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B4 | BusinessDaunting political and � scal traps lie in wait that could ensnare new centre-right leader Modi as he embarks on the gargantuan task of ful� lling India’s undoubted economic potential.

3 | News

Leader of the Opposition Rawshan Ershad yesterday lost her temper in the faceof a volley of questionsfrom the media.

5 The government is likely to revive the � nancial system of the UZs by amending the local government act to empower them � nancially to enhance their domination on the public servants.

6 | NationAround 3,666 hectares of agricultural land and 485 hectares of land taken up by settlements along the banks of the Jamuna, Ganges, Padma and lower Meghna Rivers will disappear due to erosion, this year.

9 | World

Narendra Modi has invited Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as well as other South Asian leaders to his swearing-in ceremony.

11 | Op-EdAsk anyone in their 30s or 40s. They all are concerned about their children’s health and education. In their 50s and 60s, they are concerned about their own health.

12 | Entertainment

Noted artists in the country expressed their reverence towards the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore through their fascinating artwork.

INSIDE

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

7 | DHAKA’S OBLIGATION TO REFUGEESB1 | RULES TO CUT IPO EXPENSES TO 30%

Joishthya 8, 1421Rajab 22, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 52

8 | BLASTS KILL AT LEAST 118 IN NIGERIA 14 | BRAZIL’S LUIZ’S SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

BTRC lying to government about tari� cut proposal n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The telecom regulator has reported-ly provided false information to the government about the volume of legal international incoming calls, in an at-tempt to show that a proposed reduc-tion of termination rate would not a� ect government income from the sector.

Termination rate is when one tele-com operator charges another for ter-minating calls on its network.

Although a previous BTRC esti-mation, prepared seven months ago when the reduction was � rst proposed, had showed that the cuts would cost around Tk1,073 crore worth of loss-es, a fresh proposal by the watchdog claimed that the government will earn

an additional Tk162 crore if the change is implemented.

The Dhaka Tribune has obtained both the recommendations by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regu-latory Commission (BTRC).

Seeking anonymity, several BTRC senior executives admitted to the Dha-ka Tribune that they fabricated only one number which changed the whole scenario; however, the telecom watch-dog refused to give any o� cial com-ment on the issue.

This correspondent waited two hours at the BTRC chairman’s o� ce on Tuesday for his comments and also tried yesterday, but there was no re-sponse.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

ACC to bring 3 sacked RAB o� cers, Nur under scannern Tribune Report

The Anti-Corruption Commission will look into the wealth of the three dis-missed Rapid Action Battalion o� cers and Narayanganj City Ward 4 Council-lor Nur Hossain, the prime accused in Narayanganj seven-murder case.

“We are collecting all possible information and documents related to the wealth of Nur Hossain. We are also inquiring into the wealth of the three RAB o� cials which will enable us to track if any � nancial transaction was made before the seven murders,” ACC Secretary Faizur Rahman Chowdhury said.

He made the disclosure while re-sponding to reporters’ questions at the

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Padma bridge cost increasesby Tk3,000crn Asif Showkat Kallol

A Chinese � rm is set to get the contract for constructing the Padma bridge with the project cost having increased by Tk3,000 crore following three years’ delay and complexity in the tender process.

Bridges Division Secretary Khan-dokar Anwarul Islam yesterday sent the proposal to the Cabinet Division for appointing the China Major Bridge Engineering Co Ltd as the construction consultant.

The proposal will be placed today at a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase presided over by Fi-nance Minister AMA Muhith, an o� cial of the Cabinet Division said.

The proposal says the Communica-tion Ministry did not entertain the re-quest placed by the joint venture of two South Korean � rms – the Samsung C&T Corporation and the DAELIM-Larsen and Toubro Limited – for extending the time of its � nancial o� er by 10 and 12 weeks.

On May 11, 2010, the government � oated the � rst tender for appointing the constructor of the Padma bridge in 2011. At that time, the project cost was Tk9,127.17 crore.

However, the tender process was suspended in August 2011 following allegations of corruption conspiracy raised by the World Bank.

The � nal tender was � oated on June 26 last year and the China Major Bridge submitted its main � nancial o� er on April 24 this year.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Was it intra- or inter-partyfeud?A Feni weekly predicted a similar political murder a day before n Mohammad Jamil Khan, from Feni

Law enforcers might be in the dark about the killers of Fulgazi upazila chairman Ekramul Haque, but it ap-pears that a local weekly newspaper, owned by an expelled ruling party leader, predicted it only a day before the gruesome murder.

According to a report published in Shaptahik Hazarika, its owner for-mer Awami League MP Joynal Hazari, Ekram along with Prime Minister’s Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury and some other local leaders might be ab-ducted or killed anytime.

Slain Ekram could not ignore the re-port and soon after reading it installed two CCTV cameras at his Mastarbari residence in Feni town.

He also told his brother Rezaul Haque Jasim about his fears.

In conversation with the Dhaka Trib-une, Jasim said: “On Tuesday night, Ekram was saying that he might be killed somewhere near his residence. Out of fear, he installed two CCTV cam-eras at home. Ironically, his statement

came true in just a couple of hours – he was killed at a place only � ve minutes from home.”

When asked about who could be the possible killer, he said: “It may be a re-sult of intra-party con� ict. But he also had an open con� ict with BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Minar. He lost to Ekram in the upazila election.”

After the murder, Jashim early yes-terday � led a case with Feni model po-lice station accusing Minar and 34 oth-er unnamed people.

“Minar’s name was included be-cause he earlier tried to kill Ekram twice during the upazila elections,” Jasim said. The real story might come out if the law enforcers talked to the wit-nesses and the local businessmen.

Police have so far arrested around 23 people in connection with the murder case. Minar is not one of them.

Feni Superintendent of Police Par-itosh Ghosh said: “Media can publish whatever they want. But we will con-duct investigation as per the com-plaints � led by the victim’s family.”

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

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

23 detained in Ekramul murder case n Mohammad Jamil Khan, from

Feni and Tarek Mahmud,from Chittagong

In a special drive yesterday, police de-tained around 23 people for their in-volvement with the murder of Ekramul Haque, chairman of the Fulgazi upazila in Feni.

“Law enforcers also seized a private car and two motorbikes suspecting that those were used during the arson at-tack that left the chairman dead,” Mah-bub Morshed, o� cer-in-charge of the Feni Model Police Station, said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ekramul, also president of the Fulgazi upazila Awami League, was shot and then burnt alive

in his car by some unidenti� ed assail-ants in broad daylight.

The victim’s elder brother Rezaul Haque Jasim � led a case with the Feni Model Police Station at 1am yesterday, accusing BNP leader Mahatab Uddin

Minar and 34 other unidenti� ed people of the murder, said OC Morshed.

The OC said Minar, a BNP-backed chairman candidate who lost to Ekra-mul in the recent upazila poll, was made the prime accused.

Soon after the case was � led, police started massive raids in di� erent parts of the district and detained 23 people for their alleged involvement in the killing.

When asked about the identities of the detainees, Morshed refused to divulge their names for the sake of

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Demonstrators called a daylong hartal for today in Fulgazi upazila

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, May 22, 2014

Ekram was killed due to AL internal feud, claims BNPn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has alleged that the Fulgazi upazila Chair-man Ekramul Haque was killed due to an internal feud within the rulingAwami League.

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made the claim at a press brie� ng at the party’s Naya Paltan headquarters in the capital,yesterday.

Mirza Fakhrul also alleged that the Prime Minister’s O� ce tried to blame the killing on the erstwhile opposition party by issuing a statement before conducting any investigation.

“The prime minister has been trying to put the blame of Ekramul’s killing [on BNP] to conceal the intra-party feud. After the incident, without any investigation, the PMO tried to accuse a speci� c person and attempted to use the killing to serve

their political purpose,” the BNPspokesperson said.

Referring to various newspaper reports, Fakhrul said: “It has become clear that the killing occurred because of an intra-party feud of the ruling party.”

Ekramul Hoque Ekram, 47, a twice elected chairman of the Fulgazi upazi-la, was shot and burnt to death by un-identi� ed attackers in Feni town on Tuesday.

Ekram was also president of the AL’s Fulgazi upazila unit and a mem-ber of former AL lawmaker Joynal Hazari’s steering committee. There was a longstanding dispute between Ekram and Nizamuddin Hazari, Feni district AL general secretary, over localpolitics.

Expressing concerns over the pre-vailing law and order in the country, Fakhrul said the whole nation has be-come worried after the Narayanganj and Fulgazi killings.

“The country has turned into a death valley. The killing in Fulgazi took place under the nose of the local administra-tion, which shows the poor state of law and order,” Fakhrul said.

“You [government] tried heart and soul to conceal the involvement of AL men in the Narayanganj killings, but you failed. Your e� orts to hide the Fulgazi killing incident will also be in vain,” he added.

The BNP leader also demanded the immediate arrest of Ekramul’s killers. l

Hanif suggests BNP’s involvement in Ekramulkilling n Tribune Report

Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif yesterday hinted possible complicity of BNP in the kill-ing of Fulgazi Upazila Chairman Ekra-mul Haque.

“The killers of 1971 are still active. Now they are with a party named BNP. They are plotting conspiracies. A few days back, they threatened to carry out secret attack and it took place in Feni. Ekramul Haque, a popular leader of Feni, was subjected to a secret attack,” he said.

Hanif was talking to reporters while visiting a book fair at Shilpakala Acade-my in the city.

The Awami League leader claimed that the general people of the country believe the BNP is involved in the in-cident because it happened after they threatened with secret attacks. He said BNP is blaming Awami League for the Feni murder because it wants to hide its complicity in the incident.

Following Ekramul’s killing, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged it was the re-sult of an intra-party clash of Awami League.

“Masked criminals attacked Ekra-mul and investigators are yet to re-veal their identities. So what made him [Fakhrul] think that the murder stemmed from Awami League’s inter-nal clash? It means the party is certain-ly involved in it,” Hanif said.

“Now the BNP men are blaming us for the killing to divert people’s atten-tion and to avoid their responsibilities,” he added. l

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

BTRC lying to government about tari� cut proposal PAGE 1 COLUMN 3However, more than a dozen senior of-� cials con� rmed to the Dhaka Tribune that there was no truth in the claims of potential government pro� t, adding that they manipulated the numbers as per their boss’ demand.

The false estimations were report-edly prepared to favour the cause of international gateway (IGW) operators.

According to the fresh proposal, the telecom watchdog claimed that the existing daily 3.5 crore minutes of in-coming international calls volume will cross 9 crore minutes if the termina-tion rate is halved from the existing 3 US cents ($0.03) per minute.

The Telecom Ministry is now scru-tinising the proposal after receiving it from the BTRC last week, and it might be forwarded to the Finance ministry for approval today.

The latest move comes only months after the government also cut the annual licence fee in half for the IGW operators.

Both proposals from the BTRC claimed that the government is now an-nually earning around Tk1,851.1 crore from this sector, with a daily average of 3.5 crore minutes of incoming calls.

Although the regulator previously claimed that the government would be able to earn only Tk777.99 crore every year if the rate was reduced to 1.5 US cents per minute, it is now claiming that the earning will be Tk2,012.72 crore as the call volume has increased.

The regulator’s claim of an average 3.5 crore minutes of daily calls was also found to be false, as BTRC � gures show that the daily call volume has not gone below four crore minutes in any month over the past year.

The Dhaka Tribune also found that the current volume of daily incoming international calls is six crore minutes, while the average for the past year was 5.04 crore minutes.

BTRC statistics showed that during February, total incoming calls were 153.7 crore minute and the daily aver-age was 5.5 crore minutes. In March it was 5.9 crore minutes per day and in April it was 5.7 crore minutes every day on an average.

There were also some days when call termination had reached 12 crore minutes in a single day.

“As the current call termination vol-ume is around six crore minutes, there is no need to reduce the rate,” a former senior o� cer of the BTRC, who was in-volved with the process for a long time, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He estimated that if call volume in-creased up to 9 crore minutes after the termination rate was cut in half, the government would have to su� er loss-es worth hundreds of crore of taka.

The Telecom Ministry has also re-portedly raised questions about the issue, before passing it forward to the Finance Ministry for approval.

BTRC’s recommendation also claimed that neighbouring countries’ call termination rate is much lower than Bangladesh, which sources said is also a lie.

The VoIP Service Providers Associ-ation (VSPA) said the call termination rates in neighbouring countries are three to eight times higher than Bangladesh.

“The per minute international call termination rate in Sri Lanka is 9 US cents, 9.5 cents in Nepal, 8.8 cents in Pakistan and 25 cents in Maldives, which is the highest,” said VSPA Con-vener Rabiul Karim.

Only the Indian termination rate is lower than in Bangladesh, but their termination pattern is di� erent than Bangladesh’s, sources said.

Apart from its proposal for reduc-ing the termination rate, the BTRC also recommended changing the revenue sharing structure, proposing a reduc-tion of the government’s share from the existing 51.75% to 40%, as well as increasing shares for the IGWs and oth-er operators.

Legal specialists, however, said the government cannot arbitrarily change the structure as the rate was � xed by an open auction.

“The revenue sharing structure had been � xed through a public auction in 2008 and the BTRC cannot change it,” said Barrister Aneek R Haque, a Su-preme Court lawyer.

Telecommunication Infrastructure Operators of Bangladesh (TOIB), a plat-form of the IGW operators, however wants to see strong monitoring over illegal call terminations.

“We know that the overall situation will not improve even after the rate is cut. Rather, the BTRC should become more worried about the illegal call ter-minations and initiate more policing on it,” Mir Nasir Hossain, president of the TOIB told the Dhaka Tribune. l

ACC to bring 3 sacked RAB o� cers PAGE 1 COLUMN 1monthly brie� ng of the anti-graft body at its headquarters in Shegun-bagicha.

The three accused o� cers are former RAB-11 commanding o� cer Lieutenant Colonel Tareque Sayeed Muhammad, retired army Major Arif Hossain and retired navy Lieutenant Commander Masud Rana.

ACC sources said that they had al-

ready started collecting necessaryclippings and preparing to bring the RAB o� cers under scrutiny as al-legations were made against them that they were involved in the murders of the seven in exchangefor money.

When contacted, ACC Chairman M Bodiuzzaman said the anti-graft body would enquire into the source of income of the o� cers to � nd out if

there was any inconsistency between their regular incomes or if any major changes were made to their � nancial accounts prior to the killing of the sev-en people in Narayanganj.

Earlier father-in-law of Nazrul Islam, who along with six others were abducted on April 27, alleged that those three RAB o� cers killed the seven persons in exchange forTk6 crore. l

Was it intra - or inter-party feud? PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

The Dhaka Tribune has also contact-ed Joynal Hazari about the report pub-lished in his weekly.

He said: “It [the allegation about forced disappearances] is an open se-cret but nobody has the courage to bring it out to people.”

He then told this correspondent to � nd out more clues about the murder.

According to sources, Ekram was known as the right-hand man of Joynal Hazari in the 1990s.

He was also a party of the “steering committee,” formed by the former law-maker that used to collect tolls, extort, mug, manipulate tenders and carry out other criminal activities.

After the BNP came to power in 2001, both Ekram and Joynal left Ful-gazi.

After they came back, Ekram defeat-ed Joynal become the upazila chairman in the 2009 elections. Soon after be-

coming the chairman, he established his own den in the area and took con-trol over all tenders and government projects that were implemented there. He came to be known as the “tender emperor” of Feni.

The Dhaka Tribune has learnt from some former local politicians that Nizam Hazari, the current MP of the area who emerged in the scene only in 2001, won in the national election taking advan-tage of the rivalry between the duo.

Awami League leader Nizam’s name was also mentioned in the Shaptahik Hazarika report.

Things began to pacify between Ekram and Joynal after a clash of in-terest developed between Nizam and Ekram.

Nizam, as the local MP, wanted to control the local tenders, but Ekram would not give up his hold. Last year, Ekram was attacked by a group of Nizam’s men centring tenders of the

district diabetic hospital.Recently, Joynal, angered by Nizam

becoming MP from the Awami League, started supporting Ekram.

Local political leaders believe that with the death of Ekram, the Awa-mi League will lose its footing in the upazila because now there is nobody to contest against BNP leader Minar.

Abdur Rahman, the Feni unit Awami League president, told the Dhaka Trib-une that Ekram might have been killed because of con� icts created during the upazila election, held on March 15.

He, however, refused giving any de-tail saying it would not be a good idea.

MP Nizam, also secretary of the dis-trict unit Awami League, snubbed out allegations that Ekram had been killed over intra-party con� ict.

Claiming that the stories of his con-� ict with Ekram were “baseless,” he demanded exemplary punishment for the killers. l

23 detained in Ekramul murder case PAGE 1 COLUMN 5“proper investigation.” He, however, said no key accused in the case was de-tained.

About the vehicle, he said that they recovered a private car and two motor-bikes.

They were found abandoned in the Birinchi area in Feni. “We suspect that the miscreants carried out their mis-sion using those vehicles,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ekramul’s � rst namaz-e-janaza was held at Mizan Maidan in the town at around 9am while the sec-ond one was held on the Fulgazi Pilot High School grounds.

Communications Minister Obaidul Quader, local lawmaker and Awami League district unit General Secretary Nizam Uddin Hazari and lawmaker Shi-rin Sultana were among the many who attended the janazas.

After the Janaza, Obaidul Quader told reporters that it was a planned murder since Ekram’s car was set on � re by using gunpowder and petrol.

Ekramul Haque was buried in his family graveyard after the last janaza at his Banduya Daulatpur village of the upazila, said Rezaul Haque, Ekram’s el-der brother.

Meanwhile, Fulgazi locals staged demonstrations yesterday and put bar-ricades on the Porshuram Road of the upazila, demanding punishment of Ekram’s killers. The blockade suspend-ed tra� c movement in the area from 1:30pm to 8pm.

“The demonstrators announced a daylong hartal in Fulgazi today,” Abdul Alim, general secretary of the Fulga-zi Awami League unit, told the Dhaka Tribune.

The medical team of the Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) has collected Ekram’s DNA samples for fo-rensic tests.

Dr Pradip Kumar Nath of the CMCH Forensic Department carried out a post mortem on the dead body in the CMCH Morgue on Tuesday at around|5.30pm.

He told the Dhaka Tribune that they collected DNA samples from Ekramul’s teeth and bones and forwarded those to the One-stop Crisis Centre (OCC) of the CMCH while sources of the OCC said that the samples were further forward to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

“Generally it takes about a month to get the results of DNA tests, but in case of emergencies, it can be done in 15 days,” the doctor said.

Abu Jafor Mohammad Omar Faruk, o� cer-in-charge of the Panchlaish Po-lice Station in Chittagong city who was present during the post-mortem, said Ekram’s entire body was burnt.

“A bullet wound was found on his back which indicates that he was also shot, apart from being burnt,”he said.

A special police team from Chit-tagong visited Feni to determine the motive behind the attack and help the on-going investigation, said Paritosh Ghosh, the SP of Feni. l

Padma bridge cost increases by Tk3,000cr PAGE 1 COLUMN 6The Bridges Division proposal says the Chinese company o� ered to build the Padma bridge at a cost of Tk12,133.39 crore – an increase of Tk3,006.22 crore from earlier.

Padma Bridge Project Director M Sha� qul Islam said the increase was normal because of the delay and re-tendering.

“But China Major Bridge has o� ered 12.62% [Tk1,752 crore] less cost than the estimated Tk13,885.85 crore as mentioned in the tender,” he said.

Economist AB Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that the main tender of the Padma bridge would have been competitive and the construction cost of the Padma bridge

would have been lower if the two South Korean � rms had participated.

He said the Communication Minis-try had made the decision as the Bridg-es Division had not entertained the re-quest of the Korean � rms.

Mentioning that the upgrading work of the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway to a four-lane one by a Chinese � rm was yet to � nish in around four years, the for-mer adviser to a caretaker government said Chinese companies had a bad rep-utation in the � eld.

The Bridges Division proposal has not yet � xed the performance securi-ty for the constructor, saying it will be settled according to the pre-contract negotiation with the � rm.

Ten � rms participated in the tender

of pre-quali� cation process and the evaluation committee selected � ve of them. The government cancelled the China Communication Construction Company’s tender as the World Bank had black-listed it.

According to the Bridges Division proposal, the government will pay 25.6% or Tk3,106 crore in local curren-cy and the rest worth Tk9,027.24 crore in foreign currency, mainly US dollar.

The construction work of Jajira and Mawa connecting roads and service area 2 has already started under the project. A joint venture of Bangladesh and Malaysia named AML-HCM is car-rying out the job with consultancy from the Bangladesh Army and Bang-ladesh University of Engineering and

Technology (Buet). The army is looking after the security of the project.

The mega project of the 6.15km Padma bridge, which will connect 21 southern districts with the capital, is expected to complete by the end of 2017 or early 2018.

The World Bank, which pledged $1.2 billion loan for the project, halted its fund, raising corruption allegations in 2012.

Communication Minister Obaidul Quader on Monday disclosed that the China Major Bridge had got the con-struction work of the Padma Multipur-pose Bridge.

Speaking at a discussion in the cap-ital, he said it would take two more weeks to complete all the procedures

and the Chinese company might be given the work order within the next three weeks if the cabinet committee approves the � nancial proposal.

“The work order for river training of the Padma will be given by next Au-gust. The construction of the main Pad-ma bridge will be completed by the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018,” the minister added.

China Major Bridge Engineering Co Ltd was established on November 01, 2004 under the sponsorship of Chi-na Zhongtie Major Bridge Engineer-ing Group Co Ltd in association with Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corpo-ration, China Railway Tunnel Group Co Ltd, China Railway Shanhaiguan Bridge Group Co Ltd and China Acad-

emy of Railway Sciences after restruc-turing and merging the assets in bridge, road and railway construction and oth-er civil work owned by China Zhongtie.

As per data up to June 2006, with a total asset of $851.48 million, six sub-sidiary companies, nine sub-compa-nies and a lot of o� ces both at home and abroad, the China Major Bridge possesses 2,434 sets of construction equipment and plants and various cranes ranging from 5t to 3,000t with a value of $70.06 million and advanced computerised design, construction and management systems. With a � eet of 12,000 employees, including 5,800 engineers and technicians, the annu-al revenue earning of the China Major Bridge is $2 billion. l

BTRC BLUFF ON INTERNATIONAL CALL TERMINATION RATEKEY POINTERS

Pro� t/loss projection

Earlier � gures

- Tk1,073cr(loss)

New � gures

Tk162cr(pro� t)

Revenue sharingGovernment’s existing

share 51.75%

BTRC-proposedgovernment share

40%International call volume

BTRC claims3.5 crore

minutes per day

DT � nding shows5.04 crore

minutes per day

S L ATIF/DT INFOGRAPHIC

'The country has turned into a death valley. The killing in Fulgazi took place under the nose of the local administration, which shows the poor state of law and order'

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, May 22, 2014

Moudud to be charged for grabbing Tk300cr government propertyn Tribune Report

The Anti-Corruption Commission will soon submit a charge sheet against BNP Standing Committee member Moudud Ahmed and his brother on charge of grabbing a government land worth about Tk300 crore.

Following a � ve-month-long inves-tigation, the ACC has found Moudud Ahmed and his brother Manzur Ahmed, now living in London, responsible for occupying the government property valued Tk300 crore since 1978 through

di� erent fake documents and abusing power, an o� cial said.

The charge sheet was approved at a regular meeting of the ACC yesterday.

On December 17 last year, the ACC � led a case against the duo in this regard.

The case says the house in the capi-tal’s Gulshan area belongs to Mohammad Ehsan and his wife Inze Maria Flatz, two Pakistani nationals who left the country before the 1971 Liberation War.

Following their departure, the house on 1.13bigha (0.374 acre) land on Gul-shan Avenue was included in the list of

government’s abandoned property on January 21, 1972.

On August 2, 1973, Moudud prepared a fake power of attorney of Maria Flatz to grab the land and used it to gain his own interest. Since then, he had been living in the house showing himself as a tenant of Maria Flatz, the case document says.

While holding di� erent posts as minister during 1978-2006, Moudud tried to grab the house misusing his power. He made the fake documents in the name of his expatriate brother Manzur Ahmed. l

Bombarded with questions, Rawshan Ershad loses her tempern Manik Miazee

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

It was a views-exchange meeting with journalists on the parliament premises. She talked to journalists for about 40 minutes but she never gave a direct answer.

When journalists said the Jatiya Par-ty was a “pet” opposition party in the public perception, Rawshan Ershad snapped back.

“Is it because we do not � ght, we do not throw � les and boycott parliament sessions that you people label us with such a name?” she snarled. “People have never seen an opposition like us.”

“The responsibility of the opposi-tion is to help the government run its state a� airs smoothly for � ve years and that is the role we are playing in the parliament.”

In response to a question she said the January 5 election was a must for the constitution and democracy.

When asked if they will demand any mid-term election she said: “If people want, then there can be another elec-tion but the Jatiya Party is not taking any initiative to this end right now.”

About the seven murders in Narayanganj, Rawshan said it was an isolated incident. “We formed a hu-man chain there but I could not visit Narayanganj as I was ill.”

She denied answering to the ques-tions of Narayanganj murders any fur-ther saying: “It is a subjudice matter and the case is under investigation.”

On May 16, the JaPa leader said: “About 16 crore people live in Bangla-desh. In a densely populated country,

such type of abductions and killings are isolated incidents and everyone cannot be blamed for it.”

However, in the yesterday’s pro-gramme, she avoided commenting on the issue saying that the government should decentralise the capital to curb

such crimes. Responding to the question on In-

dian election, Rawshan said no com-parison should be made between the election of India and Bangladesh. “Bangladesh has so many things to learn from India.” l

Graft cases against 3 BNP leaders to continuen Nazmus Sakib

The top court yesterday paved the way for continuing trial proceedings against BNP Standing Committee members Moudud Ahmed and Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, and Partex Group Chairman MA Hashem, also a former BNP lawmaker, in separate corruption cases.

On the other hand, the apex court upheld the acquittal of Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir MP, currently a member of Awami League Advisory Council, in another corruption case.

A four-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Md Mu-zammel Hossain delivered the judge-ments in separate cases.

The case against Moudud was � led by the Anti-Corruption Commission on September 16, 2007 for acquiring illegally property worth around Tk7.4 crore as well as concealing an amount of around Tk4.4 crore as his income. Later, the former BNP minister � led a petition under the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking annulment of the case which was turned down by the High Court on October 7, 2012.

Gulshan police submitted the charge sheet on May 14, 2008.

Khandaker Mosharraf is facing a cor-ruption case of Tk15 crore � led on Jan-uary 10, 2008. Charge sheet in the case was submitted on September 17 the same year. The BNP leader later lodged a plea seeking cancellation of the case which was rejected by the High court

on October 16, 2012. ACC counsel Khurshid Alam Khan

told the Dhaka Tribune that the two former ministers had obtained stay or-ders over the High Court judgements. But the Appellate Division yesterday dismissed their appeals.

The ACC on December 5, 2007 � led a corruption case against MA Hashem and submitted the charge sheet on September 30, 2008. On January 19, 2012, the High Court quashed the case following a petition of the former BNP lawmaker.

The apex court yesterday set aside the High Court judgement allowing an appeal of the ACC.

Former home minister MK Alamgir’s acquittal in a corruption case was up-held yesterday by the top court.

The ACC � led the case on March 6, 2007 for illegally amassing wealth worth Tk3.27 crore. A lower court on July 26 the same year jailed him for 13 years.

However, the High Court on July 23, 2009 cancelled his punishment fol-lowing an appeal � led by the Awami League leader.

On July 4, 2010, the Appellate Division upheld the High Court judgement dismissing an appeal of the ACC. Later, the commission � led a petition seeking review of the verdict which was disposed of with observation yesterday. But the court did not disclose the observation which will be available after the release of full text of the judgement. l

Victim’s wife testi� es against Qaisarn Udisa Islam

A new prosecution witness in the case against former Jatiya Party state min-ister Syed Mohammad Qaisar said yes-terday that the accused and his cohorts had burnt their house and abducted her husband after torturing him in front of her eyes in Habiganj during the 1971 Liberation War.

Nisamon, 71, claimed that to get back her husband, she paid Qaisar Tk8,000, when the accused demand-ed Tk10,000. The witness, Golam Rouf Master’s wife, said she had known the accused since Qaisar’s uncle was her grandfather’s neighbour.

In her statement, Nisamon said the accused and members of the Qaisar Bahini had surrounded their house on eighth Ashar (third month of Bangla calendar) of 1971, seeking her brother-in-law Golam Noor.

“When my husband tried to � ee, Qa-isar chased and caught him and start-ed to beat him brutally. Qaisar contin-uously asked him about Noor and my husband answered in the negative. When my father-in-law came to rescue my husband, they started to beat him too,” she stated.

She said: “My father-in-law died just 16 days after the torture.”

The accused and his men then burnt the house. “They took my husband, blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back. Following this, we went here and there to � nd him but failed. My father went to Qaisar to � nd out the whereabouts of my husband and the accused refused to do anything,” she said.

At the end of deposition, she claimed that the accused had demand-ed Tk10,000 to free her husband. Gol-am Rouf was freed after the family paid Qaisar Tk8,000.

Defence counsel SM Shahjahan cross examined her. At the end of the questioning, the tribunal 2 adjourned the trial until Sunday.

Meanwhile, defence counsel Mizanul Islam ended the cross-examination of the prosecution’s seventh witness in the case against Maulana Abdus Subhan. l

Prosecution in Mobarak case stumbles n Udisa Islam

At the end of the argument session in the trial of Mobarak Hossain alias Mo-barak Ali, the prosecution yesterday failed to give explanations to many questions posed by the International Crimes Tribunal.

Later the tribunal set May 27 for fur-ther presentation of arguments in the trial and asked the prosecution to ap-pear with the replies to their questions.

Yesterday was set for submitting the defence argument and rebuttal of the prosecution. According to the usual procedure, the case was supposed to be kept for verdict after the rebuttal.

Defence counsel Tajul Islam submit-ted on legal points. He claimed that the prosecution wanted to convict Mobarak but they could not decide how they could do so and therefore they became confused. “This situation has blurred the case.” He said the case was nothing but an evil attempt to convict his client who is a “victim of the conspiracy.”

Tajul claimed that the documents in which the prosecution had relied upon were not authentic and the accused could not be convicted on the basis of that. He also brushed aside the prose-cution’s suggestion that Mobarak had been a razakar commander of Akhaura during the 1971 Liberation War.

Later, prosecutor Md Shahidur Rah-man stood for giving his rebuttal. There he faced too many questions to which he failed to give any answers.

Justice M Enayetur Rahim, chair-

man of the three-member panel, at � rst drew the attention of the prosecutor to the fact that he had submitted docu-ments of around 170 pages, but referred to only 10 or 15 pages before the court. “It seems that the investigation agency handed over the documents to you and you just rendered it before the tribunal.”

Couple of days ago, the tribunal asked the prosecutor to make sure that the list of razakars was collected from the dep-uty commissioner of Brahmanbaria. And at the � nal stage, when the tribunal reminded the prosecutor about it, Sha-hidur could not answer su� ciently.

Justice Rahim also showed how the investigation o� cer had left a footnote on a page of the prosecution documents and the prosecutor produced the doc-uments to the tribunal including that page even without erasing the footnote. The footnote mentioned that the docu-ment was photocopied and not attested.

When Shahidur pointed out on a “clerical mistake” where there were two versions of time (am and pm) in the formal charge, the tribunal said: “We cannot change any court record on your verbal submission.”

Shahidur with the help of his senior colleague Syed Haider Ali faced the tri-bunal and concluded promising that they would submit a petition for mak-ing the necessary corrections.

Defence lawyer Tajul opposed it saying in that case, they would need to cross examine the witnesses. The tri-bunal then said: “You will get time for hearing on this petition.” l

Zia trust cases deferred till June 19n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday deferred for the second time the recording of testimonies in Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust corruption cases.

Judge Basudev Roy of the Third Spe-cial Judge’s Court � xed June 19 follow-ing a defence petition.

On April 21, the witness deposition was deferred until yesterday following

another defence petition.Defence lawyer Sanaullah Miah said

the time plea had been lodged since two petitions regarding appointment of Judge Basudev Roy were pending with the High Court. The hearing will be held on May 25.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia � led the petitions on May 12 seeking a rule upon the authorities concerned asking why the judge’s appointment should not be

declared illegal as no o� cial gazette noti-� cation had been published following his appointment. The petition also sought a stay order on the cases’ trial proceedings.

The former prime minister, her son Tarique Rahman and others were in-dicted on March 19 in the two cases. On April 13, Khaleda � led two petitions with the High Court to annul the lower court order. The court rejected the pe-titions on April 23. l

Opposition Leader Rawshan Ershad speaks at a views-exchange meeting with journalists on parliament premises DHAKA TRIBUNE

134 private hajj agencies � ned Tk77 croren Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The Ministry of Religious A� airs has � ned 134 private hajj agencies Tk77 crore for their involvement in irregular-ities and mismanagement, including hu-man tra� cking and providing substan-dard services for last year’s hajj pilgrims.

The committee is said to have recommended cancellation of licences of eight agencies and suspension of 22 while clearing seven companies of the charges. The other agencies were � ned di� erent amounts, the highest being Tk1.82 crore and the lowest Tk75,000.

A three-member review committee, headed by Religious A� airs Secretary Chowdhury Md Babul Hasan, reviewed the allegations against the agencies and unanimously took the decision to � ne those. The other two members of the committee are Md Shahiduzzaman, joint secretary (administration), and Md Abdus Sakur, joint secretary (plan-ning) of the same ministry.

Of the agencies that were penalised, United International Travels was � ned Tk1.48 crore, Cascades Travels and Tours Tk1.82 crore, Janus Travels and Tours Tk1.04 crore, and Munira Travels and Tours Tk80 lakh.

Agencies that have had their licenc-es suspended are Bright Travels, Chit-tagong Royal Air Services, Chittagong Air International, Sincere Trade and Tourism, Air Connections Travel and

Tours, Al Hazi Travels and Tours, Irana Air International, Fiza Air Travels and Tours, Ahsania Malaysia Hajj Mission, Shamima Travels, Kibla Travels Lim-ited, Anjum Overseas, Nayem Inter-national Travels and Tours, Al Habib Hajj Group, Fahmid Travel and Tours, First One International, Imam Travels, MS Grand Sikder Air Travels, Mabruran Hajj Agency, Makka Babe Jannat Trav-els & Tours, S Ahmed Tours and Trav-els, and Ullash Tours and Travels.

Licences of United International Travels, Cascades Travels and Tours, Humayera Hajj Travels, Janus Travels and Tours, Jiarot E-Kaba Tours and Travels, Al Zia Travels, Salam Trading International, and Munira Travels and Tours were rec-ommended to be cancelled.

Meanwhile, agencies that were re-lieved from the charges include Sadek Travels, Al-Qibla Hajj Tours and Trav-els, Good Way Aviation & Tourism, My-mensingh Travels Agency, Saad Uswah Travels and Tours, Sajid Hajj Travels and Tours, and South Asian Air Bangladesh.

The measures were taken follow-ing investigation into allegations of human tra� cking in the name of hajj, violation of commitment to providing comfortable accommodation, inade-quate transport arrangement, supply of substandard food, and inadequate arrangement of tour guides.

Jahangir Alam, deputy secretary (hajj), told the Dhaka Tribune a committee was supposed to be formed earlier to take punitive measures against 193 private hajj agencies but later on, the review committee was formed to hear from the accused hajj agencies.

The Ministry of Religious A� airs, in a circular on May 18, directed all agencies to deposit the � nes in the government treasury through chalan (consignment receipt) code number (1-3501-0001-1901) and asked those to in-form the ministry by submitting copies of the chalan.

If an agency fails to pay the � ne by June 1, it will not be allowed to send pilgrims.

A total of 87,854 pilgrims performed hajj in October last year. Of them, 262 have not returned from Saudi Arabia.

Jahangir Alam said the punitive ac-tions had been taken upon recommen-dations from both Bangladesh and Sau-di Arabia o� cials.

The move will be a warning for other agencies so that they do not involve in any illegal practice, he added. l

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, May 22, 2014

More engagement in place to solve Rohingya issue Foreign secretary terms ‘de� cit of trust’ the main problem between the countriesn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Bangladesh and Myanmar will be more engaged with each other in an attempt to solve the Rohingya issue in the bor-der areas.

“I am told that the Myanmar pres-ident has given an indication that we should move in that direction. We have submitted an MoU [on security dia-logue]. Hopefully that will be signed this time around and we will have fo-cused discussions on security issues that are hurting the relationship be-tween us and them, including the issue of the movement of the people in that area,” said Foreign Secretary Md Sha-hidul Huq.

He was speaking at a seminar titled “Contemporary Thoughts on Enhanc-ing Bangladesh-Myanmar Relations” organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies in the city, yesterday.

A delegation from the Myanmar In-stitute of Strategic and International Studies (MISIS) also attended the pro-gramme.

Last year, Shahidul had proposed having the security dialogue during the foreign secretary-level meeting between Bangladesh and Myanmar in Dhaka. The Myanmar deputy foreign minister will come to Dhaka to have a foreign office consultation on June 18.

The foreign secretary said the Ro-hingya issue is a problem in the bilat-eral relationship and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during her meeting with Myanmar President U Thein Sein, had formally o� ered Bangladesh’s as-sistance in solving it.

Hasina also o� ered economic as-

sistance and expertise, if needed, to improve the situation in the Rakhine state, Shahidul said. “For the past year, the foreign o� ce has tried to create a space to have a dialogue to build the trust,” he added.

Shahidul said the main problem be-tween the two countries is a de� cit of trust, stating, “That is the main issue...The most important thing is to change the mindset.”

Bangladesh has shown all kinds of positive gestures as the prime minister has directed everyone “to create the most and best possible relationship with Myanmar,” said the foreign secre-tary.

Chiefs of three forces – army, navy and air – visited Myanmar while the Myanmar naval chief already visited Dhaka and the air force chief will be visiting Bangladesh, he said.

Director General of the Border Guard of Bangladesh will be going to Myanmar next month after a gap of � ve or six years to increase engagement be-tween the countries in order to secure the border, he added.

For the � rst time in 42 years, a Myanmar Frigate was allowed to cross the Naf River into Bangladesh and it is expected that Naypyidaw will recipro-cate such a positive gesture, Shahidul said.

A member of the MISIS, Ambassador U Wynn Lwin said Bangladesh, Myan-mar and the UNHCR have agreed that after veri� cation, Rohingyas in Bangla-desh will be accepted by the Myanmar side and the process to give them citi-zenship will begin.

He said many Rohingyas have re-jected the recent census in which they should have been accepted. l

Court summons 225 in arson casen Hasibur Rahman Bilu

A Bogra court yesterday summoned 225 accused, including Nandigram upazila parishad chairman, in the Nandigram Upazila Parishad Complex arson case.

All the accused were ordered to ap-pear before the court today.

Nandigram OC Md Shahjahan Ali said the case was � led after several hundred BNP-Jamaat activists led by Bogra district BNP’s Religious A� airs Secretary Fazle Rabbi Toha and upa-zila unit Jamaat Secretary Monjurul Rahman torched the upazila parishad complex. The incident occurred sur-rounding the rumour that the image of former Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee appeared on the moon.

The summon order was passed after police � led charge sheet against 225 peo-ple, including newly elected Nandigram UP Chairman Nurul Islam Mandal. l

Noorjehan Murshid’s birth anniversary todayn Tribune Report

The 89th birth an-niversary of Noor-jehan Murshid; a leading political � gure, education-ist, social reformer and writer, will be observed today.

Noorjehan, who was born on May 22 in 1925, who worked towards establish-ing a democratic and secular society. She actively took part in the movement against the British colonial rule in this sub-continent and also against the Paki-stani military rule. Her speech delivered at a joint session of Loksava and Rajyasa-va of India in 1971, as a special represen-tative of the Bangladesh government in exile, facilitated India’s all-out support for the liberation of Bangladesh.

A distinguished activist for women’s empowerment, Noorjehan was elect-ed a member of the then East Pakistan provincial legislative assembly and be-came � rst state minister for health and social welfare a� airs of independent Bangladesh in 1972.

Throughout her life, Noorjehan had complete conviction in progressive ideals for a modern and democratic Bangladesh, clean politics, a just soci-ety and equal rights. l

MPO still uncertain for new schoolsn Asif Showkat Kallol and

Mushfi que Wadud

Uncertainty surrounding the fate of the Monthly Payment Order (MPO) continues, with the Finance Ministry and Education Ministry at loggerheads with each other on whether to allocate funds in the next budget to bring in new non-government educational in-stitutions under the scheme.

At a meeting chaired by Prime Min-ister Sheikh Hasina at her o� ce on Sat-urday, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said there will be no fund allocated in the next national budget for the MPO scheme; a remark that was opposed by several ministers, including Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid.

A Finance Division o� cial who at-tended Saturday’s meeting quoted Muhith as saying the decision against the MPO was made as many lawmakers

are misusing MPO funds to acquire ille-gal � nancial bene� ts.

Although there have been many graft allegations surrounding the MPO scheme, many lawmakers and bureau-crats have been demanding that new educational institutions be included under the scheme; a demand which has also been raised by teachers since the inclusion of new institutions was suspended in 2010-11.

Sources said the prime minister also directed Muhith to solve the MPO di-lemma, as many lawmakers and di� er-ent ministries are urging for it.

Even though Muhith had previous-ly been vocal against the MPO scheme, the minister recently backtracked from his stance on the inclusion of educa-tional institutions in the MPO, report-edly in the face of mounting pressures from the lawmakers.

At a pre-budget meeting with the

parliamentary standing committees last week, Muhith said he will restart the MPO scheme, adding that he seeks to carry out reforms to ensure that the scheme will not be exploited.

Sources in the Finance Division also hinted that the budget for the next � scal – which is scheduled to be announced on June 5 – might elaborate on includ-ing new institutions under the MPO.

When asked about the issue, Ma-jor (retd) Ra� kul Islam (Bir Uttam), a member of the parliamentary body on the Planning Ministry, said lawmakers will not be able to face their electorates if special allocation is not given under the MPO. The discrimination in select-ing institutes under the MPO scheme should also be abolished, he added.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Na-hid said: “We are hoping the problem surrounding the MPO scheme will be solved soon as Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina is looking into the matter.”Claiming that a large number of

schools and colleges should be under the MPO system, the minister howev-er, admitted that the government has its � nancial constraints.

Although there were allegations of misusing MPO funds, there was tremen-dous pressure from di� erence quarters for the inclusion of new institutions un-der the MPO scheme, Nahid added.

According to the Education Minis-try, over 6,000 schools and colleges are eligible to be included under the MPO.

The government brought 1,624 schools and colleges under the MPO system and allocated Tk31 crore in the budget for the 2010-11 � scal, before sus-pending the scheme for new institutions.

The country currently has 352,661 teachers, at 25,894 educational institu-tions, who are enjoying bene� ts under the MPO scheme. l

Three upazila parishad polls on June 26n Mohammad Zakaria

Elections to three upazila parishads – Madaripur sadar, Nokla in Sherpur and Banchharampur in Brahmanbaria – will be held on June 26.

The Election Commission an-nounced the polls schedule of these three upazila parishads yesterday. The commission has also � xed the date for the polls of the postponed Narayanganj Bandar upazila parishad which had been stayed by the High Court. The election for the Narayanganj Bandar was supposed to be held on May 19.

Deputy Secretary of the EC Mihir Sarwar Morshed said the last date for � ling the nomination paper is May 29 and the nominations will be scru-tinised on June 3 as per the schedule.

The last day for withdrawing nomina-tions is June 8, he added.

June 9 has been � xed as the date of the Narayanganj Bandar upazila pari-shad polls.

Meanwhile, the EC has so far held elections for 471 upazilas out of 487. The � rst phase of polls in 97 upazilas was held on February 19, the second phase in 116 upazilas was held on Feb-ruary 27, the third phase in 81 upazilas was held on March 15, the fourth phase in 91 upazilas was held on March 23 and the � fth phase in 73 upazilas was held on March 31.

Earlier, the commission announced that polls for the newly formed Noldan-ga upazila in Natore and Rangabali in Patuakhali will be held on June 9 and 19, respectively. l

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

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

JU student dies in road crash, students torch four vehicles n JU Correspondent

The students of Jahangirnagar Univer-sity torched and vandalised several vehicles on the Dhaka-Aricha high-way yesterday, after a JU student was crushed to death by a pick-up van in front of the university’s Dairy Farm gate.

The deceased, Fatema Akhter, was the daughter of Afsar Alim of the Shola-baria area under the Ataikula police station in Pabna. She was a residential student of the Pritilata Hall of the uni-versity and a third year student of the JU Anthropology Department, sources said.

Witness said Fatema and some other passengers were waiting for a bus at around 4:45pm in front of the Dairy Farm gate, in order to return to Dhaka.

At this moment, a pick-up van driver lost control, and hit Fatema and two others, sources said. Critically injured, they were rushed to a private clinic in Savar, the Super Clinic, where the on-duty doctor declared Fatema dead.

Hundreds of JU students demon-

strated on the Dhaka-Aricha highway and put a blockade on the highway after they learned about the incident. The blockade resulted in huge tra� c congestion on the both sides of the road. Agitated students also torched four passenger buses and vandalised at least 25 vehicles on the road at around 8pm, sources said.

Meanwhile, the injured Rehana Ak-ter and Nurul Islam were shifted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital when their conditions deteriorated, sources added.

Con� rming the incident, JU Proctor Professor Dr Tapan Kumar Saha told the Dhaka Tribune: “A pick-up van crashed into Fatema and two other people. Fatema died on the spot. The driver and the vehicle were detained by the Savar police.”

The JU proctor said the authorities held a meeting after the accident and they are trying to pacify the agitated students. They also assured the stu-dents that they will take all possible steps regarding the accident, he added.

O� cer-in-Charge of the Ashulia po-lice station Badrul Alam was not avail-able to comment. l

A committee of the Religious A� airs Ministry recommends cancellation of licences of eight agencies and suspension of 22 others

WEATHER

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, May 22, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 3:48am Sunrise 5:13am Zohr 11:55am Asr 4:35pm Magrib 6:37pm Esha 8:02pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:37PM SUN RISES 5:13AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW43.2ºC 25.0ºC

Chuadanga Sylhet

THURSDAY, MAY 22

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 39 28Chittagong 34 27Rajshahi 43 29Rangpur 40 26Khulna 40 27Barisal 38 28Sylhet 37 24Cox’s Bazar 34 27

Government to empower upazila parishads � nanciallyn Mohosinul Karim

The government is likely to revive the � -nancial system of the upazila parishads by amending the local government act to empower them � nancially to enhance their domination on the public servants.

The initiative was taken considering the demands of the upazila parishad chairmen and following a recommen-dation of the national committee for reviewing the inconsistencies in the upazila parishad law.

The local government ministry has prepared a proposal for amending the law in the light of the recommen-dations put forward by the national committee led by Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.

It would be sent to the prime minis-ter � rst and then to the cabinet, minis-try o� cials told the Dhaka Tribune.

However, Monzur Hossain, senior

secretary of the Local Government Ministry, refused to make any com-ment in this regard.

Deputy Secretary Sobur Hossain told the Dhaka Tribunethat the initia-tive was at its primary stages.“It is not yet � nalised. The ministry is consid-ering the recommendations of the na-tional committee,” he said.

O� cials said the national commit-tee had recently approved the recom-mendations of a sub-committee led by Local Government Department’s Addi-tional Secretary Shah Kamal.

The sub-committee proposed the government to revive the 1984 upazila parishad � nancial system to empower the local government bodies.

According to the proposal, the min-istries and divisions will hand over the funds to the local government division. The division will disburse the fund in favour of the upazilaparishads.

According to ministry o� cials, � -nancial authority of the parishadswill eliminate the con� ict between the upa-zila level government high o� cials and the upazila chairmen.

The leaders of the upazila parishad chairmen’s association also agreed to the government’s thought.

Harun-or-Rashid Hawlader, a leader of the association, told the Dhaka Tri-bune: “The initiative is very positive. It will establish the parishad’s authority over the public servants, if the law is amended in line with the decision.”

He also suggested the government to amend the provision that governed the nomination process of the mem-bers of the upazilaparishad.

“The chairmen of union parishad dominatethe process of nominating members for the upazila bodies even though they are not elected members,” he added. l

Guidelines for examination of rape victims near completionn Moniruzzman Uzzal

The Health Ministry is set to � nalise a comprehensive guideline for how to examine rape victims and submit it to the High Court.

Dr Habibuzzaman Chowdhury, member secretary of the 10-member committee that is preparing the guide-line, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that a comprehensive guideline is al-most � nalised; at the most recent com-mittee meeting on May 12.

Another meeting would be held tomorrow to make any � nal adjust-ment to the guideline if needed, then submitted before the court soon, said Habibuzzaman, also the head of fo-rensic medicine department of Dhaka Medical College.

According to the guideline, a copy of which has been acquired by the Dhaka Tribune, the police station would have to

record the rape case within three hours of primary investigation and proceed with sensitivity when handling the victim.

The victim would have to be sent quickly to a nearby hospital or health

complex, where her medicolegal ex-amination would be carried out by the emergency department. The examina-tion must be done with the victim’s consent and in the presence of an NGO worker or female police personnel.

The guideline also reads that no male doctors will be allowed to be present

during the examination, while recom-mending that female doctors and nurses must be appointed in every concerned health facilities that are carrying out the medicolegal examination of rape victims.

With the exception of emergencies, doctors will not be allowed to conduct a two-� nger test, while strict con� -dentiality will have to be maintained throughout the medicolegal process.

The court will also have to be sensitive while recording the statement of the vic-tim, while the victim is in safe custody by the magistrate court. The judge con-cerned will also have to � nish the pro-ceedings of the case as soon as possible.

On October 9 last year, Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Khurshid Alam Sarkar of the High Court Division Bench issued a ruling, directing the Health Ministry to prepare a compre-hensive guideline for the examination of rape victims. l

Impasse at Hili land port results in loss of Tk20cr n Our Correspondent, Dinajpur

The continued strike at the Hili port, the second largest land port of the country, has caused losses worth Tk20 crore over the last eight days.

SM Maniruzzaman Chowdhury, rev-enue o� cer (customs) of the port, said importers and exporters operating at the port have incurred losses amounting Tk12 crore over the last eight days due to the continued strike at the Hili port.

The government was also deprived of about Tk8 crore, which would have been raised in taxes.

Hili Customs C&F Association, Kuli Sramik Samannoi Committee, Truck Sra-mik Samannoi Parishad and Truck Own-ers’ Association called the strike, making a three-point demand, including an end to their alleged harassment by the BGB. Yesterday was the eighth day of the strike.

Hili C&F Agent Association Secre-tary Shahinur Islam Shahin said about 150 Indian trucks, carrying imported products, enter Bangladesh daily. “Over

1,500 such trucks are stuck on the Indi-an side of the border. As a result, perish-able products like onion, � sh and fruits have gone bad,” he added.

On the Bangladesh side of the bor-der, about 110 trucks have also been waiting to enter India.

SM Hayder, assistant manager of the port’s private operator Panama Port Ltd, said: “We are incurring losses worth Tk50 lakh daily and the porters who are depen-dent on the port activities are miserable because they are currently jobless.”

Harun-ur Rashid, the leader of the Hili Land Port Importers’ Association, blamed the Border Guard Bangladesh 3 battalion for the strike, because the lo-cal importers are protesting the system the BGB adopted on April 27 of issuing a pass card, the “Manifesto Card” (the card states production place and date of products), to the Indian trucks, claim-ing it to be a time consuming system.

Harun also threatened to go for tougher movement unless their de-mands were met. l

ACC questions Muktijoddha Council o� cials n Tribune Report

The Anti-Corruption Commission yes-terday questioned a deputy secretary and � ve o� cials from Jatiya Muktijod-dha Council with regard to its probe against six secretaries who had alleged-ly forged freedom � ghter certi� cates to extend their retirement age.

Liberation War A� airs Ministry Deputy Secretary M Nur Alam, Council’s Director General Syed Mahbub Ahsan, directors AKM Khairul Alam and AKM Ali Ahad Khan, Deputy Director Masudul Haque and its O� ce Secretary Menhaz were questioned at the ACC headquarters.

The ACC is currently conducting in-quiries on how the six secretaries had obtained freedom � ghter certi� cates prior to their retirement.

According to a circular, one has to de-clare himself as a freedom � ghter at the time of joining any service to avail the bene� ts allotted to the freedom � ghters. Such claims may not be considered later.

The six secretaries, who are under the ACC scrutiny, are Health Secretary Niaz Uddin, Liberation War A� airs Secretary KH Masud Siddiqui, Science and Technology A� airs Secretary AKM Amir Hossain, Housing and Public Works Secretary Khandaker Shawkat Hossain, Prime Minister’s former sec-retary Mollah Waheduzzaman, and Liberation War A� airs Joint Secretary Abul Kashem Talukder. l

Benapole mayor denies abduction allegation n Our Correspondent, Jessore

Benapole municipality Mayor Ashraful Alam Liton has denied his involvement in the alleged kidnapping of Tariqul Alam Tuhin, panel mayor of the munic-ipality.

“Tuhin was my best friend. He was my political fellow for 22 years. I am not involved in his abduction,” said Liton while addressing a press confer-ence at Jessore Press Club yesterday.

“Some vested quarters are spread-ing the propaganda against me,” he observed.

Tuhin is also the former president of Sharsha upazila unit of Chhatra League. On May 18, his wife Salma Akhter claimed at a press brie� ng that her husband was abducted by RAB on March 7 last year from the capital.

She also alleged Liton played a

role in her husband’s abduction as he (Tuhin) would protest against Liton’s wrongdoings.

“Tuhin disappeared on March 7 last year after he went out of the NAM � at of lawmaker Sheikh A� l Uddin around 11:30am. The last conversation we had was around 9:17am. He has not re-turned since then,” said Salma.

“I think RAB abducted him as he was on his way to Hazrat Shahjalal Interna-tional Airport because their activities raised my suspicion,” she further said.

In charge of Jessore camp of RAB 6, Major Md Masudur Rahman said alle-gations against RAB o� cials suddenly rose in the wake of some incidents in the recent past.

“RAB was not involved in the act. I do not know what happened back then because no complaint was lodged at the time,” he added. l

Temperature crosses 42 degrees in Rajshahi n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

As the ongoing heat wave continues to loom over the entire nation, residents of Rajshahi yesterday experienced the highest temperature recorded this year.

Temperature in the district had been on the rise for the past few days, and yesterday it was recorded at 42.1 de-gree Celsius. Anowara Begum, senior observer at the district’s met o� ce, told the Dhaka Tribune that it was not only the highest temperature this year, but in the past 14 years.

“The last time the temperature crossed 42 degree Celsius in Rajshahi was in 2000,” she said. The scorching heat has made life miserable for the Rajshahi res-idents. The frequent power cuts caused by the increased power consumption has only worsened the situation. l

Transport strike causes su� erings n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

The Rajshahi Bus Truck Malik Shromik Oikya Parishad held a protest rally at the city’s bus terminal yesterday to bring attention to their six-point demand.

Due to the strike, no vehicle left Ra-jshahi causing immense su� erings to the commuters. The rally was held at the Shaheed AHM Kamruzzaman Bus Terminal around 4pm.

The bus owners and transport work-ers called the strike despite knowing that their decision would cause su� er-ing to people, said a commuter.

Suvomita Choudhury, a master’s stu-dent of Rajshahi University, who was also waiting for a bus for two hours in rail gate area, � nally started walking towards the railway station to catch a train.

She told the Dhaka Tribune that the transport workers in Bangladesh call

strike now and then for their own in-terest without considering the plight of the commuters. Sources say the as-sociation’s primary demand is stopping of extortion by highway police. Their other demands include stopping the movement of three-wheelers (popular-ly known as nasimon, karimon), can-cellation of road permits for CNG-run auto rickshaws, reduction of renewal fees for vehicles, and to discontinue the BRTC bus services at upazila levels.

Rajshahi Road Transport Group President Enamul Haque, General Sec-retary Munjur Rahman Pitar, among others, spoke at the rally.

Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner Mezbah Uddin Ahmed, however, said he would convene a meeting imme-diately with the bus owners, workers, and the o� cials concerned as soon as possible to resolve the issue. l

European Union and Oxfam organise human rights fair n Tribune Report

Oxfam and the European Union joint-ly organised a human rights fair in Sylhet with a festive inauguration to celebrate the World Day for Cultural Di-versity for Dialogue and Development,yesterday.

Four journalists were honoured at the event for their courageous report-ing on the rights of the indigenouspeople.

European Union Delegation Chief William Hanna, Oxfam Country Di-rector Snehal Soneji, Ethnic Com-munity Development Organisation Executive Director Lakshimkanta Singh and many other representa-tives from civil society, media and lo-cal administration made speeches at the inauguration programme. Human rights activist Sultana Kamal was thechief guest.

William Hanna said: “Bangladesh has a rich culture with diverse com-munities of ethnic minorities and in-digenous peoples, but they often su� er because their rights are violated. To protect their rights, the whole society must stand together.

“Here in Sylhet, we have also seen the important role the media plays in protecting the rights of the most vul-nerable.”

The Human Rights Fair was orga-nized under the project “Strengthening the Voice of Human Rights Defenders to Protect the Rights and Entitlements of Ethnic Minorities.”

Total funding for the project, under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), amounts to €375,000. Currently, the EIDHR is funding more than 1200 projects in over 100 countries. l

Dr Habibuzzaman says a meeting will be held tomorrow to make any � nal adjustment to the guidelines if needed

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

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

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, May 22, 2014

Erosion devouring arable land, establishments on 4 riverbanks n Our Correspondent, Bogra

Around 3,666 hectares of agricultural land and 485 hectares of land taken up by settlements along the banks of the Jamuna, Ganges, Padma and lower Meghna Rivers will disappear due to erosion, this year.

The river erosion will also render about 35 thousand people, landless.

In 2013 the Jamuna, Ganges and Padma eroded away about 3190 hec-tares of agricultural land.

The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and Centre for Envi-ronmental and Geographic Informa-tion Services (CEGIS) have prepared a prediction report in April through the analysis of satellite images.  

According to the report, around 137

establishments including 64 educa-tional institutions, eight government o� ces and 41 mosques of 21 districts located along the banks of those four rivers will disappear.

Around 55 educational institutions of seven districts on either side of the Jamuna River, including Bogra, will go under water.

The BWDB Bogra Circle O� ce sourc-es said the department identi� ed sev-eral vulnerable points including Chan-danvaisha in the Shariakand upazila, Bogra and Bahoka Simla in the Siraj-ganj Sadar upazila.

AKM Momtaz Uddin, an engineer with the BDWD, Bogra said: “The Ja-muna River erosion threatens around 4 kilometres of embankment along the right bank in the Chandanvaisha area.”

“We have posted tenders for 25000 Geo-textile bags to protect from river erosion in Bogra,” said Momtaz Uddin.

BWDB and CEGIS sources said at least 1,79,257 hectares of agricultural land has been eroded between 1974 and 2014.

They predicted that around 8,596 meters of road will be completely de-stroyed this year.

According to the previous publica-tion of the CEGIS, the rate of erosion by the Jamuna River was 5,000 hectares a year in the 1980s in Kurigram, Gaiband-ha, Jamalpur, Bogra, Sirajgang, Tangail and Manikganj. 

In the 1990s, erosion by the Padma River was 2,300 hectares a year in Farid-pur, Shariatpur, Dhaka, Madaripur and Manikganj. l

Indian national detained n Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon

An Indian national was detained by the Border Guard Bangladesh in the Kochol frontier area of the Pirganj upazila, yes-terday.

According to sources, Bashonta Roy, 45, of the Kourisingjat village in Darjeeling, West Bengal, had entered Bangladesh a month ago illegally.

He was arrested when he was trying to cross the border into India and was sent to jail.

Mohammad Ishtiak, o� cer-in-charge of the Pirganj police station, con� rmed the incident. l

Husband beats female schoolteacher to deathn Our Correspondent, Sirajganj

A female schoolteacher was allegedly beaten to death by her husband and in-laws over a family feud in the Mul-kandi village of the Chauhali upazila on Tuesday.

Locals said Ha� za Khatun, 25, assis-tant teacher of a local primary school, was beaten to death by her husband Shamim Hossain over a triviality.

Later, Shamim and his family mem-bers � ed the scene, leaving the body at home.

On receiving information about this, police recovered the body and sent it to the hospital for an autopsy.

Waheduzzaman, o� cer-in-charge of the Enayetpur police station, said the body bore several injury marks.

A case was � led. l

Journalist found dead in Chuadangan Our Correspondent, Chuadanga

Police recovered the body of a local journalist from the Mominpur Railway Station area of the district, yesterday.

According to the deceased family members, Sadrul Alam Nipul, 38, a correspondent of the Dainik Mathabhanga, a local daily, and the son of late Nur Mohammad, had gone out the night before after receiving a call from an unknown number on his mobile phone.

He did not return home.

SI Khorshed Alam of the GRP said locals spotted Nipul’s body lying on the rail line and informed the police.

On receiving this information, police recovered the body and sent it to the Chuadanga Sadar Hospital morgue.

Local UP Chairman Golam Faruk Joardhar said miscreants had killed Nipul somewhere else and had later dumped his body at the station.

Munshi Asaduzzaman, o� cer-in-charge of the Sadar police station said the motive for this murder can only be known after an investigation.

A case was � led. l

50 including UP chairman injured in clash n Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj

At least 50 people including UP char-man and women were injured yester-day in a clash between two rival groups over previous enmity in Tarail upazila of the district.

According to police and local sources, two groups led by Azizul Haque and Hadis Mia of Gojaria village in the upazila were locked a � rece clash with homemade lethal weapons over previous enmity around 10:30am at Gojaria area, leving 50 injured including Damiha Union Parishad Chairman Mainuzzaman Nobab.

Of them, 30 were admitted to Kishoreganj Adhunik Sadar Hospital and Tarail Upazila Health Complex while others were given � rst aid.

The UP chairman was injured as he went to stop the clash. l

20km Sirajganj road project in uncertainty n Our Correspondent, Sirajganj

A cloud of uncertainty shrouds a 20-kilometre by-lane road construction project in Sirajganj as it is yet to be � n-ished, even though its deadline expired in April 2012.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina un-veiled the Soydabad-Belkuchi-Enayet-pur road project on April 9, 2011 after roadwork on it had begun in October 2010.

O� cials at the Roads and Highways Department said they can neither re-place National Civil Engineering Con-struction Limited with another con-tracting � rm nor can they have the project fast-tracked.

There is a risk that the project will be delaying further or that it may be scrapped for an uncertain period of time in case the present contractors cannot be replaced with another � rm, they explained.

Meanwhile, allegations have also been raised against the � rm for not using the right measures of bitumen and sand and for using low-quality brick chips to the construct part of the road.

On Saturday, Joint Secretary of the Communication Ministry Mahbubur Rahman visited the project and ex-pressed his dissatisfaction with the construction work done on the road.

He said lower proportions of sand and bitumen have been used under and above the road, respectively, and warned the Roads and Highways engineers to monitor the project properly.

This correspondent visited the half of the road that has thus far been com-pleted and found cracks and potholes. He also found the road had collapsed in the recent rainfall because slopes had not been made on both sides of the road.

When questioned, former Fisher-ies and Livestock Minister Abdul Latif

Biswas said he knew about all this and had complained to the Communica-tions Ministry about it quite a number of times.

Sub-Assistant Engineer Iqbal Hos-sain said, “We are embarrassed about the project.”

“A team from the Communication Ministry, led by its Joint Secretary Mahbubur Rahman, visited the project on Saturday and found irregularities in the amount of sand used in some areas of the constructed part of the road,” he added.

“The joint secretary suggested set-ting that right as soon as possible,” he said.

Sub-Divisional Engineer-1 Ashraful Islam frankly admitted that irregulari-ties, slowness and delays have ham-pered the project.

“The deadline for the project ex-pired two years ago. The road construc-tion cost was estimated in 2008 and so it is not possible to have the work done well now,” he said.

“We cannot � ne the contractors or post a new tender because it may fur-ther delay the project for an uncertain period of time and so we are having the project completed by the present contractors as best as we can,” he ex-plained.

Executive Engineer at the Roads and Highways Department Moniruzzaman said, “We appointed Dhaka’s National Civil Engineering Construction Limited in two agreements for the implementa-tion of the project.”

“The � rst part of the project is almost � nished. The second part - Belkuchi to Enayetpur – of the project will begin in the next � scal year. If the current contracting � rm cannot do that, we will � nd an alternative,” he added.

National Civil Engineering Con-struction Limited’s Project Manager Yusuf Haidar Sujon Ahmed could not be contacted over the phone. l

Two murdered in Kushtian Our Correspondent, Kushtia

At least two people were murdered in the district yesterday in two separate incidents.

According to sources, a young man, Esha Khan, 35, was allegedly killed by his relatives over an altercation regard-ing land ownership in the Kunthiar Char area of the Mirpur upazila.

Sources said Esha was given own-ership of a piece of land by his father few days ago. The incident made his

brother Molakka and sister Delwara very unhappy.

Subsequently, Molakka and Delwara attacked him at night, slashing up his body, and leaving him critically injured.

Other family members rescued him and got him admitted to the Kushtia Medical College and Hospital where on-duty doctors declared him dead.

Police later arrested Molakka and Delwara.

Bheramara Circle Additional Super-intendent of police Ashik Bin Hassan

con� rmed the incident.In the Gangarampur area of the Daul-

atpur upazila, a young man, Mujibar, 22, was hacked to death for allegedly pluck-ing mangoes from an orchard.

Police sources said Mujibar was plucking mangoes in Imtiaz’s orchard in the morning. They got into a � ght over the incident and at one stage, Im-tiaz hacked Mujibar to death.

On receiving this information, po-lice recovered the body and sent it to a hospital morgue. A case was � led. l

Outlaw hacked to death by rivals in Pabnan Our Correspondent, Pabna

Rivals murdered a member of the out-lawed Purba Banglar Communist Party in the Sathia upazila of the district, yes-terday.

SM Faruque Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of the Sathia police station said, Chand Ali Mollah, 45, a member of the banned extremist group Purba Banglar Communist Party [Lal Pataka] and the

son of late Abed Ali of Madhpur vil-lage, left his house at around midnight yesterday, because the miscreants had called him out.

They then slashed at Ali mercilessly, and left his body in nearby jute � eld, said Faruque.

On receiving this information, the police recovered the body.

The police said he might have been killed because of an internal con� ict. l

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

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-Receiving Tender Document Bangladesh Bank Website, http://www.bb.org.bd-Opening Tender Document Common Services Department-1, 6th Floor, Annex-2 Building, Bangladesh Bank, Head

Offi ce, Dhaka.INFORMATION FOR TENDERER

20 Eligibility for Tendering Tenderers having 05 years overall business experience and 03 years specifi c experience in successful Supply and Installation of proposed goods in any Govt./Semi-Govt./Autonomous Organizations or Multinational Registered Companies in Bangladesh.

21 Brief Description of Goods or Works Supply and Installation of 1000 (One thousand) Client Access License of Microsoft Exchange 2013 for Bangladesh Bank, Head Offi ce.

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1 Lot-1: 1,000 (One thousand) Client Access License of Microsoft Exchange 2013.

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PROCURING ENTITY DETAILS24 Name of Offi cial Inviting Tender K.M. Gousuzzaman25 Designation of Offi cial Inviting Tender General Manager.26 Address of Offi cial Inviting Tender Common Services Department-1, Bangladesh Bank, Head Offi ce, Dhaka.27 Contact Details of Offi cial Inviting

TenderTel: 9530148 Fax: 9564117 E-mail: km.gousuzzaman@bb.org.bd

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Consequences ofnon-appearance of parties in civil litigationsn Raisul Islam Sourav

Appearance and non-appearance of parties during trial before the court is a crucial issue to

resolve civil dispute. Because, mere appearance or non- appearance can determine the ultimate result of a civil litigation. The provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), 1908 are based on a general principle that, as far as possible, no proceeding in a court of law should be conducted to the detriment of any party in his/her absence. Also it is the duty of the concern party to be aware of his rights, show vigilance towards the court and establish his/her claim by taking proper measures.

In law, appearance means appearance in person or through advocate for conducting a case. However, appearance by a pleader within the meaning of CPC does not mean mere presence in the court; it means “appearance by a pleader” duly instructed and able to answer all material questions relating to the suit.

Effect of non-appearance of the plaintiff

On the � rst day of a trial, if it is found that the summons which need to be served upon the defendant has not been served properly in consequence of the failure of the plainti� to pay the court-fee or postal charges payable for such service, the court may dismiss the suit for the default of the plainti� .

Again, on the date of peremptory hearing, if the plainti� does not show up but the defendant appears before the court, the suit will be dismissed accordingly unless the defendant admits the whole claim or any part of it. In the latter case the court shall pass a decree against the defendant upon such admission, and, shall dismiss the part of the claim not admitted.

Remedies against such dismissal

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

fold options to revive his/her case. However, where concurrent remedies are available at the same time it is the duty of the concerned lawyer to choose the best one for the protection of the rights of his/her client. In that case the remedies are:

a) Filing a fresh suit on the same cause of action before the competent court

b) The plainti� may � le a petition to set the dismissal order aside. The petitioner shall have 30 days to � le the petition from the date of cancellation of such suit. After the expiry of that 30 days the petitioner has another chance to � le the petition by virtue of Section 5 of the Limitation Act.

Apart from these, in case of dismissal of suit for non-attendance, the defaulter may � le an application to set aside the dismissal order by swearing an a� davit to the concerned court within 30 days from the date of such dismissal order, along with a fee of not more than Tk1,000.

Effect of non-appearance of the defendant

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

the court at that day, only for non-appearance of the defendant and the plainti� will get an ex parte decree from the court.

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

Remedies against such ex parte decree

If an ex parte decree has been passed against the defendant then the defendant has to take any of the following � ve actions against such decision:

1. The defendant may � le a petition by swearing an a� davit within 30 days from the decision of the trial court to set aside the decree with a � ne of not more than Tk3,000 and the defendant can get this opportunity once in a suit according to the provision of the Code of Civil Procedure.

2. The defendant may apply for setting aside the ex parte decree after showing su� cient cause and substantial reason for not appearing before the court. However, the term “su� cient cause” has not been de� ned anywhere in the Code, it is a question of fact and it will be determined considering the fact and circumstances of each case.

3. The defendant may � le an appeal under section 96 of the CPC to reverse the decision of the trial court.

4. The defendant may � le a review petition before the same decision making trial court to set aside its former decision.

5. The a� ected party may � le an independent suit for cancellation of the decree under the Speci� c Relief Act, 1887.

Consequences of non-appearanceof both the parties

If both the contesting parties (plainti� and defendant) remain absent from the hearing on the date of peremptory or � nal hearing, the suit may be dismissed by the court. In that case, both the parties have the same remedy that a claimant has against an order of dismissal for non-appearance.

Finally, non-appearance of parties in a civil litigation has a great impact upon the whole proceedings of the case.

It is the duty of both the parties to appear before the learned court at appropriate time and to cooperate with the court to settle the dispute e� ectively. l

Raisul Islam Sourav is a Senior Lecturer and Coordinator, Department of Law at Dhaka International University (DIU).

JurisDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, May 22, 2014 7

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There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice. Charles de Montesquieu

(1689 – 1755)French social commentator

and political thinker

n ABM Imdadul Haque Khan

Acording to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948, all persons are guaranteed the right to life, liberty

and security of person, freedom from slavery, freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, the right to be recognised as a person before law, and equality before the law.

Obligation under international instruments

Bangladesh is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the UNHCR Statute. However, Bangladesh has rati� ed a number of major international human rights instruments. Among them the signi� cant ones are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Four Geneva Convention of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Convention Against Torture (CAT) etc. All of these instruments have a bearing upon Bangladesh’s obligation to protect refugees.

Even though the refugees are foreigners in the country of asylum, by virtue of Article 2 of the ICCPR, 1966, they could enjoy the same fundamental rights and freedoms as nationals. The right to equality before the law, equal protection of the law and non-discrimination which form a cornerstone of international human rights laws call for banning discrimination against refugees based on their status as such.

The Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Conference on Human Rights also rea� rmed the right of every person to seek and enjoy asylum. Furthermore, the CRC also obliges the state parties to take care of the interest and rights of the refugee children including their birth registration.

In addition to the above

instruments, Bangladesh voted for the United Nations Declaration on Territorial Asylum in the General Assembly, which strengthens its obligations of protection, asylum and non-refoulment. Bangladesh is also a party to the International Labour Organization’s Convention Number 118, which provides for social security to refugees and stateless persons living in the territory of the signatory state.

Additionally, Bangladesh has been a member of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme (EXCOM) since 1995. EXCOM, a body composed of 94 governments, oversees UNHCR’s budgets and advises on refugee protection. Bangladesh’s membership in the EXCOM is certainly indicative of its particular interest and greater commitment to refugee matters.

Obligation under constitutional framework

The constitution of Bangladesh upholds the right to life and liberty of all individual. Not only is the life of a citizen of Bangladesh guaranteed, but also everyone who inhabits the terrain of this country is assured of protection in respect of life and liberty.

The fundamental principles of state policy as mentioned in the constitution essentially re� ect international law and the principles enunciated in the UN Charter. Article 25 of the Constitution provides that “the State shall base its international relations on the principles of respect for ... international law and the principles enunciated in the United Nations Charter.”

The UN Charter, in its preamble, speci� cally refers to the rea� rmation of “faith in fundamental rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small. The Charter in its articles of 1, 55 and 62 reiterates the observance of human rights for all peoples of the world.

Part III of the Constitution guarantees a series of fundamental human rights, drawing heavily from the international human rights discourse. For example Article 27 of the Constitution provides equal protection of law for all. Article 31 provides that

not only the citizens are entitled to have the protection of law but the foreigners (non-citizen) who stay in the country for the time being are also entitled to have so. Furthermore, Article 32 states that “no person shall be deprived of life and liberty save in accordance with law.”

It is to be noted that the word ‘person’ and not ‘citizen’ has been used in the Articles and therefore it is argued that no person, irrespective of whether she/he is a citizen of Bangladesh, can be deprived of her/his life or liberty once that person is on the soil of Bangladesh. The Constitution also guarantees right to life and personal liberty; safeguards from arbitrary arrest and detention; prohibition of forced labour; right of fair trial; freedom of movement, assembly, association, freedom of expression, profession or occupation, religion; right to property, etc.

However, for the translation and execution of these constitutional provisions in the interest of the refugees, needs comprehensive legal interpretations and pro-active initiatives from the government. Till now, there is no signi� cant indication in this regard.

In regards to statutory framework, there is no domestic law or speci� c national policy governing the protection of refugees in Bangladesh. In practice, foreigners, irrespective of asylum seekers or simply visitors are treated here under the purview of aged old laws which are inadequate to meet the need of the time.

The inadequate statutory framework dealing with refugees in Bangladesh o� ers a stark contrast to the fundamental rights in the Constitution and increasingly evolved norms and principles under international refugee law. The statutory framework does not even acknowledge refugees as a separate class of people deserving separate treatment. However, the relative success of Bangladesh’s policy of dealing with refugees in an ad hoc manner without committing itself to a general statutory framework has silenced demands for a legislation concerning refugees as a separate class. To understand the law governing refugees, it would be useful

to examine the respective regulatory framework to deal with refugees.

Legislations dealing with refugees

• Foreigners Act, 1946• Foreigners Order, 1951• Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939, • Registration of Foreigners Rules, 1966• Passports Act, 1920• Passport Rules, 1955• Bangladesh Passport Order, 1973• Citizenship Act, 1951• Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary

Provisions) Order, 1972, • Bangladesh Control of Entry Act, 1952• Extradition Act, 1974• Naturalization Act, 1926• Code of Civil Procedure, 1908• Children Act, 2013

These laws make no distinction between refugees and other foreigners. Using the wide discretionary powers derived from Section 3 of the Foreigners Act of 1946, the Ministry of Home A� airs may issue residential permits to any foreigner, and it is on this basis that a large number of UNHCR-recognised mandate refugees have been able to secure “stay” facilities which are issued to mandate refugees on the basis of an informal recognition of the UNHCR-issued refugee certi� cates.

However, the constitutional laws and ordinary laws through judicial process alone are not su� cient and adequate to deal with the refugee problem in Bangladesh. Arguably, these laws are not made for such speci� c purposes. Hence, speci� c legislation relating to the treatment and welfare of refugees is necessary.

Considering the huge size of refugee population inside Bangladesh and recurrent history of refugee phenomenon in the South Asian region due to a number of reasons, it is also necessary to enact a national law which would provide speci� c guidelines to the implementing agencies to uphold the refugee cause. The need of the hour is to have a well-de� ned national refugee law. l

ABM Imdadul Haque Khan is a Lecturer, Southeast University, Dhaka.

It is the duty of both the parties to appear before the learned court at appropriate time and to cooperate with the court to settle the dispute e� ectively

SYED LATIF HOSSAIN

BIG STOCK

RIO SHUVO

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Bangladesh’s obligation towards refugees

Thursday, May 22, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Blasts kill at least 118 in Nigerian Reuters, Jos, Nigeria

Back-to-back bomb blasts killed at least 118 people and wounded 45 in the crowded business district of the central Nigerian city of Jos on Tuesday, emer-gency services said, in an attack that appeared to bear the hallmarks of the Boko Haram insurgents.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the militant group Boko Haram, which has set o� bombs across the north and center of Nigeria in an increasingly bloody campaign for an Islamic state, was likely to be the prime suspect in what would rank among their deadliest single attacks in � ve years of insurrection.

Boko Haram grabbed world head-lines by abducting more than 200 schoolgirls on April 14 from the north-eastern village of Chibok. Britain, the United States and France have pledged to help rescue them.

If the Jos attack was the handiwork of Boko Haram, it would show their growing reach in Africa’s top oil pro-ducing and most populous country, striking out beyond their heartland in Nigeria’s semi-arid and weakly gov-erned northeast. Several bombs have exploded outside that region over the past month.

It was also likely calculated to stoke civil strife in Nigeria’s most combusti-ble ethnic and sectarian tinder box. Jos and the surrounding Plateau state have seen thousands killed in tit-for-tat vio-lence between largely Christian Berom farmers and Muslim Fulani cattle herd-ers over the past decade.

A Reuters reporter saw 10 bod-ies burned beyond recognition at the bomb site opposite a hospital at Terminus, the downtown area of Jos which houses shops, some o� ces and a market.

“We’ve now recovered 118 bodies

from the rubble,” said Mohammed Ab-dulsalam, coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency in Jos. “This could rise by morning, as there is still some rubble we haven’t yet shifted.”

Plateau state Police Commissioner Chris Olakpe earlier con� rmed a death toll of 46, adding that other wounded had been taken to hospital.

“The � rst explosive went o� around 3 p.m. The second was about 3:30 while people gathered to help the victims,” he said by telephone. “This is a very busy area of Jos metropolis.”

The back-to-back blast tactic, whose aim is to maximize civilian casualties, has also been used by militants in Iraq and other places.

Jos has been relatively free of at-tacks by Boko Haram, but it claimed responsibility for a bomb in a church in the highland city, as well as two other places, on Christmas Day in 2011. l

Christian exodus shadows papal visit to Holy Landn AP, Bethlehem

Pope Francis will arrive this weekend in the land where Christianity was born — and where Christians are disappearing.

This ancient community has dwin-dled to around 2% of the region’s pop-ulation as economic hardship, violence and the bitter realities of the Israe-li-Palestinian con� ict have sent Chris-tians searching for better opportunities overseas.

The Christian exodus, underway for decades, has reached critical levels in recent years. Emigration is a central concern to local Vatican o� cials, who are trying to stave o� the � ight with of-fers of jobs, housing and scholarships.

“I a m sad to think that maybe the time will come in which Christianity will disappear from this land,” said the Rev. Juan Solana, a Vatican envoy who oversees the Notre Dame center, a Je-rusalem hotel for pilgrims that employs 150 locals, mostly Christians.

Solana said he employs Christians to encourage them “to stay here, to love this land, to be aware of their par-ticular vocation to be the witnesses

of Christianity in this land.”The Christian exodus is taking place

across the Middle East. Jordan, where Pope Francis will begin his three-day trip Saturday, has thousands of Christian refugees from war-torn Syria and Iraq.

For the Church, the phenomenon is particularly heartbreaking in the cradle of Christianity. According to Christian tradition, Jesus was born in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, spent much of his life in Nazareth and the northern Galilee region of Israel, and was cruci-� ed and resurrected in Jerusalem.

The pope said in a November speech that “we will not be resigned to think about the Middle East without Chris-tians,” lamenting that they “su� er particularly from the consequences of the tensions and con� icts underway” across the region.

Christians in the Holy Land have dwindled from over 10% of the popu-lation on the eve of Israel’s founding to between 2 and 3% today, according to the local Roman Catholic church.

The decline began with high Jewish immigration and Christian emigration after the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s

establishment, and has been abetted by continued emigration and a low birth-rate among Christians who stay.

Israeli restrictions in the occupied West Bank have also persuaded Chris-tians to leave.

The concrete and fence barrier Israel built to keep out Palestinian attackers has choked cities like Bethlehem and separated Palestinians from their farm-lands. Many Palestinian Christians are prohibited from entering Jerusalem ex-cept during holidays.

Israeli-Palestinian violence has also pushed people to leave, and instances of Islamic extremism, particularly in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, have made some Christians feel unwelcome in some cases, though relations between Palestinian Christians and Muslims are generally friendly.

West Bank Christians are preparing to share some of these grievances with Pope Francis, and artisans are fashion-ing a cross with cement pieces of Isra-el’s barrier for the Palestinian president to give the pope.

Sources say an estimated 80% of Christian Palestinians live abroad. l

Egypt court sentences Mubarak to three years in jail for graftn AFP, Cairo

An Egyptian court yesterday sentenced deposed president Hosni Mubarak to three years in prison on corruption charges, in one of two trials after the 2011 uprising that ended his rule.

His sons Alaa and Gamal each re-ceived four-year jail terms, and four other defendants were acquitted.

They were accused of embezzling more than one hundred million Egyp-tian pounds (about $14m, 10m euros) earmarked for the maintenance of presidential palaces.

Mubarak, 86, wearing a grey suit, sat on a wheelchair in the caged dock for the verdict. His sons, in white prison issue clothing, stood beside him.

Mubarak had technically been a free man after a court ordered his release last year following the end of the permitted detention period, but has since remained out of sight in a military hospital.

He is now likely to be returned to prison.

“The owners of public property are the people,” said judge Osama Shaheen

before reading out the verdict.“We will appeal,” Mostafa Ali As,

one of Mubarak’s lawyers, told AFP af-ter the ruling.

Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 over the killings of pro-testers during the 18-day uprising that ended his three-decade rule.

A court overturned that verdict on technical grounds, and he is now being retried along with seven police com-manders.

He also faces corruption charges in that trial, along with his sons and a businessman who � ed the country.

Mubarak’s trial was a key demand of protesters in the months after his over-throw, prompting the then ruling mil-itary to arrest him in a resort villa and move him to a Cairo prison.

The country has moved on since, with the rehabilitation of many Mubarak era o� cials and his once de-spised police forces following the over-throw of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July.

Former military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who had served as Mubarak’s

military intelligence chief, is expected to sweep to victory in a presidential election next week.

Sisi has promised that there will be no return to Mubarak’s venal regime. But he will keep on interim prime min-ister Ibrahim Mahlab, once a senior member of Mubarak’s National Demo-cratic Party.

The party itself is still banned, and a court has issued a ruling banning for-mer senior party members from stand-ing in parliamentary elections sched-uled for later this year.

The police too enjoy new levels of popularity, despite a brutal crackdown that has killed more than 1,400 people, mostly Islamists, in the months follow-ing Morsi’s overthrow.

Many now blame Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, not the police, for vio-lence during the anti-Mubarak rebellion.

The Islamist Morsi is himself now on trial on charges relating to violence during the anti-Mubarak uprising, and also later involvement in the killings of opposition protesters during his sole year in power. l

Prince Charles ‘compares Putin to Hitler’n AFP, London

Prince Charles was mired in controversy yesterday after he reportedly compared the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine to those of Adolf Hitler.

The heir to the throne made the appar-ently unguarded comment during a trip to a museum in Canada, in conversation with a Polish-born woman who had � ed the Nazis as a child.

“I had � nished showing him the exhibit and talked with him about my own family background and how I came to Canada,” Marienne Ferguson told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.

“The prince then said: ‘And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler’.”

Ferguson, now 78, moved to Canada with her Jewish family when she was 13. She lost relatives in the Holocaust.

“I must say that I agree with him and am sure a lot of people do,” she told the newspaper.

But she added: “I was very surprised that he made the comment as I know they (the royal family) aren’t meant to say these things, but it was very heartfelt and honest.”

The remark made headlines around the world, and Russian media said it threat-ened to further “complicate” relations between Britain and Moscow.

The future king and Putin are both attending commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day on June 6th, al-though royal aides said no formal meeting was scheduled.

The prince’s o� ce would not con� rm his remarks but said he would not have intended to make a political statement.

Members of the royal family by convention do not comment on political a� airs, and Queen Elizabeth II is famous for keeping her own counsel.

However, her 65-year-old son Charles has come under criticism in the past for his outspoken remarks about everything from genetically modi� ed food to architecture.

Opposition Labour lawmaker Mike Gapes, a member of the House of Com-mons foreign a� airs committee, said the royals “should be seen and not heard.”

“If Prince Charles wants to make contro-versial statements on national or interna-tional issues, he should abdicate and stand for election,” he said on Twitter. l

China and Russia sign huge gas supply dealn Reuters, Shanghai

China and Russia signed a $400bn gas supply deal yesterday, securing the world’s top energy user a major source of cleaner fuel and opening up a new market for Moscow as it risks losing European customers over the Ukraine crisis.

The long-awaited agreement is a political triumph for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is courting part-ners in Asia as those in Europe and the United States seek to isolate him over Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

Commercially, much depends on the price and other terms of the con-tract, which has been more than a de-cade in the making. China had the up-per hand as negotiations entered their � nal phase, aware of Putin’s face-o� with the West.

“This is the biggest contract in the history of the gas sector of the former USSR,” said Putin, after the agreement was signed in Shanghai between state-controlled entities Gaz-prom and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).

“Our Chinese friends are di� cult, hard negotiators,” he said, noting that talks went on until 4 a.m.

“Through mutual compromise we managed to reach not only acceptable, but rather satisfactory, terms on this contract for both sides. Both sides were in the end pleased by the compromise reached on price and other terms,” the president said.

Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping applauded as they witnessed the deal being signed, just hours before the Russian leader was due to leave Shanghai at the end of a two-day visit.

The gas deal came in time for a ma-jor economic summit in the northern Russian city of St. Petersburg starting Thursday.

Around a dozen chief executives and chairmen of major U.S. and European corporations have withdrawn from the forum over the Ukraine crisis. l

Video shows fatal shooting of Palestiniansn Agencies

A human rights group has released footage that it says shows Israeli securi-ty forces shooting dead two apparently unarmed Palestinian teenagers.

The video released on Tuesday al-legedly showed the teenagers, who posed no danger, being shot during a protest last week on Nakba Day , when the Pales-tinians marked the loss of their homes in the 1948 war that resulted in the creation of the state of Israel and the � ight of hun-dreds of thousands of Palestinians.

Defence for Children International (DCI) posted the two-minute video on YouTube, which it said was edited from six hours of surveillance footage from � xed security cameras at a Palestin-ian-owned business that overlooked the scene. The group said the video showed that troops had committed “unlawful killings where neither child presented a direct and immediate threat to life at the time of their shooting.”

The Israeli rights group B’Tselem said the images back its � ndings that troops killed the teens by � ring live rounds from more than 200 metres away. l

With Ukraine, Russia drives wedge between EU, USn AP, Washington

The crisis in Ukraine is giving Russia an opening to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe just as West-ern powers try to repair a struggling trade deal and decide how to bolster a cash-strapped Nato.

Fo r years, the West has frustrat-ed Moscow by o� ering former Soviet states membership into economic and military alliances, undercutting Rus-sian President Vladimir Putin’s ambi-tions to build a regional economic pow-erhouse to rival the European Union and expand his military reach through-out the old Eastern Bloc.

Bu t sharp divisions between the US and EU over how severely to punish Russia for intervening in Ukraine have given Moscow the chance to upend Western unity on other key geopolitical and long-term strategic issues. At the same time, with the West rejecting his approach to world a� airs, Putin was in Beijing this week getting support from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In an interview last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the EU is kept on “a short leash” by the United States.

“The real aim of the United States is not to let Europeans to go on their own,” Lavrov told Bloomberg Televi-sion in Moscow.

O� cials in Washington and Brus-sels insist they generally agree on how to limit Russia’s alleged meddling in Ukraine. Late last week, the top US and British diplomats announced a new threat to sanction Russian business, � nancial, energy and mining sectors if Moscow disrupts Sunday’s presidential election in Ukraine.

“It’s always a temptation to divide, to create this between the EU and US,” said Joao Vale de Almeida, the EU’s am-bassador to the United States. “Our job is to prevent that from happening and to stay united and stay focused on what we share. ... We want to preserve Ukraine’s territorial integrity, its sovereignty; we want to help Ukraine become a full,

prosperous country; we want to create a diplomatic solution. I don’t think any-body can divide us on this.” Still, sim-mering tensions between the US and EU have been evident for months.

Germany and France have shunned sectorial sanctions without � rst trying again to broker a dialogue between Ukraine’s government and pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east — a step that garnered only lukewarm US support. The EU can only impose sanc-tions by unanimous agreement from all 28 of its member states, and the Obama administration for months has pushed Europe to embrace US plans for tough-er penalties against Moscow.

The strain became clear in February, shortly after the Ukraine unrest peaked and the government in Kiev was over-turned. A bugged phone call posted on YouTube with Russian subtitles cap-tured Assistant Secretary of State Vic-toria Nuland dismissing the EU with a common expletive in frustration over Europe’s pace in helping Ukraine. Nu-land later apologized, and the State De-partment described the incident as “a new low in Russian tradecraft.”

The EU has been far more cautious about sanctioning Russia’s economic and energy sectors, in part because of longstanding trade between Moscow and European nations.

Europe is Russia’s largest trading partner and therefore has huge sway over Russia’s shaky economy. Yet some European nations are reluctant to un-dercut their own � nancial stability and endanger their main source of energy by imposing harsh penalties against Moscow. l

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

Europe is Russia’s largest trading partner and therefore has huge sway over Russia’s shaky economy

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

9Thursday, May 22, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

Afghan EC sacks thousands over fraudn Reuters, Kabul

Afghanistan’s election commission said yesterday it had � red more than 3,000 sta� accused of fraud in the � rst round of the country’s presidential election, as it sought to quell fears that it might fail to deliver a legitimate outcome.

Afghans voted on April 5 in the � rst round of the election to pick a succes-sor to President Hamid Karzai, who is barred by the constitution from stand-ing for a third term after more than a decade in power.

The winner will take charge at a crucial time, with most foreign troops due to withdraw by the end of the year, the Taliban insurgency still raging and a pact with Washington permitting some US forces to stay hanging in the balance.

Spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said the Independent Election Com-mission had blacklisted the � red sta� , so that they would not be hired in the second round.

“Some fraud was reported from those polling stations,” he added, re-ferring to the sites where the � red sta� had worked. l

China issues warning to Asia over military alliancesn Reuters, Shanghai

Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to warn some Asian nations yesterday about strengthening military alliances to counter China, saying this would not bene� t regional security.

But he also pledged to peacefully re-solve China’s disputes over territory, which have intensi� ed in recent years, es-pecially in the South and East China Seas.

“To beef up military alliances tar-geted at a third party is not conducive to maintaining common security in the region,” Xi said in a speech, following a period when some Asian countries have sought to rea� rm their security ties with Washington.

During a visit to Asia last month, US President Barack Obama also sought to reassure allies such as Japan and the Philippines that his long-promised strategic shift towards Asia and the Pa-ci� c, widely seen as aimed at counter-ing China’s rising in� uence, was real.

Xi made his remarks at a region-al conference in Shanghai in front of

Vietnamese Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, as well as representatives from the Philippines, Japan and more than 40 other countries and organizations.

He did not mention the United States.

China is embroiled in bitter disputes with Vietnam and the Philippines over maritime boundaries in the South Chi-na Sea. Beijing and Tokyo are also at loggerheads over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Anti-Chinese violence � ared in Viet-nam last week after Chinese state oil company CNOOC deployed an oil rig 240 km (150 miles) o� the coast of Viet-nam in waters also claimed by Hanoi. The rig was towed there just days after Obama left the region.

The move was the latest in a series of confrontations between China and some of its neighbors over the poten-tially oil-and-gas rich South China Sea. Washington has responded with sharp-ened rhetoric toward Beijing, describ-ing a pattern of “provocative” actions by China. l

Indonesian election presents US with Modi-style visa headachen Reuters, Washington

The emergence of Prabowo Subianto as a serious contender in Indonesia’s elec-tion this week means the United States faces the awkward possibility of having to welcome another Asian leader it had denied entry to because of alleged links to mass killings.

The situation has arisen days after Washington found itself having to change course and promise a visa to Indian Prime Minister-Elect Narendra Modi after his landslide election win. Modi was barred from the United States in 2005.

The possibility of another Wash-ington U-turn became apparent after Indonesia’s second-largest party on Monday suddenly switched its support to Prabowo from frontrunner Joko “Jo-kowi” Widodo ahead of July 9 presi-dential polls.

Prabowo was once one of Indone-sia’s most reviled men, accused of kid-napping, human rights abuses and a coup attempt after the 1998 overthrow of his former father-in-law, the late President Suharto.

A New York Times report in March said that in 2000 the US State Depart-ment denied the former general a visa to attend his son’s university gradua-tion in Boston, but has never said why.

Prabowo told Reuters in 2012 he was still refused a US visa due to allegations that he instigated riots that killed hun-dreds after Suharto’s overthrow. He has

denied wrongdoing.India’s Modi was denied a US visa

in 2005 under the terms of a 1998 US law which bars entry to foreigners who have committed “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

However, after Modi’s party swept to victory in elections last week, US Pres-ident Barack Obama was quick to tele-phone his congratulations and invite the new leader of a country he has declared a vital strategic partner to the White House.

The State Department said Modi would be granted an A-1 visa accord-ed to heads of state. Modi has also has denied any wrongdoing and has never been prosecuted in India.

Asked if Prabowo would be treated the same as Modi if he won Indonesia’s election, a State Department o� cial responded with statements similar to those before India’s poll result - saying the department did not discuss indi-vidual visa cases.

“Applicants traveling on o� cial busi-ness on behalf of their government are subject to limited grounds of ineligibili-ty under US immigration law. However, we cannot speculate on the outcome of any visa application,” he said.

The o� cial added that the United States remained “committed to close relations with Indonesia and expect that relationship to continue.”

Analysts believe that Prabowo, like Modi, would be granted a visa if he wins the election. l

Kejriwal taken into custody after refusing to seek bail n Agencies

Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Ke-jriwal was yesterday sent to two-day judicial custody by a court after he re-fused to furnish a personal bail bond in a defamation case � led by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, the Hindustan Times reported.

Metropolitan magistrate Gomati Manocha � xed Friday as the next date of hearing. Manocha had asked him to furnish a bail bond of Rs. 10,000 but the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader refused.

Kejriwal was summoned by the

court for describing former Bharatiya Janata Party president as a “corrupt” person.

“It is not necessary to furnish bail bond. On four earlier occasions, we did not take bail but � led only undertak-ing,” the AAP’s o� cial Twitter handle quoted Prashant Bhushan as saying after Kejriwal was taken into lock up in court premises. “Based on his values and principles, Arvind Kejriwal denied taking bail,” Bhushan added.

Former Delhi law minister and AAP leader Somnath Bharti took an indirect dig at the BJP by tweeting: “First victim of acchhe din @ArvindKejriwal arrest-

ed in defamation case by Sri gadkari. Strange manifestation of acchhe din.”

The BJP’s Harsh Varshan attacked the AAP convener for his statements against Gadkari: “Kejriwal put wrong allegations against Nitin Gadkari and the latter gave him a � tting reply by � l-ing a case against him.”

Earlier, Kejriwal told the court he would not furnish a bail bond as the case was a political one. Instead, he promised to give an undertaking to ap-pear before the court at every hearing.

“I am � ghting against corruption. I will not seek bail as I have not done anything wrong,” he said. l

Kejriwal regrets quitting Delhi job, seeks fresh pollsn AP, New Delhi

An Indian anti-corruption campaigner who quit as New Delhi’s top elected o� cial just 49 days into the job apol-ogized for the mistake yesterday, after his upstart party � zzled nationally.

“T oday I would like to apologize to the people of Delhi and the people of this country. We have made a mis-take and I apologize for our mistake,” Arvind Kejriwal said at a news confer-ence, adding that his exit made people think they were running away from re-sponsibility.

Ke jriwal’s Aam Aadmi, or Common Man’s, Party was formed on the back of hugely popular street protests that gal-vanized India’s middle class against the culture of corruption that is endemic in this nation of 1.2 billion. The election for the Delhi state legislature was the party’s � rst outing, and even its members were surprised they won 27 out of 70 seats in Delhi’s assembly in December.

Bu t the minority government re-signed in February after Congress party voted with the opposition to block a bill to create a strong ombudsman in the capital. Rooting out graft and creating

the ombudsman position were the par-ty’s key aims, and Kejriwal said the par-ty members left government because they did not want to compromise their principles.

Th eir detractors said Kejriwal and his party quit because they were eager to parlay their initial success into na-tionwide prominence.

Bu t in the recent national election, the party won only four seats in India’s 543-member lower house of Parliament. Kejriwal himself lost by a wide margin to the man who will become India’s next prime minister, Narendra Modi. l

Nawaz Sharif, other heads of state invited for Modi’s swearing-in ceremonyn AFP, New Delhi

Prime minister-elect Narendra Modi has invited Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as well as other South Asian leaders to his swearing-in cere-mony next Monday, a spokeswoman for his party told AFP.

Nirmala Sitharaman, from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said all heads of government from the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) “have been given invitations to be present at Modi’s swearing in.”

Modi is to take the oath as Prime Minister on May 26, ten days after a landslide win for the BJP which se-cured the � rst majority by a single par-ty in 30 years.

A senior o� cial from the foreign ministry con� rmed that it was exam-ining a proposal to welcome foreign heads of governments, but said that invites had not yet been sent.

“We have not sent any invite yet. There is a proposal but we can’t share the details yet,” the o� cial told AFP.

Sharif has hailed Modi’s “impressive victory” with many diplomats hop-ing the two men can engineer a thaw in ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

In 1999 during Sharif’s second term in power, Vajpayee rode a bus to Lahore to sign a peace accord, raising the pros-pect of normaliszd ties.

Three months later, however, the countries embarked on the Kargil con-� ict in Jammu and Kashmir. l

Pakistani airstrikes kill 60 militantsn AP, Islamabad

Pakistani military jet � ghters and heli-copter gunships pounded militant hide-outs near the Afghan border yesterday, killing 60 militants, the army said.

Th e airstrikes mainly targeted Mir Ali, a town in the lawless tribal region of North Waziristan, the army said in a statement.

It said 60 terrorists, including some of the important commanders and for-eigners were also killed in the strikes, which also wounded another 30.

On e resident, who identi� ed him-self as Saeedullah Khan, said the army had also been using artillery � re since early morning. “W e heard big bangs,” he said. “I saw some houses � attened.”

The army didn’t give more details on the important commanders or the for-eign who were killed.

The claims could not be inde-pendently veri� ed. The lawless tribal area is o� limits to foreign journalists.

The army said investigation into recent attacks against civilians and se-curity forces had led it to the militant hideouts that were targeted. l

Talks to end Thai crisis inconclusive n Reuters, Bangkok

Thailand’s rival political factions would not agree yesterday to stop their protests at crisis talks aimed at ending confrontation a day after the army de-clared martial law, a pro-government activist said.

Although the military denied Tues-day’s surprise intervention amounted to a coup, army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha appeared to be setting the agenda by forcing groups and organizations with a central role in the crisis to talk.

Issues raised during the meeting included how to reform the political system - a demand made by anti-gov-ernment protesters - and ending the demonstrations that have sparked vi-olence, disrupted business and scared o� tourists.

“When asked whether each group can stop protesting, there was no com-mitment from either side,” Thida Tha-wornseth, a leader of the pro-govern-ment “red shirt” political group, told Reuters. “There was no clear conclusion.”

Puchong Nutrawong, secretary-gen-eral of the Election Commission, who was also at the talks, said all sides would meet again on Thursday.

“The army chief asked us to go back home and think about the things we discussed in order to � nd a solution for the country,” Puchong told Reuters.

Thailand has been riven by rivalry between populist former Prime Minis-ter Thaksin Shinawatra and the royalist establishment for nearly 10 years.

Thaksin, a former telecommunica-tions billionaire who won the

loyalty of the rural and urban poor, has lived in self-exile since 2008 but

still exerts a huge in� uence, most re-cently through a government run by his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Yingluck was forced to step down as premier by a court two weeks ago, but her caretaker government remains in power, despite the declaration of mar-tial law and six months of sometimes violent protests aimed at ousting it.

The turmoil has driven the coun-try to the brink of recession and even raised fears of civil war.

‘Homework handed out’The anti-government protesters are opposed to an election, which Thak-sin’s loyalist would be likely to win. They want a “neutral” prime minister installed to oversee electoral reforms aimed at ending Thaksin’s in� uence.

The government, on the other hand, sees a general election as the best way forward and has proposed a new vote on August 3. The anti-government pro-testers disrupted an election in Febru-ary that was later annulled, and they have vowed to do so again.

Whether all sides could accept an in-terim prime minister and what reforms could be implemented were also raised at the talks, Thida said.

An army spokesman said all sides would go away to think.

“There was no conclusion. It is as though homework was handed out for each side to work on,” deputy army spokesman Winthai Suvaree told re-porters.

Military sources say Prayuth is believed to favor the appointment of an interim prime minister by the Senate, who would then shepherd through reforms. l

Anti-governmentprotester, Bangkok,

April 1

Thailand: the road to martial lawThousands of demonstrators join daily rallies in Bangkok to protest an amnesty bill that opponents fear would allowexiled former PM Thaksin Shinawatra to return

2013Oct

Lower house passes political amnesty bill, triggering protests, upper house later rejects it

Nov1

Up to 180,000 people join opposition protests in BangkokNov24

Opposition protesters besiege ministries in a bid to topplethe government

Nov25-27

PM Yingluck Shinawatra survives parliamentary no-confidence vote

Nov28

Nov 29-Dec 3

Protests escalate, several killed and over 200 injured

Snap electionscalled byYingluck inDecember.Oppositiondemonstratorsblock voting at10,000 polling stations

Feb 22014

Constitutional Court dismissesYingluck and nine ministers from office for abuse of power

May 7

The army declares martial law across thekingdom

May 20

Cabinet appoints new caretaker premier Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan

Afghanistan presidential contendersThe two candidates who will face-off in the June 14 run-off vote

Abdullah Abdullah Ashraf GhaniAge: 53 64

Born to Pashtun and Tajik parents

Qualified eye surgeon

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

Came second in the2009 presidentialelection, withdrew fromrun-off amid allegationsthat Karzai supporterswere involved in fraud

Ethnically Pashtun

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

Came fourth in2009 with less than3 percent of vote,but has performedstrongly in the currentcampaign

Former World Bankworker and academic

45

31.6

Official result of April 5 election% of votes won

A run-off is requiredbecause no candidates won more than 50 percent inthe first round

Firecrackers and colourful lighting are seen on the building of the BJP o� ce in Ahmedabad yesterday AFP

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, May 22, 2014

ACROSS1 Cowardly (6)5 Melody (3)7 Edge (3)8 Picturesque (6)11 Laundry item (3)12 Vestige (5)14 Oven for baking bricks (4)16 Trunk (5)18 Zodiac sign (5)20 Illuminated sign (4)21 Long lock (5)23 Drunkard (3)24 Escapes artfully (6)27 Friend (Fr) (3)28 Prosecute (3)29 Swift (6)

DOWN1 Long-leaved lettuce (3)2 Land measure (3)3 Wine merchant (7)4 Eastern ruler (4)5 Electrical unit (6)6 Area (6)9 Coconut husk � bre (4)10 Domestic animal (3)13 Eat (7)14 American state (6)15 Small (6)17 Part of a shoe (4)19 Observe (3)22 Strike with open hand (4)25 Pass away (3)26 Secret agent (3)

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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

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Rawshan: Narayanganj 7-murder a stray incidentMay 16

A RashidWhy does the media give any prominence to someone like Rawshan who everyone in the country knows her to be lacking any semblance of intelligence? She and her husband have shown themselves to be a disgrace to themselves as well as the whole nation! I hope to never see their comments being published in future. If the media does follow this, it will doing a great service to the national Interest

Rawshan has reminded us once again, not that we need reminding, that the political sector in Bangladesh is Infested by people with no quali� -cation, no common sense, or of self-respect. So, I ask you, how can we ever establish a government which citizens can be proud of??

RonnieJust as this woman happens to be the “stray” member of parliament and a � ctional “leader of the opposition.” Rawshan Ershad never seems to tire of plumbing the depths of intellectual deprav-ity and absence of self-esteem.

‘Non-stop hartal if RAB men not arrested’May 16

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

Modi on the brink of powerMay 16

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

Still lagging behindMay 16

maksudYou people wear sunglasses and don’t see the little things under the radiant sun. You people always say so many things about violence against women and equal rights for women, but never see how many women are deprived from very basic things that all human beings need, like food, shelter, clean water, and medicine.

Most beggars who knock on your doors are women. They don’t even have enough courage to push the calling bell switch in your apartment (that is, if they are able to make it as far as your front door, as you have dogs and guards to stop them).

In posh areas, like Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, and Dhanmondi, many people always complain about how many girls are deprived from access to modern things, but they never seem to bother about the beggars, because they never interact with

them. So, you tell me, how can their complaints have any substance?

I study economics, and think that’s why I always look at matters in this way, where I see much violence against women activists, and activists of groups such as One Billion Rising Organisers Forum!, One Billion Rising, Jaago, among others think in a right-based approach. To me, “rights can never be higher than the economic structure of society,” as Karl Marx has said.

ndsPlease stop this boring and idiotic discourse on pro-gress, which is a dead idea from this post-modern world. Please don’t irritate us with this nonsensical repetition of garbage-valued narratives. We don’t want any further progress. Enough is enough. Now allow us to die in peace.

Development in secondary education without spending a single takaMay 16

Mawduda HasninMany schools have more students than they can hold. Some of their classes have more than 70 students, and some less than 15 students. Recently, I saw a list of schools participating in the JSC examination with less than 10 students. The list was quite long.

Only a simple circular from the ministry of ed-ucation can bring change and help ensure quality education. A school cannot run a section/class with less than 20 students or for more than 40 students. The government should open new schools in other divisional and district towns to even out the load.

Schools have to conduct a certain number of classes, and are awarded on the basis of SSC results, and also on how many classes were held, and what other activities they o� er, like games and co-curricular activities, including debate. All class tests should be taken according to the curriculum.

Teachers’ salaries are not high, so many have taken up private tuition to survive, and � nd they can make a sizeable pro� t from it. Empha-sis should be on teaching, not tuition, and the government should take proper initiatives so that teachers go back to taking classes. A list of teachers, along with their designation should be hanged on a board in the head teacher’s room so as to make sure that unquali� ed teachers, without a professional degree or qualifying NCRTA are not allowed to teach in any educational institution.

Invest for green growth We welcome Bangladesh Bank’s addition of 26 new products

to its portfolio of green � nance initiatives.The central bank which has supported schemes to

encourage solar panels, bio-gas and industrial e� uent treatment plants since 2009, is expanding the range of products covered to include among other items, solar driven cold storage, bio-energy driven power generation, recyclable non-oven polypropylene yarn and compost generation from municipal waste.

New avenues of � nance to help reduce pollution and increase renewable power generation need to be an urgent priority.

It is encouraging to note that the largest ever Nordic trade delegation which is visiting the country this week, is focusing on seeking partnerships through technology and resource sharing to encourage the e� cient use of energy. The Nordic team which consists of 21 Danish and Swedish companies and a major investment fund, has received a positive response from local � rms and government.

This interest is particularly valuable in areas where specialist technical expertise can be shared such as wind power. Danish investors are contributing $50m towards the $120m deal that was signed this week to set up a 60MW wind-turbine plant.

Such deals are important if the country is to reach its target of securing 10% of total energy generation from renewable sources by 2020. Sustainablity has to be a central component of future economic growth and energy security.

It also helps to build resilience. Lifting more people out of poverty in a sustainable manner is vital to increase the country’s ability to withstand the negative impacts of climate change.

Take Biman o� life-support Biman Bangladesh Airlines is taking a variety of measures to

reduce losses, by suspending routes and raising prices.These patchwork solutions to bring the loss-making state

airline back to health may be too little too late. In the � rst eight months of the current � scal year Biman incurred

a loss of over Tk118 crore. Even � ights to popular destinations such as Delhi and Bangkok are now being considered for suspension due to heavy losses.

Uncertainty following the departure of CEO Kevin Steele gives little cause for optimism that the airline can attain pro� tability. In a very competitive market with many better-funded airlines providing services, it is hard to imagine that raising rates will help much.

Political interference and internal resistance to strong leadership make it doubtful that the ine� ciency and corruption that plagues Biman can be rooted out anytime soon.

Band-aid solutions to keep propping up this drain on the public co� ers are no longer acceptable. Especially since public funds can be spent on much more useful things such as improving airport hubs and training more � ight engineers and pilots within the country.

The government should by now recognise that the most feasible way to turn Biman around into pro� t is for the government to take the next logical step and privatise Biman.

This would both give the management more scope to make improvements and free up taxpayer funds so that they can be used to improve airline safety, training, and infrastructure.

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

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

India election: BJP to take 335 seats

May 17

Bharat PatelThe only true, straight, reported results. No bias,

not for or against winners or losers. Well done.

Unreal cityMay 17

JiminyThe government needs to give more importance

to developing other cities so that people have more of an incentive to move there, or stay there.

Sheikh Hasina’s homecoming day today

May 17

Vox PopuliWhat’s the big deal about this day? Is it so signi� -

cant in people’s life? There is nothing to celebrate.

Government wants hybrid cars to dominate streets

May 17

DelinthedeshWill any in the government, such as ministers,

drive a hybrid? I doubt it. They should try building roads and infrastructure suitable for modern

cars � rst, before the batteries start falling out of hybrid cars. They’ll be wanting hybrid buses next.

Survivors blame negligence of captains, master

May 17

vihanSuch tragic accidents will happen again, and again and again, until ministers, authorities, and o� cials

will be held accountable for their negligence and corruption.

11Op-Ed Thursday, May 22, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Ways of being humann Garga Chatterjee

At the very outset, I should make my position on certain things very clear. I believe that there

are many, many ways of being human – none of them being “better” or “worse,” “progressive” or “regressive,” “forward” or “backward” than others. There is no rank order of “civilisa-tions,” cultures, millenia and the like. For that matter, I am not sure what “civilisation” means, unless you de� ne it by a set of arbitrary parameters and ascribe those parameters some kind of inherently positive value, just because you fancy them.

This line of thought may be particu-larly irritating to those who, after their unfortunate birth in brown-land, were born-again when exposed to White people’s worldviews. But the irritation of such dwijas (twice born) is irrele-vant. They would have been altogeth-er irrelevant if a deep democracy were able to function in the subcontinent.

I hope such a time comes soon, before the dwijas are able to stamp out all diversity and cultural rootedness from this world. I hope they are soon kicked o� the centre-stage that they have occupied for too long, by keeping the people out by sheer power. Till such time, before the story of the hunt is rewritten and the lions still lurk, some will continue to make hay. But let me get back to the many, many ways to being human.

Now that we have the clap-trap about “higher” and “lower” humans out of the way, let me come to the elections to the Indian Union parlia-ment. Using the principle of one-man one-vote, this exercise seeks to pres-ent an opportunity to the people to determine and in� uence the nature of the power that will rule over them.

But that is not all. This exercise also re-legitimises (kind of like license renewal) the structure and apparatus that imposes itself on the people. Thus power structures seek legitimacy by o� ering a pre-determined amount of decision-making power. It does not give all powers to the people. For ex-ample, the people who are supposedly the only sovereign in this schema can-not alter the “basic structure” of the Indian Union constitution, even when fundamental rights of the individual are protected.

The crucial part of such schemes is that they are all-pervasive. The intense focus of resources and energy by modern nation-states on main-taining and de� ning territorial limits is not accidental. Within that zone, it is supreme. Which is precisely why territories where such monarchic su-premacy is not established are sources of unending paranoia for the powers-to-be.

The smokescreen of people’s wel-fare is used to unleash the non-preten-tious forces of a nation-state – money and military. In places where people don’t live, powers dangle the notion of “strategic importance.”

We are born from our mother’s womb. We are born where our mother lay pregnant with us. When we are born, we are as human as anyone else. This is before there is consciousness of the state, constitution, Gandhi, Nehru, tri-colour, New Delhi, etc. Is it a pre-con-dition of being human that these notions have to be built up within our heads for an individual to be consid-ered fully human?

Clearly not. Our bloodlines and human consciousness predates all � ags and constitutions and gods willing, will outlive them too. So, one

has a right to be fully human and not be impinged upon, counted, exercised power upon, demanded loyalty from by institutions like the nation.

One has a right to exist in the land one was born upon, to mingle in the society into which one is born or welcomed, live a glorious life among one’s kins and so on. Institutions that place themselves as mediators of these rights, without being called to mediate, are inhuman and anti-social in a very fundamental sense. They may well be legal, depending on how many guns back up the self-imposed mediator. Legality is di� erent from justness – only the people can create the latter. No paper document written in their name can.

Whether one votes or not votes or boycotts it, all of these positions are vis-à-vis the voting process and the state that sponsors it. The all-perva-siveness of such schemes means that you will be counted, not matter what – you will be classi� ed, even if you don’t belong. Lack of “consciousness” is not an option and in any case, irrelevant.

Institutions that intensively survey uninhabited islands, wrap the remains of the dead in distinct � ags, “teach” loyalty through school syllabi do face a problem when they face people who regard the state as alien. Some of the indigenous peoples of Andaman and Nicobar Islands like the Shompen are such aliens. But they are “Indian” citizens, irrespective.

Are they proud of Gandhi? Do they respect the tricolour? Do they have a stake in Siachen and Sir Creek, given what happens there is done in their name too? Do they believe in unity in diversity – given that their numbers have sharply dwindled ever since they were “claimed” as “Indians”? It is from the perspective of the Shompen people of the Great Nicobar island that the all-pervasive state starts looking not so pervasive – a hint that there is an outside, even when high resolution maps and detailed anthropological surveys have been done.

This “outside” consciousness is an extremely dangerous thing. Hence, when the Shompen people voted in Indian Union elections for the � rst time, whatever that act means, there was a sigh of relief at the deepest heart of the state. A portal to an outside, however small, was technically sealed. There is an outside and there will always be an outside. It comes with every child who is born.

Hence, there is a persistent and dangerous glimmer. To live without certain indoctrinations makes a dy-namite of a people, even if they don’t know it. The distance from birth-rights to full-citizenship is a journey that requires surrender of rights, without consent or with indoctrination that there is no outside.

I remember a four-panel cartoon. At � rst, a bear stands in a jungle. Then some trees are cleared, encroachers arrive. The bear looks on. Finally, everything is “clean” and someone is taken aback that there is a bear in the midst of civilization and asks where it came from. The bear was always there. I am sure they created a sanctuary for the bear thereafter.

Maybe it will start speaking Hindi and English and straighten up its spine when the band plays Jana-Gana-Mana. With enough aspiration, it might go on to sing “The world will live as one.” There won’t be any bears left anymore. Such is progress in a world without outsides. l

Garga Chatterjee is a freelance contributor. He can be followed on twitter @gargac.

n Nicholas Farrelly

“Who did this?” I asked the monk on a recent afternoon in Ramu,

southeastern Bangladesh. “It was the Islamists,” he replied. He pointed to the marks beneath the glistening new paint where a Buddha’s head had been cleaved asunder. When asked about the culprits – “miscreants” in the local application of English – he gave me a glimpse of monastic resignation. “I don’t know. They are people who don’t understand.”

While many people have rightful-ly focused on the plight of Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, an adjacent and similarly messy con� ict erupted in September 2012 on Bangladesh’s southeastern extremity – Cox’s Bazar.

Sparked by an anti-Islam Facebook post of ambiguous provenance, 22 Buddhist temples were torn down and set ablaze, with dozens of Bud-dhist-owned houses destroyed. The Bangladesh government, acutely aware of the sensitivities, quickly sought to dampen the anti-Buddhist fury.

With reports that thousands or even tens of thousands of Muslims marched against the perceived blasphemy, it’s hard to apportion blame. The attacks on the country’s longstanding Thera-vada Buddhist minority – a group with a large, settled presence for centuries – were a slap in the face to Bangladesh’s tolerant and inclusive self-image.

What is most remarkable about the o� cial response to this violence is its rapid and overwhelming implementa-tion. Instead of leaving charred neigh-bourhoods and demolished pagodas, the government’s security and con-struction arms got down to work fast. At Buddhist pagodas all over Ramu, gleaming compounds have risen from the ashes. In some cases, parts of the

old structures survived, or have been salvaged in renovated form.

In these rebuilt compounds, piles of carefully curated Buddha fragments are a stark reminder of the damage done. They sit reverently next to the new Buddha statues donated from across the world.

Thais have been particularly committed to re-seeding Buddhism in Ramu. In one of the re-built buildings hangs a portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej from when he was a young man. In another, a Buddha image gifted by a Thai organisation pro-claims that “the body of Dharma sits inside every human being.” One other is an exquisite, shiny, golden � gure inscribed with the name of its donor, a Thai police colonel.

Across Ramu, other recently installed signs announce the work of Bangladesh’s security forces in rehabilitating the region’s Buddhist sites. Pictures of heavy machinery are pinned to new fences, while posters thank the government and army for its support. Indeed, it was a huge e� ort to suture these wounds. In a country where construction is often slow and inadequately budgeted, it is remarka-ble to see what has been done in less than two short years.

Buddha images, decapitated, have been fashioned back together. Fresh paint hides other scars. Multi-storey pagodas have risen from the rubble, with new gardens planted and monas-tic accommodation built. There are well-funded programs for Buddhist education too.

The government has taken charge of these e� orts. It is embarrassed by the violence, but also hoping to prove a point about its own inclusive and secular credentials.

Asking the locals about who was responsible for the violence draws a mixed response. There are those who

point the � nger at some of Bangla-desh’s political parties, especially those with a nationalist and Islamic bent. These are the groups locked in a deadly and disreputable stoush with the incumbent regime of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. There are few saints in Bangladesh’s rough-and-tum-ble national life, and some will assert that the prime minister’s own party activists were also involved.

The attacks on Buddhists around Cox’s Bazar happened when turmoil in Myanmar’s adjacent Rakhine State was at its hottest. Much has been made of the Myanmar government’s lacklus-tre response to this violence, with widespread dismay at the dearth of resolute e� orts to stamp out hard-line Buddhist factions.

Even Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, so often deemed beyond reproach, has weath-ered criticism. On the Bangladesh side of the border, many people fail to hide their bewilderment at what they perceive to be her weak response to Myanmar’s communal con� icts.

For now, the rebuilding of Bangla-desh’s Buddhist monuments and the neighbourhoods that support them has left a stark contrast. The Bangla-desh government has sought to make amends, while in Myanmar there is lingering resentment that senior leaders are unwilling to condemn anti-Muslim pogroms.

On the ground in Rakhine State,

mosques remain in ruins. Muslims who have been displaced from their homes are left in squalid camps, a tragic purgatory seemingly designed to encourage them to leave for good.

Back in Ramu, the wounds are yet to heal and there is trepidation among those Buddhists who have chosen to stay among the Muslim majority. Women in burkas and men with long beards are common on the streets in this part of Bangladesh. It is this imagery, and the politics it represents that so worries Myanmar’s Buddhist nationalists – it is the future they are seeking to avert.

Along this Muslim-Buddhist fault line, among the people of Ramu, resentment still simmers close to the surface. Even monks speak through clenched teeth. In Bangladesh, the precarious status of Buddhists has hardly changed, even after all of the government’s re-construction e� orts and largesse. For these minorities the nightmare is a future where the government is less inclined to support their presence – one where Islamist strains dictate the national mood.

From this edge, there looks to be no end to the reincarnation of con� ict. When I asked whether such violence could happen again, the monk in Ramu hesitated. His answer was re-signed, uncommitted, impermanent. He said that there was no way to know, and that Buddhists must carry on in any case. The future, in his words, “is not ours to control.” l

Nicholas Farrelly is a Research Fellow in the College of Asia and the Paci� c at the Australian National University, Canberra, and is currently based in Myanmar. Dr Farrelly visited Bangladesh as part of his ongoing Australian Research Council-funded research on Southeast Asian political cultures. This article was originally published in The Myanmar Times.

n Mamun Rashid

Ask anyone in their 30s or 40s. They all are concerned about their children’s health and ed-ucation. In their 50s and

60s, they are concerned about their own health. They want to stay away from doctors – few can a� ord the costs. Health expenditure is increas-ing every day in Bangladesh. Very few have access to good medical care and most people with meager incomes do not.

The common people of Bangla-desh are being deprived of free or low cost healthcare services as the health budget is shrinking every year. Though few in the large cities, mainly the capital and port cities, now have access to good healthcare, the entire rural population is dependent on the public health infrastructure, where even increasing kitty could not bring much of a change. The death toll of mothers during childbirth has not reduced signi� cantly, malpractice by doctors or in their absence by nurses is also rampant in rural places.

Though budgetary allocation for the health sector has increased over the years, the percentage in the total budget outlay is actually decreasing. Bangladesh reportedly has the lowest per capita health expenditure in South and Southeast Asia, which makes it more challenging for the public health sector to o� er full-� edged, free, and

more importantly, e� ective medi-cal care to the common people. Our government has been failing to spend even half of what the World Health Or-ganisation (WHO) has set as the min-imum per capita health expenditure, leaving the ailing people to be ripped o� by expensive private hospitals and clinics now available even in remote rural places. 

As per the recommendation of the WHO, minimum per capita health spending by the government should be $44. It is only $27 in Bangladesh, while India is spending $59, Nepal $33, Sri Lanka $97, Pakistan $30, Indone-sia $95, and Vietnam is spending $96 as per capita health expenditure. No doubt, low per capita health expend-iture in Bangladesh creates obstacles to render proper healthcare services to the poor and destitute. 

Our health budget is shrinking every year though around 2 mil-lion people are being added to our

population, for which more budget-ary allocation is needed to meet the ever-growing healthcare needs.

The size of the national budget gets bigger every � scal, but allocation for the health sector has been shrinking in terms of its proportion to the total budget. This creates a problem for public healthcare institutions to provide proper medical services to the poor at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. The price of medicine is another factor that has made medical treatment too expensive for the poor.

Pharmaceutical � rms in the coun-try are now producing some 23,000 categories of medicines, but some medicines are very expensive and beyond the reach of the poor people. Pharmaceutical companies are more interested in producing medicine which do not have compulsory price tags or are beyond the 117 restricted price list.

More shockingly, those who are producing at the prescribed price, on the other hand, are compromis-ing quality. Budgetary allocation in the health sector therefore needs to be increased to provide medicine to the poor, free of cost. Most in rural Bangladesh are either not treated well or wrongly treated by the doctors and medical assistants. Nurses are small in number and not trained well. Many public hospital nurses are more inter-ested in working for private hospitals than paying minimum attention to

their core public hospital jobs. The number of casualties due to wrong treatment is increasing.

A nation needs to invest contin-uously in its health sector to get a healthy population. Access to health services for the poor is a must for any developing country. At the same time, we need to ensure availability of good hospitals, good doctors attending to the patients on time, trained nurses treating distressed patients with care, and more importantly, e� ective med-icine. Ensuring all of these not only requires more money to be put on the table, it also warrants good govern-ance in the health sector, accountabili-ty, and political commitment.

The drug administration launched a drive against adulterated and smug-gled medicine at medicine hub Mitford in Dhaka during the third quarter of last year. Local medicine sellers went to the local legislator to stop the administrator. The local legislator took this personally, as a threat to himself, and his party’s popularity in view of the upcoming election.

It was unfortunate for the drug administrator who came from a polit-ically wrong district in the country’s northern region. The entire drive had to be put on hold. A better health budget thus also warrants a better health administration, with the right medicine for the right patient. l

Mamun Rashid is a business professor and � nancial sector entrepreneur.

Our greatest wealthT H I R D E Y E

Tensions on the fault line

People of Bangladesh are being deprived of healthcare as the health budget is shrinking every year

Back in Ramu, the wounds are yet to heal and there is trepidation among those Buddhists who have chosen to stay

The distance from birth-rights to full-citizenship is a journey that requires surrender of rights

We are as human as anyone else. This is before there is consciousness of the state, Gandhi, Nehru, New Delhi

We need to invest in a healthy population BIGSTOCK

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, May 22, 201412

Exhibition Trailing the Root: One Step Ahead Dhaka Art CenterHouse 60, Road 7/A, Dhanmondi

Exhibition on Rabindranath Tagore Time: 11am-7pm National Art Gallery Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy

Bornil PandulipiTime: 12pm – 8pmShilpangon Gallery

Mukh O Mukhosh 5Time: 11am – 8pmGalleri Kaya, Sector- 4, Uttara

Theatre Dog, Woman, ManTime: 7pm – 9pmGoethe Institut BangladeshRoad 9(new)House 10Dhanmondi

Goodnight MaTime: 7:30pm – 9:00pm

EMK Center, 9th � oor, Midas Center, House 5, Road 27Dhanmond

FilmI, FrankensteinChildren of War The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (3D)The Secret Life of Walter MittyCaptain America: The Winter Soldier (3D)STAR CineplexLevel 8, Bashundhara City13/3 Ka, Panthopath

TODAY IN DHAKA

n Shadma Malik

Noted artists in the country expressed their reverence to-wards the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore through their fascinating artwork. An eight-day exhibition featuring the works and replicas of Tagore’s paintings is being held at the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

To mark the legend’s 153rd birth anniversary, BSA has or-ganised the exhibition which showcases a total of 45 replicas and 80 artworks by 40 renowned artists.

The replicas of Tagore’s paintings were commissioned by the Indian government and gifted to Shilpakala by the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in Dhaka .

Among the works of the prominent artists, Qayyum Chowdhury ‘s “Rabindranath” contrasted Tagore in his aristocracy � nery in vibrant colours, alongside a brilliant backdrop of rural Bangla. The composition depicts blue sky with birds, green � elds and � oating boats are showcased. A visual representation of Tagore’s popular poem “Shonar Tori” has also been depicted in Qayyum’s canvas, as golden � bers on a golden boat against the backdrop of a black sky.

Artist Hashem Khan’s painting is inspired by Tagore’s pop-ular song “Eidin Aji Kon Ghore Go Khule Dilo Daar.” His can-vas of the same title narrates the tale of rural Bangalee women who, in harmony, cultivate crops that generate new hopes in life.

Ra� qun Nabi’s artworks show Tagore sitting in an arm chair with a pen and a notebook and images of butter� y, peo-ple and trees are revolving around his head.

Sculptor Hamiduzzaman “Jocchna Rate Padma Boat” and “Thakur Bari” unfold the moments he spent here in Bangladesh. The paintings aim to help the viewers understand the way Tagore has experienced the beauty ofBangladesh.

Mohammed Yunus’ “Onek Robir Alok Dharai” portrays Tagore’s face-- in di� erent ages from young to veteran-- show-cases the versatile genius who developed an acute sensibility towards literature, poetry, dance and music, painter. l

Tagorere-imagined

SADIA MARIUM

Citycell Taroka Kathon turns 11n Entertainment Desk

Citycell Taroka Kathon, a popular TV show on Channel i, step into 11 years yesterday as the pro-gramme was � rst aired on May 21 in 2004.

A press conference and a celebration pro-gramme was arranged at the Channel i premises where noted personalities including Shykh Seraj, director and head of news of Channel i, Taslim Ahmed, head of marketing and communications of Citycell, Mamunur Rashid, renowned actor and theatre activist, Asif Akbar, famed singer and the guest of the � rst episode of this show in 2004,

Shimul Mustafa, reciter, Sohana Saba, actor, Shibli Mohammad, dancer, Aminul Haque, the football star, Shams Sumon, actor, Murad Parvez, actor and model Suzana were present and celebrated the eleven years of journey expressing their thought about the programme and cutting a cake.

Citycell Taroka Kathon, a talk-and-interview TV show and call-in show which takes live phone calls from callers listening at home and sometimes presented celebrity shows performance upon request. Not only in the studio, Citycell Taroka Kathon team went elsewhere where it needed to communicate with the viewers. Though duration of the programme is 30 minutes, but in case of any renowned person its time is extended. Yesterday the programme aired its 2906 episode. l

Eminent singer Fatema Tuz Zohra will perform at live musical show Tomay Gaan Shonabo to be aired on 12:02am tomorrow

n Entertainment Desk

Shadhona’s experimental production “Chompaboti” is based on poet Jashimuddin’s play “Beder Meye” and has been adapted into a dance drama by the renowned playwright Syed Shamsul Haq. Watch out for the pro-duction, which gives new-life to the age-old narrative, this evening at the Shilpaka-la Academy in the capital.

Choreographed by Shab-bir Ahmed Khan Biju, the recital is an entertaining folk dance presentation drawn from our traditional game lathi-khela and di� erent folk dance genres of the subcon-tinent such as “jhumur,” “ra-ibeshe,” “chhau,” “mayur-bhanj,” and “kalaripayettu.”

Celebrated artists like Anusheh Anadil, Sha� Mon-dol and Kangalini Su� a lent their voice in various folk songs that makes this dance-drama unique.

The story is about the interactions between the wandering “bede” com-munity and the villagers of Bengal. It portrays thecon� icting ways of life within the same society through thestories of three women named Chompa, Maleka and Asmani. Chompa is known for her skills in faith-healing and snake-charm-ing, Maleka is the wife of thevillage head who is bullied by her abusive husband,and, Asmani is thewife of Champa’s ex-par-amour Goya. l

n Entertainment Desk

Model-turned-actor Mehajabien will be seen dating two men simultane-ously in a TV play titled “Ekti On-akankhito Premer Golpo,”

The plot revolves around Anna and her two friends, Sadiq and Ratul. All of them are very good friends and both men have feelings for the beautiful Anna.

Anna also enjoys their company and dates both of them. They freak out, when they discover that Anna’s two timing. Anna struggles to under-

stand her own desires and tries to reconcile her friendship with both of them.

Winner of the Lux Channel i Super-star, Mehajabien said: “I have never come across such a story. To portray my feelings for two men was really challenging.

But I gave it my best. Now a days I am focusing on enhancing my acting skills. I want to establish myself as a prominent actor.”

Written by Sajal Ahmed and direct-ed by BU Shuvo, the play will be aired on a satellite channel during Eid. l

Mehajabien two timing in Ekti Anakankhito PremerGolpo

Shah Rukh Khan second richest actor in the worldn Entertainment Desk

Wealth-X’s Hollywood and Bollywood Rich List released on Wednesday puts comedian Jerry Seinfeld right on top of the list of wealthy entertainers. With an estimated net worth of $820 million, the 60-year-old comedian emerged as the wealthiest actor.

Shah Rukh Khan, was the only Indian actor in the top 10 combined rich list of Bollywood and Hollywood stars. Khan was found to be richer than Hollywood giants like Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood or Adam Sandler.

Wealth X said “Khan is estimated to be worth $600 million. Immensely popular around the globe as well as in his home country, India, Khan is also a producer, TV host, co-owner of an In-dian cricket club and a philanthropist. He has appeared in more than 50 Bolly-wood � lms and is a regular at the annu-al Cannes Film Festival.”

Tom Cruise is the third richest actor worth $480 million followed by Johny Depp and Tyler Perry both tied at$450 million.

Several Academy Award winners are featured on the list, including three-time Oscar winner Jack Nicholson, who

has a net worth of $400 million, which puts the 77-year-old actor in 7th spot. Tom Hanks, who won best actor Oscars for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, is in 8th place with a personal fortune of $390 million.

Clint Eastwood, who at 84 is the

oldest actor in the Rich List, has an es-timated personal fortune of $370 mil-lion, making him the 9th wealthiest actor on the list.

Bill Cosby stands 8th in the list with $ 380 million while Adam Sandler is 10th being worth $ 340 million. l

Ranbir Kapoor takes up boxing lessonsn Entertainment Desk

Boxing seems to be the � avour of the season in Bollywood. And ac-tors seem rather keen on picking up the gloves as part of their training for a role. On the list are Priyanka Chopra and Sonakshi Sinha who have received boxing training for their upcoming � lms.

The latest entry in the ring is Ranbir Kapoor. It has been reported earlier that Ranbir has been learn-ing Mixed Martial Arts for his up-coming Anurag Kashyap directorial “Bombay Velvet.”

A trainer was � own in from Ken-ya for the actor and they worked together for roughly four months.

The actor reportedly had trou-ble maintaining his lean physique in spite of the heavy physical training which led to him going on a strict diet. “Bombay Velvet” is a neo-noir � lm where Ranbir plays a street � ghter.

“I haven’t worked on my phy-sique for a � lm so far, but ‘Bombay Velvet’ demands it. And I have al-ways maintained that I would make the e� ort for the right � lm,” he told a leading newspaper. l

Chompaboti to be staged today

at Blockbuster Cinemasn Entertainment Desk

Grameenphone is going to release Hollywood � ick Godzilla tomorrow at Blockbuster Cinemas in Jamuna Future Park.

The 2014 American science � c-tion monster � lm is a reboot of the “Godzilla” � lm franchise. It retells the origins of Godzilla in contemporary times as a “terrifying force of nature.”

The highly anticipated movie re-leased in USA on May 16.

STAR customers of Grameen-phone will have exclusive rights to the screening of the movie for the � rst 10 days from May 23. After that, the screenings become available to the general public. Grameenphone’s customers will get free popcorn facil-ities by sending an SMS to a certain number using a certain key word.

Grameenphone is in agreement to release a total of 4 movies this year for its valued customers at Block-buster Cinemas. l

GODZILLA

SADIA MARIUM

13DHAKA TRIBUNEThursday, May 22, 2014

Sport 1414 15 McIlroy breaks o� engagement to Wozniacki

Did you know?England have failed to win any of their

last 4 bilateral T20I series (L3 D1) after

being unbeaten in the preceding 8 (W5 D3)

Pakistan ball maker to ful� ll World Cup dream

Prandelli plays down racist taunt aimed at Balotelli

Farashganj eye BPL promotion n Farashganj Sporting Club moved one step closer to returning to the top � ight football after they came from behind to beat Wari Club 3-2 in the Premier Bank Bangladesh Championship League at the Kamalapur Stadium yesterday.

Palash put Wari ahead in the 4th min-ute before Shakib doubled the lead in the 43rd minute. Farashganj never gave up and made a spectacular comeback in the last half hour with Babu reducing the margin in the 60th minute while Biplob scored the equalizer seven minutes lat-er. However, it was Gafur who complet-ed the stunning comeback as his goal sealed the victory in the 74th minute to put his side in the second place.

Apart from table leaders Rahmat-ganj there will be another club from the second tier and it now seems most likely that Farashganj will grab that vacant slot as they are in an advanta-geous position with two points ahead of third-placed Agrani Bank with one game in hand. l

Cute Premier Handball begins tomorrown The nine-team Cute Premier Division Handball League will roll at the Shahid Captain M Monsur Ali National Hand-ball Stadium tomorrow.

Apart from defending champions Menzis Krira Chakra and runnes-up Narinda Pragati Boy’s Club the other participants are Surjodoy Krira Chakra, Dhaka Mariner Young’s Club, Old Ide-als, Bhatritta Samaj Kalyan Sanghstha, Victoria Sporting Club, Prime Sporting Club and Arambagh Krira Sangha.

To boost this year’s campaign Na-rinda has � ew in two Indian players as they look to clinch the title of the league that will conclude on June 2.

Cute has been sponsoring the league since 1984 and the cosmetics and the toiletries producers pledged to contin-ue their support in a press conference held at the Bangladesh Olympic Asso-ciation auditorium yesterday. Kazi Ra-jivuddin Ahmed Chapal, the director of Mousumi Industries and the head of Marketing and Sales Kazi Niaz ibne Mahtab said their long relation with handball is surrounded by the vision of raising the standards.

Sheikh Md Maruf Hasan, the chair-man of the organising committee, handball federation general secretary Asaduzzman Kohinoor and the tourna-ment secretary Md Jahangir Alam were also present on the occasion. l

Women’s cricket league by-laws yet to be preparedn The women’s cricket league titled the ‘Metropolitan Women’s Cricket League’, scheduled to get underway in less than a week, will be following the same by-laws as the men’s Dhaka Premier League. However, with less than a week remaining to the start of the league, the clubs are yet to know the bylaws.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) wom-en’s wing chairman Abdul Awal Chowd-hury Bulu though informed that the by-laws will be prepared within the next two days. “We have made a huge change in the bylaws but we are yet to complete the new bylaws. I am hopeful about � nishing it by one or two days and then I will for-ward it to the clubs,” said Bulu.

The women’s cricket league was originally set to begin from May 25 but it was pushed back by two days as BCB president Nazmul Hasan is not in the

country at the moment. “Our president is outside the country and is expected to return soon and we will be starting the tournament within May 27,” in-formed Bulu.

A total of 14 teams will participate in the tournament with the players’ trans-fer already taking place on Tuesday. The clubs had to pay Tk10,000 as entry fee for the competition and accord-ing to the latest bylaws, each club can

register a maximum of 24 cricketers in their side.

As per the foreign players’ quota which was introduced last year, each club can enroll four cricketers in their squad with two players permitted to play in the eleven.

Bulu also noti� ed that the Super League phase might be introduced from this season. “We are going to in-troduce the Super League phase from this season and in order to improve the quality of the tournament we are going to start the � rst division league as only the top sides could participate in this league,” said Bulu.

The chairman of the women’s wing also informed that the board is going to increase the � nancial aid for the clubs from Tk1,20,000 to Tk1,50,000 and he also added that the board is planning to provide match fees for the cricketers from this season. l

Naveed demands professionalhockey set-upn Naveed Alam, the head coach of Ban-gladesh national hockey team has urged the hockey federation to ensure his as well as the players’ mental peace in order to produce a satisfactory result in the upcoming Asian Games which is scheduled to be held at Incheon, Korea in September next.

Naveed, whose current contract expires on June 30 this year and is set to renew his contract with Bangladesh Hockey Federation, has also placed a number of demands to the federation. “First of all, I made it clear that the lev-el of competition in the Asian Games are far higher than the quali� ers and I would take all the responsibility of the success and failure if a number of de-mands are met,” said Naveed.

“The federation must form a panel of coaches who will work with speci� c sections. The formation of the national team also goes through some changes. The team also needs a good video ana-lyst, the plan of preparation including the tours and the warm-up matches,

and the peace of mind of the players and the coaches above all. In short, I asked the federation to ensure a fully professional set up,” added Naveed.

Naveed further added that he had asked the federation to increase his salary also. “Bangladesh Hockey Feder-ation has provided 3500 US dollars per month to me. I asked them to increase the amount. However, I did not spe-ci� cally say what the amount will be and it’s up to the federation to decide. I want to say that I am committed to my work and I believe Bangladesh has the potential in hockey.”

Naveed said that he had talked with some provincial hockey teams of Pakistan during his vacation and among them, Punjab has agreed to play practice match-es against Bangladesh. “It can be here or in Pakistan and the reason why I chose them was they have a number of Paki-stan national team players. So it would be a good warm-up for the team before the Asian Games,” Naveed revealed.

Naveed said that he is all set to start the Asian Games camp with 35 players from June 1. l

ULAB, AIUB in � naln

University of Liberal Arts Ban-gladesh (ULAB) has made it to

the � nals of the Walton Refrigerator University Challenge Cup 2014. They registered a convincing nine-wicket victory over Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) in the � rst semi� nal of the tournament at BKSP yesterday.

ULAB will face American Interna-tional University Bangladesh (AIUB) in the � nal today at the same venue. AIUB emerged as the other � nalist after defeating Rajshahi University by nine wickets.

BAU won the toss and opted to bat � rst but could only manage 89 runs los-ing all of their wickets due to a top-or-der failure. Utsho’s 30-ball 20 was the highest in the BAU innings. Ratul and Shuvrato scored 18 runs each.

Morsalin Bin Mortaja scalped four wickets for ULAB and was later ad-judged player of the match. Anjam Ahmed and Avishek Mitra took two

wickets each.In reply, ULAB chased down the

target in 7.5 overs with nine wickets to spare. Skipper Hasanuzzaman’s 26-ball 49 upfront propelled the chase. He hammered six fours and two sixes and added 83 runs with Avishek Mitra for the opening stand.

Avishek was unbeaten on 30 o� 20 balls. His innings included three boundaries and a six. Oni picked up the only wicket for BAU.

In the other semi� nal, Rajshahi bat-ted � rst and garnered only 83 runs. Wicketkeeper-batsman Himel scored the highest, 16. Tow� qul Haq grabbed four wickets for AIUB while Tanvir Haider took two.

Chasing the target, AIUB reached the target in 9.2 overs despite an early hiccup, that of opening batsman Mehr-ab Hossain Jr who departed in the third ball of the innings.

Anamul Haque guided the chase with authority scoring an unbeaten 37-ball 70. He hammered eight boundaries and � ve sixes. Tanvir was unbeaten at the other end on 10 runs. l

Australia team is corruption free: Clarken Australia captain Michael Clarke is dis-appointed at the alleged involvement of international cricketers in match-� xing but was “happy, satis� ed and con� dent” that his own team were not corrupt, he said on Wednesday.

Testimony from an ongoing Interna-tional Cricket Council probe into corrup-tion leaked to a British newspaper this week has detailed alleged match� xing in cricket involving at least two former international players from New Zealand.

Clarke, who has led his team back to the top of the ICC test rankings over the

last year, said any kind of corruption in the “greatest sport in the world” was unwelcome but did not think it was a problem in Australia.

“As an Australian cricketer, I’m very proud of what this current team has done and achieved and I think we are educat-ed very well in what is right and what is wrong,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

“I’m extremely con� dent about the players I’m playing with, this Australian team, all know very clearly that there’s no room for corruption in our team.

“A big part of our job is to uphold the integrity of our sport and I think we do that well.”

Although Australians have not been involved in any of the string of scandals that have emerged over the last two de-cades, the country’s cricketing author-ities were condemned for covering up the “Bookmaker John” case in 1995.

Two of Australia’s greatest cricketers, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh, were privately � ned for accepting thousands of dollars from an Indian bookmaker to give weather and pitch information – punishments that were not revealed un-til 1998. Clarke said he thought Cricket Australia’s current system of educating players had helped keep the sport free of the taint of corruption Down Under. l

Jewel Rana set to become MSC coachn Tribune Desk

Jewel Rana is set to become the new head coach of Mohammedan Sporting Club Limited after the sudden departure of Portuguese head coach Rui Jose Capela Batista. The former national striker, who also played for Mohammedan, is likely to be seen in the dugout during Moham-medan’s today’s Bangladesh Premier League match against Brothers Union.

Batista left the club on May 11 fol-lowing Mohammedan’s match against Abahani and the club informed that the Portuguese coach had to leave immedi-ately due to his wife’s sickness. Jewel Rana’s salary will be � xed in the next two weeks. l

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

Nuns, backed by pope, warn of human tra� ckingn

Roman Catholic nuns backed by Pope Francis on Tuesday raised the alarm over increased risks of human traf-� cking, exploitation of

workers, forced prostitution and sex-ual tourism at the soccer World Cup in Brazil next month.

The nuns, whose campaign is also backed by the U.S. embassy to the Vatican, announced an international campaign called “Play in Favour of Life - Denounce Human Tra� cking,” on the risks they say will be associated with the June 12 - July 13 tournament.

“We need to make people conscious of what happens on the margins of big world events such as the FIFA World Cup and the su� ering of those who are tra� cked,” said Sister Carmen Sam-mut, a Maltese nun and one of the cam-paign organisers.

“Without this awareness, without acting together in favour of human dig-nity, the World Cup � nals may turn out to be a terrible shame instead of a feast for humanity,” she told a news confer-ence at the Vatican.

Sammut said the initiative had the full backing of Pope Francis, an avid Argentine soccer fan who has called several conferences at the Vatican to study ways of combating human traf-� cking. l

As per the foreign players’ quota each club can enroll four cricketers in their squad with two players permitted to play in the eleven

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

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

Thursday, May 22, 2014

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

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

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

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

Atletico inspired by spirit of Aragones n Atletico Madrid face Real Madrid in the Champions League � nal on Satur-day attempting to put to bed one of the club’s most painful nights.

Los Rojiblancos missed out on the European Cup by a matter of seconds to what became an all-conquering Bayern Munich side 40 years ago.

Bayern, featuring Franz Beckenbau-er and Gerd Mueller, went on to win three European Cups in a row, and yet they almost never won the � rst, as they went into the � nal minute of extra time

1-0 down.The goal had been scored by Atlet-

ico’s greatest player of all-time, Luis Aragones, just six minutes from the end of extra time, but the Spaniards were denied when Miguel Reina -- fa-ther of current Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina -- let Hans-Georg Schwarzen-beck’s hopeful e� ort slip through his grasp.

In the days before penalty shoot-outs, Bayern went on to win 4-0 in the replay in Brussels just two days later.

On Sunday an estimated 200,000 Atletico Madrid fans crowded round

the Neptuno fountain and surrounding streets in the centre of the Spanish cap-ital to celebrate their side’s � rst La Liga title in 18 years.

However, amongst chorus upon chorus of chanting, it wasn’t inspira-tional manager Diego Simeone or top scorer Diego Costa who was the most prominent name, but that of Aragones.

The man who also coached Spain to the � rst of three successive major tournament victories at the European Championship in 2008, died on Febru-ary 1 this year aged 75.

Since then he has become an inspi-

ration for arguably the most successful season in Atletico’s 111-year history.

A picture of Aragones adorned the plane that took the players to the away leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against AC Milan.

- ‘Win, win and win again’ -Once the seven-time European

champions had been easily disposed of 5-1 on aggregate, it was one of Ara-gones’ famous decrees “win, win and win again” that met the players in a spectacular display by the Vicente Cal-deron crowd as they hosted Barcelona in the last eight. l

Beckham su� ers fresh blow to Miami stadium plans n David Beckham’s hopes of seeing his new Miami football team play at a prime spot at the port of Miami were Tuesday all but blown out of the water in a major setback for the former Man-chester United idol.

The ex-Real Madrid and England mid� elder wants to build a $250 million state-of-the-art open-air stadium with 25,000 seats for his recently acquired MLS team. His preferred site, at PortMi-ami, would have spectacular sweeping views of Biscayne Bay and downtown Miami. But shipping interests and local authorities have opposed the proposal, fearing it will disrupt port operations. l

Costa gets horse placenta for CL race n Atletico Madrid sent star striker Diego Costa to Serbia for special horse placen-ta treatment in a bid to get him ready for Saturday’s Champions League � nal, media reports said.

Costa, who will also be a key player in Spain’s World Cup squad, is a major doubt for the Lisbon � nal against Real Madrid because of a right hamstring injury.

Manager Diego Simeone said he will give Costa every chance to be ready for the match. And Atletico sent him on a private plane to Belgrade for treatment by Marijana Kovacevic, AS newspaper and other media reported. l

Pakistan ball maker to ful� ll World Cup dreamn It was when he felt the roar of the crowd at the 2006 World Cup in Germany that Pakistani factory owner Khawaja Akhtar � rst dreamt up a goal of his own: to manufacture the ball for the biggest soccer tournament on the planet.

“The people were chanting all around me. I just thought, ‘This is the real thing’,” Akhtar told Reuters. “I was part of the crowd. I never had that kind of feeling before.”

His factory in eastern Pakistan had made balls for the German Bundesliga, French league and Champions League, but he had never snagged a World Cup contract.

Last year he � nally got his chance - but only 33 days to make it happen.

When Akhtar heard last autumn that Adi-das’ Chinese supplier for the World Cup couldn’t keep up with demand, he immediately invited executives to his plant in Sialkot, a wealthy Pa-kistani manufacturing town with a long history of leatherwork.

Their � rst visit was not a success.“They said ‘You have Stone Age equip-

ment,” said his oldest son, Hassan Masood Kha-waja, laughing. “After they left, my father called a meeting and said: ‘This is our only chance. If we show them we can’t do it, we’ll never get another chance again.’”

It usually takes six months to set up a pro-duction line, but the factory only had a month - Adidas, the German sports equipment mak-er, was in a hurry. So Khawaja designed, made and moved the equipment into place within 33 days. Everything had to be done from scratch.

But it was a success, and the � rm’s previous investment in thermal bonding technology paid o� . Only thermally bonded balls - made using a glue that reacts with heat - are round enough

for the World Cup’s strict standards.Local legend tells of a poor cobbler who

made his fortune by repairing the punctured footballs of colonial-era British soldiers, then studying how to make them himself.

He was so successful that soldiers all over the region started buying from him. Business blossomed - but so did child labour.

A series of scandals, and changing tech-nology, forced many factories to close. Others

had to clean up their acts. These days foreign brands frequently inspect Sialkot factories that make their footballs. Large signs on Akhtar’s factory walls sternly proclaim that child labour is forbidden and unions are allowed.

Workers that Reuters spoke to privately con� rmed that conditions were good - the sal-ary was mostly minimum wage, around $100 a month, but social security, life insurance and transport were extra bene� ts. A small govern-ment hospital sits on the premises. In the past 40 years, Akhtar’s own family business, called Forward, has grown from 50 men to 1,400 em-ployees. Unusually for Pakistan, nearly a quar-ter of them are women.

Some wear the niqab, a long black covering that leaves only a pair of brown eyes exposed. Others � aunt bright sandals with imitation jew-els and wear robes the colour of tropical birds.

Almost all say they are the � rst woman in their family to work.

Shakila Ashra� , a 38-year-old mother whose long beige coat reached down to her ankles, said one of her � rst purchases was a television.

When the World Cup kicks o� in Brazil on June 12, they plan to invite their neigh-bours - all avid cricket supporters - to come and watch the strange foreign game being played half a world away. l

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

AC Milan striker Balotelli was believed to be the target of a racist insult from a youth as players were put through their paces during the second day of a 10-day training camp at Coverciano in Florence.

When asked about the incident, Prandelli said: “I didn’t hear what was said. All I heard were pleasantries.”

Police stationed at the national team

centre intervened and although the in-cident did not appear to faze Balotelli the striker hit out afterwards.

“Only in Rome or in Florence do you here these kinds of things,” said Balo-telli, who has been subjected to racist taunts sporadically during his Serie A career.

Italian football federation (FIGC) president Giancarlo Abete called the incident “unacceptable”.

“It was an isolated incident from someone who should not even have been there, but it’s unacceptable,” said Abete, speaking from Milan.

Immobile, one of seven strikers at the 30-strong training camp and hop-ing to make Prandelli’s � nal 23-man squad, said the incident was symptom-atic of widespread racism and discrimi-nation in the country.

The Torino forward, who with 22 goals � nished the season as Serie A’s top striker, is from Napoli, a city which sits in the shadow of the Mount Vesuvi-us volcano and whose fans are regular-ly taunted by rival fans.

Asked if he bearing witness to such an incident made him feel ashamed to be Italian, Immobile said: “No I’m not ashamed to be Italian when I hear things like this being said.

“But it saddens me. We’re in 2014 and to be hearing racist insults from people, whether you’re yellow, black or white is just unacceptable.

“I’m from Napoli and to hear fans shouting, ‘wash them with the lava from Mount Vesuvius’ isn’t very pleas-ant.

“Fortunately, Mario let it pass over him and he got on with his training. But we as players should do more to help stamp this out.” l

World Cup pressure giving Brazil’s Luiz sleepless nightsn Brazil defender David Luiz says he is having sleepless nights worrying about the World Cup, while his team mate Dani Alves describes the intense pressure of being tournament hosts as “delicious”.

“We are anxious, I wish it was start-ing tomorrow,” Luiz said at a commer-cial event in Sao Paulo on Tuesday.

“Some nights we don’t sleep. But that’s all part and parcel. It is a great chance and we are privileged to play a World Cup in front of our own fans. I can’t wait for it to start.”

The articulate Chelsea defender said the atmosphere in the Brazil squad was the best he has experienced in more than a decade as a professional player.

He added that their unity of purpose would help them to cope with the pres-sure of playing a home World Cup.

“We have to � nd a balance,” the 27-year-old Luiz told reporters. “Up to a certain point (anxiety) is good, it gets you thinking about the game. But too much is harmful so we’ll have to work on that and that is easier to do as a group.

“This group is very open, everyone has the right to give their opinion, and everyone is going to help each other.”

He added: “We really want this, our group is true in all we do, there is a great atmosphere.

“We are happy, anxious and we have two more games in which we’ll make last-minute adjustments and be ready to start with maximum force.”

Brazil kick o� the World Cup against Croatia on June 12 in Sao Paulo and then face Mexico and Cameroon in their other Group A games.

They play two warm-up matches against Panama in Goiania on June 3 and then Serbia in Sao Paulo on June 6.

The host nation are favourites to lift a record-extending sixth World Cup, but they will come under pressure from their often � ckle fans.

Barcelona’s Alves said that although Brazil’s 23-man squad might not have much World Cup experience they have all played at the highest levels and will not be fazed.

“It’s a delicious pressure, it’s pressure we like to feel,” he told reporters. l

Eto’o calls Mourinho ‘puppet’ n Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o has had another dig at his manager, Jose Mourinho, calling him a “puppet” in a Confederation of African Football (CAF) website interview on Tuesday.

Mourinho suggested in a private conversation last March that the 33-year-old Cameroonian might be older than he claimed.

Record four-time African Footballer of the Year Eto’o branded the Portuguese manager a “fool” during a visit to the Ivory Coast last week.

And in the CAF interview, the star who will captain Cameroon at the World Cup in Brazil during June criticised his boss again.

Asked about the nature of his relationship with Mourinho, Eto’o,

who is out of contract next month, replied:

“Contrary to what a puppet says about my age, I am still physically � t. At 33, I feel real good. I have proven that I can do better than youths.

“... I am not going to the United States or to the Middle East. I will continue at the top level. I will continue to play the Champions League.

“My romance with this competition is far from over. I will not tell you where, but I will be at the top level.

“I am 33 and I have two World Cups to play. Before me there are other players who went on until the age of 41. So I can continue.”

Cameroon legend Roger Milla was 42 when he scored during a 6-1 loss to Russia at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. l

An employee adjusts outer panels on a football inside the factory that produces o� cial match balls for 2014 World Cup in Brazil, in Sialkot, Punjab province on Friday REAUTERS

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

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

McIlroy breaks o� engagement to Wozniacki n An emotional Rory McIlroy on Wednes-day announced he had broken o� his engagement and split with Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki only days after sending out the wedding in-vitations.

The 25-year-old Northern Irishman and two-time major champion said the issuing of the invitations had made him aware that he was not ready for marriage.

“There is no right way to end a re-lationship that has been so important to two people,” he explained through a statement issued by his Dublin-based communications consultants.

“The problem is mine,” McIlroy said.“The wedding invitations issued at

the weekend made me realise that I wasn’t ready for all that marriage entails.

“I wish Caroline all the happiness she deserves and thank her for the great times we’ve had. I will not be say-ing anything more about our relation-

ship in any setting.”The golden sporting couple’s high

pro� le break-up came on the eve of McIlroy’s appearance at the European PGA Championship.

He later told a Wentworth press con-ference that he had never considered pulling out of the European Tour’s � ag ship event.

“I just want to get my head into golf and concentrate on the tournament and try and do well,” the Irishman told reporters.

“I want to drive straight into it and keep myself busy.

“I am not going to lie - it is going to be very di� cult but at least when I get inside the ropes I can try and concen-

trate on the shots at hand.“I didn’t think there was any reason

to pull out.“There is no good time to end a re-

lationship - I had made a commitment to be here. This is the European Tour’s � ag ship event and I am very proud to be part of the European Tour.

“The Tour has been very good to me over the last number of years and I thought it was my duty to come back and play in this event. Once I gave my word I was never going to go back on it.

“My schedule is here, Memorial, US Open, Irish Open, Scottish Open and British Open and I don’t think that is going to change.

“It is no di� erent to anyone else. Everyone has been through break-ups and I want to concentrate this week on answering questions on golf.”

McIlroy and Wozniacki met nearly three years ago in Munich at a boxing match between David Haye and Wlad-imir Klitschko and the relationship has been in the news pages ever since. l

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Sony Six

Indian Premier League4:30PMKolkata v Bangalore 8:30PM Chennai v Hyderabad7:00AM NBA Play O� 2013-14: Conf FinalSan Antonio v Oklahoma CityStar Sports 1

12:30PM, 6:00PMBadmintonLi-Wing Thomas and Uber Cups 2014Star Sports 2

2:00PMF1: Monaco GPPractice Sessions 6:00PMEngland v Sri Lanka1st ODI

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

– Reuters

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

– AFP

Heat re-group to snu� out Pacers LeBron James and Dwyane Wade com-bined for 45 points as the Miami Heat rallied to beat the Indiana Pacers 87-83 on Tuesday and even their NBA playo� series at 1-1. James and Wade scored or assisted on the last 33 points for the Heat who re-grouped from an embar-rassing 107-96 loss in Sunday’s game one of the best-of-seven Eastern Con-ference � nal series. Wade said he had great chemistry with James on Tuesday night. “What we envisioned coming in here is having two guys who are able to be dynamic. We just make plays that feel right,” Wade said. “I always know where number six is on the � oor. Him touching the ball, or me touching the ball, is the best thing for our team,” Wade said. Wade shot 10-for-16 en route to a team-high 23 points, while James tallied 22 with seven rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots. Norris Cole came o� the bench to score 11 points.

– AFP

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

– AFP

DAY’S WATCH

QUICK BYTES

Supreme court restores Sethin The Supreme Court on Wednesday re-stored Najam Sethi as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) just four days after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had reinstated his predecessor, Zaka Ashraf, as head of the organisation.

A three member bench of the apex court, while hearing a petition � led by the government’s Ministry of Inter-Pro-vincial Coordination against the rein-statement of Ashraf last Saturday, an-nulled the lower court’s order but set May 27 as the next date of hearing for the case.

“It is not a decision but a stay order and we will be vigorously pursuing this case because I am the legally elected chairman of the board,” Ashraf told.

Ashraf, who was restored as PCB chief for the third time in a year last Saturday, said he would personally state the facts before the apex court, adding that Pakistan cricket needed stability and a clear direction. l

Bulls injure three matadors, halting Madrid bull� ght n Half-tonne � ghting bulls skewered or trampled all three matadors in an ex-traordinary upset at Madrid’s presti-gious Las Ventas bullring, forcing the entire spectacle to be cancelled.

For the � rst time in 35 years, the San Isidro festival, which opens the bull-� ghting season in Spain, had to be suspended on Tuesday evening because all the matadors had been injured.

“Drama in Las Ventas” ran the front page headline of conservative daily ABC over a full-page photograph of a huge bull plunging its right horn into the side of the most seriously injured matador, David Mora, before he fell to the ground.

Spanish media devoted broad cover-age to the bloody turning of the tables in Las Ventas, reputed to be the most important bullring in the world. l

‘Devastated’ ICC to probe � xing leaksCairns denies being ‘Player X’, Tu� ey says he is cleann The International Cricket Council will investigate how evidence given to a match� xing probe had been leaked to the media and take action against anyone employed by them if involved, chief executive Dave Richardson said on Wednesday.

The latest match� xing scandal broke last December when New Zealand me-dia reported that three former interna-tional cricketers had been linked to an investigation by the ICC’s Anti-Corrup-tion Security Unit (ACSU) into alleged match� xing.

Last week, British newspapers pub-lished excerpts of con� dential state-ments from former New Zealand bats-man Lou Vincent, who had earlier said he was co-operating with the ACSU, and current captain Brendon McCullum.

Richardson said the ICC “deeply re-gretted” the leaks and re-iterated that McCullum was not under investigation.

“We are taking all steps available to us to urgently investigate how certain information in the form of statements has come to � nd its way into the me-dia,” he said in a statement.

“Of course, we recognise that this is a deeply concerning development for the stakeholders in the � ght against corruption in the sport of cricket, and we wish to emphasise that Brendon McCullum is not under investigation in this matter.”

New Zealand Cricket said earlier this week they were disappointed that Mc-Cullum’s statements had been made public and would ask the world gov-erning body to investigate the source of the leaks.

Richardson told Radio New Zealand on Wednesday that the investigation into the leaks had already been launched but said it was premature to suggest they had come from within the ICC.

“This is an investigation that crosses three or four jurisdictions and involves liaison with other stakeholders, law enforcement agencies, players who have been interviewed,” Richardson said.

“Of course we are devastated with these leaks, but it is premature to say exactly where that leak came from and whether anyone involved in the ACSU was involved.

“But certainly if we are able to � nd

out where the leak came from that person will be removed from the situ-ation.”

The statements by Vincent and Mc-Cullum detailed being approached by a former international player about the possibility of match� xing. The excerpts of McCullum’s statements identi� ed the former international as ‘Player X’.

The New Zealand Herald newspa-per then identi� ed ‘Player X’ as former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns, who has consistently denied being in-volved in any match� xing.

“I am aware that former cricketer Lou Vincent and current New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum have made a range of allegations against a crick-eter dubbed Player X,” Cairns said in a statement to Fairfax Media.

“It is well known that the ICC/ACSU has been investigating allegations of corruption and my name has been linked by others to these allegations. I am being asked whether I am Player X.

“Based on the limited information I have received during this investigation, I believe it is being alleged that I am that player. These allegations against me are a complete lie.” l

‘Cook under pressure as never before ‘ n England captain Alastair Cook will be under pressure as never before when he tries to return the team to winning ways this season, according to former skipper Michael Vaughan.

Despite leading the side in their 5-0 Ashes rout by Australia and enduring a loss of form as well, Essex opener Cook has retained his position as Test and one-day captain. But the fall-out from a wretched tour programme has seen Andy Flower step down as coach and be replaced by Peter Moores, now in his second spell in the job.

Signi� cantly, Cook was also in-volved in the decisions to end the inter-national career of Kevin Pietersen, En-gland’s all-time leading run-scorer, and ditch his Essex mentor Graham Gooch as the team’s batting coach.

In the circumstances, Vaughan be-lieves Cook will be desperate for a suc-cessful series against Sri Lanka and In-dia, England’s opponents in their home international programme this season.

“The pressure is on him. Any failure, any disappointment will be jumped on by a lot of people,” Vaughan, who led England in 51 Tests from 2003 until 2008, told BBC Sport.

“Even though he’s won an Ashes and won in India, Cook will probably feel like this is a fresh start, what he’s going to be judged on as an England captain.

“He has made some tough calls. He has got rid of his best pal -- batting coach Graham Gooch -- although I be-lieve it was a management decision and a Peter Moores coaching decision as much as Alastair Cook’s.

“He has got rid of the man who has scored more runs for England than

anyone else in Kevin Pietersen so, al-though the public will be behind him, there will also be more pressure on the England side.”

Cook is set to lead England in the � rst one-day international against Sri Lanka at The Oval on Thursday and former o� -spinner Graeme Swann, who dra-matically retired during the Ashes, said an early win would do wonders for the morale of both players and fans alike.

“Alastair Cook will be desperate for a couple of new heroes to emerge and re-ally stamp their names on proceedings for the summer and become the new faces of English cricket,” Swann told BBC Radio Five.

“We need to play in front of full hous-es, we need to play exciting cricket, but most importantly we just need to win.

“Three or four wins at the start of this summer and all will be forgotten.” l

Malinga leads SL to 9-run T20 win over Englandn World champions Sri Lanka held o� an England � ghtback to win by nine runs in a Twenty20 international at the Oval on Tuesday helped by an explosive innings from Thisara Perera and superb bowling from Lasith Malinga.

Perera’s quick-� re 49 runs from 20 balls, having survived a dropped catch by Michael Carberry, enabled the tourists to post a total of 183-7 from their 20 overs while Malinga’s � gures of 3-28 kept England at bay in response.

“The last couple of years I’ve been used to bowling in pressure situations, I’m used to it and I work hard in those situations,” Sri Lanka captain Malinga told Sky Sports.

“I really enjoy it, it doesn’t matter, I used to say to captains to give me the ball.”

Sri Lanka’s innings had been ticking along at a steady pace with Kithuruwan Vithanage’s 38 runs from 26 balls and Lahiru Thirimanne, who was eventually dismissed for 40, helping them to 122-5 when Perera came to the crease. l

Amla example inspires Saracens’ Hargreaves n Alistair Hargreaves will hope to follow the “quiet, humble” approach of former schoolboy cricket team-mate turned South Africa run-machine Hashim Amla should he play for Saracens in this weekend’s European Cup � nal.

Saracens captain Steve Borthwick’s chest injury problems are threatening to sideline the former England skipper from what could be a memorable � n-ish to his 16-year playing career by rul-ing him out of both Saturday’s match against defending European champi-ons Toulon in Cardi� and next week-end’s English Premiership � nal with Northampton at Twickenham.

Borthwick now has to prove his � t-ness during a Thursday training session if he is to face Toulon at the Millenni-um Stadium, with four-times capped Springbok lock Hargreaves standing by

to take his place in the second row if he fails to make the grade.

Locks are generally known for their physicality and aggression but former Natal Sharks forward Hargreaves in-sisted playing cricket alongside the reserved Amla at Durban High School had made a big impression on him.

“We had a proud cricketing his-tory and I enjoyed being a bit of an all-rounder,” Hargreaves said.

“I was selected for South African schools and made the decision to choose rugby and that’s been the story ever since.

“Bowling at Hashim in the nets wasn’t fun! His average was in some-thing like the 90s as a schoolboy, and that’s incredible.

“He’s very quiet, humble, a very re-spectful guy and a hard worker. He’s everything you’d want in a world-class sportsman. l

Sri Lanka 183/7 (20 ov)Thisara 49, Thirimanne 40, Vithanage 38, England 174/7 (20 ov)Hales 66, Bopara 28*, Malinga 3/28 Result: Sri Lanka won by 9 runsMoM: Thisara Perera (SRI)

BRIEF SCORE

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

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

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, May 22, 2014

It was mango mealybug, not giant Bangladeshi scientists do not agree with the USDA � ndingn Kamran Reza Chowdhury

US scientists have said the alien insect that Bangladeshi professionals have identi� ed as the dangerous giant mealy-bug is actually a mango mealybug.

A swarm of the insect, said to have originated in Africa, recently scared the students of a college in Dhaka, forc-ing authorities to shut the it down for a while. Before that, a large number of these insects were � rst reported at a naval base in the city.

Entomologists from the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University and the government’s Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) identi� ed the insect as giant mealybug and said it was alien to Bangladesh. They said the insect might have travelled here with the baggage of the Bangladeshi soldiers returning from UN peacekeeping mis-sions in the African countries.

The quarantine section of the Bang-ladesh government’s plant protection wing recently sent samples to the agri-cultural research services of the US De-partment of Agriculture (USDA).

On May 9, the US service said in a report that the scienti� c name of the insect was Drosicha mangifera, com-monly known as the mango mealybug.

The Dhaka Tribune has obtained a copy of the letter that the US scientists have sent to the Bangladesh govern-ment.

Joe Floyd, a domestic diagnostics coordinator of the USDA in Maryland, sent the letter to MonzurulHoque, an entomologist posted at the quarantine wing of the Dhaka airport. Monzurul sent the samples in March.

Ahsan Ullah, a quarantine entomolo-gist of the DAE, told the Dhaka Tribune that initially, the Bangladeshi scientists thought it was the giant mealybug, but the US report said something di� erent.

“We talk on the basis of expert opinion. The USDA is the world leader in this area; so I think their report is right,” he said.

Debashish Sarker, a BARI entomol-ogist who was part of the team that detected the insect as giant mealybug, told the Dhaka Tribune that he had no idea about the USDA report.

He has also been involved with con-trolling the pest that has recently at-tacked the Jatiya Sangsad premises.

“Mango mealybug and giant mealy-bug belong to the same family,” he said.

When asked why they had said it was giant mealybug, Debashish said the BARI had sent a sample to the com-monwealth agricultural wing to know more about it.

“Let the report come,” he said. l

Where have the Tk1 coins gone?n Hitler A Halim

When has one last seen a Tk1 coin?Although, one of the DGs of the central

bank says they have a huge stock of metal coins, people who need them every day say the coins cannot be found anywhere.

With allegations rife that these coins, made of a metal alloy, are being smuggled across the borders, economists say the absence is hurting people’s micro savings habit, which may end up damaging the country’s economy in the long run.

The journey from the capital’s Farmgate to Paltan intersection on a “local bus” costs a commuter around Tk6. If the commuter gives the conduc-tor of the bus Tk7, the conductor will not return the change.

He will say: “I do not have Tk 1 change.”

If one buys a product for Tk7 from a local grocery and gives a Tk10 bill, the shopkeeper would inevitably give him a Tk2 note and a Tk1 candy in return. His reason is the same as the bus conductor.

Even about a year or so ago, small ven-dors could be seen selling coins in small sacks in the capital’s Mirpur, Farmgate, Gulistan and Motijheel areas. Their main customers were the bus conductors.

However, these “coin sellers” are hardly seen these days.

Jasimu Uddin, the conductor of a bus that runs on the Banani-Motijheel route, told the Dhaka Tribune: “There was a time when our pockets used to over� ow with coins. Now you see, I do not have a single coin in my pockets. When we go to the banks, they say they do not have them.”

Md Saiful Islam Khan, a director gen-eral of the Bangladesh Bank, said: “We have su� cient coins in stock and can entertain demands of any amount... We have seen in our investigation of banks that they need separate counters for deal-ing with coins. But, because the commercial banks have lim-ited space and manpower, they are reluctant to exchange coins.”

Sources said at present, the cen-tral bank has a stock of 4.47 crore

Tk1 coins. The bank has plans to release 15 crore more by the end of June.

The central bank has approved a num-ber of branches of three state-owned and six private banks for selling coins.

But sources say because these branch-es do not have enough space in their vaults, they cannot store enough at once.

An o� cial of the Gulshan branch of the Standard Bank told this corre-spondent: “We have boxes full of coins. But nobody wants them.”

Economists say common people are used to getting change in return when they shop or ride a bus. That is why they do not go to banks to collect coins.

The Dhaka Tribune has learnt that a syndicate of “coin collectors,” who allegedly amass the coins from bus conductors and grocery shops, are smuggling them through the western districts such as Kushtia, Meherpur, Jhenaidah and Chuadanga.

Hebul Mia, a resident of the Harim-pur village in Meherpur near the Indian border, said: “A lot of coins have been smuggled through this area in the last one and a half years. The old Tk1 coins, which are made of copper and are gold-en in colour, are in high demand.”

However, he could not explain what was done with the smuggled coins.

Economist Anu Muhammad said: “If coins have any value other than their monetary value, then there is a chance that they may be used for unu-sual purposes.”

Others said another reason could be the reduced number of “counter bus services” in the city.

Khandakar Enayetullah, secretary general of a bus owners’ association, said: “Getting the coins and keeping them – both involve lots of hassle. That is why the conductors say they do not have change.” l

Uncertainty grips Fifa World Cup broadcastn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

A status quo order delivered by a Dhaka court has thrown live transmission of the 2014 Fifa World Cup in the country into uncertainty.

The order was delivered by the Dha-ka District Court on Tuesday as the consortium Total Sports Marketing (TSM) and Seven3Sports, an appointed agency of Sony Television which has won the transmission right for this re-gion, were locked in a legal tangle over the transmission, barrister Aneek R

Haque, lawyer of the consortium, told the Dhaka Tribune.

The TSM, which has Gazi TV as its partner, signed a $1.41 million primary deal with Seven3Sports on March 25 and half the money was paid immedi-ately. Seven3Sports also gave the nod to start promotional activities in the � rst half of April.

In an email, Abhishek Saklani, a senior executive at Seven3Sports, told the TSM: “Please go ahead and � oat your sales or marketing packages in the Bangladeshi market.”

Meanwhile, Seven3Sports sent an-other email to Gazi TV and the TSM, saying the deal was terminated based on mutual consent. However, Gazi TV and TSM said it was a false claim.

Gazi TV and TSM o� cials went to court and on Thursday the court issued a ruling, asking why the defendants shall not be restrained from termination of the agreement and entering into any agreement with any third party relating to broadcast of the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Bangladesh territory. The respondents were given

25 days to respond.The TSM declined to comment as it

is a sub-judice issue.The consortium sources said they

would involve Bangladesh Football Federation in the process and would approach Fifa authorities as well if necessary.

Another source said every state-owned TV channel reserves priority to broadcast Fifa World Cup with a concessional rate and BTV could have it as private channels are locked in legal battle. l

Status quo on drive against vehicles with tinted glassesn Nazmus Sakib

The High Court yesterday in a directive asked the government to maintain sta-tus quo for two weeks on its drive to free vehicles from tinted glass except-ing microbuses.

The bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Khurshid Alam Sarkar passed the order in response to a writ petition � led by two lawyers.

Following the recent abduction spree, the Home Ministry issued a press release on April 30 asking owners to remove black or tinted glass from their vehicles.

The government decided that other than built-in tinted or coloured glass-es, such types of glasses should be re-moved from all vehicles by May 10 oth-erwise the law enforcement agencies will take appropriate legal action.

On May 11, the law enforcers launched the drive and � ned many people.

On May 14, two lawyers of the Supreme Court – Asaduzzaman Siddiqui and Aklas Uddin Bhuiyan – lodged a petition challenging the government order.

Their lawyer Manzill Murshid told the court that as per relevant laws the home ministry had no authority to slap a ban on glasses. The authority to do so lies with the BRTA.

He said using black glasses in private car protect people from severe heat, provide security to women as well as children and ensure safety of citizens with many other advantages.

So, the prohibition contradicts with the constitution that guarantees pro-tection of right to life, personal liberty and freedom of movement, he said.

The government banned black glasses on excuse that abductions were taken place by the perpetrators who used black glasses in microbuses, Manzill said.

But the government did not pro-scribe use of knife and rope though sev-en people in Narayanganj were slaugh-tered with knife and later corpses of the deceased were tied with ropes.

Assisted by Deputy Attorney General Al-Amin Sarker, Attorney General Mah-bubey Alam said those who need dark glasses in private cars could seek permis-sion from the government and the BRTA.

The court also issued a rule asking the government why the prohibition should not be declared without lawful authority and of no legal e� ect.

The home secretary, IGP, DMP com-missioner, joint commissioner (traf-� c) and home deputy secretary were asked to respond to the rule within four weeks. l

A bird’s eye view shows a boat plying on Buriganga water that has turned pitch-black from years of pollution. The photo was taken recently in the city’s Babubazar SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

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

In a historic judgement, the Meghalaya high court said Bangladesh nationals who have settled in this northeastern state before March 24, 1971 should be treated as Indians and be enrolled on the voters’ list, Press Trust of India reported.

The judgement was based on a peti-tion by more than 40 refugees original-ly from Bangladesh, who were denied enrolment in the electoral roll by the district administration citing their cit-izenship as doubtful.

The refugees, from Amjong village near the Assam-Meghalaya border in Meghalaya’s Ri-Bhoi district, went to the Indian court after their citizenship certi� cates were seized by the deputy commissioner.

Justice SR Sen, in his May 15 order, di-rected the district deputy commission-er Pooja Pandey to return the seized certi� cates to the petitioners and enrol them on the voters’ list before the next elections.

Justice Sen said there was an under-standing between the two countries as to who should be allowed to stay and who should be deported back to Bangladesh.

“It is clearly understood that the forefathers of the petitioners entered India much before March 24, 1971. As such, there is no question of deporting them at this stage when they have ac-quired the right of permanent rehabili-tation in Amjong village,” he said.

Ruling out the contention that they were Bangladeshi citizens, the court said there was no scope for their de-portation and directed the state gov-ernment and the Centre not to disturb them, but to provide them with proper rehabilitation.

The state government had earlier ar-gued that the petitioners and their fore-fathers were not permanent citizens and were rehabilitated temporarily by the autonomous district council. l

The Indian court said there was no scope for the deportation and issued directive for their rehabilitation

We talk on the basis of expert opinion. The USDA is the world leader in this area; so I think their report is right

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

Maldives concerned about undocumented Bangladeshisn Rabiul Islam

A seven-member delegation from the Maldives yesterday alleged that a large number of undocumented Bangladeshi migrant workers were in the island country.

The delegation expressed its concern at a meeting with the representatives of the Bangladesh Association of Interna-tional Recruiting Agencies (Baira).

Alia Hirji, programme manager of the IOM Maldives, said there were 100,000 migrant workers in the country and most of them were Bangladeshis.

Hassan Khaled, chief principal immi-gration o� cer of the Maldives, claimed a large number of undocumented Bang-ladeshis were staying in the country.

However, Baira Senior Vice-President Ali Haider Chowdhury said people from villages could not di� erentiate between recruiting agencies and travel agencies.

With the assistance of travel agen-cies, innocent people went to the Mal-dives using visitor visas and tourist vi-sas, he noted.

The Maldives delegation also held a meeting with the o� cials of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Train-ing (BMET). l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial 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

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

B4 Obama discusses US investment with corporate executives

B4 India Inc bets big on Modi, but can he deliver?

No consensus yet to avert RMG factory inspection twicen Tribune Report

The Accord and the Alliance have not yet come to a consensus on factory in-spection to decide whether both the platforms of the global retailers would inspect the same factories.

“We stick to our plan to inspect all the 1,600 factories,” said Brad Loewen, chief safety inspector of Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

The factories have been identi� ed for inspection as the global brands source apparel items from the units.

“As there is no agreement between the Accord and Alliance, duplication in inspection can take place,” Brad said, after a meeting at Bangladesh Secretar-iat in Dhaka yesterday.

O� cials of the ministries of com-merce, labour and employment and foreign a� airs, and ambassadors of Can-ada, US and Netherlands, and represen-tatives of European Union were present.

The meeting, chaired by Canadian ambassador Heather Cruden, was to discuss the report of factory inspection done by the Accord and Alliance on � re, electrical and building structure.

At a meeting on March 27, the Ac-cord and the Alliance had agreed not to

inspect a factory twice – once done by anyone to avert double-inspection.

“We do not want to inspect factories again, which has already been inspect-ed by the Accord. But the Accord wants to inspect the factories again after be-ing inspected by us,” M Rabin, manag-ing director of Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Labour and Employment Secretary Mikail Shipar said the meeting discussed about the report of factory inspection and the factory closures, and the condi-tion of workers of the closed factories.

“We urged the Accord to pay work-ers salaries for the period when the factories remain closed for remedial works,” he said, adding that the Accord gave no decision.

“The meeting also talked over con-crete strength and the Accord agreed to follow the PSI at 2050 for brick-made structure and 2350 for stone-made structure for buildings which have been built after 2005. But it did not take decision on buildings which were built before 2005,” said a meeting source, seeking anonymity.

A total of 12 factories have so far been closed through conducting in-spection. l

Tofail urges WTO to help ease manpower export n Tribune Business Desk

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has called upon the World Trade Or-ganisation to take e� ective steps in easing visa procedure as well as im-proving connectivity to facilitate ex-pansion of world trade.

“Complexities in issuing visa have created a roadblock to trade in ser-vices in the form of exporting human resources,” he told a conference ti-

tled “World Economic Forum on East Asia” of commerce ministers from di� erent countries in Manila, Philip-pines yesterday.

The minister also called upon the WTO to remove all the barriers to facil-itate free trade for the least developed countries like Bangladesh as agreed in the ninth WTO ministerial conference in Bali, Indonesia in December last year.

“We want implementation of the decision adopted in Bali.”

He said Bangladesh is gradual-ly becoming economically stronger with its exports reaching to around US$30bn at present and accumulat-ing around US$20bn of foreign ex-change reserve, mainly aided by a robust remittance in� ow of around $15bn annually.

“Bangladesh would do even bet-ter, subject to getting enhanced ac-cess to international trade,” he said.

Tofail said the country is making

e� orts to diversify its export items as well as export market in one hand, and trying to sign free trade agree-ments with di� erent countries to boost exports.

He said Bangladesh is making progress in a planned manner to achieve a strong footing in its export trade and expected the WTO would take e� ective measures to implement the Bali Package to act as a catalyst in the country’s endeavour. l

Demand for removing SIM tax ‘illogical’

n Syed Samiul Basher Anik

The mobile phone operators’ demand for complete removal of SIM tax is not logical, said Post and Telecommuni-cation Secretary Abu Bakar Siddique.

“SIM tax was reduced half previ-ously, now the operators want it be eliminated completely. It’s not a ra-tional demand at all,” he said.

In the current � scal year, the gov-ernment reduced tax on the purchase a SIM to Tk300 from Tk600.

The telecom operators have de-manded reducing tax to zero in the upcoming � scal year as they have to “pay it from their own pockets.”

“Mobile operators pay the tax (on behalf of subscribers). If it is with-drawn, we can contribute more to the national exchequer,” said TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Associa-tion of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB).

But the secretary said the mobile operators only look at their bene� ts and never think of how the government would collect its expected revenue.

He suggested the tax should con-tinue for more one or two years as there was a 50% reduction in the cur-rent � scal year.

“After 1-2 years, we will consider if the tax should be in e� ect or not, but not now.

Former � nance adviser of a care-taker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam suggested following interna-tional standard rate of tax on mobile SIM cards.

“As the VAT on SIM card could be subjected to a universal VAT struc-ture, we should analyse the rates of other countries.”

At di� erent meetings and press conferences recently, the telecom operators urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to cut Tk300 tax on SIM saying the tax is against the growth of mobile penetration.

It contradicts the government’s vision of building Digital Bangladesh, they said.

At present, the operators pay a to-tal of Tk300 tax for a SIM card sale, which includes Tk109.96 value added

tax (VAT) and Tk190.05 supplementa-ry duty.

Industry insiders said the mo-bile operators have been left with no choice other than paying the tax from their fund considering the economic conditions of subscribers in Bangla-desh and market competitiveness.

They claimed the SIM tax with-drawal will widen mobile connec-tivity and contribute to taking the penetration to more than 80% of the population by 2015.

Industry people said the govern-ment income will increase at least 20% after SIM tax is lifted.

In the FY2005-06, the government introduced Tk800 SIM tax. It was reduced to Tk600 in FY2010-11 and Tk300 in FY13-14.

During years since 2010, the in-dustry witnessed a modest average growth of 18%.

The subscribers increased 23.6% in FY2010-11, 20% in 2011-12 and 10.9% in 2012-13. The subscribers’ growth rate was only 9% during the current � scal year when the tax was cut by half. l

Rules to cut IPO expenses to 30%n Kayes Sohel

A company could now save a substan-tial amount of money on the expenses for initial public o� ering (IPO), follow-ing introduction of the new subscrip-tion system for public shares.

Presently, the IPO expense eats up on an average 4% to 6% of the total is-sue depending on the IPO size, shrink-ing available fund for investment, ac-cording to industry people.

“Our best estimates suggest the IPO expenses will come down to 30% of the present expenditure once the new system becomes e� ective,” said MA Ha� z, a director of AAA consultant – a leading issue manager.

He said bigger IPOs cost less and smaller ones higher.

Bangladesh Securities and Ex-change Commission (BSEC) will make new application process for IPO sub-scription e� ective from July 15 next.

Under the new system, retail inves-tors will have to apply for IPO shares allotment through their respective brokerage � rms and merchant banks, and deposit money to their bene� ciary owner’s (BO) accounts.

The money will be transferred from the investor’s account to the issuer com-pany’s escrow account if the investor gets share allotment after IPO lottery.

As per the present procedures, in-vestors need to submit money with their applications for IPO shares to their bank accounts where hours wast-ed standing in queues.

“The new system will substantial-ly reduce post-IPO management cost

that is bigger than any other charges or fees,” said MD Muniruzzaman, manag-ing director of IDLC Investments.

He said some Tk3 or Tk4 per appli-cation is charged from lottery draw to refund warrant.

Now-a-days, people prefer to apply in the primary market rather than sec-ondary market, leading to increased IPO applications and thus shooting up

post-IPO expenses, he said. Union Capital managing director

Akter H Sannamat said: “Fees fell a lot, making it harder to be pro� table.”

He said the overall IPO expenses came down today than few years ago, as many players came in, making busi-ness competitive. Another fact is that since the regulator � xes fees for man-gers to the issue, IPO expenses fell, he

said. The regulator has � xed the charge at maximum Tk20 lakh. “This fee should not be � xed as quality of ser-vice of all issue mangers is not equal.”

IPO expenses include listing fee, underwriter commission, prospectus submission fee to stock exchange, ap-plication fee to the regulator, consent fee, bankers to the Issue commission and CDBL fee. l

Spanish envoy happy with Siddhirganj plant progress n Aminur Rahman Rasel

Spanish Ambassador in Bangladesh Luis Tejada has expressed satisfac-tion over the progress of construction works of 335 megawatt gas-based com-bined cycle power plant at Siddhirganj in Narayangaj.

“I am happy to see the progress of the project. Once completed, the na-tional grid will get power from the plant,” he told journalists during a visit to the project site yesterday.

After one year delay, the power plant B3 COLUMN 5

Kamal: FY14 GDP growth to stand at 6.2%n Tribune Report

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday said the country’s economic growth would stand at 6.2% in the cur-rent � scal year.

The � gure announced more than one month ahead of ending the � scal on June 30 beats the forecasts earlier made by the economists and donor agencies. They predicted growth will be below 6% due to political unrest in the run up to the January 5 general election.

The planning minister said per cap-ita income would increase from $1,044 to US$1,180 in the � scal 2013-14.

He declared the GDP growth � g-ure while brie� ng the outcome of the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) in Dhaka.

The minister’s declaration is high-er than Bangladesh Bank’s projection of around 6%, the World Bank’s 5.7%, ADB’s 5.6% and International Mone-tary Fund’s 6%.

About the implementation of the an-nual development programme (ADP), Kamal said the rate of implementation for the current � scal year is 55%.

At the Ecnec meeting, the govern-ment approved expansion of power distribution network through 39 Palli Bidyut Samities across the country.

The project titled “Strengthening the Distribution System of Rural Elec-tri� cation” will cost over Tk5,198 crore.

With this enhancement of electric-ity transmission network in the ru-ral areas, a total of four development

projects worth Tk6,386 crore were approved at the meeting, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

“Under the power distribution net-work project, system loss during power distribution would be reduced by 2.5% through strengthening the distribution network in Dhaka, Chittagong and Syl-het divisions,” Kamal told newsmen after the meeting.

He said distribution network of 39 Palli Bidyut Samities would be strength-ened through increasing their capaci-ties by 1840 MVA (mega volt ampere).

The distribution system of rural electri� cation would require a cost of Tk5,198.33 crore, of which, the govern-ment will provide Tk1,293.33 crore and Tk3,705 crore will come as project as-sistance and concerned organisations will contribute Tk200 crore. Rural Elec-tri� cation Board (REB) will implement the project scheduled by June, 2020.

Of the total outlay of four projects, the government will provide Tk1,843.47 crore from the national exchequer while Tk4,317.15 crore will come as project as-sistance and concerned organisations will contribute Tk225.45 crore from own sources, according to the minister.

The ECNEC approved another project titled “Installation of Wireless Broad-band Network for Digital Bangladesh” in-volving Tk956.84 crore to ensure broad-band internet at a cheaper rate for all.

Government will provide Tk344.69 crore from the national exchequer and rest Tk612.15 crore would come as proj-ect assistance.

B3 COLUMN 6

Investors are seen trading at a broker house in the capital amid a debudant stock in the country's two bourses after its initial public o� erings recently TAHMIDUR RAHMAN

Spanish Ambassador Luis Tejada

Kay Telecom vanished with Tk125cr duesn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The telecom regulator has found no existence of IGW operator Kay Tele-communications Ltd in its registered address.

The International Gateway (IGW) company owes Tk91.5 crore to Bangla-desh Telecommunication Regulatory Communication (BTRC) and around Tk35 crore to di� erent mobile phone and Inter-connection exchange (ICX) operators.

Ruling party lawmaker of Narayanganj Shamim Osman owned the company be-fore the recent sale of his stock to anoth-er person. He, however, claimed all dues were paid before selling the company.

Shamim Osman got the IGW licence in 2012 and launched Kay Telecommu-nications at the end of that yea.

BTRC blocked the � rm last year as its outstanding bills increased to nearly Tk100 crore. But the IGW operator paid only Tk9 crore to the regulator, said of-� cial sources.

BTRC recently sent a notice to Kay Telecommunications’ o� cial address as registered. But the o� ce was not found in the address.

The telecom watchdog has now decided to publish a notice on news-papers before taking any legal action against the company.

Shamim Osman reportedly trans-ferred his shares in the company to an-other person few months back.

As per the current document, he has no stock in the Kay Telecommunica-tions. “This is not my concern anymore as I have sold all the shares last year,” Shamim Osman told the Dhaka Tri-bune yesterday evening.

The MP said he sold the company with a huge loss and paid all dues to BTRC. BTRC, however, didn’t send any notice in this regard to Shamim Os-man’s Narayanganj address.

According to telecom sources, the vanished company owes Grameen-phone Tk15.48 crore, around Tk15 core to other mobile phone operators and a few crores to ICX operators. l

ANALYST

B2 Stock Thursday, May 22, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks rebound on buying binge n Tribune Report

Stocks rebounded yesterday after eight days of losses in a row thanks to the buying binge mainly on power, bank and textile stocks.

The benchmark index DSEX gained 47 points or 1% to cross over 4,400 level and settle at 4,410, recovering from its previous session’s seven-month low.

Shariah Index DSES rose 11 points or 1% to 982. The blue-chip comprising DS30 was up 14 points or almost 1% to 1,604.

Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, surged 70 points to 8,472.

“After long correction and prof-it-taking, the market was back to the green naturally, which is inev-itable,” said a leading stock broker.

Almost every sectors close positive except telecommunica-tion which edged lower. Among the major sectors, power, bank, cement, textile and, fuel and power were in strong buying in-terest which revolved the market breadth remarkably after a straight eight days of sluggish movement in the market.

Textile sector rallied 0.8% on the news of 25% growth in exports of denim products to the US and EU markets in 2013.

Though trading activities in-

creased substantiality, turnover still remained low. The DSE turn-over stood at Tk271 crore, a sharp increase of nearly 38% over the previous session.

Lanka Bangla Securities, in its market analysis, said market made an impulse bounce-back, as economic data exhibited some im-provement.

On the economic front, the im-port of capital machinery has in-creased by 19.7% in the � rst nine months of FY14. Industrial raw material import rose by 10.7% during the July-March period of FY 14.

“This higher import is indi-cating higher business activity as there is stability in the economy,” said Lanka Bangla.

Zenith Investments said market showed signs of recovery as enor-mous buying activity took place in almost all sectors after heavy down-fall for the past couple of days. “All the three indices began the day’s proceedings on a � rm note, and lat-er pared gains and elevated above, from negative positions.”

Square Pharmaceuticals was the most traded stock of the ses-sion with turnover of Tk20 crore, followed by Lafarge Surma Ce-ment, Meghna Petroleum, Hwa Well Textiles, BSRM Steel and Grameenphone. l

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

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

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

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Apex Footwear-A -27.01 -27.02 332.05 332.10 345.00 319.10 0.133 -11.44 -vePopular Life Insu. -A -18.13 -18.12 203.23 203.20 205.00 201.10 1.016 17.00 12.0Square Textile -A -11.23 -11.88 87.18 87.70 87.70 86.20 2.105 6.60 13.2Midas Financing-Z -9.96 -9.96 20.80 20.80 20.80 20.80 0.010 -6.91 -veNitol Insurance -A -7.79 -7.79 29.60 29.60 29.60 29.60 0.030 3.24 9.1Peoples Insur -A -7.41 -7.41 25.00 25.00 25.00 25.00 0.010 2.28 11.0Mercantile Insur -A -7.27 -7.27 20.40 20.40 20.40 20.40 0.010 2.40 8.5BGIC -A -6.02 -6.02 23.40 23.40 23.50 23.00 0.043 1.36 17.2Delta Brac HFCL-A -4.44 -4.37 60.34 60.30 63.00 60.00 0.272 5.05 11.9GreenDeltaInsu -A -4.14 -0.82 81.08 81.10 81.10 81.00 0.105 3.00 27.0

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Square Textile -A -10.58 -11.97 87.17 87.90 88.20 84.00 14.548 6.60 13.2GeminiSeaFood-Z -6.55 -6.55 135.50 135.50 135.50 135.50 0.108 -11.90 -veImam Button -Z -4.94 0.00 8.00 7.70 7.80 7.70 0.016 -1.85 -veMidas Financing-Z -4.88 -4.68 19.54 19.50 20.50 19.00 0.127 -6.91 -veProgressive Life-A -4.11 -4.14 114.33 114.30 116.50 112.10 0.343 2.30 49.7Reliance Insur -A -3.28 -3.36 64.76 64.80 65.00 61.00 0.327 5.84 11.1Standard Ceramic -A -2.94 -2.91 43.00 42.90 44.90 42.40 0.215 1.32 32.6Apex Footwear-A -2.80 -1.18 343.26 339.80 359.00 337.10 16.957 -11.44 -veICB Islamic Bank-Z -2.22 -1.11 4.46 4.40 4.70 4.10 1.401 -1.12 -veNational Bank - B -1.79 -0.89 11.13 11.00 11.30 10.20 21.207 0.92 12.1

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Square Pharma -A 167,790 44.37 19.30 263.30 -0.34 264.20 266.00 263.00 264.44Hwa Well Textiles-N 287,000 12.62 5.49 43.50 1.16 43.00 44.60 43.10 43.99LafargeS Cement-Z 168,500 11.52 5.01 69.60 4.66 66.50 69.90 66.90 68.39Appollo Ispat CL -N 377,400 10.31 4.48 27.80 5.30 26.40 28.20 26.50 27.31BD Submarine Cable-A 38,975 7.17 3.12 184.00 1.15 181.90 185.00 182.50 184.00BSRM Steels-A 93,924 6.63 2.89 72.40 9.86 65.90 72.40 62.00 70.61Matin Spinning-N 110,200 5.17 2.25 46.50 1.09 46.00 47.50 46.00 46.88Grameenphone-A 17,800 4.66 2.03 260.40 -0.42 261.50 264.00 260.00 261.72Meghna Petroleum -A 14,500 4.15 1.80 284.00 0.78 281.80 288.00 280.00 285.96HeidelbergCement -A 7,800 4.03 1.75 520.50 4.20 499.50 521.90 507.10 516.36Active Fine Chem.-A 53,000 3.72 1.62 70.10 2.64 68.30 71.30 69.00 70.16National Bank - B 329,565 3.70 1.61 11.10 -0.89 11.20 11.40 11.10 11.24AFC AgroBiotech-N 52,000 3.11 1.35 60.10 1.69 59.10 60.80 58.10 59.80Mercantile Bank -A 175,472 2.96 1.29 17.00 3.66 16.40 17.20 16.50 16.89UNITED AIR-A 254,498 2.95 1.28 11.60 0.00 11.60 11.70 11.00 11.60

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Square Pharma -A 756,662 199.10 7.34 261.80 -0.80 263.90 267.00 258.00 263.13LafargeS Cement-Z 2,604,500 178.18 6.57 69.20 3.13 67.10 70.00 67.10 68.41Meghna Petroleum -A 343,140 97.85 3.61 283.70 0.75 281.60 287.00 260.00 285.17Hwa Well Textiles-N 2,192,000 96.51 3.56 43.60 0.93 43.20 44.70 43.20 44.03BSRM Steels-A 1,290,707 91.26 3.36 72.60 9.34 66.40 73.00 66.00 70.71Grameenphone-A 320,308 83.66 3.08 260.40 -0.34 261.30 263.50 240.00 261.20Active Fine Chem.-A 994,963 69.85 2.57 70.30 2.63 68.50 71.50 63.50 70.21HeidelbergCement -A 115,550 59.52 2.19 518.60 3.70 500.10 521.00 504.00 515.08Eastern Housing -A 975,727 59.26 2.18 60.20 -0.99 60.80 63.00 57.10 60.73Matin Spinning-N 1,254,400 58.83 2.17 46.50 0.43 46.30 47.50 46.20 46.89Mercantile Bank -A 2,988,565 50.92 1.88 17.10 3.64 16.50 17.40 14.90 17.04AFC AgroBiotech-N 752,500 44.84 1.65 59.10 0.51 58.80 60.50 58.50 59.59Appollo Ispat CL -N 1,637,600 44.83 1.65 27.70 6.13 26.10 28.20 26.20 27.37Jamuna Oil -A 172,169 37.69 1.39 219.10 1.76 215.30 220.00 210.00 218.91Emerald Oil Ind. -N 742,000 36.66 1.35 49.00 1.24 48.40 50.00 48.80 49.41

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

MeghnaCement -A 10.00 8.72 128.29 129.80 129.80 125.00 0.513 7.00 18.3S. Alam CR Steel -A 10.00 8.97 32.55 33.00 33.00 29.90 1.745 1.90 17.1BSRM Steels-A 9.86 7.60 70.61 72.40 72.40 62.00 6.632 4.72 15.0Global Heavy Chemicals-N 7.35 5.94 44.75 45.30 45.90 44.00 1.163 2.48 18.0GPH Ispat Ltd-A 7.17 4.28 47.97 49.30 50.00 46.00 1.241 2.42 19.8Con� denceCement A 6.61 4.89 126.89 129.10 130.00 122.50 1.690 8.52 14.9 Argon Denims Limited-A 6.42 3.13 55.39 58.00 58.00 50.00 0.028 4.04 13.7AramitCementA 6.08 5.04 43.17 43.60 43.90 41.60 1.382 0.68 63.5SummitAlliancePort.-A 5.94 4.24 22.87 23.20 23.30 21.80 1.580 1.08 21.2Appollo Ispat CL -N 5.30 3.76 27.31 27.80 28.20 26.50 10.307 1.69 16.2

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

S. Alam CR Steel -A 9.80 7.80 32.05 32.50 32.50 28.00 14.681 1.90 16.9BSRM Steels-A 9.34 7.56 70.71 72.60 73.00 66.00 91.263 4.72 15.0GPH Ispat Ltd-A 8.44 7.21 47.86 48.80 49.50 45.00 33.350 2.42 19.8Premier Cement-A 7.10 4.89 87.35 89.00 89.90 84.90 8.683 3.67 23.8MeghnaCement -A 6.75 5.70 127.08 128.10 131.40 122.40 21.540 7.00 18.2Appollo Ispat CL -N 6.13 4.39 27.37 27.70 28.20 26.20 44.826 1.69 16.2Con� denceCement A 5.95 4.16 126.04 128.30 129.40 112.00 23.691 8.52 14.8AramitCementA 5.83 4.92 43.08 43.60 44.00 38.00 9.942 0.68 63.4SummitAlliancePort.-A 5.45 4.74 23.00 23.20 23.50 20.00 7.446 1.08 21.3Global Heavy Chemicals-N 5.10 5.00 44.92 45.30 46.00 43.70 25.831 2.48 18.1

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 257.52 9.49 22.45 8.26 279.98 9.38NBFI 63.87 2.35 6.58 2.42 70.46 2.36Investment 56.84 2.09 2.51 0.92 59.34 1.99Engineering 325.74 12.00 28.83 10.60 354.56 11.88Food & Allied 138.66 5.11 10.17 3.74 148.83 4.99Fuel & Power 282.06 10.39 20.45 7.52 302.51 10.13Jute 0.89 0.03 0.00 0.89 0.03Textile 359.47 13.25 39.44 14.50 398.90 13.36Pharma & Chemical 513.33 18.92 62.55 23.00 575.88 19.29Paper & Packaging 0.87 0.03 12.11 4.45 12.98 0.43Service 68.75 2.53 3.25 1.20 72.00 2.41Leather 35.31 1.30 12.84 4.72 48.15 1.61Ceramic 11.18 0.41 1.41 0.52 12.59 0.42Cement 335.27 12.36 22.57 8.30 357.84 11.99Information Technology 14.85 0.55 1.32 0.49 16.17 0.54General Insurance 30.77 1.13 0.78 0.29 31.55 1.06Life Insurance 47.88 1.76 3.41 1.25 51.29 1.72Telecom 107.91 3.98 11.83 4.35 119.74 4.01Travel & Leisure 16.92 0.62 3.26 1.20 20.18 0.68Miscellaneous 45.39 1.67 6.14 2.26 51.52 1.73Debenture 0.06 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.06 0.00

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4410.63295 (+) 1.08% ▲

DSE Shariah Index : 982.64411 (+) 1.11% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1604.61517 (+) 0.93% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 13615.13450 (+) 0.95% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 11179.46010 (+) 0.83% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8472.38960 (+) 0.84% ▲

DSE key features May 21, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

2,713.52

Turnover (Volume)

61,160,829

Number of Contract 66,582

Traded Issues 288

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

212

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

68

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

8

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,261.07

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.41

CSE key features May 21, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 235.88

Turnover (Volume) 5,884,956

Number of Contract 8,373

Traded Issues 212

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

157

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

49

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,166.27

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.26

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

Market made an impulse bounce-back, as economic data exhibited some improvement

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, May 22, 2014

Obama discusses US investment with corporate executivesn Reuters, Washington

President Barack Obama gathered exec-utives from several major international companies on Tuesday, including Ford Motor Co and Deutshe Lufthansa AG, to discuss a White House initiative to encourage investment in the United States.

The White House says the program, SelectUSA, has assisted in winning more than $18bn in business invest-ments in 17 states and territories.

Obama, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and other economic advisers joined the executives in a discussion about their US investments.

“We have the most dynamic and creative and innovative economy in the world, but we don’t always do what it takes to go after business around the world and make sure that they know the bene� ts of investing in the largest market on Earth,” Obama said at the beginning of the meeting, addressing reporters.

“And we want to be more systematic about it. We want to make sure that the federal government is working in sync with state and local governments when it comes to locating businesses here in the United States.”

Companies represented at the meet-ing included Swedish telecom supplier Ericsson and Zurich NA, a subsidiary of Switzerland’s Zurich Insurance.

“These businesses have recognized

the many advantages of locating, grow-ing and hiring in the United States,” said Je� Zients, director of the White House National Economic Council, in a confer-ence call with reporters on Monday.

Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr said low energy prices and infra-structure were good reasons for com-panies like his to invest in the country.

“I think the United States has dis-

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

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

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

Facebook Inc is expanding its new video advertising service, allowing marketers to show the television-like spots to users of the social network in Britain, Brazil and � ve other countries, the company told Reuters.

The move marks a signi� cant ramping up of one of Facebook’s most closely watched new advertising products, which analysts believe could help the Internet company capture a bigger slice of lucrative brand advertising budgets.

The 15-second video ads appear in users’ newsfeeds and play automati-cally with the sound muted until they are clicked on. Facebook began selling the ads in the United States in March to a small group of marketers including insurance company Progressive Corp and television broadcaster NBC, a unit of Comcast Corp.

Facebook said the performance of the initial group of video ads in the United States has been strong, but de-clined to elaborate.

As it did in the United States, Facebook is moving cautiously to roll out the auto-play video ads in its overseas markets to avoid annoying users. The company will initially work with a limited group of advertisers in France, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Canada, Australia and Britain starting next month. Each ad must pass

a quality-control test that Facebook administers in conjunction with video analytics � rm Ace Metrix.

Most of the commercials in inter-national markets will not appear on Facebook’s website until September, as the Internet company spends several months working closely with market-ers to ensure that the spots meet its quality standards, a Facebook spokes-man told Reuters.

But he said that companies whose commercials are deemed acceptable could begin airing them on Facebook in June, in time for the World Cup inter-national soccer tournament, a popular event for brand advertisers.

Video ads, along with ads on the Facebook-owned Instagram photo-sharing app, are among the new busi-nesses that analysts believe could turn into important money-makers for Face-book, though the company has said it does not expect video ads to contribute meaningfully to its business this year.

Facebook’s ad revenue grew 82% year-on-year to $2.27bn in the � rst quarter.

The price that marketers pay to run a video ad on Facebook is determined by the size of the audience as measured by measurement � rm Nielsen. Market-ers can choose speci� c times of day for their spots and can target ads according to age and gender. l

Yen rises in Asia after BoJ holds � re on easing measuresn AFP, Tokyo

The yen rose against the dollar in Asia yesterday after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) held o� fresh easing measures, saying the world’s number three economy was picking up pace.

The dollar was trading at 101.17 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade after the BoJ announcement, down from around the 101.30 mark before the news and 101.32 yen in New York on Tuesday afternoon.

The euro slipped to 138.65 yen from 138.82 yen in US trade while it bought $1.3701, unchanged from US trade.

Japan’s central bank policy board after a two-day meeting unanimously agreed to keep its stimulus drive unchanged and said the economy was gathering speed, despite fears that an April 1 sales tax rise will dent consumer spending.

Markets are now looking to com-ments from BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda at about 3:30 pm (0630 GMT) for clues about when the bank might introduce further measures.

“The optimistic tone of recent BoJ communication suggests that the chances of additional stimulus being announced as soon as July have shrunk substantially, but we still think that more easing will eventually be required,” said London-based Capital Economics.

Investors were also waiting for Wednesday’s release of minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s last meeting. The

minutes cover a two-day Fed gathering that concluded on April 30 at which the Fed trimmed its stimulus programme by another $10bn to $45bn a month.

But the bank then repeated its view that benchmark interest rates would remain low for some time.

The minutes “will be closely scruti-nised for any changes to forward guid-ance”, National Australia Bank said in a note.

The dollar was higher against other Asia-Paci� c currencies.

It rose to 58.82 Indian rupees from 58.59, to 11,502.50 Indonesian rupiah from 11,446.30 and to 43.77 Philippine pesos from 43.69.

The greenback also climbed to 1,027.15 South Korean won from 1,021.94 won, to Sg$1.2531 from Sg$1.2508, and to Tw$30.17 from Tw$30.13.

The Australian dollar sank to 92.30 US cents from 92.93 cents and the Chinese yuan dropped to 16.19 yen from 16.24 yen. l

Japan's economy was gathering speed, despite fears that an April 1 sales tax rise will dent consumer spending

SK Sur elected chairman of APRACA n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury has been elected as chairman of Asia-Paci� c Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA).

He has been elected for next two years at the 19th general assembly of APRACA held at a city hotel on Mon-day.

Under the sponsorship of FAO, APRACA promotes cooperation and facilitates mutual exchange of informa-tion and expertise in the � eld of rural � nance among its members.

A total 68 rural � nance and agri-cultural credit institutions from 21 countries of Asia-Paci� c region are the

members of the organisation. The member organisations from

Bangladesh are Bangladesh Bank, ASA, PKSF, MRA and BRAC. l

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

Gigabyte launched a new series of motherboard named as ‘9 Series’ at a press conference held yeaterday. Regional manager of Gigabyte’s Asia Paci� c region, Alan Szu and General Manager of Smart Technologies (BD) Ltd Zafor Ahmed was present at the conference

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

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

National Bank Training Institute recently organised a foundation course for its 27 probationary o� cers. A K M Sha� qur Rahman, managing director and CEO of National Bank Limited inaugurated the course

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

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

Kamal: FY14 GDP B1 COLUMN 6Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) will imple-ment the project by June, 2017.

Under the project, two core net-works will be set up in Dhaka while 300km optical � bre will be laid in sev-en divisional headquarters, districts and upazila levels with the installation of 670 base transceiver stations (BTSs).

The planning minister said the proj-ect will expand the ICT related services through ensuring high speed Internet.

The ECNEC also approved projects including “Construction of Divisional and District Shilpakala Academy” in-volving Tk193.97 crore and Uttara Lake Development Project at Tk37 crore. l

Spanish envoy happy B1 COLUMN 3is now expected to go into partial op-eration in July next year. The full opera-tion has also been delayed by one year and is expected to begin in March 2016.

O� cials said 60% works of the proj-ect have already been completed.

The joint venture of Isolux Ingenie-ria SA and Samsung C&T Corporation, a Spanish-Korean consortium, obtained the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract and started work in August, 2012.

Isolux signed a contract with Ameri-can General Electric in Dhaka to get equipment supply for the power plant.

But following the start of the work, when the contractor went to do the heavy piling work, it found a huge wa-ter body at a depth of just 12-15 meters beneath the construction site.

 The state-owned Electricity Gener-ation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB) is implementing the project with joint funding from World Bank and the gov-ernment.

The fund is $339m for the power plant along with 230 KV S/S and 11 km 230 KV transmission line and 60 km Gas Pipe Line from Bakhrabad to Sid-dhirganj.

Earlier, the EGCB signed  a contract with its EPC contractor on 28 May, 2012 to set up the gas-based combined cycle plant. About the EPC contractor, Isolux, the envoy said it’s already a well-estab-lished company in South Asia.

The company has signed a contract with the American General Electric for supply of equipment for the power station.

“Besides this Siddhirganj plant,

Isolux built a 150MW combined cycle power plant in Khulna, the third larg-est industrial city of Bangladesh,” said Luis Tejada.

He said Spain is the eleventh largest investor worldwide with a stock of for-eign direct investment $640m, which accounts for 3% of global investment.

Spain is the fourth largest economy in the Euro zone, the � fth in the Euro-pean Union and thirteenth in the world in terms of GDP.

In Latin America, it is second largest investors after the United States, the ambassador said.

According to him, Spanish compa-nies are world leaders in sectors with high added value and high growth po-tential, such as infrastructure manage-ment, electricity, renewable energy, high speed rails and water treatment. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, May 22, 2014

DILBERT

India Inc bets big on Modi, but can he deliver?n AFP, New Delhi

Daunting political and � scal traps lie in wait that could ensnare new centre-right leader Narendra Modi as he embarks on the gar-gantuan task of ful� lling India’s undoubted economic potential, observers say.

The landslide election win by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could be a game-changer, they say, but any economic transformation will take time in the emerging-market giant of 1.25 billion people where competing interests abound.

“Expectations have built up very quickly, too quickly,” Sidharth Birla, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Com-merce and Industry (FICCI).

Mumbai’s headline share index ex-tended a heady rally on Tuesday to a new closing high and one of India’s top inves-tors, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, forecasts the “mother of all bull runs”.

The prime minister-elect has stoked the expectations by saying he could make the 21st century “India’s century” within 10 years.

But Modi “will need to exercise reality management” to temper investor and voter hopes, Birla said, as the 63-year-old � nalises his ministerial team before taking o� ce on Monday.

The BJP ousted the left-leaning Con-gress, riding a tide of public anger over tepid growth, high in� ation, rampant graft and a sclerotic political system.

Modi oversaw double-digit annual growth in a dozen years as chief minister of Gujarat state, and campaigned for national leader on his “Modinomics” mantra of “less

government, more governance”, pledging to spread his economic model nationwide.

Top of a 12-point business wish list is-sued by the FICCI is a call to sweep away the remainders of the so-called “Licence Raj”.

That refers to bureaucratic controls dating from British colonial rule that have stalled multi-billion-dollar projects as well as small investors wishing to start up busi-nesses.

Analysts say India is also in dire need of more roads, ports and other infrastructure to boost productivity if it hopes to emulate rival China’s economic miracle, along with a simpli� ed tax system and reform of a cumbersome land acquisition process for industrial projects.

Exporting ‘Modinomics’In Gujarat, Modi centralised control and gained a reputation for browbeating India’s notoriously slow bureaucrats.

He was known as a tough taskmaster and reports say his o� ce has already begun sounding out chief secretaries in various ministries asking them why stalled infrastructure or industrial projects have been held up.

But the challenge is greater on the na-tional stage, where high consumer in� ation has kept interest rates elevated, discourag-ing consumer spending and investment.

Meanwhile, a hefty � scal de� cit means the new BJP administration has no � scal � repower to spur an economy growing at 4.9% - half the level notched up as recently as 2011.

Serious structural economic prob-lems complete Modi’s di� cult hand, as

highlighted in a new World Bank “Ease of Doing Business” survey that ranked India at a lowly 134th among 185 nations - below its BRICS peers Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.

“We have got to change how India is perceived,” said Birla, citing years of project

clearance delays, graft and red tape which have tarnished India as an investment destination.

An average infrastructure project, for instance, needs approval from around 20 federal ministries. A convenience stores needs close to 30 licences to sell milk,

bread and other goods, the Retailers As-sociation of India says.

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

Sacred cows But even with the BJP’s lower house majority, “the government won’t have everything its way since power is dispersed in India”, said Capital Economics analyst Mark Williams.

Many reforms, such as introducing the wish-list proposal of a simpli� ed national tax, require state approval under the na-tion’s federal system, Williams noted.

The BJP and its allies control only eight of the 29 state governments. Congress remains in control of the upper house of parliament, which must sanction legislation.

Business leaders would also like India to relax strict hire-and-� re labour laws they say discourage industry from creating jobs for its youthful population, but this is not on the “to-do” list as easing job protection is seen as unpopular with voters.

Nervousness about jobs is also a reason the BJP says it will not allow foreign supermarkets into the lucrative retail market dominated by small convenience stores - overturning a Congress government policy.

Meanwhile Modi showed no sign on Tuesday of departing from some of the populist policies of the previous Congress government, emphasising how his admin-istration aimed to serve India’s hundreds of millions of poor.

“To meet their aspirations and hopes, this is our responsibility because our weak-est, poorest have sent us here,” he said, breaking down brie� y in a rare display of emotion, as he faces up to ful� lling the sky-high expectations of the world’s biggest electorate. l

Google overtakes Apple as world’s top brandn AFP, Paris

US search engine Google has overtak-en rival technology titan Apple as the world’s top brand in terms of value, global market research agency Mill-ward Brown said yesterday.

Google’s brand value shot up 40% in a year to $158.84bn (115bn euros), Mill-ward Brown said in its 2014 100 Top BrandZ report.

“Google has been extremely innova-tive this year with Google Glass, invest-ments in arti� cial intelligence and a range of partnerships,” said Benoit Tran-zer, the head of Millward Brown France.

Google Glass is Internet-linked eye-wear for which the � rm has joined hands with Luxottica, a frame giant behind Ray-Ban and other high-end brands, to sell the new product in the United States.

“All these activities send a very strong signal to consumers about the essence of Google,” Tranzer said.

Apple, which dominated the top po-sition for three straight years, saw its brand value fall by 20% to $147.88bn.

The top 10 of the 100 slots were domi-nated by US � rms. IBM was in third place at $107.54bn, a fall of 4%, followed by Microsoft at $90.19 billion - a 29% rise.

Fast food chain McDonald’s ranked next at $85.71bn, followed by Coca Cola ($80.68bn), it said. China led in the in-surance sector with Ping An valued at $12.4bn and China Life ($12bn).

French luxury goods manufacturer Louis Vuitton ranked 30th overall but was the top luxury brand with a value of more than $25bn.

Brand value is calculated on the basis of the � rms’ � nancial performance and their standing among consumers. l

Japan retailers target new big spenders, the touristsn Reuters, Tokyo

Driven by government tourism pro-motions and lately a weaker yen, the number of inbound travelers has qui-etly doubled in the past decade to top 10 million for the � rst time last year. In 2013, they spent $14bn on everything from powdered green tea to Prada handbags, to rare, red-coral rings.

With a doubling to 20 million visi-tors targeted by 2020, the year of the Tokyo Olympics, the growing � ow of cash is welcome for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he seeks to nurse a re-covery in consumer spending through a national sales tax hike. It’s also send-ing retailers scrambling to tap into the so-called “inbounds” windfall through marketing channels from social media to street signage.

“Until now, we’ve been rather pas-sive with ‘inbounds’,” said Hideyuki Murakami, executive o� cer of depart-ment store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi Ltd. “But as their numbers surge, we’ll need to really step things up - whether it’s with language, facilities or product selection.”

Japan’s department stores associa-tion on Tuesday said duty-free spend-ing at 46 stores across the country spiked 54% in April to 6.09bn yen ($60m) compared with the same month a year ago, while overall sales at 241 department stores nationwide slipped 12% to 417.2 billion yen. Visitors have

surged particularly from Thailand, which along with Malaysia received visa exemptions for short-term stays last July.

Many spend freely on their trips. Yijia, a 16-year-old from Shanghai who asked to be identi� ed only by her � rst name, showed o� a 90,000 yen ($890) haul from Mitsukoshi’s swank Ginza store that included a pair of Kenzo de-signer shoes.

“I love coming to Japan to eat and shop,” said the high school student, on her third visit to Japan with her moth-er. “Everyone loves the food in Tokyo, including French cuisine.”

The 1.42 trillion yen ($14 billion) spent by “in-bounds” was up more than a third from 2012, according to the Japan Tourism Agency. That’s less than half a percent of Japan’s total private consumption, yet it still o� ers retailers welcome relief from the hangover of the April sales tax increase to 8% from 5%, now discouraging local shoppers.

Japan’s visitor numbers are dwarfed by the 83 million travelers that made France the world’s most popular tour-ist destination in 2012, the last year for which the United Nations World Tourism Organization has published estimates. Ranked 33rd by visitor num-bers, Japan trailed Asia tourism des-tinations like Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea.

Yet their contribution to the econo-my will take on increasing importance

as Japan’s population dwindles - esti-mates suggest as Japan gets older its population will decrease by 10 million people by 2030. By then, the govern-ment hopes that further visa liberal-ization and a possible legalization of casino gambling will bring in 30 million visitors.

Politics of shopping Though the weaker yen and its attrac-tions appear set to drive Japan’s popu-larity as a destination, its ambition of moving up in the world rankings for inbound visitors has not been without hiccups beyond local retailers’ control.

Visitors from mainland China, by far the top spenders per head, fell 7.8 per-cent last year after Japan’s dispute with China over islands they both claim ig-nited anti-Japanese sentiment.

South Koreans were scared away towards the year-end by media reports highlighting radiation fears left over from the March 2011 nuclear disaster, which in turn caused a big drop in over-all visitors that year.

“If you look at what’s happening now with Vietnam and China, things can take a turn overnight,” said Mitsu-koshi Ginza’s Murakami, referring to the anti-Chinese riots in Vietnam this month, also over territorial issues.

“But if you take a really long view, ‘inbounds’ o� er the biggest hope to � ll the hole of Japan’s shrinkingpopulation.” l

Microsoft takes aim at laptops with new Surface tabletn AFP, New York

Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled a new Surface Pro tablet designed as a power-ful all-purpose computer � t to replace a laptop.

Surface Pro 3 was touted as slim-mer, bigger and more powerful than its predecessor and crafted for a world in which people want to work as well as play on tablets.

“We want products and technolo-gies that enable people to dream and get stu� done,” Microsoft chief Satya Nadel-la said at a press event in New York.

Pro 3 has a high-resolution screen that is 12 inches (30.5 centimeters) measured diagonally, weighs approxi-mately 28 ounces (800 grams) and is slightly more than a third an inch (0.9 centimeters) deep.

The tablet has the Surface trade-mark keyboard cover, but modi� ed to let users tilt it as they wish and more securely anchor the device while being used, say, in a person’s lap.

It also comes with a “pen” that can be used to remotely activate Pro 3 with clicks or to write on it as though it were a notepad.

“We are super proud of Surface Pro 3,” Microsoft corporate vice president Panos Panay said while introducing the tablet at the event.

“I am sure that this is the tablet that can replace the laptop.”

Available mid-year Surface Pro 3 will be available for pre-order beginning Wednesday with a starting price of $799.

A version of Microsoft’s latest cham-pion in the tablet war, powered by an Intel Core i5 chip, will hit the market in North American on June 20. Additional models, including a top-end

Pro 3 with an Intel Core i7 chip, will be available in the US and 26 other coun-tries including France, China, Australia and Germany by the end of August, ac-cording to Microsoft.

Microsoft is being innovative and counterintuitive with the Pro 3, touting a large-screen tablet while rivals boast smaller, pocket-sized devices, according to Gartner analyst Mike Silver.

Much care and thought went into technical features of the Pro 3, and a challenge for Microsoft is to get that message to mainstream consumers who aren’t geeks.

“There is a lot of elegance in the de-vice, but they have to prove they can communicate that,” Silver said at the unveiling event.

“If everything works as good as it looks, you are getting pretty close to a device that can replace a notebook computer for a high percentage of people.”

Leave laptops behind Pro 3 has the potential to strike chords with people who want to leave their laptops behind and just carry a tablet when they are on the move, according to the analyst.

Panay cited research indicating that more than 95% of laptop owners also have tablet computers. But Micro-soft has barely made a dent in a tablet market dominated by Apple’s iPad and others using Google Android. Gartner surveyed showed the Microsoft operat-ing system had just two percent of the global market in 2013.

Nadella stressed that Microsoft,

which built its software empire work-ing with partners who make computing hardware, wants to pioneer a merging of laptops and tablets and not to com-pete with device manufacturers.

“We clearly are not interested in building refrigerators or toasters; we are not building hardware for hard-ware’s sake,” Nadella said.

“The motivation is to create new categories; we want to build productiv-ity experiences.”

Microsoft in March released Of-� ce software tailored for iPads, and it soared to the top of the charts at Ap-ple’s online App Store.

While O� ce applications for iPad are free, subscriptions to Microsoft’s online O� ce 365 service are needed to be able to create or edit documents, spreadsheets or presentations.

More than a billion people use Of-� ce, according to the Redmond, Wash-ington-based technology titan.

The Pro 3 signals that Microsoft has decided to play into its strengths in business software and avoid going head-to-head with bargain-priced tab-lets powered by Google’s free Android software, according to analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates.

“Further, Microsoft � nally seems to understand it can not go head to head with Apple’s iPad,” Gold added in a re-search note, saying the Pro 3 is a “supe-rior business device” for work. l

Yahoo! looking to buy video streaming startupn AFP, New York

Yahoo Inc, eager to strengthen its video streaming activities, is close to buying the Israeli startup � rm RayV, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

The paper, quoting people familiar with the deal, said negotiations are nearly complete. it did not say what the sale price might be.

Founded in 2006, video streaming start-up RayV has set up its headquar-ters in Los Angeles but has kept its re-search and development teams in Tel Aviv.

The company specializes in devel-oping software for high de� nition vid-eo streaming over the Internet.

Acquiring RayV would be a boost for Yahoo! which has su� ered several setbacks of late in its strategy of broadening its video o� erings.

Bids to acquire the French video site Dailymotion and TV portal Hulu failed.

Yahoo this year launched nego-tiations with online video services Fullscreen Inc and News Distribution Network Inc., the Journal said.

The report came shortly after US online entertainment powerhouse Net� ix announced what it called signi� cant expansion into Europe, promising viewers in six countries online video by the end of the year. l

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

'The motivation is to create new categories; we want to build productivity experiences'