violence in Argentinan AFP, Buenos AiresArgentines reacted with tears, cheers and violence after the dream of a third World Cup title slipped through their ngers Sunday, as clashes between hooligans and police ended a massive street party.

Tens of thousands of people ocked

to the Obelisk in Buenos Aires, the iconic monument where the country traditionally celebrates and rallies, waving the ag, setting o reworks and singing the praises of national hero Lionel Messi and their team.

Despite the 1-0 loss to Germany in the down-to-the-wire, extra-time

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

TIB: Ctg customs o cials bagging Tk47 lakh dailyn Tribune ReportAt least Tk47.5 lakh is being illegally ex-changed every day for carrying out the import-export process at Chittagong Custom House, says a TIB researchreport.

According to the ndings, around 60-70 people, who are employed by the cus-toms o cers and known as Badi Alam or Faltu, act as brokers to transact the money that illegally changes hands throughout the import-export process. These middlemen also know and use the passwords of the customs o cials computers, posing a great threat to the security of the automated system.

The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) report titled Chit-tagong Port and Custom House Im-port-Export Automation Process: Chal-lenges for Good Governance and Finding out Ways, also stated that around Tk17.2 lakh was illegally exchanged daily only for unloading imported goods.

The research was conducted to identify problems and irregularities at the Chittagong Customs House on au-tomation perspectives, current status of automation and nding out ways to meet challenges.

The research by the graft watchdog found that despite the introduction of automated systems, custom o cers were still using manual signatures and seals in a bid to avail illegal money from businessmen and organisations, while the related wings were still not online.

A positive image has been created with enormous opportunity to ensure good governance after the introduction of automated systems at the Customs House; but a part of the customs are creating problems in implementing the process to make nancial gains through illegal means, said Iftekharu-zzaman, executive director of the TIB.

Publishing the report in a press con-ference at a city hotel, he also said the port citys Customs Houses interna-tional grade would be upgraded if good governance could be ensured there.

To avoid bribery, there should not be any communication between ser-vice providers and receivers, said If-tekharuzzaman.

Although the introduction of au-tomated systems was supposed to re-duce graft, the TIB was surprised at the magnitude of corruption at the Cus-toms House, he said, adding that the

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Bangladesh condemnsIsraeli attackon Gazan Tribune ReportBangladesh has called upon the inter-national community to create compre-hensive pressure on Israel to stop its air strikes on Gaza.

Calling the attacks on the civilian population in Gaza unwanted and disgraceful, the cabinet discussed a condemn motion at a regular meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasi-na at the secretariat yesterday.

Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hos-sain Bhuiyan told reporters after the meeting that the cabinet condemned the Israeli aggression against Gaza.

Bangladesh is always with the Pal-estinians. The support of Bangladesh for Palestinians will always continue, the condemn motion proposal read.

The death toll of Palestinian people killed in Israeli air strikes climbed to at least 176 yesterday, while 1,230 more have been wounded in the air strikes.

In the meeting, the cabinet also gave its approval in principal for the Bangladesh Railway Board (Repeal)Act 2014.

On Monday, Israel continued its air and naval bombardments of the Gaza while around half a dozen Israelis have been wounded since the start of the week-old o ensive. Thousands of peo-ple have ed homes in northern Gaza after an Israeli warning.

Israel has massed thousands of troops on the border, amid speculation of a possible a ground invasion. l

Argentina fans clash with riot police at a public square in Buenos Aires after Argentina lost to Germany in their 2014 World Cup nal in Brazil on July 13 REUTERS

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Fitra xed at Tk65n Tribune ReportThis years tra has been xed at Tk65 per person, considering the market price of wheat or our.

The Islamic Foundation xed the rate at a meeting yesterday morning.

Money equivalent to the market price of 1.65kg of wheat or our, rai-sin, cheese or date could be distributed among the poor as tra.

Last year, tra was xed at Tk66. l

Govt plans to reward o cials linked to maritime verdictn Mohosinul KarimThe government may reward the o -cials concerned for their contribution to the achievement in maritime bound-ary dispute resolution with India.

The regular cabinet meeting yester-day also decided that the government would publish a gazette noti cation on the verdict issue. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would brief the media soon on the achievement.

Meeting sources said the people concerned, including the premier and Maritime A airs Units Secretary Md Khurshid Alam, would be rewarded. But the decision was not nalised.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague on July 7 awarded Bang-ladesh 19,467 sq-km disputed area out of total 25,602 sq-km claimed by Bang-ladesh. On March 14, 2012, the Interna-tional Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Germany settled the maritime dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

After the cabinet meeting, State Min-ister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu told the Dhaka Tribune that the pre-mier and members of the cabinet heard the proposal made by the state minister for foreign a airs. Though they were very positive, they did not make any comment in this regard.

Khurshid Alam made a presenta-tion before the cabinet while the state minister for foreign a airs narrated the ministrys achievements.

Criticising the statements of the BNP, the premier said: They should refrain from making such comments as the government has achieved success.

The South Talpatti Island sank dur-ing the tidal bore in 1984. But the Ziaur Rahman government removed Talpatti from the map of Bangladesh in 1980. Does it mean that Zia left the Talpatti to India?

Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hos-sain Bhuiyan told reporters that the government ordered the authorities concerned to take steps for publish-ing the gazette on the governments achievement and the new maritime map immediately. l

Khaleda: Killers Jasod and Ershad now allied with ALn Mohammad Al-Masum MollaAfter some senior BNP leaders state-ments about HM Ershad recently, now party Chairperson Khaleda Zia has branded the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Jasod) and Ershad as killers who have joined the Awami League government.

The Awami League killed Jasod leaders and activists in 1972-75. At that time Jasod called the Awami League killer and vice versa. It is that Jasod that has allied with the Awami League government now, she said yesterday.

All the killers are with this illegal government. Jasod is with it and the other killer Ershad is also with it. All the killers have united and estab-lished a reign of killing in the country, she said at an iftar hosted by pro-BNP physicians organisation Doctors Asso-ciation of Bangladesh (DAB) at the par-liaments Lunch and Dining Hall.

The BNP chief alleged that the gov-ernment had been ling false cases against opposition leaders and activists to upset their movement.

But do not fear. All have to take to

streets, ignoring all sorts of fear, she said, calling on her party men.

Khaleda reiterated that there was no legitimate and democratic government in o ce presently and there was no al-ternative to waging a united movement to oust this government.

The former premier said corrup-tion, killing and abduction had been rampant in the country which had not stopped even in the holy month of Ramadan.

Goons of the Awami League, Jubo League and Chhatra League are now

committing crimes. Extortion is taking place everywhere. Businessmen can-not do business. People have become frustrated, she said.

Khaleda also alleged that meritori-ous doctors had been made OSD, which had resulted in immense su erings to mass people.

This situation prevails not only in the health sector but also in the admin-istration. Even the judiciary cannot work independently, she said.

DAB leaders, senior BNP leaders and hundreds of others joined the iftar. l

PM unhappy with Messin Tribune ReportPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina yester-day expressed her disappointment over Argentina captain Lionel Messis failure to score a goal in the World Cup nal against Germany, telling her cab-inet colleagues that she would have been happy if Messi had scored.

She made the remarks while chair-ing a regular cabinet meeting at the secretariat yesterday.

A cabinet member who attended the meeting told the Dhaka Tribune that Hasina a Brazilian football team sup-porter watched the World Cup nal

and its presentation ceremony.He quoted the premier as saying

she had watched the match as she likes football and other sports, even after the team she supported could not reach the nal.

The premier expected a goal from Argentine superstar Messi; but she was frustrated as her expectation was not ful lled. Hasina likes Messi as a player, the cabinet member said.

On the other hand, Food Minis-ter Kamrul Islam criticised Messis performance, calling the Argentine captain foul for his failure to scorea goal. l

SC: Company jetties in Shitalakkhya River must go n Nazmus Sakib The Supreme Court yesterday dis-missed ve review petitions paving way for removing private jetties from the Shitalakkya River.

City Sugar Industries Ltd, Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh Ltd, Kamal Vegeta-ble Oil Ltd, Molla Salt Industries Ltd and CEMEX Cement Bangladesh Ltd led petitions seeking review of an Appellate Division ruling that had directed the companies to remove the jetties.

A ve-member bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain rejected the petitions.

Following a writ petition made by Human Rights and Peace for Bangla-desh, the High Court in 2009 ordered the protection of four rivers Shitalak-khya, Balu, Turag and Buriganga - sur-rounding Dhaka. The court also direct-ed removal of all illegal structures.

After the verdict, Narayanganj ad-ministration in February 2010 served notices to the ve companies to remove

the jetties. The commercial institutions led petitions with the High Court challenging the notices, but these were rejected on March 21, 2010. Later, their appeals against the High Court order were dismissed on May 3, 2010.

The ve companies lodged pleas asking the top court to review its judge-ment. With yesterdays order, the court cleared the way to remove the jetties from the Shitalakkhya River, HRPB president Manzill Murshid told the Dhaka Tribune. l

National ENT institute to start operation todayn Moniruzzaman UzzalThe National Institute of Ear, Nose and Throat, Bangladesh will open both its indoor and outdoor operations at full swing today. Health Minister Moham-mad Nasim will o cially launch the hospitals service at 2pm.

The 250-bed specialised hospital built in the capitals Tejgaon area was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ve years ago on June 19, 2009. However, the hospital authority could not provide medical services due to a shortage in manpower and equip-ment.

Professor Dr Zahedul Alam, director of the ENT institute, told the Dhaka Tribune: We are now ready to o er high-quality treatment at our hospital. The main objective of this institute is to identify and provide care to patients with hearing disability in the country. We will also provide high-quality train-ing and research opportunities to doc-tors and other health professionals in this institute.

The Tk62-crore hospital has au-dio-vestibular and sleep laboratory, rst of its kind in Bangladesh. It also has the facilities for laser, micro and endoscopy surgeries.

The institute still does not have the necessary manpower to run its opera-tion. When asked about this, the direc-tor said: Until June 30 this year, this institute was run as a project. But now it will receive revenue budget. At pres-ent we are running with a shortage of manpower, but we hope within a few months the recruitment will be com-plete.

According to a survey conducted by

National Centre for Hearing and Speech with the collaboration of World Health Organisation in 2002, around 1.3 crore people su er from hearing disability around 9% of the countrys population.

During the last caretaker govern-ments regime, the Health and Family Welfare Ministry formed the National Committee for Prevention of Deafness headed by the then health adviser Shawkat Ali. The committee met and took the decision to establish the insti-tute to curtail the number of patients with hearing disability by 90% within 2030.

Not-so-smooth beginningThe launch of operations is far from smooth for the state-of-the-art hospi-tal. Investigation by the Dhaka Trib-une revealed that two x-ray machines, worth around TK2 crore, that the Cen-tral Medicine Stored Depot (CMSD) supplied to the institute a few months ago were defective.

A high o cial told the Dhaka Trib-une that when the machines arrived at the hospital, a survey committee com-prising o cials from CMSD, National Electro Medical Equipment Workshop, and other experts examined them and found both of them to be defective.

He said the contractor was instruct-ed to import the machines from Eu-rope, but the committee was suspect-ing that he might have brought them from China.

When asked about the matter, Pro-fessor Alam con rmed that the ma-chines were indeed defective.

He said he had already noti ed the higher authority about it and had not taken the delivery of the machines. l

Launch tickets PAGE 1 COLUMN 2Khandaker, however, said they had noth-ing to do if any launch owner sold tickets prior to the scheduled July 16 meeting.

We will take decision on steamer tickets at the meeting, he added.

BIWTA and BIWA have arranged to launch a 10-day special steamer service before ve days of Eid to handle the passenger rush. Around 30 lakh passen-gers are expected to leave the capital by launch this year and a total of 115 launch-es would carry the home-bound people.

The BIWA chairman said additional launches are ready to carry passengers.

Those vessels will be in operation if passenger demand is high enough. It will be a bit di cult to ensure smooth travel experience under such condi-tions but we will try our best. Hope-fully, the passengers will enjoy a has-sle-free journey this year, he added. l

Mix of tears, cheers and violence in Argentina PAGE 1 COLUMN 3match, young Argentines climbed onto tra c lights and bus stops, dancing and singing to the beat of drums.

But after several hours of partying, dozens of hardcore fans known as barra bravas started throwing rocks at riot police watching over the crowd, who responded by ring rubber bul-lets, tear gas and water cannon.

The clashes sent families with chil-dren scurrying for refuge in restaurants or hotel lobbies.

Most of the crowd dispersed as a haze of tear gas settled over the area, leaving just a few dozen fans who smashed windows and set trash on re, determined to provoke the police.

Some looters stole what they could, including tables and chairs from a res-taurant, and wrecked bus stop shelters.

Eight police were injured in the fray

and some 50 people were arrested, lo-cal media reported.

By around midnight (0300 GMT) police had cleared out the mob and the downtown area was quiet, but with no bus service.

Bittersweet endingThe clashes contrasted with the mostly celebratory reaction to the bittersweet end of the nations World Cup cam-paign.

It was still a good World Cup. Reaching the nal against Germany isnt too bad. Im proud of the team, said Leandro Paredes, a 27-year-old mason.

We didnt manage to get revenge (for Argentinas loss to Germany in its last World Cup nal in 1990), but I saw 11 warriors on the pitch during this nal.

When the nal whistle blew, the

50,000 people watching on a jumbo screen in Buenos Airess Plaza San Martin cheered for Messi and team - and found consolation in knowing they had at least bested arch-rivals and hosts Brazil, who nished in fourthplace.

Brazil, tell me how it feels to have your daddy in your house, they sang to their South American neighbors, the song that has been Argentinas anthem throughout this World Cup.

Others sang Im Argentine, go Ar-gentina, every day I love you a little more.

Missed chance for revengeDaniela Eula, a 21-year-old retail sales-woman, said she was disappointed but not sad.

They lost with dignity, not like the 4-0 in South Africa, she said - referring

to another painful loss against Germa-ny, in the 2010 quarter- nals.

The most disconsolate, mostly teen-agers, sat on the sidewalk in shock, their eyes red with tears, or walked with their heads in their hands.

In a pizzeria transformed into a brat-wurst-and-pretzel house for the match, the capitals German community gath-ered to watch their team win, buying up the bars more than 100 liters of beer before halftime.

At the end of the match they drenched each other in beer, jumped on each others shoulders and sang Deutschland, Deutschland!

German Ambassador Bernhard Graf von Waldersee, who was in the crowd, had just enough time to say it had been a great game before his security de-tail whisked him away from a growing crowd of furious Argentines. l

Brazil celebrates rival Argentinas World Cup defeat PAGE 1 COLUMN 1Tensions rose with some ghts report-edly breaking out between Brazilians and Argentines in Copacabana and out-side the Maracana.

Police used tear gas to disperse fans near the stadium, the G1 news web-site reported. In Copacabana, some 50 people tossed beach chairs and bottles at each other, causing several injuries, according to local media.

Germany became the rst Euro-pean country to win the Cup in Latin America, but that was not enough to convince many Brazilians to support their southern neighbors.

Germany even humiliated Brazil in the semi- nals, trouncing the hosts 7-1.

But seeing their rivals win in their temple of football would have deep-ened the nightmare for Brazilians still dizzy from their teams semi- nal de-feat and 3-0 third-place play-o loss to the Netherlands.

Brazilians painted the German ags on their cheeks and even wore the Eu-ropean teams jersey.

On its website, the sports daily Lance asked Tell me how you feel now? in a response to a similar Argentine chant.

With Brazil in their hearts, Germa-ny are four-time world champions, it said.

Flamengo is GermanyAt a Rio bar, dozens of Brazilians cheer-ing for Germany wore the Flamengo clubs shirt. Brazilians and Germans hugged each other, with Europeans saying they wanted their team to win the tournament for their hosts.

We never want Argentina to win here in Brazil. Never, said Cassio Con-ceicao, 51, wearing his beloved Flamen-go jersey. Germany respected us even though they thrashed us.

Other Fla fans, as the local club is known, said Argentines should be con-tent with having Pope Francis.

They have the best pope, a won-derful pope. Thats enough, said Bar-bara Dias, who watched the nal with her husband Diego.

German fan Julian Deutz was happy

to have Brazilian backing.It feels really great that Brazilian

are supporting us, he said. But we also felt sorry for Brazil with regards to the semi- nal.

Argentine tauntsBut Argentines had not pulled punches either.

Since the tournament kicked o on June 12, legions of Argentines who ooded Brazilian cities taunted their hosts with chants that their hero Diego Maradona was better than Brazil leg-end Pele.

After Brazils loss to Germany, Ar-gentines held up seven ngers and chanted They ate seven goals! Brazil-ians chanted back that they had won a record ve titles.

After the loss to the Netherlands took the two-game tally to 10 goals, a group of Argentines walked down a Rio street in the dead of night and loudly counted to 10.

But now it is Argentinas turn to cry. l

TIB: Ctg customs o cials PAGE 1 COLUMN 5remarkable progress in import-ex-port should be maintained for contin-ued economic development.

The TIB report also suggested the introduction of online systems at all or-ganisations related to customs duty and import-export release, stopping the opening and delivery of products at the port and making of evaluation reports by an independent third party regard-ing the e ectiveness of automation and the o cers e ciency. It also suggested formulating behavioural guidelines and technological training for o cers and bringing the corrupt people to book.

M Haz zzuddin Khan, former chair-man of the TIB Board of Trustee, said: Corruption prevention has stopped at Chittagong Port. Half automated and half manual systems will only enhance corruption.

However, responding to the TIB nd-ings, Chittagong Customs House Com-missioner Masud Sadik told the Dhaka Tribune that the allegations were made indiscriminately, but admitted that

there were some irregularities. If there was any speci c allegation,

the authority concerned would inves-tigate it and take actions against the involved person, Sadik said. Comment-ing on the middlemen known as Fal-tu, Sadik explained: The process of appointing new o cers is ongoing and after their appointment they [middle-men] will be ousted.

The customs o cials record the im-port data immediately but do not enter export data, only to collect money from the exporters, Exporters Association of Bangladesh President Abdus Salam Murshedy told the Dhaka Tribune.

Seeking anonymity, a manufacturer and exporter of RMG products told the Dhaka Tribune: Through brokers, the o cers demand Tk2,000 for every uti-lization declaration (UD) and we have to pay; otherwise shipments are de-layed, goods go missing.

Exporters also have to send prod-ucts through airfreight because of the excessive hassle at the Customs House, he added. l

Parts of the fence of Sangsad Bhaban lie in tatters for a month, with authorities concerned staying oblivious about repairing it MEHEDI HASAN

High Court questions NHRCs reluctance to assist rape victimn Nazmus Sakib The High Court yesterday directed the National Human Rights Commission to submit a written explanation by Sep-tember 10 as to why it was reluctant to assist a rape victim.

Following a writ petition, the bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Kazi Ejarul Haque Akondo also issued a rul-ing asking why the NHRCs inaction should not be declared illegal.

The court issued another ruling ask-ing why the commissions position that murder, rape and acid violence in pri-

vate arenas are not violations of human rights, should not be held illegal.

The NHRC chairman and its sec-retary, and the home secretary were asked to reply to the rulings within four weeks, Abdul Halim, lawyer of petition-er Hasina Aktar, told the Dhaka Tribune.

A case was led after a girl had fallen victim to rape on August 30 last year. But the accused were freed on bail on February 14 this year. The victim led applications twice with the NHRC on

April 3 and May 18 seeking its assis-tance to get the certi ed copy of the bail order.

But the commission did not respond and remained silent about the applica-tions, Halim said.

In its 2011 annual report, the com-mission stated that if a rape or murder is not committed by a state employee, those o ences will not be counted as a violation of human rights, the petition-ers lawyer said. l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 15, 2014ACC yet to take action against BASIC Bank high-upsn Tribune ReportThe Anti-Corruption Commission is yet to take any step against the former chairman and the sacked managing director of BASIC Bank with regard to their alleged involvement in the em-bezzlement of Tk3,500 crore public fund from the state-owned institute.

On the matter, the commission ini-tiated an inquiry last year, but it is yet to make any visible progress. So far, the ACC served notices to two suspended o cials for submitting wealth state-ments, say ACC o cials.

The ACC usually takes statements from persons allegedly involved in a scam when it initiates an inquiry. It also seeks wealth statements for allegations of accumulation of illegal wealth.

The commission in May served notic-es to two o cials and their families for amassing wealth illegally. They are former deputy managing director A Monaem Khan and former general manager Mohammad Ali. However, they have not submitted the state-ments as per the ACC notices.

The duo and four others were sus-pended in April this year for their al-leged involvement in the scam.

However, no action has so far been taken against former chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu and former manag-ing director Kazi Faqurul Islam. The MD was sacked on May 26 while the chairman resigned on July 4.

The commission suspended its inquiry soon after Bangladesh Bank signed a Memorandum of Understand-

ing with the BASIC Bank last year with a view to recover nancial health of the state-owned bank.

We have suspended the inquiry just after the signing of the MoU as it bars us to do so. But we can revive it again if the nance minister or the Ban-gladesh Bank wants, ACC Chairman M Bodiuzzaman told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

However, the central bank claims that there is no relationship between the ACC inquiry and the MoU. Rather the Bangladesh Bank is relying on the ACC investigation with a view to take action against former chairman Bacchu.

The central bank has some limita-tions as it cannot take any legal action against culprits under the criminal laws. However, the bank will send de-tailed reports to the ACC so that the latter can conduct an in-depth investi-gation and nd out the culprits behind the irregularities, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director SM Moniruzzaman told the Dhaka Tribune.

The Bangladesh Bank report has found that some o cials of the banks management played key role behind the irregularities while the former chairman was involved in loan dis-bursement.

The ACC has so far changed three inquiry o cers. For this, none of them was able to prepare a probe report and the commission has nothing in hand to disclose publicly or take action.

In response to a question whether the ACC would take any action against Bacchu and Faqurul, or revive the in-quiry after getting the central bank report, the ACC chairman said they would rst analyse the report after get-ting a copy of it from the central bank.

The money was allegedly embezzled from di erent branches of the bank by sanctioning loans to some fake compa-nies through letters of credit, inland bill purchases and counterfeit documents. The irregularities took place mostly in Dilkusha, Shantinagar and Gulshan branches between 2009 and 2013. l

Bail of Tariques PS rejectedn Court CorrespondentA Dhaka court yesterday rejected the bail petition of Mia Nur Uddin Apu, personal secretary to exiled BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, in a bribery case.

Judge Basudev Roy of the Special Judges Court 3 passed the order and sent him to jail.

Absconding since January 11, 2007, Apu surrendered at a Dhaka court on June 18 this year and sought bail. Ac-cording to media report, he used to live in Malaysia and London before that.

On October 4 of 2007, the case was led by the ACC against seven people on charges of paying a bribe of Tk21 crore to former state minister Lutfoz-zaman Babar to drop the name of busi-ness tycoon Shah Alams son Sanvir from the charge of killing Humayun Kabir Sabbir, a director of Bashundha-ra Telecommunications Network Ltd. Sabbir was killed in a house, owned by Bashundhara Group, at Gulshan on July 5, 2006.

Apu surrendered to the court and sought bail in another case. But the court rejected his plea and sent him to jail. Then he was shown arrested in the ACC case. l

State counsels appear as aide of accused n Hasibur Rahman Bilu, BograAt least 25 prosecution lawyers of Bogra have been found to be involved in assisting the BNP-Jamaat men who are accused in cases led by the state over murder and political violence in the district last year.

Five of the counsels also members of ruling party-backed Awami Ainjibi Parishad had already been warned for breaching the job rules, public prose-cutor Md Montejar Rahman Montu and General Secretary of the Parishad Na-resh Mukherjee con rmed to the Dha-ka Tribune.

Even though ve lawyers have been asked to refrain from such acts as per departmental action, many other prosecution lawyers and other lawyers under the Parishad are consistently helping the accused with legal advice, Naresh said.

We will inform the Law Ministry about the matter soon, he added.

Montejar said: A lawyer cannot work against a state case after he/she is appointed as a prosecution counsel.

Most of the accused state counsels, however, have refuted the allegation.

Earlier, the Awami Ainjibi Parishad warned additional public prosecutor Zakir Hossain Nabab for providing le-gal assistance to the persons who are accused in a case led over vandalism and arson attack on the local Awa-mi League o ce in Shahjahanpur on March 2 last year.

As many as 279 people, mostly members of Jamaat-e-Islami, are ac-cused in this case. The attacks were launched to protest against the death penalty awarded for Jamaat leader Del-awar Hossain Sayedee saying that he was seen in the Moon.

Of the four other state counsels, Parishad member Md Yunus Ali assist-ed Shah Alam an accused in the case led over arson attacks on government o ces in Nandigram.

The three other lawyers, who are accused of assisting the Jamaat-Shi-bir men, are additional deputy public prosecutor Fazlul Huq Sabuj, addi-tional public prosecutor Abdul Quader Moznu and Ra qul Islam. l

International call terminations increasing outside Dhaka n Muhammad Zahidul IslamAlthough the number of illegal international phone call terminations being made from Dhaka has been brought down in recent times, the practice has increased in areas outside the capital, authorities concerned have observed.

A meeting of a high-level committee at the telecom regulators o ce also observed that the illegal call termi-nation situation was under control in most of Dhaka except for a few pro-tected areas where they had no juris-diction, said a senior RAB o cial who was present at the meeting.

Illegal termination, however, had increased in cities like Chittagong and Sylhet as internet price was slashed and more internet bandwidth available there.

This was the rst meeting since the

telecom regulator formed the commit-tee against illegal call termination last April that comprises representatives from the RAB, the Police, the DB, the CID, the SB and other agencies.

Md Sarwar Alam, member of the committee and a BTRC director, also acknowledged the issues that were dis-cussed at the meeting.

In the meeting, BTRC o cials said over the last one and half year, mobile operators had blocked around 52 lakh SIMs that were allegedly used for illegal termination.

In 2013, operators blocked 31 lakh SIMs following 27 drives; while during the rst half of 2014, RAB carried out 34 drives and blocked 21 lakh SIMs.

The BTRC asked for more police involvement in investigating cases re-garding illegal call termination as the progress was sluggish and no charge sheet was being submitted despite the

ling of around a dozen cases every year.

Police o cials said investigation process was not going faster as they were not involved with the process.

The committee decided to increase their operation frequency even in mobile operators o ce. The government body also discussed Facebook crimes being committed against the state.

Committee Convener Brig Gen Md Wahid-Uz-Zaman, also the director general of Spectrum Management Divi-sion, presided over the meeting where representatives from every agency were present.

The country receives around 5.5 crore minutes of legal international calls per day, according to BTRC statis-tics. However, it is also estimated that around 2-2.5 crore minutes are illegally terminated every day. l

10 DU journalists injured in Chhatra League attack; 12 suspendedn Kailash Sarkar and Arif AhmedThe central committee of Bangladesh Chhatra League has suspended for life 12 activists of Dhaka Universitys Surya Sen Hall unit for their involvement in the attack on journalists last night.

Activities of the unit was also sus-pended in a decision made by the rul-ing Awami Leagues student wing.

Police detained three Chhatra League activists of the hall committee in this connection. They are Shariful Is-lam, Bidyut and Abdul Halim.

At least 10 students, who are also university correspondents at di erent media, sustained stab injuries when some activists of Chhatra League at-tacked them on the campus last eve-ning.

Galib Ashraf of the Daily Indepen-dent, Masudur Rahman of Somoy Television, Monirul Islam of Jamuna

Television, Arafat Sarkar Setu of Asian TV, Farazuddin of the daily Bangladesh Pratidin, Zahid Hasan of The Report, Mahmudul Hasan of Banglanews24, Ra qul Islam of the daily Kaler Kan-tho and Reza Akash of the daily Manob Kantha were among the victims. They were admitted to Dhaka Medical Col-lege Hospital in critical condition.

Some 25 followers of Surya Sen Hall unit Chhatra League President Mo-barak Hossain carried out the attack, witnesses said.

A three-member probe body led by central committee Vice-President Joy-dev Nondi was also formed to look into the matter, Chhatra League President Badiuzzaman Sohagh said.

The suspended activists are Mi-zanur Rahman, Bidyut, Shariful Islam, Sohagh, Nobel, Mehedi, Mokhlesur Rahman, Khokan, Hamid, Zakir, Rahat and Parvez.

Witnesses said the Chhatra League men attacked the journalists following an altercation.

The students of mass communica-tion and journalism department, who work for di erent media, were playing a football match at the Mall Chattar in front of Surya Sen Hall immediately after the iftar.

The Chhatra League men asked them to leave the ground immediately. As they refused to leave the place, the Chhatra League activists equipped with sharp weapons and sticks launched the attack leaving at least 10 journalists in-jured.

When contacted, Chhatra League leader Mobarak denied the involve-ment of his followers in the incident claiming that some outsiders might have done it.

Proctor Amzad Ali said strict action would be taken against the attackers. l

Santu Larma warns government of unwanted situation n Abid AzadThe government would be held respon-sible for any unanticipated situation in the CHT region that may evolve if it ex-ecutes any undemocratic or anti-people initiative in contrary to the 1997 peace accord, Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sam-hati Samiti President Jyotirindra Bodhi-priya (Santu) Larma said yesterday.

Santu Larma, who signed the ac-cord with the then Awami League gov-ernment to end a decade-long armed struggle, made the announcement at a press conference in the capitals Hotel Sundarban, organised by the PCJSS.

He alleged that the Awami League government had utterly failed to im-plement the fundamental points of the accord.

Santu also strongly condemned the

recent attack on members of the CHT Commission on July 5 in Rangamati. Several groups and settler Bangalees, who are being patronised by the govern-ment and its other agencies, continue their activities with the aim to grab in-digenous peoples land forcefully. Their intention becomes clear after the attack on the visiting CHT Commission team.

The PCJSS chief criticised the gov-ernment for taking initiatives to es-tablish a science and technology uni-versity and a medical college, to enact the CHT Development Board Act, 2014, and to amend the Hill District Council Act, 2014 since the government had not discussed these issues with the CHT Regional Council as per related laws.

He said the government had passed the CHT Development Board Act, 2014 in parliament unilaterally on July 1

which he termed undemocratic since it would go against the interests of the indigenous people.

Regarding the proposed university and the medical college, he referred to the Kaptai Sweden Polytechnic Insti-tute. If admission takes place follow-ing the proposed rules and regulations, 90% outsider students will be able to take admission.

The PCJSS thinks that without es-tablishing such controversial academic institutions, the government should rather focus the three government colleges in the CHT region which need more subjects in honours and masters levels. The government should also increase number of teachers, quota for students, scholarships and logistic support.

On the three hill district councils,

Santu Larma said no government had taken any initiative to hold election to the bodies in the last 22 years. Every ruling party appointed their own party members and followers as chairmen and members to operate the councils undemocratically, he alleged.

He also criticised the government for not passing the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act, 2013. It was placed in parliament last year but remain pending with the parliamenta-ry standing committee.

Santu Larma later presented a 17-point charter for demands that in-clude withdrawal of all temporally Army, Ansar, APB and VDP camps, rehabilitation of the displaced indige-nous people, and banning anti-peace accord group United Peoples Demo-cratic Front (UPDF). l

Students of Dhaka University form a human chain in front of the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital yesterday, demanding an end to Israels recent attack on Palestinians MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

The ACC says it suspended inquiry after the MoU was signed. But the central bank claims that the MoU is not a bar to the commissions inquiry

In its 2011 annual report, the NHRC states that if a rape or murder is not committed by a state employee, those o ences will not be counted as a violation of human rights

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Madrasa students quit to escape clerics torment n Our Correspondent, Chandpur A good number of students of a madra-sa in Chandpur have allegedly left the institution because of the corporal pun-ishment in icted on them by a cleric.

Abul Kalam Azad, chief of Madinatul Ulul Hafejia Madrasa at Taltala Bazar of Maishadi union in the sadar upazila, has allegedly subjected students to merci-less beatings and physical torture, caus-ing the depressed students to leave.

Nadim, a former student of the ma-drasa, said he left and got into a dif-ferent school as he could not bear the beatings from Azad, also known as boro hujur.

On Friday, Aminul Islam Sagor, 12, the son of Nazrul Islam Miji of the vil-lage, was brutalised by Azad. He was a student of the hifz group. Witnessing Sagors treatment, his younger brother

Saiful Islam Shakil left the madrasa. I went to the madrasa at 9am. Azad

ordered me to clean his room and ve-randa with a broom, and went out. I did accordingly. When he returned, he asked me why his shoes were displaced and who took Tk6,000 from the room, recalled Sagor.

Without giving me the chance to say something, Azad began beating me with two canes and hit me at least 30 times. At one point, I lay down on the oor but he dragged me to the second oor where he punched, kicked and whacked at me. I was bleeding and a fellow student escorted me home, he added.

Sagors mother Runu Begum said she had screamed out on seeing her sons blood-stained panjabi.

I told Sagor to take o his panjabi and saw numerous cane marks, she said.

When Runu took Sagor to the ma-drasa, Azad said: Go back home and everything will be ne. I was out of my mind when I beat him. Take your son to a doctor and you may take the money to buy medicine, if necessary.

Nurul Islam Patowary, a local res-ident, said he saw the cane marks on Sagors body as well.

It was brutal and barbaric, and the act was condemnable. I often hear of Azad treating students in this way. Such incidents were also alleged in the past, he said.

Sagors father, an imam at Zakiganj, Sylhet, told the Dhaka Tribune that treating students in this way manner was completely unexpected from a cleric.

I could not accept it when I learned what had happened. I stay far away from my family. I work hard here to

earn money and want to make both my sons ha z. Now after what has hap-pened to Sagor, I do not want them to continue at the madrasa and I also de-mand justice for this incident, he said.

Meanwhile, Azad o ered his apolo-gy and said he was sorry for what had happened to Sagor on Friday.

Yes, I crossed the limit a bit when I beat him. Tk6,000 was stolen from my room and nobody went there except Sagor, which is why I suspected his in-volvement in the theft, he said.

The madrasa was founded 27 years ago and Azad has been supervising the institution since then. His hometown is in Kachua upazila.

Amir Zafar, superintendent of Chan-dpur police, told the Dhaka Tribune he had learned about the incident and would take action if a complaint was lodged. l

Joy pledges speedy and cheap internet n Emran Hossain Shaikh Prime Ministers Adviser on ICT Sajeeb Wazed Joy yesterday said existing laws will be reformed if necessary to make the internet available at every home in the country.

He made the statement while at-tending a meeting with the owners of internet providers at Ganabhaban.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy said: The internet is very slow in our country. To make it speedy and cheap, existing laws will be reformed if necessary.

He also asked for the cooperation of the internet providers to make internet available for everyone. l

DIABETES BECOMING PANDEMIC

Health Ministry to introduce a national protection policy soon n Moniruzzaman Uzzal Diabetes is rapidly growing into a pan-demic as the number of patients is on the rise, health experts say.

Over 84 lakh people are estimated to be su ering from diabetes across the country.

In 2011 September, during the UN conference on Control and Protection of Non-communicable diseases includ-ing diabetes, a series of recommenda-tions were made to make policy and implement at the national level.

It was learned that the Health Minis-try was going to introduce the National Diabetes Protection Policy soon in 2014.

A draft of the policy has already been posted on the ministrys website

(www.mohfw.gov.bd) seeking public opinion.

The objective of the draft policy is to build awareness among people to pro-tect themselves from this disease.

There are four types of diabetes. Of the four, pregnant women risk having type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Besides, there are other types of diabetes.

In Bangladesh around 95% of pa-tients have been su ering from type 2 diabetes.

Professor Dr AK Azad Khan, president of Diabetic Association of Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune the number of diabetics had been rising all over the world and turning it into a pandemic.

He added that the number of type 2 diabetes patients had been grow-

ing into an epidemic in the Southeast Asian countries including Bangladesh.

Asked about the reason, Azad laid blame rapid urbanisation, changes in lifestyle, lack of physical exercise and consumption of high-calorie food lead-ing to weight gain.

The health professional also sug-gested creating mass awareness to con-tain the spread of diabetes.

We are grateful to the Ministry of Health that it was nally going to in-troduce the policy, he said, adding that the government would not have to spend money for this; it needed to take an initiative which would save thou-sands of people from diabetes.

The Health Ministry o cials said on December 20, 2006, the United Nations

passed a resolution, announcing No-vember 14 as the World Diabetes Day.

The Diabetic Association of Bangla-desh placed a proposal in this regard before the United Nations, they added.

The policy suggests a myriad of health tips to stave people o diabetes.

The tips include discouraging peo-ple from eating fast food and soft drink and highlighting their harmful e ects, cigarette smoke, setting up billboard and signboard with messages regarding this disease, increasing facilities for ex-ercise in educational institutes, estab-lishing health club, planned urbanisa-tion, health education in hospitals and clinics and building awareness about food for pregnant mothers through SMS. l

Ivy: Shamim Osman is the greatest liar n Our Correspondent, NarayanganjNarayanganj City Corporation Mayor Dr Selina Hayat Ivy called Shamim Os-man the greatest liar of all time.

Shamim Osman is the biggest liar ever and he said he [Shamim] considers people to be dogs and he has no ability to do anything for the people, said Ivy.

She made the remarks yesterday while addressing the city corporations bud-get announcement programme.

On Sunday, at a party programme in the district, the lawmaker from Narayanganj 4 alleged that the Narayan-

ganj gas crisis has remained unresolved due to the non-cooperation of Mayor Ivy. She basically made her comments in response to that accusal.

Ivy also stated: If he [Shamim] was a good man, he would never have said such big lies in public. Killings, extor-tion, tender manipulation, controlling the garments and telling lies are his only abilities.

The mayor continued that whenev-er Titas Gas Company sought approval to cut roads to set up gas pipelines, the city corporation gave them permission without any delay and later the Petro-bangla chairman inaugurated the task.

During the budget session pro-gramme, Shamims elder brother Se-lim Osman, also a recently elected MP from Narayanganj 5, was present and before leaving he said: Most of the ar-eas of the city corporation belong to my constituency and I want to work with the corporation for the sake of the res-idents. l

Student slain for not attending BCL iftarn Our Correspondent, Jessore A Jessore student was stabbed to death yesterday allegedly by Bangladesh Ch-hatra League (BCL) activists reportedly for not attended a BCL iftar party.

BCL members are believed to have killed Naimul Islam Riyad, 25, son of Kazi Monirul Islam of Segunbagicha, Dhaka. The victim was a fourthyear environment science student at Jessore Science and Technology University.

Jessore Science and Technology University was closed inde nitely fol-lowing the murder, following an emer-gency meeting on Monday with the vice chancellor in the chair. Students were asked to vacate the halls by 10am today.

Jessore district unit BCL President Ariful Islam Riyad told journalists that Jessore district unit Awami League General Secretary Shahin Chaklader had his followers in the Chhatra League kill Riyad.

Ariful alleged that the student was slain because he had not attended an iftar mah l on Sunday which was ar-ranged by the university unit BCL and where Shahin was the chief guest.

Dr NK Alam, medical o cer at Jes-sore Medical College Hospital, said the student had died before he was brought to the hospital around 2:30pm.

Anisur Rahman, superintendent of Jessore police, said o cers had been deployed in the university campus af-ter the incident. l

Disgruntled mother commits suicide in Jatrabari n Tribune Report A woman committed suicide apparent-ly out of anger by hanging herself from a ceiling fan in Jatrabari, Dhaka yester-day.

The deceased, Runa Akhter, 35, was from Maishepara village in Shariyatpur district. She used to live with her son in a rented house in Jatrabari. Her hus-band, Mohammad Ali, is an expatriate living in South Africa.

Runas son, Rakibul Hassan Sama-dar, is an eleventh-grader in Dr Mah-bubul Rahman Molla College in Jatra-bari.

Asked about what happened, Rakib said: My tutor came to my house around 1pm, but I was away. When I came home, my tutor was about to

leave as the time was up. Because I was late, my mother got angry and scolded me, and I yelled back at her as well. At one point, she threw me out and locked the door. Later, she hung herself from a ceiling fan.

Mozammel Haque, in-charge of DMCH police camp, detained Rakibul and his uncle Sirajul Haque and hand-ed them over to Jatrabari police.

Oboni Shankar, o cer-in-charge of Jatrabari police station, said Runas body had been taken to Dhaka Medical Collage Hospital around 2:45pm for a post-mortem, and a case of unnatural death had been led with the police station in this regard.

Mohammad Ali, Runas husband, is scheduled to come to Bangladesh on July 23. l

Businessman shot in capital n Tribune Report A businessman was shot yesterday in the capitals Nawabpur area.

The victim, Mohammad Asif, 38, runs a shop named Asif Enterprise in the area.

Sources said another businessman Kaiyum Molla shot him after an alterca-tion over the repairing of an electric fan. Asif received injuries on his left thigh.

O cer-in-Charge of Wari police station Topon Chandra Shaha told the Dhaka Tribune: Kaiyum was arrested and his revolver was also seized. l

Parliamentary standing committee visits Babuchhara n Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari

An 11-members Parliamentary Stand-ing Committee on Chittagong Hill Tracts A airs Ministry yesterday visit-ed the newly established 51 Babuchha-ra BGB Battalion.

The team was headed by RAM Ubaidul Muktadir Chowdhury MP, president of of the committee.

During the visit, the team spoke to indigenous locals who claimed that the BGB had established the camp on their ancestral land and requested the visit-ing team to take action in this regard.

The protesters, however, could not present any legal documents to prove their claim.

The committee also asked the indig-enous people to remain peaceful and said government should provide com-pensation to those who lost their land.

Later, the team also helped facilitate a discussion with the high-o cials of Border Guard Bangladesh , who formed the Battalion on May 15 this year to pro-tect 47 km unprotected borders from criminal activities.

Earlier, the committee also held a meeting with Deputy Commissioner Md Masud Karim regarding the issue. l

Several mobile food carts line up and block a portion of the Shahbagh-Kataban road after they were evicted by police from Dhaka University campus. This picture was taken on Saturday RAJIB DHAR

As part of increased security measures taken prior to Eid-ul-Fitr, police check people at di erent spots in the capital MEHEDI HASAN

If he [Shamim] was a good man, he would never have said such big lies in public

Suspected gold smugglers remandedn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday placed seven suspected gold smugglers on a four-day remand in connection to a case led for the recovery of around 14 ki-logrammes of gold at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Sunday.

Metropolitan Magistrate Jaynab Be-gum passed the order when Sub-Inspec-tor Jasim Uddin of airport police station produced them before the court seeking a 10-day remand petition for questioning.

The remanded detainees are Amir Hossain, Jasim Uddin, Ahed Chowd-hury, Nazim Uddin, Lokman Bhuiyan, Salauddin and Anwar Hossain.

On Sunday, customs o cials arrest-ed the seven persons after recovering 119 gold bars, weighing around 14kg, from their bodies at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital.

The bars, worth around Tk 7 crore, was brought by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines ight that came from Dubai via Sylhet. l

WEATHER

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 15, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 3:55am Sunrise 5:19am Zohr 12:05am Asr 4:45pm Magrib 6:49pm Esha 8:15pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:49PM SUN RISES 5:20AM

YESTERDAYS HIGH AND LOW34.5C 25.0C

Rangamati Sylhet

TUESDAY, JULY 15

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 32 27Chittagong 31 26Rajshahi 32 26Rangpur 31 27Khulna 31 26Barisal 30 26Sylhet 31 26Coxs Bazar 31 26

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

Crimes escalate in Narayanganj 24 dead in 41 days, Nagorik Committee blames failure to deliver justice n Our Correspondent, Narayanganj Law and order in Narayanganj has de-teriorated alarmingly as a total of 24 people were killed in 41 days, spanning from June 1 till July 11.

In an e ort to overhaul the local ad-ministration, eighty-one o cials were transferred following the sensational murder of seven people in the district but crimes, including killing, mugging and drug peddling, show no signs of abating.

Drugs led to the murder of four peo-ple in the 41-day period.

Abdur Rahman, general secretary of Narayanganj Nagorik Committee, said although there was a lull in the activi-ties of Nur Hossains men following the seven murders, other top criminals in the area remain in full swing.

The subordinates of these criminals are involved in land occupation, mugging, drug peddling and other crimes. As justice was not delivered in the murder of Tawki,

it led to a culture of injustice in the district which is why killings continue unabated, he added.

On June 3, police recovered the decomposed body of an unidenti ed woman from the bank of Brahmaputra river in Baluchar. She had injuries on her head.

In the early hours of June 7, police recovered the body of Anwar Hossain, 38, from Mirkutirseo area of Murapara union. He was a resident of Barpa area in the upazila.

The tied-up body of a 42-year-old unidenti ed woman was recovered from a half-built building on June 11. Another body of a 53-year-old woman, Jahura Khatun, was recovered from Gutiabo area on the same day.

Khandakar Mahid Uddin, superintendent of Narayanganj police, refused to comment on the rise in crimes, though he said earlier that he would reestablish peace in the district by taking measures to improve the situation. l

English medium schools say fee restriction means quality losses Parents divided over charging session fees, hike in tuition

n Tribune Report English medium school authorities fear the quality of education they provide would su er if restrictions were im-posed on changing their fee structure.

School authorities said this in re-sponse to demonstrations made by some parents against charging session fees and increasing the tuition fee charged by English medium schools.

Guardians seemed divided over charging session fees. Some said they wanted quality education and had no problems with session fees, while oth-ers were against session fees and tui-tion fee increases.

Camellia Ahmad, a parent, said that there were very few institutions in the country that were providing a high quality education, and English medi-um schools were among the few insti-tutions that did so.

We dont want to see them de-stroyed. We fear restrictions on English medium schools would negatively af-fect the quality of education, she said.

She said that a good number of guardians wanted quality education from English medium schools and they understood that money was required to ensure quality.

However, some guardians, united under the banner of Guardians of En-glish Medium Schools, held protests in Dhanmondi on June 3 and sought gov-ernment intervention to bar schools from charging re-admission fees.

On April 23, the High Court direct-ed the government to take e ective steps to frame education rules regard-ing monthly tuition fees, re-admission fees, and session charges at English medium schools.

One school authority said his school had obtained a stay order from the Ap-pellate division until July14.

After the High Court order, the Ed-ucation Ministry formed a committee which will confer with English medium school administrators.

Most schools opposed fee restric-tions. They said they believed the government could monitor quality but should not impose fee restrictions.

Dhaka Tribune approached several English medium school authorities but they declined to comment.

One principal of an English medium school in Dhanmondi told the Dhaka Tribune that if his school could not charge session fees, or were barred from revising tuition fees, the schools quality would su er.

We need to give increments to teachers every year, and operation costs increase every year, he said.

He said session fees covered the school magazine, orientation, annual sports day, extracurricular activities, graduation ceremony and annual dinner.

How could we possibly provide all of that without charging session fees? he asked. l

A girl with a child climbs up the high road-divider to cross the street near New Market. They cross the road taking risk instead of using the foot over-bridge just beside them SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Transport strike on Khulna-Mawa Highway makes people su erers n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj Thousands of people living in south-ern districts particularly in Khulna and Barisal su ered yesterday from the lack of available transport. This is be-cause of an inde nite transport strike enforced by the Khulna Bus-Minibus Owners Association which has now entered into a day second.

The association of the transport workers went on the inde nite trans-port strike on the Khulna-Mawa Road on Sunday protesting vandalism of a vehicle by the labourers of another transport owners association.

Road communications between Dhaka and the southern region of the country remained severed as a result of the transport strike yesterday.

No long-route bus or minibus ran on the road after the strike started in the morning.

But the vehicles plied on alternative roads, including Rajbari-Goalanda Road, said Sona Miah, joint secretary of Khul-na Bus-minibus Owners Association.

Limon Hossain, a resident of Sarafpur village in Khulna, said, It is unfortunate

that plying of vehicles on the highway has been stopped over a trivial matter.

He said if the transport strike would not be withdrawn immediately, com-muters who are home-bound for eid would have to su er the most.

Suvra Choudhury, a masters stu-dent of Khulna University, said she wanted to go the capital for Eid shop-ping, but she could not go because of the ongoing transport strike.

She said transport workers always called strikes over trivial matter without considering the plight of commuters.

A clash ensued between the activists

of Khulna Bus-Minibus Owners Associ-ation and Gopalganj Bus-minibus Own-ers Association after an altercation over a trivial matter on Sunday afternoon.

Later, Gopalganj Bus-Minibus Own-ers Association activists vandalised a bus on the way to Khulna from Barisal and beat up a bus worker indiscrimi-nately.

Later, Khulna Bus-minibus Owners Association announced the inde nite strike from 8pm on Sunday protesting the attack.

Md Bulbul Islam, President of Go-palganj District Motor Union, told the Dhaka Tribune that they would not allow to run any vehicle of Khulna through the highway until people, who vandalised the vehicles are punished.

Md Anwar Hossain, general secretary of Khulna Bus-Minibus Owners Associ-ation, said they had stopped the plying of vehicles on the Khulna-Mawa High-way to save the life of workers as well as protect vehicles from vandalism.

We will continue the strike until a mutual agreement between the two transport owners associations is held, he said. l

Abducted youth rescued in Chittagong, three held n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Police rescued an abducted man from a residence at KB Aman Road in Chittagong citys Bakalia area on Sunday night, three days after his abduction.

They also arrested three men Ab-dur Rahman, Nizam Uddin and Md Se-lim allegedly in connection with the abduction, said police sources.

The victim, Jasim Uddin, 22, a res-ident of Hamjarbagh area in the port citys Panchlaish area, was abducted when he went to a mosque near his res-idence for Asr prayers on Friday, police said.

When he did not return home, his family members went to look for him but failed to nd him. Later, they re-

ceived a phone call from his abductors who demanded a ransom of Tk4 lakh in exchange for his release.

The family then went to Panchlaish police on Sunday morning and led a case with the police station, said Abu Jafar Mohammad Omar Faruk, o -cer-in-charge of Panchlaish police sta-tion.

Following the abductors instruc-tions, police, posing as Jasims family, went to Rahattapul around 8:30pm, where one of the abductors came to meet them and they were able to nab him, said the OC.

Later, police rescued Jasim his hands and feet had been tied with chains from KB Aman Road around 10:30pm and arrested two others, he added. l

CVASU admission test on November 15n CU Correspondent The admission test for four-year honours courses for the 2014-15 academic session at Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU) will be held on November 15, according to a press statement signed by Khalikur Rahman, public relations o cer of CVASU.

The press statement issued yesterday, said the decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Professor Dr AS Mahfuzul Bari, vice-chancellor of CVASU.

The details about the admission test will be published soon, said the statement. l

RU student killed in train accidentn RU CorrespondentA female student of Rajshahi University was killed in a train accident yesterday.

The deceased was Ishrat Are n Alam, a rst year student of applied mathematics department at RU.

She comes from Hetemkha area un-der Boalia police station in Rajshahi.

The accident took place around 11am in the Fine Arts department area inside the campus.

Friends of Ishrat told reporters that Ishrat was talking on the phone and walking on railway lines. A Rajshahi bound train coming from Parbatipur, hit her from the back seriously injuring her head. She was admitted to RMCH where the on duty doctor declared her dead around 12:45pm.

Ishrats friends said she had been depressed for the last few days over her love a air and the accident could be a result of that.

The body was preserved at the RMCH morgue for autopsy until ling of this report at 8:37pm.

Motihar police station O -cer-in-Charge Alamgir Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that the reason behind the incident was yet to be identi ed. l

Housewife killed in Chittagong; 3 held n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Police recovered a body of a housewife, whose throat had been slit open, early yesterday from her residence at Sultan-pur village in Raozan upazila here.

The deceased Halima Khatun, 27, was the wife of Md Babul, of the village.

On suspicion, police nabbed Babul and two others, the victims sister Jan-natul Ferdouse and her husband Md Solaiman, who were visiting Halima.

Pradip Kumar Das, o cer-in-charge of Raozan police station, said the ill-fated woman, who was a mother of three children, had been slaughtered just before dawn.

On being informed by locals, police recovered the body, which bore many injuries, in the morning and sent it to Chittagong Medical College Hospital Morgue for an autopsy.

The OC also stated that Babul was detained for questioning although he was not present during the murder.

The three were questioned at the police station but no motive could be established for the killing till the ling of this report some time before sunset.

The OC assumed that a family feud centring a dispute over a piece of land may have led to the brutal killing. l

Football fans enjoy World Cup nal on big screen in Dhaka University area yesterday RAJIB DHAR

'We need to give increments to teachers every year, and operation costs increase every year'

He said if the transport strike would not be withdrawn immediately, commuters who are home-bound for eid would have to su er the most

High tide oods 10 villages in Pirojpurn Our Correspondent, PirojpurTen villages under Pirojpur district have been ooded by high tide which happens during a full moon.

In the past few days, cracks start-ed appearing on the embankments in

di erent villages under Boromachua and Shapleza union of the district, be-cause of the rise in the water level in Boleswar river.

As a result, Chorbholmara and south Boromachua villages under Bo-romachua union and Kochubaria and

K h e t a c h h i r a villages under Shapleza union have been inun-dated, causing immense su er-ings to the local residents.

Sirajuddin, a local of Bo-romachua said the water lev-el in Boleswar river rose by three to four ft more than usual which left the households in the surrounding

areas submerged.Israt Jahan, a housewife of

Mothbaria, said she could not cook as her house has been inundated. Milon Gazi, a businessman in the same area said he had close down his shop as it was ooded.

Md Abu Saleh, member of Shap-leza union ward no 3, said in the wake of a high tide, the embankments in Khetachhira and Kochubaria villages collapsed which let in water into hun-dreds of habitats in the villages.

Telikhali Union Parisad member Md Selim said the high tide had submerged vast areas in Bhandaria area under the union as well.

Sub-Divisional Engineer of Pirojpur Water Development Board Md Uzzal Hossain said because of an unusual high tide, the water level had risen in the water bodies. The news of embank-ment collapse had been conveyed to the higher authorities.

He said repair work could not be started because of lack of funds. l

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Truckers victims of rampant extortion n Our Correspondent, ShariatpurTruck drivers pay the tra c police be-tween Tk500 to 1000 as toll at di erent points on the Shariatpur-Chandpur, Shariatpur-Mawa and Shariatpur-Ma-daripur Highways.

The police check documents includ-ing driving licences, route permits and tness certi cates and if the drivers fail to produce any papers, the amount of extortion increases.

The drivers who operate on the highways have complained that some corrupt tra c police and terrorists col-lect tolls at di erent points like Angar-ia, Monoharbazar, Burirhat under Sha-riatpur Sadar upazila, Mongol Majhir ferry terminal and Janjira bus stand under Janjira upazila, Naria and Bhe-dargoj bus stands.

Najim Uddin, a truck driver from Chhaygaon union under Bhedarganj

upazila complained that tolls were col-lected by the police and terrorists.

Truck drivers Rahman Miah, Hashem Molla, Shahjahan Miah and Kutubuddin, who operate on the Sha-riatpur-Chandpur Highway, said that tolls were collected indiscriminately from cattle carrying trucks, at di erent points.

Motorbike drivers Isra l, Monir, Pi-lot and Bipul alleged that some DB po-lice are collecting toll from the drivers because they have no driving licences or other documents.

The owners and the drivers of the vehicles plying on di erent routes of the district have urged the authorities concerned to take e ective steps so that this extortion can be stopped.

When contacted, Superintendent of Police Md Saifullah Al Mamun told this correspondent that steps will be taken against the corrupt police personnel. l

Two killed in road accidents n Tribune ReportTwo persons were killed in road acci-dents in Gopalganj and Dhaka yester-day.

In Gopalganj, a motorcyclist was killed when a truck ran over him at Nayakandi village in the district.

Police said Al Amin Sheikh,28, son of Yunus Sheikh was crossing the road oh his motorcycle with his two friend. Suddenly a truck coming from oppo-site direction ran over the bike leaving Al Amin dead on the spot and two oth-ers injured. In Savar, a madrasa student was killed in an accident in Mulimpara .

A three wheeler ran over Ria Moni, 9, daughter of Ramjan Ali while she was going home from the madrasa. She died on the spot. l

Ashuganj gas compressor adds to the national gridn Our Correspondent, Brahmanbaria

To improve gas pressure in the national grid, one of the four compressors of Ashuganj Gas Compressor Station began tentative op-eration yesterday.

Abdul Momen, depu-ty general manager of the station, said the compres-sor was run from around 11:30am and it will continue for the next 72 hours with-out a break to observe the situation.

Sources said 100 PSI pressure is needed for smooth gas supply and to ensure it, the government has installed the compres-sors at a cost of Tk900 crore. l

7 Malaysia-bound passengers rescuedn Our Correspondent, Coxs Bazar

Police rescued seven Ma-laysia-bound passengers and seized the two CNG-run auto-rickshaws on which they were being transport-ed from Ukhiya upazila of Coxs Bazar on Sunday.

On being tipped o , Ukh-iya police station Sub-In-spector Nazrul led a drive around 9:30pm from O -cepara area of Jaliyapalang union of the upazila and rescued the passengers. He said the main culprits were Nurul Kabir and his wife Ri-zia Begum, who managed to escape during the drive. l

5 injured in AL factional clash n Our Correspondent, KushtiaAt least ve people, including police, were injured in a clash yesterday be-tween two groups of Awami League following the submission of a tender at a hospital in Doulotpur upazila.

Obaidur Rahman, sub-inspector of Doulotpur police station said the sup-porters of Tokon Chowdhury, brother of a local MP, and upazila Awami League convener committee member Sarder Atiar Rahmans followers engaged in a clash following the submission of a tender for supplying medicines to the upazila government hospital.

They hurled brick chips and bombs at each other, leaving ve injured.

They also vandalized six or sev-en motorcycles, including that of Ekhushey TV Kushtia correspondent Juhurul Islam.

Of the injured, police personnel Anis and Bazlu were sent to Doulotpur Hos-pital. l

BSF returns Bangladeshi cowherds body n Our Correspondent, SatkhiraBSF has returned the body of a Bangla-deshi cowherd after a ag meeting with BGB at Townsreepur border in Debhata upazila, Satkhira.

Sub-inspector of Debhata police sta-tion Mijbah Uddin received Nazrul Is-lams body on Sunday afternoon.

The 40-year-old Nazrul was the son of Sadar Uddin, a resident of Haradda-ha village in the upazila.

At the meeting, 34 BGB battalion Commander Lt Col Shamsul Kabir and Z Angam, inspector of Taki BSF camp of the forces 47 battalion, represented their respective forces.

O cer-in-charge of Debhata police station Ashraf Hossain said Nazruls body was handed over to his family.

On Wednesday night, Nazrul went into India by crossing Haraddaha bor-der to bring cows. Two days later on Friday, BSF o cials of the Taki camp recovered his body from Ichamati river.

The body was kept at Basirhat morgue in India before the handover on Sunday.

Subedar Sirajul Islam, BGB company commander of Townsreepur, said Naz-rul did not die when he went to India to bring cows.

He actually drowned when he went to sh in the river, said Sirajul. l

Jamalpur roads riddled by potholesn Our Correspondent, JamalpurResidents of BISCIC industrial area in Jamalpur district town have been suf-fering because of the dilapidated con-ditions of roads which are also riddled by hundreds potholes.

People of the area su er because of waterlogging caused by the poor drain-age system. During the rainy season, frequent accidents occur as the rainwa-ter oods the streets and conceals the broken section of the roads.

Locals said people, who want to avoid these road have to travel through a time-consuming alternative route.

Moreover, industrial entrepreneurs cannot transport their goods properly because the roads are so rundown.

The sources said a BISCIC industrial area has been set in the centre of Jamal district town in 1980 in a bid to rehabil-itate erosion e ected people.

Di erent entrepreneurs are operat-ing at least 57 factories in the town. Pro-duction of the factories are sometimes hampered as raw materials cannot be supplied to factories, said the sources.

Many entrepreneurs told the Dhaka Tribune that they would be compelled to shut down their business as they could not get raw materials in time and also could not supply products to customers.

They said they had informed au-thorities concerned several times, but they did not take any measures to re-pair the roads.

Faruk Ahmed, managing director of Rokeya Chemical, said they had to count extra cost while bring raw mate-rials and supplying those to customers.

Md Atikur Rahman, owner of Hridy Rice Mills, said they could not dry pad-dy during the rainy reason as chattal, a place where paddy is dried up and processed, is inundated by rainwater.

Sometimes we fail to supply rice to customers as we cannot processed pad-dy in time, he said.

When contacted, Nihar Ranjon Das, assistant managing director of BISCIC, said they had informed Jamalpur mu-nicipal authority about the roads.

He hoped that they municipal au-thority would repair the road as soon as possible. l

People wade through knee-deep water in Mothbaria municipality area of Pirojpur yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

A road in Jamalpur BISCIC area lies in a dilapidated condition, causing su erings for local people DHAKA TRIBUNE

7Long Form Tuesday, July 15, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Chowdhury Abd-Allah Quaseed

Out of about 200 nations of the world, it is not a mat-ter to be sco ed at, that Bangladesh has secured its position between the 40th and 50th, in terms of the size of the economy, consistently over the last few years. And this is only using -nancial data which is legally disclosed.

The ranking of Bangladesh would possibly be higher if all the undeclared wealth of the nation would be tallied as well. So Bangladesh is really not as downtrodden as it may appear to many. In fact it is now well recognized as an upcoming place for growth and opportunities.

And one of the main reasons that Bangladesh has been able to attain this status is because of the ready-made garments sector that is ourishing in the country since the early 1980s and because of all the positive changes it has triggered o as a chain reaction across the nation in terms of economy as well as social development.

In 2006, the RMG sector of Bang-ladesh had been able to export about $8bn worth of products across the world, which at that time was consid-ered to be a great feat. Today, less than eight years later, the industrys exports have reached about $26bn annually, which is an almost 300% growth from the 2006 baseline.

There are almost 4,000 active facto-ries belonging to about 1,500 holding companies, employing from a few hundred people to over 15,000 in a single factory. The total employment generated by the sector is a staggering 5.5 million, inclusive of all sta and management as well.

The number would leap up by a further couple of million, if we include the textile factories and trims and accessories manufacturing companies and all the buying, sourcing and liai-son o ces of apparel brands.

If each employee is considered to be supporting four others in the family, then the number of people depending on the sector for their survival, gets catapulted up to at least 30 million or three crore. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is indeed this industry which forms the backbone of the economy of Bangla-desh and it is this sector that supports the creation, growth and prosperity of many other sectors of the country.

Impact on banking sector

One of the most direct bene ciaries of the RMG industry is the banking sec-tor. All of these thousands of factories have been built upon loans from the banks which derive more earnings by nancing working capital for these companies and also by providing let-ters of credit and trade nancing.

More than two million of the em-ployees and owners and their family members of these garment companies have accounts in the banks, with vary-ing quantities of savings, contributing signi cantly to the lendable fund reserve of the banks. Many hundred thousands of these employees have taken loans for various purposes and almost a million employees of the RMG sector use credit cards issued by these banks.

All of these directly contribute to the enhanced pro tability of the banking sector and of the nancial in-stitutes. Thus all the tens of thousands of employees working in all the banks and the hundreds of thousands of their family members are all support-ed by the RMG sector to a great extent.

Almost 3,000 factories have been constructed in the last eight years

alone, each measuring from a mini-mum of 20 to 30,000 square feet to up to a million square feet, with the majority of them measuring between 100,000 to 200,000 square feet. Counting all the factories that came up in the 90s and onwards as well, the total construction work that was required by this sector, does tanta-mount to a few billion square feet of civil engineering!

The making of all this has gener-ated the boom in the construction industry, and the sale and supply of construction materials, and have pro-vided employment to several million construction workers across the last decade and half. There have been several tens of thousands of architects, interior designers, and engineers from the eld of electrical, mechanical and civil engineering, who have worked for these projects.

The specialised requirements of the sector has led to the establishment of dedicated universities focusing on textile and apparel technology based education. This has churned out many tens of thousands of graduates, most of whom have been successfully absorbed into the RMG sector, which has also provided work opportunities to a few hundred thousand BBA and MBA graduates from both public and private universities.

Impact on workers income

The RMG sector has boosted the general income of the people that work within it and their associated subsectors, resulting in a tremendous boost in the living standards of people across the country and in consump-tion patterns. Food and groceries of higher grade are now purchased in much greater quantities even in villag-es, where the family members of the

employees of most of the RMG sector employees reside.

Low priced locally made elec-tronic items ranging from phones to television sets and DVD players have ooded even the rural communities. People are purchasing healthcare and cosmetic products many times more than before and spending a lot more on entertainment too.

It has to be realised that the earning of the workers in this sector is in fact considerably higher than what people earn in other industries and thus, the furor that is generated by the media and some portions of the intellectual community about the low income of workers in the sector is indeed quite unfounded and baseless. The mini-mum wage of Tk3,000 that used to prevail was only applicable for helpers and there were higher levels of mini-mum wages for various designations.

Thus the minimum wage of Tk3,000 was applicable for less than 10% of the workers at the bottom of the hierarchy. Besides, it has to be real-ised that the workers earn over double of the minimum wage after inclusion of the overtime, the attendance bonus, and some other allowances provided by the factories. Thus, the average earning of workers till 2013 was as high as Tk7,500 to Tk8,000, which was not as low as was misrepresented.

Now, with the increase of minimum

wages for helpers to Tk5,300, from December 2013, which accordingly means minimum wages for higher levels of workers reaching up to 8,000 or higher, have now resulted in a sit-uation where there are many workers earning up to even Tk20,000 a month. The average earning of the worker now, is about Tk12,000 to Tk13,000 per month, which is at par with or even higher in many cases, than the salaries paid to university graduates by local private companies and even some banks.

The rise in this salary level has also set o a domino e ect leading to slow and gradual increase of salaries of sta and o cers too. Thus, the life of the RMG sector employees, including even the factory workers, is in actuality, con-siderably better than what the general prevailing impression is.

Impact on foreign investment

This is also the sector that has led to the in ux of a few billion dollars worth of foreign investment across all the export promotion zones. The sector, which has led to the creation of a large number of power and energy providing companies supplying elec-tricity, has also directly supported the creation of hundreds of thousands of ancillary service providers.

The housing and real estate sector has experienced a major boost since the mid 1990s, in part because of the surge in the RMG sector. Most of the owners and higher level management members of these thousands of com-panies have purchased apartments or plots of land. This again has bene tted the construction industry and those supplying materials.

This has in general contributed to the rise in property prices, something that was also brought about in the out-lying areas by the companies purchas-ing large tracts of land in villages for the making of factories. Rent has also increased for the low cost homes of the workers and also in the areas where most of the mid and upper manage-ment of these companies reside.

Tens of thousands of foreign nationals working in the sector and staying in Dhaka and Chittagong have contributed to many architects leaning more towards international designs and standards, when designing and making residential buildings in areas which are preferred by these foreign nationals, thereby improving the look as well as quality of thousands of apartment buildings.

The transport sector has also ex-perienced a major expansion, directly because of the RMG sector. All the companies operating in the industry owns many vehicles, some up to even 200 vehicles that they use for vari-ous commercial and noncommercial purposes, not only including cars and microbuses, but also large passenger buses, trucks and covered vans.

The owners of these garment

companies are also the ones who can a ord the purchase and mainte-nance of the best brands of vehicles in the country. All of this in aggregate supports the companies selling auto-mobiles, the fuel providers, and the workshops and garages. And there are a few hundred companies that have arisen who provide rented vehicles to the RMG companies.

Not only in the realm of logistics, but the RMG sector directly con-tributes to the bulk of the pro ts of the clearing and forwarding compa-nies, the shipping sector, the freight forwarders and also the cargo section of the airlines. The RMG sector alone comprises over half of all the cargo that is transported. Thousands of small and medium catering companies are thriving as well, who supply food on a regular basis to the factories.

The TV channels and newspa-pers, restaurants, clothing stores and boutiques, private clubs, educational institutions, commercial buildings, etc, have almost all been formed by investments acquired from earnings generated by the RMG industry. Domestic travel and tourism has also been propelled forward greatly due to the expansion of the sector.

Factories have been set up in dis-tant places, leading to the sprouting of numerous resorts and hotels in many districts as well as in remote locations to provide accommodation for those who visit those factories for work purposes, and for them to bring their friends and family members along at times. The growth of the sector has also been one of the main reasons for the sprouting up of over a dozen export processing zones in distant districts, thereby leading to econom-ic advancement of those regions in various ways.

International travel an