DT e-Paper 21 March 2017

SECOND EDITION
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017 | Chaitra 7, 1423, Jamadi-us Sani 21, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 323 | www.dhakatribune.com | 24 pages | Price: Tk10
BIGSTOCK
PayPal set to arrive in Bangladesh › 2
RAB detains 3 with
fake passports,
visas › 3
Britain’s May to
launch EU divorce
on March 29 › 9
Messi edges
six-goal thriller
Barca's way › 20

2
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
DT
News
PayPal set to arrive in Bangladesh
• Syed Samiul Basher Anik,
Ibrahim Hossain Ovi and
Ishtiaq Husain
After much back and forth over
the past two years, PayPal is finally
gearing up to launch in Bangladesh
by the end of April.
“We just received the permission
today (Monday). Now we will
go forward with the necessary procedures,
including the signing of a
formal agreement with PayPal, so
that the service comes into operation
soon,” a highly placed source
at Foreign Remittance Management
Division of Sonali Bank told
the Dhaka Tribune.
According to another official
source, all necessary processes,
including the cross-checking of
documents, legal compliance and
the finalisation of terms and conditions
have been completed.
A tripartite deal among Bangladesh
Bank, Sonali Bank and PayPal
will be signed soon.
Once the agreement is signed,
the IT division of Sonali Bank will
complete all necessary IT related
tasks, including the type of account
to be used and AML/CFT
(Anti-Money Laundering/Combating
the Financing of Terrorism)
compliance status.
Sonali Bank Managing Director
and Chief Executive Officer Md
Obayed Ullah Al Masud and Bangladesh
Bank’s Deputy Governor
Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan,
were however not available for
comment.
Earlier in July 2016, Sonali Bank
and PayPal signed a draft Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU),
which had been sent to PayPal for
approval.
Since its start in December 1998,
PayPal has enabled nearly 200 million
individuals and businesses to
transfer funds electronically.
PayPal, which is available in
more than 200 markets around the
world, enables its account holders
to receive money in more than 100
currencies, withdraw funds in 56
currencies and hold PayPal account
balances in 25 currencies.
Its presence in Bangladesh will
now provide a hassle free electronic
channel for the transfer of
money from one country to another,
the influx of remittances and
earnings from foreign companies
and increase access to foreign consumers.
“Most Bangladeshi freelancers
cannot bring their hard earned
money in through the proper channels
due to a lack of a trusted and
government approved payment
gateway,” said BASIS President Mostafa
Jabber told the Dhaka Tribune.
BIGSTOCK
Currently, there are about 5.5 lakh
freelancers and about 700 e-commerce
websites in Bangladesh.
At present, these local freelancers
use middlemen to bring in their
foreign income, a move which is
both risky and comes at a high cost.
Their income is also considered
part of the inflow of remittances.
With PayPal in the country, this
will no longer be an issue. Not only
will it be easier and safer for freelancers
to collect payments from
foreign clients, but their incomes
will now also be considered separate
from remittances.
“I welcome PayPal’s entry in
Bangladesh as this will highly benefit
the country’s freelancers who
have trouble bringing in their earnings
safely,” said Shamim Ahsan,
former president of Bangladesh
Association of Software and Information
Services (BASIS).
Bangladesh has also been facing
much difficulty in receiving remittance
earned through outsourcing,
and this new contract with PayPal
will make the remittance inflow
both easier and faster.
E-commerce entrepreneurs can
now also look beyond the country’s
borders and connect with the
foreign market, effectively pushing
Bangladesh into the global shared
economy.
“PayPal is the most secure and
the best payment gateway for
monetary transactions. PayPal in
Bangladesh will help e-commerce
entrepreneurs to connect with
more consumers from foreign
countries,” said Ataur Rahman,
co-founder of amardeshamargram.
com, an e-commerce business.
Razib Ahmed, president of
e-commerce Association of Bangladesh
(e-CAB) said PayPal would help
the entrepreneurs to expand their
businesses by ensuring that they are
easily able to receive payments for
work both at home and abroad.
This move is a part of the government’s
vision to establish a
resourceful and modern country
through the effective use of information
and communication technology
by 2021. •
FALSE ALARM
Govt to form welfare
body to protect expats
from harassment, abuse
Chittagong police search two buildings, one in the Akbar Shah area of the city, the other on nearby Easan Mohajon Ghat Road
in Uttar Kattali, as suspected terrorist dens. Nothing was found in the buildings, they later said
RABIN CHOWDHURY
• Shohel Mamun
The Cabinet has approved, in principle,
the draft of Expatriates’ Welfare
Board Act 2017 with provision
to give special attention to female
migrant workers.
The draft law was approved at
a regular meeting of the Cabinet at
Bangladesh Secretariat yesterday
with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
in the chair.
The aim of the welfare board
is to provide legal, financial
and administrative support to
Bangladeshi migrants, said Cabinet
Secretary Mohammad Shafiul
Alam.
“The board will take initiative
to raise funds to provide financial
support,” he said during a press
briefing following the meeting.
The special provision is aimed
at providing support to female
migrant workers if or when they
face sexual harassment, physical
assault, or any form of abuse, he
added.
The secretary of the Ministry of
Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas
Employment will be nominated as
the chairman of the board, the cabinet
secretary said.
“The board will also set up
briefing centres for migrant
workers to educate them about
the laws, way of life and other
crucial information about different
countries.”
The draft law has been formulated
in line with the UN convention
on protection of the rights of
all migrant workers and members
of their families, he said. •

News 3
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
RAB detains 3 with fake passports, visas
• Arifur Rahman Rabbi
Fraudsters have allegedly found a
way for Bangladeshis to obtain two
legal, machine readable passports
as well as a means to sneak into the
Middle East.
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB),
yesterday detained three people
with fake hand-written passports,
visas and air tickets, along with
other tools used for forging official
documents. The information came
out after primary interrogation of
the three.
Speaking at a press briefing at
Karwan Bazaar yesterday afternoon,
RAB 10 Commanding Officer
(CO) Jahangir Hossain Matubbar
said the ‘fraudsters’ were detained
around 10pm on Sunday.
The detained were identified as
Nasibur Rahman, 39, Atikul Islam
Limon, 40, and Abdul Kuddus, 35.
Among the detainees, Atikul Islam
Limon collected fake passports
and visas forged by Nasibur Rahman
at price of about Tk4 thousand.
Limon would then sell them
for up to Tk7 thousand to the clients.
Abdul Kuddus was responsible
for making the fake seals on the
documents.
The CO said it was suspected
that many criminals who were
found to have fled the country
Draft law aims to rein in
unplanned urbanisation
• Shohel Mamun
The Cabinet has approved the draft
of Urban and Regional Plan Act
2017 in a move to stop unplanned
urbanisation.
The draft, if passed into a law, will
prevent land owners across Bangladesh
from building structures as
they please. They will require approval
from the government authorities
concerned before using their
lands for any construction.
The Cabinet approved the draft
in its regular meeting at Bangladesh
Secretariat yesterday, chaired
by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Speaking to reporters after the
meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad
Shafiul Alam said land
owners, especially in the rural areas,
currently do not require government
approval before building permanent
structures on their lands.
“But under this law, anyone who
tries to procure agricultural land or
moorland for construction, or any
land owner who tries to do so by
changing the category of the land,
will be subject to punishment.”
He said the new law recommended
minimum one year to
maximum five years of imprisonment
and up to Tk50 lakh fine as
punishment.
He also said a high-powered
RAB recovered fake hand-written passports and other documents, and tools for forging official documents, from three
fraudsters. The photo was taken yesterday at the RAB Media Centre at Karwan Bazaar
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
advisory council will be formed
to implement the law around the
country.
The council will consist of 27
members, headed by Housing
and Public Works Minister Engr
Mosharraf Hossain, and will be in
charge of policy-making, he added.
“The draft also recommends
forming an executive body, led by
the housing and public works secretary,
to aid the advisory council,”
he added.
‘Both the bodies
will consist of more
bureaucrats and not
enough experts’
may have used fake passports obtained
from fraudsters like the
detained to make their escape, as
If the law is passed and executed, it
may reduce misuse of land, Shafiul
told reporters.
“It will also establish a coordination
mechanism among the city corporations,
development authorities
like Rajuk, municipalities, upazila
and district councils,” he added.
“The goal of the act is to prevent
unplanned urbanisation. A
new council and an executive body
as well as a department on urban
and regional development will be
formed under the new act,” Housing
and Public Works Secretary Md
Shahid Ullah Khandaker told the
Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Urban experts have applauded
the draft law.
Iqbal Habib, a prominent architect
and joint secretary of pro-environment
organisation Bangladesh
Poribesh Andolon, said: “Every
year, we lose around 50,000 hectares
of agricultural land or wetlands
because of unplanned urbanisation.
This act will help to
prevent that.”
However, he said the proposed
model for the advisory council as
well as the executive body was not
appropriately formulated.
“Both the bodies will consist of
more bureaucrats and not enough
experts, as per the clauses in the
draft. But the bureaucrats cannot
make decisions without expert input,”
he told the Dhaka Tribune.
But he appreciated the fact that
the new law would ensure coordination
among different government
agencies.
“The government is working
on urbanisation plans at upazila
level. But currently there is no coordination
among upazila administrations,
Urban Development
Directorate and Local Government
Department. That is causing delay
in the planning process,” he said. •
Japanese firm to
consult on urban
building safety
• Asif Showkat Kallol
The government has decided to
appoint the Japanese firm Oriental
Consultants Global as consultants
of the Public Works Ministry’s Urban
Building Safety Project.
Oriental Consultants Global
Company Limited secured first position
among the three firms that
bid for the job, a ministry official
told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The other firms in the bid were
Indian firms EGIS and Ove Arup
and Partners Ltd.
Public Works Ministry’s proposal
on this matter will be placed
in the next cabinet committee on
public purchase meeting.
The official said the Urban
Building Safety Project already began
last year but a consultant was
yet to be appointed as the decisions
were delayed after the Holey Artisan
cafe terror attack.
“It is a good news that Oriental
Consultants Global is back in business
and has participated in the
this tender,” the official said.
The firm will receive Tk106
crore in consulting fees.
According to the proposal, the
tender submission date was extended
by 12 days in 2016 after the
DT
they were cheap and easy to buy on
short notice.
Quoting the detainees, CO Jahangir
said the fraudsters not only
sold passports within Bangladesh,
but also offered their services to
Bangladeshis abroad who had misplaced
their passports.
The fraudulent hand-written
passports were sometimes used
by illegal migrants to obtain legal,
machine-readable passports, the
CO added.
It was unknown how the false
documents were not flagged at immigration,
the CO said.
When asked whether dishonest
passport and immigration officials
may be involved, the CO said:
“They are a big gang, with many
members both here and abroad.
We have been able to find some
of their names, but have not disclosed
them for the purposes of
the investigation.”
Furthermore, the CO revealed
that the fraudsters had an intricate
system to get Bangladeshis into
Middle Eastern countries despite
many of them withholding visas.
People striving to enter such countries
would first enter India with
the fake handwritten Bangladeshi
passports, before obtaining fake
Indian passports to enter the Middle
East. •
Gulshan cafe terror attack. Three
Oriental employees, Hiroshi Tanaka,
Nobuhiro Kurosaki and Hideki
Hashimoto, were killed in that terror
attack.
Six of the seven Japanese killed
in the Gulshan cafe terror strike
were surveyors for Dhaka’s Metrorail
project. They had been working
for Route-1 and Route-5 of the project
of Metrorail project.
The consultancy has two components,
Private Building Safety
and Public Building Safety.
As per the project proposal,
the project aims to strengthen the
building safety in Urban areas by
financing loans for building safety
for private buildings through Participating
Financial Institutions,
and by improving the building safety
for public buildings, and contributing
to improvement of the social
vulnerability in urban areas.
Dhaka and Chittagong are the
major cities of Bangladesh, accounting
for approximately 50% of
the gross domestic product and approximately
15% of the population.
Around 500,000 houses are concentrated
in these two cities, and
70% of those are believed to not
have complied with Bangladesh
National Building Code. •

4
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
DT
News
Bangladeshi allegedly gang-raped in India
• Tribune Desk
A 14-year-old Bangladeshi girl was allegedly
gang raped in Ahmedabad and Mangrol, Junagadh
of Gujarat, reports the Times of India.
On March 16, the minor was found crying
at a bus terminal in Mangrol. Despite the
language barrier, Mangrol police were able to
determine that she was from Bangladesh.
She was then taken to a women’s shelter
in Junagadh, where she was able to describe
her ordeal with the help of an interpreter.
The girl alleged that she had been gangraped
by seven persons in Ahmedabad and
14 in Mangrol over the span of a week.
In her statement she said she had been
sold by one of her relatives to an agent
named Sai in Bangaon village of West Bengal
and brought to Mangrol via Ahmedabad.
Mangrol police have launched a probe. •
Family members of Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, Bangladeshi Ambassador to Brazil, grieve at his namaz-ejanaza
at the Foreign Ministry yesterday. The former foreign secretary will be laid to rest at Banani graveyard
today. He died on March 10 while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Brazil
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

News 5
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
Refugees say Myanmar delegation dismissed tales of violence
• Abdul Aziz, Cox’s Bazar
Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar
have claimed that a Myanmar delegation
that spoke to them had
dismissed their claims of murder,
torture and rape at the hands of
Myanmar army.
A 10-member Myanmar government
delegation met refugees
from the Kutupalong, Balukhali
and Leda camps on Sunday and
Monday.
According to the Rohingyas,
they asked them why the
community had fled to Bangladesh.
When the refugees unanimously
explained the military operations
in the Rakhine state, the envoys
reportedly dismissed the claims.
Anwar Kamal, a Rohingya refugee,
alleged a Myanmar envoy
called him a liar after Anwar described
the atrocities he witnessed.
Whenever a refugee would
speak, they would interrupt and
say they were lying, he said.
“I heard a delegation member
say ‘These Rohingyas are
making things up after fleeing to
Bangladesh,’ which makes it clear
that they’re just for show,” he
added.
The delegation met with the
deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar
after their arrival on Sunday.
Afterwards, they met with some
Rohingyas who are part of a fresh
influx of refugees at the Kutupalong
camp.
On Monday morning, they visited
the Balukhali camp for unregistered
refugees in Ukhiya, and then
the Leda camp in Teknaf in the afternoon.
Farida Akhter and Yasmin
Akhter, two refugees from the Balukhali
camp said they shared their
own horrific accounts of being tortured
at the hands of Myanmar soldiers.
However, the 10-member delegation
has not spoken to the media
at all during their visit. Members
of the International Organisation
for Migration (IOM) and other aid
DT
agencies accompanying the delegation
also refused to make any
statements.
Hafez Ahmed, another Rohingya
refugee, who claims to have
spoken to the delegation said the
envoys were all here for a show.
When Hafez and some other
Rohingyas expressed their desire
to go back to Myanmar after the
Rakhine state is made safe for
them, the delegation refrained
from making any remarks, he
said. •
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY
Dhaka 31 19 Chittagong 28 20 Rajshahi 32 20 Rangpur 28 16 Khulna 31 18 Barisal 31 20 Sylhet 27 16
Cox’s Bazar 28 20
RAIN LIKELY
TUESDAY, MARCH 21
DHAKA
TODAY
TOMORROW
SUN SETS 6:10PM
SUN RISES 6:01AM
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW
29ºC 15.2ºC
Rajshahi
Rajarhat
Source: Accuweather/UNB
PRAYER
TIMES
Fajr: 5:35am | Zohr: 1:15pm
Asr: 4:45pm | Magrib: 6:18pm
Esha: 8:15pm
Source: Islamic Foundation

6
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
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Bogra teacher honoured among
top global educationists
Shahanaj Parvin
• Tribune Desk
Shahanaj Parvin, a teacher at the
Upazila Sadar Model Government
Primary School in Sherpur in
Bogra, was honoured among the
top 50 nominees for the Varkey
Foundation Global Teacher Prize
2017 on Sunday.
Shahanaj and her fellow teachers
received their accolades at the
Fifth Global Education and Skills
Forum at The Palm Atlantis Hotel
in Dubai. Education Minister Nurul
Islam Nahid was in attendance.
Meanwhile, Canadian teacher
Maggie MacDonnell collected
the $1 million top award for the
Global Teacher Prize at the event.
News 7
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
She received her prize from Dubai
Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan
Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, who is the patron for
the award.
Shahanaj was born in a remote
Bangladeshi village to two primary
school teachers. While many
children in Bangladesh drop out
of school in order to support their
families through earning, the dropout
rate was vastly reduced by
Shahanaj’s teaching methods that
emphasised technology and multimedia
applications.
Shahanaj’s inclusion in the 50
person shortlist for the Global
Teacher Prize was reported earlier
on December 16. •
Jubo League leader, 3
others rape schoolgirl
• Zahirul Islam Khan,
Madaripur
DT
Police are looking for four people
including a Jubo League leader
of Madaripur’s Kalkini who gangraped
an eighth grader on March 11
after abducting her.
The accused are Elahi Kotpal, 35,
Lalon Shikdar, 34, Khoka Shikdar,
30, Shawkat Shikdar, 32, all from
Jajira village. Khoka is the general
secretary of Ramjanpur Union unit
Jubo League.
The case was filed on March 16
after the accused threatened the
victim’s family.
According to the case statement,
the accused had been making propositions
to the victim for quite a
long time. Angered by her refusal,
they abducted her on the night of
March 11 when she stepped out of
her house to go to the toilet.
They took the girl to a nearby
shed and raped her. The girl was
rescued by locals the following day.
The victim’s brother, seeking
anonymity, said the rapists had
threatened them with further violence
if the girl was taken to a hospital
or if any case was filed. Her
family then took her to Dhaka Medical
College Hospital for treatment.
When contacted, Madaripur Additional
Police Superintendent Sumon
Deb stated the accused will be
arrested soon. •

DT
8
World
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
SOUTH ASIA
Pakistan to reopen of
border with Afghanistan
Pakistan on Monday ordered the
border with Afghanistan to be reopened,
a month after it was closed
amid soaring tensions as Islamabad
and Kabul accused one another of
providing safe haven for militants.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered
the two main crossings on the
long, porous border be reopened as
a gesture of goodwill. AFP
INDIA
India’s NIA issues fresh
summons to Zakir Naik
India’s National Investigation
Agency (NIA) on Monday issued
a second notice to controversial
Islamic preacher Zakir Naik asking
him to appear before it on March
30 in a case filed against him under
an anti-terror law. The agency had
early this month issued the first
summons to him, asking him to
appear on March 14. HT
CHINA
China warns US over arms
sales to Taiwan
China on Monday reiterated its
firm opposition to US arm sales to
Taiwan, amid reports that Donald
Trump’s administration is preparing
a large shipment of advanced
weaponry for the self-ruling island.
“China firmly opposes US arms
sales to Taiwan, this is consistent
and clear-cut,” foreign ministry
spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a
regular press briefing. AFP
ASIA PACIFIC
New Zealand expels US
diplomat after ‘incident’
New Zealand has expelled an
attache at the US Embassy after
Washington declined to waive
his right to diplomatic immunity
after an “incident” which gave
him a broken nose and a black
eye. New Zealand police said they
responded to the incident near
the capital on March 12 involving
an employee of the US Embassy
but did not say what work the
employee did or give any other
details. REUTERS
MIDDLE EAST
Strikes pound east
Damascus after rebel
assault
Heavy air strikes hammered opposition-held
neighbourhoods of
Syria’s capital on Monday after regime
forces pushed back a surprise
assault that saw rebels try to fight
their way into the city centre. Rebels
and allied jihadists launched
an attack early Sunday on government
positions in east Damascus,
initially scoring gains. AFP
FBI director confirms probe of
possible Russia links to Trump team
• AFP, Washington, DC
FBI Director James Comey confirmed
for the first time Monday
that the agency is investigating
Russian interference in last year’s
presidential election and notably
Moscow’s possible collusion with
Donald Trump’s campaign.
The FBI “is investigating the
Russian government’s efforts to interfere
in the 2016 presidential election,”
Comey told a hearing by the
House Intelligence Committee.
“And that includes investigating
the nature of any links
between individuals associated
with the Trump campaign and the
Russian government and whether
there was any coordination between
the campaign and Russia’s
efforts,” he said.
Comey’s disclosure confirmed
longstanding reports that the FBI
was probing the explosive charges
that Trump’s stunning election
victory over Hillary Clinton last
November came on the back of
Russian meddling.
US intelligence chiefs said in
Indian Hindu devotees gather on the banks of the river Ganga to take a ‘holy
dip’ in Allahabad on February 3, 2015
AFP
After New Zealand, India’s Ganga
gains legal status of a person
• Tribune Desk
FBI Director James Comey, left, and National Security Agency Director Mike
Rogers on Intelligence hearing on March 20 in Washington, DC
AFP
The river Ganga was recognised Monday
as the first living entity of India by
the Uttarakhand High Court.
One of the largest rivers in India,
Ganga is considered to be the holiest
river in the country and holds a high
place in its mythology. The Ganga is
worshipped as a goddess, and for centuries
Indians have come to it, especially
in Varanasi, to be near its holy banks and
to cremate their loved ones by it.
Recognising a river as a living entity
means granting it the same legal
rights as a human being. The new
status means if someone pollutes river
Ganga, the law will see it equal to
harming a human being.
This ruling comes only four days after
New Zealand’s parliament granted
the same rights to the 145-kilometre
long Whanganui River, after calling it a
living entity. The river became the first
in the world to be legally recognised
as a living entity and was granted the
same rights as a human being.
The court also ruled the government
to form a Ganga Administration
Board for cleaning and better maintenance
of the river. Earlier in the
month, the court came heavily down
upon the Union and Uttarakhand
state government for doing “nothing
concrete” to clean the river.
The court slammed them for wasting
efforts on reviving a lost river Saraswati
but not taking efforts on maintaining
Ganga which if given proper attention
will once again flow in its full glory. •
January they were convinced that
Russian President Vladimir Putin
was behind that effort.
But they had not commented on
whether they were examining links
between members of Trump’s campaign
and Russian officials.
Republican committee chair
Devin Nunes opened Monday’s
hearing, the first public hearing
into the issue, by saying the panel
had “seen no evidence to date that
officials from any campaign conspired
with Russian agents.”
But Adam Schiff, the Democratic
vice chair of the committee,
detailed a list of alleged links
and communications between the
Trump team and Russia.
“Is it possible that all of these
events and reports are completely
unrelated, and nothing more than
an entirely unhappy coincidence?
Yes, it is possible,” he said.
“But it is also possible, maybe
more than possible, that they are
not coincidental, not disconnected
and not unrelated, and that
the Russians used the same techniques
to corrupt US persons that
they have employed in Europe
and elsewhere.” •
Police shooting stokes anger
among Israel’s Arab minority
• Tribune Desk
On a wind-swept hilltop in this
Bedouin village, a cracked solar
panel lying atop a mattress and
slabs of broken concrete provide
an eerie reminder of a clash that
has come to symbolise the strained
relations between Israel’s government
and its Arab minority.
On a frigid January morning,
Yaakub Abu al-Qiyan was shot
dead as his jeep swerved into Israeli
police who had come to demolish
his illegally built home. At
the time, police called the 47-yearold
schoolteacher a terrorist with
ties to the IS. But officials now acknowledge
he may have rammed
into the forces unintentionally and
that his fatal shooting could have
been a mistake.
Arabs make up about 20% of
Israel’s 8.5m residents. They are
Israeli citizens but frequently face
unfair treatment in areas like jobs
and housing. Many Israeli Jews
view them as disloyal because
they largely identify with the Palestinians,
and some have openly
sided with Israel’s enemies. Making
up just a small part of Israel’s
diverse Arab minority, Bedouin
tend to be at the bottom of the
socio-economic ladder, although
they are among the few who are
Comey: No
evidence of Trump
wiretapping claim
• Reuters, Washington, DC
FBI Director James Comey on Monday
said that neither the Department
of Justice nor his own agency
had evidence to support a claim by
US President Donald Trump that
his Trump Tower headquarters had
been wiretapped during the 2016
election campaign.
“With respect to the president’s
tweets about alleged wiretapping
directed at him by the prior administration,
I have no information
that supports those tweets,” Comey
told a congressional hearing.
“And we have looked carefully
inside the FBI. The Department of
Justice has asked me to share with
you that the answer is the same for
the Department of Justice and all
its components: the department
has no information that supports
those tweets,” he said.
Trump created a controversy in
early March when he tweeted without
giving evidence that former
President Barack Obama’s administration
had wiretapped Trump
Tower in New York. •
willing to serve in the army.
Tensions have grown since the
2015 election, when Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu galvanised
supporters by warning that
“Arab voters are going in droves to
the polls.” The government vowed
to crack down harder on illegal
Arab construction after a court
order forced it to evacuate Jewish
settlers from an illegally built West
Bank outpost, angering a key constituency.
Arabs say the equivalency is
false. Israeli settlers are allowed to
build on occupied territory, while
Arab citizens face long-standing
state-imposed barriers to acquiring
permits to build inside Israel itself.
Ayman Odeh, head of the Arab
bloc in parliament, called the clash
a “terrible chapter in a much larger
story, one of discrimination and
segregation in the Negev.”
Like some 100,000 others who
live in the 35 southern Arab villages
unrecognised by the state, they
aren’t connected to water, electrical
grids, paved roads or school
systems and have to rely on the
services of the nearby township
of Hura, a 10-minute drive away. A
small mosque serves as the centre
of activity, with generators and solar
panels providing most of their
energy needs. •

World
Britain’s May to launch EU divorce
proceedings on March 29
• Reuters, London
Prime Minister Theresa May will
trigger Britain’s divorce proceedings
with the EU on March 29,
launching two years of negotiations
that will reshape the future
of the country and Europe.
May’s government said her permanent
envoy to the EU had informed
European Council President
Donald Tusk of the date when Britain
intends to invoke Article 50 of its
Lisbon Treaty, the mechanism for
starting its exit after a referendum
last June in which Britons voted by
a 52-48% margin to leave the bloc.
The EU said it was ready to begin
the negotiations and within 48
hours of the trigger on March 29,
Tusk will send the other 27 member
states his draft negotiating
guidelines, which means that talks
could start in May.
Sterling fell half a cent against
the dollar on what Brexit minister
David Davis described as a move
taking Britain to “the threshold of
the most important negotiation for
this country for a generation”.
May, 60, hopes to negotiate
terms that keep trade, financial
and political relations with EU
member states as close as possible
after Brexit, but also satisfy eurosceptics
in her Conservative Party
who demand a complete break
from an institution they say has
stolen British sovereignty.
It will be a difficult and ambitious
balancing act. Talks on departing
the prosperous club Britain
joined in 1973 are likely to be the
most complex London has held
since World War II, with other EU
leaders saying they will not give
May an easy ride.
With nationalism and anti-establishment,
anti-immigrant sentiment
spreading across Western Europe,
the EU leadership in Brussels is anxious
to avoid encouraging others in
the 28-member bloc to bolt.
At the same time, May faces
threats by Scottish nationalists to
call a new independence referendum
that could break up the UK
and fears in Northern Ireland that
a “hard border” with EU member
Ireland will return after Brexit. •
EU citizens in UK anxiously seek security before Brexit
• Tribune Desk
Sam Schwarzkopf, a German neuroscientist
at University College London,
was startled to receive a letter from the
British government telling him that his
application for permanent residence
had been rejected and he should prepare
to leave the UK.
As a EU citizen, he is legally entitled
to live in UK, and last year’s decision by
UK voters to leave the 28-nation bloc
hasn’t changed that. But he is one of
hundreds of thousands of Europeans
battling British bureaucracy to confirm
their legal status, and sometimes discovering
that the process only increases
their uncertainty.
Before last year’s EU membership
referendum, most people didn’t even
know the cards existed. Residents of
EU nations can live and work across
the bloc, no special visas or paperwork
are needed for Europeans living
in Britain.
That will change once Britain leaves
Anger, frustration in Kurdish
southeast to shape Turkey’s
referendum
• Reuters, Diyarbakir, Turkey
Thronged with shoppers and men
sipping tea on a warm day in early
spring, the main streets of Turkey’s
Diyarbakir show few signs of the
devastation wrought by months of
fighting last year between Kurdish
militants and security forces.
But nearby in Sur, the historic
district that saw some of the worst
violence, the narrow back alleys
simmer with anger. Many residents
blame both the state and Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) militants.
How voters in Sur and across
the largely Kurdish southeast
view the 33-year-old conflict could
shape the outcome of an April referendum
intended to give President
Tayyip Erdogan sweeping
new powers. In a close race, pollsters
say Kurdish voters, about a
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May
fifth of the electorate, could tip
the balance.
One resident, Serkan, gestures
toward bombed-out buildings and
fields of rubble. “Our homes, our
memories and our past have been
erased, and both sides are to blame
for that,” he says.
A 2-1/2-year ceasefire between
the government and the PKK broke
down in July 2015, pitching the
southeast into the worst violence
in decades. During the months of
security operations that followed,
about 2,000 people were killed and
up to a half a million displaced, the
United Nations has estimated.
Diyarbakir is seen by many of
Turkey’s 15 million Kurds as their
cultural capital, and Sur is the warren
of streets in its ancient heart,
encircled by towering Roman-era
basalt walls. •
the EU, after a two-year divorce process
due to begin by March 31. But no
one is sure exactly how.
Britain says it will end free movement
and impose controls on EU immigration,
but has given no details.
Officials in both the UK and the EU say
the 3m EU citizens living in Britain, and
the 1m Britons who reside elsewhere in
the bloc, should be allowed to stay. But
there has not been a formal guarantee,
or a decision on when the cutoff date
for legal residence could be.
That leaves Europeans in Britain
anxious, and gives the previously obscure
residence cards new value as
proof of immigrants’ legal status.
The number of residence cards issued
by the British government shot
up sevenfold between the final quarter
of 2015 and the same period in 2016.
There were 240,000 applications in all
of 2016, a number that has stressed the
civil service, which at the end of 2016
was working through 90,000 unprocessed
applications. •
Pakistan PM orders reopening
of border with Afghanistan
• AFP, Islamabad
REUTERS
Pakistan on Monday ordered the
border with Afghanistan to be reopened
“immediately”, a month
after it was closed amid soaring
tensions as Islamabad and Kabul
accused one another of providing
safe haven for militants.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
ordered the two main crossings
on the long, porous border be reopened
as a gesture of “goodwill”,
a statement from his office said.
The crossings, Torkham at the
famed Khyber Pass, and Chaman
in Balochistan province, were
closed last month after a wave of
militant violence killed 130 people
across Pakistan.
Afghanistan has long accused
Pakistan of providing safe haven
to the Afghan Taliban, and
the claim sparked a diplomatic
furore as both countries traded
allegations.
The two nations are divided
by the “Durand Line”, a 2,400-
km frontier drawn by the British
in 1896 and disputed by Kabul,
which does not officially recognise
it as an international border. •
9
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
DT
USA
Pressure builds on Trump to
back off wiretap accusations
US lawmakers from both parties said
on Sunday they had seen no proof
to support the claim by President
Donald Trump that his predecessor
Barack Obama had wiretapped him
last year, adding pressure on Trump
to explain or back off his repeated
assertion. Several Republicans last
week urged Trump to apologise for
the allegations he made in a series
of tweets on March 4. REUTERS
THE AMERICAS
Mexican authorities
find more bodies in
clandestine graves
Mexican authorities said Sunday
they found the remains of nearly 50
bodies in clandestine graves in the
convulsed state of Veracruz, lashed
for years by organised crime, where
a few days ago it was reported that
other 250 corpses. In eight graves
within a perimeter of 120sq meters
in the municipality of Alvarado so
far have been extracted 47 skulls
plus multiple body parts, state prosecutor
Jorge Winckler said. REUTERS
UK
May starts UK tour before
pulling Brexit trigger
UK Prime Minister Theresa May
will visit Wales on Monday as part
of a plan to engage with all the nations
before she formally launches
Brexit. May is due to trigger Article
50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, by the
end of this month, and her office
said she would be visiting Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland to
hear people’s views. REUTERS
EUROPE
Merkel warns Germany
could ban Turkish
campaign events
Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday
warned that Germany could
ban future campaign events by
Turkish politicians on its soil unless
Ankara stopped “Nazi” jibes aimed
at Berlin. Merkel stressed that
such insults must stop, “no ifs, no
buts”, and that Germany reserved
the right to “take all necessary
measures, including reviewing the
permissions” for campaign events it
had already granted. AFP
AFRICA
10 killed in latest Kenya
drought clash
At least 10 people have been killed
in the latest clashes in drought-hit
Kenya between rural communities
fighting over pasture to graze their
animals, police said Monday. Herders
from the Borana and Samburu
communities fought a gun battle
on Sunday in an area in the centre
of the country called Kom, where
both groups had taken their livestock
to graze. AFP

DT
10
Business
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
CAPITAL MARKET SNAPSHOT: MONDAY
DSE Broad Index 5,695.7 0.0% ▼ Index 1,305.2 -0.2% ▼ 30 Index 2,061.5 -0.2% ▼ Turnover in Mn Tk 9,954.1 -9.8% ▼ Turnover in Mn Vol 294.3 -18.1% ▼
CSE All Share Index 17,704.4 -0.0% ▼ 30 Index 15,422.0 0.3% ▲ Selected Index 10,727.3 -0.0% ▼ Turnover in Mn Tk 558.9 -22.4% ▼ Turnover in Mn Vol 20.3 -22.3% ▼
Sources: Muhith
wants privatisation
of state banks
• Asif Showkat Kallol
The state-run banks, which continue
to make losses, except Sonali
Bank should be privatised as early
as possible, Finance Minister AMA
Muhith told a meeting as quoted by
the officials concerned.
At least one
bank needs to be
privatised a year to
stop the economy
bleeding
Muhith held a meeting with managing
directors of seven stateowned
banks on their capital shortfalls
on Sunday.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle
Kabir and Bank Division Secretary
Md Enusur Rahman also attended
the meeting at the Finance
Division auditorium.
At the meeting, Muhith referred
to a recommendation of former
Bangladesh Bank Governor Mohammed
Farashuddin to privatise
the state-owned banks which continue
to make losses.
Last year at a pre-budget meeting,
Farashuddin urged the government
to privatise the loss-making
state-run banks as soon as possible.
Finance minister said the condition
of all the state-run banks is
“poor” in terms of capital or provision
shortfall.
He said: “The way-out from
such situation is that the government
will need to privatise the
state-run commercial banks that
continue to count losses.”
“At least one bank needs to be
privatised a year to stop the economy
bleeding,” Muhith said.
In 2016, six state-run banks
logged operating profits of Tk2,010
crore, down 37% from a year ago.
But after provisioning and tax
payments, the state banks registered
a net loss of Tk511 crore for the
year, which was Tk125 crore in 2015.
Two other state-owned specialised
banks – Krishi Bank and
Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank –
counted Tk418 crore in losses last
year, against Tk167 crore in 2015. •
State Minister For Finance MA Mannan (third from right) and State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak (fourth from right)
attended a pre-budget views-exchange meeting in Dhaka yesterday
COURTESY
ICT trade body wants tax exemption
• Tribune Business Desk
ICT trade body leaders yesterday
placed a 17-point proposal at prebudget
talks with the National
Board of Revenue for the development
of ICT sector.
The proposal includes tax exemption
from manufacturing laptop,
computer and internet-based
devices to achieve the target of $5
billion ICT export by 2021.
The proposal was submitted at
the pre-budget discussion while
State Minister for Finance and
Planning MA Mannan was present.
The pre-budget discussion was
held at the Bangladesh Computer
Council Auditorium.
ICT experts and business leaders
including Bangladesh Association of
Software and Information Services
(BASIS) president Mostafa Jabbar,
Bangladesh Association of Call Center
and Outsourcing Secretary General
Towhid Hossain, E-Cab president
Rajib Ahmed and Data Soft Chairman
Mahabub Zaman were, among others,
present at the programme.
State Minister for ICT Zunaid
Ahmed Palak supported the
17-point proposal.
He said tax exemption is required
for achieving the target of
$5b by 2021 through ICT export.
If a manufacturing company
gets chance to manufacture laptop
enjoying tax exemption and sell it
to local market at a cheaper price
the company will make huge profit
and give revenue to the government,
observed Palak.
State Minister for Finance and
Planning MA Mannan assured the
trade body of considering their
proposal relating to tax exemption.
Chaired by ICT Secretary Subir
Kishore Chowdhury, the function
was also addressed by Zagangir Hossain
and Parvez Iqbal, members, Tax
Policy, National Board of Revenue. •
Abe, Merkel call for open markets
• AFP, Berlin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe issued a staunch joint defence
of free trade yesterday, as the United
States pushes towards greater
protectionism.
“We want free and open markets,”
Merkel said in a speech in Hanover,
a day before the world’s biggest
computer trade fair, CeBIT, kicks off
in the central German city. The event
is partnered with Japan this year.
“In these times of inter-connectedness,
we want to link together
our societies and work together in
an equitable way. That’s what free
trade is about,” she said.
She made no direct reference
to US President Donald Trump,
elected on a protectionist “America
First” platform promising to slash
trade deficits, but noted that the
European Union and Japan are negotiating
a free trade deal that may
be reached this year.
“At a time when we are arguing
a lot over free trade, open borders
and democratic values, it’s a good
sign that Japan and Germany are
not arguing” over trade, she said.
Abe, who is in Hanover as part
of a European tour, said that Japan
“wants to be the champion upholding
open systems alongside Germany”.
He said it was through connectedness
that economies would grow,
and called for a swift conclusion to
the EU-Japan trade deal. But he added:
“We must not create conditions
by which wealth becomes concentrated
among only some people.”
Since taking office, Trump has
withdrawn the US from a trans-Pacific
free trade pact and attacked export
giants China and Germany over
their massive trade surpluses. •

Business 11
DT
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
BD seeks cooperation from France,
Canada to boost tourism industry
• Ishtiaq Husain
Bangladesh has sought technical
support from Canada and France to
boost tourism, an emerging sector
to add to revenues.
Though the country has huge
potential and hundreds of tourism
products to attract tourists, it fails
to tap that due to lack of marketing
promotion, product development,
destination management and
skilled human resources.
Chief Executive Officer of Bangladesh
Tourism Board Dr Mohammad
Nasir Uddin said this at a
round-table meeting on tourism
held at Rose Garden, a listed heritage
property, in Dhaka.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister
Rashed Khan Menon was present
at the event as the chief guest.
French Ambassador in Dhaka,
Efforts to cut BD-
Thai trade gap
• Syed Zainul Abedin
Bangladeshi and Thai business
groups are mulling over narrowing
down around $600 million trade
gap between the two countries.
The trade between Bangladesh
and Thailand was close to $800
million last year, with exports from
Thailand worth $700 million, accounting
for more than 90% of the
total trade volume.
President of Bangladesh-Thai
Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Sajjatuz Jumma told this at a
press conference on Thailand Week
2017 yesterday morning.
In a bid to create a potential
market for the Bangladeshi products
in Thailand, Bangladesh is
organising Bangladesh Trade and
Investment Expo in Thailand every
year, Jumma said.
The joint trade committee is
also working on it, he added.
Bangladesh wants to place a
fresh list of products to the upcoming
meeting to seek duty- and quota-free
(DFQF) facility from Thailand,
Jumma said, adding that the
huge trade gap between the two
countries will be reduced.
Currently, Bangladesh exports
only 10 products to Thailand with
DFQF facility. Minister Counsellor
(Commercial) of Thai Embassy in
Dhaka Suebsak Dangboonrueng
said: “We have asked our investors to
invest in Bangladesh as the business
atmosphere in the country is favourable
and growing up gradually.”
Thai government and Thai embassy
in Dhaka are jointly organising
Thailand Week on March 22-25
in Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel. •
Sophie Aubert, and Canadian High
Commissioner Benoît-Pierre Laramée,
also spoke at the disscussion
meeting while Abu Sufian, editor,
Travel Magazine, ‘Vromon’ conducted
the session.
In his address, Menon said Rose
Garden is a part of history. The
ruling party held its first major inaugural
meeting in this very room
while Father of the Nation Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
was present with many other dignitaries.
“We started our journey in tourism
sector very late. Bangladesh
has so many tourist products.
Though we could not bring more
foreign tourists, domestic tourism
grew rapidly,” said the minister.
“I will invite you (France and
Canada) to visit Bangladesh as a
second destination after India. Our
tourism is at the beginning stage,
so we need technical support in
this sector.”
In her address, French Ambassador
Sophie Aubert appreciated
Bangladesh’s beauty that she has
observed by visiting various places
over the last couple of years.
“I have toured many places in
Bangladesh including Cox’s Bazaar,
which has a lot of hotel facilities
and is very easy to go there. It is a
pleasant tourist spot”
Mentioning her visit to a historical
archaeological town called Panam,
she said it was very interesting
to see and visit the major townships
of historic administrative,
commercial and maritime centre
in Bengal at Sonargaon near Dhaka.
The French envoy said at first
she visited the National Museum at
Shahbagh after being appointed as
ambassador.
“We will work together in tourism
sector so Bangladesh can promote
its tourist products as a brand
outside the country,” said Sophie.
To narrate his personal experience,
Canadian High Commissioner
in Bangladesh Benoît-Pierre
Laramée said Bangladesh has 11th
and 12th century Buddhist temple
which is fascinating to him as a
traveller.
“I travelled Barisal and island
district Bhola where green scenery
and farming attract me. All are the
arts of Bangladesh. Many things
here make me happy, specially
hospitality. People’s smiling face is
really very much different.”
Benoît-Pierre assured Bangladesh
of giving continued support
in tourism sector as a development
partner. •
StrayBird, the literary and cultural forum of the Department of English of Stamford University Bangladesh celebrated its 12 th
anniversary recently
SME Customers of BRAC Bank Limited received insurance claim cheque from Green Delta Insurance Company Limited. The
shops of the nine SME customers were damaged by the fire at Gulshan DCC Market in January, 2017. Mr. Selim R. F. Hussain,
Managing Director & CEO, Mr. Md. Abdul Kader Joaddar, Deputy Managing Director & CFO, Mr. Syed Abdul Momen, Acting
Head of SME Banking, BRAC Bank Limited, Mr. Nasir A. Choudhury, Advisor, and Farzana Chowdhury, Managing Director,
Green Delta Insurance Company, were present at the cheque handover ceremony
RMG accessories
makers for dutyfree
import of
fire proof paint
• Ibrahim Hossain Ovi
The garment accessories manufacturers
have called upon the government
to allow duty-free import
of per-fabricated building material
under bonded facility in the next
budget to ensure workplace safety.
Bangladesh Garments Accessories
and Packaging Manufacturers
and Exporters Association (BGAP-
MEA) made the call in its budget
proposal for the fiscal year 2017-
18 placed to the National Board of
Revenue (NBR).
The NBR will hold pre-budget
talks with stakeholders of RMG accessories
and others on April 06.
“Manufacturers of garment accessories
are facing pressure from
global retailers in making factory
safe. Now a good number of pre-fabricated
buildings need to be painted
with fire-proof quoted paint,”
BGAPMEA president Md Abdul Kader
Khan told the Dhaka Tribune.
Though the government allowed
duty-free import of fabricated
building material, it did not
provide tax exemption, said Kader.
“So we urge the government to
allow duty-free import of paint under
bonded facility.”
The BGAPMEA leader also demanded
duty-free fire resistance
door, sprinkler system and equipment
and emergency light with exit
sign to help ensure compliance.
The trade body of accessories
called upon the government to
bring down tax at source to 0.5%
from the existing 0.70%. It also
called for reduction in corporate
tax to 15% from existing 35% as the
cost of doing business went up due
to expenses on safety upgradation.
Expenditure like wages and
transport fare increased substantially
in recent days. So, the government
should keep the rate of tax
at source at a reasonable level, according
to the proposal, said Kader.
In the proposal, BGAPMEA
placed a set of demands including
cash incentives against export and
declaring the factory premises as
bonded area.
The manufacturers said although
the sector is meeting the
local demand for garment accessories,
they are yet to get any incentive
from the government.
Export-oriented industries like
apparel get such facilities, but the
accessories makers do not get any,
which are necessary for the development
of the sector.
According to the proposal, BGAP-
MEA has taken initiative to set up a
garment accessories and packaging
institute for the development of
industry by carrying out research,
and so sought allocation from the
government in the next budget. •

DT
12
Editorial
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
TODAY
In defense
of the Bangali
There are 50,000 people carrying
progress on their backs, and everyone
wants a piece of that pie
PAGE 13
Flowing in the
right direction
Our nation has achieved significant
development in terms of water security,
but we have a lot more to do
PAGE 14
A victory for common sense
BIGSTOCK
Death in
development
To understand these deaths, one does
not need to be an expert analyst or
a researcher. Among the common
reasons, lack of safety measures,
awareness, and experience
PAGE 15
Be heard
Write to Dhaka Tribune
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The views expressed in opinion
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official view of Dhaka Tribune
or its publisher.
Finally.
The fact that the government has recognised state-owned
banks for the loss-making institutions they are is a crucial step
in the right direction.
Even more heartening is the fact that Finance Minister AMA Muhith
has hinted at the prompt privatisation of loss-making SoBs.
Needless to say, this has been a long time coming.
These institutions have been making continuous losses since the
start, registering a net loss of over Tk 500 crore last year alone.
This was one more example of tax-payer money not being spent
efficiently.
SoBs have been bleeding the economy for a while now, and it
is encouraging to see our finance minister declare their weakness
unequivocally.
They have long been run poorly, to put it charitably, with mistake
being piled on mistake, inexcusable decision after decision..
As such, it makes no sense to continue to prop up these poorlyrun
institutions at the cost of hard-earned tax-payer money, money
which could be better spent in literally any other sector, be it health,
education, infrastructure, or what have you.
Acknowledging the problem, however, is just the first step.
It is up to the administration now to ensure that any plans to
privatise SoBs are seen through without delay and any sort of
intervention.
Coddling SoBs, especially for a nation such as ours, which is
focusing on achieving middle-income status within the next few years,
is no longer an option.
Proper planning and implementation are key and the government
would do well to make sure that public funds are no longer wasted in
fruitless endeavours such as these.
It is high time that the government finally cut the cord on these
loss-making institutions and paved the path for a more efficient and
effective use of public money.
Coddling state-owned
banks, especially for a
nation such as ours, is
no longer an option

In defense of the Bangali
Opinion 13
To understand one part of Bangladesh, you need to understand all of it
DT
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
THE
WORLD IN
PARENTHESES
• SN Rasul
Sometimes, when you’re
sitting in the dirt and filth
of Dhaka, listening to verbal
and physical abuse around
you, it’s difficult to understand
how a people could allow
themselves to fall this far.
How could people be so cruel,
mean, blasé, how could they
continue to not comprehend the
extent to which they have failed to
inhabit qualities which are deemed
to be, for, lack of a better word,
“human?” Haven’t we progressed
enough to leave this behind?
If you ever need to take a
snapshot of Bangladeshi progress
though, head on over to Mouchak
mor. If you’re fortunate enough
to be waiting for a bus instead of
having your very own car, after
having traversed through the
mud-caked streets, tip-toeing on
your only pair of shoes worth a
damn, dodging debris and produce
along the way, you will have a
better view of it than anyone else.
Are the cracks in our economic growth easy to ignore?
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
There are 50,000 people carrying progress
on their backs, and everyone wants a piece
of that pie
As you pull yourself up on to
the bus that has come through
Shantinagar and Kakrail, going
through similar terrain of flyover
construction leftovers of metal and
concrete, clambering down the
wrong side of the street, almost
knocking some poor bloke’s head
off, you are greeted by the sweaty
musk of your fellow citizens.
Hard work and perseverance,
trapped inside a ramshackle tin
bus. This is how far we’ve come.
If you’ve ever been on a
bus, then you also know that,
sometimes, these ramshackle,
moving, tin huts are also hotboxes
of conflict. You are maybe
privileged enough with sympathy
and kindness to not begrudge him
the extra Tk5 he’s attempting to
make on the fare, but others aren’t
as kind.
Verbal fights are common,
fistfights aren’t unheard of. The
conductors, most of the time,
stuck with passengers on their
bus, are unable to win the fight.
Often, the passengers hand them
a Tk5 note and don’t even answer
back.
The conductors continue to
inquire: “Mama, where are you
headed? Where are you going?”
The questions fall on deaf ears.
The conductor and the driver
need to make money, though.
They’ve been given a daily quota,
that’s why the driver, who you’ve
been calling a son of an animal
because he’s been driving like a
maniac, has been almost killing
pedestrians and brushing against
competitor buses.
The customer, though, is hard
not to judge. He could betray
some sort of decency of character,
as a fellow human being, and
try and understand the plight
of the conductor. Instead, he
merely hands him a Tk5 note and
doesn’t even bother looking in his
direction.
But maybe, much like you,
overworked and weary, he has
just come from a family that he
is struggling to feed more than
he thought he would, especially
with all the development and
progress getting in the way, all this
economic growth.
Tk5 a day, six days a week,
for years, over and over again,
of having to come through these
pathetic roads for what seems
to be years now, can try one’s
patience.
He, too, perhaps, has only one
pair of nice shoes, which he has
to spend every night polishing for
the mud that sticks to the leather
like glue.
When the bus lotor-potors down
the wrong side again, because
all the way up, past Malibagh
rail-gate and beyond, one side has
been blocked, and the other side
is not policed, at all, you will see
construction workers flinging fiery
spit from the top.
Alongside this, there are blocks
of concrete left all along the road.
Open carcasses of steel lie uncared
for underneath the half-finished
symbol of growth.
And this is topped off by the
constant movement of massive
vehicles which carry these massive
structures, impeding both traffic
and life.
One cannot help but wonder
why they care so little for life
when they fling fire from the
heavens as they solder. Do they
not wonder of the life that lives
underneath?
And why, indeed, has it been
taking so long? Are the workers
lazy? Are they inefficient? Even if
one is aware of the initial fiasco
with designing the flyovers
with left-hand drive in mind, it
shouldn’t be taking this long,
should it?
But this is the kind of behaviour
that has been allowed to nurture
in this society, this complete
disregard for decency and life. Life
is cheap, especially theirs. You
see the occasional yellow helmet,
maybe a harness, but most of the
time, they have dangled on the
precipice, staring at Death on the
ground, mouth opened wide,
ready to devour.
There are instructions and red
tape. There are 50,000 people
carrying progress on their backs,
and everyone wants a piece of that
pie. As each slice is cut, each one
thinner than the last, it takes a
little more time, and a little more
time, and a little more time.
A few days ago, you heard
the news of a part of the flyover
breaking down and killing one
person, and amputating two. You
thought, how does this continue
to happen? How can a government
get away with so much negligence
in the name of progress?
But, to understand one part of
Bangladesh, you must understand
all of it. You must understand
everyone, from the corrupt bus
owner to the conductor, from
the ministers in parliament to
the street urchins who have been
forced to amputate their legs so
that they can beg for change.
But it’s okay if you don’t
understand. Look at today’s
headlines. Bangladesh just won
the Test match against Sri Lanka.
That’s reason enough to be happy,
right? •
SN Rasul is an Editorial Assistant at the
Dhaka Tribune. Follow him @snrasul.

14
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
DT
Opinion
Flowing in the
right direction
Water sustainability is a shared
responsibility
• Faruque Hassan
Many of us may not
be aware of the fact
that World Water Day
is an annual event
celebrated on March 22. So, in light
of this newfound knowledge, let’s
commit to not wasting a single
drop of water, today, tomorrow,
and for the rest of time.
Historically known as a riverine
country, Bangladesh has more
than 700 rivers, tributaries, and
many other forms of wetlands.
The correlation between water
and the economy in Bangladesh
has always been very intense --
industrialisation and urbanisation
took place around the sea ports,
after all.
Culturally, the people of this
area have never been aware of
the water crisis and it water not
treated as a scarce resource.
Due to heavy urbanisation and
industrialisation, the water table
in and around Dhaka has been
depleting by one to two metres
every year. Though ground-water
is not a problem for the whole
country, the unplanned extraction
of it is dangerous for the future
sustainability of our country.
Considering the importance
of water resource conservation,
sustainable consumption has been
have enough of water to reach our
strategic goals in the near future.
The government has taken
the issue of water security
very seriously, for which the
Bangladesh Water Act 2013 was
passed and major policies are
currently in hand.
It’s good to know that the
government has signed an MoU
with the the Netherlands on
Bangladesh Delta plan 2100 -- the
Water Resource Group 2030 (WRG
2030) is a cosignatory of the MoU.
WRG 2030 is working through a
water multi-stakeholder platform
(MSP) that includes government,
private sector, and civil society
with an aim to come up with some
transformation in industries,
agriculture, and the municipal
sector, and ensure water security
by improving surface water quality
through wastewater treatment
and promote integrated water
resources management.
In the World Economic Forum
2017, Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina asserted her commitment
to the 2030 WRG in Bangladesh.
The private sector too is quite
committed to this platform,
which is being spearheaded by
the National Steering Board where
BGMEA is an important member.
Prior to the involvement in
2030 WRG, BGMEA introduced
Water is fast becoming a scarce resource
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
Our nation has achieved significant
development in terms of water security,
but we have a lot more to do
identified as one of the major goals
in the 17 SDGs.
Also, ensuring water security
has already been identified as a
key area of concern for the RMG
industry. Both the industry and
major buyers have shown major
concerns over ensuring water
resource.
Bangladesh is at the take-off
phase, aspiring to be a middleincome
country by 2021, and
RMG will be playing a major role
as it is the main engine of our
economic growth. No significant
hydro-economic studies have
yet been conducted to see if we
the Bangladesh Water PaCT
(Partnership for Cleaner
Textile) program which is being
implemented in around 200 wet
processing units of the RMG
industry.
This has helped successfully
reduce water consumption by
18.4 billion litres per annum in the
intervened factories.
Another pilot project named
TREES has been introduced
in around 17 SMEs, jointly
implemented by BGMEA and
PSES, GIZ. A textile sustainability
platform (TSP) has been
established to provide policy
suggestions to the government
towards ensuring sustainable
growth of the industry.
A textile technology business
centre (TTBC), the first of its kind,
has been established in BGMEA
to help its member factories
in disseminating information
about environment-friendly and
resource-efficient technology and
practices. TTBC also organises
seminars on cleaner production
and green factories, among others.
In recent years, the Bangladesh
RMG sector has shown remarkable
success in the area of green
industry.
Till date, 67 factories have
received LEED Certification from
the United States Green building
council (USGBC), of which four
of the factories have achieved
highest rating in industrial
category of the whole world and
13 are platinum and 20 are gold
certified. 220 more factories are in
the LEED certification pipeline.
Most garment manufacturers
are now concerned about effluent
treatment plants (ETP). Many
NGOs are also coming forward
for waste water treatment for
recycling and reuse of water as
72% of water consumption takes
place in the chemical processing of
textiles.
Directly throwing the waste
water in fields or linkage with
rivers and water-logging causes
serious damage to the water, the
environment, and the ecology.
ETP can be used to “improve” the
waste-water before releasing it
into the environment.
For better service and to
maintain environmental integrity,
certain NGOs are operating mobile
water treatment services around
Dhaka, where water treatment
can be conducted on-call and
necessary suggestions and
comments can be provided to
make standardised water quality
that is reusable and environmentfriendly.
Rain water harvesting,
hazardous chemical management,
use of daylight, energy-efficient
LEDs, the reuse and recycle of
water, and so many other positive
practices are being adopted by the
industry.
Our nation has achieved
significant development in terms
of water security, but we have a lot
more to do.
Sustainability is not a
standalone game, rather a shared
responsibility of all parties
involved.
Changing attitudes is definitely
difficult, but it has to start
somewhere -- it’s good to know
that it has already started rolling in
the right direction. •
Faruque Hassan is Senior Vice-
President, BGMEA. He is a member
of the Board of Trustees at BGMEA
University of Fashion and Technology,
and is Managing Director at Giant Group.

Death in development
The cost of ‘development’ is dear
Opinion 15
DT
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
There’s nothing safe about this
• AKM Wahiduzzaman
One of Bangladesh’s
most popular novelists,
the late Humayun
Ahmed, once compared
Bangladeshis to a goldfish for
forgetting things too easily.
Disagreeing with the late
author, and keeping faith in my
fellow countrymen, I believe
that they have not forgotten
what happened in Bahaddarhat,
Chittagong five years ago --
three girders from the infamous
Bahaddarhat flyover claimed at
least 13 lives in November 2012.
The fatal incident was followed
by a series of similar casualties
in Sirajganj, Patuakhali, Pirojpur,
Boalkhali, and, about a few days
ago, in Dhaka’s Malibagh. The
number of deaths caused by such
accidents has crossed the two
dozen mark already.
To understand these deaths,
one does not need to be an expert
analyst or a researcher. Among
the common reasons, lack of
safety measures, awareness, and
experience are the most obvious
ones.
But it needs to be asked: For
a country that is staring “middle
income” status in the eyes, and
can even afford to build one of
the most expensive bridges in the
world, how hard is it to ensure a
little bit of safety for the citizens
while constructing such mega
projects?
Can we chalk it up to political
interventions? It seems the most
obvious candidate, if you ask me.
After the incident at
Bahaddarhat, an influential ruling
party leader from Chittagong
publicly held the treasurer
of Chittagong Awami League
responsible for the loss of life.
It was alleged that, because of
his abuse of power, the treasurer
handed over the construction
work to people of his own choice,
who obviously messed it up quite
badly. Aventually causing the
girders to fall.
After the catastrophe, the
military was called to complete the
unfinished flyover.
Surprisingly, after a chain of
interesting events, the treasurer
was dropped from the charge
sheet placed by the police over
the incident and his term was
extended for two more years in
2015.
Leaders, as the age-old adage
goes, are said to lead by example,
not by orders. The example that
To understand these deaths, one does not need to be an expert analyst
or a researcher. Among the common reasons, lack of safety measures,
awareness, and experience are the most obvious ones
was set by this incident was clear
as a bell: “If you’re on my team,
I’ve got you covered -- don’t worry
if a few people die because of your
negligence.”
To be fair, it’s an attitude that
plagues our “national mentality,”
for want of a better term.
Last year, in June, a bridge
less than a month old collapsed
and caused the death of one in
Pirojpur, and now, similarly, in the
capital, the girder of a flyover that
is yet to even be completed took
the life of a woodcarver.
Political interference, criminal
negligence, lack of willingness to
monitor, high cost per unit, and
the use of low-quality material
were pretty much evident as the
causes of such accidents, in the
past or otherwise, not to mention
instances of infighting between
ruling party men over construction
work, stupid/cheap decisions
such as using bamboo instead of
steel rods for the scaffolding, and
awarding development projects to
party loyalists.
Disconcertingly, according to a
popular Bengali language daily, the
company that is supervising the
construction work of the Malibagh
flyover is allegedly owned by a
state minister.
Awarding these contracts to
partisan developers usually result
in three types of problems, which
have become an open secret to
some extent:
First, they usually lack
experience to build such largescale
structures and care little
about public safety.
Second, after winning the
contract, they secretly transfer
that to some other construction
firm making sure that are able to
pocket some of the funds. These
firms lose a portion of the money
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
to those leaders and therefore
try to make the project as cost
effective as possible, which usually
translates to the use of low-quality
equipment and material.
And calling them out on it is
a fool’s errand -- voices raised
against such misconduct are
usually silenced by calling
them “anti-development” or
“regressive,” the expected rhetoric
trotted out by government highups
these days.
It’s easy to brush off
these deaths as simply being
“accidents.” In that case, maybe
we should redefine accidental
deaths to mean deaths caused by
negligence and unaccountability.
It would make these deaths that
much easier to swallow, that’s for
sure. •
AKM Wahiduzzaman is a political
blogger.

16
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
DT
Downtime
CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Lacking (5)
4 Faucets (4)
7 Part of the verb 'to
be' (3)
8 Not many (3)
9 Wanders (5)
12 At hand (4)
13 Tempted (7)
15 Spanish title (3)
16 Female swan (3)
18 Perform (3)
19 Sharp low (3)
21 Musical performance (7)
24 Foundation (4)
26 Tantalise (5)
27 Vigour (3)
28 Adults (3)
29 Actual (4)
30 Make effort (5)
DOWN
1 Female horse (4)
2 Seemingly mocked by
fate (6)
3 Tidy (4)
4 Look after (4)
5 Respectful fear (3)
6 Sea nymph (5)
10 Central (3)
11 Tally (5)
14 Ordain (5)
17 Rubber (6)
18 Traffic light (5)
20 Filled pastry (3)
21 Scottish dance (4)
22 Docile (4)
23 Fasting period (4)
25 Mineral spring (3)
CODE-CRACKER
How to solve: Each number in our
CODE-CRACKER grid represents a
different letter of the alphabet. For
example, today 1 represents R so fill R
every time the figure 1 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

What’s on
17
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
DT
EVENTS AROUND TOWN TODAY
FESTIVAL
EXHIBITION
MOVIE
Gout De France
When 6:30pm
Where Le Méridien Dhaka, 79/A Commercial Area, Airport Road,
Nikunja 2, Khilkhet, Dhaka
What To celebrate French gastronomy, Le Méridien Dhaka and the
Embassy of France in Dhaka are jointly organising a food festival.
Film Festival, 3rd Edition
Where TSC Auditorium, University of Dhaka, Nilkhet Road, Dhaka
What Dhaka University Film Society is organising a film festival
showcasing a number of animation films. Screening showtime (March
21):
April and the Extraordinary World: 11am
Mary and Max: 1:30pm
Song of the Sea: 4pm
Moana: 6:30pm
STAR CINEPLEX
Where Bashundhara City,
Dhaka
What Movie showtime
(March 21)
Beauty and the Beast (3D):
10:50am, 1:40pm, 4:10pm,
4:45pm, 6:50pm, 7:30pm
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2D):
11:30am, 2pm
Kong: Skull Island (3D): 11am,
1:40pm, 4:10pm, 4:30pm,
6:50pm, 7pm
Bhubon Majhi (2D): 11am,
1:30pm, 4pm, 6:40pm
Tomake Chai (2D): 11am,
2pm, 4:40pm, 7:20pm
Logan (2D): 10:50am,
1:50pm, 4:30pm, 7:20pm
BLOCKBUSTER CINEMAS
Where Jamuna Future Park,
Dhaka
What Movie showtime
(March 21)
Poetry of Darkness
When 3-9pm
Where Alliance Française de Dhaka, 26, Mirpur Road, Dhaka
What Solo painting exhibition by Rashedul Huda.
London 1971: Unsung Heroes of the Bangladesh Liberation War
When 3-8pm
Where British Council Bangladesh, 5 Fuller Road, Dhaka
What The month-long photography exhibition will conclude on
March 31.
Art Exhibition by BRACU Architecture Department
When 10am
Where Exhibition space, 13th Floor, UB-4, Department of
Architecture, BRAC University, 66 Mohakhali, Dhaka
What The five-day long art exhibition will conclude on March 23.
SPIN
BDCyclists Nightrider’s Tuesday 44
When 7:45pm-10:45pm
Where Manik Mia Avenue, Dhaka
What Grab your bicycle and join in for a 20+ kilometre ride.
Harun Miar Khoyar
When 8:30pm-9:15pm
Where Central Public Library, Shahbag, Dhaka
What As part of the Charunirom Kahinichitro Uthshab 2017, the play is
produced by Desh TV and created by The Outsider Films. The screening
will be organised by Charunirom.
La La Land: 2:20pm, 5pm
Rings: 11:40am, 2:45pm, 5pm
Beauty and the Beast (3D):
2:15pm, 4:55pm, 7:30pm
The Shack (2D): 12pm,
1:55pm, 7:20pm
Tomake Chai (2D): 11:50am,
4:55pm
Kong: Skull Island (3D):
11:40am, 2:05pm, 7:35pm
Bhuban Majhi (2D): 2:25pm,
7:30pm,
Logan (2D): 11:30am,
7:40pm, 4:40pm
Thailand Exhibition Week 2017
When 10am
Where Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka, 107 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue,
Dhaka
What The five-day long exhibition will conclude on March 25.

DT
18
Sports
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
Bangladesh
train ahead
of ODI series
• Ali Shahriyar Amin
from Colombo
Bangladesh underwent their first practice
session at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo,
Sri Lanka yesterday, ahead of the
three-match ODI series.
Limited-over captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza,
middle-order batsman Mahmudullah,
left-arm spinner Sanjamul Islam, all-rounders
Shuvagata Hom, Saifuddin and Abul
Hasan and wicket-keeper Nurul Hasan took
part in the two-hour long training session.
Just a day ago, Bangladesh clinched
their first ever Test match win against
the Lankans, at P Sara Oval in Colombo.
Among the members of the Test squad,
spinners Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Taijul
Islam, pace duo Subashish Roy and Kamrul
Islam Rabbi and top-order batsman
Mominul Haque returned home yesterday.
The remaining cricketers, who are also
part of the ODI squad, spent a rest day, recovering
from the efforts of their historic
win in their 100th Test.
The only practice match before the ODI
series takes place tomorrow at Colombo
Cricket Club.
The first two ODIs will be played in
Dambulla while the third will take place at
Sinhalese Sports Club Ground. •
Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah bats during training in Colombo, Sri Lanka yesterday
Mashrafe: Switching
mentality from Tests to
ODIs important
• Ali Shahriyar Amin from
Colombo
Bangladesh limited-over captain
Mashrafe bin Mortaza said switching
mentality form Test match
cricket to ODIs will be crucial
ahead of the three-match series
against host Sri Lanka.
“Expectations are far more in
ODIs against Sri Lanka than Tests,
obviously. I think fans are also expecting
more in ODIs. It is important
for every player to convert
their mentality from playing redball
cricket to white-ball cricket.
We have good expectations regarding
the series. But we have to play
very well. Sri Lanka have some
tricky bowlers like Lakshan Sandakan.
And we will play white-ball
cricket after five Tests,” Mashrafe
told the media at R Premadasa Stadium
in Colombo yesterday.
“Now we have to find scoring
options. So, it can be difficult to
score big runs against them. But if
we can start well and play as a mentally
relaxed team, then everything
will be fine,” he said.
Mashrafe backed middle-order
batsman Mahmudullah, who was
dropped just before the second and
final Test. He said the whole team
are behind him and also believes
Mahmudullah will come back
strongly in the upcoming ODIs.
“I think being relaxed is the
most important thing. We have to
ensure that Mahmudullah feels
pretty relaxed in the team and
never feels himself like a burden.
Every player goes through bad
patches in their career. The form
he just had six months ago, If Riyad
can show that again in the series,
then it will have a huge impact on
the team. I believe he will bounce
back strongly and we, the whole
team, are helping him to return to
good form,” said Mashrafe.
Mashrafe thinks their historical
Test win against the Lankans will
motivate the team to perform better
in the ODIs and T20Is.
“The Test match win will definitely
have an impact on the ODI
series. Maximum players of the Test
squad will play the ODIs, so they
will be mentally motivated ahead
of the ODI series. It was a great joy
to watch Bangladesh's win in their
100th Test. Players, who have come
here to play ODIs, are lucky that we
have witnessed the environment in
the dressing room. I can say that we
are lucky,” he said.
Mashrafe fractured his thumb
during the last T20I of the New
Zealand tour and was ruled out for
several weeks. After rehabilitation,
he returned to action last week and
took part in a practice match. The
paceman said his finger is okay
now and that it would have been
better if he had played a few more
warm-up games.
“I am trying to play with my
best possible fitness. I have played
one practice match in Bangladesh.
Probably it could have been better
if I played one or two more. But
there is no problem with my finger
at the moment,” he said. •
ALI SHAHRIYAR AMIN
BCB boss: More teams
would want to play us now
• Minhaz Uddin Khan
BCB president Nazmul Hasan said
Bangladesh’s recent achievements
have attracted the attention of the
leading cricket playing nations of
the world. As a result, Bangladesh
cricket’s upward trend has resulted
in interest building up among their
counterparts to play more bilateral
series’.
On average, the Tigers play eight
Test matches every year. However,
this year will be different in that
they would get to contest 10.
“We have done our ground work
for the next one year; what and
how we need to do things. Actually,
we will play 10 Test matches within
this period, along with other formats
of the game. We never got to
play so many Tests in the past in
one calendar year because the big
teams did not take Bangladesh seriously,”
the BCB chief told the media
yesterday.
“But now, there is no doubt that
every team will show their keen interest
to play with us, way more than
it has been in the past. They will field
their full strength team against us.
All the teams will see Bangladesh in
a different way,” he said.
The BCB boss, who is also a
Member of Parliament, visited
the South Plaza of the National
Parliament, along with the other
board directors. There, the trophy
of the 2017 Champions Trophy is
currently on display. The trophy
of the eight-nation tournament is
on world tour and reached Bangladesh
last Saturday.
The BCB boss said the board has
been working hard in order to lift
the team’s performance with the
ultimate goal of being world champion.
With the multi-nation Champions
Trophy scheduled to be held
in England this May, the Tigers
aren’t harbouring hopes of having
a shot at the title at this moment,
but Nazmul expects the team to be
fearless.
“Our ultimate objective is to be
world champion some day and we
have been doing many things for
that. It is not an easy task. We have
will inside us. So we are preparing
ourselves in that way,” he said.
“We have a challenge ahead of
us in the Champions Trophy. There
is a bit of worry as to how the team
will perform on England soil, to
be honest, but it will be same for
all the teams, except for the home
side. We are in a tough group in the
tournament (in Group A with England,
Australia and New Zealand).
But given the potential we have, I
do not see a reason to fear anyone,”
said Nazmul. •

Sports 19
DT
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
Sri Lankan press labels Bangladesh defeat as darkest day
• Ali Shahriyar Amin
from Colombo
Sri Lanka cricket was in shellshock
after the loss in the second
Test against Bangladesh at P Sara
Oval in Colombo last Sunday.
This is the first time Bangladesh
have beaten the Lankans in
the longer version. Prior to the
Colombo Test, the two sides faced
other 17 times. Among them, the
Lankans won 15 while the other
two encounters were drawn.
Following the defeat, Sri Lankan
press reacted strongly, labelling
it a below-par performance. Sri
Lanka’s leading English language
daily “The Island” carried out an
obituary note in its issue yesterday,
terming March 19th, 2017,
as “the darkest day in Sri Lankan
cricket”. The headline of the news
was “RIP, Sri Lanka Cricket”.
The note says, “In affectionate
remembrance of Sri Lankan Cricket
which died at the Oval on 19th
March, 2017”. And it concluded
by saying, “The body will be cremated
and the Ashes will be taken
to Bangladesh”. The newspaper
further wrote, “March 19th, 2017,
will go down in history as the
darkest day in Sri Lankan cricket
as the world’s youngest cricketing
nation Bangladesh stunned the
home side to record their maiden
Test win over the Lankans, at P
Sara Oval [Sunday].”
They also published a cartoon
featuring SLC president Thilanga
Sumathipala carrying the coffin
of its national team.Popular national
daily “Daily News” gave the
headline - “SRI LANKA’S DARK-
EST HOUR in Test Cricket, lose to
This is how the Sri Lankan press reacted after Bangladesh’s historic win against
Sri Lanka in the second Test in Colombo PHOTOS: ISLAND, ALI SHAHRIYAR AMIN
Bangladesh”.
Another national daily “Daily
Mirror” presented the headline
- “Bangladesh script memorable
Test win”. The Sri Lankan correspondent
of popular cricket website
ESPNcricinfo wrote a satirical
anaylsis of the recently finished
second Test as “Keep dreaming little
brother” where he emphasised
the political influence in Sri Lanka
cricket and their vulnerable firstclass
cricket structure.
Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh
in the first Test in Galle by 259
runs but suffered a four-wicket
loss on day five at P Sara Oval.
Meanwhile, some parts of the
Colombo crowd congratulated
Bangladesh after their win in their
historic 100th Test. Some people
were even chanting “Well done,
Hathurusingha” after the match.
The P Sara Oval was Chandika
Hathurusingha's home ground in
his first-class cricket days. •
Mushfiq, Shakib and Tamim – architects of upsurge
Following Bangladesh’s historic win in their 100th Test match, former Bangladesh captain
Aminul Islam Bulbul penned down his thoughts in his column in the official ICC website. Here,
we have given selected parts of the column:
Following Bangladesh's historic
win in their 100th Test match, former
Bangladesh captain Aminul
Islam Bulbul penned down his
thoughts in his column in the official
ICC website. Here, we have
given selected parts of the column:
It was only appropriate that
Bangladesh’s memorable and unforgettable
victory in their 100th
Test revolved around three of their
most consistent performers – captain
Mushfiqur Rahim, who was at
the opposite end when youngster
Mehedi Hasan Miraz scored the
winning runs, Shakib al Hasan,
whose century in the first innings
was the cornerstone of the visiting
side's decisive 129-run first-innings
lead, and Tamim Iqbal, who set the
tone for a four-wicket victory with
a typically aggressive 82.
The three lads started their
cricket journey at the 2006 U-19
World Cup in Sri Lanka and have
been the architects of Bangladesh’s
upsurge. However, this journey has
not been easy as losses outnumbered
wins over the years. It requires
a lion’s heart to keep pushing
and persisting day in and day
out in quest for glory, as repeated
defeats and disappointments can
easily break one’s resilience and
passion. The word “role model” is
often used in sports but if you really
want to know the modern-day
Bangladesh role models, then you
can’t look beyond Mushfiq, Shakib
and Tamim.
The three players share about
150 Tests between them with
Mushfiq alone having played 54,
including 30 as captain. So, it is fair
to say the trio has been the backbone
of the second half of Bangladesh’s
Test journey. And guess
how many Tests Bangladesh have
won since the emergence of these
champions? Seven, a number that
could easily have been in double-digits
with more experience,
particularly when playing in the
second innings. Anyone closely
following Bangladesh’s recent Test
performances will actually not be
surprised with the Colombo result.
Bangladesh won the second
Test against England in Mirpur
earlier this season, but they could
also have won the first one in Chittagong,
which they lost by 22 runs.
The series against New Zealand,
India and Sri Lanka were all played
in different conditions, so it says
something about the adaptability,
potential and prowess of the side,
which is now a balanced outfit.
The most heart-warming thing
is that the younger generation
around Mushfiq, Shakib and
Tamim now knows how Test wins
taste. Victories against England
and Sri Lanka, both significantly
experienced and higher-ranked
sides, are enough to make the
players realise that they actually
belong to this league. The P Sara
Oval victory is historic and I am
sure a lot will be said and written
in the days to come, which I look
forward to hearing and reading, but
let me politely remind everyone
that “Mission Sri Lanka” is not yet
over.
The side will now take on Sri
Lanka in ODIs with automatic qualification
for the 2019 World Cup up
for grabs. Bangladesh did wonders
and made their supporters proud
when they qualified directly for
this June’s Champions Trophy 2017
after nearly 11 years, and if they
can win the upcoming ODI series
against Sri Lanka, then they will
surely go a long way in sealing their
position in the World Cup as well
as enhancing their reputation and
profile as one of the most entertaining
and crowd-pulling sides. •

DT
20
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
Sports
Messi edges
six-goal thriller
Barca's way
• AFP, Madrid
Barcelona closed to two points of
Real Madrid at the top of La Liga
as Lionel Messi scored twice in a
thrilling 4-2 win over 10-man Valencia
at Camp Nou on Sunday.
Earlier, Antoine Griezmann
scored a stunning free-kick as Atletico
Madrid compounded a week
to forget for Sevilla with a 3-1 at the
Vicente Calderon. Barca needed to
come from behind to keep the pressure
on Madrid as Eliaquim Mangala
headed Valencia in front.
But the on-loan Manchester City
defender was sent-off for pulling
down Luis Suarez after the Uruguayan
had levelled and Messi
smashed home the resulting penalty.
Munir El Haddadi briefly levelled
for the 10 men before halftime,
but Messi and finally Andre
Gomes with his first Barca goal
sealed the three points.
Madrid still also have a game in
hand over their title rivals. Enrique
named the same side that beat Paris
Saint-Germain 6-1 10 days ago to
progress to the Champions League
quarter-finals in stunning fashion. •
United accused after
tunnel row
• AFP, Middlesbrough
Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United
players were accused of sparking
an ugly clash in the tunnel in a
stormy aftermath to their 3-1 win at
Middlesbrough.
United remain in contention
for Champions League qualification
after a hard-fought victory on
Sunday, which ended with rival
players separated by security staff
in the tunnel when punches were
reportedly thrown. Middlesbrough
Independence
Day Volleyball
begins today
• Tribune Report
The Independence Day Volleyball
2017 gets underway in Paltan today.
Fourteen teams have been
invited to the tournament from
where, nine teams will take part in
the event. Bangladesh Army, Power
Development Board, Bangladesh
Jail and Border Guard Bangladesh
have been drawn in Group A while
Titas Club, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh
Air Force, Fire Service and
Bangladesh Police were pitted in
the other group. •
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi vies with Valencia’s Aymen Abdennour during their La Liga match at Camp Nou on Sunday
captain Ben Gibson and United’s
former England midfielder Ashley
Young were restrained by teammates
as tempers flared.
Mourinho refused to comment,
but Middlesbrough caretaker manager
Steve Agnew insisted his players
were reacting to provocation
after a stoppage-time bust-up between
United defender Eric Bailly
and Rudy Gestede, which initially
appeared to include the duo biting
each other before replays showed it
was only a heated clinch. •
The third edition of the Gemcon Golf Tournament got underway at Kurmitola Golf
Club in Dhaka last Sunday
COURTESY
AFP
Gregarious, Dhumketu
and Gladiators win in
premier basketball
• Tribune Report
The Gregarious, Dhumketu Club
and Dhaka Gladiators won their
respective matches in the Unimed-Unihealth
Premier Division
Basketball League at Wooden Floor
Basketball Gymnasium in Dhanmondi
yesterday.
Gregarious burned Flame Boys
with a defeat of 118-37. After the
first-half ended 60-37, Flame Boys
Pep: Goals
missing for City
• AFP, Manchester
Finishing is required to take Manchester
City to the next level, manager
Pep Guardiola said after his
side’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool.
“When you score goals, after
that the game is in our hands and
you have more control,” he said.
“We have clear chances in front
of the goalkeeper and we don’t
score goals. That’s why you cannot
compete with the top teams.
“To achieve that target, you
have to be clinical.”
Aguero’s strike, from Kevin de
Bruyne’s right-wing cross, cancelled
out former City player James
Milner’s 51st-minute penalty.
City squandered a glut of chances
late on, with Aguero particularly
culpable, but despite identifying
his side’s profligacy as a key failing,
Guardiola said there was nothing
he could do to improve it.
“In my career I was a football
player 11 years and I scored 11
goals. One goal a year,” he said with
a smile.
“So can you imagine what advice
I can say to Sergio and the other
guys about scoring goals? I don’t
think so. •
Wenger wants to stay on at Arsenal
• AFP, London
Beleaguered Arsenal manager Arsene
Wenger has decided to stay at
the club, according to British media
reports yesterday.
The Daily Telegraph and Daily
Mirror said Wenger will inform Arsenal's
board he wants to extend
his contract, which expires at the
end of the season.
West Bromwich Albion manager
Tony Pulis also said Wenger told
him he intended to stay on after Arsenal's
3-1 defeat at The Hawthorns
on Saturday.
"I'll be surprised if he goes," Pulis
told reporters after Saturday's
game, as revealed in Monday's
newspapers. Asked why he thought
Wenger would stay, Pulis replied:
"Because he told me."
Wenger, 67, has come under
fire from fans after Arsenal were
thrashed by Bayern Munich in the
Champions League and slipped out
of the Premier League's top four.
Supporters renewed calls for
him to step down during and after
the defeat at West Brom, with
some holding up "WENGER OUT"
banners.
Speaking after the game,
Wenger said he had made up his
mind about his future and would
make his intentions public "very
soon".
Arsenal have not commented on
the reports on Wenger's future.
But the club have denied a claim
in Monday's edition of German daily
Bild that they have approached
Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas
Tuchel as a possible Wenger replacement.
"That's not true," an Arsenal
spokesman told Germany's Sky
Sports News.
Wenger, Arsenal's manager
since 1996, is believed to have been
offered a new two-year contract. •
failed to score any in the second
half. Mithun caged 37 points for the
winning side.
Dhumketu Club defeated Hornates
Sporting Club 80-56 with
Sajid scoring 29 for the eventual
winner Mehedi netted 30 for the
losing side.
In the other game, Dhaka Gladiators
outplayed Bokshi Bazar 107-
47 with Sajib caging highest 25
points for the winning side. •

Sports
21
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
DT
3RD TEST, DAY 5
AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS 451 IN 137.3
OVERS (Smith 178*, Maxwell 104)
INDIA 1ST INNINGS 603/9D IN 210
OVERS (Pujara 202, Saha 117)
AUSTRALIA 2ND INNINGS OVERNIGHT
23/2 IN 7.2 OVERS R B
Renshaw lbw b Sharma 15 84
Smith b Jadeja 21 68
Marsh c Vijay b Jadeja 53 197
Handscomb not out 72 200
Maxwell c Vijay b Ashwin 2 15
Wade not out 9 16
Extras (b 9, lb 4, nb 3) 16
Total (6 wickets; 100 overs) 204
Fall Of Wickets
3-59 (Renshaw), 4-63 (Smith), 5-187
(Marsh), 6-190 (Maxwell)
Bowling
Ashwin 30-10-71-1, Jadeja 44-18-54-4,
Yadav 15-2-36-0, Sharma 11-0-30-1
Match drawn
MoM: Cheteshwar Pujara
Australia’s Peter Handscomb plays
a shot as India’s Lokesh Rahul dives
to stop the ball during day five of
the third Test at Jharkhand State
Cricket Association Stadium in Ranchi
yesterday
AFP
Marsh, Handscomb help Australia draw third Test
• AFP, Ranchi
Skipper Steve Smith said the momentum
was now firmly with Australia
in their battle against India
after a fine final-day rearguard action
by his batsmen saw the visitors
draw the third Test yesterday.
Australia, who began their second
innings 152 runs adrift of India,
were in deep trouble after being
reduced to 63-4 before Peter
Handscomb (72 not out) and Shaun
Marsh (53) put on 124 for the fifth
wicket.
The tourists eventually reached
204 for six at stumps on the fifth
and final day, after the hosts made
a mammoth 603-9 declared in their
first innings in Ranchi.
Ravindra Jadeja claimed four
wickets to return overall match
figures of 9-178 at India's newest
Test venue. But Smith said Australia
would go into next weekend's
series finale in Dharamsala full of
confidence.
Cheteshwar Pujara (202) and
Wriddhiman Saha (117) were the
main stars of the match for India
with a 199-run seventh-wicket
stand on Sunday, while Smith himself
scored an imperious unbeaten
178 in Australia's first innings.
But it was Handscomb and
Marsh's 232-minute resistance on
the final day - broken only late in
the last session - that proved decisive.
Jadeja dismissed Marsh and his
fellow spinner Ravichandran Ashwin
then claimed the wicket of first
innings centurion Glenn Maxwell
for two, giving India brief hope of a
dramatic final twist in the tale.
But a composed Handscomb
played out the remaining few overs
with Wade for company as Australia
avoided defeat in their 800th
Test.
Jadeja, who claimed the prized
scalp of Smith for 21 second time
round, caused problems for all the
Australian batsmen after the tourists
resumed the day on 23-2.
Fast bowler Ishant Sharma
trapped Matt Renshaw lbw for 15
in the morning session after an
altercation between the two players
seemed to have affected the
left-handed batsman's concentration.
But it was Smith's wicket that
brought a raucous home crowd to
its feet after a quiet first hour of
play.
He tried to pad away a vicious
turning delivery from Jadeja but it
spun from outside leg to rattle the
right-hander's off stump.
Speaking at the post-match
press-confrence, Kohli praised
Jadeja and Pujara for putting India
in a strong position after Australia's
first-innings 451.
Australia's comeback paceman
Pat Cummins claimed four wickets,
including that of captain Kohli (six)
who has managed just 46 runs in
the series. •
Vesnina wins
Indian Wells title
• AFP, Indian Wells
Elena Vesnina capped a stellar Indian
Wells campaign with a 6-7 (6/8),
7-5, 6-4 triumph over fellow Russian
Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Playing in her first final at the
elite Premier Mandatory level,
Vesnina battled through a tense
three hours and one minute to subdue
eighth-ranked Kuznetsova, a
two-time Grand Slam champion. •
DAY’S WATCH
FOOTBALL
TEN 1
1:45AM
Sky Bet EFL 2016/17
Oxford Utd v Bolton Wanderers
Swiss Roger Federer returns against compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka during the
men’s final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Sunday
REUTERS
Federer beats Wawrinka
for fifth Indian Wells title
• AFP, Indian Wells
Roger Federer claimed a record-equalling
fifth ATP Indian
Wells Masters title, continuing his
career resurgence with a 6-4, 7-5
victory over Stan Wawrinka on
Sunday.
Federer, sidelined some six
months after knee surgery last
year, returned to win his 18th
Grand Slam title at the Australian
Open in January.
With Sunday's triumph in the
all-Swiss final, Federer joined Novak
Djokovic as the only men to
win five Indian Wells titles, adding
to those he won in 2004, 2005,
2006 and 2012.
At 35, Federer is the oldest ATP
player to win one of the elite Masters
titles, supplanting Andre Agassi
who was 34 when he won in Cincinnati
in 2004.
The speedy progress means
10th-ranked Federer will have to
reassess his 2017 goals. Prior to the
Australian Open his aim was to get
his ranking to as high as eighth by
the time Wimbledon was over.
While Federer had won 19 of 22
prior meetings with Wawrinka he
noted that his compatriot would be
no easy mark as he played his first
tournament in America since winning
the US Open in September. •

22
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
DT
Showtime
STAR-UIU Documentary
Festival 2017 winners declared
Deepika is here to stay
• Showtime Desk
The grand finale of “STAR-UIU
Documentary Festival 2017” was
held on Saturday, March 18 at
Star Cineplex, Bashundhara City.
Md Twoki Islam from American
International University of
Bangladesh achieved the first
position and the second position
was secured by Md Kawsar Amin
Shuvro from the same university,
while the third spot went to Wasi
Noor Azam from Independent
University of Bangladesh.
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Star Movies, 4:30pm
Kingsman: The Secret Service is
based on an acclaimed comic
book The Secret Service by
Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons.
This films tells a story of a man
named Gary Unwin, a street kid
living in South London. When
an agent from spy organisation
recognizes potential in the
youth and hires him as a trainee
for a secret service mission, they
have to stop a global threat to
change the climate problem, but
via worldwide killing spree.
Cast: Colin Firth, Samuel L
Jackson, Mark Strong, Taron
Egerton, Michael Caine
The Legend of Tarzan
HBO, 7:23pm
It’s been nearly a decade since
Tarzan, also known as John
Clayton III, left Africa to live
The winner will get a chance
to obtain practical experience
by joining a local film /drama
production, and a chance to join a
film production workshop under
international faculties as well
as an opportunity to convert his
documentary into a full length one.
Also, there is a chance to enroll
his documentary at International
Documentary Festivals.
All the winners received gift
hampers from event partners. The
competition was presented by
Rexona while the training partner
WHAT TO WATCH
in Victorian England with his
wife Jane. Danger lurks on
the horizon as Leon Rom, a
treacherous envoy for King
Leopold, devises a scheme that
lures the couple to the Congo.
Rom plans to capture Tarzan
and deliver him to an old enemy
in exchange for diamonds.
When Jane becomes a pawn in
his devious plot, Tarzan must
return to the jungle to save the
woman he loves.
Cast: Alexander Skarsgard,
of the event was International
Academy of Film and Media. Other
event partners include PIZZA INN,
The ACME Agrovet & Beverages
Ltd, UIU The Art & Film Club and
AHMED Food Products (Pvt) Ltd.
The festival was jointly
organised by Star Cineplex and
United International University
(UIU). All the documentaries were
screened at Star Cineplex where
Afsana Mimi and Enamul Karim
Nirjhor and Abu Sayeed were
present as members of the jury
board. •
Samuel L Jackson, Margot
Robbie, Christoph Waltz
Crazy, Stupid, Love
WB, 9:30pm
Cal and Emily have been
married for over 20 years. But
when Cal learns about Emily’s
affair, he moves out. He would
then go to a bar and moan about
what happened. Jacob, a regular
at the bar, upon hearing his woes
offers to help him by giving him
a makeover and teaching him
how to be a player. It isn’t long
before he’s picking up someone
frequently, but eventually he
realises he still loves Emily and
wishes he could go back. At the
same time his son is nursing
a crush on his baby sitter who
doesn’t feel the same way.
Cast: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling,
Julianne Moore, Emma Stone,
Analeigh Tipton
• Showtime Desk
Cannes is now ready to welcome
yet another Bollywood diva who
has become a part of Hollywood
already and she is none other
than Deepika Padukone. After
xXx: Return Of Xander Cage, she
seems to have become a sweet
heart among the fraternity.
As per reports, Deepika is
now set to turn heads at the
Cannes Film Festival one more
time. Deepika has become the
brand ambassador of a leading
beauty product, which is already
endorsed by Bollywood beauties
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and
fashion diva Sonam Kapoor.
This means that Deepika is
likely to walk the red carpet
of the 70th annual
Cannes Film
Festival, which
is scheduled to
be held between
May 17 and 28,
this year. This
will be the second
time she will be
attending the
prestigious
event.
The
last time Deepika attended
the movie galore was back in
2010. This is not the end - her
connections in Hollywood
are getting powerful as she
progresses.
According to a source close
to Deepika’s team, the actress
values Vin Diesel’s advice on
professional matters a lot.
Apparently, all the scripts that
are coming to her are getting
screened by the Riddick actor.
So you might get to see him in
some capacity in Deepika’s next
Hollywood venture; may be as a
producer, or as an actor. For that,
we definitely will have to wait.
It seems their bond has only
become stronger after shooting
for xXx: Return Of Xander Cage.
We have seen their chemistry
on and off the screen during
the promotions. That was
enough to tell us that they
have become great friends.
Guess that’s why he is
lending professional advice
since he has been part of
that industry for so long and
knows how it works.•

Showtime
23
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
DT
Ayub Bachchu to perform in
an instrumental show
Kim Kardashian breaks
silence on Paris robbery
• Showtime Desk
One of the leading guitarists
of the country, Ayub Bachchu
is gearing up to perform in an
instrumental show. The twohour-long
show titled “Sound
of Silence” will take place
at the Krishibid Institution
Bangladesh, Farmgate on March
24 at 5pm.
The LRB frontman, who
has contributed heavily to the
development of rock music in
the country, revealed the news
with a post on Facebook.
For a long time, there have
been speculations that Ayub
Bachchu, who is equally popular
as a singer as well as a guitarist
and composer, will organise an
entire instrumental show for
his fans. Apparently, it was his
fans’ constant requests that
influenced him to think about
such a show.
Apart form Ayub Bachchu’s
guitar performances, the
audience will get a treat of AB
performing two covers of Jimi
Hendrix and Deep Purple.
Presented by Banglaflix, AB
Kitchen, Wizard Showbiz and
DJ Pro are jointly organising the
show. Initially, the show was
supposed to take place only in
the capital but the organisers
informed that the show will now
be held in six divisional cities of
the country in the near future.
The tickets for the show are
available at ticketchai.com.•
The new committee for Television Program Producer Association of Bangladesh has been elected by a voting yesterday,
March 20, 2017. Mamunur Rashid has been elected as president and Iresh Zaker has been elected as the general secretary
of the association.
• Showtime Desk
In Sunday’s highly anticipated
episode of Keeping Up With the
Kardashians, Kim Kardashian
West finally shared the frightening
details of her shocking Paris
robbery, including the moment
when she thought she would be
raped.
Talking about sharing her
side of the story of the horrific
incident in her own show, she
tweeted, “However, I thought it
was important to share this story
through my eyes and not in an
interview where my own words
could be twisted.”
While talking to Kourtney and
Khloé about what happened,
Kim said: “The concierge was
handcuffed with the key to my
room. They said, ‘where’s the
rapper’s wife? Let us up to her
room’ in French so he ended up
being our interpreter because I
couldn’t understand them and
they couldn’t understand me ... I
was saying while I was being tied
up, ‘Are we going to die? Are they
going to kill us?’ I was crying, and
I was like, ‘tell them I have babies.’
They asked for money. I said,
‘I don’t have any money.’ They
dragged me out to the hallway to
the top of the stairs. That’s when
I saw the gun, clear as day. And
I was kind of looking at the gun,
looking back down at the stairs
... and I was like, ‘I have a split
second in my mind to make this
quick decision.’ Like, am I gonna
run down the stairs and either be
shot in the back — it makes me so
upset to think about it — but, like,
they’re either gonna shoot me in
the back or if I make it and they
don’t, if the elevator does not open
in time, or the stairs are locked,
I’m (…). There’s no way out.”
She added that once they had
duct taped her mouth, she was
certain that they were going to
rape her and she began to mentally
prepare herself for that. However,
they didn’t, and she came to the
realisation that she could die that
night.
She said, “They had the gun
up to me and I knew that was
the moment, they’re just totally
gonna shoot me in the head.” “I
just prayed that Kourtney is going
to have a normal life after she sees
my dead body on the bed,” she
added.
But then, Kim said that they
picked her up and put her in the
bathroom, and that’s when they
ran.
Even though the robbery made
international headlines, her fans
only had cursory knowledge of
what happened - her show didn’t
really reveal any new details.
Later, in a tweet, Kim called the
incident as “one of the most life
changing experiences” in her life,
and she also mentioned that she is
not going to “hold back” anything
as she “always shared so much”
about her life. •

24
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
DT
Back Page
BRITAIN’S MAY TO LAUNCH EU DIVORCE
PROCEEDINGS ON MARCH 29 › 9
AYUB BACHCHU TO PERFORM IN AN
INSTRUMENTAL SHOW › 23
KORAIL FIRE
The hapless among the homeless
• Nawaz Farhin
From left, Nargis Khatun, Nasima Akhter, Habiba, Rina Parvin have all lost their livelihoods and homes in the most recent fire
Given the downpour these past
few days, the homeless residents
of Korail, especially the pregnant
women, are at a higher risk of contracting
communicable diseases
without shelter and medical attention.
Since the fire on Thursday night
, many have been squatting near
their rubble of their shanties, including
nine-month pregnant Nargis
Khatun, 28, who has been living
in a tent.
Hungry and pregnant with twins,
she is at risk of contracting communicable
diseases from the rain flooding
the grounds with garbage from
the open sewage in the slum.
Unable to afford three meals as
her husband’s fabric store burnt
down, Nargis told the Dhaka Tribune
that most residents raise funds
to feed them once a day, but that is
not enough nutrition for a pregnant
woman or a breast-feeding mother.
“We do not have a single penny
to our name now since my husband’s
store burnt down. We are
both without a job and I do not
know what I will do when my babies
arrive.
“When the fire broke out, people
were so frantic they ran as fast
as they could, pushing through
everyone. I fell but nobody stopped
to help me. I cannot put my terror
in words,” she said.
Nasima Akhter, 32, pregnant
with her fourth child, said she did
not get to eat anything the first day
after the fire.
She described how helpless she
felt, watching her three children
starve.
“Some political people came
to distribute food and some locals
raised money to feed us who have
who lost everything, but it is not
enough. At best, it adds up to one
meal a day.”
Having had her first child just
16 days ago, Habiba, 22, does not
have enough to eat to produce any
breast milk for her baby who is falling
sick quickly.
Her baby also has respiratory
problems, most likely from breathing
fumes during the fire, but that
cannot to be ascertained as there
is no medical help available at the
slum other than a temporary burn
unit.
Even the Brac School that provided
basic medical check-up for
children has burnt down, she said,
adding that there were no medical
facilities.
Twenty-year-old Rina Parvin,
who is pregnant with her first
child and has been living under a
plastic tent since the fire, said she
was very sick from the fumes. Her
MEHEDI HASAN
husband is unemployed and her
mother, who financially supported
her, lost her vegetable shop in the
blaze.
The family can barely afford to
feed themselves once a day, she said.
Having lost everything, Rina and her
unborn child are now extremely vulnerable
as their health is at risk of
hunger and disease.
Korail slum has been besieged
by three fires since March 2016,
rendering the residents homeless
repeatedly. •
WORLD DOWN SYNDROME DAY
‘Most parent don’t know what it is, or when their children have it’
• Kamrul Hasan
World Down Syndrome Day is being
observed today with the help of
Down Syndrome Parents Support
Group of Bangladesh and Association
of Medical Doctors of Asia for
the fourth time in Bangladesh at
Dhaka University premises.
1
Down syndrome occurs when an individual has a full
or partial extra copy of chromosome 21. This additional
genetic material alters the course of development and
causes the characteristics associated with Down syndrome.
2
There are three types of Down syndrome: trisomy
21 (nondisjunction) accounts for 95% of cases,
translocation accounts for about 4%, and mosaicism
accounts for about 1%.
3
Down
4
syndrome occurs in people of all races and
economic levels.
Due to higher fertility rates in younger women, 80%
of children with Down syndrome are born to women
under 35 years of age.
The United Nations declared
March 21 as World Down Syndrome
Day in 2011 to create awareness
of the chromosomal arrangement
that causes the syndrome.
In Bangladesh, there are no studies
on people with the syndrome. It
occurs when a person has an extra
pair of the 21st chromosome, giving
FACTS ABOUT DOWN SYNDROME
5
it the name Trisomy 21.
This year’s theme “My Voice, My
Community” emphasises the need
for people with Down Syndrome to
be able to speak up, be heard and
influence government policy and
action and to be included in society.
“As per international statistics
we assume there are around
People with Down syndrome have an increased risk for
certain medical conditions such as congenital heart defects,
respiratory and hearing problems, Alzheimer’s disease, childhood
leukemia and thyroid conditions.
6
Life expectancy for people with Down syndrome has
increased dramatically in recent decades – from 25 in
1983 to 60 today.
7
Quality educational programs, a stimulating home
environment, good health care and positive support
from family, friends and the community enable people with
Down syndrome to lead fulfilling and productive lives. •
Source: National Down Syndrome Society
200,000 people in Bangladesh
with Trisomy 21. We cannot confirm
it without a statistical survey,”
said Sarder A Razzak, executive director
of Down Syndrome Parents
Support Group of Bangladesh.
He says the country is not prepared
to help people with the condition,
especially children. Most
parents are not aware of what it is
or when their children have it, he
added.
The government recently
launched programs for autism, but
Down Syndrome was not included.
Dr Ajanta Rani Saha, secretary
general of Bangladesh Down Syndrome
Association, said a friendly
environment can help children with
Down Syndrome learn better, even
though they might learn slower,
adding that they do not need to be
sent to special schools as most can
cope with regular schooling. •
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