Tigers up against familiar foes at The Gn Mazhar Uddin from Melbourne

Although Bangladesh will be playing at the Mel-bourne Cricket Ground for the very � rst time today, their opponents are anything but new to

them. The Tigers, bidding to qualify for the quarter� nals of a World Cup for only the second time in their history, will be up against a familiar south Asian oppo-sition in Sri Lanka in what will be both the sides’ third Pool A game.

Today’s high-octane clash between the subcontinent rivals at The G – Aus-tralia’s biggest cricket ground – is one among several encounters in recent times. Last year alone, the two teams faced each other in two tournaments – a bilateral series and the Asia Cup – with the Lankans turning out victori-ous in all the matches.

Even though Bangladesh have their share of wins against the island nation – four victories in 37 ODIs – the Tigers have not really shone against their neighbours in the biggest stage, the ICC World Cup.

In fact, the Tigers have gone down to convincing defeats in both of their matches till date.

Ahead of such a crucial game against the Lankans, the Tigers su� ered an un-called-for distraction.

Bangladesh paceman Al Amin Hos-sain, who stayed outside their team hotel well after the 10pm curfew last Thursday, was withdrawn from the Ti-gers’ World Cup squad in favour of fel-low seamer Sha� ul Islam.

Tigers skipper Mashrafe bin Mor-taza, however, said on the eve of the game that the Al Amin issue will not occupy their minds when they face the Lankans.

“The Al Amin chapter is over and we can’t bring him back even if we want to. I think we are one of the most dis-ciplined sides in the World Cup and the one who breached the rules was eventually punished,” Mashrafe told the media in the pre-match press con-ference yesterday.

Mashrafe went on to air his views regarding the opposition, who boast veteran campaigners like Kumar San-gakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and La-sith Malinga in their ranks.

“Look, if we think about Sangakkara and Jayawardene’s career, it will give us extra pressure as they are the legends of the game. What I am actually thinking of is giving our best. So far, luck has played a big part and worked in our favour. I am really looking forward to the game,” he said before adding: “I have spoken to Malinga today [yesterday]. He is the best as far as death bowling is concerned so I am sure those of us who are batting in the lower order will have plans on and prepare accordingly.”

In the meantime, one positive has emerged for the Tigers ahead of their game against the Lankans. Mush� qur Rahim, who su� ered a strong blow on his right thumb o� a Taskin Ahmed snorter two days ago, is � t to face Sri Lanka.

Mush� q batted in the nets yester-day and looked in good touch but it is still unclear whether he will keep wick-ets. If he is solely played as a batsman, opener Anamul Haque will don the gloves.

For the Sri Lanka game, the Bang-ladesh team management are likely to retain the same XI that thumped the Afghans by 105 runs in their Pool A opener. l

Manna placed on a 10-day remandn Mohammad Jamil Khan and

Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday placed Nago-rik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rah-man Manna on a 10-day remand in a case � led for his alleged involvement in inciting the army to grab power.

Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbubur Rahman yesterday granted the remand prayer after Investigation O� cer Abdul Barik, also a sub-inspector of Gulshan police station, producing Manna at the court sought the remand.

In the remand prayer, the IO men-tioned that they wanted to know who Manna talked to and the address of the unnamed Bangladeshi expatriate.

“We also want to know about other people involved in the conspiracy with him,” he said.

The case was � led with Gulshan po-lice station on February 24 in connec-tion with two leaked telephone conver-sations – one between Manna and an

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

B1 | BusinessThe weekly tea sale has witnessed more inter-est for all varieties that saw further hardening in price. A lot of plain poor tea was disposed o� at mostly � rm rates in Chittagong.

KAMRAN REZA CHOWDHURY: WHY THEYDON’T TALK

11 | OP-ED

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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12 | SPORT

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3 | NewsA four-year-old boy was killed, a woman was injured, while at least 70 shanties burnt to ashes in a � re at a slum adjacent to the Islamic Foundation o� ce in Agargaon yesterday.

6 | NationThousands of people living in Bandarban of Chittagong Hill Tracts are facing an acute crisis of safe drinking water as the sources are being destroyed by rampant stone lifting.

15 | EntertainmentNadia Afreen, Lux Channel i Superstar 2014, will appear in an ongoing TV series “Apurba,” which will feature the trials and tribulations of four girls.

8 | WorldThree Austrians have replaced injured hands with bionic ones that they can control using nerves and muscles transplanted into their arms from their legs.

Court orders Khaleda’s arrestCounsel also asked to produce Tarique in court in graft cases on March 4n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu and

Ashif Islam Shaon

The Dhaka Special Judge’s Court 3 yes-terday issued a warrant for the arrest of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and two other accused in two graft cases for not appearing in court during a hearing.

Before issuing the order, the court rejected a bail petition for the three-time former prime minister and sepa-rate adjournment petitions � led by the defence in the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust cases.

The defence said Khaleda, who has been staying at her Gulshan o� ce since January 3, could not appear in the court due to security reasons. Khaleda was on permanent bail in the cases.

The defence also told the court that Khaleda could not appear as she had been mourning the death of her young-er son Arafat Rahman Koko, who died in Malaysia on January 23. She was still grieving since the 40-day ritual was not complete, her lawyers said.

Khaleda’s relatives met her at the Gulshan o� ce last night and spend two hours there.

While speculations on Khaleda’s PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

BNP FIRM, WITH OR WITHOUT KHALEDA

Rumours rife over who will lead BNP movementn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP is determined to continue its movement demanding fresh parlia-mentary elections even if party chief Khaleda Zia is arrested.

There is much speculation that Khaleda, leader of the main political opposition on the streets, may be ar-rested anytime, after a Dhaka court is-sued a warrant for her arrest yesterday.

Khaleda Zia had failed to appear be-fore the court where she is on trial for corruption.

The party stalwarts sent out direc-tives to all units that their movement to topple the government must continue under any circumstances, clearly hinting that the 69-year-old three-time prime minister may be detained any time.

However, it is still unclear as to who would take on the role of the party chief, with Khaleda behind bars, which appears to be a matter of inevitability to the BNP policymakers.

Acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has been in jail and almost all the senior leaders are on the run.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Dying Padma threatens to turn Boro lands barrenn Abu Bakar Siddique, back from

Padma basin

A vast stretch of land in the north-west that produces one major crop of the country may end up barren unless farmers switch to low-irrigation varie-ties or there is enough water in the Pad-ma and its tributary Mahananda.

For years, peasants in the Barind tract – covering parts of the Chapa-inawabganj, Rajshahi and Naogaon districts – have had to rely on under-ground water for growing irrigation-in-tensive Boro paddy.

This dependency would not have developed if there was enough water in the Padma and Mahananda Rivers. But because of the Farakka barrage in the upstream in India, these rivers have hardly ever got the water that they were supposed to according to a bilat-eral treaty between the neighbours.

That has hurt the Barind tract on two counts: the level of underground

water has sunken to an alarming level and as a result, the cost of irrigation has increased manifold.

Rainfall could have been another nat-ural supply chain for the underground water, but this predominantly dry part of the country has never been known for having much of a rainy season.

“If the current situation prevails, groundwater could be available for an-other decade or so and then the entire region will turn barren,” said Md Alam Abdul Mannan, senior sub-assistant engineer of BMDA at Nachole in Chap-ainawabganj.

The ‘if’ in FarakkaFarmers from the Matikata Union un-der Godagari upazila of Rajshahi said that before the commissioning of Far-akka in 1972, the � ow in Padma used to be around 100 feet deep during peak periods and approximately 60 feet dur-ing lean periods.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

No clue to Manna’s 20-hour disappearancen Tribune Report

It remains a mystery as people are still in the dark about where Nagorik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna had been for long 20 hours since the midnight of Tuesday.

Law enforcers too have given no satis-factory answer to the question about Man-na’s disappearance for those long hours.

Manna was handed over to Gulshan police around 12:25am yesterday by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

People identifying themselves as detective o� cials picked Manna up from the residence of his niece at Ba-nani around 3:30am on Tuesday, said his family members.

Around 2pm on Tuesday, Manna’s family � led a GD with the Banani police station alleging that some people, who identi� ed themselves as law enforcers, took him away.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Nagorik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna being taken to custody from Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in a case of incitement for a possible military takeover in Bangladesh yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, February 26, 2015

President Abdul Hamid hands over the KIB Krishi Padak 2015 at the Kirshibid Institution, Bangladesh yesterday PID

Manna placed on a 10-day remand PAGE 1 COLUMN 1expatriate Bangladeshi while the other between Manna and former DCC mayor and BNP leader Sadeq Hossain Khoka.

The leaked telephone conversations have already triggered massive contro-versy in the social networking websites and both news and electronic media.

A GD numbered 1469 was � led with Gulshan Police on February 23, the FIR reads. After the GD was � led, the inves-tigation was handed over to Gulshan police station Sub-Inspector Sohel Rana who later � led the case accusing Man-na and the expatriate Bangladeshi for plotting a conspiracy to bring down the government from power by instigating some current and ex-army o� cers.

Later, on February 24, Manna in dif-ferent print and electronic media admit-ted to have had the conversations, the FIR reads.During conversation, Manna said that he is ready to talk with army of-� cers to end the prevailing political crisis.

The unknown person o� ered Manna to arrange meetings between Manna and 12 out of 19 running o� cers with whom the caller had been in touch and Manna agreed, reads the case statement.

The unnamed person while calling on viber on February 22, any time before 11pm, also told Manna that if needed, he would be able to arrange a meeting with the army chief and Manna would receive a call around 12pm the next day.

Manna’s version in court Manna seeking cancellation of remand prayer told the court that the leaked conversation is incomplete as some of its part were dropped and distorted.

He appealed to the court to retrieve the complete conversation to know about what actually the conversation was.

Manna acknowledged that the per-son from the other end of the viber o� ered him to talk to military o� cials and in reply he agreed to do so.

Manna in the court questioned the capability of investigation o� cer say-ing that he doubted if the IO really un-derstood his conversation.

Manna denied that he in his conver-

sation instigated murders on the Dhaka University campus saying that the allega-tion was incorrect.

At one stage Public Prosecutor Ab-dullah Abu protested his statement and a pandemonium broke out in the court.

Later, Manna appealed to the court to grant him one or two hours for a tel-evised speech so he could explain his position.

Manna further told the court that he was at 65 and had heart disease and un-able to face a remand session. He urged the court to order for a general interro-gation without remand.

However, the court rejecting his prayer granted a 10-day remand in po-lice custody. l

Court orders Khaleda’s arrest PAGE 1 COLUMN 1arrest last night were rife, the atmos-phere around the BNP chief’s Gulshan o� ce was quite normal as of 1:30am.

Meanwhile, a number of senior law-yers of Khaleda Zia held a meeting at TH Khan’s residence last evening. A source told the Dhaka Tribune that the lawyers discussed � ling of an appeal with the High Court regarding the BNP chief’s arrest. However, no decision could be learnt.

The BNP-Jamaat-led 20-party alliance has been observing non-stop transport blockade since January 6. Moreover, it was hartal yesterday.

“The prime accused, Khaleda Zia, so far appeared on only seven out of 63 dates [� xed for trial]. The court in its last order asked her to appear before it... she has been given enough time to follow the legal pro-cedures,” Judge Md Abu Ahmed Jomadar said while passing the order for her arrest.

Khaleda last attended the trial pro-ceedings on December 24, the day when clashes took place between police and supporters of the BNP and the ruling Awami League in Bakshibazar area.

On January 29, the judge � xed yes-terday for hearing in the two cases and asked the BNP chief to appear before it. Khaleda did not go to the court on Jan-uary 15 claiming that she had been con-� ned at her Gulshan o� ce.

The two other accused facing arrest warrants are former BNP lawmaker Kazi Salimul Haq alias Econo Kamal and busi-nessman Sharfuddin Ahmed. They are accused in the orphanage trust case.

The defence � led separate petitions

on their behalf seeking adjournment of the trial until the disposal of a writ petition, now pending with the High Court. The petition was � led expressing no-con� dence on the judge.

The other accused in the orphanage trust case is Khaleda’s former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddique. He was present at the court yesterday.

The accused in charitable trust case are Khaleda’s former political secretary Harris Chowdhury (fugitive), his assis-tant personal secretary Ziaul Islam Mun-na and Sadeque Hossain Khoka’ former personal secretary Manirul Islam Khan.

Khaleda and her elder son Tarique Rahman are accused in both the cases.

The court yesterday also asked San-aullah Mia, who is representing Tarique – also senior vice-chairman of the BNP, to produce his client before it on March 4, the next date in the cases.

Tarique has been staying in London since 2008 after acquiring parole for “treatment.”

Sanaullah later told the Dhaka Trib-une that they would go to higher court against the arrest warrant.

The court was heavily guarded by police both in uniform and plain clothes when the order was passed.

Until � ling of this report at 10pm, the arrest warrants did not reach Gulshan police station for Khaleda, Ramna police for Salimul and Cantonment police for Sharfuddin, police con� rmed.

After issuing the order, the court com-pleted recording the deposition of plain-ti� Harun-or-Rashid, an Anti-Corruption

Commission deputy director, in Zia Or-phanage Trust case.

Harun told the court that the then prime minister had misused power to embezzle the money of her o� cial fund while the others including Tarique gained bene� ts.

During hearing on the petitions, ACC prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajol sought legal action against Khaleda and the other accused. “The reason behind her repeated absence in the court on the scheduled dates is unacceptable.”

About Khaleda’s son, he told the court that Tarique’s counsel used to represent him in the case since he had gone abroad for treatment. “But now he is in good health. He could be asked to appear be-fore the court.”

On January 15, Khaleda’s lawyers moved a “no-con� dence” petition against the newly-appointed judge.

During yesterday’s hearing, another defence counsel AJ Mohammad Ali ar-gued that the arrest warrant should not be issued since the no-con� dence peti-tion had been pending for disposal.

In the orphanage trust case, Khaleda and � ve others were charged with mis-appropriation of Tk2.1 crore after with-drawal of the amount from the trust fund between November 13, 1993 and March 28, 2007.

According to the charge sheet, a grant of $1.3m (around Tk4.45 crore at that time) was transferred from the United Saudi Commercial Bank to the Prime Min-ister’s Orphanage Fund on June 9, 1991.

The grant was later transferred to

an account of the Zia Orphanage Trust. Part of the money was transferred to di� erent accounts, including that of Salimul, before � nally being trans-ferred to the account of Sharfuddin.

It was withdrawn from the account of Sharfuddin and was misappropriat-ed, the case says. The investigator said they did not � nd existence of any such trust.

According to the charge sheet in the Zia Charitable Trust case, Khaleda and three others had collected Tk3.15 crore illegally from di� erent sources, using the in� uence of the Prime Minister’s O� ce during the 2001-06 tenure of the BNP-led government, and withdrawn the money in an attempt to misappro-priate it.

On March 19 last year, Basudev Roy, the immediate-past judge of the court, framed charges against Khaleda and eight others in the cases.

After the indictment, the defence � led no-con� dence petitions with the High Court against Judge Basudev. The High Court upheld the indictment order rejecting the petitions on April 23 the same year.

The Supreme Court on November 24 cleared the way for the lower court to continue the trial proceedings rejecting her two other appeals challenging High Court decisions regarding acceptance of the charges and indictment.

Judge Jamadar was appointed in De-cember as the government had trans-ferred Judge Basudev to Patuakhali as a special judge. l

No clue to Manna’s 20-hour disappearance PAGE 1 COLUMN 4Manna’s sister-in-law Sultana Begum said in the GD that six to seven people identifying themselves as DB police took Manna away around 3:30am from her Banani residence.

Later, Meher Nigar told reporters that her husband went to his cous-in’s house in Banani out of fear that he might be arrested. Police in plain clothes took him away without produc-ing any arrest warrant, she said.

However, Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of legal and media wing of RAB, said they had ar-rested Manna from in front of a restau-rant in the capital’s Dhanmondi area between 10:30pm and 11pm on Tues-day night.

But the o� cials did not say anything about the 20 hours Manna had been missing.

Monirul Islam, joint commission-er of DB police, yesterday at a brie� ng said RAB handed over Manna to them after they picked him up from Dhan-mondi area.

As he was asked about the complaint of Manna’s family that he was taken away by some people identifying themselves as law enforcers, Monirul said they had no answer to the question.

“A GD was � led in this connec-tion by his family members and once investigation is over we would be able to know about where he actually was at that time,” said the joint com-missioner.

On Monday, after the conversations got leaked, Manna expressed fears that

he might be arrested any time. So he took refuge at a relative’s house and that is where he had been picked up from, alleged Manna’s wife Meher Ni-gar.

Manna’s two telephonic conversa-tions were made available on the inter-net on Monday by a number of online news portals.

One of them was with senior BNP leader and ex-Dhaka mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka – who is now in the US – and the other with an unknown per-son.

Manna told Khoka that a few deaths in police or criminal action would not matter if Dhaka University students could be involved with the movement for toppling the government.

He suggested that if the BNP could engineer the take-over of some DU halls of residence in a confrontation, that it would shake the government.

In the other conversation, he seems to have hinted that he is ready to talk with army o� cers if they were to seek his opinion about remedying the pre-vailing political crisis.

Manna admitted that he had had these conversations but claimed that he had been misinterpreted.

Several leaders of the ruling Awami League – of which he is a former organ-ising secretary – demanded his arrest on sedition charges.

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, along with eminent lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain, has been campaigning for a political di-alogue between the Awami League and BNP to resolve the prevailing political stalemate. l

Rumours rife over who will lead BNP movement PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Apart from that, Khaleda has also had a bitter experience with her party leaders as some conspired against her leadership during the army-backed caretaker government. Although many of them are back into the party fold, those leaders are presumably out of contention.

Meanwhile, there are rumours that the party’s Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman’s wife Zobaida Rahman, daughter of a former navy chief who served the military dictatorship of HM Ershad, might take over the BNP helm. But there is still confusion whether her emergence at this juncture would be appropriate. Many senior leaders want Zobaida because of her clean image.

Party sources said Standing Committee member Tariqul Islam might be assigned to coordinate party activists and many senior leaders are in favour. There is also word that Tariqul will indeed coordinate the party but from behind the scene while another Standing Committee member, RA Gani, will be BNP’s public face. There is also a suggestion to form a small committee that will determine the party’s course of action.

During the army-backed caretaker government’s tenure of 2007-2008, no one was assigned to carry out the chairperson’s duty as there was no such provision in the party charter but in BNP’s sixth council held on December 8, 2009, the provision of an acting chairperson was included.

As per the party charter, the senior vice-chairman will act as the head in the absence of the chairperson. Tarique Rahman, Khaleda’s elder son,

might accordingly take on his mother’s mantle but he is currently in London with little possibility of returning home. Further, Tarique apparently does not have good ties with the senior party leadership.

Party insiders said after the issuing of Khaleda’s arrest warrant, Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan spoke to district leaders over phone and directed them to continue the movement if Khaleda was arrested. He also asked them to bring out processions protesting the arrest.

“The movement will continue on its own course even after the arrest of Khaleda Zia. We have said earlier that it will continue until the demands are met. It will not be possible to stop the movement merely by arresting Khaleda Zia,” Mahbubur Rahman, another Standing Committee member, said.

Asked who would be charged with running the party in Khaleda’s absence, he said: “Time will tell. Central leaders might decide on that or if the leader herself assigns someone then that will be it.”

Meanwhile, in a press release, Salahuddin Ahmed, BNP joint secretary general, said: “Any measure to arrest Khaleda Zia will further strengthen the movement to topple the government.”

Condemning the warrant, Salahuddin said the movement would continue until the demand for an election under a non-partisan government is met.

Khaleda Zia has been arrested seven times during military dictator HM Ershad’s regime in the 1980s and once during the regime of the army-backed caretaker government of 2007-08. l

Dying Padma threatens to turn Boro lands barren PAGE 1 COLUMN 4But in recent years, the � ow has come down to as little as 15 feet deep during peak periods and no water during the dry season, they said.

Hedayet Ali, 60, a � sherman from Godagari, blamed the Farakka Barrage for the current sorry state of the river. “We never had any problem before the Farakka Barrage was installed.”

Golam Rabbani, research fellow of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), has been working on trans-bound-ary rivers in South Asia for a long time.

He said: “If the bilateral agreement signed in 1996 between Bangladesh and India was maintained properly, then the situation of groundwater in the Barind Tract would not have been this bad.”

One of the key provisions of the 1996 water sharing treaty says “if there is water,” India and Bangladesh will alternatively receive 35,000 cubic litre per second (cusec) over 10-day periods from March 11 to May 10 every year.

However, data from the Joint River Commission (JRC) shows that Bangla-desh, the lower riparian country, have often been deprived o� the projected volume during lean periods.

For example, Bangladesh received the

guaranteed volume in 2014, but the � ow in 2008, 2009 and 2011 has been less.

Seeking anonymity, a JRC member said Bangladesh has been on the wrong side of the “if.”

Interestingly, some local o� cials of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) said farmers and � sher-men have exaggerated the shortage.

The Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies (BCAS) has found in � eld stud-ies conducted in Rajshahi and Pabna that “there is a divergence between the perspectives of local stakeholders and government o� cials regarding the vol-ume of water in the river.”

Bangladesh and India have had many debates on how the Farakka Bar-rage on the Ganges – part of which is known as Padma in Bangladesh – cuts o� Bangladesh’s water supply.

Groundwater depths O� cial data from the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) shows that underground water level, which was at a 64-feet depth in December 2008, has dropped to 97 feet in December 2013.

However, according to local Boro growers, the level of underground water which used to be at a 40-feet depth 15

years ago, has now dropped to 160 feet.Although one of the major crops in

the country especially for ensuring food for people belonging to the low income groups, Boro is a di� cult variety of pad-dy because it has to be grown in the dry season and it requires a lot of water.

According to a survey of the Bangla-desh Agricultural Development Corpora-tion (BADC), usage of groundwater has in-creased drastically over last few decades.

In 1982-83, groundwater’s contribu-tion to irrigation was 41%. In 2001-02, that climbed to as much as 75%.

Hydrology expert Ainun Nishat said groundwater level would not have gone down to such an alarming level if the adjacent Padma River and its trib-utary Mahananda had enough water during lean season.

RainfallIn addition to the inadequate � ow of wa-ter in Padma and Mahanda, the rainfall pattern in the Barind tract has also been causing groundwater layer to fall rapidly.

According to the Bangladesh Me-teorological Department, the average rainfall in the region during dry season, that is Janaury-March, is 3-5mm. Dur-ing monsoon, that is June-August, the

amount varies between 300mm and 350mm which is very small compared the country average.

Cost of Irrigation “A few years ago, I used to spend Tk100 for an hour of irrigation and the water that I got was enough for a 1-bigha land. But now, even three hours of irrigation cannot fetch the water that I need. Clearly, irrigation costs have risen by around three times,” said Asharfaul Is-lam, a farmer from Chuniapara village in Tanore upazila of Rajshahi.

“The cost of producing Boro on my 3-acre land has at least doubled be-cause of the increased cost of irriga-tion,” he added.

Although the government has been trying to popularise less irrigation-in-tensive crops such as wheat and maize, the farmers, who have been growing Boro paddy for ages, are reluctant about switching.

Rajendro Sarker, a farmer from the Mundulmala village in Rajshahi, said: “We cannot stop growing Boro because we know everything about this. Even if it requires huge volume of ground-water for irrigation, we cannot think about any alternative.” l

Stop terrorism, PM tells Khaleda Zian BSS

Prime Minister and Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina yesterday reiterated her call to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to stop killing and terrorism, terming these type of acts as crimes amounting to capital punishment.

“Stop killing and terrorism, otherwise we would take stern action against all concerned as per laws of the land. These type of activities are crimes amounting to capital punishment,” she warned.

The prime minister said this in re-ply to a question from treasury bench member Md Monirul Islam (Jessore-2) during her question answer session in the House.

“I would like to tell the BNP leader that the people of this country are very intelligent and they are not with your movement of personal interest. Your leaders and workers have cleared their stance,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina said the government would take action against all concerned

as per the laws if the subversive acts and killing are not stopped. “So, it is my request to stop this killing and ter-rorism,” she said.

The Leader of the House informed that the BNP-led 20-party alliance has created an extreme anarchy in the country for 52 days since January 5. “Be-ing blind with lust for power, they are killing working class people, innocent commoners including male, female and even children by burning,” she said.

As many as 101 people, Sheikh Hasi-na said, were already killed, mostly in petrol bombs, over the last 52 days after they came out of their houses for earning their bread. Besides, more than 1,000 people were critically injured in various subversive acts including pet-rol bomb attacks by the BNP-Jamaat clique, she said.

Sheikh Hasina said 1,173 vehicles were torched and vandalized by the BNP-Jamaat terrorists, who also set � re to six launches and carried out subver-sive acts on trains for 25 times. l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, February 26, 2015

Deal signed with Singapore-based � rm for Moheshkhali LNG terminaln Aminur Rahman Rasel

Five years after an initiative was launched to build a � oating storage and re-gasi� cation unit (FSRU), Petro-bangla has � nally signed an agreement with a Singapore-based � rm to set up the country’s � rst FSRU - popularly known as LNG terminal.

Petrobangla and Excelerate Energy Limited Partnership signed the term sheet to set up the terminal at Mohesh-khali island in the Bay of Bengal. The term sheet has been signed under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act 2015.

The move came after the Cabinet Committee on Economic A� airs, on Jan-uary 14, approved a much talked-about proposal to build the terminal.

Petrobangla, a state-owned oil com-pany under the Ministry of Power, En-ergy and Mineral Resources, will imple-ment the project.

According to the term sheet, Petro-bangla will pay 0.474 cents per million BTU (mmbtu) – a measure of the energy content in fuel – for the FSRU, under a

build-own-operate-transfer basis, for 15 years. Petrobangla would receive LNG within the range between 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) and 600mmcfd.

Petrobangla Secretary Sha� qur Rah-man and Director (project origination) of Excelerate Energy Sampo Suvisaari signed the term sheet at Petro Centre in the city yesterday.

During the signing ceremony, Prime minister’s Energy Adviser Taw� q-e-Elahi Chowdhury said the time had been delayed for the lack of experience and bringing in new technologies.

He said the price of LNG will be high-er than that of the indigenous gas. But the appropriate cost would be extracted by using the LNG in productive works.

Present at the ceremony, Petrobangla Chairman Istiaque Ahmad told the Dha-ka Tribune: “Excelerate Energy will con-duct metocean study over weather and climate to determine which measures have to be taken in di� erent weather conditions to maintain the terminal, geo-technical study and detailed engi-neering design.

“After metocean study, a terminal use agreement will be signed for 15 years fol-lowing the approval of the Cabinet Com-mittee on Public Purchase.

“They [Excelerate] will set up the ter-minal within 16 months from the date of signing the � nal terminal use agreement. The LNG storage capacity of the FSRU will be 138,000 cubic meter,” he said.

Petrobangla would pay the port ser-vice charges and tax on behalf of Ex-celerate Energy during the period, the Petrobangla chairman said.

After the signing ceremony, Excel-erate’s Sampo Suvisaari said: “Astra Oil and Excelerate Energy consortium has got the work order to install LNG termi-nal and they will be named as Excelerate Energy Limited Partnership. Within two or three month we will start a metocean study and it will be completed within nine months.

“Excelerate Energy would have to in-vest $500m for infrastructure cost and other expenses to set up the terminal by taking loan from International Finance Corporation,” he added.

A Petrobangla o� cial said that once

the terminal is set up, the government would have to import LNG from Qatar or other countries by paying $16-$18 per unit.

After assuming o� ce in 2009, the Awami league-led government during its last tenure decided to import LNG to feed the national grid by 500mmcfd from 2013.

Separately, state-owned Gas Trans-mission Company Limited (GTCL) moved to lay a 91km Moheshkha-li-Anowara gas transmission pipeline to carry re-gasi� ed LNG from the terminal to shore.

In 2010, Petrobangla issued pre-qual-i� cation for terminal development pro-cess to � nd suitable investors.

Considering the country’s ongoing and future gas crisis, Petrobangla took the initiative to install the LNG terminal. The terminal will help easy o� -loading of imported LNG containers by ships and transmit LNG into the national gas system.

At present, the country’s gas produc-tion is about 2,350mmcf per day against a demand of 3,000mmcfd. l

Cabinet committee approves fuel oil import for January-June ‘15n Tribune Report

The Cabinet Committee on Public Pur-chase has approved the proposal of im-porting fuel oil from 10 foreign compa-nies to meet the country’s oil demand for the � rst half of the year.

The committee gave its nod to the proposal yesterday, placed by the Min-istry of Power, Energy and Mineral Re-sources, at a meeting that was presided over by Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

Addressing reporters following the meeting, Cabinet Division Joint Secretary Mahfuzur Rahman said Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), the country’s lone oil importer and distributor, will import 1.9 million

tonnes of re� ned diesel, petroleum, kerosene, jet fuel and furnace oil at the cost of Tk7,523.23 crore for the period of January to June, aiming to cover the country’s total demand of 2.703 million tonnes of oil.

He furhter said the premium of the imported furnace oil, diesel, petroleum and kerosene would be reduced from the previous premium, which was set for the July-December period last year, owing to the sharp drop of oil price globally.

During the six-month period, the projected demand for the oils is 1,725,000 tonnes of diesel, 610,000 tonnes of furnace oil, 145,000 tonnes of kerosene, 160,000 tonnes of jet fuel,

and 63,000 tonnes of petrol.According to the proposal, the

government will procure 30,000 tonnes of petroleum from Turkish Petroleum International Company under government-to-government purchase.

The other suppliers are Kuwait Pe-troleum Corporation, UAE-based Emir-ates National Oil Company, PT Bumi Siak Pusako of Indonesia, The Philip-pines’ PNOC Exploration Corporation, Petrochina International (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Brunei’s PB Trading Sendirian Berhad, Malaysia’s PETCO Trading La-buan Company Ltd, China’s Unipec Singapore Pte Ltd and Vietnam’s Petro-limex Singapore PTE Ltd. l

ARREST WARRANT AGAINST KHALEDA

Senior lawyers not present during court rulingn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

Most of the senior lawyers represent-ing BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia were not present in the court when a judge issued an arrest warrant against her yesterday.

However, soon after news spread that the court had ordered law enforcers to arrest the BNP chief, pro-BNP lawyers rushed to the court of Special Judge Court 3 – which has been set up temporarily in the capital’s Bakshibazar area.

The number of pro-BNP lawyers present during yesterday’s court pro-ceedings was far lower than other usual days of proceedings for the Zia Orphan-age and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases.

Only four defence counsels were present at the court yesterday, even

though previous instances have even seen a large number of pro-BNP lawyers getting locked in heated altercations with the prosecution or creating un-pleasant situations in the court protest-ing court orders against their party chief.

The senior lawyers were reportedly busy yesterday at the Dhaka Bar As-sociation election held at the Dhaka Judges Court. Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, a number of defence lawyers said they could not assume that such an order for arrest would be delivered yesterday.

For the � rst time yesterday, ad-vocate Sanaullah Miah – instead of Khaleda’s Adviser Khandoker Mahbub Hossain who is also the president of Supreme Court Bar Association – � led the non-appearance and time petitions on behalf of the BNP chief, citing secu-rity reasons.

After being noti� ed of the arrest warrant, Khandoker Mahbub along with another senior lawyer AJ Moham-mad Ali rushed to the court. The senior lawyers then expressed their concerns to the media on the court premises. l

Left alone, 4 years old killed in slum � ren Mohammad Jamil Khan

A four-year-old boy was killed, a wom-an sustained injuries while at least 70 shanties burnt to ashes after a � re broke out at a slum adjacent to the Is-lamic Foundation o� ce in the capital’s Agargaon yesterday.

Asma Begum, mother of the de-ceased named Sajib, said she had gone to a nearby shanty leaving him inside the house sleeping. Seeing the � re that broke out around 11:25am she came back but found her shanty burnt down.

Sajib’s grandmother Anwara Begum said she had been with the boy when the � re originated. “I came out of the house with some valuables but totally forgot about Sajib.”

Father of the victim Tuhin Shaikh, who is a broker at the Agargaon Pass-port O� ce, and sister Akhi were not at home at the time of � re.

Enayet Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of Fire Service and Civil Defence Control Room, told the Dhaka Tribune that 11 � re-� ghting units rushed to the spot after the � re had broken out.

“The � re � ghters were able to bring the � re under control around 12:05pm and doused it within the next one hour,” Ra� qul Islam, assistant director of � re service and civil defence, told the Dhaka Tribune adding that around

70 shanties were gutted in the � re.In primary inspection, they came

to know that the � re originated from a kitchen stove, he said.

However, a slum dweller named Shakhawat Adil, who also witnessed the incident, claimed that 100-150 houses had been damaged in the � re. “The � re spread quickly since the shan-ties, built in a congested manner, were made of bamboo and wood.”

There are over 300 shanties in the slum, according to locals.

Police later sent Sajib’s body to Dha-ka Medical College for a post mortem examination.

The Disaster Management and Relief Ministry gave Sajib’s family Tk20,000 and an injured woman Tk5,000.

There were no reports of casualty except for the two since most of the slum dwellers had been staying out-side, GG Biswas, OC of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Soon after the incident, local lawmak-er Jahangir Kabir Nanak visited the spot.

Mohammad Abdul Wazed, director general of the Disaster Management Department, told the Dhaka Tribune that they would provide Tk3,000 and 20kg rice to each of the a� ected fami-lies around 11am today. The compensa-tion would be provided by the district administration, he added. l

Facebook post of Myanmar Air Force taken downn Tribune Report

A photo post shared by the national Facebook page of Myanmar Air Force that triggered ire among the Bangla-deshi citizens has been taken down.

The photo showing a South Asia re-gional map with Bangladesh as part of Myanmar was posted on the Facebook page on February 20. Its caption said Bangladesh should be the part of a fu-ture “Myanmar empire.”

However, at 8pm Wednesday, the photo was not found in the same address.

Myanmarese national daily Burma Times acknowledged the page as the “national Facebook page of the Myan-

mar Air Force.”According to a report, the page also

claimed that Bangladesh was helping terrorists to securing independence in the Arakan state (the former name of Rakhine state), dominated by Rohing-ya Muslims.

The photo post also urged the Myanmarese people to strike Bangla-desh before it was too late.

The post had got more than 500 likes and shared by over 1,200 people before it was taken down – either by the page admin or the Facebook authorities.

Protesting the act, many Bangla-deshis, mainly youths, had comment-ed on the post and the page harshly. l

Russian � rm to conduct Rooppur engineering surveyn Aminur Rahman Rasel

Orgenergostroy, a Russia-based company, has won the tender to conduct engineering survey, monitor the environment, and develop project documents for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant site.

The tender was � oated by Atomenergoproekt, a sister concern of Russia’s state nuclear corporation – Rosatom – and an engineering company in December last year on their procurement website, said a press release of Rosatom yesterday.

The initial contract value is $18.2m including 18% VAT, while the work is expected to be completed by September 15 this year.

The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, under the Science and Technology Ministry, will implement the project. Final construction of the project is expected to start next year.

Orgenergostroy carries out various types of work related to project design, survey, construction, research and development, technology and implementation for electric utilities including nuclear power plants, coal power plants, hydro powerplants and overhead power lines, oil and gas complex, oil transportation and other power and industry facilities.

Atomenergoproekt is a general contractor for designing and construction of the Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant 2 in Russia, while the Kudankulam plant in India and Akkuyu plant in Turkey are also under construction based on Atomenergoproekt design. The company is the designer of Belene nuclear plant project in Bulgaria. l

Youth, claimed a robber by police, beaten dead by mob in Jessoren Our Correspondent, Jessore

A youth, who was claimed by police to be a robber, was lynched to death in Jessore on early yesterday.

The deceased was identi� ed as Dol-lar, 27, son of late Moslemuddin of Jes-sore city’s Ashram Road area.

Sakhina Begum, the mother of the youth, said some local people named Golam Mostafa, Zakir, Faruk and oth-ers picked up Dollar from his house on Tuesday night. After an hour or so, she was informed about his death in a hos-pital.

She claimed that her son was killed because of previously rivalry.

Sakhina Begum further said the

same people on February 22 entered the house forcefully at midnight and beat up her another son Polash, who was subsequently handed over to the police.

When contacted Golam Mostafa denied the allegation and said: “Some members of a local peace commit-tee caught Dollar and his associates red handed while he was preparing to commit crime in front of Bejpara Ansar camp. After an initial beating they were handed over to police, who admitted Dollar to a hospital. He died there after an hour.”

He alleged that Dollar and his family were well known in the area for their criminal activities.

“A week ago, some robbers entered

the house of Madina Bakery own-er Mizanur Rahman in Ashram Road and looted Tk5 lakh, gold and other valuables. Mizanur Rahman later � led a case accusing Dollar in this connec-tion,” he said.

O� cer in-Charge (investigation) Kotwali police station Sheikh Gani Mia said Dollar was a listed criminal. There are seven cases of murder, robbery and possession of illegal arms and explo-sives against him.

Meanwhile, locals claimed that Gol-am Mostafa was also known as a smug-gler and ran a gang of which Dollar was a member. Recently Dollar left his group and became associated with his rivals. l

Fire-� ghters try to douse � ames at a slum near Islamic Foundation in Dhaka’s Agargaon area yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Only four defence counsels were present at the court yesterday

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, February 26, 2015

EC introduces online application systemn Munir Momtaj

The Election Commission yesterday in-troduced an online application system which aims to make new registrations and correction of wrong details in NIDs easier.

The online system will allow new voters an opportunity to enroll their names on the voter list and also apply for a new national identity card, if lost, among other services.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad o� cially in-augurated the online voter registration service at the EC secretariat auditorium.

The online application system can be accessed at www.ec.org.bd or https://services.nidw.gov.bd

While talking to journalists, the CEC said: “The service will continue unin-terrupted and we will make the system more user friendly in the near future.”

Rakibuddin said: “Using this sys-tem, citizens can avail six new facilities which will allow new voters to apply for registration, registered voters to recheck personal information and vot-ing center, apply for changing incorrect details, take an appointment to change incorrect details and renew the NID and if any voter loses their NID, they can apply to the commission for a new NID card.”

Brig Gen Sultanuzzaman Md Saleh Uddin, director general national iden-tity registration wing, said “Citizens have to take an appointment for chang-ing their incorrect information and this appointment will be given automati-cally by � rst come � rst serve basis.”

“We will give appointments to 500 people everyday,” he added. l

Robber killed in Mirsarai mob beating n Tribune Report

An alleged robber was beat-en to death by a mob at Bar-iakhali village of Mirsarai upazila in Chittagong yes-terday.

The deceased was Belal Hossain, 28, son of Nurul Alam of Rahmatabad area of the upazila.

Mirsarai police station Sub-Inspector Sa� qul Islam said locals chased a gang robbers when they were trying to � ee by a truck loaded with nine cattle on Tuesday night. Earlier, the gang robbed the cattle from Bamansundorer Chara area under Mithanala Union, re-ports our CU correspondent.

The villagers intercepted the truck on Dhaka-Chit-tagong highway in the area and caught Belal red hand-ed, he said.

The angry mob gave Be-lal a good beating, leaving him critically injured and torched the truck, he added.

Police rescued the youth and rushed him to the up-azila heath complex where doctors declared him dead, the SI said.

The body was sent to Chittagong Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Jorarganj police station Nazmul Hasan said the truck was taken to the cus-tody of the police station, reports our Mirsarai corre-spondent.

While chasing the truck, a villager, Hurunur Rashid,42, was also injured. l

Jubo League man killedn FM Mizanur Rahaman

A Jubo League activist was shot dead by unidenti� ed miscreants in Chittagong’s Raozan upazila yesterday.

The deceased is Md Sha-hid, 35, said Raozan police OC Pradip Kumar Das. How-ever, the reason behind the killing could not be ascer-tained immediately and no arrest was made in this con-nection, the OC continued.

He added that miscre-ants started � ring on Sha-hid behind a shop in the area around 4pm and � ed the scene soon after the in-cident, leaving him dead.

The body of Shahid - who was hit with bullets in the head and chest - was sent to Chittagong Medical College Hospital morgue for an autopsy. l

Private investment, policy development can uplift social enterprises n Munir Momtaj

Bangladesh needs to promote innovative � nance model for social enterprises to unlock investment from the private sector, said Durreen Shahnaz, managing director of Shujog, a social enterprise.

She spoke at a programme titled “Social Enterprise: policy and practice” organised by British Council Bangla-desh in partnership with Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation at Bangabandhu International Confer-ence Center yesterday.

“We need private investment to develop social enterprises,” said Shahnaz adding the country also needs policy support to develop such enterprises.

Rokia Afzal Rahman, Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs, said: “We live in a very unfair and unjust world, where most wealth and money is owned by a few people and the rest are in poverty. Bangladesh has many rich people who are becoming richer day by day. On the other hand we also have the extreme poor. In this situation it makes sense to talk about social enterprises. Where commercial enterprises help rich people become

richer, social enterprises help the poor to overcome poverty.

She added: “We have very good examples of social enterprises in Bangladesh. For instance, Aarong, a fashion retailer, empower women in rural areas. The pro� t from their work is reinvested on education and health.

“Social enterprises are very important to bring the country out of poverty. We need policy support from the government to move forward.”

Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali, director of Brac Bank, said: “We need a model for social business enterprises that can change the world and bring welfare for the society through minimising the gap between rich and poor. Bangladesh needs a change in strategy to develop social enterprises.”

Dan Gregory, head of policy of Social Enterprise UK, said: “The government gives 30 percent tax bene� t to social enterprises investors and should now provide some policy support to develop these enterprises.”

Deputy British High Commissioner Mark Clayton said: “Social enterprises help create jobs and solve social problems. Such enterprises are important for Bangladesh as they empower women.” l

Commuters su� er as police bar vehicular movement on the otherwise busy road of the Kamaruzzaman intersection in Rajshahi yesterday following a demonstration and protest procession brought out by the Railway Station District Bus Stand and Dhaka Bus Stand AZAHAR UDDIN

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, February 26, 2015

WEATHER

PRAYER TIMES Fajr 5:10am Sunrise 6:25am Zohr 12:12am Asr 4:21pm Magrib 5:58pm Esha 7:14pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:59PM SUN RISES 6:24AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW33.3ºC 15.8ºC

Patuakhali Sitakunda

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 31 22Chittagong 30 20Rajshahi 32 18Rangpur 30 19Khulna 33 18Barisal 32 19Sylhet 31 18Cox’s Bazar 30 19

DRY WEATHER

Forest o� cer suspended over hill-cutting in Mirsarain Our Correspondent, Mirsarai

The Forest Department suspended a forest o� cer on Monday for hill-cutting, unsanctioned by the depart-ment, at Mirsarai upazila in Chittagong.

Sources said the accused, Jahangir Alam, forest beat o� cer in Jorarganj area, was constructing a car park area by cutting a hill near the Mahamaya project in Durgapur area in the upazila even though the govern-ment had already allocated land for said car park.

Jahangir and his subordinate o� cials allegedly aimed to usurp the government land, which is why they took up cutting the hill near Mahamaya without taking su� cient safety measures, the sources said.

Locals complained that the forest o� cials have absolutely no regards for the safety of the people living in the area. “There was a huge landslide a day ago from the side of the hill they are cutting. It is lucky that there was no one near the site at the time it happened, otherwise a number of lives would be lost,” said Saiful Islam, local grocer.

The Forest Department eventually took action against Jahangir after receiving several complaints from the locals.

“The department did not authorise any such hill cutting in that area. The Chittagong district forest conservator, MA Khalek, is already taking strict measures to deal with this matter. Jahangir was suspended from duty. Also, a � ve-member probe committee, headed by Sitakunda Botanical Garden Director Yasin Newaz, has been formed to investi-gate this matter,” said Mohammad Hossain, assis-tant forest conservator at North Chittagong, when

the Dhaka Tribune contacted him.However, locals claimed that it was actually the for-

est range o� cer of Mirsarai who was directing Jahang-ir, his subordinate, to cut the hill.

The Dhaka Tribune contacted the forest range of-� cer in question, Muktaruzzaman in this regard, who said he would talk later and then turned his mobile phone o� .

The Dhaka Tribune also contacted Jahangir for com-ment, who said it was a wrong number. However, the Dhaka Tribune veri� ed with several local forest o� -cials who said the number was correct. l

KCC renovation work stalled for political turmoil n Our Correspondent, Khulna

The repair work of 20 major roads of Khulna City Corporation (KCC) are dis-rupted due to the on going country-wide blockade and hartals enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

Contractors said they usually hire various equipment and machinery needed for the road repair work from the city corporation. But KCC has not been renting out its expensive ma-chines fearing arson and vandalism.

Moreover, they are also not being able to bring the machines from other parts of the country. Hence they cannot but suspend the repair work and face huge loss due to delay.

According to the city corporation sources, renovation of 59 roads under KCC began under an infrastructure de-velopment project in 2014-2015 � scal year. 20 roads were supposed to be re-paired within January 2015 according to the plan.

However, the political violence that ensued from January 6 has stalled the work causing immense public su� er-ings.

The repair work of Shiekh Para main road and improvement of sewerage be-gan in September, 2014. The 3-month

work has not been completed even af-ter � ve months.

Masud Parvez Babu, a businessman of the area, said all the digging and drill-ing work had left the road unusable. This has caused untold miseries for the residents and businesses of the area.

The Northkhal Bank road was dug up in June, 2014. The road was sup-posed to be paved within January but it is still lying in a tattered condition as the contractor is yet to get the required machinery from the KCC.

The other important roads which were supposed to be completed with-in January are BK Rai, Jabbar Sarani, Crescent School, Jute Mill main road and Daulatpur boundary road.

General Secretary Taslim Ahmed Pasha of Kallyan Samity and also a con-tractor for KCC said he could not get machines from KCC due to the block-ade. He was also not able to bring bi-tumen and other necessary goods for repairing the road.

Md Nazmul Islam, acting chief engi-neer for KCC, said they were trying to devise strategies to make up for the lost time. “All the contractors are asked to � nish their work within March. We are also trying to alleviate the su� erings of people as much as we can.” l

Son beats father to death n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

A son has allegedly beat his father to death over land dispute in Bijoynagar under Godagari upazila of Rajshahi yesterday.

The dead Sharif Uddin, 65, had two wives. His two sons from � rst wife – Saif and Sujan – beat him up on Tuesday morning leaving him injured. He was taken to Rajshahi Medical Col-lege Hospital. After taking primary treatment, Sharif was taken back home the same day.

Quoting locals, Godagari police station O� cer-in-Charge SM Abu Forhad said yes-

terday morning Saif and his father locked into a quarrel again over building a house on their family land. Saif wanted to build the house which Sharif had opposed.

At one point, Saif pushed his father on the ground and started beating him with sticks. Around 11am Sharif succumbed to his inju-ries at home, said the OC.

He added that Sharif was su� ering from old-age complications. His body was sent to RMCH morgue for autopsy and Saif was ar-rested from his home following a case � led by Sharif’s second wife. l

Call to save children from political unrestn Tribune Report

Save the Children has urged the gov-ernment and all political parties to protect children from the ongoing political violence and to give them a chance to sit for exams.

Save the Children, an interna-tional organisation that works with children worldwide, also expressed deep concerns at the impact of the ongoing political unrest and vio-lence on children in Bangladesh.

A press release sent by Save the Children says that several children have been killed and injured as a result of arson attacks on transport vehicles, crude bomb attacks, and other forms of violence.

Michael McGrath, country direc-tor of Save the Children in Bang-

ladesh, said in the press release: “From the beginning of this year, until February 12, 11 children have been killed and a further 12 have been injured due to hartal/block-ade-related violence. Children have also been used in rallies and attacks on transport.”

In addition, he claimed, the cur-rent political tension has had a ma-jor impact on children’s education, as schools have largely been closed from Sunday to Thursday for the last one-and-half months. All children have missed classes, and many have had their exams rescheduled.

“Beyond the immediate impact on safety, health, and wellbeing, we are apprehensive about the psy-chological impact of the violence on children. Research indicates that

children who live in a climate of fear can change in a number of ways as a result of that exposure to violence,” he said.

McGrath further said studies have found that persistent fear and the neurophysiological adaptations to this fear can alter the develop-ment of the child’s brain, resulting in changes in physiological, emo-tional, behavioral, cognitive, and social functioning.

“It is well known that children raised in a consistently violent envi-ronment are much more likely to be violent,” he added.

He, however, said: “Young chil-dren exposed to chronic violence may also ‘tune out’ as a self-preservation strategy. If they lose hope in main-stream political processes, they may

even turn to more extreme elements.“Save the Children strongly feels

that the key actors involved in the current crisis are not doing enough to avoid harming children. Sadly, there seems to be indi� erence to the safety and wellbeing of children.”

The Save the Children country di-rector remarked that in Bangladesh children are highly valued. We can-not imagine that any person would want children to su� er, either di-rectly or indirectly, he added.

“We therefore appeal to all parties to the current con� ict to make their top priority the protection of the physical and psychological health, and ensuring access to educational opportunities for the children of this great country,” said McGrath in the press release. l

With placards carrying slogans like ‘we don’t want bombs, we want to study,’ students of Segun Bagicha School form a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday calling to stop the ongoing hartal and blockade programme MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Cuta: Cancel Manna’s CU graduation certi� caten CU Correspondent

Chittagong University Teachers As-sociation (Cuta) yesterday called for the cancellation of Mahmudur Rah-man Manna’s graduation certi� cate from Chittagong University (CU), following his recent controversial phone calls.

According to our CU correspond-ent, Cuta President Professor Benu Kumar Dey and General Secretary Pro-fessor Musta� zur Rahman Siddique made the demand in a signed press statement addressed to CU authorities.

The statement said Manna had plotted a conspiracy, under the guise of democracy, while also instigating the army to take over state power for his own nefarious interests.

“Cuta is ashamed to acknowledge that Manna was a CU student, when all he wants is corpses at the univer-sity in order to topple the govern-ment,” said Cuta leaders, adding that CU teachers want Manna’s certi� cate to be cancelled immediately in a bid to free the university from disgrace.

They also called for immediate legislative action against him and an

exemplary sentence given to him. On Tuesday, a section of Bang-

ladesh Chhatra League (BCL) of the CU unit erased Mahmudur Rah-man Manna from the name chart of CUCSU leaders because he called for corpses at the university during his controversial phone call with BNP leader Sadek Hossain Khoka.

Mahmudur Rahman Manna was a student of the Economics depart-ment at CU and was elected as gen-eral secretary (GS) of CUCSU polls in 1972, at the second cabinet on behalf of JSD.

Meanwhile, our Dhaka Universi-ty (DU) correspondent adds that DU students burnt an e� gy of the

Students of Dhaka University (DU) yesterday burnt the e� gy of Nagorik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna following the con-troversial leaked conversation.

A short rally was held later in the afternoon, under the banner of “General students of DU,” in front of the DUCSU collection center of the university, in which at least 300 students of various DU departments took part. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE Nation6 Thursday, February 26, 2015

Burn patients su� er on � oor of Comilla Medicaln Our Correspondent, Comilla

With only 18 beds, the burn unit of Comilla Medical College is witnessing a � ow of arson victims everyday.

A scarcity of bed, physicians, inten-sive care unit, trained sta� as well as an operation theatre has added to the woe of patients.

CMC burn unit is the only unit of its kind operating in greater districts of Comilla and Noakhali.

Patients with burn injuries who need to be kept in a hygienic environ-ment are lying on the � oor of the unit. Critical patients are shifting to the Dha-ka Medical College Hospital in cases.

During the ongoing political unrest, a number of people are falling victims to the petrol bomb attacks in the dis-trict. On February 3, a bus came under petrol bomb attack in Chauddagram upazila of Comilla that left eight dead and 11 injured. The injured who were admitted to the CMC burn unit were later transferred to Dhaka because of

the shortage of beds. Sources in CMC said everyday, on an

average, 35 patients are admitted to the unit which has 18 beds. Half of the pa-tients are lying on the � oor.

On a visit to the unit, it was found that a number of patients were lying on the � oor. The air was heavy with mal-odour.

Ranuara Begum came to the unit with her � ve-year-old son Ibrahim. Ibrahim had injuries to his legs and one hand.

Ranuara said: “We are getting the medicine, however, it is di� cult to stay on the � oor.”

Director of Comilla Medical College Hospital Dr Habib Abdullah Sohel said: “The posts for professor and associate professor in the unit was vacant. We do not have trained manpower. An ICU is a must in a burn unit. The OT is also very small.”

He said higher authorities were in-formed to increase the standard of treatment in the unit. l

A potato farmer employs his cattle to dig out the new potatoes of the season. Others are busy collecting and packing the potatoes to be sent to cold storages for distribution across the country. The photo was taken in Darusha area under Poba upazila of Rajshahi yesterday AZAHAR UDDIN

Narsingdi textile industry battered by political unrest n Our Correspondent, Narsingdi

The textile industry in Narsingdi is go-ing through a hardship as production in the sector has declined to a great extend due to the non-stop blockade and hartals enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

Production in the sector has fallen to around half than the usual which is causing frustration among owners and labourers of the district which is dense-ly industrial area and home to many textile mills.

On one side, owners of the garment factories are not being able to market and export their produces while on the other side, labourers are passing days amid acute hardship as they are not getting payment for the last two months.

According to Narsingdi Chamber of Commerce and Industries, there are 1,500 textile mills operating in the district. Of those, production in about 1,000 textile mills have remained sus-pended for the ongoing political unrest.

A number of owners lamented over

the fact that due to the non-stop block-ade and hartals that had been contin-uing for about last two months, pro-duction has received a shattering blow. Supply of necessary raw materials is at a halt. Very few of the factories are still operating with limited materials, however, the produced goods are lying unsold.

Labourers are counting days in fear of becoming unemployed any time as many owners are winding up their businesses after incurring grave losses.

Abdul Baten, � oor in-charge of Mo-min Textile Mill which is located in Chouwala area, said: “Earlier we used to work in two shifts, but now we are working in one shift as many work or-ders have been cancelled by clients. Thus, our income has also decreased.”

Momin Mia, a labourer of the facto-ry, told the Dhaka Tribune that as their income have reduced, he with his fam-ily were passing days in hardship.

The owners are neither being able to pay their workers nor meet charges for gas, electricity and repay their bank loans.

Md Nannu Ali Khan, general sec-retary of Chouwala Textile Industries Owners’ Association, said: “Many have closed down their factories, as to keep the business going, we need to import raw materials and export the produced goods. None are being possible at the moment for the non-stop hartals and blockades. The factory owners are fall-ing deeper and deeper into debts while workers are su� ering for not getting paid.”

Director of Mystic Home Textile Bangladesh Md Mobarok Hossain said: “Buyers are cancelling orders for the ongoing political restlessness in the country. If the situation continues, we have no other way than shutting down the factories.”

President of Narsingdi Chamber of Commerce and Industries Abdullah Al Mamun said the little amount of clothes produced in limited arrange-ments are lying in piles.

He convened the political parties to call o� the hartals and blockades for smooth run of the garment industry and over all economy of the country. l

Ferry service on Shimulia-Kawrakandi halted for 5 hours n Our Correspondent, Munshiganj

Normalcy in the ferry services on Shim-ulia-Kawrakandi route returned after about a � ve-hour of disruption yester-day. Sources at Bangladesh Inland Wa-ter Transport Authority (BIWTA) said unusual dense fog on the Padma river led to the interruption around 4am,

causing about 300 vehicles got stuck on both sides of the busy ghat.

BIWTA Manager (commerce) Sira-jul Hoque acknowledged the incident, the buoy lights were noticed around 8:45am as the fog disappeared.

Besides, the disruption in the ser-vice caused 2km tailback from Shim-ulia ghat to Mawa intersection. l

Indiscriminate stone lifting posing great threat to water sources n Our Correspondent, Bandarban

Thousands of people living in Bandar-ban of Chittagong Hill Tracts are facing an acute crisis of safe drinking water as the sources are being destroyed by rampant stone lifting.

Various streams and springs that run along the hilly regions of Bandarban have been the traditional sources of water for the residents. Rolling stones of these streams usually play a crucial role in purifying the water and thus making it suitable for everyday use.

The indigenous people depend sole-ly on these natural sources of water for drinking, cooking, washing, bathing and irrigation. The wild animals, birds etc. are also very much dependent on these. Moreover, the streams provide � sh as a source of nutritional needs to communities.

However, due to unchecked stone lifting by powerful syndicate in the district, these streams are fast dying, becoming polluted and unsafe for use.

This has already resulted in exces-sive soil erosion and scarcity of wa-ter a� ecting livelihoods of people in Bandarban.

Locals said Bandarban Sadar, Row-angchhari, Ruma, Thanchi, Ali Kadam and Lama are the main sources of col-lecting stones in the district.

Stones are amassed not only from the streams and springs, but also from the hills by using explosives. These stones are then crushed and distribut-ed across the country making it a very pro� table business.

Mokbul Ukil of Tankabati union of Bandarban Sadar, Abul Bashar of Rowangchhari upazila, Organisational Secretary of Baghmara Awami League (AL) Mozammel Haque Bahadur, Ka-mal Driver of Ruma, AL leader Mong Thowai Mya Roni of Thanchi, Lama’s AL leader Zahirul Islam, Md Abul Kal-

am of Ali Kadam and many others have been named by the locals as involved in stone lifting business.

On assurance of anonymity, some Union Parishad chairmen said the rul-ing party men had been illegally col-lecting stones in collaboration with the administration.

Though it is illegal to collect stones without permission from the deputy commissioner, some contractors have been doing so showing complete disre-gard to any regulation.

Headmen, local leaders and res-idents of 287 Toino, 288 Ali Kadam, 290 Mangu and 291 Toinfa signed two formal complaints to the CHT ministry and deputy commissioner on October 20 and November 18 of last year.

They alleged that the contractors in charge of constructing Thanchi road had been illegally lifting stones in the name of the project.

Vice-Chairman of Ali Kadam Upazila Kainthop Mro said if the stone lifting at various points of Ali Kadam-Thanchi road was not stopped immediately,

the environment could face a serious disaster.

This will also adversely a� ect the water supply of local Mro people.

Resident of Pamia locality Ray Young Mro said their area had no source of safe drinking water. Locals used to collect water from the natural streams, which are now polluted due to stone lifting and subsequent soil erosion.

General Secretary of Human Rights Commission, Bandarban Ruhul Amin said the indigenous people of various areas were living a miserable life due to water scarcity. “If the natural sourc-es of water are destroyed, not only the people but also the environment will face dire consequences,” he added.

When contacted, Deputy Commis-sioner of Bandarban Mizanul Haque Chowdhury acknowledged the issue and said Upazila Nirbahi O� cers were already ordered to take steps against illegal stone lifters.

However, locals demanded more pro-active and visible actions to put an end to illegal sand lifting immediately. l

Land o� ce guttedn Our Correspondent, Natore

A � re gutted o� ce equipments and documents at Natore Sadar upazila land o� ce early yesterday in the city’s Rajbari area. It orginated from an elec-tric short-circuit and caused an esti-mated loss of over Tk2 lakh.

Abdur Rouf, station master of Natore � re service, said they were informed by the land o� ce guards after smoke started coming out from the o� ce. l

Stones collected from the natural streams running along the Ali Kadam-Thanchi road are piled up before being crushed and sold DHAKA TRIBUNE

7Special Thursday, February 26, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

Manna: You must have got the news from that end, that we have had talks along with Tuku Bhai.Khoka: Yes. I got a phone call a little earlier, told me about the discussions that were held with you.

M: Now the thing is that it cannot be said what will happen in the end. But it can be seen that the diplomats and the others have taken enough initiatives.K: Yes. Some of the initiatives can be seen.

M: Then again, there are changes in the perspective of the neighbours as well. I have been receiving some news. What is needed now is going to the � eld. I can understand your problem although I can see that you are trying. I organised a program in Suhrawardy. Now I think this program should have a continuity. Because the foreign diplomats are also emphasising on this, the opposition should be allowed to hold meetings and rallies. It should not be barred. There is a pressure on the government as well. I can do this. Let us see how far we can go.K: Actually, the leaders and activists that we have at the district and lower levels, it has been a month and a half. They are getting exhausted. Now how long can we continue this? Then again, I do not see any alternative to doing this.

M: This must continue for a few more days. Khoka Bhai, what I am trying to say is ...K: What is your opinion? We should continue this for a few more days, shouldn’t we?

M: But what I want to say for which I called you is that now there is a gray or void area here in the middle where we should get down to. By we I mean ... the position of CPB or the others is very fascinating. A lot on that side and a bit on this side. So, it means that whatever number of people we have, that will be all. Then again there are hesitations as well. But we need to get the others with us. The program I or-ganised at Suhrawardy Udyan charged the others up quite a bit. Because

public response was good. Compared to us it was good.K: We sent some of our activists.

M: Yes, yes, they went there. We communicated. On top of that, if they understand that their participation can bene� t democratic movement and the participation can be much bigger. That did not happen. It happened but not to a great extent.

---

M: It seems that the prime minister has an allergy about me. She thinks that I am getting all these things done from inside. Otherwise, Dr Kamal and the citizens could not have done this.

It is your Viber, that is why I am talking. Otherwise I feel scared to talk. I have been told from di� erent places that I should be careful. If they get me in a favourable condition, then I will be in trouble. So I am trying to be a little careful.K: I would have called you up myself because we are a little hesitant and confused about our program. What should we do with this?

M: I think that the United Nations, Eu-ropean Union, US ambassador -- con-sider their words carefully -- it seems that they are trying to say something. It is now clear that a dialogue has to take place. The opposition should be given a democratic atmosphere. Violence has to stop. It is your job, you will have to do it, otherwise you will su� er. Now is this just some words?

If the Indians get involved then a wind of change will blow. You cannot withdraw this. Rather you can try harder.

You see, so many people have been killed by petrol bombs, but still de-spite all the propaganda a pro-move-ment pro-opposition way of thinking has developed among people. People are su� ering, getting annoyed, they do not feel good. But still, people are not saying that the BNP is doing some-thing wrong.

---K: One thing is that despite all the local and international pressure, the government is not taking any initiative for a dialogue.M: No, no, Khoka Bhai, please say what you wanted to. But your tone has to be di� erent. You should say that you are not going to do any violence.

We have been pushed to such a di� -cult situation. This is an illegal govern-ment. Unelected government. We are not challenging its authority. We just said that you are doing a mistake, get it corrected.

That is why we are doing this move-ment. That too they are trying to foil. In that context, you can raise the issue of all those extra-judicial killings. Then you can say that it is a rightful movement. There is no question of backing away from this movement.

This problem can be solved if the government initiates a dialogue, if it talks, this can be a realistic solution to this. Your tone should not sound that you are on the back foot. Now I am seeing the statements issued by Mr Salahuddin, these are � ne.

---

M: If needed, we will tell everyone to build a social resistance. But that does not mean that you will do cross� re and kill everyone. You do not have

that right either.---

K: Some districts are I think a little annoyed. Let us say that running this movement, every day a lot of work needs to be done. One man ... arrest and oppression ... staying in hideout, doing this and that, then doing activ-ities again ... supplying this and that ... these are becoming a little ... you know ...

M: Hmm. You will not be given that easily. But if we can organise one or two big programs. There will be a breakthrough. Then you will be able to follow us and work on your own.

---

M: Let us say a procession is brought out in the university. Say, the kind of � ghting that is going on outside. Two or three might fall in the � ghting in the university. What can you do? But you will have shaken the government.

M: Two or three months back, I told ... You can occupy two to three halls in the university. It used to be like this once. These � ve halls are ours. Those three are yours. Those two are theirs. But then he told me that Chhatra Dal doesn’t have this kind of strength now.K: The students can cope up if the � ght is between student groups. But if police come or university authorities come ... If things get too serious ... you know ...

M: If something big happens then the matter will change. The government is hanging on a wire. The way we are see-ing the government talk, I got the idea that the government is in a real shaky position. I do not know the things that are being discussed with Kerry. That will be very vital.

---

M: Okay, let me say this one last thing. One or two people have told me, you talk to Madam. She will feel a little better. She is alone now, tell her about the situation. I do not think I will give her a call. I can talk to Shimul. If you can then please convey my greetings to her. I am not BNP man but I am � ghting in the cause of democracy. l

Unknown: Yes brother, tell me, what is the news?Manna: By news ... you mean from the country. It is heading somewhere. Rel-ative public support is going towards the BNP. But things are not moving forward.

U: You have not managed to polarise.M: I do not think that will be possible.

U: Yes, it will not be. But it is that, the Uttarpara is getting hotter.M: How long will they take to get hot? What more can happen?

U: The support was not there.M: No. But now there is.

U: Now it seems, on one side. You still have the contacts, right, brother?M: No, I do not have contact with anyone.

U: Would you like to?M: Hmm?

U: Would you like to? Do you want me to call you?M: First I need to at least understand the matter.

U: Now if you do not talk, then how will you understand, brother? You talk some from you, some from them ... then see. You have seen the world. You have seen ... everyone’s everything. I am younger than you. But if you want to bring a change to the country, I think you need to talk. They will contact you. If you want.M: Yes, I will if they do.

U: Okay, great. I will have someone call you. Will I ask someone from the GOC rank to call you? Or do you want someone senior?M: Well, who is junior and who is senior matter of course. But the more important thing is those who are e� ective. And who understands, who knows, someone like this. I mean, the person I will share things with should be able to enlighten me and maybe I will also be able understand him, make him understand.---

U: Brother, you must have heard a lot of bad things about me. In spite of that, a man of your stature has given me a call, you have put your trust on me, � rst of all I would like to thank you for that. You and I, we never met. Inshallah, someone will call you. He is not serving. I mean retired. But there will be two serving persons for talking to you. One of them will be intended lieutenant general. And another is already a lieutenant general. You talk to them and see, tell them what you want, share everything with them, then see where everything goes. But brother, you must take some steps. The typical BNP and company are not good for anything, brother.M: The person you mentioned just now, was he somewhere around the place you were? I mean, the place where you are now, I mean the place you visit regularly, has he ever been there?

U: That person has been in Australia, I told you his name. He will be there. And he will be accompanied by two people currently serving and two GOCs will also be present. If needed, they will arrange a discussion between you and the chief.M: OK.

U: These are the guys that I trust, brother, they are being my elder brothers for a long time. During 1/11, I helped them come out of the barrack. But between Rumi Bhai and Mr Moeen there was a bit of a di� erence. And I had a direct con� ict with Mr Bari. Then I fell ill. I had two surgeries and

at that time because of those events ... the game took another turn. But it would be a di� erent story altogether.

U: They want to bring a change in the country. There was a time when I got used in the neighbouring country and many other countries. I worked from Teknaf to Tentulia, hills, everywhere. They had a wrong idea about me.

U: I tried to run a parallel government for many years. I managed to bring at least the corporate world under one umbrella. But I could not hold on because of a lack of skill and foresight. But I tried.

Then I manipulated a lot of things using 40-50 MPs. I got nomination and everything for them. When I do some-thing it comes as an anti-social. But when you do anything or a RAB o� cer does, next day it comes as a hero in newspaper.

But your vision has to be clear. You see what I did. If you like it, you can go alone. You utilise me, for the country’s purpose. But not in any other purpose. I am not there for money. Whatever Allah has given me, whatever I inher-ited from my family, I can survive on that. From then on a relationship grew with me.

Now Inshallah, I talk directly to 12 out of the 19 running with your bless-ing. At least you can talk to them. Let us see, if you talk then it will be clear.M: OK.

U: Then, with your permission, I will give ... then I will give the number to you. Then you talk to him. You will receive a call tomorrow by 12. Is that OK, brother? Go to a restaurant or something for talking. You can go to one of their con� dential places and talk or you can call them to a place and they can come.M: Do I have to call? I am scared of phones.

U: Yes, yes. In that case in Viber, where I live, a number from there, then you can talk to a Viber number from Aus-tralia. Is that OK, brother?M: OK.

U: And brother. I think you have a connection with the neighbouring country. How much of that do you still have?M: It is nothing solid. They came from that side, I have listened to them. I have talked, those are academics.U: Academics?

M: Yeah, political academics. But there is one thing. I said, the way it is being administered, it is being run, the fundamentalist and similar types, they will surface, they will gain more strength, you will see. Because the way you are giving unreserved sup-port, it will go in that direction. Then they did not agree to me. But later they thought, yes this is right. They have that much appreciation. l

The MannaLeaks

‘Two or three might fall in the � ghting in the university. What can you do?’

‘How long will they take to get hot? What more can happen?’

Here are the edited selections from the transcript of Mahmudur Rahman Manna’s conversations with Sadeque Hossain Khoka and the unknown individual

20150214_RajibDhar_7161.jpg

Khoka: What is your opinion? We should continue this for a few more days, shouldn’t we?

Unknown: But if you want to bring a change to the country, I think you need to talk. They will contact you. If you want

Thursday, February 26, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Three men 1st to get reconstructed bionic hands after amputation n AP, London

Three Austrians have replaced injured hands with bionic ones that they can con-trol using nerves and muscles transplanted into their arms from their legs.

The three men are the � rst to undergo what doctors refer to as “bionic reconstruc-tion,” which includes a voluntary ampu-tation, the transplantation of nerves and muscles and learning to use faint signals from them to command the hand.

Previously, people with bionic hands have primarily controlled them with manual settings.

“This is the � rst time we have bionical-ly reconstructed a hand,” said Dr. Oskar Aszmann of the Medical University of Vienna, who developed the approach with colleagues. “If I saw these kinds of patients � ve to seven years ago, I would have just shrugged my shoulders and said, ‘there’s nothing I can do for you.’”

He said while some patients might be candidates for a hand transplant, that has its own complications, including having to take anti-rejection medicines for the rest of their lives.

Aszmann and colleagues described the cases of the three men in a report published online yesterday in the journal Lancet. The men decided on amputation only after having the bionic hand strapped onto their injured hand, to see how the robotic one might function.

For Milorad Marinkovic, 30, who lost the use of his right hand in a motorbike ac-

cident more than a decade ago, the bionic hand has allowed him to hold things like a sandwich or bottle of water — and more importantly, to play with his three children.

“I can throw things, but it is harder to catch a ball, because my right hand is still not quite as quick and natural (as my left),” said the Vienna based-clerk.

Dr Simon Kay, who authored an accom-panying commentary and performed Brit-ain’s � rst hand transplant, said there would always be major limits to bionic hands. He pointed out that the brain has thousands of ways to send messages to the human hand but that a robotic prosthetic can’t handle such complexity.

“The question is always going to be: How do we get the message from the mind to the metal?” he said.

Patients like Marinkovic, however, have few complaints about the bionic hand, which proved especially popular with his son. When he � rst got the device, his son, then 4, would put on the bionic hand and proudly walk around with it, telling the other kids in his kindergarten class that “my father is a robot.”

Marinkovic says using his bionic hand is nearly as natural as using his uninjured hand.

“I can do almost everything with it. I just don’t have any feeling in it.”

An unrelated study published last year gave patients some feeling in a prosthetic hand by relaying signals to the brain in a temporary experiment and other replace-

ment hands can do things like grip objects but are controlled externally.

Aszmann estimated the new procedure

costs around 30,000 euros ($33,960). The study was paid for by groups including the Austrian Council for Research and Technol-

ogy Development and a laboratory which receives funds from Otto Bock, maker of the prosthetics used. l

Former al-Qaeda double agent says Muslims must � ght extremismn AFP, Paris

A former jihadist who became an Al-Qaeda double agent says Muslims must do more to tackle extremism in their midst and that stopping lone wolf attacks is near-impossible.

Morten Storm has seen deep inside the con� ict between jihadists and Western intelligence services, having served both.

He was a Danish petty criminal who converted to Islam in the 1990s and became embroiled in the global jihadist network, before abruptly los-ing his faith and turning against his former friends.

Storm, 39, has emerged from his experiences with a strong conviction that Muslim communities need to be at the forefront of e� orts to tackle radical Islam.

“(European) governments live in denial. It’s like an alcoholic denying they have a drinking problem. We have a problem with this religion that we need to address honestly,” he said.

He was speaking in Paris, where his book “Agent Storm: My Life Inside

Al-Qaeda and the CIA” is about to be released in French.

He said claims by Western gov-ernments that attacks such as those in Paris and Copenhagen this year had nothing to do with Islam “made a mockery” of those who were � ght-ing for a more tolerant version of the religion.

“The silence of the majority of Mus-lims who are not doing anything about ISIS could lead to a war throughout the Middle East,” said Storm, referring to the Islamic State group based in Syria and Iraq.

His own years of deception have also highlighted the challenge of iden-tifying radicalised individuals who act alone.

“It’s di� cult to prevent lone wolf attacks. You have to understand what’s inside the mind of a person: one day from being a person going to the mosque every day, to one day changing within himself and stab-bing someone or running them down with a car – it’s very di� cult if not im-possible for the intelligence services to stop that.” l

Unidenti� ed drones reappear over Paris during nightn AFP, Paris

Unidenti� ed drones � ew over Par-is for a second night in a row, police said yesterday, in the latest mystery appearance of unmanned aircraft over the French capital at a time of high security.

The latest sightings follow a series of drone spottings at French atomic plants last year and, more recently over the presidential palace and a bay in Brittany that houses nuclear submarines.

Authorities have been left scratch-ing their heads as they remain unable to catch any of the operators or deter-mine whether the � yovers are the work of pranksters, tourists or something more malicious.

Flying drones over the French cap-ital is banned by law, and the latest sightings come at a time of heightened vigilance following last month’s jihad-ist attacks.

A police source told AFP that witness-es and security forces reported at least � ve sightings overnight Tuesday to yes-terday over central Paris – that may have been the same drone or several.

The tiny aircraft were spotted near the US embassy, not far from the In-valides military museum, the Ei� el Tower and several major thoroughfares leading in and out of the French capi-tal, the source added. l

Quarter of British Muslims sympathise with Charlie Hebdo terroristsn Tribune Desk

One in four British Muslims sympathise with terrorists behind the Charlie Heb-do shooting in January, according to a UK-based poll.

A report published on The Tele-graph said the polling by ComRes for the BBC discloses that a signi� cant minority of Muslims validate terrorist activities against those who mock the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

27% of British Muslims say they have “some sympathy for the motives behind the attacks” on Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine. Mean-while, around 115 stated that mag-azines which publish images of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) “deserve to be attacked.”

At least 12 people were killed and 11 wounded in the attack by two Isla-mist terrorists on the o� ce of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, which had published satirical illustrations on Prophet Mo-hammad (PBUH).

Another 32% in the polling said that they were not surprised by the attacks.

Only 68% of British Muslims said that attacks on the publishers of im-ages of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) are “never” justi� ed, while 24 disagreed.

A strong majority – 78% – said that they � nd illustrations of Prophet Mo-hammad (PBUH) “deeply o� ensive to me personally.”

On the other hand, polling shows a high degree of Muslim loyalty to Brit-ain, with 95% saying they feel loyal, and 93% saying British laws should al-ways be obeyed.

However, the polls shows around 20% who say Western society is in-compatible with Islam and 46% say prejudice against Islam makes being Muslim “very di� cult” in Britain. Of those polled, 35% said they did not feel British people trust Muslims.

According to former Foreign O� ce minister Baroness Warsi, the level of sympathy for the attacks behind the French magazine was “worrying.”

She further added that the decision to discard annual surveys of various communities across the UK due to cost-cutting had left Whitehall without comparative detail which is needed to understand the sentiment.

“One of the problems we have had in relation to good policy-making around our minority communities is that it has become headline-driven, it has be-come sensationalist and it is therefore not dealing with the long-term prob-lem in a calm way,” Warsi said. l

Pakistan’s spy chief heads to US amid Afghan Taliban talks pushn AFP, Islamabad

Pakistan’s powerful spy chief has left on an o� cial trip to the United States, the military said yesterday, with pos-sible peace talks between Afghanistan and the Afghan Taliban likely to be on the agenda.

It is Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar’s � rst o� cial visit to the US

since taking charge of the Inter-Ser-vices Intelligence (ISI) agency last year.

Pakistan has a civilian government but the military and ISI still wield great in� uence, particularly over policy to-wards neighbouring Afghanistan.

The trip comes days after President Barack Obama’s new Pentagon chief said the US was seriously considering slowing the pace of a troop withdrawal

from Afghanistan.Pakistani support has been seen as

crucial in recent moves to persuade the Taliban to talk to the Afghan govern-ment to end their 13-year insurgency.

The brief military statement an-nouncing Akhtar’s trip said only that he would “discuss issues related to intelligence” with his counterparts, whom it did not name. l

US Supreme Court divided over right to appeal visa denialn AFP, Washington

The US Supreme Court appeared divid-ed Monday over whether American cit-izens can appeal the government’s de-cision to deny their spouse a visa, after a California woman’s Afghan husband was barred from entering the country.

Fauzia Din, a naturalised US citizen from Afghanistan, sued the govern-ment after it denied a visa to her hus-band, Kanishka Berashk of Afghanistan.

The government had cited a law re-

ferring to “terrorist activities,” declin-ing to provide any further information about why he was turned down.

During an hour of oral arguments in the case, some of the nine justices seemed favorable to Din, but the high court is likely to side with President Barack Obama’s administration, which says a visa denial cannot be repealed.

Berashk, who had worked for the Ka-bul government while it was still in Tali-ban hands ahead of the US-led invasion of 2001, was denied a visa in 2009.

Din had stressed that she herself had � ed the Taliban, who took power in 1996, and yet obtained political asylum and citizenship from the United States.

“There’s a liberty of not being arbi-trarily denied the right to live with your spouse,” said her lawyer, Mark Haddad.

But Berashk “was denied entry for security reasons. Neither he nor his wife is entitled to a greater explana-tion,” Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler said in presenting the gov-ernment’s arguments. l

India archbishop condemns Mother Teresa conversion claimn AFP, Kolkata

The archbishop of Kolkata yesterday condemned claims by a prominent Hindu group that Mother Teresa’s work was motivated by a desire to convert Indians to Christianity.

Thomas D’Souza said the Nobel peace laureate “wanted to give digni-ty to the poor and the sick and dying,” calling the claims by the head of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) “absolutely false.”

“She believed that every person is created in the image and likeness of God,” he said. “Whatever Bhagwat has said is absolutely false.”

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat sparked protest in India when he said this week that the true motive behind the nun’s work was that its bene� ciaries should turn to Christianity.

Mother Teresa won global acclaim for her work in the slums of Kolk-ata and is still revered by Indians of all faiths.

Bhagwat’s comments come at a time of heightened sensitivity over religious freedom in India, where churches and a Christian school have been attacked in recent months. l

Pakistan Rangers soldier instructs a female student of Nadirshaw Eduljee Dinshaw (NED) University during a counter-terrorism training demonstration at the Rangers Shooting & Saddle Club (RSSC) on the outskirts of Karachi yesterday. More than 200 students of NED University have visited RSSC to observe the counter-terrorism training demonstration, Sachal Rangers o� cial Khalid Goraya said REUTERS

Milorad Marinkovic holds a glass of water with his bionic arm as he poses for a photograph at his home in Vienna, Austria, Tuesday AP

Thursday, February 26, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE Preview 9

A full investigation is necessaryThe leaked telephone conversations of Mahmudur Rahman Manna are

shocking and merit a full investigation. In the � rst one, he appears to be collaborating with a fugitive leader

of the BNP to destabilise the government through violent action at Dhaka University, expressing indi� erence if such action might lead to deaths.

In the second, the unidenti� ed third party to whom he is speaking seems to suggest the possibility of a move to destabilise the government through the actions of serving and retired army o� cers.

Manna has authenticated the conversations and claims that his words have been taken out of context and that nothing he has said in either conversation rises to the level of a crime or suggests his participation in any kind of conspiracy.

This is for a court to decide, and there can be no question that he has a case to answer. 

In the � rst instance he advises a confrontation between BNP student activists and the authorities that could well amount to incitement.

In the second, it seems clear that the subtext of the conversation is an unconstitutional plot to unseat a constitutionally-elected government.

Whether these two conversations rise to the level of criminal acts and whether there is other evidence to suggest that a crime has been committed can only be determined through a full legal investigation, that should be begun without delay.

It should go without saying that Manna must be entitled to his legal presumption of innocence, and it is imperative that he be a� orded all his legal rights to a full and transparent process. 

Due process must be followed meticulously, all the more so given the grave nature of the charges against him and his status as a high-pro� le critic of the government. 

The leaking of the tapes to the media and the confusion and denials surrounding his arrest are not good signs. We trust that moving forward the authorities will be absolutely scrupulous in their treatment of the accused and their prosecution of the case against him.

What does civil society have to say?Civil society leaders are typically not shy about sharing their opinions

as to the shortcomings of politicians or the government. Thus we � nd their silence surrounding the current case of Mahmudur Rahman

Manna conspicuous.Whether or not the leaked telephone conversations render him a

criminal is for a court of law to decide. However, what can already be determined with some certainty is that Manna has forsaken his moral authority and the right to be considered a man of conscience or integrity.

His collaboration with the BNP gives the lie to his claim to represent an impartial third way between that of the government and the opposition. Even worse is the revelation that he is an advocate of violent confrontation with the government and believes that a few dead bodies is a small price to pay for advancing his agenda.

The second conversation is trickier, since he will argue that he did not commit himself to any course of action and that nothing came of it. However, it has to be said that he certainly did not seem averse to freely discussing matters of the utmost gravity, nor did he discourage the third party’s unconstitutional utterances.

In short, Manna has abdicated any right to be considered any kind of a leader. We would hope that this is apparent to his erstwhile allies and supporters, and that they would waste no time in distancing themselves from his statements and his leadership.

Manna can no longer to considered a credible voice of the general public and has indeed done a grave disservice to those who considered him their ally.

He has misled them as to his intentions and a� liations. In terms of the credibility of any non-partisan platform, the damage may well be irreparable, but the sooner he is denounced and censured by civil society and discredited as any kind of public voice, the better.

Economist: Army may actFebruary 8Ehsan AbdullahPropaganda 101.

roseThe army should interfere more vigorously.

DreampieI didn’t realise our military men and women were so talented!

Malaysia win Bangabandhu Gold CupFebruary 8BeccamHard luck booters, but a fair result.

Redwan SarkerBeccam: What happened Sheikh Hasina?! You’re meant to be good at � xing scores. Or at least that’s what my BNP brother keeps telling me!

The bigger they are …February 9Zero-AgendaState-owned banks are bleeding us dry! It boggles the mind to see the government con-stantly bail them out despite their ridiculously high rates of defaulting.

ChumpionA further case for SOBs’ privatisation.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, February 26, 2015

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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

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It is imperative that Manna be a� orded all his legal rights to a full and transparent process

Manna has done a grave disservice to those who considered him their ally

Arrest spree punishes prisonsFebruary 8

Anne MuskiePah! 70,000 people in prison! The United States manages at least one-and-half million. Your human rights abusers still have a way to go before matching incarceration rates in the land of the free.

TristaterefugeeAnne Muskie: The US has better bounty hunters and a private prison behemoth to feed. Discrimi-natory drug laws make the mostly black, brown, and poor pay the price.

Freelance photographer asks burn victims to pose for shootFebruary 9

arshadFame-seeker of the day.

Black Hat SEO ToolsJust slap this photographer.

Epic failFebruary 8Zero-AgendaOur politicians are not the least bit educated themselves, I doubt if the education of our na-tion’s children are much of a concern for them.

sattarHow educated are our top-tier politicians though? I think Muhith went to Harvard or something ...

Barely Legal Aliensattar: Curiously enough, he has a degree in literature.

Lailasattar: Ew, no he didn’t.

roseWhy such uneducated politicians in our country?

Pillion Rider: The Pillioningrose: Because they were basically picked out of the primordial ooze of our citizenry.

vhsrose: garbage in, garbage out.

From Hebdo to PKFebruary 9

Pillion Rider ForeverFreedom of speech is a double-edged sword, that’s for sure.

PM for strict action to check terror � nancing

February 6Babul Sarwar

Say something about your responsibility. Why didn’t, and couldn’t, you ban Jamaat? Unless

that is done, people will continue to doubt your intentions!

Arif RahmanStep down, please.

Book lovers enjoy Boi MelaFebruary 5

Readone BibakPoor people have big screen TVs. Rich people have

big libraries.

RAB chief: Legal revenge for 7 deaths in Comilla

February 5Sharif Ahmed

Perceived credibility!

Khaleda ready for any consequence

February 5Golam Ahmed Khan

She’s lost it.

Joy: 4G services by 2021February 6

Arch BishopDigital Bribery, lol!

New US envoy for strengthening Washington-Dhaka relationship

February 6Arch Bishop

Another typical Obama diplomat who supports the incumbent self-selected government to the hilt …

just like her bird-watching predecessor.

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Headwear (3)3 Petty quarrel (4)6 Smart and fashionable (4)7 Early freshness (3)9 Single occasion (4)10 Cereal (3)11 See at a glance (4)13 Gap (5)16 Happening (5)18 Eager (4)19 Self (3)20 Impartial (4)21 Make brown (3)23 Raw hide (4)24 Merriment (4)25 Favourite (3)

DOWN1 Conceals (5)2 Top card (3)4 Weakly (4)5 Golf mound (3)6 Marine growth (5)8 Work into a fabric (5)9 Frank (4)12 Perfume (5)14 Nobleman (4)15 Concerning (5)17 Dogma (5)18 Flying toy (4)20 Thick mist (3)22 Monkey (3)

CROSSWORD

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

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 3 represents B so � ll B every time the � gure 3 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

11Op-Ed Thursday, February 26, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

People saw a light at the end of the tunnel when Nagorik Samaj, a civil society plat-form, on February 13 urged the Awami League and the

BNP -- the two parties involved in the street � ght for political control -- to sit at the negotiating table to overcome the political impasse that just about brought the economy to its knees since January 6.

The civil society group, led by former election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda, also asked the BNP-led alliance, the alliance largely blamed for carrying out country-wide petrol bomb attacks on the public that killed at least 80 innocents, to stop their violence so that an atmosphere appropriate for dialog can be cultivated.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed was the � rst to respond to Nagorik Sa-maj’s call for dialog with the agitating BNP-led “conglomerate.” The AL’s out-right rejection of the dialog o� er really frustrated the people who wanted to see an immediate end to our culture of violent politics.

People were horri� ed as the ob-stinate BNP-led opposition allegedly had been throwing petrol bombs to force the government to accept their demands of mid-term polls, while the equally stubborn AL leadership had been � rm to crush the “terrorist acts” of the BNP-Jamaat.

“No talks with the terrorist,” said the prime minister, making it impossi-ble for President Abdul Hamid to even think of using his good o� ce to bring

them to the negotiating table, given his constitutional limitations.

Be a bystander, and you will overhear the incredibly hackneyed question: “What is the loss if they [AL] listen to the civil society’s call for dia-log, as nobody takes such initiatives?”

Yes, people are right in saying that political parties must engage in dialog in a democratic polity. “No dialog” leaves no space in democracy for which the Bangalis have paid im-mensely for decades.

The reason why the AL is so stubborn about not going for any dialog with BNP-Jamaat has an interesting impli-cation on its politics. This is because a single statement hinting at the AL’s interest in any sort of dialog would spell disaster among its leaders, activ-ists, supporters, and even people in the administration, police, and other organs of the state playing crucial roles in binding the government.

How? If the AL shows a little inter-est in dialog to end the violence, it will boost the morale of BNP-Jamaat, who would conclude that the petrol bomb

attacks on buses, trains, and trucks and the inde� nite blockades supple-mented by stray hartals had worked to keep the government at bay.

It could be said: “They could force the AL to budge.” And it will establish in our polity that violence and petrol bombs, not elections, were the means through which power was handed over.

Owing to in� ghting in the ruling party over con� ict of interests and per-sonal gain, the AL’s organisational base

is not quite strong across the country. The party has virtually merged with

the government that mainly depends on law enforcers and the administra-tion to establish a � rm grip.

On the other hand, already op-pressed and exasperated, the BNP-Ja-maat would continue their violent activities with increased vigour to kill AL leaders and activists. This will not be incorrect that, in that case, the police and administration would not carry out the AL’s orders fearing reprisal from BNP-Jamaat if they come to power by any means, or if any un-

constitutional forces take over.Now, let’s come to the civil society’s

proposal: Accepting the civil society leaders’ mediating role is likely to prove counterproductive for the pol-iticians and the political system. The politicians (including Sheikh Hasina) and the political system once accepted that civil society leaders were better human beings than politicians as they amended the constitution, inserting the provision of a non-party caretaker government to oversee the national elections.

The constitutional recognition of the civil society seriously undermined the politicians’ role on the one hand, making some of the civil society lead-ers politically ambitious. Nobel Laure-ate Dr Muhammad Yunus can be cited as an example. He declared � oating a political party after the installation of the military-backed government in 2007.

His declaration was an eye-open-er for the political system, a system which started spewing venom against the civil society in a wholesale manner. Character smearing of Dr Yunus and some former advisers to the caretaker government made the civil society leaders very careful about being involved in the political system.

If the AL agrees to the dialog pro-posal, people will see the civil society as the last resort for resolving the political crisis. That will undermine the political system again, and no politician -- be it Khaleda Zia or Sheikh Hasina -- will accept it. l

Kamran Reza Chowdhury is a journalist.

Why they don’t talk

n Mamun Rashid

A few of my seniors at Standard Chartered Bank would have simply killed me had I used the

above headline in the early 90s. Some of them, if not all, truly believed “you are at the centre of everything we do.” Readers would easily understand that “you” here refers to the esteemed clients of the bank.

Not only Standard Chartered, but many organisations in corporate America or Europe believed and still believe: “Our customers are our number one priority,” or “we put our clients � rst.” So many CEOs or chair-men of companies like IBM, Marks & Spencer, Microsoft, or British Airways often speak about their core mantra of “putting clients � rst” or always being “client driven.” Successful companies were projected to be “client-centric.”

But gradually, at least some people realised there seems to be a problem with putting customers � rst. It means that employees come at least second. Some stated, “customers should never be the priority … people should be the priority”.

Some of those people buy from us, some of those people work for us, and the di� erence is only a behav-ioural one. They are all people, and all business decisions should be made considering the impact on the people who are on the receiving end of our decisions.

Some gurus felt that splitting the population into distinct groups -- employees and customers -- and having di� erent standards and policies for each is a kind “racism.” To treat one group better than another simply because of who they are is something Martin Luther King Jr rallied against decades ago. It gained further clarity when he gave his famous “I have a dream” speech.

I have a dream that one day, cus-tomers and employees will both be treated equally and treated well. Not because of what they do or how they are seen, but because they are both people. Customers and employees both bleed. Customers and employees both feel happy and get hurt. Custom-ers and employees both live to feel valued for the e� orts they exert and the expense they put forth.

Though Martin Luther King Jr was all about putting “people � rst,” corpo-rate America, and now even the Asian corporations, strongly feel that compa-nies should be di� erentiating them-selves from each other through their employees more. AT&T has always championed “a winning combination between our people and the client.”

Many others felt strongly that to deliver the best to clients you need the best employees, to ensure a shared vision.

No company in the world can main-tain ultimate client delivery if they don’t have “happy people” inside. That is why intelligent companies are putting so much importance on hiring the right people, training them well, and sharing the success. Many com-panies in America, Europe, and the Far East, or even in India, are o� ering share options to their employees, fur-ther tying them up with the ultimate success of the company.

Employees are working much harder to see their companies succeed further, see their share prices going up, and all are free to drink in the success.

Apple, or even Infosys in India, have found out that “in order to get the best from your employees, or to make sure they put in their best to achieve the shared vision, you need to take care of them well. Always strive to take care of the best and be fair to the rest.” All successful companies in today’s world truly want to be identi� ed for their “investments in people.”

Citi, once known and respected to be the “� nancial supermarket,” devel-oped a culture of recruiting the best, cultivating a competitive environment for their employees, with ample scope to climb up the ladder.

People looking at their peers felt great about the organisation, tried to look beyond their box, came up with inno-vative ideas, and ultimately delivered the desired results with extreme unity. Goldman Sachs was even further ahead of Citi. Their alumnus is their strength, always making sure there is only one Goldman Sachs in this world -- so unique, yet so di� erent.

The credit goes to people like Vineet Nayar, to transform the “customer-fo-cused world” into an “employee-cen-tric world.” He told us that only happy employees can ensure better success transfer or smiles on the faces of their clients.

He said: “You better focus on your employees to deliver the best to your clients.” “Train them well, invest in their capacity-building, and try to bring smiles on their faces � rst.” All good companies in the corporate world now want to be respected as undaunt-ed investors in human capital.

Happy employees also deliver happy returns to shareholders. The shareholders are increasingly rallying with the committed and result-driven employees. The entire “wealth man-agement” or “private banking” world has proven this many times. Relation-ship managers at global banks deliver the most for their clients.

Back home, companies never thought of people to be so important. There are so many job-hungry people, yet, few e� cient people. Multination-als like HSBC, BAT, Unilever, or lately Grameenphone, have paved the way for people-centric organisations. SCB, Novartis, Robi Axiata, and a few others have also tried their way out towards a transition from “client centric” to “people-centric.”

Now, an increasing number of local business houses are feeling the pinch of not having the right people in their companies. Local companies are realising that they can only di� erenti-ate themselves through their people, ie good employees and nothing else. A few of them don’t even want to be “pennywise” anymore. l

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

Employee � rst, customer second?

n Mursal Juya

Be it the Asia Cup or the World Cup, the fascination, excite-ment, and anxiety that cricket

brings forth are all palpable at the Asian University for Women (AUW), where students from 15 Asian coun-tries get together to watch matches and cheer their favourite teams. In such a diverse community, it is di� cult, however, to watch cricket without thinking critically about nationalism, national identity, and representations of women.

On February 18, as the Bangladesh and Afghanistan teams took their positions on the � eld, AUW students turned the campus café into a mini-stadium, huddled around the TV, and got ready to follow every move in the game. As an Afghan student at AUW, I was particularly excited about the match.

Watching the match with Bangla-deshi friends at AUW was an unfor-gettable experience. We put up � ags,

laughed, and cheered for our teams. At the end of the match, Afghan stu-dents congratulated their Bangladeshi friends for their team’s victory, and Bangladeshi students tried to make their Afghan peers feel better by em-phasising how well the Afghan team performed.

Studying in a diverse environment teaches us to respect the institutions and values that students from other countries hold dear. In learning to move beyond divisions, tolerance, and genuine respect, we constantly put ourselves in each others’ shoes and try to consider multiple perspectives. We strive to see beyond our own national identities, and we try to foster respect and solidarity between students from di� erent countries.

Just as cricket helps build bridges between countries, it can also play a powerful role in unifying people within a country and helping them overcome grievances and antagonism between each other. While Afghani-stan has only recently begun playing

cricket at the international level, it has already won millions of hearts.

Cricket unites the people of Afghan-istan and brings all the ethnic groups to a common ground. In Afghanistan’s ethnically diverse population where ethnicity continues to play a major role in daily lives, cricket has strengthened the sense of a uni� ed national identity. Cricket in Afghanistan has become one of the main sources of joy, hope, and unity among people. Perhaps it will help foster greater respect and equal-ity among the di� erent ethnic groups in Afghanistan over time.

In addition to bringing di� erent ethnic groups in Afghanistan together, cricket also brings people together regardless of gender. Last year, 24 Afghan students including myself trav-elled from Chittagong to Dhaka for the Afghanistan-Bangladesh match during the Asia Cup. That so many Afghan women had come all the way from Chittagong to Dhaka to support their team received quite a lot of attention from the regional and Bangladeshi

media, possibly because we de� ed stereotypes about Afghan women.

We had come from a presumably conservative country, so our appearance in a stadium as avid cricket fans seemed unusual to many. Our presence implied standing up against the odds, but also re� ected the divergence between stereotypes and reality.

As young Afghan women, we are determined to change perceptions of Afghanistan and challenge stereotypes through our work on major social, economic, and political issues in our country. We thereby aim to create a platform for positive change where people choose solidarity and empathy over divisiveness.

We want our voices to be heard, not only when we cheer at cricket match-es, but also when we engage in debates and campaigns for social change to build a better world. l

Mursal Juya is a student from Afghanistan, currently studying in Bangladesh.

Cricket brings us together

If the AL agrees to the dialog proposal, people will see the civil society as the last resort for resolving the political crisis

All successful companies in today’s world truly want to be identi� ed for their ‘investments in people’

BIGSTOCK

DHAKA TRIBUNE

12 DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, February 26, 2015

SportDid you know?

Only Brendon McCullum (132) has a higher strike rate than Kevin O’Brien (129) in successful

World Cup run chases, 100+ runs

14 Luck runs out for bail boy Joyce

14 Shaiman blasts into WC books

TODAYAfghanistan v Scotland, 4am

Sri Lanka v Bangladesh, 9:30am

TOMORROWSouth Africa v West Indies, 9:30am

UPCOMING MATCHES

WORLD CUP HEAD-TO-HEAD

PLAYER TO WATCH

BANGLADESH SRI LANKA 0 Wins 2 124 Highest totals 318/4 112 Lowest totals 126/0

4 Wins 32

Mohammad Ashraful (45) Most runs Sanath Jayasuriya (164) Mohammad Ashraful (45) Highest scores Sanath Jayasuriya (09)

Mohammad Ra� que (1) Most wickets Chaminda Vaas (7) Mohammad Ra� que (1/48) Best bowling Chaminda Vaas (6/25)

Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah, Shakib al Hasan,

Mush� qur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mominul Haque, Mashrafe Mortaza, Taskin

Ahmed, Rubel Hossain

Lahiru Thirimanne, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (WK), Dimuth Karunaratne, Mahela

Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews (C), Thisara Perera, Dushmantha Chameera, Rangana Herath, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal

PROBABLE XI

BOWLING

BATTING

OVERALL

After striking a painstaking 42-ball 19 against

Afghanistan, Tamim will no doubt be itching his hands

for a far more attacking approach against the

Lankans, who the Tigers have faced several times in

the last few years TAMIM MALINGA

Malinga has had a below-par World Cup so far, most notably against

co-hosts New Zealand in the opening game when

McCullum � ayed him to all parts of the ground. Will be targeting his toe-crushing

yorkers against Bangladesh

Unlike Afghanistan, can Bangladesh carry itself to seal the deal?

The free spir-ited Afghans ran the mara-thon shoulder to shoulder against the Lankans but stuttered and tripped at the � nish line only to see the expe-rienced Mahela Jay a w a r d e n e guide Sri Lan-ka home. The Afghans did ev-erything right

to give them a chance to prove to the world that the bar to measure the qual-ity of an Associate Member country has been signi� cantly raised.

Bangladesh, fresh from its win against Afghanistan, will have looked into the spirited performance by this World Cup debutant that nearly rolled over the Lankans as a huge brain boost-er. The former World Cup winner did exhibit adequate examples of its vul-nerability and the question is whether Bangladesh can sustain its focus and its desire to exploit the chances that may

come along the way. No one in the right frame of mind

should consider Sri Lanka not to be the favourites at the MCG today. It is a side that has played in three World Cup � nals, winning it once when no one gave it much of a chance. True, it is a team that is in transition and their four stalwarts are ageing, however, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga are still capable of delivering the goods with world class performances. Had it not been for the experience of Jayawardene, Afghanistan would have created the � rst major upset in the 11th World Cup.

Bangladesh will hope for a good day’s outing. Ideally, they need to bat � rst if they can and play normal cricket. Tamim Iqbal, who seems to be somewhat tentative, will need to loosen up and get rid of his goose bumps along with a few of the others. The top four or � ve cannot be victims of soft dismissals that we see happen far too frequently. If Bangladesh is to reach the 280 mark, the top order has to come through. Sri Lanka’s bowling in the middle overs is better than Afghanistan’s or for that matter, most other teams. Most of all,

Rangana Herath, is a natural wicket taker and Bangladesh needs to deny him the glory if it needs to stay in the match. Matches are won or lost in the middle overs and Bangladesh needs to win both sessions covering the middle overs.

We saw the Indian spinners shackle the fancied South African batting line up. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja never lost control and this should encourage Shakib al Hasan and Mahmudullah to go into the match with a wicket taking frame of mind. Can they manage to keep the Lankan batting under control? What worries me is that Sangakkara has yet to get a decent score. He looked restless during the Afghanistan match and nearly ran himself out twice before getting a beauty from Hamid Hassan. He will surely be looking for redemption. Sangakkara is a player who, if given the start, ends up scoring big. He is someone who can take the match away in a � ash.

On the mental side of things, the sudden forced expulsion of Al Amin Hossain from the squad has raised many eyebrows. Many a tale is com-ing through the grapevine and none of

them speak well about the Bangladesh management. The integrity of the Ban-gladesh management is being ques-tioned. How this is going to a� ect the morale of the team remains to be seen. The Bangladesh fans will want the team to put this entire incident behind and focus on the match ahead.

The MCG is a huge arena - one of the largest in the world. I believe the Bangladesh team will be experiencing the magical atmosphere of the MCG for the � rst time. This can be quite over-whelming but one can expect a large Bangladeshi contingent in the stands to spur them on.

If you are familiar with the history of ancient Roman Gladiators, be informed of this. Rome’s Coliseum was where all the gladiators wanted to make their mark. They fought in small towns, sur-vived each � ght and had to prove their worth before they could have the hon-our to � ght before the Emperor in the Coliseum. Needless to mention, Ban-gladesh has survived the small towns and it is time it justi� es its place in world cricket and takes this opportu-nity to win the hearts of the crowd in what may be termed as the Australian version of the Roman Coliseum. l

‘We don’t even know where he went and that’s the biggest question’ n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Fast bowler Al Amin Hossain’s dismiss-al from the World Cup was solely based on disciplinary grounds, con� rmed Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan, who returned from Australia on Tuesday night.

Bangladesh team manager Khaled Mahmud earlier on Sunday had said they are sending back Al Amin fol-lowing complaints from the ICC’s An-ti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) which gave birth to suspicions over whether the 25-year old has any kind of connection with the bookies.

The BCB chief yesterday assured a private TV channel that Al Amin has no links whatsoever with corruption, but

the di� cult decision to send him back had to be taken to set an example for the remaining members.

However, Nazmul’s clari� cation of ruling out Al Amin from having any connection with match � xing sound-ed contradictory as he went on to say Al Amin is yet to give a justi� ed expla-nation to the team management of his whereabouts for leaving the team hotel late at night.

Al Amin was found breaching the team curfew (not staying out of hotel after 10pm) on several occasions in the last few days and most importantly the team management wasn’t aware of that. ACSU, however, did their duty by informing the Bangladesh team man-agement about Al Amin’s whereabouts

and the situation worsened on Febru-ary 19 when he gave di� erent reasons of staying out late and none made sense.

“ACSU informed us of him (Al Amin) coming to the hotel late, but that doesn’t mean he is involved in match-� xing. There are no allegations against him. All the players in the World Cup are under watch. Al-Amin went out late at night which I was real-ly surprised about. He is not the type of person to go out on his own at night in a foreign country,” said Nazmul.

“ We don’t even know where he went and that’s the biggest question. He is giv-ing us di� erent versions. It is not a very serious issue but we had to come hard on him. Everyone knows we are very strict with discipline. We have taken a lot of tough decisions in the recent past so it is hard to imagine what just happened. When even the senior players don’t get out of their room after 10pm, he did so late at night,” said Nazmul.

Nazmul said he was requested by the members of the team – both man-agement and players – not to send Al Amin back. “I was requested to excuse him this time, but I just asked them one question. What if someone does the same thing again? This will remain the example so no question about it. This is why we decided to send him back home,” said Nazmul. l

Sri Lanka’s Mathews wary of Bangladeshn AFP, Melbourne

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews is not taking Bangladesh lightly in Thurs-day’s World Cup clash despite a supe-rior record, saying he expects a tough game against the South Asian rivals.

“This will be a pressure match for all of us,” Mathews said of the Pool A en-counter at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“It will certainly be a tough game. Bangladesh have performed well in the recent past. They have a good set of players and we have to take all their batsmen and bowlers seriously.

“Whoever plays the best cricket will win and we hope we can play our best cricket tomorrow.”

Sri Lanka, the 1996 champions and � nalists in the last two editions, have won 32 of 37 one-day internationals against Bangladesh, and their record in the World Cup is even better.

Bangladesh were hammered by 10 wickets in 2003 and by 198 runs four years later in the teams’ only two pre-vious World Cup meetings, leaving Sri Lanka overwhelming favourites to ex-

tend the streak.But Mathews’ men have had an un-

inspiring start to the 2015 event, with their batsmen struggling to cope with conditions in New Zealand.

Sri Lanka were thrashed by the co-hosts in the tournament opener in Christchurch, going down by 98 runs after New Zealand had piled up 331 for six.

Then a scare awaited them against Afghanistan in Dunedin, as the min-nows fought tooth and nail before the Test side scraped through on the back of a century by the ever-reliable Mahe-la Jayawardene.

Having left New Zealand with two points from as many games, Sri Lanka will hope the change in scenery and conditions in Australia will galvanise their campaign.

“The game against Afghanistan was a close one, we need to improve our standards,” Mathews warned. “What we need to learn is to dominate from ball one and stay in the game till the end.

“We have not played our best cricket yet. If we play the way we can, we can

beat any team in the world. We have got to step up and set our goals high. Play every game as a � nal or a semi-� -nal.

“The batters have to score runs and the bowlers have to take wickets.”

Star batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan are still to � re, but Sri Lanka’s main concern will be the indisciplined bowling which saw 16 wides and a no-ball conceded against Afghanistan.

Pace spearhead Lasith Malinga has given away 125 runs in two matches at this tournament so far, but Mathews was not worried that his main strike bowler was a long way away from hit-ting top form after ankle surgery last year.

“Lasith is working extremely hard at the nets,” he said. “One has to be at the peak when the quarter-� nals come and he and the others are working towards that.”

Mathews con� rmed that all-rounder Jeevan Mendis was out of the tourna-ment with a hamstring injury and the team management had called up open-er Upul Tharanga as a replacement.

“Unfortunately, Jeevan is out for two to three weeks,” the captain said. “Upul is expected to arrive tonight but we have yet to decide if we will play him or not against Bangladesh.”

Bangladesh have three points from two matches, following a comfortable win over Afghanistan and a washed-out game against Australia. l

YOUSUF RAHMAN (BABU)

Bangladesh’s Shakib al Hasan attends a practice session at the MCG yesterday on the eve of their third Pool A game against Sri Lanka today AFP

Bangladesh’s Soumya Sarkar (R) speaks with head coach Chandika Hathurusingha during their practice session at the MCG yesterday AFP

South Africa won’t panic, says Amlan AFP, Sydney

South Africa batsman Hashim Amla insisted his team won’t panic despite their 130-run World Cup loss to defend-ing champions India, while Friday’s clash against a rejuvenated West Indies can’t come round soon enough.

The Proteas, widely-regarded as one of the favourites for a � rst world title, su� ered a sobering wake-up call against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last weekend after a far from convincing opening win over Zimbabwe.

“We are obviously disappointed, we didn’t play good cricket,” said Amla, who has yet to hit top gear after making 11 against Zimbabwe and then 22 in the Indian rout.

“The format of this tournament is such that you have to move on, that’s how we look at it. We made a few mis-takes but the game is done and dusted and we certainly want to look ahead to the important match on Friday.”

Amla said South Africa have learnt their lessons ahead of Friday’s game at the Sydney Cricket Ground where they will face a West Indies team they de-feated 4-1 at home in January.

“They are a dangerous team and you can never take them for granted. They are an explosive team,” said Amla.

“We are going to be treating them with the respect that we treat all teams.”l

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 13Thursday, February 26, 2015

BTV, Maasranga TV, Gazi TV

Star Sports 1, 39:30AM

ICC World Cup Bangladesh v Sri Lanka

Star Sports 44:00AM

ICC World Cup Afghanistan v Scotland

4:30PM

Dubai Duty Free Tennis C’shipsQuarter Final

Ten Sports8:30AM

Abierto Mexicano Telecel TennisDay 3

08:00PM

WTA Qatar Total Open Tennis, QF 2

12:00AM

UEFA Europa League Internazionale v Celtic

2:00AM Feyenoord v Roma

4:00AM

Abierto Mexicano Telecel Tennis, Quarter� nals

Ten Action06:00PM

WTA Qatar Total Open Tennis, Quarter� nal 1

12:00PM

UEFA Europa League Besiktas v Liverpool

2:00AM Everton v Young Boys

Sony Six7:00AM

NBA Season Houston v LA Clippers

09:30AM Portland v San Antonio

DAY’S WATCH

Mohammedan’s Guinean striker Ismail Bangoura (L) celebrates scoring his side’s second goal against Feni Soccer Club in the quarter� nals of the Federation Cup at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

MSC into Fed Cup semisn Shishir Hoque

Mohammedan swept into the semi� -nals of the 27th Federation Cup after registering a comfortable 2-1 victory over Feni Soccer Club in the second quarter� nal at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Local mid� elder Biplu Ahmed and Guinean striker Ismail Bangoura net-ted a goal apiece in the opening half to ensure the last four spot for the tradi-tional Black and Whites, who will now face the winner of the fourth quarter� -nal between Abahani and Muktijoddha this Monday.

The Feni out� t did not display the same spirit like they had done in their previous match in the group stage. Con-sequently, they failed to put up enough resistance against the Mohammedan attackers as the Black and Whites broke the deadlock in the 21st minute.

Mohammedan were forced to make an early substitution with Biplu coming o� the bench to replace Sha� qul Islam Bipul in mid� eld. Biplu gave a quick re-

minder of his potential by grabbing the lead. Receiving a short pass from Abu Sayed Jewel, Biplu slotted home past Feni goalkeeper Ahsan Habib Bipu into the far post.

Taking advantage of a disorganised Feni defence, an unmarked Bangoura doubled the lead in the 39th minute from inside the penalty area. Following a Habibur Rahman Shohag free-kick, Bangoura was a bit sloppy at � rst but quickly gathered himself to thump in the second.

Soccer Club tried to stage a come-back after resumption but were un-able to create concrete chances. Their Gambian triumvirate – Jatta Mustapha, Alha Kebba Ceesay and Dawda Ceesay – brie� y managed to threaten the oppo-nents but the Mohammedan defence, led by Nigerian defender Eleta Benja-min Jr, held � rm.

And when Feni did reduce the ar-rears in the 90th minute, it was too late. Following a Dawda cutback, for-ward Sohel Mia tapped the ball into the back of the net. l

Nabab Habibullah, BAF Shaheen qualify on � nal day n Raihan Mahmood

The Dhaka zonal quali� ers of First Security Islami Bank National School Hockey concluded at the Moulana Bha-shani National Hockey Stadium yes-terday with six schools qualifying for the � nal round scheduled to start from March 7 at the capital.

Zinzira PM Pilot High School, Fatul-lah Pilot High School, Ahmed Bawanu Academy School and College, Nabab Habibullah High School, BAF Shaheen School an Armanitola High School grabbed the six available slots.

In the last match-day, Nabab Habibullah High School beat Shahid

Nabi High School by 5-0 goals and BAF Shaheen School thrashed Naryanganj High School by 6-0 goals. The other quali� ers ensured their � nal round berth earlier.

Mahfuzur Rahman, the chairman of ATN Bangla and also the chairman of the tournament committee was the chief guest while Azam Khan, the head of development and marketing of the First Secuirty Islami Bank was the spe-cial guest on the occasion.

Hockey federation general secretary Khaja Rahmatullah and Mamunur Rashid, the secretary of the organising committee were also present. l

Runs galore in NCL raises doubtsn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Runs galore in the ongoing 16th Na-tional Cricket League has raised doubts over the competitiveness of the wick-ets being used in the domestic � rst-

class competition as well as the quality of bowling. The country’s premier four-day tournament has already witnessed 40 hundreds, with � ve of them - Sham-sur Rahman, Mohammed Mithun, Tushar Imran, Naeem Islam and Nafees

Iqbal - scored on the third day of the � fth round yesterday.

Dhaka v Khulna, FatullahKhulna managed to eke out a 71-run � rst-innings lead as ended the penul-timate day’s play on 437 for the loss of six wickets, replying to Dhaka’s 366 allout.

A 222-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Tushar (158) and Mithun (126) enabled Khulna to an ad-vantageous position against the capital city out� t.

Resuming on 124/3, Khulna added a further 313 runs before the umpires sig-nalled the end of the day’s play.

Former national cricketer Tushar led from the front with his third centu-ry of the season. He faced 302 balls and smacked 17 boundaries while Mithun hit a dozen fours and � ve sixes in his 202-ball knock.

Rajshahi v Rangpur, BKSP 3Naeem’s unbeaten ton guided Rangpur to 527/6 before they declared to take a 179-run � rst-innings lead against Ra-jshahi.

Resuming on 37, Naeem was caution personi� ed as he struck 138, his second century of the season, o� 275 balls. The right-handed batsman blasted 17 fours and a six.

Later, Rajshahi batted out the re-maining 26 overs of the day and put up 85/1 in their second innings to trim the lead to 179 runs.

Chittagong v Barisal, BKSP 2Replying to Barisal’s 597/9 declared, Chittagong were dismissed for 339 in the � rst innings to give the port city out� t a huge 258-run lead.

Following on, Chittagong conclud-ed the day’s proceedings on 53/2 in 12 overs to cut down the lead to 205 runs.

Nafees’ 291-ball 108 went in vain as Chittagong were unable to cross the follow-on mark. Barisal’s right-arm o� -spinner Sohag Gazi caused the most damage in the � rst innings with bowl-ing � gures of 5/133.

Dhaka Metro v Sylhet, SBNSSylhet required 324 more runs to win as they � nished the third day’s play on 33/1 in 19 overs.

Earlier, Shamsur’s 103 inspired Dha-ka Metro to an identical total in their second innings, 264/8 declared, just like the � rst essay, as Sylhet were set a target of 357 runs.

Shamsur faced 149 deliveries and hammered 11 boundaries and two six-es. Sylhet’s left-arm spinner Nabil Sa-mad was the wrecker-in-chief, scalping six wickets.l

BRIEF SCORESChittagong v Barisal

Barisal 597/9 decChittagong 339 allout in 121 overs & 53/2 in 12 oversNafees 108, Shukkur 52, Nazim 44; Gazi 5/133, Mosaddek 2/31

Chittagong trail by 205 runsKhulna v Dhaka

Dhaka 366 alloutKhulna 437/6 in 123 oversTushar 158, Mithun 126; Shahadat 2/62, Sharif 2/142

Khulna lead by 71 runsRangpur v Rajshahi

Rajshahi 263 alloutRangpur 527/6 dec in 156 oversNaeem 138*, Saymon 44; Muktar 2/78

Rajshahi trail by 179 runsDhaka Metro v Sylhet

Dhaka Metro 264 allout & 264/8 dec in 68 oversShamsur 103; Nabil 6/59, Rahatul 2/43Sylhet 171 allout & 33/1 in 19 overs

Sylhet need 324 more runs to win Khulna’s middle-order batsman Tushar Imran plays one on the o� -side against Dhaka on the third day of the � fth round of the NCL in Fatullah yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

The chief guest hands over the player of the match award yesterday in the Dhaka zonal quali� ers of the National School Hockey at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium COURTESY

Suarez brace sinks Man City, Juventus beat Dortmundn AFP, Paris

Luis Suarez scored a double on his re-turn to England for the � rst time since a big money move last summer as Barce-lona secured a 2-1 win over Manchester City in their Champions League last 16 � rst leg clash on Tuesday.

The Uruguayan - who moved to Bar-celona from Liverpool - struck twice in the � rst-half to give his side the upper hand heading towards the second leg at the Nou Camp next month.

Sergio Aguero grabbed a goal for City - though the hosts were soon af-terwards reduced to 10 men when Gael Clichy was sent o� - and Joe Hart kept City in it with a last minute penalty save from Lionel Messi.

It leaves City with a glimmer of hope of becoming the � rst side since Liver-

pool in 2007 of preventing Barcelona from reaching the last eight.

Suarez, who took his tally to nine goals for Barcelona in 23 appearances in all competitions, admitted Hart’s

save had kept the tie alive.City manager Manuel Pellegrini,

whose side went out to Barcelona at the same stage last year, confessed his side had only started to play in the sec-ond period.

The other tie of the night saw Juven-tus beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in Tu-

rin, in the � rst meeting between the two sides since the German out� t beat them in the 1997 Champions League � nal.

Chiellini was at fault for Dortmund’s equaliser - after Carlos Tevez had opened the scoring for the hosts - as he slipped when in possession and Marco Reus needed no second invitation to score.

The players responded accordingly as impressive Spaniard Alvaro Morata restored Juve’s advantage shortly be-fore the half-time break.

The biggest worry for Juventus will be the injury to iconic playmaker An-drea Pirlo after he had to go o� in the � rst-half.

“We have passed an import-ant test, and I am pleased with this result against a really good team,” said Allegri.l

Brazil’s Kaka to captain new MLS Orlando siden AFP, Orlando

Brazilian playmaker Kaka, the 2007 world player of the year, has been ap-pointed captain of Orlando City when the new club makes its Major League Soccer debut next week.

The team announced Tuesday that Kaka will take on the role when Orlan-do plays host to fellow MLS expansion newcomer New York City FC on March 8 at the Citrus Bowl.

“Kaka has demonstrated great leadership both on the � eld and in the locker room since the start, and the other players have naturally looked to his guidance throughout pre-season, so he was the natural pick to skipper the club,” Orlando coach Adrian Heath said.l

Liverpool return to scene of CL triumphn AFP, Paris

Liverpool return to the scene of the greatest moment in their recent histo-ry in the Europa League on Thursday as Tottenham Hotspur go to Italy just three days before the English League Cup � nal.

The Ataturk Olympic Stadium will forever be remembered by Liverpool fans as the scene of their remark-able triumph in the 2005 Champions League � nal, when they came from 3-0 down to draw level at 3-3 with AC Milan before winning a penalty shoot-out to lift the European Cup for the � fth time.

On this occasion, the only prize on o� er in the round-of-32, second leg is a berth in the last 16, and Liverpool hold the upper hand in the tie after a late Mario Balotelli penalty secured a 1-0 win at An� eld last week.

The Reds are unbeaten in seven games while Besiktas - who are play-ing at the Olympic Stadium while their own ground overlooking the Bospho-rus is rebuilt - were knocked o� the top of the Turkish Super Lig at the week-end after losing 1-0 to Eskisehirspor.

“We want to start a new win-ning streak starting with the Liver-pool game,” Besiktas coach Slaven Bilic told Turkish media after the week-end loss.l

UCL RESULTSMan City (ENG) 1-2 Barcelona (ESP)Aguero 69 Suarez 16, 30

Juventus (ITA) 2-1 Dortmund (GER)Tevez 13, Morata 42 Reus 18

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14 Thursday, February 26, 2015

WORLD CUP HEAD-TO-HEAD

PLAYER TO WATCH

AFGHANISTAN SCOTLAND

5 Wins 3

Javed Ahmadi, Nawroz Mangal, Asghar Stanikzai, Samiullah Shenwari, Mohammad

Nabi (C), Najibullah Zadran, Afsar Zazai (WK), Aftab Alam, Dawlat Zadran, Hamid

Hassan, Shapoor Zadran

Kyle Coetzer, Calum McLeod, Freddie Coleman, Matt Machan, Preston

Mommsen (C), Richie Berrington, Mathew Cross (WK), Josh Davey, Alasdair Evans,

Majid Haq, Iain Wardlaw

PROBABLE XI

OVERALL

Stanikzai has made a mixed start to the World Cup, registering scores of 54

and 1 in their two games. Initially circumspect at

the beginning of a game, the right-hander can be

explosive in the middle and death overs

STANIKZAI MACHAN

Born in Sussex, England, Machan has had a similar

campaign to that of Stanikzai. Scores of 5 and 56 though hardly

does justice to a talented batsman like Machan. The

Scots will hope for the left-hander to really come good against their fellow

Associates

UAEvIREUAE R BAmjad Ali c Sorensen b K O’Brien 45 71A. Berenger c Porter� eld b Stirling 13 25K. Chandran c K O’Brien b Stirling 0 4Khurram Khan lbw b Dockrell 36 53S. Patil c Stirling b K O’Brien 2 8Shaiman Anwar c Wilson b Sorensen 106 83R. Mustafa c Wilson b Cusack 2 9Amjad Javed c Joyce b Sorensen 42 35Mohammad Naveed c and b Cusack 13 11Mohammad Tauqir not out 2 2M. Guruje not out 0 0Extras (b1, lb4, w11, nb1) 17

Total (9 wkts, 50 overs) 278

Fall of wickets1-49, 2-53, 3-73, 4-78, 5-125, 6-131, 7-238, 8-269, 9-276

BowlingMooney 6-0-32-0 (1nb, 2w); Sorensen 10-0-60-2; Cusack 10-0-54-2 (3w); Stirling 10-0-27-2 (1w); K O’Brien 7-0-61-2 (4w); Dockrell 7-0-39-1 (1w)

Ireland R BW. Porter� eld b Mohammad Tauqir 37 64P. Stirling c Patil b Guruge 3 9E. Joyce c Patil b Amjad Javed 37 49N. O’Brien lbw b Mohammad Tauqir 17 24A. Balbirnie c sub (Saqlain) b Naveed 30 41G. Wilson c Javed b Naveed 80 69K. O’Brien c Naveed b Amjad Javed 50 25J. Mooney c Ali b Amjad Javed 2 6A. Cusack not out 5 6G. Dockrell not out 7 5Extras (b4, lb3, w2, nb2) 11Total (8 wkts, 49.2 overs) 279

Fall of wickets1-4, 2-72, 3-94, 4-97, 5-171, 6-243, 7-259, 8-267

BowlingNaveed 9.2-1-65-2 (1nb); Guruge 7-0-21-1 (1w); Javed 10-0-60-3; Tauqir 9-0-38-2 (1nb); Mustafa 9-0-45-0; Chandran 5-0-43-0 (1w)

Ireland won by two wickets Ireland batsman George Dockrell celebrates after scoring the winning run during their 2015 Cricket World Cup Pool B match against UAE at the Gabba in Brisbane yesterday AFP

‘Sixer Shaiman’ blasts into WC record booksn AFP, Brisbane

By day, he works in shipping in Dubai’s � ourishing cargo industry. At nights and weekends in the Gulf, and now at the famed Gabba in Brisbane, he’s rack-ing up the boundaries in record style.

Shaiman Anwar became the � rst United Arab Emirates player to hit a World Cup century on Wednesday as his team recovered from a perilous 131 for six against Ireland to make 278 for nine.

Anwar, a 35-year-old Pakistani na-tive, bludgeoned 10 fours and a six in his ton which came o� 79 balls before he was out for 106, having faced 83 balls.

He had already announced his arriv-al at the World Cup with a battling 67 in his team’s four-wicket loss to Zimba-bwe in Nelson last week.

And on Wednesday, the man known as “Sixer Shaiman” in the Gulf leagues, in honour of his liking for big hits, went to his century in style. He sparred with Kev-in O’Brien, who made the fastest World

Cup century four years ago in India, and with the Irish bowler on the ropes, hit the runs that took him to his landmark.

“I think it was my best innings - I wanted to put a maximum on the board, to put pressure on Ireland,” said Anwar.

Anwar was born in Sialkot in 1979 and played club cricket for his native city and then Servis Industries.

But unable to carve out a full-time career in the game in Pakistan, Anwar followed thousands of his compatriots to the tax-free haven of Dubai in 2007, � nd-ing work in the shipping business before qualifying to play for the UAE in 2009.

He has been a regular ever since in a team which relies mostly on expat talent from South Asia, and where all the players juggle their playing careers with a variety of day jobs.

In the 2011-13 World Cricket League, a tournament reserved for the leading non-Test playing nations, he scored 625 runs from 14 matches, the most by any player.

He only made his one-day interna-tional debut in February 2014 against Scotland in the � nal of the World Cup quali� ers, the last-chance event in New Zealand to secure places at the ongoing showpiece tournament.l

Aussies to test new helmet after Hughes tragedyn AFP, Sydney

Australia’s cricketers will get the opportuni-ty to test a new helmet attachment designed in the aftermath of the Phillip Hughes trage-dy, it was announced on Wednesday.

Cricket Australia high performance chief Pat Howard said that the clip-on attachment, manufactured by British company Masuri, is made of honey-comb plastic and foam and o� ers pro-tection to the exposed back of the neck, the area where Hughes was hit in No-vember last year.

Howard said that Masuri invested 240 hours of development time into “StemGuard”.

“It’s really quite innovative and

some players have seen the footage and are very receptive to trying it,” he explained.

“It’s got impact protection and comes down the side of the head. Play-ers will be given an opportunity to try it out in a game outside an international, but work our way up.”

Howard said Cricket Australia is working with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to ensure helmet stan-dards set by the British Standards Insti-tute are adopted worldwide.

Test player Hughes, 25, was wear-ing an outdated helmet when he was knocked unconscious by a bouncer and collapsed while batting for South Aus-tralia against New South Wales in Syd-ney on November 25.

He died two days later from bleeding on the brain, plunging the cricket world into mourning. l

Chatara let go for two beamersn AFP, Sydney

Zimbabwe seamer Tendai Chatara was reprimanded by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday for bowling two successive dangerous deliveries at West Indies record breaker Chris Gayle in their World Cup clash.

The incident happened in the 50th over of the West Indies innings at Can-berra’s Manuka Oval on Tuesday when Chatara bowled a second consecutive high, full-pitched ball to Gayle, after being given a � rst and � nal warning by on-� eld umpire Ian Gould after his pre-vious delivery.

The fast bowler was hauled out of the attack as a result and reported to the ICC match referee for dangerous and unfair bowling.

“In determining the sanction, I took into account the mitigating factor of the wet ball which could have result-ed in the bowler not being able to have complete control of the deliveries,” said match referee Roshan Mahanama who handed out the reprimand.l

Luck runs out for bail boy Joyce n AFP, Brisbane

Ireland’s Ed Joyce had a lucky break as he survived the ball hitting the stumps while batting against the United Arab Emirates in a World Cup clash in Bris-bane on Wednesday.

Amjad Javed thought he’d struck with his fourth ball when an inswinger beat left-hander Joyce’s defence and caused the LED lights on the bails to � ash.

But although the o� -bail was disturbed, it landed back in its groove and Joyce, who stood his ground as seamer Javed celebrated prematurely, was not out.

Joyce, who was on 16 at the time with Ireland 35 for one in the 11th over, added insult to Javed’s injury by driving the next ball down the ground for four.l

Scotland, Afghanistan both eye maiden World Cup winn AFP, Dunedin

Scotland and Afghani-stan are each targeting a � rst-ever Cricket World Cup victory when they meet in Dunedin on Thursday.

Both of the minnow nations have given more fancied oppo-sition a scare at this year’s tournament but are yet to win a match.

Afghanistan looked a realistic pros-pect of upsetting Sri Lanka last week-end when they reduced the former world champions to 51-4 before a Ma-hela Jayawardene century consigned them to a four-wicket defeat.

Scotland gave co-hosts New Zealand some nervous moments when they took seven wickets as the Black Caps, one of the tournament favourites, chased a paltry 143-run target.

Both of the non-Test playing “asso-ciate” nations have now lost two from

two in their Pool A matches and have virtually no chance of reaching the quarter-� nals, making a maiden victo-ry their major goal for the tournament.

The Scots, who have appeared at two previous World Cups but are still yet to win a match, followed up their stirring display against New Zealand with a lacklustre 119-run loss to England.

But captain Preston Mommsen said his team were not disheartened and were putting in the “hard graft” needed to prepare for the Afghanistan match.

“It’s a critical game for us,” he said. “Having played them quite a bit in re-cent times, it’s important that we put in a big performance.”

Scotland and Afghanistan have played each other eight times in one-day internationals, with the Scots on the wrong end of a 5-3 losing record.

But they in� icted a heavy 150-run defeat on their opponents last time they met in Dubai last month, when Afghanistan were bowled out for 63 as

medium pacer Josh Davey ran riot and ended with � gures of six for 28.

Collingwood said that elusive � rst victory was a major motivating factor for his side.

Afghanistan’s attack will be led by Hamid Hassan, who is shaping up as the cult hero of this year’s tournament, with his red bandanna and face paint in the national colours.

He is Afghanistan’s leading wicket taker at the tournament with � ve dis-missals, including Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, which he celebrated with an unsteady cartwheel down the pitch.

Hassan once described Afghani-stan, who are making their tournament debut, as the “Rambo” of the cricket world and admits his look is based on the movie’s star Sylvester Stallone.

Many of Afghanistan’s players learned their cricket in refugee camps after � eeing their war-torn nation and a win in their � rst World Cup appearance would be a major achievement.l

Struggling Younis denies retirement tweetn AFP, Brisbane

Out of form senior Pakistan batsman Younis Khan denied on Wednesday tweeting a plan to retire from one-day internationals after the ongoing World Cup, saying he was working hard to come good for his team.

A tweet from a supposedly o� cial You-nis account on Tuesday said he was going to retire from white-ball cricket after the World Cup and continue to play Tests.

However, Younis insisted he did not have a Twitter account of his own.

“I have no Twitter account and it’s (the story about his retirement) fake,” Younis told AFP on Wednesday.

“I am working hard to come good in batting and have not decided anything like that.”

Younis has been a subject of severe criticism from former Pakistan players after scores of six and nought in Paki-stan’s defeats in their � rst two matches of the World Cup.

Since arriving on the New Zealand tour last month, the 37-year-old has managed just 78 runs in eight matches.l

Watson confronts World Cup ‘crunch time’n AFP, Auckland

Shane Watson admitted he was facing “crunch time” with the bat as he bat-tled to stay in Australia’s side ahead of their World Cup clash with co-hosts New Zealand.

In the midst of Australia’s thumping 111-run opening pool win over England in Melbourne, all-rounder Watson was dismissed by paceman Stuart Broad for a golden duck.

While it was generally acknowl-edged he had received a good delivery, his exit reignited the long-running de-bate about Watson’s worth to Australia, with many observers contending he is

not a good enough batsman or bowler to hold down a place in the side.

The 33-year-old’s cause was not helped when Australia’s second Pool A game against Brisbane last weekend was washed out without a ball bowled and Watson’s World Cup could now de-pend on how he performs against New Zealand at Auckland’s Eden Park on Saturday - if selected.

“It’s crunch time for me to score runs in general,” Watson said Wednes-day, when asked if he needed a score to keep his place in the side.

“It was disappointing not to get through that � rst ball,” said Watson of his Melbourne dismissal.

“But it’s important for me to score runs anytime. It’s up to the selectors in the end, whether they see � t for me to play,” he added.

“I have been involved in a number of World Cups and I know what to ex-pect. But I’m doing everything I possi-bly can.

“I just want to score runs and I know it doesn’t always go exactly to plan as well.”

Prior to the World Cup, Watson scored 81 in the Sydney Test against In-dia last month before a run of modest one-day contributions - 16, 41, 22 and 34 prior to his Melbourne duck.

Watson’s last � ve matches for Aus-

tralia have yielded just one wicket - against the United Arab Emirates in a World Cup warm-up - and his place would appear to be under threat once fellow all-rounder James Faulkner re-gains full � tness.

Faulkner was seen bowling in the Australian nets on Wednesday but is not expected to play on Saturday.

Watson has 435 runs, including four � fties, in 16 World Cup games at an av-erage of more than 54.

Asked if he felt under pressure, Wat-son replied: “I just want to score runs and I want to perform. That’s really what it is. That’s what I’m working ex-tremely hard on.”l

Wilson, Kevin seal Ireland’s thrilling winn Reuters

Gary Wilson and Kev-in O’Brien struck brisk half-centuries as Ire-land held their nerve to clinch a thrilling two-wicket victory in their World Cup Pool B

match against United Arab Emirates in Brisbane on Wednesday.

Wilson hit 80 o� 69 balls while all-rounder O’Brien smashed 50 o� 25 to help Ireland overwhelm UAE’s to-tal of 278-9 with four balls to spare for their second consecutive win of the tournament.

Needing almost 10 runs an over at one stage, Wilson and O’Brien smashed 72 in their sixth-wicket stand o� just six overs to revive their chase.

O’Brien, who was dropped on 24, hit eight fours and lofted Amjad Javed (3-60) for two consecutive sixes but fell on the next ball with his team still needing 36 runs to win.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Wilson got Ireland, who beat West Indies in their � rst match, closer but was dismissed by Mohammad Naveed (2-65) after hitting the bowler for two successive boundaries ion the 48th over.

Ireland needed 12 at that stage and tailenders George Dockrell and Alex

Cusack held � rm to see them through.Earlier, Shaiman Anwar registered

UAE’s � rst World Cup century to help them overcome a poor start and post a strong total.

The 35-year-old right-hander scored 106 o� 83 balls and dominated a breezy 107-run stand with Javed (42), a World Cup record for the seventh wicket, to lift UAE who were reeling at 78-4 in the 21st over.

Anwar became the second batsman to score a ODI hundred for the Emirati nation, who are making their second appearance at the event after also qual-ifying in 1996.

Anwar, who hit 10 fours and a six, raised his bat and went down on his knees after reaching the 100-run mark in 79 deliveries.

Ireland were guilty of bowling too short to Anwar, who had scored his previous highest of 67 in the last match against Zimbabwe, and Javed as UAE plundered 147 runs in the last 15 overs.

The duo came together with Ireland looking to bundle their opponents out having reduced them to 131 for six in the 35th over.

Anwar eventually fell in the 49th over, skying Max Sorensen for Wilson to complete a comfortable catch.

O’Brien was expensive in the � nal overs, conceding 61 o� seven overs.l

UAE batsman Shaiman Anwar celebrates century against Ireland in Brisbane yesterday AFP

FIRST WORLD CUP CENTURY FOR UAE

106

GREEN ZONEStar Movies Action, 8:30pmCast: Matt Damon, Jason IsaacsDiscovering covert and faulty in-telligence causes a US Army o� cer to go rogue.

ONLY GOD FORGIVESHBO Hits, 11:30pmCast: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott ThomasJ ulian, a drug-smuggler thriving in Bangkok’s criminal underworld, sees his life get even more compli-cated when his mother compels him to � nd and kill whoever is responsi-ble for his brother’s recent death.

DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Thursday, February 26, 2015 15

WHAT TO WATCHTELEVISION

PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3DI ZERO DEGREE I ROMEO V/S JULIET I SEVENTH SON 3D I JESSABELLE@ Star Cineplex

SEVENTH SON 3D I ROMEO V/S JULIET I EXODUS 3D I INTERSTELLAR I NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB I THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES I THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D I ZERO DEGREE

@ Blockbuster Cinemas

THEATRE

ELLEN DEGENERES @TheEllenShow That’s how babies are made - Kristen Bell, a tape measure and a manicurist. #Repeat-AfterMe

JIMMY FALLON @jimmyfallon It was too cold to take o� my gloves to send a text, so I typed out a message with my nose. #AwwHellSnow

KARAN JOHAR @karanjohar My father always taught me to be there for the people in my life and fraternity...not as an obligation...infact for no reason at all...

CONAN O’BRIEN @ConanOBrien That unreleased book by Dr. Seuss they just discovered proves that Fifty Shades of Grey was completely plagiarized.

ARJUN RAMPAL @rampalarjun Fitness is not about being better than someone else. It’s about being better than you used to be. #stay� t #behealthy

CELEBS ON SOCIAL

n Entertainment Desk

Chirkutt, a leading local band, in cooperation with Multi-sourcing Limited is going to make public its unreleased track “Bhalobashle Kyano Khidey Pai Na” and “Poth” on February 26 exclusively for the Robi subscribers on its radio portal “MUSICA.”

Their “Bhalobashle Kyano Khidey

Pai Na” music video, produced by Borno, was released on February 22.

“The music video is a gift for our viewers. When a person falls in love, many changes can be seen in his/her personality such as loss of appetite. Particularly at an early age, when � rst love strikes the changes are much evident. Our video has been produced from that perspective,” said the vocal of the band Sharmin Sultana Sumi. l

NADIA AFREEN signs up for ongoing TV seriesn Entertainment Desk

Nadia Afreen, Lux Channel i Superstar 2014, is con� rmed to appear in an ongoing TV series “Apurba.” Featuring the trials and tribulations of four girls, the series is going to intro-duce Nadia Afreen as another female lead named Sonali.

Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Nadia, who will be making her television debut with this series, said: “My character in that of a university graduate who faces dire situa-tions in her relationship and beyond, being a woman.”

The story of the drama series revolves around the lives and struggles of four girls who have diverse pro-fessional backgrounds and experiences. Eventual-ly the series shows the realities of a metro city, where girls comes from di� erent background and cherish their relationships.

Directed by Gautom Koiri, the series fea-tures Aparna Ghoshe, Arfan Nisho, Swaga-ta, Hillol, Sadika Swarna and Samia Said in lead roles. Created by Syed Ziauddin and Prithiraj Ghoshe, the TV series is being aired on Maasranga TV from every Mon-days to Thursdays at 11:00pm. l

Screening of When Father Was Away on Business at Shilpakal

n Entertainment Desk

“When Father Was Away on Business,” a 1985 Yu-goslav � lm by Serbian director Emir Kusturica, will be screened today in the Nanan Bhashar Nanan Chhobi festival at the International Digital Cultur-al Archive of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at 6pm.

The Palme d’Or winner tells the story through the eyes of the young boy Malik which set in post-World War II Yugoslavia during the Informbiro pe-riod.

Kusturica’s style has evolved into a highly indi-vidual, exuberant, richly evocative, carnivalesque visual circus which, at its most exhilarating, daz-zles the viewer. His � lms have won two Palmes d’Or (a rarity in the history of the Cannes Festival) and numerous other major international accolades which have attracted an increasingly admiring audience worldwide and Kusturica himself has emerged as one of the last examples of the Euro-pean auteurist tradition. l

CHIRKUTT’s music tracks a gift

Rusty Ramblers to present at EMK Center

n Entertainment Desk

Marking the Black History Month, EMK Center presents the Rusty Ramblers at 7pm today. The band will render the sounds of Motown.

Motown was a Detroit based record company that is attributed to the promo-tion and popularising of a large number of artists such as Mary Wells, the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Four Tops, the Jackson 5, Boyz II Men, Commodores,

Lionel Richie, Dazz Band, Brian McK-night, 98 Degrees, and Erykah Badu.

Known for their distinct sounds and major player for � ve decades, Motown became a genre of their own in American popular culture, eventually outgrowing the company itself.

Rusty Ramblers will be performing a tribute to this record label. The featuring artists are

Rahil (vocals and rhythm guitar), Labu Rahman (lead guitar), Foad Nasser Babu (keyboard),

Nafees (drums), Zahid: (bass guitar)Ticket price is BDT 100 and free for

EMK Center Members upon showing ID card. l

REKHA wears sindoor for Big Bn Entertainment Desk

The Bollywood’s most beautiful and evergreen actress Rekha and the mega-star Amitabh Bachchan are no longer on talking terms but the actress ap-parently sports a sindoor in his name. Naturally, this caused no small upset within Bollywood.

Rekha was spotted wearing a sin-door on various occasions. Despite being a widow, she sports vermillion and it is regarded as Rekha’s style state-ment but veteran actor and “Bigg Boss 8” Puneet Issar’s wife Deepali Issar’s latest remark on Rekha sindoor has added a new angle to the story.

According to reports, Deepali Issar, Puneet’s wife revealed this shocking fact that Rekha who once upon a time had a whirlwind romance with Amitabh Bachchan wears sindoor in his name.

The reason behind Puneet Issar’s wife targeting Rekha is “Bigg Boss 8.” When the evergreen beauty appeared on the show to promote her new outing, “Super Nani,” she totally snubbed Puneet Issar.

Though the actual reason for ig-noring Puneet Issar is not known, it is speculated that Rekha snubbed Puneet for the ‘Coolie’ accident in which he was seriously and almost fatally in-jured and had to undergo three stom-ach operations. l

JESSICA CHASTAIN joins Chris Hemsworth in The Huntsmann Entertainment Desk

Jessica Chastain will join Chris Hemsworth in Universal’s spino� “The Huntsman.”

Cedric Nicolas-Troyan is directing “The Huntsman” after former “Walking Dead” showrunner Frank Darabont left the project. Darabont wrote the screenplay, with earlier drafts by Craig Mazin and Evan Spiliotopoulos.

Hemsworth and Charlize Theron are returning to play the Huntsman and Ravenna, re-spectively. The new � lm re-turns to the world of Snow White and the Huntsman, but focus-es on the

Huntsman and Ravenna’s lives before the ar-rival of Snow White (played by Kristen Stewart in the original). Emily Blunt will also star in the � lm, which is set for release on April 22, 2016.

Joe Roth is producing, while Palak Patel has executive producecer credits. Maradith Fren-kel and Chloe Yellin will oversee the project for the studio.

Chastain just wrapped work on “The Mar-tian,” which she stars in with Matt Damon.

She’ll next be seen in Guillermo del Toro’s “Crimson Peak,” set

to hit theaters on October 16. Her notable work over

the past year includes strong performances

in Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar,” “A

Most Violent Year” and “The Disap-pearance of Elea-

nor Rigby.” l

RIHANNA shines light with Towards The Sunn Entertainment Desk

Rihanna gets cinematic with her new sin-gle “Towards the Sun,” which comes not o� her upcoming R8, but the soundtrack for DreamWorks Animation’s “Home,” to which she lends her voice.

A heroic kind of track, “Towards The Sun” sees Rihana singing pure and clear about turning your face toward the sun and leaving

the shadows like a � ower is wont to do.Rihanna curated the soundtrack to the

� lm, in which the singer plays Tip, an ordi-nary girl who makes friends with an alien named O.

The singer tweeted: “Meet Tip, my character in the @DWAnimation mov-ie, HOME!!! #DreamWorksHome #Com-ingSoon #pRIHview! http://t.co/cVN6i-y1PyB.” l

The LEGO Movie sequel getsa new director and titlen Entertainment Desk

With a haul of $468m worldwide, “The Lego Movie” was one of 2014’s most successful animated movies – and one of its best-loved, for its madcap energy and a surprisingly ir-reverent tone given it was promoting a toy company.

Its success has prompted no less than three further � lms: one based on the Ninja-go product line, another on the Lego Batman � gure voiced by Will Arnett, and an o� cial sequel. The latter has now got an o� cial title

– The Lego Movie Sequel – and Rob Schrab attached as director.

It’s Schrab’s � rst feature � lm in the director’s chair, follow-ing his work on TV comedies like “The Sarah Silverman Program,” “Community” and “The Mindy Project;” he also wrote the animated � lm “Monster House.” The � rst � lm’s directors, Philip Lord and Christopher Miller, stay on as writers and producers.

“The Lego Movie Sequel” is pen-cilled in for a 2018 release. l

All about little magazinesn Nure Alam Durjoy

The spot be-side Burdwan House in Bang-la Academy is an interesting one – you can see young, relatively un-

known writers huddled there, en-gaged in debates over various issues.

These young litterateurs are devot-ed to the practice of little magazines. This “corner” is entirely dedicated to the little magazines that are published around the country. Little magazines, better known as little mags, are peri-odicals that feature unconventional thinking practice. They are usually noncommercial and experimental.

There are around 60 stalls of little magazines on the Bangla Academy premises, higher than last year – there were 45 stalls last year, accord-ing to Bangla Academy sources. The publications include Droshtobyo, Shidara, Ghugu, Loke, Choitnyo, etc.

Shammo Rayan, editor of little mag Bangmoy, told the Dhaka Trib-une: “It is great to see that the new generation is interested in the culture of little mag. The number of maga-zines is increasing too.”

Attendants of Shuddhaswar pub-lication house said they had started as a little mag of the same name be-

fore turning into publication house in 2004. “But we remain dedicated to our practice, and little magazine writers are welcome to publish their books from our house.”

Dipankar Roy, an attendant at the stall of Loke, said: “We general-ly receive warm response from little mag readers. But many readers who reside outside the capital have not been able to visit us this year due to the hartal.”

“Every year Little Mag Prangan Award is given to one magazine to ac-celerate the practice and movement of little mag in Bangladesh,” said Ani-ket Shamim, editor of Loke.

No extension of Boi MelaThe Boi Mela authorities have no plans to extend the fair. “It is not practical to extend it, consider-ing security and cost, said Jalal Ahmed, member secretary of the faircommittee.

On Tuesday, publishers submitted an application to the fair authorities for an extension, as the continuous hartal and blockade a� ected the overall sales of books this year.

However, the fair saw huge crowd yesterday, and the stall attendants were seen very busy catering to their customers.

A total of 116 new books hit the fair yesterday, putting the number of new publications at 3,251. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, February 26, 2015

AMAR EKUSHEYBOOK FAIR 2015

BDR Mutiny: Victims’ families haunted by unprecedented level of brutalityn Ashif Islam Shaon

One question always swirls through the minds of family members of those killed in the Pilkhana BDR mutiny sev-en years back and it is why the victims were subjected to such disproportion-ate level of brutality.

The family members of the slain army o� cers demand that the gov-ernment dig out the mastermind who pulled the strings behind those who directly took part in the killing mission.

They also urged the government yesterday to announce a national day in remembrance of the victims and set up a monument for people to pay trib-utes to them.

They came to the Banani Graveyard to pay tributes to the slain o� cials of the now-defunct BDR in the morning.

Earlier, representatives of the pres-ident, prime minister, state minis-ter for home, the chiefs of the armed forces and the DG of the BGB paidtheir homage.

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad too paid tribute to those ill-fated army o� cials.

On the morning of February 25 in 2009, a section of disgruntled soldiers of now-defunct Bangladesh Ri� es (BDR), now Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), mutinied at their Pilkhana head-quarters, took arms in their hands after looting those breaking the armory.

In the massacre of 33 hours they killed 74 people, including 57 army of-� cers. Armed jawans looted o� cers’ houses, tortured women and children and took them hostage.

Like others mother of slain Maj Mizanur Rahmna went to the Banani Graveyard to pay homage to her son.

Recalling the day she said Mizanur went out from the o� cers’ quarters they lived in around 7:45pm. “After some times we came to know that jawans opened � re on the o� cers. A jawan came to us and said my sonwas missing.”

With Mizan’s two sons Tahsin Rah-man Ramim and Fardin Rahman Sami she took shelter under a cot and waited for her son to come. Sounds of � ring were coming nearer. They got Miza-nur’s body after the carnage ended.

“Ramim and Sami’s mother died

of cancer just nine months after their father was killed. In 2009 Ramim was only 10-year-old and Sami was only four. I am rearing up the orphans,” she said weeping.

“I cannot answer why their father was killed,” she said.

Sonia Zobaida, widow of Maj Md Ra� qul Islam said she was two months into her pregnancy when her husband was killed.

“He is now four-year-old. He some-times inquires about his father but I have to keep silent or evade the ques-tion,” she said.

“It would console us if we could know what my husband’s fault actually was,” she said and demanded the gov-ernment let them know why the army o� cers were killed and who were be-hind that.

BDR director general (DG) Shakil Ahmed and his wife were among the slain. His brother-in-law Ali Akber came to the graveyard to put � owers

on their graves. He said they were de-prived of the justice in the last six years as the death sentences are not execut-ed yet.

“They will never come back but the execution could at least console us and the victims soul could be in peace,”he said.

Talking with the reporters BGB DG Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed said the govern-ment is sincere about the execution of the penalties of the convicts. There will be a result soon.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said it would take at least two more years before the higher courts concluded the legal procedures to pave way for the execution of verdicts handed down by a special court in November 2013.

Two cases were � led following the mutiny – one for carnage and another for blast. The special court had handed down death penalty to 152 people and di� erent terms of imprisonment to 423

people in the carnage case. Almost all of them were BDR sol-

diers. The convicts had � led appeal to the High Court challenging the ver-dicts.

As of this month, a special High Court bench has heard the confessional statements of 538 accused and the dep-ositions of 14 prosecution witnesses out of 654.

But the blast case is still in its initial phase. In the last one year the special court set up in the capital’s Bakshi-bazar to hold the trial did not sit for asingle day.

Alhough the carnage and the blast case started in August 2011 accusing almost the same persons, the blast case was paused to speed up thecarnage case.

However, acting chief public pros-ecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajol ex-pressed hopes that they would be able to complete the case proceedings by this year. l

Delhi gets reduced power tari� , free watern Agencies

Acting on its poll promises, the new-ly appointed AAP government an-nounced a reduction in power tari� in the state of Delhi yesterday.

“Families using power till 400 units per month will get it on half the price,” deputy CM Delhi Manish Sisodia an-nounced in a press conference.

“Those families using more than 400 units per month will have to pay the entire bill,” Manish Sisodia added.

This will be e� ective from the March 1, Manish Sisodia said.

The reduction in power tari� will bene� t 90% families in Delhi, Sisodia said.

The government had allocated Rs 70 crore for this subsidy for a month.

From April 1, the budget allocation for this scheme will be Rs1,427 crore per annum.

Manish Sisodia also said that the Delhi government would provide 20,000 litres of free water per month to every household.

In its manifesto, AAP had promised to cut power tari� by 50% immediate-ly after coming to power and said the rates will be revised based on the � nd-ings of the CAG audit.

Earlier in the day, Delhi chief min-ister Arvind Kejriwal met Comptroller and Auditor General Shashi Kant Shar-ma and discussed the status of scrutiny of � nances of the private power distri-bution companies by the auditor which was ordered by the AAP government during its � rst stint. l

Today’s SSC exams shifted to March 7n UNB

The Secondary School Certi� cate (SSC) and it equivalent examinations sched-uled for today has been shifted to Sat-urday, March 7 due to hartal.

Education Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan came up with the announcement at a press brie� ng at the Education Ministry yesterday.

“We have changed the exams sched-ule as the BNP-led alliance extended its hartal by 48 hours. We cannot push our

students towards uncertainty,” he said.He said the postponed examina-

tions- science/general science and elective mathematics (theory) under general education board, Bangla sec-ond paper under Madrasa Board and Trade 2 under Technical Education Board - would be held from 10am to 1pm on the day.

The BNP-led 20-party alliance on Tuesday again extended its ongoing 72-hour nationwide hartal by 48 hours till 6am tomorrow. l

Magura criminal dies in shootoutn Our correspondent, Magura

A man claimed to be a criminal by po-lice has died in a gun battle with them in Magura.

Daud Hossain died in the shoot-out between his associates and police in Khalimpur village around Tuesday midnight, said Magura Assistant Police Super Shudarshan Kumar Roy. The man was the leader of Tiger Bahini, he said.

“Detectives detained Daud on Tues-day morning and took him along to the village to recover arms based on his confession. “But Daud’s cronies lurking in the area � red at police when the latter reached there, triggering the gun� ght. At one stage, Daud sustained bullet injuries and died on the spot,” added the policeman.

But Daud’s family denied the police claim, saying the attack on police by his cohorts was a made-up story. l

One killed in crude bomb blast in Ctgn FM Mizanur Rahman, Chittagong

A 50-year-old man died after being in-jured in a crude bomb blast at CNB area of Chandgaon in Chittagong city during the hartal yesterday night.

The deceased Md Redwan, a land broker and a resident of Chandgaon area, was walking by the area around 8pm when some miscreants hurled a crude bomb, said Assistant Sub-Inspector Pankaj Barua of Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) police outpost.

He was rushed to (CMCH) where he succumbed to injuries at about 9:45pm.

On duty doctor Imon Kallyan Saha said Redwan was badly injured in his left shoulder and died due to bleeding.

Sub-Inspector Md Ha� z of Chan-dgaon police station said they were conducting a raid at the area to nub the miscreants following the blast. l

Family members of slain army o� cer Major Md Saleh o� er prayers at the graves of the murdered army o� cers at Banani graveyard on the sixth anniversary of the BDR carnage yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Little Magazine Chattar, the signature stall of the Ekushey Boi Mela, draws youths with huge variety of magazines. The photo was taken yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

Don’t tell father about my condition, says burnt son in hospital bedn Mohammad Jamil Khan

When Shakil Shikdar lost his mother at the age of � ve, his father refused to tie the knot again for the sake of theonly son.

Now the 17-year-old, who is � ghting for his life at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) af-ter being critically injured in an arson attack, is requesting doctors not to in-form his father of his condition as he thinks it will be a shock too great to deal with for the man.

Shakil’s father Md Jasim is now in Ka-zichar village of Muladi in Barisal, which is the family’s hometown, and is una-ware of what his son has gone through.

Shakil has got 50% of his body burnt in the attack, including the face, and doctors have kept him in the inten-sive care unit. His whole body hasbeen bandaged.

The teenager is the conductor of a

bus of Ashian Paribahan, which was set on � re at Saoghat area of Rupganj in Narayanganj around 3:30am yesterday.

Apart from Shakil, helper of the bus, Yasin, 14, and Mainuddin, 24, also re-ceived burn injuries as they were sleep-ing inside the vehicle.

Mainuddin was the � rst to sense that the bus had been torched. He jumped out of a window and yelled for help. Some locals were on the scene shortly and helped rescue Shakil and Yasin.

Mainuddin was admitted to a local clinic after the attack while Shakil and Yasin are undergoing treatment at the DMCH burn unit.

Yasin Shikdar, a cousin of Shak-il, told the Dhaka Tribune that Shakil could not continue his studies because of � nancial constraints of the family.

“He had to start working for money since his childhood. He has worked as a bus helper and later became a conduc-tor,” added Yasin.

Shakil’s paternal aunt Kalpana Be-gum, who raised him after the death of his mother, told the Dhaka Tribune at the hospital that Shakil was speaking incoherently.

“He is su� ering from excruciating pain. At one moment, he is saying that he will no longer live and the next mo-ment, he is urging physicians not to tell anything to his father,” she added.

Another injured Yasin, who lives on Shahjalal Road in the capital’s Demra, is an orphan, and lives in the house of Jahangir Mia, his uncle.

Jahangir said he felt helpless seeing Yasin su� ering from severe pain.

“The � re has burnt 14% of his body and his respiratory system has also been a� ected,” he said.

Dr Partha Shankar Paul, resident sur-geon of the burn unit, told the Dhaka Tribune that a total of 150 people had taken treatment at the burn unit since the blockade began on January 6. l

While trying to overtake another vehicle, the driver of this bus lost control and drove the bus into the central reservation in the capital’s Shahbagh yesterday. The passengers were lucky to escape without any major injuries SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business

Tofail: Sweden keen to invest in ICT sector n Tribune Report

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yes-terday said Sweden has expressed in-terest to make huge investments in In-formation Communication Technology (ICT) sector of Bangladesh.

Besides, they are considering in-vestment in other potential sectors like pharmaceuticals, leather, ship build-ing and furniture, he told journalists after Swedish envoy Johan Frisell ex-changed views with him at the Com-merce Ministry, reports BSS.

Tofail Ahmed said there is a huge demand for Bangladeshi readymade garments in the Swedish market.

The present government is encour-aging Sweden and other countries to invest in Bangla-desh. The govern-ment is giving all cooperation as per demands in this regard, he added.

Tofail Ahmed said the govern-ment has under-taken a plan to increase exports of garments, phar-

maceutical and ICT products, leather goods and ships. These products have immense demand in Sweden and other countries, he added.

Replying to a question, Tofail Ahmed said development activities are not being hampered due to the current situation in the country.

The peace-loving people of this country do not like violent activities like blockade and strike and they are united against terrorist activities, he added.

Now the shops and business estab-lishments remain open and vehicles are plying on the roads, he said and hoped the situation will become totally normal within a short time. Senior o� cials of the ministry were present on the occasion. l

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

B3 Oil prices up ahead of US supply report

B4 China February � ash HSBC PMI at 4-month high

Vacant CEO posts of foreign banks must be � lled in 3 months n Tribune Report

The post of Chief Executive O� cer (CEO) of foreign banks operating in Bangladesh cannot remain vacant for more than three consecutive months.

The rules of bank companies act 1991 will now be applicable for the for-eign banks as well.

Bangladesh Bank issued a circular yesterday making instructions in this regard.

It said foreign banks would have to update communication about the mat-ter with the respective department of the central bank.

They have been asked to update the work permit related document in case of appointing any foreign citizen as chief executive o� cer of any foreign bank in Bangladesh.

“All the foreign banks will have to get approval from the central bank in case of appointing any foreign citizen as their chief executive o� cer,” said the circular.

Bank Companies Act instructs the local banks not to keep their respec-tive CEO position vacant for more than three consecutive months l

Robi lingers listing with stock market n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Although yearly pro� ts have been handsome for years, mobile phone operator Robi is still dilly-dallying the process of being listed with the coun-try’s stock market.

The operator was supposed to launch initial public o� ering in Decem-ber 2014, but didn’t. Robi o� cials said they were looking for an “appropriate time” to start the process.

“Lots of unresolved issue are still left and we are expecting solution. Our shareholders are also looking for it,” said Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, Chief Op-erating O� cer of Robi.

He said there was another spectrum auction ahead and SIM tax issue was not resolved yet.

Mahtab said if the shareholders gave us a decision today it would be tough for them to launch IPO by December 2015.

“We are considering to enter the stock market. But before the share-holders decide anything about it, we can’t do anything,” he added in reply to a question of Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said the operator was preparing for IPO and once the shareholders de-cided, it would start the process.

The country’s second largest mo-bile phone operator in terms of reve-nue reported 20.4% growth in pro� t to Tk439.60 crore in 2014 from Tk365.2 crore in 2013.

Robi earned Tk4,942.3 crore rev-enue in 2014 and secured 8.89% net pro� t of revenue, the operator told a press conference held to share annual business performance at its o� ce in the capital yesterday.

Although Robi claimed they had been making pro� t since 2010, the Dhaka Tribune found the operator had made pro� t after tax Tk394.2 crore in 2005 out of a total revenue of Tk868.1 crore.

According to the Robi’s parent com-pany Axiata Ltd presentation, the AK-

TEL (currently Robi) made Tk433.3 crore pro� t out of Tk1,211.1 crore reve-nue in 2006.

Though the after tax pro� t had ups and downs, the cumulative � gure of net pro� t is Tk2,380 crore. As of 2010 the pro� t � gure stood at Tk9,200 crore.

Of the amount, Robi shared Tk1,428 crore as cash dividend with the share-holders.

“This year we have decided to pay 4% cash dividend for the shareholders. The shareholders take dividend and give us back as investment,” said Su-pun Weerasinghe, managing director and CEO of Robi.

The operator said it had invested Tk2,100 crore (63.7% increase) in 3.5G expansion, bringing new areas under

2G coverage and improving service quality.

The operator has completed anoth-er successful year in data revolution earning over 120% revenue from data service. But it is not willing to make any revenue from it.

About the overall performance, Robi CEO said: “I am pleased to see the growth momentum continued in 2014 across all dimensions of our business. We are seeing good growth in data services since start of the year as we expand our 3.5G network across the country.”

Robi CEO, however, added the cur-rent political situation remained as a concern, which could impact the busi-ness growth in 2015. l

Stocks dip as Khaleda’s arrest warrant news out n Tribune Report

Stock market came under a tight bear hug yesterday, as panic gripped inves-tors following the news of arrest warrant against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

The market was in the positive terri-tory in the morning but when the news broke, the investors began reacting neg-atively dumping their holdings to save their investments, according to dealers.

The intra-day volatility was more than 70 points—the highest in recent years. At the end of the day, the bench-mark index DSEX plunged around 60 points or 1.3% to settle at 4,742, its low-est since February 9 last.

The Shariah Index DSES shed 13 points or 1.2% to 1,126. The comprising blue chips DS30 was down 23 points or 1.3% to 1,770.

Chittagong Stock Exchange Selec-tive Categories Index, CSCX, lost 90 points to 8,818.

Though volume of trade increased due to selling spree, it still remained within the poor boundary, as turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange stood at over Tk342 crore, an increase of more than 10% over the previous session.

“The negative sentiments in the market were exacerbated by the devel-opments on the political front as fears of heightening confrontation between the government and BNP ignited,” said a leading analyst.

He said panic selling gripped the mar-ket amid concerns for rising more vio-lence across the country, which stemmed from arrest warrant of Begum Zia.

“Political uncertainty and anticipa-tion of dismal data on macro economy played a catalyst role in bearish activity at the stock market,” he said.

Before mid-day yesterday, a Dha-ka court issued arrest warrant against Khaleda Zia.

LankaBangla Securities said bearish sentiment of previous trading session extended as soon as arrest warrant was out for chairperson of opposition party.

“Market became depressed on renew-al of political confrontation. Panicked investors held back investment and con-tinued sell-o� .” IDLC Investments said as the news came, panic-driven selling pressure turned down the market as in-vestors tried to minimise losses.

All the sectors closed negative. Only Food & Allied sector was the only lucky sector that survived from investors selling wrath, posting a marginal rise.

Cement sector faced the intense selling spree with highest loss of 2.8%. Financial sectors saw heavy correction with banks and non-banking � nancial institutions that declined more than 1% and 2% respectively.

Power, telecommunication, engi-neering and pharmaceuticals were among others taking a heat of pan-ic-driven sale. l

‘This year we have decided to pay 4% cash dividend for the shareholders. The shareholders take dividend and give us back as investment’

Weekly tea sale sees increased interestn Tribune Business Desk

The weekly tea sale has witnessed more interest practically for all varieties that saw further hardening in price.

A large weight of plain poor teas was disposed o� at mostly � rm rates in Chittagong on Tuesday, according to a market report.

Blenders were quite active but there was more interest from the Loose Tea buyers. As a result, withdrawal per-centage was less this week, reports UNB.

Good liquoring Dusts were again a strong feature of the sale.

CTC LEAF: Some 24,783 packages of tea on o� er met with improved de-mand with less withdrawals.

BROKENS: There was only a few clean Brokens available, which were strongly competed for and generally appreciated up to Tk5 particularly the BOPs.

Smaller cleaner varieties also sold well in line with quality and these could be quoted between Tk195 and Tk210. Other varieties particularly the plainer types saw a little more interest and sold at irregular rates. There was less withdrawals in this category.

FANNINGS: There were only a few clean liquoring Fannings on o� er which were very strongly competed for

and generally sold at dearer rates, sell-ing between Tk205 and Tk225.

Medium and other varieties were about steady. Plainer types received a little more interest than before and a fair weight of tea sold at dearer rates.

CTC DUST: Some 5,011 packages of tea on o� er once again met with a

strong demand. Good liquoring varie-ties were � rm to slightly dearer whilst others sold at around last levels easing slightly in line with quality.

Plain, poor � brous types were an easier market with some withdrawals. Blenders operated in strength with fair support from the Loose Tea buyers. l

B2 Stock Thursday, February 26, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

News, analysis and recent disclosuresGLAXOSMITH: The Board of Directors has recommended 420% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 23.04.2015, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Hotel Agrabad, Chittagong. Record date: 12.03.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 68.63, NAV per share of Tk. 192.30 and NOCFPS of Tk. 111.14 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.BANKASIA: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on February 26, 2015 at 5:00 PM to consider, among others, au-dited � nancial statements of the Company for the year ended on December 31, 2014.LAFSURCEML: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on March 05, 2015 at 3:00 PM to consider, among others, audit-ed � nancial statements of the Company for the year ended on December 31, 2014.ALARABANK: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on March 01, 2015 at

3:00 PM to consider, among others, audit-ed � nancial statements of the Company for the year ended on December 31, 2014.SINOBANGLA: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on February 28, 2015 at 3:00 PM to consider, among others, au-dited � nancial statements of the Company for the year ended on October 31, 2014.GHAIL: The Company has informed that they have decided to make an investment in a subsidiary company for establishment of a modern dairy � rm. In this context, the Board of Directors of the Company has approved an investment of Tk. 37.50 million in the equity of Golden Harvest Dairy Ltd. to hold 75% shares of Golden Harvest Dairy Ltd.SPCL: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on June 30, 2014 to the respective share-holders BO Account on February 24, 2015.Dividend/AGMUCBL: 10% cash and 20% stock, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record date: 04.03.2015. PRIMEINSUR: 10% cash and 5%

stock, AGM: 30.03.2015, Record date: 04.03.2015. BATBC: 450% � nal cash dividend (i.e. a total of 550% cash dividend for the year 2014 inclusive of 100% interim cash divi-dend which has already been paid) , AGM: 12.04.2015, Record date: 05.03.2015.LANKABAFIN: 10% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 19.03.2015, Record Date: 02.03.2015.GREENDELT: 15% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 24.03.2015, Record Date: 01.03.2015.NCCBLMF1: 3% cash, Record date: 24.02.2015. MAKSONSPIN: 5% stock, AGM: 07.04.2015, Record date: 26.02.2015. FAREASTFIN: 10% cash and 2.5% stock, AGM: 25.03.2015, Record date: 26.02.2015.GP: 65% � nal cash dividend (i.e. total 160% cash dividend for the year 2014 inclusive of 95% Interim cash dividend which has already been paid), AGM: 21.04.2015, Record date: 18.02.2015. SAPORTL: 10% cash and 5% stock, AGM: 14.03.2015, Record Date: 18.02.2015.

LR Global banned from � oating fund for one yearOlympic Accessories IPO gets nod n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has banned LR Global Asset Management Company from � oating new fund or scheme for one year, as the regulator found the fund manager invested in some non-approved private equities breaching securities rules.

In addition for its wrong-doing, the commission also � ned LR Global Tk50 lakh and trustee Bangladesh General Insurance Company Tk25 lakh and auditor Hoda Vasi Tk5 lakh, the regu-lator said in a statement yesterday.

A BSEC probe team found that LR Global had invested around Tk95.6 crore in several non-approved pri-vate equities and as of June 30, 2014, total amount of the investment stood at around Tk48.6 crore, which is a clear violation of securities rules.

Since 2010, it took nearly Tk6 crore from six mutual funds, which are currently under its manage-ment, as management fees and ad-ministrative costs, which is unlaw-ful, said the statement.

The funds are DBH First Mutu-al Fund, Green Delta Mutual Fund, AIBL First Islamic Mutual Fund, MBL First Mutual Fund, LR Global Bangladesh Mutual Fund One and NCCBL Mutual Fund One.

The statement said the LR Glob-al also took around Tk31.7 crore for carrying out legal settlement of al-legations brought against it by the regulator.

According to the � ndings, the fund manager has frequently trans-ferred a fund account from one bank to another without any logical ground, and maximum of the mon-ey were transferred to the account with lower interest from the ac-count with higher interest.

“As a result, the fund was de-prived of reaping higher bank inter-est.”

The fund manager also directly transferred funds from those mu-tual funds accounts to own bank account only to meet its own needs, and invested money of one mutual fund to another mutual fund, which seriously a� ected � nancial situation of those funds, the � ndings said.

Besides imposing ban on bring-ing new fund for one year and � -nancial punishment, the BSEC has directed LR Global to deposit above Tk6 crore and Tk31.7 crore taken illegally as management fees and other purposes, to the accounts of the six mutual funds and to pull out funds invested in non-approved pri-vate equities within June this year.

“Funds will have to be given from LR Global’s own account or its directors’ accounts to o� set losses in case of pulling out money from the investment it made in private equities as of June 30 last year.”

Olympic Accessories IPOIn another decision, the BSEC has ap-proved to Olympic Accessories’ initial public o� ering for Tk20 crore. l

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Midas Financing-Z -8.39 -8.39 13.10 13.10 13.10 13.10 0.005 -3.24 -veAlltex Industries -Z -6.82 -5.64 25.25 24.60 26.30 24.50 5.253 2.02 12.5Reliance1 M.F.-A -6.41 -6.41 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 0.752 0.62 11.88th ICB M F-A -6.25 -6.25 60.00 60.00 60.00 60.00 0.008 9.10 6.6NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A -6.25 -7.80 4.49 4.50 4.60 4.40 0.649 0.32 14.0City G Insu.-A -5.65 -3.36 16.70 16.70 16.70 16.70 0.001 1.89 8.8Da� odil Computers -Z -5.11 -4.62 13.00 13.00 13.00 13.00 0.001 0.86 15.1ICB AMCL 2nd NRB -A -5.06 -5.06 7.50 7.50 7.50 7.50 0.015 0.96 7.8National Housing Fin.-B -5.02 -5.02 26.50 26.50 26.50 26.50 0.027 1.88 14.1AMCL (Pran) -A -4.99 -4.99 200.00 200.00 200.00 200.00 0.080 6.50 30.8

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A -8.16 -8.59 4.47 4.50 4.60 4.40 6.067 0.32 14.0Alltex Industries -Z -6.11 -5.43 25.27 24.60 26.20 24.30 31.592 2.02 12.5Northern Jute -Z -5.16 -4.57 199.59 196.50 203.00 195.70 0.194 0.96 207.9Shampur Sugar -Z -5.06 -5.06 7.50 7.50 7.50 7.50 0.005 -52.72 -veIn Tech Online -A -5.00 -3.76 13.55 13.30 14.00 13.20 4.808 -0.88 -veSinobangla Indu.-A -4.80 -2.34 24.23 23.80 25.40 23.70 5.076 1.21 20.05th ICB M F-A -4.74 -4.78 180.92 181.00 181.20 181.00 0.184 16.18 11.2Quasem Drycells -A -4.59 -0.62 59.72 58.20 62.30 57.80 22.012 2.16 27.6People`s Leasing-A -4.37 -2.44 19.99 19.70 20.50 19.60 21.367 0.97 20.6Green Delta M.F.-A -4.35 -2.17 4.50 4.40 4.60 4.40 2.206 0.44 10.2

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

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

BD Submarine Cable-A 153,811 20.27 7.58 132.10 3.85 127.20 134.90 128.50 131.79LafargeS Cement-Z 141,641 16.77 6.27 115.80 -3.42 119.90 121.50 114.30 118.38BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 457,147 15.24 5.70 32.80 -3.24 33.90 34.30 32.60 33.35Shahjibazar Power-N 58,330 9.89 3.70 168.00 5.00 160.00 175.50 165.10 169.63Singer BD -A 37,055 8.44 3.15 226.60 0.62 225.20 231.00 226.00 227.75Ifad Autos -N 148,755 7.85 2.93 51.50 -3.74 53.50 54.30 51.20 52.78WesternMarine -N 170,357 7.67 2.87 44.30 -3.49 45.90 46.00 44.00 45.02MJL BD Ltd.-A 61,014 7.65 2.86 123.50 -2.22 126.30 128.70 122.80 125.31ACI Limited- A 17,833 7.63 2.85 422.30 -0.87 426.00 435.00 420.00 427.98aamra technologies-A 184,418 7.18 2.68 38.40 -3.52 39.80 40.00 38.10 38.93UCBL - A 201,586 6.06 2.27 30.00 -1.64 30.50 30.80 29.80 30.06Square Pharma -A 21,142 5.56 2.08 263.00 -0.34 263.90 266.50 261.20 263.20Alltex Industries -Z 208,053 5.25 1.96 24.60 -6.82 26.40 26.30 24.50 25.25UNITED AIR-A 557,769 4.66 1.74 8.30 -2.35 8.50 8.50 8.20 8.36ACI Formulations-A 28,070 3.92 1.47 136.10 -2.16 139.10 144.00 135.00 139.64

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

MJL BD Ltd.-A 1,479,998 185.46 5.41 123.40 -2.22 126.20 128.60 122.50 125.31Square Pharma -A 658,258 173.38 5.06 263.80 0.00 263.80 265.80 261.80 263.40LafargeS Cement-Z 1,431,072 168.87 4.93 116.00 -3.25 119.90 122.90 115.00 118.00ACI Limited- A 293,198 125.10 3.65 423.30 -0.40 425.00 436.00 420.00 426.68BD Submarine Cable-A 930,645 122.78 3.58 132.50 3.92 127.50 134.90 128.00 131.93Shahjibazar Power-N 527,572 90.69 2.65 172.30 1.83 169.20 178.00 166.00 171.90Singer BD -A 377,418 85.69 2.50 226.50 0.98 224.30 232.00 224.30 227.05aamra technologies-A 1,874,364 73.10 2.13 38.50 -3.02 39.70 40.10 38.20 39.00SummitAlliancePort.-A 1,203,181 72.65 2.12 59.50 -1.33 60.30 62.70 59.10 60.38BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 2,110,412 70.07 2.04 32.60 -3.55 33.80 34.30 32.40 33.20Ifad Autos -N 1,247,199 65.68 1.92 52.00 -2.99 53.60 54.40 51.20 52.66Grameenphone-A 186,812 63.00 1.84 337.10 -0.77 339.70 340.00 336.00 337.24Islami Bank BD - A 2,653,780 62.89 1.84 23.70 -0.42 23.80 23.90 23.60 23.70UCBL - A 1,866,685 56.35 1.64 30.20 -0.98 30.50 30.60 29.90 30.19ACI Formulations-A 399,838 55.51 1.62 135.60 -2.02 138.40 142.00 133.40 138.84

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 336.40 9.82 18.29 6.84 354.68 9.60NBFI 159.49 4.65 11.89 4.44 171.39 4.64Investment 33.57 0.98 3.61 1.35 37.18 1.01Engineering 390.26 11.39 38.88 14.53 429.14 11.62Food & Allied 123.25 3.60 9.89 3.70 133.13 3.60Fuel & Power 542.70 15.84 29.86 11.16 572.56 15.50Jute 3.02 0.09 0.00 3.02 0.08Textile 280.25 8.18 27.42 10.25 307.67 8.33Pharma & Chemical 602.43 17.58 29.32 10.96 631.75 17.10Paper & Packaging 12.73 0.37 1.88 0.70 14.61 0.40Service 117.46 3.43 7.18 2.68 124.64 3.37Leather 22.36 0.65 0.38 0.14 22.74 0.62Ceramic 26.62 0.78 2.33 0.87 28.94 0.78Cement 211.08 6.16 19.98 7.47 231.06 6.25Information Technology 140.06 4.09 9.82 3.67 149.88 4.06General Insurance 33.65 0.98 0.67 0.25 34.32 0.93Life Insurance 33.84 0.99 1.42 0.53 35.26 0.95Telecom 185.78 5.42 23.55 8.80 209.33 5.67Travel & Leisure 44.11 1.29 8.50 3.18 52.61 1.42Miscellaneous 127.77 3.73 22.65 8.47 150.42 4.07Debenture 0.16 0.00 0.03 0.01 0.19 0.01

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4742.22104 (-) 1.23% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1770.01605 (-) 1.29% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14474.55590 (-) 1.32% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 11994.54260 (-) 1.47% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 8810.00270 (-) 1.20% ▼

DSE key features February 25, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

3,426.98

Turnover (Volume)

76,597,803

Number of Contract 96,275

Traded Issues 310

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

43

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

264

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,560.89

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.04

CSE key features February 25, 2015Turnover (Million Taka) 267.54

Turnover (Volume) 7,452,828

Number of Contract 14,653

Traded Issues 245

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

45

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

195

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,473.98

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.99

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

Funds will have to be given from LR Global’s own account or its directors’ accounts to o� set losses in case of pulling out money from the investment it made in private equities as of June 30 last year

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Aramit -A 8.73 8.73 284.10 284.10 284.10 284.10 0.014 14.12 20.1Paramount Insur-A 5.26 5.47 16.00 16.00 16.00 16.00 0.000 1.13 14.2Shahjibazar Power-N 5.00 3.12 169.63 168.00 175.50 165.10 9.895 8.68 19.51st Janata Bank MF-A 4.08 1.60 5.07 5.10 5.10 5.00 0.015 0.84 6.0H.R. Textile -A 3.90 8.28 24.97 24.00 25.00 24.00 0.039 1.36 18.4BD Submarine Cable-A 3.85 4.84 131.79 132.10 134.90 128.50 20.270 0.76 173.4Pragati Gen. I -A 3.40 3.25 36.49 36.50 38.80 36.00 0.022 2.47 14.8Ambee Pharma -A 3.01 1.36 297.50 297.50 300.00 283.20 0.372 4.68 63.6Pioneer Insur -A 2.75 2.75 41.10 41.10 41.10 41.10 0.025 4.83 8.5Eastern Bank - A 2.08 2.48 29.35 29.40 29.90 28.00 0.049 2.80 10.5

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Imam Button -Z 7.50 10.02 12.96 12.90 13.20 12.30 0.807 -1.48 -veNational Tubes -A 5.05 2.29 109.59 112.40 113.60 105.00 12.453 -1.36 -veLibra Infusions-A 4.95 2.96 380.95 388.30 389.90 357.00 0.008 3.38 112.7GlaxoSK (BD) -A 4.93 3.37 1,736.16 1,773.20 1,790.00 1,690.00 35.836 68.63 25.3Renwick Jajneswar-A 4.74 4.40 254.40 260.60 264.50 243.00 11.178 4.36 58.3AMCL 2nd MF-A 4.26 3.61 4.88 4.90 5.00 4.70 0.130 0.84 5.8BD Submarine Cable-A 3.92 4.63 131.93 132.50 134.90 128.00 122.782 0.76 173.64th ICB M F-A 3.43 3.52 205.00 205.00 205.00 205.00 0.031 32.50 6.3ICB AMCL 1st NRB -A 3.38 3.09 21.33 21.40 21.80 20.30 0.264 2.86 7.5Popular Life 1st M.F.-A 2.08 (0.41) 4.84 4.90 4.90 4.80 0.322 0.56 8.6

ANALYST

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, February 26, 2015

CORPORATE NEWS India’s sugar mills likely to struggle at exporting raws despite subsidy n Reuters, New Delhi

Indian mills are likely to struggle to ex-port raw sugar, despite a government subsidy to boost shipments, as global prices remain weak with large supplies from top producer Brazil set to � ood the market soon.

Lower exports by India, the world’s biggest consumer of sugar, should take some pressure o� benchmark New York prices that are mired nea r a 5-year low of 14.08 cents per lb.

“Not only are the prices unfavour-able, most re� neries in the world have su� cient stocks, with the pipeline be-ing full. I do not see our exports going beyond 500,000 tonnes,” said Dhar-mender Bhayana, managing partner at Sugrain Trading LLP.

India, which traditionally produces white sugar, exported nearly a million tonnes of raws in 2014.

“We have nearly missed the bus as the government took a long time to ap-prove the subsidy. There is plenty of sugar and supplies from Brazil will ar-rive in April,” Bhayana added.

After months of indecision, India last week decided to give mills a sub-sidy of 4,000 rupees ($64) a tonne for exports of up to 1.4 million tonnes of raw sugar to help cut stockpiles after � ve years of surplus output.

But given a premium for Indian sup-plies, traders do not see this subsidy

helping much in terms of boosting ex-ports.

Indian raw sugar is being quoted at $350 per tonne free on board for ex-ports, versus $330 quoted for Brazilian supplies.

To help mills, India’s top sugar-pro-ducing state of Maharashtra is consid-ering an extra 1,000 rupees ($16) per tonne subsidy for exports of raw sugar.

Maharashtra, which accounts for more than a third of India’s sugar pro-duction, is likely to approve the in-centive in a week, said a government source who declined to be named as he is not authorised to talk to the media.

Global prices need to rise to make Indian raws attractive, but that looks unlikely in an oversupplied market, said a Delhi-based trader with an inter-national � rm.

“We are not very sure if Iran would import as much as it did last year because sanctions are gradually easing. Iran may turn to Brazil also,” the trader added.

Iran had bought 500,000 tonnes of Indian raws in 2014, paying with the rupees it received for oil from India amid curbs on dollar trade with Teh-ran due to sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme.

In the absence of export deals, In-dian mills could turn to the local port-based re� neries of Shree Renuka Sug-ars Ltd, EID Parry and Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd. But prices remain an issue. l

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd have signed an agreement to develop insurance products for individual farmers, agribusinesses, and � nancial institutions lending to farmers for protection from weather-related risks such as drought, excess rain and cyclones. Country manager of IFC, Kyle F Kelhofer and Farzana Chowdhury, MD & CEO of Green Delta have signed the agreement

National Bank Limited has recently held a foundation training course for its junior o� cers at the bank’s training institute. The bank’s MD and CEO, Shamsul Huda Khah was present on the occasion as chief guest

NRB Global Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with Enterprise Development Company Limited (EDCL) to expand its green banking activities. The bank’s MD, Md Abdul Quddus and Irteza Reza Chowdhury, MD of EDCL have signed the agreement

Junior Chamber International (JCI) Dhaka Uptown has recently organised its general members meeting. Its founder president, Maruful Islam Jhalak conducted the meeting while 2015 JCI National President, Nazrul Islam was present as chief guest, among others

Oil prices up ahead of US supply report n AFP, Singapore

Oil edged higher in Asia yesterday ahead of a key report expected to show further build-up in US crude invento-ries, further hitting prices in an already oversupplied market, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Interme-diate (WTI) for April delivery rose one cent to $49.29 while Brent crude for April gained 24 cents to $58.90 in late-morning trade.

“There will probably be further in-creases in US inventories and this is bad for global crude oil prices which will fall even further,” David Lennox, resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Syd-ney, told AFP.

Both WTI and Brent have fallen sharply this week as traders worry about abundant global supplies amid slower economic growth, with no sign of a slowdown in rising US crude stockpiles.

Experts polled by Bloomberg News expect crude reserves in the world’s biggest economy to rise 3.75 million barrels in the week to February 20, add-ing to the 425.6 million barrels in stock-piles reported last week.

The US Department of Energy will release the o� cial stockpiles report later Wednesday.

Daniel Ang, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, said the

global supply glut cannot be reversed unless there is a drop in US crude pro-duction from current levels of around 9.2 million barrels a day.

“Unless it drops to below nine mil-lion barrels per day, we do not expect this oversupply issue to end,” Ang said.

Analysts said dealers are meanwhile also digesting US President Barack Obama’s decision on Tuesday to veto legislation allowing the Keystone XL oil pipeline to be built between Canada and the US.

The 1,179-mile (1,900-kilometre) TransCanada-built pipeline would transport crude from energy-rich Al-berta to a network of pipelines that reach across the United States to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

Obama says he is not against the project in principle, but accused leg-islators of trying to “circumvent long-standing and proven processes” for gauging whether Keystone is in the na-tional interest.

The project has in recent years pitted environmental groups against the oil industry, which has argued that it will bring much-needed jobs to the US and help it achieve energy self-su� ciency.

Lennox said Obama’s decision is likely to be “insigni� cant in the short term” to crude oil prices as it was a de-cision many had expected. l A petro-industrial factory is re� ected in a tra� c mirror in Kawasaki near Tokyo REUTERS

‘Oil market is stabilising, $60 is OK for now’ n Reuters, Riyadh

Oil prices have started to stabilise around current levels of $60 a barrel and demand is showing signs of im-proving in Asia and other regions, a se-nior Gulf OPEC delegate said on Tues-day.

The comments indicate that the core Gulf members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are showing no sign of wavering in their strategy to focus on market share rather than cutting output, despite concerns from other members about falling oil revenue.

“Oil prices seem to stabilise around the current level ... there are a lot of indications showing that demand is growing,” the senior Gulf OPEC del-egate told Reuters. “The market is sta-bilising as well as prices,” the delegate said, adding that $60 a barrel is “okay for now.”

Oil LCOc1 traded higher near $60 a barrel on Tuesday, up more than 30% from a near six-year low close of $45 on Jan 13. Prices collapsed from $115

in June due to oversupply, in a decline that deepened after OPEC refused to cut output.

The delegate said oil demand was showing signs of recovering in Asia, emerging economies, Latin America and the United States. It is expected to grow more strongly in the second half of 2015 as the global economy picks up, helping to absorb excess crude supply in the market, he added.

At OPEC’s last meeting in November, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies argued that the group needed to ride out lower prices in order to defend market share

against shale oil and other competing supply sources, rather than cut output.

The price decline since last year has hurt the economies of smaller OPEC producers, whose budgets depend more on higher oil prices than the Gulf members, and some of them have con-tinued to lobby for OPEC cuts.

In a sign of concern about the im-pact of the price collapse, Nigerian Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke told the Financial Times she would call an emergency OPEC meeting if oil prices fell any further.

But the senior Gulf delegate added OPEC was unlikely to meet before its next scheduled gathering in June, and defended its November decision not to cut output since non-OPEC countries did not o� er to help.

“It is unlikely to have an emergency meeting especially with the market and prices starting to stabilise,” he said.

“OPEC has to keep its market share and not to sacri� ce for other produc-ers outside the group. Russia and other non-OPEC producers still refuse to co-operate with OPEC.” l

Britain cites option of cutting Russia from SWIFT banking n Reuters, London

Excluding Russia from the SWIFT banking system should be an option in lieu of sanctions if a truce in Ukraine is not respected, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday.

Russia last month said it would re-taliate strongly if it were to be cut o� from SWIFT, the international � nancial industry’s secure messaging system that facilitates transactions.

Speaking to a parliament committee on Tuesday, Prime Minister David Cam-eron vowed that Britain would push for tougher sanctions against Moscow if a tattered truce between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces falls apart.

“I would hope that the European Union collectively would respond very robustly with new sanctions, including so-called ‘tier three’ sanctions, really hitting the economy of Russia,” Cam-eron said.

“But were that not possible then, of course, we should look at other av-enues as well - obviously looking at the SWIFT banking issues is a big decision but there is a logic for it.”

“If Russia is going to leave the rules-based system of the 21st century, then they have to start thinking about whether it’s going to be in the 21st cen-tury system when it comes to invest-ment, when it comes to banking, when it comes to clearinghouses.”

Members of the European Union parliament asked the bloc to consider such a move in a non-binding resolu-tion last September.

Cameron’s comments came as a peace deal for eastern Ukraine hammered out in the Belarussian capital Minsk 12 days ago is threatening to collapse amid re-peated violations by the warring parties.

Ukraine accuses rebels of violating the truce by taking the strategic town of Debaltseve after the deal came into e� ect on February 15.

Kiev and the West accuse Moscow of backing the rebels by sending soldiers and weapons into the former Soviet state, which Russian President Vladi-mir Putin denies.

Britain announced Tuesday it would send 75 military personnel to train Kiev forces, though Cameron has ruled out sending lethal equipment. l

Facebook claims 2 million advertisers n AFP, New York

Facebook said Tuesday it has boosted the number of advertisers on the social network to two million as it launched a mobile app for those managing their commercial pitches.

Dan Levy, Facebook’s vice president for global marketing and small busi-ness, said the number of advertisers has doubled over the past year and a half.

“We think it’s a strong sign of the commitment we are making to help small businesses,” Levy told AFP.

“They continue bene� ting the econ-omy for their region and the world.”

Levy said the new Ads Manager app would give those advertisers the ability to manage their ads from mobile devic-es, as Facebook becomes increasingly used on smartphones and tablets.

A Facebook post signed by chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and chief operating o� cer Sheryl Sandberg paid tribute to the small businesses using Facebook, and noted that the Ads Man-ager app for Apple devices would be available as of Tuesday and in the next two weeks worldwide. l

'It is unlikely to have an emergency meeting especially with the market and prices starting to stabilise'

Indian Naval Chief Admiral RK Dhowan, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC visited visited Universal Jeans Ltd, a Bangladeshi Garment factory at Chittagong EPZ yesterday and lauded BEPZA for it activities. Major General Mohd. Habibur Rahman Khan, ndc, psc, the Executive Chairman of BEPZA were present

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, February 26, 2015

DILBERT

China February � ash HSBC PMI at 4-month high n Reuters, Beijing

Activity in China’s mammoth factory sector edged up to a four-month high in February but export orders shrank at their fastest rate in 20 months, a private survey showed, painting a murky out-look that argues for more policy support.

The � ash HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) inched up to 50.1 in February, a whisker above the 50-point level that separates growth in activity from a contraction on a month-ly basis.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 49.5, little changed from January’s � nal PMI of 49.7.

But even as factory activity grew marginally, the survey suggested that manufacturers still faced considerable risks from weak foreign demand and deepening de� ationary pressures.

While domestic demand picked up slightly, the new export orders sub-in-dex shed three hefty points from Janu-ary to skid to 47.1, the sharpest rate of contraction since June 2013.

“Domestic economic activity is likely to remain sluggish and external demand looks uncertain,” said Qu Hon-gbin, HSBC’s chief economist in China. “We believe more policy easing is still warranted at the current stage to sup-port growth.”

Input and output prices also fell. Though prices did not drop as sharply as they did in January, the trend point-ed to further pressure on companies’ pro� tability.

Employment in factories shrank as well for the 16th straight month as � rms dismissed workers to adjust to slower business.

The Australian dollar and emerging Asian currencies extended early gains after the PMI report, though shares in China and Hong Kong remained slight-ly lower.

Although the PMI is supposed to be adjusted for seasonal � uctuations in activity, including over the long Lunar New Year holiday when thousands of factories are shut, many analysts be-lieve they have to wait until March for reliable data.

Weighed down by a cooling proper-ty market, industrial overcapacity and slowing investment, China’s economy grew 7.4% in 2014, its slowest expan-sion in 24 years.

Economists expect growth to cool further to 7% in 2015, even with addi-tional stimulus measures.

To lift � agging growth, the central bank reduced the amount of cash that banks have to hold as reserves earlier in February for the � rst time in over two years. In November, it cut interest rates, also for the � rst time in over two years.

Most analysts believe policy will be loosened further in coming months in

the form of more rate cuts and reserve ratio reductions. This is especially after data earlier this month showed growth in China’s broad M2 money supply slumped to its lowest on record in January.

Some economists said the plunge in M2 growth was a sign that more capital was leaving the world’s second-largest

economy as it cools, a trend that would tighten liquidity conditions and spur the central bank to ease policy.

Lu Lei, the head of the research bureau at the central bank, said this month that the country’s monetary policy will be adjusted to keep liquidity at a reasonable level. l

An employee works on a production line of parts for CRH380B, a high speed train model REUTERS

Dollar slips on Fed chief’s rate hike comments n AFP, Tokyo

The dollar fell yesterday as US Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen hinted a rate hike was unlikely before the summer, while the euro held up as Greece de-livered a reform package critical to ex-tending its bailout.

In Tokyo, the dollar slipped to 118.73 yen from 118.94 yen in New York, as the euro ticked up to $1.1347 against $1.1342.

The common currency weakened to 134.73 yen from 134.90 yen in US trad-ing.

At the start of two days of congres-sional testimony on Tuesday, Yellen signalled that the Fed is preparing for a rate hike this year, but she hinted such a move would not come before June.

She said the US central bank can be patient before raising interest rates, stressing that the US labour market still showed cyclical weakness and in� ation continued to slow.

“A high degree of policy accommo-dation remains appropriate,” Yellen told the Senate Banking Committee.

The dollar has rallied this year on the growing strength of the US econo-my and expectations of higher interest rates, but Yellen’s comments suggested any rate hike was still a ways o� .

“Yellen was decidedly noncommit-tal to the idea of a rate hike around the middle of the year,” Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at the currency broker-age Commonwealth Foreign Exchange, told Bloomberg News.

“The reaction of the market is weak-er dollar, lower yields, higher equities - the classic reaction you’d see from a slightly dovish Fed.”

The markets’ guessing game over a rise in the federal funds rate has inten-si� ed as central banks around the world lower interest rates and expand mone-tary easing to stimulate their economies.

“Everyone is reacting to what they

want to see,” said Mizuho Bank strate-gist Sireen Harajli.

“Yellen provides plenty of di� erent assessments in her statement - some positive, some negative - and the mar-ket reaction is re� ecting that.”

Euro trading was � xated on Greece, which submitted a list of reforms to meet demands made by its internation-al creditors in exchange for extending the debt-saddled country’s bailout.

Despite reservations expressed by the International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank over the plan, eurozone ministers signed o� on the package, which gives Athens a four-month lifeline to pay its bills and side-step an almost certain exit from the eurozone.

Several parliaments, including Ger-many’s, must now approve the exten-sion before the current bailout expires on Saturday, while key details will be hammered out in the coming weeks. l

Dow, S&P 500 hit records after Fed testimony n AFP, New York

The Dow and S&P 500 Tuesday bolted to fresh records after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen pledged a cautious approach to raising interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 92.35 points (0.51%) to 18,209.19, besting Friday’s record by about 70 points, and the broad-based S&P 500 gained 5.82 (0.28%) at 2,115.48, inching up to a new all-time close.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite In-dex advanced 7.15 (0.14%) to 4,968.12.

Yellen, opening two days of congres-sional testimony, signaled that the Fed is deep in preparation for a rate hike this year, even as she essentially ruled out the move until June at the earliest.

Yellen said the US labor market still showed cyclical weakness and in� ation continued to fall, necessitating signi� -cant policy accommodation.

“There was a little something for ev-erybody and no indication that a rate hike is coming soon,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities.

European stocks also rose strong-ly after eurozone � nance ministers backed an extension of Greece’s bail-

out, due to expire Saturday. London’s FTSE 100 index reached

a new record and equity markets in France and Germany also gained.

Dow member Home Depot surged 4% as fourth-quarter earnings jumped 36% to $1.4bn - results that bested ana-lyst expectations. The company also unveiled a dividend increase and a new stock repurchasing program.

JPMorgan Chase, a Dow component, rose 2.5% after unveiling a plan to sig-ni� cantly pare back deposits from in-stitutional clients that have become costly under new regulations.

Department store chain Macy’s fell 3.2% on its 2015 earnings projection of $4.70-$4.80 per share, below the ana-lyst forecast of $4.84 per share.

First Solar and SunPower, two so-lar companies, both jumped after an-nouncing plans to form a so-called yieldco, a joint vehicle of selected solar generation assets from each company. First Solar rose 10.2%, while SunPower gained 18%.

Bond prices rose. The 10-year US Treasury fell to 1.98% from 2.06% Monday, while the 30-year dropped to 2.58% from 2.6% . Bond prices and yields move inversely. l

Facebook: Internet access limited in developing world n Reuters, Washington

Most people in the developing world do not use the Internet, with access limited by high costs, poor availability and a lack of relevant content, a Face-book report said Tuesday.

Facebook, which carried out the study through its Internet.org initiative that aims to boost connectivity around the world, said the rate of growth on the Internet is slowing.

“By early 2015, three billion people will be online. This is an incredible milestone, but it also means that only 40% of the world’s population has ever connected to the Internet,” the report said.

In the developed world, some 76% of the population is online, but the � g-ure is just 29.8% in developing nations, according to the research.

The rate of growth of Internet users was just 6.6% in 2014, the fourth year of deceleration.

“At present rates of decelerating growth, the internet won’t reach four bil-lion people until 2019,” the report said.

The report said tech companies, governments and non-government or-ganizations need to do more to boost the number of people online.

The report said the three main fac-tors which keep people o� ine were lack of infrastructure, a� ordability and the lack of relevant content for people in their languages.

“People aren’t using the Internet be-cause they’re not aware of the Internet, there is insu� cient content available in their primary language, or they can’t read or understand content that is,” the study found.

“To provide relevant content to 80% of the world would require su� cient content in at least 92 languages.”

The report said Wikipedia, for ex-ample, is available in just 52 languages.

The report found some regions es-pecially lacking in Internet use: only 16.9% of people were online in sub-Saharan Africa and 13.7% in South Asia.

Facebook found that mobile - or get-ting access to the Internet by connect-ed phones - was a key factor in many parts of the world.

The Facebook report said the Inter-net “increases opportunities for every-one” and its expansion it “will exert a powerful e� ect on the global economy, particularly in the developing world.”

“A more connected world is a world of more opportunity, freer expression, and greater innovation,” the report said. l

Spain’s economy to grow by 2.4% in 2015 n AFP, Madrid

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy predict-ed Tuesday that Spain’s economy, the eurozone’s fourth largest, could grow by 2.4% in 2015, raising the previous 2% forecast.

“With this (new) forecast, we are clearly in the position to create over 500,000 jobs in 2015,” he said during an annual state of the nation debate in parliament.

The Spanish economy grew by 1.4%

in 2014 due to a rise in private con-sumption, higher business investment and a recovery in the construction sec-tor.

It was the � rst full-year economic growth in Spain since a 2008 property crash which has left one in four work-ers unemployed and put thousands of companies out of business.

While the unemployment rate has started to fall, it stood at 23.7% at the end of 2014, the second highest rate in the eurozone after Greece. l

Tax o� cials search HSBC’s Mumbai HQ n Reuters, Mumbai

Indian tax o� cials searched the Mum-bai headquarters of HSBC Holdings PLC last week as part of a probe related to allegations that the bank’s Swiss busi-ness helped clients dodge taxes, a per-son with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

The search came as HSBC prepared to release its annual report on Monday, in which the bank said it had received a request for information from Indian tax authorities.

The cash-strapped government is cracking down on tax evasion as a means of boosting revenue. In October, it said the state was prosecuting several individuals on suspicion of having un-declared assets outside the country.

Its pursuit of Europe’s biggest bank comes after details of HSBC’s Swiss pri-vate banking operations and top clients were widely published in the media, sparking regulatory inquiries worldwide that could result in signi� cant � nes.

India, Asia’s third-largest economy, is the only Asian nation to aggressively investigate HSBC relating to allegations of helping customers pay less tax. The bank’s Swiss client list numbered 1,195 wealthy Indians, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

“Tax department o� cials visited the bank’s headquarters last week in Mum-bai, and asked for documents related to this case,” said the person, who was not authorised to speak with media on the matter and so declined to be identi� ed.

HSBC said, without elaborating, that it is cooperating with Indian authorities.

On Monday, HSBC’s chief executive said allegations about its Geneva-based private banking arm, raided last week by Swiss o� cials and now the subject of a British inquiry, had damaged HSBC’s im-age and brought “shame” on the bank.

HSBC said authorities in countries including Belgium, France, Switzer-land, Argentina and India were investi-gating or reviewing the local operations of its Swiss private bank in connection with allegations of tax evasion or tax fraud, money laundering and unlawful cross-border banking solicitation. l

A trader works at his screen at the Frankfurt stock exchange REUTERS