B8
5 H&M may raise
Agrahayan 27, 1420
Safar 7, 1435
Regd. No. DA 6238
Vol 1 No 257 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION
Quader Molla
receives last
minute stay
No state counsel was informed beforehand
n Julfikar Ali Manik
In a dramatic development late last
night, the chamber judge of the Su-
preme Court, Justice Syed Mahmud
Hossain stayed the execution of war
criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ab-
dul Quader Molla until 10:30am today.
Justice Mahmud issued the unprec-
edented stay order from his house only
couple of hours before the implemen-
tation of the Appellate Division verdict
that sentenced war criminal Quader
Molla to death on September 17.
P3 MORE TRIBUNAL STORIES
Molla’s counsels rushed to the Dhaka
Central jail between midnight and gave
the copy of the stay order to the prison
authorities.
Following this development, the jail
authorities halted the execution of the
Molla, well-known as “Mirpurer Kasai”
(Butcher of Mirpur) for the heinous
crimes he had committed during the
War of Independence in 1971.
The government said in the presence
of two magistrates, Quader Molla had
not sought the president’s clemency.
Business
Molla’s counsels led by Jamaat-e-Is-
lami Assistant Secretary General Abdur
Razzak went to the chamber judge’s
residence at the judges’ complex in the
capital between 8pm and 10pm to seek
a stay order on the execution.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam
was not aware of the development. No
state counsel was present at the cham-
ber judge’s house when he heard the
prayer of Molla’s counsels.
“We did not receive any notice re-
garding the move of the defence coun-
sels that they were going to appeal on
get a stay order on Quader Molla’s ex-
ecution,” Additional Attorney Gener-
al MK Rahman told journalist around
midnight after knowing from media
about the order.
“However, the court can give or-
der on its own and we will fight in the
court,” he said.
It was not clear whether Molla’s
lawyers went to the chamber judge’s
house only with the plea or with the
application of reviewing the Appellate
Division verdict.
Supreme Court Registrar AKM
Shamsul Islam at 10:37pm yesterday
 PAGE 2 COLUMN 2
13
DAYS
TO GO
Sanowar Jahan, wife of death row convict Abdul Quader Molla, shows victory sign as she leaves Dhaka Central Jail after meeting her husband
Dialogue ball starts rolling
n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman and
Mohammad Al-Masum Molla
A light can be seen at the end of the
tunnel, as the process for holding the
long expected dialogue between the
Awami League and BNP finally started
yesterday, at the mediation of UN en-
voy Oscar Fernandez-Taranco.
Fernandez-Taranco, who had been
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tight-lipped about the dialogue ini-
tiatives, yesterday evening said the
government and the opposition were
engaged in a dialogue to resolve the
current conflict at the intervention of
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
He also postponed his departure from
Dhaka for 24 hours. He was schedule to
leave yesterday evening.
“At the invitation of the UN secre-
DHAKA TRIBUNE
tary-general, representatives of both
parties have met and engaged in a dia-
logue,” the UN assistant secretary-gen-
eral for political affairs said at the sud-
den informal press briefing.
“I have decided to extend my stay
here in Bangladesh given the positive
developments that have been taking
place,” he said. “Both sides have agreed
 PAGE 2 COLUMN 2
new chief
selector
Three killed in
nocturnal violence
of Jamaat-Shibir
n Ashif Islam Shaon
Jamaat-Shibir activists unleashed a
reign of terror in several districts leav-
ing three people killed following the
news that Abdul Quader Molla would
be executed last night.
Of the three, a mother Sumi Ak-
ter and her daughter seven-year-old
Sanjida were killed when Shibir men
torched a parked covered van at 10pm
onthe Bogra By-pass Road of Gazipur,
the place where a teenage boy Monir
Hossain was burnt to death. He too was
in a covered van with his father.
The incident left two more covered
van passengers – Sadia, 2, sister of San-
jida and their father Adam Ali, 40,--
criticallyburnt.
P16 SAYEDEE WITNESS DIES
Police Superintendent Abdul Baten
said the covered van was heading to-
wards Bogra. The victims were on way
to their village home at Ullapara in Sira-
jganj from Rupganj of Narayanganj.
The family failed to board any bus
and they managed the van of Partex
Group for the journey.
As the driver pulled it up for a short
break on Pubail Roada group of activ-
ists Jamaat-e-Islami and its student
wing Islami Chhatra Shibir came in a
flash procession and threw a petrol
bomb at the van.
As the mother and her seven-year-
old daughter were traveling in the driv-
er’s cabin they could not manage to
come out of the vehicle.
 PAGE 2 COLUMN 5
2 DHAKA TRIBUNE
His testimony confirmed
death for Sayedee
n Udisa Islam
Mostafa Hawlader, who died early yes-
terday after being chopped allegedly by
activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami
Chhatra Shibir in Pirojpur two days ago,
was the key witness in the case against
war criminal Delawar Hossain Sayedee.
Early last year, he gave deposition
at the International Crimes Tribunal 1
on charge eight which was related with
the murder of Ibrahim Kutti. And on
his eye-witness testimony, the tribunal
gave Sayedee death penalty.
The verdict said: “In consideration
of the gravity and magnitude of the
offences committed particularly in
charge eight, we unanimously hold
that the accused deserves the highest
punishment as provided under section
20(2) of the ICT Act of 1973.”
Prosecutor Haider Ali said: “Doing
his duty as freedom fighter, he had to
face an unnatural death.”
In his deposition, Mostafa said:
“Around 3pm on May 8, 1971, the Paki-
stani occupation army under Sayedee’s
leadership raided the house of one
Manik Posari at village Chitholia un-
der Pirojpur Sadar police station and
caught his servants Mofizuddin Posh-
ari and one Ibrahim Kutti. Instigated
by Sayedee, the army personnel shot to
dead Ibrahim on way to the local army
camp. Then they dumped the body
near a bridge. Mofiz was taken to the
camp and was tortured.”
The witness had confirmed that Del-
awar Hossain Shikder, Danesh Molla,
Sekander Shikder, Kalil Moulovi, Mos-
lem Maulana, Mozahar Mollick were
the member of Peace Committee.
Reinforcing the testimonies of the
previous witnesses, Mostafa told the
tribunal that he had seen Sayedee
along with other collaborators loot-
ing and burning a number of shops in
Parerhat Bazar in 1971. He also said the
death row convict had been with the
army all the time. He eye witnessed
these incidents.
From the north side of the bazar, the
witness said he had seen 52 Pakistani
army men going there on 26 rickshaws.
“Sayedee raising his hand showed
them the houses and shops of the Hin-
dus and the Awami League supporters.
Law enforcers
on high alert
n Kailash Sarkar and Rabiul Islam
Centring the imminent execution of
convicted war criminal Abdul Quader
Molla, security was beefed up across
the country yesterday at multiple lev-
els to maintain law and order and pre-
vent any subversive activities.
Alongside the regular forces, a signif-
icant number of BGB troops have been
deployed across the country, while po-
lice, Rab and other security units asked to
remain on the highest alert.
Kamal Uddin Ahmed, additional
home secretary (political), told the
Dhaka Tribune that the measures had
been taken following reports from dif-
ferent intelligence agencies. l
Jamaat: Political
killing, if Quader
Molla executed
n Tribune Reports
When it was confirmed by the
government that death row convict
Abdul Quader Molla would be executed
last night, Jamaat-e-Islami issued a
statement saying that it would be a
political killing if the government had
executed him.
Jamaat acting ameer Mokbul Ahmed
said: “The government is unwilling to
provide him [Quader Molla] minimum
constitutional and legal rights and
thus it will be considered as a political
killing.”
“The government has snatched
his rights and announced executing
the verdict tonight,” though Quader
Molla was supposed to get another 21
days as per the jail code, the statement
reads.
Jamaat claims that the verdict
was a plan of the government and it
played both direct and indirect role to
affect many verdicts of the war crimes
tribunal.
The key ally of the BNP-led 18-party
alliance, Jamaat through the statement
urged the international human rights
watchdogs, communities and the Unit-
ed Nations to raise voice against the
“killing.” l
Then they crossed the nearby bridge
and ordered to loot the shops and
houses. Some 30-35 shops and houses
were looted at that time.”
Later the army men had gone to
Manik Poshari’s house and set fire
to three of the homesteads and one
silo. Seeing the fire and smoke, Mofiz
(another Witness) and Ibrahim Kutti
ran towards the house from the crop
land. Sayedee grabbed them and took
to the army camp. On the way, the
army men killed Ibrahim by shooting
near Thana Ghat and kicked him into
the canal.
The witness said he had heard the
sound of gunshot.
The prosecution said Mostafa as a
freedom fighter had tried to manage
the other witnesses positively. He was
facing threats from the very begin-
ning of the trial process. After giving
Relatives burst into tears in front of the corpse of Mostafa Hawlader at Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday
Dialogue ball starts rolling
 PAGE 1 COLUMN 5
to continue their dialogue in a spirit of
goodwill and compromise.”
Fernandez-Taranco said: “I want to
take this opportunity to applaud the de-
cision [of the both parties] to sit down
and seize this important opportunity.
“This shows political leadership, re-
sponsibility and courage and it is also
an answer to the expectations of the
people of Bangladesh.”
The BNP, which also refused to talk
about the meeting outcome, issued
a statement yesterday evening, con-
firming that leaders from both parties
had met at the residence of the UN
resident coordinator in the afternoon
and agreed to continue the dialogue on
polls-time government.
Awami League General Secretary
Quader Molla receives last minute stay
 PAGE 1 COLUMN 2
only confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune
over phone that the chamber judge had
stayed the execution and set 10:30am to-
day to hear the review petition.
A defence counsel claimed that they
had gone to the chamber judge only
with a stay petition as the Dhaka Central
Jail authorities was ready to hang Quad-
er Molla around midnight.
In protest against the execution order
and demanding release of Quader Molla,
Jamaat last night announced a country-
wide daylong shutdown for today. The
ongoing rail, road and waterway block-
ade enforced by the 18-party opposition
alliance would continue simultaneously.
The Appellate Division sentenced the
Jamaat leader to death overruling the
verdict of the International Crimes Tri-
bunal 2 that gave him life-term impris-
onment on February 5. The full verdict
was released on Thursday. On receiving
copy of the full text, the tribunal on Sun-
day issued death warrant to execute the
capital punishment.
In line with the International Crimes
(tribunals) Act 1973, the government or-
dered to execute Quader Molla last night.
As per the government directives, the
prison authorities were all set to imple-
ment the verdict and gallows was ready
to hang him at 12:01am.
Earlier in the evening, State Minis-
ter for Home Shamsul Haque Tuku an-
nounced that the government had decid-
News
statement to investigation officer, the
supporters of Sayedee threatened him
with life continuously.
Upon Mostafa’s claim, the prosecu-
tion claimed that they had informed
Zianagar police station to give his pro-
tection.
On the death of Mostafa, Shahidur
Rahman, conducting prosecutor of the
trial against Sayedee, said after this
type of incidents, “our work become
more critical. The witnesses will feel
insecure to appear before the court.”
Helal Uddin, investigation officer
in Sayedee case, said Mostafa had ar-
ranged many witnesses and evidence.
“As he told us about the threats, we
arranged some protection for him too.
But how long we can provide it?”
He said to protect the witness-
es, building social awareness was
necessary. l
Syed Ashraful Islam led the Awami
League delegation while BNP acting
secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam
Alamgir led the BNP side at the meeting.
The Awami League side also had
Advisory Council members Amir Hos-
sain Amu and Tofail Ahmed, and prime
minister’s International Affairs Adviser
Gowher Rizvi, while the BNP delegation
comprised Standing Committee mem-
bers Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain,
Abdul Moyeen Khan and Vice-Chair-
man Shamser Mobin Chowdhury.
After the meeting, the delegation
went to their party chiefs to discuss the
details of the meeting.
In a statement, the Awami League
said it had asked the opposition to cre-
ate a congenial atmosphere for the di-
alogue, stopping hartal, blockade, de-
ed to execute the war criminal last night.
State Minister for Law Quamrul Is-
lam at the same press briefing also talk-
ed about the government’s decision. He
told journalists that the convict had re-
fused to seek presidential pardon.
According to the prison authorities,
Quader Molla’s family members went to
the Dhaka Central Jail after 8pm to meet
him for the last time.
The chamber judge, Justice Syed
Mahmud, was also a member of the
five-member Appellate Division bench
that sentenced Quader Molla to death.
The bench was headed by Chief Justice
Muzammel Hossain. The other members
are Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, Jus-
tice Wahhab Mia and Justice AHM Sham-
suddin Choudhury Manik.
All the judges but Justice Wahhab
awarded Quader Molla death sentence.
He awarded the war criminal life-term for
the crimes against humanity he had com-
mitted during the 1971 Liberation War.
The scope of the review has been an
issue of debate for the last couple of days
as the defence claims it is their constitu-
tional right.
After the release of the full judge-
ment, the defence counsels said they
would file a review petition with the
Supreme Court as per the constitutional
provision within 30 days of receiving cer-
tified copy of the verdict.
The ICT Act says: “The sentence
awarded under this Act shall be carried
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Mostafa Hawlader
Mahmud Hossain Opu
struction of state properties and killing.
In reply to the BNP’s demand for
the release of detained leaders and
activists, the Awami League said if de-
structive activities stopped, the atmo-
sphere for discussing the release of the
detained leaders and activists would be
created.
The atmosphere for holding a con-
structive dialogue over the polls-time
government would never take place if
destructive activities were not stopped,
the Awami League said.
A rumour had spread since morn-
ing that a highly secret meeting of the
Awami League and the BNP had been
going on in a Baridhara house, but the
meeting actually took place at the UN
official’s residence dodging the media.
In his meeting with Prime Minis-
out in accordance with the orders of the
government.”
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam
told the Dhaka Tribune last night that
according to article 47(3) of the constitu-
tion the defence did not have any right
of reviewing the judgement. He also said
the jail codes would not be applicable in
the cases for crimes against humanity.
According to the article, no provision
of the ICT law (to try accused for crimes
against humanity, war crimes, genocide
and others) would be considered un-
lawful, even if it is inconsistent with, or
repugnant to any of the provisions of the
constitution.
On these issues, the prosecution
lawyers say the constitutional scope for
reviewing the apex court’s judgement
would not be applicable for persons con-
victed for crimes against humanity. Even
the provisions of the jail code for imple-
menting death penalty would not be ap-
plicable for this case.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people, main-
ly youths, started to gather in Shahbagh
area since last evening when they came
to know about the decision of executing
Quader Molla to celebrate the long-cher-
ished moment for which the nation has
been waiting for the last 42 years.
But when they came to know about
the stay order, Ganajagaran Mancha or-
ganisers announced a sit-in programme
at Shahbagh intersection until the execu-
tion of the war criminal. l
Six nabbed for killing
Sayedee witness
n Anisur Rahman Swapan, Barisal
Police arrested six people in connec-
tion with killing Mostafa Hawlader, a
prosecution witness for the prosecu-
tion in the case against condemned
prisoner Jamaat-e-Islami leader Dela-
war Hossain Sayedee.
Mostafa was injured in an attack by
miscreants and succumbed to his inju-
ries early yesterday at Dhaka Medical
College Hospital.
Unidentified miscreants stabbed
Mostafa, 58, in his house at Hoglabunia
village of Parerhut under Indurkani po-
lice station of Zianagor in Pirojpur early
Sunday.
His wife Hasina Begum also sus-
tained minor injuries as she tried to
resist the attackers who entered the
house by digging the earthen floor.
They were first admitted to Pirojpur
General Hospital at night and then
Mostafa was sent to Khulna Medical
College Hospital on Monday morning.
After his condition deteriorated, he
was transferred to the DMCH in a
critical condition.
After the incident, Abdul Majid, the
victim's brother, lodged an attempt-
to-murder case against nine people
persons with Indurkani police, said
Qamruzzaman Haoladar, officer-in-
charge of the station.
Without disclosing any political
UK expresses concern
over Molla’s execution
n Tribune Report
Referring to the execution of war crim-
inal Abdul Qader Molla, Britain has ex-
pressed concerns over the use of death
penalty in Bangladesh.
In a statement issued yesterday eve-
ning, British Senior Foreign Office Min-
ister Baroness Warsi said: “I am deeply
concerned at reports of plans to exe-
cute Abdul Qader Molla in the coming
days.
“The UK calls again for Bangladesh
to implement a moratorium on the
death penalty leading to the eventual
abolition of the death penalty.”
Britain opposes the death penalty in
ter Sheikh Hasina on Saturday, Fer-
nandez-Taranco inquired if there was
a scope to shift the date of the 10th
general elections, now scheduled for
January 5, apparently to ensure BNP’s
participation. He is scheduled to meet
the PM today again.
He also had meetings with the Awa-
mi League delegation at the Pan Pacific
Sonargaon Hotel in the afternoon and
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the
evening.
On Sunday, he had met the Awami
League delegation at the residence of
Gowher Rizvi and BNP leader Sham-
sher Mobin Chowdhury and Sabi-
huddin Ahmed at Shamsher’s Banani
residence. None from the two parties
revealed anything to the media about
the meetings.
Three killed
 PAGE 1 COLUMN 6
The father with his two-year-old
daughter jumped out of the van with
little injuries.
In another incident a teenage Shi-
bir activist Salman died being hit by
stray bullets during a clash between
police and Jamaat-Shibir cadres in Feni
around 10pm.
The clash erupted after the Shi-
bir men hurled a petrol bomb at the
car of Feni Model Police Station Offi-
cer-in-Charge Moazzem Hossain. The
15-year-old deceased was a Class X stu-
dent of a Shibir-controlled madrasa.
Earlier, the government was threat-
ened with dire consequences if the par-
ty’s Assistant Secretary General Quader
Moll is executed.
In a press release last night Jamaat
Acting Secretary General Shafiqur Rah-
man termed the execution of Quader
Mollah conspiracy adding: “If the gov-
ernment executes this conspiracy, the
consequences will be deadly.”
However, around 10pm the chamber
judge of the Supreme Court stayed the
execution till 10:30am today respond-
ing to a petition moved by the defence
lawyers.
In the Gazipur incident a trainee
Sub-Inspector Mosarref Hossain sus-
tained burn injuries as he tried to catch
the activists soon after they torched
the covered van. The SP said they had
taken the bodies of the mother and her
identity of the arrestees, the police
said they had arrested Rumi Talukdar,
of Umedpur, Solaiman of Hoglabuna,
Boni Amin, Barek, Moslem, Obaidul,
from different parts of the upazila.
Victim Mostafa was the eighth
prosecution witness in the war
crimes case against Sayedee, the
Jamaat nayeb-e-ameer (central vice-
president), who was given death
penalty by the zInternational Crimes
Tribunal on february 28 for committing
crimes against humanity in Pirojpur
during the 1971 Liberation War.
Following the news of Mostafa’s
death, business enterprises and markets
in Parerhat and the surrounding areas
were shut and people wearing black
badges went to his house.
Mostafa left behind his wife, three
sons and two daughters. His eldest son
Monir Hawlader was killed in a road
accident in December last year.
His youngest daughter Sonia Akter,
14, who is a grade VIII student of
Parerhut Girls' School, demanded capital
punishment for the killers of her father.
Earlier, Jamaat-Shibir activists on
October 28, attacked the house of
Mahbubul Alam Hawlader, upazila
Muktijoddha Sangsad commander and
plaintiff in the case against Sayedee.
Some 200 Jamaat-Shibir support-
ers ransacked and looted his house in
broad daylight.. l
all circumstances as a matter of prin-
ciple and considers that its use under-
mines human dignity and that there is
no conclusive evidence of its deterrent
value.
“We further note that Abdul
Qader Molla was sentenced to death
following an appeal permitted
under retrospectively applied
legislation, and that he was not
permitted to review his sentence
before the Supreme Court.”
Bangladesh’s commitments under
the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR) require
that all citizens be treated equally
before the law. l
The two major political parties have
been engaged in a conflict over the for-
mation of the polls-time government
for a long time; the Election Commis-
sion meanwhile declared the election
schedule.
The BNP and its allies and the Jati-
ya Party boycotted the elections while
the Awami League and its allies already
submitted nomination papers for the
polls.
After meeting with the chief elec-
tion officer, Fernandez-Taranco said:
“I do believe there is a possibility of
finding a peaceful solution to this cur-
rent deadlock if you have political will,
if you have leadership, if we have an
attitude of compromise and, most im-
portantly, if you are able to engage in
peaceful dialogue.” l
daughter to Gazipur Police Station.
“The injured have been admitted to
Gazipur Hospital,” he told the Dhaka
Tribune.
Meanwhile, in Feni apart from hurl-
ing petrol bombs Shibir men tried to
break in a Sonali Bank branch office.
But on-duty security police there fired
shots to disperse them.
Incidents of violence were also re-
ported from Rajshahi, Joypurhat and
Gaibandha last night. Besides, in Chit-
tagong Jamaat men torched a number
of vehicles and blasted crude bombs.
At Binodpur of Rajshahi and in Joy-
purhat Jamaat-Shibir men torched the
Awami League offices.
Police said at Binodpur in Rajshahi city
Jamaat torched AL office around 10pm.
They also burnt a number of shops.
In Joypurhat they torched district
General Secretary SM Solaiman Ali’s
residence and the AL office.
In Gaibandha, Jamaat-Shibir on the
Dhaka-Rangpur Highway torched a
number of vehicles, shops and 12 hous-
es of several Al leaders and activists
from 8pm.
They blasted more than a hundred
crude bombs to spread panic. Police
fired bullets from shot guns to bring the
situation under control.
In Chittagong, from a protest pro-
cession against the Jamaat leader’s ex-
ecution they torched a bus, a CNG-run
auto-rickshaw and two tempos. l

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
No headway in probe of Kalpana
Chakma abduction
n Muktasree Chakma Sathi
The country did not stop observing
the Human Rights Day every year after
rights activist Kalpana Chakma disap-
peared 17 years ago; but there has been
little progress in investigation into the
alleged abduction.
Police, who were supposed to file a
fresh investigation report yesterday,
sought more time from the Rangamati
Judicial Court. The court which set yes-
terday for report submission, extended
the deadline until January 26.
Kalpana, an indigenous and wom-
en’s rights activist, was allegedly ab-
ducted by a group of law enforcers, led
by an army personnel of the lieutenant
rank, on June 12, 1996 – the day the 7th
parliamentary elections were held.
Kalpana was reportedly campaign-
ing in favour of Bijoy Ketan Chakma,
then senior presidium member of the
Pahari Gana Parisad and an independ-
ent candidate in the 1996 elections.
Tribunal closes
cross-examination
of another witness
n Udisa Islam
The International Crimes Tribunal 2
yesterday was irked as the conducting
defence counsel had been skipping the
court proceedings during the ongoing
blockade.
The tribunal closed the cross-ex-
amination of 16th prosecution witness
Lutfar Rahman Nakib who testified on
Monday as the junior defence lawyers
denied to quiz the witness.
Senior defence counsel Mizanur
Rahman remained absent since
November 25 when the opposition
had enforced nationwide blockade
programmes protesting the polls
schedule declared by the Election
Commission.
For this, the tribunal had earlier
closed cross-examination of four pros-
ecution witnesses.
On Monday, the tribunal warned
accused AKM Yusuf and gave him four
options to continue the trial process.
It fixed today Wednesday for order on
this matter.
The tribunal asked Yusuf wheth-
er he would question the witness
himself, order the junior counsel to
cross examine, appoint new counsel
or else the tribunal can appoint a new
lawyer.
Yusuf said he would not be able
to quiz the witnesses because of his
illness and age. l
Appeals of six war criminals
still pending with apex court
n Nazmus Sakib
Appeals of six war criminals are still
pending in the top court with the apex
court hearing the case of death-row
convict Delowar Hossain Sayedee who
lodged an appeal on March 28 against
the judgement of February 28 by the
war crimes tribunal.
There is a little chance for the oth-
er cases to be heard with the top court
adopting the policy of disposing of the
cases one by one.
Since the inception of war crimes
trial in January 2010, two tribunals
have already delivered verdicts on nine
cases since January 21 this year.
Excepting two cases the seven oth-
ers were challenged in the Appellate
Division.
The International Crimes (Tribu-
nals) Act, 1973 states that the govern-
ment and the defence can appeal to
‘Razakars killed 21 on Yusuf’s order’
n Udisa Islam
A prosecution witness yesterday told
the war crimes tribunal that he had
witnessed the killing of at least 21 Hin-
du and pro-liberation people by the
razakar force which was formed and
led by accused AKM Yusuf in Bhasa vil-
lage of Khulna during the 1971 Libera-
tion War.
The 17th prosecution witness, Tai-
yab Ali Khan, said: “I along with my un-
cle Anwar Khan was at the local market
of Bhasa village on Ashwin 30 [a month
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Bijoy told the Dhaka Tribune yester-
day: “Kalpana was one of the few wom-
en at that time who was vocal about
indigenous rights. The abduction could
have been an attempt to thwart the
heated situation before the peace ac-
cord was signed.”
The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace
Accord is a political agreement signed
between the government and the Par-
batya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Sami-
ti (United People’s Party of the Chit-
tagong Hill Tracts) in 1997 that ended
decades-long struggle between the
Shanti Bahini – an insurgent group,
who fought for the rights of ethnic mi-
norities – and the government forces.
Over the last 17 years, there has nev-
er been any concrete information avail-
able about the army lieutenant, whom
Kalpana’s close associates have linked
with the alleged abduction.
So far, three reports – two final re-
ports including one from CID and one
from a judicial inquiry commission
Activists of Ganajagaran Mancha hold a torch procession in the city yesterday, protesting Mostafa’s killing, a prosecution witness at the trial of Sayedee
the Appellate Division within 30 days
of the verdict pronounced by the tribu-
nals.
Death-row convict Jamaat leader
Mohammad Kamaruzzaman appealed
against the verdict on June 6.
Former Jamaat Chief Ghulam Azam
was given 90 years’ imprisonment con-
sidering his old age and heath though
the tribunal judges said he had de-
served death sentence.
The convict filed appeal on August 5
for acquittal while the government also
filed an appeal a week later seeking
death penalty.
Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed,
the Jamaat secretary general, filed ap-
peal on August 11 against the capital
punishment handed down to him.
Death-row convict Salauddin Quad-
er Chowdhury, member of the BNP
standing committee, lodged an appeal
on October 28 against the verdict of Oc-
of Bangla calendar]. In the evening,
around 50-60 razakars came to the haat
and started confining people. Since, we
were supporters of the Awami League,
I hid myself in a sugarcane field but
they confined my uncle along with oth-
er people. Altogether, the razakar con-
fined 22 persons. Among them, 18 were
Hindus.”
Later, the collaborators shot them
indiscriminately. “Except one, all of
them died on the spot. Sunil was the
only one who survived even after get-
ting shot and charged by bayonet,”
News
– have been placed before the court.
None of those reports mentioned
names of any accused.
The Criminal Investigation Depart-
ment (CID) of police concluded inves-
tigation 16 years after the alleged ab-
duction. The court rejected the report
saying it did not identify the abductors
and lacked information about Kalpa-
na’s whereabouts.
On January 16 this year, the court
appointed Rangamati Police Super
Amena Begum for reinvestigating the
incident. Yesterday, Amena failed to
submit the investigation report and
prayed for more time.
Without specifying why it was tak-
ing such a long time, Amena told the
Dhaka Tribune that she needed more
time to finish investigation.
On April 24, Amena filed a petition
with the court praying for giving the in-
vestigation duty back to the CID and in-
volving the additional superintendent
of police. The court, however, did not
tober 1 while Abdul Alim, former BNP
minister, filed an appeal on November
7 against the verdicts that sentenced
him to death.
Meanwhile, fugitive Abul Kalam
Azad alias Bachchu Razakar, a former
Jamaat-e-Islami member, did not ap-
peal against the death sentence he was
given on January 21 by the tribunal.
He has been absconding since the
issuance of a warrant of arrest against
him.
In addition, two absconding al-Badr
leaders Chowdhury Mueen Uddin
and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, who were
given death penalty on November 3
for killing intellectuals on the eve of
independence, also did not lodge
appeals.
The trio could not appeal against the
death sentence as the stipulated time-
frame is over, and if they are caught
they have to walk to the gallows. l
said Taiyab, 85, told the International
Crimes Tribunal 2.
“I searched for my uncle’s body and
found him in a canal. I found Sunil
breathing when I was looking for my
uncle,” he added.
Earlier, Taiyab also told the tribu-
nal that Yusuf had been the chairman
of Khulna district Peace Committee in
1971.
Later, he had formed the razakar
force and instructed them to eliminate
the Hindus and the pro-liberation
people. l
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
entertain the prayer and ordered her to
proceed with her duty.
Kalpana’s brother Kalindi Kumar
Chakma, who claimed to be a witness
of the alleged abduction, told the Dha-
ka Tribune: “It seems they [law enforc-
ers] are playing a game with us. I am
frustrated. All I can do now is call upon
the conscious people of the country
who believe in humanity to help me
ensure justice for my sister, whom we
lost 17 years ago.”
The slow pace of investigation has
recently triggered a global campaign
for ensuring justice for Kalpana and her
family.
On November 13, Amnesty Interna-
tional started a campaign titled “Write
for Rights” on and requested solidarity
letters for Kalindi. Till date, Amnes-
ty received a total of 150 letters from
around the world.
This year’s theme for the Human
Rights Day is “20 Years Working for
Your Rights.” l
Freedom fighters
demand execution
of war criminals
n Mohammad Atiqur Rahman
Freedom fighters, yesterday, after hold-
ing a procession titled ‘Bijoy Rally’ de-
manded the government to execute the
war crime verdicts, and to put an end
to the recent mayhem by Jamaat-Shibir
activists.
Bijoy Rally’ that started from Mat-
sha Bhaban intersection marched
through the main streets of the
city and ended up at the Shaheed Minar
where they hold a rally and stressed
that all the criminals who commit
crimes against humanity should be ex-
ecuted.
Sahidullah, a freedom fighter who
was hurt on his leg during the war,
joined the rally after coming from
Sunamganj, was walking with a flag,
pleaded to the government to hang the
war criminals.
Like Sahidullah, another freedom
fighter Md Yunus Master, who came
Two witnesses testify
against Khokon Razakar
n Udisa Islam
Two prosecution witnesses in the case
against absconding Zahid Hossain
Khokon alias Khokon Razakar told the
war crimes tribunal yesterday about his
alleged involvement in the killings and
arson at Goaldi village of Nagarkanda
during the 1971 Liberation War.
They said Khokon had been the lead-
er of the collaborators’ group which car-
ried out massacre in their village along-
side the Pakistani occupation army.
Both the witnesses submitted their
depositions at the International Crimes
Tribunal 1 about the same incident
mentioned in charge five and seven.
Twelfth prosecution witness Hannan
Munshi said Khokon had killed his two
year old sister. “Khokon with his accom-
plices and the Pakistani army came to
our village on May 31, 1971. After seeing
them, they tried to flee the village. At that
time, Khokon shot my mother. But the
bullet hit my sister’s chest who was on my
mother’s lap. My mother was escaped.”
Later they had taken shelter at
Jhaturdia where his brother’s father-in
DHAKA TRIBUNE
from Sonaimuri of Noakhali, a far dis-
tant place from the capital, also has
been waiting to see the punishment of
war criminals.
Common people from different age
group who joined at the rally, also ech-
oed the demand of freedom fighters.
Speakers at the rally claimed that Ja-
maat-Shibir men have been doing the
violence in the country like they did
during the liberation war.
Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad’s
Chairperson Kabir Ahmed, its Vice
Chairperson Dr SM Jahangir Alam, it’s
former Chairman Abdul Ahad Chow-
dhury, Kali Narayan Lodh, Brigadier
General (retd) Mohiuddin, freedom
fighters were present at the pro-
gramme.
Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Shahja-
han Khan, Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin
Rashed Khan Menon, and Hasanul Haq
Inu also joined the rally at the Shaheed
Minar. l
3
law lived. After two days, when they
returned to their own village, they
found it burnt into ashes.
He met Ramesh Chandra Roy, who
told Hannan that his grandfather Rajen-
dranath Roy had been shot to dead by
Khokon at a jute field near their house.
Ramesh yesterday gave his depo-
sition as the 13th witness and told the
tribunal about the death of his grand-
father. He claimed that Khokon had
killed many people in Nagarkanda.
Then a 29-year-old businessman,
Ramesh said Khokon and his accom-
plices had burnt their village. “When
my grandfather tried to hide in a jute
field, they shot and killed him.”
After the depositions, state defence
counsel Md Abdus Shukur Khan cross
examined the witnesses separately.
After a half-day session, the tribunal
fixed today for placing new witness.
Meanwhile, the same tribunal yes-
terday adjourned the hearing on re-
viewing the indictment order against
ATM Azhar as the defence counsels
had not appeared at the court because
of the blockade programmes. l
Ganajagoran
Mancha sit-in until
withdrawal of stay
n Arif Ahmed
Ganajagaran Mancha last night de-
clared to stage a sit-in programme at
the Shahbagh intersection in the cap-
ital until the stay on the execution of
war criminal Quader Molla was with-
drawn.
Though the government directed
the Dhaka Central Jail authority to
hang the Jamaat-e-Islami assistant sec-
retary general at 12:01am today, Justice
Syed Mahmud Hossain last night, in an
unprecedented move, halted the pro-
cess till 10.30am of today, following a
defence petition.
The move agitated the platform
fuelled by the spirit of Liberation War.
Imran H Sarkar, spokesperson of
Ganajagaran Mancha, said: “We were
waiting for the execution of the death
penalty. What happened in the dark of
night that the hanging got blocked?”
The platform was organised, when
on February 5, the International Crimes
Tribunal gave life term imprisonment
instead of death penalty to Molla.
The government amended the tri-
bunal law later that month giving right
of appeal to both the sides against the
tribunal verdict.
On September 17 the Appellate Divi-
sion sentenced Molla to death. The full
text of the verdict was released follow-
ing which, the death warrant issued on
December 8. l
ICT witnesses
protection law
demanded
n Arif Ahmed
Ganajagaran Mancha yesterday demand-
ed a new law for the protection of wit-
nesses, testifying against war criminals
in the International Crimes Tribunal.
“The ICT witnesses do not have suf-
ficient security. We demand a law in
this regard, for the protection of those,
who will testify against war criminals,”
said Convener of Ganajagaran Mancha
Imran H Sarkar.
He placed the demand yesterday in the
evening after attending a torch procession,
protesting deaths of one of their activist in
Bogra and an ICT witness. The procession
began from Shahbagh at 6pm. Imran said:
“About 20 Mancha activists have been
killed since February 5, but none of those
murders saw proper justice.”
“The anti-liberation forces continue
their killing activities as the law en-
forcement forces have not taken any
appropriate action yet,” Imran added.
Imran criticised the government
and demanded its immediate steps to
make sure punitive actions were taken
against the criminals. l
4 DHAKA TRIBUNE News Wednesday, December 11, 2013

EC approves 15 candidates EC finalises 37,711

for participating in polls
The polls body also to deliver verdict on another 60 appeals
n Mohammad Zakaria
The Election Commission allowed 15
candidates to participate in the 10th
parliamentary polls after hearing their
appeals yesterday.
It delivered verdict to 30 appeals after
hearing 60 of them. Among them, the
commission approved applications of 15
candidates and declared them as valid
for participating in the upcoming polls.
The commission would deliver ver-
dict on 60 appeals today, rest of the ap-
peals would be heard on Thursday, EC
officials said.
The EC announced Awami League
nominated AKM Shahjahan Kamal as a
valid candidate for the Laxmipur-3 par-
liamentary constituency. The constitu-
ency had no valid candidate after the
returning officer had scrutinised the
nominations.
Kamal is the lone candidate in the
constituency and would likely be elect-
ed as MP uncontested as there was no
other valid candidate, EC officials said.
The 15 approved candidates are
AKM Shahjahan Kamal of Laxmipur-3,
Nayed Ali of Jenaidah-1, Naznin Alam
of Mymensingh-3, Amirul Islam of No-
akhali-6, Shahriar iqbal of Feni-1, Absar
Ali of Rangamati Hilly district, Motalib
Hossain of Kurigram-4, AKM Sharif
Uddin of Laxmipur-4, Mokhlesur Rah-
man of Meherpur-2, Iftekhar Ahmad
Milon of Sylhet-1, Razi Mohammad
Fakhrul of Comilla-4, Syeda Khurshid
Jahan Haque of Gaibandha-1, Aftab Ud-
din Sarkar of Nilphamari-1, Maktobur
Rahman of Gaibandha-2 and Ismail
Mahmud of Dhaka-8 parliamentary
constituencies.
About 138 aspirant candidates had
filed appeal to the Election Commis-
sion against cancellation of their nomi-
nation by the returning officer during
the scrutiny.
Election Commission cancelled 260
nominations out of 1107 submitted for
the 10th parliamentary election slated
for January 5. l
polling centres
n Mohammad Zakaria
The Election Commission has finalised
37,711 polling centres and 189,053 poll-
ing booths across the country for the
10th parliamentary elections slated for
January 5.
The EC sent the final list to the Ban-
gladesh Government Press for printing
as a gazette yesterday, officials said.
The number of polling centres was
increased by 2,448 from the last gen-
eral elections, considering the higher
number of voters this time, they said.
All the previous polling centres have
been included in the new list.
In the 9th parliamentary polls, held
on December 29, 2008, there were
35,263 polling centres and 177,277
polling booths for about 81 million
voters, whereas nearly 92 million
voters are currently listed on the
electoral roll. l

Vandalism in medical college in Savar, 21 arrested

n Mahadi Al Hasnat
At least 21 students and physicians of
Ganashasthaya Samaj Vittik Medical
College under Gana Bishwabidyalaya in
Savar were detained yesterday as they
went on rampage inside the medical
college and on Dhaka-Aricha highway
following the death of Dr Murad in Pat-
uakhali.
Officer-in-Charge of Ashulia police
station Sheikh Badrul Alam told the
Dhaka Tribune: “Some 21 students and
physicians were held by the police and
steps would be taken following the de-
cisions of higher authorities.”
Witnesses said agitating students
since Monday night had been storm-
ing the entire hospital area vandalis-
ing several departments and looting
its pharmacy and cash counter of the
hospital.
Source said the unrest arouse after
the death of Md Makhlukur Rahman
Mudad, a doctor of the hospital who was
found dead on Sunday in Patuakhali.
The authorities claimed that agitat-
ed students forced the patients to flee
the hospital and looted a pharmacy and
the cash counter of the hospital.
However, the agitators denied the al-
legations, claiming that they only van-
dalised some buildings as the authori-
ties did not pay heed to their demands
regarding the death of Dr Murad.
The agitators demand that the mys-
tery of the doctor’s death be unveiled,
saying that they would not go to the
sub-centres of Gonoshasthaya Kendra
until proper securities were ensured.
Meanwhile, they also postponed
the classes and examinations and de-
clared work abstention, demanding Dr
Murad’s family be provided compensa-
tion.
The agitators alleged that authori-
ties were blaming them to mislead the
situation, and claimed that police as-
saulted the agitators on Dhaka-Aricha
highway while they were demonstrat-
ing peacefully.
Meanwhile, female students and
doctors claimed that they were threat-
ened by local terrorists to withdraw the
movement while policemen assaulted
them, launching raids in their hostel
adjacent to the hospital.
Abu Taher, administrative officer of
Gonoshasthaya Samaj Vittik Medical
College, told the Dhaka Tribune that
the authorities had filed a case in this
regard on Monday night, alleging that The road in front of the National Press Club gets stuck with huge traffic congestion as
valuables worth Tk2 crore were wasted Bangladesh Human Rights Council organised a human chain and mass rally yesterday,
because of the attack. l marking the International Human Rights Day SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Teachers movement cripples JU,

VC’s leave extended
n JU Correspondent
Prof Anwar Hossain, vice-chancellor
of Jahangirnagar University (JU) has
extended his leave for 10 more days,
counting from today, JU Registrar Abu
Bakr Siddique confirmed in a press
briefing yesterday.
Pro VC Prof M A Matin (education)
would assume the duties of the acting
VC till December 20, he said.
This is the fourth time the VC had
extended his leave. He had been on
a medical leave since November 20,
sources said.
Demanding quick execution of the
chancellor’s directives, the agitating
teachers, students, and employees of
the ongoing anti-VC movement have
shut all the administrative activities of
the university.
On November 6, President Abdul
Hamid, also the chancellor of the uni-
versity had asked the VC to hold senate
polls immediately and select a VC panel
through the senate in line with the JU
Two women hold flags during a human chain organised by National Garments Sramik Federation in front of the National Press Club act for resolving the ongoing crisis.
yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN The chancellor had also asked the VC
that he withdrew the writ petitions filed
against some teachers of the university.
From November 20, JU teachers
confined two pro-VCs, Prof MA Matin
(education) and Prof Afsar Ahmed (ad-
ministration) and released them after
12 days of confinement.
Members of the JU Teachers-Students
and Officers-Employees United Forum
had shut the administrative office bring-
ing all kinds of administrative activities
to a standstill, as the authorities alleg-
edly had not taken any initiative to hold
VC panel elections and withdraw writ
petitions against the teachers.
Later, they force-confined Prof An-
war Hossain to his residence since De-
cember 2.
After three days of the confinement,
the VC left JU for Dhaka under strict
police security following government
decision.
Although the government has sent
the VC on a leave, the forum is yet to
withdraw the movement. They locked
and sealed the VC’s residence on the
campus from Monday that he was pro-
hibited on campus, source said.
A number of former students al-
leged that they could not issue their
certificates and other necessary papers
because of the stalemate.
The current students are not being
able to take admission for the next se-
mester.
At a press conference, United Fo-
rum’s Secretary Prof Kamrul Ahsan
said they were agitating to execute the
chancellor’s order.
They would not withdraw the move-
ment until the VC panel election was
declared, he said.
The university’s admission tests for
the academic year 2013-14, hangs in lim-
bo. The admission test was scheduled
to be held from December 17-29 but it
might be rescheduled again because of
lack of preparation, source said.
Earlier, VC Prof Anwar Hossain was
determined to hold the admission test
from December 2 but his initiative
failed as a section of teachers denied to
cooperate with him.
VC Prof Anwar Hossain was not
available over his cell phone despite
several attempts. l

WEATHER
Dry weather likely
n UNB
Light rain is likely to occur at one or
two places over Chittagong, Khulna
and Barisal divisions until 6pm today.
Weather might remain dry with
partly cloudy sky elsewhere over the
country, Met Office said.
Night and day temperatures may re-
main nearly unchanged over the coun-
try.
The sun sets in the capital at 5:13pm
today and rises at 6:31am tomorrow.
Country’s highest temperature 29.8
degree Celsius was recorded at Sriman-
gal and lowest 12.9 degrees at Sriman-
gal yesterday.
Highest and lowest temperatures re-
corded in some major cities yesterday
were:
Drilling at gas fields to be delayed as
blockades disrupt rig transportation
n Aminur Rahman Rasel
Drillings at several sites by Bapex were
faced with delays as transportation of
necessary equipment was severely dis-
rupted across the country because of
the nationwide non-stop blockade pro-
gramme enforced by BNP-led 14-party
alliance.
The political unrest has also in-
terrupted transporting condensates,
which is likely have negative impacts
at different gas fields.
“Generally it needs about 3-4
months to shift the equipment, but cur-
rently we cannot do so. The process has
already been deferred by a month for
political unrest,” MA Baki, managing di-
rector of Bapex told the Dhaka Tribune.
“Projects under Bapex will lag be-
hind in implementation, resulting in
gas production being delayed and in-
creased project cost,” he said.
“We could not carry goods for the
last one month fearing vandalism and
hartal related violence,” he said.
“In this regard, digging wells will be
deferred, consequently gas extractions
will also be deferred, and its negative
impact will be felt in the energy sector.”
He said extracted condensates could
not also be transported for reefing to
refinery centres for the blockades. Ev-
ery day about 7,000kg of condensate
is being produced from 19 gas fields as
by-product.
“Daily goods for the site officials,
employees and labourers were also
stuck, this might result in suspension
of production at gas fields,” he said.
“We were scheduled to transfer rig
equipment from Begumgonj gas field
in Noakhali to Semutang gas field in
Chittagong. But we have failed to do so
for one and a half months.”
Hossain Monsur, chairman of Petro-
bangla, said supplying gas to power
sector will hamper the Boro produc-
tion. Fertiliser companies will also suf-
fer from gas crisis if the present condi-
tion prevails.
He said Petrobangla was now al-
locating 700mmcfd of gas for power
stations, which would be increased to
950mmcfd-1000mmcfd against the de-
mand of 1100mmcfd during the irriga-
tion period. l
Election Comission’s polls
budget may cross Tk 500cr
n Mohammad Zakaria
Bangladesh Ansar headquarters has
sent a letter to the Election Commission
seeking Tk206 crores for maintaining
law and order during general elections.
The amount sought by the internal
security force is likely to exceed the
commission’s Tk500 crore polls budget.
Earlier, Bangladesh Police asked for
nearly Tk150 crore from the EC for law
enforcement duties during the polls.
The commission has earmarked
Tk175 crores for 29 sectors for conduct-
ing the elections slated for January 5.
Border Guard Bangladesh, Coast
Guard and Armed Force Division were
yet to send in their fund requests.
A senior official said the EC’s elec-
tion budget is likely to cross the limit
after getting proposals from all the law
enforcement agencies.
In the 9th parliament elections, the
commission’s budget was Tk300 crore.
According to EC, Tk49 crore was allo-
cated for police and Rab, Tk70 crore for
Ansar and Battalion Ansar, Tk10 crore
each for BGB and the armed forces.
EC officials said the budget for
conducting the upcoming polls may
decrease as 33 candidates are set to
be elected unopposed. If Jatiya Party
boycotts polls, that number may rise to
over 100.
The commission would allocate
funds constituency-wise, where there
will be more than one candidate after
withdrawal of nomination papers. l

City
Dhaka
Chittagong
High
28.6
28.2
Low
18.0
20.0
Fire critically injures three on an oil tanker
Rajshahi
Rangpur
28.5
27.7
14.5
15.6
n Tushar Hayat , Chittagong deteriorated.
Jashim Uddin, deputy assistant di-
However, the fuel reserved on the
tanker remained intact, said Jashim.
Khulna 28.0 16.5 Three members of a crew on an oil rector of the Fire Service and Civil De- Mrinal Kanti Das, chief at the burn
Barisal 27.5 15.5 tanker sustained severe burn injuries fence, said the fire originated from a unit of CMCH, said Kamal sustained
Sylhet 29.4 16.8 as a fire broke out on the vessel on Kar- gas cylinder leakage in the kitchen of 100% burn injuries while Azmir and
Cox’s Bazar 28.5 20.5 naphuli river in Chittagong yesterday. the vessel around 9:10am. Imon sustained 80% and 54% injuries
The vessel named OT Kingfisher-1, The three sustained burn injuries respectively.
was laden with 8,650 tonnes of fuel of as the fire rapidly engulfed the kitchen Three of them were in a critical
PRAYER TIMES Jamuna Oil Limited, a state-owned pe- and a cabin adjacent. The three were state, he said.
Fajar 5:10am troleum marketing company. present in the kitchen when the fire Jahirul Islam, in-charge of a police
Sunrise 6:30am The injured are Kamal Uddin, 32, broke out, he added. outpost at CMCH, said the injured were
Zohr 11:51am Azmir Hossain, 35, and Mohammed He said six of their fire-extinguish- shifted to Dhaka around 3pm.
Asr 3:36pm Imon, 25. ing units managed to douse the fire by Sources at the Jamuna Oil Ltd said
Magrib 5:12pm They were admitted to Chittagong 10:10am with the help of a vessel from OT Kingfisher-1 was was scheduled to Maj Gen Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardy addresses a programme announcing an attempt to
Esha 6:32pm Medical College and Hospital and later the Chittagong Port and equipments of sail for Bagabari Depot in the morning form the biggest human flag on the Victory Day this year. The human flag will be organised
Source: IslamicFinder.org shifted to Dhaka as their condition the Jamuna Oil Ltd. today. l by Robi Axiata Limited in partnership with Bangladesh Army MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

A human chain was formed in front of the National Press Club in the city yesterday, demanding punishment of the killers of Dr Murad
HC ruling halts important city
road development work
Unhappy locals move Appellate Division for verdict in their favour
n Abu Hayat Mahmud Nowabganj, Keraniganj, Chawk Bazar, gone completely against public inter- for the construction. But it has not given
and New Market area have to face the ests,” he said.
Widening of one of the most import-
ant and busiest streets at city’s Natun
Paltan Line area in Azimpur has been
stalled following a High Court ruling,
which has been observed by the locals
as going against public interest.
The locals expressed their discon-
tent over the ruling issued against con-
struction work for the expansion of an
existing 10-12 feet wide and 2,200 feet
long public road.
Mahbub Hossain Khan Shahdat,
President of Natun Paltan Line Devel-
opment Committee, told the Dhaka
Tribune: “Every day several thousands
of people in and around the Natun Pal-
tan Line area move throw this road. At
peak hours, the road takes the look of a
procession or grand rally, creating un-
bearable traffic jam,” he added.
The traffic gridlock happens regular-
ly and prevails for a long time, during
that time movement in the area be-
come very difficult.
Moreover, not only people from Az-
impur Natun Paltan Line, but also from
Kamrangir Char, Hazaribagh, Lalbagh,
Women entrepreneurs form a human chain in Barisal city yesterday with a call to stop political violence
Women entrepreneurs protest
political unrest
n Our Correspondent, Barisal
Women entrepreneurs in Barisal
formed a human chain and burnt cop-
ies of their trade licenses yesterday,
protesting the ongoing political crisis
and blockades.
They also expressed concerns that
they would not be able to pay workers’
wages, payment of bank loan instal-
ments and any kind of taxes, if such po-
litical unrest continued in the country.
The programme was organised by
District Women Business Forum, Barisal
unit in front of Ashwini Kumar Hall and
was presided over by Dr Banolata Mur-
shida, president of the organisation.
The speakers said it was not acceptable
DHAKA TRIBUNE
consequences of this congestion.
Taking the local residents’
long-standing demand in consideration,
then Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) took
initiative to extend the road by eight
feet to the east, back in August last year.
Locals said land for the eight feet ex-
tension was supposed to be taken from
existing roadside free space, swear
drain and three to four feet from the
western border of Azimpur Graveyard.
Advocate ABM Rafiq Ullah, a resi-
dent of the area said: “The develop-
ment work was going on when a High
Court verdict stopped it.”
One AKM Kazi Zakir Hossain filed a
writ petition (no- 14857 of 2012) with
the HC last year, saying, his parents
graves were in the space selected for
extension, he said.
Rafiq Ullah, also a respondent of the
petition, said: “In the petition Kazi Za-
kir Hossain had claimed that the eight
feet extension would see almost 1,000
graves demolished, which is not true.”
“As the basis of the HC ruling was
Zakir’s exaggerated information, it has
that political parties would do violence to
meet their demands and mass people, in-
cluding businessmen and professionals,
would fall victim to such violence.
They had been forced to announce
agitation programmes as their busi-
nesses were at the verge of collapse
because of the current political crisis,
the speakers claimed, adding that the
government failed to ensure security of
their business.
The participants of the programmes
also claimed that their workers were
starving and they had been incurring
losses because of limited transactions
and soaring interests against their
loans as miscreants had burnt there
business enterprises.
News
the consent yet. What can I do now?”
Another resident of the area, Harun-ur-
Rashid claimed Zakir Hossain was a former
military personnel and owned a house in
the area, but lived in Elephant Road.
Authorities concerned, the DSCC
and the residents of the area, informed
if the extension work could have been
carried out, only 30 permanent and
temporary graves would actually have
to be shifted.
To resolve the crisis, locals and con-
cerned persons for the 30 graves sat for
a meeting at the Azimpur Graveyard
back in August last year. At the meet-
ing, everyone but Zakir had agreed to
shift the permanent graves.
Meanwhile, after hearing the peti-
tion, the HC passed its verdict, refer-
ring to another similar judgment and
the City Corporation Ordinance 1983.
The HC bench of Justice Mrs Farah
Mahbub and Justice Mr Abdur Rob de-
livered the verdict.
Contacted, the local MP Mostafa Ja-
lal Mohiuddin told the Dhaka Tribune:
“I have personally attended the court’s
hearing three times, seeking permission
DHAKA TRIBUNE
They urged the political parties to
keep business sectors out of purview
of political strikes, saying that frequent
blockades, shutdowns, vandalism and
arson attacks had almost broken the
supply chain and flow of transaction.
If their businesses collapsed be-
cause of the political crisis, livelihood
of thousands of people directly and
indirectly involved in the sector would
become vulnerable, they said, adding
that the political parties would have to
bear the responsibility.
They also warned to take to the
streets along with their workers and
employees if major political parties
failed to reach a consensus within a
short period. l
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
n Our Correspondent, Pabna
At least two people were killed in sep-
“However, we have filed an appeal
with the Appellate Division of the SC. I
hope the court will give a special permis-
sion considering the interest of the locals
and importance of the road,” he said.
DSCC Chief Executive Officer Md
Ansar Ali Khan echoed MP Mostafa Ja-
lal. The court asked for city corporation
high-ups presence at the court yesterday.
Asked about the progress of the devel-
opment work, Ansar Ali said: “We were
forced to stop work due to the HC order,
and there have been no progress since.”
In 2006, former BNP MP Nasir Uddin
Ahmed Pintu had taken a decision for
constructing a link road from south to
north through the Azimpur Graveyard.
Later, Advocate Manzil Murshed,
president at Human Rights and Peace
for Bangladesh had filed a writ petition
(no-6235 of 2006) against the link road.
Contacted, Advocate Murshid told
the Dhaka Tribune, “I had filed the pe-
tition only opposing the new link road,
which would have gone through the
graveyard and demolished hundreds of
graves in the process.” l
Chhatra Dal enforces strike
at Chittagong University
n CU Correspondent
Chittagong University authorities yes-
terday postponed admission tests of
“G” unit and “H” unite because of ex-
tension of blockade until Friday 6am
imposed by BNP-led 18-party alliance.
The admission tests of the units had
earlier postponed for four times due
to blockade and hartal enforced by the
opposition.
SM Akbar Hossain, deputy regis-
trar and secretary of admission test
committee, said the rescheduled date
would be announced later.
Institute of Marine Science and
Fisheries, and Biological Science Fac-
ulty’s admission tests were scheduled
for December 13.
A total number of 18733 admission
seekers had sent their applications to
vie for 662 seats at the units, said ad-
mission committee sources.
Jica awards Jamilur
Reza Choudhury
n Tribune Report
The Japan International Cooperation
Agency has honoured engineer and ed-
ucator Jamilur Reza Choudhury with
an award for his longstanding contri-
bution to Jica-funded projects in Ban-
gladesh.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith pre-
sented the JICA Recognition Award to
Choudhury at a function in the capital
yesterday.
Takao Toda, Jica chief represen-
tative in Bangladesh, acknowledged
Choudhury’s contributions to the Ja-
muna Multipurpose Bridge Project
(now Bangabandhu Bridge), Chittagong
Airport Development Project and Dha-
ka Mass Rapid Transit Development
Project. l
Railway counts loss of
Tk35 crore in 10 months
n Tribune Desk
Bangladesh Railway has suffered a loss of
Tk35 crore in its property and infrastruc-
tural damage for subversive activities and
arson attacks during political shutdowns
and blockades over the last 10 months.
“According to our preliminary esti-
mate, recurring attacks on railway sta-
tions and bogies and removal of fish-
plates have caused a loss of Tk35 crore
in the last 10 months,” said a senior of-
ficial of the Railways Ministry.
The official, who preferred not to be
named, said the amount of the losses may
go up further after the final assessment.
According to data provided by him,
the railway sector has seen a total of
57 acts of sabotage, including arson
attacks, removal of rail lines and un-
screwing of fishplates, during the coun-
trywide transport blockade enforced
by the BNP-led 18-party alliance.
Of the total incidents, 29 took place
in the East Zone of Bangladesh Railway
while 28 in the West Zone.
In the latest attack, a group of sus-
pected blockaders on Monday vandal-
Two people killed by
outlawed operatives
in Pabna
arate incidents allegedly by activists
of regional outlawed organisations in
Pabna on Monday night.
Md Arshed Ali Sardar, 40, who
hailed from Chowbaria village of At-
ghoria upazila, was gunned down by
party rivals around 6:15pm, locals said.
Officer-in-Charge of Atghoria police
station Md Monirul Islam said a gang
of criminals on two motorbikes inter-
cepted Arshed near Chak-Chowkibari
Madrasa while he was returning home.
They fired three shots from a close
range and fled the scene, leaving Ar-
shed spot dead, the OC added.
Saying that the deceased was a fac-
tional leader of outlawed party Nakshal
Bahini, the OC suspected that he might
have been killed either by his rivals or
own party men over intra-party feud.
Police recovered the body from the
spot and sent to Pabna Medical College
Hospital morgue for autopsy.
On the other hand, Bakul Hossain,
32, a local trader who hailed from
Paiksha village in Sathia upazila, was
hacked to death by outlaws at Dhulauri
On the other hand, activists of Jati-
yatabadi Chhatra Dal of the universi-
ty yesterday put the campus’s Agrani
Bank office and university’s administra-
tive building under lock and key during
a strike imposed by the party.
Rafiqul Islam, in-charge of CU police
outpost, said Chhatra Dal activists put
the Agrani Bank’s gate and the main
gate of the administrative building un-
der lock and key around 7:30am.
Being informed, police went there
and had broken open the gates after
half an hour, he added.
Anwar Hossain, an assistant proctor
of CU, said the activists tried to halt the
administrative works; however, police
foiled their attempts.
Chhatra Dal, the students front of the
BNP, imposed strike yesterday demand-
ing immediate release of its’ Central Pres-
ident Abdul Kader Bhuiyan Juwel and
General Secretary Habibur Rahid Habib. l
Finance Minister AMA Muhith and Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury are at the award giving
ceremony
5
ised the Sylhet railway station dam-
aging its windows and furniture and
exploded crude and petrol bombs,
leaving two people injured.
Suspected blockade supporters
also set fire to railway tracks in Dhaka
city’s Tejgaon area on Monday morning
during the third day of the 18-party’s
72-hour nationwide transport blockade
programme, reports UNB.
Official statistic shows that a total of
169 acts of sabotage, including arson at-
tacks, took place in the railway sector from
February 28, 2013 to November 5, 2013.
On March 2, miscreants set fire to a
number of bogies of an express train,
‘Silk City’, at Rajshahi Railway Station
under the West Zone of Bangladesh
Railway and removed rail tracks from
Sonaimuri-Natherpetoa section under
the East Zone, causing a loss of over Tk
7.1 crore in damages.
On April 2, about 30 passengers were
injured as six compartments of a Chit-
tagong-bound train, ‘Turnanishita’,
from Dhaka derailed in Comilla after
unidentified people removed fishplates
from the railway tracks. l
Bazar around 7pm.
Locals said a gang of outlawed crimi-
nals swooped on Bakul while he was re-
turning home from his shop at Dhulauri
market, and stabbed him indiscriminate-
ly, leaving him critically injured.
Locals rescued him and rushed him to
Pabna Medical College Hospital, where
on duty doctor pronounced him dead.
Officer-in-Charge of Santhia police
station Md Shahed Mahamud said Ba-
kul had a long standing dispute between
the outlaws of Nokshal Bahini faction in
the village, adding that he might have
been killed over previous enmity.
A gang of outlawed criminals
swooped on Bakul while he was
returning home from his shop
at Dhulauri market, and stabbed
him indiscriminately
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police
Md Miraz Uddin said district police ad-
ministration was going to launch mas-
sive drives to nab the outlawed opera-
tives soon.
When asked, the SP said there was
nothing to worry as the two murders
were separate incidents. l
Mass robbery
in 30 vehicles
in Ramu
n Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar
Robbers looted passengers’ mobile
phones, cash taka and other valuables
in 30 vehicles at gunpoint, and hurt
at least 50 passengers on Cox’s Ba-
zar-Teknaf highway at Ramu in Cox’s
Bazar on Monday night.
Few passengers, who were hurt in-
jured, were sent to Cox’s Bazar Sadar
Hospital, he added.
Passengers claimed that robbers loot-
ed money and valuables worth Tk2m.
Eye-witnesses said people of the
upazila travel on light vehicles such as
rickshaw, van, human haulier at night
to avoid the attack of pickets during
blockades and hartal.
Md Azad, a victim, who lost his
money and mobile phone, said a group
of 30-40 armed robbers put a barricade
on street and looted indiscriminately. l
DHAKA TRIBUNE
6 DHAKA TRIBUNE
Char children skips schools to earn living
n Our Correspondent, Lalmonirhat
Children of at least 90 chars on the ba-
sin of Teesta and Dharla rivers in five
upazilas in Lalmonirhat district are
more prone to work and earn a living
for their families rather than going to
school and pursue education.
Because of abject poverty and a lack
of awareness raising programmes, the
parents deprive their children from go-
ing to school and engage them in agri-
culture and cattle rearing.
An inadequate number of schools
and poor communication system adds
to the situation by hampering childrens’
access to education living on the chars.
Though there are 55 government
and registered primary schools in
these char areas, attendance remains
extremely poor in these schools round
the year.
Although a few guardians send their
children to schools, they drop out after
a while because of poverty.
Children aged between 8 - 15 usually
do not go to school but engage in work-
ing on farmlands, as per direction of
their parents.
Sahidul Islam, executive director of
Gono Prochar Kalyan Sangstha (GPKS),
a Dhaka-based NGO, said the male
members of the poor families in chars
usually go to capital and other districts
in search of work leaving their children
at home.
Meanwhile, the female guardians
face untold problems over maintain-
Social commitment a must to
combat sexual harassment
n Tribune Desk
Social commitment alongside forging
resistance have become indispensable
to combat sexual harassment against
the schoolgirls, speakers told a post-ral-
ly discussion in Rajshahi city yesterday.
They said public representatives,
parents, civil society members, com-
munity and media people should raise
voice and work together for preventing
sexual harassment.
The meeting styled “Raise voice to
eliminate sexual harassment against
schoolgirls” held at Chhotobangram
Adarsha (Ideal) Girls High School in the
city.
“Meyeder Janya Nirapad Nagarikat-
wa” of Brac organised the programme
under its Gender Justice and Diversity
project to formulate a set of recommen-
Activists of the BNP-led 18-party alliance block Meghna-Dakatia waterway yesterday
International
Anti-Corruption
Day observed in
Khagrachhari
n Tribune Report
n Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari A mobile court yesterday sentenced a
Khagrachhari District Corruption Pre-
vention Committee has observed Inter-
national Anti-Corruption Day with a call
for combating corruption to ensure good
governance. To observe the day, the dis-
trict administration also held a discus-
sion at the auditorium of district scout
office with Director of Khagrachhari
Chamber of Commerce and Industry Su-
darson Dutta in the chair. Editor of Dainik
Aranya Barta Chowdhury Ataur Rahman
attended the discussion as chief guest.
Speakers at the programme urged peo-
ple to fight against corruption to ensure
corruption-free society as well as to es-
tablish good governance in the country. l
ing the family expense, as a result,
they send their children out of home to
work, he said.
They are ignorant about the impor-
tance of education because of lack of
grooming, he added.
Mostafizur Rahma Kazal, a primary
school teacher in Milonbazar char on
the Teesta river basin said: “I person-
ally go door to door in the area to per-
suade the parents to send their chil-
dren to schools but most of them do
not agree showing poverty as a cause.”
A guardian in Bowalmari char in
Dharla river basin Barek Miah said he,
and other guardians on the chars were
not willing to send their children to
schools as they knew that ultimately
they would not be able to continue to
bear the education expenditure of their
children.
Officials of District Primary Educa-
tion office in Lalmonirhat said at least
9000 children in the chars were enlist-
ed in 55 primary schools this year but
only 1500 to 2000 of them were regu-
lar in attending classes while the rest
became irregular as they got engaged
agriculture.
Acknowledging the poor communi-
cation system and lack of awareness
campaigns in chars, District Primary
Education Officer Nabez Uddin said
they had not received any order to con-
duct motivational trainings in the char
areas to raise awareness among the
guardians on sending their children to
schools. l
dations on how to expedite the work for
combating sexual harassment against
the schoolgirls, reports BSS.
During their presentations, Sec-
tor Specialists of Brac Mejnin, Sayeeda
Sogra, Kaosar Been Latif and Rezwana
Afroz, highlighted various aspects of
collaborative efforts on the issue.
On the occasion, some documentary
films were also screened to create aware-
ness among students of the school.
Ward Councilor of Rajshahi City Cor-
poration Nazma Khatun, Brac District
Representative Jahidul Islam, Headmas-
ter of the school Nasima Khatun and
President of School Managing Commit-
tee Sadrul Islam spoke on the occasion.
The discussants said unemploy-
ment, intrusion of foreign culture and
weak family bondage were triggering
various unexpected incidents like sexu-
Trader jailed for selling
birds in Rajshahi
bird trader to a 15-day imprisonment
on charge of selling various species of
indigenous birds.
Officials of Wildlife Management
and Nature Conservation Division
jointly conducted the mobile court in
Rajshahi Railway Station area.
The court led by Executive
Magistrate Joyshree Rani Roy arrested
Shafiqul Islam Bhola, 32, son of
Lokman Malder, a resident of Seroil
area, red-handed while he was selling
30 birds.
Subsequently, the court found him
guilty of the charge and pronounced
the verdict.
Nation
The children living at Sholmari char under Kaligangj upazila could not go to school as their guardians are not aware of the necessity of
education
al harassment.
“We need to establish social net-
works and alliances involving govern-
ment and non-government organisa-
tions, community people, civil society
and media to reach this goal,” said Naz-
ma Khatun.
She also said sometimes prevention
and protest against sexual harassment
could not take place due to political in-
fluence and lack of security.
The meeting constituted a 15-mem-
ber community watch-group that will
work for eliminating sexual harassment
against the schoolgirls at the places
around the school.
Some other events like human-
chain, signature collection and oath-
taking were also held on the occasion
to drum up support towards the cam-
paign. l
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Later, the officials released 48
indigenous birds, including six Rose
Ringed Parakeets, 12 spotted doves and
30 Lonchura at Paba Nursery in the city
yesterday.
Deputy Commissioner Mejbah
Uddin Chowdhury, Paba UNO Razzaqul
Islam, Divisional Forest Officers Azit
Kumar Rudra and Mollah Rejaul
Karim, Director of Forestry Science
and Training Institute Sebedar Islam
and Biodiversity Conservation Officers
Ashraful Islam and Amzad Hossain
were present on the occasion.
As part of their continuous drive
against illegal marketing of wildlife,
hunting and trafficking, the officials
rescued the birds after are conducting
drives in different areas of the region. l
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
‘Smuggler’ shot dead
by BGB in Feni
n Our Correspondent, Feni
A suspected smuggler has been
killed and another pedestrian injured
as Border Guard Bangladesh
personnel opened fire on
them in Adalat Math area in Chhagal-
naiya upazila of Noakhali .
The deceased was identified as
Mia, 52, son of Ismail Hossain of
Chhagalnaiya municipality. But, the
identity of the pedestrian could not be
known immediately.
Local people said two BGB
personnel had chased a wood-lad-
en truck which was heading to-
wards Chhagalnaiya Bazar from
Korerhat area of Chittagong on the
Dhaka-Chittagong Highway around
3pm and opened fire on them as the
truck driver did not respond to signal,
Lack of preservation
facilities hit Jamalpur
General Hospital
n Tribune Report
Valuable equipment and medicines in
Jamalpur General Hospital cannot be
preserved properly in the absence of a
large medical Store room.
Hospital sources said after upgrading
the hospital to 250 beds, many modern
medical equipment and medicine are
allotted to the hospital, but for adequate
medical storing facilities those cannot
be preserved properly.
Civil Surgeon Dr Mohammad Hafi-
zur Rahman said more modern equip-
ment have been installed in the hos-
pital including C-ARM x-ray machine,
incubator, sucker machine and ultra
sonogram machine to increase the
health service.
Many others equipment and medi-
cines have also been allotted but for a
proper medical storeroom we cannot pre-
serve those.
Many types of equipment which
were allotted for the hospital could not
be received due to lack of medical store-
room, he added.
About 300 to 400 patients take treat-
ment facilities every day, reports BSS. l
Bogra fire gutted
26 shops
n Our Correspondent, Bogra
At least 26 shops were gutted and a fire-
fighter was hurt when the fire swept
through the market at Rajabazar in
Bogra town on Monday night. The in-
jured was Shahjahan Molla. Fire Ser-
vice officials said the fire originated
from a short circuit. Witnesses said the
fire originated around 9pm and sud-
denly raged through the area.
Delwar Sohel Rana, senior sta-
tion officer of Bogra Fire Service, said
they doused the fire after three hours
of frantic efforts. Md Anis Mia, presi-
dent of Rajabazar Dokan Malik Samity,
claimed that the damage caused by the
fire could be more than 115m. l
DHAKA TRIBUNE
leaving two ‘smugglers’ critically in-
jured.
The injured were taken to Feni Sadar
Hospital where Mia died soon after ad-
mission.
Hearing the news of his death, lo-
cal businessmen put up barricade on
the Dhaka-Chittagong highway for one
hour, protesting the incident.
They businessmen claimed that the
two people were traders in the locality
and not involved with any kind of ille-
gal activities.
Captain of Feni 4 Border Guard Bang-
ladesh Lieutenant Cornel Khaled Mah-
mud said: “BGB men chased them be-
cause the victims ignored security signal.
He also said the smugglers tried to
kill the BGB members, so they were
compelled to fire bullets for self-
protection. l
NEWS IN BRIEF
College teacher hacked
to death in Bogra
A college teacher was hacked to death by
miscreants in Badurtala area of the dis-
trict town on Monday night. Locals said a
gang of miscreants swooped on Zia Ud-
din Babu, 45, professor of Bogra Sherpur
Degree College, also joint convener of
Sector Commanders’ Forum Bogra unit
Babu blasting five crude bombs in No-1
rail gate area around 9:30pm and hacked
him indiscriminately, leaving him dead on
the spot. On information, police recovered
the body and sent it to the Shaheed Ziaur
Rahman Medical College Hospital morgue
for an autopsy. Gaziur Rahman, assistant
superintendent of police (media) of Bogra,
said blockaders might have committed the
killing. –UNB
Youth commits suicide
in Magura
A young man reportedly committed sui-
cide at Kalanpur village under Sripur upazi-
la in Magura yesterday. The deceased was
Traders inspect their warehouse after a fire guts at least 26 shops at Rajabazar in Bogra
town on Monday night
10 injured in
robbers’ attack
in Gazipur
n Our Correspondent, Gazipur
At least 10 people, including manger of
a factory, were hurt as a group of armed
robbers attacked them at Kudaba in
Gazipur city yesterday.
Local people managed to catch five
robbers and handed them over to police
after giving a mob-beat.
They were Oli, 32, Litu, 30, Mukul,
30, Shafik, 32, and Hashem, 40. Of them,
critically injured Mukul and Litu were
admitted to Gazipur sadar hospital.
Mobarak Hossain, in-charge
of Pubile police out post under
Joydebpur police station, said
a group of robbers, numbering 8-10, en-
tered into the factory Shakti Engineering
Ltd by cutting the fence around 3am.
Soon after they entered into factory
the robbers made factory people hos-
tage. As the factory workers resisted
the looting, the robbers beat them in-
discriminately, and at least six of the
workers were hurt. Having heard the
hue and cry, factory manager Moni Go-
pal Basu along with local people rushed
to the spot and made a resistance
bid. But at one stage, robbers also
chopped the locals, leaving at least four
persons, including the manager, Gopal,
injured.
Later, the mob managed to catch five
robbers and beat them indiscriminately
with sticks. Mostak Mamun, senior ex-
ecutive of the factory, filed a case with
Joydebpur police station. l
Chhatra Dal president
on remand
n Tribune Report
A Dhaka Court yesterday granted six
days police remand against arrested
Chhatra Dal central President Abdul
Kader Jewel and Dhaka North Senior
Vice-President Sharif Uddin Jwell in
connection with two cases, where they
are accused of attempting to kill law en-
forcers, provoking violence and torching
and vandalising vehicles.
Motijhel police produced the duo be-
fore the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate
Court seeking twenty days remand in the
two cases. Investigation officers of the
cases mentioned in their remand prayers
that police need to quiz the duo to find
out the motive of the vandalism and oth-
er allegations. Defence Counsel Md San-
aullah Miah filed a bail petition with re-
mand rejection prayer, saying that police
had arrested them to harass and suppress
the opposition’s legal movement.
Following the hearing, Metropolitan
Magistrate Md Asaduzzaman Noor grant-
ed six days remand against the duo. l
identified as Miraj Shekh, 35, son of Gofur
Sheikh, a resident of the village. Local peo-
ple said villagers had found the body of
Miraj hanging with rope from a tree in the
morning. They informed police about the
matter and police recovered the body. The
reason behind the suicide could not be
known immediately. An unnatural death
case was filed in this connection.
–Our Correspondent
24 crude bombs recovered
in Munshiganj
Police recovered 24 crude bombs from
Rajarchar village of Mollarkandi under
Munshiganj sadar upazila yesterday.
Officer-in-Charge of Munshiganj sadar
Thana Shahidul Islam said miscreants
kept these bombs to conduct destructive
activities. On information, police
recovered these the bombs from a
garden, behind the residence of one
Akter Mondal. Police defused the bombs,
the OC added. None was arrested in this
connection. –BSS
DHAKA TRIBUNE
 DHAKA TRIBUNE Long Form Wednesday, December 11, 2013
7

Why we should take risks and make mistakes

I
n Ruhul Kader
n about 510 BC Persia was a
great kingdom having control
over half of the world from Asia
Minor to Indus to Egypt. At that
time a king named Darius was
at the helm of the Persian Empire. At
about same time, on the other part of
the world, Greece was consisted of a
number of city-states running inde-
pendently.
Darius’ desire to conquer Greece
resulted in beautiful descriptions of
famous battles between the Greek and
Darius and his ancestors, which can be
found in the account of Greek histori-
an Herodotus.
We should ask how we can create an
environment that inspires taking risk and
vade Greece. Xerxes prepared his army
and fitted out a plan to move on. Once
Xerxes decided to rally his army to-
wards Greece his counselor Artabanus
came in to intervene.
Artabanus was also Xerxes’ uncle.
He was a wise man. He proposed that
there was danger for the Persian army
in pursuing the conquest of Greece.
He tried to convince his nephew not to
go into war against Greece. But Xerxes
was a great man and himself a man of
wisdom. He replied with a wonderful
assertion that remains the source of
inspiration till today:
“There is reason in what you say,
but you ought not to see danger
everywhere or to reckon every risk.
versity in 1972. She taught at Columbia
University, Harvard University, and the
University of Illinois before joining the
Stanford faculty in 2004.
Dweck wondered how some people
become successful at everything they
do, while others seem destined to a life
of constant failure. She was obsessed
with failure and determined to com-
prehend why.
In 1978 Dweck started a study
(Mindset: The New Psychology of Suc-
cess [2007]) in collaboration with Carol
Diener. She gave kids various puzzles
and recorded how they approached
the problem, and what they said and
did as they tried to solve them.
Dweck’s study shows that kids who
solve tougher puzzle are the kids who
often take risks and make mistakes
and who not only endure failure but
love failure.
Given with a really tough puzzle to
solve, one success oriented kid just
accepts the challenge and says I love
challenge and goes ahead to solve it
BIGSTOCK
problem and get moving. As we can
understand – to make mistake is to
learn. We need to lay out a very well-
thought plan to capitalise this very
method of providing education and
inspiring action.
We should ask how we can create
an environment that inspires taking
risk and making mistake with a built-
in aspiration for learning and taking
initiative in later life. To understand
the process we can borrow from the
experiment of Angela Lee Duckworth,
an assistant professor of psychology at
the University of Pennsylvania.
Duckworth claimed that “intelli-
gence is really important, but it’s still
not as important as self-control.” After
finding this out Duckworth goes on
to devise a plan to teach self-control
among children in schools and educa-
tional institutions.
Few years back Duckworth and
Walter Michal – the famous Stanford
professor who introduced marsh-
mallow experiment to test instant
lems on their own. In later life these
people will never be afraid to take on a
bigger risk and achieve greater good.
In life the best way to learn any-
thing is by doing it. We need to keep
the windows open so that we don’t
miss life’s opportunities to live it to the
fullest.
A saying goes: “Not taking risk
is the greatest risks of all, and not
taking risk worth taking is a total loss.”
Unfortunately, we seldom know which
risk is worth taking and which is not.
We just need to work on it. As Xerxes
said: “Success generally attends those
who wish to act; and it does not attend
those who are timid and balance
everything.” l
Ruhul Kader founded www.futurestartup.
com to promote entrepreneurship and
support entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.
Future StartUp started the country’s first
entrepreneurial talk community FS Talk. he is
now working to build Good & Green (www.

making mistake with a built-in aspiration for
learning and taking initiative in later life
In late 490 BC Darius attacked Greece.
The battle was called the battle of
Marathon. The fight was intense and
difficult. Soldiers of both sides died in
enormous numbers. At the end Darius
lost the battle and came back to Persia
with his tattered army. But the desire
to bring Greece under the rule of Persia
became a permanent aspiration for
Persian emperors.
In about 410 BC another great king
of Persia named Xerxes, the successor
of Darius, once again decided to in-
BIGSTOCK
If whatever comes up you are going
to weigh everything alike, you will
never do anything. It is better to be
always an optimistic and suffer half
the amount of evil, than always to be
full of gloomy anticipations and never
suffer anything at all. If you attack
every proposal made without showing
us the right course to follow, you will
come to grief as much as those whom
you oppose. The scales are evenly bal-
anced. How can a human being know
certainly which way they will incline?
He cannot. But success generally
attends those who wish to act; and it
does not attend those who are timid
and balance everything. You see the
great power which Persia has attained.
If my predecessors on the throne had
held your views, or without holding
them had had counsellors like you,
you would never have seen our king-
dom become so great. It is by taking
risk they made us what we are. Great
things are achieved through great
dangers (Greek historian Herodotus as
cited in Glimpses of world history by
Jawaharlal Nehru).”
Xerxes took his great army to
conquer Greece. Although he lost the
battle, which is a different story, the
most important lesson that jumped
out from this conversation between an
ancient king and his counsellor is that
we must take risks and make mistakes
for the sake of achieving great things
in life.
Carol S Dweck is a Professor of
Psychology at Stanford University.
without bothering about what will
happen if it goes wrong.
Although sometimes these kids
make mistakes, these are the same
kids who learn fast and also solve
problems correctly over those who sel-
dom take the risk to go wrong and fail.
Experiments suggest that taking
risks and making mistakes are two
important ingredients of character that
can lead us to success and develop-
ment.
However, these are not the very
common scene we often see outside.
In schools, where we ought to teach
our kids about values, work ethic,
character and culture, the system is
often rigid than not. It seems that the
system has gone astray. Instead of
focusing on building capable genera-
tions the system is more interested in
fulfilling the quota of literacy rate.
In schools, as I am essentially a
product of this system, we extremely
discourage taking risks and making
mistakes. Making mistakes is often
seen as a punishable action in our
system even after knowing that “to
err is human;” that unless we make
mistakes we learn very little; unless we
don’t take risks and stand still at the
face of great danger we seldom achieve
great things.
The particular act of discouraging
mistakes has a far-reaching impact
in the later life of these kids, making
them inefficiently and ineffectively
comply with the system and society
where situation demands otherwise.
To tackle critical problems we need
creativity and courage. But the fear of
making mistakes that haunts us from
schools and onward keeps our genius
under control. We feel afraid at the
face of problems. Instead of taking
gratification and self control – went
gng.com.bd), Bangladesh’s eco-ethical brand
for the world, at New Vision Bangladesh Ltd.
on to teach self-control in schools run He can be reached at romel122@gmail.com.
by KIPP, an organisation of 66 public
charter schools across the USA. But
the problem is that measuring math
skill is a simple procedure but how do
you measure the skill of self control, or
ability to take risk.
Duckworth and Michal ran pilot
studies to understand the way to deliv-
er complex psychological messages to
students. And after running a course
of experiments, both are happy that it
works.
‘Not taking risk is the greatest risks of all, and
not taking risk worth taking is a total loss.’
Unfortunately, we seldom know which risk is
worth taking and which is not
In our case teaching or letting students
make mistakes and taking risk doesn’t
associate much difficulties like the
experiments of self-control. What we
need is an open mind and system that
inspire taking educated risks and mak-
ing constructive mistakes in order to
learn and discover and solve problems.
The orientation of the system
should be more of a doing-and-learn-
ing genre; making mistakes and
taking risks as an attempt to learn and
achieve should not be degraded. While
students make mistakes they should
not be punished. Instead they should
be graded in comparison to purpose.

She was born on October 17, 1946. She responsibility we pass off the respon- The consequences of this approach
graduated from Barnard College in sibility. will be brilliant. Students will take
1967 and earned a PhD from Yale Uni- It’s apparent that we need to fix this more initiative and try to solve prob-
8 DHAKA TRIBUNE
Two French
soldiers killed
in CAR combat
n AP, Paris
Two French soldiers were killed in
combat in  Central  African  Repub-
lic’s  capital, President Francois Hol-
lande’s office announced Tuesday, the
first French casualties since he ordered
a stepped-up military presence in the
restive former colony to help quell in-
ter-religious violence.
The presidential Elysee Palace, in a
statement, provided no details about
the killings in Bangui late Monday oth-
er than that they died during France’s
mission to restore security, protect ci-
vilians, and ensure access for human-
itarian groups in the impoverished
country.
French officials have warned of the
dangers of the enhanced military mis-
sion alongside  African  Union troops,
authorized under a muscular man-
date approved last week by the Unit-
ed Nations Security Council. France’s
defense minister has warned mili-
tia groups to disarm peacefully — or
French troops will do it by force.
The announcement of the deaths
came shortly after the presidential pal-
ace said Hollande would travel to Cen-
tral  African  Republic  on Tuesday after
attending a memorial in South Africa to
Nelson Mandela.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves
Six facts about Mandela that make
him an unlikely icon in the West
Mandela was a political activist and agitator.
He did not shy away from controversy and
he did not seek universal approval. As the
world remembers Mandela, here are some
of the things he believed that many will
gloss over.
Mandela blasted the Iraq War and
American imperialism
Mandela called Bush “a president who has
no foresight, who cannot think properly,”
and accused him of “wanting to plunge the
world into a holocaust” by going to war in
Iraq. “All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil,”
he said. He saw the Iraq War as a greater
problem of American imperialism around
the world. “If there is a country that has
committed unspeakable atrocities in the
world, it is the United States of America.
They don’t care,” he said.
Mandela called freedom from poverty
Canada to claim North Pole!
n AFP
Canada signalled intentions to claim
the North Pole and surrounding Arctic
waters while announcing the filing of
a UN application seeking to vastly ex-
pand its Atlantic sea boundary.
After a decade of surveying the
country’s eastern and far north seabeds
and gathering supporting evidence, a
claim was submitted to the Commis-
sion on the Limits of the Continental
Shelf on Friday.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird
said the filing mainly concerns the out-
er limits of Canada’s continental shelf
in the Atlantic Ocean.
But it also includes “preliminary in-
formation concerning the outer limits
of (Canada’s) continental shelf in the
Arctic Ocean,” he said.
“We have asked our officials and
scientists to do additional work and
necessary work to ensure that a sub-
mission for the full extent of the conti-
nental shelf in the Arctic includes Can-
ada’s claim to the North Pole,” he told a
press conference.
International
Le Drian said French forces were con-
ducting patrols by foot and vehicle
through the dusty streets of Bangui.
At one point, they intervened to pull
away a Muslim man, who claimed to be
a merchant, from a mob that accused
him of being a rebel leader.
Muslim rebels known as Seleka over-
threw the government of this majority
Christian nation nine months ago.
Bouts of violence in  Central  Afri-
can Republic took an especially bloody
turn last week with more than 400
deaths in two days of violence between
Christians and Muslims. World leaders
including US President Barack Obama
have called for calm.
French President to visit CAR
French President Francois Hollande
will visit the Central African Republic
on Tuesday, according to a statement
issued by his office, after boosting
French troops in order restore stability
in the country.
Hollande will visit the country on
his way back from South Africa, where
he was due to attend a ceremony to
honor Nelson Mandela.
Paris raised its military presence in
the Central African Republic to 1,600
troops during the weekend as waves of
religious violence swept over its former
colony. l
a “fundamental human right”
Mandela considered poverty one of the
greatest evils in the world, and spoke out
against inequality everywhere. “Massive
poverty and obscene inequality are such
terrible scourges of our times — times
in which the world boasts breathtaking
advances in science, technology, industry
and wealth accumulation — that they have
to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as
social evils,” he said.
Mandela criticised the “War on
Terror” and the labeling of individuals
as terrorists without due process
On the US terrorist watch list until 2008
himself, Mandela was an outspoken
critic of President George W. Bush’s war
on terror. He warned against rushing to
label terrorists without due process. While
forcefully calling for Osama bin Laden to be
brought to justice, Mandela remarked, “The
“Fundamentally, we are drawing the
last lines of Canada. We are defending
our sovereignty,” added Arctic Minister
Leona Aglukkaq.
Asserting sovereignty over an ex-
pansive Arctic archipelago and sur-
rounding waters has been a key plank
of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper’s Tories in the past three elec-
tions since 2006.
But Russia and Denmark are expect-
ed to file overlapping claims, which
could lead to confrontation between
the Arctic neighbors.
Interest in the polar region has
flared up as rising temperatures open
up shipping routes and make hitherto
inaccessible mineral resources easier to
exploit.
The North Pole seabed itself is not
believed to hold large reserves but has
symbolic value for the countries in the
region, which also includes Norway
and the United States.
Natural Resources Minister Joe Ol-
iver said enlarging Canada’s Arctic
boundary is important for “Canada’s
long-term economic prosperity.” l
French troops patrol past two Seleka, the alliance of mostly Muslim rebel groups, vehicles set on fire by Christian mobs in Bangui
US to transport African troops to CAR
n AP, Doha
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has
ordered the US military to transport
troops from Burundi into the  Cen-
tral  African  Republic  to help quell the
latest upsurge in violence there.
Hagel approved the order after
speaking with French Minister of De-
fense Jean-Yves Le Drian Monday night
from Afghanistan where he was vis-
labeling of Osama bin Laden as the terrorist
responsible for those acts before he had
been tried and convicted could also be seen
as undermining some of the basic tenets of
the rule of law.”
Mandela called out racism in America
On a trip to New York City in 1990, Mandela
made a point of visiting Harlem and praising
African Americans’ struggles against “the
injustices of racist discrimination and
economic equality.” He reminded a larger
crowd at Yankee Stadium that racism was
not exclusively a South African phenome-
non. “
Mandela embraced some of
America’s biggest political enemies
Mandela incited shock and anger in many
American communities for refusing to
denounce Cuban dictator Fidel Castro or
Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who had
lent their support to Mandela against South
African apartheid. “One of the mistakes
the Western world makes is to think that
their enemies should be our enemies,” he
explained to an American TV audience.
“We have our own struggle.” He added that
those leaders “are placing resources at our
disposal to win the struggle.” He also called
the controversial Palestinian Liberation Or-
ganization leader Yasser Arafat “a comrade
in arms.”
Mandela was a die-hard supporter of
labor unions
Mandela visited the Detroit auto workers
union when touring the US, immediately
claiming kinship with them. “Sisters and
brothers, friends and comrades, the man
who is speaking is not a stranger here,” he
said. “The man who is speaking is a member
of the UAW. I am your flesh and blood. l
Jordanian cleric
deported from UK
n Agencies
Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, deported by
Britain in July after a near decade-long
legal battle, pleaded not guilty as his
trial in Jordan on terrorism charges
opened.
“You know full well I am not guilty
and that this accusation is false,” Abu
Qatada, in prison overalls, told the
judge of the state security court in Am-
man on Tuesday.
The judge adjourned the case un-
til December 24 after a brief hearing
which was open to the media but with
cameras banned.
After his deportation, Jordanian
military prosecutors charged Abu Qa-
tada with conspiracy to carry out ter-
rorist acts. If convicted he could face a
minimum of 15 years’ hard labour.
Britain’s expulsion of Abu Qatada
came after Amman and London ratified
a treaty guaranteeing that evidence ob-
tained by torture would not be used
in his retrial and that the proceedings
would be transparent. l
iting troops. Le Drian asked the US to
help get African troops quickly into the
country to prevent the violence there
from spreading, said Pentagon spokes-
man Carl Woog.
There are more than 1,000 French
troops in the  Central  African  Repub-
lic, where more than 400 people were
killed in two days of violence last week
between Christians and Muslims.
Christian armed fighters oppose the
South Africans brave the rain as they listen to US President Barack Obama speak during a memorial service for Nelson Mandela at FNB
Stadium in Johannesburg
Boos, jeers humiliate South Africa’s
Zuma at Mandela memorial
n Reuters
South African President  Jacob
Zuma  was booed and jeered at a me-
morial to anti-apartheid legend  Nel-
son Mandela on Tuesday, a major pub-
lic humiliation in front of other world
leaders six months before national
elections.
The hostile reaction from the
thousands-strong unruly crowd
erupted as Zuma prepared to
address the high-profile ceremony
in  Johannesburg’s Soccer City
stadium bringing together leaders from
around 90 countries.
Israeli leaders to miss
Mandela funeral
n Reuters
Israel’s top leaders will be conspicu-
ous  by their absence at Nelson Man-
dela’s funeral, skipping a ceremony for
the anti-apartheid hero world leaders
are mourning and whom Palestinians
have always viewed as their comrade
in the struggle for freedom.
Neither Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu nor President Shimon Peres
will attend the event in Johannesburg’s
Soccer City stadium on Tuesday, offi-
cials said on Monday, citing costs and
health reasons.
Peres, 90, had been advised by his
doctors not to make the trip, according
to aides.
“The president is recovering from
flu and doctors advised him not to fly,”
a spokesman for Peres said.
Israel was an ally of South Africa’s
former apartheid rulers whose racial
segregation Mandela fought and resist-
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
AP
Muslim ex-rebels now in charge of the
former French colony.
Woog said Hagel directed the US
Africa Command to begin transport-
ing forces in coordination with France
because the US believes immediate ac-
tion is needed to avert a humanitarian
catastrophe. And he said the Pentagon
will be evaluating what other US re-
sources might be available if additional
requests for assistance come in. l
Zuma, who has ruled Africa’s biggest
economy since 2009, had been hoping
to get a boost from the wave of national
emotion triggered by  Mandela’s death
on Thursday, aged 95.
His  African National Congress
(ANC)  government has been facing vi-
olent labour unrest and protests over
persisting poverty, crime and unem-
ployment. But the ANC is still expected
to comfortably win the elections to be
held in April or May.
Zuma was booed when he first en-
tered the crowded stadium, and again
when he prepared to speak. In contrast,
US President  Barack Obama  received
ed, getting jailed for 27 years on Robben
Island after being convicted of treason
for his campaign.
Palestinians, who hail South Afri-
ca’s first black leader as an inspiration
in a conflict with what they call Israe-
li “apartheid”, will be represented by
President Mahmoud Abbas - one of
about 70 world leaders South Africa ex-
pects to pay their respects.
Speaker or minister Netanyahu
hailed Mandela as “a freedom fighter
who rejected violence”, although the
African National Congress’s struggle
against apartheid initially proved vio-
lent, leading Mandela to being labelled
a “terrorist” by the US, Israel’s major
Middle East ally.
Mandela was only removed from the
US terror list in 2008.
A foreign ministry official said the
speaker of parliament or a cabinet
minister could represent Israel at the
funeral. l
Somalia jails rape
victim, journalists
n Agencies
A Somali court has sentenced to jail a
woman who said she was raped and
two journalists who reported her story.
The court passed the verdict on
Monday in the capital Mogadishu, say-
ing the journalists were guilty of defa-
mation and insulting state institutions.
The 19-year old woman, who is also
a journalist, was handed a suspended
six-month jail sentence for defamation
and lying, during which time she will be
confined to her home, said Judge Hashi
Elmi Nur. The journalists are to serve
out their sentences, of one year and six
months respectively, or pay a fine in
order to win early release. It is the sec-
ond time this year Somalia has jailed a
woman for speaking out about rape and
journalists for interviewing her.
“The manager of Radio Shabelle,
Abdilmalik Yusuf, was found guilty of
offending state institutions, and there-
fore will serve a prison term of one
year,” the judge told the court.
“Journalist Mohamed Bashir was
found guilty of defamation and making
false rape accusations, so he is given a
six-month jail term.”
The alleged victim last month told
the independent Radio Shabelle she was
attacked and raped at gunpoint by two
fellow journalists. But it was the journal-
ists who listened to her story who were
jailed. Last month the United Nations
in Somalia called for a “proper investi-
gation” into the case, while the United
States said it was “deeply concerned”.
Neither of the men accused of the
rape were arrested. l
REUTERS
a roaring ovation, and  Zimbabwe’s
Robert Mugabe and UN chief  Ban Ki-
moon were also cheered.
Some in the crowd accompanied the
boos for Zuma with thumbs-down ges-
tures and rotating hand movements,
the sign for a substitution in a soccer
match.
“Mandela  had a
vision,  Mandela  lived that vision. But
what Zuma speaks, he doesn’t live,”
said  Funeka Gingcara-Sithole, 31,
reflecting the mood of the Zuma critics
in the stadium.
“He should do the honourable thing
and resign,” she said. l
US calls for release
of Nobel laureate
Liu Xiaobo 
n AP, Beijing
Five years after his detention, the Unit-
ed States is calling for the release of
Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu
Xiaobo and an end to his wife’s unde-
clared house arrest.
Washington remains deeply concerned
about the couple’s treatment, along with
that of other jailed government critics,
Secretary of State John Kerry said.
“We strongly urge Chinese authori-
ties to release Liu Xiaobo, to end (wife)
Liu Xia’s house arrest, and to guarantee
to Liu Xiaobo and his family members
all internationally recognized human
rights protections and freedoms,” Ker-
ry said in a statement issued Monday in
Washington.
“As the United States builds a con-
structive relationship with  China, U.S.
leaders will continue to raise concerns
related to respect for the rule of law,
human rights, religious freedom, and
democratic principles with their Chi-
nese counterparts,” Kerry said. l

Tearful Thai PM urges protesters
to take part in election
n Reuters, Bangkok
Her eyes welling with tears, Thai Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra plead-
ed on Tuesday for anti-government
protesters to clear the streets after she
called a snap election, but protests
leaders said she should step down
within 24 hours.
After weeks of sometimes violent
street rallies, protesters dismissed her
call on Monday for a general election
and said she should be replaced by an
unelected “people’s council”, which
has stoked concern that Southeast
Asia’s second-biggest economy may
abandon the democratic process.
Yingluck insisted on Tuesday she
would not step down and said she
would continue her duties as caretak-
er prime minister until the election,
which is set for Feb. 2.
“Now that the government has dis-
solved parliament, I ask that you stop
protesting and that all sides work to-
wards elections,” Yingluck told report-
ers as she went into a cabinet meeting
held at an army club. “I have backed
down to the point where I don’t know
how to back down any further.”
Tears briefly formed in her eyes as
she spoke, before she quickly com-
posed herself - perhaps a glimpse of
the emotional toll of weeks of protests.
The protesters, a motley collection
aligned with Bangkok’s royalist elite,
want to oust Yingluck and eradicate
the influence of her brother, former
Pakistan to go ahead with
Iran gas pipeline
n AP, Islamabad
Pakistan will push forward with a con-
troversial pipeline to import natural
gas from neighbouring Iran, Pakistan
said Tuesday, a project opposed by the
United States.
The pipeline will link Iran’s gas
fields with energy-starved Pakistan,
but by going ahead with the project,
Pakistan may incur US and interna-
tional sanctions imposed on Iran — or
anyone doing business with Iran — over
that country’s nuclear program.
The US has opposed the project and
instead supported an alternative pro-
posal to build a pipeline from the gas
fields of Turkmenistan to Afghanistan,
Pakistan and India.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Af-
fairs said in a statement Tuesday that
petroleum ministers of the two coun-
tries met in Tehran on Monday to dis-
cuss the project, which has been beset
by repeated delays.
The two countries decided to fast
track the pipeline and formulate a road
map to work out challenges, the minis-
Rare Singapore
riot forces soul
searching over
foreign workers
n Reuters, Singapore
Singapore’s first major riot in four de-
cades is forcing the wealthy island to
confront a stubborn but vexing ques-
tion: how to treat low-paid foreign
workers whose muscle underpins
much of the economy but whose pres-
ence increasingly riles its citizens.
Images of rioters overturning po-
lice cars, throwing garbage bins and
burning an ambulance in Singapore’s
Little India on Sunday night shocked
the orderly Southeast Asian nation and
stirred debate over whether foreign
workers should be better integrated or
see their numbers reduced.
“This is just a tip of the iceberg,” said
Gayathiri, 30, an engineer who lives
near the scene of the riots and goes by
one name. “I hope the government will
take it as a wake-up call. We need for-
eigners to boost our economy, but not
at the expense of our security,” she add-
ed, echoing a widely held sentiment.
Police charged 24 Indian nationals
with rioting, which carries a maximum
penalty of seven years’ prison and
caning. They were among an estimat-
ed 400 people who rampaged after a
private bus fatally struck construction
worker Sakthivel Kumaravelu, 33. The
number of arrests could rise.
The government has urged people
not to jump to conclusions but many
Singaporeans blame an overabundance
of migrant workers and could use the
riots to intensify a push for tighter im-
migration curbs - a step that could hurt
the economy. l
DHAKA TRIBUNE International
premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was
toppled by the military in 2006 and has
chosen to live in exile rather than serve
a jail term for abuse of power.
Thaksin was convicted in absentia
of graft in 2008 but he dismissed the
charges as politically motivated. He is
widely seen as the power behind Yin-
gluck’s government, sometimes hold-
ing meetings with the cabinet by web-
cam.
Yingluck, a 46-year-old former busi-
nesswoman, had no political experi-
ence before entering a 2011 election
she won by a landslide thanks to votes
from the countryside, where Thaksin
built up a devoted following with pol-
icies to help the poor.
try said. However, no details were giv-
en on how Pakistan plans to overcome
the numerous problems associated
with the project, such as funding and
the risk of sanctions.
The ministry said experts from both
sides would meet soon to accelerate
work on the pipeline.
Pakistani officials in the Tehran
meeting also reiterated their govern-
ment’s commitment to fulfill its con-
tractual obligation to the pipeline and
stressed that the project is of “immense
importance” to meeting Pakistan’s en-
ergy needs.
Islamabad hopes the pipeline will
help alleviate the country’s energy cri-
sis, especially electricity shortages. Gas
is used to fire many of the nation’s pow-
er plants, but insufficient quantities
mean rolling blackouts are common.
The agreement with Iran stipulates
that Pakistan must construct its side of
the pipeline by December 2014 but the
project has met repeated delays. If Pa-
kistan fails to meet this deadline, it will
be liable to pay fines that could run into
the millions of dollars per day. l
China concerned about
N Korea politics
n AP, Beijing
China, North Korea’s most important
ally, said Tuesday it wants friendly
relations and hopes for stability in its
neighbour following the purging of a
top official considered close to Beijing.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong
Lei said Jang Song Thaek’s ouster was
an internal affair, but his comments
point to Beijing’s concerns that the
North’s opaque politics may have en-
tered a more unpredictable stage.
“We hope North Korea can maintain
national stability, the people’s well-be-
ing and economic growth.  China  will
remain committed to developing the
friendly relationship between  Chi-
na  and North Korea,” Hong said at a
A man reads a newspaper reporting North Korea confirmed downfall of Jang Song Thaek,
uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
In a speech to supporters late on
Monday, protest leader Suthep Thaug-
suban gave Yingluck 24 hours to step
down.
“We want the government to step
aside and create a power vacuum in
order to create a people’s council,” said
Akanat Promphan, a spokesman for
the protest group. Suthep has said this
council would be made up of appointed
“good people”.
By mid-afternoon on Tuesday, only
6,000 protesters were in the historic
part of Bangkok around Government
House where Yingluck’s office is lo-
cated, police said, a far cry from the
160,000 that converged peacefully on
the complex on Monday.
A relative of a disappeared youth sits near a banner showing sketches of disappeared people during a protest in Srinagar
regularly scheduled briefing.
Jang’s dismissal deprives Beijing
of its most important connection to
the North Korean leadership, further
diminishing  China’s  thin influence
with its isolated, hard-line Communist
neighbour.
In 2012, Jang led a large delegation
to China to discuss construction of spe-
cial economic zones.
China  is North Korea’s only signifi-
cant ally and a key source of trade and
aid. Despite such apparent influence,
Beijing has been unsuccessful in coax-
ing North Korea back to six-nation nu-
clear disarmament talks, while its need
for stability along its northeastern bor-
der keeps it from getting overly tough
on its neighbour. l
AP
Tuesday was a public holiday in
Thailand and Yingluck attended a cere-
mony to mark Constitution Day in par-
liament but only about 1,500 protesters
turned up there, police said.
Yingluck’s Puea Thai Party enjoys
widespread support in the populous
north and northeast, Thailand’s poor-
est regions. The party said she would
again be its candidate for prime min-
ister.
In contrast, the protesters are drawn
from Bangkok’s royalist upper and
middle classes, including civil servants
and prominent business families, along
with people from the south where the
opposition Democrat Party has long
held sway.
“What we’re seeing is a true power
tussle with both sides, the government
and the protesters, trying to pull
the country’s two most powerful
institutions - the monarchy and the
military - on their side,” said political
analyst Kan Yuenyong at the Siam
Intelligence Unit.
“The best scenario would be if the
protesters and the opposition accept
the election and take part, but anything
could happen between now and then
including intervention from indepen-
dent organisations, the judiciary or the
military.”
The politically powerful army, which
has staged or attempted 18 coups in the
past 80 years, has said it does not want
to get involved, although it has tried to
mediate. l
A case of exploding urbanisation!
n AP, United Nations
The number of city dwellers is at an all-time
high of about 3.5 billion and will nearly dou-
ble in the next 30 to 40 years, with almost
all the growth in developing countries, the
head of the UN agency focusing on cities
said Monday.
Joan Clos said even though the rate of
population growth is decreasing,
The UN projects that in the next 30
years the global population will increase
from 7 billion to 9 billion — and the urban
population will grow between 2.5 billion
and 3 billion people.
“In all human history we have reached
3.5 billion of urban settlers and in the next
30 years we are going to have 3 billion
more,” Clos said. “Imagine the changing rate
— what we have done in all human history,
we nearly will do in the next 30 to 40 years
of history.”
With 96 percent of the growth of cities
expected in poorer developing countries,
he said, there are going to be huge de-
mands on land, resources and services for
urban residents.
Clos, a former mayor of Barcelona who
is now executive director of the UN Human
Settlements Program known as UN-Habi-
tat, spoke at a news conference promoting
the agency’s upcoming World Urban Forum
from April 5-11 in Medellin, Colombia, which
will focus on growing inequalities in urbani-
sation worldwide.
He said 10,000 participants are expect-
ed including ministers, mayors, academ-
ics and representatives from business,
non-governmental organisations and local
authorities.
Currently, Clos said, the world is expe-
riencing “the highest rate of urbanisation
in human history,” and national and local
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Disarray in India’s ruling
party after poll drubbing
n Reuters, New Delhi
Disarray within India’s ruling Congress
party burst into the open on Tuesday
after its stunning defeat in state elec-
tions, with a senior figure saying the
party would lose a general election and
needed time in opposition to reinvent
itself.
Mani Shankar Aiyar - a veteran of the
party who is close to the Nehru-Gandhi
family that has run the Congress for de-
cades - predicted defeat in the national
election due by next May.
“Who can be even half-way realistic
and expect the Congress to return to
power?” Aiyar told Reuters.
In a further signal of uneasiness
about Congress’ chances in the general
election, the leader of a key party in the
coalition government said on Monday
the state polls amounted to a rejection
of “weak rulers”.
“People do not want weak rulers,”
National Congress Party leader Sharad
Pawar said, according to domestic me-
dia reports. “They want decisive and
result-oriented leaders who will for-
mulate policies for (the) poor and im-
plement them.”
Manmohan Singh, the taciturn
81-year-old prime minister, has been
widely criticised for the government’s
policy drift and a sharp economic slow-
down, and for allowing corruption to
spin out of control since he was ap-
pointed to a second term in 2009.
Adding to the Congress party’s trou-
bles, half a dozen of its own lawmakers
called for a parliamentary motion of
AP
governments don’t have the capacity to
address key issues including organisation,
governance, finance and the provision of
services.
In recent decades, he said, inequalities
in urban areas have led to protests and
unrest as cities have faced difficulties inte-
grating a big influx of migrants.
“This is why we are very worried, be-
cause the number of people living in slums
is increasing,” Clos said.
UN-Habitat said it estimates that
between 2000 and 2010 a total of 227
million people in the developing world
experienced improvements in their living
conditions, with China and India alone
accounting for 166 million, or 55.5 percent
of the global effort. This met a UN anti-pov-
9
no-confidence over a decision to split
the southern state of Andhra Pradesh
into two.
If at least 50 members of the lower
house back their demand, the stage
would be set for a trial of strength in
which Congress would need the sup-
port of several parties to survive.
Aiyar’s remarks follow a disastrous
showing for the Congress party in elec-
tions held over the last month in three
big states and the capital, Delhi.
“A break from governance would be
a welcome break that could be used to
refit the party as the nation’s natural
party of governance in the 21st centu-
ry,” the upper house lawmaker wrote in
a column for the Indian Express news-
paper.
“The current and prospective elec-
toral reverses for the Congress are thus
Rahul’s golden opportunity,” he said,
referring to the young scion of the Neh-
ru-Gandhi dynasty and potential can-
didate for prime minister.
Aiyar’s opinion was personal and
not the party’s view, said Congress
spokesman Bhakta Charan Das, but
agreed there was a need to analyse
what went wrong.
“The party will definitely
introspect and we must come out with
a very good approach to revitalise
ourselves.”
The centre-left Congress party’s
main opponent, the Hindu nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was the
clear winner in three states that held
assembly elections and left its rival
standing in the capital. l
Activists seek justice
in Indian Kashmir
n AP, Srinagar
Activists, families staged sit-in protests
in Indian-held Kashmir on Tuesday to
demand justice for torture and rape
victims as well as answers about how
8,000 people allegedly disappeared in
the conflict-ridden Himalayan territory.
For years, rights groups have ac-
cused Indian forces of using systematic
abuse and unjustified arrests to intimi-
date Kashmir residents, many of whom
oppose  India’s  rule over the territory
disputed with Pakistan.
The regional government says the al-
legations are mostly separatist propagan-
da meant to demonize troops. It has ac-
knowledged that 2,305 people have gone
missing in the past 20 years, but says
most had crossed into neighbouring Pa-
kistan for weapons training. In a Srinagar
park, more than 100 people sat for hours
Tuesday with placards reading “Jus-
tice denied” and “Supreme Court: Does
8,000 disappearances concern you?”
Another four dozen or so people
gathered in another Srinagar park with
photos of family members who they
say have vanished at the hands of Indi-
an troops since 1989. l
erty goal before the 2015 target date, Clos
said.
At the same time, however, UN-Habitat
said the world’s slum population rose from
650 million in 1990 to 767 million in 2000,
and to 828 million in 2010 and an estimat-
ed 863 million in 2012.
Clos said the cities of the world will have
to handle millions of new arrivals “because
they cannot hide — they cannot go away.”
The challenge is whether the growth
of cities can be done “in a planned and
designed manner, in order to provide some
basic services at affordable costs for the
citizen,” he said.
Otherwise, they will grow spontaneous-
ly without any planning and the number of
slum dwellers will keep rising, Clos said. l
10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Editorial Wednesday, December 11, 2013

www.dhakatribune.com Letters to the Editor

LETTER OF THE DAY

Why we need war Either Hasina-Ershad or Khaleda is responsible

December 7
A made-up arson story that

crimes trials
almost worked
While people are anxious about their daily lives, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia are exchang- December 4
ing taunts about BNP’s engagement in street agitation.

G
Actually, Hasina doubts her party members could do well in the next parliamentary election against the Saadman Salahuddin
olam Mostafa Hawlader, a witness whose evidence to the BNP candidates, due to some veteran AL leaders failing in the five city corporation polls held recently. The nation has gone morally corrupt!
International Crimes Tribunal helped to convict Jamaat Also, people have not forgotten Ershad’s role as an autocrat, and the loss of lives and limbs then, and, now,
Rose-Ruzana Samdani
leader, Delawar Hossain Sayedee, has died after being his betrayal for declaring he would attend the one-sided election, despite the agitation claiming more limbs
Cooking up stories like this is no less a crime than
attacked inside his home. and lives. We, the people, can only keep praying to Allah to save us.
setting fire on people inside running buses. These
His attackers reportedly made clear that he was targeted Sheuly Haque
people are making fun of actual arson victims!
because of his role as a witness. Sirajgonj
It is deplorable that Mr Hawlader was not provided with bet- Meherun Faruque
ter police protection. Threats have been repeatedly made against Hmm. The BD police are so smart that they can
all prosecution witnesses and other witnesses and their families find this story so quickly. Then why on earth can’t
have had to flee from physical attacks. The risk to their safety they find the picketers?
was well known due to the high Complicitious Zen
profile of debates around the December 4 Zyma Islam
ICT. Crocodile tears are not In today’s conflicting Bangladesh there is no We live in a country where people must lie to get
The government must im- flag large enough to cover the shame of killing emergency treatment when they’re dying. To
plement better protection of all
enough innocent civilians. The conflict is a reality not everyone who thinks of booing down the girl, try
witnesses to prevent this type of All political parties December 4 because there is a mass movement, but a result being six months pregnant and close to death
incident. As we have opined be- should make clear that of the government and the opposition’s failure without having a tuppence in your pocket. She
fore, enacting the draft Witness no tribunal witness nds to have a talk about the upcoming election. was barely hanging on to consciousness.
Protection Act prepared in 2011 should be threatened Absolutely correct. Her statement is nothing The current political situation is inflicting Get pissed at the government for not being
would send an important signal or attacked but an embodiment of absolute hypocrisy abuse on the weak, and hurting the innocent. able to manage mandatory health insurance for
to law enforcers to be more which is evidenced by 9 deaths caused by her The perpetrators are carrying on violence which everyone. Remember Obamacare anyone?
pro-active in ensuring protection party workers just on the day following the date is not tempered by righteous ideals. They are
for witnesses. of statement. As a matter of fact hypocrisy, also not fighting in self defence, nor standing Nadir Nibras
We must also reflect on the falsehood, pretensions, and chicanery have up for what’s right. Zyma Islam: I get your point at first, but you have
long chain of impunity which become the major tools to run the politics The culprits have no understanding of to be joking if you are thinking about jumping
helped create the context in and state machinery being freely used by the strength, not negotiation, reason, or goodwill. to nationalised health insurance for 150 million
which this brutal murder could take place. leaders belonging to whatever party it may be. The victims of political violence include individ- people in a country where even a big portion of
Whatever criticisms may be made about the ICT process, the uals who are innocent. Why do they have to pay the rich don’t have health insurance. LOL.
fact remains it was set up with widespread electoral support to WaliulHaqueKhondker the ultimate price because two leaders failed to Muntasir N Chowdhury
end the impunity which allowed war criminals to get away with Madame, may I have the honour to request come to any compromise? What kind of mes- Zyma Islam: I would love to hear your side of things!
heinous crimes. you to please visit the Burn Unit of DMCH and sage are they sending to the future generation?
The judicial process set up to try crimes from 1971 needs to be see for yourself, what “blockade” means to an Z Nadir Nibras
respected and remain above politics. The atmosphere of violent average citizen? You can’t blame them too much. Garments workers
rhetoric and threats to witnesses by Jamaat leaders has undoubt- make far below the living wage in Bangladesh and
edly created a climate of fear for actual and potential witnesses. they were just trying to save their child.
All political parties, whatever their views on the ICT, should Existing law & order status
make clear that no tribunal witness should be threatened or Rahul Malik
attacked. Rule of law must be respected and better protection Be Heard better, Amu claims Zyma: I do agree with you. The government has
afforded to all witnesses. December 5 got the bigger pot of responsibility here. But it’s
Write to us at: still not as black and white as it seems. If the sense
He is right. The situation now is better than in
Dhaka Tribune 2006, when AL staged non-stop blockades against of fairness is in question, it has definitely been
FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath pinched.

Lend a helping hand

the caretaker government of Iajuddin Ahmed.
Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207 ruwa
GreyGoddess Farzan Mitu
Email us at: letters@dhakatribune.com

to the RMG sector

They lied because they are deprived of the right
Send us your Op-Ed articles: to get better treatment; they lied because they
opinion@dhakatribune.com
Khoka arrested couldn’t afford better treatment on their own. I

T
Visit our website: www.dhakatribune.com don’t blame them. It’s the system, and poverty.
December 5
he statement by Mosharraf Hussain, managing director of Come join our Facebook community: They are foolish if they want to hold credible polls
the Standard Group, that he plans to rebuild its gutted fac- Abdullah Saquib
https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune by arresting opposition leaders.
tory at Gazipur so that the company, which is a respected Now, even the so-called victims are culpable!
rutland
supplier to leading RMG retailers such as Gap and Zara, can rise
from the ashes, is an inspiring one.
For the company’s thousands of workers, reports that the
company has swiftly been able to secure $50m funding towards
its rehabilitation via a five-year-loan rescheduling, comes as CALVIN AND HOBBES
good news.
The Bangladesh Bank has rightly acted quickly to help the
company.
We recognise that other
RMG factory owners also have
pressing financing needs. There
is a strong case for similar The Bangladesh
policy measures to alleviate the Bank has rightly
pressure on factory owners and acted quickly to help
workers, caused by the ongoing the company. Other
political turmoil. RMG factory owners
Presently around 40% of also have pressing
garment production is hampered
financing needs
due to shortage of raw materials.
Blockades and hartals have also
hugely diminished the ability
to ship finished goods outside
of the country. BGMEA has
appealed to the Bangladesh Bank for interest waivers on existing
loans until the end of the current political turmoil. Many individ-
PEANUTS
ual factory owners have been also trying to reschedule their loan
payments.
While it is ultimately up to individual commercial banks to
grant any such arrangements, the urgency of the circumstances
suggests the central bank should undertake special measures
on a wider scale. The Bangladesh Bank should consider further
similar special initiatives to help the garment sector weather the
current storm.

CROSSWORD CODE-CRACKER YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS DOWN Crossword
1 Table-shaped hill (4) 1 Unassuming (6)
6 Flightless bird (3) 2 Sailor (6)
7 Bill of fare (4) 3 Early Christian
9 Cheerless (4) pulpit (4)
10 Person under age (5) 4 Marsh (3)
11 Grinding tooth (5) 5 Worthless dog (3)
12 Mineral spring (3) 7 Deep mud (4)
14 Postpone (5) 8 Musical sounds (5)
17 Looks after (5) 10 Insane (3)
20 Employ (3) 13 Relating to Sudoku
21 Family members (5) punishment (5)
23 Army chaplain (5) 15 Bothered (6)
25 Egyptian goddess (4) 16 Sanity (6)
26 Drug-yielding 18 Venture (4)
plant (4) 19 Prosecute (3)
27 Land measure (3) 22 Weary (4)
28 Paradise (4) 23 Kitchen utensil (3)
24 Morse element (3)

Third act in a problem play
Comedy or tragedy?
I
n Shawkat Hussain
f we were to see the last five
years of AL rule as a five-act play,
then we could say that we are
now in the third act. The plot is
beginning to unravel and we are
heading fast towards a denouement.
Are we shooting headlong down the
Niagara towards a resounding crash,
or can we manage to keep our heads
up somehow and survive? Nobody
knows for sure, but everybody has an
opinion.
The play – that is, our politics – is
problematic in the first place because
of difficulties in characterising it. Let’s
call it a “problem play” first (as many
of Shakespeare’s plays are called),
because we are not quite sure whether
it is a pure tragedy or a comedy, or
absurd drama, or a melodrama, or
something else.
Then again, it is a “problem play” in
the sense that there is a real problem
every five years about how exactly the
elections should be conducted. We
faced this problem in 1996 when BNP
first held elections without AL and
that had to be cancelled for a second
round in July the same year; there
were problems again in 2001
for reasons which I have forgotten
but are discussed endlessly in talk
shows.
And finally, there was the grave
situation in 2006 when the late
Professor Iajuddin doubled up both
as head of the caretaker government
and president of the republic. That
A letter to Bangladeshis abroad
n Maimuna N Ahmad
C
ome home, now. Come home to
a place where scores are dying
each week because we are play-
ing a farcical game of political chicken.
(Farcical because the basic premise of
using terrorism as a tool of political
manipulation is that one side cares
enough about the damage to cave to
the other’s demands. In our case, not
true.)
Come home because you want to be personally and professionally
challenged in a way you never have before. Come home because
you choose to be a part of the solution
Come home to a place where men and
women are buried alive in rubble of
concrete and steel, because we value
human bodies only as much as the
labour that can be wrung out of them.
Come home to a place where our
children graduate from primary school
without being able to read or add,
DHAKA TRIBUNE
was unacceptable to all except BNP
people, and acceptable to Dr Yunus
(this I cannot forget) who came back
from a foreign trip and gave an A+ to
Professor Iajuddin’s government.
Like Mr Micawber in “Pickwick
Papers” I can only say “something
will turn up.” Only application of the
Micawber Principle makes it possible
to go on from day to day.
Ershad is now the comic relief in this ‘problem play’ which is our
life, and also amazingly, a factor that simply can’t be written
off from electoral equations
The prime minister refuses to budge
from her position and so does
the leader of the opposition. In a
“problem” situation such as this, only
some sort of divine intervention can
take the play towards a resolution.
Perhaps not one god but many gods
may be necessary to start the process
of disentangling the knot that we are
tied up in.
Even as I write, the deus ex
machina (god-from-the-machine, for
the non-literary) has descended on us.
He is the UN Assistant Under-Secretary
Oscar Fernandez-Taranco who has
been shuttling between visits to the
prime minister and visits to the leader
of the opposition, meeting Jamaat
because we do not think our teach-
ers deserve to be paid (or, for that
matter trained) more than the factory
workers. Come home to a nation that
is deeply entangled in existential
angst and the search for its soul. Come
home, now, to a country that will
break your heart, every day.
Before going further, let me apolo-
gise for the assumptions I have made
about who you are and what/where
you consider “home.” Bangladesh-
is – both in the country and outside
of it – have complex, multi-faceted
identities.
But if you thought for any brief
moment that this letter was addressed
to you, then it is. This letter is not
even just for those who live physically
abroad, but those who live metaphysi-
Op-Ed
leaders in his hotel, and other very
important people. The god-from-the-
machine is a very busy-body indeed
but it is not yet clear if he will succeed
to move mountains.
There are two-bit players as well
who have suddenly, unexpectedly,
emerged from the wings and taken
centre-stage. Like a character in
a cartoon I saw recently, I usually
watch talk shows on mute, except
when the un-redoubtable old dictator
Ershad pops up on TV. Then I turn the
mute off.
Ershad’s antics and his utterances
(“I’m all-in-all of JP”), beginning with
a half-dozen of his men and women
joining the interim government and
now the on-going drama with their
resignations, are hilariously farcical.
When Ershad appears in hastily-
called press-conferences with his
furrowed brows and pain-etched
wrinkled face (but always nattily
dressed), when he pleads to young
journalists that they shouldn’t satirise
him, when he promises to do one thing
one morning and changes his mind at
cally abroad as well.
So many of us in this country live
lives so well-insulated that we might
as well be somewhere else altogether.
To us all, I entreat, come home, now.
Come home to a country which
needs your skills, your experience, and
most significantly, your voice. History
and narrative in Bangladesh have been
hijacked by corrupt megalomaniacs,
their thugs and their sycophants – they
are ours to reclaim.
Come home to a place which
proves itself, time and again, shock-
ingly resilient in the face of tragedy;
to a nation held together by the kind-
ness of strangers. Come home to a
country where brilliant young people
are starting incredible organisations
and leading unprecedented move-
ments, where hope and opportunity
abound in unlikely places. Come
home to a country that will inspire
you, every day.
Come home; get your hands dirty.
Leave Wall Street, become a teach-
er. Leave Capitol Hill, become an
entrepreneur. Come home, but – and
here’s the important part – come home
because you want and choose to (and
not because slums look cool on Insta-
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
RAJIB DHAR
night, I sit riveted and cannot turn the
mute on.
Just over two decades back when
he was still in power, I couldn’t stand
to watch him whenever he appeared
on TV. Ershad is now the comic relief
in this “problem play” which is our
life, and also amazingly, a factor
that simply can’t be written off from
electoral equations.
Reasonable people like Dr Kamal
Hossain, or Sultana Kamal, or Dr
Shahdin Malik say reasonable things
and ask reasonable questions about
what should or should not be done.
When they met the president some
days back, they presumably conveyed
some of their reasonable concerns
to the president with the reasonable
expectations of a solution. Nothing
happened. The god-from-the-machine
is also having reasonable discussions
with different people and something
eventually will turn up.
I find it difficult to ask reasonable
questions. The question that came to
my mind is this: How many bullets
does one need to kill oneself? What
would have happened if Ershad had
actually pulled the trigger of one of his
four pistols (or is it one pistol with four
bullets?) after he threatened to commit
suicide when RAB had surrounded
his house? Now we will never know
because the DMP is considering taking
his toys away. l
Shawkat Hussain, former Professor and Chair
of English, University of Dhaka, now teaches
at State University of Bangladesh.
gram). Come home because you want
to be personally and professionally
challenged in a way you never have be-
fore. Come home because you choose
to be a part of the solution.
Come home, then start something,
Let’s build the place we call home
Victims of fire
n MAB Siddique
T
hose who were burnt to
death, we shall never get
back. We can never overcome
this melancholy, this grief that has
engulfed us. We couldn’t overcome
it in the case of so many others
who had been killed in political
calamities before.
We shed tears, we mourn for
them. We bear enormous grief, we
pay our tributes. They are simply
taken away. Sometimes we call them
martyrs, sometimes we just ignore
them. We try to lead the same lives
we had been living. But they are
forgotten after some time, martyrs
or not. This always happens, as if
history throws them into oblivion,
inevitably.
We were burnt under
colonial invasions, and
we were burnt after
independence. Bangladesh
has not been able to find a
way out of this cycle
Now, after scores of people have
succumbed to their burn injuries
in the latest violence, we are also
getting burned. It is not the same
kind of burn. We know that we have
been burnt like this throughout our
entire history. We find ourselves still
alive while political turmoil claims
many lives.
We were burnt under colonial
invasions, and we were burnt after
independence. Bangladesh has
not been able to find a way out of
this cycle to facilitate a peaceful
transition of power. Mistrust was
brewed. There was corruption and
criminalisation of society and the
economy, and the chance for more
deaths.
Many of these deaths would
be unnatural deaths. Many of the
deceased would be victims of fire
and vengeance between the political
parties. We have failed to learn to
preserve democracy for ourselves.
Greed, lust, or hunger has come in
the way.
Common people, who are now
getting burnt and killed, were
supposed to be the jury. Political
parties were supposed to try and
gain support of the common people.
To the deceased, the yearning for
democracy has no meaning.
They were attacked by fire, they
were caught by surprise. When
petrol or bombs were thrown at
them, they were probably going
home, or to work. Falling victim to
political hooliganism and atrocities,
we have nothing to confess, other
than that we failed to put a stop to
many things.
We let this happen to them. We
never became conscious of how to
create a culture where the language
of politics would be democracy.
We never prepared to tackle this
build something, change something,
say something.
Just come home. Now. l
Maimuna N Ahmad is Founder and CEO,
Teach for Bangladesh.
11
turmoil.
We didn’t have any faith in the
democratic process. We haven’t
learnt from better democracies of
the world, at least when it comes to
saving lives, even though we have
been through the same horror so
many times.
We failed to distinguish between
responsibility and terrorism. We
failed to establish a just system.
We failed to resist the forces that
tear down our achievements, just
as we miserably failed to realise
the potential of our fellow human
beings.
We failed to measure losses by
anything other than the death toll.
We have to acknowledge our own
guilt, otherwise we will continue to
disgrace our existence. Things must
be set right, and someone must be
held accountable at the end of the
day.
We know this is the outcome of
so many failures. It was a failure
of transforming the state into
one which could deal with things
objectively. We need a state which
could ensure the right penalty for
crimes, especially for those who
killed us.
We need incentives for the people
to do good. We haven’t learnt to
preserve anything that could be
used for the betterment of society.
We never reached a consensus
about standing together to fight the
forces of evil against us. We haven’t
figured out a common path for
ourselves.
We never stopped being naïve.
We destroyed anything good we
produced or imported or learnt. But
the time has come to join hands on
issues we could settle if we were just
a bit more generous than we are.
The time has come to look forward.
The time has come to leave this
narrow outlook behind.
Sometimes we call them
martyrs, sometimes we
just ignore them. We try to
lead the same lives we had
been living. But they are
forgotten after some time
The time has come to stand
together to fight terrorism, to
stand for democracy, and to make
efforts towards a better version of
democracy. We can’t just let this
death toll add up every day.
As the state has something to
do with it, with all its existing
capability, so do its people. We can
resist the harmful political culture
that leaves no room for democracy.
We must leave no room for violence,
terrorism, and muscle power. The
time has come to revitalise our
thoughts, to distinguish between
non-democratic elements and
democratic ones, and to decide
which of them can take the system
further so that we may save some
lives. l
MAB Siddique is a Staff Reporter at the
Dhaka Tribune.
DHAKA TRIBUNE
12
Ekattorer Ma Jononi
recognises the Birongonas
as freedom fighters
MM Morshed (left) and Nipun in a scene of Ekattorer Ma Jononi
n Shadma Malik
The film Ekattorer Ma Jononi will be
out on the cinemas sometime in March
next year. As its title suggests, the story
of the movie is about the glorious lib-
eration war of Bangladesh. The script
is influenced by the novel Jononi Sha-
hoshini 1971, written by Anisul Hoque.
The film directed by Shah Alam
Kiron features popular actors of the
silver screen: Nipun, Agun, Shakil
Ahmed, MM Morshed and Chitrolekha
Guho. Uttom gave the art direction and
a theatre troupe also worked in the
making of the film.
The plot is a collection of scattered
stories that revolve around 1971 and
the nine months of war. But, the main
focus is on one of the stories that have a
significant role in the success of the lib-
eration war. Jamila (Nipun) and Hash-
em (Agun) are residents of a village and
when the war broke out, Jamila en-
courages her husband Hashem to take
DRAMA
10:30pm Colors
Uttaran
11:00pm Star Plus
Veera
SRK: Aamir finest actor, always inspiring Deepika receives ‘big’
n Entertainment Desk
Superstar Shah Rukh Khan feels Aamir
Khan is the finest actor and an inspira-
tion for the kind of work he has done
in Dhoom 3.
“He is the finest actor the country
has. For his role (in Dhoom 3) he
required that kind of body. He
does some trapeze work in the film.
For him to work out that way (to have
a perfect body) it is fantastic and
inspiring,” Shah Rukh said at an event
recently.
“Aamir leads the way and is always
an inspiration like this not only
physically and mentally but with the
kind of job and work he does. I really
appreciate it,” he said.
In Dhoom 3, Aamir plays the role of a
baddie. Shah Rukh is also ready to play
a negative role again on screen. He had
played negative roles in the beginning
of his career in films like Darr, Baazigar
DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment
part in the noble cause of liberating the
country.
But lady luck was not with Jami-
la, she was abducted and taken to the
Pakistani army camp as her husband’s
involvement in the uprise was evident.
There she meets many women who are
brutally tortured and abused by the Pa-
kistani army. In captivity, Jamila realis-
es the need for a free country and the
spirit of liberation war.
She and her fellow women captives
start to work against the soldiers in
the camp. At one point, Jamila and her
husband Hashem succeed to invade
the camp. It was a small step, but it
shows the role of every small step in
the liberation of the country.
In an interview with the Dhaka
Tribune at the shooting of the film, the
director shares: “I am happy direct a
film which portrays the glorious liber-
ation war that sets us apart from oth-
er countries and makes us proud to be
Bangladeshis”
Amar Shopno Grosto
Shomoy Tumi Nayeeka
Hoye Utho on Channel 9
n Entertainment Desk
The single-episode drama titled Amar Shopno Gros-
to Shomoy Tumi Nayeeka Hoye Utho will air tonight at
9:10pm on Channel 9. Written and directed by Mahmud
Didar, the drama features Ahona, Bhabna, Bidya Sinha
Mim, Zahir Uddin Piyar and many more.
The story is about a young producer willing to make
a film. He believes that it casting a woman in the role of
the protagonist would bring fortune for him. He goes to
a legend to listen stories on women. The storyteller nar-
rates stories of three women: a dancer, a sex worker and
a mother. These characters ultimately become different
elements in his film. l
ON TV
COMEDY MIXED
12:00pm FX 12:30pm AXN
The Simpsons So You Think You Can Dance
8:30pm Star World 9:30pm FTV
The Neighbors Fashion Divas
and Anjaam.
“It is long time I haven’t played
such a role, I will like to do it. If I am
offered (anti-hero role) I will do it
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
The Ten Commandments
screens at BSA today
n Entertainment Desk
A film festival featuring Oscar award winning films, going on at
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy from December 7 till December
13.
International Digital Film Archive of Academy’s National
Theatre organises the weeklong festival. William Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet (1968), directed by Franco Zeffirelli has been
screened on the opening day of the film festival.
Today, The Ten Commandments (1956), produced and directed
by Cecil B DeMille will screen at 6pm at the screening room of In-
ternational Digital Film Archive of BSA. This film is a American
religious historical epic film. It dramatizes the biblical story of the
life of Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince who becomes the de-
liverer of his real brethren, the enslaved Hebrews, and therefore
leads the Exodus to Mount Sinai, where he receives, from God,
the Ten Commandments. It stars Charlton Heston in the lead role,
Yul Brynner as Rameses, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Edward G Rob-
inson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, Debra Paget as Lil-
ia, and John Derek as Joshua; and features Sir Cedric Hardwicke
as Sethi, Nina Foch as Bithiah, Martha Scott as Yochabel, Judith
Anderson as Memnet, and Vincent Price as Baka, among others. l
TODAY IN DHAKA
Film Exhibition Quest for Reality City of Rhythm
Pacific Rim in 3D Solo Painting Exhibition Rafiqun Nabi Kazi Salahuddin Ahmed
Purno dhorgho prem kahini By Nurun Naher Supti Time: 12pm-8pm Time: 12pm to 8pm
Riddick, The Conjuring Time: 3pm – 9pm Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts Institute of Asian Creatives
Titanic (3D) Alliance Francaise de Dhaka House No 42, Road No 16 House 9
Level 8, Bashundhara City 26 Mirpur Road Sheik Kamal Sarani Road 36
Panthapath Dhanmondi Dhanmondi, Gulshan 2
“My film differs from other libera-
tion war movies as it focuses on the war
heroines, the Birongonas, it highlights
the crucial role played by these wom-
New pair hits silver screen
en, who paid for freedom with their
dignity and self-respect. Ekattorer Ma
n Entertainment Desk
Jononi pays tribute to the women free- Two thriving stars of Dhallywood, Saimon and Amrita, will be seen as a pair
dom fighters of Bangladesh and recog- on the silver screen with their upcoming film Ojante Bhalobasha.
nises their true worth and sacrifices.” Written by Komol Sarker and directed by A J Rana, the shooting of the
When asked about the challenges he film will start from January 20.
faced, Kiron said: “It was a challeng- Saimon has already made a mark in the hearts of cinema lovers with his
ing task to establish the womenfolk as acting skills and glamorous appearance. He made his debut in the 2012 with
freedom fighters and convey the mes- the movie Ji Huzur.
sage to people that they identify them Recently Dhallywood’s new sensation Mahiya Mahi and Saimon have
as what they really were instead of emerged on the silver screen together in Poramon which made a good busi-
viewing them as victims only. Another ness while his third film Er Beshi Bhalobasha Jai Na attracted mixed reactions.
challenging aspect was to portray the On the other hand, Amrita, a relatively new face in Dhallywood, made
past in the present.” her mark by acting in Royel Anik’s Game and Atik Rahman’s Ontore Ontore.
Shah Alam Kiron started his career About Ojante Bhalobasha, Saimon said: “The position I currently own in
as a director in the early ‘80s. His sig- the media is because of Jakir Hossain Raju and Jazz Multimedia. He has in-
nificant movies are Niyoti Til Khela, spired me from the very beginning of my career. I am grateful to them for
Jibon Diya Bhalobashi, Bichhar Hobey, making me what I am today.”
Ghor Jamai, Ami Ek o Manush, Churi- Amrita said: “Though none of my films has ben released yet, I am hope-
wala, Matir Thikana, Bidrohi and many ful that audience will love my films and accept me.” l
more. l
Adam Sandler tops Forbes’ list of
most-overpaid actors
n Entertainment Desk
American actor Adam Sandler topped Forbes’
list of Hollywood’s most-overpaid actors, com-
manding a high up-front fee while delivering
middling returns..
Sandler, 47, the star of recent comedies Jack
& Jill and That’s My Boy, dethroned Eddie Mur-
phy for the dubious distinction. Forbes esti-
mated that Sandler’s last three films returned
an average of $3.40 for every dollar he was paid.
Murphy topped last year’s list, returning an
average of $2.30 at the box office for each dollar
earned.
Katherine Heigl, who starred in the poorly
performing films Killers and One for the Money,
placed slightly behind Sandler, returning an av-
erage of $3.50 per every dollar she earned.
The list, compiled annually by Forbes, counts
the last three films an actor has starred in over
was one of the few movie stars who could still
command more than $15 million per film, on an
erage return an actor brings per dollar paid.
Reese Witherspoon, the star of recent films
the past three years. This year’s list was cut off “up front” arrangement. Hollywood studios in Water for Elephants and This Means War, was
at June 1, and so it excluded Sandler’s buddy recent years have shifted to paying smaller up- third on this list, with an average return of
comedy Grown Ups 2, which was released in front fees and tie actors’ pay with the film’s box $3.90 for every dollar she was paid.
July and performed well at the box office. office performance. Nicholas Cage was fourth, with a $6 average
Forbes did not say how much Sandler earned The magazine said it examined actors’ pay, return, and comedian Kevin James was fifth,
on his last three films. But the magazine said he film budgets and expenses to calculate the av- returning an average of $6.10. l
compliment
n Entertainment Desk
While the audiences feel that Deepika is the biggest take
away from the film and she has done a phenomenal act por-
traying her character in the film Goliyon Raasleela Ram-Leela
, the best compliment came to her from Bollywood megastar
Amitabh Bachchan.
Big B has sent Deepika a personalised hand written note
along with her favorite flowers to appreciate her performance
in the movie. Obviously, Deepika was very delighted by his
gesture and feels it is one of the best gifts she has received.
He expressed his view about the film on his blog and
posted, “There is a certain joy in acknowledging the
accomplishments of another, I did so for Ram-Leela, the film
and its glorious cast and crew. With Sanjay Leela Bhansali,
Deepika, Ranveer, Supriya and Richa, all that have made this
film a most memorable experience for me. I have watched it
three times over in the last 24 hours and still desire for more.”
though it may not be commercially Deepika has looked breathtaking and brings a lot of
very befitting. It may not get into club energy to the screen. Deepika in Goliyon Raasleela Ram-Leela
of Rs100crore or Rs200crore.” Shah has done it all this year, making it her 4th successful hit in
Rukh added. l the year.l Deepika and Big B greet each other at a programme recently

Sport
Did you know?
After 1626 minutes
without a Premier
League goal, Danny
Graham on Monday
scored the opener
for Hull City against
Swansea
Faruk new
chief selector
n Minhaz Uddin Khan
The Bangladesh Cricket Board presi-
dent Nazmul Hasan yesterday an-
nounced that former national skipper
Faruk Ahmed to be the new chief of the
national selection panel. The tenure as
the chief selector will be the second for
Faruk, who left the post after the ICC
World Cup 2007.
I got the
assignment for
the next two
years and thus
would like to
make the best
use of the time
for executing
strategies
“We had two options for the post.
Most of the directors agreed Faruk was
the right contender and so we have
termed him as the chief selector for
next two years,” Nazmul told the media
at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium
yesterday.
Faruk, successor to former chief se-
lector Akram Khan, was thrilled at the
news and looked forward to perform in
the best way possible.
“Akram has taken the national team
to a very good position. Both Minhazul
Abedin Nannu and Habibul Bashar
(members of the selection) accompa-
nied Akram very well in the last few
years. My challenge will be to take the
level of performance higher and hope
Bashar and Nannu will help me the
way they did Akram,” said Faruk.
Faruk further informed that his im-
mediate task will be to form the best
possible team for the ICC World Twen-
ty20 2014.
“I got the assignment for the next
two years and thus would like to make
the best use of the time for executing
strategies. My first task is to get the
strongest team for the World Twenty20
and then work for a good ODI team for
the World Cup 2015,” he said. l
Zia wins in
London
n Raihan Mahmood
Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman beat
FM Berry Neil of Scotland in the 3rd
round of the 5th London Chess Classic
FIDE Open at the Olympia Conference
Center, Kensington London yesterday.
The result saw Zia take his tally
to 2.5 points. In the 4th round, he is
pitted against IM Houska Jovanka of
England.
Meanwhile GM Niaz Murshed lost
to M. Kunal of India in the 6th round
of the SREI International Grandmaster
Chess at Kolkata.
Of the other Bangladesh players,
Debaraj Chatterjee lost to FM Matta
Vinoy Kumar of India, Zoar Haque
Prodhan lost to Pradeep Kumar of
India, Sharif Hossain lost to Rajdeep
Sarker of India, Saidul Islam Mamun
drew with Godbole Atharva of India
and Saimon Siddikur Rahman lost to
Shetye Siddali of India.
At the end of the 3rd round, Debaraj
has 2.5 points, Zoar Haque Prodhan 2
points, Sharif Hossain 1.5 points, while
Saimon Siddiqur Rahman, Saidul Islam
Masum have one point each. l
Hemanta’s final report on cards
n Shishir Hoque
The final report of Bangladesh U-19
skipper Hemanta Vincent Biswas re-
garding his trial at FC Twente is time
consuming, said national team’s Dutch
head coach Lodewijk de Kruif yester-
day.
Hemanta had his final trial game
and practice session for the Dutch club
yesterday and is expected to fly back
to Nepal tomorrow. After dropping Bi-
mal Gharti Magar there, he will return
to Dhaka along with Dutch assistant
coach Rene Koster on Friday.
Asked about the final report of
Hemanta, Kruif replied, “It wouldn’t be
in one or two days. We have to wait for
a while for the final report on Heman-
ta. There’s nothing to be worried, as if
it will be negative or positive for him.
The leading names of Bangladesh ‘A’ team skipper Nasir Hossain, Mominul Haque share a light moment in the practice session at the SBNS yesterday
Departure unjustified: Nazmul
n Minhaz Uddin Khan
Bangladesh Cricket Board president
Nazmul Hasan told the media yester-
day that the departure of the West In-
dies U19 team was unjustified and that
the situation in Bangladesh is not seri-
ous enough to justify a team leaving in
that manner.  have been the parents of the cricket-
“A team from the ICC (International
Cricket Council) was in Bangladesh a
few days ago for an inspection. They
saw the security arrangement and were
happy with it. 
“They (WI U-19) were supposed to
play the second game on the resched-
uled date but later, they refused be-
West Indies U-19 team depart 7th
BPL from Dec 27
n Raihan Mahmood
n Mazhar Uddin
The Bangladesh Cricket Board made a
last-ditch attempt on Monday to sal-
vage the Under-19 series against the
touring West Indies U-19 side after the
West Indies Cricket Board decided pull
their team out citing due to security
concerns, but the touring side finally
left Bangladesh yesterday morning.
The WI U-19 team flew to Dhaka
yesterday morning and they returned
to the Caribbean immediately after-
ewards from the Hazrat Shah Jalal In-
ternational airport.
Earlier on Monday, the WICB’s an-
nouncement came as a body blow for
the BCB, who had earlier tried to con-
vince the visitors to continue the series
If he fails this time, there is a chance
they could call him back and give him
another trial later.
“The coaching staffs will analyze his
overall performance and they told me
they will call me for any information
regarding Hemanta.”
Meanwhile, Kruif’s family left Dha-
ka for Netherlands earlier but the coach
will leave on December 18 and return
on January 12. Kruif was supposed to
leave on Tuesday but Kazi Salahuddin
requested him to stay for few more
days to be present at the World Cup
Trophy program, which begins on De-
cember 17.
The Dutch coach went on to
blame the country’s current political
unrest and financial crisis for the
Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF)
not moving forward with its plans for
cause of the letter from WICB (West
Indies Cricket Board) asking them to
leave. Our CEO (Ziamuddin Chowd-
hury, BCB acting CEO) had sent a letter
explaining everything to them yester-
day (Monday) evening, but got no re-
sponse,” Nazmul said.  to terrorism. The strikes and blockades
Nazmul speculated that it might
ers who pressured the WICB into with-
drawing the team. 
“The cricketers were never the tar-
get of the crude bomb explosion near
the team hotel in Chittagong. As said
before, it was an isolated incident,”
clarified Nazmul.  their violent agendas.  scheduled to be held on January 5,
The BCB boss mentioned that the
after concerns were raised following an
explosion outside the team’s hotel.
The touring West Indies U-19 side
had been scheduled to play seven
youth ODI matches but only played
the first match before the incident
occurred near the team’s hotel in
Chittagong, forcing the visiting side to
leave Bangladesh in the middle of the
series.
The WICB’s decision was taken on
the basis of a report on the situation in
Bangladesh by WICB security manager
Paul Slowe.
The statement read: “The report
emphasised that the current security
environment in Bangladesh is not con-
ducive to the playing of cricket in light
of the 72-hour nationwide blockade
the national team.
“There are not enough options in
the number 9, 10 and wing positions
and I have planned to a hold talent
hunt program across the country to
search for players in those respective
positions. But I can’t go on with my
plan due to the financial crisis and the
political unrest in the country,” he said.
Kruif praised Nahid, Tapu Barmon,
Yeasin, Meshu, Sajib’s performance in
the ongoing Federation Cup but he is
also searching for more young talented
players for the national team. He is
expected to sit with the BFF coaches
soon and give them some assignments
towards this end.
The Dutch coach is also planning to
tour Australia, England, Canada, Amer-
ica and Germany in search of non-resi-
dent Bangladeshi footballers. l
0 9 5
DAYS TO GO
unrest in the country is due political
disputes, not terrorist activities. 
“Political unrest can happen in
many countries where people can get
scared. This is not a terrorist activity,
rather a political one and is not linked
did not start today or yesterday, it has
been going on for a while. The New
Zealand team played during a strike,
they didn’t find it to be an issue,” said
Nazmul. 
The BCB boss added that he had
contacted the relevant political parties
and requested that cricket be kept off
“Our country is crazy for cricket and
and calls for countrywide dawn-to-
dusk protest.  The 7th edition of Bangladesh Premier
“Travel arrangements are being
made to allow for the team’s return to
the Caribbean as quickly as possible.
The team will remain safely accom-
modated at the team hotel’s was under
adequate security protection until its
departure from Bangladesh.”
This is the first time any internation-
al side has pulled out of a tour of Ban-
gladesh for security reasons and will
surely tarnish the image of the country
before the T20 World Championship in
March next year. The Asia Cup, sched-
uled to take place before that, is also
now in the shade of the darkness as the
ICC earlier asked BCB to report on the
security situation of the country. l
Officials of sports and youth ministry accorded a warm welcome to the Bangladesh Special Olympics contingent who won 77 gold medals
in the Asia-Pacific Special Olympics upon their arrival at the Dhaka airport yesterday
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
14 Milan, Dortmund
look to reach
CL last 16
MUMIT M
loves the game a lot. BNP (Bangladesh
Nationalist Party) declared that cricket
will be exempted from their activities,
so there is a clear message. So there
is no reason to be scared. We had
arranged the best security for West
Indies U-19 and there was nothing to
worry about but they left. We are sad
about it, but we are not worried,” said
Nazmul. 
WICB’s decision will not harm the
future of the game in Bangladesh,
believes Nazmul. Political unrest is a
common scene after the election. 
The Bangladesh election is
2014.l
League will begin at two venues in Dha-
ka - the Bangabandhu National Stadium
and the Kamalapur Mostafa Kamal Sta-
dium - on December 27.
The decision was taken at the meeting
of the Professional League Committee of
the Bangladesh Football Federation at
the BFF House yesterday. Representa-
tives of all 10 premier league clubs were
present at the meeting.
However, due to the prevailing po-
litical turmoil in the country, BFF has
decided to start the premier league with
the third phase, which had previously
been planned to be held at a neutral ven-
ue, while the first and second phases are
to be held on a home-and-away basis.
DHAKA TRIBUNE 13
15 Bolt, Fraser-Pryce
crowned top
athletes
Nasir raring
to go
n Mazhar Uddin
National all-rounder Nasir Hossain said
yesterday that the Challenge series will
help the Tigers prepare for the upcom-
ing T20 World Championship, at the
MirpurSher-e-Bangla National stadium
yesterday.
“Of course, we have a T20World
Championship next year and the most
important thing is every match prepa-
ration is always good for us and I think
this preparation will help us for the up-
coming mega event,” said Nasir.
However the 22- year old agreed
that the amount of preparationwas not
enough, “I don’t think the preparations
are enough for us before the World
Championship because playing these
three-four matches will certainly not
fulfill the amount of practice we need
before such tournament. I think the
board will think about these things,”
he said.
He also informed that it will be bet-
ter if there was a T20 tournament like
the Bangladesh Premier League for
preparation purposes.
National skipper Mushfiqur Rahim
will lead a side against the A team
today and the captain of the A team
Nasir thought that the second eleven’s
players were keen to demonstrate their
worth and hence, the series would
be highly competitive. “There will
be competition in the series, as the
cricketers from the A side will always
try to prove their talents to get into
the national side, where they take the
matches seriously,” said Nasir.
Bangladesh team will face the A
team in the remaining two matches on
December 12 and 13 at the Sher-e-Ban-
gla National Stadium.
Nasir, who has captained both the
U-13 and U-15 sides,said he had en-
joyed the leadership role. Nonetheless,
when asked if he was ready to take the
vacant vice captain’s post, he said that
he is not thinking about the issue at the
moment.
Bangladesh has a very busy sched-
ule for the next couple of months – and
the possibility of players getting in-
jured is a relevant one.
Nasir, however, remained calm over
the prospect, “You never know when a
cricketer gets injured, it’s totally about
luck. But as we are professional crick-
eters, we know how to keep fit and take
proper rest.” l
BFF has designated the stadiums of Feni
and Gopalganj, the home of Feni Soccer
and Muktijoddha respectively, as being
outside the capital venues for the profes-
sional league of the country.
“We have no alternatives apart from it;
we have to start the professional league
as soon as possible as already we have
failed to maintain the calendar. We are
focused on starting the league and hope
the political situation cools down and
then we can look after other aspects,”
said Salam Murshedy, the senior vice
president of BFF. There will be at least
three match days per week and maybe
more. “We are yet to finalise the fixture
as we are still thinking of match days. At
least three match days is the plan, with
two matches per day.” said Abu Naeem
Shohag, the general secretary of BFF. l
COURTESY
14
I’d rather play
Spain than Chile
in last 16: Scolari
n Reuters, Sao Paulo
Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari would
rather play Spain or the Netherlands if
the hosts make the last 16 of the World
Cup than South American rivals Chile.
Chile are “a pain” to play against be-
cause their system is in direct contrast
to Brazil’s, Scolari said on TV Globo’s
Esporte Espetacular program.
“I hope Chile don’t qualify. “I’d rath-
er play any of the others. They’re a pain
to play against. They’re well organised,
they’re intelligent, they have a good
side. It’s better to play against a Euro-
pean team,” he added.
Brazil are in Group A with Croatia,
Mexico and Cameroon and the winners
face the runners-up in Group B featuring
Chile, world and European champions
Spain, the Netherlands and Australia.
The winners of Group B face the
runners-up in Group A in the last 16.
Scolari may have been employing
early psychology. Brazil beat Chile 2-1
in a friendly last month and have lost
only seven times in 67 matches against
the South Americans.
The former Chelsea boss said he was
not concerned that Brazil were in the
toughest half of the draw with five of
the eight former World Cup winners.
“We’re ready for whatever hap-
pens,” he said. “I just don’t want to play
Uruguay.”
Uruguay famously won the World
Cup in 1950 by beating Brazil at the Ma-
racana stadium. l
Barcelona could
leave Nou Camp
n Agencies
The Spanish champions have com-
missioned a report over the viability
of both projects with the objective to
increase the capacity of their home
ground to 105,000.
Although progress was made at a
meeting on Monday, the Barca direc-
tors will not announce their preferred
option until early in 2014.
Board spokesman Toni Freixa ex-
plained on the club’s official website
it had two choices: “The construction
of a new stadium on the land on Di-
agonal, property which belongs to the
University of Barcelona, or a profound
remodelling project that would consti-
tute a new stadium keeping the current
structure of the Camp Nou.
Despite the sizeable financial outlay
that would be involved, Freixa insisted
any project would not harm the club,
“It needs to be viable from a technical
perspective, urbanist and economic. We
would never submit a project that would
endanger the sustainability of the club.”
The Nou Camp is already the larg-
est ground in Europe with a capacity of
99,354. l
Greenpeace
banner interrupts
Madrid press meet
n AFP, Copenhagen
A banner from environmental activ-
ists Greenpeace protesting at Russian
oil giant Gazprom’s exploration in the
Arctic interrupted a Real Madrid press
conference ahead of their Champions
League clash away to FC Copenhagen
on Monday.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti and
defender Pepe had just begun the press
conference in the Danish capital when
a banner was lowered behind them
which read “Save the arctic, show Gaz-
prom the red card.”
The banner was quickly removed
by officials before the press conference
continued.
Gazprom is an official sponsor of
the Champions League and it is not the
first time Greenpeace has launched a
protest of this type this season.
Once the press conference restarted,
though, normal service was resumed
as Pepe backed teammate and compa-
triot Cristiano Ronaldo to win the Bal-
lon d’Or for the second time. l
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Chelsea's Spanish midfielder Juan Mata (L), Brazilian midfielder Oscar (C) and Spanish striker Fernando Torres (R) attend a training session at the club's training ground in Cobham, Surrey, south of London, yesterday on the eve of
their Uefa Champions League match against Steaua Bucharest
Milan, Dortmund look to reach last 16
n Agencies
Former champions
AC Milan and Borus-
sia Dortmund go
into their final group
matches needing
a result in their re-
spective games to
ensure they continue their campaign
for the trophy in the New Year.
AC Milan need only a point against
Ajax today to secure entry to the last
16 of the Champions League, but em-
battled coach Massimiliano Allegri is
taking nothing for granted.
For the second consecutive season
Milan’s run-in to Christmas is anything
but festive: they currently sit ninth in
Serie A, 22 points behind leaders Ju-
ventus and 14 adrift of the first Cham-
pions League qualifying spot.
Brazil vows to act after
hooliganism outbreak
n AFP, Rio De Janeiro
Brazil pledged to stamp
out stadium violence
Monday after hooligan-
ism marred a weekend
first division league
game, raising fresh
doubts about its ability to stage a trou-
ble-free World Cup.
President Dilma Rousseff said Brazil
could not and would not tolerate soc-
cer violence after fans of Atletico Pa-
ranaense and Vasco Da Gama fought
pitched battles in the southern city of
Joinville.
Graphic television footage showed
hundreds of fans of both sides kicking
and punching for several minutes
with the game only a few minutes old,
forcing the referee to call a halt for an
Moyes admits life tough at United Unlikely scorers as
n AFP, Manchester
Manchester United manager David
Moyes admitted it is “tough” at Old
Trafford as he endures a difficult start
to life with the club.
The Premier League champions sit
ninth in the table after 15 games and
a massive 13 points off leaders Arsenal
after back-to-back defeats at home to
Everton and Newcastle in the space of
four days.
But he revealed he is taking full re-
sponsibility for their poor start in the
Premier League in their first season
since Alex Ferguson retired.
“We’ve been inconsistent at times
but played well in some of the Champi-
Sport
With Ajax conceding only three
defeats on their way to second place
in the Dutch top flight, Allegri says it
would be a mistake to underestimate
Frank De Boer’s side, who, with a win,
would qualify.
“Ajax have shown some great form
of late and they have great technique
throughout the team. We have to have
the right attitude against them and,
above all, score goals,” said the Italian.
Milan’s 3-0 rout of Celtic in Scotland
a fortnight ago, when Ajax stunned
Barcelona 2-1 in Amsterdam to stay in
contention, kept the Italian giants in
second place in Group H with a one-
point lead on the Dutchmen.
It means the seven-time European
champions need just a point at the San
Siro to join leaders Barcelona in the
knockout phase.
Meanwhile, Barcelona welcome Celt-
hour as order was belatedly restored.
The violence continued unabated
as the hooligans ran amok, clashing in
several sections of the stands.
At least three fans were hurt with
one, believed to have suffered a
fractured skull airlifted to safety by
helicopter.
There was further controversy
after police failed to intervene and it
later transpired that Atletico had only
drafted private security personnel to
‘police’ a “private event.”
Rousseff was energetic in her
condemnation. “A footballing country
cannot live with violence in its
stadiums. This violence goes against
all that we associate with football,” the
president said.
“The presence of police is necessary
in stadiums,” she added. l
ons League, not so well in the Premier
League,” he said.
“We’ve maybe lacked a bit of for-
tune in some of the games.
“It’s tough because the expectancy is
to win all the games. I think there’s a bit
of everything we can improve - general-
ly play better, pass better, defend better.
“It is not any one thing. It is all round
we have to improve. It was only recent
when we had beaten Arsenal here and
then Leverkusen (that) we were speak-
ing very well about the team.
“I take complete responsibility for
the results. Fortunately they’ve been
good in the Champions League but not
in the Premier League. Hopefully they
will get better.”
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
ic to the Camp Nou still needing a point
to mathematically ensure they finish
top of Champions League Group H.
The Catalans appeared to be cruis-
ing to first place and the benefit of hav-
FIXTURES
Schalke 04 (GER) v Basel (SUI)
Chelsea (ENG) v Steaua (ROM)
Marseille (FRA) v Dortmund (GER)
Napoli (ITA) v Arsenal (ENG)
Vienna (AUT) v Zenit (RUS)
Madrid (ESP) v FC Porto (POR)
AC Milan (ITA) v Ajax (NED)
Barcelona (ESP) v Celtic (SCO)
ing the second-leg of their last 16 tie at
home having beaten AC Milan 3-1 to
qualify on matchday four.
However, a 2-1 defeat away to Ajax
Moyes revealed the shock defeat by
Newcastle on Saturday - the Magpies’
first league win at Old Trafford since
1972 - has only given the United manager
more drive to turn their season around.
“No I did not need to lift my spirits
after Newcastle - that raised my spir-
its,” he said. “It just made me more de-
termined to make sure we improve and
get better. I agree in recent games we
have not finished games in the way we
would have liked to. I’ve tried to make
changes but it hasn’t quite happened.”
The United boss revealed the play-
ers are hurting but still has full belief
that they will turn their season around
and that he has a squad big enough for
the challenge. l
in their last European outing leaves
them just two points clear of Milan.
Defeat in Amsterdam was followed
by another loss, this time on the do-
mestic front, as Athletic Bilbao ended
Barca’s 26-game unbeaten run in La
Liga five days later.
Despite the group stage’s predict-
able nature, this season has at least
proved more competitive than last
term when 13 of the 16 knockout stage
places had been booked before the fi-
nal round of group matches.
As expected, Group F has turned out
to be by far the toughest.
Leaders Arsenal (12 points) travel to
Napoli (9) needing a draw, or a defeat
by less than three goals, while Borussia
Dortmund (9), will go through if they
beat pointless Olympique Marseille
away, regardless of the other result.
Should Napoli and Dortmund both
Swansea draw with Hull
n Reuters
Two unlikely goalscorers
lifted a largely dull mid-
table Premier League clash
between Swansea City and
Hull City who shared the points in a 1-1
draw at the Liberty Stadium on Monday.
Hull striker Danny Graham’s first
goal in almost a year put the visitors
ahead after nine minutes, the former
Swansea player side-footing home
from close range following a right-wing
cross by Ahmed Elmohamady.
It was Graham’s first Premier League
AFP
win, they will finish level with Arse-
nal on 12 points and the qualifiers will
be decided by the results between the
three teams.
Group E will also have a dramatic
finish when habitual over-achievers
Basel (8 points) visit spectacularly in-
consistent Schalke (7) needing a point
to join Chelsea in the last 16.
Despite their dismal domestic form,
seven-times champions AC Milan (8)
should get the point they need at home
to Ajax Amsterdam (7) and follow Bar-
celona through from Group H.
“The Dutch have achieved great
results and have good technique and
we must take all the necessary precau-
tions,” said Milan’s unflappable coach
Massimiliano Allegri whose future is
the source of constant speculation.
“We have to score a goal, we cannot
think of playing for the 0-0.” l
Ribery named
French player
of the year
n Reuters, Paris
Franck Ribery, who has been shortlist-
ed for the prestigious FIFA-Ballon d’Or
award, was named French Player of
the Year yesterday by France Football
magazine.
The Bayern Munich winger beat mid-
field duo Paul Pogba of Juventus and
Paris St Germain’s Blaise Matuidi in a
poll of past and present French players.
“I now have to go get Thierry Hen-
ry’s record,” Ribery, who has now won
the prize three times to Henry’s five,
told France Football.
AS Roma’s Rudi Garcia, who joined
the Serie A club from Lille during the
close season and is unbeaten in 15
league matches, was named the best
French coach for 2013 in a poll of cur-
rent and former managers. l
goal in 28 matches - the last one scored
for Swansea in January.
Hull had a goal disallowed when Da-
vid Meyler was adjudged offside, then
RESULT
Swansea 1-1 Hull
Flores 60 Graham 9)
Yannick Sagbo’s shot from distance
was saved at full stretch by Swansea
goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel.
The point moved both teams up one
place in the table, Swansea to 10th and
Hull 12th. l

QUICK BYTES
Guardiola laughs off
Neuer to City reports
Bayern coach Pep Guardiola has laughed
off reports Manchester City have tabled
a 48 million euros bid (£40m) for Ger-
many goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, ahead
of Tuesday’s Champions League clash.
Bayern host Manchester City at Munich’s
Allianz Arena with the Premier League
side needing to win at least 3-0 to knock
the hosts from first place in Group D
with both sides already through to the
knock-out stages. Guardiola has said he
is deadly serious about the Bavarians’ in-
tentions of beating City to become only
the sixth team in Champions League
history to emerge from the group stages
with a 100 per cent record from the
six games. But the Spaniard laughed
off British media reports that City have
tabled a huge bid for Neuer, the rock in
the Bayern defence which has leaked
just nine goals in 20 Bundesliga and
Champions League games this season.
–AFP
South Africa name
unchanged squad
for India Tests
South Africa on Monday named an
unchanged 15-man squad for two Test
matches against India later this month.
South Africa, the leading team on the
International Cricket Council rankings,
have not been beaten in a series since
2009. Both their last two series against
India, away in 2009/10 and at home the
following season, were drawn. In their
most recent series, against Pakistan in
the United Arab Emirates in October,
South Africa lost the first Test in Abu
Dhabi but bounced back with an innings
win in the second and final Test in Dubai
to share the series. “We were very happy
with the performance of the Proteas in
the second Test match at Dubai,” said
Cricket South Africa selection convener
Andrew Hudson, “and we see no need to
change something that is operating well.”
–AFP
Israel midfielder
Benayoun signs for QPR
Israel midfielder Yossi Benayoun has
signed a short-term contract with
English Championship club Queen’s
Park Rangers. The promotion-chasing
London club confirmed on Tuesday that
the former West Ham United, Liverpool
and Chelsea player, who had been on
trial, had joined the second tier side
until the end of the season. “Yossi is a
good footballer, a top-class player,” QPR
manager Harry Redknapp said. “He’s
got great ability and is someone I have
always liked. I actually tried to take him
to Tottenham at one time. “I think he will
be a fantastic addition to the squad.”
–Reuters
Turkey minister slams
Mandela T-shirt action
Turkey’s sports minister lashed out
on Monday at moves by the football
authorities to punish two top Ivorian
club players for paying homage to
Nelson Mandela. Didier Drogba and
Emmanuel Eboue have been threatened
with disciplinary action by the Turkish
Football Federation for violating a ban
on wearing political slogans on T-shirts
– triggering outrage on Twitter. Turkish
Sports Minister Suat Kilic called on the
federation to review its decision against
the two star players with Istanbul giant
Galatasaray. Drogba removed his club
shirt after a match Friday against SB
Elazigspor to reveal a T-shirt that read
“Thank You Madiba”, using Mandela’s
clan name.
–AFP
DAY’S WATCH
Ten Cricket
4:30PM
South Africa v India
3rd ODI
Ten Golf
06:00 PM
Nelson Mandela Championship
Day 1
Sony Six
NBA
7:00AM
Chicago vs Milwaukee
9:30AM
LA Lakers vs Phoenix
UEFA Champions League
Ten Sports
1:45AM
Chelsea v Steaua Bucharest
Ten Action
1:45AM
Napoli v Arsenal
Ten HD
1:45AM
Barcelona v Celtic
Neo Prime
3:00AM (Thursday)
West Indies Tour of New Zealand
2nd Test, Day 2
South Africa's players celebrate after winning the Final match against New Zealand in IRB Sevens rugby tournament at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Sunday
Pakistan, Sri Lanka tune
up for World Twenty20
n AFP, Dubai
Sri Lanka and Pakistan will use their
two-match series in Dubai starting
on Wednesday to size each other up
ahead of the World Twenty20 in three
months’ time.
Pakistan, fourth in the Twenty20
rankings, are also aiming to topple Sri
Lanka from the top of the standings by
winning both matches, the second of
which takes place on Friday.
“Sri Lanka are a top side so this is in
itself a motivation to beat the number
one side and if we win both it will lift us
to the top of the world,” Pakistan cap-
tain Mohammad Hafeez said.
If the series is a 1-1 draw the teams will
maintain their current rankings while a
2-0 loss would push Hafeez’s team down
to fifth. Pakistan go into the matches well
prepared after playing four Twenty20
games against South Africa last month.
They also overcame tough resis-
tance from minnows Afghanistan by
six wickets in a last ball thriller in Shar-
jah on Sunday – the first Twenty20 be-
Double points to go to
winner of final Grand Prix
n AFP, Paris
Formula One’s governing body has an-
nounced a series of changes aimed at
making the motor sport more competi-
tive and crowd-pleasing.
These include awarding double
points for the final Grand Prix of the
season, which next year takes place in
Abu Dhabi on Nov 23, and a numbers
identification system for drivers which
they will retain throughout their career.
The decision to award double
points, counting towards the drivers’
and constructors’ championships, at
the final race of the season was made
“to maximise focus on the champion-
ship until the end of the campaign”, ac-
cording to a statement from FIA. l
Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson celebrates their victory over England in the second
Ashes Test in Adelaide on Monday
DHAKA TRIBUNE Sport Wednesday, December 11, 2013
tween the two countries.
Pakistan will be at full strength and
Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangak-
kara providing a contrast to Pakistan’s
boosted by the return of magician off- fragile and unpredictable batsmen.
spinner Saeed Ajmal, who skipped Ajantha Mendis and Sachithra Sena-
Sunday’s game to rest back home.
“We leaked quite a few runs against
nayake are the two specialist spinners in
the bowling department which is spear-
Afghanistan so we will have to be at headed by paceman Lasith Malinga.
our best to beat Sri Lanka and Ajmal’s Pakistan finished runners-up in the
return will help that,” said Hafeez, who first World Twenty20 held in South Af-
was man of the match against Afghani- rica in 2007 before winning the title in
stan for his 42 not out. England two years later.
Sri Lanka, led by Dinesh Chandimal, Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka in the fi-
will have to overcome rustiness after nal at Lord’s – a defeat which Sri Lanka
most of their recent matches at home avenged by winning the semi-final in
were ruined by rain. Last month they Colombo on their way to finishing run-
beat New Zealand 1-0 with the other ners-up in the fourth edition last year.
match abandoned because of inclem- The fifth edition will be held in Ban-
ent weather. gladesh from March 16 to April 6.
“The advantage Pakistan’s got is Pakistan’s selectors added 19 year-
that they have played a lot of inter- old left-arm paceman Usman Shinwari
national cricket in the last six-eight to the squad after his impressive per-
months whereas unfortunately we formance at domestic level.
haven’t played nearly as much because Shinwari took 5-9 in National Twen-
of weather and various other things,” ty20 championship final on December
said coach Graham Ford.
Sri Lanka are hoping their batting will
3 in Lahore, which also included Paki-
stan’s one-day and Test captain Mis-
see them through with the experienced bah-ul Haq’s scalp. l
England rest senior trio for ODIs
n Reuters
2014 F1 CALENDAR England have rested batsman Kevin
Pietersen and bowling pair Graeme
March 16 : Australia (Melbourne) Swann and James Anderson from their
March 30 : Malaysia (Sepang) limited-overs squads for the series in
April 6 : Bahrain (Sakhir)
Australia starting next month.
April 20 : China (Shanghai)
May 11 : Spain (Barcelona) Test captain Alastair Cook will lead
May 25 : Monaco (Monte Carlo) the 16-man squad in the one-day inter-
June 8 : Canada (Montreal) national series, while paceman Stuart
June 22 : Austria (Red Bull Ring) Broad will be in charge of the 15-man
July 6 : Great Britain (Silverstone) Twenty20 squad named on Tuesday.
July 20 : Germany (Hockenheim)
England will play five ODIs and
July 27 : Hungary (Budapest)
August 24 : Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps) three T20 matches following the five-
Sep 7 : Italy (Monza) test Ashes series which they trail 2-0.
Sep 21 : Singapore (Marina Bay) “This is going to be another month
Oct 5 : Japan (Suzuka) of tough cricket and then a heavy
Oct 12 : Russia (Sochi)
schedule from the West Indies tour
Nov 2 : United States (Austin)
onwards,” England coach Andy Flower
Nov 9 : Brazil (Interlagos, Sao Paulo)
Nov 23 : Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) told reporters on Tuesday.
“Straight after the World T20, the In-
'Johnson can go faster'
n AFP, Adelaide
Australian bowling coach Craig
McDermott had a chilling warning for
England Tuesday – Mitchell Johnson
can go even faster on his home ground
in Perth.
The fearsome left-arm paceman
grabbed his second consecutive man-
of-the-match award after a thump-
ing win in Adelaide on Monday as the
home side took a 2-0 lead in the five-
Test series.
If Australia win the third Test start-
ing in Perth on Friday, they will reclaim
the Ashes they lost in 2009 with John-
son tipped to take it to another level
at a ground where he has claimed 36
wickets at an average of under 20.
The imposing quick, who already
AFP has 17 wickets in this series at 12.70,
AFP
Bolt, Fraser-Pryce
crowned top athletes
n AFP, Kingston
Jamaica’s double World Champion-
ships sprint gold medalists Usain Bolt
and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were on
Monday named the Jamaica Athletics
Administrative Association’s male and
female athletes of 2013. Bolt, who was
absent due to sponsorship commit-
ments off the island, and Fraser-Pryce,
dian Premier League begins and while
that’s on, the English season starts. Our
players who play all three forms cannot
play 12 months a year.
SQUAD
ODI
Alastair Cook (captain), Gary Ballance,
Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan,
Danny Briggs, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler,
Michael Carberry, Steven Finn, Chris
Jordan, Eoin Morgan, Boyd Rankin, Joe
Root, Ben Stokes, James Tredwell.
T20
Stuart Broad (captain), Ravi Bopara, Tim
Bresnan, Danny Briggs, Jos Buttler, Jade
Dernbach, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Mi-
chael Lumb, Eoin Morgan, Boyd Rankin,
Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Tredwell,
Luke Wright.
has bowled at speeds above 150 kph
(93 mph) and playing in his home Test
should provide even more pace, Mc-
Dermott said.
“I’d like to see – at his home ground,
being in front of his adopted state,
Western Australia – what the adrena-
line does to his pace,” McDermott told
reporters.
“Not forgetting that it’s not all about
speed. It’s about making sure that the
ball is in the right spot and that is what
Mitchell has done since his return to in-
ternational cricket, both in the shorter
form and in Test match cricket.
“He has been able to bowl good line
or length, mixed up with some very
good short-pitched bowling.”
Australia coach Darren Lehmann,
who has helped mastermind Austra-
lia’s turnaround after their 3-0 series
15
'Pakistan players
suffering from
home exclusion'
n Reuters, Karachi
Playing matches constantly away from
home is taking a psychological toll on
Pakistan’s players, captain Misbah-ul-
Haq said on Monday in urging cricket’s
governing body (ICC) to reinstate inter-
nationals in his country.
No international teams have toured
Pakistan since the 2009 attack by mili-
tants on the Sri Lanka team bus in La-
hore, leaving Pakistan to host all their
home matches at neutral countries.
“You look at the example of Eng-
land batsman Jonathan Trott recently
and you can imagine what our players
are going through... playing away from
home constantly for the last five years
is taking its toll on the players,” he said
on a television talk show.
Trott is on an indefinite break from
cricket after ruling himself out of the
ongoing Ashes series in Australia with
stress-related issues.
Misbah pointed out that many play-
ers struggled to be away from home
and their families for long periods of
time.
“It is not easy for the players to be
playing away from home for the last
five years and it has got its psycho-
logical consequences and it has also
stopped the growth of our cricket,”
Misbah added. l
retained the titles they won last year.
Bolt won the 100 metre-200 metre
double at the IAAF World Champion-
ships in Moscow earlier this year, and
led the 4x100m relay teams to victory
as well. Fraser-Pryce also won the dou-
ble in the 100m and 200m.
Bolt and Fraser-Pryce were earlier
this year named the IAAF male and fe-
male athletes of the year. l
“Guys like Anderson and Pietersen are
in their early 30s now and they are prize
assets and we need to look after them.
“From a physical perspective,
they’re always dealing with various
niggles and sometimes they need to be
taken out of competition. That is not
for them just to rest, it’s so we can max-
imise their skills when they do play.”
With the Twenty20 World Cup next
year followed by the 50-over World
Cup in 2015, the selection will provide
opportunities for youngsters to stake
their claim.
“We have an important period of
limited overs cricket coming up with
an ICC World T20 in Bangladesh in
March and we are just over a year away
from the... World Cup in New Zealand
and Australia,” national selector Geoff
Miller said in a statement. l
loss in England earlier this year, said
his key task was to keep the 32-year-old
firing on all cylinders.
“He’s been impressive. He’s confi-
dent. Our challenge is to keep him go-
ing and bowling that way. It’s exciting
for Test match cricket,” Lehmann said.
“It’s exciting to see bowlers bowl
fast, or spinners turn it square. You’ve
got to adapt and improve your tech-
nique. It’s always exciting to see guys
bowl at those speeds.”
With momentum on their side,
Lehmann wants his team to keep on
doing what they’ve been doing in
Perth.
Lehmann said he expected all-
rounder Shane Watson to bowl more
in Perth after being used sparingly in
Brisbane and Adelaide, where his focus
was on his batting. l
16
Key Sayedee witness dies
n Mohammad
Udisa Islam
Jamil Khan and
A key prosecution witness against war
crimes convict Delawar Hossain Sayedee
succumbed to injuries at Dhaka Medical
College Hospital early yesterday, two
days after he had received stab injuries
allegedly by some Jamaat-Shibir activists
at his Pirojpur home.
“Victim Mostafa Hawlader died
around 12:10am at the intensive care
unit,” Dr M Abdur Rahman, professor
and head of ICU, told the Dhaka Tribune.
About the injury, Prof Md Zillur Rah-
man of neurosurgery department at the
DMCH said Mostafa had been suffering
from sharp cutting injuries. Some bones
of his head were broken due to the hit by
sharp weapons while the brain damaged
causing bleeding.
“We conducted a surgery on his head
for three hours at noon to stop the bleed-
ing and remove the broken pieces of
bones,” he told the Dhaka tribune. “Lat-
er, we shifted him immediately to the
ICU.”
Contacted, Dr Kazi Abu Sama, assis-
tant professor of the forensic depart-
ment, who prepared the autopsy report,
cut off the phone when the Dhaka Tri-
bune enquired her about the death.
A source at the department confirmed
that the victim had died following a hit
by something heavy on the head.
Eighth witness in the Sayedee, Mosta-
fa, 58, and his wife came under attack by
some miscreants at his resident in Hogla-
bunia area of Zianagar in Pirojpur around
3am on Sunday.
Early last year, he gave deposition
at the International Crimes Tribunal 1
on charge eight which was related with
the murder of Ibrahim Kutti. And on his
eye-witness testimony, the tribunal gave
Sayedee the death penalty.
After the attack, they were taken to
Pirojpur General Hospital and then to
Khulna Medical College Hospital. Mo-
The birth of our
banner
n Sharafat Hussain
For this Victory Day, Bangladesh prepares
to break the world record for the largest
human flag at the Army Parade Grounds,
where more than 30,000 volunteers will
stand and hold red or green placards.
We all know our beloved red and green.
But how many of us know the story?
On June 7, 1970, Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was scheduled
to attend a march past at the Paltan
Maidan for election campaign.
The day before, student leaders gath-
ered at the Zohurul Haque Hall of Dhaka
University and decided to make a flag
for him. Kazi Aref Ahmed proposed re-
moving the crescent and star from the
Pakistan flag, and replacing it with the
red circle. He also suggested a yellow
map of East Pakistan in the centre.
The idea was enthusiastically em-
braced by those present at the historic
meeting, including ASM Abdur Rob,
Shahjahan Siraj, Marshal Manirul Islam
and Swapan Kumar Choudhury from
Dhaka University; Nazrul Islam from Ja-
gannath College; Comilla Chhatra League
General Secretary and central leader Shib
Narayan Das, Buet’s Chhatra League’s
Hasanul Haq Inu and Yusuf Salauddin.
With a matchstick and yellow paint,
Shib Narayan Das sketched the map on
to the green and red.
Deep into the night, master tailor
Khalek Mohammadi sewed the flag in
his shop, located next to the Chhatra
League office on the third floor of the
Balaka Tower in the New Market area.
By dawn, the new flag was complete.
After independence, Quamrul Has-
san redesigned it. The basic design re-
mained the same, but the red circle took
on a deeper significance as a representa-
tion of the bloody Liberation War. l
Do you know: Who first hoisted the
Bangladesh flag?
Email your answer to info@dhakatri-
bune.com for a chance to win passes to
the World’s Largest Human Flag on De-
cember 16, and see history in the making
Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Wife of Mostafa Hawlader, who succumbed to his injuries after being hacked allegedly by
Jamaat activists on Sunday, bursts into tears at Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday.
Mostafa was a witness against Delawar Hossain Sayedee
stafa was later sent to the DMCH as his
condition deteriorated.
The attack came within a week of
withdrawing police protection from Mo-
stafa’s house.
Similarly, over 200 Jamaat-Shibir ac-
tivists vandalised the house of plaintiff
of the Sayedee case and witness Mah-
bubul Alam Hawlader in Pirojpur on Oc-
tober 28.
Kuddus Hawlader, brother of Mosta-
fa, told the Dhaka Tribune that it had
been a pre-planned attack perpetrated
by some Jamaat-Shibir men who earlier
threatened his brother with dire conse-
quences.
He alleged that the police had played
mysterious role on the day of incident
police. They reached the house late and
mentioned the incident a burglary at-
tempt.
Victim’s wife Hasina Begum also held
the Jamaat supporters responsible for
the “planned” attack, which she said
was launched as her husband had given
Hartal: Jamaat activist killed in Naogaon
n Tribune Report
A Jamaat-e-Islami activist was killed
and 20 injured in a clash with lo-
cal businessmen, backed by Awami
League men, in Raninagar upazila of
Naogaon yesterday.
The skirmish broke out when local
businessmen and Awami League ac-
tivists tried to prevent the Jamaat men
from vandalising shops and vehicles
from a procession which was brought
out against the death warrant issued
against their leader and war criminal
Quader Mollah
Five vehicles, including a motorcy-
cle, and seven shops were vandalised
by the Jamaat men during the clash
at Abadpukur intersection around
4:30pm and lasted for over an hour.
Injured jamaat activist Shukbar Ali, 60,
died on his way to the Rajshahi Medical
College Hospital.
OC of Raninagar police station Ab-
dullah Al Masud said both groups used
lethal weapons.
Apart from the Naogaon clash, the
Jamaat enforced hartal and the fourth
day of the BNP-led 18-party opposition
combine’s countrywide blockade were
marked by incidents such as attack on
police and ambulance, arson, vandal-
ism and clashes. A few incidents were
reported in the capital as well.
Our correspondent in Rajshahi re-
ported that Shibir men beat up three
policemen including Motihar police
station OC Abdul Majid and constables
Miraz and Rezaul in the morning.
Government to please public servants after polls
Newly formed pay commission meets Muhith today
n Asif Showkat Kallol Bank and four state-run banks was of the salaries along with 20%
not possible under the polls-time dearness allowance for public servants
The government is mulling over a plan
to satisfy 13 lakh public servants after
the general election as it has failed to
announce a permanent pay scale.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith will
hold a meeting with the newly formed
pay and service commission today
at his secretariat office to review the
salaries of public servants within a
short time, a senior official of the
finance division said yesterday.
The official also said the government
wants to give the public servants some
kinds of assurance of implementing
the new pay scale after the general
election scheduled to be held on
January 5.
The finance minister two days back
said an announcement of separate pay
scale for the employees of Bangladesh
Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com
Back Page
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
deposition against Sayedee.
She demanded execution of the war
criminal , punishment of her husband’s
killers and security of her family and oth-
er witnesses.
Hasina made the appeals before State
Minister for Law Quamrul Islam, who
visited the morgue yesterday noon.
Quamrul later told reporters that it
was not possible to ensure round-the-
clock security to protect the witnesses
from the attacks of Jamaat-Shibir men as
“they usually conduct secret attacks. Ev-
eryone should come forward and stand
against them.”
Hafiz Hawlader, son of the victim,
suspected that it was an act of Sayedee
followers who earlier had issued threats
several times. “We also filed several gen-
eral diaries with Zianagar police station.”
After the attack, Hafiz told another
Sayedee witness Ruhul Amin Nobin that
he had recognised two of the three at-
tackers to be BNP and Jamaat activists.
Abdul Mazid Hawlader, younger
A passerby helps a policeman, left, injured in a sudden attack by Jamaat-Shibir activists in Rajshahi yesterday; Jamaat-Shibir activists
swoop on two policemen, right, in Rajshahi during yesterday’s hartal in the district
The incident happened when the
police team went to the Binodpur Ba-
zar area to bar a procession. The Shibir
men snatched a shotgun from a consta-
ble and beat up the cops leaving one of
Majid’s legs broken.
Later additional police rushed to the
scene and rescued their injured col-
leagues. The firearm was found aban-
doned beside a road. A total of 19 Shibir
men were picked in raids at different
places in connection with the attack.
In Chapainawabganj, pickets van-
dalised an ambulance and beat up the
patient and his relatives in the Koila-
bari area. Local people rescued them
and took them to the Rajshahi Medical
College Hospital in critical conditions.
government.
“It will violate the electoral code of
conduct if the government announces
the separate pay scale this time,” the
minister also said.
The implementation wing of the
finance ministry issued a circular
on November 24 that said the newly
formed pay and service commission
would prepare a recommendation
within six months.
Sources in the finance division said
as the government is now in fund crisis
with foreign assistances declining and
revenue earning drying out due to
hartal and back-to-back blockades it
cannot provide maximum fund for the
new pay scale.
The finance division has now
allocated Tk17, 000 crore for payment
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
brother of the victim filed a case with Zi-
anagar police on Monday accusing some
unidentified people.
Contacted, Pirojpur Police Superin-
tendent Akhteruzzaman told the Dhaka
Tribune that the police had already raid-
ed several areas of the district and arrest-
ed six persons.
Asked if the incident took place be-
cause of police’s negligence, he said:
“We are also investigation this issue. If
we find any irregularities, we will take
stern action.”
Yesterday, the International Crimes
Tribunal 1 expressed concerns over the
killing of witness Mostafa. It ordered
necessary steps to protect the witnesses.
“Every in the world, there is witness pro-
tection law and for this type of special
court, it is very much necessary,” said
the tribunal headed by Justice ATM Fa-
zle Kabir.
The tribunal then enquired the pros-
ecution about the steps the government
had taken in this connection.
Prosecutor Mokhlesur Rahman said
the team had talks with the home min-
istry, the tribunal’s investigation agency
and other relevant ministries. “We will
arrange another meeting with them.”
He then pleaded to the tribunal seek-
ing a suo moto order on the matter. The
tribunal said it could not do so as a trial
court. “If you [prosecution] submit any
petition, then we can go issue an order.”
In a statement yesterday, rights group
Ain o Salish Kendra demanded that the
government bring attackers to justice
and ensure security of all witnesses of
the war crimes cases.
Abdur Razzak, chief counsel for
Sayedee and also Jamaat assistant sec-
retary general, yesterday condemned
the attack. “This is a cowardly attack on
a witness which will be detrimental to
the rule of law. It is the duty of the state
to ensure security of all prosecution and
defence witnesses who depose before
the tribunal,” he said in a statement. l
In Natore, BNP-Jamaat men vandal-
ised eight trucks on the Natore-Dhaka
highway when they were passing the
area under police protection. The ma-
rauding men also attacked police, van-
dalised a police van and injured a consta-
ble. The incident that took place around
12am, also left nine blockaders injured.
Almost at the same time, blockaders
vandalised 22 fertilizer-laden trucks at
Sheikh Para bazar under Shailkupa up-
azila of Jhenaidah.
In Sylhet, Shibir activists torched a
CNG-run auto-rickshaw in Shah-e Ei-
dgah area and vandalised a truck and
four auto-rickshaws in Majumdari and
Kajolshah.
Police, meanwhile, have acquired
a year.
But the allocation will go beyond
Tk20, 000 crore if the newly formed
commission gives any allowance to
the public servants, according to the
finance division.
Former governor of Bangladesh
Bank Dr Mohammad Farashuddin, also
the chairman of the pay commission,
yesterday said the finance minister
wanted to meet the chairman and
member of newly formed commission
today at his secretariat office as he gave
some directives on recommendations
of the new pay scale.
A 17-member commission was
formed on November 24 comprised
of three permanent and 12 temporary
members. A joint secretary will
act as the commission member
Now Molla’s wife
shows victory sign
n Udisa Islam
The time by the clock on the outer wall
of the Dhaka Central Jail was exactly
7:51pm, when death row war crimi-
nal Quader Molla’s family members
stepped through the gates of jail.
Apart from only the children, every-
one knew that it could be the last time
they were going to meet Molla. They
knew that he was going to be hanged in
just a few hours.
But a “victory sign” came from vir-
tually nowhere as Molla’s wife Sanoara
Jahan used the index and the middle
fingers on her right hand to make a ges-
ture that is generally made when some-
one wins something.
She made the gesture before she
even met her husband.
Her son Hasan Jamil explained: “Of
course we have won. My father did not
harm people and he was not served jus-
tice. So, my mother showed this sign.”
“If we do not, then who will show
this?” was his rhetoric question.
After Molla’s execution was stayed
by the chamber judge around 10:30pm,
Jamil told the Dhaka Tribune that it
was a signal from Allah.
Ten months ago, Molla, also known
as the “Butcher of Mirpur,” made the
very same gesture for victory, when
the International Crimes Tribunal
pronounced lifetime imprisonment for
the crimes against humanity that he
committed during the 1971 Liberation
War.
The Jamaat leader’s family members
entered the prison only half an hour
after State Minister for Home Shamsul
Haque Tuku said Molla would be
executed by last night. They were told
by the prison authorities in a letter to
come and visit him by 8pm.
“Your husband has been given death
penalty. He is now in the Dhaka Central
DHAKA TRIBUNE
a list of financers of subversive activ-
ities after raiding a mess of Shibir at
Dharshandewri in Sylhet city. A huge
stack of jihadi books and leaflets were
recovered from the place.
In Khulna, a BNP activist named He-
lal, 47, died in cardiac arrest while tak-
ing part in a procession at Khalishpur.
In Satkhira, a crude bomb blast on
the house of union parishad level BNP
leader Nur Mohammad left him injured
late Monday night.
In the capital, two Sewachchasebok
Dal men were arrested and awarded six
months jail after they had been caught
red handed with bombs soon after they
blasted seven bombs at Armanitola in
old Dhaka. l
secretary and commission will start its
operation from December 17 as per the
circular.
On October 30, Finance Minister
AMA Muhith said the Pay and Services
Commission (PSC) would examine the
wage disparities and suggest ways to
remove them.
On October 6, Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina announced a 20%
increase in dearness allowance at flat
rate for government employees which
is an extra burden of Tk5000 crore in
current fiscal year budget.
The government issued a gazette
notification the next day granting the
dearness allowance with retrospective
effect from July 1.
The Seventh Pay Commission was
formed in 2007 during the caretaker
regime and public servants got a hike
on July 1, 2009. l
Jail. Please come with your family by
8pm to meet him,” read the letter that
was marked “very urgent.”
Molla’s Son Hasan Jamil confirmed
receiving the letter.
A total of 23 members of the war
criminal’s family including his son,
four daughters, their husbands and
his brother-in-law entered the prison,
where they stayed for an hour or so.
When they came out of the jail
around 8:56pm, Jamil termed the exe-
cution “political killing.”
He also said his father’s physical
and mental conditions were complete-
ly stable and he had told them to not
worry.
Ten months ago, Molla, also
known as the “Butcher of
Mirpur,” made the very same
gesture for victory
According to Jamil, Molla also told
them: “I was your guardian until today.
Now God will take over the duty. This is
your good fortune. I am facing this des-
tiny only because of my involvement
with Islamic movement.”
Jamil quoted his father as saying he
would not have been hanged had he
not been involved with the movement
and those who had been trying to hand
him by force would have to suffer. The
“Islamic revolution” would take the
“revenge.”
When asked about seeking presiden-
tial clemency, Molla said he thought he
would get more time to think, said his
daughter Parvin.
“But suddenly at night, the govern-
ment decided to hang him. Now it does
not mean anything to us. Father’s last
word was: ‘by establishing an Islamic
state, we will take revenge someday’,”
Parvin said. l
Another Padma
bridge deal signed
n Mohosinul Karim
The government yesterday signed a
contract with the construction firm Ab-
dul Monem Limited for the construc-
tion of the service area-2 at Jajira point
of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge
Construction Project.
The firm will construct resort,
reception buildings, supervision offices,
30 duplex houses, health centre, power
sub-station etc under the project.
The construction work of the main
bridge will start by next May or June,
Communication Minister Obaidul
Quader said at the contract signing.
“The government has already taken
preparation to start the construction
work. The tender documents will be
received on December 19.”
The programme was held at Setu
Bhabanin the city.
Project Director of the Padma Mul-
tipurpose Bridge Construction Project
Shafiqul Islam and Director of the Ab-
dul Monem Limited Abid Habib signed
the contract on behalf of their respec-
tive organisations.
According to the contract, the con-
struction firm will complete their work
at the expense of TK2.09b by 912 days.
Bridge Division Secretary Khanda-
karAnwarul Islam and other high offi-
cials attended the programme. l
‘No promotion
without exams’
n Rabiul Islam and Mushfique Wadud
The government has no plan to give au-
tomatic promotion to school students
without taking annual examinations
despite the volatile political situation
in the country, the education minister
said yesterday. “Despite hurdles, we
are determined to take all annual ex-
aminations and the students, guard-
ians and teachers should not have any
confusion,” Nurul Islam Nahid told re-
porters at his secretariat office. l
Continue to the
Business section...

Business

B2 IMF: FY14 tax collection
to remain flat at 10.5%
of GDP
B3 Stocks rally on hope for
political solution
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013
BTRC to sue six IGWs for dues
Criminal cases will be filed against the operators which have ceased to
operate and pay Tk613 crore
n Muhammad Zahidul Islam
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory
Commission is going to sue six international
gateway operators which have ceased to op-
erate and pay their outstanding Tk613 crore
as revenue sharing amount plus annual li-
cence fee.
Of the amount, the outstanding licence
fees of these six operators total Tk45 crore.
Launched in October 2012, the six IGW
operators have shared only Tk71.5 crore rev-
enue with BTRC.
Since October this year, the six IGW com-
panies are not in operation.
According to IGW guideline, the operators
are required to pay 51.75% of revenue to the
telecom regulator. The guideline says the
IGWs can earn 3 US cents per minute in in-
coming international calls.
BTRC said the total outstanding revenue
sharing amount plus annual licence fees of
all 29 IGW operators stand at Tk1,115 crore.
“We are preparing to file criminal cases
against the directors and the owners of those
six IGWs,” a high official of BTRC told the
Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
He added BTRC’s legal consultant firms
have already given a report recommending
to file criminal cases against the operators.
Apart from criminal cases, BTRC also
RMG sector wants low cost loan to pay workers
Prolonged political unrest sends them to the verge of becoming sick industry
n Tribune Report owned commercial banks and insurance the sake of the RMG sector, even making low BGMEA President.
companies in Dhaka yesterday, aimed at dis- profits. He said: “We will sit with the propos- “If the businessmen took to the streets,
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Ex-
porters Association (BGMEA) has demanded
low cost loans to pay wages for next four
months as they were facing fund shortage
due to failure of shipment caused by the po-
litical unrest.
The loans could be given through creating
a special packing credit (PC), they said.
BGMEA President M Atiqul Islam de-
manded the loan for a period between No-
vember and February next to be adjusted by
next two years.
He said textile, garments and backward
linkage industry should not be classified in
next two years from Q4 of 2013. He also ap-
pealed to block the term loan, project loan,
loan against trustee receipt, Murabah Post
Import (MPI) and installment without any
interest for next two years.
Atiq made the appeal at a views exchange
meeting with owners of private and state-
Business
wants to sue the IGW companies under Pub-
lic Demands Recovery Act (PDRA).
But the official said case under PDRA
would be a lengthy process and that’s why
the regulator would also file criminal cases.
Among the IGW operators, Vision Tel Ltd
is the highest defaulter with Tk146.5 crore.
BTRC sends a recommendation today to
the government to cancel licence of Vision
Tel Ltd which didn’t pay Tk146.5 crore.
Earlier, the regulator also recommended
cancelling licences of another two IGW com-
panies. They are Telex Ltd and Ratul Tele-
com Ltd.
Telex Ltd had not paid even a penny since
its operation. The operators’ dues amount to
Tk92.5 crore.
Ratul Telecom Ltd owes Tk96.5 crore
to BTRC. Syeda Amrin Rakhi, daughter of
former LGRD state minister Jahangir Kabir
Nanak, has 50% stakes in Ratul Telecom.
Her mother Syeda Arzuman Banu has 20%
cussing the current scenario of RMG sector.
“Their demands are not unrealistic. If
possible, I would do this for the sector,” said
Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) Pres-
ident Nazrul Islam Mazumder. “But there are
limitations as the bankers cannot do, what
they want.”
The banks’ managing directors have lots
of limitations as they cannot waive interest
of a person or can make a person classified as
there are some guidelines under which they
are controlled, he added.
The BGMEA president said they would
take decision after having meeting with the
MDs and chairmen and if the finance minis-
try and Bangladesh Bank allow us to do that.
“We are becoming sick because of sick
politics. Please, shun the confrontational
politics and let us do business for the sake of
the country.” FBCCI President Kazi Akramud-
din Ahmed urged banks to do everything for
shares.
Former telecom minister Advocate Sha-
hara Khatun “permitted” the operator to pay
dues in instalments although the minister
had no such authority.
The deadline of first instalment expired
on November 30. BTRC allowed them anoth-
er 25 days.
Ratul Telecom paid a total of Tk19 crore
during past 15 months.
Kay Telecommunications Ltd, fully
owned by ruling party leader Shamim Osman
of Narayanganj, only paid Tk9 crore.
The company didn’t pay Tk91.5 crore.
Few days back, Shamim Osman reported-
ly managed to transfer his shares to anoth-
er person. Bestec Telecom Ltd and Apple
GlobalTel Com Ltd owe respectively Tk127.5
crore and Tk58.5 crore to BTRC.
They paid only Tk6 crore and Tk9.5 crore
respectively under revenue sharing guide-
line in last 15 months. l
al and try to do our best.”
“The problem is political unrest, which is
going on since last year and it left everyone
in trouble. It would be very tough to over-
come the deadlock if we do not work togeth-
er,” said former BGMEA President Anwarul
Alam Chowdhury Parvez.
Urging his fellow Parvez said “Come for-
ward and give tremendous pressures to the
political parties. We need political stability
to do businesses,” he advised Atiq to mount
pressure from the BGMEA.
“We cannot negotiate prices with buyers
and cannot produce products in the factory,
but wages has been increased. How we pay
the wages of the workers?”
The businessmen sought pledges from the
political parties that they would avoid con-
frontational politics in future and the prom-
ise should be made in their election manifes-
toes, said Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, former
www.dhakatribune.com/business
Cabinet body okays
imports of wheat
and fertiliser
n Tribune report
Cabinet committee on public purchase ap-
proved proposals to import wheat and fer-
tiliser.
In the meeting held yesterday, it also
okayed a proposal of appointing a consultant
for a railway project.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith chaired
the meeting, also attended by Minister for
Land, Relief and Disaster Management Amir
Hossain Amu and Minister for Industries,
Housing and Public Works Tofail Ahmed.
Food Ministry made the proposal of im-
porting 50,000 tonnes of wheat.
Vitol Asia (pvt) Ltd will supply the bulk
wheat at a cost of around Tk124 crore as the
price was set at US$313.92 per tonne.
Industries Ministry proposed to import
50,000 tonnes of prilled urea fertiliser.
Of the bulk import, Desh Trading Corpo-
ration will supply 25,000 tonnes of fertiliser
through Chittagong Port at a cost of Tk75.14
crore as the price was set at $383.40 per tonne.
The same company will supply the rest
25,000 tonnes of fertiliser through Mongla
Port at a cost of Tk75.91 crore. The price of
per tonne urea fertiliser was fixed at $387.30.
Railways Ministry made a proposal to
appoint SMEC in joint venture Canrail as su-
pervision consultant for Asian Development
Bank-financed Railway Sector Development
Project. l
you (the politicians) would not get the
chance to sit in the parliament,” said AKM
Salim Osman, BKMEA President.
A garment owner demanded Bangladesh
Bank to relax the guideline of loan classifica-
tion for a certain period to give a cushion to
the country’s readymade garment sector.
The apex trade body for the apparel sec-
tor also demanded insurance coverage from
factory to Chittagong port and also urged the
insurers to set a little charge as premium.
Meanwhile, a delegation from BGMEA,
BKMEA and BTMA is scheduled to meet Fi-
nance Minister AMA Muhith today to place
their demands.
Earlier on Monday, Muhith sat with lead-
ers of Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB)
to be informed about the banking sector
and what the government banks could do to
solve the RMG sector problems created due
to the political unrest. l
2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Business WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013

IMF: FY14 tax collection to Oil prices rise

in Asian trade
remain flat at 10.5% of GDP n AFP, Singapore

Oil prices rebounded in Asian trade yester-

Slow economic activities due to hartals and blockades may
cause revenue shortfall
n Asif Showkat Kallol
International Monetary Fund has projected
the tax-to-GDP ratio of Bangladesh would re-
main flat at about 10.50% in the current fiscal
year due to slowing economy amidst hartal
and ongoing back to back blockades for last
couple of months.
“A slowing economy in hartal-related dis-
ruptions and political uncertainly contribut-
ed to lower than programmed tax revenue
outturns for fiscal year 2012-2013. The tax
revenues will be downward in relation to
GDP despite these influences expected to
unwind gradually,” according to a latest IMF
review.
IMF released the report on safeguarding
fiscal sustainability, marking the approval of
the fourth instalment of Extended Credit Fa-
cility loans recently.
The government set a target to achieve a
tax-GDP ratio of 14.2 % of GDP in the current
fiscal year despite having the challenges of
the political unrest and apparel factory col-
lapse at Savar.
The IMF report says the ratio is projected
to remain flat at about 10.5% between fiscal
year 2011-12 and 2013-14, with a decline of
revenue from import taxes of 0.4% of GDP
offset by gains in income taxes, boosted by
automation.
We will estimate the actual
revenue earnings situation after
December to see the magnitude
of shortfall in the slow down
economic activities during hartals
and blockades
The revenue ratio is projected to increase
slightly in 2014-15 fiscal and then more de-
cisively beyond the program period with the
launch of VAT, it said.
National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials
said the revenue board risks falling short of
Tk10,000 crore to Tk13,000 crore from its
revenue collection target set for the current
fiscal year if the prevailing business situa-
tion does not improve due to back to back
blockade and normalcy returns to power the
economy.
The gloomy outlook on revenue earnings
for whole of 2013-14 fiscal has recently been
apprised of the finance ministry by the NBR
after the main revenue generator falling
short of target by about Tk3,120 crore during
July-October period, they said .
NBR Chairman Md Ghulam Hussain told
Dhaka Tribune they would not be able to
maintain the revenue growth at 16% from
the last fiscal year due to political unrest and
uncertainty.
“We will estimate the actual revenue
earnings situation after December to see
the magnitude of shortfall in the slow down
economic activities during hartals and block-
ades,” he said.
The government set a revenue collec-
tion target of Tk136,090 crore for the cur-
rent fiscal year from the NBR portion with
highest Tk51,000 crore envisaged to be col-
lected from VAT, Tk48,300 crore in income
tax, Tk35,790 crore in customs duties and
Tk1,000 crore in other taxes. l
day, with strong US economic data lifting in-
vestor sentiment, analysts said.
New York’s main contract, West Texas In-
termediate (WTI) for January delivery, was
up 32 cents at $97.66 a barrel in afternoon
trade, while Brent North Sea crude for Janu-
ary rose 45 cents to $109.84.
“Crude oil continued to rally due
to optimistic US economic data, which
lifted markets,” Phillip Futures said in a com-
mentary.
The US jobless rate fell sharply to a five-
year-low of 7% in November and the econ-
omy generated 203,000 jobs - well above
expectations - providing further evidence of
the gathering strength of the world’s biggest
economy.
Those upbeat numbers followed
data showing the US economy grew
at a speedy annual rate of 3.6% in the third
quarter.
Phillip Futures said the results indicate
demand in the world’s largest consumer of
crude oil will lead to a pick-up in prices.
Other analysts said bargain-hunting had
also helped bolster prices, which tumbled
sharply the previous day.
Brent crude declined $2.22 in London
trade Monday, weighed by weaker German
industrial output. l

JBL Recruitment test Nesar Uddin passes away

has been adjourned Islami Bank Bangla-
desh Limited (IBBL)
Recruitment test of Probationary officer of Assistant Vice Pres-
Jamuna Bank Limited has been adjourned ident Nesar Uddin
due to unavoidable circumstances. Exami- Ahmad died of liver
nation date and time will be notified later. l cirrhosis and cancer
on Monday (Inna

Standard Bank Ltd Lillahi Wa Inna Il-

aihe Raziun). He

holds EC meeting Joined IBBL in 1985

The 1111th Meeting of the Executive Com-
mittee (EC) of the Board of Directors (BOD)
of Standard Bank Ltd (SBL) was held in the
board room at the head office on December
7. The EC Chairman Alhaj Mohammad Sham-
sul Alam presided over the meeting. It was
attended by Committee Members Kamal
Mostafa Chowdhury, Ferozur Rahman, S A
M Hossain, Mohammed Abdul Aziz & Gulzar
Ahmed. Among others Managing Director
Md Nazmus Salehin, DMD & Group Company
Secretary A F M Nizamul Islam Chowdhury
and DMD Mamun-Ur Rashid were also pres-
ent in the meeting. l
Airtel and Golden Harvest sign agreement
Airtel Bangladesh Limited has signed an
agreement with Golden Harvest Group. Dur-
ing the signing ceremony, Chief Operating
Officer of Airtel Bangladesh Limited Rajnish
Kaul exchanged documents with Managing
Director of Golden Harvest Group Ahmed
Rajeeb Samdani.
Director of Golden Harvest Group Mohius
Samad Choudhury, Vice President Finance
Nirmal Chandra Sardar, HR Manager Nusrat
Rabbani and Head of Corporate and SME
Sales of Airtel Bangladesh Ltd. Md. Adil Hos-
sain, Manager Corporate Sales Md. Touhidul
Islam, Key Account Manager Md. Tanvir Sad-
eque were also present during the signing
ceremony. l
and was 53 at the
time of departure. He left behind his wife, a
son, a dauger and well wishers.
IBBL Chairman Prof Abu Nasser Muham-
mad Abduz Zaher and Managing Director
Mohammad Abdul Mannan expressed deep
sorrow at his death. They also condoled the
bereaved family of the deceased. Doa Mu-
nazat was conducted at the head office and
branches of the Bank praying for salvation of
his departed soul. l

15th meeting of SIBL Securities Ltd (SIBLSL) was
held at the board room of the bank recently.
SIBLSL chairman Abdul Awal Patwary Chaired the
meeting. Board of directors were also present in
the meeting
Mercantile Bank Limited (MBL) signed a ‘Term Sheet’ with IDLC Finance Limited Recently. Under the
agreement, IDLC Finance Limited will act as ‘Arranger’ for issuing ‘Coupon Bearing Subordinated Bond’
worth Tk 3 Bn by MBL. MBL Managing Director & CEO M Ehsanul Haque and IDLC Finance Limited CEO &
Managing Director Selim R F Hussain signed the Term Sheet on behalf of their respective organisations.
Among others, MBL AMD Monindra Kumar Nath, DMD M A Yousuf Khan, Md Quamrul Islam Chowdhury,
Mohammad Masoom and IDLC Finance Ltd DGM Mesbah Uddin Ahmed were present on the occasion

Stocks rally on hope for
political solution
n Tribune Report
Stocks rose yesterday on growing hope for a
political solution amid an initiative taken by
the United Nations.
The rally was led by financial stocks that per-
formed well than any other sectors on the day.
The benchmark DSEX rallied almost 40
points or 1% to close at 4,329, after edging
lower over the previous session. The blue
chip index DS30 added nearly 5 points or
0.4% to settle at 1,500.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selec-
tive Categories Index, CSCX, also gained 86
points to 8,500.
Trading activities continued to increase
with total DSE turnover hitting Tk746 crore,
highest in last two weeks and 15.2% higher
over the previous session.
Soaring market capitalisation in the bank-
Banks asked to
maintain CRR,
SLR separately
n Tribune Report
Bangladesh Bank has asked the scheduled
banks to maintain cash reserve requirement
(CRR) and statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) sep-
arately.
The banks will now have to report in a
new prescribed format with effect from Feb-
ruary 1 next year, said a circular.
The conventional banks have to maintain
CRR at 13% on daily basis and for the Shari-
ah-based Islamic banks at 5.5%.
Currently, the conventional banks main-
tain the SLR at 19%, including the CRR.
On the other hand, the Shariah-based Is-
lamic banks maintain 11.50% SLR including
the CRR, as they cannot purchase any bonds
and government-approved securities that in-
volve receipt of interest. l
Banks asked to report
forex online
n Tribune Report
Bangladesh Bank has asked all authorised
dealer banks in Bangladesh to report all
types of their foreign exchange transactions
on daily basis through web portal.
The central bank issued a circular yester-
day, saying it has decided to incorporate two
new fields namely fright charges and insur-
ance expenses in the existing online import
reporting module. The banks have been ad-
vised to report import transactions specify-
ing FOB value, freight and insurance charg-
es, if applicable, for import settlement from
January 1, 2014 and onward.
This reporting procedure will be applica-
ble against on CFR or other permissible terms
requiring payment for goods together with
freight and applicable insurance charges. l
DHAKA TRIBUNE Business
ing sector in the last hour of trading session
has led the market to register positive return,
said Lanka Bangla Securities in its analysis.
First two hours of trading was quite vol-
atile as investors lacked direction of the
market, but later jumped in the last hour of
trading, it said. “Investors get queued up in
buy side whenever there is a probability of a
peaceful resolution between the two major
political parties in near future.”
The visiting UN assistant secretary general
for political affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco
is trying to pursue political parties to reach in
consensus over the national election sched-
uled for early January.
Positive export performance in spite of
political turmoil fueled confidence among
investors, according to IDLC Investment.
The market breadth also remained posi-
tive as out of 289 issues traded, 210 gained,
Dollar up in Asia after Fed
official’s stimulus hint
n AFP, Tokyo
The dollar edged up in Asia yesterday, after
big gains in New York as a Federal Reserve
official hinted that the US central bank could
announce a winding down of its stimulus
programme as early as next week.
The greenback turned up to 103.30 yen in
afternoon trading, against 103.28 yen in New
York and well up from the levels around 103
yen earlier Monday in Tokyo.
The euro gained to $1.3756 from $1.3737
while it also rose to 142.08 yen from 141.89
yen in US trading.
‘Markets are becoming increasingly
accustomed to the idea of an
imminent Fed tapering as reflected
in ongoing gains in risk assets’
On Monday, James Bullard, the president of
the Fed’s St. Louis branch, said in a speech
that “a small taper” of the $85bn a month as-
set-purchase programme might be a possibil-
ity as policymakers wrestle with how to re-
spond to signs of improvement in the world’s
biggest economy.
A strong third-quarter growth report and
surprisingly upbeat November jobs data last
week boosted speculation the Fed may start
reeling in the scheme after a policy meeting
that ends next Wednesday.
The US unit has been rising for weeks on
expectations of a pullback, which would re-
duce the number of dollars in the financial
system, boosting demand.
“Markets are becoming increasingly ac-
customed to the idea of an imminent Fed
tapering as reflected in ongoing gains in risk
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013
71 declined and 8 remained unchanged on
the prime bourse.
Heavy weight banks and non-banking fi-
nancial institutions ended 1.55% and 2.51%
higher respectively. The largest exporting
sector textile showed much enthusiasm,
gaining more than 1%.
The other major sectors – pharmaceuti-
cals, telecommunications, life insurance and
power – closed in red.
Generation Next Fashions was the most
traded stock of the session with a turnover of
Tk400m changing hands.
Other turnover leaders were Paramount
Textile, Golden Son, Golden Harvest Agro
Industries Ltd, Delta Life Insurance, Lanka
Bangla Finance, Central Pharmaceuticals,
Argon Denim and RN Spinning.
The top three accounted for 13.4% of the
total market turnover. l
assets,” Credit Agricole said, adding that Fed
officials’ comments have “on balance sup-
ported the view of beginning tapering sooner
rather than later”.
Strong Chinese economic data has helped
boost confidence among investors who are
looking to US retail sales report for Novem-
ber.
The yen has been under pressure after
weak Japanese growth data on Monday
boosted expectations that the Bank of Japan
will launch another round of monetary eas-
ing to prop up the economy.
The euro has been notching up gains after
the European Central Bank last week held off
any new interest rate cuts despite prolonged
low inflation.
That followed the ECB’s surprise cut last
month of its central refinancing rate by a
quarter-point to counter the threat of defla-
tion.
“The euro has gained a reputation as an
unsellable currency, with the currency con-
tinuing to hold its ‘Teflon’ coating,” Credit
Agricole said.
However, it said an easier monetary poli-
cy at the ECB and soft economic growth com-
pared with the United States suggested there
would be some depreciation in the euro.
The dollar was mixed against other
Asia-Pacific currencies.
It weakened to 32.10 Thai baht from 32.14
baht the previous day, to 1,052.60 South
Korean won from 1,053.35 won, and to
Sg$1.2494 from Sg$1.2510.
The greenback strengthened to 61.22 In-
dian rupees from 61.04 rupees, to 11,990 In-
donesian rupiah from 11,980 rupiah, to 44.29
Philippines pesos from 43.97 pesos, and to
Tw$29.56 from Tw$29.55.
The Australian dollar was unchanged
at 91.07 US cents, while the Chinese yuan
bought 17.01 yen from 16.93 yen. l
3
BSEC okays IPO,
rights offer
n Tribune Report
Matin Spinning Mills Ltd has got green signal
from the securities regulator to raise Tk126
crore from the stock market.
Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Com-
mission (BSEC) approved the textile compa-
ny’s IPO (initial public offering) to expand its
business and to meet expenses of IPO process,
said the regulator in a statement yesterday.
It will issue Tk3.41 crore ordinary shares val-
ued Tk37 each, including premium of Tk27. The
company’s earnings per share stood at Tk3.43
and net asset value of Tk35.73, according to its
financial statement as of June 30, 2013. IDLC
Investment is serving as the issue manager.
It will be 33rd textile company to be listed
with the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
The commission also approved a rights of-
fer by Aramit Cement Ltd to issue more than
1.7 crore ordinary shares of Tk15 each, in-
cluding Tk5, to raise over Tk25.5 crore from
its investors. It offers one rights share for
one existing share.
The raised money will be used for procure-
ment of local spares, accessories, civil work,
erection and commissioning, and repayment
of bank’s term loan and other liabilities. l
3 companies fined for
price manipulation
n Tribune Report
The securities regulator has fined three com-
panies Tk23,00,000 for manipulating CVO
Petro Chemical Refinery Limited scrips.
The scrips have been manipulated be-
tween April and August last when prices of
those jumped by more than 100% to over
Tk634 per share.
Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Com-
mission (BSEC) has found a bank, an issue
management company and a brokerage firm
indulged in influencing price hike of the scrips,
said the regulator in a statement yesterday.
It said for playing role in abnormal share
price hike of CVO Petro Chemical, Bangladesh
Development Bank was fined Tk10,00,000,
Prime Finance Capital Management Ltd
Tk7,00,000 and PFI Securities Tk5,00,000.
The commission has also decided to ap-
point a chartered accountant firm to carry
out a special audit of the company.
Share trading of the CVO Petro Chemi-
cal remained suspended since September
24 when the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE)
opened probe into the abnormal price hike
in the low cap company’s stock.
The company reported a net profit after
tax of Tk47,40,000 with earnings per share
of Tk0.26 during January-March period.
On September 15, the BSEC had launched
a probe against CVO Petrochemical and other
low cap companies, including Mithun Knit-
ting, Tallu Spinning, JMI Syringes and Med-
ical Devices, Alhaj Textiles, Bangas, Modern
Dyeing and Anawar Galvanising for the unu-
sual hike of their share prices.
The BSEC investigative team has recently
submitted their probe reports against those
low cap companies’ unusual share price rise.
An official said the team found some institu-
tion involved with the price manipulation of
the low cap companies. l
4 DHAKA TRIBUNE
Chinese investors look to mine Bitcoin volatility
n AFP, Shanghai
Chinese speculators have seen Bitcoin val-
ues plunge, soar and plunge again within
days, but say the virtual currency’s extreme
volatility is a profit opportunity despite the
white-knuckle ride.
China is the world’s biggest market for
trading Bitcoins, but around $5bn was wiped
off the value of the currency’s global stock
within an hour of an announcement from
Beijing’s central bank in early December,
banning financial institutions from dealing
in it.
Exchange rates on BTCChina, the coun-
try’s biggest Bitcoin trading platform,
slumped more than 35% from a recent high
of 7,050 yuan (around $1,150), almost as
much as an ounce of gold.
They climbed back above 6,000 yuan,
until one of Chinese Internet giant Baidu’s
websites said it would no longer accept the
virtual currency as payment.
The following day Bitcoins were down
to 3,821 yuan - before rising again to nudge
6,000 yuan yesterday.
“Prices are certainly volatile when it’s in
the teeth of the storm, but such volatility
will create short-term arbitrage opportuni-
ties,” Wei Zhicheng, a 27-year old Shanghai
based investor, told AFP.
He bought more of the virtual currency
when the price fell. “Risks are peer to peer
with opportunities,” he said.
Bitcoin was invented in the wake of
the global financial crisis by a computer
scientist using the pseudonym Satoshi Na-
kamoto.
It is based on cryptography and only 21
million units can ever be created, which can
be stored either virtually or on a user’s hard
drive.
It offers a largely anonymous payment
system with no centralised structure and
Bitcoin trade
Closing prices for the virtual currency
US dollars
1 YEAR
230
Apr 9
13
Dec 16, 2012
Jan Feb Mar Apr
Source: Bitcoincharts.com, AFP
Business WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013
transactions are publicly logged in what is
known as the “block chain”, with those who
maintain it being paid in new units, a pro-
cess known as “mining”.
Bitcoin has become a global phenome-
non, with the price rising so much that a
Norwegian man was able to buy an apart-
ment with some of the 5,000 Bitcoins he
bought for just $24 in 2009.
The explosive growth has raised alarm
bells, with analysts warning of a potential
crash due to a lack of fundamental under-
pinning.
“The trading of Bitcoin has already
formed a bubble,” Ding Zhaoyong, a finance
professor at Jilin University, told AFP.
“The inventor did not pledge any assets
to guarantee Bitcoin’s value, so when the
bubble bursts, all you have left is just a string
of useless numbers,” he said.
But Chinese buyers have piled into
Bitcoins this year, driving the BTCChina
price up from 82.29 yuan on January 1 to a
high of 7,588.88 yuan on Nov 30, a 9,122%
increase.
Chinese investors have a limited range of
options for their money, with the authorities
imposing restrictions on property purchas-
es, historically poor returns from the do-
mestic stock market, and low interest rates Bobby Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of BTC China, China’s bitcoin exchange at his office in Shanghai AFP
offered to savers.
At the same time the authorities re- Bitcoin as a “virtual commodity”, ruling out Nonetheless, BTCChina CEO Bobby Lee
tain significant control over the economy, the possibility that it will gain legal status as says that the e-money offers a new twist on
and are unlikely to welcome the prospect currency. investing for Chinese, known for conserva-
of that being diluted by an independent It ordered financial institutions not to tively investing their assets.
currency. provide services and products related to “China has been known as a nation of sav-
Although the ruling Communist Party re- Bitcoin - although it allowed individuals to ers, people save for a rainy day,” the ex-Ya-
cently vowed that market forces will be al- trade it at their own risk. hoo engineer told AFP.
lowed to “play a decisive role” in the future, The central bank also warned of dangers Bitcoin is “a global asset class” equal to
tight capital controls remain in place, with associated with Bitcoin trading, especially common investment choices including gold,
the yuan currency not allowed to float freely after media reported that three people had shares and real estate, he said.
against global counterparts. been detained for allegedly defrauding Bit- “Bitcoin will go mainstream, I have full
In its announcement the People’s Bank coin investors, leaving hundreds with more confidence. We hope to push this forward in
of China (PBoC), the central bank, defined than 20m yuan in combined losses. China.” l
1,238 Chinese yuan 7,395
Dec 4 2 MONTHS Nov 30
5,888
Nov 18
768
Nov 18
804
Oct 13 2,388
Nov 9 5,665
1,307 Dec 10*
69 140 Oct 23
Oct 1 920 *As of
Jul 5
Dec 9 0400 GMT
May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Oct Nov Dec

A man walks past a light rail station under construction at the Orile-Iganmu district in Lagos
Big banks see rich opportunities
in world’s poorest
n Reuters
When the Afghan government used mobile
phones instead of cash to pay some of its po-
licemen, the officers thought they’d just had
a 30% pay rise. In truth, they had just been
paid the full amount, with nothing skimmed
off by middlemen, for the first time.
This anecdote from the US Agency for
International Development shows how tech-
nological innovations such as mobile bank-
ing and biometrics have helped integrate
more people in emerging markets into the
formal financial system, opening up oppor-
tunities for banks willing to take a chance.
While the market for more affluent and
business clients becomes saturated, pro-
viding the world’s poorest with access to
financial products is an unmatched growth
opportunity.
Half the world’s adults, over 2.5 billion
people, do not have a formal bank account,
according to the World Bank. In low-income
economies it can be less than a quarter.
Many developing countries also offer
banks the allure of a growing working-age
population and an emerging middle class.
“Twenty years ago we spoke about the
poor with a sense of futility, and I think
now when you talk about the base of the
pyramid, more often than not you’re talk-
ing about markets and opportunities,” said
Michael Schlein, chief executive of Accion,
a non-profit organization that invests in mi-
crofinance institutions and companies ad-
vancing financial inclusion.
Between 2010 and 2020, the world’s poor-
est 40% will nearly double their spending
power to $5.8tn from $3tn, according to Ac-
cion’s Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI).
The idea of providing the world’s poorest
with small loans was pioneered 30 years ago
by Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammad
Yunus and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.
Microfinance grew into a global industry
with a loan portfolio of $78bn in 2011, ac-
DHAKA TRIBUNE Business
cording to data provider MIX Market, but it
has come under fire for high interest rates
and excessive credit expansion during the
financial crisis.
Big banks, which suffered more than a lit-
tle reputational damage of their own during
the crisis, realized they needed to go beyond
branch-based models to profitably reach
such customers in a market traditionally re-
liant on cash.
“The competition and the saturation in
those (developed) markets are getting high-
er and higher, so they have to look for the
next wave, the next area of possible profit-
able ventures,” said Gerhard Coetzee, Senior
Financial Sector Specialist at the Consulta-
tive Group to Assist the Poor, a think-tank
housed at the World Bank.
Citigroup (CN) launched a mobile pay-
ments scheme called Mobile Collect for
small stores in the Dominican Republic ear-
lier this year, while MasterCard teamed up
with the Nigerian government in May to roll
out 13 million national identity cards that
double as electronic payment cards.
Compete or collaborate
Tapping the potential in the market of the
unbanked requires alternative business
models. Fragmentation makes it harder to
achieve economies of scale, and banks also
have to overcome the hurdles of poor com-
munications infrastructure and the often
non-existent credit history of many poten-
tial customers.
“Many banks think of the digitization op-
portunity around the world. There is, how-
ever, a constraint, which is the whole issue
of infrastructure,” Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede,
chief executive of Nigeria’s Access Bank, told
a recent conference organized by the CFI.
Another issue is competition. Banks’ big-
gest rivals are not their peers but rather mo-
bile network operators and large retailers.
Coetzee says they face a difficult balancing
act of rolling out competing products and
collaborating to serve a bigger chunk of the
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013
REUTERS
market.
Banks also need mobile network opera-
tors to allow their payment systems to work
across rivals’ systems - a commonplace in
developed banking markets - if they are to
achieve scale.
M-Pesa, Safaricom’s successful mobile
payment system in Kenya, benefited from
the telecoms operator’s hefty market share
to roll out its service, so it had an in-built ad-
vantage. But that doesn’t apply everywhere,
Schlein said.
Bob Annibale, Global Director of Commu-
nity Development and Microfinance at Cit-
igroup, also highlighted the importance of
integrating different payment systems.
“It is about that financial architecture
... The bank payment system also connects
to the mobile payments system. If that be-
comes the norm, it’s a lot easier for us.”
But getting competitors to collaborate is
not easy.
“If you’re waiting for the industry to come
together and collaborate, it’s like asking the
turkeys to vote for Christmas,” a participant
said at the conference.
Clearing such obstacles could unlock
huge rewards.
Barclays, which teamed up with NGOs
Care International and Plan UK to form the
Banking on Change partnership, connecting
village savings groups with the formal finan-
cial system, estimated that $145bn - about a
quarter of the Nigerian economy - could be
injected into the global economy each year if
all 2.5 billion of the unbanked were included
in the scheme.
Tapping in to existing networks could be
the key.
“Coca-Cola is consumed by everybody
... How difficult is it going to be for us to tag
on payments, savings and so on around the
value chain by which Coke is sold?” Aig-Im-
oukhuede said.
“Once you have scale ... I think it’s easy.” l
5
WIPO: Global
patent growth
hits 18-year high
n AFP, Geneva
Global patent filings grew at their fastest
pace in almost two decades in 2012, with
China the driving force, the UN’s intellectual
property agency said Monday.
In its annual report on patents, the
World Intellectual Property Organisa-
tion (WIPO) said the patent filings rose by
9.2% last year, representing the fastest
growth in 18 years, reaching an estimated
2.35 million.
Filings had contracted by 3.9% in 2009,
at the height of the financial crisis, but have
been picking up pace since then, rising by
7.6% in 2010 and 8.1% in 2011.
“These are well in excess of the rate of
growth worldwide of the global economy,
and well in excess of most economies’ indi-
vidual performances,” WIPO head Francis
Gurry told reporters.
For the first time, residents of China ac-
counted for the largest number of patents
filed throughout the world, hitting a total of
560,681.
Residents of Japan ranked next, with
480,000 filings, followed by US residents,
who filed 460,000.
“As a broad generalisation, patent applica-
tions tend to track economic performance,”
Gurry explained.
“More specifically, China is still very
much in a development mode, it is still
developing its expertise in this area,” he
said.
“So enormous investment in research
and development, enormous investment in
education, and investment in knowledge
infrastructure are also being reflected in the
take-up in the use of the intellectual proper-
ty system,” he added.
With 652,777 filings, China’s State In-
tellectual Property Office (SIPO) last year
logged the largest number of applications re-
ceived by any single office, a position it first
reached in 2011.
The figure included filings by Chinese
residents as well as those by foreign
firms and individuals seeking protection in
China.
While two-thirds of the globe’s patent fil-
ings were made in high-income countries,
China’s share of the total was almost 28% in
2012.
The US and Japan followed, with 23% and
almost 15% respectively.
Overall, filings at China’s SIPO rose 24%
in 2012, followed by New Zealand, where the
growth rate was 14.3%.
Next came Mexico, with nine percent, the
United States, on 7.8%, and Russia, which
saw growth of 6.8%.
Brazil also posted solid patent filing
growth, logging a five-percent increase, with
fellow BRICS members India showing 3.9%
growth and South Africa 2.7%.
Fortunes were mixed in Europe.
Filings grew by four% at the European
Patent Office. The national offices of Germa-
ny and Britain also posted an expansion, of
3.2% and 4.4% respectively.
In contrast, filings in France fell by 0.7%
and those in Italy by 4.2%. l
6 DHAKA TRIBUNE Share WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013

DSEBroadIndex:4329.54⇑0.93%,Turnover:7460.54M.Tk⇑15.24%,PE:13.23 Turnover 8,307.00MTk.⇑14.83% 10 December2013 MarketCap.2,085.11BTk.⇑0.59% CSEAllShareIndex:13447⇑1.01%,Turnover:846.46MTk.⇑11.32%,PE:13.07

Combined Turnover TO M. % of DSE Gainer C% A% CP DSE Loser C% A% CP

Vol. Avg. P
Leader Tk. TTL
Samata Leather-Z 10.00 10.00 22.00 Pharma Aids-A -4.78 -4.05 171.40
Generation Next
12409040 437.90 5.27 35.29 Progressive
Fashions-A Delta Spinners-A 9.91 10.86 36.60 -4.37 -4.33 115.90
Life-A
Paramount Textile Ltd.-N 4793500 333.15 4.01 69.50 BD Building
Monno Ceramic -B 9.88 9.14 37.80 -4.13 -2.28 74.20
Golden Son -A 5556926 309.87 3.73 55.76 Systems -N

G Harvest Agro-N 5609080 283.10 3.41 50.47 Rahima Food -A 9.87 13.51 84.60 3rd ICB M F-A -3.95 -3.95 192.10

Delta Life Insu. -A 895510 250.06 3.01 279.24 Salvo Chemicals-B 9.83 7.91 25.70 EBL NRB M.F.-A -3.80 -4.28 7.60

CompanyCode | EPS | BV | Volume Traded (Share)
DSE/CSE: ClosePrice ⇓/⇑ Chn % | Avg.Price | Hi / Lo
BANK
ABBANK | 2.95 | 32.60 | Vol. 650912
D: 27.70 ⇑ 1.47% | 27.24 | 28.50 / 25.80
C: 27.60 ⇑ 1.47% | 27.37 | 27.80 / 27.00
CITYBANK | 1.15 | 25.97 | Vol. 1015933
D: 21.10 ⇑ 1.93% | 20.96 | 22.00 / 19.00
C: 21.10 ⇑ 2.43% | 21.05 | 21.50 / 20.50
IFIC | 1.10 | 18.34 | Vol. 2255367
D: 34.80 ⇑ 4.19% | 34.29 | 35.30 / 31.00
C: 34.90 ⇑ 3.25% | 34.52 | 35.50 / 33.40
ISLAMIBANK | 3.78 | 27.16 | Vol. 444627
D: 35.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 35.18 | 36.50 / 33.00
C: 35.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 35.00 | 35.50 / 34.90
NBL | 1.05 | 15.76 | Vol. 2070666
D: 12.30 ⇑ 1.65% | 12.22 | 13.00 / 11.10
C: 12.30 ⇑ 1.65% | 12.23 | 12.50 / 12.00
PUBALIBANK | 1.92 | 21.18 | Vol. 200512
D: 32.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 32.22 | 33.20 / 30.00
C: 32.00 ⇑ 0.63% | 31.96 | 32.50 / 28.80
RUPALIBANK | 6.70 | 64.27 | Vol. 45200
D: 66.70 ⇑ 2.14% | 65.98 | 67.20 / 65.10
C: 68.00 ⇑ 1.34% | 66.37 | 69.00 / 65.00
UCBL | 1.90 | 21.72 | Vol. 4669289
D: 25.00 ⇑ 2.04% | 24.86 | 25.60 / 22.50
C: 25.20 ⇑ 2.44% | 24.99 | 25.50 / 24.50
UTTARABANK | 3.42 | 26.97 | Vol. 542205
D: 32.30 ⇑ 2.54% | 31.94 | 32.70 / 28.50
C: 32.00 ⇑ 2.24% | 31.87 | 32.60 / 31.00
ICBIBANK | -1.60 | -13.03 | Vol. 171000
D: 6.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.78 | 6.90 / 6.70
EBL | 3.91 | 28.22 | Vol. 64180
D: 28.90 ⇑ 1.05% | 28.90 | 29.00 / 26.00
C: 29.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 28.80 | 29.00 / 28.40
ALARABANK | 2.03 | 14.91 | Vol. 3826352
D: 20.30 ⇑ 3.57% | 20.04 | 21.00 / 18.00
C: 20.40 ⇑ 3.55% | 20.16 | 20.80 / 19.40
PRIMEBANK | 2.89 | 22.40 | Vol. 118121
D: 24.30 ⇑ 1.25% | 24.22 | 24.80 / 23.00
C: 23.90 ⇓ 0.42% | 23.82 | 24.50 / 23.70
SOUTHEASTB | 1.89 | 22.66 | Vol. 1128262
D: 18.60 ⇑ 2.20% | 18.31 | 20.00 / 16.50
C: 18.40 ⇑ 0.55% | 18.34 | 18.80 / 18.00
DHAKABANK | 1.46 | 18.08 | Vol. 148916
D: 19.40 ⇑ 2.11% | 19.30 | 19.50 / 18.00
C: 18.90 ⇑ 0.53% | 18.92 | 19.30 / 18.70
NCCBANK | 1.90 | 15.88 | Vol. 1209077
D: 13.90 ⇑ 1.46% | 13.86 | 14.10 / 13.00
C: 14.00 ⇑ 1.45% | 13.91 | 14.20 / 13.70
SIBL | 2.05 | 14.47 | Vol. 1213191
D: 13.50 ⇑ 2.27% | 13.49 | 14.00 / 12.00
C: 13.60 ⇑ 0.74% | 13.52 | 13.90 / 12.50
DUTCHBANGL | 11.57 | 54.27 | Vol. 44000
D: 99.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 99.43 | 100.0 / 99.00
MTBL | 1.17 | 17.27 | Vol. 217550
D: 16.20 ⇑ 0.62% | 16.30 | 16.50 / 15.10
C: 16.60 ⇑ 7.10% | 16.37 | 16.60 / 15.60
STANDBANKL | 2.33 | 14.41 | Vol. 682332
D: 15.30 ⇑ 2.00% | 15.33 | 16.00 / 13.50
C: 15.20 ⇑ 1.33% | 15.20 | 15.50 / 14.90
ONEBANKLTD | 2.35 | 15.34 | Vol. 2105312
D: 16.90 ⇑ 3.05% | 16.82 | 17.20 / 15.00
C: 17.00 ⇑ 3.66% | 16.89 | 17.20 / 16.50
BANKASIA | 1.35 | 20.80 | Vol. 784952
D: 19.60 ⇑ 2.08% | 19.53 | 20.00 / 17.30
C: 19.40 ⇑ 2.65% | 19.27 | 19.70 / 18.90
MERCANBANK | 2.07 | 16.59 | Vol. 3081735
D: 16.60 ⇑ 2.47% | 16.53 | 17.00 / 15.00
C: 16.80 ⇑ 2.44% | 16.76 | 17.10 / 16.20
EXIMBANK | 1.80 | 14.31 | Vol. 1233626
D: 12.70 ⇑ 0.79% | 12.60 | 13.00 / 11.50
C: 12.80 ⇑ 1.59% | 12.71 | 13.00 / 12.40
JAMUNABANK | 2.47 | 18.56 | Vol. 340037
D: 16.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 16.66 | 17.00 / 15.20
C: 16.50 ⇑ 1.23% | 16.45 | 16.80 / 16.20
BRACBANK | 1.51 | 24.87 | Vol. 646464
D: 32.00 ⇑ 1.27% | 31.97 | 33.00 / 29.00
C: 31.60 ⇑ 0.32% | 32.20 | 32.60 / 31.60
SHAHJABANK | 2.61 | 14.47 | Vol. 1187090
D: 17.30 ⇑ 1.76% | 17.11 | 18.10 / 15.50
C: 17.40 ⇑ 1.16% | 17.29 | 17.60 / 17.00
PREMIERBAN | 1.18 | 13.95 | Vol. 791023
D: 11.80 ⇑ 2.61% | 11.74 | 12.00 / 10.50
C: 11.80 ⇑ 2.61% | 11.72 | 11.90 / 11.50
TRUSTBANK | 0.50 | 18.00 | Vol. 1258915
D: 22.20 ⇑ 5.71% | 22.07 | 22.80 / 20.00
C: 22.50 ⇑ 7.14% | 22.04 | 22.90 / 21.40
FIRSTSBANK | 1.85 | 13.89 | Vol. 2057150
D: 16.00 ⇑ 3.23% | 15.86 | 16.50 / 14.00
C: 16.30 ⇑ 6.54% | 15.99 | 16.70 / 15.10
NON BANKING F I
IDLC | 4.43 | 29.18 | Vol. 309360
D: 62.30 ⇑ 2.13% | 62.32 | 65.00 / 56.00
C: 62.90 ⇑ 2.44% | 62.03 | 63.00 / 60.80
ULC | 1.80 | 14.90 | Vol. 281591
D: 30.20 ⇑ 3.78% | 30.03 | 30.40 / 27.50
UTTARAFIN | 7.16 | 41.54 | Vol. 146304
D: 81.50 ⇑ 1.24% | 81.28 | 84.00 / 76.00
C: 81.90 ⇑ 1.99% | 81.29 | 82.00 / 80.00
MIDASFIN | 0.16 | 10.21 | Vol. 13500
D: 29.30 ⇓ 1.35% | 29.41 | 30.00 / 29.00
FLEASEINT | 2.34 | 13.93 | Vol. 3612368
D: 33.30 ⇑ 7.77% | 32.61 | 33.50 / 28.70
C: 33.40 ⇑ 7.74% | 32.57 | 33.50 / 31.50
PLFSL | 1.37 | 17.48 | Vol. 1474068
D: 24.80 ⇑ 5.08% | 24.57 | 25.00 / 22.00
C: 24.80 ⇑ 5.08% | 24.46 | 24.90 / 23.80
PRIMEFIN | 0.87 | 17.88 | Vol. 629089
D: 25.70 ⇑ 4.47% | 25.58 | 27.00 / 22.60
C: 25.80 ⇑ 4.88% | 25.55 | 26.00 / 24.90
PREMIERLEA | 0.10 | 11.37 | Vol. 384500
D: 10.10 ⇑ 1.00% | 10.22 | 10.40 / 10.00
C: 10.10 ⇑ 1.00% | 10.15 | 10.40 / 10.00
ISLAMICFIN | 1.03 | 15.48 | Vol. 1058273
D: 17.50 ⇑ 4.79% | 17.44 | 17.70 / 15.50
C: 17.50 ⇑ 4.17% | 17.47 | 17.70 / 17.00
LANKABAFIN | 1.61 | 31.07 | Vol. 3058813
D: 61.50 ⇑ 7.89% | 60.09 | 62.10 / 52.00
C: 61.20 ⇑ 7.18% | 59.87 | 61.50 / 58.40
BIFC | 0.15 | 18.58 | Vol. 392016
D: 17.20 ⇑ 6.83% | 17.02 | 17.50 / 15.10
C: 17.50 ⇑ 9.38% | 17.13 | 17.50 / 16.30
IPDC | 1.23 | 19.43 | Vol. 171295
D: 19.00 ⇑ 3.26% | 18.95 | 19.20 / 18.00
C: 19.30 ⇑ 4.89% | 18.89 | 19.30 / 18.40
UNIONCAP | 0.54 | 17.85 | Vol. 88647
D: 29.00 ⇑ 3.57% | 28.77 | 29.40 / 27.00
C: 29.00 ⇑ 5.45% | 29.06 | 29.30 / 27.60
BDFINANCE | 0.57 | 14.77 | Vol. 407472
D: 19.50 ⇑ 3.17% | 19.32 | 19.60 / 18.00
C: 19.50 ⇑ 4.84% | 19.26 | 19.50 / 18.60
ILFSL | 0.35 | 12.19 | Vol. 1070530
D: 15.40 ⇑ 6.21% | 15.16 | 15.50 / 13.10
C: 15.50 ⇑ 6.16% | 15.22 | 15.70 / 14.70
PHOENIXFIN | 2.46 | 19.39 | Vol. 798432
D: 34.80 ⇑ 3.88% | 34.54 | 35.10 / 30.20
C: 35.00 ⇑ 5.42% | 34.65 | 35.00 / 33.00
FASFIN | 0.19 | 13.56 | Vol. 1168501
D: 14.50 ⇑ 5.07% | 14.31 | 14.60 / 13.00
C: 14.70 ⇑ 5.76% | 14.43 | 14.80 / 13.90
DBH | 4.47 | 21.27 | Vol. 58540
D: 55.80 ⇑ 1.82% | 55.57 | 56.10 / 52.00
C: 56.50 ⇑ 1.07% | 56.17 | 56.50 / 56.50
NHFIL | 0.57 | 12.70 | Vol. 363623
D: 30.90 ⇑ 1.31% | 31.08 | 31.50 / 30.00
C: 31.40 ⇑ 1.62% | 31.19 | 31.50 / 30.10
BAYLEASING | 0.72 | 25.55 | Vol. 571328
D: 30.10 ⇑ 5.24% | 29.82 | 30.50 / 26.00
C: 30.30 ⇑ 5.57% | 30.00 | 30.50 / 29.30
ICB | 89.23 | 607.74 | Vol. 10050
D: 1537 ⇑ 0.23% | 1535 | 1550 / 1520
C: 1550 ⇓ 0.64% | 1550 | 1550 / 1550
GSPFINANCE | 1.63 | 22.23 | Vol. 361817
D: 27.00 ⇑ 3.45% | 26.89 | 27.40 / 24.00
C: 27.20 ⇑ 3.82% | 27.00 | 27.50 / 26.50
FAREASTFIN | 0.68 | 13.64 | Vol. 3973000
D: 15.30 ⇑ 9.29% | 14.93 | 15.40 / 14.10
C: 15.50 ⇑ 9.93% | 14.98 | 15.50 / 14.20
INVESTMENT
2NDICB | 44.10 | 253.11 | Vol. 350
D: 261.3 ⇓ 1.62% | 260.00 | 262.0 / 260.1
3RDICB | 26.16 | 235.16 | Vol. 250
D: 192.1 ⇓ 3.95% | 192.10 | 192.1 / 192.1
4THICB | 29.24 | 229.24 | Vol. 100
D: 186.5 ⇓ 0.90% | 186.50 | 186.5 / 186.5
6THICB | 10.99 | 60.14 | Vol. 11000
D: 53.30 ⇑ 0.19% | 53.36 | 53.80 / 53.20
8THICB | 12.47 | 70.07 | Vol. 2500
D: 53.20 ⇓ 0.37% | 53.20 | 53.30 / 53.20
AIMS1STMF | 3.02 | 15.70 | Vol. 379050
D: 39.50 ⇑ 1.80% | 39.70 | 40.00 / 38.80
C: 39.40 ⇑ 2.34% | 39.53 | 40.00 / 39.10
ICBISLAMIC | 2.21 | 26.81 | Vol. 56000
D: 18.40 ⇑ 2.22% | 18.43 | 18.80 / 18.10
GRAMEEN1 | 6.26 | 33.23 | Vol. 537000
D: 44.90 ⇑ 2.28% | 45.02 | 45.60 / 42.00
C: 45.10 ⇑ 2.27% | 45.41 | 46.30 / 44.50
ICB1STNRB | 4.06 | 35.31 | Vol. 13000
D: 25.30 ⇓ 0.39% | 25.28 | 25.50 / 25.20
C: 25.00 ⇓ 6.72% | 25.00 | 25.00 / 25.00
ICB2NDNRB | 2.49 | 16.24 | Vol. 229500
D: 9.90 ⇑ 1.02% | 9.96 | 10.10 / 9.90
GRAMEENS2 | 2.17 | 16.41 | Vol. 2045000
D: 17.00 ⇑ 3.03% | 17.10 | 17.30 / 15.00
C: 17.10 ⇑ 3.64% | 17.08 | 17.40 / 15.00
1STPRIMFMF | 0.64 | 11.63 | Vol. 2347500
D: 26.40 ⇑ 9.54% | 26.18 | 26.50 / 24.50
C: 26.00 ⇑ 7.88% | 26.04 | 26.50 / 25.50
EBL1STMF | 0.55 | 12.62 | Vol. 435871
D: 7.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.22 | 7.30 / 6.90
C: 7.20 ⇑ 1.41% | 7.13 | 7.30 / 6.60
ICBAMCL2ND | 0.60 | 12.12 | Vol. 55000
D: 6.00 ⇑ 1.69% | 6.00 | 6.10 / 6.00
C: 6.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.98 | 6.00 / 5.80
ICBEPMF1S1 | 0.52 | 11.32 | Vol. 42500
D: 6.00 ⇑ 1.69% | 6.06 | 6.20 / 6.00
C: 6.20 ⇑ 5.08% | 6.11 | 6.20 / 5.90
TRUSTB1MF | 0.75 | 11.65 | Vol. 843217
D: 7.50 ⇑ 2.74% | 7.50 | 7.70 / 6.90
C: 7.60 ⇑ 2.70% | 7.56 | 7.60 / 7.40
PRIME1ICBA | 0.42 | 11.18 | Vol. 881500
D: 5.80 ⇑ 7.41% | 5.75 | 5.90 / 5.50
C: 5.90 ⇑ 5.36% | 5.85 | 5.90 / 5.80
DBH1STMF | -1.12 | 10.15 | Vol. 830500
D: 5.90 ⇑ 5.36% | 5.91 | 6.00 / 5.60
C: 5.90 ⇑ 3.51% | 5.81 | 5.90 / 5.60
IFIC1STMF | 0.83 | 11.88 | Vol. 626587
D: 6.80 ⇑ 3.03% | 6.77 | 7.00 / 6.20
C: 6.80 ⇑ 1.49% | 6.73 | 6.80 / 6.70
PF1STMF | 0.51 | 11.11 | Vol. 282000
D: 5.70 ⇑ 3.64% | 5.74 | 5.80 / 5.60
C: 5.60 ⇑ 1.82% | 5.63 | 5.70 / 5.50
ICB3RDNRB | 0.00 | 10.60 | Vol. 196000
D: 5.40 ⇑ 3.85% | 5.40 | 5.50 / 5.30
C: 5.40 ⇑ 1.89% | 5.38 | 5.40 / 5.20
1JANATAMF | 0.78 | 10.68 | Vol. 362500
D: 6.10 ⇓ 1.61% | 6.19 | 6.40 / 6.10
C: 6.20 ⇑ 1.64% | 6.12 | 6.20 / 6.00
GREENDELMF | -0.82 | 9.72 | Vol. 189500
D: 5.50 ⇑ 1.85% | 5.50 | 5.60 / 5.40
C: 5.50 ⇑ 1.85% | 5.50 | 5.50 / 5.40
POPULAR1MF | 0.77 | 11.38 | Vol. 989971
D: 6.30 ⇑ 3.28% | 6.29 | 6.40 / 5.70
C: 6.40 ⇑ 4.92% | 6.32 | 6.50 / 6.10
IFILISLMF1 | 0.00 | 10.45 | Vol. 281000
D: 5.80 ⇑ 1.75% | 5.85 | 5.90 / 5.80
C: 5.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.75 | 5.80 / 5.70
PHPMF1 | 0.63 | 10.92 | Vol. 1385500
D: 5.80 ⇑ 5.45% | 5.72 | 5.90 / 5.60
C: 5.70 ⇑ 1.79% | 5.72 | 5.80 / 5.60
AIBL1STIMF | -0.07 | 9.25 | Vol. 32000
D: 7.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.10 | 7.20 / 7.00
C: 7.00 ⇓ 1.41% | 7.00 | 7.00 / 7.00
MBL1STMF | -0.16 | 9.08 | Vol. 80500
D: 6.30 ⇑ 1.61% | 6.30 | 6.40 / 6.20
C: 6.30 ⇑ 3.28% | 6.30 | 6.30 / 6.30
SEBL1STMF | 0.94 | 11.85 | Vol. 635300
D: 8.10 ⇑ 2.53% | 8.11 | 8.20 / 7.70
C: 8.00 ⇑ 1.27% | 8.08 | 8.20 / 8.00
EBLNRBMF | 1.07 | 10.88 | Vol. 2500
D: 7.60 ⇓ 3.80% | 7.60 | 7.60 / 7.60
RELIANCE1 | 0.95 | 10.33 | Vol. 721850
D: 8.70 ⇑ 3.57% | 8.69 | 8.90 / 8.00
C: 8.80 ⇑ 3.53% | 8.70 | 8.80 / 8.60
LRGLOBMF1 | 0.45 | 10.78 | Vol. 157134
D: 6.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.80 | 7.00 / 6.70
ABB1STMF | 0.92 | 10.63 | Vol. 802500
D: 7.20 ⇓ 1.37% | 7.33 | 7.50 / 7.20
NLI1STMF | 1.17 | 12.22 | Vol. 566500
D: 9.20 ⇑ 1.10% | 9.26 | 9.50 / 9.10
C: 9.20 ⇑ 1.10% | 9.15 | 9.30 / 8.50
FBFIF | 1.30 | 10.27 | Vol. 5000
D: 9.10 ⇑ 1.11% | 9.20 | 9.20 / 9.10
NCCBLMF1 | 1.16 | 10.48 | Vol. 22000
D: 8.30 ⇑ 2.47% | 8.32 | 8.40 / 8.20
ICBSONALI1 | 0.00 | 10.39 | Vol. 373500
D: 8.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 8.22 | 8.40 / 8.10
C: 8.10 ⇑ 1.25% | 8.18 | 8.30 / 8.00
ENGINEERING
AFTABAUTO | 3.60 | 50.81 | Vol. 584032
D: 93.80 ⇑ 0.11% | 94.28 | 95.30 / 90.00
C: 93.80 ⇓ 0.64% | 94.01 | 95.40 / 93.00
AZIZPIPES | 0.39 | -42.04 | Vol. 57000
D: 22.90 ⇑ 9.57% | 22.85 | 22.90 / 21.40
C: 23.50 ⇑ 9.81% | 23.49 | 23.50 / 23.40
OLYMPIC | 5.23 | 14.73 | Vol. 420195
D: 157.3 ⇑ 3.35% | 156.63 | 159.5 / 148.0
C: 155.7 ⇑ 1.70% | 155.74 | 158.0 / 152.5
BDLAMPS | -5.31 | 37.07 | Vol. 16950
D: 133.3 ⇓ 1.11% | 134.11 | 136.2 / 132.4
C: 133.0 ⇓ 2.71% | 133.35 | 134.1 / 132.5
ECABLES | 6.10 | 23.97 | Vol. 10900
D: 99.40 ⇓ 0.50% | 100.14 | 104.8 / 99.00
C: 92.60 ⇓ 7.31% | 96.47 | 99.90 / 100.0
MONNOSTAF | 5.31 | 44.78 | Vol. 3900
D: 330.4 ⇑ 7.24% | 327.69 | 333.9 / 318.0
SINGERBD | 9.99 | 45.74 | Vol. 94436
D: 194.9 ⇓ 0.56% | 195.21 | 196.4 / 185.0
C: 193.4 ⇓ 1.18% | 193.72 | 195.0 / 193.0
ATLASBANG | 9.14 | 222.05 | Vol. 21450
D: 162.5 ⇓ 0.06% | 162.00 | 164.0 / 161.4
BDAUTOCA | -0.43 | 5.68 | Vol. 142754
D: 38.30 ⇑ 4.36% | 38.21 | 39.50 / 35.00
QSMDRYCELL | 1.06 | 52.31 | Vol. 726645
D: 37.00 ⇑ 2.78% | 37.09 | 37.70 / 32.50
C: 37.00 ⇑ 2.78% | 37.24 | 37.90 / 36.80
RENWICKJA | 5.77 | -31.13 | Vol. 15300
D: 145.6 ⇓ 0.21% | 145.56 | 149.0 / 144.0
NTLTUBES | 0.67 | 311.00 | Vol. 49300
D: 75.00 ⇓ 0.79% | 74.77 | 76.40 / 74.00
BDTHAI | 0.43 | 39.35 | Vol. 1421285
D: 32.20 ⇑ 4.89% | 31.90 | 32.50 / 28.70
C: 32.70 ⇑ 5.83% | 32.20 | 33.00 / 30.90
ANWARGALV | 0.52 | 8.10 | Vol. 461000
D: 32.40 ⇓ 2.70% | 34.11 | 35.30 / 32.00
C: 32.90 ⇓ 1.20% | 33.82 | 35.00 / 32.80
KAY&QUE | -3.89 | 6.03 | Vol. 66600
D: 19.20 ⇑ 9.09% | 19.23 | 19.30 / 18.30
C: 19.10 ⇑ 9.77% | 19.10 | 19.10 / 19.10
RANFOUNDRY | 2.84 | 18.62 | Vol. 82000
D: 93.90 ⇓ 2.29% | 96.14 | 99.50 / 92.00
C: 94.30 ⇓ 3.48% | 96.72 | 98.00 / 100.9
SALAMCRST | 3.31 | 20.00 | Vol. 1015040
D: 46.40 ⇑ 4.50% | 45.48 | 47.00 / 44.00
C: 46.30 ⇑ 3.81% | 45.66 | 47.00 / 44.90
GOLDENSON | 3.70 | 28.70 | Vol. 5556926
D: 56.70 ⇑ 7.18% | 55.75 | 56.90 / 50.00
C: 56.90 ⇑ 7.16% | 55.91 | 57.30 / 53.50
BSRMSTEEL | 3.06 | 19.53 | Vol. 386064
D: 72.10 ⇓ 0.83% | 72.70 | 75.00 / 68.00
C: 72.30 ⇓ 0.82% | 72.68 | 74.00 / 72.00
NAVANACNG | 4.09 | 27.04 | Vol. 304299
D: 65.90 ⇑ 0.15% | 65.40 | 66.50 / 60.00
C: 65.90 ⇓ 0.60% | 66.01 | 67.00 / 65.50
DESHBANDHU | 0.26 | 10.67 | Vol. 2062261
D: 22.80 ⇑ 9.62% | 22.17 | 22.80 / 20.00
C: 22.90 ⇑ 9.57% | 22.31 | 22.90 / 21.00
GPHISPAT | 2.11 | 15.27 | Vol. 1165150
D: 59.40 ⇑ 2.95% | 60.18 | 61.80 / 53.00
C: 59.00 ⇑ 1.20% | 60.07 | 61.90 / 58.70
BENGALWTL | 3.85 | 24.30 | Vol. 1589400
D: 64.60 ⇓ 3.58% | 66.47 | 68.60 / 64.20
C: 64.70 ⇓ 3.14% | 66.26 | 69.40 / 64.00
BDBUILDING | 1.33 | 12.70 | Vol. 1819500
D: 74.20 ⇓ 4.13% | 76.75 | 79.20 / 73.00
C: 74.10 ⇓ 4.63% | 76.91 | 79.90 / 72.00
NPOLYMAR | 2.38 | 32.89 | Vol. 316200
D: 60.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 61.26 | 62.40 / 59.60
C: 59.10 ⇓ 2.31% | 60.07 | 61.30 / 58.50
FOOD & ALLIED
APEXFOODS | 2.54 | 90.81 | Vol. 55800
D: 91.90 ⇓ 0.22% | 91.67 | 93.50 / 91.00
C: 91.30 ⇓ 1.40% | 92.98 | 96.00 / 91.00
BANGAS | 7.20 | 50.27 | Vol. 65526
D: 466.0 ⇓ 1.67% | 468.12 | 475.0 / 438.0
C: 466.3 ⇓ 2.35% | 468.02 | 477.0 / 465.5
BATBC | 65.69 | 117.22 | Vol. 600
D: 1662 ⇓ 0.02% | 1662 | 1670 / 1658
C: 1700 ⇑ 3.03% | 1700 | 1700 / 1700
GEMINISEA | -15.39 | -5.70 | Vol. 2800
D: 153.9 ⇓ 0.90% | 153.93 | 157.0 / 152.5
NTC | 29.88 | 110.05 | Vol. 500
D: 815.0 ⇑ 0.00% | 815.00 | 815.0 / 815.0
AMCL(PRAN) | 6.85 | 57.14 | Vol. 64800
D: 191.1 ⇓ 1.80% | 192.50 | 196.7 / 190.0
C: 191.1 ⇓ 0.98% | 192.83 | 197.9 / 190.5
SHYAMPSUG | -45.77 | -396.49 | Vol. 1700
D: 7.40 ⇑ 7.25% | 7.65 | 7.50 / 7.40
RAHIMAFOOD | 0.52 | 4.45 | Vol. 662870
D: 84.60 ⇑ 9.87% | 83.17 | 84.70 / 79.50
C: 85.00 ⇑ 9.82% | 83.46 | 85.10 / 80.00
FUWANGFOOD | 0.94 | 12.28 | Vol. 1453690
D: 24.30 ⇑ 3.40% | 24.36 | 24.80 / 23.00
C: 24.70 ⇑ 4.22% | 24.50 | 24.80 / 24.00
MEGHNAPET | -0.50 | -1.52 | Vol. 51000
D: 6.90 ⇑ 2.99% | 6.92 | 7.10 / 6.50
MEGCONMILK | -7.48 | -23.70 | Vol. 117500
D: 7.60 ⇑ 8.57% | 7.57 | 7.70 / 7.00
BEACHHATCH | 1.01 | 12.48 | Vol. 3255263
D: 27.10 ⇑ 9.72% | 26.72 | 27.10 / 23.00
C: 27.50 ⇑ 10.00% | 27.15 | 27.50 / 22.60
FINEFOODS | 0.05 | 10.63 | Vol. 1048028
D: 25.40 ⇑ 9.48% | 24.80 | 25.50 / 22.20
C: 25.40 ⇑ 9.96% | 24.93 | 25.40 / 23.40
RDFOOD | 0.91 | 16.84 | Vol. 3299321
D: 26.50 ⇑ 3.92% | 26.19 | 27.00 / 24.00
C: 26.90 ⇑ 5.49% | 26.51 | 27.00 / 25.50
GHAIL | 2.31 | 24.36 | Vol. 5609080
D: 50.20 ⇑ 3.29% | 50.45 | 51.80 / 45.00
C: 50.90 ⇑ 3.46% | 50.69 | 51.80 / 49.80
FUEL & POWER
LINDEBD | 31.71 | 144.00 | Vol. 10350
D: 638.1 ⇑ 0.28% | 637.87 | 644.9 / 635.5
PADMAOIL | 27.62 | 79.74 | Vol. 160753
D: 315.9 ⇓ 0.69% | 317.59 | 322.3 / 305.0
C: 316.7 ⇓ 0.38% | 317.75 | 320.0 / 314.1
EASTRNLUB | 5.33 | 71.01 | Vol. 450
D: 331.8 ⇑ 1.62% | 331.11 | 335.0 / 330.0
BDWELDING | 0.33 | 16.82 | Vol. 2068473
D: 24.60 ⇑ 5.58% | 24.85 | 25.50 / 22.30
C: 24.80 ⇑ 5.53% | 24.87 | 25.40 / 23.90
SUMITPOWER | 3.17 | 19.26 | Vol. 964715
D: 38.50 ⇑ 0.26% | 38.80 | 41.90 / 35.00
C: 38.60 ⇓ 0.26% | 38.85 | 39.40 / 38.50
DESCO | 2.34 | 31.27 | Vol. 245100
D: 59.80 ⇑ 0.34% | 59.77 | 60.10 / 58.00
C: 59.80 ⇓ 0.17% | 60.68 | 63.30 / 59.30
POWERGRID | 2.19 | 63.69 | Vol. 160454
D: 54.40 ⇓ 0.55% | 54.60 | 55.50 / 52.00
C: 53.40 ⇓ 0.56% | 53.42 | 54.00 / 53.00
JAMUNAOIL | 19.83 | 57.32 | Vol. 390080
D: 205.0 ⇓ 1.16% | 206.21 | 209.5 / 201.0
C: 205.9 ⇓ 0.39% | 205.97 | 209.9 / 204.0
MPETROLEUM | 21.34 | 59.26 | Vol. 425807
D: 220.9 ⇓ 0.81% | 222.46 | 225.3 / 215.0
C: 221.5 ⇓ 0.63% | 223.57 | 232.0 / 220.0
TITASGAS | 9.20 | 46.26 | Vol. 335125
D: 73.90 ⇓ 0.14% | 74.01 | 74.60 / 70.00
C: 74.10 ⇑ 0.14% | 74.17 | 75.70 / 73.60
KPCL | 4.73 | 15.86 | Vol. 238952
D: 50.10 ⇑ 1.42% | 50.14 | 50.70 / 47.00
C: 49.70 ⇑ 0.40% | 49.80 | 50.20 / 49.50
BEDL | 1.48 | 19.43 | Vol. 3575857
D: 34.60 ⇑ 4.85% | 34.12 | 36.00 / 30.00
C: 34.70 ⇑ 5.15% | 34.50 | 35.00 / 33.10
MJLBD | 2.73 | 30.24 | Vol. 180401
D: 75.90 ⇑ 0.40% | 75.72 | 76.20 / 70.00
C: 75.70 ⇑ 0.80% | 75.27 | 76.00 / 73.10
GBBPOWER | 1.86 | 22.63 | Vol. 2339053
D: 31.10 ⇑ 3.67% | 31.03 | 32.00 / 27.00
C: 31.20 ⇑ 5.41% | 31.07 | 31.80 / 29.90
SPPCL | 3.81 | 23.34 | Vol. 1426450
D: 62.50 ⇓ 0.79% | 63.11 | 64.50 / 59.00
C: 62.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 63.29 | 64.50 / 62.10
JUTE
JUTESPINN | -48.14 | -39.89 | Vol. 10950
D: 83.30 ⇓ 1.30% | 84.47 | 86.90 / 83.00
SONALIANSH | 2.65 | 226.00 | Vol. 50850
D: 151.5 ⇓ 3.01% | 153.24 | 156.5 / 151.0
TEXTILE
AL-HAJTEX | 2.22 | 16.53 | Vol. 91645
D: 76.00 ⇓ 0.65% | 76.85 | 78.80 / 73.00
RAHIMTEXT | 4.65 | 56.68 | Vol. 8900
D: 260.5 ⇓ 3.38% | 261.35 | 270.2 / 252.3

December 10, 2013 Sectotal Index: BANK: 38,010.66 ⇑ 1.52% NBFI: 21,608.49 ⇑ 4.75% INVS: 4,884.18 ⇑ 1.64% ENGG: 6,613.87 ⇑ 0.77% FOOD: 10,470.78 ⇑ 1.75% F&P: 10,306.90 ⇑ 0.13% TEXT: 3,704.13 ⇑ 0.85% PHAR: 18,367.42 ⇓ 0.17% PAPR:
1,286.05 ⇑ 4.89% SERV: 3,031.69 ⇑ 0.42% LEAT: 5,431.52 ⇑ 1.31% CERA: 547.08 ⇑ 1.69% CMNT: 4,323.42 ⇓ 0.98% INFO: 8,297.54 ⇑ 5.71% GINS: 9,138.49 ⇓ 0.02% LINS: 124,368.62 ⇓ 0.69% TELC: 1,350.81 ⇓ 0.33% MISC: 6,644.80 ⇑ 1.64%
SAIHAMTEX | 2.75 | 29.50 | Vol. 633500
D: 28.70 ⇑ 1.41% | 28.80 | 29.20 / 28.40
C: 28.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 28.56 | 29.00 / 28.20
MODERNDYE | 0.91 | 10.37 | Vol. 1850
D: 104.5 ⇑ 2.75% | 104.32 | 106.0 / 101.1
DSHGARME | 0.88 | 12.12 | Vol. 58100
D: 74.00 ⇑ 2.64% | 75.71 | 77.30 / 73.20
DULAMIACOT | -1.90 | -29.70 | Vol. 23300
D: 7.90 ⇑ 3.95% | 7.90 | 8.10 / 7.70
TALLUSPIN | 1.75 | 16.17 | Vol. 2126980
D: 37.60 ⇑ 0.53% | 37.71 | 38.40 / 34.50
C: 37.60 ⇓ 0.27% | 37.78 | 38.30 / 36.00
APEXSPINN | 2.01 | 49.32 | Vol. 14000
D: 72.60 ⇓ 2.02% | 72.86 | 74.40 / 70.30
MITHUNKNIT | 2.87 | 20.53 | Vol. 153800
D: 79.10 ⇓ 0.75% | 79.54 | 83.00 / 73.50
C: 79.00 ⇓ 1.86% | 79.71 | 81.00 / 78.50
DELTASPINN | 3.06 | 26.84 | Vol. 953400
D: 36.60 ⇑ 9.91% | 36.33 | 36.60 / 33.00
C: 36.50 ⇑ 9.94% | 36.12 | 36.50 / 34.60
SONARGAON | 0.27 | 34.50 | Vol. 751584
D: 21.30 ⇑ 4.93% | 21.35 | 22.00 / 18.30
C: 21.10 ⇑ 3.43% | 21.47 | 22.10 / 20.50
PRIMETEX | 1.21 | 59.34 | Vol. 498500
D: 26.60 ⇑ 1.14% | 26.86 | 27.40 / 26.40
C: 26.70 ⇑ 2.30% | 27.09 | 27.70 / 26.40
ALLTEX | -1.26 | 8.10 | Vol. 152000
D: 7.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.45 | 7.50 / 7.40
C: 7.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.52 | 7.60 / 7.50
ANLIMAYARN | 1.36 | 11.99 | Vol. 782500
D: 30.40 ⇑ 9.35% | 29.73 | 30.50 / 27.80
C: 31.00 ⇑ 9.93% | 30.47 | 31.00 / 28.00
HRTEX | 2.08 | 14.92 | Vol. 877165
D: 47.00 ⇑ 6.58% | 46.30 | 48.50 / 43.60
C: 47.40 ⇑ 7.00% | 47.45 | 48.60 / 44.40
CMCKAMAL | 1.37 | 19.31 | Vol. 2660480
D: 33.00 ⇑ 1.54% | 33.25 | 34.00 / 29.90
SAFKOSPINN | 0.95 | 21.78 | Vol. 1134450
D: 28.80 ⇑ 5.11% | 29.02 | 30.10 / 25.50
C: 28.70 ⇑ 4.36% | 28.74 | 30.00 / 27.90
SQUARETEXT | 4.32 | 31.82 | Vol. 89217
D: 92.70 ⇑ 0.22% | 92.62 | 93.50 / 92.20
C: 92.90 ⇓ 0.96% | 93.01 | 93.70 / 92.90
METROSPIN | 0.56 | 17.71 | Vol. 1050973
D: 21.60 ⇑ 0.93% | 21.86 | 22.40 / 20.00
C: 21.80 ⇑ 0.93% | 21.78 | 22.20 / 20.00
MAKSONSPIN | 0.16 | 20.55 | Vol. 5672800
D: 20.40 ⇑ 0.49% | 20.61 | 21.00 / 18.50
C: 20.60 ⇑ 0.98% | 20.67 | 21.30 / 20.20
DACCADYE | 0.93 | 25.85 | Vol. 961044
D: 25.60 ⇑ 2.81% | 25.48 | 25.80 / 23.00
C: 25.70 ⇑ 2.80% | 25.58 | 26.10 / 24.80
RNSPIN | 2.80 | 16.58 | Vol. 4560074
D: 36.30 ⇑ 0.28% | 36.45 | 36.90 / 33.00
C: 36.40 ⇑ 0.28% | 36.50 | 37.00 / 36.00
BXSYNTH | 0.93 | 25.42 | Vol. 753710
D: 17.20 ⇑ 2.38% | 17.21 | 17.50 / 15.50
C: 17.30 ⇑ 2.37% | 17.24 | 17.50 / 17.00
MALEKSPIN | 2.81 | 43.48 | Vol. 2342495
D: 28.30 ⇑ 0.35% | 28.64 | 30.00 / 26.00
C: 28.40 ⇑ 0.35% | 28.43 | 29.00 / 28.10
ZAHINTEX | 1.20 | 31.07 | Vol. 826100
D: 28.80 ⇑ 1.77% | 28.79 | 29.20 / 28.10
C: 28.50 ⇑ 0.71% | 28.81 | 29.20 / 28.20
SAIHAMCOT | 1.92 | 23.62 | Vol. 1370250
D: 24.60 ⇑ 1.65% | 24.76 | 25.00 / 24.50
C: 24.80 ⇑ 1.22% | 24.79 | 25.10 / 24.30
GENNEXT | 1.68 | 15.15 | Vol. 12409040
D: 35.50 ⇑ 1.72% | 35.27 | 36.20 / 32.00
C: 35.90 ⇑ 2.57% | 35.52 | 36.20 / 32.20
ENVOYTEX | 3.10 | 37.86 | Vol. 1668660
D: 56.20 ⇓ 0.18% | 56.38 | 58.50 / 51.00
C: 56.20 ⇓ 0.88% | 56.46 | 57.40 / 55.60
ARGONDENIM | 1.89 | 38.86 | Vol. 1994980
D: 86.50 ⇑ 2.73% | 85.28 | 87.80 / 76.00
C: 85.70 ⇑ 1.18% | 84.12 | 86.90 / 83.90
FAMILYTEX | 3.72 | 14.68 | Vol. 545500
D: 62.20 ⇑ 4.19% | 61.90 | 62.80 / 60.70
C: 62.30 ⇑ 2.13% | 61.97 | 64.00 / 61.00
PTL | 2.12 | 20.06 | Vol. 4793500
D: 67.60 ⇓ 2.59% | 69.53 | 72.00 / 67.00
C: 67.50 ⇓ 2.46% | 69.22 | 72.00 / 66.20
PHARMACEUTICAL & CHEMICAL
AMBEEPHA | 3.94 | 26.15 | Vol. 11802
D: 275.3 ⇓ 0.04% | 272.49 | 279.7 / 270.1
C: 270.0 ⇓ 2.95% | 271.23 | 275.0 / 260.0
BXPHARMA | 3.77 | 52.55 | Vol. 245067
D: 47.00 ⇑ 0.43% | 47.04 | 48.00 / 43.00
C: 47.10 ⇑ 0.21% | 47.11 | 47.90 / 46.50
DHAKA TRIBUNE
GLAXOSMITH | 20.25 | 123.32 | Vol. 1500
D: 990.3 ⇑ 0.95% | 986.00 | 1009 / 966.0
ACI | -5.82 | 126.42 | Vol. 18116
D: 174.4 ⇓ 1.52% | 175.35 | 177.5 / 170.0
C: 171.2 ⇓ 1.89% | 172.20 | 172.7 / 171.1
RENATA | 33.57 | 138.83 | Vol. 17065
D: 744.3 ⇓ 1.46% | 746.96 | 752.0 / 720.0
RECKITTBEN | 27.16 | 78.89 | Vol. 200
D: 873.2 ⇓ 2.11% | 875.00 | 892.0 / 867.0
PHARMAID | 1.39 | 26.19 | Vol. 70250
D: 171.4 ⇓ 4.78% | 173.25 | 180.3 / 170.0
KOHINOOR | 11.46 | 15.99 | Vol. 2500
D: 361.9 ⇓ 2.11% | 362.00 | 363.0 / 360.0
IBNSINA | 3.44 | 34.02 | Vol. 116644
D: 104.4 ⇓ 0.29% | 104.57 | 107.4 / 102.0
C: 105.8 ⇑ 1.05% | 105.66 | 107.0 / 104.0
LIBRAINFU | 4.21 | 1567.59 | Vol. 1200
D: 406.8 ⇓ 3.37% | 406.67 | 411.0 / 390.0
ORIONINFU | 1.27 | 7.00 | Vol. 323300
D: 43.80 ⇑ 3.30% | 43.85 | 44.90 / 40.00
C: 43.60 ⇑ 2.59% | 43.51 | 44.40 / 43.00
SQURPHARMA | 6.93 | 37.18 | Vol. 344822
D: 193.4 ⇓ 0.82% | 193.39 | 201.1 / 183.0
C: 192.9 ⇓ 0.98% | 193.35 | 195.0 / 192.5
IMAMBUTTON | -1.51 | 4.16 | Vol. 77500
D: 8.00 ⇑ 9.59% | 7.96 | 8.00 / 7.50
C: 8.50 ⇑ 8.97% | 8.48 | 8.50 / 8.10
KEYACOSMET | 1.55 | 21.54 | Vol. 2511317
D: 28.00 ⇑ 2.94% | 27.88 | 29.00 / 24.50
C: 28.10 ⇑ 3.31% | 27.95 | 28.30 / 25.00
BERGERPBL | 32.46 | 100.20 | Vol. 550
D: 857.2 ⇓ 0.56% | 858.18 | 869.7 / 835.0
ACIFORMULA | 3.33 | 38.08 | Vol. 65300
D: 80.10 ⇓ 0.62% | 80.36 | 82.00 / 79.70
C: 80.10 ⇓ 1.23% | 80.08 | 80.20 / 80.00
MARICO | 27.53 | 62.47 | Vol. 4450
D: 753.0 ⇓ 0.91% | 752.95 | 755.0 / 752.1
C: 769.0 ⇑ 3.22% | 769.00 | 769.0 / 769.0
BEACONPHAR | 0.04 | 12.01 | Vol. 529725
D: 13.50 ⇑ 3.85% | 13.62 | 13.90 / 12.50
C: 13.60 ⇑ 3.82% | 13.68 | 13.90 / 13.20
ACTIVEFINE | 3.23 | 13.89 | Vol. 717986
D: 88.70 ⇓ 0.22% | 88.74 | 90.30 / 82.00
C: 88.40 ⇓ 1.34% | 88.53 | 89.50 / 87.70
SALVOCHEM | 0.68 | 10.57 | Vol. 4258436
D: 25.70 ⇑ 9.83% | 25.50 | 25.70 / 21.90
C: 25.60 ⇑ 9.87% | 25.41 | 25.60 / 23.00
GHCL | 2.14 | 57.31 | Vol. 1472250
D: 62.50 ⇓ 1.88% | 64.06 | 65.50 / 61.90
C: 62.90 ⇓ 1.41% | 63.86 | 65.50 / 62.10
ORIONPHARM | 5.02 | 68.68 | Vol. 2028900
D: 63.00 ⇓ 0.16% | 63.51 | 65.00 / 57.00
C: 62.90 ⇓ 0.47% | 63.55 | 64.40 / 62.70
JMISMDL | 1.12 | 12.83 | Vol. 258000
D: 204.5 ⇓ 3.76% | 209.93 | 217.9 / 202.3
C: 206.0 ⇓ 2.88% | 209.75 | 219.4 / 204.0
CENTRALPHL | 1.62 | 12.24 | Vol. 3637775
D: 51.30 ⇑ 6.43% | 51.98 | 53.00 / 43.40
C: 51.10 ⇑ 5.58% | 51.99 | 53.00 / 49.10
PAPER & PACKAGING
HAKKANIPUL | 0.51 | 31.01 | Vol. 211000
D: 39.60 ⇑ 1.28% | 41.27 | 43.00 / 38.80
C: 39.30 ⇓ 2.24% | 41.26 | 43.00 / 38.00
SERVICE
SAMORITA | 2.49 | 57.42 | Vol. 89001
D: 92.50 ⇓ 1.07% | 93.32 | 94.90 / 92.00
C: 94.00 ⇓ 0.95% | 93.78 | 94.00 / 93.50
SAPORTL | 1.23 | 38.39 | Vol. 437918
D: 30.20 ⇑ 1.34% | 30.29 | 30.60 / 27.50
C: 30.30 ⇑ 1.34% | 30.44 | 30.80 / 30.10
EHL | 2.81 | 18.44 | Vol. 1352560
D: 53.20 ⇓ 0.93% | 53.32 | 54.20 / 51.00
C: 53.70 ⇓ 0.37% | 53.78 | 54.50 / 53.20
Share
LEATHER
APEXTANRY | 6.57 | 69.38 | Vol. 143200
D: 126.9 ⇓ 1.63% | 127.56 | 131.7 / 126.5
C: 126.9 ⇓ 2.31% | 127.87 | 129.8 / 125.2
BATASHOE | 49.12 | 135.53 | Vol. 22700
D: 695.0 ⇓ 0.33% | 695.36 | 697.5 / 695.0
C: 694.0 ⇓ 0.44% | 695.67 | 699.0 / 692.0
APEXADELFT | 23.01 | 203.26 | Vol. 86200
D: 397.7 ⇓ 0.58% | 395.98 | 402.0 / 392.3
C: 419.0 ⇑ 4.75% | 419.00 | 419.0 / 419.0
SAMATALETH | 0.22 | 12.93 | Vol. 8500
D: 22.00 ⇑ 10.00% | 22.00 | 22.00 / 22.00
LEGACYFOOT | 0.63 | 17.19 | Vol. 702509
D: 46.80 ⇓ 0.21% | 48.01 | 50.00 / 42.90
C: 46.50 ⇓ 0.85% | 47.69 | 49.80 / 45.30
CERAMIC
MONNOCERA | 0.35 | 95.30 | Vol. 327200
D: 37.80 ⇑ 9.88% | 37.60 | 37.80 / 35.00
C: 37.60 ⇑ 9.62% | 37.57 | 37.70 / 37.00
STANCERAM | 1.12 | 15.49 | Vol. 14000
D: 39.40 ⇑ 3.41% | 39.46 | 40.50 / 38.30
C: 38.30 ⇑ 2.13% | 38.65 | 39.00 / 38.30
FUWANGCER | 0.65 | 12.70 | Vol. 3029459
D: 22.50 ⇑ 4.65% | 22.47 | 23.00 / 21.00
C: 22.30 ⇑ 3.24% | 22.46 | 23.00 / 22.10
SPCERAMICS | 0.62 | 30.92 | Vol. 790689
D: 18.80 ⇑ 2.17% | 18.98 | 19.50 / 17.00
C: 19.00 ⇑ 2.70% | 19.07 | 19.40 / 17.50
RAKCERAMIC | 1.98 | 16.76 | Vol. 211449
D: 53.10 ⇑ 1.14% | 53.35 | 53.90 / 47.30
C: 53.20 ⇑ 0.38% | 53.18 | 53.80 / 50.00
CEMENT
HEIDELBCEM | 22.85 | 111.50 | Vol. 34400
D: 380.1 ⇓ 1.45% | 381.71 | 387.7 / 379.0
C: 377.0 ⇓ 3.33% | 379.76 | 381.5 / 377.0
CONFIDCEM | 6.23 | 90.76 | Vol. 169024
D: 123.8 ⇑ 0.16% | 123.99 | 124.9 / 120.0
C: 123.6 ⇑ 0.00% | 123.93 | 125.0 / 123.2
MEGHNACEM | 6.28 | 33.81 | Vol. 123000
D: 132.1 ⇓ 0.15% | 132.48 | 134.5 / 130.0
C: 132.0 ⇓ 2.58% | 133.36 | 135.0 / 132.0
ARAMITCEM | 3.03 | 14.65 | Vol. 251500
D: 89.10 ⇑ 2.77% | 89.00 | 91.70 / 84.00
C: 88.00 ⇑ 0.23% | 89.07 | 91.00 / 85.00
LAFSURCEML | 1.60 | 7.22 | Vol. 684500
D: 32.90 ⇑ 0.61% | 32.82 | 33.00 / 32.70
C: 32.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 32.68 | 32.80 / 32.60
MICEMENT | 4.48 | 37.67 | Vol. 178922
D: 83.50 ⇑ 0.72% | 83.21 | 84.00 / 78.00
C: 83.40 ⇑ 0.12% | 83.04 | 83.70 / 82.50
PREMIERCEM | 5.00 | 32.60 | Vol. 370800
D: 106.0 ⇑ 1.73% | 106.75 | 110.0 / 104.4
C: 104.1 ⇓ 0.57% | 105.86 | 107.5 / 104.0
IT IINDUSTRIES
ISNLTD | 0.28 | 17.31 | Vol. 627293
D: 21.60 ⇑ 9.64% | 21.28 | 21.60 / 19.70
C: 22.00 ⇑ 10.00% | 21.44 | 22.00 / 20.40
BDCOM | 1.40 | 14.41 | Vol. 721020
D: 27.60 ⇑ 3.76% | 27.60 | 28.10 / 24.00
C: 27.70 ⇑ 2.21% | 27.36 | 28.90 / 26.60
INTECH | 0.94 | 10.08 | Vol. 1162501
D: 18.20 ⇑ 8.98% | 17.91 | 18.30 / 16.00
C: 18.30 ⇑ 8.28% | 18.01 | 18.40 / 17.30
AGNISYSL | 0.96 | 14.90 | Vol. 1460582
D: 24.20 ⇑ 6.14% | 24.01 | 24.50 / 21.30
C: 24.30 ⇑ 6.58% | 24.03 | 24.60 / 22.80
DAFODILCOM | 0.85 | 10.99 | Vol. 1302960
D: 15.70 ⇑ 9.79% | 15.44 | 15.70 / 14.00
C: 15.80 ⇑ 9.72% | 15.49 | 15.80 / 14.70
AAMRATECH | 1.33 | 19.91 | Vol. 2665450
D: 37.40 ⇑ 3.89% | 37.51 | 38.40 / 33.00
C: 37.70 ⇑ 4.14% | 37.81 | 39.00 / 35.60
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013
GENERAL INSURANCE
BGIC | 1.65 | 20.33 | Vol. 33154
D: 29.60 ⇑ 0.68% | 29.60 | 30.00 / 28.00
C: 30.00 ⇑ 1.35% | 29.85 | 30.20 / 29.60
GREENDELT | 4.05 | 64.44 | Vol. 72602
D: 86.50 ⇓ 1.14% | 86.42 | 90.00 / 81.50
C: 87.50 ⇑ 0.34% | 86.81 | 88.00 / 86.20
UNITEDINS | 2.47 | 21.04 | Vol. 6900
D: 44.00 ⇑ 1.85% | 43.91 | 44.30 / 43.60
PEOPLESINS | 2.05 | 20.72 | Vol. 174200
D: 34.60 ⇓ 1.70% | 34.91 | 36.40 / 34.50
C: 35.00 ⇓ 2.78% | 35.00 | 35.00 / 35.00
EASTERNINS | 2.22 | 35.88 | Vol. 29800
D: 37.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 37.72 | 38.20 / 37.50
JANATAINS | 0.78 | 17.07 | Vol. 134910
D: 27.50 ⇑ 0.73% | 27.52 | 27.70 / 25.20
C: 27.60 ⇓ 0.36% | 27.48 | 28.00 / 27.20
PHENIXINS | 2.70 | 20.96 | Vol. 43156
D: 42.20 ⇑ 0.72% | 42.29 | 43.00 / 39.50
EASTLAND | 4.06 | 23.29 | Vol. 143943
D: 48.10 ⇑ 1.05% | 48.02 | 48.70 / 47.00
C: 48.30 ⇑ 1.26% | 47.97 | 48.30 / 47.50
CENTRALINS | 1.54 | 19.04 | Vol. 64415
D: 29.40 ⇓ 0.68% | 29.55 | 29.90 / 29.30
KARNAPHULI | 1.56 | 19.42 | Vol. 100860
D: 24.80 ⇑ 2.06% | 24.61 | 25.00 / 23.50
RUPALIINS | 2.76 | 23.38 | Vol. 183400
D: 33.80 ⇑ 1.20% | 33.83 | 34.30 / 30.30
C: 33.70 ⇑ 0.30% | 33.79 | 34.00 / 33.70
FEDERALINS | 1.10 | 10.98 | Vol. 249544
D: 24.90 ⇑ 2.47% | 24.63 | 25.20 / 22.00
C: 24.60 ⇑ 1.23% | 24.45 | 24.80 / 24.20
RELIANCINS | 3.93 | 61.52 | Vol. 3500
D: 72.50 ⇑ 0.14% | 72.57 | 73.00 / 71.70
PURABIGEN | 1.05 | 18.71 | Vol. 329587
D: 23.90 ⇑ 1.70% | 23.81 | 24.40 / 22.00
PRAGATIINS | 2.01 | 50.30 | Vol. 17154
D: 58.00 ⇑ 0.52% | 57.87 | 58.70 / 55.00
C: 57.00 ⇑ 1.79% | 57.02 | 57.10 / 57.00
PRIMEINSUR | 2.14 | 14.14 | Vol. 111385
D: 32.90 ⇓ 2.95% | 33.38 | 34.00 / 31.00
PIONEERINS | 3.11 | 23.84 | Vol. 118247
D: 67.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 67.64 | 69.00 / 66.00
MERCINS | 1.53 | 14.50 | Vol. 99924
D: 27.40 ⇑ 0.74% | 27.39 | 27.60 / 26.00
C: 25.90 ⇓ 6.16% | 25.90 | 26.20 / 25.60
AGRANINS | 1.73 | 14.39 | Vol. 108217
D: 27.80 ⇑ 1.83% | 27.64 | 28.50 / 25.00
GLOBALINS | 1.09 | 11.78 | Vol. 45342
D: 28.90 ⇑ 2.12% | 28.89 | 29.00 / 27.70
NITOLINS | 2.59 | 15.41 | Vol. 27000
D: 34.80 ⇑ 0.58% | 34.75 | 35.20 / 34.50
C: 34.00 ⇓ 8.11% | 34.50 | 35.50 / 34.00
ASIAPACINS | 1.84 | 13.76 | Vol. 25000
D: 30.10 ⇑ 1.01% | 30.29 | 31.00 / 30.00
C: 29.50 ⇓ 1.67% | 29.50 | 29.50 / 29.50
SONARBAINS | 1.68 | 13.38 | Vol. 149712
D: 25.20 ⇑ 2.44% | 25.35 | 26.00 / 22.50
C: 25.50 ⇑ 2.41% | 25.50 | 25.50 / 25.50
PARAMOUNT | 1.26 | 13.19 | Vol. 137000
D: 24.80 ⇑ 0.81% | 24.63 | 25.00 / 24.40
C: 25.00 ⇑ 1.63% | 24.69 | 25.00 / 24.50
CITYGENINS | 1.65 | 14.26 | Vol. 151083
D: 28.00 ⇑ 2.94% | 27.84 | 28.50 / 26.00
C: 28.00 ⇑ 2.56% | 27.69 | 28.00 / 27.50
CONTININS | 1.41 | 15.68 | Vol. 139012
D: 30.10 ⇑ 0.67% | 30.01 | 30.30 / 28.20
C: 30.10 ⇑ 0.67% | 30.20 | 30.60 / 30.10
TAKAFULINS | 2.19 | 15.17 | Vol. 226437
D: 38.70 ⇑ 0.26% | 38.80 | 41.00 / 36.00
C: 38.40 ⇓ 0.26% | 38.40 | 38.50 / 38.00
STANDARINS | 2.58 | 13.99 | Vol. 46063
D: 39.40 ⇑ 0.25% | 39.67 | 42.00 / 38.00
C: 39.00 ⇓ 2.74% | 39.00 | 39.00 / 39.00
NORTHRNINS | 1.77 | 11.15 | Vol. 98012
D: 40.90 ⇓ 0.97% | 41.27 | 42.10 / 40.80
C: 40.70 ⇓ 1.45% | 40.69 | 41.60 / 38.60
REPUBLIC | 2.14 | 12.42 | Vol. 123657
D: 42.90 ⇑ 0.47% | 42.85 | 43.20 / 38.50
C: 42.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 42.39 | 43.60 / 42.00
ASIAINS | 1.56 | 17.34 | Vol. 57066
D: 27.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 27.48 | 28.00 / 25.00
C: 27.70 ⇑ 1.47% | 27.52 | 27.70 / 27.40
ISLAMIINS | 1.29 | 11.96 | Vol. 32252
D: 33.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 33.52 | 34.50 / 31.00
PROVATIINS | 1.90 | 14.30 | Vol. 88920
D: 28.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 28.44 | 29.10 / 27.00
C: 28.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 28.35 | 28.40 / 28.30
7
DHAKAINS | 2.84 | 18.02 | Vol. 92125
D: 41.00 ⇑ 0.24% | 41.14 | 41.50 / 37.00
C: 41.50 ⇑ 1.72% | 41.35 | 41.70 / 40.90
LIFE INSURANCE
NATLIFEINS | 12.34 | 80.99 | Vol. 78211
D: 283.3 ⇑ 0.78% | 281.26 | 286.5 / 274.0
C: 276.5 ⇓ 1.25% | 277.40 | 282.0 / 270.0
DELTALIFE | 38.53 | 189.40 | Vol. 895510
D: 277.5 ⇓ 1.67% | 279.19 | 284.8 / 260.0
C: 277.5 ⇓ 2.05% | 279.53 | 285.8 / 276.3
SANDHANINS | 2.39 | 28.22 | Vol. 77419
D: 73.60 ⇓ 0.94% | 73.84 | 76.00 / 70.00
C: 74.30 ⇑ 0.41% | 74.26 | 74.60 / 74.10
POPULARLIF | 3.70 | 715.41 | Vol. 17000
D: 228.4 ⇓ 2.64% | 228.24 | 231.7 / 222.0
FAREASTLIF | 9.21 | 60.79 | Vol. 49059
D: 101.5 ⇓ 1.74% | 101.64 | 105.0 / 100.0
C: 102.0 ⇓ 0.29% | 101.96 | 103.0 / 101.5
MEGHNALIFE | 10.82 | 48.87 | Vol. 215600
D: 114.2 ⇑ 0.71% | 115.73 | 117.6 / 105.7
C: 112.2 ⇓ 3.94% | 112.20 | 112.3 / 112.2
PROGRESLIF | 2.30 | 31.45 | Vol. 7500
D: 115.9 ⇓ 4.37% | 115.87 | 117.2 / 115.5
PRAGATILIF | 0.60 | 30.15 | Vol. 20165
D: 160.0 ⇓ 1.96% | 160.53 | 162.0 / 158.0
PRIMELIFE | 5.51 | 27.10 | Vol. 8750
D: 101.6 ⇓ 0.68% | 101.49 | 102.0 / 100.0
C: 100.0 ⇑ 1.83% | 100.00 | 100.0 / 100.0
RUPALILIFE | 3.75 | 31.25 | Vol. 143444
D: 121.2 ⇑ 0.75% | 120.92 | 125.0 / 115.0
C: 128.0 ⇑ 3.56% | 128.00 | 128.0 / 128.0
PADMALIFE | 1.63 | 25.76 | Vol. 514880
D: 71.10 ⇑ 3.34% | 69.69 | 71.90 / 64.00
C: 70.90 ⇑ 2.01% | 70.41 | 71.40 / 68.40
SUNLIFEINS | 0.00 | 0.00 | Vol. 250575
D: 63.10 ⇓ 0.47% | 63.18 | 64.20 / 58.00
C: 63.10 ⇓ 0.32% | 62.76 | 64.00 / 62.10
TELECOM
GP | 12.96 | 26.26 | Vol. 399100
D: 204.6 ⇓ 0.05% | 204.39 | 206.0 / 200.0
C: 204.2 ⇓ 0.34% | 204.33 | 205.6 / 203.2
BSCCL | 5.82 | 26.38 | Vol. 272634
D: 171.3 ⇓ 0.29% | 171.71 | 175.0 / 160.0
C: 171.1 ⇓ 0.29% | 171.42 | 172.7 / 170.7
TRAVEL & LEISURE
UNITEDAIR | 1.10 | 12.87 | Vol. 6391913
D: 16.70 ⇑ 0.60% | 16.82 | 17.10 / 15.50
C: 16.80 ⇑ 0.60% | 16.85 | 17.00 / 16.00
UNIQUEHRL | 4.02 | 86.29 | Vol. 501875
D: 81.50 ⇑ 0.25% | 81.65 | 82.60 / 75.00
C: 81.70 ⇑ 0.25% | 81.68 | 83.30 / 81.30
MISCELLANEOUS
ARAMIT | 16.07 | 99.93 | Vol. 10950
D: 336.1 ⇓ 1.47% | 343.35 | 354.5 / 331.3
C: 337.1 ⇓ 3.55% | 337.05 | 344.0 / 330.1
BSC | 1.77 | 565.82 | Vol. 72260
D: 435.5 ⇓ 0.40% | 436.59 | 441.5 / 434.5
C: 434.8 ⇓ 0.23% | 435.88 | 440.0 / 433.0
GQBALLPEN | 6.55 | 250.45 | Vol. 91170
D: 147.7 ⇓ 2.64% | 149.41 | 152.5 / 139.0
C: 147.6 ⇓ 3.21% | 149.82 | 152.5 / 147.1
USMANIAGL | 3.45 | 27.20 | Vol. 181850
D: 142.5 ⇑ 2.67% | 143.10 | 147.6 / 139.0
C: 143.2 ⇑ 3.39% | 144.26 | 147.0 / 140.5
SAVAREFR | 0.14 | 10.57 | Vol. 1150
D: 62.10 ⇑ 0.81% | 62.61 | 63.70 / 61.00
BEXIMCO | 3.24 | 86.74 | Vol. 2269105
D: 33.60 ⇑ 0.30% | 33.93 | 34.50 / 30.30
C: 33.80 ⇑ 0.90% | 33.96 | 34.40 / 31.00
SINOBANGLA | 1.75 | 21.01 | Vol. 857500
D: 25.80 ⇑ 7.95% | 25.18 | 26.10 / 24.30
C: 26.00 ⇑ 8.33% | 25.31 | 26.30 / 24.70
MIRACLEIND | 0.09 | 14.41 | Vol. 1079031
D: 19.10 ⇑ 9.14% | 18.99 | 19.20 / 17.50
C: 19.00 ⇑ 6.74% | 19.15 | 19.50 / 18.20
BOND
IBBLPBOND | 0.00 | 1000.00 | Vol. 290
D: 987.5 ⇓ 0.08% | 989.29 | 990.0 / 980.0
C: 973.5 ⇓ 0.26% | 973.25 | 974.0 / 972.5
ACIZCBOND | 0.00 | 1000.00 | Vol. 22
D: 891.0 ⇑ 0.11% | 888.89 | 891.5 / 890.5
C: 880.0 ⇑ 0.00% | 850.00 | 880.0 / 820.0
8 DHAKA TRIBUNE Business WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013

H&M may raise prices to pay workers more

The decision will help the workers in countries like Bangladesh to earn a living wage
n AFP, Stockholm
The Swedish fashion giant H&M said Mon-
day that it could raise retail prices in the fu-
ture in order to pay better wages to some of
the world’s poorest textile workers.
The announcement came at a meeting
with pressure groups in Stockholm where
H&M unveiled plans to improve pay rates for
textile workers in countries such as Bangla-
desh where the minimum wage is less than
$70 (50 euros) a month.
Helena Helmersson, head of sustainabili-
ty at H&M, told AFP that higher retail prices
“might be a possibility” in the long term but
that customers should not expect any price
hikes in the near future.
Some corporate watchdogs saw the
acknowledgement as a significant break-
through.
“It’s the first time ever they have said they
were willing to raise prices and that consum-
ers were now ready for that,” said Viveka
Risberg from Swedwatch, which monitors
Swedish multinational corporations.
“It’s going to take years to get to a living
wage in Bangladesh but I’m more hopeful
now they have opened up to involving all
the stakeholders - the unions, the workers
the suppliers and the government.”
H&M first announced its Fair Living Wage
policy in November and said in a statement
that “all textile workers should be able to live
on their wage” but that progress towards that
was too slow in some countries where many
workers still live below the poverty line.
Helmersson said the company would use
its size and influence with suppliers to push
for fairer wages, training for workers and
recognition of the role of trade unions in pay
negotiations.
She added that H&M was also lobbying
governments to raise minimum wage levels,
and introduce annual reviews, pointing to
the recent hike to $67 per month introduced
by the Bangladeshi government as one sign
of improvement.
However, pay hikes alone may not be
enough to raise some workers out of poverty.
“We can set goals to make sure the right
pay structures are in place with our suppli-
ers,” said Helmersson.
“But when it comes to the result ... one of
the challenges is that when you raise wages -
we’ve seen this in Bangladesh - rents are also
raised and food prices go up. So they have to
find a way to continuously review wages.”
The company has set a goal of raising the
wages of 850,000 textile workers worldwide
by 2018. l Workers are seen busy at a garment factory DHAKA TRIBUNE

Fitch says electoral setback to test fiscal discipline Ministers miss

n Reuters
The setback for ruling Congress Party in re-
cent state elections could imperil the coun-
try’s fiscal deficit target by tempting the gov-
ernment to have less restraint on spending,
Fitch Ratings warned yesterday.
The party, which rules India through a
minority coalition, lost three of four key
state polls held since last month, according
to results unveiled on Sunday, in a major set-
back ahead of general elections due by May.
Although Finance Minister P. Chidambar-
A private money trader counts rupee notes at a shop in Mumbai
am has repeatedly pledged the country will
meet its fiscal deficit target of 4.8% of gross
domestic product for the year ending in
March, investors now fear the government
could crank up spending in a bid to boost its
electoral standing.
Fitch said yesterday the likelihood of that
happening was increasing, but said the gov-
ernment has little room to manoeuvre on
spending, given that India’s fiscal deficit has
already reached 84% of its target in the first
seven months of the year.
“An evident anti-incumbency trend
REUTERS
against the Congress could mean an increas-
ing likelihood of political pressure to limit
expenditure cut-backs,” Fitch said in its note.
“This would help support economic re-
covery in the run-up to the national elec-
tions which must be held by May 2014. But
it may raise some doubt about the govern-
ment’s ability to meet its stated near-term
fiscal goals.”
Fitch noted that unless revenue unex-
pectedly surged, India would ultimately
need to cut spending if it wanted to meet its
fiscal deficit target.
Investors are increasingly betting the
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and
its prime minister candidate Narendra Modi
could win general elections next year after
its strong showing in state elections.
Although Indian shares hit a record high
on Monday after the state results because of
widespread perceptions of the BJP as a more
business-friendly party, bonds have strug-
gled, partly due to fear of less spending re-
straint by the government.
The new benchmark 10-year bond yield
is up 2 basis points at 8.87% this week. Still,
analysts said markets were willing to give the
government the benefit of the doubt for now.
“The growth in the planned expenditure
gives a lot of scope to cut back. So we have
to give benefit of doubt to the finance min-
ister,” said A Prasanna, an economist at ICICI
Securities Primary Dealership Ltd.
Fitch returned India’s outlook to “stable”
in June, a year after it had downgraded it to
“negative”, citing the government’s efforts
to contain the fiscal deficit and revive eco-
nomic growth. l
2013 deadline for
US-led trade pact
n AFP, Singapore
Trade ministers meeting in Singapore said
yesterday that talks on a huge US-led Pacific
trade pact will resume in January, missing a
deadline to agree a deal this year. “We have
decided to continue our intensive work in the
coming weeks toward such an agreement,”
the 12 ministers said in a joint statement on
the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
“Following additional work by negotia-
tors, we intend to meet again next month,”
they added after four days of secretive talks
denounced by activists as a US attempt to
railroad a deal. The TPP is being negotiated
by Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan,
Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singa-
pore, the United States and Vietnam.
They make up 40% of the global economy
and other countries may join the pact later.
The ministers had arrived in Singapore
from the just-concluded World Trade Organ-
isation talks in the Indonesian island of Bali.
President Barack Obama has hailed the TPP
as a centrepiece of renewed US engagement in
Asia, saying it contains market-opening com-
mitments that go well beyond those in other
free-trade accords. But the complexity of the
issues already caused negotiators to miss the
original 2012 deadline set by Obama to reach
a deal. TPP negotiators have been divided
over a number of issues, including opening
up Japan’s auto and farm markets and patent
issues - in particular on medicines. l