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Bhadra 24, 1420Zilkad 1, 1434Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 1 No 167 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2013 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

5 Long FormThe Political Impasse: A way out of the constitutional riddle

BusinessHotel chains eye Bangladeshmarket

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Central bank opposes plan for new specialised bankPalli Sanchay Bank mooted under ‘Ekti Bari Ekti Khamar’ schemen Asif Showkat Kallol

The Bangladesh Bank has di� ered with a government plan to set up Palli Sanchay Bank, a new specialised insti-tution like the Grameen Bank, saying such � nancial institutions established earlier have failed to achieve their ob-jectives.

An o� cial at the Bank and Finan-cial Institutions Division said three such specialised banks – Ansar-VDP Unnayan Bank, Probashi Kallyan Bank and Karmasangsthan Bank – had been established with a view to increasing cash � ow for the development of rural people, but they had failed.

When the Grameen Bank board failed to appoint a managing director because of the opposition from the bank’s nine female directors in the be-ginning of this year, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said a specialised bank like the Grameen Bank would be set up.

Bangladesh Bank General Manager KM Abdul Wadud last week sent a letter

to Banking Secretary M Aslam Alam, conveying opinions of the central bank and other stakeholders on setting up of the new specialised bank.

Styled Palli Sanchay Bank, the pro-posed � nancial institution has been planned under the government’s “Ekti Bari Ekti Khamar” – one home, one farm – project to give the scheme a per-manent shape. Members of the project and the government will be the pro-posed bank’s shareholders.

The bank’s board of directors will include representatives of the project members and the government, but only the shareholders will be entitled to enjoy corporate bene� ts such as pro� t or dividend.

In its letter, the Bangladesh Bank said the proposal that the Palli Sanchay Bank would not operate under the cen-tral bank and yet would take loans from the central bank would create indisci-pline in the � nancial sector.

Also, the proposal that the MD and the board of directors of the bank

would be appointed with approval of the Bangladesh Bank was inconsist-ent with the proposition that the bank would not be governed by the central bank, it said.

The proposal says the bank will have services such as online banking, credit card, ready cash, bond, share and de-benture, and will also facilitate foreign trade to increase the con� dence of the under-privileged people.

The central bank said all these were the activities of commercial banks, which were done under the Bank Com-pany Act and monitored by the central bank.

The draft will be submitted to the cabinet for approval after receiving opinions from the stakeholders.

According to the draft, the members of the project now have Tk13.32bn in a savings account of the project. Af-ter the Palli Sanchay Bank is set up, the members will have separate sav-ings accounts for making transactions,

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

KHALEDA’S RALLY

Tk20m extorted from upazila level BNP leadersn Our Correspondent, Narsingdi

A section of district level BNP leaders in Narsingdi has allegedly been extorting money from upazila level leaders and businessmen, promising party tickets for the upcoming national polls.

The extortion racket has gained mo-mentum ahead of party chief Khaleda Zia’s public rally in the district town, scheduled for today.

There are allegations that around Tk20m has already been extorted from local leaders and businessmen who had been looking for prominence in the party ranks ahead of the elections.

The Dhaka Tribune has learnt that a group, led by an in� uential local leader, has extorted Tk2m from the Madavdi Bazar alone.

The Madavdi Bazar is one of the most important business hubs in the region.

Although nobody has dared to speak publicly, a sense of dissent has been prevailing in the build up to the party chief’s much-awaited public rally.

Brushing aside the allegations, PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Dhaka protests Felani killing verdictn Tribune Report

Indian authorities need to take appro-priate steps to ensure justice for the killing of Felani, the national human rights body and home minister said separately yesterday.

Criticising the Indian Border Secu-rity Force (BSF) court’s verdict in the Felani Khatun shooting case, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commis-sion (NHRC) Mizanur Rahman said the judgment shows disrespect to interna-tional law.

A special court formed by India’s BSF on Thursday acquitted BSF consta-ble Amiya Ghosh of the charge of kill-ing 15 year old Bangladeshi girl Felani at the Cooch Behar frontier.

“The judgment has made a mockery of justice. It has not only cheated the family of Felani but also the whole na-tion,” Mizanur Rahman told reporters after attending a discussion meeting at the Liberation War Museum yesterday.

After labelling the verdict as being disrespectful to international law, the NHRC chief said that India should take the next step to ensure justice.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Hall-Mark chiefnot followingbail condition n Syed Samiul Basher Anik

Hall-Mark Group Chairperson Jasmine Islam is yet to deposit Tk1bn as the � rst month’s instalment to the Sonali Bank which she had promised to a lower court to secure bail on August 4.

The plainti� ’s lawyer says because of violating the conditions, her bailwas supposed to be cancelled on Sep-tember 3.

Jasmine is accused in all the 11 money laundering cases � led by the Anti-Cor-ruption Commission on October 4 last year for embezzling around Tk30bn from Sonali Bank Ruposhi Bangla branch.

On August 18, the ACC lodged 11 petitions with the High Court, seeking cancellation of the bail in all the cases.

Later on September 1, the High Court in response to the ACC pleas issued a rule for three weeks, asking the Dha-ka deputy commissioner and Jasmine why the bail should not be cancelled.

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Zahurul Haque had granted Jasmine the bail for a Tk100,000 bond and stipulating the condition of depos-iting Tk1bn every month.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

BNP surveys point to election landslide Poll conducted by Tarique � nds theparty likely to get 261 seatsn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP is sure of winning 261 of the 300 seats in the next parliamentary elec-tions if it is held free and fair, according to three surveys conducted at the in-struction of BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman.

The remaining 39 constituencies will see candidates of the ruling Awami League-led alliance winning, according to the surveys. However, there will be neck and neck � ght between candi-dates of the two alliances.

A BNP leader who is also a close aide of Tarique told the Dhaka Tribune the surveys found there were con� icts among the leaders of the BNP in over 50 constituencies and if the con� icts could be resolved, the party could win a few more seats.

The main opposition party is now preparing its list of candidates for 255 seats, leaving 45 seats for its alliance partners, he said.

Based on the surveys, the oppo-sition party is also preparing a list of probable candidates of the ruling Awa-mi League-led alliance and trying to � -nalise its candidates to make sure who would do better against the probable ruling alliance candidate, said party insiders who are aware of the surveys.

The result of one of the surveys says the opposition alliance will do well in Rangpur region, which is known as the stronghold of Jatiya Party and where BNP fared poorly in recent elections.

Tarique Rahman gave instructions for conducting three surveys and the party is now gathering the results of the surveys and working to � nalise a list of candidates on the basis of the � ndings.

Candidates who were found win-ner in all the three surveys would be given the party’s nomination for the next general elections, a highly placed source close to Tarique said.

According to the survey results, the PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

InternationalUnited States orders diplomats out of Lebanon amid fear

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Traditional boat races – nouka baich – are held every year on the Buriganga River. These races have taken place on the rivers of Bangladesh for centuries. The photo was taken from the Basila Bridge yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

3G spectrum auction todayn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The much-awaited auction for 3G spectrum is going to be held today, with four leading mobile phone operators – Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Airtel – participating with a view to advancing their networks with the modern technology.

Although Bangladesh hit the list as a 3G country through Teletalk’s commercial test run on October 14 last year, this time the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Com-mission (BTRC) is going to open up the real test of modern telecom services.

The auction is scheduled at 10am at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.The four operators attended a mock auction yesterday

afternoon at the auction venue.After the mock event, BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose

said: “So far we are satis� ed with the auction procedure and the mock auction. As it is the biggest ever auction in the country, we are very excited.”

The operators would pay the money immediately after winning a bid and the BTRC would award the licence, he told the Dhaka Tribune.

In terms of money, the auction would hit billion dollars – so far the country’s biggest auction, said TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of the Association of Mobile Telecom Op-erators of Bangladesh (Amtob).

The � oor price of one Megahertz (MHz) spectrum has been � xed at $20m and the call starts from $21m. So far 40MHz spectrum is available for auction with 10MHz re-served for Teletalk, the price of which is $220.5m. If the BTRC can sell 40MHz spectrum to the private operators, its price will rise to at least $888m.

“No doubt it is the highest ever auction in terms of PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

PADDLES AND WAVES

3G spectrum auction today PAGE 1 COLUMN 1money in the country. Earlier, the 2G licence renewal fee of the mobile op-erators was the highest, amounting at Tk70bn,” barrister Tanjib-ul Alam, a legal consultant of the four operators, said.

The operators have to pay 60% of the total price of spectrum assignment as the � rst instalment within 30 days – before October 8 – and the remaining 40% by the next 180 days.

The BTRC chairman, however, ex-pects that the operators will pay the money earlier as they then have to start rolling out the network.

At yesterday’s mock auction Grameen-phone bid for 15MHz in 2135-2150 band while others bid for 5MHz each.

“What you saw here today may not happen tomorrow during the real auc-tion,” Ziad Shatara, CEO of Banglalink, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Teletalk will get the 3G licence on 2150-2160MHz band, but it will have to match with the highest price � xed by the auction today.

The country’s only CDMA service provider Citycell also applied for 3G li-cence but it � nally did not deposit the $20m of earnest money as it could not arrange the fund.

It requested the regulator to give some more time for depositing the earnest money, but the BTRC rejected its appeal.

From ‘closed door’ to open auctionIn an unprecedented move, the tele-com regulator had disagreed from the very beginning of the auction process to allow journalists’ presence in the auction room.

The parliamentary standing com-mittee on the post and telecommunica-tion ministry questioned the decision at its meeting on August 29.

Finally, however, the regulator has agreed to allow journalists for the sake of maintaining transparency.

Teletalk secure licenceTeletalk has already secured the 3G licence as it has been operating the services.

It got 10MHz spectrum according to the guideline and started commercial test run on October 14 last year. Cur-rently it runs 3G only in six districts – Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Chit-tagong, Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar.

Muzibor Rahaman, managing di-rector of Teletalk, said they had some special plans for 3G which they would launch the day after the auction. l

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, September 8, 2013

22 years’ wait for promotion endsn Tribune Report

Ten senior information o� cers of Press Information Department, who were recruited as 9th batch o� cers of BCS, have been promoted as deputy prin-ciple information o� cer (DPIO), after waiting 22 years in service.

The information ministry issued the promotion order on Thursday and the promotions were given according to the recommendations given on Sep-tember 3 by the departmental promo-tion committee (DPC).

The o� cers promoted as DPIO were senior editors of the Department of Film and Publication (DFP), Mohsina Begum and Nasima Aktar, director of DFP, Nurun Nahar Nazma and direc-tor of Bangladesh Film Archive, Aktar Hossain, who was also the director of Department of Mass-Communication.

All of them were working in the same posts earlier as current charge o� cer.

Bangladesh Film Sensor Board’s Secretary Abdur Rahim, Public Rela-

tion O� cer Subodh Chandra Dhali of the education ministry, Senior Infor-mation O� cer (Protocol) AFM Aminul Islam of PID, Senior Information O� cerBidhan Chandra Karmakar of Rajshahi regional information o� ce and Depu-ty Director Anwara Begum of National Mass Media Institute were also promot-ed as DPIO.

DPIO Shachindra Nath Haldar was promoted to senior DPIO by the minis-try. A separate order was issued in this regard the same day.

AFM Aminul Islam and Subodh Chandra Dhali told the Dhaka Tribune that they joined the civil service as of-� cers of the 9th batch (1984) of BCS. They were promoted as senior infor-mation o� cers in 1991.

According to the ministry o� cials, most batch mates of the promoted of-� cers who had joined as admin cadres were now working as joint secretaries. The o� cials alleged that the promo-tions of the o� cers were delayed due to negligence of high o� cials. l

Housewife burnt to death over dowryn Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj

A Kishoreganj housewife was burnt to death on Friday, allegedly by her hus-band and sister-in-law who had de-manded dowry money from her.

The incident occurred in the Purba Katiarchar area under Sadar upazila of the district.

The deceased, Toma Adittay, 21, was a second year honors’ student at Kishoreganj Gurudayal Government College, and the mother of a one year old child.

Police arrested three suspects, in-cluding the husband of the dead. The arrestees were Toma’s husband Jhutan Chandra Bishwas, her mother-in-law

Kolpona Ranee Bishwas and sister-in-law Sita Ranee Bishwas.

Locals said on Friday morning an argument began over dowry, and at one stage of the argument Toma’s hus-band and her in-laws set Toma on � re around 10am after dousing her body with kerosene.

After hearing her cries for help, lo-cals rescued Toma and rushed her to Kishoreganj Adhunik Sadar Hospital. She was then shifted to Dhaka Medi-cal College Hospital’s burns unit as her condition deteriorated. She succumbed to her injuries around 5pm.

Toma’s father Tapan Kumar Adit-tay said his son-in-law demanded ahuge amount of money as dowry be-

fore marriage, and he had been paying the dowry money to the son-in-law by installments since his daughter’s mar-riage.

He added that in recent times his son-in-law had been demanding Tk100,000 more as dowry money, but he refused to pay the money.

Later, “they started torturing Toma as we refused to give them the money,” added Tapan Kumar.

He � led a murder case with Kishoreganj sadar police station under the Women and Children Repression Act, accusing � ve individuals, includ-ing the husband.

However, the victim’s husband and his relatives denied the allegations. l

Eyewitness to murder beaten to death in Ctgn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

An eyewitness to murder was beaten to death yesterday evening by a gang of killers at Boro Hatia village in Lohagara upazila under the port city.

The deceased was identi� ed as Md Arman, 25, who witnessed his mater-nal uncle’s murder, said police sources.

AKM Emran Bhuiyan, assistant su-perintendent of police (ASP) of Satka-nia circle in Chittagong range, said a gang of criminals beat Arman to death in the area around 6:30pm.

Arman was the witness to the murder

of his maternal uncle who was hacked to death in last December in the area over land dispute, said the police o� cial.

Later, he was rushed to Chittagong Medical College Hospital where the on-duty doctors pronounced him dead, said Jahirul Islam, sub-inspector of CMCH police outpost.

After the murder of his uncle, Ar-man was being continuously threat-ened by his uncle’s killers, said family members of the deceased.

A case was lodged with Lohagara police station in this regard. Police are trying to nab the killers, said the ASP. l

Dhaka protests Felani killing PAGE 1 COLUMN 6He suggested that the foreign ministry should take up the issue with the Indi-an government and convey the senti-ments of their neighbour so that an ap-peal can be lodged in India challenging the verdict.

“We would contact the Indian Hu-man Rights Commission and request that it participate in the process of ap-peal,” the national rights body chair said.

Meanwhile, Law Minister Sha� que Ahmed said aggrieved persons should appeal to the appropriate authorities if they consider that a judgment has not been fair.

Killings on the frontiers are in no way acceptable and both countries should work together to stop border killings, he said.

“We expected justice, but it has not been re� ected in the judgement of the Felani killing case,” Home Min-ister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir said while talking to journalists after laying a foundation stone at the Nageshwari thana building in Kurigram yesterday.

He said the killing of Felani is a shameful and tragic incident for both Bangladesh and India.

A � ve-man BSF General Security Forces court headed by DIG (Commu-

nication) SP Trivedi conducted the hearings from August 13 at Sonari BSF camp, near the North Bengal town of Cooch Behar.

BSF’s 181 Battalion constable Amiya Ghosh, the prime accused in the case, could not be found guilty due to ‘in-conclusive and insu� cient’ evidence against him, the court found.

BSF o� cials said the verdict was given Thursday night and the proceed-ings of the GSF court were forwarded to the Director General for � nal approval.

Felani was shot dead by BSF while she was trying to climb over the barbed wire fence along the Anantapur border point in Kurigram on January 7, 2011. She was on her way home to Bangla-desh from India.

When her clothes became entan-gled in the barbed wire, the BSF � red at her. A photo showing Felani hanging from the fencing was widely circulated by the media, sparking protests and prompting Indian rights groups to de-mand justice. Amidst protest and crit-icism, BSF enquired into the incident and found one of its members to be in-volved. That member was acquitted in Thursday’s judgement.

In response to media reports on the judgement, the spokesperson for the

High Commission of India in Dhaka said the trial by a BSF Court of Inquiry was the � rst step in a quasi-judicial process.

The due process of law, which has provisions for appeal and review by the competent authority, will be followed, they said.

Justice will be delivered to those who are found guilty, they added.

Meanwhile, Indian rights body Ban-glar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) questioned the trial process of Felani killing.

Issuing a statement, MASUM said: “How and why was BSF Jawan Amiyo Ghosh accused alone? Who accused him and why? Which procedure was followed to accuse Amiyo Ghosh? What sort of investigation was conducted by the court formed by the security force? Why did the court not allow civilian people in the court to witness the trial?”

MASUM also questioned if the BSF had been given the legal right to shoot a person who crossed the border with-out attacking it.

“What is the concrete decision of the court? Was it a killing for self-de-fence?” it said in the statement.

The rights body urged the Indian home ministry to investigate the inci-dent properly. l

Hall-Mark chief not followingbail condition PAGE 1 COLUMN 6ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan yes-terday told the Dhaka Tribune: “The accused is yet to pay the money. As per the law, her bail was supposed to be cancelled on September 3.”

He also said the bail should not be given to the Hall-Mark chairperson considering the gravity of o� ence.

“Bearing in mind the gravity of the o� ence, the court should not have giv-en her bail since she was involved with money laundering o� ense,” he said, adding that such bail was always “ille-gal” at the High Court and the Appel-late Division.

A Dhaka court on June 26 ordered the freezing of all 260 bank accounts of the various Hall-Mark concerns, on the basis of several petitions � led by the ACC.

Jasmine earlier secured bail on Feb-ruary 7 which was later rejected by two di� erent courts following ACC peti-tions.

She was arrested in a joint drive of Rab and ACC in Manikganj on October 18 last year.

Her husband and Hall-Mark Man-aging Director Tanvir Mahmood, and

General Manager Tushar Ahmed are currently in jail along with several oth-er Sonali Bank o� cials.

Jasmine’s lawyer Kazi Md Nazibul-lah Hiru told the Dhaka Tribune that he did not have any idea why the money was not deposited. “Depositing money or not is her decision. I am not autho-rised to comment on the issue,” he said yesterday.

“As per my knowledge, Jasmine Islam through her counsel barrister Ra� que-Ul Haque has challenged the bail condition terming it inappropri-ate.”

While appealing for the bail on Au-gust 4, Hiru assured the court that Jas-mine would pay the amount of Tk1bn regularly to the head o� ce of Sonali Bank.

Asked, he avoided answering the question.

The cases say Sonali Bank’s Ru-poshi Bangla Hotel branch had lent Tk36.06bn to Hall-Mark Group, T and Brothers, Paragon Group, Nakshi Knit, DN Sports and Khanjahan Ali, violating banking rules.

Of the amount, Hall-Mark alone al-legedly swindled Tk26.86bn. l

BNP surveys PAGE 1 COLUMN 3BNP may not win in 39 seats, which are Nilphamari 1, 2, 3; Rangpur 1, 2, 3, 5; Kurigram 3; Lalmonirhat 1, 2; Gaibandha 2, 3, 5; Naogaon 6; Sirajganj 1; Pabna 4; Jessore 6; Magura 1; Narail 2; Bagerhat 1; Khulna 1; Barguna 1; Patuakhali 3; Piro-jpur 2; Tangail 1, 8; Jamalpur 5; Sherpur 1; Mymensingh 1; Kishoreganj 1; Farid-pur 4; Gopalganj 1, 2, 3; Madaripur 1, 2, 3; Shariatpur 1; and Khagrachhari.

The BNP is � nalising names of three candidates for each seat on the basis of the results of the three surveys. It has selected one candidate each for 150 constituencies, but it has also kept two alternative names as backup.

If the � rst nominated candidate fails to participate in the polls, the second one will get party nomination, and by chance the second one fails, the third candidate will get the party ticket.

The evaluation of the survey says for � nalising nominations the party will consider the constituencies of the can-didates: for example, if there are two up-azilas in one constituency, the candidate will be picked considering the size of his/her area and the number of voters.

Tarique Rahman had the surveys conducted by private � rms with the help of some of his close aides. His personal assistant Mia Nuruddin Opu coordinated the survey. However, the names of the private � rms could not be con� rmed.

BNP Standing Committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that Tarique had conducted surveys in the past, too, and the party had bene� ted from those sur-veys. l

Central bank opposes plan for new specialised bank PAGE 1 COLUMN 3said Project Director Prosanta Kumar Roy, who is also joint secretary of the LGRD and cooperatives ministry.

The bank would not, however, pro-vide any credit facility. “It will o� er savings and other deposit services, in addition to remittance services,” he said.

The “Ekti Bari Ekti Khamar” proj-ect was launched in 2009, aiming to set up a farm at every house to create income and livelihood for rural people by combining human resources with micro-savings.

As the � rst phase of the project end-ed in June and the next started the fol-lowing month, the local government and rural development (LGRD) and co-operatives ministry prepared the draft, outlining the formation of the Palli Sanchay Bank.

The project has so far included 1m families and the draft on the bank pro-poses increasing the number to 2.5m by the end of the second phase in June 2016.

The main objectives of the bank in-clude making every house in a village a centre of income generation through maximum utilisation of natural and

human resources, encouraging mi-cro-savings and providing credit with soft service charges.

Tahsina Khatun, one of the nine fe-male directors of the Grameen Bank, said they did not know anything about the government plan of setting up a specialised bank. She said by the move the government would “steal” the Grameen Bank.

She also said they would raise the is-sue at their board, asking if the govern-ment could set up a bank in the fashion of the Grameen Bank.

Former Bangladesh Bank gover-nor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed said there was no need for another specialised bank since di� erent NGOs, especially Grameen Bank and Brac Bank, had al-ready been providing loans to people in rural areas.

The number of branches of the ex-isting commercial banks should be increased to help rural areas develop, he pointed out; the specialised banks in rural areas also needed to increase their capacity.

He said: “I do not think the govern-ment has conducted any survey on set-ting up a new specialised bank in rural areas.” l

Tk20m extorted PAGE 1 COLUMN 1Khairul Kabir Khokan, president of theBNP district unit, said stern actions would be taken if anyone was found to be involved in extorting money.

“All district and upazila level mem-bers of the party are donating money to make the party chief’s rally a grand success,” Khokan claimed.

District BNP Secretary Tofajjal Hos-sain accused the ruling Awami League and its “agents” of using propaganda against the opposition by spreading ru-mours about extortion.

This is the � rst time in 18 years that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is attend-ing a rally in Narsingdi.

The district township, meanwhile, have adopted a festive look ahead of the mass rally, scheduled to be held at the Shishu Park grounds in the Bashail area on the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway.

Organisers have erected as many as 500 archways and gates at di� erent locations in the town, beginning from Bhulta all the way to the rally venue. l

June 24, 2008 BTRC started forming a guideline for the upgraded service

October 14, 2008 The guideline was placed in a commission meeting

January 18, 2009 The � rst date set for the spectrum auction but was delayed be-cause of post-general election changes in commission and policy.

July 23, 2012 The commission formed a new draft guideline from scratch

October 14, 2012 Teletalk launches 3G services on a commercial test-run basis

February 12, 2013 The MoPT � nalised and approved the 3G licence guideline

February 14, 2013 The new auction date was declared for June 24, 2013

June 24, 2013 The auction was deferred to July 31, 2013 as the mobile operators had tax issues with the NBR

July 31, 2013 The scheduled date was revised again and set to September 2

August 29, 2013 Four mobile operator – Grameenphone, Airtel, Banglalink and Robi – submitted earnest money to the BTRC, Tk20m each

September 2, 2013 The auction date was revised for the third time

September 8, 2013 The � nal date set for the 3G spectrum auction though there were requests from operators to delay the auction

ROAD TO 3G AUCTION

BTRC consultant Abdullah Ferdous coordinates a mock auction for 3G spectrum at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Youth hurt inBSF shootingn UNB

A youth was injured when the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) opened � re on him at the Molani border point, Har-ipur upazila, Thakurgaon Friday night. The victim was Anwar Hossain, 26, of from Moradhar village.

Major Kazi Alamgir Hossain, opera-tion o� cer of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Battalion 30, said a BSF patrol team from Sripur camp opened � re on a group of 15 cattle traders, who tried to enter into Indian territory. Anwar was left injured. Fellow traders took him to a local clinic. l

Teacher accused of raping studentn Tribune Desk

A teacher has been accused of raping a student of tenth grade in a case � led against him at Thakurgaon’s Baliadangi upazila.

The victim’s uncle � led the case against Abdur Rashid, an assistant teacher at Baliadangi Lahiri Dwi-Mukhi High School, on Friday night, according to bdnews24.

Meanwhile, students of the upazila’s various schools formed a human chain at Baliadangi intersection yesterday to press for the teacher’s arrest and threatened of tougher measures if the culprit was not arrested.

Rashid used to teach at a coaching centre near the school. The case � led said Rashid, on Wednesday, asked the victim to come at the coaching centre by 6am and the other students by 7am. Upon her arrival, he molested the stu-dent and forcibly took obscene photos of her in his phone. He then forced himself on her, threatening to release the photos on the internet.

The other students due at 7am shortly learned of the incident as they found the girl in tears.

OC Asaduzzaman of Baliadangi po-lice station said the teacher could not yet be arrested as he was on the run. l

News 3DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, September 8, 2013

Fire breaks out at Ashulia Jute Milln Kailash Sarkar

A � re broke out at a jute mill at Bolibhadra, under Ashulia police sta-tion, on the outskirts of the capital yes-terday.

Mobilising O� cer Farid Uddin of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, said the � re broke out at Supreme Jute Mills Limited around 5:30pm.

“Six units of � re-� ghters from DEPZ in Savar and Kaliakoire in Gazipur with their joint e� orts fought to douse the � re,” said Farid. The � re was brought under control around 7pm, he added.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Zahirul Islam said the � re originated in a storehouse at the factory.

He said although there were not many workers in the factory at the time, it could not be ascertained imme-diately whether there were any casual-ties. l

BNP believes in transfer of power through a democratic process: Fakhruln Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Rejecting accusation by the Awami League that the BNP wanted to create a political crisis so that a “third force” could assume power, yesterday acting secretary general of the party Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said they be-lieved in the transfer of power through a democratic process.

Fakhrul was speaking at a discus-sion at the Institution of Engineers when he said: “BNP is a liberal dem-ocratic party and we believe in the transfer of power through elections.

However, for free and credible polls there is no alternative to a non-parti-san government.”

He said the ruling party is hatching a conspiracy to stay in o� ce permanent-ly by holding elections under its own power.

“The government has amended the constitution, ignoring people’s aspira-tions and expectations. This constitu-tion is not the Bible or the Qur’an. The government has to understand that the constitution is there to meet people’s aspirations and expectations,” he said as he urged the government to take im-

mediate steps to resolve the political stando� .

“In just a few weeks, it will be clear what the government wants. While many questions have been raised about the course of action BNP will take; we want to make it clear that the opposi-tion will do whatever is required of us.”

The BNP leader urged engineers to unite for a tough movement to demand that elections are held under a non-par-tisan government.

He went on to say that the govern-ment didn’t take a � rm stance to ensure a fair trial was held for killing Felani. l

BNP does not know the language of democracy: PMn Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yester-day claimed that the main opposition BNP did not understand the language of development, progress or democracy.

“BNP only knows killings and loot-ings. When the government is working for the development of the people, BNP is killing people in the name of move-ment. This party does not understand the language of development as it does not want people’s progress,” Hasina said while addressing a ruling party rally on the grounds of Azimpur Girls High School in the capital.

The rally was organised by Lalbagh and Kotwali units of Awami League.

Hasina, who is also AL president, said her government wanted people’s development, and continuation of de-velopment required continuation of the government. “For the sake of de-velopment, cast your votes for ‘boat’ once again,” Hasina said, referring to her party’s election symbol.

The PM said her government’s de-

velopment activities included increase in electricity, gas and water supplies, steps to free the country from militan-cy and terrorism, progress in law and order, reduction in tra� c jams and sur-plus in food production.

At the start of her speech, the prime minister recalled her days at the Azim-pur school where she was once a stu-dent. She also made an announcement to nationalise the institution, which was established in 1957.

Hasina bitterly criticised BNP and described the party’s alleged misrule during previous tenures.

“BNP’s basic character is to kill peo-ple and indulge in corruption. When this party was in power, it tried to an-nihilate the then opposition Awami League. When Khaleda Zia was prime minister, she whitened her black mon-ey and her sons smuggled money out of the country,” Hasina said, adding that her government had recovered the smuggled money.

She also alleged that BNP had taken up the path of destruction to create ob-

stacles to the development activities of the incumbent government.

Referring to the mayhem commit-ted during Hefazat-e-Islam’s Dhaka blockade programme on May 5, the AL chief claimed that activists of BNP, Ja-maat-e-Islami and Hefazat set � re to a large number of holy Qurans, although those parties were doing politics using the name of Islam.

“Those who can burn Qurans, how will they take care of Islam?” she asked.

Before joining the rally, Hasina in-augurated or laid foundation stones for a number of development projects in the Lalbagh-Kotwali area, including a 10-storied women’s hostel at Eden College, Azimpur sub-station, Midford sub-station and Prosonna Podder Lane government primary school.

Lalbagh unit AL president Abul Hasnat presided over the rally, which was also addressed by party leaders Matia Chow-dhury, Nurul Islam Nahid, Mahabub-ul-Alam Hanif, Mofazzal Hossain Chowd-hury Maya, Quamrul Islam, Mostofa Jalal Mohiuddin and Fazley Noor Taposh. l

Convicted war criminals should not be allowed to appeal: NHRC chairmann Tribune Report

National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman yesterday said convicted war criminals should not be given the opportunity to appeal against their sentences.

“As far as I know, no other country in the world has given such an opportunity to war criminals,” Mizanur told a discus-sion on “trial of war criminal and propa-ganda”, organised by the Sector Com-manders’ Forum at a city auditorium.

Mizanur said Bangladesh � rst for-mulated the war crime law in 1973, and the present international war crimes tribunal had set a new standard. He added that the country had made an example to the whole world by bring-ing the war criminals to justice.

Mizanur also said the war criminals were doing propaganda with the help of lobbyists, but the government had failed to appoint any lobbyist of its own.

Planning Minister AK Khandaker, who is also the chairman of the forum, presided over the discussion. Among others, it was addressed by M K Rah-man, additional attorney-general and tribunal prosecution team coordinator, and Tureen Afroz, a barrister. l

BSCIC AND TANNERIES TO SIGN MOU

Decision taken for fast relocation of Hazaribagh tannery units to Savarn Mohosinul Karim

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) is expected to be signed this week between Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) and the tanneries that are based in the capitals’ Hazaribagh, for fast relocation of the leather procession units to Savar, said shipping minister and chairman of the River Protection Taskforce, Shajah-an Khan yesterday.

According to the proposed MoU, tannery owners would have to submit lay-out plans to relevant authorities with next month.

The minister said: “Construction is ongoing of a common e� uent treat-ment plant (CETP) costing around Tk4.77bn, which will recycle waste from the factories to ensure the indus-try is environment-friendly.”

Speaking to reports during a visit to the site in Savar’s Hemayetpur where the tanneries will be relocated, he said work on the ETP and industrial area should be completed within a year.

The minister said he had instructed concerned authorities to � nish build-ing the CETP as soon as possible so tanneries can shift quickly and thereby save the rivers of Dhaka from further contamination.

According to the shipping ministry, the project to relocate the tanneries was initiated in 2003.

Implementation cost is estimated to be around Tk10.78b, as per an amend-ed proposal approved by ECNEC last August.

About 81hectares have been ac-quired for the leather processing indus-try, where 205 plots have already been allocated to 155 tanneries by BSCIC. l

Jute mill workers unrest in Khulna n Tribune Report

Jute mill workers of seven state-run jute mills in Khulna laid siege to admin-istrative buildings yesterday demand-ing the immediate release of the third installment of wage commissions.

The protesting workers said the author-ities had assured them they would be paid their due salaries several times but this has yet to occur, according to banglanews24. l

Ganajagaran Mancha activist stabbed n Ashif Islam Shaon

Unidenti� ed miscreants stabbed an activist of the Ganajagaran Mancha at Paribagh in the capital on Friday night.

Arif Noor, who is known for the slo-gans that he coined during the Shah-bagh protests, came under attack while he was returning home around 12am.

He is also a central committee mem-ber of Bangladesh Udichi Shilpi Gosthi, a pro-left cultural organisation.

A friend of the victim, Moniruz-zaman Akash, said a group of four to � ve people riding in a microbus intercepted Noor near the Paribagh over bridge. Sensing danger, Noor started running, but the criminals got hold of him and stabbed him several times in the head. Hearing his screams, some people from a nearby CNG station came to Noor’s aid

and the attackers � ed the scene. Noor was immediately taken to a lo-

cal private hospital and then to the Dha-ka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). On-duty doctors at the DMCH said he had sustained four stab injuries to the head and some injuries to his body.

Maruf Rasul, an activist of the Ga-najagaran Mancha, said the attackers

had not taken his mobile phone, wallet or computer tablet. “Before attacking, they teased him by chanting distort-ed Mancha slogans. So, we think they were Jamaat-Shibir men,” he claimed.

After visiting the victim at DMCH, Imran H Sarker, convener of Ganajaga-ran Mancha, said: “Ganajagaran activ-ists Rajib, Dwip and Tanmoy were mur-dered in the same style.”

“In all of those incidents, attackers hit the victim in the head with ma-chetes. We think it was pre-planned. Reactionary Islamist groups might be behind it,” he claimed.

Sirajul Islam, o� cer-in-charge of Shahbagh police station, said the vic-tim had not � led a complaint as of yesterday afternoon. “We went to the hospital and talked to Arif,” he added.

Protesting the attack, the Mancha

brought out a torch-lit vigil in the eve-ning from Shahbagh.

A group of bloggers and online ac-tivists began a protest at the capital’s Shahbagh intersection calling for the death penalty for war criminals as an immediate reaction to the lifetime pris-on term handed down to Jamaat lead-er Quader Mollah by the International Crimes Tribunal in February.

The protest, which came to be known as the Ganajagaran Mancha, later spread to various parts of the country fuelled by youths demanding capital punishment for all those con-victed of war crimes and a ban on Ja-maat-e-Islami, the party that opposed Bangladesh’s independence in 1971.

At least four activists of the Gana-jagaran Mancha have so far been killed in di� erent parts of the country. l

Hajj � ight starts amidst chaosn Tribune Desk

The Hajj � ight has started on a sour note with 163 pilgrims facing lot of hardship on the � rst day of the � ight as Biman’s Boeing 747 aircraft, leased from Nigerian airlines Cabo, did not get clearance from Saudi Arabia.

As its newly acquired Boeing did not get the requisite certi� cate, Biman � nally pressed into service its own Boe-ing 777 aircraft on Saturday for the inau-gural Hajj � ight. But as this aircraft has less seating capacity, 163 pilgrims could not board it, according to bdnews24.

The � rst Hajj � ights departed for Jeddah at 1.40 pm from Shahjalal In-ternational Airport. Biman’s Boeing 777 took o� with 419 pilgrims.

This � ight was supposed to operate with leased 747 aircraft, which has ca-pacity to carry 582 passengers.

However, Biman o� cials are blam-ing Cabo for this chaos.

The Boeing 747 leased from Cabo ar-rived on Friday evening. But as the air-craft did not get Saudi Arabian certi� cate, Biman could not start Hajj � ight with it, National � ag career Biman o� cial said.

Cabo was black listed by Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) for de-

frauding while renting an aircraft in 2009.Minister for Civil Aviation Faruk

Khan told journalists: “The aircraft did not get Saudi Arabian authority’s certif-icate. So we started the Hajj � ight with our Boeing 777 aircraft.”

Kevin Steele, the state owned Bi-man’s MD told bdnews24.com: “We did not get any response from any other airlines except Cabo, so we were com-pelled to take the aircraft from it.”

Regretting the unpleasant situation, he said: “We are going to keep on standby two of our aircrafts to avoid any chaos.”

On the other hand, many pilgrims did not get there emigration certi� -cates even after queuing for it for hours in Ashkona Hajj camp.

According to the Religious A� airs ministry, a total of 88911 pilgrims will take part in this year’s Hajj. Of them 1548 are going on government’s arrangement.

According to an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh, half of the pilgrims will be carried by Biman. And rest will � y by Saudi Arabian Air-lines and Nas Air.

Biman’s communication depart-ment sources said, pilgrims will be car-ried on 209 � ights. Of them 165 will be dedicated and 44 scheduled � ights. l

A mobile court removes advertisement banners from the police box adjacent to the National Press Club yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Ganajagaran Mancha activists bring out procession at the city’s Shahbagh yesterday evening protesting the assault on Arif Noor DHAKA TRIBUNE

Kamal Lohani visits Arif Noor at DMCH

Speci� c strategy needed to � ght climate change e� ects: Speakersn Abu Bakar Siddique

The country should have a speci� c strategy for tackling natural disasters and climate change vulnerability, as it has only limited resources to spend, professionals observed yesterday.

The measures for coping with risks and vulnerabilities should be based on priorities and indigenous knowledge to ensure the sustainability of the proj-ects, they added.

The views were expressed in a pro-gramme at the capital’s Brac Centre, marking the publication of a report titled “Building Resilience to Natural Disasters and Major Economic Crisis”, prepared by the United Nations Eco-nomic and Social Commission for Asia and the Paci� c (UNESCAP).

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distin-guished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said: “Every country has to devise a strategy of its own to cope with the situation, as their economic

strength and social factors are di� erent from others.” Bangladesh’s challenges are more complicated as it has limited resources to mobilise, he added.

Saleemul Huq, director of the In-

ternational Centre for Climate Change and Development at the Independent University, Bangladesh, said a signi� -cant amount of resources for disaster risk reduction and climate change ad-

aptation should be allocated at the lo-cal level to reduce vulnerability in the long-term.

He also gave Nepal as an example, saying the country allocates 80% of the resources allocated for climate change adaptation to local level initiatives in a bid to achieve realistic and permanent adaptation.

The local people’s knowledge and culture should be given priority before initiatives are taken to reduce vulner-ability, he added.

Dr Asaduzzaman, professional fel-low at the Bangladesh Institute of De-velopment Studies, said there should be better resource mobilisation for conducting research on the water and agriculture sectors, as these sectors are the most vulnerable in Bangladesh in terms of being at risk of disasters and climate change.

According to the UNESCAP report, massive investments made by the country to reduce disaster risks have

been able to curtail losses and damages over the past years.

Bangladesh su� ered losses of $4.3bn and $2.4bn from the cyclones of 1991 and 2007 respectively, while invest-ment in disaster risk reduction brought down losses from Cyclone Aila in 2009 to only $270m, the report added.

Ferdousi Begum, executive director of Development of Biotechnology and Environment Conservation Centre, said the government should also try to avoid manmade disasters which in-� ict huge losses in terms of money and ecology.

The cost of destruction of agricul-ture and ecology on the coastal belt – caused by the manmade disaster of shrimp cultivation – cannot be recov-ered with the pro� ts made from shrimp exports, she added.

The programme was organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue and moderated by Professor RehmanSobhan. l

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, September 8, 2013

City High LowDhaka 33.0 26.5Chittagong 29.4 26.0Rajshahi 35.0 26.7Rangpur 33.8 26.2Khulna 33.5 27.0Barisal 32.5 26.5Sylhet 32.3 23.5Cox’s Bazar 31.0 25.2

PRAYER TIMESFajar 4:26am

Sunrise 5:41amZohr 11:56pm

Asr 4:24pmMagrib 6:10pm

Esha 7:26pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Temperature unlikely to changen UNB

Light to moderate rain or thundershow-ers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at many places Chittagong, Sylhet, Dhaka, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Khulna and Barisal divisions until 6pm today.

Moderately heavy falls are also likely at places over the country, Met O� ce said. Day and night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country.

The sun sets in the capital at 6:10pm today and rises tomorrow at 5:43am.

Country’s highest temperature 35.0 degree Celsius was recorded yesterday at Rajshahi, Jessore, Chuadanga and Sayed-pur and lowest 22.0 degrees at Rangamati.

Highest and lowest temperature re-corded in some major cities yesterday were:

BU students agitate over Saoda’s murderBipul, Russell’s acquaintanc sent to jailn Tribune Report

Students of Barisal University (BU) formed a human chain in front of the City Centre yesterday demanding ex-emplary punishment of Russell Mia, the accused in the Saoda murder case.

Under the banner of the General Students Forum on Friday, they gave a 24-hour ultimatum for their demand and announced that they would block-ade roads and conduct hunger strikes if their demand is not met.

The body of Saoda, who was allegedly murdered by Russel on Thursday, was handed over to her guardians on Friday night after post-mortem examination at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

The body was brought to the BU premises at 8:45am yesterday so peo-ple could bid farewell before the body was taken to her native home.

Her Namaje Zanaja was held on the Barisal Zilla School grounds at 10am.

Students of BU observed a three-day mourning programme, marked with discussions and milad-mah� l, since Thursday after Saoda was hacked to death on the university campus by her lover, Russell, around 8:30am.

The � rst-year accounting student was taken to the intensive care unit of DMCH by air ambulance around 1:30pm where she succumbed to her injuries around 5:30pm.

Russell, 20, � ed the scene imme-diately after the attack and has been missing since.

According to campus sources, Rus-sell and Saoda were from neighbour-ing villages in Patharghata upazila of Barguna district and had been in a rela-tionship for at least a year.

On Thursday night, Saoda’s mother Shahida Begum lodged a murder case accusing Russell and two or three un-named others with the city’s Kotwali Police Station.

In the case lodged, Shahida alleged that Russell teased her daughter, but she did not state any previous relation-

ship between them.Police detained Bipul Baroi, a � rst

year student of the Accounting Depart-ment at BU and close friend of Russell, for interrogation.

Bipul was produced before a Barisal court on Friday. The court ordered he be sent to jail, rejecting his bail petition.

The arrestee denied any involve-ment in the killing and also alleged po-lice harassment in custody.

Bipul said Russell was his roommate and everyone knew about Russell’s love a� air with Saoda.

Bipul maintained contact over mo-bile phone with Russell before and af-ter the attack on Saoda, said Shakhawat Hossain, Barisal Kotwali police station o� cer-in-charge (IO).

Police recovered suicide notes which Russell had left in his dormitory in the Jordan Road area of the city before he ventured out to kill Saoda on Thursday.

In the notes, he also pinned blame on Saoda’s parents and her elder sis-ter’s husband whose acts of humilia-tion he said made him resort to murder.

Police are searching for two others, named as the ‘mother of Mahir and Na-sima’ in the letter, for encouraging him to commit the murder, said the IO.

Russell claimed in the notes that he decided to kill Saoda as her fam-ily members, knowing about the long-term physical and emotional relation-ship between the two, decided to allow him to marry her, but then later refused to allow the marriage.

He alleged, citing issues of poverty, that Saoda’s family also insulted him and his family members. In the letters, he said he would take his own life so he could be reunited with Saoda in the afterworld.

Saoda was laid to rest at her fam-ily graveyard in Hatempur village under Patharghata upazila yesterday afternoon.

She was the youngest daughter of Sha-hida Begum and Mawlana Abdur Razzak.

Saoda obtained GPA-5 in both SSC and HSC. She left behind her parents, an elder sister and a younger brother. l

Common safety standards agreed on for apparel factoriesn Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Participants at a workshop agreed to formulate common inspection stan-dards for electrical, � re and structural safety in readymade garment factories.

Government representatives, fac-tory owners, international buyers and rights activists agreed in principle to work with the North American Alliance and Accord to ensure guidelines are set as per existing local laws.

Convened by the labour ministry and International Labour Organisa-tion (ILO) the workshop also included

building and � re safety specialists.Mikail Shipar, secretary of labour

attended the Technical Workshop on Standards for Assessment of Building, Fires and Electrical Safety for Ready-made Garment Factories in Bangla-desh yesterday said a consensus was reached on the issue of building and workplace safety.

The labour secretary said: “We have decided in principle to work together with the Alliance and Accord on com-mon safety standards for Bangladesh’s ready-made garment sector.”

Several national and international

initiatives have been taken by the Euro-pean Union (EU), ILO and the govern-ments of Bangladesh and United States since the Tazreen Fashion � re and Rana Plaza disaster to improve safety standards in local garment factories.

“It is necessary to agree on a co-ordinated approach towards safety standards, assessment and inspection methodologies to avoid duplication of inspection of the same factory and to ensure that the same basic standards are applied to the extent possible,” said Srinivas Reddy, ILO’s country director.

It was also decided that a tripartite

committee assisted by ILO, will work in consultation with the Accord and the Alliance.

A Walmart representative said they are ready to provide � nancial assis-tance for, and accept a common stan-dard of � re and building safety.

Charge de’ a� airs Phillip Jacques, heading EU’s technical cooperation said: “The main objectives of today’s workshop are to prevent tragedies like Rana Plaza collapse and Tazreen Fash-ion � re,” but he cautioned that it will not “be so easy.”

Wazedul Islam of National Coordi-

nation Committee for Workers Educa-tion stressed the need for n RMG in-dustrial park and urged all factories in residential areas to relocate.

Scott Nova, executive director of Workers Rights Consortium said building safety inspections should be carried out by experts who are quali� ed engineers.

US Ambassador Dan Mozena said a detailed database must be prepared of those employed in the factories. He said for Bangladesh to win back GSP fa-cilities the factories must comply with the Action Plan to prevent disasters in the future. l

Unesco award for Dhaka Ahsania Missionn Tribune Report

Dhaka Ahsania Mission will be award-ed the Unesco Confucius Prize for Lit-eracy 2013 for its contribution to raising literacy rate in the countryside of Ban-gladesh.

The prize will be handed over in the Unesco Headquarters in Paris on the occasion of International Literacy Day. Chairman of Dhaka Ahsania Mission Kazi Ra� qul Alam will receive the prize tomorrow.

Executive Director of Dhaka Ahsa-nia Mission Dr Kazi Ehsanur Rahman con� rmed the matter. Dhaka Ahsania Mission won the prize for a programme named Ganakendra (People’s Centre), a platform for community learning among rural adults, especially women and girls.

The literacy prize is named in hon-our of the renowned Chinese philoso-pher Confucius, established in 2005 through the generosity of the Govern-ment of Peoples Republic of China. The prize consists of two monetary awards of US$20,000, a medal and a diploma awarded to each prize-winner, accord-ing to Unesco website. l

Workers of jute mills demand wages n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Workers of 10 jute mills in Chittagong staged demonstrations yesterday, de-manding the realization of an 11-point demand, which includes payment of their outstanding salaries.

The agitated workers blockaded the jute mills for an hour and brought out processions following protest rallies in front of the factories.

Sources said, thousands of workers from 10 jute mills gathered in front of their respective factories at around 9am and blocked the main entrances to press home their demands.

After an hour, the workers brought out processions after holding protest rallies.

Mahbubul Alam, convener of Patkol CBA Samannay Parishad, said an hour-long road blockade was planned for Sunday. l

Pending cases delaying teachers’ status upgradationn Tribune Report

The ministry of primary and masseducation cannot move forward with the work to upgrade the employee status of head teachers in government primary schools because of undecided court cases, o� cials at the ministry said.

The government is under pres-sure to change the status of primary head teachers but o� cials said it isnot possible until those cases, � led

by rival groups of teachers, weredecided � rst.

At a consultation meeting last week, Primary and Mass Education Minister Afsarul Ameen expressed his willing-ness in this regard.

“We really want to raise the em-ployee status of primary head teachers from class III to class II, but we cannot do so because of the pending cases. The whole process has been halted be-cause of this reason,” he said.

However, the ministry is currently

working to expedite the process, he added.

The teachers of government pri-mary schools have been agitating with this demand for quite a while now, and even issued an ultimatum for the min-istry to announce a decision in their fa-vour by September 15.

Abul Basher, president of Bangla-desh Primary Teachers’ Association, said their strike would include forced closure in all primary schools across the country. l

Enclave people demand execution of exchange dealn Our Correspondent, Lalmonirhat

Indian enclave people in Bangladesh territory yesterday submitted a memo-randum to the Prime Minister through the Lalmonirhat district commissioner demanding implementation of enclave exchange deal.

Earlier, members of Bangladesh-India Enclaves Exchange Coordination Committee held a rally at Tin Bigha Corridor where they demanded the implementation of the exchange deal as soon as possible.

The General Secretary of Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee (EECC) in Lalmonirhat district unit said the enclave exchange committee in In-dia also submitted a memorandum to their PM through Cooch Behar district magistrate yesterday.

Golam Mostafa, the general secretary of EECC of Bangladesh, said Bangladesh and India’s members of EECC have been plan-ning for further tougher programme to press home their demand. They will block-ade the UNO and DC office and will call for a hunger strike to press the demand. l

No electricity at half of polling centres EC approaches external donor for rechargeable lightsn Tribune Report

Half of the proposed polling centres for the upcoming 10th parliamentary elec-tion have no electricity connection.

Of the 44,000 potential venues, al-most 22,000 lack electricity. Deputy Sec-retary of the Election Commission (EC), Mihir Sarwar Morshed, said when there is no electricity the EC faces huge di� culties when counting votes and conducting oth-er activities at the end of the vote casting.

To avoid such inconveniences and to ensure smooth running of polls, the EC has written to a donor agency ask-ing for chargeable lights, EC o� cials said yesterday.

They predict that two of these lights will be required at each polling

centre for the smooth casting and counting of votes.

The commission would use the same polling centres that were used in the � fth parliamentary election, he said.

The EC would publish a list of the cen-tres 25 days ahead of the polls, he added.

In the past, the commission has sup-plied candles to the polling centres.

However, during the Rangpur City Cor-poration election the commission gath-ered chargeable lights from locals and these were given to the presiding o� cers for the counting of votes, said Sarwar.

EC o� cials said the next parliamen-tary elections would be held by Janu-ary next year, during the winter.

The commission has urged the do-nor agencies to deliver the chargeable

lights in time for the elections. The EC would direct 70 Returning

O� cers and 600 Assistant Returning O� cers to hire generators two days prior to the polls.

In the last parliamentary polls, the EC appointed 66 Returning O� cers and 587 Assistant Returning O� cers.

Senior Assistant Secretary of the EC, Farhad Hossain, said the commission would need at least 22,000 lights for holding the polls.

For the 10th parliamentary elections, the commission will set up approxi-mately 44,000 polling centres to accom-modate approximately 92 million voters.

Over 35,000 polling centres were set up for the ninth parliamentary polls while there were 81 million voters. l

144 Jamaat-Hefazat activists charge-sheetedn Our Correspondent, Feni

Feni police yesterday submitted a charge sheet against 144 activists of Hefazat-e-Islam and Jamaat-e-Islami, including Jamaat’s district Ameer AKM Nazem Osmani, for their alleged in-volvement in vandalising the district’s Shahid Minar in February. Police sub-mitted the charge sheet to the Senior Judicial Magistrate Court at Feni Sadar.

Investigation o� cer Md Kamal Hos-sain said Hefazat and Jamaat activists torched the banner of Ganajagaran Mancha and � oral wreaths at the dis-trict Shahid Minaron February 22. l

A passenger of a BRTC bus takes matters into her own hands at the Basila Bridge over Buriganga River, when it was congested by disorganised vehicle movement. The photo was taken yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

2. Interim governmentWhat do existing constitutional provisions stipulate about the election-time government? Actually, almost nothing. Except for Article 57 (3) making it mandatory for the PM to hold o� ce till a successor takes oath and 58 (3) stating there is no legal bar for Ministers to continue in their positions, the constitution is virtually silent on the modalities of an interim government.

This can be a boon than a bane. Given the lack of constitutional condi-tions on the size, scope, structure and power of the interim government, a legislation can be passed in Parliament or an ordinance promulgated by the President to determine the modali-ties of the interim government as per Article 124 or 93.

The proposed Interim Government Act or Ordinance could focus on the following areas:

Constitutional interim government, non-partisan characterThe constitution actually provides su� cient � exibility for both political parties to reach an amicable solution to resolve the political deadlock.

The AL announced earlier it may consider an all-party interim administration, while the BNP has made it known it will accept a non-partisan government without the caretaker terminology.

In reality then, both parties are not so far apart as it seems from their frequent rhetorical “war cries.” This opens the doors for imaginative solutions ranging from all-party elected cabinet to non-partisan technocrat advisors running the show during the election.

At this point, the only constitutional compulsion that may be a sticking point is the PM remaining in her position during the election period. This can be addressed by creative options like the PM going on leave delegating powers to a neutral minister, electing an alternative AL MP acceptable to the opposition or even nominating a neutral person in a vacated seat.

INTERIM GOVERNMENTDe� ning the interim period

Limiting the power of the PM

Determining size of the interim cabinet, including party representation

Specifying the role of the PMO Advisory council

Vesting some executive powers of the government with the election commis-sion (EC)

THE POLITICAL IMPASSE

A way out of the constitutional riddle

Long Form 5DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, September 8, 2013

Constitutional optionsPrime ministerAs per Article 57 (3), the PM is due to remain in o� ce till a successor is “entered upon o� ce(That is continue in her position as PM during the election).” There can be an alternative PM only if another MP commands majority support in the parliament.

One possible solution could arise if a parliament backs the president to appoint a neutral person, who can be elected as an independent MP from a vacated seat. Another option is to elect someone other than the PM from AL MPs who would be more acceptable to the opposition. However, past experience shows � nding someone acceptable to both sides is near to impossible making these alternative options impracticable.

MinistersArticle 56 (1) states it is possible to appoint neutral persons from outside Parliament as technocrats in the cabinet, provided they are not more than one-tenth of the total number of members. This means that if there are 20 Ministers in the election-time government, two could be non-partisan technocrats appointed on the basis of consensus. Both AL and BNP could nominate one person each for the technocrat slots.

A possible solution could be appointing an all-party Cabinet with 18 ministers from the AL and BNP, leaving two slots open for technocrats who would look after key portfolios critical to the election, such as public administration, Home A� airs and Defence. To make this option palatable to the BNP, AL should extend the olive branch allowing equal representation in the election-time government cabinet.

An additional layer of oversight can be added by appointing ten Advisers to the Prime Minister’s O� ce (PMO) under the rules of business to ensure the smooth and impartial functioning of key ministries during the election. Under the Rules of Business 3 (B) (i) (ii) and (iii), the PM could appoint ten fresh neutral technocrat PMO advisers to assist the cabinet after

asking the incumbent advisers to resign from their positions. AL and BNP could nominate � ve advisers each in a system that would not be much di� erent from the role currently played by Advisers in running key ministries.

There can be a number of variants to the above solutions, such as a smaller cabinet with space for one neutral minister or a larger cabinet with three neutral ministers. Another option could be the ten advisers running key ministries under the PM without any ministers in the cabinet.

Can a neutral minister or adviser serve as the PM? In this respect, article (56) is explicit that the PM needs to be a MP commanding majority support in the parliament. Though the constitution appears to be inflexible about the eligibility to be PM, there is nothing barring the PM remaining in her position but going on leave during the election and delegating key responsibilities other cabinet members.

General electionArticle 72 (3) states parliament will stand dissolved � ve years after its � rst seating unless dissolved earlier by the president upon advice from the PM as per 72 (1) and 57 (2). Given the � rst seating of the ninth parliament was on January 25, 2009, it is due to automatically expire on January 24, 2014.

The Constitution o� ers two options for a time-frame before or after the dissolution of the Parliament to hold the general election.

As per Article 123 (3) (a), the automatic dissolution of the Parliament on January 24, 2014 would mean that general elections would need to be held ninety days before that date. This means the election must be held between October 25, 2013 and January 24, 2014.

However, this time-frame is not set in stone as Article 123 (3) (b) o� ers an alternative to hold elections ninety days after the dissolution of the parliament provided it is dissolved by the president upon advice by the PM before its automatic expiry on January 24, 2014. In

this respect, 72 (1) and 57 (2) stipulates that the president can dissolve the parliament on the basis of written advice from the PM.

If the president dissolves the parliament following the PM’s advice even on January 24, the general election can be within ninety days after that date i.e. January 25 to April 25, 2014. Section 123 (4) allows for emergency situations to extend the time-frame by a further ninety days i.e. Potentially until July 24, 2014. If the latter option is pursued, the government can continue business as usual for its full � ve year term without the need for any constitutional amendment.

The government should consider the option o� ered by 123 (3) (b) to not only complete its full � ve year term but also allow time for a consensus between political parties. Moreover, holding the elections after the dissolution of the parliament will create a more-level playing � eld.

Members of parliamentAccording to article 66 (1) (c), the seat of a MP is vacated upon dissolution of parliament. This means if the election takes place under article 123 (3) (a) with an automatic dissolution of parliament on January 24, 2014, general elections would be held while the parliament is still legal and valid. This means outgoing MPs would continue in their positions till the expiry of their terms.

As per article 66, there is no legal bar for incumbent MPs to seek reelection. Given the inevitable in� uence of current MPs over the local administration, this may hinder a level-playing � eld during the general election.

However, this can be avoided by holding the general elections after the parliament is dissolved as per article 123 (3) (b). In this alternative scenario, elections would take place after January 25, 2014 when the MPs would cease to hold office. This would undoubtedly create a more level-playing field as candidates from both parties would be on equal footing instead during the election period.

It is recommended a solution to the current impasse would be, as follows:

The government completing its � ve years term followed by the President dissolving Parliament upon the advice of the PM on January 24 before its natural expiry

Holding general elections between Janu-ary 25 to April 25, 2014, allowing a level-playing � eld for all candidates following the dissolution of the Parliament

The PM convening a dialogue between the AL and BNP for negotiations on the modalities of the interim government to enacted as a legislation or ordinance before January 2014

Agreement on the PM remaining in o� ce as per constitutional compulsions, but with limited executive powers and option of going on leaveAgreement on appointing neutral technocrat ministers and advisers as per the constitution and rules of business

respectively for a non-partisan character of the interim government

Appointing an all-party elected cabinet of 20 members with equal representa-tion of from the AL and BNP

Appointment of two neutral Ministers as technocrats in the cabinet to be in charge of public administration, Home A� airs and Defense with one nomination each from the AL and BNP;

Appointing ten neutral advisers to the PM for oversight and support to the interim government with � ve nomina-tions each from the AL and BNP

Empowering the EC to take key election-related decisions, including transfer of public o� cials and deployment of security forces from one month prior to the election

Signing a ‘Charter of Peace’ between the AL and BNP with a commitment to shun violence pre, during and post-election

A WAY OUT

n Ifti Rashid and Saiful Haque

There is much consterna-tion over the constitutional impasse ahead of the next general election. The politi-cal stalemate on the elec-

tion-time government has pitted the two main parties: the Awami League (AL) and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), against each other, while fringe leftist and rightist groups are trying to � sh in the troubled waters.

In May 2011, the Supreme Court declared the constitutional provision for a caretaker administration during general elections as illegal. Though the verdict kept the option of holding the next two general elections under a caretaker government, in June 2011 Parliament passed the � fteenth amendment scrapping the system altogether.

1. The riddleCaretaker government is not a foolproof mechanism

The caretaker government system itself was not above controversy, as losing sides did not hesitate to raise al-legations of rigging and manipulation

despite the “neutral” character of the election-time government.

In 1996 and 2008, BNP claimed that the results were “manipulated and stage-managed” by the caretaker administration, while the AL alleged “crude rigging” in 2001. Faith in the caretaker government system by either side has been dependent on their performance in the general election. Moreover, the caretaker system raised the possibility of politicising both the judiciary and civil society.

Political impasse: Déjà vu? Currently, the AL wants to hold general elections under an elected administration, while the BNP is demanding restoration of the non-party caretaker government. There is a sense of déjà vu with the tables turned as the AL was campaigning for a caretaker government but the BNP rejected it as unconstitutional pre-1996.

In the past, political deadlocks have brought great cost to the nation. We seem to be moving in the same direction again as local and foreign investment is slowing down and the spectre of political violence looms large.

The political deadlock is heightened this time around because of the high stakes perceived by both sides. It is not only a battle of the alliances, but the survival of rival families at the helm of their respective parties is in question.

A resounding victory by the AL or BNP will con� rm the line of dynastic succession in both parties, while an embarrassing defeat may lead to calls for leadership change and reform.

The War Crimes Tribunal, including its fallouts in the form of Shahbagh and Hefazat, have made the political environment even more hostile. The crisis has been exacerbated further by politicized institutions, including a weak and divided civil society that has been unable to take up its earlier role as a trusted mediator.

A silver lining?Though doomsayers predict the dead-lock will hinder the democratic process, the silver lining is that the constitution allows enough � exibility to � nd a cre-ative solution to the satisfaction of both sides: an elected government under a constitutional framework (AL) with a non-partisan character (BNP).

The viable options are:

3. Our solution:

4. The priority

Article 123 (3) (b) holds the key for a consensus between the AL and BNP to hold free, fair and credible elections. It is possible to delay the election by the government completing its full term within the existing constitu-tional framework without the need for amendments, allowing extra time for a constructive dialogue to resolve the current political deadlock.

If there is no consensus between both parties on the interim government, there will be disastrous consequences for the nation. It is imperative for both sides to see this

bigger picture as we cannot a� ord further violence.

Moreover, in the past, failure to reach consensus has invited extra-constitutional adventurism. The two parties must surely not let their rivalry allow them to forget they stand to su� er the most if the democratic process is hindered?

It is time to break the constitutional riddle. After all, elections are not an end in themselves, but a means to the end of representing the wishes of the people. l

Ifti Rashid is a political and security analyst and Saiful Haque is a governance and development consultant.

While the above compromise formula may not be acceptable to both sides at this point, these options should be put on the table for negotiations between the AL and BNP. It provides for an interim government of a non-partisan character within a constitutional framework. There is no alternative that can overcome deadlock but immediate dialogue between both parties, along these type of lines.

Any negotiated constitutional solu-tion would be contingent upon some concessions from either side. BNP would have to concede on the incum-bent PM remaining in o� ce with limited powers in return for the AL accepting neutral ministers/advisers and dissolv-ing the Parliament prior to the general election. Other issues, including del-egating responsibilities of key ministries or empowering the EC, can be ironed out once the major issues are resolved.

In the past, political deadlocks have brought great cost to the nation. We seem to be moving in the same direction again as local and foreign investment is slowing down and the spectre of political violence looms large

SYED

ZA

KIR

HO

SSA

IN

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, September 8, 2013

Child marriage bid foiled in Kishoreganjn Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj

Local administration in Kishoreganj foiled an attempt to marry o� a 12-year-old girl on Friday. The incident took place at the Laksmia Konapara village in Pakundia.

Locals said Subarna Akter, a class six student of Pakundia Pilot Adarsha High School and daughter of Nazrul Islam, was about to be married to Anwar Hos-sain, son of Islam Uddin of Dordora vil-lage, when a mobile court led by Upa-zila Nirbahi O� cer Md Mahmud Hasan intervened.

The marriage attempt was foiled suc-cessfully and both sides involved with the incident were � ned Tk20,000 each. A seven-day imprisonment was ordered in case of failure to pay the � ne. l

15 hurt in students’ clash n Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari

At least 15 students were injured in a clash between Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP) and Bangali Chhatra Parishad (BCP) at Mohalchhari College yesterday.

Following the incident, the college authority suspended classes sine die.

Mohammad Zobairul Hoque, OC of the Mohalchhari police station, said the clash started from an argument over using a classroom.

He added that PCP members wanted to use a classroom for holding a meet-ing, but BCP members would not allow them to use it.

Raton Smrity Chakma, president of Mohalchhari upazila PCP, said three PCP members had been injured in the clash while Shahdat Hossain, president of BCP Mohalchhari upazila unit, claimed that 12 BCP members had been injured.

Abu Shahed Chowdhury, upazila nirbahi o� cer of Mohalchhari, said the academic activities at the college would resume after the issue was re-solved. l

Kids attend classes on porchn Tribune Report

Students of the Tarashail Government Primary School in Comilla have been attending classes on a porch as the rick-ety classrooms are too risky to sit in.

The roofs of the classrooms are tilted; ceiling plasters are falling down, while the � oors rooms are � lled with rain water.

In this situation, teachers have been taking regular classes on the porch of the school situated at Konkapyt union of Chauddagram in Comilla.

Saymon, a student of the school, told banglanews24.com that: “Our classroom is tilted, and that is why we are studying on the porch. A few minutes’ rain � ll up the � oor of our classroom.”

Motahar Hossain, upazila nirbahi of-� cial, said they abandoned two rooms of the school building as they were too risky.

Head teacher of the school Nurul Islam Mozumder said: “Four among six classrooms in our school are aban-doned. The two remaining classrooms are not in good condition either.”

He added that they had sent a writ-ten application to the local education o� cial for repair the building, but no action had yet been taken. The school was established in 1936. At present it has 407 students. l

104 sued over Satkhira Matsyajibi Dal leader murdern Tribune Report

A case was � led against 104 BNP men in connection with the killing of Satkhira district unit Jatiyatabadi Matsyajibi Dal President Aman Ullah Aman.

Aman’s mother Fatema Khatun � led the case against 54 identi� ed and 50 unidenti� ed men yesterday.

District BNP President and ex-MP Ha-bibul Islam was made the prime accused.

District Jubo Dal President Abul Hasan Hadi is also among the accused, reports UNB.

Police arrested seven including Sadik Anwar Chhoto, general secretary of Ashashuni upazila Matsyajibi Dal.

Aman, 44, was killed and 15 peo-ple were injured in a clash between two factions of BNP in Satkhira town around 11am on Friday over taking seats on the podium during a meeting.

On Friday night, BNP suspended all activities of its Satkhira unit committee following the internal clash.

The party also formed a three-mem-ber committee to look into the inci-dent. l

46 rescued at Benapole while being tra� cked to Indian Tribune Report

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh rescued 46 people, including six wom-en and one child, while they were being tra� cked to India through the Sadipur border point on Friday night.

Acting on a tip o� , a team of BGB 26 raided the house of an alleged human tra� cker, Razzak, around 10pm and rescued the people, said Abdul Man-nan, in-charge of ICP Camp, Benapole.

The victims are residents of di� erent parts of Dhaka, Narayangnaj, Gopalganj and Faridpur districts, reports UNB.

Sensing the presence of BGM mem-bers, other tra� ckers managed to escape.

Sumon, a victim, said they each had paid the human tra� ckers TK30,000 as they promised to provide them with good jobs in India.

Later, they were handed over to Benapole Port police. l

9 hurt in BCL-Shibir clash in Jessoren Tribune Report

At least nine people were injured in a clash between the activists of Bang-ladesh Chhatra League and Islami Chhatra Shibir at Navaran under Shar-sha upazila in Jessore on Friday.

Police said several hundred activ-ists of Chhatra Shibir, student front of Jamaat-e-Islami, gathered in front of the local Jamaat o� ce on the Kazirber Road in Navaron area for bringing out a procession around 9:30am.

At the same time, a group of activists of Chhatra League, student body of the ruling Awami League, brought out a pro-cession from the nearby Navaron Bazar.

At one stage, Shibir activists hurled crude bombs at the Chhatra League procession, triggering a clash that left nine people injured from both sides.

The injured were rushed to sev-eral hospitals and clinics. Police later brought the situation under control and arrested four Jamaat-Shibir activ-ists in this connection, reports UNB. l

Poor consumer response frustrates Kurigram jute growersn Tribune Report

Jute farmers in Kurigram are not get-ting fair prices for their produces at the local markets despite a good harvest, because of poor consumer response.

Tosha variety jute is now selling at Tk1,000 per maund (40kg) on an aver-age, which accounts for a loss of Tk300-Tk400 in terms of production cost.

Farmers say the government procure-ment centres are partly to blame for the situation since they have not yet started buying jutes from them, reports UNB.

An informed source at the Depart-ment of Agriculture Extension (DAE)

in Kurgram said jute was cultivated on 24,000 hectares of land in nine upazilas of the district this season, up against an output target of 250,000 bales.

The production of the golden � bre was “as planned” and there were ample supplies to the local markets; but farm-ers’ expectations were yet to meet the reality, the source added.

A number of growers in the Jatrapur Haat, a popular jute bazaar at the Sadar upazila of Kurigram, could be seen sit-ting with large piles of raw jute unsold with no buyer around.

Farmer Haider Ali of Nunkhaoa came to the bazaar with 30 maunds of

jute; but he said buyers were showing “little interest” in bargaining, let alone buying.

The seven government-controlled jute procurement centres that operate in Kurigram, under the aegis of Bang-ladesh Jute Mill Corporation, have a combined outstanding loan of over Tk50m from last year.

There had been no allocation from the government to pay o� the loan or buy new jute from the farmers, sources said.

Rois Uddin, manager of Platinum Jute Mills which has an outstand-ing loan of Tk15m, said they had been

struggling with loan repayments as the government had not yet provided any allocation in this regard.

“Buying jute from the farmers can be a long way o� if we do not have enough money to repay our loans � rst,” he added.

O� cials at the Crescent, Star, Latif Bawani and Eastern purchase centres shared similar stories.

Chief Jute Inspector Abdul Qader said the quality of jute this year was not “satisfactory” because of the drought; but the situation would improve in fa-vour of farmers when all the centres start procuring jute from them. l

Lives of evicted sex workers at stake as hospitals refuse healthcaren Tribune Report

The lives and livelihoods of sex work-ers in Madaripur cathouse have be-come endangered following an attack led by the Islamist Group Islahe Qawmi Parishad in association with the locals.

The August 26 attack on the brothel rendered at least 500 sex workers shel-terless, besides bringing them untold su� erings.

Even, the in� rmaries in the district refuse them essential treatments being subjected to wrath of the attackers who have warned the hospital authorities not to give any healthcare to the sex workers, according to banglanews24.

Seeking anonymity, a sex worker said she had sustained severe head in-juries after being hit by lethal weapons during the attack.

“I did not get any treatment for the injury from hospitals or anywhere else,” she said.

The sex worker added that the as-sault left at least 30-40 of her fellows critically injured.

Some of them have had their ears

and noses cut when attackers whisked their ornaments away.

Another injured sex worker, on con-dition of anonymity, said, “When we went to the Madaripur Sadar Hospital, the authorities turned us out.”

“I have been starving over the past four days. The attackers looted � ve to-las of gold ornaments and money from me,” she said.

Dr Lelin was in charge of the hospi-tal’s emergency ward when the attack took place on August 26, said a source.

He said, “No new patient was admit-ted to the emergency ward on the day of the attack. I was on duty from morn-ing to 2pm.”

The attack on sex workers was a clear violation of a High Court order.

On August 26, the HC had extended its stay for one year which allowed them to reside in the brothel.

An investigation into the attack found that the local administration had � led cases against unidenti� ed per-sons.

A case was � led against 2,500 people for obstructing police from performing

their duty.Besides, the administration showed

arrest of 17 people although none of them was involved in the assault.

Moreover, Monir Hujur and Badal Hujur – activists of the Islamist group – have been reportedly roaming around in broad daylight.

Mahmuda Akhter – district Women A� airs O� cer – was tasked with inves-tigation into the incident, but she had allegedly joined hands with the attack-ers.

Mahmuda said, “I am with the ma-jority. No one wants a brothel in the city centre.”

Many parents complained that their children allegedly took drugs in the whorehouse, she said, adding that most objections went against the sex workers.

Asked about the o� cer talking in fa-vour of the attackers, Nur-e-Rahman, deputy commissioner, said: “I have not heard that the o� cer is supporting the attackers; but I will look into the matter.”

A government o� cer cannot stand beside the o� enders, he added. l

Drug peddlers kill Imam of a mosque in Barisaln Tribune Report

Two people, including an Imam of a mosque, were killed in separate inci-dents in Barisal on Friday and Thurs-day night.

Hafez Parvez Mahmud, 31, was the Imam of the Uttar Dhamura Jam-e-Masjid. He was originally a resident of Dhamura village in Uzirpur.

He was killed allegedly by some drug addicts, police said.

O� cer-in-charge of Uzirpur police station Anwar Hossain said they had recovered the body from a Khanqah, a place for spiritual gathering, of Maijb-handari (a school of thought of Su� sm, based on the holy Qur’an and Sunnah) on Thursday night, reports UNB.

The OC said Hafez used to raise his

voice against drug abuse, peddling and immoral activities. He used to speak against the vice in his sermons. Ag-grieved by his active role against drug abuse, a group of peddlers strangulated him to death at the Khanqah, Anwar suspected.

Abdullah, brother of the Imam, lodged a murder case accusing Mith-un Mia, a local drug addict and afollower of Maijbhandari, in thisconnection.

Police sent the body to Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital morgue for post mortem.

Meanwhile, Barisal Airport police recovered the body of a night guard of a � sh enclosure from a ditch in Sona Miar Pol area in the city about 11:30am on Friday.

Shahidullah, in-charge of Airport police station, said the victim was Su-mon Nath, 29, night guard of the � sh enclosure.

Police � led an unnatural death case with the police station and sent the body to the Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Med-ical College Hospital for autopsy. l

Students of three schools in the Kowkhali area of Pirojpur district go to school everyday by crossing the rickety bamboo bridge over the Julagati canal. The concrete brigde over the canal was destryoed by Sidr in 2007 FOCUS BANGLA

Jute growers in the northern district of Gaibandha are � nding it hard to sell their produces at satisfactory prices although it is the peak season. Many growers are forced to sell jute at prices even lower than the cost of production. Many are taking their products back home from the Fulchhari bazar FOCUS BANGLA

C&B river port in Faridpur in desperate staten Tribune Report

The C&B river port in Faridpur is beset with various problems including lack of maintenance and extensive damage caused by riverbank erosion, which port insiders say are “impacting it negatively.”

Although a revenue income of Tk5m in the current � scal year may suggest oth-erwise, there has been little development of the port’s infrastructure and service standards in recent years, reports UNB.

Businessmen are increasingly losing interest in what was once a highly-re-garded and busy river port because of its present state. Most of their problems are related to shipment and transportation.

During a visit to the port, tonnes of rice, jute, onion and other agricultural produces were seen being shipped to di� erent districts through the port. There were cements from Narayanganj, coal and sand from Sylhet and fertilis-ers from Chittagong.

Sources said, the port would do well with three more pontoons to transport goods and more depots to store them.

Mahfuz, master of a cargo that brought government-owned fertilisers

from Chittagong, said he could not un-load the fertilisers even after ten days of wait because of these problems.

The portside shore is also not suit-able for the passage of a ship or cargo, he added. “The port authorities should take initiatives to improve the navigability of the river.”

Oliur Rahman, who brought cement from Narayanganj, said he had been in the port area for the last four days and could not yet unload because of short-age of pontoons.

Port cashier Abdur Razzak said there was not su� cient space in the river port to store goods. In addition, roads con-necting the port were in poor condition.

“Drivers often complain about the roads being too muddy or bumpy for their vehicles, especially during the monsoon,” he added.

Jalil sheikh, who took lease of the port, said they had to struggle to trans-port goods through the port because of various problems.

When contacted, Deputy Commis-sioner of Faridpur Moinuddin Ahmad said the higher authorities would be in-formed of the situation very soon. l

He used to speak against the vice in his sermons. Aggrieved by his active role against drug abuse, a group of peddlers strangulated him to death at the Khanqah

Metro 7DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, September 8, 2013

Awami League hoardings now in Barisal n Our Correspondent, Barisal

After plastering the capital and other divisional cities with party advertise-ments, the promotional billboard spree of Awami League (AL) has now hit the streets of Barisal.

With only few months until the next parliamentary elections, a number of billboards and digital banners have sprung up at various locations across the city, lauding the achievements and suc-cess stories of the present government.

The billboards do not carry the name of any organisation but rather picture Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Raha-man and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

and call for the re-election of the AL.With the tagline ‘‘Unnoyoner An-

gikar, Dharabahikata Darkar” (to ful� ll the pledge of development, continui-ty is essential), these billboards draw comparisons between the performanc-es of the ruling AL and the opposition BNP parties’ performances, including statistical data.

Nikhil Chandra Das, chief execu-tive o� cer of Barisal City Corporation (BCC), said BCC leased the advertising spaces to people in return for taxes. BCC is not concerned whether some-one else leases the space from the leaseholders afterwards, he said.

Advocate Afzal Hossain, Barisal

city’s Awami League secretary, made no comment when asked about the erection of the eye-catching billboards and banners on spaces leased to others.

He said: “Every entity has the right to demonstrate its own accomplishments. You may contact the information de-partment and concerned authorities if you have any queries regarding this.”

The district information o� ce and concerned departments, as well as the leaseholders of the billboards, all re-frained from making any comment.

Lawmaker Mojibor Rahman Sarwar, who is also the city BNP president and central organising secretary, strongly condemned the campaign.

He said: “Pulling o� such a campaign by hijacking billboards strongly indi-cates that the AL government has failed and has become totally isolated from people. In BCC elections, it was proven that billboards may not change their fate or help win the hearts of people.”

He also questioned the funding sources behind the campaign and said the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) should look into the matter.

The billboards and banners are most-ly placed near the entrance point of the city and along the city’s highways, in-cluding Bibir Pukur Par, C and B Road, Rupatali, Nathullabad, Dapdapia, Shi-karpur and Doarika Barisal Airport. l

Rab and police take over community centres in the capitalPublic denied access to 19 venues occupied by security forces for setting up community outposts and campsn Kailash Sarkar

Law enforcement agencies are occupy-ing at least 19 out of 48 community cen-tres in the capital for extended periods, depriving public access to these venues.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) have ex-panded security operations on several occasions, when they set up security outposts and camps at various commu-nity centres.

Local government-run community centres are generally used for weddings and other celebrations. Many also have li-braries and gyms for local residents’ use.

These facilities face closure when the venues are rented by security forces.

Some public education institutions, such as school buildings, especially in the older parts of Dhaka, are being used as a� ordable alternative venues. Many of the private venues are too expensive and beyond the means of those with limited � nancial resources.

Sources said two community cen-tres that were built by the erstwhile Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) before it was split into two, are in the corpora-tions’ possession.

The continued occupation by the se-curity forces has aggravated the situa-tion, which is already exacerbated by a general lack of a� ordable venues.

“Some of my fondest memories are of the Shayesta Khan Community Cen-tre in Lalbagh, which was like a second home to me. It had a music centre, a li-brary and a gymnasium,” said

Reyadul Islam, a resident of Lal-bagh, remembers playing in the yard of the community centre, and celebrated various social and cultural events, but ever since a Rab 10 camp was set up at the venue several years ago, it has been inaccessible to locals. The Lalbagh local

said: “Now we cannot even step into the premises, let alone use the venue for any event. It is really pathetic.”

Residents of other areas also ex-pressed discontent about public ven-ues occupied by security forces.

However, fearing repercussions if security forces learned of their iden-tities, many sought anonymity when

they spoke about the situation, while others declined to comment.

In May last year, residents of Mugh-da demonstrated on the streets to protest against a move by police to es-tablish an outpost at A� r Uddin Com-munity Centre, a public venue in the area. However, their objections were never heeded by the authorities.

Social aspectsRights activist Sultana Kamal, chair-person of Transparency International Bangladesh’s (TIB) board of trustees, said if people were unable hold social, cultural and religious celebrations be-cause they were barred from access to public venues, amounted to more than breach of civic rights.

She said: “Security is an import-ant issue, but the importance of peo-ple-to-people contact in society cannot be overestimated,” but the two issues should not be “mutually contradicto-ry” according to her.

The TIB chairperson said the gov-ernment needed to � nd suitable places for external wings of security forces

and allowed the public to use commu-nity centres for purposes they were in-tended for.

She warned that communities with little or no access to healthy social ac-tivities and cultural interactions could easily turn to social ills and criminal activities.

Response of authorities concernedInspector General of Police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandker said they were “forced” to use somepublic community centres, giv-en the importance and necessity ofestablishing a network to ensure public safety.

He said: “We are using the venues because there is no other alternative. But this is just a temporary arrange-ment. As soon as we � nd suitable plac-es, the community centres will be freed for public use again.”

Rab Director General Moklesur Rahman said several alternative sites had already been selected wherebuildings would be constructed for Rab’s use.

However, sources said neither the police nor Rab had any “immediate plan” to vacate the community centres they had been occupying.

There are plans to build at least 101 new police stations, 21 of those in Dha-ka, at the cost of nearly Tk82bn. But none of the police outposts located in the community centres were included in the list of new stations.

Among the community centres occupied by the police are venues in Lalbagh, Bongshal, Wari, Mug-da, Basabo, Dhanmondi, Rupnagar,Khilgaon, Kamrangirchar and Pallabi. While centres in Azimpur are being used by Chawkbazar police stationand two community centres in Lal-bagh are being used for residentialpurposes.

Rab occupied venues include cen-tres in Sher-e-Banglanagar, Moghbazar, Tikatuli, Khilgoan, and one in Moham-madpur’s Tajmahal Road. l

FOUL ODOUR RUINS HATIRJHEEL’S CHARM

Reckless motorcycling blamed for deathsn UNB

The aesthetic beauty and wide-open spaces of the Hatirjheel project are gradually losing their charm due to odours seeping out from the contami-nated lake.

The area draws a large number of city dwellers who converge on the area to hang out and have fun with friends and family, but the stench from the wa-ter is interfering with their fun.

The main objectives of the 302 acre project were to connect the eastern and western parts of Dhaka, reduce tra� c jams, and improve Dhaka’s drainage and sewerage system, but it has turned into a hotspot for people to pass good times.

The project, which includes a beau-tiful lake, stylish bridges and beautiful � owers on road islands, has been draw-ing the crowds since it opened to public in January this year.

Lately however, the odour emanat-ing from the lake has become trouble-some as sewerage water makes its way into the lake.

Talking to this correspondent, many visitors said they could not stay there for long because of the bad smell com-ing from the lake.

Jannatul Ferdous, a visitor taking a stroll at the site with family members, told the UNB correspondent that it ex-tremely di� cult to pass time there due to the bad smell from the polluted wa-ter.

When asked about this issue, Abdul Mannan, acting chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (Rajuk), said the odour in the water at Hartirjheel was a technical problem. The stench is the result of sewerage water entering the drains which connect the Panthapath, Sonargaon and Rampura areas, he said.

Salauddin Ahmed, another o� cial at Rajuk, said they were setting up

pumps near the Rampura Bridge to re-move the odour.

“Once the pumps are in place, there’ll be no stench from the water.”

However, Abdul Matin, generalsecretary of environmentalist group Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon, saidit is not possible to clean the water at Hatirjheel simply by setting uppumps.

The water will spread more un-pleasant odours in the area when it is drained, he said, adding that sewerage water from the Kalabagan, Panthapath and Moghbazar areas is entering the lake.

Matin said when project began they suggested to the concerned authori-ties that they should set up an organic treatment plant to remove the odour from the water.

He said the water at Hatirjheel would be odour-free if an organic treat-ment plant was set up to replace the lake water.

Asked what steps they are tak-ing to remove waste from theHatirjheel area, Rajuk o� cial Salaud-

din Ahmed said the Dhaka North City Corporation would clean up thearea after work on the project is com-pleted.

He said Rajuk would recruit work-ers, including security personnel and cleaners, to look after the project site once the army completes it work next year.

Aside from the stench from the lake, reckless motorcyclists have also been troubling visitors to the area, with four people killed in recent times in the Hatirjheel area.

When questioned about the deaths, Salauddin Ahmed said they had writ-ten to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and asked the inspector general of po-lice to take preventive measures to pro-tect visitors to the area.

On January 2, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the Hatir-jheel-Begunbari integrated develop-ment project.

The 302 acre site stretches between Airport Road and Rampura to the Te-jgaon, Gulshan, Modhubagh, Moghba-zar, Badda and Ulan areas. l

RU appoints new registrarn RU Correspondent

Prof Entajul Haque was appointed as the registrar of Rajshahi University af-ter three days of resignation of the ear-lier registrar Prof Nazrul Islam.

Head of Chemistry department Prof Haque took his duty yesterday morn-ing, said a press release of the universi-ty administration.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the former registrar Prof Islam had resigned from

his post over intervention in his admin-istrative activities by Shahabuddin Sa-ker, personal secretary of the Vice Chan-cellor Prof Muhammad Mizanuddin.

The university administration granted his resignation, though, in a separate press release, refused his allegations against the VC’s personal secretary Sarker.

Prof Haque, earlier performed du-ties at the university as provost, direc-tor of Institute of Education and Re-search and syndicate member. l

A makeshift � sh market on the roadside in the capital’s Sat Masjid Road in Dhanmondi has becomes the reason of su� ering for pedestrians FOCUS BANGLA

A community centre in the capital’s Kalabagan area is being used as the local police station RAJIB DHAR

Sajjatuz Jumma elected as BTCCI presidentn UNB

The former senior vice-president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try, Sajjatuz Jumma, has been elected as the president of the Bangladesh Thai Chamber of Commerce and Industryfor the 2013 to2015 term, in its ninth annu-al general meeting held at the Dhaka Club yesterday.

Mohammad Shahjahan Khan and Mohammed Ali were elected assenior vice-president and vice-president respectively while Abu Rushd Tarek was elected as director ofadministration and M Enayet Husain as director of finance, according to a media release.

The Thai ambassador in Dhaka, Mad-urapochana Ittarong, was present as the

guest of honour at a lunch that followed the general meeting.

The other newly elected directors were Zafar Osman, Asif Ibrahim, Salahuddin Abdullah, MRA Taha, Mafiz A Bhuiyan, Charles CR Patra, Montchai Musicabud, Shahzada Hamid, M Salem Sulaiman and Munir Hossain.

Sajjatuz Jumma is an accomplished and widely acclaimed entrepreneur.

He owns several enterprises includ-ing Desh Electronics, Milling Engineers Limited, Desh Landmark Limited, and is the founder, chairman and director of Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited, and chair-man of Prime University and the PrimeFoundation.

Sajjatuz Jumma was also the former chairman of the Islamic Banks Consulta-tive Forum. l

Aside from the stench from the lake, reckless motorcyclists have also been troubling visitors to the area, with four people killed in recent times in the Hatirjheel area

Security is an important issue, but the importance of people-to-people contact in society cannot be overestimated

Cambodian opposition rallies as poll results loomThousands of Cambodians, many hold-ing lotus � owers symbolising peace, joined a mass protest in the capital Phnom Penh Saturday in a last-ditch bid to challenge Prime Minister Hun Sen’s disputed election win, AFP has reported. Around 20,000 demon-strators gathered in Democracy Park to demand a probe into allegations that voter fraud denied the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) victory in July’s election. The protest comes as � nal results due Sun-day are expected to end the CNRP’s legal options to overturn the result.

Man arrested in Buckingham Palace British police said on Saturday they had arrested a man who scaled a fence to get into Buckingham Palace, the o� cial London residence of Queen Elizabeth II, AFP reported. No members of the royal family were in the palace at the time of the incident on Monday night, said a spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police. The man was found “in an area currently open to the public during the day” and arrested for burglary, trespass and criminal dam-age, the spokesman said. A second man was arrested outside the palace in central London for conspiracy to com-mit burglary. Both men were bailed to return to a London police station at a later date. It was not immediately clear why the incident had only come to light � ve days after it happened.

Harmony Gold in talks to end S Africa strikeThe world’s � fth-largest gold producer Harmony Gold said it was holding talks on Saturday to try to end a crippling miners’ strike, after rival � rms reached deals with their workers, AFP has reported. The Na-tional Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said all its members except those employed by Harmony Gold had gone back to work after accepting wage increases of between 7.5% and 8%. A spokeswoman for Harmony Gold, which is South Africa’s second-largest gold producer, said miners at most of its operations remained on strike, and it was meeting unions for talks.

German firm ‘sorry’ for anti-immigrant condoms A German � rm has apologised for producing condoms marked with an o� ensive message that were used in a far-right party’s campaign against im-migrant births, Reuters has reported. The contraceptives, ordered by the youth wing of the National Democratic Party (NPD), came in black boxes bearing the slogan “For foreigners and certain Germans”. The activists sent them to lawmakers as a protest against “unchecked immigration.” The message had a particular resonance in the country where the Nazi party also tried to control childbirth, encour-aging people considered pure-blood Germans to breed, while going as far as sterilising people from other groups. The condoms came with a letter, telling lawmakers: “We are protesting against unchecked immigration and the result-ing population change in our country.

WORLD WATCH

Sunday, September 8, 20138 DHAKA TRIBUNE International

Australian motivational speaker, Nick Vujicic (top L), who was born without limbs, swims in a shark habitat while protected within a customised acrylic enclosure at Marine Life Park, Resort World Sentosa in Singapore on Thursday. Vujicic is in Singapore for a one-day event where he will be speaking to a 5,000 strong audience AFP

Nigerian army says 50 Islamists killed with air supportn Reuters, Maiduguri

Nigerian soldiers backed by air sup-port have tracked down and killed 50 members of Islamist sect Boko Haram in the sect’s northeastern stronghold, an army spokesman said on Saturday.

Suspected members of Boko Haram killed 20 people in two attacks late on Wednesday and early on Thursday in the villages of Gajiram and Bulabulin Ngabura in the northeastern Borno state, local residents said.

“Troops pursued the terrorists to their camps and with air support about 50 terrorists were killed in a shoot-out,” army spokesman Sagir Musa told reporters in Maiduguri.

Boko Haram, which wants to im-pose sharia law in northern Nigeria, and other splinter Islamist groups, are the biggest threat to stability in Africa’s top oil exporter. l

Pakistan releases seven Taliban prisonersn AFP, Islamabad

Pakistan on Saturday announced the release of seven senior Afghan Taliban � gures to help the peace process in war-torn neighbour Afghanistan, the foreign ministry said.

“In order to further facilitate the Af-ghan reconciliation process, Pakistan is releasing seven Taliban detainees namely Mansoor Dadullah, Said Wali, Abdul Manan, Karim Agha, Sher Afzal, Gul Muhammad and Muhammad Zai,” it said in a statement.

“These releases are in addition to 26

Taliban detainees released during the last year,” it added.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged Pakistan to help arrange peace talks between his government and the Taliban during a visit to Islamabad last week to meet with PM Nawaz Sharif.

Infuriated by the opening in June of a Taliban o� ce in Qatar, considered a precursor towards talks with US of-� cials, Karzai wants Pakistan to help open dialogue with the insurgents.

But analysts doubt whether Pa-kistan has the in� uence to force the Taliban to the negotiating table – and

the insurgents have publicly refused all contact with Karzai’s government, branding it a US puppet.

Karzai said Afghanistan expected Pakistan to provide “opportunities or a platform for talks between the Afghan High Peace Council” – Kabul’s o� cial negotiators – and the Taliban.

In the past, the Afghan leader has identi� ed Taliban havens in Pakistan as the main cause of increased violence in his country.

Afghan government peace negotia-tors accompanying Karzai earlier called for the release of the most senior Tali-

ban � gure detained in Pakistan, former deputy leader Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Afghan o� cials believe former de-tainees may talk to the Kabul govern-ment, although observers say there is little evidence those hopes have been realised. On Saturday, a senior member of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council Mo-hammad – Ismail Qasimyar – welcomed news of the Taliban � gures’ release.

“This is a goodwill and trust build-ing move by Pakistan and we hope the release of these Taliban prisoners could change the national reconciliation pro-cess in Afghanistan,” Qasimyar said. l

Obama says US can’t turn ‘blind eye’ to Syrian AFP, Washington

Inaction is not an option for the Unit-ed States in Syria after a horrendous chemical attack, President Barack Obama said Saturday as he urged holdout lawmakers to back a military strike.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to im-ages like the ones we’ve seen out of Syria,” Obama said in his weekly ad-dress.

“That’s why I call on members of Congress, from both parties, to come together and stand up for the kind of world we want to live in; the kind of world we want to leave our children and future generations.”

Congress reconvenes on Monday and Obama addresses the nation on Tuesday about a possible US response to the August 21 attack that left hun-dreds dead on the outskirts of Damas-cus.

But he has already acknowledged that convincing lawmakers to back mil-itary action against the Syrian regime would be a “heavy lift.”

According to a Washington Post sur-vey, 224 of the current 433 House mem-bers were either “no” or “leaning no” on military action as of Friday. A large number, 184, were undecided, with just 25 backing a strike.

The skepticism is also prevalent

among the people the lawmakers rep-resent.

A Gallup survey showed 51  % of Americans oppose strikes in Syria compared to 36  % in favor, a larger opposition ratio than before the on-set of the Gulf War of 1991, Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003).

In his address, Obama said he want-ed to strike Syria and punish President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

“This was not only a direct attack on human dignity; it is a serious threat to our national security,” he said.

“That’s why, last weekend, I an-nounced that, as commander in chief, I decided that the United States should take military action against the Syrian regime.”

Obama warned that if the United States fails to respond to the “outra-geous attack,” Assad could use the chemical weapons again, or they could fall in the hands of “terrorists.”

“It would send a horrible signal to other nations that there would be no

consequences for their use of these weapons,” he added.

However, Obama also stressed that he was asking for congressional authorization because “our country will be stronger if we act together, and our actions will be more effec-tive.”

As he faces a war-weary American public after more than a decade of pro-tracted con� icts in the Middle East and Afghanistan, Obama insisted that any US strike in Syria “is not an open-ended intervention.”

“This would not be another Iraq or Afghanistan. There would be no Amer-ican boots on the ground. Any action we take would be limited, both in time and scope -- designed to deter the Syr-ian government from gassing its own people again and degrade its ability to do so,” the president added.

“I know that the American people are weary after a decade of war, even as the war in Iraq has ended, and the

war in Afghanistan is winding down. That’s why we’re not putting our troops in the middle of somebody else’s war.”

The Senate is expected to vote next week on allowing a limited attack, while the House is due to vote within the next two weeks, according to Re-publican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. l

United States orders diplomats out of Lebanon amid fear n AP, Beirut

The State Department ordered all non-essential US personnel Friday to leave Lebanon, re� ecting fears that an Amer-ican-led strike on neighbouring Syria would unleash more bloodshed in this already fragile nation.

The Lebanese government’s top se-curity body held an emergency meet-ing and the Shia militant group Hezbol-lah put its � ghters on high alert.

Lebanon and Syria share a compli-cated history and a web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries. The upris-ing against President Bashar Assad has intensi� ed divisions among Lebanese religious groups as well as polarisation among those who support him and those backing the rebels � ghting to topple him.

Lebanon has become completely

consumed by the civil war next door. Car bombings, rockets, kidnappings and sectarian clashes — all related to the con� ict — have become increasing-ly common in recent months.

Hezbollah, a staunch ally of the Syrian regime, has sent its � ghters to back Assad’s forces against the rebels and the militant group’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has suggested he would to do everything it takes to save the regime.

Adding to the jitters, the US said it had instructed its nonessential staff to leave Beirut and urged private American citizens to get out of Leb-anon.

The step had been under consider-ation since last week, when President Barack Obama said he was contemplat-ing military action against the Syrian government for its alleged chemical

weapons attack last month that killed hundreds near Damascus.

In a separate advisory for Turkey, the State Department announced it would allow personnel at the Adana consulate — the closest diplomatic post to Syria — to leave their posts. It recom-mended that US citizens defer nones-sential travel to southeastern Turkey.

The department also renewed its travel warnings for Iraq and Pakistan, advising Americans of continuing security concerns in those two coun-tries. Both have been the subject of long-standing travel warnings.

About 150 people from several pro-Syrian political groups gathered for a peaceful protest near the US Embassy compound north of Beirut, pledging larger rallies in case of a US attack in Syria. Some of them had painted their hands red, symbolising blood. l

S Korean celebrity ‘marries’ gay partnern AFP, Seoul

A prominent gay rights campaigner and movie director “married” his partner in South Korea Saturday, where same-sex marriage is not legally recognised.

Kim Jho Gwang-Soo – a rare open-ly gay celebrity in conservative South Korea – and Kim Seung-Hwan held an outdoor ceremony in central Seoul, urg-ing the government to recognise their union. “Through this ceremony, we will become a married couple, regard-less of whether our marriage is legally accepted or not,” Kim told journalists.

Same sex marriage is illegal in South Korea and much of the population frowns upon homosexual relationships.

Hours before the ceremony between Kim, 48, and his partner, a handful of Christians brie� y occupied the site in an attempt to stop the celebration, engag-ing in shoving matches with the couple’s supporters. l

Philippine protesters hold anti-US placards and light candles during a prayer-vigil in Manila on Saturday. The protesters said the US should keep out of Syria AFP

A Lebanese supporter attends a demonstration against a possible military strike in Syria, near the US Embassy in Aukar, east of Beirut AP

In his address, Obama said he wanted to strike Syria and punish President Bashar al-Assad’s regime

Not interested in becoming Pakistan PM: Zardarin AFP, Islamabad

Outgoing Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said in comments aired Satur-day he will not seek to become prime minister and will instead focus on lead-ing his party after stepping down.

Zardari, co-chairman of the Paki-stan’s Peoples Party (PPP), vacates the presidency on Sunday and will be re-placed the following day by Mamnoon Hussain, a businessman and close ally of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The centre-left PPP ran a rudderless general election campaign earlier this year and was defeated by Sharif’s Paki-stan Muslim League-N.

“I will not try to become the prime minister of Pakistan,” Zardari, who de� ed expectations by holding onto power for a record � ve years, said in excerpts of an interview shown on Geo TV.

“In my view running the party is more important than becoming prime minister,” he added.

Zardari, a controversial � gure who was once sentenced to 11 years in pris-on for alleged corruption, said that as the presidency was the highest o� ce in Pakistan it would not be appropriate for him to become prime minister.

The widower of former prime min-ister Benazir Bhutto leaves o� ce with the country gripped by an energy cri-sis, a � agging economy and a Taliban insurgency. l

FEARLESS EMBRACE

Cambodian opposition rallies as poll results loomThousands of Cambodians, many hold-ing lotus � owers symbolising peace, joined a mass protest in the capital Phnom Penh Saturday in a last-ditch bid to challenge Prime Minister Hun Sen’s disputed election win, AFP has reported. Around 20,000 demon-strators gathered in Democracy Park to demand a probe into allegations that voter fraud denied the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) victory in July’s election. The protest comes as � nal results due Sun-day are expected to end the CNRP’s legal options to overturn the result.

Man arrested in Buckingham Palace British police said on Saturday they had arrested a man who scaled a fence to get into Buckingham Palace, the o� cial London residence of Queen Elizabeth II, AFP reported. No members of the royal family were in the palace at the time of the incident on Monday night, said a spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police. The man was found “in an area currently open to the public during the day” and arrested for burglary, trespass and criminal dam-age, the spokesman said. A second man was arrested outside the palace in central London for conspiracy to com-mit burglary. Both men were bailed to return to a London police station at a later date. It was not immediately clear why the incident had only come to light � ve days after it happened.

Harmony Gold in talks to end S Africa strikeThe world’s � fth-largest gold producer Harmony Gold said it was holding talks on Saturday to try to end a crippling miners’ strike, after rival � rms reached deals with their workers, AFP has reported. The Na-tional Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said all its members except those employed by Harmony Gold had gone back to work after accepting wage increases of between 7.5% and 8%. A spokeswoman for Harmony Gold, which is South Africa’s second-largest gold producer, said miners at most of its operations remained on strike, and it was meeting unions for talks.

German firm ‘sorry’ for anti-immigrant condoms A German � rm has apologised for producing condoms marked with an o� ensive message that were used in a far-right party’s campaign against im-migrant births, Reuters has reported. The contraceptives, ordered by the youth wing of the National Democratic Party (NPD), came in black boxes bearing the slogan “For foreigners and certain Germans”. The activists sent them to lawmakers as a protest against “unchecked immigration.” The message had a particular resonance in the country where the Nazi party also tried to control childbirth, encour-aging people considered pure-blood Germans to breed, while going as far as sterilising people from other groups. The condoms came with a letter, telling lawmakers: “We are protesting against unchecked immigration and the result-ing population change in our country.

WORLD WATCH

Sunday, September 8, 20138 DHAKA TRIBUNE International

Australian motivational speaker, Nick Vujicic (top L), who was born without limbs, swims in a shark habitat while protected within a customised acrylic enclosure at Marine Life Park, Resort World Sentosa in Singapore on Thursday. Vujicic is in Singapore for a one-day event where he will be speaking to a 5,000 strong audience AFP

Nigerian army says 50 Islamists killed with air supportn Reuters, Maiduguri

Nigerian soldiers backed by air sup-port have tracked down and killed 50 members of Islamist sect Boko Haram in the sect’s northeastern stronghold, an army spokesman said on Saturday.

Suspected members of Boko Haram killed 20 people in two attacks late on Wednesday and early on Thursday in the villages of Gajiram and Bulabulin Ngabura in the northeastern Borno state, local residents said.

“Troops pursued the terrorists to their camps and with air support about 50 terrorists were killed in a shoot-out,” army spokesman Sagir Musa told reporters in Maiduguri.

Boko Haram, which wants to im-pose sharia law in northern Nigeria, and other splinter Islamist groups, are the biggest threat to stability in Africa’s top oil exporter. l

Pakistan releases seven Taliban prisonersn AFP, Islamabad

Pakistan on Saturday announced the release of seven senior Afghan Taliban � gures to help the peace process in war-torn neighbour Afghanistan, the foreign ministry said.

“In order to further facilitate the Af-ghan reconciliation process, Pakistan is releasing seven Taliban detainees namely Mansoor Dadullah, Said Wali, Abdul Manan, Karim Agha, Sher Afzal, Gul Muhammad and Muhammad Zai,” it said in a statement.

“These releases are in addition to 26

Taliban detainees released during the last year,” it added.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged Pakistan to help arrange peace talks between his government and the Taliban during a visit to Islamabad last week to meet with PM Nawaz Sharif.

Infuriated by the opening in June of a Taliban o� ce in Qatar, considered a precursor towards talks with US of-� cials, Karzai wants Pakistan to help open dialogue with the insurgents.

But analysts doubt whether Pa-kistan has the in� uence to force the Taliban to the negotiating table – and

the insurgents have publicly refused all contact with Karzai’s government, branding it a US puppet.

Karzai said Afghanistan expected Pakistan to provide “opportunities or a platform for talks between the Afghan High Peace Council” – Kabul’s o� cial negotiators – and the Taliban.

In the past, the Afghan leader has identi� ed Taliban havens in Pakistan as the main cause of increased violence in his country.

Afghan government peace negotia-tors accompanying Karzai earlier called for the release of the most senior Tali-

ban � gure detained in Pakistan, former deputy leader Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Afghan o� cials believe former de-tainees may talk to the Kabul govern-ment, although observers say there is little evidence those hopes have been realised. On Saturday, a senior member of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council Mo-hammad – Ismail Qasimyar – welcomed news of the Taliban � gures’ release.

“This is a goodwill and trust build-ing move by Pakistan and we hope the release of these Taliban prisoners could change the national reconciliation pro-cess in Afghanistan,” Qasimyar said. l

Obama says US can’t turn ‘blind eye’ to Syrian AFP, Washington

Inaction is not an option for the Unit-ed States in Syria after a horrendous chemical attack, President Barack Obama said Saturday as he urged holdout lawmakers to back a military strike.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to im-ages like the ones we’ve seen out of Syria,” Obama said in his weekly ad-dress.

“That’s why I call on members of Congress, from both parties, to come together and stand up for the kind of world we want to live in; the kind of world we want to leave our children and future generations.”

Congress reconvenes on Monday and Obama addresses the nation on Tuesday about a possible US response to the August 21 attack that left hun-dreds dead on the outskirts of Damas-cus.

But he has already acknowledged that convincing lawmakers to back mil-itary action against the Syrian regime would be a “heavy lift.”

According to a Washington Post sur-vey, 224 of the current 433 House mem-bers were either “no” or “leaning no” on military action as of Friday. A large number, 184, were undecided, with just 25 backing a strike.

The skepticism is also prevalent

among the people the lawmakers rep-resent.

A Gallup survey showed 51  % of Americans oppose strikes in Syria compared to 36  % in favor, a larger opposition ratio than before the on-set of the Gulf War of 1991, Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003).

In his address, Obama said he want-ed to strike Syria and punish President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

“This was not only a direct attack on human dignity; it is a serious threat to our national security,” he said.

“That’s why, last weekend, I an-nounced that, as commander in chief, I decided that the United States should take military action against the Syrian regime.”

Obama warned that if the United States fails to respond to the “outra-geous attack,” Assad could use the chemical weapons again, or they could fall in the hands of “terrorists.”

“It would send a horrible signal to other nations that there would be no

consequences for their use of these weapons,” he added.

However, Obama also stressed that he was asking for congressional authorization because “our country will be stronger if we act together, and our actions will be more effec-tive.”

As he faces a war-weary American public after more than a decade of pro-tracted con� icts in the Middle East and Afghanistan, Obama insisted that any US strike in Syria “is not an open-ended intervention.”

“This would not be another Iraq or Afghanistan. There would be no Amer-ican boots on the ground. Any action we take would be limited, both in time and scope -- designed to deter the Syr-ian government from gassing its own people again and degrade its ability to do so,” the president added.

“I know that the American people are weary after a decade of war, even as the war in Iraq has ended, and the

war in Afghanistan is winding down. That’s why we’re not putting our troops in the middle of somebody else’s war.”

The Senate is expected to vote next week on allowing a limited attack, while the House is due to vote within the next two weeks, according to Re-publican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. l

United States orders diplomats out of Lebanon amid fear n AP, Beirut

The State Department ordered all non-essential US personnel Friday to leave Lebanon, re� ecting fears that an Amer-ican-led strike on neighbouring Syria would unleash more bloodshed in this already fragile nation.

The Lebanese government’s top se-curity body held an emergency meet-ing and the Shia militant group Hezbol-lah put its � ghters on high alert.

Lebanon and Syria share a compli-cated history and a web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries. The upris-ing against President Bashar Assad has intensi� ed divisions among Lebanese religious groups as well as polarisation among those who support him and those backing the rebels � ghting to topple him.

Lebanon has become completely

consumed by the civil war next door. Car bombings, rockets, kidnappings and sectarian clashes — all related to the con� ict — have become increasing-ly common in recent months.

Hezbollah, a staunch ally of the Syrian regime, has sent its � ghters to back Assad’s forces against the rebels and the militant group’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has suggested he would to do everything it takes to save the regime.

Adding to the jitters, the US said it had instructed its nonessential staff to leave Beirut and urged private American citizens to get out of Leb-anon.

The step had been under consider-ation since last week, when President Barack Obama said he was contemplat-ing military action against the Syrian government for its alleged chemical

weapons attack last month that killed hundreds near Damascus.

In a separate advisory for Turkey, the State Department announced it would allow personnel at the Adana consulate — the closest diplomatic post to Syria — to leave their posts. It recom-mended that US citizens defer nones-sential travel to southeastern Turkey.

The department also renewed its travel warnings for Iraq and Pakistan, advising Americans of continuing security concerns in those two coun-tries. Both have been the subject of long-standing travel warnings.

About 150 people from several pro-Syrian political groups gathered for a peaceful protest near the US Embassy compound north of Beirut, pledging larger rallies in case of a US attack in Syria. Some of them had painted their hands red, symbolising blood. l

S Korean celebrity ‘marries’ gay partnern AFP, Seoul

A prominent gay rights campaigner and movie director “married” his partner in South Korea Saturday, where same-sex marriage is not legally recognised.

Kim Jho Gwang-Soo – a rare open-ly gay celebrity in conservative South Korea – and Kim Seung-Hwan held an outdoor ceremony in central Seoul, urg-ing the government to recognise their union. “Through this ceremony, we will become a married couple, regard-less of whether our marriage is legally accepted or not,” Kim told journalists.

Same sex marriage is illegal in South Korea and much of the population frowns upon homosexual relationships.

Hours before the ceremony between Kim, 48, and his partner, a handful of Christians brie� y occupied the site in an attempt to stop the celebration, engag-ing in shoving matches with the couple’s supporters. l

Philippine protesters hold anti-US placards and light candles during a prayer-vigil in Manila on Saturday. The protesters said the US should keep out of Syria AFP

A Lebanese supporter attends a demonstration against a possible military strike in Syria, near the US Embassy in Aukar, east of Beirut AP

In his address, Obama said he wanted to strike Syria and punish President Bashar al-Assad’s regime

Not interested in becoming Pakistan PM: Zardarin AFP, Islamabad

Outgoing Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said in comments aired Satur-day he will not seek to become prime minister and will instead focus on lead-ing his party after stepping down.

Zardari, co-chairman of the Paki-stan’s Peoples Party (PPP), vacates the presidency on Sunday and will be re-placed the following day by Mamnoon Hussain, a businessman and close ally of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The centre-left PPP ran a rudderless general election campaign earlier this year and was defeated by Sharif’s Paki-stan Muslim League-N.

“I will not try to become the prime minister of Pakistan,” Zardari, who de� ed expectations by holding onto power for a record � ve years, said in excerpts of an interview shown on Geo TV.

“In my view running the party is more important than becoming prime minister,” he added.

Zardari, a controversial � gure who was once sentenced to 11 years in pris-on for alleged corruption, said that as the presidency was the highest o� ce in Pakistan it would not be appropriate for him to become prime minister.

The widower of former prime min-ister Benazir Bhutto leaves o� ce with the country gripped by an energy cri-sis, a � agging economy and a Taliban insurgency. l

FEARLESS EMBRACE

No justice on the border

The not guilty judgment in the Felani killing case is a travesty and does nothing to assuage concerns that India gives its BSF (Border Security Force) impunity to

shoot Bangladeshis. Felani’s case is well known because of the notorious cir-

cumstances in which she was shot by Indian border guards as she was attempting to travel back to Bangladesh in January 2011. The 15 year old was alive for four hours after being shot, but BSF guards refused to even provide water as she bled to death on a barbed wire fence. The trigger happy reputation of BSF guards is believed to have deterred Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) o� cers from trying to assist.

According to uno� cial reports, at least 21 Bangla-deshis have been killed and 60 others injured by the BSF at the India-Bangladesh border in the last eight months. There are also widespread allegations of abduction and torture.

BGB’s director general acknowledges that BSF some-times does not o� cially report incidents to BGB, so he can only con� rm 16 victims this year, of which 14 were killed by the BSF

Whatever the exact � gure, it is clear the BSF has failed to keep its promise to bring the number of Bangladeshis killed at the borders down to zero.

Despite repeated assurances and negotiations, Indian o� cers continue to violate basic human rights and interna-tional norms by shooting unarmed Bangladeshi civilians.

While the trial of a BSF o� cer for Felani’s death may have been welcome, however belated, this verdict makes a mockery of justice. The ongoing litany of BSF killings only raises further doubt as to how seriously India values the lives of Bangladeshis.

Militants strike again?

The attack on Ganajagaran Mancha activist Arif Noor that has left him with 15 stitches in his head once again underlines the dangers posed by extremists, and serves

as a strong reminder that the government must do more to crack down on those guilty of political violence.

While direct evidence as to who is responsible for the attack is hard to come by, it is fairly apparent what the motive was, and there can be little doubt as to the ideological outlook of the attackers.  

The government may not be able to provide round the clock protection for those who are being targeted by Islamist mil-itants, but what it can do is to redouble its e� orts against the purveyors of violence, and send the message that there will be zero tolerance for such attacks.

In this connection, the government’s public distancing itself from those it has dubbed “atheists,” and prosecution of the “atheist bloggers” does not help matters. It emboldens those who would target them.

We won’t say that the government has created an environ-ment where this kind of thing can happen, but it is fair to say that as long as the government continues to play both sides of the fence, that it is sending mixed signals.

We do not expect a full-throated defense, though that would be nice. But what we do expect is that the government will use its full power to defend the vulnerable and ensure that those who target them are brought to justice.

Indeed, scrapping the tendentious cases against the “athe-ist bloggers” would be a good way to make the point, and would be a good place to start.

Rethinking political IslamI wonder why do we have to read writers who sympathise with Islamist ideas and groups. I’m referring to another foreign Bangladeshi writer Sha� Huq who thinks theocracy is what the world needs. How come he did not mention anything about the funding of these political Islamist parties? Why should we be reading how to implement political Islam into systems? What is the direction of this newspaper? Twice thrice he mentions in the article that Islam is the solution. I think the writer is brainwashed and very closed minded as to think that a fascist ideology is what the world needs.

Also like to mention that Muslim Brotherhood was created by USA to counter communist in� uences in the Egypt , 1960 Nasser, Egyptian pres was assassinated by a Muslim brother-hood member. So there were “prosecuted, banished etc” cause they are terrorists working for USA for fundamentalism destroys a nation.

Sameer Ahmed

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, September 8, 2013

LETTER OF THE DAY

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CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

Walmart ready to loan $50 million to Bangladesh factoriesAugust 30

LOANS to garment factories? I am curious to watch how this is implemented down to the root/worker level. Owners will have access to these loans; the question is, how will it bene� t the workers? What sort of monitor-ing will be done to check on this?

Tunazzina Iqbal Sahaly

It is fair to say that as long as the government continues to play both sides of the fence, that it is sending mixed signals

Despite repeated assurances and negotiations, Indian o� cers continue to violate basic human rights and international norms by shooting unarmed Bangladeshi civilians

4 operators to vie for four 3G licencesBanglar Babaji BTRC should launch at least 2-3 commu-nication satellites on the orbit. A super-power can help us. It’ll save us huge $ and it’ll boost our communication and media industries.

Electronic media, TV stations, Telecom sector, ISPs are paying a huge sum of money to lease foreign satellites and infrastructure. It’s important to have our own communication satellites on the orbit which will also enable us to spread out culture/beam down our culture to a greater area – covering a greater space in the horizon ...

1 telecom and internet, 1 media, 1 mili-tary and weather satellite are important.

Rajvi Bd Nice work of the govt and operators. But I’m feeling sorry for the only CDMA operator in BD, Citycell. Right now they are facing � nancial crisis, and I hope they will regain their previous position very soon plus also take part for 3G.

Banglar BabajiRajvi Bd: Citycell can strictly become a “specialised market niche” service pro-vider. It can target high security market niche.

Number of foreign students in private universities rising

August 30

Zahurul Islam Good progress, though our universities are still lagging behind in global ratings!

Arch Bishop Zahurul Islam: Global ratings are a pipe dream as long as the universities are little more than training camps for extortionists known as “student wings of political parties.” And please save me the nonsense of “glorious past of student politics” etc etc.

Crossword

Sudoku

CROSSWORD CODE-CRACKER YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS1 Corn spikes (4)4 Far away (4)8 Perform (3)9 Bouquet (4)10 Singer (4)11 Stop (5)12 Therefore (4)14 Do wrong (3)15 Drunkard (3) 17 Mineral spring (3)19 Consume (3)21 Dash (4)23 Fruit of the oak (5)26 Fish (4)27 Country (4)28 Goal (3)29 Paradise (4)30 Rend (4)

DOWN1 Praises (6)2 Scold (4)3 Tally (5)4 Copy (3)5 Young horses (5) 6 Donkey (3)7 Cereal (3)11 Marine growth (5)13 Verdant (5)16 Meddle (6)18 Sundried brick (5)20 Unspoken (5)22 Nominate (4)23 Top card (3)24 Ruminant’s food (3)25 Moved quickly (3)

11Op-Ed Sunday, September 8, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t!n Sankalita Shome

President Barack Obama and the US administration are in an unenviable position right now.

They are the favourite punching bag of the Muslim world and many accuse them for being responsible for all that is ailing Egypt and Syria.

In July this year, when the Egyptian military deposed President Morsi, those in Egypt who supported the generals took great pains to educate Obama that the move had the backing of a large number of Egyptians. But when the US administration appeared cautious in re-sponding, they were slammed it being supportive of the Islamists.

By mid-August, the United States had apparently switched sides when the generals in Egypt, ruthlessly went about dispersing sit-ins by the Muslim Brotherhood in support of Morsi, leading to more than 1000 deaths. Obama was now accused of being sympathetic to the military and backing the generals against the Islamists.

There is just no pleasing some peo-ple. Both the charges cannot be true at the same time and probably neither is. But the situation symbolises the loath-ing for Obama and the US that seems to prevail in the Muslim world.

But then who said being in the top job in the world was going to be easy? As the chief of a superpower nation, the general feeling is that he can orchestrate events sitting in the Oval O� ce, by a nod of his head and � ick of his � nger. The United States’ approval and complicity for solving global strife is often desired but at the same time, its role as a global policeman is also much despised and reviled.

Egyptians who supported the mili-tary overthrow are convinced that Oba-ma is � rmly behind the Islamists. This begets the question as to why would America support the Muslim Broth-erhood. To weaken the country by dividing Egypt into mini-states, claims a conspiratorial chorus, and thus help the cause of an Israeli invasion.

Taking forward the absurd,a mainstream Arabic newspaper ran an explosive front-page headline a couple of days ago, alleging that Obama is

a full-blown member of the Muslim Brotherhood International!

At the same time, to the Islamists, the ousting of their leader, Morsi, has to be America’s handiwork. A pro-Islamist poster shows Obama dressed as a phar-aoh and leading the Egyptian military chief General Abdel Fatah-al-Sisi by a dog leash. After all, didn’t America’s secretary of state, John Kerry, defend his country’s reluctance to suspend military aid to Egypt, by describing the dismissal of Morsi as an attempt to “restore democracy” in Egypt.

Both the sides have a di� erent nar-rative, but are happy to blame America as logic and facts become a casualty of troubled times.

Coming to Syria, the President has managed to back himself into a corner and tie himself up in knots over the two-year old Syrian civil war. The United States has received � ak for its forbearance to engage militarily with Syria, while more than a 100,000 peo-ple have already died and it has waited for Obama’s “red line” to be crossed.

Now that the “red line” has been breached-the United States says it has proof that chemical weapons have been used by the Assad regime in Syria against its civilian population- the decision by Obama to seek Congres-sional support to engage in unilateral military strikes against Syria has been described as “alarming.”

Of course, in this case too, there are those who think that an intervention by the United States at this stage is a folly and there have been anti-war demon-strations in Jordan, Turkey and Tunis. The cartoonists and caricaturists are at

it again by depicting doomsday on the lines of America’s intervention in Iraq, with the war with Syria being billed as Iraq 2 and Obama being compared to his predecessor, George W Bush.

Added to all this cacophony is strident criticism at home of Obama’s strategy for handling overseas crises. There are growing demands to suspend military aid to Egypt, while others want the President to support the generals.

On Syria too, the President is slammed by some as “weak” for dithering on Syria, while others argue that engaging militarily in Syria will be suicidal since there is no clear leadership to hand over to and peace might turn out to be a long drawn out a� air.

Americans themselves seem detached from the events unfolding in Egypt and Syria and seem to favour a hands-o� approach. The spectre of debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan still looms large and Obama does not enjoy much support for a war with Syria.

With so many opposing voices and the memory of his predecessor’s pro-tracted imbroglios still fresh, Obama has his work cut out. He is has argued that the “red line” is not just his, but that it is the international communi-ty’s credibility that is at stake in the case of Syria.

However, this is unlikely to change perceptions or to stop the varied criti-cisms against him.

But the man has got to do what he has got to do. Maybe, history will be kinder to Obama. After all, in hind-sight, things are always clearer. l

Sankalita Shome is a freelance contributor.

$2.5bn to eradicate extreme poverty

n Shazia Omar

The extreme poor earn less than that necessary to consume the minimum basic required calories a day. They eat less than three

meals a day, and the meals they eat are mostly rice. They lack employment opportunities because they typically live in remote areas and have no education, literacy or skills/training.

Many are from ethnic minorities who are excluded from markets or disabled people who lack access or physical capacity to sell in the daily labour market. The majority of extreme poor have fallen outside the reach of government safety nets and are too poor to qualify for micro credit.

Female-headed households are disproportionately high among this

population. Their number grows as families often disintegrate under the pressure of desperation. Men abandon their wives and small children in order to eke out enough to survive alone.

Their wives, who are from extremely poor families themselves, and never had an education or exposure to in-come earning, suddenly � nd them-selves in the position of supporting their children. These children in turn are deprived of schools or food.

It is a scienti� c fact that much of

a person’s neural development takes place within the � rst two years of life. Proper brain development requires protein and multi-vitamins which extremely poor children do not get.

With low or no education, no fathers or family support, all that our 8m extremely poor children are left with is a bleeding heart and a bleak future.

We, as a nation, are allowing mil-lions of girls to become young mothers and single parents, adding millions of babies to the ranks of extremely poor

people who make up the masses of our population ... Is this really what we want for our sonar Bangladesh?

In Bangladesh, there are about 26m extremely poor people, or approxi-mately 6m extremely poor families, according to the HIES 2010 household income survey.

The complete eradication of this extreme poverty is actually within our reach. It can be achieved, if political support, motivated leaders and people who care, move into action fast.

To eradicate extreme poverty, what do we need?Promotive social protection pro-grammes, like the EU’s Food Security for Ultra Poor Programme, Brac’s Challenging the Frontiers of Pov-erty Reduction, and the Economic Empowerment of the Poorest (Shiree), that raise a person’s ability to generate income need to be scaled up.

These livelihood enabling pro-grammes transfer a package of skills, assets and support to extremely poor families. On average, a package of $500 is enough to help a family climb out of extreme poverty. Generally, these programmes target the poorest of the poor, those who fall below the scope of micro-� nance eligibility.

Currently promotive programmes support roughly 1m families. If this work is scaled up, it can address the remaining 5m families. The cost would then be approximately $2.5bn.

In theory there are at least a dozen billionaires in Bangladesh who could, if they wanted, provide the funds to help wipe out poverty in this way. Of course they may care su� ciently or even want to contribute to this cause. Still, perhaps motivated by a need to cleanse their conscience or karma, some may, like Rockefeller, turn to philanthropy.

The government already spends sig-ni� cant money on poverty reduction strategies. With clearer targeting and a strong anti-corruption drive, as well as contributions from donors and private sector companies, the resources we need can be generated.

The goal and upside of such fund-raising can be the complete eradica-tion of extreme poverty!

Protective social protection pro-grammes (safety nets such as VGD, VGF, elderly allowance, disability allowance) will still need to play a role, to provide continued support to those who are unable to work for a liveli-hood. Our 2m elderly poorest, and 2m disabled poorest, will need continued government assistance.

I am not an economist but I know that in many instances a single transfer of Tk15,000 in value has transformed the life of an extremely poor family, starting an upward income trajectory.

This type of single kick-start of capital is necessary to transform one’s earning capacity, and achieves more than the meagre dribbling of social protection that safety net schemes provide.

Such families will of course continue to remain vulnerable to external shocks such as � oods, hurricanes, cyclones and evictions. Hence large-scale promotive programmes that give poor people a chance to establish micro-enterprises or gain employment must be combined with measures that increase resilience through diversi� cation of income and better targeting of public services.

With these in place, Bangladesh may shine as a global example of a nation transformed. We need to mobilise our leaders and our resources for maximum impact now. The scale of our problem is already huge. Let us address it before it grows any larger.

What better gift can we give ourselves as a nation for our 50th birthday? l

Shazia Omar is head of advocacy at Shiree.

The new Myanmar is looking a lot like the old onen Jared Ferrie and Aung Hla Tun

It was once the feared weapon of a military junta, ruthlessly deployed to restrict Myanmar’s

nascent Internet and throw journalists, students, monks and other political opponents behind bars.

The junta is gone, but the Electronic Transactions Law and other draconian legislation remain on Myanmar’s books. Attempts to revamp them are stirring debate over the reformist credentials of the semi-civilian government that took power in 2011 and how far it will loosen tough state controls.

Other junta-era laws have been scrapped or amended, only to be re-placed by contentious alternatives that rights advocates regard as a threat to the emergence of a free media and civil soci-ety after nearly 50 years of dictatorship.

Myanmar’s former military junta imposed the Electronic Transactions Act in 2004 to counter the growing in� uence of the Internet, which had been introduced to Myanmar a few years earlier. O� enders can be jailed for up to 15 years for sending an e-mail containing information deemed detri-mental to the nation’s security, econo-my, culture or “peace and tranquillity.”

In January, a motion to abolish the law was rejected by the lower house of parliament, which is packed with active and former military o� cers. A revised motion to amend the law, replacing its long prison terms with shorter ones or � nes, will be debated when parliament resumes in October.

Members of the drafting committee claim the law was being changed to fo-cus on less contentious objectives such as supporting e-commerce and � ghting cyber crime and credit card fraud.

“The existing law is concerned with the power and stability of the previous regime to detain those who opposed them,” said one committee member, who declined to be identi� ed as he is not authorised to speak to media. “We are changing the aims and objectives.”

Prominent victims of these laws say the new draft version which they have seen contains language that would still allow the government to target activists in Myanmar.

“The proposed amendments are not much di� erent from the original law,” said Ko Ko Gyi, 52, a former political prisoner sentenced to 65 years in jail after leading anti-government protests in 2007. His term included four 15-year sentences under the Electronic Transac-tions Law. Aung Thein, a veteran lawyer who has represented Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and other celebrated democrats, said the law was an unwanted remnant of a dark past.

“There was a time when we had to apply for a licence to own a radio,” he said. “Now things have changed a lot in telecommunications and electronic technology. I don’t think this law should exist.”

Even if its penalties were amend-ed, the law would remain vague and arbitrary, he said.

Also causing outrage is a draft law on associations made public in July, which activists say could give the government arbitrary powers to crack down on any groups it does not like. If passed, the law would require domestic and international non-gov-ernmental organisations to register with the government. Members of organisations that fail to register can be imprisoned for up to three years.

The law would be “a serious setback for the development of a strong and vibrant civil society,” Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said in an statement on August 21.

The government is taking some crit-icism on board, said Nay Phone Latt, a blogger who spent 4 years in prison under the Electronic Transactions Law and is now executive director of Myanmar ICT for Development Organi-zation, which promotes internet access and freedom.

He said members of the committee drafting the new associations law met last month with civil society delegates in the capital, Naypyitaw. “After our discussion, they will make amend-ments so the government cannot silence civil society organizations.”

Myanmar’s President, Thein Sein, is a retired general and many of his ministers were high-ranking members of the old junta. Last year, his govern-ment won international plaudits for abolishing strict censorship of newspa-pers and magazines.

But a new Printing and Publishing Enterprises Law, already passed by parliament, has been criticised by My-anmar’s journalists. Thiha Saw, editor of the English-language Myanma Free-dom Daily, said the revised law di� ered little from the original one, introduced after the military seized power in 1962. “Most journalists hate it,” he said.

Unfortunately for journalists, draconian laws seeking to police dissent on the internet are not unique to Myanmar. Many Southeast Asian governments already impose severe restrictions on the Internet and free-doms of speech and association.

In Vietnam, a decree took e� ect this month that makes it a crime to share news via blogs and social networks. Reporters Without Borders, which says 35 bloggers and internet activists lan-guish in Vietnam’s jails, called it “non-sensical and extremely dangerous.”

Thailand has prosecuted hundreds of people under strict laws governing cyber-crime and the monarchy while in Malaysia last year, bloggers and oppo-sition politicians staged a one-day “in-ternet blackout” to protest against a law they said threatened online expression.

Singapore also enforces tough controls on the Internet, introducing this year new regulations on websites that regularly report on the city state, sparking debate over whether the measure was a new attempt to sti� e online criticism of the government.

The current debate in the new democratising Myanmar raises fears that draconian attitudes can continue to survive in new laws. l

This article has been syndicated from Reuters.

The junta is gone, but the Electronic Transactions Law and other draconian legislation remain on Myanmar’s books

By mid-August, the United States had apparently switched sides when the generals in Egypt, ruthlessly went about dispersing sit-ins by the Muslim Brotherhood in support of Morsi, leading to more than 1000 deaths. Obama was now accused of being sympathetic to the military and backing the generals against the Islamists

The complete eradication of this extreme poverty is actually within our reach. It can be achieved, if political support, motivated leaders and people who care, move into action fast

The complete eradication of this extreme poverty is actually within our reach. It can be achieved, if political support, motivated leaders and people who care, move into action fast

AFP

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, September 8, 201312

ONTV

ExhibitionJol BinduBy Shahnoor MamunAlliance Francaise de DhakaTime: 3pm–9pmRoad no-3, Dhanmondi

Rhythm of RealityGanesh HaloiTime: 12pm – 8pmBengal Gallery of Fine ArtsHouse No 275, Road No 27, Old Dhanmondi

Loss of the Toss is Blessing of their Disguise by Firoz Mahmud Time: 3pm – 8pmDhaka Art Center,House-60, Road-7/ADhanmondi

Verses Written Through WaterBy AnisuzzamanTime: 12pm-8pmInstitute Of AsianCreativeGulshan 2

TheatreDevdasRangana NatyagoshthiTime: 7pmNational Theatre HallBangladesh Shilpakala Academy

PakhiBatikkromTime: 7pmExperimantal Theatre HallBangladesh Shipakala AcademySegunbagicha

FilmThe Wolverine in 3D Nishwartha BhalobasaFast & Furious 6 Despicable Me 2 in 3DStar Cineplex

TODAY IN DHAKA

Captain Americawill be airing on

HBOat 930pm

Shillong Chamber Choir fascinates Dhaka audiencen Punny Kabir

A houseful audience at the Mirpur In-door Stadium in Dhaka was rocking with an array of popular Hindi, English and Bangla songs on September 6 as Shillong Chamber Choir made a perfor-mance which did full justice to the title of the show “Grand Musical Concert.” The choir music, which is a very new genre in Bangladeshi music arena, won hearts of the listeners with eclectic, soothing and youthful presentation of the band.

The Shillong Chamber Choir, one of the top exponents from India of choir

music and has obtained acclaims from all around the world, demonstrated its skill in vocal deliveries in di� erent lay-ers with outstanding synchronization. The choir performed with a number of musical instruments such as piano, guitars, chime, percussions and more.

Neil Nongkynrih, who founded the musical ensemble in 2001, made the whole session interactive with his words urging for more love and friend-ship between India and Bangladesh. For this particular performance, the band prepared a track which is a blend of two popular Bangla songs “Banshi Shune Ar Kaj Nei” and “Jodi Tor Dak

Shune.” The audience warmly greeted the artistes when they presented the song in di� erent harmony parts.

Hit tracks of Bollywood— from ear-ly era to contemporary — have been covered by the band with their unique rearrangement combining western chorals as well as choral-style revamps. They sang “Yeh Dosti,” “Ajib Dastan Hain Ye,” “Tu Ashiki Hain,” “Nayi Nahi Ye Batein” and few more. Their mix-ture of a few Bollywood tracks and renowned songs of Abba received re-peated applause from the audience. Their exclusive track “The Great Train Journey” made the audience nostalgic

as the innovative artistes, through their vocal use, created di� erent sounds that people encounter in a train journey.

However, the people went crazy when the choir rendered Queen’s clas-sic number “We Will Rock You.” The Choir’s repertoire included works of western classical music including Han-del, Bach, Gershwin and Mozart.

The orchestrated performance was a treat for ears for the music lovers. Moreover, their costumes and syn-chronised physical movements were visually enthralling.

Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in Dhaka organised the event. l

Citizen Khanwill air on

Comedy Centralat 7-30pm

I love playing negative roles: Kalyan Corrayan Limana Solaiman

The young and lively actor Kalyan Corraya forged his way into the media of Bangladesh with his debut through single episode TV play “Prem O Po-rabastobotar Golpo,” directed by Me-jbaur Rahman Suman. In a short span of time, the youngster with his rugged good-looks has made quite an impres-sion on the audience with his compo-sure and unique style of acting.

Kalyan was again seen on “Nokkhotro, Ghash O Chandramallika’r Raat,” a single episode play by the Meril-Prothom Alo Critics Award winning director Nurul Alam Atik. In the drama, he was co-star of the beautiful and popular actor Joya Ahsan and according to Kalyan, he came into lime-light through this venture. Besides his TV career, the artiste has done two � lms, “Pita” and “Jonakir Alo.” Recently, Dhaka Tribune caught up with the charming actor:

How do you label your position in the industry?I wouldn’t tag myself as successful yet. I am glad to have reached a certain po-sition in such a short span of time and I am thankful to a lot of people. I feel that the whole world is out there for me to discover and I want to work hard in order to prove myself to the audience of the country. In the beginning and the end, it’s always about the audience, their love and acceptance.

Who is your favourite co-star?I cannot point out any single person, but I am lucky enough to have acted with personalities such as Shahiduzzaman Selim, Tariq Anam Khan, Shuborna Mustafa, Mou and Kusum Sikder. I have learned a lot of the tricks of the trade from them and I am very comfortable in acting with them. I would have loved to have worked with Humuyan Faridi, he is my all time favourite.

Which is your favourite role so far?Well, I love playing negative roles. From the top of my head, one of my favourite roles so far is from the play “Samantha,” it was a negative role. Recently, I am working on two plays, “Keu Keu Mrito Jonaki” by Shahiduzzaman Selim and “Dorjar Opashe” by Matia Banu Shuku. In both the plays, I am playing negative role and am enjoying myself immensely.

Tell us about your dream role?Wow, never really thought of it before but now that you ask, I think the role of Achilles from the movie “Troy” is my dream role.

Where do you see yourself ten years from now? I will try my level best to be a truly successful actor in the industry and I hope in ten years time I will be one of the most popular faces in the media.I want to have a long and successful acting career in both � lm and TV. I am not afraid to work hard in achieving my goals. l

n Entertainment Desk

Metallica’s upcoming IMAX 3D concert movie, “Metallica Through the Never,” is shaping up to be an epic blowout that combines concert footage with narrative elements. In the � lm’s trailer, which has been recently released, the band blasts through their classic track “Master of Puppets.”

Drummer Lars Ulrich said, “Not only are we beyond psyched about our mov-ie coming your way shortly, but the fact that we get to share the music directly in di� erent formats is really cool.”

“Metallica Through the Never” will open in IMAX 3D theaters on Septem-ber 27, with a wide release on October 4.

The movie revolves around Trip, a young roadie for Metallica, who is sent on an urgent mission during the band’s show. But what seems like a simple assignment turns into a surreal adven-ture. On his way, Trip’s van is hit by another vehicle and he subsequently � nds himself up against a death-deal-ing horseman. As Trip � ees through desolate streets, he has only his wits to help him avoid the deadly horseman and deliver Metallica’s cargo. l

Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy’s Contemporary Film Festival will end today with the screening of Debdash, directed by Chashi Nazrul Islam. The show time is 6pm and entry is free for all

Shuddh Desi Romance delights criticsn Entertainment Desk

“Shuddh Desi Romance,” starring Parineeti Chopra and Sushant Singh Rajput is not a typical romcom. It cap-tures the lives of ordinary people who live in the fear of commitment and yet dare to take the leap for love every time, feel movie critics.

The � lm is an attempt to depict the love a� airs of the modern generation. Sushant Singh Rajput plays the role of a casual boy-next-door, Raghu, and Parineeti Chopra plays the bold role of Gayatri - his lover. Newbie Vaani Ka-poor plays Tara, who is also Raghu’s

lover. The love-triangle gets compli-cated when the lives of the three cross, their beliefs get challenged, and their love gets tested.

Shuddh Desi Romance is not a routine love-saga, with the cliches Bollywood is known for. It o� ers something new. “Shuddh Desi Romance is a welcome change for the cynics amongst us who � nd typicalromances like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge � lmy and unreal. The blossoming chemistry of its lead actors is a swell, but mostly this is a � lm that encapsulates the lives of ordinary people who perennially live in the fear

of commitment and yet dare to take the leap for love every time!,” says Mohar Basu of Koimoi.com.

Agrees Taran Adarsh in Bollywood Hungama: “True to its title, Shud-dh Desi Romance is indeed a shuddh [pure] take at live-in relationships in-volving desi characters and looks at the highs and lows that come with it.”

Director Maneesh Sharma is lauded for giving a unique treatment to the movie. “Capturing the energy of the young and the restless isn’t an easy job, but director Maneesh Sharma does his job with near infallibility. It’s liberating to watch this � lm for the mere treat-ment of its basic concept. Bred on the ideas of happy endings and the regal fanfare of red roses, the director does a good job at hammering on the fact that day-to-day relationships are more about moments of insecurity, fear and lot little about ‘love’ these days,” writes Basu.

The � lm, according to some critics, is repetitive. “Creating a pattern out of repeated events is a classic device in romantic comedies, but it only works when there are little di� erences in de-tail with each repetition,” writes Deep-anjana Pal, Firstpost.

“The only glitch in the otherwise smooth narrative is that the pacing slows down considerably in the second hour,” feels Adarsh. l

Metallica unleash fury in Throughthe Never trailer

Shillong Chamber Choir performs at the Mirpur Indoor Stadium on September 6 SYED LATIF HOSSAIN

14

13DHAKA TRIBUNESunday, September 8, 2013

SportDid you know?

15 15 Ahmed unmoved by logo row, says Aussie vice-captain

Germany haven’t lost in their last 20

World Cup Quali� ers (15 wins, 5 draws).

Their last defeat came against England (1-5) in September 2001

Klose equals German record, Ronaldo grabs Portugal hat-trick

Serena, Azarenka set for � nals rematch

Pakistan sweep to victory in ZimbabweAFP, Harare

Pakistan took nine wickets in an extend-ed morning session to beat Zimbabwe by 221 runs on the � fth day of the � rst Test at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday.

Zimbabwe, set an unlikely 342 to win, were bowled out for 120.

Left-arm fast bowler Junaid Khan made the initial breakthrough, taking two wickets in his � rst eight balls of the day after Zimbabwe resumed at 13 for one.

Then spinners Abdur Rehman and Saeed Ajmal took over, � nishing with four wickets apiece.

Left-armer Rehman, who followed

up Junaid’s opening burst by taking the next three wickets, took four for 36, while Ajmal wrapped up the tail to take four for 23.

O� -spinner Ajmal � nished with match � gures of 11 for 118, the fourth time he had taken 10 or more wickets in a match.

Zimbabwe were in trouble from the sixth ball of the day when captain Hamilton Masakadza gloved a short delivery from Junaid to gully.

Overnight batsman Vusi Sibanda was out lbw in Junaid’s next over to re-duce the home side to 19 for three.

Sikandar Raza and Malcolm Waller, who shared a century partnership in

the � rst innings, provided some resis-tance with a fourth wicket stand of 30 before Waller swept left-arm spinner Rehman to backward square leg where the tall Rahat Ali stretched skywards to hold a catch.

Raza was dropped by wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal o� Rahat when he was on 17 but made only seven more runs before he was caught at short leg o� Rehman.

Elton Chigumbura took advantage of ultra-attacking � elds to strike 28 o� 35 balls, with � ve fours, before he became Rehman’s third victim, caught at slip.

Wickets tumbled and play was ex-tended when Zimbabwe were eight

down at the scheduled lunch break, enabling Pakistan to complete an early victory in a match in which Zimbabwe had the better of the � rst three day’s play.

An unbeaten double century by vet-eran Younis Khan gave Pakistan the edge though, and he was later named man of the match.

“Zimbabwe won the game for three-and-a-half days,” admitted Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq. “Younis played a match-winning innings that changed the game.”

Zimbabwe had led by 78 runs on the � rst innings and were still on top deep into the Pakistan second innings

before Younis’ unbeaten 200 allowed the tourists to declare on 419 for nine, leaving Zimbabwe with what proved an impossible task.

Misbah acknowledged that Zimba-bwe had played well for much of the match but said his team need to im-prove in the second Test, which starts at the same venue on Tuesday. “We need to be on the money right from the start,” he said.

Hamilton Masakadza, who took over the captaincy when Brendan Taylor withdrew on the morning of the match after the birth of his � rst child, said Zim-babwe had fought hard and played well for much of the match.

Pakistan, � rst innings, 249

Zimbabwe, � rst innings, 327

Pakistan, second innings 419-9 dec

Zimbabwe, second innings(overnight 13-1)T. Mawoyo lbw b Saeed Ajmal 2V. Sibanda lbw b Junaid Khan 6H. Masakadza c Azhar Ali b Junaid 1Sikandar c Azhar Ali b Rehman 24M. Waller c Rahat Ali b Rehman 17E. Chigumbura c Hafeez b Rehman 28R. Mutumbami not out 16P. Utseya b Saeed Ajmal 0S. Masakadza lbw b Saeed Ajmal 0T. Panyangara lbw b Abdur Rehman 6T. Chatara lbw b Saeed Ajmal 13Extras (b1, lb5, nb 1) 7

Total (46.4 overs) 120

BowlingJunaid Khan 10-3-20-2, Rahat Ali 7-1-35-0, Saeed Ajmal 16.4-5-23-4, Abdur Rehman 13-5-36-4

ResultPakistan won by 221 runsMan of the match: Younis Khan (PAK)Pakistan lead the two-match series 1-0

Score Card

Pakistan players celebrate victory during the � fth day of the � rst Test match against hosts Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club yesterday AFP

Bharat Khawas – Nepal’s rising starRaihan Mahmood, from Kathmandu

He is a newly recruited second lieuten-ant in Nepal Army, but on the football � eld he is the general of the Nepal na-tional team - steaming up the attack of the Gorkhali’s with speed and agility. His tireless runs down the � anks of-ten arrive as the major sources of the goals scored by Nepal and when the time goes tough he lands with the cru-cial goals. He is none other than Bharat Khawas - the exciting 22-year-old Nep-alese forward.

Bharat arrived as a tormentor for Bangladesh as he followed his goal against Bangladesh in the AFC U-22 last year with an instrumental perfor-mance in the ongoing Sa� Champion-ship. Nepal scored two goals against

Bangladesh in the tournament opener in which Bharat paved the way for Anil Gurung for the � rst one before netting a goal himself. The talented forward said he is ready to score more and help Nepal win their maiden Sa� Champi-onship. “I feel this time we can do it. We are playing good football and the team has required spirit to win the ti-tle. We are ready to put the best,” said Bharat who joined the army in Novem-ber last year and will have to complete 21-month training.

Bharat doesn’t have to prove his tal-ent as his feat speaks for him. He joined the national camp just a week before the Sa� Championship as he was not allowed to leave his military base. Due to training commitments he was also excluded from the national squad that toured Bahrain and Kuwait for three

weeks. Bharat proved that a player of his calibre can deliver the goods when required. In 2011 it was his goal that sent Nepal to the Sa� Championship semis when Nepal held Pakistan in a 1-1 draw.

“I was admitted in the ANFA Foot-ball Academy when in was 11 years old and I debuted for Nepal in 2008 as a teenager, it was a match against Paki-stan at Kathmandu and I scored a goal in my debut match. It was the inspira-tion and I grew con� dent, I am always ready to serve Nepal team and it is in my every heartbeat,” said the produced by the ANFA Academy.

Khawas loves Didier Drogba’s style of play and he often has been seen do-ing the hard work in the opposition defence zone. At a tender age he has attained all the required qualities to be a formidable forward and he is expect-

ed to deliver more. “Football in Nepal is gaining momentum, the national team players feel that they have to pro-duce something special to win the Sa� Championship and also create the his-tory. We are just a couple of matches away and we are ready with the youth and experience,” said the forward.

Bharat Khawas already received an o� er from Indian Premier League side Pune FC, but refused that for the Army training. “I am not allowed to play for any team apart from the army team. I am getting a good allowance there and when I complete my training it will increase I have to concentrate on my training,” said Bharat Khawas.

“Winning Sa� Championship will be the platform to boost Nepal’s football ahead, we want that at any cost,” con-cluded the energetic forward.

Nepal eye dream � nal

Raihan Mahmood, from Kathmandu

Nepal will come out � ring in all cylin-ders to create history and make their way to the � nal against Afghanistan in the � rst semi-� nal of the Sa� Cham-pionship at the Dasarath Stadium at 6:45pm today.

The charged up hosts, Nepal, has not featured in a � nal of the Sa� Cham-pionship till date.

Nepal will relish the opportunity to avenge their sour defeat su� ered at the hands of Afghanistan in the previ-ous edition of the event at Delhi when Afghanistan handed them a 1-0 de-feat to book a place in the � nal. Jack Stefanowski, the coach of Nepal cau-tioned his team about any complacen-cy. “We are in the most crucial stage of

the meet and we need just a win to be in the � nal. The situation is expected to be tougher than anticipation as Af-ghanistan is the highest ranked team,” said Stefanowski.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan coach Yousef Kargar is not taking the hosts lightly and poured respect on his op-ponents. “Nepal is a very strong team technically and in terms of speed. Ne-pal also has the home ground advan-tage. However, we’ll also try to reach that point,” said the coach of the top-ranked South Asian country.

“In the semis we missed chances, but played good football. We maintained superior ball possession and we were technically sound. We want to continue that,” said the Afghanistan coach.

Nepal cricket skipper interested to play in Dhaka

Raihan Mahmood, from Kathmandu

Nepalese cricket captain Paras Khad-ka expressed his interest to play club cricket in Dhaka and believes he will be able to cope with the challenges if he gets the nod.

Speaking in a reception program of the national cricket coach Pubudu Dasanayke at Hotel Crown Plaza on Fri-day the � ghting all-rounder expressed his desire to play in Dhaka. “I have the con� dence to face the challenge. I want to play overseas as much as pos-sible to earn experience,” said the tall all-rounder.

Paras is a middle-order batsman and bowls medium pace. He represented Nepal in three Under-19 World Cups in 2004, 2006 and 2008 while he is also a regular member in the senior national team. Groomed for captaincy through positions of leadership in age-group teams, he took over the national cap-taincy in 2009. A man for a pressure situation Paras also had a stint in Cana-

da as he played for Ontario Cricket Club and Academy.

Now Paras looks forward to take his team to the World T20 scheduled to take place in Bangladesh next year. “We are preparing hard. We have spin-ners like Basanta Regmi and the team is working hard to attain a slot in the next year’s T20 World Cup,” said Paras.

The World Twenty20 Quali� ers, from which six of the 16 teams will progress to the main tournament in Bangladesh next year, is scheduled to take place between November 15 and 30 in the UAE.

Tamim intended to play for Brothers Minhaz Uddin Khan

National opening batsman Tamim Iqbal revealed that he had earlier thought of playing for either Gazi Tank Cricketers or Brothers Union in the Dhaka Premier League (DPL) start-ing from Tuesday. The hard hitting left-hander, however, was bought by Brothers Union Limited in the ‘Play-ers by Choice’ for the 50-overs tourney which has gained the List-A status by the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

“I was looking forward to play for the Gazi Tank or Brothers this season. The new system of players’ recruit-ment got me into Brothers and I am happy about it,” said Tamim at a press conference held at Brothers club yes-terday.

Brothers will face Prime Bank Crick-et Club in their � rst round game at Ra-jshahi on the opening day of the tour-nament. Last season Tamim played for champions Victoria Sporting Club. Victoria’s chairman Lutfur Rahman switched to Gazi Tank which made the chances of seeing both Tamim and national all rounder Shakib al Hasan wearing Gazi’s jersey. But the newly

introduced players’ draft saw the duo get recruited by two di� erent clubs.

“I played for them (Brothers) in Chittagong and did have intentions to play for them in the premier league (DPL). So the intention has come true this time,” informed Tamim who will be playing for Brothers for the � rst time in DPL.

However, he yet again complained of the players’ draft causing � nancial damage to the cricketers.

“I have said this before. The draft system has done loss to the cricket-ers. Many are not getting paid less than half of what they could have got if things happened in the traditional way. I have always opposed this new system and it is the same even today,” said Tamim.

Tamim will be sharing Brothers’ dressing room with other national cricketers like Sohrawardi Shuvo, Shu-vagata Hom, Alok Kapali, Mehrab Hos-sain Jr and his elder brother Nafees Iqbal.

“I think we have very good local cricketers in the team and hope that they will give their 100 percent to lift the team,” he said.

Brothers earlier informed of having Indian star all-rounder Yuvraj Singh playing for the side this season. How-ever, the recruitment was denied af-ter the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to sign NOCs for their cricketers.

“He (Yuvraj) was eager to play for us to be honest and showed interest to � y to Dhaka for few matches. But the BCCI didn’t allow him. However, I am personally contacting few foreign cricketers and pursuing them to play for Brothers,” said Tamim.

The port city boy also informed that the club has con� rmed services of former Pakistani national and British passport holder Azhar Mahmood along with Sri Lankans Angelo Mathews and Sachithra Senanayake. The trio will join the Brothers tent in next two to three days.

On the other hand, chairman of the cricket committee of the club, AJM Nasiruddin named Sohrawardi Shuvo as the vice-captain of the team. The sports organiser from Chittagong also informed that the Brother Union Sports Club turned into a Limited Company yesterday.

Nepal is a very strong team technically and in terms of speed. Nepal also has the home ground advantage

New association introduce members

Mazhar Uddin

A new sports organisation in the name of “Sports Development Association” introduced their members to the media at a local hotel yesterday.

The president of the organisation Mosaddek Ali Falu informed that they will work for the betterment of sports in Bangladesh and said, “We want to work together for the development of sports in Bangladesh and those who think like that we will include them in the sports development association.”

Along with former sports minister Sadek Hossain Khoka former BCB pres-ident Ali Azgar Loby, Moinul Hoque Chowdhury, former footballer and min-ister retd Major Ha� z Uddin, former minister Mirza Abbas and former man-ager of the Bangladesh national cricket team retd col Abdul Latif Khan, former national footballer Kaisar Hamid were also present during the occasion.

However, it was mainly the show-down from the opposition political party who are trying to reunite and take a strong stance for the future in Bangladesh’s sports arena.

Paras Khadka

Nepalese forward Bharat Khawas DHAKA TRIBUNE

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, September 8, 2013

Pharma agents out of control at BirdemDoctors back the representatives because companies allegedly give them expensive gifts for prescribing their drugsn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Time has probably come for patients to appoint security guards when they go to the capital’s Birdem Hospital, the biggest healthcare facility for diabetic patients in the country.

Nilufar Begum, 48, has been com-ing to the Birdem Hospital every week for the last 10 years to check the sugar level in her blood. Last week also, she came to the hospital to get her regular sugar-level checkup and doctor’s con-sultation.

When she came out of the doctor’s chamber with a prescription in her hand, some of the representatives, who were not supposed be inside the hospital at that time of the day, gently wanted to see which drugs she had been prescribed.

But, what she could never expect was that some of the other representa-tives would try to snatch the prescrip-tion from her hand without caring to take permission.

“I have been coming to Birdem for 10 years. But I have never experienced such aggression before.” She said it was a habit that some of the representatives had grown very recently.

Patients say the representatives want to make sure that doctors pre-scribe the drugs manufactured by his

or her company.A few years ago, the hospital author-

ities imposed restrictions on the pres-ence of medical representatives inside the hospital premises, which barred them from entering the hospital or the doctors’ chambers except for Satur-days, Mondays and Wednesdays – not before 1pm.

However, Nilufar said she had never seen the rule at work. For a year or so, no matter which time of the day it was, she had been seeing hundreds of med-ical representatives inside the hospital premises. She said they even entered the chambers when the doctors were in the middle of checking patients.

This correspondent has also seen scores of medical agents inside the hospital every day and almost around the clock.

They could be seen religiously not-ing down every drug listed in the pre-scriptions every time a patient came out of a consultant’s chamber.

Many other patients have also de-scribed similar predicaments associat-ed with the aggression of the medical representatives.

The Dhaka Tribune has learnt that at least 600 representatives of 30 phar-maceutical companies regularly throng the Birdem hospital, although only two are allowed from each company. Pa-

tients say recently they have been see-ing female representatives as well.

There are allegations that these representatives care little about rules because the doctors themselves priv-ilege them. Many of the doctors al-legedly get into secret dealings with drug makers. They prescribe the drugs manufactured by a certain company in exchange of hefty bribes.

The bribes generally take the form of expensive cars, mobile phones, televi-sion sets, refrigerators, air-condition-ers, air tickets and hotel booking for foreign tours to attend international seminars.

Lutful Chowdhury, senior consul-tant of medicine of Apollo Hospitals in the capital, said the authorities there encourage doctors to write generic names of drug in the prescriptions.

He added that they get the medical representatives and chances of bribery out of the equation by not writing the name of any speci� c drug in the pre-scriptions.

The Birdem authorities are also ap-parently concerned about such bribery. Seeking anonymity a high-ranked o� -cial of the Diabetic Association of Ban-gladesh (Badas) said: “It is true that the environment of the hospital is having to su� er because of the aggressive mar-keting policy. This is totally unethical.”

Badas Joint Secretary Professor Dr Rashid-e-Mahbub said: “We have asked the pharmaceutical companies to not o� er any sponsorship to the doc-tors directly.

We have asked them to forward the o� er to the Birdem authority who would then select the doctors for the foreign tours.”

Birdem Director Brigadier General (retd) Shahidul Hoque Mollick said: “We are trying to control it [the unau-thorised presence of medical represen-tatives].”

However, Abdul Muktadir Chowd-hury, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Indus-tries (BAPI), claimed that none of the companies were involved in the aggres-sive marketing.

Muktadir, who is also the managing director of Incepta Pharmaceuticals, said they o� ered sponsorships to the doctors from their obligation to devel-op the health sector.

He also claimed that the represen-tatives who behave aggressively inside the hospital were not their employees. He suggested that the people from sur-vey � rms act in that way.

He further claimed that a pharma-ceutical company would go bankrupt if it were to give such expensive presents to all doctors. l

Medical representatives hindering service at RMCHn Tribune Report

Directives by authorities’ are being ig-nored by medical representatives at the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH), hindering services at the hos-pital.

Medical representatives, who are marketing agents working on behalf of pharmaceutical companies, continue to operate at the hospital to persuade physicians to prescribe medicines made by their respective companies, according to banglanews24.

As a result doctors are often wasting time on the representatives instead of paying attention to patients’ needs.

In order to control the aggressive ac-tivities of these representatives, earlier hospital authorities passed a policy to restrict their access. They are only al-lowed to visit doctors from 1-2.30pm on Thursdays and Saturdays.

However, marketing agents contin-ue to take up valuable time and space in waiting rooms every day, despite the

directions. Nearly one thousand people come

to the 1,000-bed hospital every day to consult doctors and up to 350 patients are admitted daily for further treat-ment, said hospital sources.

But doctors are unable to attend to patients because they are often busy meeting medical representatives in-stead.

Sub-inspector (SI) Uttam Kumar, in-charge of RMCH police box said they manage to stop the marketing agents from entering the hospital. He said: “Every time we bar their entry, they name doctors who have asked them to meet at the hospital.”

The SI said they have are trying to monitor the situation to prevent repre-sentatives from entering the hospital.

Director of RMCH Brigadier General Saidur Rahman said they had a sched-ule restricting unchecked access to the hospital. He said necessary actions would be taken against those who vio-late the rules of access. l

ELECTION PLEDGES

Iradication of illiteracy far from realityn Mushfi que Wadud

The Awami League-led government may fail to meet its target of eradicat-ing illiteracy from the country in line with the party’s pledge in the election manifesto.

In its election manifesto from 2008, the Awami League pledged that it would eliminate illiteracy from the country by 2014.

But, with just three months remain-ing before the end of its tenure, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) says the literacy rate in the country now stands at 59.8%.

Researchers and o� cials from the Bu-reau of Non-Formal Education (BNFE) say it is impossible to raise the literacy rate to 100% in just three months.

BNFE o� cials said the target was al-ready unrealistic and the primary and mass education ministry was negligent in implementing non-formal education programmes.

“The literacy rate was 52% in 2009 when the government assumed pow-er. It is quite an unrealistic target to increase the literacy rate from 52% to 100% in � ve years,” a senior o� cial at BNFE said.

All focus was given to primary ed-ucation and the non-formal education system was largely ignored in the last � ve years, he said.

“Under the Primary Education Development Programme the gov-ernment is spending millions of taka but a very little amount was spent on non-formal education programmes.”

Professor Jalal Uddin, director at the Institute of Education and Research (IER) at Dhaka University, said increas-

ing literacy rates to 100% is not that easy and it is not possible at the pace with which the non-formal education programmes are being carried out.

“There are achievements in the literacy rate but the pace has to be in-creased if we want to achieve the 100% target,” he said.

Azharul Islam, a professor at the Non-Formal and Continuing Educa-tion Department at IER, said that the adult literacy programme is moving at a snail’s pace and this is a� ecting the total literacy programme.

“A lot more programmes need to be introduced to reach the 100% litera-cy target. A coordinated approach is a must,” he said.

Primary and Mass Education Minis-ter Afsarul Ameen said the government will be close to reaching the goal of 100% literacy by 2014.

He, however, claimed that the lit-eracy rate in the country is now 71%, a claim that contradicts BBS � gures.

He also claimed that the literacy rate was 62% when the Awami League was in power during 1996-2001 but it came down to 52% during BNP’s tenure from 2001 to 2006 as they shut down the BNFE.

International Literacy Day will be observed today in Bangladesh and else-where around the world.

Primary and Mass Education Min-ister Afsarul Ameen will inaugurate a programme at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium today on the occasion.

A roundtable will be held at the BNFE auditorium on the day. A rally will also be held and various non-government organisations have also chalked out programmes to mark the day. l

British man drowns in BAU pondn BAU Correspondent

A 23-year-old British man drowned in a pond on the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) campus in Mymens-ingh yesterday.

The deceased was Atif Mohammad, a British citizen hailing from 50 Brington Road, Manchester, UK. He arrived in Bangladesh on October 2 last year.

Atif was part of a 13-member team from Tablighi-Jamaat, which included � ve British citizens, four Australians and four Bangladeshis. The group was attending the Baitul Aman mosque located on the BAU campus on Friday morning, said Dr Habibur Rahman, amir of the team and a professor at Sir Syed Salimullah Medical College.

Eyewitnesses said Atif and his friends were swimming in the mosque’s pond during the afternoon when he drowned. Locals retrieved Atif uncon-scious from the water and rushed him to Mymensingh Medical College Hos-pital, where doctors declared him dead around 6pm.

Golam Sarwor, o� cer-in-charge of Kotwali police station, said an unnatu-ral death case was � led.

The deceased’s body will be handed over to the British High Commission after the completion of a post mortem examination is conducted in accor-dance with the High Commission’s or-ders, added the OC. l

High yielding varieties can ensure food security: Researchersn BAU Correspondent

Researchers at Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) yesterday said adopting new varieties of high yield crops could help maximise food production, which would lead to in-creased earnings and a stronger nation-al economy.

Part of the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), the BINA researchers were speaking at the inauguration of a two-day training programme for jour-nalists.

Dr MA Sattar, director general of BINA, said because of food shortages due to poor harvests Bangladesh had to im-port essentials for high prices from neighbouring countries, which could be avoided if high yield varieties of var-ious crops are cultivated.

He said agro-scientists at BINA and others institutions are trying to devel-op crops that had the potential to en-sure food security for the nation.

On August 26, the National Seed Board approved cultivation of four new high yield varieties of rice - BINA dhan -11, 12, 13 and 14.

The new varieties released to farm-ers should yield optimum production and contribute towards ensuring food security in Bangladesh, said Dr Sattar.

According to Dr Salam nearly 2.5m hectares is unutilised in the coastal ar-eas because the soil is highly saline. He said rice can easily be cultivated on 30% of the coastal land using two varieties of salt-tolerant rice, BINA dhan - 8 and 10.

He said it won’t be long before Ban-gladesh starts to produce enough rice and cereals for export as well as to meet demands at home.

BINA has also developed draught-re-sistant varieties that could be harvest-ed in the northern regions, said anoth-er researcher Dr M Raisul Haider.

Dr Habibur Rahman spoke about the development of several varieties of mustard that are capable of producing twice the amount of oil than the tradi-tional variety.

Around 60 journalists are taking part in the workshop, including mem-bers of BAU journalists association and press clubs of Mymensingh. l

Innovators look for ‘digital solutions’ to social issuesn Syeda Samira Sadeque

A four-day programme aiming to solve social issues through the use of tech-nology in Bangladesh ended yesterday, with three winners and at least 20 digi-tal solutions that technology experts of the country can now work with.

The Google Developers’ Group (GDG) Devfest 2013, which was spread over last weekend and this, was or-ganised by the GDG, Dhaka, the UN-DP-supported Access to Information (A2i) programme, the Prime Minister’s O� ce and Google. Other sponsors wereBanglalion, Teletalk 3G and United International University (UIU) and Military Institute of Science and Tech-nology (MIST) who were the ven-ue-partners.

The event had 25 teams in total, each team consisting of three partici-pants. The 75-member event had stu-dents from as many as 15 universities and four-� ve professionals, and a do-main expert for each team. The aim of the programme, which was executed-with the blueprint of a global “hack-athon” movement, was to provide public service through mobile phone applications – quite a realistic aim in a country where 100million people use cell phone services.

The teams gathered last weekend

when they discussed which problems were to be addressed through this system and created basic designs for each solution. This weekend, theyworked continuously for 48 hours, a signature of the hackathon movement, on coding these “digital solutions.” They were able to come up with a total of 20.

Although this was the � rst such event, Sami Ahmed, technology expert of the A2i, said the government planned to have one every three months.

Kabir Bin Anwar, national project director of the A2i and director general foradministration at the Prime Minis-ter’s O� ce, applauded the e� ort and success of the students.

“If we have to survive in this world, we have to end our problems – and we have enough of those. But through these inspirational e� orts, we can over-come these hurdles,” he said. He indi-cated success of the A2i programme by pointing out that today it reaches more than 4,000 union parishads and has in turn made communication and acces-sibility signi� cantly better for Bangla-deshi people.

Skewed ratioAlbeit successful, the event saw an ap-pallingly low participation of women. Out of its 75 participants, only seven

were female.A2i Policy Adviser Anir Chowdhury

said while there were fewer females in this � eld in general, another reason for the low participation was the fact that it required the students to stay overnight – a factor that could have dis-couraged many. He said from next time they planned to have better facilities – such as a resting room, or separate rooms for each gender – to encourage more participation of women.

Laila Mustaq, who was the team leader of project Zaskin, a mobile ap-plication that would create awareness for women regarding health and rights issues, said the organisers were very helpful and supportive but from next time should do more to attract more female participants.

“One way could be to place a quota of having at least one female student per team,” said the MIST student.

While Laila’s team dealt with a proj-ect regarding awareness for women, the event hosted a range of other kinds of projects, including informational applications on the Liberation War, di-rectory of the government and police members in all regions of the country, and applications that would promote citizen journalism by allowing people to capture images of events and shar-ing on social media. l

Two workers are busy disassembling and repairing vehicle parts at Dholaikhal in the capital. The light engineering industry in the area serves the automobile sector, farm machinery, and a number of other industries with spare parts and repair and maintenance work. The photo was taken yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

BINA has developed draught-resistant varieties that could be harvested in the northern regions

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