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SEHRI & IFTAR Ramadan June Sehri Iftar 14 20 – 6:52 15 21 3:39 6:52 16 22 3:40 6:52

Source: Islamic Foundation

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 | Ashar 6, 1423, Ramadan 14, 1437 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 58 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

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Plight of the RohingyasThe question on the minds of Rohingyas on World Refugee Day today is whether Aung San Suu Kyi will speak out about their plight.

Avijit attacker Sharif killed in ‘gun� ght’n Arifur Rahman Rabbi

A top leader of banned mili-tant out� t Ansarullah Bangla Team who took part in the fatal attack on secular writ-er Avijit Roy was killed in a “gun� ght” with the Detective Branch of police in Khilgaon area of Dhaka yesterday.

Police introduced Shariful alias Shakib alias Sharif alias Saleh alias Arif alias Hadi 1 as a military and IT trainer of Ansarullah while announcing a Tk5 lakh bounty for infor-mation on his whereabouts on May 19.

Banned last year, Ansarul-lah is believed to be repre-senting al-Qaeda in the In-dian Subcontinent (AQIS) in Bangladesh that has claimed 13 attacks since January 2013

in which 11 people – mostly secularist teachers, bloggers, publishers and LGBT rights activists – were killed and � ve wounded.

Police claimed that Sharif had participated in the killing operations of Niladri Chatter-jee (Niloy Neel) and Shanto Mariam University student Riyadh Morshed Babu, and was directly involved in the attack on Avijit’s publisher Ahmed Rashid Tutul in which Tutul and two other secular writers were injured.

According to the law en-forcers, Sharif also master-minded the attacks on Avijit’s publisher Faisal Are� n Dipan; secular activists Oyasiqur Rahman Babu and Nazimud-din Samad; and LGBT rights

PAGE 4 COLUMN 4

Police: Sharif knew everythingn Arifur Rahman Rabbi

The law enforcers now claim that a most wanted Ansarul-lah Bangla Team leader killed in a “gun� ght” in Dhaka yes-terday knew everything about the banned out� t’s opera-tions. But it’s already too late.

A military and IT train-er, Shariful alias Shakib alias Sharif alias Saleh alias Arif alias Hadi 1 was an important member of the group’s opera-

tions wing which sets the tar-gets and plans the attacks.

Police claimed that Sharif had direct or indirect involve-ment in all the attacks on secu-lar bloggers, activists, publish-ers and LGBT rights activists, and was a prime accused in Mukto-Mona blog founder Avijit Roy murder case.

Ansarullah, represent-ing regional extremist plat-form al-Qaeda in the Indian

PAGE 4 COLUMN 4

News2DT

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

Plight of the Rohingyas

World Refugee Day #WithRefugees

n Adil Sakhawat

The question on the minds of the Rohingya on World Refugee Day today is whether Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, long silent, will speak out about their plight.

Even in April this year, Suu Kyi asked the new US ambassador to Myanmar, Scot Alan Marciel, to re-frain from using the term 'Rohing-ya' and the envoy replied that the US, as a standard practice, uses the term that a people use to refer to themselves.

But the � rst time she would be willing to talk about the crisis of the Muslim minority group in the Ra-khine state of Myanmar, was when US Secretary John Kerry visited the country for the � rst time after Suu Kyi's party National League for De-mocracy (NLD) assumed power.

The Dhaka Tribune obtained a recording of the joint press brief-ing held on May 22 where Suu Kyi raised the topic.

“What we want is to � nd a prac-tical solution. We are not interest-ed in rhetoric. We are not trying to out-talk anybody. We are not try-ing to say that any particular stand with regard to nomenclature is bet-ter than another. What we are say-ing is that there are more important things for us to cope with than just the issue of nomenclature,” she said.

She also explained why she does not prefer the term 'Rohingya', say-ing: “There are two terms which are emotive, and we have got to face them fairly and squarely. The Rakhine Buddhists object to the term Rohingya just as much as the Muslims object to the term Bengali, because these terms have all kinds of political and emotional implica-tions which are unacceptable to the opposing parties.”

Suu Kyi asked for enough space

to sort out these problems in a peaceful and sensible way.

She said: “We are trying to � nd a solution to this problem, and while we are trying to � nd that solution, we would like our friends to be helpful in this regard. We would like them to understand that we are not trying to undermine any particular group, but are trying to

� nd some way forward that will be acceptable to both parties.”

Kerry in his address said the US was committed to working with the new government in order to promote development, respect for human rights and to ensure ben-e� ts for all those who live in the Rakhine state and across Myanmar.

Suu Kyi stressed on working for establishing the Rohingya people’s identity, and said: “We are not in any way undermining people’s de-sire to establish their own identity.”

Following up on this, eight days after the press brie� ng the Myanmar government formed the Central Committee for the Imple-mentation of Peace and Develop-

ment in Rakhine, chaired by State Counsellor Suu Kyi. The committee comprises 20 cabinet ministers, ac-cording to an announcement from the President’s O� ce on May 31.

The committee's key task will be to resettle the internally displaced people, facilitate social develop-ment and coordination of the activ-

ities of the United Nations agencies and international NGOs.

Six committee members have al-ready visited the Rakhine state and talked to local residents including the Muslim and the Buddhist com-munities, a Rakhine community leader told the Dhaka Tribune.

They also visited the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in

Myebon township and Sittwe in Ra-khine.

The delegation included Ra-khine's Chief Minister U Nyi Pu, Minister for the State Counsellor’s O� ce U Kyaw Tint Swe, deputy minister of border a� airs, and min-ister of labour, immigration and population, and social welfare, re-

lief and resettlement.Sources attending the meeting

said the committee only a� rmed the amount of funds to be given for the development of Rakhine state.

An o� cial from the Information Department of Rakhine state told the Dhaka Tribune that the Myan-mar government had planned a na-tional veri� cation process in accord-ance with the 1982 citizenship law.

The main reason for this is to verify the citizenship status of the Muslims who call themselves Ro-hingya, he said.

Abdullah (not his real name), a Rohingya and a former student of Sittwe University, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The controversial citi-zenship law did not include the Ro-hingya community in the 135 eth-nic minority groups and denied our citizenship though we are here for generations. If the national veri� -cation process is done in line with that faulty law, then it will never bring peace and development here in Arakan [Rakhine state].”

He also said: “To ensure peace and development in the state, Suu Kyi and her government should � rst ensure our basic rights of movement, healthcare, citizenship and living outside the camps.”

Rohingya community leader U Kyaw Hla Aung, who was a politi-cal prisoner, said if the committee was really going to bring peace in Arakan (Rakhine state) then they should propose amendment of the citizenship law to the government.

Suu Kyi, during the May 22 meeting with Kerry, said her gov-ernment would be working on a solution that would allow the Ro-hingya to live peacefully and se-curely outside the camps.

Asked about Suu Kyi's state-ment, Abdullah said: “Let us see and hope for the best from Suu Kyi, the Nobel Laureate.” l

Rohingya children play at the Leda Makeshift Camp in Hnila, Teknaf, oblivious to the harsh conditions of the camp, across the border from a homeland they cannot return to. The photo was taken in April this year PHOTOS: ADIL SAKHAWAT

Legal experts: Genocide in Rakhinen Adil Sakhawat

Under international law, a tribu-nal must make three � ndings to conclude that genocide is taking place: Those being attacked must be part of a distinct group, de� ned by nationality, race or religion; there must be widespread killing of that group; and those carrying out the violence intend to destroy the group.

In a 78-page legal analysis, a Yale Law School clinic considered three questions that de� ne gen-ocide according to the Genocide Convention, which was adopted by the United Nations General As-sembly in 1948 and entered into force in 1951, and declared geno-cide a crime under international law.

The � ndings of the legal anal-ysis are laid out in “Is Genocide Occurring in Myanmar's Rakhine State?” published by the Yale Law School Allard K Lowenstein Inter-national Human Rights Clinic on October 29 last year.

Do Rohingya constitute a protect-ed group under the de� nition of genocide?

The report documented My-anmar’s former military junta-led

government's e� ort to root out Rakhine state's Rohingya Muslim minority group and called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to launch a commission of inquiry into genocide against the Rohingya people.

Do acts perpetrated against Ro-hingya fall into the categories enumerated in the Genocide Con-vention?

The report showed that Myan-mar state security forces involve-ment in massacres of Rohingya satis� ed the requirements for the act of killing members of a de-� ned group.

Rohingya refugees, UN agen-cies, independent experts and human rights organisations, re-ported that the Myanmar Army, former border force NaSaKa and Myanmar Police Force were in-volved in the use of lethal vio-lence against Rohingya in Rakh-ine State.

Witnesses reported state forces joining in local killings and mas-sacres of Rohingya. This includes the shooting and killing of Ro-hingya instead of intervening to protect them.

The report found evidence that the Myanmar Army has tor-

tured Rohingya men and wom-en. Rohingya experienced waves of large-scale violence in the late 1970s, the early 1990s, 2001 and 2012.

This has included acts of sex-ual assault and rape by NaSaKa, the Myanmar Army and Myanmar Police Force against Rohingya women.

Violence and arson in Rakhine State have destroyed Rohingya homes and entire neighbour-hoods. Local Rakhine citizens perpetrated some of the destruc-tion, but many Rohingya reported military personnel and police of-� cers either watching or actively participating in setting Rohingya homes on � re or physically stop-ping Rohingya from extinguishing the � res.

Does the requisite “intent to de-stroy” Rohingya exist?

The report detailed evidence that o� cials in the Myanmar gov-ernment, in league with Buddhist extremist groups, worked to ter-rorise and kill Rohingya with the intent to destroy the ethnic group “in whole or in part.”

The expulsion of Rohingya from their homes into internally displaced persons (IDP) camps or

out of the country and the sub-sequent denial of medical care, sanitation, food and paid labour opportunities constitute in� ict-ing conditions of life calculated to bring about Rohingyas’ destruc-tion as a group.

“These actors have perpetrated violence against Rohingya, claim-ing thousands of lives,” the report said. “Hundreds more Rohingya have been the victims of torture, arbitrary detention, rape and oth-er forms of serious physical and mental harm.”

Although the analysis does not support a de� nitive answer to the third question, the information the Lowenstein Clinic has consid-ered, assuming it is credible and comprehensive and accurately re� ects the situation of the Ro-hingya in Myanmar, provides a strong foundation from which to infer genocidal intent by security forces, government o� cials, local Rakhine and others.

The Yale Law School report was commissioned by Fortify Rights, a group that has spent the last three years documenting Myan-mar’s treatment of the Rohingya. It hired the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clin-ic at Yale Law School to examine

the treatment of the Rohingya situation under international law aimed at preventing genocide.

Fortify Rights Executive Direc-tor Matthew Smith said to Dhaka Tribune: “The UN High Commis-sioner for Human Rights will soon issue a report focused in part on abuses against Rohingya.

“We are advocating for a UN-mandated international in-vestigation into the entire human rights situation in Rakhine State.”

Spokesman for Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, Rupert Colville, con-� rmed this to the Dhaka Tribune, saying: “The OHCHR has a major report coming out shortly on the situation of the Rohingya Muslim and other minorities in Myanmar.”

Sources said the report is ex-pected to be launched today.

But Colville explained that “the decision to set up an inter-national commission of inquiry is one that is made by the 47 states that make up the Human Rights Council.”

The Dhaka Tribune attempted several times to contact Zaw Htay, the Deputy Director General at Myanmar's O� ce of the President, but was not able to get his com-ments. l

3D

TMONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

News

What is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' view of the Rohingya issue? UNHCR has worked with Myanmar refugees in Bangladesh at the invi-tation of the Government of Bang-ladesh since 1993.

It operates in two refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to provide protection and assistance to some 33,000 refugees and advocates with the government for the protection of some 300,000 to 500,000 unregistered Myanmar na-tionals who live here but do not enjoy the same bene� ts as refugees.

What challenges does the UNHCR face in Bangladesh?UNHCR's greatest challenge in Bang-ladesh are the constraints placed on the rights of registered refugees in the camps and the absence of any durable solution for them.

UNHCR continuously advocates for the improvement of the condi-tion of refugees, both registered and unregistered and hopes the new National Strategy on Myanmar will improve their condition.

What are your objectives regard-ing the Rohingya?UNHCR advocates for the provi-

sion of international protection to all Rohingya in Bangladesh as their � ight to this country quali� es them as refugees.

Our � rst priority is to ensure international protection for all Ro-hingya on the territory of Bangla-desh pending their acquiring du-rable solutions and to protect the fundamental principle of non-re-foulement which means that those who have � ed must not be pushed back to their place of origin.

What types of aid does UNHCR provide to Rohingya refugees?UNHCR only has access to registered Rohingya, who the Government recognises as refugees. Bangladesh does not recognise the remaining 300,000 - 500,000 Rohingya and currently term them undocumented Myanmar nationals.

Unregistered Rohingya received no recognition or status prior to 2014 and were mistakenly identi-� ed as illegal immigrants though their reason for � ight was con� ict and persecution.

UNHCR says it hopes to integrate refugees into the national health system: Will that work here?

UNHCR's strategy for the future is for the refugees to enjoy a similar level of service as the local popu-lation. This is not approved and is under consideration by the rele-vant Bangladeshi ministries.

Despite humanitarian work being done, why do so many Rohingya complain about inadequate basic services including access to clean water?There are restrictions placed by the government on the level of assis-tance that may be provided. Ad-ditionally, there are funding con-straints that UNHCR faces. In 2016, UNHCR Bangladesh raised only 26% of its total � nancial needs.

What is the solution to the Rohing-ya crisis? The problem requires a political solution. The international com-munity, including the USA and the Dalai Lama have requested My-anmar to grant the Rohingya their rights, but this has been prevented by violent resistance by right-wing extremists.

The Rohingya must be re-turned their citizenship which was stripped in 1982. l

The DhakaTribune’s Adil Sakhawat gets the experts to weigh in on the Rohingya issue

The United Nations remains very concerned with the situation in Rakhine State. We have repeatedly called on the leaders of Myanmar to avoid at all costs the polarisa-tion between peoples and com-munities along ethnic or religious lines and to take strong action to stop hate speech, end incitement to violence and promote harmony between the communities.

The United Nations has, through various public and pri-vate channels, called on all lead-ers to act � rmly and responsibly in order to maintain a calm and sta-ble atmosphere in Rakhine State. We have strongly urged the gov-ernment of Myanmar to end its institutionalised discrimination against the Rohingya and other Muslim populations and ensure that their human rights are fully

respected and that the longer-term issues of citizenship, iden-tity permits, work permits, and birth registration are adequately addressed.

We are appalled by the human-itarian conditions of the Rohing-ya and Kaman communities in the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Rakhine, where some 130,000 still remain in dire need of continued humanitarian assistance. To help resolve the situation, the United Nations has been supporting bi-communal development projects and inter-faith dialogue initiatives involv-ing grassroots and civil society organisations as well as the gov-ernment. We have been encour-aging domestic and international partners to join our e� ort to help ensure stability, peace and devel-opment of all people in Rakhine State.

The UN is working together with the government and key stakeholders to promote peace, democratisation and inclusive de-velopment of Myanmar.” l

Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Farhan Haq

UNHCR External Relations Unit’s Farheen Khan

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

4DT News

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Avijit attacker Sharif killed activists Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy.

Another most wanted An-sarullah killer having a Tk2 lakh bounty on him, Md Sumon Hos-sain Patwari alias Shihab alias Saiful alias Shakib, a key mem-ber of the military wing, was arrested on June 16 without any bloodshed. Police claim that Shi-hab also took part in the attack on Tutul at his Lalmatia o� ce.

It is the sixth death of a sus-pected militant in “gun� ght” with the police since June 7.

On Saturday, college student Ghulam Faizullah Fahim, the only member of outlawed group Hizb ut-Tahrir found involved in an armed attack, was killed in an alleged gun� ght with the law enforcers in Madaripur on the � rst day of his 10-day remand.

“Sharif and two of his ac-complices were passing through Meradia area on a motorcycle early Sunday. They opened � re at a team of DB police when the law enforcers challenged them,” Joint Commissioner Abdul Baten told reporters at a press brie� ng.

He sustained bullet injuries when the DB members retaliat-ed, and was declared dead when taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 4am. His co-horts could not be arrested, Bat-en said.

The o� cial claimed that Sha-

rif’s presence on the murder spot was con� rmed from CCTV footage.

In response to a question, the o� cer said that they collected DNA samples of the deceased and would crosscheck it with the DNA pro� les sent by the FBI forensic laboratory.

Former Buet teacher Avi-jit Roy, also founder of secular platform Mukto-Mona blog, was hacked to death by 4-5 assail-ants on a pavement at TSC inter-section on February 26 last year. His wife Ra� da Ahmed Bonya was also injured in the attack.

The couple, both US citizens, came to the country on February 16 to attend the Amar Ekushey Book Fair when two of his new books were released. Soon after the murder, police arrested Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Sha� ur Rahman Farabi for instigating his follow-ers to attack on “blasphemer” Avijit whenever he visits Dhaka. Several other alleged Ansarullah members were also questioned in the case.

The death of a prime sus-pect in Avijit murder case has frustrated justice seekers while many quarters have expressed doubts over the smooth investi-gation into the sensational case. A mastermind of the attack, Redwanul Azad Rana, already � ed the country, police said. l

Police: Sharif knew everythingSubcontinent (AQIS) in Bangladesh, has claimed 13 attacks since January 2013 in which 11 people have been killed and � ve wounded. The group has threatened more attacks on blasphemers in their struggle to es-tablish Islamic rule in the country.

Meanwhile, Avijit’s father has expressed doubt whether the law enforcers would be able to solve the case since a key accused has been killed before the investigators could get information from him.

DB Joint commissioner Abdul Baten at a press conference yester-day said that the DMP on May 19 had announced Tk5 lakh bounty for fugitive Sharif. “He is the man killed in a gun� ght with the police. We found his direct involvement in some of the murders.”

Asked whether the death might hamper the probe, Baten said that the police had not killed him delib-erately. It just happened. “We will be careful in the future.

“We earlier arrested some of his associates. They will give informa-tion on the case,” he added.

Avijit’s father Prof Ajoy Roy, a retired physics teacher of Dhaka University, alleged that the law en-forcers had killed Sharif so that he could not expose the masterminds of the attacks.

“More information could be col-lected from the killer. But through the killing, the scope of getting

more information on the killings has been closed,” he said, adding that there are ghosts within the law enforcement agencies.

Mashrukur Rahman Khaled, deputy commissioner of the detec-tive branch (south zone), told the Dhaka Tribune that they already arrested a number of leaders and activists of the outlawed extremist group, and hoped that the key per-sons would be arrested soon.

He said that after a plan was chalked, Sharif’s task was to rent a house in a di� erent area, train the executioners and coordinating the attack being present on the spot.

Another trainer Salim alias Iqbal alias Mamun alias Hadi 2, who is yet to be arrested, used to collect information about the targets and choose the executioners.

Both Sharif and Salim had played vital role in motivating the attack-ers during the training period. They used to place arguments to justify the necessity of the murders, the deputy commissioner said.

He added that they were con-ducting drives to arrest the plan-ners and � nanciers of the group.

Top spiritual leader of the banned out� t Jasim Uddin Rahmani, de-tained in several terrorism cases and sentenced in Ahmed Rajeeb Haider murder case, used to profess that those who demean Islam, Allah or the Prophet should be killed. l

All launch passengers must buy tickets at Sadarghatn Shohel Mamun

For the � rst time, all launch passengers would have to buy tickets at the Sadarghat terminal before they can embark the vessels and make their trip home during the Eid-ul-Fitr rush.

Until now, only cabin passengers had to buy tickets beforehand while most of the passengers who rode on the deck bought tickets after getting on the vessels, increasing the risk of overloading.

The selling of launch tickets would begin from the start of July, according to a decision made in a meeting presided by Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan at Dhaka’s BIWTA Bhaban yesterday.

“For the � rst time, we have launched a new system that will require passengers to buy tickets for riding any water vessel from Sadarghat.

The Sadarghat river port authority has already built some counters to sell tickets, which will be sold on a daily basis system,” the minister said.

“The new system will be able to count passengers on each launch,

helping prevent vessels from overloading passengers, especially during Eid season.

“Law enforcers will not allow any launches to carry additional passengers. Even the port authority will force launches to leave [the terminal] before overloading to avoid accidents,” Shajahan added.

The government has also decided to not allow goods-laden vessels and sand-laden bulkheads to operate on the waterways for three-day stretches before and after Eid.

Monitoring teams will be formed by di� erent government department o� cials to conduct drives against the charging of additional fares. The teams would also work to maintain discipline in the launch terminals.

Bus ticket sales begin todayPrivate highway bus service operators will start selling Eid tickets in advance from 6am today. All preparations have been taken on this regard.

“We have already sent letters to private bus owners to start selling advance tickets for the Eid

schedule from June 20 until July 5,” said Ka� l Uddin, secretary general of Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association, told the Dhaka Tribune last week.

“A monitoring team will work to prevent black marketing and stopping the hike of ticket prices,” he added.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday, Abdus Samad, general manager of a leading bus operator Hanif Enterprise, said: “Passengers are already contacting us for tickets, with most passengers asking for tickets of June 30 and July 4.”

Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival of the country, is likely to be celebrated on July 6, subject to moon sighting.

But many government employees will try to leave Dhaka city on the night of June 30, taking the advantage of the long weekend that begins from July 1.

Although government o� ces will stay open on July 4, many are submitting leave applications for that date to stretch their Eid vacations which o� cially begins on July 5. l

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016News 5

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PRAYERTIMES

Cox’s Bazar 30 26Dhaka 34 26 Chittagong 32 27 Rajshahi 35 27 Rangpur 32 26 Khulna 33 26 Barisal 33 26 Sylhet 30 24T E M P E R AT U R E F O R E C A S T F O R TO DAY

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:48PM SUN RISES 5:12AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW35.7ºC 25.0ºC

Rajshahi RangamatiMONDAY, JUNE 20Source: Islamic Foundation

Fajr: 3:50am | Zohr: 1:15pmAsr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 7:01pmEsha: 8:45pm

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

‘Private investment a key challenge’ n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Revivalism of stagnant private in-vestment is one of the major chal-lenges for the proposed budget for the next � scal year, economist and business people say.

They came up with the remarks at a post-budget discussion on Budget 2016-2017: Views of the Business Community jointly or-ganised by Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and Policy Research Institute (PRI) in the capital yesterday.

“Investment is a very very hot issue for the proposed budget, but Bangladesh is not a such country that could attract investment like developed countries but we have investment within the country,”-said State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan.

Mannan was addressing the dis-cussion as the chief guest.

“There is challenges in pover-ty reduction but I think, the main challenges now is investment,” said Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Minis-try of Finance. He was present ad special guest.

Private investment has re-mained virtually stagnant at 22% of GDP, with foreign direct invest-ment (FDI) accounting for less than 1% of GDP, both being well short of their Seventh Five Year Plan, said Mansur in the presentation on Budget FY17: Macroeconomic Setting, Lessons from FY16 Budget Execution, and Implementation Challenges.

“Budget should not have any surprise”, said Mansur demanding transparency in the budget system.

Information on the defense budget includes only in the aggre-gate and it is widely believed “Mil-itary budget is completely black box.” l

‘Jamaat lawyer paid for attackon Ripon’n Mohammad Jamil Khan, from

Madaripur

Police say the six-member sleeper cell of the militant out� t Hizb-ut Tahir took a contract of Tk3 lakh to kill the Madaripur college teacher.

“As per the deal half of the amount has already been given to the team by a Jamaat-e-Islami backed lawyer, who also played the role of the local planner,” a senior district police o� cial said.

The information was extorted by interrogating Tahir member Ghulam Faizullah Fahim, who was caught immediately after the at-tack and killed in a so-called police gun� ght on Saturday morning.

The o� cial, who preferred to remain unnamed, said before Fa-him’s death, police had gleaned enough information from him and had traced the lawyer, who went to Rajshahi soon after the incident.

The lawyer assigned a man to the Tahrir group to identify Ma-daripur Nazimuddin College teach-er and priest Ripon Chakrabarti after a short meeting in Madaripur.

The o� cer said according to Fa-him’s statement the cell reached Madaripur at 10:30am on the day of the attack after a meeting in front of Sarbic International Hotel, prayed at the Police Line Mosque. Police are now analysing CCTV Footage in these areas.

Ziaul Morshed, o� cer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station, said Fa-him’s death would not be a prob-lem in this investigation as he had already given a lot of information.

“In interrogation we also learned about 10 more targets in the Barisal Division,” he said. The second tar-get was a Hindu lawyer in Barisal.”

According to sources, Fahim was die-hard militant. While he was taken to Detective Branch of-� ce of Dhaka Metropolitan Police on last Thursday to conduct a drive in Dhaka, his parents met with and requested to give information about the persons responsible.

Another Hindu teacher threatenedMeanwhile, Hiten Chandra Mon-dol, Principle of Madaripur Nazi-muddin College, received a death threat over phone yesterday. He told the Dhaka Tribune that an anonymous caller identifying themselves as ‘Sorbohara Party’ claimed that they had carried out all these attacks and killings and he would have to pay a good ransom if he wanted to live. l

EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS

Who is being protected?n Kamrul Hasan

Security analysts and rights ac-tivities have voiced their caution about the alarming rate of “gun-� ght” deaths in Bangladesh, with a total six suspects being shot dead in extrajudicial killings over the last 11 days alone.

Such extrajudicial murders were hurting the investigation process as well as demoralising the pub-lic about their own safety, they warned.

Questions were also raised about why none of the suspects had any bullet-proof jacket or hel-met on them when they were taken on the so-called police raids, while such safety measures were a com-mon feature when the same sus-pects were produced before a court or the media.

Law enforcers, in all such kill-ings, claim that they had opened � re in self defence.

But chairman of the National Human Right Commission (NHRC), Mizanur Rahman, said he had sus-picions about why crucial sources were getting killed and who were being protected in the process.

“We want our suspicions to be false. But if it is found true, then the government and the state should � nd out who was behind the crimes for their own good,” he said.

Mizanur added that it should be also looked into whether any law enforcement members were in-volved in militancy themselves.

Ajoy Roy, father of slain blog-

ger-writer Avijit Roy, said: “Many information could be extracted from the killers about the murder. The scope has been stopped in a planned way with the so-called gun� ght.”

Early yesterday, the prime sus-pect in Avijit’s murder, Sharif alias Hadi, was killed in an alleged gun-� ght with the Detective Branch of police in Dhaka’s Khilgaon.

Dhaka University Professor AK Fazlul Haque, whose son Faisal Ar-e� n Dipan was also killed by mili-tants, similarly expressed concerns that the killing of suspects was closing o� any chance to glean new leads about the murder cases.

But during a press conference yesterday at the DMP media cen-tre, DB Joint Commissioner Abdul Baten said the killings would not a� ect their investigation as they had already received several leads from the suspects before they were killed. The information would help catch other militants, he expressed his hopes.

When asked why there was not adequate security for the suspects during police raids, the DB chief said they have noted all advices and would be more careful from now on.

‘Not acceptable in a democratic country’NHRC chief Mizanur pointed out to the Dhaka Tribune that locals in Madaripur had risked their own lives to detain a suspect so that law enforcers could extract infor-mation from him and arrest other

killers; but the people would lose faith in investigation agencies when they see that the detainees were being killed even before the remand process was over.

Referring to the extrajudicial death of Golam Faizullah Fahim, the suspect who tried to kill a Madaripur Hindu college teach-er, Mizanur asked why had there been no proper safety measures during the police raid and why was the suspect not kept at asafe distance.

He urged that an investigation be carried out into the whole inci-dent.

On Saturday, Transparency In-ternational Bangladesh Chairper-son Sultana Kamal said the absence of good governance has allowed the police to take law into their own hands.

Addressing a press conference in the capital, she said such activi-ties cannot be acceptable in a dem-ocratic country. l

Leaders and activists of the 14-party alliance stand in human chain in front of Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka yesterday, taking part in the alliance’s nationwide human chain event against secret killing and militancy DHAKA TRIBUNE

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

6DT News

PABNA HINDU ASHRAM STAFF MURDER

One more suspect remandedn Md Emroz Khandakar, Pabna

A court yesterday placed one more suspect on 5-day remand in con-nection with the killing of Nitya Ranjan Pande at Sri Sri Thakur Anukul Chandra Satsangha Ash-ram in Pabna Sadar upazila.

According to local sources, po-lice arrested Harun Kha, son of Habibur Rahman from Kismut Po-tapur area in the morning.

Later, the law-enforcers pro-duced him before the court led by Judge Najimuddoula prying for 10 days remand, said Munshi Abdus Kuddus, sub-inspector of Sadar police station and investigation of-� cer of the murder case.

The court granted for � ve-day remand.

Nitya Ranjan Pande, 62, was hacked to death on June 10 by some miscreants in front of Pabna Medical College Hospital which is only 200 metres away from the monastery. Nityanando had been working as an attendant for the past 40 years.

Later, police arrested Ariful Is-lam, 23, secretary of Literature and Cultural A� airs of district unit Islami Chhatra Shibir and son of Abdus Sattar of Charghoshpur vil-lage, from Bajitpur village and Abul Hossain, an activist of Shibir, in connection with the murder. l

Local in� uential trying to grab clustered villagen Nazmul Huda Nasim, Bogra

Local in� uential people with the help of their musclemen are try-ing to grab land of clustered village which has been built to facilitate accommodation facilities of the people living in the Brahmapu-tra-Jamuna River basins of Bogra.

Local sources said members of 38 families in the clustered villag-es in Bogra’s Sariakandi upzila had been passing days with anxiety as a section of vested quarter eyed on 30 acres of land in the locality.

People of the habitat alleged that some musclemen recruited by some in� uential people had taken away crops on three bighas and three cattle from the land on Satur-day afternoon.

Freedom � ghter Rezaul Karim, a resident of the village, said they had submitted a written complaint to upzila nirbahi o� cer yesterday.

Local sources said a total of 40 families in the village which was built to rehabilitate erosion e� ect-ed people.

Freedom � ghter Rezaul Karim

said about 300 musclemen led by Mannan, Jafar Ali and Alam Kha with local weapons entered

the village and grabbed 30 acres of land.

Ambia, a resident of the village, said the musclemen also took away

her cattle. Ziaul Haque, another resident,

said: “The goons took away paddy from my � eld.”

Alam Kha said they were the owner of that 30 acres of land where a portion of clustered village was located, the land was not khas land (government land).

“It is our land and that’s why we grabbed the land. But we did not loot anything from there.” Mannan also echoed the same words.

Upzila Nirbahi O� cer Moniruz-zaman told the Dhaka Tribune that

he was aware of the matter. “I will visit the village soon and

take legal measures over the issue,” said the UNO.

O� cer-in-Charge of Sariakan-di police station Ohiduzzam told the Dhaka Tribune a case was still under at High Court over the land dispute.

Earlier, local in� uential people had evicted 38 families on May 16.

Later, the residents managed to come back to their residences through the interference of local administration. l

Admission seekers su� er as BCL rivals clash n FM Mizanur Rahaman,

Chittagong

Admission seekers of � rst year of Higher Secondary Certi� cate (HSC) su� ered immensely as two groups of ruling party students’ wing Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) clashed on Chittagong Government College campus over establishing supremacy during yesterday’s in-take test.

At least six Chhatra League ac-tivists were injured during the clash, campus sources said.

The sources said the clash had ensued among two factions of city unit Awami League one was led by

its city unit President Mohiuddin Chowdhury while another was loyal to Secretary AJM Nasir Uddin.

Witnesses said the clash had erupted when the followers of Chittagong City Corporation Mayor AJM Nasir entered into Chittagong College campus with a procession around 1pm.

The BCL men of Mohiuddin group, who took position on the campus, later chased the AJM Na-sir’s men and drove them out of the campus hurling brick chips trigger-ing the clash, they said.

The clash also spread to nearby Hazi Mohammed Mohsin College.

During the clash, panic gripped

admission seekers and their guard-ians. Later, guardians were also compelled to take shelter inside classrooms at Chittagong College, said college sources.

Apart from that, vehicular movement were suspended from Chawakbazar to Jamal Khan route for half an hour that led to a severe tra� c congestion in the port city.

Being informed, police went to the spot after half an hour and dis-persed the clashing groups charg-ing batons on them.

Chawakbazar Police Station’s O� cer-in-Charge Aziz Ahmed said police dispersed the clashing groups after clash

“The situation is under control now while additional police forces have been deployed on the college premises to avoid further clash”, the OC added.

Mir Ratul Hasan, a guardian, said: “We have got frightened see-ing that clash of BCL men.”

He said he and his younger brother took cover inside the col-lege building to evade causality.

Professor Jesmin Akter, prin-cipal of Chittagong College, said the admission procedure wascompleted congenially and no awkward situation occurredinside the campus following the clash. l

Armed with sticks leaders and activist of the BCL Chittagong city unit taunt each other during a clash in Chittagong College yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Earlier, local in� uential people evicted 38 families on May 16

50 sued over attack on policen UNB, Chittagong

A case was � led against 50 peo-ple, including some local Awami League leaders and activists, for attacking policemen during their drive to arrest an accused of a mur-der case in Sitakunda upazila.

Baroiardhala union AL general secretary Ismail Siraji was made prime accused in the case. l

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016News 7

DT

TENGRATILA GAS FIELD LEAKAGE

Locals using leaked gas risking fatal accidentsn Himadri Shekhor Bhadro,

Sunamganj

People who live in the surrounding villages of Tengratila gas � eld in Sunamganj are using leaked gas in household work which can lead to fatal explosions any moment.

Locals, however, said they were compelled to ignore the risks of fa-tal accident to save every day’s fuel cost.

During a visit to the area, this correspondent found that local people had set up bowls made of cement at the gas leaking points in several ponds.

Then, they collect the gas from the bowls through low quality plas-tic pipes, which are connected to their gas stoves in their residence, thought the low quality pipes and route through which they are con-nected to the stoves are very risky.

Gas has been emitting through water bodies, holes on the roads and other places of Tengratila, Az-abpur and Girish Nagar villages since the six-acre gas � eld su� ered blowouts on January 7 and on June 25 in 2005 while Canadian explora-tion company Niko was drilling a gas well there.

Shaheda Akter, a former union parishad member of a ward of Sur-

ma union, said a huge amount of gas was leaking out here every day. “So we use the leaked gas to save our houses from � re,” she added.

Piara Begum, a resident of Az-abpur village, said the gas served

their everyday’s fuel demand. Morzina, another resident of the

locality, said they were su� ering from in� ammation in their bodies and di� erent respiratory problems due to use of the leaked gas.

Doar Bazar Upazila Health and Family Planning O� cer Dr Md Jamshed Ali said around 5% to 6% people of the area come to them with Asthma and pneumonia every month. But no survey has been done

to � nd out the reasons behind this.The District Administrator Shekh

Ra� qul Islam said the administra-tion has been keeping strong vig-ilance so that people of Tengratila could not use leaked gas. l

Plastic pipes over the tree branches and roof tops are carrying the leaked gas to the houses of people who live in the surrounding villages of Tengratila gas � eld, risking fatal accidents any moment DHAKA TRIBUNE

Charge pressed against BCL leader Ronyn FM Mizanur Rahaman,

Chittagong

Police yesterday pressed charge against Nurul Azim Rony, gener-al secretary of Chittagong metro-politan unit’s Bangladesh Chhatra League, in an arms case � led with Hathazari police station on May 7.

AHM Moshiur Rahman, in-spector of Chittagong court, said Sub-Inspector of Hathazari police station Delwar Hossain submitted the charge sheet before Senior Ju-dicial Magistrate Sahidullah Kaisar in the afternoon.

The charge sheet was later sent to Chittagong District and Sessions Judge court for the next hearing.

Earlier, a bench of High Court comprising Justice Md Habibul Gani and Justice Md Akram Hos-

sain granted six months’ interim bail to Nurul Azim Rony on June 14.

Apart from this, the court also issued a rule asking why the BCL leader should not be granted per-manent bail in the arms case.

The BCL leader was arrested in possession of a 9mm pistol, 15 rounds of bullet, Tk26,000 in cash and a rubber stamp from outside of a polling centre in Chittagong’s Hathazari upazila during the 4th phase of Union Parishad polls on May 7.

Later, a mobile court led by Ju-dicial Magistrate Harunur Rashid sentenced him to two years im-prisonment for breaching electoral code of conduct and an arms case was � led with Hathazari police sta-tion under arms act where Rony was shown arrested. l

Bandarban blockade suspendedn S Bashu Das, Bandarban

Bandarban district unit of Awa-mi League (AL) has called o� the inde� nite roads and waterways blockade in Ruma, Ruangch-hari, Thanchi and Rangamati and Bandarban roads of Sadar upazi-la protesting the abduction of

Mongpu Marma, joint convener of Bandarban Sadar upazila AL.

On assurance of giving full e� ort by the district administration to res-cue Mongpu, the blockade has been suspended for two days, said the AL Vice-Chairman AKM Jahangir while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.

Miscreants kidnapped Mongpu

on June 13. The Awami League observed blockade in the district on Wednesday and Thursday con-demning Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) for this incident.

Joint forces are conducting drives in di� erent areas of the dis-trict to rescue Mongpu. l

Youth to die for killing schoolgirln Md Raihanul Islam Akand,

Gazipur

A Gazipur court yesterday sen-tenced death penalty to a univer-sity student for killing a schoolgirl one year back.

District and Sessions Judge AKM Anamul Haque also � ned the con-vict – Bikram Chandra Sarkar, 25, son of Rampad Mony Das of Choto Kan-

chonpur area under Kaliakoir upazi-la – Tk10,000. Bikram is an MBA stu-dent at Mass University, Savar.

According to the prosecution, Bikram stabbed Kabita Rani, a class X student of Bijoy Sarani High School of Board Bazar area and daughter of Sa-gor Moni Das, to death in front of her school gate on October 13 last year as the girl refused his love proposal.

Teachers and classmates then

caught Bikram and handed him over to police.

Later, Kobita’s father � led a case against the killer with Kaliakoir po-lice station on the same day.

Investigation o� cer of the case Atiqur Rahman Rasal submitted charge sheet against Bikram on December 28 last year. The court pronounced the verdict after cross checking 10 witnesses. l

Locals, however, said they were compelled to ignore the risks of fatal accident to save every day’s fuel cost

INSIGHT

What makes Boko Haram tick?n Tribune International Desk

Boko Haram, a radical jihadi move-ment that seeks to destroy the secular Nigerian state and its market-based economy, is no closer to its stated goal of establishing God’s kingdom on earth, but it has hardly been eradicated from the country’s im-poverished northeast. Though from 2011 to 2015, the militant group cap-tured large swathes of territory, but the Nigerian security services have since dislodged it from almost all of that area, but the government still does not fully control the northeast, despite President Muhammadu Bu-hari’s December 2015 statement that the Nigerian security services had “technically” defeated Boko Haram. Moreover, Boko Haram appears to be shifting from a preoccupation with the Nigerian state to wider regional ambitions, which may re� ect grow-ing ties to the self-proclaimed Islam-ic State’s redoubt in Libya.

Since 2009, Boko Haram has been responsible for at least twen-ty thousand deaths, far exceeding those attributed to the Islamic State. In 2015, the think tank Institute for Economics and Peace designated it the world’s deadliest terrorist movement. What’s more, in its war against Boko Haram, the Nigerian security services have caused an additional eight thousand deaths. The con� ict has also internally dis-placed more than two million peo-ple, and several hundred thousand Nigerians have � ed to neighboring countries as refugees. Little food has been planted or harvested in the war zone, and food prices in some areas have soared. Few of the internally displaced have been able to go home for good, contrary to frequent optimistic statements from o� cials. It is hard to see how Nigeria can meet the northeast’s humanitarian needs without assis-tance from its partners, especially the United Kingdom, the United States, and the United Nations.

What does Boko Haram want?Even though years have passed since Boko Haram began its violent campaign, there is little consensus among policy makers and observ-ers about whether it is a broad-based populist movement or a terrorist organization with links to the Middle East. Buhari, like his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, has argued that Boko Haram is a terrorist organization with links to the Islamic State, and similar in theology, goals, and tactics to al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Both adminis-trations advocated the destruction

of Boko Haram through military force, though they claimed to be open to negotiations. A competing narrative, held by many analysts and journalists, sees Boko Haram as highly decentralised and di� use in its structure and goals, with, at least up to now, a domestic focus. This narrative sees Boko Haram as part of the broader Sala� st revival underway across northern Nigeria.

True believers, profiteers, and othersAn understanding of Boko Haram’s taxonomy might assist Nigeria’s partners develop an approach to Boko Haram that is more success-ful than the current emphasis on military methods. Three predom-inant tendencies fall under the Boko Haram umbrella-- jihadists, opportunists, and north-eastern-ers forced by circumstance into the militant group’s orbit.

At the movement’s core are fa-natical jihadis who followed Yusuf, and later, Shekau. These ideologues resemble Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and other Islamic State preachers in Syria and Iraq in their theology. However, unlike the Islamic State, Boko Har-am has never articulated a concrete political programme. Indeed, before March 2015, when Boko Haram con-trolled extensive territory, it showed little interest in day-to-day govern-ance beyond the use of sharia courts to root out secular in� uences.

A second group might be labeled ambitious pragmatists or oppor-tunists. They too wish to destroy or capture Nigeria’s political economy, but rather than for ideological rea-sons, for their bene� t or that of their patronage and clientage networks. This group likely includes merce-naries Boko Haram pays to carry out missions, as well as those to whom the movement has lent money or supplied wives. (The former is a practice initiated by Yusuf, the lat-ter a likely motivation for the wide-spread kidnapping of young wom-en. Both can be justi� ed in Sala� st doctrine, but also serve to bind bene� ciaries to the movement.) Some opportunists likely use their a� liation with Boko Haram to gain leverage in disputes over land use or property. The opportunists likely in-clude criminal networks involved in smuggling, bank robbery, and other illegal activities.

A third group appears to be those who have been forced by circum-stances to join Boko Haram. They include north-eastern Nigerians who fear the security services or are made to buy protection from ad-herents of Boko Haram. Some have been pressured by the leadership of their patronage/clientage networks or their families. They also include those female suicide bombers suc-cumbing to pressure or seeking revenge on the security service for having killed their family members.

OutlookAgainst a background of Boko Haram depredations, security-service abus-es, the collapse of agriculture, and the drying up of legitimate trade, most economic activity in the north-east has ceased. The region is experienc-ing rapid food price increases and fac-es the prospect of famine. Local elites have been destroyed or discredited in many communities. Meeting the hu-manitarian and security challenges of the north-east exceeds the capacity of the Nigerian state and will require sustained food and medical assis-tance from its international partners, particularly the US and the UK, which have long had close ties with the Ni-gerian government.

At a deeper level, addressing the crisis of the northeast will like-ly require rebuilding northeastern society on a more solid basis than has existed in the post-colonial period. A start would be for Abuja to end the security services’ abus-es and rein in corruption. Buhari has made more progress with the latter than the former. But beyond that, the Buhari administration has not given much thought to how to reconstruct northeastern Nigeria. National and international envisioning needs to begin now. l

This is an except of a Council on Foreign Relations article. The original

article can be found at http://on.cfr.org/1T60tPx

8DT WorldMONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

SOUTH ASIA

Pakistan gate being built at Iran borderWith the row between Islamabad and Kabul over the construction of a gate at the Torkham border crossing still unresolved, Pakistani authorities on Friday started build-ing a gate at the country’s border with Iran at Taftan to curb illegal trade. The construction of the gate will complete in two months at a cost of Rs15m. -DAWN

INDIA

India sure of China’s support for nuclear group’s membershipIndia said Sunday that it was con� dent of winning China’s support for US-backed e� orts for its membership in a group of 48 nations controlling access to sen-sitive nuclear technology. External A� airs Minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters that China was not opposing India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, but that it has raised objections relating to criteria and processes. -AP

CHINA

President Xi sees Serbia as milestone on new Silk RoadSerbia could play a signi� cant role in Beijing’s ambitious plan for a new Silk Road to boost trade with Europe, Asia and Africa, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday. Xi said China was ready for more cooperation with Belgrade during a visit to Serbia that has seen his country strengthen its economic presence in the Balkans. -REUTERS

ASIA PACIFIC

35 dead in Indonesian � oods, landslidesFlash � oods and landslides in cen-tral Indonesia have killed at least 35 people and destroyed dozens of homes, an o� cial said Sunday. Dozens were also missing or in-jured following torrential rain and widespread � ooding on the main island of Java, where thousands of homes have been swamped. -AFP

MIDDLE EAST

Russia, US agree to improve military coordination in SyriaRussia said on Sunday it had reached an agreement with the United States to improve coordination between their military operations in Syria, where they are backing opposing sides of a civil war and launching air strikes. Russia’s defence ministry said it was pushing Washington to help produce a shared map of the positions of � ghting forces to avoid incidents. -REUTERS

Court orders Nigeria to pay $3.25m for extrajudicial killings n Tribune International Desk

A regional African court last week ordered Nigeria to pay $3.25m in compensation to families and vic-tims for the extrajudicial killings of eight civilians and the wounding of 11 others shot by soldiers and secret service agents in the capital, Abuja.

The court of the Economic Com-munity of West African States said there is no evidence to back the stance of the Nigerian army and De-partment of Security Services that troops � red in self-defence on an alleged group of Boko Haram extrem-ists the night of September 20, 2013.

The three-judge panel led by Judge Friday Chijioke Nwoke found the Nige-rian state liable for the “barbaric, illegal and unconstitutional” deaths and inju-ries. It ordered the government to pay $200,000 to the families of each man killed and $150,000 to each of those wounded. l

THE HUMAN COST OF THE INSURGENCYBoko Haram have killed more than 15,000 people since 2009

NIGERIA

More than 2.5m people are displaced by Boko Haram across the four countries of the Lake Chad region9m people have been a�ected by the violence173,000 Nigerians have ­ed to Chad, Cameroon and Niger

Source: National Emergency Management Agency (Nema)

2,50,000displacedpersons

ABUJAAdamawa

Borno

LakeChad

Lagos

Gulf of Guinea

Yobe

Maiduguri

NIGER

CAMEROON

CHAD

BENIN

Areasa�ectedState of emergency

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MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016World

USATrump: GOP isn’t helping, Jeb is fomenting revoltPresumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump expressed irritation with his party and its original 2016 frontrunner while speaking in Las Vegas Saturday night. “It would be helpful if the Republicans could help us a little bit,” he said. Speaking of a rumored revolt against him in the ranks of GOP delegates, Trump insisted “Jeb is working on the move-ment, just so you understand”. -AP

THE AMERICASCanada parliament adopts law on assisted deathCanada’s parliament on Friday adopted a law allowing medically-as-sisted death for the terminally ill, brushing aside critics who wanted the legislation to cover people with degenerative diseases. After weeks of political wrangling, the upper Sen-ate chamber voted in favor of a law which makes Canada one of the few nations where doctors can legally help sick people die. -REUTERS

UKTrump: Britain should leave EUDonald Trump told Britons on Sunday he supported Brexit, repeating just days before the vote on June 23 that he thinks the UK would be better o� outside the EU. As the campaign to decide Britain’s EU membership restarted after a three-day hiatus following the killing of lawmaker Jo Cox, Trump said in a newspaper interview he was backing an out vote. -REUTERS

EUROPEBrussels central station evacuated amid security fearsBrussels central train station was evacuated for about an hour on Sun-day because of a suspicious suitcase amid heightened security fears in the Belgian capital after a huge an-ti-terror operation led to 3 men being charged with terrorism o� ences. The suitcase later turned out to be a false alarm but shows Belgium’s high state of alert as the Euro 2016 soccer tournament is under way in neighbouring France. -REUTERS.

AFRICAAlgeria blocks Facebook, Twitter to stop exam cheatsAlgerian authorities have tempo-rarily blocked access to Face-book, Twitter and other social media sites to try to stop cheats posting high school exam papers online, state media reported on Sunday. Tens of thousands of high school students were retak-ing part of their baccalaureate exams after details were shared over social media. -REUTERS

ROAD TO 270 ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES

Trump’s California problemn Tribune International Desk

Bob Dole thought he could he could win California with a “� shhook” strate-gy. George W Bush

came armed with $15m. John Mc-Cain was bullish, too. They all lost.

Donald Trump’s prediction that he can capture the biggest prize in the November presidential elec-tion, the state’s 55 electoral votes, rubs up against a dismal history for Republicans over a generation. The names on the ballot have changed, but the outcome has been the same - double-digit wins for Democrats since 1992.

Here’s Trump’s challenge: unite Republicans while � nd-ing millions of new supporters in a state where Democrats hold every state-wide o� ce and both chambers of the legislature. They also have a 3.1m edge in voters, a number equal to the population of Iowa.

In 1996, Dole was brimming with con� dence about his chanc-es against then-President Bill Clinton. Dole’s campaign aimed to drive up vote margins in Republi-can-friendly communities down the state’s interior spine, then up through coastal counties in the south, roughly in the shape of a � shhook. Money and sta� poured

in. Dole’s running mate, Jack Kemp, had special credentials: He grew up in Los Angeles.

It wasn’t even close. Clinton ran up a 51%-to-38% win.

The home turf of Richard Nix-on and Ronald Reagan, California was once Republican in presiden-tial elections. But pronounced demographic shifts, particularly a boom in the Hispanic population, have transformed the state.

The number of Hispanics, blacks and Asian-Americans com-bined has outnumbered whites in California since 1998, and Latinos alone now outnumber the white population. Most of the new vot-ers are Democrats or independ-ents who tend to vote like them.

Trump is looking to expand his support at a time when he already faces challenges with Hispanics and women. That stems in part from his promise to build a wall along the border with Mexico and his verbal attacks on US Dis-trict Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is hearing a lawsuit against Trump University. Trump also has criti-cised New Mexico Governor Su-sana Martinez, who heads the Re-publican Governors Association.

Part of Trump’s challenge is simple arithmetic.

In California’s June 7 primary, the billionaire businessman ran essentially unopposed, pulling in

about 1.5m votes, or about 75% of the total. Ted Cruz and John Kasich were still on the ballot, though they earlier dropped out of the race.

Analysts predict 14m people are likely to vote in November.

To win, Trump would need a heroic turnout from the state’s 4.9m Republicans, while � nding 2m or more swing voters to get near a majority. Indeed, some of those swing voters could be lurk-ing in counties where Republican candidates have outperformed the party’s registration numbers.

But there are more than 8m Democrats, and the state’s 4.2m independents - about 1 in 4 voters - tilt Democratic.

Aside from her registration ad-vantage, Clinton also has a formi-

dable get-out-the-vote operation. The campaign made 2m phone calls in the � nal days before the state primary. Trump has no com-parable organisation. An ener-gised Hispanic turnout is likely, fa-vouring Clinton, who also carried the state in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.

Republicans remain healthy in pockets of California, including parts of the vast farm belt and the so-called Inland Empire running east and north of Los Angeles. But party registration overall has with-ered to 27% of the state total, com-pared with 45% for Democrats.

Independents now outnumber Republicans in nearly two dozen of the state’s 53 congressional dis-tricts. l

Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Las Vegas on Saturday REUTERS

Australia’s opposition vows � erce � ght in pollsn AFP, Sydney

Three years after being ousted from power following a tumultuous peri-od of in� ghting in which two prime ministers were deposed, Austral-ia’s opposition Labor said Sunday it was ready to return to Canberra ahead of national elections.

The July 2 poll is tipped to be a tight race, and could see the ruling Liberal-National coalition become the � rst government in more than eight decades to be turfed out of o� ce after one term.

Such a result would see Labor leader Bill Shorten become Austral-ia’s 5th prime minister in six years - a further illustration of the “revolving door” leadership that has marked the nation’s politics in recent times.

“Today my team and I o� er ourselves as a new government dedicated to Australia’s oldest aspiration -- a fair go all round,” 49-year-old Shorten told 500 cheering supporters at his party’s o� cial campaign launch in the Western Sydney suburb of Penrith.

“There is always someone will-ing to write Labor o� -- and they are always wrong.”

While Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull came to power in Septem-ber last year with high personal rat-ings after defeating his predecessor Tony Abbott in a Liberal coup, inter-nal party divisions and poorly han-dled debates about reforms have dented support for the 61-year-old.

The decline in public support follows poor polling under Ab-

bott and opens the door for Labor and minor parties to win marginal seats across Australia, where vot-ing is compulsory for adults.

Both the major parties are pledging to boost the economy, with subdued wages growth and high costs of living placing pres-sure on some communities as the nation shifts away from min-

ing-driven expansion.Shorten on Sunday announced

tax cuts for small businesses, while emphasising support for the party’s traditional policy areas of improving health and education.

He also sought to highlight his party’s support for same-sex marriage and action on climate change, as smaller parties on the left such as the Greens threaten to lure away Labor voters.

“Only Labor will lead an Aus-tralia with prosperity for everyone who works and prosperity that works for everyone,” the former union chief added in front of a red banner with the slogan “We’ll put people � rst”.

He stressed that Turnbull, a multi-millionaire former banker, would only be taking care of the big end of town.

Turnbull has campaigned on the Liberal Party’s long-time platform of sound economic management, announcing billions in tax cuts for individuals and businesses.

His party is set to o� cially launch its campaign next Sunday, also in Sydney which is home to numerous marginal seats. l

Opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten holds a baby crocodile during a visit to the aboriginal community in Northern Territory as part of the election campaign REUTERS

MEDIAWATCH

Where the British press stands on BrexitThree days to go before Britain votes on its membership in the European Union, there’s an almost daily avalanche of articles quoting politicians, foreign leaders, busi-nesspeople, diplomats, retired generals, former spies, economists, actors, writers, academics, scien-tists, sports stars, religious � gures and various other important types on whether Britain should vote to leave or remain.

Yet only a handful of newspapers have declared their own positions.

Newspaper endorsements may no longer carry the same weight they once did — it’s arguable wheth-er they ever swayed many voters, even at the height of their powers — but that hasn’t stopped London’s media gazers, not to mention the newspapers’ own journalists, por-ing over recent editorials for signs of where they’ll come down in the days leading up to June 23.

Here’s a subjective rundown of where the papers stand, and where they might end up--

The SunIts editorials are sharply, consistently critical of the EU (“in meltdown”) and the Remain campaign (“smug”). The owner Rupert Murdoch has long been opposed to Britain’s EU membership, but that doesn’t mean the decision is predictable. Politics aside, there are business considera-tions. News Corp’s UK operations are already hurting from an advertising slowdown made worse by nervous-ness about the referendum; disrup-tion for businesses could be much worse after a Brexit vote. Moreover, Murdoch’s other media companies, 21st Century Fox and Sky, have sig-ni� cant interests in Europe which could be damaged.

Daily MailIf any of the leading newspapers makes a strong declaration for Brex-it, it’ll be the Mail, Britain’s second biggest-selling paper (circulation 1.6m). Its Eurosceptic instincts are plain, both in its news pages and editorials. Day after day, it voic-es concerns about the costs of EU membership, the UK’s loss of sov-ereignty and laws being dictated by unaccountable foreigners. It blames the EU for unfettered migration that is causing “demographic upheav-al,” routinely attacks the Remain camp for “wild scaremongering,” and bristles at any sign that foreign leaders such as Barack Obama, An-gela Merkel or Christine Lagarde are telling British voters what to think.

Its sister paper, the Mail on Sun-day, took the opposite stance, as it often does on every major issue.

Daily TelegraphThis has been the most puzzling one to follow. In some ways the Tel-egraph has had a strong referendum campaign: Boris Johnson, the Leave campaign’s � gurehead, is one of the newspaper’s star columnists. The former mayor of London’s rumina-tions were always widely read and cited by rival media outlets, but are even more so now that his column is a platform for his case against the EU. Lynton Crosby, the Conserv-atives’ election guru, has also re-cently joined as a columnist and his analysis of the polls is a must-read in the Westminster village. Its big-gest coup was landing Obama’s op-ed urging a Remain vote on the eve of his visit to London last month. The Telegraph’s editorials, howev-

er, have ba� ed rivals, politicians and its own journalists. Traditional-ly the newspaper of the Tory heart-land, almost 60% of its readers are in favor of leaving the EU, accord-ing to the pollsters YouGov. Yet the newspaper seems con� icted about which side to back. There’s a clear dissatisfaction with Brussels, but not a strong sense of any conviction that Britain would be better o� on its own. The may remain neutral or half-hearted Remain.

The TimesWhile the Telegraph’s readership leans towards Out, 62% of Times readers want Britain to stay in the EU, according to YouGov. That’s to be expected for a paper that prides itself on being the paper of the po-

litical and � nancial elite. It’s sister concern, The Sunday

Times, has already published edito-rial supporting Leave campaign.

Daily MirrorThe left-wing tabloid may be torn between its a� liation to the Labour Party, which is campaigning for Brit-ain to stay in the EU, and skepticism among some of its working-class readers who see Brussels as be-holden to unaccountable elites. In recent editorials, it’s stressed the importance of voting rather than in-dicating an allegiance. Yet it’s clear-ly far less hostile to Brussels than its right-wing competitors.

The GuardianThe liberal broadsheet’s readers are

by far the most supportive of Brit-ain’s membership in the EU — nine out of 10 want the UK to stay, ac-cording to the pollsters. Its editori-als have been unambiguous: “The Guardian will make no apology, between now and June 23, for mak-ing the case for Britain in Europe as clearly, as honestly and as insist-ently as possible,” it said on May 9.

Daily ExpressThe tabloid owned by the billion-aire Richard Desmond has cham-pioned Brexit regularly in its edi-torials. However, with circulation down to 415,000, a tenth of its peak last century, the Express’s in� uence these days is limited. l

Source: Politico.eu

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Capital market snapshot: SundayDSE

Broad Index 4,387.8 -0.2% ▼

Index 1,080.7 -0.0% ▼

30 Index 1,724.3 -0.3% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk 3,214.6 -39.4% ▼

Turnover in Mn Vol 91.9 -3.4% ▼

CSEAll Share Index 13,512.4 -0.1% ▼

30 Index 12,438.1 -0.2% ▼

Selected Index 8,223.8 -0.1% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk 209.1 -27.1% ▼

Turnover in Mn Vol 7.3 1.9% ▲

TOP STORIES

Govt to give traders ECR, POS machines The government may distribute the Electronic Cash Register (ECR) and Point of Sales (POS) machines among traders to prevent evasion of value-added tax. PAGE 13

Spain joins forces with Bollywood to boost tourismSpain is coaxing Indian moviemak-ers to use its colourful � estas and historic monuments as settings for their � lms, in a move to grab a bigger share of India’s fast-growing overseas tourism market. PAGE 14

Dialogue: Focus now should be on infrastructure investmentn Tribune Business Desk

job creation and infrastructure in-vestment should be at the centre of spends for strengthening Bang-ladesh’s economic growth, said speakers at a dialogue yesterday.

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the “Budget Di-alogue 2016” in Dhaka yesterday.

Among speakers, former DCCI Vice-President Khondaker Sha-hidul Islam expressed concern over present unemployment situ-ation in Bangladesh.

He said: “Educated youth is left unemployed, which is alarming.”

Fazlul Azim, a former Member of the Parliament and � rst gener-ation businessman in Bangladesh, said there is hardly any scope to create jobs.

“There should be a favourable environment for investment – both local and foreign. Infrastruc-ture is also an important.”

Nurul Amin, a noted banker, said banking sector is not in good shape due to � nancial scandal, low pro� tability and weak invest-ment activity in private sector.

“There is no alternative to boosting private investment. Po-litical situation is stable, but un-certainty is still there.”

Finance Minister AMA Muhith, in his budget speech, also felt no hesitation in admitting the fact that private investment remained stagnant.

Muhith pointed out that during the last few years private invest-ment has been hovering around 21%-22% of GDP whereas this rate should be escalated to 27% in the medium term to achieve the de-sired level of growth.

BGMEA leader Faruque Has-san also spoke at the dialogue. He said the government proposed to achieve 7.2% GDP growth in next � scal year.

“This is not possible without raising private investment. We can’t create employment for 2m people entering in the job market every year.”

He said: “Last year we created only 350,000 employments. Job creation can only happen in the private and agricultural sectors.”

Mainuddin Monem, a young entrepreneur, said decent and quality job is important for sus-tainable economic growth.

“Budget should focus on job

creation and utilisation of our de-mographic dividend.”

Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowd-hury, former commerce minister, said sustainability of the country’s present economic growth is ques-tionable “as the economic devel-

opment is happening ignoring democracy.”

Entrepreneurs � nd di� culties to make investment right now as was indicated in the recent in-creased capital out� ow, he said.

“Public sector investment is in-creasing only because of cost-es-calation of big projects, causing economic ransacking,” he said.

“But the private investment remains—the key for sustainable development of the economy—stagnant as the country has no rule of law, democracy, freedom of speech and human rights.”

Defending to Khosru’s remark, State Minister for Finance and Planning M A Mannan said, “The

country is now at a stage of de-veloping infrastructure for facil-itating private sector, which was ignored previously. Once, it is done; the private investment will be boosted.”

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Finance and Former Food Min-ister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said, “Main challenges are to ac-celerate growth and investment. And for this, the major obstacles are infrastructure, low interest rate and peaceful condition in the political arena.”

“Investment must be increased for creating employment by re-moving infrastructure bottle-neck.”

Planning Minister AHM Musta-fa Kamal gave a long list of the country’s development saying: “The country is now on a right track to become a rich country by 2041 as every economic indicators are positive.”

M Syeduzzaman, member of CPD Board of Trustee and former � nance minister, moderated the event.

He said the amount of private investment must be increased for qualitative development of the economy.

Prof Musta� zur Rahman, CPD executive director, presented key-note paper. He laid emphasis on job-augmenting growth for sus-tainable economic development. l

‘Main challenges are to accelerate growth and investment. And for this, the major obstacles are infrastructure, low interest rate and peaceful condition in the political arena’

Business 13D

TMONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

World Bank lends $130m to develop economic zones n Tribune Business Desk

Bangladesh yesterday signed a $130m additional � nancing agree-ment with the World Bank to scale up support for the recently licensed and new economic zones.

The additional � nancing to the Private Sector Development Sup-port Project (PSDSP) will help de-velop new economic zones through identifying, licensing, and nego-tiating Public-Private Partnership for economic zone development, a World Bank statement said.

The agreement was signed by Additional Secretary of Econom-ic Relations Division (ERD) Kazi Sho� qul Azam and Acting World Bank Country Director for Bangla-desh Rajashree Paralkar on behalf of their respective organisations at the ERD in the capital. In the last two years, PSDSP helped with the licensing of 16 economic zones and hi-tech parks, and with the assess-ment of 33 new sites for develop-ment as economic zones over the next several years.

The economic zones aim to at-tract foreign and domestic invest-ment as well as to create more jobs in the manufacturing sector, ac-cording to a WB statement.

“Bangladesh needs to create more and better jobs in the man-ufacturing sector to accelerate growth and poverty reduction. The economic zones play a critical role in attracting private investment and creating jobs, as the bene� ts are many. For example, the new zones have reduced the time to register a business by 82 percent,’’ said Paralkar.

“The � nancing will directly con-tribute to the government’s vision of establishing 100 zones over the next 15 years and promoting social-ly and environmentally responsible industrial growth for Bangladesh.”

The � nancing will also help con-struct o� -site infrastructure and works, such as land � lling, con-struction of access roads, utilities networks, buildings and rail land-ings, and zone-speci� c infrastruc-tures, such as perimeter walls, central e� uent treatment plants, water treatment plants, and other facilities.

“Both the sixth and the sev-enth Five-Year Plans considered establishing new Economic Zones as a cornerstone to strengthen the manufacturing sector and promote e� cient use of skilled labor, land, and other resources,” said Azam.

He said: “The new economic zones and high-tech parks will be important to achieve the govern-ment’s poverty alleviation goals.” l

Govt to give traders ECR, POS machines n Syed Samiul Basher Anik

The government may distribute Electronic Cash Register (ECR) and Point of Sales (POS) machines among traders to prevent evasion of value-added tax.

The traders, who are eligible to use such electronic machines, have to collect those machines manda-tory from the government and use them at their selected stores, so no traders can evade the VAT or ma-nipulate the transaction records, said o� cials.

The government is planning to introduce the system in the wake of rampant VAT evasion across the country.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will � le cases against those eligible traders who are not using these compulsory machines in their own stores, said o� cials.

While unveiling budget for the � scal year 2016-17 on June 2, Fi-nance Minister AMA Muhith said: “The government will collect the ECR and Point of Sales (POS) ma-chines by itself and will deliver them to the companies.”

He also proposed the govern-ment to amend the existing rules and orders to make it mandatory for all the super resorts, hotels and companies to use the ECR and POS.

In July 2009, NBR made it man-

datory for 11 types of business to install and use ECR and POS soft-ware to boost VAT collection.

The business entities include hotels, restaurants, sweetmeat shops, furniture outlets, beauty parlours, community centres, all shops located at the mega malls in the metropolis, departmental stores, general stores, big and me-dium-size wholesalers and retail-ers and jewellers.

The � nance ministry’s � scal co-ordination council also decided to bring all the shops of those cited categories under the system. The new VAT law, which will fully come into e� ect from July 2017, will make it compulsory to use ECR machines in shops and other businesses.

According to an NBR estimate, there are now 11,005 shops under the categories. Of them, a total of 8,559 were selected for ECR installa-tion but so far only 2,970 machines were installed in the country.

Liberation War A� airs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque recently urged the government to provide Electronic Cash Register (ECR) machines for the traders, who are not able to pay the machine price instantly, through installments for the e� ective use of the mechanism across the country.

He also suggested the govern-ment to make it mandatory to use

ECR or POS for traders to help gov-ernment earn higher amount of revenues.

The government in 2009 intro-duced the technology to thwart evasion of VAT collected from the consumers by the shopkeepers as the manual system of accounting used at the outlets leaves room for tax evasion.

It is, however, widely reported that a large number of businesses skip the machine installation but many of those, who have installed the machines, also do not use them in transactions blaming their ma-chines as faulty.

Against such a backdrop, the revenue authorities is now work-ing to connect its server system with the ECR machines to get real time record of the machines to get the actual amount of VAT collected by business entities from their cus-tomers.

According to the plan, NBR will install a chip in each ECR which will be directly connected with the IVAS server. Thus, the NBR o� -cials will be able to cross check the transaction records any time.

By doing so, the revenue au-thority is expected to get the actual amount of VAT as no traders will be able to alter the records because of introducing the new system, said o� cials. l

Stocks fall further amid dull trading n Tribune Business Desk

Stocks plunged amid persistent volatility yesterday, extending los-ing streak that continued through-out the past week.

The benchmark index DSEX lost over 7 points or 0.2% to 4,387—its lowest since May 25.

The blue-chip comprising index DS30 remained almost unchanged at 1,080. The DSE Shariah Index DSES shed nearly 5 points to 1,724.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX closed at 8,223, dropping about 11 points.

Trading activities declined sharply as the DSE turnover was Tk321 crore—down about 40% over previous session. Absence of the bloc market activity also contrib-uted to the decline of volume of trade.

Only bright spot in the falling market was the small cap stocks as they led the money � ow with stronger price movement.

Construction material and � -nancial stocks were under selling pressure while consumer stocks staged mixed performance.

All the major sectors including bank, cement, food and allied and telecommunications decreased while pharmaceuticals sector in-creased.

LankaBangla Securities said: “DSE stocks were directionless in early morning moving around the 4,400 level in benchmark index.” l

BRAC Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with fashion house Mayasir on providing the bank’s signature and platinum cardholders with 20% discount in all outlets of Mayasir during Ramadan, said a press release. The bank’s managing director, Selim RF Hussain and Maheen Khan, owner of Mayasir have signed the agreement Marcel has recently opened an exclusive showroom named Linar Electronics at

Kazipur in Sirajganj, said a press release. The company’s brand ambassador, � lm actor Amin Khan inaugurated the showroom

Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh has recently opened its 89th ATM at extended corporate o� ce of PRAN-RFL Group in Pragati Sarani, Dhaka. The bank’s head of retail banking, Aditya Mandloi and Uzma Chowdhury, � nance director of PRAN-RFL Group were present at the inauguration programme, said a press release

Mutual Trust Bank Ltd has recently signed an agreement with Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) on providing BTCL subscribers with the facility to pay telecom bills through all branches of the bank, said a press release. The bank’s additional managing director, Md Hashem Chowdhury and Mohammed Kabir Hossain Bhuiyan, managing director of BTCL have signed the agreement

CORPORATE NEWS

Business14DT

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

France warns UK it will be in� exible over Brexit n AFP, Paris

French Economy Minister Emma-nuel Macron said Saturday the EU should act quickly and � rmly if Britain votes next week to leave the European Union.

Britain’s EU referendum will be held on Thursday, with an EU sum-

mit set for a few days later on June 28 at which Macron said EU leaders should take a � rm stand with re-gard to the UK.

“You are in or out ... The Euro-pean Council should give the Brit-ish an ultimatum about their inten-tions, and France’s president will be very clear about that,” Macron

said in an interview with Le Monde published Saturday.

“We cannot, in the interests of the EU, leave any ambiguity to lin-ger and to let too much time pass,” Macron said.

If Britain leaves the bloc, “the day after the exit, there will no longer be a � nancial passport for

British establishments,” he added. Macron said in his view if the

British want to maintain access to the European market, they should contribute to the EU budget, just like non-members Norway and Switzerland.

If London refuses, “then that would be a total exit,” said the

economy minister, a strong EU ad-vocate.

Campaigning in Britain on the EU referendum was sus-pended Saturday for a third day following the killing of a pro-Eu-rope lawmaker and amid calls for a less acrimonious political de-bate. l

Spain joins forces with Bollywood to boost tourism n AFP, Madrid

Spain is coaxing Indian movie-makers to use its colourful � es-tas and historic monuments as settings for their � lms, in a move to grab a bigger share of India’s fast-growing overseas tourism market.

As part of its bid to lure visitors from the world’s second most populous country, Madrid will host next weekend the annual In-ternational Indian Film Academy awards, dubbed the “Bollywood Oscars”.

In global tourism, Spain ranks as the third most visited country, but it now wants to diversify its tourism base beyond the tradi-tional northern European sun-seekers that account for the bulk of its visitors.

Among the Bollywood stars who will attend the awards cer-emony in Spain will be hunky Indian actor Hrithik Roshan, the green-eyed star of the 2011 com-ing-of-age movie “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”, which was pro-duced in close collaboration with the Spanish tourism promotion agency, Turespana.

The � lm about three friends on a pre-marriage road trip across Spain includes scenes at “La To-matina” festival in the town of Bunol, where half-naked revel-lers hurl mushy tomatoes at each other, as well as at Pamplona’s San Fermin bull running festival.

With scenes also set in Barce-lona, Seville and the beaches of the Costa Brava, the movie was the � rst major Indian production to shoot extensively in various lo-cations in Spain.

It was also the highest grossing Bollywood � lm of 2011.

“There was an immediate im-pact in the number of people re-questing entry visas to travel to Spain,” the director of the Lon-don o� ce of Turespana, Enrique Ruiz de Lera, who led the agen-cy’s talks with the producers of the movie, told AFP.

The year after its release, 60,444 Indians visited Spain, nearly double the 2011 � gure, ac-cording to the industry and tour-ism ministry. Last year 85,000 Indians visited Spain. l

Business 15D

TMONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

Oman raises $2.5bn in bonds to meet de� cit n AFP, Muscat

Oman has raised $2.5bn in a bond sale arranged by � ve international banks to help meet its budget de� -cit resulting from low oil prices, the

� nance ministry said Saturday. The ministry, quoted by the

Oman News Agency, said the sul-tanate’s � rst international bond issue in two decades was oversub-scribed by almost three times.

The Gulf state sold $1bn in bonds to mature in � ve years at an interest rate of 3.625% and a 10-year issue worth $1.5bn at 4.75%, it said in a statement.

Oman is projecting a budget

de� cit of $8.6 billion this year after posting a shortfall of $11.7bn in 2015.

The sultanate has adopted measures to cut spending and raise revenues that include reducing subsidies on fuel and electricity.

A non-OPEC producer, Oman is pumping around 1m barrels a day. Oil-dependent Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, have been hit hard by a cash crunch due to a 60% drop in oil prices in the past two years. l

n Professor Raqibul Mohammad Anwar

Clinical governance is a systematic approach to maintaining and improving the quality of patient care within a health system and is essential to improving the standards of health care itself.

Clinical governance was � rst described in a UK government white paper as a new system to ensure that clinical standards are met and that processes are in place to ensure continuous improvement of medical practice.

It is a framework through which the UK national health service organisations are held accountable for, and continuously improve the quality of their services and safeguard the high standard of care by creating an environment in which clinical care will � ourish. Clinical governance is designed to ensure quality of patient care, and is the responsibility of doctors, nurses, health professionals, hospital authority and the government to make sure that high standards of clinical care are maintained throughout a health system and the quality of service is continuously improved.

Clinical governance is composed of education and training, clinical audit, clinical e� ectiveness, risk management, research and development and openness.

Education and trainingIn the modern health service, it is no longer acceptable for any clinician to abstain from continuing education after quali� cation. Too much of what is learnt during training becomes outdated too quickly, and continuous professional

development (CPD) for doctors is the responsibility of the authority that employ them and a professional duty of the doctors themselves.

Clinical auditClinical audit is the systematic critical analysis of the quality of health care, including procedures for diagnosis, treatment and care, use of resources, resulting outcomes and the quality of life for patients. It embraces the work of all health professionals.

Clinical audit is designed to improve patient care, enhance professionalism, e� cient utilisation of resources and sense of accountability; eventually aiding professional development and management as a whole.

Clinical e� ectivenessClinical e� ectiveness is a measure of the extent to which a particular intervention works. The measure on its own is useful, but it is enhanced by considering whether the intervention is appropriate, and whether it represents value for money.

In the modern health service, clinical practice needs to be re� ned in the light of emerging evidence of e� ectiveness as well as consider aspects of e� ciency and safety from the perspective of the individual patient and carer.

Clinical e� ectiveness has been promoted through the development of guidelines and protocols for particular diseases, and is based on evidence of e� ectiveness.

Risk managementThere is inherent risk in providing health care to the patient, to the medical practitioner and to the

provider rganisation. Risks need to be minimised by quality assurance that has to be one of the essential components and the strongest pillar of health care. Plans for risk management must cover patient-speci� c risks and be well documented; they must also be accessible to those working with patients. Many patient risks can be reduced by adequately training physicians and sta� , encouraging strong communication among sta� -members, providing counseling services for those working with patients, and conducting competency assessments.

Ri sk in health care is something that would pose a potential threat or opportunity to the achievement of objectives within the context of health care organisations; strategic, program or operational.

Risks and issues should not be confused. Risks are situations that might happen and stop us from achieving objectives, or otherwise impact on the success of the organisation in contrast. Issues are things that have happened, were not planned and require management action.

Once identi� ed, the risk

needs to be described clearly to ensure that there is a common understanding of the risk by the stakeholders. It will then go on the risk register to be assessed and scored, and an action plan will be instituted to eliminate, minimise, or maximise the risk.

Setting up of statutory regulations and compliance to such regulations will help to reduce risks and improve quality of patient care. In the UK health system, regulations such as the Data Protection Act, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Heath (COSHH) regulations, Medicines Control Agency approvals, Indemnity insurance and many other regulations are implemented and regularly reviewed to minimise risks. l

Professor Raqibul Mohammad Anwar

is a Colorectal Surgeon at Bart’s

and The Royal London Hospital,

Ambassador and Convener of

Examinations, The Royal College of

Surgeons of England, Colonel, UK

Armed Forces (RAMC), and President

and CEO of RAHETID (RA Hospital,

Education and Training Institute

Dhaka).

16DT

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016Health

Clinical governance is composed of education and training, clinical audit, clinical e� ectiveness, risk management, research and development and openness.

Clinical governance and its importance

n Riaz Fiem

June 21 is international Yoga day. Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline, which originated in India. Though many think of yoga only as a physical exercise where people twist, turn, stretch, and breathe in the most complex ways, these are actually only the most super� cial aspects of this profound science of unfolding the in� nite potentials of the human mind and soul. From my shallow knowledge I cannot do justice to the great ancient practice of Yoga. I went through various web pages and learnt the basics. However, the Web cannot always ful� ll the desire of a true knowledge seeker; hence through one of my cousins I got to know Savina Shah. She is a yoga practitioner who holds various Yoga workshops and sessions. After talking to her I was left astounded by how necessary yoga is in today’s hectic world in order to stay � t. Here’s what I learned

from Savina Shah herself, in a casual interview.

Who inspired you to specialise in yoga and meditation?I grew up watching my maternal uncle (my mom’s older brother) do yoga and the whole process used to intrigue my 6 year old self. I used to wonder how someone can bend, twist and turn in any direction he wants to. Watching him doing that for months, I started imitating him, with mixed results. Nonetheless, the seeds were sown, and I decided to make yoga my second nature. Since then dedication, determination took over and I disciplined myself enough to make yoga and meditation my lifestyle.

Why should people engage themselves in yoga and meditation?From my personal experience, I can say that yoga and meditation not only help in shaping and toning the physical body, but

it also silently yet actively works inside our beings. It aids with better blood circulation, calming of the mind, enhances the focus and concentration span, which helps in achieving better results at work. And above all, it teaches us how to empower the mind. Once the mind is in one’s control, stress and other irritants can be handled and defeated with ease. Meditation trains the mind how to distinguish between “reaction” and “response.” Once we have that tool, then every challenge which life throws at us, it becomes easier to face and overcome.

Many people exclusively relate yoga with women only, should there be any such discrimination?Thank you for helping me draw that curve called “smile” on my face.Come on guys, please get over the idea that yoga is only for women. It is a MYTH. The founder of Yoga is Patanjali, who is known as the Father of Yoga, and furthermore, the founders of all the world-renowned schools of yoga are males. Above all, please know that the superheroes are only in the movies on the big screens. Both men and women are creations of the Almighty where the bodies of both the genders function in the same manner. Both the genders share the same breathing and blood circulation pattern and system. So, yoga is equally important for both genders.

Can yoga help in losing body fat? If so, how?Yoga will not only give you weight

loss but will give you a lot more than good skin and weight loss. Yoga is not only about � exibility. It addresses all of the � tness parameters; both the aerobic and

the anaerobic system. It in fact goes beyond the physical aspects of keeping us lean and � t. With the release of calm inducing chemicals in the brain one develops a better understanding of body, food and life-style. The responsible behaviour with the body invariably leads to a � tter and lighter body, which further leads to weight loss. However, I personally feel that life and � tness is much more than just weight loss, isn’t it?

How might people contact you if they want go get your services?They can simply do that by e-mailing me at r.savina@gmail.com. l

Reaz Fiem is a fi tness enthusiast,

who wishes to help people stay

healthy

Come on guys, please get over the idea that yoga is only for women

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MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016Health

Savina Shah on the universal bene� ts of yoga

18DT

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016Ramadan Special

Ramadan: Your body is your subconscious mindn Shireen Pasha

BodyOn the path to gnosis you’ll meet people who will o� er you a helping hand in making the next step, as well as those who will want you to fall o� the path. Like any marketplace, forces already present want to prevent entry to newcomers, especially if they have set an agenda. The only way to continue on the path is to know yourself.

According to Dr Candace Pert, an internationally recognised neuroscientist and pharmacologist who published over 250 research articles and was a signi� cant contributor to the emergence of Mind-Body Medicine as an area of legitimate scienti� c research in the 1980’s, your body is your subconscious mind.

“In particular, Candace formulated a theory of the emotions, mediated by receptor active peptides, such as the neuropeptides and immune system cytokines, as the agents that integrated communication between the brain and the body. Candace thought emotions were stored in the body and that healthy communication via emotional expression was key to integrating the mind and the body. Wellness practices such as somatic, behavioural, and contemplative practices thereby had a physiological basis and could be used to promote or enhance health and recovery from illness by integrating the body’s native repair and regenerative systems, providing a biochemistry and modern interpretation for the wisdom of the body. Her ideas were taken forward by many

others and there continues to be great interest in research studies in complementary medicine.  Her vision was for a new medicine in which such practices would make a signi� cant contribution to health, combined with or without traditional allopathic practice. Candace went where the scienti� c evidence took her.”

In simple words, What Dr Pert found was that our feelings, habitual reactions, beliefs are embedded in our bodies, across our central nervous system, connective tissue, and fascia. “In recent years some of the world’s leading biochemists, physiologists, systems theorists and consciousness researchers have turned their attention to this mysterious substance known as fascia. Often the terms connective tissue or soft tissue are used interchangeably for fascia but this is somewhat misleading as they would imply a � bre- or muscle-type material when actually,

fascia is primarily a � uid gel. To understand fascia, we have to understand a fourth state of matter in between solid and liquid and also the behaviour of liquid crystals.”

Understanding all of this would take books. I will list them as Ramadan continues. You can also begin your own research.

MindTell yourself before falling asleep - “I intend to become aware of the most painful experiences of my life and where they are lodged in my body.” You’ll be amazed at how your brain will work to gather this information for you while you rest. When you come to this awareness, do cardio excercise, namaz, meditation with full awareness directed toward those areas. Use your atomic mind and breath to release the pain from your heart and your body (subconscious mind). When you do namaz, don’t force physical alignment

that is painful. Know where you are physically and respect that, which will then enable circulation to � ow across your muscles and central nervous system. Choose to eat well, especially during this cleansing period. Ramadan is the perfect time. Cut down on sugar, mucus inducing foods. I would say 100% but if you have a sweet tooth like my husband then start with cutting down to 80%.  Sugar-high foods, which includes rice, create excess mucus in the body which strengthen those painful fascia, “knots’ or "gristle" in our connective tissue.  Cut down on salt to at least 90%. There is already a natural presence of salt in the foods you eat. Some salts are better than others, for example the pink Himalayan salt which reduces acidity of the body but does not have iodine (good for opening the pineal gland). Salt increases the in� ammation of the tissue by holding onto water in your cells so that your already

painful parts become even more painful, namaz and meditation become even more di� cult and Allah becomes palpable only at an intellectual level. But we want Allah in mind, body and soul!

SoulFrom where does the energy for will power enter our hearts? For me it is music and dance. Qawaali. Allah-hu. Allah-hu. Allah-hu. Daler Mehndi has two powerful pieces in particular: 1. Allah-hu; 2. Bismillah. Where do you get your additional strength?l

Become aware of your fascia

n Jawad Mahruj Khan

Every Ramadan, whether it be due to strict parents or self willingness, a large portion of the teenage population prays Taraweeh. I am a teen who falls in the former category. This special prayer, held before Isha and after Maghrib, consists of twenty rakaats. If one can ensure he prays all throughout the month, he or she will have � nished the Holy Quran. All seriousness aside, here are some of the types of people that I’ve noticed throughout the years.

The FootballersSkinny kids, always showing up to Taraweeh in an Arsenal or Barcelona T-shirt. Most of them don’t seem too happy to be there.

The 8ersThey leave after eight rakaats. If you have an adult with you, these are the kids you really envy.

The smart 8ersLeave after eight rakaats, and go to eat ice cream. They come back for the last two so that nobody checks or notices.

The 10ersLeave after 10 rakaats because all the “8ers” have gone so no one cares.

The ghost Attends the very � rst Taraweeh, disappears till Eid salah 30 days later. Reminds me of someone. Okay now that I think about it, it’s probably myself.

The OCD uncle Patrols the back row and sends all the youngsters in to the next row, but doesn’t go himself.

Ruku warriorGoes into ruku during third rakaat of Witr. Oh boy, this guy is so ridiculed when he sees everyone else standing.

Clown Laughs at the guys who went into ruku during Witr. They tend to stand back up after sejdah on the last rakaat (oh the irony).

Marriage seeker Will ask you after every Taraweeh if you’ve found him a wife yet. “Im a young musalle with a large fortune. However I am single and I wish to be settled in a family and perform my duties as a Muslim.” Don’t fall for that and give him the number of an unmarried woman. Trust me when I say this, because you will regret it.

Belcher Burps and knocks out row after row, rakaat after rakaat. Nobody knows what he has for iftar.

ScreamerThe alif in his aameen is longer than the entire Taraweeh. This guy has a very loud voice too.

ReverserBegins praying Taraweeh in the front row and keeps going back after every round. They � nish Taraweeh in the last row for a swift exit. Smart.

Campers On the � rst Taraweeh, they come at Asr to put their prayer mats on speci� c spots beneath the fans; nobody dares to move it. Thats their position now for the entire month.

Young talentHe’s the little kid who makes his mark all the way in the front row, but the chairmen and elders keep pushing him back till he’s in the fourth. Probably the most enthusiastic person in the mosque. What a shame.

HeadbuttersRight after sejdah, something is bound to happen. You know where I’m going with this...brother

behind you gets a little too close and headbutts you in the backside. This is motivation to � nish the rest of your prayers, of course.

Mid-rakaat nappersThe ones who do an extra long sejda but you just know deep inside they’re having a quick 30 second nap.

Chiropractor Always straightening the rows. Surprisingly, when you look back after completing prayers, they aren’t there anymore. l

19D

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MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016Feature

He’s the little kid who makes his mark all the way in the front row, but the chairmen and elders keep pushing him back till he’s in the fourth

17 strange characters one meets at Taraweeh

TODAY

The publication of the fatwa against militancy on Saturday should be applauded by all and considered a true landmark declaration in the � ght against militancy.

For the longest time, the Islamic clerical community in Bangladesh has faced criticism both inside and outside the country for its inaction against the rampant extremist activities that have harmed the country so badly in recent times.

Foreign media in particular is quick to catch on to murders and other terrorist activities, invoking fear in people’s minds and tarnishing Bangladesh’s image to the world community.

However, this breakthrough initiative deserves just as much attention, as 100,000 muftis, ulema, and uluma from all across the country make a pledge to � ght violent extremism and to try to stop others from sympathising with radicalist agendas.

The fatwa is a document consisting of some 30 volumes, and, with the support of so many formidable Islamic scholars, it carries tremendous weight.

It is hoped that the world won’t ignore that the fatwa -- which includes the signatures of some 10,000 women scholars -- unequivocally condemns terrorism and militancy, declaring it forbidden in Islam.

Atrocities committed in the name of religion misrepresent Islam to the world, and create all kinds of confusion and paranoia. Muslims have been asking whether Islamic leaders will stand up together and forcefully condemn the senseless violence that has been tearing the country apart. This fatwa answers that question without ambiguity -- true Muslims do not condone militancy or terrorism in any form.

It is hoped that the world won’t ignore the fatwa, which unequivocally condemns terrorism and militancy, declaring it forbidden in Islam

PAGE 23

PAGE 21

PAGE 22

A closer look at the new budgetWe need a research cell within the NBR and a synergy between the NBR and the academia for deep dive analysis of the country’s public � nance

Islamic scholars standing up to terror is a bold step forward

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207

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SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

EditorialMONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

DT 20

Yes or no, minister?Whatever happens, the lesson here from the referendum for the rest of the world is about the inclusive power of democracy

Remembering the 1971 refugeesIt is very right to celebrate Bangladesh’s remarkable development successes and progress over the years but we must never forget the pain and su� ering that was invested into the foundation of this beautiful country

Opinion 21D

TMONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

n Julian Francis

Today, June 20, is World Refugee Day and the UNHCR gives us the following information:

• There are currently 59.5 million forcibly displaced people around the world, and of these, 20 million are refugees and 10 million are stateless

• An average of 42,500 people a day � ee their homes to � nd safer places either in their own country or beyond their country’s borders

• More than 10 million Syrians are currently displaced -- about 45% of the population

• The world’s largest refugee camp is in Dadaab, Kenya with more than 329,000 people

• Of the 20 million refugees worldwide, 51% are under the age of 18. This is the highest number of child refugees since World War II

The facts and � gures above paint a very grim picture of the world today and remind me of the very painful birth of Bangladesh, details of which many around the world, and even in Bangladesh, have either forgotten or never learned.

In 1971, 10 million Bangladeshis � ed to India as refugees and an estimated 20 million were internally displaced in Bangladesh -- about 40% of the population.

Some days we saw over 50,000 Bangladeshis a day cross the many border crossings to India. 20,000 or 30,000 a day was normal.

The largest refugee camp in 1971 was Salt Lake, Calcutta which had about 250,000 people. When I remember the work that OXFAM undertook in 1971, I remember the faces of the children su� ering severe malnutrition the most.

In April 1971, I was in some muddy refugee camp, wondering how the OXFAM assistance could make them a bit more comfortable and how the children could get better food and have a chance to learn and play. It was a daunting task to say the least.

At the time -- the end of April 1971 -- the world had not understood the enormity of the refugee problem and even the head o� ces of the UN and international NGOs like OXFAM were � nding it hard to accept the reports that were coming to their o� ces from Calcutta. In the � eld, we were witnessing death and disease on a scale that was unimaginable.

I still have nightmares about the deaths of children in the refugee camps in India. I still remember

as though it was yesterday the wounds of men who had managed to arrive to safety after being attacked by machetes by the collaborators of the Pakistani authorities. Some of the wounds had become septic during their painful journeys.

Sometimes, in my nightmares, I see the body of a dead child lying in the rain, its arms and legs gnawed o� by dogs, its eyes pecked out by crows. I will never forget the babies with their skin hanging loosely in folds from their tiny bones, lacking the strength even to lift their heads.

The children with legs and feet swollen with edema and malnutrition limp in the arms of their mothers. Babies going blind for a lack of vitamin, or covered

with sores that will not heal. Seeing in the eyes of their

parents the despair, wondering if they will ever have their children well again. Seeing the corpse of the child who died the night before.

It was only when cholera swept through the camps towards Calcutta that the conscience of the world was alerted, but even this killer came and went. It left behind what was there before, su� ering and despair -- no homes, little or no food, insu� cient medical supplies, and, worst of all, no hope.

It is very right to celebrate Bangladesh’s remarkable development successes and progress over the years, but we must never forget the pain and su� ering that was

invested into the foundation of this beautiful country. I will never forget. My recurring nightmares will not allow me to do so.

Remembering the birth of Bangladesh should help us to redouble our e� orts to see that the world shows more kindness to all the refugees being displaced and to see that the politicians work more seriously and concertedly to overcome all these problems which create the movement of people as refugees. l

Julian Francis received the “Friends of Liberation War Honour” from the Government of Bangladesh in March, 2012. He has worked in many poverty alleviation projects in Bangladesh where he continues to live and work as an independent consultant.

Millions crossed the border during our Independence War to escape BIGSTOCK

It is very right to celebrate Bangladesh’s remarkable development successes and progress over the years but we must never forget the pain and su� ering that was invested into the foundation of this beautiful country

We must work together to show more kindness to the displaced

Remembering the 1971 refugees

Long Form22DT

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

n Mamun Rashid

Income from VAT has been identi� ed as the highest source of revenue for the NBR. The revenue target for VAT

in the proposed budget has been � xed at Tk72,764 crore, some 35% higher than the revised VAT target for Tk53,913cr in the outgoing � scal.

It is unfortunate that the new VAT and SD Act 2012 could not be introduced. The business community reportedly could not be convinced with this. The government should take immediate steps to remove the disconnects so that it can be implemented smoothly in coming year.

Though the new VAT and SD Act has not come to e� ect, the government has tried to increase the existing truncated VAT rate to around the standard rate of 15% and removed various exemption facilities which will a� ect the concerned business areas.

Due to widespread dispute on the high rate of 15%, the government could introduce a lesser rate of 5% or 10% considering the practical aspects of businesses.

Again, to remove the ambiguity of the exemption of “any supply or import of prescribed basic food items for human consumption” should be cleared and a detailed list should be published immediately.

A “package VAT” system for small traders has remained in the proposed budget but the rate of tax has been increased substantially. The tari� value to determine VAT on some products

has been increased.A supplementary duty is usually imposed on products which are socially undesirable. Bearing that in mind, the government has increased supplementary duty of cigarettes containing tobacco, bidi with � lter and without � lter, jorda, gul, and cultural and entertainment events in collaboration with foreign artists unless the program is covered under a bilateral agreement.

The government has made certain provisions regarding indirect tax, which will de� nitely reduce the stress on tax-payers.

The mandatory requirement of obtaining prior approval of price from the VAT authority before sale of such goods has been withdrawn, though the price declaration still requires to be � led. VAT o� cials cannot arbitrarily disallow input tax credit without granting an opportunity for hearing out the VAT-registered dealers.

There will be no limit on discount rate and days, which used to be 15% and for a maximum of 30 days a year. Furthermore, the time limit for disposal of all disputes under ADR has also been reduced from 60 days to 50.

Manufacturers located within the jurisdiction of Dhaka South, Dhaka North, and Chittagong City

Corporation areas will be required to obtain VAT registration, irrespective of turnover limit, and liable to discharge VAT. Maintenance of electronic cash register (ECR) and Point of Sale (POS) is mandatory for businesses and trading houses located across the country.

The government has also introduced a very new concept of a centralised registration of business entities or its group entities under single ownership. However, detailed guidelines are expected to be issued to clear the ambiguity on the procedures.

Various services provided in a PPP project are exempt from payment of VAT to boost up the infrastructural and industrial development. However, the most counter-productive provision for tax-payers is that, to � le an appeal against any dispute under VAT and Customs before the Commissioner (Appeal) and Appellate Tribunal, the pre-deposit amount has been increased from 10% to 50% of the disputed demand of tax or � ne. This will impact the cash � ow of businesses as a larger cash outlay will be required to appeal.

Customs duty The revised revenue collection estimate from customs duty during the ongoing � scal is

Tk25,064cr, which has been increased to Tk30,075cr in the next � scal with a 20% increase. The government has introduced a new tier of 15% for intermediate raw material with existing duty structure of 1%, 5%, 10%, and 25%.

To boost the agriculture industry, manufacturers of agriculture machinery are granted an exemption from payment of customs duty in excess of 1% (e� ective customs duty) and full exemption on all other import duties such as regulatory duty, supplementary duty, and VAT on import of various equipment and spares used in the manufacture of such machineries.

Furthermore, customs duty on the import of rice, rapeseed, and soy cake has been increased to protect the interests of local farmers. Several concessions have been granted in import duties on equipment used in the manufacturing and services sector, namely � re-� ghting, pre-fabricated buildings, construction, gas and electricity, IT, and chemicals.

Businessmen will � nd the proposal of the amendment of the “customs valuation rules” helpful to � x the minimum value of importable essentials and consumable and commercial goods based on which customs

duty would be ascertained.The underlying tone of the

� scal measures in the proposed budget is that of increasing the earning base. However, we would have been much happier to see the administration � nding out more “opportunity space” to impose taxes and innovative ways of tax collection.

The other aspect we liked most is the e� ort to make mainstream the shadow economy and reduce cash transactions in our society. We don’t mind people not paying taxes for the time being, but if we can increase the number of TINs now, collections will follow.

Studies show that more than 12 million people in our country are able to pay taxes, whereas the present � gure is not even one-tenth of that. A proposal for special cells within the NBR to address transfer mispricing, taxation of foreign nationals, and combating money-laundering should be made operational e� ectively.

We are also agreeable to the proposal that tax incidence should be kept at a minimum for people earning in the lower brackets.

At the same time, we don’t want to see � scal measures being initiated haphazardly, mostly at the fag end and lacking proper “homework.” We therefore need a research cell within the NBR and a synergy between the NBR and the academia for a deep dive analysis of the country’s public � nance.

The NBR and even non NBR-re-lated earnings can easily be dou-bled, if not tripled, without asking for some sort of revolution. l

Mamun Rashid is an economic analyst.

We don’t want to see � scal measures being initiated haphazardly, mostly at the fag end and lacking proper ‘homework.’ We therefore need a research cell within NBR and a synergy between NBR and the academia for deep dive analysis of the country’s public � nance

Moving forward, NBR earnings can be increased without the need for any kind of revolution BIGSTOCK

A closer look at the new budgetHow do VAT and customs duty fare in the new budget? This is the concluding part of a two-part long form

Opinion 23D

TMONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

n Towheed Feroze

Britain is poised to take a momentous decision -- stay in the EU or go out. In fact, if we look at

history, the relationship between Britain and Europe had always been a strained one. Yes, there were vociferous Europhiles but Euro-skeptics had always made their voices heard.

The other day, while watching the 80s TV political drama Yes, Minister, it was evident that the mistrust of Europe stretches quite far back.

In the episode “Party Games,” actor Paul Eddington, playing the role of Jim Hacker, minister for administrative a� airs (not the brightest of politicians) and guided by the shrewd civil servant Sir Humphrey (Nigel Hawthorne), suddenly � nds himself in a situa-tion where the path to him becom-ing PM is deliberately created in the event of a voluntary retirement of the standing premier.

But Hacker has to also show the public that, despite looking after abstruse administrative complexities, he is also a true Brit and, therefore, has a row with the Europeans over the sanctity of the British sausage.

The union wants a uniformed standard for all sausages while Hacker wants to save the British one, which, as the episode obliquely suggests, has less meat.

Anyway, the point here is clear, to come to the limelight as a person capable of becoming the PM, Hacker has to show his resolute stance to save what is termed quintessentially “British.”

So, he gets a rousing reaction when he denounces, what he calls, a bureaucratic Bonaparte in Brussels and champions the greatness of the Brit sausage, eventually riding the public support to Number 10 and the role of the PM.

In the impassioned speech, he also underlines how small British businesses had to close down as a result of Britain entering the EU.

All throughout the series, there are countless pejorative references to Britain’s often subdued role in the union and, once again, in Yes, Prime Minister, the wrangling is resuscitated over how the Euro tunnel trains should be operated and which should be the language of preference.

It seems that a large section of people had always wanted to remain separate.

The other day, someone was asking me to guess what the

people might vote, “stay in” or “go out”? Well, for some reason, I feel the votes will be for the latter. Of course, I may be proved wrong, but from what the news channels show us, most people who are not within the power structure seem to favour moving out.

What repercussions will that have? Well, there have been a plethora of articles on how overall trade will be hit with grave consequences in a time of economic austerity. However, going out and being independent may inspire Britain to become a bit more adventurous.

With the people I have talked to, there seems to be an inherent desire to face a set of unknown challenges -- notice that glint of thrill emanating from the possibility of facing it all alone. Whatever happens, the lesson here from the referendum for the rest of the world is about the inclusive power of democracy.

What we can learn is the process by which the people are given the right to express their opinion by which the government will inevitably act. We saw this in the issue of deciding whether Scotland wants to stay with Great Britain or not and in less than two years, we are seeing it for the European question.

In many other countries, including Bangladesh, this system of permitting the people to decide on pivotal matters needs to be replicated. Alas, I cannot remember any occasion when the

people were asked to decide on a contentious matter.

There was a huge political kerfu� e over the scrapping of the provision of the caretaker government, though the common people, the actual voters, had very little say in it. Maybe we could have been a better democracy had we asked the opinion of the masses before striking out this option.

Going back to the lessons from a TV drama that aired more than 30 years ago, it appears that much of the issues presented in the

series continue to have resonance in a completely di� erent age. Both the actors, Eddington and Hawthorne, are dead, yet the political wrangling involving the uneasy relation with the EU is very much the talking point now.

I have very little idea as to how either move will impact Bangladesh but, I must say, I do love this transparent approach of permitting the people to voice their wishes. l

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

When it comes to democracy, Bangladesh stands to learn a thing or two from Britain MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

The Brexit debate is an excellent example of a working democracy

Yes or no, minister?

There seems to be an inherent desire to face a set of unknown challenges. Whatever happens, the lesson here from the referendum for the rest of the world is about the inclusive power of democracy

24DT Sport

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

TOP STORIES

Hathurusingha retained till 2019 WCBangladesh Cricket Board has extended national head coach Chandika Hathurusingha’s contract by three years. Hathurisingha, whose current contract will end this month, will continue to guide the Tigers till the 2019 World Cup. PAGE 29

Portugal agonises after Ronaldo missReal Madrid starlet Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty against Austria and became the target in his native Portugal as the country now fears a Euro 2016 failure. The superstar’s shot crashed against the post. PAGE 26

Messi equals Batigoal recordArgentina and Chile advanced to the semi-� nals of the Copa America with Chile beating Mexico 7-0 and Lionel Messi getting a goal in Argentina’s 4-1 win over Venezuela to equal his country’s all-time scoring record. PAGE 28

Hodgson mulls striker optionsEngland take on Slovakia in the key battle for � rst place in Group B with Roy Hodgson mulling over which of his strikers to deploy. Vardy and Sturridge proved their form by coming o� the bench to dig England out of trouble. PAGE 27

Abahani in Fed Cup last fourn Tribune Report

Abahani Limited progressed to the semi� nals of the Federation Cup after staging a brilliant comeback to beat Brothers Union 2-1 in the third quarter-� nal at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

In-form Haitian forward Augus-tin Walson gave Brothers the lead in the opening half before substi-tute mid� elder Jewel Rana and Ni-gerian striker Sunday Chizoba net-ted in the last half hour to ensure a place in the last four.

The Sky Blues, who also reached the � nal of the season opening In-dependence Cup in April this year, will now take on Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra in the second semi-� -nal this Friday.

George Kottan’s charges began the game brightly, creating two chances within the quarter-hour mark following which the Go-pibagh out� t showed dominance throughout the remainder of the opening half. And it was Walson who was at the hub of most of Brothers’ attacks.

The Sky Blues went close to scor-ing with just two minutes into the clock when Nabib Newaj Jibon’s header from a Lee Andrew Tuck free-

kick was punched away to safety by Brothers goalkeeper Uttam Barua.

Tuck then squandered a glorious chance in the 15th minute when the English mid� elder shot straight towards Uttam, despite being in a one-on-one situation. In the 24th minute, Walson collected a clear-ance from Abahani custodian Sha-hidul Alam Sohel but his shot was blocked by Waly Faisal. Walson tried his luck again on the rebound but this time, the shot went wide.

Walson created another great chance at the half hour mark when he provided a brilliant cross from the left � ank into the centre of the six-yard box. Mannaf Rabby though was a bit late in meeting the cross.

Walson � nally broke the dead-lock in the 36th minute, exhibiting great skill to � re home a volley after Nigerian Nkwocha Kingsley chested down a Sho� qul Islam Sho� cross.

Abahani went all-out for the equaliser after resumption as Tuck threatened the opposition defence on quite a few occasions. But it was Jewel Rana who provided the Sky Blues the breakthrough in the 69th minute.

Sunday then scored a disputed yet deserved winner in the 81st minute.l

Abahani’s batting up against Rupganj’s unityn Mazhar Uddin

Legends of Rupganj have faced all the obstacles on their way to the top of the Dhaka Premier League while Abahani Limited have the name, luxury and power. The season’s most important battle between these two sides will take place at the BKSP-3 ground today.

Rupganj have 20 points from 14 games while Abahani are two points behind from 13 games as their incomplete match against Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club is under investigation by a four-member committee formed by the BCB.

This extra game in hand is con-sidered as Abahani’s advantage but Rupganj’s fate will be in their hands. Both sides however have been clinical in the Super League stage.

Abahani’s top three batsmen will give them most con� dence with Liton Das’s return to form with the hundred against Mo-hammedan Sporting Club. Their middle-order has shown the abil-

ity to thrash any bowling attack with Shakib al Hasan, Dinesh Karthik and Mosaddek Hossain at the helm.

Their bowling department hasn’t had a great time in this league. They will also bank on Shakib but the likes of Taskin Ahmed and Saqlain Sajib have to be in their best form against a Rupganj batting line-up that has always been good at getting big scores.

Rupganj have one of the more balanced sides in this year’s competition. Mohammad Mithun is their top run-scorer with 519 runs along with Asif Ahmed and Indian recruit Pawan Negi delivering when it requires. Captain Mosharraf Hossain has bowled well while also adding the extra punch to their batting line-up. They would also hope to see Soumya Sarkar bat like he did against Abahani in their � rst phase game in Mirpur which was incidentally his best knock of the tournament thus far.

Left arm pacer Abu Haider Rony will take care of the fast bowling department as he has been doing with great e� ect pick-ing 15 wickets while left arm spin-ners Taijul Islam, Mosharraf and Negi along with Asif can really tighten things up with the ball.

There would be hope for less controversy and more excitement in this game but given how the league has panned out, expect the unexpected in both sides of the rope. l

TODAY’S MATCHESAbahani v Rupganj, SavarMohammedan v Prime Bank, MirpurVictoria v Doleshwar, Fatullah

SUPER LEAGUETeams M W L T NR PtsRupganj 14 9 3 1 1 20Abahani 13 9 4 0 0 18Victoria 14 8 5 1 0 17Doleshwar 13 8 5 0 0 16Prime Bank 14 7 7 0 0 14

MSC 14 7 7 0 0 14

Brothers Union’s Haitian forward Augustin Walson (L) comes under pressure from the Abahani Limited defenders during their Federation Cup quarter-� nal at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Abahani 2-1 BrothersJewel 69 Walson 36Chizoba 81

RESULT

Sport 25D

T

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

Committee formed for Abahani-Doleshwar gamen Minhaz Uddin Khan

Bangladesh Cricket Board dur-ing a meeting yesterday formed a four-member committee to in-vestigate the issues surrounding the Dhaka Premier League’s Super League tie between Abahani Lim-ited and Prime Doleshwar Sport-ing Club. The high-voltage tie was stopped half-way as the umpires cited “illness” and were unable to o� ciate the match till the end.

The BCB’s disciplinary commit-tee chairman Sheikh Sohel, tech-nical committee member Athar Ali Khan, match referee Raqibul Hasan and umpires committee chairman Nazmul Karim have been named in the committee. According to the BCB president Nazmul Hasan, the committee will have to submit a report within 72 hours follow-ing interviews with the umpires, players and a few others related to the game. It is understood that the incomplete game between Abaha-ni and Doleshwar is likely to take place this Friday.

“Such an incident should not have happened but we will get to

the bottom of what happened in that game,” said BCB chief Nazmul fol-lowing the board meeting yesterday.

The board also discussed the payment issue in the Dhaka league. The defaulting clubs who haven’t paid the players according to the regulations have been given 72 hours. Within this time, the clubs have been ordered to complete 60 percent payment which was due to the players by the end of the league’s � rst phase.

“If they don’t pay within this time, the board will pay the amount from their co� ers. In that case, the board will take stern action against the clubs,” said Nazmul.

The BCB boss also informed that the board will take severe legal ac-tion against the Bangladesh Pre-mier League franchise Sylhet Su-perstars after their bank guarantee couldn’t be cashed.

“They owe us and the players around Tk three-four crore. We condemn this and will take legal measures,” said Nazmul.

Meanwhile, the BCB has decid-ed to hold the fourth edition of the BPL Twenty20 from November 6.l

Hathurusingha retained till 2019 World Cupn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Bangladesh Cricket Board has ex-tended national head coach Chan-dika Hathurusingha’s contract by three years. Hathurisingha, whose current contract will end this month, will continue to guide the Tigers till the 2019 World Cup. The decision was approved in the BCB’s board meeting yesterday.

The same extension was made with the other national team sta� s – assistant and spin bowl-ing coach Ruwan Kalpage, � elding

coach Richard Halsall and � tness and conditioning coach Mario Vil-lavarayan.

The board also o� cially named Hathurusingha as a part of the new two-layer national selection pro-cess. Hathurusingha will now be a part of the six-member selection committee which also has BCB’s cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan and nation-al team manager Khaled Mahmud.

The board also made a change in the three-member selection panel. Former Bangladesh batsman and

junior level selector Sajjad Ahmed has been named in the national selection panel in place of for-mer Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar. Bashar will now select only the women’s cricket team. Mean-while, former Bangladesh players Hannan Sarkar and Hasibul Hos-sain have also been made junior selectors.

The BCB president Nazmul Hasan, explaining the board’s unique selection process, said, “We have legalised the current process. The cricket operations committee

chairman will call the meeting with the selectors, coach and manager. The coach will give his strategic input, if he has any. The manager will give his and the captains’ input.”

The board also formed the bowl-ing action review committee. Jalal Younus will head the committee alongside Dipu Roy Chowdhury, Omar Khaled Rumi and Golam Faruq Suru. The committee in the upcoming days will appoint techni-cal personnel, when required.

Meanwhile, contrary to recent

reports, the board had no discus-sions regarding the two-tier Test system, stating that it will be pre-mature. According to media re-ports, the BCB was likely to discuss the two-tier Test system, one of the latest likely developments in world cricket.

“I stopped the CEO (Nizamud-din Chowdhury) when he was giv-ing a presentation on the two-tier system because the discussion it-self is now at a pre-emptive stage. It was only discussed at the CEC level in the ICC,” he said.l

A scene from yesterday’s board meeting of the Bangladesh Cricket Board in Mirpur BCB

Two Indian nationals arrested for rape in Zimbabwen AFP, Harare

Two Indian nationals have been arrested in Harare after being ac-cused of rape, but reports that they are members of the Indian cricket team are incorrect, o� cials in Zim-babwe con� rmed yesterday.

An article in a Zimbabwean publication claimed that an Indi-an player involved in the ongoing cricket tour to Zimbabwe had been picked up by police following an allegation made by a Zimbabwean woman.

However security o� cials look-

ing after the team said none of the players had been involved, which was con� rmed by a Zimbabwean police spokesperson and the Indian Foreign O� ce.

“None of the players were in-volved in the matter,” a security o� cial assisting the Indian team told AFP.

The misleading reports appear to have stemmed from the Zimba-bwe Republic Police’s lack of famil-iarity with the Indian team.

One of the two men arrested was part of an Indian company that is contracted by Zimbabwe Cricket

to engage with sponsors during in-coming tours, and was in the coun-try for the current series.

The two men appeared in court on Friday and were held in custo-dy over the weekend. They are ex-pected to apply for bail in the High Court today.

A young and inexperienced In-dian side whitewashed Zimbabwe 3-0 in a one-day series, but were shocked by two runs in the � rst Twenty20 international on Saturday.

The � nal two Twenty20 games of the tour will take place today and Wednesday.l

Shuvo returns homen Tribune Report

Victoria Sporting Club all-rounder Suhrawadi Shuvo yesterday re-turned home from hospital after being kept under observation for 24 hours.

According to his family, Shuvo is out of danger at the moment and the doctors instructed him to re-turn home. However, the 27-year old will have to go through a check-up after seven days.

Shuvo was struck on the lower side of his neck o� a Taskin Ahmed bouncer during the Dhaka Premier League’s Super League tie against Abahani Limited in Mirpur last Sat-urday.

He was immediately rushed to

the Apollo Hospital and according to the BCB’s chief physician Dr De-bashish Chowdhury, there were no major damages seen on the MRI and CT scan report.

Shuvo was not wearing a helmet which complies with the recently improved safety standards and was batting on 21 in the 25th over when he was � oored by the bouncer. Fol-lowing the incident, the Abahani players rushed towards Shuvo. The cricketer underwent four instant tests, where he passed three of them.

Shuvo played 17 ODIs, picking up 14 wickets, and also played a Test match against the West Indies back in 2011. He was also the member of Bangladesh’s 2011 World Cup squad.l

26DT Sport

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

RUSSIA WALES 29 Fifa ranking 26 9 Matches 9 5 Wins 1 1 Losses 5 3 Draws 3 12 Goals scored 5 5 Goals against 12

HEAD-TO-HEAD

VGROUP B

Stadium Municipal, Toulouse8pm local time (1am BST)

* Bangladesh standard time

RUSSIA WALES

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo misses from the penalty spot against Austria during their Group F match at Parc des Princes, Paris on Saturday REUTERS

Portugal agonises after Ronaldo’s penalty missn AFP, Paris

Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty and became the target in his native Portugal as the country now fears a Euro 2016 failure.

The superstar’s shot crashed against a post, holding the proli� c scorer up in his bid to become the � rst player to score at four Europe-an Championship � nals. A second group draw means Portugal could struggle to qualify for the last 16.

“Missed” headlined Portugal’s sports daily Record. “No one miss-es as much as we do,” said the rival A Bola. “Waste: Ronaldo can’t even

score a penalty,” was the headline in the popular Correio da Manha.

Ronaldo still set one new re-cord, making his 128th appearance for Portugal on Saturday to over-take Luis Figo. But the Real Madrid superstar will have bitter memo-ries of the night after missing the 79th-minute spot kick.

Austrian goalkeeper Robert Almer went the wrong way, but Ronaldo’s shot came o� the post.

“Obviously it was a goal to be the most capped international player, and also to be the national team’s top scorer,” Ronaldo said.

“But obviously I’m a bit sad, be-

cause this wasn’t the way I want-ed to break this record. The most beautiful way would have been …,” he added shaking his head.

“Obviously it wasn’t something we wanted,” he said of the result. “We had a lot of chances and we did well, but we weren’t able to � nish.

“I also missed some chances - a penalty and some other chances. But that’s part of football. We need to continue to believe.”

The 0-0 draw at the Parc des Princes leaves Hungary as the sur-prise Group F leaders with a game to play. Austria must win their � nal match to avoid going home.

Portugal sought the reasons for their disappointing performanc-es despite having such talented players. At the end of the match, Ronaldo made a fan who ran onto the pitch happy by allowing him to take a sel� e before the man was bundled away by security guards.l

Wilmots delighted with Belgium winn AFP, Bordeaux

Belgium coach Marc Wilmots was delighted with his side’s 3-0 vic-tory over the Republic of Ireland at Euro 2016 on Saturday as they bounced back from their opening loss to Italy.

Widely criticised after losing 2-0 to the Italians in Lyon in their Group E opener, two goals by Romelu Lukaku and one from Axel Witsel saw Belgium hit back.

“It was a totally di� erent con-text. Ireland adapted their way of playing to try to counter us, so we chose to keep the ball on the ground and develop a rhythm with lots of short passes,” Wilmots said.

“We managed to get in behind them and create spaces thanks to our technical players.”

Wilmots added: “I think the strategy was the good one but it was the players who did it and should be congratulated, but we have nothing yet, we have not quali� ed. We still have to play Swe-den. It seemed at one point that we weren’t getting the breaks but the players kept going.”

Wilmots was hopeful the inju-ry that forced mid� elder Moussa Dembele to go o� in the second half was not serious.

Belgium face Sweden in their last Group E game in Nice next Wednesday needing a point to qual-ify for the last 16 behind Italy. l

‘Wales ready to qualify for last 16’n AFP, Toulouse

Gareth Bale said Wales’ Euro 2016 fate is in their own hands as they look to qualify for the last 16 in a potentially high-risk match against Russia in Toulouse.

Real Madrid forward Bale has been inspirational in Wales’ Euro-pean Championship debut, hitting the net in a 2-1 win over Slovakia and again in the 2-1 defeat to Eng-land in Lens.

Wales lie second in Group B, one point behind leaders England but � rmly in contention for a historic place in the last 16. A win in Tou-louse, where security is set to be tight following shocking scenes of fan violence between England and Russia supporters in Marseille last week, would see Wales guarantee direct quali� cation - although even

defeat could see Wales go through as one of the four best third-placed group � nishers.

Bale, who scored trademark free kicks against Slovakia and England to sit among the tournament’s top scorers after two games, admitted defeat to England through Daniel Sturridge’s injury-time goal was hard to digest. But the 26-year-old said Wales’ “close group” of players are in high spirits and ready to keep their dream alive.

“Obviously after the (England) game we were very disappointed, especially to lose in that manner,” Bale said Saturday.

“But we have to forget about it. It’s over. Our fate is in our own hands, and if you’d given us this at the start of the tournament we would have taken it.

“We’re so excited for our last

game. Everything’s to play for, the nation’s behind us, as normal, and we will be looking forward to it. We’ll try to embrace the occasion and qualify.”

With only one point to their name, following Vasili Berezutski’s last-gasp equaliser against England, Leonid Slutsky’s embattled Russia would be forgiven for wishing their tournament was over following a crushing 2-1 defeat to Slovakia.

It has left them bottom of the table and needing to beat Wales to have any chance of adding some optimism to their campaign after what has been a controversial week for the team and its supporters.

Yet their campaign was com-pounded even before they kicked a ball in anger in Marseille, as Rus-sian ultras attacked England fans in the port city hours before kick-o� .l

GROUP FTeam P W D L GD PtsHungary 2 1 1 0 2 4Iceland 2 0 2 0 0 2Portugal 2 0 2 0 0 2

Austria 2 0 1 1 -2 1

GROUP ETeam P W D L GD PtsItaly 2 2 0 0 3 6Belgium 2 1 0 1 1 3Sweden 2 0 1 1 -1 1

Rep. Ireland 2 0 1 1 -3 1

Sport 27D

T

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

McIlroy misses US Open cutA shocking back-nine implosion sent Rory McIlroy reeling out of the US Open on Saturday, the world number three missing the cut at a major for the � rst time since the 2013 British Open. The Northern Ireland star, who won the US Open in 2011, was charging early in the second round with four birdies in his � rst seven holes.

–AFP

Osasuna promoted to La LigaPamplona club Osasuna will return to La Liga next season after two years in the second division after winning Saturday’s return leg play-o� at Girona 1-0. A Kenan Kodro goal on 48 minutes ensured victory on the night following a 2-1 � rst-leg success at home. Osasuna join Alaves and Leganes in the top � ight next season.

–AFP

Eranga banned for illegal actionHospitalised Sri Lanka paceman Shaminda Eranga has been banned from bowling in international cricket with immediate e� ect because of an illegal action, the International Cricket Council announced yesterday. The ICC’s statement came just hours after Eranga had been taken to a Dublin hospital to undergo tests on an elevated heartbeat after he fell ill during Sri Lanka’s 136-run win over Ireland in the second ODI at Malahide on Saturday.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES

DAY’S WATCHCRICKET

TEN 25:00PM

India Tour of Zimbabwe2nd T20I

FOOTBALL SONY SIX1:00AM

Euro Cup 2016Slovakia v England

SONY ESPN1:00AM

Euro Cup 2016Russia v Wales

BASKETBALL SONY SIX6:00AM

NBA season: Game 7Golden State Warriors v Cleveland

Cavaliers

SLOVAKIA ENGLAND 24 Fifa ranking 11 3 Matches 3 0 Wins 3 3 Losses 0 0 Draws 0 2 Goals scored 8 8 Goals against 2

HEAD-TO-HEAD

VGROUP B

Stade Geo� roy-Guichard, Saint Etienne, 8pm local time (1am BST)

* Bangladesh standard time

SLOVAKIA ENGLAND

England’s players attend a training session at the Bourgogne stadium in Chantilly, near Paris yesterday AFP

Hodgson mulls striker optionsn AFP, Saint-Étienne

England take on Slovakia today in the key battle for � rst place in Group B at Euro 2016 with Roy Hodgson mulling over which of his strikers to deploy.

Jamie Vardy and Daniel Stur-ridge proved their form by coming o� the bench to dig England out of trouble in their 2-1 win over Wales in Lens. England manager Hodgson has an embarrassment of riches up front, but Harry Kane, who started in the 1-1 draw against Russia and win over Wales, has struggled to make an impact in France.

Vardy’s equaliser against Wales cancelled out Gareth Bale’s thun-derbolt free-kick before Sturridge broke Welsh hearts with the late winner.

Leicester City’s Vardy says he would be content with anoth-er cameo o� the bench in Saint-Etienne having come on after the break against the Welsh.

“I’d more than happy with that. We’ll have to wait till Monday what team the boss puts out and hope-fully we can get the job done,” said Vardy.

“I think it is tough for him, but competition for places is good for the squad itself. And with the op-tions we have got available, we can use di� erent systems as well.”

Kane’s lack of form in France has been attributed to his e� orts for Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League title race. The Spurs man has played 5,092 minutes of football in the past year, compared with 3,707 for Vardy and 1,812 for Sturridge.

Kane has scored two goals in his last seven for club and country, Sturridge has three in six and Vardy has four in � ve. But Vardy is back-ing his rival to prove his form on the Euro 2016 stage.

History favours the Three Lions who have won all of their three pre-vious meetings, but Martin Skrtel’s Slovakia are eyeing an upset.

The Slovakia captain could well face his Liverpol team-mate Stur-ridge at Saint-Etienne’s Stade Geof-froy-Guichard.

One man does not make a team, but Napoli attacking mid� elder Marek Hamsik is the lynchpin in Slovakia’s attack. There is so much hype around Hamsik back home that Slovakian newspaper Novy Cas insists he is better than Portu-gal’s superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.l

Seekuge Prasanna of Sri Lanka hits a sixer o� a delivery from Ireland’s Boyd Rankin during their second ODI CRICINFO

Mathews tells Sri Lanka to up their game against Englandn AFP, Malahide

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said his side will have to be at their best to beat Eng-land in the � ve-match one-day international series which starts tomorrow.

Mathews was speaking after overseeing a 2-0 ODI series victory over Ireland in Mala-hide after the second match was won by an emphatic 136-run margin on Saturday.

Opening batsman Kusal Perera made a century to build the platform for his side’s huge total of 377 for 8.

“We still can improve a lot in all depart-ments. It was a pretty convincing victory today, but we need to be at our best to beat England,” said Mathews.

Saturday’s win was set up by dynamic top-order batting, and Mathews said: “Per-era and Danuska Gunathilaka had a brilliant opening partnership (147) and after that sol-id foundation it was a tactical decision to bring in the pinch-hitter and take the game forward.” Seekkugge Prasanna came in a three to pinch-hit in explosive style, bludg-eoning nine sixes and � ve fours to leave his previous best ODI score of 42 far behind with 95 from just 46 balls.l

2ND ODISRI LANKA 377/8 (K Perera 135, Prasanna 95,

Gunathilaka 63) beat IRELAND 241 (McBrine 79, Lakmal 4/38, Prasanna 2/32) by 136 runs

28DT Sport

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

Argentina's Lionel Messi scores a goal past Venezuela defender Oswaldo Vizcarrondo during their Copa America quarter-� nal at Gillette Stadium on Saturday AP

Messi equals Batigoal record as Argentina, Chile advancen Reuters

Argentina and Chile advanced to the semi-� nals of the Copa Amer-ica on Saturday with Chile beating Mexico 7-0 and Lionel Messi get-ting a goal in Argentina’s 4-1 win over Venezuela to equal his coun-try’s all-time scoring record.

Messi scored in the 60th minute to take his career tally for Argenti-na to 54 goals, matching the record held by Gabriel Batistuta.

“I am happy to have equalled Batistuta’s record but my head is focused on lifting the Copa Ameri-ca,” said the � ve-time World Player

of the Year.“We are doing things right, we

are growing and we need to keep down that same road.”

Argentina will now face the United States in the � rst semi-� nal tomorrow in Houston.

Reigning champions Chile joined them in the last four after a 7-0 demolition of Mexico in Santa Clara.

Ho� enheim striker Eduardo Vargas scored four goals to help them set up a semi-� nal date with Colombia on Wednesday.

Messi won the Man-of-the-Match award in an action-packed

game against underdogs Venezuela in Foxborough.

Argentina got o� to the perfect start after just seven minutes when Gonzalo Higuain dived to turn a delicate cross from Messi past goal-keeper Dani Hernandez.

The in-form Napoli striker dou-bled the lead 20 minutes later when he latched on to a slack back pass to round the goalkeeper and slot the ball into the empty net.

Salomon Rondon twice came close for Venezuela and his side should have pulled a goal back two minutes from half time after Sergio Romero brought down Josef Mar-

tinez in the box.However, the Manchester Unit-

ed goalkeeper redeemed himself when he stood � rm and Seijas’ carelessly dinked penalty sailed right into his arms.

Messi, who started for the � rst time in the tournament after three substitute appearances, put Argen-tina 3-0 ahead when he worked a lovely one-two with Nicolas Gaitan and then poked the ball under Her-nandez with his left foot.

Chile were unstoppable in the other quarter-� nal in Santa Clara as they hammered a surprisingly frag-ile Mexico.

Edson Puch got his � rst interna-tional goal after 15 minutes when he � red home after keeper Guiller-mo Ochoa could only parry a long-range shot.

Vargas got a second just be-fore half time when he was � rst to pounce on a cross ball.l

Alexander Zverev of Germany returns the ball to Roger Federer of Switzerland (unseen) during their ATP tour tennis match in Halle on Saturday AFP

Federer beaten by teenager Zverevn Reuters

Roger Federer’s bid to win a ninth Halle Open title was ended in the semi-� nal on Saturday by teenage German Alexander Zverev, who earned the biggest scalp of his � edg-ling career in beating the 17-time grand slam champion 7-6(4) 5-7 6-3.

Holder Federer, on the come-back trail after back problems, was looking to reach the � nal of his tra-ditional pre-Wimbledon tune-up in Germany for an unprecedented 11th time, but found the big-serv-ing 19-year-old home favourite too formidable.

The Swiss world number three

had not lost to a teenager for near-ly 10 years since Andy Murray beat him in Cincinnati in 2006, which highlights Zverev’s considerable potential.

Yet the defeat means the 34-year-old Federer will be going into Wimbledon, seeking his eighth title, in the rare position of not hav-ing won a tournament this season.

“I feel pretty good. It’s unbeliev-able to get a win against Roger, es-pecially on grass,” Zverev said.

He now has Halle’s second all-German � nal to look forward to yesterday against Florian Mayer, a surprise 6-3 6-4 winner over anoth-er young gun, Austrian third seed

Dominic Thiem.“It’s nice with that kind of match

going into Wimbledon and obvious-ly into the � nal here as well,” said Zverev. “Don’t forget that that � nal is a very big match for me as well.”

World number 38 Zverev, who lost to Federer in their only previ-ous meeting in May, dropped just four points on serve in the 39-min-ute opening set, blasting 14 win-ners as he took the tiebreak 7-4.

Federer earned a break of serve at 5-5 with a beautiful dropshot in the second set to restore parity but Zverev responded strongly to dethrone the reigning Halle champion.l

33 goalsSERGIO AGÜERO2006–present76 matches

34 goalsDIEGO MARADONA1977–199491 matches

35 goalsHERNÁN CRESPO1995–200764 matches

54 goalsLIONEL MESSI 2005–present 111 matches

54 goalsGABRIEL BATISTUTA1991–200278 matches

TOP GOALSCORERS FOR ARGENTINA

Mexico 0-7 Chile Puch 16, 88, Sanchez 49 Vargas 44, 52, 57, 74

Argentina 4-1 VenezuelaHiguain 8, 28, Rondon 70Messi 60, Lamela 71

RESULTS

Sport 29D

T

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

ICC draws up proposals for major ODI revampn Cricinfo

The ICC is pushing for the creation of a new ODI league for the world’s top 13 countries to give 50-over cricket new context and relevance.

Plans are well-advanced to cre-ate a new league from 2019 for 13 nations - believed to be the ten Test teams, Afghanistan, Ireland and one other Associate, with Nepal ad-vocated by some as a favoured op-tion in a debate that still has some way to run.

The league will see all countries play each other over three years, with the top two nations playing a play-o� series to determine the overall winner of the league.

It is hoped that the proposals will give ODI cricket a new context and sense of purpose, amid fears that the format � ts awkwardly be-tween Test and Twenty20 cricket, insu� ciently loved either by tradi-tionalists or newer fans.

Under the plans, each team would play a three-match series

either home or away against every other country, amounting to 36 ODIs each over a three-year ba-sis. The fourth year of each cycle would be reserved for World Cup preparation.

It is envisaged that the ODI league would progress towards a play-o� series, likely to be either three matches or � ve, to determine the overall winner, giving bilateral ODI cricket a global showpiece it has previously lacked.

The system, if adopted, would

also be used to determine auto-matic quali� cation, and seedings, for the World Cup. The side � nish-ing bottom after three years would face relegation to the World Cricket League Championship, the second tier of one-day cricket, possibly af-ter a play-o� with the winners of the World Cricket League Champi-onship.

As with the proposed reforms to Test cricket, the structure is intend-ed as a minimum schedule for each country, and they would be free to

organise extra ODIs, which would not count towards the league.

The most obvious bene� ciaries of the schedule would be Afghanistan and Ireland, who would have a guaranteed set of � xtures to develop their teams and have a more attractive set of matches to sell sponsors. While both have enjoyed an upturn in � xtures since their inclusion on the 12-team ODI rankings table, the proposed new ODI league would bolster this further.l

Downtime

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

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

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKERHow to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 17 represents B so � ll B every time the � gure 17 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CROSSWORD

ACROSS1 Horrify (5)4 Truth established (4)7 Optical illusion (6)8 Place of retreat (5)10 Small valley (4)11 Joint (5)12 Groove (3)14 Pretended (4)17 Celtic tongue (4)19 Choler (3)20 Vital organ (5)23 Cordial (4)25 Musical drama (5)26 Heckle (6)27 Sco� (4)28 Time in grammar (5)

DOWN1 Stick (6)2 So be it! (4)3 Connection (4)4 Loses colour (5)5 Mature (3)6 Wine stock (6)9 Fermentation contain-ers (4)13 Bearlike (6)15 Employ (4)16 Threaten (6)18 Tree (5)21 Electrical unit (4)22 Duelling sword (4)24 Born (3)

SUDOKU

30DT

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

31D

TMONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

Showtime

Monoshoroni to perform at Fête de la Musique 2016

Fahmida’s Eid release

X-Men: First ClassStar Movies 6:30pmIn 1962, the United States government enlists the help of Mutants with superhuman abilities to stop a malicious dictator who is determined to start World War III. Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Laurence Belcher, Bill Milner

The MatrixHBO 9:30pmA computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its

controllers. Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano

Batman ReturnsWB 11:15pmWhen a corrupt businessman and the grotesque Penguin plot to take control of Gotham City, only Batman can stop them, while the Catwoman has her own agenda.Cast: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfei� er, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough l

WHAT TO WATCH

n Showtime Desk

On the occasion of Fête de la Musique 2016, which is globally known as World Music Day, Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD) has organised musical shows at it’s La Galerie on June 21 and 22. Rock band Monoshoroni will perform on the second day followed by performances of bands comprised of young talented musicians. The day’s other attraction will be a Saxophone performance by Rahin Haider.

On the opening day, several solo and group songs presented in Bangla, English and French

language will be performed by the students and teachers of French language courses, cultural workshops (violin, guitar, piano) as well as invited musicians. The shows will be held from 1pm to 5pm on both days.

Fête de la Musique, also known as World Music Day, is a music festival that began in France in 1982. The idea was conceived by French Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, in 1981. Since then, June 21 has been celebrated every year in more than hundred countries in Europe and over the world as the World Music Day. The concept of “Fête

de la Musique” is an open air and non-stop musical performances, to help making all sorts of music accessible to the public.

It gives an opportunity to commune and share a special bond through music, and allows the expression of all styles of music in a cheerful atmosphere. The musicians are asked to perform for free, and all the concerts are free for the public.

Furthermore, the Fête de la Musique is a way to encourage the major music institutions (orchestra, operas, choirs, etc) to perform outside their usual locations. l

Bond girl enters Bollywoodn Showtime Desk

Caterina Murino is prepared for a Bollywood outing in a � lm starring Rajeev Khandelwal.

Ahead of her movie’s release, the Italian actor, over an email interview, said she is constantly curious about new experiences from around the world.

Back in 2006, she gained global fame as the “Bond girl” in Casino Royale. “No geographic barriers exist for me. When I became an actor, my dream was to discover new countries and cultures, and my career around the world is making this dream come true. I’ve already worked in the US, Canada, Argentina, Europe and China. It was one of my dreams to work in a Bollywood movie too,” said Caterina, adding a smile. She wasn’t o� ered a “traditional” Bollywood script with songs and dance sequences either.

The actor feels that

though people are aware that “Bollywood is the largest cinema industry in the world,” it’s a pity that “we can’t see a lot of Bollywood movies in theatres globally.”

“I’d love to see Hindi � lms get the same distribution as American or French movies,” she said, adding that she remembers watching “the beautiful and amazing” Jodhaa Akbar (2008).

“Who didn’t fall in love with the hero (Hrithik Roshan)? I have also seen Devdas (2002), besides the heart-breaking Salaam Bombay! (1988),” says Caterina. “I’d love to do more Hindi � lms, learn Hindi, take Indian dance lessons, and shoot in your beautiful country (India),” she added.

Would she like to do a Hindi number? “Yes, but for that, I would prefer a woman to dance along with me, like in Devdas. Aishwarya (Rai Bachchan) would be perfect for that,” she concluded. l

n Showtime Desk

The trend of releasing new albums during Eid has declined in recent years. However, Fahmida Nabi wants to keep the tradition going.

Her new album shall be released soon amidst Eid festivities.

Her new solo album Shada Kalo will express her musical dimensions to the audience once more. Shaik Shaan is the music composer of the album, which has been produced by G-Series. l

Back Page32DT

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016

‘Rampal a bad investment’n Aminur Rahman Rasel

The proposed coal-� red Rampal Power Plant in southwest Bang-ladesh would drive up electricity rates, cost far more than promoters say, and put investors at a myriad of risks, according to a report pub-lished on June 17 by the Institute for Energy Economics and Finan-cial Analysis (IEEFA).

The report, “Risky and Over-Sub-sidised: A Financial Analysis of the Rampal Power Plant,” by Jai Sharda, an IEEFA consultant, and Tim Buck-ley, IEEFA’s director of Energy Fi-nance Studies, Australia, concludes that the project should be cancelled and that Bangladesh would do bet-ter to invest in solar energy.

“The plant is fraught with unacceptable risk, out of step with the times, and would set Bangladesh back,” Sharda and Buckley said in the report, which describes how Rampal’s � nances are made up largely of public subsidies channelled through intermediaries supported by the Bangladeshi and Indian government.

“IEEFA suspects that the pro-ject is being promoted as a means to sell Indian coal to Bangladesh and as a way to skirt Indian policy against building a coal plant so near the Sundarbans, a protected forest and World Heritage Site.” l

Govt ignores Rampal concernsn Aminur Rahman Rasel

A three-hour long meeting be-tween environmentalists and acad-emicians who advocate vehement-ly against the coal-based Rampal power plant near the Sundarbans and the government o� cials yes-terday ended without any result.

The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources met with prominent environmentalists and academics at Bidyut Bhaban. State Minister Nasrul Hamid initiated the meeting.

Though they appreciated the government’s initiative for dia-logue, environmentalists and acad-emicians said the meeting ulti-mately would change neither their stance nor that of the government.

The government on the other hand said that it was considerate enough to take the suggestions of the protesters into consideration, but it remained � rm about imple-menting the project.

In November 19 last year the ministry arranged a visit for some of these environmentalists and ac-ademics to the Rampal project site

in a bid to convince them about the plant’s environment friendliness. That trip too, ended without any outcome for either side.

At the beginning of the meeting, UK Bhattacharya, Managing Direc-tor of Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL), gave a digital presentation on the power plant.

He said the coal-based 1,320 meg-awatt (MW) Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant would not cause any harm to the ecology of the Sundar-bans and its surrounding areas.

Modern Ultra Super Thermal Technology would be used in the plant and no environmentally harmful substance would be dis-charged, he said. Moreover a 275-feet long chimney would be used to emit smoke from plant. These measures would protect the Sund-arbans, said the BIFPCL MD.

He said no polluted or hot water would be discharged into the rivers.

Bhattacharya also said the plant was located at a safe distance from the Sundarbans: 69km from the area marked as UNESCO World Heritage site and 14km from the

forest’s outer boundary.After his presentation, Engr Kallol

Mustafa, a member of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Min-eral Resources, Electricity and Port placed a detailed presentation oppos-ing the presentation of BIFPCL MD.

He said because of their serious environmental impact, no country in the world permits the setting up of large coal based power plants within 25km of forests, agricultural land and residential area.

While the Environmental Im-pact Assessment (EIA) on Rampal claimed 14km was a safe distance for the plant, “the very company which will build this plant would not be able to do the same in its own country,” he said.

“The EIA guideline manual for coal-based thermal power plants prepared by the Indian environment and forest ministry clearly states that the locations of such plants cannot be within 25km of the outer periphery of any national forest.”

He asked that if India cannot im-plement the project within its own boundaries, why an Indian com-pany would be allowed to do the

same thing in Bangladesh.Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune

after the event, UK Bhattacharya said that in Bangladesh, the regu-lation said that thermal plants can-not be within 10km of forests and they were following that rule.

“Why don’t they talk about changing the regulation instead of criticising the plant?” he said.

Dr Badrul Imam, Professor of Ge-ology at Dhaka University, told the Dhaka Tribune that the three-hour meeting had failed to bear any fruit.

“The government couldn’t convince me about the harmful ef-fects of the power plant implemen-tation.”

He said that for coal-based pow-er plant implementation, more advanced technologies like Ultra Super Critical Technology and Ad-vanced Ultra Super Critical Tech-nology were available.

“Then why did the government opt for Super Critical Technology?” he asked.

Asked about this, UK Bhattacha-rya said there was very little di� er-ence between the Super Critical and Ultra Super Critical technologies.

State minister for Power Nasrul Hamid ruled out any possibility of putting the project on hold for an interim period until the questions and issues are resolved.

The national committee’s Mem-ber Secretary Anu Muhammad strongly urged the government to cancel the Rampal power plant project to save the world’s largest mangrove forest from destruction.

Convener of the National Com-mittee for protecting the Sundar-bans Advocate Sultana Kamal ecoed with the demand at the meeting.

Mohammad Hossain, the direc-tor general of Power Cell, Engineer Md Shamsul Hasan Miah, Chairman of Power Development Board and Monowar Islam, secretary of the Power Division also spoke on the meeting.

Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFP-CL), a 50-50 joint venture between Bangladesh Power Development Board and India’s National Ther-mal Power Corporation, is build-ing the 1,320MW coal-� red power plant near the Sunderbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest. l

Heavy vehicles are banned from using the 2km Moghbazar-Satrasta � yover in Dhaka due to some constructional glitches, yet buses and cargo trucks are often seen getting on the � yover. It is an everyday phenomenon, but the authorities concerned have yet to take any actions to stop it. The photo was taken in Satrasta, Tejgaon yesterday RAJIB DHAR

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