SECOND EDITION

MUHITH: COMMISSION FOR BANKS LIKELY IN JUNE PAGE 5

ISTANBUL SUICIDE BLAST KILLS 10 PAGE 32

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016 | Poush 30, 1422, Rabius Sani 1, 1437 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 267 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

PM: Country on development highway

Padma Bridgeto open to

tra�c by 2018

Power generationcapacity now

14,077MW

Bangabandhu 1satellite will be

launched in 2016

Congratulationsto the oppositionfor playing JS role

Media nowtotally

independent

Municipality pollsmore peaceful

than everASMAUL HOQUE MAMUN/DT INFOGRAPHIC

PHO

TO: B

SS

n Tribune Report

Bangladesh, a role model of development in the world, is now on the highway to devel-opment, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said.

In a nationally broadcast address to the nation yesterday evening, the prime minister highlighted her government’s success stories on the second anniversary of assuming state power.

She slammed the BNP-Jamaat alliance’s violent politics and asked people to counter those who raise questions about the glorious Liberation War and the freedom � ghters.

“When we formed government in 2009, there was economic depression and severe shortage of food in the world. The country was in a devastating state and was full of indiscipline due to misrule, corruption and criminal activities by the BNP-Jamaat alli-ance, and next two years of repressive policy by the caretaker government.”

Hasina said the Awami League govern-ment brought back discipline everywhere and gave people their trust and con� dence back.

She said that the economy of Bangladesh is now 45th in terms of GDP and 33rd in terms of purchasing power in the world.

Hasina cited Australia-based Institute for Economic and Peace’s Global Peace Index in which Bangladesh ranks 84th, ahead of his sub-continenal neighbours India, who is at 143, and Pakistan, who is at 154.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Public university t eachers to continue striken Arif Ahmed

Public university teachers around the coun-try said they will continue observing work abstention until their demand for a revised pay scale is met.

At a press brie� ng yesterday, Prof ASM Kamal, secretary general of the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Association (FBUTA) made the announcement on the second day of the continuous work absten-tion programme.

This came after the comment made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday; the prime minister said teachers who want the status equal to that of a government sec-retary should resign from their job and sign up for civil service.

Addressing the press brie� ng, FBUTA President Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed criticised

the prime minister’s comment, terming it hu-miliating for the teachers.

“The prime minister is not getting infor-mation from a neutral source. That is why she made such a comment,” he said. “Teach-ers are very embarrassed, disappointed and surprised by her comment.”

The FBUTA president also claimed that, despite making several requests for a meet-ing with the premier, the protesting teachers did not get any positive response.

“The prime minister can solve this prob-lem easily. If she sits with us for just � ve min-utes, this issue can be resolved.”

Prof Farid urged the prime minister to sit with the teachers for a talk to resolve the crisis.

Later, FBUTA leaders met with Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid at his ministry

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

State seeks death for war criminal Sayedeen Ashif Islam Shaon

The state has � led a review petition with the Supreme Court against its judgement that reduced the death penalty of notorious war criminal Delawar Hossain Sayedee to impris-onment until death.

The attorney general’s o� ce submitted the petition yesterday to the Supreme Court registrar’s o� ce seeking Sayedee’s capital punishment handed down by the Interna-tional Crimes Tribunal in 2013.

This is the � rst case of war crimes trial in which the state has sought review to main-tain the tribunal’s verdict.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam at his o� ce told reporters that they had cited � ve reasons in support of Sayedee’s death sen-tence. They sought death penalty for Sayedee for killing Ibrahim Kutti and Bisa Bali.

He said the apex court would � x a date for conducting hearing on the review petition.

Mahbubey said that the highest sentence could not be maintained due to failure of the investigation agency and the prosecution of the tribunal.

Sayedee, known as “Deilya Razakar” in 1971, was given the death penalty on February 28, 2013 after the war crimes tribunal found him guilty of committing crimes against hu-manity during the 1971 Liberation War.

He was sentenced to death for killing Ibra-him Kutti and one Bisa Bali in Pirojpur. The tribunal did not deliver sentence on the six other proven charges.

The Jamaat-e-Islami leader appealed against the tribunal verdict seeking acquittal while the state pleaded for sentence on the six other proven charges.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

DEATH OF MADRASA STUDENT SPARKS VIOLENCE PAGE 3

News2DTWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

PM: Country on development highwayBangladesh ranks 85th while Pakistan 108th in the Democracy Index Map prepared by The Economist’s intelligence unit, highlight-ed the PM.

The PM quoted United Nations Secre-tary-General Ban Ki-Moon as saying at the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Education that “Bangladesh sets an example on disaster preparedness and management in the world.”

Hasina also said that GDP growth was 6.5% in last � scal year and the average growth was 6.2% in the previous � ve � scal years until 2014-15.

“Very few countries have been able to keep their growth rates above 6% for such a long time. It will cross 7% soon,” she a� rmed.

Bangladesh’s per capita income was $543 in the last year of the BNP-Jamaat alliance’s tenure and it rose to $1,314 during her gov-ernment’s o� ce, Hasina said.

Five crore people claimed to the mid-dle-income group from the lower income status, she said.

Rate of poverty was cut down to 22.4% from 41.5%, while rate of ultra poverty was reduced to 7.9% from 24.2% in 2006. Income and em-ployment of people have increased as 1.5 crore people got private and government jobs during her government’s tenure, Hasina said.

Nearly 36 million workers got jobs abroad during the Awami League government rule. Remittance was $4.80bn in 2006, which has now increased to $15.2bn in 2014-15. Foreign exchange reserve has crossed $27bn from $3.48bn during the same period.

Highlighting her government’s perfor-

mance in the power sector, the PM said that generation capacity now stands at 14,077 megawatts. Production has reached 12,000MW and the number of power plants has crossed 100. As many has 4.4 million solar panels have been installed during the time her government has been in o� ce.

“Around 75% of the people get electricity facilities and every house will come under power coverage by 2021,” she said.

She said the construction of the Moghba-zar-Malibagh � yover will end soon and the work for the elevated expressway in Dhaka and the metro rail projects are going on in full swing.

She also said that the construction of the Padma bridge by own funding is also going on at full pace. The bridge will be opened to tra� c by 2018 and then it will contribute 1.2% to the GDP growth. “The lives of the 21 districts will be changed, businesses and in-dustrialisation will be boosted in these areas, creating employment for people,” she said.

The PM also said modern satellite town-ships in Mawa, Shibchar and Jajira will be built.

She said that her government has been providing healthcare services to rural people through 16,500 community clinics and union health centres. The average life expectancy has increased to 71 years from 66.5 years. Child and maternal mortality rates have also fallen.

“The government will distribute health cards to 100,000 families who live below the poverty line. The card will be distributed to all

poverty-stricken families gradually,” she said.With regards to Digital Bangladesh, she

said around 200 types of digital services haved been taken to people’s doorsteps through 5,275 digital centres across the country.

She hoped that Bangladesh will be able to send its � rst satellite “Bangabandhu Satellite 1” to the space within this year.

According to Hasina, the government has transformed the Jatiya Shangshad into the centre of all activities.

“Thanks to the opposition party [Jatiya Party]. They are providing opinions on dif-ferent issues and taking part in discussions.”

On the freedom of media, she said: “Bangla-desh used to a country of violation of freedom of speech and torturing of journalists. During the Awami League government’s tenure, me-dia in Bangladesh is completely free. Mass media can criticise the government freely,” she said, adding that the government has approved 32 new television channels, 22 FM radio sta-tions and 32 community radio channels.

On communal harmony, she said every-one is performing their religions freely and no-one would be allowed to disrupt commu-nal harmony.

Reminding people of her government’s promise of bringing the war criminals to justice, the PM said: “We are trying the war criminals and verdicts are being executed. No-one can hinder justice.”

She also said: “The chief and the leaders of a certain party have been questioning the actual � gure of martyrs during the 1971 Lib-eration War. No derogatory remarks on the

Liberation War and the freedom � ghters will be tolerated.”

Regarding the recent municipality polls, the PM said the elections in 223 municipali-ties have been the fairest and most peaceful ever in Bangladesh.

“I thank you [the people] for making your favourite candidates victorious and rejecting the terrorists and criminals,” she said.

She hoped that Bangladesh will be able to become a middle-income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041.

“We are a nation born through a bloody Liberation War. No one can keep us down,” she said. l

Public universityo� ce yesterday evening to talk about the on-going crisis.

“The minister asked us to tell him about our demands. We told him the government already knew about them. This meeting did not have any outcome,” Prof Maksud Kamal told the Dhaka Tribune.

“The minister asked us to work with the government to � nd a middle ground,” Prof Farid said.

However, little can be done now and the protest will continue, Prof Maksud said.

No classes were held at Dhaka University and 36 other public universities around the country for two days; the DU campus looked barren because of the absence of students.

However, the scheduled exams took place at the universities, sources said. l

State seeks death for war criminal SayedeeOn September 17, 2014, the Appellate Divi-sion’s � ve-member bench headed by the then Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain delivered its short verdict based on majority judgement.

The full verdict was published on Decem-ber 31 last year. According to the rules, a re-view petition has to be � led within 15 days after the full verdict is published.

The case against Sayedee was the � rst of its kind under the International Crimes (Tri-bunals) Act, 1973. The case faced great di� -culties from its inception, having also been subjected to the greatest extent of conspira-cies from quarters striving to derail the jus-tice process, tribunal observers said.

This included, among others, the abduc-

tion of a key prosecution witness, defence obtaining the register of prosecution wit-nesses in the safe house, hacking of personal computers of ICT judges and illegal intercep-tion of their personal communications – all during the trial of Sayedee.

According to the state, the tribunal pros-ecutors had failed to provide the necessary

documentary evidence in Sayedee’s case during the appeal hearing.

Asked whether there was any precedence in any court across the globe of increasing sentence on a review petition, Mahbubey yes-terday said: “I did not scrutinise all the review petitions. But there can be new developments during trials. It depends on the court.” l

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with four Biman Bangladesh Airlines captains after a ceremony to mark the addition of two Boeing 737-800 aeroplanes to Biman � eet BSS

PM opens school-cum-cyclone centres in Bargunan UNB

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday inaugurated newly constructed seven school-cum-cyclone shelter centres built at Amtoli in Barguna under the “Fael Khair” programme of King Abdullah Bin Abul Aziz International Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation of Saudi Arabia.

The prime minister inaugurated the cy-clone shelters through a videoconferencing from her o� cial residence Ganabhaban.

Visiting Saudi Prince Turki bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, also the Chief Ex-ecutive O� cer (CEO) of the King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz International Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, Islamic Develop-ment Bank (IDB) Group President Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al Madani and Member of the Trustee Board Prince Badar bin Abdullah joined the ceremony from Barguna with the

Prime Minister at Ganabhaban through the videoconferencing.

The inaugural ceremony of the SCCS, held at Ghatkhali Secondary School in Amtoli, is as part of the second batch 27 completed shelters in Barguna constructed under the Fael Khair Programme for cyclone victims.

Speaking on the occasion, the prime minis-ter expressed gratitude to the late Saudi King for extending assistance to lessen su� erings of the people of Southern Bangladesh who were badly a� ected by cyclone Sidr and Aila.

Terming Barguna and other parts of South-ern Bangladesh the most disaster prone region, Sheikh Hasina said the school-cum-cyclone shelters will help create better opportunities to ensure the education of children.

“These establishments will certainly ensure the welfare of people living in disaster prone ar-eas as these could be used as school as well as shelter centers during the disaster,” she said. l

Death of madrasa student sparks violence in Brahmanbarian Kamrul Hasan with Masuk Hridoy,

from Brahmanbaria

Brahmanbaria town tuned into a battle � eld after the death of an eighth grade madrasa student early yesterday while undergoing treatment at the sadar hospital.

Deceased Masudur Rahman, 25, son of Elias Miah from Nabinagar area of the dis-trict, was a student of Jamia Islamia Yunisia Madrasa in the town. He sustained injuries during clashes with the police and local trad-ers on Monday night.

Hearing the news of his death, students from di� erent madrasas carried out massive vandalism yesterday morning in a planned manner in some parts of the town including the railway station, local branch of a private bank and Music Maestro Alauddin Khan Centre.

A three-member probe body led by Ad-ditional Deputy Commissioner (Chittagong range) Mahbubur Rahman was formed to in-vestigate the matter. Other members of the committee are the additional SPs of the district police and the Police Bureau of Investigation.

Two o� cers – Brahmanbaria model police station OC Akul Chandra Biswas and Assis-tant Superintendent of Police Tapos Ranjan Bose – were withdrawn yesterday for smooth investigation, Assistant Inspector General of Police (Media, HQ) told the Dhaka Tribune.

On the other hand, teachers of the ma-drasa after a meeting called a dawn to dusk hartal in the town for today. Senior teacher Maulana Mobarak Ullah made the announce-ment around noon saying that the shutdown would be observed under the banner of Tou-hidi Janata.

They also demanded suspension of the OC and the ASP, and proper investigation into the death of Masud.

According to eyewitnesses and police, a student of the madrasa went to nearby Zil-la Parishad Market to buy a mobile phone around 5pm on Monday. At that time, the student engaged in an argument with the trader, Rony Ahmed of Bijoy Telecom.

The student, who was allegedly assaulted as claimed by his fellows, could not be identi� ed.

After the incident, the student went back to the madrasa and came back with 50 others equipped with sticks around 7pm and van-dalised the shop. A clash ensued as the trad-ers chased the madrasa students with the help of some supporters of Bangladesh Chha-tra League, the ruling party’s student wing.

A local seeking anonymity said that shop owner Rony was the relative of a former Chhatra League leader.

Being informed, police rushed to the spot but did not take any action until the agitat-ing madrasa students hurled bricks on them. Police � red several hundred rounds of rubber bullets and tear gas canisters to take the situ-ation under control.

The clash continued in the madrasa area until 10:30pm when more than 50 people in-cluding 15 police members, journalists and Masud were injured.

Masud was � rst taken to a local clinic by his fellows, and later to the sadar hospital around 3am. Emergency Medical O� cer Mainul Haque said they had found Masud dead when he was brought to the hospital.

The doctor said that they had found injury marks on his chest and waist, but could not

con� rm immediately whether the injuries were caused by the police � ring.

Enraged by the death of Masud and insti-gated by some Facebook pages run by Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir members, the agitated madrasa students launched planned attacks on di� erent establishments in the town from 10am until the evening.

Additional number of police, and mem-bers of the Rapid Action Battalion and the Border Guard Bangladesh were deployed on Monday night. But they could not prevent the demonstrators from vandalising the es-tablishments.

They went on a rampage in several are-as including TA road, Kumarkhali crossing and Loknath Tankpar. They also vandalised Muktijoddha Sangsad Complex, Banglar Songskriti Moncho on Shahid Direndra Dutta premises and the railway station.

Train communication from Dhaka to Chit-tagong and Sylhet was suspended for nearly eight hours as the agitators removed � sh-plates around 11am. The madrasa students also vandalised the station’s ticket counter, eight CCTV cameras, o� ce of the station master and the passengers’ waiting room.

At noon, another group of students at-tacked the o� ce of a local lawmaker, van-dalised Music Maestro Alauddin Khan Centre and the residence of former Chhatra League leader Mahmudul Haque, and torched three motorcycles in front of his house. They also vandalised a branch of Bank Asia, Industrial School and Proshika o� ce.

The other group attacked on the o� ce of local MP Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury in Hawlader area of the twon’s Fakirapool. l

News 3D

TWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

Angry madrasa students vandalise public and private properties on TA Road in Brahmanbaria following the death of a fellow madrasa student in the morning FOCUS BANGLA

Apex court summons Tarique Rahmann Ashif Islam Shaon

The High Court has directed its registrar to issue a notice summoning BNP Senior Vice-Chair-man Tarique Rahman to surrender before the trial court in a money laundering case.

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Amir Hossain came up with the order yesterday after accepting an appeal � led by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) challenging Tarique’s acquittal given by a trial court.

The court also asked the registrar to pub-lish advertisements in at least two wide-ly-circulated English and Bangla dailies. The advertisement will be published as the BNP leader is staying abroad.

The court would pass further order on this issue on February 14, said ACC lawyer Khurs-hid Alam Khan. He moved the court for a rul-ing against Tarique’s acquittal on January 3.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique was arrested on March 7 in 2007 during the mil-itary-backed caretaker government. He went to London on parole in September 2008 for treatment and did not come back.

The case was � led against Tarique and his friend and business partner Giasuddin Al Ma-mun in October 2009 for laundering Tk204.1 million to Singapore between 2003 and 2007.

On November 17, 2013, a Dhaka court sen-tenced Mamun to seven years’ imprisonment and slapped him with a Tk40 crore � ne. In its order, the court acquitted Tarique saying that he had mentioned the amount in his wealth submitted to the ACC.

Following an appeal � led by Mamun, the High Court on April 29 in 2014 stayed his � ne of Tk40 crore. The ACC then � led an appeal on De-cember 5, 2013, challenging Tarique’s acquittal.

Following the appeal, the High Court on January 19 last year asked the lower court to send it the case records and ordered Tarique to surrender before the trial court in the case.

The High Court, however, asked the trial court to grant him bail after his surrender.

Meanwhile, the ACC in January of 2014 launched a probe against the trial court judge, retired special judge Motaher Hossain, following speci� c allegations of amassing il-legal wealth, abusing judicial power, earn-ing huge wealth contradictory to his known source of income and amassing movable and immovable property in his and others’ names. He is believed to be in Malaysia. l

Moosa su� ers from fear of death, asks ACC for more timen Adil Sakhawat

Controversial businessman Moosa Bin Sham-sher requested the Anti-Corruption Commis-sion (ACC) yesterday to defer his cross-ex-amination by two months, claiming that he was su� ering from the fear of death, hyper-tension and diabetes.

ACC Director Mir Jainul Abedin Shibly summoned Moosa for the third time on Jan-uary 4 for questioning. He was scheduled to appear before investigators yesterday.

Moosa submitted his application through his employee, DATCO Deputy General Man-ager ATM Mahbub Morshed, with a doctor’s certi� cate. l

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016News4DT

Charge sheet accepted against Shahadat, wifen Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday accepted a charge sheet against cricketer Shahadat Hossain and his wife Jesmine Jahan Nitto in a case � led over torturing their 11-year-old domestic help.

Metropolitan Magistrate Nuru Miah accepted the charge sheet after the general recording section of Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court produced it before the court.

The court later sent the case documents to the chief metro-politan magistrate for his approval to transfer the case to Dhaka Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal 5 and start the trial in the case.

O� cer-in-Charge (investigation) Md Sha� qur Rahman of Mir-pur police station, also investigation o� cer of the case, submitted the charge sheet against Shahadat and his wife on December 29, last year.

On October 6, Shahadat was sent to jail by a Dhaka court after he surrendered before the court, two days following the arrest of his wife Nitto in connection with the same case.

Later, Shahadat secured bail from the High Court on December 8 on health grounds while his wife Nitto got bail from a Dhaka court on December 1.

According to the case documents, on September 6, journal-ist Khandkar Mozammel Haque found Shahdat’s domestic help Mahfuza Aktar Happy, 11, lying injured on a road in Sangbadik Colony of Pallabi in the capital.

He rescued the child who told him that cricketer Shahadat and his wife Nitto have been mercilessly torturing her for a long time.

The journalist then took her to Mirpur police station and � led the case against the couple under Section 4 (2) of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000.

On September 20, the housemaid Happy gave judicial state-ment before the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Rani Chakraborty on how she became a victim of physical abuse by the cricketer and his wife.

Bangladesh Cricket Board suspended Shahadat on September 13 after the allegation against the cricketer came into light. l

DPDC: Better power services in � ve yearsn Aminur Rahman Rasel

Within the next � ve years, electricity subscribers of Dhaka city will get improved services similar to developed European and Asian countries, the chief of Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) has said.

Brig Gen (Retd) Md Nazrul Hasan, the managing director of DPDC, said this yesterday while speaking at a mass hearing on consumer services and new electricity connections at the city’s Motijheel area.

Around 40 DPDC customers from Banasri, Banglabazar, Basa-bo, Bangshal, Narinda and Shwamibagh came to the mass hear-ing, also attended by top o� cials of the Network Operation and Customer Services (NOCS) under the o� ce of the Chief Engineer of DPDC (central).

The DPDC chief said they have taken many projects to make the electricity sector as developed as other developed countries of Asia and Europe within � ve years.

The DPDC is also planning to take special measures so that even during any maintenance work, subscribers are be able to get uninterrupted electricity.

“I hope there will be no complaint regarding the meter read-ing. We are planning to incorporate in all of our NOCS the provi-sion for taking meter reading through mobile camera which will be integrated with a mobile app. In that way, 100% transparency will be ensured,” he said.

Out of 36 NOCS under DPDC, this provision has already been included in 10, he added.

During the hearing, new electricity connections were given to two applicants. Besides, Rokeya Akter from Narinda got imme-diate solution regarding her billing and was given assurance for a new meter.

A similar mass hearing will take place for the NOCS subscribers of Narayanganj on January 19 and 20. l

India to sponsor friendship police building in Sardahn Asif Showkat Kallol

India will sponsor the construction of a “friendship” building at Bangladesh National Police Academy.

According to o� cial sources, the Bangladesh-India Friendship Building at the police academy in Sardah of Rajsha-hi will cost Rs8.09 crore or Tk9.49 crore.

Bangladesh’s Home Ministry has re-

cently taken consent for the proposal from the Finance Division and the draft contract in this regard. Construction of the building is likely to start in March.

The amount to be disbursed as grant from India will also include the cost of building an IT centre at the academy.

A Finance Ministry o� cial said it was a good news for the economy that the � ow of assistance, loan and grants

from India had risen in recent years.The fresh $2bn credit line from In-

dia is likely to be disbursed in the next three months as the authorities con-cerned agreed to terms and conditions. The amount will be mostly used to fur-ther enhance bilateral connectivity.

A landmark $1bn soft loan from In-dia in 2010 was mainly used for devel-oping infrastructure in Bangladesh. l

PRAYERTIMES

Cox’s Bazar 26 18Dhaka 26 14 Chittagong 25 16 Rajshahi 26 12 Rangpur 25 12 Khulna 25 10 Barisal 27 13 Sylhet 25 10T E M P E R AT U R E F O R E C A S T F O R TO DAY

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:30PM SUN RISES 6:44AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW27.4ºC 9.4ºCTeknaf SrimangalWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Fajr: 5:21am | Zohr: 12:07am Asr: 3:54pm | Magrib: 5:30pmEsha: 7:00pm

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016News 5

DT

PARTLY CLOUDY

Shah Nawaz: UP polls by end of March n Tribune Report

Elections to the union parishad will be held by the end of March, Election Commissioner Md Shah Nawaz yesterday said.

He said the � rst phase of UP elections would be held in the 600 union parishads where o� ceholders’ tenures expire in March.

The Election Commission is drafting amendments to the rules governing UP elec-tions to allow seats to be contested along par-ty lines, Shahnewaz told journalists at the EC Secretariat yesterday afternoon. The amend-ments would be ready within a day or two be-fore being sent to the Law Ministry for vetting.

But whether or not the polls would be par-ty-based had not yet been decided, he said.

Asked whether lawmakers would be al-lowed to campaign for union parishad candi-dates, he replied: “The rules will be similar to the municipal elections but to ensure a level playing � eld, the EC is not planning to prohibit upazila chairmen from campaigning since they are local level leaders.”

However, he said: “We will not halt UP elections if a council candidate dies as is done in municipal elections. But if a chair-manship candidate dies, then the election in that union will be stopped.”

Meanwhile, the EC postponed voting due to vote rigging at two centres in Madhabdi and Choumohoni municipalities yesterday, Shahnewaz said. “In Kalkini, several people were � ned for casting fake votes. But in other municipalities, the polls were peaceful.”

Re-polling took place at 55 polling centres in 20 municipalities yesterday. l

Muhith: Banking Commission likely in Junen Asif Showkat Kallol

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said that the government will soon form a banking commission to bring back discipline and good governance in the sector.

“A couple of years have passed since the big fund embezzlements were unearthed in Sonali Bank and BASIC Bank. But we still see a lack of good governance in the country’s banking sector,” the minister said in an inter-view with Dhaka Tribune on January 11, the eve of the second anniversary of taking pow-er by the Awami League government.

He said the commission is likely to be formed before this June after the formulation of the relevant terms and conditions.

The current � nancial situation of the country’s banking sector and the activities of � ve state-owned commercial banks both needed a review, the minister said.

“We have dropped the provision of political appointment of directors to public banks be-cause it was because of their excessive greed that the big loan scams took place at that time.

“They simply acted as commissioned agents for potential borrowers of the state-owned banks and that eventually a� ected

the quality of the loans given to little-known borrowers and � nancial � rms,” Muhith told the Dhaka Tribune.

The minister was asked about former Ja-tiya Party (JaPa) lawmaker Abdul Hye Bach-chu’s alleged involvement with BASIC Bank’s loan scams and the subsequent dropping of his name from charges by the Anti-Corrup-tion Commission (ACC).

In reply, Muhith said everything possible

was done from his end but what more could he or his o� ce do if the ACC could not � nd anything against Bachchu.

The name of the former BASIC Bank chair-man [Bachchu] was mentioned on every � -nancial investigation report in connection with the bank’s loan scams, he said.

“I did not send his name to the ACC but in the entire volume of reports, Bachchu was mentioned as the prime accused.

“I know that he was freed from all charges of fund embezzlement of BASIC bank. But I never asked the ACC to � le any cases against him,” the minister pointed out.

Bachchu was appointed the chairman of BASIC Bank in 2009 and he stepped down on March 8, 2015 after the allegations were raised against him.

Muhith admitted that the big loan scams involving Hallmark and Sonali Bank and Ab-dul Hye Bachchu and BASIC Bank tarnished the success of the Awami League-led govern-ment’s success stories.

“I am quite pleased to see that the impor-tant people, who were involved with the loan scams in the country’s largest state-owned bank, Sonali Bank, spending time in the Dha-ka Central Jail and facing trial,” Muhith said.

He also claimed to have found while re-viewing the default loan and embezzelement cases that the Sonali Bank o� cials did not pur-sue the cases running at the High Court, Su-preme Court and specialised � nancial courts.

Saying that not putting in e� ort behind operating these cases was a crime, the min-ister asked the policymakers and the man-agement of Sonali Bank to assign competent o� cials for this job. l

We have dropped the provision of political appointment of directors to public banks

Students of Dhaka University form a human chain in front of Raju Bhaskarja yesterday protesting police attack on DU alumnus and Bangladesh Bank o� cer Golam Rabbi MEHEDI HASAN

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016News6DT

Charge framed against Jamuna Group chairmann Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against four people, including Jamuna Group chairman and his wife, in a case � led for illegally producing and marketing alcohol.

Those who were indicted are Jamuna Group Chairman Nurul Islam Babul, his wife Salma Islam, the couple’s son Shamim Islam and Hunter and Crown Beer’s General Manager Md Shuruj Rahman Sheikh.

Salma Islam is present lawmaker of Jatiya Party.

Judge Abdur Rahman Shordar of Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 framed the charges against the four accused after rejecting their discharge petitions in the case.

After the charge framing, the court � xed January 19 for recording deposition of prosecution witnesses.

Nurul Islam Babul, Salma Islam and

Shamim Islam, now on bail, appeared before the court. They pleaded not guilty and demanded justice after the court read out the charges to them.

Babul and his wife Salma Islam also submitted two petitions before the court seeking exemption from personal appearance before the court. Although the court granted Salma’s petition but rejected her husband’s plea.

The tribunal also issued warrant for the arrest of another accused Shuruj Rahman as he did not appear before the court.

According to the case, on March 8, 2004, Narcotic Control Department Inspector Md Azadul Islam Salam � led the case with Kaliakoir police station in Gazipur against the accused under Narcotic Control Act 1990 for illegally producing and marketing alcohol.

Later, the investigation o� cer of the case submitted a charge sheet to Gazipur court

against the four accused on March 31 of the same year. Later, the case was shifted to the Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal for quick trial.

Following a writ petition by the accused the case has been pending for quit a long time, but the trial process again resumed on November 17, 2015 after the higher court rejected the petition of the accused.

According to the charge sheet, Jamuna Group owned M/S Crown Beverage factory located at So� pur in Kaliakoir of Gazipur illegally produced and marketed two products – Hunter and Crown – which were mainly alcohol.

They had also published advertisement on di� erent newspapers reportedly about their products.

The authorities concerned sought explanation from them but the accused failed to submit their replies on time. l

According to the charge sheet, Jamuna Group owned Crown Beverage factory that illegally produced and marketed two products – Hunter and Crown – which were mainly alcohol

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016News 7

DT

Illegal saw mills turn Sharankhola barrenn Our Correspondent, Bagerhat

At least 50 unauthorised saw mills have been carrying out their operations in Bagerhat’s Sharankhola for years, indiscriminately cut-ting trees from the Sundarbans and other so-cial forestation projects in the area.

The owners of these unlicensed mills are allegedly bribing unscrupulous o� cials from the Forest Department and local administra-tion to avoid getting shut down. In the pro-cess they are also � outing the rule against setting up any saw mill within 10km of the Sundarbans.

Locals claim that the saw mills have

cleared miles and miles of land in the area, cutting down Sundari, Gewa and Garan trees and destroying valuable natural assets.

Sources said saw mill owners and mer-chants have been supplying the timber to smugglers who are openly moving tonnes of wood across the country. Most saw mills also do not have the necessary environmental clearance from authorities concerned.

These mills are located in di� erent are-as of Sharankhola upazila including Rajoir, Golbunia, Purbokhada, Amragachhia, Ku-markhali and Tapalbari.

Asaduzzaman Milon, chairman of Roy-enda Union Parishad, told the Dhaka Tribune

that there is no option of setting up saw mills in Sharankhola as it falls within 10km of the Sundarbans. But local men have been ignor-ing the rule for many years, he added.

But the forest o� cer in Sharankhola range, Md Kamal Ahmed, said the local saw mills had received a temporary permission to operate following Cyclone Sidr in 2007, so that the uprooted trees could be used to re-pair the damaged houses.Saidul Islam, divi-sional o� cer for East Sundarbans, said: “The saw mills within 10km of the forest would be evicted and those outside the 10km limit would be asked to acquire licences or face le-gal action,” Saidul said. l

l Saw mills not allowed within 10km of the Sundarbans

l Mills got temporary permission following Cyclone Sidr to use timber for repairing houses

l No environmental clearance or licence for most saw mills

Work on new court begins in Barisal amid protestn Our Correspondent, Barisal

The foundation laying ceremony of the Ju-dicial Magistrate Court building in the com-pound of St Peter’s Church in Barisal city was held yesterday amid protest by local Chris-tians as a historical pond has been � lled up for this purpose.

Law, Justice and Parliament A� airs Min-ister Anisul Huq laid the foundation for the 10-storey building yesterday afternoon.

The infrastructure of the judiciary will be strengthened by repairing and constructing court building around the country, the min-ister said while addressing the ceremony.

The project, titled Judicial Magistrate

Court Building Construction Project, will cost around Tk27 crore, and it could be extended to 12 storeys which would cost an additional Tk4 crore, said Zakir Hossain, executive engi-neer at the Barisal o� ce of the Public Works Department (PWD). Meanwhile, local Chris-tians hoisted black � ags at the roof of the church to protest the construction of the new court building by � lling up the pond, which was recorded as the church’s property.

Earlier, the protesters staged hunger strike for half a day, held a rally and then handed a memorandum regarding their protest over to the district administration on Sunday, said Shanti Mandal, representative of the Church of Bangladesh in Barisal. l

NU students lay siege to main campus in Gazipur n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Hundreds of students of National Universi-ty yesterday laid siege to its main campus in Gazipur yesterday demanding enrollment of 2009-10 sessions’ students, who become fail in a few subjects in the honours � nal year ex-amination, into masters.

The students also got engaged in scu� e with the members of Ansar and VDP during their agitation.

Students under the National University took position in front of the NU’s Board Ba-

zar’s campus around 11am. Students of Titu-mir College, New Model Degree College, Be-gum Bodrunnesa Government College, Eden Women’s College, Dhaka College, Govern-ment Bebendra College, Manikganj, Nawab Siraj-Ud-Daulah Government College, Na-tore, Shaikh Burhanuddin Post Graduate College, Bhawal Badre Alam Government College took part in the programme.

Vice Chancellor of the NU Dr Harun Or Rashid said he would conduct a meeting with a � ve-member committee of the university and take a decision in this regard. l

Members of Bangladesh Basic BSc Graduate Nurses’ Society stage a sit-in demonstration at Central Shahid Minar in the capital yesterday demanding job placement for unemployed nurses MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

News8DTWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

Hefazat to hold confce in Ctg on Jan 14, 15n Tribune Report

The Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh has an-nounced to hold a two-day conference in the port city’s Laldighi Maidan from tomorrow and day after tomorrow.

Organising Secretary of Hefazat-e-Islam Azizul Haque Islamabadi told the Dhaka Tribune that they had obtained permission from Chittagong Metropolitan authorities for the holding the conference.

“We have completed all necessary prepa-rations to hold the grand conference. Islamic scholars from home and abroad will grace the occasion. The two-day long conference will be chaired by Hefazat-e-Islami chief Shah Ahmed Sha� while renowned Islamic scholar of Darul Uloom Deoband, India Syed Arshad Madani will remain present as the chief guest,” said Islamabadi.

“We have already completed our publici-ty campaign including hanging banners and pasting posters at the strategic points of the city. We have also made a hectic announce-ment of the conference through loudspeak-ers.,” he added. l

Sale of Tangail shawl decreases n Our Correspondent, Tangail

The trade of famous Tangail shawl has expe-rienced a decrease this year as the country is yet to see cold wave despite passing the peak period of winter. Data available in the met o� ces shows that winter this year has been warmer and less foggy than last year.

Generally the demand of winter clothes like shawl sees gradual increase on the eve of cold wave. The traditional value of the stu� is the key element behind its popularity.

The weavers in the Tangail region make di� erent sorts of shawl particularly during the winter season. They are Manipuri, Mala, Nayontara, Jacket Cup and Makhmal.

The producers sell those at best Tk700 from Tk220 per piece as per the quality.

The sector’s entrepreneur named Md Ja-hid Hossain, from Bathuli Sadi village, said: “The demand of shawl is very low this year because of still prevailing comparatively high temperature across the country during the winter as a result of climate change. The market price of our products has become

halved in absence of the demand.”Jahid urged upon the government to cre-

ate its market in abroad for the sake of the sector, telling that there are 150 weavers with about 1,000 looms and about 3,000 people depend on those for their livelihood.

A worker namely Aminul said: “Since whole year we make shawl, our activities increase on the eve of winter season. This year’s scenario is totally di� erent as we can-not sell our products daily as expected owing t o warm winter this year.” l

Surya Sen remembered n Tribune Report

Masterda Surya Sen, one of the greatest rev-olutionaries and the chief architect of the up-rising against the Britishers in Chittagong on April 18, 1930, was remembered at the port city.

Di� erent socio-culture and political organ-isations held several programmes at the 82nd death anniversary of the legendary hero.

In the morning, Deputy Commissioner Mesbah Uddin and o� cials of Chittagong Central Jail paid homage placing � oral wreaths at the execution platform.

Communist Party of Bangladesh, Socialist Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Students Union, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front and Chit-tagong Association paid homage at his statue in the city’s JM Sen Hall.

Sen was born on March 22, 1894 at Noapa-ra, under Raozan upazilla in Chittagong. On April 18, 1930, he with his comrades raided the armoury of police and looted the arms and established resistance at Jalalabad Hills in Chittagong. The great hero was arrested in February, 1933 and after a summary trial, he was executed at Chittagong Central Jail on January 12, 1934. l

The demand of shawl is very low this year because of still prevailing comparatively high temperature across the country during the winter as a result of climate change

PHOTO: BIGSTOCK

Feature 9D

T

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

n Faisal Mahmud

When a sweeping power failure blacked out nearly the whole country on November 1, 2013, the cell sites that connect about 121.86 million mobile phone users in the country were largely una� ected.

The vast majority of the Bangladeshi mobile phone operator’s base stations, each of which include a tower and radio equipment attached to it, had backup diesel power because the electricity goes out frequently, and many run on diesel entirely if there is no power grid in the area at all.

Now seemingly “dirty” non-environment friendly diesel generators in Bangladesh are being challenged by clean, renewable energy at the sites of mobile towers as solar powered base transceiver station (BTS) is proven to be a possibility in the country.

The Malaysia based edotco group which is an integrated telecommunications infrastructure services company providing end-to-end solutions in the tower services sector including co-locations, built-to-

suit, energy, transmission and operations and maintenance (O&M) has already built over 300 solar powered mobile towers in Bangladesh.

In the country, there are still some rural areas with no commercial electricity supply. Despite this drawback, edotco Bangladesh has managed to set up towers to enable mobile network access services in these marginalised areas.

The edotco group has acquired more than 9000 mobile towers in the country and laid out the plan to integrated solar power in most of its towers over time. By the end of 2016, it plans to include the provisions for solar power in approximately 1000 of mobile towers under its management.

Mohammad Manzoorul Islam, director, Operations and Corporate A� airs, edotco said that currently the telecom industry requires around 100MW of electricity to run its transmission network.

“As a sustainable energy solution, solar energy is increasingly being used as part of the energy mix used by various

organisations,” he adds. He said that it is not only reducing carbon

emission and saving the environment but is also saving money. Approximately Tk3,000 per month can be saved at BTS sites with grid connection and Tk12,000 per month at o� -grid sites where BTS are run by diesel generators.

Setting up solar panels involves heavy up-front investment but requires very little maintenance cost. Solar cells have a longevity of 20 years, whereas diesel generators have a life span of up to � ve years and require regular maintenance and therefore, results in higher maintenance costs.

Tower sites that have solar panels are able to supply power up to 4.6 hours a

day on average (depending on the amount of sunlight available), causing zero atmospheric pollution as well as zero noise pollution, which generators otherwise produce.

The director of edotco said that the consumables such as diesel also add to operational costs of generators. He added that the renewable options become much more viable as the amount of energy needed to power base stations is reduced.

The average cellular base station, which comprises the tower and the radio equipment attached to it, can use anywhere from about one to � ve kilowatts (kW), depending on whether the radio equipment is housed in an air-conditioned building, how old the tower is and how many transceivers are in the base station, he said adding that most of the energy is used by the radio to transmit and receive cell-phone signals.

In the last couple of years, the neighbouring country India has been slowly installing and converting its vast array of cell phone towers to renewable energy. The project started in 2010 and already by 2015, they have almost 50% of rural towers running on renewable energy.

Solar dominates as an alternative to diesel because of cost, but Indian telecoms are also exploring aggregated renewable solutions (wind and solar, for example), fuel cells and bio-CNG digesters to power base stations.

Meanwhile, the industry is working on more integrated chip technology and smaller radios to improve energy e� ciency, including units that can turn themselves o� when not in use. Alcatel–Lucent, a renowned global company is integrating energy monitoring capability into base stations, which can be used to make real-time adjustments to optimise power use and monitor renewables.

If the architecture of mobile networks moves to smaller, more distributed small cells, renewable power could proven to be more attractive in developed and developing countries. Employing smaller cells is a growing movement in the mobile phone industry, which uses much smaller antennas and radios that in turn use far less energy yet allow carriers to increase network capacity. l

Shifting towards‘green’mobile towers

Feature10DT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

nSaudia Afrin

In today’s world, living a healthy life is an everyday struggle. The desire to lead such lifestyle remains unful� lled because of the contemporary toxic lifestyle of people infused with non-friendly environmental elements. The use of natural elements and greeneries is hardly seen in this concrete jungle, and we tend to forget the fact that by adding little planters around your house might convert the outlook of your place and make it look fabulous with just a little e� ort. Admiringly, some people have not forgotten about mother nature, and they gladly embrace it setting trends out of their passion.

Di� erent parts of plants can be utilised to decorate your house in distinct ways, as each has di� erent shapes and patterns. Using unique material like acorns, pine cones, pebbles, sea shells, driftwood, etc, can add a modernised eco style to the traditional design.

Eco-chic

Qatar Airways launches Travel FestivalQatar Airways has launched a � rst-of-its-kind Travel Festival o� ering travellers an exceptional choice of dream deals suited for a variety of travel needs.

The Qatar Airways Travel Festival has something for everyone, with exclusively

designed packages including discounts of up to 35%, companion fares for 2-for-1 tickets, family and group discounts, access to special discounts on car rental and hotel deals and much more.

All passengers who book online via

qatarairways.com/travelfestival during this seven-day period will be automatically entered into a draw to win one of the 150 prizes being given out per day. Prizes include seven million Qmiles over the seven-day period, complimentary � ights, upgrades to Business Class, hotel packages, discount shopping vouchers to spend across all Qatar Duty Free boutiques, and car rental discounts. With the addition of triple Qmiles for bookings made through the Qatar Airways website, everybody is a winner in the Qatar Airways Travel Festival.

The Travel Festival will be available for sale from January 11-17 for travel between January 19 to December 15. O� ers applicable on Economy and Business class return

airfares to more than 150 destinations including Europe, the Middle East, Indian Sub-continent, Asia Paci� c, Africa, and the Americas. Passengers may book online at qatarairways.com/travelfestival, by visiting any Qatar Airways’ sales o� ce or through appointed travel partners.

Qatar Airways’ chief commercial o� cer, Dr Hugh Dunleavy, said: “The Qatar Airways Travel Festival is an amazing opportunity for travellers to choose the best deal for themselves among a variety of exclusively designed packages. At Qatar Airways, we aim to inspire travellers to go beyond the ordinary. We o� er our customers a chance to go anywhere they dream and to do it with the world’s best airline.” l

These can be uses Even other natural elements can be incorporated into your home decor as centrepieces or even corner-pieces. Tree branches, beach pebbles, sea shells and dry � owers in a chunky vase will compliment your side or co� ee table, as well as your book shelf. Bamboo, beach pebbles and sea shells can also be used as the base of an empty vase that can just sit on one of these tables.

Apart from creating stunning kitchen accessories, tree stumps also make wonderful stools. And nowadays stump pieces are also being used for wall decoration. Even wooden mirror frames are making a comeback this season. A bunch of home decor outlets around town have some lovely wooden mirror frames stacked in di� erent shaped and design. Wool felt and feathers are also very popularly used for wall decoration these days. Wool felt has beautiful textures and come in vibrant shades that can take any wall from day to night.

Besides exclusive PVC door, bamboo is a great, eco-friendly option that can be used as room dividers. Bamboo or any leaf based

rugs spread on any corner will add a chic, country touch to your home.

The best feature of these environmental-friendly elements added to your home decor is that they are all handmade and inexpensive. l

PHOTOS: BIG STOCK

INSIDE

Rajshahi City Corporation is to be applauded for its decision to construct a separate lane for bicycles in the city.

It sets an example which should be replicated in Dhaka and across all towns and cities in the country.

Experience from many large cities around the world shows that providing safer routes for cyclists not only cuts accidents and congestion, but leads to large increases in the number of journeys made by bicycles.

By making cycling safer and more attractive, bicycle lanes have been seen to attract many commuters who were previously apprehensive. The spin-o� bene� ts in terms of reducing fuel costs and improving health for individuals who take up or increase cycling, are also considerable.

For Bangladesh, there is every reason for the government to work towards making bicycle-riding more attractive. With our limited and mainly � at-land area, the greater e� ciency with which bicycles use small spaces for short journeys is a boon which needs to be encouraged.

Combined with moves to improve public transport such as public-transport lanes for buses and taxis, bicycle-only routes can go a long way towards cutting congestion and reducing unnecessary car journeys.

Bicycle lanes and initiatives to make all roads friendlier towards bicyclists can also provide a great boost to our growing bicycle manufacturing industry.

With demand for bikes growing all around the world, and our manufacturers becoming more successful in exporting to major markets like the EU, there is even more reason to make cycling more attractive in Bangladesh.

All parts of the nation should be encouraged to follow Rajshahi’s move so that Bangladesh can become a society where cycling is not only feasible and safe, but seen as normal and encouraged.

Bicycle lanes are an ideal way to cut congestion, improve public heath, and boost our growing cycle manufacturing industry

License to thrill

Business, responsiblyIn Bangladesh, businesses have been engaged in humanitarian and philanthropic activities for a long time as part of their CSR. This practice is also rooted in the country’s Islamic traditions -- like o� ering Zakat to the poor

PAGE 13

PAGE 12

PAGE 14

Looking through a friend’s eyes‘When I see that Pakistan is � ghting with di� erent problems, including terrorism, suicide bomb attacks, military dictatorship, and so on, I feel very good inside that my activity for a free Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) from the oppression of West Pakistan (now Pakistan) was absolutely right’

On a normal day, it saves me on average half an hour each way on my daily commute, and much more on days of tra� c disruption. This means I have at least an extra hour a day to swim, yoga, sleep more, work more, do whatever I wish. I do not allow this city to exert its tyranny over me and I remain a master of my time and destiny

Make room for bicycles

11D

TEditorialWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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

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

www.dhakatribune.comJoin our Facebook community:

https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune.

The views expressed in Opinion articles are those of the authors

alone. They do not purport to be the o� cial view of Dhaka

Tribune or its publisher.

Opinion12DT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

n Shammi Huda

“All I have in this world is my bicycle’s ball bearings of steel and my word, and I don’t break ‘em for no one” -- Tony “Scarface” Montana in, er, the future remake of Scarface.

I, for one, was happy to read about the opening of Desh’s � rst bicycle lane in Rajshahi. Despite it being for children and of limited length, it’s a foot, or

rather a pedal, in the ride direction.Extrapolating Gil Scott-Heron, the

revolution will not be televised, the evolution will be mobilised.

I’ve been commuting to work daily by bicycle in Dhaka for the last three-and-a-half years, and would like to share the following observations:

On a normal day, it saves me on average half an hour each way on my daily commute, and much more on days of tra� c disruption. This means I have at least an extra hour a day to pick my nose, scratch my backside, hang with my family and friends, swim, yoga, sleep more, work more, do whatever I wish. I do not allow this city to exert its tyranny over me, and I remain a master of my time and destiny.

On bike you can wriggle, waltz, worm through, jump up onto the pavement, step on through to the other side, or lift your bike into space. In the words of MJ: “you don’t stop til you get enough.”

I am never fazed by the thought of tra� c nor have any bad tra� c days, come rain, hail, shine, demos, rallies, rampages, and

increasingly, “VIP movement.”All of this, of course, keeps my backside

small but shapely. Some of you may ask about the sweating and body odour and rightly so. After all, this is the tropics. I’d counter “what true son of Bengal fears sweat?”

Anyway, I keep a change of clothes at the o� ce, but beyond that, this cycling has taught me to embrace nepotism with all my heart.

This nepotism allows me to come into work all drenched and bedraggled and even more so in the times of monsoon.

Other places may talk of raining cats and

dogs, but this be Bengal baby! It rains tigers and elephants! The land and the sky become as if one. The only thing saving you from confusion, whether if you are a bird or � sh, all senses drowned by the deluge, is the thin land line of Bangla green.

On a bicycle, you get to connect with Dhaka city, whereas in a car, you are in a bubble.

You hear snatches of conversation, laughter, arguments, not only see but also smell food and � owers.

Even the dust or being half-drowned in a monsoon deluge makes living real. Did you know butter� ies usually come out the day

after rains?Did you know kids in Hatirjheel come out

after Asr and do bike stunts, bunny hops, long-long wheelies, 180s, backstops, and things that they haven’t even named?

Also, in front of Bookworm bookstore, before the Cantonment main gates and I hear, in Mirpur DOHS too.

Could this be the rise of a genuine Dhaka urban youth sub-culture? Not from the usual a� uent privileged backgrounds either.

Every day, you get to � y. Albeit for a brief moment in time, you are gravity’s master.

Do you know how many speed breakers there are in Dhaka city?

Every single one a ramp, a launchpad, a takeo� point for a bunny hop, a � ight of fancy, for less than a second you are airborne, your bike has wings, a silicon age descendent of Pegasus.

Apt for a city where during hartal hours I daydream of Dhaka roads transmogrifying to the golden age of Arcadia.

Rickshaws run freely and herds of them take over the road: Squint slightly and they are the modern day equivalent of centaurs: Half-man, half-machine.

Intermittently they scatter, making way for lumbering dragons, the smoke belching buses.

The Classics metaphor is apt, as the Olympians and their sel� sh self-absorbed struggles impact all those going about their daily life.

By virtue of biking, you get to meet people like the whacky but wondrous Nasrat C, my Path� nder General Extraordinaire, and also the amazing BDcyclist community, a fantastic collective of bike riders, and their magni� cent � ying machines.

Through them you learn that a 15-minute ride o� of any road will take you beyond anywhere cars go, let alone a stray from the Tristate area. Starting from Bashundhara or Uttara, you can ride into areas and not see towers dominating the skyline.

Until a decade back, my abiding memory of landing by plane in Dhaka was: “Where’s the land? It’s all bloody water.”

Now this has all been � lled in, and if still not accessible by car, it is yours to roam and venture on bike.

Another thing is I see loads of cars with “PRESS” posted on their front and rear windscreens.

So, during tra� c stando� s, I get o� of my bicycle and oblige.

Whilst I am pressing down on the glass, the drivers and shahebs get all irate and come out of the car swearing.

I weep for journalistic standards.Have English standards fallen so badly?

Do they not understand the meaning of “press” and “freedom of the press”?

Remember: Each turn of the wheel is a revolution, now go bike! l

Shammi Huda is a businessman.

License to thrill

On a normal day, it saves me on average half an hour each way on my daily commute, and much more on days of traffi c disruption. This means I have at least an extra hour a day to swim, yoga, sleep more, work more, do whatever I wish. I do not allow this city to exert its tyranny over me and I remain a master of my time and destiny

A bike revolution is coming

Biking -- the closest thing to � ying

Opinion 13D

T

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

n Khurshed Alam

In Bangladesh, businesses could play a vital role in protecting human rights through corporate social responsibility. We all know that the echo of businesses’

role towards violating human rights has attained global attention after the Rana Plaza tragedy and the Tazreen Fashion � re incident.

The aftermath of these events have put enormous pressure on corporations and businesses, and, as a result, foreign buyers have introduced several compliance mechanisms for Bangladeshi textile

exporters. Those industrial disasters a� rm strong

testimony over how pro� t-making � rms violate human rights in our country.

In general, it would not be an exaggeration that, alongside many positive contributions to our economy, our business sector is not free from the accusation of violating human rights, and is guilty of discrimination, sexual harassment, disregard for the workers’ health and safety, blocking the formation of a trade union, and so on and so forth.

The point of hope, however, is that, despite being slow, some of our businesses are acting in more responsible ways, as a result of which concepts such as CSR have become common in our country.

The concept of corporate social responsibility refers to something where companies “do good” for the di� erent stakeholders.

In Bangladesh, businesses have been engaged in humanitarian and philanthropic activities for a long time as part of their CSR. This practice is also rooted in the country’s Islamic traditions -- like o� ering Zakat to the poor.

However, what is lacking from this

practice is a human rights-based approach, which requires businesses to show considerable respect for human rights.

This will increase access to the global market, and thereby increase pro� ts.

There are three ways in which Bangladesh could integrate human rights-sensitive CSR. Firstly, the formation of trade unions is a major pre-condition to protecting human rights in workplaces.

Trade unions are not at a popular concept in our country.

If we concentrate deeply on the subject matter, we can see that in Bangladesh, employees and labourers don’t really have enough rights to form or join trade unions. In most cases, authorities consider trade unions a problem.

The second way of establishing a human rights-sensitive CSR is the adoption of international CSR standards in the country. In Bangladesh, we mainly follow three international standards in this regard: ISO guidelines, UN global compact principles, and OECD guidelines.

Bangladesh has integrated itself into the global market from 1990s onwards, and till today, we have failed to formulate a CSR policy of international standards.

This is not at all inspiring for maintaining global competitiveness. Therefore, we need to develop a national CSR policy as soon as possible.

Otherwise, we would increasingly face challenges in the case of our acceptance in the global market.

We have already noticed how buyers in the RMG sector have threatened Bangladesh with quitting after the Rana Plaza tragedy. The only reason behind this is not having CSR policy.

Finally, we could also use our existing policies. Bangladesh already has many policies for di� erent sectors which can protect human rights successfully.

These include: the Factories Act, 1965; Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969; Employment of Labour Act, 1965; the Environment Conservation Rules, 1997; the Insurance Act, 1938; the Banking Companies Act, 1991, among others.

These policies underpin some responsibilities of businesses towards di� erent stakeholders.

It will su� ce to say that the overall rights situation in the Bangladeshi labour market is far from satisfactory, which is continually reiterated by our global business partners.

A formulation of a national CSR policy in accordance with international standards may build con� dence in this regard.

Because CSR is not just a philanthropic issue, it is a long term strategic document for society and the environment, which will facilitate Bangladesh’s ongoing journey towards attaining the sustainable development goals. l

Khurshed Alam is Chairman, Bangladesh Institute of Social Research Trust (BISRT). He has worked for ADB and the World Bank. He was involved in preparing the national plan for the country by the government of Bangladesh in 2008.

Business, responsibly

In Bangladesh, businesses have been engaged in humanitarian and philanthropic activities for a long time as part of their CSR. This practice is also rooted in the country’s Islamic traditions -- like off ering Zakat to the poor

Philanthropy and a respect for human rights go hand in hand with corporate goals

Protecting the rights of workers is imperative to making pro� ts RAJIB DHAR

Long Form14DT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

n Abu Tayub Mohammed Farhad

On October 30, they left their hotel around 6am and started for Bangaon, an Indian city near Bangladesh border, said Lars,

adding that the Washington Post journalist, Mr Hogland had also joined them.

But the car carrying them broke down halfway through.

They, however, set o� on foot with the help of a representative of Bangladesh government-in-exile whom they managed to contact and seek help from.

They came across a collapsed bridge by a small river where they met some other foreigners, including two American � lm-makers and a French photographer.

Boarding a makeshift ferry service arranged by a team of engineering corps working there, they crossed the river.

“We kept on advancing through villages across � elds, until we reached Bangladesh. After walking a few more miles, we encountered a check-post where we were received by a small group of freedom � ghters, who had earlier been informed about us,” he said.

Though he could not recall the name of the place they visited in Bangladesh territory after long 44 years, he said it was not very deep inside the country and close to the India-Bangladesh border. “The West Pakistani troops were about � ve kilometres away. On some occasions, we heard gunshots.

During our short stay in the liberated area, we met Mukti Bahini, saw bullet-riddled buildings, talked to some locals, and visited a post o� ce,” said the then youth leader with a spark of excitement in his eyes.

As the darkness shrouded the night, both Lars and Thomas started moving towards India, and reached Kolkata in the morning.

On their way back, he said they had also seen herds of refugees moving towards the Indian border due to insecurity and uncertainty caused by the o� ensive of the West Pakistani military in other parts of Bangladesh. Later, they came back to Sweden, where Lars became active in creating public opinions for Bangladesh.

After independence, Lars, former Swedish minister for higher education and research, said he along with Thomas, who later became a businessman, visited independent Bangladesh in 1972, being invited by the Bangladesh embassy in Sweden.

“We were received as statesmen. There was a Bangladeshi � ag on the limousine we were given for use,” said the then 22-year-old Swedish youth leader, adding that he had been honoured for his role, which he never thought of.

After these long years, he could not recall all the places he had visited during his maiden visit to independent Bangladesh.

“Though I mostly stayed in Dhaka and met ministers and government o� cials

there, I went to Chittagong Hill Tracts and visited the hydroelectric power station (situated in Kaptai); there was a sightseeing tour by boat, among others,” said the then youth leader, who graduated from Stockholm University in 1974.

His fascination for Bangladesh was so profound that he wrote his Bachelor’s thesis on the newly-adopted Bangladesh constitution. With a smiling face, he said he had the only copy of the Bangladesh constitution in Sweden then; therefore, the instructor borrowed the copy from him to evaluate his thesis.

His prior activism for Bangladesh and knowledge about the country motivated him to choose the topic of thesis.

Terming the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman “horrible,” Lars opined that Bangladesh should stick to the basic principles which inspired the country’s Liberation War, and which were later

included in the country’s � rst constitution.Bangladesh has honoured a total of

338 foreign nationals and organisations as an expression of gratitude in three categories -- Bangladesh Freedom Honour, Bangladesh Liberation War Honour, and Friends of Liberation War Honour -- for their outstanding support and contribution during the country’s independence.

A total of three Swedes received such awards from the Bangladesh government for their roles that boosted the country’s freedom struggle signi� cantly.

Swedish citizen late Gunnar Myrdal had been awarded the “Liberation War Honour” (posthumous).

On October 20, 2012, Lars received “Friends of Liberation War Honour” award at a state function in Dhaka.

Another Swede, Sven Strömberg, also a journalist and television coordinator, received the same award on the same

day for creating public awareness and sympathy towards the cause of Bangladesh’s Liberation War in the Scandinavian countries.

Comparing his two o� cial trips to Bangladesh in 1972 and 2012, Lars said: “Bangladesh has progressed unbelievably over the years.”

There were enormous changes in every sector of the country.

People were richer -- there were more cars in 2012 than in 1972, he optimistically said. On the other hand, the country is plagued with multi-layered social problems, including overpopulation, poverty, and corruption, which should be addressed in a right manner, he pointed out.

In spite of di� erent problems in the country, the friend of Bangladesh said: “People are still very friendly.”

Interestingly, after so many years, the 65-year-old former politician has not stopped soul-searching: “Sometimes I ask myself whether my role in favour of a free Bangladesh in 1971 was right or wrong.”

“When I see that Pakistan is � ghting with di� erent problems, including terrorism, suicide bomb attacks, military dictatorship, and so on, I feel very good inside that my activity for a free Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) from the oppression of West Pakistan (now Pakistan) was absolutely right,” he said.

“I am proud of the honour Bangladesh gave me,” the friend of Bangladesh added. l

Abu Tayub Mohammed Farhad is pursuing his Master’s degree in global journalism from Örebro University, Sweden.

Looking through a friend’s eyes

‘When I see that Pakistan is fi ghting with diff erent problems, including terrorism, suicide bomb attacks, military dictatorship, and so on, I feel very good inside that my activity for a free Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) from the oppression of West Pakistan (now Pakistan) was absolutely right’

Lars Leijonborg never wavered in his support for Bangladesh. This is the concluding part of yesterday’s long form

The Swede in good company COURTESY

15D

TBusinessWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

Government plans toearn $5bn from ICTsector by 2021The ICT Division plans to earn US $5 billion by 2021 from Information and communica-tion technology sector that can contribute around 5% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said yesterday. “We will set up over 500 Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centres across the country by thisyear to ful� l the government’s vision,” Palak announced his target while speaking at a press conference at the ICT Division at Agargaon. PAGE 18

28 tanners likely to get legal notice todayThe government is likely to serve a legal notice today to 28 tanners that stopped con-struction of their new infrastructures as part of relocation of their factories from Hazari-bagh to Leather Industrial Park in Savar on the outskirts of the capital. PAGE 18

Little connection between China’s falling stocks and economyA renewed plunge in Chinese stock markets has stoked concerns among global investors about the health of the world’s second-biggest economy, but there is little evidence that the outlook for China has darkened dramatically in recent weeks. PAGE 18

Capital market snapshot: TuesdayDSE

Broad Index 4,665.4 0.0% ▲

Index 1,121.6 0.0% ▲

30 Index 1,757.1 0.0% ▲

Turnover in Mn Tk 5,732.8 8.8% ▲

Turnover in Mn Volume 167.8 3.1% ▲

CSEAll Share Index 14,271.0 0.2% ▲

30 Index 12,533.3 0.1% ▲

Selected Index 8,683.1 0.2% ▲

Turnover in Mn Tk 382.0 8.0% ▲

Turnover in Mn Volume 13.6 6.5% ▲

INSIDE

Survey on RMG female workers beats o� sector people’s claimn Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Though the ready made garment industry people claim that 80% of their workers are women, a recent study suggests otherwise.

The study titled “Garment Workers in Bangladesh: Social Impact of the Garment Industry” shows that 65% workers are women.

According to the survey, there are 4 million workers in the country’s apparel industry, of which 85% or 2.6 million are women, while 35% or 1.4 million are men.

The Asian Center for Development con-ducted the survey on 1,204 workers in 173 garment factories which are the members of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

The survey indicates that on an average the factory employs nearly 950 workers.

Commenting on the workers’ ratio, BG-MEA President Siddiqur Rahman said: “The number of female workers depend on the pattern of production, such as if a factory produces sweater, it will have less wom-en workers, while the number of women workers will be high in woven factories.”

“I cannot clarify the issues just now as I do not have the details of the survey report.”

The � ndings showed that 83% workers can read letter while 71% can write Bangla-desh. The survey found that RMG workers’ sons or daughters, or their siblings study in

schools and colleges and even in the uni-versities.

Around 98% workers think they are self-reliant while 93% say they have impor-tant role in making family decisions.

The survey shows 36%-44% workers can in� uence family decisions regarding entertainment, health service, buying or sell-ing properties, selecting area for residency, ed-ucation of dependents, marriage of siblings, saving money and tak-ing loans.

The average month-ly family expenditure of a garment workers is around Tk11,299, of which 42% for food, 30% for housing and 11% kept for family expenses living in rural areas. l

NBR eyes Tk1cr monthly VAT from Jamuna Future Parkn Tribune Report

The � eld o� ces of National Board of Reve-nue (NBR) have targeted to collect Tk1crore Value Added Tax (VAT) each month only from the traders of Jamuna Future Park shopping mall, said o� cials.

Following VAT evasion complaints � led against the shop owners, the NBR teams are visiting the markets, raiding the shops, collecting their sales documents and forci-bly bringing them into the book to boost the revenue collection.

The e� ort came after the NBR found that most of the shop owners did not pay ei-ther any VAT or paid a very little amount of VAT. They usually evaded VAT in two waysby not collecting VAT from the service re-cipients or not depositing it to the govern-ment exchequer after collecting it from consumers.

VAT is now the government’s second big-gest source of revenue earning.

The NBR targets to collect Tk1,76,370 crore revenue, including Tk64,262 crore as

VAT, this � scal year.The NBR had earlier decided to launch

a drive in Jamuna Future Park Shopping Market as it was found very potential for revenue earnings, said o� cials of Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate Dhaka (North).

The amount of VAT collected from the market was very few, as most of them were not registered with the VAT payment sys-tem that has compelled the revenue author-ities to conduct the raids, they added.

The country’s largest shopping mall has a total of 301 shops, where the commission-erate concerned could collected VAT from only 31 shops in August last year.

After launching the drive, the number rose to 51 shops in September while 83 in October, 101 in November and 120 shops in December.

The commissionerate o� cials have tar-geted to collect monthly Tk1 crore from the shopping mall through bringing all the shops under VAT net by June this year, they added.

During the drives, the team is motivating the traders to register with Business Iden-ti� cation Number (BIN). If they don’t do so, they are being brought under VAT net through forced registration.

The NBR o� cials are � ling cases against the non-compliant traders almost everyday soon after consumers are � ling complaints against the non-compliant traders.

Responding to a query, NBR o� cials said they found it a challenging job as the mar-ket is a new one. In addition, the commis-sionerate has assigned only a single o� cial to conduct the drive in Kuril, Bashundhara and Jamuna Future Park area.

Apart from Jamuna Future Park shop-ping mall, NBR o� cials are also conducting drives in other major shopping malls in the city to unearth VAT evasion and register the non-compliant traders under tax net.

There are over 8 lakh VAT-registered entities including shops and import organ-isations in the country. Among them, only over 3 lakh of them submit annual VAT re-turns. l

Stocks end � at after topsy-turvy dayn Tribune Report

Stocks closed � at after topsy-turvy session yes-terday as investor’s con� dence remained low.

After opening on a positive note, the mar-ket was in the negative territory throughout the session.

However, later some buying covered all the losses of the day.

The benchmark index DSEX edged almost 2 points higher to 4,665, ending marginal losses over the last three sessions.

The Shariah index DSES saw a fraction-al rise of 0.6 points to 1,121. The blue chip comprising index DS30 remained almost un-changed at 1,757.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX rose over 19 points to 8,683.

Strong selling pressure pushed up trad-ing activities marginally as the DSE turnover stood at more than Tk573 crore, up 8.8% over the previous session. l

I cannot clarify the issues just now as I do not have the details of the survey report

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Business18DT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

Government plans to earn $5bn from ICT sector by 2021n Tribune Report

The ICT Division plans to earn US $5 billion by 2021 from Information and communica-tion technology sector that can contribute around 5% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said yesterday.

“We will set up over 500 Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centres across the coun-try by this year to ful� l the government’s vision,” Palak announced his target while speaking at a press conference at the ICT Di-vision at Agargaon.

The division organised the press con-ference to discuss the overall activities and achievements of the last two years of the present government.

Palak also announced the road map to ICT development for this year.

The junior minister said the government will establish digital forensic lab and digital security act would be approved this year to keep pace with time.

“A total of 30 lakh cases are pending in the court. Every day hundreds of people visit the courtyard to get a hearing date for a certain case. Digitalisation of the judiciary is at the

� nal stage which will help reduce hassle of the justice seekers,” said Zunaid Ahmed.

He said the government has taken initiative to increase the number of innovative technol-ogy products to 1,000 that would be able to play a vital role to earn foreign currency.

The ICT Division has also taken initiatives to set up 7 IT incubators and training centres, four buses equipped with devices that would go to remote areas for providing training to women.

It will also establish online education acad-emy, software quality assurance labs, 3,000 computer-cum-language labs by this year. l

28 tanners likely to get legal notice todayn Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

The government is likely to serve a legal no-tice today to 28 tanners that stopped con-struction of their new infrastructures as part of relocation of their factories from Hazari-bagh to Leather Industrial Park in Savar on the outskirts of the capital.

“As per the Industry Minister Amir Hos-sain Amu’s instruction, preparation to send legal notices to those 28 tannery owners is underway,” Abdul Quayum, project direc-tor of Savar Leather Industrial Park, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

On Sunday, Amu issued a directive to shut the polluting factories if they fail to relo-cate to the industrial park in Savar within 72 hours. He also warned that plots allotted to the factories will be cancelled and legal ac-tion taken.

The December 31 of 2015 was the deadline set by the government to relocate the tanneries.

The leather industrial park Project Direc-tor, Abdul Quayum, said the tannery owners have to relocate their factories as soon as possible.

If they fail to do so, their allocated plots will be handed over to those factory owners that applied for relocation, he added.

“The minister’s ultimatum came follow-ing the progress report placed by our engi-neer, and today (Tuesday) I visited the spot and found that some factories stopped con-

struction,” according to Quayum.“I have heard about the legal notice to be

served to 28 tanners, but did not get it, and even I do not know about the directive,” Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) Gen-eral Secretary Md Shakawat Ullah told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We have sought low-cost fund as the own-ers are facing cash crunch, but the government did not pay heed to the demand and such im-mediate action may create indiscipline and procrastination for relocation, said Shakawat.

The executive committee of BTA will sit on Thursday to discuss the issues and meas-ures to be taken based on the present situa-tion, Shakawat said.

Some factories are very close to � nishing their work and will be able to go into opera-tion within the next two-three months, but the construction of Central E� uent Treat-ment Plant (CETP) is yet to � nish, he added.

The Ministry of Industries decided to relocate the tannery factories from their current location in the capital’s Hazaribagh area amid pressure from the rights group, environmental activists and buyers because of its hazardous e� ects on public health and environment.

It allocated plots to 155 tannery owners through Bangladesh Small and Cottage In-dustry Corporation (BSCIC) at the Leather In-dustrial Park, established on a 200-acre land in Savar. l

Private sector urged for green initiativen Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman has urged the private sector to come forward with green initiative to withstand climate change risk.

“Bangladesh will be the most victim of cli-mate change and the government alone can-not � ght against it,” the governor said while addressing a conference on Green Finance for sustainable Development. He said private sec-tor has to take green development initiative through environmentally friendly business.

Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association (BSREA) and Bangladesh Bank jointly organised the event held yesterday in the capital.

In his address as the chief guest, Atiur asked the banks to follow the central bank’s green � -nancing guideline. He advised the � nancial in-stitutions to provide loans to the environmen-tally friendly industries, refraining from issuing loans to those industries polluting environment

Banks might open up small branches which will completely work for solar panel, the governor suggested, urging the govern-ment to continue tax bene� ts in the budget for green products.

The governor said Bangladesh Bank has formed a fund of $200 million from reserves to support leather products by extending loans at foreign exchange at low interest rate.

A circular will be issued soon in this re-gard and the facilities will be extended for other green products gradually. l

BGMEA urgedfor remediationof unsignatory RMG unitsn Tribune Report

Leaders of Buyers’ Forum have urged Bang-ladesh Garment Manufacturers and Export-ers Association (BGMEA) to concentrate on remediation progress of those RMG factories which are not signatories of the two global retailers’ platforms-Accord and Alliance.

Buyers’ Forum, a platform for global ap-parel retailers came up with the call during a meeting with the BGMEA leaders at its head quarters in the capital yesterday. BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman presided over the meeting.

“Though the Buyers’ Forum leaders ex-pressed their satisfaction with the progress made by the factory owners under Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and Alliance for Bangladesh Workers’ Safety, they are worried over the remediation of rest of the RMG units,” according to a meeting source.

They have urged the leaders of BGMEA to concentrate more on the remediation of RMG units inspected by National Initiative, an in-itiative of Bangladesh government which is supported by the International Labour Or-ganisation (ILO).

“If any incident occurs in any facto-ry, it will tarnish the image of the whole sector as well as the country. That is why, the sector people should concentrate oninspection and remediation beyond the pre-view of Accord and alliance inspection,” said a meeting source quoting the Buyers’ Forum leaders.

“We have urged the buyers representative to increase prices of the apparel products and to buy more products from Bangladeshas we have done a lot of progress in terms of workers’ safety,” BGMEA Vice President Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu told the Dhaka Tribune.

He also said, “We have pointed out the progress of safety standards and sought time from them to complete the remediation pro-cess for ensuring workers safety.”

The Buyer’s Forum meeting is a regular meeting held in the � rst Monday of every month when all the related issues are dis-cussed broadly.

There are 65 buyer o� ces in Bangladesh and their representatives negotiate their business issues. l

Little connection between China’s falling stocks and economyn Reuters, Beijing

A renewed plunge in Chinese stock markets has stoked concerns among global investors about the health of the world’s second-big-gest economy, but there is little evidence that the outlook for China has darkened dramati-cally in recent weeks.

China’s economy lost steam steadily through 2015 and economists are split over when they expect it to bottom out. Auto and property sales are showing signs of life, how-ever, and few are predicting the kind of “hard landing” that the recent tumble in share pric-

es might suggest.“I think there is little connection between

the falling stock markets and the real econo-my,” said Shen Lan, an economist at Stand-ard Chartered in Beijing. “Actually, economic indicators in November already showed the economy gained more momentum.”

China has topped investors’ concerns at the start of 2016, with a 10% slide in Chinese equities last week triggering a broad sell-o� in riskier assets.

China’s benchmark share indexes fell a further 5% on Monday.

Manufacturing and investment, the twin

engines of China’s breakneck growth over three decades, have been su� ering a pro-longed slowdown as Beijing attempts to guide its economy on to a more sustainable path led by domestic consumption.

The problem for policymakers has been that consumers have not been able to pick up the slack fast enough to o� set falling indus-trial demand.

“The economy is likely to slow further in 2016 as a result of persistent excessive capac-ity problems,” wrote analysts at OCBC Bank in their outlook for the current year.

“On a positive note, the transition toward

a service and consumption-driven economy is likely to provide a bu� er to China’s growth. Therefore, we expect China to grow around 6.7% in 2016.”

Analysts at Nomura were more pessimis-tic, predicting growth to slip below 6% this year, but added: “We believe systemic risk remains under control and do not expect a hard landing any time soon.”

Figures for 2015 are due to be released on Jan 19. Growth is expected to have cooled to its slowest pace in 25 years of 6.9% in 2015 from 7.3% in 2014, a central bank work paper said recently. l

Eastern University Cultural Club (EUCC) hosted an experience sharing session by Nisa Soraya, a prominent Finnish singer,

who visited the campus on January 9. Prof Dr Abdur Rab, vice chancellor of EU; Prof Dr Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, pro

Biz Info 19D

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

Building Technology And Ideas Limited arranged children’s art competition as part of its Customer Club activity on January 9. Sohana Shahreen, a renowned artist was the honourable judge at the event. All the senior bti o� cials were present in the ceremony to encourage the young artists

Lathi khela, a traditional Bangladeshi martial art where the participants � ght with sticks, is a popular means of entertainment in the rural areas. Here’s a sneak peek into the recently held lathi khela that was organised in Fulbaria, Mymensingh

Pop-star Nisa Soraya at Eastern University vice chancellor of EU; Afzalur Rahman, member of Board of Trustees, EU; Prof Dr Sharif Nurul Ahkam, dean, Faculty of Business Administration, EU; and Tasnuva Rahman, coordinator, Eastern University Cultural Club were all present in the session. The student members of Eastern University Cultural Club also participated in the experience sharing session with Nisa Soraya.

Nisa Soraya came to be a star in Finland in the 80s when she sang the duet for the Finnish Eurovision with partner, Markku Aro, the famous Finnish singing star. She went on to have a mass hit Huone 105 which is on every karaoke list in Finland. Next she sang the massive hit Anna Rakas Raju Hetki, which crossed over half a million views on

You Tube. She is the only foreign singer in Finland to have Finnish Pop Hits, and is a cult heroine in the Disco Scene, being named by the Finnish TV News Broadcast “The Queen of Finnish Disco Culture.” Nisa was born to a Bengali and French parents, and loves Bangladesh, especially her father’s hometown, Dhaka. Lately, Soraya explored her talents in the Fashion World, promoting Finnish designers internationally and touring with them in the Mercedes Benz Fashion Weeks from New York to Berlin.

Nisa Soraya shared her ideas about the worldwide cultural diversity with the audience, which was followed by singing performanc by the students of Cultural Club. The session ended with the distribution of gifts and � owers to Nisa Soraya. l

BBQ night at the Westin

Gentle Park’s spring line

The Westin Dhaka gives its clientele a chance to enjoy live barbecuing by the pool at Splash every Thursday. One can choose from a wide selection of char-grilled steaks, juicy sausages, meaty burgers, smoky prawns, healthy salads and many other mouthwatering dishes at Splash. For more information contact 02-9891988.

This spring. Gentle Park introduces a vibrant line of cutting edge clothing line in fun shades and patterns. For more information visit www.gentlepark.com.

Downtime20DT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

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

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKER

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a diff erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 14 represents V so fi ll V every time the fi gure 14 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you off . Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, fi ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check off the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CROSSWORD

ACROSS1 Make silent (4)5 Low strong carts (5)9 Shrewd (6)10 Permit (3)11 Scottish dance (4)12 Corkwood (5)14 Sacrifi cial table (5)16 Irritation (4)19 Time long past (4)21 Squander (5)24 Flowed back (5)27 Not working (4)29 Digit (3)30 Make beloved (6)31 Water pitchers (5)32 Whirlpool (4)

DOWN 1 Stringed instrument (4)2 Employ (3)3 Firm (6)4 Ship’s frame (4)5 Discusses (7)6 Everyone (3)7 Acceptance (3)8 Play for time (5)13 Curve (3)15 Long angry speeches (7) 17 Paid attention (6)18 Mountainous Greek island (5) 20 Be indebted (3)22 Season (4)23 Extremely (4)25 Archer’s weapon (3)26 Insect (3)28 Young male (3)

SUDOKU

PREDICTION

2016 winners and losers of oil price slumpLow oil prices will devastate those nations dependent on oil revenue and provide small benefi ts to consumers, to vary degrees. Here is a prediction on how biggest price fall in over a decade will impact, politically and economically, oil-producing nations, region-wise. Today, we put microscope on former Soviet bloc, Europe and Asia-Pacifi c.

n Tribune Desk

Oil prices hit their lowest level since sum-mer 2004 this week, continuing the rapid slump that began in June 2014. The global benchmark, Brent crude oil, closed trading Monday at $31.56 a barrel, closing out the lowest week of prices in 12 years.

Oil is the most geopolitically important commodity, and the ongoing structural shift in oil markets has produced clear-cut winners and losers. Between 2011 and 2014, major oil producers consistently managed to keep prices above $100 per barrel and set their budgets accordingly. For many of them, the past 18 months have been a peri-od of slow attrition. And with no end in sight for low oil prices, their problems are going to only multiply. Each nation, though, has its own particular level of tolerance, and the following guidance highlights the key break points to monitor--

Former Soviet blocRussia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan stand to lose the most among the countries of the former Soviet Union. On Tuesday, Russia, under pressure from the falling global oil price, asked government departments to cut spending by 10%, reported Reuters, re-peating a policy the country also imposed in 2015. The cutbacks will exclude several areas of government spending, including public obligations such as pensions, and pay for government employees.

Analysis projects these measure was tak-en to keep the economy a� oat, but such cuts will come with major political tradeo� s. Moscow is embroiled in a stando� with the West, so slashing defence or security spend-ing will be challenging. Russia will also hold crucial parliamentary elections in Septem-ber, so cutting social programmes is not a good option either.

Both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan face di-lemmas similar to that of Russia and both countries are concerned with rising social tension over their weakening economies.

Asia-PacificRegional major oil producer Malaysia will feel the greatest pressure from oil price fall. Last year, roughly 20% of the Malaysian budget came from the earnings of state-owned oil company Petronas. As the � rm’s earnings declined, Kuala Lumpur was forced to impose an unpopular goods and services tax to make up for the shortfall. The govern-ment’s 2016 budget has Petronas contrib-uting less than 12% of federal income. If oil prices continue to plunge, however, analysts predict Malaysia will have to � nd new ways

to raise money, either new taxes or pared-down services and subsidies. This will make the government unpopular at a time when Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is mired in a corruption scandal involving the country’s sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Since the po-litical opposition in Malaysia is still incoher-ent, those who stand to gain from Razak’s declining public support are probably his rivals in the ruling United Malays National Organisation.

To the south, Indonesia will find low oil prices to be a mixed blessing because the country is a net consumer of oil but a net producer of natural gas. Natural gas revenue will certainly drop, which will hit state and export revenue. But low oil prices will give current President Jokowi Widodo a chance to continue delaying un-popular gasoline and diesel subsidy cuts. When Jokowi came to office in 2014 he cut fuel subsidies, bringing domestic prices to international levels. But as prices rose during the course of the middle of 2015, he declined to raise consumer prices and in-

stead had state-owned Pertamina sell im-ported products at a loss. Now, with prices still dropping, Jokowi may be able to avoid the issue of raising prices and instead may cut them.

EuropeMuch like the Asia-Paci� c region, low oil prices will be largely a boon for Europe be-cause most countries are net oil consum-ers. Norway, the Continent’s main oil and natural gas producer, will not be so lucky. The country is in the middle of an economic slump due in no small part to a drop in oil-re-lated investment and activities in Norway. According to the International Monetary Fund, Norway’s GDP growth fell to 0.8% in 2015, down from 2.2% the year prior. Over the same period, unemployment grew from 3.5% in 2014 to 4.2% in 2015; this � gure is ex-pected to rise even further in 2016. Though the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) projects a gradual economic recovery for Norway in the next two years, the trajectory of oil prices could impede this.

In the long run, low oil prices could also cause problems across the Continent as a whole. Presently, they are improving Eu-rope’s economic climate; this could lead Eu-ropeans to believe that they are witnessing a “real” recovery when in fact a sizable share of the progress is caused by external factors. This misperception could play a particularly signi� cant role in Southern Europe, where governments are beginning to slow reform e� orts. Additionally, reduced oil prices could work against the European Central Bank’s attempts to create in� ation in the eurozone in the hope of boosting economic growth in the bloc. l

Tomorrow we will focus on the Middle East & North Africa, Sub Saharan Africa, Latin America,

and the United States

INSIDE

21D

TWorldWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

10% Turks don’t consider Dae’sh as terrorist groupNearly one-in-ten Turks do not regard Dae’sh as a terrorist organisation, and more than 5% agree with their actions, according to a new survey published on Tuesday. PAGE 23

Booksellers’ disappearance spooks HK publishers, anti-China books o� shelvesHong Kong publishers and vendors of books on Chinese politics that are banned in China are unnerved by the mysterious disappear-ances of � ve booksellers, and in some cases pulling books critical of Beijing’s leaders from their shelves.

PAGE 23

On Iran-Saudi rift, Gulf Arab states tread with cautionGulf Arab states rallied dutifully behind Saudi Arabia when it cut relations with Iran last week, recalling their ambassadors and cancelling � ights to Tehran in solidarity with the oil-rich kingdom after its embassy in Iran was torched by protesters.

PAGE 24

Ü The Chinese economy and fi nancial markets per-formed poorly last week, sparking fears that a slowdown will dampen demand.

Ü In the major markets of Europe and North Ameri-ca, a mild winter has lowered seasonal consump-tion of natural gas and heating oil, hence the de-mand of it.

Ü On the supply side, Iranian oil will soon be back on the global market since the US is soon to lift it’s sanction on the country’s export, and Opec signaled that it would continue to supply high volumes of oil.

Ü The US, too, has managed to produce a signifi cant amount of oil, despite increased fi nancial pressure on many US producers. All of this may well push prices into the $20 to $30 per barrel range.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTED TO THE SLUMP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 201622D

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WorldSOUTH ASIAPakistan will not send ground troops as part of Saudi-led military allianceAdviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign A� airs, Sartaj Aziz, on Tuesday said Pakistan will not send ground troops to any other country after having joined the Sauid-led 34-state Islamic military alliance. In a brie� ng to the National Assembly Foreign A� airs Committee at the Parliament House, Aziz said Pakistan is playing its role to defuse tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. He added Pakistan will be sharing intelligence with Saudi Arabia to counter-terrorism. -DAWN

INDIARajnath on Pathankot probe: No reason to distrust Pakistan India has no reason to distrust Pakistan’s assurance that it will take e� ective action on inputs given about the perpetrators of the Pathankot terror attack, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday. Singh said since Pakistan has given the assurance to the Indian government, there should be no reason to dismiss their asser-tion so early. -THE HINDU

CHINAChina formally arrests secretly held rights lawyers for subversionChina formally arrested several Chinese hu-man rights lawyers on suspicion of subverting state power after months of secret detention, one of their colleagues alleged on Tuesday, the latest move by authorities to crack down on dissent. As many as 38 lawyers and activ-ists associated with the Beijing Fengrui law � rm have been swept up in the crackdown and held since July under a procedure which allows for six months of secret detention, Human Rights Watch said. -REUTERS

ASIA PACIFICPhilippines welcomes more US forces to counter ChinaThe Philippine Supreme Court ruled Tues-day a security accord with the US was legal, allowing more US forces into the former American colony as it seeks to counter Chi-nese expansion in the South China Sea. The 10-year agreement, signed in 2014 but not implemented due to legal challenges, will see more US troops and warships rotate through the Philippines, and the hosts will receive help in building military facilities. -AFP

MIDDLE EASTKuwait sentences two to death for spying for Iran Kuwait on Tuesday sentenced two defendants to death, including an Iranian being tried in absentia, after they were convicted of spying for Iran and plotting attacks in the Gulf coun-try. The Iranian, Abdulreda Hayder, was on trial along with 25 Kuwaiti Shias on charges of spying for Iran and hiding large quantities of arms and ammunition in underground depots. The court said Hayder is an Iranian spy who recruited the Kuwaiti Shias and ar-ranged for their travel to Lebanon, where they received military training from Iran-backed Shia militia group Hezbollah. -AFP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 201623

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CHRONICLE

Blasts which left scars in Turkey after 2000November 15 and 20, 2003Four suicide car bomb attacks in Istanbul hit two synagogues, the British consulate and a branch of the HSBC, leaving 63 dead, includ-ing Britain’s consul general Roger Short, and hundreds wounded. The attacks are claimed by al-Qaeda and a Turkish extremist group named the Islamic Front of Raiders of the Great Orient.

September 12, 2006 Ten people, including seven children, are killed in a powerful bomb blast in Diyarbakir, the larg-est city in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast. Kurdish rebels deny involvement.

July 27, 2008 Two bombings in Istanbul leave 17 dead and 115 wounded. The authorities blame the PKK.

February 11, 2013

17 people are killed when a Syrian minibus ex-plodes in the Turkish town of Reyhanli.

May 11, 2013 A twin car bomb attack kills 52 people in Rey-hanli. Ankara blames pro-Damascus groups.

July 20, 2015 34 people are killed and around 100 injured in a su-icide bombing in Suruc town near the border with Syria. Turkish offi cials blame the Dae’sh group.

October 10, 2015 103 people are killed and more than 500 wounded in a twin suicide bombing targeting a crowd of leftist and pro-Kurdish activists at a peace rally in Ankara. The government blames the attack-the deadliest ever on Turkish soil. l

Source: AFP

INSIGHT

Booksellers’ disappearance spooks HK publishers, anti-China books o� shelvesn Reuters, Hong Kong

Hong Kong publishers and vendors of books on Chinese politics that are banned in China are unnerved by the mysterious disappear-ances of � ve booksellers, and in some cas-es pulling books critical of Beijing’s leaders from their shelves.

In three bookstores selling political books, owners refused to be publicly interviewed, citing the fear of mainland anger. Hong Kong, a former British colony handed back to Chi-na in 1997, is constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and autonomy from Beijing for 50 years but the series of disappearances has led to suspicions that mainland law enforcement o� cers were ignoring the law.

Lee Bo, 65, a shareholder of Causeway Bay Books and a British passport holder, went missing from Hong Kong in late De-cember, although his wife has withdrawn a missing persons report saying he travelled to China voluntarily to assist in an unspec-i� ed investigation.

Four other associates of the publish-er have previously been unaccounted for, since late last year.

Police said they continue to investigate and China has yet to clarify the fate of the men and whether they are in custody.

Bao Pu, a prominent publisher in Hong Kong, was openly critical of the events and said he suspected mainland o� cials had breached the law. His father, Bao Tong, was the most senior Chinese o� cial jailed over the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.

As of Thursday, over 500 publishers, writers, booksellers and members of the public had signed an online petition pledg-ing to: “Not fear the white terror and up-hold the principle of publication freedom”. White terror is a term used to describe peri-

ods of political persecution by authoritarian regimes.

Britain and the US have expressed con-cern about the disappearances.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi skirt-ed a direct question on whether the men were under Chinese detention at a recent press conference. The Guangdong and Shenzhen Public Security Bureaux, and the Hong Kong and Macau A� airs O� ce in Beijing, have not responded to requests for comment.

China’s state-run Global Times tabloid, however, wrote in a recent editorial that the booksellers were exercising an “evil in� uence” in China through their political books. The newspaper went on to say that it was “reasonable” for law enforcement agencies to “circumvent the law when they seek cooperation from an individual for in-vestigation.”

Niche marketPolitical gossip books and exposes on Chi-nese leaders have been a lucrative niche market for Hong Kong booksellers catering to Chinese visitors accustomed to pervasive censorship of sensitive literature back home.

At the PageOne bookshop chain, a young sales assistant said some of these books had been pulled recently.

Paul Tang, the owner, said in the event the industry for banned books collapsed in Hong Kong, he expected it to “migrate to other nearby countries” like Taiwan or Ja-pan given the huge sustained demand from Chinese visitors.

At two other small, independent book-shops, Insiders Books and Best Reading Bookstores, sta� refused to comment about the disappearances. The Causeway Bay Books shop, which has been linked to all � ve missing men, remains locked. l

10% Turks don’t consider Dae’sh as terrorist groupn Reuters, Ankara

Nearly one-in-ten Turks do not regard Dae’sh as a terrorist organisation, and more than 5% agree with their actions, according to a new survey published on Tuesday.

The data was released on the same day as a suspected Syrian suicide bomb attack in the heart of Istanbul’s tourist district which killed at least 10 people.

The research, entitled Turkey’s Social Trends Survey, was carried out by an Anka-ra-based think-tank and surveyed more than 1,500 people across Turkey -- a predominant-ly Sunni nation -- in November.

In response to questions, 9.3% of respond-ents said Dae’sh was not a terrorist organisa-tion, with 5.4% supporting its actions.

Among the respondents, 21% said the mili-tant group represents Islam and 8.9% believe the group is a country or state, according to the research, which paints a picture of a small but signi� cant pool of potential Dae’sh sympathis-ers among Turkey’s 78m inhabitants. l

WorldUSADonald Trump ejects man who called him boringDonald Trump ejected a man from a rally after he called the Republican presidential front-runner boring, an incident that comes close on the heels of a Muslim woman’s re-moval from his campaign event for protest-ing silently. The man interrupted Trump’s speech in Windham, New Hampshire, on Monday with three words, “This is boring,” that struck at the core of the presidential aspirant’s brand. -PTI

THE AMERICASCuban migrants aiming for US to � y out of Costa RicaA group of 180 Cuban migrants is to fly from Costa Rica to El Salvador on Tuesday, blazing a trail thousands of their compatri-ots stranded in Central America hope will see all of them securing new lives in the US. The pilot scheme worked out between the governments of several countries in the region will see the 180 arriving in El Salvador to be put on buses to cross neigh-boring Guatemala to the Mexican border. They will then have a 20-day Mexican visa to find their own way to the border with America. -AFP

UKJunior doctors set to strike for � rst time in 40 yearsEnglish doctors stage their � rst strike in 40 years on Tuesday over government plans to reform pay and conditions for working anti-social hours, in a move health chiefs have warned could put patients’ lives at risk. Junior doctors, or doctors in training who represent just over half of all doctors in the state-funded National Health Service (NHS), will deliver only emergency care for 24 hours. - REUTERS

EUROPEGermany and Austria in border spat as migrant refusals increaseGermany needs to be honest about the fact that its doors are no longer unconditionally open to refugees, Polish Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leiter said Tuesday as her country copes with a growing number of migrants stymied in their attempts to enter Germany. The comment was a reference to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision last year to suspend the vetting of Syrian mi-grants, thereby allowing 1.1 million people to enter Germany in 2015. -DPA

AFRICASix killed in Sudan’s DarfurSix people have been killed in three days of unrest in Sudan’s Darfur region, a local o� cial said on Monday, as a joint UN-Afri-can Union peacekeeping mission to the area urged the government to contain and inves-tigate the violence. UNAMID said tensions had developed after an unidenti� ed group attacked the village of Mouli on January 9, displacing large numbers of residents to the town of El Geneina, where they protested the next day at the governor’s o� ce, lead-ing to the closure of local businesses and schools. -REUTERS

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INSIGHT

On Iran-Saudi rift, Gulf Arab states tread with cautionn Reuters, Doha

Gulf Arab states rallied dutifully behind Saudi Arabia when it cut relations with Iran last week, recalling their ambassadors and cancelling � ights to Tehran in solidarity with the oil-rich kingdom after its embassy in Iran was torched by protesters.

But all apart from Bahrain stopped short of severing ties, responses that sug-gest these small states - energy powers but military minnows - wish to safeguard strategic interests and avoid a full-blown con� ict with Iran in which they would fare poorly.

The crisis erupted when Saudi Arabia ex-ecuted a prominent Shia cleric on January 2 and Iranian protesters retaliated by storm-ing and setting � re to the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Tensions in the Gulf have reached lev-els unseen since the 1980s, when Iraq re-ceived Gulf Arab funding for its 1980-88 war against Iran in a pan-Arab e� ort to stem the in� uence of the Islamic revolution that had toppled the Shah.

Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia has warned it could take further steps against Shia Iran, which it accuses of meddling in Arab a� airs. That raises the prospect of re-newed Saudi pressure on its Gulf Coopera-tion Council (GCC) allies to adopt more en-ergetic responses.

In solidarity with Riyadh, Kuwait and Qa-tar last week pulled out their ambassadors from Tehran, and the United Arab Emirates downgraded its ties. Bahrain and two non-Gulf states, Djibouti and Sudan, severed re-lations completely.

But long-standing trade links, shared ac-cess to oil and gas � elds and the presence of sizeable Shia communities stopped many Gulf states from shutting the door on Iran, opting instead for positions of neutrality and diplomatic half-steps that could be qui-etly reversed if the furore were to die down.

Bad for businessThe Sunni-ruled Gulf states face a long-standing dilemma over Iran, whose regional clout gained an unintended boost from the 2003 US-led war that toppled its Iraqi foe, Saddam Hussein.

Many of the smaller Gulf Arab states fret that deeper Saudi-Iranian tensions may only spur Iranian muscle-� exing.

Some o� cials calculate that cutting ties with Tehran would complicate e� orts to end Syria’s war, in which Iran is providing military support to President Bashar al-As-sad.

It would also risk antagonising an emerg-ing regional power that is set to bene� t from an easing of international sanctions after its landmark nuclear deal with world powers last July, and is already being courted by Western investors.

Different outlooksDespite their similarities, the Gulf Arab monarchies have varying regional outlooks, economies and political systems.

Relations between Iran and Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled monarchy where Shia are a ma-jority, were already poor. Over the past four years, Bahrain has regularly accused Tehran of meddling in its internal a� airs by backing various Shi’ite opposition groups since the start of the Arab Spring in 2011.

Elsewhere in the region, though, the cal-culus is less straightforward.

Oman stands apart from its Gulf Arab neighbours in keeping a cordial, even col-laborative, relationship with Iran: much to the chagrin of its GCC partners, it played the role of intermediary in opening negoti-ations between the United States and Iran.

Then there is the UAE, Iran’s most impor-tant regional trade partner. Despite a dec-ades-old territorial dispute between the two countries over small Gulf islands near the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE in 2013 sent over $12 billion worth of goods to Iran according to IMF estimates. Most of this was exported from Dubai, which is home to a large popu-lation of Iranian nationals.

Trade between the other Gulf states and Iran is small, but goes back centuries. Much of that, too, is routed via Dubai.

‘No grey areas’Navigating the rift between Iran and Saudi Arabia is particularly tricky for Qatar.

The tiny, vastly wealthy monarchy shares access to the world’s largest natural gas � eld beneath the Gulf waters with Iran which, following the nuclear deal, has sought to entice European and US oil � rms to invest in its energy infrastructure.

Qatar has drawn closer to Saudi Arabia since a spat in 2014 when Riyadh brie� y withdrew its ambassador from Doha in a dispute over Qatar’s alleged support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Still, it took Doha more than three days after the attack on the Saudi embassy in the early hours of January 3 to announce it was withdrawing its ambassador to Tehran. During that time, Saudi Arabia banned access for its citizens to a major Qatari-owned news site, signalling the potential for tensions between the neigh-bours to reignite.

Analysts see another possible reason for Qatar’s cautious approach: Iran has de-clared its support for e� orts to free 26 Qatari nationals kidnapped in December while on a hunting trip in southern Iraq.

But the GCC has so far largely avoided the upheaval that has swept the region, and an-alysts say suggestions that the hardline Sau-di position on Iran could cause splits within the economic bloc, or see states break away, are overstating the case. l

Religious diversity in the Middle Eastby religious belief

Sources: AFP and the Gulf/2000 project

Others

Shias

Jews

Christians

Sunnis

Afganistan

Saudi Arabia

BahrainUAE

Egypt

Iraq

Iran

Israel

Jordan

Kuwait

Lebanon

Oman

Qatar

Pakistan

Palestine

Syria

Turkey

Yemen

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

Robi pacer hunt attracts vast responseThe fast bowling department has been one of the most exciting revelations for Bangladesh cricket in the past year and to continue the trend, the BCB and Robi Axiata Limited have joined hands to launch the “Robi Fast Bowler Hunt”. The registration process has already received enormous response. PAGE 26

Smith, Bailey overshadow Rohit heroicsCaptain Steve Smith and George Bailey struck � uent centuries as Australia chased down a steep 310-run target to win the � rst ODI against India by � ve wickets in Perth yesterday. Smith fell for his highest ODI score of 149 with Australia two runs short of victory and the right-hander left the ground shaking his head. PAGE 27

I will � nish career at Barcelona: MessiLionel Messi has been named Fifa World Player of the Year for the � fth time, but some still dare to imagine that he will not be satis� ed until he can do it on a wet night at the Britannia stadium. They are wrong; he dashed the hopes of his English suitors by con� rming his intention. PAGE 28

Fahad wins � fth round in Delhi OpenMohammad Fahad Rahman returned to winning ways, beating Ambarish Sharman of India in the 5th round of the 14th Delhi Open International Grandmasters Chess Tournament in India yesterday. The country’s youngest Fide Master now has 2.5 points after the end of the � fth round. PAGE 29

Bangladesh striker Shakhawat Hossain Rony (R) is about to shoot during their training session in the capital yesterday while winger Zahid Hossain (L), mid� elder Hemanta Vincent Biswas (2L) and forward Mithun Chowdhury wait for their turn MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Bangladesh look to prolong momentum against holders n Shishir Hoque

The Bengal Tigers will be keen to con� rm their semi� nal berth with a win in their sec-ond Group A game in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup against defending champions Malaysia in Dhaka today.

The game at the Bangabandhu National Stadium will be the second on the day after Nepal open the Dhaka phase of the tourna-ment against Sri Lanka in the afternoon.

The Malaysians aren’t of the same strength compared to their previous visit. The undefeated winners are being repre-sented by Malaysia Super League’s Felda United side that includes only two former national players.

Following the 4-2 victory over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh are in a comfortable place com-pared to their opponents who drew against Nepal in Jessore. However, Maruful Haque’s side will miss the services of Sohel Rana, who was granted leave for his father’s open heart surgery, as Hemanta Vincent Biswas is most likely to replace the Sheikh Jamal DC attacking mid� elder.

“Our initial target was to win the � rst game. The next target is to con� rm the sem-i� nal spot and we want to do it by winning

(today’s) game. We noticed their perfor-mance in the last game. The players are giv-ing their full attention and there’s no injury as well,” said a con� dent looking Bangla-desh head coach Maruful.

The home side’s defence still wears a fragile look and Maruful admitted it’s not possible for him to change the scenario over-night. “I always work mostly on defence, for

club and country. It is not possible to solve this issue overnight and we can only lessen the problem day by day. The defence needs support from the mid� eld and the forward line. If the players cannot track back, it cre-ates pressure on the defence,” he added.

Bangladesh captain Mamunul Islam ech-oed his mentor and said, “We have to win the second game if we are to con� rm and reach the semi� nals. We are trying to do something good since the training camp of Sa� Championship. Malaysia are the de-fending champions and we must perform well against them.”

On the other hand, Malaysia head coach Irfan Bakti, who had played for the Under-23 side that beat Abahani Limited in the � nal of a tournament in Dhaka in 1996, is well aware of the current Bangladesh force and going by his comments it was clear that he has already chalked out the threats.

“First and foremost, we must contain the attacks from Bangladesh, especially the striker number 18 (Shakhawat Hossain Rony). Most of the balls come from their cap-tain (Mamunul). Very good player. We must stop him. It will be a tough game. I respect them. I saw them when they beat Sri Lanka 4-2. They are a very good team. We must do something to stop them,” said Bakti. l

First and foremost, we must contain the attacks from Bangladesh, especially

the striker number 18 (Shakhawat Hossain Rony). Most of the balls come from

their captain (Mamunul Islam)

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

Solid start for Central and North Zonen Mazhar Uddin

Tanveer Haider and Farhad Hossain starred with the willow on the opening day as the � rst round of the 4th Bangladesh Cricket League longer-version got underway yesterday.

Tanveer struck an unbeaten hundred to propel Central Zone to a position of authority against East Zone while Farhad scored 106 to steer North Zone on the threshold of a sub-stantial � rst-innings tally against South Zone.

Central v East, BograCentral were in early trouble after being asked to bat at the Shaheed Chandu stadium. National discard Abul Hasan and Abu Jayed initiated early breakthroughs as Central were reeling on 26/4 at one stage. Opening bats-men Shamsur Rahman (16) and Rony Taluk-dar (four) departed in quick succession while Mehrab Hossain Jr and Saykat Ali were dis-missed without troubling the scorers.

Tanveer and Marshal Ayub however, steadied the ship with a 135-run stand for the � fth wicket with the latter looking in � ne touch having smashed nine delightful boundaries.

And despite Marshal’s departure, Central continued to � ay the East bowlers as Shari-fullah joined Tanveer at the middle.

Together, the unbroken sixth-wicket part-nership added 142 with Sharifullah making the majority of the runs.

Tanveer, who hails from Rangpur, blast-ed 16 fours while Sharifullah hammered 13 boundaries.

North v South, RajshahiAsked to take � rst guard at the Shaheed Kam-ruzzaman stadium, North concluded the opening day’s proceedings on 291/6 with Far-had leading the way with his stroke-� lled 106.

Farhad bludgeoned 15 fours and a six and was ably supported by Ariful Haque, who was undefeated on 62 with the help of 10 boundaries. South spinners Sohag Gazi and Abdur Razzak shared four wickets between themselves. l

Robi pacer hunt attracts vast responsen Minhaz Uddin Khan

The fast bowling department has been one of the most exciting revelations for Bangladesh cricket in the past year and to continue the trend, the Bangladesh Cricket Board and Robi Axiata Limited have joined hands to launch the “Robi Fast Bowler Hunt”. The registration process has already received enormous response as approximately 35,000 forms were � lled with the deadline still a day away.

Previously there had been pace bowl-ing camps and programmes, but they were short-lived as there were no continuation of such activities. Tigers fast bowling duo Rubel Hossain and Sha� ul Islam are � nds from one

of such camps in the past. However, the BCB believes this time around, the strategy will provide long-term bene� ts to the country’s cricket.

The organisers during a press conference yesterday revealed that 7,500 participants

have been short-listed for the programme that will kick-o� from Sunday across 16 ven-ues. After a thorough test of pace and � tness, 12 pacers (10 male and two female) will be nominated for further training at the BCB High-Performance camp.

“We need more pace bowlers in order to fetch more success. Such talent hunts had got us pacers like Rubel and Sha� ul. Along-side boys, we have decided to search for fe-male pacers also. Our girls are now playing world-class cricket and have earned the sta-tus of playing in the ICC World Twenty20,” said BCB senior vice-president Mahbub Anam who was present alongside commer-cial and marketing committee chairman Kazi Inam Ahmed, Jalal Younus and Robi COO Mahtab Uddin.

Jalal added that, “There has been a lot of occasions when we found it di� cult to get a proper replacement of an injured pacer in the national team. This type of talent hunts will minimise our hard times.” l

Hom eyes Tigers spot in his comfort zonen Hedait Hossain from Khulna

Shuvagata Hom has been tried as a special-ist o� -spinner, who can bat, in the Tests. He failed, but passed with high marks when he took the � eld in the last quarter of 2015. After a fruitful time with both bat and ball with the Bangladesh A team in South Africa and Zim-babwe, Shuvagata exhibited his ability in the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20.

It is largely due to his batting cameos and bowling adaptability in the BPL 3 that enabled the selectors to give him a go in the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe. Will he be able to cement his place in the Bangladesh dressing room ahead of the precious World T20?

The 29-year-old, who loves the shortest format more than ODIs and Tests, expressed his desire after the Bangladesh practice

session in Khulna yesterday. Here are the excerpts:

How much do you enjoy the T20 format?I feel comfortable playing the shortest for-mat. It allows me to play strokes which is my natural ability.

How would you define your role in the team?I look to perform with both bat and ball. I have batted well recently and I would also like to make a mark with the ball. Wherever the team management puts me, I will try to serve the purpose.

You have batted up the order in the BPL. What difference does it make?It helps to build the innings when you bat up the order where you can take some time and plan for a big innings. I have played some quick knocks at the end of the innings in the BPL too, when the situation required big shots and I have done that too.

Plans for the Zimbabwe series?It’s a great opportunity for me ahead of the Asia Cup and the World T20. If I play well it will de� nitely boost my con� dence. l

Zimbabwe cricket team head coach Dav Whatmore (C) arrived in Khulna yesterday along with the rest of the squad KAZI SANTO

North v South, RajshahiNorth 291/6 in 91 overs

Farhad 106, Ariful 62*, Gazi 2/95, Razzak 2/118Central v East, Bogra

Central 303/5 in 88 oversTanveer 108*, Sharifullah 89*, Marshal 76,

Abul 3/41, Jayed 2/60

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Australia captain Steve Smith (C) raises his bat after reaching his century during the � rst one-day international against India in Perth yesterday

AFP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

INDIA R BR. Sharma not out 171 163S. Dhawan c Marsh b Hazlewood 9 22V. Kohli c Finch b Faulkner 91 97M. Dhoni c Boland b Faulkner 18 13 R. Jadeja not out 10 5 Extras (lb6, w4) 10Total (3 wickets; 50 overs) 309

Fall of wickets1-36 (Dhawan); 2-243 (Kohli), 3-286 (Dhoni) BowlingHazlewood 10-0-41-1, Paris 8-0-53-0 (1w), Marsh 9-0-53-0 (1w), Boland 10-0-74-0, Faulkner 10-0-60-2 (1w), Maxwell 3-0-22-0 (1w)AUSTRALIA R BA. Finch c and b Sran 8 11D. Warner c Kohli b Sran 5 10S. Smith c Kohli b Sran 149 135G. Bailey c Kumar b Ashwin 112 120G. Maxwell c Dhawan b Ashwin 6 6M. Marsh not out 12 13J. Faulkner not out 1 1Extras (lb5, w12) 17Total (5 wickets: 49.2 overs) 310

Fall of wickets1-9 (Finch), 2-21 (Warner), 3-263 (Bailey), 4-273 (Maxwell), 5-308 (Smith)BowlingSran 9.2-0-56-3 (3w), Kumar 9-0-42-0 (4w), Sharma 1-0-11-0, Yadav 10-0-54-0 (3w), Jadeja 9-0-61-0 (1w), Aswhin 9-0-68-2 (1w), Kohli 2-0-13-0Result: Australia won by fi ve wicketsMan of the Match: Steve Smith

SCORECARD, 1ST ODISmith, Bailey tons overshadow Rohit heroicsn Reuters

Captain Steve Smith and George Bailey struck � uent centuries as Australia chased down a steep 310-run target to win the � rst ODI against India by � ve wickets in Perth yesterday.

Smith fell for his highest ODI score of 149 with Australia two runs short of victory and the right-hander left the ground shak-ing his head before watching his team seal victory with four balls to spare.

Opener Rohit Sharma smashed an unbeaten 171 to lift India to 309 for three af-ter the touring side won the toss and chose to bat � rst in sublime batting conditions at the WACA ground.

India left-arm paceman Barinder Sran (3-56) gave his side a dream start on his de-but by dismissing hard-hit-ting openers Aaron Finch (eight) and David Warner (� ve) in successive overs to reduce Australia to 21 for two.

But Bailey (112) scored his third ODI hundred and add-ed 242 for the third wicket with his skipper to take the match away from India.

Bailey was lucky to sur-vive an appeal for caught be-

hind on the � rst ball he faced with television replays con� rming Bran’s delivery brushing his glove on the way through to wick-etkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. India also missed several op-portunities to run the right-hander out when their throws failed to hit the stumps. l

Feast and famine as Gunners face Redsn AFP, London

Two teams coping very di� erently with English football’s high-intensity mid-season � xture programme meet today when Premier League leaders Arsenal resume their pursuit of the title at injury-ravaged Liverpool.

While Arsenal could a� ord to make � ve changes as they breezed past Sunderland in the FA Cup on Saturday, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp’s decision to � eld a youthful starting XI at fourth-tier Exeter City on Friday almost back� red as his side scraped a 2-2 draw.

First-team regulars like Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Per Mertesacker will come back into the Arsenal team at An� eld and right-back Hector Bellerin believes such strength in depth bodes well for the months ahead. Klopp can only envy the riches at Ar-senal counterpart Arsene Wenger’s disposal as he contemplates an injury list that currently features 11 senior players. l

EPL FIXTURES Chelsea v West Brom Liverpool v Arsenal Manchester City v Everton Southampton v Watford Stoke City v Norwich City Swansea City v Sunderland Tottenham v Leicester City

171* Rohit ’s score is the highest by a visiting

batsman against Australia in Aus-tralia, and the fi fth-highest by any batsman in the country. The previ-ous top score against Australia in Australia was Viv Richards’ 153 not out at the MCG in 1979-80.

1 The fi rst ever instance of more than one double-century

partnership in a single ODI.

19 Innings that Rohit needed to complete 1000 ODI

runs against Australia - the fastest by any batsman. He bettered Ten-dulkar and Brian Lara (20 innings).

28DT Sport

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

BARCA, REAL VOTES

LIONEL MESSISuarez, Neymar, Iniesta

JAMES RODRIGUEZRonaldo, Benzema, Bale

CRISTIANO RONALDOBenzema, Rodriguez, Bale

NEYMARMessi, Suarez, Rakitic

PREVIOUS WINNERS OF BALLON D’OR

YEAR WINNER NAT CLUB

2015 Lionel Messi ARG FC Barcelona

2014 Cristiano Ronaldo POR Real Madrid

2013 Cristiano Ronaldo POR Real Madrid

2012 Lionel Messi ARG FC Barcelona

2011 Lionel Messi ARG FC Barcelona

2010 Lionel Messi ARG FC Barcelona

2009 Lionel Messi ARG FC Barcelona

2008 Cristiano Ronaldo POR Man United

2007 Kaká BRA AC Milan

2006 Fabio Cannavaro ITA Real/Juventus

2005 Ronaldinho BRA FC Barcelona

2004 Andriy Shevchenko UKR AC Milan

2003 Pavel Nedvěd CZE Juventus

2002 Ronaldo BRA Real Madrid

2001 Michael Owen ENG Liverpool

2000 Luís Figo POR Real Madrid

1999 Rivaldo BRA FC Barcelona

1998 Zinedine Zidane FRA Juventus

1997 Ronaldo BRA Inter Milan

1996 Matthias Sammer GER Dortmund

1995 George Weah LIB AC Milan

1994 Hristo Stoichkov BUL FC Barcelona

1993 Roberto Baggio ITA Juventus

1992 Marco van Basten NED AC Milan

1991 Jean-Pierre Papin FRA Marseille

1990 Lothar Matthäus GER Inter Milan

1989 Marco van Basten NED AC Milan

1988 Marco van Basten NED AC Milan

1987 Ruud Gullit NED AC Milan

1986 Igor Belanov USSR Dynamo Kyiv

1985 Michel Platini FRA Juventus

1984 Michel Platini FRA Juventus

1983 Michel Platini FRA Juventus

1982 Paolo Rossi ITA Juventus

1981 Rummenigge GER Bayern

1980 Rummenigge GER Bayern

1979 Kevin Keegan ENG Hamburg

1978 Kevin Keegan ENG Hamburg

1977 Allan Simonsen DEN M’gladbach

1976 Franz Beckenbauer GER Bayern

1975 Oleg Blokhin USSR Dynamo Kyiv

1974 Johan Cruyff NED FC Barcelona

1973 Johan Cruyff NED FC Barcelona

1972 Franz Beckenbauer GER Bayern

1971 Johan Cruyff NED FC Barcelona

1970 Gerd Müller GER Bayern

1969 Gianni Rivera ITA AC Milan

1968 George Best NIR Man United

1967 Flórián Albert HUN Ferencv rosi

1966 Bobby Charlton ENG Man United

1965 Eusébio POR Benfi ca

1964 Denis Law SCO Man United

1963 Lev Yashin USSR D Moscow

1962 Josef Masopust CZK Dukla Prague

1961 Omar Sívori ITA Juventus

1960 Luis Suárez SPA FC Barcelona

1959 Alfredo Di Stéfano SPA Real Madrid

1958 Raymond Kopa FRA Real Madrid

1957 Alfredo Di Stéfano SPA Real Madrid

1956 Stanley Matthews ENG Blackpool

Northern Irish actor and host James Nesbitt (L) takes a sel� e with the Ballon d’Or and Women player of the year nominees during the 2015 Fifa Ballon d’Or award ceremony at the Kongresshaus in Zurich on Monday AFP

2009 2010 2011 2012 2015

I will � nish career at Barcelona: Messin Agencies

Lionel Messi has been named Fifa World Player of the Year for the � fth time, but some still dare to imagine that he will never be sat-is� ed until he has proved he can do it on a wet, windy night at the Britannia Stadium. They are wrong; on the way out of the Kon-gresshaus in Zurich Monday, carrying the Ballon d’Or, he dashed the hopes of his Eng-lish suitors by con� rming his intention to see out his glorious career in Barcelona.

After winning a historic � fth Ballon d'Or at Monday's ceremony in Zurich, the Argentine said it his intention to � nish his career where he started - "at home" in Barcelona.

"I've always said that I don't want to leave Barcelona," Messi said. "It's always the same response. My idea is I want to � nish my ca-reer at home, and my home is Barca."

The words will come as a blow to clubs like Premier League Manchester City and Chelsea, who had felt they have an outside chance of signing Messi after some of the unrest the playmaker has reportedly experi-enced at the Camp Nou in the past year.

Messi referred to some of those di� culties in the mixed zone after the ceremony, acknowledging the criticism he and his team had received at this exact point last

year, when Cristiano Ronaldo won the award and Barcelona had failed to win any trophies in 2014.

But he insisted that no matter what he has always wanted to stay with Barcelona.

"Football has many twists," he said. "A year ago, we were all getting criticised and we ended up winning nearly everything.

"My intention is to end my career where I started it in Barcelona." l

Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez � nished 4th and 5th respectively in the

overall vote. Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Eden Hazard, Andres Iniesta and Alexis Sanchez rounded out the top 10.

Eighteen people (18) had Yaya Toure on their ballots, including � ve � rst-place

votes. Meanwhile, Africa’s Player of the Year, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, was

on zero ballots.

Myanmar’s coach gave Kevin De Bruyne the No. 1 spot over Toni Kroos and

Thomas Muller. Togo’s coach also voted for De Bruyne, followed by Eden Hazard

and Yaya Toure. Neither Myanmar nor Togo’s national teams are very good.

In a shout-out to Roy Hodgson, Guatemala and Mauritania’s captains each picked Javier Mascherano as their Ballon d’Or winner, though he didn’t even make

the FIFPro World XI. Hey, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.

Italy’s coach and captain did not cast a ballot. Turns out, according to Tancredi

Palmeri, the Italian FA decided not to vote for the Ballon d'Or to protest against

the absence of Bu� on from the 49-man shortlist of names.

Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio appears to be a big Bayern Munich fan.

His top three were: Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Arturo Vidal.

Messi (41%)Ronaldo (28%)Neymar (8%)Others (23%)

BALLON d’ORBREAKDOWN

Asked what he would choose between his Ballon d’Or awards and a World Cup, he said–

The World Cup, of course. Team awards are more important than individual ones

Sport 29D

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

Channel 9Bangabandhu Gold Cup3:00PM: Nepal v Sri Lanka6:30PM: Bangladesh v Malaysia Sports 41:45AM EPL: Man City v EvertonTen Action6:00AM ATP: Kooyong Classic

Semi� nals & Exhibition Matches Star Sports 2Premier Badminton League 3:30PM: Mumbai v Delhi 7:30PM: Chennai v Bengaluru 1:45AMEPL: Chelsea v West Brom

Sony Kix1:30PM World Tennis ChallengeMark Phillipoussis v Goran Ivanisevic Star Sports 12:40PM Big Bash LeagueAdelaide Strikers v Hobart Hurricanes 2:00AM EPL: Liverpool v Arsenal

DAY’S WATCH

Walton becomes T20 series sponsorWalton became the title sponsor while Marcel bagged the pow-ered-by rights of the upcoming four-match international Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe in Khulna. “Walton has been there beside Bangladesh cricket for a long time now and this series is yet another occasion where they decided to contribute. The cricket board is thankful to them that they decided to sponsor the Bangladesh-Zim-babwe series,” said BCB marketing and commercial committee chairman Kazi Inam Ahmed yesterday.

–TRIBUNE REPORT

Fahad wins � fth round in Delhi OpenMohammad Fahad Rahman returned to winning ways, beating Ambarish Sharman of India in the 5th round of the 14th Delhi Open International Grandmasters Chess Tournament in India yesterday. The country’s youngest Fide Master now has 2.5 points after the end of the fi fth round of the rating event Category B Tournament (below 1999 rating). Fahad was playing against Rupankar Nath of India in the 6th round when the report was fi led.

–TRIBUNE REPORT

Army, Dhaka clinch national rugby titlesBangladesh Army and Dhaka district yesterday emerged as the champions of the Walton National Rugby Championship in the men’s and women’s category respectively. The men’s fi nal was a one-sided aff air where Army thrashed Chittagong district 51-0 at the Paltan ground. Army’s Nadim Mahmud was adjudged the player of the tournament. Dhaka also won the women’s fi nal without conceding a goal as they defeated Narail district 5-0. Narail’s Nisha was named the player of the tournament.

–TRIBUNE REPORT

Guardiola apologises for speculation-fuelling admissionBayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola has apologised for putting some of his Premier League counterparts under pressure by publicly announcing an intention to trade Germany for England at the end of the season. Speaking at Bayern’s winter training camp in Doha, Qatar Guardiola apologised for any perceived lack of respect to managers in England. “I’m sorry. It was not my intention to off end anybody. Normally in my career like a trainer, a football player I respect a lot my colleagues,” he told reporters. The Spaniard, however, refused to be drawn on who his next employers would be, saying he would reveal the name of the club only after he had signed a contract.

–REUTERS

Hong Kong cricketer suspended with corruption chargeHong Kong all-rounder Irfan Ahmed has been suspended and charged with failing to disclose a match-fi xing approach, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said. The 26-year-old Pakistan-born cricketer faces a ban of upto fi ve years if he is found guilty by an ICC tribunal after falling foul of the world governing body’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU). “Failing to disclose to the ACSU (without undue delay) full details of any approaches or invitations received by the Par-ticipant to engage in conduct that would amount to a breach of the Anti-Corruption Code,” the ICC said in a statement on Monday.

–REUTERS

Indian player o� ers vital organ to raise vital fundsAn Indian squash player has taken the unusual step of putting his kidney up for sale to raise funds ahead of next month’s South Asian Games, according to local media reports. Ravi Dixit, who will turn 23 this week, is part of the home squad for the event taking place in northeast India and has used social media to off er up an organ for an asking price of 800,000 rupees ($11,952.79) due to a lack of spon-sors. His father’s employer, the Dhampur Sugar Mill, has provided fi nancial assistance in the past but according to Dixit, the funds were no longer enough to support him.

–REUTERS

QUICK BYTES

Showtime30DT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

n Milu Aman

When you hear a song like Singin’ in the Rain, you cannot help but think about Gene Kelly’s iconic performance. That’s exactly what a great musical � lm is capable of doing to its audiences. Musicals are entertainment escapades, be it a historical plot or a contemporary one.

Singin’ in the Rain is one of the most popular musicals in celluloid history. The story was about a silent � lm actor who struggled his way into the speaking roles, during the transition from silent � lm era to talkies. (Popular Song: Singin’ In The Rain).

The King and I is based on a theatrical play, which was originally adapted from a biographical novel Anna and the King of Siam. Yul Brynner played the King. As a stage actor he was already familiar with playing that part for Broadway theaters. Yul’s role as the King made him an overnight onscreen movie star. Beautiful music, brilliant performances, amazing settings; it’s a proli� c musical indeed. (Popular Songs: I Whistle a Happy Tune, Getting to Know You, We Kiss in a Shadow).

West Side Story was inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but the

plot was cleverly set into the contemporary 60s. The story centered around two rival New York City street gangs and a love story that gets tragically caught in the middle. It is one of the most popular musicals on stage and screen of all time. (Popular Songs: I Feel Pretty, The Rumble).

The Sound of Music is a delightful musical, � lled with vibrant compositions. Julie Andrews was extraordinary one of the best silver screen musicals ever made. (Popular Song: The Sound of Music).

The Wizard of Oz one of the � nest musicals ever made. Dorothy’s bizarre adventures in the land of Oz have universal themes that appeal to every new generation of viewers, year after year. The timeless music of the � lm perfectly blends the world of fantasy with morals. It is probably the most loved musical in cinema history. (Popular Song: Somewhere Over The Rainbow).

Grease, John Travolta and singer Olivia Newton John teamed up for the 80s teenage musical. In the story they fall in love in a summer holiday. Packed with fun, dance and songs, it is an ideal musical. (Popular Song: You’re The One That I Want).

Tommy was a musical based on a rock album by The Who. Essential for all rock music lovers, it was a lament to all the children growing up in soldier families during World War II. (Popular Song: Pinball Wizard). Similarly Pink Floyd’s classic album The Wall, which re� ects almost the same aspects, was also made into a musical soon after. (Popular Songs: Comfortably Numb, Another Brick in the Wall).

Aladdin is a musical animation, based on the story of the Arabian Nights. A mischievous street thief � nds the genie of the magic lamp; falls in love with the princess; a wonderful movie and beautiful music. (Popular Song: Whole New World). Other notable timeless animated musicals are Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King.

Moulin Rouge is considered as the revival of musical � lms. When musicals were no longer in the mainstream for decades, Moulin Rouge’s breakthrough success brought back the popularity of musicals again. The story was set in the 19th century underground world in Paris. Christian, a play writer came to Paris to follow his dreams, and fell in love with a courtesan, Satine. This mesmerising masterpiece is � lled with contemporary jukebox and classic songs that really seamed Moulin Rouge’s world of fantasy and reality. It is considered one of the best musicals of all time, a real gem, a stir of spirits of freedom and love. (Popular Songs: Come What May, Nature Boy). l

Achol leaves Dhallywood Juhi Chawla will not watch Dilwale!

Landmarks in musical cinema

n Al Mahmud Manjur

Quitting her career as a � lm actress, Dhallywood beauty Achol has moved to her ancestral home in Khulna for good.

After su� ering from depression for six months, the actress feels that she had been a victim of “dirty � lm politics.”

She made her debut with the � lm Bhool in 2011. The actress rose as one to watch with a number of commercially successful � lms. In the last � ve years, she had done around 15 � lms. Her on screen pair with Bappy Chowdhury in Jotil Prem earned huge commercial success in 2013.

Despite a soaring career graph, Achol cut o� all her contracts six months back after signing for three new � lms.

“Actually I have been living in deep depression for the last six months as I could not sign for any new � lm. I couldn’t even meet my living expenses in Dhaka any more,” the actress said.

Highly agitated over the system in the industry, she said: “I am a victim of dirty � lm-politics. I had signed for a few � lms but just prior the shooting, I was informed that someone had replaced me. I couldn’t take this any more and silently I departed from the industry. I don’t know yet if I’ll be back or not.”

Achol is currently living with her mother and younger brother in Dumuria, Khulna.l

n Showtime Desk

Juhi is Shah Rukh’s oldest friend, yet says she gave his � lm a miss!

Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla’s friendship is one of the oldest “dostis” in the B-town. They have been such thick friends that they transformed their friendship into business too. Professionally, SRK-Juhi’s on screen pair was one of the most loved ones. Films like Yes Boss, Darr, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, and Phir Bhi Dil Hain Hindustani are a testimony for this.

Therefore, it is quite surprising that Juhi would refuse to watch Shah Rukh’s much hyped � lm with Kajol, Dilwale. But the actress spoke her mind when quizzed about her buddy’s � lm and told the media: “I haven’t heard many good things about the � lm. So, I thought of skipping… It is okay. Even if I don’t watch, it wouldn’t matter.”

But she maintained that she would absolutely love to work with SRK again, provided a � lm-maker � nds a suitable script for them to be together. After Shah Rukh, the 48-year-old actress is fond of Aamir Khan. She also said: “Aamir and Shah Rukh are my favourite co-stars. I have grown in my career with them. I would love to work with Aamir.”

A leading actress of the 90s, Juhi has shared screen space with both the mighty Khans, except for Salman. She also added that it was quite strange that they had not worked together yet and would like to explore that option. l

Since the advent of sound in the 20s, Music has had a significant role in movies. The music score for a film can uplift a simple plot and take it to a different level. On the other hand, the right songs in a movie or the soundtrack of a film is capable of adding different dimensions where dialogs fail to express.

SOURCE: BOLLYWOODLIFE

Showtime 31D

TWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

n Features Desk

Bringing together the vastly di� erent tales of two women in the colorfully chaotic Dhaka city, Rubaiyat Hossain’s latest � lm Under Construction will be released on January 22, across four di� erent cinemas in Dhaka. The theaters include Star Cineplex, Blockbuster Cinemas, Shyamoli and Balaka Cinema Hall.

As the curtain opener for the 14th Dhaka International Film Festival, the � lm will be screened at the National Museum Auditorium on January 14 at 4pm. As part

of the same festival’s female � lmmakers’ section, it will be screened again at the Public Library Auditorium on January 18 at 5:30pm.

The � lm features the stories of two women in context of their lives in Dhaka city. It juxtaposes the stories of Roya, a girl from a middle-class background in a quest to discover herself, with the stories of Moyna, a garments worker in Dhaka. Given the class disparity in a booming city like Dhaka, where some of the most elite live alongside some of the most impoverished population

of Bangladesh, the � lm brings to focus the con� icts and commonalities of women’s struggle – no matter what background – in a city like Dhaka.

The cast includes Shahan Goswami, Rikita Shimu, Mita Rahman, Rahul Bose, Shahadat Hossain Tou� qul Islam, Sohel Mondol Shobuj, Nawshaba Ahmed Sabah and Sporshita.

“Our whole lives are basically under construction, as we are living,” Mita Rahman said during a press conference held at The Westin on Sunday. That is one of the overarching themes of the � lm, she added.

Rubaiyat Hossain, writer, director and producer of the � lm, said she is working on the � lm to be screened outside Dhaka as well. This is her second � lm.

The � lm has won the Golden Durian Award in the category of best � lm at the Salamindanaw Asian Film Festival in the Philippines.

The � lm had a world premiere screening last June in Seattle International Film Festival, following which it was screened at various international � lm festivals including Montreal World Film Festival and Calgary International Film Festival in Canada, Sao Paolo International Film Festival in Brazil, Bogota Film Festival in Colombia, Stockholm Film Festival in Sweden, Phnom Penh Film Festival in Cambodia and many more. This month, the � lm will be further screened at di� erent � lm festivals across I ndia. l

Under Construction set for January 22 release

WHAT TO WATCH

Transformers: Revenge of the FallenZee Studio 9:30pmSam Witwicky is heading o� to college 3000 miles away from his girlfriend MacKayla, his overprotective and emo-tional mother, and his anxious father.The week Sam Witwicky starts col-lege, the Decepticons make trouble in Shanghai. A presidential envoy believes the Autobots are responsible, he wants them gone.Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, John Turturro

2 Fast 2 FuriousStar Movies Action 11:30pmBrianis a disgraced ex-police o� cer now facing imprisonment unless he cooper-ates with the customs police. They want Brian to act as a driver for drug lord Carter. Roman, an old friend of Brian’s, agrees to become his partner in the police sting operation. Brian and Roman are employed by Carter to drive two cars with huge sums of illegal money to a waiting plane.Cast: Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes

George of the JungleStar Movies 2:00pmUrsula is a beautiful American heiress who goes on a jungle safari in Central Africa. When she is attacked by a lion, George saves her and takes her to his home. George had survived a plane crash as a baby and has been brought up by a gorilla. Ursula is extremely impressed with George and his lifestyle in the middle of the jungle.Cast: Brendan Fraser, Leslie Mann, Thomas Hayden Church

ArmageddonSony PIX 6:37pmAn asteroid the size of Texas is heading directly toward earth 22,000 MPH. Dan Truman, Executive director of NASA send a crew to destroy the asteroid. He recruit the help of Harry S. Stamper - the world’s foremost deep core oil drill-er - and Stamper’s roughneck team of drillers to land on the asteroid, drill into its surface, and drop a nuclear device into the core.Cast: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben A� eck

n Nadira Sultana Ava

Alliance Francaise de Dhaka presents Manifestation of the Human, an exhibition by Md Mainuddin. Manifestation of the Human will commence from January 2-18. The exhibition features new works by contemporary artist Md Mainuddin. The major attraction of the exhibition is an 8ft by 75ft artwork that portrays hundreds of human � gures of ordinary people from di� erent professions; the artwork goes by the title Manifestation of the Human, and is made joining 14 canvases. When we look into the image, we are drawn towards a composition that tells a story. The image exhibits the working class, their lifestyles, everyday emotions and movements.

Several portraits named Sattar Uncle, Ismail Boyati (Artist Uncle) and many other titles, give us an overview of how the artist sketches men and women he was closely associated with. In the Mainuddin style of realistic minimalism yet acutely descriptive, these artworks render � gures in bold black outlines, capturing the personality of each individuals. The

� gures and faces are making a social commentary about di� erent professions, their struggles and turmoil of life. He has used charcoal, dry pastel and acrylic as his mediums to create the displayed drawings.

Md Mainuddin is one of the youngest artists of his generation whose work is instantly identi� able. His pieces examine how we, as viewers, see things. His

� gurative artworks represent portraits of people who might have just walked by on the street holding an umbrella, giving us the impression of being immersed on a busy road, bustling with di� erent types of noises.

His focus is on a variety of motifs and relies on natural light to re� ect an array of patterns and relationships. In his creation we get imagination,

individualism, exuberance of emotion and exploration of contemporary society and transcendental mysteries. Moinuddin strove in his artworks to express the choices of poise, temperance and reserve, careful workmanship, purity and dignity of aptitude. Striving to capture the qualities of the seen and even unseen, that emotion, incomplete memory or fragmented thought was felt while being engrossed in a piece.

Paintings are his way of capturing the emotion in its purest spontaneity and the brilliance of a moment. Using paints, brushes, and determination, Md Moinuddin has earned several international and national awards for his � gurative works and is on his way to master the skills.l

Manifestation of the Human on display

Bangladeshi scientist Rubab discovers 5 super giant starsn Tribune Report

A team of scientists led by Bangladeshi astrophysicist Rubab Khan of Nasa Goddard Space Flight Centre has discovered fi ve supersize stars in other galaxies on a par with the monstrous stellar system in our own

Milky Way.At the American Astronomical Society’s

annual meeting Wednesday, Rubab Khan, a researcher at Nasa’s Goddard Space Center in Maryland, reported on the discovery of fi ve “Eta

twins”, reports AP.The Hubble Space Telescope and Nasa’s Spitzer

Space Telescope helped identify them, he said.“Eta Carinae is the brightest and most massive

star system within 10,000 light-years of us. The binary system is located in the southern constella-tion of Carina, a ship’s keel, and outshines our own sun by 5 million times.”

Khan says the discovery will shed light on the evolution of these stellar heavyweights.

Eta Carinae erupted in the 1800s, hurling stellar material into space.

Yesterday, the US embassy in Dhaka applaud-ed the Rubab for discovering fi ve “super giant stars” in the far universe.

In a post on its offi cial Facebook page, the embassy termed Rubab’s discovery as a “great breakthrough.”

The post said that a team led by Rubab found fi ve similar super giant stars that matched in size and mass with Milky Way giant Eta Carinae and are located 15-26 million light years away in other galaxies. l

Bad weather speed limit to reduce highway fatalitiesn Shohel Mamun

The government has decided that all vehicles on the highways must limit their speed to 50km/h in foggy weather.

The decision was made at a meeting of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) held at the Secretariat yesterday.

The NRSC also formed a 15-member moni-toring committee headed by BRTA Chairman Nazrul Islam to work against sexual harass-ment on public transportation. The commit-tee will also monitor transport workers’ be-haviour with female passengers.

NRSC head and Road Transport and Bridg-es Minister Obaidul Quader briefed the me-dia after the meeting.

“Drivers must limit their maximum speed to between 40 and 50km/h during fog and must use fog lights. During dense fog, they should not drive on the highways,” he said.

The minister said the guidance was being given to curb road accidents during the win-ter season.

“The Motor Vehicle Act will be placed in the next session of parliament and will hope-fully help prevent road accidents,” he added.

The minister said: “The annual road acci-dent death rate is lower in Bangladesh than any other South Asian country except the Maldives.”

Disputing a report by a commuter interest group, saying: “The report on road accidents recently placed by the Passengers Welfare Association of Bangladesh is not correct. In fact, the process of reporting is also errone-ous.”

“We will start a training programme to build drivers’ awareness in all districts to prevent road accidents,” the minister said.

He said his ministry would construct rest areas along highways so that drivers can pull

over and rest. “No driver should be allowed to work continuously for more than eight hours,” he added.

The minister also expressed hope that Dhaka’s tra� c congestion would be reduced.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, Dha-ka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon and Road Transport and Highways Secretary MAN Siddique were present at the meeting. l

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

JAN 22 RELEASE FOR UNDER CONSTRUCTION PAGE 31

NBR EYES TK1CR MONTHLY VAT FROM JAMUNA FUTURE PARK PAGE 15

MESSI TO RETIRE AT BARCA PAGE 28

Istanbul suicide blast kills 10 n Reuters, Istanbul

A suicide bomber thought to be from Syria killed at least 10 people, many of them Ger-man tourists, in Istanbul’s historic heart on Tuesday, an attack senior security o� cials said was probably planned by Dae’sh.

The bomb ripped through the Sultanah-met square, near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, major tourist sites in the centre of one of the world’s most visited cities. Pres-ident Tayyip Erdogan later con� rmed that a Syrian was thought responsible, identi� ed from body parts.

Sources in Prime Minister Ahmet Davu-toglu’s o� ce said most of those killed were Germans and he had spoken by phone with Chancellor Angela Merkel to express condo-lences. Merkel earlier said she was very wor-ried Germans might be among the victims.

Norway’s foreign ministry said one Nor-wegian man was injured and was being treat-ed in hospital. The Dogan news agency said nine Germans and one Peruvian were also wounded.

Prime minister’s o� ce imposed a gag or-der on broadcasting of the blast, invoking a

law which allows for such steps when there is the potential for serious harm to national security or public order.

Two senior security o� cials, seeking ano-nymity, said there was a high probability that Dae’sh militants were responsible.

The Istanbul governor’s o� ce said the authorities were investigating the type of explosive used and who might have been re-sponsible.

The dull thud of the blast was heard in districts of Istanbul several kilometres away, residents said. Television footage showed a police car which appeared to have been over-turned by the force of the blast.

Tourist sites including the Hagia Sophia and nearby Basilica Cistern were closed on the governor’s orders, o� cials said.

Ambulances ferried away the wounded as police cordoned o� streets. The sound of the call to prayer rang out from the Blue Mosque as forensic police o� cers worked at the scene.

Turkey has become a target for Dae’sh late-ly, with two bombings last year blamed on the militant group, in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and in the capital Ankara, the latter killing more than 100 people. l

Recently nine people including the land minister’s son were killed in several pile-ups and accidents that happened on and around the Bangabandhu Bridge in Sirajganj due to foggy weather. This recent � le photo shows vehicles plying the Kaliakor Bridge in Gazipur 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 Offi 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