Non-stop hartal after Feb 14 if demands not metBNP-led alliance to hold demos across the country on that dayn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP-led 20-party alliance yester-day issued a fresh ultimatum, asking the government to either accept the mid-term polls demand by February 14 or face a countrywide nonstop strike in addition to the ongoing blockade.

In a statement, BNP Joint Secretary Salahuddin Ahmed said the 20-party combine would hold peaceful demon-strations in all upazilas, municipalities, district headquarters and cities across the country on February 14.

The alliance’s demands include an elec-tion under a non-partisan interim gov-ernment, end to extra-judicial killings and repression of its leaders and activ-ists, and release of those behind bars.

“If the government does not accept these demands, tougher programmes will be put in place from February 15 alongside the ongoing blockade,” Sa-lahuddin said in the statement, which was emailed to the media yesterday.

The threat comes at a time when as the situation in the country appears to

be returning to normality despite the blockade and hartals.

The BNP-led alliance enforced the nationwide transport blockade on Jan-uary 6. Around 70 lives have so far been claimed by the violence that has since been following. Most of those people killed belong to the low income groups.

Salahuddin Ahmed has been in hid-ing for around a month. He took over the charge of the party’s spokesperson after another Joint Secretary Gener-al Ruhul Kabir Rizvi got arrested last month.

Salahuddin, on behalf of party chief Khaleda Zia, urged law enforcers not to turn the country into a “dreadful place” just for the government to stay in pow-er longer and claimed that their action programmes have been “peaceful.”

However, senior ministers and rul-ing Awami League leaders, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, have been repeatedly saying that no dia-logue could take place with “criminals who are killing innocent people.”

Western diplomats, the United Na-tions and rights bodies have expressed concerns over the violence and loss of

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

GEORGE WHASINA

11 | OP-ED

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Falgun 1, 1421Rabius Sani 23, 1436Regd No DA 6238Vol 2, No 309

20 pages plus 24-page weekend supplement | Price: Tk12

WELCOME TO THE LAND OF STORIES

WEEKEND

‘IF WE CAN’T SETTLE DOWN MENTALLY, WE WILL SUFFER BADLY’

12 | SPORT

A PRESCRIPTION FOR GROWTH

7 | LONG FORM

ARSON IN CAPITALP16

B1 | BusinessGlobal competitors are not the threat for Bangladesh’s garment sector, but the coun-try’s persistent political unrest appears as a real hurdle to having expected growth.

4 | NewsThe ACC approved charge sheet in a case against 14 people, including MD of Bismillah Towel Limited Khaja Solaiman Anwar Chow-dhury, � led for swindling about Tk58 crore out of � ve commercial banks.

5 | NewsAbout 75% RU students are yet to come back to campus although authorities have decided to hold classes and examinations amid the hartals and blockades.

6 | NationConstant incurrence of losses are pushing the cinema theatre business in Narshing-di towards extinction, with two-thirds of the cinemas in the district already out of business.

8 | WorldFormer director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani has said that Pakistan had ‘most likely’ revealed the position of former al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden to the US, a report published on the al-Jazeera website said.

15 | Entertainment

A new tele� lm titled ‘Monkey Buzi-ness’ will be premiered today on NTV at 11:30pm. The cast includes a string of fresh new faces as well as renowned senior artists such as Tariq Anam Khan, Shahiduzzaman Selim, Iresh Zaker, Sabila, Tamim, Sabnam Faria and Sifat Tahsin.

I N S I D E

A giant puppet of a batsman, controlled by stage hands, waves a bat during the opening ceremony of the ICC Cricket World Cup at Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne yesterday AFP

Cricket World Cup o� cially under wayn Cricket Australia

The 2015 ICC Crick-et World Cup opened on a whimsical note on a golden evening in Christchurch yesterday.

An estimated crowd of 10,000 gathered at North Hagley Oval in the heart of the city to soak up

an irreverent mix of music, dance and cricket two days out from the action getting under way.

A similar crowd gathered at Mel-bourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl for the tran-Tasman ceremony.

Cricket Australia Chairman Wally Edwards unveiled the cup, declaring “may the best team win.”

“Australia and New Zealand are keen

on-� eld cricket rivals, but there has been a strong trans-Tasman spirit in their joint venture helping to organise this Cricket World Cup over the last 10 years,” he said.

The � rst game of the tournament is between New Zealand and Sri Lan-ka at Hagley Oval, nearby to the Christchurch party, closely followed by the Australia and England clash in front

of an expected 90,000 at the MCG.Matches will be played in 14 host

cities across the two countries over the next six weeks.

The free ceremonies yesterday con-cluded with stage entertainment featur-ing some of New Zealand and Australia’s best-known music acts – including Daryl Braithwaite – celebrities and � reworks.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Moody’s predicts Bangladesh economy to weaken for � rst time in � ve years n Kayes Sohel

The prolonged political unrest is weigh-ing on the export growth and hindering the country’s investment environment, says a global credit rating agency.

“Export growth, which had been immune to political turmoil in the past, has begun to weaken,” said Moody’s in its latest forecast released yesterday.

This for the � rst time in � ve years the agency forecast about the sorry state of the country’s economy.

Over the last � ve years, it had given Bangladesh a stable sovereign outlook of Ba3 for the � fth consecutive year.

The continuation of the rating by the agency had showed optimism about the country’s macroeconomic stability and growth prospects.

Between July 2014 and January this year, the � rst seven months of the � scal year ending on June 30, 2015, exports grew by just 2.1% year on year, accord-ing to data from the Export Promotion

Bureau, compared with 15.1% a year earlier, with manufacturing commodi-ties, including specialised textiles, con-tracting.

“This is due in part to a process of consolidation within the textile, knit-wear and garment industry, which comprises 84% of Bangladesh’s total exports,” the rating agency said.

It said labor and safety standards in the industry have been under scrutiny by global textile purchasers since 2012, and e� orts to comply with more strin-gent standards have likely contributed to a decline in orders.

“Protracted political tensions also risk distracting the government from its

economic reform programme,” it said. The Moody’s said last Saturday,

opposition activists in Bangladesh vi-olently attacked a bus and truck, trag-ically killing several people and ratch-eting up already mounting political tension, it said.

“This intensifying political unrest, which is manifesting itself in increas-ingly frequent strikes, violent out-breaks and a nationwide transport blockade, is credit negative for Bangla-desh because it is weighing on the sov-ereign export performance, investment activity and headline growth.”

Moreover, these political tensions risk undermining the reform progress made under an ongoing program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Since April 2012, Bangladesh has worked closely with the IMF under a $900m extended credit facility, it said adding that although it has cleared four program reviews so far and secured

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Obama asks Congress to authorise IS warn Reuters

US President Barack Obama sent Con-gress his long-awaited formal request to authorise military force against Is-lamic State yesterday, meeting swift resistance from Republicans as well as his fellow Democrats wary of another war in the Middle East.

Republicans, who control Con-gress and say Obama’s foreign policy is too passive, want stronger measures against the militants than outlined in the plan, which bars any large-scale

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Export growth, which had been immune to political turmoil in the past, has begun to weaken

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, February 13, 2015

Members of the Bangladesh Awami Trinamool League pose as victims of the ongoing arson and petrol bomb attacks in an exhibition arranged in front of the National Press Club yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Non-stop hartal after Feb 14 if demands PAGE 1 COLUMN 2lives and asked all parties to refrain from destructive activities.

On Wednesday, following a one-hour meeting with Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan o� ce where she had been holed up for more than a month, British High Commissioner Robert Gibson called upon all parties to ful-

ly consider the e� ects of their actions and refrain from damaging to nation’s interests.

Because of the political pro-grammes, the schedule of several pa-pers of the ongoing SSC examinations, one of the biggest public examinations in the country, had to be shifted.

Meanwhile, a citizens’ platform

named “Nagorik Samaj” sent sepa-rate letters to President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Seikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, urging them to hold talks to resolve the crisis.

The ruling Awami League ruled out the proposal, saying the masterminds of 1/11 have been hatching a conspiracy once again. l

Moody’s predicts PAGE 1 COLUMN 3$644m in � nancial assistance by im-plementing several important reforms, the successful completion of the pro-gram involves the passage of further structural measures, including the in-troduction of a new value-added tax and steps to improve the state-owned banking system.

“Such measures become more chal-lenging to achieve in a factious political environment,” said Moody’s.

It, however, said despite rising po-litical tensions casting a shadow on Bangladesh’s economy, the country’s external payments position has not yet been signi� cantly a� ected.

Foreign-exchange reserves as of ear-ly February had risen to $22.2bn from $18.1bn a year ago. External debt is rel-atively low at 20.7% of GDP, and is pri-marily concessional, which also limits vulnerability to volatility in external capital � ows.

According to Moody’s, renewed po-litical tensions in Bangladesh began when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ruling Awami League party con� ned Khaleda Zia, the leader of the main

opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Par-ty (BNP), to her party o� ce in Dhaka, Bangladesh, just before the one-year anniversary of parliamentary elections held in January 2014.

The BNP responded by imposing a nationwide transport blockade, which has been in place since 5 January, and simultaneously calling for general strikes.

Relations between the Awami League and the BNP have been highly polarized, rooted in a deep personal rivalry.

Political tensions have historically � ared up in the run-up to elections, marked by frequent street protests that receded thereafter and thus had a lim-ited e� ect on economic activity.

This time, however, protests have been marred by violent outbreaks, and have persisted for a prolonged time. The last election, held in 2014, was the � rst since the Awami League in 2011 abolished the system of appointing a caretaker government.

The BNP refused to participate on procedural grounds, which resulted in an uncontested victory for the Awami League. l

Cricket World Cup PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Before that, there was a family-friendly feel to the event in Christchurch which appeared to unfold with no problems catering for the large crowd.

Christchurch student Sam Toomey, 12, enjoyed playing in one of the games of “backyard cricket” in front of a Sri Lankan dancing troop.

He was looking forward to the tour-nament and appreciated organisers designating Christchurch as host of both the opening ceremony and the � rst game.

It is one of the city’s � rst major events since the devastating earthquake that struck three years ago and resulted in Christchurch losing its hosting rights for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

“I remember the day they an-nounced we weren’t getting the rug-by, it seemed like the worst thing that could happen,” Toomey told NZ News-wire.

“Getting some cricket here meant a lot to me and my friends.”

The Melbourne ceremony kicked o� with a dance and music element from the competing nations. l

Obama asks Congress to authorise IS war PAGE 1 COLUMN 1invasion by US ground troops and cov-ers the next three years.

Obama acknowledged that the mil-itary campaign is di� cult and will re-main so. “But our coalition is on the o� ensive. ISIL is on the defensive, and ISIL is going to lose,” he said in a tele-vised statement from the White House.

With many of Obama’s fellow Dem-ocrats insisting the plan is too broad because it includes no blanket ban on ground troops, it could be di� cult for the authorisation to pass, even though six months have passed since the cam-paign began.

Obama consulted with Republicans and Democrats in writing the resolu-tion, and said he would continue to do so. He said the time frame was intend-ed to let Congress revisit the issue when the next president takes o� ce in 2017.

The proposal says Islamic State “has committed despicable acts of violence and mass execution.” Its militants have killed thousands of civilians while seiz-ing territory in Iraq and Syria in an at-tempt to establish a hub of jihadism in the heart of the Arab world.

They have also generated interna-tional outrage by beheading western aid workers and journalists and burn-ing to death a Jordanian pilot.

Obama sent his request to Congress a day after his administration con-� rmed the death of Kayla Mueller, a 26-year-old aid worker who was the last known American hostage held by the group.

Both the Senate and House of Repre-sentatives must approve Obama’s plan.

Lawmakers said they would begin hearings quickly as Republicans made clear they thought the plan fell short.

The Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boeh-ner, told reporters he was sure the plan would change as it moved though Con-gress. “I’m not sure the strategy that has been outlined will accomplish the mission the president says he wants to accomplish,” he added.

Obama has defended his authority to lead an international coalition against Islamic State since August 8 when US � ghter jets began attacks in Iraq. The formal request eased criticism of Obama’s failure to seek the backing of Congress, where some accused him of breaching his constitutional authority.

Seeking a united frontWith Republicans in control of Con-

gress after routing Obama’s Democrats in November elections, the president also wants lawmakers to share respon-sibility for the campaign against Islam-ic State and present a united front.

The plan does not authorise “long-term, large-scale ground combat op-erations” such as those in Iraq and Af-ghanistan.

Obama said those operations would be left to local forces, but lawmakers worried they would not step up. “What is the role, really, that regional partners are playing in this battle against ISIL?” asked Democratic Senator Tim Kaine.

The draft allows for certain ground combat operations including hostage rescues and the use of special forces. It permits the use of US forces for intel-ligence collection, targeting operations

for drone strikes and planning and giv-ing other assistance to local forces.

Many Democrats, especially liberals in the House, said Obama’s proposal was too broad. They want any authori-sation to place stricter limits on the use of ground troops and expressed con-cerns Obama set no geographic limits on the campaign.

“The language ... is very broad, very ambiguous,” said Democratic Repre-sentative Adam Schi� . “None of us really know what ‘enduring o� ensive combat operations’ means.”

It was the � rst formal request for au-thority to conduct a military operation of Obama’s six years in o� ce. If passed, it would be Congress’ � rst war author-isation since then-President George W Bush’s 2002 authority to wage the Iraq War.

Obama’s objection as a US senator to that authority helped fuel his suc-cessful 2008 campaign for the White House.

Obama’s text includes a repeal of the 2002 Authorisation for the Use of Military Force. But it leaves in place an open-ended authorisation, passed days after the 9/11 attacks, for a campaign against al Qaeda and a� liates.

Rights groups and many lawmakers said they want the new AUMF to set an end date for the 2001 authorisation, which the White House has invoked to carry out drone and missile strikes against suspected al Qaeda militants in Yemen and Somalia.

Obama said he remained committed to working with Congress to “re� ne, and ultimately repeal” it. l

B Chowdhury: Dialogue the only way n UNB

Observing that dialogue is the only way to resolve the current political crisis, President of Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh (BDB) AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury yesterday said it is the government’s duty to take an initiative in this regard.

“We want to get rid of the present situation. There’s only one way to come out of it and that’s dialogue. It’s the government’s duty to hold dialogue. If the opposition doesn’t respond, they’ll be held responsible, too,” he said.

Badruddoza Chowdhury, also a for-mer President, said this while address-ing a discussion organised by Sommili-to Peshajibi Parishad at Supreme Court Ainjibi Samity Auditorium in the city.

He also noted that it is wrong when the leaders of the ruling party say that there will be no dialogue with ‘killers’.

“You (PM Sheikh Hasina) held talks with the leader who led the BDR carnage that killed 57 army o� cers. Why not now? It’s your wrong decision,” he said.

“There’s no reason to think that the PM is not aware about the national cri-sis. If she wishes, she can solve the prob-lems in three months. But the question is whether she really wants a solution, observed Badruddoza Chowdhury.

Mentioning that the people of the country are conscious about their rights, he said that people should real-ise their right to vote.

About petrol bomb attacks, he said, “I’m against petrol bomb attacks. But we have to identify the attackers. We want to know who are hurling the bombs.” l

Quamrul: Civil Society instigates Khaleda to burn people n UNB

Describing it as a “cancer of society,” Food Minister Quamrul Islam yester-day said civil society members are now instigating BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to burn people.

“Civil Society members inspire Khaleda Zia to kill people. I feel ashamed of speaking about them. Fie! Are they conscience of the nation? They’re a cancer of society. They insti-gate Khaleda Zia in burning people,” he said while addressing a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the city.

Bangladesh Swadhinata Parishad, a pro-Awami League platform, arranged the human chain protesting hartal and blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

The food minister said the Dr Kamal Hossain and Mahmud Rahman Manna conspirators and masterminds of the 1/11 political changeover.

“We’ve noticed that the master-minds of the 1/11 political changeover have launched a banner of civil socie-ty…there’s no ground under their feet. There is no democracy in their own parties, but they’re advocating for dia-

logue. They always wait for such a sit-uation.”

The � re triggered by Khaleda Zia will burn Khaleda herself and her party BNP to death, the minister warned.

“The day is not far away when the BNP leaders having good sense will be-siege Khaleda Zia. The party leaders will exert pressure on her from inside (to come out from violence),” Quamrul said.

Branding BNP-Jamaat as “beast”, the food minister said there could be no dialogue between humans and beast.

“They’ve turned into beast. No di-alogue can be held with them. Stern

actions are needed to uproot the beast. What the law enforcement agencies are doing is appropriate,” he added.

The ongoing violence and arson at-tacks will be over within a few days, the minister said asking people to have pa-tience for a few days. “Everything will be � ne... everything has its end.”

AL leaders Shahe Alam Murad, MA Karim, Zakir Ahmed, Hedayetul Islam and Hasibur Rahman Manik, and Pres-ident of the Parishad Zinnat Ali Khan Zinnah and its general secretary Fazlul Haque, among others, spoke at the pro-gramme. l

Food for Khaleda’s sta� stopped n Tribune Report

The police yesterday reportedly twice barred a van, carrying food for the BNP chief’s sta� and party leaders who had been accompanying Khaleda Zia since January 3, from entering the BNP chair-person’s Gulshan o� ce.

However, law enforcers did not stop Khaleda’s relatives, who brought food for the three-time prime minister, from sending the nourishments inside.

Shamsuddin Didar, an o� cial of Khaleda’s press wing, said when the food-carrying van arrived in front of the Gulshan o� ce, the police did not allow it to enter the o� ce; similarly the lunch was also turned away from the gate.

“Food is being barred from enter-ing the o� ce since Wednesday night. I could not understand why the police did not allow food inside. Is there any law which prohibits food from being sent to anyone’s o� ce?” Didar said.

A member of Chairperson’s Security Force said considering the existing situation, food had been cooked for some people on Wednesday night and

yesterday noon. The party’s Vice-Chairman Seli-

ma Rahman, Khaleda’s Adviser Ab-dul Kayum, Khaleda’s Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan, the BNP chief’s Special Assistant Shamshur Rahman Shimul Biswas and some 40 sta� s of Khaleda have been accompyaning the BNP chief since January 3.

The party’s Joint Secretary Gener-al Salahuddin Ahmed issued a press release yesterday, alleging that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was hatching a conspiracy to kill Khaleda by discon-necting power, telephone, fax and in-ternet to the BNP chief’s o� ce.

Meanwhile, police detained fam-ily members of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader Nuruzzaman Jony who was killed in ‘cross� re’ in Khilgaon area as they came to meet Khaleda at her o� ce last night, reports UNB.

Jony’s father Yakub Ali, mother Mar-iam Begum, wife Munira Parven, moth-er-in-law Sumi Haq and his younger sister Fatematuz Zohra Tuli along with JCD joint general secretary Selina Sul-tana Nishita had been in front of the of-� ce around 7:30pm to meet her. l

War crimes suspects Mohibur, Mujibur land in jail n UNB

The International Crime Tribunal 2 yes-terday sent detained war crimes-sus-pects Mohibur Rahman Bara Mia and his younger brother Mujibur Rahman Angur Mia to jail.

Passing the order, the tribunal asked the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the SP of Habiganj district to explain as to how the duo-detainees were not pro-duced before it within 24 hours of their arrest, defying the prescribed rules.

Besides, the three-member tribu-nal, headed by Justice Obaidul Has-san, asked the prosecution to submit on February 28 a follow-up report on investigation into the war crimes al-legations against the siblings of Ban-iachong, Habiganj.

Habiganj Detective Branch of Police in compliance with the tribunal order following a prosecution plea arrested the duo from Nabiganj Imambari area on February 10.

According to the prosecution, Mo-hibur, now 70, also former chairman of Khagaura Union Parishad, and Mu-jibur, now 65, incumbent chairman of Khagaura UP, had established Razakar, an auxiliary force of the Pakistan occu-pation army, in Nabiganj thana.

During the Liberation War, the two brothers had perpetrated the crimes against humanity like killing, ransack-ing and torching the houses and shops in collaboration with the Pakistan army, said the prosecution, referring to the ongoing investigation.

Prosecutor Sultan Mahmud Simon appeared for the prosecution. l

Five students of Jahangirnagar University expelled for assaulting assistant proctorn JU Correspondent

The Jahangirnagar University (JU) au-thorities have temporarily expelled � ve students of marketing for their involve-ment in assaulting the assistant proctor of the university.

The � ve - Faisal Rabbi Riyad, Anik Shovon Bala, Aminur Rahman Toki, Md Sumon and Arif Ahmed Ma� - were in their third year of study.

The decision to expel them was tak-en at an emergency meeting of the uni-versity syndicate held at the residence of the vice-chancellor yesterday night.

A � ve-member committee led by Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Abul Hossain was formed to investigate the assault on Sikder Md Zulkernine, also an assistant professor of archaeology, on Wednesday when he went to the De-

partment of Marketing for questioning Faisal over a recent crude bomb blast in front of the vice-chancellor’s resi-dence.

Faisal and Anik were later handed over to Ashulia police.

Md Hanif Ali, a syndicate member and a professor of computer science and engineering, told the Dhaka Trib-une the � ve students were expelled in light of the disciplinary board’s recom-mendation.

Unidenti� ed miscreants set o� a crude bomb in front of the residence of the vice-chancellor, Professor Dr Farza-na Islam, on January 19.

Chhatra Dal leader of the university Wasim Ahmed Anik was detained after the explosion.

But the proctorial body suspected Faisal’s involvement in the blast which

is why Zulkernine and some other teachers went to the department on Wednesday to grill him.

The students who were expelled tried to resist the teachers while Anik as-saulted Zulkernine, source said.

Meanwhile, the university unit of Chhatra League demonstrated on the campus yesterday protesting the coun-

trywide general strike and blockade imposed by the BNP-led 20-party alli-ance.

Over a hundred Chhatra League ac-tivists marched at the transport area of the university at midday and chant-ed slogans against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

They said the BNP chief had killed innocent people and destroyed the country’s wealth.

The march, joined by JU Chhatra League President Mahmudur Rahman Jony, General Secretary Rajib Ahmed Rasel, Vice-president Rasel Miah Swa-dhin, O� ce Secretary Shahidul Islam Saif, Joint Secretary Mithun Kundu and Organising Secretary Murshedur Rahman among others, ended at Amar Ekushey sculpture in front of Social Science Faculty building. l

A � ve-member committee led by Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Abul Hossain was formed to investigate the assault

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, February 13, 2015

HC verdict on5% quota for FF wards in MBBS admission upheldn UNB

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the High Court judgement that had declared 5% mandatory quota for the o� spring of freedom � ghters in MBBS admission every year to medical col-leges as prescribed by the Liberation War A� airs Ministry.

A four-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha, passed the order, dismissing the application for a leave-to-appeal � led by the government against the HC’s March 6 last year judgement.

The order says the existing stay on the operation of the HC judgment stands vacated.

Liberation War hero Delwar Hossain, a deprived father, � led the petition as the medical colleges did not duly com-ply with the circular of the ministry.

Sikder Moqbul Huq appeared for the petitioner. l

10 new additional judges sworn-inn Tribune Report

Ten newly appointed additional judg-es of the High Court were sworn-inyesterday.

Chief Justice SK Sinha administered the oath at the Supreme Court Audito-rium at 10:30am.

The judges are Advocate Khijir Ahmed, Advocate Jyotirmoy Narayan Deb Chowdhury and Advocate Iqbal Kabir Liton, SC Deputy Attorney Gen-eral Bhishmadeb Chakrabarti, Deputy Attorney General Md Selim, Deputy Attorney General Md Suhrawardy, Dep-uty Attorney General Rajik Al Jalil, SC Registrar Farid Ahmed Shibli, Gazipur District Judge Amir Hossain and Chit-tagong Metropolitan District and Ses-sions Judge (retd) SM Majibur Rahman.

Judges of the Appellate Division and High Court Division were present at the oath-taking ceremony.

President Abdul Hamid made the appointment for two years as per Arti-cle 98 of the constitution, raising the number of HC judges to 97. l

Santu Larma slams government directives on CHTn Abid Azad

The government is trying to tighten grip on the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts through the re-cent directives of restricting commu-nication by any local or foreign person or an organisation with the adivasis, PCJSS President Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma alias Santu Larma has said.

Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) and the Awami League government struck the accord in 1997 to end a decade-long armed struggle.

The government sent its 11-point de-cisions regarding the CHT to di� erent administrative bodies and law enforce-ment agencies on January 22 for imple-mentation. The decisions were made at a joint meeting on January 7 at the Home Ministry held to analyse the post-peace accord situation of the region.

At the meeting, CHT A� airs Ministry Secretary Naba Bikram Kishore Tripura claimed that Santu Larma refused to ac-knowledge that most of the 72 sections of the accord had already been executed.

On this, Santu, also the chief of CHT Regional Council, said: “Such a state-ment has been made only to serve politi-cal purpose. Among the 72 sections, only 25 have been implemented. However, the government is practising falsehood by claiming execution of 48 sections.”

PCJSS Information and Publici-ty Secretary Mangal Kumar Chakma termed the directives “expression of racism and communalism.”

He also criticised Naba Bikram’s statement that the indigenous lead-ers had been obstructing in holding the polls to three hill district councils for the last 22 years. “How an election can be held when there is no voter listor regulation?

“The secretary made such statement to cover up failure of the government in implementing the peace accord.”

Mangal ruled out possessing huge cache of arms by the PCJSS as men-tioned by the secretary at the meeting. “We do not understand why the Home Ministry included PCJSS along with the United People Democratic Front

(UPDF), an anti-peace accord indige-nous group, to claim that we have huge amount of arms.

“We surrendered our arms to the government when the accord was signed in 1997. Such observation has been made to create distraction and spoil our reputation among the indige-nous people,” he alleged.

Mangal observed that asking the law enforcement agencies to work in collab-oration with the 24 Infantry Division of Bangladesh Army was contrary to the accord and violation of human rights.

“When the government is supposed to withdraw army camps from the CHT area in line with the accord, it has tak-en a U-turn from establishing peace. The law enforcement agencies were supposed to be handed over to the dis-trict councils which is yet to be done,”he added.

When contacted for comments over the remarks he had made at the meet-ing, Secretary Naba Bikram refused to make any comment immediately term-ing the matter “sensitive.” l

Poor revenue may delay public servants’ pay hikeReview committee faces di� culties accommodating commission’s proposals

n Asif Showkat Kallol

The government is going to extend the tenure of a secretarial committee tasked with submitting a report on ways to execute the recommendations of the pay commission.

The committee was supposed to submit its report to Finance Minis-ter AMA Muhith on February 15 at the end of the six-week time given to itfor the task.

“We have already sought the � -nance minister’s consent for giving a four-week extension to the secretarial committee,” a Finance Division o� cial associated with the committees work told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“There is a huge di� erence between the recommendations of the National Pay and Services Commission [NPSC] and the secretarial review committee.”

Sources in the Finance Division said the government wants to execute the pay commission’s recommendations from within the resource constraint in the budget which may arise because of low revenue collection and the elon-gated political turmoil.

If the government follows the NP-SC’s salaries and allowances revision proposals, then expenditure in this head would go up by 63.7% which means an additional Tk22,953 crore will be needed.

Of this, Tk17,464 crore will be needed for paying the government employees, Tk3,790 crore for pension-ers, Tk1,688 crore for the teachers of MPO-enlisted schools and colleges, and Tk10 crore for the employees of autonomous bodies.

NPSC Chairman Mohamand Farashuddin had earlier said � nancing the additional amount would not be a problem if only 1% revenue growth can be ensured.

From July to December – the � rst half

of the ongoing 2014-15 � scal year – the National Board of Revenue managed to mobilise only a little over Tk48,000 crore or around 39% of the aggregate collection target of Tk1,49,000 crore.

In the wake of the prevailing polit-ical turmoil, the target was recently slashed by around 16%. Now the rev-enue target stands at Tk1,25,000 crore which the NBR will have to collect an-other Tk77,000 crore in the last half of the � scal year.

Senior Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed, also a member of the secretari-al review committee, told Dhaka Tri-bune that they need four more meet-ings to � nalise recommendations.

“The secretarial committee is now preparing � nal recommendations, but we are having some di� culties in in-corporating all of the pay commission’s recommendations,” he said

The six-member secretarial commit-tee, led by Cabinet Secretary Muham-mad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, was formed a month ago.

The � ve other members of the committee are the � nance secretary, secretary to the prime minister, pub-lic administration secretary, defence secretary and housing and publicworks secretary.

In addition to reviewing the pay hike proposals for government employees, the committee is also looking after the recommended pay hikes for the armed forces.

Sources said the secretarial commit-tee is mainly dealing with the contro-versial issues such as deputation, con-tractual jobs, time scale and selection grades.

The NPSC submitted it proposals to the � nance minister on December 21 last year, recommending doubling the salaries, plots for group housing and introducing bank loan for single-digit interest rates for public servants.

The highest salary of Tk 1 lakh was recommended for the cabinet sec-retary and principal secretary to the prime minister; currently their basic monthly pay is Tk45,000.

The government plans to implement the hikes from July this year. The 8th National Pay and Services Commission was formed in November 2013.

Currently, there are over 832,000 government employees and around

PM: People won’t be defeated by monstersn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Hinting at the BNP-led alliance, the prime minister yesterday said the gov-ernment will not spare the monsters who have been burning people forno reason.

The BNP-Jamaat alliance had been creating anarchy at a time when the country was moving forward, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, adding that the people will not lose out to these � ends.

She made the remarks while ad-dressing the 35th national parade of the Ansar and VDP forces at the Ansar-VDP Academy at Sha� pur in Gazipur’s Ka-liakair upazila.

Terming the activities of the 20-par-ty alliance acts of terror and crime, Hasina said the monsters would be de-feated to restore peace in the country.

The lives of the hard-working peo-ple falling victims to the recent vio-lence had no worth to BNP Chairperson

Khaleda Zia, she further claimed.The prime minister also pointed

out that the BNP-Jamaat alliance had called its blockade programme during a religious event like the Biswa Ijtema, even though it frequently advocated in favour of religion.

She also slammed the opposition al-liance for pushing the country towards darkness and jeopardising the lives of 15 lakh SSC candidates by calling har-tals during their exams.

Thanking the Ansar forces for their contributions to the country, Hasina said the deployment of Ansar person-nel to protect the railways and roads ahead of the 2014 national poll – had brought down incidents of sabotage signi� cantly.

She also showcased the bene� ts and facilities introduced by her govern-ment for the betterment of Ansar and VDP forces.

On a separate note, the premier pointed out that the country was re-

opening avenues of manpower export as Saudi Arabia had resumed accept-ing new workforce from Bangladesh after seven years, while Malaysia also continued importing manpower fromthe country.

She reminded everyone that it was every citizen’s duty to protect each other’s lives and properties to their best abilities.

At the event, the prime minister also recognised the contributions of di� erent Ansar personnel by awarding the Bangladesh Ansar Medal (brav-ery) to two members, the President’s Ansar Medal (bravery) to 15 mem-bers, and the President’s VDP Medal (bravery) to two members. She also gave the Bangladesh Ansar Medal (service) to seven members, the Pres-ident’s Ansar Medal (service) to 38 members, the Bangladesh VDP Medal (service) to eight members, and the President’s VDP Medal (service) to25 members. l

Tk6.5cr compensation for transport sector pledgedn Tribune Report

The government has decided to pay Tk6.5 crore to 674 transport owners who su� ered losses due to the non-stop blockade and hartal enforced in the country by the BNP-led 20 party alliance.

“The prime minister has decided to initially pay Tk6.5 crore to the a� ected transport owners, which has been sanc-tioned already and will be disbursed soon,” said Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader during a press brie� ng at the Secretariat yesterday.

With the promise of compensation, the government aims to encourage transport owners and workers to bring out their vehicles on the road, ministry sources said.

A review committee was formed, comprising both representatives of the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry

and the transport sector, to scrutinise the applications submitted for com-pensation.

“We received more than 700 appli-cations from a� ected transport owners, asking for around Tk18 crore in compen-sation. Going through the applications, we picked the ones that had most justi-� able reasons, and � xed the amount at Tk7 crore. Later, the government decid-ed to pay Tk6.5 crore,” said Khandakar Anayetullah, general secretary of Dhaka Road Transport Owners’ Association, while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.

Since the nationwide blockade start-ed on January 6, scores of vehicles have been damaged by vandalism and arson attacks around the country.

Quader claimed that the number of a� ected vehicles was at least 1,200, including Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) buses. l

Young man detained for selling ‘leaked’ question papersn Tribune Report

The Detective Branch of Police on Wednesday night detained an honours student on charge of selling question papers of di� erent public examina-tions, including the SSC, from Dakkhin Khan in the capital.

Asaduzzaman Noor Shakil alias Rea-zul Islam Liton, 22, is a � rst year stu-dent of physics at Government Titumir College and a supporter of Islami Chha-tra Shibir, DB Joint Commissioner Mon-irul Islam told reporters at DMP Media Centre yesterday.

Shakil was arrested in a drive from Puraton Mollartek area of Dakkhin by

a DB team led by its Assistant Com-missioner Mohorom Ali, on a tip-o� . A laptop, two mobile sets, a pen drive and a modem was seized from his pos-session.

Monirul claimed Shakil used to pre-pare questions from suggestions of re-nowned schools and colleges and then sell those online claiming to be leaked question papers.

He used to deliver the questions on Facebook, messaging the buyer – stu-dents or guardians – upon receiving payment through bKash, he added.

Shakil has earned nearly Tk10 lakh by only supplying question papers for the medical admission tests in 2014.

Monirul claimed that they got some questions for the ongoing SSC exam-inations in his laptop, which are fake.

“Shakil used a fake Facebook ac-count named as Reazul Islam to oper-ate his business,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner of DB Sheikh Nazmul Alam said there were some more Shibir men involved with this gang and they have two goals – making money and tarnishing the image of the government.

“We will take him into remand to know who else are involved with him or any sta� s of the Dhaka Education Board are involved with this racket,” he added. l

‘There is a huge di� erence between the recommendations of the pay commission and the review committee’

Ignoring the barbed wires, overseas job seekers yesterday try to get into the capital’s Probashi Kalyan Bhaban, which houses the Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, in a bid to register for jobs in Saudi Arabia MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Students of Shahjahanpur Railway Government High School bring out a rally in the capital’s Motijheel area yesterday calling to end the ongoing blockade and hartals enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance to ensure safe journey to schools. Students of Ideal School and College and Motijheel Model School and College also formed human chains in the area with similar demands DHAKA TRIBUNE

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, February 13, 2015

BSF returns bodies of 2 cattle tradersn Our Correspondent, Jhenaidah

The BSF of India returned the bodies of two cattle traders after a � ag meeting yesterday night.

Commander of Jessore Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) 26 battalion Jahangir Hossain led the meeting on behalf of Bangladesh while Krishnanagar BSF sector commander DIG DK Pramanik represented India.

The meeting was held around 7pm at Lebutala frontier in Moheshpur.

In the meantime, the bodies under-went post-mortem at Bongaon hospital under the custody of Indian police be-fore being handed over to the relatives around 8pm.

The two, Aminur Rahman of Julu-li village and Fayez Ahmed Faisal of Lebutala village, were shot dead by BSF on February 11. l

Dudu sent to jail rejecting fresh remand plean Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday sent Md Shamsuzzaman Dudu, an adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, to jail re-jecting the remand plea in a case � led on charge of torching and vandalising vehicles in the capital.

Metropolitan Magistrate Tarique Moinul Islam Bhuiyan passed the order when Rupnagar police produced him before the court seeking remand anew after ending a four-day remand granted earlier to him in the case.

On January 11, police detained the BNP leader from Hotel Rabbani in Mir-

pur 10 while he along with others were allegedly planning to commit sabotage during the ongoing blockade.

He was � rst remanded for � ve days in a case � led with Mirpur police sta-tion and then for another six days in two other vandalism and arson cases lodged with the police station. l

Education UK Exhibition 2015 begins in capital n DU Correspondent

A two-day Education UK Exhibition 2015 began at the Pan Paci� c Sonarga-on Hotel in the capital yesterday.

The British Council has arranged the 17th annual event to help Bangladeshi students who are interested to get high-er education in the United Kingdom.

With entry fee of Tk50, students could get the opportunity to make direct con-tact with representatives of 38 renowned educational institutions of the UK at the exhibition, which will remain open for all from 12 noon to 6pm till today.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Na-hid inaugurated the exhibition.

Addressing the programme, Nahid said ensuring quality education is a big challenge for Bangladesh due to various reasons that include political unrest

and � nancial constraints in the country. He also thanked the British Coun-

cil and British High Commission for arranging the exhibition which could give a good opportunity for Bangla-deshi students who want to study in universities in the UK.

Robert Gibson, the British high com-missioner to Bangladesh, said: “Students studying in the UK receive an education that enables them to become creative and independent thinkers, they learn what it takes to be a global citizen and how to adapt to a fast changing world.”

On the opening day, many students and their parents crowded the exhibi-tion and collected necessary informa-tion on undergraduate and post-grad-uate courses, scholarship and others facilities o� ered by di� erent British public and private universities. l

6 bombs recovered from CU dormn CU Correspondent, Chittagong

Police recovered six petrol bombs from a locked room of a Chittagong Universi-ty dormitory yesterday.

Some sta� spotted the bombs while cleaning up room 122 of Suhrawardy Hall around 11am, said CU Proctor Siraj Ud Dowla.

The university authorities had

closed several rooms of the hall for an inde� nite period after a gun � ght be-tween Chhatra League and Islami Ch-hatra Shibir on August 24 last year.

Professor Anwar Sayeed, provost of the hall, told the Dhaka Tribune that they opened the locked room to allot it for newly admitted students.

Salaudddin, o� cer in-charge (inves-tigation) of Hathazari police station,

said Shibir men might have amassed the bombs during the clash last year.

Shibir men used rooms 121 and 122 for their organisational purposes and they forced the boarders to leave, ac-cording to source on the CU campus.

Soon after the August 24 clash, po-lice had recovered 25 crude bombs and some sharp weapons from di� erent rooms of the dormitory. l

University students visit the two-day Education UK Exhibition 2015 arranged by the British Council Bangladesh that started at the Pan Paci� c Sonargaon Hotel in the capital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

ACC approves charge sheet against eight Bismillah Group o� cials n Tribune Report

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has approved the charge sheet in a case against 14 people, including Managing Director of Bismillah Towel Limited Khaja Solaiman Anwar Chow-dhury, � led on charges of swindling about Tk58 crore out of � ve commer-cial banks.

The anti-graft watchdog at its reg-ular meeting yesterday approved the charge sheet, said ACC Public Relations O� cer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya.

The other accused are Bismillah Group Chairman and Solaiman’s wife Nowrin Hasib, Director Sa� qul Anwar Chowdhury, Deputy Managing Director Akbar Aziz Muttaki, General Manger Abul Hasan Chowdhury, Manager Ri-azuddin Ahmad, Chairman of Network Framework System Limited (an autho-rised entity of Bismillah Group) M Ak-ter Hossain, owner of Bay Yarn Limited Ghulam Moinuddin Ahmed, and six Premier bank o� cials - former manag-er of the bank’s Motijheel branch Sha-hinur Rahman, former deputy man-ager Shahadat Hossain, First Assistant Vice Presidents MA Rahim and Tajibul Alam, Vice President Shahabuddin

Sarker and former executive o� cer Abu Saleh Arifur Rahman.

On November 3, 2013, the ACC � led 12 cases against 53 people, including 13 Bismillah Group o� cials, accusing them of swindling about Tk1,175 crore out of � ve banks.

But Bismillah Towel Limited di-rectors Abida Hasib, Nahid Anwar Khan, Khandakar M Moinuddin Ashraf and Sarwar Jahan, and TW Express owner M Moin Uddin were not named in the charge sheet approved yesterday.

The remaining 40 accused are o� -cials of Janata Bank, Prime Bank, Ja-muna Bank, Shahjalal Islami Bank and Premier Bank.

According to the � rst information reports, Bismillah Group o� cials, with the help of bank o� cials, swindled Tk526.96 crore out of three branch-es of Janata Bank, Tk326.51 crore out of Motijheel branch of Prime Bank, Tk154.66 crore out of Motijheel branch of Jamuna Bank, Tk104.04 crore out of Eskaton branch of Shahjalal Islami Bank and Tk62.53 crore out of Motijhe-el branch of Premier Bank.

Bismillah Group is a terry towel pro-ducer. l

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, February 13, 2015

WEATHER

PRAYER TIMES Fajr 5:17am Sunrise 6:33am Jumma 12:13am Asr 4:16pm Magrib 5:52pm Esha 7:09pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:52PM SUN RISES 6:33AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW29.4ºC 08.5ºC

Cox's Bazar Srimangal

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 28 16Chittagong 27 16Rajshahi 26 12Rangpur 26 12Khulna 26 12Barisal 28 15Sylhet 27 13Cox’s Bazar 27 17

DRY WEATHER

LIKELY

Burn unit at SBMCH to start functioningnext weekn Our Correspondent, Barisal

As burn patients are increasing day by day for the political unrest, the author-ities of Barisal Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital has decided to start functioning of a burn unit following an order of the higher authority.

Hospital sources said a 16-bed burn unit is ready to start operation next week, almost 45 years after the estab-lishment of the hospital.

Dr Kamrul Hasan Selim, director of the hospital, said of the 16 beds, eight beds would be reserved for men while rest of the beds will be for women burn patients.

The burn unit has been set up on the ground � oor of hospital where a total of � ve doctors and 10 nurses will take care of patients.

The unit would be equipped with all necessary facilities to ease the su� erings of the burn patients, the director said.

Hospital sources said the SBMCH surgery unit currently has eight trained doctors, including one professor, two associate professors, two registrars and three assistant registrars, for treatment of burn injured and plastic surgery.

In the last one month, a total of 16 people have become victims of arson attacks.

Of the victims, six died on the spot while the injured 10 others had re-ceived treatment at the SBMCH surgery unit, hospital sources said.

Dr Habibur Rahman of SBMCH sur-gery unit 2 said people of the Barisal region would be bene� ted from burn unit as earlier serous burn patients were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital which was painful and costlier for them.

The hospital was established in Band road area of Barisal city in 1968.

The 300-bed SBMCH as the only specialised public hospital under the college started functioning on Novem-ber 2, 1970.

Later, the numbers of beds were in-creased to 500. However, around 1,500 patients receive treatment from the hospital everyday.

Hospital sources said every year around 1,000 burn injury patients treat-ed and 250 admitted to the hospital. But doctors giving only emergency treatment referred them to Dhaka as there was no dedicated burn unit in the hospital. l

1 killed, 15 hurt as train hits bus in Ctgn FM Mizanur Rahaman

One person was killed and 15 others were injured when a train rammed a minibus at Ispahani rail crossing gate in AK Khan area of Chittagong city yes-terday.

The deceased could not be identi-� ed when the body was sent to Chit-tagong Medical College morgue for autopsy, said O� cer-in-Charge of Chit-tagong railway station police outpost Himangshu Das Rana.

He said it could not be known whether the dead was a passenger of the train or the minibus.

Of the injured, Md Abul Hashem, 60, and Mahbubul Alam, 50, were ad-mitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital, said Nayek of the hospital’s

police outpost Jahangir Alam. Two oth-ers were admitted to a local clinic.

OC Himangshu said the accident took place when Chittagong-bound Meghna Express travelling from Chan-dpur ploughed into a minibus around 11:15am.

Md Sabuj, who was on the minibus, said the driver was crossing the rail tracks when the vehicle suddenly stopped.

“There were 15-20 passengers on the bus. When the train whistled, the driv-er jumped out of the window while the passengers also tried to get o� ,” said Sabuj, who sustained critical injuries in his left leg and was admitted to Al Amin Hospital.

Gateman of the level crossing Md Ka-wsar said o� cials at Pahartali station in-formed him of only Dhaka-bound Kar-

naphuli Express and he closed only one gate while the other remained open.

“Meghna Express was on the down line after the departure of Karnaphu-li Express, and hit the minibus which was standing on the track,” he said.

A � ve-member committee head-ed by Bangladesh Railway (east) Di-visional Tra� c O� cer Firoz Iftekhar was formed to probe the accident and it was asked to submit a report within three days.

Firoz said an investigation into what caused the accident was underway while a case was also � led in this connection.

On March 11 last year, four female garment workers were killed and sev-en others were injured when a train rammed a human haulier in Chand-gaon of the city. l

Political unrest a blow to Moulvibazar tourismn Our Correspondent, Moulvibazar

Like many other sectors hit by the on-going political unrest, a massive blow has also been dealt to the tourism busi-nesses in Moulvibazar, popular to vaca-tioners for its tea gardens and protect-ed forests.

As the inde� nite blockade continues to limit movement on highways and railways across the country, the hotels and resorts in Moulvibazar – especial-ly in Sreemangal upazila – are seeing almost no clients check in for the past month.

Talking to many individuals in-volved in the tourism business in the district, the Dhaka Tribune learned that many of the tourist establishments have had to temporarily let go of their employees as a consequence of the in-de� nite blockade.

The Grand Sultan Tea Resort and Golf – a high-end tourist destination in Sree-mangal which reportedly has a month-ly maintenance cost of Tk1.8 crore – was not even able to earn enough to meet its costs last month, said author-ities concerned. Many of the bookings by corporate organisations and tourists were cancelled because of the political situation, they added.

Palash Chowdhury, public relations o� cer for the resort, told the Dhaka Tribune that only a handful of clients have been checking in since the block-ade began. Business was in a devas-tated state, he said, adding that the near-empty resort was now only being kept open for maintenance.

The number of guests at DuSai Re-sort and Spa – a boutique tourist estab-lishment in the district’s Nitteshwar – stood at zero on February 10, with all 65 of its rooms staying empty.

Al-Amin, a receptionist at the re-

sort, told the Dhaka Tribune that their expected guests had to cancel their bookings as they could not come to Moulvibazar because of the uncertain-ty on the roads during the hartals and blockade.

Other hotels in the district have also been facing a grim situation since the 20-party alliance’s countrywide block-ade began on January 6.

The owner of Hermitage Guest House, Sultana Foyzunnahar, said she had to send three of her employees on leave during the past month, as no money had been coming in for the es-tablishment that has an average month-ly maintenance cost of Tk1.5 lakh.

Authorities at Rain Forest Resort, a tourist establishment on Sreemongol’s Habiganj Road, said they were running their operations at a rented house. Manager of the resort, Ejaj Hossain Chowdhury, said many of the house-based hotels in the popular tourist area were su� ering the tough consequences of the non-stop blockade.

Kazi Shamsul Haque – owner of Radhanagar’s Lichu Bari Resort – said he had to send his head chef, a man-ager, and two security guards on un-paid leaves as the resort could not at-tract any tourists even when rooms of Tk2,000 charge were o� ered for only Tk500.

Shamsul added that foreigners – who are the main client base for the resort – were unable to travel to Moulvibazar during the ongoing blockade. As a result, the booking money had to be returned.

Shyamol Deb Verma, a tourist guide, said a large number of tourists came to the national park during January-Feb-ruary. But this year, the numbers had gone down drastically, he said, adding that the reduced number has put the livelihoods of the guides at risk. l

Students unwilling to return to RUPolitical crisis, police harassment discourage students from attending classesn Nazim Mridha, Rajshahi

About 75% Rajshahi University (RU) students are yet to come back to cam-pus although authorities have decided to hold classes and examinations amid the hartals and blockades which have been ongoing for over a month now.

The attendance of students in class remain low due to tensed situation on campus as a result of frequent cocktail explosions. Consequentially, exams of about 30 departments at the university continue to be rescheduled.

Earlier, on January 12, RU resumed its schedule following 11 days of winter vacation. However, no classes or ex-ams were held until February 12 due to the continuous blockades enforced by BNP-led 20-party alliance.

On February 2, RU authorities de-cided in a meeting, attended by de-partment heads and faculty chiefs and chaired by vice chancellor (VC) Profes-sor Muhammad Mizanuddin, that the exams and classes would be held de-spite the hartal and blockade in order to avoid session jam.

However, despite this decision, de-partments have been unable to run classes smoothly due to poor attend-ance of students. Students and teach-ers say, as security measures were reduced in the university and nearby areas, about 75% students are yet to come back to the university.

Professor Amzad Hossain, dean of the business faculty, tells us: “It is not possible to run classes and examina-tions amid such insecurity of students and teachers.”

He adds that he is not satis� ed with the security provided on university premises.

RU pro-VC Professor Chowdhury Sar-war Jahan has urged the students to re-turn to university to avoid session jam.

Frequent crude bomb blastsMoreover, explosion of crude bombs on the campus also discourages student to restrained themselves from taking part in classes.

About six cocktails exploded on Wednesday at di� erent points on the campus, including one inside one of

the science buildings, con� rmed Alam-gir Hossain, o� cer in-charge of Moti-har police station.

On the same day, police recovered a fresh bomb from in front of Ismail Hossain Sirajee building, although they failed to arrest the miscreants in this connection.

As of yesterday, about 15 crude bombs have exploded on campus, three of them being inside dormitories of students, who remain haunted by these incidents.

Police harassment discourage studentsPolice harassment is also reportedly discouraging students from returning to campus, students have said.

On January 12, police detained 14 students in a raid at Shaheed Shasuzzo-ha Hall and Shaheed Suhrawardy Hall.

However, police sources say, they were released the next day as no allega-tions were found.

Police also detained six non-residen-tials students after conducting a raid at Shaheed Hobibur Rahman Hall and Sha-

heed Ziaur Rahman Hall on January 15. They were also released the following day as no allegations were found.

On January 16, police held � ve stu-dents from Nowab Abdul Latif and Syed Amir Ali Hall and later released on next day. On January 17 police also con-ducted raid at Shah Makhdum Hall and harassed the general students.

On February 3, Motihar police de-tained � ve freshmen who came to cam-pus for the � rst time to attend orientation.

This sparked o� a procession brought out by Shibir activists on the campus on February 3. why

Several students allege, on condi-tion of anonymity, that police harass general students, raiding university halls, in the name of searching culprits.

They also often harass non-resident students who live at di� erent private messes near the campus, alleged sever-al non-resident students.

“Students dare not return to campus due to the insecurity in the university as police fail to nab those who make the university campus a tensed place for stu-dents,” said Alamgir Sujon, general secre-

tary of Somajtantrik Chhatra Front of RU.“Police are merely harassing inno-

cent students in the name of security but they have failed to do their job,” he said.

Pro-BNP, Jamaat teachers boycott-ing classwa, examinations

Meanwhile, about 400 pro-BNP and Jamaat teachers under “White Pan-el” have boycotted classes and exams since February 4. Shamsul Alam Sark-er, convener of White Panel said this decision was taken for the security of teachers and students.

“We’ve also called on the university VC to not hold classes and exams in this situation,” he said.

“We ourselves will resume classes and exams once the current crisis is resolved,” Shamsul said, adding that it is also in their in their interest to com-plete the students’ education.

An inde� nite strike sponsored by Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) RU unit is underway in the university since February 7 in protest at the arrest of its general secretary Kamrul Hasan and demanding his unconditional release. l

Gazipur mayor placed on 2-day remand n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

A court here yesterday placed Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) mayor and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s adviser MA Mannan on a two-day remand in an arson attack case � led with Joydevpur police xtation.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Monwara Begum passed the order after police produced MA Mannan before the court seeking a 10-day remand.

He was picked up from his Baridhara residence in the capital on Wednesday evening and was taken to the o� ce of Gazipur’s Superintendent of Police (SP) for questioning.

SP Mohammad Harun-ur-Rashid, at a press conference at his o� ce at about 7pm, said there were three cases of vio-lence, vandalism and arson with Joydeb-pur police station against the BNP leader.

“There are speci� c allegations against him of instigating, planning and � nancing violence,” the SP said.

On February 4, a Dhaka-bound bus was torched by miscreants during the BNP-enforced non-stop blockade and hartal on Dhaka-Joydebpur highway. Six people, including a child, was seri-ously burnt in the attack.

On the following day, police � led a case mentioning MA Mannan as the main accused in the incident. Citing names of 39 BNP-Jamaat men, 20 other unidenti� ed people were sued in the case as well.

Assistant Sub-Inspector of Gazipur po-lice station Rezaul Karim lodged the case. There are already two more cases of van-dalism and arson against MA Mannan.

In the press conference, SP Har-un-ur-Rashid said MA Mannan often tried to provoke the garments workers in Gazipur in a bid to destabilise the sector. l

The 300-bed SBMCH as the only specialised public hospital under the college started functioning on November 2, 1970

BGB o� cials take position in Rajshahi’s Lakhsmipur area where Jatiya Sramik League holds a human chain yesterday terming BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia a ‘murderer’ and demanding immediate action against the ongoing widespread petrol bomb attacks AZAHAR UDDIN

Police gather round the bus that was hit by a train at AK Khan level crossing in Chittagong yesterday. The accident left one dead and a few others injured DHAKA TRIBUNE

DHAKA TRIBUNE Nation6 Friday, February 13, 2015

Jubo Legue leader hacked to deathin Gaibandhan Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

A Jubo League activist was hacked to death by some unidenti� ed miscre-ants at Sapmara village in Gobindaganj upazila early yesterday.

Tauhidul Islam Rocket, Sadar upazila unit president of Jubo League, the youth front of the ruling party Awami Legue, said Abdul Hamid Prodhan Hiru Mia, was an activist of the party. Hiru Mia is the son of Ha� z Rahman, a resident of Krishnapur village of the same upazila.

O� cer-in-Charge of Gobindaganj police station ABM Jahidul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that Hiru Mia start-ed for home from Sadar upazila around 1:30am, but he had not returned home.

Later, local people found his body in a mustard � eld of Sapmara village.

Later, police recovered the body and sent it to Gaibandha Adhunik Hospital morgue for an autopsy.

The OC said his body bore several injury marks. Police said he had been hacked to death over previous enmity. A case was � led in this connection. l

Loss-incurring cinema business faces extinction in Narsingdin Our Correspondent, Narsingdi

Constant incurrence of losses are push-ing the cinema theatre business in Narshingdi towards extinction, with two-thirds of the cinemas in the dis-trict already out of business.

The business used to be thriving in Narsingdi – there were 18 cinema theatres running successfully in the district’s six upazilas, said sources at the district information o� ce. But a fall in the quality of � lms beginning in the 90s started repelling cinema-goers from visiting the theatres. Piracy made it worse.

The increasing absence of audience eventually caused a blow to the busi-

ness which the cinemas are now � nd-ing impossible to survive, sta� and owners of the existing cinemas told the Dhaka Tribune.

Twelve cinemas have already gone out of business, the establishments now being used for commercial and other purposes.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Naz-mul Alam Bhuiyan Mitul, owner of Pipasha Cinema in Monohardi upazila, one of the cinemas that were closed, said: “My back was on the wall. It was incurring loss for a long time, because no one comes to watch � lms at cinemas any more. People get their hands on the � lms before their release, thanks to pi-racy.”

Sanaul Haque Bindu, owner of Su-robhi Cinema in Narshingdi town – one of the six cinemas still in existence – said: “I have incurred a huge debt be-cause of my struggling business. I am thinking about � nding an alternative venture; the cinema has to be shut down.”

Faruq Hossain Manik, owner of Runa Cinema in Narshingdi’s Chalak-char area, shared Sanaul’s sentiment.

“I had to su� er a loss of Tk200,000 last month. The business is doomed. I am thinking about renting the building out as a garage,” he said.

The Dhaka Tribune contacted San-jida Amin, district information o� cer in Narshingdi, who con� rmed the dire

condition of the district’s cinema the-atre business.

“I went to the existing cinemas for inspection. Talking to the audi-ence there, I learnt that scarcity of good-quality � lms and vulgar contents in most of them is the main reasons why � lm lovers are turning away from the cinemas. Screening of better-qual-ity � lms and ensuring good environ-ment is essential to draw people to-wards this business,” she said.

The cinema owners said: “The gov-ernment has to step in to help us. If they do not take the necessary initi-atives soon, it won’t be long until the cinema theatre business in Narshingdi dies out.” l

Two held withdrug in Jessoren Our Correspondent, Jessore

Rapid Action Battalion arrested two youths with drug in Muruli Mor area under the district yesterday.

According to RAB sources, on a tip-o� , a team of law enforcers raided a shop in the area and arrested Akkas Ali and Potol with 20 bottles of phensidyl and 10 bottles of wine.

They were handed over to police, said Major Ashrafuddin, commander of RAB Jessore camp. l

One lakh yaba tablets worthTk3 crore seizedn Our Correspondent, Comilla

Border Guard Bangladesh seized 1,00000 pieces of the banned narcotic yaba tablets worth around Tk3 crore from Surjanagar frontier area in the district yesterday.

BGB-10 Commander Lieutenant Colonel Zakir Hossain said on a tip-o� , a team of law enforcers raided the area recovered the contraband in aban-doned state.

The smugglers escaped the scene sensing the presence of the BGB mem-bers, said the commander. l

DR SHAMARUKH MAHJABIN’S DEATH

Human chain in Jessore demands justiceover murder n Our Correspondent, Jessore

A human chain was formed before the Jessore Circuit House yesterday de-manding justice over the “murder” of Dr Shamarukh Mahjabin.

Dr Shamarukh‘s family memers, well-wishers, employees of a NGO named RRF and members of Mohila Parishad took part in the event on Mu-jib Road from 11:00am to 11:30am.

Dr Shamarukh, wife of Humayun Sultan, son of ex-MP from Jessore-5 constituency Khan Tipu Sultan, was found hanging in the bathroom of her in-laws’ Dhanmondi residence in the capital on November 13 last year.

Her father Nurul Islam told the Dha-ka Tribune that the human chain was formed to bring the issue to notice of ruling Awami League leaders.

During the human chain pro-gramme, several hundred leaders and activists of AL were attending a con-ference of Jessore district unit of AL at the Circuit House. Some senior leaders of AL and cabinet ministers were also attending conference.

After the death of Dr Shamarukh, Humayun and his parents claimed that she committed suicide by hanging with a scarf tied to the iron bars of bath-room’s ventilator.

But Dr Shamarukh’s father Nurul Is-lam, an assistant PDB engineer in Jes-sore, � led a murder case against Huma-yun alleging that she was murdered by her husband and in-laws.

An autopsy report of Dhaka Medi-cal College Hospital mentioned that Dr Shamarukh committed suicide.

Rejecting the report, Nurul Islam appealed to the court for a fair probe into the incident. Later, a Dhaka court ordered to probe the incident after ex-huming the body from the grave.

The second autopsy report, howev-er, mentioned that “the reason behind the death could not be known”.

Nurul Islam alleged that doctors could not give a fair report over the death as Tipu Sultan is an in� uential person.

Since the death of Shamarukh, sev-eral human rights organisation has been demanding fair trial of the murder. l

Four killed in road accidents in 3 districtsn Tribune Report

At least four people were killed in road accidents in Magura, Gopalganj and Gazipur districts yesterday.

Our Magura correspondent reports: An SSC examinee was killed as his mo-torbike plunged into a roadside ditch in Thakurerhat area on the

Mahammadpur-Babukhali Road in Mahammadpur upazila.

Mahammadpur police station Of-� cer-in-Charge Ataur Rahman said Iqbal Hossain,15, son of Abul Hossain Molla, of Jhama village fell into road side ditch as he lost control over the steering of his motorbike while giving side to a human hauler. He became critically injured.

Later, he died on the way to local hospital.

Goplaganj Correspondent said at least two students were killed in sepa-rate road accidents in the district.

Police sources said Saikat Khan, 25,son of Rezaul Haque Khan of Nagra village in Kotalipara upazila died on the spot as a truck ran over him while he

was crossing the Gopalganj-Paisharhat Road riding motorcycle. He was a stu-dent of Sheikh Lutfar Rahman Adarsha Degree College.

Agitated locals set � re to the truck. On the other hand, Masud Mian,

Class III student of Gopalganj Govern-ment Primary School became critically injured as a truck coming from oppo-sition direction hit him in front of Sa-dar Hospital while he was crossing the road.

Later, he was sent to the hospital where on duty doctor declared him dead.

Sadar police station O� � cer-in-Charge Zakir Hossain con� rmed the incident.

Gazipur Correspondent said a mo-torcyclist was killed in an accident at Kapasia uaazila in the district.

Police and local sources said Al Amin,26, son of Mujibur Rahman of Dakshin Gaour Village died on the spot as a passenger bus ran over him while he was crossing the road riding motor-cycle. l

School charges students for free textbooksn Our Correspondent, Faridpur

Principal of Rupapat Bamanchandra High School in Boalmari upazila of Faridpur district has allegedly discon-tinued distributing text books among students those who failed to pay the session charges.

Md Quamrul Miya, member of the school management committee, submitted a written allegation to the Upazila Nirbahi O� cer Md Shahiduz-zaman in this connection yesterday.

On January 1, government issued directives to schools across the coun-try to distribute text books among students for the session, however, vio-lating the order, the authorities of Ru-papat Bamanchandra High School have been reportedly collecting Tk500 from each student in the secondary section in exchange of the books.

Those who could not pay the charg-es were denied from the right of receiv-ing text books.

When contacted, Principal Md Shahjahan Sheikh acknowledged to the Dhaka Tribune that 300 students of di� erent grades of the school were yet to receive text books. He claimed that the students were charged with session fees following the government order.

President of the school management committee Lutfur Rahman Khalashi said the allegation was a nothing but a rumour spread by people who had dif-ferences in their political ideologies.

UNO Md Shahiduzzaman said the matter was informed to the Upazi-la Secondary Education O� cer Md Jalaluddin for immediate investigation.

The allegation will be considered se-riously and legal steps will follow, add-ed the education o� cer. l

Defying the existing ban on sand lifting and transportation, a vested interested group is still continuing sand lifting from the Padma River in Rajshahi. The photo taken from Satbaria area under Motihar police station shows labourers are engaged in uploading sand on trucks AZAHAR UDDIN

7Long Form Friday, February 13, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Shawkat Haider

The pharmaceuticals indus-try (pharma in short) in Bangladesh has progressed well over the last three decades and the country is

nearly self-su� cient in pharmaceuti-cals with 97% of its demand being met by domestic manufacturers.

At present, this is one of the most technologically advanced sectors in the country employing probably the highest number of white collar professionals. Since the promulgation of Drug Policy in 1982, the sector has grown from Tk173 crore to more than Tk12,000 crore (or $1.5 billion) today.

Thanks to the private sector for its signi� cant investment in building capa-bilities – both infrastructure and people – to bring this industry to compete in the global marketplace.

Bangladeshi medicines are also be-ing exported to many countries in the world and leading players are making forays into the most regulated markets of Europe, US and Australia which are known for strict regulation and highest quality standards.

In view of its export potential, pharma has been declared as the thrust sector in Bangladesh with an aim to diversify the country’s export portfo-lio and lower its dependency on RMG (ready-made garments).

The country is still heavily depend-ent on RMG for its export earnings and there is still no vibrant sector next to it which could make it to the billion dollar club. The export data of Bangla-desh shows that in 1980 RMG export was just $3mn, contributing to less than 1% of the country’s total export which sharply rose to $1bn in 1992. Today this accounts for 82% with value in excess of $25bn.

Pharma has received a lot of attention in recent times for its huge potential to become a major export oriented sector. However, we need to keep in mind that pharma as a sector is fundamentally di� erent from RMG. RMG is highly labour intensive and the competitive cost of labour plays a major role in developing this sector.

Pharma, on the other hand, is large-ly a knowledge-driven and technolo-gy-intensive industry and this requires signi� cant investment in R&D com-pared to other industries. A pharma company’s success mostly depends on

its intellectual capital where special skill-set is required to deal with every stage of its operations.

Fortunately for Bangladesh, Drug Policy of 1982 created an opportunity for the local industry to � ourish and make it self-reliant whereby local companies increased their share of production from 30% in 1970 to almost 90% today, which translates to a tre-mendous amount of foreign currency savings for the country every year.

Bangladesh is the only country among all LDC countries which has a well-developed pharma industry that, over the time, could successfully make the transition from being an import dependent to an exporting one.

Although medicine export from BD constitutes only a small percentage of total production, the sector has, over the last few years, attracted overseas buyers and it has earned good reputa-tion as a quality drug manufacturer. 

Leading pharma companies have al-ready secured accreditations from ma-jor drug regulatory agencies like UKMHRA, TGA, ANVISA, Health Cana-da etc. while two of them, Beximco and Square, have successfully completed US FDA audit (remarkably, without any major observations) in January 2015 and are awaiting approval.

The country certainly has huge potential in pharmaceutical export. But we need to seriously evaluate how far we have progressed in terms of in-frastructure development and achiev-ing competitiveness. 

The industry is yet to have any accredited bioequivalence testing facility which is mandatory for product registration in developed markets,

and there is increasing pressure from even semi-regulated markets for such compliance.

A central bioequivalence facility in the country can largely bene� t the industry by saving foreign currency. At the same time this will signi� cantly improve the quality of our medicines.

Bangladesh is always publicised for having the advantage under TRIPS waiver which allows the LDC country to produce any patented drugs and

even export to other LDC countries till December 2015, but in reality this waiver period is almost over without any real bene� t to the industry.

This is because we could not utilise the bene� ts due to lack of proper infra-structure such as API (active pharma-ceutical ingredient) technology park for producing bulk drugs, central bioe-quivalence testing lab, collaboration between industry and university etc.

It’s unfortunate that the industry has in fact gained nothing out of this TRIPS � exibility since Doha declaration in 2003. India and China are two major hubs for generic drugs. India has more than 150 US FDA-approved pharma plants, the highest number outside the US; and they are increasingly focused on R&D.

India’s export sales is currently valued at $15bn, about the same as its domestic sales; almost 40% of its export goes to US alone. How did they make it? It’s interesting to note that India took export initiatives for pharma in the late 80s; within the next few years Bangladesh also began exporting medicines to overseas markets.

Since then India has worked throughout the entire pharma value chain with tremendous backward integration into API and today estab-lished itself as a major generic drug hub whereas we are still struggling with issues of infrastructural development.

Lack of su� cient backward linkage remains a major challenge for our phar-ma industry. Although we are producing some of the old and conventional APIs on a commercial scale, we are far from syn-thesising the new and patented drugs, and meeting the growing demand.

API constitutes a signi� cant per-centage of the total cost in medicine production which can run up to 30-40% and, in many cases, even more. We must emphasize on improving our process and synthetic chemistry skill in order to be more competitive in global market.

To build up the capabilities we must start from the university, we must improve our education system with practice-oriented advanced courses having adequate laboratory facilities.

There should be more industry-uni-versity alliance and collaborative research between universities at home and abroad to promote research in the � elds of generic drugs, reverse engineer-ing, and also new drug development.

If we cannot have the competence developed in the university level, we cannot take this industry to the next level to compete in the global market-place.

Although highly successful in developing the domestic market, the pharma sector of Bangladesh is faced with several long standing challenges which need to be addressed to realise its actual export potential: Backward integration into API: The proposed API technology Park in Munshiganj, which was scheduled to be completed by July 2012, is delayed with the cost of the project now in-creasing by 55%. This delay has been a major hurdle for the pharma industry to gain better control over the inputs and improve operational e� ciencies.

India, the major generic drug player, has more than 3500 Drug Master File (DMF) approval for APIs whereas we have none. We must strengthen our synthetic chemistry skills for improv-ing API capabilities. Central bioequivalence and drug test-ing laboratory: Bioequivalence testing is conducted to see if the generic version is identical to originator brand and this is mandatory for product registration in any developed market. This testing is very expensive if done in US or Europe.

The government should support in setting up such a centre which would help the industry in a big way. The country also lacks a state of the art drug testing lab to routinely and accurately monitor quality of drugs produced locally. Strengthening of Drug Regulatory Authority: The industry needs a high-ly credible drug regulatory authority similar to US FDA to regulate drugs as well as food products. Continuous training and exchange programmes with global regulatory bodies would help them equip with the skills and knowledge to perform their duties responsibly.Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for Pharma: The government should for-mulate a policy for setting up pharma

SEZ with the intention of providing an internationally competitive and hassle-free environment. This should o� er to the manufacturers tax and other bene� ts to encourage export. Both China and India have successful-ly created numerous SEZs for boosting pharma export.Export incentives from government: Bangladesh has the opportunity to excel in high quality generic drug manufacture for export. Government incentives in various forms can help the pharma companies to focus more on export and improve sectoral per-formance. These can be in the form of excise duty exemptions, income tax holidays, investment subsidy (on capital investment) and interest subsi-dies. India has created Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council under the Ministry of Commerce to promote export of pharmaceuticals. Capacity building in IP/regulatory and legal a� airs: To be able to operate in regulated markets such as USA, EU or Australia, any aspiring generic drug company must have the suf-� cient knowledge and expertise to deal with increasingly important legal and regulatory issues including patent litigations.

This is a critical area for a knowledge based industry like pharma where our industry is still in its early stage. Gov-ernment grants/assistance can help es-tablish IP Centres and the government

should also emphasise on strengthen-ing its Patent O� ce in order to keep pace with WTO/TRIPS agreements and changing landscape of global trade. Building biosimilar capabilities: Valued at nearly $200 billion, Biologic drugs have been a major segment in global pharma market today with sev-en of them occupying the top 10 posi-tions. Biosimilar or generic version of these biologic drugs are increasingly becoming a major focus for pharma-ceutical companies across the globe.

As the number of patent expiry is rising every year in this category, which o� ers greater opportunities for generic manufacturers, we should also enhance biosimilar capabilities with

appropriate regulatory guidelines in place. Industry and academia collabora-tion: To build and strengthen pharma capabilities in di� erent areas namely developing specialised drug delivery systems, biosimilars and vaccines, drug research, patent due diligence, etc, there must be strong collaboration between industry and university.

Specialised pharmaceutical research institutes can be established to promote research and develop human resources for the industry. The government of India has established the National Insti-tute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER). There are seven such institutes and ten more are being estab-lished at a cost of $500 million. These provide post graduate and PhD level education and contribute to thousands of Masters and PhDs per year. Incentive for promoting R&D activi-ties: Reverse engineering is the key to success for any generic drug company and it requires signi� cant investment in building capabilities to create strong di� erentiation. This is a continuous pro-cess and to encourage R&D there should be incentives from the government. For example Indian pharma industry enjoys increased weighted deduction of up to 200% on in-house research and devel-opment (R&D) expenses. Export promotion scheme: A govern-ment scheme may support activities for the pharma sector by promoting seminars, conferences, exhibitions, sending delegations to and from the country for promotion of exports as well as investments, conducting stud-ies/consultancies.Venture capital fund: The idea of the VC fund will be to o� er � nancial incentives to companies focussing on research, for example, in the areas of biosimilar, NDDS or early-stage drug development. This would promote entrepreneurship in the sector and support the development of a self-sus-taining environment for R&D in the country. India has set up a venture capital fund of $370mn to promote R&D in the pharma sector.Infrastructure for exporting high-end pharmaceuticals: Creating a dedicated cargo storage and handling zone ex-clusively for sensitive pharmaceutical products such as biologics, insulins, vaccines, etc which require cold chain system. India already has Pharma Zone for such products. Contract manufacturing: The industry also needs to � nd new opportunities of growth in contract manufacturing and research, clinical research and custom synthesis. Pharmaceutical contract manufacturing is already a 55-60 billion dollar business and in-creasing number of MNCs are looking for outsourcing their production from cost e� ective destinations like India or China.

Having considerable cost advantag-es in manufacturing, Bangladesh is in a position to o� er this service to global clients as the country has a sound track record of partnerships with a number of major multinational companies.

The opportunities in generic drugs are increasing day by day with increas-ing government pressure around the world to cut healthcare costs. The country has tremendous opportuni-ties for pharma export, particularly for value added generics in regulated markets.

In 2015 alone, patented drugs worth $60bn are going o� patent which opens up opportunities for generic manufac-turers around the world. Bangladesh could be ideally positioned to gain from generic drug opportunities with its cost advantages and skilled manpower, but we need to address those key challeng-es faced by the industry in order to gain further competitive advantages and build presence in the global generics. l

Shawkat Haider, PhD is an industry expert and general manager at Beximco Pharmaceuticals.

The pharmaceutical industry At a glance

• Pharmaceutical remains one of the most technologically advanced sec-tors in the country.

• Availability of skilled manpower at a competitive cost helps produce quality medicines which are a� ordable

• Leading companies have been already accredited by major global regulatory authorities

• As an increasing number of originator brand products goes o� patent every year, this creates opportunities for Bangladeshi generic drug companies to supply generic versions of those drugs to the developed and regulated markets.

• Pharma is the 3rd largest tax paying industry in the country employing over 100000 people

• The sector has maintained a steady double digit growth over the last few years and currently domestic market is valued at $1.5 billion while export sales stands at only $70 million.

• According to industry experts the country can achieve exponential growth in medicine export fetching billions of dollars in export within a short span of time, if adequate support in infrastructure development and other areas are provided without any more delay

A prescription for growthProspects and challenges for the Bangladesh pharmaceutical industry

BIGSTOCK

Bangladesh is the only country among all LDC countries which has a well-developed pharmaceutical industry that, over the time, could successfully make the transition from being an import dependent to an exporting one

Lack of su� cient backward linkage remains a major challenge for our pharmaceutical industry

Friday, February 13, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Cease� re agreed for eastern Ukraine

n Reuters

The leaders of Germany, France, Rus-sia and Ukraine have agreed a deal to end � ghting in eastern Ukraine, participants at the summit talks said yesterday.

The deal reached after all-night ne-gotiations in the Belarussian capital Minsk included a cease� re that would come into e� ect on Feb. 15, followed by the withdrawal of heavy weapons.

The news came as Ukraine was of-fered a $40-billion lifeline by the In-ternational Monetary Fund to stave o� � nancial collapse.

The Minsk summit agreement o� ered hope for eastern Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said.

“After 17 hours, negotiations in Minsk have � nished: cease� re from Feb. 15 at zero hours, then withdrawal of heavy weapons. Therein lies hope,” Merkel’s spokesman Ste� en Seibert said on Twitter.

“We have managed to agree on the

main issues,” Russian President Vladi-mir Putin said.

The four leaders had committed to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and ter-ritorial integrity, according to a joint declaration distributed by the Kremlin.

“The main thing which has been achieved is that from Saturday into Sunday there should be declared with-out any conditions at all, a general cease� re,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told journalists.

French President Francois Hollande said there was still much work to be done on the Ukraine crisis, but the agreement was a real chance to ame-liorate the situation.

He said pro-Russian separatists, who had at one point appeared to re-ject the deal, had signed up to it.

Merkel and Hollande joined Poro-shenko and Putin for a marathon ne-gotiating session that began early on Wednesday evening and continued into yesterday morning.

The summit discussions came as pro-Moscow separatists tightened the

pressure on Kiev by launching some of the war’s worst � ghting on Wednesday, killing 19 Ukrainian soldiers in assaults near the railway town of Debaltseve.

As the � ghting escalated, Washing-ton has begun openly talking of arming Ukraine to defend itself from “Russian aggression,” raising the prospect of a proxy war in the heart of Europe be-tween Cold War foes.

The outcome of the Minsk talks is expected to in� uence discussions at an EU summit in Brussels yesterday, when sanctions against Moscow will be on the agenda. A deal would likely mean a softer line toward Moscow.

Merkel and Hollande were expected to arrive late for the Brussels meeting but would urge the European Union to support the Minsk deal.

The talks took place as an Interna-tional Monetary Fund mission agreed a bailout to save Ukraine from bankruptcy.

The Fund provisionally agreed a $17.5bn facility with Ukraine, part of a $40bn funding package, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said.

Kiev and Nato accuse Russia of sup-plying separatists with men and weap-ons. Moscow denies it is involved in � ghting for territory Putin calls “New Russia.”

As the French and German lead-ers peace initiative was announced, pro-Russian rebels appeared deter-mined to drive home their advantage ahead of a deal.

Armored columns of Russian-speak-ing soldiers with no insignia have been advancing for days around Debaltseve, which has seen heavy � ghting in re-cent days.

On the Russian side of the border, Moscow has begun military exercises in 12 regions involving more than 30 missile regiments, RIA news agency reported yesterday, citing a Defense Ministry o� cial.

The United States has been openly discussing arming the Ukrainian gov-ernment, a move that is opposed by Eu-ropean allies who say it would escalate the con� ict while falling far short of giv-ing Kiev the � repower needed to win. l

No, a Russian military occupation of Ukraine isn’t on the tablen Reuters

Post-revolutionary Ukraine wants a stable � ow of West-ern military support, includ-ing lethal weapons. Many in Ukraine believe this is only this way to save the coun-try from total occupation by Russia.

But let’s get real. Nucle-ar Russia spends 50 times more on its army annually than Ukraine does, and it has about four times more soldiers and six times as many military aircraft. It could take over Ukraine in a matter of days. Kiev is just 120 miles from the Russian border. And although no-body knows for sure what’s inside Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mind, the occupation of Ukraine is not on the table, at least not yet. Instead, it looks like a co-vert invasion of east Ukraine suits Russia much more: it keeps Ukraine on the verge of collapsing, robbing the country and its potential investors of any sense of stability, without using the military might required for a full invasion.

Arming Ukraine will not � x the country’s huge mili-tary imbalance with Russia. Unless, of course, Western allies are ready to shell out $70bn per year. That’s what it would take to match Rus-sia’s military. Finding that kind of cash is unlikely. Ukraine is having a hard time getting the estimated $15bn it needs to avoid default this year. Importantly, a war-fa-tigued United States, which is preparing for presiden-tial elections in 2016, would scarcely seem to be open to military involvement in yet another country.

At the same time, solving the problem is a lot more complex that simply provid-ing Ukraine with weapons. The country is ravaged by corruption, and its political system and economy is in shambles. Any military sup-port would have to be con-ditional upon e� ective re-forms. Without that, arming Ukraine would be irresponsi-ble — it would be no di� erent to giving a gun to a crook.

The Ukrainian army, too, is widely considered to be plagued by corruption and incompetence. It is also re-portedly in� ltrated by Rus-sian intelligence. This might be why, despite a strong patriotic rally for the push against Russia, there have been reports of rising num-bers of Ukrainians avoiding the draft. Ukraine’s lead-ers have acknowledged the problem and have pledged to clean up the nation’s military. We can give the Ukrainian government credit for that. Still, after almost 25 years of a near kleptocracy, this could take years. War isn’t helping.

So far, there are no indica-tions that there is any time-table for a potential US arms drop to Ukraine, let alone that the United States in in-deed serious about doing so. The State Department could just be testing the waters or trying to scare Russia o� from advancing further.

If that’s the case, it’s un-likely that will work either. Have you checked the Rus-sian media lately? The most popular story making the rounds right now (and also the most hilarious example of Russian propaganda) is about Putin being “able to � nish Nato with just one phone-call.” Indeed, harsher rhet-oric will only help Putin in rallying more domestic sup-port for his agenda, as it will strengthen his claim that the West is interfering in Ukraine.

The Russian leader will un-doubtedly use military threats from the West to support his position that Nato countries are aggressors, trying to suf-focate Russia by expanding militarily on its border.

There are only two ways to stop Russia’s attempt to control Ukraine by stealth. Strengthen Ukraine by pres-suring the government to introduce much-needed re-forms. E� ective anti-corrup-tion measures need to be in-troduced now that will make obsolete the remnants of Ukraine’s kleptocracy. Gen-eral distrust and frustration with crooks on every level of the Ukrainian bureaucracy was one of the main sources of secessionist sentiments in eastern Ukrainian provinces. Russia has exploited this all too well. At the same time, the West should continue bringing pressure to bear on Russia through its economic sanctions — if it wants to get tougher on Russia, it can al-ways ramp these up.

There are plenty of sensi-ble, and e� ective, measures the West could support to help the situation. Providing more guns and ammunition in this volatile part of the world is not one of them. l

Spain: Toxic cloud spreads over 5 towns after chemical blastn AP, Madrid

Spanish authorities ordered the residents of � ve north-eastern towns to stay in-doors for some two hours yesterday after a chemical explosion at a warehouse spread a large, orange toxic cloud over the area.

A spokeswoman for Cat-alonia’s regional � re� ghting department said the blast occurred when products being delivered to a ware-house in the city of Igualada became mixed, exploded and set a truck on � re. She

said two people were slight-ly injured.

Fire� ghters said the chemicals were nitric acid and ferric chloride.

The region’s Civil Pro-tection department or-dered some 65,000 res-idents of Igualada and four nearby towns to stay indoors until the cloud dissipated.

The order was lifted two hours later but maintained for pregnant women, chil-dren, elderly people and those with respiratory problems. l

UN urges Europe to rescue migrants rescue mission in Mediterraneann Reuters

The European Union (EU) must estab-lish a full-scale search-and-rescue op-eration to avoid more tragedies involv-ing migrants in the Mediterranean, the United Nations’ chief refugee o� cial said yesterday.

UN High Commissioner for Refu-gees Antonio Guterres was speaking after more than 300 people died trying to cross the sea from Africa to Italy this week, adding pressure on Europe to expand a border operation that lacks a clear mandate to save lives.

“There can be no doubt left after this week’s events that Europe’s Oper-ation Triton is a woefully inadequate replacement for Italy’s Mare Nostrum,” Guterres said in a statement.

The Italian operation was aban-doned after criticism that its aggressive search-and-rescue patrols encouraged migrants. Triton is more focused on protecting borders.

“The focus has to be about saving lives. We need a robust search-and-res-cue operation in the Central Mediterra-nean, not only a border patrol,” he said.

Migrants and asylum-seekers from Syria and sub-Saharan Africa have been crossing the Mediterranean, of-ten departing from Libya, aboard rub-ber dinghies in severe winter condi-tions, marking a deadly early start to the migration season, aid agencies say.

If Europe does not implement a wid-er operation “it is inevitable that many more people will die trying to reach safety in Europe,” Guterres said. l

Greece bailout talks: No agreement in Brussels n BBC

Greek and eurozone o� cials have failed to reach an agreement over Greece’s debt crisis, though both sides said there was still hope for a deal.

Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijs-selbloem said seven hours of talks in Brussels had been “constructive.”

But they ended without a joint statement to outline procedural steps ahead of further talks next Monday.

Greece says its bailout deal with the EU is punitive and must end. The EU has warned Greece to abide by the deal.

Greece’s government, led by the radical left-wing Syriza party, says the conditions of the €240bn (£182bn; $272bn) bailout have impoverished Greece.

It was elected on a promise to end the bailout and ease the austerity mea-sures that have accompanied it.

The government has proposed to overhaul 30% of its bailout obligations, replacing them with a 10-point plan of reforms.

However, Greece’s creditors in the EU, led by Germany, have insisted

that the terms of the bailout cannot be altered.

All are aware that the clock is tick-ing. If there is not an agreement within two weeks to extend the current bail-out then Greece will not be eligible for a €7bn loan and shortly after will run out of money.

At the moment there is deadlock. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras cannot go back to the Greek people if the ex-isting deal is extended.

He will be accused of having misled the the voters.

The Germans, the Dutch, the Span-ish and others are not prepared to tell their voters that the Greeks are getting a new deal.

O� cials from the two sides have been locked in negotiations aimed at reaching a deal on Greece’s debt re-payments that would stave o� the prospect of its exit from the euro-zone - a prospect viewed with fear by the markets.

Mr Dijsselbloem, who heads the Eu-rogroup eurozone � nance ministers, said after the meeting on Wednesday that there had been no discussion of detailed proposals. l

France’s President Francois Hollande, right, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel hug each other during a press conference after a summit aimed at ending 10 months of � ghting in Ukraine in Minsk yesterday AFP

There are only two ways to stop Russia’s attempt to control Ukraine by stealth

Friday, February 13, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE World 9

Kejriwal meets Modi, invites him for swearing-inn Agencies

Delhi Chi ef minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal yesterday met PM Narendra Modi and invited him for the swear-ing-in ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan on February 14.

However, the Prime Minister ex-pressed his inability as he would be out of the city on that day.

Arvind Kejriwal was accompanied by Manish Sisodia for his meeting with the Prime Minister.

Talking to reporters after Arvind Kerjiwal’s meeting with PM Narendra Modi, Manish Sisodia said that they had a good talk with the PM.

It was a “chai pe charcha” on full statehood for Delhi, Sisodia said about Kejriwal-Modi meeting.

The PM assured us that he would think over AAP’s demand to grant Del-hi full statehood, Sisodia added.

Earlier, in an audio message released yesterday morning, Arvind Kerjiwal also invited Delhiites to come to Ram-lila Maidan and attend his oath-taking ceremony.

Kejriwal and his close aide Man-ish Sisodia had raised the issue of full statehood for Delhi at their � rst meet-ing with Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday.

Kejriwal had also met Presi-dent Pranab Mukherjee and Union urban development minister

Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday.Sources said the party has already

started working on its vision for Delhi though it would o� cially take charge only after the swearing-in on Saturday. At a meeting with the chief secretary, DM Spolia, Kejriwal asked him to get all departments to make presentations on the status of projects, schemes and policies on February 19.

Sisodia, Patparganj MLA and a for-mer minister, told TOI that the CS has also been asked to present an action plan to prevent any kind of shortage of power, water and vegetables during the summer months. “There is usually a crisis over power, water and vegeta-bles during summer. We have asked the CS to ensure that adequate arrange-ments are in place,” he said.

After the swearing-in on Saturday, the government will be seen on course to deliver the promises made in the party manifesto. A citizen’s charter, an anti-corruption regime under Jan Lokpal and conversion of the MLA funds to Citizens Local Area Devel-opment Funds are likely to be on the priority list.

The AAP government is expected to give relief to Delhiites on power and water bills. Last time, a subsidy of 50% per unit was given to power consumers in the 0-400 units bracket and 20 kilo-litres of water per month was supplied for free. l

Suu Kyi not likely to have a shot at presidency n Reuters

A new law that enables Myan-mar to hold a referendum on amending the constitution is unlikely to bring changes that would allow opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to become president after this year’s gen-eral election, a ruling party MP said yesterday.

President Thein Sein has signed o� on a constitution-al referendum law, lawmak-ers said on Wednesday. The move comes after domestic and international pressure to reform Myanmar’s politi-cal system, which is stacked

in favor of the military.Suu Kyi and her National

League for Democracy (NLD) party have been pushing for changes to the constitution, which the military drafted. One clause bars anyone whose children or spouse are foreign-ers from becoming president, which is seen aimed at Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, whose two sons are British citizens.

Shwe Maung, an MP from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), said the clause is unlikely to be in-cluded if a referendum is held this year.

Bringing that section to ref-

erendum would require support from 76% of parliamentarians, but such a move would be op-posed by unelected military MPs who hold 25% of the seats and many in the USDP, which holds most seats and is made up largely of former military o� -cers, he said.

“I don’t expect a rapid change,” he said. “If it’s not pos-sible this time, maybe in a fu-ture referendum.”

Myanmar’s president is cho-sen by parliamentarians after the general election.

It’s unclear whether the ref-erendum would be held at all this year. l

Little noticed, new Saudi king shapes contours of powern Reuters

By rapidly appointing two heirs, Saudi Ara-bia’s King Salman has pressed pause on “succession Sudoku,” as one leading local journalist calls speculation over whose star is rising and whose waning in the large and secretive Al Saud ruling family.

The choice of 69-year-old Muqrin for crown prince and 55-year-old Moham-med bin Nayef for deputy crown prince resolved the most important dilemma in the dynasty’s recent history - how to jump from sons of its founder, King Abdulaziz, to his grandsons.

Yet while much attention has focused on the naming of Muqrin and bin Nayef, less noticed moves have indicated broad-er changes in the contours of how the Al Saud manage their power and which young princes might rule the world’s top oil ex-porter and key Western ally in future.

After decades during which top jobs were held by the same handful of people, these appointments appear to set in place a new ruling team to dominate Saudi politics at a time of unprecedented regional turmoil and long-term challenges.

The most important change appears to be the creation of two new super-commit-tees that give Mohammed bin Nayef and the king’s own son Mohammed bin Salman extensive control over most aspects of Sau-di policy making.

Mohammed bin Nayef, who is also Interior Minister, now heads a commit-tee on politics and security that will de-velop Saudi strategy on how to tackle Iran, Islamic State, wars in Iraq and Syr-ia, the crisis in Yemen and treatment of domestic dissidents.

Mohammed bin Salman, who at age 35 has also been named Defense Minister and head of the Royal Court, heads a committee on economic and development policy that makes his voice the most important on big long term issues confronting the kingdom.

“Aside from those who are close to the

prince, people don’t know that much about Mohammed bin Salman, but he is coming very strong. He is in e� ect the prime min-ister because he has so much power in his hands,” said Saudi political scientist Khaled al-Dakhil.

To some Western analysts, Salman’s moves also appeared to stress a pendulum swing to the so-called Sudairi block of the Al Saud, the seven brothers born to Ab-dulaziz by his favorite wife, from a group of princes long led by the late Abdullah.

The new king is one of those brothers, and Mohammed bin Nayef is the son of an-other. By concentrating power in the hands of himself, his own son, and the son of a Su-dairi brother, Salman was seen by some as advancing his branch of the family.

That analysis appeared to be bolstered by the fact that unlike his predecessors, Crown Prince Muqrin, seen as loyal to Abdullah, was not given a large minis-terial role of his own to cement an inde-pendent powerbase before eventually becoming king.

Salman’s rapid dismissal of two of Ab-dullah’s sons as governors of Riyadh and Mecca, two of the three most important Saudi provinces, was seen in the same way.

However, decades on from their 1980s heyday, it is far from clear that the Sudairis still constitute a coherent faction, say in-formed Saudis and diplomats.

The blood tie that set seven full broth-ers apart from their dozens of half siblings are less relevant between cousins who are widely spread out in age and who lack the bonds their fathers and uncles forged during a 1960s family power struggle.

Saudi analysts say alliances and rivalries among the leading Al Saud now have more to do with their own personal histories.

Questions over power blocs in the Al Saud are all too relevant in a kingdom where succession does not pass directly from father to eldest son, but by an idio-syncratic process of royal decree, seniority, experience and family acquiescence. l

Convict gets one-year jail term in ‘nut rage’ casen Reuters

A South Korean court sentenced the daughter of Korean Air Lines’ chair-man to one year in prison, after � nding her guilty over an on-board incident in New York concerning the way she was served nuts in � rst class.

Heather Cho, the airline’s former head of in-� ight service, violated the law by ordering the plane to return to the gate after it started to taxi on Dec. 5, the court ruled yesterday.

Cho had demanded the � ight crew chief be expelled from the � ight after she was served macadamia nuts in a bag, and not on a dish. The South Ko-rea-bound plane, which had started to move away from the gate, had to return.

The so-called “nut rage” episode

triggered scorn and outrage in a coun-try whose economy is dominated by family-run conglomerates known as chaebol, and where many are fed up with the rich and powerful escaping punishment for bad behavior.

“This is a case where human dignity was trampled upon,” Judge Oh Sung-woo said.

The court said it took into account that Cho was the mother of 20-month-old twins and had already su� ered, but added that her conduct had seri-ously harmed the victims. Cho, 40, has been in custody since Dec. 30.

“It’s my understanding that she is repenting,” said her lawyer, Suh Chang-hee, adding that he would discuss whether to appeal against the ruling. Korean Air declined to comment. l

North Korea � ghts for ‘people’s dreams’n Reuters

“Let the strong wind of � sh farming blow across the country!”“Let the wives of o� cers become dependable assistants

to their husbands!”“Let us turn the whole country into a socialist fairyland

by the joint operation of the army and people!”North Korea released a list of more than 300 new politi-

cal slogans yesterday to mark 70 years since the foundation of the isolated state and its ruling Workers’ Party.

The slogans, which ran to more than 7,000 words in translation and spanned two pages of the party’s broad-sheet newspaper, called for a wide range of improvements including “more stylish school uniforms” and “organic farming on an extensive scale.” North Korea is a highly cen-tralised state where government policy is often dictated via vague party-level directives which are distributed as slo-gans to regional o� cials to be memorised and carried out.

The new slogans included some of the belligerent rhet-oric North Korea frequently directs at its foes the United States and South Korea: “Should the enemy dare to invade our country, annihilate them to the last man so that none of them will survive to sign the instrument of surrender!”

Some of the slogans, which were jointly released by par-ty political and military committees, gave industry-specif-ic instructions such as “Let us turn ours into a country of mushrooms by making mushroom cultivation scienti� c, intensive and industrialised!” l

An idol of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pictured yesterday at a temple erected in his honour at Kotharia village near Rajkot, some 225 kms from Ahmedabad. Fans of Narendra Modi on February 12 scrapped plans to open a temple in his honour after the Indian premier said he was ‘appalled’ by the idea. Modi supporters had invested thousands of dollars in the temple in his home state of Gujarat, which houses a large statue of the charismatic leader – a famously natty dresser – and was due to open on Saturday. Fans of Narendra Modi yesterday scrapped plans to open a temple in his honour after the Indian premier said he was ‘appalled’ by the idea. But they decided to rededicate the temple to ‘Mother India’ after the prime minister strongly criticised the plan, saying it went against the country’s traditions. ‘We had built the temple to express our love and faith in Modiji,’ project organiser Ramesh Udhad told AFP, using an Indian honori� c to describe the prime minister. ‘But if he is unhappy or hurt by our gesture, we will remove his statue.’ Udhad said Sunday’s opening ceremony had been cancelled and the statue of Modi, who appears dressed in his trademark collarless jacket and a sa� ron sash, covered with a tarpaulin. ‘Building such temples is not what our culture teaches us,’ Modi tweeted earlier yesterday. ‘I was appalled. This is shocking and against India’s great traditions,’ he said, urging supporters instead to focus their energies on his � agship campaign to clean up India AFP

T H E W O R L D ’ S L AT E S T D E I T Y

A giant step backwardsWe denounce in the strongest terms the government’s

decision to bar communications between local and foreign persons or organisations, and the indigenous population of

the Chittagong Hill Tracts area. At a time when we should be moving forward by eliminating discriminatory policies, we have taken a massive a step backwards by introducing a policy of separation.

These directives – which have already been sent out by the Home Ministry – mandate the presence of a local administration, military, or BGB o� cial if a local or foreign individual wishes to meet with an indigenous person in the area. That mandate is retrograde and patently absurd.

There can be no justi� cation for barriers to interaction between the indigenous, Bengali, and foreign communities.

We side with the widespread condemnation the move has already been met with, and believe the move is a racist and communalistic one, that will do nothing to resolve tensions in the CHT region. Rather, it is a great shame that a nation with a secular constitution has begun to enforce institutionalised apartheid.

These policies would indeed be a violation of the basic constitutional freedoms of the citizens of the country. Enforcing separation is not the way to bring about peace in the CHT, and the present move will clamp down on indigenous rights even further, instead of forwarding them.

We urge the government to scrap this disgraceful measure, and work towards a policy of greater openness.

No free passes for state-owned banksIt is highly disconcerting to see the state-owned Sonali Bank write

o� a very large loan embezzled by the scam-hit Hallmark group. The executive committee of Sonali Bank recently approved a Tk2,086cr

loan write-o� proposal in favour of a total of 23 clients, of which Tk1,700cr is attributed to the scam-hit Hallmark group alone.

Sonali Bank has, in the past, proven itself a white elephant for the government. This is a fact that still holds true for the majority of our state-owned banks. That Sonali is being allowed to write o� loans for a dubious organisation such as Hallmark should be raising red � ags in the concerned sectors.

It is imperative that proper investigations be made into the conduct of Sonali Bank and the writing o� of bad loans, and action be taken accordingly.

The cost of loans issued by banks is eventually borne by the people. We should stop footing this bill.

Around a quarter of all loans issued by state-owned commercial banks are classi� ed as NPLs, while state-run banks are even worse, at nearly a third. The state-owned Sonali Bank, Rupali Bank, Janata Bank, and Agrani Bank have witnessed drastic rises in default loan rates, which badly a� ected each bank’s capital adequacy ratio, with some of them having very little to show for in terms of cash recovery as well.

Though its prospects at pro� tability may have improved somewhat, with this newest disaster, Sonali Bank has once again made the case for the prompt shutdown or absorption into the private sector of state-owned banks.

Shibir calls 48-hour hartalin Rajshahi divisionJanuary 27

publicVery good. They are burning trucks and inno-cent people. These terrorists should be killed on the spot by our law enforcement agents or elite commandos.

ACC moves to revive Gatco case against KhaledaJanuary 28

Dr Ahsan HabibACC is a spineless puppet of the ruling party. Shame on them.

Police demand logistic and manpower support to ensure highway security

roseThe problems of the police should be highlight-ed more and solved as soon as possible.

Experts: Price hike hearings ‘violated the law’January 28

Sheikh RahmanWhy not allow the private sector or electricity producers to import oil/diesel directly. Let BPC worry about how to pay for their past follies and mismanagement without burdening the average consumer.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, February 13, 2015

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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

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

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There can be no justi� cation for barriers between communities

The cost of loans issued by banks is eventually borne by the people. We should stop footing this bill

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Rodents (4)3 Snakes (4)7 Period of time (3)8 Supreme delight (5)11 Branch o� shoot (4)12 Flower (5)13 Disdain (5)15 Hasty (4)18 Season (4)19 Beat with a stick (5)20 Naming words (5)21 Decline in power (4)23 Short remnant (5)24 Fuss (3)25 Daybreak (4)26 Curve (4)

DOWN1 Strong and healthy (6)2 Three-legged stand (6)4 Ply the needle (3)5 Minister (6)6 Droop (3)9 Calm (6)10 O� spring (3)11 Oppressive ruler (6)14 Shrill-sounding insect (6)16 Take for granted (6)17 Assisted (6)19 Public transport (3)21 Small lump (3)22 Today (3)

CROSSWORD

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.

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 18 represents B so � ll B every time the � gure 18 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate 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.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZHow and why are hartals legal?

January 29VoiceIntheWildernessThe best translation I know for “hartal” is “hostage situation,” in which the population of the country are held hostage to the will of the violent, non-� ex-ible rulers who make street warriors kill innocent mothers and fathers, burn children, and terrorise the population through fear, lost wages, damage to property, assault, and murders – in short, carnage. I have been through � ve years of hartals and cannot remember a single time it had improved anything. It has only resulted in more scars, more graves, and more murderers roaming the country.

Murder and violence are not “civil rights,” part of a civil discussion, nor a democratic debate. If insanity is doing something again and again and expecting a di� erent result, then hartals in Bangla-desh are mass insanity.

Farhad FaisalIt was Mahatma Gandhi who called, probably for the � rst time, a “hartal” or a day to close all shops and businesses as a protest against the Rowlatt Act of 1919. At the same time, he required that a hartal be non-violent, and indeed, urged the peo-ple to observe the day “in prayer and fasting.” Such a non-violent hartal is clearly commensurate with

the general principles of democratic and human rights, as well as with the constitutional rights of Bangladeshi citizens for political, economic, or social protest.

It appears that the right of hartal upheld by the highest court of the country is to be understood as the right to non-violent hartals in this original sense. Any exercise of violence, arson, or killing by anyone falls under the existing general criminal laws and the state is evidently entitled to, and in fact, required to prosecute, punish, and, prevent any such instigator/perpetrator of violent acts during a hartal as well.

It should be recalled too in this context that no individual citizen, party, or voluntary organisation has the right to use violent methods in general, and/or to administer justice and punishment – that is the prerogative, and duty, of the state and its institutions, as sanctioned by the law. Therefore, what appears at this juncture of history to be of greater relevance, than formulating a problematic new law prohibiting “violent hartals,” is to enhance the actual ability and capacity of the state to pre-vent violence and secure the safety of its citizens without thereby overstepping the boundary of the law.

MRPs for 9 million expats a big challengeJanuary 28

Nizam AhmadBangladesh government should leave manpower export to manpower entrepreneurs, but the govt functionaries and politicians in power want control over everything – it gives them power and miracu-lous amounts of wealth in a short time. Strengthen laws to nab the manpower cheats, bringing in the govt doesn’t nab cheats.

First tender for Metro rail on Jan 31January 27

Vivien ShoesmithWay to go Dhaka!

Innocent civilians doubly victimisedJanuary 27

Sharif AhmedDestination of BD: Mass people at risk of being seized!

Should security be private?January 29

Karl HungusGiven the current state of a� airs, Bangladesh (Dha-ka, more than any place else) needs PMCs more than PSCs methinks.

Passengers su� er during inde� nite blockade

January 28

Nizam AhmadPeople pay the price for politicians’ lust for

power. We are cowards and idiots.

PM to police: Do whatever necessary to stop violence

January 28

Shakir Adnan“Do whatever necessary to stop violence,” but

that is wrong, seeing how law still exists. The police can’t go against the rules ...

Michelle Obama navigates limits on women in Saudi

January 28

Mokaddim FarhanIt’s important to mention that ban on women

driving vehicles is solely a KSA thing. Islamic sharia has nothing to do with that.

11Op-Ed Friday, February 13, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Achala C Abeysinghe

The year 2015 is a critical year for global climate negotiations. The agreement adopted at the

climate summit in Paris in December (COP21) will test the willingness of countries to act collectively to ensure an ambitious and e� ective global agreement that secures a sustainable future for all. As negotiators gather in Geneva, the pressure is on to deliver a � nal negotiating text for the 2015 agreement.

The Geneva expectationsThe reason for this pressure is that Geneva is the only session planned before the May 2015 deadline when, according to the UN’s six-month rule, the negotiating text for a potential protocol under the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) must be put on the table.

The aim of this new climate agreement was established at COP17 in Durban, South Africa, in 2011 with the adoption of the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (Durban Platform), where countries agreed on the need for an ambitious agreement that has “legal force” and is “applicable to all.”

In Geneva, negotiators will be resuming work on the 37-page “elements of the negotiating text” adopted as an annex to the Lima call for climate action in December last year, with much work to be done to streamline the language and further

clarify positions of the negotiating parties.

Ambition set in DurbanThe Durban Platform calls on all parties to take ambitious climate action under a mutually-agreed, global, rule-based system and to cooperate to further implement the convention (ie, by acting to stabilise greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions).

While the 1997 Kyoto Protocol addressed emissions from only 38 of the parties, the new agreement covers emissions from them all. It will also address other issues, including adaptation, means of implementation for developing countries, and transparency of action and support.

In Geneva, talks are expected to focus on text on all these themes. As a concession to the heavy workload, negotiation sessions in Geneva will continue until 8pm, rather than stopping at 6pm.

The road aheadThe journey to Paris is currently following two separate tracks.

On one track, progress depends on the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCSs) delivered by parties. INDCs will set out how individual countries will contribute to the 2015 agreement.

In Lima, countries decided that each INDC will include a mitigation component; that each party’s INDC must go beyond existing

commitments; and that countries can include their own assessments of how their contributions are fair and ambitious.

Parties that are ready to do so are requested to communicate their INDCs by the end of March.

Others, such as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States, may communicate information on strategies, plans, and actions for low GHG emission development re� ecting their special circumstances.

Parties may also provide voluntary information about the INDC, such as the baseline for GHG emission reductions, the time-frames and/or periods for implementation, scope and coverage, and planning processes to facilitate clarity, transparency, and understanding.

However, it is not mandatory for countries to provide this information. Yet, without such information, there can be little real transparency about countries’ commitments and, crucially, comparisons between them will be very di� cult.

Under the Lima call for climate action, the UNFCCC secretariat is asked to publish countries’ INDCs online and to prepare a synthesis report on the aggregated contributions by October 1. This is intended to demonstrate the extent to which countries have collectively contributed to achieving the ultimate objective of the convention.

However, none of these arrangements currently ensures that the bottom-up INDCs will generate an ambitious and rigorous enough joint global e� ort to secure a low-carbon, climate-resilient, and safe future for the planet. In Geneva, parties have an opportunity to informally discuss and exchange ideas on generating ambition through their INDCs. They also have a chance to exchange views on the support available for developing countries in preparing their INDCs.

At the same time, progress on the second track is being made through the negotiating process for the main agreement. The growing momentum towards Paris seems to be encouraging broad participation, even if the initial ambition of INDCs might be low.

However, this means that the structure of the 2015 agreement needs to allow countries to ratchet up their ambition over time, ensuring that the future international climate agreement is truly meaningful. Hopefully, Geneva

will deliver the negotiating text for this track to complete its work by the end the year with a framework that facilitates such a meaningful agreement.

Obstacles on the roadThere are also major sticking points. There is currently no consensus among parties whether to include an international review mechanism in order to ratchet up ambition over time, or on how to apply the principle

of common but di� erentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities between developed and developing countries.

Other areas of disagreement are over the long-term temperature goal, commitments to � nance needed for climate action in developing countries, commitments to enhancing adaptation actions and encouraging climate resilience development, addressing loss and damage due to climate impacts, addressing barriers to

technology transfer and agreeing on an international compliance mechanism.

All of these will require lengthy negotiations and hard compromises. The “Geneva streamlined text” will allow parties to more e� ectively negotiate on these issues in the coming sessions.

Parties will seek to hold three more negotiating sessions before Paris, including the June session held in Bonn and two additional sessions towards the end of this year. If Geneva delivers the streamlined � nal negotiating text for the 2015 agreement, it will be translated into six UN o� cial languages ready for the real negotiations for the � nal agreement starting with the session in June.

As such, Geneva is the most important step this year for delivering a new global climate agreement in Paris. It will help further clarify how the current pragmatic hybrid architecture, combining the bottom-up INDCs and top-down international rules, to ensure that ambition will be applied in the new agreement.

We hope that the parties will use time in Geneva constructively for this purpose, rather than succumbing to lengthy procedural discussions. l

Achala C Abeysinghe is Principal Researcher at the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED). This article � rst appeared on www.iied.org and is reprinted with permission from the International Institute of Environment and Development.

n Nadeem Qadir

Being neutral is essential for a journalist while reporting. But these days it has become

a fashion for many people who play an important role in Bangladesh’s sociopolitical arena. Even during a crisis, it appears, in the name of neutrality, greater issues or national interests are ignored.

Professor M Shahiduzzaman, my learned teacher in Dhaka University, said in a TV talk show that the opposition BNP is now resorting to terrorism as it has no choice due to government repression. Is terrorism the only answer to alleged repression? He also agreed in some way that BNP is politically bankrupt.

Khaleda Zia sits una� ected in her o� ce waiting for the miracle to happen – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation by hook or by crook. It is clear that she is desperately trying to bring in the armed forces into the political impasse or foreign pressure at the cost of innocent lives by resorting to terror acts like � rebombings.

She has, after harming the national economy, chosen to target education with no mercy for children appearing for the school-leaving SSC examinations. A politician who cares little for the national economy or the fate of education of children cannot be the � ag-bearer of a country.

Unfortunately, after more than 60 deaths in � rebombings so far, the so-called civil society came out with a plan that totally ignored Khaleda Zia’s crime, but in some ways appeared to be rewarding her in the name of neutrality.

When Dr Akbar Ali Khan tells a TV channel that the courts will decide who the bombers are, and before that, it would be improper to point � ngers at any group or individual, is that being neutral? That came as a shock to me from a man of his stature.

This faction of civil society only looked at problems that could be solved by the government giving in to all the demands of the opposition, but miserably failed to say a word against the terror tactics being used by the BNP-Jamaat alliance. It has been proved who are behind the terror attacks. So, it is a choice they made in the name of neutrality and democracy.

Also, the civil society needed to acknowledge that Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina o� ered important cabinet posts during the interim period to the BNP-led alliance, and she had personally telephoned Khaleda Zia, and we all know the fate of the telephone call. Sheikh Hasina also went to console Khaleda on her son’s premature death, but the gates were locked. The latest is Education Minister Nahid’s appeal for some concession on the SSC tests.

Prof Shahiduzzaman has agreed that the BNP made a mistake by opting to stay out of the 2014 elections.

Has the civil society ever ques-tioned why the national exchequer should su� er from another poll within one year due to a tactical mistake by a political leader, and if it will solve all the problems? A return of the AL in a fresh election is very likely, and then, will this faction of the civil society ask for another poll? They have to make a choice, and a prudent one too.

A choice has to be made also about who are the possible future leaders of these alliances since in a few years, both the premier and Khaleda will decide on their choice of successors. Sajeeb Wazed Joy is visible, but he has so far not given any clear signs of taking on the leadership of his grandfather’s AL.

And even if he did, I personally feel an educated and decent man may make a good leader. On the other hand, Tarqiue Rahman, who is calling the shots from London, is clearly the new BNP-alliance leader. With all his ill-repute, I would not hesitate to say that not only myself, but many within his alliance will think twice before accepting his leadership.

The strikes are � zzling out, and the blockade will follow suit soon. Then it would be time to punish the killers in the � rebombings and put an end to such bizarre actions in the name of politics.

It is also about the choice between patronising war criminals or terrorists versus punishing war criminals and progressive forces.

People have made one choice very clear. Leave us out of your political � ght. We do not support forced actions by politicians, neither do we want the authorities to do anything to hamper citizens’ lives. Peace is the winner, and that is the choice of our golden Bengal. l

Nadeem Qadir, a senior journalist, is a UNCA Dag Hammarskjold Scholar in journalism.

The choice

Climate negotiations on the road to Paris

Geneva is the most important step this year for delivering a new global climate agreement in Paris

The strikes are � zzling out, and the blockade will follow suit soon. Then it would be time to punish the killers

A choice has to be made also about the possible future leaders of these alliances

n Zafar Sobhan

We’ve heard it all before.

The rhetoric being peddled by the government and its

boosters in the pro-government media is now more or less indistinguishable from that put out by the Bush administration and parroted on Fox News in the aftermath of 9/11.

We see the same chest-thumping and bellicose posturing that used to be a staple of US political discourse, the same moral preening, the same bullying line of argument, as each ruling party leader vies to outdo the others in appearing tough on terror and uncompromising in the face of terrorist atrocities.

We see the same denigration of anyone who o� ers any but the most simplistic of good versus evil, black and white narratives of the current crisis, or suggests any kind of introspection on the part of the government, or counsels any form of compromise or dialog.

They are just as bad as the terrorists, we are told.

Indeed, let me hasten to make clear at this point that I completely, utterly, and unequivocally condemn terrorism and the targeting of innocent civilians, and let me rea� rm that there can never be any justi� cation for such atrocities.

Just so there is no confusion, you understand?

You see, if I do not preface anything I wish to say about the current political situation with a pithy denunciation of terrorism, then I run the risk of being seen as a terrorist sympathiser, if not

an abettor, if not an instigator. To repeat: I am against torching

buses and burning people to death. Please make no mistake on this point.

Unfortunately for the government, this kind of George W Bush: “You are either with us or you are with the terrorists” argument is � nding few takers in Bangladesh. The truth is that when Bush originally tried to stake out such a position, it found few takers here then, either, and in a sense inoculated Bangladeshis against such an argument.

The problem that the AL government faces is that the War on Terror, as articulated by George W Bush in 2001, never gained any rhetorical traction in the Muslim world, and that to try and apply its logic in a country like Bangladesh is bound to run into skepticism if not outright mockery.

In the � rst place, we are far too aware of how the fear of terrorism can be whipped up into an excuse to conduct witch-hunts against one’s enemies, both real and imaginary, and to justify the most appallingly

repressive measures in the name of counter-terrorism.

We are also aware that the moral di� erence between those who commit acts of terror and the state terrorism that arises in response to it is not as wide and clear-cut as the authorities would like us to believe, and that there exists a murky under-belly to every anti-terror agenda that is in many ways almost as sinister as the force it professes to counter.

We are also well aware that while nothing can justify the targeting of innocents, that it is nonetheless foolish not to try to comprehend the root cause of such atrocities or to try to pretend that past and present injustice is in no way connected to terror.

No one justi� es � ying planes into buildings and killing 3,000 innocent people, but by the same token, the argument that US foreign policy was a contributory factor to the atrocity of 9/11 is something that is acknowledged by the more thoughtful commentators in the West and by virtually everyone in Bangladesh.

No one justi� es the human rights abuses of the so-called Islamic State or believes that anyone is ultimately responsible for their reprehensible actions other than those who commit them, but by the same token, it is also true to state that had there been no second Gulf War, the world would have likely been spared the horrors of IS.

In short, the existence of the Islamic State is the fault of George W Bush, and everybody knows it.

If he hadn’t invaded Iraq, they wouldn’t be there today. Recognising this does not in any way minimise Islamic State culpability and

responsibility for their atrocities, but it does provide necessary context and suggest that it is fair to be blamed for the foreseeable consequences of your actions and policies.

There is such a thing as blowback. We understand this very well when we look at the War on Terror in a global context. Actions have consequences. It is a basic and universal moral principle that we can and must hold parties responsible for the consequences of their actions.

This does not mean that George W Bush is as guilty as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for Islamic State crimes against humanity. Not even close. But it does mean that he is not entirely guiltless, either.

Now that the War on Terror has been imported to our door-step, the government should not be surprised when trotting out warmed-over War on Terror rhetoric is met with indi� erence and cynicism by the Bangladeshi public. Nor is it right for the government to take such skepticism to suggest that the population is on the side of the terrorists.

Berating the public for insu� cient moral fortitude in the face of the ongoing carnage, or suggesting that those who are not convinced, either by the government’s rhetoric or its tactics, are part of the problem, is simply not a winning argument in the Bangladeshi political context.

You are not going to win the hearts and minds of the people by identifying with a mind-set and spouting rhetoric that has long ago been discredited in the eyes of the Bangladeshi public. l

Zafar Sobhan is the Editor, Dhaka Tribune.

George W HasinaS T R A I G H T T A L K

The government should not be surprised when trotting out warmed-over War on Terror rhetoric is met with indi� erence

Has Hasina imported Bush’s brand of warfare? REUTERS

12 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, February 13, 2015

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‘If we can’t settle down mentally, we will su� er badly’n Tribune Desk

The woeful result in the warm-up games, especial-ly the four-wick-et defeat to ICC Associates Ire-land yesterday, have shaken the Bangladesh con-tingent pretty

badly and it was clear in the voice of Mashrafe bin Mortaza. The veteran Ti-gers skipper repeatedly questioned the development that they have assured of all these days and urged his troop to be “mentally” strong for the upcoming hurdles.

“If we talk about the result, we got a zero. We were practising to get ac-climatised here but we haven’t been able to show our level of preparation. We couldn’t win despite playing well against Pakistan. We did very badly against Ireland. We are very inconsis-tent. I felt that we trained very careful-ly and everyone got enough informa-tion about the sort of wicket they will face. But we haven’t executed proper-ly,” said Mashrafe after the Irish defeat

at Blacktown Olympic Park Oval, Syd-ney. “I can’t sit here and say that our morale isn’t shaken,” he added.

Mashrafe emphasised on the squad that consists few freshers while he also informed of testing the players handing new roles in the two games against Pa-kistan and Ireland, but the 31-year-old

was purely disappointed with their ef-fort yesterday.

“Who amongst us took these two practice matches seriously is my real concern. Even if they took it seriously, they couldn’t execute the plans. If we perform in this vein, it will de� nite-ly have an impact in the important matches up ahead. We have 5-6 days ahead of us. We can’t change our skills

during this short time but we have to be mentally and physically ready,” he expressed.

He further said, “It would have been much better had we won any one of the practice matches. It is not a good sign for our team, but I believe that we can turn around. I hope these defeats have hurt everyone in the team, it should. In which case, good results are a matter of time.”

The Narail Express, however, as-sured of sticking to the basics and not shu� ing with the batting or bowling choices during the main event as he said the playing members will their original position in the XI adding, “Right combination is important to know which playing XI will take the � eld in a certain match. But we can’t say anything without seeing the wick-et. We heard that it will be � at in Can-berra. We are seeing di� erent wickets. I was personally quite happy that we had made 240-odd against Pakistan’s bowling attack.”

“We have the ability, no doubt about it. But we haven’t been able to prepare mentally. If we can’t settle down men-tally, we will su� er badly,” warned the experienced Bangladesh captain. l

WORLD CUP WARM-UP

Ireland shock toothless Tigersn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Bangladesh completed their 2015 ICC World Cup preparations in a disap-pointing fashion, su� ering a humbling four-wicket defeat at the hands of As-sociates Ireland in a warm-up game of the event yesterday.

While Ireland will enter the mega event in a con� dent mood, Bangla-desh will begin their � fth World Cup campaign somberly, having tasted four losses in as many practice games.

After losing both their practice games against Cricket Australia XI, Bangladesh lost their previous warm-up against Pakistan. And at the Black-town Olympic Park Oval in Sydney yes-terday, the Tigers’ fortunes refused to improve.

The defeat against the Irish once again chronicled Bangladesh’s de� -ciencies in their batting department

Down Under as the Tigers were bun-dled out inside 50 overs – the fourth time in as many practice games.

Invited to bat � rst, Bangladesh post-ed 189 allout in 48.2 overs. Tamim Iqbal (4) and Mominul Haque (8) departed early but Anamul Haque and Soumya Sarkar somewhat recovered their side from the early damage with a 58-run stand for the third wicket.

Anamul played a painstaking knock, garnering his 25 runs o� 72 deliveries, but Soumya appeared con� dent, strik-ing 45 from 51 balls.

Bangladesh though were unable to register a competitive total as Mush-� qur Rahim (26), Sabbir Rahman (20) and skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza (22) were all dismissed after getting starts.

Ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan’s dreadful run with the bat in Australia continued as he made just eight o� 12 balls. Ireland pacemen John Mooney

and Max Sorensen scalped three wick-ets apiece.

In reply, an unbeaten 79-ball 63 from middle-order batsman Andrew Balbirnie guided the Irish home with 19 balls remaining.

Despite the early departures of Paul Stirling (5), Niall O’Brien (5) and Gary Wilson (9), Balbirnie ensured the vic-tory alongside Ed Joyce (47) adding 59 runs for the � fth wicket. Prior to that, Ireland were tottering at 78/4.

A quick� re 16-ball 23 from Kevin O’Brien at the end dashed any hopes Bangladesh were harbouring of a come-from-behind victory.

Taijul Islam picked up two wickets while Al Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shakib and Nasir Hossain all picked up a wicket each. A luckless Bangla-desh side will now begin their World Cup mission against Afghanistan this Wednesday in Canberra. l

The Opening Bell - Can England use Ian to bell the Kangaroos?Lord’s cricket ground, the Mec-ca of cricket - on a sunny morning of June 9, 1979, I was sitting in the stands with Jock Livingtston, e x - A u s t r a l i a n cricketer, wick-et-keeper and opening batsman

who played alongside the legendary Don Bradman for New South Wales in the late 1940s. Jock, as he was a� ec-tionately called, was the Director of Gray-Nicolls - one of the leading crick-et bat manufacturers in the world. He came to the shores of England when he was signed by Northampton in the English county circuit. I will write a bit more about Jock when it is appropri-ate to do so as we became good friends over the years.

It was one of the opening match-es of the Prudential (as it was called then) World Cup that saw two leg-endary cricketing rivals confront each other. While England was at full strength, the Australians were a com-pletely new out� t severely depleted of its strength due to the players ban, a consequence of the Kerry Packer Se-ries. Led by a young, curly haired Kim

Hughes, Australia came to the World Cup with its 2nd XI. That Australian team also provided to the world Al-lan Border, who eventually became a name for the record books as a leading batsman. A pugnacious left hander, Border led Australia to a World Cup title. In 1979, the cricketing world also saw, for the � rst time, a young, slim curly haired left hander debut for En-gland. David Gower also hit the head-lines and soon enough established his place as a world class batsman over the years to come.

Head to head, England and Aus-tralia have met each other 6 times on the World Cup stage with England winning only once, which was in 1992. While Australia has won the title 4 times, England came close to win-ning it in 3 times. In 1979, they were comprehensively beaten by the West Indies, in 1987 they fought gallant-ly but lost to Australia by 7 runs and, in 1992 they shockingly lost to Imran Khan and his Pakistani unit. While England, being one of the top sides on a consistent basis, failed to have its name carved on the Trophy, Australia somehow managed to come up with the right combination to win the title more than any other nation.

Once again, for the 7th time in World Cup history and for the second time in

an opener, these two rivals meet. Will England manage to turn things around? On paper and on their recent perfor-mances the match is tilted in Australia’s favour. However, like any professional team, Eoin Morgan and his band will erase the memories of the recent past including those of the recently con-cluded Tri-Nation series and show up with a di� erent mind frame. The Aus-tralian strength lies in a monster of an opening batting pair with David Warner and Aaron Finch, followed by some cre-ative players like Steve Smith, Michael Clarke, who now seems certain to play, and Glenn Maxwell. Some of the lesser power players like Shane Watson and Brad Haddin will be added bonus if they come good. Then there is no stopping this Australian team from marching on.

If we compare head to head with the team’s batting strength, Australia de� -nitely has the edge over England, whose batting has to be heavily reliant on Ian Bell and to some extent on Morgan, who so far has been having a misera-ble time in the warm up matches. If the supporting cast of Gary Ballance, James Taylor, Moeen Ali and Joe Root don’t keep the � re burning, then England will not only crumble in the opener but will also � zzle out in their matches against the others. We saw how they struggled against Pakistan in the warm up game,

especially against the leg spin of Yasir Shah. The loss to Pakistan, after their one-sided win against the West Indies, will not go well in their dressing room. They will need to mentally overcome this loss immediately.

While Australia will have the luxury to pick from a pool of exceptional fast bowlers, England will have to be care-ful in its selection. Between Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins

and Josh Hazlewood they have a lethal arsenal and with Maxwell providing some spin, the Aussies have an ex-tremely potent force. England has a nice variety but again if you compare player to player, England falls behind to some extent. Other than James An-derson and Steven Finn, and perhaps Chris Woakes I don’t see the Austra-lian batting line up getting shaken by the English bowling.

Nevertheless, the cricket world should be prepared for an exciting encounter. If England does show up in their uniform with some degree of pride, they will not only make the Aussies sweat but may even romp home with a win. Otherwise, the “Barmy Army” will try their luck in fostering goodwill by going further “Down Under” with plenty of “Foster” to keep them company. l

Sk Jamal DC meet Feni on opening dayn Raihan Mahmood

Defending champions Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club will meet Feni Soccer Club in the inaugural match of the 27th Federation Cup at Bangabandhu Na-tional Stadium this Monday at 4pm. The draw of the curtain raiser tournament

was held yesterday at the BFF House. 12 teams have been divided into four

groups with the top two sides from each group going through to the quar-ter� nals.

Also on the opening day, Moham-medan will take on Rahmatganj at the same venue at 6:15pm.

Group A - Sheikh Jamal DC, Team BJMC, Feni Soccer ClubGroup B - Muktijoddha, Sheikh Russel, Uttar BaridharaGroup C - Abahani, Chittagong Abahani, FarashganjGroup D - Mohammedan, Brothers Union, Rahmatganj l

Bangladesh R BTamim c Porter� eld b Mooney 4 11Anamul c Porter� eld b McBrine 25 72Mominul c Stirling b Sorensen 8 19Soumya run out (Dockrell) 45 51Shakib c Wilson b Sorensen 8 12Mush� qur c Joyce b Dockrell 26 34Sabbir c McBrine b Kevin O’Brien 20 33Nasir b Mooney 6 14Mashrafe c Mooney b Sorensen 22 35Taijul c Wilson b Mooney 0 2Taskin not out 0 7Extras: (lb 4, w 21) 25Total: (all out; 48.2 overs) 189

Fall of wickets1-12 (Tamim), 2-30 (Mominul), 3-88 (Anam-ul), 4-104 (Shakib), 5-110 (Soumya), 6-154 (Mush� q), 7-158 (Sabbir), 8-177 (Nasir), 9-182 (Taijul), 10-189 (Mashrafe)BowlingMooney 10-0-32-3, Sorensen 9.2-0-31-3, Kevin O’Brien 10-0-39-1, Young 1-0-13-0, Stirling 6-0-35-0, Dockrell 8-1-24-1, McBrine 4-0-11-1Ireland R BPorter� eld cMush� q b Al-Amin 24 41Stirling c Al-Amin b Shakib 5 10Joyce c Anamul b Taijul 47 87N O’Brien c Anamul b Nasir 5 18Wilson b Taijul 9 26Balbirnie not out 63 79K O’Brien c Mush� q b Taskin 23 16Mooney not out 2 5Extras: (b 1, lb 3, w 8) 12Total: (6 wickets; 46.5 overs) 190

Fall of wickets1-21 (Stirling), 2-47 (Porter� eld), 3-64 (Niall O’Brien), 4-78 (Wilson), 5-137 (Joyce), 6-178 (Kevin O’Brien)BowlingAl-Amin 7.5-1-40-1, Taskin 9-1-48-1, Shakib 6-0-27-1, Mashrafe 8-3-13-0, Nasir 4-0-13-1, Taijul 8-0-29-2, Sabbir 4-0-16-0

Ireland won by four wickets

BANvIRE

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza looks on during the opening ceremony of the ICC 2015 World Cup at the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne yesterday AFP

I can’t sit here and say that our morale isn’t shaken. Who amongst us took these two practice matches seriously is my real concern

Hawk Eye

YOUSUF RAHMAN(BABU)

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 13Friday, February 13, 2015

Siddikur tees o� in Thailand Classic at 19th Premier Bangladesh golfer Siddikur Rahman probably made his best start in a tournament this year as he was tied for 19th position alongside 18 others after the opening round of the Thailand Classic at Black Mountain Golf Club yesterday. Siddikur hit a birdie on the second hole and followed it up with three more birdies in the � rst round of the $2m tour-nament. The 30-year-old carded only one bogey in a near perfect exhibition of golf and � nished the opening day with a score of three-under-par 69. Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey is leading the standings with an incredible eight-under-par 64.

–Tribune Desk

Diarra, Carroll blows for West HamWest Ham United manager Sam Allardyce revealed on Wednesday that his side’s mooted move for former Real Madrid, Arsenal and Chelsea mid� eld-er Lassana Diarra had fallen through. France international Diarra, 29, had been training with West Ham after leaving Lokomotiv Moscow in August, but his hopes of joining the club were dashed by an administrative issue. “I have to say we have waited and we have negotiated for weeks to get the right deal and now we’ve got it, we � nd we can’t get the right paperwork and the right clearance, so we have wasted his time and our time,” Allardyce said after his side’s 0-0 draw at Southampton in the Premier League. “On the basis of the situation we’re in right now, he would have been a very crucial player for us between now and the end of the season.” In a further blow to the east London club, striker Andy Carroll left St Mary’s on crutches after hurting himself on his return from an injury sustained against former club Liverpool last month. “The sad thing for us is the injury to Andy Carroll, which we can ill-a� ord to take with our injury problems,” Allardyce added.

–AFP

Angry Sporting cut o� cial ties with rivals Ben� caSporting have suspended o� cial relations with arch-rivals Ben� ca mainly due to an unsavoury incident in a recent futsal game. Sunday’s 1-1 Lisbon soccer derby draw was disrupted when fans of both teams threw � ares. Police had to act to quell trouble during and after the game but the root of the problems between the two clubs could be traced back further. On Saturday they met at the Estadio da Luz for a futsal derby and Sporting o� cials were taken aback by the unfurling of a banner by opposition fans that read “very light 96”. That was a provocative reference to the 1996 Portu-guese Cup � nal when a Sporting support-er was killed after being struck by a � are (very light). Ben� ca fans could be heard chanting “tomorrow there will be more” during the futsal game. “In defence of the most elementary human values and the dignity of Sporting we are left with no al-ternative than to cut diplomatic relations with Ben� ca and take the matter to the competent authorities,” Sporting said in a news release on Wednesday. The club also deplored the fact Ben� ca directors who were present on Saturday, including president Luís Filipe Vieira, did not take action to have the banner removed.

–Reuters

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DAY’S WATCH

Booters rise to 157th in Fifa rankings n Tribune Desk

A strong display in the recently con-cluded Bangabandhu Gold Cup Inter-national Football Tournament elevated Bangladesh eight places to 157th in the latest world rankings released by Fifa.

Prior to the Bangabandhu Gold Cup, Bangladesh were 165th but the sec-ond-place � nish in the third edition of the international tournament helped them jump eight places.

Among the 46 Asian nations, Ban-gladesh are now 30th whereas before the Bangabandhu Gold Cup, they were 34th.

World Cup champions Germany are still at the summit followed by runners up Argentina and Colombia at second and third respectively.

Equatorial Guinea were the best

movers according to the latest rank-ings. The central African country esca-lated 69 places to 49th following their third-place showing in the recently concluded African Cup of Nations. l

Position Countries Points1 Germany 17292 Argentina 15343 Colombia 14564 Belgium 14305 Netherlands 13856 Brazil 13337 Portugal 11898 France (-1) 11689 Uruguay (+1) 1146157 Bangladesh (+8) 129

RANKINGS

Chelsea goalkeeper Cech saves a shot from Everton striker Romelu Lukaku during their English Premier League match at Stamford Bridge, London on Wednesday REUTERS

Barcelona ease towards Copa del Rey � naln AFP, Madrid

Barcelona took a huge step towards a � fth Copa del Rey � nal in seven years with a 3-1 win over Villarreal in the � rst leg of their semi-� nal on Wednesday.

Lionel Messi opened the scoring from Luis Suarez’s cutback four min-utes before the break, but Villarreal levelled shortly after half-time when Marc-Andre Ter Stegen failed to keep out Manu Trigueros’s drive.

However, Barca were back in front within a minute through Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique’s header 26 minutes from time made it 3-1. The Catalans could have had an even healthier ad-vantage to take into the second leg on March 4, but Neymar had his penalty saved by Sergio Asenjo.

“I think it was a very good perfor-mance on our part against an opponent that was more defensive than we ex-pected, but against a very good team. It is a good result, although it isn’t de-� nitive,” said Barca boss Luis Enrique.

“It could have been even better with the penalty we missed, but it is a good result and deserved based on what we

saw on the pitch.”Villarreal coach Marcelino mean-

while described his side’s evening like a “horror � lm” having not only lost the match but captain Bruno and former Barca mid� elder Jonathan dos San-tos to injury. This game seemed lke a horror � lm. Barcelona took advantage of our mistakes and scored the type of goals we didn’t expect.

“We have two injuries. I am sad for all these combined circumstances that mean we are much further away from reaching the � nal.”

All of Villarreal’s good defensive work in the opening 45 minutes was undone four minutes before half-time when Mateo Musacchio slipped to allow Suarez to rob possession and he squared for Messi to slot home his 11th goal.l

Cavani gives PSG Cup winn AFP, Paris

Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani’s � rst goal in � ve games helped Paris Saint Germain to a 2-0 win over Nantes on Wednesday and a place in the French Cup quarter-� nals.

Cavani, criticised for a poor perfor-mance in front of goal for the two-time defending champions against league leaders Lyon in Sunday’s 1-1 draw, struck in the 19th minute with French international mid� elder Yohan Cabaye adding a second in the 34th minute.

Cavani, who PSG coach Laurent

Blanc had said needed to be helped to get him back on form again, headed home after he ran on to David Luiz’ freekick.l

Lambert sacked as Villa managern AFP, London

Paul Lambert has been sacked as man-ager of Aston Villa after a run of 10 games without a win took them into the Premier League relegation zone, the club announced on Wednesday.

“Aston Villa Football Club has part-ed company this evening with manager Paul Lambert,” Villa announced. “First-team coach Scott Marshall and goalkeep-ing coach Andy Marshall will continue to prepare the squad for Sunday’s FA Cup tie with Leicester City at Villa Park.” l

Pele says too much focus on racismn AFP, Sao Paulo

Brazilian legend Pele insisted Wednes-day he feels racist incidents in football are blown out of proportion and that if there were less column inches given over to those responsible the problem would likely go away.

“If everyone did as (Brazil star) Dan-iel (Alves), when they threw a banana at him as he took a corner, if they ate it and did nothing then nobody would

do anything again,” Pele told UOL web news portal, referring to last year’s in-cident during a Barcelona game.

On that occasion Alves was praised for coolly picking up the banana and eating it. But Pele said his point was that racist fans thrived on the attention accorded to their actions.

“The big problem is focusing the at-tention on these idiots who go to games, who are not fans but delinquents,” insisted three-time world champion

Pele. In contrast, fellow Brazilian world champion Ronaldo had blasted his compatriot for expressing similar sen-timents in an interview last September.

Pele insisted that shrugging o� rac-ism and carrying on playing was the way to react. “If I’d started � ghting ev-ery time they used the N-word in the United States, Latin America and Brazil I’d still be embroiled in legal cases the world over,” said the 74-year-old nick-named O Rei (the king). l

Willian strike keeps Chelsea seven clearn Reuters, London

Willian’s late strike snatched a 1-0 home win for Chelsea over a stubborn Ever-ton side to maintain their seven-point lead over Manchester City who crushed Stoke City 4-1 in the Premier League on Wednesday.

Chelsea were frustrated before Bra-zilian Willian struck from 20 metres in the 89th minute to break the resistance of Everton whose mid� elder Gareth Barry had been sent o� just before the goal.

“It’s beautiful to win in the last minute, and it’s so sad (for Everton) to lose,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho told BT Sport.

“They have to be very disappointed, they gave us a very di� cult match. We are very, very happy and we think we deserve it. We risked a lot to try to win.”

City kept pace with the leaders as

striker Sergio Aguero scored twice, his � rst goals in over two months, to help the champions to their � rst league win in � ve matches at mid-table Stoke, who brie� y made it 1-1 through Peter Crouch.

England mid� elder James Milner and Frenchman Samir Nasri also struck for City.

An unlikely brace from substitute defender Chris Smalling and a late Rob-in van Persie penalty lifted Manchester United to an unconvincing 3-1 home win over struggling Burnley who had equalised through Danny Ings.

United leapfrogged Arsenal and Southampton into third in the table af-ter the latter drew 0-0 at home to West Ham United, who had goalkeeper Adri-an sent o� .

West Bromwich Albion continued their resurgence under new manager Tony Pulis as Brown Ideye and Saido

Berahino struck in a 2-0 home win over Swansea City to lift their team away from the relegation zone.

A second-half Frazier Campbell goal earned Crystal Palace a 1-1 draw against Newcastle United as manager Alan Pardew hosted his former club who had taken a � rst-half lead through a Pa-piss Cisse header.

Chelsea struggled without the pres-ence of top goalscorer Diego Costa, who was serving the last game of a three-match suspension for stamping, in the face of a stout Everton defence.

Former Chelsea striker Romelu Lu-kaku should have given Everton the lead against his old club but Petr Cech saved with his legs from close range.

The close shave gave the hosts greater impetus to attack and with time running out they looked to have taken the lead when defender Nemanja Matic struck but he was ruled o� side.

A melee between both sides followed and Everton mid� elder Barry was giv-en his marching orders after receiving a second yellow card before Willian struck the winner a minute later. Ar-gentina striker Aguero moved within one goal of the league’s top goalscorer Costa after striking his 15th and 16th goals of the campaign in City’s rout.

“We returned to our normal perfor-mance, especially in the second half. We scored three goals in the second half and had more chances,” Manches-ter City manager Manuel Pellegrini told BBC Sport.

“The most important thing was to win and in the way we did today.”

Smalling, who had previously scored only three league goals in his career, headed in a corner to give Unit-ed the lead after six minutes with his � rst touch of the match, just 22 seconds after coming on for the injured Phil

Jones, and he scored again just before the interval. But the 3-1 win � attered Louis van Gaal’s side, who were second best against 19th-placed Burnley for much of the match. l

EPL RESULTSChelsea 1-0 EvertonWillian 89

Crystal Palace 1-1 NewcastleCampbell 71 Cisse 42)

Man United 3-1 BurnleySmalling 6, 45, Ings 12Van Persie 82-P

Southampton 0-0 West HamStoke 1-4 Man CityCrouch 38 Aguero 33, 70-P, Milner 55, Nasri 76

West Brom 2-0 SwanseaIdeye 60, Berahino 74

COPA DEL REYBarcelona 3-1 VillarrealMessi 41, Iniesta 49, Trigueros 48Pique 64

Athletic Bilbao 1-1 EspanyolAduriz 11 Victor Sanchez 35

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (2L) kicks the ball, next to teammate Luis Suarez (2R), against Villarreal’s Mateo Musacchio (L) and goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo during their King’s Cup semi-� nal � rst leg match at Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on Wednesday REUTERS

RESULTSYzeure 1-3 GuingampNgoye 62 Mandanne 90+4, 97, Pied 100

Monaco 3-1 RennesA. Toure 10, P Henrique 34Wallace 11, Martial 67-P

PSG 2-0 NantesCavani 19, Cabaye 34

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14 Friday, February 13, 2015

THE CRICKET FESTIVAL BEGINS

McCullum pumped up with Sportsman of Year awardn Reuters

New Zealand cricket captain Bren-don McCullum hoped his winning the country’s Sportsman of the Year award on Wednesday would give his team mates a massive boost heading into their World Cup opener on Saturday.

The 33-year-old McCullum won the Sportsman of the Year and was a � nal-ist for the supreme prize, the Halberg Award, but was beaten by Olympic and world rowing champions Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, who had also won the Sports Team of the Year on Wednesday.

“It’s really humbling but when you play a team sport individual accolades aren’t what you play for,” McCullum told reporters in Christchurch on Thursday, hours before the opening ceremony for the World Cup.

“But at the same time I’m respectful of the whole awards and all those oth-er recipients of awards This one is very much for the boys as well.”

McCullum was the � rst cricketer to win New Zealand’s Sportsman of the Year award since former captain Martin Crowe in 1991.

He was recognised for a superb 2014 when he became the � rst New Zea-land player to score more than 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year and also notched the country’s � rst Test triple century. The 302 he scored against In-dia at the Basin Reserve last February was also voted by the public as New Zealand’s Sports Moment of the Year.l

Pakistan threaten stars with expulsion, Clarke stays sidelinedn AFP, Sydney

Pakistan on Thursday warned eight of their World Cup squad they face banishment from the tournament if they repeat a team curfew breach.

On a day when Australia admitted that hobbled captain Michael Clarke will miss Saturday’s opener against England and organisers found it neces-sary to stage two opening ceremonies, it was 1992 champions Pakistan who were � ghting o� the � rst mini-crisis of the six-week event.

“Eight Pakistan players, including former captain Shahid Afridi and open-er Ahmed Shehzad, were � ned 300 Australian dollars (US $230) after they came late to their Sydney hotel on Sun-day,” sources in the team told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The team management, headed by manager Naveed Cheema, a former military man, claimed the players ar-rived 45 minutes late after a night out.

Meanwhile, Australia and England cranked up the mind games, 48 hours before they clash in their World Cup opener which will be watched by 90,000 fans inside the iconic Mel-bourne Cricket Ground.

One of those looking on from the sidelines will be Clarke who has still to fully recover from his long-standing hamstring injury.

Not that England skipper Eoin Mor-gan had huge interest in the plight of his opposite number.

“Whatever team they put out doesn’t really bother us. It’s really im-portant we focus on what we do,” Mor-gan said.

Australia coach Darren Lehmann con� rmed that Clarke would not play at the MCG but should feature in Austra-lia’s second game against Bangladesh in Brisbane on February 21.

Clarke was captaining Australia for the � rst time since his hamstring sur-gery almost two months ago.

Clarke will be key to Australia’s hopes of winning a � fth world title,

boasting an impressive 7,762 runs in his 238 ODIs with an average nudging 45.

Meanwhile, both Melbourne and Christchurch - who will host Saturday’s opening games - staged opening cere-monies on Thursday.

In Melbourne, home grown star Tina Arena headlined the lengthy show, ably supported by R and B star Jessica Mau-boy, singer Daryl Braithwaite as well as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

The programme was designed, said organisers, to “re� ect the diversity and excitement of the 14 competing nations and include some icons in Australian entertainment”.

Over in New Zealand, meanwhile, about 30,000 people gathered in Christchurch’s Hagley Park for a cer-emony that included performances ranging from Bollywood dance to Scot-tish bagpipes.

Tattooed Maori warriors in grass skirts performed a traditional welcome in front of a neon-lit marae, or meeting house, as the � ags of the 14 participat-ing nations were brought out.

Prime Minister John Key said host-ing the event was a major boost for the city as it continues to rebuild after a devastating earthquake in 2011 that killed 185 people.

“The earthquakes robbed this city of a chance to be part of the Rugby World Cup, so it’s only � tting that the Cricket World Cup would have its o� cial open-ing and its � rst match here in Christ-church,” he said.

“It’s our way of showing the world that Christchurch is back in business.”

The 11th World Cup features 14 teams and will be played at seven venues in Australia and seven in New Zealand.

Saturday marks the � rst day with Australia tackling England at Mel-bourne while co-hosts New Zealand face Sri Lanka on what should be an emotional afternoon at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.

In all, there will be 49 matches with the � nal set for the MCG on March 29.

The 14 teams are split into two groups with the top four going into the quarter-� nals. l

Robot tips Aghanistan to win World Cupn AFP, Wellington

A New Zealand robot has predicted minnows Afghanistan will win the up-coming Cricket World Cup, although even the machine’s programmer ad-mits such a shock result is unlikely.

The University of Canterbury’s ro-bot Ikram made the prediction using software developed by doctorate stu-dent Eduardo Sandoval.

When the � ags of the 14 participat-ing nations were placed in front of the robot it selected Afghanistan, who are playing their � rst World Cup and drawn in a tough pool including Australia, En-gland and New Zealand.

“Of course this is unlikely, but with cricket the result can always be unex-pected,” Sandoval said.

New Zealand bookmakers do not share the robot’s views and have Af-ghanistan as 1,000-1 outsiders to win the tournament, with Australia favou-rites at 3-1. l

Windies survive Scots scaren AFP, Sydney

West Indies narrowly avoided an em-barrassing World Cup warm-up defeat at the hands of minnows Scotland on Thursday, just hanging on to claim a three-run win.

The West Indies were mauled by nine wickets by England in their last warm-up but looked on course for a comfortable afternoon against the Scots when they piled-up 313-9 in 50 overs. Despite losing Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels for one run between them, the Caribbean side then saw Denesh Ramdin and Lendl Sim-mons put on 117 for the � fth wicket.l

1. Fielding restrictions, PowerplaysIn 2012, the ICC made a number of alterations to the playing conditions for ODIs. The one that will likely have the most noticeable e� ect at this World Cup is the change from a maximum of � ve to four � elders outside the 30-yard circle for the majority of the innings. There will also be two blocks of Powerplay overs rather than three: the � rst covering the opening ten overs, when only two � elders are allowed outside the ring; the second, a � ve-over block to be taken by the batting side be-fore the 40th over, restricting the number to three outside the ring.

2. Two new ballsThe move to a new ball being used from each end came about shortly after the previous World Cup. Previously the white ball, which is prone to degradation, was changed after 34 overs. Providing two new balls has made batting more challenging for openers in conditions that assist quick bowlers but also preserves the hardness throughout the innings.

3. Reduced role for part-timersThe � rst two factors are likely to a� ect the balance of sides at this World Cup. Rahul Dravid has suggested there will be less leeway for part-time bowlers than four years ago, when India regularly got ten overs out of Yuvraj Singh, due to the lack of protec-tion. The 1992 World Cup was the heyday of wobbly seam-up but even New Zealand are more focused on genuine pace these days.

4. The swing to seamConditions as well as rule changes will contribute to a major shift from 2011, when spin bowling dominated. Australia is generally inhospitable to spinners and that gig has only got harder since the reduction in the number of � elders allowed outside the ring, making it more di� cult for sides to defend the boundary. Assistance for seam and swing will be expected in New Zealand, with pace and bounce on the Australian menu.

5. The post-chucking environmentThe zeal with which the ICC has sought to eradicate illegal actions means even those who have not been called or have undergone remedial work will be wary. The No. 1-ranked ODI bowler, Saeed Ajmal, will be absent; Sunil Narine, currently No. 2, is included in West Indies’ squad despite not having played internationally since being called in the Champions League and

Sachithra Senanayake is being eased back in by Sri Lanka after a ban.

6. New kids on the blockThere will be a host of fresh faces in the vanguard. Since India’s players hoisted Sachin Tendulkar on to their shoulders and carried him around the Wankhede, several giants of the game have retired or been dispensed with. There will be no Jacques Kallis or Graeme Smith, no Viren-der Sehwag or Zaheer Khan, no Muttiah Muralitharan, no Ricky Ponting, no Kevin Pietersen.

7. The DRSThe ICC only con� rmed what tools would form part of the DRS a week before the start of the tournament. Real-Time Snick-ometer, which had not been developed in 2011, is available this time but again there will be no Hot Spot. One thing that will be clearer from the outset is the process for reviewing lbw decisions via ball-tracking technology.

8. Increased prize moneyThe total pool of prize money on o� er has been raised by 25% from US$8m to $10m for the 2015 tournament and the winning team could collect more than $4m, if they remain unbeaten. For the � rst time, the six nations who fail to make the quarter-� -nals will also be rewarded, to the tune of $35,000 each, with $45,000 also on o� er for each group-stage win.

9. No Super Overs in knockoutsIn 2011, the ICC introduced the one-over eliminator - or Super Over - as the method of determining which team would progress in the event of a tie during the knockout stages. That replaced the Bowl Out from 2007. Now things have gone full circle, with Super Overs dropped for all knock-outs, except the � nal.

10. Run ratesThe last World Cup was the � rst to have an average run rate of above � ve an over, going past the record of 4.95 set in 2007. Armed with two new balls, bowlers had prospered in Australia and New Zealand. However, since the start of 2014, the average runs per over has ballooned to 5.32 in Australia and 5.66 in New Zealand. The dawning possibility of how quickly teams can score at the back of the innings, as evidenced by AB de Villiers’ record-breaking hundred in Johannesburg, means this World Cup could be the most supercharged of all.

10 new things in World Cup

West Indies313-9 in 50 overs (Denesh Ramdin 88, Lendl Simmons 55)Scotland310-9 in 50 overs (Kyle Coetzer 96, Richie Berrington 66)

West Indies won by 3 runs

BRIEF SCORE

A combination of photos of the opening ceremony acrross Melbourne and Christchurch yesterday. UAE captain Mohammad Tauqeer, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza, India captain MS Dhoni and Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul Haq can also be seen in the photo

TOM CRUISE dinner date with PENELOPE CRUZ and SALMA HAYEK

n Entertainment Desk

Tom Cruise recently reunion with for-mer lover Penelope Cruz and co-star Salma Hayek sure went great as the ac-tor was spotted leaving the dinner date with a lipstick stain kiss on his cheek.

The 52-year-old “Mission: Impossi-ble” star had dined with the beauties at Scotts in London, and emerged with a bright red mark on his cheek, Us mag-

azine reported.Though it is uncertain who gave

him a peck as both Cruz, who’s now married to Javier Bardem, and Hayak, were wearing red lipstick. Cruise and Cruz had started dating in 2001 only to part ways in 2004. At the time, it was said that reason was the Church of Sci-entology not accepting Cruz, who was unwilling to give up her own Buddhist belief s. l

SWEET HOME ALABAMAZee Studio, 7:15pmCast: Reese Witherspoon, Patrick DempseyA young woman with a Southern background runs away from her husband in Alabama and reinvents herself as a New York socialite.

CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGEHBO De� ned, 5:40pmCast: Jason Statham, Amy SmartChelios faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly inde-structible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that re-quires regular jolts of electricity to keep working.

DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Friday, February 13, 2015 15

WHAT TO WATCHTELEVISION

PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3DI ZERO DEGREE I ROMEO V/S JULIET I SEVENTH SON 3D I JESSABELLE@ Star Cineplex

SEVENTH SON 3D I ROMEO V/S JULIET I EXODUS 3D I INTERSTELLAR I NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB I THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES I THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D I ZERO DEGREE

@ Blockbuster Cinemas

THEATRE

Sonia Hossain and Asif are spotted together shooting for a TV series titled Dost Dushmon. Directed by Mostafa Kamal Raz, the TV series will be aired shortly on Maasranga TV KHAN HASAN MD RAFI

MONKEY BIZNESS to be premiered today

n Entertainment Desk

A new tele� lm titled “Monkey Bi-zness” will be premiered today on NTV at 11:30pm.

Earlier, Airtel Bangladesh Limit-ed has arranged a launching event of the tele� lm at the Star Cineplex of Bashundhara City on the last Wednesday. The tenth project pro-duced by Airtel is directed by Rahat

Rahman. The cast includes a string of fresh

new faces as well as renowned senior artists such as Tariq Anam Khan, Shahiduzzaman Selim, Iresh Zaker, Sabila, Tamim, Sabnam Faria and Si-fat Tahsin.

The story revolves around the life of a private university student Ra� , and his haphazard family. The fa-ther is involved with another wom-

an while the mother is irritated at the daughter-in-law. The brother is a corrupt employee, the sister-in-law dreams of a nuclear family and amidst all the chaos the story of Ra� ’s life goes on. A turn of event makes the family come together and realise that family comes � rst.

Two original songs have also fea-tured in the tele� lm including a roman-tic number titled Jajabor Pakhna. l FUAD’s Hit Factory to

hit the stores soonn Shadma Malik

Fans of pop, hip-hop, funky and electro music need no longer to wait as Fuad’s next album “Hit Factory” will soon be released. The music di-rector-producer and singer shared with the Dhaka Tribune about his upcoming project.

“Hit Factory was the name of my � rst studio. I have been residing in Bangladesh for nine years now. The album re� ects that time span where I met some great musicians and friends who came to visit my studio and we did some jamming together,” Fuad re� ected on his journey so far when asked about the name of the album.

“This album is retrospective and sort of brings things into a full circle for me. I may not even stay in Ban-gladesh in near future, I am not re-ally sure what is going to happen. It took � ve years to produce the album, but I didn’t go obsessive compulsive in regards to mixing and mastering. There are tons of technical � aws, but if I was to recreate things and try to � x the issues the emotional element would be lost. So I kept it with all its imperfections. Oh man, I just had a passing thought, I should have called it Bongo Bazaar..u know where they

sell slightly imperfect garments,” added the composer.

The album has a mix of fresh and experienced singers who performed solo. Upol Islam, Mouri, Nazia, Shu-vo, Sumi from band Lalon, Artist TJ, Anila and Are� n Rumey are some of the singers who lent their voices in the album.

“I sang two songs in this album. One of my favourites is ‘Aktai Amar Tumi’, which was already aired on an FM radio as a promo. ‘Shunduri Furi’ is another highlight of the album. This song is dedicated to my beauti-ful wife,” Fuad smiled.

There are around 13 songs in the album which has a very eclectic theme.

“I do not want to be restrained by any boundaries of genre or theme. These songs have been done in an informal way. Some of them are even scratch demos.”

“Apart my professional work, I tried to do something very person-al and ‘Hit Factory’ speaks for my taste,” Fuad said.

Under the label of Incursion mu-sic, the album will be launched in March. ‘Hit Factory’ will be available both in compact disc and digital for-mats. l

EVA MENDES launches her own beauty linen Entertainment Desk

Eva Mendes has a lot on her plate. The actress recently welcomed her � rst child, Esmeralda, with Ryan Gosling, designed a bridesmaid collection and is set to debut a comprehensive cosmetics line called Circa at 3,000 Walgreens stores later this month.

She’s previously been a spokesmodel for Revlon and Pantene. The Old Hol-lywood glamour-inspired brand, which includes 133 richly pigmented skus — from foundation and lip and cheek stains to two-sided mascara, all in black and glass with antique gold packaging — is set to target the Hispanic market, with shades that, in Mendes’ words, “service all types of ethnicities.”

The Cuban-American star, who acts as both the creative director and face of Circa, told WWD, “Anything that I needed I got from a drugstore as far as beauty was concerned.” Indeed, according to Maesa’s chief marketing o� cer, by 2020 one in every � ve shoppers will be of Hispanic descent.

Her line, owned by Maesa Group, will join other celeb-fronted beauty brands like Salma Hayek’s Nuance, which retails at CVS.

Expect to see the new mother doing in-store appearances as part of Circa’s promotion and launch. l

First look of EMRAANand VIDYA’s Hamari Adhuri Kahani revealedn Entertainment Desk

First look of Mohit Suri’s “Hamari Adhuri Kahani” has been revealed by Mahesh Bhatt through a tweet. The producer has also revealed a con-� rmed release date of the movie.

“First Look- Hamari Adhuri Kahani. An illicit love so pure that it touches the heights of divinity. Releasing 12 June”, read the tweet by Mahesh Bhatt.

Previously seen in “Dirty Picture” and “Ghanchakkar,” the hit pair Emraan Hasmi and Vidya Balan are in the lead with Rajkummar Rao playing an important role. The � lm is said to be based on � lmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s life.

Produced by Vishesh Films and presented by Fox Star Studios, the movie has been shot in India, the US, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai which is scheduled to hit the screens on June 12, 2015. l

TAYLOR SWIFT wants KANYE WEST in thestudio with hern Entertainment Desk

Kanye West stopped by Ryan Seacrest’s radio show and revealed plans to record with Taylor Swift. Here’s what West said: “Yeah, she wants to get in the studio and we’re de� nitely going to go in. I don’t discriminate, I don’t have an elitism of music because of like how many Grammys or you know, the amount of ratings you get onan album. I think that everyone loves music whether they love hip-hop, al-ternative, country, and if I could be involved in giving people any type of energy, advice in the studio, wheth-er you’re Beyonce, whether you’re Taylor Swift, whether you’re Jay Z, whether you’re Beck, whoever, and they can be reciprocal with that, I’d like to be involved with that.” l

HOUSE OF CARDS season 3 leaked on Net� ix, removed quicklyn Entertainment Desk

The highly anticipated third season of House of Cards has been leaked two weeks ahead of its scheduled re-lease. For 30 minutes on Wednesday afternoon America got a glimpse of life under the iron � st of Francis Un-derwood.

But as news spread the series was pulled almost as quickly as the show’s Machiavellian lead can destroy a political career. Net� ix denies that the leak was a mar-keting ploy, telling Newsbeat it was down to a “techni-cal glitch.”

On Wednesday night eagle eyed Net� ix viewers in America could watch the series online for just under half an hour. Although the mistake was sorted out quickly, some fans on Twitter said they were able to keep streaming episodes they had begun watching be-fore they were removed.

The series stars Kevin Spacey as Francis Underwood, a ruthless politician on a power trip to get to the top of American politics.

House of Cards is a new version of a series by the same name originally screened by the BBC in 1990, based on the novel by Michael Dobbs. l

ExhibitionTaste of Light and DarknessTime: 6pm – 9pmAlliance Française de DhakaRoad 3, Dhanmondi

Light, Dark, SpaceBy MD TokonTime: 12pm – 8pmBengal Art Lounge,60 Avenue, Gulshan 1

Sustainability FairTime: 10am – 10pmJatra, 60 Kemal Ataturk Avenue, Banani

The Paradoxical NowTime: 12pm – 8pmBengal Gallery of Fine ArtsRoad 16, Dhanmondi

Theatre KonjushBy Loko NatyadolTime: 6:30pm – 8:00pmWhereNational Theatre HallShilpakala Academy, Shegun Bagicha

Music Annual Folk Music FestivalBy ChhayanautTime: 6:30pm – 8:30pmChhayanaut Auditorium, Dhanmondi

20 publication houses warned against pirated book sales, copyright issues

n Nure Alam Durjoy

At least 20 pub-lication houses received warn-ings against sale of pirat-ed books and books pub-lished by other

publication houses, following a drive by the Fair Committee yesterday.

Manzurur Rahman, chief of the Copyright Task Force, led the drive along with some other concerned of-� cials of Bangla Academy yesterday from 4.15pm till 5.30pm.

The committee says if the errant publication houses do not comply, their stalls could be closed down.

Although article 6.1 of the Fair Regulations 2015 allows participat-ing institutions to sell books printed and published in Bangladesh, article 6.5 restricts participating institutions and bodies from selling books of other publishing houses.

Earlier at the fair, publishers and fair committee members said at least 50 stalls had been selling books pub-

lished by foreign publishers, espe-cially Indian ones, and pirated books and titles that had been published by others.

On February 3, the fair committee paid a visit and warned over 25 other book stalls for breaching guidelines.

“The publishers met us and as-sured us that they would follow the

guidelines,” Jalal Ahmed, fair com-mittee member secretary, said.

Pen Internationals, Bartaman Sanglap, Bhakti Bedanta Book Stall, SD Multimedia Prakashani, Micros Digital, Chootoder Mela, PPMC, Nandini Prakash, Shabdo Shilpo, Shishughar, Phoolki, Ajmail Publi-cations, Mou Prakashani, Brataman Samoy, Ilma Prakashani, and Ankur Prakashani were among others who

were warned yesterday. However, the drive – and the con-

secutive warnings – proved fruitless almost immediately as some of the publication houses went back to sell-ing pirated books as well as books by other publication houses.

The fair, yesterday on its 11th day, saw the new arrivals of 100 books yes-terday, with the total number of new arrivals reaching 1,471.

Today, it will hold Shishur Prohor (Children’s Hour) from 11am to 2pm. With today being the � rst day of Fal-gun, the fair is expected to be vibrant with many visitors, especially the youth, as the country will celebrate the welcoming of spring.

‘Bangladesh-India Water War’ unveils silence of politicsBangladesh-India Water War, writ-ten by Dhaka-based journalist Altaf Parvez, was launched at the Amar Ek-ushey Boi Mela yesterday.

The book unveils, through its six chapters, the silence of both the poli-tics and administration of Bangladesh which has been resulting in the direst consequences of the fate of the people

of Bangladesh at the lower Himalayan plains.

The book, which is a compilation of � eld observations by Altaf, holds that Bangladesh is deprived of the rights of its rivers as India has barred the nat-ural � ow of at least 57 rivers which travel through India and Bangladesh. It also depicts the picture of aspects of the dangerously a� ected socio-eco-nomic, political and environmental area, the author has said.

T h e book, also has a de-piction of the ‘In-terlinking of Rivers Project’ in India un-der Modi g o v e r n -ment, and e x p l o r e s

how it will a� ect the lives dependent on the rivers.

The book has been published by Tarafdar Prokashoni and is available at the fair. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, February 13, 2015

AMAR EKUSHEYBOOK FAIR 2015

Members of a copyright task force under the Ministry of Cultural A� airs inspect stalls at Ekushey Boi Mela yesterday for violation of intellectual property law MEHEDI HASAN

Smugglers and illegal migrants disguised as crew caught by Navyn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Thirteen illegal migrants about to be smuggled to Malaysia were picked up in the outer anchorage area of Chit-tagong Port by the Bangladesh Navy yesterday.

Two migrant smugglers were also nabbed from the small engine boat dur-ing the operation.

The would-be migrants told the Dhaka Tribune that they consciously boarded the boat headed for Malaysia because they were assured of reaching their destination safely by posing as crew members.

Migrant smuggling, in which adult illegal migrants consent to go to another country, and human tra� cking, in which people are coerced, misled, misinformed or are compelled by their guardians to be exploited abroad, both occur between Bangladesh and its wealthier South-East Asian neighbours, sources said.

“We gathered in a hotel in Chittagong city’s Pathantuli area a week ago ac-cording to the instructions of the smugglers. Two of them, Mamun and Badal, took our belongings,” said Belal, one of the migrants.

“We were told not to come out of the room and were given a lungi and a shirt each to wear. We were provided with three meals a day,” he said.

Belal said he had heard that the smuggling racket had sent some 36 people to Malaysia already.

The Bangladesh Navy’s Anti-Smug-gling Cell O� cer-in-Charge Command-er Atiqur Rahman said the small engine boat was intercepted around 3:30am because its movements raised suspi-cions.

The would-be migrants and their smugglers were handed over to Paten-ga police station and a case was lodged in this regard, he said.

The migrant smugglers – Moham-

mad Shahin, 26, and Ra� q Nur, 46, – are both from Anwara upazila of Chit-tagong district, police said.

The intercepted illegal migrants are Bahauddin, 34, Belal Hossain, 34, and Johir Imam, 25, from Feni district; Ataur Rahman, 28, Mamunur Rashid, 18, Rabiul Islam, 18, and Ansar Ali, 35, from Bogra district; Faruk Khan, 26, and Mithu Sardar, 22, from Rajbari dis-trict; Abdul Haq Mia, 23, from Narsing-di district; and Durud Alam, 24, Sabuj Mia, 23, and Lipon Mia, 19, from Suna-mgonj district, police said.

Siblings Belal and Johir told the Dha-ka Tribune that their brother, Delwar, has legally been resident in Malaysia for the last seven years.

“Recently he told us his colleague, Majibor, and four others, were able to take people from Bangladesh to Malay-sia via the sea route. These smugglers assured us that we would be recruited as cooks and sta� on their boat and that they would leave us in Malaysia,” the siblings said.

“We paid Tk200,000 before the trip and were to pay another Tk200,000 upon arriving in Malaysia,” they said with frustration in their voices.

Thwarted migrant Abdul Haq Mia said he was brought to the port city a week ago by another smuggler named Anwar. He said a man named Sajjad talked to him over the mobile phone and instructed told him what he had to do.

“I paid Tk240,000 to go to Malay-sia,” he said.

The smugglers told their “crew” it would take 15-20 days to reach Malaysia.

Arrested smuggler Shahin said the boat was owned by one Nur Alam.

Some 3,793 people have picked up in the vicinity of Cox’s Bazar and Chit-tagong city and district over the last � ve years.

Some 15,000-20,000 people have mi-grated illegally or have been tra� cked to Thailand and Malaysia in the last dec-ade, Police Headquarters Anti-Human Tra� cking Special Committee said fol-lowing an investigation in 2014.

The committee found the existence of 11 international and 230 Bangladeshi human tra� ckers and smugglers work-ing under the command of a Thai-Ma-laysian expatriate woman named Manaking. l

Apple bans ‘bonded servitude’ n BBC

Apple has banned the practice of bond-ed labour, where new recruits are charged a fee before they start working.

In its latest audit of factory condi-tions, the iPhone maker said that any recruitment fee must be paid by the supplier and not the employee.

Apple began the audits following criticism of the working conditions in some of its factories.

It comes as a report from labour rights group China Labor Watch ques-tioned the low wages earned by some Apple workers.

Its 2015 Supplier Responsibility Pro-gress report said it had told its suppli-ers in October that it was outlawing bonded servitude from this year.

“That fee needs to be paid by the supplier, and Apple ultimately bears that fee when we pay the supplier, and we’re OK doing that,” said Je� Wil-liams, Apple’s senior vice-president of operations. l

Empty well crushes oil hopes at Kailashtilla 7n Aminur Rahman Rasel

Disappointment cast a shadow over state-run Sylhet Gas Fields Limited (SGFL) after a two-year test drilling e� ort yielded an empty well, crushing the government’s hopes of striking oil.

Well 7 at Kailashtilla Gas Field, hyped as a hydrocarbon godsend, failed to redeem hopes of securing the country’s growing energy needs, said top o� cials of the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation, widely known as Petrobangla.

The media hype in 2012 followed a three-dimensional seismic survey by Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex),

conducted over 190 square kilometres in Kailashtilla which suggested that Well 7 possessed large oil reserves.

Bapex, a subsidiary of Petrobangla, was tasked with drilling the well that was projected at the time to be able to produce 500 barrels of oil and 25 mmcfd gas per day.

The exploration � rm dug some 3,504 metres but the analysed data showed no sign of oil in the well, an of-� cial of Bapex told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday, asking not to be named.

“The drilling location was a distance of 300 metres from Kailashtilla Well 4. Ana-lysing Well 4 data, they thought that drill-ing Well 7 would not be fruitful because they are close to each other,” he said.

“We completed 3,501 to 3,504 me-tres drilling stem test (DST). But there was no oil to be found,” SGFL Managing Director SAF Md Najmul Ahsan Haider told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“We completed 3,262 to 3,266 me-tres DST. After analysing the data we will comment,” he said.

SGFL is a Petrobangla company. “After drilling, no oil was found at

Kailashtila 7. It was nothing but waste of money,” Professor Ijaz Hossain of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology told the Dhaka Trib-une yesterday.

An upper zone DST at 3,125 to 3,150 metres, a level where gas might be found, will be done by Bapex, he said.

“Our survey virtually guaranteed the presence of oil in the well, but it seems unlikely to � nd oil even if we start digging wells,” Md Haronur Rashid Mullah, general manager of SGFL and project director for drilling Kailashtilla Well 7, said.

On October 17, 2014, the drilling of Kailashtilla Well 7 at Sylhet Gas Field in Golapganj upazila of Sylhet began at a cost of Tk220.5cr.

SGFL o� cials said Well 7 would have been the country’s second oil well after the Haripur well in Sylhet Gas Field in Jaintapur upazila of Sylhet in the 1980s.

Haripur � eld stopped producing oil in 1994. l

‘We paid Tk200,000 before the trip and were to pay another Tk200,000 upon arriving in Malaysia’

Publishers and fair committee members said at least 50 stalls had been selling books published by foreign

Two Common Mynas (Shalik) sip honey from Palash, a � ower that blossoms with the arrival of spring. The photo was taken near Central Shaheed Minar area in Dhaka yesterday, a day ahead of Pahela Falgun, the � rst day of spring SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Bus burnt in capital on day 5 of 120-hour hartaln Tribune Report

At least six people were severely burned in petrol and crude bomb at-tacks in Dhaka’s Banasree, Dhanmondi and Savar areas last night on the last day of the 120-hour hartal enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

However, the � rst half of the day passed relatively peacefully in and around the capital, with vehicles, trains and launches moving normally.

Outside the capital, there were a few arson attacks, arrests were made, and several bombs recovered.

In Savar near Dhaka, � ve passengers of a bus were injured with two severely burnt as miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at a vehicle near Genda Bus Stand around 9pm. Two seriously burnt were admit-ted to Enam Medical College Hospital.

In Dhaka, pickets hurled petrol bombs at a bus at Banasree around 8:30pm, injuring bus helper Bappi, who was admitted to DMCH with 70% burns.

Shah Alam, who took Bappi to DMCH, said: “The miscreants exploded another bomb when � eeing the scene.”

In another attack, pickets hurled three crude bombs at a CNG autorick-shaw, injuring Mosharraf Hossain Mo-hon, 30, his sister Farida Sultana Popy, 25, and his aunt Shahin Akhter, 40.

In the last 24 hours, law enforcers arrested 20 activists of the BNP, Jamaat

and Shibir for their connection in vio-lence, the DMP said.

In a separate incident, four peo-ple were injured on Dhaka University campus in crude bomb blasts in the evening. Two more bombs were blast-ed in front of the Rokeya Hall, leaving a rickshaw-puller injured. A tea vendor named Sohel, 22, rickshaw-puller Minju Mia, 50, and rickshaw passenger Nurul Amin, 32, were injured when miscre-ants set o� crude bombs in TSC area.

At Ashulia, police recovered six pet-rol bombs, 12 crude bombs, and 3kg of gun powder raiding Based Model Acad-emy and arrested Jamaat leader Bashir Ahmed and activist Abdul Hamid.

In Chittagong, two autorickshaw passengers were injured at Shah Mirpur in crude bomb blasts Wednesday night.

In Fatullah of Narayanganj, police caught two Chhatra Dal leaders with petrol bombs at Lamapara on the Dha-ka-Narayanganj Link Road.

Fatullah OC Md Asaduzzaman said they signalled a motorbike to stop, but the two riders threw two bags at the roadside. The ASI, however, arrested the men named Ro� qul Islam and Gazi.

In Mymensingh, police � red shots at a group of activists who left two youths bullet-riddled at the Khakhdohor By-pass intersection. The police recovered two � rebombs and three crude bombs from their possession. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2015

B3 S&P lowers Saudi outlook on oil price slide

B4 Euro zone in de� ation until Q4; 1-in-4 chance of Greek exit

NGO’s allowed to open bank account for street children n Tribune Report

The NGOs (non-government organisations), who are interested to operate bank accounts in favor of the street children, are now al-lowed to open the account without any ap-proval from Bangladesh Bank.

All the interested NGOs will have to apply for opening bank account to the respective scheduled banks.

In this regard, the central bank issued a circular yesterday with an immediate e� ect.

Earlier, they were instructed to be includ-ed in the list to the Green Banking and CSR Department of Bangladesh Bank through a scheduled bank for opening bank account of the street children.

Scheduled banks will execute the bank opening activities considering the NGO’s good will, credibility, experiences and infra-

structure facilities, said the circular. In case of nominating applicant, banks

will review the NGO’s registration docu-ments, report of NGO’s activities on street children and decision of the organisation’s trustee board.

Banks will sign a bilateral agreement with the nominated NGO to open the bank account.

Earlier in March 2014, Bangladesh Bank has decided to allow the street children to

open a bank account with only Tk10 to help save their earnings.

The respective bank branches will have to submit necessary information, including the application of the NGOs, within 15 days of starting the banking activities. The sub-mission should be made through the head o� ces of the respective banks to the Green Banking and Corporate Social Responsibili-ty Department of Bangladesh Bank. l

Garment workers seen busy sewing clothes at a factory in Dhaka RAJIB DHAR

HSBC denies involvement in money laundering n Tribune Report

HSBC, a London-based multinational bank, has outright denied its alleged involvement in helping any clients to siphon o� money from Bangladesh through the bank to evade tax.

The bank o� cial ruled out the alle-gation at a meeting with the Bangla-desh Bank o� cials held at the central bank headquarters in the city yester-day.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) had ear-lier summoned o� cials of HSBC over recent reports in global media alleging the bank’s involvement in helping cli-ents to evade taxes.

A four-member team-led by CAML-CO (chief anti money laundering com-pliance o� cer) of HSBC bank met the Bangladesh Bank o� cials to clarify its position over the recent money laun-dering issue reported in di� erent glob-al media.

“The team informed us that it has no information neither on tax evasion nor money laundering by any Bangla-deshi nationals through any branch of HSBC,” said Mahfuzur Rahman, execu-tive director of Bangladesh Bank.

He also informed that the central bank would soon send a delegation to the HSBC o� ce in Dhaka to inquire about the allegation.

He also clari� ed that the Swiss Leaks report did not mention that the alleged money was deposited in HSBC’s Swiss private Bank from Bangladesh.

“However, the report only men-tioned about some Bangladeshi nation-als who might be non-residential and deposited the money from any other countries,” he opined.

The British banking giant allegedly operated a giant tax evasion scheme via its Swiss subsidiary, HSBC Private Bank (Suisse), according to the Swiss Leaked report.

Global media outlets including French newspaper Le Monde, Britain’s The Guardian and the BBC published reports about HSBC’s involvement in helping clients to dodge taxes and si-phon out money. The Guardian, along with other news outlets, cited docu-ments obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journal-ists (ICIJ) from Le Monde.

The ICIJ documents say that until 2006, US$13m has been siphoned o� from Bangladesh by 16 clients of HSBC, 31 percent of whom are bearing the Bangladeshi nationality or passports. However, the report did not mention the name of the individuals who had the amount with the HSBC Private Bank (Suisse).

Media leaks on HSBC accounts held in Switzerland “are only the tip of the iceberg,” Herve Falciani, the former HSBC employee who supplied infor-mation. l

Tofail: Not global competitors, political unrest major threat to local apparel industry n Tribune Report

Global competitors are not the threat for Bangladesh’s garment sector, but the country’s persistent political un-rest appears as a real hurdle to having expected growth, said speakers at a seminar yesterday.

“India and Vietnam are not a chal-lenge for Bangladesh. Violence, throw-ing petrol bombs in the name of poli-tics is the hurdle,” Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed told the seminar held at the BGMEA o� ce in Dhaka.

He said the government would try to sign Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the countries like Malaysia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and some other Latin American countries not o� ering Bang-ladesh duty-free market access.

Tofail said Vietnam is politically sta-ble country and has adequate lands for setting up industries, but Bangladesh lacks land and other utility services in-cluding power, gas and electricity.

“If India and Vietnam sign FTA with

the EU countries, Bangladesh’s RMG will not face problem,” he said.

But Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Di-rector of the Policy Research Institute, thinks FTA is not necessary right now for Bangladesh and what is necessary is investment.

The seminar’s title was “Possible Implication of EU-India FTA and EU-Vi-etnam FTA on Bangladesh’s Exports,” jointly orgainsed by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI).

Vietnam enjoys duty-free access into all countries across the world for it political relationship. Besides, the Vietnamese living in the US has an im-portant role in creating market there.

“As the competition is rising, Bangla-desh has to be competitive. For this prob-lems like political unrest, lack of power, electricity and infrastructures need to be resolved,” said Nazneen Ahmed, senior research fellow at Bangladesh’s Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).

FTA is expected to open more ave-nues for exports to the EU countries by Bangladesh, but focus should be given to � nding solutions to unrest and infra-structural problems, she said.

“Trade agreements will not bring bene� ts to the country’s RMG and will remain meaningless if we do not have enough capacity for production,” Nazneen said.

Zillul Hye Razi, trade adviser of the EU delegation to Bangladesh, also thinks India and Vietnam are not a threat for Bangladesh’s RMG at the mo-ment as the countries have given focus on other sectors.

“Domestic problems like lack of workplace safety and political unrest should be resolved,” he emphasised.

In Vietnam, the rules and regula-tions have been relaxed to do business and any one can do business there, he noted.

BGMEA president Atiqul Islam said if the problems are resolved, the country’s economy will become vibrant again.

“In 2014, Bangladesh’s RMG sector turned around, but the political unrest has taken a heavy toll on the sector once again,” he said.

Daniel Seidl, executive director of Bangladesh German Charmer of Com-merce and Industry, laid emphasis on the productivity of workers and ensur-ing transparency in factories.

“Bangladesh is doing a good job and needs to change the factory structure in terms of safety and compliance,” he added.

Mujibur Rashman, former CEO of BFTI, said the Trans Paci� c Partnership would be under threat by the Asian Free Trade Agreement.

But the market access is very impor-tant for Bangladesh, he added.

Nazma Akter, president of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation put stress on more e� cient price negotiation.

She said the RMG people would have to concentrate more on the betterment of workers ensuring workplace safety and providing dormitory facility. l

DCCI seeks tax rebate in next budget to cover business losses n Tribune Report

Leaders of Dhaka Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (DCCI) has urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to provide them with the tax rebate facili-ties for recovering the losses businesses occurred during the ongoing country-wide blockade and hartal programmes enforced by BNP-led 20 party alliance.

A DCCI delegation-led by its Presi-dent Hossain Khaled made the plea at a meeting with the o� cials of National Board of Revenue (NBR), held at NBR headquarters in the capital yesterday. NBR Chairman Nojibur Rahman pre-sided over the meeting.

Claiming that they are experienc-ing a shortfall of around Tk7,883 crore from their earning target because of the ongoing blockade, DCCI President has requested the NBR chairman not to impose any further taxes on the busi-nessmen in the next budget.

DCCI President urged the NBR for giving them tax rebate in the next budget as the businessmen could not run their businesses in the last one month. Besides, the businessmen are

facing troubles in paying their bank in-terests due to the current political un-rest, he claimed.

He explained that imported goods laden containers could not be released from Chittagong port due to the on-

going blockade and hartal, resulting in extra charges on businesses. He re-quested the NBR Chairman to consider up to 50% rebate on all charges at the port level.

DCCI also proposed to take meas-ures for holding income tax fair at the upazila level alongside district level across the country to reduce tax bur-den on the businessmen.

In response, the NBR chairman as-sured the delegation of organising the income tax fair at the Upazila level, apart from the district level.

He, however, called upon the busi-ness community to do export and im-port business honestly, abiding the existing rules and regulations. He also stressed on expediting the tax net in-stead of increasing taxes.

NBR chairman informed the DCCI delegation that NBR would soon honour the top 10 tax payers from each of the � ve tax zones across the country. l

Govt cuts growth forecasts sharply for � ve years Slower economic growth mainly due to political unrest led to the cut n Kayes Sohel

The government has drastically slashed economic growth outlooks for next � ve � scal years in line with its perspective plan due largely to the frequent polit-ical unrest.

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast in the next � nancial year 2015-16 has been cut down to 6.6% from 8.3%, according to the revised medium-term macro-economic frame-work revealed by the General Econom-ics Division (GED) yesterday.

The GDP growth outlooks have been revised to 6.8%, 7.2%, 7.6% and 8% in-stead of 8.7%, 9.1%, 9.4% and 9.7% in the � scals 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively.

The slower than expected econom-ic growth over the last couple of years mainly because of repeated political instability has prompted the govern-ment to cut down the growth, accord-ing to o� cials.

To achieve the projected growths, the GED also reduced investment to GDP ratio growth to 28.9%, 29.5%, 30.7%, 31.3% and 37.7% instead of 33.3%, 34.1%, 35%, 36.1% and 37% in next � ve � scals beginning from FY2017.

The revised medium-term mac-ro-economic framework policy was disclosed at a meeting of the “National steering committee on preparing the Seventh Five-Year Plan at the NEC con-ference room in the city with Planning

Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

Earlier, � nance ministry, however, in its preliminary macroeconomic-pro-jection has set a 7.4% GDP growth for next � scal.

It has also forecast to project 7.5% and 7.7% GDP growths in FY2017 and FY2018 respectively under the trimmed medi-um-term macro-economic framework.

After consulting with the � nance ministry, the GED’s projection will be included in the 7th Five-Year Plan, said an o� cial.

The GED is entrusted with the re-sponsibility of preparing the techni-cal framework and conducting back-ground studies that form the basis of preparing the Plan.

Planning Commission has initiated the process of preparing the country’s 7th Five Year Plan (2016-2020) which is scheduled to be launched from July 2016.

The GED said given the world growth projections (slow recovery) with the developing countries and domestic shyness in policy reforms- a medium policy shift scenario or, the business as usual should be considered pragmatic and courageous.

If political and economic scenarios improve to achieve expected growth, the mid-term reviews of the Plan may propose upward adjustments in the macroeconomic framework including growth rates, it said. l

DCCI President Hossain Khaled presents a crest to NBR chairman Nojibur Rahman yesterday as a DCCI team met to submit pre-budget proposal at the NBR headquarters

We are experiencing a shortfall of around Tk7,883 crore from our earning target because of the ongoing blockade

B2 Stock Friday, February 13, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

News, analysis and recent disclosuresFAREASTFIN: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend and 2.5% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 25.03.2015, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Bashundhara Convention Center-2, Block-C, Umme Kulsum Road, Bashundhara Residential Area, Baridhara, Dhaka-1219. Record date: 26.02.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 1.93, NAV per share of Tk. 13.00 and NOCFPS of Tk. (1.22) for the year ended on December 31, 2014.FAREASTFIN: The Company has further informed that, Record Date of the AGM of the company will be March 05, 2015 instead of February 26, 2015 in compliance with DSE Listing Regulation 36 (A) (4). Other information will remain same.AFCAGRO: The Company has informed that it will sign an agreement with Depart-ment of Microbiology, University of Dhaka on February 12, 2015 at 12:00 noon at Conference Room of University of Dhaka for Commercial Production of Industrial Enzymes for which it will pay 4% Royalty to Dhaka University on the invoice price of

Industrial Enzymes.NCCBLMF1: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Trustee of the Fund has informed that a meeting of the Trustees of the Fund will be held on February 12, 2015 at 4:00 noon to consider, among others, audited � nancial statements of the Fund for the year ended on December 31, 2014.IPO Subscription: Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited subscription date 01 to 05 Febuary 2015, NRB upto 14 Febuary 2015. @ taka 35, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.Dividend/AGMGP: The Board of Directors has recom-mended 65% � nal cash dividend (i.e. total 160% cash dividend for the year 2014 inclusive of 95% Interim cash dividend which has already been paid) for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 21.04.2015, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Bashundhara Convention Center-2, Block-C, Bashundhara R/A, Baridhara, Dhaka-1219. Record date: 18.02.2015. The Company has also reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 19,803.28 million, EPS of

Tk. 14.67, NAV per share of Tk. 23.23 and NOCFPS of Tk. 23.15 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.SAPORTL: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend and 5% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. The Board has also decided to issue Rights shares at the rate of 1R:5 (i.e. one Rights share for � ve shares held) at an issue price of Tk. 25.00 each including premium of Tk. 15.00 per share subject to approval of shareholders and regulatory authorities. Date of AGM: 14.03.2015, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: Police Convention Hall, Eskaton Garden Road, Ramna, Dhaka-1000. Record Date: 18.02.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 0.82, NAV per share of Tk. 42.29 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.91 for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Another record date for entitlement of the proposed rights shares to be noti� ed later after obtaining approval from BSEC.CNATEX: 11% stock, AGM: 15.03.2015, Record Date: 18.02.2015.RAKCERAMIC: 25% cash, EGM and AGM: 25.03.2015, Record date: 17.02.2015.

Stocks rise for 8th session amid jittery n Tribune Report

Stocks gained for the eighth consec-utive session amid jittery yesterday, shrugging o� continued political turbulence.

The market swung between pos-itive and negative throughout the session, but the last minute buying of mainly low cap companies helped the indices to close higher.

The benchmark index DSEX gained 31 points or 0.7% to 4,841. With the gain, DSEX added 223 points in the last eight sessions.

The Shariah index DSES moved up marginally over 4 points or 0.4% to 1,149. The comprising blue chips DS30 settled at 1,812, rising 7 points or 0.5%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was up 55 points to 8,979.

Trading at the Dhaka Stock Ex-change remained slightly dry com-pared to that of the previous ses-sion. Total turnover stood at Tk320 crore, which was 5.8% lower over the previous session.

Among the heavyweight sectors, telecommunication was the only sector which ended in red losing 0.8%.

Textile continued to shine gaining highest 1.5%, followed by non-banking � nancial institutions and non-life insurance that rallied more than 1%.

Pharmaceuticals, banks, pow-

er, cement and food & allied closed marginally higher.

The market breadth remained positive as out of 308 issues traded, 218 closed positive, 58 declined and 32 remained unchanged.

IDLC Investments said investors’ preference to micro and mini-cap companies fostered signi� cant vol-atility across the board with 65 out of 308 traded scrips changing more than 3% of their respective prices.

Like the previous day, participa-tion was also prominent, settling turnover above Tk300 crore for the second consecutive day, it said. “Overall, market sentiment im-proved signi� cantly.”

Lanka Bangla Securities said it was another shining day for Moti-jheel Street as most of the large and mid-cap stocks extended gains.

Aamra Technologies Limited topped the liquidity chart with turn-over worth Tk14 crore changing hands, followed by Beximco Limited, IFAD Autos, Grameenphone, Mobil Jamuna Bangladesh Limited, Bexim-co Pharma and Bangladesh Subma-rine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL).

SAFKO Spinning was the top gainer registering a rise of 9.9%, fol-lowed by EXIM First Mutual Fund, PLFSL, PF First Mutual Fund, BSC-CL and Anlima Yarn.

Kay & Que, Libra Infusion, Gemi-ni Seafood, AIBL First Mutual Fund and PF First Mutual were the biggest losers. l

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Wata Chemicals -A -4.72 -5.42 200.50 202.00 202.00 200.00 0.008 5.37 37.3Anwar Galvanizing-B -4.44 -4.36 34.43 34.40 34.50 34.30 0.034 0.64 53.8LR Global BD MF1-A -4.44 -1.78 4.42 4.30 4.60 4.30 0.032 0.08 55.3Continental Insur. -A -4.23 -4.65 18.06 18.10 18.20 17.50 0.031 2.27 8.0Moza� ar H.Spinning-A -3.63 -3.69 29.23 29.20 29.60 29.00 1.030 2.82 10.4Reliance Insur -A -3.23 -3.23 54.00 54.00 54.00 54.00 0.000 3.79 14.2 Prime Bank-A -3.16 -3.11 18.41 18.40 18.90 18.00 0.038 1.87 9.8Reckitt Benckiser -A -3.03 -2.28 1,065.19 1,057.00 1,098.90 1,057.00 0.022 42.33 25.2Eastern InsurA -2.33 -2.33 29.30 29.30 29.30 29.30 0.000 2.31 12.7NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A -1.85 -0.74 5.35 5.30 5.50 5.20 0.752 0.43 12.4

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Kay & Que (BD) -Z -6.08 -3.81 14.15 13.90 13.90 13.80 0.015 -1.41 -veLibra Infusions-A -5.03 -4.57 368.42 366.40 370.00 366.00 0.035 3.38 109.0GeminiSeaFood-B -4.08 -1.62 187.34 185.60 196.50 181.00 1.385 -6.36 -veAIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A -4.00 -2.19 4.92 4.80 5.30 4.50 0.803 0.11 44.7Phoenix Fin. 1st MF-A -3.77 -2.86 5.10 5.10 5.20 5.00 0.589 0.66 7.7Pioneer Insur -A -2.80 -0.75 42.36 41.60 43.30 40.90 2.344 4.83 8.8Northern Jute -Z -2.78 -2.43 210.86 210.00 215.10 210.00 0.691 0.96 219.6ACI ZERO Bond-A -2.71 -4.35 1000.00 1005.50 1010.00 1000.50 0.011 0.00 -Monno Ceramic -B -2.04 -3.30 28.70 28.80 29.00 28.30 0.100 0.20 143.5NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A -1.89 -1.31 5.27 5.20 5.50 5.10 25.269 0.43 12.3

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

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

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 639,402 22.12 7.73 35.50 2.31 34.70 35.90 33.70 34.60BD Submarine Cable-A 144,822 17.17 6.00 119.80 6.77 112.20 122.20 113.40 118.58Ifad Autos -N 222,516 14.07 4.91 63.30 3.43 61.20 64.50 60.00 63.22aamra technologies-A 312,416 12.87 4.49 41.10 4.58 39.30 41.80 39.30 41.18UNITED AIR-A 1,193,472 10.95 3.83 9.10 1.11 9.00 9.40 8.90 9.17Grameenphone-A 30,303 10.68 3.73 349.80 -0.88 352.90 356.60 349.00 352.51C & A Textile -N 389,661 7.57 2.64 19.30 -1.03 19.50 19.70 19.10 19.42Beximco Pharma -A 121,700 7.36 2.57 60.80 -0.16 60.90 61.40 59.20 60.48Fareast Finance-Z 374,711 6.73 2.35 17.50 2.94 17.00 20.00 17.50 17.95National Feed-N 241,250 6.66 2.33 27.50 0.00 27.50 28.00 27.40 27.59WesternMarine -N 135,524 6.54 2.28 48.20 0.42 48.00 48.60 47.90 48.23Agni Systems -A 171,400 5.75 2.01 33.10 -0.60 33.30 34.00 32.60 33.57People`s Leasing-A 265,460 5.62 1.96 21.90 8.42 20.20 22.00 20.40 21.16LafargeS Cement-Z 41,121 5.25 1.83 127.40 -0.16 127.60 128.80 127.00 127.70RAK Ceramics-A 82,659 4.78 1.67 58.20 1.75 57.20 58.50 55.50 57.83

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

aamra technologies-A 3,425,719 140.49 4.31 40.90 3.54 39.50 41.80 39.60 41.01BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 4,045,915 140.17 4.30 35.50 2.01 34.80 36.00 33.80 34.64Ifad Autos -N 1,988,370 125.28 3.84 63.10 2.60 61.50 64.60 60.10 63.00Brac Bank -A 2,925,074 114.93 3.53 38.70 0.26 38.60 39.60 38.40 39.29Grameenphone-A 248,135 87.22 2.68 349.60 -1.05 353.30 355.50 348.00 351.49MJL BD Ltd.-A 693,048 86.17 2.64 124.50 -0.08 124.60 126.00 122.60 124.33Beximco Pharma -A 1,328,682 80.14 2.46 60.90 0.00 60.90 61.50 59.30 60.32BD Submarine Cable-A 594,599 70.56 2.16 120.30 6.93 112.50 122.50 113.50 118.67CVO PetroChem RL-A 148,375 69.70 2.14 475.00 2.55 463.20 477.90 463.50 469.74Fu-Wang Food A 2,529,198 65.28 2.00 26.00 3.17 25.20 26.20 25.00 25.81Barakatullah E. D.-A 1,879,799 64.74 1.99 34.70 1.17 34.30 34.90 34.00 34.44Square Pharma -A 227,590 58.75 1.80 257.70 0.39 256.70 259.80 256.50 258.16Agni Systems -A 1,738,122 58.28 1.79 33.20 0.00 33.20 34.20 32.90 33.53DESCO Ltd. -A 792,979 55.48 1.70 69.80 0.14 69.70 70.70 69.00 69.96WesternMarine -N 972,597 45.97 1.53 47.80 3.91 46.00 48.10 46.00 47.26

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 278.41 8.54 12.38 4.32 290.79 8.20NBFI 252.63 7.75 25.00 8.73 277.63 7.83Investment 68.94 2.11 2.60 0.91 71.54 2.02Engineering 431.31 13.23 36.64 12.80 467.95 13.20Food & Allied 149.33 4.58 11.38 3.98 160.71 4.53Fuel & Power 421.06 12.92 20.38 7.12 441.44 12.45Jute 2.69 0.08 0.00 2.69 0.08Textile 275.42 8.45 36.18 12.64 311.60 8.79Pharma & Chemical 395.03 12.12 22.05 7.70 417.08 11.76Paper & Packaging 14.65 0.45 3.14 1.10 17.79 0.50Service 98.74 3.03 8.09 2.83 106.83 3.01Leather 24.42 0.75 0.82 0.29 25.24 0.71Ceramic 49.26 1.51 5.87 2.05 55.13 1.55Cement 64.26 1.97 6.99 2.44 71.25 2.01Information Technology 229.89 7.05 20.17 7.05 250.06 7.05General Insurance 41.86 1.28 1.05 0.37 42.91 1.21Life Insurance 66.23 2.03 1.81 0.63 68.04 1.92Telecom 157.78 4.84 27.86 9.73 185.63 5.23Travel & Leisure 48.80 1.50 11.22 3.92 60.02 1.69Miscellaneous 189.04 5.80 32.60 11.39 221.64 6.25Debenture 0.06 0.00 0.02 0.01 0.08 0.00

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4841.72102 (+) 0.65% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1812.35018 (+) 0.41% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 14824.54360 (+) 0.61% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 12100.95420 (+) 0.51% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8983.87410 (+) 0.63% ▲

DSE key features February 12, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

3,259.80

Turnover (Volume)

94,523,353

Number of Contract 96,370

Traded Issues 310

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

226

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

78

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,599.75

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.51

CSE key features February 12, 2015Turnover (Million Taka) 286.26

Turnover (Volume) 9,805,200

Number of Contract 16,733

Traded Issues 244

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

184

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

51

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

9

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,518.69

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.53

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

Investors’ preference to micro and mini-cap companies fostered signi� cant volatility across the board with 65 out of 308 traded scrips changing more than 3% of their respective prices

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Samata LeatheR -Z 10.00 9.33 19.80 19.80 19.80 19.80 0.024 -0.46 -veRahima Food -Z 9.97 9.68 34.09 34.20 34.20 33.70 0.122 -0.42 -veSa� o Spinning-A 9.87 8.16 24.26 24.50 24.50 23.00 0.944 1.24 19.6Imam Button -Z 9.48 9.48 12.70 12.70 12.70 12.70 0.137 -1.48 -veFAS Fin. & Inv. Ltd-B 9.38 9.38 17.50 17.50 17.50 17.50 0.004 1.27 13.8Intl. Leasing-B 8.51 6.97 15.05 15.30 15.50 14.30 2.801 -0.09 -vePeople`s Leasing-A 8.42 6.44 21.16 21.90 22.00 20.40 5.616 0.97 21.8Da� odil Computers -Z 7.69 5.53 13.73 14.00 14.00 13.50 0.148 0.86 16.0Midas Financing-Z 7.30 7.23 14.69 14.70 15.00 14.00 0.003 -3.24 -veAziz PipesZ 7.00 6.25 21.26 21.40 21.40 21.00 0.018 -0.37 -ve

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Imam Button -Z 10.00 10.00 12.10 12.10 12.10 12.10 0.683 -1.48 -veSa� o Spinning-A 9.82 9.02 24.17 24.60 24.60 22.50 18.343 1.24 19.5Meghna Con. Milk -B 9.46 8.02 8.08 8.10 8.10 8.00 0.444 -4.42 -veEXIM Bank 1 MF-A 8.47 17.86 6.40 6.40 6.40 6.40 0.000 0.56 11.4People`s Leasing-A 8.42 7.48 21.27 21.90 22.00 20.20 33.033 0.97 21.9Intl. Leasing-B 7.69 5.49 14.99 15.40 15.60 14.10 22.167 -0.09 -veMeghna PET Ind. -Z 7.14 8.21 6.06 6.00 6.20 6.00 0.161 -0.44 -veBD Submarine Cable-A 6.93 6.97 118.67 120.30 122.50 113.50 70.562 0.76 156.1Anlima Yarn -A 6.63 4.61 20.67 20.90 21.00 20.00 2.176 0.74 27.9FAS Fin. & Inv. Ltd-B 5.95 3.64 17.39 17.80 17.90 16.60 1.099 1.27 13.7

ANALYST

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, February 13, 2015

CORPORATE NEWS

Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL) has recently signed a contract with an advertising agency, Bitopi Advertising Ltd for its promotional campaigns. IDCOL’s executive director and CEO, Mahmood Malik and Bitopi’s MD, Sarah Ali signed the agreement

Jamuna Bank’s training academy has recently arranged a workshop on prevention of terrorism � nancing and FATCA reporting. The bank’s DMD, AKM Saifuddin Ahamed inaugurated the workshop as chief guest

Audit committee of Social Islami Bank Limited has recently held its 96th meeting. The committee’s chairperson, Md Abdur Rahman presided over the meeting

BTCL introduces new bill distribution systemn Tribune Business Desk

BTCL has recently introduced new bill distribution system where area-based linemen through supervision of GMs are distributing bills and payment of redemption notes to customers.

Clients are requested to contact with nearby camp o� ces if the delivery of bills and redemption notes get delayed, said a press release. l

OK Mobile Ltd President wins the second prize in the premier mini pavilion category at the 20th Dhaka International Trade Fair. The company’s president Kazi Zaseemul Islam received the prize from Senior Commerce Secretary Hedayatullah Al Mamun and FBCCI president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed at the concluding function

S&P lowers Saudi outlook on oil price slide n AFP, Dubai

Standard and Poor’s has lowered the outlook for the world’s top oil exporter Saudi Arabia to negative and down-graded its Gulf partners Oman and Bah-rain on sliding oil prices.

But despite the large budget de� cit planned by Riyadh for this year, the agency maintained its sovereign credit ratings for the kingdom, as well as neighbouring Abu Dhabi and Qatar, citing their “very strong � scal positions.”

“Given its high dependence on oil, Saudi Arabia’s currently very strong � s-cal position could weaken owing to the oil price decline,” S&P said in a state-ment on Monday.

“The negative outlook re� ects our view that Saudi Arabia’s general gov-ernment � scal position is weakening,” it said.

S&P lowered its outlook for Saudi Arabia from positive to stable in De-cember citing similar reasons.

The agency has since further low-ered its projections for world oil prices.

In December 2014, S&P expected benchmark Brent North Sea crude pric-es to average $80 per barrel in 2015 and $85 a barrel in 2015-2018.

“We now assume an average Brent oil price of $55 a barrel in 2015 and $70 a barrel in 2015-2018,” it said.

Unlike Saudi Arabia, the neighbour-ing United Arab Emirates expects to balance its budget this year, and S&P maintained its “AA/A-1+” ratings and stable outlook for Abu Dhabi.

It said it expected the emirate, which accounts for 90 percent of UAE crude output, to remain prudent and

� exible in its � scal policy. “But we also anticipate structural

and institutional weaknesses to re-main,” it added.

Gas-rich Qatar has yet to unveil its budget for this year but S&P main-tained its “AA/A-1+” sovereign credit

ratings and stable outlook for the emir-ate.

The smallest Gulf producers, non-OPEC Bahrain and Oman, which lack the � scal reserves of their wealthier Gulf partners, both saw their ratings downgraded one notch.

Bahrain’s sovereign credit ratings were cut to “BBB-/A-3” from “BBB/A-2” and Oman’s to “A-/A-2” from “A/A-1.”

World oil prices plunged more than 50% last year and have since rebound-ed only feebly, amid forecasts of weak growth in key consumer countries and a

continuing, if reduced, boost to supply from North American shale producers.

The International Monetary Fund estimated last month that the six Gulf Arab states - which also include Kuwait - would su� er $300bn in lost revenues this year because of the price slump. l

Kingdom Tower (Burj Al-Mamlaka) , Riyadh, Saudi Arabia REUTERS

Oil prices rise in Asian trade n AFP, Singapore

Oil prices edged higher in Asia yester-day but gains were capped owing to concerns about surging stockpiles in the United States, the world’s top con-sumer, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Interme-diate for March delivery rose 64 cents to $49.48 while Brent crude for March gained 34 cents to $55.00 in mid-morn-ing trade.

“There is some optimism in the mar-ket at the moment, but the fundamen-tals have not changed,” Michael Mc-Carthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, told AFP.

“The increased US stockpiles adds to the worry about ample global sup-ply, which is the main cause for the cur-rent bearish market,” he added.

The US Department of Energy re-ported on Wednesday that commercial crude reserves rose 4.9 million barrels in the week ending February 6.

Stockpiles were “at the highest level for this time of year in at least the last 80 years”, the agency added.

Oil prices have been under pressure for months, plunging about 60% to just over $40 a barrel between June and the end of January.

However, they have recovered slightly in recent weeks as the number of drilling rigs has fallen and oil compa-nies have trimmed some investment.

Investors are also monitoring talks on Greece’s demands to renegotiate its international bailout as the risk of debt default looms.

A meeting between Finance Minis-ter Yaris Varoufakis and his counter-parts from the eurozone late Wednes-day broke up without agreement, with deliberations now set to go down to the wire next week.

“We expect price action to remain choppy as markets await for direction,” said Singapore’s United Overseas Bank. l

India mulls export incentives for raw sugar n Reuters, New Delhi

India, the world’s second biggest sugar producer, is considering giving export incentives for 1.4 million tonnes raw sugar, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Wednesday, as mills started dis-tress sale of the sweetener to pay cane farmers.

“The ministry’s views is that we should give subsidy for 1.4 million tonnes ... the paper has been circulated for a cabinet meeting,” Paswan told re-porters.

Without any government incentive, Indian sugar is uncompetitive in world markets well supplied by low-cost pro-ducers Brazil and Thailand. l

US warns G20 against using exchange rates to boost exports n Reuters, Istanbul

The United States urged a meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies not to resort to currency devaluations to boost exports, while a draft communi-que gave a gloomy assessment on Tues-day of the outlook for global growth.

The meeting of � nance ministers and central bankers in Istanbul comes at a di� cult time, with major econo-mies running at di� erent speeds, mon-etary policies diverging and Greece casting a new shadow over Europe.

US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew un-derlined the need to stick to existing commitments on exchange rate policy, a Treasury o� cial said, pledges which include refraining from competitive ex-change rate devaluations.

“Secretary Lew strongly empha-sised ... that we are highly focused on ensuring that US workers and � rms play on a level playing � eld and no country should use their exchange rate to increase exports,” the o� cial said.

The US Federal Reserve looks set to raise interest rates this year, a stark con-trast to huge money printing programmes by the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan and impromptu rate cuts from India to Australia, Canada to Denmark.

A by-product of that is the dollar being driven higher while other major currencies tumble. There has generally been an acceptance in Washington that a weaker euro and yen is an inevitable consequence of actions to revive mori-bund economies, something the Unit-ed States has consistently called for.

According to a draft communique for the meeting, obtained by Reuters overnight and intended for adoption later on Tuesday, the G20 welcomed the ECB’s quantitative easing - despite Ger-man concern - and said it would further support recovery in the euro area.

In a nod to expectations that the Fed will raise interest rates, the draft said some advanced economies with stronger growth prospects were mov-ing closer to “policy normalisation”. l

WGC: India likely to keep lead over China in gold consumption n Reuters, Mumbai

India is likely to remain the world’s biggest gold consumer this year after regaining the top spot from China in 2014, driven by robust jewellery de-mand, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

Indian consumer demand for gold jewellery and investment totalled 842.7 tonnes last year, compared with 813.6 tonnes by China, according to WGC data.

Demand dipped in both countries in 2014 from record levels a year earlier, but Indian demand slid only 14%, com-pared with a much steeper 38% fall in China. The two countries accounted for over half of global demand.

Global gold demand also hit a � ve-year low last year as buying of jewel-lery, coins and bars failed to keep pace with 2013’s elevated levels, the WGC said on Thursday.

The industry group forecast gold de-mand in both India and China to rise to 900-1,000 tonnes in 2015, but said In-dia was likely to retain its edge.

“We are maintaining the same level of demand for both the countries but Indian demand could rise marginally (higher) than China in 2015 as senti-ment is ahead in India,” said Somasun-daram PR, managing director of WGC’s India operations.

“Jewellery demand is the major driving factor in India and would con-tinue to drive the market in 2015 as well,” he said.

India’s gold jewellery demand rose 8% to an all-time high of 662 tonnes

in 2014 on strong purchases for wed-dings and festivals. The robust demand comes despite tighter gold import rules, some of which were removed only in the latter part of 2014.

In contrast, Chinese jewellery de-mand slumped 33% from 2013, when a sharp slide in gold prices triggered massive purchases.

Chinese appetite for gold has dropped after the 2013 buying frenzy

due to a weak price outlook, with the WGC saying last year that this lower de-mand was the “new normal.”

China’s jewellery and investment demand has also taken a hit from the country’s anti-corruption drive, which has curbed some gift-giving practices during festivals.

The WGC said China was the single biggest contributor to a decline in glob-al investment demand for gold bars

and coins due to the corruption crack-down and weak price outlook. Invest-ment demand in China halved in 2014 from a year earlier.

“We can’t expect double-digit growth (in China) every year but we are looking at sustainable growth which is a re� ection of people’s consumption power and appetite for investment,” said Albert Cheng, managing director of WGC’s far east region. l

A woman looks at a gold bangle inside a jewellery showroom at a market in Mumbai REUTERS

Russia budget de� cit to reach 3.8% of GDP in 2015 n AFP, Moscow

Russia’s budget de� cit is expected to reach 3.8% of GDP in 2015, mainly due to the impact of falling oil prices, Eco-nomic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Wednesday.

“According to our calculations, the resulting de� cit amounts to 3.8% of GDP,” Ulyukayev said after meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, quoted by Interfax news agency.

After keeping its budget largely bal-anced for many years, Russia is seeing its � nancial situation deteriorate be-cause of Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis and the falling price of oil, its main source of revenue.

“According to our forecast, budget revenues will fall by 2.340tn rubles ($35.41bn) - mainly due to oil and gas revenues (falling by) 2.2tn rubles ($33.27bn ),” Ulyukayev said.

The forecast is based on oil prices staying at $50 for all of 2015, while they stood at $55 per barrel in London on Wednesday, and on GDP contracting by 3%, after 0.6 growth in 2014. In� ation is predicted at 12 percent for this year.

Ulyukayev predicted a balanced budget in 2017 if oil prices reach $70 per barrel. Finance Minister Anton Si-luanov had in December predicted a budget de� cit of 3%.

Ulyukayev said the budget de� cit could be covered by the country’s re-serve fund, which has been topped up by earnings from oil and gas sales in re-cent years. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, February 13, 2015

DILBERT

Euro zone in de� ation until Q4; 1-in-4 chance of Greek exit n Reuters

The euro zone’s bout of de� ation will last for most of this year despite the Eu-ropean Central Bank’s decision to buy government bonds, according to a Re-uters poll that also gave a one-in-four chance of Greece leaving the currency area in 2015.

The � ndings from a survey of econo-mists taken this week are likely to dis-appoint the ECB, especially just after it announced, after much debate, a quan-titative easing programme worth 60bn euros a month starting in March.

But a majority, 20 of 32, said that will not be enough to bring in� ation back up to the ECB’s target ceiling of 2% from -0.6% now, matching a record low.

Consumer prices will likely keep falling compared with last year until the fourth quarter, the poll showed, a sharp downgrade from last month, when economists forecast that would happen from January to March only.

For the full year, in� ation is seen av-eraging -0.2%, compared with 0.2% in last month’s poll.

If the poll predictions are correct, that would signal the longest stretch of falling prices in the monetary union since its inception in 1999 and would counter policymakers’ claims the re-gion would avoid de� ation.

“More needs to be done in order to make QE e� ective,” said Elwin De Groot, economist at Rabobank. “To strengthen the impact of QE it should go hand in hand with a further let-up in � scal policy and a speeding-up of structural reforms.”

The euro has weakened more than 6% since January on hopes of addi-tional stimulus from the ECB and a mid-year interest rate hike from the U.S. Federal Reserve. But a sharp drop in global crude oil costs and weak de-mand has kept a lid on prices.

A private industry survey earlier this month showed euro zone � rms cut

prices at the fastest rate in � ve years in January to drum up new business.

But while economists predict QE is unlikely to boost in� ation, they are op-timistic the new cash will help banks increase lending to private businesses by the end of this year.

Lending to households and � rms fell by 0.5% in December - less than in pre-vious months - but remains an area of concern for the ECB, which has lent tril-lions of euros to banks in the hope that it will � lter through to the economy.

“Credit supply and demand condi-tions are improving. However, ongoing balance sheet reduction in the private sector is likely to continue to dampen credit demand,” said Johannes Gareis, economist at Moody’s Analytics.

Growth in the monetary union will likely average 1.1% this year, and 1.6% in 2016, roughly in line with the previ-ous poll. By contrast, the US and UK economies are expected to grow 3.2% and 2.6% in 2015.

One-in-four chance greece exits De� ation is not the only risk facing the currency bloc.

The new Greek government’s plan to abandon its austerity programme will continue to pose challenges to pol-icymakers.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday won a con� dence vote on his plan to cancel the bailout programme and end years of austerity imposed by international lenders that has resulted in deep job cuts and widespread dis-content.

Since entering o� ce less than a month ago Tsipras has stopped privati-sations of public � rms and promised to reinstate pensions and get government workers back into jobs.

But Germany, the ECB and other creditor nations remain opposed to allowing any concessions for Greece, especially if Athens deviates from its reform agenda.

Economists in the latest poll gave just a 25% chance of Greece leaving the euro zone this year. But that is the highest probability collected by Reuters polls - even those conducted during the depths of the debt crisis be-

tween 2011-2012. Athens is set to run out of money

soon and is seeking a bridge loan to help it stay a� oat and avoid a default while negotiations with lenders go on.

“There are no legal procedures for

a member country’s exit from Euro-pean Monetary Union. Greece cannot be forced to exit,” said Marius Daheim, senior consultant at SEB.

“However, once having defaulted, Greece may chose to negotiate an exit

agreement. This would incur strong losses for its creditors, but as these are mainly European taxpayers, the fallout on � nancial markets should be con-tained. Grexit is not going to be another Lehman-type event.” l

A woman holds a Greek � ag as she takes part in an anti-austerity pro-government demonstration in front of the parliament in Athens REUTERS

Gazprom: Shale production ‘nonsense’ after price drop n AFP, Riyadh

The plunge in global crude prices makes it di� cult for North American shale oil producers to survive, the chairman of Russian gas giant Gazprom said in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Viktor Zubkov told an industry gath-ering that “a lot” of shale producers are su� ering from the drop in oil prices and current conditions make shale produc-tion “nonsense”.

“The low price of oil, $45, $50, or even $60 (per barrel), it’s not a driver for shale business,” he told the Interna-tional Energy Forum (IEF) in Riyadh.

Crude prices dropped from around $100 to below $50 per barrel over the past year on concerns over a supply glut and weakening demand.

Traditional producers including the OPEC cartel have refused to lower production ceilings despite the fall, in a move analysts say is aimed at driving new competitors like shale producers out of business.

Current price levels, and connected prices for natural gas, “signi� cantly un-dermine the economy of shale and LNG (liqui� ed natural gas) export projects from the United States,” said Zubkov, a former Russian prime minister.

He said the current price level was “not normal” and that a “golden middle” would be preferable.

“Prices should not be too high or too low,” he told the Saudi-based forum, which brings together 74 oil and gas producer, consumer and transit nations.

US benchmark West Texas Interme-diate (WTI) for March delivery slid 10 cents to $49.92 a barrel on Wednesday.

Brent North Sea crude for March dropped 59 cents to $55.84 a barrel in London.

On Tuesday the International Energy Agency, another body that works for global energy security, said crude prices will recover from the $50-$60 range but will stay well below $100.

The IEA sees US shale oil production growth slowing to a trickle this year, but quickly bouncing back to post a 50% rise from 2014 levels. l

Euro down as Greece talks break up but Nikkei surges n AFP, Hong Kong

The euro dipped in Asian trade yester-day after talks between Greece and its European creditors on restructuring the country’s bailout broke up without agreement.

Japanese shares surged to a more than seven-year high as the yen retreat-ed against the dollar thanks to inves-tors betting on the US Federal Reserve hiking interest rates soon.

The Nikkei in Tokyo, which was closed Wednesday for a public holi-day, rallied 1.85%, or 327.04 points, to 17,979.72 - its best � nish since July 2007.

Shanghai rose 0.50%, or 15.72 points, to 3,173.42 while Hong Kong gained 0.44%, or 107.13 points to 24,422.15.

However, Sydney retreated 0.44%, or 25.5 points, to close at 5,743.6 after data showed Australian unemploy-ment at a 12-year high. Seoul eased 0.21%, or 4.07 points to 1,941.63.

The focus of attention was on Eu-rope, where eurozone � nance minis-ters were unable to hammer out a rene-gotiation of Greece’s bailout terms.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the Eu-rogroup of eurozone ministers, said six hours of talks produced no deal on an extension of Athens’ 240bn euro EU-IMF rescue programme.

Greece’s bailout is due to expire at the end of February and failure to agree on an extension would see Greece de-fault on its giant debts, almost inevita-bly meaning that it would crash out of the eurozone.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras led the hard-left Syriza party to victory in elections last month vowing to bring an end to austerity measures imposed un-der the bailout.

On currency markets the euro

bought $1.1317 and 136.20 yen, down from $1.1332 and 136.37 yen in New York Wednesday afternoon.

Fed rate hike in view“In global terms, the view over Greece is mixed, with a majority saying the Greek situation will have limited im-pact on global markets and econo-mies,” Andrew Clarke, director of trad-ing at Mirabaud Securities Asia in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg News.

“However, there are a few that think that view is slightly naive. If Greece does pull out and defaults on its debt, what will stop Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal from doing the same?”

The greenback held above 120 yen, with analysts predicting it could ad-vance further if US retail sales later Thursday come in strong.

The dollar was at 120.27 yen, com-pared with 120.35 yen in US trade but well up from 119.70 yen in Asia earlier Tuesday.

Dealers are moving back into the US unit after another strong jobs report in-creased the likelihood the Fed will bring forward its timetable for raising rates.

Figures showing Australian unem-ployment hit a 12-year high of 6.4 per-cent in January increased the chances the country’s central bank will cut in-terest rates, sending the local dollar tumbling.

The Aussie hit a near six-year low of 76.59 US cents yesterday , from 77.26 US cents before the jobs data release.

On oil markets US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for March deliv-ery rose 93 cents to $49.77 while Brent crude for March gained 60 cents to $55.26 in afternoon trade.

Gold fetched $1,222.56 an ounce, against $1,234.49 on Wednesday. l

Chinese economy more sustainable now n Reuters, Beijing

China’s economy is now more sustain-able and domestic consumption is steadily rising, Chinese Central Bank Vice Governor Yi Gang told a G20 meet-ing of � nance o� cials earlier this week.

Yi’s remarks came after China posted its slowest economic growth in 24 years in 2014, with a cooling housing market, slowing investment and recent under-whelming exports expected to weigh further on domestic demand this year.

To stoke growth and bank lending, China’s central bank last week reduced the amount of cash that banks have to

hold as reserves for the � rst time in over two years. That was after it had unex-pected cut interest rates in November.

Finance o� cials from the Group of 20 leading economies sketched an un-certain outlook for global growth on Tuesday and vowed to use monetary and � scal policy if needed to stem any risk of stagnation. Yi also was quot-ed on the central bank’s website on Wednesday as saying that the central bank was closely monitoring China’s property market and shadow banking sector, and increasing the transparency of the nation’s local government debt.

China’s shadow banking business,

which includes investment trusts and bill acceptances, ballooned to 45tn yuan ($7.21tn) at the end of 2014, ac-cording to estimates by ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service. l

German in� ation tips into negative territory n AFP, Frankfurt

In� ation in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, dipped into negative terri-tory in January for the � rst time in � ve years, largely due to lower energy pric-es, data showed on Thursday.

The annual rate of in� ation in Ger-many stood at -0.4% last month, the federal statistics o� ce, Destatis, calcu-lated in � nal data.

That was fractionally lower than a provisional estimate of -0.3% released

at the end of January. In December, it had been in positive

territory at 0.2%. The last time German in� ation had

dropped into negative territory was in September 2009.

Using the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) - the yardstick used by the European Central Bank - in� ation in Germany was even lower at -0.5% year-on-year, way under the ECB’s annual in� ation target of just be-low 2%. l

India to incur steep losses from cotton reserve sales n Reuters, Mumbai

State-run Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) is set to su� er its steepest loss in at least six years from sales in the current season, highlighting the plight of an industry that is battling bulging stockpiles and waning demand from top buyer China.

The CCI started selling from its stockpiles last month to make room in its warehouses for the ongoing bumper harvest, but managed to � nd buyers for less than half of what it auctioned.

It has procured more than 6.5 mil-lion bales this season from farmers

at prices around 5-6% above current market rates, making the � bre uncom-petitive amid world prices that are lan-guishing near more than � ve-year lows.

“Based on the current price we may see a loss of about 20-25bn rupees ($322-$403m) under the support price in operation this year as the response to the sale is very sluggish in the absence of Chinese demand,” CCI Chairman and Managing Director B.K. Mishra said.

That would be the biggest loss since at least 2008/09, a government o� cial said. However, this loss will not show up on CCI’s books as it will be reim-bursed by the government.

“I am hoping for some stability in prices by March on less supply,” Mishra added, referring to the month when new season arrivals dwindle.

Of the 35,000 bales auctioned since Jan 27 until last Thursday, CCI has found buyers for only 17,000 bales, but despite the dismal response, the agen-cy cannot a� ord to lower prices as it has already spent about $2bn in buying cotton from distressed farmers, Mishra added.

A second government source said, including this week, CCI has auctioned 60,000 bales and sold around 29,000 bales. l

Workers push harvested cotton with their feet after unloading it from a supply truck at a cotton processing unit in Gujarat REUTERS