SECOND EDITION

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016 | Falgun 22, 1422, Jamadiul Awal 24, 1437 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 319 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

RAB busts 14 cyber fraudsters including 12 foreignersRAB has detained 14 men, including 12 foreigners, of a cyber fraud gang involved in swindling money using Facebook. They were detained from Uttara, Nikunja and Bashundhara in Dhaka between Thursday night and

early Friday. RAB also seized a good number of mobile phones, laptops and foreign currencies from themen. PAGE 3

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Tumour genetics reveal cancer treatment revolution A landmark discovery into genetic makeup of tumours has the potential to open a new front in the war on cancer, delivering potent therapies tailored to individual patients, The Guardian report-ed quoting scientists. PAGE 23

Charge sheets in Tavella, Kunio murders soonPolice’s investigation into last year’s sen-sational murders of Italian citizen Cesare Tavella and Japanese national Hoshi Kunio is nearly completed, and they hope to submit the charge sheets at the shortest possible time. PAGE 5

DMP's tenant info form raises security concernsn Arifur Rahman Rabbi

The recent initiative of Dhaka Met-ropolitan Police (DMP) to collect in-formation of tenants and landlords living in the capital – for the pur-ported curbing of militant activi-ties – has raised several eyebrows.

While they appreciate the aim of such initiative, many Dhaka res-idents are concerned that collection of such personal and sensitive in-formation could compromise both their security and privacy, should it fall into the wrong hands.

“I appreciate police's e� orts to prevent militant or criminal activ-ities. But what will happen if this information about me and my fam-ily members somehow gets leaked? It is a possibility,” said Atikur Rah-man, a landlord in Bailey Road area.

The tenants fear that if their per-sonal details get leaked, it could be used against them to extort money, harass their female family mem-bers, or even abduct their children.

“I do not think providing per-sonal details of every single mem-ber of my family is necessary. If I provide all my information as the head of my family, they [police] can ask me what they need to know regarding my family,” said Abul Khair, a resident of RK Mission Road in Gopibagh.

The DMP has been distributing the tenant/landlord information form to every household that falls within its jurisdiction for several months now.

But recently the drive gained momentum, especially after de-tectives busted militant dens and seized massive collections of bombs and explosive material in di� erent residential areas in Dhaka.

Despite the reservations and concerns, all the landlords that talked to the Dhaka Tribune said they had collected their tenants'

information and submitted them to the DMP, because they do not want to get into any trouble.

Meanwhile, sources at the DMP headquarters told the Dhaka Trib-une that DMP Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman Mia in a meeting in-structed all deputy commissioners to collect the information and up-date the database by March 15.

If any landlord or tenant fails to submit the form in due time, legal action will be taken against them, the DMP chief said at the meeting, according to the sources.

How safe or practical is this information collection process?The concerned tenants and land-lords also question DMP's informa-tion collection process.

“I have travelled to many coun-tries. Nowhere have I seen any gov-ernment agency collect informa-tion on citizens this way,” Atikur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.

“Why do they [police] need to collect all this information when it is already available in the national ID database?” asked Eti Laila Kazi, an assistant professor at a private university in the capital and a ten-ant in Bailey Road.

“This is not the right way to col-lect people's information,” she told the Dhaka Tribune.

The form, titled “Tenant Regis-tration Form”, asks for the tenant or the � at/house owner's name, pho-to, permanent address, workplace address, religion, mobile phone

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Banasree mother on � ve-day remandn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday put Mah-fuza Malek Jesmin, who confessed to strangling her two children to death, on a � ve-day police remand.

Metropolitan Magistrate Snig-dha Rani Chakrabarty gave the order after Investigation O� cer Musta� zur Rahman produced Mahfuza before the court with a 10-day remand plea.

The IO said that they would in-vestigate whether anyone else was involved in the double murder.

Father of the victims Amanullah � led the murder case against Mah-fuza with Rampura police on Thurs-day night. In the case, he mentioned that Mahfuza had been su� ering from psychological disorder.

Fourteen-year-old Nusrat Ja-han and six-year-old Alvi Aman were declared dead at Dhaka Med-ical College Hospital after they were taken there unconscious on February 29. At the time, Mahfu-za claimed that the children had fallen asleep after having leftover Chinese food for lunch and did not wake up.

After post-mortem examina-tions, doctors said that injury marks were found on the children’s necks. The boy also had injury marks on his legs and his sister had eye injuries.

Polices yesterday said that Mah-fuza had given confusing state-ments to the Rapid Action Battal-ion.

During interrogation, she told RAB that a bout of depression brought on by anxiety about the siblings’ future had caused her to murder them.

Earlier, RAB claimed that Mah-fuza had killed her children over an extramarital a� air, and psycho-logical and social disorder. But the elite force later said that it had not found evidence of an a� air. l

Parents are worried that the details of their children could easily be used to abduct them. Girls and young women are also likely to face sexual harassment if the information is leaked

News2DTSATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

DMP’s tenant info form raises security concernsnumber, national ID number, email address, passport number, and the names, ages, occupations and mo-bile phone numbers of the family members.

The form also asks for the names, national ID numbers, mo-bile numbers and permanent ad-dresses of the housemaids and drivers in the households.

“Housemaids and drivers are � red and new people are hired very frequently. Am I supposed to submit a form every time I hire a new house-maid or a new driver?” said Korshed Alam, a house owner in Khilgaon.

“I have my doubts about this form and this process,” said Parvin

Akhter, a landlady in Malibagh. “I have a national ID; all the infor-mation that the police are seeking from me was given when I applied for the ID. They can collect the in-formation they require from there.”

They also ask how the DMP was going to verify the information pro-vided to them.

Those who have bad intentions could easily provide false informa-tion on the form, a number of ten-ants and landlords told the Dhaka Tribune.

Fear of harassment of girls, womenHowever, most of the concern stems from the fear of harassment

of the women and potential harm to the children in the households.

Parents are worried that the de-tails of their children could easily be used to abduct them. Girls and young women are also likely to face sexual harassment if the informa-tion is leaked.

“Most of the female tenants or landladies would not want to submit their photos out of safety concern,” said Eti Laila Kazi. “In-formation like this, especially your workplace address, email IDs and mobile phone numbers, is very sensitive and restricted. If this in-formation gets leaked, it may cause a lot of problems for their owners.

Young girls and women, especially, may face harassment,” Eti said.

Azizur Rahman, a private job holder who lives in Rampura, said: “I have two daughters, who are al-ready harassed by local stalkers, and my landlord’s son teases them. What if those boys get their hands on my daughters’ contact information?”

Puja Karmakar and Rupa Akhter are two private university students who live in a hostel in the capital.

“We live in this city for our stud-ies. Our family lives outside Dha-ka,” they told the Dhaka Tribune. “We do not feel safe � lling up a form with our personal details and giving it to the police. Information

gets leaked all the time. That is why we did not give our numbers; we provided our fathers’ numbers.”

A writ petition has already been � led with the High Court challeng-ing this initiative. Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua � led the petition on Thursday, seeking a sus-pension of the DMP’s drive, as well as the court’s directive to stop use of any information already collected.

Two days before � ling the peti-tion, the lawyer served a legal no-tice to the authorities concerned asking on what legal grounds was the DMP running this drive and how the collected information would be stored. l

Delhi extends full support to Dhakan Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The BJP-led government in India has extended full support to Bang-ladesh’s Awami League-led gov-ernment, the party’s visiting Gen-eral Secretary Ram Madhab says.

“We are fully with you in the pro-cess to uphold the democratic insti-tutions in Bangladesh,” he said at the inaugural programme of the seventh round of Bangladesh-India Friend-ship Dialogue in Dhaka yesterday.Bangladesh, with its big popula-

tion, is doing wonderfully well in keeping up its democratic tradi-tions under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said.

“The way madam prime minis-ter is handling the situation, trying hard to protect the democratic in-stitutions of this country is quite laudable. We extend our whole-hearted support to her endeavour to uphold the democracy in the country,” he said.

The BJP leader said the consti-tution needed to be upheld as it

extended freedom. “Our freedom is within the framework of the consti-tution. It does not give us the licence to say that we would destroy the constitutional system, we will de-stroy the democracy. It does not give us permission to burn buses, burn public property, engage in violence.”

In his speech, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali identi� ed water as a “very sensitive and important is-sue” in Bangladesh-India relations.

“While some issues remain to be resolved in this sector, we are

hopeful that in the spirit of good neighbourliness, those would be resolved soon,” he said.

Bangladesh sought India’s par-ticipation in the proposed Ganges Barrage project on Padma River, he added.

“We have also agreed to share the best practices for a basin-wide management of common rivers which is expected to pave the way for full-� edged basin-wide man-agement,” the minister said, add-ing that the approach held the key

to comprehensively address water related issues in the region.

In the two-day programme, Prime Minister’s International Af-fairs Adviser Gowher Rizvi, Ener-gy Adviser Tou� q-e-Elahi Chow-dhury, State Minister for Foreign A� airs Md Shahriar Alam would participate from Bangladesh side while Indian lawmaker MJ Akbar, former Indian high commissioner to Dhaka Veena Sikri, India Foun-dation Director Alok Bansal, among others, would take part. l

Two children dead in the capitaln Tribune Report

Two unidenti� ed children have died in separate incidents in the capital. One of the children was abandoned and under treatment at a hospital while the other’s body was found in a graveyard.

Dhanmondi police SI Ripon Ku-mar Saha said on January 5, a new-born baby was admitted to Japan Bangladesh Friendship Hospital in Dhanmondi by two persons iden-tifying themselves as its parents, Jashim and Shilpi from Jatrabari.

Sometime after the admission the two disappeared. The child was under care at the hospital and died on Thursday midnight from breathing problems, SI Saha said.

Meanwhile, Bhatara police SI Sridam Chandra Roy said around 8am yesterday locals informed the police that an infant’s dead body was found on the ground at the graveyard in West Nurerchalla.

Police recovered the body and sent it for an autopsy to the Dha-ka Medical College morgue. The SI said there were several signs of in-jury on the body. Police are trying to uncover the infants’ identities. l

Police bring Mahfuza Malek Jesmin, arrested on charge of killing her two children in the capital’s Banasree, to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

BTRC: Protect biometric datan Tribune Report

As the move to collect biometric in-formation from mobile phone us-ers through SIM re-registration has drawn � ak over security concerns, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has asked all the mobile phone op-erators to assure protection of the data given by their subscribers.

UNB reported that the country’s telecom regulator sent a letter to the mobile operators in this regard. A copy was also sent to the Posts and Telecommunications Division, o� cial sources said.

Mobile phone operators have been collecting the users’ data in as-sociation with some foreign organi-sations through thousands of retail-ers and agents across the country.

However, many subscribers have expressed concern that pro-viding the biometric data to some foreign companies may violate their privacy as well as be used for criminal activities.

However, some mobile phone company o� cials, requesting ano-nymity, said there is no chance for the subscribers’ data to be smug-gled out as the � ngerprints would be used to verify NIDs only. l

RAB busts 14 cyber fraudsters including 12 foreignersn Tribune Report

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has de-tained 14 men, including 12 foreign-ers, of a cyber fraud gang involved in swindling money using Facebook.They were detained from Uttara, Nikunja and Bashundhara in Dhaka between Thursday night and early Friday. RAB also seized a good num-ber of mobile phones, laptops and foreign currencies from the men.

The detainees are Nigerians Aiba, 30, Kasi, 30, Adwin, 35, Emnoar, 33, Kosmods Elkujmuzin Okulizi, 51, Zosoya, 27, Ebrahim, 27, and Bes-ens, 29, Cameroonians Osman, 29, Sanjo, 36, and Ant Prijo, 42, and Congolese Zasonama, 41, and two Bangladeshis Mamun Mokarrom, 38, and Sultan Mahmud, 26.

RAB 1 Commanding O� cer (CO) Lt Col Tuhin Mohammad Masud announced the bust at a press brief-ing yesterday. He also described how the gang had cheated about Tk13 lakh o� of two women.

One of the victims, a service holder from Khulna, was befriend-

ed by the fraudsters through a fake Facebook pro� le named Scott Murray. She was later told over the phone by Scott that he had sent her a present by air in a parcel.

On February 3, a man identifying himself as a customs o� cial called the victim and said her parcel had arrived and she would have to pay a duty before receiving it. As per this caller's instructions the victim on February 7 deposited Tk60,000 to a City Bank account, Lt Col Masud said.

Some days later the man called again and informed the woman that they needed two or three days to delivere her parcel. After that she found the phone switched o� . Then she inquired at the customs house at Shahjalal International Airport where she was told that they had no such parcel.

CO Masud said the victim then informed RAB, who after an inves-tigation detained two Bangladeshi men from Nikunja area on Thurs-day night. Based on the informa-tion gleaned from those two, RAB carried out drives at Uttara and

Bashundhara residential areas de-taining 12 foreigners.He said none of the foreigners could show any legal documents.

RAB said another victim, a female doctor working at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, had been defrauded of Tk11,96,600 by these men in the same manner, through a fake Facebook pro� le named Desmond B Samauel. l

News 3D

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Tk15,000cr projects to boost connectivityn Kayes Sohel

The Roads and Highways Depart-ment (RHD) has proposed massive projects to upgrade Bangladesh's infrastructure to boost regional con-nectivity and unlock the country's trade and investment potentials.

Under the projects, the 190km road from Tangail's Elenga to Sir-ajganj's Hatikumrul of the Dha-ka-Rangpur Highway will be up-graded to four-lane. Roads will be broadened and 17 medium-sized bridges, � yovers and culverts will be constructed to connect with it.

The Tangail-Rangpur road will

be part of a 1,741km highway to link Bangladesh with the Asian Highway – a network of 141,000km cross-continental roads. Bangla-desh joined the network in 2009.

The RHD's proposed projects will cost Tk15,255 crore – Tk12,000 crore will come from foreign fund-ing and the government will pro-vide the rest. They are expected to be completed by 2020.

The RHD wrote to the Planning Ministry for including the projects in the revised ADP, ministry sourc-es said. They are being scrutinised.

“As part of our economic growth goals, the upcoming projects aim

to achieve development by setting up regional and sub-regional trade links,” Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary MAN Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said the Tangail-Rangpur Highway was the second phase of the Asian Highway and it would also be part of Sasec (South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooper-ation) and the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal).

The � rst phase, involving con-struction of 70km Joydebpur-Elen-ga road, is expected to end by 2018. Feasibility study for the third phase – the Rangpur-Burimari road – is

under process.“It will boost regional connec-

tivity and help industrialisation in the north,” Siddique added.

According to the projects pro-posal, nearly 70% of domestic roads will be part of the Asian Highway but the infrastructure is unsuita-ble for heavy vehicles while fund crunch dogged upgrade works.

It claims 43,000 vehicles will use the Dhaka-North Bengal route daily by 2020. Currently, 12,000 to 29,000 vehicles use it.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka set up Sasec in 2001 to promote

regional prosperity through im-proved connectivity, boosting trade and strengthening economic cooperation.

In 2013, the BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) initia-tive added momentum to connect Kolkata and Kunming via road, through Myanmar and Bangladesh.

According to the World Bank, South Asia’s intra-regional trade accounts for 5% of the total trade, compared to 25% in ASEAN. Great-er regional connectivity will boost growth and shared prosperity pros-pects of South Asia, home to 44% of the world’s poor. l

Woman caught while stealing baby at DMCHn Kamrul Hasan

A young woman was caught red-handed while stealing a child from the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery at Dhaka Med-ical College Hospital (DMCH) yes-terday afternoon.

Police sources said the arres-tee, Polly Akhter, 20, claimed that she was instructed to steal the 17-month-old child by a member of the hospital sta� .

Hospital sources said Polly � rst raised alarm among the Ansar members stationed at the hospital when she was trying to leave the hospital premises with the child around 4pm.

Finding her movement suspi-cious, the Ansar members con-fronted her. That is when the child's mother rushed out of the hospital, crying about her missing child.

Rehena Begum, the mother, told the Dhaka Tribune that she had been staying at the hospital for around six months with her daugh-ter and other family members since her husband, Sabuj, who was burnt by electrocution, has been under-going treatment at the burn insti-tute.

For the past two days, Rehana

noticed Polly roaming around her husband's ward. When she asked Polly why she was there, Polly said she had a relative admitted there.

Yesterday afternoon, Rehana was coming back to the ward from washroom when she noticed that her daughter was missing.

As she rushed downstairs, she saw Polly being interrogated by Ansar members, her daughter in Polly's arms.

Rehana identi� ed her daughter and informed the Ansar members about the child going missing. The Ansar members then handed Polly over to the DMCH outpost police.

When interrogated, Polly told the law enforcers that she had gone to the new wing of DMCH in search of work two days ago, where a hos-pital sta� member named Moslem told her to steal the child.

Inspector Mozammel Haque of the DMCH outpost said Polly was most likely a member of a child tra� cking gang. “There is no oth-er reason for her to come here,” he said, adding that she had been tak-en to Shahbagh police station.

Shahbagh police said � ling of a case in this regard was under pro-cess, and police are looking for the alleged hospital sta� member. l

RAB brings to its headquarters 14 members of di� erent national and international gangs arrested for committing frauds on social media platforms, including Facebook, yesterday. Mobile phones, laptops, and Bangladeshi and American currencies were seized from them DHAKA TRIBUNE

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016News4DT

Khaleda, Tarique’s nomination papers submittedn UNB

The nomination papers of Khaleda Zia and her eldest son Tarique Rah-man to contest the election to the posts of BNP chairperson and vice chairman respectively were sub-mitted yesterday.

Khaleda and Tarique are set to retain their current posts unop-posed as no one else � led nomina-tion as their rivals.

Election agents of Khaleda and Tarique submitted the nomination papers on their behalf to the re-

turning o� cer at BNP’s Nayapaltan central o� ce.

Khaleda’s agent and BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi submitted the nomination paper to party returning o� cer and its standing committee mem-ber Nazrul Islam Khan around 11:20am. Assistant returning of-� cer and Dhaka district unit BNP President Abdul Mannan was also present.

Later, Tarique’s election agent and party’s another Joint Secretary General Mohammad Shahjahan

submitted the nomination paper to the returning o� cers around 12:05pm.

Tarique, who was made party’s senior vice-chairman in its � fth national council, has been living in London since September 11, 2008 after being released from jail on parole.

Earlier on Wednesday, both Riz-vi and Shahjahan collected nom-ination papers for the duo to the contest the polls.

According to the election sched-ule, deadline for the nomination

paper submission for the chairper-son and senior vice-chairman posts was yesterday. The nomination pa-pers will be scrutinised today.

The time for the withdrawal of nomination is on Sunday 10am to 4pm. If the duo does not withdraw their nomination or their candida-tures are not cancelled during the scrutiny, they will be elected un-opposed before the polls billed for March 19.

Khaleda Zia has been holding the party chairperson’s post since 1984. l

Hasan Mahmud terms BNP’s council eyewashn Abu Hayat Mahmud

Awami League’s Publicity and Pub-lications Secretary Hasan Mahmud yesterday described the upcoming council of the BNP as a mere eye-wash.

“This is because they have again selected the mother and son –

Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman – to hold the two top posts of the party,” he said while addressing a rally organised by Shadhinata Pari-shad in front of the National Press Club in the capital.

“The leadership of a political party is to be determined through national councils. The BNP is to

hold its council on March 19 but re-ports say Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman will retain their posts as the party’s chairperson and senior vice-chairman,” Hasan said.

“It has been reported in the me-dia that there will be no change in the leadership even though the

council will be held. This proves that no democratic practice exists in the BNP.”

The Awami League leader said the council could su� er from a lack of acceptability as Khaleda and Tarique would be elected chairper-son and senior vice-chairman un-opposed. l

7 grenades, 47 bullets found n Tribune Report

Seven “wartime” grenades and 47 bullets were recovered from a sep-tic tank of Naogaon Sadar Hospi-tal yesterday afternoon, reported UNB.

Naogaon Sadar police station OC M Jakirul Islam said the hospi-tal authorities had hired workers to remove three old septic tanks in order to construct a new building there.

At one stage, the workers found a hand grenade inside a septic tank around 1pm, after which the au-thorities postponed the digging work and informed Naogaon Sadar Model police station.

Later, a team of police rushed to the spot and recovered seven hand grenades and 47 bullets of Chinese ri� e from the tank.

OC Jakirul said Pakistani sol-diers might have left the ammuni-tion during the Liberation War in 1971 as a Punjab monogram was inscribed on them. l

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016News 5

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PRAYERTIMES

Cox’s Bazar 31 24Dhaka 36 22 Chittagong 33 23 Rajshahi 37 23 Rangpur 33 22 Khulna 36 20 Barisal 36 22 Sylhet 33 16T E M P E R AT U R E F O R E C A S T F O R TO DAY

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:04PM SUN RISES 6:16AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW35.5ºC 17.0ºC

Patuakhali TeknafSATURDAY, MARCH 5Source: IslamicFinder.org

Fajr: 4:59am | Zohr: 12:10amAsr: 3:32pm | Magrib: 6:06pmEsha: 7:33pm

DRY WEATHER

Charge sheets in Tavella, Kunio murders soonn Mohammad Jamil Khan

Police’s investigation into last year’s sensational murders of Ital-ian citizen Cesare Tavella and Japa-nese national Hoshi Kunio is nearly completed, and they hope to sub-mit the charge sheets at the short-est possible time.

Several accused detained in the cases have made confessional statements. But the law enforcers are yet to � nd the murder weapon used in killing Tavella while in the other case, the investigation o� cer said that they were checking if any

prime accused had been left out.NGO worker Tavella was killed

by assassins in Dhaka’s Gulshan area on September 28. Kunio, who used to run a farm in Rangpur, was shot down in a similar fashion on October 3. Dae’sh or Islamic State claimed responsibility for both the murders but the government refut-ed the claims as baseless.

Investigating o� cers have found the link of BNP men in Ta-vella murder and militant group JMB’s involvement in the other.

In Tavella murder case, police’s Detective Branch o� cials produced

four persons in front of the media on October 26 claiming them as the attackers. They are Minhazul Are� n Russel alias Vagne Russel, Ahmed Rubel alias Shooter Rubel, Chakti Russel and Sakhawat Hossain alias Sharif. Of them, Russel, Sharif and Rubel gave confessional statements.

Later the police arrested MA Mat-in, the younger brother of BNP Joint Convener MA Qaiyum alias Qaiyum Commissioner, for masterminding the killing. The investigation has remained stuck since then while Qaiyum, who allegedly planned the killing, could not be traced as of yet.

DB Deputy Commissioner Sheikh Nazmul Alam told the Dha-ka Tribune yesterday that they had got some information about the murder weapon and were conduct-ing drives to recover it. He hoped that the investigation would be completed soon.

In Kunio murder, police have arrested � ve people – BNP leader Rashed-un-Nabi Khan, Humayun Kabir Hira and three members of banned militant out� t Jama’atul Mu-jahideen Bangladesh. Of them, JMB leader Masud Rana, 38, made con-fessional statement admitting the

out� t’s involvement in the killing.Humayun Kabir, deputy inspec-

tor general of Rangpur range po-lice, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had arrested the prime ac-cused and also recovered the mur-der weapon. “Now we are taking some time to complete the inves-tigation so that anyone involved in the murder cannot escape.”

He was also hopeful to complete the charge sheet soon.

Police chief AKM Shahidul Ho-que said that the law enforcers were working to arrest the ab-sconding accused in the cases. l

Another held with gold in rectum n Tribune Report

In the span of just six days, another youth has been arrested for smug-gling gold bars, hiding them inside his rectum.

Taslim Hossain, 29, was caught by Armed Police Battalion (APBn) o� -cials at Dhaka airport around 7:30am yesterday. He arrived at the airport in a � ight from Kuala Lumpur.

APBn Senior Assistant Com-missioner Alamgir Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune: “The gold bars were in four packets hidden inside Taslim’s rectum.

“The o� cials challenged him after they noticed he was � nding it hard to walk. Upon closer inspec-tion, 600g of gold was found hid-den in his rectum.”

Alamgir said the market price of the gold was about Tk24 lakh. Le-gal procedure was underway.

On February 27, Mohammad Parvez, who � ew in from Dubai in a FlyDubai � ight, was arrested with eight gold bars hidden inside his rectum at Chittagong airport. The bars weighed about 1kg and valued around Tk50 lakh. l

Quader: Civil society directly involved in 1/11n Abu Hayat Mahmud

Awami League Presidium Mem-ber Obaidul Quader has alleged that several civil society members played direct roles in the conspiracy – better known as “Minus Two For-mula” – to banish party chief Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khale-da Zia from politics during the 2007-08 army-backed caretaker regime.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, claimed that

former prime minister Khaleda’s greed and practice of politics of de-struction had inspired civil society members and several political ben-e� ciaries to conspire which led to the 1/11 changeover.

He was speaking at a meeting of Bangladesh Chhatra League at its Bangabandhu Avenue central o� ce in Dhaka yesterday. The pro-gramme was a preparation meet-ing ahead of the Awami League’s March 7 rally at the Suhrawardy

Udyan. March 7 marks the anniversary

of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic speech in which he called on fellow Bangalis to take up arms for Bangladesh’s liberation.

Quader said: “During the ar-my-backed caretaker government in 2007-08, conspirators tried their best to exile Awami League Pres-ident and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP chief Khaleda Zia from politics. Editors of two news-

papers were also involved. They published false corruption news against Sheikh Hasina.”

January 11, 2007 saw the begin-ning of a two-year state of emer-gency. Both Hasina and Khaleda were imprisoned on corruption charges. After the Awami League-led alliance rode to power through the 2008 national polls, it scrapped the caretaker provision.

During the state of emergency, The Daily Star ran unsubstantiated

corruption stories against Hasina, its Editor Mahfuz Anam recently admitted on TV. He has since been accused in dozens of libel suits.

Quader said that the 1/11 con-spirators were still active and were trying to take advantage of the vi-olence and destructive politics of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami. “But their dream will not be ful� lled be-cause the Awami League learned its lessons from 2007-08. We are more alert and united,” he added. l

The women cell of the Communist Party of Bangladesh brings out a procession in the capital’s Shahbagh yesterday, calling for stopping exploitation of, and discrimination and repression against women RAJIB DHAR

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016News6DT

IGP Shahidul condoles murder of 2 policemenin hit and runn Tribune Report

Inspector general of police, in a press release issued yesterday, condoled the murder of two policemen who were killed in a hit and run while performing their duty early Thursday.

The two policemen – Sergeant Ataul Islam, 27, and Sub-Inspector Sadekul Islam, 32, of Shibganj police station – were chasing a truck which was informed to be carrying drugs.

Ataul hailed from Sutihat village of Joypur-hat and Sadekul was from Rajarampur village of Dinajpur’s Fulbari upazila.

In his condolence, IGP AKM Shahidul Haque stressed that the sacri� ce of the two policemen showed how earnest police were in performing their duties properly. He said Bangladesh Police will never forget such a sacri� ce.

In the Police HQ release, Shahidul Haque said zero tolerance will be shown against drug dealers. He ordered o� cials to take stern ac-

tion against them.According to police, Ataul and Sadekul

were patrolling on Chapainawabganj-Son-amasjid Land Port highway on a motorcycle around 5:30am. When they were near Kansat area, they signaled a truck which they be-lieved to be carrying the drugs but the driver ignored their signal.

Later, they chased the truck and signaled it to stop again but the truck ran over them, leaving them spot dead.

Police then recovered the bodies after be-ing informed by locals and sent them to Chap-ainawabganj Sadar Hospital morgue.

Following the incident, police conducted drives and arrested the driver Sirajul Islam, 38. Police also seized the truck and recovered 1,450 bottles of phensedyl from the vehicle.

Moinul Islam, o� cer-in-charge of Shibganj police station, said they had taken the driver under remand and would investigate further to arrest all involved in the drug supply. l

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016News 7

DT

Despite ban three wheelers still ply on highways n Aminul Islam Khan, Sirajganj

Despite a ban, three-wheelers such as Nasimon, Karimon and CNG-driven auto-rickshaws contin-ue to run on highways across Bang-ladesh, � outing High Court rule and putting the lives of passengers, pedestrians, and drivers at risk.

The government on August 1 last year imposed a ban on the running of slow-moving three-wheelers on highways across the country, with a view to preventing frequent acci-dents.

The ban came into e� ect in the wake of over 240 deaths in a series of road accidents nationwide be-fore and after Eid ul-Fitr.

But after a few days, unscrupu-lous transport owners and work-

ers started their regular business under the very nose of the district administration.

In Sirajganj, a portion of Bogra Nagarbari Highway from Hati-kumrul intersection to Ullapara, Shahjadpur to Baghabari via Bera upazila is in the grip of these illegal vehicles.

During a recent visit to a 50km section of the highway, this cor-respondent found that transport workers had also set up makeshift stands to return to their illegal transport business.

The transport workers also pick up passengers from random places, causing tra� c congestion at some points of the highway.

O� cer-in-Charge of Hatikumrul police station Abdul Quader Zilani

told the Dhaka Tribune that they had already checked the plying of three-wheelers on highways, but had yet to do the same on the Bogra-Nagarbari Highway due to manifold problems.

He also said they recently had a discussion on � nding a way to stop the plying of illegal vehicles on highways.

“Over 300 cases were � led over the running of three-wheelers such as Nasimon, Karimon and CNG-driven auto-rickshaws on dis-trict highways.”

The OC added that they had al-ready begun distributing lea� ets to passengers to raise awareness about the adverse impact of avail-ing the illegal transports.

“It is not possible for us to stop

the plying of three-wheelers on high-ways without the help of the Ullapa-ra and Shahjadpur police,” he added.

However, O� cer-in-Charge of Ullapara police station Kausik Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune that the Bogra-Nagarbari Highway was under the jurisdiction of highway police. The highway police should have taken measures against this illegal practice, he added.

“Why are highway police not � ling cases against the illegal vehi-cles? If they do so, we [Ullapara and Shahjadpur police] can help them,” he said.

Moreover, O� cer-in-Charge of Shahjadpur police station Md Rezaul Haque told the Dhaka Trib-une that they regularly conduct drives against illegal vehicles on

the highway. Despite the drive, some illegal vehicles continue to ply on it.

Assistant Director of Bangla-desh Road Transport Authority Sir-ajganj Jamal Uddin told the Dhaka Tribune that although they had a manpower shortage, they were still accompanying the executive magistrate during a drive against Nasimon and Karimon and other three-wheelers.

Inspector of District Tra� c De-partment (administration) Miladul Huda told the Dhaka Tribune that they were following a zero-toler-ance policy over illegal vehicles.

“We are conducting drives regu-larly. We should strengthen our vig-ilance which we cannot do due to lack of manpower and logistics.” l

Townspeople facing acute water crisis Two water treatment plants in Barisal city remain inoperative n Anisur Rahman Swapan,

Barisal

Residents of Barisal city are facing an acute water crisis, though two new water treatment plants have been set up at great expense, but are yet to be functional.

The rough-and-tumble between Barisal City Corporation and West Zone Power Distribution Company over the payment of arrear dues and future bills is responsible for the stagnant situation.

Manirul Alam Swapan, execu-

tive engineer of the BCC water sup-ply department, said over 500,000 city dwellers need 45 million liters of water a day, but at present BCC has the maximum capacity to pro-duce 25.5m liters and supply 15m liters.

Currently, the BCC can supply one-third of the water needed by Barisal city residents.

“The city corporation will be ca-pable of meeting the full water de-mand of the residents after the two water treatment plants start opera-tions, the executive engineer said.

Luthfar Rahman, sub-assistant engineer of the Public Health De-partment (PHED) Barisal regional o� ce, said about 95% of the con-struction work of the two SWTP and transmission lines at the Belta-la and Rupatali areas of the city, with the total capacity of supplying 32 million liters of water per day from Kitankhola River, has been completed.

SM Shohidul Alam, executive engineer of the PHED o� ce at Ba-risal, said they had set a target to begin supplying water from the

new plants, constructed at a cost of Tk50 cores, sometime within June and August 2015.

But they delayed starting opera-tions as the electric line is yet to be connected, the o� cial added.

“An electricity bill of Tk22 core is due against the BCC, and we asked to pay the arrears in install-ments, but they refused,” said Tarikul Islam and Amzad Hossain,executive engineers of division 1 and 2 under the West Zone Power Distribution Company Barisal of-� ce.

Thus, without clearing dues, a new electricity connection for the BCC’s water treatment plants could not be given as per the rules, they said.

BCC mayor Ahsan Habib Kamal said they had already paid a good portion of the arrears.

He, however, said the BCC is also trying to clear the dues.

Supplying electricity to the wa-ter treatment plant is part of ful-� lling a basic civic right and that should not be hampered by any cause, said the mayor. l

Balloon seller dies in gas cylinder blast in Savarn Our Correspondent, Savar

A balloon seller has been killed in a gas cylinder explosion at a picnic spot in Savar’s Ashulia.

The body of Rabiul Islam, 30, was sent to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy.

Ashulia police station O� cer-in-Charge Mohsinul Kadir con� rmed the death to the Dhaka Tribune.

Witnesses said the gas cylinder suddenly exploded when Rabiul was in� ating balloons around 11am yesterday.

The explosion blew o� one of his legs, leaving him in critical con-dition.

Following the incident, Rabiul was rushed to National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation, popularly known as Pongu Hospital, where the doctors declared him dead. l

A man in� ates balloons at Shahbagh in the capital yesterday. Without any available training on how to properly � ll balloons with gas cylinder, fatalities among balloon sellers are common. Yesterday, a balloon seller was killed when a cylinder exploded while in� ating balloons at Savar, outskirts of the capital MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

News8DTSATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

Hill cutting continues unabatedDepartment of Environment has not taken any action yet in this regardn Our Correspondent,

Khagrachhari

Hill cutting continues in nine upazilas of Khagrachhari for the purpose of making residential and commercial plots ignoring envi-ronment laws while the local ad-ministration turns a blind eye to the act.

The Department of Environ-ment has not taken any action yet in this regard either.

During a recent investigation, the Dhaka Tribune has found that local politicians, in� uential indi-viduals and unscrupulous busi-nessmen are involved in destroy-

ing hills in the nine upazilas.Khagrachhari District Adminis-

tration sources said hill cutting has also posed a serious threat to other residential houses, the environ-ment and biodiversity in the areas.

Abul Khair and Rashid Miah, who are involved in cutting hills, said they were not aware of any harmful e� ect of what they do.

They said many of the residents of their village, Comilla Tilla, had built their houses cutting hills.

Khagrachhari Poribesh Ando-lon President Md Rabiul Islam said around 50,000 people, including the indigenous population, are exposed to landslides in the nine

upazilas due to hill cutting. He urged the local administration

and the Department of Environ-ment to make collective e� orts for stopping rampant cutting of hills.

Khagrachhari Poribesh Su-rokkha Andolon Convener Pradip Chowdhury said illegal hill cutting had contributed to environmental degradation as well as � lling up of rivers and canals, exposing lives and properties to landslides and � ash � oods in the district.

“Hill cutting is going on with the connivance of district administra-tion o� cials,” he added.

Assistant Engineer of Khagrach-hari municipality Jamal Hossain

said an initiative to cut hills by lo-cal in� uentials was stopped a few days back. “But no further action was taken as we do not have the authority to do that.”

He said many government es-tablishments, including the depu-ty commissioner’s residence, are dangerously exposed to landslides during the rainy season.

Additional Deputy Commission-er of the district ATM Kawsar Hos-sain admitted that hill cutting was going on unabated.

But he denied the involvement of government o� cials in the act, and vowed to take stern action against the perpetrators. l

One held for making abusive remarks on PMn Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

Rajshahi police arrested a man on charge of making defamatory state-ment by his Facebook post on the prime minister and the government.

Rakibul Islam Rakib, a student of Bagha Shahdaullah Degree College and also this year’s HSC examinee, was detained on Thursday and the next day he was shown arrested in a case launched against him with Bagha police station for the alleged o� ence. He is son of Kalim Uddin, from Amodpur village under Bagha Municipality.

O� cer-in-Charge of Bagha police station Ali Mahamud said: “Rakib is a Jamaat-e-Islami activist.”l

Two held over Gazipur ATM booth robbery n Our Correspondent,

Gazipur

Police yesterday detained two persons in connection with the robbery at a fast track ATM booth of Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited at Harinhati, Kaliakoir upazila in Gazipur.

Detained Naimul and Mintoo admitted that they were involved in the robbery, police said.

The duo were held in drives at Rakhalia of Kaliakoir and Board Bazar of Tongi in the early hours of the day.

O� cer-in-Charge of Kali-akoir police station Abdul Motaleb Mia said security and ATM card management organ-isation “Moneyplant” Chief Executive O� cer Syed Afzalul Abedin � led a case on Thurs-day evening.

The amount of looted mon-ey was mentioned to be Tk1.83 crore in the case statement, said the OC.

Citing the ATM booth o� -cials, police on Thursday said the looted amount was Tk1.2 core. Later, police said the amount was Tk1.94 crore.

“We are assuming that the security guard and two o� -cials of the organisation are involved in the robbery. They are being interrogated,” the OC added.

On Thursday, a group of 10 to 12 robbers swooped on the ATM booth when the o� cials of “Moneyplant” went to the booth to deposit money in it around 2:30am.

The robbers beat up secu-rity guard Liakat Hossain and snatched away two trunks � lled with the money. l

Brother hacks brothers over land disputen Our Correspondent,

Sirajganj

A man was hacked to death by his own brother over issues with homestead boundary in Mohishluti village of the dis-trict’s Tarash upazila.

The dead Rahmat Ali, 30, was the son of farmer Mojibur Rahman Monjur of the village.

The incident, which took place yesterday after Jumma prayers, left another brother of Rahmat – Mohammad Ali, 35, – critically injured.

Quoting locals, Tarash po-lice station O� cer-in-Charge

ATM Aminul Islam said the three sons – Nur Islam, Rah-mat Ali and Mohammad Ali – of farmer Mojibur Rahman locked into a quarrel in the af-ternoon over boundary related issues of their village home.

At one point, Nur Islam started hacking his two broth-ers indiscriminately with a ma-chete, leaving Rahmat Ali spot dead and Mohammad Ali criti-cally injured, the OC added.

Locals later rescued Mo-hammad Ali and took him to Sirajganj Sadar Hospital where duty doctors said his condi-tion was critical. l

Learn English 9D

T

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

Pre-reading task1. What are microcredits?2. Who are microcredits usually given to?Now, read the article and see if your answers are correct.

Want to find more learning activities? Visit www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish © British Council 2016

Word search

Answers1 True2 False3 True4 False

5 False6 True7 True8 False

Exercise 2

The ideas factory 9

1 c2 e3 a

4 d5 b6 f

Exercise 1Comprehension: True/False. Read the article and decide if the following statements are true or false:1. Microcredits are not usually more

than US$200.2. Microcredits are given only to

people setting up new businesses.3. The � rst microcredits were given to

people in Bangladesh.4. The Grameen Bank gave families an

extra US$1 a day to live on.5. The loans are usually paid back

within six months.6. MFIs give practical support as well

as loans.7. Loans are made to women because

they are more likely to spend the pro� ts on their families.

8. MFIs have to charge high interest rates because many of the loans are never paid back.

Exercise 2Vocabulary: Matching. Match each word in the � rst column (1 to 6) with its de� nition in the second column (a to f):

Exercise 1

n Carolyn Hardwick

Microcredits – helping families out of povertyMillions of families around the world have been given a helping hand out of poverty by microcredits. These very small loans, usually less than US$200, have enabled the very poorest people to set up or expand businesses and become self-su� cient.

The microcredit movement started with Professor Muhammad Yunus, who founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Professor Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, used his own money to set up a bank to bene� t the poorest people in Bangladesh – families living on less than US$1 a day. There are now hundreds of organisations around the world following his blueprint to help people escape from poverty.

So how does the system work? Local micro� nance institutions (MFIs) make contact with families and o� er loans, usually to women, to enable them to start or expand a business. These are very poor people who would not normally be able to get credit, but as no collateral is required

they can get

microcredits. They pay back the loan on a weekly basis, over six months to a year.

A crucial aspect to the success of the microcredit system is that recipients get local support. The MFIs educate local communities about ways to improve their lives, and o� er practical support as well as collecting weekly loan payments. They encourage people to help each other, so that the whole community can pull itself out of poverty. MFIs may

also help

with literacy and health problems.

Microcredits are mainly given to women. Experience has shown that women are more motivated to improve their children’s lives and will spend the money they make on better nutrition and schooling for their children. This may be the � rst chance they’ve had to contribute � nancially to the family, and their status in the home and the local community is raised.

BIGSTOCK

1. self-su� cient

2. founded

3. bene� t

4. collateral

5. � xed-term

6. interest

See if you can � nd these words in the grid. They can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal and backwards.

Bus_ness Inter_st collateral Lo_n E_pand Opportunit_Famil_es P_verty Financia_ly R_payment

a. help

b. for a speci� c period of time

c. able to provide for your needs without help from othersd. security on a loan

e. started an organisation

f. money charged for borrowing money

The microcredit system is not charity. The payments are � xed-term loans and interest is charged. The costs of making such small loans, collecting them and giving personal support are high. This is re� ected in the interest rates, which range from 15 to 35 per cent. Despite this, the repayment rate is very high, between 95 and 98 per cent, showing that microcredit clients really value this opportunity to leave poverty behind. l

Microcredits

Biz Info10DT

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

n Features Desk

“Taste of Light and Darkness” returns with its second edition at La Galerie, Alliance Française de Dhaka, featuring artworks by ASM Rashidul Alam, Al-Akhir Sarker, Azmol Hosen, Sayed Fida Hossain and Sultan Ishtiaque. This group exhibition showcases an expansive portrayal of the day-to-day life or

ordinary people juxtaposed on a vignette of light and darkness.

The respected artists have identi� ed the fundamental nature of contrasting these two elements and found that light and darkness pair in synergy alongside each other as if they mimic the most primordial instincts of the human nature. Moreover, they believe human beings and their

expressions are necessary in their paintings in order to encapsulate that harmony between the contrasting duo.

ASM Rashidul Alam’s artworks seldom represent his own thoughts. He often feels amazed by love and a� ection, which elevates nostalgic childhood memories within him.

Al-Akhir Sarker wanted to dig out his inner feelings in his work, while simultaneously capturing the tradition, religious behavior,

thoughts and dreams of a true Bengali.

Azmol Hosen’s paintings illustrate the struggle of life, and shows a story about the needs and dreams which may make the its viewers experience multiple emotions.

Self-exploration is the internal history of Sayed Fida Hossain’s paintings. It tries to explain how we are always bound by our daily mechanical life and lose our inner existence; only to � nd ourselves

through self-awareness. It’s a mysterious journey through our existence in life, or as Fida likes to call it, humanity.

The subjects of Sultan Istiaque’s paintings are harsh realities of society, comprising of wrecked houses, historical buildings, large-sized ships of the Buriganga river, labourers and boatmen in their daily chores, downtrodden individuals etc.

The exhibition shall remain open for all till March 8. l

Photos: COURTESY

‘Taste of Light and Darkness 2’ in display at AFD

Earlier this month, Apex footwear arranged a bicycle race in Singair, Manikganj. The challenge was hosted and sponsored by Sprint, a registered sports brand of Apex. The competition included a total of 20 teams, with each team consisting of four members. The teams had to overcome grueling challenges and with the completion of each task, clues were provided to lead them to their next destination. The competition was aptly named as “Sprint - the Amazing Challenge.”

A big part of this event was the inclusion of cycling activities. In the last couple of years, cycling has captured the imagination of the youth. Given the tra� c conditions within our cities, cycling has

become a very practical solution to answers today’s � tness and environmental concerns. Through this inclusion, Sprint expects to encourage people to become a little more active in their daily life, which complements their brand philosophy.

Savar Cyclist was involved in the planning and execution of the event, lending a hand to chart the course, plan the activities and organise the race in association with Apex.

Viewers can watch the show in “Gaan Bangla TV,” every Thursday and Friday at 9pm, and also tune in to Radio Aamar 88.4FM on the same days at 5pm to hear about the experiences and humorous moments. The show also hosts a

quiz competition where callers can participate and win exciting prizes.

With a couple of episodes already aired, any missed episode may be reviewed on Apex’s o� cial Facebook page (www.facebook.comjapex4u). Complete episodes of the race and other exciting content are also available on the page.

So far, the response has been remarkable across all the channels. The combination of cycling with an unconventional race has hit the audience at the right time. The people are showing real enthusiasm and from their comments, it is clear that another season is not only being eagerly anticipated but intrigued participants shall be easy to � nd. l

Sprint’s new series for adventure junkiesOlive Tree Foods Limited has launched a premium ice-cream brand in Dhaka city named Cold Stone Creamery, which is globally recognised for o� ering the “ultimate ice-cream experience” through super rich ice-cream, ice-cream cakes, shakes and smoothies. It has presence in 27 countries and more than 1300 stores worldwide.

The company had its private preview and ribbon-cutting event on February 13 at their 4,000 SFT � agship store situated in 23 Gulshan Avenue.

Among the guests, US Embassy Bangladesh’s deputy chief of mission, David Meale, was present along with the senior vice president of International Operations and Development of Kahala Brands, Eddie Jimenez. The ribbon cutting took place with the chairman of Olive Tree Foods, Ehsanul Habib and the managing director, Sheikh Aftab Ahmed.

Entertainment during the inauguration including a sudden � ash-mob to excite the waiting crowd, ice-cream themed

fashion shows and live music.The highlight of the night was

the ice-cream itself. Coming out in cups, wa� e bowls, and cones � lled in trays, it went around the crowd for guests to simply picked up cups of di� erent � avored ice-cream and comment which was their favorite.

Founded in Arizona, USA in 1988, Cold Stone Creamery has rede� ned the benchmarks of one’s dream ice-cream over and over again around the world. It revolves around creating fresh new dessert sensation that invigorates your taste buds and explodes your senses. It’s really exciting that this wonderful and much loved brand has now stepped into the Bangladesh market. l

Cold Stone Creamery

INSIDE

The High Court writ petition challenging the legality of the DMP’s drive to collect personal information about tenants from landlords in Dhaka raises several important questions.

Of most importance is the way this sudden police move violates the constitutional right of all citizens to privacy.

Examples abound of past occasions when citizens’ personal information has been leaked by government bodies, or used to harass innocent individuals.

Some police o� cials themselves have acknowledged there have been lots of allegations of corrupt o� cers using con� dential information in attempts to extort money from the public.

The lack of any e� ective data protection rules and redress mechanisms to safely store personal information and prevent it being misused, is reason enough for the police move to be stayed.

As well as undermining public trust, the police move hugely increases the scope for con� ict and distrust between tenants and landlords.

Moreover, much of the personal data being sought for the proposed database, such as private numbers of sta� employed by tenants, is highly intrusive and unnecessary.

There is no practical merit or security justi� cation for the police to compile such personal information about ordinary law abiding citizens.

This is not to say that there is never any security case for technological surveillance. Installing more CCTV cameras to track tra� c o� enses, for instance, may make sense in principle, even if the track record of authorities in making good use of such equipment is poor in practice.

However, the police are overreaching their authority by wanting to store personal information about tenants. It is a pointless exercise which will waste public money without adding anything to the police’s ability to obtain information from citizens during the course of actual investigations.

The court should stand up for privacy and ask the police to think more carefully how they use their powers.

There is no practical merit or security justi� cation for the police to store such personal information about ordinary law-abiding citizens

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com

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

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Don’t compromise liberty in the name of security

11D

TEditorialSATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

BIGSTOCK

Climate changePAGE 14

Jasmine, the Silk Road, and Bangladesh today

PAGE 19

You deserve betterPAGE 13

Get lost in translation

PAGE 12

n Garga Chatterjee

The “acceptable” Tamil or Bengali on-board a Chennai to Kolkata � ight is one who understands

English, if not Hindi. A Tamil lady who does not know English or Hindi does not deserve to be fully serviced at the airport or on-board. She is made to feel inadequate and out of place. It is a sad, sad commentary on the diversity showcasing PR blitz called “Incredible India.”

Incredible indeed. It is similarly

incredible that no local train ticket within West Bengal or Tamil Nadu has the station names printed in Bangla or Tamil. With its warped vision of what is tourism and who is a tourist, the Government of India has got its priorities all wrong.

Nothing in the Constitution of India bans safety announcements in Tamil and Kannada for � ights between Chennai and Bengaluru.

It is the deep ideology of the Indian Union that conceives the non-Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan peoples as ill-formed citizens,

whose mother-tongues and concerns need to be suppressed, who need to be beaten into a new shape for cohesion and assimilation as equal citizens of the Indian Union.

To a self-respecting Bengali like me, this is humiliation designed to show me my place with a hint of what about me needs to change so that I am “acceptable.”

That the funding for this discrimination actually comes largely from non-Hindi states via central taxation makes it even more disgusting.

The rules about o� cial languages that are incorrectly cited in support of Government of India’s Anglo-Hindi formula doesn’t become a hindrance when German or French or, Arabic or Russian or Chinese or Japanese needs to be enabled. Its only when non-Hindi sub-continental languages are excluded that a smokescreen of laws and logistical limitations is built.

Servility to outsiders and dominating less powerful insiders seems to be the path of choice.

This post-1990 fetish about

feeling su� ciently international by copying Euro-American sca� olds of homogeneity disregards the reality of tourism in India.

A large survey from 2002 by the Union Ministry of tourism shows that about half of all domestic tourists (excluding social travel), numbering more than 100 million, travelled for “religious purposes and pilgrimages.”

Of the top 10 tourist destinations in India, eight are religious and pilgrimage sites. Of total number of trips made by all domestic tourists, those who are cultivators or agricultural wage-labourers contribute the largest proportion.

More than 80% of all domestic tourists are not college graduates. More than 70% of all tourist trips are made in buses.

Let’s think about these numbers and realise how deliberately o� -the-mark the high-pro� le tourism initiatives of the Government of India are.That would give us an idea about who it serves vis-a-vis who it ought to serve. That is the context in which Mahesh Sharma’s multi-lingual helpline has to be

seen. In the post-1990 scenario, when public utilities in the Indian Union are shrinking and the public space is becoming increasingly exclusionary, the Anglo-Hindi reshaping of the public space has the stamp of approval from big money and powerful urban cosmpolitan elites.

While Ahomiyas, Meiteis, Maithilis, Bengalis, Tamils, Marathis, etc have no place in this new Indian ideology, it has no place for the “o� cially Hindi” poor Awadhi or Bhojpuri tourist either.

These facts about India in general and about the tourism scene in particular may not be palatable to those whose idea of tourism is some version of � rangi orientalism inspired “ethnic” exotica gawking or � rang-style backpacking “o� the beaten path.”

But, however unpalatable it may be to certain miniscule-yet-powerful sensitivites and self-conceptions, it’s important to keep it real. l

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

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016Long Form12D

T

If you want to � nd your way around India, make sure you speak one of the elite languages REUTERS

It is the deep ideology of the Indian Union that conceives the non-Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan peoples as ill-formed citizens, whose mother-tongues and concerns need to be suppressed, who need to be beaten into a new shape for cohesion and assimilation as equal citizens of the Indian Union

Bengalis, Marathis, and Tamils have no space in the new Anglo-Hindi ideology of India. This is the concluding part of yesterday’s long form

Get lost in translation

n Monzia Mushtaq

Riya (not her real name) is in her late 20s. She met her boyfriend at a friend’s birthday party. They

started seeing each other, and found a lot of common ground. Gradually they fell in love.

Riya thought her boyfriend and her were a perfect match, but as time passed, she found that her boyfriend was typical. He often criticised Riya about her profession, and tried to change how she behaved and spoke.

As a result, Riya started to feel that she had lost her self-identity. In reality, during their two-year relationship, her partner regularly abused her. She did not realise what he was doing, because no hitting was involved. She simply didn't have a name for the behaviour that made her feel “diseased” in his presence.

Riya explained that the relationship didn't start out that way and most of the time, things seemed really very good. However, the repetitive emotional battering had an almost numbing e� ect on her. Just because your partner is not hitting you physically, it does not mean you are not su� ering. In fact, emotional abuse in romantic relationships is on the rise, and the psychological damage it in� icts can be very dangerous.

According to the counselling centre at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: “Emotional abuse is any kind of abuse that is emotional rather than physical in nature. It can include anything from verbal abuse and constant criticism to more subtle tactics, such as intimidation, manipulation, and refusal to ever be pleased. Emotional abuse can take many forms. Three general patterns of abusive behavior include aggression, denying, and minimising.”

In the simplest terms, emotion-al abuse is de� ned as behaviour and language designed to degrade or humiliate someone by attacking their self-value or personality. While a normal couple may disa-gree on how to spend money, for example, an emotional abuser will make his or her partner feel that he or she is too stupid to under-stand the intricacy of � nances.

Emotional abuse can range from verbal abuse -- yelling, blaming, shaming, and name-call-ing to isolation, intimidation, and threats. It also commonly shows up as stonewalling and dismissing, behaviours that make victims feel alone and unimportant.

Worldwide, several studies showed that up to 35% of women in romantic relationships are emotionally abused. One study also found that emotionally abusive partners are prone to murder or murder-suicide.

In Bangladesh, 44% of urban women and 31% of rural women in 2001 reported having experienced emotional abuse -- which includes insults, humiliation, intimidation, and threats -- and 29% of urban women and 20% of rural women reported experiencing emotional abuse in the past year.

Emotionally abused persons may also become used to such behaviour, and even if they don't like it, they may not feel like they have psychological or social support to sever the toxic bonds. Always in trying to please the abusive partner, the victim may make many adjustments such as leaving a job, changing lifestyles, etc.

The victim of emotional abuse often feels trapped, and changes their behaviour or how they dress or speak, in an e� ort to dodge hurtful language and behaviour. As a result, the victim gradually loses his or her sense of individuality as a human being.

Breaking up with an emotionally abusive partner may not be an easy task. These relationships can be like a physical addiction; when romantic love mixes with fear, the result is dangerous. People with low self-esteem can � nd it di� cult to

leave the abuser, even if the life is miserable. Riya’s boyfriend ended the relationship by complaining against her. She begged him several times not to leave her. But deep down, she felt relieved, because she knew that she didn’t have the strength to leave him. Guilt can often make it di� cult to leave the abuser. Shumon (not his real name) found it di� cult to leave his abusive partner, because he felt that his partner made a lot of sacri� ces for him while ignoring the fact that his partner consistently abused him for not being competent in English and using a computer.

Whatever the reasons, keep in mind that the e� ects of physical abuse are obvious -- a black eye, a cut, or a bruise -- but the e� ects of emotional abuse may be harder to spot, and can be more insidious and elusive. E� ects of emotion-al abuse include: Depression and sadness, withdrawal, guilt, low self-esteem and self-worth, emotional instability, extreme de-pendence on the abuser, sleep dis-turbances, physical pain without cause, suicidal ideation (thoughts

or attempts), under-achievement, inability to trust, feeling trapped and alone, and substance abuse

If the abuse is chronic, then the victim may develop Stockholm Syndrome, where the victim is so terri� ed of the abuser that the victim overly identi� es and becomes bonded with the abuser in an attempt to stop the abuse.

The � rst step in dealing with emotional abuse is to learn to spot the signs. If you are not aware of the signs of emotional abuse, you cannot make it stop. If you can handle the abuser in a neutral way, you will be able to � nd new ways to interact with him or her.

You can change the subject or use humour to distract from the situation. Regain control of the situation by acting con� dent and looking at the abuser in the eye. Do not feel afraid, speak in a calm, � rm, and clear voice and state a reasonable expectation such as: Stop teasing me. I do not like it. I want you to treat me with dignity and respect.

Act rationally, with responses that will help the situation, and not out of emotion. Practice being

more assertive to say no to the abuser when being emotionally abused. Con� de in friends and family and ask for their support.

Tell them what is happening, how it is a� ecting you, and that you would like help in resolving the issue. The counselling service may help the victim deal with emotional abuse constructively and lead a healthy relationship.

Emotional abuse may occur in healthy relationship, yet, a consistent pattern of emotionally abusive behaviour can turn into an emotionally abusive relationship. There is help, there is support. You are not alone. You do not deserve to be frightened or terrorised. Do not feel hopeless and helpless, simply seek support and help.

As the author of The Single Woman Mandy Hale so eloquently puts it: “A healthy relationship doesn’t drag you down, it inspires you to be better” -- it is very cru-cial for everyone to know this. l

Monzia Mushtaq is Psychosocial Counselor and Lecturer, Counseling Unit, BRAC University.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016Opinion 13

DT

Some wounds can’t be seen BIGSTOCK

There may not be bruises to prove it, but emotional abuse is real

You deserve better

These relationships can be like a physical addiction; when romantic love mixes with fear, the result is dangerous. People with low self-esteem can � nd it di� cult to leave the abuser

n Eliza Drury

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry of Bangladesh, under the guidance of UNFCCC, is

developing a long-term National Adaptation Plan (NAP) to adapt to the medium and long-term needs arising out of the impacts of climate change. This plan is intended to be the guidebook for all adaptation initiatives for the next 100 years, and will be the tool used to channel and allocate international adaptation funding within Bangladesh.

NAPs are being developed in all countries, regardless of their vulnerability or income level to aid in climate change adaptation. In countries like Bangladesh, which was ranked by German research institute Germanwatch as the 6th most vulnerable country in the world in 2014, NAPs are critical for preserving livelihoods.

Given these circumstances, NAP documents need to be accurate, comprehensive, and representative of local vulnerabilities across the entire country. Misinformation could mean the di� erence between successful adaptation or forced relocation of entire villages. With stakes this high, the research community has become involved in building tools and methods to help ensure accurate vulnerability

assessments within the country, and assistance in developing appropriate adaptations initiatives given certain vulnerabilities.

This article describes a speci� c method for determining nation-wide vulnerabilities to identify priority areas for long term adaptation projects. This means methods which take into consideration all possible vulnerabilities that a system -- town, village, upazila, etc -- could experience, not simply the physical exposures. Vulnerability in this context is “the degree to which a system is unable to cope with the adverse e� ects of climate change, a function of three components: Exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.”

GVA combines all three components into a national index of vulnerability. This means that, even though vulnerability is ranked at the national level, the local factors, both physical and social, are taken into consideration when determining a place’s climate change vulnerability.

Using GVA for adaptation planning has many bene� ts. The most important bene� t is that local experts get to decide what data is more important for vulnerability within their country. This method uses indicators to represent each component of vulnerability, adaptive capacity, sensitivity, and exposure, but those indicators will

vary greatly from country to country based upon the country’s social experiences and physical exposures.

This local expert input applies to geographic decisions as well. The vulnerability map can be made to any sub-national scale depending on what will be most helpful for planning purposes. This degree of local input means that vulnerability indexes generated through GVA are based upon local experiences rather than prescribed international systems for determining vulnerability or external suggestions.

Further bene� ts include the method’s potential for transformative and cross-sectorial adaptation given the comprehensive nature of vulnerability indicators. As GVA takes into consideration all forms of vulnerability within a system, projects can be designed to address multiple vulnerabilities at once. The cross sectorial planning and synthesised understanding of vulnerability makes projects designed based on GVA less likely to be maladaptive.

Finally, if GVA is used for planning it provides a valuable visual tool for justifying project funding, and can also be used for monitoring project success. GVA is speci� cally designed to be used in the development of NAP documents in all least developed countries, and is particularly

applicable to Bangladesh. Using GVA in the development of the Bangladesh NAP is important given the history of adaptation planning, namely the NAPA, in the country. NAPA projects were based on single vulnerabilities, mainly physical.

A possible solution to prevent this in the NAP is to ensure that all components of vulnerability are considered at the beginning of the planning process such that pro-jects address all possible impacts, and reach the most vulnerable people. In Bangladesh, this type of synthesis allows government plan-ning agencies the ability to prior-itise areas that are vulnerable to multiple types of climate change exposures such as cyclones, saline intrusion, and � ooding, but that also have limited adaptive capac-ity or higher sensitivity, such as over-populated urban areas (par-ticularly poor areas) or areas with very limited technology access.

Building a map using GVA is a four step process. The � rst step is to select a geographic unit to collect all selected indicators of the three components of vulnerability into. This unit could be regions, districts, upazilas, a grid system covering the country or other unit. The next step is to convert all the chosen indicators -- indicators that represent all three components of vulnerability -- into the chosen geographic unit. This requires mapping software to

convert existing data in di� erent geographic units into the chosen unit. All selected indicators -- as many or as few as local experts feel will represent all three components of vulnerability most accurately -- must be converted into the chosen geographic unit.

The third step is to convert the indicators into a shared numeric scale. Common scales are 1-5 or 1-10, where a geographic area is awarded a 1 for very low vulnerability based upon the indicator and a 5 or 10 for very high vulnerability. The � nal step is to combine all of the indicators that now share a geographic, as well as a numeric scale, into a single vulnerability index.

The main advantage of using this method in the Bangladesh NAP is that planners have the best chance of selecting projects that reach the most vulnerable people in the most vulnerable places. The NAP must be based on an accurate comprehensive understanding of local climate change vulnerability across the nation and GVA is a val-uable tool for accomplishing this.

Recalling also that the NAP is meant to be a standing document that designs an adaptation plan for the long-term GVA maps can be modi� ed and updated as more knowledge is gained and as local circumstances shift. This long-term � exibility of GVA makes it ideal for the long-term planning sought in the NAP. The main barrier to implementation of GVA in Bangladesh is access to data. This method relies heavily on accurate spatial data of both social and physical vulnerabilities to climate change. Without access to up to date and accurate spatial data this method cannot be implemented in Bangladesh.

Despite this challenge, GVA can play a useful role in Bangladesh national adaptation planning as a tool to ensure that the projects proposed target those who need adaptation assistance most urgently, and that adaptation projects address all forms of vulnerability, reducing the likelihood for mal-adaptation. l

Eliza Drury is the Research Assistant at Climate Development Lab at Brown University. You can contact her at eliza_drury@brown.edu.

Climate Change

This page has been developed in collaboration with the International Centre for Climate Change and De-velopment (ICCCAD) at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and its partners, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and Inter-national Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). This page represents the views and experiences of the authors and does not necessar-ily re� ect the views of Dhaka Tribune or ICCCAD or its partners.

14DT

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

A tool for National Adaptation Planning in Bangladesh

Selecting highestpriority projects

Ranking of Sectorsby Vulnerability

GeographicVulnerabilityAnalysis

Analysis ofSectorial

Vulnerability

Application of GVA in Adaptation Workflow:

Ranking of proposedprojects using country

driven criteria

Proposecross-sectoral

adaptation projectsfor PriorityLocations

Planning work-�ow with Geographic Vulnerability Analysis

Arts & Letters 15D

TSATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

Poetry: The � ute I would leave behind for my Daughter17Short Story:

Peace for O-Lan16 Remembrance:Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain18INSIDE

Send your submissions to: anl@dhakatribune.com

S H O R T S T O R Y

n Urmi Masud

All of a sudden I started writing poems. They came to me. But now they are gone.

One or two got published at the beginning. But afterwards when a phone call came from an acclaimed man, who expressed wonderment at my poems, they left me. I understood very limited things belong to you.

Like the time when I was sitting at the doctor’s and I had to throw up. At that time my husband was sitting next to me, holding my hand. He couldn’t help himself. It is not that simple, holding hand in public – a Bangali wife and a Bangali husband. Yet he did it because he couldn’t remember where he was. It was similar to when we are in bed and he never objects to my closed eyes.

“Congratulations!” the lady doctor said.

I don’t remember her name but she is a renowned doctor. My husband would make sure I saw the best doctor in town. He is one of those who never forget to ask if I’m alright – if and when I stumble. He always walks behind me with a palm resting on my waist, asexually. He always says “Thank you” in English. He pours his own glass of water at the breakfast table.

“Now, it will be a regular occurrence, the morning sickness. If you are lucky you may not get any. It is not that rare, the absence of it.”

My husband held my hand, a strong grip, almost crushing. It was the � rst time I felt his hold on me. Most of the time I don’t remember the man he is. I didn’t look at him. I knew exactly what he was feeling. It was not my love for him that made him transparent. It was actually simple – because it was predictable. It was the cycle – birth, name, parents, institutions in the form of school, college and university, stamp-papered degrees, job in a tall building, salary that pays a dowry, marriage, children and it starts all over again. The cycle goes on. He has done his duty.

That was the exact moment I had to get up and run to the bathroom. I needed to throw up. Not because of the morning sickness – no.

I looked at the mirror

afterwards. I stared at the thirty-� ve-year old face that had caused me so much fear. The frightening specter of youth that had been slipping o� my � ngers – I seemed to have defeated it. It followed with the memory of the time when I had wanted to hold on to this face at the age of thirty-three. Was it still there? I couldn’t recognize its shadow. True, I was no longer the thirty plus unmarried daughter. It must be alright for me to be myself now. There was a man in my bed now – legally; and he was satis� ed. I must be acceptable now.

“Riya! Are you alright?” drifted in the concerned voice of my husband.

His baritone is what often causes people to do exactly what he wants. Yet, when he uses it on me it is always whispering. As if I might � icker out if he exhales. I have noticed that about him. Whether I forget him sitting right next to me or I turn my face away as he attempts a kiss, he always holds his breath.

He has a specter too; it seems, unfamiliar to me.

“Umm…may I come in?” “No.” I left it at that. I knew

that would be su� cient. He would not push any further. Somehow, he knows I am incapable of recognizing sympathy – his, anyway.

“I am right outside.” He said after a pause.

That shocked me. That was the � rst time in our three years

marriage he exerted himself. He didn’t leave it to silence only. I was startled and stared at the closed bathroom door. The room felt smaller.

I remembered the day I had packed my suitcase and left my in-laws’ house without a word. Nothing melodramatic had been at play. My in-laws are respectable people who married their bright and only engineer son to a highly educated, age-inappropriate woman. They had all the methodical reasons behind their choice that sancti� es arranged marriage – a daughter of respectable government o� cials, renowned family, own establishment in Dhaka, moderate Muslims, no known boyfriends. So they were incapable of stopping me when I had left their place, without an explanation, to my husband or my shocked parents. My husband showed up at my parents’ house the next day – luggage included. A month later, we moved into our own � at close to my workplace.

At that time my best friend said I was very lucky. No man would do so much for his wife. I didn’t smile at her. Her husband had spent all his savings in order to save his ancestral home which eventually his younger brother took from him. My friend’s mother-in-law now lives with the younger son. We were having slushy and she was making queer faces. She never was a slushy drinking type, my best friend.

She liked milk tea boiled twice over. She refused using the end of her dopatta to wipe her nose. I o� ered her mine if it suited her.

When we began our life, my husband made a point of not doing certain things. He never attempted to call out my name after he had knocked on my locked bedroom door. He never asked me if dinner was ready whenever the table remained empty after nine. He always made sure we got a taxi – not a CNG – when we went on dinner dates. He bought a Toyota X Fielder when it was time.

In a way, he never tried to exist for me. He somehow knew we only shared a body like regular passengers taking the same bus, now and then, in ritual alienation.

Until … that day.I opened the door and walked

past him. He followed me. We went back to the doctor’s chamber. The doctor began again. My hands were trembling. I had to turn them into � sts.

My husband sat down next to me. He reminded me of an immobile object. I suddenly realized this was where it all changed. There was an inevitability to us at that moment and it was inescapable. The world within and outside recognized him and his claim to what was inside me. And they had already decided I would be a mother. There was no denying that fact. And it empowered him. Not because he knew the truth about

me. But because he knew I was incapable of stopping this.

That could have been a moment of triumph for him if he were a vindictive man. But I know this man. He only recognizes the traditional. He is the product of the cycle. He is not capable of vindictiveness where he can hold my very womb against me.

That requires originality.It requires a need to suppress

rage, calculation afterwards and execution in the precise moment.

No. For him, it was duty. I would have felt him if he

existed. Rage has a searing quality that exudes presence. I would have been keen to seek out the eyes of a man who is capable of exacting revenge if I kept them closed when he needed them most. But not for a man who performs his duty to his body and to mine, to his future and to mine. There is no shattering a man of this component. Therefore, there is no chance of rebuilding either. He is a man, granite like and I am, impregnated, with a child, that is his.

I looked at the doctor. She smiled at me. She trusted – no – she believed me to be happy. She was certain this was exactly what I wanted. Sitting next to my � ve feet seven inch tall, fair-toned, presentable, composed husband. Any woman’s dream come true – an undeniable man whose Blackberry buzzed every other minute because he was needed insistently. The amber on

Arts & Letters16DT

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

Peace for O-Lan

There was a man in my bed now – legally; and he was satis� ed. I must be acceptable now

}

S H O R T S T O R Y

his � nger glistened, the ring that I never chose for him, the one that my socialite cousin decided was suitable for him when my parents needed the engagement ring. His Omega that he bought from the USA, the one that he had asked me about while I was staring at my Starbucks latte – and I had nodded – without looking. A dream, it seems, has come true for all of those who surround us and look at us. At that moment I had let everyone have a say in the matter. That was my life.

I couldn’t feel my insides. It was only a month and a half. I was stagnated. The walls that kept me in my day-to-day existence were not concrete. The reason our body shrinks with age is not because our spinal cord loses strength – it is because gravity pulls us toward the earth while the atmosphere keeps an invisible pressure on our body.

In this perfection that was me and my husband, I was capable of playing the part but incapable of becoming the act. In all my neglect, somehow my husband refused to believe me. For some faith, deeply rooted in him, he persisted in becoming the act. He only saw a woman, not a being, capable of denying the title and molding the frame into something that can be de� ned as unwomanly or better associated with adjectives like cruel, heartless, unfeeling.

In order to � nish this story I may have to give a reason why what happened next happened at all. Yet just as acceptance ruins the � ow of poetry, it might tarnish the idea of me, if I attempt

to sanctify the woman – the wife, the mother, the lover. Instead, it would be easier if one hated me for not trying to be any of them. If I refuse, how hard would it be to exist?

The moment I felt fear when I asked this question, I realized the truth.

Poetry never died in me.I wrote it for the wrong

reasons.Have you ever found yourself

at the mercy of someone who didn’t understand the scale of your defeat? Would you allow such a defeat that only you are aware of the depth of your fall? Like when you were waiting for a gale to throw you o� the edge but instead a startling whisper makes you stumble over?

One of the novels that I hated most was The Good Earth. I would like to believe people read such great classics to � nd a sense of self. Reading this novel left me crippled inside. Not because of empathy, no. Simply because O-Lan could lay a claim to her space no matter how many walls her world raised around her. She could even contain her world in a single pearl and it enraged me. Her world could shift from a big front to a small corner in the blink of an eye. She refused to claim any ownership to this space that she structured for her husband. She made me feel small.

My best friend called me couple of days after the visit to the doctor. My morning sickness had gotten worse. I couldn’t tell her. But she had a lot to tell me.

“I have a very boring news to give you,” she said. I didn’t

respond. I always tried my best to make her feel that her experiences mattered to me. She always felt I was the rebel and my friendship made her look like one. She had a morbid fascination for stories that made my tone bitter over the phone.

I was contemplating a piece of lime.

“I am pregnant,” lingered her voice.

“Why would it be a boring news?” I was genuinely surprised.

“This is so mundane. I know you don’t like this sort of … ” I groped for the fallen thread.

“… this sort of?”“You know. Triviality.” She is a

university teacher and likes to use technicality.

I hung up the phone. It took some time for me to

realize that she is still my friend not because she can love me but because she can be jealous of me. I looked at my hand that held the piece of lime. I was told it is not wise to eat bitter things.

What was it that created numbness? Something must have been in the past to create this lack of entitlement. I hovered over the possibility of being a woman, a daughter, a wife, a mother. I chose to have a right to make a choice.

My husband was very sympathetic. He regretted the miscarriage.

I don’t know what it was that slipped out of my inside. I want to believe and trust and feel that I exercised my right. l

The writer is a poet, playwright and short story writer.

P O E T R Y

Arts & Letters 17D

TSATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

Peace for O-LanMy husband sat down next to me. He reminded me of an immobile object. I suddenly realized this was where it all changed. There was an inevitability to us at that moment and it was inescapable. The world within and outside recognized him and his claim to what was inside me. And they had already decided I would be a mother. There was no denying that fact. And it empowered him

}

The � ute I would leave behind for

my daughter Ruby Rahman

I wonder, what can I leave behind for my daughter! I am in my late � fties. I do not have the ability to buy a � ute that I would o� er her when I would leave this world. My mother had wonderful bright � ngers that danced upon the keys of piano- She glowed like a tiger seen in the forest on a moonlit night. She held up the glorious arrogance of the mount kanchanjangha As she stood upright. But keeping aside all those She gave me a shawl-- An ancient worn-out shawl Which she inherited from her father- in -law. I wrapped up my entire world with this wrapper in winter and in wet days, In the days of happiness or days full of dismay.

The houses these days are cloudy and � lled with clouds. The cold winter wind always trespasses into the house With endless e� ort I somehow manage to protect myself with that worn out shawl. As a star-studded sky The old shawl is gradually getting � lled up with numerous holes. I have not inherited my mother’s instinctive skill of mending; Cotton derived from lamb’s wool That could have kept the shawl warm is unknown these days in the market. I can only faintly remember a � icker of � re That I found glowing inside my mother. Nowadays the houses are too much cloudy Our days are ridden by bone-chilling cold. How can I assure myself that My daughter would be provided with adequate warmth by that old worn out shawl ? Or should I ask my mother for that indomitable holy � re That I found burning within her !

February, 1997Translated by the poet

Ruby Rahman, born in 1946 in Dhaka, received her BA and MA degrees in Bangla, English and Psychology from Dhaka University, and for many years taught English at a college in Dhaka. She has several books of poetry to her credit and is one of the few luminaries in the feminist literary tradition of Bangla literature. Her poems, translated by Carolyne Wright and Syed Manzoorul Islam, have appeared in Chelsea, The Kenyon Review, Mid-American Review, Poetry, and in an anthology of Bengali women’s poetry edited by Wright, Majestic Nights: Love Poems of Bengali Women (White Pine Press, 2008). The following poem is reprinted by arrangement with the poet.

R E M E M B R A N C E

n Rifat Munim

When the west was preparing for the World War I that

would once again demonstrate the destructiveness of male militarism; when most of the Asian and African countries, having dealt with a European-styled renaissance, were facing the dilemma of whether or not to continue the colonial legacy, a Bengali woman in then undivided India constructed an ideal world where the men are forced to remain inside the house and look after household chores while the women are responsible for ruling the country known as Ladyland, steering it towards prosperity by scienti� cally harnessing natural energy sources.

The female author in focus is Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and the feminist utopian short story, referred above, is Sultana’s Dream, the � rst of its kind in the whole world, which was followed a decade later by the much better known novel Herland by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Rokeya’s story was written in English and published in a Madras-based English periodical called “The Indian Ladies’ Magazine” in 1905. It is not known if Gilman read Rokeya’s story, but considering Gilman’s storyline which lies in establishing women’s equal rights, one would be apt to say her story owes much to Rokeya’s.

Rokeya was preceded by the likes of Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who wrote � e Woman’s Bible in 1895. It still would not be inappropriate to say she was the � rst female writer in whom converged the di� erent narrative modes of � ction and non� ction that feminist writers made use of in di� erent periods of history to assert their rights. In the feminist tradition of Bangla literature, her achievement is equally towering in prose � ction and essay. Yet, it was not until recently that her works are being read with utmost seriousness at home and abroad, especially in many American and European universities.

Rokeya, who was born on December 9, 1880, into a conservative Zamindar Muslim family in Rangpur, was denied

access to formal education altogether. But it was from her generous elder brother, who believed in women’s education, that she learnt Bengali and English. In 1898, she was married to Syed Sakhawat Hossain, an Urdu-speaking civil servant from Bhagalpur in Bihar. A deputy magistrate by profession, Sakhawat Hossain was liberal and progressive; he encouraged his wife to read literary works from all over the world. Within a few years of her marriage, she showed a � air for literature by publishing some of her essays and the celebrated Sultana’s Dream. Unfortunately, her husband died in 1909. Meanwhile, she had given birth to two daughters who died in infancy. After her husband’s death, a dispute arose with her stepdaughter’s husband and she decided to leave Bhagalpur and settle in Kolkata. Despite all her personal losses, she began to continue her literary and social activities in Kolkata more un� aggingly than ever before.

She soon cut a � gure among readers for her essays, most of which were compiled in Matichur. Among these, “Strijatir Abanati” (Subjugation of Women), “Ardhangi” (The Better Half), “Griha” (The House), and “Borka” (The Veil) are her strongest polemics against patriarchy. Abarodhbasini (The Secluded Ones), published in 1929, which is a collection of journalistic vignettes of purdah observance, also struck a chord with many readers.

Much like modern feminist theorists (Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir), she strongly argued in the “Strijatir Abanati” that the centuries-old perception of a woman’s identity was not natural to her being, it was rather an ideological product of the patriarchal social system constructed to shut women inside home and force them to remain in purdah, a custom which does not allow women to appear before men. On the one hand, she questioned the emasculating way of associating a woman’s identity with jealousy, incompetence, weakness, irrationality and lack of intellect and on the other, vehemently reprimanded women for unthinkingly acquiescing to men’s demands. She clearly pointed out that illiteracy

and unemployment are the main reasons behind women’s subjugation. But what made her essays stand out distinctly was the logical manner in which she presented her arguments. When this logical strain was combined with wit and sarcasm, the outcome was enormous and it immediately attracted a huge readership both supporting and opposing her views.

A critical reading, however, reveals that Rokeya’s uncompromising attitude towards the excesses of purdah observance waned a little in “� e Better Half.” The extremely conservative milieu which triggered huge

reaction among Muslim readers, especially against her stance on purdah, made her realise that she would have to rebel from within, not by rejecting it altogether, but by being a part of this culture. So, she eventually attenuated her stance on purdah and justi� ed it on religious grounds.

But she never wavered from the principal aim of women’s equality in all spheres of social and family life, especially in education and employment. She always stressed the importance of women’s mental powers by which she meant a resurrection of self-con� dence in women about their worth and equality.

In her essays, her thoughts were constrained by patriarchal ideologies prevalent in her time. But � ction o� ered her ample opportunities to explore the boundless potentials of her imagination. That’s why Sultana’s Dream boldly challenges all existing norms and customs, including those reinforced by religion. It enacts a reversal of traditional gender roles by associating shyness with masculinity, and boldness and intellectual prowess with femininity. To some it may seem that she unchained women but chained men. Obviously, the utopia in Sultana’s Dream is constructed in reaction to contemporary history, especially to the savage destructiveness unleashed the world over by male militarism. So her Sultana hoped if the reins of the world are passed over to women, hatred and destruction would be replaced by love and equality. Towards the end of the story, when Sultana asks Sara about the religion of Ladyland, the latter replies:

“Our religion is based on Love and Truth. It is our religious duty to love one another and to be absolutely truthful. If any person lies, she or he is….”

“Punished with death?”“No, not with death. We do not

take pleasure in killing a creature of God, especially a human being. The liar is asked to leave this land for good and never to come to it again.”

Padmaraag, her Bangla novel, is rooted in the real world, however. It is not artistically perfect. Fraught with message, its structure is somewhat untidy. But its strength lies in its commitment to the feminist cause. It evokes the camaraderie of sisterhood felt by characters through shared concerns and experiences. Siddiqua, a courageous female character in the novel, slams the door on her husband, much like Nora, to emancipate herself from the con� nes of the house. Leaving her husband forever, which in itself is an act of rebellion, she embarks on a mission to prove that women too can � ght back and reclaim their rights, that they too can be independent, although the world in which they want to achieve this is hostile towards them.

The writer is Editor, A&L, Dhaka Tribune.

Arts & Letters18DT

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

What Sultana dreamt ofOn the occasion of International Women’s Day, to be observed on March 8, we take a look at Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s writing in which she o� ered a brilliant feminist critique of our culture

n Tim Steel

The “etymology” of plants, it appears, may well be able to tell us more about human development,

migrations, and trade than even archeology, is often able to do.

The fertile soils and the climatic environment of Bangladesh seem to have been in the distant past the source rather than the recipient of “migrating” plant life.

From rice to sugar, tea to cotton, mangoes to mulberry bushes, and many more over centuries, even millennia -- many of the internationally, most valued of plants may all have been carried by traders across the world from the hills and plains of Bangladesh.

When online references to origins of anything, from plants, to peoples, faith groups, and writing, include mentions of “north-east India,” and even “foothills of Him-alayas,” -- it is not unreasonable to suppose, both that the references are uploaded by Indian sources, shy to identify modern political realities, and that those north-east lands of traditional, ancient “India,” may well not be referring to the lands of modern India; but rather, to the forests and foothills that are also, today, a part of the lands of Bangladesh.

Nations that emerge, socially and politically, from more considerable, historic, origins, like many of the previously “Soviet” nations emerging from “Russia,” regularly su� er a fate similar to that of Bangladesh, still lurking in historical references as, “India.” A case in point would be that ubiquitous � oral temptation for olfactory senses across today’s world, but originating from South Asia, the jasmine.

The name may be said to be of Persian origin, deriving from the word, “yasmin,” meaning fragrant � ower. The shrub is supposed to have originated in “the foothills of the Himalayas,” the last ripples of which reach as far, through Bangladesh. It is believed, from archeological evidence, to have reached Egypt by 1,000 BCE, with Mesopotamia and Persia as the route by which it is said to have reached there.

This, of course, could well re� ect on a much earlier age of international trade from the Ganges area, to the Middle East, and Mediterranean lands, than presently appreciated from documentary evidence.

Writers on the history of the shrub, which we know achieved enormous international popularity from an early period in modern

history, appear to make the usual assumption that, in fact, it originated in China, and was then traded along “the Silk Road” to the west. As with silk, that assumption probably arises because of early Chinese records that have survived. But it is debatable whether Sanskrit, the earliest known written language and as a � ourishing centre of international trade at the heart of Bangladesh, might not tell a somewhat di� erent story.

We continue to ignore, � rstly, the fact that there is growing evidence of trade from the Ganges basin/delta, together with a considerable part of the famous Ganges basin into China, possibly as much as 10,000 years ago.

And that the � rst of the so-called “Silk Road” trading routes was, almost certainly, one that exploited the tradition of “water, the highway of the ancient world,” the Southern Silk Road, down the Brahmaputra, and through the Ganges Delta.

Certainly, jasmine is recorded, from those earliest times, as a

focus of Chinese horticulture, especially for pleasure, as well as for refreshment, when combined with tea. The history of “pleasure gardens,” is, indeed, around the world, a very ancient one -- and across millennia, jasmine is commonly recorded as an essential of many. In Babylon, in ancient Mesopotamia, the earliest of recorded gardens -- cultivation of plants for pleasure -- is probably that great wonder of the ancient world called “The Hanging Gardens.”

Those, 4,000 year old gardens may well have included the jasmine, to enhance the olfactory pleasures. Given the common associations of the Mesopotamian and subsequent Persian associations with the shrub, such inclusion seems highly likely. In which case, with the common acceptance by plant specialists, of its true origins, we may well wish to contemplate just how and when, it reached there.

Throughout subsequent developments of human civilisation to the north, and the

west, gardening became a well established practice.

Egyptian gardens, then Greek and Roman, are all recorded in both written and even visual heritage; indeed, Egyptian archeology can even o� er a model of a garden recovered as a funerary o� ering from a tomb dated to about 2,000BCE. Curiously, whilst both Egyptians and Roman cultures boasted about private gardens for the wealthy, the Greeks only developed them for common pleasures, in locations such as temples. Another of the signs, perhaps, of the true birth-place of democracy?

Whether contemporary Bangladesh, in such as the deltaic lands of the Kingdom of Gangaridai, undoubtedly the source of many rare horticultural pleasures, we have, at present, no means of knowing.

Whilst symbolism was, perhaps, the most vital component of the development of gardens in both China and Japan, we cannot, reasonably, doubt the early inclusion of jasmine in

those of China, and, from the late centuries before the Common Era. We cannot, either, doubt that such plants as jasmine will have been high on the list of plants of desire for garden designers and developers in Japan.

Whilst gardens, and the artistry of their design clearly evolved in northern Europe, unsurprisingly, at the time of the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries. It was not until the late 16th and early 17th century in Europe that sophisticated garden design and development came to be, and we were able to give names and faces to their architects and designers.

Names such as Andre la Notre, the gardener to King Louis the 14th and John Tradescant, the elder gardener to Robert Cecil, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth -- in particular, brought to the English garden, some of its greatest forms and content. Gardens that were to in� uence those of the Empire, across the world; including, somewhat ironically, designs of the gardens of Zamindari palaces across the lands of Bangladesh.

Through much history and heritage, the sweet fragrance of the jasmine was, as it continues to be, a signi� cant contributor, courtesy, no doubt, of the great Silk Road trading routes, which emerged through the lands of today’s Bangladesh. l

Tim Steel is a communications, marketing and tourism consultant.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016Heritage 19

DT

It was not until late the 16th and early 17th century in Europe that sophisticated garden design and development came to be, and we were able to give names and faces to their architects and designers

One � ower witnessed entire civilisations take form and change shape

Jasmine, the Silk Road, and Bangladesh today

Downtime20DT

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

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

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKER

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 4 represents G so � ll G every time the � gure 4 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CROSSWORD

ACROSS1 Eating place (4)5 Vegetables (4)10 Piquancy (4)11 Falsehood (3)12 Frequent as a ghost (5) 13 Metal-bearing rock (3)14 Snake (4)16 Formal agreement (6)18 Goes in (6)21 Corkwood (5)23 Poor actor (3)24 Unmoving (5)26 Consumed (3)27 To let stand! (4)28 Look after (4)29 NSW town (4)

DOWN 2 Sky coloured (5)3 Marsh (3)4 Landed properties (7) 6 Drug-yielding plant (4)7 Looking-glass (6)8 Observe (3)9 Close (4)15 Sequence of family rulers (7)17 Discount (6)19 Sends out (5)20 Fine sediment (4) 22 Prayer ending (4)23 Headwear (3)25 Beverage (3)

SUDOKU

INSIDE

21D

TWorldSATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

Europe’s 10 migration dilemmas European Union leaders meet on Monday to debate how to end the migrant crisis before a second sum-mer of chaos, but they have already long known the available answers -- and why they have yet to add up to a solution. PAGE 22

Clinton email probe fraught with political consequencesThe US Department of Justice (DOJ) will have to decide whether Hillary Clinton or any of her subordinates could face legal consequences for her use of a private email server, a decision whose timing is fraught with serious political repercus-sions.

PAGE 24

Tumour genetics reveal cancer treatment revolution A landmark discovery into the ge-netic makeup of tumours has the potential to open a new front in the war on cancer, delivering potent therapies that are tailored to indi-vidual patients, The Guardian re-ported quoting scientists involved in lung and skin cancers research. PAGE 23

INSIGHT

UK ruling party’s Brexit rifts turn nasty n AFP, London

The plot was hatched over a slow-roast-ed shoulder of lamb: two

Conservative heavyweights de-cided to defy Prime Minister Da-vid Cameron over Europe, ignit-ing a feud that is creating a bitter rift in the party.

The setting was the north Lon-don home of the city’s charismatic mayor Boris Johnson -- one of the schemers and a longtime rival of Cameron’s with ambitions to re-place him in Downing Street one day.

The other man was justice min-ister Michael Gove, an intellectual leading light of the Conservative party and friend of the prime min-ister who has harboured resent-ment against him over a high-pro-� le demotion.

Gove’s wife Sarah Vine, a col-umnist for the Daily Mail, de-scribed the evening as “all a bit sur-real”, with the two MPs sitting side by side on a sofa in Johnson’s “styl-ishly dishevelled drawing room”.

It was a couple of days before Cameron went to Brussels last month for a European Union sum-mit that has paved the way for an

in-out membership referendum on June 23 that has divided Cam-eron’s Conservatives.

In the tight-knit world of West-minster and especially in Cameron’s inner circle -- where many mem-bers attended the same university, Oxford -- old rivalries and personal grievances are coming to the fore.

“This is a high-risk, high stakes game from which there will be no going back, either for the prime minister or for his Tory oppo-nents,” Daily Telegraph columnist Allister Heath wrote this week.

After Cameron returned from the summit and announced a date for the referendum, Gove and � ve other cabinet ministers broke with the prime minister’s pro-EU line and joined the ranks of Brexit backers.

They were quickly joined by a third of the party’s MPs includ-ing Johnson, who went to Eton College with Cameron and was a member of the same exclusive dinner club when the two were at Oxford University.

‘Spin, smears and threats’For an older generation of Con-servatives, opposition to Europe is more an article of faith than a matter of policy -- an explanation for the level of rancour.

The reasoned arguments laid out in Gove’s letter explaining his position quickly turned into name-calling and barbed com-ments from others, with parlia-mentary sketch writers picking up on a poisonous mood between Conservative cliques in the House of Commons.

Welfare minister Iain Dun-can Smith, one of the six rebels, wrote in the Daily Mail on Friday condemning “spin, smears and threats” from the pro-EU camp.

“The acrimonious manner in which all this has been conduct-ed is troubling and will I fear have consequences long beyond June 23,” he said.

Foreign minister Philip Ham-mond has reportedly called lead-ing eurosceptic Bill Cash a “total shit”, while Johnson dismissed as “baloney” Cameron’s attempt to make a positive case for staying in Europe.

In a � ery speech last week, Cameron launched a thinly-veiled and scathing attack on his old ri-val Johnson, dismissing his ideas as “for the birds” and mocking his barely concealed political ambi-tion.

Johnson hit back with an article in The Sun, Britain’s most popular newspaper, in which he mocked

Cameron for “clutching the skirts of Brussels”.

‘All guns blazing’“Both sides are trying to � nd their range at the moment. They’re not engaging in close combat yet,” James Forsyth, political editor at the Spectator magazine, which Johnson used to edit, said.

But Forsyth said the internecine con� ict so far “is not anywhere near as vicious” as the 1990s when Con-servative ministers openly feuded over whether Britain should adopt the Maastricht Treaty.

That con� ict ultimately led to the downfall of then Conserva-tive prime minister John Major, a staunch pro-European.

The sparring over the referen-dum is important for Cameron’s future too as he has committed to leaving o� ce by the time of the next election in 2020 without say-ing when or who will replace him.

Forsyth said Cameron faced a choice between a measured cam-paign that would allow him to unite the party afterwards or go-ing in “all guns blazing”.

“I think he’s temperamental-ly more inclined to the latter,” he said, adding that the prime min-ister “isn’t pulling his punches at the moment”. l

A British Union � ag and a European Union � ag hang from a building behind a tra� c sign in central London REUTERS

WorldSATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

22DT

FACTBOX

Europe’s 10 migration dilemmas European Union leaders meet on Monday to debate how to end the migrant crisis before a second sum-mer of chaos, but they have already long known the available answers -- and why they have yet to add up to a solution.

The political dilemmas of the crisis have had EU governments going round in circles for a year. This is how they go--

Mediterranean ‘moat’?Physical isolation from Africa, Asia and the Middle East has not pre-vented people reaching Europe. A fence built by Greece on its land border with Turkey in 2012 to con-demnation from the EU was fol-lowed by more people using boats to reach Greek islands. In late 2014, the EU scaled back naval patrols o� Libya, arguing that rescuing people was a “pull factor” encouraging more to sail for Italy. But last April, the drowning of hundreds on one boat caused an outcry and rescue missions were restored. Bound by the Geneva Conventions to o� er at least temporary asylum to those saved in international waters, the Mediterranean has gone from be-ing Europe’s “moat” to a delivery channel for migrant smuggling gangs, in Libya and especially now in Turkey.

Ask the neighbours?With neighbours like Libya? In fact, anarchy in Libya has seen a sharp

drop in migrants going there to reach Italy. The main route is now through Turkey. In November, the EU promised Ankara €3bn to help 2m Syrian refugees living in Tur-key, revived EU membership talks and easier visas for Turks in return for stemming the � ow. Lack of ev-idence that a winter drop is due to more than weather will be dis-cussed with the Turkish premier at Monday’s summit. At the same time, EU leaders’ critics at home say they should not o� er favour to President Tayyip Erdogan due to human rights concerns.

Fend them off?Although the EU is now working on establishing a European Bor-der and Coast Guard this year, and has enlisted Nato navies to patrol the straits between Turkey and the Greek islands, and although it threatens to attack smugglers, physically preventing people reaching safe haven is illegal and politically untenable.

Send them back?Once ashore, the EU wants to send many migrants back. Easier said than done. Asylum claims can take years and fewer than 40 percent of those rejected actually go. It can be hard to know where to send them. Many countries refuse to take back their own citizens. O� er-ing cash incentives, or strong-arm deportations are expensive and

politically controversial. The EU wants Turkey to take back people from Greece. But that is still being negotiated and it faces criticism that Turkey’s human rights record does not make it safe for everyone. This year so far, most arrivals have strong asylum claims: 44% of have been Syrian -- or at least say they are Syrian – 29% Afghan and 18% Iraqi. In any case, many experts argue that an ageing Europe needs more young people of the kind en-terprising enough to reach it.

Lock them up?EU leaders and voters are uneasy about the chaotic movements of migrants. Italy and Greece reject building “concentration camps” and detaining asylum seekers is legally problematic, even though they do not have a right to move to other EU states. Leaders are in-creasingly stressing that asylum seekers do not have a choice of where in the EU they can go. How-ever, local communities are unwill-ing to host large reception centres.

Follow the rules?Friction began years ago. Italy and Greece, frustrated at a lack of help from others, let migrants to travel north to richer states in de� ance of the EU Dublin rules which say peo-ple must stay in the � rst EU state they reach and claim asylum there. That had long eased pressure on the “frontline” states. But the northern

reaction to last year’s huge surge in numbers from Syria has led to new border controls across Europe. The EU is drafting new Dublin rules but that will be hard and take time.

Share the load?New border controls across the passport-free Schengen zone threaten a cherished EU achieve-ment and have poisoned rela-tions to the point many fear for the future of the Union. A plan to spread asylum seekers away from Italy and Greece and around the bloc according to national quotas prompted a furious backlash, espe-cially in eastern Europe. Only 598 have been “relocated”, angering Rome and Athens. Northern states say they have found it hard to � nd people willing to be relocated and say many prefer to make their own way to preferred cities. That cha-os has prompted more EU talk of forcing people to be relocated and that barring Greece’s northern bor-der, creating the current build-up there, will help kick-start reloca-tions. It faces critics, however, who say people should not be coerced.

Check who’s coming?A big complaint of northern states against Italy and Greece was their failure to document, � ngerprint and security screen those arriving. With EU support, “hot spot” pro-cessing centres have � nally been largely set up. But Rome and Ath-

ens are still wary of holding people, for fear they will not then move on.

Make it legal?One option being experimented with by the EU and favoured by Germany is to take the chaos out of the crisis by resettling genuine ref-ugees directly from the Middle East to Europe, saving them risk and the cost of paying smugglers. There are legal and logistical hurdles to o� er-ing asylum to people not yet in the EU and some states simply oppose taking in any refugees anyway. The resettlement option has now become a central bargaining chip in negotiations with Ankara, with Berlin trying to persuade Turkey that if it cracks down on people leaving for Europe via smuggling routes, the EU will take a share of refugees direct. Unless Ankara � rst shows results, however, any deal is on hold.

World peace and prosperity?You know you have a big problem when fruitless circular arguments end up with ending poverty and war looking like the simplest an-swer. EU leaders have burnished their long-term programmes to promote economic growth in Afri-ca that could help diminish the lure of Europe. And they are doing what they can to promote an end to war in Iraq and Syria. It is no quick � x.

Source: REUTERS

Migrants who are waiting to cross the Greek-Macedonian walk through a makeshift camp near the village of Idomeni, in Greece on Friday

REUTERS

WorldSATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

23D

T

SOUTH ASIALandmark Pakistan women’s protection bill challenged in sharia courtA prominent Pakistani lawyer has � led a petition in the top sharia court seeking that it strike down a new law that gives protection to female victims of violence. The Women’s Protection Act, passed by Punjab last week, gives legal protection to wom-en from domestic, psychological and sexual violence. -REUTERS

INDIAIndia denies visas to US religious freedom bodyIndia has denied visas for a del-egation from the US government agency charged with monitoring international religious freedom. The delegation from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF ) had been scheduled to leave for India on Friday for a long-planned visit with the support of the US State Department and the US embassy in New Delhi, but India had failed to issue the necessary visas. -REUTERS

CHINA‘China defence spending to rise 7%-8% in 2016’China will raise its defence spending by 7% to 8% this year, a top o� cial said Friday. The exact increase will be announced on Saturday at the opening of the National People’s Congress, Fu Ying, a spokeswoman told reporters. Chinese President Xi announced last year that the Chinese army will be reduced by 300,000 personnel. -AFP

ASIA PACIFICMahathir joins with Malaysia opposition to push out PM NajibFormer Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad on Friday joined hands with the oppositions to crank up pressure on scandal-plagued Prime Minister Najib Razak to quit. In a dramatic � ourish, Mahathir read a statement signed by 58 pol-iticians and anti-corruption activ-ists at a news conference where he was � anked by opposition leaders and some members of the ruling party he has now quit. -REUTERS

MIDDLE EAST16 dead in Yemen elderly home gun attack At least 16 people, including four Indian nurses, were killed when gunmen opened � re Friday at an elderly care home in Yemen’s main southern city of Aden. Four gun-men stormed the facility housing dozens in Aden’s Sheikh Othman district, killing a guard before tying up and shooting employees. The dead nurses were Indian nuns, and the rest of those killed were Yemenis working at the home. -AFP

Tumour genetics reveal cancer treatment revolution n Tribune Desk

A landmark discovery into the ge-netic makeup of tumours has the potential to open a new front in the war on cancer, delivering potent therapies that are tailored to indi-vidual patients, The Guardian re-ported quoting scientists involved in lung and skin cancers research.

The breakthrough comes from research into the genetic com-plexity of the aforementioned cancers which found that even as tumours grow and spread around the body, they carry with them a number of biological “� ags” that the immune system can be primed to attack.

Because the � ags, which ap-pear as surface proteins, are found only on cancer cells, they provide what scientists described as “ex-quisite targets” for new therapies that draw on the power of the im-mune system to combat cancer.

One approach releases the brakes on the immune system, unleashing the full force of kill-er T cells, which are otherwise dampened down by cancer cells. But to work, the patient’s im-mune system must � rst recognise the cancer as the enemy.

Charles Swanton, an expert on cancer evolution who led the latest study at the Francis Crick Institute in London, said the dis-covery of surface proteins shared by all of a patient’s cancer cells provided an “achilles heel” for fu-ture therapies to target.

The international team, in-volving scientists from Harvard, MIT and University College Lon-don, found that the patients in their study had already launched immune reactions against their cancers. But the attacks were too feeble to destroy the malignant cells. Close inspection of the tu-mours revealed immune cells

buried inside them: some had rec-ognised the cancer’s unique � ags, but were either outnumbered or defeated by the cancer’s defences.

“What we’ve found for the � rst time is that tumours essen-tially sow the seeds of their own destruction. And that within tu-mours, there are immune cells that recognise those � ags which are present in every tumour cell,” said Swanton.

As tumours grow, they evolve. Over time, mutations scramble the DNA, and one part of the tumour starts to look very di� erent to an-other. But Swanton found that even complex tumour cells can bear the hallmarks of their origins. Writing in the journal, Science, he describes how, in two lung can-cer patients, surface proteins had mutated early on and appeared throughout the tumours.

The work, funded by Cancer Research UK and the Rosetrees Trust, raises two possible routes to treat future cancer patients. In one scenario, doctors could take a biopsy from a patient’s tu-mour, read its genome and work out which � ags are present on all

of the malignant cells. If they � nd immune cells inside the tumour that recognise these � ags, they could be multiplied in the lab, and then re-infused into the patient, producing an overwhelming pre-cision attack on the cancer cells. In another scenario, the protein � ags themselves could be used to make a vaccine against the can-cer. Inject them into the body, and immune cells would identi-fy them as invaders and launch an attack. In practice, the new therapies would have to be used alongside existing drugs called “checkpoint inhibitors” that stop cancers neutralising T cells.

Swanton, whose study appears in Science, hopes to launch the � rst human trial in lung cancer patients in the next two to three years.

The treatment, if it works at all, is likely to be most e� ective in cancers that have a lot of mu-tations, such as melanoma and smoking-related lung cancer. But the scientists plan further research to investigate whether it could be e� ective against less mutated cancers, such as bladder, prostate and pancreatic cancer. l

BJP faces voters in 5 states as reforms slow n Reuters, New Delhi

India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Par-ty will face elections in � ve states beginning next month, according to a schedule released on Friday, at a time when its approval ratings are slipping and it is under pressure to deliver on economic growth.

State elections are important for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be able to gain control of Rajya Sab-ha, where members are indirectly elected by state legislatures. Last year, he lost the big heartland state of Bihar.

A lack of a majority in that house has stalled Modi’s economic re-forms agenda and delayed passage of a key tax bill.

About 170m people will be eli-gible to vote in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry in the south, and in Assam and the agrar-ian state of West Bengal in the east.

All these states are ruled by re-gional parties or the main opposi-tion, the Congress party.

A nationwide opinion poll pub-lished by the India Today magazine last month showed Modi’s popular-ity was still holding up but his na-tionalist alliance would win with a sharply reduced majority if general elections were held now.

To allow for security forces to be deployed in strength to safe-guard the election, voting in the � ve states will take place in phases between April 4 and May 16, chief election commissioner Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi told reporters.

The results will be announced on May 19. l

Brazil’s ex-president Lula detained n Reuters, Sao Paulo/Brasilia

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was detained for questioning on Friday in a fed-eral investigation of a bribery and money laundering scheme that police said had � nanced cam-paigns and expenses of the ruling Workers’ Party.

His detention was the highest pro� le arrest in a sweeping cor-ruption investigation that has ensnared powerful lawmakers and business executives in Latin America’s biggest economy.

The arrest threatened to tar-nish the legacy of Brazil’s most

powerful politician. Police, who arrested Lula at his

home on the outskirts of Sao Pau-lo, said they had evidence that he received illicit bene� ts from kick-backs at state oil � rm Petroleo Brasileiro SA in the form of pay-

ments and luxury real estate. A spokesperson for Lula did

not immediately respond to re-quests for comment on Friday.

Workers’ Party leaders jumped to the former president’s defence, and the Labor Minister Miguel Rossetto said the detention was “a clear attack on what Lula rep-resents.”

In the street outside Lula’s home, television showed his supporters clad in red shirts ex-changed chants, insults and even blows with opponents, under-scoring the deep political pas-sions surrounding the former president. l

El Pais hints may end print edition n Reuters, Madrid

Spain’s best-sell-ing newspaper,

El Pais, may end its print edition and become primarily an online outlet, its editor-in-chief said on Friday.

The daily, which gained a repu-tation as the newspaper of demo-cratic Spain, has reported a steady decline in readership since 2008. The newspaper, founded in 1976, ran into debt troubles when adver-tising revenues plummeted.

El Pais’s circulation has shrinked by 15% last year to around 220,000 copies. However, its online business has been growing, with unique on-line users rising 15.3% last year to a monthly average of 13.5m.

The possibility of one of the world’s most in� uential Hispanic newspapers stopping the presses comes after Britain’s Independent disappeared from newsstands in March, when its owner took the newspaper online only. l

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva REUTERS

WorldSATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

24DT

USAMitt Romney calls Donald Trump fraud, phonyFormer US presidential candi-date Mitt Romney attacked 2016 Republican front-runner Donald Trump by calling him a “a fraud” on Thursday In an unusually harsh speech, party elder Rom-ney warned that Trump would likely lose to possible Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the November 8 election if he becomes the GOP nominee. -REUTERS

THE AMERICASCanadian leaders fail to reach agreement on carbon pricingCanadian regional leaders have end-ed climate talks Thursday without agreement on a central government goal to establish a carbon pricing plan. Leaders of 10 provinces and three territories met in Vancouver Thursday, pushing their own tailored approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to help keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5ºC, the target agreed at the Paris climate summit last year. -AFP

UKFrance, Britain seal €2bn drone dealFrance and Britain agreed on Thursday to a €2bn project to build a drone, as the two allies � rmed up military ties amid con� icts in Syria and Libya. French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron an-nounced plans for what they said was a new multi-use unmanned aircraft that would be ready for technical checks in 2020 and oper-ational a decade later. -REUTERS

EUROPESwitzerland unveils plan to impose unilateral curbs on immigrationSwitzerland unveiled on Friday tough draft legislation to impose unilateral curbs on immigration if it fails to agree with the EU on limiting an in� ux of foreigners. The draft legislation now goes to parlia-ment, where leading members have expressed reservations about the wisdom of unilateral action. The package of bills unveiled on Friday includes measures that make it easier to employ asylum seekers granted permission to stay. -REUTERS

AFRICABus crash kills 30 in ZimbabweAt least 30 people died and 36 were injured when two buses collided on the main road between Zimbabwe’s capital Harare and Bulawayo in the southwest, police said Friday. Of the injured, 32 are said to be in criti-cal condition, said police spokes-women Charity Charamba. -AFP

Most interesting moments of Thursday’s GOP debate

D o n a l d Trump is the u n d i s p u t e d f r o nt - r u n n e r for the R e p u b l i c a n

nomination -- and on a debate stage Thursday his rivals acted like it. The barbs � ew early and often, as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz sought to rattle Trump and cast him as unreliably conservative ahead of Michigan’s � rst-in-the-Midwest primary. Here’s a look at the standout moments--

Trump’s clothing lineTrump and Rubio wasted little time reengaging their nasty personal digs at each other, and at one point Rubio ripped Trump for manufacturing his clothing line overseas -- and criticised Trump for accepting a loan from his father. Trump shot back by saying: “This little guy has lied so much about my record.” After a brawl, Trump said he would start migrating his clothing line operations stateside. But he suggested that trade policies have discouraged clothing manufacturing in the US.

‘Lyin’ Ted’The sniping wasn’t just exclusive to Trump and Rubio. Cruz implied that Trump was “misleading the Ameri-can people” about his immigration views because he refuses to release the tape of an o� -the-record conver-sation with The New York Times in which he discussed negotiating over his hardline position. “If you didn’t tell them that, the tapes will prove you innocent,” Cruz said. Trump responded, “You’re the lying guy up here” and the two spoke over each other repeatedly. “I’ve given my an-swer, lyin’ Ted,” Trump concluded.

Megan Kelly takes on TrumpOne of the � ercest exchanges of the entire night occurred between Trump and Fox News modera-tor Megan Kelly. After addressing Trump University -- the school Trump founded that has been sued by former students as a scam -- Kelly was ready with an on-the-spot fact-check. She noted that “so-called little guys” said they had been “� eeced” by Trump. “The class has been certi� ed and in that case you counter-sued the lead plainti� ,” she said. Trump has defended his com-pany by arguing that its former stu-

dents have largely viewed it favour-ably and a positive rating from the Better Business Bureau. But again, Kelly rebutted him, noting that the BBB had given it a D- rating, and she read from an appeal court decision that compared Trump University students to “Mado� victims.” “Give me a break. Let’s see what happens in court,” he said,

Rubio pans Trump on foreign policyModerators teed up a softball for Rubio: Explain why Trump is unprepared to be command-er-in-chief. And Rubio delivered a harsh assessment of Trump’s foreign policy readiness. “Donald has not shown a seriousness about foreign policy,” he said, adding that he hasn’t shown the intel-lectual curiosity or the interest in learning about these very serious issues.” Trump rebutted with an attack on Rubio: “Believe me, he is not a leader,” “I will prove to be a great leader,” he added. Ru-bio retorted, “He was pressed on a policy issue … his reaction was just to attack somebody else with a name.” l

Source: POLITICO

Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures between rival candidates Marco Rubio, left and Ted Cruz, right at the GOP presidential candidates debate in Detroit on Thursday REUTERS

INSIGHT

Clinton email probe fraught with political consequencesn Tribune Desk

The US Depart-ment of Jus-tice (DOJ) will have to decide whether Hillary Clinton or any

of her subordinates could face le-gal consequences for her use of a private email server, a decision whose timing is fraught with seri-ous political repercussions.

One year ago, News media has reported discovery of Clinton’s private email server, which she ran in the basement of her home in New York, to use exclusively for her work-related emails while she was secretary of state. Clinton has emerged from the Super Tuesday primaries earlier this week as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency.

A vast chunck of the email which have been declassi� ed will be found at http://bit.ly/1nl6Y26.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has indicated he plans to target Clinton over the email in-vestigations. Trump said Thurs-day he looked forward to running against Clinton, “assuming she’s allowed to run, assuming she’s not arrested for the email situa-tion.” He added, “Let’s assume the

Democrats will protect her.”The FBI for months has investi-

gated whether sensitive informa-tion that � owed through Clinton’s email server was mishandled. The State Department has acknowl-edged that some emails included classi� ed information, including at the top-secret level, though Clinton has said she never sent or received anything that was marked classi-� ed at the time. The inspectors gen-eral at the State Department and the US intelligence community are separately investigating the matter.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch last month said the inves-tigation is being conducted with-out regard for politics. She told Fox News this week that there was no “arti� cial deadline” for com-pleting the investigation.

FBI Director James Comey de-clined to discuss the case with Congress during an appearance on Capitol Hill this week, saying only that he was very close personally to the matter “to ensure that we have the resources we need, in-cluding people and technology.”

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Justice De-partment has granted immunity to the sta� er who set up the server, Bryan Pagliano, so that he would be willing to speak with investi-gators. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss an ongoing investigation, con� rmed that that Pagliano had been of-fered immunity “some time ago.” Pagliano had previously asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to refuse to an-swer questions from lawmakers investigating the server setup.

A spokesman for the Clinton campaign, Brian Fallon, said the campaign is pleased Pagliano is cooperating. Fallon said Clinton herself has o� ered to meet with investigators.

On Thursday, Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, chairmen of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Gov-ernmental A� airs committees,

respectively, asked the DOJ for a copy of the immunity agreement.

Also complicating the timing of any decision or public announce-ment is the chance that Clinton or her former top aides could be deposed by private lawyers in coming weeks. A federal judge last week opened the door to such depositions as part of a lawsuit by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group. It’s not clear what impact, if any, those interviews might have on the Justice De-partment investigation, but pre-sumably federal agents would be interested in whatever Clinton or others say under oath.

There’s no question there are obvious political sensitivities. Though it’s extraordinary for a presidential candidate to be im-plicated in a federal investigation, there are instances of it happening to elected o� cials during cam-paigns.

The late Senator Ted Stevens (Republican-Alaska), was indicted on ethics violations months be-fore the 2008 election and found guilty just days before Election Day. He lost the race, and the Justice Department ultimately moved to reverse the conviction amid revelations of withheld evi-dence. l

Hillary Clinton REUTERS

25D

TSportINSIDE

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

‘Bangladesh is playing good cricket’Thilanga Sumathipala, who is the president of both the Asian Cricket Council and Sri Lanka Cricket, praised the recent performances of the Bangladesh team and said the Tigers have come a long way. He voted for Bangladesh’s ODI and Test status. PAGE 26

PCB head blasts ‘painful’ PakistanPakistan Cricket Board Chairman Shaharyar Khan has slammed the team’s performance at the Asia Cup but admitted it was too late to make sweeping changes ahead of the World T20 this month. The 2009 World T20 champions lost to India and Bangladesh. PAGE 27

CR7 dreams of ‘Play Station’ goalCristiano Ronaldo has done little to dismiss suggestions he treasures individual glory over collective success by claiming his dream goal would be to dribble past all 11 opposing players before scoring. The Real Madrid star caused controversy at the weekend. PAGE 28

Thriller as Dortmund face BayernThe Bundesliga can become a surprise cli� anger today when leaders Bayern Munich travel to second-placed Borussia Dortmund, with � ve points separating the two teams. Dortmund will attempt to slash the gap with a win. PAGE 29

WHAT THEY SAID

SRI LANKA R BChandimal c Sharjeel b Wahab 58 49Dilshan not out 75 56Jayasuriya c Sharjeel b Malik 4 6Kapugedera b Irfan 2 3Shanaka b Irfan0 0Siriwardana not out 4 4Extras (lb 6, w 1) 7Total (4 wickets; 20 overs) 150(7.50 runs per over)Fall of wickets 1-110, 2-117, 3-125, 4-125Bowling Amir 4-0-31-0, Irfan 4-0-18-2, Afridi 4-0-24-0, Nawaz (3) 3-0-38-0 Wahab 4-0-30-1, Malik 1-0-3-1 PAKISTAN R BSharjeel c Kapugedera b Dilshan 31 24Hafeez c & b Jayasuriya 14 11Sarfraz lbw b Siriwardana 38 27Akmal c Perera b Kulasekara 48 37Malik not out 13 17Iftikhar not out 0 0Extras (b 4, lb 1, w 2) 7Total (4 wickets; 19.2 overs) 151(7.81 runs per over)Fall of wickets 1-23, 2-58, 3-94, 4-150BowlingKulasekara 4-0-20-1, Perera 2.2-0-25, Jayasuriya 1-0-13-1, Shanaka 1-0-6-0, Cha-meera 4-0-32-0, Herath 4-0-28-0, Dilshan 1-0-2-1, Siriwardana 2-0-20-1

Result: Pakistan won by 6 wicketsMoM: Umar Akmal (Pak)

SCORECARD

Pakistan register consolation victoryn Mazhar Uddin

Pakistan recorded a consola-tion six-wicket win over Sri Lan-ka in their Asia Cup Twenty20 dead-rubber encounter at Mir-pur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Sta-dium yesterday. Chasing a chal-lenging 151 for victory, Pakistan reached their destination with four deliveries to spare.

Umar Akmal top-scored with a 37-ball 48 while Sarfraz Ahmed and opening batsman Sharjeel Khan chipped in with 38 and 31 respectively.

Makeshift Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal deployed eight bowlers but Pakistan were barely troubled as they posted regular partnerships.

Earlier, Sri Lanka set Pakistan a challenging target of 151 following

a brilliant opening wicket part-nership.

Tillakaratne Dilshan remained unbeaten on 75 from 56 balls while fellow opener Dinesh Chandimal made a 49-ball 58 as the Lankans posted 150/4 in their 20 overs.

Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi earlier won the toss and invited the opposition to take � rst guard. The islanders would have been delighted with the decision as they started superbly.

The opening pair hammered the Pakistan bowlers to all parts of the ground, adding 110 runs in-side the 15th over.

However, following Chandi-mal’s departure, Pakistan came back to the game, restricting their opponent to just 40 runs in the remaining 35 deliveries. The Paki-stan bowlers kept things tight and

picked up regular wickets, frus-trating the Lankan batsmen in the process. Shehan Jayasuriya (four), Chamara Kapugedera (two) and Dasun Shanaka (nought) all de-parted in quick succession, much to the relief of Afridi.

Dilshan though continued to play his shots and was undefeated at the end alongside Milinda Siri-wardana, who was not out on four.

Tall left-arm fast bowler Mo-hammad Irfan was the pick of the bowlers with 2/18 from his quota of four overs while Wahab Riaz and Shoaib Malik picked up one each.

Pakistan ended their campaign at third position with four points from as many matches while the Lankans � nished fourth with two points from the same number of games. The United Arab Emirates ended bottom with zero points. l

Pakistan captain AfridiWe’re good cricketers, just that we need to have more self-belief. That’s what helped us in the chase today. We want-ed to keep wickets intact in the � rst six overs and it worked. We’ve backed play-ers, we didn’t want to tamper too many things, but the selectors have done well to give everyone a sincere opportunity. We had to change a few things, we worked hard and it helped.

Sri Lanka captain ChandimalOverall we played some good cricket. We were 10-15 short with the bat, that was the turning point in this game. It was di� cult to grip the ball with this dew. Injuries are the main issues, we haven’t been able to get the best com-bination as a result. Hopefully players will recover in time.

Man of the Match Umar AkmalCredit to the captain, coaching sta� and team management. Waqar showed me a motivational video be-fore the match. That � red me up. We wanted to sign o� with a win, good to see some rhythm to our game before the World T20.

Pakistan batsman Sarfraz Ahmed plays a shot during their Asia Cup T20 tie against Sri Lanka at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

POINTS TABLETeams M W L PtsIndia 4 4 0 8Ban 4 3 1 6Pak 4 2 2 4SL 4 1 3 2UAE 4 0 4 0

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SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

‘Bangladesh is playing good and Mashrafe is a great leader’Do you think Bangladesh can be a benchmark for the Associate nations?Afghanistan, UAE, Nepal, Malaysia; these are the emerging countries. They have potential. If Bangladesh can do it why not the others. We saw the potential of Bangladesh back in 1998-99 and we had a fast-track programme for them. We gave Bangladesh the ODI status and then followed it by the Test status which I was happy to do. I am one of the signatories who voted for Bangladesh when Saber Hossain Chowdhury was the Bangladesh Cricket Board president. We have provided many Sri Lankan coaches from that time to develop and you have continued that. As a result, players started to come from the grass-root level. I think Bangladesh is heading towards the right direction.

Is there a chance of the Asia Cup being expanded in future?As of now we are looking at only eight teams. We have the quali� ers now before the main round. It has become commercially viable.

Do the ACC have any plans to restart the Asian Test championship?I don’t know whether the people would have time to play a Test championship because the calendar is very busy. I don’t think it will be viable to have a Test championship in Asia. But obviously we are going to play the Under-19 Asia Cup every year so that the youth have something to play for.

What is your advice or suggestion to Bangladesh in your capacity as

the president of SLC?You have to increase the viewers, listeners and the following of Bangladesh cricket. You have 160m people but we have 20m people. I think you guys are committed, you are � ghting and you want to win. That’s a good spirit and the team is doing a good job. I think we are proud of your team.

Do you have any plans to work alongside the BCB in future?Bangladesh is our equal partner. We can encourage more domestic cricket.

We can de� nitely look for more in terms of player requirements. Lot of people are playing cricket in Asia but there are only four Full Members so we can expand the opportunities more.

Bangladesh have successfully hosted several international events in the past. However, a few issues have arisen recently with regards to the security situation in the country. What is your observation as the ACC president? Well, I mean security threat is going to

be there. You can’t � nd that in only one country. It’s there all over the world, depending on areas that are political and various stands taken by certain leaders. So we would like to appeal to everyone to refrain from comparing sports with politics and terrorism. Leave us alone. We are certainly enjoying the game of cricket and sports. We had thirty years of war but we never had an issue with terrorists. I think Bangladesh sports should be freely running on its own without being recognised or associated in any other matter.

Who is your favourite Bangladesh cricketer?Shakib [al Hasan] is the best, or, I think, Tamim [Iqbal], but the captain Mashrafe [bin Mortaza] will be very upset (smiles). I think I don’t want to name any particular player. I would say Bangladesh is playing good cricket and he (Mashrafe) is a good leader. But I can’t name one as I enjoy every good hundred or if there is some brilliant bowling performance or outstanding � elding. l

Thilanga Sumathipala, who is the president of both the Asian Cricket Council and Sri Lanka Cricket, praised the recent performances of the Bangladesh cricket team and

said the Tigers have come a long way. A close friend of Bangladesh cricket right from the start, Sumathipala voted

for Bangladesh’s ODI and Test status back in 1998. He believes the Tigers can be a role model for the Associate

nations who are eager to break into the major tournaments.In an exclusive interview with Dhaka Tribune’s

Mazhar Uddin Thursday, the 51-year old talked about Bangladesh’s rise and his upcoming plans, among other

issues. Here are the excerpts:

'If everything goes well I think it’s going to be my day'n Mazhar Uddin

Tamim Iqbal’s return to the Bang-ladesh side in the ongoing Asia Cup Twenty20 will surely add more strength to the top-order as the opening batsman is in prime form.

The Chittagong lad joined his team mates after missing the � rst three matches of the regional com-petition as he was on paternity leave.

And on the eve of the grand � nale against India, the 26-year old cricketer informed that if everything goes according to plan then tomorrow can very well prove to be his day.

“You feel good when you are in form as it helps you mentally. I will try to continue the good run for the national team. However, I was a bit nervous against Pakistan and as a batsman when you have a gap of 10-12 days it is very di� cult to cope up instantly. But the good thing is we got some time ahead of the � nal. We had two-three training sessions which will surely help me personally. And if everything goes well I think it’s going to be my day. I will try to give my best,” Tamim told the media yesterday follow-ing the Tigers’ training session at the academy ground of the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National stadium.

However, he did state that it would be a tough task in the � nal

as India are playing brilliant cricket at the moment.

Tamim though said the Tigers are also in form and thinks any-thing can happen on a given day, especially in the shortest format of the game. In order for that to happen, the stylish southpaw said the hosts would have to play good cricket in all the three depart-ments.

Before going to Bangkok to attend to his wife, Tamim had a brilliant time with the bat in the recently concluded inaugural Pa-kistan Super League T20 where he scored 267 runs in six matches for the Peshawar Zalmi franchise.

And although he was dismissed for seven against Pakistan last

Wednesday, the Tigers still record-ed a memorable � ve-wicket win.

The home side also beat Sri Lan-ka in the ongoing 14th edition, thus paving the way for many fans to label Bangladesh as the new T20 giants.

Tamim however, refused to warm to the tag and said the Tigers still have a lot to learn in order to become a powerhouse in future.

“I do not think Bangladesh should be called a giant at the mo-ment as we still have to go a long way. Yes, we have improved a lot but not so much to be called a giant, especially in the T20s. We are im-proving in this format and if we con-tinue in this way, we can get some-thing good in future,” he said.l

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal bats during a practice session at the Academy ground of the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

You feel good when you are in form as it helps you mentally. I will try to continue the good run for the national team. However, I was a bit nervous against Pakistan and as a

batsman when you have a gap of 10-12 days it is very di� cult to cope up instantly

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Akbar retains solo lead in Amateur GolfMohammad Akbar Hossain carded two-under-par 68 in the third round to maintain his solo lead at the top of the Runner Group 31st Bangladesh Amateur Golf Champi-onship leader-board at Kurmitola Golf Club yesterday. Akbar hit an aggregate of three-under-par 213 by the end of the third round to take a one shot lead over compa-triot Mohammad Ripon, who struck one-over-par 73 yesterday. Indian golfer Jaibir Singh � nds himself at third position with an overall level-par 216. Meanwhile in the women’s event, Lima Akter rose to the top of the standings, smashing two-under-par 70 yesterday.

–TRIBUNE REPORT

Cech out for a month with injuryArsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech will be out for three to four weeks with the calf injury he picked up in Wednesday’s Premier League defeat by Swansea, Arsene Wenger has said. Cech injured himself while running back to his own penalty area after coming up for a corner in the last minute of the 2-1 loss.

–REUTERS

Injured Sharapova out of Indian WellsWorld number seven Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from next week’s BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells after failing to recover from a troublesome forearm injury, it was con� rmed Thursday. The Russian star said in a statement issued by tournament chiefs she had pulled out in an e� ort to return to full � tness.

–AFP

OM into Cup semisMarseille scraped into the semi-� nals of the French Cup on Thursday as a Michy Batshuayi goal secured a 1-0 win against � fth-tier minnows Granville in Normandy. The Belgian striker, Marseille’s leading scorer, struck � ve minutes into the second half, applying a � rst-time � nish to Benjamin Mendy’s low ball into the box from the left.

–AFP

Nigeria recall MosesPremier League-based winger Victor Moses has been recalled by Nigeria for two crucial 2017 Africa Cup of Nations quali� ers against Egypt later this month. Nigeria take on Egypt in qualifying Group G on March 25 in Kaduna before the sides meet again in Alexandria four days later.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES

Japan mid� elder Aya Miyama (R) and China mid� elder Zhang Rui � ght for the ball during their women's Asian quali� er, for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, in Osaka yesterday AFP

Shahriar, Shamsur tons fail to produce resultn Tribune Report

Shahriar Nafees and Shamsur Rah-man starred with the willow in an otherwise uneventful day in the Bangladesh Cricket League longer-version yesterday. South Zone opening batsman Shahriar and Central Zone opener Shamsur both struck unbeaten centuries but their knocks failed to yield a result in nei-ther of the fourth round matches.

Central v East, Cox’s BazarAt the Sheikh Kamal International

Cricket stadium, East resumed the fourth day on 376/7 and added a fur-ther 66 runs before losing the remain-der of their � rst innings wickets.

Replying to Central’s tally of 588, East gave a good account of themselves as four batsmen smashed half-centuries, but they still conceded a 146-run lead.

Central extended their lead to 345 runs after ending the day’s pro-ceedings on 199/4. Shamsur scored the majority of the runs for his side, posting a brisk 148-ball 125, featuring 11 fours and two sixes.

North v South, Cox’s BazarIn pursuit of an improbable 346-run target, South registered 182/2 as the game ended in a draw.

Shahriar though did his own thing, making 101 o� 147 balls with the help of 14 boundaries and a six.

Earlier, North declared their second innings on 390/7 with Nazmul Hossain Shanto top-scoring with 126 from 208 balls. Shanto blasted 15 fours and was ably supported by Jahurul Islam (74), Ariful Haque (71) and captain Naeem Islam (65). l

4TH BCL, RD 4, DAY 4Central Zone 588/8 dec & 199/4

(Shamsur 125*, Marshal 25, Kamrul 1/23) v East Zone 442 (Mominul 89,

Saifuddin 77*, Kapali 73)Match drawn

North Zone 296 & 390/7 dec (Shanto 126, Jahurul 74, Ariful 71) v South Zone 341 & 182/2 (Shahriar 101*, Anamul 43,

Farhad 29)Match drawn

PCB head blasts ‘painful’ Pakistan performancen Reuters

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Shaharyar Khan has slammed the team’s performance at the Asia Cup but admitted it was too late to make sweeping changes ahead of the World Twenty20 this month.

The 2009 World Twenty20 cham-pions lost to arch-rivals India and hosts Bangladesh, and only man-aged to beat United Arab Emirates, raising serious doubts about their potential to challenge for the title in the March 8-April 3 tournament.

Shaharyar said everyone from the coach to those involved in the selection process would be held ac-

countable but added there would not be no knee-jerk reaction.

“It wasn’t just a matter of dis-appointment but it was a painful experience to watch Pakistan play like that,” Shaharyar told reporters

in Lahore.“The performance was very

poor, other then a few individuals’ performances, but I can assure that accountability is inevitable and whoever is responsible has to

answer.“Changes are important in the

electoral process and leadership but we have to sit and think wisely.”

While the pace attack was im-pressive in the tournament, Paki-stan’s batting let them down. They were bundled out for 83 against India and managed 129-7 against Bangladesh which saw them miss out on a place in tomorrow’s � nal.

“We will bring changes in selectorial process, coaching process and leadership process,” Shaharyar said, adding that he had already sought advice from senior Test batsmen Younus Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq. l

UEFA names Theodoridis as interim replacement for Infantinon Reuters, Nyon

European football’s governing body UEFA con� rmed yesterday that Theodore Theodoridis will take over as acting general secretary from Gianni Infantino who was elected as FIFA president.

Theodoridis, a 50-year-old Greek citizen, had been Infantino’s depu-ty since October 2010, having joined UEFA in 2008 and initially working in the national associations divi-sion. He will e� ectively be responsi-ble for running the day-to-day oper-ations of UEFA, a task that includes overseeing this year’s European Championship in France which will feature 24 teams in June-July.

Theodoridis said UEFA would hold a presidential election as soon as Michel Platini’s appeal against his six-year ban had been heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest tribunal in sport.

UEFA has not appointed an act-ing replacement for Platini and Theodoridis denied there was a power vacuum.l

28DT Sport

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against CF Rayo Vallecano during their Spanish league match at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid on Thursday AFP

Enrique relishing ‘beautiful’ treble chasen AFP, Madrid

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique said he is looking forward to the most “beautiful” part of the season as his side close in on another league, Cup and Champions League treble.

Barca are well set for a sixth La Liga title in eight years as they lead Atletico Madrid by eight points and Real Madrid by 12 with just 11 games to go.

The Catalans will also face Se-villa in the Copa del Rey � nal and hold a 2-0 � rst-leg lead over Arse-nal in the last-16 of the Champions League.

“We are approaching the � nal third of the season and the most beautiful part is still to come,” said Luis Enrique.

“We have to wait and see what we can achieve, but whatever we do it will be deserved.”

Despite their remarkable un-beaten run, the European cham-pions haven’t always been at their best in recent weeks.

“You always know the di� cul-ties that a team like Rayo can pres-ent, but we overcame those in the best way with the attitude, inten-sity and ruthlessness we showed,” continued Enrique.

The only negative on the night for the Catalans was another missed penalty as Luis Suarez failed to build on his two-goal lead over Cristiano Ronaldo in the � ght to be La Liga’s top scorer when his spot-kick was brilliantly saved by Juan Carlos in the second-half.

Barca have now missed six of their 13 penalties in the league this season with the star front trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar all miss-ing twice.l

Messi hat-trick steers Barca to unbeaten 35-game recordn AFP, Madrid

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick as Barcelona took another step to-wards the La Liga title and set a new Spanish football record of 35 games unbeaten in the process with a 5-1 win at nine-man Rayo Vallecano on Thursday.

Two goals in as many minutes midway through the � rst-half killed the game as a contest as Ivan Rakitic and Messi netted before

Diego Llorente saw a straight red card for a high challenge on Rakitic.

Messi completed his hat-trick ei-ther side of Manucho’s consolation for Rayo.

Rayo are now just above the drop zone on goal di� erence as Granada struck twice in the � nal 20 minutes to beat Sporting Gijon 2-0. Real Betis also eased their rele-gation fears as they took advantage of an Espanyol side ravaged by gas-troenteritis to win 3-0. l

Ronaldo dreams of perfect ‘Play Station’ goaln AFP, Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo has done little to dismiss suggestions he treasures individual glory over collective success by claiming his dream goal would be to dribble past all 11 op-posing players before scoring.

The Real Madrid star caused controversy at the weekend when he claimed the Spanish giants - who lie third in La Liga - would be top if the rest of his teammates matched his level.

And he described his dream strike as something out of a video game rather than the goal that de-livers a title.

“I have already scored a lot of very good goals,” Ronaldo, who is Madrid’s all-time leading scorer with 348 in 334 appearances, said on Thursday.

“The dream goal would be to dribble past the 11 players and score a goal. It is a PlayStation goal which I think is almost impossible, but we will see.”

Despite scoring 35 times in just 34 games this season, Ronaldo has been criticised for not producing in the big games as Madrid have slipped nine points adrift of La Liga leaders Barcelona, having also played a game more.

“Talent doesn’t mean anything if you don’t work hard and dedicate yourself day in, day out,” added the Portuguese.

“That is what I try to do, not just this year but in the past 10 years.

“I think that my level is almost always the same and my plans for the future are to continue like this at Real Madrid winning things collec-tively and individually to leave the supporters and my fans happy.”l

THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN EPL GAMEWEEK 29Can the Foxes continue their impressive away form?The Foxes have stuttered slightly of late, needing a last-gasp goal to beat Norwich City last weekend, before being held at home by West Bromwich Albion in midweek. However, both those matches were at the King Power stadium, whereas today evening’s encoun-ter with the Hornets is at Vicarage Road, with Leicester having won 10 and lost just two of their last 17 league games on their travels.

Which north London side gets their title challenge back on track?Both clubs su� ered defeats in midweek, although Arsenal’s ca-pitulation at home to Swansea was arguably the more damaging of the two. Arsene Wenger’s side

have created and missed the most big chances in the top � ight this season, and can’t a� ord to squan-der opportunities when they face the league’s tightest defence this weekend.

Will Everton cool Hammers’ top-four talk?Any victory over Tottenham is well received by West Ham fans, but when it delivers a kicking to their rivals’ title hopes, it’s par-ticularly welcomed. But aside from Spurs’ own ambitions, the midweek win opens up the real possibility of a top-four � nish for the Hammers, too.

Does Manuel Pellegrini rotate against Villa? The visit of Aston Villa, bottom

of the table and winless in their last 13 away league games, could o� er Pellegrini the opportunity to rotate ahead of their Champions League second-leg against Dyna-mo Kiev, especially with Wilfried Bony back from injury.

Will Benik Afobe pile more misery on Newcastle?Cherries striker Afobe has four goals in his last seven league games, and his arrival has boosted an attack that lacked cutting edge. The two sides are now separated by eight points, with Newcastle in the relegation zone on goal di� erence.

Does Mark Hughes’ big-game hoodoo end in west London?Stoke boss Hughes is without a win in his last 34 league trips to Chel-

sea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, a run that includes 30 defeats. Two months ago the Potters would have been a fashion-able tip to take the points at Stam-ford Bridge, but that was before Chelsea’s resurgence under Guus Hiddink really picked up steam.

Will Sunderland’s leaky defence hold firm on the south coast?Sunderland travel to Southamp-ton on today afternoon struggling near the foot of the table and in desperate need of a positive result to aid their relegation � ght. How-ever, as Sam Allardyce alluded to after the 2-2 draw at home to Crys-tal Palace in midweek, his side are incapable of keeping clean sheets.

Will Norwich boost their survival

hopes in Swansea?Norwich make the trip to south Wales having not won any of their last eight league games, seven of which ended in defeat. That dreadful recent run has seen Alex Neil’s side slip into the bottom three making today’s match with fellow strugglers Swansea City all the more important. l

Granada 2-0 Sporting GijonEl Arabi 72-P, Success 90

Espanyol 0-3 Real Betis Castro 10, Pezzela 20, Vargas 71

Rayo Vallecano 1-5 BarcelonaManucho 57 Rakitic 22, Messi 24, 54, 72, Turan 85

LA LIGA RESULTS

FIXTURES Chelsea v Stoke Everton v West Ham Manchester City v Aston Villa Newcastle v Bournemouth Southampton v Sunderland Swansea v Norwich Tottenham v Arsenal Watford v Leicester

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DAY’S WATCHFOOTBALL STAR SPORTS 4

6:35 PMBarclays Premier League

Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal 8:50 PM

Manchester City v Aston Villa 11:20 PM

Watford v Leicester City STAR SPORTS 1

9:00 PMBarclays Premier League

Chelsea v Stoke City 11:15 PM

BundesligaDortmund v FC Bayern Munich

TEN SPORTS6:30 PM

Sky Bet ChampionshipBurnley v Blackburn Rovers

9:00 PMShe� eld Wednesday v Rotherham

TEN HD2:30 PM

A-League 2015/16Melbourne City FC v Sydney FC

12:50 AMFrench Ligue 1

Angers v AS Saint-Etienne TEN ACTION

9:50 PMFrench Ligue 1

Paris Saint-Germain v Montpellier SONY SIX11:00 PM

Serie A TIM 2015/16Hellas Verona v Sampdoria

1:40 AMNapoli v Chievo

SONY ESPN9:00 PM

Liga Bbva 2015/16Real Madrid v Celta Vigo

11:15 PMVillarreal v Las Palmas

1:30 AMGetafe v Sevilla

TENNIS NEO SPORTS

12:00 AMDavis Cup: World Group Round 1

France v Canada

KABADDI STAR SPORTS 2

8:20 PMPro Kabaddi League 2016

Third Place 9:30 PM

Final

BASKETBALL SONY SIX7:00 AM

NBA season 2015/16Cleveland v Washington

9:30 AMLA Lakers v Atlanta

Serbia's Novak Djokovic returns the ball to Kazakhstan's Aleksandr Nedovyesov during their Davis Cup World Group � rst round single match at the Aleksandar Nikolic hall in Belgrade yesterday AFP

Djokovic, Murray target Davis Cup QF clashn AFP, Paris

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray can set up a Davis Cup quarter-� -nal blockbuster if they successfully pilot Serbia and defending champi-ons Great Britain through the � rst round this weekend.

However, the world’s top two players will go into their home clashes against Kazakhstan and Japan respectively with question marks over their � tness and match sharpness. World number one Djokovic saw his streak of 17 suc-cessive � nals come to an end in Du-

bai last week when an eye infection forced a quarter-� nal retirement.

Djokovic led Serbia to the 2010 Davis Cup title and is scheduled to play on all three days in Belgrade against the Kazakhs.

“I am � t to play and I am glad to be able to say it because I was a bit skeptical the � rst few days after arriving from Dubai,” said 11-time major winner Djokovic.

“This eye infection occurred to me for the � rst time in my life. The training went very well and hope-fully I will be able to play at my best [yesterday].”

Murray, meanwhile, hasn’t hit a ball in anger since losing to Djokovic in the Australian Open � nal almost � ve weeks ago. The 28-year-old took February o� after his wife Kim gave birth to their � rst child, Sophia.

Murray led Great Britain to their � rst Davis Cup title in 79 years last November. Should Serbia and Brit-ain emerge victorious, they will clash in the UK from July 15-17 for a place in the semi-� nals.

In Melbourne, former world number one and two-time major winner Lleyton Hewitt makes his bow as Australia captain and could

even be drafted into action against the United States after Nick Kyrgios was ruled out through injury.

It’s a match-up between the tournament’s two most successful nations but the US won the last of their 32 titles in 2007. Australia captured their 28th and most re-cent crown in 2003.

Hewitt, 35, replaced Kyrgios in the squad despite having retired as a player after the Australian Open.

But the veteran did not name himself in yesterday’s singles or today’s doubles, instead preferring to use 77th-ranked Sam Groth.l

Thriller in the Ruhr valley as Dortmund face Bayernn Reuters

The Bundesliga can become a surprise cli� anger today when leaders Bayern Munich travel to second-placed Borussia Dortmund, with � ve points separating the two teams.

Dortmund will attempt to slash the gap with a win over their do-mestic rivals, throwing the title race wide open with just nine matches to go.

Bayern’s shock 2-1 loss at home against Mainz 05 on Wednesday, coupled with Dortmund’s victory

over Darmstadt 98, has pumped much-needed life into what was until now a stale a� air.

The Bavarians had gone 11 points clear last Saturday, before

Dortmund won on Sunday, and seemed to be cruising towards a re-cord fourth Bundesliga title.

Their second loss of the season could not have come at a worse time as they chase a treble of ti-tles, with coach Pep Guardiola leaving at the end of the season to join Manchester City and pressure mounting with every match.

“We will do everything to cut the de� cit even further,” said Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel, who rested eight players against Darmstadt, including winger Mar-co Reus. l

FIXTURES Wolfsburg v M'gladbach VfB Stuttgart V Ho� enheim Augsburg V Leverkusen Werder Bremen v Hanover 96 Frankfurt v Ingolstadt Cologne v Schalke Dortmund v Bayern Munich

Japan's Taro Daniel (L), Minoru Ueda (C) and Kei Nishikori talk after the draw of Great Britain v Japan in Davis Cup World Group First Round at Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham yesterday REUTERS

Showtime30DT

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

n Showtime Desk

Reviewed as the xenophobic sequel, London Has Fallen is a story taking place in the backdrop of London. It is an American action thriller film directed by Babak Najafi and written by Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St John and Christian Gudegast.

The story twists with Mike Banning’s discovery of a plot to assassinate all the world leaders attending the British Prime

Minister’s funeral, who has died under mysterious circumstances. His funeral happens to be a must-attend event for leaders of the Western world. The plot takes a deadly turn as what supposedly should have been the most protected event in London turns out to be a deadly field of mass elimination of the world’s most powerful leaders. As soon as the plot is disclosed, the US President Benjamin Asher, played by Aaron Eckhart, his formidable US Secret Service lead agent Mike Banning

played by Gerard Butler, vice president Allan Trumbull, played by Morgan Freeman, and British MI6 agent Jacquelin Marshall, played by Charlotte Riley, takes it upon their shoulders to stop the crime and trust no one.

London Has Fallen is a sequel to Antoine Fuqua’s 2013 film Olympus Has Fallen. The filming began on October 24, 2014 and was released on March 4, 2016 by Focus Features under their recently revived Gramercy Pictures label. l

n Showtime Desk

Hollywood movie star and activist George Clooney believes that Hollywood, despite having its outstanding moments, has been missing diversity in the past few years.

“Yes, it was easier if you were white and male, but probably not easier if you were a woman or a minority or had polio. Hence, there are an awful lot of things that have gotten much better,” he said. “It is something that ebbs and flows. We have periods of time in our history when we’re really good at it.”

“The United States particularly has had great moments of civil rights movements and great moments in cinema as well. And we’ve also had the last couple of years when we’ve really truly failed, not just regarding nominations but about who is making films

and who we’re putting in front of the camera.”

Clooney is currently working on a � lm by the Coen brothers named Hail Caesar, which is about the 1950’s � lm industry. l

Fall of the assassin Clooney bashes Hollywood on diversity

Bollywood legacy

n Showtime Desk

After the generation of Bollywood bigwigs such as Karishma, Kareena and Abhishek Bachchan the Indian � lm industry is ready to launch another generation of superstars. The � ngers are pointing towards Dharmendra’s grand son and Anil Kapoor’s elder son.

Karan DeolSunny Deol’s latest release, Ghayal Once Again has fared pretty well at the box-o� ce. And that’s reason enough for the Deols to celebrate. But there’s something else that their entire family is rather excited about - Karan Deol’s Bollywood debut! Karan is legendary actor

Dharmendra‘s grandson and Sunny paaji’s eldest son. He has even worked as an assistant director in the Deol’s home production, Yamla Pagla Deewana 2. Naturally, many are awaiting this youngster’s on-screen debut.

Reports say, Sunny has already rejected three movies by Yash Raj Films (YRF). In fact, Aditya Chopra was very keen to launch Karan. But it seems as though Sunny refused as he wishes to launch his son. Also, Sunny hasn’t exactly been in great terms with YRF ever since the climax of his movie, Darr was altered without his knowledge.

When asked about Karan’s debut during a recent interview, ‘paaji’ said, “Karan is doing very

well.”

Harshvardhan KapoorSon of actor Anil Kapoor and younger brother of actress Sonam Kapoor, Harshvardhan is all set for his big Bollywood

debut in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Mirzya. Recently, he was mentioned by his father while receiving awards at Filmfare. It was just like promoting and introducing his own son in front of the millions, a source says.

The � rst look of the � lm reveals Harshvardhan Kapoor dressed as a warrior with a cloth covering half his face. His brow looks intense, while his hair is pulled back in a knot on top of his head. Tanvi Azmi’s niece, Saiyami Kher, who will be romancing Harshvardhan in the � lm, is also marking her foray into Bollywood with Mirzya. Elder sister Sonam Kapoor also shared the � rst look of her brother’s debut movie. l

‘Ghostbusters’ boasting girl power

n Showtime Desk

Bridesmaids actresses Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig have joined Saturday Night Live comedians Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones to replace the initial ghoul-eliminating team consisting of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. As a result, Ghostbusters is promoting an all-female cast for the remake.

Ivan Reitman, director of the original � lm series, shall look over the remaking duties, while Paul Feig has been handed over the directing responsibilities.

As revealed in the trailer, Feig explained the all-female aspect of the � lm saying: “I just want the funniest people, and the funniest people I happen to know are these women. It should never be about (their) gender. Ghostbusters is for everybody.”

He added: “When I see pictures of young girls making

Ghostbusters costumes, it chokes me up. I just like the idea that a new generation will have their own story that they will love as much as the original guys.”

Reitman responded: “I’ve often talked about the moment I saw the original quartet walk down Madison Avenue for the � rst time on the � rst day of shooting. There was a tingle in my back and I really got the same feeling when I saw these four women.”

“There was no issue of gender, it was really an ‘Oh my God, there is something unique about these four together’ moment.”

For the fans of the original series, the theme song has been con� rmed to remain intact. “You will hear the song – you can’t do it without it,” added Feig. “We are playing with the original and some new versions.”

The movie is set to be released in the UK on July 15. l

Showtime 31D

TSATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

n Showtime Desk

Season three of Mangolee Channel i Shera Nachiye has come down to its � nal 15 contestants to compete for the title. Synthia, Shobha, Hridi, Antor, Apurbo, Miti, Sumaiya, Shumi, Ria, Prapti, Dola, Lotus, Iccha, Athoi and Alif are the semi-� nalists of the dance reality show.

Apart from being guided by some of the best choreographers of the country, the semi-� nalists will have the privilege to perform under the mentorship of eminent choreographers from the United States, Russia and India. Famous faces such as those of Riaz, Purnima and Aupee Karim and

model Mehjabin Chowdhury will be seen at the semi-� nal.

The grand � nale of season three is scheduled to be held on May 3 with seven � nalists. The title holder will receive various gifts along with a car sponsored by ACI. The winner will also get an opportunity to model for various products and star in � lms, dramas and tele� lms produced under the banner of Impress Tele� lm Limited.

“Mangolee Channel i Shera Nachiye” commenced three months ago with around 45,000 contestants from seven divisions in Bangladesh. The qualifying contestants for the semi-� nal made their way through

eliminations and the camp round. They also attended a three-day workshop with 245 contestants where they were trained by renowned dance “gurus,” namely Sharmila Banerjee, Anisul Islam Hiru, Sultana Haider and others.

Ibne Hasan Khan is the project director who is in charge of “Mangolee Channel i Shera Nachiye.” Celebrated dancer Munmun Ahmed, � lm actor Ferdous Ahmed and drama actor and director Meher Afroz Shaon are the main judges of the competition. Hosted by Mim Chowdhury, the show airs every Friday and Tuesday at 7:50pm only on Channel i. l

WHAT TO WATCH300: Rise of an Empire HBO 9:30pmGreek general Themistokles leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy. Xerxes beheads King Leonidas, symbolising his victory over the Spartans. Queen Gorgo of Sparta tells her men about the Battle of Marathon, in which King Darius I of Persia was killed by General Themistocles of Athens 10 years ago. The Democratic city of Athens bases its strength on its � eet, led by admiral Themistocles. Themistocles is forced to an unwilling alliance with the traditional rival of Athens, oligarchic Sparta. Cast: Eva Green, Hans Matheson, Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro, Sullivan Stapleton

Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi Kabhi Peeda Kabhi KeedaSeason 7 Colors 9:30pmKhatron Ke Khiladi’ is an action-packed reality game show based on the American game show Fear Factor. And joining this adventure reality show as the host, Arjun Kapoor, who is known for his

spirited action-hero persona, will take the screen in season 7. With some never-seen-before stunts, Arjun will bring in his quintessential sense of humour and happy-go-lucky attitude to this series. It will be shot over a month-long-schedule in Buenos Aires, Argentina, starting this November.Host: Arjun Kapoor

Natural Born HuntersAnimal Planet 9:00pmJoin Steve Backshall and Barney Harwood as they commentate on a bat, golden eagle and hammerhead shark and go head to head in a race of hunger. Observe these amazing animals as they each use their individual superpowers to catch their prey. Narrator: Steve Backshall, Barney Harwood

Masterchef Canada TLC 8:30pm MasterChef Canada is a Canadian competitive cooking game show, which is also part of the MasterChef franchise. It premiered on CTV on January 20, 2014. Three judges have been announced for the show: Claudio Aprile, Michael Bonacini and Alvin Leung. The show is produced by Shine and

Proper Television. The third season began airing on February 14, 2016.Genre: Cookery

ElementaryAXN 6:30pmElementary is a modern-day drama that revolves around a duo that cracks the NYPD’s most impossible cases. Following his fall from grace in London and a stint in rehab, eccentric Sherlock escapes to Manhattan where his wealthy father forces him to live with his worst nightmare - a sober companion, Dr Watson. A successful surgeon until she lost a patient and hence her license three years ago, Watson, views her current job as another opportunity to help people, as well as paying a penance. Cast: Lucy Liu, Jonny Lee Miller, Aidan Quinn, Jon Michael Hill, Natalie Dormer

‘Shera Nachiye’ gearing up for the � nal round

C hloe Moretz isn’t just a fann Showtime Desk

Rumour mills are generating news about Chloe Grace Moretz dating Barcelona football star Neymar after the duo was seen drawing close to each other in a surprise Snapchat video this week.

The 19-year-old actress and model, who was previously linked with David Beckham’s son Brooklyn, has been spotted in the social media clip with Neymar this time around. The short clip on Snapchat shows the two throwing peace signs and laughing together.

Both the stars’ fans have witnessed them get close for the � rst time, which was initiated by a stream of tweets

shared by Moretz to the footballer.

The duo was also spotted spending some time in Paris after the sportsman got an afternoon-o� from his boss Luis Enrique.

Chloe has made no attempt whatsoever to hide her crush, and shared several ardent tweets during World Cup 2014. At the time, she tweeted: “Naymar’s a cutie.” She later added: “NO NOT MY NEYMAR,” before writing: “This game. Wow. Missing Neymar.”

The duo have since sparked more speculation, specially after Chloe bonded with the star over her latest � lm, The 5th Wave, and further posting: “Hope you enjoyed it.” l

Back Page32DT

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

SHERA NACHIYE GEARING UP FOR FINAL ROUND PAGE 31

PCB HEAD BLASTS ‘PAINFUL’ PAKISTAN PERFORMANCE PAGE 27

YOU DESERVE BETTER PAGE 13

Dying to be prettyn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The next time you use a tube of fairness cream or apply hair gel to look a bit more sleek, think again; the cosmetic product you use each day may not be as harmless as it looks.

A study that analyses beauty products commonly sold in shops of Bangladesh, surprisingly � nds that each and every one of those products contained at least one toxic metal.

To carry out the study in 2015, the Environment and Social Devel-opment Organisation (ESDO) went to shops in di� erent areas of the capital, including the Dhaka New Market, Chawk Bazar and Rapa Pla-za, and purchased 33 popular and commonly used beauty products.

The products included face wash, herbal face pack, skin-whit-ening cream, hair gel for men, and baby lotion.

In its report titled “Toxic Chem-icals in Beauty Products – A Poten-tial Threat to Human Health & En-vironment,” the ESDO says almost all of the tested beauty products contain very high concentrations of at least three toxic chemicals.

Long time exposure of these metals can be carcinogenic that might lead to cancer, the report cautions.

Herbal face packs have been found to be containing the most number of toxic metals – with the highest number in a single sample product being an alarming 10 metal elements.

The ESDO tests revealed that ar-senic was present in all samples of beauty products, with its average concentration of 4.79ppm (parts per million) being more than twice the maximum acceptable concen-tration of 2ppm.

Titanium dioxide, classi� ed as a possible carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Re-search on Cancer, has been found in 80% of beauty products and 100% of skin-whitening creams.

The highest concentration of titanium – 10,139ppm – has been found in one of the fairness creams that was tested.

All the sample face washes have traces of nickel and zinc in them, while 86% of the samples con-tained high levels of calcium.

The use of more than 2.5 grams

of calcium per day without a medi-cal necessity can lead to the devel-opment of kidney stones and sce-loris of kidneys and blood vessels, the report says.

According to the study, zinc – higher concentrations of which can be toxic – has been detected in all baby lotion samples.

One of the most popular baby lotions in the domestic market contained 241ppm of titanium, ex-posure to which may be harmful to the brain, the report reads.

However, the tests � nd no pres-ence of bromine, chromium, cad-mium, mercury or lead in the beau-ty products.

The report also quotes � ndings from an earlier ESDO study to ob-serve that titanium dioxide has replaced mercury as a brightening agent in fairness creams.

Among the 33 products tested, 14 are manufactured in Bangla-desh, 10 in India, four in Thailand, and one each in Canada, France, Indonesia, Pakistan and the UAE.

Heavy metal hazardsHeavy metal toxicity can result in damaged or reduced mental and central nervous function, lower energy levels and damage to blood composition, lungs, kidneys, liver and other vital organs.

Long-term exposure may result in slowly progressing physical, muscular and neurological de-generative processes that mimic Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis.

Allergies are not uncommon and repeated long-term contact with some metals or their com-pounds may even cause cancer for some heavy metals.

Observations on cosmetic marketAccording to the report, the local cosmetics and toiletries industry currently dominates the domestic market. At the moment, local man-

ufacturers hold around 60% mar-ket share compared to only 40% in the late 1990s.

The robust growth of the sector over the last 15 years has resulted in an annual turnover of approxi-mately Tk15,000 crore.

High-end cosmetics, however, continue to be imported. Accord-ing to the Bangladesh Cosmetics and Toiletries Importers Associ-ation, imported products worth Tk6,000 crore are sold each year in the country.

In its report, the ESDO urgesthe government to enact a regulation and limit the maximum heavy metal content in both imported and local beauty products to 100ppm.

The ESDO also calls for the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) to enact a specif-ic standard for baby products and herbal products.

Regulations should also be in-troduced to stop the export and im-port of cosmetics that possess high concentrations of heavy metal, the report adds.

The report will be launchedtoday. l

Check the ingredient label of your cosmetic product for:Titanium dioxide: A possible carcinogenic that might also lead to degenerative brain diseasesArsenic: The slow-death mineral may cause cancers of the bladder and lungsCalcium: Excessive use may lead to kidney stones and sceloris of kidneys and blood vesselsNickel: Too much nickel might cause cancers, respiratory failure, birth defects, asthma, and heart disorders

100 %At least onetoxic metal

85 %More than three toxic metals

33Products analysed

10Maximum toxic metals in one sample

PHOTO: BIGSTOCK

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