n Ashif Islam Shaonand Ahmed Zayeef

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were hired in exchange for Tk6 crore to abduct and kill Narayanganj City Corporation Councillor and Panel Mayor Nazrul Islam along with six oth-ers, family members alleged.

Nazrul’s old foe Councillor Nur Hos-sain and General Secretary of Shiddhir-ganj Thana Awami League Yasin Mia

had hired the elite force, Nazrul Islam’s father-in-law Shahidul Islam brought the allegation yesterday in Narayanganj Ri� e Club while talking to journalists.

Shamim Osman, parliament member of Narayonganj-4 and Selina Islam, wife of Nazrul Islam, were also present there.

When he was asked how he was sure of the involvement of RAB members Shahidul Islam said: “Several witness-es to the abduction told us. The abduc-tors took them by two microbuses. A

vehicle having a RAB-11 sticker on it was waiting there since morning the day Nazrul along with seven others were abducted.”

Shahidul said they informed Sham-im Osman of the abduction soon after the incident. “He told us to meet Tari-que Sayeed, the CEO of the RAB-11. When we went to meet him he con� ned and interrogated us for several hours.”

He also said they went there around 5.30pm. “They kept us waiting for sev-eral hours. At 9pm the RAB CEO told us to meet him later.

“He asked us if we have any con� ict with Shamim Osman. He advised us to meet Shameem Osman. After that we met Shamim Osman at the Ri� e Club.”

Asked why he did not go to police he said the next day of the abduction they went to the police super to � le a case against the RAB CEO Major Jahangir, Major Rana, Nur Hossain, Yasin and eight others.

But police super said if the case was lodged against the government employees the case would lose merit. PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Political rivals blame each other n Ahmed Zayeef and

Ashif Islam Shaon

The Narayanganj city has turned into a city of rumours as the law enforcers are yet to trace any of the killers of seven people including a ward councillor and lawyer. The police have made no visi-ble progress in their investigation.

Most people, including the coun-cillor’s wife and relatives, believe that elite force RAB is directly involved with the abductions. The situation has worsened further as two powerful political “rivals” of Narayanganj – city Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy and Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman have pointed � ngers PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

7 | CHANGE AND CONTINUITY

UNDER SURVEILLANCE HE FLEDP2

20 pages | Price: Tk10

Boishakh 22, 1421Rajab 5, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 35 MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

8 | AID RUSHED TO AFGHAN SURVIVORSB1 | TAU TO INVEST $200M 13 | WAHED POWERED MSC NARROW GAP

Restrictions on plainclothes police operationn Kailash Sarkar

Expressing concerns over illegal opera-tions and arrests conducted by a section of law enforcement o� cials in exchange of bribes, high o� cials of the police yes-terday abolished civil teams in di� erent units of the force and Rapid Action Bat-talion, and imposed speci� c conditions for conducting drives in plainclothes.

The decisions came at a closed-door day-long meeting of senior police o� -cials, ranking from the Deputy Inspec-tor General of police to above, at the Police Headquarters.Sources in police said the meeting elab-orately discussed the law and order situation of the country and the in-volvement of law enforcers in criminal activities.

The meeting also agreed to take stern actions against o� cials found guilty in arresting people in exchanges of bribes.

In the back drop of widespread allegations against the police and RAB for committing illegal activities in plain-clothes, the meeting also decided that speci� c civil teams will no longer PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

MAYHEM ON MAY 5

Hefazat yet to come up with a ‘casualty list’n Manik Miazee and

Mohammad Jamil Khan

One year elapsed since the radical Is-lamist group Hefazat-e-Islam Bangla-desh had claimed that thousands of its activists were killed in a combined op-eration of law enforcers to drive them out of the capital, but not a single name of the dead had so far been revealed.

Hefazat men turned up in the heart of the capital’s Motijheel area on May 5 last year to stage a rally in support of their 13-point demand.

Despite repeated entreaties by the

law enforcers to leave the commercial hub, the Islamist group vowed to con-tinue their seizure of the capital till their demand was met.

The obduracy of Hefazat activists led the lawmen to use force to drive them out, but the fundamentalists claimed that law enforcers’ action cost thou-sands of avid supporters their lives.

From that time on, Hefazat was re-peatedly asked to provide a list of peo-ple killed in the joint forces operation, but it failed to name any.

“We have yet to draw up a complete PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

The meteoric rise of a fanatic out� tn Julfi kar Ali Manik

The overnight rise of the fundamental-ist Islamist organisation Hefazat-e-Is-lam is a frightening tale.

The out� t’s fanatic face became clear after it staged atrocities in the capital on May 5 last year during a ral-ly that was organised to press home its 13-point demands.

The Qawmi madrasa-based out� t was launched on January 10, 2010, to oppose the education policy and amendments brought to the constitution to give it back its original 1972 outlook.

However, the little know group till

then announced its presence loudly by staging a major rally on April 6 last year at the Shapla Chattar in Motijheel, the capital’s commercial hub.

It grabbed a lot of spotlight then by not only mobilising a huge number Qa-wmi madrasa students to the capital city, but also by the way its supporters behaved like fanatics, attacking many male and female journalists.

The Hefazat men intimidated and brutally beat up a number of female journalists because they believed that women should stay at home and wear burqa (Islamic veil) if they come out.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

RAB ‘blamed’ for abductions, murders

A protester writes slogans on a street protesting abduction and murder of advocate Chandan Sarker, during the day-long hartal called by Narayanganj Lawyers' Association, in the city yesterday RAJIBDHAR

ZERO DEATH INJOINT OPERATION

May 52:00pm — 10:00pm

Death19

May 5 - May 610:00pm — 6:00am

Death0

May 66:00am — 5:00pm

Death27

Shamim Osman now accuses his aide Nur Hossain for the Narayanganj crime

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, May 5, 2014

‘Under surveillance, yet Nur Hossain � ed’n Rabiul Islam

State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said prime accused Nur Hossain of Narayanganj abduction case and his family were under law enforc-ers’ surveillance but went into hiding at one stage.

He came up with this information after a meeting on the security of river routes at the conference room of the Ministry of Home A� airs. The minister, however, did not go into details about Nur Hossain’s escape. The law enforcers were trying their best to arrest those in-volved in the abduction and murder of seven persons, said the junior minister.

The minister yesterday parried a number of questions, including that of why law enforcers felt the need for raiding the house of Nur on Saturday, seven days after seven persons were abducted and murdered.

On April 27, seven people including Narayanganj City Panel Mayor Nazrul Islam and lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarker were abducted, and two days later their dead bodies were recovered from the Shitalakhya river.

The following day Nazrul’s wife Seli-na Islam � led a case with Shiddhirganj police station, implicating Shiddhirganj Awami League Vice-President Nur.

Asked whether law enforcers have any hand in the abduction, State Min-ister for Home Asaduzzaman said: "Everything is subject to investigation.

“If they [law enforcers] are proved to have been involved in the abduction, they will be punished. None shall be spared, even the godfather. We have got the clue and it will help to identify the criminals."

When asked, the minister said: “It is not true that law and order has col-lapsed. The situation has not worsened that much.” l

Police seize the private car of Nur Hossain's brother in connection with the recent abduction and killing of Councillor Nazrul Islam from Shimrail in Narayanganj yesterday RAJIB DHAR

EC warns parties for not submitting expendituren Mohammad Zakaria

The Election Commission yesterday sent letters to all twelve political par-ties, who contested in 10 Parliamentary Election, issuing a warning for not sub-mitting their polls expenditure return to the commission in due time.

The letters, signed by EC Deputy Sec-retary Mihir Sarwar Morshed, together with a copy of a related article of the Rep-resentation of the People Order (RPO), were sent to general secretary or secre-tary general of the respective parties.

“The commission sent letter to po-litical parties asking to submit their polls expenditure within the next 30 days,” Sarwar said while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.

The 10th Parliamentary Election

was participated the ruling Awami League, Jatiya Party (Ershad), Workers Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Jatiya Party (JP Manju), Tariqat Federation, Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF), Gonotontri Party, National Awami Par-ty (NAP), Gonofront, Khelafat Majlish and Bangladesh Islami Front.

According to the RPO, party-based election expenditure return must be sub-mitted to the commission within 90 days of the gazette publishing of the polls.

The gazette of 10th parliamenta-ry polls was published on January 8. However, the commission published last gazette for the re-elections in two centres in Kurigram-4 parliamentary constituency on January 23.

The twelve political parties were supposed to submit their election ex-

penditure return to the commission by April 23 as per the law, the letter stated.

“If any party does not submit the party-based election expenditure re-turn within this time frame, the party can submit the polls expenditure re-turn to the commission in next 15 days following a Tk10,000 � ne,” he added.

However, if any party does not sub-mit the returns, the commission has the right to cancel the party’s registration.

As per the law, if 50 candidates of any party contest in the polls, they are allowed to spend Tk75 lakh to the maxi-mum. Similarly, aparty can spend Tk1.5 crore to the maximum for 100 candi-dates, Tk3 crores to the maximum for 200 candidates and Tk 4.5 crores to the maximum for 300 candidates for all constituencies. l

Political rivals blame each other PAGE 1 COLUMN 6at each other for the killings.

The bodies of Councillor and Pan-el Mayor Nazrul Islam, senior law-yer Chandan Sarkar and � ve others were found in Shitalakkhya River on Wednesday and Thursday.

Yesterday, Narayanganj District Lawyers’ Association enforced a hartal protesting the death of Chandan peace-fully. During the shutdown, rail and road communication were suspended while shops were closed.

The association arranged a rally in front of the press club in the morning which continued until afternoon. From the rally, the lawyers blamed RAB for the abduction. They also demanded legal action against Lt Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, the recently removed commanding o� cer of RAB 11.

President of the association Shakhawat Hossain said removal of three RAB o� cials was not enough. “The authorities have to bring them to book after independent probe into the incidents.”Meanwhile, Shahidul Islam, father-in-law of Nazrul, claimed that RAB had killed the seven people in exchange of Tk6 corer which they had got from the main suspect, Councillor Nur Hossain, and his associates.

However, when his body was recov-ered wife Selina Akhter Beauty had told reporters that Shamim Osman might be behind the abduction.

Shahidul yesterday claimed that her daughter had been wrong.

“We have realised that Osman was

not involved. He has helped us to � nd Nazrul,” he told reporters at an infor-mal press meet with the Awami League lawmaker sitting beside him.

In the afternoon, the family mem-bers arranged a rally at Shiddhirganj demanding arrest of the killers. Sham-im Osman was present.

Ivy, Shamim blame each otherMeanwhile, in front of the Nagar Bhaban, colleagues of Nazrul observed work abstention since the morning.

Mayor Ivy speaking at the gathering said: “The dwellers of Narayanganj are anxious over the consecutive incidents of forced disappearance and abduc-tion. They have become prey to a cer-tain family.”

Indicating Shamim Osman, she said people wanted respite from the god-fathers of criminals. “People are yet to get justice in the killing of school student Towki, businessman Ashique, Bhulu and cultural person Didarul Is-lam.

“The family buys every o� cial of the law enforcement agencies and the local administration. People do not dare to talk against them. If they speak up, they are disappeared and get killed.”

Following the rally, she told reporters: “I do not know whether RAB is involved in the abductions. But it is true that a family in Narayanganj has huge manpower and cohorts who can abduct seven people in broad daylight.”

On the other hand, Shamim Osman told reporters: “Abu Su� yan, a close aide of Ivy, threatened to kill Nur and me.

Su� yan has used abusive towards me. I have a video of that. I think whoever is involved should be brought to book.”

The lawmaker also said if any mem-ber of the law enforcement agencies had committed the abductions in ex-change of money, the person should be arrested.

“If Ivy blames me, it means she knows everything about the abduc-tions. She should be arrested and inter-rogated,” he said.

Police seize a ‘suspected’ car Lawmen yesterday con� scated a car from a glass factory owned by an in-law of Shamim Osman at Shiddhirganj, sus-pecting that it was used in the abduc-tion and killing of Nazrul.

O� cials at the factory said Nuruzzaman alias Joj Mia, younger brother of main accused Nur Hossain, owns the car.

The vehicle (Dhaka Metro-Ga 29-8862) was found inside the compound of JMS Glass Industries Ltd at Shimrail. Not only the doors, but also all the four wheels of the car, were found locked.

Shamsuddin Ahmed, an uncle-in-law of Shamim Osman, is the managing director and one of the eight owners of the factory, General Manager Abdul Awal said.

“Sometimes they used to park the car here for one or two years. But since the driver kept the car here on Friday afternoon, nobody came to take it back,” he said. Habib, a member of the Detective Branch of Police, said they had raided the factory around 11:30am on a tip-o� .

Case transferred to DBThe case � led over the abduction and killing of Nazrul and his aides has been transferred to the DB police.

Mahbubur Rahman, o� cer-in-charge of DB in Narayanganj, said they had been given the charge yesterday to probe the case.

A day into the abduction of Naz-rul, his wife � led the abduction case with Fatulla police station on Monday against Nur Hossain, Shiddhirganj unit AL General Secretary Hazi Yasin and four others.

The law enforcers on Saturday seized a microbus suspected to be used in the abduction and detained at least 10 people raiding the house of Nur Hos-sain. The police, however, failed to ar-rest Nur Hossain or any member of his family during the raid.

Police stay mumNarayanganj Police Superintendent Khandoker Mahid Uddin claimed that they had got some important clues dur-ing the investigation.

“It is a well-planned murder. So, we are progressing cautiously,” he said.

The o� cial said there were 16 peo-ple when they had raided Nur’s house yesterday. Police also got important in-formation from the two detainees from who the mobile set of lawyer Chandan was recovered. The paper of the car recovered on Saturday has been cross examined by the BRTA.

Meanwhile, police yesterday pro-duced 11 arrestees before a Narayan-ganj court. They were granted sev-en-day remand. l

The meteoric rise of a fanatic out� t PAGE 1 COLUMN 5Nadia Sharmeen, a female television journalist who was assigned to cover Hefazat’s April rally, described to this correspondent how Hefazat men har-assed her.

“You are a woman; why are you here? Get out of here right now!” – That was what one of the Hefazat fanatics told her while assaulting. Another one told her,

“Do not you know about our 13-point demands? Why are you here, being a woman? Just get out of here!” she was told.

From that rally, the Chit-tagong-based out� t declared its 13-point demands that included ban-ning all “foreign culture” such as free mixing of men and women and candle-light vigils, and bar on erecting sculp-tures at intersections, colleges and uni-versities across the country, and so on.Hefazat leaders asked the government to implement their demands, which

constitution experts, social scientists, human rights activists, women rights defenders and civil society leaders be-lieved was against the spirit of the con-stitution and the fundamentals of the state and society.

Hefazat’s demands became an issue of concern making everyone wonder how a group of fanatics had been rising beyond the purview of the mainstream society with an aim to take the country back to the dark ages.

The Hefazat men, who had been working with an aim to realise the 13-point demands, did not only beat up Nadia. In an interview with this cor-respondent, she said: “I was beaten up by the attackers � ve to six times. The attackers also tore my shirt and tried to rip everything on my body apart.”

Jakia Ahmed was another female journalist harassed by Hefazat men on the same day. She was told by one of the attackers that: “Why do wom-en come out? How dare she not only

comes out of the house, but also do journalism?”

When women are considered as equal development partners not just in the country but only across the world, Hefazat wants them to remain in cache.

In his sermons, Hefazat chief Shah Ahmed Sha� has been heard several times speaking against women’s free-dom, education and employment.

“Women should take care of furni-ture, bring up children and stay within the con� nes of their homes,” Sha� said in one of his sermons.

This Dhaka Tribune correspond-ent has found out that many Hefaz-at leaders not only played role in the founding of banned Islamist out� t Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (Huji-B), but also campaigned for establishing Tali-ban-styled state in Bangladesh.

In the late 1990s, terrorist organisa-tion Taliban grabbed state power in Af-ghanistan and took the country into a

dark age. Many leaders of Hefazat have been in Afghanistan in the past where they fought alongside the local mili-tants in favour of the Taliban’s cause.

One of them was Maulana Ha-bibur Rahman, a key organiser of the May 5 Hefazat rally. He campaigned to establish Taliban-styled rule in Bangladesh. He said: “Only the estab-lishment of a Khilafat [pan-Islamic movement]-based state following the Taliban ideology can change the lot of the nation.” These are only a few of many such examples that plunged the country’s people into a state of panic.

Hefazat men destroyed trees on the road, demolished concrete divid-ers, torched and vandalised vehicles, public and private o� ces, banks and attacked police on May 5.

It is often said that many political quarters of the country extended their explicit and implicit support, propel-ling the fanatic group to give rise to the unprecedented atrocities. l

Hefazat yet to come up PAGE 1 COLUMN 2list of those dead,” Hefazat Secretary Gen-eral Junaid Babunagri said.

Asked why make no list so far, he said they were continuously subject to po-lice harassment and their activists were always on the run because of false cases � led against them.

“The making of a list is not a fact here. What matters most is thousands of inno-cent lives were lost and all know about it,” he said. The list would be placed before the media shortly after making, added the leader. Although the Hefazat leader gave an account that their rally in the capital was peaceful, the scenario was entirely di� erent on the fateful day.

According to eyewitnesses, Hefazat activists were locked into clashes with police around 11am in Paltan and Bai-tul Mukarram Mosque areas, Motijheel, Bangabandhu Avenue and at Dainik Bangla intersection.

After 6pm on the day, the Hefazat men vowed to stay in Motijheel even at night and the lawmen smelt rat in their resolu-tion.

In an emergency meeting, law en-

forcement o� cials decided to clear the area considering safety and security of the city’s commercial hub.

The Dhaka Tribune met a Hefazat leader who was at the hotspot right at that time. No one was killed in the lawmen’s drive, he said.

A Lalbagh Madrassa student Mamun Hossain, also a Hefazat activist, said the drive was launched at 2:45am and ended within 10 minutes. He saw police � re tear gas, entering the vicinity from all sides excepting Tikatoli and Bangladesh Bank corridor, which were kept open for Hefazat men to escape.

The entire area was cleared out within just 20 minutes, and he did not see any-body die at that time.

The Dhaka Tribune investigation also found no trace of bodies during the over-night operation by the joint forces.

In the next day of May 6, after the law enforcers drove out Hefazat activists from the capital, the disappointed Islamist forc-es resorted to vandalism and were locked into clashes with police at Kanchpur and Narayanganj, leaving 20 individuals in-cluding three law enforcers killed. l

Restrictions on plainclothes police PAGE 1 COLUMN 6exist in any police station or unit of the law enforcing agencies, but police and Rab o� cials would be allowed to conduct raids or operations in plainclothes upon speci� c conditions.

According to sources, the meeting decided that from now on, police sta-tions concerned must be kept informed before any operation by any law en-forcement agency takes place in the respective jurisdiction. Moreover, uni-formed o� cials must be included or re-main present at the spot where a plain-clothes team will conduct an operation.

The decision on plain-clothes oper-ations came immediately after Dhaka Range and Chittagong Metropolitan Police and Sylhet Metropolitan Police separately put a ban on operations in plainclothes.

Although it was a scheduled quar-terly crime conference, the meeting was focused by the incidents of inten-si� ed killing after abduction, involve-ment of the law enforcers in extortions and their various other criminal activi-ties, sources said.

The killings of seven people after their abduction in Narayanganj and other recent abductions elsewhere in the country were also highlighted in the meeting.

However, o� cials at meeting claimed the scenario in Narayanganj did not project the overall law and or-der situation of the country.

The meeting also decided for in-

depth monitoring of the cases linked to JMB and other militant organisations and emphasised the importance on the Community Policing activities.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune on Saturday night, IGP Hassan Mahmood Khandker had said the incidents like in Narayanganj did not take place in the rest 63 other districts.

He also claimed that the number of ab-ductions had not risen and the law and or-der situation had not been out of control.

However, at the meeting DIG (Crime)Helal Uddin Badri claimed that in last three months crimes related ab-duction, killing, mugging, extortion, tra� cking of women and children have been declined compared to the past across the country.

Chaired by IGP, Additional IGP AKM Shahidul Hoque, Rapid Action Battal-ion (Rab) Director General Mokhlesur Rahman, commissioners of all the Met-ropolitan of Police, DIGs of all the rang-es, among others, were present at the meeting.

Meanwhile, a press release issued by Kamrul Ahsan, senior information o� cer at the Police Headquarters, mentioned that IGP Hassan Mahmood Khandker in his speech asked the po-lice and Rab o� cials to discharge their duties through their best capacities.

“The IGP also ordered police o� -cials to unveil the motives behind ab-ductions across the country and asked senior police o� cials for monitoring the cases,” the statement added.l

RAB ‘blamed’ for abductions, murders PAGE 1 COLUMN 2“And as per their suggestion we � led cases against the seven.”

Shaidul said the SP and DC of Fat-ulla instructed the o� cer-in-charge of the police station to � le the case. We reached there in the afternoon but they � led the case at 10pm.

Shahidul Islam alleged that police did not conduct any raid even after � l-ing the case.

Selina Islam, wife of Nazrul Islam said: “I do not have any doubt that Nur Hossain and Yasin killed my husband. They have a lot of money and they can do anything.”

Nazrul Islam’s family members brought the allegation against RAB members in front of Shamim Osman. Af-ter that Shamim Osman said: “Many of the administration o� cials are involved in criminal activities and I believe the prime minister has no knowledge of it.”

“I appealed to the prime minister to � nd out those involved in this brutal murders,” Shamim said.

After talking to the journalist at the Ri� e Club Shamim Osman and the fam-

ily members of Nazrul Islam joined a protest rally in Shidhdhirganj. Shamim Osman at the rally accused Nur Hossain of the abduction and murder of Nazrul.

“Previously Iqbal (one of the ac-cused) paid RAB Tk1 crore to abduct Nazrul. I myself helped Nazrul’s release at that time. Iqbal was also involved in the incident,” he said.

Not only Nazrul’s family members, lawyer of Narayanganj also blamed the RAB for its involvement in the abduc-tion and murders.

Shakhawath Hossain, president of the Narayanganj District Association of Lawyers, told the Dhaka Tribune that after Chandan Sarkar went missing they went to the RAB o� ce. “But they did not let us enter the o� ce.”

Tareq Sayeed, the CEO of the RAB-11 declined to make any comment on the allegation of taking money.

Mokhlesur Rahman, DG RAB told the Dhaka Tribune allegation brought against them was not true. “Investi-gation is going on. After that the truth will come out.” l

Inqilab editor secures bailn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday granted bail to AMM Bahauddin, editor and publisher of the daily Inqilab, in a case � led over publishing a false report on the law en-forcers’ drive in Satkhira.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate SM Ashiqur Rahman passed the order on Tk10,000 bond when Bahauddin surren-dered before the court with a bail petition.

On February 20, another Dhaka court granted bail to Inqilab’s News Editor Ra-biulla Ulla Robi, Deputy Chief Reporter Ra� q Mohammad and Diplomatic Cor-respondent Ahmed Atik in the case.

Police arrested the three on January 16, seized various items at the newspa-per o� ce and sealed o� its press. How-ever, the press was later unsealed and the seized items were returned. The raid was conducted after a case had been � led alleging that the daily published a fake and fabricated report on January 16. l

Ghulam Azam’s ex-bodyguard held n Kailash Sarkar

Law enforcers yesterday arrested the former personal security guard of Ghulam Azam, the former ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami convicted for war crimes, with four licensed � rearms in the capital’s Mirpur.

Moza� ar Hossain, 50, is also the fa-ther-in-law of a son of fugitive death row convict Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar.

He was arrested around 9pm while holding a meeting with Jamaat men.

Inspector Salah Uddin, OC of Mirpur police station, said: “Apart from a shot-gun, a pistol, a ri� e and a double-barrel gun, police found a signi� cant number of weapons at the o� ce.” He con� rmed that all the � rearms had been licensed.

Police said Moza� ar had been arrested for his involvement with Jamaat. He used to hold meetings against the government and the country at the building.l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, May 5, 2014

Hefazat faces division over leadershipn Manik Miazee

Platform of Islamist parties pursuing 13-point demands, Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh has split into three appar-ent divisions centring leadership and political interest following last year’s demonstrations on May 5.

They have also been facing obstruc-tions from the law enforcers who did not allow the group to hold rallies in the capital several times in the last one year.

Internal feud is also seen regarding the means of the movement to realise the demands that include death pen-alty for atheists, cancelling the women development policy and ban on free mixing of men and women.

The fractions are now blaming each other for carrying out negotiations with the government secretly and for destroying the movement that drew attention of the local and international media as well as gained support from di� erent quarters including some rul-ing Awami League allies.

The Hefazat men campaigned in fa-vour of the BNP-led alliance during the city corporation polls and afterwards.

Currently, Hefazat has three active factions. One of those is run by Hefazat chief Shah Ahmed Sha� and its Secre-tary Junaid Babunagari of Hathazari Madrasa.

Another section is led by Islami Oik-ya Jote Chairman Abdul Latif Nezami, also Hefazat’s adviser, and Secretary General Mufti Fayez Ullah, one of the conveners of Hefazat’s Dhaka unit. Operated from Lalbagh Madrasa, this group is known as pro-BNP-Jamaat. It led the May 5 Dhaka-siege programme.

On the other hand, Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam Secretary Nur Hossain Kash-emi, who is also Hefazat’s Dhaka City convener, is leading the other group. Kashemi is also the chief of Baridhara Madrasa. Even though the party is an ally of the BNP-led 19-party alliance, this faction is known as pro-govern-ment.

When contacted, Fayez Ullah told the Dhaka Tribune that the real Isla-mist movement had been destroyed only for few people, “who do not want to realise the 13-point demands.”

Criticising Kashemi, he said: “After May 5, I cannot come outside in day-light, but they are moving freely and

communicating with the law enforce-ment agencies. Interestingly, the gov-ernment did not � le any case against them. This is not a favourable symp-tom for the movement.”

Back from the May 5 rally at Shapla Chattar of Motijheel following crack-down of the law enforcers, Hefazat called rallies in the capital for more than three times, but the government did not allow them to do so.

The group called a rally for Decem-ber 24 last year, only a week ahead of the national election amidst the an-ti-poll movement of the BNP-led alli-ance.

Kashemi cancelled the programme from a press conference in Baridhara saying that they had not got the gov-ernment’s permission. He did it unilat-erally, without consulting with Nezami and Mufti Fayez.

The statement came minutes after the police had barred Sha� and his deputy Babunagari in Chittagong on their way to the capital on December 23.

A senior Hefazat leader told the Dhaka Tribune, seeking anonymity, that the platform had clearly been di-

vided into three factions centring po-litical interest.

Meanwhile, according to the leaders linked with the BNP-led alliance, the group is divided into two parts cen-tring the general election.

Irked by the internal feud, Hefazat chief Sha� made two separate media statements. He said: “Some people are actively trying to break up our unity which is a very bad practice.” Alerting the leaders and activists, he said: “Ev-eryone needs to be careful about the persons who are trying to divide the group.”

Sha� also urged all to inform him about any irregularities within the or-ganisation. “If anyone wants to clash with us, even if it is an organisation, we will take action against them.”

The Hathazari-based organisation comprises Qawmi madrasa teachers and students. It was formed in 2010 when its supporters took to the streets demanding cancellation of the educa-tion and the women development pol-icies. They surfaced again in February last year demanding death penalty for the organisers of Shahbagh movement terming them atheists. l

No headway in cases against Hefazat leaders in one yearn Mohammad Jamil Khan

One year has elapsed but police are yet to complete any single investigation into the 42 cases � led with di� erent police stations in the capital for the May 5 mayhem wreaked by the Hefazat-e-Islam.

Not only that another 14 cases � led in Narayanganj and Chittagong have not seen any progress too. The Hefazat leaders arrested in connec-tion with the May 5 anarchy secured bail.

Even no action has been taken against Junaid Babunagari, secretary general of the party, who have nev-er appeared before the court since he

was granted bail although a number of hearing dates have passed.

A number of investigation o� cers (IO) said investigations were underway but they were yet to take any decision as they had received no instruction from the high o� cials.

They said they were waiting for vid-eo footage and still pictures of the inci-dents of that fateful day.

However, the leaders and activists accused in those cases are regularly at-tending press brie� ng, conference and rally under the nose of law enforcers.

Those who are accused include Ju-naid Babunagari, Hefazat Chittagong unit President Mainuddin Ruhi, Joint Secretary General Farid Ullah, Shamsul Alam, Mahibullah Babu, Tazul Islam, Abul Malek Halim, Azizul Haque Islam-abadi, Fazlul Haque Zihadi, Harun Iza-har, Iliash Osmani, Nur Hossain Kase-mi, Mufti Faezullah, Mahfuzul Haque, Golam Uddin Ekram and Ra� qul Islam Madani.

Of the 42 cases the Detective Branch (DB) of police is investigating 15 cases, the DB west team investigating 13 while the DB south team two other cases. Babunagari is accused in 11 cases.

Jahangir Hossain Matubbor, deputy

commissioner of the DB (west) police, said: “We are investigating the cases but it will take time as we have to col-lect evidence from among millions of people gathered at the May 5 rally of the Hefazat.”

When asked how much time it would take he said he could not say right now as charge sheets would be submitted after investigations were over.

After the incident, the DB police took Babunagari and 41 other activists of the Hefazat on remand and gleaned sensational information from them. Besides, BNP standing committee members MK Anwar, Ra� qul Islam Mia and Maudud Ahmed were interrogated too in this connection.

Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the DB police, too said they would submit charge sheet after the investi-gations were done.

Apart from DB police, 27 others cas-es in the capital are being investigated by Motijheel, Paltan and Ramna police o� cials.

Contacted, Morshed Alam, o� -cer-in-charge of Paltan police station, told the Dhaka Tribune they would start the investigation after the deci-sion of the higher authorities.

Moshiur Rahman, o� cer-in-charge

of Ramna police station, however, said they had made some progress in the investigations of three cases but could not say when they would complete the procedures.

Forman Ali, o� cer-in-charge of Motijheel police station, said they were waiting for the guideline of the higher authorities.

About the rest 14 cases � led in Narayanganj and Chittagong Sentu Miah, sub-inspector of Hathazari police station, echoing others said it would take time.

Asked, Sazzadur Rahman, addition-al police super (general) of Narayan-ganj, said investigations of the cases were underway and hoped they could submit charge sheets shortly but he failed to speci� cally say when they could complete the process.

In this regard, Hassan Mahmood Khandker, inspector general of police, refuted the allegation of delay in the investigation saying that some cases need evidences, information and state-ments of witnesses to complete the probe.

Law enforcers are busy collecting in-formation and evidences and soon the reports on the incident could be sub-mitted, he added. l

Ershad played the role of an opportunistn Manik Miazee

The role of Jatiya Party (JaPa) chief HM Ershad centring the May 5 rally of He-fazat-e-Islam last year was one of an opportunist, who wanted to remain by the side that emerged on top.

Ershad, who leads a party that be-longed to the ruling alliance, reported-ly kept liaison with both Hefazat and the government side.

On May 3 last year, the former auto-crat ordered his men to join the Dhaka siege programme and help the Hefazat troop by supplying water and dry food on the streets.

The next day, his Press Secretary Sunil Shuvo Roy issued a statement in which Ershad called upon the govern-ment to accept Hefazat’s demands.

The statement read: “The demands placed by Hefazat are legal and I call upon the government to accept them with a spirit of sacri� ce for Islam.”

Hefazat’s 13-point demand included revoking the women education policy, banning free mixing of men and wom-en and demolishing all the sculptures including those built to pay tribute to the Liberation War.

On May 5, JaPa’s the then secretary general ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, Kazi Zafar Ahmed, who is not with Er-shad anymore, and Joint Secretary Iqbal Hossain Raju, along with some other ac-tivists, took part in Hefazat’s rally.

Upon his orders, mineral water and dry food were distributed among He-fazat men at 10am in the capital’s Ab-dullahpur area – one of the six entranc-es to Dhaka.

At the same time, Ershad instructed senior leaders Anisul Islam Mahmud and Zia Uddin Ahmmed Bablu – now secretary general of the party – to keep in touch with the government.

“If Hefazat succeeded in toppling the government from power, then Ershad’s intention was to be a part of the new government,” said Kazi Zafar Ahmed, then a presidium member of JaPa and now the leader of a faction.On the other hand, Bablu, the current secretary general of the party, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Why would we par-ticipate in Hefazat’s programme? We were allied with the ruling party.”

However, after Hefazat backtracked in the face of a crackdown, Ershad changed his voice, show-causing Iqbal Hossain Raju for taking part in the rally and the Dhaka siege programme.

A few days later, Ershad, known for changing decision in matters of min-utes, said he supported the Muslims but not Hefazat’s 13-point demands.

Recently, State Minister for LGRD Mashiur Rahman Ranga, also a leader of Ershad’s JaPa, told the Dhaka Tri-bune that the party chief had exiled those who had participated in the He-fazat programme.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Iqbal Hossain Razu claimed that Ershad had given him instructions to take part in the May 5 rally.

Ershad was made a special envoy to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after Awami League assumed state power after the 10th national election. l

Rightwing parties gave Hefazat a mercenary role n Julfi kar Ali Manik

Hefazat-e-Islam’s May 5 rally last year can be remembered as the latest example of how the fanatic and radical Islamist out� ts are repeatedly being used as mercenary groups by rightwing communal political parties to serve their motives.

Last year, Hefazat was inducted into a list of mercenary role-players alongside banned out� ts Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (Huji-B), Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB).

Before the May 5 rally at Shapla Chattarin Motijheel – the busiest business district of the city – Hefazat said it was for pressing the 13-point demand.

However, pre- and post-rally circumstances and developments

made it clear that Hefazat was used as mercenary group by the then BNP-Jamaat-led 18-party opposition alliance to topple the Sheikh Hasina-led government.

Hefazat labelled itself a “non-political” organisation that worked for Islamic religious issues. But, a confessional statement, given to law enforcers by its Secretary General Junaid Babunagari after the May 5 mayhem, revealed how they had been used by BNP and Jamaat for “political” purposes.

Babunagari claimed that on the day of the rally, many leaders of Hefazat had told him that the movement was not only for pressing the 13-point demand but also for ousting the government.

“The 18-party will provide [them with] all sorts of assistance – money, food and water. We have

an understanding with the 18-party leaders,” Babunagari claimed to have been told by the Hefazat leaders.

The Hefazat second-in-command also blamed Jamaat-Shibir, Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal activists for the rampage and looting in the Motijheel, Paltan and Baitul Mokarram areas on that day.

The Hefzat men were supposed to leave the Shapla Chattar area in the afternoon after ending their rally. But, out of the blue, they decided to continue their stay.

In the evening on that day,BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, then the leader of the opposition in parliament,asked her party men to extend their support to Hefazat by joining rally.

On the day before the rally, Khaleda warned the ruling Awami League saying: “...we will declare such programmes that you will have to � ee

or quit power.”The next day, a Hefajat leader in

his speech at the rally issued a similar warning,asking the ruling party leaders to think about where they would hide after that night.

Babunagari also described how they had been given money by the BNP-Jamaat alliance to continue their program for ousting the Hasina-ledgovernment.

Compared to some of its predecessors such as the Huji-B and the JMB, Hefazatis a relatively newIslamist fundamentalist and fanatic out� t.

It was launched on January 10, 2010 by Qawmi Madrasa leaders, many of whom were founders and organisers of Huji-B.

But Hefazat, who had not been in the scene for most of time since its launching,surfaced suddenly after the Shahbagh-based Gonojagoron

Moncho in February last year raised a strong demand for ensuring capital punishment for the war criminals of 1971, most of whom are top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami.

A source in Jamaat said although they had an open rivalry with Hefazat, still they decided to hire them to foil the Shahbagh movement.

Hefazat labelled the organisers of the Moncho as atheists. Soon after, Rajib, a blogger and one of the organisers, was hacked to death.

Similarly, radical out� t Huji-B that emerged in 1992, not only carried out several terrorist attacks since then to press its own agenda, but had also been used as a mercenary group.

In August 2004, Huji-B carried out deadly grenade attacks on an Awami League rally with an aim to kill Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, then the opposition leader.

Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tarique Rahman, many of her close associates, and in� uential ministers and leaders of BNP and Jamaat have been accused for plottingthe attack that Huji-B carried out.

In 2004-2005, notorious Sidduqul Islam Bangla Bhai and his spiritual leader Abdur Rahman’s out� ts JMB and JMJB were used as mercenary groups in the country’s northern districts to eliminate political rivals of BNP-Jamaat.

These two out� ts were patronised by some in� uential ministers, lawmakers and leaders of the then ruling party BNP. Even the then administration did not challenge the militant operations.

Many people, who were known for their secular political, social, cultural and intellectual beliefs, have been killed or maimed in the last two decades through planned attacks by these terrorist groups. l

Pictures taken on May 5, 2013 show leaders and activists of Hefazat-e-Islam run amok and clash with law enforcers in the capital’s Paltan area MAHMUDHOSSAINOPU/RAJIB DHAR

The demands placed by Hefazat are legal and I call upon the government to accept them with a spirit of sacri� ce for Islam

Of the 42 cases against Hefazat leaders, the Detective Branch of police is investigating 15 cases, the DB west team investigating 13 while the DB south team two other cases

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, May 5, 2014

n Mohosinul Karim

At least 4,420 people died, 520 were injured and 400 other have remained missing in more than 550 passenger launch accidents in last 38 years, in-cluding the latest launch capsize in Ramnabad River in Golachipa under Patuakhali.

However, experts claim the actual number of accidents, death and miss-ing was higher than shown in the gov-ernment statistics.

According to the experts and of-� cials concerned, gross negligence of the authorities in ensuring safety measures, awarding licenses coupled with a lack of awareness among pas-sengers and plying the launches with ine� cient masters (drivers) caused most of these accidents.

As such fatal mishaps continue to recur, the death toll from Saturday’s launch capsize rose to 16 with the re-covery of two more bodies on Sunday morning while at least, 25 passengers have remained missing.

Many of the accidents happened ei-ther because the launches were un� t or overloaded or due to collision with other vessels or structures. Although hundreds of probe committees were formed and the incidents were inves-tigated, however, nobody was report-ed till date to have been punished in this regard, experts added.

Between January 2002 and July

2013, only � ve to seven probe reports were made public following some major river mishaps. Almost all the recommendations made by those committees towards putting an end to such loss of lives remain unimple-mented.

According to the statistics of the government, the number of death of the people was only 29 in � ve acci-dents in 1977, after the Independence of Bangladesh.

The highest numbers of launch ac-cidents were occurred in 2004. A total of 127 lives were lost in 41 launch acci-dents in a single year.

Meanwhile, the highest numbers of lives were lost in 2003 and 1986. A to-tal 464 people died in 31 accidents in 2003 while 426 people died in only 11 launch accidents.

According to statistics of the Ni-rapod Noupath Bastabayon Ando-lon (Safe Waterway Implementation Movement), around 6,000 people died and more than 700 persons are missing in 535 major launch accidents in the country from 1976 to 2012.

Although there were no major in-cidents in 2013, some 22 people lost their lives in seven launch accidents.

The movement’s General Secretary Aminur Rasul Babul told the Dhaka Tribune that the reports of 863 probe committees, formed to investigate 535 accidents, were not made publicly. At the same time, the recommendations

of the committees were never imple-mented by the government.

As a result, these accidents contin-ue to recur in the waterways, he add-ed.

He further informed that all of these probe committees recommend-ed strict monitoring to stop plying of un� t launches, increasing the number of ship surveyors and inspectors in the shipping department, bringing all the inland vessels under marine insur-ance, arrangement for formal training for the drivers and modernisation of the Inland Shipping Ordinance 1976.

“But the government has yet to im-plement most of them. In many cases, the investigations focused on wrong issues instead of the main reasons be-hind the accidents. Many probe bod-ies were more concerned about � nd-ing out a ‘culprit’ and paid no heed to identify measures to prevent such accidents,” Babul added.

The Department of Shipping, which regulates waterways transport, has been struggling to check and mon-itor the plying of un� t and overloaded vessels due to a lack in manpower.

Acknowledging the shortage, De-partment of Shipping’s Ship Surveyor and Examiner SM Nazmul Huq told the Dhaka Tribune that the sta� cri-sis was indeed crippling the depart-ment’s monitoring work.

At present, only four surveyors were posted to verify the � tness of

vessels registered by the department.According to a statement of the

department in December 2012, there were around 8,668 registered vessels, where 984 of them were passenger carriers.

Despite having a plan to increase the number of surveyors to 24 in 2012, the plan never saw light due to lack of interest of the government and high o� cials of the department.

In most cases, the passenger launches carry insu� cient lifebuoys and no life jackets at all, thus a higher death toll occurs following a mishap, experts said.

Under the terms of an ordinance of the shipping department, passen-ger vessels should keep as many life jackets as passengers on board and at least one lifebuoy for every four pas-sengers. But this provision has never been implemented.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune: “The authorities concerned were asked to ensure that the ships or launches are not being driven by in-e� cient masters or sta� s. We are also taking measures to resist them to re-duce the launch accidents.”

“We are also going to start the ac-tivities of newly formed ‘Shipping Po-lice’ to ensure the security and safety of the water routes of the country. It will eliminate the problems of the sec-tor,” he added. l

Over 4,000 killed in launch capsizes in last 38 yearsDepartment of Shipping struggles to check un� t vessels, citing manpower shortage

Rescuers salvage sunken MV Shathil-1, death toll rises to 16n Our correspondent, Barisal

Rescuers yesterday salvaged the sunk-en launch MV Shathil-1, which cap-sized on Ramnabad River near Gala-chipa upazila under Patuakhali district a day earlier. Meanwhile, government has formed three separate probe com-mittees to investigate the capsizing of the ill-fated vessel.

“Salvage vessel Hamza started res-cue operation at about 5pm after reach-ing the spot from Barisal. The opera-tion was completed at around 9pm,” con� rmed BIWTA Deputy Director Abul Bashar Majumdar from the spot.

No dead body was recovered from inside the salvaged vessel. Meanwhile, the death toll of the incident has risen to 16 after the two bodies, one of an un-identi� ed woman and a newborn child, was recovered in the evening.

Among the bodies recovered, 12 bodies have been identi� ed.

The bodies identi� ed were of Wa-hida Begum, 26, Rashida Begum, 40,

Renu Aktar Liza, 26, Nasima Aktar, 30, Mizanur Rahman, 35, Rishat, 5, Luthfa, 50, Runia, 20, Manowara, 50, Isahuq, 6, Nipu Begum, 35, and Tinni, 6.

Of the 16, four bodies were yet to be identi� ed, con� rmed Kalagachhia river police camp Sub Inspector Abdul Halim.

The vessel, MV Shathil-1, was carry-ing about 50-60 passengers on Rangab-ali-Patuakhali route when it capsized at Shikdar Bari Mor between Ishadi and Kalagachhia stations on Ramna-bad River at about 3pm Saturday. The launch departed from Galachipa upazi-la station at around 2pm.

Although many of the passengers managed to swim ashore with the help of locals, at least 20 other passengers of the vessel were still missing.

Galachipa acting upazila nirbahi o� -cer Kazi Md Saimuzzaman said Tk20,000 will be aloocated for each of the dead vic-tims to cover carrying and burial cost.

Con� rming the reports, Patuakhali Deputy Commissioner Amitav Sarkar said a 17-member team from the � re

service and 10-member team of naval forces have been searching the area to rescue the victims.

However, rescue and recovery opera-tion would be begin fully after the salvage vessel MV Hamza, which left Barisal base station for the spot on Saturday afternoon, will reach at the spot around 2pm, the ad-ministrative and police o� cials said.

Meanwhile, three separate probe committees were formed by the Ship-ping Ministry, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and the district ad-ministration respectively to investigate deeper into the causes of the accident.

The Shipping Ministry has formed a 5-member investigation committee, led by Director (conservancy) Muhammad Hossain and including Additional Secre-tary Md Alauddin, to probe the incident.

AKM Fakhrul Islam, chief engineer of shipping ministry, said these launch-es were constructed in 1983-85 and has become outdated now.

“Since 2006, these outdated launches were ordered to stop plying,” he added. l

Housewife stages kidnapping n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A woman, along with her six-year-old daughter in Chittagong’s Halishahar area, went into hiding on Saturday af-ternoon pretending to be kidnapped as a result of domestic disputes.

Police report that the woman, Ayesha Akhter, 30,with her daughter Tashrifa, 6, left their house in Halishahar in the port city around 2pm saying they had to go run some errands like purchasing medi-cine. But she failed to return home.

When Ayesha’s husband Abu Naser did not � nd his wife and daughter at home, he tried to reach her over her cell phone. A person answered, claiming to be their kidnapper, and demanded Tk 50,000 in ransom in exchange for the safe return of his wife and daughter.

Naser lodged a case with Halishahar police station. The police conducted several drives, according to Syed Abu Mohammad Shahjahan Kabir, o� -cer-in-charge (OC) of the police station.

Later the police were able to trace Ayesha’s mobile phone location and the “kidnapper’s”. They found both the phones to be in “H” Block of Halishahar and proceeded to surround the area.

Sensing the presence of law enforc-ers, Ayesha, wearing a Borkha, along with her daughter came out from a building and said that kidnapper � ed the scene in an auto-rickshaw.

Ayesha’s statement aroused the po-lice’s suspicion, as they began interro-gating her; at one stage she confessed to feigning the kidnapping over domes-tic disputes, said the OC.

ADC Tanvir Arafat said Ayesha has a history of feigning kidnappings regard-ing domestic disputes. She was taken to the police station when the police were conducting drives trying to capture the culprits behind her and her daughter’s kidnapping; according to ADC. l

Housewife murderedn Our Correspondent, Tangail

A housewife was allegedly killed in acid attack by her in-laws in Mirzapur upazila under the district on Saturday.

The victim was identi� ed as Shapna Akter, 17, wife of Aslam, in Borati vil-lage of the upazila.

The victim’s father, Hazrat Ali, said Aslam and his parents including other members of his family con� ned Shap-na to a bathroom after throwing acid on her in the morning.

Later, the neighbours came to her rescue and took her to Mirzapur Kumu-dini Hospital. Shapna succumbed to her injuries on the way to Dhaka Medi-cal College hospital.

Md Anwar Hossain, sub-inspector of Mirzapur police station, said on infor-mation police recovered the body and later sent it to Tangail General Hospital.

The victim’s father � led a case, ac-cusing four including Aslam with Mir-zapur police station Saturday night.

Police arrested Joynal Miah, 50, vic-tim’s father-in-law, on the same day. l

MYMENSINGH JMB SNATCHING

Eight placed on 10-day remandn UNB

A court yesterday placed eight people on a 10-day remand in a case � led in connection with the snatching of three convicted JMB militants from a prison van in Trishal upazila on February 23, killing a policeman.

The eight people were Kamal Hos-sain Sabuj, Yusuf Ali Sohagh, Sohel Rana, Murshed Alam, Ilias Uddin, Abu Bakar Siddique alias Swapan, Bashir

Uddin and Anwar Hossain.Judge Farhana Yasmin of the 4th

Cognisance Court passed the order when police produced them before the court, said Majedul Islam, o� -cer-in-charge of Mymensingh DB.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion recently arrested the eight people from di� erent parts of the capital.

On May 1, the Detective Branch of police produced them before the court, seeking 10 days’ remand.

Miscreants snatched the three con-victed JMB members - Rakib Hasan Russel, Boma Mizan and Salahud-din -- from a prison van killing onepoliceman at Signboard in Trishal on February 23.

However, one of the snatched JMB men - Rakib Hasan Russel – was recap-tured hours later.

Rakib was killed in a gun� ght with police in Mirzapur upazila of Tangail the following day. l

7kg gold seized, four held at Shahjalal airportn Kailash Sarkar

Around seven kilograms of gold was recovered in separate drives by personnel of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) and Armed Police Battalion at the capital’s Hajarat Shahjalal International Airport yesterday.

They also arrested four persons in connection with the smuggling of the gold into the country.

The Investigation Directorate (CIID) o� cials seized six gold bars weighing six kilograms around 12pm from a pas-senger who landed at the airport from Kuala Lumpur on a � ight of the Malay-sia Airlines.

“As we frisked the body of passen-

ger Abdur Razzak (60) and checked his luggage we found the gold bars imme-diately after his arrival in Dhaka,” said Ayesha Akhter, an assistant director of the CIID.

She said detained Abdur Razzak, who is suspected to be a member of a gold smuggling ring, was handed over to airport police and a case was � led in this connection.

Meanwhile, Assistant Superinten-dent of Police Alamgir Hossain Shimul said they also recovered 800 grams of gold around 8am by arresting three other passengers who came from dif-ferent countries.

The detained passengers were iden-ti� ed as Hanif Mahmud, Mohammad Latif and Shipon Miah. l

Rescue workers are in search of bodies of passengers of the ill fated water vessel that sank in the Ramna River on Saturday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Survey: Most RMG workers not members of any unionn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

A recent survey conducted on RMG workers by Democracy International, a consulting � rm, found that most of the RMG workers who took part in the survey were still not members of any labour union.

87% of the respondents are not members of any labour unions, but 82% consider forming labour unions e� ective or very e� ective in solving the workers’ problems, according to the survey results.

However, 74% think that workers’ problems can be solved by asking BG-MEA and the factory owners to help.

Focusing on the RMG workers in the greater Dhaka and Chittagong areas, Democracy International conducted the survey to have an in-depth under-standing on labour issues, formation of labour union and activities, policy aspi-ration and political participation of the RMG workers.

Fieldwork for the survey wasdone between March 28 and April 6 this year.

By using multi-stage random sam-pling technique, a total of 1,508 RMG workers were interviewed during the survey.

Also, it was found that the respon-dents worked 10.09 hours each day on average. The average take-home salary is Tk7,341 each month and 82% of the respondents believe that safe working conditions are prevalent or very preva-lent in their factories.

David Dettman, chief of party for Democracy International in Bangla-desh, said: “Democracy International is delighted to continue to support the growth of an empirical public opinion research culture in Bangladesh.

“The garment sector is critical for Bangladesh’s economic future, and understanding workers’ perspectives can help all stakeholders improve their working conditions,” he said. l

AL men ransack Public Health Nutrition o� ce, assault o� cialn Kailash Sarkar

A group of Awami League men yester-day allegedly assaulted several o� cials of the Institute of Public Health Nutri-tion (IPHN) at the capital’s Mohakhali after failing to secure a work order of the institute, sources said.

Police and witnesses said a group of around 20 leaders and activist of the ruling party, led by former general sec-retary of Ward-20 Aslam Hossain, beat up IPHN Director Mohammad Hedayet-ul Islam after storming into his o� ce in the afternoon. They also allegedly van-

dalised his o� ce and tried to various furniture and also tried to pick him up.

The victim later � led a case with Banani police station accusing the AL leader and his accomplishes for as-saulting him and vandalising his o� ce.

“In the case statement, the victim al-leged that Aslam attacked him and van-dalised his o� ce as he could not take part in the institute’s tender competition due to his illegal activities,” said Banani police station Sub-Inspector Sohrab Hossain.

However, no one was arrested in this connection till � ling of this report at 1:40am today. l

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, May 5, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 4:00am Sunrise 5:21am Zohr 11:55am Asr 4:32pm Magrib 6:29pm Esha 7:51pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Source: Accuweather/UNB

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A Y

Dhaka 35 26Chittagong 33 25Rajshahi 37 26Rangpur 33 23Khulna 35 25Barisal 35 26Sylhet 33 22Cox’s Bazar 33 25

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:29PM SUN RISES 5:22AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW36.4ºC 19.8ºC

Rajshahi Rangpur

WEATHER

MONDAY, MAY 5

DRIZZLES LIKELY

Passenger sheds out of passengers’ reachCity Corporation sources say most sheds were leased out to di� erent people, companies during Ershad’s regime n Abu Hayat Mahmud

As a result of Dhaka’s two city corpora-tions’ indi� erence and lack of monitor-ing, commuters are unable to use the passenger sheds around the capital as most of them are either leased out, ille-gally occupied, or in shambles.

The daily travellers are forced to stand on the pavements and streets while waiting for transport, as both Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) have been unable to free the spaces for public use.

Most of these sheds are used for business purposes, housing hawkers, small traders, and ticket selling booths for local buses.

Many are taken over by drug addicts, sex workers, and even patrol police.

This means commuters have to brave sun and rain while waiting for transport, as in most places they are unable to � nd shelter.

In many areas around Dhaka, perma-nent shops have been built inside the passenger sheds. No steps have been tak-en by the two governing authorities of the capital to remove these establishments.

Visiting the city’s Mirpur, Moham-madpur, Farmgate, Shahbagh, New Market, Gulshan, Motijheel, Paltan, Malibagh, Mouchak, Moghbazar, Mo-hakhali, Sayedabad, Jatrabari and Sadar-ghat areas, this reporter found that only a handful of passenger sheds, mainly those privately built by banks and other companies, were free for public use.

All the DNCC and DSCC-owned sheds were, however, found occupied.

Sources at DNCC and DSCC said that most of these sheds were leased out to people and companies for 25 years by the military government headed by HM

Ershad in 1989-90. Some of these lease contracts had already expired, while the rest would end later this year, they said.

Two sides of the coinSha� q Ahmed, resident of Tejturip-

ara area, said the passenger sheds were now taken over by BRTC ticket counters, newspaper stands and fast food shops.

“The travellers hardly get space to stand inside the sheds. I am surprised by the city corporations’ role in this, or lack thereof,” he said.

Tania Islam, a private bank o� cial, travels by bus between Motijheel and Mohammadpur every day and has to wait for bus on the pavement.

“There is no room under the shed. The space is taken up by vendors,” she said.

When asked about the matter, Habibur Rahman, a newspaper sell-er occupying the passenger shed near Ananda Cinema Hall in Farmgate, said: “The space was leased out to Newspaper Hawkers’ Association by the former Dha-ka Municipal Corporation for 99 years.”

Shamsul, a fast-food joint owner occupying the passenger shed in front of Tejgaon College, echoed Habib’s de-fence, saying the city corporation au-thority had leased the space out to him.

What the officials sayRequesting anonymity, a DSCC o� -cial admitted that the departments in charge of the passenger sheds’ mainte-nance had failed to carry out their re-sponsibilities.

“We do not have any plan to build more sheds in the city at the moment,” he said, adding that the private compa-nies who had taken up repairing the old sheds and building new ones were do-ing so in an unplanned way and to suit their own business interests.

Md Fasi Ullah, chief estate o� cer

at DNCC, told the Dhaka Tribune that the city authority had not taken appro-priate measure to free the passenger sheds due to legal complications.

“Most of the sheds were leased out in 1989-90 by the then government. We could not do anything because of legal matters,” he said.

He also claimed that they would repair and reconstruct the existing sheds once all the leases expired in Au-gust-September this year.

Khalid Ahmed, chief estate o� cer in DSCC, agreed. “The leases will expire later this year. We will take care of the matter after then,” he said. l

BRTC bus drivers going through hardship for non-payment of salariesn Tazlina Zamila Khan

Drivers of air-conditioned bus service under Bangladesh Road Transport Cor-poration (BRTC) have not got salaries for the last two months, thanks to the negli-gence of the authorities concerned.

The BRTC has around 30 air-condi-tioned single decker bus services that run on the Abdullahpur-Motijheel route in the capital every day.

At least 90 bus drivers have been going through � nancial hardship, even sometimes they fail to manage foods for their family members.

Bus driver Abul Kashem said: “We have to run buses from 8am to 12pm. But, the authorities are not giving us our fair wages of two months (February-March). I have two children. Sometimes we have to starve for lack of money.”

Another driver Jahir Uddin said he lived in a slum at Uttara. He paid around Tk3,000 as rent.

He said: “My wife and I work togeth-er to run the family. She is pregnant now. It has become very hard for me to run my family. But, the authorities do not pay any heed to our problems.”

Expressing their woes, many drivers said when they had wanted their sala-

ries to the authorities, they told them that they would not be able to disburse salaries as the BRTC incurred a huge loss during last year’s political unrest.

As a result, drivers have been involved in various types of irregularities.

They are taking passengers from dif-ferent points of the capital rather than from the bus stops.

A passenger Asma Khatun, an em-ployee of a private � rm, said: “I get into a bus from Kurmitola without tickets. I have to go to Banglamotor, so I gave Tk50 to the driver.”

When asked the driver Nasir said: “We do not have any choice as we have

to earn money to feed our children.”The salaries of the drivers varies

from Tk4800-Tk10,000.The BRTC o� cials said the corpora-

tion had lost 139 buses and incurred a loss of Tk500 crore for damages during polit-ical violence. Also it bear Tk 38.9m for arson attacks while its revenue loss has stood at Tk 336 crore. The total loss had stood at Tk440 crore in the last � ve years.

In this regard, Joar Shahara Depot Manager Abu Bakar Siddique said: “The drives are putting wrong allegations. They did not get the salaries of March. But, it is not a problem for them as they could earn pocket money from passengers.”

He added: “When we will get mon-ey from the head o� ce, we could pay driver’s salaries.”

Munshi Iqbal Hossain, Director (Fi-nance & Accounts) of the BRTC said,” Because of political violence in last year the buses could not ply the road. So, we faced income crisis. Besides, the government also did not gave us mon-ey for the damages.”

He added: “Besides, it is normal in transportation sector and there are al-ways dues. If there are dues, then the drivers will get their wages within next two or three months.” l

‘Shoddy work on sewer line at Ashulia’n Our Correspondent, Savar

Mir Akter Construction is shoddi-ly setting up sewer line along Nabi-nagar-Chandra Highway, which is be-ing upgraded into a four-lane highway, at Ashulia on the outskirts of Dhaka city, locals have alleged.

The sewer line wall has been col-lapsing o� and on at many places due to use of sloppy materials, locals say, adding that they have already infomed the Roads and Highways Authority but it did hardly work.

Bricks, sand and cement being used in building the sewer line are of very poor quality, says Babul Hasan, an in-habitant of Baipail.

The � rm is even resorting to the di-version of the drainage design at many places in exchange for bribe from land grabbers here, he says.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune yes-terday, Mir Akter Contrstruction’s Sher Shah, who is superintending the work, denied the allegation of using sloppy materials in the sewer line construc-tion.

“The sewer line wall is collapsing due to soil pressure, not for using sub-standard materials.”

Nayarhat Roads and Highways’ Sub-Divisional Engineer Dilip Kumar Das says, “The drainage wall is collaps-ing due to rains, not for using sub-stan-dard materials.”

“The sewer line construction was put on hold at its beginning due to use of poor materials, but now quali-ty bricks, sand and cement are being used,” he claimed. l

Girl gang-raped, two held n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A 15-year-old girl has been gang-rapped allegedly by � ve persons at a hilltop at Chittagong city’s Enayet Bazar area.

Kotwali police station Inspector (investigation) Nizam Uddin said they arrested two persons involved in the rape after a case was � led yesterday morning.

The case in brief is that the girl went out of her house at Goalparha on Thur-day night for buying kerosene at a near-by shop, when � ve locals picked her up and took her to a nearby hilltop and violated her from Thursday night to Friday morning.

The alleged rapists are Shahjalal, 30, Sohel, 18, Ratan alias Boidda, 26, Bahar Mia, 45, and Rasel, 27.

All the alleged rapists are locals, Inspector Nizam told Dhaka Tribune, adding that Bahar and Rasel were al-ready arrested.

He added that e� orts were on to ar-rest the others involved in the rape. l

Judge embarrassed to hear Dhanmondi playground writ petitionn Nazmus Sakib

A judge of a two-member High Court bench yesterday felt embarrassed to hear a writ petition seeking its direc-tive to remove structures that are un-der construction in Dhanmondi play-ground in the capital.

The bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akon-do said in its order that one of them felt embarrassed to hear to the petition and the reason was cited to be personal. They said the petition was sent to Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain to ar-range another bench for hearing it.

Supreme Court lawyer Fida M Ka-mal appeared for the petitioners while Additional Attorney General Murad Reza represented the government.

Sara Hossain, another counsel for the petitioners, told the Dhaka Tribune that the judge who felt embarrassed to hear the petition refused to cite any speci� c reason except saying that it was a personal one. 

The petition concerns the ongoing construction work apparently by the

LGED in the name of Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Ltd, she said.

How does a public body proceed with a project in the name of a private company and how does it do so with-out prior permission from Rajuk under the Building Construction Act, Sara questioned.

Earlier on April 28, another High Court bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice Md Habibul Gani dropped the plea from its cause list. The order came following a con-tention of Fida M Kamal.

When the lawyer said the bench should not have head the plea if it had already decided not to issue any rule in this regard, Justice Gani expressed un-willingness to hear the petition and the bench dropped it from the cause list.  

The petition, � led on April 22 by six people including architects Mobassher Hossain and Iqbal Habib, also sought the High Court’s directive to ensure unhindered access of everyone to the playground. In the wake of protests and criticisms, the playground was re-opened to public on April 24. l

Egg trader stabbed, robbed of Tk20 lakhn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Muggers stabbed an egg trader and robbed him of Tk20 lakh at Chittagong’s Double Mooring yesterday.

Trader Delwar Hossain was admit-ted to a private clinic with a stab wound on his leg, said police.

Delwar was attacked by � ve or six muggers near his house at Challish Quar-ter area around 11am, said Motiul Islam, O� cer-in-Charge (OC) of Double Moor-ing police station. The police were trying to arrest the muggers, he said, adding that a case was � led in this regard.

Meanwhile, police arrested a listed mugger in possession of a toy pistol and a machete at the city’s Mimi Super Market area.

Mugger Mohammad Motaleb, 24, was accused in several cases � led with Panchlaish and Kotowali police stations.

Abu Jafar Mohammad Omar Faruk, OC at Panchlaish police station said on a tip-o� , they arrested the mugger around 7am.

Mugger Motaleb faced several cas-es with Kotwali and Panchlaish police stations, he said, adding that a case was also � led in this connection. l

Two hurt over land grabbingn CU Correspondent

Two persons were injured in a clash between two groups of Jubo League in Bangla Bazar area of the port city yes-terday afternoon over grabbing land.

The injured were Md Yusuf, 22, and Rashed, 30, admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH), said police.

Nurul Absar, o� cer-in-charge (in-vestigation) of Baizid police station, said the two groups- one led by Kud-dus, a local terrorist and Mehedi had engaged in a brawl and took position with lethal weapons in Saymol Chaya Residential area around 3:30pm over establishing supremacy.

At one point the rivals, stabbed Yu-suf with sharp weapons and beat up an-other, leaving Yusuf critically injured.

On receiving information, police rushed to the spot and dispersed the lo-cal goons by chasing them, added the OC.

Police raided the area after the inci-dent, however, none was arrested fol-lowing the incident, the OC said.

Pankaj Barua, assistant sub-inspector of CMCH, police outpost said Yusuf had sustained fatal injuries in his belly. l

As a result, drivers have been involved in various types of irregularities. They are taking passengers from di� erent points of the capital rather than from the bus stops

The photo taken yesterday from Farmgate area in the city shows ticket selling booth and food shops have been set on a passengers’ shed ABU HAYAT MAHMUD

Workers engaged in constructon of the sewer line along the upgrading Nabinagar-Chandra four-lane highway at Ashulia on the outskirts of the city DHAKA TRIBUNE

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, May 5, 2014

Attack on college principal protestedn Our Correspondent, Tangail

Teachers of Basail Emdad Hamida De-gree College in the district formed a human chain yesterday protesting an attack on its principal.

Bangladesh College Teachers Asso-ciation, Tangail district unit organised the programme in the morning.

Some unidenti� ed miscreants at-tacked Principal Habibur Rahman on April 24 at 7:30pm on Mymensingh road in front of Water Development Board o� ce in the town, leaving him critically injured. He was later rushed to Tangail General Hospital. A General Diary (GD) was logged. l

Hi-tech park in Rajshahi demandedn Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

Rajshahi Raksha Sangram Parishad, a pressure group, held a meeting yester-day in front of its o� ce in the district demanding an information and bio-technology park immediately.

The Parishad president Liakot Ali presided over the meeting while its general secretary Jamat Khan conduct-ed the programme.

Lawyer Hamidul Haque, Ankur Sen, Entajul Haque Babu, freedom � ghter Abdul Mannan, Workers Party city unit general secretary Debashish Pramanik Debu addressed the meeting among others.

Liakat Ali in his speech said it was a fact that information technology has been identi� ed as the “thrust sector”

for the economy of the region. “Rajshahi has enormous potentiali-

ties of setting of hi-tech park as Rajsha-hi University and Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET) are creating more than 200 ICT people every year,” he said.

Both university and industry can achieve their objectives by utilising the potentialities. The proposed hi-tech park must to be established in order to establish a world class business en-vironment for targeted high growth industrial sector and new business, he added.

The park will facilitate to develop indigenous technological capability for the development of the local indus-tries that will also help entering foreign markets by exporting state of the art

technology products In Rajshahi, the developed infra-

structure will facilitate hassle-free in-dustrial operation with necessary sup-port.

They said the government took the decision two years ago to establish a park in the city but has delayed start-ing the work.

DC Mejbah Uddin Chowdhury told Dhaka Tribune the site selection had been completed and land acquisition was progressing successfully.

“We will go one more step forward in this regard when the park authority gets possession of a 19-acre piece of land from the Water Development Board and the Department of Public Works within the next 15 days,” he added. l

KIDNEY THEFT LEAVES BOY DEAD

Accused placed on 10-day remandn Our Correspondent, Sirajganj

A Sirajganj court yesterday placed on a 10-day remand one of the people ac-cused of removing both the kidneys of a six-year-old boy, who subsequently died at Ullahparah upazila.

The court passed the order to place Jahangir Hossain Chand, 27, on remand after the Investigation O� cer Abdul Jalil sought a 10-day remand for a prop-er investigation.

Harun, son of Belal Hossain from Tara� aira village, went missing on April 22.

His body was later recovered from a water body on April 23.

Abdul Mannan, uncle of the victim,

� led a case with Ullapara police station against Jahangir Hossain Chand, 27, Montu, 30, and Delwar Hossain.

Police arrested Chand, son of Kalu Pra-manik from Tara� aria village, Ullapara upazila, from Dakbanglo area, Jhenai-dah in the early hours of Friday.

Earlier, police arrested Khalil, one of Chand’s accomplices, on April 27. Dur-ing investigation, Khalil told police that Chand was the mastermind.

Khalil said they had made a deal of Tk10 lakh with a Dhaka-based gang in-volved in the kidney trade to sell the Harun’s kidneys.

Khalil said they drugged the child near their house on April 22 evening and put him in a sack. He was taken to near Udhunia bridge in the early hours of April 23, where they along with three people from the capital, removed his kidneys.

Later, three people who were from Dhaka put the kidneys in a packet and left the scene hurriedly on a motorbike.

Khalil claimed the gang was sup-posed to give him Tk 200,000. But later they o� ered him only Tk 20,000, which he refused to accept. l

50 fall sick for food poisoning in Kushtia n Our Correspondent, Kushtia

At least 50 people including 13 children fell ill after eating at a marriage cer-emony at Farakpur village, Bheramara upazila Saturday night.

Locals said the victims had gone to a wedding ceremony at Abdul Barik’s house in the village at noon. After the meal, they fell sick.

Of them Siam, 10, Sajim, 3, Mina , 2, Darpan, 3, Lipi, 15, Ruhan, 11, Samia, 2, Ejaj, 6, Adori, 3, Salam, 28, Rahul, 4, Sagar, 17, Sumia, 11, Ismail, 5, Fakir Ud-din, 70, Shamoly, 13, Shahin, 8, Rajani,

20, Rakhi, 4, Tarik, 38, Maria, 10 and Shanto, 10, were admitted to Bhera-mara Health Complex.

Bheramara Health Complex Resi-dential Medical O� cer (RMO) Moshiul Alam said: “The people fell sick due to food poisoning.”

Shariful Islam, son of Abdul Barik, said: “We bought 315 cups of curd from Pabna Sweets. The guests might be fall-en sick after eating the curd.”

On information, UNO Rejaul Karim and Bheramara police station o� cer-in-charge Parvez Islam visited the spot. l

Truck driver killed in road crashn Our Correspondent,

Tangail

A truck driver was killed and � ve others were injured in a road accident on the Tan-gail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway in Sadar upaizla yesterday.

The deceased was iden-ti� ed as Shakil, 22, son of Saidul Islam from Sherpur upaizla, Bogra district.

According to police sources, a Bogra bound truck collided head on with a passenger bus coming from the opposite direc-tion at Bikram Hati area on the highway, leaving Shakil dead on the spot and � ve passengers injured.

The injured were sent to Tangail General Hospital. l

Youth dies falling o� train rooftop n Our Correspondent,

Tangail

A young man died as he fell o� the rooftop of a train in Basail upazila of Tangail ear-ly yesterday. The deceased, who was 17, could not be identi� ed immediately.

Sahidul Islam, gatekeep-er of Sonalia rail crossing in the upazila, said a man died after falling o� the rooftop of the Dhaka-bound Sunda-rban Express at Sonalia rail crossing area around 4am. Police were informed of the death, he added. l

Students of Shoilarani Girls’ High School form a human chain yesterday, protesting ‘forced coaching’ DHAKA TRIBUNE

They had made a deal of Tk10 lakh with a Dhaka-based gang involved in the kidney trade

7Long Form Monday, May 5, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Shafi qur Rahman

The ongoing 16th Lok Sabha elections in India has attracted unprecedented interest among the people of Bangladesh. While

India has always been by far the most important foreign country for Bangladesh international relations, the extraordinary concern about the current election is mainly due to the manifestly decisive in� uence of India in the recent political struggle in Bangladesh.

We are at once morbidly fasci-nated by the seemingly inexorable march of Narendra Modi towards the Delhi throne and ambiguously titillated by the prospect of a reboot in the Indo-Bangladesh high-level relations.

Some people are claiming, without providing convincing argument, that there will be a major recalibration of the cast-iron relationship between Delhi and Dhaka that seems to be in place now with Awami League and Indian National Congress at the helm of their respective countries. While others are dismissing such speculation by asserting that foreign policy of big powers are anchored in long-term strategic goals, and are not perturbed substantially by change in govern-ment.

At this time, it may be instructive to look back on recent history and try to discern the dynamics of change and continuity in Indian foreign policy.

The definition

It is said that “All politics is local” and the International Relations corollary of that is “foreign policy is an extension of domestic politics.” Foreign policy experts have long expounded on the primacy of domestic politics in deter-mination of a state’s external policies.

States are not black boxes; like organisms and organisations, internal dynamics are the biggest determinant of external behaviour. A simple model of two interacting levels captures the entanglement between a country’s domestic and international a� airs very nicely.

At the national level, government, major political parties, di� erent inter-est groups, organised and unorganised people’s coalitions maneuver among themselves for favourable policies; the politicians try to enhance their power by building alliances and opposition. Governments then seek to enhance their power to build desirable coali-tions by trying to in� uence unfolding developments both in the foreign and domestic arena. Therefore, a govern-ment’s internal position best predicts how it attempts foreign policy.

This interplay is valid for democ-racies as well as not-so-democratic regimes. The best way to analyse why Russia under Putin now is pursuing an aggrandising foreign policy while previously Yeltsin let the Russian pe-riphery fall apart, is not to look at the two leaders’ personality or pathology but their respective internal positions. This interplay is even more pro-nounced for established democracies.

Those who discuss American foreign policy while treating USA as a

monolithic imperialistic world-power, grossly miss out the features and nu-ances of its foreign policy incentives. Only through an expert grasp of US politics, its institutions, its business, security and economic interests, di� erent ethnic, social and regional groupings, etc, one can start getting a handle on US foreign policy.

The dynamics

Politics becomes particularly impor-tant for the foreign policy of demo-cratic government during times of election and regime changes. We have seen the leaked personal conversation between President Obama and Pres-ident Medvedev of Russia before the 2012 election where Obama said: “This

is my last election… After my election I have more � exibility.” Recently Europe wide foreign policy conversation more or less shut down for a few months before the German election, when everyone in Europe waited to see who will emerge victor and what kind of coalition she will head.

Interestingly, the USA and India, the two largest democracies, are re-garded as quintessence of large coun-tries that are obsessively preoccupied with internal politics and dynamics while being somewhat oblivious to the outside world.

Outsiders seldom gauge correctly the intensity of acrimony and enmity in the political rivalry of these estab-lished democracies. In line after line of the election manifesto of 2014, BJP excoriates Congress party leader-ship past and present in the starkest language and seek to position itself in diametric opposition to its rival in philosophy and practice.

With stark contrast as the main di� erentiator, it is not unreasonable to expect that a BJP government will pursue a foreign policy that also distinguishes itself from the predecessor, at least during the initial couple of years.

But before looking at the current foreign policy scenario, it will be instructive to look into change and continuity in Indian foreign policy with change in governments in the last few decades to understand the institu-tional and political background of any probable change.

The premise

Those who follow the foreign policy debates inside India know that the diversity in opinion is no less than the diversity of politics. An analyst detected at least � ve major schools of FP and many minor ones. He labelled them as classic and militant Nehruvi-ans, Gandhians, centre-right realists and Hindu-revivalists.

The major national and regional parties harbour within themselves people from many di� erent schools, but the general observation is that with a change in government, a new school emerges to dominate govern-ment policy, at least for some time.

Narasimha Rao, prime minister 1991-96, was the � rst signi� cant head

of government to emerge after the long era of Gandhi family at the helm of India. Rao, who served both Indira and Rajiv Gandhi cabinets as home, defence and foreign minister at di� er-ent times, is remembered today as a hard realist who fundamentally reor-iented India in the post-Cold War era. Most importantly, Rao and his Finance Minister Manmohan Singh deregulat-ed Indian economy from the statist control and opened it for private and outside investment.

Rao restructured political and economic relationship with the West and developed the “Look East” policy to replicate the East and South East Asian successes in the economy of India. Rao also � rmly set India on the path to nuclear power. But it was in the South Asian neighbourhood where Rao’s hard, unsentimental governance was most keenly felt.

Because of Rao, the government’s preoccupation with bigger things like the economy and foreign relations with distant East-West powers, the local neighbourhood was demonstra-tively neglected. Although the rela-tionship with Pakistan blew hot and cold, historians now say that there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm from the Indian side to invest in great e� ort.

Bangladesh perhaps felt the e� ects of Rao’s “neighbourhood neglect” policy most acutely. Indo-Bangladesh water sharing and Farakka Barrage were the most important bilateral issues, but these were never a priority in Narasimha Rao’s domestic and po-litical considerations. Rao did not have an o� cial bilateral visit to Bangladesh in his entire � ve year tenure as he wanted to avoid the “embarrassment” of the water sharing issue.

Muchkund Dubey, a former Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, wrote in his reminiscence that: “If there were any diplomatic designs behind these postponements of dialogue, they were never articulated explicitly and publicly. They, there-fore, did not serve any purpose except being viewed as instances of India’s arbitrary and overbearing demeanour.”

Mostly because of � nancial scan-dals and pains of economic reforms, the Congress party lost the 1996 Lok Sabha election and a United Front gov-ernment, comprising left and regional parties, took the helm of power.

First Deve Gowda and then his Foreign Minister IK Gujral became Prime Minister during the period 1996-98. Deve Gowda and Gujral sought to reorient Indian foreign policy from its hard self-interest anchor to a more idealistic pragmatism. IK Gujral is re-membered today as perhaps the most neighbourhood-friendly statesman to come out in India in recent history.

His famous “Gujral Doctrine” pro-posed that as the regional hegemon, India should be prepared to make con-cessions in bilateral issues for peaceful

co-development of the whole sub-con-tinental region. During the brief period of UF government, India and Bangla-desh signed a 30-year bilateral water sharing agreement and India Pakistan high level meetings resumed after a lapse of more than three years.

The Bharatiya Janata Party at last gained its place under the Indian sun in the mid-term elections of 1998 and the Hindu revivalist school gained prominence in the foreign policy thoughts. The new government eager-ly sought to di� erentiate itself from the perceived “weak” idealism of pre-vious governments and promised to follow a more muscular and assertive foreign policy.

Reversal and re-reversal

The � rst years of neighbourhood foreign a� airs were dominated by formal entry into the nuclear weapons club through test detonation by both India and Pakistan and their heated rhetorical tussle.

Since the early 2000s, as India’s economic and defence capabilities grew rapidly, foreign policy has been increasingly focused at playing the great power game in the global arena. At the neighbourhood, India mainly sought to keep in� uence of other global powers at check and put a lidon potential disruptions through unrests.

Goals of regional integration and mutual co-development have been put into the back-burner of priori-ties although rhetorical observance continued. A recent and acclaimed book by a western diplomat claimed that: “there is a sense that India today would rather ‘opt out’ of its region (if it could) than work hard to make something of it.”

It is not just in the a� airs of neigh-bourhood that Indian foreign policy have undergone sudden reversal with change in government; it happened with great power politics too.

When the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan took place in December 1979, Morarji Desai of Janata Party was in power at Delhi. The JP government strongly protested the invasion and supported its condemnation in the United Nations. But Indira Gandhi regained power a few months later and

she, who had a long history of great rapport with Kremlin, signi� cantly toned down Indian opposition to Russian incursion in India’s neigh-bourhood.

We saw another reversal during the First Gulf War of 1990-91. Prime Minister VP Singh and his foreign minister IK Gujral strongly opposed the military buildup of US led coalition in the Arabian peninsula to repel the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. But at the end of 1990, VP Singh was replaced as premier by Chandra Shekhar Singh and he reversed the Indian opposition through providing logistic support for the US counter o� ensive in Iraq in early 1991.

Furthermore, we are aware of how Rajiv Gandhi sent Indian troops to Sri Lanka in 1987 in the guise of peacekeeping forces to preserve the separation between battling Tamil Ti-ger and Sinhalese Army. The VP Singh government ordered quick withdrawal of Indian forces when it came into power in 1989.

Continuity

In the past decades, Indian foreign policy went through so many reversals due to reactions to external events, that it had been accused of lacking an overarching strategic vision and being largely reactive. But we can also see a strong current of continuity � owing through changes in government and leadership.

One of the most consistent aspects of Indian foreign policy since the end of the Cold War is maintaining primacy of economic relationship. India has thoroughly internalised the lesson that trappings of a great power can only be sustained over durable economic pow-er. Supporting Indian business and big-businessmen all over the world is a core brief for all foreign missions and diplomatic e� orts.

Another un� agging continuance of foreign policy in the recent decades, is emphasis on bilateral relationship at the expense of multilateralism.

In the � rst few decades after in-dependence, when India’s economic and strategic strength was dispropor-tionately weaker than its size, Indian foreign policy adhered to multilater-alism and non-alignment to promote an equality of nations in the global

scale, while India demonstratively exploited the unequal relationships in the South Asian neighbourhood by avoiding multilateral constraints and professing to stick to bilateral relations.

Now that India has gained stature both in the local and global arenas, the foreign policy embraces great power diplomacy through bilateralism both in the local and global arenas.

We can only speculate on any prospective change of Indian foreign policy towards Bangladesh in broad strokes if a BJP-led government takes power at Delhi. As we have already seen in the election campaign, temperature of rhetoric from Delhi is bound to rise substantially because of internal political expediency.

Also the inter-governmental rela-tionship between the two countries is bound to cool down in the short time because of the close relationship between Awami League and BJP’s bête noire, the Congress Party. Even before the election in Bangladesh in January, we have seen that some BJP leaders and intellectuals express unease at how the Indian government is being closely identi� ed with the governing party in Bangladesh. BJP’s election manifesto gives few clues, resorting mostly in sound bites.

“BJP believes that political stability, progress and peace in the region are essential for South Asia’s growth and development. The Congress-led UPA has failed to establish enduring friendly and cooperative relations with India’s neighbours. India’s relations with traditional allies have turned cold…

Instead of being led by big power interests, we will engage proactive-ly on our own with countries in the neighbourhood and beyond. In our neighbourhood, we will pursue friend-ly relations. However, where required we will not hesitate from taking strong stand and steps. We will work towards strengthening Regional forums like SAARC and ASEAN.”

We can be sure that political and economic self-interest will retain its primacy in a new government’s policy towards Bangladesh.

If the people of Bangladesh and the anti-government opposition want Indian help in restoring democracy in Bangladesh, it must demonstrate to a new Indian government that denying the people of Bangladesh the right to choose its own government and per-ceived closeness of India to an unpop-ular and mandate-less government, is fuelling resentment and unrest in the country; a bitterness that will be harmful to the long-term interest of both the government and the state of India. l

Sha� qur Rahman is a freelance contributor. This article was � rst published in alochonaa.com.

Change and continuityLooking back on recent history to discern the dynamics of Indian foreign policy in light of the Lok Sabha elections

WIKIMEDIA

We are at once morbidly fascinated by the seemingly inexorable march of Narendra Modi towards the Delhi throne and ambiguously titillated by the prospect of a reboot in the Indo-Bangladesh high-level relations

Interestingly, the USA and India, the two largest democracies, are regarded as quintessence of large countries that are obsessively preoccupied with internal politics and dynamics while being somewhat oblivious to the outside world

Monday, May 5, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Nasa: Bacteria from earth can colonise Marsn Agencies

In the race to colonise Mars, microbes may end up beating humans!

Hardy little micro-organisms from earth could hitch a ride on a spacecraft and colo-nise the surface of Mars and trick scientists into thinking they are aliens, a new study by Nasa scientists has found.

These bacteria could contaminate celestial bodies such as Mars, making it di� cult for researchers to determine if a life form actually originated on the site, researchers said.

“In the movies, humans often fear invaders from Mars. These days, scientists are more concerned about invaders to Mars, in the form of micro-organisms from earth,” they said.

Three recent scienti� c papers exam-ined the risks of interplanetary exchange of organisms using research from the International Space Station (ISS).

Currently, spacecraft landing on Mars or other planets where life might exist must meet requirements for a maximum allow-able level of microbial life, or bioburden.

These acceptable levels were based on studies of how various life forms survive

exposure to the rigours associated with space travel, researchers said.

“If you are able to reduce the numbers to acceptable levels, a proxy for cleanli-ness, the assumption is that the life forms will not survive under harsh space con-ditions,” said Kasthuri J Venkateswaran, a researcher with the Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a co-author on all three papers.

That assumption may not hold up, though, as recent research has shown that some microbes are hardier than expected, and others may use various protective mech-anisms to survive interplanetary � ights.

Spore-forming bacteria are of particular concern because spores can withstand cer-tain sterilisation procedures and may best be able to survive the harsh environments of outer space or planetary surfaces.

Spores of Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 have shown especially high resistance to techniques used to clean spacecraft, such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation and peroxide treatment. When researchers exposed this hardy organism to a simulated Mars environment that kills standard spores in 30 seconds, it survived 30 minutes. l

CIA, FBI agents advising Ukraine government!n AFP, Berlin

Dozens of specialists from the US Cen-tral Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation are advising the Ukrainian government, a German newspaper reported yesterday. Citing unnamed German security sources, Bild am Sonntag said the CIA and FBI agents were helping Kiev end the rebel-lion in the east of Ukraine and set up a functioning security structure.

It said the agents were not directly involved in � ghting with pro-Russian militants. “Their activity is limited to the capital Kiev,” the paper said. The FBI agents are also helping the Kiev government � ght organised crime.

Last month the White House con-� rmed that CIA director John Brennan had visited Kiev as part of a routine trip to Europe, in a move condemned by Moscow. l

Europe’s cybersecurity policy settings under attackn AFP, Brussels

Even as Europe powered up its most am-bitious ever cybersecurity exercise this month, doubts were being raised over whether the continent’s patchwork of online police was right for the job.

The exercise, called Cyber Europe 2014, is the largest and most complex ever enacted, involving 200 organisa-tions and 400 cybersecurity profes-sionals from both the European Union and beyond.

Yet some critics argued that herding together normally secretive national se-curity agencies and demanding that they spend the rest of 2014 sharing informa-tion amounted to wishful thinking.

Others questioned whether the law enforcement agencies taking part in the drill should be involved in safe-guarding online security, in the wake of American whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations of online spying by western governments.

“The main concern is national gov-ernments’ reluctance to cooperate,” said Professor Bart Preneel, an infor-mation security expert from the Cath-olic University of Leuven, in Belgium.

“You can carry out all of the exercises you want, but cybersecurity really comes down to your ability to monitor, and for that, national agencies need to speak to

each other all the time,” Preneel said.The Crete-based o� ce coordinating

the EU’s cybersecurity, the European Union Agency for Network and Infor-mation Security (ENISA), calls itself a “body of expertise” and cannot force national agencies to share information.

As with most aspects of policing and national security, the EU’s 28 members have traditionally been reluctant to hand over powers to a central organ-isation, even when – as in the case of online attacks – national borders are almost irrelevant.

Cyberattacks occur when the com-puter information systems of individu-als, organisations or infrastructure are targeted, whether by criminals, terror-ists or even states with an interest in disrupting computer networks.

The EU estimates that over recent years there has been an increase in the frequency and magnitude of cyber-crime and that the attacks go beyond national borders, while the small-er-scale spreading of software viruses is also an increasingly complex problem.

The EU’s vulnerability has been highlighted over recent years by a number of high-pro� le cyberattacks, including one against Finland’s foreign ministry in 2013 and a network disrup-tion of the European Parliament and the European Commission in 2011. l

Assad to face two candidates in Syria presidential voten AFP, Damascus

President Bashar al-Assad is to face two challengers in Syria’s June 3 presi-dential election, which he is assured of winning, the constitutional court said yesterday. “The supreme constitution-al court announces... the acceptance of candidacy bids registered by... Maher Abdel Ha� z Hajjar, Hassan Abdallah al-Nuri and Bashar Hafez al-Assad,” a

court o� cial said.Twenty-three candidates had ini-

tially registered to run against Assad, but most did not meet election criteria to run for o� ce in a vote that has been mocked by the opposition and the West as a “farce.” Both Hajjar and Nuri are largely unknown to the Syrian public.

Candidates whose bids were re-jected have until May 7 to appeal the court’s decision, said Majed al-Khadra

of the constitutional court, whose statement was carried by state televi-sion. While the election is the country’s � rst multi-candidate vote, the rules ef-fectively rule out any opponents to As-sad’s regime from running.

Among them is the stipulation that anyone who has lived outside Syria in the past decade is excluded, e� ectively barring most prominent opposition � g-ures, who live in exile. l

Iraq violence kills over 30 people in 24 hoursn AFP, Baghdad

Violence in Iraq, including shelling in a militant-held city and an attack tar-geting Shiite pilgrims, has killed more than 30 people in 24 hours, o� cials said yesterday. The bloodshed comes as o� cials count ballots from the April 30 general election, the � rst since US troops withdrew in late 2011, and amid a protracted surge in nationwide unrest that has sparked fears of a return to the sectarian killing sprees of 2006-2007.

In Fallujah, just a short drive west of Baghdad, shelling in southern areas of the city killed 11 people and wounded four, Doctor Ahmed Shami said.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the bombardment, which began on Saturday evening and continued into Sunday. In a sign of both the reach of an-ti-government militants and the weak-ness of security forces, all of Fallujah and shifting parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, farther west, have been out of government control since early January.

The crisis in the desert province of Anbar erupted in late December when security forces dismantled Iraq’s main Sunni Arab anti-government protest camp just outside Ramadi. l

Syria rebel in� ghting forces over 60,000 to � ee homesn Reuters, Beirut

Fighting between al Qaeda’s Syria branch and a splinter group in eastern Syria has forced more than 60,000 people to � ee their homes, emptied villages and killed scores of � ghters, a monitoring group said. In� ghting among rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad has un-dermined the three-year-old uprising

against his rule and killed thousands of people since the start of the year.

The con� ict has pitted hardline Islamists against more moderate in-surgents, but disputes over turf and resources have also turned radical fac-tions against one another, most recent-ly in the oil-producing eastern prov-ince of Deir al-Zor.

The British-based Syrian Observa-

tory for Human Rights said late on Sat-urday that al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, the Nusra Front, had taken over control of the town of Abreeha from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a former al Qaeda a� liate formally dis-owned by the group this year.

At least 62 � ghters had been killed in around four days of clashes in the area l.

‘Odessa violence part of Russia plan to destroy Ukraine’ 42 people killed in deadly clashes and a � re in Odessa

n AFP, Odessa

Deadly clashes and a � re in Odessa that killed 42 people in one day were part of a plan by Russia “to destroy Ukraine,” the prime minister of the ex-Soviet re-public said yesterday.

“Russia’s aim was to repeat in Odes-sa what is happening in the east of the country,” Arseniy Yatsenyuk told a news conference.

He was speaking during a visit to the southern port city of one million in-habitants after the violence that erupt-ed on Friday.

After street clashes between pro-Russian militants and pro-Ukrainian activists that killed four, a huge inferno in a building where the

pro-Russians took refuge killed an-other 38 after both sides traded petrol bombs, according to witnesses.

The tragic confrontation abruptly plunged Odessa into the same sort of violence that has gripped east Ukraine for the past two months. Kiev accuses Moscow of being behind an insurgen-cy that has seen rebels taken control of more than a dozen eastern towns.

“What happened in Odessa was part of plan by the Russian Federation to destroy Ukraine and its statehood,” Yatsenyuk said.

“Russia sent people here to create chaos.”

He urged all Ukrainians to unite and to bury their di� erences “so as not to give the terrorists backed by Moscow

the opportunity to divide our people.”He also said that the police chiefs of

Odessa have all been sacked for not pre-venting the clashes and ensuing deaths. They would be replaced, he said.

Yatsenyuk’s visit to the grief-strick-en Black Sea port city came on the last day of a weekend of mourning decreed for those killed in the violence there and in the east.

Ukraine’s authorities have previ-ously admitted its security forces were “helpless” to roll back the pro-Russian militants in the east.

They have ordered the military to conduct an operation to against the rebels. Fierce � ghting has been going on since Friday, especially around the � ashpoint town of Slavyansk. l

Israeli settlers launch enclave in Palestinian business hubn Reuters, Jerusalem

The smell of fresh paint wafts through the domed lobby of the latest Israeli ar-rival in East Jerusalem - a Jewish semi-nary in a bustling commercial area in the same building as a post o� ce serving thousands of Palestinians every day.

Otzmat Yerushalayim, which in-cludes sleeping quarters and could house as many as 300 young Israelis, is the � rst Jewish housing venture on Sal-adin Street, a main shopping thorough-fare across from the walled Old City.

Palestinians and Israeli critics worry the placement of the academy in such a central location is asking for trouble in East Jerusalem, which has stayed large-ly trouble-free in recent years compared to the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, and which Palestinians hope will be the capital of a future state.

“Tensions are sure to spike here. It isn’t going to be easy,” a Palestinian phar-macist, who gave her name only as Maral, said in a drugstore across the street.

“They will just close us up the sec-

ond a confrontation arises and all work will grind to a halt,” she said.

Israel’s annexation of East Jerusa-lem after its capture in a 1967 war has never been recognized, meaning most of the world views Israeli enclaves there as illegal settlements.

Settlement expansion has been a key sticking point in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which collapsed in April. But even when Israel froze construc-tion temporarily in 2010, it always in-sisted the moratorium exclude East Je-rusalem, which it views as an integral part of the country.

Unlike in the occupied territories, most Palestinians in East Jerusalem en-joy Israeli social bene� ts and looser trav-el restrictions, making them less moti-vated to engage in political protests.

Religious fervor runs deep in the holy city, however, and violence � ared during the Jewish Passover holiday when Palestinians, gathered at a holy site revered by Muslims and Jews, threw rocks and � recrackers to try to prevent any attempt by ultranational-

ist Jews to pray there. Israeli riot police used stun gre-

nades to quell the protests at a plaza that overlooks Judaism’s Western Wall and is home to al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount, the site of the two biblical Jewish temples.

Formal opening Ateret Cohanim, the private organiza-tion behind the seminary project, has been moving hundreds of Jewish fami-lies into predominantly Palestinian-in-habited East Jerusalem for years, either by acquiring property or laying claim to land Jews bought before Israel’s found-ing in 1948. It expects a formal opening ceremony to take place at the seminary later this month as part of Israeli cele-brations of the 47th anniversary of its capture of East Jerusalem.

A teacher at the school, where a rabbi’s portrait hung on freshly-paint-ed walls amid benches and bunk beds, said it quietly opened its door a few weeks ago. l

Timeline of unrest in east Ukrainen AFP, Kiev

Below is a timeline of the main develop-ments in the armed uprising in Ukraine. The unrest started in the east and south of the former Soviet republic after pro-European protesters forced the Kremlin-backed gov-ernment in Kiev from power on February 22.

APRIL 2014m 6: Pro-Russian demonstrators seize

government buildings in several towns in eastern Ukraine, including Donetsk, Kharkiv and Lugansk.m 7: Pro-Russians occupying o� ces in

Donetsk declare an “independent republic.” Ukraine’s government accuses Russia of want-ing to invade the country and break it up.m 12: Pro-Russian militants launch

o� ensives in the towns of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, where they take over the police headquarters.m 13: Kiev announces an “anti-terrorist”

operation in the east.

m 16: Ukrainian troops turn back from Slavyansk, after pro-Russians seize six armoured vehicles.

Militants seize Donetsk town hall.m 17: A deal is reached in Geneva

between Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the European Union to “de-escalate” tensions.m 18: The Kremlin con� rms Russia has

built up troops on the border. Nato puts the deployment at 40,000.m 20: The leader of pro-Russian demon-

strators in Slavyansk appeals to Moscow to send in peacekeeping troops after a deadly shootout.m 21: In Lugansk, protesters pledge to

hold their independence referendum on May 11.m 23: Russia says it will respond if its

interests are attacked in Ukraine.m 24: Ukraine’s military launches assault

on Slavyansk. Five rebels are killed, accord-ing to Kiev. Russian President Vladimir Putin says there will be “consequences.”

m 25: Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accuses Moscow of seeking to trigger a “third world war.”

A group of OSCE military observers is detained in Slavyansk.m 27: Rebels say the OSCE observers

are “prisoners of war” and make them give a news conference.m 28: West imposes new sanctions on

Moscow. Russia vows a “painful” response. Nato says there is no sign of a Russia troop pullback claimed by Moscow. Russia assures the US it will not invade Ukraine.m 29: Russia warns sanctions could

harm Western interests in Russia’s lucrative energy sector, denies there are Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.m 30: Kiev places its armed forces on

“combat alert” against a possible Russian invasion. Authorities admit local secu-rity forces are “helpless” to stop rebels over-running eastern towns.

The IMF approves $17-billion aid deal for the beleaguered Ukrainian economy.

MAY 2014m 1: Some 300 pro-Russian militants

seize the prosecutor’s o� ce in Donetsk amid violent clashes with police. Conscrip-tion reintroduced for all Ukrainian men aged 18-25.m 2: The bloodiest day since new gov-

ernment came to power. At least 10 die in fresh army assault on Slavyansk.

In the southern city of Odessa, 42 die when clashes between pro-Russian militants and pro-Ukraine supporters culminates in a mas-sive blaze. Russia declares the Geneva peace plan dead and calls an emergency UN Security Council meeting.m 3: Slavyansk rebels free OSCE inspec-

tors after Kremlin envoy intervenes. Two days of mourning proclaimed over Odessa deaths. Fierce � re� ghts around Slavyansk and nearby towns as military seeks to retake control.m 4: Kiev vows to expand “anti-terrorism”

operations. Yatsenyuk launches probe into security forces in Odessa over the deaths. l

 Israeli police o� cers walk past a post o� ce building in East Jerusalem April 29 REUTERS

9Monday, May 5, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE WorldAfghan landslide: Aid rushed to survivorsInitial reports suggest that as many as 2,500 people may have died in the disastern AFP, Aab Bareek

Aid groups yesterday rushed to help survivors of a landslide in northern Af-ghanistan that entombed a village, kill-ing hundreds of people and leaving 700 families homeless in the mountains.

Much of Aab Bareek village in Ba-dakhshan province was swallowed on Friday by a fast-moving tide of mud and rock that swept down the hillside and left almost no trace of 300 homes.

Government o� cials said the cur-rent death toll was at least 300 and warned it could rise by hundreds more, after initial reports suggested that as many as 2,500 people may have died.

Large crowds gathered at the re-mote disaster site, where rescue e� orts were abandoned due to the volume of deep mud covering houses.

Only a few bodies have been pulled from the debris.

“Around 1,000 families are thought to have been a� ected with some 300 houses totally destroyed,” the Unit-ed Nations O� ce for the Coordina-tion of Humanitarian A� airs said in a statement.

“Assessments to determine priori-ties on immediate child protection and water, sanitation, and hygiene needs for (displaced) families are continuing.”

It added that 700 families were dis-placed, with many � eeing their homes in fear the unstable hillside could un-leash more deadly landslides.

Tents, emergency food supplies, health services and support for chil-

dren who lost parents were being or-ganised after many survivors spent another night in the open.

Wailing near her father’s destroyed house, Begum Nisa, a 40-year-old mother of three, described the mo-ment when the wall of mud smashed through the village.

“I was eating lunch by the window of my house, then suddenly I heard a huge roar,” she said.

“I shouted to my family to save themselves, but it was too late. I have lost my dear father and mother. I also lost my uncle and � ve members of his family.”

Local people and emergency work-ers had used shovels to try in vain to dig out anyone trapped alive. Relief work has now turned to caring for sur-vivors.

‘Our life is destroyed’“We have erected 150 tents, handed out food and set up a mobile health clinic,” Abdullah Faiz, provincial direc-tor of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, told AFP.

“It is a di� cult operation because of rough terrain and lack of roads, and there is still a possibility of another landslide.”

Many villagers were at Friday prayers in two mosques when they were engulfed by the torrent of mud, and a second landslide hit people who came to help those in need.

“Our house were totally destroyed, we are destroyed and our life is de-stroyed,” said Bibi Khanum, 55, sitting in a tent provided by the Red Crescent.

“My husband was killed under the rubble and four of my young children. I am going crazy without them, repeat-ing their names time and time again.”

Afghanistan held a national day of mourning on Sunday after President Hamid Karzai expressed his condolenc-es to those who had lost loved ones.

“We have a list of around 300 people con� rmed dead,” Badakhshan gover-nor Shah Waliullah Adeeb told report-ers at the scene on Saturday.

“We cannot continue the search and rescue operation anymore, as the houses are under metres of mud.”

There was no o� cial update on the death toll Sunday, and the exact num-ber of fatalities may never be known.

Badakhshan is a mountainous northeastern province bordering Tajik-istan, China and Pakistan.

It has been relatively peaceful since the US-led military intervention began in 2001, but has seen increasing Tali-ban activity in recent years.

The landslides follow recent severe � ooding in other parts of northern Af-ghanistan, with 159 people dead and 71,000 people a� ected by � oods in Jow-zjan, Faryab and Sar-e-Pul provinces. l

Amethi: Gandhis face � rst real � ght from oppositionn Agencies

The high-pro� le Amethi Lok Sabha constituency, created in 1967, is head-ed for a few � rsts this election.

It is for the � rst time that the oppo-sition is seriously � ghting for the Gand-hi citadel – in the words of BJP’sUttar Pradesh in-charge Amit Shah, to win it – by � elding a candidate of some polit-ical stature.

This has made the Congress feel the heat there for the � rst time.

And Amethi is perhaps the � rst con-stituency to have multiple local mani-festos, as Loksangrah Abhiyan conve-ner Vinod Yadav, who spent months to prepare a citizen charter, says.

Relishing the poll feast are the gog-gle-eyed people of Amethi whose tryst with politicians has by and large been con� ned to the Gandhi family during the constituency’s 47-year-old history. The Gandhis have accounted for 26 of the 44 years that the Congress has rep-resented the seat.

The Gandhis’ hold on the seat since Sanjay Gandhi won it in 1980 has pro-vided enough fodder for a resurgent opposition to attack the Congress on Amethi’s backwardness. The opposi-tion’s stint in Amethi was from 1977-80 (Janata Party) and from 1998-1999 (BJP), the second time because Amethi royal Sanjay Singh had switched over from Congress.

Local Congress leaders say Singh and his wife Amita were exploring other political options. The Congress

placated him by making him a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, as his exit could have placed hurdles in Rahul Gandhi’s path to the parliament.

But the BJP, by � elding Smriti Irani opposite Rahul, is said to have made his � ght that much tougher while Aam Aadmi Party’s Kumar Vishwas has the surprise factor.

“The Congress is struggling to main-tain the victory margin for Rahul, if not the seat, and this is apparent from the intensity with which Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been campaigning for her brother,” a Congress leader said on con-dition of anonymity.

Priyanka has not forgotten the hu-miliation the family su� ered in the 2012 assembly elections when Con-gress lost three of the � ve assembly segments under Amethi. “The defeat sends a wrong message to the nation,” she had said then.

She is aware that Mandate 2014 is not like the friendly battles of the past against dummy candidates.

The day BJP announced Irani’s can-didature, people wondered if Naren-dra Modi would come to campaign for her. They had their doubts, as satraps Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati have never addressed election rallies in Amethi for SP and BSP. Even former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani adhered to the unwrit-ten code of avoiding meetings in the constituency. The BJP seems to have broken that code in a bid to wrest Amethi. l

India urges calm after at least 32 Muslims killed in Assamn AFP, Guwahati

The Indian government appealed for calm yesterday after at least 32 Mus-lims were shot dead in the northeast-ern state of Assam in attacks targeting women and children and blamed on tribal separatists.

As more than 5,000 soldiers and police patrolled the restive tea-grow-ing region, Home Minister Sushilku-mar Shinde said the killings appeared aimed at provoking a “full � edged” communal con� ict.

Police blame indigenous Bodo tribesmen for the violence on Thurs-day and Friday nights in the region, where Muslims have long been ac-

cused of grabbing land after migrating from across the Bangladesh border.

“The objective of this (separatist) group seems to be aimed at starting a full � edged communal con� agration,” Shinde said in a statement, adding the violence was targeted at women and children.

“The public leaders of both Bodo and (the) minority community must see to it that things do not deteriorate,” the minister said, urging the region to maintain “peace and calm.”

The violence comes during the � nal stretch of the country’s mammoth gen-eral election, which has seen religious and ethnic tensions � are and deadly at-tacks staged elsewhere in the country

including by Maoist rebels.Hindu nationalist hardliner Naren-

dra Modi and his opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are expected to de-feat the ruling Congress party after a decade in power.

Thousands of families have � ed their homes since masked gunmen went on the rampage in Baksa and neighbouring Kokrajhar district, shoot-ing Muslims dead including children as young as 18 months as they slept.

Shinde put the death toll at 32. But a senior police o� cial said two more bodies were discovered on Sunday while a teenager died of her injuries overnight Saturday, taking the number killed to 35. l

South Korean divers struggle to open blocked ferry cabins

n AFP, Seoul

South Korean dive teams struggled yesterday to gain access to blocked cabins of a submerged ferry that sank nearly three weeks ago, as the con-� rmed death toll from the disaster rose to 242.

Six more bodies were recov-ered early Sunday, 18 days after the 6,825-tonne Sewol capsized and sank with 476 people on board – most of them schoolchildren – while 60 remain unaccounted for.

“Rescuers using some equipment are trying to open blocked cabins,” spokesman Ko Myeong-Suk told a morning brie� ng.

The search has been hampered by fast currents and high waves, while dive teams have been working in chal-lenging and sometimes hazardous conditions.

They have to grope their way down guiding ropes to the sunken ship, struggling through narrow passage-ways and rooms littered with � oating debris in silty water.

As days go by, personal belongings and other items from the ship have been spotted further and further away, fuelling concerns that some victims of the ferry disaster may never be found.

One body was retrieved Friday by a � shing vessel four kilometres (two miles) away from the recovery site, and another was found two kilometres away on Wednesday.

As a precaution, recovery work-ers have put rings of netting around the site.

Bedding materials from the ship were found as far as 30 kilometres from the disaster site on Friday.

It is one of South Korea’s worst peacetime disasters, made all the more shocking by the loss of so many young lives.

Of those on board, 325 were stu-dents from the same high school in An-san city, just south of Seoul.

Public anger has focused on the captain and crew members who aban-doned the ship while hundreds were trapped inside, and on the authorities as more evidence emerges of lax safe-ty standards and possible corruption among state regulators.

The captain and 14 of his crew have been arrested.

The Sewol’s regular captain, who was o� duty on the day of the acci-dent, has told prosecutors that the fer-ry operator – Chonghaejin Marine Co – “brushed aside” repeated warnings that the 20-year-old ship had stability issues following a renovation in 2012.

Two Chonghaejin o� cials were ar-rested on Friday on charges of having the ferry overloaded well beyond its legal limit. l

Sri Lanka temple tackles reconciliationn AFP, Matara

At a temple in the heart of Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese south, an unusual attempt at reconciliation is underway after de-cades of ethnic bloodshed, even as the government warns of fresh � ghting.

Inside the white-washed temple, Hindu priests watch over metres-high statues of an estranged couple brought together to lift an age-old curse many blame for Sri Lanka’s con� ict that claimed tens of thousands of lives.

“The country will never go back to war,” priest Mani Srinivasa told AFP of the new spiritual e� ort at the temple in

Matara, mainly used by the minority Tamil community, who are predomi-nantly Hindus.

The temple was destroyed during violence 30 years ago between ethnic majority Sinhalese, who are mostly Buddhists, and Tamils – but later re-built with the help of both communi-ties. “We know all this talk of unrest will fade away by the end of this year. It is written in the stars,” Srinivasa said.

Five years after the separatist con-� ict ended, Sri Lanka is struggling with reconciliation amid international calls for an investigation into alleged war-time atrocities. l

Japan delegation leaves for Beijing to mend ties with Chinan AFP, Tokyo

A delegation of senior Japanese law-makers left for China yesterday to try to mend ties amid a territorial dispute which has prevented a leaders’ sum-mit. The bipartisan delegation is led by Masahiko Komura, former foreign min-ister and vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. It departed from Tokyo’s Haneda airport Sunday morning on a three-day visit to China, o� cials said.

During the trip, the Japanese law-makers are expected to meet with Zhang Dejiang, ranked third in the Communist Party, Kyodo news agency reported. l

The irresistible lure of Pakistan’s ‘killer mountain’n AFP, Islamabad

Gunmen shot dead 10 foreign tourists at its base camp last year, but for serious mountaineers, the allure of Pakistan’s “killer mountain” remains irresistible.

Militants stormed Nanga Parbat base camp on the night of June 22, 2013, dragging the climbers out of their tents and shooting them point blank along with their local guide.

The massacre badly hit tourism in Pakistan’s wild, mountainous north, which is home to some of the world’s highest peaks and most challenging climbs. But three winter summit at-tempts have brought fresh hopes for the industry, crucial to the local econ-omy, as it gears up for the summer climbing season.

Nanga Parbat, Pakistan’s sec-ond-highest peak at 8,125 metres (26,660 feet), has never been climbed successfully in winter because of the treacherous weather conditions.

Its fearsome Rupal Face, rising more than 4,000 metres from base to top, presents one of the most di� cult — and tantalizing — challenges in climbing.

Simone Moro, one of the world’s leading Alpinists, was among those to return unsuccessful from Nanga Parbat this winter. The Italian has now made two attempts to climb the peak in win-ter and the mountain is drawing him to make a third.

“I have felt strange feelings there, feelings that I have never felt before at the foot of a mountain,” he said.

“Nanga is not just a mountain, it is a whole world on its own to be dis-covered and explored — a planet apart from the Himalayas.”

Nanga Parbat earned its grisly nick-name after more than 30 climbers died trying to conquer it before the � rst suc-cessful summit in 1953.

The events of last June gave the name a new, more sinister overtone but Moro says the incident was a blip

and he wants to encourage others to come to Pakistan.

“I consider Nanga Parbat as the most safest place in Pakistan,” he said.

“What happened last year was just a tragic episode, accidents can happen anywhere in the world but that never means it will always repeat itself.”

David Goettler, a German member of the expedition led by Moro who has twice attempted K2 — Pakistan’s high-est peak and the world’s second-high-est — said he was astonished by the attack. “I could not believe it, I was like ‘how on earth did the terrorists come there?’” he said.

The regional government in Gil-git-Baltistan has slashed the fee for climbing in winter by 95 percent to $270. But Moro said it was very dif-� cult for mountaineers to get visas for Pakistan — a common gripe from tourists who face seemingly endless bureaucratic hurdles to visit even for a short time. l

South Korean ferry disaster: sinking of the Sewol

Guide ropes attached to ship’s hull

Strong currents, poor visibility, waterlogged debris making the search difficult

6,825 tonnes

Main dining hall

Assigned passengerberths

87

7

353

Capsize of the Sewol

Timeline of the sinkingApril 16

Recovery operation

First helicopterrescues started by 9:45

Ferry had tilted about 50 degrees by 9:17

Official distresscall madeat 8:55

Rescuescontinued after the ship turnedover on its side

Based on the transcript of communications between Sewol,Vessel Traffic Services (VTS), and nearby ships

Coastguardpicture showedthe upturnedship by 10:23

Coastguardphoto showedongoing helicopterrescues at 10:00

476 people were on board

8:52 am (local time) A student makes emergency callto coastguard

8:55Official distress call made

9:07Confirmation that the shipis sinking

9:10Ship listing. Sewol: “It has tilted so much andwe can hardly move.”

9:14Another ship confirms sighting and reports: “It has tilted to theleft completely and it’s dangerous to approach.”Sewol: “It’s impossible to escape”

ArrestedLee Joon-Seok,captain

OperatorChonghaejin Marine Co.

14 crew members

The ships regular captain -- who wasoff duty on the day of the accident --told prosecutors that the ferry operator“brushed aside” repeated warningsthat the ship had stability issues

Purchased the then-18 yearold ship from Japan in 2012Built extra passenger cabinson the 3rd, 4th and 5th decks

9:17Tilting about 50 degrees. “Peoplecan’t move left to right or vice versa.”

9:23Nearby ship: “We’re right in frontof Sewol. We will immediatelyrescue people if they evacuate.”Sewol reports the tannoy system isnot working

9:26Sewol is told patrol boats would bethere in 10 mins

9:29Helicopters confirmed overhead

9:32VTS puts out a call for all vesselsnearby saying that the Sewol“is sinking right now”

9:38Sewol reports that people areevacuating from the left side. Ship is tilting about 60 degrees

174 rescued

225 confirmed deadas of May 2

Recovery workers put a ringof netting around the site toprevent bodies being pulledinto open sea by powerfulcurrents

Source: S.Korea coast guard/S.Korea maritime ministry/S.Korea media

A landslide-a� ected child receives polio vaccination drops during aid distribution at the scene of the disaster in Argo district of Badakhshan on May 4 AFP

Nanga Parbat, Pakistan’s second-highest peak at 8,125 metres (26,660 feet), has never been climbed successfully in winter because of the treacherous weather conditions WIKI

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, May 5, 2014

ACROSS1 Exhibit (4)4 Circle of light (4)8 Animal’s foot (3)9 Poet’s Ireland (4)10 A� rm with con� dence (4)11 Sweeping blow (5)12 Nidus (4)14 Term of respect (3)15 Weep convulsively (3)17 Mineral spring (3)19 Male sheep (3)21 Fencing sword (4)23 Fruit of the oak (5)26 Fissure (4)27 Certain (4)28 Melody (3)29 Pay attention (4)

30 Lacerate (4)

DOWN1 Philatelic items (6)2 Frank (4)3 Goods for sale (5)4 Cut with blows (3)5 Zodiac sign (5)6 Pouring edge (3)7 Numeral (3)11 Thong (5)13 Sea nymph (5)16 Acrimonious (6)18 Worship (5)20 Worth (5)22 Irish republic (4)23 Tree (3)24 Billiard rod (3)25 Colour (3)

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

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a dif-ferent letter of the alphabet. For ex-ample, today 10 represents A so � ll in A every time the � gure 10 appears.

You them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in 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.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CALV

IN A

ND

HO

BBES

PEAN

UTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com

Send us your Op-Ed articles:opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.comJoin our Facebook community:

https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

Modi: Bangladeshi immigrants must pack upApril 28

someoneModi is only doing what his fanbase expects him to say and do. Steely rhetoric on illegal Bangladeshi migrants is sure to give a bounce to Modi/BJP polling stats in the Indian national election.

Nasrul Hamid SinghMr Modi is a good man. The only charity he is obliged to o� er is to the Indians. India is an energy and water-starved country committed to combat corruption.

Abduction: An unsolved mysteryApril 27

akshaThere is nothing mysterious about it. It’s called vengeful retaliation by the perpetrators for expo-sure of heinous and illegal activities.

Settler goes from ‘rags to riches’April 27

Akhtar ShahMight is right!

Modi casts vote in Indian pollsApril 30

PB Impunity made him a big shot, shame.

Shishir Chandra I also cast my vote in favour of Modi in the Va-

dodara constituency on April 30, and I am sure he will win by a record-breaking margin.

HC rules on use of Bangla everywhere

April 29

Arch Bishop Quite pathetic. Apart from the impracticality of it, the court simply doesn’t understand that the

world doesn’t do business in Bengali and this kind of chauvinism is going insulate us further

from the world.

Surviving school in this heatApril 29

Thè Kíñg Øf Hèàrt’s Our exams continue, even in this unbearable

heat. Is it really that di� cult to work out what our results will be like?

Tackle the causes of rent seeking

In response to concerns about the eyesore and nuisance caused by hundreds of shops being established illegally around the National Mausoleum at Savar, the upazila nirbahi o� cer has announced an eviction drive.

Local sources allege that most of the shops pay � xed monthly bribes to o� cials, including members of the police and mausoleum sta� , for the right to run these stalls.

We recognise that there is a balance between preserving the sanctity of the mon-ument and allowing businesses to provide amenities.

The cause for concern here is that so many shops have become well-established in an illegal manner, with the support and apparently at the behest of local o� cials.

Sources say that key shops are being run by the Bangladesh Hawkers’ League, the rul-ing party’s hawker wing, and that members of this organisation allocate sites and pay bribes to secure possession.

It is shameful that such practices are seen as not unusual and commonplace across the country.

As a society, it is up to everyone to end the culture of rent-seeking. There is a case for some civil servants to be paid better so there is less

incentive for corrupt activities to take root in the � rst place. More importantly, the police and political parties must completely disassociate themselves from rent-seeking practices to that citizens can conduct lawful business activities in a lawful manner, without facing any pressure to pay o� o� cials.

New private investment model for RMG

A New York-based investment fund formally launched operations in Bangla-desh on Sunday with a mandate to invest in apparel and textile factories.

The � rm, Tau Investment Management, has specially set up a fund for investors to invest directly into partnerships with factories, with the goal of improving supply chains. The fund invests in producers in emerging markets, with the aim of delivering better returns, by improving the � nancial, social and envi-ronmental performance of the factories in which they invest.

This is a potentially valuable approach to funding RMG improvements. If success-fully implemented, it can start a virtuous cycle and open the door to larger sources of funding from international institutional investors.

Bangladesh’s RMG industry needs sub-stantial long-term investment to modernise and build new factories. New sources of capital to fund improvements and help raise standards are to be encouraged.

The � rm has been attracting signi� cant private equity interest, by pointing out the value that can be added by improving productivity and making safety, social and environmental improvements. In its launch release, the � rm announced a num-ber of speci� c improvement goals for safety standards and targets for reducing greenhouse emissions and costs by improving energy e� ciency.

Reports indicate the � rm plans to raise $1bn worldwide and make a signi� -cant portion of its investments in Bangladesh over the next three years.

This type of interest by international investors is an encouraging indicator of long-term value in the RMG industry. We hope it can inspire others to do likewise.

New sources of capital to fund improvements are to be encouraged

It is up to everyone to end the culture of rent-seeking

And then a hero comes alongApril 27

ndsAn excellent article, the explanation given for our excessive fondness for hero worship which has almost reached to a level of insanity appears to be very convincing. I think this trait of her worship is directly proportional to the immature mental development. Having agreed to what has been stated in this article I would like to mention that though the hero ship is mostly thrust upon still for getting the title of a hero, a sort of minimum qualification is needed which to my mind General Zia lacked. In his case it is 100% thrust upon ex post facto. He is no match for Mujib. Any futile attempt to match him with Mujib might have the chance of getting identified by the people not as a hero but an anti hero. However, I do agree that we are really fed up with this foolish hero worship of two departed leaders and feel a crying need to set their departed soul free and let them have an eternal peace in the after world where they still find themselves highly encumbered with the foolish people they left behind long ago. Let peace be upon them as well as upon us.

Ronnie“The history and heritage season is largely over with the arrival of scorching Boishakh, but the debates regarding our historical leaders refuse to wilt in the summer heat. This preoccupation with Zia and Mujib at these eventful current times exasperates many of us.”

Going by the article’s introductory lines, the writer ostensibly bemoans the recent resurrection of the idolisation of Ziaur Rahman and Sheikh Mujib. But it soon becomes obvious that his express aim is to solely dissect and fault BNP’s motives in recently extolling Zia’s importance and stature in

Bangladesh’s history. There’s not even a careless, but necessary, reference to the longstanding, most prominent exemplar of the cult of dei� cation of a personality in Bangladesh, ie Sheikh Mujib. This is a staggering omission, and he knows it, too. I have to assume this oddity is actually wholly intentional. This greatly detracts from the writer’s honesty and sense of balance to his arguments. Since Tarique Rahman made his twin provocative statements surrounding his father’s legacy and Sheikh Mujib’s, opinion writers have been obsessing about this topic and endlessly hypothesising about BNP; this demands a brief response.

Ziaur Rahman is an accomplished war hero, among many others, of course. He stands out for the historically momentous honour of being the person to � rst declare the independence of Bang-ladesh. He later founded a democratic, nationalist, progressive political party. He was a modern, liberal, ambitious, optimistic, distinguished leader and president of the republic. For all that, he merits ample admiration in his own right. He had his share of faults and mistakes; few people deny that.

However, it’s a dishonest stretch for anybody to suggest Zia has ever really been dei� ed, or a cult of personality built around him by his ardent admirers or latter-day party activists. If anything, for far too long he’s been vili� ed and scandalously slandered in certain circles in this country. Instead of vainly begrudging BNP’s e� orts to resurrect the man’s name and legacy today, I’d argue this writer and others like him would do better to acknowledge the entirely justi� able attempt by BNP to restore Ziaur Rahman to his rightful place in history. It’s about time. This is clearly not a case of “ ... And then a hero comes along.” For at least half the people of Bangladesh, he’s been a hero all along.

11Op-Ed Monday, May 5, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Towheed Feroze

With abductions and brutal murders of several people in recent times, the latest one in

Narayanganj, the crime scene of the country takes a sinister turn. Of course, if one goes through the � les of past criminal episodes, the method of nabbing people in order to demand a ransom or to settle some score will be unearthed.

The only di� erence is that in the earlier incidents, killing was never the main motive. Here is the account of an abduction victim who was taken by student leaders in 1984:

Mr Hossain was the owner of one of the main shopping markets in the city back in the 80s, when there were very few malls. Obviously, he had always been a target. When Mr Hossain came out of the Katabon mosque after Isha prayers, a group of young men quickly surrounded and overpowered him.

Blindfolded, he was taken to one of the nearby residential halls. The demand was simple: Pay Tk50 lakh or … well, death was not uttered though that was the oblique threat.

While the police began searching for the missing market owner, the student leaders, with support from their political bosses, were ensconced in their nests.

In this regard, one is compelled to ask: Have things changed that much? If one has the right connections, the law leaves out certain areas from the purview of its search operations.

Later, Mr Hossain would recount that he had heard police whistles and sirens plus calls for an extensive search from inside his room, though

the law enforcers never found their way into that “speci� c” room.

Early morning, while the abduc-tors went to rest, leaving one person on guard, Mr Hossain got into action luring the lone guard with separate monetary bene� ts in exchange for freedom. At one point, greed got the better of the man, who, along with Mr Hossain, quickly conjured up a plan for the bird to � y away while one of the abductors dozed o� .

Eventually, the market owner was freed. As the night gave way to the � rst rays of morning, he hid in one of the large subterranean drains left on the road for placement, got hold of a rickshaw, and � nally ended up in the police station.

Interestingly, the culprits were never caught, though they were well known. Nature, in due course, took revenge as two of the three masterminds of this operation were later killed as a result of an internal row over the distribution of extortion money, while the third one, possibly stabbed by guilt, came and asked for Mr Hossain’s forgiveness.

Following this harrowing experi-ence, the market owner applied for and got a licensed weapon. Back then, the process was relatively easier. The paradox is, in the current situation, the chances of someone with security concerns to obtain a legitimate � rearm

are low. I once asked a relevant o� cial working at the DC o� ce about this, and after giving me a blank look, he replied: “If you are an ordinary person with no connections, then the process is long and convoluted. However, all hindrances disappear once there are some strings being pulled in the right places.”

With the grisly images of Narayan-ganj fresh in our minds, there is talk of forming an anti-abduction force. One

question remains: Why should it be formed now when kidnapping had always been a criminal activity?

Perhaps it was not on top of the list, but people had always been taken away, at irregular intervals, for ransom. Maybe the focus is not in the right place – before forming such units, CCTV placements are more important. Last Ramadan, a high pro� le killing was captured at a shopping mall in Gulshan, which later aided the law in identifying the killers.

Yes, it’s absurd to expect criminals to carry out their work in the presence of closed-circuit cameras, but once strategic cameras are placed, crime spots will automatically decrease. On top of that, these cameras can also be used to keep a vigil on law enforcers with a tendency to bend the rules for bribery.

This is not to say special units are

not required. However, before all else, options for crime on the road need to be restricted. Hypothetically speaking, if such a force is formed, then to whom will it report to? These units, formed to contain crime committed clandes-tinely, require absolute secrecy. From our experience, we should know that whenever the law planned a sudden crackdown on crime, news of it � ltered out by some method.

This means the warning to law breakers came via the media. Gang-sters read the news leisurely, make a thorough plan to stay out of sight for some days, and when the time comes, only the fools and the scapegoats are caught. Even if the government plans to form a special cell, its modus operandi and other operations need to be kept under wraps. Declaring that an anti-abduction unit is in the o� ng is like sending a prior signal.

Coming back to the issue of the ultimate authority of such a body, with limited knowledge, I believe that if there is genuine desire for dealing with abductions e� ciently then it has to be taken away from the general chain of command and placed directly under a top-ranking government functionary who has never had allegations of cor-ruption raised against him/her.

Let’s be forthright: No matter what we try to do, unless the leadership is strict, uncompromising, and outside the vicious circle of political in� uence, the scourge of abduction can’t be tackled. This freedom from political interference is essential since it’s safe to assume that in recent abductions and murders, political machinations were in play. l

Towheed Feroze is a journalist currently working in the development sector.

n Uday Sankar Das

Only two more phases of polling remain in the 16th Lok Sabha elections of India where the fate

of candidates in 105 seats would be decided, but the ruling Congress Party is now concentrating more on stitching up an alliance with smaller and region-al parties in an e� ort to prevent a BJP-led alliance from coming to power at the Centre rather than thinking about doing well in these last two phases.

The Congress Party now believes that, despite the “Modi wave” sweep-ing the country, if the BJP-led alliance fails to bag 272 seats or more, and their share of seats is con� ned to around 230 at the most, then there is a glim-mer of hope. A section of the Congress Party has already started courting the smaller and regional parties in an e� ort to stitch up a third option, by even leaving the prime minister’s post to one of these parties. It has already been reported that the Samajwadi Par-ty and the Left Front have “indicated they’re open to such alliance.”

Before delving into the possibili-ties of such a third option seeing the light of day, one must be reminded that Congress giving outside support has an unpalatable history, � rst in 1979 (Charan Singh) and later in 1990 (Chandrasekhar).

After splitting from Congress, Morarji Desai became prime minister as leader of the Janata Party in 1977, but within two years, this government fell. The Jat leader Charan Singh, despite being short of the majority, staked claim and approached Mrs Indira Gandhi for support.

In 1990, the VP Singh government fell on Mandal Commission and Chandrasekhar became the prime minister with less than 70 seats but was supported by Congress. After 6 months the Congress Party alleged that the government was spying on Rajiv Gandhi and they very quickly withdrew support.

Be that as it may, the scenario is di� erent now. Some leaders of Con-gress have even said that if they can get between 120 and 140 seats, they would make a concerted e� ort to form a coalition government as they did in 2004, but may leave the post of prime minister for a leader in the coalition.

Let us take a close look at how the parties in this likely coalition are ex-pected to fare in the election, although Indian elections are too di� cult to predict. According to election analysts, they will score well in Assam, Karna-taka, and Maharashtra, and also bag

a few seats in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal.

Among the regional parties, Jayala-litha’s AIADMK in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where she is the chief minister now and riding on a populari-ty high, is expected to sweep the state and capture at least 30 seats.

The situation in Uttar Pradesh is totally di� erent. Of the 80 seats in this state, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Sama-jwadi Party and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samajwadi Party together could come out with between 35 and 40 seats. Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD is expected to fare better this time in Bihar and could come up with 7 to 10 seats.

Let us not forget Biju Patnaik in Odisha and Nitish Kumar in Bihar who, between them, could have, even on a conservative estimate, between 30 and 40 members in the Lok Sabha. If the left parties and the new entrant in India’s political arena, Aam Aadmi Party, can muster 40 seats together, it may be possible to keep the BJP-led NDA alliance out of power.

Another important factor in the Indi-an Lok Sabha election which could go in favour of such a third option is the vote of the Muslims. They account for about 20% of the votes and would not vote for the BJP. Moreover, 35 seats in the Lok Sabha have more than 30% Muslim votes and that is quite signi� cant.

But, the problem that would arise in stitching such a third option, even if Congress does not want to stake a claim to the prime minister’s post, is that there are too many aspirants for this post. That could be the biggest stumbling block as no leader would like to be left out for the top position in the government. Even if the num-bers add up, they may not be success-ful in keeping away the BJP-led NDA alliance to form the next government. Congress has to work tooth and nail to bring these diverse parties together under the same umbrella.

But the Congress Party, being in such dire straits, could, even at this late stage, take an initiative, and the third option is still viable, say election experts in India.

They say the big calculation now for the Congress Party is to keep the BJP-led alliance out of calculation, but the nation would have to wait till May 16, and if BJP and its allies cannot make the cut, the horse-trading and, with it, the fun begins. l

Uday Sankar Das is a senior journalist who worked for BBC World Service Radio in London and is presently based in Chittagong.

n Donald B Holsinger

Like most of my colleagues in the development � eld, I have defended public schooling on

the grounds that education indirectly helps people who wouldn’t pay vol-untarily for the bene� ts they receive from it, and thus education would be undersupplied if left exclusively to pri-vate funding. I made that argument in Brazil, in Ukraine, in China, and again in Vietnam where I had the privilege of working with my friend and talented colleague, Dr Alam Chowdury.

In making the public good ar-gument for education, I acted in con� dence because I had no doubt that expanding access to schooling and increasing (the somewhat vague notion of) school quality would lead to human capital formation. I did not question that formulation. Excellence in schooling meant several things, but most important among them was that the population served would have more knowledge and more skills – in other words more human capital. Edu-cation makes labour more productive, I taught, and a more productive labour force leads to economic growth.

We made a related argument that if countries were to rely on private education only, poor people would not obtain enough of it. Although they would have an incentive to obtain education (for themselves or their

children), the private incentive alone would not ensure that there would be su� cient education to satisfy society’s needs.

These arguments lead inevitably to the claim that the government must help to provide education, and indeed, the government of Bangladesh is heav-ily engaged in supplying this “public good.” When (as in past centuries) ideal amounts of education couldn’t be provided privately, many people and many multilateral development institutions argued that tax-� nanced provision should be forthcoming from the government.

But now this fundamental princi-ple, the case for education as a public good, is under credible attack from economists, public policy experts, and educators. The reason isn’t simply that education is to a considerable extent also a private good. Purchasers of education bene� t directly from what they pay for. Rather, the challenge is based on something quite fundamen-tal and new.

A former World Bank colleague of mine succinctly puts the challenge in the title of his new book, The Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain’t Learning. When I � rst met him, Dr Lant Pritchett was a young research assistant. But he is now a celebrated Harvard professor. More than anyone else in the world today, Professor Pritchett has boldly and correctly helped us see what has

gone wrong with schooling, how the problem came to plague education systems right around the globe, and what we need to do to � x it.

What is the challenge? A public good is not simply something that is “good for the public.” It is some-thing that bene� ts many people, including those who do not pay for it. Learning to read and write helps the individual, and in that sense it is a private good. But it is also a public good because it makes people better citizens, acquaintances, and workers, thus contributing to the lives of others, even though these others do not pay for those bene� ts.

But if education does not produce those bene� ts, if students do not learn how to read and write and do maths, then there are few bene� ts from school-ing, and the public good argument disappears. Pritchett contends that schooling does not lead to learning, and therefore it is a bad public good.

I am aware that the number of schools in relation to the number school-aged children in Bangladesh has dramatically increased. Gov-ernment and civil society are to be applauded for the remarkable accom-plishment. Schooling in Bangladesh has expanded so rapidly that the average Bangladeshi had more years of schooling in 2010 than the average Frenchman or Italian had in 1960.

Sadly, increases in the average

level of knowledge and skills in the student-age population have not kept pace with expansion of access. One of the important and frustrating points is that it’s taken a long time for the problem of very low levels of learning to surface.

There are all kinds of statistics we keep track of – how many kids enter school, of what gender, what age, of what grade progression, how many � nish or complete the cycle, etc. But when it comes to the numbers of what we want to get out of schooling – such as increases in knowledge and skills – that is very hard to come by. There are no internationally reliable and comparable statistics on what kids know.

Let me begin the necessary conver-sation about learning in Bangladesh by referring to some evidence on the matter from Bangladeshi sources. Drawing on a large sample of children aged between 10 to 18 years in rural

Bangladesh, Asadullah and Chaudhury discovered a sobering fact about math-ematics assessment. Basically they dis-covered that children don’t continue to progress very much in their learning competence as they grow older. Here is how they did the study; they asked

two questions to the children: Suppose you save Tk20 each month. How much will you have saved after six months? And suppose you have Tk250 in total and a chicken costs Tk60. How many chickens can you buy? How much money will be left after the purchase?

What this � gure shows is the probability of achieving competence meaning that all children in the age group will eventually answer both questions correctly. The results are striking. A child who has completed grade � ve is only 11.6 % more likely to give the correct answers than a child with no schooling at all. Put another way, the average gain in “competence” between grade one and grade eight is

just 4% per year. As distressing as this learning

pro� le is, it mostly likely overstates the actual learning from year to year as, especially after grade � ve, more and more children drop out. If children with greater competency are less likely to drop out, as seems plausible, the increase in competence of those who complete grade eight could be due to the fact that those with lower compe-tence dropped out somewhere along the school path.

These results from Bangladesh add to a growing body of evidence about � at learning pro� les. Results from India, Pakistan, and East Africa show slow progress by grade on a simple lit-eracy and mathematics test. Unfortu-nately, Bangladesh must now be added to the list of countries with evidence from learning pro� les indicating a serious learning crisis. And a learning crisis weakens the case for education as a public good. l

Donald B Holsinger is Professor Emeritus of International Development Studies at Brigham Young University and a former Senior Sta� of The World Bank. This article is taken from his keynote paper “Innovations and Excellence in basic Education: Evidence from International Experience” to be presented at the Annual Conference of SHARE Education Program Bangladesh on May 6, 2014 at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, Dhaka.

A public good is not simply something that is ‘good for the public.’ It is something that bene� ts many people, including those who do not pay for it

The song remains the same

A third option?

Is education still a public good in Bangladesh?

Unless the leadership is strict, uncompromising, and outside the vicious circle of political in� uence, the scourge of abduction can’t be tackled

Some leaders of Congress have said they would make an e� ort to form a coalition government

If the left parties and the AAP can muster 40 seats together, it may be possible to keep the BJP out of power

S E R P E N T I N E D E N

Anwesha lends voice to Chirkutt’s composition

n Entertainment Desk

Bollywood playback singer Anwesha Datta Gupta has lent her melodious voice in a playback composed by Bangladeshi fusion band Chirkutt. The song has been recorded for a � lm named Padmo Patar Jol directed by Tonmoy Tansen. It is a classical mujra which will be showcased in a dance number of a baiji, a female artiste specially appointed to dance and sing for the amuse-ments of the royalty.

Pinto Ghosh, violinist and vocalist of Chirkutt said that Anwesha recorded her voice in a studio in Kolkata and the band is working on the composition here in Dhaka. The song is titled Teer Chhuro Na.

Anwesha made her entry in India’s music industry at the age of 13 through the reality show Amul Star Voice of India and Chhote Ustaad. The Kolkata born Indian singer made her niche in Bollywood through her bril-liant performance as a playback singer in the � lms Gol-maal Returns, Raanjhanaa, Kaanchi: The Unbreakable and Revolver Rani. l

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, May 5, 201412

ExhibitionGermany – A Sporting Nation Time: 11am – 6pmGoethe Institut BangladeshRoad 9(new), House 10Dhanmondi

‘Water Rhymes-2’Time: 11am – 8pmGalleri Kaya, House 20Road 16, Sector 04, Uttara

Bonded Stitches & StruggleTime: 3pm – 8pmDrik GalleryHouse 58, Road 15A (New)Dhanmondi

‘Nature ‘n Craft’Time: 12pm – 8pm Zainul Gallery-1, CharukalaDhaka UniversityShahbag

Film Captain America: The Winter Soldier (3D & 2D) Jonakir AloThe Legend of Hercules 3DAvatar in 3DFrozen in 3DEnder’s GameTime: 10am – 10pmStar Cineplex, Level 8Bashundhara City

TODAY IN DHAKA

Anima’s new album hits the marketn Entertainment Desk

Tagore singer Anima Roy’s solo album titled Robir Alo was launched yesterday under the banner of Impress Audio Vi-sion. The album is her � fth solo e� ort in her short but ac-claimed career.

A total of ten songs from the Nature, Devotion and Love sections of Tagore’s Geetabitan are placed in the album. Prattush Bandyopadhyay of Kolkata has done the musical arrangement and the recording was done at the Vibration Studio in Kolkata.

The album contains some timeless tracks including Tumi Je Amare Chao, Kadale Tumi Morey, Bhenge Mor Ghor-er Chabi, Amar Mukti Aloy Aloy, Emon Dine Jare Bola Jai and Mor Beena Uthe Kon Shure Baji.

Anima said: “I came up with the album keeping in mind the younger generation’s taste. This is why the music ar-rangement is a blend of eastern and western instruments.” l

Is Mahiya Mahi the next 'Big Brother' of

the industry? n Afrose Jahan Chaity

After her colossal success as an action girl in Agnee, Dhally-

wood’s new sensation Ma-hiya Mahi is once again

up for another action � ick with a brand new look. Mahi has signed for the title role of Big Brother directed by Sha� Uddin Sha� and the shoot of the production has begun

recently in Dhaka.While the male actors’

regular action stunts have been loosing appeal to the

audience, Mahiya Mahi with her versatile potentials

as a female actor is paving the path for female stars to experiment with their images and surprise the viewers.

Mahi will be seen as a underworld don in the � lm. About her new venture, she said: “As the name indicates a masculine role, the look

will also re� ect the same essence. I have done a lot of physical work to don the character and I believe my e� ort will receive positive re-sponse as always.”

Director Sha� Uddin Sha� said: “I chose Mahi for the char-acter due to her agile ability to adapt in di� erent roles. Here, she grows up like a boy, talks like a man and is careful about her fe-male instincts.”

Mahi further described her role: “The character � ghts against crime, injustice and risks her life to help the poor.

“The action movie will feature challenging stunts in fantastic locations. I hope the audience will really love the action-packed � ick which has much surprises in store for them,” she said.

Mahi has created much hype amongst � lm lovers as a new-comer. According to Mahi and her fans, Dhallywood got anew action heroine in terms of box o� ce hit after the release of Agnee. l

Drama series Bhalobashar Chotushkon will be aired on NTV every Monday and Tuesday at 9:45pm. Directed by Shihab Shaheen, the drama series features popular soap actor Apurbo, Zakia Bari Momo, Shahriar, Moutushi, Saju Khadem, Tania Hossain and many others. The drama portrays three separate stories that meet at one point

Google celebrates Audrey Hepburn's

birthdayn Entertainment desk

The latest Google Doodle commemorative logo has paid tribute to screen icon Audrey Hepburn on her 85th birthday, yesterday. A picture of the noted British ac-tress with a pink background features in the middle of the Google logo.

The Breakfast at Ti� any's star, and fashion icon be-came a big screen legend during Hollywood's so-called “Golden Age.” She was born on May 4, 1929 in Brussels to a British father and Dutch aristocrat mother, before moving to London in 1948 to continue training as a bal-let dancer.

Widely considered to be the world's most beautiful women ever, Hepburn rose to � lm stardom after ap-pearing in several British movies. She won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for her lead role in Roman Holiday and starred in other classics, including Break-fast at Ti� any's and My Fair Lady.

Audrey also won a record three BAFTA awards for best British actress in a leading role. She appeared in

fewer acting roles in later life, devoting

much of her time to working with UNICEF on helpful causes

in the devel-oping world.

She died in Switzer-land aged 63 in 1993 after battling with cancer. l

Kareena Kapoor all set for Singham sequal

n Entertainment Desk

Shooting for Rohit Shetty’s Sing-ham 2, the sequel to the hit 2011 action � lm of the same name, is all set to begin from May 15 in North Goa.

However, most of the shoot will be indoors and beaches do not � gure on the list of locations. Sing-ham 2, starring Ajay Devgn and Kareena Kapoor in lead roles, will see actor-� lmmaker Amol Gupte as the main antagonist.

The sequel narrates the story of a honest police o� cer played by Devgn, who is currently working on his physique.

“Directed by Rohit Shetty, the upcoming movie has 15 days shooting schedule in Goa, with most of the shoot scheduled to take place indoors. It will be shot in North Goa,” a source close to the production said. The “100 crore club” director has already booked a few streets in places like Siolim village for the shoot. l

Royals slam Nicole Kidman’s Grace of Monaco n Entertainment Desk

Monaco’s royals have accused those behind the � lm Grace of Monaco, starring Nicole Kidman as their mother Grace, of hijacking their family history just days before the � lm premieres at the Cannes Film Festival.

In a statement, Prince Albert II and Princesses Caroline and Steph-anie said the � lm did not accurate-ly portray events involving their mother, the Hollywood actress who married Monaco’s Prince Rainier III in 1956.

Grace of Monaco, directed by France’s Olivier Dahan, will o� cial-ly open the 67th Cannes Festival on May 14, when it will be simultane-ously released in France and several cities around the world.

But even before its release, the � lm has been mired in controver-sy, with Dahan locked in a stando� with the � lm’s US producer Harvey Weinstein and the Monaco royals slamming it as pure fantasy.

“The Prince’s palace would like to reiterate that this feature � lm cannot under any circumstances be

classi� ed as a biopic,” the Monaco royals said on Friday.

“The trailer appears to be a farce and con� rms the totally � ction-

al nature of this � lm. It reinforces the certainty, left after reading the

script, that this production, a page of the Principality’s history, is based on erroneous and dubious histori-cal references.

“The Princely family does not in any way wish to be associated with this � lm which re� ects no re-ality and regrets that Its history has been misappropriated for purely commercial purposes.” The Mona-co royals occasionally attend the opening of the Cannes Film Festi-val, but it is unlikely that they will do so this year.

The � lm also stars British actor Tim Roth as Prince Rainier, and focuses on a six-month period in 1962 when Alfred Hitchcock o� ered Grace of Monaco a chance to re-turn to acting — an opportunity she eventually turned down.

The Cannes Festival defended the � lm on Friday, saying it would add positively to the “Monaco leg-end.”

“The � lm is not a biopic in the strictest sense, from life to death,” Thierry Fremaux, the festival’s ar-tistic director, said.

“It’s the expression of the right of every artist to poetic license.” l

13DHAKA TRIBUNEMonday, May 5, 2014

Sport 1514 Juve secure Serie A title as Roma draw

Napoli win Italian Cup on violent Rome night

15 Quali� er Klizan wins shock Munich title

Did you know?Edin Dzeko’s second

goal of the game against Everton on Saturday was

Manchester City’s 150th in all competitions

this season

Bangladesh National Press Club and Tripura Sports Journalists Association players along with chief guests pose for a photograph after their friendly match at the Mirpur Sahara-BCB National Academy ground yesterday COURTESY

Mohammedan forward Md Wahed (no 9)� ghts for the ball in the Abahani defence at BNS yesterday MUMIT M

Spinners rule day two in BCL

Islami Bank East Zone’s left arm spinner Enamul Haque Jr bagged � ve wickets against Prime Bank South Zone as South Zone posted 376/10 in their � rst innings after East Zone were bundled out for just 135 in their � rst innings.

However, East Zone replied strong-ly in their second innings scoring 138/1 at stumps on day two in the third and � nal round of the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) yesterday.

In the other game, BCB North Zone piled up a huge 457/10 in their � rst in-nings and Walton Central Zone were 116/3 in reply at the end of day two.

Islami Bank East Zone v Prime Bank South ZoneAt BKSP’s ground no. 4, Prime Bank South Zone started the second day on 108/1 with their two overnight batsmen Anamul Haque (59) and Soumya Sarkar (6). But Anamul was dismissed without adding a run to his overnight score

when the right-hander was caught behind o� left arm spinner Enamul Haque Jr.

However, his partner Soumya along with wicket-keeper batsman Mithun Ali scored important half centuries before Soumya was eventually dismissed after scoring 71 while Mithun departed after smashing eight fours and three sixes for his 77 runs.

South Zone lost a couple of quick wickets after that before Sohag Gazi chipped in with a rapid 64 o� 55 balls with � ve fours and four sixes. Gazi was � nally dismissed by Enamul Haque Jr who thus claimed his � fth wicket for East Zone conceding 126 runs from 26.3 overs. Mosaddek Hossain was the other successful bowler who took three wickets as South Zone posted 376/10 in their � rst innings.

East Zone could shake o� their poor batting display in the � rst innings as they replied strongly in their second innings. They were 138/1 at the end of day’s play with opener Shadman Islam unbeaten on 56, who received due

support from Liton Das, unbeaten on 47 after the other opener Nazimuddin was out for 27 runs.

Walton Central Zone v BCB North ZoneBCB North Zone started the second day on their overnight score of 287/4 and managed to add another 170 runs to that as overnight batsman Tanvir Haider smashed six boundaries for his valuable 66.

Tanvir found support from all-rounder Farhad Reza who fell one short of a deserving half-century before North Zone’s � rst innings � nally came to an end at 457/10 at the BKSP-3 ground. Left arm spinner Elias Sunny picked up four wickets while o� spinner Mahmudullah claimed three wickets for Central Zone.

In reply, Central Zone � nished the second day on 116/3 as North Zone’s left arm spinner Taijul Islam removed two Central Zone top order batsmen.

Shamsur Rahman remained could o� er some resistance as he remained unbeaten on 35 at the end of second day’s play as North Zone still trail by 341 runs. l

BCB to look for local coach?

Following a week of drama surrounding the resignation of national cricket team head coach Shane Jurgensen, the Ban-gladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is likely to reach a conclusion today regarding the burning issue. BCB president Nazmul Hasan will � rst sit with the Australian coach in person before heading to the board meeting during the afternoon when a discussion on the television rights is also expected to take place.

Jurgensen’s decision to quit after the conclusion of the three-match ODI series against India next month – pro-vided the board allows him to stay– has forced the BCB, especially the cricket operations committee, to mull options over the replacement of the outgoing

coach. The BCB has reiterated its desire to recruit ‘a renowned foreign coach’ as their � rst option but for now, it was learned from sources and also from a director that the board is likely to as-sign an interim ‘local’ coach.

Bangladesh cricket was rocked after Jurgensen submitted his resignation to the BCB cricket operations committee last week. Though the decision was termed an ‘emotional’ one by a few di-rectors of the BCB, Jurgensen ruled out possibilities of changing his mind upon his arrival in Dhaka on Thursday.

Jurgensen’s resignation has put the BCB in a tricky situation with less than a year remaining to the 2015 ICC World Cup down under. With very little time left, it will be a challenge for cricket’s governing body to hire a foreign coach

permanently so the BCB is likely to go for a local coach in all likelihood.

In� uential director and former na-tional assistant coach Khaled Mahmud has already expressed his interest in taking charge while the country’s � rst Test coach Sarwar Imran and former national cricketer Aminul Islam are also possible options.

As far as the television rights are concerned, a � ve-member committee tasked with the responsibility of dealing with the tender process of the world-wide media broadcasting rights, will apprise the board regarding the tender documents, contracts and procedures.

The BCB � oated the internation-al tender for new worldwide media broadcasting rights on April 24 for the next six years, till May 2020. l

Wahed powered MSC narrow gap with Abahani

Wahed Ahmed main-tained his goal scoring rhythm in the Bangla-desh Premier League as his only strike enabled Mohammedan SC return to winnings ways with a 1-0 win over archrivals

Abahani at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

A brilliant chip saw Wahed score the important goal in the Dhaka derby just at the stroke of half-time.

The youngster was handed a place in the playing XI two macth back after a series of eye catching performances, especially the late winning goal against Uttar Baridhara. He now scored in three consecutive games.

Wahed’s goal also gave the Black and Whites their second successive victory over Abahani – the last coming in the Independence Cup semi� nal.

The defeat put Abahani, the four-

time professional league champions, six points behind table toppers Sheikh Jamal and e� ectively dented their hopes of retaining the title after two years. Mohammedan cashed in from the win as they now trail the Sky Blues by just two points (23 points from 13 matches).

It was, however, Abahani who dom-inated for most of the game but their failure to penetrate the opponent de-fence eventually cost them.

The Sky Blues squandered a glorious opportunity to go ahead inside 10 minutes after Ghanaian striker Osei Morrsion skipped past a defender before feeding unmarked Leonildo Suares with a low cross only to see the Portugese forward head over the crosspiece from inside six-yard box on an empty net.

Five minutes later, Jamal Hossain tried his luck from 25 yards out with a powerful strike, but Titu made a decent save to deny the mid� elder’s e� ort.

Wahed broke the deadlock against the run of play in the 42nd minute. Por-tuguese forward Hardy Pinto was the architect behind the goal as he picked Wahed with a lovely lob at the edge of the box before the national striker chipped his shot over onrushing goal-keeper Shahidul Alam Sohel to � nd the back of the net.

The Mohammedan back line, led by their Cameroonian defender Bay-beck Fombagne and Nigerian Ubom Henry Felix, remained rock solid to hold the upper hand for the remainder of the game.

Abahani’s only notable chance in the second-half came in the 65th min-ute with Suares launching a goal bound free-kick from 25 yards out which was saved brilliantly by Titu with a dive to his right. l

Babu rejoices while Pourmoslemi laments

Mohammedan forward Md Wahed hailed the team spirit behind the suc-cess against their arch-rival Abahani after the end of the match at the Bang-abandhu National Stadium yesterday. On the other hand, Abahani coach Ali Akbar Pourmoslemi pointed out his team’s lack of a clinical � nisher who can be lethal inside the opposition’s D-box.

Wahed, whose Facebook account is named Super Star Wahed and has more than � fty thousand likes, can now ex-pect it to become more popular as he has scored in three consecutive match-es against Uttar Baridhara, Team BJMC and Dhaka Abahani. However, he rat-ed yesterday’s strike among the top in

his career. “I remember two years ago I scored for Mohammedan in the 2-0 win against Abahani. But this time my strike has turned out to be the winner. So I am happy and I rate it among the top,” said Wahed.

Wahed said Mohammedan was de-termined to win the match. “We start-ed with 3-2-4-1 and in an attacking mode but we changed it after scoring the goal. Personally I did not forget that the team conceded a defeat against BJMC because of me as I wasted an easy chance. All the players were cau-tious about not making any mistake and it paid o� ,” said the young forward.

Mohammedan manager Amirul Is-lam Babu said all the team members were frustrated with the shock defeat against BJMC. “We now feel free. The

loss against BJMC was not justi� ed. We conceded two goals in � ve minutes af-ter leading 2-0. I told my players that we have to show our character against Abahani and we took the � eld to win. I am very happy to see that the team re-turn to winning ways wiping the frus-trations out. We will face Sheikh Jamal in our next match and today’s win is an ideal morale booster before that,” said Babu.

His counterpart Pourmoslemi said he did not have the ideal resources to � eld the appropriate eleven for the crunch tie. “Waly Faisal and Samad Youssef were injured. I had to reform my defense but I have to say that my defense was not bothered that much as Mohammedan played defensive. Then I found I lack an ideal � nisher who can

score the goals and stamp authority in front of the opposition goal. I don’t know how to deal with the problem,” bemoaned the Iranian.

“We wasted three chances in the � rst 15 minutes and conceded the goal due to a mistake of the defense. We could not get out of the failure zone in the rest of the match. Now we are six points behind Jamal and I think it is very hard to reduce the de� cit,” said Pourmoslemi.

Abahani defender Mishu said Osie Morrison’s o� form has disturbed the team. “Morrsion has lost the rhythm although he was supposed to be our mainstay and we don’t have many oth-er options in the striking zone. We have scored very few goals in the league and its our main problem,” opined Mishu. l

Bangladesh Press Club beat Tripura SJC

Reazur Rahman Rohan’s brilliant 90-run knock inspired Bangladesh Na-tional Press Club cricket team to a convincing 132-run win over the visit-ing Tripura Sports Journalist Club in a friendly match between the two sides at the Mirpur Sahara-BCB National Academy ground yesterday.

After winning the toss, Tripura in-vited Bangladesh Press Club to take � rst strike but the decision back � red for the visitors as the home side posted a huge 220/6 in 20 overs.

After losing two quick wickets in the opening over, Press Club returned to the game with opening batsman Rohan and Ariful Islam Roney (17) re-pairing the innings with a � fty-plus partnership.

Man of the match Rohan was unlucky to miss out a century as the right-hander was cleaned up after blasting 90 o� just 53 deliveries. His enterprising innings featured

11 boundaries and four sixes while Khairuzzaman Rana also scored an quick-� re 42 to help the home side post the mammoth total.

Chasing 221 for a win, the visiting side never looked comfortable and kept losing wickets at regular intervals and Tripura were eventually bundled out for just 88 runs in 18 overs.

Mazhar Uddin scalped three wickets for Bangladesh Press Club while Ariful and left-arm spinner Mohammad Isam provided valuable support bagging two wickets each for the home side.

The Bangladesh Press Club crick-et team earlier toured Agartala, India in 2012 for a friendly match. Tripura Sports Journalist Club made their re-turn visit to Bangladesh through yes-terday’s exhibition match.

Bangladesh Cricket Board o� cials and former national cricket players were present at the ground while se-nior dignitaries of Bangladesh Press Club were also present. Walton spon-sored the exhibition match. l

At BKSP – 3, Savar

BCB North v Walton CentralNorth 457 all out in 149.2 overs (Forhad Hossain 109, Tanveer Haider 66, Junaid Siddique 65, Hamidul Islam 60, Elias Sunny 4/111, Mahmudullah 3/127) Central 116/3 in 30.5 overs(Shamsur Rahman 35 not out, Taijul Islam 2/25)At BKSP – 4, Savar

Islami Bank East v Prime Bank SouthEast 135 all out in 69.4 overs(Alok Kapali 56, Abdur Razzak 4/34, Sohag Gazi 3/41) & 138/1 in 40 overs (Shadman Islam 56 not out, Liton Das 47 not out) South 376 all out in 90.3 overs(Mithun Ali 77, Soumya Sarker 71, Sohag Gazi 64, Anamul Haque 59, Enamul Haque Jr 5/126, Mosaddek Hossain 3/65)

BRIEF SCORES, DAY 2

HIGHLIGHTSMohammedan 1-0 AbahaniWahed 42

10” Leonildo Suares misses a sitter heading in a low cross of Osei

Morrison over the bar from six-yard box.

15” Jamal Hossain’s powerful strike from 25 yards is saved by Mo-

hammedan keeper Titumir Titu.

42” GOAL! Wahed Ahmed puts Mohammedan ahead chipping

the ball over Sohel following a lobbed pass from Pinto.

65” Titu made a diving save to deny Suares’ free-kick from

25 yards out.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Champions Celtic 30 points clearCeltic look on course for the biggest ever winning margin in the top � ight of Scottish football following a thrilling 5-2 win over Aberdeen that moves

them a massive 30 points clear of the Dons in second place. Scott Brown and Kris Commons both scored a double as the Hoops gained revenge on Aberdeen, who in� icted their only league defeat of the season back in March. Despite the defeat Aberdeen have booked their place in the Europa League quali� ers although Motherwell moved to within a point of the Dons with a 2-1 win over St Johnstone. –AFP

Thunder, Clippers book 2nd round tieThe Oklahoma City Thunder overpowered the Memphis Grizzlies 120-109 on Saturday to line up a clash with the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round

of the NBA playo� s. Russell Westbrook notched his second triple-double of the series with 27 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds, and Kevin Durant scored a game-high 33 points for the Thunder – who won the best-of-seven Western Con-ference � rst-round series four games to three. Durant, expected to be named the NBA Most Valuable Player next week, was a perfect � ve-for-� ve from three point range and pulled down eight rebounds in the victory. –AFP

Rossi happy to return to frayItaly and Fiorentina striker Giuseppe Rossi boosted his World Cup selection hopes after returning to action in the Italian Cup � nal on Saturday. Rossi,

who previously missed two years of his career due to injury, ended a four-month injury lay-o� when he came on for the � nal 20 minutes of Fiorentina’s 3-1 Cup defeat to Napoli at Rome’s Olympic Stadium. He will now battle to regain full � tness in the � nal Serie A games of the season in the hope of making Cesare Prandelli’s 23-man squad for the World Cup in June. “I feel good, very happy to have returned but obviously disappointed with the result,” Rossi told AFP. –AFP

Napoli players and team members pose with the Italian Cup after winning the � nal against Fiorentina at the Olympic stadium in Rome on Saturday REUTERS

Guingamp lift French Cup

Guingamp lifted the French Cup for the second time on Saturday when they beat French football’s great un-der-achievers Rennes 2-0 in an all-Brit-tany � nal at the Stade de France.

Nicknamed ‘The Farmers’, Guin-gamp dominated from the outset to the delight of their fans, hundreds of whom had travelled the 480km to Paris in a convoy of tractors.

“We had the perfect match,” said Guingamp coach Jocelyn Gourvennec, whose side also quali� ed for the Euro-pa League as a result.

Jonathan Martins Pereira got the opener after 37 minutes when he

latched onto a Christophe Mandanne header to catapult into the net.

And Mali international striker Mu-stapha Yatabare claimed the second just after the break when he slipped through the Rennes defence to shock goalkeeper Benoit Costil with a close range header for his eighth goal in the competition.

Costil held � rm however after 53 min-utes with a nice save which deprived Ya-tabare of a second goal of the night.

It was the third victory this season for Guingamp over their fellow Bretons whom they beat twice in the league, and another woeful end for Rennes who also lost the 2009 French Cup � nal against the same side, who were then

in the second tier.Rennes were also beaten by Saint-Eti-

enne in last season’s League Cup � nal, leaving them still without a major title since beating Lyon to lift the Cup back in 1971. It is a dire record for Rennes which hails from the capital of Brittany with a population of 207,000 and owned by billionaire Francois Pinault.

It is a dire record for Rennes which hails from the capital of Brittany with a population of 207,000 and owned by billionaire Francois Pinault.

Guingamp – the club where Didier Drogba shot to prominence – have a population of little more than 7,000. It was their third Cup � nal after losing the 1997 title match to Nice. l

Lewandowski signs o� at Dortmund

Robert Lewandowski played his last home match for Borussia Dortmund on Saturday -- then said he wants to sign o� by beating future employers Bayern Munich in the German Cup � nal.

Lewandowski failed to hit the net in Borussia’s 3-2 win over Ho� enheim on Saturday with Dortmund set to � nish their league campaign second to cham-pions Bayern in the Bundesliga.

the Polish hot-shot now has two games left in the Dortmund shirt -- at Hertha Berlin next Saturday in the league, then the Berlin cup � nal against Bayern on May 17. l

Deposed Liverpool out to keep pace at Palace

Having seen Manchester City seize the initiative in the Premier League title race, Liverpool have no

option but to win when they visit Crys-tal Palace on Monday.

Liverpool’s title challenge was com-promised by their 2-0 loss at home to Chelsea last weekend and they were knocked o� the summit on Saturday when City won 3-2 at Everton.

City’s success at Goodison Park means that they will be practically as-sured of claiming the title if they win their last two games, both of which are

at home, against Aston Villa and West Ham United.

They currently lead Liverpool on goal di� erence alone, however, and although they have a nine-goal ad-vantage in that regard, it is a slender enough margin of superiority to give Brendan Rodgers’s side hope.

Liverpool will once again be without their England mid� elder Jordan Hen-derson, who completes a three-game ban for his dismissal in last month’s 3-2 win over Manchester City.

The visitors are otherwise expected to be at full strength, while Palace’s only in-jury doubt concerns South African cen-tral mid� elder Kagisho Dikgacoi.l

Fan trouble could see players leave Italy: Montella

The problems caused by Italian foot-ball fans could drive players out of the country, Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella said on Saturday after three fans were shot near Rome’s Olympic Stadium, forcing the Italian Cup � nal to kick o� 45 minutes late.

Napoli beat Fiorentina 3-1 to win their � fth Italian Cup thanks to a � rst-half brace from Lorenzo Insigne and a late strike from Dries Mertens but the match looked in danger of being cancelled as news of the shooting � ltered through.

“It’s not the � rst time this has hap-pened to me, I experienced it a Roma,” said Montella, who was playing for Roma in 2004 when a derby match with Lazio was called o� after both sets of

fans demanded it be suspended follow-ing rumours that a boy had been killed by a police car just outside the stadium.

The rumour turned out to be false.“Unfortunately Italian football is

like this, and I think we’ll lose a lot of players because of it. They’ll choose to play elsewhere,” added Montella.

“It’s true even for the Italians. It’s a shame because there was everything in place here tonight to o� er people watching something better.”

As match organisers and Napoli mid� elder Marek Hamsik moved to-wards the fans to talk with hardcore ‘ultra’ leaders about whether the game should go ahead on Saturday, they were pelted with � ares and smoke bombs.

A representative from Napoli’s ul-tras was seen wearing a “Free Speziale”

t-shirt, referring to Antonino Speziale, who was jailed for eight years following the death of police o� cer Filippo Raciti in February 2007.

Napoli President Aurelio De Lauren-tiis, however, praised the ultras groups for their cooperation and understand-ing in allowing the match to go ahead.

“I was focused only on verifying with the authorities how we could ensure the game would go ahead, as otherwise it would’ve been a defeat for all of Italian football,” he said after the match.

“We resolved the problem also with the help of the two ultras groups, who were very understanding and co-oper-ative.”

De Laurentiis then praised the fans’ display of “civility” in the face of bad or-ganisation on the part of the authorities.

“Why is it that the Ministry of the Interior still hasn’t worked out how to organise a football match, which should be child’s play, in a proper manner?” he said in the media conference following the match.

“Fortunately the fans of Napoli and Fiorentina showed an outstanding ci-vility.

“The fans give their hearts and pas-sion to the shirt right to the end. So to talk with those groups without the police present seems to me a sign of responsibility both on the part of the organisers and the fans.

“Yes there were some smoke bombs thrown, but in this stadium an extreme-ly civil event took place, because with the news that was � ying around it could have been a riot waiting to happen.” l

Magath wants chance to lead Fulham back to EPL

Felix Magath wants to be given the responsibility of leading Fulham back to the Premier League de-

spite su� ering one of the worst days of his managerial career.

Magath su� ered his � rst relegation as a manager as second bottom Fulham’s drop into the Championship was con� rmed af-ter a 4-1 thrashing at Stoke on Saturday.

The German was at a loss to explain why his side lacked the � ghting spir-it that has been a characteristic of his

lengthy managerial career.But Magath wants to be trusted with

reviving Fulham in the second tier after having little time to make his mark since replacing Rene Meulensteen in February.

“We have to talk about our situation, when I signed it was clear we had to change something,” Magath said.

“The club was at the bottom of the table and things developed in the last weeks, but it was not enough. I will speak to the owner and we can start to come back. I want that chance.

“You can imagine this is one of the worst days I have ever had. l

Martino’s Barca future in doubt

Gerardo Martino said he will re� ect on whether he will continue as Barcelona coach for next season after seeing his side’s title hopes all but ended by a 2-2 draw at home to relegation threatened Getafe.

The Catalans now look set to end the campaign without a major trophy for the � rst time in six years as they lie three points behind La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid with just two games re-maining and having played one match more than Los Rojiblancos.

As well as the on� eld disappoint-ment, Barca have had a di� cult year o� the � eld as former coach Tito Vilanova passed away after a battle with cancer and Sandro Rosell was forced to resign as president due to his role in the con-troversial signing of Neymar last year.

“Overall the season has not been a good one on a personal level, nor for Barcelona as a whole. It has been a very di� cult season with a lot of external questions that we couldn’t overcome,” said Martino.

“There are times when you ask for a second chance and other times when you don’t think you deserve it, so I will see what I think.

“I still believe there is time to think about it. We have just � nished a game and now is not the time to say any-thing.”

Martino added that he was particu-larly unhappy to have dropped points at home to a team � ghting relegation having come from behind in di� cult circumstances to beat high-� ying Athletic Bilbao and Villareal in recent weeks.

“In reality it was not what we ex-

pected,” said the Argentine.“There was a chance that we

wouldn’t achieve our objective in win-ning the league, but not because we didn’t win our games. Today we com-mitted some errors and it has cost us.

“If you don’t beat a team � ghting against relegation at home then you don’t deserve to remain in the � ght for the title till the end. Of the three teams in the title race, we have been the least consistent.”

Mid� elder Sergio Busquets admit-ted immediately after the game that Barca had committed errors “unbe-coming of professionals” and captain Xavi Hernandez insisted the players have a lot to work on for next season.

“We are hurting. It has not been a good season. We didn’t have luck and we hav-en’t been competitive in many aspects. Apart from the Supercup, we haven’t achieved our objectives,” he said. l

Napoli win Italian Cup on violent Rome night

Napoli beat Fiorentina 3-1 to win their � fth Italian Cup on Saturday in a match that kicked o� 45 minutes late after three fans were shot, one critically, in an incident near Rome’s Olympic Stadium.

A � rst half brace from Italy interna-tional Lorenzo Insigne and a late strike from Dries Mertens helped the south-ern side, who � nished with 10 men, to their second Cup victory in three years.

Insigne’s goals in the 11th and 17th minutes put Fiorentina on the back foot but Juan Vargas brought his side back into the game just before the half hour with a fantastic volley. Mertens then added Napoli’s third in injury time.

Fiorentina took the game to their ri-vals in the second half, with Giuseppe Rossi making a � rst appearance since Jan. 5 as a 69th-minute substitute, but Napoli held on despite Gokhan Inler’s 79th minute sending o� .

The match had looked in danger of being cancelled as news of the shooting � ltered through.

Despite the ugly atmosphere, it was a beautiful goal that opened the scor-ing with Hamsik bursting away on the break before slipping the ball to Insig-

ne, who curled in his sixth goal of the season o� the post.

Fiore looked shell-shocked but re-grouped and got back into the game in the 28th minute thanks to a superb back-heeled � ick on from Josip Ilicic which Vargas met with a thumping volley that � ew past a motionless Pepe Reina.

The Tuscan side were unlucky not to go in level at the break after Alberto Aquilani volleyed home Ilicic’s perfect-ly delivered free-kick a minute before halftime, only to see his e� ort ruled out for the tightest of o� side decisions.

Rossi came on to a rousing reception from the Fiorentina fans and then, with Inler o� , Ilicic squandered a perfect chance to take the � nal to extra time when he sliced wide after a superb pass from Alessandro Matri.

“It was right at the end in the 90th minute, it couldn’t have been any more decisive,” said Montella. “Reina did re-ally well to close the angle down, but that is how football works.”

Mertens made no mistake for Napoli, though, the Belgian international drill-ing home a smart left-foot � nish to send the Naples fans wild with joy. Some also spilled on to the pitch to celebrate and taunt the Fiorentina supporters. l

Guingamp’s players celebrate with the trophy after winning the French Cup � nal against Rennes (SRFC) on at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris on Saturday AFP

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

Monday, May 5, 2014

Sony Six4:30PM Rajasthan v Kolkata8:30PM Delhi v ChennaiStar Sports 2Italian Serie A11:00PMLazio v Hellas Verona1:00AMJuventus v AtlantaStar Sports 41:00AMEnglish Premier LeagueCrystal Palace v LiverpoolStar Sports 12:00AMLa LigaReal Sociedad v Granada

CondolenceSheikh Mohammad Abdul Majid, the father of Sheikh Mohammad Maruf Hasan, the executive committee mem-ber of Bangladesh Football Federation and the chairman of the Dhaka Metrop-olis Football League Committee passed away due to cardiac arrest at CMH yesterday. He was 85. He is survived by eight sons and two daughters. He was buired at the family graveyard at Terkhada, Khulna. BFF president Kazi Salahuddin, the senior vice president, the vice presidents, all the members of the executive committee and the o� cials expressed deep shock over the death of Majid and prayed for the salvation of the departed soul.

–Tribune Desk

NBL Premier V’Ball League starts Power Development Board made a winning start in the National Bank Pre-mier Division Volleyball League beating Dhaka Green Club 25-5, 25-4 and 25-11 at the volleyball stadium yesterday. The other clubs playing in the league are Titas Club, BGB, Bangladesh Police, Water Development Board, Wari Club, Fire Service, Azad Sporting and East End. Md Bodiul Alam, the additional managing director of National Bank Ltd inaugurated the event as the chief guest. Volleyball Federation general secretary Ashikur Rahman Miku, tour-nament secretary Sirajul Islam were also present among others.

–RM

Niaz shares 3rd place Bangladesh Grandmaster Niaz Murshed beat Ugandan International Master Emojong Elijah in the 8th round of the Capablanca Chess Festival at Pretoria,-South Africa yesterday. Niaz bagged 4.5 points after the end of the 8th round and was sharing the 3rd position with two other players. A total of 10 Grandmasters are playing in the GM section and Niaz was ranked fourth among them. Former world champion Gary Kasparov will distribute the prizes as the chief guest in the concluding ceremony.

–RM

Giles ‘bitter’ at England snubAshley Giles has said he was “bitterly disappointed” to miss out on being appointed as the new head coach of England. Peter Moores was recalled for a second spell in charge after Andy Flower stood down following England’s 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia. Former England spinner Giles appeared to be in pole position to replace Flower, having been the national limited overs coach since November 2012 and a member of the selection panel. However, his cause was not helped by a poor run of results in one-day games in Australia and England’s humiliating loss to the Netherlands at last month’s World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.

–AFP

IOC welcomes Gay doping banUS sprint star Tyson Gay’s one-year doping ban has been welcomed by the International Olympic Committee. Gay received the ban from the US Anti-Doping Association (USADA) on Friday and returned his 2012 London Olympics silver medal to the US Olym-pic Committee. USADA announced that the 31-year-old American had tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid in two random out-of-competition tests and one event doping test in urine samples taken last year by both USADA and the world governing body IAAF An IOC statement on Saturday said: “The IOC welcomes the decision taken by USADA following the confession of Tyson Gay. We note the athlete accept-ed responsibility for his actions and returned the medal from the London Olympic Games.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH

QUICK BYTES

An action between the girls match of Dhaka Commerce College and Dhaka Young Girls in the Walton National Floorball Championship at the wooden � oor gymnasium yesterday. Dhaka Commerce College won the title COURTESY

Berdych to face Berlocq in � nal

Czech Tomas Berdych will put his top seeding on the line Sunday when he plays Carlos Berlocq the � nal of the Portugal Open.

World number six Berdych lived up to his billing with a 6-2, 6-2 hammering of Romanian Victor Hanescu while Argentine Berlocq beat Spanish quali� er Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-6 (8/6), 6-2.

Berdych, playing on a wild card, will compete in his third � nal of the season after Rotterdam and Dubai while the 61st-ranked Berlocq is entering only the third � nal of his career (1-1).

“The � rst step is there, I’m in the � nal,” said Berdych. “Now it would be really great to win this title. l

Atletico title hopes rocked by Levante defeat

Atletico Madrid squandered a chance to all-but wrap up their � rst La Liga title since 1996 when they crashed to a surprise 2-0 defeat at

Levante on Sunday.Victory for Atletico in Valencia

would have meant they needed only a win at home to Malaga next weekend to secure top spot and render their � nal match at Barcelona the following week irrelevant.

However, an own goal from Filipe Luis in the seventh minute and a neat � nish from David Barral 21 minutes from time meant Atletico failed to take advantage of Barca’s 2-2 draw at home to Getafe on Saturday.

With two games left, Atletico lead on 88 points, three ahead of sec-ond-placed Barca. Real Madrid, on 82 points in third, have two games in hand, a match at home to Valencia later on Sunday and a trip to Real Valladolid on Wednesday.

If in-form Real win their remaining four matches they will � nish on 94 points and Atletico would have to beat Malaga and Barca to match their city rivals.

Under Diego Simeone, Atletico are mounting their � rst genuine title chal-lenge since they won a La Liga and King’s Cup double in 1996 with a team featuring the inspirational former Ar-gentina captain.

In one of the best seasons in their history, they are also through to the Champions League � nal to play Real

thanks to Wednesday’s superb 3-1 win at Chelsea.

Simeone’s players did not seem to be feeling the e� ects of their exertions in London and started the Levante match with their usual intensity but fell behind when the ball ricocheted o� Filipe’s chest at a corner and squirmed over the line.

A dominant Atletico had plenty of chances for an equaliser, including a Filipe shot cleared o� the line by Le-vante defender Loukas Vyntra in the 63rd minute, before Barral controlled a cross from the left and � red past Thi-baut Courtois.

Substitute Adrian curled a shot on to a post 13 minutes from time but Le-vante comfortably held out to climb above Rayo Vallecano to 10th on 45 points. l

Chelsea held, Man City go top

Chelsea and Norwich City were left hanging on to their respective targets by their � ngertips after their

Premier League match ended goalless at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Chelsea’s slim hopes of winning ti-tle are all but over as they now need to win their last match at relegated Cardi� City next Sunday and hope that both the top two, Manchester City and Liv-erpool pick up no more than one point from their last two matches.

Manchester City lead the standings with a superior goal di� erence from Liverpool with both on 80 points from 36 matches. Chelsea have 79 points from 37.

Norwich can only avoid joining al-ready relegated Cardi� City and Fulham in the Championship next season if they beat Arsenal next week and Sunderland lose both of their remaining � xtures.

Arsenal celebrated their Champions League quali� cation as Olivier Giroud secured a 1-0 win against West Brom-wich Albion on Sunday.

Arsene Wenger’s side booked their place in Europe’s elite club competi-tion without kicking a ball when � fth-placed Everton were beaten 3-2 by Manchester City on Saturday.

And 24 hours later, Giroud’s � rst-half header maintained the feelgood factor at the Emirates Stadium and capped a stroll in the sunshine for the Gunners, who were rarely troubled en route to a fourth successive victory.

After looking in severe danger of missing out on the Champions League for the � rst time in 17 years following their defeat at Everton last month, there was a palpable sense of relief in north London that Arsenal had wrapped up fourth place with two games to spare.

Manchester City claimed top spot in the Premier League and took a signi� -cant step towards the title by coming from behind to edge Everton 3-2 on Saturday.

Ross Barkley’s stunner put hosts Everton ahead in the 11th minute, but Sergio Aguero quickly equalised and a brace from Edin Dzeko secured victory for Manuel Pellegrini’s side despite Ro-melu Lukaku reducing the arrears.l

Juve secure scudetto

Juventus secured the 2014 Serie A title with three games to spare on Sunday after closest challengers Roma were stunned 4-1 away to rele-

gation-haunted Catania.It is the Turin giants’ 30th o� cial ti-

tle in Italy’s top � ight and third in suc-cession under coach Antonio Conte.

Juventus remain on course to be-come the � rst team in Serie A to � nish with at least 100 points.

After hosting Atalanta on Monday, Juve travel to Roma next week and close out the season at home to Ca-gliari.

Juventus had congregated at a hotel in Turin on Sunday afternoon to watch Roma’s upset on television and imme-diately after the � nal whistle the cele-

brations began.Several players, among whom strik-

er Pablo Daniel Osvaldo, posted brief messages on Twitter: “Campioni !!!!”

“We are the champions, we are the champions,” read another from the club’s o� cial Twitter feed alongside pictures of the players dressed in iden-tical black t-shirts making reference to the club’s belief they have won 32 titles.

Juventus were stripped of two Se-rie A titles, which they won in 2005 and 2006, following their demotion to Serie B for their role in the Calciopoli match-� xing scandal.

Defender Leonardo Bonucci made reference when he posted a message on Twitter which read: “Champions 32.”

Roma had emerged as Juve’s only real challengers this season after set-ting a new Serie A record of 10 opening wins under French coach Rudi Garcia.

But despite the capital club clinging

to Juve’s heels in recent weeks and Gar-cia remaining de� ant, the Roma boss on Saturday � nally conceded defeat to Juventus.

“The championship is over. Tomor-row’s (Sunday’s) result at Catania won’t change a thing, but we’ll still be going there looking to win,” said Garcia.

After a testing season trying to keep pace with the Juve juggernaut, which went on a 22-match unbeaten run following a shock 4-2 away defeat to Fiorentina in their eighth match of the season, Garcia’s words appeared to have a sopori� c e� ect.

Roma, expected to claim anoth-er 10th successive win to match their positive start to the campaign, were 2-0 down inside 34 minutes thanks to a brace from Mariano Izco and despite Francesco Totti reducing the arrears three minutes later the visitors were humiliated in a one-sided second half. l

Quali� er Klizan wins shock Munich title

Quali� er Martin Klizan pulled o� a shock victory over top-seed Fabio Fog-nini in Sunday’s � nal of the Munich ATP tournament to claim only the sec-ond title of his career.

The Slovakian, ranked 111th in the world, recovered from losing the � rst set to claim a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 win which de-nied Fognini, ranked 13th in the world, his third straight title in Germany hav-ing won last season’s Hamburg and Stuttgart tournaments.

The 24-year-old Klizan, whose only previous ATP tournament win was in St Petersburg in 2012, deserved his clay-court title having beaten Russian third-seed Mikhail Youzhny in the second round, then seen o� defending cham-pion and second-seed Tommy Haas in Saturday’s semi-� nal. l

Sharapova cruises, Kvitova battles through

Four-time Grand Slam champion Ma-ria Sharapova made light work of the Czech Republic’s Klara Koukalova to ease into the second round of the Ma-drid Open 6-1, 6-2 on Sunday.

Sharapova claimed her � rst title of the year in Stuttgart two weeks ago and continued her return to form after a dif-� cult start to the year to seal victory in little over an hour.

Last year’s � nalist in Madrid will next face unseeded American Christina McHale in the second round.

It was a more di� cult afternoon for � fth seed Petra Kvitova as she need a � nal set tie-break to overcome Roma-

nian Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(7/4).The former Wimbledon champion

looked well on course for the second round after racing through the open-ing set, but was then broken four times in the second as the world number 27 levelled the match. Both women were more stable on serve in the decider as it went to a tie-break after just one break apiece and Kvitova eventually had too much to set up a meeting with Ameri-can Varvara Lepchenko.

Elsewhere, 11th seed Ana Ivanovic overcame Madison Keys in straight sets 6-1, 7-6 (7/4), while another American, Sloane Stephens, beat Romanian qual-i� er Monica Niculescu 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to also reach the last 32. l

Chelsea’s Frank Lampard (L) is fouled by Norwich City’s Bradley Johnson during their English Premier League match at the Stamford Bridge yesterday REUTERS

POINTS TABLE Team GP W D L GD PTS1 Juventus 35 30 3 2 52 932 Roma 36 26 7 3 49 853 Napoli 35 20 9 6 28 694 Fiorentina 35 18 7 10 21 615 Inter Milan 35 14 15 6 22 5716 Chievo 36 8 6 22 -22 3017 Bologna 36 5 14 17 -28 2918 Sassuolo 35 7 7 21 -31 2819 Catania 36 6 8 22 -34 2620 Livorno 36 6 7 23 -35 25

RESULTSArsenal 1 0 West BromGiroud 14

Chelsea 0 0 Norwich

on Saturday

Everton 2 3 Man CityBarkley 11, Lukaku 65 Aguero 22, Dzeko 43, 48

RESULTSCatania 4 1 RomaIzco 26, 34, Totti 37Bergessio 55, Barrientos 79

Chievo 0 1 Torino Sardo 54

Genoa 0 0 Bologna

Parma 2 0 SampdoriaCassano 8, Schelotto 90

Udinese 5 3 LivornoDi Natale 19, 45, Paulinho 13, 29, Badu 21, Pereyra 33, Mesbah 88Silva 44

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15

GSP RESTORATION

Tofail lashes out at US n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yes-terday came down heavily on the US for not restoring GSP facility to Bangladesh.

“The US has scrapped Bangladesh’s GSP facility for nothing and it was done solely for political reason. There is no other reason,” the minister said while addressing a conference in the capital.

“GSP facility was given to Sub-Sa-haran countries in Africa but was sus-pended for Bangladesh. In fact, they are not giving us GSP, so forget it,” he said.

Bangladesh exports products worth $5.3 billion to the US but GSP covered only $30 million of that amount, Tofail said, adding that there was hue and cry over the issue in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is enjoying GSP facility in many countries and regions includ-ing the European Union, Japan, Canada and Australia, he said.

Tofail said he attended a programme on Rana Plaza collapse at Canadian High Commission on April 24 where a � lm on the disaster was supposed to be screened.

“I asked the organisers whether they show movies on accidents occurring in their countries. When I raised the ques-tion, they refrained from screening the � lm,” he said.

“The Rana Pla-za disaster was widely reported in the media all over the world but there was no picture of the ac-cident at a Texas fertiliser factory in which hun-dreds of people were killed. Has anybody seen any picture of the dis-

aster?” the minister asked. Tofail said according to the Interna-

tional Labour Organisation, thousands of people died in industrial accidents in China.

“But nobody talks about that,” he observed.

Citing The Economist, Tofail said 200 people die in China in industrial accidents every day.

The minister said the government received letter from US Senator Rob-ert Menendez in which he alleged that workers were abused.

“At present, however, we have an absolutely peaceful atmosphere in the country’s industrial sector,” he said.

Speaking of Bangladesh-India trade ties, Tofail said there should be no bar-rier in the name of tari� , non-tari� and para-tari� .

“India should come forward with a big heart to help its neighbours because it is the biggest member of Saarc,” he said.

Infrastructural bottleneck, inade-quate Customs facility, non-tari� bar-riers and cumbersome procedures and documentations are the major trade barriers between the two countries, said Tofail. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, May 5, 2014

ACC implicates 51 Destiny o� cials in two casesn Tribune Report

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday pressed charge sheets in two cases against a total of 51 top ex-ecutives of Destiny Group including its President M Harun-ur-Rashid and Managing Director Mohammad Ra� qul Amin on charge of embezzling and si-phoning o� Tk4,119 crore from the cli-ents’ deposits.

Deputy Director Mozahar Ali Sard-er submitted the charge sheets be-fore General Recording O� cer Abdur Rashid of the Dhaka’s Chief Metropol-itan Magistrate’s Court yesterday after-noon, ACC lawyer Kabir Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune.

The ACC has named around 150 people as witnesses in the cases where 46 people have been charged for the irregularities in Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (DMCSL) and 19 regarding the Destiny Tree Plan-tation Limited (DTPL).

If found guilty, the accused persons could be sentenced to a maximum of 12 years’ jail besides refunding double the amount to the victims of the alleged fraud through the government.

Harun, also a former army chief, and Ra� qul have been made main accused in the cases, ACC o� cials say. Most of these accused are from the group’s board of directors.

The other accused include Farah Deeba, wife of Ra� qul, Mohammad Hossain, Md Gofranul Haque, Moham-mad Saidur Rahman, Mohammad Mez-bah Uddin, Syed Sajjad Hossain, Irfan Ahmed Sani, Jamshed Ara Chowdhury, Sheikh Tayebur Rahman, and Nepal Chandra Biswas.

The ACC inquiry has found that 23 top bosses of the group collected around Tk818.82 crore from its 26 com-panies violating the law of the country and laundered the money abroad from their personal accounts.

The Destiny o� cials collected the

money from investors under its pro-jects DMCSL and DTPL luring them of providing high interest. But the ac-cused swindled the money – either transferred to their personal accounts or embezzled in the name of allow-ance, salary, remuneration, pro� t, spe-cial allowance or commission.

According to the ACC � ndings, the group has laundered a major portion of the swindled money to the USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, France and Canada. The Destiny Group o� cials had trans-ferred the money to their 722 accounts with 35 banks.

The 26 companies are: Destiny 2000, Air Destiny Ltd, Destiny Multipurpose Co-operative Society Ltd, Destiny Tree Plantation Ltd, Diamond Builders Ltd, Destiny Printing and Packaging Ltd, Des-tiny Medical College and Hospital Ltd, Destiny Developers Ltd, Con� gure Engi-neers and Construction Co Ltd, Con� gure Housing Ltd, Destiny Express Ltd, Desti-ny Tea Limited, Destiny Security Force Ltd, Destiny Agro Industries Ltd, Best Air Ltd, Destiny Air systems Ltd, Destiny Nihaj Jute Spinners Ltd, Destiny Builders Ltd, Destiny Consumers Products Ltd, Destiny Environment Savings Energy Ltd, Destiny Media & Publications Ltd, Destiny Puki Printers Ltd, Destiny SAAS-CO Properties Ltd, Destiny Transit Sys-tem Ltd, and Alpana Chayachitra Ltd.

The ACC probe team has found that 19 Destiny top executives collected Tk2,433 crore during March 21, 2006 to February 17, 2009 by selling over six crore trees to 17.5 lakh investors under its tree planta-tion project and embezzled Tk2,257crore from it. However, a spot visit made by the ACC found the existence of only 32.5 lakh trees, o� cials added.

The ACC on July 31, 2012 � led the cases under the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2004 and 2012 with Kal-abagan police against 22 executives of Destiny 2000 Ltd accusing them of em-bezzling around Tk3,285 crore.

After � ling of the cases, the commis-sion arrested eight of the accused in-cluding Harun and Ra� qul. The former army chief later secured bail from the High Court.

Ra� qul and the group’s directors Mohammad Hossain, Didarul Alam and Ziaul Haque Mollah are now in jail. Three other directors Akbar Hossain Sumon, Sa� ul Islam and Shirin Akter have been absconding after getting bail from a lower court. The High Court lat-er cancelled the bail orders. l

Khaleda calls for street demo to stop abduction, murdern Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Alleging that the country has turned into a death valley, BNP Chairper-son Khaleda Zia yesterday urged the political parties, civil society mem-bers, professional bodies and busi-ness men to take to the streets to stop killings, abductions and forceddisappearances.

“Not only Narayanganj, the entire country today has become a death val-ley. There is no scope of seeing some-one as big or small. We all are equal. We have to take to the streets to bring back democracy to the country,” she said.

BNP Dhaka city unit organised a fasting programme at the National Press Club in the capital yesterday protesting the killing, abduction and forced disappearances and � ling of false cases against Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman. Khaleda joined the programme around 4:30pm and expressed “solidarity”.

Only a few senior leaders and some supporters of the party gathered at the venue when the programme began at 9am. Around 12:45pm, only standing committee members RA Gani, Jamirud-din Sircar and Abdul Moyeen Khan and the party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir were pres-ent on the stage; the other leaders by then had left the place.

However, after 2pm, leaders and activists again thronged the venue. By the time Khaleda Zia arrived, the place was full of BNP leaders and activists.

Although it was a hunger strike, vendors could be seen ferrying snacks, cucumbers, water bottles, groundnuts, cigarettes and other food items. Activ-ists could be seen eating outside the venue.

Khaleda said the government had been involved in all sorts of illegal ac-tivities and that it had no control on an-ything. “No one is listening to anyone.

No one is obeying anyone.”Talking on the abduction of seven

people in Narayanganj, the former pre-mier asked the government to inform people about those involved with the crime and why action had not been tak-en against the criminals.

“The government did not take any action against the killers because they belong to the ruling party,” she alleged.

Regarding law enforcers’ raid to the residence of accused Noor Hossain, Khaleda said: “Noor Hossain is a crimi-nal. Why did then police raid his house seven days after the incident? This il-legitimate Awami League government must answer where he is. People want

to see him behind bars.”Referring to a national daily, Khale-

da said a special force was involved with the killings and abductions.

Narrating a “gloomy picture” of the law and order situation, the BNP chief said the country had been weeping and the government’s hands were stained in blood. “The longer the illegitimate killer government remains in o� ce, the more blood will be shed.”

Khaleda said if meetings and proces-sions did not work, then a tough move-ment would be waged to compel the government to meet the demand for an election under non-partisan interim government.

“So, do not compel us to wage any tough movement. Take initiative and hold elections under a non-partisan government,” she warned.

The former prime minister alleged that RAB had been exploited for par-tisan interests and its image had been tarnished. The elite crime busting force was formed in 2004 when the BNP was in power.

Asking the government to abandon HM Ershad, Khaleda said: “Ershad killed Monjur and Ziaur Rahman. He has to face trial.”

After her speech, Khaleda broke the fasting of Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir by giving him water to drink. l

Al-Badr leader Mir Kashem’s verdict any dayn Udisa Islam

After hearing closing arguments by both prosecution and defence, the In-ternational Crimes Tribunal yesterday kept the Mir Kashem Ali case waiting for verdict. The Jamaat-e-Islami Execu-tive Council member faces 14 charges of crimes against humanity he had alleg-edly committed in Chittagong in 1971.

Kashem, 61, also treasurer and key � nancier of Jamaat, is charged for in-volvement in murder, torture, abduc-tion and con� nement of people during the Liberation War.

According to the prosecution, the accused was general secretary of Chit-tagong City unit Islami Chhatra Sang-ha – then Jamaat’s student wing, and a commander of notorious armed force al-Badr – formed with the members of Chhatra Sangha to collaborate with the Pakistani occupation forces.

He allegedly led the torture and kill-ings of pro-liberation people at Daleem Hotel at Andorkilla of the port city.

During the arguments, the prose-cution demanded capital punishment for the accused, known as “Bangalee Khan,” as the evidence and witness statements had established the crimes.

On the other hand, the defence of Kashem claimed that the prosecution had failed to prove their “false charg-es.” They also refuted the allegation that the accused had been the com-mander of the auxiliary force.

After the end of trial, defence coun-sel Tajul Islam claimed that his client had not been present at the places of occurrence, Daleem Hotel and Chit-tagong, since November 1971.

During the rebuttal yesterday, prose-cutor Tureen Afroz told the tribunal that joint criminal enterprise and criminal responsibility were not charges, as the defence has tried to claim, but liabilities.

“The defence tried to � nd some loophole in the prosecution’s case. But that cannot spare the accused from the charges as we know cases are run by available witnesses and evidence.”

After the hearing, the tribunal 2 led by Chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan ordered that the verdict in this case would be pronounced any day.

The tribunal 1 took the charges against Kashem into cognisance on May 26 last year and indicted him on September 5 last year. Later the case was shifted to the other tribunal for quick disposal. Though senior defence

counsel Abdur Razzaq was involved in this case earlier, he was not present in the last part as he is out of the country.

Kashem was arrested from the dai-ly Naya Diganta o� ce in the capital on June 17 last year.

Two other cases are awaiting verdict at the tribunal 1 – one against Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and the other of Zahidul Islam Khokon alias Khokon Razakar.

According to the defence docu-ments, Kashem is the chairman of Keari Ltd, a real estate and tourism company, chairman of the managing committee of Diganta Media Corporations that runs Diganta TV and the daily Naya Diganta. He is also a founding member of Ibn Sina Trust, member secretary of Islami Bank Foundation and a founding member of Islami Bank.

According to the government, it has evidence that Kashem paid a US lobbyist � rm $25m to negate the war crimes trials.

In their legal argument, the defence claimed that the prosecution had failed to prove any charges against the ac-cused of commanding authority. They argued that only military personnel could command in a war situation.

The tribunal then told the defence

counsel that precedence of a civilian having the responsibility of a com-mander had been established in the verdicts against war criminals Moham-mad Kamaruzzaman and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed.

The defence also argued that some-one without an administrative post can not be responsible for the allegations of superior command responsibility.

Kashem is charged with the abduc-tion, con� nement and torture of many pro-liberation people including Omar-ul-Islam Chowdhury, Lutfar Rahman Faruk, Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, Sai-fuddin Khan, Abdul Jabbar Member, Sanaullah Chowdhury, Nurul Kuddus, Zakaria, Sunil Kanti Bardhan and Na-siruddin Chowdhury.

According to the prosecution, Kashem also set up makeshift camps at di� erent places of the port city where people had been tortured for assisting the freedom � ghters. Other allegations against him include involvement in mass killings in Asadnagar and Panchlaish areas.

The same tribunal yesterday record-ed the testimony of the 10th prosecution witness in the case against war crimes accused Syed Mohammad Qaisar. The witness gave deposition on camera. l

The group has laundered a major portion of the swindled money to the USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, France and Canada

Workers clean bags of industrial chemicals for their reuse contaminating river water and posing serious threat to human health. This picture was taken yesterday from Ashulia point of the Turag River SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia o� ers a glass of juice to party acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir to end the party’s hunger strike programme called protesting the recent abduction and killing in Narayanganj MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

RIVER OF POISON

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

Tau to invest $200m in textile sectorn Tahmidur Rahman

Tau Investment Management, a New York-based growth-equity venture in-vestment � rm, has launched a venture worth $200m in Bangladesh.

The venture named as Tau Bangla-desh will buy minority ownership of the large textile companies in the country.

A launching ceremony was organ-ised at a hotel in the capital yesterday.

The fund to be injected is aimed at improving the value-chain of the com-panies through upgrading and de-risk-ing supply chain.

Further, the venture intends to make the companies international standards in terms of being socially responsible and compliant.

“We are investing to help build few companies to become stronger strate-gic suppliers due to which incremental revenue are expected to be generated,” said Oliver Niedermaier, CEO of Tau In-vestment.

He, however, expressed his concern that in the near future the number of companies within the industry may fall.

To a question of president of Ban-gladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Md Atiqul Islam on what can be done to help out the medium and small facto-ry owners, the CEO replied the fund is � exible and they may review their strategy for making some investments in the medium size companies as well.

The fund $200m is a portion of a bil-lion dollar fund seeking to change the global supply chain.

The fund named Tau Transforma-tion Fund will target textile and appar-

el manufacturers in emerging markets.“We are ready to invest $20m to

$50m in a few garment makers that will generate over $100m annual sales and make the companies avail world-class expertise along with access to low-cost � nancing sources in order to create in-creased pro� tability,” said Oliver to the Dhaka Tribune on the sidelines.

Tofail bashes US for continuing GSP suspension

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed urged the United States to cut tari� on Bangladeshi RMG exports at the event referring to high tari� of over 16% that the country has been paying to US.

He said the high tari� is preventing Bangladesh apparel from being com-petitive in the US market while being as one of the least developed countries, Bangladesh was supposed to enjoy ze-ro-tari� bene� t from the US.

“We will welcome a free market in the US just as we welcome this won-derful initiative of Tau Investment in Bangladesh.”

On a similar note, Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman welcomed the initiative that has a similar agenda of the central bank as well.

Jon Danilowicz, deputy chief of mis-sion, US embassy in Bangladesh also spoke at the function. l

www.dhakatribune.com/business MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014

B3 Britain installs � rst grid-scale battery

B4 To risk or not to risk – that is the question

CCCI wants no source tax on LC openingn Tushar Hayat, Chittagong

The Chittagong Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (CCCI) placed 117 proposals for the government’s consideration in the next � scal year’s budget.

The proposals include, among others, cancellation of 5% tax at source during opening of letter of credit and withdrawal of additional tax on public transports.

CCCI president Mahabubul Alam presented the proposals at a meeting with Chairman of National Board of Revenue Ghulam Hossain Sunday in the port city. Mahabubul Alam also urged the government to take steps towards protecting local industries.

He said guidelines are necessary to develop infrastructures like set-ting up special zones at Anwara and Mirsharai in Chittagong. Works of building deep sea port should also be expedited and gas crisis needs to be resolved in Chittagong region.

In his speech, NBR chief said: “The next budget will be business, indus-try and consumers friendly. The road-map of the government for next � ve years will be re� ected in the budget.”

He said the size of the budget

would be of Tk250,000 crore, almost double the current � scal’s budget.

NBR chief said the expected growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would be targeted at 7.3% in the next � scal budget.

The revenue income will have to be increased to Tk1,49,000 crore to meet the target, said Ghulam Hossain.

NBR chief said collection of tax rev-enue would also have to be doubled.

Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, a former � rst vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Export-ers Association, and CCCI directors Mahfuzul Hoque Shah and Mah-bubul Hoque Chowdhury also ad-dressed the meeting. among others.

Nasir Uddin Chowdhury said: “We hear about business and indus-try friendly budgets every year, but see no re� ection of that announce-ment in the budget.”

“A total of 111 recommendations were placed from the chamber last year. But only six of them were in-cluded in the budget,” Nasir Chowd-hury said.

He said those six recommenda-tions were also placed by the Fed-eration of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI). l

Ruposhi Bangla renovation proposal to be sent back to PMn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The proposal for the renovation work of the state-owned � ve-star hotel Ru-poshi Bangla is going to be resent to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for get-ting her � nal nod as Civil Aviation Min-ister Rashed Khan Menon has so far failed to reach any decision.

Meanwhile, management of Ru-poshi Bangla has rescheduled its de-cision to keep the hotel closed from September’14 to December’15 as per its plan for massive renovation work be-fore rebranding it under the InterCon-tinental Hotels chain.

But, the hotel employees, who are dead against the total closure of the ho-tel, have requested the hotel manage-ment to renovate the hotel partially, the way it was renovated twice previ-ously.

We need to consider employees de-mand and at the same time we should also think about an agreement signed two years back with InterContinental, which is a world renowned chain. Un-der such a circumstance, we have de-cided to place the matter to the Prime Minister, seeking her decision, Rashed Khan Menon told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday over phone.

James McDonald, general manager of Ruposhi Bangla hotel yesterday said, “The management has announced that there will be no more reservation from the � rst day of September, 2014 and is scheduled to be reopened after total re-branding in January 2016.

“Currently Dhaka is the hot spot and we are very con� dent about our busi-ness,” James McDonald told the Dhaka Tribune.

He, however, said there had been no chance to shift the renovation date once again as the management would go for inviting tender this month and immediately after the � nal evaluation, the contactor would start renovation work from September.

Earlier, Bangladesh Services Limit-ed, management of the Ruposhi Bangla hotel, signed a deal with the InterCon-tinental on February 2012 for 30 years with a scope to extend it for another � ve years.

According to the deal, BSL needs to renovate the hotel rooms and the work should start form July 2013. But later on, the renovation work was shifted to May 2014 and it is now rescheduled for September 2014.

On the other hand, Ruposhi Bangla Hotel Sramik O Karmachari Union claims that it is noth-ing but a conspiracy to shift the working date and also a strategy to grab this vested property.

“We are not against the renovation work but we don’t want such a work, which is harmful for us. The renovation work could be done partly, which were done twice in this hotel ear-lier,” Md Sha� uddin, presi-dent of the workers’ union,

told the Dhaka Tribune. He also said, “BSL also decided to ren-

ovate Pan Paci� c Sonargaon Dhaka Hotel partially, so, why Ruposhi Bangla needs to be shut down for renovation work.”

Md Sha� uddin wants the prime minister’s interference into this matter.

But McDonald, a representative of the world’s largest hotel chain Inter-Continental Hotels Group, said partial renovation was “simply impossible.”

“We need to change every pipe, every cable, every toilet [� tting] and every bathtub to turn this hotel into a world-class one. It is impossible to of-fer the service and carry out the reno-vation work at the same time,” he said.

He added: “The employees will be paid their basic salaries and other ben-e� ts during the renovation period. So, there is no fear of job cuts.”

An o� cial informed that the hotel had earned Tk125 crore in revenues in

B3 COLUMN 1

CPD: Stimulating investment biggest challenge to budgetn Tribune Report

Measures to boost stagnant investment will be the biggest challenge amid growing concerns over prevailing in-security of individuals and property in the country, Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said yesterday.

It said investment that remained sluggish over the years is yet to pick up after the election due to unfavorable business environment, as the economy moved from the phase of political un-rest to the phase of political uncertainty.

The local research think tank made the observations at a press brie� ng on budget recommendations for � scal 2014-15 in Dhaka.

“Individual security is now under threat, further a� ecting already stag-nant investment,” said CPD distin-guished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya,

pointing � ngers at the recently surging abduction incidents in the country.

“Under such situation, there are possible chances for capital � ights, creating di� culties in the budget

� nancing,” he said. The wheels of existing industries re-

started after post-poll period because of seemingly easiness in the political � eld,

B3 COLUMN 2

REGAINING GSP

USTR may warrant another progress report on Action Plan by mid-Julyn Asif Showkat Kallol

The US authorities would ask for an-other review on the implementation of the Action Plan by mid-July, o� cial sources said.

They might want the progress re-port on the 16-point plan imposed as a condition to regain the GSP they suspended for Bangladeshi exportable items due to poor working conditions in the factories of Bangladesh.

It would be the second such review after the government submitted the � rst one to the o� ce of the US Trade Repre-sentative (USTR) on April 15, said a se-nior o� cial of the commerce ministry.

He said the USTR is not satis� ed with the progress of the minimum wage and allowing trade unionism in the country’s Export Processing Zones.

At the meeting with Commerce Min-ister Tofail Ahmed last month, o� cials said, the USTR delegation raised their reservation about the minimum wage of $69 per month, which they argued much lower than $114 in most of the countries.

They also alleged that the trade unionism has not been allowed yet in the EPZs. Workers in the EPZs have par-tial trade union privileges as the gov-ernment has not extended Industrial Relations Act 2010, which restricted demonstration rights.

With the law having expired on De-cember 31 last year, the government has since allowed EPZ workers to go on strike as part of its steps to meet the con-ditions outlined by the US authorities for reinstating GSP facilities to Bangladesh.

“If necessary, we’ll send another progress report to the USTR,” Com-merce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune.

The USTR delegation, headed by Michael J Delaney, after the � rst Ticfa meeting highlighted two areas where the country needs to act fast – imple-mentation of the amended labour laws and completion of factory inspections.

The legal authorisation for the GSP programme expired on July 31 last year and the US Congress is considering a leg-islation to extend the authorisation be-yond that date, according to the USTR.

As long as the GSP programme re-mains with no authorisation, there will be no public hearing and no request for public comments for the ongoing GSP country and product reviews and no � -nal disposition of these reviews.

On June 27 last year, US President Barack Obama announced his decision to suspend Bangladesh’s trade bene� ts un-der the GSP due to insu� cient progress by the Bangladesh in a� ording workers’ internationally recognised rights. l

Fresh foreign funds hit new high at DSE n Kayes Sohel

Foreign investment on equities in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) recorded new high in April this year as compared to the last couple of years.

Net investment by foreign investors in the last month stood at Tk572 crore, a jump of almost 500% over the previ-ous month, according to the DSE.

Lower valuation level of equities, future corporate earnings growth pro-jections and stable currency rate are among the reasons for attracting for-eign portfolio investment, analysts said yesterday.

Foreign investors bought shares worth Tk876 crore and sold stocks worth Tk304 crore last month, DSE data showed.

However, foreign investment in the stock market makes up only 1% of the total DSE investment, which is lowest

in the South Asia region. “The market is now under declining

trend, making prices of many scrips undervalued. Foreign fund managers took position afresh,” said an analyst at a leading brokerage � rm.

The � gures for net portfolio invest-ment may rise further in coming days as the market is best for the foreign inves-tors because of its lower prices, he said.

“Stable local currency against the greenback and substantial reserve in the central bank has given impetus in their con� dence.”

Financials were the foreign investors’ preferred sector, but power and energy, pharmaceuticals, multinationals, tele-coms and IT also received their attention.

Managing Director of Union Capital Akter H Sannamat said currently the market is more or less at the bottom

B3 COLUMN 5

SOFTEX LEGAL NOTICE

Accord to respond after consultation with lawyer n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh would consult with their lawyer before giving any response as they received the legal notice served by Softex Cotton Limited (Unit-2) chal-lenging their instruction to shut down its factory.

“I’ve just received the notice this af-ternoon. I need to consult with a lawyer to understand,” Rob Wayss, executive director of Accord (Bangladesh Opera-tion),” told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said the answer to the notice would be given after having detail con-sultations with an attorney.

Softex served a legal notice to Accord on Wednesday demanding compensation worth US$100 million against the damage the factory would have incurred since shutting down the factory on March 6.

The legal notice claimed the factory inspection has not been done through following due process.

According to BGMEA, 19 factories have so far faced production suspen-sion as recommended by the Accord and Alliance. The factory closure left jobs of 14,325 workers at stake.

The Accord has been asked for seek-ing an unconditional apology person-ally and publicly in all media that has reported the shutdown of the factory and demanded $100 million for caus-ing losses of business reputation and damages to the business.

B3 COLUMN 4

CEO of Tau Investment Management, Oliver Niedermaier seen speaking at the launching ceremony of Tau Bangladesh at a city hotel in the capital yesterday TAHMIDUR RAHMAN

Two RMG units asked to evacuate � oorsn Tribune Report

The review panel on � re and building safety has asked evacuation of two readymade garment units due to over load on � oors.

The Accord inspections found ex-cessive load during in the buildings lo-cated at Mirpur, Dhaka.

The units belong to MAM Garments and Civics Fashion – they are housed in the same building having six � oors.

The review panel asked the factory owners to evacuate two units for re-ducing loads, a member of the panel, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The review panel is comprised of rep-resentatives from the government, the Accord, the Alliance, Bangladesh Uni-versity of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh Garment Manufac-turers and Exporters Association (BG-MEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manu-facturers and Exporters Association. l

Centre for Policy Dialogue holds a press conference on budget recomendations in Dhaka yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

ANALYST

B2 Stock Monday, May 5, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks begin week with damping mood n Tribune Report

Stocks fell sharply yesterday, con-tinuing losing streak for the third straight session with the benchmark index DSEX sinking � ve-week low.

Continuous decline in indices and poor earnings results have also put damper on investors’ mood, analysts say.

The benchmark index DSEX lost 62 points or 1.4% to close at 4504 –its highest fall since March 30 this year.

Shariah Index DSES was down 12 points or 1.2% to 1006.The blue-chip comprising DS30 dropped 26 points to 1646.

Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, closed at 8669, shedding 102 points.

Trading activities declined sig-ni� cantly with DSE turnover slip-ping half a month low to Tk329 crore, going down by over 24% than that of the previous session.

All the major sectors closed in red with telecommunication declining highest 2.3%, followed by food and allied 1.7%, pharmaceuticals 1.6% and power 0.84% respectively.

The banking sector, market bell-weather, also took a jolt with a drop of 1.7%.

Lanka Bangla Securities, in its daily market analysis, said bench-

mark index collapsed further after last week’s heavy fall with drying up turnover value as investors’ sen-timent is trembling over mixed cor-porate declaration of stocks.

Moreover, Bangladesh Bank’s im-position of limit on banks’ exposure in capital market kept weighing on market sentiment on fear of heavy selling pressure in market, it said.

IDLC Investments said poor earnings shook investors’ senti-ment severely during the session.

It also said the condensed panic of further fall followed the negative tone.

Zenith Investments said inten-sifying selling pressure tipped the market from its brink, as participa-tion from traders especially the for-eign investors remained downbeat.

“Large cap scrips like the multi-national companies and oth-er large stocks have slowed their pace, as the declared earnings are yet to take e� ect and the upcoming earnings are still integrated in the minds of investors.”

News of corporate declarations and quarterly earnings came out with mixed performance with Agni System, MI Cement and Cen-tral Pharmaceuticals posting 43%, 5.6%and 190% growth in quarterly earnings respectively. l

News from trade serverGOLDENSON: 25% stock, EGM and AGM: 21.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 3.13, NAV per share of Tk. 31.36.MERCINS: 10% cash, dividend for the Public Shareholders (B-Group) only, AGM: 16.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.29, NAV per share of Tk. 15.79.CMCKAMAL: 12.50% stock, AGM: 30.06.2014. Record Date: 29.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.30, NAV per share of Tk. 20.56.RUPALIBANK: 15% stock, AGM: 31.05.2014, Record date: 14.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 2.49, consolidated NAV per share of Tk. 65.44.LEGACYFOOT: 5% stock, AGM: 21.06.2014, Record Date: 12.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 0.65, NAV per share of Tk. 18.32.BDTHAI: 5% stock, AGM: 21.06.2014, Record Date: 25.05.2014. EPS of Tk. (0.13), NAV per share of Tk. 37.76.MEGHNACEM: 15% cash, AGM: 29.05.2014, Record Date: 14.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 5.23, NAV per share of Tk. 36.54.MONNOSTAF: 10% cash, AGM: 26.06.2014, Record Date: 19.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 4.15, NAV per share of Tk. 47.93.

INTECH: 10% stock, AGM: 23.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. NAV of Tk. 213.89 million, EPS of Tk. 1.02.Unaudited Financials:DAFODILCOM: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 25.28 million with EPS of Tk. 0.51 against Tk. 29.41 million and Tk. 0.59 respectively.PRIMETEX: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 32.38 mil-lion with EPS of Tk. 0.85 against Tk. 28.17 million and Tk. 0.74 respectively.FUWANGCER: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 30.89 million with EPS of Tk. 0.37 against Tk. 44.29 million and Tk. 0.52 respectively.TALLUSPIN: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 158.09 mil-lion with EPS of Tk. 1.95 against Tk. 77.44 million and Tk. 0.95 respectively.BDAUTOCA: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 0.23 million with EPS of Tk. 0.06 against Tk. (1.96) million and Tk. (0.54) respectively.SHYAMPSUG: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. (230.09) million with EPS of Tk. (46.02) against Tk. (148.74) million and Tk. (29.75) respec-tively. Accumulated pro� t/(loss) of the Company was Tk. (2,250.49) million as on 31.03.2014 resulting total shareholders' equity stands at Tk. (2,200.49) million.POWERGRID: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 735.92

million with EPS of Tk. 1.60 against Tk. 837.68 million and Tk. 1.82 respectively.GHAIL: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 94.95 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.16 against Tk. 143.69 million and Tk. 1.75 (restated) respectively.ANWARGALV: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 2.62 mil-lion with EPS of Tk. 0.20 against Tk. 3.22 million and Tk. 0.24 respectively.UNITEDAIR: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 328.39 million with EPS of Tk. 0.58 against Tk. 892.31 million and Tk. 1.57 (restated) respectively.EXIM1STMF: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 53.04 mil-lion with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.53.FBFIF: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 232.08 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.42 against Tk. 305.90 million and Tk. 0.55 respec-tively.ABB1STMF: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 65.94 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.41 against Tk. 76.32 million and Tk. 0.47 respectively.EBLNRBMF: (Q3): NPAT= Tk. 57.39 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.35 against Tk. 58.17 million and Tk. 0.36 respectively.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

MeghnaCement -A -14.46 -13.84 110.00 110.00 110.00 110.00 0.022 6.29 17.5The Ibn SinaA -12.90 -13.42 100.60 100.60 101.90 100.00 0.433 4.48 22.5Golden Harvest Agro-N -9.86 -6.22 31.20 31.10 33.00 31.10 1.797 1.62 19.3Midas Financing-Z -9.80 -9.80 22.10 22.10 22.10 22.10 0.022 -5.96 -veSa� o Spinning-A -9.50 -7.71 20.35 20.00 22.10 20.00 0.041 1.04 19.6Anlima Yarn -A -8.94 -9.15 21.35 21.40 21.50 21.20 0.064 0.80 26.7Tallu Spinning -A -8.45 -7.80 27.30 27.10 28.70 27.00 0.726 3.60 7.6City G Insu.-A -8.10 -8.74 19.43 19.30 20.30 19.00 0.128 1.73 11.2Singer BD -A -7.83 -6.11 197.36 197.80 201.50 195.90 9.158 6.23 31.7Power Grid Co. -A -7.76 -7.56 45.10 45.20 45.80 44.30 0.316 3.16 14.3

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

The Ibn SinaA -13.27 -13.80 102.56 102.00 106.90 100.80 7.169 4.48 22.9Tallu Spinning -A -9.73 -9.49 27.09 26.90 29.00 26.90 19.326 3.60 7.5Golden Harvest Agro-N -9.55 -8.78 30.74 30.30 33.00 30.20 8.198 1.62 19.0MeghnaCement -A -8.85 -10.40 109.79 110.20 116.30 100.00 10.907 6.29 17.5Singer BD -A -8.72 -7.91 197.44 196.70 200.00 196.70 87.328 6.23 31.7Libra Infusions-A -8.53 -7.18 398.42 392.40 415.00 391.60 4.542 4.20 94.9Monno Sta� lers -A -7.88 -6.28 317.24 318.00 322.20 315.00 0.460 5.25 60.4PragatiLife Insu. -A -7.85 -5.68 174.47 172.60 194.90 171.20 8.113 2.38 73.3City G Insu.-A -7.66 -6.25 19.79 19.30 20.90 19.00 1.149 1.73 11.4Jute SpinnersA -7.53 -8.28 60.00 60.20 61.00 60.00 0.042 -43.81 -ve

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Matin Spinning-N 400,800 17.39 7.59 44.10 4.75 42.10 44.60 41.60 43.39BD Submarine Cable-A 65,775 11.80 5.15 178.00 -1.49 180.70 183.90 170.00 179.48UNITED AIR-A 925,584 10.43 4.55 11.30 -5.83 12.00 12.00 10.80 11.27LafargeS Cement-Z 146,000 10.11 4.42 69.10 2.67 67.30 71.00 68.60 69.28Singer BD -A 46,400 9.16 4.00 197.80 -7.83 214.60 201.50 195.90 197.36Golden Son -A 151,269 8.39 3.66 55.40 8.63 51.00 56.80 45.00 55.45Grameenphone-A 30,200 7.99 3.49 263.60 -1.97 268.90 268.50 262.00 264.71BSC-A 12,640 7.49 3.27 583.75 2.27 570.80 610.00 577.00 592.62Square Pharma -A 26,350 7.40 3.23 281.70 0.11 281.40 283.00 272.00 280.70Meghna Petroleum -A 24,000 7.15 3.12 296.00 -1.20 299.60 304.00 295.20 298.00National Bank - B 469,877 6.21 2.71 13.20 0.00 13.20 13.40 11.90 13.21Eastern Housing -A 92,475 5.58 2.44 60.20 3.08 58.40 62.00 56.70 60.39Padma Oil Co. -A 15,830 5.47 2.39 345.00 -0.29 346.00 349.50 325.00 345.84HeidelbergCement -A 9,100 5.25 2.29 573.30 -2.73 589.40 599.00 570.00 577.28Southeast Bank-A 189,478 4.07 1.78 21.50 -1.38 21.80 21.60 20.00 21.50

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Meghna Petroleum -A 590,252 175.91 5.33 296.40 -1.36 300.50 302.20 280.00 298.02Grameenphone-A 563,764 149.56 4.53 262.90 -2.23 268.90 271.00 255.00 265.29HeidelbergCement -A 236,530 136.98 4.15 573.00 -2.90 590.10 599.90 550.00 579.14Olympic Ind. -A 562,337 134.55 4.08 239.50 -0.33 240.30 246.00 220.00 239.27Golden Son -A 2,145,052 118.36 3.59 55.10 6.99 51.50 57.00 50.00 55.18Square Pharma -A 349,878 98.24 2.98 281.90 0.07 281.70 285.10 257.50 280.80LafargeS Cement-Z 1,391,500 96.81 2.93 69.10 2.07 67.70 71.40 68.50 69.57Matin Spinning-N 2,222,800 96.65 2.93 44.30 5.23 42.10 44.90 41.80 43.48Orion Infusions -A 1,807,400 88.24 2.67 47.70 5.53 45.20 49.70 47.00 48.82Padma Oil Co. -A 254,240 88.19 2.67 345.20 -0.35 346.40 360.00 340.00 346.86Singer BD -A 442,300 87.33 2.65 196.70 -8.72 215.50 200.00 196.70 197.44Eastern Housing -A 1,419,578 85.97 2.61 60.70 3.58 58.60 62.50 53.00 60.56Renata Ltd. -A 53,169 64.27 1.95 1198.20 -3.37 1240.00 1250.00 1165.00 1208.86Central Pharm-A 1,547,880 62.06 1.88 40.10 3.35 38.80 41.00 36.10 40.09Southeast Bank-A 2,642,030 57.02 1.73 21.50 -0.92 21.70 22.00 19.60 21.58

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Legacy Footwear -A 15.97 15.31 27.27 27.60 28.90 23.00 1.241 0.36 75.8In Tech Online -A 11.02 10.51 14.20 14.10 14.50 14.00 0.199 0.04 355.0Hakkani P& Paper -B 8.95 8.73 28.02 28.00 28.20 27.90 0.084 0.28 100.1Golden Son -A 8.63 9.52 55.45 55.40 56.80 45.00 8.389 3.35 16.6Orion Infusions -A 8.52 8.36 48.36 48.40 49.00 47.00 2.988 4.81 10.1Anwar Galvanizing-B 7.44 7.70 26.01 26.00 26.20 25.90 0.208 0.02 1300.5Eastland Insur -A 7.42 7.31 41.96 42.00 42.00 41.90 0.890 3.71 11.3Samata LeatheR -Z 7.02 11.77 32.00 32.00 32.00 32.00 0.064 -0.04 -veStandard Insurance-A 6.38 6.32 36.65 36.70 36.80 36.50 0.037 3.05 12.0GQ Ball PenA 5.66 5.71 143.73 143.70 147.00 132.10 0.129 3.23 44.5

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Legacy Footwear -A 15.97 16.33 27.42 27.60 31.00 25.00 3.756 0.36 76.2In Tech Online -A 8.66 8.43 14.02 13.80 14.50 11.00 3.537 0.04 350.5Hakkani P& Paper -B 7.69 5.24 27.54 28.00 28.60 26.50 0.716 0.28 98.4Miracle Industries -B 7.32 7.88 17.66 17.60 18.00 17.00 2.798 0.22 80.3Golden Son -A 6.99 7.61 55.18 55.10 57.00 50.00 118.362 3.35 16.5Kohinoor Chem -A 5.83 5.28 384.04 384.90 385.00 340.00 24.512 9.37 41.0Orion Infusions -A 5.53 8.51 48.82 47.70 49.70 47.00 88.244 4.81 10.1Matin Spinning-N 5.23 4.95 43.48 44.30 44.90 41.80 96.650 4.55 9.6B I F C -A 5.22 3.27 13.90 14.10 14.20 13.00 0.894 0.68 20.4Monno Ceramic -B 4.90 4.07 29.93 30.00 30.60 29.30 0.609 0.28 106.9

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 364.53 11.05 28.21 10.95 392.74 11.04NBFI 131.13 3.97 8.29 3.22 139.41 3.92Investment 84.63 2.57 2.88 1.12 87.52 2.46Engineering 369.58 11.20 32.24 12.52 401.82 11.30Food & Allied 208.17 6.31 11.92 4.63 220.09 6.19Fuel & Power 463.37 14.04 23.24 9.02 486.61 13.68Jute 1.19 0.04 0.00 1.19 0.03Textile 266.01 8.06 31.90 12.39 297.91 8.38Pharma & Chemical 518.34 15.71 25.48 9.89 543.82 15.29Paper & Packaging 0.72 0.02 8.22 3.19 8.94 0.25Service 88.17 2.67 5.97 2.32 94.14 2.65Leather 45.40 1.38 10.34 4.02 55.74 1.57Ceramic 20.86 0.63 1.89 0.73 22.75 0.64Cement 290.14 8.79 17.28 6.71 307.42 8.64Information Technology 39.38 1.19 3.29 1.28 42.67 1.20General Insurance 25.50 0.77 2.07 0.80 27.57 0.78Life Insurance 52.07 1.58 2.21 0.86 54.28 1.53Telecom 191.75 5.81 19.80 7.69 211.55 5.95Travel & Leisure 51.58 1.56 10.72 4.16 62.30 1.75Miscellaneous 86.45 2.62 11.59 4.50 98.04 2.76Debenture 0.52 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.53 0.01

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4504.77715 (-) 1.36% ▼

DSE Shariah Index : 1006.07501 (-) 1.19% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1646.22687 (-) 1.54% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 13895.9699 (-) 1.05% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 11578.8023 (-) 0.94% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 8669.0468 (-) 1.16% ▼

DSE key features May 4, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

3,299.48

Turnover (Volume)

75,422,628

Number of Contract 79,288

Traded Issues 284

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

94

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

186

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,311.68

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.02

CSE key features May 4, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 233.14

Turnover (Volume) 6,607,458

Number of Contract 10,308

Traded Issues 208

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

75

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

129

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,216.31

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.86

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

Large cap scrips like the multi-national companies and other large stocks have slowed their pace, as the declared earnings are yet to take e� ect and the upcoming earnings are still integrated in the minds of investors

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, May 5, 2014

Dollar higher in Asia before US jobs datan AFP, Tokyo

The dollar strengthened in Asia on Fri-day as upbeat comments from the Fed-eral Reserve and positive data support-ed the unit ahead of key US jobs � gures later in the day.

In midday Tokyo trading, the green-back fetched 102.36 yen against 102.30 yen in New York Thursday.

The euro slipped to $1.3858 and 141.84 yen compared with $1.3867 and 141.89 yen in US trade.

Investors are hoping that Friday’s US employment data will con� rm that the world’s biggest economy is rebounding after a near-stall in the � rst quarter.

“The US monthly jobs report will be the key focus today and a healthy read-ing is expected,” Credit Agricole said. l

Dhaka Mercantile Co-operative Bank Ltd has opened its 101st branch on May 3. Member of parliament, Sheikh A� l Uddin and the company’s vice chairperson, captain (retd) Abu Zafar Chowdhury were present at the ceremony

MoneyGram Money Transfer, O� cial Money Transfer Partners of the “ICC T20 World Cup 2014 Bangladesh” recently conducted a promotional campaign for customers who received MoneyGram money transfer between January 15 and February 28. The City Bank’s deputy managing director and head of wholesale banking, Sheikh Mohammed Maroof handed over the prizes to the winners on April 30

Green Delta Insurance Company Limited won the second prize at the ICMAB Best Corporate Award 2013 in the non-life and general insurance category for their outstanding performance. The company’s managing director and CEO Farzana Chowdhury received the award from the Finance Minister AMA Muhith

NCC Bank Training Institute recently organised an orientation course for its newly recruited o� cers. The bank’s acting managing director, Golam attended the opening ceremony as chief guest

The prize giving ceremony of the photo contest named Symphony-Prothom Alo Catch The Moment was held recently. The phone maker’s head of marketing, Md Ra� q Uddin was present at the ceremony as chief guest

Agricultural Technology Fair and Online Fertilizer Recommendation System held its � nal workshop recently. Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury was present on the occasion as chief guest while William Hanna, ambassador of EU and head of delegation to Bangladesh and Md Kamal Uddin, executive chair of BARC was present as special guests

Britain installs � rst grid-scale batteryn Reuters, London

Britain’s most ambitious smart grid project is being built on a housing es-tate in Leighton Buzzard, a rapidly growing commuter town north of Lon-don.

UK Power Networks (UKPN), which owns and operates electricity cables and lines across southeast England, is installing a giant battery farm that will supply electricity to local users at peak times.

Around 240 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries are being installed in a spe-cially designed building raised 2 me-tres above the ground to protect it from � ooding by the nearby river.

And the battery room will be air-conditioned to keep the batteries com-fortable at a steady 23 degrees Celsius to extend their working life.

The demonstration project, which is scheduled to begin operating in Sep-tember, is jointly funded by UKPN and the Low Carbon Networks Fund, ad-ministered by the government’s O� ce of Gas and Electricity Markets.

Once it is fully operational, Leigh-ton Buzzard will have the capacity to discharge up to 10 megawatt-hours

(MWh) of power into the local distribu-tion network at a rate of up to 6 mega-watts (MW), enough for 6,000 homes.

The aim is to test the technical and � nancial feasibility of using storage to reinforce the power grid and help meet peak loads as an alternative to the con-ventional approach of installing more substations and overhead power lines.

Many analysts have written o� electricity storage as expensive and impractical. But interest in storage is growing rapidly.

California has instructed utilities to install or procure 1,300 MW of storage capacity by 2020 as part of the state’s plans to increase renewable genera-tion and reduce emissions. Germany, Italy and China all have ambitious electricity storage plans.

Remote island communities, where the alternative is running expensive diesel generators, are also prime can-didates for schemes which integrate solar and wind with battery farms.

Britain’s Scottish and Southern En-ergy has developed a scheme in the Shetland Islands o� the north coast of Scotland to discharge 3 MW every day to help o� set the evening peak.

Other island communities in the

Azores, the Caribbean and the Paci� c have also been identi� ed as promising locations for integrated battery-and-renewables projects to cut blackouts and reduce reliance on diesel.

Storage solutionUnlike physical commodities such as oil, gas and coal, electricity cannot readily be stored, according to the tra-ditional textbook account. The amount of power produced by generators must exactly match the amount demanded by customers on a second by second basis.

For a century, the electric industry has met variable and unpredictable de-mand from users by aggregating them together in large networks (custom-ers’ behaviour in aggregate is steadier and more predictable than individual users’) and keeping lots of spare gen-eration and transmission capacity on hand to meet surges in demand. Gen-eration followed demand.

But the traditional model is be-ing blown apart by the government’s ambitious targets to combat climate change by electri� cation and decar-bonisation. Over the next 30 years, Britain will need vastly more genera-

tion and transmission capacity and the power supply will become much more variable and unpredictable.

The government plans to replace gasoline and diesel-powered cars with electric vehicles and gas-� red home boilers with electric heaters which implies a six-fold increase in peak de-mand from the current 60,000 MW to as much as 370,000 MW by 2050.

At the same time, government plans to decarbonise the system by increas-ing the amount generated from renew-ables like wind and solar imply much more variability in supply because they cannot be scheduled in the same way as coal and gas-� red power stations.

Britain’s generation and transmis-sion system is already stretched to meet the combined heating and light-ing demand on winter evenings. Enor-mous amounts of spare generating and transmission capacity are held in reserve to meet peak demand on just 100 hours per year.

Load shift or store?In future, as consumption grows and supply becomes more unpredictable, it will be even harder and more expen-sive to meet peak demand. Policymak-

ers and the industry are therefore con-sidering how to adapt the traditional generation and distribution model.

One option is to smooth out the peak in consumption and make de-mand more � exible by introducing smart meters and time of use tari� s. Every household in Britain will have a smart meter installed by 2020. Smart meters will measure the amount of electricity consumed in every half-hour period.

In theory, once smart meters have been installed, suppliers could intro-duce higher tari� s for peak periods (generally 4 pm to 8 pm on winter eve-nings) to encourage customers to shift consumption to other times of day when demand is lower, which would make more e� cient use of generation and transmission assets.

The other main option is to intro-duce more storage on the network. Storage units would absorb excess power overnight and when wind and solar production is especially high, then discharge it at peak times, smoothing the demand pro� le.

Britain already has some lim-ited electricity storage in the form of pump-hydro. Dinorwig power station

in north Wales, which became fully operational in 1984, uses o� -peak elec-tricity to pump water to an upper stor-age reservoir.

Electricity can then be supplied back to the grid by opening the sluices and allowing the water to drain back into the lower reservoir through six gi-ant turbines. Dinorwig can produce up to 288 MW and reach maximum gen-eration within 16 seconds, according to its operator First Hydro.

First Hydro also owns and operates a smaller and older facility nearby at Ffestiniog which can deliver 90 MW to the grid in about 60 seconds.

The problem with pump-storage is that it is enormously expensive and suitable sites are rare. Batteries are cheaper and can be scaled to any re-quired size. Storage batteries can be in-stalled at any scale - from an individual home to a street, or even directly onto the distribution and transmission net-works at the substation level.

But batteries are still more expen-sive than conventional network re-inforcement. In general, distribution companies � nd it cheaper to install ex-tra lines and substations to meet peak demand. l

Ruposhi Bangla renovation proposal to be resent to PM B1 COLUMN 52012 and made Tk46.5 crore pro� t out of it.

James McDonald, however, is con-� dent that they can get back the busi-ness when the hotel reopens after reno-vation and rebranding.

The Bangladesh Services Limited will bear the renovation cost US$47m (around Tk366 core) partially from its own fund and the rest from bank loans.

As per the new design, the hotel will decrease the number of guest rooms from 272 to 231 as the size of the rooms will be increased from 26 square me-tres to 40sq-m.

InterContinental ran the iconic Dha-ka hotel from 1966 to 1983.

Sheraton took over its operation and management in 1983 for the next 25 years that ended in December 2008.

The government had requested Sheraton to continue the operation until April 30, 2011 for the World Cup Cricket tournament.

Starwood, the mother company of Sheraton, had given the BSL a con-ditional extension o� er in 2009, but there was a disagreement between Starwood and the BSL authorities over the renovation cost and the fate of the employees.

Eventually, the BSL took over the hotel’s operations, renaming it Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.

Ruposhi Bangla had earned Tk94.50 crore revenue and made Tk19.15 crore net pro� ts last year. l

Fresh foreign funds hit new high at DSE B1 COLUMN 5level and it would get a momentum, which encouraged foreign investors to inject funds in the stock market. A DSE

director said demutualisation of the stock exchanges might also have inspired the investors to bet on stocks as it ensures more transparency and accountability. l

Accord to respond after consultation with lawyer B1 COLUMN 6The legal notice demanded payment of compensation and apology within a pe-riod of 7 days. “We have clear instruc-tion to take appropriate legal action against you including � lling civil and criminal proceedings in case of failing to meet the demands as per the legal notice.” l

CPD: Stimulating investment biggest challenge to budget B1 COLUMN 6but uncertainty and uneasiness still hunted mid-term big investment, he said.

“Fundamentally, the prevailing con-dition are unlikely to be removed until a participatory political process is not brought back for holding a credible elec-tion,” said CPD distinguished fellow.

Terming the government’s sixth � ve-year plan for the development, he said the plan has become impractical to implement considering the existing economic reality. “Now, it is time to re-evaluate the plan.”

CPD Executive Director Prof Musta� -zur Rahman said only incentives cannot accelerate investment growth, increase of qualitative and quantitative invest-ment should be taken into account. “Building up institutional capacity and good governance is also pre-requisite to achieve the desired growth.”

CPD Research Director Fahmid Kha-tun presented a paper on the budget proposals and said, along with eco-nomic factors, non-economic ones also play an equally critical role in contrib-uting to socio-economic development of Bangladesh.

“Traditional non-economic factors – weak implementation, oversight and reforms capacities – underpin social and political environment, indirectly a� ecting the macroeconomic perfor-mance,” she said.

Besides traditional non-economic factors, new issues have emerged, she said, adding that new dimensions have been added by the continuation of democratic disquiet in the backdrop of

the recent non-participatory national elections. “This protracted political uncertainty is de� nitely undercutting investor con� dence in the short if not medium term.”

Highlighting present macroeconom-ic scenario, she said it is ‘disquieting’ and the looming uncertainties a� icting business and investment outlook has continued to persist with adverse impli-cations for performance indicators.

The key note paper noted that the next budget should go for supportive � s-cal measures to create an enabling busi-ness environment towards enhanced production and higher investment.

The CPD recommended giving spe-cial incentives for non-RMG export-oriented industries to improve their competitiveness in export market, al-lowing nationalised commercial banks to mobilise the required capital from the capital market by o� -loading shares and increase of export development fund from the existing of Tk120 crore to support export-oriented industries.

It said the government needs to come out with an e� ective exit plan for the quick rental plans. A total of 16 power plants with a total capacity of more than 1,400 megawatt were set to expire by 2015.

It said annual development pro-gramme (ADP) allocation for the de-velopment of railway sector needs to be increased and the government may consider an upwards revision of the ex-emption limit for personal income tax to Tk300,000.

About the corporate tax it said the

demand for business community for lowering the corporate tax rates on the grounds that it is high compared to other competing countries of Asia is not true. “The average corporate tax rate of Bangladesh is one of the lowest in South Asia.”

The government should go for a number of reform measures targeting public sector enterprises and organisations to improve their operational e� ciency and competitive practices, it said.

“For example, the board of invest-ment should be reorganised appropri-ately with a view to transform it into an e� ective investment promotion agen-cy,” said Fahmida.

CPD also proposed enhancing the pro� le and capacity of the Implemen-tation Monitoring and Evaluation Divi-sion (IMED) so that it can deploy mod-ern processes and techniques while monitoring the implementation of de-velopment projects. l

FOREIGN INVESTORS AT DHAKA STOCK EXCHANGEBought Sold Fresh fund injected

Jan-13 138.48 38.75 99.73Feb-13 179.93 76.36 103.57Mar-13 124.31 33.77 90.54Apr-13 130.91 47.94 82.97May-13 274.52 76.16 198.36Jun-13 394.9 58.3 336.6Jul-13 257.01 68.47 188.54Aug-13 220.36 64.95 155.41Sep-13 167.55 82.9 84.65Oct-13 266.85 38.49 228.36Nov-13 342.43 65.71 276.72Dec-13 112.79 47.84 64.95Jan-14 403.15 124.78 278.37Feb-14 327.05 206.01 121.04Mar-14 205.27 108.31 96.96Mar-14 876.44 304.35 572.09

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, May 5, 2014

DILBERT

To risk or not to risk – that is the questionn Ivdad Ahmed Khan Mojlish

Recently one of my entrepreneurial-minded friends received a lucrative job o� er from an esteemed development organisation. I was delighted to learn about him consider-ing it. What makes the news double thrilling is that the position in which he’s been accepted into is typically meant for people

with a greater experience – a background of seven to 10 years in a relevant � eld. Consid-ering the context, it’s got to be a killer o� er; not to mention, the perks associated with it. I leave the imagination up to you.

Now, picture another setting. Few days back, I opened my inbox to � nd a short mes-sage from a former colleague.

The message read: “Dear Ivdad, I re-

signed yesterday. The new journey begins!” My immediate reaction was beyond com-prehension – unfettered happiness! And it’s incomprehensible because this reaction was not just of mere delight.

For some reason, it meant so much more. It felt like someone just burst a series of balloons, and a whole lot of glitters started falling from the canopy to the rising

applause of a cheering audience. It just felt that much special.

So, circling back, why is it that I found more joy in one news over the other? Why would someone’s foray into apparent misery ignite more � ames of elation versus another’s step into a world more lavish? In a quiet moment of re� ection, I believe to have stumbled upon the answer.

My personal journey of thriving in start-up environments perhaps renders an inher-ent desire to see others embracing a similar lifestyle. A lifestyle where risk becomes your shadow, uncertainty turns into a friend, and a litany of sacri� ces gets as familiar as the back of your hand.

And yet, the smile on your face, the upbeat in your heart, and the zeal in your perseverance never fades. I suppose that’s what draws the line of demarcation between an entrepreneur and a non-entrepreneur.

We all have our own loves, insecurities, strengths, drawbacks, and other unique abilities. However, often times we forget to take these critical factors into consideration when we decide on what route we want to take. Figuring out where our distinctive desires and talents intersect will lead to the right outcome, inexorably tilting our respec-tive level of happiness.

The power of this force is not fully ap-preciated, or applied, in the inner walls of our conscience, but there’s no denying that its value and radiance in the world around is proven.

Life is all about choices. And just like that, start-up life is also a choice. You have to decide based on your interests, which life suits you better, and importantly, which life makes you happier. I have all the respect in the world for the people who chose a life outside entrepreneurship. As long as you are happy, nothing else matters.

Life, as an entrepreneur to me, is absolutely rewarding. The very essence of trying to experiment with something of my own gives me a kick that is unparalleled. Ultimately, everyone needs to ask what ticks their wheels into motion. To me, the choice isn’t between success or failure. It’s between choosing risk and striving for im-mensity, or risking nothing and settling into mediocrity.

Here’s wishing the very best to bothof my comrades on their respective voy-ages! l

Ivdad Ahmed Khan Mojlish is the Managing Director at LightCastle Partners, an emerging market specialised business planning and intelligence � rm. The article was originally published in the LightCastle blog (lightcastlebd.com/blog/).

China’s April services growth quickens slightly, shows survey n Reuters, Beijing

Growth in China’s services sector ac-celerated slightly in April as new orders held steady, an o� cial survey showed, an encouraging sign of strength in an economy that otherwise faces a cloudy outlook.

The purchasing manufacturing index (PMI) for the services industry edged up to 54.8 last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday, up marginally from 54.5 in March.

A reading above 50 in PMI surveys indicates growth on a monthly basis, while a number below that threshold points to a contraction in activity.

The mild improvement in the services sector, which mirrors a marginal gain in the o� cial PMI survey of Chinese factories in April, should be welcomed by investors fretting about

the health of the world’s second-largest economy.

But the pick-ups in the o� cial PMI surveys for factories and services � rms would not be enough to dispel con-cerns that China’s slowing growth en-gine might cool at a sharper pace faster in coming months.

For one thing, the manufacturing PMI - released yesterday - showed a sizable and worrying drop in export orders in April, suggesting that foreign demand for Chinese goods remains tepid.

Saturday’s survey showed services � rms in China fared better than facto-

ries in April, but not by much. Although new orders rose on a

monthly basis, the pace of growth did not change from last month, leaving the sub-index � at at 50.8. Business con� dence in the services industry also stayed unchanged at 61.5.

Steady growth since 2007 An expanding industry that is likely to continue accounting for over half of all jobs in China, the services sector has weathered the country’s economic cooldown better than manufacturing, even though growth has slackened.

The o� cial PMI survey has hovered above 50 every month since records started in January 2007, though growth still slumped to a � ve-year low in Janu-ary, when the PMI dropped to 53.4.

The Chinese growth engine has lost steam in the past year. It has been

squeezed by lacklustre foreign demand for Chinese exports and the govern-ment’s e� ort to cut its own investment in a bid to reshape the country’s matur-ing economy.

Economic growth slipped to an 18-month low of 7.4% in the � rst three months of the year, and is forecast to also be 7.4% for 2014, compared with the gov-ernment’s growth target of about 7.5%.

To prove that China has the mettle to enact painful reforms, Chinese Pre-mier Li Keqiang has repeatedly said that his government would not loosen policy drastically to counter any short-term dips in activity.

And in a break from the past, the government has also turned its eco-nomic growth target into one that is � exible, saying it would be comfortable if actual expansion falls slightly short of what is envisioned. l

France’s Hollande says recoverywill lead to lower taxes n Reuters, Paris

French President Francois Hollande expects an economic recovery that will allow the government to lower taxes, a newspaper reported him as saying yes-terday.

“The reform e� ort is not over yet, but the economic recovery is arriving. This phase will lead to stronger growth, better competitiveness and a redistri-bution of purchasing power via lower taxes,” Journal du Dimanche quoted Hollande as saying.

Hollande, elected for a � ve-year term in May 2012, said “we have en-tered the second phase of my term”.

During the election campaign,Hollande pledged to focus in the early years of his mandate on restor-ing France’s � nances before working to improve households’ purchasingpower once a lower budget de� cit was on track.

On Tuesday, parliament approved a 50 billion euro de� cit reduction plan that aims to cut France’s public de� cit to the European Union’s ceiling of 3% of GDP by 2015.

“What I have learned is that France matters when its accounts are in good shape,” the paper quoted Hollandesaying. l

Iraq oil exports rebound but sales hit by attacksn AFP, Baghdad

Iraq’s oil exports rebounded last month, government � gures released yesterday showed, despite militant at-tacks that forced the authorities to stop pumping crude through northern pipe-lines bound for Turkey.

The country exported more than 75 million barrels of oil in April, an aver-age of over 2.5 million barrels per day, bringing in overall revenue of more than $7.5bn, a statement issued by the oil ministry said.

All of those sales were made via ex-port terminals in southern Iraq leading to the Gulf, the ministry said, because militant attacks forced the suspension of exports via northern pipelines to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Despite the northern unrest, how-ever, average daily exports rebounded from March, when Iraq’s exports aver-

aged 2.4 million bpd. Iraq is heavily dependent on oil

sales, which account for more than 90% of government revenue and more than two-thirds of gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund.

E� orts to diversify the country’s economy in recent years have stalled, and Baghdad has sought to dramatical-ly ramp up oil exports in a bid to rebuild the country’s infrastructure, which has been badly damaged by decades of con� ict and sanctions.

Exports hit 2.8 million barrels per day in February, the highest � gure in decades, with production above 3.5 million bpd.

Despite the steady expansion of oil exports, however, many Iraqis complain that much of the windfall is lost to state corruption and that the proceeds have not markedly improved daily life.l

Sales people wait for customers at booths selling mobile phones in Beijing REUTERS

The aerial view shows discarded phone boxes of German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom in Michendorf near Berlin, eastern Germany. Around 3,000 boxes - the classical ones in yellow, the more recent ones in magenta - are stocked at the depot and are sold for a price between 300 and 400 euros each AFP

A reading above 50 in PMI surveys indicates growth on a monthly basis