21 April, 2015

Mayoral hopefuls meet Dhaka, unveil visions

PAGE 5No progress in Boishakh assault probe

PAGE 6Mass resignation at SUST

PAGE 10EU has no more excuses on migrants

PAGE 4Bangladeshi woman found dead in India

PM: KHALEDA STAGING DRAMA PAGE 2

HC: WHY NOT PARTISAN LOCAL POLLS PAGE 3

DU PROCTOR REFUSES TO RESIGN PAGE 5

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015 | Boishakh 8, 1422, Rajab 2, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 10 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

SECOND EDITION

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia quickly takes shelter inside her vehicle as her motorcade comes under attack while on the campaign trail for Tabith Awal in Karwan Bazar in the capital yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

Khaleda’s motorcade attackedn Kamrul Hasan

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s motorcade came under attack in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar yesterday when she was campaigning for the upcoming city polls. Khaleda got away unhurt but several members of her entourage were injured.

According to witnesses, she was speaking at a rally standing at the door of her car near the Karwan Bazar kitchen market around 6pm, seeking votes for BNP-backed mayoral candidate for Dhaka north Tabith M Awal.

At the same time, a group of people were holding a black � ag rally near the gate of the kitchen market behind Khaleda’s car. At one point, someone hurled a watermelon rind at her car. The miscreants � ed the spot after Khaleda’s security personnel chased them.

In the meantime, another group of cam-paigners of the ruling Awami League had just � nished an election meeting near the kitch-en market. The meeting was in favour of the ruling party backed mayoral candidate Anni-sul Huq and local ward councillor candidate whose symbol is a pumpkin.

Those who � ed the spot after being chased PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

BNP calls hartal tomorrow outside Dhaka, Chittagongn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP will stage countrywide demon-strations today and enforce a dawn-to-dusk shutdown tomorrow in protest of the attack on party chief Khaleda Zia’s motorcade while electioneering.

Dhaka and Chittagong cities, where cam-paigns for city corporations polls are in full swing, will remain outside of the purview of the hartal.

The BNP, major rival of the ruling Awami League, alleged that the attack on Khaleda’s motorcade was pre-planned.

The party said men from the ruling party’s student wing, the Chhatra League, participat-ed in the attack with assistance from police.

“The attack was carried out in a planned way to kill Khaleda Zia,” BNP standing com-mittee member Moudud Ahmed told a press conference at the party o� ce in the city’s Nayapaltan.

Announcing hartal for Wednesday, he said it, however, would not be applicable for Dha-ka and Chittagong cities as the corporations are set to hold elections on April 28.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Rickshaw van driver Suddenly I found many cars with broken glasses driving away from the area and a few hundred

people chasing them, hitting them with sticks, big hammers and iron rods. Police were present, but did nothing.

Sugar cane trader They attacked the motorcade from behind. After seeing the horri� c scene, I ran away

from the spot and took shelter in the city corporation building. As the cars sped towards Moghbazar, the attackers came back to the area with a procession.

One of the guards of Palli Bhaban Khaleda Zia was delivering a

speech seeking votes. All of a sudden, some people attacked them and hurled bricks and

hit the cars. They vandalised some 10 vehicles parked beside the road and created a horri� c scene. The whole incident took place within just 10 minutes. The attackers also brought out a procession chanting slogans.

Pickup van helper Some cars were going fast and some people were hurling bricks at them. After a while, some 50 to 70 people started chasing

them and striking the motorcade with sticks and iron rods.

Tea stall owner Some people, who were campaigning for a ward councillor aspirant of ward no 26

contesting with pumpkin symbol and mayoral candidate Annisul Huq contesting with clock symbol, vandalised almost all the cars in the motorcade and brought out a procession.

WHAT WITNESSES SAY

Khaleda’s motorcade attackedby Chairperson’s Security Force (CSF), joined the second group. They soon organised them-selves into a mob of 50-60 people and re-turned where Khaleda was speaking.

Before she could � nish her speech, they attacked the BNP chief’s motorcade from be-hind, hurling bricks and coconut shells at her car damaging a window.

The former prime minister, however, man-aged to get inside the car in time, unhurt. But a party spokesperson said � ve to seven of her security personnel were injured because they were trying to cover the window that Khaleda was sitting next to.

The motorcade tried to � ee the area to avoid the attack but could not, because of tra� c. In the few minutes that they had to remain static, the attackers, most of whom had sticks and steel pipes, pounced on the ve-hicles. As the cars tried to make way through tra� c, some people were hurling bricks and coconut shells at Khaleda’s car from near the entrance of the Palli Bhaban.

When tra� c eased, the motorcade sped towards Moghbazar via FDC, but in the mean-time all their vehicles were vandalised. The attackers chased them as far as the � sh market before the rail crossing. They also vandalised several other vehicles in the area.

The attackers then got organised into a pro-cession as they were coming back to Karwan Bazar chanting slogans. Witnesses claimed they could not make out what the slogans were.

However, several media outlets reported that the attackers were chanting: “The soil of Karwan Bazar is the stronghold of Chhatra League [ruling party’s student body].”

There were several policemen in the area during the 10-minute incident, but witnesses said they did not do anything.

This reporter spoke to several policemen. A sub-inspector said there was a duty change-over after the incident and he did not know what had happened.

Mazharul Islam, o� cer-in-charge of the Tejgaon police station, said that when Khale-da Zia went to Karwan Bazar, local business-men brought out a black-� ag procession pro-testing the losses they had su� ered in the BNP-enforced hartals and blockade. “Soon there was a misunderstanding between the protesters and Khaleda’s entourage, sparking a skirmish.”

Asked if anyone was detained or any case was � led in connection, the Tejgaon OC re-plied in the negative.

Junior minister’s versionWhen contacted last night, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal claimed that Khaleda Zia’s companions instigated the attack and held her personal security force re-sponsible.

“I visited the spot, talked to the business-men, witnesses and police o� cials in Karwan Bazar. The businessmen were angry with her because a large number of buses and trucks were damaged in the area during the BNP-en-forced hartals. That was why they were show-ing her black � ags.

“Seeing these, a CSF member got hold of one of the protesters and started beating him up. When the other local businessmen saw this, they tried to stop the CSF man. That trig-gered the unwanted situation,” Kamal told the Dhaka Tribune last night.

The junior minister also claimed that the CSF men used � rearms and beat up at least seven local Awami League leaders, injuring them badly. “Some of them have lost � ngers and others had broken legs...We will continue

to keep you updated after investigating the in-cident. But if the injured Awami League lead-ers want, then they can take legal action.”

Gulshan security dramaEarlier on the day, Khaleda’s Press Secretary Shairul Kabir Khan claimed that the police personnel de-ployed near her Gulshan res-idence had been withdrawn for no apparent reason.

When contacted, SM Ja-hangir Alam Sarker, a deputy commissioner of police, said: “According to protocol, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is not entitled to get police pro-tection. But as she is a former three-time prime minister and the chief of one of the biggest political parties of the coun-try, we gave her protection based on intelligence report.”

Asked why the policemen were withdrawn, he said: “Khaleda Zia did not get any police protection during cam-paigning because she or her

party never sought protection from us.”Yesterday was Khaleda’s third day of elec-

tioneering in favour of the BNP-backed can-didates. On Sunday, she faced protests when she went to Uttara to campaign for Tabith. l

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

PM: Khaleda staging draman Abu Hayat Mahmud

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has started stag-ing a drama before the people of the country as the Dhaka and Chittagong city polls ap-proach, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said yesterday.

Speaking at a party meeting on the re-elec-tion at Magura-1 constituency in Gonobhaban last night, Hasina, also president of the Awa-mi League, said: “Khaleda is the mastermind behind all those attacks that killed so many people. How is she going to people to seek votes when she has innocent blood on her hands?”

She urged Khaleda to stop such drama and work to ensure a level-playing � eld for all can-didates.

The premier also criticised BNP’s nationwide dawn-to-dusk hartal tomorrow

in protest of the attack on Khaleda’s motorcade at Karwan Bazar in Dhaka. “Her security personnel opened � re without any reason.”

Sources at the meeting said Awami League leaders discussed the country’s current situ-ation, the upcoming city polls of Dhaka and Chittagong, and issues of the next parliament session.

Sources at the 14-party alliance said the alliance leaders would held a meeting at Hasi-na’s political o� ce in Dhanmondi, Dhaka to-morrow, where the likely topics of discussion are programmes to resist BNP’s nationwide hartal and Khaleda Zia’s moves for city polls campaign.

Earlier, the ruling party had decided re-stricting the BNP chief so that she could not take part in the campaign of the BNP-backed mayoral candidates. l

Bangladeshi businessmen under attack in South African Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The Bangladesh government has requested Bangladeshi businessmen in South Africa to not open their establishments until the situ-ation normalises.

“We came to know that four or � ve shops owned by Bangladeshi citizens and some Bangladeshis were attacked in South Africa,” State Minister for Foreign A� airs Md Shahriar Alam said at a press conference Monday.

“We instructed the Bangladesh mission in South Africa to open a 24-hour hotline today where any victim can report their damages,” he said. Domestic politics in South Africa turned volatile when a section of the political force

started hate a campaign against foreigners.“South African President Jacob Zuma has

already appealed to his citizens to restrain themselves and show a friendly attitude to-wards foreigners,” the state minister said.

The junior minister said it is not correct the African country is deporting Bangladeshis from there.

“Our mission is in constant touch with the South African government, and they assured us they would look after the well-being of Bangladeshi citizens residing there,” he said.

Over 50,000 Bangladeshis are currently residing in South Africa but unlike any other country, they are mostly businessmen run-ning small shops there. l

BNP calls hartalImmediate after the announcement of the countrywide shutdown, some unidenti� ed people exploded crude bombs in the area.

Meanwhile, police were withdrawn from in front of Khaleda’s residence at Gulshan yesterday.

Maudud raised questions against with-drawal of police members deployed for secu-rity of the residence of former prime minister.

He also criticised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her “provocative statement” and said police withdrawal proved the attack was planned beforehand.

“The government has chosen the path of fascism realising its defeat in the upcoming city polls. Do not compel us to think of alter-native programmes by conducting terrorist activities against us,” he said.

When asked about “alternative pro-grammes,” the party’s senior leader said: “Everything will be told in due time.” Moudud reiterated that his party would not backtrack from the elections even after the attack. l

Unruly youths swoop on the motorcade of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at Karwan Bazar yesterday when she was campaigning for her party-backed city mayor candidate Tabith Awal MEHEDI HASAN

NEWS2DT

NEWS 3D

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Annisul reveals report on Dhaka North’s su� eringsn Munir Momtaj

Awami League-backed mayoral candidate Annisul Huq yesterday unveiled a survey report on the city resident’s su� erings, pointing out the biggest problems plaguing the country’s capital and discussing ways to solve them.

According to the report, residents of the Dhaka North City Corporation mentioned mosquitoes, road conditions, house rent, lack of su� cient drainage system and manholes, and drugs – as the main problems they faced everyday.

Annisul, who is running for the mayor’s o� ce in the northern part of Dhaka, spoke about the survey report and the urban issues at a press conference in Banani’s spectra Con-vention Centre.

The survey also found that unhygienic en-vironment, unemployment, water stagnation, lack of drinking water, lack of public toilets, robbery, solid waste, formalin menace, cor-ruption, gas shortage, footpath, playground, water supply and standard public transports were some of the other major complaints of the DNCC residents.

Annisul Huq promised to solve all these problems if he was elected as the new DNCC mayor.

The survey was done by Integrated Research and Consulting Limited (IRC),who randomly selected and interviewed 76,735 people from all walks of life in the DNCC area.

Annisul said he wanted to make a modern

Dhaka based on the philosophy of his slogan “Ebar Samadhan Jatra,” which means the quest for solution.

Asked about alleged attacks on BNP-backed candidate Tabith Awal’s campaign, the former FBCCI president said if such at-tacks had really taken place, then it must be stopped; or else, the claims might also have been a publicity stunt, he added. l


Abbas promises to solve Dhaka’s troublesn Adil Sakhawat

BNP-backed mayoral candidate Mirza Abbas has promised to provide a safe and clean Dha-ka if he is elected as mayor of the Dhaka South City Corporation.

The BNP leader’s wife Afroza Abbas an-nounced a 10-point election manifesto on behalf of Abbas in a press conference in the capital’s National Press Club.

In his manifesto, Abbas pledged of bringing the city corporation’s tax rates down from the existing 27% and making them a� ordable for all.

To make Dhaka a liveable and safe city, Ab-bas promised of taking separate 180-day pro-jects to identify and solve the city’s problems one by one.

To reduce the city’s tra� c jam, Abbas promised to build enough footbridges, foot-path and underpasses, deploy ward-based community police and remove and rehabili-tate footpath-occupying hawkers.

Providing pure drinking water to the Dhaka residents and overcoming the city’s water stag-nation and drainage troubles were also included in his electoral pledge. He also mentioned that digging roads during rainy season would be stopped if he was elected to the mayor’s o� ce.

As a solution to reducing the electricity crisis, Abbas further promised to build power supply stations under the city corporation.

Abbas, who served as Dhaka’s mayor from 1991 to 1993, pledged of making a Digital Dha-

ka by introducing free WiFi in public places and arranging online tax payment. He also mentioned that every road of the city would be brought under CCTV surveillance.

Abbas promised garment workers of build-ing dormitory and hospitals near their facto-ries. The manifesto also emphasised on reha-bilitating the poor people and street children.

For developing the standard of living for slum people, Abbas promised of arranging

free medical treatment and primary educa-tion for them; farmers’ markets would also be set up for helping marginal farmers.

The manifesto also said the central jail would be shifted to Keraniganj, while its cur-rent location in Old Dhaka would be used for building an entertainment centre. Pollution of the Buriganga River would also be solved, and a walkway constructed on its riverbank, the candidate promised.

He also pledged of shifting the city’s chem-ical industries away from residential areas and uprooting the city’s drug problem.

To make Dhaka a clean city, he promised a� orestation in the parks and open spaces, and building a sanitary land� ll for a mod-ern waste management system. For this, he promised of taking steps to collect waste from door-to-door and removing all city waste be-tween 12am and 5am.

Mirza Abbas could not be present in the pro-gramme yesterday as the court had not yet pro-vided him with bail, said BNP Standing Com-mittee member Brig Gen (Retd) Hannan Shah.

Afroza Abbas, who read out the manifesto instead, said: “When I campaign on behalf of Abbas, law enforcers and the ruling party activists harass and threaten us continuous-ly. So I request the voters of Dhaka South to save my honour as I am the wife of your son [Abbas].” l

Khokon: City pollsas important asmid-term national electionsn Abu Hayat Mahmud

Awami League-backed mayoral candidateof Dhaka South City Corporation Sayeed Khokon has said the upcoming city corpora-tion polls are as important as mid-term na-tional polls.

“The upcoming city polls carry the same value as mid-term polls. So there are no chances of failure here,” he said at a discus-sion held by Sahasra Nagarik Committee, a platform of pro-Awami League professionals, at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh in the capital yesterday.

Yesterday was a busy day for Khokon; he joined a debate with other mayoral candi-dates, organised by the Dhaka Tribune at Kris-hibid Institute in Dhaka in the evening.

Earlier, he attended a round table organ-ised by the Prothom Alo at Karwan Bazar. Be-sides, he attended several other discussions and meetings yesterday.

Addressing these programmes, Khokon, also son of Mohammad Hanif, the � rst mayor of Dhaka city, said the city polls were a � ght between pro- and anti-Liberation War forces.

“The BNP-Jamaat alliance is trying to foil the polls; BNP chief Khaleda Zia is campaign-ing for criminals and terrorists who were accused of subversive activities recently,”he said.

Talking about his pledges, he said if he won the polls, he would organise a dialogue among various professionals, urban experts and the city corporation’s public representatives. l

HC: Why not party symbols, identitiesin local polls? n Ashif Islam Shaon

The High Court yesterday in a ruling asked the Election Commission to explain why it would not be ordered to assign party symbols or use identities in local government elections such as city corporations.

The court also ordered to explain why the electoral rules that restrict assigning party symbols or using party identities in local gov-ernment polls should not be declared uncon-stitutional.

The bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman is-sued the ruling in response to a writ petition � led challenging the legality of the four elec-toral rules that impose the restrictions.

“The court asked the Election Commis-sion, local government secretaries and the Law Ministry to come up with explanations within two weeks,” the petitioner’s counsel, Uzzal Hossain, told reporters.

Muhammad Aminur Rahman, head of Bangladesh Sangskritik Muktijote, a regis-tered political party, � led the writ petition on Sunday.

In the petition, he challenged the legality of the relevant provisions of the City Cor-poration (election conduct) Rules 2010, Un-ion Parishad (election conduct) Rules 2010, Pourashava (election conduct) Rules 2010 and Upazila (election conduct) Rules 2013.

“Assigning and using party symbols and identities in local body elections are prohib-ited in the provisions, but it is against the people’s fundamental rights to freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution,” Aminur said in the petition. l

Afroza Abbas, wife of mayoral candidate of Dhaka South City Corporation Mirza Abbas, declares the electoral manifestation on her husband’s behalf at Jatiya Press Club in the capital yesterday

l Reducing city taxesl 180-day projects to solve city’s problemsl Power station under DSCCl Door-to-door waste collectionl Free WiFi in public placesl Free healthcare and primary education for

slum residents

Abbas’ mayoral pledges

Annisul Huq speaks at a press conference unveiling a survey report on the problems and expectations of 36 wards under the DNCC. The photo was taken in the capital’s Gulshan area yesterday

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

NEWS4DTTUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

One more BNP-backed councillor arrestedn Tribune Report

Another BNP-backed councillor candidate was arrested yesterday from the capital’s Haz-aribagh area.

This is the third BNP-backed candidate ar-rested in the capital since the campaign of the city corporation polls began.

“Police arrested Osman Gani who is better known as Shahjahan, councillor candidate of Ward 34 of Dhaka North City Corporation from Modhu Bazar of Hazaribagh around 3pm on charges of subversive activities,” said SM Jahangir Alam Sarker, acting DMP deputy commissioner for media and public relations.

Kazi Mainul Islam, the OC of Hazaribagh po-lice station claimed that Shahjahan - the pres-ident of Ward 47 Juba Dal - was an absconding accused in an explosive case � led in 2013.

On Saturday, Kazi Hasibul Islam Shakil, councillor candidate of Ward 13 of DSCC, was arrested by Paltan police. And on April 16, ALM Kawser Ahmed was arrested from Mirpur.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibud-din Ahmad earlier directed law enforcers not to harass candidates without reason. l

Charge sheet against Gazipur mayor sent to courtn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Charge sheet in a vandalising case against Gazi-pur City Corporation (GCC) mayor and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s adviser, MA Mannan, was submitted to a Gazipur court yesterday.

O� cer in-Charge (OC) of Joydebpur police station Khandkar Rezaul Hasan Reza said the charge sheet no 369 had been signed by him on April 15 and was then sent to the o� ce of the Superintendent of Police, who had for-

warded it to Gazipur Judges’ court. On December 27 last year, a case was � led

against mayor MA Mannan and 29 other BNP leaders and activists for vandalising vehicles on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway during a hartal centring Khaleda Zia’s Gazipur rally.

The charge sheet of this case was submit-ted after proper investigation, said the OC.

The OC further added that the court would soon begin hearing the case and if MA Man-nan is found guilty he could be stripped of his

mayoral post. According to the local government regu-

lation, if any elected public representative is convicted for any criminal o� ence or becomes physically incapable or stays absent from three consecutive council meetings, he or she may be suspended on a temporary basis.

MA Mannan, who is currently at Kashim-pur jail, was picked up by law enforcers on February 11 from his DOHS Baridhara resi-dence in the capital on another arson case. l

No decision yet on army deploymentn Tribune Report

The Election Commission has yet to come to a decision about army deployment for the up-coming city corporation polls, EC Secretary Sirajul Islam said yesterday.

In a press brie� ng at the EC media centre, he said: “We are still thinking about it, and will come to a � nal decision within a day or two.”

Speaking of re-election at Magura 1 constit-uency, the EC secretary said it will be held on May 30. Deadline for nomination submission is on April 30, candidacy withdrawal is on May 1, and scrutiny is on May 4, he added. l

War crimes verdict against Hasan Ali any dayn Ashif Islam Shaon

The International Crimes Tribunal is set to de-liver its verdict any day in the war crimes case against Syed Hasan Ali, an alleged razakar commander from Kishoreganj.

After concluding hearing arguments yester-day, the International Crimes Tribunal 1 led by its chairman Justice M Enayetur Rahim kept the case CAV (Curia Advisari Vult), meaning the verdict could be delivered any day.

The 65-year-old absconding Hasan Ali faces six charges of crimes against humanity commit-ted in Kishoreganj during the Liberation War.

According to the prosecution, Hasan Ali was the commander of the Tarail unit of the razakar forces and was involved with Nezam-e-Islami, an anti-liberation organisation; however, he is not active in politics any more.

On November 11 last year, the tribunal charged Hasan Ali with torching and looting seven houses of one Hasan Ahmed of Sachail

village; complicity in killing one Tofazzal, ab-duction of two other people and burning of two houses in Konabhawal village; and in-volvement in killing 12 persons and torching 10 houses in Shimulhati village.

He was also charged with killing eight peo-ple and abducting 10 others in Borgaon village; abduction and murder of two and looting one of their houses in Araiura village; and having links to the killing of Rashid Ali Bepari and torching 100 houses in Sachail village. l

Bangladeshi woman found dead in Indian Our Correspondent, Jessore

A Bangladeshi woman’s body was recovered from a train station in India and handed over to her family via the immigration police in Bangladesh yesterday.

Aslam Khan, o� cer-in-charge of immi-gration at Benapole checkpost, said Indian Petrapol immigration police handed the body of Nargis, 32, over to Bangladesh immigration police around 9am, who later handed the body over to her family.

The victim’s family alleged that she was abducted, raped and killed. However, police said they had yet to � nd any de� nitive proof as to how she died.

Nargis, mother of one, was from Sonadan-ga area in Khulna. Her mother Manimala and aunt Rahela Begum said she used to run her household by working as a domestic help.

According to Manimala, Nargis took her mother, who is blind, and her daughter Kako-li to India on March 9 for her mother’s treat-ment. They went to Kolkata through the Be-

napole checkpost, and from there they took a New Delhi-bound train.

In the train, Nargis asked a few young men to let her know when they arrived in Delhi. Around 3:30am, those men told them they had reached the station in Delhi, and the trio got o� the train.

“Soon after we got o� , those men abduct-ed my daughter. I am blind, I could not see what was happening. All I could hear was my daughter’s screams. The train left after a while. I kept crying and asking for help.

“We spent a few days waiting for my daugh-ter to come back at the station, which we later learnt was in Kanpur. When she did not return, I took my granddaughter and came back to Bangladesh March 16 – illegally because Nargis had all our passports,” Manimala said.

On March 19, Sonadanga police contacted the family and informed her that Indian po-lice had found Nargis’s body in a train station.

The body arrived near Benapole border on Sunday morning, from where the family was informed to collect the body. l

The lea� ets show that the city corporation election campaign is going on full swing. The photo was snapped at Begumbazar in the capital yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Yunus among top � nance pioneers of all timen Tribune Desk

A list of the 50 leading business pioneers of all time, compiled by the UK’s Financial Times, has named Muhammad Yunus as a pioneer in the business of � nance.

Although he did not invent micro� nance, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus’ name has become synonymous with it following inter-national recognition of Grameen Bank, which he founded, James Mackintosh writes.

His advocacy for small loans to the poor – and for social business – has spread around the world.

Small loans made in 1976, mostly to wom-

en to help them avoid loan sharks, became the basis for Grameen Bank, a microcredit lender which in 2013 made seven million loans total-ling $1.6bn, Mackintosh writes.

The Grameen Bank model has been export-ed to many countries, including the US, and garnered a joint Nobel prize for Yunus and the bank in 2006 – for peace, not economics.

But micro� nance has faced criticism, in-cluding that interest rates are often usurious and that it misallocates � nance while doing little to alleviate poverty, Mackintosh points out.

Grameen Bank came under criticism, with Sheikh Hasina Wajed, Bangladesh’s prime

minister, accusing it of “sucking blood from the poor,” according to the article published on ft.com on March 31.

The other � ve pioneers in the business of � nance are the winningest investor in history Warren Bu� ett, the founder of Bank of America Amadeo Giannini, top fund manager Henry Kravis who famously bought out RJR Nabisco in the biggest Wall Street takeover of the time, legendary banker and architect of the modern � nancial service industry John Pierpont Morgan and the founder of the most storied and arguably wealthiest banking family of all time Mayer Amschel Rothschild. l

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POHELA BOISHAKH ASSAULT

Proctor refuses to step down as protests continue at DUn Arif Ahmed

Amid continuous protests and demands for his resignation, Dhaka University Proctor Pro-fessor Amzad Ali yesterday denied the allega-tions of negligence in discharging his duties and refused to step down.

“Why should I resign? I have proof that I had not shown any negligence to the situ-ation,” the proctor said while talking to the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.

“I have done whatever I could. When I was informed, I called the police and gave them directives.”

The proctor further added that he had col-lected the call list from his mobile phone oper-ator and could produce it to prove his actions.

“There is no question of resigning,” he said. Meanwhile, speakers at a human chain of

Bangladesh Students’ Union reiterated their demand for the proctor’s resignation.

Holding the university proctor responsi-ble, the organisation’s President Hasan Tarek alleged that the university administration was trying to divert the incident to a di� erent di-rection.

“We will also submit a memorandum to the home ministry on Tuesday,” Tarek said.

The human chain that stretched from Opo-rajeyo Bangla to Curzon Hall also demanded to bring the Pohela Boishakh sex o� enders to justice immediately.

General students from various depart-

ments of the university, student and cultural organisations also participated in the human chain.

Jamshed Anwar, general secretary of Udi-chi Shilpi Goshthi, said: “The state cannot avoid the responsibility of the incidents. The real culprits should be identi� ed and brought to book without any delay.”

Expressing solidarity with the protesters, professor Gitiara Nasreen, former chairperson of DU Mass Communication and Journalism Department blamed the culture of impunity for such crimes.

After the human chain, the students gath-ered at Raju Memorial Sculpture and brought out a procession.

Dhaka University Teachers’ Association (Duta) also staged a separate human chain in front of Oporajeyo Bangla at the same time.

Teachers of the association said those who were behind the bomb attacks on Ramna Bat-amul and Udichi Shilpi Goshthi’s programme, were also involved in the sexual assault dur-ing Pohela Boishakh celebrations.

Duta secretary general professor ASM Mak-sud Kamal said: “The fundamentalist forces wanted to destroy our culture and heritage by attacking our women.”

About 250 teachers of various departments of the university participated in the hour-long human chain that began at 11am.

The speakers vowed to resist such attacks by raising mass protest and awareness. l


NHRC chief: Police making callous remarks to dodge responsibilityn Kamrul Hasan

Callous remarks by the police are a way of evad-ing responsibility for the sexual assaults that marred the Pohela Boishakh celebrations at Dhaka University, chairman of the National Hu-man Rights Commission (NHRC) said yesterday.

Mizanur Rahman, the NHRC chairman, made the remarks at a press brie� ng at the NHRC o� ce in the capital’s Moghbazar area. He said a culture of impunity, patriarchal mind-sets and religious fanaticism were be-hind the harassment.

The NHRC boss said footage from CCTV camera number 16 had captured images of sexual harassment, but said the police were not publicising it and were trying to avoid re-sponsibility for the incident.

Human rights activists said the police had been indi� erent during the incident and failed to respond properly to the assaults.

“Some of the alleged assaulters were held and handed over to policemen, but the police, ir-responsibly, released them later,” Mizanur said.

He urged the DU authorities to form an inde-pendent probe body to investigate the incidents and to publicise the probe report.

Referring to a police comment that the as-sault victims had not been disrobed, the NHRC chief said even a gaze or words may constitute sexual harassment. “These sorts of statements are not to be expected from the police.”

Calling the assaults pre-planned, he criticised the DU proctor and expressed regret for the as-saults during the Bangla New Year celebrations.

NHRC member and women’s rights activist Mahfuza Khanam blamed police for trying to make a distinction between forcibly stripping a victim and other forms of sexual assault.

She slammed the description of the in-cident as merely a scu� e, saying such com-ments were unacceptable.

Several people said vuvuzelas should be banned during such celebrations. Harassers honked the noisy instruments to mu� e their victims’ screams.

While crowds of people in their thousands were celebrating Pohela Boishakh, gangs of un-ruly men swooped in and sexually harassed � ve to seven women at the Suhrawardy Udyan gate and other parts of the Dhaka University campus.

Chhatra Union DU unit President Liton Nandi received severe injuries while trying to rescue a woman near the TSC. l

No progress yet in Pohela Boishakh sexual assault proben Mohammad Jamil Khan

The mobile phone number police published recently for witnesses to contact regarding information on women’s sexual assault on Pohela Boishakh was found switched o� yes-terday with the police still claiming that no major attack took place.

The Dhaka Tribune yesterday tried to contact the chief and other members of theinvestigation team several times, but theyneither received the calls nor replied the text messages.

Asked about the unavailability of the phone number, Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s acting deputy commissioner for media and public relations SM Jahangir Alam Sarker said they had also provided an email address and a website link and people could � le information through those means.

The probe team comprising Additional Commissioner (crime and operation) Ibra-him Fatemi, Joint Commissioner (logis-tics) Belal Uddin and Detective Branch’s Deputy Commissioner Jahangir Matubbar made no progress as of yesterday into theinvestigation into the sexual assault at the

TSC and Suhrawardy Udyan on Pohela Boishakh.

The police still stick to their stand that no incident of major sexual assault hadtaken place in those areas except for some scu� es.

Ramna division’s Additional DeputyCommissioner Ibrahim Khan, who is super-vising the investigation, said they were try-ing to identify the thugs who had caused the scu� es.

He, however, said they had yet to � nd any breakthrough from the CCTV camerafootage.

“We are still scrutinising the footage,” he added.

Meanwhile, human rights activists and protestors alleged that the police had released partial CCTV camera footage.

Liton Nandi, president of Bangladesh Chhatra Union’s Dhaka University unit who had rescued a woman on that day,said there were CCTV cameras at the south-east corner of the Raju Sculpture whereincidents of stripping o� women had taken place, but the police had not disclosed the footage. l

People place their hand prints on a large banner at the TSC intersection yesterday during Chhatra Union’s protest against the sexual assaults on Pohela Boishakh SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN


HC: Search 6 more months for Salahuddin n Ashif Islam Shaon

The High Court yesterday asked law enforcers to contin-ue their search for BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed for the next six months and submit regular progress reports to the Home Ministry during this time.

The bench of Justice Quam-rul Islam Siddique and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore made the ruling, also disposing a pe-tition � led by Salahuddin’s wife Hasina Ahmed on March 12 that requested that the BNP leader be located within 24 hours.

The BNP leader’s family alleges that Salahuddin was picked up by detectives from an Uttara house on the night of March 10, but no law en-forcement agency have so far

claimed responsibility.Yesterday, the court again

heard arguments on Hasina’s petition before delivering its or-der. Khandaker Mahbub Hossain represented the petitioner while Deputy Attorney General Bashir Ullah represented the state.

During the hearing, Bashir informed the court that the gov-ernment has already formed a three-member committee headed by the CID joint com-missioner to probe whether the BNP leader has been abducted.

“The court has instructed to continue the search with due importance. The police have to � le a report on the matter every month for the next six months to the home secretary,” the deputy attorney general told re-porters after the court order. l

35 SUST teachers resign from administrative posts n Our Correspondent,

Sylhet

A total of 35 teachers of Shah-jalal University of Science and Technology yesterday stepped down from 37 admin-istrative posts demanding the vice-chancellor’s resignation.

Dr Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, famed author and director of the Institute of Information Tech-nology, was among the 35 who handed in resignations to the registrar, Md Ishfaqul Hussain.

The acting proctor, Md Am-dadul Haque, said the resigna-tions were tendered around 11am; the registrar was not available for comment.

Prof Mostabur Rahman, co-convener of Mohan Muk-tijuddher Chetonai Udbud-dho Shikkhok Forum, told reporters that they all had

voiced non-con� dence in the vice-chancellor, Dr Md Aminul Haque Bhuyan.

On April 13, 19 teachers got into a row with the vice-chan-cellor after they went to his o� ce to discuss how to re-solve problems related to the academic building’s space. Zafar Iqbal’s wife, Dr Yasmeen Haque, was among the 19.

Physics department head Prof Dr Syed Badiuzzaman Faruque and geography de-partment head Prof Dr Sharif Md Sharafuddin resigned in the wake of the altercation.

Mohan Muktijuddher Chet-onai Udbuddho Shikkhok Fo-rum members held a meeting on Wednesday land said they would step down from ad-ministrative posts unless the vice-chancellor resigned by 5pm on Sunday. l

Bangladeshi rescued from Mediterranean sean Adil Sakhawat

A Bangladeshi national has reportedly been rescued from the boat which capsized o� the Libyan coast on April 19.

As many as 700 migrants were feared dead in the incident.

When contacted, Bangla-desh Ambassador in Rome Md Shahadat Hossain said: “Our embassy o� cials have reached the hospital in Catania where the man is undergoing treat-ment. They are trying to learn his identity. We will disclose

his identity and physical con-dition as soon as possible.”

Later in the evening the of-� cial again informed: “An hon-orary consul general of Bangla-desh in Sicily is looking into the matter. Still he cannot talk to the Bangladeshi survivor as the man is being kept in isolation to be observed for treatment.

“By tomorrow [Tuesday] maybe we can talk to him and learn his identity. But our o� -cial has con� rmed the man is in good physical condition,” Shahadat said. l

NEWS 7D

TTUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

WEATHER

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:22PM SUN RISES 5:31AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW35.8ºC 20.0ºCMongla Sylhet

TUESDAY, APRIL 21

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 32 26Chittagong 33 26Rajshahi 36 26Rangpur 29 22Khulna 35 26Barisal 34 26Sylhet 28 22Cox’s Bazar 32 27

PRAYER TIMESFajr 4:13am

Sunrise 5:32am

Zohr 11:57am

Asr 4:31pm

Magrib 6:22pm

Esha 7:42pm

DRY WEATHER

One held with LG, yaba pillsn CU Correspondent

Police arrested a person with � rearms, am-munition, and yaba pills from Amirabad un-der Lohagara upazila in Chittagong yesterday morning.

The arrestee is Mohammed Didar, 35, son of Ahmed Hosen of Dorjipara in Amirabad, said Lohagara police station’s O� cer-in-Charge (OC) Md Shahjahan.

Police recovered a homemade LG, two car-tridge rounds, and 150 yaba tablets from his possession, added the OC.

Following a tipo� , police raided Didar’s house at Dorjipara at around 5am and arrest-ed him, the OC also said.

He was an accused in 10 cases � led with Lohagara police station in connection with di� erent charges, the OC added. l

Manjur, Nasir continuerally of blamesn Tribune Report

Outgoing Chittagong Mayor and the BNP sup-ported candidate M Manjur Alam and his ma-jor rival, and Awami League supported candi-date AJM Nasir Uddin went head-to-head in a rally of blames, akin to a high level tennis match, as they sped-up their campaigns for the impending city corporation elections.

Nasir labeled Manjur “a failed Mayor” una-ble to mitigate the major municipal challeng-es of Chittagong: “Though the government provided enough funds, Manjur failed to re-solve the water logging problem in the city which causes immense su� erings to the city dwellers during monsoon.”

He also blamed Manjur for banning electric rickshaws across Chittagong, and for failing to manage the garbage disposal of the city.

Manjur volleyd back, blaming his major rival and other Awami League leaders for spreading “propaganda” against him even though he put his best foot forward as mayor given the inade-quate resources he was allowed at his disposal. Manjur said electric rickshaws were declared illegal by the high court, the Chittagong Met-ropolitan Police only implemented the court order. Hence, he had nothing to do with the vehicles being taken o� the streets.

Both candidates begged for votes, promis-ing to take care of the city’s major problems when elected to the position. l

Three robbers arrestedn Our Correspondent, Chittagong

Police have arrested three robbers of a 10-member gang that allegedly is culpable for more that 100 muggings, mainly in Dhaka and Chittagong, in the last 12 months alone.

The arrestees are Khaled Hossain alias Ma-jor Khaled alias Sub Inspector Mahid, 30, from Banshkhali upazila in Chittagong, Ali Hos-sain, 35, a CNG driver from Cox’s Bazar, and Jamal Hossain, 40, from Comilla. They were arrested in separate police raids across Dhaka, Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar.

Assistant Commissioner of CMP Kotwali Circle Shah Mohammad Abdur Rouf con-� rmed details of the incidents through a press conference at the Chittagong metropolitan police headquarters yesterday afternoon.

Police believes the 10-member gang con-ducted muggings across Dhaka and Chit-tagong, dividing themselves in smaller groups. Two other members of the gang, Anis and Ab-dul Huq, were arrested earlier in the month.

Interrogated, Anis and Abdul gave police leads following which they have been suc-cessful in making the fresh arrests.

Police are on the lookout for the rest of the members.

CMP Commissioner Abdul Jalil Mandal, also speaking in the conference, said the lead-er of the gang has an apartment in Dhaka and a Tk20,00,000 bank account. The racket’s members followed their targets for a few days before making any moves.

“We have formed a team to bust the gang; the rest of the members will be in jail in a short time,” he said. l

Move on to destabilise RU campusn Nazim Mridha, Rajshahi

Taking advantage of the feud between city unit Awami League leaders and the authorities of Rajshahi University, a group of people are now trying to create anarchy on the campus.

Several senior teachers wishing anonymity told the Dhaka Tribune that a group of in� u-ential teachers were hatching a conspiracy to oust Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof Muhammad Mizanuddin from the campus.

They said local Awami League and univer-sity Chhatra League had been mounting pres-sure on the university authorities since long to recruit their preferred candidates in nearly 100 vacant posts.

A teacher said: “This group of teachers now supports AL leaders in di� erent ways to wage a movement at RU in order to put uni-versity authorities in a vulnerable situation so that they could come into power at RU.

“Just for seizing large amounts of money from job seekers at di� erent posts, local AL leaders and university unit BCL leaders have gone mad, and now the issue has become

publicised,” he added.Earlier on Thursday, a group of local lead-

ers, led by the ruling party’s Rajshahi city unit General Secretary Dablu Sarker and Vice-Pres-ident Shahadat Hossain, barged into the o� ce of RU VC Prof Muhammad Mizanuddin, and reportedly demanded recruitment of their preferred candidates as employees and of-� cers in di� erent university posts.

However, when the VC said recruitment would take place as per the university rules, the ruling party men started hurling abusive words at the VC. Then, the leaders also phys-ically assaulted science faculty Dean Prof Ha-bibur Rahman and RU Student Adviser Prof Sadequl Are� n Matin while the teachers came forward to calm them down.

On Wednesday, Rajshahi 1 lawmaker Omar Faruk Chowdhury allegedly assaulted the VC verbally and threatened to oust him over the university’s � ne of Tk25 lakh to one of its af-� liated institutions Shah Makhdum Medical College for alleged irregularities in the admis-sion process. MP Faruk, the Rajshahi district unit Awami League president, is the govern-

ing body chairman of the institution.The ruling party men, however, said they

had gone to VC’s o� ce to inform him about irregularities going on at the university, but he along with some senior teachers misbehaved with them.

They also accused the RU VC of recruiting Jamaat-Shibir-backed men as teachers in re-cent times.

Filing of cases against journos protestedJournalists of Rajshahi University (RU) and Rajshahi city yesterday formed a human chain in protest of a case � led against three journal-ists by the Rajshahi city Awami League leader.

Rajshahi city Awami League (Al) general secretary on Sunday � led a defamation case with the Rajshahi Chief Metropolitan Court 1 accusing daily Kaler Kantha editor Imdadul Haque Milon, its sta� correspondent in Ra-jshahi Ra� kul Islam, and Rajshahi University Correspondent Rokon Rakib, followed by a report over the assault on RU Vice Chancellor Prof Muhammad Mizanuddin by the Rajshahi city unit AL leaders on Thursday. l

Teachers and students of Brojo Mohon College stage a sit-in at Shaheed Minar yesterday, protesting sexual assault on women during the Pohela Boishakh DHAKA TRIBUNE


The Bangladesh Society for Enforcement of Human Rights Khulna unit and Janouddog, a local NGO, hold a human chain yesterday in the town protesting the killing of housewife Tanni who was murdered allegedly by her husband on 7 April DHAKA TRIBUNE

Gopalganj kidney ward yet to be operational in two years n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

The much needed kidney ward at Gopalganj’s 250-Bed Hospital has not been able to serve critical patients due to the lack of medical specialists.

The hospital authorities, despite several at-tempts, had failed to get a specialist doctor to run the ward, which can save money and time for hundreds of kidney patients in and around the district.

According to the hospital sources, the kid-ney ward was established about two years ago.

About Tk1.45 crore was spent to set up six dialysis machines, eight beds and other mod-ern equipment. Two doctors, four nurses, one ward boy and one fourth class employee was

also appointed after training them in Rangpur. A team of doctors led by Dr Monimohal

Saha, director of Khulna Sheikh Abu Naser Specialised Hospital, conducted a test run of the kidney ward and successfully completed dialysis of six patients.

However, one of the trained doctors was soon transferred and the other one lost inter-est. Since then, the operation of the kidney ward has been halted. Gopalganj health de-partment said there were at least 2,000 kid-ney patients in the district. And among them more than 50 patients require regular dialysis.

Among the 11 districts, including Gopal-ganj, only the Sheikh Abu Naser Specialised Hospital in Khulna o� ers kidney dialysis.

Hence, the patients of these districts have

no alternative but to travel to Khulna or Dhaka for treatment. This is not only costly but also time consuming and risky for the patients.

One such patient, Nasu Sikder, 50, general secretary of Gopalganj Clothes Traders Asso-ciation, said he had been su� ering with kid-ney related problems for the last two years.

“I have to go to Dhaka 3-4 times a month spending a lot of money and time. When the kidney ward started in our hospital, I was happy that I would no longer have to travel so far. But it is sad that the ward is not operational,” he said.

Dr SM Sirajul Islam, civil surgeon of Gopal-ganj, said: “We have written to the health sec-retary and the director general of health direc-torate several times for a specialist doctor. But we are yet to get any remedy.” l

Suspected robber shot in gun� ght with copsn Our Correspondent, Rajbari

An alleged robber was shot in a gun� ght be-tween his cohorts and police at Kolanagar in Pangsa upazila yesterday night.

The victim was identi� ed as Abdul Hamid Mondal, son of Sayed Ali Mondal, a resident of Notadanga village of thenupazila.

Abu Sama Mohammad Iqbal ,o� cer-in-charge of Pangsa police station said on a tip-o� ,a team of police conducted a drive in the area around 8:30 pm while a gang of robbers was staying in the area for committing robbery.

Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the robbers opened � re at the police team.

In retaliation, police opened � re on them, triggering a gun� ght that left Hamid injured with bullet.

Later, police arrested bullet-hit Hamid from the spot while his other accomplices managed to � ee the scene. l

Enclave people demand exchange deal rati� cationn Our Correspondent, Panchagarh

People living in Indian enclaves in Panchagarh yesterday submitted a memorandum to the Indian envoy to Bangladesh, demanding that the enclave exchange deal be rati� ed in the upcoming session of the Indian parliament.

The local unit of Panchagarh-Nilphamari Bangladesh-India Enclaves Exchange Coordi-nation Committee submitted the memoran-dum through the Panchagarh deputy com-missioner, Mohammad Salahuddin.

The enclave people in the memorandum urged the Indian high commissioner to lobby his government for ratifying the enclave exchange agreement, which was signed on September 6, 2011, to resolve the longstanding issue.

President of the committee’s Panchagarh unit, Mo� zar Rahman, and several other en-clave leaders were present when the memo-randum was submitted.

There are 111 Indian enclaves in Bang-ladesh, including 59 in Lalmonirhat, 36 in Panchagarh, 12 in Kurigram and four in Nilphamari, while 51 Bangladeshi enclaves are located in Cooch Behar in the Indian state of West Bengal.

The Indian enclaves in Bangladesh stretch across 17,149 acres of land while the Bangla-deshi enclaves in India occupy 7,110 acres.

A joint census in July 2011 found that a to-tal of 37,334 people were living in Indian en-claves in Bangladesh and 14,215 people in the Bangladeshi enclaves in India. l

NEWS 9D


Judge’s post vacant in Sylhet court for 3 months, 1,900 cases on holdn Mohammad Serajul Islam, Sylhet

Trial of around 1,900 cases � led under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act has been on hold in Sylhet due to the va-cant post of the tribunal judge.

Sources at the court said the post has been vacant since the its judge, Abdul Aziz, retired on January 19. The High Court recently trans-ferred Dhaka Divisional Special Judge Abdul Rashid to Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, Sylhet; however, he has yet to o� cially start at his new post, said the tribunal’s Special Public Prosecutor Advocate Abdul Malek.

In the meantime, the current District Ses-sions Judge Syed Humayun Azad was tempo-rarily appointed as the tribunal judge, but he has not been able to make a headway in the tribunal proceedings due to the caseload in his own court, sources said.

Another source said the newly appointed judge is likely to join his new job this week.

Around 100 cases are � led at the tribunal every month, of which around 60-70 are tried

and judgement is rendered. But since there has been no judge for the past three months, the cases under trial have been piling up, the number rising to 1,900,l sources told the Dha-ka Tribune.

A tribunal counsel, seeking anonymity, claimed only one court is not enough to deal with women and children repression cases in the region, and three such courts should be established in Sylhet.

Violence against women has been on the rise in Sylhet in recent times; so has the num-ber of cases in this regard. More and more women are taking stand against domestic vio-lence and seeking legal help, especially since the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protec-tion Act 2010 came into e� ect, several lawyers told the Dhaka Tribune.

Advocate Shirin Akhter, Sylhet division’s coordinator at Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers’ Association, said: “Before, women su� ered in silence when subjected to domestic violence, but that scenario has changed. Now they resist violence against them. That is why the number of such cases has been rising.” l

Three cops among four hurt in gun� ghtn Our Correspondent, Moulvibazar

Four people, including three policemen, were injured in a gun� ght between law enforc-ers and robbers in Shahbandar area of Sadar upazila yesterday.

Police sources said a gang of robbers was taking preparation for robbery in the area. On tip-o� , police conducted a drive there. Sens-ing the presence of law enforcers, the robbers began � rings.

Police retaliated with gunshots that left three policemen and a robber injured.

The injured policemen were identi-� ed as Sub-Inspector M Abul Hashem andconstables Zia and Shankar of Sadar police station but details of another injured could not be known.

Following the robbers’ retreat police chased them and nabbed seven mem-bers of the gang. A pipe gun, seven bullets,seven machetes, a grill cutting machine and a Chinese axe were also recovered from the spot. l

Woman killed allegedly due to hospital negligencen Our Correspondent, Brahmanbaria

A puerperal woman died at Holy Crescent Pae-diatric and General Hospital in Munsefpara, Brahmanbaria yesterday afternoon, allegedly due to the hospital authorities’ negligence.

The victim, Nazma Akhter, 30, who had a home birth, was taken to the hospital after she became critically ill, and died in an opera-tion room around 1:30pm, her husband Tajul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune.

“There was no doctors in the hospital when we took my wife there. A few nurses and the hospital owner’s wife, Nargis Begum, attended to her. We even tried to get Nazma discharged from the hospital, but they did not let us,” Tajul complained.

Shortly after arriving at the hospital, Naz-ma was taken to an operation room, where her blood sample was taken and an injection was administered on her. She died soon after.

Police was noti� ed in this regard and Sub-In-spector Premdhan Mazumdar of Brahmanbaria Sadar police station visited the hospital, but no case was � led in this regard until yesterday evening, when this report was � led.

When contacted, Brahmanbaria Civil Sur-geon Dr Hasina Akhter told the Dhaka Tribune that she was aware of the situation and appro-priate action would be taken against the hos-pital authorities if the allegations were proven true. l

EU has ‘no more excuses’ on migrants

n AFP, Rome

EU foreign a� airs head Federica Mogherini said Monday the bloc had “no more excuses” not to act to halt the � ood of migrants as Ita-ly and Malta continued to look for survivors from the latest shipwreck.

More than 700 people are feared dead after a � shing boat crammed with migrants seek-ing a better life in Europe capsized o� Libya, with some survivors suggesting nearly 1,000 could have been on board.

“With this latest tragedy... we have no more excuses, the EU has no more excuses, the member states have no more excuses,” Mogherini said.

“We need immediate action from the EU and the member states,” she said as she arrived for an emergency meeting of for-eign and interior ministers to discuss what could be done.

Italian and Maltese navy boats meanwhile continued a desperate search for the vic-tims of Sunday’s disaster, as an Italian vessel brought the � rst group of survivors and 24 bodies to Malta.

The Bruno Gregoracci coast guard cutter docked with 24 body bags laid out on its deck, which were then carried to waiting hearses for transfer to a morgue.

An ‘avoidable’ disaster The deaths of hundreds more desperate mi-grants caused an outcry across Europe, where newspapers called it the “EU’s darkest day” and a “disgrace” for EU policy.

“European leaders knew full well that the number of victims at sea from African migra-tion would smash records from the spring,” Belgium daily Le Soir wrote.

Refugee and rights bodies also described the disaster as one that could have been avoided and demanded European govern-ments both beef up rescue operations and address the underlying causes of the � ood of asylum-seekers and migrants washing up on Europe’s shores.

“The world needs to react with the convic-tion with which it eliminated piracy o� the coast of Somalia a few years ago,” said Wiliam Lacy Swing, director general of the Interna-tional Organisation for Migration.

“All of us, especially the EU and world’s powers can no longer sit on the side-lines watching while tragedy unfolds in slow motion.”

Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the EU had to address the chaos in Libya which allows smugglers to operate out of the troubled north African state with impunity.

“We have what is fast becoming a failed state on our doorsteps and criminal gangs are enjoying a heyday.”

The foreign ministers on their own had been due to discuss the situation in Libya.

Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minis-ter and very aware of her country’s anguish over events, has been pushing the EU to be more pro-active on Libya and she made the point again.

Just as the Islamist attacks in Paris in Jan-uary had generated a common response, so this incident should give momentum to � nd-ing a common migration policy, she said.

“The main issue here is to build a common sense of European responsibility, knowing that there is no easy solution,” she added.

Flood of migrants, Italy overwhelmedSome 11,000 migrants have been rescued since the middle of last week alone and cur-rent trends suggest last year’s total of 170,000 landing in Italy is likely to be exceeded in 2015.

The issue of who handles these migrants – for asylum or repatriation – is hugely sen-sitive, with Italy complaining its EU partners are not doing enough.

It scaled back its Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation at the end of last year in protest at the rising cost and it was replaced by a smaller EU-led mission called Triton.

The recent � ood of migrants and the grow-ing loss of life has put that decision back in focus but some EU member states, especially those not directly a� ected, have been reluc-tant to do more.

Sunday’s disaster could change that.“With respect to the death of up to 950

people yesterday in the Mediterranean we cannot go back to normal,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

“We need an open discussion without ta-boos, what policy, what the European Union can do in these times,” Steinmeier added.

The � shing boat capsized most likely as a result of terri� ed passengers stampeding to one side in desperation to get o� after coastal authorities in Italy and Malta picked up a dis-tress signal around midnight (2200 GMT) on Saturday, when it was still in Libyan waters.

The deadliest incident prior to Sunday oc-curred o� Malta in September 2014.

An estimated 500 migrants drowned in a shipwreck caused by tra� ckers deliberately ramming the boat in an attempt to force the people on board onto another, smaller vessel.

In October 2013, more than 360 Afri-cans perished when the tiny boat they were crammed onto caught � re within sight of the coast of Lampedusa in Italy. l

WORLD10DT


The body of person who died after � shing boat carrying migrants capsized o� the Libyan coast, is brought ashore along with 23 others retreived by the Italian Coast Guard at Senglea in Malta yesterday AFP

US City o� cers resign after black woman elected mayorn Agencies

Residents of a tiny Missouri city say they have no idea why � ve of their six police of-� cers and several other top o� cials resigned after their � rst black mayor was elected.

Tyrus Byrd, 40, was sworn into o� ce in Parma last week, but her election victory was overshadowed by the departure of the majority of the police force, the city attor-ney, clerk and water treatment supervisor.

The o� cials all cited ‘safety concerns’ in their resignation letters, the outgoing mayor says.

There are 713 people living in the commu-nity and, according to the US Census Bureau, 57percent are white and 41percent are black.

Mrs Byrd, who was sworn in on Wednes-day, told the Daily Mail Online on Sun-day that she is still not sure why the city employees quit.

Her father, former city board member Si-mon Wo� ord, insists his daughter has a good relationship with the police department.

KFVS-TV broke the story last week. Cit-izens rallied to Mrs Bryd’s side, saying that the town didn’t even need as many o� cers as it had.

‘I think it was pretty dirty the way they all quit without giving her a chance, but I don’t think they hurt the town with quitting be-cause who needs six police for 740 people?’ resident Martha Miller told KFVS.

The run-down city, which is 175 miles south of St. Louis in southeastern Missouri, has su� ered a spate of break-ins recently.

Despite the surge in crime and the com-paratively large police force, residents told the TV station that they almost never saw cops patrolling the streets.

Mrs Byrd told Daily Mail Online that the election of the � rst African American mayor

should be celebrated instead of focusing on the departures of city employees.

Randall Ramsey, the outgoing mayor who has spent 36 years in the job, told the Dai-ly Mail Online he also has no idea why the group quit.

He added that most of the o� cers are part time and work for other towns in the sur-rounding area.

He told KFVS that the o� cers cited ‘safety concerns’ when they resigned.

Barry Aycock, who has served as an alder-man, told the Daily Mail Online the election and the consequences are the same as usual and he hardly sees the police out on patrol.

He added there is little crime in the city, aside from a spate or burglaries in recent weeks. l

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015WORLD 11

DT

Lebanon receives French arms for anti-jihadist � ghtn AFP, Beirut

Lebanon on Monday received the � rst French weapons in a $3bn Saudi-funded programme intended to bolster its army to take on ji-hadist threats, particularly along its border with Syria.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Dri-an accompanied the � rst tranche of weapons, including anti-tank guided missiles, which were handed over at an air force base in Beirut.

“France and Lebanon have a fraternal rela-tionship that has been marked over the past three years by a sharp deterioration in the se-curity situation in the Levant, which has be-come an existential threat to the region,” Le Drian said.

“Lebanon is under unprecedented pres-

sure (from jihadist groups)... and this makes border control vital for its security,” he added.

“In this critical context, it is therefore essential that Lebanon’s friends and al-lies mobilise to contribute to its security and stability.”

Over the next four years, France is ex-pected to deliver to Lebanon 250 combat and transport vehicles, seven Cougar helicopters, three small warships and a range of surveil-lance and communications equipment.

The entire $3bn (2.8bn euro) cost of the programme is being borne by Saudi Arabia, which has close ties with some of Lebanon’s leading political � gures.

The contract also promises seven years of training for the 70,000-strong Lebanese army and 10 years of equipment maintenance. l

Xi Jinping in Pakistan, China to beat US spending there with $46bn investmentn Reuters

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Paki-stan on Monday to launch $46bn in projects linking the allies, a � gure that would far ex-ceed US spending in Pakistan and under-scores China’s economic ambitions in Asia and beyond.

The infrastructure and energy projects are aimed at establishing a Pakistan-China Eco-nomic Corridor between Pakistan’s southern Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea and China’s western Xinjiang region.

The plan is part of China’s aim to forge “Silk Road” land and sea ties to markets in the Middle East and Europe and re� ects a shift of economic power in the region to China, said Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of the Pa-kistani parliament’s defence committee.

“Pakistan, for China, is now of pivotal im-portance. This has to succeed and be seen to succeed,” he said. l

China ‘seriously concerned’ at New Zealand hack attempt reportn Reuters, Beijing

China’s Foreign Ministry expressed serious concern on Monday after a newspaper report-ed that New Zealand and US intelligence ser-vices planned to hack into a data link between Chinese government buildings in Auckland.

New Zealand newspaper the Herald on Sunday, citing details provided by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, said the project appeared aimed at tapping data between the Chinese consulate and its passport o� ce.

“We are extremely concerned about this report. We strongly urge the relevant coun-tries to immediately stop using the Internet to damage the interests of China and other countries,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokes-man Hong Lei told a daily news brie� ng.

Prime Minister John Key, speaking on Radio New Zealand, said he would not take “literally by any stretch of the imagination everything” said by Snowden and his local supporters. l

EDITORIAL12DT


We are saddened that senior leaders of the Bangladesh Chhatra League at Dhaka University have barred female members of their own party from protesting against the sexual assaults that took

place on Pohela Boishakh.The unit’s central general secretary is reported to have pressured female

leaders to call o� a protest scheduled for Friday, even though it had been formally organised by DU-based female BCL activists.

At the same time, we commend the BCL women leaders and others who took the initiative for the protest. If only voic-es like theirs could be heard more.

The senior BCL leaders’ refusal to engage on this issue is highly disturbing. Sexual harassment and lawless behaviour on and around campus are longstanding issues of concern to all students and sta� at the university, and one would have thought that BCL would also wish to raise its voice in protest.

Students from a wide range of political groupings, including BCL, have been actively protesting the incidents elsewhere. The BCL’s inaction at DU also contrasts with the swift steps taken by its unit at Jahangirnagar Universi-ty to suspend � ve senior leaders and activists accused of molesting a female student last week.

It is unwise and counter-productive for the BCL to suppress its own mem-bers’ concerns.

For the DU BCL to actively stop members from participating in protests shows that it is out of touch with ordinary students’ concerns and strongly suggests it is not fully committed to tackling sexual harassment and reining in lawless behaviour. It must change its ways and start being part of the solution instead of the problem.

It should support not suppress students protesting sexual harassment

BCL must not silence its women’s voices

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207Email [email protected]

Send us your Op-Ed articles:[email protected]

www.dhakatribune.comJoin our Facebook community:

https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

We all killed Avijit and OyasiqurApril 3

R. HadiThe trend of free-thinking in our country is somewhat discouraged since birth. Parents, teachers, “society” … everyone puts so much work into teaching the “rights” and “wrongs” and the “dos” and “don’ts” that free-thinking is somewhat killed before reaching adolescence. The mind that wanders and experiments is the mind that’s too weird to accept, and the fact that most madrasa tutors are given the freedom to teach their students extreme thoughts and not the real ways of Islam, makes things even worse. If things are not changed from the root, this will keep going exactly as it is right now. Good read, Zafar bhai.

Hafeejul Alam AL had ceased to be a secular party the day the � rst premier of Bangladesh, Shaheed Ta-juddin Ahmad, was relieved of the cabinet. It is believed that unless the AL government discontinues to appease the so-called po-litical Islamists, such brutal murders of our intellectuals will not stop. AL hardly cares for the free thinkers and writers, for they are more concerned about holding on to power, anyhow. No wonder the BNP thrives on the narrow politics of AL and more often than not beats AL in electoral � ghts, despite their terrorist links.

Dev SahaHafeejul Alam: A great observation! Taj was a true freethinker. Poor Bangladesh seldom pro-duces such great sons and daughters anymore.

Malou Thank you very much for this article. I very much agree with it and you bring one of the most crucial issues of Bangladesh to the point clearly and sharply!

rosePeople in this society need to be tolerant towards free-minded bloggers and writers, it is really the need of the times.

JesminAkterGood point. I would add that the most nar-row minds can be seen among elite groups and the AL who boast about a secular Bang-ladesh while upholding colonial era laws about protecting religious sentiments, who

refuse to pay taxes but will make a great show of supporting a religious orphanage or institution now and then without really car-ing for the people who attend them. These people are far from semi-educated, but they do have a low opinion of how tolerant other people are. Otherwise, why would the AL and BNP both say they are secular nation-alist parties, but both often do deals with Jamaat’s non secular anti-nationalist party?

arunJesmin Akter: Bangladesh should remain as a secular liberal democracy and should invest in Western education and infra-structure. What Bangladesh requires is not madrassa-educated islamist fundamental-ists but more engineers, doctors, and other skilled workers. Religion should be kept as a private matter, then only Bangladesh will become a developed country.

roseYes indeed, Bangladesh should truly remain a secular state rather than paying attention to paltry religious issues. In fact, we ought to be thinking about the foreseeable progress and development of our country.

Dev SahaYes, we all are guilty as charged. Two very great individuals have been slaughtered in the name of pathetic ideologies. The people with meat-cleaver mentality are having a � eld day in Bangladesh. Such mentality, in the 21st century would make us a laggard of a nation both intellectually and spiritually. Make no mistake about this cruel prognosis.

Murtad Ali The problem is not with the people in Bang-ladesh. The problem is with most Muslims, virtually everywhere. More speci� cally, their man-made faith. Muslims living in some of the most developed nations like the UK and the US react the same way as the uneducated ma-drassa going students in Bangladesh. When it comes to comments on their faith, no Muslim can keep a straight face.

As long as Muslims don’t learn like the Christians already have that it is frankly silly to take everything written in these books so literally, people will continue to get killed in the name of their faith.

Dilshad Banu This article should have been only about Babu, Avijit got a lot of coverage as it is.

kiraDilshad Banu: Please read the article again. I think you missed the point.

We urge the government to ensure law enforcers respond fully to follow up the death threats received by the Ekkator tv journalist, Farzana Rupa.

The threats against Rupa, made after her reports on suspects in the sexual assaults during Pohela Boishakh celebrations at Dhaka University, reportedly come from a person identifying himself as the deputy chief of the militant out� t Ansarullah Bangla Team’s Rajshahi unit.

While they appear to have been prompted by reports on the sexual assualts, the threats go much further, attacking her employers and threatening to kill her and family members if she does not give up her job.

It is deeply concerning that yet anoth-er writer and journalist has received personal death threats from an Islamist inspired militant group.

The police have to act promptly to ensure that all available protection is provided to the journalist and her family. They must also go further and ac-tively investigate and trace the individuals and parties making such despicable threats.

In the light of the disturbing pattern of writers being targeted for violent attacks, and the recent murders of Avijit Roy and Oyasiqur Rahman, it is urgent that better progress be made in all ongoing cases.

There must be no hiding place for those who harm society by inciting threats of violence against people expressing their opinions and reporting the news.

Such actions are clearly against the Penal Code. They must be tackled as serious crimes to help deter all those who would promote or encourage violence against others.

No impunity for death threats

Investigate and take action against those who incite violence

OPINION 13D


n Shahabuddin Rajon

The RMG sector has long proved itself to be a boon for Bangladesh. It is the mainstay of its economy, facilitating

its sustained 6%-plus GDP growth over the years. Despite the epic growth of our RMG industry and its bright prospects, challenges are still there. One of the biggest challenges currently faced by our RMG industry is to ensure workplace safety and better work-ing conditions for the millions of garment workers. While we were embarking on a fashionable dream to export $50bn by 2021, the industry was shaken by the Rana Plaza disaster.

Last month, I returned to Bangladesh from Turin, Italy, having � nished my post-grad-uate diploma. I went there on a fellowship and had the opportunity to meet 30 nationals from � ve continents of the world. I entered the campus with lofty thoughts about Bang-ladesh’s second position in RMG exports.

The very next day in the orientation, when I introduced myself as a Bangladeshi nation-al, all of my coursemates and teachers from the UK, New Zealand, and Ireland rushed to me and asked about Rana Plaza. Most of them don’t even know of our prime minister, or the famous Shakib Al Hasan. They don’t know about our mangrove forest the Sundar-bans, or our longest sea-beach Cox’s Bazar, or even our historic independence.

But they all know about the tragic accident at Rana Plaza. I was astonished. I told them that Rana Plaza can’t be the only example. We have so many success stories about our RMG.

Every foreigner I’ve met asked me eagerly:

“What about Rana Plaza? Is everything okay?” I am afraid, and wonder if the whole world thinks of Bangladesh in this way, what will be our future image be?

At present, factory owners are more aware than they were earlier. There is some hope that Accord and Alliance have commented that, with regards to safety, Bangladesh’s RMG sector has improved a lot. But it has a long way to go in case of ensuring proper work environments and complete safety for employees.

The McKinsey summer report 2014 found that Bangladesh remains at the top of the list of apparel-sourcing markets, and is expected to grow further in importance in the next few years. As per their forecast in 2011, Bangla-desh was on the radar of all European and US apparel buyers, and is likely to grow nearly three times by 2020.

It is high time for us to ensure complete safety in every RMG unit to regain the global image of the country, and its ultimate impact de� nitely extends to the RMG industry.

Bangladesh is now on the watch-list. International buyers and consumers would like to see e� ective steps in place to help avert a new tragedy. Because of a few grossly non-compliant operators, the whole sector is getting a bad name, and as such, running the risk of losing markets. Under such circum-stances, restoring the image of the country’s RMG sector is now an urgent national task. The government, apparel owners, workers’ representatives, and all others do need to urgently put in their joint e� orts to facilitate the sustained development of the industry.

Although, the Rana Plaza and Tazreen

disasters were the most unfortunate things to happen in the history of our industry, these two incidents were signi� cant wake-up calls for us -- a call for a turn-around and rebuild-ing the industry, a call for ensuring the safety of our workers, and of ourselves. There has been a paradigm shift in the mindset of en-trepreneurs. Tremendous progress has been achieved in safety inspection, awareness, and other occupational safety and health issues.

So, what is our ultimate responsibility to make our garments industry secure? I think the time has come to rethink things, and there is no alternative but to ensure environ-mental and workers’ safety in the apparel industry for long-term sustainability. By

ensuring safety through combined initiatives from both ends -- garments entrepreneurs and the government -- educating our mid and top level management, and creating home-grown talents through skill-based hands-on experience, we can avoid such unexpected incidents.

Market diversi� cation and duty-free market access by itself does not ensure sus-tainability of the sector, because many global buyers have said that they are not inclined to import clothes stitched by the blood of innocent workers. l

Shahabuddin Rajon is Assistant Deputy Secretary, BKMEA.

Rana Plaza is still our shame

n Amdadul Haque

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a regional � nancial insti-tution proposed by China, headquar-

tered in Shanghai. The new bank’s stated aim is to provide � nance to infrastructure projects in the Asia region, ie roads, ports, telecommunication networks, and electricity. As of April 15, 57 nations, including Bangla-desh, have joined as founding members of this giant organisation.

The AIIB is seen as a challenge to the post-World War II economic order set up by the IMF, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank according to various New York-based newspapers. All these institutions are dominated by the US. The initiative of the AIIB appeared � rst in October 2013 as a reaction to the Chinese government’s failure to increase voting shares in the institutions mentioned above.

It is believed that the ADB’s report in 2009 (Asia would require $8tn in infrastructure to achieve stable growth in the next decade) accelerated the initiative taken for the AIIB. The bank was established with $50bn in capital provided by China, making it $100bn in collaboration with the other member countries. Beijing con� rmed that the Bank would commence its regular activities at the

end of 2015.US analysts strategically evaluate the

establishment of the bank in the following ways: China, as the world’s second largest economy, has established the AIIB, taking into consideration its strong presence in the international arena as a superpower and enhanced regional role in the economic and political arena. It desires to wield more control over the funding of projects in Asia as well as in the global arena due to the sizeable gap in infrastructure � nancing in Asia. Its move demonstrates its ongoing e� orts to establish the Renminbi, the Chinese curren-cy, as a global reserve currency on par with the US dollar.

The establishment of the AIIB and the BRICS Development Bank is deemed as China’s largest soft power success through which it has proved that it is willing to take on more leadership and responsibility in the region. Through the bank, Beijing has stretched its active role within developing nations under the name of infrastructural development due to which other powers would compete less with it for its economic in� uence in the AIIB.

China has already invested in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Central Asia. Trade between China and Africa rose to $200bn in 2013, which is more than double of

that of the US, and foreign direct investment has also increased six-fold since 2005.

On the other hand, Washington has been against the initiative from the very beginning, warning its allies to refrain from joining. It opposed the AIIB with allegations of corruption, maintaining lower standards, environmental and security issues, and main-taining Chinese veto power in the institution.

In the Washington Post, Lawrence Sum-mers, the director of the National Econom-ic Council for President Obama, sees the Chinese-led AIIB as a direct challenge to the traditional sources of international funding such as the IMF, WB and other organisations, which are primarily dominated by the US. American international relations experts have delineated on some issues which are posing a threat to the US foreign policy and its interests which can be analysed in the following three ways:

Firstly, the AIIB is a “direct threat” to the global economic order dominated by the US. Through this economic leadership, it dominates global � nancial systems and often forces nations to comply with its will, if eco-nomic sanctions are applied as was against Iran, North Korea, and Russia. For Beijing, the future of the ADB and America’s econom-ic role in infrastructural and development projects in the region is crucial.

Secondly, despite being cautioned, the US’s traditional allies like the UK, Germany, France, Australia, and South Korea have applied to become founding members of the bank. This turn by its allies, with whom it has played a vital role against China in many in-ternational events, is seen as an isolation and diplomatic debacle for Washington, with the global economic tide shifting from Washing-ton to Beijing.

Finally, the bank is deemed as US’s failure to maintain its “pivot of Asia” policy (remain-ing a global player in the Asia-Paci� c region through its economic, political, and military presence). Experts see the AIIB as part of China's attempt to minimise US economic and political in� uence. They fear a polarisa-tion between the US and its allies as China increases its geo-economic role in the region.

Last but not least, in agreement with the views of liberal US economists Joseph Stiglitz (a Nobel laureate) and Robert Zoellick (former president of the WB), who consider the present world as multi-polar, I argue that in order to ensure global development, the US should congratulate the Chinese initiative and, keeping its own interests in mind, deal with China via a process of engagement. l

Amdadul Haque is a research assistant at the Microgovernance Research Initiative.

A way to challenge US supremacy

NASHIRUL ISLAM

OPINION14DT


n Sara Zaker

“Was up by sunrise and started the New Year with Robindro Sangeet at Ramna and the Mongol Shobhajatra from Charukola. Can’t even begin to explain how incredible it was -- the colours, the music, the songs of new beginnings, and people dancing on the streets. Reminded again and again of how wonderful our culture is, and what a bunch we Bengalis are -- people whose lives revolve around food, music, friendship, and fun! Here's to another year � lled with all that and more. Shubho Noboborsho!”

This is how the day began for a young woman in Dhaka on Pohela Boishakh.

And this is the Pohela Boishakh we have known ... until the incident of the evening that snatched all the beauty away from this colourful day. Not that it didn’t happen in the past (the bomb blast at Ramna Botomul that killed several people who were there to rejoice the new year ... the bodies lay bloodied and lifeless, here and there). This year’s targets were women.

It’s a shame, no doubt. Unless one writes, expresses through any form -- through pro-tests, creativity, or even a status on a social network, the anger keeps burning. So I write -- though it seems like all things will remain the same, and nothing will change.

Haven’t women been slaves to men or been considered commodities for years and years? Till today, to some men, a wife and a cow can be the same, depending on who is more useful.

Walking or jostling down the crowded lanes of Gausia Market, a young woman is bound to be nudged -- a touch here and a squeeze there. Never on Earth can a girl or a young woman take these molestations with a pinch of salt. Sometimes they turn around and hit the fellow hard with their bags, some-times a sandal is used (if time permits) or one tight slap.

Most of the time she just ignores it. Maybe she tells her friend. The scar remains. The scar hurts for days, months, years even.

Pohela Boishakh, Ekushey February, or Boi Mela, any such national celebrations with swarms of people, can we expect these guys to suddenly become civilised? The sex-starved losers do what they have always done, and will do the same on these days of celebration. While the women ignore them, their scars run deep.

However, what is alarming about the inci-dent that took place in the evening of Pohela Boishakh this year is: First, the police force

remained silent, and continued to deny that any such incident had happened that would prompt them to mobilise their forces.

Second, this was not a random hustle and bustle. It was planned. As we heard and saw from the television news, a group of men have been identi� ed. It seems that the incident of the molestation was a planned act of terrorism.

The second alarm is that it rings the bell of doom. Some forces out there are making sure that our secular festivities become dangerous grounds to tread upon. They hack down Avi-jit in such a mela and they carry out planned molestation on Pohela Boishakh. Do you think any guardian in their right mind would allow his/her daughter to go out on the next Pohela Boishakh?

What is worse is -- the purpose of these radical fundamentalists would be served better when girls and guardians of girls recoil in fear.

No milling around of boys and girls together. By and by, no girls on the streets. Everybody should stay in their little holes or be forced to wear a burkha for protection? Would a burkha do much to protect?

“Servants should be seen and not heard,” and for the woman in radical Islam, she should neither be seen nor be heard.

Don’t we need to stand up and strike back? They talk of women empowerment, they talk of girl’s education, they talk of equal meritoc-

racy for men and women, they gloat over women’s earnings through garment indus-tries and microcredit loans. But when such an incident disturbs the very roots of our being and we are at a loss to come up with strategies to curtail this hooliganism -- out of desperation, young boys and girls use foul language to express their anger on social me-dia ... but the policy-makers remain silent.

Why can’t one word be sent out by the prime minister or the opposition leader to indicate that they have zero tolerance for such an incidence? Is it the potential votes that they are counting? Will such a statement make them lose the vote of the radical funda-mentalists? What percentage of the popula-tion do they comprise? Surely, not more than 50% -- the women’s vote.

If radicalism can stretch its wings and expose its fangs, and thereby make the threat that politicians take into cognisance, then women too can be a force to be reckoned with.

Women want respect, women want safety, women want freedom.

If you want votes, speak for women. Speak up! l

Sara Zaker is Managing Director of Asiatic Centre.

The politics of women

Do you think any guardian in their right mind would allow his/her daughter to go out on the next Pohela Boishakh?

BIGSTOCK

15D

TBusiness TUESDAY, APRIL 21 2015

Iran’s tantalizing oil prize

How China is upsetting the old global economic order

Stocks plunge on selling spree17 1916

‘Graduates mismatch with job market demand’

20

Kamal: ADP likely to be Tk1tn in FY2015-16 n Tribune Report

The government will increase the annual de-velopment spending in the upcoming � scal year to upgrade living standard of the people.

“Size of the annual development pro-gramme (ADP) will be Tk1 lakh crore in the next � scal year,” said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

The minister came up with the disclosure while brie� ng reporters after a meeting with the ten highest allocated ministries and di-visions and also with ten lowest performed ministries and divisions held at the NEC Con-ference Room in the city yesterday.

“Of the total spending, Tk20,000-Tk25,000 crore will be spent on mega projects which will be visible at the end of the next � scal,” said the minister.

He noted that the fund, this time, would

be given to the ministries and divisions taking into account of their respective spending per-formances in the current � scal year.

About the implementation of revised ADP for the current � scal year, he said:“Secretar-ies of the respective ministries informed that they will be able to spend 100% allocated for them in the revised development spending.”

Kamal said haat-bazzar would be set up in the planned way alongside the highways, as haat-bazars were mushrooming along the busy highways haphazardly.

The planning ministry will also put for-ward a project in the Ecnec meeting to allo-cate Tk20 crore for every member of the par-liament, said the minister.

For this � scal year, the government had re-vised the ADP down to Tk75,000crore, down 6.62% from the original allocation of Tk80,315 crore.

Power division and ministries of LGRD, Water Resources, Defence, CHT A� airs, Edu-cation, Road Transport and Bridges, Health, Law, Justice and Parliamentary A� airs and Home got highest allocation.

According to the revised ADP, the trans-port sector bagged highest allocation of Tk17,041crore as the government has given the highest priority in this sector.

It was followed by education sector with Tk8,662crore, power sector with Tk7,924 crore, rural development and rural institution with Tk6,982 crore, infrastructure planning, water supply and housing sector with Tk6,838 crore, and health, nutrition, population and family welfare of Tk4,741 crore in the revised ADP.

The ADP implementation stood at 43% or Tk36,923crore in the � rst nine months (Ju-ly-March) of the current � scal year, which was 40% in the same period a year earlier. l

Biman reinsurance team to visit London from tomorrow n Asif Showkat Kallol

A six-member team will stay in London from tomorrow to evaluate the reinsurance process of Biman Bangladesh Airlines for a massive overhaul in the system ensuring transparency and accountability.

The reinsurance of the national � ag carrier is currently being done on the Lloyd’s market of London.

“A six-member committee is going to Lon-don to evaluate Biman’s reinsurance system,” Bank and Financial Institutions Division Sec-retary M Alsam Alam told Dhaka Tribune yes-terday.

Bank Division yesterday issued a circular singed by Assistance Secretary Mitu Mariyam regarding formation of the evaluation com-mittee.

The committee is led by Managing Direc-tor of Sadharan Bima Corporation Md Rezaul Karim. Other members include commercial counselor of Bangladesh embassy in the UK, one representative from Bank Division, one representative from reinsurance department of Sadharan Bima Corporation and two repre-sentatives from Biman.

The team will stay in London from April 22 to May 4 to complete the re-insurance.

The insurance of all aircraft of Biman is sup-posed to end on May 14 this year.

Biman sources said the airliner has faced huge � nancial loss in previous insurance pol-icy in Lloyd market London.

Generally, the reinsurance process has to be done on the insurance market in London through brokers.

There is a massive amount of funds involv-ing the reinsurance practice.

A large amount of premium is charged by the international reinsurance � rms against various risks of the planes.

On the other hand, the � rms ensure cov-erage of the risks of a plane from 98 to 99% against its value. Di� erent premium rates are charged by re-insurers according to various risks of an airplane, according to Sadharan Bima Corporation.

Under the international lease conditions, the Biman Bangladesh Airlines has to com-plete reinsurance with an international re-in-surer during collecting lease plane.

Otherwise, the Biman has to pay excess money to purchase or take lease of a plane from the international market if it has no re-insurance coverage.

The domestic air service is facing contin-ued challenges due to poor performance of domestic airlines.

On the contrary, foreign carriers have been driving the expansion of the international market to and from Bangladesh, industry in-siders said. l

Bandwidth export to India not before Julyn Muhammad Zahidul Islam and Shohel

Mamun

The much-awaited internet bandwidth export to Indian eight eastern states cannot be made before July due to challenges facing Bangla-desh Submarine Cable Company Ltd (BSCCL).

Though the cabinet yesterday approved the cable company’s proposal for signing a deal with its Indian counterpart Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), one more month is required to ink the deal.

“We have already contacted BSNL today (yesterday) after the cabinet meeting and invited them to Dhaka,” Monowar Hossain, managing director of BSCCL, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said the � nal deal is likely to be signed

by May 20 though its draft had been made a couple of months back.

Initially, BSCCL will export 10 gigabyte per second (Gbps) through Akhaura under Brah-manbaria district to Agartala, capital of Tri-pura.

The company has connectivity up to Akhaura but no redundancy. So, before ex-port, bandwidth redundancy needs to be es-tablished, sources said.

According to o� cials in the Submarine Ca-ble Company, they have two other selected points for establishing links with Shillong and Assam points.

Following the meeting, cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hussain Bhuiyan told reporters, “The state-owned BSCCL is going to ink the deal with BSNL under which Bangladesh would

supply 10Gbps bandwidth to India on lease and commercial basis. The export capacity could be raised to 40Gbps.”

He said Bangladesh would fetch $1.2 million (approxi-mately Tk9.42 crore) annually by exporting unused internet bandwidth.

“We have calculated that we will earn $1,00,000 every month at the rate of $10 for 1Mbps and it will go up to $4,00,000,” a senior o� cial told the Dhaka Tribune.

Presiding over the meeting, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presented the proposal before the cabinet meeting held in Bangladesh Sec-retariat, said sources.

They said some senior cabinet members suggested providing free internet for educa-tional institutions rather exporting it.

In reply, the prime minister said her gov-ernment will reduce bandwidth price for the users and will go for reduced price for educa-tional institutions but not make it free.

As of December 2014, the country used more than 100Gbps international internet bandwidth and BSCCL provided only 32Gbps.

The remaining bandwidth was imported by six International Terrestrial Cable (ICT) from Western part of India.

Monowar Hossain said according to the draft deal they will get payment in US dollar in advance and on every quarterly basis.

“But at the same time BSCCL needs to take the risk of interruption which will cut the tar-i� ,” he added.

The cable company has to bear all tax and other fees if required. BSNL leaves all respon-sibilities to BSCCL, according to the MoU signed on May 12 last year in Dhaka.

According to sources, India will take more than 100Gbps within the next few years when the second submarine consortium SE-ME-WE-5 will be connected with Bangladesh.

The connection is scheduled to take place by 2016. l

BUSINESS16DT


Iran’s tantalizing oil prizen John Kemp

Iran contains some of the largest and most attractive petroleum resources in the world, so any easing of sanctions could have a major impact on oil and gas markets in the second half of the decade.

Iran’s possible re-emergence as a major ex-porter would force a re-ordering of the world oil market both because of the country’s loca-tion on the cost-curve and the quality of its oil.

Iran’s proved oil reserves of 160 billion barrels, almost 10% of the world total, rank it fourth after Venezuela (300 billion barrels), Saudi Arabia (265 billion barrels) and Canada (175 billion barrels), according to BP.

The country also has the world’s largest proved gas reserves of almost 34tn cubic me-tres (18% of the global total), putting it ahead of Russia (17%) and Qatar (13%).

Iran’s petroleum resources are contained in large, conventional reservoirs with excel-lent geological properties that make them highly productive at a relatively low cost.

Oil has been produced in Iran in commer-cial quantities since 1908, making it one of the world’s oldest producers.

Production peaked at more than 6 million barrels per day (bpd) in 1974 and although revolution, war and sanctions have been dis-

ruptive, it was still producing 4.2 million bpd as recently as 2008.

Sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union in response to con-cerns about Iran’s nuclear programme have cut production by around 1 million bpd to 3.4 million since 2012.

Iran consumes almost 2 million barrels a day of crude and re� ned products - which leaves between 1 million and 1.5 million bpd for export, down from 2.5 million before sanc-tions were imposed.

If sanctions were eased or lifted as a result of a deal between Iran and world powers, pro-duction and exports could rise by between 600,000 and 1 million bpd within a 12-month timeframe.

In the medium term, output could rise by 2 million or even 3 million bpd, depending on prices and the country’s ability to attract investment, source equipment and partner with international majors and service compa-nies.

The � rst phase of Iran’s return to global oil markets is most likely to occur in 2016 and 2017, with larger increases in production and exports unlikely to occur before 2018 or 2020.

The prospect of higher exports may al-ready be weighing on global oil markets, among other factors, with the back end of the

futures curve slipping in recent months.Iran’s oil and gas accumulations are the re-

sult of organic material deposited on the � oor of an ancient ocean, Tethys, around 250 mil-lion years ago.

Tethys disappeared with the collision of the Indian, African and Arabian tectonic plates into the Eurasian continent - though remnants are left as the Black, Caspian and Aral seas.

Thick layers of ancient limestone and sandstone deposited on the � oor of Tethys were trapped and warped in the collision and became the world’s biggest oil and gas accu-mulations around the Middle East Gulf.

On the Arabian side of the Gulf, the ancient marine sediments became the giant oil and gas � elds of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province as well as adjacent areas of Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

On the Iranian side, where the Arabian plate collided with the central Iranian plateau it created an extensive folded zone and threw up the Zagros Mountains.

These folded structures have been excellent traps for the accumulation of oil and gas and account for Iran’s major oil and gas � elds. l

John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The article was initially published at Reuters.

Tk31cr more paid to Rana Plaza victims’ families n Tribune Report

The Rana Plaza Coordination Committee paid Tk31 crore more in addition to last year pay-ment to the injured and family members of the dead and missing workers of the deadliest factory collapse in 2013.

The payment of Tk31 crore, which is ap-proximately 30% of the estimated $30 million compensation fund, had been made since April 8 of this month.

A total of 2,968 eligible dependents of the dead and missing workers and also the injured had been paid, said a statement of committee.

The payment has also been made for 2,277 dependents of the deceased workers, 282 of those missing and 409 injured.

Last year, the committee paid approximate-ly Tk29.40 crore or 40% of compensation to 2,770 eligible dependents of those either killed in the tragedy or went missing and also to those injured in the collapse.

The payment was made through Dutch Bangla Bank accounts in � ve separate install-ments from September to December 2014.

In addition, approximately Tk15.50 crore was paid through bKash as initial payment to those injured, the dependents and the non-injured workers on 23 April 2014.

With the payment of Tk76 crore, the com-pensation amounted to 70% of the total com-pensation award approved by the committee.

The total amount for all issued awards is approximately Tk126 crore equivalent to $16.4 million. The remaining 30% of awards will be paid to the claimants as soon as funds are available at the Trust Fund, the statement said.

As part of the entitlement under the ILO Convention 121, the Coordination Committee is about to � nalise an arrangement for long-term medical care and allied costs for the injured workers. It is estimated that a total of $30 mil-lion, after the deduction of amounts received from Prime Minister Welfare fund, is required for the full payment to the Rana Plaza victims.

On April 24 in 2013, Rana Plaza, which housed � ve garment factories, a shopping complex at Savar, collapsed, killing 1,135 workers and injuring over 2,500. l

Sonali Bank chairman quits n Tribune Report

Sonali Bank Chairman Habibur Rahman has resigned from his position on Sunday, on ex-cuse of personal ground.

He was learned to have resigned in pro-test against some lending proposals of large amount, which are under process, violating the rules amid pressures.

“I don’t want to say anything about the ir-regularities as it is your (journalists) respon-sibility to dig out what is going on into the bank,” said Habibur Rahman while talking to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“I’ve resigned on personal ground and now it is up to the government to inquire about it.”

On the other hand, as contacted Sonali Bank Managing Director Pradip Kumar Dutta ruled out any irregularity in the bank.

The job tenure of Habibur Rahman was scheduled to expire on December 26 this year.

Loan irregularities are still going on into the scam-hit Sonali Bank even after the Hall-mark loan scandal.

The bank recently has written o� the loan of the Hallmark group, just violating the ex-isting write o� rules. l

MEC, a media investment management company under the partnership between GroupM & Asiatic 360, has recently been awarded one of the top 40 world’s best Integrated Campaigns for IDLC Finance’s Home Loan Campaign by R3, a global consulting � rm. A celebratory event was held recently in this regard

‘The remaining 30% of awards will be paid to the claimants as soon as funds are available at the Trust Fund’

BUSINESS 17D


How China is upsetting the old global economic order

n AFP, Washington

With its huge new infrastructure bank and its ambitions for a globalized renminbi currency, China is leading the upending of a 70-year-old global order built on American economic power.

Beijing’s rise was con� rmed this week at the Spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, the two institutions by which the economic vision of the United States has been propa-gated across the world since their founding in 1944.

The US-selected president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, applauded China’s “bold step in the direction of multilateralism” for its new Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, even as many view it as a rival to the Bank.

Kim stressed though that he expects the World Bank and the AIIB will work “very closely” together.

That appeared to pull the World Bank away from its major shareholder: together with ally Japan, Washington has refused to join the AIIB even as nearly � ve dozen other countries have applied to Beijing to be part.

Beijing moved on the AIIB, which aims to support infrastructure development across the Asia region, as another China-backed pro-ject announced in 2014, the BRICS bank, has stalled.

But that institution, planned with fellow emerging economic powers Brazil, Russia, In-dia, and South Africa, was designed as well as a challenge to the World Bank and IMF, where the old powers the US, Europe and Japan dominate.

Threat to World Bank?Critics fear the new development banks will challenge the World Bank in lending to poorer

countries by o� ering them easier terms and fewer restrictions governing the social and environmental impacts of large projects, un-dermining standards established to protect vulnerable populations.

The Chinese approach is more pragmatic though, with each institution � lling a need, said Christophe Destais of CEPII, the French international economics think tank.

Countries are searching for new opportunities in public works and energy, and also for their banks, he said, the latter possibly explaining why US ally Britain rushed to join the AIIB, he said.

For its part, China is seeking “an outlet for its industrial overcapacity” while at the same time aiming “to weaken US in� uence,” said Destais.

But China is not abandoning the US and Europe-dominated Bretton Woods system of multilateral development banks set up in 1944, however imperfect it is, he said.

“China � nds it useful. It has the means to in� uence it, though still not to shape it,” espe-cially since the US dollar remains the world’s core currency.

But China’s growing power keeps Washing-ton nervous.

Even as new institutions like the AIIB emerge, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement Saturday: “I would like to underscore that the IMF remains the fore-most international institution for promoting global economic stability.”

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said the US hostility to the AIIB is a new sign of its insecurity over its global in� u-ence.

US shares blameBut Washington is also at fault in the erosion of its Bretton Woods-based power.

The US Congress has refused to ratify cru-cial reforms at the IMF laid out in 2010 that would double its funding and recognize with higher shareholder quotas the rise of econo-mies such as China and India.

As the IMF’s largest shareholder by far, Washington has now blocked the reforms for four years, to great criticism from allies and rivals in the world economy.

“This remains an impediment to IMF cred-ibility, legitimacy and e� ectiveness,” lashed the G-24 group of emerging economies at the IMF-World Bank meetings this week.

The AIIB is not the only front of China’s challenge to the old US-centered global eco-nomic structure.

After decades of closely controlling its currency, the renminbi or yuan, China is now moving to internationalize it, and asking that it be included in the IMF’s benchmark basket of major currencies, known as SDRs, or spe-cial drawing rights.

That move, which could happen as early as 2016, would o� cially elevate the yuan to world status and boost China’s prestige inside the IMF. l

China’s growing power is keeping Washington nervous REUTERS

The US Congress has refused to ratify crucial reforms at the IMF laid out in 2010 that would double its funding and recognize with higher shareholder quotas the rise of economies such as China and India

Global � nancial overseer Carney: Risk of sharp reversal remainsn Reuter, Washington

The world has adjusted well to divergent growth and monetary policy expectations but the risk of a “sharp and disorderly reversal” in � nancial markets remains, Financial Stability Board Chairman Mark Carney said on Saturday.

“The risk of a sharp and disorderly reversal remains, given compressed credit and liquid-ity risk premia,” Carney, whose FSB oversees the global � nancial system, said in a state-ment to the International Monetary Fund’s steering committee.

Carney, who is governor of the Bank of England, said market participants needed to be mindful of the risk of diminished market liquidity, asset price discontinuities, and con-tagion across markets.

“The impact of lower commodity prices, a stronger US dollar and moderating economic growth may lead to further challenges for the � nancial resilience of some emerging market and developing economies, including the risk of capital � ow volatility,” he added.

The FSB has agreed on a work plan to iden-tify � nancial stability risks associated with market liquidity in � xed income markets and asset management activities, he said. It will also address longer-term structural � nancial stability issues that may arise.

It will discuss its initial � ndings at its next meeting in September. l

World Bank: Social spending key to lifting national income levelsn AFP, Madrid

Middle-income economies must increase so-cial spending if they wish to reach the income level of developed countries and end extreme poverty, the president of the World Bank said in an interview published on Sunday.

“We must change the relationship between growth and poverty reduction for growth to have more of an impact. How? It is important to invest in human beings, in health, educa-tion, social protection,” Jim Yong Kim told top-selling Spanish daily El Pais.

“In Africa for example, improving the pro-ductivity of agriculture is key. To do this you have to invest in energy, transportation .... I am optimistic we can do it,” he added.

The World Bank, a Washington-based in-ternational creditor for developing countries, has set the goal of ending extreme poverty - lifting the livelihoods of those living on less than $1.25 a day - by 2030.

Kim, who was born in Seoul and moved to the United States when he was � ve, said South Korea was an example of a nation that had managed to escape the “middle income trap” through increased social spending.

“South Korea started exporting basic goods - black and white televisions, then in colour - and now it exports electronics, they took measures for the second step,” he said.

“But other nations do not do it, especially those that reach the � rst phase of middle in-come thanks to raw materials. At this stage, I insist, education is critical. l

BUSINESS18DT


SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 161.78 3.51 15.77 3.72 177.55 3.53NBFI 111.98 2.43 7.75 1.83 119.73 2.38Investment 21.29 0.46 1.61 0.38 22.90 0.46Engineering 627.21 13.63 59.25 13.99 686.46 13.66Food & Allied 105.21 2.29 5.02 1.18 110.23 2.19Fuel & Power 1357.94 29.50 151.92 35.86 1509.86 30.04Jute 3.15 0.07 0.00 3.15 0.06Textile 640.00 13.91 52.32 12.35 692.33 13.77Pharma & Chemical 565.40 12.28 30.84 7.28 596.23 11.86Paper & Packaging 11.46 0.25 1.52 0.36 12.98 0.26Service 249.39 5.42 16.06 3.79 265.46 5.28Leather 11.38 0.25 0.77 0.18 12.15 0.24Ceramic 46.00 1.00 5.31 1.25 51.31 1.02Cement 93.76 2.04 14.32 3.38 108.08 2.15Information Technology 171.35 3.72 12.68 2.99 184.03 3.66General Insurance 15.30 0.33 1.14 0.27 16.44 0.33Life Insurance 52.48 1.14 1.88 0.44 54.36 1.08Telecom 149.61 3.25 16.17 3.82 165.78 3.30Travel & Leisure 83.87 1.82 13.79 3.25 97.66 1.94Miscellaneous 121.37 2.64 15.43 3.64 136.79 2.72Debenture 2.72 0.06 0.07 0.02 2.79 0.06

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to [email protected] or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

News, analysis and recent disclosuresPROVATIINS: The Board of Directors has recommended 12% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 25.06.2015, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: Bangladesh Co-Operative Book Society Ltd. 125 Motijheel C/A (3rd Floor) Dhaka-1000. Record Date: 04.05.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 1.84, NAV per share of Tk. 16.15 and NOCFPS of Tk. 4.57 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.IBNSINA: The Board of Directors has recommended 30% cash div-idend and 5% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 06.06.2015, Time: 9:30 AM, Venue: Emmanu-ells Convention Center, Shimanto Square Market (Ri� es Square) 5th Floor, Dhanmondi, Dhaka. Record Date: 10.05.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 5.95, NAV per share of Tk. 31.77 and NOCFPS of Tk. 8.12 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.BERGERPBL: (Q1 Un-audited): Consolidated Net Income from Jan15 to Mar15 was Tk. 421.22 mil-lion with consolidated EPS of Tk. 18.16 as against Tk. 334.40 million and Tk. 14.42 respectively for the same period of the previous year.IDLC: Emerging Credit Rating Limited (ECRL) has assigned the surveillance rating of the Company as AAA in the long term and ECRL-1 in the short term along with a stable outlook to the Company based on audited � nan-cial statements of the Company up to December 31, 2014 and other relevant quantitative and qualitative information up to the date of rating.

SIBL: Emerging Credit Rating Limited (ECRL) has assigned the surveillance rating of the Company as AA- in the long term and ECRL-2 in the short term along with a stable outlook to the Company based on � nancials of the Company up to December 31, 2014 and other relevant quantitative and qualitative in-formation up to the date of rating declaration.Board Meeting: CENTRALINS on April 24, 2015 at 2:00 PM. CITYBANK on April 22, 2015 at 4:30 PM. ASIAPACINS on April 27, 2015 at 3:30 PM.IPO Subscription: Olympic Accessories Limited Subscription 19.04.2015 TO 23.04.2015, NRB UPTO 02.05.2015. O� er Price per share Tk. 10.00, Market Lot (Shares) 500.Dividend/AGMAGRANINS: 10% cash, AGM: 30.05.2015, Record Date: 29.04.2015.ABBANK: 12.50% stock, EGM and AGM: 17.05.2015, Record date for EGM and AGM: 23.04.2015.IFIC: 15% Stock dividend, AGM: 17.06.2015, Record Date: 20.05.2015. MERCINS: 10% cash dividend, AGM: 09.06.2015, Record Date: 22.04.2015. NORTHRNINS: 10% stock divi-dend, AGM: 13.06.2015, Record Date: 22.04.2015. CITYGENINS: 10% stock divi-dend, AGM: 15.06.2015, Record Date: 22.04.2015. SHASHADNIM: 20% cash and 15% stock dividend, AGM: 21.05.2015, Record date: 23.04.2015.

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Midas Financing-Z 9.90 9.90 11.10 11.10 11.10 11.10 0.028 -3.24 -veSonargaon Tex -Z 9.80 9.80 11.20 11.20 11.20 11.20 0.077 -0.84 -veCity G Insu.-A 9.76 2.67 13.07 13.50 13.50 12.80 0.014 1.59 8.2H.R. Textile -A 9.57 8.24 20.35 20.60 20.60 19.70 0.025 1.36 15.0Zahintex Ind.-N 9.46 9.32 16.18 16.20 16.20 15.70 4.719 1.03 15.7The Ibn SinaA 7.62 7.66 104.54 104.50 106.60 102.90 0.404 5.95 17.6Grameen M F One-A 5.37 4.91 21.60 21.60 21.60 21.60 0.011 1.50 14.4Standard Ceramic -A 4.55 4.55 34.50 34.50 34.50 34.50 0.002 0.52 66.3SonarBangla Insu. -A 4.41 3.37 14.09 14.20 14.30 14.00 0.063 1.77 8.0Imam Button -Z 3.33 9.65 9.20 9.30 9.30 9.20 0.021 -1.48 -ve

DSE GAINER


Aver-age (%

Change)


in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Sonargaon Tex -Z 9.71 9.71 11.30 11.30 11.30 11.30 1.463 -0.84 -veZahintex Ind.-N 9.52 9.39 16.08 16.10 16.10 15.60 18.913 1.03 15.6Shampur Sugar -Z 7.94 6.07 6.82 6.80 6.80 6.40 0.015 -52.72 -veUnited Power-N 6.22 (3.30) 205.39 211.70 214.80 195.30 606.842 7.11 28.9Midas Financing-Z 6.00 6.55 10.58 10.60 10.80 10.30 0.096 -3.24 -veThe Ibn SinaA 4.95 5.97 104.70 103.90 108.00 101.00 30.804 5.95 17.6Dulamia CottonZ 4.23 11.97 7.95 7.40 7.80 7.10 0.007 -4.02 -vePrime Insur -A 4.23 3.61 14.93 14.80 15.50 14.60 2.374 2.41 6.2LafargeS Cement-Z 3.52 2.64 109.21 108.90 110.30 106.00 51.089 2.43 44.9Zeal Bangla Sugar -Z 3.17 9.36 6.66 6.50 6.90 6.30 0.008 -46.80 -ve

CSE LOSER


Aver-age (%

Change)


in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Paramount Textile Ltd.-A -9.79 -4.47 18.16 17.50 19.10 17.50 1.178 1.84 9.9Fareast Finance-Z -9.38 -9.09 11.70 11.60 12.00 11.60 0.831 1.88 6.2Phoenix Finance-A -8.16 -8.10 18.03 18.00 19.00 17.80 0.191 1.64 11.0Apex SpinningA -8.09 -8.14 70.40 70.40 70.40 70.40 0.005 2.28 30.9S Purbanchol Power-N -7.83 -4.88 48.29 47.10 52.20 46.60 2.917 4.60 10.5Zaheen Spinning -N -7.76 -2.29 21.30 20.20 22.50 19.80 6.073 1.32 16.1People`s Leasing-A -7.69 -4.12 16.06 15.60 16.80 15.50 2.696 0.97 16.6Dacca Dyeing-A -7.69 -4.70 12.37 12.00 13.00 11.90 0.242 1.04 11.9Orion Infusions -A -6.82 -5.56 44.48 43.70 47.40 43.50 1.515 1.84 24.2G Next Fashions-A -6.72 -4.27 12.78 12.50 13.50 12.40 5.057 1.84 6.9

DSE LOSER


Aver-age (%

Change)


in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Paramount Textile Ltd.-A -9.33 -4.56 17.98 17.50 19.10 17.40 13.932 1.84 9.8Fareast Finance-Z -9.30 -9.31 11.78 11.70 12.50 11.70 5.109 1.88 6.3AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A -8.70 -8.03 4.24 4.20 4.40 4.20 0.216 0.11 38.5National Housing Fin.-B -8.58 -4.57 22.12 21.30 22.80 21.10 1.144 1.97 11.2Zaheen Spinning -N -8.52 -0.88 21.47 20.40 22.70 20.10 26.020 1.32 16.3FAS Fin. & Inv. Ltd-B -8.27 -6.55 12.26 12.20 13.00 12.10 0.812 1.27 9.7Phoenix Finance-A -7.73 -6.60 18.41 17.90 19.50 17.50 3.697 1.64 11.2Prime Islami Life -A -7.50 -5.43 45.28 44.40 48.10 44.10 1.949 4.95 9.1BD Finance-A -7.50 -3.87 11.44 11.10 12.10 11.00 5.252 0.69 16.6National Feed-N -7.38 -2.16 23.55 22.60 24.80 22.40 12.667 1.37 17.2

DSE key features April 20, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

4,602.64

Turnover (Volume)

103,200,092

Number of Contract

120,107

Traded Issues 313

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

83

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

226

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,456.30

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.77

CSE key features April 20, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

423.61

Turnover (Volume)

10,568,653

Number of Contract

20,481

Traded Issues 237

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

66

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

164

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,380.62

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.86

BUSINESS 19D


Stocks plunge on selling spreen Tribune Report

Stocks su� ered a sharp fall yesterday, after remaining � at over the last several ses-sions, as investors went on a selling spree.

The benchmark index DSEX tumbled 65 points or 1.5% to 4,308, dragged down by mainly � nancial insti-tutions and textiles sectors that lost more than 3% each.

The Shariah Index DSES was down 11 points or 1% to 1,054. The comprising blue chips DS30 declined 22 points or 1.4% to 1,634.

Chittagong Stock Ex-change (CSE) Selective Cate-gories Index, CSCX, shed 121 points to 8,086.

Trading activities also took a hit after remaining buoyant in the last two con-secutive sessions. The DSE turnover was Tk460 crore, which was 18.3% lower over the previous sessions.

Newly listed United Pow-er Generation and Distribu-tion Company Ltd topped the turnover chart for the tenth consecutive session with turnover worth Tk60.7 crore, accounting for 13.2% of the total turnover.

Trading also remained highly concentrated on top ten most active scrips, which made up 45% of the total turnover.

Market fell across the board as out of 311 issues traded, share prices of 48

gained, 241 declined and 22 remained unchanged.

Non-banking � nancial institutions experienced the highest correction in the session, losing 3.5%, followed by textile 3.2%. Telecommunication slipped 2%, banks 1.2%, pharmaceu-ticals 0.8% and power 0.7%.

Cement, however, was the only fortunate sector that survived from the sell-ing frenzy, rising 1.3%, led by Lafarge Surma Cement Limited that rose 3.5% .

IDLC Investments said op-timistic portion of the mar-ket had nightmare of a day, watching stocks to plum-met while exit options were closing down amid plunging turnover.

After United Power, other leading trading companies in terms of value were Sha-sha Denim, Khulna Power Company Limited, Western Marine Shipyard, IFAD Au-tos, ACI, Mobil Jamuna and Saif Powertech. l

Optimistic portion of the market had nightmare of a day, watching stocks to plummet while exit options were closing down amid plunging turnover

ANALYST

Daily capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4308.44831 (-) 1.49% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1634.38612 (-) 1.32% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 13260.29030 (-) 1.27% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 10810.61640 (-) 1.64% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 8070.37120 (-) 1.57% ▼

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change % ClosingY DHIGH DLOW AvgPrice

United Power-N 451,472 92.54 21.85 212.60 7.05 198.60 215.00 194.00 204.98Ifad Autos -N 273,838 21.01 4.96 77.50 -3.49 80.30 81.90 76.20 76.72WesternMarine -N 347,409 17.14 4.05 47.80 -6.64 51.20 51.50 46.90 49.35Shahjibazar Power-N 94,988 16.38 3.87 164.70 -2.60 169.10 183.00 163.80 172.46Shasha Denims -N 339,545 15.02 3.55 43.60 -4.39 45.60 45.40 43.00 44.25MJL BD Ltd.-A 96,204 12.48 2.95 126.90 -3.86 132.00 134.30 126.20 129.76LafargeS Cement-Z 110,576 12.16 2.87 109.70 3.30 106.20 111.50 108.70 109.97SAIF Powertec-N 148,555 11.09 2.62 72.60 -4.97 76.40 76.70 71.30 74.66UNITED AIR-A 1,244,753 9.76 2.30 7.60 -5.00 8.00 8.20 7.50 7.84BD Submarine Cable-A 84,836 9.73 2.30 112.90 -2.34 115.60 117.80 112.00 114.71BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 286,362 9.07 2.14 30.80 -3.45 31.90 32.50 30.60 31.67Agni Systems -A 278,364 8.73 2.06 31.20 2.97 30.30 31.80 30.90 31.37Jamuna Oil -A 39,942 8.06 1.90 197.20 -1.84 200.90 205.70 196.20 201.81ACI Limited- A 15,677 8.02 1.89 501.60 -4.75 526.60 528.30 495.00 511.35Khulna Power-A 113,725 7.45 1.76 64.20 -2.73 66.00 67.50 63.50 65.47

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

United Power-N 2,954,622 606.84 13.18 211.70 6.22 199.30 214.80 195.30 205.39Shasha Denims -N 6,327,348 282.30 6.13 44.00 -4.56 46.10 45.80 43.50 44.62Khulna Power-A 3,015,894 197.35 4.29 64.10 -2.88 66.00 67.50 63.80 65.44WesternMarine -N 3,342,333 165.02 3.59 47.90 -6.81 51.40 51.90 46.80 49.37Ifad Autos -N 1,946,818 152.79 3.32 77.50 -3.25 80.10 82.00 76.80 78.48ACI Limited- A 282,023 143.92 3.13 498.90 -5.69 529.00 536.90 494.30 510.30MJL BD Ltd.-A 1,042,640 134.91 2.93 126.70 -4.31 132.40 133.50 125.30 129.40SAIF Powertec-N 1,786,449 133.80 2.91 73.00 -4.70 76.60 77.00 72.20 74.90Agni Systems -A 3,972,526 124.52 2.71 31.10 1.30 30.70 31.70 30.90 31.34Grameenphone-A 361,175 120.85 2.63 332.00 -2.06 339.00 340.10 330.00 334.61SummitAlliancePort.-A 1,839,277 105.02 2.28 55.50 -1.42 56.30 58.70 55.10 57.10Shahjibazar Power-N 587,352 102.09 2.22 166.20 -2.12 169.80 184.00 165.00 173.82Square Pharma -A 286,684 73.50 1.60 256.00 0.04 255.90 258.50 255.70 256.37Baraka Power-A 2,147,247 68.94 1.50 31.20 -4.29 32.60 33.20 31.00 32.10BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 1,963,694 61.52 1.34 30.60 -4.08 31.90 32.10 30.40 31.33

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, shed 121 points to 8,086

BUSINESS20DT


‘Graduates mismatch with job market demand’ n Tribune Report

An incongruity between the country’s educa-tion system and job market demands lead to a higher unemployment rate, speakers told a seminar in Dhaka yesterday.

They observed that every year a great many new graduates add to the existing num-ber of unemployed youths.

The observation came at a workshop titled “Opportunity out of Crisis” jointly organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try (DCCI) and MIL-Leadership in Internation-al Management.

The objective of the workshop is to address the current business crisis and bring out the best opportunities from it.

“The number of unemployed graduates is increasing day by day in Bangladesh because of the country’s education system that is in-congruous in the job market setting,” said Hossain Khaled, President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).

In Bangladesh, every year almost half the total number of graduates enters the job mar-ket, but they hardly get jobs akin to their � eld of study while the rest stay unemployed, add-ed Khaled.

Currently, 47% graduates in Bangladesh are unemployed according to a special report of world renowned British magazine, The Economist.

“Employers struggle to � nd suitable uni-versity graduates, while university graduates don’t pair with skills in demand,” said Ahmed Sheikh Asif, country director of LIM-Leader-ship in International Management, in his key-note presentation.

There is a teaching or learning gap and the curriculum is inadequate or a mismatch for the workplace, said Ashif.

He also said applicants have low skills in English literacy, computers, communica-tions, problem solving and entrepreneurship.

The goal is to introduce unique models for education and awareness to increase student

exposure to employment and increase em-ployability to work with the government and industry to create jobs in focused segments, he added.

The trade consultant suggested some de-velopment areas including ICT, alternate energy, hydroelectricity, road and rail infra-structure, tourism, manufacturing and low-cost housing.

Referring to political violence, Khaled said: “Bangladesh has a great potential to bounce back, but the key challenges to accelerating growth are maintaining political stability and resolving the remaining uncertainties.”

To bring back business con� dence, political stability is essential for enhancing growth and creation of employment, he said, adding that Bangladesh will of course require removal of obstacles such as infrastructural bottlenecks, institutional weakness and political instabil-ity.

LIM LLC is working to create compatibili-ty between education and employment and develop entrepreneurs, identify the missing skills and knowledge among employees and facilitate new modules for focusing on indus-try segments. l

The number of unemployed graduates is increasing day by day in Bangladesh because of the country’s education system that is incongruous in the job market setting

21D

TTUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015T

-JUNCTION

Tech dribble

Photo: Bigstock

22 basketball diariesTall tales

23reviewBlackBerry Leap

24on the webA world without bordernewsBangladesh’s � rtst platform

INSIDE

n Chisty Rahim

With Yao Ming knocked kneed to the ground and with dunk after dunk in almost every match, 5’7” Nate Robbinson was a rising star back in 2013. Without a doubt he is an animal when it comes to his athletic abilities. On entering Madison Square Garden, he started o� on the bench cheering for his team till the day came when he made 34 points against Brooklyn in the playo� s of 2013. And what an awesome performance it was!

And then there is Damon Stoudamire whose impact on the whole NBA world left everyone in wonder. This rookie of the year ’96 was only 5’10” and had already won hearts with his lightning speed and high range in jump while earning the title “Mighty Mouse.”

To name a few more, there was Muggsy Bogues, who was the shortest and the fastest player in the NBA with a height of 5’3”; Slater Martin, a player in Minneapolis Lakers team, won four NBA championships between 1950 and 1954. But let’s not forget Calvin Murphy who is well known for taking down the 6’9” giant Sidney Wicks and making him bleed through the nose during a confrontation.

In our country, a 5’7” player dunking on the court is a miracle! The average height of an NBA player in today’s league is 6’7”. But the bar is much lower in our country. Most players below six feet cannot even touch the ring.

“Basketball is a game of height, which mainly involves reaching up as far as possible and throwing the ball through the hoop. Height is obviously an advantage for any player in this game. In my numerous years of experience as the coach for the national basketball team, I have seen the Afghan basketball team, the Indian basketball team and even the Chinese basketball team. They all have tall point guards and post guards; a fact which always created a bit of a challenge for my team. Teams with the tallest players in the court always get the rebounds. So a tall player has always been considered an asset in this sport,” states Md. Wasif Ali, National Team Coach.

“Height is an important factor but

short players have time and again proven themselves to be quite dangerous in the court as well. I have seen them streaking in between giants making their way towards the ring e� ortlessly. But those players were experienced and well trained. Being a six footer myself I think it’s much easier for a tall player to get a score as all they have to do is take a jump shot. But short players can’t do that. Without an e� ective fade away shot or a fake they get blocked or miss the shot,” laughingly remarks Tarek Aziz, post guard of

Bangladesh National Basketball team.It’s apparent that players who are taller

and have a larger built have an advantage in strength and in almost every other attribute of this sport. But in most cases, they lack in speed and agility. Some even lack the skills of dribbling the ball properly. They have a harder time moving swiftly across the court with the ball still in their hands. But is that all that matters in the game of basketball? Other dynamics such as ball handling, agility and speed are also taken into account.

On the other hand, shorter players complain about how the ring is too far above them to reach and how hard it is to dribble past a tall player. But the fact of the matter is, it all comes down to skills: if you’ve got ‘em,

you can get ‘em!“I have been playing since 2006 and I

always had di� culty facing players who are taller than I am. For example when we played against India, they had two seven footers guarding the post and I almost always had to take an outside shot because getting in was virtually impossible. So to overcome that, I have been practicing for a long time, mostly doing weight trainings to increase my range of jump and build my core energy,” says Soyab Khan, National Team basketball player

and the only six footer to be able to perform a dunk.

So, there you have it! Height does matter and it’s a gift to cherish if you are a dedicated basketball player. But to those who do not posses this advantage and � nd themselves amidst oblivion, you can always make up for it with determination, focus and passion. l

Tall talesBigger and better

height matters

TourneyTUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

T-JUNCTION22DT

In my numerous years of experience as the coach for the national basketball team, I have seen the Afghan basketball team, the Indian basketball team and even the Chinese basketball team.

Being a six footer myself I think it’s much easier for a tall player to get a score as all they have to do is take a jump shot. But short players can’t do that. Without an e� ective fade away shot or a fake they get blocked or miss the shot

I have been playing since 2006 and I always had di� culty facing players who are taller than I am

troubleshoot

review

Gadgets

Young and restlessBlackBerry is now targeting young professionals

T-JUNCTION 23D

T


Through the washn Mahmood Hossain

Dealing with headphones is one thing, but your trusty-travel pals, the earphones can get really dirty. This is no secret and you best not be surprised. Imagine all the oils and ear wax that has been built up on your earphones. It’s a terrible imagining, and something we can no longer avoid. But it’s not just about being clean or keeping it dirty. The built up, disgusting remnant can actually disturb the quality of the audio. The impact of the sound deteriorates over time, so it’s best to keep your headphones and earphones clean on a regular basis.

• This is what you’ll need and what you need to do, in order to clean your head devices properly:

• Dish with soap and warm water• Soft cloth• Toothbrush (Obviously not the one

you use for your teeth)• Small towel

Directions:1. After you’ve gathered all the sup-

plies, wet the cloth in the soaped

water. It’s important to not completely soak it but to make it a little damp. Don’t for-get we are still deal-ing with electronics here, the less water the better.

2. Now re-move both the ear pads or the tips, if possible. This lets you thor-oughly wipe down each of the ear pads, without having to drip water directly into your headphones.

3. Gently wipe down each headphone pads or in-ear tips with the damn cloth.

4. Now, for the debris and residue

department. This where an old toothbrush comes into play. It’s easy to brush away the grime that is left over.

5. After brushing, gently wipe the rest of the headphone or earphones with the damp cloth.

6. Like anything else that’s been washed, it’ll need some air drying

time. Once it’s dry you can attach your pads and tips back onto your head pieces.

It’s a real simple process and habit that we should all take up. And certain brands might have particular procedures written on their websites on how to clean their products. Give it a try and do some Google searching, if need be. l

n Mahmood Hossain

This might have gone under the radar of many, but the new BlackBerry Leap is trying to cater to the younger generation. While the older players of the game continue their business-like loyalty to the physical keyboards on their BlackBerry handsets, the younger might be inclined to the all-touch display on Leap. The target market wit this new handset happens to be for the young professionals.

This Leap, however, isn’t too big of a leap, which isn’t a bad thing. What we mean by that is it possess a 5-inch, 720p touchscreen. Yes, all the other leading smartphones are boasting a 1080p and some with larger displays, but BlackBerry is hoping to keep their signature intact. BlackBerry has never been about � ash or bells and whistles. They are professionals, that’s their forte. Design wise, the Leap follows in a similar mold of past Xperia and Nokia phones.

The new device will be running BlackBerry OS 10.3.1, which has made little tweaks here and there regarding the look and feel. There are a few new features and manages background apps in a more convenient way. The same

can be said about its multitasking abilities, naturally improving from older models. Consumers have always had one real major complaint about BlackBerry and that’s their lack of apps. But on a phone that is all about productivity and organising, the more popular apps across platforms can be accessed now. BlackBerry 10 devices can now run certain Android apps so there won’t seem to be a need for unnecessary data consumption.

With all that said, BlackBerry is not getting rid of their physical keyboards. It would be unheard of; it’s like Apple losing it’s brilliant ecosystem. You might even assume the new Leap to be light, but it feels chunky even at 9.4 millimeters thin. Again, it should feel as if you’re holding a solid phone and ready for work. With a 2.800mAh battery (about 25 hours of battery life), 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm 8960 processor, the navigation is pretty darn smooth. Not to worry, the insides

seem well-tuned. The phone will be available in Europe from

April 29, and soon after Leap will be in the global market. It will cost about $300 USD so

you can make your estimates from there. We’ll give this a thumbs up, especially for those career driven 20 somethings. l

Even your earphones need a spring cleaning

Photo: Bigstock

Tech

A world without borders

GIONEE grand launch in Bangladeshnews

on the web

GIONEE, one of the China’s largest mobile manufacturer companies, has o� cially launched in Bangladesh for the � rst time. GIONEE Grand Launch in Bangladesh event was held on April 19, 2015 in Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden. Global Director of Sales, GIONEE, Mr. Frank and Managing Director, Mr. Fidel along with honorable guests, business partners, journalists and valuable patrons were present on the occasion.

Since 2011, the GIONEE brand moved rapidly to expand its presence into India, Nigeria, Vietnam, Taiwan, Myanmar, Thailand, Philippines, and so on. After

triumphin 42 countries GIONEE has � nally put its mark in Bangladesh. GIONEE exports 1.5 million phones per month to overseas market.

GIONEE always put the intelligent innovation which compliments and enriches the fashion-style statement, ahead of everything. GIONEE has its own Product Designers, R&D Team and Manufacture Plant.

Primarily GIONEE is launching 6 products in Bangladesh, starting from Feature Phones to Flagship Products. GIONEE’s new Flagship Product ELIFE S7 will be now available in di� erent stores around the country.

GIONEE logo has been launched in a startling way; the products have been showcased through innovative Fashion Choreography. An Experience Zone was set for the guests to get familiar with all the products. An outstanding performance by famous singer MILA added � avor to the event.

GIONEE hopes the journey will be an exciting one. l

T-JUNCTION24DT


This year on Pohela Boishakh Bangladesh got its � rst social networking platform og0. It has been speci� cally designed to serve the populace of Bangladesh. The software caters to a wide segment of the local market and is aimed at increasing the use of internet for communications. As the � rst local social platform that is

designed and operated completely by home grown Bangladeshi engineers it includes special features that allows users to make calls even in low signals, even where 3G is not available. Such robustness of the program will allow for multiple usages while e� ectively setting the stage for a deep rural reach. One of the goals behind the creation of og0 is to increase data usage and internet all over the country and especially in the deep rural pockets.

With this application Bangladesh has � rmly stepped into a new era in digitized communication. This local application is currently allows only voice calls, chat and group chat. However, plans for exciting new features are already in the pipelines. The company behind this bold new venture is Inter cloud. A company run by Bangladeshi techno entrepreneurs who harbor a far sighted vision of a fully digitzed Bangladesh. The app can be downloaded from Google’s Play Store & iOS. l

Bangladesh’s � rst platform

n Ishtiaque Mahmud

You don’t often hear a couple of guys from Bangladesh going all the way to Silicon Valley and not only making a name for themselves, but doing it in 100 countries all over the world. In a recent chat with Fahim Masoud Aziz and Sakib Hassan aka Sauro, the brains behind Backpack, we discovered what drove them to such heights of success.

Backpack provides a hassle-free, secure and cost-e� ective online overseas shopping experience and the way it works is delightfully simple. Let’s say you want to buy a camera and you know it’s unavailable in Bangladesh. You log on to backpackbang.com, � nd your camera, register, order, and make payments via credit card, paypal or Bkash. On the other end, a Backpack registered traveler is about to make a trip to Bangladesh with some idle luggage space, so she purchases the camera for you, lands in your country and delivers it to you by notifying you to pick it up from a designated spot. What’s in it for the traveler you ask? She just made $300 for her troubles.

If you wish to become a traveler, simply enter traveler information, receive and carry products, and deliver them and earn money. If you are concerned over security issues, Backpack ensures safety on three levels. Firstly all the product requests and communications happen through Backpack and their system closely monitors the behaviour of users. Secondly, the items that travelers carry are digitally screened through their system and � nally, there isn’t any cash involved. On top of these three levels of safety measures, they also have a $10,000 traveler guarantee to keep travelers protected.

Initially, Fahim and Sauro wanted to

build something clever and fast. After brainstorming through a few ideas, Backpack felt like the perfect, primarily because it solved a major problem they had both faced in the past – little or no access to products they need from beyond the border. Furthermore, having lived in the US for three years, they also saw the potential of utilising travelers in the way Backpack does now.

The � nal plunge, however, came from the users. It was early in February 2014 that they had built the site in a week and made it live in virtually no time. Simply forwarding the link of the site to a couple of friends and asking for feedback ushered in tens of thousands of people from over 80 countries. They received many feature requests and started working on them and the current Backpack started taking shape from a simple 5-6 page web-app.

Managing both travelers and shoppers may seem like a near impossible task, but these two entrepreneurs make sure the connection � ows � uidly. They solve logistics problems with statistical inference models, machine learning systems and relevant algorithms. “We tell the traveler how much luggage space the product would occupy and even go as far as to show them a 3d model of their luggage with the product inside it.”

From the get go, with Fahim and Sauro it was all about vision and lightning speed execution. “On the road to success, you are bound to make mistakes,” says Fahim “We simply decided to drill through all our mistakes as quickly as possible and put them behind us.” As it turns out they don’t hold much faith on theories. “With us, you’re either passionately neck deep in the real time facts and feedbacks, or you’re not here at all.”

Backpack’s philosophy is deeply rooted in delighting users. They use a system called

Net Promoter Score (NPS) to measure how happy their users are on a scale of 1 to 10 and where they can improve. “I’m extremely happy to say that all transactions received a perfect 10 score in the month of March,” said Fahim with a smile.

Currently they are focusing on getting the products in the hands of shoppers within seven days. When one orders something from eBay in the US, it often takes more than two weeks whereas through Backpack, shoppers can get something from halfway around the world in half the time - the experience is magical. On the other hand, they have already implemented their $300/trip programme - every traveler that goes through Backpack makes $300 if approved.

“There is a pleasure in doing something with a keen attention to detail; we never wanted to build a run-of-the-mill company, we have always hoped to create a work of art. With the fruition of our dreams, Backpack will improve people’s lives on a more fundamental level, the way lives changed with the introduction of google, electricity or the wheel. Eventually, our vision is to create a community of shoppers with unlimited access to any product from any country; borders will become an obsolete concept as far as they are concerned.” l

Photos: Courtesy

25D


DJOKOVIC ADDS ANOTHER MASTERS TO HIS SERIES

SUNNY NOT SURPRISED WITH SERIES WIN

AFRIDI, SHEHZAD AND TANVIR ARRIVE FOR T20I

26 2927

Lancashire batsman Liam Livingstone has smashed a world record

350 in just 138 balls during Club Championship game against Caldy. He smashed 34 fours and 27 sixes

350 IN ONE DAY!

Sport

Matured Tigers come of age n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Bangladesh’s sensational 2-0 ODI series tri-umph over Pakistan has been lauded by the country’s entire cricketing fraternity and more than anything, the cricket-mad pub-lic are delighted with the fact that the Tigers have come of age in recent times.

The series win over Pakistan provided a lot of cherishable memories to the Bangla-desh fans. The Tigers registered their � rst win over the opposition, across all formats, in 16 years and had to wait only two days before posting another victory to seal the series. The series win meant Pakistan became the fourth Test-playing nation after Zimbabwe, New Zea-

land and the West Indies to concede an ODI series defeat to the Tigers.

Gone are the days when Bangladesh de-pended on a couple of star players in order to eke out a win. The emergence of several per-formers have given new hope to the supporters and the series win over Pakistan has no doubt ushered in a new era for Bangladesh cricket.

Previously, Bangladesh were unable to fol-low up an impressive series performance with another one. This was clearly evident in the 2007 ICC World Cup when the Tigers reached the Super Eights only to lose their next four series against India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa.

It was, therefore, imperative for the Tigers

to prove that their quarter-� nal appearance in the 2015 ICC World Cup was no � uke as they headed into the bilateral home series against Pakistan.

Everyone, including Bangladesh ODI skip-per Mashrafe bin Mortaza, were eagerly wait-ing to see if the Tigers could replicate their World Cup performance in the Pakistan series.

However, if the � rst two ODIs are anything to go by, the Tigers have turned around a corner. The Bangladeshi cricketers’ changed mentality and attitude were noticeable for all to see and their professional approach af-ter winning the second ODI comprehensively was indeed a breath of fresh air.

Ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan correctly

predicted that the home side would start as favourites in the Pakistan series but even a de-termined cricketer like him would have been amazed at the clinical manner of the Tigers’ victories.

Compared to all the Test-playing nations, Pakistan were perhaps the Tigers’ only nem-esis as the latter came up short in almost all of the matches. However, the past is very much forgotten now as the new-look Tigers have shown that they will be anything but pusho-vers from now onwards. And Pakistan should be careful for if they do not improve drastical-ly, and soon, they might not take anything out of the remaining ODI and Twenty20 interna-tional, let alone the two Test matches. l

Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed (L) waits outside the Pan Paci� c Sonargaon Hotel yesterday while Sabbir Rahman and Rony Talukder enjoy a ride inside the team hotel MAINOOR ISLAM MANIKYOUNG AND RESTLESS

Sport26DT


Shakib al HasanBanglalink, Singer, Lifebuoy and many more

Tamim Iqbal Grameenphone, Fair & Lovely Max Fairness,

Kaymu and many more

Mashrafe bin MortazaKool, Godrej, Booster Biscuits and many more

Mush� qur RahimGoldmark, Grameenphone

MahmudullahHeidelberg Cement, Alooz Chips

Nasir HossainGrameenphone, Glaxose D

Mominul HaqueAvira Antivirus, Foodpanda

Rubel HossainRobi

Anamul HaqueGrameenphone

Taskin AhmedGrameenphone

Soumya SarkarFoodpanda

Tigers’ brand value at an all-time high n Mazhar Uddin

Ever since their brilliant performance in the recently concluded 2015 ICC World Cup, the Bangladesh cricketers have been undoubted-ly the � rst choice when it comes to the private � rms choosing a representative or ambassa-dor to promote their product.

The Tigers followed up their impressive World Cup appearance with a convincing ODI series victory and as a result, the Bangladesh cricketers are now the hottest and biggest ce-lebrities of the country, backed up with a huge fan following.

The companies, however, have changed their mindset as far as their recruitment pro-cess is concerned.

Previously, the organisations preferred ace cricketers like Shakib al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal to showcase their product. Later, de-pendable players like Mush� qur Rahim and Mashrafe bin Mortaza were also added to the roster but in recent times, the trend has

changed completely as the companies start-ed choosing young and aspiring cricketers to champion their cause.

Mahmudullah emerged as the new superstar after smashing scintillating back-to-back centu-ries in the � agship event. Following his World Cup heroics, Mahmudullah was duly rewarded as he was associated with a cement company.

Rubel Hossain, who was one of the World Cup’s success stories, saw his popularity rise to an all-new-level as he was signed up by a renowned mobile operator. A new television commercial showing Rubel breaking a stump while bowling has created a lot of buzz among the Bangladesh fans.

The Tigers’ newest batting sensation Soumya Sarkar and the diminutive Mominul Haque were not left behind either. The duo signed a contract with global online food-or-dering market-place Foodpanda. As part of the agreement, Soumya and Mominul will sport the Foodpanda colours on their bats.

According to Zubair Siddiky, managing

director of Foodpanda, it is no surprise that the Bangladesh cricketers are being chosen for several organisations, given their perfor-mance in the World Cup.

“Ever since their brilliant performance in the World Cup, the companies are now more willing to get associated with the Bangladesh cricketers as they are the most popular celebri-ties of the country. The cricketers have a huge fan-following which helps the � rms to pro-mote their brands,” Zubair told Dhaka Tribune yesterday. Zubair added that more companies will come forward with lucrative o� ers if the Tigers can maintain their level of performance.

The Tigers’ popularity is at an all-time high. Moreover, the cricketers’ fame will also rise to a new level through the branding of di� erent products. The Bangladesh cricketers seem to be enjoying being associated with the organ-isations and long may it continue because if more and more companies come forward with their o� ers, it only means that the Tigers have been performing consistently. l

Pakistan quartet arrive for T20In Minhaz Uddin Khan

Four Pakistan cricketers, including Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi, reached Dhaka yester-day ahead of the solitary T20 international against Bangladesh, slated for this Friday in Mirpur.

The Pakistan International Airlines � ight carrying the four cricketers – Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad, Mukhtar Ahmed and Sohail Tanvir – reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Air-port at 12:15pm. However, it took the quartet

more than two hours to reach the team hotel due to heavy tra� c.

The home side have already secured the three-match ODI series 2-0 with the third and � nal game still to be played. Consequently, the Pakistan ODI squad are dejected but Afridi opined that he saw it coming.

“I am not surprised at the way Bangladesh played in the � rst two matches. They have been playing well for some time now so they are in good momentum, especially in their bowling,” Afridi told the media yesterday.

The big-hitting cricketer added that the Pa-kistan ODI squad contain young players and insisted that they should be given more time before expecting good results from them.

“This is a young team. They need more time, so you have to give them more time,” said Afridi.

The 35-year-old cricketer did not waste a single second after answering these two ques-tions and rushed to the elevators. His parting words were: “I will talk more in the � eld. See you guys.” l

Pakistan Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad (top-right) and Sohail Tanvir (bottom-right) arrive at Pan Paci� c Sonargaon Hotel yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Sport 27D

T

Abahani, Muktijoddha maintain winning runn Shishir Hoque

Abahani Limited and Muktijoddha SKC contin-ued their unbeaten streak in the Manyavar Bangla-desh Premier League, defeating Team BJMC

and 10-man Sheikh Russel KC respectively at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

It was a comfortable victory for the Sky Blues as two national players – Shahedul Alam Shahed and Abdul Baten Majumder Komol – etched their names on the score-sheet in a 2-0 win over Team BJMC while Enamul Haque carried on with his amazing run of form to score again, enabling the All Reds to their fourth consecutive victory following a narrow 2-1 victory over Sheikh Russel.

The � rst half ended 1-1 but the scenario of the game changed completely when Sheikh Russel were reduced to ten men only three minutes into the second half as juvenile mid-� elder Hemanta Vincent Biswas received his marching orders.

In-form skipper Enamul netted his fourth league goal to put Muktijoddha ahead in the 21st minute. The former national striker vol-leyed home past Sheikh Russel goalkeeper Mamun Khan following a Rokonuzzaman Kanchan cross from the right � ank.

The delight lasted for only eight minutes though as Sheikh Russel converted their only chance of the game to bring parity. Camer-oonian forward Paul Emile equalised with a neat header from a Zahid Hossain free-kick. Talented winger Zahid has now assisted all of Sheikh Russel’s four goals in three matches.

Sheikh Russel, however, received a blow right after resumption as they were reduced to ten men. Hemanta was shown his second yellow card for a malicious tackle on Egyp-tian Fekri Zeida. Muktis soon took advantage, courtesy Camara Sarba, who sealed victory in the 63rd minute. Receiving a cross from Saydul Haque, the Senegalese forward scored past the onrushing Mamun.

Meanwhile in the day’s other match, the Sky Blues dominated the entire game on their way to a 2-0 win over Team BJMC. Abahani were all over their opponents with their neat passes, lovely ball-control and eye-catching build-up.

Abahani grabbed the lead in the 32nd minute through Shahed who unleashed a scorcher from outside the penalty area. Abdul Baten Komol made it 2-0 just � ve minutes later after a bril-liant defence-splitting lobbed pass from Nasir.

Abahani are third with 10 points, two less than second-placed Muktijoddha, while Sheikh Russel remained at sixth with � ve points. Team BJMC are eighth with one point from four matches. l


BCL longer-version begins todayThe third edition of the Bangladesh Cricket League longer-version will get underway today when defending champions Prime Bank South Zone take on BCB North Zone in Fatullah. The opening four-dayer will commence at 9:30pm. The � rst-class competition will be played in accordance with the single-league format with the top team of the points table emerging as champions. The second four-day-er between Islami Bank East Zone, winners of the � rst-ever BCL one-dayers, and Walton Central Zone will be played in Chittagong from April 30-May 3.

– Tribune Desk

No fracture for SilvaManchester City playmaker David Silva has not su� ered any fractures despite appearing to have sustained a serious injury last weekend, the En-glish champions said Monday. Silva was carried o� on a stretcher midway through the second half of City’s 2-0 Premier League win at home to West Ham on Sunday after being caught in the face by an elbow from Hammers mid� elder Cheikhou Kouyate. Before he was taken o� , Silva was treated on the � eld at Eastlands for several minutes, raising concerns about the severity of his injury. But Silva himself moved to calm fears over his � tness by tweeting late on Sunday: “Many thanks to all the messages of support, all the tests have gone well and I’m already home.

– AFP

Nabi steps down as Afghanistan skipperMohammad Nabi has stepped down as captain of the Afghanistan national cricket team after more than two years in the job, citing his own poor form and the team’s performance. “I have served Afghanistan’s national team as captain for more than two years. I tried my best to bring victories to our team and the nation,” he wrote in his letter to the Afghanistan Cricket Board. “Given the recent performance of the team and particularly my out of form status, I would like you to accept my resignation as captain and allow me to continue to play as a team player.” Afghanistan made their World Cup debut under Nabi’s captaincy this year, making their mark with a historic one-wicket win over Scotland.

– AFP

Zidane, Ronaldo team up in UN Ebola fundraiser Football idols Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo will lead a star-studded team in a friendly match on Monday aimed at raising money to help Ebola-hit Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The 12th annual “Match Against Poverty”, organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will be contested in France between French club AS Saint-Étienne and a team of past and present international players. Former France captain Zidane and renowned Brazilian striker Ronaldo, both UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors, will be joined by Ivorian Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, retired Dutch mid� elder Clarence Seedorf and ex-Brazilian captain Cafu. “We are delighted to play a part in helping people, communities and countries get back on their feet after the damage that Ebola has caused,” Ronaldo said. The Ebola epidemic is believed to have killed more than 10,600 people and infected 25,791 in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

– Reuters

QUICK BYTES

RESULTSSheikh Russel 1 – 2 Muktijoddha

Paul Emile 30 Enamul Haque 21 Camara Sarba 63

Team BJMC 0 - 2 Abahani Shahedul Alam Shahed 32 Abdul Baten Komol 37

TODAY’S MATCHESFarashganj SC v Rahmatganj MFS, 4:15PM

Brothers Union v Mohammedan SC, 6:30PM

Sunny not surprised with series winn Mazhar Uddin

Bangladesh might have clinched the three-match ODI series against Pakistan with a game remaining but the Tigers did not go over-board with their celebrations following the comprehensive seven-wicket win in the second ODI in Mirpur last Sunday.

Left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny, one of the most consistent bowlers for the Tigers having taken four wickets from the � rst two ODIs, reasoned that although they are happy with their achievement, they are still hungry for more success.

“We are not amazed after beating Pakistan as we knew if we play our best cricket we can beat any side in the world. We never planned any celebration and we are all focused on the third game. It may bring us harm if we get overjoyed with our success. Quite a few series are coming up. The more we get habituated with wins, the better it will be for us in the future,” Sunny told the media at Pan Paci� c Sonargaon Hotel yesterday.

“We are not thinking about the whitewash. Rather, we just want to play good cricket,” he added. lBangladesh spinner Arafat Sunny speaks to the media at the team hotel yesterday MI MANIK

Ferrari revived, but Mercedes retain controln AFP, Manama

Buoyed by the a revitalised driver pairing and a much-improved power unit, Ferrari have breathed new life into Formula One’s world championship battle this year – and appear ready to make it stick.

The Italian team, which ended a two-year win drought when Sebastian Vettel won the Malaysian Grand Prix, saw the ‘ice man’ Kimi Raikkonen roll back the years on Sunday with a resurgent second place behind champion-ship leader Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

This form has lifted them into a strong sec-ond place in the constructors’ championship behind champions Mercedes and set up the prospect of a thrilling title � ght as the series heads back to Europe next month for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Finn Raikkonen, 35, who won the champi-onship with Ferrari in 2007, has rekindled his own form and blended with new boy, four-time champion Vettel this season.

And, for many observers, including Ferrari team chief Maurizio Arrivabene, he is showing the performance levels that will lead to him earning a new contract with the scarlet scuderia.

But talk of Ferrari catching and passing Mercedes in overall performance on a consist-ent basis may well be premature.

Ferrari are planning another major up-grade to their power package for the Canadian Grand Prix in June.

Raikkonen, on current form, not only deserves another year at Ferrari, but could emerge as a title contender, according to Ar-rivabene whose hands-on approach to his job has revived team spirit. l

Sport28DT


Gladiators keep on winning in basketballn Shishir Hoque

Dhaka Gladiators posted their second suc-cessive victory in the Citycell Federation Cup Basketball Championship 2015 outplaying Wraiths by a colossal 122-29 points at Dhan-mondi Basketball Gymnasium yesterday.

The victors led the � rst half 75-5. Shoyeb and Bappi caged 43 and 23 points respectively for the Gladiators.

Meanwhile last Sunday night, the Gladia-tors began their campaign with a comfortable victory of 78-48 points over Bakshibazar Club. Shoyeb and Shaon netted 32 and 18 points re-spectively for the Gladiators while Abdullah and Fardin scored 11 and seven points respec-tively for the losing side.

In the other match, Hornets defeated Rang-ers by 77-53 points with Moshiur and Morshed scoring 21 and 19 points respectively. l

Barcelona keen to show PSG no mercyBayern face make-or-break ‘� nal’ against Porton AFP, Barcelona

Barcelona defender Dani Alves has warned his side against complacency when they host a Paris Saint-Germain side bolstered by the re-turn of key personnel through suspension to the Camp Nou on Tuesday.

Two goals from Luis Suarez took Barca to the brink of a seventh Champions League semi-� nal in eight seasons as they romped to a 3-1 win in the � rst-leg of the quarter-� nal tie in Paris last week.

However, a late own goal from Jeremy Mathieu o� ered the French champions a glim-mer of hope as they welcome back top-scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic and mid� eld maestro Mar-co Verratti.

“We will not speculate with the result be-cause we don’t know how to,” Alves, who has been linked with a move to PSG come the end

of the season, told Barca’s website.“The philosophy and the spirit of the team

is to challenge for every ball as if it was the last.“We cannot think about our advantage, but

just control the game and look to score from the � rst minute. That is the only way to over-come PSG.”

Barca remained on course for a treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League with a hard-fought 2-0 win over Valencia on Saturday thanks to goals in the � rst and last minute from Suarez and Lionel Messi, who registered his 400th goal for the club.

And Luis Enrique’s men will also have key players back available as Alves returns after he too missed the � rst-leg through suspension, whilst Andres Iniesta is expected to overcome the back bruising he su� ered at the Parc des Princes in time to feature.

It would take a remarkable turnaround for

PSG to progress to the semi-� nals for the � rst time since 1995 as Barca haven’t lost at home by more than one goal for nearly two years, when Bayern Munich rounded o� a historic 7-0 aggregate thrashing of the Catalans with a 3-0 victory at the Camp Nou.

Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola admits Tues-day’s European quarter-� nal, second-leg, tie against Porto is e� ectively a “� nal” for Bayern Munich with the injury-hit Bavarians staring down the barrel of a Champions League exit.

Bayern’s dream of repeating their 2013 European, league and cup treble was left in tatters last Wednesday when Ricardo Quares-ma poached two early goals before captain Jackson Martinez grabbed a late third to seal Porto’s 3-1 win in the � rst-leg at the Estadio do Dragao.

In four previous attempts, Bayern have never over-turned a two-goal de� cit in Eu-

ropean competition and Guardiola knows his side face an uphill task at the Allianz Arena.

To compound his problems, Guardio-la has eight players on the injury list which comes after team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muel-ler-Wohlfahrt dramatically quit last Thursday after 40 years with Bayern, citing a deteriora-tion of faith in the medical sta� .

Bayern certainly need a tighter defensive display having fallen foul of Porto’s pressing game.

Porto remained second in the Portuguese league as coach Julen Lopetegui made nine changes for their 1-0 win at Academica on Saturday to rest his � rst-choice side as winger Hernani’s � rst-half goal settled the matter.

Porto also have a crucial week as they head to Munich before facing Portuguese leaders Ben� ca next Sunday with Lopetegui’s side only three points behind the Lisbon giants. l

Croatia doctor blames Carlo for Modric injuryn AFP, Zagreb

Croatia’s national team doctor blames Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti for Luka Modric’s latest knee injury.

“Carlo Ancelotti is guilty for Modric’s trou-bles,” Croatia’s chief medical o� cer Boris Nemec told the Sportske Novosti daily.

Modric’s latest setback comes after a � ve-month injury lay-o� .

And Nemec said: “Although Luka was out for competitive football for months, ever since he returned he (Ancelotti) was forcing him at every match. He did not spare him at all, on the contrary he burdened him.”

Nemec, a prominent knee expert, added: “The injury is the consequences of the tired-ness.” Real Madrid said on Sunday that the tests carried out on Modric by the club’s med-ical team have diagnosed a sprain in the me-dial collateral ligament in his right knee.

The tests were carried out after Modric suf-fered a heavy blow to his knee in a challenge with Malaga mid� elder Recio on Saturday. l

(From L to R) Barcelona’s Iniesta, Neymar, Montoya, Messi, and Rakitic attend a training session at Joan Gamper training camp yesterday REUTERS

Bangladesh Football Federation senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedy (C) shakes hands with Nurul Islam Khasru, head of marketing and sales, Channel 9 at the BFF House yesterday. As part of the agreement, Channel 9 will telecast the matches of the Manyavar Bangladesh Premier League 2014-15 season

Sport 29D

T

Inter denied, Lopez heroic in derby stalematen AFP, Milan

Inter Milan were denied a second-half penal-ty and AC Milan goalkeeper Diego Lopez per-formed heroics as an entertaining ‘Derby della Madonnina’ � nished scoreless on Sunday.

Inter, sitting a point behind Milan in 10th place as both teams continue their battle for a place in Europe, completely dominated an entertaining second half at a packed San Siro.

But despite a strong penalty shout after the ball came o� the hand of Milan defender Luca Antonelli in the box, Roberto Mancini’s men were forced to settle for a share of the points.

Inter are now eight points behind Sampdo-ria in the last Europa League spot with seven games remaining and although he was quick to praise Lopez, coach Roberto Mancini said the hosts were robbed.

Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi admitted Inter shaded the match but refused to be drawn on the penalty incident.

Mancini left both Lukas Podolski and Xherdan Shaqiri on the bench, with Ivory Coast teenager Assane Gnoukouri making his � rst derby start on the right of a three-man mid� eld alongside Gary Medel and Mateo Kovacic.

Milan started without Keisuke Honda with striker Mattia Destro also on the bench follow-ing an injury last week that meant Suso started up front alongside Menez and Bonaventura. l

Sony Six8:30PM Indian Premier League Rajasthan v Punjab Ten Action12:45PM UEFA Champions League QFs Leg 2: Barcelona v PSG Ten Sports 12:45PMUEFA Champions League 2014/15 : QFs Leg 2: Bayern v Porto Star Sports 25:30PM AFC Champions League Beijing Guoan v Brisbane Roar Star Sports 45:30PMATP World Tour 500 2015Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell

DAY’S WATCH


RESULTSInter Milan 0-0 AC Milan

Sassuolo 1-1 Torino

Berardi 45+1-pen Quagliarella 59-pen

Chievo 1-1 Udinese

Pellissier 39 Cesar 71-og

Empoli 2-2 Parma 2

Maccarone 32, Tonelli 45 Lodi 19, Belfodil 73

Palermo 2-1 Genoa

Chochev 9, 30 Falque 52

Roma 1-1 Atalanta

Totti 3-pen Denis 23-pen

Cagliari 0-3 Napoli

Callejon 24, Balzano 45+1-og, Gabbiadini 59

Djokovic adds another Masters to his series in Monte Carlon Reuters, Monte Carlo

Novak Djokovic continued his awe-inspiring run of form to claim the Monte Carlo Masters title on Sunday with a 7-5 4-6 6-3 win over Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych.

The Serbian world number one became the � rst player to clinch the opening three Mas-ters titles of the season after he triumphed in Indian Wells and Miami, notably seeing o� nine-times French Open champion Rafa Nad-al in Saturday’s semi-� nal.

Berdych, however, was no pushover in the � nal of the � rst tournament of the European claycourt season, which will culminate at Ro-land Garros from May 24-June 7.

“I thought I won this match with my heart and with battle,” said Djokovic.

“That’s how I feel like I won it. I don’t think I’ve played on the level that I wish to play and that I have played throughout the whole week.

“But also credit to Tomas, because he has played very aggressively, staying close to the line, pushing me back. So I had to defend a lot of times.”

Coming into the match with a 2-18 win-loss record against Djokovic, Berdych had little to lose and he started brightly, stealing the Ser-bian’s serve in the � rst game with a nice back-hand winner down the line, allowing his op-ponent only two points in the � rst two games.

But the Czech started to make unforced er-rors and in no time Djokovic had moved from 3-1 down to 5-3 up.

Berdych kept battling and levelled for 5-5 after reeling o� six points in a row in a see-saw contest that left Djokovic’s coach, Boris Beck-er, sliding back into his seat.

The Serbian’s rhythm, however, was too

much to handle for Berdych, who saved two set points before cracking on the third, sending a backhand into the net after Djokovic had sent him chase the ball in every corner of the court.

Berdych had his chance in the � fth game of the second set as he set up three break points but he wasted two of them with unforced er-rors and Djokovic saved the third with a ser-vice winner.

He won that game and the match was inter-rupted by rain for about 70 minutes.

Berdych broke for 4-3 on his third oppor-tunity after putting Djokovic on the back foot and he took the set after winning 15 of 19 points on his � rst serve.

His form then nosedived as Djokovic raced to a 4-0 lead in the decider, but Berdych then clawed back one of breaks and even had an-other chance to break in the seventh game.

But once again, the Czech made unforced errors and was powerless to stop Djokovic from closing it out on his serve. l

Novak Djokovic kisses his trophy after winning the � nal against Tomas Berdych at the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco on Sunday REUTERS

Spurs’ hotshot Kane equals Lineker’s 30-goal seasonn Reuters, London

Harry Kane was the toast of Tottenham Hotspur once again as the England striker scored his 30th goal of the season in their 3-1 Premier League win against Newcastle United on Sunday.

The 21-year-old has reached that total in all competitions, including 20 in the Premier League, and is the � rst Spurs player since Gary Lineker in 1991-92 to reach 30 in a season.

Kane, who has been nominated for the PFA Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year awards, has become a fans’ favourite at White Hart Lane this term, lauded as “one of our own” after coming through the youth ranks since the age of 11.

Kane also scored 80 seconds into his England debut as a substitute in a 4-0 win over Lithuania at Wembley last month. The youngster showed his killer instinct in front goal at St James’ Park, scoring the third against Newcastle.

Sixth-placed Spurs are level on 57 points with Liverpool in � fth having played a game more and Pochettino is pleased they are still competing for a European place with � ve games left. l

Young cricket player dies in Kolkata after � elding collisionn Reuters, Mumbai

Tragedy struck Indian cricket on Monday when a 20-year-old player died as a result of a freak-ish on-� eld collision with a team mate during a club match in the eastern city of Kolkata.

Four months after Australia cricketer Phil-lip Hughes died after being hit by a bouncer, Ankit Keshri, a former captain for his state’s under-19 team, battled for three days before passing away at a Kolkata hospital.

“It’s so unfortunate. He was such a promis-ing cricketer and for him to pass away in such a manner is di� cult to swallow,” Subir Gan-guly, the joint secretary of the state’s cricket association, told Reuters.

Keshri, a right-handed batsman and leg-spin-ner, came on as a substitute � elder for his club and collided with a team mate as both players went for a high catch. He brie� y lost conscious-ness but was resuscitated by a team mate, fol-lowing which, he was rushed to hospital.

According to doctors, Keshri’s condition was stable but he su� ered a cardiac arrest around midnight on Sunday and died early on Monday morning, o� cials of the state association said.

In November, Hughes passed away at the age of 25, two days after he was struck in the neck by a bouncer with the incident sparking a mas-sive outpouring of grief across the world. l

DOWNTIME30DT


CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

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

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKER

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 9 represents H so � ll H every time the � gure 9 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 Uproar (6)5 Little devil (3)7 Had a victory (3)8 Meal (6)11 Mild explosion (3)12 Domestic pig (5)14 Unbleached linen (4)16 Army chaplain (5)18 Ignominy (5)20 Lacerate (4)21 Headwear (5)23 Vestment (3)24 Exact satisfaction for (6)27 Anger (3)28 Female sheep (3)29 Northern Ireland (6)

DOWN1 Rope-splicing pin (3)2 Beard of barley (3)3 Eat (7)4 Once more (4)5 Obstruct (6)6 Condiment (6)9 Irritation (4)10 Tear (3)13 Talks much about little (7)14 Leak out (6)15 Mob (6)17 Chimed (4)19 Period of time (3)22 Wicked (4)25 Fish trap (3)26 Do wrong (3)

SUDOKU

SHOWTIME 31D


Shomi to return to the small screen

n Tribune Report

Independent Bangladeshi filmmaker Abu Shahed Emon’s debut film Jalal’s Story has been selected for screening and competing in the prestigious 33rd Fajr International Film Festival in Iran. The festival will take place from April 25 to May 2 this year.

Among movies submitted from 87 countries, Emon’s film is one of the lucky selections in Fajr this year.

Earlier, Jala’s Story was awarded by the Asian Cinema Fund 2014, from the Busan International Film Festival

and premiered in the prestigious New Currents section of the festival.

The film also made its way to the 45th Goa International Film Festival and the 7th Jaipur International Film Festival. In Jaipur, it received the award for Best Débutante Director.

Jalal’s Story, a Boutique Cinema project of Impress Telefilms, has got its censor certificate and is scheduled to be released in Bangladesh soon.

Mosharraf Karim, Touqir Ahmed, Moushumi Hamid, Shormi Mala, Arafat Rahman and Emon comprise the cast of the film. l

WHAT TO WATCHTELEVISION

Constantine BMovies Now, 9:30pmConstantine tells the story of irreverent supernatural detective John Constantine, who has literally been to hell and back.Casts Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Djimon Hounsou, Max Baker

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers AHBO, 8:30pmWhile Frodo and Sam edge closer to Mordor with the help of the shifty Gollum, the divided fellowship makes a stand against Sauron’s new ally, Saruman, and his hordes of Isengard.Casts Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Andy Serkis

Spider-Man 3 C-Star Movies, 4:09pmA strange black entity from another world bonds with Peter Parker and causes inner turmoil as he contends with new villains, temptations, and revenge.Casts Tobey Maguire, James Franco, Kirsten Dunst, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace

CELEBS ON SOCIAL

Robert Downey Jr @RobertDowneyJr Many Avengers assembled here at @MTV to bestow the Generation Award upon me. Many thanx for the good clean fun!

Chris Hemsworth @chrishemsworth .@Avengers #PressTour with these legends: @ChrisEvans @RobertDowneyJr

Denise Richards@DENISE_RICHARDSThe duck that’s been swimming in our pool had babies!!

n Showtime Desk

After a two year hiatus, Shomi Kaiser has confirmed her return to the small screen with a telefilm titled Onumuti Parthona. Directed by Chayanika Chowdhury, the telefilm brings Shomi Kaiser and Mahfuz Ahmed together, 10 years after they were

last paired. Anisur Rahman Milon and Mithila

arealso confirmed to work in the telefilm. They intend to begin shooting in Nepal next month.

Talking about her latest venture Kaiser said: “The story seems very appealing to me. Usually I only feel interested to work

in telefilms that have worthy co-actors.” The telefilm, adapted from a foreign story and scripted by the director herself, will be aired on NTV during Eid-ul-Fitr. The Shomi-Mahfuz pair last worked in a TV play titled Tomake Chhuye, Chowdhury’s directorial venture, which was aired on NTV in 2005. l

Jalal’s Story in Iran’s Fajr International Film FestivalStand-up Comedy Show

Performers: Naveed Mahbub, Yamin Khan

Venue: Caspian, 3rd � oor, RM Centre, 101 Gulshan Avenue, Gulshan, Dhaka 1212Date: April 23, 2015Time: 7:30pmInfo: 01755618541

Organiser: Naveed’s Comedy Club

BACK PAGE32DT


KAMAL: ADP LIKELY TO BE TK1TN IN FY2015-16 PAGE 15

MATURED TIGERS COME OF AGE PAGE 25

STOCKS PLUNGE ON SELLING SPREE PAGE 19

Khokon to inspire reduction of vehicles

Dhaka South City Corporation may-oral hopeful Sayeed Khokon said he hoped to implement a com-prehensive plan for the city corporation to be undertaken in con-sultation with urban planning specialists.

He said he would try to inspire city-dwellers to reduce their dependence on motor vehicles and encourage them to use bicycles instead.

Khokon said this would also help make Dhaka city a green city.

“By relocating hawkers to speci� cally des-ignated areas, I will clean up the footpaths to make things easier for pedestrians,” he added.

The ruling party-backed mayoral candi-date for Dhaka South said of the 57 public playgrounds in the city, only 13 were accessi-ble by the public. The rest had been illegally grabbed and occupied.

Khokon pledged to restore all playgrounds grabbed illegally to public use.

The contender for the DSCC mayorship pledged to make the city more habitable with-in a year, if he is elected. l

Tabith banks on his own youthfulness

Dhaka North mayor-al candidate Tabith M Awal played the demographic card at the pre-election de-bate yesterday.

Playing to the gal-lery of young voters, he stressed his rel-ative youthfulness,

saying he had a fresh vision for the city. But he added that he had signi� cant experience.

“I have worked in di� erent sectors, includ-ing politics, for the last 15 years,” he said at the “Meet Dhaka” debate organised by the Dhaka Tribune and ATN News.

Tabith pledged to advocate a recycle and reuse waste management policy. The 36-year old said he would work with WASA to solve problems with water and sewage services.

“If elected, skywalks will be constructed to allow smooth movement for passengers,” said the advocate of bus bays and public transport use.

Slamming the Pohela Boishakh sexual as-saults, he said: “This cannot be tolerated. Public opinion must be mobilised, so this does not happen again.” l

Annisul to recycle waste to power

Besides his self-con-� dence as having long-time adminis-trative experience in running several business outlets and chambers of com-merce, Dhaka North mayoral candidate Annisul Huq pinned

his hopes on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s blessings in the city corporation polls.

“I never dreamt of becoming a mayor. I only joined the race after I got the proposal from the prime minister.

“She gave me assurances that I will get all sorts of support in implementing my plans to make Dhaka city liveable,” Annisul said.

Annisul said he planned to recycle the city’s wastes which might even generate 100-130MW electricity. He promised to ensure co-ordination among various city authorities to resolve water-logging.

Annisul disagreed with fellow contenders on forming separate city governments, saying it was not yet the proper time for that.

He wants to opt for such arrangement after all government initiatives fail. l

Saki, Mahi promise to form city government

Dhaka North mayor candidates Mahi B Chow-dhury and Zonayed Saki have expressed their commitment to forming a city government if they were elected to o� ce in the April 28 polls.

They said only a city government would be able to solve problems that are political and bureaucratic in nature.

“The election has come when the city dwell-ers are passing a moment of crisis caused by the two major political parties. So, people now want a change for a better liveable Dhaka,” said Saki. “We need to remove wastes from our political practice to create a clean and beautiful Dhaka.”

Mahi said: “The nation is going through a 20-year cycle. There has been a change every 20 years. So, this young generation now wants a change as the two major political par-ties have put the country into a deep crisis.” l

Mayoral hopefuls meet Dhaka, unveil visionsn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla with Abu

Bakar Siddique and Abid Azad

All of the mayoral hopefuls at the “Meet Dhaka” debate organised by the Dhaka Trib-une and ATN News at the Krishibid Institute agreed that political leadership was crucial to building a liveable Dhaka city.

Among the northern contenders, the city government concept was a source of consid-erable debate.

While Dhaka city’s � rst elected mayor Mo-hammad Hanif coined the city government concept, he did not succeed in getting it im-plemented.

BNP-backed mayoral candidate Tabith M Awal, Bikalpadhara-backed candidate Mahi B Chowdhury, Gono Sanghati-backed candi-date Zonayed Saki and CPB and BSD-backed candidate Abdullah Al Ka� all favour the city government concept.

But Awami League-backed candidate An-nisul Huq said close coordination with the government was su� cient for making the city habitable and modern. He said it was not the right time to form a city government.

At the “Meet Dhaka” programme, par-ticipants brie� y described their reasons for contesting the polls and then the � oor was opened to the audience to ask questions de-termined by Facebook and SMS polls.

Annisul Huq said: “I never dreamt of running for mayor of a city corporation. I decided to join the elections after getting the proposal of the prime minister and receiving her assurance of

support in implementing my plans for the city.” Regarding waste management, Annisul said

he planned to recycle and also generate some 100 to 130MW of electricity as a by-product.

Tabith, indirectly addressing the issue with-out directing his comments at anyone, said: “It is not possible to produce electricity because the moisture content of city garbage is high.”

Annisul said his experience running several businesses prepared him for the job while Tabith said he had worked for Dhaka city for the last 15 years. Mahi, Saki and Ka� said the mayoral post was political and required political experience.

Contenders for the top job in the south also

exchanged views and answered questions. Dhaka South City Corporation mayoral as-

pirant Sayeed Khokon pledged to transform the city into a more liveable metropolis with-in a year.

Southern candidates stressed the impor-tance of improving the quality of the city’s water supply, public health, waste manage-ment and sewage facilities.

Tackling tra� c congestion, restoring play-grounds and building recreation centres also � g-ured prominently on the candidates’ agendas.

Dhaka South contenders Jatiyo Par-ty-backed Saifuddin Ahmed Milon, independ-

ents Golam Mowla Roni and Shahidul Islam, Awami League-backed Sayeed Khokon, Bang-ladesh Nationalist Front-backed Sha� ullah Chowdhury and Communist Party-backed Bazlur Rashid Firoz took part in the debate.

Golam Mowla Roni said he would decrease red tape, Sha� ullah Chowdhury focused on the city’s water logging problem.

Shahidul Islam favoured increased surveil-lance using CCTVs to � ght crime and terror-ism in the city.

Bazlur Rashid Firoz favoured the restora-tion of canals which he said were a natural drainage system during the rains. l

Mayoral aspirants of Dhaka North City Corporation engage in a battle of words as they speak during a mayoral debate in the capital’s Krishibid Institution auditorium yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Website: www.dhakatribune.com

21 April, 2015

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