e_Paper, Sunday, May 28, 2017

SECOND EDITION 

SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2017 | Jyastha 14, 1424, Ramadan 1, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 23 | www.dhakatribune.com | 24 pages plus 8 pages Business 8 pages youth supplement | Price: Tk10 

What 

the new 

generation 

thinks . . . 

Bangla Tribune National Youth Survey 2017 

The future 

is bright 

Bangladeshi 

fi r s t 

Digital 

Bangladeshi 

Removal not 

necessary 

150 protesters charged with 

attempted murder › 6 

Finance minister: Uniform 

VAT rate will remain at 15% › 6 

Lady Justice 

statue reerected 

on 

SC premises 

› 10 

BUSINESS SUPPLEMENT 

Stocks regain ground 

ahead of budget › 6 

The zero percent 

argument means a 

richer Bangladesh › 7 

SEHRI 

AND IFTAR 

TIMES 

Ramadan May Sehri Iftar 

01 28 – 6:44 

02 29 3:40 6:44 

Source: Islamic Foundation

2 

SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2017 

DT 

News 

Youth 2017: Thoughts of 

The following stories are based on a nationwide survey carried out by Bangla Tribune between 

April 1 to April 6. The survey asked a total of 2,400 respondents 30 questions about social and 

mass media, and current political and economic issues of the country. Respondents were selected 

from eight divisional cities and 24 districts 

Young Bangladeshis optimistic 

about their future 

Family’s inability, political instability are obstacles to 

achieving their goals 

• Tribune Desk 

Bangladeshis are known for their 

resilience and ability to overcome 

the worst calamities and crises. 

This spirit of optimism was aptly 

captured in a youth survey in 

which 84.37% of respondents have 

said they feel optimistic, to varying 

degrees, about achieving their personal 

goals in life, and 47% are very 

optimistic about it. 

55% of respondents aged 18 – 22 

have said they are very optimistic. 

The corresponding percentage for 

those aged 23 – 30 was 46% and for 

those aged 30 – 40 was 35%, which, 

not surprisingly, shows optimism 

declining with age. 

In terms of personal goals and 

ambitions, out of seven different 

categories, most respondents 

(about 37%) have said that having a 

good job is most important to them 

at the moment. 

When it comes to factors that 

get in the way of achieving personal 

goals, respondents (28%) 

have identified family’s financial 

inability as the major factor. 

This was fairly even across all age 

groups, occupations, and both 

genders. 

The next major factor, picked 

by 19% of respondents, is political 

instability. 

At the same time, most respondents 

have identified family as the 

most important institution for raising 

decent and ethical young people 

who are conscientious members 

of society. • 

Indian channels are harmful to our culture 


There has long been a debate 

about whether we should preserve 

our cultural purity or allow other 

cultures to permeate our own, and 

Indian media is often cited as the 

most significant influence on our 

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN 

Mobile phones rule 

internet access 


The ruling party’s dream of a Digital 

Bangladesh appears to be coming 

true, at least in terms of the 

number of people using the internet 

these days. 

A nationwide survey by Bangla 

Tribune has revealed that 83% of 

respondents use the internet and 

a whopping 76% use it on mobile 

phones. Only 11% use internet on 

desktops, eight percent on laptops 

and less than three percent on tablets. 

Compared to official statistics, 

however, the proportion of internet 

users in the survey looks skewed. 

According to the BRTC website, 

Most people are unaware of 

changes in textbooks 


There has been quite a lot of hue 

and cry about the controversial 

changes in Bengali textbooks that 

were discovered after books were 

distributed to schools this year. 

The changes, which included the 

removal of 17 poems and stories, 

were demanded by the conservative 

Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam. 

It comes as a surprise that most 

of the respondents in a Bangla Tribune 

survey say they do not have 

sufficient knowledge, or are unaware 

of the changes or aren’t concerned 

about the matter. 

The survey asked its 2,400 respondents 

if they are aware that 

culture in these debates. 

While no single person or class 

of people should have the authority 

to decide this for a whole population, 

it is interesting to get a 

sense of what position the typical 

person takes on this debate. 

According to a recent youth survey 

by the Bangla Tribune, 65.5% 

of respondents have said they prefer 

watching local TV channels to 

foreign ones. When asked if they 

think Indian channels are harmful 

to our culture, 77.3% of respondents 

said yes. 

This particular finding is rather 

surprising, especially if you 

live in Dhaka. But the survey was 

conducted over all of Bangladesh 

and that may help to explain the 

results. 

Among the respondents, more 

men than women (79.6% v 74%) 

think that Indian channels are 

about 42% of the total population 

are active internet subscribers as of 

February 2017. 

But BRTC statistics also show 

that a majority of them – almost 

94% or 63 million out of 67 million 

– use mobile internet. 

Among the participants in the 

survey, 80% have said that they 

have Facebook accounts. The 30- 

40 year old group appears to be the 

least tech-savvy with 26% saying 

they do not use internet, compared 

to 17% for all respondents. 

Women lag behind in internet 

use with 76% against 87% men. 

74% of female respondents have 

said they use Facebook versus 84% 

of male respondents. • 

many non-Muslim writers were removed 

from the Bengali textbooks, 

despite being prominent writers in 

Bengali literature. 

47% of respondents have said 

they do not know enough about 

the issue while 32% do not know 

anything about it and 13% aren’t 

concerned about it. 

What is more, 50% of student 

respondents don’t have any knowledge 

of the issue. But students 

aren’t the only ones who are left in 

the dark about this. 

According to news reports, 

the changes were made without 

any prior discussion with 

relevant people in government 

authorities. • 

harmful. 

Also interesting is the finding 

that over 52% of respondents 

said they mostly watch the news 

on television, followed by TV series 

(22%), talk-shows (9.5%), live 

musical shows (8.8%) and others 

(7.3%). •

News 3 


the new generation 

Nationality most important 

element of identity 


In 1971, during the War of Independence, 

hundreds of thousands 

who had fought in the war came 

from various socio-economic and 

religious backgrounds. They had 

but one common identity – they 

were Bangladeshi. 

Now, 46 years later, young Bangladeshis 

who have no memory of 

the war itself, identify nationality 

as the single most important factor 

in identity formation. 

A Bangla Tribune survey on 

Bangladeshi youth asked 2,400 respondents 

to choose the factor that 

most influences their identity from 

the following options: Nationality, 

language and/or culture, religion, 

family, profession, or other. 

The majority, 48.21%, has picked 

nationality. 

Religious identity was a distant 

second at 17%, followed by linguistic/cultural 

identity at 12%. 

Among different age groups, the 

18-22-year group was most likely 

to choose nationality over other 

elements of identity (52%). Among 

different professions, homemakers 

were the highest, 20%, albeit marginally, 

to choose religious identity 

as the most important. 

When asked about what matters 

most in terms of raising young people 

to be good and successful citizens, 

an overwhelming majority of 

respondents, 62%, have said modern 

and higher education is most important. 

12% think vocational or technical 

education is necessary while 11% 

think religious education is the key. 

A meagre eight percent say patriotism 

or awareness of our history 

is most important and only five 

percent think we need to strengthen 

indigenous cultural values. • 

Militancy biggest threat 

to nation’s progress 


Until about a year ago, terrorism 

was more of an international problem 

than a domestic one. We were 

aware that certain elements of our 

society harboured extremist views, 

but we grossly underestimated the 

damage they could potentially do. 

Unfortunately, by now the dangers 

of homegrown militancy have 

been made painfully clear and it 

seems that our national priorities 

have had to be reshuffled as a result. 

This is reflected in Bangla Tribune’s 

recent survey of 2,400 people 

between 18 and 40 years of age, in 

which 45% of respondents have 

said they feel that militancy is the 

Days of cinema halls are numbered 


Those idyllic days when most 

households did not have a television 

set – sometimes humorously 

called the “idiot box” – and 

everyone got all excited to watch 

a movie, any movie, on the big 

screen, are surely over. 

These days, out of the hundreds 

of movies released every 

year, only a few blockbusters 

have the power to summon large 

crowds to the cinema halls, while 

most movies are streamed online, 

watched on DVD, or on television. 

The Bangla Tribune youth survey 

results also reflect this trend 

as 48.17% of respondents have 

said they would rather use Facebook 

or watch television than go 

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN 

Only about 

8% of female 

respondents, and 

4% of men, have 

picked shopping as 

their favourite freetime 

activity 

to cinema halls for entertainment. 

The growing and pervasive access 

to the internet has allowed 

for a whole new range of possibilities 

in terms of leisure and entertainment 

to occupy people’s time. 

As more and more in Bangladesh 

get connected to the internet, 

traditional forms of entertainment 

are on the decline, and 

even shopping is losing its appeal! 

Only about 8% of female respondents, 

and 4% of men, have 

picked shopping as their favourite 

free-time activity. 

The numbers are flipped for 

sports, with just over 8% of male 

respondents and 4.4% of females 

identifying it as their preferred 

activity. 

Some would find it rather worrisome 

that fewer and fewer people 

are spending time outdoors, 

getting engaged in sports and other 

physical activities. But before 

we blame the internet for this, we 

should consider the lack of playgrounds 

and safety and security 

as possible factors, especially in 

Dhaka city. • 

biggest national concern, followed 

by 25% who think employment and 

jobs are the biggest concerns. 

Compare this finding to the Institute 

of Informatics and Development’s 

(IID) 2015 youth survey 

where a majority of respondents 

picked political instability as the 

biggest problem faced by Bangladesh. 

In fact, militancy wasn’t even 

mentioned in the report as a likely 

concern. 

The good news is, despite the 

growing threat of militancy, 83.8% 

of respondents have said they believe 

Bangladesh is progressing 

and 67.8% of respondents think 

this progress can be seen in their 

own families and personal economic 

situations. • 

DT 

Rise in political, 

religious posts 

on Facebook 


They say, “Never discuss politics or 

religion in polite company.” 

But such rules of etiquette are 

barely regarded anymore when it 

comes to social media, as shown 

by the rise in political and religious 

posts on Facebook. 

37.5% of a total of 2,400 respondents 

in a nationwide Bangla 

Tribune survey say political posts 

from friends and sponsored content 

have increased on Facebook; 

28% say they have also seen a spike 

in religious posts. 

And very few of them actually 

object to this. It turns out 25% of 

respondents like political posts 

and 32% like religious posts, and 

they even like to join in on the conversation. 

Many more also like these posts 

but refrain from engaging. Only 

10% seriously dislike such posts. 

What’s disturbing is that over 

39% of respondents aged 18-22 

have said they like religious posts 

and engage with them. That statistic 

drops to 29% when it comes to 

political posts, showing that young 

people are relatively more interested 

in religious issues. 

Also, it seems that religious 

posts appeal equally to both males 

and females as majority of males 

and females, slightly above 32% for 

both, have said they like religious 

posts and also engage with them. • 

Hefazat’s demand on 

Lady Justice deemed 

unnecessary 


COURTESY 

Hefazat-e-Islam’s demand for removing 

the sculpture of Lady Justice 

from the Supreme Court premises 

caused an uproar in media and 

other public forums. 

Against this backdrop the Bangla 

Tribune’s nationwide survey asked 

respondents if they supported Hefazat’s 

demand. Only 23% have 

supported Hefazat while 77% have 

vehemently opposed it or do not 

have any opinion on the matter. 

33% of respondents have said 

that Hefazat’s demand is unnecessary 

and 43% do not have any opinion 

on the matter. 

Ever since the sculpture was 

installed at the apex court premises 

in December last year, Hefazat 

raised the demand to remove 

it. Created by Mrinal Haque, the 

sculpture represents a sari-clad 

woman holding a weighing scale 

which symbolises justice. 

With the government removing 

the sculpture, Hefazat’s increasing 

influence on Bangladesh’s politics is 

evident. Progressive activists, writers 

and politicians believe by fulfilling 

Hefazat’s demand the government 

is putting the country’s secular 

fabric seriously under threat. •

4 


DT 

Advertisement

News 5 


Govt picks Gazprom, 2 others over BAPEX to 

drill onshore wells 

DT 

• Aminur Rahman Rasel 

ENERGY 

The government has selected Russian 

energy giant Gazprom and 

two other foreign oil companies for 

drilling 13 exploratory onshore gas 

wells in the country, even though 

state-owned exploration company 

Bapex has the capacity to implement 

the project. 

The companies were selected 

under the Speedy Supply of Power 

and Energy (Special Provision) 

Act, 2010 after they submitted Expression 

of Interest (EoI) letters for 

the project, sources told the Dhaka 

Tribune. 

The other two companies are 

Azerbaijan-based SOCAR AQS LLC 

and China-based Sinopec International 

Petroleum Service Corporation. 

The project is expected to extract 

around 250 million cubic feet 

of gas every day within a year. 

Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration 

and Production Company Ltd 

(Bapex) has already finished negotiating 

with the companies and is 

set to sign the deals, said a Bapex 

official. 

This move has come to the dismay 

of Bapex officials who believe 

hiring foreign companies to do a 

job that Bapex can do itself will 

cost the government heavily. 

“Bapex’s cost of exploring gas 

is less than most international oil 

companies. This decision will cost 

us financial loss,” said the Bapex 

official, requesting anonymity. 

Bapex needs only Tk80 crore to 

drill a well, but it costs as much as 

Tk200 crore per well a foreign company 

does the job, he added. 

Bapex currently has no plans 

to drill any wells despite owning 

five rigs, although high-ups at the 

company keep saying that they will 

have work in future, the Bapex official 

told the Dhaka Tribune. 

“The reality is, after this project 

is implemented, there will be no 

work prospects for Bapex. Many 

Bapex officials are discontent 

about giving foreign companies 

well drilling projects, but the company 

management has hardly taken 

that into regard,” he said. 

He claimed there are local 

agents of these foreign companies 

working in Bangladesh, some of 

whom are high officials in the Energy 

and Mineral Resources Division, 

which is why this decision 

was made. 

However, Bapex Managing Director 

Md Nowshad Islam said 

exploration of some onshore gas 

wells was on the cards for the 

company, but did not give any 

specifics. 

Badrul Imam, geology professor 

at Dhaka University and an energy 

expert, believes this project is 

too ambitious. 

“Bangladesh has never drilled 

so many wells at a time before,” he 

told the Dhaka Tribune. “It is not 

clear why 13 wells were selected. 

Many of these wells do not have 

much prospect of gas, like Patharia 

West-1.” 

He said Bapex should involve 

experienced consultants or geologists 

in the process of selecting exploratory 

wells for drilling. 

Bapex, a Petrobangla subsidiary, 

has a record of success in gas exploration, 

which Gazprom does not in 

Bangladesh. 

In a previous drilling job, which 

Gazprom received without having 

to go through the tender process, 

the company failed to extract the 

target amount of gas when it drilled 

15 wells in 2012-16. 

Gazprom is currently employed 

in another project to drill two onshore 

wells – Shahbazpur North 

and Shahbazpur East – at nearly 

double the cost of what Bapex 

would have spent, according to 

sources. 

In the new project, Gazprom 

will drill five wells – Mubarakpur-2, 

Srikail North-1, Shrikail East-1, 

Sunetra-2 and Madan-1 – targeting 

a depth of 5,000-5,500 metres. 

SOCAR, which will be working 

for the first time in Bangladesh if 

the deal is finalised, will drill four 

wells – Begumganj-4, Semutang 

South-1, Madarganj-1 and Shariatpur-1 

– targeting a depth of 3,000- 

4,000 metres. 

Sinopec will drill four wells – 

Hararganj-1, Batchia-1, Patharia 

West-1 and Dupitila-1 – targeting a 

depth of 3,500 metres. 

Sinopec has worked in Bangladesh 

before. The Chinese company 

has successfully finished the 

drilling of four onshore gas wells in 

the state-owned Titas Gas Field – a 

project they won through a tender 

process. • 

FATHER-DAUGHTER SUICIDE 

Prime accused 

confesses to the 

attempted rape 

Trump son-in-law Kushner had 

undisclosed contacts with Russia 

• Reuters, Washington, DC 

WORLD 

• Arifur Rahman Rabbi 

CRIME 

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has 

arrested the prime accused Faruk, 

30 in a case filed in the dual 

suicide of Hazrat Ali, 45 and his 

daughter Ayesha Akter, 8 in Gazipur 

on April 29. 

RAB’s Legal and Media Wing 

Director Mufti Mahmud Khan confirmed 

Faruk’s arrest. 

Hazrat Ali and his daughter 

Ayesha jumped before a moving 

train near Sreepur Railway Station 

on April 29, after failing to get justice 

for the repeated attempts by 

Faruk to rape the 8-year-old child 

and grab Hazrat’s land. 

RAB 1 Commanding Officer (CO) 

Sarwar Bin Kashem said: “Faruk 

during his primary interrogation 

admitted to the attempted rape 

of 8-year-old Ayesha by luring her 

with chocolates and food. He also 

admitted the accusations of harassing 

Hazrat Ali and his family for 

a while, along with his cohorts,” at 

press conference yesterday. 

“We have been conducting a 

shadow investigation along with 

the police and after a tip-off we 

managed to arrest Faruk from Islam 

Nagar area in Savar on Friday 

around 10pm.” 

CO Kashem said that Faruk was 

in hiding after a case was filed 

against him by Hazrat Ali’s widow 

Halima Begum. 

At first he runaway to Kapashiya, 

then Bishow Jaker Monjil (Atroshi 

Mazer) and then to Jahangir Nagar 

in Savar. 

On January 15, Halima had 

lodged a complaint with Sreepur 

police accusing local strongman Faruk 

of trying to rape her daughter. 

Earlier this month, Halima also 

filed the case against seven people 

for inducing a situation where her 

husband and daughter felt compelled 

to take their own lives. 

Police have formed two committees 

to investigate the incident. • 

US President Donald Trump’s sonin-law 

and close adviser, Jared 

Kushner, had at least three previously 

undisclosed contacts with the 

Russian ambassador to the United 

States during and after the 2016 

presidential campaign, seven current 

and former US officials said. 

Those contacts included two 

phone calls between April and November 

last year, two of the sources 

said. By early this year, Kushner 

had become a focus of the FBI investigation 

into whether there was 

any collusion between the Trump 

campaign and the Kremlin, said 

two other sources - one current 

and one former law enforcement 

official. 

Kushner initially had come to 

the attention of FBI investigators 

last year as they began scrutinising 

former national security adviser 

Michael Flynn’s connections 

with Russian officials, the two 

sources said. 

While the FBI is investigating 

Kushner’s contacts with Russia, 

Donald Trump, right, and White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner 

he is not currently a target of that 

investigation, the current law enforcement 

official said. 

The new information about the 

two calls as well as other details 

shed light on when and why Kushner 

first attracted FBI attention 

and show that his contacts with 

Russian envoy Sergei Kislyak were 

more extensive than the White 

House has acknowledged. 

NBC News reported on Thursday 

that Kushner was under scrutiny 

by the FBI, in the first sign that 

the investigation, which began last 

July, has reached the president’s 

inner circle. 

REUTERS 

The FBI declined to comment, 

while the Russian embassy said it 

was policy not to comment on individual 

diplomatic contacts. The 

White House did not respond to a 

request for comment. 

In March, the White House said 

that Kushner and Flynn had met 

Kislyak at Trump Tower in December 

to establish “a line of communication.” 

Kislyak also attended a 

Trump campaign speech in Washington 

in April 2016 that Kushner 

attended. The White House did not 

acknowledge any other contacts 

between Kushner and Russian officials. 

• 

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY 

Dhaka 38 28 Chittagong 36 28 Rajshahi 38 26 Rangpur 35 25 Khulna 38 27 Barisal 37 27 Sylhet 37 25 

Cox’s Bazar 34 27 

HOT WEATHER 

SUNDAY, MAY 28 

DHAKA 

TODAY 

TOMORROW 

SUN SETS 6:39PM 

SUN RISES 5:12AM 

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW 

37.2ºC 

21.5ºC 

Rangamati and Hatiya 

Rajarhat 

Source: Accuweather/UNB 

PRAYER 

TIMES 

Fajr: 4:40am | Zohr: 1:15pm 

Asr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 6:45pm 

Esha: 8:30pm 

Source: Islamic Foundation

6 


DT 

News 

SUPREME COURT STATUE REMOVAL 

150 protesters charged with 

attempted murder 


LAW & ORDER 

IS claims deadly 

attack on Egypt 

Christians 


WORLD 

The Islamic State group on Saturday 

claimed responsibility for 

shooting dead 29 Christians on a 

bus in central Egypt, an attack that 

prompted retaliatory air strikes on 

jihadists in neighbouring Libya. 

The shooting in the province of 

Minya on Friday, as the Coptic Christians 

were travelling on a bus to a 

monastery, was the latest in a series 

of attacks by IS that have killed more 

than 100 Copts since December. 

The jihadist group claimed in a 

statement that its fighters “set up 

a checkpoint” for the Christians 

as they headed to the monastery, 

then killing them and setting one 

of their vehicles on fire. 

The interior ministry said masked 

gunmen in three pick-up trucks had 

attacked the bus as it heading for 

Saint Samuel monastery in Minya 

province, more than 200km south 

of Cairo, before fleeing. • 

Police push Chhatra Union leader Liton Nandi into a van on Friday during a protest 

Police on Friday night charged 

protesters with attempted murder 

charges after they were detained 

during the protest to reinstate Lady 

Justice at the Supreme Court premise. 

Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Shahbagh 

police station, Abul Hossain 

told the Dhaka Tribune that the 

case, filed on Friday night, against 

four people including Chhatra Union’s 

General Secretary Liton Nandi, 

Chhatra Union’s Dhaka College 

unit’s president Morshed Halim 

and Chhatra Union’s activist Joy 

and Udichi’s Arifur. 

Sub-Inspector Md Mofakhkharul 

Islam, who filed the case, claimed 

that stick-wielding protesters 

hurled stones at on-duty policemen 

with the intention to kill them. 

“They obstructed police work 

and attacked with the intention to 

kill the policemen,” he wrote in his 

complaint. 

Four policemen were injured in 

the attack, he added. 

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court sent 

the arrested four to jail. Dhaka 

Metropolitan Magistrate Satyabrata 

Shikder has set Sunday to hear 

on their bail petition. 

Members of various student 

fronts and cultural organisations 

held protests on the Dhaka University 

campus on Friday, hours after 

the statue of Lady Justice had been 

IS calls on supporters to wage ‘all-out 

war’ on West during Ramadan 


WORLD 

IS has called on its followers to 

wage “all-out war” on the West 

during the Muslim holy month of 

Ramadan, sparking fears of new attacks, 

the Independent reports. 

The terrorist group uses the 

start of the 30-day period of fasting 

and prayer to renew calls for 

atrocities every year, with previous 

statements linked to attacks in Orlando 

and France. 

A statement released on You- 

Tube said supporters who were 

unable to make the journey to IS 

territories in Iraq and Syria should 

attack “infidels…in their homes, 

their markets, their roads and their 

forums…double your efforts and 

intensify your operations”. 

The message, called “Where are 

the lions of war?” continued: “Do 

not despise the work. Your targeting 

of the so-called innocents and 

civilians is beloved by us and the 

removed. 

They demanded the statue be 

reinstated. 

Police obstructed their march 

towards High Court’s Mazar Gate. 

When protesters broke through the 

barricade, police fired tear gas and 

IS launched a special issue of its 

Rumiyah propaganda magazine on 26 

May 

TWITTER 

most effective, so go forth and may 

you get a great reward or martyrdom 

in Ramadan.” 

It listed targets including the 

“scholars of evil and sedition” 

and politicians, following lengthy 

articles in propaganda magazines 

providing instructions on lorry, car 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

used water cannon to disperse them. 

Four people, including Liton and 

Arifur, were detained from the spot. 

OC Abul said the detainees had 

been shown arrested in the case 

and the court sent them to jail on 

Saturday. • 

and stabbing attacks. 

The segment was featured in a 

longer article by spokesman Abul- 

Hasan al-Mujahir, which was published 

in a Ramadan issue of IS’ Rumiyah 

magazine on Friday, telling 

readers to use the month to “maximise 

the benefit you receive on the 

day of judgement”. 

The magazine made no mention 

of the Manchester attack, despite 

containing details of “military operations” 

in Russia, the Philippines, 

Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Afghanistan. 

It contained articles targeting 

Turkey, Russia, Iran and Egypt, as 

well as “evil scholars” who have 

denounced IS’ ideology. 

Ramadan has previously seen a 

spike in IS terror attacks, with the 

US State Department warning last 

year that a “call to martyrdom during 

the month may hold a special 

allure to some”. 

Analysts have warned that as IS 

continues to suffer heavy losses in 

its shrinking territories in Syria and 

Iraq, it will turn its focus elsewhere 

to retain momentum. • 

Anisul: It was 

a distorted 

Themis idol 

• Tanveer Hossain, Narayanganj 

NATION 

Law Minister Anisul Huq has remarked 

that the Lady Justice statue 

was removed from the Supreme 

Court premises because it was a 

‘distorted idol’ of Greek godess 

Themis. 

“That idol was distorted. We did 

not want to keep this distorted object. 

Would have to face questions 

from the next generation if the distorted 

object was kept there,” he 

told reporters at event yesterday. 

Anisul also noted that it was 

the Chief Justice who decided the 

removal. The minister continously 

referred to the statue as an idol. 

Asked if a real statue of Greek 

goddess Themis could be installed 

as a replacement of the ‘distorted 

statue’, he said, “I cannot comment 

on that.” 

Meanwhile, Road Transport 

Minister Obaidul Quader defended 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 

opinion about the statue. 

“What she said was that Eid congregations 

are held there. The statue 

was installed beside the Eidgah 

in such a way that it falls in the anterior 

during the prayers,” he said. 

“There is no question of removing 

the statues in Bangladesh that 

recalls and embodies the spirit of 

the Liberation War,” he said. • 

Finance minister: 

Uniform VAT rate 

will remain at 15% 


ECONOMY 

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has 

said the uniform VAT rate will remain 

unchanged at 15% in the next 

fiscal year. 

“The VAT rate will remain at 15%, 

and it will not be reduced,” he told 

reporters in his office yesterday. 

He added: “The rate has been 

in effect since the beginning. We 

could have reduced it by 1-2%. But, 

what is point in doing so?” 

Increasing national budget from 

Tk95,000 crore to Tk400,000 crore 

is one the vital achievements of 

the government, he said, adding 

that budget for the next fiscal year 

would be around Tk, 500,000 crore. 

The minister, however, declined 

to specify the amount, reports the 

Bangla Tribune. 

“Human resources sector has 

been given importance in the 

budget. And, allocation for this 

sector will increase accordingly,” 

Muhith added. •

News 7 


Grenades, suicide vests found in suspected 

Savar militant den 


Police found no militant, but seized 

seven hand grenades, bomb-making 

materials, some mobiles and 

laptops, and three suicide vests 

from a suspect hideout in Savar. 

After concluding a raid in a 

six-storey building at Genda area 

yesterday afternoon, Dhaka’s Superintendent 

of Police Shah Mizan 

Shafiur Rahman in a press meet 

made the comment. 

“There was no casualty in the 

raid that saw no detention as well. 

But, militants were staying here to 

Tillerson declines to host Ramadan 

event at State Department 

• Reuters, Washington, DC 

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson 

has declined a request to host an 

event to mark Islam’s holy month 

of Ramadan, two US officials said, 

apparently breaking with a bipartisan 

tradition in place with few exceptions 

for nearly 20 years. 

Since 1999, Republican and Democratic 

secretaries of state have 

nearly always hosted either an iftar 

dinner to break the day’s fast during 

Ramadan or a reception marking the 

Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the 

month, at the State Department. 

Tillerson turned down a request 

from the State Department’s Office 

of Religion and Global Affairs 

to host an Eid al-Fitr reception as 

part of Ramadan celebrations, said 

two U Sofficials who declined to be 

UK Labour leader Corbyn links terror to foreign wars 


UK ELECTION 

MILITANCY 

WORLD 

11 DAYS REMAIN 

Four days after a suicide bombing 

plunged Britain into mourning, 

political campaigning for a general 

election in two weeks resumed Friday 

with the main opposition leader 

linking acts of terrorism at home 

to foreign wars like the one in Libya, 

reports the Associated Press. 

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn 

risked being assailed for politicising 

the Manchester Arena attack 

that killed 22 people by claiming 

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson 

identified because they were not 

authorised to speak publicly. 

According to an April 6 memo, 

the office – which typically initiates 

such events – recommended 

that Tillerson hold an Eid al-Fitr 

reception. 

that his party would change Britain’s 

foreign policy if it takes power 

after the June 8 vote by abandoning 

the “war on terror.” 

“Many experts, including professionals 

in our intelligence and 

security services, have pointed 

to the connections between wars 

our government has supported or 

fought in other countries, such as 

Libya, and terrorism here at home,” 

Corbyn said in his first speech since 

Monday night’s atrocity. 

Salman Abedi, the bomber, had 

strong links to Libya. His parents 

were born and lived there before 

moving to Britain in the early 1990s. 

Police are standing in front of a six-storey under construction building in Genda 

area of Savar after a raid yesterday 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

REUTERS 

His rejection of the request suggests 

there are no plans this year 

for any high-profile Ramadan function 

at the State Department. The 

month of fasting and prayer for 

Muslims gets under way in many 

countries on Saturday. • 

DT 

plot sabotage,” he said. 

Earlier in the day, a bomb disposal 

unit of The Counter Terrorism 

and Transnational Crime 

(CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan 

Police (DMP) reached the scene and 

resumed the operation that was 

postponed the previous night. 

“Seven hand grenades and three 

suicide recovered from the hideout 

vests have been defused. Bearing 

balls, batteries, gun-powders, other 

bomb-making materials, several 

cell phones ans laptops are the other 

seized items,” he said. 

On Friday evening, the CTTC 

raided a five-storey building of 

suspicion of being a militant den 

in the same area. After half-anhour, 

the unit carried out a drive 

in the six-storey building as a 

second suspected militant hideout, 

just 200 yards away from the first 

one. 

Police suspended the operation 

the same night, resuming it at 

10am yesterday after the bomb disposal 

unit joined the raid. 

The SP said those, who fled the 

scene, might be the members of 

militant group Jama’atul Mujahideen 

Bangladesh. 

Police on Friday night told reporters 

that they detained a woman 

and rescued two children from 

the first hideout. But, two male 

militants escaped the raid, they 

then said. • 

Sundarbans fire finally 

brought under control 

• S M Samsur Rahman, Bagerhat 

NATION 

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Labour party, defends in goal during a campaign visit 

to Hackney Marshes Football Pitches, in London, Britain May 27, 2017 REUTERS 

The fire that broke out in Nangli 

camp under Chandpai range of the 

Sundarbans East Zone was brought 

under control yesterday at 3pm. 

The fire that broke out on Friday 

took three units of the Fire Service 

and Civil Defence (FSCD) along 

with forest officials to bring it under 

control. 

“It took 30 hours of frantic effort 

to douse the fire,” said FSCD Deputy 

Additional Director (DAD) Asad 

Sheikh. 

Locals first spotted the fire near 

Madraschhila area of Nangli camp 

around 11am on Friday. The FSCD instantly 

dispatched three units from 

Bagerhat, Morelganj and Swarankhola 

fire stations to the spot. 

Firefighters cut a fire line to prevent 

it from spreading further and 

were able to partially control the 

flames around 7pm. 

The operation had to be temporarily 

called off because of a lack of 

water sources in the vicinity, added 

Asad Sheikh. 

Almost 5 acres of forest land were 

burnt by the fire, according to the 

FSCD. However, the Forest Department 

(FD) claimed the fire had engulfed 

about 2 acres of lands at best 

before it was brought under control. 

The source of the fire is yet to be 

determined. 

The Forest Department had 

formed a three-member probe 

body to unearth the origin of the 

blaze and the extent of losses, said 

Sundarbans East Zone Divisional 

Forest Officer Md Saidul Islam. 

The Chandpai range of the 

Sundarbans saw 21 fire incidents 

from 2002 to 27 April, 2016 raging 

through some 70 acres of forest. • 

They eventually returned with several 

of their six children, and Abedi 

travelled there to visit his family on 

occasion. 

PM Theresa May, who was attending 

a summit of the Group of Seven 

in Sicily, offered a blistering critique 

of Corbyn’s position when she was 

asked about it at a news conference. 

May said that while she was at 

the summit rallying support for the 

fight against terrorism, “Jeremy 

Corbyn has said that terror attacks 

in Britain are our own fault, and he 

has said that just a few days after 

one of the worst terror attacks” in 

the country’s history. •

8 


DT 

News 

Sri Lankan villagers sit on an army armoured carrier being used in rescue operations during major flooding in Kalutara district 

on May 27, 2017 

AFP 

Sri Lanka steps up monsoon 

relief as death toll hits 113 

• AFP, Colombo 

WORLD 

Sri Lanka stepped up its military-led 

relief operations Saturday 

as nearly half a million people were 

displaced after a monsoon deluge 

killed at least 113 people. 

Rainfall on Friday triggered the 

worst flooding and landslides in 14 

years in the southern and western 

parts of the island and although the 

rain eased on Saturday, low-lying 

areas remained under water, the 

authorities said. 

Government spokesman Rajitha 

Senaratne said a total of 113 people 

were confirmed dead while over 

100 remained missing. 

“Most of the fatalities were due 

to landslides and only a very few 

drowned,” said Senaratne who is 

also the health minister. He said 

nearly 500,000 people were forced 

from their homes and most of them 

had moved into temporary shelters. 

The military stepped up search 

operations in landslide-hit areas 

and the airforce deployed five aircraft 

for rescue operations and another 

five to transport emergency 

supplies to villagers who could not 

be reached by road. 

At the village of Bulathsinhala, 

relatives were seen loading coffins 

of 10 victims onto army armoured 

personnel carriers to transport 

them across flooded streets to high 

ground for burial. 

The military vehicles also ferried 

villagers along roads converted 

into riverways by the rainfall, 

passing submerged traffic signs 

and flooded houses. 

There were similar scenes in the 

adjoining Ratnapura district, the island’s 

gem capital, which was also 

flooded. The authorities arranged 

funerals for dozens of victims. 

President Maithripala Sirisena, 

who returned from a state visit to 

Australia, travelled to Kalutara, 

one of the worst affected districts 

south of Colombo, to supervise relief 

operations. 

“The government will give new 

houses to those who lost their 

houses,” he said on twitter. 

The authorities dropped thousands 

of life jackets for marooned 

people in a bid to protect them 

until they could be moved to safer 

ground. 

- Indian help - 

An Indian naval ship equipped 

with medical supplies docked in 

Colombo Saturday and Indian sailors 

were deployed with their Sri 

Lankan counterparts to carry out 

relief operations. 

Indian High Commissioner 

Taranjit Singh Sandhu said a second 

larger vessel was expected in 

Colombo on Monday with more 

aid. 

“When you feel the pain, we 

also feel the pain,” the envoy said 

while formally handing over the 

Indian aid to Sri Lanka’s Foreign 

minister Ravi Karunanayake at the 

Colombo port. 

The Indian aid included a medical 

team as well as inflatable boats and 

medicine. India has offered more 

aid, including helicopters, to boost 

relief operations, Senaratne said. 

Pakistan said it was in talks with 

Colombo to send relief supplies. 

Pakistan recently gave 10,000 

tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka to help 

drought victims. 

The meterological department 

said the latest monsoon ended a 

prolonged drought that had threatened 

agriculture as well as hydropower 

generation. 

“The monsoon has firmly established 

and we could have evening 

showers at a lesser intensity,” meterological 

department chief S. R. 

Jayasekera said. 

The flooding is the worst since 

May 2003 when 250 people were 

killed and 10,000 homes destroyed 

after a similarly powerful monsoon, 

officials said. 

Monsoon rains last year caused 

flooding and landslides, killing 

over 100 people. • 

Demand for 5% cash incentives 

on garment exports 

• Ibrahim Hossain Ovi 

BUSINESS 

Bangladesh garment industry owners 

urged the government to provide 

5% cash incentives on apparel 

export for the next two years. 

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers 

and Exporters Association 

(BGMEA) President Md Siddiqur 

Rahman made the demand at a 

press conference yesterday. 

The press conference was titled 

“Present situation of the country’s 

apparel industry and forthcoming 

budget for fiscal year 2017-18” held at 

the BGMEA headquarters in Dhaka. 

The proposal was made for the 

members of only BGMEA and Bangladesh 

Knitwear Manufacturers and 

Exporters Association (BKMEA). 

BGMEA President Siddiqur also 

called for exemption from tax at 

source from the apparel sector for 

at least two years and slashing corporate 

tax to 10% from the existing 

20% for the five years starting from 

next fiscal year. 

“All the policy for the garment 

sector should be made for a minimum 

five-year period as yearly 

changes in policy create a lot of 

problems in running businesses,” he 

said. • 

Ganabhaban guard dies 

after being shot by his 

own weapon 


METRO 

Special Security & Protection Battalion 

(SPBn) official Nayek Md 

Atiqur Rahman died after being 

shot by his own weapon while at 

work at the Ganabhaban on Friday. 

Police have sent the firearm to 

the Criminal Investigation Department’s 

(CID) forensic unit to determine 

whether it was a suicide or an 

accidental firing. 

SPBn have formed a five member 

committee headed by the additional 

superintendent of police and 

police have formed a three member 

committee headed by the additional 

deputy inspector general 

of police to investigate the matter, 

according to SPBn 2 Commanding 

Officer Iqbal Hossain. 

Atiqur was shot at the Ganabhaban’s 

north gate around 11:45pm 

on Friday. Another ASI who was 10 

or 12 yards behind him gathered 

others and rushed him to Dhaka 

Medical College Hospital (DMCH). 

Atiqur died at around 1:30pm yesterday. 

Confirming this information 

yesterday evening, Sher-e-Bangla 

Nagar police station Officer-in- 

Charge GG Biswas said “Atiqur was 

killed by his own weapon. We will 

now investigate whether it is a suicide 

or an accident.” 

He added that an unnatural 

death case had been filed with 

Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station 

and Atikur’s weapon had been sent 

to the CID forensic lab to determine 

how it happened. 

Dhaka Medical College Forensic 

Medicine Department head Dr Shohel 

Mahmud said the shot which 

killed Atiqur had been a clean one. 

The bullet had entered from the 

front on the right side of chest and 

had exited from the back. 

Atiqur’s older brother 

Mahmudul Hassan said police had 

handed over Atiqur’s body after 

the autopsy and his wife Sharmin 

Akter and one and half year old 

daughter Tisha, along with the rest 

of his family, were set on taking his 

body back to his home village in 

Hatiya, Noakhali for burial. 

SPBn 2 Commanding Officer 

Iqbal Hossain said more information 

could be shared once the investigations 

were over and both committees 

had handed in their reports. •

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10 


DT 

News 

Jahangirnagar closed indefinitely, 

42 students arrested 

• JU Correspondent and 

Nadim Hossain, Savar 

EDUCATION 

Jahangirnagar University has shut 

down all academic activities for an 

indefinite period following agitation 

over the deaths of two students 

that escalated to clashes with police 

and a mass arrest at midnight. 

A notice issued from an emergency 

syndicate meeting last night 

asked all students to leave the campus 

by 10am today. 

Around midnight, police arrested 

42 students who were protesting 

in front of the vice-chancellor’s 

residence, Ashulia police Officerin-Charge 

Mohsinul Kadir told the 

Dhaka Tribune. 

Earlier, the university filed a 

case with the station accusing unnamed 

students of vandalism and 

harassment of two teachers. 

During the day, police fired teargas 

shells and rubber bullets on JU 

students who were protesting the 

deaths of two other students in 

a road accident on Dhaka-Aricha 

highway in Savar. The students had 

blockaded the highway. 

Eight students, including the 

university correspondent of an online 

news portal, were injured in the 

police action that also saw a mass 

baton-charge on the protesters. 

JU students barricade the Dhaka- 

Aricha highway in front of the 

university’s main entrance yesterday 

morning 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

On the other hand, the demonstrating 

students were seen pelting 

brickbats on the policemen in retaliation. 

When the agitating students 

would not remove the barricades 

even after a discussion with the JU 

authorities, police went into action 

around 5pm. 

Police finally cleared the road in 

the evening. 

Dhaka’s Additional Superintendent 

of Police Ashraful Azim 

said: “The protesters have been removed 

from the highway, allowing 

traffic to resume.” 

On Friday, a student of Marketing 

department and another of Microbiology 

department were killed 

as a bus hit a human hauler on the 

Dhaka-Aricha highway. • 

Lady Justice 

statue re-erected 

on SC premises 


CURRENT 

AFFAIRS 

Just a day after being removed 

from in front of the Supreme Court, 

the statue of Lady Justice was reinstalled 

before the annex building of 

the apex court late last night. 

Mrinal Haque, the sculptor of 

the blindfolded and sari-clad figure 

of a woman, confirmed the news to 

Bangla Tribune. 

After the statue was displaced 

on the early hours of Friday morning, 

the incident garnered much 

criticism with many demanding 

immediate reinstalment. 

Holding a sword in one hand 

and a scale in the other, the statue 

is considered a symbol of justice. 

The work of re-erection on the 

Supreme Court premises started 

around 8pm. 

Around 11:15pm Mrinal said: 

“I received the Supreme Court’s 

order to reinstall it this morning. 

Hence, the statue is being reinstated 

from 8pm. The complete task 

to reinstall the statue will end in 

an hour.” 

He said: “Erecting the statue in 

front of the annex building after removing 

it from the Supreme Court 

is not the same thing. Being on focus 

and being inside are separate 

things.” 

Some 30 people were working to 

reinstall the statue, he said. •

News 11 


DT 

The lopsided argument for 

banning bidis 

• Rafikul Islam 

ECONOMY 

Even though the decision to shut 

down cheap bidi within two years 

is good in terms of public health, 

experts feel it would be unfair and 

unethical to move forward with the 

decision when imported cigarettes 

continue to flood the markets. 

Bidi is a type of cheap, local cigarette 

made of unprocessed tobacco 

wrapped in leaves. 

“We are aiming to remove 

bidi from Bangladesh within two 

years,” said Finance Minister AMA 

Muhith on April 10, after a meeting 

with the chiefs of parliamentary 

standing committees in Dhaka. 

On March 30, Muhith took the 

stance that bidi was “very dangerous 

to public health”, and has since 

been in favour of a complete ban 

on it. However, such a ban seems 

far from possible, at least for now, 

since there are strong lobbyists behind 

the industry. 

“What is unexpected is that the 

minister wants to shut down only 

bidi factories and not those producing 

cigarettes. If the industry 

is suddenly shut down, about two 

million bidi workers will become 

unemployed and will stage tough 

protests,” Bangladesh Bidi Shilpa 

Malik Samity President Bijoy Krishan 

Dey told the Dhaka Tribune. 

In the 2016-2017 proposed national 

budget, prices of the lowest segment 

of cigarettes were increased by 

28% to Tk23. Taxes on medium and 

high-segment cigarettes remained 

unchanged, but the supplementary 

duty was hiked from 61% and 63% to 

62% to 64%, respectively. 

Many argue that the decision is 

tantamount to favouring the import 

industry over a local industry. 

REUTERS 

When questioned about this, 

former NBR chairman Abdul Majid 

said: “If the government decides to 

shut down bidi for health then all 

smoking products including foreign 

cigarettes should be banned. 

“If the finance minister takes 

this decision, he also has to propose 

an alternative source of income 

for the people involved in 

this industry.” 

The Bangladesh Bidi Shilpa Malik 

Samity President Bijoy said: “We 

pay a 16% VAT. This will affect our 

revenue generation immensely. He 

needs to consider what a huge financial 

support the industry is for 

our economic sector.” 

Executive Director of Policy 

Research Institute of Bangladesh 

(PRI) Dr Ahsan H Mansur, however, 

disagreed. 

“It is a good decision on the 

part of the government to ban bidi 

products. There will be no impact 

on revenues if the ban is put in 

place,” said Ahsan, adding: “We get 

only Tk4 or Tk5 crore as revenue 

from bidi products. But the government 

ends up losing more money 

in health sector expenditure than 

the revenue being earned through 

this industry.” 

Dr Md Mafizur Rahman, associate 

professor of National Institute 

of Cancer Research and Hospital 

(NICR&H), weighed in, saying: 

“Bidi and cigarettes are both harmful. 

Our research shows that all 

tobacco related products are detrimental 

to health. 

“According to previous data, 

some 62%-70% patients who have 

been afflicted by cancer in their 

mouths and lungs have been smokers,” 

he added. 

Mafizur further explained: “We 

cannot tell whether bidi is more 

harmful than cigarettes, but we can 

say that both are noxious.” • 

Biman arranges 

special trip for 

underprivileged 

children 

• Ishtiaq Husain 

BUSINESS 

State run airlines Biman arranged a 

trip for 30 underprivileged children 

from Dhaka to Sylhet yesterday. 

Biman’s General Manager (PR) 

Shakil Meraj said the national flag 

carrier had arranged the special trip 

for the underprivileged children as 

part of its social responsibility. 

“This journey with Biman is not 

only a trip, but it is also an inspiration 

for the children,” said AM Mosaddique 

Ahmed, the CEO and Managing 

Director of Biman Bangladesh. 

“I sincerely want that you [children] 

become successful and one 

day you will fly in the aircraft with 

your own money,” he said before presenting 

each child with new clothing. 

At Sylhet Osmani International 

Airport, Captain Nowshad Ataul 

Qaium spoke with the children and 

took pictures with his camera. The 

children visited tea gardens and 

the Hazrat Shahjalal Mazar. 

“I never thought I would fly in 

an aircraft. The Biman trip was 

my dream journey,” said Md Sohel 

Rana, who lives at the Mirpur Government 

Shishu Paribar orphanage. 

Another child, Mehedi Hasan, 

said the trip had changed his life 

goals and he now wanted to become 

a pilot. • 

‘Madman’ held 

for murder of 

imam 

• Tanveer Hossain, 

Narayanganj 

CRIME 

Police yesterday detained a man 

suspected of killing the imam of 

a mosque in Narayanganj, within 

hours of the crime having been 

committed. 

Rupganj police Officer-in- 

Charge Ismail Hossain said suspect 

Jahirul Islam was detained yesterday 

morning from Rupganj. 

Quoting locals, he said Jahirul 

was “mentally ill” and had killed 

his wife a decade ago. 

The OC said: “Accused Jahirul Islam 

brutally hacked the imam during 

Isha prayer on Friday night and 

later swooped on another man.” 

The deceased Abdul Majid Munshi 

hailed from Tangail district. He 

had been working at the mosque 

for over 20 years. OC Ismail also 

said that Majid’s body would be 

sent to Narayanganj General Hospital 

for autopsy. • 

A tasteful celebration 


Four Points by Sheraton Dhaka has created a host of exclusive 

offers for the Holy month of Ramadan. The hotel 

invites its guests to share the ceremonial breaking of the 

fast with loved ones in the relaxed, family-friendly setting 

of “The Eatery” or the “Ballroom.” 

Guests may enjoy an array of Middle Eastern specialties 

and beverages, including traditional hot and cold Mezze, 

Kasba with Oriental Rice, Beef Tehari, Grilled Prawn with 

Lemon Citrus Sauce, Chicken Tangri Kebab, Pasta Al Fungi, 

Roasted Beef with Garkin and Bell with traditional iftar 

items and a variety of Arabic sweets and desserts. 

The Four Points is offering iftar and dinner buffet for the 

guests. The Eatery at tower building will serve iftar items at 

Tk3999. For more selected items “The Eatery Suites” will 

have iftar and dinner buffet at Tk2999. Guests can enjoy 

lavish buffet Suhoor at Tk2200 every Thursday night. •

DT 

12 

Editorial 


TODAY 

Is it because 

she is a woman? 

This writer ponders why, with all of the 

horrific problems that are present in our 

economy, do people believe that the 

cancer that infests us will be excised by 

yelling about statues? 

PAGE 13 

Rising out of 

the ashes 

The Bangladesh Institute of Labour 

Studies has recently indicated that in 

2016 there were 1,403 casualties in other 

sectors, of whom 699 died 

PAGE 14 

Respecting the true 

spirit of Ramadan 

BIGSTOCK 

Not-so-silent 

Muslims 

What we ought to be, after the anger has 

passed, having wiped away our tears and 

whispered our prayers, is to be the precise 

antithesis to the cowardly terrorist scum 

PAGE 15 

Be heard 

Write to Dhaka Tribune 

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, 

Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 

Send us your Op-Ed articles: 

opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com 

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DhakaTribune. 

The views expressed in opinion 

articles are those of the authors 

alone and they are not the 

official view of Dhaka Tribune 

or its publisher. 

The holy month of Ramadan is upon us. 

Muslims in Bangladesh, and the world over, observe 

Ramadan as a month of restraint, discipline, patience, 

and prayer. 

Ramadan calls out to us to leave behind our undesirable habits, 

and cultivate better ones through silent devotion that brings us 

closer to Allah. 

But the rise of extremism has cast a shadow over the true spirit 

of this month. 

We can never forget that last year’s horrific attack at Holey 

Artisan Bakery took place in the month of Ramadan, followed by 

an attack on Sholakia Eidgah on Eid day. 

While Ramadan is supposed to bring out the best in people, 

last year’s attack in July showed us some of the worst sides of 

humanity. 

The Holey attack did not just take the lives of 22 people that 

day -- it was an insult to the month of Ramadan, and an affront to 

the true teachings of Islam. 

But the fight against extremism is global: A suicide attack has 

just killed 18 people, mostly civilians, in Afghanistan, and the 

attack on a concert in Manchester is still fresh in people’s minds. 

This Ramadan, let us pledge to restore the sanctity of life, and 

stand against the dangerously misguided group of people who are 

willing to take life in the name of religion. 

There can be no doubt that murder is one of the gravest of sins 

in Islam, and all Islamic scholars agree that Islam upholds the 

preservation of life as one of its foremost adjectives. 

This Ramadan, let us remember that, and show zero tolerance 

for those who kill in the name of God. 

While Ramadan is 

supposed to bring out 

the best in people, last 

year’s attack in July 

showed us some of the 

worst sides of humanity

Opinion 13 

DT 


Is it because 

she is a 

woman? 

What will they demand next? 

• Zubier Abdullah 

Sometime between my birth 

and my realisation that 

the world is quite a long 

way from right, I must 

have missed the lesson where it 

is explained to me that culture is 

something which is static. 

Perhaps, it is a defect of my 

bourgeois middle-class Englishmedium 

education, and I was 

under the wrong impression that 

culture, by definition, is anything 

but static. 

Friday was a great and terrible 

day. Lady Justice is no more. 

Islamists all over the country are 

celebrating this as a great blow 

towards the spectre of Western 

influence that she represents. 

Perhaps, in some obscure verse 

by some obscure scholar, reading 

whose work would get me on 

some watchlist somewhere, it has 

been written that the problems 

of Bangladesh can all be traced 

to that poignant symbol known 

throughout the world. 

Let us ignore the heavy-handed 

symbolism. In a country where 

so many major crimes remain 

unsolved, where the headlines 

consist of the faceless dead, where 

murder, rape, and arson are par for 

the course -- the forcible removal 

of the symbol of justice due to 

capitulation to the religious right 

is so absurd that it defies belief. 

It’s like a bad joke, and as the 

forces of “good” become more 

emboldened by this show of 

cowardice by the government, the 

deaths that will follow will be the 

punchline. 

Islam forbids the worship of 

idols, and we can all agree that 

justice is something which is not 

exactly revered in Bangladesh. 

How about Justice Man, then? 

A couple of points -- does anyone 

in their day to day lives really care 

what is in front of the Supreme 

Court? I’ve driven past the 

Supreme Court numerous times, 

and I can quite frankly admit 

that I’ve never been seized by an 

ineffable rage at the usurpation of 

our country’s culture. 

Be honest -- have you? Why 

Lady Justice though? Is it because 

she is a woman and that goes 

against the deeply conservative 

and patriarchal country that we 

are? Would Justice Man -- heroic 

purveyor of justice have been 

more acceptable, Qur’an in one 

hand, machete in another have 

sufficed? 

It goes without saying that 

Justice Man would wear no 

blindfold, because, in Bangladesh, 

it is all about who you know. 

The crux of the argument then 

comes from the fact that she is a 

foreign symbol, implanted as a 

cipher by the godless imperialistic 

Western hegemony -- the faux 

new world order turning the fickle 

minded youth away from their 

culture and towards destruction. 

I forget, which Western 

democracy did Nibras Islam kill for 

again? 

If that is the case and the act 

of preserving culture is the act of 

preserving the past, what becomes 

the cut-off point? What past is the 

one that must be preserved? If 

the symbol of justice is a foreign 

symbol and we must keep the 

Bengali cultural heritage pure, 

why not the automobile? 

Why not the air-conditioner 

or the Coca Cola can or the ever 

popular tool for murderers 

nowadays, the machete? 

What exactly separates the 

symbols of a foreign culture from 

the culture of our country? When 

is the standard against which all 

advances are measured against? Is 

it before 1971, when our country 

was known as East Pakistan? Is it 

before 1947? 1757? 1526? 

Why statues? 

The question then becomes 

how long does an idea take to 

become appropriated? None of the 

religions present in our country, 

aside from maybe Hinduism, is 

Our democracy is in trouble 

This writer ponders why, with all of the horrific problems that are present 

in our economy, where the headlines are as much written in blood as in 

ink, do people believe that the cancer that infests us will be excised by 

yelling about statues? 

exactly endemic to the region. 

Why haven’t those been rejected 

as anathema? 

What about cell-phones, the 

computer, the iPad, Nike (named 

after a roman goddess as well), the 

laws of physics, and so many other 

things? 

Reject one idea as foreign and 

you must reject them all. 

This writer ponders why, with 

all of the horrific problems that are 

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU 

present in our economy, where the 

headlines are as much written in 

blood as in ink, do people believe 

that the cancer that infests us 

will be excised by yelling about 

statues? 

What this move will do is 

nothing, except tell the murderers 

present in our society that it 

is their society. Things will 

regress further and further, and 

if the government continues to 

capitulate to the demands of 

madmen, the country will become 

one where it is dangerous to even 

speak. • 

Zubier Abdullah is a freelance 

contributor.

14 


DT 

Opinion 

Rising out of the ashes 

We have the political will necessary to overcome challenges to RMG 

P O S T 

BREAKFAST 

• Muhammad Zamir 

We have recently 

observed the fourth 

anniversary of the 

Rana Plaza disaster 

and also recalled the effects of the 

deadly blaze at Tazreen Fashions 

factory in Ashulia that killed many 

workers. 

We have also recalled on May 

1, the great contribution being 

made by workers within our socioeconomic 

matrix and the need for 

all of us to have a participatory 

engagement with them -- both 

the employers as well as others 

involved with entrepreneurship. 

Discussions and evaluations 

revealed that we have moved 

forward in certain areas but are 

also being held back in other 

facets. 

Despite criticism about their 

role, Alliance appears to have tried 

to carry forward a constructive 

inter-engagement. Their press 

statement underlined that many 

of our factories had achieved 

substantial completion of their 

Corrective Action Plans. 

They also noted that millions 

of workers now have basic fire 

safety skills and access to their 

confidential Helpline Worker 

Safety committees. 

They have also pointed out 

that their efforts have directly 

translated into lives saved and 

not a single garment worker has 

perished in an Alliance factory 

since their remediation work 

began. 

Critical examination of the 

current dynamics and scenario 

within the RMG sector, however, 

also brought out to the surface 

an element which has been 

simmering for some time. 

Exasperated garment 

manufacturers have justifiably 

been quite critical of fair pricing 

of their products within the global 

supply chain against the backdrop 

of existing pressure on them to 

improve safety standards. 

Local apparel makers also drew 

the attention of participants in 

different workshops to the fact 

that over $1 billion had already 

been invested so far to renovate 

and retrofit their factories as 

per the demand of the buyers, 

retailers, and brands. 

Yet, according to them, retailers 

and brands have shown little 

interest in offering a reasonable 

price of the products they are now 

sourcing from Bangladesh. 

In response, a senior official of 

a European brand has pointed out 

that the retailer does not make 

a lot of profit. Instead, they are 

forced to include in the pricing 

equation the fact that they are able 

to sell only 60% of the products at 

tagged prices. 

Of the remaining 40%, 20% 

is sold at discount prices and 

the rest 20% is sold at clearance 

outlets or eventually just donated. 

This explanation is only partially 

acceptable as it does not refer 

to the high profit margin being 

retained by the middle-man. 

Four other important points to 

take note of: 

1. A geographical mismatch 

existed in Bangladesh in terms 

of availability of labour. Some 

The Bangladesh 

Institute of Labour 

Studies has recently 

indicated that in 

2016 there were 

1,403 casualties in 

other sectors, of 

whom 699 died 

entrepreneurs pointed out that 

they cannot set up a factory where 

there is abundance of labour and, 

on the other hand, they do not 

find labour where they can set up 

factories. Our regulatory bodies 

need to address this issue through 

discussion. 

2. Abundance of university 

educated professionals with 

business administration degrees 

but a scarcity of technically 

educated workforce. This is 

something which needs to be 

taken care of through technical 

education and vocational training. 

3. The positive effect that has 

been generated because of the 

National Initiative introduced after 

the Rana Plaza disaster and the 

role played by Accord on Fire and 

Building Safety in Bangladesh and 

Alliance for Bangladesh Worker 

Safety. 

It has been revealed that their 

efforts have led to inspection and 

The RMG sector will be OK 

remedial measures having been 

undertaken till October 31, 2015 

in 1,475 factories. After necessary 

improvements 34.8% of these 

factories have received green 

mark (fully safe), 47.3% yellow 

mark (safe to some extent), 15.4% 

amber (still having some safety 

concerns), and 1% black (still 

unacceptable). 

It is understood that 90 

engineers from 20 engineering 

firms are involved in the remedial 

process. Difficulties apparently 

still exist with regard to factories 

located in rented buildings or 

if they are located in buildings 

shared with others. 

Nevertheless, one can term this 

effort as a step forward. Success 

in this regard will encourage 

other factory owners to also 

step forward in this interactive 

engagement aimed at acceptable 

remediation. 

4. The issue of allowing trade 

unions in the RMG sector. The ILO 

representative in Dhaka, Srinivas B 

Reddy, correctly pointed out that 

this crucial area in our economy 

needs a transformative change in 

the relationships and partnerships 

upon which industries are built. 

He suggested that this can be 

brought about through greater 

social dialogue between the 

government, employers, and 

workers. 

It may be recalled that in 

June 2016, the ILO Committee 

on the Application of Standards 

concluded a special paragraph 

calling for further amendments 

to the Bangladesh Labour Act 

relating to freedom of association 

and collective bargaining so that 

it is consistent with international 

labour standards, including 

revisiting the minimum 30% 

requirement of membership for 

union registration. 

It was pointed out during the 

discussions that trade union 

registration has significantly 

increased over the last two years. 

As of February, 2017, the number 

of RMG trade unions stand at 571. 

Rights activists have 

complained that the number 

would have been much higher 

had it not been for general anxiety 

among workers that employers 

generally have a negative attitude 

about this and any attempt in this 

direction is frowned upon. 

Commendable steps 

Mijail Shipar, senior labour and 

employment secretary of the 

government has however assured 

that the government is trying to 

introduce a standard operational 

method with a time-frame so 

workers can get registered in a 

shorter period of time. 

It has also been revealed by the 

relevant government authorities 

that the government will now 

allow workers of Export Processing 

Zones factories to form trade 

unions. 

It may be added here that 

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed 

has also indicated that if 50% 

of the members of the Workers 

Welfare Association (WWA) of 

the EPZ factories consented to 

registering as a trade union, then 

the WWA would be allowed to 

register under Ministry of Labour 

and Employment as a trade union. 

This decision followed after 

repeated warning from the 

European Union that unless there 

was some visible progress in the 

promotion of worker’s rights, it 


would affect the duty free and 

quota free access that Bangladesh 

products presently enjoy in the EU 

under the EBA principle. 

Death at work 

This analysis would however 

remain incomplete if we failed 

to take into account workplace 

deaths also taking place in the 

non-RMG sector. 

The Bangladesh Institute 

of Labour Studies has recently 

indicated that in 2016 there were 

1,403 casualties in other sectors, of 

whom 699 died. 

The highest number of 

casualties was in the transport 

sector. There were also quite a few 

incidents of boilers exploding and 

causing casualties in factories. 

In response to this revelation, 

the Ministry of Labour and 

Employment has announced that 

the dynamics of ensuring safety 

at workplaces will be widened 

and extra funds would be made 

available by the government to 

ensure such security. 

Any analysis of the above 

aspects will only reiterate 

the government’s political 

will towards overcoming the 

challenges within the RMG sector. 

We will have to be more patient 

and work together in a coordinated 

manner. 

This will enable the phoenix 

to rise from the ashes more 

effectively. • 

Muhammad Zamir, a former 

Ambassador and Chief Information 

Commissioner of the Information 

Commission, is an analyst specialised in 

foreign affairs, right to information, and 

good governance. He can be reached at 

muhammadzamir0@gmail.com.

Not-so-silent Muslims 

We need to be rational and valiant in the face of terror 

Opinion 15 

DT 


The world stands united in in its condemnation of terror 

REUTERS 

• Syed Raiyan Nuri Reza 

Born a Muslim and 

practicing the religion 

of Islam, I did not find 

myself in the least 

offended at Piers Morgan’s 

comments in his Good Morning 

Britain interview on the tragic 

Manchester terror attack, nor his 

words in the subsequent article 

he wrote for the Daily Mail in its 

defense. 

The crux of his argument being 

that we, Muslims, ought to step up 

our game in rooting out the evil of 

terrorism. 

Far from being offensive, I 

merely found his words naïve at 

best. 

Though it is not hard to see 

where such sentiments are 

coming from. Like him, and any 

other human possessing a shred 

of human decency, I too find 

myself in a mess of emotions 

contemplating the death of the 

eight-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos, 

who was among the victims of this 

senseless act of carnage seen in 

Manchester. 

My thoughts and prayers go out 

to the victims of the tragedy, as 

hollow and empty my words may 

sound. Given such emotions, I do 

understand the need to jump to 

conclusions. 

But like my fellow Muslims 

-- generously called “moderate” 

(thank you broad-minded and 

unbiased media, I guess?), to 

distinguish us from the extremist 

lot -- I feel it’s hard to justify 

such sentiments. Because the 

God under whose name such 

horrendous acts are being carried 

out shares nothing with the God 

my brothers and sisters in faith 

and I worship save for the name: 

Allah. 

The vocal minority 

Let it be known that we are not 

passive in our feeling of solidarity. 

Our condemnation is loud and 

unambiguous. Or so demonstrated 

Heraa Hashimi, a 19-year-old 

American Muslim student, as 

she compiled a 712-page list of 

Muslims speaking out against 

extremism. 

Now, her original Google 

spreadsheet takes the form of an 

interactive website that goes by 

the name of muslimcondemn. 

com. Also, it’s worth to remember 

how 120 prominent Muslim 

scholars from across the globe 

have already released and signed 

an 18-page open letter, in Arabic 

at that, steeped heavily in the 

nitty-gritties of Islamic theology to 

expose the madness of ideologues, 

to denounce Daesh back in 2014 

(I refuse to call them Islamic State 

for they neither are Islamic nor 

a state, and to call them such 

would only further embolden their 

agenda). 

What of Zeeshan ul-hassan 

Usmani, the prominent Muslim 

scientist who dedicated the 

resources of his big data company 

PredictifyMe to run information 

What we ought to be, after the anger has passed, having wiped away our 

tears and whispered our prayers, is to be the precise antithesis to the 

cowardly terrorist scum 

analyses to revel trends and 

patterns among the typical Daesh 

recruit to help counter-terrorism 

efforts? 

And what about Mohammed 

Saeed, the very imam at the local 

mosque which the Manchester 

bomber Salman Abedi attended, 

who at a sermon chastising terror 

and murder under guise of Islamic 

motives or political causes? 

Yet Piers Morgan claimed, in 

his own words: “I can’t do that. 

No young impressionable Muslim 

is going to give a stuff what I, a 

middle-class, middle-aged white 

guy, has to say about their religion. 

But they might care what fellow 

Muslims who live around them 

say about Islam if an alternative 

view is expressed with enough 

conviction.” 

Clearly someone has not been 

keeping up with all that’s been 

going around. 

Raised flags, lowered expectations 

Elsewhere Morgan claims: “But I 

refuse to believe this disgusting 

excuse for a human being never 

gave a single clue to anyone 

around him that he was becoming 

radicalised.” 

Except the community did report, 

on five separate occasions at 

least, as per a Telegraph article, 

to authorities on the Manchester 

bomber’s troubling behaviour 

and the home secretary of UK 

conceded that the young man was 

known to intelligent services. 

With investigations still being 

carried out, exactly why the 

authorities did not act on the red 

flags raised is still to be made clear. 

The truth is, the remarkable way 

the Muslim community acted on 

Salman Abedi’s act of terror cannot 

be hailed as an example of how 

Muslim community should act. It 

is rare for prospective terrorists 

to exhibit the telltale signs of 

radicalisation anyway. 

You do not have to take it 

from me, biased as I might be. 

But do take note of the MI5. In a 

sophisticated analysis based on 

hundreds of case studies in regards 

to British terror activities, they 

conclude that there is no single 

pathway to violent extremism, 

nor do British terrorists fit any 

remarkable demographic profile 

and are indeed a collection of 

diverse individuals. 

So what are we to report on? 

Raising an alarm on account of any 

disturbing behaviour will surely 

raise false flags more often than 

not, and to say nothing of the 

mindset of paranoia that it will 

induce in communities. 

Hence, Piers Morgan, and those 

of similar views do not come out 

as begotten or racist in the least, 

just outright lazy, naïve, and 

impractical. Piers does conclude 

his piece and says: “Be very … 

angry.” 

Are we to conclude that anger 

alone will suffice? Will it invoke 

the dead back to life? Heal the 

traumatised survivors and their 

loved ones? Halt the reprehensible 

perverts and their disgusting acts 

of violence? 

No. 

What we ought to be, after the 

anger has passed, having wiped 

away our tears and whispered 

our prayers, is to be the precise 

antithesis to the cowardly terrorist 

scum, hating and deluded as they 

are. 

We have to be: Valiant. Loving. 

Rational. • 

Syed Raiyan Nuri Reza is a freelance 

contributor. He writes from Tehran.

16 


DT 

Downtime 

CROSSWORD 

ACROSS 

1 Revolve (6) 

6 Fish (3) 

9 Have effect (5) 

10 Church leader (4) 

11 Postpone (5) 

12 Falsehood (3) 

13 Artillery weapon (6) 

15 Utter gratingly (4) 

18 Golfing mounds (4) 

21 Meddle (6) 

24 Self (3) 

25 Degrade (5) 

28 Grain store (4) 

29 Drink (5) 

30 Digit (3) 

31 Held principles (6) 

DOWN 

1 Added clause (5) 

2 United (3) 

3 Small bunches (5) 

4 Land measure (3) 

5 Teaching period (4) 

6 Young period (4) 

7 Narcotic (6) 

8 Antlered ruminant (4) 

14 Decay (3) 

16 In leisurely manner 

(mus) (6) 

17 Mild explosion (3) 

19 Dodge (5) 

20 Prophets (5) 

21 Examine (4) 

22 Burrowing animal (4) 

23 Speed contest (4) 

26 Container (3) 

27 Become firm (3) 

CALVIN AND HOBBES 

CODE-CRACKER 

How to solve: Each number in our 

CODE-CRACKER grid represents a 

different letter of the alphabet. For 

example, today 15 represents N so fill N 

every time the figure 15 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 

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 


DT 

EVENTS AROUND TOWN TODAY 

EXHIBITION 

MOVIE 

URBAN RUMINATIONS 

When 10am-8pm 

Where Edge Gallery, Bay’s Edgewater, NE (N) 12, North 

Avenue, Dhaka 

What An art exhibition by Anisuzzaman. 

DHAKA BOOT BARN EID 2017 EXHIBITION 

When 12pm 

Where MHB Gallery, House 21, Dhanmondi 9/A, Dhaka 

What An exhibition where you will find some beautiful and 

unique shoes that are very finely handcrafted by the team. 

GOLDEN DOORS 

When 3-10pm 

Where Red Shift Coffee Lounge, Radius Centre, 5th Floor, 

Bay’s Galleria , 57 Gulshan Avenue 

What Solo art exhibition by artist Proshanta Karmakar 

Budhha 

DIVERSITY OF LIFE AND MYSTERY OF NATURE 

When 3-9pm 

Where Alliance Française de Dhaka, 26, Mirpur Rd, Dhaka 

What A multifarious exhibition of contemporary Bangladeshi 

art. 

STAR CINEPLEX 

Where Bashundhara City, Dhaka 

What Movie showtime (May 28) 

Pirates of the Caribbean 5 (3D): 11am, 2pm, 7:15pm 

Fast & Furious 8 (3D): 11am, 1:50pm, 7:15pm 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (3D): 11:10am, 2pm, 

7:20pm 

Alien: Covenant (2D): 11:20am, 7:45pm 

EDUCATION 

BLOCKBUSTER CINEMAS 

Where Jamuna Future Park, Dhaka 

What Movie showtime (May 28) 

Rings (2D): 2:10pm, 4:20pm 

Tumi Robe Nirobe (2D): 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 7:25pm 

Baywatch (2D): 11:30pm, 2pm, 4:30pm, 7:30pm 

Pirates of the Caribbean 5 (2D): 1pm, 3:20pm, 7:30pm 

The Shack (2D): 11:30pm, 7:25pm 

Power Rangers (2D): 1:20pm, 4pm, 7:20pm 

Fast and Furious 8 (3D): 12:30pm, 7:25pm 

ACTIVITY B: 

SCHOLARSHIP & 

UNIVERSITY SEARCH 

PROCESS 

When 2:30-3:30pm 

Where Emk Center, Midas 

Center, House 5, Road 27 (old), 

Dhanmondi, Dhaka 

What The adviser will teach 

students how to search for 

scholarships and universities 

through books & the internet.

DT 

18 

Sports 


Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal plays a shot during their warm-up against Pakistan in Birmingham yesterday 

2017 CHAMPIONS TROPHY WARM-UP 

Tamim ton in vain as Pakistan 

edge Bangladesh 

• Mazhar Uddin from 

Birmingham 

Pakistan beat Bangladesh by two 

wickets in their warm-up match 

of the 2017 Champions Trophy at a 

short Edgbaston Cricket ground in 

Birmingham yesterday. 

Chasing Bangladesh’s 341 runs 

for the loss of nine wickets in 50 

overs, Pakistan reached their target 

with three balls to spare. 

All-rounder Shoaib Malik led 

the way for Pakistan with a 66-ball 

72. Youngster Mehedi Hasan Miraz 

was the most successful bowler for 

Bangladesh with two wickets. 

Earlier, opening batsman Tamim 

Iqbal smashed a blistering hundred 

as Bangladesh posted a huge total 

after skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza 

opted to bat first. 

The hard-hitting left-hander 

struck four sixes and nine boundaries 

in his 93-ball 102 while opener 

Imrul Kayes, batting at No 3 in 

place of the in-form Sabbir Rahman, 

scored 61 off 62 balls. The rest 

of the batsmen all chipped in to 

guide the Tigers to a big total. 

However, openers Tamim and 

Soumya Sarkar made a quiet start. 

At one stage, Bangladesh were batting 

on 32 in eight overs. Soumya 

was the first batsman to be dismissed 

as he was caught at slip off 

the bowling of left-arm seamer Junaid 

Khan for 19. 

Tamim Iqbal 

reached his fifty in 

39 deliveries and 

continued to charge 

the Pakistan bowlers 

all over the ground 

Tamim and Imrul then added 142 

for the second wicket before the 

latter was trapped in front while 

trying to slog sweep leg-spinner 

Shadab Khan. 

Tamim, on the other hand, 

reached his fifty in 39 deliveries 

and continued to charge the Pakistan 

bowlers. His towering six over 

long off off Junaid coming down 

the track was one of his four magnificent 

sixes of the day. 

The 28-year old, who is in terrific 

form right from the tri-nation 

series in Ireland but was somehow 

unable to score a hundred, finally 

reached his century in 88 balls. At 

that time, the Tigers were eyeing a 

total of somewhere around 400. 

Tamim though departed just 

after reaching his hundred while 

trying to smack a slog sweep off 

Shadab only to top-edge to the 

short third man fielder. 

Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur 

Rahim started off with a 

couple of sixes but was dismissed 

after scoring 46 off 35 balls while 

all-rounders Shakib al Hasan (23) 

and Mahmudullah (29) and youngster 

Mosaddek Hossain (26) scored 

quick twenties but were unable to 

go beyond. 

Junaid picked up 4/73 from his 

nine overs while medium pacer 

Hasan Ali and Shadab took two 

wickets each for Pakistan. • 

Imrul blames fielding errors 


Birmingham 

ICC 

SCORECARD 

BANGLADESH R B 

Tamim c Junaid b Shadab 102 93 

Soumya c Babar b Junaid 19 22 

Imrul lbw Shadab 61 62 

Mushfiq c Malik b Junaid 46 35 

Shakib c Shadab b Hasan 23 27 

Mahmudullah c Malik b Hasan 29 24 

Mosaddek c Azhar b Junaid 26 15 

Miraz run out (Shehzad) 13 16 

Mashrafe c Fahim b Junaid 1 8 

Sanjamul not out 0 0 

Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 16, nb 2) 21 

Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 341 

Fall Of Wickets 

1-27 (Soumya), 2-169 (Imrul), 3-219 

(Tamim), 4-247 (Mushfiq), 5-296 

(Mahmudullah), 6-302 (Shakib), 7-331 

(Mosaddek), 8-338 (Mashrafe), 9-341 

(Miraz) 

Bowling 

Junaid 9-0-73-4, Hasan 10-0-58-2, Fahim 

6-0-35-0, Riaz 9-0-68-0, Hafeez 3-0-11-0, 

Shadab 9-0-55-2, Imad 4-0-38-0 

PAKISTAN R B 

Azhar c Mushfiq b Taskin 8 14 

Shehzad b Shakib 44 40 

Babar c Mushfiq b Mashrafe 1 3 

Hafeez c Imrul b Shafiul 49 62 

Malik c Imrul b Miraz 72 66 

Sarfraz c Sanjamul b Mosaddek 5 8 

Imad c Mosaddek b Miraz 45 50 

Shadab run out (Miraz) 7 10 

Fahim not out 64 30 

Hasan not out 27 15 

Extras (b 4, lb 2, w 13, nb 1) 20 

Total (8 wickets; 49.3 overs) 342 

Fall Of Wickets 

1-14 (Azhar), 2-19 (Babar), 3-78 (Shehzad), 

4-157 (Hafeez), 5-168 (Sarfraz), 6-227 

(Malik), 7-242 (Shadab), 8-249 (Imad) 

Bowling 

Mashrafe 9.3-0-68-1, Taskin 9-0-80-1, 

Shafiul 7-0-46-1, Soumya 5-0-25-0, Shakib 

6-0-41-1, Sanjamul 3-0-17-0, Mosaddek 

6-0-29-1, Miraz 4-0-30-2 

Pakistan won by two wickets 

Despite a fantastic start with the 

bat where opening batsman Tamim 

Iqbal smashed a magnificent hundred 

to guide Bangladesh to a huge 

total of 341 runs for the loss of nine 

wickets in 50 overs, poor catching 

eventually cost the Tigers badly 

as Pakistan clinched the warm-up 

game by two wickets at Edgbaston 

Cricket Ground in Birmingham yesterday. 

The Bangladesh fielders kept 

giving opportunities to the Pakistan 

batsmen even when they required 

13 from the last over with 

two wickets remaining. Youngster 

Mehedi Hasan Miraz dropped a 

simple chance at deep square leg as 

lower-order batsman Fahim Ashraf 

duly took advantage, remaining 

unbeaten on a match-winning 64 

off 30 balls. 

Apart from Miraz, the likes 

of youngster Sabbir Rahman, 

all-rounder Shakib al Hasan and 

fast bowler Taskin Ahmed all 

dropped easy catches in various 

phases of the innings, thus keeping 

Pakistan alive in the game right till 

the end. 

And according to opener Imrul 

Kayes, who scored 61 off 62 deliveries 

and added 142 for the second 

wicket with Tamim, admitted their 

fielding errors and informed that 

they will try to improve in this department 

of the game in the coming 

days. 

“Obviously there were a few 

dropped catches from the fielders 

which cost us the game but I 

think there were also a few positives 

to take out from the match. 

But I think we have to work hard 

and need more fielding sessions. 

Hopefully we will overcome these 

and play good cricket,” Imrul told 

the media. 

At one stage, Pakistan were 

struggling on 249/8 in 43 overs and 

Imrul stated that it’s disappointing 

to lose a game from that situation. 

“I think it’s really disappointing 

for us to lose the game as we were 

on top of the game. We batted well, 

bowled well but dropped catches. 

They let us down. And I think it’s 

part of the game. We will look to 

focus on this in the next game,” he 

said. 

Meanwhile, the 30-year old informed 

that the short ground also 

played a part in the minds of the 

players. He said the batsmen wanted 

to score more runs in the shorter 

areas of the ground, which at times 

can distract a batsman. •

Sports 

Bangladesh-Pakistan warm-up 

reminiscent of street cricket 


Birmingham 

At first glance, it might look like 

there is a shortage of space right at 

the heart of the Edgbaston Cricket 

Ground, the venue that hosted the 

warm-up match of the 2017 Champions 

Trophy between Bangladesh 

and Pakistan in Birmingham yesterday. 

The game was scheduled to 

be played on the last pitch of the 

Midlands venue’s far west region. 

There, the batsmen of both the 

teams did not have to hit that hard 

as one of the square sides is not 

more 35 yards while the straight 

part of the ground is also relatively 

short - 55 yards. 

It was learned that both the 

teams were reluctant to play at the 

venue as they were not happy with 

the size of the ground but eventually 

the game did take place at Edgbaston. 

Arsenal deny 

Chelsea as 

Ramsey seals 

FA Cup 

• Reuters, London 

Arsenal denied Chelsea the double 

as they beat the Premier League 

champion 2-1 to win the FA Cup 

for the third time in four seasons at 

Wembley yesterday. 

Aaron Ramsey’s 79th-minute 

header sealed victory for Arsenal, 

three minutes after Diego Costa’s 

equaliser had revived Chelsea’s 

hopes of capping a superb season 

in style. 

Alexis Sanchez’s controversial 

opener had given Arsenal the early 

initiative and Arsene Wenger’s 

side could have been further ahead 

as they dominated the first-half 

chances. 

Chelsea improved after the 

break but had to play the final 

quarter of the match with 10 men 

after Victor Moses received his second 

yellow card following a blatant 

dive in the area. 

Arsenal have now won the FA 

Cup a record 13 times while Wenger 

is now the most successful manager 

in the competition’s history 

having secured the trophy seven 

times. • 

Bangladesh’s Mehedi Hasan Miraz 

obliges an autograph hunter 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

It was more like street cricket 

where the bowlers are not allowed 

to bowl in a particular zone from 

which the batsmen will be able to 

utilise the short boundaries. The 

boundaries are so short that even a 

soft nudge would have reached the 

ropes. 

The bowlers appeared helpless 

as the batsmen were more than 

willing to cash in on the short areas 

of the ground. As a result, it turned 

out into a high-scoring match, 

thanks in no small part to the short 

ground. 

It was also learned that Tigers 

head coach Chandika Hathurusingha 

was unhappy with the ground 

of the warm-up game. 

One of the groundsman who 

spoke to Dhaka Tribune informed 

that the pitch used for the match 

is usually reserved for practice sessions. 

He said it was a rare sight for 

him to see a game take place there 

between two international teams. 

It was more like 

street cricket where 

the bowlers are not 

allowed to bowl in a 

particular zone from 

which the batsmen 

will be able to utilise 

the short boundaries 

All in all, Bangladesh’s initial 

preparation ahead of the eighth 

edition of the Champions Trophy 

was not what the team management 

had in mind. With that said, 

the time spent at the middle will 

no doubt help the Tigers to get acclimatised 

to the conditions before 

the start of the flagship event. • 

19 


Stokes, Wood 

shine as England 

snatch win 

• Reuters 

Ben Stokes smashed a blistering 

century and Mark Wood bowled an 

excellent final over as England beat 

South Africa by two runs in the second 

one-day international in Southampton 

yesterday for an unassailable 

2-0 lead in the three-match series. 

2ND ODI 

SOUTH AFRICA 328/5 (De Kock 98, 

Miller 71*) lost to ENGLAND 330/6 

(Stokes 101, Buttler 65*) by two runs 

DT 

The shortest part of the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birminghamp, around 35 

yards 

MAZHAR UDDIN 

After Stokes’s heroics with the bat 

had helped England score 330 for 

six in their 50 overs, South Africa 

needed 10 runs from the last 

10 balls of their innings with five 

wickets remaining, but an excellent 

final over from Wood that cost 

just four runs sealed victory. 

One worry for England ahead 

of the looming Champions Trophy 

starting on Friday is that Stokes 

managed to bowl only three overs 

in the South African innings having 

injured his knee in the first ODI 

win, but he remained on the field. 

The visitor won the toss and 

elected to field, reducing England 

to 80 for three in the 16th over 

when Joe Root (39) was run out at 

the non-strikers’ end. 

But Stokes (101 from 79 balls) 

put on 95 for the fourth wicket with 

Eoin Morgan (45) and 77 for the 

fifth with Jos Buttler (65 not out) 

before he became a maiden ODI 

wicket on debut for South African 

left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj. •

20 


DT 

Sports 

Nasir hits ton on return as Abahani crush Mohammedan 

• Tribune Report 

Holder Abahani Limited, Gazi 

Group Cricketers and Prime Doleshwar 

Sporting Club are battling it 

out in the Super League for the title 

of the Dhaka Premier Division 

Cricket League season 2017. The 

three sides are jointly at the top of 

the points table with 20 points each 

following their victories yesterday. 

For Gazi, middle-order batsman 

Nasir Hossain blasted his second 

century this season while left-arm 

pacer Abu Haider Rony picked up 

six wickets to guide their side to 

victory over Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi 

Cricket Club in Fatullah. 

At BKSP 3, Abahani put up a 

joint effort to beat arch-rival Mohammedan 

Sporting Club Limited 

in a low-scoring game. 

In the third game of the day at 

BKSP 4, national discards Shahriar 

Nafees and Marshall Ayub struck 

half-centuries as Doleshwar won 

against Prime Bank Cricket Club. 

Abahani v Mohammedan 

Opening batsman Liton Kumar Das 

smashed his fifth fifty this year as 

Abahani bulldozed Mohammedan 

by five wickets. 

Mohammedan batted first but 

failed miserably, getting all out for 

only 100 runs in 33.4 overs. Opener 

Shamsur Rahman top-scored with 

23 but only four other batsmen 

reached double figures. Abahani 

left-arm spinners Manan Sharma 

and Saqlain Sajib shared seven 

wickets between themselves 

In reply, Liton fired a 22-ball 50 

as Abahani reached their destination 

in 15.3 overs. The right-handed 

batsman hammered four boundaries 

and five over-boundaries. With 

713 runs at a scorching average of 

59.41, Liton is the highest run-scorer 

of the tournament so far. The 

second best is 565 by Imtiaz Hossain 

of Doleshwar. 

Gazi v Sheikh Jamal 

Nasir hit a century before retiring 

hurt while Rony took six wickets 

to propel Gazi, invited to take first 

guard, to an 117-run victory over 

Sheikh Jamal. Nasir, who flew back 

to Dhaka following Bangladesh’s 

tour of Ireland, was sensational as 

he made 134 off 113 balls to steer 

Gazi to 350 in 50 overs for the loss 

of five wickets. Nasir bludgeoned 

seven fours and half a dozen sixes. 

Indian cricketer Gurkeerat Singh 

and No 3 Mominul Haque added 74 

and 66 respectively. 

All-rounder Ziaur Rahman 

and left-arm spinner Elias Sunny 

notched two wickets each for 

Sheikh Jamal. 

Defending 351, Gazi’s bowling attack 

gave the Sheikh Jamal batsmen 

no room whatsoever. Rony caused 

the most damage, dismissing six 

batsmen. In the process, he registered 

his second five-wicket haul 

and best ever career bowling figure. 

Sheikh Jamal were restricted to 173 in 

38.1 overs. Ziaur’s 46 off 29 deliveries 

was the best in Sheikh Jamal’s chase. 

Doleshwar v Prime 

Marshall and Shahriar posted 

half-centuries to set up Doleshwar’s 

six-wicket win over Prime. 

Asked to bat first, Indian recruit 

Abhimanyu Easwaran scored 71 

while captain Asif Ahmed made 62 

as Prime put up 241 in 50 overs losing 

eight wickets. 

Right-arm seamer Rajat Bhatia 

picked up three wickets for Doleshwar. 

Later, Marshall scored an 89-ball 

84 while Shahriar added 78 to the 

tally as Doleshwar reached their 

target in 48.4 overs losing four 

wickets. • 

SUPER LEAGUE 

ABAHANI 104/5 in 15.3 overs (Liton 50, 

Shadman 24*) beat MOHAMMEDAN 

100 in 33.4 overs (Sharma 4/21, Saqlain 

3/24) by five wickets 

DOLESHWAR 242/4 in 48.4 overs 

(Marshall 84, Shahriar 78) beat PRIME 

241/8 (Easwaran 71, Asif 62*) by six wickets 

JAMAL 173 in 38.1 overs (Ziaur 46, Rony 

6/35) lost to GAZI 350/5 (Nasir 134*, 

Gurkeerat 74) by 177 runs 

Gazi’s Nasir Hossain smashes one during their Super League game against Jamal in Fatullah yesterday 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

BCB not interested in sending teams to Pakistan 


BCB president Nazmul Hasan said 

the board is not interested to send 

its High Performance side or U-19 

team to Pakistan following the 

PCB’s decision to postpone its national 

team’s tour of Bangladesh. 

The PCB had offered BCB a national 

team tour but instead, the 

latter started discussions over possibilities 

of sending its HP side or 

the U-19 team. However, the PCB’s 

decision to pull out of its scheduled 

national team’s tour of Bangladesh 

this year irked the BCB. As a result, 

cricket’s governing body in country 

has now decided to not even send 

its second-string side. 

Last month, PCB chairman Shaharyar 

Khan announced that they 

will pull out of its tour of Bangladesh. 

The PCB chief had said the 

decision was taken mutually by 

both the boards. Pakistan were 

scheduled to play two Test matches, 

three ODIs and a T20I series in 

Bangladesh in July-August. 

“We haven’t spoken about going 

to Pakistan since we heard their 

decision from the media. The national 

team is out of the question. 

Our HP or U-19 teams might have 

gone there but when they made 

this announcement [of postponing 

the Bangladesh tour] we have 

no longer been in talks. After this, 

there is no question of talking 

about the HP tour,” Nazmul told 

the media yesterday. 

The BCB chief informed that 

there is no hurry to set another 

home series in the gap created in 

the calendar due to Pakistan postponing 

their visit. Nazmul said 

the board is in talk with two other 

cricket boards and will prepare a 

tentative schedule in the coming 

months. Many of the series will be 

expected to be held in Bangladesh. 

The Tigers have been busy since 

the beginning of this year having 

toured New Zealand and Sri Lanka. 

The team are currently in England 

for the 2017 Champions Trophy following 

their tour of Ireland where 

they took part in a tri-nation series 

involving New Zealand and the 

home side. 

After coming home from the 

DPL POINTS TABLE 

Teams Mat Won Lost Pts 

Abahani 13 10 3 20 

Gazi 13 10 3 20 

Doleshwar 13 10 3 20 

Prime 13 8 5 16 

Jamal 13 7 6 14 

Mohammedan 13 7 6 14 

Champions Trophy, Bangladesh 

will host Australia for a Test series 

before heading off to South Africa 

for a full bilateral away series. 

“I think we can rest our players 

during that time. Our boys are 

playing a lot these days. From the 

Champions Trophy, they’ll come 

home, play against Australia and 

then head off to South Africa. From 

there, they will come home and 

start with the BPL, and then play 

more cricket,” Nazmul explained. 

“I am not too keen about the Pakistan 

tour,” the BCB boss added. •

DAY’S WATCH 

FOOTBALL 

TEN 1 

7:25PM 

Sky Bet EFL 2016/17 

League 2 Playoff Final 

Italian Serie A 

10:00PM 

Roma v Genoa 

12:30AM 

Inter Milan v Udinese 

TEN 2 


7:00PM 

Cagliari v AC Milan 

10:00PM 

Sampdoria v Napoli 

12:30AM 

Fiorentina v Pescara 

TEN 3 

12:30AM 


Crotone v Lazio 

CRICKET 

STAR SPORTS 1 

2:50PM 

ICC Champions Trophy 

Warm up: India v New Zealand 

FORMULA 1 

STAR SPORTS SELECT HD 2 

6:00PM 

Monaco GP: Main Race 

TENNIS 

STAR SPORTS SELECT HD 1 

3:00PM 

French Open 2017 

Shahran brace takes Rahmatganj 

into Federation Cup semis 


Riding on a brace from Shahran 

Hawladar, Rahmatganj Muslim 

Friends Society swept into the 

semi-finals of the Walton Federation 

Cup 2017 with a convincing 3-1 

victory over Muktijoddha Sangsad 

Krira Chakra in the last quarter-final 

at Bangabandhu National Stadium 

yesterday. 

Old Dhaka outfit Rahmatganj 

will face Chittagong Abahani Limited 

in the first semifinal on Friday at 

the same venue while Dhaka Abahani 

Limited and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi 

Club will play each other 

in the other semi-final on Saturday. 

Former Feni Soccer Club forward 

Shahran stole the show, netting 

one apiece in either half and 

assisting the other for Ismail Bangoura 

while Motiur Rahman came 

off the bench to grab a consolation 

for the Muktis in injury time. 

Despite losing a number of key 

players in the transfer window, 14 

to be precise, Rahmatganj continue 

to prove themselves as the surprise 

package under the guidance of local 

coach Kamal Babu, who led the 

same club to the very top of the 

Sports 

Chance phone call led to Djokovic snaring Agassi 

• AFP, Paris 

Novak Djokovic revealed Friday 

that a chance telephone call 

sparked his decision to hire US legend 

Andre Agassi as his new coach. 

World number two Djokovic, 

who is about to begin the defence 

of his French Open title, said he 

originally only sought out Agassi’s 

contact details so he could thank 

him for his support as his career 

threatened to hit the skids earlier 

this year. 

Now they have agreed to work 

together at the French Open on a 

temporary basis. 

Djokovic recently split with long 

time coach Marian Vajda, having 

also ended a three-year relationship 

with six-time Grand Slam 

champion Boris Becker at the end 

of last season 

“Even, before when I was No. 

1 and playing very successfully, 

winning trophies and in the latest 

period where I was not as successful 

and where I received a lot of 

criticism from many sides, Andre 

was one of the few people that was 

actually standing on my side and 

supporting me,” said the 30-yearold 

Djokovic on Friday. 

“So I appreciate that very much, 

and I wanted to thank him in person, 

and over the phone. 

“It turned out to be a long conversation, 

and that’s where it all started. 

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and his coach Andre Agassi of the US attend a training session yesterday at Roland Garros ahead of 

the French Open in Paris 

AFP 

At that time, at that point, we both 

didn’t think about this evolving to 

become a professional relationship, 

but finally, after a few weeks, it did. 

It was completely up to him.” 

Agassi, an eight-time major winner 

at Roland Garros back in 1999, 

retired from tennis after the 2006 

US Open ans has never coached 

professionally before. 

But Djokovic believes he can 

learn from the American whose own 

career suffered numerous ups and 

downs, both on and off the court. 

Agassi admitted this week that 

he was at first reluctant to take on 

the job as coach but was eventually 

persuaded by his wife and fellow 

Bangladesh Premier League last 

season following the first phase. 

Rahmatganj appeared the most 

dominant side in the quarter-finals 

in terms of supremacy over the 

opponent. They kept the Muktis 

under pressure from the beginning 

and controlled the game with a series 

of chances throughout the tie. 

RESULT 

Rahmatganj 3-1 Muktijoddha 

Shahran 33, 69, Ismail 63 Motiur 90+1 

FIXTURES 

Semi-finals 

Ctg Abahani v Rahmatganj, Friday 

Abahani v Sk Jamal, Saturday 

Final scheduled for Monday 

Shahran gave Rahmatganj the 

deserved lead in the 33rd minute. 

Rashedul Islam Shuvo utilised a 

long cross and fed Shahran with a 

one touch. Shahran smashed home 

past Muktijoddha goalkeeper Uttam 

into the near post. 

Ismail missed a chance to double 

the lead three minutes later 

when the Guinean striker failed to 

former tennis legend Steffi Graf. 

“Novak called me about three 

weeks ago and I said no at the 

start,” said 47-year-old Agassi. 

“But Steffi said ‘you should go, 

you will love it’. We had organised 

a family trip during Roland Garros 

anyway which was planned for a 

long time.” • 

beat the opposition custodian in 

a one-on-one situation after collecting 

a through pass from Shuvo. 

Bangoura squandered another 

opportunity in a one-on-one scenario 

with Uttam in injury time as 

his shot went straight into the onrushing 

keeper but defender Monir 

Alam cleared the ball to safety. 

Muktis defender Tanvir Rana 

made a headed clearance at the 

goal-line to deny an Ismail header 

a minute before the hour mark. 

Ismail though finally doubled 

the lead in the 63rd minute. He 

broke into the right side of the 

penalty area after collecting a 

pass from Shahran and fired 

home past the netminder into 

the near post. 

Shahran continued to trouble 

the opponent defence as he scored 

his second to extend the lead in the 

69th minute with an easy placing 

shot from three yards into an empty 

net. 

Motiur pulled one back for the 

Muktis in injury time. Racing inside 

the box, the substitute forward 

slotted past Rahmatganj 

keeper Mohammad Razib into the 

near post. • 

21 


DT 

Argentina crave 

Sampaoli’s 

magic touch 

• AFP, Argentina 

Argentina hope their new coach 

Jorge Sampaoli’s magic touch, 

along with returning striker Lionel 

Messi’s magic skills, will spirit 

them through a rocky qualifying 

campaign to the 2018 World Cup. 

Sampaoli moved a step closer 

to taking over the vacant position 

as Argentina coach on Friday as his 

current club side Sevilla said it had 

reached a deal with the Argentine 

Football Association. 

In one year at Sevilla he coached 

them to an impressive fourth place 

in the Spanish league, behind the 

might of Real Madrid, Barcelona 

and Atletico Madrid. 

Now he is leaving Sevilla fans 

and management disgruntled and 

coming back to his home country 

just when it needs him. 

“I always dreamed of (coaching) 

the national team,” Sampaoli, 57, 

said recently. 

“I want to get back to talent 

and the art of dribbling, in order to 

move forward.” 

Argentina will be grateful if he 

just gets them on the plane to Russia 

2018. 

In March they looked like they 

risked failing to qualify for the World 

Cup for the first time since 1970. • 

BFF pedges 

to pay clubs 

outstandine 

money 


The BFF has pledged to pay the 

outstanding participating money 

of last season’s premier league 

clubs before the start of the Bangladesh 

Premier League, scheduled 

to kick off on June 12 this year. 

Earlier, eight top-flight teams 

gave the football federation an ultimatum 

to provide their due of participation 

money. They also asked 

the federation with a new demand 

to increase the premier league participation 

money to Tk5m. 

The eight clubs – Mohammedan 

Sporting Club Limited, Sheikh Jamal 

Dhanmondi Club, Chittagong 

Abahani Limited, Brothers Union, 

Muktijoddha Sangsad Krira Chakra, 

Team BJMC, Arambagh Krira Sangha 

and Saif Sporting Club – also 

threatened to boycott the league if 

their demands are not met. 

An emergency meeting of the 

executive committee was held at 

BFF House yesterday after which 

BFF senior vice president Abdus 

Salam Murshedy termed the clubs’ 

demands as “untimely and illogical”. 

•

22 


DT 

Showtime 

A quick chat with Masud Hasan Ujjal 

• Rumpa Syeda Farzana 

Zaman 

Director Masud Hasan Ujjal is now 

busy with his Eid productions. 

His new production Uber er Raat 

is almost done. Jakia Bari Momo 

and FS Nayeem are the casts in 

the upcoming TV drama. It is the 

sequel of Akkhay Companyr Juto, 

which aired back in 2014. The 

story of Uber er Raat will pick up 

from where Akkhay Company’r 

Juto ended. Showtime caught 

up with the busy director for a 

short chitchat to learn about his 

projects. 

Showtime: You were working 

on a feature film about three 

deceased cultural figures, poet 

Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah; 

singer Sanjeev Chowdhury; and 

the founder of the band Mohiner 

Ghoraguli, singer-musician, 

Gautam Chattopadhy. What is the 

update on that? 

Masud: Yes, thats right. I am still 

looking for appropriate actors 

for both Rudro and Sanjeev Da’s 

characters. Its not easy to find 

such personality who can match 

them. It will take time. 

Showtime: So what you are doing 

right now? 

Masud: I am busy with Eid 

productions. This time three 

productions are going to be aired 

on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. 

Showtime: Have you finished 

shooting? 

Masud: Two of them are done. 

We are waiting for the perfect 

casting for the other one. 

Showtime: Which two? 

Masud: One is Uber er Raat. 

Syeda Shawon and Nasir Hossain 

are in it along with Nayeem and 

Momo. Another drama is Notes. 

Casts are Tisha, Iresh, Saadman 

Matis, Kona (singer), Joy Shahriar, 

Tanveer Alom Shwajeeb and 

Faisal Ahmed 

Adnan. 

Showtime: You 

are very open 

about your 

work through 

your social 

media account. 

You seemed 

upset about TV 

productions. 

What has you 

upset? 

Masud: I almost 

stopped working 

for TV media for 

a few days. But this time I had to 

start once again. I could not say 

‘no’ to all the requests. But my 

heart wants to do something for 

the silver screen. 

Showtime: Then what happened? 

Masud: See, I am a director. All of 

my works become film materials, 

as I have the same dedication 

for my TV productions as I have 

big screen works. When I found 

myself giving the same effort as 

film making to a TV production 

that made me upset. Because a 

film is a film. And a TV production 

is just a TV production. 

Showtime: Then when are we 

getting to see you starting your 

movie? 

Masud: Very soon. You will get to 

know the updates shortly.• 

WHAT TO WATCH 

White House Down 

2:17 pm, Star Movies 

While on a tour of the 

White House with his young 

daughter, a Capitol policeman 

springs into action to save his 

child and protect the president 

from a heavily armed group of 

paramilitary invaders. 

Cast: Channing Tatum, Jamie 

Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, 

Jason Clarke, Richard Jenkins, 

James Woods 

Rocky 

7:24 pm, WB 

Rocky Balboa, a small-time 

boxer, gets a supremely rare 

chance to fight heavy-weight 

champion Apollo Creed in a 

bout in which he strives to 

go the distance for his selfrespect. 

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, 

Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl 

Weathers, Burgess Meredith 

200 Rappers in one album 

• Showtime Desk 

Hip hop in Bangladesh is still 

relatively young, and is growing 

faster than ever. Local listeners 

are starting to warm up to it. It 

has recently made its way into 

the local mainstream culture, 

with the collaborations of young 

rappers with iconic singers. 

To the delight of the growing 

hip-hop fan base in Bangladesh, 

Murtaza Mahmood is releasing 

a hip-hop album with the 

contribution of 200 rappers from 

around the country. Titled “Deshi 

Hiphop Volume 2”, the work of 

the album is already in progress. 

“Our hip-hop industry has 

a lot of potential. If you look at 

the global picture, you’ll see the 

trending use of rap in almost all 

of the hit songs of big industries 

like Hollywood and Bollywood,” 

Mahmood said. 

“Most of the prominent hiphop 

artists are working in TV 

commercials and other aspects 

of the entertainment industry. 

They are releasing solo albums 

in a commercial way because 

the big corporate houses are 

funding them. But when we look 

at the local industry, we see a 

lot of talented artists limiting 

their potential to Facebook or 

YouTube. They have all the 

qualities of a good rapper but the 

monetary deficit is narrowing 

their audience to just friends. 

This is why I took the initiative 

to gather rap artists from almost 

every corner of the country and 

comprised the album with the 

tracks of 200 rappers,” Mahmood 

added on his venture. 

Last year on November 25, 

Murtaza Mahmood launched 

the biggest hip-hop album in the 

country’s history, titled “Deshi 

Hip Hop Volume 1” in which one 

hundred rappers collaborated, 

featuring artists from China, 

USA, India, France, Nigeria, and 

Zambia. 

Murtaza Mahmood Upal, who 

uses the stage name Lucifer, 

sponsored both of the projects. 

GP MUSIC, ROBI YOUNDER, 

Surjorajjo, and Gaan have worked 

as local digital partners of the 

album. The album will also be 

available on i-Tunes, Amazon, 

Google Play, Spotify and Saavn.• 

Spectre 

2:20 pm, Movies Now 

A cryptic message from 

Bond’s past sends him on 

a trail to uncover a sinister 

organization. While M battles 

political forces to keep the 

secret service alive, Bond 

peels back the layers of deceit 

to reveal the terrible truth 

behind SPECTRE. 

Cast: John Logan, Neal Purvis, 

Robert Wade, Jez Butterworth 

Kung Fu Panda 

7:38 pm, HBO 

The Dragon Warrior has to 

clash against the savage Tai 

Lung as China’s fate hangs 

in the balance: However, 

the Dragon Warrior mantle 

is supposedly mistaken to 

be bestowed upon an obese 

panda who is a tyro in martial 

arts. 

Voices: Jack Black, Dustin 

Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, 

Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu •

Showtime 

23 


DT 

Netflix is not a 

threat to cinema: 

Roman Polanski 

Beauty returns with Pashan 

Bondhu 


After a long hiatus of one 

and a half year, Closeup One 

star Beauty is returning with 

another solo album titled 

“Pashan Bondhu”. Consisting 

of three numbers sung by the 

singer, “Pashan Bondhu” will 

mark the fifth solo venture of 

Beauty. 

Mushfique Litu and Sajib 

Das composed the album with 

Ziauddin Alam’s lyric and tune. 

“I’ve become a mother. 

I was been waiting for my 

child to grow up, and that’s 

why, I’ve been missing from 

the scene. My child’s age is 15 

months now and that’s why 

I’ve decided to return to work,” 

said Beauty on her long hiatus. 

Beauty added that she has 

been regular on stage and 

television programs in the 

meantime. While talking about 

her comeback tracks, Beauty 

said, “All of the numbers 

are original. The new album 

consists of three folk songs, as 

I am always comfortable with 

the folk genre.” 

Most of the work of this 

album has been finished. 

Beauty will record the vocal 

within the next week. 

“Pashan Bondhu” is slated 

to be released on the occasion 

of the upcoming Eid, under the 

banner of Jishan Multimedia. 

The album will be available on 

GP Music. • 

Chunky Pandey’s daughter ready to 

enter Bollywood 


Oscar winner and Polish film 

auteur, producer, writer and actor 

Roman Polanski said that Video 

on Demand services are not a 

threat to cinema. When asked 

about the festival’s most talkedabout 

issue, Netflix, Polanski 

replied, “I don’t think it’s a basic 

threat to cinema. People will go to 

the movies not because of better 

sound or projection or better seats 

than in their home, but will go 

to cinema to participate in the 

experience with those around 

them.” 

“People like to experience 

things and spectacle together. 

I think that’s the main reason 

they go to the cinema. It’s a very 

different experience to see Borat 

alone rather than a laughing 

audience,” he added. 

The celebrated director also 

talked about ghost-writers and 

fantasy versus reality. 

“I think the reason is the 

bombardment of information,” 

he said. “You have never been 

so surrounded by information, 

reality, pictures of life around 

you. What is new is that this 

picture that could have served as 

a reference is becoming false. You 

cannot rely on photography as 

a document of the truth. Before 

you could say this is a photo and 

this really happened, but now 

you can cheat within minutes and 

send it to an unlimited number of 

people,” Polanski replied when he 

was asked why he thinks people 

can’t live in reality today. 

However, Polanski’s thriller 

Based on a True Story, which 

revolves around the life of a 

woman who tries to become the 

part of a famous author’s life, 

starring Eva Green and his reallife 

wife Emmanuelle Seigner, 

is playing out of competition in 

Cannes. 

The director’s first featurelength 

film, Knife in the Water 

(1962), made in Poland, was 

nominated for a United States 

Academy Award for the Best 

Foreign Language Film. He 

has received five more Oscar 

nominations since then, along 

with two BAFTAs, four Cesars, 

a Golden Globe Award and the 

Palme d’Or of the Cannes Film 

Festival in France. 

Polanski’s 2013 venture, Venus 

in Fur, also premièred in Cannes 

and ended up winning Polanski 

the Cesar as the best director for 

the film.• 


Chunky Pandey’s daughter, 

Ananya is an aspiring actress. 

And, she is likely to be launched 

by Salman Khan. 

Salman Khan has launched 

the careers of many stars, 

including Sooraj Pancholi and 

Athiya Shetty. Even many star 

kids, including Saif Ali Khan’s 

gorgeous daughter Sara Ali Khan, 

and Sridevi’s daughter Jhanvi 

Kapoor will have to wait for their 

Bollywood launch, while Salman 

Khan launches Chunky Pandey’s 

18-year old daughter, Ananya 

Pandey very soon. 

A thrilled Chunky confirmed 

the developments and said that 

Ananya wants to be an actress. 

The actor said that his daughter 

Ananya had informed him about 

her decision some time ago and 

he will support both his kids in 

whatever dreams they wish to 

pursue. 

Ananya, who graduated three 

days ago, is currently in Goa 

with her friends. She 

will soon start training 

with celebrity fitness 

trainer Yasmin 

Karachiwala. 

“Ananya is 

currently in 

Goa with 

her school 

friends to 

celebrate 

her 

graduation. 

When she is 

back, she will 

start pursuing 

her Bollywood dreams more 

seriously. Her cousin Ahaan 

Panday (Chunky’s brother 

Chiki, and Deanne Panday’s 

son) has also been prepping for 

a Bollywood début. The two 

youngsters have been 

exchanging notes 

about their film 

plans,” a source 

close to the 

development 

was quoted in 

the report of a 

magazine. •

24 


DT 

GOVT PICKS GAZPROM 

OVER BAPEX › 5 

Back Page 

BD-PAK WARM-UP REMINISCENT 

OF STREET CRICKET › 19 

BEAUTY RETURNS WITH 

PASHAN BONDHU › 23 

Grocery prices triple as month of fasting begins 

• Rafikul Islam 

ECONOMY 

Prices of various essential commodities, 

especially vegetables, have risen 

precipitously in the capital’s markets 

ahead of Ramadan despite government 

efforts to regulate prices. 

Visiting the different kitchen 

markets of the capital including Kawranbazar, 

Mohammadpur, Sukrabad, 

Kolabagan and Hatirpur yesterday, 

this reporter saw that prices 

of essentials had almost doubled or 

even tripled in some cases. 

Even though the Trading Corporation 

of Bangladesh(TCB) had 

fixed the prices of many of the 

commodities, wholesalers and retailers 

appeared to be ignoring the 

charts displayed in the markets. 

Prices of aubergine, green chili, 

cucumber, tomato, bitter gourd, potato, 

green papaya, pointed gourd, 

ladies finger, garlic, chickpea, coriander 

leaf, meat, mutton, fish, sugar, 

rice, pulses, date and puffed rice 

have been hiked significantly. 

Commerce Minister Tofail 

Ahmed had earlier warned of stern 

action against those who will try to 

manipulate the supply and prices 

of commodities during the month 

of holy Ramadan. 

Prices of green chili were Tk80-130 

per kg, aubergine Tk80-100, cucumber 

Tk60-100, Jhinga Tk60-80, coriander 

leaf Tk 220-260, potato Tk20- 

30, Tomato Tk40-60, lentil Tk90-100, 

Rui fish Tk350-380, date Tk120-700, 

puffed rice Tk65-100, coarse rice 

Tk48-56, sugar Tk70-80 and lemon 

Tk 5-6.50 apiece in these markets. 

DSCC to employ eight mobile courts 

to monitor kitchen markets 

• Abu Hayat Mahmud 

METRO 

The authorities of Dhaka city corporations 

have warned that they 

will take stern actions if traders 

hike prices of essential commodities 

and adulterate food items to 

maximise their profits during the 

month of Ramadan. 

Dhaka South City Corporation 

(DSCC) Mayor Sayeed Khokon came 

up with the warning yesterday, 

when inspecting Hatirpul Kitchen 

The picture was taken at Hatirpul Bazar in Dhaka on Thursday 

Mutton was sold at prices of 

Tk750-800 a kg against the fixed rate 

of Tk725. Beef was traded at Tk500- 

520 a kg yesterday, whereas the city 

corporations’ fixed rate is Tk475 a kg. 

Bitter gourd was sold for Tk80- 

100, pointed gourd Tk40-60, green 

papaya Tk40-55 and pulse for 

Tk80-130 in the chicken markets of 

the city yesterday. 

Last week, the price of green chili 

was Tk30-40 per kg, aubergine 

Market ahead of the Ramadan. 

DSCC Chief Executive Officer 

Khan Mohammad Bilal and Revenue 

Officer Yousuf Ali Sardar, officials 

of the Directorate of National 

Consumers Rights Protection accompanied 

him at the time. 

“DSCC mobile courts will monitor 

all the kitchen markets within 

its jurisdiction during the Ramadan. 

If anyone is found to be hiking prices 

of goods, our mobile courts will 

take a hard line on them according 

to the city corporation’s regulations,” 

Khokon told reporters. 

There will be eight inspection 

teams in 29 kitchen markets in the 

area, and city corporation’s executive 

magistrates will lead mobile courts 

and inspection teams, he added. 

Earlier, Mayor Khokon told a 

views-exchange meeting that actions 

would be taken against those found to 

be violating the holiness of Ramadan. 

Meanwhile, Dhaka North City 

Corporation (DNCC) has put up price 

charts in markets in its area. On 

Wednesday, DNCC Chief Executive 

Officer Md Mesbahul Islam held a 

meeting with traders’ association at 

the DNCC headquarters, urging them 

not to hike prices of commodities. • 

Tk30-40, cucumber Tk25-35, Jhinga 

Tk35, coriander leaves Tk180-200, 

lemon Tk12-16 per haali (four pieces) 

Potato Tk.20-25, Tomato Tk25-35, 

lentil Tk70-80, fish Rui a kg Tk200- 

230, date Tk 80-580 and puffed rice 

Tk55-60, rice coarse Tk 42-45 and 

sugar Tk65-70 in the markets. 

Tamanna Begum, who came to 

get groceries at Karwan Bazar, said: 

“We have to buy these daily essential 

commodities. We have no alternative. 

Monitoring the markets 

is the government’s job. We want 

the government to be active so that 

traders cannot hike prices. The 

price hike is an immense burden 

for poor people.” 

Ahmed Jamil, a vegetable trader 

of Hatirpul kitchen market, said: 

“How can we follow the Dhaka 

South City Corporation chart? We 

bought aubergine for Tk70 a kg 

from the wholesale market in Kawranbazar 

but the DSCC wants the retail 

price to be Tk65. This is absurd. 

“Also, we get massive pre-orders 

for different products from restaurants 

ahead of Ramadan but there 

is a shortage in the market. That’s’ 

why prices have increased.” 

Retailers blamed the soaring prices 

of vegetables on a supply shortage. 

“Traders are making excessive 

profits in the name of a supply 

crunch,” Jamil said. • 

Ramadan begins today 


FAITH 

Ramadan, the lunar month of 

self-purification through fasting 

and abstinence, will begin in the 

country today. 

Lailatul Qadr, the night of divine 

blessing and benediction, will be 

observed on June 22, reports UNB. 

The National Moon-sighting 

Committee took the decision at a 

meeting held at Baitul Mukarram 

National Mosque in the city, with 

Religious Affairs Minister Principal 

Matior Rahman in chair, as the new 

moon was not sighted anywhere in 


Bangladesh on Friday. 

Muslims are meant to fast from 

dawn to dusk during the lunar month, 

a time of restraint and austerity. 

During the holy month, all government, 

semi-government, autonomous 

and semi-autonomous institutions 

will follow new office timings as 

announced by the government. 

All these offices will remain open 

from 9:00am to 3:30pm, with a 

15-minute prayer break from 1:15pm 

to 1:30pm during the month. 

Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid, 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 

and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia 

issued separate messages greeting 

countrymen and the Muslim Ummah 

on the occasion. • 

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 

8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

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