25 June, 2016

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SECOND EDITION

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

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Ashar 11, 1423, Ramadan 19, 1437

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 63

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www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

UK divorces EU David Cameron to bid adieu by October

n Reuters, London Britain has voted to leave the European Union, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and dealing the biggest blow since World War II to the European project of forging greater unity. Global financial markets plunged on Friday as results from a referendum defied bookmakers' odds to show a 52%-48% victory for the campaign to leave a bloc Britain joined more than 40 years ago. The pound fell as much as 10 percent against the dollar to touch levels last seen in 1985, on fears the decision could hit investment in the world's fifth-largest economy. The euro slid 3%. World stocks saw more than $2tn wiped off their value, with indices across Europe heading for their sharpest one-day drops ever. Britain's big banks took a $100bn battering, with Lloyds, Barclays and RBS falling as much as 30% at one point. The UK itself could now break apart, with the leader of Scotland - where nearly two-thirds of voters wanted to stay in the EU - saying a new referendum on independence from the rest of Britain was “highly likely”. Cameron, who led the “Remain”

n Reuters, London

An illuminated ‘In or Out’ sign is pictured outside a house in Hangleton near Brighton in southern England yesterday as Britain holds a referendum on whether to stay or leave the EU AFP campaign to defeat, losing the gamble he took when he promised the referendum in 2013, said he would leave office by October. Quitting the EU could cost Britain access to the EU’s trade barrier-free single market and means it must seek new trade accords with countries around the world. A poll

FACT BOX

Four questions for UK and EU after Brexit Britons voted in a referendum on Thursday to leave the European Union. Following are answers to key questions on what will happen next in Britain’s relations with the bloc:

1. What does it all mean? The EU is in shock and entering uncharted territory. No member state has ever left and Article 50 of the EU treaty, which sets out how a state can exit the bloc, offers little detail. Although it provides a sketchy legal framework for a two-year period of withdrawal (see below), many believe it will take longer to establish a new trading relationship between

Britain and the EU and some fear the process will become bitter, disrupting the economy and European affairs across the board. Cameron has said he will resign by October and leave it to his successor as leader of the Conservative party to notify the Union that Britain is leaving by invoking Article 50. That will set that two-year clock ticking and the EU itself cannot, officials believe, trigger the process itself. Some in the EU want the process to start more quickly and are concerned about suggestions from Brexit campaigners that they might prefer to open new  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

of economists predicted Britain was likelier than not to fall into recession within a year. The EU for its part will be economically and politically damaged, facing the departure of a member with its biggest financial centre, a UN Security Council veto, a powerful army and nuclear weapons.

The world’s biggest trading bloc will lose around a sixth of its economic output. “It’s an explosive shock. At stake is the break up pure and simple of the union,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said. “Now is the time to invent another Europe.”  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Brexit: Bangladesh for continuation of zero-duty facility n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Following Britain's decision to leave the European Union, it has now become necessary to renegotiate the entire arrangement Bangladesh and the UK used to enjoy under the EU umbrella. Bangladesh is closely monitoring the developments after 52% of the British population opted for “leave” on Thursday's referendum. A senior diplomat at the Bangladesh High Commission in London told the Dhaka Tribune that it was the British people's decision to leave and he had no comment on that. “Britain is leaving the European

Union and it is a reality. We have to adjust to the reality,” he said, requesting anonymity. The EU is an economic and political bloc involving 28 European countries and its decisions and commitments used to be equally applicable to the UK. But, as now Britain has decided to quit the bloc, the earlier commitments would become null and void for the country. The diplomat said Bangladesh and other least developed countries enjoy duty-free market access under EU’s Everything but Arms [EBA] mechanism.  PAGE 4 COLUMN 4

David Cameron said he would resign as prime minister by October, after Britons ignored his plea to stay in the European Union and voted in a referendum to leave. Cameron addressed the world's media outside his Downing Street offices yesterday morning as financial markets pummelled sterling and investors sold off British shares after the 52%-48% victory for the "Leave" campaign was confirmed. "The British people have made the very clear decision to take a different path and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction,” he said. “I do not think it would be right for me to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.” Cameron, 49, Britain’s prime minister for six years, gave no detailed timetable for his departure but said there should be a new leader by the time his Conservative Party holds its annual conference in October. “This is not a decision I’ve taken lightly but I do believe it is in the national interest to have a period of stability and then the new leadership required,” he said. “I think it’s right that this new prime minister takes the decision about when to trigger article 50 and start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU,” he said. l

SEHRI & IFTAR

Ramadan 19 20 21

June 25 26 27

Sehri – 3:41 3:41

Iftar 6:53 6:53 6:53

Source: Islamic Foundation


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BREXIT: HOW BRITONS VOTED

BRITAIN TO LEAVE THE EU: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? The official British divorce from Europe would take at least two years

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June 2016

REFERENDUM

on leaving or remaining in the European Union

London

51.9% vote to leave

Article 50 of the 2009 European Lisbon Treaty (which Council governs how a country can exit the EU) is triggered negotiates Time period

European Parliament

European treaties cease to be applicable to Britain

Agreement

must approve

Comes into force

Agreed by qualified majority

Automatic exit

If no withdrawal agreement after 2 years

Decision to extend this period

“WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT”

2

years

UK divorces EU ‘Independence day’

The vote will trigger at least two years of divorce proceedings with the EU, the first exit by any member state. Cameron, in office since 2010, said it would be up to his successor to formally start the exit process. His Conservative Party rival Boris Johnson, the former London mayor who became the most recognisable face of the Leave camp, is now widely tipped to seek his job. Lawmakers from the opposition Labour Party also launched a no-confidence motion to topple their leader, leftist Jeremy Corbyn, accused by opponents in the party of campaigning only tepidly for its Remain stance. “Let June 23 go down in our history as our independence day,” said Nigel Farage, leader of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party, describing the EU as “doomed” and “dying”.

Results of the referendum by country and region Majority vote Leave 55 - 60% 50 - 55%

Leave

Remain

51.9%

48.1%

Turnout

SCOTLAND 38 62

Remain + 60% 55 - 60%

72.1%

Edinburgh Glasgow

NORTHERN IRELAND

Threat of UK break-up

44.2 55.8

On the continent, politicians reacted with dismay. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who invited the French and Italian leaders to Berlin to discuss future steps, called it a watershed for European unification. Her foreign minister called it a sad day for Britain and Europe.

Belfast Liverpool Manchester 53.4 46.6

52.5 47.5

WALES

ENGLAND LONDON

Cardiff

Trump parallel

US presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose own rise has been fuelled by similar anger at the political establishment, called the vote a “great thing”. Britons “took back control of their country”, he said in Scotland where he was opening a golf resort. He criticised Obama for telling Britons how to vote, and drew a comparison with his own campaign. “I see a big parallel,” he said. “People want to take their country back.” Obama said he respected the UK

and shot to death in the street. The suspect later told a court his name was “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain”. The campaign revealed deep splits in British society, with the pro-Brexit side drawing support from voters who felt left behind by globalisation and blamed EU immigration for low wages. Older voters backed Brexit; the young mainly wanted to stay in. London and Scotland supported the EU, but swathes of England that have not shared in the capital’s prosperity voted to leave.

Source: Electoral commission

vote to leave, and that the US relationship with Britain would endure. World leaders including Obama, Merkel, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Nato and Commonwealth governments had all urged a Remain vote, saying Britain would be stronger and more influential in the EU than outside.

The four-month campaign was among the most divisive ever waged in Britain, with accusations of lying and scare-mongering on both sides and rows over immigration which critics said at times unleashed overt racism. At the darkest hour, a pro-EU member of parliament was stabbed

Support for Remain among Scots prompted Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to declare it “democratically unacceptable” for Scotland to be dragged out of the EU against its will. “It is a statement of the obvious that the option of a second referendum must be on the table and it is on the table,” she said, two years after Scots voted to stay in the UK. “I think an independence referendum is now highly likely.” The financial turmoil was the worst global shock since the 2008 economic crisis, and comes at a time when interest rates around the world are already at or near zero, leaving policymakers without the usual tools to respond. The Bank of England offered to provide more than £250bn plus “substantial” access to foreign currency, and said it would consider more measures if needed. The European Central Bank, US Federal Reserve and People’s Bank of China also moved to reassure investors. l

Four questions for UK and EU after Brexit negotiations before triggering Article 50. A deal Cameron struck with EU leaders in February to curb immigration, protect London finance interests from the euro zone and opt out of “ever closer union” has been killed by the referendum result and EU leaders have ruled out new talks on a different form of British EU membership - “Leave means leave.” If no treaty is agreed, EU law simply ceases to apply to Britain two years after it gives formal notice it is leaving. Until a departure treaty is signed Britain remains, in principle, a full member of the EU but will be excluded from discussions affecting its exit terms. “The Article 50 process is a divorce: who gets the house, who gets the kids, who gets the bank accounts,” a senior EU official said, referring to priorities such as settling the EU budget and the status of Britons living in other EU states and of EU citizens in Britain . Failing to stick to Article 50 would be “messy divorce territory”, the official said: “It is spouses, instead of working through lawyers, throwing dishes at each other.”

An array of laws and EU entitlements will cease to apply to British business and citizens, creating what Brexit campaigners say will be opportunities for more growth and more selective immigration but which Cameron has said will do long-term damage to the economy and Britain’s global influence. New trade barriers would hurt both sides’ economies. But the EU fears a political “domino effect” of other countries voting to quit the bloc would cost more long-term.

2. What’s happening right now? European Parliament leaders have met and made statements. European Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair an EU summit next week, delivered a statement in the name of the 27 other leaders in the Council, the EU’s governing body. He said they were resolved to keep the Union together and the 27 would meet without Cameron on the sidelines of next week’s summit. There will be hectic activity over the weekend. Foreign ministers of the six founders- Germany, France, Italy,

the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg- meet in Berlin on Saturday. EU “sherpa” advisers to the leaders meet in Brussels on Sunday, when a Spanish general election will also affect EU business. On Monday, Tusk and French President Francois Hollande will meet in Paris and then travel to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Commission has planned a meeting of its “college” of 28 national commissioners for Monday but could meet on Sunday. EU leaders meet in Brussels for a 24hour summit starting on Tuesday. EU officials expect Cameron to report on the vote and what Britain will do next, then go home that evening in order to face questions in the British parliament on Wednesday. Leaders may agree to meet again in July.

3. What is Article 50? This 261-word section of the Lisbon Treaty has the following key phrases: - A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the European Council of its intention ... The Union shall negotiate and

-

-

-

conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union. It shall be concluded ... by the Council, acting by a qualified majority. The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification ... unless the European Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, unanimously decides to extend this period. The member of the European Council or of the Council representing the withdrawing Member State shall not participate in the discussions ... or in decisions concerning it.

4. Where does the EU go from here? The Union needs quickly to fill a €7bn-

hole in its €145bn annual budget, which is currently fixed out to 2020, as it loses Britain’s contributions while saving on what Britons receive from EU accounts. The EU will also want to clarify as quickly as possible the status of firms and individuals currently using their EU rights to trade, work and live on either side of a new UK-EU frontier. Britain is expected to give up its six-month presidency of EU ministerial councils, due to start in July next year. EU leaders may push for a quick show of unity on holding the bloc together in the face of eurosceptics inspired by the result in Britain -- including National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who leads polls for next April’s French presidential election. Divisions between Berlin and Paris on managing the euro zone probably rule out a big move on that front before both hold elections in 2017. Closer EU defence cooperation, without sceptical Britain, may be revived. A major EU security policy review is already on the summit agenda as is a new push to tighten control on irregular immigration from Africa. l


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RK Mission chief demands arrest of real culprits n Mohammad Jamil Khan The government and the law enforcers have taken a lot of steps to stop the ongoing target killings and attacks, but the panic among the potential victims prevails as the attackers and their masterminds are yet to be arrested, a top Hindu spiritual leader has said. “Until the arrest of the culprits, the fear among us of being attacked will persist,” Swami Dhrubeshananda Maharaj, chief of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission in Dhaka, said regarding the recent killings by Islamist militants and the death threat issued against him in the name of Islamic State of Bangladesh. “Not only the Hindus, people of all religions of the country are now scared to move alone as the miscre-

ants also conducted attacks on Buddhists, Christians and even women [wife of a police superintendent]. “These miscreants have no fear of death; they are just doing their tasks,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. Swami Dhrubeshananda thinks the attackers are carrying out the killings only for money, but expresses concern as the planners and financiers are not traced or arrested. Even though the letter, sent by one AB Siddique of Islamic State of Bangladesh (secret agent) from Gazipur, mentions the recipient as the top religious leader of the Ramakrishna Mission, it did not have the name of Swami Dhrubeshananda. The writing pad had Eidgah Market at Chandana intersection of Gazipur as ISB’s office address. It also said the sender was from

Kishoreganj. International militant group Islamic State has claimed the murder of 20 people, mostly non-Muslim and non-Sunni preachers, in 22 attacks perpetrated by its members in Bangladesh since September last year. Of the victims, six were Hindu priests and followers. The government claims that IS has no operations in Bangladesh. “May be they [IS] are carrying out the attacks through a third party,” Swami Dhrubeshananda said. An unidentified person reached the letter to the mission on June 15. The person could not be identified from the CCTV footage since he was wearing a helmet. The envelope having five postal seals bearing different dates but sent through a courier service also raised suspicion.

Police detained Siddique from Kishoreganj recently but found that someone had used his name to harass him. The letter said that the Mission chief would be hacked to death inside his residence between June 20 and 30. Swami Dhrubeshananda said: “The police have assured us that nothing will happen during this time as they beefed up security. But it can happen any time; even after six months.” He expressed frustration as the planners or the financiers behind the Hindu priest murders could not be arrested, though the police claimed that they had arrested a number of suspects. The Mission authorities themselves too taken some security steps. They now keep the main entrance shut all the time and let the

people to use a pocket gate. Moreover, the visitors have to register their names in the visitors’ book kept at the gate. Swami Dhrubeshananda said that they would hold conference on religious harmony in every divisional headquarters and districts after the Eid-ul-Fitr, as a sequel of the central conference held on April 28. “One of the main reasons behind holding this conference is to create awareness among the people. This step will be fruitful,” he hoped. Swami Dhrubeshananda also welcomed the fatwa issued recently by over 100,000 Islamic clerics and scholars declaring terrorism and suicide killings forbidden in Islam. “We all should come forward to address the problem of terrorism and militancy,” the Mission chief said. l

Minister: No doubt militant Shariful was a blogger killer n Mohammad Jamil Khan Militants change their names frequently and use different names at different times, but it does not mean that any wrong person is victimised by the law enforcers, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has claimed. “We have no doubt that Shariful is the real blogger killer. But he has many names. These types of terrorists have many names and use different names in different circumstances,” the minister told reporters at his residence yesterday. “We only tell media the names we get from different sources.” After Shariful’s death in an alleged gunfight with the law enforcers on Sunday, his family members identified him as Mukul Rana. The family also claimed that they had no idea about his involvement in militant activities. The DMP in May declared Tk5 lakh bounty for him and published his photo with the name “Shariful alias Shakib alias Sharif alias Saleh alias Arif alias Hadi 1” saying that he was a military and IT trainer of banned outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team. Police claimed that he was directly involved in the murders of Avijit Roy, Niladri Chatterjee (Niloy), Shanto Mariam University student Riyadh Morshed Babu, and the attempted murder of publisher Ahmed Rashid Tutul. He also masterminded the attacks on publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan; secular activists Oyasiqur

Rahman Babu and Nazimuddin Samad; and LGBT rights activists Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy, police said. Last week, the DMP released a CCTV footage where a person was seen following Avijit and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya coming out of the Ekushey Book Fair on February 26, 2015. Police claimed that person was Shariful. The couple, who came to Dhaka on February 16, were hacked on the pavement at TSC intersection, following which Avijit died at a hospital. Regarding “crossfire” deaths, the minister said: “The police do not carry out any crossfire. Our main target is to collect information from the suspects so that they cannot carry out such activities in future. “Such deaths sometimes take place when police open fire in self-defence during raids to arrest an accused.” Claiming that the special drive was successful, Kamal said: “Now the country people will be able to celebrate Eid this year without any obstacle. “Police will be on alert to ensure security of the Dhaka residents, but the people need to take some security measures too.” He suggested that the city residents install CCTV cameras to protect their establishments. “We have already got positive response and good results where we found CCTV cameras. Criminal activities have dropped in those areas,” he added. l

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate Sonar Bangla Express, a new train that will run on Dhaka-Chittagong route, today. The picture was taken at Kamalapur Railway Station yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

BD, US to enhance security cooperation n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Bangladesh and the US have agreed to enhance cooperation in the areas of counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism through capacity enhancement. The agreement came on the first day of the fifth Partnership Dialogue between the two countries which began at the US Department of State in Washington, DC on Thursday. Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune from Washington over phone: “It is a global problem and we agreed to combat it jointly.” On the first day of the two-day dialogue, the three working groups

on ‘Security Cooperation’, ‘Development and Governance Cooperation’, and ‘Trade and Investment Cooperation’ held talks on bilateral, regional and global issues. A Foreign Ministry press release said the US delegation highly appreciated Bangladesh’s valuable contribution for almost three decades to UN peacekeeping operations. The Bangladesh delegation appreciated the support of USAID over the last 45 years for the socio-economic development in the country in a many areas including agriculture, education, climate change and health. The US delegation praised Bangladesh for hosting a large number of undocumented Myanmar na-

tionals in the country for decades. Both parties also agreed to encourage the Bangladeshi diaspora to invest in potential sectors of Bangladesh. The US expressed interest in supporting regional connectivity initiatives under IPEC, and blue economy. The two delegations discussed Bangladesh’s achievements in addressing issues in the RMG sector and agreed to continue the multi-stakeholder cooperative mechanism. The foreign secretary made a presentation titled ‘Bangladesh by 2030/35: Challenges and Prospects’ at the Council on Foreign Relations, a reputed think tank, in Washington on Thursday afternoon. l


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France to train BD vets n Tribune Desk

Two renowned french institutes are all set to provide post graduate training to students under faculty of animal science and veterinary medicine (FASVM) of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU). In this connection, a tripartite agreement was signed on Wednesday between the university’s faculty and Ceva Santé Animale (CEVA) and Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Maison Alfort (ENVA) of France. Under the agreements, the French institutes will provide “Avian Diseases Veterinary Post-graduate Training Course” for Bangladeshi veterinarians through the department of medicine and public health of the university. Every year, 30 students – six fresh graduates of the university, 12 poultry entrepreneurs and 12 officials from the government’s department of livestock services – will receive long-term training from the french institutes. This will continue for three years. At the MoU signing ceremony, SAU VC Md Shadat Ullah said such partnerships can help create trained manpower in the country to prevent diseases and prevalence in poultry and livestock sector. l

Government extends BB contractual job n Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has extended the tenure for the contractual job of Ziauddin Ahmed, managing director of Security Printing Corporation under the Bangladesh Bank, though the finance minister opposed the extension. On Wednesday, the bank’s Human Resources Department 1 issued an office order in this regard which said Ziauddin’s tenure has been extended until February 15, 2017. His term ended on April 6.

An official of Bangladesh Bank said Ziauddin was reappointed on the same day his term ended. Finance Minister AMA Muhith, following the reserve heist, directed Bangladesh Bank authorities not to renew the contractual jobs. Sources in Bangladesh Bank said five important general managers of the bank are currently appointed on a contractual basis. Seven former officials of the central bank were appointed as executive directors on the same grounds. l

1 held in Sohel murder case Mizanur Rahaman, n FM Chittagong Police in Chittagong have arrested a man in connection with the murder of a Bangladesh Chhatra League leader yesterday. Nasim Ahmed Sohel, an MBA student of Premier University, was stabbed to death by his rivals on campus on March 29. The arrestee is Asif alias Ledu, son of a driver named Ramjan Ali.

OC of Chawakbazar police Aziz Ahmed said: “Acting on a tip-off, a police team arrested Asif, who was seen on CCTV footage taking out a knife from a bag during the attack on Sohel.” “The footage is from Alfalah Lane area of Sholoshahar Gate No 2 from around 3:00pm.” He said: “His name was not in the FIR of the case but the police identified him from the CCTV footage,” adding that Asif went into hiding soon after the murder. l

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Bangladesh for continuation of zero-duty facility “Now, we have to negotiate with Britain to retain the entire trade preference mechanism,” he said. With around $2.2 billion in earning, the United Kingdom was the third biggest export destination for Bangladesh in the 2013-14 fiscal year. The pound sterling dropped to 1985 level after the referendum, the diplomat said, adding it would have a negative impact on the euro. “We have to remember London is the financial capital of the whole world and fluctuation in pound affects other major currencies,” he added. A major portion of half a million Bangladeshi-origin British nationals, especially the restaurant owners, supported Brexit as they felt an exit from the EU would make the visa regime more flexible and allow them to recruit more people from Bangladesh. When asked about it, the diplomat, however, said he did not get a slightest indication from any quarter that the current visa regime would be changed in the aftermath of Brexit.

A recent UK data showed that about 10,000 curry houses owned by Bangladeshis employ 100,000 people with annual sales of £4.2 billion. Former finance adviser Mirza Azizul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that Bangladesh should complete negotiations with the United Kingdom for the continuation of trade preference. He expected that Britain would continue to give zero-duty facility to the least developed countries. Many exporters in Bangladesh complained that due to weak euro, their export competitiveness was eroding. Mirza said in the current fiscal, the export growth is about 10% due to good performance in the US and other non-traditional market. “The export remains more or less same for the Eurozone market,” he added. About the visa regime, he said he did not see any reason for changing the visa rules. About political relationship, he said: “I do not see any impact on our political relationship due to Brexit.” l


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Political goons behind landslide deaths n Anwar Hussain, Chittagong

‘Ranjit’s contribution was not duly valued’

n Anwar Hussain, Chittagong Former senior cultural affairs secretary and prominent sport writer Ranjit Kumar Biswas was professionally underappreciated, said his wife Shelly Sengupta yesterday. She made the comment when people from different backgrounds gathered on Chittagong Press Club premises to pay their last respects to the writer. The 61-year-old died on Thursday afternoon in Chittagong. He was found in an unconscious state in his room at Chittagong Circuit House and was taken to hospital where doctors declared him dead. Ranjit’s body was brought to Chittagong Press Club at 11am where government officials, writers, cultural activists, politicians and teachers gathered to pay their tributes. In her brief speech, Shelly, a teacher by profession, said the country could not make the best use of the writings of her husband. “The country could not utilise his [Ranjit’s] merit and talent. He was not duly appreciated for his work,” she said. Breaking down in tears, Shelly said: “I have lost someone who has been my friend for long 35 years and the country has lost a highly talented writer. His demise has created an emptiness that will need several decades to be filled. “He would always say that his work was not valued at the level he deserved,” added the wife. Chittagong City Corporation Mayor AJM Nasir Uddin, Chittagong Deputy Commissioner Mesbah Uddin, BFUJ Vice-President Shahid Ul Alam and Chittagong Press Club President Kalim Sarwar spoke among others. Later, on behalf of the government, the Chittagong deputy commissioner paid tribute to the deceased by laying floral wreaths. Ranjit is survived by his wife and a daughter. l

With the monsoon approaching, the local administration every year issues customary warnings to the residents of landslide-prone hills of the port city to move to safer places. On some occasions, they face stiff resistance from the residents while conducting eviction drives as a preventive measure to avert possible loss of lives from landslides. But those people return to the risky hill slopes after a few days and the cat-and-mouse game continues every year without any exception. Differing with the approach of relocation and issuing warnings, green activists demand that the authorities take stern action against the hill grabbers to address the perennial landslide problem permanently. “Encroachers blessed with political influence construct the slums grabbing government land and rent out to the people from low-income background,” said Sharif Chowhan, an environmental activist. “The administration should find the hill grabbers who constructed the houses illegally on the hill slopes and take severe action against them instead of evacuating the residents,” he added. According to the Chittagong district administration, a list of hill grabbers was prepared by an intelligence agency last year. The report sent to prime minister contained the names of some public representatives – both incumbent and former – as the hill grabbers. The report was forwarded to the police department asking them to take necessary legal action against the hill grabbers after it had been sent to the district administration from the Prime Minister’s Office. However, no visible action has so far been taken against those influential people. Landslides induced by heavy downpour have become a regular phenomenon in and around the Chittagong city.

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN SATURDAY, JUNE 25

Dhaka

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Chittagong

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These children live in homes which were built dangerously close to a hill by encroachers who removed the soil illegally to make space for residents. Even a small downpour might trigger a landslide in this tightly packed living quarters in Chittagong’s Motijharna. The photo was taken yesterday RABIN CHOWDHURY At least 194 people have been killed in the last nine years due to landslides, of whom as many as 127 people lost their lives in a single catastrophic incident on June 11, 2007. During a recent visit to some vulnerable sites, this reporter came across a large number of illegal houses built on the pockets, peaks, flanks, ravines and slopes of different hills – thanks to the callousness of the authorities concerned and their sheer indifference towards enforcing the environment laws. The slum dwellers also manage to get illegal utility connections with the help of a section of dishonest officials of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd, Bangladesh Power Development Board and Wasa. “People from low-income group mostly apparel workers, rickshaw pullers, CNG drivers and day labourers reside here as the rent is low, ranging from Tk1,500-

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Rangpur

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Tk6,000,” said Md Alamgir, who lives in a shanty at Tankir Pahar in Motijharna area. “We are aware of the landslide risk but we have nowhere to go. We cannot afford to live in other areas of the city due to high house rent,” said Alamgir, a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver. The district administration has identified 30 landslide-prone hills in the city and identified 666 families living in a vulnerable state at the foothills of 11 hills. Different government, autonomous, private organisations and individuals including Bangladesh Railway, Public Works Department, Chittagong Wasa, Chittagong City Corporation own the hills. Deputy Commissioner Mesbah Uddin, however, said that they were going to take stern action against the hill grabbers soon after the Eid-ul-Fitr. “Some grabbers with political

Khulna

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Barisal

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

TOMORROW SUN RISES 5:14AM

35.2ºC Jessore

24.5ºC Sylhet

Source: Accuweather/UNB

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PRAYER TIMES

influence constructed the houses illegally on the government-owned hills. But there has been no fresh encroachment due to strict vigilance,” he claimed. As per the Environment Conservation (amendment) Act 2010, no one can cut or raze hills. “No government, semi-government or autonomous organisation or person can cut or raze hills without prior approval of the authorities concerned,” said Md Mokbul Hossain, director (Chittagong division) of the Department of Environment. “Hill cutting is a cognisable offence and the punishment for cutting or razing hills is severe. The person or organisation shall face two years’ imprisonment or be fined with Tk2 lakh or both. If the offence is repeated, the person or organisation shall face 10-year imprisonment or be fined with Tk10 lakh or both,” he added. l

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Fajr: 3:51am | Zohr: 1:15pm Asr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 7:03pm Esha: 8:45pm Source: Islamic Foundation

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SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

Louhoria deer breeding centre limps n Afzal Hossain, Tangail Being afflicted with so many problems, natural deer breeding centre in Tangail’s Madhupur fails to serve its purpose. Visitors wait in vain hoping to see any deer. The centre has produced 64 deer in last 50 years, as no steps have been taken for its renovation and further development. The centre started its journey with two pairs of deer on 40 acres of land of Madhupur Sal Forest in 1966, aiming to increase deer breeding nat-

urally, according to Tangail Forest Department. The deer do not get sufficient food during dry season. The food provided for the deer is less than half of what they need, as it is managed from the allocation of other project for the forest due to the lack of any particular budget for the centre, said a Forest Guard Md Mosleh Uddin. If grass is cultivated here through irrigation during winter, it can feed the deer, he opined. Curator of National Zoo Nazrul Islam said planting Keora trees can

also solve the food crisis to a great extent, as deer likes its leaves. Besides, there is no manpower for maintenance of the breeding place and taking care of the deer. The surrounding wall of the centre has become dilapidated. “It is impossible for four people to take care of the centre as an additional duty after working for the whole forest of several thousand acres,” said Md Masud Rana, an official of the forest department. “Many baby deer cannot survive because other animals enter the

centre through the holes of the dilapidated wall,” he added. It is an urgency to allocate a budget for the centre and appoint trained manpower to look after the deer, especially, baby deer and pregnant ones, said Masud. Sources in the forest department said the government has formed a policy on raising deer. Once it is approved, people will be allowed to keep deer as pet animals, and then the government can be benefitted from selling the deer of the centre, according to the sources. l

Illegal fishing continues in Chitra River Khondoker, n Nayan Jhenaidah A section of unscrupulous people are catching fish in the Chitra River in Kaliganj upazila of the district setting bottom gillnet illegally at several points of the watercourse threatening to lives of fish population. According to local sources, more than hundred gillnets were made in Shalikha, Mostobapur, Foraspur, Babuipara, Singi, Gomrail, Nagar Chaprail, Ekotapur, Bonkhirdha, Ishakhali areas in the middle of the river. Sydur Rahman Reza, fisheries officer of the upazila, said mother fishes came to release eggs during Ashar and Srabon months in the river. “Fisherman killed the fish fry by using current nets and many other fishing traps making the gillnets in the middle of the river defying the govt law,” he added. The gillnets made with bamboo and nets hampers the normal flow of the river and the fish cannot move easily which hampers breeding. The sources said Ashraful of Shalikha village, Selim and Rajkumar of Singi, Bulla and Bablu of Baroipara, Shafimal of Mostobapur, Gopal of Gomrail, Bistomalo of Ekotapur, Sonaton Kumar Biswas of Chaprail and Daud Hossain of Foraspur villages are involved with

the illegal business. They become busy in catching fish from the breeding period of the fish. Seeking anonymity, many local people said a mobile court fined Tk1,000 to Sonaton Malo and Tk15,000 to Bulla last year. But they became more active this year with the help of local influential. Nazmul Islam of Chaprail village said every year the mobile court fined the people who were involved with illegal fishing. But, later they became busy in their business. He urged the government to make strong law in this regard. Abdur Razzak of Bonkhirdha village said it was not enough to fine Tk1,000 or Tk15,000. The people who are involved with the illegal activities should be punished strongly, he added. Sydur Rahman, the fisheries officer said he had come in the area recently. He urged locals to help him to stop the illegal fishing. UNO Monowar Molla said the government had banned catching fish by making the gillnets in the river. “Last year we fined many people for catching fish in the river. This year, we will conduct a drive soon,” he added. l

Mymensingh, Narsingdi road accidents kill 6 n Tribune Desk

At least six people, including two doctors, were killed in road accidents in Mymensingh and Narsingdi yesterday morning. In Narsingdi, three people including two physicians died instantly in a head-on collision between a truck and a microbus on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in Kundarpara bus stand area under Shibpur upazila in the morning. The two are National Heart Institute doctor Smrity Kona, 35, and Dhaka Medical College Medicine and Heart department doctor Kalimulla, 50 while the rest is microbus driver Manir, 35, an employee of Aristopharma Ltd, says Etakhula Highway police Sub-Inspector Md Mizanur Rahman. In Mymensingh, three people died on the spot and two got injured as a CNG-run autorickshaw and a truck collided head-on with each other in Chechuakuripara under Muktagachha upazila around 7:45am. The three included a woman and their identities could not be known immediately, says Muktagachha police station OC Fazlul Karim. The injured were admitted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. l

Housewife tortured to death over Eid shopping Chowdhury, n Alamgir Joypurhat

A housewife was tortured to death allegedly by her in-laws at Abdullahpur village, Akkelpur upazila, Jaypurhat yesterday morning. Victim Laboni Akhter, 27, wife of Abul Kalam Azad, a resident of the village, was mother of two children. Police arrested her husband Abul Kalam Azad, mother-in-law Hasna Hena and sisters-in-law – Nazia Begum and Nazma Begum in this connection. Sajjad Hossain, officer-in-charge of Akkelpur police station, said Laboni had locked into an altercation with her husband over buying clothes for Eid-ul-Fitr. Over the issue, Abul Kalam along with his family members beat Laboni and later strangulated her to death around 8am. They also hanged her body to stage the incident as suicide. On receiving information, police recovered the body and sent it to Jaypurhat Sadar Hospital morgue for a post-postmortem examination. Wazed Ali, brother of the deceased, filed a case in this connection. l


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SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

Embankment collapses, thousands left marooned in Satkhira n Asaduzzaman, Satkhita Thousands of people at six villages in Kolay union parishad, Asasuni upzila, Satkhira have been left marooned as the embankment along the Kholpetua River collapsed at some points due to tidal surge. Local sources said due to the collapse of embankment crops and shrimp enclosure on 1,500 acres of land had been inundated. About 200 meters of the embankment at Kola village collapsed yesterday morning that submerged Kola, Hizolia, Sriula, Hazrakhali, Mariada and Ghola villages, said the sources. Mojid Ali, a resident of Kola village, said the embankment was risky, but the Water Development Board had not take any preventa-

tive measures to avoid such disaster. Jakir Hossain, chairman of Protapnagar union parishad, said the embankment also collapsed over two months back. After the collapse, a tender notice was also called, but the Water Development Board could not repair the dam triggering further collapse. Abu Hena Sakil, chairman of Sriula union, told the Dhaka Tribune that dam was collapsing in the locality due to negligence of the offficial of Water Development Board. Meanwhile, 30,000 residents of Padmapukur union in Shyamnagar upazila have been spending sleepless nights as the embankment along the Kholpetua River stands threatened due to the riverbank erosion.

Locals said the union, basically an island, is one of the worst affected areas of the upazila which were devastated by cyclone Aila in 2009. The cyclone wreaked havoc on the union and badly damaged the 34-km embankment along the Kabodak and the Kholpetua Rivers. Uttam Kumar Mondol, a resident of Jhapa village, said seven years have passed by since the ‘super cyclone’ hit the area but no initiative has been taken yet for a permanent solution to the problem. “I can’t sleep at night. The Kholpetua river devoured my homes five times. If it is washed away this time, I’ll have nowhere to go. When flood inundates villages, we get relief from the government. But we don’t want relief, we want the embankment to get repaired prop-

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erly and immediately,” said Debendranath Mondol, an 85-year-old resident of the union. Padmapukur union chairman advocate Ataur Rahman said the embankment constructed by the Water Development Board (WDB) got damaged at various points due to erosion by the Kholpetua River. Some sandbags were dumped to check the erosion with the financing from the union parishad but the WDB has not taken any initiative to save the embankment, he said. Satkhira Water Development Board 2 Sub-Assistant Engineer ANM Golam Sarwar said, “We have been visiting the erosion-affected areas every week. The higher authorities have been informed of the situation. If they make any allocation, the renovation work will begin right away.” l

Five hurt while making bombs in C’nawabganj Anwar Chowdhury, n Md Chapainawabganj

At least five persons have received burn injuries in an explosion while making bombs at Narayanpur village, Chapainawabganj Sadar upzila. The injured are Suman, 28, son of UP member Humayan, Arif, 44, son of Majed, Jahidul, 40, son of Montaz, Jasim and Anwar. SI of Chapainawabganj Sadar police station Mahbub said the explosion took place when Suman and his four associates were making bombs at the residence of a union parishad member on Thursday night, leaving all of them injured. Of the injured, Suman, Arif and Jahidul were admitted to RMCH in critical state. Police also arrested two people in this connection and recovered 50 crude bombs and bomb making materials from the house. l

Suspected robber killed in Barisal ‘gunfight’

n Our Correspondent, Barisal A suspected robber has been killed in a “gunfight” with police in Purba Sakharia area under Banaripara upazila of Barisal district. The shootout took place in the area early Friday, says Banaripara police station OC Ziaul Ahsan. The corpse of Dulal, 35, son of Ismail Hossain, of Chandipur under Babuganj upazila, was sent to Barisal Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital for autopsy. He was accused in eight cases filed with different police stations in the district. OC Ziaul said police, on a tipoff, carried out a raid in the area around 2am while some robbers were taking preparation to commit robbery there. Sensing the presence of law enforcers the robbers started firing gunshots forcing police to retaliate resulting in a gunfight. In the face police action, the robbers managed to escape and later police discovered the bullet-riddled body of Dulal from the spot, the OC also said. Some 12 rounds of cartridges, three lethal weapons, and one mobile phone set were recovered from the scene. A police constable named Zahir was got injured and he received treatment from the local health complex. Three lawsuits were registered in this connection, police said. l

Staff of the Bangladesh Railway clean a train which will be put on the Dhaka-Rajshahi route today. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to introduce train today afternoon DHAKA TRIBUNE

Land fertility under serious threat in Kushtia n Kudrote Khuda Sobuj, Kushtia

Several brick kilns in Kushtia have been using top soil from the arable lands to make bricks which is consequently damaging the fertility of the soil in six different upazilas. According to sources, many brick-field owners are operating their businesses in flagrant violation of existing laws. In recent years about 85 brick kilns have been set up in the six

upazilas of the district. Owners of the brick-fields purchase the topsoil from land owners at a nominal price. This is causing the total area of agricultural land to decrease alarmingly threatening the food security of the country. Unless the top soil is replenish it will be impossible to cultivate any kind of crop on these lands in future, sources alleged. Some important roads in the areas

are also being damaged, because the soil is being lifted from the sides of the roads by the brick-field owners. It has been alleged that middlemen entice poor farmers to sell the topsoil of their lands to the brickfields owners at Tk350 to Tk400 against one foot surface of earth of per decimal land. Galim Khan of Bilzani village in Khoksa upazila said that he does not know the harms caused when the topsoil is removed from the land.

According to experts, after the removal of topsoil from the land causes it to become fallow for the next three years, affecting the overall crop production. Stakeholders of the district urged the government to take measures to protect the arable lands. Deputy Commissioner of Kushtia Sayed Belal Hossain said: “I have not received any complaints in this connection. If any complaint is lodged, legal steps will be taken.” l


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EU Referendum

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

SOUTH ASIA

Mob destroys mosque in Myanmar A group of men from a village in central Myanmar destroyed a mosque in the first serious outburst of inter-religious violence in months. Villagers from Thayethamin, a remote settlement northeast of Yangon, destroyed the mosque on Thursday after a dispute over its construction, and beat up at least one Muslim man, media and a police spokesman said. -REUTERS

INDIA

India, Pakistan closer to joining new security bloc India and Pakistan inched closer Friday to joining a regional security and economic bloc led by Russia and China. “We expect that our partners will be able to accede as quickly as possible, by our next meeting in Kazakhstan” next year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after the two countries signed memorandums on joining. -REUTERS

CHINA

China rejects bending rule for India to join NSG China maintains its opposition to India joining a group of nations seeking to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons by controlling access to sensitive technology. China said it would not bend the rules and allow India membership as it had not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the main global arms control pact. -REUTERS

ASIA PACIFIC

Malaysia PM sacks critics Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak sacked two senior party members critical of his handling of a financial scandal Friday for “demonising” his leadership, one of his top officials said. Najib’s ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) unanimously decided to expel former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Mukhriz Mahathir, the son of ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad, according to Abdul Rahman Dahlan, a senior party official. -AFP

MIDDLE EAST

Hezbollah chief: Fight for Aleppo greatest battle The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement said the offensive on the city of Aleppo was the “greatest battle” in Syria, pledging to dispatch more militiamen to support Syrian regime forces. He spoke at a commemoration event for Mustafa Badreddine, a Hezbollah commander killed in an explosion on May 12 near Damascus international airport. -AFP

A GLANCE BACK

UK and European Union: Awkward marriage ends in divorce n Tribune International Desk

BREXIT, WINNERS AND LOSERS

Britain’s messy break-up with Europe will be the culmination of decades of half-hearted and often hostile relations with neighbouring countries. The nation’s troubled ties with the European Union, culminating in Thursday’s dramatic referendum vote to leave the bloc, are rooted in its island history and defiant sense of independence. Some Britons still recall with pride that they were last successfully invaded in 1066. The nation’s resistance to the Nazis in World War II is also central to British identity, particularly for older voters. “Britain has never really internalised the European project because of its very different history during the 20th century -- it is less frightened of the consequences of leaving,” Robert Tombs, a history professor at Cambridge University, said. Politicians at Westminster have also pursued an often two-faced approach to the EU, complicating the relationship even further. “One face is a hostile, sceptical and largely domestic one that has helped drive euroscepticism in Britain,” said Tim Oliver of the London School of Economics. “The other face, largely seen in Brussels, is a constructive, engaging one that has seen the UK shape the EU in a large number of ways.”

Key figures for and against a British exit from the EU and how the result affects them

FOR

And Scotland?

Nigel Farage

Boris Johnson

Nicola Sturgeon

Former mayor Leader of London of UKIP (Conservative) (Eurosceptic, antiimmigration party) Favourite to take over from Cameron as prime minister, calling on Britons to ‘take back control’

It is “Independence Day” for Farage. It was pressure from his party that helped bring about the referendum

Scotland’s First Minister (SNP) Sturgeon opposed Brexit and Scotland voted against it. This result puts a 2nd Scottish independence referendum back on the agenda

AGAINST

David Cameron

Jeremy Corbyn

Prime Minister (Conservative)

Labour Party leader (Socialist)

He promised the referendum, but after voters rejected his ‘remain’ position he announced his resignation

Criticised for his low-profile campaign, he may face a challenge to his leadership of the opposition

WORLD LEADERS REACT

A watershed moment for Europe - shouldn’t draw quick and simple conclusions that would create further division. – German Chancellor Angela Merkel

It is a historic moment but for sure not a moment for hysterical – European Commission reactions. President Jean-Claude – European Parliament Juncker President Donald Tusk No beginning of end of EU

Pragmatic decision to join

Britain initially stood back from post-war efforts to foster European unity, with senior figures believing that its foreign policy goals were best pursued through its empire. But as the empire declined and Britain watched trade flourish on the continent, it applied to join the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1961, four years after its creation. French president Charles de Gaulle twice vetoed its efforts, but Britain eventually joined in 1973. Labour prime minister Harold Wilson called a referendum on membership in 1975 to try to appease the eurosceptic, protectionist wing of his fractured party. He secured 67% support for staying in. Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher was a cheerleader for EEC membership, seeing it as a pragmatic decision to join a tariff-free trading bloc. But as prime minister from

They took their country back, it’s a great thing. People are angry all over the world. They’re angry over borders, they’re angry over people coming into the country and taking over.

As things stand, Scotland faces the prospect of being taken out of the EU against her will. I regard that as democratically unacceptable. I think an independence referendum is now highly likely.

– US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump

– Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

1979 she was soon riling her European colleagues, demanding a rebate on Britain’s EEC contributions which she eventually secured in 1984. She was also fiercely opposed to the bloc’s growing political in-

I must say we preferred a different outcome … but we fully respect the decision they have made. – US Vice President Joe Biden

tegration, fearing the creation of a “European super-state”. Her visceral “No! No! No!” approach triggered her downfall in 1990. It also exposed deep fractures in the Conservative party on Eu-

rope, which completely handicapped the pro-European John Major’s 1990-1997 premiership and remain unhealed to this day. “Black Wednesday” in 1992 saw the pound tumble out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) which had pegged it to the German mark. Then a Conservative rebellion through 1992 and 1993 nearly brought down Major’s government over the Maastricht Treaty which turned the EEC into the European Union.

Frustrations of membership

In 1997, new Labour prime minister Tony Blair came into office wanting Britain to join the euro but met a wall of domestic opposition born of the scarring ERM experience. Since then, a standoffish, onefoot-in, one-foot-out approach has become the default position for successive governments. Britain remained outside the single currency and the border-free Schengen zone, two of the EU’s defining pillars. Against a backdrop of restive Conservative backbenchers and core eurosceptic voters leaking away, Prime Minister David Cameron in 2013 promised a referendum, aiming to resolve the issue once and for all. In TV debates, he repeatedly insisted that he was frustrated by the EU and wanted to reform it but stressed that membership was good for Britain’s economy. Britons disagreed, voting by 52% to 48% to leave the bloc, prompting Cameron to resign on Friday after six years in office. l


INSIGHT

Brexit shock triggers race to salvage EU n Reuters, Brussels Britain’s shock vote to leave the European Union - the first time a member state has chosen to pull out - sends the post-World War II unification process that has underpinned peace and prosperity on the continent into reverse. The loss of Europe’s second biggest economy and one of its two main military powers triggered a scramble to shore up the remaining 27-nation bloc, amid a rising tide of eurosceptic populism, rather than any radical move towards closer union. Britain’s vote plunges the EU into its third major crisis of the decade after the euro zone debt turmoil that began in Greece and last year’s influx of a million migrants and refugees. Despite months of seesawing opinion polls, few in the top echelons in Brussels, Berlin or Paris had believed voters would ultimately risk a so-called Brexit. British exit negotiations could be long and divisive, with Germany and northern allies keen to keep London as close as possible to the EU market while others, notably France, may seek a tough line to discourage further fragmentation. So the priority for the governments and institutions at the heart of the EU will be to negotiate a smooth divorce and prevent contagion. While financial markets react instantly to shocks such as Brexit, the deeper impact on economies takes time to show. The International Monetary Fund has said Brexit could leave Britain’s economy more than 5% smaller by 2019 than if it stayed in the bloc. The vote has added to uncertainty over the global economy. The exit process is also unclear. Article 50 of the EU treaty, which sets out how a state can leave the bloc, offers little detail. Although it provides for a two-year withdrawal, many say it will take longer and some fear the process will become bitter, disrupting European affairs across the board.

Angry public mood

Poland’s Europe minister, Konrad Szymanski, a member of a eurosceptic nationalist government that has clashed with Brussels over the rule of law since it was elected last year, said the EU risked losing more members if it did not reform. EU diplomats point to Denmark, the Netherlands and possibly France as states where political pressure for a British-style vote will be strongest, but they see no chain reaction of other countries voting to secede. Continental governments are likely to reject calls for plebiscites, but they all face a similar angry

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SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

USA

Obama: US-UK relationship endures US President Barack Obama on Friday said the US relationship with both UK and EU would endure in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the Brexit referendum. “The United Kingdom and the European Union will remain indispensable partners of the United States even as they begin negotiating their ongoing relationship,” Obama said. -REUTERS

THE AMERICAS

Rousseff ex-minister arrested in Brazil graft probe

A figurine depicting Britain’s queen Elizabeth II is on display near issues of the book “The EU an Obituary” by John R Gillingham at a book shop window in Berlin AFP public mood, fuelled by fear of globalisation, falling living standards for many poorer workers and anxiety over immigration. Those same forces have propelled outspoken billionaire Donald Trump to the brink of the Republican nomination for the US presidential election. Trump applauded the result, saying Britons “took back control of their country”. Most other US leaders had warned Brexit would weaken Europe and undermine Washington’s interests in the region. Calls for the European Union to do less, and to focus on essentials, have already begun. But there is little agreement on what those essentials should be. Since its inception, and especially since France rejected a European defence community in 1954, European unity has been a political project promoted through economic interdependence. “Europe advances in disguise,” Jacques Delors, the architect of the EU’s single market and common currency, famously said. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the EU should be reformed to concentrate on the economy. Others in France and Germany want to see it do more to control Europe’s external borders and manage migration to address citizens’ concerns. Yet migration policy is deeply divisive. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who defied Brussels by shutting out migrants, plans a referendum in October to reject EU policy of sharing out quotas of asylum seekers stranded in Greece and Italy. Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party whose rise prompted Prime Minister David Cameron to call the plebiscite, gloated that the EU was now “dying” and said he hoped this was

“the first step towards a Europe of sovereign nations”.

Plunging support for EU

EU leaders set out to rebut such notions. European Council President Donald Tusk, the man who chairs the bloc’s summits, declared: “On behalf of the 27 leaders I can say that we are determined to keep our unity as 27.” Quoting the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, he added: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” But they are also aware of plunging public support for the EU in most member countries. An anti-immigration eurosceptic came within a whisker of winning Austria’s presidency last month, and eurosceptics in the Netherlands and Denmark have won referendums against aspects of EU policy in recent months. The British vote is a far more dramatic blow and will prompt soul searching and conflicting reflexes about the way ahead. Britain had always been the most semi-detached of EU members. It acceded belatedly in 1973 after shunning the foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community in the 1950s. And it never joined the euro or the Schengen zone of passport-free travel. Yet it has wielded strong influence as the most free-market country and the bloc’s main financial centre, and its departure is bound to sap the EU’s self-confidence and change the power dynamics among remaining members. For four decades, Europe has been steered by a balance among German political federalism, France’s tradition of a state-led economy, and Britain’s economic liberalism and free-trading.

With Britain gone

With Britain gone, Berlin faces a much more difficult life as the bloc’s reluctant hegemon, with an economically weak French partner and a group of southern countries that want it to underwrite their debts and their banks’ deposits. There are several potential areas for battles among the remaining EU countries: what terms to give a departing Britain, whether to deepen euro area integration and how to respond to the widespread loss of public confidence. Britain has been the strongest supporter of a free trade and investment partnership under negotiation with the United States, which could become a collateral casualty of Brexit, given public opposition in Germany and Austria as well as France. The eight other countries outside the euro zone - including Sweden, Denmark and Poland - have lost their strongest ally in London and will be a weaker minority in the EU. “Brexit will oblige some countries to take a decision. They can’t stay one foot in and one foot out,” former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said, citing the four central European countries that form the so-called Visegrad group, as well as Denmark and Sweden. Letta said the 19-nation euro zone must move forward as the core of “ever closer union”. That vision sends a chill through Warsaw and Prague. But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker insisted Brexit was not the beginning of the end for the bloc. Answering that question from a reporter in Brussels, Juncker replied simply, “No.” This drew applause from EU officials in the room as Juncker left after taking just two questions. l

A top ex-minister of Brazil’s suspended president Dilma Rousseff became the latest official to get arrested in a corruption probe on Thursday. Paulo Bernardo, former communications minister, was arrested in Brasilia. He was wanted in connection with the paying of $30m worth of bribes to public officials. -AFP

UK

UK Labour Party lawmakers seek to oust leader Corbyn Two members of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party submitted a motion of no confidence in their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, on Friday after the country voted to leave the EU. The motion, submitted by lawmaker Margaret Hodge and backed by colleague Ann Coffey, calls for a debate on Corbyn’s leadership among the party’s parliamentary representatives when it next meets on Monday. If supported at a later secret ballot, it could then trigger a leadership contest. -REUTERS

EUROPE

Spain says closer to controlling Gibraltar Spain said Friday it was closer to asserting control over Gibraltar after Britain voted to leave the European Union, prompting London to jump to the defence of its overseas territory. The tiny rocky outcrop on Spain’s southern tip has long been the subject of an acrimonious sovereignty row between London and Madrid, which wants Gibraltar back after it was ceded to Britain in 1713. -AFP

AFRICA

Zimbabwean jailed for ignoring Mugabe’s motorcade A Zimbabwean truck driver has been jailed for two years for failing to make way for President Robert Mugabe’s motorcade, a local daily reported Friday. The NewsDay said Joseph Chakanetsa charged with negligent driving after ignoring the presidential convoy when the veteran ruler was travelling to his home in the upmarket Harare suburb of Borrowdale. -AFP


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SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

Colombians on the verge of historic peace n Tribune International Desk Colombians cried and hugged as the leaders of their government and the country’s biggest rebel group signed a cease-fire and disarmament deal moving their country to the verge of a final peace accord to end decades of fighting. As the agreement was signed in Havana, hundreds of people watched the ceremony live on a giant screen set up in Colombia’s capital, Bogota, many singing the national anthem and waving the Colombian flag. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Rodrigo Londono, commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, shook hands and described the moment as historic after their lead negotiators signed a deal setting out how 7,000 rebel fighters will hand over their weapons once a peace accord ends a 52-year war that has killed more than 220,000 people. Santos has said he thinks the accord could come as early as next month, although negotiators have missed a series of other government-announced deadlines. “Colombia got used to living in conflict. We don’t have even the slightest memories of what it means to live in peace,” Santos said. “Today a new chapter opens, one that brings back peace and gives our children the possibility of not reliving history.” The disarmament and cease-fire

In this 2000 file photo, a Colombian guerilla woman holds her AK-47 as she takes part in a line of rebels during a parade of Farc fighters in Colombia REUTERS deal does not mean an immediate halt to conflict or the start of rebels surrendering their arms. That will begin only after a final peace deal is formally signed. As nearly four years of peace negotiations seem close to success, attention is shifting to a referendum that Santos has promised to give Colombians a final say on its acceptance. The peace deal could face difficulties due to the deep unpopularity of the rebels and the desire for re-

venge still felt by many Colombians over a conflict that killed so many and displaced millions. Supporters of the peace process also fear that too many voters could simply stay home, threatening to leave the referendum below the participation threshold needed to be valid. Farc’s aging leaders agreed to begin negotiations in 2012, after a 15year, US-backed military offensive that greatly thinned rebel ranks. “The Colombian armed forces

FACTBOX

that grew enormous during the war are now called to play an important role in peace,” said Londono, the Farc commander is better known by the alias Timochenko. “They were our adversaries, but going forward they’ll be our allies.” In addition to a framework for a cease-fire, both sides agreed on a demobilisation plan that will see guerrillas concentrate in rural areas under government protection and hand over weapons to UN monitors. Dis-

armament would be required to be completed within no more than six months of a peace accord’s signing. The deal also includes security guarantees for the Farc during its transition to a peaceful political party. A similar attempt in the 1980s led to thousands of rebels and their sympathisers being killed by paramilitaries and corrupt soldiers. A peace deal won’t make Colombia safer overnight. The proliferation of cocaine remains a powerful magnet for criminal gangs operating in Colombia’s remote valleys and lawless jungles. And the National Liberation Army, a much smaller but more recalcitrant rebel group, hasn’t started peace talks. The a strong element in Colombia opposed to a deal with the Farc is led by popular former President Alvaro Uribe, who spearheaded the military offensive against the Farc last decade. “It damages the word ‘peace’ to accept that those responsible for crimes against humanity like kidnapping, car-bombing, recruitment of children and rape of girls don’t go to jail for a single day and can be elected to public office,” Uribe said Thursday in reaction to the latest agreement. Still, regional and international leaders were enthusiastic. Cuban President Raul Castro, whose country was one of the guarantors of the talks, said the end of five decades of war is close. “The peace process can’t turn back,” he said. l

CHRONICLE

Key points of Farc-Colombia peace accord

Colombia’s half-century conflict at a glance

Colombia’s government and Farc rebels signed a landmark ceasefire agreement on Thursday, a major step toward ending one of the world’s longest-running conflicts.

deal. The weapons will be stored in secure containers monitored by the UN before being broken down and used for the construction of three memorial monuments.

How it started

Below are some highlights of the accord--

Guaranteeing Farc safety

Definitive bilateral ceasefire Both sides commit to democratic values and agree not to use weapons for political ends. The ceasefire will be effective once a final peace deal is signed.

Demobilisaton areas The government and Farc will establish 23 transition zones and eight camps where rebels will demobilise and begin the process of returning to civilian life. Teams led by the UN, including government and Farc representatives, will monitor the demobilisation. Police and other armed officials will only be allowed into the transition zones in coordination with the monitoring teams. No civilians are allowed into the Farc camps.

Surrendering arms Farc rebels must hand over their weapons to UN officials within 180 days of the signing of the final

The government will guarantee the safety of ex-rebels and their political allies, who have historically been targets for right-wing paramilitary groups. A special investigation unit will be created within the prosecutors’ office to focus on rooting out criminal gangs born out of right-wing paramilitary groups. This unit will have its own elite police force. Special protection units, comprised of both ex-rebels and security forces, will guard Farc politicians and other community leaders.

Referendum During talks on the ceasefire deal, the Farc accepted putting a final deal to a plebiscite, a promise made by President Juan Manual Santos that had been a key sticking point. The Farc accepted the referendum on the condition it is sanctioned by Colombia’s Constitutional Court.

Source: REUTERS

The 1948 assassination of populist firebrand Jorge Eliecer Gaitan led to a political bloodletting known as “La Violencia,” or “The Violence.” Tens of thousands died, and peasant groups joined with communists to arm themselves. A 1964 military attack on their main encampment led to the creation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc.

Rebel aims Though nominally Marxist at its founding, the Farc’s ideology has never been well defined. It has sought to make the conservative oligarchy share power and prioritised land reform in a country where more than 5m people have been forcibly displaced, mostly by far-right militias in the service of ranchers, businessmen and drug traffickers. The Farc lost popularity as it turned to kidnapping, extortion and taxes on cocaine production and illegal gold mining to fund its insurgency.

US involvement In 2000, the US began sending billions of dollars for counter-narcotics and -insurgency efforts under Plan Colombia, which helped security forces

weaken the Farc and kill several top commanders. The State Department classifies the group as a terrorist organisation and its leaders face US indictments for what the George W Bush administration called the world’s largest drug-trafficking organisation.

The human toll More than 220,000 lives have been lost, most of them civilians. In the past two decades, many of the killings were inflicted by the militias, which made peace with the government in 2003. The Farc abducted ranchers, politicians and soldiers who were often held for years in jungle prison camps. Its captives included former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three US military contractors, all of whom were rescued in 2008.

Peace efforts Mid-1980s peace talks collapsed after death squads killed at least 3,000 allies of the Farc’s political wing. Another effort fell apart in 2002 after the rebels hijacked an airliner to kidnap a senator. The current talks have been going on since 2012 in Havana.

Source: AP


MARKETS DIVE AFTER BRITAIN EU VOTE TOKYO Nikkei (Closing)

June 24, opening trade, selected exchanges LONDON FTSE-100

FRANKFURT DAX

-7.19%

- 9.94%

-7.92%

PARIS CAC 40

MILAN FTSE-MIB

-7.06%

-11.39%

MADRID IBEX-35

ATHENS Athex composite

-11.8%

-15.45%

INSIGHT

Brexit adds to fragility of global growth n Reuters, Sydney The pain of Britain’s European divorce radiated around the globe on Friday, blowing up a storm in financial markets that may take time to die down and retarding prospects for a recovery in world trade. Sterling’s steepling fall to 30-year lows showed investors saw the British vote to quit the European Union as a self-inflicted wound, but economic casualties could spread far and wide. “The global economy was fragile before and is more so today,” Citi economists said in a report. Markets, caught off guard by the result, pushed back the expected timing of rate rises by the US Federal Reserve and tried to work out if the Bank of England and other central banks would ease to shore up their economies. Japan, which wants a weaker yen to break free of recession, felt the impact immediately. The yen, regarded as a safe haven currency, surged past 100 per dollar to its strongest in 2-1/2 years and stocks fell more than 8% during trade on Friday. Asia’s emerging markets were also hit hard, with stocks and currencies falling. China’s yuan slumped to its lowest in more than five years, with the central bank thought to be intervening to sell dollars. “From an investment perspective it’s the last thing the global economy needed because of the uncertainty that it’s going to add in to what’s already been a volatile year,” said Savanth Sebastian, an economist at Comsec in Sydney. The yen’s gains intensified the concerns of Japanese policymakers, who want a weaker currency to support exports and

their deflation-hit economy. So far, Japan has been unable to garner support from other major countries, most notably the US, for intervention to weaken the yen. It was unclear if that would change even as Tokyo signalled on Friday it was ready to act. “I’m extremely concerned about the risk (Brexit) has on the global economy, financial and currency markets,” Japan’s finance minister Taro Aso said. “It is extremely important to ensure growth in the global economy, as well as maintaining currency and financial stability.” Any unliateral action by the Japanese could run the risk of triggering competitive devaluations by rival export-focused economies, vying for market share at a time when world trade was slowing. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said the UK was likely to lose its AAA credit rating, the Financial Times reported, and economists said if the transition was not smooth then Britain risked falling into recession next year. One of the biggest challenges for Britain will be to reach standalone trade deals in the timeframe of about two years to manage its withdrawal. Indonesia is currently negotiating a trade deal with the European Union, and Darmin Nasution, coordinating minister for economics said Brexit would be a manageable complication. “We’re in the middle of a negotiation for a trade pact with the EU. If Britain wants out, it will not be part of that pact. We will have to make a separate trace pact with it,” Nasution said. “But there should be no problem in exports, we will still be able to export there. l

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World

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016


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Learn English

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

WORDSEARCH 4. rupee 5. peso 6. dinar 7. baht 8. yen 9. yuan 10. shi h lling

Answers 1. euro 2.. dollar 3. pound

Currency

In Europe people use euros, and dollars in the USA. How many different currencies do you know? There are 10 of them hidden here. 1. The money in France, Italy and Spain is the e _ r _ (4). 2. The money in Australia, Singapore and the USA is the d _ _ l _ r (6). 3. The money in the UK is the p _ _ _ d (5). 4. The money in India and Nepal is the r _ p _ _ (5). 5. The money in Chile, Colombia and Mexico is the p _ s _ (4). 6. The money in Algeria, Jordan and Tunisia is the d _ _ _ r (5). 7. The money in Thailand is the b _ h _ (4). 8. The money in Japan is the y _ _ (3). 9. The money in China is the y _ _ n (4). 10. The money in Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania is the s _ _ _ _ ing (8).

Find lots more fun things to do at www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglishkids Š British Council 2016


| event |

Jaypee Group presents Mountain Echoes Literary Festival n Features Desk On August 26 to 28, Bhutan will celebrate the seventh edition of Mountain Echoes literary festival. This diverse three-day festival is uniquely set against the backdrop of the verdant Himalayas in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. An initiative of the India-Bhutan Foundation in association with Siyahi, Mountain Echoes is a confluence of art, music, literature and new media of both countries, serving as the ideal platform for debate, discussion, and cultural exchange. Its idyllic location and program of events makes it one of the most unique literary festivals and a leading event in the international literary calendar. Set within a country renowned for its sustainable democracy and proactive stance on ecology, Mountain Echoes will open with a conversation on “climate change and its impact” presented

presented. “Good to Great Gasa,” a photography exhibition by Dorji Dhradhul, will also provide viewers with a glimpse into the history, culture, and natural splendour of Bhutan’s Gasa region. Some of the proceeds of the exhibition will go to the Good to Great Gasa Fund. Workshops include Elements of a Story, which is a creative writing workshop by Sonam Wangmo Jhalani, Brand Building and Advertising by Piyush Pandey and Sculpting the Spirit, a yoga workshop, by Ira Trivedi. Moreover, a special musical performance will be featured by Indian fusion rock band, Indian Ocean. This year, the festival also announces the inaugural edition of Bonfire Tales, which is a cultural journey on a motorcycle to the Phobjikha valley in the impressive Black Mountains of Bhutan and

The festival will span the country’s full history, with a conversation on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel by author Amitav Ghosh, and introduced by ambassador Jaideep Sarkar (present ambassador of India to the Royal Government of Bhutan). As well as exploring contemporary issues facing Bhutan today, the festival will span the country’s full history, with a conversation on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel in Bhutan, the first ruler to unite Bhutan as a single nation. Kuenga Wangmo, Neyphug Trulku and Dasho Sangay Khandu will discuss his journey as undoubtedly one of the greatest figures in the history of Bhutan. Visitors to Mountain Echoes 2016 can also attend a variety of collateral events, such as an exhibition of artworks by the Jogi family; selections from Jogi Art by Tulika Kedia at the Royal University of Bhutan and an exhibition of photographs by Sudhir Kasliwal, curated by Pramod Kumar KG capturing a vibrant, living Rajasthan, shall be

then onto the warm climes of Punakha. Participants will be led by actor Kelly Dorji, on a tour specifically designed to provide an authentic experience of Bhutanese culture, discovering sacred religious sites, and centuries-old monasteries and their art, while sampling delicious local cuisine throughout the journey. Detailed itineraries and costs are available on request. Availability is limited and applications for the tour are now open. To apply, please contact: tamanna.siyahi@gmail.com.

For more information about the literary festival, check out: Website: www. mountainechoes.org Facebook: www.facebook. com/MountainEchoes Twitter: @MountainEchoes Instagram: mountainechoes #MountainEchoes

| submissions |

Featured submissions Top entries for our Didactic Cinquain contest Life Harsh cool Challenging overcoming moving teaches stepping where needs Time By Marjan Tiasha ** Ego Frangible, intangible Scheming, dreaming, calculating Masquerading as a citadel Hubris Abrar Farhan Zaman Want to chime in? Send us your submissions to featuresdt@gmail.com

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Writing

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Feature

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

Black market selling hacked server access

K

aspersky Lab researchers have recently uncovered a huge underground market selling to over 70,000 hacked servers. This is happening all over the world, spreading across 173

countries, each being affected in different scale and proportions. Most of these countries are from South East Asia, where Singapore is in 29th place with 743 servers, Malaysia has 2,140 servers (10th

place) and Indonesia has 459 servers (37th place). xDedic, the underground marketplace, is ran by a Russianspeaking group, who sells server information and login passwords

that could be used to control these hacked servers. The machines that were compromised were not only those owned by private, home users. Many of them were different government networks, ISPs (Internet service providers), telcos, universities, medical institutions, and much more. According to Vitaly Kamluk, Asia Pacific director of Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research & Analysis Team: “This is something we have never seen before in terms of scale. It is a professional service developed over many years. Our research shows it has been operational since 2014, with tech support, a message board and training [for users].” It is very clear that Asia is emerging as the picking place for cyber criminals. Prevention is compulsory is this scenario. As per Kamluk’s suggestion, strong passwords should be used to minimise exposure. “They got into these servers by leveraging on

weak passwords on administrator accounts on RDP servers exposed to the Internet; to counter that, users should select complex passwords,” he said. Besides, one should try to avoid using RDP servers that are exposed to the Internet. If they are required to use it for various purposes, they should white list IP addresses that can connect to the server, which would make it difficult to find them and thus eliminate threats from brute-force attackers. An easy but effective measure is to always patch the system and make sure the latest version of the server software is running. Finally, Kamluk recommends using endpoint protection to counter backdoors planted by attackers. l

Kandy: Learnings from GP Accelerator program

K

andy, an intelligent mobile advertising application that puts deals and contents on users’ lock screens, recently graduated from the GP Accelerator program.

Kandy. They also received a great opportunity to meet with investors and as well as exposure to the market. Kandy considered this four month boot camp as a great learning session.

Last October (2015) Grameenphone partnered with SD ASIA to launch the “GP Accelerator” in search for five talented tech startups in Bangladesh. After a rigorous process of filtering through hundreds of startup applications, holding face-to-face interviews, and demo presentations, the GP Accelerator team unveiled the top five startups to participate in the announcement program, on February 7, 2016 at GP house. Kandy was one of the top five teams. Siddiq Abu Bakkar, CEO of Kandy, spoke of his experience at the GP Accelerator program. Here are the key statements:

Demo day experience After four months with the GP Accelerator program, the top five startups including Kandy, got the opportunity to present their businesses in front of more than 100 attendees, which included investors and professionals on Demo Day. Kandy caught eyes from several potential investors in the process.

Improvement since joining the Accelerator

After getting exposure from GP Accelerator and SD ASIA team, Kandy is now getting more users and marketing. They have a total of 500 active users, a number which was near 10 before our

joining with GP Accelerator. The app recently crossed 10,000+ download mark. More than 100 brands and 500 advertisements are being published every day on the app. On average, users are

spending more than 20 minutes on the Kandy app every day. GP Accelerator experience Expert mentorship from different sectors was the key to success for

Equity share Siddiq thinks it is really worth to give up 10% equity. He believes his team gained much experience, knowledge and insight. l

Reprinted under special arrangement with SD Asia


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Arts & Letters

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

SATYAJIT RAY AND OUR CHILDHOOD n Rifat Munim

I

have long wanted to bring out issues solely dedicated to the genius of Satyajit Ray, the writer and filmmaker without whose creations our childhood would have been duller and less fun. Some of our most exciting moments were when we, as avid, adolescent readers of detective and thriller stories in a small town, would pay our visits to the small book stores in the bazaar area, twice or thrice a month. We’d always find something new from Sheba Prakashani, an ever fertile resource of children’s fiction. Even when there was no new Sheba title, there always were several piles of the old ones from which we could always rent at two or three takas each. But when news spread that a new Feluda had arrived -not one of those pirated copies, but the original with the cover and the inside paintings done by Ray himself -- each one of us would rush home to see where

ANNOUNCEMENT I’m very pleased to announce that Arts & Letters is going to revert to the monthly stand-alone format with a revamp. From now on A&L will come out on

the moms hid their purse and the dads put their shirts and pants, and to scour through them secretly for whatever remained in those pockets: a few coins or two or five taka notes. The Feludas were not as cheap as the Masud Ranas or the Tin Goyendas. So we had to put our brains and stolen money together. There were, of course, those consequences of being caught at times, with which came extra hours of reading on top of some heavy scolding. But there we were, braving all risks, and it all felt right, so right, because, after all, it was a new Feluda and we were desperate to be carried away wherever Topse, Lalmohan Babu and Feluda would take us to. But when we got hold of the book after going through so much, instead of fighting over it, we’d sit together to look through the pages that contained the drawings and illustrations, to take in the nuanced contours of the figures drawn and form a mental picture of a tall Feluda with a serious face and a short

the first Saturday of the month as a 16-page supplement with a wider range of articles and writeups on literature, music, films, theatre, painting and sculpture, and architecture.

Lalmohan Babu with a round face. We were equally excited when a new Professor Shonku arrived. But a detailed picture of those days should be saved up for another day. In this issue, Arts & Letters takes a look at some of Ray’s sketches, which were drawn neither for any book nor for any advertisement. These were sketches he had drawn before the shooting for Panther Panchali started. They tell us how he actually conceived the scenes, translating the setting, as described in the novel, into a sequence of visuals. They also tell us how Ray always gave us something of a multifaceted artwork, by enriching his literature and films with illustrations in some way or another. In the coming issues, we hope to run more stories and articles on other aspects of his genius such as his gift for composing music and writing lyrics and scripts. l The writer is editor, arts & letters.

The current four-page weekly format, we have realised, utterly fails to offer readers the variety and richness of our English writing scene that has seen a vibrancy in recent years with the emer-

gence of fresh new voices. We hope readers will like the new format and writers will respond by contributing new pieces. – Editor, Arts & Letters


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Arts & Letters

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SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

CLASSIC BANGLA

The making of Satyajit Ray’s ‘Pather P and photos from ‘The Pather Panchal

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1

3

1

Subir Banerjee (Apu) and Uma Dasgupta (Durga) during the shoot.

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Cinematographer Subrata Mitra with Karuna Banerjee (Sarbajaya).

3

Indir Thakrun.

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Satyajit Ray during the filming of ‘Pather Panchali’.

n Scroll Staff

S

atyajit Ray’s stunning debut Pather Panchali is back in the news with a new restoration by the American DVD label Criterion and the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in Italy. Posters, sketches and on-location photographs of the 1965 release, which have been floating around in bits and

4 pieces for years, have now been collected in one place. The Pather Panchali Sketchbook provides a glimpse of how Ray imagined his adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s novel of the same name to be. The publication includes Ray’s original drawings that served as the visual blueprint for the screenplay, photographs of the cast and crew on location, and his illustrations from

Aam Aantir Bhenpu, a children’s edition of the novel. There are also essays by Dhritiman Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore, both of whom have acted in Ray’s films, and contributions by cinematographer Subrata Mitra, production designer Bansi Chandragupta, and editor Dulal Dutta. Ray “did not use his now-famous kheror khata (red notebook) to write the screenplay”, writes his

son, filmmaker Sandip Ray, in the preface. “He did some sketches in a drawing book after he had come back from London in 1950 and illustrated a succession of pictures (in pen, brush and ink) for the sequences of frames as they would come up in the film. He used to take them to the producers and explain the sequences. The producers he approached, however, had no interest, nor could they

understand the whole process.” Some of the shot divisions were scribbled on chits of paper and cigarette packs.

The birth of Apu: ‘Where is the wailing coming from?’

Satyajit Ray had donated his sketchbook to the Cinematheque Francais in Paris, writes Sandip Ray, and a scanned copy has served as the foundation for the


CINEMA

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Arts & Letters

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

FICTION

Panchali’: sketches li Sketchbook’

Friendship This is the second installment of a two-part story

DURGA GETS DRENCHES

THE BIRTH OF APU

n Junaidul Haque

W THE ICONIC TRAIN SEQUENCE

latest publication. “Visual authenticity was of the utmost importance,” Ray wrote about his adaptation. “The characters were real, with no hint of idealisation, and they had therefore to perform against real backgrounds... I also felt that it was worth trying to get ‘atmosphere’ into the film at any cost, because I believed it would heighten the drama. The subtle shades of differ-

ence between dawn and dusk, the dramatic qualities of the hot midday sun, the grey humid stillness that precedes the first monsoon shower – all these had somehow to be caught and conveyed. This involved a respect for natural ‘available’ light to an extent which sometimes created tough problems for the cameraman. But undaunted, we shot nearly all the scenes on location, and as far as

possible in the time of the day and season in which they were supposed to have taken place in the story… We did not adopt short-cut methods, because we did not know of any.” l Excerpted with permission from The Pather Panchali Sketchbook, HarperCollins India. The book is edited by Sandip Ray, the master filmmaker’s son. These excerpts first appeared in scroll.in.

e shall be here for a few days. We shall chat a lot with your wife. You have been making her suffer for quite a few years now, no? Don’t hurt her, okay? No, no. Don’t worry. I have a good wife. I am not a bad person either. Sonia, I took her to India a few days back. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We remembered you a lot but you were in the USA then. Next time I shall visit your family in Mumbai. We would love to meet Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, Om Puri and Satyadev Dubey, and all those disciples of Ibrahim Alkazi. They are all your family friends. How is Jimmy, Sonia? You haven’t even forgotten Jimmy! (Smiles) He is settled somewhere in the USA. May be Humayun is in touch with him. Hopeless Jimmy is very smart but he doesn’t have my passion. Isn’t it, Sonia? You remember me more than him, don’t you, darling? Come on. I have no time to remember your dull face. (Uncontrolled laughter) Still angry with Jimmy! I never even noticed the hopeless guy properly! You are as emotional as you were fifteen years before. (Smiles) No anger. I just love to consider him a defeated rival. Emotional? If you want I can chase Mark even now with a sword and flee with you on a

horse. Really? You don’t have to act like a young lover at this age, darling. Men from Kishoreganj are eternally kishores or adolescents, you used to tell me. You remember everything. That’s why you are such a great friend. I used to chat a lot with you. If Mark and you are Rama and Sita, I am your loyal Laxmana. Whenever you are in Dhaka, just let me know. My Urmila and myself will be always with Mark and you. Urmila of The Ramayana is a neglected person but not my one. I never mention the mermaid to her. I am a loyal husband. Sonia, please tell my wife what a nice person I was! Charm, chivalry – I had all in plenty. Yeah, yeah. You had so much charm that you had enough of it left for me even after loving the mermaid for seven years. (Sudden sweet smile) How do you feel while getting old, Mr Pogo? (Sadly) I felt old even at eighteen. I walked into the world of serious literature, got introduced to European melancholia and never recovered from it. My leftist friends tried their best to turn me into a strong-willed, highly active toughie. But I remained the sad, lazy, past-loving man all my life. This even dulled my writing skills and never allowed me to become the writer that I was supposed to be.  PAGE 18 COLUMN 1


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Arts & Letters FICTION

Continued from page 17

I could only talk with like-minded friends, listen to Tagore songs (best medicine for a sad man) and watch cricket. If there were no books, no adda, no Tagore songs and no cricket in this world, I would be a dead man. Let me be a little immodest for a second and tell you that I was once a bloody good student. Perhaps you guessed it. I had so far no regret spending my life as a glorified clerk in the corporate world. But now I feel a little weak after crossing forty. I feel quite sad. I qualified for the civil service but didn’t join. I was working for a bank but left it for more freedom and to avoid transfer. Now I feel bad. I never had what you call drive. I never had ambition or determination. I just drifted as a leaf on the river water. As a result, what was supposed to happen happened. I began with a bang and am going to end with a whimper. Well said. Now I know why you lost your mermaid. No ambition, no drive. A full-fledged pessimist. My mermaid and her father had every confidence in me but her mother refused to forgive my carelessness regarding my career. Tell me which mother will choose a pogo for her daughter? So we didn’t get married! When I understood that I was going to lose her, I suffered from a shock beyond description. At times I thought that I would finally get her and things would be right again. But that was wishful thinking. I always lived in my imagination and never knew reality. I clung to your friendship all the more to forget the terrible real world. It was not that I forgot Ilish Machh and chased you. Your superior intelligence and your sincerity helped me to tackle my crisis. I was talking about my sorrow. While youngsters enjoy their youth, I miserably failed to do so and was obsessed with old age and death. I didn’t want to grow old, I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to remain eternally sad. But dejection never left me. To quote Yeats, I don’t remember spending a single day fully happy. I can say that I spent my youth only brooding and tackling my sorrow. I was sad in summer and winter. I was sad in spring and autumn. It was my mermaid who had made my life a little meaningful. But I didn’t get her finally. However, I had loved her with great passion. You know that I am an intensely emotional person. (Changing the topic) In fact, Sonia, I should have got my grandpa’s life. No complexity, no

Friendship

BIGSTOCK

While youngsters enjoy their youth, I miserably failed to do so and was obsessed with old age and death. I didn’t want to grow old, I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to remain eternally sad. But dejection never left me hard work. Spending eighty years in great comfort. And a highprofile, elegant wife like you. Don’t laugh. My grandma could rival you in beauty. One of my two childhood friends. The other was my mother’s mother. A scholar in Arabic and Persian. I was their eldest grandson and both doted on me. I wish I had such nice grandmas. Their affection turned you into a softie too. You showered affection on a lot of people. Now you don’t have to display an ear-to-ear grin! You had many flaws too, which I won’t mention now. Pogo, you used to say that you were born to fail in life. Would you blame women for your failure? Not at all. I don’t blame anyone. Mermaid gave me more happiness than sorrow. As a friend you were very positive. My wife is also liberal, encouraging, positive. How do I then blame women for my failure? Women are great. I didn’t only love them, I respected them. I put them on a pedestal and worshipped them. I respected their families. I have no regrets. I shall live like this even if I am blessed with one more life. Only I would like to be in a profession of my liking. No Motijheel or Gulshan for me. Teaching or full-time writing. I would love to write a

lot. Let us drop the topic. I don’t want to make you sad. I always remembered you all these years. I always wanted to write to you. But could never finish a letter! You lazy bum, could you ever finish anything in time? You onehundred-year-old fool! Don’t call a pogo old! Don’t hurt him. You know what Charles Baudelaire had said? One who can recreate boyhood at will is a genius. You can call me a chhotokhato (small) genius. A glorified clerk but with a boy’s heart! (Raises his collar playfully). Oh really? Mr Chirakishore (evergreen youth), still feel like running after kishoris (young women)? And listen, stop calling corporate executives glorified clerks! No self-pity, please! You have been such a great friend! An old friend is life’s greatest gift. Sonia, please tell me about yourself. With your encouragement I have talked a lot today. This is called getting old. An introvert as a boy, now I love to talk. Although only with close people. I don’t have much to tell you. Got a PhD a few years back. ‘Muslim journalism in British India’. I knew this would make you happy. (Shy smile) Quiet married life. Nothing more to say. No admirers? Nobody troubled

you like the pogo? (Mock serious tone) No comments. (Smiles) You are as naughty as ever. We need some younger versions of you too. Get babies, quick! Thanks for the praise. Sonia, your English was splendid. Mine could never match yours. How could Dhaka beat Mumbai? You are right. But your English had literary merit. Your words were poetic. And you admired TS Eliot so much! Such generous praise from the tigress! Sad that I have crossed forty. Fifteen years back I would only be rebuked. You ungrateful liar! I praised you such a lot in your absence! You had no time to know that. Whenever you saw me you would rush to put poetry into my ears. ‘Ami bhubon bhromia sheshe eshechi nutan deshe/ Ogo bideshini ….’. My ears are still red. You poured such a lot of poetry into them. (Suddenly getting serious) Why are you full of despair, pogo? What keeps you sad even at this age? (Taking his glasses off and showing his face) Look, this is a sufferer’s face. I would like to quote Tagore with minor changes. If you are sensitive, you have to endure endless pain. You know that I have been a great admirer

of our own Shamsur Rahman all my life. Listen to a couple of his lines. ‘I listen to my heartbeat and find/Sorrow endlessly beating her clever drum’. Remember Frost’s ‘I shall be telling this with a sigh/ Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less travelled by’. So, after crossing forty, you have to sigh. I knew this even as a young man. Life gives you very little – affection of wise elders, love of children and love from your woman. Only this much. The last asks for a heavy price from you. But life is meaningless without it. When you were young, you were intelligent but never talked about the deep sorrow that you carry with you. You laughed at everything and were so easygoing! Today I am pained to find your eyes so sad. (Keeping quiet for a moment) However, I am happy that you are not at all bitter. You have a lot of sympathy and good wishes for others. In fact I have seen a very few people who can rival your ability to praise others. You have praised me so little though. (Displaying a naughty grin) Please praise me today. Please! (Laughs) Okay, okay. (Sitting straight) I have got a chance to tell you about my best memory of you. I shall never forget the incident. You took me to a crowded Dhaka market. We had the elderly Mrs Richards with us. I had a look at the market, couldn’t hide my despair and told you with a dark face, ‘Will you go inside? I am not feeling well’. ‘Why?’ You were surprised. ‘They will gape at you and push you. I can’t stand that.’ I finished speaking and looked at you. I was surprised to find you staring at me. Your eyes were wet. You were to leave for Mumbai a few days later. The smart, suave Mumbaiwalli looking at the simple pogo with affection, pride and tears of gratitude in her eyes. An apparently ridiculous comment of mine had given birth to a truly sublime moment. Instantly I understood that my spontaneous love for you as a friend didn’t go in vain. (Smiling happily but eyes looking glossy) Don’t be so sure, you fool! Hahaha! No problem. A pogo’s heart is as big as it can be. Once you enter it, you are always there. He never forgets a true friend.l Junaidul Haque is a fiction writer.


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Opinion

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

With Brexit, the world loses Fear was the main driver behind the UK’s blunder

Is the UK as we know it about to disintegrate?

REUTERS

It also remains to be seen whether the United Kingdom’s example last night finds resonance in the remaining members of the European Union. If that were to happen, and the Grand European experiment were to fail, it would be a tragedy for Western, nay human, civilisation

n Mustafizur Rahman Khan

T

he UK’s catastrophic blunder yesterday (or rather, the betrayal of the sane people of London, Scotland, and Northern Ireland by the regressive elements of provincial England and Wales) has to be seen in the context of globalisation. The same fears that are driving Trump on the other side of the pond were at play in case of Brexit. Behind the facade of concerns about the democratic deficit of Brussels, what political

opportunists like Johnson and Farage exploited here are the anti-immigration sentiments of predominantly white, working class people. But to me, this begs a much more fundamental question that is behind much of the world’s malaise. What the West has not been able to reconcile itself with is this: If you are to truly globalise, you cannot ultimately sustain the inequity of a bus driver in Birmingham making more than an engineer in Bangalore. Indeed, in my opinion, even Islamic terrorism is, in the

ultimate analysis, a reaction to this inequity. Until this reconciliation is achieved, and as the economy of the world becomes progressively more and more Asia-centric, you will see more and more instances in the West of the reactionary backlash you saw yesterday. As far as the immediate future is concerned, it is only a matter of time before which the United Kingdom as we have known it since 1706 will disintegrate. The difference between Scotland and England has never been so stark since the days of Sir William Wallace. I am sure within the year, Scotland will demand a new referendum on independence. And this time, the choice will not simply be between the United Kingdom and independence; rather, the choice will be between the United Kingdom and the European Union, and the Scots will choose the latter. And so England will be punished for betraying the trust that Scotland had reposed in her only last year when they chose the United Kingdom over

independence. Nigel Farage may triumphantly declare that yesterday was the Independence Day of the United Kingdom, but within the year, that very Kingdom will be at stake. Having said that, it also remains to be seen whether the United Kingdom’s example last night finds resonance in the remaining members of the European Union. If that were to happen, and the Grand European experiment were to fail, it would be a tragedy for Western, nay human, civilisation. For make no mistake. This very notion, born out of the ashes of World War II, that through an enmeshment of economic interest by pooling sovereign competencies in supranational institutions, you can achieve a lasting peace, where self-interest of nation states dictate avoidance of hostility towards others, is now under challenge. Make no mistake. It is the world which was the biggest loser in yesterday’s referendum. l Mustafizur Rahman Khan is a freelance contributor.


DT

20 Editorial

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

INSIDE

When condolence is condescension To respect someone’s humanity, we don’t need to like that person, or that person’s sexuality, or that person’s hair colour, or their skin tone PAGE 21

Stop wasting food Bangladesh may be a poorer country, but the tendency of the people to waste food is no different. We waste food on an everyday basis. The best examples are perhaps wedding parties, iftars, and restaurants that offer buffets

BIGSTOCK

PAGE 22

Make Eid travel less of a hassle

Climate change The study found that a lack of understanding about the benefits of DRR meant that the community lacked motivation to partake in DRR activities PAGE 23

Be heard Write to Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com www.dhakatribune.com Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/ DhakaTribune. The views expressed in Opinion articles are those of the authors alone. They do not purport to be the official view of Dhaka Tribune or its publisher.

W

ith Eid-ul-Fitr just around the corner, hordes of commuters are once again facing tremendous difficulty in getting tickets to go home for the holidays. We need a system of smooth and systematic ticket booking system for the holiday season -- something the railway administration has been unable to deliver on. Currently, we are seeing an unfair and corrupt ticketing system in place, where common people are out of luck when trying to purchase tickets in air-conditioned berths. People should have the right to buy such tickets once counters have opened in a “first come first serve” manner. Even then, there can be a bar to the number of tickets each person is allowed purchase, but reports that all air-conditioned tickets were found sold out before counters even opened to the public is unacceptable. This problem is a manifestation of the prevalent VIP culture, where certain persons, such as ministers, lawmakers, and top government officials are given the privilege to book tickets before anyone else. And this VIP culture is cause for much travel woes for the masses. The railway ticketing system is a public enterprise, but the authorities should play fair and ensure that unethical ticketing practices and corruption do not take place. Year after year, we see the miseries of commuters worsen, as they attempt to go home to spend Eid with their families. With the new speedy Dhaka-Chittagong train scheduled to be inaugurated today, it is hoped the ticketing authorities will refrain from any kind of corruption, and help make Eid travel easier for everyone.

It is hoped the ticketing authorities will refrain from any kind of corruption, and help make Eid travel easier for everyone


DT

21

Opinion

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

When condolence is condescension Let’s not mix our sympathy with self-righteousness

n Esam Sohail

A

s I take stock of the carnage -- physical, emotional, and social -- coming out of the massacre in Orlando earlier this month, I have to admit that my own evolution on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) issues was a slow one. In college and through graduate school, I was affiliated with many of the most vocal conservative causes of the day, edited the school’s alternative conservative newspaper for a while, and served in the campaigns of Republican presidential nominees Bob Dole and George W Bush. As a regular, heterosexual man, I am attracted to women who are pretty, smart, and have great personalities; the concept of samesex attraction is something I don’t pretend to understand myself. I don’t have to. You see, I also believe in science just as I believe in being loyal to friends. More than two decades ago, the global authority on psychological and psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), finally yielded to compelling evidence from both the biological and the social sciences, and removed any reference to homosexuality as a

We should be sincere when it comes to dealing with tragedy

To respect someone’s humanity, we don’t need to like that person, or that person’s sexuality, or that person’s hair colour, or their skin tone

clinical aberration or abnormality. Further independent research continues to confirm that homosexuality is normal in nature and plenty of species have a small proportion of individuals who are genetically “wired” in that manner. Anyone who suggests that the state of being gay or lesbian is synonymous to some illness or perversion may be expressing deeply held religious or social beliefs, but is certainly at utter variance with evidence and scientific consensus. My next door neighbor is gay, as is one of my lawyers, and one of my closest friends from my undergraduate days in college. Each of them is an outstanding

individual who has lent a hand or a sympathetic ear when I have needed it. If these gentlemen are “perverts” as many of their detractors might put it, I can honestly say, we need more of them. Are there gays and lesbians who are mentally unstable, dangerous, and perverted? You bet there are … just as there are plenty of those kinds of deviants amongst heterosexuals (or, for that matter, amongst vegetarians, socialists, businessmen, meat-eaters … take your demographic pick). Expressing sympathy for the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre while immediately qualifying it with something along

the lines of “they are perverts but shouldn’t really be killed” only serves to rub huge doses of condescending salt on a wound that is raw. Unfortunately, that is the kind of phony sympathy that I have seen beyond abundance on the social media profiles of too many people from South Asia and the Middle East. I get it that orthodox interpretations of all major religious traditions condemn homosexual conduct with a vehemence that is almost chilling. If you subscribe to such interpretations, that’s fine by me as long as those beliefs don’t translate into causing harm to others.

REUTERS

At the end of the day, nobody has appointed you God to make the judgment call about who is going to heaven and who is headed in the other direction; and you certainly aren’t entitled to engage in activities that can imperil the lives and livelihoods of people you deem wicked based on simply your religious beliefs. This was precisely the reasoning that guided the Ottoman Empire -- today fondly considered as the epitome of latter day Muslim rule by many of the Islamist revanchists -- to decriminalise homosexuality in 1858, more than a hundred years before most European and North American countries did. The nature of the intimate relationship between two consenting adult human beings is something that really has no bearing on their humanity. When LGBT individuals are victims of terror and homicide, they hurt, bleed, and die just like anyone else. Thus, they deserve the same respect and mourning that their non-LGBT peers are entitled to. Such unvarnished mourning is

all the more important when the massacre was partly motivated by a hatred of homosexuals on part of the perpetrator. To respect someone’s humanity, we don’t need to like that person, or that person’s sexuality, or that person’s hair colour, or their skin tone, or any of the myriad of other genetic traits with which individuals come pre-packaged. We don’t even need to understand the mystery of these traits. We simply need to acknowledge that another human being is, well, a human being whose life matters just like any of his or her peers. So, express sympathy if you must, but at least make it sincere and about the victims, instead of a backhanded expression of condescension mixed with a generous dose of nauseating selfrighteousness. The men and women who died at the Pulse Club in Orlando that Saturday were human beings like you and I. l Esam Sohail is an educational research analyst and college lecturer of social sciences. He writes from Kansas, USA.


Opinion

DT

22

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

Stop wasting food We need to save the food we don’t eat

Will every morsel of this be consumed?

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Bangladesh may be a poorer country, but the tendency of the people to waste food is no different. We waste food on an everyday basis. The best examples are perhaps wedding parties, iftars, and restaurants that offer buffets

n Ekram Kabir

I

have an acquaintance who often gets rigid over the fact that some people openly talk about food and some people openly have food during Ramadan. Being annoyed over people talking about food and having food is quite normal. He has every right to be bothered. But what didn’t seem normal to me was seeing this person throwing away a box full of morog polao after having only three spoons of it. However, before that, he had had quite a lot of traditional iftar items. We asked him why he had wasted such a huge amount of food. He said he

couldn’t assess his capacity to eat the morog polao after having had so many items. The reason I mention this incident is because there are many like him who don’t realise that they won’t be able to eat so much, and ultimately waste what is on their plate. This is quite a common scenario in Bangladeshi gatherings, especially at wedding parties. A huge amount of food is seen to be wasted at the end of each party. Let me give you some statistics. According to FAO, roughly onethird of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes, gets lost or

wasted. Food loss and waste amounts to roughly $680 billion in industrialised countries, and $310bn in developing countries. Global quantitative food losses and waste per year is roughly 30% for cereals, 40% to 50% for root crops, fruits, and vegetables, 20% for oil seeds, meat, and dairy, plus 35% for fish. Every year, consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food (222 million tonnes) as the entire net food production of Sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tonnes). According to hoteliermiddleeast.com, nearly 3.27 million tonnes of food, worth more than $3.54bn, produced and

imported in the UAE, is wasted every year. Bangladesh may be a poorer country, but the tendency of the people to waste food is no different. We waste food on an everyday basis. The best examples are perhaps wedding parties, iftars, and restaurants that offer buffets. However, I haven’t yet seen any statistics on how much food is wasted across the country every year and what the impact is on the people in this regard. I was a teenager during the 1970s, and saw a time in our country when food was scarce. I have seen how people used to put importance on the value of food at that time. I think we were much more cautious about saving food. The tendency to waste less came from the willingness to feed others. However, as the country prospered and the people became more affluent, the trend of wasting food got more intense. One of the main reasons of food waste is leftovers. It happens because people prepare too much food for a certain number of people, or they take more than they can eat. On many occasions, some leftovers end up at the back of the fridge, but never get reused.

Sometimes, we cannot use our dairy, meat, and fish items which get wasted, as they don’t remain edible. When some food smells bad, looks bad, or tastes bad, we tend to throw them away. Food also gets wasted when someone prepares it badly. When there’s a change of plan to eat out as a family, our already-prepared food gets wasted. As a nation, we have worked with many important issues and have become quite successful in many areas. However, the issue of wasting food has never gotten much importance in our lives. I also haven’t seen our politicians saying anything about this. This could be a nice imageboosting campaign for any politician. If any leader adopts this campaign, he or she would gain a huge amount of respect among the citizens. At the same time, they would be doing this country of scarce resources a great favour. To stop wasting food means to save food, and that means the saved food reaches the millions of Bangladeshis who have less access to food to feed themselves properly. l Ekram Kabir is a writer.


23

DT

Climate Change

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

Better informed, better prepared n Junanjina Ahmed

D

espite being threatened by different hazards and geographical risks, Bangladesh is still a country that shows how people can successfully adapt and survive in the face of disasters and extreme weather. Communities are usually the first to respond to any disaster, and people all over the country face risks every day. But research shows that community voices are rarely reflected in local level disaster risk reduction (DRR) planning and activities. BBC Media Action’s research and learning team has been trying to understand the barriers that prevent communities from engaging in local level disaster preparedness measures through a study in three communities of Barisal, Khulna, and Rangpur divisions in September-October, 2015. The study found that barriers to participation include

The study found that a lack of understanding about the benefits of DRR meant that the community lacked motivation to partake in DRR activities

information and knowledge gaps within the community, an emphasis on response rather than preparedness, lack of communication between people and local government, and a lack of capacity of local government. The study found that a lack of understanding about the benefits of DRR meant that the community lacked motivation to partake in DRR activities. As a result, people remain reluctant to be involved in local level disaster preparedness measures initiated by the community, local government or other local institutions. Their day to day struggle to ensure their livelihood also poses a barrier to involvement. Sometimes, incentives such as “food for work” or “cash for work”

BBC Media Action program Amrai Pari showcases success stories of working together to deal with disasters encourage people to step forward to participate in local preparation activities such as road or dam repairing. In many cases, communities don’t feel the need to report their disaster related problems because they think these are well known to their local government. Likewise, people think that union parishad chairmen and members hold the responsibility for initiating local level disaster preparedness measures, which then prevents them from being proactive. However, the study found that there was often limited action due to a lack of capacity within local government to take preparatory measures. In particular, lack of funds within local government sometimes led community people to conclude that it is central government’s responsibility to address issues. This lack of capacity of local government discourages people from reporting disaster-related problems or approaching the local government for assistance. Thus, any action/initiative is often prevented as both the community and local government lack resources, and this slows down preparedness measures. One government official reported being disheartened: “A UP chairman only gets Tk2,000 per month as his remuneration. It does not even cover the fuel cost of the motorcycle he uses to come to upazilla meetings. He is busy making a living.”

Another reason that communities might not engage with these processes is a lack of information and awareness of local level disaster preparedness planning processes and activities. This is due to a lack of communication and dissemination of information between communities and local government: People often do not know where they can find support to help them better prepare for disasters. “We do not know where we should seek help with these issues (DRR) and we do not get any information from anyone either. We have no idea about any committee working here for disaster,” said a female community member from southern Bangladesh. Sometimes, the reason people avoid getting involved with local government is that they think they might not receive help because of preferential treatment towards certain individuals or groups. People are often reluctant to raise their problems as they fear this might be regarded as a criticism of local government members and might lead to a threat for community people. A female community member from a southern village accused: “He who has four latrines gets the fifth one, and he who has nothing does not get one as he/she is unable to pay the money.” However, the study findings show that people do sometimes work with local government,

typically in an emergency when a disaster hits their communal property directly, and requires a prompt response in order to save their lives and livelihood. In Rangpur division, the study found a positive story of community involvement in local level disaster preparations. People sit together and discuss with elected ward member (smallest unit of local government) for taking preparations to better deal with sudden flash flood in their locality. They first try to address all potential risks during flash flood and distribute different tasks among community volunteers and people, particularly announcing news of flash flood using mosque’s loudspeaker and helping most vulnerable people to shift their houses and cattle. The ward member also discusses with community people to prepare a list of most affected people in the community for government reliefs. Even community people along with local government have petitioned central government for a dam to protect from flash flood and river erosion. Hereafter, in order to take part in DRR measures at local level, people need information, motivation, and resources (such as knowledge, money, and time) along with positive attitudes towards working together with local government or other local institutions. These research insights

COURTESY

encouraged BBC Media Action to provide information on local level planning measures and showcase inspiring stories to motivate people through the third series of the TV factual program Amrai Pari (Together we can do it), funded by the UK Department for International Development and the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office. The series was broadcast on ATN Bangla earlier this year and, alongside the show, capacity building activities have been run with community radio and Bangladesh Betar to help them produce editorially robust programs on DRR. These activities aim to make people better informed and better prepared to deal with upcoming disasters. l Junanjina Ahmed is Researcher, BBC Media Action. BBC Media Action aims to transform peoples’ lives through media. BBC Media Action program Amrai Pari provides information on Local Level Disaster Preparedness. This page has been developed in collaboration with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and its partners, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). This page represents the views and experiences of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Dhaka Tribune or ICCCAD or its partners.


DT

24 Sport

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

TOP STORIES

Ronaldo up against a Croatia with teeth Cristiano Ronaldo awoke from his Euro 2016 slumber in time to rescue Portugal from an early exit, but faces a greater challenge against a classy Croatia side that Portugal coach Fernando Santos called “sharks”. PAGE 26

Chance of a lifetime for Wales, N. Ireland Two small British nations clash for the momentous prize of a Euro 2016 quarter-final berth today when Gareth Bale’s Wales meet Kyle Lafferty’s Northern Ireland in a post-Brexit clash at Parc des Princes in Paris. PAGE 27 Abahani’s Nigerian striker Sunday Chizoba (R) unleashes a scorcher during their Federation Cup semi-final clash against rival Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

‘Don’t come back without Copa’ Argentina legend Diego Maradona told his team not to bother coming back home if they don’t win the Copa America Centenario. “We will certainly win on [Monday]... and if we don’t win, they shouldn’t come back,” said Maradona. PAGE 28

Anil wants to make India better tourists A force to be reckoned with at home, India’s Test side have struggled away from the subcontinent in recent years and new head coach Anil Kumble has put top priority on building a team that can travel away with confidence. PAGE 29

Abahani into Fed Cup final, face Arambagh n Tribune Report Abahani Limited swept into the final of the Federation Cup after beating Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra 2-1 in the second semi-final at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. Senegalese forward Camara Sarba broke the deadlock in the first half before Rumman Sarkar came off the bench to cancel out the lead in the second half but Nigerian striker Sunday Chizoba struck moments later to seal victory. The victory sets up a final date with Arambagh Krira Sangha, who beat Team BJMC last Thursday. The grand finale is scheduled for this Monday at the same venue. Abahani also reached the final of the season opening Independence Cup in April this year but lost to Chittagong Abahani. They will now get another chance to end their trophy drought, which stretches as far back as the 2010-11 season.

The Sky Blues started without the presence of English midfielder Lee Andrew Tuck, who has been influential for the club since his arrival. Tuck, who missed the game due to ankle injury, was replaced by Jewel Rana while Camara Sarba started ahead of Nabib Newaj Jibon.

RESULT Abahani Sarba 4 Sunday 69

2-1

Sk Russel Rumman 64

Shiekh Russel scripted the first real attack with only two minutes into the clock when Fikru Teferra broke into the left side of the penalty area but the Ethiopian striker’s effort went wide. Sarba then put Abahani ahead just two minutes later after fine work by Sunday. Sunday met a precise cross from Waly Faisal and sent the ball to Sarba at the far post with a back chip and

the Senegalese forward faced no problems heading home. Four minutes later, Sunday’s shot from the right side of the box went inches wide following a pass from Sarba. Sheikh Russel goalkeeper Russel Mahmud Liton made a brilliant block to deny a close-range effort by Sarba in the 38th minute. Ghanaian defender Samad Yussif made a superb tackle at the edge of the box to stop a promising attack initiated by Cameroonian forward Paul Emile in the 52nd minute. Substitute forward Rumman made an immediate impact after coming off the bench by equalising the margin in the 64th minute. Collecting a pass from Paul Emile, Rumman beat two defenders before sending the ball into the net. The delight however, didn’t last long as Sunday gave Abahani the lead again five minutes later with a sudden strike from the top of the box. l

Salahuddin: New format to bring back fans n Tribune Report

The prominent stakeholders of the country’s football yesterday asked for a combined effort to uplift the standard of the game as they are hoping that the new format of the Bangladesh Premier League and the franchise-based Bangladesh Super League can change the scenario. Bangladesh Sports Press Association hosted a seminar under the banner of “BPL and BSL: Searching For A New Hope” at a city hotel yesterday where the top officials of the Bangladesh Football Federation, sponsors, former footballers and senior journalists expressed their opinions. BFF president Kazi Salahuddin said the new format of the premier league could act as a way of bringing the football fans back to the stadium. “I didn’t support the idea of a new format because it will make the clubs more dependent. But we are going to change the format to involve the districts with the mainstream football. I believe if we do that then the fans will return to the gallery.” l


25

DT

Sport

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

5 DHAKA PREMIER LEAGUE STARS WHO SHONE BRIGHT

Mosaddek Hossain

Al Amin

Abdul Mazid

Kamrul Islam Rabbi

Saqlain Sajib

n Mazhar Uddin

The 20-year old was outstanding with the bat for his side and played some match-winning knocks. He finds himself among the top 10 run-getters in the tournament, scoring 622 runs at an average of 77.75 with five fifties. Mosaddek’s strike rate of 104.89 is the highest among the top 10 run-scorers in the tournament and he showed his capability to score runs under immense pressure. He also bagged 15 wickets with his offspin, including best bowling figures of 5/43, making him a handy all-rounder which the Bangladesh team has been looking for quite some time now. And it’s only a matter of time before the youngster, who has already made his Twenty20 international debut earlier this year against Zimbabwe, gets called up to the national side in the coming days. Another young performer of the DPL this season is Victoria Sporting

Club’s top-order batsman Al Amin, who finished as the fourth highest run-scorer of the league with 672 runs at an average of 48, including one hundred and seven fifties. The diminutive yet solid right-hander scored runs consistently to take his side to the six-team Super League with great authority. He has a very good batting technique, which overcomes his short height, and possesses the ability to go on top of the delivery and time it to perfection, making him another future prospect of Bangladesh cricket. Al Amin also bowls useful off-spinners, having picked up 16 wickets in the tournament. Victoria batsman Abdul Mazid was also among the top performers in the DPL this season as the right-hander ended up as the third highest run-getter in the tournament. He scored 706 runs, including two hundreds and five fifties, at an average of 44.12,

helping Victoria to solid starts more often than not. Mazid’s technique initially came into question after he was unable to score following his call-up to the Bangladesh A team’s tour of the West Indies back in 2014. But since then, the 25-year old has worked on his batting and duly got the results. With the ability to score big, Mazid is another future prospect for the Tigers in the upcoming days. The next cricketer in the list is none other than Kamrul Islam Rabbi, who was the highest Bangladeshi wicket-taker in the tournament. The 24-year old right-arm medium pacer bowled superbly to pick up 27 wickets at an economy rate of 5.48 and led the fast bowling department of his side with great effect. The 24-year old, who was picked up in the Bangladesh squad against Zimbabwe in a home

series earlier this year, was able to announce himself in grand style. With the ability to bowl with both the new and the old ball, Kamrul offers a great package and has no doubt thrown a challenge to the selectors. Last but not the least, seasoned campaigner Saqlain Sajib has been a consistent performer in the domestic circuit for some time now. And this season, the tall left-arm spinner has once again displayed his ability in the DPL for the champions Abahani. The lanky spinner bagged 26 wickets at an economy of 4.56, including a seven-wicket haul against Prime Bank Cricket Club. The 27-year old did not experience the best of debuts earlier this year at the 2016 World T20 against Australia but surely Saqlain has the ability to script a return and make a name for himself in the Tigers squad. l

The recently concluded Dhaka Premier League has witnessed some brilliant performances from the upcoming and aspiring cricketers of the country. Indeed, there have been some young and uncapped players who showcased their talents and caught the eyes of the national selectors. The DPL has always been the perfect platform for the cricketers across the country to prove their worth in the most intense domestic competition. And Dhaka Tribune Sport has followed the DPL closely and picked up five future prospects of the Bangladesh team. Undoubtedly, one of the best performers in the DPL this season has been Abahani Limited’s young all-rounder Mosaddek Hossain, who was instrumental behind the Sky Blues’ 18th championship title.

Is Fizz finally heading to Hove? Mariner oust Mohammedan n Tribune Report Sussex’s summer-long dream of getting one of the best young bowlers in world cricket into their one-day team finally looks like happening. The county signed Bangladesh left-armer Mustafizur Rahman last winter when he was virtually unknown outside Asia. But after some spectacular performances by the 20-year old for his country, in the 2016 World Twenty20 and then in the Indian Premier League, Mustafizur’s star is firmly in the ascendancy. He was due to arrive at Hove in early June but after starring for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL he returned home to rest and receive treatment for wear

and tear injuries. But head coach Mark Davis has confirmed that Mustafizur is expected to be at Hove in time to make his debut on July 15 against Hampshire in the NatWest T20 Blast. “It has been a bit difficult to pin Fizz down. His rehab after the IPL took longer than expected and he found it quite difficult to leave once he went back home,” Davis was quoted as saying to The County Times. “So it will be good to finally have him with us. I think he’s one of the most exciting and unorthodox bowlers in world cricket at the moment and playing in England will help us and be valuable experience for him as well,” he added.l

from title race n Tribune Report Mariner Young’s Club sent Mohammedan Sporting Club crashing out of the title race after the former outplayed the latter 4-2 in the Super Six phase of the Green Delta Premier Division Hockey League at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday. Ishtiaque Ahmed scored two vital goals, in the process strengthening Mariner’s position at the top of the points table. Mariner and Usha Krira Chakra both have 37 points but the latter have played a game less. With the loss, Mohammedan now have 26 points

from 13 matches, 11 behind the joint leaders, and are virtually out of title contention. Usha will face Abahani Limited in today’s match following which the scenario of the title race will become much clearer. Ishtiaque put Mariners ahead in the ninth minute of the game from a counter attack. Ishtiaque changed the direction of a powerful hit by Kamrul Islam Rabby that hit the board. After going behind, Mohammedan created pressure and earned two penalty corners in the 15th and 18th minute but failed to convert any, following some solid defensive

display by the Mariners backline, led admirably by Mamunur Rahman Chayan. Ishtiaque netted his second to double the lead in the 44th minute before Ashraful Islam converted a penalty corner six minutes later to put Mariner in a comfortable position. Waqas Sharif made it 4-0 at the hour mark to seal victory. Mohammedan tried to stage a comeback but it was too late. Pakistan forward Tasvar Abbas and midfielder Mohammad Imran scored for the Black and Whites in the 66th and 69th minutes, both from penalty corners, but Mariner held on for the win. l


DT

26

Sport

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

Reawakened Ronaldo up against a Croatia with teeth n AFP, Lens Cristiano Ronaldo awoke from his Euro 2016 slumber in time to rescue Portugal from an early exit, but faces a greater challenge against a classy Croatia side that Portugal coach Fernando Santos called “sharks”. Ronaldo made history as the first player to score in four European Championships with a double in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Hungary. The result saw Portugal just squeeze through behind Iceland and Hungary in third-place in Group F. The Real Madrid star has more records in his sights as he is just one goal behind French legend Michel Platini’s mark of nine in European Championship finals. However, Ronaldo refused to accept Portugal were underdogs against a Croatia side that shocked two-time defending champions Spain to top Group D. “We made it and now we face a very good team, but the odds are 50/50,” said Ronaldo. “Croatia are a tough team, with good players. Not every team manages to beat Spain. “We respect them, but we know our strengths and we’ll look them in the eye when we face them.” Croatia are likely to be even stronger for today’s clash in Lille (1900GMT) than against Spain with the return of Ronaldo’s Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric from injury. Juventus frontman Mario Mandzukic is also likely to shake off a knock to retake his place after Croatia coach Ante Cacic made five

ROUND OF 16

V CROATIA

PORTUGAL

Stade Felix Bollaert-Delelis, Lens 8pm local time (1am BST) * Bangladesh standard time

HEAD-TO-HEAD CROATIA

27 3 0 3 0 0 6

PORTUGAL Fifa ranking Matches Wins Losses Draws Goals scored Goals against

8 3 3 0 0 6 0

Portugal’s Bruno Alves takes a penalty during a training session at Centre National de Rugby, Marcoussis, France on Thursday REUTERS

changes for the historic win over Spain. “Croatia are one of the sharks we had been trying to avoid,” admitted Portugal boss Santos. “They placed first in a group with Spain, which tells you all you need to know about them.” However, Santos has placed his faith in Ronaldo to again answer his

country’s call after his double strike. For Croatia a bright start to a tournament in France has rekindled memories of their fairytale run to the World Cup semi-finals in 1998 before losing out to the hosts 2-1. Ivan Perisic was the hero against Spain, drilling home the winner three minutes from time. However, Croatia cannot get

carried away despite finding themselves in the weaker half of the draw avoiding Germany, France, Italy, Spain or England until the final. “We made a really great job in the group stages, but this is just the beginning. If we lose the next match this doesn’t mean anything,” Perisic said. “We have to stay at the same

level and fight as we did in the first three matches if we want to recreate memories of 1998.” The sour note for Croatia has come off the field as their football federation (HNS) was fined 100,000 euros ($113,000) for disturbances when fans threw flares onto the pitch during a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic last week. l

Shaqiri and Lewandowski still to shine at Euros n Reuters, Toulouse Poland forward Robert Lewandowski and Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri, who have yet to shine at Euro 2016, will have another chance to brighten up the tournament when their teams clash in St Etienne in the last 16 today. Although neither player has had an especially bad tournament, they have yet to produce performances that match their billing as their

ROUND OF 16

Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri

HEAD-TO-HEAD SWITZERLAND

V SWITZERLAND

teams’ most creative players, and get on the scoresheet for the first time. Lewandowski made it six international matches without scoring when he missed an early chance in their 1-0 win over Ukraine. However, he still worked hard in attack and was always getting in position to receive the ball so there are no real concerns about his form. “He has a lot of influence on the way we play,” said coach Adam

POLAND

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint Etienne, 2pm local time (7pm BST) * Bangladesh standard time

15 10 1 4 5 11 20

POLAND

Fifa ranking Matches Wins Losses Draws Goals scored Goals against

27 10 4 1 5 20 11

Nawalka. “He is an incredibly important player for us. He is our engine, like a locomotive and he provides us with power.” Similarly, Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic is unconcerned that Shaqiri, who scored a hat-trick against Honduras in the World Cup two years ago, has not shown off his dribbling or long-range shooting skills. “Individualists are having a tough time at his tournament,” said Petkovic, “I’m satisfied that Xherdan is not an individualist at the moment, but a team player. “He gives everything for the team and that’s what he should keep doing. When the team goes well, everyone profits.” There are no clear favourites between two technically gifted sides who have both progressed beyond the group stage of the competition for the first time. Both have struggled for goals, however, scoring only twice each in three matches.l

Poland's Robert Lewandowski


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ROUND OF 16

QUICK BYTES Browne replaces Lloyd as West Indies’ chairman of selectors

V

Former wicketkeeper-batsman Courtney Browne has replaced Clive Lloyd as West Indies’ chairman of selectors with immediate effect, according to their cricket board. Browne, who played 20 Tests and 46 one-dayers for West Indies, has been a member of the senior men’s selection panel and was given a two-year term as the chairman. The WICB said Lloyd, who led West Indies to two World Cup triumphs, will be appointed as a special ambassador effective from Oct 1.

WALES

Parc des Princes, Paris 5pm local time (10pm BST) * Bangladesh standard time

HEAD-TO-HEAD WALES

26 95 44 27 24 190 132

–REUTERS

England batsman Compton to take immediate break England top order batsman Nick Compton is to take an immediate break from cricket after a challenging start to the season “both physically and mentally”, Middlesex and England management said on Thursday. The decision means the South African-born number three, whose future with England had already been called into question, can be ruled out of the Test series against Pakistan between July 14 and Sept 7. Durham’s Scott Borthwick looks likely to be recalled for the opening Test at Lord’s. –REUTERS

Milan set to sign Serie B top scorer Lapadula AC Milan have agreed to make Pescara striker Gianluca Lapadula their first signing of the latest transfer window, with last season’s Serie B top scorer having a medical yesterday. The 26-year-old scored 27 goals in 40 league games last term to help Pescara win promoted to Serie A via the playoffs. “It was a deal that happened in a flash, strongly desired by both sides, and rightly so”, the striker said on AC Milan’s website. –REUTERS

Wanyama completes move to Tottenham Tottenham Hotspur have completed the signing of Southampton’s defensive midfielder Victor Wanyama on a five-year deal, the Premier League side said on Thursday. The move reunites the hard-tackling Kenyan with former Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentine who took over at White Hart Lane in May 2014, as Spurs’ first signing of the close season. No financial details were given by the club, who secured a place in the Champions League by finishing third last season, but British media put the deal at 11 million pounds ($16.38 million). –REUTERS

N. IRELAND

N. IRELAND Fifa ranking Matches Wins Losses Draws Goals scored Goals against

25 95 27 44 24 132 190

A combination of two file pictures show Wales’ forward Gareth Bale (R) in Toulouse on Monday and Northern Ireland’s striker Kyle Lafferty in Belfast on March 28, 2016. Wales face N Ireland in Paris today AFP

Open draw offers Wales, Northern Ireland chance of a lifetime n AFP, Paris Two small British nations clash for the momentous prize of a Euro 2016 quarter-final berth today when Gareth Bale’s Wales meet Northern Ireland in a post-Brexit clash in Paris. Wales (population 3.1 million) and Northern Ireland (1.8 million) have never previously appeared at a European Championship finals, but they find themselves in the last 16 with the eyes of the continent

upon them. Having qualified above England as Group B winners following a brilliant 3-0 win over Russia, Wales enter the game as slight favourites and Bale admits that the team’s new status is still sinking in. “We’ve come through a massive journey,” said the Real Madrid forward, who is the tournament’s joint top scorer with three goals. “We’ve been in some bad places. We were 112th in the world and now we’re in the last 16 of the Eu-

ros. These are the days to enjoy.” While the teams qualified in very different ways - Wales striding into the knockout phase as group winners, Northern Ireland squeezing through as the fourth of the four best third-placed teams - both had reason to thank their lucky stars for the serendipity of the draw. With no previous major competition winners among the eight teams in the top half of the tournament, the odds on a team emulating Greece’s underdog triumph at Euro

Rooney: England can win Euro 2016 n Reuters England captain Wayne Rooney has set his sights on winning the European Championship, buoyed by the belief that the gap between his team and Europe’s continental footballing elite has narrowed considerably in the past few years. Monday’s 0-0 draw with Slovakia ensured that England finished second in Group B behind Wales, potentially complicating their route to the final as they are now in the same side of the draw as World Cup winners Germany, defending European champions Spain and hosts France. English FA chairman Greg Dyke had said before the tournament that making the semi-finals or being eliminated at

the quarter-final stage by “a good team” would be considered a success, but Rooney has set his sights considerably higher. “We are here and we want to win it,” England’s all-time leading goalscorer told reporters. “Whether it happens remains to be seen, but we’re not going to say that getting to the quarter finals will be a sign of progress. I believe we are better than that.” England have not got past the quarter-finals in their last three European Championships and failed to make it out of the group stage at the World Cup in 2014, but Rooney sees cause for optimism this time round. “If this was four years ago and you were saying you have to play France, Spain and Germany you would have been worried,” he added.

“I think the gap has changed, and not just with ourselves, but with the likes of Wales. The gap to get to those teams is not as big.” Manager Roy Hodgson’s men are aiming for their first major international title since the 1966 World Cup, but will have to find a way past an inspired Iceland in the round of 16 game on Monday. They could face France for a spot in the last four. Hodgson took six strikers to France, but his team have struggled to turn dominance into goals, scoring three times in three group games and winning only one. Despite the team’s struggles in the final third, Rooney said the talent in the side meant he felt less pressure to deliver. l

2004 have shortened considerably. The winners of today’s game will play either Belgium or Hungary in Lille this Friday and there is unlikely to be much trepidation in either the Welsh or Northern Ireland camp about that prospect. Wales took four points from Belgium in qualifying and Northern Ireland did likewise to Hungary. Indeed, both Bale and Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty have expressed belief that their respective teams can go all the way. l


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'Noodle' hoping to be 'al dente' for Copa final n Reuters

Angel di Maria is working hard on his fitness for the chance to play a part in Argentina’s Copa America Centenario final against title holders Chile on Monday after bad luck in two previous finals. Di Maria, nicknamed “Fideo” (noodle), is desperate not to lose out on the East Rutherford showcase after missing the 2014 World Cup final through injury and having to come off after half an hour of last year’s Copa America decider in Chile. “All I want is to be able to play the final. The last two, I couldn’t, let’s hope this is the definitive one,” said Di Maria, who scored Argentina’s first goal of the tournament in a 2-1 group stage win over Chile. Di Maria was told after his injury against Panama that he would only likely play again in the tournament if Argentina reached the final. In what has been an impressive tournament for Lionel Messi’s Argentina, the wing position normally occupied by Di Maria has been jinxed.

Maradona tells Argentina ‘don’t come back’ without Copa n AFP, Buenos Aires

“Today we can say that Di Maria is better physically than Nico Gaitan,” coach Gerardo Martino told reporters naming the new Atletico Madrid player who played on the left wing in the 4-1 quarter-final win over Venezuela.

Di Maria: All I want is to be able to play the final. The last two, I couldn’t, let’s hope this is the definitive one Gaitan is nursing a leg muscle strain he sustained against Venezuela and Ezequiel Lavezzi has no chance of playing at the Metlife after an elbow injury during the 4-0 semi-final win over hosts the Unites States in Houston. Should none of these players start the final, the left wing position is likely to go to Erik Lamela, who has scored twice in the tournament.l

Argentina winger Di Maria will desperately try to become fit for the Copa America final against Chile on Monday

Argentina football legend Diego Maradona told his national team not to bother coming back home if they don’t win the Copa America Centenario on Monday. “We will certainly win on [Monday]... and if we don’t win, they shouldn’t come back,” Maradona, 55, told Argentina television channel C5N. The retired star was interviewed on the 30th anniversary of his two most famous goals, against England in the 1986 World Cup. He spoke ahead of the match on Wednesday that decided which team would face favorites Argentina. Chile eventually stormed through to the final by beating Colombia 2-0. Argentina under their superstar captain Lionel Messi reached the final of the Americas’ top international tournament by beating the United States 4-0 on Tuesday. However, Argentina still surely hasn’t forgotten about what happened last summer. In the 2015 tournament, Chile, then the host country, defeated Argentina in the final 4-1 in a penalty shootout. l

Copa America stands up well in comparison to Euro n Reuters, Nice The Copa America has often been dismissed as a poor relation to the European Championship, so much so that the latter has frequently been dubbed by the media as “the World Cup minus Brazil and Argentina.” But a comparison of the two tournaments, which are being played simultaneously for the first time since 2004, suggests it may be

time to ditch the old stereotype. The Copa America, being played in the United States, features World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, five of the top 10 teams in the Fifa world rankings and seven teams who made the knockout stages at the World Cup two years ago. Its European counterpart in France includes Messi’s bitter rival Cristiano Ronaldo, the other five top teams in the Fifa rankings and five of the teams who played the

knockout phase in Brazil. Direct comparisons between the two tournaments are difficult. The European Championship is regarded as the pinnacle of the continent’s international football and has been held on a regular basis in a tournament form since 1980. The Copa America, its South American equivalent, has had a patchy history, although it goes back much further. During the 1990s, it was held

Scholes signs up for Indian futsal league n AFP, New Delhi Manchester United and England great Paul Scholes has signed a three-year deal to play in India’s new futsal league which starts next month, according to a statement released on Thursday. The inaugural edition of Premier Futsal, an indoor variant of football where players use a smaller and less bouncier ball than in the traditional

game, will run from July 15-26. “Futsal is a fascinating format that has played a pivotal role in developing the skills of some of the greatest football players,” Scholes, 41, said in the statement. “Premier Futsal will be a great way to introduce the sport to India and I’m looking forward to meeting the fans across India who I know are some of the most passionate in the world,” he added.l

every two years which proved too often and many countries would send reserve teams Now, it takes place every four years, most recently in Chile last year. This year’s event is a one-off to celebrate the century year of the competition and has been held jointly by South American soccer body Conmebol with its North and Central American equivalent Concacaf. Brazil’s Neymar was among

those who did not take part, his country preferring to save him for the Olympic football tournament in August. Still, it does not come out unfavourably in a comparison between the two, with attendances almost even. Uefa said the first 26 matches at the Euro were watched by 1.2 million fans, an average of 46,153, while the Copa’s average so far is slightly below at 45,108.l

Blanc leaves PSG n AFP, Paris

Coach Laurent Blanc has left ambitious Paris Saint-Germain and will be handed 22 million euros to go on his way, the French newspaper L’Equipe said Thursday, with Unai Emery hot favourite to succeed him. The departure of Blanc, whose position has looked increasingly tenuous after he failed to guide the French side beyond the Champions League quarter-finals, opens the way for Emery, who has been heavily linked with the post and left Sevilla last week.

Blanc, who signed a two-year contract extension in February, won the domestic treble in each of his last two seasons with PSG. But it was his failure to make substantial progress in the Champions League that proved his undoing. There was no official confirmation from PSG on the fate of Blanc, who took over in 2013 after two years in charge of the French national side. However, on Monday Blanc’s agent said the former international defender would leave the club this week.l


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Djokovic, Federer drawn for Wimbledon semi-final clash n AFP, London

West Indies cricketer Samuel Badree (R) from the Cricket Premier League poses with USA international Steven Taylor (Barbados Tridents) after throwing out the first pitch before the game between the Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves at Marlins Park on Wednesday in Miami, Florida. The international cricketers were on hand promoting the Hero Caribbean Premier League which will be playing matches in Florida in July AFP

DAY’S WATCH FOOTBALL SONY SIX 7:00 PM Euro Cup: Round of 16 Switzerland v Poland 10:00 PM Wales v Northern Ireland 1:00 AM Croatia v Portugal

SONY ESPN HD 6:00 AM (Today) Copa America Centenario 2016 3rd Place Playoff

CRICKET STAR SPORTS 1 6:28 PM Natwest T20 Blast 2016 Hampshire v Gloucestershire

HOCKEY STAR SPORTS 4 5:00 PM FIH Women’s Hockey Champions Trophy Argentina v Netherlands 7:00 PM New Zealand v United States of America 9:00 PM Great Britain v Australia

TENNIS TEN 3 6:30 PM WTA Tour 2016 Aegon Eastbourne International-Final

Defending champion Novak Djokovic and seven-time winner Roger Federer were yesterday drawn to meet in the semi-finals of this year’s Wimbledon which starts on Monday. World number one Djokovic, who is bidding to take another step closer to the first calendar Grand Slam since 1969, has defeated Federer in the last two finals at the All England Club. The draw means that second seed Andy Murray, the 2013 champion, was lined up for a semi-final against fourth seeded Stan Wawrinka. Three-time champion Djokovic completed the career Grand Slam with victory at the French Open earlier this month and now

Coach Kumble focused on making India better tourists n Reuters, Mumbai A force to be reckoned with at home, India’s Test side have struggled away from the subcontinent in recent years and new coach Anil Kumble has put top priority on building a team that can travel with confidence. Kumble, India’s most successful bowler, was given a one-year term as head coach on Thursday with the country’s cricket board putting their faith in the 45-yearold despite his lack of coaching experience. The BCCI received 57 applications for the job, which were then made available to an advisory panel that included former captains Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly and former batsman VVS Laxman - all of whom have played with Kumble. Kumble’s coaching experience has been limited to being a mentor to the Mumbai and Bangalore teams in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament, and he said his first job interview was a “nerve-racking” experience. “It was very different because this was the first (job) interview that I was attending,” Kumble said. “My colleagues who I have played with throughout my career were on the other side of the table. “It was very strange. It was quite nerve-racking.” While the Indian team under Virat Kohli won Test series in Sri

Lanka and beat South Africa 3-0 at home, their record outside the subcontinent in the longest format has been poor. They have lost Test series in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia on tours since late 2013, something Kumble wants to rectify. “The focus will be on our overseas record,” Kumble told the

board’s website (www.bcci.tv). “The mindset ... I believe we need to start looking to address that from home itself. “So when we sit down we will look to make a plan and ensure that we train towards achieving those goals.” The Indian Test team will have a camp in Bengaluru before heading to the Caribbean for a four-Test series against West Indies, which will be Kumble’s first assignment. “It’s nice to have a camp in Bengaluru. We will sit down and iron out our plans and be ready for West Indies,” said the former leg-spinner, who took 619 wickets in 132 Tests and 337 from 271 one-day internationals. “Getting 20 wickets in Test cricket will win you matches and that will be the focus,” he said, adding that he wanted to work in the background and take the pressure off his captain’s shoulders, both on an off the field. “I believe this team has the potential. It’s a young team and it’s driven by a young leader and it will be nice to work with Virat (Kohli).” India are set for a bumper season at home with 13 Test matches, eight ODIs and three T20 internationals. They start with three Tests against New Zealand in October while England and Australia will play five and four matches respectively. Bangladesh will play a oneoff Test. l

holds all four majors. It was his 12th career major and made him the first man since Jim Courier in 1992 to win the Australian and French Opens in the same year. The 29-year-old Serb begins his Wimbledon campaign against British wild card James Ward and could meet big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic in the last-eight. Murray takes on compatriot Liam Broady in the first round with a potential clash against Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round. Frenchman Richard Gasquet is a possible quarter-final rival. Federer starts against Argentina’s Guido Pella, ranked 51 in the world. The 34-year-old Swiss, the holder of a record 17 majors, could face Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals. l

Leukaemia survivor Petrov to return to Villa n Reuters, London Former Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov is to return to training with the club at the age of 37, four years after retiring following a diagnosis of acute leukaemia. Fans’ favourite Petrov, who played more than 200 times for Villa and earned more than 100 caps for Bulgaria, has recovered and last month said he wanted to resume his career. “Aston Villa Football Club is pleased to confirm Stiliyan Petrov will take part in pre-season training at first-team level,” club said.l

No Messi in Rio n AFP, Buenos Aires Argentina coach Gerardo Martino on Thursday named part of his squad for the Rio Olympics but superstar Lionel Messi was not included after being chosen for the Copa America instead. The full list of 22 will be revealed in the coming days but not before Monday’s final of the Copa, where Argentina take on holders Chile. Messi’s exclusion was expected. He won gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 but Martino had already decided that the Barcelona star would not compete at both the Copa and the Olympics in August. Nine players were named in the squad on Thursday. Argentina were Olympic champions in 2004 and 2008 and will be favourites in Rio.l


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SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Waistband (4) 3 Grinding tooth (5) 8 Pay (4) 9 Praise (4) 11 Scene of an event (5) 12 Donate (4) 14 Snakelike fish (3) 15 Climbing plants (5) 18 Death-dealing (5) 19 Period of time (3) 21 Relief for the needy (4) 24 Ethical (5) 26 Long detailed story (4) 27 Above (4) 28 Cosy retreats (5) 29 Remainder (4)

DOWN 1 Old sailor (coll) (4) 2 Self-satisfied (4) 4 Be indebted (3) 5 Narrow passages (5) 6 Malaria fever (4) 7 Scottish dances (5) 10 Prima donna (4) 11 Corruptly mercenary (5) 13 Essential (5) 16 Trees (4) 17 Citrus fruit (5) 18 Gets on (5) 20 Wander (4) 22 Wise man (4) 23 Diplomacy (4) 25 Craft (3)

Downtime CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 12 represents M so fill M every time the figure 12 appears. You have two letters in the control grid to start you off. Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares. Some letters of the alphabet may not be used. As you get the letters, fill in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check off the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them. A B C DE FG H I J K L MN O P Q RST UVWXYZ

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

PEANUTS

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

DILBERT

SUDOKU


Soha: Romancing on screen is unromantic

n Showtime Desk With one-and-a-half-year into the marriage with actor Kunal Khemu, Soha Ali Khan, a Bollywood actress coming from the Nawab family, feels that loving an actor is not an easy task. It comes with “certain advantages and disadvantages, she explained.” Soha, sister of actor Saif Ali

Khan, recently opened up about her marriage, parents and career on the second episode of the fourth season of The Tara Sharma Show, hosted by actress Tara Sharma. Soha got engaged to Kunal in July 2014 in Paris and they got married in Mumbai in January 2015. Earlier this year, the couple shot down divorce rumours,

with Soha giving out a message that the bond between the duo is solid. She also shared that her mother, veteran actress Sharmila Tagore, had questioned her decision to get married to an actor saying that it life would get difficult. “Well, my mother said, ‘Why are you marrying an actor, it’s

going to complicate your life’...I happened to fall in love with an actor and it comes with certain advantages and disadvantages,” said the Rang De Basanti star. She went on explaining: “The advantages of course are there… They are very sympathetic to the fact that you travel a lot, that you work late nights and that you have to pretend to fall in love regularly with people on screen. The disadvantages are that they do the same thing, which can be frustrating.” “And of course the romance part which I’m quite like okay with, but still it’s always strange. I like to think about, you know yourself, but you don’t feel like that when you are romancing someone on screen, you know how clinical it is; how unromantic it is,” said Soha. Soha shared her last big screen appearance with Sunny Deol in Ghayal Once Again. l Sources: hindustantimes, The Indian Express

We’ve got 4 major movies for the weekend

While Finding Dory continues to break records in the box office worldwide, let’s not take all the attention away from the other blockbuster movies that released yesterday in Dhaka. Star Cineplex at Bashundhara City hosted a fun and fantastic premiere for Finding Dory this past Thursday, giving way for the audience to enjoy much more for the coming days. We take a look at the other headliners, following the fish film that took a 13-year break.

Finding Dory

There isn’t much to describe here, the movie is about Dory getting lost and finding herself back home again. Not a spoiler, trust us. While it isn’t as good as the first Finding Nemo, the film is still a solid animated movie. It’s for kids all ages and adults alike. Plenty of fun to be had here, but the main highlight is the film’s initial release back in the States last weekend. It broke a record for the highest opening in

the history of animated films. It racked up over $200 million after its first week. Another sequel in the works? After those numbers, you’d be a fool not to believe the studio isn’t already kick-starting the next fish adventure.

Independence Day: Resurgence

It’s been two decades since the original Will Smith starrer, and unfortunately, he’s not in this sequel. Fortunately, he’s not in this sequel. Laugh it up, but it’s true. Mr Smith can consider himself fortunate, as both fans and critics have so far trashed the movie. It may not be an absolutely horrible film, but it isn’t good either. Both the audience and critics have given a score around 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. In other words, if you want to completely turn your brain off and watch a mindless spectacle, then this is a movie for you. If you really want to fork over some cash, you’re better off watching the other three movies on the list. Wait until this film comes home.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

WHAT TO WATCH

Troy HBO 3:20pm An adaptation of Homer’s great epic, the film follows the assault on Troy by the united Greek forces and chronicles the fates of the men involved. Cast: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Brian Cox, Sean Bean The Chronicles of Narnia Zee Studio 4:20pm Four kids travel through a wardrobe to the land of Narnia and learn of their destiny to free it with the guidance of a mystical lion. Cast: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Tilda Swinton Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 WB 7:10pm Harry, Ron and Hermione search for Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes in their effort to destroy the Dark Lord as the final battle rages on at Hogwarts. Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon

A packed box office n Mahmood Hossain

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Central Intelligence

Here’s a film with arguably two of the biggest names in the world right now. They’ve got an army of loyal fans over the world and their on-screen chemistry is a wonder to watch. You can share some non-stop laughs watching Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and comedian rockstar Kevin Hart in somewhat of a role reversal. Johnson is more about the comedy, while Hart plays a more straight, not about that life character. This may not be a great movie, but that’s okay; it doesn’t pretend to be what it’s not. It’s a good way to share plenty of laughs with the rest of the audience. If anything, you won’t leave the theatres without being entertained. This is definitely worth the watch.

The Nice Guys

This film has gone under the radar by many, mainly because they didn’t spend too much effort or time on their marketing. It’s a shame because this mystery/ crime film gives a first take into the brilliant chemistry between Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. The film, as a whole, is actually pretty darn good. Owen Gleiberman from Variety said it best, “A smashingly disreputable mystery-comedy free-for-all directed with a wink of trashy zest.” We’ve got another fantastic film in our hands, and it is definitely worth purchasing a movie ticket to watch these two up to no good. And if that doesn’t persuade you to watch, it received a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. l

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Zee Studio 9:30pm When New York is put under siege by Oscorp, it is up to Spider-Man to save the city he swore to protect as well as his loved ones. Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz Guardians of the Galaxy Star Movies 11:40pm A group of intergalactic criminals are forced to work together to stop a fanatical warrior from taking control of the universe. Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoë Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker l


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Back Page

SOHA: ON-SCREEN ROMANCE SATYAJIT RAY AND OUR BETTER INFORMED, CHILDHOOD PAGE 15 BETTER PREPARED PAGE 23 UNROMANTIC PAGE 31

6 die in Uttara shopping mall lift collapse, fire n Kamrul Hasan At least six people were killed and 25 others injured after a collapsing lift caused a fire to break out in a city market yesterday evening. One of the two lifts at Alauddin Tower Shopping Complex in Uttara Section 3 near Rajlaxmi Bus Stand suddenly fell on Friday evening minutes before Iftar, Fire Service Deputy Director (Dhaka Metro) Mozammel Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune.

Air pressure from the collapsing lift blew out the mall’s ground floor glass walls and smoke started coming out of the shaft soon afterward The authorities formed a threestrong probe committee last night to look into the incident. Eyewitnesses said air pressure from the collapsing lift blew out the mall’s ground floor glass walls and smoke started coming out of the shaft soon afterward. Fire Service arrived within minutes with 13 units from several stations, but it took them over an hour to bring the fire under control. Deputy Director Mozammel Hossain confirmed that firefighters had recovered all the people from

A mother rushes her eight-month-old boy to the DMCH burn unit after the child suffered severe burns on his face when a fire broke out in an Uttara shopping complex yesterday. The boy’s face has been blurred as many might find the extent of injuries graphic DHAKA TRIBUNE the lift as well as the upper floors where many people had fainted from the smoke. Dhaka Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner (Uttara zone) Sohel Rana said a total of six people had been killed in the accident, while Fire Service said it had recov-

ered four bodies from the building. Fire Service Headquarters Officer-in-Charge Enayet Hossain said four people had died from a collapsed wall after the lift fell. Among the injured, four have been admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, including two

young children and their father. Of the injured, six received burns while the others were hurt by the exploding glass or in the stampede. A Fire Service member was also injured. DMCH Burn Unit Resident Surgeon Partha Shankar Pal said the condition of the children, Maisha

the small RMG businesses in the area, where I did karchupi work [intricate beading and embroidery on fabric done by hand]. That job earned me only Tk300 per week, and it was painful as I constantly got pricked by needles. But I had to do it because I did not want to be a burden on my aunt.” Shetu, who is also an orphan, used to work in a small RMG factory. “I made between Tk1,200 and Tk1,600 per month,” she said. These girls found hope of becoming more than what their life had been when they caught attention of Tarango last year, and were enrolled in a threemonth training on beauty treatment. After finishing the training, they started working in the local beauty salons in

Mirpur, before Asha convinced the other three to join her in her own beauty salon, which kicked off a month ago. “Thanks to the Almighty, we caught the NGO’s attention. With their support, I am living a life of dignity now,” a smiling Asha said, whom her three friends agreed with. “I am earning around Tk3,000 now,” said Shetu. “We have the chance to live in the society with pride,” said Afrin. “Life has been difficult, but now I am getting on my own feet. I can look after my family who raised me when my parents passed away.” Asked if they have faced any problems while working, Sadia said: “We do, but we can handle it.”

Akhter, 11, and Muntakin, eight months, and their father, Mahmudul Hassan, 40, were critical. Mahmudul, a deputy general manager at Tropical Homes Limited, was attending an Iftar at his office in the building’s basement with his children. l

Way to a life of dignity n Mohammad Jamil Khan A year ago, Asha did not dare dream of a life where she would have a profession and earn her livelihood with honest work and dignity. Now, life has turned around for the 16-year-old who is running her own small business – a beauty salon – in Mirpur 10 in Dhaka, all courtesy of “the NGO that helped me stand on my own two feet,” she told the Dhaka Tribune. The NGO, Tarango, is a voluntary organisation which works to provide support to impoverished women and children living and slums to help to work towards a better life. Asha, along with her friends Shetu, 17, Afrin Akhter, 16, and Sadia, 17, are

among 1,350 girls in Mirpur who have been given vocational training by Tarango so that they can find work and live independently. This correspondent met with the quartet on a recent visit to the Mirpur slum area, organised by bssinfotainment and funded by World Vision and AusAID. Growing up in the slum of Mirpur, Asha lost both her parents when she was a child and was raised by her paternal aunt. Poverty got in the way of her education: she was able to finish until Class 3 until she had to drop out of school to start earning money. “I started working when I was nine years old,” Asha said. “I used to work at

Tarango has been providing vocational training in slum areas under a project to empower working children for two years. “We enrol working children living in slum areas in training sessions to build their skills in the trades they have most interest in,” said Ananta Boiragi, field facilitator in Tarango. “We also help the trainees by providing some fund to start their own business. We did the same with these girls so that they could open their own salon.” “The feeling of achievement is indescribable when we get tips from our customers and they praise us for our good work. I finally feel like I am contributing to the society,” said Sadia. l

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. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com


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