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SECOND EDITION
Shakib Al Hasan celebrates with Mushfiqur Rahim and other teammates after taking the wicket of Afghanistan batsman Najeeb Tarakai during the ICC World T20 tournament at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur yesterday MUMIT M
Interestingly, the AL loyalists won almost all the seats where there were allegation of vote rigging and violence
Interestingly, Jamaat-e-Islami won 17 vice-chairman posts as in many places BNP Jamaat field their candidates jointly. In the first phase of the elections, the BNP loyalist secured 34 vice-chairmen, the Awami League 27, the Jamaat 21, Jatiya Party four and others 10 while in the second phase the BNPJamaat-backed contenders bagged 66 vice-chairman posts while Awami League loyalists got 33. The table was turned in the third phase with the Awami League leading in both chairman with and vice-chairman posts. It bagged 40 chairman seats while the BNP 28. The candidates backed by
Malaysia doubles scale of plane search, pilots probed n AFP, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia said yesterday the number of countries searching for a missing airliner had nearly doubled to 25 as a full-scale criminal probe into its disappearance got under way, with particular scrutiny of the pilots. Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the number of participating countries had jumped from 14 to 25 as the search for the aircraft focused on two vast, and vastly contrasting, land and ocean transport corridors. The dramatic re-calibration will inevitably bring new challenges of coordination and diplomacy, the minister said. Malaysian police said they had searched the homes of both pilots and examined the captains home flight simulator after it became increasingly clear that the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that vanished March 8 had been deliberately diverted by someone on board. Experts said it would have taken specialist knowledge to disable the communications system, intensifying scrutiny of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his First Officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid. US intelligence is also focusing on the pilot and co-pilot, a key US lawmaker said. One thing we do know, this was not an accident. It was an intentional,
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INSIDE
Business
B1 Outstanding bills of various international call carriers to the state-owned landline telephone company BTCL have stacked up to a staggering Tk1,072 crore.
Nation
6 The flood situation could get worse in Sirajganj due to slow dredging o the Jamuna River adjacent to the district town protection embankment.
International
9 New revelations about missing Malaysia Airlines plane suggest those on board endured a terrifying highaltitude hijack.
Op-Ed
11 Friend of Bangladesh Julian Francis writes about his experience with Bangabandhu immediately after the creation of this Peoples Republic.
DHAKA TRIBUNE
News
A vehicle driven by a shallow-engine transports goods and passangers on the Chapainawabganj-Rajshai highway yesterday. Although these vehicles have been banned on the highways, people continue to risk their lives for the cheap transport DHAKA TRIBUNE
committee led by the BRTA chairman was tasked withidentifying unfit and illegal vehicles and suggestingactions. The committeewould meet within seven days to identify the problems. The ministry would start a drive against the unfit vehicles after receiving the committees report, said Obaidul. The other members of the committee are the superintendent engineer of Roads and Highways Department, joint commissioner (traffic) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, deputy inspector general of Highway Police, secretary general of Road Transport Owners Association, general secretary of Road Transport Workers Federation, and president of Truck and Covered Van Owners Association. The other committee was formed to fix the traffic controlling system and suggest improvements. Its members include the administrators of the Dhaka north and south city corporations, DMP additional commissioner, representatives of Dhaka Trans-
port Coordination Authority and the BRTA,joint secretary to Roads Division, and president of Road Transport Owners Association. Terming Dhaka city dirty,ObaidulQuader said:We have already started working. But, the main problem is a lack of coordination. He claimed collection of extortions at bus terminals in the city had already decreased andit wouldtake more time to stop completely. New taxicabs from Pahela Baishakh The minister saidcitizens of Dhaka city were likely to see new taxicabs fromPahelaBaishakh. The prime minister is expected to inaugurate the operation of 60 new taxicabs.Two private companies are importing60 of 500taxicabs permitted by the BRTA. TomaParibahon, a sister concern of Toma Construction, and the Army Welfare Trust have been given clearance to import 250 cabs each for Dhaka and Chittagong cities.The process of importing 60 taxicabs has been completed and they will arrive this month,Obaidul said. l
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Anamul, who took some time to settle in, smashed the Afghan bowlers all around the park. Anamul was unbeaten on 44 from 33 balls and clobbered four fours and three sixes, the last six over long-off landing Bangladeshs win. Earlier, Bangladesh could have not asked for a better start after opting to bowl in their crucial encounter as the very first ball of the World Twenty20 fetched them a wicket. Ahmed Shahzad tried to hike Mashrafe bin Mortazas out swinging length ball, but only managed to sky it to left of midoff where Mahmudullah took a well judged catch. The inexperience of playing in the big stage got the worst out of the Afghans in the remaining of the match as they could not recover from the early shock. The wicket only fired up the Bangladeshi side along with the bowler,
Mashrafe, who looked 10 years younger when he steamed in and gave his all in the two overs he bowled up front. He beat the batsmens edges on several occasions increasing the early jitters in the Afghan camp. Afghanistans T20 specialist Gulbadin Naib tried to stage a counter-attack picking 15 from the fifth over delivered by Al Amin, but that hardly demoralised the Tigers. Shakib, introduced in the fourth over, gave away just two runs before he followed up with a happening over. The wicket produced turn and the leading left-arm spinner of the country took the most out of it. Naib miscued a slog to long-off where the nervy debutant Sabbir dropped a dolly to convert it to a four, but that only encouraged Shakib to flight the ball even more. As a result another miscued slog followed in the next ball, and this time Sabbir mend his mistake and took a rather difficult catch
than the previous one. He ran at least 20 yards to his right to hold on to the catch looking at the sun to end Naibs innings on 21. Najeeb Tarakai was baffled by the turn in the next ball and could only stand and watch his edge going to Nasir Hossain at cover. Though Shakib could not achieve a hat-trick, but his two wickets meant the Afghans were not let in the powerplay being reduced to 36 for three. The nightmare continued for the batting side with Sabbir this time, breaking the stumps at the non-strikers end with a direct hit from fine-leg to run out Nawroz Mangal and heap further pressure. The early indications made the decision of putting the spinners in attack easier as Abdur Razzak and Mahmudullah came on to bowl and tied the Afghans into a whirlpool. Meanwhile, it was another brilliant piece of fielding this time from Farhad
Reza, who hit the stumps from midwicket to find Karim Sadiq short of the crease attempting a couple. The spinners shared six wickets among them giving away just 37 runs with Shakib doing most of the damage. Shakib cleaned up Shapoor Zadran to claim his third wicket for just eight runs to end Afghanistans innings in the 18th over. l
boycotted the national polls held on January 5 demanding elections under a non-partisan government as they claimed free and fair election is not possible under a partisan government. This walkover gave the Awami League two third easy majority in the parliament. l
Prosecution teams
have a lot of electronic data from the aircraft. The last satellite communication from the plane on March 8 came nearly eight hours after it took off -- around the time the airline has said it would have run out of fuel. Hishammuddin said both search corridors were being treated with equal importance, but a number of analysts said the southern ocean route was more likely. Flying along the northern corridor would have required the plane to travel undetected through numerous national airspaces in a strategically sensitive region. I just cant think of a scenario where this aircraft is sitting on a runway somewhere, Brickhouse said. Scott Hamilton, managing director of US-based aerospace consultancy Leehman Co, said a crash in the ocean would present a daunting search and recovery challenge. Any floating debris will be widely dispersed and the main debris on the sea floor, he said. l
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deliberate act, to bring down this airplane. And the question is who is behind that, Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Fox News. Friends and colleagues of both pilots have testified to their good character, but questions have been raised over the flight simulator Zaharie installed at home -- even though aviation commentators have said this is not uncommon. It also emerged that Zaharie had close ties with the party of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has been battling a charge of sodomy. A day before the flight, a Malaysian court overturned Anwars 2012 acquittal on charges he sodomised a male former aide and sentenced him to five years in jail. But authorities have not disclosed whether Zaharies political affiliations figured in the investigation. Fariqs record was queried after a woman said he had allowed her and a friend to ride in the cockpit of an earlier flight.
Hishammuddin noted that the two pilots did not ask to fly together on the missing plane. New search parameters The transport minister cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the thrust of the investigation, which national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar stressed was covering all 239 passengers and crew. Engineers who may have had contact with the aircraft before takeoff were also being looked at, Khalid said. The police action followed Saturdays startling revelations that the planes communications systems had been manually switched off before the jet veered westward and flew on for hours. Like Prime Minister NajibRazak the previous day, Hishammuddin refused to use the word hijacking, saying only that the pattern of events was consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. The new search parameters involve two possible flight corridors -- a northern one stretching from Thailand to
Kazakhstan and a southern one from Indonesia towards the southern Indian Ocean. The Malaysian foreign ministry briefed representatives from 22 countries on Sunday, including the central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, and requested support in the form of satellite and radar data. For anguished relatives, the news the plane had been diverted was a double-edged sword -- holding out the slim hope that hijackers had landed the plane somewhere, while ushering in another agonising open-ended waiting period.
Relatives of Bob and Cathy Lawton, a missing Australian couple, said they were horrified by the notion of a drawn-out hijack ordeal. Thats one of the worst things I could have hoped for, Bobs brother David Lawton told News Limited newspapers. Even if they are alive, what did
they have to put up with? The scope for speculation is as broad as the new search area. Beyond the scrutiny of the cockpit crew, the possibility that the cockpit was taken over or the pilots were coerced opens a Pandoras Box of possibilities as to who might have been involved and why. Two passengers who boarded the plane with stolen EU passports have been identified as Iranians by Interpol, who said they were most likely illegal immigrants who did not fit terrorist profiles. The fact that most of the passengers on board the Beijing-bound flight were Chinese has raised speculation of involvement by militants from Chinas Muslim ethnic Uighur minority. Security experts warned against reading too much into partial data. We still really dont have a lot of evidence to go on, said Anthony Brickhouse, a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators. We dont have any wreckage, we dont have the plane itself, we dont
chief prosecutor and the chief coordinator would comment on these matters, a mid-level prosecutor told the Dhaka Tribune. Meeting sources said a proposal was placed to adopt a resolution against the chief prosecutor for his removal from the post. However, it was not accepted by some of the participants. Tipoo earlier this month wrote to the law ministry for taking proper measures after Tureen had submitted to him a written complaint mentioning Alis remarks. The incident triggered other controversial issues and made public several hidden resentments within the team. Shahriar Kabir, a war crimes case witness and noted writer, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday the government should identify those responsible for the situation and take immediate initiative. He was astonished to see that the government was reluctant to handle the situation at a time when conflicts within the prosecution team had escalated over the last two weeks. l
DHAKA TRIBUNE
News
3
Greater turnout of voters amid violence in the third phase n Mohammad Zakaria
Amid increasing complaints of violence and vote rigging, the voter turnout has also increased in the third phase of the fourth upazila parishad polls compared to the last two phases. Although several BNP backed candidates brought allegations of irregularities against the ruling party backed candidates in the third phase of the polls held on Saturday, the Election Commission was yet to investigate into the complaints and take any step to avoid such incidents in the upcoming phases, said a number of EC officials, seeking anonymity. Because of commissions inaction, the rate of violence was high during the third phase, they claimed. Regarding assault on an assistant returning officer in Barisals Hizla upazila, the commission secretariat had proposed forming an investigation committee to look into the incident. However, the commission was yet to take any initiative in this regard, a senior EC official told the Dhaka Tribune preferring to be anonymous. Election Commissioner Abdul Mobarak, who is acting as the chief election commissioner, told reporters on Saturday that the third phase polls held 100% free and fair, and the EC was satisfied with holding the polls peacefully. However, poll was postponed in only 26 polling centres in the face of violence, he said yesterday. The voter turnout in 81 upazilas in the third phase was 63.52%, whereas it was 62.44% in 97 upazilas in the first phase and 63.31% in 116 upazilas during the second phase. The highest voter turnout was 84.50% in Durgapur upazila in Rajshahi while the lowest voter turnout was 47.23% in Fulbaria upazila of Mymensingh. Out of 13,106,242, a total of 8,324,812 voters cast their votes in the third phase. A total of 369,855 votes were cancelled in the third phase while 4, 61, 383 and 562,955 were cancelled in first and second phase of the polls respectively. l
Students of Jagannath University demonstrate in front of the Central Shaheed Minar yesterday, demanding recovery of their halls from unscrupulous land grabbers MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
n Mohammad Zakaria
The EC yesterday rejected appeals of two reserved women seat candidates whose nominations were earlier cancelled on charges of bill defaulting. They are Awami League nominated candidate Sabiha Nahar Begum and Jatiya Party nominated candidate Khorshed Ara Haque. Senior Assistant Secretary to the EC Mosharraf Hossain confirmed the matter. On March 11, after scrutiny of nomination papers for reserved women seats, the EC cancelled nominations of the two for defaulting telephone bills. Khorshed Ara owed a bill of Tk223,488 and Sabiha Nahar Tk11,835 to the Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited. According to the law, the candidates have to clear bills and loans seven days before filing nomination papers. On March 12, the two candidates paid the bills and appealed to the EC to restore their nominations. l
WEATHER
UNB
Weather may remain dry with temporary partly cloudy sky over the country until 6pm today. Day and night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, Met Office said. The sun sets in the capital at 6:08pm today and rises at 6:05am tomorrow. Countrys highest temperature 35.0 degrees Celsius was recorded yesterday in Sylhet and Teknaf and lowest 14.2 degrees in Chuadanga. Highest and lowest temperature recorded in some major cities yesterday were: City Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Coxs Bazar High 32.6 32.2 1 33.0 31.7 33.5 32.4 35.0 34.8 Low 20.5 8.5 14.4 17.2 17.2 16.2 18.5 20.2
DMCH has facilities for 2,400 patients: DMCH 1 has 1,700, burn unit 100, and DMCH 2 has 600 beds
Several senior doctors of the hospital told the Dhaka Tribune that people have more confidence in the DMCH than other public hospitals, as they expect better service from the DMCH. However, the rush of patients has become a burden for different wards as the risk of infection among admitted patients has reportedly increased because of overcrowd. The senior doctors added that despite offering similar facilities, the patients were disinclined to seek medical help at other public hospitals in Dhaka. The health ministry should find out the reason behind this trend and act ap-
PRAYER TIMES
Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha 4:50am 6:05am 12:07pm 4:28pm 6:08pm 7:24pm
Source: IslamicFinder.org
DHAKA TRIBUNE
News
WEATHER
City Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Coxs Bazar
PRAYER TIMES
Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha 4:51am 6:06am 12:07pm 4:27pm 6:08pm 7:23pm
Source: IslamicFinder.org
DHAKA TRIBUNE
News
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Nation
Bijoypur surrounded by Garo hills on the bank of the Someshwari River is enriched with natural resources like white soil, presenting exquisite natural scenery
A total of eight people have so far drowned in trenches caused by soil lifting since after the countrys independence. Ranjit Khatriye, a resident of the area, said Rit Hajong, son of Rajkimar
An election camp office of a BNP-backed candidate is vandalised allegedly by a group of Awami League activists at Shahjadpur upazila in Sirajganj yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Long Form
road connections yet but everyone lives within a 30-45 minute walking distance to an M PESA agent. Using the mobile payment system also led to a drastic reduction of delivery cost to only 10%, which means that for every dollar donated 90 cents were received by the recipients.
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Mobile payment systems drastically reduced the delivery costs of cash transfers to only
10%
58
n Farzana Nawaz
n international development discussions one thing that often gets lost is the voice of the poor. Usually, development is something that is done to them. Programs are conceived and planned out in headquarters of development organisations and NGOs by experts who are thought to know better than anyone how to solve the problems of people to whom they might have little or no connection. At the same time, development programmes are notoriously expensive to implement and after years of slow progress, and little dent in the global rate of poverty, tax payers have started to ask whether either the poor or the donors are
randomised controlled trial) and it enlisted the help of one of the best evaluation teams around, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) at MIT, to find out the kind of impact such an intervention can have. The results of the study released last fall surprised the development community and surpassed all expectations contrary to increasing spending on alcohol or drugs, no-strings-attached cash transfers to the poor led to significant increases in income, assets and psychological wellbeing of the recipients.
Income went up by 33 percent on average from sources such as non-agricultural businesses and animal assets
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Smaller monthly transfers were better at increasing food security, whereas lumpsum transfers were better at increasing the asset base
Contrary to increasing spending on alcohol or drugs, no-strings-attached cash transfers to the poor led to significant increases in income, assets and psychological wellbeing of the recipients
getting good value for money. While more skeptical commentators have used terms such as the development industrial complex which exists to serve its own needs and logic more than the poor. Frustrated by the traditional development approach of big spending but scant results, a new group of donors, tech entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley, decided to ask a very bold question what would happen if we just gave money to the poor, no strings attached, for them to spend as they wish? Will they spend it on alcohol, drugs or gambling? Or will they prove that they are in fact in the best position to decide what their most pressing needs are and allocate the resources accordingly? Conceived by one of the co-founders of Facebook, Chris Hughes, and funded by tech giant Google, the NGO GiveDirectly set out to find the answers to these questions. True to the data-nerd roots of its founders, GiveDirectly designed its cash-giving project as an experiment (a
UCTs that give away large amounts of cash to the extreme poor might also have unintended negative impacts on social dynamics. While the GiveDirectly study found no impact on relationships between neighbours who received the transfers and those who did not, interviews done on the ground by NPR journalists found evidence of increased tension between neighbours. Considering that $1000 amounts to over two years of household income in this area, that is perhaps not surprising. The bottom line is that while UCTs seems to be quite successful in the short-term we dont have enough data yet to know whether they fare better than conditional transfers or more traditional aid programmes in the long run.
dence that anyone, poor or otherwise, will always do the sensible thing. One thing however is clear as technology tools like mobile banking and Internet become more available to the poorest, it will require a rethink of what forms aid can take. Perhaps just as importantly, by taking a data-driven approach, GiveDirectly has raised the burden of proof for the aid community, and especially NGOs, many of whom have been hopelessly bad at demonstrating the impact of their work until now. So what are the implications of UCTs for a country like Bangladesh? This is a big aid recipient country with a large cottage industry of NGOs and handicapped by structural problems such as high levels of corruption. At the same time, it is home to a highly entrepreneurial and hard working population which is eager for a handup rather than a handout. UCTs will not be a panacea for all the developmental challenges that we face, but the context here certainly make it a compelling enough idea that deserves to be explored. l Farzana Nawaz is governance expert currently working in media. You can write to her at farzana.nawaz@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @farzana_n. Infographics by Towsif Osman.
DHAKA TRIBUNE
World
n AP, Brussels
Pro-Russian activists hold giant Russian flags during their rally in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. Polls opened in Crimea yesterday for a unique referendum to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, with the first voters seen entering polling stations in the regional capital Simferopol AFP
n AFP, Damascus
Herdsmen kill 100 in attacks NATO websites hit in cyber-attack on Nigerian villages linked to Crimea tension
n Reuters, Kaduna, Nigeria
Gunmen killed more than 100 people in an attack on three villages in central Nigeria, an area where longstanding disputes over land, religion and ethnicity often erupt into violence, two local government officials said yesterday. Islamist sects attacks are contained further north but it did claim a 2011 Christmas Day bomb attack at a church in Jos. Fulani gunmen came across from neighboring Plateau state and just opened fire on the villagers at around 11 p.m., said Daniel Anyip, vice chairman of the Kaura local government authority. We are still picking bodies out of the bush but so far there are more than 100 killed. Andrew Kazah, another local councilor, said at least 96 had been killed, but that the toll was likely to go up. Human Rights Watch in December said sectarian clashes in the nations religiously mixed central region had killed 3,000 people since 2010, adding that Nigerian authorities had largely ignored the violence, an accusation they denied. Though it sometimes takes on a sectarian character, the violence is fundamentally about decades-old land disputes between semi-nomadic, cattle-keeping communities such as the Fulani and settled farming peoples such as the Berom, both often armed with automatic weapons. Nigeria is Africas most populous nation with almost 170 million people, split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims and around 250 different ethnic groups who mostly live peacefully side-by-side. But the central region has been a tinderbox for decades. Its violence, far from economic centers or oil fields in Africas second-biggest economy and top oil producer, rarely captures the attention of its elites. l
Syrias army said yesterday it had seized the rebel stronghold Yabrud, where it is backed by Lebanons Hezbollah and pro-regime militias, dealing the opposition a heavy symbolic and strategic blow. After a series of special operations, the Syrian Arab army, in coordination with the (paramilitary) National Defence Forces, returned security and stability to the town of Yabrud and its surroundings in northern Damascus province, an army statement said. State television broadcast images of dead fighters, and its correspondent on the ground said traffic was moving normally along the nearby highway that links the capital Damascus to Syrias third city Homs. This new success... is an important step towards securing the border area with Lebanon, and cutting off the roads and tightening the noose around the remaining terrorist cells in Damascus province, the military added. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an NGO, said Lebanons Shiite Hezbollah movement had led the Yabrud operation. Hezbollah forces supported by Syrian regime troops and the pro-regime National Defence Forces militia have taken control of large parts of Yabrud, the group said, adding that clashes were continuing. The fall of Yabrud comes after months of Syrian army operations in the strategic Qalamoun region, north of Damascus, where the town is situated. l
n Reuters, Brussels/London
Hackers brought down several public NATO websites, the alliance said yesterday, in what appeared to be the latest escalation in cyberspace over growing tensions over Crimea. The Western military alliances spokeswoman, Oana Lungescu, said on social networking site Twitter that cyber attacks, which began on Saturday evening, continued yesterday, although most services had now been restored. It doesnt impede our ability to command and control our forces. At no time was there any risk to our classified
The unrest is not linked to the insurgency in the northeast by Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia law
Police confirmed the raids by Fulani herdsman late on Friday on the villages of Ugwar Sankwai, Ungwan Gata and Chenshyi, in Kaduna state, but declined to give a death toll. Hundreds have been killed in the past year in clashes pitting the cattle-herding and largely Muslim Fulani people against mostly Christian settled communities like the Berom in Nigerias volatile Middle Belt, where its mostly Christian south and Muslim north meet. The unrest is not linked to the insurgency in the northeast by Boko Haram, an al Qaeda-linked group which wants to impose sharia law in northern Nigeria. However, analysts say there is a risk the insurgents will try to stoke central Nigerias conflict. Though most of the
networks, another NATO official said. NATOs main public website (www. nato.int), which carried a statement by Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen saying that Sundays referendum on Crimeas status would violate international law and lack legitimacy, worked intermittently. The so-called distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, in which hackers bombard websites with requests causing them to slow down or crash, also hit the site of a NATO-affiliated cyber security centre in Estonia. NATOs unclassified e-mail network was also affected. A group calling itself cyber ber-
kut said the attack had been carried out by patriotic Ukrainians angry over what they saw as NATO interference in their country. The claim, made at www.cyber-berkut.org, could not be independently verified. Berkut is a reference to the feared and since disbanded riot squads used by the government of ousted pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. Cyber warfare expert Jeffrey Carr, in a blog on the attacks, described cyber berkut as staunch supporters of Yanukovich and a pro-Russia hacktivist group working against Ukrainian independence. l
SHATTERED HOMES
Frustration
Besides the so-called core issues, other hurdles to a deal have also emerged, particularly Netanyahus demand that Abbas recognises Israel as a Jewish state. Israel says this would show he was serious about ending the conflict, but the Palestinians say it would merely destroy their own narrative. Abbas says accepting it would effectively deny his own peoples centuries-old links to the land and would also mean renouncing the right to return for some 5 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Washington has endorsed the Israeli position but, perhaps revealing a frustration with Netanyahu, Kerry told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Thursday that it was a mistake to raise the issue repeatedly as the critical decider. Adamant not to give in on this point, Abbas also faces pressure at home not to agree to any loosely worded accord that would simply prolong negotiations, with no clear end in sight. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which is chaired by Abbas, issued a statement this week expressing its absolute rejection of any prolongation. PLO board member Hanan Ashrawi said that without obtaining a freeze on Jewish settlement-building on occupied territories the Palestinians want for their future state, any further discussions would be futile. l
A child cries as he looks out of the window of his damaged house in the village of Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon, near the Lebanon-Israel border on March 15, 2014 after it was shelled by an Israeli strike the previous night. Israel said it shelled a position belonging to the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah inside Lebanon AFP
DHAKA TRIBUNE
World
9
Afghan election field down to nine n AFP, Kabul
Former defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak withdrew from the Afghan presidential election yesterday in the latest sign of deal-making in the race to lead the country as NATO troops prepare to exit. Wardak, a veteran military and political operator, has been a senior advisor to President Hamid Karzai, but he failed to make any impact in the election campaign ahead of voting on April 5. Nine candidates now remain in the race to succeed Karzai, who has ruled Afghanistan since 2001 and is constitutionally banned from running again. The three leading names are former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul, Abdullah Abdullah, who came second in 2009, and former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani. Wardak, from the Pashtun ethnic group like Karzai and Rassoul, was a guerrilla commander in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. US-led NATO combat troops are leaving after 13 years of fighting the Taliban insurgency that erupted when the Islamists were thrown out of power after the 9/11 attacks on the United States. The Taliban last week vowed to target the election. l
KAZAKHSTAN BEIJING
Sched uled ro ute
MALAYSIA
25 countries
INDONESIA
New revelations about a missing Malaysia Airlines plane have left anguished relatives contemplating the prospect that those on board endured a terrifying high-altitude hijack ordeal that may have lasted nearly eight hours. But while the disclosures led to increased speculation of a terror plot or pilot suicide, for some they offered a glimmer of hope that flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, may somehow have landed safely and that their loved ones may still be alive. For relatives of Bob and Cathy Lawton, a missing Australian couple, the possibility of a terrifying drawn-out fate at thousands of feet reflected their deepest fears. Thats one of the worst things I could have hoped for, Bobs brother David Lawton told News Limited newspapers. Even if they are alive, what did they have to put up with? Prime Minister Najib Razak declined to use the word hijack when he briefed the press Saturday, but said new data suggested a deliberate action to divert the plane. The Boeing 777s communications appear to have been switched off manually before the jet veered westward
and flew for hours. What happened during that time remains a mystery. But one report of the plane fluctuating from low to high altitude fuelled fears the passengers may have been well aware they were in terrible danger. The New York Times said the jet had reached 45,000 feet above its approved altitude limit before it descended unevenly to 23,000 feet. It cited Malaysian military radar signals, but the data has not been confirmed by the authorities. At 45,000 feet, it may result in pressurisation problems, said Gerry Soejatman, a Jakarta-based independent aviation analyst. But we dont know how the fluctuation went, whether it was gentle or violent and sharp. If it was gentle, only a few sensitive passengers would notice.
We are extremely anxious. A long time has passed and they dont disclose (more) information, he said. Another branded the meeting a joke. Until they say what really and truly happened, what good is it? he said. Malaysian authorities have been severely criticised for failing to share information or for issuing contradictory statements. Chinas media made fresh criticism Sunday, saying Malaysia had squandered precious time and resources by releasing the dramatic information on the planes fate a full week after it vanished. It is undeniable that the disclosure of such vital information is painfully belated, a scathing editorial by the state-run Xinhua news agency said, noting the excruciating seven days it entailed for relatives of the missing.
Chinas fury
Clinging to hope
For relatives in China, which had 153 citizens on the flight, the investigators breakthrough just brought more distress and frustration. We are experiencing an ordeal. We are still waiting for (more information), said one tearful man emerging from a meeting between Malaysia Airlines and relatives in Beijing on Sunday morning.
Yet for some the new evidence brought relief and a reason for hope. Our family is relieved that theres an official statement from the Malaysian government, delivered by the Malaysian prime minister, that theres a possibility that the aircraft might have been hijacked, said Indonesian Santi. Her brother Sugianto Lo was on the flight with his wife Vinny Chynthya. l
It was the latest example of violence over an alleged violation of Pakistans tough blasphemy laws
It was the latest example of violence over an alleged violation of Pakistans tough blasphemy laws, which rights groups say are often abused to settle personal scores. The law and order problem surfaced in the city Saturday evening after local residents accused a Hindu youth, Surjeet Kumar, of burning pages of the Holy Koran, senior local administration official Ghunwar Leghari told AFP. Dozens of enraged Muslims attacked a Hindu temple in the city and set fire to its sanctuary, Leghari said, adding the situation had been brought under control overnight and Kumar
An aerial view taken from a Pakistan army helicopter shows villagers near their homes in the Thar desert area of Mehrano Taluka Deeplo, some 300 kilometres from Karachi, on March 16, 2014. As the death toll from the latest outbreak of poverty-driven diseases in Pakistans Thar desert nears 100 children, experts are warning that corruption and a dysfunctional political system make a repeat of the disaster almost inevitable. The desert region in Tharparkar, one of Pakistans poorest districts, spreads over nearly 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 square miles) in the countrys southeast and is home to some 1.3 million people, including a large population of minority Hindus AFP
New Thai Red Shirts leader warns of battle ahead n AFP, Bangkok
A firebrand hardliner who was a core leader of Thailands Red Shirts in the countrys massive 2010 protests has been chosen to head the pro-government movement, saying yesterday that a big fight lay ahead. Former MP Jatuporn Prompan, facing terrorism charges in an ongoing trial related to the 2010 uprising, told AFP that any new Red Shirt tactics would be peaceful. We have to discuss our strategy, Jatuporn told AFP. The next battle will be big. He ruled out violence, saying that any new strategy would involve no weapons. Jatuporn took the helm as chairman from previous Red Shirt leader Tida Tawornseth at a gathering of 10,000 supporters in Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, on Saturday. Bangkok has been rocked by months of mass protests calling for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step aside in favour of an unelected peoples council to tackle what opponents see as a culture of money-driven politics. The backdrop is a longstanding struggle between a royalist establishment, backed by the judiciary and the military, and Yinglucks billionaire family which has strong support in the northern half of Thailand. Protests accuse Yinglucks elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra a tycoon-turned-premier who was ousted from office by royalist generals in 2006 of running the government from overseas, where he lives to avoid a jail term for corruption. l
While Kejriwal doesnt mince words when it comes to attacking the media, it is ironic that the party has given a sizable number of tickets to journalists
Narmada Bachao Andolan pioneer Patkar is in fray from Mumbai Northeast while another NBA activist Alok Agarwal is contesting from Khandwa. Similarly, tribal activist Soni Sori is contesting from Bastar in Chhattisgarh whereas anti-Posco leader Lingraj is contesting from Bargarh in Odisha. Experts from the field of academics, literary world and science are also in fray on AAP tickets. Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, is contesting from East Delhi whereas Malyali writer Sara Joseph is in fray from Thrissur in Kerala. The party has also been able to attract serving and former bureaucrats. Former IPS officer Kanchan Choudhary
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DHAKA TRIBUNE
Editorial
LETTER OF THE DAY
Letters to
the Editor
Bangladesh has made a welcome return to winning ways. May this just be the beginning
Be Heard
Write to us at: Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Email us at: letters@dhakatribune.com Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion@dhakatribune.com Visit our website: www.dhakatribune.com Come join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune
he third phase of the upazila parishad elections has seen serious, substantiated allegations of polling violations, and widespread violence in which three people were killed. In the face of this, it is unacceptable for the acting chief election commissioner to tell reporters the EC is 100% satisfied with the polls and to comment that: When holding elections, some stray incidents may take place. This statement overlooks the hundreds hurt and downplays allegations made in various polling centres of ballot boxes being stuffed and party activists capturing voting centres. We acknowledge that the ultimate responsibility for this lies with the political parties who allow or enable their activists to behave lawlessly. However, the EC should have learned lessons from the earlier phases of the polls to help the police maintain order. Moreover, it is disquieting that candidates belonging to the AL won almost all the seats where there were allegations of vote-rigging and violence. These results contributed to an upsurge in its wins, with AL leading in this phase, in contrast to the first two polls where it lagged behind the BNP. As similar credible allegations were made in the previous elections, the EC has to become more forthright about its investigations into complaints and allegations made against all the parties. The EC needs to demonstrate that all incidents are properly investigated and that there have been or will be consequences for wrongdoers. It should take this weeks deaths as a wake-up call for action to prevent similar incidents tainting future polls.
The EC needs to demonstrate that all incidents are properly investigated and that are consequences for wrongdoers
PEANUTS
CROSSWORD
Across 1 Male deer (4) 3 Furniture item (4) 7 Fresh (3) 8 Stoppers (5) 11 Vend (4) 12 Intended (5) 13 Happening (5) 15 Circle (4) 18 Torn (4) 19 Pitworker (5) 20 Harvests (5) 21 Neat (4) 24 Respond (5) 25 Church seating (4) 26 Camera part (4) Down 1 Soldier (6) 2 Quickness of perception (6) 4 United (3) 5 Of the cat (4) 6 Boring tool (3) 9 Well-born people (6) 10 Posed for a portrait (3) 11 Chevron (6) 14 Italian city (6) 16 Mad (6) 17 For nothing (6) 19 Spoil (3) 21 Faucet (3) 22 Early freshness (3)
SUDOKU
YESTERDAYS SOLUTIONS
Crossword
How to solve Sudoku: 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 numberrepeating.
Sudoku
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Op-Ed
11
This is nothing but an invasion attempt, I knew it all along. Cultural aggression at its worst
n Towheed Feroze
he poster looked different a young girl in glasses holding a menacing weapon the title read Agnee. Its a movie about a girl on fire, commented the tea-seller, on whose cigarette-selling box the poster was plastered. In fact, his exact line was: Daring (pronounced dearing) maiya, shob halae Bhiter Bari. Finding it a bit difficult to understand? Well, Bhiter Bari is a commonly used term to indicate that someone is so scared that he or she is unwilling to come outside of the house. So, in everyday language, if you say: Mamma tumi to Bhiter Bari, it means something has scared the living daylights out of a person. In the case of Agnee, the movie, the word means that the actress sends all villains packing. Hmm, I always liked women who specialise in violence, and since there isnt a dungeon in Dhaka (as yet), I thought it a good idea to go and check out Mahiya Mahi and her male-bashing expertise. This is the best you can get if dominatrix deshi-style is what you are looking for in celluloid, I am told. I have always been a Bangla movie fan, going back to the late 70s when copies of hit Bollywood movies were made into equally good local ones like Dost Dushman, Mintu Amar Naam, Johnny, Sharif Bodmash, Barud, and so on. The habit never left, and even during the times when local productions reached a nadir with crass vulgarity dominating them, I found some time to go and watch a film. Trust me, if you walk inside after a few shots of Vodka and having left your common sense back home, things
never appear that hopeless. But thankfully, Bangladeshi movies have started to come out of the dubious formula of low cost productions featuring obese actresses bursting at the seams and wig-wearing actors delivering clichd lines, though there is still a long way to go. I did say local movies are coming out of a time warp, which means its happening, albeit a bit slowly. Hence, while the camera work is perfect and the editing above average, some parts are still the same:This is exactly why we are not at all shocked when all bad guys are found to be oversexed, always salivating at the slightest sign of a skirt.
Like I said earlier, while filmography has improved, storylines have become peripheral. Arey golpo diya ki hoibo (who cares about a story), someone tells me.Right. To hell with the story, bring on more digital razzmatazz. I am still high A prehistoric plot is given the millennium touch a girls parents are brutally murdered by goons and she grows up with one ambition to avenge their deaths. Hence, the name Agnee, alluding to her fiery resolve. Of course, no one asks from where she gets her weapons or how she transported all these deadly-looking guns to Thailand. Mate, I told you to leave your com-
Bangladeshi movies have started to come out of the dubious formula of low cost productions, though there is still a long way to go
Heavy doses of Viagra, maybe. No, no I forgot, the setting is Bangkok the ambiance is heady enough for sending the libido to the top. The unwritten law: Villains have to be lecherous, immoral womanisers with no refinement at all. Therefore, when a suited guy lasciviously measures Mahiya Mahi (Tanisha), remarking he is tired of eating farmed chicken and desires some deshi chicken, we know instantly this guy is the baddie. One more point to note: They always talk in a passive voice he will be killed by me, as opposed to I will kill him.
mon sense back at home. We must assume that on the streets of another country, vicious-looking weapons are freely available. Walk in somewhere (preferably inside an off-license shop for weapons), and simply say: Excuse me, need to bump off a few hundred people, so what do you suggest? Voila! A whole range of items are placed before you who knows, they may even offer a buy an AK-47, get a mini rocket launcher for free! deal. Also, there is no sign of the police. Assassins, mafia bosses, plus all underworld leaders can roam around
freely. Guns are fired without silencers. Armed people move about without worry what a Crime-Ri La. In between, there is naturally our hero Arefin Shuvo the Bengali who is a Thai boxing champion. Interestingly, we never see him engage in Thai martial arts. His film name is fittingly Dragon, though the fierce nature that is supposed to come with the epithet melts at the sight of Tanisha. Dragon turns Diwana! Quick time for a song by the beach, on the boat, on top of wavesplashed rocks. I hate the gun, he rants, give me love pleeeeease, Tanisha, my jaan! This is the gist of about one hour of the film. Tainna boro kora, or stretching a wafer-thin plot to the limit an old habit that is present in all its glory. Tell me, how long does the high of five shots of vodka last? Er, ummm, an hour and a half at the most. Once the senses come back to normalcy, its hard to keep on watching. No doubt, technology-wise, movies have become better. However, camera work alone does not make a film. With stale jokes done to death and lines topped with heavy doses of anachronisms rule, eventually, Agnee ends in a typical alls well that ends well fashion. So many deaths, but no eyebrows raised. Hell, talk about a haven for extra-judicial killings. Five years from now,which part will you remember? A scene where Tanisha, posing as a hooker, demands $5000 for some short-time fun. What? With that amount, you can get a whole harem mate! l Towheed Feroze is a journalist currently working in the development sector.
I dont understand what is wrong with common people. Why do they only care about economic and social development? What is the big deal about uninterrupted electricity? And success in counterterrorism is not a big deal, it was a figment of imaginations. As I drank more pure mango juice, my increasingly pure mind was showing signs of confusion. I hate liberals because they are the cause of all our problems, trust me. It is not only cultural invasion. My horse-drawn cart broke down on the way to the concert. It was the fault of the evil invaders. If thats not enough, can you believe my washroom broke down too? I really dont know how they did it, but I am sure it is their fault too. I really didnt like the concert, or am I trying to make myself believe that to justify my political vies? I cant take this anymore. I must go to bed. I have to wake up earlytomorrowmorning to work on my thesis. The typewriter is giving me a lot of trouble, I need to get the ink ribbon changed.Hope to see all of you in Dhaka later this year. I will take a boat from the Yarra to Buriganga in August, so I should reach home by the end of the year. In the meantime, please avoid this mango juice it is best to avoid the truth. After all, ignorance is often bliss. Lastly, my heart goes out to you for your pain that you can see I so passionately share. Goodnight. Yours truly, Nineteenth Century (closet) Conservative. l Ifti Rashid is a political and security analyst, currently a PhDCandidate in the National Centre for South Asian Studies, Monash University. He is a columnist of the Dhaka Tribune.
Remembering Bangabandhu
I
n Julian Francis
n 1971, I had the privilege and responsibility of administering Oxfam-UKs relief program for about 600,000 of the ten million refugees who had fled from Bangladesh to India and were staying in many of the over 900 refugee camps in the border area of India and Bangladesh. After the return to Bangladesh of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on January 10, 1972, I made plans to bring one of their landrovers, laden with urgently needed medical supplies, to Dhaka from Calcutta. On January 20, I set off from Calcutta. We travelled very slowly as there were so many people walking back from West Bengal to their homes in Bangladesh. We stayed overnight at a Catholic Mission Hospital in Jessore where, earlier, an Italian Father had been killed by Pakistani army personnel as a punishment for giving humanitarian assistance to members of the Mukti Bahini. The next day we continued on our slow way to Dhaka and with the very long delay queuing for the ferry, we did not reach the centre of Dhaka until about midnight. I remember driving past the old airport with not a person or vehicle in sight. Suddenly, from nowhere, army personnel and police surrounded our vehicle. We had not known that there was a night-time curfew. After explaining who we were, we were escorted to the Purbani Hotel. I was advised by the British High Commission and other aid officials to pay a courtesy call on Sheikh Mujib. My meeting with him is one I will never forget. I told him that I wanted his advice about what we might be able to do to assist in the rehabilitation and development of Bangladesh. Sheikh Mujib took his pipe out of his mouth and pointed the stem of the pipe at me. How did you come here, young man? he asked in a booming voice. I told him that I had driven over land from Calcutta. In that case, he told me, You have seen more of my country than I have, as I was a prisoner for over 9 months, so please tell me what my country needs. What have you seen? would arrive by early March. I added that I thought that bridge-building and replacement and repairs of ferries were more suited to bilateral and multilateral aid. No, Sheikh Mujib said, Ferries are and will be the lifelines for my people. Please discuss with officials of the Bangladesh Inland Waterways Authority and see what Oxfam can do. Before I left him, Sheikh Mujib asked me about my experiences working with the people of Bangladesh in the refugee camps. As I spoke, emotion got the better of me and tears welled up in my eyes. Sheikh Mujib put his arm around me to comfort me and said, Go young man, be strong, of getting to know the flora and fauna of Bangladesh and how they are part of the countrys poetry and music, we requested that the vessels be named after flowers. And so, Kamini, Kosturi, and Korobi, were so named and they continue to ply across the Padma River at Mawa to this day, over 40 years later. During my short visit to Bangladesh 42 years ago, it was obvious that the two greatest needs were food and the restoration of the transport system with which to move the food around the country. Our Overseas Aid Director at that time, Ken Bennett, wrote in a report, a short while after my January 1972 visit: I doubt if it would be an exaggeration to say that on the extent to which a solution to the problem of food imports and the restoration of communications can be quickly found may well depend the future of Bangladesh as a State. It is to Bangladeshs great credit that it has survived and prospered and is now self-sufficient in the production of basic food grains which can be moved about the country most efficiently. In 1975, I was based in New Delhi, and on August 15, together with my family, I was watching Indias Independence Day celebrations on the television when the program was interrupted with the news of the assassination of Sheikh Mujib and his family members. I remembered being numbed by shock and burying my head in my hands and weeping loudly. Nearly 39 years later, I still get very
As I spoke, emotion got the better of me and tears welled up in my eyes. Sheikh Mujib put his arm around me to comfort me
I told Sheikh Mujib that I had seen many villages that had been burnt down, many bridges and culverts blown up, and many ferries and launches, large and small, sunk in the rivers. I told him that, on behalf of the organisation I was working with, I had already ordered, in India, 250,000 worth of CI sheets for a big house-rebuilding program and these
and thank you for coming to see me and for helping Bangladesh. As a result of the meeting with Sheikh Mujib, we were able to procure 3 truck-carrying ferries and to assist the repair of many others. I remember that the Bangladesh Inland Waterways Authority wanted, understandably, to name the ferries after Liberation War martyrs but after the experience
ARCHIVE
emotional when I remember that day in 1975. l Julian Francis received the Friends of Liberation War Honour from the
Government of Bangladesh in March, 2012. He has worked in many poverty alleviation projects in Bangladesh where he continues to live and work as an independent consultant.
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DHAKA TRIBUNE
Entertainment
Are you going to perform here in Bangladesh this time?
I would love to perform in Bangladesh as I am aware how much love teenagers hold for electronic dance music. It definitely would give one a buzz to perform in their own country. The Bangali community have always welcomed me with open arms and I hold them very dear to my heart. I am fascinated by the richness the country exhales in poetry, literature and art. This time, I have come to visit my family and friends in Dhaka and Sylhet. I loved my grandma and I didnt get a chance to say goodbye to her. Life is short and I wanted to spend some quality with my uncle, nieces and nephews and the people of our community both young and old.
I have been brought up listening to all genres of music and I did listen to Rabindra Sangeet. Bengali music is very rich. I dont follow it as much now because my genre of music is electronica dance, trance, fusion and sufi. I have however written a Bangla track and I hope to release it soon.
Are you interested in singing Bangla songs or work with Bangladeshi musicians or playback in Bangladeshi films?
I would love to work with Bangladeshi musicians and of course if an offer comes for Bangla playback work, why not? Music has no barrier, it opens many doors internationally and it is always wonderful to collaborate with artistes of all genres.
Having an Asian background, how challenging was it for you to enter the International music scene?
I guess life itself is a big challenge - being an Asian works to my credibility and I achieved respect from both Asians and non-Asians alike. I never really thought about differences. I headlined many festivals in London and the producers were thrilled to see my performance. It attracted endless mainstream producers. It took me a while to get acquainted with everything. In the beginning, I was experimenting but later I created my own niche in the market. Sometimes artists have to expose themselves completely to reach the height of success, I refused to take that path and my faith. I was always very strong headed and would not compromise. I never needed to. Mainstream producers have always respected my thoughts, achievements and my voice till date. I did not have much time to think of the challenges. I believe in delivering quality work and projects that inspire me to write and sing. I find competition tiring and I switch off. I have received love from my fans and naturally reciprocate.
My Indo-Arabic Alaap chants that featured on The Prodigys smash hit single Smack My Bitch Up was a phenomenal success. The album Fat of the Land entered the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest selling album in the world and held the No 1 spot in over 24 countries selling over 10 million copies. Recently I received a quadruple platinum disc for my contributions. My club stomper single Mundaya with Tim Deluxe was BBC Radio 1s tune of the week, charted No 4 in the buzz charts. I have performed alongside 50 cent in Lebanon, Shah Rukh Khan in London, headlined many festivals in Europe, launched charity events, took part in the NSPCC campaign, was nominated for various awards and was one of the judges for Great Britain Miss Universe pageant.
Oscar winner Lupita Nyongo in talks for Star Wars n Entertainment Desk
Rumour has it that award-winning actress Lupita Nyongo has met with Star Wars producer JJ Abrams as recently as a few weeks ago about an upcoming role in Star Wars. The meeting is said to have occurred before Nyongos big win as Best Supporting Actress for her work in 12 Years a Slave at the 86th Academy Awards held on March 2. Great secrecy surrounds not only the Star Wars plot, but the casting selection. As such, it is unclear which role Nyongo, 31, is contending for, though it is believed to be a lead. Speculators suggest that Nyongo could be vying for the role of a descendent of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a character who need not be portrayed by a white actor. Nyongo could certainly play the part. l
What are the keys to stand out in the crowd of musicians all over the world?
My last three featured singles are Revolver (Dope Buzz), Is It Love ( Zak Moya), Supafly (Happiness), Take It (Noise Control). I have signed with Skint Records for a single deal, they have artistes like Fat Boy Slim. My current collaboration is with Dj Bobina, Russian trance dj - a single is due for release this year InshaAllah. All my works are available on iTunes. l
On the occasion of Dhaka Dramas 37th Anniversary Theatre Festival-2014 Subachan Natya Shangsad staged its highly acclaimed play Mohajoner Nao on March 15 at Experimental Theatre Hall of Shilpakala Academy in the capital. Written by Shakoor Majid and directed by Sudip Chakraborty, the play narrates the story of Shah Abdul Karim and his journey to the realm of music through different sequences based on his biography. Throughout the play, the actors, partly and fully, sing over 20 timeless songs from Abdul Karims repertoire of over 1500 songs. Karims philosophy is, perhaps, best reflected through his songs. Both the playwright and director have aptly taken this approach to establish the storyline. The play also focuses on the difficulties that Karim faced in society. The performances of the actors, creative set designing and music are the special features of the play that always attracts the audience SUBRIN AL AZAD
TODAY IN DHAKA
Film
Enders Game Avatar 3D Aakash Koto Dure Thor: The Dark World 3D The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in 3D , Frozen in 3D Agnee Time: 10am - 10pm Star Cineplex, Bashundhara City Artistes in the making of the music video of Dhono Dhanne Pushpe Bhora Robocop, Gravity Captain Phillips, Elysium Time: 12:30pm 9:30pm Blockbuster Cinemas Jamuna Future Park Ka- 244, Pragati Avenue, Kuril Fairy Tale Week Time: 3:30pm 5:30pm Goethe Institute, Road 9(new) House 10, Dhanmondi R/A
Sport
R 0 7 21 0 3 10 16 1 1 1 0 12 B 1 11 22 1 9 23 16 3 6 11 1
DHAKA TRIBUNE
13
14 Rosberg wins
Australian GP
14 Johnson out of
World T20
15 Bangladesh
SCORECARD
Afghanistan innings Shahzad c Mdullah b Mashrafe Tarakai c Nasir b Shakib Naib c Sabbir b Shakib Mangal run out (Sabbir) Nabi* lbw b Razzak Sadiq run out (Reza) Shafiqullah c Mushfiq b Mdullah Shenwari lbw b Razzak Zadran c Mahmudullah b Reza Zadran b Shakib Aftab not out Extras (b 2, lb 5, w 3, nb 2)
72
Bowling
Mashrafe 2 0 8 1, Al-Amin 2 0 18 0, Shakib 3.1 0 8 3, Mdullah 4 1 8 1, Razzak 4 0 20 2, Sabbir 1 0 1 0, Reza 1 0 2 1
Bangladesh innings
Tamim lbw b Shenwari Anamul not out Shakib not out Extras (lb 1, w 2)
R 21 44 10 3
B 27 33 12
78
Bowling
Nabi 3 0 11 0, Shapoor 1 0 7 0, Karim 2 0 17 0, Dawlat 2 0 13 0, Shenwari 3 014 1, Aftab 1 0 15 0
Bangladeshs batsman Anamul Haque celebrates after hitting the winning shot during their World Twenty20 opening match against Afghanistan at SBNS yesterday AP
laid the foundation to win after bundling out Afghanistan for just 72 runs in 17.1 over which was the lowest total for the Afghans. Afghan cricketers tried to tempt the tigers when they went to field and before the start of the Bangladeshi innings, wicket keeper Mohammad Shahzad had an argument with Tamim, which was later handled by the umpire. Afghanistan side were even more frustrated when opener Anamul Haque started to charge the bowling alongside Tamim. Fast bowler Dawlat Zadran showed his anger when he threw back to the stump from his follow through and when Tamim hit the ball, it created an intense moment on the field. The 25-year old fast bowler again showed his aggression when he had another aggressive words with Shakib al Hasan and this time, the on field umpires came in to the act and warned the Afghan bowler for his overly aggressive attitude. l
For Rana
On March 16, 2007 the Bangladesh cricket team had to bear the news of the sad demise of their friend and teammate Manjarul Islam Rana. Rana died in a road accident in Khulna when the national team was at West Indies to play in the 2007 World Cup. Bangladesh team received the news at their team hotel at Port of Spain, a day prior to their match against India. The Tigers led by Habibul Bashar were considered as a minnows back then, but call it emotion or dedication the Bangladesh side stunned India by five wickets, which eventually resulted in India getting knocked out of the tournament as Bangladesh progressed forward. The win was dedicated to Rana and even years after that the Tigers in some instances dedicated their odd win in the month of March to their beloved friend. An opportunity returned for Bangladesh once again in a World Cup to dedicate a memorable performance for their loved Rana on his seventh death anniversary and the Tigers did not let it go. Bangladesh yesterday staged a powerful performance to beat Afghanistan by nine wickets to take a giant leap towards the second round of the World Twenty20 and once again March seems to be a month that brings the Tigers on their feet. l
Bangladesh cricket fans cheered the Tigers up against Afghanistan at the SBNS yesterday
MUMIT M
14
Defoe makes successful MLS debut
Jermain Defoe made the most of his Major League Soccer debut, scoring two goals to lift Toronto FC to a 2 1 win over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday. The 31-year-old England international made the switch to Toronto from Tottenham in January and had an immediate impact for his new club. He scored less than 17 minutes into his first match at CenturyLink Field. Jonathan Osorio started the scoring play by corralling a loose ball at midfield and threading a pass into the path of Defoe, who raced to the box to slot a shot past Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei. AFP
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Sport
RESULTS
Tottenham Man United
0 1 0 3 1 0
Arsenal
Rosicky 2
Liverpool
Gerrard 34-pen 46-pen, Suarez 84
Aston Villa
Delph 82
Chelsea
Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard (C) celebrates after scoring aganist Manchester United during their EPL match at Old Trafford in Manchester, yesterday
AFP
Seven up for Barca as Messi breaks another record Rosberg opens new F1 era with dominant win n
AFP, Madrid
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick to become Barcelonas all-time record goalscorer as they cut the gap on La Liga leaders Real Madrid to four points ahead of their meeting next weekend with a 7-0 thrashing of Osasuna. After a slow start, the hosts were sparked into life by Messis opening goal as he flicked home at the near post from Alexis Sanchezs cross. Sanchez was next on the scoresheet as he finished off a similar move involving Andres Iniesta and Jordi Alba before Iniestas wonderful strike from 25 yards made it 3-0. Messi then broke another record by registering his 370th Barca goal to overtake Paulinho Alcantara as the clubs record marksman before rounding off his hat-trick in between further strikes from Cristian Tello and Pedro Rodriguez. Barca boss Gerardo Martino had left Cesc Fabregas and Neymar on the bench after their exertions in the 2-1 win over Manchester City in midweek with Sanchez and Pedro recalled to the starting line-up. Amazingly, the Catalans had to withstand a bright opening from Osasuna as Victor Valdes produced a great save to deny Emiliano Armenteros and Oriol Riera was rightly flagged offside as he put the rebound into the net. However, Barca opened the scoring 10 minutes later when Sanchez was fed by Xavi and Messi got across his man to delicately touch home the Chileans low cross. Sanchez should have doubled his sides advantage two minutes later when he chipped over with just Andres Fernandez to beat, but the former Udinese man made amends when he sidefooted home after a lovely one-two between Alba and Iniesta opened up the Osasuna defence. Iniesta then made it 3-0 with just his second goal of the season 11 minutes before half-time with a sweetly struck left-footed effort that flew into the top corner. Fernandez was forced into fine saves from Dani Alves and Xavi to ensure Barca didnt go in even further ahead at the break. Osasuna should have got themselves back in the game early in the second-half as Riera and Roberto Torres failed to hit the target when presented with clear sights of goal. They were soon further behind, though, as Messi slammed home Iniestas cut-back just after the hour mark to surpass Alcantaras 369 goals in 357 games between 1912 and 1927. Substitute Tello got his sides fifth goal with virtually his first touch as he whipped the ball into the far corner from just outside the area. Messi fittingly sealed his hat-trick as he received Dani Alves pass before easily side-footing in from close range for his 31st goal of the season. And Messi then teed up Pedro to make it 7-0 in stoppage time with a neat low finish past Fernandez.
RESULTS
Elche Barcelona
Messi 19, 62, 88, Sanchez 21, Iniesta 34, Tello 78, Pedro 90
0 0 7 0
0 1 3 1
Celta Vigo
Nolito 19
Almeria
Soriano 71
0 1 1 0
Real Madrid
Ronaldo 23
Espanyol
Cristiano Ronaldo struck midway through the first half as leaders Real Madrid won 1-0 at Malaga in La Liga on Saturday, while Atletico Madrid stayed hot on their heels after Diego Costa netted in a 1-0 victory over Espanyol. l
Nico Rosberg opened Formula Ones new era with a dominant victory at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday as Red Bulls Daniel Ricciardo risked disqualification from second place over fuel rules. Rosberg, whose Mercedes team have come out strongest with the sports new hybrid technology, led from start to finish and took the chequered flag 24.5 seconds ahead of Australias Ricciardo in his Red Bull debut. There was also a brilliant third place in his Formula One debut for McLarens Kevin Magnussen, 21, who became the first Danish driver ever to reach the podium. But defending world champion Sebastian Vettel and pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton both managed only a handful of laps before retiring due to
power issues as F1 absorbs a raft of technical changes. And Ricciardo faced an anxious wait as stewards deliberated whether to take action for violating the maximum fuel flow, or rate of fuel use, which is among the innovations this season. l
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celerbrates his win over John Isner during the semifinals of the BNP Parabas Open at the Indian Wells on Saturday AFP
Poor Lille held by Nantes Parma put the boot into 10-man Milan
Lille let slip a chance to cement their claims on Champions League football next season when held to a goalless draw at home by Nantes in Ligue 1 on Saturday. The northern French side, who were assured of remaining in third place irrespective of the result, are now on 53 points, six adrift of Monaco who are away to Lyon on Sunday. Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint Germain are also in action on Sunday, Laurent Blancs team welcoming fourth-placed Saint-Etienne to the Parc des Princes. Lyon and St-Etienne are Lilles main rivals for Champions League qualification. Rene Girards Lille were devoid of any real attacking menace and were booed by their home supporters. l
n AFP, Milan
Antonio Cassano scored a brace as Parma stunned ten-man AC Milan 4-2 to drop the Serie A giants to 12th and virtually out of contention for European football on Sunday. After two consecutive defeats the pressure was on Milan coach Clarence Seedorf, who in midweek was forced to deny he had had harsh words for misfiring striker Mario Balotelli. But despite the misfortune of seeing keeper Christian Abbiati sent off inside 10 minutes for a foul on Ezequiel Schelotto, the burden on the 37-year-old Dutchman is now likely to weigh heavier. Milans third defeat in succession,
RESULTS
Lille Ajaccio
Lasne 8
0 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 2 3
Evian Nice
Bosetti 5, Maupay 71
Bastia Toulouse
Rennes
Nelson Oliveira 68, Doucoure 87
Sochaux
Contout 7, Sunzu 79
2 0
Lorient
following reverses to Juventus and Udinese, left the ailing Italian giants 37 points behind leaders Juventus and now 11 behind Parma, who occupy the first Europa League spot in fifth. While Juve continue their charge towards a third consecutive scudetto -they hold a 14-point lead on Roma, who have a game in hand, before their respective games later -- the battle for European places is well and truly on. Parma now have a one-point lead on Fiorentina as well as a game in hand, although Fiorentina can reclaim fifth spot with a win at home to Chievo later on Sunday. The visitors were well on their way to an upset when Abbiati was shown a straight red card for a blatant foul on Schelotto and former Real Madrid, Mi-
lan and Inter striker Cassano stepped up to beat Marco Amelia from the spot in the ninth minute. l
RESULTS
Atalanta 3
Carmona 36, Bonaventura 42 Denis 55
3 0 1 2 2 1
Sampdoria 0
Lazio
Bologna
Christodoulopoulos 86
2 4
Parma
Cassano 9-pen, 51, Amauri 78 Biabiany 90+5
Sassuolo 3
Zaza 56, Missiroli 61, Sansone 89
3 1
Catania 1
Bergessio 30
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Sport
15
Nepal who went onto post 149 runs on the board, losing four wickets in the last over and eight in the innings. Nepal openers Subash Khakurel (22) and Sagar Pun (13) gave the side the momentum which prevailed throughout the innings the run rate never went down below 6. Nepal lost both the openers within three deliveries but the 80 run partnership off 67 deliveries for the 3rd wicket between skipper Paras Khadka and
QUICK BYTES
BRIEF SCORE
Nepal 149/8 (20/20 ov) Malla 48, Khadka 41, Haseeb 3/25 Hong Kong 69 (17.0/20 ov) Babar 20, Waqas 18, Regmi 3/14, Gauchan 3/9 Nepal won by 80 runs
Gyanendra Malla didnt allow the innings to get derailed. Hong Kongs left-arm spinner Najeeb Amar removed Khadka in the 17th over to get the breakthrough for his team. Khadka scored a 37-ball 41 while Malla, who was more aggressive scored 48 off 41 balls before getting dismissed in the 20th over. Mallas dismissal was followed by three more wickets but by then, the side already had a competitive score on the board. Right-arm pacer Haseeb Amjad picked three wickets in four overs for Hong Kong conceding 25 runs. l
Bangladesh skipper Mamunur Rahman Chayan is greeted by his teammates after his second strike against Hong Kong at the hockey stadium yesterday COURTESY
Sangakkara to quit Du Plessis welcomes underdog tag T20Is after world meet
Sri Lankas Kumar Sangakkara will retire from Twenty20 internationals after the ongoing World T20 in Bangladesh, the veteran left-hander told a newspaper on Sunday. The 36-year-old said he wanted to make way for younger players in the national team, but made himself available to play the shortest format in franchise-based competitions. Definitely, without a doubt, this is my last World T20, Sangakkara told the Colombo-based Sunday Island newspaper. I wont be playing any T20 internationals after this. Its sad, but thats the truth. Its not the end of my T20 career though. I would like to play franchise-based T20s. Once your World Cup prospects are over, you should give the next crop of players an opportunity. Its a natural progression. Sangakkara, under whom Sri Lanka South Africas Twenty20 captain Faf du Plessis wants his team to perform to their potential in the World Twenty20 a tournament in which the Protease have never even managed to reach the semi-finals. South Africas recent form in the shortest form of the game hardly makes them one of the favourites for the event. Most recently, they lost a three-match series 0-2 at home to Australia. The Twenty20 World Cup is a tournament where you need to be playing well. We need our guys in form, and if youve got guys in form, then were giving ourselves a great opportunity to compete in the tournament. [With] the nature of the tournament, you need to be playing well every game, said the skipper. Asked about adapting to the conditions, du Plessis said, It is challenging. Obviously our conditions are a little bit different but in saying that, weve
DAYS WATCH
Sony Six 06:59 AM NBA 2013 14 LA Clippers Vs Cleveland BTV, Maasranga TV, GTV, Star Sports 1, HD2 ICC World T20 2014 3:30PM Ireland v Zimbabwe 7:30PM UAE v Netherlands Star Sports 2, HD1 ICC World T20 Warm-Up 3:30PM New Zealand v Pakistan 7:30PM Sri Lanka v India Star Sports 4 Italian Serie A 12:00AM Torino v Napoli 2:00AM AS Roma v Udinese Star Sports HD1 3:00AM La Liga Villarreal v Athletic Bilbao
reached the final of the 2009 World Twenty20 in England, has played 50 T20 internationals, scoring 1,311 runs at an average of 32.77 with seven halfcenturies. He has been in prime form of late, smashing a triple-century and a hundred in the second Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong last month. Sri Lanka, the worlds number one T20 side, are drawn with South Africa, England, New Zealand and a yet-to-be decided qualifier in the Super-10 round of the World Twenty20. l
got a lot of players in our team whove played a lot of IPL cricket and quite a few tours of India, Sri Lanka and even Bangladesh, so weve definitely played enough in these conditions to understand what to expect. The captain also saw his team not being favoured to lift the trophy as not entirely a bad thing. I think you can look at it in both ways. Its nice to be on the other side almost. We can, I suppose, for the first time say that were real underdogs, so we can play
like that. No extra pressure on us, and we certainly feel that, he said, before going on to point out South Africas successes in Twenty20 on the subcontinent. He was referring to South Africa having topped Sri Lanka 2-1 and Pakistan 2-0 in similar conditions last year. I think weve proven (last year) that we can do it in these conditions against quality spin. Weve got some nice variety. Imran Tahir has done really well for us, and leg-spin is fantastic to have as a captain. Weve got JP Duminy, whos been bowling very well as a back-up spinner. And then also weve got bowlers who can take some pace off the ball. So I think in terms of what you need in these conditions, I think were all covered. I think our whole batting line-up, as most of the tournament sides, weve got destructive hitters. AB has proven so many times in IPL cricket how destructive he can be, so has Miller, concluded the 29-year old. l
Winners of the Runner Group Independence Day Open Tennis pose for photograph with the chief guest at the NTC yesterday COURTESY
final to emerge as the womens champion. Gulshan Youth Club was the best team as they beat Amazon Club by 3-0 sets in the inter-club final. Meanwhile Arnab Saha, Poy Akhter, Alvi, Sadia Akhter, Tasfin Anam and Suraiya Akhter Lamia won the different categories of the mini tennis events. State minister for foreign affairs Shahriayr Alam distributed the prizes as the chief guest. l
16
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Back Page
Students celebrate Holi, a festival of colours of the Hindus, inside the Fine Arts Department premises yesterday
Crimeans vote on union with Russia Bone marrow transplant as troops build up rapidly patient recovering
n Reuters, Kiev
Crimeans voted in a referendum on Sunday on whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, with Kiev accusing Moscow of rapidly building up its armed forces on the peninsula in crude violation of an international treaty. Caught in an East-West crisis reminiscent of the Cold War, Ukrainian acting defence minister IhorTenyukh said Russian troop numbers in Crimea were now almost double the level agreed with Moscow, and Kievs forces were taking appropriate measures along the border with Russia. Tenyukh dismissed any suggestion that a militarily and economically weakened Ukraine might give up in the face of the Russian power. Decisions will be taken depending on how events unfold. But let me say once again that this is our land and we will not be leaving it, he told Interfax. Western countries say the vote, which is likely to favour union with Russia for a region which has a Russian-speaking majority, is illegal and being conducted at the barrel of a gun. At the UN, 13 Security Council members voted for a draft resolution saying the result should not be recognised internationally, but Moscow exercised its veto while China abstained. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected the Western accusations, telling his U.S. counterpart John Kerry that the referendum complied with international law. Both the West and Kiev have been powerless to stop the referendum. At a polling booth in Simferopol, the Crimean regional capital, dozens of people lined up outside to cast their ballots early. I have voted for Russia, said Svetlana Vasilyeva, a veterinary nurse who is 27. This is what we have been waiting for. We are one family and we want to live with our brothers. Last months fall of Moscow-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich following deadly protests in Kiev has aroused fears among some of the countrys native Russian-speakers. We want to leave Ukraine because Ukrainians told us that we are people of a lower kind. How can you stay in such a country? said Vasilyeva. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) and close 12 hours later. Provisional results will be released late on Sunday with the final tally expected a day or two later. Crimeas 1.5 million voters have two options: union with Russia or giving their region, which is controlled by pro-Kremlin politicians, the broad right to determine its own path and choose relations with whom it wants - including Moscow.
n Moniruzzaman Uzzal
The countrys first ever cancer patient who underwent bone marrow transplant is recovering gradually at the Bone Marrow Transplant unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The bone marrow transplant was carried on a blood cancer patient, Omar Ali, 52, a senior officer of Agrani Bank, on March 10 in DMCH. A pool of national and international experts successfully conducted the transplant on Omar, who had been fighting a type of blood cancer called Multiple Myeloma since 2009. Professor Dr MA Khan, head of the BMT unit, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday no major physical complications were faced by the patient in the last six days following the transplant. It has been learnt that Omar Ali is very weak, but he can talk. He is living on liquids. The number of WBC (white blood cell) and platelets are still very low in Omar Alis body. Omar Alis situation is not unexpected. We destroyed the entire blood cell before the transplant. So its like sowing seeds in an open field. Now new blood cells will be produced in the patients body, said Prof Dr MA Khan. The patients would recover within the next seven to eight days, he hoped. A group of well-trained doctors, nurses and other staff have been taking all-out care of Omar Ali round the clock. Amena Begum, wife of Omar Ali, has eagerly been waiting for her husbands return home after completing treatment.
While talking to this correspondent, she said: I would like to see my husband come back home, recovering from cancer. The wife said they spent Tk15 lakh on the treatment, but now the government had been providing almost all expenses of BMT procedure at DMCH. She sought financial help from all as it would be impossible for her alone to bear the next follow-up treatment.
On October 20 last year, former health minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque inaugurated the five-bed BMT unit and a high-tech BMT Laboratory at DMCH at a cost of Tk200 crore
Dr Bimolanshu Dey, a blood cancer specialist at the MGH in Boston, USA, told the Dhaka Tribune the patient was recovering gradually. There were a few side effects like fever and other complications, but they were usual, he said, adding that an international-standard healthcare was being given to the patient. Omar Ali hails from Dap Jail Road from Rangpur district. On October 20 last year, former health minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque inaugurated the five-bed BMT unit and a high-tech BMT Laboratory at DMCH at a cost of Tk200 crore. l
Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093 94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com
According to the BTCL statistics presented to the parliamentary standing committee on post and telecommunications ministry last September, BTCLs outstanding was Tk1,173 crore as of March last year. As of February 2012, the total outstanding bills amounted to Tk651 crore and increased to Tk794 crore in June 2012. BTCL managing director also hoped the current figure would not further increase.
BTCL is a state-owned international gateway (IGW), and we have some responsibilities to collect the governments income, he said. IGWs are the legal channels of incoming international call termination, and for every minute of a call BTCL will be paid 3 US cents by the international carriers. But BTCL sources said the land-line never took any effective measures to collect the outstanding bills and instead
the BTCL and telecom ministry high officials travelled toEuropeand theUSin the name of collecting the dues. Moreover, BTCL repeatedly promised to the parliamentary committee that it would collect the dues. On several occasions, the fixed-line operator assured the government that the outstanding figure would not rise any further. BTCL figures show Jamir Telecom owes Tk328.90 crore ($4.23 crore),
RAJIB DHAR
port-oriented industry will lose competitiveness in the global market. The BGMEA urged the government to keep the power prices for the RMG sector unchanged to maintain competitiveness. BGMEA said the production cost of apparel products increased by 13% in the recent past due to appreciation of Taka by 8% against the US dollar and 77% increase in wages intensified the cost further up. On Thursday, BERC increased the retail power tariff by an average of 6.96% per unit. l
B2
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Stock
DSE GAINERS Company
Closing (% change) 9.90 9.48 6.43 6.41 6.25 6.00 5.95 5.52 5.28 5.05
Northern Jute -Z Pragati Gen. I -A National Tubes -A Sonali Ansh -A Deshbandhu Polymer-A Fine Foods A National Polymer -A Quasem Drycells -A Apex Foods -A Rangpur Foundry -A CSE GAINERS Company Fine Foods A National Polymer -A Rahima Food -Z Apex Foods -A Rangpur Foundry -A Quasem Drycells -A Deshbandhu Polymer-A Beach Hatchery -A GQ Ball PenA Berger Paints-A
Average (% change) 9.90 6.66 5.89 7.03 3.62 4.99 6.36 4.44 5.72 3.15 Average (% change) 5.46 6.68 5.62 3.10 4.44 4.37 3.04 1.79 4.89 3.06
Closing average 63.30 60.35 151.83 155.33 20.02 21.06 73.89 45.41 135.22 120.86
Closing 63.30 61.20 155.60 157.70 20.40 21.20 74.80 45.90 137.60 122.70
Daily high 63.30 61.40 157.80 159.80 21.00 22.00 75.00 46.30 139.00 123.50
Daily low 63.30 57.00 132.00 150.00 17.50 18.00 68.00 40.00 128.20 116.50
Turnover in million 0.025 4.997 91.819 14.096 9.562 8.292 36.839 41.542 25.157 33.417
Latest EPS -10.24 4.19 2.26 0.88 0.46 -0.98 1.70 2.28 3.56 3.03
Latest PE -ve 14.4 67.2 176.5 43.5 -ve 43.5 19.9 38.0 39.9
Closing (% change) 6.44 6.21 5.70 5.30 5.18 5.02 4.64 4.13 3.97 3.83
Closing average 21.23 74.05 57.50 135.25 121.11 45.38 20.01 32.46 164.86 1010.00
Closing 21.50 75.20 57.50 139.00 121.90 46.00 20.30 32.80 164.90 1017.50
Daily high 21.80 75.50 57.50 139.80 123.40 46.20 20.50 33.20 167.00 1020.00
Daily low 20.30 73.00 57.50 133.10 119.90 43.90 19.30 31.60 163.00 1000.00
Turnover in million 2.430 2.268 0.029 1.413 2.967 5.012 2.192 9.323 3.142 0.202
Latest EPS -0.98 1.70 -1.00 3.56 3.03 2.28 0.46 0.79 4.01 41.85
Latest PE -ve 43.6 -ve 38.0 40.0 19.9 43.5 41.1 41.1 24.1
(-) 0.95% (-) 0.47% (-) 0.84% (-) 0.90% (-) 1.12% (-) 1.02%
Traded Issues Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis) Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis) Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis) Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.) Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)
Average (% change) -17.26 -14.41 -8.58 -7.55 -5.53 -3.56 -4.35 -4.70
Closing average 14.86 18.89 25.16 23.14 963.60 19.23 29.71 171.54
Daily high 16.00 20.20 26.20 25.20 963.60 21.80 29.70 173.00
Daily low 14.20 18.80 23.50 22.50 963.60 19.00 29.50 170.50
Turnover in million 15.824 74.893 0.566 3.309 0.048 0.125 0.104 0.223
Latest EPS 2.17 3.69 1.17 0.56 28.52 -0.89 -5.96 6.44
-4.19 -4.01
-3.70 -3.86
39.01 28.87
38.90 28.70
40.00 30.00
38.50 27.00
0.671 5.079
2.60 1.14
15.0 25.3
Closing (% change) -14.77 -13.76 -8.02 -7.64 -7.17 -6.57 -6.42 -5.42
Average (% change) -17.09 -14.05 -8.31 -7.68 -7.64 -6.57 -6.04 -5.22
Closing average 14.85 18.90 24.05 70.05 25.64 27.00 49.80 22.70
Daily high 15.10 20.00 26.00 70.10 26.00 27.00 50.00 22.70
Daily low 14.60 18.80 23.60 70.00 24.90 27.00 49.60 22.70
Turnover in million 1.084 6.578 0.241 0.014 0.373 0.007 0.050 0.011
Latest EPS 2.17 3.69 4.74 5.89 1.17 2.23 1.06 1.51
-5.31 -5.07
-8.60 -5.07
22.54 73.00
23.20 73.00
23.20 73.00
22.10 73.00
0.068 0.037
0.56 5.75
40.3 12.7
ANALYST
SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY
Sector Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture
Traders are most likely looking to move out of rate sensitive bank and manufacturing stocks bagging some profits
% change 10.58 3.20 1.71 15.28 5.74 10.85 0.49 8.42 11.53 0.06 0.87 2.29 1.13 7.37 1.08 1.84 3.66 5.49 1.27 7.12 0.02 Million Taka 28.83 5.76 2.52 26.66 22.32 21.58 17.28 31.53 0.20 1.87 8.23 4.43 16.16 2.96 1.02 4.78 13.55 4.35 22.31 0.03 CSE % change 12.20 2.43 1.07 11.28 9.44 9.13 0.00 7.31 13.34 0.08 0.79 3.48 1.88 6.84 1.25 0.43 2.02 5.73 1.84 9.44 0.01 Million Taka 338.36 99.37 52.57 473.69 190.28 338.97 14.30 263.70 368.75 1.97 27.39 75.26 37.55 231.74 34.42 54.77 111.81 174.08 41.39 230.48 0.69 Total % change 10.70 3.14 1.66 14.98 6.02 10.72 0.45 8.34 11.66 0.06 0.87 2.38 1.19 7.33 1.09 1.73 3.54 5.51 1.31 7.29 0.02
DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Square Pharma -A Padma Oil Co. -A LafargeS Cement-Z BD Submarine Cable-A National Tubes -A BSC A
Southeast Bank-A
DSE Million Taka 309.52 93.62 50.05 447.04 167.95 317.39 14.30 246.42 337.21 1.77 25.53 67.03 33.12 215.58 31.45 53.75 107.03 160.53 37.05 208.17 0.67
Volume shares 560,905 385,561 2,673,000 445,911 604,736 142,545 3,965,345 297,001 373,229 213,427
Value in million 158.66 133.18 131.76 96.88 91.82 89.72 74.89 63.64 61.57 60.85
% of total turnover 5.42 4.55 4.50 3.31 3.14 3.07 2.56 2.18 2.10 2.08
Daily closing 283.20 344.50 49.50 215.60 155.60 627.25 18.80 214.40 165.30 284.80
Price change -0.63 -1.06 1.43 -2.18 6.43 -1.14 -14.16 -0.09 4.36 -1.11
Daily opening 285.00 348.20 48.80 220.40 146.20 634.50 21.90 214.60 158.40 288.00
Daily high 286.00 350.00 49.70 225.00 157.80 637.75 20.20 215.60 167.80 288.90
Daily low 275.00 318.00 48.70 201.20 132.00 624.00 18.80 205.00 150.00 263.00
Daily average 282.86 345.42 49.29 217.27 151.83 629.40 18.89 214.29 164.96 285.12
Volume shares
Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net
BSC A LafargeS Cement-Z BD Submarine Cable-A Padma Oil Co. -A Beach Hatchery -A Southeast Bank-A UCBL - A Quasem Drycells -A Legacy Footwear -A Olympic Ind. -A Orion Pharma-N AFC AgroBiotech-N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Appollo Ispat CL -N
47,344 19,225 233,000 50,316 29,348 287,215 348,000 227,464 110,437 109,092 20,232 69,900 63,500 120,359 129,800
Value in million
13.41 12.09 11.46 10.94 10.12 9.32 6.58 5.22 5.01 4.44 4.42 4.27 3.88 3.80 3.67
% of total turnover
5.68 5.12 4.86 4.63 4.29 3.95 2.79 2.21 2.12 1.88 1.87 1.81 1.64 1.61 1.55
Daily closing
282.80 627.00 49.60 216.30 344.50 32.80 18.80 22.90 46.00 40.40 218.90 61.00 60.80 31.50 28.20
Price change
-0.84 -0.63 1.43 -1.55 -1.20 4.13 -13.76 -2.14 5.02 3.06 -1.08 -0.65 -2.41 -0.94 -1.05
Daily opening
285.20 631.00 48.90 219.70 348.70 31.50 21.80 23.40 43.80 39.20 221.30 61.40 62.30 31.80 28.50
286.00 635.00 49.80 221.00 346.00 33.20 20.00 23.30 46.20 41.50 223.00 61.60 62.00 32.20 29.00
281.20 624.25 48.70 215.00 344.00 31.60 18.80 22.80 43.90 39.60 217.80 60.50 60.60 31.30 28.10
Daily average
283.27 628.80 49.20 217.35 344.95 32.46 18.90 22.94 45.38 40.69 218.50 61.05 61.12 31.53 28.27
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Business
B3
Moving markets
In pushing the yuan lower, the risk was that traders bullish on the yuan would
Accountability
A sign for Bank Street and high rise offices are pictured in the financial district Canary Wharf in London rector last year, getting 4.7m euros. Those numbers, says Murphy, are recognition that its a big job. There arent many people who have the skills and abilities to do it well, combined with the increase in seniority and responsibility. to be paid back, how risky banks positions in financial markets might be, and what potential losses may be incurred from fraudulent activities. However after the financial crisis of 2007-2008 this already wide remit has become larger still, and its parameters more clearly policed. CROs must ensure banks abide by tougher regulations around the world, hammered out by governments that had to use public funds to keep many of them from sinking under the burden of bad loans re-
REUTERS
Wide remit
Chief risk officers ensure that where potential dangers exist, they are monitored and kept in check. That can range from measuring how likely loans are
sulting from excessive borrowing, risky investments and a lack of transparency. The new rules demand that banks take fewer risks, assess loans more closely and hold more accessible capital as a buffer against bad bets. Many CROs are now also responsible for ensuring cyber security and spotting terror financing and money laundering - so-called compliance functions that previously often fell under the remit of a banks legal division. The scale of the new CRO job is re-
The job of CRO comes with its own risk/ reward equation: its new elevated status also brings far more accountability. Following the introduction of new post-crisis legislation in Britain, for example, these bankers can now be sent to prison if found guilty of the new charge of reckless misconduct leading to bank failure. Whereas before it was a slightly techy and bookish type of job, now risk is incredibly diverse and carries a huge amount more responsibility if you are running the department, and the repercussions for the chief risk officer are profound, said Mark Garnier, a British lawmaker who was part of a panel that last year proposed changes to make individuals at banks more accountable. However the jump in pay and profile means that the job is nonetheless likely to tempt more candidates to fill what is currently a small pool of specialists. Headhunters say the rising status of top risk managers could see it become a popular path for ambitious executives who now see it as a route to the CEOs chair. l
Vice chairperson of NCC Bank ASM Mainuddin Monem seen handing over a cheque worth Tk50 lakh to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the ICC T20 World Cup 2014 and Lakho Konthe Sonar Bangla Fund in a ceremony at Ganabhaban recently
Team Ispahani emerged as the champion of the 30th MM Ispahani National Team Bridge Championship 2013. The team was led by Mirza Sajid Ispahani
BGMEA to bear educational expense of 3 Rana Plaza victims children son of Md Ishaq, head of production n Tribune Business Desk coordinator, Ether Tex Ltd. Md Ishaq.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has taken charge of five children of three Rana Plaza victims recently. The trade body will bear all the educational expenses of two children of Ejaz Uddin, two children of executive director of Phantom Apparels Tech, MM Abu Sayeed and Mostafa Kamal,
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina receiving a cheque of Tk3 crore from Engr Mustafa Anwar, vice chairperson of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited on March 14 as donation for organising Sonar Bangla in Million Voices. Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith was present on the occasion
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina receives a cheque for Tk1.5 crore from National Bank director, Rick Haque Sikder at Ganabhaban in the capital on Friday for hosting ICC T20 World Cup and Lakho Kantho event on March 26
All the mentioned victims were killed in the tragic collapse of Rana Plaza. BGMEA has made the arrangement for Mostafa Kamal for studying at BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) for free. Besides, Mostafa has been appointed as junior executive at the Uttara office of BGMEA. l
B4
n AFP, Beijing
China could miss its official growth target for the first time in 16 years, a snap poll of economists by AFP shows after surprisingly weak data for January and February. Industrial output, a key measure of production at factories, workshops and mines in the worlds second-largest economy, rose just 8.6% in the first two months of 2014, the slowest pace in five years, government figures showed Thursday. Retail sales, an indicator of consumer spending, increased at the lowest rate since February 2011, while growth in fixed asset investment, a gauge of government spending on infrastructure, came in at a surprisingly low 17.9% during the period, according to the data.
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Back Page
'The disappointing economic data in January-February will be a test of the governments tolerance level, as this pace of deceleration has rarely been seen before'
In a survey of 10 economists by AFP on Friday, the median forecast for 2014 growth was 7.4%, with some saying the weak start to the year had led them to cut their annual predictions. At the just-concluded National Peoples Congress (NPC), Premier Li Keqiang set this years growth target at around 7.5%, lower than last years actual expansion of 7.7% - which was unchanged from 2012 and the worst since 7.6% in 1999. China is a key driver of the world economy and the last time its actual GDP growth came in below the government target was in 1998, at the height
A construction worker looks at Pudong financial district as he waits to cross an avenue in Shanghai nounced property slowdown, she said. Yao Wei, an analyst with Societe Generale, said in a research note: New leaders are now facing a critical test: whether they can stabilise the economy, without significantly compromising the progress of lowering debt risks. The government has avoided introducing major stimulus measures since Li took office in March last year, and the ruling party leadership promised in November to let the market play the decisive role in resource allocation. But that vow could make it more difficult for the government to intervene in the economy, for example with infrastructure investment, as such policies may conceptually contradict the
REUTERS
goal, Goldman Sachs economist Song Yu said in a report. It does imply more constraints on what and how much the government can do compared with the past, Song wrote. l
Mind your wallet: why the underworld loves bitcoin G7 may meet in London n without Russia
Reuters, Singapore
Criminals may already have made off with up to $500m worth of bitcoins since the virtual currency launched in 2009 - and you can double that if it turns out they emptied Mt Gox. Internet criminals, security experts say, are attracted to bitcoin because of its stratospheric rise in value, because its easier to steal than real money, and because its easier to trade with other criminal elements. But, they add, bitcoin will survive the damage. Its just growing pains, says Keith Jarvis, a security researcher at Dell SecureWorks. Bitcoin is large enough and has enough momentum behind it to survive any public relations damage from this (Mt Gox) case or anything else. The fall of Mt Gox, the Tokyo-based exchange which filed for bankruptcy last month after saying it lost some 850,000 bitcoins to hackers, is certainly the virtual currencys biggest crisis. But data collated by Reuters from specialist bitcoin industry websites and internet forums shows that more than 730,000 bitcoins were already missing to theft, hacking, cyber-ransom payments and other apparently criminal pursuits before Mt. Goxs collapse. Thats nearly 6% of all bitcoins, and doesnt include dozens, possibly hundreds, of unreported cases of individuals who have lost bitcoins from their computers or online exchanges to hackers. For sure, theres no way of telling who has these missing bitcoins, or whether they were converted to real money when the price was much lower. And of course some bitcoins may have been counted twice if criminals stole them from each other or they were put back into circulation and stolen again. But theres no question that bitcoins have attracted the attention of cybercriminals - as a currency and an asset worth stealing. them, because they have to trust each other even less. Even complete strangers can cooperate, said Juraj Bednar, a bitcoin security expert in Slovakia. But while bitcoin has its advantages, its not a perfect tool for the bad guys. Take, for example, ransomware. Viruses which encrypt users data and then demand payment for a key to unlock it have become increasingly sophisticated, says Dell Secureworks Jarvis. The most successful: CryptoLocker, which Jarvis believes is run by a Russian-speaking gang who are also behind a botnet called Gameover Zeus that targets financial websites. Bitcoin often appears on CryptoLocker as an option for victims to pay up. Its appeal, says Bednar, lies in the fact that it needs no third party for the transaction to work. But there have been problems. For one thing, the type of user to be infected by a virus wasnt likely to be the type who is technologically savvy enough to be familiar with bitcoin. Also, as bitcoin rose in value, it has become a more expensive option for the victim, forcing the criminals to lower their bitcoin ransom demands to match prevailing exchange rates.
n AFP, Berlin
An alternative meeting for the Group of Seven most developed economies could be held in London if Russia is expelled from the G8 for its aggressive policy in Ukraine, a German weekly reported Saturday. Britain has proposed hosting the summit with Germany, Japan, France, Canada, Italy and the United States, Der Spiegel said, citing an unnamed source close to the German government. Initially, a Group of Eight meeting including Russia was set to be held in June in Sochi, where the Russians had successfully hosted this years Winter
Olympic Games. But Russias expulsion from the rich countries club is one of the international sanctions to be imposed if Moscow persists in its support for Crimea to quit Ukraine and join Russia, the subject of Sundays referendum in the flashpoint peninsula which Kiev and Western powers have said is illegal. The German government, however, issued a statement saying that the only decision that has been made is to stop preparations for a G8 meeting. Other than that, no other decision has been taken, the statement from Chancellor Angela Merkels office said. l
Tracing transactions
Beware malware
A study by Pat Litke and Joe Stewart of Dell SecureWorks showed that as the price of bitcoin soared beyond $1,000 last year, so did the number of viruses designed to steal bitcoins from wallets - programs that hold bitcoins on users computers or smartphones. Of the 140 types of such software more than 100 appeared in the past year. Writing such viruses, says Stewart, is easy. Theres no sophistication involved in the storage of bitcoin in wallets. As for malware, its some of the easiest stuff to write. Indeed, this cyber-pocket picking wasnt criminals first foray into bitcoins. Initially, they focused on using
their control of large networks of infected computers - called botnets - to make their own bitcoins. Bitcoins are created through a mining process where a computers resources are used to perform millions of calculations. For a while, says Kirill Levchenko, a researcher at the University of California, San Diego, criminals added malware to their botnets to turn infected computers into bitcoin miners. This triggered predictions of doom for bitcoin - that the criminals would take over the mining of bitcoin through botnets and bring the whole currency crashing down. But as bitcoins become harder to mine - according to an algorithm that slows down their production the more people try to create them - this approach has proven less profitable. In 2012-13, says Danny Huang, another researcher at the University of California, San Diego, they earned at
least 4,500 bitcoins, a relatively small sum compared with the total produced. Few botnets are mining bitcoins now, he said. Instead, theyve turned to stealing them from wallets, or, more lucratively, from exchanges. According to data compiled last year by academics Tyler Moore and Nicholas Christin, of 40 exchanges tracked 18 had closed, with customer balances wiped out in many cases - not always, they point out, due to fraud. Since then, according to public reports, more than a dozen others have been hacked.
Currency of thieves
Cyber-criminals have also made use of the ease with which bitcoins can be traded without any third party - such as a bank or online payments service like PayPal - to use it as at least one way of paying for services between themselves. Bitcoin made it much easier for
Then theres bitcoins transparency. All transactions are visible, and while theyre just digits and letters, in theory they could be connected to an individual and the entire history of all the bitcoins transactions traced. Italian computer engineer Michele Spagnuolo, for example, was able to trace a number of ransom payments for CryptoLocker. The gains have been impressive: he and academics from Politecnico di Milano speculate that up to 6,757 bitcoins - then worth around $6 million - could be linked to those behind CryptoLocker late last year. That estimate of their total takings, he says, could be very conservative. But the fact that such payments can be traced would raise a red flag for cyber-criminals, says Daniel Cohen of RSA, the security division of EMC Corp (EMC.N), even though there are online services that can launder bitcoins to hide their origin. Sure, there are bitcoin laundering services, but still if I tie a wallet to an identity I can see every single movement, he said. And, ironically, the success that some criminals have had in stealing bitcoins has made it less appealing to the underworld. RSAs Cohen says his team monitoring underground forums has noticed criminals lately see bitcoin as volatile, seizable and, with the recent thefts, unsafe. l
DILBERT