PAGE 4Top power plant falters during peak season

PAGE 3Who is your future mayor?

PAGE 32Indian police detain 4 Bangladeshis in nun gangrape case

PAGE 5HSC, equivalent exams begin today

CITY POLLS CANDIDATES COME UNDER SCRUTINY TODAY PAGE 3

BRTA OFFICIALS WIFE KILLED,3 MORE INJURED PAGE 5

SECOND EDITION

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 | Chaitra 18, 1421, Jamadius Sani 11, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 2, No 356 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages plus 8-page Treehouse | Price: Tk10

Blogger murders may be linkedOne of the two attackers was arrested earlier as member of the banned out t JMBn Mohammad Jamil KhanDetectives suspect that the killers and mas-termind of the attacks on bloggers Oyasiqur Rahman Babu and Avijit Roy might belong to the same extremist group.

Oyasiqur, who was not a regular blog writer, started giving posts on Facebook con-demning the murder of Avijit. The two killers caught red-handed said in interrogation that they killed Oyasiqur for his anti-Islamic writ-ings [protesting the murder of an atheist], Monirul Islam, the DMP joint commissioner and spokesperson, said yesterday.

Oyasiqur was an admirer of Avijit. After the attack on Avijit and his wife both US citizens on February 26, Oyasiqur made the hashtag #iamavijit his pro le picture and made an im-age of the hashtag #WordsCannotBeKilled his cover photo. He also expressed frustration in many posts that there had been little progress in the case.

On his Facebook account, Oyasiqur regu-larly wrote against irrational religious beliefs, superstitions and radical Islamists, particu-larly Jamaat-e-Islami. In 2013, as a supporter of the Shahbagh movement, he protested the arrest of four bloggers on charges of hurting religious sentiment.

Meanwhile, detectives say they have found the involvement of a sleeper cell in the attack on Oyasiqur. Although three people PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Ruling alliance partners not on same pagen Abu Hayat Mahmud and Tarek MahmudAwami League-led 14-party alliance is yet to reach a consensus over whether the partners will support common candidates or make in-dividual endorsements in the upcoming city polls.

Partners made con icting remarks on the issue after a meeting yesterday in which the alliance was supposed to make a decision in this regard.

Ruling partys presidium member and al-liance spokesperson Mohammad Nasim told reporters after the meeting that the partners were going to support the three mayor aspir-ants that alliance chief and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had selected.

However, when contacted, Sharif Nurul

Ambia, general secretary of Awami Leagues partner Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), told the Dhaka Tribune last night that no such deci-sion had been made as yet.

I was in the meeting, but not at the press conference. I have no idea why Nasim Bhai said that, he said.

Ambia also said: No de nitive decision was made in the meeting about single candi-dates. We discussed what our strategy should be for the polls. If BNP comes, 14-party will back common candidates, but that will not happen without discussions. If BNP does not then the partners can make their own deci-sions.

He said JSD is backing actor Nader Chowd-hury in the north of Dhaka and Shahidul Islam in the south. Both of them are involved with

the politics of JSD, which is led by Informa-tion Minister Hasanul Haque Inu.

Reserved female MP Shirin Akhter, also a presidium member of JSD, was present at the press conference but she did not oppose Nasim.

In the press conference, Nasim said that the 14-party alliance partners were also going to extend their support to the ward level can-didates that Sheikh Hasina would nalise.

Hasina, also Awami League president, has already endorsed business tycoon Annisul Huq, former FBCCI and BGMEA president, for mayor of Dhaka north; Sayeed Khokon in the south; and AJM Nasir Uddin, general secre-tary of Awami Leagues Chittagong city unit, for Chittagong.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Law enforcers take Zikrullah and Ariful two alleged killers of blogger Oyasiqur to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates Court yesterday seeking 10-day remand in the murder case MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Captors of Oyasiqurs killers fear being namedn Adil SakhawatA day after two trangendered people helped to capture two of Oyasiqur Rahman Babus three killers, the Begunbari transgender com-munity to which they belong yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that the duo would not be publicly identi ed for fear of reprisals.

Two third-gender people, helped by other Begunbari residents, succeeded in capturing alleged killers, Jikrullah and Ariful Islam, be-fore handing them over to police.

Oyasiqur was brutally hacked to death by three Islamist extremists wielding machetes.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

Today with Dhaka Tribune

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Blogger murders may be linkeddirectly took part in Mondays attack, the investigators suspect that at least three to four other people were present around the spot to cover the assailants.

This modus operandi of silent killing is usually used by radical Islamist group Ansarullah Bangla Team where the executors remain in the dark about their superiors who are the masterminds or coordinators of the attacks. Detained Zikrullah and Ariful Islam were able to give the names of only two other people whom they met the day before the attack.

Ansarullah members have been found to be involved in the murder of blogger Ahmed Rajeeb Haider. Detectives suspect that secular writer Avijit was killed by members of a similar sleeper cell.

Zikrullah and Arif said they had been instructed to kill Oyasiqur upon an order by their spiritual leader Masum to protect Islam.

Monirul said Masum, which could be a fake name, might have coordinated the attack.

In the Avijit killing case, investigators suspect Ansarullah member Redwanul Azad Rana, also charge sheeted accused in the Rajeeb murder case, as the coordinator. He is currently on the run.

It has been learnt that Ansarullah has prepared a hit list of 84 people including noted bloggers who took part in the Shahbagh movement of 2013. Of them, at least eight

people were killed in the last two years.Monirul said they were suspecting

Ansarullah for the attack on Oyasiqur as the organisation, after several murders, had claimed responsibility on websites and social media platforms.

Interrogating the duo, we are trying to nd Ansaullahs link to the attacks on Oyasiqur and Avijit, said Monirul, who is also the chief of DB police.

The detectives also found that Zikrullah had been arrested earlier in Narsingdi as a JMB member. It could not be con rmed whether he still was involved with the out t.

Meanwhile, Zikrullah and Arif were taken into police custody yesterday after a court granted eight-day remand in the case, led by Oyasiqurs brother-in-law Monir Hossain Masud.

Inspector Mizanur Rahman of Tejgaon industrial police, also investigating o cer of the case, placed the duo before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Younus Khan seeking 10-day remand.

During the hearing, Zikrullah told the court: Although we were involved in the murder of Oyasiqur, we do not know anything about Avijit killing. Oyasiqur was killed for making defamatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on Facebook which hurt us.

But the person who attacked the

blogger [Oyasiqur] directly, ed the scene immediately.

He claimed that Abu Taher had hacked Oyasiqur and ed the scene. He also said they had carried out the attack under the directives of Masum.

However, the police found two of the three machetes to have blood stains.

Monirul said the arrestees during the interrogation said they had attacked the blogger from a sense of religious responsibility and claimed it to be their rst killing.

The two arrestees are not experts in the use of the internet, blogging or Facebook. We can easily understand that someone might have instructed them to commit the murder. This case may give us a breakthrough to solve previous killings, he added.

Of the arrestees, police earlier claimed that Zikrullah was a student of Hathazari Madrasa in Chittagong run by radical Islamist platform Hefazat-e-Islam, while Arif studied at Mirpurs Darul Uloom Madrasa.

Hathazari madrasa authorities, however, claimed that Zikrullah was not their student.

Monirul said they were yet to con rm Zikrullahs studentship at Hathazari madrasa.

Visiting Darul Uloom Madrasa, the Dhaka Tribune found that Arif was a second-year aleem (HSC equivalent) student. He had applied for 12 days sick leave on December 29 last year but did not return to his studies.l

Captors of Oyasiqurs killers fear being namedThe heroines of the day now fear for their lives. Members of their community told the Dhaka Tribune that if their names are pub-lished, they may be killed in revenge.

The Dhaka Tribune yesterday spent the day with the areas transgender community led by Sapna Hijra, discussing their feats and fears in the aftermath of Oyasiqurs murder.

They spoke as a group and did not divulge who among them actually took place in snar-ing the murderers.

Sapna Hijra is an in uential person in the Begunbari area where the killing took place, and leads the trangender community that lives there.

At the time of the murder, they said, ve transgender people were out collecting mon-

ey from shops in the Begunbari area, as they do every week.

When they saw Oyasiqurs attackers run-ning away, the hijras chased them, grabbing two while the third got away.

Police have said the two arrestees con-fessed to a role in the murder of Oyasiqur, but Begunbaris transgender community remains wary of divulging too much to the media.

One trangender person told the Dhaka Tribune: Our Guru Ma [Sapna Hijra] is now away from Dhaka. Without her permission we will not tell you who among us caught those killers that day.

The killers accomplices might attack us if we disclose their names to you, another member of the community said.

When told that the Dhaka Metropolitan Po-lice (DMP) wanted to reward the duo for their bravery, the community still refused to tell the Dhaka Tribune their names.

Tejgaon Zone Police Deputy Commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: We are looking for the two that caught the criminals to thank them. We have not yet found out who they are.

Sapna Hijra, speaking to the Dhaka Trib-une over the phone yesterday, said: When I return to Dhaka, I will nd out who caught the killers and then I can tell you their names.

DMP Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam told reporters: We are thinking about re-warding them for their courageous work. We applaud such bravery. l

Ruling alliance partners not on same pageFilmstar and former Awami League MP Sara Begum Kabari has also submitted nomination papers for the mayor in the north.

The problem of multiple leaders running for same posts is much more serious at the ward level for the Awami League. On an aver-age, ve Awami League leaders in each ward have submitted nomination papers for con-testing in the councillor election.

However, things are less critical for the rul-ing alliance in Chittagong.

In a closed-door meeting at Hotel Penin-sula in the port city yesterday afternoon, lo-cal leaders of the 14-party alliance reached a consensus to back AJM Nasir Uddin, Awami Leagues choice for the polls there.

Chittagong-based JSD leader and lawmak-er Moin Uddin Khan Badal informed reporters about the decision after the meeting.

Nasir, who is running in the polls under the banner of Nagarik Committee, was not present in the meeting although he is one of the top leaders of the alliance in Chittagong. l

Intl communities concerned over freedom of expressionn Tribune ReportDeath of a second blogger within a span of barely one month triggered strong reaction from the international community with the UN expressing tremendous concern and European countries condemning the attack.

UN deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq, during his regular brie ng at the UN head-quarters on Monday (Tuesday in Bangladesh) said: it is a matter of tremendous concern that di erent journalists and other intellectu-als are being attacked.

He said the UN has been calling for basic rights in Bangladesh, including the right to

freedom of expression when asked if the UN had any response to another blogger being hacked to death.

The European Union issued a statement condemning the murder of Oyasiqur Rahman, a liberal thinker.

The Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh condemns the brutal assault and killing of blogger Oyasiqur Rahman... EU Am-bassador to Bangladesh Pierre Mayaudon said in a message on Monday as reported by UNB.

France and Germany have also condemned Mondays murder of the progressive writer.

Paris conveyed its condolences to Oyas-iqurs family and relatives, said a press release of the French embassy.

France called upon the authorities to in-vestigate these revolting acts and reiterated its commitment to freedom of opinion and expression, including online expression.

The German Embassy said it was an attack on the freedom of expression as this was al-ready the second case of an assault against liberal bloggers within a month of the grue-some killing of Avijit Roy.

Blogger Oyasiqur Rahman was hacked to death in the Tejgaon Industrial Area when he was on his way to work.

Blogger and science writer Avijit Roy, a Bangladesh born US citizen, was hacked to death on Dhaka University campus on Febru-ary 26 by Islamist fanatics. l

Forex reserve crosses $23bn-mark againn Tribune ReportThe countrys foreign exchange reserve yesterday crossed $23 billion-mark again after it reached the level for the rst time on February 26 this year.

It stood at $23.05bn enough to meet import expenditure for more than six months, according to Bangladesh Bank gures released yesterday.

The gure was 20% higher than a reserve of $19.23bn registered on March 31 last year.

Bangladesh will be able to face any type of internal and external economic shock with the present level of foreign exchange reserve, the central bank said in a statement.

The reserve is comfortable considering the overall economic situation of the country. Yet, it needs to be increased further. l

NEWS2DT

NEWS 3D

TWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

Police given major role in scrutinyn Tribune ReportPolice yesterday said they would send the de-tails of criminal records of all the mayor and councillor aspirants of the upcoming Dhaka city polls to the Election Commission.

At a press brie ng last evening in the DMP media o ce, Detective Branch (DB) of police chief Monirul Islam said: The EC wanted to know if there is any criminal record against any of those who had submitted nomination papers for the elections. We will send those details to the EC by tonight [last night].

However, we will need further investiga-tion to know if any of the candidates have any case or complaint led outside their electoral areas, Monirul, also a joint commissioner of the DMP, told reporters.

The EC will scrutinise the nomination pa-pers today and tomorrow. From today, rep-resentatives of police will be present at the election o ces during scrutiny.

A senior DMP o cial told the Dhaka Trib-une that during every election both national and local, the EC holds meeting before scruti-nising the nomination papers.

But this is the rst time in history that the law enforcement agency is being involved at such a massive level with the scrutiny pro-cess, the o cial said.

The highlights of the long list of informa-tion that the EC has sought from the DMP includes number of criminal cases, type of crimes committed, and number of licensed and illegal arms in possessions. The EC also wanted to know if any of the nomination seekers are now underground or in jail.

Among the heavyweight aspirants, BNP leaders Mirza Abbas and Abdus Salam just like many party colleagues are now under-ground to avoid arrest. Their nomination pa-

pers were collected and submitted by repre-sentatives on their behalf.

Another BNP leader Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu, a mayor aspirant for Dhaka south, is now serving life term in jail in the BDR car-nage case.

DB boss Monirul said the EC has all the rights to make any decision under the elec-tion code of conduct in case an aspirant has any of the issues mentioned above.

If someone has a case but is out without bail then police will arrest him or her no mat-ter how big a leader they are. Police will also keep those out on bail under close surveil-lance, Monirul said.

Although Monirul refused to say exactly how many names are there in their list, he said: Most mayor and councillor aspirants have 30-40 cases against them...It is entirely up to the EC whether they will allow the can-didates in hiding. The police have nothing to do in this regard.

Asked whether they would launch any special drive before the polls, the DB boss only said: A drive is already going on.

Meanwhile, Election Commissioner Shah Newaz yesterday said that police do not need to seek the ECs permission in case they want to arrest someone. He was talking to reporters at the EC o ce in the citys Agargaon.

Asked whether aspirants accused in cases would be allowed to contest the polls, he said the commission has speci c rules about who can take part and how they campaign.

He also said that the current commission has already successfully organised six free and fair city polls.

Asked what would happen to the ward councillor aspirants who failed to le their papers on time on Sunday, Shah Newaz said there was no scope for considering their cases. l

BNP team to meet EC today n Mohammad Al-Masum MollaA delegation of BNP will meet the Election Commission today to place its eight-point proposal that includes a demand for creating level-playing eld for all in the city corpora-tion polls.

A source at the BNP Gulshan o ce said the delegation led by the partys Standing Commit-tee member Jamiruddin Sircar will go to the EC.

Khaleda Zia has discussed the proposals with some senior leaders and nalised them, the source said.

The other demands include immediate re-lease of all the opposition leaders including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, action against violators of election code of conduct, steps to stop vote rigging and use of muscle power and recovery of illegal arms.

Scrutiny of nomination papers has al-ready started but supporters of the BNP-

backed candidates have not yet been able to take to the street. Almost all of its leaders are either in jail or in hiding because of cases led against them, said a senior BNP leader.

Release and bails of those BNP leaders are very signi cant right now for a fair election.

The party, however, in a press release signed by party Joint Secretary General Bar-katullah Bulu, expressed hope that the EC would play its role to restore democratic pro-cess by creating a congenial atmosphere.

Party insiders also said pro-BNP profes-sional platform Sommilito Peshajibi Parishad expressed their will to coordinate the city corporation polls as the pro-BNP civil society platform Shoto Nagorik does not have experi-ence and capacity to do so.

Senior leaders of the party, however, said candidates would participate from such a platform that will work in coordination with the Shoto Nagorik Committee.

The platform will be announced on April 3. l

Who is going to be your future mayor?n Mohammad Al Masum Molla and Asif IslamThe city corporation elections slated for April 28 will see nearly 12.5% of the countrys popu-lation exercise the franchise, o ering not only a barometer reading on the state of the repub-lic but also a glimpse into the current state of leadership in Bangladesh.

As the 18.5 million residents of the coun-trys three most populous city corporations go to the ballot box to elect their next chief metropolitan o cer, citizens rightly ask: Who exactly are their would-be leaders?

The Dhaka Tribune has collated data on 59 of the 60 candidates for the three mayoral polls to answer this very question.

The wealth of information in the candi-dates nomination papers shows tremendous variety among the contenders for the Dhaka North, Dhaka South and Chittagong city may-oral race.

Representing an array of occupational and educational backgrounds, candidates appear to re ect the diversity of the constituencies

they aspire to serve.Work-wise, the vast majority of the mayor

aspirants, 37 to be exact, described their pro-fession as business.

One, Sarah Begum Kabari, is an actress, while several other aspirants described them-selves as writers, even though they did not describe how writing contributed to their in-comes.

Descriptions of professions ran the gam-ut of occupations from ASM Akram, who is a rentier, to Bazlur Rashid Firoz and Abdulah Al Ka , who described themselves as full-time politicians.

Another candidate described his work as being a politician but also listed writing as a profession.

Four wordsmiths joined a clothier in the competition for mayor, describing their oc-cupations respectively as writer or poet, and tailor.

Journalists, travel agents, lawyers, whole-salers, contractors and publishers rubbed shoulders with each other in the match for the mandate.

One proud business proprietor, Abdul Khalek, named his nutritive product as his occupation tehari, a rice casserole popu-lar in the three metropolises. Another, who presumably o ers nourishment of a spiritual kind, described himself as the Imam of a mosque.

Just under half of the candidates, 28 to be exact, are at least graduates, meaning that they completed the tertiary level of education.

Two candidates, Asaduzzaman Ripon and Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, identify them-selves as PhD holders, while another two were

educated in the madrasa system and hold Masters-equivalent Kamil degrees.

The remaining tertiary educated candi-dates include those who describe themselves simply as graduates as well as Bachelors and Masters degree holders in the arts, commerce and sciences. Two have LLMs, and one, Bobby Hajjaj, is an MBA.

Eight candidates describe their education-al attainment as self-educated and two as literate.

Seventeen candidates say they received formal schooling up to the secondary level, ranging from the completion of class VIII to the completion of HSCs. This includes a num-ber who completed their SSCs and one who completed the madrasa systems Alim quali- cation.

Without making any scienti c claims, it is probably fair to say that the breakdown of candidates educational and occupation-al backgrounds re ects the diversity of the citizenry who will choose their mayors from among them later this month. l

Just under half of the candidates, 28 to be exact, are at least graduates, meaning that they completed the tertiary level of education

Activists of a progressive writers platform form a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday protesting the murder of blogger Oyasiqur Rahman DHAKA TRIBUNE

NEWS4DTWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

BD-US partnership, security dialogue likely in Apriln Sheikh Shahariar ZamanThe government is planning to hold the fourth Bangladesh-US Partnership Dialogue and Se-curity Dialogue in April to boost relationship.

We have proposed to hold the dialogues on April 30 and are waiting for the US approv-al, a senior o cial of the For-eign Ministry told the Dhaka Tribune.

The fourth partnership di-alogue will be held in Dhaka while the security dialogue will be held in Washington. The venues were reversed in the third meeting.

In the partnership dialogue to be held in Dhaka, Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque will lead the Bangladesh side while US State Department Un-der-secretary Wendy Sherman the US side.

Wendy Sherman is cur-rently busy with negotiation with Iran on nuclear issue and it is expected that it would be concluded very soon, he said.

Both the governments will follow the format of last three dialogues and it is expected that no new issue will be in-cluded in the negotiation.

We have lot of things to do and we need to consolidate the existing areas of cooperation, the o cial added.

Dhaka is engaged with

Washington in a wide range of areas including trade, invest-ment, assistance, security co-operation and people-to-peo-ple contact.

In the partnership dialogue, it is expected that both the par-ties would discuss three broad areas development and gov-ernance, trade and investment, and security cooperation.

In cluster discussion, in-vestment climate, energy, la-bour and terrorism issues will dominate the dialogue.

In the last partnership di-alogue held in Washington in October last year, both the par-ties in the cluster discussion talked about strengthening democratic institution, civil society, rule of law, climate change, migration and Rohing-ya, science and technology, labour, blue economy peace-keeping and law enforcement.

Education, diaspora, cul-ture, regional integration, hu-man rights and security were also discussed. A joint state-ment had been issued after the dialogue.

Another Foreign Ministry o cial said the Fourth Secu-rity Dialogue is proposed to be held in Washington.

We are working on it and hope to have a good meeting, he said.

Last time, the Security Dia-logue was held in Dhaka. l

14 evicted Hindu families get back landn Our Correspondent, BargunaLocal administration and police yesterday reinstated 14 Hindu families on their land at Chandan-tola village of Taltoli upazila and started construction of houses.

A temporary police camp was also set up in the area to ensure security of the families, evicted by in uential quarters over the last two years.

The families returned to the village around 11am amid pres-ence of Deputy Commissioner Mir Jahurul Islam, Superin-tendent of Police Saiful Islam, Additional District Magistrate Habibur Rahman, Union Pari-shad Chairman Nazir Hossain Patwary and representatives of civil society and rights bodies.

At a views-exchange meet-ing organised by Community Police, local Awami League

leaders demanded punish-ment of Jubo League leader Zakir Hossain, his brother Ab-dus Salam who with the help of BNP leader Abdur Rashid for evicting the Hindu families.

Three families left the vil-lage and started living in Bar-guna town early 2013 in the face of torture by the three leaders and their cohorts, lo-cals say. Two more families had to leave the area early last year while the nine other fami-lies on March 13 this year.

Each family was given Tk6,000, two bundles of cor-rugated iron sheets, 30kg rice, grocery items and food grains. Moreover, the district admin-istration has started installing deep tube-well while the pub-lic health engineering depart-ment constructing hygienic sanitary latrines. l

Top power plant falters during peak season n Aminur Rahman RaselIn the middle of peak demand sea-son, the countrys largest public sector power plant has been temporarily shut down due to technical problems.

Power sector insiders said the dis-ruption of the 412MW gas- red Hari-pur Power Plant in Narayanganj will

have an impact on the countrys elec-tricity supply.

Production was halted on March 16 as its lter was damaged. We have already started maintenance work, Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB) Managing Director Mostafa Kamal told the Dhaka Trib-une, adding commercial production is

likely to resume next month.The plant was shut down due to

technical glitches during its test run two years ago and has been switched o repeatedly since commencing com-mercial operations.

On August 24, 2013, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the power plants operations. l

NEWS 5D

TWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

HSC, equivalent exams begin today n Tribune ReportThe Higher Secondary Certi cate ex-ams begin today amid political agita-tions sponsored by the BNP-led 20-par-ty alliance.

More than 10 lakh students will take part in the HSC and equivalent exams this year 67,490 fewer than last year.

The theoretical tests are scheduled to be held between April 1 and June 11; the practical exams will be held be-tween June 13 and June 22.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Na-hid yesterday said the government de-cided to hold the exams as per schedules despite the ongoing political turmoil.

We are holding this years exams in

an unusual situation in which the stu-dents are panicked, he said. The stu-dents will lose a year from their academ-ic lives if the exams are not held on time.

The 20-party alliance has called a 24-hour nationwide hartal for Thurs-day, while the Dhaka and Chittagong city corporations will remain out of the hartal purview. l

BRTA o cials wife killed, 3 more injuredn Mohammad Jamil Khan

and Abid Azad

The assailant came to the at of Sitangshu Shekhar Bishwas, deputy director of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, on Monday night with gifts and food to greet him on his belat-ed birthday. He was apparently known to the family.

He gave Sitangshu juice, pre-sumably laced with sedatives, that he had brought. After drinking the juice, Sitangshu fell unconscious, and then the man hit his head with a ham-mer.

As Krishna Kaberi Bishwas, 36, wife of the BRTA o cial, came to the living room with a boti, a unique kitchen sick-le, the killer snatched it and hacked her on the head.

Stunned at the incidents, the couples daughters Adri, 6, and Shruti, 15, rushed to the living room of the second oor at of a building on Iqbal Road, Mohammadpur to save their parents. They were also hit and eventually ed. Shruti in-formed their neighbours about the attack over land phone.

Before leaving the house, the killer switched o the light in the living room and set the room on re. He also threw Krishna into the re, Sanchita Bishwas, sister of Sitangshu, told the Dhaka Tribune quoting Shruti.

Krishna, who is a teacher at Mission International College in Adabar, Mohammadpur, was critically injured. The neigh-bours took the couple to Care Hospital at Asad Gate and later to Mohakhalis Dhaka Metro-politan Hospital where Krishna

succumbed to her injuries around 3am.

Doctors said both Sitangshu and Adri were in a critical state from excessive bleeding and were being treated at the In-tensive Care Unit. Shruti was recovering in a regular cabin.

Relatives, neighbours and security guard of the building identi ed the killer as Zakir Hossain, manager of a broker house named Hazi Ahmed Se-curities, who had been known to the family and visited them around 9pm on Monday night. As the man identi ed himself at the reception, Sitangshu, whose birthday had passed several days ago, asked the guard to allow Zakir.

Sanchita said the attack-er had addressed Sitangshu as sir.

Sitangshus neighbour Saber Ahmed said they had found the BRTA o cial and his daughters bleeding and lying on the oor. We brought them to our at. When I went to rescue his wife, we found the at lled with smoke. I rescued her burnt and bleeding severely, he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Hailing from Rajbari, Si-tangshu is a serving deputy director for operation in BRTA head o ce. Shruti is a grade X student while Adri reads in class II.

Azizul Islam, OC of Moham-madpur police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that they were yet to learn about the motive behind the killing.

We have got some clues and vital information from the victims relatives. We will talk to the victims once they get well. l

7,500kg of jatka con scated from cityn Tribune ReportRapid Action Battalion (RAB) yesterday in a drive con scated 7500kg of jatka from the capi-tals Kawran Bazar sh market yesterday morning.

The elite force ned 11 sh traders Tk5000 each for selling jatka (hilsha fry) defying gov-ernment ban.

Rab 2 operation o cer Maruf Ahammed said on in-

formation they raided the Kar-wan Bazar sh market yester-day morning with the o cials of Fisheries Department and seized 7500kg of jatka.

RAB 2 Magistrate Anisur Rahman ned 11 illegal sh traders Tk5000 each for selling jatka, said the o cial.

ASP Maruf Ahmed as the Pahela Baisakh is approaching sh traders are illegally selling jatka. l

NEWS6DTWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

Oishees friend gets bailn Md Sanaul Islam TipuA Dhaka court yesterday grant-ed bail to a suspect in the mur-ders of Special Branch Inspec-tor Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife Swapna Rahman, who were allegedly killed by their own daughter Oishee Rahman.

Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribu-nal 3 Judge Syeed Ahamed granted the bail to Oishees friend Mizanur Rahman Rony, 25, after hearing a bail petition.

Ronys counsel Md Shahidul Islam said the investigation o cer had brought allegation under section 112 of the penal code against Rony for sheltering the key accused; so the court granted the bail as Rony did not know about the murder.

The main accused in the case Oishee also did not mention his [Ronys] name in the confessional statement she earlier gave to the court under section 164.

The tribunal has so far re-corded depositions of four prosecution witnesses, out of 57, and has also xed April 6 for the next hearing.

According to the case state-ment, the bodies of Mahfuzur and Swapna were found at their Chamelibagh residence in the capital on August 16, 2013.

On September 18, 2013, detectives arrested Oishees friend Rony.

On March 9 last year, DB Inspector Abul Khair Matub-bar, the investigation o cer of the case, submitted two charge sheets one against Oishee and her friends Jony and Rony, and another against household help Sumi before the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrates Court.

Later on November 12 last year, the case was shifted to the Speedy Trial Tribunal 3 in accordance to a Home Minis-try decision. l

Rizvi on remand againn Md Sanaul Islam TipuBNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi was placed on a fresh three-day remand yesterday in a case of insti-gating vandalism and arson in the capitals Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on January 18.

Metropolitan Magistrate Musta zur Rahman passed the order when Sub-Inspector Markarias Das of Sher-e-Bang-la Nagar police station, also the investigation o cer of the

case, produced him before the court seeking a ve-day re-mand for interrogation.

Meanwhile, the defence counsel sought his bail but the court rejected the bail petition after hearing.

With the fresh remand, Rizvi is now on 30 days of remand in several cases led with di er-ent police stations in connec-tion with vandalism and arson.

Rizvi was arrested by law enforcers on January 31 from a house in Baridhara. l

BOU publishes HSC results n Tribune ReportResults of the rst and second year nal examinations of the Higher Secondary Certi cate Programme under Bangladesh Open University have been an-nounced in the grading system.

The results are available on BOUs website bou.ac.bd. The rst and second year results are available at exam.bou.edu.bd.

The results can also be accessed via mobile SMS. For this, Banglalink sub-scribers will have to type boustudent ID and send to 2700. The subscribers of other operators can type the same message and send to 2777 for the results. l

German course for SSC examineesn Our Correspondent,

Chittagong

Students who have just taken their Secondary School Certif-icate examinations can now take a six-week German lan-guage course at Die Sprache, a German language teaching centre in Chittagong.

SSC examinees have a lot of time before going to col-lege. They can utilise this time to learn a new language, said Die Sprache Director Joyonto Chowdhury at a press brie ng yesterday.

Admissions will begin from April 8 and classes are scheduled to start fromApril 16. l

NEWS 7D

TWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

WEATHER

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:14PM SUN RISES 5:50AM

YESTERDAYS HIGH AND LOW33.8C 19.4CMongla Syedpur

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 32 24Chittagong 32 25Rajshahi 33 23Rangpur 32 20Khulna 32 23Barisal 32 24Sylhet 30 20Coxs Bazar 31 24

PRAYER TIMESFajr 4:35am

Sunrise 5:50am

Zohr 12:03amAsr 4:30pm

Magrib 6:14pm

Esha 7:31pm

DRY WEATHER

LIKELY

Mother, daughter hacked to deathn Our Correspondent, GazipurA woman and her daughter were hacked to death by unidenti ed miscreants in Pabur area under Kapasia upazila of the district on Monday night.

The victims were identi ed as Surjo Be-gum, 75, and Mabia, 40, inhabitants of Pabur village.

The mother and the daughter were sleeping in the house when they were killed at dead of night, Kapasia union chairman Asgar Hossain said, quoting the relatives of the victims.

Kapasia police station O cer-in-Charge Ahsan Ullah said, on information, police went to the spot and recovered the bodies.

The bodies were to Gazipur Shahid Taz Uddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital for autopsy.

However, the police and the locals could not ascertain the reason behind the murder immediately.

The assailants took away some money from the house, the relatives said. l

4 drown, 9 missingin boat capsizen Our Correspondent, ChapainawabganjFour people died and nine others went miss-ing as a boat capsized in the Padma River at Shibganj upazila under the district on Mon-day night.

The deceased were identi ed as Jonab Ali, 55, son of Eshak Ali of Monohorpur, Taz-rin Khatoon, 17, daughter of Azizul Haque of Bheshapara village, Sumi Akhter, an SSC ex-aminee and daughter of

Arshad Ali of Raninagar village, and Rish-ad, 9, son of Nasir Uddin of Monkosha village of the upazila.

Local sources said a boat carrying 15-16 people and 7-8 cattle from Gaipara village to Monohorpur capsized in the middle of the riv-er being hit by a stormy wind.

Although some of the people on board managed to ashore, several of them had re-mained missing since the boat capsize, said Durlabhpur UP chairman Abu Ahmed Nazmul Kabir Mukta.

Moinul Islam, o cer-in-charge of Shib-ganj police station said on information, police forces had been sent to the spot and they had started rescue operation.

A rescue team started for the spot.Local people were also continuing their

rescue operation from night.They became angry to the team for late

protested the negligence of the authority con-cern. l

Two to die for killing minor girl after rape n Our Correspondent, Netrakona A Netrakona court sentenced two people to death penalty for killing a minor girl after rape three years back.

Judge of Children Repression Prevention Tribunal Dr AKM Abul Kashem gave the ver-dict against Ali Hossain and Mamud Hossain. Both of them are the residents of Horipur vil-lage at Dhormopasa upazila, Sunamganj.

According to the prosecution, the con-victs raped Shabnur, 10, daughter of Jahang-ir Alam, a resident of Atithipur village, after taking her in a jute eld and later killed her on July 14, 2012.

Later, police recovered the body from the eld the following day.

Father of the victim led a case with Ne-trakona Sadar police station accusing Ali Hos-sain and Mamud Hossain. l

E levated expressway work to begin after 3 missed deadlinesn Shohel MamunThe proposed Dhaka elevated expressway have been facing uncertainties centring acqui-sition of a land in Kuril but the authority said the issue is in the process of being resolved.

The work for building the rst phase of the expressway from the airport to Banani in the capital could not be started because of a com-plication in acquiring a 1.4 acre land in Kuril. At least six multi-storied buildings stand on that land and the owners had led a petition with the High Court.

According to Bangladesh Bridge Authority sources a mutual understanding was reached with the stakeholders with the help of Bangla-desh Army regarding land acquisition for the rst phase of the project.

Sources said the owners of the buildings have agreed to the government proposal for resettlement.

Today (Wednesday) Bridge division have arranged a workshop with the stakeholders of the land to nalise the resettlement action plan. Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quder will preside over the meeting.

Asked about the construction start date, the Bridge division Secretary Khandaker Anowarul Islam said: We are going to start the construction work immediately and we hope it will be complete by 2018.

The elevated expressway project have al-ready missed three deadlines in starting con-struction. In December last year the construc-tion company Ital-Thai opposed to start work unless they had nal con rmation about land

acquisition. Earlier, the construction work was delayed for fund crisis.

In January 2011, the government signed an agreement with Bangkok-based Ital-Thai to build the four-lane expressway at a cost of Tk8,703 crore under the Public-Private Part-nership (PPP) scheme. After continuous fund crisis, last year the Ital-Thai Development Cor-poration Limited entered into a $1.062bn con-tract with China Railway Construction Corpo-ration to build the Dhaka elevated expressway.

The proposed expressway starts at the Shahjalal International Airport and runs alongside the New Airport Road via Mohakha-li, Tejgaon and Moghbazar to Kamalapur Railway Station and connects with the Dha-ka-Chittagong Highway near Kutubkhali via Golapbagh and Jatrabari. l

Rajshahi College students protest hike in feesn Our Correspondent, RajshahiThe students of Rajshahi Government College went on a demonstration in protest at the in-crease in the fees of from ll-up on the cam-pus yesterday.

Over 100 students started demonstration and chanting slogans against the authorities concerned around 11am. On information, a team from Boalia police station rushed to the campus and took the situation under control.

The agitated students alleged that the au-thorities concerned allegedly had increased the amount of fees for form ll-up of the third year nal examination.

Several students of English department said the amount had been increased to Tk5,700 from Tk4,600.

It will be burdensome for a huge number of students who have come from poor and un-derprivileged families, said several students while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.

The students also alleged that when they had gone to the principal of the college to reg-ister their complaint, Principal Hobibur Rah-man got furious.

However, Principal Mohammad Ho-bibur claimed that the amount of fees was xed by the higher authorities of National University. l

Unpaid for three consecutive months, workers of Hemstitch Design Garments stage a demonstration in front of the BGMEA building in the capital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

NEWS8DTWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

Delay in getting power connections puts 400 farmers in di cultiesn Our Correspondent, ThakurgaonAbout 400 Thakurgaon farmers have been struggling to bring their land under Boro irriga-tion for long as the local power authorities have allegedly ignored to give power connection to newly-installed 101 deep tube-wells for long.

Consequently 3,000 hectares of the farm-ers under ve upazilas remain out of the irri-gation net.

Sources said this may impact production set by the agriculture o ce.

On the other hand, many farmers have start-ed setting up shallow pumps for irrigation which will eventually double the production cost.

The local agriculture o ce set a target of 245,393 tonnes of rice from 61,859 hectares for the current Boro season.

Barind Multipurpose Development Au-thorities last year installed 107 deep tube-wells in the upazila to ensure smooth Boro cultivation.

Of them, only 6 managed to get electricity connection as both Barind and local power au-thorities are locked in blame game in this regard.

Farmers Tawhidul Islam and Abul Kasem in Sadar upazila said almost eight months had elapsed since the tube-wells were set up.

They were facing much trouble as they had earlier sold their shallow machines expecting electricity connection.

Another farmer named Shahaduddin said his production cost had doubled as he began to irrigation with shallow pumps. Rather, de-lay in irrigation might decrease his produc-tion volume as well, he continued.

Joyanti Sarker, from Bhomradah village in Pirganj upazila, said they welcomed the project to get low cost irrigation facility, but their dreams faded away want of electricity connection.

Farmers, namely Dipo Rai and Joyesri, from the upazila, said ten shallow machines are needed in lieu of only one deep tube-well.

Thakurgaon Palli Bidyut Samity General Manager (GM) Khalekuzzaman denied the allegation of delay in electricity connection, saying they did not receive any application in this regard from the Varendra authorities.

Those applications placed for deep tube-well connection to them already secured per-mission, the GM continued.

On the contrary, Varendra Multipurpose Development Authority Executive Engineer Shahidur Rahman termed the claim of GM Khalekuzzaman baseless. l

CONSEQUENCE OF BLOCKADES, HARTALS IN THAKURGAON

Demu train services suspended for 85 days n Our Correspondent, ThakurgaonCommuters su er as the Diesel Electric Mul-tiple Unit (Demu) train services on Parbati-pur-Thakurgaon and Parbatipur- Lalmonirhat routes have remained suspended for 86 days due to security reasons.

Authorities of Bangladesh Railway (BR) had stopped the plying of the Demu trains on the routes on January 5 when the BNP-led 20-party alliance enforced blockade across the country.

The BRs o cials in Thakurgaon told the Dhaka Tribune that they stopped the train

services to avoid any attack on the trains by pro-blockade and pro-hartal activists.

Shamsul Haq, a station master of BR in Thakurgaon, said they stopped plying of the trains to ensure security of the passengers.

Maleka Parvin Bithi, a lecturer of Abul Hos-sain Sarkar College, was a regular commuter of the train on Parbatipur-Thakurgaon route.

I used to travel by the train regularly to go my college. But now I am facing various problems as the train service has remained stopped for about three months, she said.

Shahdat Hossain, a student of Thakurgaon

Government College, was another user of the train service.

Now I have to travel about 30 kilometers by bicycle from my home to the college. Its really di cult to attend my classes by driving bicycles, he said. I cannot pay attention to my study at home as I become tired to travel to my college and home, he added.

AKM Lutfar Rahman, o cer-in-charge of Parbatipur Railway police station, said no sub-versive activities could take place in the area because of active role of the law enforcers.

We will ensure necessary securities if the

railway authorities resume the train services, he said.

On August 27, 2013, Railway Minister Mu-jibul Haque inaugurated the Demu train ser-vices at the Thakurgaon Railway Station.

With three bogies, the train can carry 300 passengers 149 sitting and 151 standing.

The train on Parbatipur-Thakurgaon rout stops at ve stations at Chirirbandar, Dina-jpur, Setabganj, Pirganj and Thakurgaon.

Meanwhile, the train on Parbatipur- Lalmonirhat route stops at Kholahati, Badar-ganj, Rangpur, Kaonia, and Lalmonirhat. l

Village women are seen doing household chores with the water of a deep tube well installed under Barind Project in Bhimarpara village of Godagari upazila in Rajshahi yesterday. People of the Barind tract have been immense su ering for a few days for lack of water due to falls in underground water level. Almost all the ponds, canals and even tributaries have dried up AZAHAR UDDIN

LONG FORM 9D

TWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

n Tim Steel

Returning from Bangladesh in time for the 2015 General Election, apart from the evident absence of a con-tinuous threat of political mayhem, endangering life, limb, and commerce, there is a palpably familiar air in the United King-dom. In a word, uncertainty.

With two major parties lunging at each others throats, with large, and growing num-bers of political fragments snapping around them, the citizens may well ask themselves how, through a fog of media induced confu-sion of threats and drama, can they sensibly take a view which can most probably o er the leadership required to plan and deliver a prospect of a better sustainable world in which to live in the future United Kingdom.

The di erence, of course, is that the sun still seems to be rising on a thriving future for the lands that, once before were a centre of world economic development in Bang-ladesh, at the heart of which lies one of the worlds earliest and most prosperous centres of trade. But, in Britain, there seems to be a real prospect that the sun may, nally, be threatening to set on the last vestiges of the empire, upon which the sun never sets. Ironically, perhaps, an empire of which these lands of Bangladesh were, undoubtedly, a foundation stone.

The usual kind of opening skirmishes characterise the onset of the eighth week before election day on May 7.

Accusations of taking of illegal donations for election funds have already erupted, and school yard standard of parliamentary abuse about who could, would, and should partici-pate in televised debates assail the eyes and ears in what should probably be properly referred to as the Views Media. Intelligent, objective coverage of political issues, already in short supply, may be regarded as a serious-ly endangered species!

With so many weeks to go before polling day, such abuse seems already in the gutter; how much lower can it go? But it all makes apparent drama and con ict upon which the media thrives! From whether the Labour leader has two kitchens in his modest London home, to whether the present prime minister has been too close to such criminals as his former press adviser and unprosecuted bank-ers still evidently misappropriating funds in undeserved bonuses, spice the stories.

However, this election is being fought a scarce 200 years after the famous Battle of Waterloo, that might be said to have consol-idated the international supremacy of the British Empire since the Battle of Plassey. An empire in the making, that would thrive for another century, and then commence the decline to Little Britain, this may yet come to be regarded as the last election to the Parlia-ment of the United Kingdom, and its place as a leading member of the European Union, and of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

With high opinion polling for parties who wish to pull in such polarised directions, of exit from the European Union, and the frag-mentation of the United Kingdom, this could well prove to be an election that will go down in history.

Elections since the end of World War 2, that brought the British Empire to its end, have, by and large, been fought on domestic

issues, from The Pound in Your Pocket, to the provision of citizen health and welfare at all stages of life.

The last ve years, however, has seen the most inequitable reverse of economic security for most voters in modern times, with the poorest estimated, over the past ve years, to have become over 50% poorer, and the wealthiest over 60% wealthier. The very evident decline in the ability of the world famous National Health Service now appears, possibly, to have reached a terminal stage, and this, certainly, looks set to be a major issue in the election campaign. Even in the dying weeks of this government, massive privatisation contracts have been announced for the NHS.

Strangely, the possibility of Britain making its nal exit from any international alliance, in which it has always dominated, and even the stark reality of the breakup of the Union,

something roundly defeated by involved voters a mere six months ago, seem not to be debatable at the present stage of the cam-paign, representing, elephants in the room, visible to few. However, the fairly inevitable consequence of what all pollsters presently predict to be the tartan wash of Scottish politics, seems, slowly, to be emerging as an issue to occupy most voters attention, more as a possible e ect on the make up of the next UK government than on the virtual certainty that independence will be, rapidly, back on the agenda, leading inevitably, to that fragmentation.

The No more Tories appeal of last Septembers referendum in Scotland, which threatened, then, to precipitate the breakup of the British Union, was then resisted on practical grounds. The subsequent perfor-mance of the London-based coalition gov-ernment, however, has con rmed sceptics in

the suspicion that the Tories, in fact, sought, No more Scotland, where Conservatism has never truly ourished, and, instead, provided the foundations of almost all Labour Party governments in the UK parliament. Exclud-ing Scotland from that parliament would probably give the Conservatives an almost continuous majority.

Parliament, of course, has yet to be prorogued; that will take place at the end of March. The only real e ect of this is that, until the election is called... since legislation in 2010 set a rm future timetable for elections to prevent opportunist manipulation of the date, giving an apparent advantage to in-cumbent governments ... the date has been known, constituency campaigns may not commence use of funds they will be required to account for in declaration of expenditures within the legal limit for such local activity. Posters, therefore, have not begun to sprout from hedgerows and in front gardens, as com-mitted voters declare their allegiances.

It seems, to most UK citizens, therefore, something of a phoney war, with the background grumble of the sounds of con ict evident in the media, but no real evidence of activity on the ground.

This will certainly change as soon as the election is called. The telephones will ring o the hook with telephone banks of canvassers disturbing the peace of bewildered household-ers; letter boxes will be stu ed with lea ets, personal messages from candidates, and news-papers claiming the objectivity of such print to urge support for one candidate or another.

As usual, such activity will, doubtless, lead to confusion, and probably assault the defences of indi erence. Scratch most poten-tial voters and the polls, and experience tells us that the likelihood of actually voting on the day will still be at a low level.

For commentators, who can see past the immediacy of such issues as the future of the National Health Service, in the management of which neither of the major parties have a track record to excite credibility, or the like-lihood of massive pro teering by privatised utility suppliers being tackled, or the con-spicuous abuse of position by those seeking votes being curtailed -- the prospect of such seismic change as the fragmentation and international isolation of the nation that once ruled a third of the world through an empire in which, somewhere every day, the sun always shone, there is a growing depression.

Anyone who had stood upon the beach at Coxs Bazar, and watched the sun dip slowly below the horizon, having, momentarily, perhaps, been photographed cupping the red orb in their hand, may just appreciate the sense of the inevitable loss of a light that once burnt so brightly, that appears to threat-en this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island.

Well might the great eighteenth century English poet, Percy Bushe Shelleys immortal words resound throughout Britain, not to mention the political halls of USA, Russia and China, especially, Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. l

Tim Steel is a Communications and Marketing Consultant. His half century experience in politics includes speechwriting, research and consultancy to two Labour Party prime ministers and leaders of the opposition.

Breaking Britain

But, in Britain, there seems to be a real prospect that the sun may, nally, be threatening to set on the last vestigesof the empire, upon which the sun never sets

BIGSTOCK

WORLD10DTWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

Iran seeks nuclear deal but not normal ties with great satann Reuters, Lausanne, SwitzerlandIran is not expected to normalise relations with the United States even if Tehran reaches agreement with world powers on its nuclear program, o cials and analysts said.

The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China are trying to reach a deal with Iran aimed at stopping Tehran being able to de-velop a nuclear bomb in exchange for an easing of sanctions that are crippling its economy.

Loyalists of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, drawn from among Islamists and Revolutionary Guards who fear continued economic hardship might cause the collapse of the establishment, have agreed to back President Hassan Rouhanis pragmatic readi-ness to negotiate a nuclear deal, Iranian o -cials said.

But it will not go beyond that and he (Khamenei) will not agree with normalising ties with America, said an o cial, who spoke in condition of anonymity.

You cannot erase decades of hostili-ty with a deal. We should wait and see, and Americans need to gain Irans trust. Ties with America is still a taboo in Iran.

Tension between the hardline and prag-matic camps over the nuclear talks has re-duced in recent months since Khamenei pub-licly backed the negotiations.

However, Khamenei has continued to give speeches larded with denunciations of Irans enemies and the Great Satan, words aimed at reassuring hardliners for whom an-ti-American sentiment has always been cen-tral to Irans Islamic revolution.

Khamenei, whose hostility towards the Washington holds together Irans faction-rid-den leadership, remains deeply suspicious of US intentions.

But despite disagreement over Iran-US ties, Iranian leaders, whether hardliners or pragmatists, agree that a nuclear deal will help Iran to rebuild its economy.

Relations with Washington were severed after Irans 1979 Islamic revolution and enmi-ty to the United States has always been a ral-lying point for hardliners in Iran.

As long as Khamenei remains Su-preme Leader the chances of normalisingUS-Iran relations are very low. Rapproche-ment with the US arguably poses a greater existential threat to Khamenei than contin-ued con ict, said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for Inter-national Peace in Washington.

After three decades of propagating a cul-ture of de ance against the US, it will be curi-ous to see whether and how Khamenei spins a nuclear compromise as an act of resistance, not compromise.

There are di erent views among top of- cials over the normalisation of ties with America when the nuclear dispute is re-solved. But the Supreme Leader is against it, said another Iranian o cial. And he is the decision-maker.

Economically, the stakes are high, mean-ing that while Khamenei needs to keep the hardliners on side, a nuclear deal is a price he seems willing to pay.

Iran is under UN, US and European Union sanctions for refusing to heed UN Security Council demands that it halt all enrichment- and plutonium-related work at its nuclear sites.

The sanctions have severely damaged the Iranian economy, halving oil exports to just over 1 million barrels per day since 2012 while the country is also struggling with a sharp de-cline in international crude prices. l

Heaviest Arab raids rock Sanaan AFP, SanaaExplosions lit up the skies over Yemens capital overnight in the heaviest bombing raids yet in

a six-day operation led by Saudi Arabia, which hit out at Iran for supporting Shiite rebels.

The coalition has vowed to keep up the strikes until the Huthi rebels end their up-

rising against President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who has ed to Saudi Arabia.

The ghting has sent tensions between Sunni Arab nations and Shiite Iran soaring, even as marathon nuclear talks between Teh-ran and world powers in Switzerland enter a crucial nal phase.

The Huthis and their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, decided with the support of Iran to destabilise Yemen, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Tuesday.

We are not warmongers but when they beat the drums of war we are ready, Saud told the Shura Council advisory body, accord-ing to its Twitter account.

Kuwaits Al-Watan newspaper launched a vitriolic attack against Tehran, describing the air strikes as the biggest blow to Iran in decades.

The coalition campaign raises hopes of a historic success for the Arabs and a rout of one of their worst enemies: the Persian state, added the daily.

Huge blasts were heard overnight in Sanaa when coalition forces hit a missile depot be-longing to the renegade Republican Guard, which is loyal to former strongman Saleh.

Sanaa lived through a day of terror due to

Palestinians joinICC with Israelisin sightsn AFP, Ramallah, Palestinian TerritoriesThe Palestinians formally gain membership of the International Criminal Court yester-day with the aim of pursuing Israelis for war crimes, despite uncertainty over the moves wider rami cations.

The accession is another step in the Pales-tinian diplomatic and legal international cam-paign, which gained steam in 2014.

It has uncertain consequences, not only because it is highly unlikely Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israelis will nd themselves being tried at the ICC, but also because it constitutes a new deteriora-tion in the strained relationship. But the Pal-estinians are beyond caring.

Exasperated after decades of failed negoti-ations with Israel, with no perspective for the state they have been yearning, they have decid-ed to take their case to the international arena.

On January 2, the Palestinians moved to join The Hague-based court in a process that will be nalised on April 1, setting the scene for potential legal action against Israeli o -cials for alleged war crimes. l A Yemeni man looks at his house in ruins near Sanaa Airport yesterday AFP

WORLD 11D

TWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

Experts caution reality check on joint Arab forcen AFP, CairoDespite an agreement at a weekend Arab summit to es-tablish a joint military force, serious doubts remain that it will become a reality on the ground, experts say.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced the accord on Sunday at the end of the summit he hosted in the re-sort of Sharm el-Sheikh, setting a four-month timeframe for the 22-member Arab League to de-cide on the composition and rules of engagement of the joint force.

The notion of a truly joint Arab military force still remains an aspiration rather than a real-ity, said Frederic Wehrey, an expert at the Carnegie Endow-ment for International Peace. He said it faced inter-operabil-ity problems, political distrust amongst the states and a lack of realistic training.

A host of questions remain unanswered, starting with how many member states would participate and the strength of the force.

Key decisions also have to be made on whether it would be a permanent force, on where it would be based and its command structure.

I dont think there is a lot of substance to this force, said James Dorsey, a Middle East an-alyst with the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of Inter-

national Studies.Despite the statements of

unity, there are vast di erenc-es between the Arab states and that was evident with the situ-ation in Yemen, he said.

The Arab League has for months stressed the pressing need for a joint force to com-bat terrorist groups such as Islamic State group jihadists.

But the Saudi-led Arab air strikes launched last week against Yemens Iran-backed Shi-ite Huthi rebels have highlighted the divergent interests and prior-ities of the Leagues members.

For Sunni-majority coun-tries, the Huthis military ad-vance in Yemen was a step too far, following the spread of Shiite Irans in uence in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

The problem is that this force can be seen as a Sunni Arab force. It must therefore prove that its actions will not be guided by sectarianism, said Mathieu Guidere, professor of Arab geopolitics at Frances University of Toulouse.

Some countries will nega-tively view any interference in their domestic a airs, and per-ceive it as a threat to national sovereignty, Guidere said.

Iraq, whose Shiite-led gov-ernment is allied with Tehran, was the only Arab state to of- cially express reservations about the joint force at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit. l

Aligarh: Ganeshas wife worshipped in Aligarhn Tribune DeskA baby girl born with a trunk has become a big attraction in Aligarh, where people are ocking to worship her. They believe her to be an incarnation of lord Ganesha.

The child was born last Thursday with a protuberance between her two eyes which people believe resembles the trunk of the el-ephant god. l

Pakistan to get 8 submarines from Chinan Tribune DeskNaval o cials informed the Pakistani Stand-ing Committee on Defence Monday that the federal government has endorsed a summary to get eight submarines from China.

Pakistan's military has long been a major importer of defence equipment, particularly from key ally China. After the Cold War ended Pakistan began to deepen defence and eco-nomic ties with China. l

Politics spoils meat festival in Indiaa Kolkatan Tribune DeskIt was billed as a unique protest against the ban on cow slaughter in some Indian states. However, politics has cast a spoiler on what was to be the Kolkatas show of de ance against the assault on taste.

While its despair for those who had planned to let their eating do the talking and send across a subtle yet clear message by sampling the delectable kebab and tandoori spreads at the fest yesterday, the organisers arent likely to die wondering and have begun preparing for a legal battle against the venue authorities for cancelling the event.

The event, planned by Leftleaning NGOs at Muslim Institute on Park Street, was to host over 1,000 people. Former Lok Sabha Speak-er Somnath Chatterjee, former mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya and veteran Congress leader Abdul Mannan were to be among the high-pro le guests at the event.

While the venue authorities were tight-lipped on why the event had to be cancelled, sources said they had to yield to political pressure.

A Trinamool MP claimed an obvious politi-cal motive behind hosting the event and said it was a CPI(M) ploy to draw minority votes in the KMC (Kolkata Municipal Corporation) polls.

Organisers said they would move court against the venue authorities for giving in to political pressure and canceling the event.

We sense a conspiracy by the ruling Tri-namool Congress. We were told by authorities of the Muslim Institute that the event had to be cancelled at the very last moment. We see this is as Trinamools covert support to the BJP on the ban on cow slaughter. Well move court against the venue authorities for can-celing the event, former CPI(M) councillor Faiyaz Ahmed Khan, who was to be one of the principal organisers of the event, told HT on Monday. l

Near miss for Etihad, Emirates ights over Mumbai airspacen Tribune DeskEmirates ight EK-706 was heading to Dubai from Seychelles while Etihad ight EY-622 was on way to Seychelles from Abu Dha-bi when they came tantalisingly close over Mumbai airspace, sources said.

A possible mishap involving aircraft of two Gulf carriers over Indian airspace early on Monday was averted when the Mumbai ATC alerted one of the commanders, aviation sources said on Tuesday.

The incident involving Emirates and Eti-had Airways was reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, which has started its investigation, the sources said.

While Emirates con rmed the incident in a statement from Dubai, Etihad when contact-ed said it will respond soon.

The incident occured on the intervening night of March 29 and 30, when Emirates ight EK-706 was heading to Dubai from Sey-chelles while Etihad ight EY-622 was on way to Seychelles from Abu Dhabi. l

EDITORIAL12DTWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

The new law introducing jail sentences for factory owners who pollute rivers will only be e ective if properly enforced. It is certainly vital that government does more to protect the countrys rivers and waterways from industrial pollution. But while it is true existing penalties and nes have not proved adequate to reduce the grow-ing pollution of our waterways, the real problem lies not in the absence of strin-gent enough laws, but in the ine ective policing and enforcement of these laws.

The Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan who announced the new jail sentences, has repeatedly failed to do enough to protect our rivers.

His poor track record of handling past crises includes his ine ectual response to Decembers oil tanker capsize in the Sela river, which inundated environmentally precious sanctuaries in the Sundarbans.

Now, instead of correcting the min-istrys former mistakes, there is tough talk of jail terms being added as a disincentive. This will not help if there is no improvement in enforcement and accountability.

Past faults in the upholding of anti-pollution laws need to be addressed across all government ministries and agencies.

If we are indeed serious about saving our rivers, we need tangible action to ensure proper enforcement of laws that sees perpetrators brought to book. Tougher laws can help, but to do good we need better systems and accountable politicians to make sure they are fully enforced.

Shipping minister needs to show results

Accountability and enforcement key to saving rivers

It is concerning that the three-member probe committee formed to look into the allegations of negligence by law enforcers during last months murder of Avijit Roy outside Dhaka University has found no fault among on-duty police personnel.

While it had previously said some on-duty o cials had not performed their duties properly at the time of the attack, the committee is now stating only that there may have been defects in co-ordi-nation.

At the time, it was widely noted that when Avijit and his wife Bonna were attacked, a number of on-duty policemen standing close by did not act to stop or apprehend the assailants. Given the high pro le security attached to the book fair location at the time, this pointed to neg-ligence on the part of o cers stationed nearby. This point has now been rein-forced by the help shown by courageous members of the public in apprehending the suspected attackers of Oyasiqur Rahman.

Speaking at a public meeting after the attack, a prime ministerial adviser had publicly recommended to the inspector general of police that the probe needed to identify black sheep among the force and hold them to account.

The probe committee consisting of police o cials appears however to have interpreted the case in a defensive and narrow manner.

An independent inquiry is needed to make sure necessary lessons will be learned to prevent future negligence by law enforcers. Anything less will fail to reassure the public this case is being fully addressed, and any failings will be held to account.

Police probe fails to reassure especially now members of the public apprehended the attackers of Oyasiqur Rahman

Avijits case needs independent inquiry

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Maldives: A new democracy in crisisMarch 21

concernedWe need further awareness about the recent violence in the Maldives against Ban-galdeshi expatriates ... two deaths and three stabbings in less than a week! Bangaldeshis wanted to protest, but the government threatened to revoke the work permits of those who protest.

guiburiKangaroo court, banana republic.

bithufangiThe writer did not mention the Nasheed case, there are more questions to that.

matterEx-president Nasheed, who claims that he did not abduct criminal courts chief judge, had indeed, during his presidential term, met with security forces following the abduction of the Judge, and admitted his deed. He or-dered the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) to kidnap Judge Abdulla Mohamed, and to detain him at an MNDF training base, Girifushi, without any legal documents or evidence, or notifying a court.

Judge Abdulla Mohameds family, the whole nation, and the courts were delib-erately kept in the dark about the judges whereabouts. Judge Abdulla Mohamed was also deprived of all fundamental human rights for nearly a month.

Some international organisational views are di erent. Like HRCM, they investigated the Criminal Courts Chief Judge abduction case during that time and they sent a charge sheet to PG to charge them with abduction and kidnapping. The prosecutor general charged the case against Ex-president Nash-eed in 2012. Under powers conferred upon the same under Article 223 of the constitu-tion, the prosecutor general withdrew the earlier charges on February 17 led against ex-president Nasheed under Section 81 of the Penal Code 1968, and re- led the same case at the male criminal court on February 22.

The charge against the four co-accused

in the matter was also re led on the same grounds with similar amendment. Among the co-accused include inter alia, ex-president Nasheeds former defense minister, chief of defense force, and the commander of the male area.

Sobebithufangi: Abdulla Mohamed was abducted by the countrys security forces by order of the head of the state, as the judge became a national security threat?

The judge released a suspected murder-er, who had criminal records and who was convicted for several other criminal acts, for not getting o cial documents of the death case from Ministry of Health.

Judge Abdulla Mohamed also, on anoth-er occasion, had asked an underaged rape victim to recall the rape case in detail in the court room and perform some of the acts of the said rape case. He also asked the minor to touch her body parts, which is a shame to the whole judicial system.

The judge was arrested or abducted by the national security forces as he became a national security threat. President Nasheed should be given a fair trail. This whole case is biased and baseless and President Nasheed was arrested and Jailed for 13 years for political reasons -- ie to eliminate President Nasheed from contesting 2018 presidential election.

IbrahimSobe: If someone is a threat to national security, he should be arrested, not kid-napped, and he should be guaranteed basic rights for someone who is arrested. He must be presented to the court in 24 hours. His family must be noti ed about his wherea-bouts.

Just because the president thinks some-one is a threat to national security, he cant order the military to dislodge him from his house in the middle of the night.

Iits unconstitutional, unlawful, and simply unjusti ed.

OPINION 13D

TWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

n Nausheen Khan

Has it really been 20 years? How far have we come? These were the questions that came up during the two weeks I spent at the 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations.

2015 is a special year for several reasons. It is the expiration date for the Millennium De-velopment Goals and the adoption of a new post-2015 development framework that pro-poses a comprehensive set of goals entitled Sustainable Development Goals. 2015 also marks the 20-year anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women that was held in Beijing in September 1995 that produced the historic Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This is considered to be the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing womens rights.

I was not present in Beijing, and did not have the opportunity to be a part of the ener-getic, passionate, and dedicated civil society and NGO community of 30,000 activists that gathered to establish gender equality and empowerment of all women, everywhere.

However, I was fortunate to be one of the 9,000 registered civil society representatives from across the world that ooded New York during the rst weeks of March to discuss the progress since Beijing, experiences and best practices from the eld, what challenges were encountered, and what the next steps should be.

As a CSW rst-timer, I found that it was just as easy to get confused with the UN jargon and the di erent negotiations and processes as it is to get lost among the thou-

sands of participants who are trying to keep up with their delegations, their colleagues, or the item that is next on the agenda.

However, what I found most useful in navigating through this labyrinth is joining one of the various caucuses that aim to in u-ence the member states into formulating and adopting critical policies that a ect our lives and our futures.

I actively participated in the process through the Womens Rights Caucus, which included representatives of feminist and womens organisations and organisations working to promote the full realisation of the rights of women and girls.

We were extremely dissatis ed with the way we have been excluded from both the negotiation of the political declaration and the Commission of the Status of Women (CSW) Methods of Work resolution. The growing concern emerges from the fact that the civil society is being strategically and intentionally restricted from the di erent negotiations, shutting o our collective voices, and prevent-ing us from holding our governments account-able to the commitments they have made.

Some of the tactics employed included pre-negotiating the Political Declaration for CSW59, preventing NGO observers from attending the negotiations of the agreed conclusions, placing the NGO interventions at the end after the government interven-tions during the general debates, when many member-states have already left the conference room, limiting the participation of (diverse) NGOs at the panels, roundtables, interactive dialogues, and so on.

The Womens Right Caucus counts on UN Women and member states to stand with us

in ensuring our seat at the decision-making table so that we can make sure that nothing is discussed about us without us.

From two weeks of deliberations among member states, delegates, civil society, activists, parliamentarians, ministers, major groups, and stakeholders on the topic of gender equality, several themes or narratives emerged.

Although tremendous progress towards gender equality has been made, many of the gains are under threat due to grave challeng-es, which include economic inequalities, climate change, con ict and displacement, violent extremism, and so on.

Another narrative placed forward by many western and emerging countries is the idea that investing in gender equality is smart economics and results in monetary bene ts in terms of higher economic growth.

Although this may be true, this notion is problematic because of the fact that gender equality is rst and foremost a human rights issue. I believe that using monetary bene ts to entice member states to invest in gender equality is not the right approach, and this idea, although motivational, can have nega-tive consequences and undermine the gender equality and womens rights movements.

Data, data, data -- in order to monitor pro-gress and make policy recommendations, we need data disaggregated by gender, age, race, ethnicity, geographical location and setting (urban vs rural), socio-economic status, and so on.

Although statistics are crucial, it is also important to take note of the qualitative changes and a number of new digital tools, such as social media, which could be the best

approach to track and publish these chang-es through storytelling. Last but not least, another important message that has been resonating for years is the importance of in-volving men and boys into the conversations and actions around gender equality.

We have been reiterating that gender equality is not a womens issue and evidence from the di erent interventions have shown that involving the 50% can have positive bene ts not just for women, but women and men alike. As we re ect upon the last 20 years and envision the next 20 years, what we need is strong political will and a compre-hensive accountability mechanism for moni-toring and review of the actions of both state and non-state actors, including multi-lateral institutions. l

Nausheen Khan is a democracy and human rights activist working at Khan Foundation.

n MJ Akbar

A perplexed question: Through which kink in our Freudian sub-strand hassaala become a vituperative pejorative across the Indian subcontinent? We may be divided by caste, creed, col-our, community, and country, but there is unprecedented unity within our cultural and linguistic commitment to saala.

You could be speaking in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, or indeed our healthy local variant of English, and saala (or shala in Bangla) will nd its place on the roll of dishonour. You could run a course in an acting school over the many forms of intonation we use for this ubiquitous term.

Why?I dont know. After all, it means nothing

more exciting than a younger brother-in-law, a fairly humdrum relationship in most families. Does saala represent some deep, dark, mys-terious guilt or desire whose meaning is be-yond the collective ability of psychoanalysts?

Its overt meaning, however, is plain enough. When used in a t of rage or outrage, it acquires a special virulence. Arvind Kejri-wal, chief minister of Delhi, fashionablehero of middle class moralists,and sacred hope of the capitals newly-dispossessed, used it to describe the two men he currently loathes, his former comrades Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan.

He added kameena to the angry lexicon, dismissing their challenge as vicious be-trayal. The froth bubbling through his voice meant that this pent-up lava has been waiting on an opportunity to burst out.

Kejriwal, Bhushan, and Yadav constituted the triumvirate who created a party that has had the rare distinction of converting two very local victories into national news. Bhu-shan was the quiet ideologue, Yadav the chief strategist, and Kejriwal was the public cam-paigner and therefore presumptive leader.

Success was a result of complementary skills. Without Bhushan and Yadavs help, Ke-jriwal could not have reached where he has.

But success is cruel, where failure is sym-pathetic, for triumph feeds the ego where defeat blunts its impulses. Kejriwal was hap-py, even anxious, to share street space with his mentors during the phase of agitation and struggle.

The podium is another story. The acronym for AAP becomes a very polite you in Hindi, and this happy pun was used e ectively in the plea for votes. In power Kejriwals mes-sage is blunt. AAP has become me. It is now Kejriwals party. Others serve at his pleasure. He is not a rst among equals. He is simply the rst. Period.

Details of any divorce are titillating for a few minutes, and utterly boring thereaf-ter. But since the acrimonious AAPdivorce involves disputes over property rights, the

interest will last a shade longer. And because sanctimony is among the

claimed assets, arguments will also be holier than thou. It is already noticeable, however, that only the faction without power is laying any claim to morality. The Kejriwal lot, with one eld marshal, 66 brigadiers, and ebbing platoons of infantry, has already told rules and regulations to take a running jump. Its new catechism is realpolitik.

This change took shape during the recent Delhi election campaign. Kejriwal collected funds without questioning the colour of that cash or the source of at least four Rs500,000 cheques that walked, without a crutch in sight, into his picnic hamper.

He sought money from dubious characters seeking a ticket, another dutiful homage to convention. His candidates distributed liquor to voters before polling day, as the police will testify in court.

What is interesting is Kejriwals repeated, livid, assertion that Bhushan and Yadav are kameena because they did their best to sabotage the partys victory in Delhi. How precisely? Neither Bhushan nor Yadav said anything harmful about Kejriwal in any elec-tion speech or press conference.

They kept quiet about their reservations. We can only assume therefore that they must have been vocal in private, telling Kejriwal to maintain the values of integrity and transpar-ency which was part of their commitment to

the people. Bhushan and Yadav thought this was their

partys USP. Kejriwal was equally convinced that only Kejriwal was the USP. The rest is semantics.

The debate over whether the party should remain Delhi-centric or be more expansionist is irrelevant. Kejriwal has decided that the-oretical idealism was good for initial ballast, but will not serve in either preserving the party or running a government.

He has given virtually every MLA a loaf or a sh from the basket of power. They are ministers or parliamentary secretaries. What precisely is the function of the second cate-gory? Who knows? Who cares? But you will get a car and an o ce and bragging rights.

When Kejriwal was sworn in as chief minister in 2014, he sang a numberfrom a Dilip Kumar movie:Insaan ko insaan se ho bhai chara, yehi paigham hamara.He re-frained from music in 2015, buthe could have considered another Dilip Kumar song: Saala, main to sahab ban gaya ...

In Arvind Kejriwals revised Model Code of Conduct, the destiny of brothers-in-law is the gloom of exile. Anybrother ready to become a conventional outlaw, however, is most welcome. l

MJ Akbar is an Indian journalist. He is the founder of The Sunday Guardian. This article was rst published in The Sunday Guardian.

20 years after Beijing

Law, outlaw, and brother-in-law

OPINION14DTWEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

n Aaqib Md Shatil

At last, the BNP, desperately count-ing on its international friends to put an end to the current political stalemate, has found two new friends in Aleem Dar and Ian Gould -- who have made the prime minister of the country, Mrs Sheikh Hasina Wazed, understand the necessity of fair umpiring in a game.

It seemed that the prime minister of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh has realised how important it is to have fair umpires to ensure fair play on the eld on March 19, when the national cricket team of the coun-try faced India in their quarter- nal match on Melbourne Cricket Ground. After the match, our PM remarked that the national cricket team of India would not have been able to defeat Bangladesh had there been no umpiring errors.

The comments came after the shocking defeat of Bangladesh by India in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 due to some very controversial and partial decisions of the umpires who were assigned to foresee the match. However, the International Cricket Council (ICC) backed the umpires and their controversial calls in the eld.

Let us take a look at what happened one year and three months ago, on January 5, 2014, when an election was held leaving half of the population of the country disenfran-chised and letting 21 people die within 24 hours on the election day.

The election w