October 2, 2016

SECOND EDITION

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

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Ashwin 17, 1423, Zil-Hajj 29, 1437

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 155

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www.dhakatribune.com

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32 pages

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Price: Tk10

Govt to allow gas export by IOCs

Petrobangla will sign a contract with Posco Daewoo to explore a deep sea block

‘Gulshan attack probe almost done’

n Aminur Rahman Rasel

n Mohammad Jamil Khan

The government has amended the model PSC to include the provision of gas export by international oil companies (IOCs) as it prepares to sign an agreement with Posco Daewoo International Corporation for deep sea gas exploration.

The government made the decision following the hectic lobbying by the IOCs to include the gas export provision in the model PSC – product sharing contract – even though the provision was cancelled only four years ago.

When the agreement is finalised, Posco Daewoo will explore deep sea gas block no 12 in the Bay of Bengal under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act, 2010.

Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) is

There is a huge crisis of gas in the country, yet the government is allowing the provision of gas export by the companies who would extract it. It contradicts with the government’s stand

responsible for the exploration and has prepared the agreement proposal.

The proposal will be tabled at the meeting of Cabinet Commit-

tee on Economic Affairs this week for approval, said Nazimuddin Chowdhury, secretary of Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD).

“The proposal has been sent to the Cabinet committee. If it is approved, the government and Petrobangla will jointly sign the deal with Posco Daewoo, keeping the provision of gas export in the agreement,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

However, the EMRD secretary declined to comment when asked why the provision was allowed again when it had been cancelled four years ago.

What the PSC amendment means

According to the amended model PSC of 2012, the prices of gas produced by IOCs from deep sea gas fields will increase by 2% annual-

ly. In addition, the IOCs have been exempted from paying the transportation tariff of 4% for using Petrobangla’s transmission lines.

The exploration companies will also enjoy exemption from paying the corporate tax. The amendment also includes the provision of increasing the price and share of gas for IOCs, a higher cost recovery limit, and corporate tax payment

by Petrobangla.

According to the amendment, an IOC will sell around 50% of the produced gas to Petrobangla at $6.50 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Following that, the IOC can offer Petrobangla to buy the rest of the gas according to its own terms and conditions. But if Petrobangla refuses to buy the rest of the gas, the IOC will be allowed to sell the gas to a third party inside Bangladesh.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Investigators claimed to have identified almost all the people involved with the deadly terror attack carried out on an upscale Gulshan restaurant that killed 23 people including 17 foreigners three months back, but their whereabouts still remain a mystery.

Officials of the police’s Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit say they have made significant progress in the investigation. The field-level coordinator, financiers and arms suppliers for the July 1 attack have been identified and the law enforcers are carrying out operations to arrest them.

Two of the suspects have, however, fled the country, sources confirm to the Dhaka Tribune.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

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BNP to stage demo against Tarique’s arrest warrant tomorrow n UNB BNP will stage demonstrations across the country tomorrow, protesting the issuance of a warrant for the arrest of its Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman in a sedition case.

BNP Vice Chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu announced the programme at a press briefing at the party’s Nayapaltan central office.

Dudu said their party’s all units

of metropolitan cities and district towns will observe the programme tomorrow.

“The warrant was issued for the arrest of Tarique Rahman in the case filed against him out of jealousy for his popularity,” he said.

He also alleged that the government is continuously carrying out a false campaign against their senior vice chairman to malign his political image.

The BNP leader urged the government to revoke the arrest warrant and withdraw the case filed against Tarique.

On Thursday, a Dhaka court issued warrants for the arrest of two people, including Tarique Rahman, in a sedition case filed in 2015.

On January 8, 2015, the sedition case was filed with Tejgaon police station over the live telecast of a provocative speech of Tarique Rah-

man at a programme in London on January 5 of the year.

Besides, Dhaka City unit BNP also announced a two-day protest programme in the city to protest the arrest warrant.

As part of the programme, city BNP’s all thana units will stage demonstrations at their respective thanas today while the central unit will hold a rally tomorrow.

Dhaka city unit BNP convener

Mirza Abbas announced the programme after a joint meeting of the unit at Nayapaltan Bhasani auditorium. He urged the party leaders and activists to take to the street braving fear to make their programme a success.

The meeting also decided to hold a meeting on October 5 in the city in memory of BNP standing committee member Hannan Shah who died on Tuesday. l

on August 27.

According to police, at least 31 members of the New JMB have so far been killed in commando operation and police raids since November last year. Two others were killed by their own hands – one in a suicide mission and another to evade arrest.

“We are conducting drives to arrest the other militants involved with the attacks,” said DC Mohibul.

So far, the investigators have shown arrested former North South University (NSU) teacher Hasnat Karim Khan in the Gulshan

attack case.

Detectives claim that the outfit had plans to carry out massive attacks after the Gulshan restaurant assault, but lost much of its strength due to crackdown by the law enforcers.

Investigators say analysing the laptops and mobile phones of the arrested and dead militants, they have came to know that the members of New JMB have established a network outside Bangladesh. They got financial support and arms from abroad to conduct the Gulshan attack. l

invited Expression of Interest (EoI) under the special act, and South Korea-based Posco Daewoo and Singapore-based Kris Energy submitted their tenders. Daewoo later expressed their interest in working at DS 12.

Prior to approval of the latest agreement at the Cabinet, the government on September 28 invited the EoI again for exploration of two other deep sea blocks, DS 10 and DS 11, and shallow sea block SS 10 under the special act.

Earlier, the government signed a deal with ConocoPhillips for exploration of DS 10 and DS 11 as per model PSC of 2008.

But in October 2014, ConocoPhillips expressed its lack of interest in drilling exploration wells in DS 10 and DS 11 as the government declined its proposal to increase gas price after the deal was signed. The company cancelled the deal and went off without exploring the blocks. Later, the government took over their bank guarantee.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, an Energy and Mineral Resources Division official, who requested anonymity, claimed that EoI invitation for DS 10 and DS 11 were made in a hurry in order to grant the contract to Posco Daewoo, which is set to sign to explore DS 12 as well.

Daewoo has also been contracted to explore a gas field in Shwe,

Myanmar, which is adjacent to DS 11 of Bangladesh.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

‘Gulshan attack probe almost done’ Meanwhile, a number of top militants linked to New JMB, who follow the ideology of international terrorist group Islamic State, have been killed in raids since the Gulshan attack that shocked the world.

Detectives claim that local militants close to banned outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh formed the New JMB group to create anarchy and terrorise foreigners in the country. The IS aims at establishing Shariah law in the country and use Bangladesh as its base to launch attacks in Myanmar and India.

Since September last year, the IS

took credit for 26 attacks in Bangladesh killing 45 people who include non-Muslims and non-Sunnis, law enforcers and citizens of countries fighting against the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.

Sources say the New JMB top brass identified so far are Mahfuz Sohel alias Hatkata Sohel alias Nasir Uddin alias Bhagina Sohel, field-level coordinator Nurul Islam Marjan, Abu Yousuf Bangali, spiritual leader Abul Kashem alias Boro Huzur, Rajib Gandhi alias Shuvash alias Jahangir, Mamunur Rashid Ripon, Shariful Islam

Khalid, IT wing leader Basharullah alias Basharuzzaman alias Rahul, Washim Azwad, Manik, coordinator Iqbal (escaped from Kallyanpur den), Junayed Hasan Khan, Badal, Sagor, Akash and Azadul.

Mohibul Islam Khan, deputy commissioner of the CTTC unit, said that they had achieved two major leads in the Gulshan attack case – identification of those responsible and bringing all under punishment.

The five attackers were killed on July 2 morning while the mastermind, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, was killed in a raid in Narayanganj

Government to allow gas export by IOCs Now, if the IOC is unable to strike a deal with a local companies as well, it can export its share of gas to foreign buyers as liquefied natural gas (LNG).

An official at the Energy Division said all the bidders, who expressed interest in exploring the deep sea blocks in Bangladesh, demanded an increase of gas price and reinstatement of gas export provision.

“The government was ready to consider the gas price hike, but it was not ready to consider re-inclusion of the provision,” he told the Dhaka Tribune, seeking anonymity.

He said the companies wanted to include the provision in their contracts to make more money, but the government did not want to allow it because of the demand of gas in Bangladesh.

“They [the IOCs] argued that Bangladesh would not need much gas, so the provision of gas export must be included.”

But the government eventually agreed to allow the provision again in order to bring the companies to come and work in Bangladesh, he said.

Currently, three foreign companies – Chevron, Santos and Kris Energy – are working at onshore and shallow sea blocks in the country following international biddings in 1993 and 1997.

‘Suicidal decision’

The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports have termed the government decision suicidal and said doing so under the special act would be an offence.

“There is a huge crisis of gas in the country, yet the government is allowing the provision of gas export by the companies who would extract it. It contradicts with the government’s stand,” said Prof Anu Muhammad, member secretary of the committee.

He also blamed the lack of proper infrastructure for gas exploration in Bangladesh. “If we had developed our gas production capacity, the foreign companies would not be able to pressure us into keeping such provision in the agreements.”

He said gas was a cheap option for fuel in electricity production.

“But to consider such an export provision, under the special act, is definitely suicidal.”

However, Prof Mohammad Tamim of the department of petroleum and mineral resources at Buet, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that he was in favour of the government decision.

“In case there is a huge production of gas – like 20-30 trillion cubic feet – Bangladesh will not need this much gas at once. What will

the government do with the excess gas then? Companies in the private sector will not be able to use the gas either,” said Tamim, who is former special assistant to the chief adviser of caretaker government and led the inclusion of gas export provision into the model PSC in 2008.

“If the government is unwilling to keep the provision, it can cancel it, but then Petrobangla will have to buy all the gas explored by the IOCs. No third parties – local or foreign – should be allowed to buy the gas then.”

He further said the agreement should not be signed under the special act, considering the fact that gas exploration would most likely take a long time to finish.

How it all started

In January 2014, US-based oil company ConocoPhillips and Norway-based Statoil jointly submitted bidding documents to explore oil and natural gas in three deep sea gas blocks – DS 12, DS 16 and DS 21 – under the amended model PSC of 2012.

ConocoPhillips and Statoil negotiated with the government for exploring the blocks, but later ConocoPhillips withdrew their proposal, demanding export benefits and increased gas price. To date, negotiation with Statoil remains unsettled as well.

In the meantime, the government

Lack of offshore survey data

The government has repeatedly claimed that the deep sea gas blocks would be leased out after a multi-client seismic survey, but there has been no progress in the survey in the last two years.

The objective of the multi-client survey is to provide the country’s oil and gas industry with two-dimensional seismic data of the offshore areas to help with basin evaluation, prospect generation and robust bid-round participation.

“As the government has failed to successfully complete the multi-client survey, the exploration initiative has become uncertain due to lack of credible geological data and information,” Energy expert Saleque Sufi told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“Petrobangla has been negotiating with Daewoo for a while to lease out Block 12 under the model PSC. Daewoo did not find the existing fiscal incentives and new gas price good enough for a win-win contract,” he said.

“The export provision in such circumstances may only act as a market signal. Bangladesh will have the first right of refusal. I hope smart people will understand the situation and will not create a hue and cry.” l

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Families of Tahmid and Hasnat concerned n Arifur Rahman Rabbi

Family members of the two detained hostages Hasnat Karim and Tahmid Hasib from the Dhaka terror attack is deeply concerned about their fate as they have been in police custody for three months as of yesterday.

Although Hasnat has been formally arrested in the case filed in connection to the attack, Tahmid remains in perpetual legal limbo as police has not made a formal arrest or given an update on his status but

has kept him in jail under section 54 of the penal code.

Sharmina Parveen wife of Hasnat Karim told the Dhaka Tribune, yesterday that she has no idea what is going on with the case. She also insisted on Hasnat’s innocence.

Tahmid’s relatives Shommo told the Dhaka Tribune that they are trying to contact law enforcers through the legal system to make inquires about his status but those attempts have not matrialised any response from them.

“We will hopefully know about

his status next week,” he added. On July 1, 20 people including 17 foreigners were killed in the a terrorist attack by militants at Holey Artisan Bakery and O’ Kitchen in Gulshan.

Two police officials were also killed during the hostage situation that ensued as the attackers had failed to flee the scene after killing most of the guests at the restaurant.

A case was file with the Gulshan police station which is now being investigating by police’s Counter terrorism and transnational crimes unit.

Both Hasnat and Tahmid were

survivors of the attack were taken into custody and held without being arrested until a month later on August 4 when they were remanded under section 54 on suspicions of their involvement in the case.

Mohibul Islam, deputy commissioner of Counter terrorism and transnational crime unit told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are analyzing the information provided by Tahmid and Hasnat during the remand sessions,” adding that once the information is verified a decision will be made. l

Activists of Nirapad Sarak Chai stage a symbolic protest in front of the National Press Club yesterday, demanding necessary steps to make roads safer and urging the government to observe National Safe Road Day on October 22 DHAKA TRIBUNE

Teletalk burdened with inefficiency, mismanagement n Ishtiaq Husain Despite enjoying protection measures from the government, the sole state owned mobile network operator Teletalk is now burdened with a number of problems including operational inefficiency and mismanagement.

Over a decade has passed since the company launched its operation in 2004, but the company has so far failed to turn into a profitable entity for the government, allegedly due to irregularities and corruption.

A parliamentary watchdog recently came down hard on Teletalk and asked it to submit a new business plan so that the company can be transformed into a profitable one.

In a recent meeting, the parliamentary standing committee on Posts, Telecommunication and ICT ministry raised their voices over Teletalk's irregularities, corruption, operational inefficiency and mismanagement.

However, the company has failed to come up to the watchdog with any clear picture or explanation on the issue.

The committee asked for an explanation from Teletalk on its involvement with illegal call termination, usage of unregistered SIM cards, irregularities and corruption.

However, Teletalk representatives claimed that news reports published in different national dailies on this matter were untrue.

According to state minister for

Posts and Telecommunications Division, 10,805 Teletalk SIMs were seized in the last one year.

Now the standing committee has asked Teletalk to come up with a new 'business plan' on how to turn the company profitable and submit the report to the next committee meeting for discussions.

In July, mobile network operators Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink -jointly filed a letter of complaint against Teletalk claimeing around 25,000 Teletalk SIMs were being used for illegal VoIP. It has caused a loss of around 75 paisa per minute for the government and 10 paisa for mobile operators, the letter said.

Imran Ahmed, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee, said Teletalk could not appro-

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priately answer when asked about its corruption and irregularities.

The company also claimed the newspapers had not published any rejoinder from Teletalk.

“The standing committee asked, if the newspapers did not publish the rejoinders, why didn't Teletalk take legal action against those papers? The committee didn't get any appropriate answer in this regard,” he said.

All the state protections for Teletalk had been useless, Imran Ahmed said.

“Now our main objective is to revive the operator,” he added.

The Posts and Telecommunication division has formed a high-powered committee to investigate Teletalk's involvement in corruption, illegal VoIP and irregularities. l

Indian Envoy: Creating youths as change agents is the process of building healthy nation n Tribune Report Creating youths as change agents of the society, as believed by Mahatma Gandhi, would catalyse the process of building a healthy nation, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.

“Mahatma Gandhi firmly believed in creating from the youth a cadre of inspiring and competent role models and change agents with the courage of conviction, who in turn would catalyse the process of building a healthy nation,” the high commissioner said at a discussion programme, organised by Gandhi Ashram Trust, Noakhali on 'Role of Youth in Social Change and Gandhian Philosophy' at Brac Auditorium in the city yesterday(Saturday).

The programme was organised to mark 147th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and International Day of Non-Violence.

“Bangladesh and India both are countries of young people. Both countries share civilization linkages, as also historical, geographical, linguistic and culture links. On the other hand, challenges that our respective societies face are also similar in nature, Shringla said.

“Mahatma Gandhi’s life and works continue to inspire and guide us to work incessantly to surmount these common challenges and ensure a better quality of life with dignity and basic human rights for each and every member of our society,” he said.

As we progress into the millennium, the time may be ripe for the awakening of the youth in a non-violent way, much as they did when Mahatma Gandhi mobilised them in the last century to give new hope and direction; where everyone would have the means to realize his or her true potential and to contribute to society in a meaningful way, he continued.

“In view of the increasing incidence of terrorism and violence and societal disorder on the global basis and the failure of contemporary societies in comprehensively addressing these challenges, it may be time for us to actively revisit the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi,” said the high commissioner.

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Debapriya Bhattacharya, chairman of Gandhi Ashram Trust, Noakhali, Padma Shri Jharna Dhara Choudhury, secretary of the trust, High Commissioner of UK to Bangladesh Alison Blake, UNDP acting country director Nick Beresford also spoke at the programme. l

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

Tannery shift faces treatment plant dilemma n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi Tanneries in Dhaka are stalling on their relocation to Savar claiming that the state funded Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CEPT) is not fully functional.

However, the government is saying it cannot run the CEPT, built to treat waste from the leather industry at the Savar Tannery Estate, due to the shortage of waste.

The two parties came up with the arguments at a discussion meeting titled “Relocation of Tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar: How Far is it?” in Dhaka yesterday.

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) organised the event with partner organisations, industry owners and government representatives.

According to a paper presented

by Prof Delwar Hossain of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Civil Engineering department, the treatment plant needed waste from at least 35 big factories to run. But as of last month only 11 tanneries had started processing in the estate.

Sanjoy Kumar Talukdar, tannery owners consultant for the estate project, claimed that in most of the cases, there is no similarity with the real scenario of the industrial park. He said “There is no chrome recovery plant and salt treatment at the estate,” he said.

Project Director Abdul Quayum on the other hand said: “We cannot run the two modules of CETP, although they are fully ready to go operational,

due to shortage of waste. We will be able to complete four modules of the CETP within next two months.”

“The factory owners were supposed to establish their own ETPs. But the government is doing it with the public money for the sake of public welfare,” said Mubasshar Hussein, president of the Institute of Architects Bangladesh.

“Your (factory owners) responsibility is to make people understand that your plants will not be harmful and will be environment friendly,” said Mubasshar, also an urban planner.

Stressing on environmental hazards, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said: “We also have to realise that are we shifting Hazaribagh’s problems to Savar.”

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) holds a discussion at Dhaka’s Brac Centre auditorium yesterday on the shifting of tanneries from the city to an industrial park in Savar RAJIB DHAR

‘Dhaka, Beijing tie to get stronger with Chinese president’s visit’ n Abu Hayat Mahmud The Bangladesh-China bilateral relationship will grow stronger than before when Chinese President Xi Jinping comes to Dhaka for an official visit this month, said Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday.

Xi Jinping, who is also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China, will visit Dhaka to discuss various issues and how to improve the relationship between Dhaka and Beijing further, sources said.

Speaking at a discussion held on the occasion of the 67th anniversary of Chinese

revolution for democracy, Ashraf said: “The Chinese president’s Bangladesh visit will be significant in strengthening the relationship between the countries.”

He further said Bangladesh-China relationship was not built on trade only. The relationship started much earlier, when religious leader and master Atish Dipankar travelled to China from Bengal on foot, he said.

The discussion, convened

by Bangladesh Samyabadi Dal, was held at BMA auditorium in Dhaka.

Chaired by Samyabadi Dal General Secretary Dilip Barua, the discussion was also

addressed by Yang Zhou Hui, political affairs official at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka.

Yang Zhou said China has bilateral ties with Bangladesh in various sectors such as business, development assistance and others, which would hopefully increased more in future.

Earlier on August 1, Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Ma Mingqiang said Beijing was looking to further strengthening its relations and friendship with Bangladesh.

Political experts believe that Bangladesh’s pragmatic foreign policy with China and India is bearing fruits. l

Representatives of Hazaribagh residents urged the government to take measures to ensure healthy environment in the area after the relocation is completed. Savar dwellers meanwhile urged the government and the factory owners to take measures to prevent air and environment pollution there.

In response, Environment Minister Anwar Hossain Manju said that the technology used in the industrial park was highly efficient and stateof-the-art. He also assured that fund obtained from developed countries for environmental development would be used to prevent pollution.

Md Mizanur Rahman, treasurer of Bangladesh Tanners Association, said: “We want to relocate and have already invested Tk1,500 crore. But it will take time as we got the plant

from the government in December 2015 and its a lengthy process.”

The Industries Ministry allocated plots to 155 tannery owners through the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) in the Leather Industrial Park established on 200 acres of land in Savar.

As per the agreement, the government was supposed to establish a CETP at the industrial park to ensure that the liquid wastes discharged by the tanners are treated before flowing into the nearby river.

The government decided to transfer the tanneries from Hazaribagh amid pressure from local and international rights groups, environmental activists and buyers because of their hazardous effects on public health and environment, especially the Buriganga River. l

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

NATIONAL CHILD RIGHTS WEEK

CHILD RIGHTS WEEK

Child marriage still being practised n Tribune Desk

Report highlights mass violation of child rights

All members of society must come together to defend child rights, speakers said yesterday at a dialogue organised jointly by National Girl Child Advocacy Forum and Debate for Democracy.

They said awareness of children’s rights was crucial for parents and other legal guardians.

State Minister for Women and Children Meher Afroz Chumki said they had identified poverty and the lack of education as the main driving force behind child marriage.

n Mohammad Jamil Khan A recent report published to mark National Child Rights Week revealed that in 2015 aloe a total of 357 children were injured in road accidents out of which 325 succumbed to their injuries.

Human rights organisation Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) presented the report called “Situation of Bangladeshi Children: Newspaper Analysis and Experts’ Opinions” at the National Press Club in Dhaka yesterday.

The research was based on reports from six daily newspapers that showed that around 290 children were raped in 2015, out of which 41 later died.

In 2014, around 517 children were killed in road accidents, according to the report.

Abdullah-Al-Mamun of MJF said that most road accident happens from reckless driving at high speeds and the ignorance of basic traffic rules.

Executive Director of MJF Shaheen Anam said: “The state should take responsibility for its inability to implement traffic rules for both drivers and pedestrians.”

The report also highlighted cases of sexual violence against children with one incident of 8 boys being raped by their Madrasha teachers and classmates.

There was also the incident of 9 girls being raped and then filmed

A type of prejudice makes parents marry off their children to avoid the cost of dowry

Manusher Jonno Foundation presents a report on Situation of Bangladeshi Children: Newspaper Analysis and Experts’ Opinions at National Press Club in Dhaka yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE phones which cannot always be monitored by their parents.

“If children’s exposure to hyper sexualisation through pornography remain unchecked by their parents then they will grow up to be a big threat for society,” he said.

In 2015 around 156 children committed suicide while the figure was 209 in 2014 because of trau-

and raped again with threats of the videos being released online if they did not comply.

In 2012 a study by MJF found that at least 77 percent of school goers viewed pornography online.

Director of Governance at MJF, Tofayel Ahmed said a major portion of these children have access to pornography through smart

ma from things like dowry, conflict in the family, failing exams and rejection from romantic advances.

MJF Executive Director Shaheen Anam says that we are far from being able to offer our children a wholesome quality of life but all actors including public and private stakeholders need to work together to make that happen. l

Rights activists thrash digital security law draft n Kamrul Hasan

Human rights activists have termed the recently passed draft of Digital Security Act “unacceptable” and urged the government to revise it or formulate a new one.

The activists made the remarks at a press conference organised by Moulik Odhikar Shurokkha Committee (Committee for the Protection of Fundamental Rights) at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium yesterday morning.

The draft was approved by the cabinet on August 22 and later sent to the Law Ministry for scrutiny. In 2015, it was first named as Cyber Security Act, but later renamed to Digital Security Act 2016.

said, adding that citizens’ rights had been curbed in the recently enacted laws.

Dhaka University law teacher Prof Mahbubur Rahman observed that the main drawback of the draft was its unclear language which would allow the government to misuse the law.

“Moreover, the digital security agency to be established under the Act is likely to be controlled by the government,” he added.

Tahmina Rahman, director of Article 19 Bangladesh and South Asia, mentioned that cyber crimes are internationally considered as civil offence, rather than criminal offence. “So, the draft should be revised to imply proper punish-

Eminent jurist Shahdeen Malik, who chaired the event, said there is no doubt that a law is required to control cyber crimes, “but the Digital Security Act, if enacted, will not benefit anyone as 90% of the text is unacceptable.”

The draft was written in such a way that it could never be amended to make it usable, he said, adding that there were many loopholes in the draft while the text did not specify the offences clearly.

Shahdeen alleged that the proposed law would encourage corruption in the name of curbing criminal activities and create scopes for pro-government lawyers and bureaucrats. “Nobody is thinking about the citizens,” he

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2

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ment in accordance with the global practice.”

Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua criticised the proposed law for not having any bail provision.

“Section 37 of the draft says even the judge concerned realises that the accused may not be involved in the crime, s/he cannot grant the accused bail. The independence of the judiciary has been curbed through this provision,” he said. “... While the offences are covered under the ICT Act 2013 (amendment) and the Penal Code, why do we need a subsidiary one [Digital Security Act]?” the lawyer questioned. l Khulna

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Barisal

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

TOMORROW SUN RISES 5:51AM

36.1ºC Syedpur

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PRAYER TIMES

“This huge population is sometimes difficult for the government to regulate, which is why parents need to ensure their children’s rights are not being violated,” she said.

The minister also said primary school enrolment for girls was now higher than boys.

National Girl Child Advocacy Forum secretary Nasima Aktar Jolly focused on how parents would act from patriarchal values that have a negative impact on their children.

She said a type of prejudice make parents marry off their children to avoid the cost of dowry.

She stressed on the proper implementation of the laws to prevent this problem.

Farida Yasmin, deputy police commissioner at Women Support and Investigation Division of the DMP, said the allegation that police often do not help the victims was not always true.

“There are victim support centres. We respond quickly to the case if there is any,” she said.

Debate for Democracy’s chairman Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron summed up the dialogue saying: “We will able to build a prosperous nation if child rights are insured, we can implement this by nurturing this value amongst all.”

The dialogue was held at Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) where students were invited to discuss their issues with the speakers. l Sylhet

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Cox’s Bazar

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Fajr: 5:20am | Zohr: 1:15pm Asr: 4:30pm | Magrib: 5:56pm Esha: 8:00pm Source: Islamic Foundation

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

Int’l Day of Older Persons observed n Tribune Desk

Among others district administration, social welfare affairs, NOG RIC and different social and cultural organizations took part in it.

A meeting was also held at DC office’s conference room. Deputy Commissioner Shahina Khatun, advocate Abdul Ohab and RIC representative Abul Kalam Azad spoke on the occasion.

The International Day of Older Persons was observed yesterday in many districts in Bangladesh with a call to increase the facilities for the elderly people for their better life.

In Manikganj

To mark the day, a colourful procession was brought out in the district town in the morning.

Later, a discussion was held at Manikganj Bijoy Mela Math, reports our correspondent.

Mafizul Islam Khan Kamal, founder Principal of Manikganj Government Women College presided over the meeting while Rashida Ferdouse, Deputy Commissioner of Manikganj addressed as the chief guest.

Majibar Rahman, ADC (Rev.), Monjur Mohammad Shahriar, ADC (Gen), Prof. Asaduzzaman, and advocate Zahirul Alam Khan Lody, among others, spoke.

In Faridpur

International day of older persons was observed in a befitting manner through holding rallies and discussion organized by Faridpur unit of Bangladesh Prabin Hitaishy Sangha in cooperation of district administration, Social Service department and NGOs. A rally was held participated by a large number of senior citizens, government officials and NGO men which paraded different streets of

In Nilphamari

Bangladesh Prabin Hitaishy Sangha, Gaibandha chapter bring out a procession in the town to mark the International Day of Older Persons

The day was observed with a call to increase the facilities for the elderly people for their better life

Sadar upazila chairman Kh. Mohtesham Hossain Babor, DD of Social Service department ASM Ali Ahsan, Prabin Hitaishi Sangha secretary Prof Md Abdus Samad.

A musical soiree was also held at the end of the discussion.

In Natore the town, reports BSS. The rally was followed by a discussion held in the conference room of DC of Faridpur.

DC Umme Salam Tanzia ad-

dressed the discussion as the chief guest with Dr MA Jalil in the chair.

The discussion was also addressed, among others, by Civil Surgeon Dr. Arun Kanti Biswas,

Our correspondent said a procession was brought out from Madrasa crossing road in the town at around 10.30am led by Additional Deputy Commissioner (general) Kazi Atiur Rahman.

Prabin Hitaishy Sangha in cooperation of district administration, Social Service department and NGOs brought out a procession in the town, reports our correspondent.

Among others, former MP N K Alam Chowdhury, Civil Surgeon Abdur Rashid, Shilpa and Banik Samity president SM Shafikul Alam spoke on the occasion. Hitaishy Sangha President Azizul Haque presided over the function where DC AGM Ershad Ahsan Habib spoke as special guest.

In Gopalganj

According to reports of our correspondent, a procession was brought out form in front of the deputy commissioner office in the morning and rounded the streets in the town.

Later, a discussion was held at the DC office where Social Welfare Association General Secretary Md Golam Azam, Resource Integration Centre’s area manager Moazzem Hossain spoke. DC Mokleshur Rahman presided over the meeting. l

Muslim youths come forward for mandaps’ security in Jessore n Touhid Zaman, Jessore Muslim youths in Jessore have involved themselves in the task of ensuring security for Puja pavilions (mandap) during Durga Puja, the largest festival among Bangla-speaking Hindus both in Bangladesh and West Bengal, to maintain communal peace and harmony in their localities.

Each pavilion was forming a committee comprising Hindu and Muslim youths to ensure its security, said Asim Kundu, president of the District Puja Celebration Committee.

Meanwhile, local administration, superintendent of police and leaders of the committee have held several meetings over the security measures for the pavilions to

avert subversive activities.

Dipankar Das Ratan, general secretary to the committee, expressing his satisfaction over the local administration’s cooperation, said: “This year, Sharadiya (autumnal) Durga Utsav will be celebrated with a great enthusiasm in Jessore like before, as it is a land of communal harmony.”

Hindu and Muslims were working together to facilitate a peaceful celebration of the five-day long festival, which will begin on October 7, he added.

This year, 629 Puja pavilions had been set up in Jessore, while it was 635 last year, said Jogesh Chandra Sarkar, a leader of the District Puja Celebration Committee.

However, Durga Puja would not be celebrated in several areas of Monirampur, Avoynagar and Keshobpur due to persistant water stagnation caused from heavy rainfall this year, said Dipankar.

Many pavilions in the localities were still under kneedeep water, he added.

The District Administrator Humayun Kabir said the government had been providing each pavilion of the district with necessary help.

The pavilions in the waterlogged areas would get special favour of the government, he added.

SP Anisur Rahman said police is following zero tolerance policy to ensure communal peace and harmony in the district. l

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7

News

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

CMP to fix parking spots to ease traffic congestion n Anwar Hussain, Chittagong With an aim to ease unbearable traffic congestion, the traffic department of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) is going to fix around 30 parking spots in the port city.

The proposed parking spaces will be earmarked in some strategic points of the city including GEC, Jamiatul Falah, Oxygen, Dewanhat, CRB and Station Road.

The city planners observe that haphazard parking of vehicles is one of the major reasons behind traffic gridlock in the city.

In absence of legal parking facili-

ties in the city, the private cars, motor cycles, auto-rickshaws, trucks and even long vehicles occupy the roads wherever the opportunity is available.

Moreover, under-construction Muradpur-Lalkhan Bazar flyover is causing traffic snarls as the 5.2km flyover has shrunk the major thoroughfare of the city.

The city roads usually witness serious traffic congestion just before and after school and office hours.

Sometimes the tailback turns so immense that commuters including students, office-goers and patients have to remain stranded for hours.

Masud-ul-Hasan, CMP additional commissioner (Traffic), said: “We are going to send the proposal to the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) Mayor within this month and he will finally approve the plan.”

The police official hoped, the vehicle owners could use the parking spaces in exchange for money. Each of the parking bays will be able to accommodate 20 to 200 vehicles.

The additional commissioner also said: “We are now struggling to manage traffic in the city as the number of vehicles has risen exponentially with the population growth. The parking lots will help to reduce traf-

fic gridlock at a significant extent.”

Welcoming the move, Sultan Mohammad Farooq, associate professor and former head of Department of Urban & Regional Planning, CUET said: “Fixing parking spaces for easing traffic gridlock is long overdue initiative.”

When contacted, Engineer Subhash Barua, who has been working on traffic problems of the city, said: “A comprehensive plan should be devised to address traffic jam with the participation of all stakeholders.

Subhash, also the vice president of Forum for Planned Chittagong, continued: “Earmarking parking

bays is a good initiative. We should also reduce the number of the private cars from the roads to ease traffic congestion. The countries with a good traffic management and a mass transport system always discourage their people owning private cars.”

Subhash urged to educational institutes and ready made garment factories to introduce bus service to reduce both air pollution and fuel cost.

According to the information of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), around 1,70,000 vehicles ply in the port city every day. l

21,889 beggars to be rehabilitated n BSS

A programme has been taken to free Khulna division from beggars

by December next.

Aimed at making the society beggars’ free, Khulna Divisional Administration has already completed a survey at 10 districts in Khulna division on September last.

At least 15 acres of land will be acquired at Batiaghata upazila in Khulna to set up a rehabilitation center ‘Ananda Niketon’ very soon to rehabilitate physically challenged and old age beggars.

The rest beggars will be brought under different kinds of training programmes including sewing and making handicraft goods.

According to the survey report, a total of 21, 889 beggars have been found at 10 districts in Khulna Division.

Of them, 3,286 in Khulna,3,195 in Bagerhat, 3,615 in Satkhira, 3,103 in Jessore, 742 in Narail, 2,327 in Jhenaidah, 1,326 in Magura, 1,726 in Kushtia, 1,654 in Chuadanga and 915 in Meherpur.

Talking to BSS, Khulna Divisional Commissioner Md. Abdus Samad said, “We will provide the beggars mostly physically challenged and old aged at the ‘Ananda Niketon’ rehabilitation center. The rest will be provided through sewing machine, cooking, handicraft goods, agriculture, technical, poultry and dairy firms training, VGF cards, Ekti Bari Ekti Khamar and others government schemes.”

“We will open a bank account after taking permission from the ministry concerned to form a beggar’s rehabilitation fund,” he said.

The beggars will livelihood like a common people of the country at the ‘Ananda Niketon’, health service, playing and other recreation facilities also would provide there, he said. l

Visitors enjoying the beauty of a bonsai tree in a tree fair, organised by Rajshahi Bonsai Society. The photo was taken from Monibazar Chattar area in the city yesterday AZAHAR UDDIN

Three killed in shootout n Tribune Desk

At least three people were killed in gunfights in three different places of Bangladesh yesterday.

Our Lakshmipur correspondent said a robber was killed and four policemen injured during a ‘gunfight’ between a robber gang and police a Bibirhat in Ramgati upazila in the morning.

The deceased was Mizanur Rahman, son of Abdus Salam, a resident of Jiarchar in the upazila.

Officer-in-charge of Ramgati police station M Iqbal Hossain said a gang of robbers was taking preparation to commit robbery at Bibirhat. Being informed, a team of police conducted a drive there to arrest the robbers.

Sensing the presence of police, the robbers opened fire at the law enforcers.

In retaliation, police also fired back which triggered a gunfight,

leaving Mizanur dead on the spot around 4:30am.

Four police personnel of Ramgati police station – sub-inspector Humayan Kabir, constables Musa Miah, Alamgir Hossain and Nur Uddin – were also injured in the incident.

They were whisked off to Ramgati Upazila Health Complex while the body of Mizanur was sent to the morgue for autopsy.

Police also recovered one LG, two rounds of bullets and three machetes from the spot.

Mizanur was wanted in several cases, the OC added.

A leader of BNP’ youth wing Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal was killed in a ‘gunfight’ with police at Birulia in Savar upazila on the outskirts of the capital, said our correspondent.

The deceased was Shah-Alam Nayan, 44, organising secretary of Savar municipality unit of Jubo Dal. Mahabubur Rahman, Senior As-

sistant Superintendent of Police of Savar Model Police Station said two sub-inspectors of the police station arrested Nayan from his Mohammadpur residence in the capital.

Later, the police team went to Birulia with Nayan to recover arms early hours on Saturday.

When they went near Krishibid Nursery, the associates of Nayan swooped on the law enforcers and opened fire on them.

In retaliation, police also opened fire on the miscreants when Nayan received bullet injuries.

Later, he was whisked off to Savar Upazila Health Complex where a doctor declared him dead.

A case was filed with Savar Model Police Station in connection with the incident.

The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for autopsy.

Nayan was wanted in 14 cases

filed with the police station including for arson attacks on public transports, carrying out subversive activities, murder and abduction.

Our Bhola correspondent said a fisherman was killed and six others sustained bullet injuries as a gang or pirates attacked them at Berirchar on the Meghna River in Monpura upazila.

The deceased was Kamal Majhi, 35, a resident of the upazila.

Quoting the injured fishermen, officer-in-charge of Monpura police station Mofazzel Hossain said the seven fishermen were catching fish at Berirchar on Meghna River in the early hours.

At one stage, a gang of pirates went there by a trawler and swooped on the fishermen.

The pirates opened fire at the fishermen around 5am, leaving Kamal Majhi dead on the spot and six others injured. l

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CHINA

Eight dead, 19 missing after China landslides At least eight people have died and around 19 are still missing after devastating landslides swept through two eastern Chinese villages. Heavy wind and torrential rains brought by Typhoon Medi triggered the landslides on Wednesday, burying dozens of homes from the villages of Sucun and Baofeng in Zhejiang province’s Suichang county. AFP

ASIA PACIFIC

Japan, India to sign nuclear cooperation deal Japan and India are likely to sign a civil nuclear cooperation pact during a visit to Japan by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in mid-November. The two leaders last December reached a basic agreement for cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, but they stopped short of signing the agreement, citing outstanding technical and legal differences. REUTERS

MIDDLE EAST

IAEA chief: Iran sticking to nuclear deal Iran has kept to a nuclear deal it agreed with 6 world powers last year limiting its stockpiles of substances that could be used to make atomic weapons, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano said Tehran had observed the deal which was opposed by hardliners inside Iran and by sceptics in the West. REUTERS

Back and forth

An army source quoted in state media said its forces had made advances, which was denied by rebels who say they had repelled a new assault.

A news commentary by the state-run Ikhbariyah said “high level coordination from the air and ground by Syrian and Russian warplanes” had allowed the two allies to “successful hit locations where terrorist groups had dug in.”

But rebels say Syrian troops backed by fresh reinforcements from Iranian-backed militias were struggling to make any gains in a

Syrian regime

Controlled by:

Islamic State (IS) group

Kurds

Rebels and/or Fateh al-Sham*

Sept 30, 2016

Sept 30, 2015 TURKEY

TURKEY

Kobane

Kobane

Hasakeh

Hasakeh

Aleppo

Aleppo Raqa

Idlib Latakia

Latakia

Deir Ezzor

Homs

Raqa

Idlib

Deir Ezzor

Homs

Palmyra

N

Palmyra NO BA

China has extended a hold on India’s request to add the head of the Pakistani militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad to the UN blacklist. The Chinese technical hold was set to lapse on Monday, and had China not raised further objection, the resolution designating Azhar as a terrorist could stand passed automatically.

The hold has been extended for another 6 months. HT

SYRIA BEFORE THE RUSSIAN INTERVENTION AND NOW

IRAQ

DAMASCUS

(figures from Syrian Observatory for Human Rights) 3,804 civilians

DAMASCUS

100 km

JORDAN

Toll of Russian air strikes

LE

China blocks again India’s move to ban Jaish chief at United Nations

Russian war planes struck rebel held areas north of Aleppo on Saturday as the army shelled the besieged old quarter in a major offensive, rebels and a monitoring group said.

Russia was reported on Friday to be sending more warplanes to Syria to ramp up its air campaign as the United States said it had not yet given up on finding a diplomatic resolution.

The latest strikes come 10 days into a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive to capture rebel-held eastern Aleppo and crush the last urban stronghold of a revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that began in 2011.

Saturday’s air strikes focused on major supply lines into rebel-held areas - the Castello Road and Malah district - while fighting raged in the Suleiman al Halabi neighbourhood, the front line to the north of Aleppo’s Old City.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by telephone for a third day on Friday, with Russia’s top diplomat saying Moscow was ready to consider more ways to normalise the situation in Aleppo.

But Lavrov criticised Washington’s failure to separate moderate rebel groups from those the Russians call terrorists, which had allowed forces led by the group formerly known as the Nusra front to violate the US-Russian truce agreed on September 9.

The United States made clear it would not, at least for now, carry through a threat made on Wednesday to halt the diplomacy if Russia did not take immediate steps to end the violence.

Moscow and Assad spurned the ceasefire to launch the new offensive, potentially the biggest and most decisive battle of the civil war, which is now in its sixth year.

N

INDIA

n Reuters, Amman

NO

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence says 5 soldiers and a police officer were killed in an air strike carried out by an Afghan military helicopter in western Farah province.

The ministry said in a statement Saturday the helicopter had used inaccurate information from ground forces when it conducted the air strike late Friday night. AP

Russian jets pound Aleppo as US clings to diplomacy

BA

Afghan friendly fire kills 6 security forces

LE

SOUTH ASIA

IRAQ

100 km

JORDAN

= 10 deaths 2,814 rebel and Islamist combatants

2,746 IS group jihadists

9,364 dead Sources: ISW, Fabrice Balanche (Washington Institute), SOHR

ground offensive in a key frontline in the old city.

“They are shelling the old city heavily after another failed attempt to gain ground. They have lost several fighters and we are steadfast,” said Abu Hamam, a rebel from the Failaq al-Sham group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group that monitors the war, reported heavy bombardment by government forces and “back and forth” fighting in the Suleiman al-Halabi neighbourhood.

The monitor said warplanes struck a field hospital in the heavily bombed rebel-held al Sakhour district in the second such strike on one of four such medical facilities targeted in the last few days.

The strike caused at least one death and several injuries and put the hospital out of service, the monitor said.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the bombing and many hundreds more wounded, with little access to treatment in hospitals that lack basic supplies.

Residents say the air strikes are unprecedented in their ferocity, deploying heavier bombs that flatten buildings on top of the people huddled inside.

Russia joined the war exactly a year ago, tipping the balance of power in favour of Assad, who is also supported by Iranian ground forces and Shi’ite militia from Leb-

anon and Iraq.

The army said it would press its advantage after retaking last Thursday the strategic Handarat camp north of Aleppo that had already changed hands once since the start of the attack.

The Observatory said at least 20 were killed by sustained Russian and Syrian army strikes and artillery shelling on Friday and into the early hours of Saturday, while state media said rebel mortar attacks on government-held Midan, al Ithaa and other areas in the city had killed at least 20 people.

Negotiations are on life support

Two days after threatening to suspend talks with Russia on the crisis in Syria, the United States confirmed Friday that negotiations continue but insisted they are “on life support.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry called Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the third day in a row, but received no sign that Moscow is ready to halt the Syrian regime’s assault on Aleppo.

On Thursday, amid much criticism at home and abroad that the threat to break off US-Russian bilateral talks on Syria was hollow, Kerry insisted that he was “on the verge” of ending them.

And that’s where matters remained 24 hours later, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, while introducing a new met-

*Formerly Al-Nusra Front

aphor to describe how close the rival capitals are to a rupture.

“This is on life support, but it has not flatlined yet,” he told reporters when asked why Kerry believes it is worthwhile to keep the diplomatic channel open while Russian jets pound Aleppo.

“It’s egregious, it’s horrific, it’s in clear violation of international standards or norms, humanitarian norms and international law,” Toner said.

And he agreed that “at a certain point” Washington would have to look again “to see if it becomes futile to continue to believe in a diplomatic process.”

“That said, I just can’t definitively say we’re there at that point yet. We’re very close but we’re not there yet.”

Earlier, Lavrov had hit out in an interview, suggesting Washington may be trying to protect jihadist rebels from assault in order to later use them against Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Toner dismissed this charge out of hand. “It left me shaking my head, he said. “It’s absurd.”

A short-lived truce brokered by Moscow and Washington earlier this month fell apart as both sides blamed each other for its failure.

Moscow has since been accused of indiscriminately bombing rebel-held eastern Aleppo in support of an assault by Syrian government troops aiming capture all of the country’s second city. l

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

Sex tapes take US presidential campaign on sordid turn n Tribune International Desk

Donald Trump is encouraging voters to check out a “sex tape” featuring the former beauty queen with whom he’s feuding. Hillary Clinton’s campaign is suggesting that a better rental is the adult film in which Trump himself appears, reports The Associated Press.

With the presidential campaign taking a sordid turn Friday, even many of Trump’s supporters shook their heads, worried that their candidate’s latest outburst could further hurt him among female voters already sceptical but whose support he’ll badly need to win in November.

The Republican nominee’s a pre-dawn Twitter tirade tore into the 1996 Miss Universe, Alicia Machado, a Venezuela-born woman whose weight gain Trump has said created terrible problems for the pageant he owned at the time.

Clinton had cited Trump’s treatment of Machado near the end of their first debate, and Trump has spent days revisiting his complaints about Machado.

The “sex tape” tweet apparently referred to footage from a Spanish reality show in 2005 in which Machado was a contestant and

appeared on camera in bed with a male contestant. The images are grainy and do not include nudity, though Machado later acknowledged in the Hispanic media that she was having sex in the video.

Muddying the waters: an explicit 2000 Playboy video with a cameo by Trump. In a short clip posted on the website BuzzFeed, Trump pours a bottle of champagne on a Playboy-branded limo on a New York street, surrounded by a gaggle of women.

“There’s been a lot of talk about sex tapes today and in a strange turn of events only one adult film has emerged today, and its star is Donald Trump,” said Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill, adding he hadn’t seen the film.

Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign accused the media and Clinton of colluding to set him up for fresh condemnation, to which Clinton retorted, “His latest twitter meltdown is unhinged, even for him.”

Machado herself took to Facebook to say Trump’s tweets were part of a pattern of “demoralising women,” calling them “cheap lies with bad intentions.” Planned Parenthood said it showed that Trump’s “misogyny knows no bounds.” And Clinton said they showed anew why someone with Trump’s temperament “should not be anywhere near the nuclear codes.”

Miss Universe 1996, Alicia Machado of Venezuela, right, is greeted by businessman Donald Trump during a staged workout at a gym in New York in a January 28, 1997 file photo REUTERS With less than 40 days left in the election, Trump’s broadside threw his campaign into a fresh round of second-guessing the candidate’s instincts and confusion about what to do next. To believers in traditional political norms, it seemed like the opposite of what was needed to win over females, Hispanics and young Americans whose support could well determine the election.

Shaming Machado over intimate details from her past could be particularly risky as Trump

tries to win over more female voters, many of whom are turned away by such personal attacks. It also risks calling further attention to the thrice-married Trump’s own history with women.

What kind of a man, Clinton asked, “stays up all night to smear a woman with lies and conspiracy theories?”

Even Trump’s most vocal allies seemed at a loss for words.

“He’s being Trump. I don’t have any comment beyond that,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a top supporter. Generally chatty and occasionally critical of Trump, Gingrich said tersely that Trump sometimes does “strange things,” but that Clinton lies. “I’ll let you decide which is worse for America.”

But Trump’s inner circle followed his lead by refusing to concede any missteps. Trump did not mention the tweets Friday evening as he rallied supporters in Michigan. Instead, he returned to Twitter to invoke Clinton’s famous ad from her 2008 campaign portraying her as the best candidate to pick up an urgent call at the White House at 3am.

“For those few people knocking me for tweeting at three o’clock in the morning, at least you know I will be there, awake, to answer the call!” Trump wrote. l

FACTBOX

Decisions that made the Nobel Prizes look bad n Tribune International Desk Nobel Prizes cannot be revoked, so the judges must put a lot of thought into their selections for the six awards, which will be announced in the next two weeks, reports The Associated Press.

A discovery might seem ground-breaking today, but will it stand the test of time?

Prize founder Alfred Nobel wanted to honour those whose discoveries created “the greatest benefit to mankind.”

Here are 5 Nobel Prize decisions that seem questionable:

When a German who organised poison gas attacks won the chemistry prize Fritz Haber was awarded the 1918 chemistry award for discovering how to create ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen gases. His method was used to manufacture fertilizers and delivered a major boost to agriculture worldwide.

But the Nobel committee completely overlooked Haber’s role in chemical warfare during World War I. Enthusiastically supporting the Ger-

man war effort, he supervised the first major chlorine gas attack at Ypres, Belgium, in 1915, which killed thousands of Allied troops.

When the medicine committee awarded a cancer discovery that wasn’t Danish scientist Johannes Fibiger won the 1926 medicine award for discovering that a roundworm caused cancer in rats.

There was only one problem: the roundworm didn’t cause cancer in rats.

Fibiger insisted his research showed that rats ingesting worm larvae by eating cockroaches developed cancer. At the time when he won the prize, the Nobel judges thought that made perfect sense.

It later turned out the rats developed cancer from a lack of vitamin A.

When the chemistry prize honoured man who found use for DDT, which was later banned The 1948 medicine prize to Swiss scientist Paul Mueller honoured a discovery that ended up doing both good and bad.

Mueller didn’t invent dichlorodi-

phenyltricloroethane, or DDT, but he discovered that it was a powerful pesticide that could kill lots of flies, mosquitoes and beetles in a short time.

The compound proved very effective in protecting agricultural crops and fighting insect-borne diseases like Typhus and Malaria. DDT saved hundreds of thousands of lives and helped eradicate malaria from southern Europe.

But in the 1960s environmentalists found that DDT was poisoning wildlife and the environment. The U.S. banned DDT in 1972 and in 2001 it was banned by an international treaty, though exemptions are allowed for some countries fighting malaria.

When the man who invented lobotomy won the medicine prize Carving up people’s brains may have seemed like a good idea at the time. But in hindsight, rewarding Portuguese scientist Antonio Egas Moniz in 1949 for inventing lobotomy to treat mental illness wasn’t the Nobel Prizes’ finest hour.

The method became very popular in the 1940s, and at the award cer-

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World

emony it was praised as “one of the most important discoveries ever made in psychiatric therapy.”

But it had serious side effects: some patients died and others were left severely brain damaged. Even operations that were considered successful left patients unresponsive and emotionally numb.

The method declined quickly in the 1950s as drugs to treat mental illness became widespread and it’s used very seldom today.

When Mahatma Gandhi didn’t win the peace prize The Indian independence leader, considered one of history’s great champions of non-violent struggle, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize no fewer than five times. He never won.

The peace prize committee, which rarely concedes a mistake, eventually acknowledged that not awarding Gandhi was an omission.

In 1989 — 41 years after Gandhi’s death — the Nobel committee chairman paid tribute to Gandhi as he presented that year’s award to the Dalai Lama. l

USA

US building $100m drone base in central Niger The US military said on Friday it is building a $100m temporary base for surveillance drones in Agadez, central Niger. Niger, a security ally of the West, is grappling simultaneously with incursions from jihadist group Boko Haram as well as roaming al-Qaeda-linked groups in its vast desert spaces. REUTERS

THE AMERICAS

Powerful hurricane soaks Colombia, heads for Jamaica One of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in recent history weakened a little on Saturday as it drenched coastal Colombia and roared across the Caribbean on a course that still puts Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba in the path of potentially devastating winds and rain.

Matthew briefly reached the top hurricane classification, Category 5, and was the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Felix in 2007. AP

UK

UK PM: Scotland will have no veto over Brexit Prime Minister Theresa May said she will listen to Scotland’s concerns over Britain’s exit from the EU but that the devolved Scottish government will not have a veto over the Brexit negotiations.

Scotland wants to have more detail about how the British government plans to leave the EU to prevent a hard Brexit that would severely damage the economy, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Tuesday. REUTERS

EUROPE

Spain’s political deadlock at critical point Spain’s bitterly divided Socialists met on Saturday to decide whether to oust party leader Pedro Sanchez. The leadership of the Socialist PSOE, Spain’s main opposition party, has been split in two by the resignation earlier this week of 17 members of a 38-member executive committee who demanded Sanchez’s resignation to help break the nine-month impasse. REUTERS

AFRICA

Chad, Niger forces kill 123 Boko Haram in crackdown A joint military operation between Chad and Niger has killed 123 Boko Haram militants since July and recovered a significant quantity of weapons, Niger’s Defence Ministry said on Friday. Allied Chadian-Nigerien forces launched an offensive against the Islamists after a surprise attack in Niger killed 30 of the country’s troops in early June, its deadliest ever attack there. REUTERS

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ANALYSIS

Uri attack and the civil-military divide in Pakistan’s Kashmir policy n Tribune International Desk The September 18 terrorist attack in Uri, which killed 19 Indian soldiers in peacetime, is not the first incident abetted and denied by Pakistan, perhaps nor the last. Exactly eight years ago in November 2008, when Mumbai was attacked by a squad of well-trained terrorists that killed nearly 200 people and wounded several more, Pakistan vehemently denied only to concede later – under international pressure – that the attack was planned on its soil and that the perpetrators were its own nationals.

In Uri’s case, although Pakistan’s civilian government has strongly rejected India’s allegations that the attack emanated from Pakistan, the fact is that the civilian government does not control Kashmir policy, nor is able to convince its military leadership to renounce jihad as a tool of statecraft. Accordingly, there’s good reason to doubt that the Pakistani government’s endorsement (or lack thereof) is a reliable indicator.

For the past 70 years, Islamabad and New Delhi have been divided over who should fully control Kashmir. Beyond the bilateral dimension, Kashmir pits Pakistan’s civil and military leaderships against each other, with each side scrambling to figure out whether the country should resolve the dispute politically or militarily. If the past is of any use as a reference, the Uri attack, which India claims is linked to Pakistan, should be interpreted as yet another desperate attempt by the military leadership to stress that the diplomatic solution Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif proposed at the United Nations is better served if accompanied by the use of proxies under the cover of Pakistan’s nuclear arms.

The Uri attack – in all likelihood without the knowledge of civilian leadership – inflicted painful losses to India’s army and the nation; however, it also inevitably doomed Sharif’s the otherwise successful diplomatic offensive to raise the Kashmir dispute at international fora and convince world leaders to put their weight behind an early resolution on Pakistan’s terms. Pakistan’s military leaders believe that the use of proxies will move the Kashmir dispute “from the back-burner to the forefront.” In reality, the attack has instead reinforced the global perception that Pakistan is a state sponsor of terrorism – an appellation that Islamabad has long sought to avoid to keep much-need international support on its side.

Post-independence era

Not only that, the Uri attack is a chilling reminder as to who really runs the government in Islamabad: the elected civilians or unelected institutions (ie, the military).

Kashmir policy has rarely been the prerogative of Pakistan’s civilians.

Yet, whenever it has been, political leaders have tried to seek a negotiated rather than a military solution to the dispute. The 194748 war over Kashmir that briefly followed Pakistan’s and India’s independence not only set the South Asian neighbours on a perennial collision course; it also revealed for the first time a deep-rooted schism in Pakistan’s civil and military leadership, with the former more prone to political settlement than the latter. Military Politics in Pakistan, the willingness of civilian leaders to accept a ceasefire in the 1947-48 Kashmir war was one of the major factors that angered the military leadership and paved the way for the first military coup – a precursor to all coups, soft and hard, in Pakistan.

Relatively obscure, the coup popularly dubbed as the “Rawalpindi Conspiracy” was a failed attempt by Major General Akbar Khan and his abettors who saw the civilian leadership’s ultimate decision to accept a cease-fire in Kashmir as a national surrender that deprived the army of a potential victory.”

Although the coup peaked in 1951, “Akbar and his… army collaborators had begun to conspire to overthrow the elected government in July 1949, barely six months after the ceasefire in Kashmir,” Shah observes. A timely tip-off foiled the coup. Yet the military’s institutional perception of civilians’ incompetence and pusillanimity never ceased to cast a long shadow over the question how the dispute over Kashmir should be resolved: by diplomacy or force.

Bhutto and Gen Zia’s era

Following a protracted period of military rule from 1958 to 1971, when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto assumed power in 1971, the very first initiative he took – despite being known for his advocacy for the botched 1965 Operation Gibraltar in the cabinet of General Ayub and his hawkish political campaign in the late 1960s—was the signing of Simla Agreement with India. Concluded in July 1972, the Agreement saw both states recognise that they will “settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations” and that the ceasefire line that theretofore divided Pakistan’s

KASHMIR September 29 India said its commandos carried out “surgical strikes” along the de facto border to prevent planned attacks

CHINA

PA K I S TA N NEW DELHI

INDIA

Pakistan said 2 of its soldiers were killed, 9 wounded in what it claimed as “small arms fire”

“Line of Control”

Shows the approximate limit of de facto control on either side

Pakistanadministered Kashmir

ISLAMABAD

Kel Uri

Bhimber

The strikes were several kilometres inside the Pakistancontrolled side, according to India

Srinagar Sept 18 18 killed in militant attack on army base

Indianadministered Kashmir 150 km

INDIA

PA K I STA N Source: Indian military/Pakistan defence minister

and India’s side of Kashmir would be the “line of control” (LOC). Technically, when the parliaments of both Pakistan and India endorsed the Agreement and accepted the LOC as a status quo line, the Kashmir dispute should have stood resolved and uncontestable. But, for better or worse, that did not happen. Bhutto’s government was rounded off relatively quickly in a coup and the military government that followed under General Ziaul-Haq had little patience for the civilians’ commitments. Facing a legitimacy crisis and mass protests by political parties, Zia is speculated to have adopted rather a hostile Kashmir policy along with developing nuclear weapons to secure his rickety political rule until his plane crashed in 1988.

Benazir and Sharif’s civilian government

The Benazir Bhutto civilian government that followed Zia’s was not independent enough to steer an autonomous policy on Kashmir.

Reportedly, when Bhutto assumed office after Zia’s death, the military refused to transfer her power until she agreed, among other things, to cede control over Kashmir policy.

Nonetheless, Bhutto still went

ahead to normalise relations with India, including the resolution of Kashmir dispute. In 1989, she met India’s Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Islamabad to sign a joint communique that allowed both states to resolve all outstanding disputes, including Kashmir’s, amicably.

However, as Bhutto was busy establishing friendly relations with India, her generals were conducting large-scale military exercises to undermine her efforts. According to then director general of ISI, General Hameed Gul, the motivation behind the Zarb-e-Momin exercise in 1989 was to “block the prime minister’s design to undermine our [Pakistan’s] defence.”

The pattern repeated again, following the 1998 nuclear tests, when Sharif invited his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to Pakistan and both leaders signed the historic Lahore Declaration in February 1999 – agreeing to peacefully resolve the Kashmir crisis among other disputes. Sharif’s own chief of army staff, General Pervez Musharraf, launched a military offensive in Kargil, which Sharif later admitted was a “stab in back”. The infamous Operation Kargil, which sabotaged the peace process be-

tween Islamabad and New Delhi, paved the way for yet another period of martial law in Pakistan that lasted nearly a decade with no prospects for South Asian peace.

The operation failed badly in Kargil, but it succeeded in Islamabad.

When, after Operation Kargil, Sharif considered court martialing the general, Musharraf imposed martial law and became the chief executive of the country.

Musharraf’s executive and legislative authority

Yet when Musharraf transitioned to his political career as the president of Pakistan – although he still simultaneously held the COAS portfolio – in hindsight, he is seen as having abandoned his militaristic approach in favour of a political solution of the Kashmir dispute.

The empirical evidence suggests that, during his nearly decade-long undivided control over foreign and defence polices, Musharraf rarely went down the road of a Kargil-like offensive in Kashmir. Instead, not only did he become convinced that the only solution for Kashmir was political, but he also authorized his foreign minister, Khursheed Kasuri, to lead the “composite dialogue” on Kashmir.

According to reports, Musharraf agreed to give up claims on Jammu and Kashmir and the plebiscite option under the United Nations if India accepted his fourpoint formula – no different than the one incorporated in the 1972 Simla Agreement. The four-point formula included i) gradual withdrawal of troops, ii) self-governance, iii) acknowledgement of the line of control as an international border, and iv) a joint supervision mechanism by India, Pakistan, and the representatives of Kashmiris across the line of control.

The formula was working, and according to reports, both states had made substantial progress toward the dispute resolution when Musharraf’s government, amid mass protests, fell at home.

Kashmir is as much if not more, a dispute between Pakistan’s civil-military leadership as it is between Islamabad and New Delhi.

Unless Pakistan’s civil-military leadership gets on the same page and agrees to mend fences with India and seek a political solution, avoiding a catastrophic conflict including a nuclear war in South Asia will remain a constant struggle. l

[This is an excerpt of a The Diplomat article, which can be found at http://bit. ly/2dgibyY]

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

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TOP STORIES Expats seek Hamid’s intervention to stop financial crimes in Bangladesh Expatriates Bangladeshis in USA and international in Bangladesh have urged Bangladesh President Advocate Abdul Hamid to intervene into the ongoing rampant financial crimes in Bangladesh including ‘bank dacuities’ and the misappropriation of money in the financial institutions of the country immediately, according to a press release received here yesterday. PAGE 13

Opec cut: Historic decision or facesaving move?

OPEC’s deal to cut oil output in a bid to push up prices raises questions and uncertainty about whether it will last. PAGE 14

Chinese yuan set to join IMF’s elite currency basket China’s yuan is poised to enter the International Monetary Fund’s elite SDR basket of currencies, elevating Beijing’s banknotes into a family long exclusive to global reserve assets. PAGE 15

Capital market snapshot: Past Week DSE Broad Index

4,695.2

0.6% ▲

Index

1,125.9

0.5% ▲

30 Index

1,778.7

0.4% ▲

Turnover in Mn Tk

33,601.0

31.2% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

1,104.1

63.8% ▲

All Share Index 14,429.4

0.7% ▲

30 Index

0.8% ▲

CSE 13,096.1

Selected Index

8,785.9

0.7% ▲

Turnover in Mn Tk

2,209.9

31.3% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

81.7

68.0% ▲

Reserve heist: Plan to file forfeiture case against Philippines casino n Asif Showkat Kallol The government is likely to file a civil forfeiture case against Philrem Money Remittance Limited and Philippine casino named Solaire Casino if necessary to bring back the rest of the stolen Bangladesh Bank money.

Bank and Financial Institutions Division has already informally communicated the matter to the Anti-Money Laundering Council, according to official sources.

In the absence of Finance Minister AMA Muhith, State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan will discuss the matter today in the Parliament.

“We are going to file a lawsuit against Philren Money Remittance Limited and Philippine casino as per the directive given by the government high-up,” said a Finance Division official.

Abu Hena Md Razi Hasan, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank and chief of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, however, refused to say that the government would file any such case against the Philippine casino.

He said as the Philippine’s anti-money laundering law doesn’t cover the casino, an Anti-Money Laundering Council team will visit to the country this month to request the authorities to incorporate casino in the law.

Razi Hasan, however, said they want to bring back the money

A Solaire Casino-Resort dealer practices her card skills on a baccarat table through a “soft process” instead of using the legal options like filing case.

Banking Division sources said a high-level team including the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Haq will visit the Philippines this month for the purpose of bringing back the money.

The law minister will talk to the Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte on the matter.

Bangladesh is likely to get back $15.25m of its stolen $81m from the Philippines this month.

Until getting the whole mon-

ey back, the government decided not to publish probe report on the central bank reserve heist.

The Philippines central bank earlier slapped a record $21m fine on Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila, which was used as a channel to launder the Bangladesh Bank money.

Philrem Services Corporation is a remittance company and a non-bank intermediary while the Solaire Resort & Casino is a resort and casino in Entertainment City, a massive complex built along the Bay City area of Parañaque, in

REUTERS

Metro Manila, Philippines.

Last month a Philippines court ordered Philippines central bank to return a portion of the recovered money to Bangladesh authorities. The court also declared Bangladesh as the rightful owner of the funds, totalling $15m.

Unknown hackers tried to steal nearly $1bn from the Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February this year. They succeeded in transferring $81m to four accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila. l

‘Bank forgery accounts for high business cost’ n Tribune Business Desk

BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman has claimed that bank owners are withdrawing thousands of money from financial institutions through forgery and imposing higher interest on the borrowers which is ultimately increasing business cost.

The president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association made the remarks while addressing a round table discussion on “Export Business and Future” held in the city yesterday. The discussion meeting was arranged by banglatribune, an online newspaper.

Siddiqur Rahman said: “If banking sector collapses then the whole country will collapse with it. Business is linked with banking service. Banks should refrain from forgeries.”

Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) President Salam Murshedy said: “Now that new entrepreneurship is growing in Bangladesh, the government should introduce a specific business guideline for it.’’

“Many new businesses became default due to lack of electricity connection and energy supply,” he said demanding assurance of energy and electricity.

Criticising the role of central bank on disbursing foreign fund Murshedy said: “Bangladesh Bank gets foreign fund for refinancing the business maximum at 1% interest rate but the borrowers are getting it in more than 9%.”

He also urged the central bank to set the interest rate against foreign finance maximum at 5% for businesses.

Stating that recently many countries have depreciated their

currencies considering the global market movement, he urged the government to take policy decision considering international market.

Mafruha Sultana, vice-chairman and CEO of Export Promotion Bureau, said: “Product and market diversification is a challenge for Bangladesh’s export business.

Our export business is still limited

to export garment products.

Zafar Sobhan, editor of Dhaka Tribune, Fahim Mashroor, CEO of bdjobs, Moushumi Islam, president of AGWEB (Association of Grassroots Women Entrepreneurs Bangladesh) and Rashedul Karim Munna, managing director of Creation Private Limited, also attended the discussion. l

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

Expats seek Hamid’s intervention to stop financial crimes in Bangladesh n Tribune Business Desk Bangladeshi expatriates in the USA have urged Bangladesh President Advocate Abdul Hamid to intervene into the ongoing rampant financial crimes in Bangladesh.

They described some of the crimesas ‘bank dacuities’ and the misappropriation of money in the financial institutions of the country,, according to a press release.

Addressing a seminar on massive financial crimes, they have also urged the Bangladesh President to set up a neutral, credible and acceptable investigation commission to investigate into the financial crimes, including money laundering of around Tk20 billion, a year, publish a White Paper that would be made public as soon as possible and set up a tribunal to bring the culprits under justice.

International Committee Against Financial Crimes in Bangladesh, an worldwide campaign demanding trial for financial crimes against Bangladeshi people, in association with Washington based worldwide watch dog of Illicit money transfer called Global Financial Integrity (GFI), organised the seminar styled ‘Financial Crimes in Bangladesh’ at Jewish Center of Jackson Heights in New York on 30th September.

Renowned economists Dr Showkat Ali of School of Business and Finance, Long Island University, New York, presented a paper on ‘Massive Financial Crimes in Bangladesh: How to Ensure Accountability’, while Dr Dev Kar, chief economist of Global Financial Integrity (GFI), presented another paper on ‘Illicit Money Transfer from Bangladesh: Policy Recommendation for Government’.

Dr Mahfuz Chowdhury, a professor of Economics at the State University of New York and Mahmudur Reza Chowdhury, an expert in Socio-Politics and founder of Mukta Forum, also intervened the seminar, which was attended by a num-

Participants at a seminar on financial crimes in Bangladesh in New York, USA Friday ber of Bangladeshi expatriates.

Kauser Mumin, editor of Community Report in NY moderated the seminar while Imran Ansary, writer and human rights activist made the welcome remarks.

Dr Showkat Ali in his paper, said: “Economic justice for all is one of the most fundamental human rights. If it is denied anywhere in any society through the governmental corruption as well as nonpublic private corruption, then certainly all the basic principles of fundamental rights are violated. If it continues unhindered then not only that particular society suffers but the very existence of that nation could be jeopardized or questioned.”

Referring to various researches by different international and Bangladeshi institutions, he said: “In last 45 years, we had lost worth hundreds of billion dollars of our national wealth due to governmental corruption, money laundering, nationalised and private bank heist. The most recent USS100 million Bangladesh Bank, our national treasury heist,

the largest-ever in Banking history.

The main financial abuse methods are share market manipulations and insider trading, defaulted loans by politicians and loans forgiven to members of parliament, bureaucrats and business people.”

Citing the the recently published research of GFI, on Illicit Money Transfer Worldwide, Dr Dev Kar said: “The amount of money transferred from Bangladesh Illegally as mentioned in our recent report is a conservative one. In reality, the amount will be higher.”

“Organisations like GFI, who works on illicit transfer of money worldwide, mainly depend on the data provided by the Bank administrations. And, cooperation by the banks around the world with us, is limited,” added Dev Kar. In response to a question from the audience, he said: “If Bangladesh government really wants to stop illicit transfer of money, they can approach with the organisations like GFI with a determination.”

“If decided by the highest au-

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thority of the government, Bangladesh even does not need to pay the research organizations, because there are countries like Norway, Sweden and Finland including some other OECD members who regularly give funds for the research of Illicit Money Transfer,” said Dev Kar. Terming the customs and banking administrations of most of the developing countries including Bangladesh as the most corrupted organs of the government, Dev Kar concluded with a suggestion that ultimately it is the people of Bangladesh who have to come up with ideas on how to stop Illicit Money Transfer and in that regard seminars like this can help in increasing awareness among the mass people.’

Mahmudur Reza Chowdhury said: “As a nation we are now sharply divided for political interests and for narrow class interests which is the root of our moral economic and political fall in many aspects. Let us try to perform our moral and social obligations with farsighted view and with individual honesty.” l

Stock markets keep rising for 3rd week n Tribune Business Desk

Stock markets continued to rise for the third consecutive weeks.

Non-bank financial institutions, textile and telecommunication helped the market move up during the week. However, modest profit booking also took place in the week.

During the week that ended Thursday, the benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange DSEX rose 20 points or 0.7% to end the week at 4,595, which is the highest level since January 19.

The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced over 7 points or 0.5% to 1,778. The DSE Shariah Index rose 5 points or 0.5% to 1,125.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX moved up 21 points or 0.3% to 8,785.

The week’s daily average turnover stood at Tk560 crore, registering an increase of more than 9% over the previous week’s average of Tk512 crore. Block trade contributed 5.9% to the week’s total turnover value.

Lanka Bangla Securities said, “Economic data and earnings declaration continued to jack market sentiment up, resulting in DSEX with increasing turnover value.”

It said the market participation remained active as investors’ confidence grew driven by positive economic outlook for the country.

The investor attention was mostly focused on engineering, fuel and power sectors during the week, together making up over 40% of the week’s total turnover value.

Gainers took a strong lead over the losers as out of 327 issues traded, 212 closed higher, 102 lower and 13 remained unchanged on the DSE trading.

The newly-listed Yeakin Polymer dominated the week’s turnover chart with Tk97.8 crore changing hands, followed by Lanka Bangla Finance, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, MJL Bangladesh and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation.

Miracle Industries was the week’s best performer, posting a 26.7% rise, while Savar Refractory was the worst loser, down by 11.18%. l

Call for housing for tannery workers after relocation n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Rights group and trade union leaders have called for housing facility for tannery workers as they need change their residence due to relocation of tanneries from Hazaribagh in Dhaka to Savar Industrial Park.

They made the call at a discussion on “Relocation of Tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar: How Far is it?” in Dhaka yesterday, organised by Bangladesh Environmental

Lawyers Association (Bela). Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bela, moderated the discussion.

“Neither the government nor the owners of tanneries take any step for housing for the workers,” said Abul Kalam Azad, president of the Tannery Workers Union.

According to the union, there are about 30,000 workers involved with leather processing work. The number rises during the Eid-ul-Azha.

“There were pledges from the

owners as well as the government that there will have hospitals, housing and other facilitates for the workers but they did not keep their words,” alleged Azad.

He said: “If we want to ensure healthy environment, workers should also be provided with healthy housing facility.”

Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), said not ensuring housing for workers is “unaccept-

able” as it’s one of the basic needs being ignored by the government as well as the tanneries’ owners.

Architect Iqbal Habib urged the government and the owners to take measures to provide workers with housing facility.

He said: “Otherwise, the workers will be deprived of their rights, which could generate big problems for the industry.”

The discussants urged the owners of tanneries to negotiate with

the government for low-cost fund to establish residential facilities for the tannery workers. They cited the example of the country’s garment sector which is set to get low-cost fund for building dormitories for workers.

The Ministry of Industry allocated plots to 155 tanneries owners through the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) in the Leather Industrial Park, which has been established on 200 acres of land in Savar. l

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Opec cut: Historic decision or face-saving move? n AFP, London OPEC’s deal to cut oil output in a bid to push up prices raises questions and uncertainty about whether it will last.

How was the deal struck?

OPEC announced its first reduction in eight years after kingpin Saudi Arabia allowed bitter rival Iran to be exempted. At a meeting in Algiers, the cartel said it planned to cut production to 32.5-33 million barrels per day from the 33.47 mbd in August.

“The two countries have set their differences aside because of the pressure that low prices are having on the finances of many members of the cartel,” said John Plassard, research director at Mirabaud Securities.

Saudi Arabia did not previously want to cede market share to its geopolitical foe Iran. But Morgan Stanley said lower output would have happened anyway.

“Some of the proposed declines in OPEC supply would happen naturally. Saudi Arabia reduces production seasonally every year, and the proposed cut for the kingdom is only slightly larger than the seasonal decline from 2015,” the bank’s analysts wrote.

What was the market reaction?

Oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday but levelled off on Thursday as investors awaited more detail about the agreement.

It will not come into force immediately and the markets are now looking at the OPEC meeting in Vienna in November to see what action is taken.

“There is also the not insignificant matter of persuading nonOPEC members like Russia, who are not party to the deal, to come on board. Good luck with that one!” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK. Even within OPEC, tensions on production levels for each of the 14

CORPORATE NEWS

EEE department of BUET has recently organised a six daylong training session for engineers of Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Limited, said a press release. Vice chancellor of BUET, Prof D Saiful Islam distributed certificates among the participants on Thursday

Rancon Motors Limited, an authorised general distributor of MercedesBenz in Bangladesh has recently launched a new Mercedes-Benz E-Class at its showroom in Dhaka, said a press release. CEO of Rancon Motors Limited, Shoeb Ahmed inaugurated the launching event

Md Faruk Ahmed has recently been made the chairperson of Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), said a press release

OPEC logo is pictured ahead of an informal meeting between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Algiers REUTERS members could come to the fore.

“Following today’s meeting, the Iraqi oil minister rejected OPEC’s secondary sources oil output estimate, which is the first sign that cracks are already appearing in deciding which producer cuts and by how much,” Barclays said in a note

to investors.

What will be the effect on the global economy?

Given the uncertainty surrounding the agreement, analysts are reluctant to pronounce judgment on what effect - if any - it could have

on the world economy.

Even if it is enacted and global production stabilises, it will still be very high.

“The announced production cap of 32.5 million barrels per day is only 1.2 million barrels less than the historic production level of August 2016,” Plassard said.

Jeremy Cook, chief economist at Worldfirst, said higher prices could be a problem for consumers.

“Cuts in oil prices since 2014 represented a rebate to the man in the street, but we believe that consumers have largely spent that money and may have difficulty if prices run drastically higher,” he said.

Cook also said that a price increase could lead to higher inflation but warned this would be no victory for central banks trying to avoid deflation.

“It is not time to start talking about central banks hitting their inflation targets – they want wages to drive inflation, not commodities,” he said. l

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Russia plays wait and see on oil freeze after OPEC deal n AFP, Moscow

Russia said Friday it was waiting to see the details of OPEC’s surprise agreement to cut oil output before deciding on any freeze to its own production.

“During October and November the OPEC countries will work out

the specific parameters of their proposal,” Russian news agency Interfax quoted energy minister Alexander Novak as saying.

“We are talking about maintaining levels at volumes that have been reached, but it is still being discussed at what level,” Novak said, insisting he “would not com-

ment on specific levels”.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel of which Russia is not a member - late Wednesday agreed to cut production by some 750,000 barrels a day.

Moscow - which is currently producing record amounts of oil - has previously backed a plan to

Chinese yuan set to join IMF’s elite currency basket

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde speaks during a press conference at the IMF Headquarters REUTERS

n AFP, Washington China’s yuan is poised to enter the International Monetary Fund’s elite SDR basket of currencies, elevating Beijing’s banknotes into a family long exclusive to global reserve assets.

A symbolic coup for policymakers in Beijing, the move represents a milestone in raising the economic profile and prestige of China, the world’s second-largest economy, and the success of a long-running effort by the People’s Bank of China.

The move will formally occur later yesterday, with the yuan’s induction following a decision first announced in November last year, when the IMF found that China’s currency met the standard of being “freely usable.” The yuan now joins a club also comprising the US dollar, pound, yen and euro.

In an announcing the change, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Friday that the inclusion of the yuan, also known as the renminbi or “people’s currency,” showed China’s improved stewardship of its economy.

“The renminbi’s inclusion reflects the progress made in reforming China’s monetary, foreign exchange and financial systems and acknowl-

edges the advances made in liberalizing and improving the infrastructure of its financial markets,” she said.

Halting liberalisation

Beijing has moved haltingly in recent years to expand use of the yuan, which has doubled its share of global currency trading to an average daily turnover of $202 billion since 2013.

The yuan has moved into the top 10 but still trails the other major currencies, according to the Bank for International Settlements.

Created in the 1960s, the “Special Drawing Right” is a unit of account used by the International Monetary Fund as a foreign exchange reserve asset and is not a freely traded currency. To help manage financial crises, the Fund issues loans to member countries denominated in SDRs. Some analysts were not ready to describe the yuan as a reserve currency simply because of its entry into the SDR basket.

“It’s not that significant in terms of actual initial impact, it’s more symbolic. Obviously for China,” said Mitul Kotech of Barclays, calling it “a step towards the currency becoming eventually a major reserve.”

Chinese authorities have

progressively allowed the yuan to trade directly against other major currencies, adding the pound and euro in 2014. That year, Beijing asked for the yuan to be included the SDR basket.

In August of last year, China suddenly devalued the yuan, causing investors to dump the currency in volumes not seen since 1994 and sparking an outflow of capital from China. The yuan has fallen 8 percent against the US dollar over the last two years.

Yuan demand could rise

The SDR inclusion could push central banks and sovereign funds to diversify further by increasing their yuan holdings, according to Dariusz Kowalczyk of Credit Agricole.

“This is because there is a strong correlation between a currency’s weight in the basket and its share in global FX reserve allocation, and because of the attractiveness of China government bonds,” he said.

The yuan enters the SDR basket with a weight of 10.92%, versus 41.73% for the dollar and 8.33% for the yen.

However Julian Evans-Pritchard, a China specialist at Capital Economics, said the yuan’s inclusion was not likely to drive foreign demand for it.

“Contrary to what many seem to believe, this does not require that IMF members shift out of euro, yen and sterling assets into renminbi assets. Instead, it simply means that the renminbi exchange rate will begin to influence the value of SDRs,” he said.

“In practice, what determines whether central banks consider a currency a reserve asset is their confidence that they can sell that asset whenever needed into deep and liquid markets. Central banks are likely to come to their own judgement,” he added. l

freeze production in a bid to bolster prices. Oil prices tumbled in Asia on Friday as doubts emerged over the long-term success of the OPEC agreement in stabilising the oversupplied market.

Initial euphoria over what would be the first cut to output in eight years sent prices soaring 6

percent, but the rally then fizzled out as traders digested the nuts and bolts of the deal. Novak told TASS that a working group of experts from Russia and Saudi Arabia was expected to hold its first meeting in early October after the two sides earlier this month pledged to work together to stabilise markets. l

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SUNDAY,OCTOBER 2, 2016

5 ways to stay curious at work Your 'been there, done that' attitude might hurt your career what you’re good at, it also makes you more efficient in the long run.

Don’t get distracted

Technology is a beautiful thing; it’s always coming up with ways to improve our lives and make us better. But it can also divert valuable time and energy from things that matter. The same thing applies to curiosity. It can make you hungry to learn new things, to grow, to adapt. Or it could just turn you into a nosy little snoop.

So choose wisely. Channel your curiosity towards personal growth, and resist the easy, lazy solutions.

Remember, stalking your ex on Facebook will probably do nothing for your career.

As one grows older and gains more experience, one cannot help but become jaded

Spend time with new people

n Sabrina Fatma Ahmad Remember that feeling as a child, when the world was brand new in your eyes, and everything fascinated you? As you learned and discovered new things, it felt like anything was possible – and it probably was.

Curiosity, as displayed by children is precisely the quality that allows for innovation – something most companies desire. It’s one of the reasons why organisations, particularly in creative industries welcome

young, green interns; to find bright, eager minds to make the workplace more dynamic.

As one grows older and gains more experience, one cannot help but become jaded. Here are six ways to stay curious and retain one’s edge.

Become aware of your knowledge gaps

When you start a new job, you enter it knowing you have a lot to learn. The more time you spend at it, you become really good at certain aspects of the work, and

gain confidence. That still leaves certain aspects you don’t know or haven’t learned yet. Being aware of that knowledge gap sometimes acts as an incentive to learn more, because by definition, curiosity arises when you experience a gap between what you know and what you want to know.

Maybe you’re really good at meeting deadlines, or banging out a report, but haven’t quite gotten the hang of social marketing yet. Spending some time to see how social media works, playing around with Facebook and

Instagram can lead to a new skill, and many new discoveries.

Focus on weaknesses, not strengths

Playing to your strengths might work during a competition, but over time, it’s the chink in your armour, not the sharpness of your blade that keeps you in the fight. So once you get really good at one aspect of your job, resist the temptation to just build your empire on that. Pay attention to your weaknesses. Not only does it prevent you from burning out at

Easier said than done in this city, with this traffic, but sometimes those cliches about networking really work. If you’re always hanging out with the same people, doing the same thing all the time, you’re going to get pretty bored pretty fast. Carve out some time to attend events where you’re likely to meet new people and make an effort to get to know them better.

The more diverse your network of acquaintances, the more perspective you have, and the more opportunities to learn new things.

Volunteer more often

In other words, take the effort to step out of your comfort zone. If there’s a crazy new assignment up for grabs that will take you out of your usual routine, take some initiative and sign up for it. Not only will it (hopefully) take you to unexplored territory, but you get to meet new people, and learn a few new things, and maybe even surprise yourself. l

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Photo: Bigstock

5 things legal interns need to know n Saqib Sarker If you are a law student or thinking of becoming one, with the aspiration of entering into the legal profession, then you should know some of the most important aspects of working as an intern.

If you want to become a successful lawyer, then you have to know the law

The money matter

The first thing you need to prepare for is the income, or a lack thereof.

Legal interns do not normally get paid a lot. Sometimes they don’t get paid at all. Some chambers pay a minimal amount as “conveyance” cost. Anything between 3 thousand taka per month and 50 taka per day can be your salary for a while.

Some chambers, typically the ones that focus more on corporate practice such as banking work, offer a respectable salary. These are mainly out of court work and working in this field might mean that you are not building a court practice based career, which brings us to the next point.

Know the difference

There are a lot of options for both

court based practice and non court practice. There is a general perception that you cannot grow in the profession if you rely exclusively on out of court work.

And it is true. Court based practice is a lot of hard work but you can expand the scope of your work far more broadly compared to non court practice. Corporate jobs have their own benefits. They are reliable and you will not have to work years to achieve stability.

However, many people continue their court practice while working at a salaried legal job. But that is not for interns.

Choosing the right chamber

If you choose to go into court practice then the single most important thing is to choose the right chamber. Some think getting into a big name chamber helps you build a career. It does, in some ways. But it may also be detrimental. For example, a big law chamber will have a lot of work pressure. Let’s rephrase that; a big law chamber or chamber of a famed

lawyer will have an insane amount of cases. This means the senior lawyers do not have time to teach you closely. In reality they might not even want to take that extra responsibility. If you are at this kind of chamber then you might end up not learning anything. But if you choose a chamber where the senior lawyer is interested in training an intern then you have a lot to gain, even though that chamber name may not be very prestigious.

What skills matter in the legal profession?

It is your expertise that matters most. If a client is looking to get good counsel in a matter of admiralty dispute then he is not going to care who has the best degrees from the best English university. He is going to go to the lawyer that has the best knowledge and experience in this subject. So, if you want to become a successful lawyer, then you have to know the law.

How to know the law

You just finished a fully fledged

law degree. Many also get the BPTC degree from the UK. Many law students complete an LL.M after their LL.B degree. Finally you study and pass two exams before getting enrolled by the Bangladesh Bar Council as an advocate. What else you could be studying? Unfortunately the studying doesn’t end with the enrollment. The most important reading starts with the law reports.

These are collection of judgments that come out from different publications. You have to read the law reports regularly. You also need to draft petitions and learn from older petitions. If you do this a reasonable amount of time you will know all the useful precedence and a coveted man or woman in the lawyers circles. l

Want to send in internship articles? Email us at featuresdt@gmail.com

DT

18

Event

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

The Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference

n Features Desk On the morning of 26th September, “The Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference” organised

by Mighty Byte and Bitopi Leo Burnett, took place at the Krishibid institute, Dhaka. The Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference in Dhaka is part of The Best of Global Digital Marketing World Tour 2016, which has been to Amsterdam, Istanbul, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and many other cities internationally.

The conference in Dhaka was organised by Mighty Byte, Bitopi Leo Burnett and D Money.

The conference covered all areas of digital marketing including social media, mobile marketing, content marketing, big data and real-time marketing. A panel of international and local speakers presented case studies of most recent award-winning digital marketing campaigns around the world including P&G, Shell, Škoda, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Red Bull, Dell, McDonald's, Bose and many more.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State minister for ICT, attended and spoke at the event as the guest of honour. D-Money, a financial technology-based organisation, sponsored the event. Most of the participants hailed from Bangladesh’s most popular and prestigious corporate houses and agencies.

The stage was set that morning.

The auditorium gates opened and the participants just poured in, leaving not one empty seat in the entire auditorium. The anticipation and excitement were palpable among the attendees.

At 9:30am, Nausher Rahman, Executive Director of the digital agency Mighty Byte, took the stage to commence the event.

He addressed the attendees and discussed the endless possibilities of Digital Marketing in Bangladesh. Rahman spoke of his own international experience in digital marketing for 12 years, and spoke of his pride in being able to bring that experience back to Bangladesh.

“We initially thought about doing this conference as an inhouse training exercise for our agency, Mighty Byte. However, we pretty soon realised that expanding it to be open to the public would have a beneficial impact on the entire digital marketing industry. We’re extremely proud of being able to organise this, and hope that this will help grow out industry and improve our skills.”

He then introduced the first speaker to the audience.

Norman Wagner, the Managing Director of MediaCom Beyond Advertising, Germany, got up on stage to tremendous applause. He presented multiple case studies

from Shell, Bose, Dell, Škoda, P&G and other international brands.

Mr. Wagner said, “The Digital marketing scene in Bangladesh is thriving and can emulate the success of digital marketing in Europe and US.” The attendees thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Wagner’s session and interacted with him during the Q&A portion of the presentation.

Hando Sinisalu, the founder and CEO of Best Marketing International, was next on stage.

Mr. Sinisalu spoke about “The Winning Formula for Digital Marketing in 2016 in 7 steps” and presented case studies from McDonald's, Red Bull and more.

Afterwards, Refayat Ahmed, Lead Specialist, Brand communication at Grameenphone took to the stage to talk about “Digital Campaign Recipes that work in Bangladesh” and presented local case studies ie the theme song of the T20 World Cup, Bangladesh.

He said, “Marketers should try not to be too clever and complicate the message that the mass audience don’t understand, rather keep things simple.” Ahmed’s session was highly entertaining and the audience was engaged throughout his presentation.

After the lunch break, the guest of honour, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the state minister for ICT, arrived at the event. His arrival was greeted with warm applause from the

participants. Nausher Rahman introduced him to the audience, and spoke of his support of the digital marketing industry. The minister then took to the stage to share some of his thoughts, “I am happy to say that from today we will speak about digital marketing as being an essential part of Digital Bangladesh. As we develop new digital products and services, we must market them to our own citizens and the rest of the world.

I know that many bright minds in the audience will soon make sure that the Bangladeshi digital marketing industry is known regionally and internationally for its excellence. I request Mighty Byte and Bitopi to continue the event after this conference. Let’s make it a regular yearly program.”

He also added, “ If you have any innovative ideas to share with us please step forward. Such products and services will be improved and taken to the global level. We will

“The possibilities are boundless for digital marketing. Together, this industry has an important role to play within the Honourable Prime Minister’s vision of a Digital Bangladesh. We thank D Money for making this event possible, and look forward to turning this conference into an annual fixture for the entire marketing industry.

We want this conference to become internationally renowned, and not only would we like to continue bringing international speakers to Bangladesh - but we also want delegates from other countries to attend. With the support of the industry, I am confident that Mighty Byte and Bitopi Leo Burnett can make this happen.”

Aref R Bashir, CEO of D-Money said “D-Money is proud to be associated with such a great initiative by Mighty Byte & Bitopi and we always want to stand beside the Bangladeshi people and help them at every opportunity.”

provide our full cooperation for such initiatives to be commercially launched.”

The next person on stage was Bikram Vaskar Gangopadhyay, Director of Aurumize Transformation Technologies & Solutions, who presented his case studies from Kotak. Bikram spoke about Social Media & Content Marketing Examples from India and said, “The potential of digital advertisement in Bangladesh needs to be properly utilised by marketers.”

Nausher Rahman then concluded the event by saying,

Sarah Ali, Managing Director of Bitopi Leo Burnett, spoke about the future of Advertising. “Bitopi was founded in 1968, and has been the cornerstone of the Bangladeshi advertising industry for over 20 years. We are very proud to partner with Mighty Byte in bringing this conference to the public. As proud as we are of Bitopi’s heritage, we realize that events such as these help keep our skills in line with international trends, and makes us ready for the future. I look forward to Bitopi’s next 40 years, and continuing our association with this great conference.”l

19

DT

Biz Info

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

| meeting |

| expo |

USAID convenes key stakeholders to boost use of improved cookstoves in Bangladesh

Digital innovation on tourism seminar held at Asian Trade Fair 2016

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Catalyzing Clean Energy In Bangladesh (CCEB) project, in cooperation with Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA) and The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (the Alliance), organised the Fourth Annual Market Facilitation Platform (MFP) for Improved Cookstoves (ICS) in Bangladesh

at the SREDA Office, Dhaka.

Held on Thursday, September 29, the MFP aimed to strengthen the foundation of a sustainable environment for market development in new improved cookstoves technologies in Bangladesh. The theme for this year- “Efforts Towards a Robust and Sustainable Market”was designed to highlight issues such as innovation and

sustainability in the ICS sector, and mitigating risks throughout the ICS supply chain. Nasrul Hamid MP, Honorable State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, was present to encourage this initiative as the Chief Guest of the event.

A senior energy advisor from USAID/Bangladesh, and SREDA Chairman Mr. Anwarul Islam ndc, also joined as Special Guests. l

| event |

Apollo observes World Heart Day

“The drastic change everywhere through digitalisation has also touched the tourism industry of Bangladesh. Now it’s high time to embrace technology to enhance tourism across the country to lead a better life” said the Managing Director of JOVAGO Md. Kaies Ali addressing the audience attending the seminar on Digital Innovation in Tourism, as part of the 5th Asian Tourism Fair held in International Conference Center Bangladesh (ICCB) between September 29-October 1 Jovago has created a single wide platform where you can compare the price of the hotels, plan as per your budget and book the hotel instantly. More than 200,000 hotels around the world and in Bangladesh over 900 hotels across all star categories in almost every districts in Bangladesh have already signed up with Jovago.

They maintain a call center to ease the process as the idea of online hotel booking is a very new initiative in Bangladesh.

Special guest, former Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Golam Mohammad Qader inaugurated the fair, which

aims to develop a regional tourism linkage. Chairman of Bangladesh Porjoton Corporation AparupChawdhury PHD, Executive Director of Bangladesh Tourism Board Akhtaruzzaman Khan Kabir, President of Tourism Resort Industries Association of Bangladesh(TRIAB) Khabir Uddin Ahemd, President of Tour Operates Association of Bangladesh(TOAB) Tawfik Uddin Ahmed and Managing Director of Jovago Md. Kaies Ali were also present at the fair. Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited was the premium partner, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) the PR agency partner of the fair.

As an extension of previous year in order to celebrate Bangladesh Tourism Year 2016 and World Tourism Day this Asian Tourism Fair has been organised with the help of Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) & Bangladesh Porjoton Corporation (BPC).

This fair facilitated participants not only by providing a platform to showcase the convenient available offers and discounts, but also by building relationship with travel agencies, airlines and hotels within the travel industry. l

| trip |

BIA Members visit Bhutan

Apollo Hospitals Dhaka celebrates World Heart Day 2016, on September 29, with a day-long program. The event consisted of an awareness dissemination corner where the height, weight, blood pressure and pulse of interested visitors were measured and diet consultation was given to them based on the findings, free of charge. The program was inaugurated by famous film actress Babita. World Heart day is celebrated throughout the

world with the aim to create global awareness about ways to maintain a healthy heart.

An awareness session was also conducted in HURDCO International School, in which a detailed presentation about having a healthy heart was given to 100 students of the school in the school auditorium by Dr. Tahera Nazrin, Consultant – Paediatric Cardiology, Apollo Hospitals Dhaka and Sabina Yeasmin, Senior Dietician, Apollo

Hospitals Dhaka. Dr. Jinnat Ali, Principal, HURDCO International School also shared valuable information pertaining to healthy living. The session was interactive and very informative for the audience. The students also showed their enthusiasm towards creating awareness about having a healthy heart. In order to mark this important day, the students also formed a human heart shape in the premises of the school, as a memento. l

A 10-member group of Bangladesh Ikebana Association (BIA) consisting of its Life Patron Dr. AKM Moazzem Hussain, President Razia Zaher, Senior Vice President. Shahinoor Baby and other Committee Members made a

goodwill visit to Bhutan recently.

They went to the historical places in Thimphu and Paro and presented an attractive Ikebana Display at the Tiger Nest Resort, which was well-received by the local community.l

DT

20 Editorial

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

INSIDE

In India’s Kashmir, what happens every day?

All these scars are the memories that will never fade from our hearts. This is the story of Kashmir that happens every day under curfew -- and goes unheard and unnoticed PAGE 21

The better method?

One of the things that Europe was introduced to, due to the Crusades, was soap. I wasn’t going to take cleanliness lessons from paper-people PAGE 22

We are at a tug of war between remembering and forgetting. Whereas where we are born into compels us to remember who we came from, we can’t ignore what our present and prospects of the future incessantly tell us PAGE 23

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.

A culture that needs to end

F

Nothing we like is good

Be heard

DHAKA TRIBUNE

riday afternoon saw unbearable traffic throughout Dhaka, as legions of supporters took to the streets to welcome Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after her 17-day trip to the US and Canada.

This is, regrettably, an all-too-common scenario in Dhaka, where the roads get clogged up for long periods of time when VIPs arrive in the city.

The fault in yesterday’s gridlock lay in the behaviour of the legions of people who took to the streets abandoning all civic sense and consideration for others who were being inconvenienced in the process.

We believe that the PM would not want the situation that was created to greet her, and certainly did not ask for it from her supporters.

There can be no excuse to make the entire city suffer in the pretext of welcoming the PM. The irresponsible actions of the thousands of party leaders and workers who took to the streets to greet their party chief and PM caused enormous suffering to commuters and brought the city to a standstill.

This cannot be condoned.

Surely, there was no directive from the prime minister towards her thousands of obsequious followers to greet her on the streets.

It was, then, sycophantic people behaving, we trust, contrary to the PM’s wishes who caused Friday’s afternoon’s terrible scenario.

It is this kowtowing culture that needs to end, if we are to progress as a nation and make Dhaka a more liveable city.

We cannot afford to bring the city to a halt every time an event such as the PM’s homecoming takes place.

This is something that really needs to be brought to an end.

It is this kowtowing culture that needs to end, if we are to progress as a nation and make Dhaka a more liveable city

DT

21

Opinion

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

In India’s Kashmir, what happens every day?

The fighting never stops

Is this the right way to treat protesters?

n Rifat Fareed

O

n September 12, a day before Eid-ul-Azha, which is one of the most important occasions for the Muslim population, we were bracing for an unprecedented curfew.

There was no celebration at my home. No delicacies were cooked. I did not apply henna on my hands, and neither did we wear new dresses. The air was filled with sadness and gloom.

Like everyone in Kashmir, we were mourning the deaths that took place due to the brute force used by security forces on the protesters that started on July 9, following the death of 21-year-old militant commander Burhan Wani.

We did not celebrate our Eid. I, along with my mother, did not go to the Eidgah we would go on every Eid for the prayers. Our faces did not wear the same smile as other times. For all this, thanks to India.

When my four-year-old nephew and seven-year-old niece cried on the morning of Eid, why did we not buy them new clothes? We had no answer, our eyes were moist.

We couldn’t tell them we were under curfew and we couldn’t go out. We couldn’t tell them about the difficult times they were living

REUTERS

in, but yes we will surely tell them these stories once they grow up.

We will tell them about Kashmir when we had no food to give them, when we had no milk to feed them -- all these things are engraved in our hearts that will never be forgotten.

The moment I remember every difficult day we spent, it only deepens the wounds.

every minute. We didn’t have a curfew pass; and so we couldn’t go out.

After treatment for the pain at home for two days, it was only on the morning of August 16 that we were able to take her to the doctor and hear the news that she had suffered a miscarriage. She carried her dead infant inside her womb for two days, with a hope that

All these scars are the memories that will never fade from our hearts. This is the story of Kashmir that happens every day under curfew -- and goes unheard and unnoticed

On the evening of August 14, a day before India was supposed to celebrate its Independence Day, we were under the strictest curfew, and my cousin who was just three months pregnant felt a sudden abdomen pain. I could see her suffering and struggling, but we couldn’t take her to the hospital for the fear of security forces.

I could see the pain in her eyes for her unborn child, but we were left helpless crying and praying

everything might be alright.

All these scars are the memories that will never fade from our hearts. This is the story of Kashmir that happens every day under curfew -- and goes unheard and unnoticed.

It seems like a sadistic joke to me when India insists on calling us an integral part, because I wonder where in the world do you cage people on the day of their festival?

In fact, where in India do they kill their own people? Where do they

book children under draconian laws? I wonder, where else do they kill children, and claim the very same children of “being an integral part”?

In the last 80 days, more than 80 civilians have been killed, including an 11-year-old student in Srinagar, who was murdered by hundreds of pellets in his tender body.

When I think about all these things, it makes me believe that something is horribly wrong with us. We are not their own, they love the land filled with rivers, streams, and snow-capped mountains, but certainly not the people who live here.

I see Kashmir not as a paradise on Earth but as a cage on Earth, the biggest of its kind -- where people do not really live, but just survive one day at a time of sheer, unabated oppression. On one hand, they talk about the loss of education and on the other hand, they hand over the schools to security forces. On one hand they talk of development, and on the other hand, their security forces leave no home without ransacking and destroying it.

Wherever they see anything belonging to a Kashmiri, they make sure to break it. What our eyes witness every day is the highest degree of suppression and

oppression on civilians. Every day we wake up to the announcement of curfew and the sight of security forces standing outside our homes with the AK-47 guns.

The only solution they have discovered to the long pending conflict in Kashmir is to impose the curfew and lock the mosques, denying people freedom to move or perform their religious duties.

All the brutalities that India causes in Kashmir only makes hate more powerful in hearts of Kashmiri, from a three-year-old child to an 80-year-old man. If someone thinks that calm has returned to Kashmir after more than two months of massive agitation, they are living in a fool’s paradise. India is silencing people by mass arrests and curfews.

Every day they discover new ways to suppress us, sow seeds of frustration, rage, and injustice among the people. The unrest will remain in Kashmir even after the transitions of deceptive calm, till there is no permanent solution.

When 18 security forces were killed in a militant attack in Uri, every Indian was sad, the news continued for days together.

Everyone called for revenge, expressing their love for their countrymen. It only proved to us what really they cared for, as their expression of concern was much different over the civilian killings in Kashmir.

The only thing India has never tried in Kashmir is to win the hearts of people. It has failed to take away the sentiment of freedom from people. For a common Kashmiri, India is only what Israel is to Palestine.

The latest technique India has adopted in Kashmir is the use of pellet guns at large scales, blinding hundreds of people. It has failed to contain the protest despite blinding hundreds of people.

When Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh visited Kashmir recently, he announced in a press conference in Srinagar that soon pellet guns in Kashmir will be replaced with something else. Yet, pellets are still being showered on the unarmed protesters -- this is telling of the seriousness India has in dealing with the conflict in Kashmir.

I laugh when India talks about Baluchistan. It refuses to open its eyes to the bloody streets in Kashmir, it failed to save an unborn child in my cousin’s womb. It has failed us in every way. It is only by force that they are holding us. l Rifat Fareed is a freelance journalist based in Srinagar, Kashmir.

DT

22

Opinion

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

Water or paper?

BIGSTOCK

The better method?

When it comes to latrines, the personal choice can be political

n Garga Chatterjee

I

was at a conference on visual perception in Barcelona recently, when I encountered a problem I haven’t had in a very long time. Where I was staying, the latrine room had a commode, a toilet paper roll, but no other external water source.

I am a Bengali, born and brought up in Bengal, in a home and a family, where after “doing the needful,” I have learned to use some water to clean myself up and thereafter clean my hand with water and soap.

In certain situations, especially earlier in my ancestral village, I have been taught to use coal ash in place of soap. That was the training. Till about age 12, I had never sat on a commode, I was used to squatting.

Around 12 years of age, we moved to our new place in the same neighbourhood. That new place had two bathrooms -- one had a commode and the other had a squat latrine. I have always preferred squatting, but at certain times I did use the commode. In my early commode days, I used to prefer to squat on the plastic flap rim of the commode itself, and once I did fall down unable to maintain that delicate balance

on a thin rim not meant to squat upon. In time, I learned to use the commode well. I sat on it “like a chair,” but didn’t squat. The water supply was there. So was the water mug and a tap nearby.

wasn’t really a problem. Nor was it a problem in airplanes where the drench method worked in cooped up mid-air privacy. It still does. I also went to Japan where they, like us Bengalis, appreciate the value

One of the things that Europe was introduced to, due to the Crusades, was soap. I wasn’t going to take cleanliness lessons from paper-people Things were fine.

The first time I went to a place that didn’t have any water source for cleaning myself up, I didn’t know what to do. What I did was that I took a substantial amount of rolled paper before I got into the act, went outside, and drenched the paper in water, and then cleaned myself up with that very moist sloppy mush of toilet paper, hoping to do a clean job.

The problem was that at times, some tiny bits of toilet paper got stuck around adamantly after I did this. I would only get to clean up with water after I got home. Since this no-water, only-paper scenario happened very, very rarely, it

of water near their latrines. But that didn’t prepare me for the US. When I went to the US to do my PhD, things changed radically.

In my first year, I lived in the PhD student dormitory of Harvard University, where the floor had a common bathroom-latrine complex for men. The latrines were separate stalls but since the footfall was high.

I was embarrassed to take this glob of drenched toilet paper into the stall with me.

This embarrassment came from standing out, maybe of being looked upon as an uncivilised brown man that did weird things in the latrine, may be trying to “fit in.”

Looking back, I feel that trying to fit in and integrate has never been popular in the US, which integrated with native tribes by conquering their lands combined with physical annihilation -- one of the least talked about genocides of the recent past. As a mark of their “integration” to the new continent, the English named the slice of land that they had newly grabbed, as simply “New England.” Very imaginative and integrationist, indeed. But I digress.

I tried to do things the dry way, with the nagging dirty feeling making me scrape harder than I should have. I ended up with an infection, leading to a very painful fistula that required two bouts of surgery and a long convalescence period. I had learnt my lesson.

From my second year, I lived off-campus, in a place that had a latrine with a nearby tap.

I look upon those “dry days” of mine with horror. When I had discussed this issue with a friend who was trying to become “civilised” at break-neck speed, taunted me and said: “You want to go back to squatting?” with a tone that categorised me as a crouching chimpanzee and him as an upright not-yet-but-soon-to-be white man.

I gathered my brown confidence

then and said: “Yes”. One of the things that Europe was introduced to, due to the Crusades, was soap.

I wasn’t going to take cleanliness lessons from paper-people.

Now I work in Bengal. My workplace has both squat and sit options, both with strategically placed hand-held water nozzles.

I have always preferred the squat latrine over “The Thinker” sitting latrine.

My parent’s new home has only sitting option. After a lifetime of squatting, their muscles are now not strong enough to sustain that.

I am thankful to my workplace for providing me with choice. Most “diversity” totting, cosmopolitan places don’t. But this EuroAmerican cosmopolitanism has always been a way to gate-keep malleable coloured folks from the rougher ones.

To some, the distance of their behind from the floor is a measure of progress, class, refinement, and upliftment such that once “uplifted” and “papered,” they can’t dream of choosing to squat down and water up. The personal choice can be political. l

Garga Chatterjee is a political and cultural commentator. He can be followed on twitter @gargac.

DT

23

Opinion

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

Nothing we like is good How can we negotiate between what we want to do and what we ought to do?

n Luba Khalili

N

othing. Not the food we enjoy, not the clothes we wear, not the personalities we don.

Not our choice in music, not the people we choose to spend time with, and definitely not what we do when we do.

This may sound like the rants of a twentysomething female living in a state of entropy, in the entropy that is Dhaka, and it may very well be just that, but how much truth is there to it when we dispose of the entitlement?

Let me strip away -- perhaps not the kind that is to make someone’s skin crawl -- of the privilege I was born into.

As much as it enables me to enter into certain spaces of the world, society, what-have-you, one can’t deny that the middle and upper-middle class -- especially with the painfully classist conundrum that our country just can’t seem to shake off -- have themselves in a cocooned state of being, detached from, sometimes, the severity and rigour of survival itself.

But, I digress.

Young people in Dhaka -- the coffee shop frequenters, the restaurant-goers, the spearheads of start-ups -- embody the air of independence. Sure, some may still be living with their parents, some may not be making their own money, but embodiment does not necessarily derive from lifestyle.

Our embodiment of freedom, or whatever the term would best fit this independence within the safe walls of dependency, is in our lifestyle of late nights, hotboxing in the washrooms, getting work done on time, and still making it to the house party on Thursday.

How does a young soul seek true freedom? between parent and child. And that’s okay.

The truth of the matter remains as this: Even when “adults”

We are at a tug of war between remembering and forgetting. Whereas where we are born into compels us to remember who we came from, we can’t ignore what our present and prospects of the future incessantly tell us

And while some parents are okay with these bits of their children’s lives that they get exposed to, many aren’t, even with the excessive filtering out that goes on in the relationships

(because somehow at the age of 25, it’s still not something we’re considered as; something we don’t feel like) in our lives vehemently disagree with the lifestyle choices we make, dismissals are

dismissed.

Words and taunts and silent treatments bounce off of us as we convince ourselves that ignoring them is essential to keep sane, that it’s necessary to keep a healthy distance from our families.

To what extent, or for how long, are we to keep denying that our ways of living genuinely bothers, if not hurts, the ones around us, who we, to some degree or other, depend on? How do we even make sense of the lifestyle in which we push away our imminent responsibilities, if not toward others but toward ourselves?

No matter how much I, or my friends, or my friends’ friends would all like to deny it, all the morning-afters and crashing in car rides leave behind traces of guilt, perhaps a remnant of the lie that was told to pacify the ones we share a home with.

Maybe we can hold accountable

BIGSTOCK

for our dyad our past itself, with no disconnect with our future.

Maybe the 21st century postcolonial narrative is meant to be at war with where our roots emerged from; the old, the Victorian, the colonised that fought and resisted, versus the new, the technological, the Americanised trajectory that the world is taking off into.

We are at a tug of war between remembering and forgetting.

Whereas, where we are born into compels us to remember who we came from and where we came from, we can’t ignore what our present and prospects of the future incessantly tell us: That it doesn’t matter where we came from, what matters is where we’re going. To swipe left on remembering.

This confused and confusing space, trying to carve out quiet in the midst of the loud, the loud that we like, doesn’t have to be so draining -- and most of the time,

it’s not. A lot of us manage to create a peaceful dialogue within our circles of communication, whether it’s with our families or our friends. It’s the dialogue that we create within that deems problematic.

How do we negotiate with our own decisions of being in the middle of what we want to do, in an era of self-love and indulgence, and what we ought to do? While the answer is clearly not simple, do we even give ourselves the scope to find it?

The dialectic conversation with ourselves is what we don’t allow into our minds, lest it take away from the moments of asinine recklessness, hidden behind a mask of “freedom.” And perhaps, we owe ourselves that conversation. l Luba Khalili is a Sub-Editor at the Dhaka Tribune.

DT

24 Sport

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

TOP STORIES

Tigers lack firepower at the end Bangladesh played their first ODI after over 10 months against Afghanistan in the three-match series and the shakiness among the Tigers batsmen was clearly evident. As a result, the hosts were unable to post big totals. PAGE 25

Tigers players celebrate with the ODI series trophy alongside Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan following their 100th ODI win at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

English cricketers tee off in Kurmitola There were no training scheduled for England yesterday. And eight members of the English side duly took advantage of their spare time, playing golf at Kurmitola Golf Club while the others opted to stay at the team hotel. PAGE 26

‘It feels good to come out of it’ n Ali Shahriyar Bappa

Siddikur 24th after Taiwan third round Bangladesh golfing sensation Siddikur Rahman moved to 24th place in the Mercuries Taiwan Masters after carding even-par 72 in the third round at Taiwan Golf and Country Club yesterday. PAGE 27

Pep expects sparks to fly at Tottenham After a ding-dong 3-3 draw with Celtic in the Champions League, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola anticipates another breathless encounter in this weekend’s Premier League showdown with Tottenham Hotspur. PAGE 28

Bangladesh limited-over skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza yesterday expressed happiness after winning the series against the visiting Afghanistan and believes they executed their plans well compared to the last two matches.

“We won the series, this is one good side for the team.

And after the second match, there was a bit of pressure.

It feels good to come out of it. And it will give us more confidence. The upcoming series against England will be more challenging. If we can play confidently then we will have a good chance of winning the series. We have played well at home so being confident is important. And I believe we have achieved more confidence from the Afghanistan series,” Mashrafe told the media after the third ODI. Mashrafe said he is pleased to see Mosharraf Hossain playing an important part in the bowling department and praised the bowler as he grabbed his rare opportunity with both hands.

“Mosharraf bowled well [yesterday]. When a player performs from the reserve team then the team become more

100 ODI WINS FOR BANGLADESH OPP Zimbabwe

WON MAT

%

39

67

58

New Zealand 8

25

32

West Indies

28

27

7

India

5

32

16

Pakistan

4

35

11

Sri Lanka

4

38

11

England

3

16

19

South Africa

3

17

18

Australia

1

19

5

26

38

68

Others

confident. Obviously the role that he wanted to play, he did exactly that. Hopefully his own confidence will increase and he will improve more,” said Mashrafe.

Meanwhile, the Tigers skipper fell awkwardly during his run-up in his second over and was taken out of the field as a precautionary measure.

Later, he came back and bowled a few overs. Mashrafe informed that there is slight swelling in his ankle but he is hopeful that he will be fully fit before the England series.

“Actually, after that incident,

I bowled in a short run-up. I still can’t say. Hopefully, the slight pain that I have at the moment will be okay soon. There is a bit of swelling. But I hope it will be okay soon,” he said.

On the other hand, man of the match and player of the series Tamim Iqbal said he is delighted to become the highest Bangladesh centurion in ODIs. “For me, every hundred is very special. It doesn’t matter against whom I score. Hundred is a hundred. This is always special, especially in a game like [yesterday] - the decider. I don’t see any hundred in a small way.

Every hundred is special,” said Tamim.

Sabbir Rahman was promoted to No 3 and he built a brilliant 140-run partnership with Tamim for the second wicket.

Tamim praised the right hander and believes the exciting batsman can be a good prospect for Bangladesh in future.

“I always say he is a very exciting player. I thought he had an opportunity to score a hundred. It was good. The thing is that, he grabbed the opportunity. I am very happy for him.

If he does play at three in the other matches as well, hopefully he can do well in future,” he added. l

Stanikzai counting on positives n Mazhar Uddin

Afghanistan showed fighting instinct right throughout the three-match ODI series and despite losing 2-1 against Bangladesh, skipper Asghar Stanikzai informed that it was a successful tour for them which will help them to improve as a unit in the coming days.

“We have learnt a lot from this series.

It was a very important series for us. We played against Zimbabwe and then Bangladesh. This has provided us an opportunity how we should play against the Full Member. We are trying our best to find the opportunity to play against the Full Members and it will help us promote our cricket and get familiar against them,” Stanikzai told the media after the series decider yesterday.

“I think we played very well against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. They have beaten a lot of big nations. So hopefully we will have a series against the West Indies in June and taking this experience, we will prepare very well Inshallah,” he said.

Despite losing the first ODI by a close margin of seven runs, the visitors gave a tough fight to the Tigers.

In the second game though, the Afghans sealed a memorable two-wicket victory.

“In three matches, we lost the first which we should have won. And we did come back in the second game but in the last match, we did some mistakes. It was not a big target but partnership is very important. Especially in ODI matches where you need one or two partnership to win the game. They (Bangladesh) bowled very well. That’s why we didn’t manage to build partnerships,” he said.

Stanikzai went on to praise leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who bowled really well and picked up seven wickets in three games. l

25

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Sport

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

BANGLADESH V AFGHANISTAN 3RD ODI, PLAYS OF THE DAY

THIRD ODI BANGLADESH Tamim Iqbal c Sub b Nabi Soumya c Shahzad b Ashraf Sabbir Rahman c Mangal b Shah Shakib c Shahzad b Dawlat Mushfiqur Rahim lbw b Rashid Mahmudullah not out Mosaddek st Shahzad b Rashid Mosharraf c Najibullah b Nabi Mashrafe c Mangal b Ashraf Shafiul Islam not out Extras (b2 w8,nb2)

R 118 11 65 17 12 32 4 4 2 2 12

B 118 11 89 35 13 22 4 14 4 1

YET ANOTHER RECORD FOR TAMIM Tamim Iqbal has achieved many records in his international career. He is the highest runscorer across all three formats of the game for the Tigers. And yesterday, he added another feather to his cap when he smashed his seventh ODI hundred – the highest number of centuries scored by a Bangladesh batsman. He crossed Shakib al Hasan’s tally of six tons. Tamim scored his seventh century in his 155th innings. He scored 80 in the first game but failed to convert it into a hundred. But yesterday, he did it in some style. However, the left-hander was lucky as he was dropped at one by Afghan skipper Asghar Stanikzai at mid-on. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Total (eight wickets, 50 overs) 279 Bowling Nabi 10-1-41-1, Dawlat 10-0-58-1, Ashraf 8-0-43-2, Shinwari 3-0-28-0, Rashid 10-039-2, Shah 8-0-59-1, Mangal 1-0-9-0 AFGHANISTAN R Mohammad Shahzad b Mortaza 0 Nawroz Mangal lbw b Mosharraf 33 Rahmat Shah c Sub b Taskin 36 Hashmatullah c Tamim b Mosharraf 0 Asghar Stanikzai run out 1 Samiullah Shinwari c Rahim b Taskin 13 Nabi c and b Mosharraf 3 N Zadran c Sabbir b Mosaddek 26 Rashid Khan run out 17 Mirwais Ashraf not out 4 Dawlat Zadran c and b Shafiul 0 Extras (b1, w4) 5 Total (all out; 33.5 overs)

B 7 38 73 3 4 18 10 19 22 3 6

SABBIR AT NO 3 This is the third time that the Bangladesh think tank has changed the No 3 batsman during this series. In the first match it was Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah in the second and yesterday it was Sabbir Rahman. Sabbir duly repaid the faith by playing an important knock. His 65 from 79 deliveries, during the second wicket partnership, with Tamim gave the team a solid platform to score big. Recently, Sabbir has scored a lot of runs in the No 3 position in the Twenty20 format. Will he be the new No 3 for Bangladesh in ODIs as well? Well, he is certainly an option now.

138

Bowling Mortaza 6-2-15-1, Shafiul 5.5-0-28-1, Shakib 6-0-34-0, Mosharraf 8-1-24-3, Taskin 7-0-31-2, Mosaddek 1-0-5-1 Result: Bangladesh won by 141 runs Series result: Bangladesh won series 2-1 Man of the match: Tamim Iqbal Man of the series: Tamim Iqbal

MASHRAFE SCARE Bangladesh limited-over captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza shields a fan who ran into the field from a security official during their third ODI against Afghanistan in Mirpur yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Tigers lack firepower at the end n Mazhar Uddin Bangladesh played their first ODI after over ten months against Afghanistan in the three-match series at home and the shakiness among the Tigers batsmen was clearly evident.

As a result, the hosts were unable to post big totals, despite having the platform to launch in the first and third ODI, while they faced a batting disaster in the second game, eventually losing by two wickets.

To be more specific, the Tigers’ middle-order failed to provide the support in the latter stages of the gamesand it been the main area of concern against the Afghans.

Perhaps opening batsman Tamim Iqbal is the only exception as he is the highest run-getter of the series with 218 runs in three games, including a hundred and a fifty.

Mahmudullah was also con-

sistent with the willow, totalling 119 runs including a fifty having batted at different positions.

However, Mushfiqur Rahim scored just 56 runs in three games and he had the opportunity to convert his knocks into a bigger one as he scored six, 38 and 12.

The experienced Shakib al Hasan also had a below-par series with the bat, scoring only 82 runs in three games.

Tigers head coach Chandika Hathurusingha tried to experiment with the batting order and it backfired as the Tigers were never able to launch in the last 10 overs of the innings in all the three matches.

In the first game, Bangladesh had the platform to register a big total as the home side were 196/3 in 40 overs. But they were bundled out for 265, adding only 69 runs in the last 10 overs losing all of their remaining wickets.

The home side had to fight

hard till the end to ensure a nervy seven-run win.

Moving forward to the second game, it was rather a sorry batting display from the Tigers where debutant Mosaddek Hossain turned out to be the only bright spot, scoring an unbeaten 45 as he added 43 runs for the last

BANGLADESH’S RUNS IN LAST 10 OVERS 1ST ODI

69 runs, seven wickets

2ND ODI

54 runs, three wickets

3RD ODI

64 runs, five wickets

wicket alongside Rubel Hossain to take the Tigers past the 200run mark. Most of the Bangladesh batsmen got starts but were unable to convert those into a big one. As things turned out, the Tigers added just 54 runs in their last 10 overs and went on to lose by two wickets.

However, it was a much better

start in the third game as Tamim smashed his seventh ODI hundred to become the highest Bangladeshi centurion in the 50-over format. Along with Sabbir Rahman, who was promoted to No 3 for the very first time in his ODI career, Tamim added 140 runs for the second wicket.

Sabbir reached his third ODI fifty and Bangladesh were well set on their way to the 300-run mark. But just after the second wicket partnership was broken, the Tigers soon lost their way.

Before the 41st over, Bangladesh were 215/3 but added only 64 runs in theirfinal 10 overs, losing their remaining five wickets to manage 279/8 from fifty overs.

Without a doubt, the Tigers think tank will have to correct the late, launching errors with the bat because at the end of the day, 2030 runs can actually create a huge difference between winning and losing. l

Mashrafe bin Mortaza bowled a superb first over which ended in a maiden. In the very first ball of his next over, he clean bowled the dangerous Afghan opener Mohammad Shahzad.

New batsman Rahmat Shah came in. Mashrafe started his run-up and suddenly during his delivery stride, he slipped and fell awkwardly.

Initially it looked nasty as the captain was in obvious pain while holding his ankle. The whole stadium was stunned. Mashrafe hobbling on the pitch in pain – this is something Bangladesh cricket has seen many times before. And every time after such incidents, Mashrafe was out injured for quite a long time. Fortunately, yesterday was an exception. After a few minutes, the skipper was back on his feet and started bowling. Spectators or the Bangladesh think tank – everyone must have heaved a huge sigh of relief.

FAN RUNS IN TO THE FIELD A fan shocked the crowd by running in to the field to give Mashrafe a hug in the 29th over.

Mashrafe was fielding at mid on back then.

Policemen came running in to prevent the man, who disrupted proceedings, but Mashrafe asked the policemen to leave the young man alone.

He even shook his hand before giving him a hug. Mashrafe handled it superbly there. The spectator did not mean to cause any bodily harm. That said, the incident might give birth to security concerns.

MOSHARRAF’S COMEBACK

3

107

71

35.66 168

63.69

0

1

Mohammad Nabi (AFG)

30.0

4

97

6

2/16

16.16

3.23 30.0

Hashmatullah Shahidi (AFG) 3

86

72

28.66 142

60.56

0

1

Shakib al Hasan (BAN)

26.0

0

107

6

4/47

17.83

4.11 26.0

Mosharraf Hossain Rubel made his comeback after eight long years. The left-hander was unimpressive during his batting. He scored just four runs in 14 balls in the dying stages of Bangladesh’s innings. But the left-armer bowled brilliantly later. He initiated a double blow in his third over by taking the wickets of Nawroz Mangal and the in-form Hashmatullah Shahidi. Later, he also claimed the wicket of the experienced Mohammad Nabi. He finished the match with impressive bowling figures of 8-1-24-3.

Mohammad Nabi (AFG)

82

49

27.33

86.31

0

0

Mirwais Ashraf (AFG)

23.0

0

117

5

2/23 23.40 5.08 27.6

–ALI SHAHRIYAR BAPPA

BANGLADESH V AFGHANISTAN, THREE-MATCH ODI SERIES MOST RUNS Player

Inns Runs

HS

Ave

MOST WICKETS BF

SR

100 50

Player

Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI

Ave

Econ SR

Tamim Iqbal (BAN)

3

218

118

72.66 252

86.50

1

1

Rashid Khan (AFG)

30.0

2

111

7

3/35

15.85

3.70 25.7

Mahmudullah (BAN)

3

119

62

59.50 135

88.14

0

1

Taskin Ahmed (BAN)

19.4

0

122

7

4/59

17.42

6.20 16.8

Rahmat Shah (AFG)

3

95

DT

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Sport

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

English cricketers tee off in Kurmitola n Mazhar Uddin

England’s Ben Duckett (L) takes a selfie with Liam Dawson at their team hotel in Dhaka yesterday TWITTER

NCL second round begins today n Tribune Report

The second round of the ongoing18th National Cricket League is all set to get underway today.

In tier one, Dhaka Metropolis will lock horns with Barisal division in Khulna. In the second game of the top tier, Khulna division will face Dhaka division in Bogra.

In the second tier, Rajshahi division will take on Chittagong division in Rajshahi while in the other game of the tier, Rangpur are up against Sylhet at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

Earlier in the first round, all the four matches ended in draws after some heavy rain and wet outfield.

However, some action meant the sides had ended with some points in the bag. Khulna with 11 points are leading the tier one table, followed by Barisal with seven points.

Dhaka and Dhaka Metro are level with three points each.

In tier two, Chittagong are leading the table with 10 points, followed by Rangpur with nine points. Rajshahi with seven points are sitting at third spot while Sylhet are at the bottom with six points.l

There were no training sessions scheduled for the visiting England cricket team yesterday as they arrived in Dhaka for a month-long tour of Bangladesh on Friday night.

And eight members of the English side duly took advantage of their spare time, playing golf at Kurmitola Golf Club while the others opted to stay at the team hotel.

Jos Buttler and his troop are scheduled to practise at Sher-eBangla National Stadium in Mirpur today ahead of their three ODIs and two Test matches against the Tigers.

Earlier, a 34-member English contingent, including 16 players and 18 officials, set foot in the capital with the exception of head coach Trevor Bayliss,who is likely to arrive this Tuesday after a visa paper work delayed his visit.

England arrived in Dhaka after an overnight stay in Abu Dhabi as the Bangladesh government ensured the highest level of security following the terrorist attack on July 1.

Meanwhile, team director Andrew Strauss and England and Wales Cricket Board CEO Tom Har-

rison also accompanied the side as they feel it’s the right thing to do for the bosses to be with the players after giving the green signal for the tour.

“We are really happy to be here.

We feel very comfortable and satisfied with the security. It was a long journey to get here physically and metaphorically and quite rightly, the players had concerns over security but Reg Dickason (team security officer) has done a fantastic job allaying those concerns,” Strauss was quoted as saying to The Telegraph.

“It was great to see the guys in a positive frame of mind when

they met up at the airport. Once you have made that decision it becomes a lot easier mentally and now the guys are thinking about the tough cricket they are going to have to play over the next month.

“There is a lot to take in to begin with. But bear in mind the majority of your time is spent at the ground and you are concentrating on balls coming down at you. It is only on journeys to and from the hotel that you see things like that (armed escorts). Actually the players if they think about it they will not see anything radically different from what happens when we tour the sub continent,” he added. l

ENGLAND’S TOUR OF BANGLADESH FIXTURES AND DATES October 4

Tour match

KSOAS Fatullah, Dhaka

October 7

First ODI (D/N)

SBNCS, Dhaka

October 9

Second ODI (D/N)

SBNCS, Dhaka

October 12

Third ODI (D/N)

ZACS Chittagong

October 14-15

Tour match

MA Aziz, Chittagong

October 16-17

Tour match

MA Aziz, Chittagong

October 20-24

First Test

ZACS, Chittagong

October 28-Nov 1

Second Test

SBNCS, Dhaka

Ameli keen to play for Bangladesh again n Tribune Report Zahid Hasan Ameli is eager to play for Bangladesh football team again after returning to the national training camp following an eightmonth hiatus yesterday.

The national side began their camp ahead of the Asian Football Confederation Cup Qualifiers Playoff against Bhutan on October 10 away in Thimphu.

A total of only 12 players among the 33-member preliminary squad joined the camp on the opening day, including Sheikh Russel Krira

Chakra’s veteran striker Ameli, who was out with injury. Ameli made only one starting appearance for his club in the league this season.

Belgian head coach Tom Saintfiet will have to wait one more day to get his full squad as the most of the players are involved with their respective clubs in the league.

Chittagong Abahani, who played against Team BJMC in Sylhet yesterday, have eight players in the national squad while Arambagh Krira Sangha have three. The remaining players are scheduled to return to the capital today and join the camp

the following day.

The last time Ameli played for the national side was in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup in January this year. Since then, he has not been called up again due to injury and below-par performances. As Bangladesh are facing striker crisis, Saintfiet called up some experienced and young players like Ameli and Sarwar Zaman Nipu.

“If I have to play against Bhutan I must practice hard and convince the coach. We had many chances in the home match but couldn’t utilise any. If I get the chance again it

Ctg Abahani climb to third n Tribune Report

Chittagong Abahani climbed to third spot in the Bangladesh Premier League points table after registering a comfortable 3-1 victory over Team BJMC in their ninthround match at Sylhet District Stadium yesterday.

Haitian striker Leonel Saint Preux stole the show with a brace while young forward Mohammad Ibrahim added the other for the

port-city outfit to seal their fifth win in the league this season.

With 18 points from nine match-

RESULTS Ctg Abahani

3-1

Preux 45+2, 90+1 Ibrahim 69

Arambagh Sajid 3, 63 Abdullah 15 Jafar 79, 83

BJMC Ziku 45+3

5-1

Soccer Club Chowmrin 45+2

es, the Chittagong Sky Blues are now only a point behind leaders Rahmatganj MFS and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club.

Meanwhile in the day’s other match at the same venue, Arambagh Krira Sangha thrashed Feni Soccer Club 5-1 with Sajidur Rahman Sajid and Jafar Iqbal netting a brace apiece. Mohammad Abdullah added the other for the victors while Chowmrin Rakhain grabbed the consolation goal for the losing side.l

will a big responsibility for me and I’m confident that I will get goals against Bhutan,” Ameli told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Bangladesh played out a goalless draw against Bhutan in the first leg at home. Saintfiet has only one thing in mind. “Now our only target is to qualify for the next round. It is our sole focus for now.

At any cost, either tie breaking, draw or win, we will have to qualify. This is now the only thinking of mine,” said the 43-year old coach, who joined Bangladesh in August this year. l

BCB XI squad announced n Tribune Report Bangladesh Cricket Board yesterday announced the squad for the one-day practice game against England.

BCB XI

Imrul, Soumya, Shanto, Nasir, Shuvagata, Al Amin Jr, Sohan, Sanjamul, Kamrul, Alauddin, Al Amin, Ebadat, Manik. l

27

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Sport

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

De Kock hits 178 as Proteas cruise past Australia n AFP, Centurion

QUICK BYTES Siddikur 24th after Taiwan third round Bangladesh golfing sensation Siddikur Rahman moved to 24th place in the Mercuries Taiwan Masters after carding even-par 72 in the third round at Taiwan Golf and Country Club yesterday.

Siddikur played two birdies against two bogeys on the third day of the $800,000 event after poor displays in the first two rounds. The 31-year old golfer scored a total of six-overpar 222 in three rounds to sit jointly at 24th place along with seven other players.

Quinton de Kock hit a dazzling century to lead South Africa to a six-wicket win in the first one-day international against Australia at SuperSport Park on Friday.

The left-handed De Kock thrashed 178 off 113 balls, with 16 fours and 11 sixes, as South Africa made a challenging target of 295 look easy.

The hosts won with 13.4 overs to spare.

“He was magnificent,” Australian captain Steve Smith said of De Kock. “It was a 370-380 wicket if you look back at it now. Someone (for Australia) had to get a big hundred like Quinton did.”l

–TRIBUNE REPORT

Hamilton scorches to record Malaysia GP pole Lewis Hamilton blitzed his rivals in qualifying yesterday to secure pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The reigning world champion clocked the fastest lap ever recorded at the 5.543km circuit in 1min 32.850sec.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH FOOTBALL SONY SIX Spanish La Liga 4:00PM Valencia v Atletico Madrid 8:00PM Real Madrid v Eibar 10:30PM Espanyol v Villarreal 12:40AM Celta Vigo v Barcelona

SONY ESPN Italian Serie A 10:00PM AC Milan v Sassuolo 12:30AM Roma v Inter Milan

STAR SPORTS 1 7:30PM Indian Super League 2016 KolKata v Chennai

1ST ODI

South Africa’s Quinton de Kock watches his shot during their first ODI against Australia at Centurion on Friday

REUTERS

Kumar floors Kiwis on second day n AFP, Kolkata Indian fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar said he was in dreamland yesterday after his debut five-wicket haul at home left New Zealand tottering at 128 for seven on day two of the second Test in Kolkata.

At stumps after a rain-hit day’s play at Eden Gardens, the Black Caps were still trailing India, who posted 316 in their first innings, by 188 runs with BJ Watling on 12 and Jeetan Patel on 5 battling to survive.

Getting good support from newball partner Mohammed Shami, who struck first with the wicket of

opener Tom Latham, Kumar made life difficult for the visiting batsmen.

The 26-year-old Kumar recorded his fourth five-wicket haul in

2ND TEST, DAY 2 INDIA 316 (Pujara 87, Rahane 77, Saha 54) lead NEW ZEALAND 128/7 (Taylor 36, Ronchi 35, Bhuvneshwar 5/33) by 188 runs 15th Test, but it was also his first on home soil.

Martin Guptill, who is in the middle of a woeful run of form, was bowled for 13 by a beautiful Kumar

delivery that left the batsman in two minds.

Stand-in-skipper Ross Taylor (36) and Luke Ronchi (35) managed 62 runs for the fourth wicket to put up some resistance but Ravindra Jadeja had other ideas.

Left-arm spinner Jadeja broke through Ronchi’s defences after trapping the batsman lbw, although television replays suggested that the ball may have missed the leg stump.

Ronchi failed to capitalise on a reprieve when he was on 16 when substitute fielder Gautam Gambhir dropped the ball at point off Shami. l

STAR SPORTS 4 English Premier League 5:00PM Man United v Stoke City 7:00PM Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City 08:30PM Burnley v Arsenal

CRICKET TEN 3

5:00PM West Indies v Pakistan 2nd ODI

STAR SPORTS 1 10:00AM New Zealand Tour of India 2nd Test, Day 3

FORMULA ONE STAR SPORTS 4

12:25PM Main Race: Malaysian GP

Edison Group organises ‘Futsal 2016’

Edison Group, the parent company of the leading mobile handset brand Symphony, arranged inter-divisional football tournament titled ‘Edison Futsal 2016’. Employees of Edison Group formed teams named Avengers, Challengers, Hawks, Dynamites, Fireballs, Dynamo Stars, Warriors and Gladiators. Nine teams were divided into two groups. The semi-finals and the final were held on September 24. At the end of the semis, Dynamo Stars and Gladiators reached the final. Dynamo Stars defeated Gladiators by a solitary goal in the final and emerged as the unbeaten champion of the ‘Edison Group Futsal 2016’.

AUSTRALIA 294/9 (Bailey 74, Hastings 51, Phehlukwayo 4/44) lost to SOUTH AFRICA 295/4 (De Kock 178, Rossouw 63, Boland 3/67) by six wickets

Azam stars as Pakistan thrash Windies n AFP, Sharjah Babar Azam hit his maiden century while spinner Mohammad Nawaz grabbed four wickets as Pakistan thrashed the West Indies by 111 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method in the first day-night international on Friday.

Azam’s rapid-fire 139-ball 120 helped Pakistan post a challenging 284-9 in a match reduced to 49 overs a side due to a 70-minute floodlight failure at Sharjah Stadium in the UAE. West Indies - set 287 to win never got close and folded at 175 in 38.4 overs.

The victory gives Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, building on their 3-0 whitewash in the Twenty20 series.

Like in the Twenty20 matches, the West Indian batsmen had little clue against Pakistan’s spin bowling, with only Marlon Samuels (46) and Johnson Charles (20) offering any resistance.

Nawaz steamed through the batting with figures of 4-42 in his ten overs, easily his best bowling figures in his sixth one-day international. l

1ST ODI PAKISTAN 284/9 (Babar 120, Sharjeel 54, Brathwaite 3/54) beat WEST INDIES 175 (Samuels 46, Nawaz 4/42, Hasan 3/14) by 111 runs (D/L method)

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

Pep expects sparks to fly at Tottenham n AFP, London

Swansea City’s Borja Baston (L) vies with Liverpool’s Joel Matip during their EPL match in Swansea yesterday. Liverpool won 2-1, courtesy goals from Roberto Firmino and James Milner, while Leroy Fer scored for the Swans AFP

Spain’s big three renew title battle n AFP, Madrid After another stellar week for Spanish clubs in the Champions League, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid resume their three-way battle for La Liga supremacy today.

Real were the only Spanish side not to win in midweek, but got a creditable 2-2 draw at Borussia Dortmund to remain on course for the last 16.

However, the European champions have now failed to win any of their last three games as draws to Villarreal and Las Palmas have seen their lead at the top of the table whittled down to just a point by Barca.

LA LIGA Valencia Real Madrid Espanyol Malaga Celta Vigo

v v v v v

Atletico Madrid Eibar Villarreal Athletic Bilbao Barcelona

Zinedine Zidane’s men conceded a late equaliser for the second time in four days in Dortmund, but defender Danilo insisted Eibar will bear the brunt of Real’s frustration when they visit the Santiago Bernabeu this weekend.

Real are still without the injured Brazilian duo of Casemiro and Marcelo, but Zidane is likely to rotate his squad again with Alvaro Morata, Marco Asensio and Pepe in contention.

Eibar have never taken a point off Madrid in their history, but travel to the Bernabeu full of confidence after a fine start to the season that has carried the Basque minnows to eighth in the table, just four points behind Real.

Barcelona continued to shrug off the absence of Lionel Messi as they came from behind to beat Borussia Moenchengladbach on Wednesday and face a third away game in a week when they travel to Celta Vigo.l

After a ding-dong 3-3 draw with Celtic in the Champions League, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola anticipates another breathless encounter in this weekend’s Premier League showdown with Tottenham Hotspur.

With six wins from six matches, City are the league leaders and early title favourites, but Tottenham, four points back in second place, are enjoying their best start to a top-flight campaign since 1965.

Guardiola and his Spurs counterpart Mauricio Pochettino employ an aggressive, high-pressing style and the City manager thinks the fans at White Hart Lane on Sunday could be in for a treat.

Pochettino’s managerial career has been closely entwined with Guardiola’s, the two men having started life as top-level coaches in the same city and during the same season.

In his first game as a head coach, former Argentina centre-back Pochettino saw his Espanyol team hold Guardiola’s Barcelona to a 0-0 draw in a Copa del Rey tie in January 2009.

A month later, Espanyol sensationally won 2-1 at Camp Nou to end a 27-year wait for a derby victory and give Pochettino his first win as a manager. It was Barcelona’s first league loss in six months

and one of only three home defeats that Guardiola suffered in a maiden season that concluded with a league, Copa del Rey and Champions League treble.

Guardiola and Pochettino were effusive in their praise of each other in Friday’s pre-game press conferences.

The Spaniard called Pochettino “one of the best football managers in the world”, while Pochettino

PREMIER LEAGUE ManUnited Leicester City Tottenham Burnley

v v v v

Stoke City Southampton Man City Arsenal

branded Guardiola “the best manager in the world”.

But underpinning the mutual affection is a keen awareness of the threat posed by the other and with Spurs already four points adrift of City, Pochettino is desperate not to lose further ground.

Spurs recorded a league double over City last season, cruising to a 4-1 home win in the equivalent fixture a year ago.

Pochettino hopes to have Eric Dier, Mousa Dembele and Danny Rose back after hamstring injuries, while Moussa Sissoko is expected to overcome a bang to the head sustained during the 2-1 win at Middlesbrough. l

Juve, Napoli back to basics n AFP, Milan

Juventus and Napoli get back to Serie A basics after impressive Champions League wins while Inter Milan’s league-leading scorer Mauro Icardi looks to add to his tally away to Roma today.

Champions Juventus, favourites for a record sixth consecutive ‘scudetto’, can feel confident of maintaining their one-point lead on

Napoli at Empoli. Having limped to a scoreless draw at home to Sevilla, Massimiliano Allegri’s men put four goals past Dinamo Zagreb in a 4-0 Champions League win on Wednesday that left them top of Group H. Although veteran Empoli striker Massimo Maccarone has recovered from a sore back, the Tuscan minnows’ usually formidable home form could be hit by a rash of late injuries to their defence.l

SERIE A Empoli Atalanta Bologna Cagliari Sampdoria AC Milan Torino Roma

v v v v v v v v

Juventus SSC Napoli Genoa Crotone Palermo Sassuolo Fiorentina Inter

Founder and chairperson, Indian Super League, Nita Ambani (C) is watched

by Bollywood actors Varun Dhawan (L), John Abraham (2L) and Abhishek Bachchan (2R) and former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar (3R) and current Indian player MS Dhoni as she delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the ISL AFP

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Insect (4) 5 Of the ear (4) 10 Way out (4) 11 Flightless bird (3) 12 Shout encouragement (5) 13 Liable (3) 14 Nimble (5) 16 Dwell (6) 18 Meal course (6) 21 Summit (5) 23 Regret (3) 24 Omit in pronunciation (5) 26 Donkey (3) 27 Eager (4) 28 Abominable Snowman (4) 29 Welsh national emblem (4)

DOWN 2 Requires (5) 3 Tool (3) 4 Long angry speeches (7) 6 Small duck (4) 7 Obstruct (6) 8 Incision (3) 9 Cicatrix (4) 15 Well-bred (7) 17 Plea (6) 19 German river (5) 20 Water pitcher (4) 22 Remainder (4) 23 Narrow beam (3) 25 Sheltered (3)

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CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 16 represents S so fill S every time the figure 16 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.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

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

SATURDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

DILBERT

SUDOKU

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Showtime

Straight out of Harlem Marvel’s ‘Luke Cage’ is your binge of the week

n Mahmood Hossain You already know the usual Netflix spiel we provide from time to time when the streaming titan presents the audience with yet another magnificent original show.

The character Luke Cage might seem a bit familiar, as he made his on-screen debut on the show Jessica Jones, which is also another Marvel and Netflix venture. What Marvel Television has been able to do is create a secluded world of their own on Netflix. It seems as if the two partners simply cannot go wrong. Luke Cage, as you have guessed it, is another successful stamp for the folks at Marvel.

There’s a similar tone to this show as you may find in Daredevil and Jessica Jones. As mentioned in reports not too long ago, with Iron Fist yet to come, these comic book characters make up The Defenders (another soon to be Netflix release). There’s a slight charming factor to these so called lower-level superheroes. They aren’t fighting some out-of-thisworld villain that seeks to destroy the world. They’re fighting to keep their neighbourhoods safe from

everyday bad guys that posses a heavily negative influence in society. This realistic factor is what will draw in the crowd.

He’s got super-human strength and bulletproof skin. After the loss of his wife and another name we won’t disclose, Luke is set on a destructive path. Without going into spoilers, for the folks who are unfamiliar with the comics and its characters, there’s plenty of Luke’s past that the show will delve into as we go from one episode to another. What we can say is that the introduction episodes covers all that is needed to set up an explosive first season.

Mike Colter’s portrayal as Luke Cage, as expected, is spot on. If you’ve watched Jessica Jones, you already have an understanding of what he can bring to the character’s expected growth.

Equally as good, if not better, is Mahershala Ali (House of Cards) as Cornell Stokes aka Cottonmouth.

Ali brings that old-school gangster, Harlem suavity to the show’s main antagonist. It’s how it should be really. Simone Missick plays Cage’s future ally as Misty Knight. Here is yet another strong and beautiful

African American woman who has no problem rubbing elbows with the big boys, and isn’t afraid of throwing a few either.

Marvel and crew have done solid job of keeping these shows on Netflix as gritty as possible. They may not be as dark in the cinematic universe like DC, but they’ve made sure there is a deep rooted platform for adult viewing. What matters even most is the authenticity of where each of the characters are based and where they come from.

What you might read in the comics isn’t necessarily what you’ll see on screen. And there’s a good reason for that, those are two completely different worlds. All those colourful and wonderfully drawn costumes in comics simply do not transition well into film.

So, keeping it as realistic as possible in a fictional world, the showrunners and moviemakers know exactly what they’ve produced. Luke Cage is a perfect example of “keepin’ it real.” And just to add a bit more flavour into the culture of Hip-Hop that surrounds Cage, there are some fantastic musical cameos in the first season. l

Cooked: Fire nShireen Pasha What sort of future are we birthing? Is it a future where the design of everything we need to live, from the food we grow and eat to the gadgets we rely on, to the governmental processes that dictate our lives are all hidden from view or can we retain some of the traditions that keep us happy and healthy – and spread that design mindset to everything that will form the future? Michael Pollan doesn’t explore the gadgets or the transparency of governments in his Netflix series Cooked (based on his book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation). Instead, he asks this very question about the future of humanity: will human beings become passive consumers (of food) or will they hold onto their biological instinct for cooking (an institution that includes meal time, providing and sharing – a suite of molecules of emotions).

He breaks down the series into

four parts: Fire, Water, Earth and Air. In the first episode, Fire, he connects stories across the world, from the Western Aboriginal People of the Great Sandy Desert, the Martu, to primatologist Richard Wrangham whose theory of evolution includes this: Homo Erectus is the first human when an ape learned to cook. Wrangham says it was cooking that led to our becoming human and Pollan says it is cooking that keeps us human.

The episode has hypnotizing shots of fire by Director of Photography Maryse Alberti, with direction

by Alex Gibney (giving Michael Pollan and the subject full clarity) – flowing bewitchingly like fire in lava. In essence, it reminds one of the palpable values of preparing one’s meals (for self, family and friends), the value of having visible fire, visible healthy lives of food (animals with free lives, one bad day) and visible food sources.

Fortunately Netflix is available across South Asia. So if you’re

curious, about evolution and alchemy, don’t miss this series.

Documentary four-part mini-Series Cooked: Fire (58 minutes in English with subtitles) Writing: Michael Pollan Original Music: Will Bates Editing: Michael J. Palmer Prop Department: Craig Haft Sound Department: Vincent Gregorio Visual Effects: Jeffrey Burgess Reed Production Companies: Jigsaw Productions, Netflix © 2016.l

Rating: 5 mangoes The Great Sandy Desert, Australia, home of the Martu People. Image from “Fire” the first episode in Michael Pollan’s Netflix series “Cooked”.

Haq the hitmaker nShowtime Desk In his interviews, the recently demised writer divulged several times that he never enjoyed writing a song for film. However, to cut a film’s budget short, Syed Shamsul Haq ended up with writing numerous songs for films alongside his screenplay writing endeavours.

A good number of these songs written by the ambidextrous writer are now considered treasures in the music world.

Satya Saha, a legendary musician, composed music for most of the songs penned by Syed Haq. Few other musicians including Alam Khan, Abdul Ahad, Samar Das and Bashir Ahmed composed music for Haq’s songs which saw tremendous popularity.

“Tumi Ashbe Bole Kache Dakbe Boley” is the first song written

by Syed Haq. In 1961, the writer along with Satya Saha prepared the song together at Forashgonj.

Used in Sutorang, the song is sung

by Anjuman Ara Begum, while Kazi Anwar Hossain sings the last chorus. The film’s screenplay, dialogue and all of the songs are written by Haq. Interestingly, all the songs written by Haq, while staying at Satya Saha’s place in Forashgonj, were immensely popular.

Mustafa Zaman Abbasi and Ferdousi Rahman, the legendary sibling singers, playbacked together for the first time in a song titled “Nadi Baka Jani Chad Baka Jani” for Subhash Datt’s Sutorang. Haq also wrote songs for Subhash Datta’s other film Ayna O Oboshishto.

The film’s “Jar Chhaya Porechey” and “Moner O Aynatey”, sung by Ferdousi Rahman and composed

the film’s director, had penned it.

Bashir Ahmed composed music and sang the song.

During the period of time followed by writing one of the most popular romantic tracks for Aashirbaad, the writer took a long break from writing songs for film.

Due to an unknown reason, he always made sure to mention that he never wanted to write songs for film, Haq abstained himself from writing songs to this day.

After a long hiatus, the writer last wrote a song for the film Maatir Ghore. l

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ second child

nShowtime Desk

by Satya Saha, are both still a hit amongst the youngsters.

Subsequently, Syed Haq wrote screenplay, dialogue and all the songs for Baro Bhalo Lok Chilo, a hit film released in 1982. The film’s song “Hayre Manush Rongin Fanush”, composed by Alam Khan and sang by Andrew Kishor, reflects the ultimate destination of a human, which is still getting lived on people’s heart.

“Onek Sadher Moyna”, another audience-favoured song of Syed Haq was used in Moynamoti. The writer at the resident of Kazi Zahir,

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According to E!, star couple Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively just had their second child last Friday. The couple had been together since 2012. Blake gave birth to their first daughter, James, back in December 2014.

In the past, Reynolds suggested to several Late Night Show hosts that he wants a big family.

“We’d love to have a big family.

We both come from big families— my parents did four, Blake’s did five,” Ryan told Details magazine. “A

lot of people say it’s crazy, but we’ll only know when we’re there, you know?”

So the couple might have a lot more babies in the upcoming years, who knows?

At the moment, the gender of the baby, and other details have not been disclosed to the public. They also kept the event very private, confirmed by some sources. They celebrated the occasion in Bedford Post Inn in New York. Guests started arriving around 11am local time and enjoyed it in the heart of Westchester County. l

Woody Allen is back

WHAT TO WATCH

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Star Movies 7:00pm Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, discovers vampires are planning to take over the United States. He makes it his mission to eliminate them.

Cast: Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell, Dominic Cooper

Transformers HBO 8:30pm An ancient struggle between two Cybertronian races, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, comes to Earth, with a clue to the ultimate power held by a teenager.

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel

Race to Witch Mountain Zee Studio 9:30pm A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed.

Cast: Dwanye Johnson, Carla Gugino, Anna Sophia Robb

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory WB 3:36pm A young boy wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world, led by the world’s most unusual candy maker.

Cast: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly

The Amazing Spider-Man Movies Now 9:30pm After Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically altered spider, he gains newfound, spiderlike powers and ventures out to solve the mystery of his parent’s mysterious death.

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans

nShowtime Desk The legendary Woody Allen is back this time with his own series, Crisis in Six Scenes. Allen wrote, directed and acted in the project. Miley Cyrus, Elaine May and John Magaro are also featured in this web series.

Currently, all six episodes can be streamed from Amazon. So far the reviews have been mixed.

Nevertheless the actors are already talking about their experience of working with the director.

“He’s like 80 years old, and his energy is phenomenal. But he’s extremely low-key. Very, very lowkey,” one of them said.

Earlier this year, Allen told the press that it was a “catastrophic mistake” for Amazon to go ahead with the project and thought that it would be a disaster. But after he finished working on the series, he appreciated the creative freedom he got from the company. And they are going to back him up for his next film. l

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Back Page

‘BANK FORGERY ACCOUNTS FOR HIGH BUSINESS COST’ PAGE 12

TIGERS LACK FIREPOWER AT THE END PAGE 25

HAQ THE HITMAKER PAGE 31

Tigers celebrate 100th ODI win n Mazhar Uddin Bangladesh finally got their rhythm back as they thrashed Afghanistan by a convincing margin of 141 runs in the third ODI to seal the threematch series 2-1 in Mirpur on Saturday. Led by Tamim Iqbal, who smashed his seventh ODI hundred, the Tigers in the process registered their 100th win in the 50-over format.

The home side showed their dominance throughout the third ODI after Tamim blasted a magnificent run-a-ball 118 with the help of 11 fours and two sixes to become the highest Bangladesh centurion in 50-over cricket. Sabbir Rahman also struck a fifty as he, along with Tamim, added 140 runs for the second wicket to guide the Tigers to 279/8 from 50 overs.

In reply, the Tigers bowlers displayed a discipline performance with left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain, making a comeback to the national team after over eight years, picking up 3/24 from his eight overs to help bundle Afghanistan out for just 138 in 33.5 overs.

Opting to bat first, Bangladesh looked positive right from the start. However, Soumya Sarkar once again failed with the bat, continuing his poor run in the series.

He was dismissed for 11 when he edged Mirwais Ashraf in the sixth over.

In contrast, Tamim was extremely lucky as he was dropped on one by skipper Asghar Stanikzai

and it proved to be devastating for the visitors.

Sabbir was promoted to No 3 for the first time in the 50-over format and he exhibited his attacking approach to the fullest as he and Tamim played some delightful strokes all over the ground and laid the foundation for a big total.

The right-handed Sabbir registered his third ODI fifty and just when he was heading towards a big innings, he was dismissed after scoring 65 off 79 balls with three sixes and six boundaries.

Tamim, on the other hand, looked composed as he ensured of converting his 50 into a ton after missing out in the first game. The left-hander was dismissed after scoring 118 as Bangladesh were 212/3 in 38.4 overs and were all set to go past the 300-mark.

But once again the home side were unable to launch in the last 10 overs where Shakib al Hasan (17), Mushfiqur Rahim (12) and Mosaddek Hossain (four) all failed as the home side added 65 runs in the last 10 overs courtesy Mahmudullah’s unbeaten 22-ball 32.

Afghanistan never looked comfortable when they came out to chase 280, losing wickets at regular intervals. Rahmat Shah was the highest scorer with 36 while opener Nawroz Mangal scored 33 but none of the other Afghan batsmen were able to score significantly.

Mosharraf bowled well in his comeback while Taskin Ahmed bagged two wickets. l

Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal in full flow during their third ODI against Afghanistan in Mirpur yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Pakistan bans Indian films amid escalating Kashmir tension n Reuters

Pakistani cinemas have stopped screening Indian films in “solidarity” with the country’s armed forces, after an escalation of violence in disputed Kashmir between the nuclear-armed neighbours, theatre owners said on Friday.

Tension between India and Pakistan has been high since an Indian security forces crackdown on dissent in Indian-controlled Kashmir began in July. Relations worsened in September after militants killed 18 soldiers in a raid on an Indian army base, an attack New

Delhi blames on Pakistan.

“We have stopped screening Indian movies at our cinemas from Friday till the situation improves and normalcy returns,” said Nadeem Mandviwalla, whose Mandviwalla Entertainment runs eight cinemas in Karachi and the capital, Islamabad.

India said on Thursday it had carried out “surgical strikes” in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, a claim that Pakistan condemned and denied.

The Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA), a small filmmakers’ body, on Thursday banned their members from

hiring Pakistani actors. Mandviwalla and other cinema owners said the ban in Pakistan was also in response to IMPPA’s move.

Indian media reported that a leader of regional right-wing party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, last week gave Pakistani actors 48 hours to leave India or faced being “pushed out”.

The party, which was not available for comment, is one of two hardline parties based in Mumbai that has regularly called for Pakistani artists to be banned from working in India.

Indian films are spectacularly

popular both at the cinema and on bootlegged DVDs in Pakistan. Pakistan’s domestic film industry has seen a revival in recent years, but is dwarfed by India’s Bollywood. Pakistani actors have increasingly been appearing in big budget Bollywood films in the last few years. Some Indian actors came to the defence of their Pakistani counterparts.

“They are artists. These are two different subjects. They were terrorists, these are artists. What do you think, artists are terrorists?” Salman Khan, one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, told reporters when asked if Pakistani actors should be forced out.

Khurram Gultasab, general manager at Super Cinemas, which runs ten cinemas in cities across Pakistan’s Punjab province, confirmed his group would also not be screening Indian films.

“I think we should show solidarity with our army engaged at very hot borders right now and secondly with our actors,” said Gultasab. He said the move had been made by cinema owners themselves, rather than on government directions.

Other Pakistani cinemas posted on social media saying they would not be showing Indian films after Thursday’s violence. l

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