e_Paper (25 November 2016)

SECOND EDITION
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016 | Agrahayan 11, 1423, Safar 23, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 208 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages plus 24-page Weekend supplement | Price: Tk10
Tales of horrendous atrocities › 2
Garga Chatterjee’s OPINION:
New beginnings at DLF › 23
Authorities harvest paddy for
evicted Santals › 3
MYANMAR’S ROHINGYA
Stateless Muslim ethnic group
BANGLADESH
Around 300,000
Rohingya living in
coastal areas
MYANMAR
Rakhine
State
Muhith praises young taxpayers BAY OF › 12
BENGAL
Over 120,000 people
have fled Rakhine since
religious violence in 2012,
according to UNHCR
Home to most of the
1 million Rohingya
Buddhist-majority
Myanmar see the
Rohingya as
illegal Bangladeshi
immigrants
The Rohingya are
denied citizenship
and smothered
by restrictions on
movement and work
100 BNP leaders, activists join Awami League in
Rangamati › 6
Source : UNHCR
More than 30,000
people displaced,
at least 70 killed under
military lockdown in
the north of Rakhine
since October
Muslim Rohingya at a
displacement
camp, September 7
West voices concern at handling of
Rohingya crisis › 8

2
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
News
‘I grabbed my children and ran’
Morshed Ali Khan travels to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border for the Dhaka Tribune to provide an eye-witness account of
the situation in Chittagong division and neighbouring Rakhine state. This is his third report from the heart of no-man’s land
DISPATCHES
FROM THE
BORDER
Refugees fleeing the ongoing Myanmar
army crackdown on the
Rohingya community in northern
Rakhine state bring with them
harrowing tales of brutal atrocity
which shock the conscience.
Traumatised and terror-stricken
survivors recounted to this correspondent
the Myanmar army’s
modus operandi of rounding up
several families, then forcing men,
women and children into a house
and locking every exit. They then
set fire to the whole house along
with the screaming inmates, according
to eye-witness accounts.
The refugees fleeing the programme
claim that these are not
isolated incidents but routine occurrences.
Due to media blackout
in Rakhine state, the Dhaka Tribune
has not been able to independently
verify these accounts.
However, stories of such atrocities
are so common among the newly arrived
Rohingyas, it quickly reminds
one of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda
when Hutu militias embarked on annihilating
the entire race of Tutsis.
Of course the Hutu-led government
was not successful.
Hafez Shufayet, 18, from
Kearipara in Maungdaw, arrived at
the Leda makeshift refugee camp
with a similar story. On October
12, three days into the military offensive,
19 members of his family,
including his uncles, aunts, their
children and his grandparents were
burnt alive inside their own house.
Hasina Begum paid money
equivalent to Tk2,000 for crossing
the Naf River early yesterday with
her three children. She described
how her husband Mohammad
Moslem had been shot and then
beheaded by the military personnel
in front of her at the village of
Amtoly Valley about 20 days ago.
“I grabbed my children and ran
towards the forest, and waited
there with several hundred people,”
Hasina said. The opportunity
to cross the border came last night
with 20 other people.
Filthy and in squalid condition,
the makeshift camp of Leda, where
some 2,500 families are huddled in,
has no legality in any official book.
They receive no ration and hundreds
of Rohingya children roam
around the narrow rows of landings
without any access to education,
medical care or sanitation. Despite
that, the new arrivals are enthusiastically
supported by the older ones.
Still the Rohingyas feel safe in
the camp.
“I shall earn my bread here, and
if necessary, I shall travel to Dhaka
for work,” Hasina said clutching
her son firmly. “One thing I am sure
that those Burmese men cannot
come here to kill us,” she added.
The chairman of the Leda camp,
Dudu Mia, has been in the same
camp for 15 years. He said that the
atrocities on Rohingyas had remained
the same for as long as he
could remember. Rape, arson, killings
and looting of Rohingya families
have continued till today.
“The UN should deploy peacekeeping
forces to protect thousands
of Rohingyas from total annihilation,”
he said, adding: “In all their official
proceedings, Rohingyas are classified
as Bangalis and they [military] want
us to escape to Bangladesh.”
As the Rohingyas continue to
sneak into Bangladesh in hundreds,
the Border Guard Bangladesh sets up
five check points along the 54km long
river border. Bangladesh shares a total
of 218 km of border with Myanmar. •
Morshed Ali Khan is a veteran conflict
zone reporter who is operating as a
freelancer for this story.
BD seeks international support to end Rohingya crisis
• Jebun Nesa Alo
Hasina Begum, a Rohingya woman who lost her husband in a brutal attack by the Myanmar Army men about 20 days ago, reached Teknaf along with her three children
after paying Tk2,000 to a middleman to cross the Naf River yesterday
MORSHED ALI KHAN
Bangladesh yesterday sought support
from international community
to resolve ongoing Rohingya
crisis on the Bangladesh-Myanmar
border.
The foreign minister sought the
support at a meeting with diplomatic
community over the recent
crisis in Rakhine state of Myanmar
that caused sudden influx of
Rohingyas in the bordering areas
raising security concern for Bangladesh.
The Foreign Ministry called the
meeting over the Myanmar issue
to find out possible ways to resolve
Rohingya crisis that put Bangladesh
in trouble.
Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, the
foreign minister, briefed the members
of the diplomatic community
on the evolving situation in Myanmar
and Bangladesh-Myanmar
relations at the State Guest House,
Padma yesterday.
Foreign Minister urged the international
community to play its
due role in it.
He requested the diplomatic
community to sensitize their governments
so that a coordinated approach
can be taken to address the issue, said
a statement issued by the Foreign
Ministry soon after the meeting.
Ambassadors, high commissioners,
heads of missions of various
diplomatic missions including
USA, Canada, EU, UK, Norway,
Denmark, India and China and
from the Office of UNRC, IOM and
UNHCR attended the briefing.
Diplomatic community agreed
with Bangladesh to resolve the Rohingya
crisis through peaceful negotiation
with Myanmar government,
Ali told reporters after the meeting.
The minister described Bangladesh’s
stance over Myanmar
crisis to the diplomatic members
saying that government of Bangladesh
provided suo motto to the
government of Myanmar since the
terrorist attacks took place in the
borderguard posts of Myanmar on
09 October 2016.
As a responsible neighbour,
Bangladesh not only condemned
the attack, it also provided critical
assistance to the government of
Myanmar by apprehending suspects
and sharing intelligence.
The foreign minister, however,
expressed serious concern on the
influx of Rakhine Muslims into the
territory of Bangladesh in spite of
Bangladesh Border Guard’s efforts
to stop the flow.
Bangladesh has already requested
the government of Myanmar to
take appropriate measures so that
the Muslim minority people are
not forced to take shelter across
the border.
The ambassador of Myanmar in
Dhaka was called by the ministry
on 23 November and concerns of
Bangladesh government was conveyed
to him.
On the other hand, Ali at an
another event the same day said
Bangladesh is letting in some of the
Rohingyas fleeing the violence in
Rakhine state of Myanmar on humanitarian
ground.
“However, Bangladesh still
stands firm on refusing to open the
border along Myanmar. But in some
cases, we are allowing Rohingyas after
considering the inhumane conditions
they have escaped from,”
the minister said at a press conference
arranged to brief the media on
his upcoming visit to Hungary for
the Budapest Water Summit-2016 at
the Foreign Ministry.
“The government is providing
them with food and emergency
services,” he said.
“Despite our tightened security
measures, some Rohingyas are entering
Bangladesh as the entire border
with Myanmar is yet to be fully
secured,” he added.
According to our correspondents,
several hundred Rohingyas
managed to enter Bangladesh in
the last two days despite tight vigil
by the Border Guard Bangladesh
and Coast Guard.
Some of them took shelter at the
makeshift official Rohingya camp
at Leda of Mochina in Teknaf.
The United Nation’s refugee
agency UNHCR and New York-based
rights body Human Rights Watch
have asked Bangladesh to open its
border with Myanmar and allow the
Rohingyas to seek protection. •

News 3
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
Authorities harvest paddy for evicted Santals
• Md Tazul Islam, Gaibandha
Rangpur Sugar Mill authorities
yesterday started harvesting paddy
from the government acquired
land in Gobindaganj of Gaibandha
for the Santals, three weeks after
they were evicted in a drive that
killed three indigenous peoples.
The process began around noon
with 12 combined harvester machines
in presence of Deputy Commissioner
Abdus Samad and other
government officials. Until 5pm,
the authorities harvested paddy
from 2.5 acres or 1.01 hectares of
land and handed over 26 sacks –
each weighing 2 maunds – to the
Santals.
On November 17, the High Court
ordered the sugar mill authorities
and the local administration to either
allow the Santals harvest their
paddy or give it to the Santals after
harvesting the paddy they had
sowed.
“We have found that the Santals
sowed paddy in 18.41 hectares
[45.50 acres], of which paddy of
12.14 hectares is suitable for harvesting.
The rest of the paddy will
be harvested after eight to ten
days,” UNO Md Abdul Hannan said.
“So we started the harvesting
process in line with the High Court
order,” he claimed.
Additional police were deployed
in the area since morning to avert
any untoward incident. The Santals
who were reluctant to accept
the paddy in the morning finally
took it from the mill authorities.
The Santal community leaders
earlier said that they had sowed
paddy in 54.63 hectares of land.
“We have given the paddy to a
Attacks on Hindus in Narail
leave community in terror
• Sultan Mahmud, Narail
In a spree of countrywide communal
violence, the Hindus of Narail,
the district famous for one of the
greatest painters in the sub-continent
SM Sultan, have faced such
attacks three times since May.
Around 200 Hindu families of
Palpara at Kundashi village in Lohagora
upazila of the district had already
been passing their days with
fear and anxiety, as miscreants set
fire to some of their houses on May
23 and then on November 3.
After the latest attack on early
Wednesday, while miscreants
torched the cattle shed, haystack
and a warehouse of Nirod Paul and
the haystacks of Paritosh Pal and
Profullah Pal, burning two cows
of Nirod alive, around 800 Hindu
people of the village have become
panic-striken.
Dipak Kumar Das, 54, teacher at
Lohagora Pilot School and president
of Dakshin Palpara Brahmman Kundashi
Durga Puja Committee, said:
“After the latest attack, we dare not
go outside of our homes when the
Mill authorities start harvesting of paddy for Santals from the government acquired land in Gobindaganj of Gaibandha, three
weeks after three Santals were killed in forced eviction drive
DHAKA TRIBUNE
evening approaches. We cannot
sleep at night fearing more attacks.”
Eighty-five years old Asha Rani
Pal of the village said she could not
sleep at night in fear of more attacks.
Another resident of Palpara
Shibu Kumar Pal, 45, accountant
of Kashinani College at Kashinani
‘If police took steps
after the first attack
in May, we would not
be attacked twice
this month’
upazila of Gopalganj district, said
his house came under attack on
May 23 and since then they had
been living with fear.
“If the law enforcers took proper
steps after the first attack on May,
we would not face the attacks two
times this month,” said Shibu.
Tapan Pal and Mahananda Pal
of the village said they required a
regular police patrol in the village.
Horidash Banerjee, 80, former
group of 17 Santals including Barna
Bas Tudu, Anchhen Hembhram,
Suren Tudu and Shushil Mardy after
processing,” Rangpur Sugar Mill
Managing Director Abdul Awal to
the Dhaka Tribune.
Barna Das, who is a member of
headmaster of Itna High School at
Itna village, eight kilometer away
from Kundashi, said due to the fear
of more attacks regular activities of
their lives were being hampered.
“Police can provide us with security
for the time being; but how
long we can live safely is a matter
of concern,” said Horidash.
Md Jahangir Alam, officer-incharge
of Lohagara police station,
said: “A case was filed with the
police station in connection with
Wednesday’s attack and we are trying
hard to arrest the miscreants.”
Shahadat Hossain Shikder, local
ward councillor, said a village defence
party would be formed by the
villagers to protect the village from
such attacks.
Police Super Sarder Rakibul Islam
said while visiting the spot
on Wednesday all of the attackers
would be brought under trial.
“The attackers will be handed
down exemplary punishment,” he
added.
He also assured the panic-striken
people of regular security patrol
in the village. •
the Santals’ organisation demanding
their ancestral land back, said
that they had taken approval of
the committee members before accepting
the paddy.
The UNO claimed that they had
asked the Santals to give a list of
DT
farmers and harvest the paddy
with the help of the administration.
But they did not respond.
“We spoke to them this [yesterday]
morning. But they gave two
conditions – removing the fence
around the sugarcane farm and
withdrawal of the cases against the
Santal community people,” Hannan
said. “But this is not possible.
These are matters of the mill authorities
and the court.”
Police filed at least three cases
against the local Santals – the last
one lodged after the November 6
eviction drive for obstructing the
law enforcers from performing
duties. Around 2,000 Santal families
from 15 villages in the Shahebganj-Bagda
farm area were evicted
by the police and RAB on that day.
Local Bangalis loyal to the local
lawmaker also took part in the
eviction drive, looting and torching
the Santal houses. At least three
Santals were killed and 30 others
injured during the clashes.
A Santal also filed a case against
unnamed persons for the killings,
loot and arson. So far, police have
arrested 20 people in the case.
Even though many evicted families
have already left the area in
search of new destination, some 150
families are still staying in tents and
an abandoned school building in
front of the Madarpur church. Two
philanthropic organisations are giving
them education and food. •
Bangladeshi TV ads
not to be aired on
foreign channels
anymore
• Shadma Malik
The Ministry of Information issued
a circular to stop airing local products
advertisements on foreign
channels yesterday.
M Akhtaruzzaman Talukder of
the ministry TV-2 section issued
the circular in reference to the sub
section 13 of section 19 of Bangladesh
Cable Television Network Act
2006 which poses restrictions on
advertising locally made advertisements
on foreign TV channels.
If a local advertisement is broadcast
in a foreign channel, the advertisement
will be banned alongside
two-year of imprisonment,
read the circular.
Media Unity took the initiative
to campaign against illegal activities
of downlink and took steps
to stop airing of local product advertisements
in foreign channels;
mostly in India.
The increased amount of illegal
use of downlink has affected the
sustainability of the private channels
as well as the media industry
in Bangladesh.
The crisis imposed by downlink
on the private TV channels is mainly
due to airing of local advertisements
in the foreign channels.
Also some of the country’s TV
channels broadcast Indian advertisements
which has decreased
the local revenue of the private TV
channels.
Media Unity said if this Act is
not put in force by November 30
they would start a movement.
For the interest of local media
they demanded that downlink be
banned.
Media Unity also speculates that
money laundering is taking place
in the name of advertisement. •

4
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
News
Ragib Ali arrested in India, sent back
• Mohammed Serajul Islam,
Sylhet
HC questions
bail to MP
Sawkat in loan
scam cases
• Ashif Islam Shaon
The High Court has issued a rule
asking the legality of the lower
court’s bail to Nilphamari 4 lawmaker
Md Sawkat Chowdhure in
two loan scam cases.
The bench of Justice M Enayetur
Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan
adopted the action through a suomoto
rule on Thursday during the
hearing of bail petition of the Jatiya
Party MP.
The court asks the lower court to
explain why the bail should not be
declared illegal.
The Anti-Corruption Commission
this year has filed the cases
accusing a total of nine people including
the lawmaker on charge of
a loan scam of around Tk94 crore.
According to the case statement,
the accused had managed the Tk-
94cr loan from Bongshal Branch of
Bangladesh Commerce Bank Ltd.
They withdrew the money with
more than 29 letter of credits under
three fake companies. •
Indian authorities hand over Ragib Ali to Bangladesh authorities yesterday
A Sylhet court yesterday sent controversial
Bangladeshi industrialist
Ragib Ali to jail, rejecting his bail
plea in two cases.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate
Ummay Saraban Tahura
passed the order after hearing the
bail petitions.
He was arrested in Assam on
Wednesday night as his visa expired
and handed over to the Bangladesh
authorities around 2:45pm
yesterday through Shutarkandi
border, Beanibazar OC Chondon
Kumar Chakrabarty confirmed to
the Dhaka Tribune.
He fled to India along with his
family members through Jakiganj
border on August 10, hours after
a court ordered his arrest in two
fraud cases.
His son Abdul Hye, also an accused
in the cases, returned from
India on November 12. He was sent
to jail upon surrender.
Ragib is the vice-chairman of
South East Bank, chairman of the
trustee board of Leading University
and former chairman of North
South University trustee board. He
founded Ragib-Rabeya Medical College
in Jalalabad in Sylhet and many
other organisations including local
newspaper Dainik Sylheter Dak.
The cases were filed against
Ragib, his son and four others for
grabbing the land of an endowment
property of Tarapur Tea Estate
through forgery and setting
structures flouting rules.
The irregularities were first detected
by a parliamentary standing
committee in 1999 which recommended
that the authorities take
legal action against the grabbers.
Based on the suggestions, then the
land commissioner of Sylhet filed
‘Blame game of political parties
encourages sectarian violence’
• Kamrul Hasan
The leaders of the minority communities
pointed out that blamegames
amongst the political parties
are the key reason that encourage
criminals to unleash sectarian violence
in this country.
Advocate Rana Dasgupta, general
secretary of the Hindu-Buddhist-Christian
Oikya Parishad,
at a press briefing held at Dhaka
Reporters Unit yesterday morning
said: “Many of the attacks were
carried out with political agendas
and often with indirect support
from the state.”
He said no government has ever
taken an effective measure against
the attackers and state has taken
up the role of protecting the oppressors
instead of the oppressed.
During his speech, Rana referred
to the two recent attacks on
the minorities – Hindus in Nasirnagar
in Brahmanbaria and the Santal
in Gobindaganj of Gaibandha
triggering criticism throughout the
country.
During the attack in Nasirnagar
nearly 100 temples were vandalised
and more than 200 houses
were attacked.
For the Santals in Gaibandha,
three were killed during the attack,
many were injured and thousands
were rendered homeless who are
now spending days in fear and insecurities.
Criticising government statements
that often describe the attacks
on minorities as “isolated
and trivial events” Rana said: “This
type of approach from the government
raises questions about their
stance on such attacks on minority
groups.”
Rana said it is very unfortunate
that a culture of denying and overlooking
such pre-meditated attacks
on minorities has gradually developed
in this country.
“We want visible and active role
of the government in protecting
the ethnic and religious minorities
of Bangladesh,” he added.
The committee demanded inclusion
of one minority community
DHAKA TRIBUNE
two cases with Kotwali police on
September 27, 2005. But the proceedings
remained stalled for 11
years.
In its final verdict, the Appellate
Division on January 19 this year
ordered the government to recover
the land of the tea garden and
revive the cases. In April, Police
Bureau of Investigation started reinvestigation
and filed charge sheet
on July 10.
Other accused in one of the two
cases are current caretaker of the
tea garden Pankaj Kumar Gupta,
Ragib’s relative Mostak Majid,
daughter Rozina Qadir and son-inlaw
Abdul Qadir. Pankaj is now on
bail and Majid in jail. The two others
have remained absconding. •
member in the Election Commission
(EC) scheduled to be reconstituted
in February 2017 and urged
the political parties to ensure rational
and proportional representation
of minorities in the upcoming
district council elections.
They also demanded formulation
of a special law to try criminals
who instigate and attack minorities
by spreading hatred through social
media.
Their other demands were that
Minority Ministry and National Minority
Commission be formed at the
earliest to safeguard the minorities.
They also demanded quick implementation
of the recommendations
given in the judicial probe
report of the M Shahabuddin Commission
that investigated violence
against minorities after the general
election in 2001.
General Secretary of Bangladesh
Adivasi Forum Sanjeeb Drong,
General Secretary of Bangladesh
Buddhist Federation Ashoke Barua,
among others spoke at the
programme. •
Law Minister to
meet Philippine
authorities on
November 26
• Sohel Mamun
Bangladesh Law Minister Anisul
Huq at a press meeting today
stated that a delegation from
the government will be going to
Philippine on November 26 to
discuss the Bangladesh Bank heist
of last February.
Accompanying the minister
will be a team of expert delegates:
the Standing Committee President
on Finance Ministry Dr Md Abdur
Razzak, Bangladesh Bank Governor
Mr. Fazle Kabir and Attorney
General of Bangladesh Mahbubey
Alam.
This expert team will be meeting
with the Philippine authorities
to discuss the legal details concerning
retrial of the reserve that
was stolen from Bangladesh Bank
earlier this year. •
March towards
Dhaka starts
protesting
Rampal plant
• Manik Miazee
Protesting the establishment of a
coal-based power plant at Rampal
in Sundarbans, activists of the National
Committee to protect oil, gas
and mineral resources, power and
port yesterday began their march
to Dhaka from seven different
points of the country.
The national committee will
hold their rally on Shaheed Minar
premises in Dhaka tomorrow.
The National Committee activists
have carried out a hectic campaign
to make the March Towards Dhaka a
success over the last few days.
The National Committee members
said the government plan to set
a coal-based power plant very close
to the Sundarbans will destroy the
world heritage site.
Professor Anu Muhammad,
member secretary of the National
Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral
Resources, Power and Ports,
hoped that the government would
not obstruct the rally.
If the government does so the
protesters who are coming from
seven districts of the country will
stage a sit-in demonstration wherever
they are obstructed, he said.
Protesters from Rampal,
Panchagarh, Netrokona, Patuakhali,
Sunamganj, Cox’s Bazar and
Kansat will join the “March Towards
Dhaka”.
The rally in Dhaka will be held
at the Central Shahid Minar on November
26 demanding cancellation
of the Rampal power plant. •

No place to hide
• Kamrul Hasan and
Shadma Malik
The concept of marital rape is not
recognised by Bangladesh's current
laws.
For victims, this omission leaves
the door open for the nightmare of
intimate violence to continue.
A 24-year-old Savar housewife
explained what the absence of legal
recourse has done to her life:
“I am an object for him to fulfil his
physical desires. He touches me
whenever he wants to and throws
me out when he has done what he
wants to do.
“Whenever he opens his mouth
to speak, he quarrels with me. He
is always suspicious of me even
though we have a child together.”
She does not want to report the
violence, and there is at any rate little
opportunity for legal recourse.
Section 375 of the Penal Code
of 1860 states that “Sexual intercourse
by a man with his own wife,
the wife not being under thirteen
years of age, is not rape.”
This position is retained in Section
9 of the Women and Children
Repression
Prevention Act, 2000, although
the new act was meant to upgrade
the law and bring it into line with
Diaz’s mother files murder case, rejects post mortem report
• FM Mizanur Rahaman,
Chittagong
current legal norms.
It did not do so.
Article 2(a) of the UN Declaration
on the Elimination of Violence
Against Women explicitly recognises
marital rape as a form of violence
against women.
Article 29(a) of the Declaration on
the Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women also explicitly includes
marital rape as part of its definition
of violence against women.
The exclusion of marital rape
from the ambit of rape law reflects
“deep rooted attitudes about the role
of a woman and the wifely duties she
owes her husband,” said women's
rights activist Shireen Huq.
Enduring in silence
Bangladeshi activists said a lack of
legal and economic empowerment
caused housewives to tolerate
rape.
Asked why she did not divorce
her abusive husband, the Savar
housewife said neither she nor her
parents could afford the consequences
of a divorce.
A fear of stigma and financial
constraints limits options for these
women. A lack of legal cover compels
them to resign themselves to
their difficult lives.
A Magura woman who is also the
A murder case was lodged yesterday
(Thursday) against ten persons,
including an assistant proctor
of Chittagong University (CU),
current president of Bangladesh
Chhatra League (BCL) and the CU
unit president, in connection with
the mysterious death of Diaz Irfan
Chowdhury.
Diaz’s mother Jaheda Amin
Chowdhury, an employee of the of
CU, filed the case with the court of
Judicial magistrate Shiplu Kumar
Dey, rejecting post mortem reports
which said the BCL leader had
committed suicide by hanging.
She sought Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina’s intervention to ensure
justice for her son.
The ten accused were- former
BCL president of CU Jamshedul
Alam Chowdhury, sociology department
teacher and assistant
proctor Anwar Hossain, CU BCL unit
president Alamgir Tipu, his brother
Arman Hossain, Rashedul Alam
Jishan, Abu Torab Porash, Mansur
Alam, Mizanur Rahman, Ariful
Haque Opu, and Abdul Malek.
After the case was filed, the
court ordered the Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) to probe
the case and for submission of the
report within 30-days, said court
sources.
Earlier, Hathazari police refused
to lodge a murder case over the
death of Diaz, as the autopsy report
on Wednesday said he had committed
suicide by hanging.
“It’s a premeditated murder. I
am respectful to the law. I want justice
for my son and to ensure proper
justice I have sought PM intervention
over the issue”, said Jaheda
Amin Chowdhury, visibly choked
by emotion at a press conference.
The press conference was held
at Chittagong Press Club at around
4:30pm, where the grieving family
of the BCL leader demanded a
proper investigation as well as the
arrest of the alleged killers.
“My son was involved with fair
politics and he hated the politics
of arms. My son was murdered for
his popularity and political success
News 5
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
victim of marital rape said she had
made compromises with her husband
and thinks herself lucky that
he at least allows her to continue
studying, albeit with conditions.
“If I had a job, I would have left
him. But I understand what he
wants and I know what I have to
do. I can continue with him ... he
is, at least, trying to make me independent,”
she said.
Rights activists said although
women and girls are reluctant to
press charges against a rapist when
the culprit is their spouse, such
incidents occur throughout the
country.
and I might be deprived of justice
as the accused are influential. But I
demand the proper and fair investigation
of my son’s death”, said
the mother.
Diaz’s elder brother and advocate
Jobaida Sarwar Nipa had said
that they went to the police station
and attempted to file a case, but
the police refused to take it as it
was considered to be suicide.
“CU BCL president Alamgir Tipu
and his associates had been trying
to extort Tk 2lakh from my mother,
and they had threatened to kill my
brother (Diaz) if the demand was
not met,” claimed Jobaida Sarwar.
Criticizing Hathazari police station’s
role, he said at the press conference
that the Hathazari police
authority was involved with the
incident.
“When my brother’s dead body
was found on Sunday night, no one
was at the house, as my mother
went to Chittagong city to receive
the Rotnogorva Award (mothers of
outstanding personalities) while
the house caretaker informed her
about the incident”, said Jobaida.
BIGSTOCK
Since there is no law, no case
has been filed for such types of violence,
Shireen Huq explained.
In Bangladesh, marital rape was
finally supposed to be recognised
as an offence in 2010, when the
Domestic Violence Act was passed.
But the law somehow managed to
bypass the issue.
A woman's rights activist who
was working to enact the Women
and Children Repression Prevention
Act, 2000 (Amendment 2003), said
an attempt to include the issue was
rejected because some members of
the law drafting committee thought
their wives might “misuse” it.
He also said “When my mother
had arrived at the scene, my brother’s
room, where the hanging body
was found, was locked from the
inside and the door of his balcony
was open.
“The killers murdered my brother
in his room in a well planned
way, hanged the body with a bed
sheet from ceiling and left the room
locked from the inside through the
balcony door, where a ladder was
found beside the balcony”, Jobaida
Sarwar said.
“The height from the ceiling to
DT
Bangladesh National Women
Lawyers' Association (BNWLA) Executive
Director Salma Ali told the
Dhaka Tribune that social stigma
and concerns about “family reputation”
discouraged women from
speaking up and seeking help.
Family members are often unreceptive
to the notion of marital
rape, and the economic dependence
of many victims also causes
them to feel that they must endure
in silence, Salma Ali explained.
Without the introduction of a
law under which complaints can
be filed, intimate partner violence
would continue, she added.
Patriarchal mentalities often
lead to a clash of egos when women
enter the workplace, and husbands
sometimes vent their frustration at
being overstepped through marital
rape, Shireen said. Without legal
protection, marital rape can be
used to intimidate them.
She emphasised that economic
empowerment was at least as important
as legal protection.
As United Nations Women begins
its 15-day campaign to raise
awareness about violence against
women today, activist Shireen
Huq's closing point bears recalling:
“By definition, rape is sex without
consent.” •
bed was 5.4 inch while my brother’s
height was 5.6 inch, and both
his legs touched a pillow on the
bed, which proves that his body
was hung after the murder”, added
the advocate Jobaida Sarwar.
Accusing police, advocate Jobaida
Sarwar claimed the police were
trying to hide circumstantial evidence
by closing the balcony door.
“Police did not find the mobile
of my brother, which was missing
after the incident and is a vital
piece of evidence”, added Jobaida
Sarwar. •
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY
DRY WEATHER
LIKELY
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24
Dhaka 29 16 Chittagong 28 19 Rajshahi 30 16 Rangpur 28 14 Khulna 30 15 Barisal 28 17 Sylhet 28 14
DHAKA
TODAY
TOMORROW
SUN SETS 5:11PM
SUN RISES 6:20AM
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW
31.1ºC
12.4ºC
Bogra
Tetulia
Source: Accuweather/UNB
PRAYER
TIMES
Cox’s Bazar 28 18
Fajr: 5:40am | Jumma: 1:15pm
Asr: 4:00pm | Magrib: 5:24pm
Esha: 7:30pm
Source: Islamic Foundation

6
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
Farmers of five
districts asked
to stop wheat
cultivation
• Tribune Desk
The Department of Agricultural Extension
has advised the farmers of
five southwestern districts not to
cultivate wheat, as these districts
saw the breakout of ‘wheat blast’
disease last year.
According to DAE officials,
wheat blast was spotted in Kushtia,
Meherpur, Chuadanga, Jhenidah
and Jessore last year where many
wheat farmers were adversely affected
due to the alien disease.
“Farmers are discouraged to
cultivate wheat in seven districts
of the country, including the five
southwester districts, to check any
wheat blast outbreak further,” said
DAE Deputy Director of Jossore office
Emdad Hossain Sheikh.
He claimed that the DAE had already
taken various programmes
to make the farmers aware of the
wheat blast disease.
He said: “There is no alternative
to suspension of wheat cultivation
to check it.”
“Even though wheat seeds
do not carry the virus of the
disease, it may remain in weeds
of the arable land. The disease can
break out next year as well. So,
farmers are asked to stop wheat
cultivation in these districts this
year,” he said.
Caused by a fungus, wheat blast
is one of the most fearsome and
intractable wheat diseases first discovered
in Brazil in 1985, reports
UNB.
According to official estimates,
the blast disease last year affected
15,000 hectares of wheat fields in
Jessore, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Meherpur,
Jhenidah, Magura, Barisal,
and Bhola causing up to 40% of
crop damage. •
News
Leaders and activists of Longudu upazila, Rangamati Awami League unit greet Lawmaker Diponkar Takuldar in a reception
where about 100 of BNP men joined Awami League yesterday
DHAKA TRIBUNE
100 BNP leaders, activists join
Awami League in Rangamati
• Ziaul Haque, Rangamati
At least 100 leaders and activists
of the BNP joined the ruling party
Awami League in Longudu upazila,
Rangamati on Thursday.
Local Awami League lawmaker
Diponkar Takuldar and also the
member of Awami League central
committee welcomed BNP men
with wreaths after they joined the
ruling party at a playground in
Longudu area.
The event was arranged to congratulate
State Minister for Ministry
of CHT Affairs Dipankar Talukdar,
MP, as he was selected a
member of Awami League central
committee in the last conference.
In his speech, Dipankar Talukdar
urged local indigenous and
Bangalees to work together to bring
peace in the hill tracts.
Firoza Begum Chinu, MP, Brisk
Ketu Chakma, chairman of Rangamati
Hill Tracts district, and Jhorna
Khisha Vice-President of Bangladesh
Mohila Awami League,
among others, were present at the
programme. •
KUSHTIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
Students suffer as two dorms
remain closed for two months
• Kudrote Khoda Sobuj,
Kushtia
Education of 250 students
at Kushtia Polytechnic Institute
is seriously hampered,
as two residential halls have
remained closed after a clash
between two BCL rival groups
in September.
Some students of the institution
told the Dhaka Tribune
that Bangladesh Chhatra
League members of Lalon
Shah and Mir Mosharraf Hossen
halls got locked in a deadly
clash on September 28,
leaving a number of students
critically injured.
After the incident, the authorities
declared the halls
closed for indefinite period
and ordered the students to
vacant room soon.
Suithomai Marma, a student
of Lalon Shah, said:
“Now I am staying at a mess in
Aruapara area.”
“I have to live with eight
other persons at the mess and
my education is being seriously
hampered as the environment
of the room is not
favourable for studies,” he
added.
“Living cost at the mess is
high, but poor quality food is
served there,,” he also said.
Living at messes,
we have to face
many problems,
including lack
of books, note
sheets as we
cannot do library
work regularly
Kashed Ali, another student
of the hall, said: “After the
clash, many students like us
had to take shelter at several
messes, but the BCL cadres
who committed the crime,
are roaming on the campus
freely.”
“Living at messes, we have
to face many problems, including
lack of books, note
sheets as we cannot do library
work regularly,,” he added.
Nahidul Karim, a fourth
year student, said he had to
come from Chuadanga everyday
by train as he had no ability
to stay at mess.
“I get up early in the morning
and get on the train around
5am. I have to return to home
in the evening,” he added.
Many student of the two
halls echoed the voices of
Kashed, Nahidul and Suithomai.
Imran Hossain, BCL president
of Lalon Shah Hall, said
they had held meeting with
the hall authorities several
times and requested them to
open the two halls as the situation
became normal and
peaceful.
Nuruzzaman, principal of
the institution, said: “We want
to open the halls but local
Awami League leaders asked
us not to open it now sensing
the adverse situation.” •

Shakhawat:
Narayanganj
residents want
changes
• Tanveer Hossain,
Narayanganj
BNP mayoral candidate Shakhawat
Hossain Khan demanded deployment
of the armed forces for the
polls scheduled to be held on December
22.
Shakhawat came up with statement
at a press briefing after submitted
nomination papers yesterday.
Shakhawat also said the people
of Narayanganj wanted change of
the current situation. He also
demanded a level playing field for
a free and fair election.
He submitted the nomination
papers to the returning officer, Mohammad
Nuruzzaman Talukder,
yesterday, the last day for filing
nomination.
Local BNP leader Taimur Alam
Khandokar, Moniruzzaman, ATM
Kamal, Abul Kalam, Giasuddin and
Ataur Rahman Angur were present
on the occasion. •
News 7
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
Intra-party feud intensifying
• Tanveer Hossain,
Narayanganj
After getting nodes from parties,
Awami League mayoral candidate
Selina Hayat Ivy and BNP candidate
Advocate Shakhawat Hossain
submitted their nomination papers
yesterday.
Though leaders and activists of
both parties said they would work
for party-nominated candidates,
locals hinted that both parties were
suffering from intra-party conflicts.
Conflicts between party leaders,
which almost known fact, may
widen during the Narayanganj City
Corporation polls.
Locals said leaders and activists
of Awami League and BNP
are showing their full supports to
party-nominated candidates, but
actually Narayanganj City Corporation
polls is dividing Awami League
leaders in several factions.
Intra-party conflicts in Awami
Legue were intensifying as Osman
family was feeling that they were deprived.
There had been a long-standing
dispute between Shamim Osman
and Ivy over city polls and these
disputes would be widening in the
coming days, said party insiders.
Awami League mayoral candidate
Selina Hayat Ivy submitted
her nomination paper yesterday
with Narayanganj district Awami
League unit president Abdul Hai
and ex-MP Abdullah AL Kaiser
while rest of top leaders, including
Shamim Osman MP and Anowar
Hossain, president of city AL unit
were not present there.
Locals said though Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina, also the president
of ruling Awami League had met
with Narayanganj leaders over city
polls and tried to solve the problems
between Ivy and Shamim Osman.
When contacted, district Awami
League unit president Abdul Hai
said party high command nominated
Ivy as mayoral candidate and
Artistes perform at a ceremony at Boyra Women College auditorium, Khulna city yesterday. A total of 77 tax payers were awarded at the event
they would work for her.
“Leaders and activists will work
for Ivy and we have already started
our works to elect Ivy as city mayor,”
he said.
Awami League candidate Ivy
said: “Leaders and activists of party
did not join me during nomination
paper submission fearing violation
electoral code of conduct.
But Awami League men have already
started works for me.”
City AL unit president Anowar
Hossain said: “We will work for boat
symbol in Narayanganj city polls.”
On the other hand, BNP mayoral
candidate Shakhawat Hossain Khan
submitted his nomination yesterday
while BNP leader Taimur Alam
Khandaker among others present in
election commission office.
Taimur Alam Khandaker said:
“The BNP is a big party. There are
some groups in the party but we all
will work for Shakhawat Hossain to
bring the victory for him.”
Shakhawat Hossain said: “We
are united and will win the victory
altogether. I am not contesting for
me, I am contesting for BNP and
democracy.” •
Alleged robber killed in Barguna ‘gunfight’
• Tariqul Islam, Barguna
An alleged ringleader of an inter-district
robber gang was killed
in a “gunfight” with police at
Horidrabaria village, Amtoli upazila,
Barguna early yesterday.
The deceased was identified as
Abdul Jabbar, 45, son of late Amjad
Ali Hawladar, a resident of Kalagachhia
village in the upazila.
Superintendent of Police,
Barguna Bijoy Bosak said acting
on a secret information that a
gang of robbers was preparing to
commit robbery at Kalagachhia
village, a joint team of police
and detective branch conducted
a raid at Al Amin’s house around
3am and arrested Jabbar from the
house.
Following his confessional
statement, the team conducted an
arms recovery drive at Horidrabaria
village.
When the team reached there,
cohorts of Jabbar opened fire on
the police, forced law enforcers to
retaliate triggering a gunfight, said
the SP in a press briefing around
2pm.
At one stage of the gunfight,
Jabbar was trying to escape from
police custody, but caught in the
line of fire while his associates
managed to flee scene.
Later, police rescued wounded
Jabbar from the spot and sent him
to Amtoli Upazila Health Complex
AZAHAR UDDIN
where on duty doctor declared him
dead.
Four policemen Abdul Kuddus,
32, Md Mamun, 39, Md Habibur
Rahman, 40, and Abul Kalam, 58,
were injured during the gunfight.
Jabbar was wanted in 23 cases
filed with different police stations
in the district.
Hearing the death news of Jabbar,
locals brought out a joy procession
in the area as well as distributed
sweets in the area. •
Ivy: No need
of army
deployment
• Tanveer Hossain,
Narayanganj
DT
Selina Hayat Ivy yesterday said
there was no need to deploy army
during the upcoming Narayanganj
City Corporation polls.
She said this after submitting
her nomination papers to Returning
Officer Nuruzzaman Talukdar
at the auditorium of Narayanganj
Club Ltd around 11:30am.
Ivy, Bangladesh’s first woman
mayor, said: “There is no need for
deploying the army, as the atmosphere
for polls is congenial. I want
friendly competition in the polls.
“I hope that residents of
Narayanganj will cast vote in favour
of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina, as the root level Awami
League is working for me.”
Abdul Hai, Narayanganj district
unit Awami League president, Abdullah
Al Kaiser, former lawmaker,
and Rafiur Rabbi, Santrash Nirmul
Mancha convener, accompanied
Ivy during nomination submission.
Yesterday was the deadline for
filing nomination while the deadline
for withdrawing candidacy is
December 4. On November 18, Ivy
received nomination from Awami
League as a mayoral candidate for
the upcoming city polls.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
gave her approval for competing in
the city polls after Ivy wrote a letter
to the premier seeking Awami
League ticket. •
SI injured while
arresting a
criminal
• Nayan Khandakar, Jhenaidah
A police sub-inspector (SI) was injured
in an attack by cohorts of a
criminal in Jhenaidah.
Govinda Akarshan, sub-inspector
of Totipur police camp in Jhenaidah’s
Kaliganj, was attacked
while arresting a criminal from
Maliat village of Maliat union yesterday
evening.
Injured SI was admitted to Kaliganj
Heath Complex.
Police camp Assistant Sub-Inspector
(ASI) Miraz Hossain filed a
case in this connection.
At least 22 people were accused
in the case of which ten names
were mentioned.
Kaliganj police station Officerin-Charge
(OC) Aminul Islam said:
“Police detained Surat Ali, 46, and
Robiul Mandal from the spot.
“Govinda was attacked by the
local influential people when he
was trying to arrest Shukur Ali, an
accused in a case filed in 2012,” said
Doli Rani, acting ASI of Kaliganj police
station. •

DT
8
World
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
SOUTH ASIA
Afghanistan vows to reduce
violence against women
Afghan ministries Thursday signed
an agreement to eliminate violence
against women, a largely symbolic
effort in a country that still consider
one of the worst in the world
to be female. The Afghan attorney
general’s office recorded more than
3,700 cases of violence against
women in the first eight months of
2016, with 5,000 cases recorded in
the whole of 2015. AFP
INDIA
Protests over land rights
flare in Jharkhand
Protests over land rights flared for
a second day in the eastern Indian
state of Jharkhand, as activists
and indigenous people took to the
streets after the state assembly
approved amendments to colonial-era
land laws despite strong
opposition. The state assembly on
Wednesday approved changes to
two laws that will allow the state to
buy protected tribal land. REUTERS
CHINA
China power plant
collapse kills 67
At least 67 people were killed
when part of a power station under
construction in China collapsed
Thursday, the latest industrial
accident in a country with a dismal
safety record. A cooling tower platform
plunged to the ground in the
early hours, trapping an unknown
number of people beneath it. AFP
ASIA PACIFIC
Indonesians protest over
Rohingya cause
Hundreds of Indonesians, angered
over the persecution of Rohingya
Muslims in Myanmar, protested
Thursday outside the Myanmar
Embassy in the Indonesian capital.
Jakarta police spokesman Awi
Setiyono said at least 200 people
joined the demonstration. They
marched in three groups to the
embassy, which was guarded by
dozens of police, and staged a
noisy but peaceful protest. AP
MIDDLE EAST
Kurds, Shias to coordinate
after sealing off Mosul
Iraqi Kurdish and Shia forces
agreed to coordinate movements
after cutting off Mosul from the
rest of the territory held by IS in
western Iraq and Syria, US and
Iraqi officials said on Thursday.
The agreement was reached at
meeting on Wednesday between
commanders of Kurdish Peshmerga
forces and Hadi al-Amiri, the
leader of the Iranian-backed Badr
Organisation. REUTERS
West voices concern at handling of
Rohingya crisis
• Reuters, Yangon/UN
Western nations are increasingly
concerned at how Aung San Suu
Kyi’s government is dealing with
violence in Myanmar’s divided
northwest, with the US envoy to the
United Nations privately warning
fellow diplomats the country could
not handle the crisis on its own.
Violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine
State has sent hundreds of Rohingya
Muslims fleeing across the border
to Bangladesh amid allegations
of abuses by security forces, posing
the biggest test yet for Suu Kyi’s
eight-month-old administration.
Samantha Power, Washington’s
ambassador to the UN, outlined
the level of concern at a closed
meeting of the United Nations Security
Council, held at the United
States’ request at the body’s headquarters
in New York last Thursday,
diplomats said.
Suu Kyi responded the next day
by telling a gathering of diplomats
in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyitaw,
that her country was being treated
unfairly, sources said.
Abuse allegations
Soldiers have poured into the area
along Myanmar’s frontier with
Bangladesh, responding to coordinated
attacks on three border
posts on October 9 that killed nine
police officers. Myanmar’s military
and the government have rejected
Trump names staunch critic as envoy to UN
• Reuters, Florida/Washington,
DC
Donald Trump on Wednesday
named South Carolina Governor
Nikki Haley, a former critic with
little foreign policy experience,
as the next US ambassador to the
United Nations at a time of uncertainty
over America’s international
role under his presidency.
Haley, one of two women chosen
so far for a job in Trump’s
Cabinet, is “a proven dealmaker,
and we look to be making plenty
of deals. She will be a great leader
representing us on the world
stage,” the Republican president-elect
said in a statement.
Trump on Wednesday also
picked wealthy Republican donor
and school choice advocate Betsy
DeVos to lead the Education Department.
Haley, the 44-year-old daughter
of Indian immigrants, represents
what some Republicans hope
allegations by residents and rights
groups that soldiers have raped
Rohingya women, burnt houses
and killed civilians during the military
operation in Rakhine.
Presidential spokesman Zaw
Htay said Myanmar was “releasing
correct news immediately” to prevent
the spread of misinformation.
At the New York meeting last
week, Power renewed Washington’s
call for the opening of an
office of the OHCHR, the UN’s human
rights body, in Myanmar.
She also warned that years of disenfranchisement
might have triggered
radicalisation of some elements
of the Rohingya community, describing
the Security Council meeting as a
“classic prevention moment”.
State Department spokeswoman
Nicole Thompson declined to
comment on what was said at the
closed-door Nov. 17 meeting.
“We remain concerned by reports
of ongoing violence and displacement
in northern Rakhine
State,” Thompson said.
“We continue to urge the government
to conduct a credible, independent
investigation into the
events in Rakhine State, and renew
our request for open media access.”
Britain also expressed its concerns
at the meeting, diplomats
said, as did Malaysia, which voiced
worries the violence could prompt
a renewed regional migration crisis.
Underscoring the diplomatic
Governor of the US State of South
Carolina Nikki Haley at the Golden
Temple in Amritsar, India
AFP
MYANMAR’S ROHINGYA
Stateless Muslim ethnic group
BANGLADESH
Around 300,000
Rohingya living in
coastal areas
Source : UNHCR
BAY OF
BENGAL
Over 120,000 people
have fled Rakhine since
religious violence in 2012,
according to UNHCR
More than 30,000
people displaced,
at least 70 killed under
military lockdown in
the north of Rakhine
since October
tensions, Muslim-majority Malaysia
said on Wednesday it was considering
pulling out of a regional
soccer tournament co-hosted by
Myanmar in protest over its handling
of the crisis.
Egypt’s representative said it too
was concerned by reports of radicalisation
500 km among the Rohingya.
could be the new face of their party:
a younger, more diverse generation
of leaders.
Haley took Trump strongly
to task during the presidential
campaign over his harsh rhetoric
about illegal immigration and for
not speaking forcefully enough
against white supremacists.
America’s global role
The choice of Haley may be aimed
at countering criticism of Trump’s
divisive comments about immigrants
and minorities, as well as
accusations of sexism during his
election campaign.
Haley led a successful effort last
year to remove the Confederate
battle flag from the grounds of the
South Carolina state capitol after
the killing of nine black churchgoers
in Charleston. The flag was
carried by pro-slavery Confederate
forces during the Civil War and is
viewed by many as a racist emblem.
Haley said she had accepted
MYANMAR
Rakhine
State
Muslim Rohingya at a
displacement
camp, September 7
Home to most of the
1 million Rohingya
Buddhist-majority
Myanmar see the
Rohingya as
illegal Bangladeshi
immigrants
The Rohingya are
denied citizenship
and smothered
by restrictions on
movement and work
The UN High Commissioner for
Refugees has pressed the Burmese
government to provide immediate
humanitarian access to provide
aid to the Rohingya in accordance
with international law and has
asked Bangladesh to keep its border
open to any civilians fleeing
the violence. •
Trump’s offer and would remain
governor pending her confirmation
to the Cabinet-level post by
the US Senate.
Sharp words for Trump
Haley would succeed Obama’s UN
envoy, Samantha Power, a foreign
policy expert before she took the
job. In contrast, Haley, a state lawmaker
before becoming governor,
has little experience in international
relations.
She was a robust critic of Trump
during the early stages of the Republican
presidential nominating
race, including condemning him
for not disavowing the support of
the Ku Klux Klan and one of the
white supremacist group’s former
leaders, David Duke.
In a rebuttal to Obama’s State
of the Union address in January,
Haley called for tolerance on immigration
and civility in politics,
in what some saw as a rebuke of
Trump. •

World
EU parliament chief Schulz setting
stage for Merkel challenge
• Tribune International Desk
Martin Schulz, president of the
European Parliament, is to stand
down from one of the EU’s most
powerful posts and run for parliament
in Germany in a move that
could lead to a run against Angela
Merkel for the chancellorship in
elections next year.
In a decision that has shaken
the political world in Brussels and
Berlin, the long-serving parliament
chief will stand as an MP for the
Social Democratic party in North
Rhine-Westphalia and potentially
position himself to lead the SPD in
next autumn’s parliamentary elections
as its chancellor candidate.
The move could also pave the
way for Mr Schulz, 60, to secure a
top German government post early
next year by taking over as foreign
minister from Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, who is set to become
federal president.
Commission President Jean-
Claude Juncker had pressed his
fellow conservatives in Parliament
to let Schulz stay on in the interests
of stability following Britain’s vote
in June to leave the bloc. He denied
threatening to resign if Schulz were
forced out but said on Thursday
‘Brexit means £122bn extra borrowing’
• Tribune International Desk
Chancellor Philip Hammond has
admitted that the Brexit vote’s
blow to the economy would force
the government to borrow £122bn
more than hoped as he pushed
back government plans to balance
the books in his autumn statement,
reports The Guardian.
In the government’s first major
economic announcement since
the vote in June to leave the EU,
the new chancellor said the economy
was faring well in the wake of
the referendum result but growth
would slow markedly next year on
the back of weaker business spending
and a squeeze on household
budgets from rising living costs.
Our task now is to prepare our
economy to be resilient as we exit
the EU and match-fit for the transition
that will follow,” said Hammond,
who replaced George Osborne
as chancellor in the political
crisis that followed the referendum.
Labour said Hammond’s statement
was an admission that the
government’s long-term economic
plan had failed. John McDonnell,
the shadow chancellor, said
it showed “the abject failure of the
last six wasted years”.
Hammond unveiled three new
European Parliament President Martin Schulz, left, and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel
REUTERS
he “regretted” him leaving.
Conservative Ambitions
The conservative leader in Parliament,
Manfred Weber from
Merkel’s Bavarian allies, said his
group would choose a nominee for
speaker next month. Frenchman
Alain Lamassoure and Mairead
McGuinness of Ireland declared
their candidacies.
Weber, 44, has been cited himself
as Schulz’s successor, a position that
could raise his profile for a future
rules of his own: for borrowing to
be below 2% of GDP by the end of
the parliament; for public sector net
debt to be falling by the same time;
and for welfare spending to remain
within an OBR-monitored cap.
The economy would grow 2.1%
this year, faster than the 2.0%
forecast in March, Hammond said
as he unveiled a new outlook from
the government’s independent
forecaster, the Office for Budget
Responsibility (OBR).
The OBR now expects government
borrowing this financial year
alone will be £68.2bn, well above
the previous estimate of £55.5bn. A
forecast for the public finances to
be back in surplus by the end of the
decade was abandoned and in total
the new forecasts amount to £122bn
of extra borrowing over the next five
years compared with the outlook
before Britain voted to leave the EU.
Hammond used his first set-piece
speech as chancellor to announce
measures to drive up the UK’s woeful
productivity growth with a £23bn
innovation fund and investment in
rail, telecoms and housing.
There were also give aways for
“just managing families” and relief
for motorists hit by rising pump
prices as Hammond cancelled a
planned rise in fuel duty. •
career in Germany and something
Schulz also used to his advantage.
Weber did not, however, rule
out that his group might back a
“consensus candidate” from another
of the mainstream, pro-EU
blocs in the chamber, which include
liberals and greens. That
could dampen complaints of a
centre-right lock on institutions
while, as Weber said, maintaining
a centrist front against the chamber’s
vocal minority of eurosceptic
and extremist parties.
Weber’s centre-left counterpart
said he would resist a conservative
sweep of EU jobs: “A right-wing monopoly
on the EU institutions would
be unacceptable,” said Italian Gianni
Pittella. “Political balance must be
ensured and respected.”
Speculation that Schulz would
return to German politics grew after
Merkel’s grand coalition with the Social
Democrat SPD backed Schulz’s
party ally Steinmeier to take over in
February as Germany’s figurehead
president. Senior SPD members see
Schulz as the party’s clear favourite
to succeed Steinmeier.
Whoever takes over the role
will have an overflowing in-tray as
Germany tries to unite a divided
post-Brexit EU, contain an assertive
Russia and work out a new relationship
with Washington under
Donald Trump. Schulz has said
Trump’s election as president will
make work harder for the EU.
Schulz ran a bookshop in his
native Aachen in western Germany
before entering the European
Parliament in 1994. As speaker of
the body since 2012, he used new
powers granted by the 2009 Lisbon
Treaty to increase the legislature’s
role in EU politics and has used the
post to raise his profile at home. •
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, left, and British Prime
Minister Theresa May
AFP
9
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
USA
US Green Party raises
funds for vote recount
DT
The former Green Party presidential
candidate Jill Stein has raised
the necessary $1.1m to request a
vote recount in Wisconsin, her
campaign announced Thursday.
The Midwestern state was a key
battleground in the November
8 election, helping propel the
Republican President-elect Donald
Trump past his Democratic rival
Hillary Clinton to a victory that
shocked the nation. AFP
THE AMERICAS
Twelve bodies found in
Mexico
As many as 12 bodies have been
uncovered in hidden graves in
Mexico’s violent state of Guerrero,
the state government has said on
Thursday. Cartels are battling over
drug trafficking routes in the southwestern
state, home to the beach
resort of Acapulco. All the bodies
all located in hidden graves in the
municipality of Zitlala. REUTERS
UK
UK to increase trade,
security ties with Pakistan
UK is in talks to boost trade and
security cooperation with Pakistan,
Foreign Minister Boris Johnson
said on Thursday, part of London’s
efforts to improve trade links with
emerging market countries. UK
has been seeking to bolster global
trade ties following to leave the EU,
with the government seeking to
broaden relations with fast-growing
economies outside Europe. On
a visit to Pakistan, Johnson said
talks were progressing on plans
to increase annual trade beyond
£2.5bn per year. REUTERS
EUROPE
EU halts talks for Turkey’s
entry
The European Parliament called for
a temporary halt to the talks for Turkey’s
entry into the EU, because of
the reaction disproportionate in Ankara
in the failed coup of July State.
The members of the EU parliament
voted in favour of a non-binding motion
that calls on the EU Commission
and national governments to freeze
the negotiations. REUTERS
AFRICA
Amnesty accuses Nigeria
of killing 150 secessionists
Amnesty International accused Nigerian
security forces on Thursday
of killing at least 150 peaceful advocates
of Biafra’s secession, but the
military and police dismissed the allegations.
Amnesty said the military
fired live ammunition, with little or
no warning, to disperse members
of the Indigenous People of Biafra
( IPOB) group between August 2015
and August 2016. REUTERS

10
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
World
The gamble with India’s demonetisation
• Tribune International Desk
Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi announced the surprise demonetisation
of the Rs500 and
Rs1000 bank notes On November
8. Less than two weeks since the
de-recognition of these notes as legal
tender, the country is in an uproar.
While this is not the first time
that India has attempted to demonetise
in a professed bid to tackle the
issue of black money in the country,
unlike the last time under Moraji
Desai in 1978, this time the Reserve
Bank of India’s Governor Urjit Patel
is in full support of the decision and
has called it a bold move that “addresses
the growing menace of fake
Indian currency notes.”
Former Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh on Thursday tore
into his successor Narendra Modi’s
clampdown on the cash economy,
calling it an “organised loot and
legalised plunder” of the country,
during his speech at the upper
chamber of the Indian Parliament.
Singh - the architect of economic
reforms that led to years of rapid
growth - dubbed Modi’s shock
move to scrap Rs500 and Rs1,000
rupee banknotes a “monumental
mismanagement” that could shave
at least 2-percentage points off economic
growth.
The so-called demonetisation
drive is part of a crackdown on
corruption, tax evasion and militant
financing, but the decision to
suck out 86% of cash in circulation
threatens to push Asia’s third-largest
economy into a liquidity crisis.
Opposition parties led by Congress
have stalled parliament, demanding
a reply from Modi and
compensation for the families of
dozens of people reported to have
died while queuing at banks to
swap old money for new.
Modi, citing a survey he launched
via a smartphone app, says that 90%
of people expressed their support
for the ban on old banknotes. The
survey was not representative but
drew half a million responses.
Biggest chunk of black money
untouched?
Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan
has not made an official statement
regarding this move, he has
expressed reservations in the past
about the effectiveness of demonetisation
as a means of tackling money
laundering, possibly indicating
that he too might be in this camp of
sceptics. The IMF has made a statement
supporting Modi’s efforts, but
has also very clearly indicated the
need for prudence in managing the
transition to new notes, given the
pervasiveness and importance of
cash to the economy.
The chief ministers of the states of
Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and
Telengana have openly expressed
both support and appreciation for
CRACKDOWN ON INDIA’S ‘BLACK MONEY’
Indians have returned $80bn worth of high-value currency notes –
500 rupees and 1,000 rupees – since Prime Minister Narendra Modi
banned their use as part of a crackdown on corruption and tax evasion
Nov 8: Prime
Minister Modi
announces Rs500 and
Rs1,000 notes to be
demonetised
Dec 30: Deadline for
exchange of old notes at
banks or post offices
2015-16: 31.8 million Indians –
just 2.6% of population – file income
tax returns, generating $43.1bn
(Rs286,801 crore) in revenue*
Tax revenue (as percentage of
gross domestic product, 2015-16)
$68.3bn
Corporate
tax, 3.3%
of India’s
GDP
$2,100bn
GDP
*provisional Income Tax Department figures. Crore denotes ten million in Indian numbering system
Sources: PTI, Statistical Commission, New World Wealth Pictures: Getty Images © GRAPHIC NEWS
this move in the long run, while the
chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka,
Maharashtra, and West Bengal
have expressed varying degrees
of criticism and worry at the potentially
very harmful short term impacts.
Members of the Congress and
the Samajwadi Party have violently
opposed this move as well.
New Delhi’s Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal has been vocally
critical of the demonetisation, stating
that the experts he has consulted
have not indicated much confidence
in this move as a means of
getting rid of black money. Drawing
upon his own election promises to
weed out corruption, he has in fact
accused the government of having
strategically informed its friends
$43.1bn
Personal
income tax,
2.1% of
GDP
$241bn
Value of bank notes
in circulation in India
$207bn
Value of Rs500 and
Rs1,000 notes
now banned
and allies (who might have hoarded
black money) in advance – thus
effectively only complicating the
life of the common man with this
move. BJP President Amit Shah
has retorted, asking for sceptics to
provide concrete reasons for their
opposition, and implied that only
anti-social elements have a cause
for worry as a result of this move.
Whether banking system prepared
for it
The next question that may be raised
is the preparedness of the government
and the banks regarding implementation
of a move of this scale.
The argument provided for why this
move was announced and administered
overnight is that it denies
40%
India’s
wealth
stashed as black cash
33%
About a third
of business in
India is done with black money
$252bn
Cash and carry transactions
make up 12% of India’s
$2.1tn GDP
$10bn
Black money
declared since
Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley
announced
tax amnesty in
March. Amnesty
has raised $4.5bn in tax
236,000
Number of Indians with assets of
over $1m at end of 2015
$4 per day
Average daily income in India
stands at around 272 rupees,
according to Labour Bureau
hoarders of black money the chance
to dispose of it. While that may appear
to be sound logic, it has also
apparently impacted the banking
system’s ability to ensure a smooth
transition. Several ATMs across the
nation continue to be useless by
virtue of not having enough fresh
notes, while the ones that are refilled
are attacked by painfully long lines
and eventually emptied at once.
Some leading Bank Unions have
criticised the move as having been
improperly planned – resulting in
a severe shortage of Rs100 notes
that in turn ensures that the large
tender of the new Rs2000 notes
is rendered useless for routine
everyday transactions.
On November 15, the Supreme
Court sat down to hear multiple
petitions and four Public Interest
Litigations regarding this move
– some of which requested a complete
rollback of this policy due to
its severe impact on everyday citizens.
The court decided not to stay
the decision right then and instead
will examine its legal validity before
making a decision. After asking the
government to file an affidavit justifying
its notification, the court adjourned
the hearing to November 25.
Who is affected the most?
This in turn is the third major question
raised against this policy – who
is affected the most? The removal of
large sums of legal tender unquestionably
affects all individuals who
need to engage in cash transactions in
some form. Those with access to plastic
money are less directly impacted
even in the short term, but in both the
long and short term, specific sections
have been disproportionately hit.
The rural poor who lack the infrastructure
to set up deposit accounts
and who currently hold all
their money in cash form have been
directly hit. Even those who do have
access to accounts among them
struggle with ill prepared banks
and post offices, small and dispersed
in number, and the need to
take off several crucial hours from
work – sometimes in vain. It is also
difficult to estimate the numbers of
women across the board who will
be potentially irrecoverably impacted
by this policy – women who do
not inform their families of hidden
stashes of cash, who are otherwise
fully dependent on male members
of the family and who stand to lose
years of savings because they cannot
confess to their presence.
Refugees who lack the requisite
documents to create accounts are
also now seeing months of savings
potentially vanish. Socially ostracised
communities who are again
disproportionately cut off from the
banking systems – like trans-gender
communities and sex workers – are
other immediate victims. This is
in addition to the fact that reports
indicate that the government may
have over-estimated the existing
levels of connectivity to banking.
Modi, in a rousing rhetorically
rich speech, requested the nation for
50 days to launch this self-labelled
war on black money. He asked the
people to make short-term sacrifices
in the interest of long-term gains
by virtue of all the money that will
be seized from hoarders. Both the
activist and the non-activist sections
of social media have equally
raved about or ripped apart this
rhetoric. While it is too soon to declare
whether the long-term gains
are indeed forthcoming, the “short
term” sacrifices have been more
than just significant. •
Sources: THE DIPLOMAT, REUTERS

World
11
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
People march for peace in Bogota, on November 15, 2016, after the
Colombian government and the Marxist Farc insurgents signed a new
and revised peace deal to end 52 years of civil war
AFP
Colombia to sign
revised peace deal
• AFP, Bogota, Colombia
Colombia’s government and
Farc insurgents will sign a
controversial revised peace
accord Thursday to end their
half-century conflict, which is
set to be ratified despite bitter
complaints from opponents.
Under pressure for fear
that a fragile ceasefire could
break down, the government
and the leftist Farc said they
will sign the new deal and immediately
take it to congress.
The accord aims to end Latin
America’s last major armed
conflict. But opponents say it
is too soft on the leftist Farc
force, blamed for thousands
and thousands of killings and
kidnappings.
The document is expected
to pass after being debated
next week, since President
Juan Manuel Santos and his
allies hold a majority in the
legislature.
A recent wave of alleged
assassinations in conflict areas
has raised pressure to seal a
peace deal fast.
“There is no time to waste,”
Santos said.
But an aftermath of discord
and uncertainty looked
likely as opponents promised
to keep resisting the deal.
“We invite citizens to persist
in the struggle for the future
of democracy,” said the
Democratic Center Party led
by conservative ex-president
Alvaro Uribe.
Opposition’s objections
Santos and Farc leader Rodrigo
“Timochenko” Londono
signed an earlier version of
the deal in a triumphant ceremony
with international leaders
on September 27. But Colombians
narrowly rejected it
in a referendum on October 2.
Government and Farc
negotiators presented a redrafted
version earlier this
month. But Uribe complained
it still did not satisfy his key
demands, notably on punishing
Farc leaders for their
crimes. Under the deal, the
Farc would disarm and transform
into a political party.
Uribe and his allies say rebel
leaders should not be allowed
to run for office while still
serving their sentences. They
also want guarantees for state
police and soldiers who may
face trial over their actions in
the conflict.
Congress debate Tuesday
Santos said his government
and the Farc will sign the deal
in the Colon Theater in Bogota.
It will then be presented
to congress which will open
a debate from next Tuesday,
Senate speaker Mauricio Lizcano
said on the radio.
“Congress is the body that
in Colombia is qualified to approve
agreements with the insurgents,”
said Ariel Avila, an
analyst at Colombia’s Peace and
Reconciliation Foundation.
But Uribe’s party accused
Santos of using congress to
impose his new deal on the
people. It demanded a second
referendum.
Fragile ceasefire
A two-way ceasefire between
the government and Farc has
been in force since August,
but both sides have warned it
is fragile.
Santos met with top officials
on Tuesday to discuss a
recent wave of alleged political
killings in southern conflict
zones.
Separately, last week two
Farc guerrillas were killed in
what authorities said was a
clash with the army.
Since it erupted in 1964,
the Colombian conflict has
killed at least 260,000 people
and displaced seven million,
according to the authorities. •

DT
12
Business
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
CAPITAL MARKET SNAPSHOT: THURSDAY
DSE Broad Index 4,791.3 0.5% ▲ Index 1,133.3 0.4% ▲ 30 Index 1,769.5 0.3% ▲ Turnover in Mn Tk 6,584.3 -55.5% ▼ Turnover in Mn Vol 295.4 -22.2% ▼
CSE All Share Index 14,724.3 0.4% ▲ 30 Index 13,204.5 0.3% ▲ Selected Index 8,962.3 0.4% ▲ Turnover in Mn Tk 429.0 -11.7% ▼ Turnover in Mn Vol 21.4 -15.1% ▼
Muhith praises young taxpayers
Tax Week 2016 begins as the NBR honours over 500 highest and long-time taxpayers
• SM Najmus Sakib
Finance Minister praised the increased
number of students and
young entrepreneurs for their outstanding
contributions to the country’s
development and their enthusiasm
in paying taxes.
He was speaking as the chief
guest at the inauguration of the
Tax Week at the new building of
National Board of Revenue in Dhaka
yesterday.
“If the current taxpaying practice
goes on, Bangladesh would
reach the middle-income level before
2021 and turn into a developed
country before 2041,” Muhith said.
In the current fiscal year, NBR
raised the number of Tax Cards to
141 from 20.
The cards were given to taxpayers
for their outstanding contributions
to the national exchequer.
NBR also honoured a total of 517
taxpayers including 370 that paid
highest tax and 147 long-time taxpayers
from district levels.
Industries Minister Amir Hossain
Amu was also present at the
programme as a special guest.
In his address, Amu said the
ADB chief urges
Trump to pursue
trade deals
• AFP, Manila
The head of the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) yesterday urged
US President-elect Donald Trump
to continue with a landmark
trans-pacific trade deal, but said
the region would press on with key
accords regardless of his decision.
The US-led Trans-Pacific Trade
Partnership (TPP), promoted by
outgoing US President Barack Obama
as part of his Asia pivot, liberalises
inter-regional trade among 12
countries but Trump has charged
it will cost the US jobs and hurt
American businesses.
Speaking in Manila, Takehiko
Nakao said he hoped Trump would
not pull out of the agreement
which he described as ready to be
implemented.
But he added “if the United
States doesn’t join, there can be so
many approaches”.
“There is a strong case for certain
regional arrangements,” he
said. •
Finance Minister AMA Muhith gives a certificate to British American Tobacco Bangladesh chairman recognising role in tax
payment at the opening of Tax Week 2016. NBR Chairman Nojibur Rahman (right) was also present
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
ongoing taxpaying practice has inspired
the government to take up
mega projects like Padma Bridge
without any foreign fund.
The minister suggested utilising
the country’s resources to turn it
into a developed country by 2041.
As collection of tax is on the rise,
the government would take necessary
steps to make education free
up to the university level, he said.
The ministers congratulated
DSE index surges 14
months high
• Tribune Business Desk
The Dhaka Stock Exchange benchmark
index DSEX witnessed persistent
rise over the weeks hitting
almost 14 months high.
The key index added over 25
points or 0.6% to 4,791, which is
highest since October 7 last year
when it was 4,800. Rally in banking
stocks helped the DSEX close
higher.
The DS30 index, comprising
blue chips, gained marginally over
4 points to 1,133 and the DSE Shariah
Index DSES also edged over 5
points higher to 1,769.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange
selective category index, CSCX,
rose about 33 points to 8,962.
Volume of trade was back to
normal level after witnessing
abnormally high in previous
session boosted by block trades on
the DSE. The volume of trade in
value stood at almost Tk660 crore
from previous session’s nearly
Tk1,500 crore, driven by KPCL
block transaction.
Bank and textile contributed
around 35% to the total trade value
of the market. Six banks and four
textile companies secured position
in top 20 turnover list.
The market breadth also remained
positive as out of total
319 traded scrips, 173 advanced,
120 declined and 26 remained unchanged.
Mutual funds shined on the day,
led by Grameen Scheme Two with
a 9.6% price rise.
Among the major sectors, life
insurance was the day’s best performer
with a rally of 1.2%, followed
by bank 1.1% and non-life
insurance 0.6%.
On the other hand, food and allied
and telecommunications fell
marginally on profit booking.
Doreen Power was the most
traded stocks worth Tk27 crore
changed hands, followed by Beximco
Ltd, Generation Next, Bangladesh
Building System, City Bank
and Quasem Drycells. •
students who took part in the competition
about tax under “Tax Education
Forum” at the last tax fair.
The winners received prizes and
certificates at a prize-giving ceremony.
The event aimed at growing
BB chief requests Muhith to
appoint directors
• Asif Showkat Kallol
Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle
Kabir requested Finance Minister
AMA Muhith to appoint two directors
at the vacant posts of the central
bank, according to official sources.
Bangladesh Bank board currently
has seven directors. Two
posts have remained vacant at the
nine-member board.
awareness among students of paying
tax.
The National Board of Revenue
awarded a total of 141 highest taxpayers
under three categories at
the ceremony on the first day of
income tax week.
A total of 76 persons under individual
category, 57 under company
category and 8 under other categories
will be awarded with tax cards.
The card holders will have
the privilege to attend state programmes
and get priority in receiving
services provided by the government.
NBR Chairman Nojibur Rahman
presided over the inaugural function
of Tax Week.
In his speech, Nojibur said the
revenue authority has taken a number
of initiatives to inspire taxpayers
and ease the system of paying tax.
NBR has increased the number
of tax cards, launched e-filing and
online services, arranged tax fair
yearly and finally tax week from
November 24 to 30 for the first time.
The revenue authority has set
record with Tk2129,67,75,811 crore
collected from the recently held
weeklong tax fair. •
Dr Jamaluddin Ahmed FCA and
Dr Rashidan Islam were appointed as
private directors of the central bank
on March 13, 2016 for three years. Dr
Rashidan Islam is the research director
of the Bangladesh Institute of Development
Studies (BIDS).
Earlier, two directors were appointed.
BB Deputy Governor Abu
Hena Mahmmad Razi Hasan was
made director. •

Business 13
Trade union urges govt to ensure
rights of Tazreen fire victims
• Rafikul Islam
Several trade union leaders yesterday
called for long-term treatment
and rehabilitation of the injured
victims of Tazreen Fashions fire.
The leaders of the workers platform
also demanded an exemplary
punishment for those responsible
for the accident.
The demand came at a rally held
in front of the National Press Club
to observe the fourth anniversary of
Tazreen Fashions fire that killed 112
workers and injured over 200 in 2012.
“The surviving victims need
long-term treatment and rehabilitation
to come back to normal life,”
said Sirajul Islam Rony, president,
Bangladesh National Garments
Workers Employees League.
Even after four years of the
deadly incident, a good number of
workers did not get proper compensation
and are leading a miserable
life, he alleged.
To ensure workplace safety, the
workers leaders urged the government
to implement initiatives taken
to improve safety standards in
the country’s RMG sector.
“We do not want to see any further
incident in the industry that
would cost lives of my fellow workers,”
said Rony.
A Tazreen worker Monir Hossain
said he is still traumatised by
Robi revenue grows
11.5% in Q3
• Ishtiaq Husain
Bangladesh National Garment Workers and Employees League organises a rally in Dhaka yesterday marking four years of
Tazreen garment factory fire incident in 2012 which killed 112 workers and injured more than 200
RAFIKUL ISLAM
the fire incident and does not fell
normal in everyday activities.
“I lost my leg in the incident
that has made me physically challenged.
who will take the responsibility
of my family?” Monir said,
expressing deep disappointment.
Robi Axiata has posted 11.5% revenue
growth in the third quarter of
2016 in ‘very challenging business
conditions’.
The mobile-phone operator in a
media statement on yesterday said
the revenue rose to Tk1,390 crore
amidst intense price competition.
Revenue recovery with customer
centric strategy after huge hit for
biometric registration campaign
which slowed down net addition in
quarter 1.
“EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest,
Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation)
grew by 12.1% to Tk450
crore in Q3 2016 driven by strong
mobile revenue growth and prudent
cost management initiatives
implemented across the company,”
says Robi statement.
The operator registered Tk1.76
crore profit (Paid after tax-PAT)
in the third quarter impacted by
accelerated depreciation resulting
from nationwide network
modernisation especially in Chittagong-Comilla
region.
Robi’s active subscriber base decreased
to 23.8 million in Q3 2016
due to deactivation of non-compliant
SIMs after bio-metric registration
cut-off deadline.
Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, managing
director and CEO of Robi said:
“We experienced solid mobile revenue
growth during the third quarter
of 2016.”
“However, SIM deactivation after
31st May 2016 for non-compliant
biometric registration SIM has
negatively impacted the growth
momentum of the business.”
“Nevertheless, we are continuing
to invest towards expansion and
modernization of 2.5G/3.5G network
across the country to provide
a superior mobile services experience
to our subscribers,” he said.
Mahtab Uddin said: “During the
third quarter of 2016, we continued
to bring most innovative and affordable
product offers in the market
as we have introduced a simple
and need-based complete mobile
solution named ‘ACE’.” •
He urged the buyers, owners and
the government to take steps to rehabilitate
the workers like him.
To avert further incident, the
government should bring to book
those responsible for the fire in Tazreen
Fashions, Amirul Haque Amin,
secretary to Bangladesh IndustriAll
Council, said in another rally.
The culture of impunity helps
recur factory disaster and it should
bring to a stop just now through
ensuring justice to the victims,
added Amin. •
DT
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
Alliance rebuffs rights group report
on safety work progress
• Tribune Business Desk
North American group Alliance
has rejected the “misrepresented
and oversimplified” report by the
workers’ rights groups on safety
improvement assessment in Bangladesh’s
garment sector.
“There is no doubt that the Alliance
has had a transformative impact
in strengthening the structural
integrity of Bangladeshi factories
where millions of women and men
make a living each day,” said Ellen
O’Kane Tauscher, independent
chair of the board of the Alliance.
“We have proven this strong
commitment to improving workplace
safety in Bangladesh’s garment
industry through concrete
actions and results,” she said.
On Monday, International Labor
Rights Forum, Worker Rights Consortium,
Clean Clothes Campaign,
and Maquila Solidarity Network in
an analysis titled Dangerous Delays
on Worker Safety criticised “considerable
delays” in repairing safety
defects in factories supplying
member companies of the Alliance.
It claimed that Alliance overstated
progress in Bangladesh’s
garment sector, keeping its workers’
lives at risk.
“Walmart, Gap, VF, Target and
Hudson’s Bay have failed to address
deadly hazards in many factories,
but Bangladesh alliance
downplays the problem with rosy
status reports,” the workers’ rights
groups said in the analysis.
“Even more concerning is the
fact that the Alliance overstates
progress, saying many of the factories
listed as on track on the Alliance
website still face major safety
hazards,” the analysis said.
However, Alliance defended
their efforts saying the remediation
work would be largely completed
by 2018.
“We project that our remediation
work will be largely completed
by 2018—as originally planned. We
continue to stress that remediation
is not an end point, but a continuing
journey. Factories and other
key stakeholders must take up the
China to probe
illegal expansion
in coal, steel
sectors
• Reuters
China will send inspection teams
to investigate and severely punish
illegal expansion by coal and steel
firms as part of its efforts to slim
down the two industries, the country’s
cabinet said yesterday.
With most of the country’s steel
and coal enterprises making losses
in 2015, China promised in February
to slash 500 million tonnes of
coal production capacity and 100
million to 150 million tonnes of
crude steel capacity over the next
three to five years in a bid to reduce
price-sapping supply gluts.
The State Council said in a notice
posted on China’s official government
website (www.gov.cn)
that this year’s targeted closures
had already been “basically completed”,
but some firms were still
illegally expanding capacity.
The cabinet named as culprits
the Hebei Anfeng Steel Corp, based
in the northern port city of Qinhuangdao,
as well as a small steel
plant in eastern China’s Jiangsu
province.
China has traditionally struggled
to rein in its massive steel and
coal sectors, with local governments
often turning a blind eye to
expansion projects that provide
additional local employment and
economic growth. •
charge to continue the culture of
safety well beyond 2018,” said Ellen
O’Kane Tauscher.
Alliance alleged that the right
groups in several areas of the report
“misrepresented and oversimplified”
the complexities of the Alliance
and the Accord efforts.
“It is important to note that the
factories highlighted in the report
are those producing products for
both Alliance and Accord brands,”
it added.
Alliance said: “Our analysis of
factory remediation progress reflects
the conclusions of qualified
and trained engineers who are
working diligently with factories to
ensure they have proper fire safety
equipment, conduct inspections
and verify progress.”
“These inspections are rigorous,
and to date, we have suspended
101 factories from the Alliance list
for failing to make sufficient progress
on remediation—a considerably
higher number than factories
suspended by either the National
Action Plan or the Accord.” •

14
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
Business
Most US Fed members support
rate hike ‘relatively soon’
• AFP, Washington
Most US interest rate policymakers believe a
rate hike to be appropriate “relatively soon,”
boosting the chances of an increase in December,
according to meeti ng minutes released
early yesterday.
Some participants at the Federal Reserve
policy meeting early this month said an rate
increase “should occur at the next meeting”
to “preserve credibility,” because failure to
do so would be counter to the public signals
sent so far, the minutes showed.
However, members also saw potential
dangers abroad, with Britain due to exit the
European Union, European banks suffering
capital weakness, a strengthening US dollar
and rapid credit growth in China.
The Federal Open Market Committee,
which sets US monetary policy met just
days before presidential elections that ended
in a surprise victory for Republican Donald
Trump.
The FOMC after that meeting once again
stated that the case for a rate hike was
stronger but that it would wait for more signs
of progress toward the dual objectives of two
percent inflation and full employment.
Despite that 8-2 vote to stay on hold, “A
few participants advocated an increase at
this meeting,” the minutes said.
After raising rates last December for the
first time in nearly a decade, the Federal
Reserve so far has held steady, to avoid interrupting
a fragile recovery despite expectations
early in the year that there might be
several increases in 2016.
However, policymakers at last appear set
to pull the trigger at their final meeting of
the year December 13-14, to ward off inflation
amid signs of tightening labor markets.
During congressional testimony last
week, Fed Chair Janet Yellen strongly suggested
a rate hike was likely next month,
giving markets a clear signal.
The US economy posted strong gains in
the third quarter, growing at 2.9% and added
a solid 161,000 jobs in October, continuing
the robust job creation of recent months.
Still, FOMC members noted at the last
meeting that growth figure had partly been
driven by “transitory factors,” such as “a
surge in agricultural exports and a bounceback
in inventory investment.” •
CORPORATE NEWS
BKMEA has recently held an inauguration programme of its Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) unit,
said a press release. President of BKMEA, AKM Salim Osman was present at the programme
Delta Brac Housing Finance Corporation Ltd has recently held its 20th annual general meeting, said a press
release. The company’s chairperson, Faruq A Choudhury was present at the meeting
NRBC Bank has recently opened its 50th branch at Chandina in Comilla, said a press release. Former deputy
speaker of Bangladesh Parliament, Professor Md Ali Ashraf inaugurated the branch at the presence of the
bank’s chairperson, Engr Farasath Ali
Bank Asia has recently signed an agreement with CARE Bangladesh at facilitating online payment
opportunities for readymade garment workers to fulfil their banking needs, said a press release. The bank’s
managing director, Md Arfan Ali and Arshad Muhammad, acting country director of CARE Bangladesh
have signed the agreement

Business 15
DT
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
Surging dollar skittles euro, yen and EM currencies
• Reuters
The dollar surged to a near 14-year
high yesterday, clocking up a string
of milestones against other top
world currencies and clobbering
emerging markets.
Stronger data from the world’s
biggest economy underpinned the
greenback’s gains, which were further
amplified by thinner volumes
as US traders stayed away for the
Thanksgiving holiday.
The dollar pushed its way past
more of last year’s peaks against
the euro EURO to hit $1.0550 in early
European action, with only the
March 2015 high of $1.0457 standing
in the way of a drive toward parity.
The yen JPY= skidded to an eightmonth
low and China’s yuan CNH to
an 8-1/2 year low, while the highly
sensitive Turkish lira TRY and Indian
Men walk past an electronic board showing Japan’s Nikkei average outside a
brokerage in Tokyo, Japan
REUTERS
rupee IDR= hit new historic troughs.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything
stopping US yields going
higher in the near-term so I think
people are going to stay on the dollar
trend,” said Michael Metcalfe,
head of global macro strategy at
State Street Global Markets.
“The only risk to this are that
the dislocations in markets outside
of the US, particularly in emerging
markets, get to a point where they
start to feed back into concerns (for
the Federal Reserve as it looks to
raise interest rates),” he said.
In contrast to all the FX noise,
European shares saw a broadly
quiet start, with most of the main
bourses edging marginally higher
on gains from chemical and insurance
firms.
German business confidence data
showed firms remained unfazed, for
now at least, by the US election win
for Donald Trump and the political
uncertainty currently bubbling in
euro zone peers such as Italy.
However, the European Central
Bank delivered an unusually downbeat
message, warning that global
political shifts could compound existing
vulnerabilities to rising interest
rates and revive worries about
the euro zone’s weaker sovereigns.
“This in turn could delay
much-needed fiscal and structural
reforms and could in a worstcase
scenario reignite pressures
on more vulnerable sovereigns,”
it added. “In particular, concerns
about debt sustainability might reemerge
despite relatively benign
financial market conditions.”
Emerging strains
It was enough to keep bond markets
playing the transatlantic divide
that has been widening again
on bets that, while the United
States may be about to raise interest
rates, Europe is unlikely to follow
suit for a couple of years.
The yield on Germany’s 10-year
government bond, the benchmark
for the region, fell 4.2 basis points to
0.24%, while Italy, which has been
plagued by political concerns ahead
of a referendum on constitutional
reform, outperformed with yields
down 7 basis points to 2.06%. •

16
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
Feature
Art comes alive:
Sands of time exhibition, EDGE gallery
A collection of paintings by Jamal Ahmed that leave you yearning for more
•Feature Desk
Displayed eloquently inside the
EDGE Gallery and even outdoors, I
spent hours appreciating paintings
that touched subjects close to all
of us. Finding myself surrounded
by paintings that reacquainted
me with the scenic beauty of
Bengal, I was at my most blissful
at the Sands of Time Exhibition.
With works paying reverence to
the common people, capturing
the essence of their daily travails,
offering glimpses of them in their
most personal moments of rest
and relaxation, the artist Jamal
Ahmed demonstrates the grandeur
of simplicity.
With 120 exhibitions
completed, Ahmed, an alumnus
of the Institute of Fine Arts (DU) is
a leading figure within Realism, a
genre of modern art depicting the
real world and portraying
stories of real people as close
as possible to what is seen
through the naked eye.
I felt that his masterpieces
reassure the belief that art
actually is for everyone.
It does not discriminate
nor does it divide. What
it does however is pave
the way for enriching our
perspective, providing
our thought process with
insight and enables us
to question ourselves,
our surroundings. And if
intellectual stimulation
sounds too tedious a task for
your leisurely hours, art can
also serve to entertain you.
While it enlightens, it also
enables escape!
The interpretation
illustrated the common people’s
everyday reality is nothing short of
remarkable. I was subconsciously
drifting in and out of a riverine
setting by a moody sea, forgetting
the tranquil, modern ambience of
the gallery. The artist’s sweeping
strokes and supple textures will
make you question whether in fact
you are viewing a work created by
hand or if you may be mistaking
a painting to be a photograph –
such is his excellence in beguiling
his many longstanding, loyal
admirers.
Whether a gallery-sprawling
masterpiece or paintings more
humbly framed and huddled
into series sets, I could not help
but appreciate the intricacy and
detail invested into the creation of
Jamal Ahmed’s lyrical subjects and
exhilarating backdrops. You are
likely to be left staring at a piece,
adjusting your angle of sight by
pacing backwards and forwards
and tilting your head left to right,
like the antennae of a vintage
televi sion set.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity
to discover 60 evocative works of
silent beauty celebrating ordinary
lives and nature so captivating,
you will not want to think about
leaving this temporal journey.
Relax and let your senses glide.
The Sands of Time exhibition
has been extended and will now
run till 2 December.•
| comic review |
Heatwave
Mighty Punch turns up the
mercury
• Sabrina Fatma Ahmad
We’re almost done with
November, and sweater weather
is still nowhere in sight. Say what
you will, climate change deniers,
but this isn’t normal.
Even though the days are at
least bearable, and the evenings
even pleasant, 2016 has been
hot enough for us to not want to
weather another summer like the
one we had this year.
In Heatwave, or Issue 08 of the
Shabash comic, brought to you by
Mighty Punch Studios, we relive
just how bad it was.
The story is set in mid-summer
Dhaka, with the mercury at the
highest point, and nary a cloud in
the sky. Tempers are frayed, and
all the heat-related problems, such
as power outages,
water shortages, and
our ever-present
traffic jam doesn’t
do anything to help
matters. The anger
and frustration of
the city’s residents
flows in waves across
the dimensions,
waking an ancient
evil born of hate. This
creature, feeding
off the prevailing
negativity, like any
self-respecting
supervillain, begins
to wreak havoc with
the intention of
razing the city to the
ground, so that a new
order is established.
Dhaka’s, or perhaps
humanity’s only
hope is Shabash.
He’s of course aided
by his sidekick
Kiron and the nutty
scientist Keramoti,
and another surprise
hero reprising his
role from a previous
issue.
Written by Samir
Asran Rahman, who
recently released
his first YA fantasy
novel Zak and Zara,
the story has all the
It’s really amazing
how well he
captures the
essence of Dhaka
life and merges it
with the sensibilities
of Marvel comics
in a way that really
works
quirks and jokes one has come
to expect of the Shabash comics.
It’s really amazing how well he
captures the essence of Dhaka life
and merges it with the sensibilities
of Marvel comics in a way that
really works. Fahim Anzoom
Rahman and Mosharraf Hussain
(Nipu) have done a brilliant job of
depicting the intense heat in their
visuals.
Shabash #08 is available at KFC,
Pizza Hut, Rokomari, all Meena
Bazar outlets and PBS bookstores.
Don’t forget to catch the Mighty
Punch crew at Dhaka Comicon! •

Travel
17
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
Tagaytay Highlands:
A great place to unwind
• Eliza Binte Elahi
I finally got to see a little more
nature and less city life on this
current trip to Manila. I’m usually
stuck running errands for the
family and it’s hard to visit places
due to time restraints.
The drive up to Tagaytay
highlands is simply put: breathtaking.
The place is surrounded
by insurmountable beauty and
I was in complete awe of the
view of Taal Lake and Volcano.
From the sweeping vista of Taal
Lake and Volcano that greets
you upon entering this sprawling
complex. Being nice and close to
Manila ensures its popularity on
weekends and public holidays too,
Tagaytay City, at elevation
2,500 above sea level, a
component city in the province
of Cavite in the Philippines, only
56 kilometers south of Manila, it
is situated on the scenic Tagaytay
Ridge that has a spectacular view
of a volcano named Taal that
means - the city sits on top of a
ridge with spectacular views, to
the north you can see Manila Bay,
to the east you have Laguna de
Bay, the south you have Taal Lake
and Taal Volcano and to the west is
the South China Sea.
Tagaytay is famous not only
for the awesome view of Taal’s
lake-within-a-volcano-withina-lake-within-a-volcano
but
also for fruits, vegetables, beef,
native coffee and flowers as well.
Tagaytay is a famous get-away
for families, couples and tourists
for the spectacular views, picnic
spots, restaurants, resort and
recreational facilities.
You know you’re at the
Highlands when the cool breeze
suddenly embraces you to warm
your heart and soothe your
weary spirit. You know you’re
at the Highlands when you see
the hazy fringes of the amazing,
mesmerising volcano sitting on
a lake, scenery that could have
leaped out of a postcard or a
canvas.
Dubbed as the City of Character
where food and nature are at
their best, Tagaytay has long
dominated the preference for a
weekend getaway. For many years,
this city has served as the most
convenient escape for people
seeking to unwind from the stress
of corporate life. Location in mind,
it overshadows any city near
Metro Manila with its cool, breezy
weather that’s complemented by a
picturesque landscape.
What makes Tagaytay
Highlands great
First, the cool 19-degree
weather that provides a welcome
respite to pollution-weary city
dwellers. Also, the proximity
to Manila that makes Tagaytay
Highlands a foremost destination
for families who want to get away
from the hustle and bustle of the
metropolis.
Tagaytay Highlands provides its
members with first-class homes.
In the Highlands alone, there are
five residential developments
each with their own theme:
The Spanish-Mediterraneanstyle
homes at The Villas, the
alpine-village themed Pinecrest
Village with Swiss chalet- style
condominium units built on the
ridge, with unique elevators that
run diagonally.
Another reason that makes
Tagaytay Highlands close to
paradise is the food! With over
25 food and beverage outlets
to choose from, you can take
a gastronomic trip around the
world! Some of the best-sellers are
succulent steak at the Highlander
Steakhouse, authentic Chinese
cuisine (the chef is from Hong
Kong) at the China Palace, pizza,
pasta and dessert at Toscana.
Tagaytay Highlands boast a
legion of “firsts” in the country:
the first cable cars, the first
48-seater Swiss funicular train, the
first 45-hole golfing resort in the
whole of Tagaytay City, and the
first to have The Peak Bar with a
360-degree view of two lakes, Taal
volcano, five mountains, and four
cities.
Apart from its natural beauty,
Tagaytay is also historic. You will
find several historic markers.
Having the Tagaytay Ridge
Landing first installed in 1951, this
was the site of the first parachute
landing in the Philippines
executed by the 511th Parachute
PHOTOS: COURTESY
Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne
Division, 8th Army, USA that
happened on February 3, 1945.
During World War II, Filipino
soldiers found refuge in its vast
forest and ridges. It was used
as a landing site and sanctuary
for paratroopers on their way to
liberate Manila. Tagaytay is not
just a nature’s wonder; it is also
rich in political history.
The Highlands is a fusion of the
universal appeal of nature and the
comfort of modern living making
it the perfect destination for
urbanites who want to get away
from the city without sacrificing
the ease of having everything with
just one phone call or at the push
of a button. •
The writer is Faculty, School of
Business, University of South
Asia, Dhaka

18
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
Feature
Invisible Cities
Bangladeshi artist Rokeya Sultana’s first solo exhibition in Shantiniketan
• Features Desk
The solo exhibition of
Rokeya Sultana, titled
Invisible Cities will be
held in Nandan Museum,
Shantiniketan from November
25-28, 2016. This is the first
solo exhibition of the work of
the Bangladeshi born artist in
Shantiniketan since her graduation
from Kala Bhavan in 1983. The
artist will be a visiting Professor at
the Department of Graphic Art at
Khala Bhavan from November 23
to December 2, 2016.
Professor of the Department
of Printmaking, Dhaka
University, Rokeya Sultana is an
internationally acclaimed artist.
A Fulbright Research Fellow since
2012, Sultana continues to further
her investigation of printmaking,
most recently participating in a
residency at the prestigious Cicada
Press, College of Art and Design
in Sydney. Sultana has developed
a unique printing technique, the
pressure-print, when stencils and
found objects are used to create
impressions directly on paper. The
resulting body of work, the Fata
Morgana series, will be presented
along with paintings from an
earlier period in the artists career.
The exhibition will be held
in the historically significant
Nandan Museum in the Kala
Bhavan complex. Such luminaries
as Abanindranath Tagore,
Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal
Bose, Bind Bihari Mukherjee,
Ramkinkar Bajja and many others
have worked and shown in these
premises.
From its beginning in 1986 when
Maharshi Devendranath Tagore
set up a small retreat centre in a
grove of chhatim and date trees,
Shantiniketan has been place of
meditation and research. His son,
the poet and radical educationalist
Rabindranath Tagore founded a
children’s school on the territory,
prompted by a call to bring back
the ancient Indian tradition of
meditative reflection and to
create a natural environment for
learning. In 1921, using the Nobel
Prize money that he received for
Gitanjali, the poet expanded the
school and founded the higherstudies
college which has grown
into Visva-Bharati University.
The exhibition is a reflection
on the spirit of Shantiniketan as a
living vision and ideal of human
spirit and creativity. The title
Invisible Cities refers to a novel of
the same name by Italian author
Italo Calvino, a poetic work of
magic-realism on the subjects of
existence and the imagination. The
selection of works are from the
artists earlier romantic period along
with current pressure-print works.
Sultana is inspired by nature,
human relationships and the
intimate architecture of the psyche
and the soul. Her work echoes the
words of Rabindranath Tagore
who reflecting in The Poet’s
Religion wrote:
“Poetry and the arts cherish in
them the profound faith of man
in the unity of his being with all
existence”
The exhibition is curated by
Katerina Don, a freelance arthandler
and visualizer. A limitededition
catalog will be published
on the occasion of the event. The
exhibition was made possible with
the support of Energis Limited.
Sultana is inspired
by nature, human
relationships
and the intimate
architecture of the
psyche and the soul
Rokeya Sultana is an
internationally acclaimed artist
hailing from Dhaka, Bangladesh.
She has received numerous
awards for her work which
has been exhibited around the
world, most recently in the USA,
Japan, Germany, China, Egypt,
Denmark, India, Malaysia,
Belgium, Netherlands, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Poland,
Nepal and Korea. Recognised
as a master printmaker, Rokeya
Sultana has participated in
leading international visual art
conventions and fairs including
the Graphics Conferences in New
Orleans and San Francisco, Miami
Art Fair, NY Art Fair and Bombay
Art Fair. Sultana is a Fulbright
Researcher and has participated
in numerous residencies
including a recent project with
Cicada Press College of Art and
Design, Sydney.
Recent Awards & Achievements
2016: Collaborative workshop at
VAST, Bhutan. 2015: Residency
at Cicada Press, College of Art
and Design, University of NSW,
Sydney 2015: From the Nile to
the Padma, National Museum of
Cairo 2014: International Biennial
Print Exhibit 2013: Print Biannale,
Hawai 2013: Printmaking
workshop Under Pressure
Shafiuddin Studio, Dhaka,
Bangladesh 2012: Fulbright
Research Grant, University of
Nebraska, Linkoln, USA 2011,
2014: Participant, Southern
Graphic Conference (New
Orleans and San Francisco) 2011:
SAARC Art Camp participation in
Colombo, Sri Lanka 2003: French
Government Grant, L’Atelier
Lacouriere et Frelaut 2002:
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy
Award, National Art Exhibition
2000: Daily Janakantha Second
Best Award, 1st Bangladesh
Charushilpi Sangsad Biennale Art
Awards 2000: Artist in residence
at the University of Nebraska,
USA •

Biz Info
19
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
| event |
Bipasha visits Bogra for Vaseline Healing Project
Minor skin problems like
chapped lips, small cuts and
wounds, and skin dryness are
experienced by almost everyone.
But in case of people living
in poverty, these small skin
problems can turn into major
issues. From that thought,
Unilever Bangladesh Limited’s
skincare brand Vaseline has
initiated its “Vaseline Healing
Project” to help heal the skin
of underprivileged people
of Bangladesh. Unilever has
teamed up with TMSS, one of the
biggest NGOs in the country, to
provide free skin care treatment
along with petroleum jelly to the
poverty stricken people.
As part of the “Vaseline
Healing Project”, Unilever
Bangladesh Limited organised
a special event in Bogra on
November 22, 2016 at TMSS
hospital. The chief guest of the
event was the renowned act ress
and painter Bipasha Hayat,
who is the brand ambassador
of the campaign. The event was
also attended by the district
commissioner of Bogra, director
of TMSS along with its doctors
and nurses and representatives
from Unilever Bangladesh
Limited.
The event kicked off with
Bipasha sharing her perspective
on the healing project followed
by speeches from both sides.
They shared the importance
of extending essential derma
care to poverty stricken
people and how a simple jar of
Vaseline Petroleum Jelly can
prevent minor skin problems
from aggravating. Finally the
programme ended with Bipasha
Hayat meeting some of the
deprived patients who were
visiting the hospital for skin care
issues and personally donated
jars of petroleum jelly to the
patients.
Consumers who are
interested to participate in the
project can do so by visiting
Vaseline Bangladesh Facebook
page. Vaseline Petroleum Jelly
jars collected through the
“Vaseline Healing Project”
will be handed over to the
underprivileged people. •
| cricket | | food |
Celebrating BPL T20 cricket at Artisan Hotel
Lobster Feast at Le Méridien
Le Méridien Dhaka is here with
some great news for seafood
lover. The luxurious hotel will
be arranging a “Lobster Feast”
starting from November 25 to
November 27, 2016 for guests
to enjoy the gourmet spread of
numerous seafood delights.
Guests can experience a lobster
dinner with family and friends
prepared by the hotel’s Italian
chefs at Favola of Le Meridien
Dhaka; with a wide array of
lobster recipes that is to be served
during the feast.
The Lobster Feast will be
available from 6:30pm to
11:00pm. Guests can enjoy the
four courses set menu and a
complimentary glass of drink at
Tk8200++ per person.
Special discounts and
buy-one-get-one free offers
can be availed with various
bank and telecommunication
partners. Guests can
contact +8801990900900 or
+88017666673443 for reservation
and to learn more. •
The Artisan Hotel is celebrating BPL T20 Cricket on mega screen at the Shororeetu Restaurant. Around
200 Supporters from Uttara and from across the city can cheer their teams on here. This will continue till
December 10, 2016, from 10am to 11.50pm at Shororeetu Restaurant, the Artisan Hotel Uttara. On
top of that, anyone can buy dinner at the restaurant and have the chance to win Dhaka – Myanmar-
Dhaka Novoair return tickets for a couple by participating in the raffle draw session. To book, call
+8801787680887 or visit www.artisan-hotel.com for more details. •

DT
20
Editorial
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
TODAY
A timely proposal
There is enough room and time to at
least start a feasible dialogue to move
towards resolution. The BNP has already
extended an olive branch in the form
of this proposal. They at least deserve a
hearing
PAGE 21
A Muslim-American
mother’s fears and
hopes
How was I to explain why the first ever
woman to run for the White House did
not make it? How was I to ensure that
she, as a Muslim, did not feel threatened
in our nation?
PAGE 22
Where is the world?
REUTERS
New beginnings
at DLF
I was returning from Dhaka after
attending what is probably the most
inclusive literature festival in the whole
sub-continent
PAGE 23
Be heard
Write to Dhaka Tribune
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The views expressed in opinion
articles are those of the authors
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official view of Dhaka Tribune
or its publisher.
Has the world turned its back on what could well be the worst
humanitarian crisis of our time?
While sharing a border with Myanmar puts Bangladesh in
a unique position of responsibility, the plight of the Rohingya
people of Myanmar’s Rakhine state is not just a problem for Bangladesh.
Coming together to help the Rohingyas is a global humanitarian
obligation, and one in which the world community has fallen short.
A number of wealthy nations, including the United States and
Australia, have taken in refugees in the past, but are now refusing
to come to the aid of what may well be the world’s most persecuted
minority.
The disgraceful treatment of the Rohingyas in their own homeland
is the fault of the Myanmar government and no one else, but other
countries have a moral duty to lend a helping hand.
This newspaper has already editorialised calling for Bangladesh
to open up our borders to the Rohingya people fleeing persecution.
However, the challenge is too big for Bangladesh alone.
The US restored diplomatic relations with Myanmar after it moved
towards democracy and away from military rule. And yet, the Myanmar
government has not budged on its shameful treatment of its 1 million
Rohingyas, who have, for decades, been victims of sectarian violence and
denied rightful citizenship.
Bangladesh recently summoned the ambassador of Myanmar to
express concern over the crisis. But conversations with Myanmar are not
likely to be effective in bringing about reform.
It is up to the powerful nations of the world to put pressure on
Myanmar, and impose sanctions if it comes to that.
Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi also has an obligation
break her silence and condemn the treatment of the Rohingyas.
The world cannot stand by idly as another silent genocide wipes out a
whole population.
This is on all of us.
The world cannot stand
by idly as another silent
genocide wipes out a
whole population

A timely proposal
BNP has extended an olive branch. It deserves a hearing
Opinion 21
DT
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
Is meaningful dialogue possible?
• Israfil Khosru
On November 18, BNP
chairperson Begum
Khlaeda Zia revealed
a detailed proposal
for strengthening the Election
Commission on behalf of her party.
While the ruling Awami League
almost immediately brushed the
proposal aside, many experts
believe that this revelation has
created scope for meaningful
dialogue between the major
parties.
The BNP quite evidently seems
to have opted for a more pragmatic
approach by coming through with
this proposal in the context of
current reality.
The proposal outlines a set
of suggestions/prescriptions
that, the BNP believes, has to
be implemented to ensure the
neutrality of the commission
and eventual capacity-building.
While the proposal is made up of
several systemic adjustments that
hint towards institutional reform,
the key guiding principle that
is evident across the content is
“consensus.”
In fact, the proposal begins by
implicitly declaring consensus of
all political parties as a starting
point and a compulsory precondition
before resorting to
any measures. In a political
environment rife with animosity
and mistrust, a consensus on a
single issue could prevent us from
at least reaching the nadir.
The proposal also immediately
delves into the role that can
be played by the president of
Bangladesh to ensure the muchneeded
consensus by meeting
representatives of all political
parties.
This shows that the BNP has
kept unbounded faith in the
constitutional head of state in
terms of fair disposal of his duties.
Furthermore, it also reflects the
BNP’s willingness to work with
the establishment to break the
political deadlock by means of a
substantial institutional reform
that will serve as a long-term
solution to election-related woes.
One must also keep in mind
that the proposal floated by
the BNP strictly focuses on the
Election Commission reforms
and does not suggest any
constitutional amendments. The
proposal seems to clearly rest
on the fulcrum of belief that if a
consensus can be achieved then
the execution aspect can take
place in good faith.
While political consensus
is at the heart of the proposal,
the key content of the proposal
BIGSTOCK
can be divided into three broad
sections: The first broad section
deals with the recommendations
regarding the formation of a
neutral “search committee” which
will partake in the selection of
the election commissioners. It
clearly states that the president of
the republic “will constitute the
search committee on the basis of
consensus among all registered
political parties of Bangladesh
and/or among all political parties
who, over different periods, had
representation in the National
Parliament since the liberation of
Bangladesh.”
The proposal then recommends
a search committee constituting
of five members including
a convener. The proposal
emphasises on the need for
impartiality, experience,
respectability, strong will, and
high moral standards of these
individuals. There should be
no ambiguity regarding the
essentiality of these traits and
hence the proposal continuously
harps on the notion of integrity.
The second broad section
outlines a set of qualifications for
the Chief Election Commissioner
and the election commissioners
and their subsequent appointment
procedure. It should be mentioned
that previously there has been no
specific set of guidelines in terms
of qualification to select Election
Commissioners.
It is rather refreshing to see
that this proposal contains specific
yardsticks which can be utilised by
the search committee to make an
informed and unbiased decision.
Apart from various procedural
recommendations, one of the key
suggestions is that “an employee
of the Republic or statutory
government authority or defense
personnel, who has not completed
three years after retirement, or
There is enough
room and time to at
least start a feasible
dialogue to move
towards resolution.
The BNP has already
extended an olive
branch in the form of
this proposal. They
at least deserve a
hearing
resignation, or dismissal, or has
not completed a span of three
years after completion contractual
appointment, or cancellation
thereof, shall not be entitled to be
election commissioner.”
This specific suggestion
in essence holds the key to
minimising the influence of
the executive on the Election
Commission to force an outcome.
Yet again, in the context of current
political scenario, this particular
recommendation holds a lot of
water. The third broad section
of the proposal deals with the
empowerment and strengthening
of the Election Commission. While
it would be rather difficult to
dwell on all the recommendations
within a short space, certain
recommendations require special
attention.
One of the key
recommendations in this
particular case is that the
Bangladesh Election must have its
own secretariat. It states clearly
that “according to Article 79 of the
Constitution, Bangladesh National
Parliament has its own secretariat.
Likewise, the Bangladesh Election
Commission must have its own
secretariat as well. Bangladesh
Election must have financial
power.”
Aimed at empowering the
Election Commission, this
particular prescription has
a long-term implication in
terms of delivery of service,
capacity building, efficiency and
accountability. Furthermore,
a secretariat will enable the
Election Commission to develop
its own resources and gain
financial strength. One of the
recommendations that has already
drawn a lot attention is the
deployment of the defense forces
during election time.
However, the more specific
suggestion in this regard is that
“during National Election, the
Election Commission will arrange
to deploy Defense Forces with
magisterial power, especially,
at the polling centers and other
strategic places. This deployment
will come into force seven days
ahead of Election Day till gazette
notification of the election
results.”
Given the nature of elections
observed during the recent
Dhaka and Chittagong mayoral
race, this recommendation has
become a necessity to ensure
order and fairness. If the member
of the forces is not empowered
with magisterial power, they will
not be able to resolve problems
immediately in order to bring
order.
Furthermore, magisterial power
will also ensure that they will not
come under any undue influence
during disposal of duties. Given
that our defense forces have
always stepped forward with
integrity whenever calamities
arose, ranging from natural
disasters to traffic control, it is
only rational to think that they
should and would play a pivotal
role in securing, for the general
citizens, the right to vote freely.
As we gradually approach
towards an election year in 2019,
it is rather heartening to see the
BNP come up with a proposal well
ahead of time. While the proposal
contains a lot of technical details,
the crux remains to be the notion
of consensus and integrity.
There is enough room and time
to at least start a feasible dialogue
to move towards resolution. The
BNP has already extended an
olive branch in the form of this
proposal. They at least deserve
a hearing. The modalities can be
discussed but a partisan approach
of being absolutely dismissive will
not bear any fruit. The forum is
open now and the whole nation is
watching. •
Israfil Khosru is a businessman and a
concerned citizen.

22
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
Opinion
A Muslim-American
mother’s fears and hopes
What does the dawn of the Trump era mean for people of colour?
How do you explain Trump to your children?
REUTERS
• Anika Rahman
I
am a fiercely proud New
Yorker and American. I love
my city. My only child, a
teenage daughter, was born
at New York University Hospital,
and her very name symbolises
hope and peace. So far, so good
–- I sound just like any one of 8.5
million New Yorkers and millions
of other Americans.
But here are other descriptors
that begin to set me apart. I am a
Muslim. I am an immigrant from
Bangladesh. I am a brown woman
who still speaks with a “foreign”
accent. I am a lawyer. And I am the
mother of a daughter who wants to
be president of the United States
one day.
Today, at the early dawn of
an unexpected Trump era, I feel
scared and betrayed. I scan the
media headlines for the latest
news about a future Trump
administration and I continue to
be at a loss for words. I struggle
with so many fears and questions.
What will happen to brown
people who look and sound like
me? Will we be deported and told
to return to where we came from?
Will it become easier to assault
How was I to explain why the first ever woman to run for the White
House did not make it? How was I to ensure that she, as a Muslim, did
not feel threatened in our nation?
women sexually? Will Muslims be
barred from entering the US? Will
we go to “war” against Islam, a
global religion, and what does this
mean for our security in the US?
Will my gay best friend be denied
the right to marry?
My deepest fear is about not
belonging to this country that
I so love. I feel betrayed by my
fellow Americans who voted for a
xenophobic candidate.
I fear that my adopted nation
will reject me and treat my
daughter and me like second-class
citizens -- a historical regression
politically that would be so painful
as we lose our standing as a
global champion of tolerance and
openness.
My heart breaks at the very
thought that my bright child could
even conceive of asking herself
if she can achieve her dream of
leadership in our nation. She is
an American, and we have always
idealised our uniquely American
dream of equality for all.
Like millions of people, I was
up until the wee hours of election
night and slept only for a few
hours, all the while rehearsing
how I would speak to my daughter
when she awoke. This is her
“first” election. Like so many
other schools, her middle school
had used this election to educate
students about civic participation.
She was beyond excited to
come of age at a time when a
Madame President was possible.
She even studied how to predict
election results as part of her math
work. My daughter went to bed
on election night filled with hope
and excitement, dreaming that
the most powerful of glass ceilings
would be shattered for her.
As the election results
became clear, it was my task on
Wednesday morning to reassure
my daughter of not just our
nation’s future, but also her own.
How was I to explain why the first
ever woman to run for the White
House did not make it?
How was I to ensure that she, as
a Muslim, did not feel threatened
in our nation? Bleary eyed, I told
her what I had rehearsed mentally:
We are so proud to have finally
had a Hillary Clinton who paved
the way for more women leaders,
including a senate that now is
projected to include more women
of colour senators than ever
before.
Even though it is clear that we
have a profound schism in our
country, this is an opportunity to
learn how to deal with a setback
and yet move forward in life. Most
importantly, I told my daughter
that our nation’s future lies in her
actions and next steps. She must
stand for her ideals. After hearing
me out with her usual teenage
nonchalance, she pretended to be
fine.
She asked: “Will there ever
be a woman president?” I said,
“Of course!” But even as I said
this, I could see that she wasn’t
convinced. Her sideway glance
said it all: “Will I be able to achieve
my dream to be POTUS? What does
it mean to have that ‘Rahman’ in
my name?”
Even as I deal with my fears and
sense of betrayal, I see hope. I have
hope in the power of our nation’s
ideals. I have hope in the example
set by Hillary Clinton. I have
hope in our ability to strengthen
our movement. And I have hope
that young people, including my
daughter, will lead us to a future
where there are no glass ceilings,
only open sky. I hope that every
person in our diverse nation feels
at home here. •
Anika Rahman is a lawyer with a
distinguished career in human rights.
This article was previously published on
Huffington Post.

Opinion
23
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
New beginnings at DLF
The Dhaka Lit Fest ended, but the great conversation of literature will go on
• Garga Chatterjee
A
few moments after
stepping out of the
Air India flight from
Dhaka to Kolkata after
attending the Dhaka Lit Fest 2016,
my band of co-passengers and I
arrived at the immigration area.
There was an airport staff directing
the passengers into two separate
queues.
“Bangladesh? Ei dike”
(Bangladesh? This way), he
shouted.
He was not stereotyping. He
was just using common sense, for
he knew from experience and data
that most non-Indian citizens in
that Dhaka-Kolkata flight would
invariably be Bangladesh citizens.
That he spoke in Bangla to the
de-planing crowd also reflected his
grasp over the natural and usual
demography of the passengers
on a Dhaka-Kolkata flight, that
most passengers would be Bengali
speakers, either from the east or
west.
It is not as if Air India does not
know this.
When Air India has a Dhaka-
Bangladesh is home to a rich
literary cultural tradition that
spanned both Bengals, and is
increasingly situated in Bengal’s
eastern part.
Thus, the agenda of the festival
organisers of bringing Bangladesh
to the world and the world to
Bangladesh is well taken. It is an
important project.
But the more important project
and one in which the Dhaka Lit
Fest has succeeded with flying
colours was to attract people of
Dhaka and beyond in Bangladesh
to the festival situated in the
historic campus of the Bangla
Academy.
This was not some limited entry
festival for the suited-booted,
though they were there too. This
was not some lavish winter tent
in the desert for the Delhi elite
and business deals venue that
Jaipur Lit Fest is. People came in
thousands.
The footfall on the least
attended day was over 10,000,
according to the organisers.
The other days had much larger
crowds. And what distinguished
this from the other lit fests that
Scaling new heights
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
I was returning from Dhaka after attending
what is probably the most inclusive literature
festival in the whole sub-continent
Kolkata flight where a huge
majority of passengers naturally,
but not necessarily, understand
English or Hindi, not a single Air
India announcement is made in
the Kolkata airport, and, most
crucially, on-board while giving
safety instructions, in Bangla.
The “acceptable” Bengali onboard
a Dhaka-Kolkata flight is one
who understands English or Hindi.
A Bengali lady who does not
know English or Hindi does not
deserve to be fully serviced at the
airport or on-board. She is made to
feel inadequate and out of place.
It is a sad, sad commentary on
the diversity showcasing PR blitz
called “Incredible India.” This
exclusion was rammed into my
Bengali self especially strongly, as
I was returning from Dhaka after
attending what is probably the
most inclusive literature festival in
the whole sub-continent.
The Dhaka Lit Fest is arguably
South Asia’s most diverse
and mass-friendly primarily
Anglophone literature festival.
span the sub-continent is the
increasing connect and relevance
of this festival in the city to its
citizens, as a part of Dhaka’s
annual cultural calendar.
It is a festival of Dhaka where
the location is not incidental
but fundamental to the identity
of the festival. Some other fests
have more events, some have
larger crowds drawn in from the
surrounds in a site that was chosen
for stoking oriental fantasies of the
mystic East, some have a bigger
list of big names.
Dhaka had the right mix of
names and events, and an active
participation of the citizens; and
a crowd that knows they have a
right to be there.
Leaving behind its Hay days,
the Dhaka Lit Fest has been scaling
newer heights. And there was
much to see, learn, and absorb.
Nobel laureate VS Naipaul might
have had star value in the literary
world with a sub-continental
connect that is unique among
living Nobel laureates in literature,
but it was touching to see him
come down to Bengal, to Dhaka, in
his infirm wheelchair-bound state
and unbound spirits.
In Ruddhoshor, the event on
free speech, there were individuals
on stage and in the audience who
were on hit lists of the forces of
darkness.
From that stage, illuminated
voices went up against Section
57 of ICT laws of Bangladesh
-- speaking truth to power as
they should. The Catalan poet
Carles Torner from Barcelona, the
slam poetry champion Vuyelwa
Maluleke from South Africa, Uzbek
writer Hamid Ismailov, and many
others came from distant shores
as well as from elsewhere in the
sub-continent.
Dr Abed Chaudhury and Dr
Sanjeev Jain deliberated on the
ethics of genetics in a session I
moderated. There were events and
panels spanning fiction, music,
crime, journeys, the world where
Trump is in charge, and much
more. There was the fascinating
session on the Neuroscience of
Aesthetics moderated by Kazi K
Ashraf.
And then there was the
world of Bangla -- from poetry
readings to literary discussions to
contemplation about the survival
of Bangla in this increasingly
globalised and mono-cultural
world.
There was music and dance,
for even in dark times, there
will be music and dance. From
Bengal’s own Palagaan to a tribute
to Bob Dylan and Baul Rob Fakir
to musical play about Behula
Lokhindor.
The mesmerising inaugural
music by Rezwana Chowdhury
Bonya’s group was stirring to say
the least in the grand DLF décor
and the celebratory milieu of the
Dr Shahidullah Hall of Bangla
Academy, for it is not easy to
please people with songs that have
been listened to so many times by
so many before.
The Dhaka Lit Fest has strived
hard to shed the anti-Bengali,
Anglophone-elite charge that was
often lobbed at the Hay Festival.
I saw many erstwhile opponents
of that strain having lively addas
at the Dhaka Lit Fest, on and off
stage.
Last year, when I attended
the festival, there was massive
paranoia among foreign visitors
leading to 19 cancellations. I was
greeted with a note on my hotel
bed requesting me not to venture
out on the next day, when a hartal
had been announced by Jamaat.
This year, the number of
cancellations was five. Still, to
assuage freighted nerves of the
Euro-American world, there was
exemplary security cover, for any
mishap would have tarnished
the already tarnished image of
Bangladesh, due to the series of
attacks on foreigners, religious
minorities, queer people, baulfakirs,
non-extremist Muslim
divines, free-thinkers, and
bloggers.
Such an arrangement requires
co-operation of the government
of the day as is the case in any
event of this profile anywhere in
the world under similar or even
more “normal” circumstances.
The events, thankfully, concluded
eventlessly.
The Dhaka Lit Fest ended on
November 19, but did it?
There were conversations,
associations, connections, and
much more that were happening
between speakers, between
speakers and audiences, and in
between audiences.
After my panel on Hindi
hegemony, Kanak Mani Dixit,
the stalwart journalist-editor of
Southasian and I conversed on
how the iconic Himalmag could
be revived in a new avatar. We
planned excitedly to meet again
elsewhere, gathering others, for
newer journeys. And that’s how
festivals of culture and literatures
should end. By germinating new
beginnings. •
Garga Chatterjee is a political and
cultural commentator. He can be
followed on twitter @gargac.

DT
24
Sport
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
TOP STORIES
Prosecutors seek
2-yr jail for Neymar
Spanish prosecutors
recommended that Neymar be
handed a two-year jail sentence
and a fine of 10 million euros for
alleged corrupt practices in his
transfer to Barcelona, a court filing
revealed. PAGE 25
Du Plessis hits ton to
silence boos
South Africa’s Faf du Plessis
silenced the boos of the Adelaide
crowd with a ton before declaring
on 259-9 and giving his bowlers a
crack at Australia in the final hour
of the opening day of the daynight
third Test. PAGE 26
Barca, City into R16
as PSG control fate
Argentine maestro Lionel Messi
fired Barcelona into the last 16
of the Champions League on
Wednesday after a 2-0 win at
Celtic as they were joined in the
knockout rounds by Manchester
City. PAGE 27
Liverpool great
Gerrard retires
Former Liverpool captain Steven
Gerrard announced his retirement
a week after confirming he
wouldn’t be returning to play for
LA Galaxy. “Following speculation
surrounding my future I can
confirm my retirement,” Gerrard
said in a statement. PAGE 28
Rangpur Riders captain Naeem Islam and Rajshahi Kings skipper Darren Sammy share a light moment during training in Mirpur yesterday
BPL 4 enters business stages today
• Ali Shahriyar Bappa
The third and final phase of the
ongoing Bangladesh Premier
League Twenty20’s fourth edition
will start today in Mirpur’s Sher-e-
Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
The top two teams of the points
table – Rangpur Riders and Khulna
Titans - will face Rajshahi Kings
and Barisal Bulls respectively.
Rangpur have played dominant
cricket this season, losing just
once in their six matches. They
will face Rajshahi in the day game
today. Rangpur spinners are in
good rhythm and will definitely
eye another solid display against
Rajshahi.
Local spinners Sohag Gazi and
Arafat Sunny are providing constant
breakthroughs during their
spells and their experienced foreign
recruit Shahid Afridi is also
bowling very well in the middle
periods of an innings.
All three spinners have bowled
economically so far and have taken
key wickets. Afridi has bagged
11 wickets with an economy rate
of 5.43 while Gazi has grabbed
nine wickets with an economy
rate of 5.55.
The one thing Rangpur will be
hoping for is the return to form of
opening batsman Soumya Sarker.
The dashing left-hander is having
a poor tournament with the bat
and will be desperate to score significantly
to finally make his mark
in the tournament.
In contrast, Rajshahi have only
managed two wins from their six
matches. They have suffered defeats
in a couple of close matches
where they were in a winning
position but eventually lost the
game. They will surely try to avoid
repeating such mistakes in close
encounters as the tournament enters
its business stages.
Mominul Haque and Samit Patel
are in good touch and Rajshahi
will be looking to capitalise on
their form. Besides the in-form
Mominul and Samit, Rajshahi will
hope their star player Sabbir Rahman
scores some big runs, much
like his magnificent hundred
against Barisal in the first phase.
Meanwhile, it was learned that
Afridi will be unavailable for today’s
game. He will be in contention
for a place in the playing XI
after today’s game.
Khulna, second in the points
table, are playing impressive
cricket right from the start of the
tournament, clinching five wins in
seven games.
Although Khulna are second,
their batting remains a big concern
at the moment. Captain Mahmudullah
played some useful innings
but all the other batsmen, both local
and foreigners, have failed to
score big in the tournament so far.
However, Khulna’s bowling
unit are performing very well.
And their Pakistan paceman Junaid
Khan has vowed to continue
their good form.
“We have a good combination
of bowlers. Kevon Cooper, Mosharraf
[Hossain] Rubel and myself
are bowling well. I hope this will
continue,” said Junaid.
On the other hand, Barisal
made a good start in the tournament
by winning three out of four
MD MANIK
matches in the first phase. But
they lost the momentum during
the Chittagong phase where they
lost all three games. So they will
be desperate to return to winning
ways against Khulna. •
TODAY’S MATCHES
Rangpur Riders v Rajshahi Kings, 1:30pm
Barisal Bulls v Khulna Titans, 6:15pm
Both games will be held at SBNS, Mirpur
POINTS TABLE
Teams Mat Won Lost Pts
Rangpur 6 5 1 10
Khulna 7 5 2 10
Dhaka 7 4 3 8
Chittagong 8 4 4 8
Barisal 7 3 4 6
Rajshahi 6 2 4 4
Comilla 7 1 6 2

Sport 25
DT
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
Bangladesh limited-over captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza and opening batsman Tamim Iqbal were honoured by Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu and Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith with tax cards for
their outstanding contribution to the national exchequer in the 2015-2016 fiscal year
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
Brazil close gap on Argentina at top
of FIFA World rankings
• Reuters
Bangladesh women
eye Asia Cup final
• Tribune Report
Bangladesh women’s cricket team
left here for Thailand yesterday to
take part in the Women’s Asia Cup.
The tournament will be played in
the T20 format and Bangladesh will
be hoping to display good cricket
under the new captain Rumana
Ahmed and coach David Capel.
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri
Lanka, Nepal and hosts Thailand
will participate in the competition
where the women in red and green
will take on India in the opening
game at Terdthai Cricket Ground
in Bangkok tomorrow. The grand
finale will be held on December 4.
According to Bangladesh skipper
Rumana, their main target will
be to beat India in the first game
which will in turn help them to progress
further in the tournament.
“We have improved a lot and our
main target will be to beat India. I
am hopeful that we can be able to
reach the final of the tournament,”
Brazil have leapfrogged World Cup
holders Germany into second place
in the latest FIFA world rankings
released yesterday, narrowing the
gap on their traditional rivals Argentina,
who are still the world’s
top-ranked team.
Brazil have won their last six
World Cup qualifiers, and beat Argentina
3-0 earlier this month.
Chile have climbed above Belgium
and Colombia into fourth
place in the rankings, while Wales
and England have dropped a place
each into 12th and 13th, respectively,
with Ireland climbing 10 places
to break into the top-25.
Armenia are the biggest movers,
jumping 38 places to 87th-place,
while Chad have fared the worst,
Rumana told the media.
Bangladesh are yet to beat India
so far in three one-day internationals
and eight T20Is but Rumana is
confident they can turn the tables
this time around.
“We have improved
a lot and our main
target will be to beat
India. I am hopeful
that we can be able
to reach the final,”
“You never know. We can surprise
any team as this side have the
ability to come back in any situation.
There will be no weak teams
as every side are strong. We are not
taking ourselves as a weak team.
We have worked hard on our batting.
Our six-seven batters are in
very good touch so hopefully, our
batting department will click in the
right time,” she said.•
plunging 49 places to 152nd.
Iran are still Asia’s highest-ranked
team despite falling
three place down to 30th, while the
Netherlands have fallen two places
and are currently in 22nd place, one
behind Euro 2016 surprise package
Iceland.
The next set of FIFA World
Rankings will be released on Dec.
22. •
Top 10
1. Argentina (1)
2. Brazil (3)
3. Germany (2)
4. Chile (6)
5. Belgium (4)
6. Colombia (5)
7. France (7)
8. Portugal (8)
9. Uruguay (9)
10. Spain (10)
Prosecutors seek 2-year
sentence for Neymar
• AFP, Madrid
Spanish prosecutors recommended
that Brazilian star Neymar be handed
a two-year jail sentence and a fine
of 10 million euros ($10.6 million)
for alleged corrupt practices in his
transfer to Barcelona, a court filing
revealed on Wednesday.
Prosecutors are also seeking a
five-year sentence for former Barcelona
president Sandro Rosell
- who resigned over the scandal
in 2014 - on counts of fraud and
corruption, but dropped charges
against current president Josep
Maria Bartomeu.
In presenting their case on
Wednesday, DIS called for five-year
sentences for Neymar and his parents,
who acted as the player’s representatives,
eight years for Rosell
and Bartomeu plus a mammoth 195
million euro fine for Barca.•
Conway new
Bangladesh
cricket team
physio
• Tribune Report
Bangladesh Cricket Board has appointed
Dean Conway as the new
physio of the men’s national side.
The former England physio arrived
in Dhaka last Monday before signing
a three-year agreement last
Wednesday. Conway will be with
the Tigers until the 2019 World Cup
in England.
A highly experienced musculoskeletal
medicine specialist and
elite sports physio, Conway had
worked with England for 14 years,
including eight years as the senior
physio. He has been involved with
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
since 1989 as a physio and has also
been associated with Surrey.
Conway had been a rugby player
in his native Wales before a professional
switch to cricket physiotherapy.
Since arriving last Tuesday, Conway
already started his work as he
examined the injured fast bowler
Mustafizur Rahman, who has been
going through rehabilitation.
Bayejidul Islam has worked with
the Bangladesh team as the physio
from September 2014 while Vibhav
Singh worked with the Tigers from
2011-13. •

DT
26
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
Sport
Du Plessis hits ton to
silence Adelaide boos
• Reuters, Adelaide
South Africa skipper Faf du
Plessis silenced the boos of
the Adelaide crowd with a defiant
century before declaring
on 259-9 and giving his bowlers
a crack at Australia in the
final hour of the opening day
of the day-night third Test
yesterday.
Australia got through the
final 12 overs without loss
but the declaration prevented
Dave Warner from opening
the batting as he was off the
field towards the end of the
South African innings.
Matt Renshaw, one of
three new caps in the Australia
side, and Usman Khawaja
faced the new pink ball instead
but they were only able
to put 14 runs on the board
and will resume on eight and
three respectively today.
Du Plessis’s timely declaration
capped what must
have been an extremely satisfying
first day for the South
African, who came to the
crease to catcalls with his side
tottering at 44-3 but departed
to an ovation after hitting 118
not out. Two days after being
fined for ball-tampering during
the second Test victory
that sealed the series with
a match to spare, du Plessis
showed just the sort of grit
and determination that Australia
have been looking for
from their batsmen.
Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell
Starc and the recalled Jackson
Bird earlier showed why
with a fine display of fast
bowling that had the first seven
batsmen caught behind
the wickets. Hazlewood took
4-68, while Starc and Bird
pitched in with two wickets
each as the Australian quicks
bowled disciplined lines with
the pink ball on the Adelaide
track.•
3RD TEST, DAY 1
SOUTH AFRICA FIRST INNINGS R
S. Cook c Smith b Starc 40 99
D. Elgar c Khawaja b Starc 5 17
H. Amla c Renshaw b Hazlewood 5 11
JP Duminy c Wade b Hazlewood 5 11
F. du Plessis not out 118 164
T. Bavuma c Wade b Bird 8 34
Q. de Kock c Wade b Hazlewood 24 33
V. Philander c Wade b Hazlewood 4 9
K. Abbott lbw b Bird 17 50
K. Rabada stpd Wade b Lyon 1 6
T. Shamsi not out 18 23
Extras (b3, lb8, w2, nb1) 14
Total (9 wickets declared, 76 overs) 259
Fall of wickets
1-12 (Elgar), 2-36 (Amla), 3-44 (Duminy),
4-95 (Cook), 5-117 (Bavuma), 6-149 (de
Kock), 7-161 (Philander), 8-215 (Abbott),
9-220 (Rabada)
Bowling
Starc 23-5-78-2 (1nb), Hazlewood 22-5-
68-4, Bird 16-3-57-2, Lyon 15-1-45-1
AUSTRALIA FIRST INNINGS R B
U. Khawaja not out 3 39
M. Renshaw not out 8 34
Extras (lb2, nb1) 3
Total (0 wicket, 12 overs) 14
Bowling
Philander 4-2-10-0 (1nb), Abbott 3-3-0-0,
Rabada 3-2-1-0, Shamsi 2-1-1-0
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis
celebrates scoring a century during the
first innings of their third Test against
Australia at Adelaide Oval in Adelaide
yesterday
AFP
B
Centuries by South African captains
in Tests in Australia before
2
Faf du Plessis’ 118 not out. Former
captain Graeme Smith had scored
both of them - at the same venue in
2012-13 and at the WACA in 2008-
09. Overall, du Plessis’ hundred
was only the seventh by a South
Africa captain in Tests against Australia.
Du Plessis’ batting
97.40 average in Tests in
Australia. He has made two hundreds
and two fifties in just eight
innings. At the Adelaide Oval in
Adelaide, du Plessis has made 306
runs - scores of 78, 110* and 118*
IN NUMBERS, AUSTRALIA V SOUTH AFRICA, THIRD TEST, DAY 1 IN ADELAIDE
- in three innings. Overall, he has
701 runs at 63.72 in Tests against
Australia. Only two other South Africa
batsmen with at least 500 runs
against Australia - Sir Barry Richards
and Graeme Pollock - average
higher than du Plessis against
them.
108.33
Du Plessis’ strike
rate against
Mitchell Starc in his innings. He
faced 48 balls from Starc and made
52 runs, 36 of which came off
boundaries. The other South Africa
batsmen scored only 24 runs off 91
deliveries from Starc at a strike rate
of 26.37.
Eto’o on massive tax
fraud charges
The last time Australia
had five debutants
1981
in a Test series. They had handed
out Test caps to Terry Alderman,
Trevor Chappell, Martin Kent, Dirk
Wellham and Mike Whitney in the
Ashes series in England that year.
While Callum Ferguson and Joe
Mennie made their debuts in Hobart,
this Test has three Australia
debutants - Peter Handscomb, Nic
Maddinson and Matt Renshaw.
Number of times Josh Hazlewood
has dismissed Hashim
4
Amla in four innings in this series.
This equals the most any bowler
has dismissed Amla in a series. S
Sreesanth had dismissed Amla four
times in 69 deliveries during India’s
tour of South Africa in 2006-
07. Stuart Broad had got Amla four
times from 207 balls in the Test
series in South Africa in 2015-16.
Hazlewood has bowled just 33 deliveries
to Amla in this series so far.
Score in the final
2/102 session on the first
day when artificial lights took over
completely. The final session on
the first day of the first floodlit Test
at the Adelaide Oval had seen five
wickets fall for 83 runs. However,
the happenings in the first two sessions
of the day were almost identical
to the first Test: seven wickets
fell for 171 runs in this Test. The
first two sessions of the match between
the hosts and New Zealand
had seen seven wickets fall for 173
runs.
Du Plessis declared South
259 Africa’s innings at the
Adelaide Oval with only 259 runs
on the board - their second-lowest
total on which they have declared
in the first innings of a Test. The
table below lists the 15 instances
when teams have declared the first
innings of a Test for a total of under
300 runs. •
Injured Bale to
undergo ankle surgery
• AFP, Madrid
Spanish prosecutors have recommended
that Cameroonian football
great Samuel Eto’o be handed
a 10-year jail sentence and pay a
staggering 18-million-euro ($19
million) fine, a court filing revealed
yesterday.
The prosecutor alleges that
Eto’o set up a series of front companies
to avoid paying taxes during
his decade of soccer success in
Spain’s La Liga.
The main charges focus on a
company Eto’o allegedly established
in 2006 to hide his image
rights, hiding some 4 million euros
from tax authorities. With interest
charges and fines the prosecutor
insists Eto’o should pay 18 million
euros. A prison sentence of 18
months for the original fraud established
in 2006 is supplemented
for three years jail for each subsequent
year the fraud continued.•
• Reuters, Madrid
Gareth Bale will undergo ankle surgery
next week to repair damaged
tendons, Real Madrid said yesterday.
The Wales international picked
up the injury during Tuesday’s
2-1 Champions League victory at
Sporting Lisbon.
“Real Madrid Sanitas Medical
Services have decided that Gareth
Bale will undergo an operation following
the traumatic dislocation of
the peroneal tendons of his right
ankle,” La Liga leaders Real said in
a statement.
The 27-year-old winger has
scored seven goals and set up three
more in 16 starts for Real in all
competitions this season. No time
frame was given for his return to
action. Zinedine Zidane’s team are
four points ahead of Barcelona at
the top of La Liga and play Sporting
Gijon tomorrow. •

Sport 27
DT
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
QUICK BYTES
Drinkwater banned for
three matches
Champions Leicester City will be
without midfielder Danny Drinkwater
for three games after he accepted
a Football Association charge of
violent misconduct, the club said
yesterday. Drinkwater appeared
to elbow Watford’s Valon Behrami
during his side’s 2-1 Premier League
defeat on Saturday. It was missed
at the time by the match officials
but after watching video evidence
the FA charged the 26-year-old. The
automatic three-match ban starts
with immediate effect meaning
Drinkwater will miss the matches
against Middlesbrough, Sunderland
and Manchester City.
–REUTERS
Leipzig out to defend
top spot from Bayern
RB Leipzig are determined to defend
their hard-earned status as the new
Bundesliga leaders with a win at
Freiburg today to pile the pressure
on faltering Bayern Munich.
Leipzig, sponsored by Austrian
energy drinks giant Red Bull, went
top last Friday with a 3-2 win at
Bayer Leverkusen, setting a new
Bundesliga record in the process.
No club has gone unbeaten in their
first 11 German league games after
promotion. Fifth-placed Hoffenheim
are the only other unbeaten team in
Germany’s top flight.
–AFP
DAY’S WATCH
CRICKET
SONY SIX, CHANNEL 9
1:30 PM
Bangladesh Premier League 2016
Rangpur Riders v Rajshahi Kings
6:15 PM
Khulna Titans v Barisal Bulls
STAR SPORTS 2
9:28 AM
South Africa Tour of Australia 2016
3rd Test, Day 2
TEN 1 HD
1:30 PM
Tri-Nation : 6th ODI
Zimbabwe v West Indies
FOOTBALL
STAR SPORTS 1
7:20 PM
Indian Super League 2016
Kerala v Pune
TEN 1
2:50 PM
A-League 2016/17
Western Sydney v Brisbane Roar
1:45 AM
Sky Bet EFL 2016/17
Barnsley v Nottingham Forest
TEN 1 HD
1:35 AM
French Ligue 1 2016/17
Stade Rennais v Toulouse
Barcelona’s Argentinian striker Lionel Messi shoots to score the opening goal during their Uefa Champions League Group C
match agaisnt Celtic at Celtic Park in Glasgow on Wednesday
AFP
RESULTS
GROUP A
Arsenal 2-2 PSG
Giroud 45+1-P, Cavani 18,
Verratti 59-og Lucas 77
Ludogorets 0-0 Basel
GROUP B
Besiktas 3-3 Benfica
Tosun 58, Guedes 10,
Quaresma 83-P, Semedo 25,
Aboubakar 89 Fejsa 31
Napoli 0-0 Dynamo Kiev
GROUP C
Celtic 0-2 Barcelona
Messi 24, 56-P
M’gladbach 1-1 Man City
Raffael 23 Silva 45+1
GROUP D
Rostov 3-2 Bayern Munich
Azmoun 44, Costa 35,
Poloz 50, Bernat 52
Noboa 67
Atletico Madrid 2-0 PSV Eindhoven
Gameiro 55,
Griezmann 66
Barca, City into last 16 as PSG control fate
• AFP, Paris
Lionel Messi fired Barcelona into
the last 16 of the Champions
League on Wednesday after a 2-0
win at Celtic as they were joined in
the knockout rounds by Pep Guardiola’s
Manchester City.
The Argentine star returned
from illness to score both goals at
Celtic Park - the second from the
penalty spot - to send the five-time
European champions through as
winners of Group C.
City recovered from a goal down
in Germany to earn a 1-1 draw at
Borussia Moenchengladbach as
both sides finished with 10 men.
Raffael grabbed the opening goal
for Gladbach on 23 minutes, but David
Silva poked in Kevin De Bruyne’s
cross just prior to the break before
Lars Stindl and Fernandinho saw
red in the second half.
“We controlled the game but it
wasn’t enough to win. We’re just
happy that we’re through to the
last 16,” said Belgian international
De Bruyne.
French champions Paris
Saint-Germain seized control of
their own destiny in Group A with
a 2-2 draw away to Arsenal.
Both PSG and Arsenal have 11
points with one match to play, but
the French outfit own the headto-head
edge on away goals after
the reverse fixture at the Parc des
Princes in September finished 1-1.
Bayern Munich crashed to a
shock 3-2 defeat in Rostov and
could face a daunting draw in the
next round after Atletico Madrid’s
2-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven
guaranteed Diego Simeone’s men
first place in Group D.
Douglas Costa rifled Bayern
ahead on 35 minutes in Russia, but
Rostov equalised through Sardar
Azmoun on the stroke of half-time
before going ahead courtesy of a
Dmitri Poloz penalty.
Juan Bernat swiftly levelled for
the Germans, but Ecuador international
Christian Noboa fired competition
debutants Rostov to a first
group stage victory with the winner
on 67 minutes.
In Madrid, French duo Kevin
Gameiro and Antoine Griezmann
netted second-half goals as Atletico
registered their fifth win in as many
matches in the Champions League.
Besiktas launched a remarkable
second-half recovery as they
fought back from three goals down
against Benfica to draw 3-3 in Istanbul.
Benfica, champions of Europe
in 1961 and 1962, appeared to be
sailing through to the last 16 after
cruising 3-0 ahead inside barely
half an hour through goals from
Goncalo Guedes, Nelson Semedo
and Ljubomir Fejsa.
But the Turks pulled one back
on the hour courtesy of Cenk Tosun
before two goals in the final seven
minutes from Ricardo Quaresma
and Vincent Aboubakar revived
their qualification hopes.
Napoli were held 0-0 at home
by Dynamo Kiev and must take
at least a point from their trip to
Benfica in a fortnight.•
P W D L GD Pts
GROUP A
Paris SG 5 3 2 0 6 11 – (Q)
Arsenal 5 3 2 0 9 11 – (Q)
Ludogorets 5 0 2 3 -9 2
Basel 5 0 2 3 -6 2
GROUP B
Napoli 5 2 2 1 2 8
Benfica 5 2 2 1 1 8
Besiktas 5 1 4 0 1 7
Dynamo Kiev 5 0 2 3 -4 2
GROUP C
Barcelona 5 4 0 1 12 12– (Q)
Man City 5 2 2 1 2 8 – (Q)
M’gladbach 5 1 2 2 -3 5
Celtic 5 0 2 3 -11 2
GROUP D
Atletico 5 5 0 0 6 15– (Q)
Bayern 5 3 0 2 7 9 – (Q)
Rostov 5 1 1 3 -6 4
Eindhoven 5 0 1 4 -7 1
Air Commodore M Mafidur Rahman (L) handing away the champion’s trophy to Indian Air Force team following their friendly basketball match against Bangladesh Air
Force yesterday at the BAF base
ISPR

DT
28
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
Sport
Liverpool great Gerrard retires
• Reuters, London
Former Liverpool and England
captain Steven Gerrard announced
his retirement yesterday a week
after confirming he would not be
returning to play for MLS side LA
Galaxy.
“Following recent media speculation
surrounding my future I can
confirm my retirement from playing
professional football,” Gerrard,
36, said in a statement.
“I’ve had an incredible career
and I’m thankful for each and
every moment of my time with Liverpool,
England and LA Galaxy.”
Gerrard spent virtually his entire
career at Liverpool having made his
debut as a substitute against Blackburn
Rovers in 1998. He is third on
Name: Steven George Gerrard
Age: 36
Born: May 30, 1980
Birthplace: Whiston, Merseyside,
England
Club career:
Liverpool (1998-2015)
Appearances: 710
Goals: 186
LA Galaxy (2015-2016)
Appearances: 38
Goals: 5
International career:
England (2000-2014)
Debut: May 31, 2000 v Ukraine
Appearances: 114
Goals: 21
Honours:
* After coming through Liverpool’s
youth academy, Gerrard
made his first-team debut as an
18-year-old against Blackburn Rovers
in November 1998.
* He scored his first Premier
League goal for Liverpool on Dec.
5, 1999 against Sheffield Wednesday
at Anfield.
* Gerrard replaced defender
Sami Hyypia as Liverpool captain
in October 2003.
* He led the club to a famous
Champions League final victory
over Italian side AC Milan in Istanbul
in 2005, which saw him win the
UEFA Club Footballer of the Year
and the Ballon d’Or Bronze Award.
Miracle in Istanbul
Faced with the prospect of a humiliating
defeat after falling 3-0 behind
against an inspired AC Milan,
Liverpool overcame extraordinary
odds to win their first European
Cup for 21 years thanks to Gerrard,
whose never-say-die efforts at the
Ataturk Stadium ensured he would
forever be regarded as an Anfield
icon. In the signature moment of
Gerrard’s storied career, the midfielderhelped
orchestrate a comeback
for the ages.
the club’s all-time appearances list
with 710, behind only Jamie Carragher
and Ian Callaghan.
He scored 120 goals in 504 Premier
League games.
Individually he was named in
third place in FIFA’s World Player
of the Year in 2005 and PFA Player
of the Year in 2006.
“I feel lucky to have experienced
so many wonderful highlights and
I’m proud to have played over 700
games for Liverpool, many as captain,
and helping to bring major
honours back to the club, none
more so than the famous night
in Istanbul,” Gerrard said in his
lengthy statement.
He has been linked with
a return to Anfield in a coaching capacity.
•
Club: FA Cup (2): 2000-01, 05-06
League Cup (3): 2000-01, 2002-
03, 2011-12
FA Community Shield (1): 2006
UEFA Champions League (1):
2004-05
UEFA Cup (1): 2000-01
UEFA Super Cup (1): 2001
Individual
Professional Footballers’ Association
(PFA) Players’ Player of the
Year (1): 2006
PFA Young Player (1): 2001
Football Writers’ Association
(FWA) Footballer of the Year (1):
2009
UEFA Club Footballer of the Year
(1): 2005
CAREER AT A GLANCE
* Gerrard scored 23 goals in 53
appearances in all competitions for
Liverpool in the 2005-06 campaign
and ended the season being named
the PFA Players’ Player of the Year.
* He also helped Liverpool win
the FA Cup twice (2001, 2006), the
League Cup on three occasions
(2001, 2003, 2012) and the UEFA
Cup once (2001) during an 18-year
association with the Merseyside
club.
* Gerrard played his last game
for Liverpool in the 6-1 Premier
League defeat by Stoke City on May
24, 2015.
* He finished as Liverpool’s
longest-ever serving captain and
GERRARD’S FIVE GREATEST LIVERPOOL GAMES
The ‘Gerrard final’
Gerrard added to his legend by winning
another silverware in a final
destined to be remembered for his
contribution. Trailing 2-0 in Cardiff,
Liverpool were back into the
match on the strength of Gerrard’s
talent. He set up Cisse to reduce the
deficit before equalising himself,
only for the Hammers to regain the
lead. The Reds were seconds away
from defeat when Gerrard struck
again with a 35-yard drive to force
extra-time.
made 710 appearances for the club,
third on the all-time list, before he
joined MLS side Los Angeles Galaxy.
* Gerrard made his debut for the
LA Galaxy in a mid-season friendly
match against Club America on
July 11, 2015.
* Gerrard scored five goals in 34
appearances for LA Galaxy before
playing his final game for the club
on Nov. 6, 2016, in a MLS Cup Playoff
penalty-shootout loss to Colorado
Rapids.
ENGLAND:
* Made his England debut in the
2-0 friendly win over Ukraine on 31
Last-gasp European heroics
When Rivaldo gave Olympiakos a
shock lead at Anfield, it appeared
Benitez’s team were destined for a
lacklustre exit. But Gerrard rose to
the occasion with an unmatchable
fervour that inspired an epic fightback.
Goals from Pongolle and Mellor
put Liverpool within a solitary
strike of progressing to the knockout
stages, setting the stage for
Gerrard to fire home with a sweetly
struck shot from just outside the
penalty area in the 86th minute.
May 2000.
* Gerrard scored his first international
goal in the 5-1 victory over
Germany in a 2002 World Cup qualifier
in September 2001.
* Gerrard captained England
for the first time in their 2-1 loss
to Russia in a 2008 Euro qualifier
match.
* He announced his retirement
from the international game on
July 21, 2014.
* Gerrard won 114 caps for England,
featured in six major tournaments
and is his country’s fourth
most capped player of all time behind
Peter Shilton, Wayne Rooney
and David Beckham.•
Treble derby delight
Entering the twilight of his career,
Gerrard was struggling to silence
the critics who claimed he was
past his best. But the sight of Merseyside
rivals Everton typically
brought the best out of him and
that was the case again at Anfield
as he scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win
that was just reward for a virtuoso
performance. It was the first hattrick
in a Merseyside derby since
Rush scored four in the Reds’ 5-0
win at Goodison Park in 1982.
REACTIONS
“We started at Liverpool together
at 11. He was brilliant then.
He went on to be world class. Liverpool’s
greatest player. Congrats
Stevie G.”
- Former Liverpool and England
team-mate Michael Owen
“He’ll go down in the top three
players ever to play for Liverpool,
if not the best. Ability-wise he was
the best midfielder I’ve ever seen.
He was the best I played with, for
sure. He had the ability to do anything
on the pitch. He will be forever
remembered at that football club
for what he achieved.”
- Gerrard’s former midfield
partner Danny Murphy
“The Legend Forever.”
- Bayern Munich midfielder
Xabi Alonso, Gerrard’s former
Liverpool team-mate, tweeted
a picture of Gerrard holding
the Champions League trophy
after the club’s famous fightback
against AC Milan in the 2005 final
“Steven Gerrard has retired. A
giant of our game. A Liverpool and
England great.”
- Former England striker Gary
Lineker
“I met Stevie already, he is a
great person. He is far away from
wanting to be a legend or handled
like a legend. He is a completely
normal guy. I watched a lot of football
in my life and saw Steven Gerrard
playing, so yeah, quite good!”
- Liverpool manager Jurgen
Klopp
“The best player I have ever
played with! Thanks for everything
mate. Mr Captain Fantastic.”
- Former Liverpool left-back
John Arne Riise
“Y.N.W.A.”
- Ex-Liverpool centre-back Daniel
Agger kept it simple on Twitter
with a reference to “You’ll Never
Walk Alone”, the club anthem,
accompanied by three pictures of
him and Gerrard
“You will be missed my friend.”
- Former Liverpool striker
Djibril Cisse
Red revenge
Although Gerrard never quite succeeded
in knocking United off their
perch as the Premier League’s top
dogs for much of his career, he
did enjoy some notable individual
successes against the old enemy.
He scored nine goals against United
and the pick of them came on
a spring day at Anfield when he
lashed a superb long-range strike
past Barthez to open the scoring in
a 2-0 win that gave Liverpool a first
double over their rivals in 22 years.•

Downtime
29
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Hard of hearing (4)
4 Mannequin (5)
8 Incentive (6)
9 Pleasure trip (4)
11 Durable material (5)
12 Relief for the needy (4)
14 Land measure (3)
15 Meal course (6)
19 Landed property (6)
21 Of advanced age (3)
22 Throw (4)
24 Metal casting (5)
27 Pace (4)
29 Esculent (6)
30 Flaxen cloth (5)
31 Spoken (4)
DOWN
1 Small spot (3)
2 Talisman (6)
3 Definite shape (4)
4 Central (3)
5 Not concealed (5)
6 Lair (3)
7 Walked with
difficulty (6)
10 Rowing implements (4)
13 Become firm (3)
14 Antenna (6)
16 Meshed fabric (3)
17 Duty list (6)
18 Otherwise (4)
20 Dwelling (5)
23 Capital of Norway (4)
25 Necessary
information (3)
26 Metal (3)
28 Close friend (3)
CODE-CRACKER
How to solve: Each number in our
CODE-CRACKER grid represents a
different letter of the alphabet. For
example, today 4 represents R so fill R
every time the figure 4 appears.
You have two letters in the control
grid to start you off. Enter them in the
appropriate squares in the main grid,
then use your knowledge of words to
work out which letters go in the missing
squares.
Some letters of the alphabet may not
be used.
As you get the letters, fill in the other
squares with the same number in the
main grid, and the control grid. Check
off the list of alphabetical letters as you
identify them.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
CALVIN AND HOBBES
SUDOKU
How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the
numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must
contain all nine digits with no number repeating.
PEANUTS
YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS
CODE-CRACKER
CROSSWORD
DILBERT
SUDOKU

30
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
Showtime
Top 10 hip-hop artists of 2016
• Nowsheen Nowar Ahmed
Beyonce
Unless you live under a rock on a distant planet, you are probably
aware of Beyonce’s new released album - Lemonade, which celebrated
black womanhood, and intimated Jay-Z, who had been unfaithful,
and basically snapped the Internet in two. With Lemonade, Beyonce
made 2016 about her, by having the highest selling album of the year.
Through dint of her own genius, glamour, smarts, and artistry, the
moment has been hers. You go Queen B!
Drake
It’s official, Drake pretty much won 2016. The Canadian rapper, now
known as the “6 God,” “Champagnepapi,” “Drizzy,” celebrated his
many wins this year. Summer sixteen has been all about Drizzy after
dropping his album Views, which was the second highest selling album
of 2016, aside from the other hit singles, ‘’Work,” ‘’No Shopping,”
‘’For Free,” featuring top artists like Rihanna, French Montana, and Dj
Khaled. The “One Dance’’ rapper hasn’t wasted any time reaching the
top of the mainstream music world. He just released his new singles
“Sneakin,” “Wanna know,” and “Two Birds, One Stone” last week,
which are already booming.
Future
Future is a constant work in
progress. After delivering several
hits in 2015, which includes ‘’Low
Life’’, ‘’Where ya at’’, ‘’F**k up
some commas’’, ‘’Jumpman’’ he
decided to collaborate with the
highest selling artist Drake in
his album Views and mix-tape
“What a time to be alive” after
dropping his own album Purple
Reign in 2016. He accompanied
Drake throughout his summer
16 tour because obviously the
people wanted to see the artist
who featured half of the songs in
the album. The Atlanta rapper got
nominated for 10 awards in 2016
with a net worth of $8 million in
the last ten months.
Travis Scott
2016 has been a huge year for
Travis Scott, who released his
stellar debut album Rodeo
in 2015, mercilessly teased a
mystery project with Kanye,
and finished the year as an
opener on The Weeknd’s ‘The
Madness tour.’ Sure, there were
some stumbles along the way
— like his recent guilty plea of
reckless conduct for making
a single against the president
elect, Donald Trump — but there
was still a lot to celebrate. The
“Antidote” singer teamed up with
The Weeknd for “Wonderful,”
a jubilant toast to the good life.
Then comes, “A-Team” (no, it’s
not an Ed Sheeran cover — I
know you’re surprised), finds
Travis flying solo for a trumpetsampling
celebration of firststring
life, during which he
advises, “please don’t try to play
us.” 2016 has already shaped up
to be another banner year for
Travis, who’s released the hottest
singles ‘’Uber Everywhere,”
“Whole Lotta Lovin,” ‘’Pick up
the phone,” “3500,’’ and many
more featuring top artists.
G-Eazy
When talking about other
rappers, the “Me myself and I’’
rapper isn’t any less. Probably
the first white rapper in our
generation to have made a
place amongst all the rap and
hip-hop. Dressed up as Joker
from The Dark Knight for all
his performances during the
Halloween week, we can already
tell how dedicated the rapper
really is. Of course he had his
struggles starting from 2008, but
in recent years, his hard work
finally paid off. Aside from his
hits ‘’Me Myself and I,” ‘’I Mean
It,” ‘’Drifting,” he performed with
Britney Spears throughout 2016
with their new single “Make Me,”
and now he stands with a net
worth of almost $4 million.
Post Malone
A freshman rapper Post Malone,
takes the world with his singles
“White Iverson,” “Go Flex,”
“Too Young.” His musical career
started in 2014, and his first song
was released in the beginning of
2015. This means that the rapper
didn’t have enough time to earn
a fortune, but he’s already got an
amazing increase of his wealth.
In 2016, his net worth is around
$5 million. The Iverson singer is
all set to drop his album Stoney
very soon, and the hype is all
over already!
The Weeknd
It is of no surprise that the
Canadian Rapper has broke into
the music scene with the 2011
mixtape, House of Balloons. He
went on to work with Drake,
Wiz Khalifa, and others, while
building his own career as an
artist. In 2015, The Weeknd
enjoyed huge success with
the album - Beauty Behind the
Madness. Despite his growing
popularity, he managed to hide
himself from the public at large.
The Weeknd refused interviews
for a long time, and chose to
use images of women for his
2013 album, Kiss Land, rather
than pictures of himself. Some
of the mystique he built around
himself was intentional, but it
also reflected the shyness and
insecurities that troubled him
early in his career. But he’s all
over the scene with his new hit
single “Starboy,” “False Alarm,”
and the new video which just got
released yesterday called “M A
N I A,” which comprises a sneak
peak of all the songs he is soon
going to release, and that overall,
sure did come late but pretty
much summed up 2016 for him.
Partynextdoor
Brathwaite, better known for
his stage name “Partynextdoor”
is also a Toronto-based artist
experimenting with a fractured
blend of minimal hip-hop and
R&B, that has drawn natural
comparisons to fellow Canadians,
Drake and The Weeknd. The
first artist signed to Drake’s
Warner Bros, supported OVO
Sound label, Brathwaite made
his self-titled debut on the label,
in July 2013. A low-key release
with Drake featured on one cut,
reached number 34 on Billboard’s
R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In
2016, he dropped his own album
P3 which featured the biggest
hits of the year, “Not Nice,”
“Only U,” and “Come and See
me,” which also featured reality
star Kylie Jenner in the music
video. It’s now safe to say that
the party is really going on with
Brathwaite!
Young Thug
Young Thug is an Atlanta-native
rapper, who quickly rose to
fame in 2011, after the release
of his mixtape I Came From
Nothing. Since breaking out onto
the music scene, Young Thug
collaborated with and received
the support of many celebrity
rappers, including Kanye West,
Drake, Birdman, Usher, T.I, and
Gucci Mane. The rapper took
2016 with many hits featuring top
artists, apart from his exceptional
singles like “Pick Up the Phone,”
“Digits,” and many more!
Bruno Mars
This
guy
here
barely
needs
an
intro.
It
might
seem that Mars appeared out of
nowhere, co-writing, producing,
and performing on BoB’s number
1 - “Nothin’ On You,” followed by
Travie McCoy’s chart-climbing
“Billionaire,” but he makes one
thing clear: “It’s not an overnight
success.” Mars is a multi-talented
singer, songwriter, producer,
and musician, who feels most
at home when he’s performing.
Throughout the years, he has
been giving us a lot of hits even
it’s one or two per year. He took
the internet by storm with his
new single “24K” in 2016, and
people all over the world are
definitely grooving to it! •

Showtime
40 years of ‘Payer Awaaj Paoa Jai’
• Showtime Desk
The 40th anniversary of the
theatre production - Payer Awaaj
Pao Jai – a play based on our
Liberation War, written by Syed
Shamsul Haq and directed by
Abdullah Al-Mamun, will be
celebrated on November 25. Four
decades ago, this epoch-making
play premiered at Mahila Samity.
Soon after the play was
staged, it generated huge interest
among the audience because of
its literary quality, theme, and
World Theatre Festival, organised
by the International Theatre
Institute. Again, it was the first
play from Bangladesh to be staged
in a foreign country. Another
meaningful staging of the play
was held at the National Martyrs’
Memorial, Savar, on March 25,
1987, and the 100th production
of the play was held on March 23,
1990. The play was also telecast
on Bangladesh Television, and
aired on Bangladesh Betar, as a
special drama on the occasion of
the Independence Day.
31
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
Bengal Classical
Music Festival 2016
Headlining
performers of
day two
Madhavi
Mudgal
An illustrious
exponent
of the Odissi
tradition,
Mudgal is widely
acclaimed for her deep insight
into the art of choreography,
and her commitment to train,
and encourage new dancers
to finer nuances of Odissi.
excellent production. Within a
year the play celebrated their
golden jubilee, which happened
to be the first of its kind in
Bangladesh.
Two shows of the play was
held on March 20, 1981 in Seoul,
South Korea in the 5th Third
• Showtime Desk
It’s good fortune for Hollywood
that the person to take all the
attention of Harry Potter fans,
is someone just as charming as
Emma Watson. Eddie Redmayne,
an Oscar-winning British actor,
was sought after for the lead role
in the movie. In fact, according
to Timeout London, “he was
the first and only choice to play
magician Newt Scamander.”
Like Emma Watson, the
34-year-old actor is just as
humble about his success and
fame. In all of his interviews, he
can’t seem to stop gushing about
his love for the world of Fantastic
Beasts and Newt.
Though the play was not
performed for about ten years at
one point of time, it is also a fact
that no other play in Bangladesh
has been running for forty
years, till date. In the reviv al,
Sudip Chakraborty directed and
designed the production.
New wizard tastes the success
“What I love about him is that
he is absolutely his own person,”
Eddie said to Timeout London.
“As a consequence, he can be
quite prickly. At the beginning
of the film, he doesn’t care what
people think of him. You see his
heart through his relationship
with his creatures. He’s also
been damaged by relationships
in the past.” That’s something
the writer, J.K. Rowling and
I, talked about – he has many
qualities to him, that aren’t
obviously heroic.
Unlike Emma, Eddie is coming
into his role as an adult, not a
child star. While there are rumors
that Warner Bros. has multiple
movies on the docket for the
Presently, Ferdausi Majumdar,
Keramat Mowla, Tofa Hossain,
Tropa Majumdar, Maruf Kabir,
Pareshj Acharjee, Samar Dev,
Khurshid Alam, Nurul Islam
Sunny, Rashedul Awal Shaon,
Joardar Said, Tamanna Islam,
Runa Laila, Tanvir Hossain
Fantastic Beasts franchise, Eddie
will not have the opportunity to
grow up in the movie like Daniel
Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and
Rupert Grint.
However, he will enjoy
Samdani, Kalyan Chowdhury,
Tanjum Ara Palli, Kaowar Rajib,
Atiqur Rahman, and Ershad
Hasan will be performing in the
play.
Nearly eighty actors have
participated in the play over the
years, among whom, Abdullah
Al-Mamun, Mohammad Zakaria,
Zahirul Haq, Abdul Quader, Tariq
Anam Khan, Mita Chowdhury,
Tarana Halim, Rekha Ahmed,
Khairul Alam Sabuj, Ariful Hoq,
Kazi Tamanna, Golam Rabbani,
Jhuna Chowdhury, Tabibul Islam
Babu, Afroza Basnu, Shireen
Bakul, Shanta Islam, Taukir
Ahmed, and Asif Munier are
worth mentioning.
So far the play had 173
performances, and Fedausi
Majumdar happens to be the only
actor who performed in all the
shows. Keramat Mowla, who was
a performer on the opening night
is now performing regularly.
The 174th performance of
the play will be held on Friday,
November 25, at 6:30 pm at the
Neelima Ibrahim Auditorium of
Mahila Samity. •
more freedom in his career,
having already won an Oscar
for his performance in Theory of
Everything. What’s more, he just
had his first baby with his wife,
Hannah Bagshawe. •
Rahul Sharma
Rahul began
his vocal
and santoor
training under
the guidance of
his father and guru, Pandit
Shivkumar Sharma, a legend
in India and the world over.
Sharma has collaborated with
international musicians, such
as Richard Clayderman and
Kersi Lord.
Ulhas Kashalkar
Kashalkar
received
training from
great masters,
such as Pandit
Ram Marathe and Pandit
Gajananbua Joshi. Today,
Kashalkar is considered to
be a representative of the
Gwalior, Jaipur, and Agra
Gharana.
Ronu Majumdar
A renowned
Indian flautist,
Majumdar is
firmly rooted
in the Maihar
Gharana.
U Rajesh
A notable
mandolin
artist from
India, Rajesh
is the brother
of mandolin maestro U
Shrinivas, and began his
training under the guidance
of his father and brother.
Rajesh is a recipient of the
President’s Award in 2007 and
a Grammy nominee in 2009
with John McLaughlin for his
album Floating Point.
Students of Bengal
Parampara Sangeetalay will
be on the tabla, khayal by
Priyanka Gope, Mohammed
Shoeb and others will be
on the vocals, and sitar
will be played by Purbayan
Chatterjee. •

32
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
DT
TRADE UNION URGES GOVT TO ENSURE
RIGHTS OF TAZREEN FIRE VICTIMS PAGE 13
Back Page
BPL 4 ENTERS BUSINESS
STAGES TODAY PAGE 24
40 YEARS OF ‘PAYER
AWAAJ PAOA JAI’ PAGE 24
Truck bomb blast
kills 80 Shia
pilgrims in Iraq
• AFP
A suicide truck bomb blast in Iraq
killed at least 80 people Thursday,
most of them Iranian pilgrims returning
from the holy city of Karbala,
a security official said. "There
are at least 80 dead, fewer than 10
are Iraqis, the rest are Iranians," Falah
al-Radhi, head of the security
committee for the Babylon provincial
council, told to the reporters.
The truck bomb ripped through
a petrol station where buses packed
with Shia pilgrims returning from
the Arbaeen commemoration in the
Iraqi city of Karbala were parked,
security officials said. Several Iranian
nationals, the largest contingent
of foreigners at the Arbaeen
pilgrimage that ended on Monday
- were among the victims, the Joint
Operations Command (JOC) said.
"At least seven buses with pilgrims
were inside the petrol station
at the time," sais police.
The blast struck in the village of
Shomali, 120km southeast of the
capital Baghdad and around 80km
from Karbala. "Those buses were
loaded with Iranians, Bahrainis and
Iraqis. Ambulances and civil defence
are on their way to the site," a
police intelligence source said.
A Shomali resident said the petrol
station was on the main motorway
between Baghdad and the
southern port city of Basra. "There
were Iranians but also lots of people
from Basra and Nasiriyah,"
Cabinet approval keeps special provision for child marriage
• Shohel Mamun
The cabinet yesterday approved
the draft of Child Marriage Restraint
Act 2016, keeping a provision
to allow child marriage in special
cases.
According to the provision, if
a girl accidentally or illegally gets
pregnant, she will be allowed to
marry for the sake of her honour.
The much-talked-about draft
was approved in a cabinet meeting
held at the Prime Minister’s
Office with Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina in the chair yesterday afternoon.
Mousa Omran said, referring to another
southern city.
Between 17 and 20 million people
visited Karbala, home to the
mausoleum of Imam Hussein, for
Arbaeen, which is one of the world's
largest religious events. The dayslong
final phase of the pilgrimage
sees huge numbers of pilgrims walk
long distances to reach Karbala.
According to the Iraqi authorities,
around three million Iranians
were among this year's visitors.
Many of them stay a few days
longer to visit the shrine city. Iraq's
security forces were on high alert
for the duration of the pilgrimage,
seen as a major potential target for
the Islamic State group.
The jihadist organisation, which
is currently trying to defend its
last major Iraqi bastion of Mosul
against a massive offensive, has
claimed countless such bombings.
Observers had feared the group,
whose cross-border caliphate is
crumbling under the pressure
of multiple military operations
backed by Iran and the West, would
seek to attack Karbala.
Around 25,000 members of the
security forces were deployed in
and around the city last week to
protect the pilgrims and the shrine
but some have since returned to
the front lines.
Thursday's attack marred an
Arbaeen commemoration that had
passed with fewer attacks than in
previous years. •
“The draft has been approved
with a goal to reduce the high rate
of child marriage in Bangladesh,”
Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam
told reporters at the Bangladesh
Secretariat after the meeting.
“In case of violation, the provision
has a maximum penalty of
Tk100,000 along with two years’
imprisonment,” he said.
According to the proposed law,
anyone under 18 years of age in
general will be considered a child;
but in cases of marriage, any male
under the age of 21 and female under
the age of 18 will be considered
minors.
Artistes perform at the inaugural function of Bengal Musical Festival at Army stadium, Dhaka yesterday
2016 sees more child rapes
• Arifur Rahman Rabbi
Despite a strict law and efforts of
raising awareness, rape of children
has shown an increase this year.
Children are raped every day
across Bangladesh; children are not
even safe at homes.
Statistics of Bangladesh Shishu
Adhikar Forum (BSAF) shows that
325 children were raped during
January-September this year.
A total of 1,301 children were
raped in between 2012 and September
2016. The number was highest
last year with 521 child rapes.
The numbers were 199 in 2014,
170 in 2013 and 86 in 2012.
Experts think the number would
not have gone so high if child abuse
cases had been disposed of quicker
and exemplary punishment had
been meted out to the perpetrators.
According to BSAF statistics, a
total of 169 children were victims
of gang rape, 93 were murdered after
rapes, 32 committed suicides after
rapes and attempts were made
to rape 165 children.
The majority of them were raped
between the ages of 5 to 12. The rapists
tempted the children with chocolates,
toys or fancy stuff and took
them to a deserted place and raped.
Children between 13 and 18
years of age were raped with offers
of marriage or rapists forced them
to go to a secluded place or they
were raped when alone at home.
Of the 325 children raped in
2016, 48 were victims of gang rape
while 31 physically challenged children
and five housemaids were
raped and 15 were killed after rapes.
It also stipulates that a marriage
between two minors or between a
minor and an adult will be considered
a child marriage.
The cabinet secretary said:
“No matter what other provisions
of the law say, a minor will be
allowed to marry in special cases
for the sake of honour – in case of a
girl getting accidentally or illegally
pregnant – with approval from a
court and and agreement between
the parents.”
Shafiul Alam said the age of a
person will be fixed consulting his/
her birth certificate, National ID,
passport or certificate of any public
examinations including the PSC
and JSC.
According to the law, the court
will impose a ban on any marriage
if anyone claims it as child marriage.
The court might reject the
ban also.
If anyone violates the ban, he or
she will face six months’ imprisonment
and Tk10,000 fine or both as
punishment.
If the claim is proved false,
punishment is maximum six
months’ imprisonment and at least
Tk30,000 fine or both.
Minors who marry will face
maximum 15 days’ imprisonment
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Director of BSAF Abdus Shahid
Mahmud said as rapists and criminals
are not brought to justice,
child rapes are on the rise.
Secondly, there is loopholes in
the law through which a perpetrator
can easily escape justice.
Thirdly, most of the victims
are from poor families and that
is another reason as to why the
victims cannot get justice. As the
criminals are above the status
of the victims, they either settle
the issue in exchange for money
or frighten them away with their
muscle power.
Human rights activist advocate
Alina Khan said there are laws, but
laws are not applied properly. Cases
are filed but a section of police
often do not investigate those in
exchange for money. •
or Tk5,000 fine.
Any adult male or female
will face a maximum penalty of
Tk100,000 fine along with two
years of imprisonment or both if he
or she marries any minor.
If parents are found involved in
organising child marriage, they will
be punished with maximum six
months’ imprisonment and at least
Tk50,000 fine or both. If the parents
are not capable of paying the
fine, the jail term will be increased
for more three months.
If a child marriage is registered,
the licence of the marriage conductor
will be cancelled. •
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