e_Paper, Tuesday, July 18, 2017

SECOND EDITION 

TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2017 | Shrabon 3, 1424, Shawwal 23, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 71 | www.dhakatribune.com | 24 pages | Price: Tk10 

RAJIB DHAR 

Did Bangladesh slip up in 

chikungunya prevention? › 2 

Rice price 

unlikely to 

drop despite 

import from 

Vietnam › 2 

Zubaida 

Rahman 

likely to 

join politics 

soon? › 5 

Mamata 

offended at 

Hindu extremists 

insulting Sheikh 

Hasina › 6 

Measles 

outbreak 

among 

Sitakunda 

children › 7

2 

TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2017 

DT 

News 

Did Bangladesh slip up in 

• Manik Miazee 

SPECIAL 

An on-duty doctor is talking to a patient diagnosed with Chikungunya at Dhaka Medical College Hospital 

Usually, the city corporation’s concerned department sprays 

insecticides every five days, to control all types of mosquitoes 

including the Aedes variety. However, recently we have increased 

that to spraying every three days 

Last year, the World Health Organization 

(WHO) predicted that Bangladesh 

was at risk from an outbreak 

of chikungunya, a mosquito-borne 

virus that shares many common 

symptoms with dengue. 

Bangladesh, in a bid to mitigate 

the outbreak of dengue, signed on 

to the World Health Organization’s 

Global Strategy for Dengue Prevention 

and Control last year, which 

also covers measures against the 

spread of Chikunguniya. 

The Dhaka Tribune has found 

that a lack of coordination and 

knowledge about this global prevention 

strategy has left all government 

bodies concerned shifting the 

blame between each other, leaving 

the virus to spread almost at will. 

Director of the Institute of Epidemiology 

Disease Control and Research 

(IEDCR), Prof Dr Meerjady 

Sabrina Flora said they had predicted 

this outbreak a year ago and 

warned the concerned government 

agencies to prepare for it. 

She told the Dhaka Tribune that 

the IEDCR was following the WHO 

guidelines and has for a year been 

presenting seminars with representatives 

of public and private 

organisations including that of the 

city corporations to prevent this 

outbreak. 

However, officials at the Dhaka 

City Corporations, which are 

in charge of controlling the Aedes 

mosquito, that spreads both chikungunya 

and dengue, said they 

were not aware of the WHO Strategy 

for Dengue Prevention and 

Control that was adopted by the 

government. 

Prof Samia Tahmina, director 

(Disease Control) of the Directorate 

General of Health Services told 

the Dhaka Tribune that following 

adoption of the WHO strategy, the 

Directorate gave instructions to the 

relevant agencies to take action. 

This guideline for the prevention 

and control of chikungunya 

fever (CF) is intended to be used 

by all peripheral health workers in 

the region and is focused mainly on 

preventing, predicting and detecting 

outbreaks. 

The six components of the regional 

strategy are: strengthening 

surveillance system for prediction, 

preparedness, early detection and 

response to chikungunya outbreaks, 

improvement in early case 

detection and case management 

of chikungunya fever, integrated 

vector management (IVM), social 

mobilization and communication, 

partnerships and operational research. 

MEHEDI HASAN 

Prof Dr Flora of IEDCR said the 

first known case of chikungunya 

happened in 2008. This year they 

have detected some 706 cases so 

far. Independent experts say the 

actual number of people affected 

could be in the tens of thousands. 

The World Health Organization 

declined to comment for this story. 

Government officials have denied 

responsibility for the spread of 

chikunguniya in Dhaka 

Additional Secretary (PH and 

WHO) of the Ministry of Health and 

Family Welfare, Rukhsana Kader 

said she was unaware of the WHO 

prevention strategy and referred 

the Dhaka Tribune to her personal 

Rice price unlikely to drop despite import from Vietnam 

• Rafikul Islam 

MARKET 

Rice traders have warned of continued 

high prices of the staple 

food, saying fresh imports from 

Vietnam will have little effect “any 

time soon” as they will not be distributed 

for Open Market Sale to 

the general public. 

A total of 47,000 tonnes of rice 

have arrived at the Chittagong port 

in two consignments in the past 

week. The first batch of 20,000 

tonnes arrived on July 13 and has 

already been unloaded, while the 

second shipment of 27,000 tonnes 

reached the port city yesterday. 

Asked about the destination 

of the imported rice, Md Zahirul 

Islam, controller, Movement and 

Storage, Chittagong Food Department, 

told the Dhaka Tribune that 

the government is yet to take any 

decision in this regard. 

“It is white rice, not the parboiled 

one so it could not be distributed 

only for open markets,” 

he said. “It might go for rationing 

to the government employees, or 

to flood-affected people.” 

But after visiting different 

kitchen markets across the city 

yesterday, the Dhaka Tribune 

found rice prices remains high 

with traders not envisaging a drop 

for the next couple of months. 

Amirul Islam, proprietor of 

Chatkhil Rice Agency at Karwanbazar 

wholesale market in Dhaka, 

said there had been no change of 

rice price this week. 

“I do not see the price come 

down soon; rather, we are worried 

over whether the price shoots up 

in coming days,” he said. 

“We sell coarse rice at Tk2,050, 

Minicate at Tk2,700, Paizom at 

Tk2,100 and Brri-28 at Tk2,500 and 

Najir Shail at Tk30,000 per 50kg sack. 

Amirul said the government cut 

in rice import duty to 18% from 

28% had also failed to rein in prices 

since the Indian government increased 

its export price by Tk2-Tk3 

per kg after the duty cut. 

As the price of paddy has gone 

up in local market as well as India’s 

hike in export price, there is hardly 

any possibility that the price will 

drop soon. 

Usually, the government reserves 

some 500,000 to 600,000 

tonnes of rice every year, while 3.4 

million tonnes are needed to feed

News 

TUESDAY, 

3 

JULY 18, 2017 

DT 

chikungunya prevention? 

WHO GLOBAL STRATEGY FOR DENGUE PREVENTION 

Preventing or reducing virus transmission depends 

entirely on controlling the mosquito vectors or interruption 

of human–vector contact. 

WHO promotes the strategic approach known as 

Integrated Vector Management (IVM) to control 

mosquito vectors, including those of dengue. 

Carry out advocacy, social mobilization, regulatory 

control for public health and empowerment of 

communities. 

Collaboration within the health sector and with 

other sectors through the optimal use of resources, 

planning, monitoring and decision-making. 

Integration of non-chemical and chemical vector 

control methods, and integration with other disease 

control measures. 

secretary who was also unaware 

of the adoption of the strategy in 

2016. 

Dhaka North City Corporation 

(DNCC) Mayor Annisul Huq on Friday 

said that the city corporations 

are not to blame for the spread of 

chikungunya in Dhaka, while experts 

claimed the mosquito-borne 

disease had turned into an epidemic. 

Speaking at a press conference 

organised at the DNCC headquarters 

in Gulshan 2, Mayor Annisul 

Huq said: “Usually, the city corporation’s 

concerned department 

sprays insecticides every five days, 

to control all types of mosquitoes 

including the Aedes variety. However, 

recently we have increased 

that to spraying every three days.” 

CEO of DNCC Mesbahul Islam 

said disease control is not the job 

of the city corporations, adding: 

“The Dhaka North City is big area 

to manage and there are a lot of 

things that the DNCC does. There 

is a health department that might 

be aware of the WHO strategy and 

how to mitigate this chikungunya 

issue.” 

However, DNCC Chief Health 

Officer, Brig Gen Dr S M M Saleh 

Bhuiyan said they had not received 

a directive from the Health Ministry 

or any other government bodies 

regarding the WHO guidelines. 

“If they knew this was going to 

turn into an epidemic then why did 

they not take actions earlier? They 

should have begun with the vector 

control mechanism. We are not 

aware or equipped to do that. 

“We also do not know about 

their surveillance report on vector 

borne viral disease,” he said. 

The vector for Chikungunya is 

the Aedes Aegypti mosquito which 

breeds in still water in urban areas. 

Vector surveillance during 

pre-monsoon and during the monsoon, 

if done appropriately, will 

provide an early warning indicator 

prior to the outbreak of chikungunya. 

Vector control can be done 

through anti-adult and anti-larval 

control of mosquitoes. 

According to data collected 

Evidence-based decision making guided by operational 

research and entomological and epidemiological 

surveillance and evaluation. 

Development of adequate human resources, training 

and career structures at national and local level 

to promote capacity building and manage vector 

management programmes 

Transmission control activities should target Ae. 

aegypti (or any of the other vectors depending on 

the evidence of transmission) in its immature (egg, 

larva, and pupa) and adult stages in the household 

and immediate vicinity. This includes other settings 

where human–vector contact occurs, such as 

schools, hospitals and workplaces. 

Source: World Health Organization 

from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib 

Medical University (BSMMU), 

thousands of cases of chikunguniya 

have been treated at the hospital 

this year. 

Experts said vector-borne viral 

diseases affect a country in 4 to 5 

year cycles. 

Annual Report: Communicable 

Disease Control Bangladesh 2012, 

says, Chikungunya fever (CKGF), 

a dengue like disease, is emerging 

alarmingly in Bangladesh in recent 

years. It is a mosquito borne 

virus, from the genus Alpha virus. 

In the recent past, there were 

two outbreaks in Rajshahi and 

Pabna districts of Bangladesh. In 

2011 suspected chikungunya fever 

outbreaks was detected in Dohar 

upazila of Dhaka district and Shibganj 

upazila of Chapainawabganj 

district in August. No fatality was 

observed during that time. The 

disease does not claim mortality 

but persistent arthralgia may lead 

to patient’s sufferings. Diagnosis 

of CKGF is important to screen the 

suspected cases with dengue. • 

Pharmacies run out of 

suppositories as 

chikungunya cases rise 

• Nawaz Farhin 

HEALTH 

Fatema Begum, a 34-year-old from 

Dhaka’s Kallyanpur area has been suffering 

from chikungunya for the last 15 

days. And the shortage of paracetamol 

suppositiories in the market has just 

added to her suffering. 

“I have been trying to buy some for 

the last two weeks. But it is not available 

in the market,” she said and explained 

that the medicine was prescribed by 

her doctor to tackle the joint aches 

and bring down the high fever that 

accompanies the mosquito-borne 

disease. 

A private university student in 

Dhaka, Md Rizvi, is yet to overcome the 

severe pain in several joints of his body 

although he is in the fourth day of the 

fever. He also failed to get his hands on 

the much-needed suppositories. 

The wax-like round or cone-shaped 

form of the popular over the counter 

medicine is usually administered 

through the rectum, which, once inside, 

melts and ensures speedy intake and 

reaction. 

Usually administered to speedily 

bring down high fevers or tackle pain, 

the recent outbreak of the chikungunya 

virus has seen a sudden hike in the 

demand for paracetamol suppositories, 

catching the large medicine producers 

in the country off guard. 

Suppositories produced by popular 

local companies such as Beximco 

Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Opsonin Pharma 

Ltd, Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd, ACME 

Laboratories Ltd, and ACI Pharmaceuticals 

have seemingly disappeared from 

the market. 

“We are forced to turn down roughly 

30 customers looking for paracetamol 

suppositories every day because of crisis 

in supply,” said Ziad Mahmud Samit, 

owner of Asian Drugs in Kalabagan. 

He added, “You will see the same 

scenario at the other drugstores in the 

city.” 

Pharmacy owners and employees 

have pointed out that as the number of 

chikungunya-affected patients are soaring, 

so is the demand for Paracetamol 

500mg suppositories and Napa 500 

suppositories. 

“Since there is no specific medication 

for Chikungunya, patients are 

having to rely on suppositories to reduce 

the pain and the fever as it works 

quicker than its orally-administered versions,” 

said Chandan Shah, a salesman 

at Lazz Pharma in Kalabagan, Dhaka. 

But the drugstore owners and employees 

also claimed the shortage might 

be “short-lived” as the pharmaceutical 

companies have upped the supply to 

the market. 

“Over the past two weeks, the supply 

of suppositories have increased, but 

it is still not enough to meet the hike in 

demand,” said Md Kashem, owner of 

Kashem Drugs in Kalabagan. 

Over one month, until July 14, the 

Institute of Epidemiology, Disease 

Control and Research (IEDCR) received 

1,249 emails from several hospitals in 

the capital alerting them about the rise 

in Chikungunya-infected patients. 

Experts at a programme organised 

by Dhaka North City Corporation on 

July 14 claimed the viral infection has 

already turned into an epidemic. 

They also stressed on speedy steps 

to contain mosquitoes, specially the 

Aedes variety, as they fear that the 

situation might become uncontrollable 

since they not spread chikungunya but 

dengue and zika as well. • 

the country in a single year. 

A total of 165,000tonnes of 

rice are in reserve now. According 

to the Food Ministry, the private 

sector imported 133,000 tonnes 

between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 

2017, but the government did not 

make any imports during that time. 

Azad Mia, Azad Rice Agency, Mohammadpur, 

hailed the import from 

Vietnam, but cast doubt on a possible 

price decrease anytime soon. 

“Around 6 lakh tonnes of rice 

needs to be reserved for the country 

while the current amount is not 

enough,” he said. 

“However, the imported rice is 

not available in the markets. We 

look forward to seeing when the 

price comes down (but) it will take 

at least six months.” 

Bangladesh Rice Merchants Association 

Vice President Zakir Hossain 

Rony said he expects the price 

of coarse rice to reduce by Tk35 and 

fine ones by Tk45, “but to no avail.” 

In total the government has purchased 

200,000 tonnes of white rice 

at $430 per tonne and 50,000 tonnes 

of parboiled rice at $470 per tonne 

from Vietnam to maintain immediate 

availability of stock in the market, 

as well as reserves, according to 

the Food Ministry proposal. • 

27,000 tons of Vietnamese rice arrives 

• Anwar Hussain, Chittagong 

MARKET 

The second consignment of rice 

that the government purchased 

from Vietnam has arrived at the 

Chittagong Port. 

The ship carrying 27,000 tons 

of rice anchored at the Kutubdia 

outer anchorage around 2:30am 

Monday, Controller of Movement 

and Storage Jahirul Islam of the 

Department of Food Chittagong 

told the Dhaka Tribune. 

He said the third consignment 

would arrive on July 21. 

The official further said 60% of 

the total imported rice from Vietnam 

would be unloaded at Chittagong 

port while the rest 40% at 

Mongla Port. 

The government has purchased 

200,000 tons of white rice at $430 

per ton and 50,000 tons of parboiled 

rice at $470 per ton from 

Vietnam to maintain immediate 

availability of stock in the market, 

as well as reserves. 

The country’s rice stock has hit 

a five year low, at 193,000 tons. 

Amid the soaring prices of rice, 

the government on June 20 decided 

to cut the duty on the staple 

food import by 18%. 

Bangladesh produces around 

34 million tons of rice annually 

but uses almost all its production 

to feed its population of 160 million. 

It often requires imports, 

however, to cope with shortages 

caused by natural calamities like 

floods and droughts.

4 


DT 

Four Ashulia 

militants put on 

4-day remand 

• Nadim Hossain, Savar 

COURTS 

A Dhaka court on Monday placed 

four suspected militants, who 

surrendered to members of Rapid 

Action Battalion (RAB) during an 

anti-militant drive in Ashulia on 

Sunday, on a four-day remand. 

Senior Judicial Magistrate 

Fairuz Tasnim passed the order 

when Unu Mong, senior assistant 

police superintendent of RAB 4 

and also the investigation officer 

of the case, produced them before 

the court seeking a 10-day remand 

for each. 

The four suspected militants– 

Mozammel Haq, Rashedun Nabi, 

Erfan Ul Haq and Mohammd Alamgir 

Hosain–were remanded in a 

case filed under the Anti-Terrorism 

Act on April 27 with Savar police 

station. 

On April, 27, police arrested 

three suspected members of 

JMB along with explosive materials 

during an anti-militant 

drive at Rajphulbaria Bus Stand 

in Savar. 

On Sunday, members of Rapid 

Action Battalion (Rab) in an 

anti-militant raid on a hideout at 

Chakalgram-Chourapara in Ashulia 

, arrested the four suspected militants, 

aged between 20 and 22, following 

their surrender to the elite 

force. 

Later they were shown arrested 

in the case filed with Savar police 

station on April 27. • 

News 

Parents, paternal relatives NID 

necessary to register as new 

voters in 30 southern upazilas 

• Bilkis Irani 

ELECTION 

New voters of 30 upazilas in Chittagong, 

Cox’s Bazaar, Bandarban 

and Rangamati districts will have 

to submit photocopies of their 

parents’ and paternal uncles and 

aunts’ National Identity Cards 

(NID) to become voters in the recent 

voter list update campaign. 

“The measure has been taken to 

prevent Rohingyas and foreigners 

becoming voters during the voter 

list updating campaign,” Election 

Commission (EC) Secretary Muhammad 

Abdullah said on Monday. 

He made the remark while 

talking to reporters after the first 

meeting with the members of newly-formed 

EC central committee at 

Election Commission Bhaban in 

Dhaka’s Agargaon. 

The EC secretary said: “We are 

considering 30 upazilas from Chittagong, 

Cox’s Bazaar, Bandarban and 

At least 30 

specially-formed 

EC committees will 

be deployed in the 

special areas during 

the voter list update 

campaign 

Rangamati as special areas. These 

upazilas will be under special monitoring 

during the voter list updating 

campaign as the chance of enlisting 

Rohingyas and other foreigners as 

voters is higher in these areas.” 

Among the 30 upazilas, 20 were 

previously marked as special areas 

and 10 upazilas are being included 

for the first time, the EC secretary 

added. At least 30 specially-formed 

committees of the EC will be deployed 

in the special areas during 

the voter list update campaign. 

Around 3.5 million first-time 

voters are expected to be registered 

nationwide in this voter list update 

campaign, which will start from 

July 25. 

EC officials will knock each door 

of the nation to collect data during 

the 72-day campaign. They will 

publish the draft of updated voter 

list on January 2 in 2018. 

The new voter list will be finalised 

on January 31, 2018 as per the 

schedule. • 

Dhaka terror attack 

mastermind, grenade 

supplier put on fresh 

remands 

• Md Sanaul Islam Tipu 

COURTS 

A Dhaka court yesterday 

placed Jahangir Alam alias Rajib 

Gandhi, one of the masterminds 

of Dhaka terror attack, 

on a three-day fresh remand 

in another case filed with Dhanmondi 

police station under 

the Anti-Terrorism Act. 

Metropolitan Magistrate 

Shadbir Yasir Ahsan Chowdhury 

granted the remand 

prayer after investigation officer 

Rafiqul Islam, also sub-inspector 

of Counter Terrorism 

and Transnational Crime unit, 

produced Rajib before the 

court seeking on a seven-day 

remand for interrogation. 

Earlier on July 10, another 

metropolitan magistrate 

granted seven days remand 

for Rajib in the case. 

According to the case, on 

November 1, 2016, at least 10 

to 12 militants were in a secret 

meeting in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi 

area when the police conducted 

a drive and detained 

two from the spot. The others 

had manged to flee the area. 

After the incident, Sub-inspector 

Modasser Kawsar of 

CTTC unit filed a case with the 

local police station. CTTC unit 

showed Rajib arrested in the 

case on February 5. 

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court 

yesterday placed Sohel Mahfuz, 

the “grenade supplier” 

for the attack at Holey Artisan 

Bakery in Dhaka’s Gulshan, 

on a six-day fresh remand in a 

case filed over the attack. 

Metropolitan Magistrate 

Satyabrata Shikder passed the 

order after Counter Terrorism 

and Transnational Crime unit 

Inspector Humayun Kabir, 

also investigation officer of 

the case, produced him before 

the court seeking an eight-day 

remand for interrogation. 

In his remand prayer, the investigation 

officer, said the accused 

had previously given vital 

information on the Dhaka terror 

attack and the police need to 

quiz him again to find out more 

information on the incident. 

After hearing, the court 

granted a six-day remand for 

the accused. However, there 

was no lawyer to represent 

Sohel Mahfuz, nor did he say 

anything during the hearing. 

On July 09, another metropolitan 

magistrate had granted 

seven days police remand 

for Sohel in the case. 

Earlier, CTTC unit arrested 

Mahfuz along with three 

accomplices in the bordering 

Shibganj upazila of Chapainawabganj 

on July 8. •

News 5 


Zubaida Rahman likely to join 

politics soon? 

DT 

• Manik Miazee 

POLITICS 

The wife of BNP senior vice-chairman 

Tarique Rahman is likely to 

enter politics soon to assist his 

mother, party Chairperson Khaleda 

Zia, in the upcoming general election 

campaign. 

A number of senior leaders of the 

party believe that Dr Zubaida Rahman, 

who lives in London with her 

husband and daughter, is capable 

of revamping and rejuvenating the 

crisis-riddled party through mass 

communication before the next 

polls set to be held in early 2019. 

Party insiders said Khaleda 

would discuss the issue with Zubaida 

and Tarique during her ongoing 

visit to the UK. 

During their meetings in London, 

Khaleda, Tarique and Zubaida 

South Korea seeks rare talks with 

North to ease military tensions 

• Tribune Desk 

WORLD 

South Korea offered Monday to talk 

with North Korea to ease animosities 

along their tense border and 

resume reunions of families separated 

by their war in the 1950s. 

It’s unclear if North Korea would 

agree to the proposed talks as it 

remains suspicious of the South 

Korean president’s overtures, seeing 

the new leader’s more liberal 

policy as still resorting to the US to 

force North Korea to disarm. 

Seoul’s proposal for two sets of 

talks indicates President Moon Jaein 

is pushing to improve ties with 

Pyongyang despite the North’s first 

intercontinental ballistic missile 

this month. 

Vice Defence Minister Suh Choo 

Suk said the South’s defence officials 

are proposing talks at the border 

village of Panmunjom on Friday 

to discuss how to end hostile 

activities along the border. Seoul’s 

acting Red Cross chief Kim Sun 

Hyang said it wants separate talks 

at the border village on August 1 to 

discuss family reunions. 

North Korea’s state media hasn’t 

will also prepare a roadmap and 

determine the party’s course of action 

for the polls, they added. 

Preferring to be anonymous, a 

top-level BNP leader told the Dhaka 

Tribune that the BNP chief recently 

discussed Zubaida’s induction into 

politics with the standing committee 

members, and they supported 

immediately responded to South 

Korea’s overtures. 

Earlier this month, Moon reiterated 

he’s willing to meet North Korean 

leader Kim Jong Un if conditions are 

met. Moon also said the two Koreas 

must halt hostile activities along the 

border, restart family reunions and 

cooperate on the 2018 Winter Olympics 

to be held in South Korea. 

Moon has said he would use 

her in this move. 

Zubaida will be inducted into 

the party amid rumours that 

Khaleda might be convicted at any 

time in any one of several cases 

filed against her, according to party 

sources. Tarique’s own direct 

involvement in politics has been 

complicated by his conviction 

in one of the 14 graft cases filed 

against him. 

Tarique was arrested during the 

political changeover in 2007 and 

went to the UK for treatment on 

September 11, 2008. Since then, he 

has been living there with his wife 

and daughter, while his mother 

Khaleda has been in politics alone 

without any of her family members. 

Zubaida’s reputation 

BNP leaders said Zubaida is from 

an active political family and so it 

would be “quite natural for her to 

both dialogues and pressures to 

resolve the standoff over North 

Korea’s nuclear program. But his 

push has reported little progress 

with the North test-firing a series 

of newly developed missiles since 

Moon’s May 10 inauguration. 

The North’s ICBM launch has 

stoked security worries as it showed 

the country could eventually perfect 

a reliable nuclear missile capable of 

come into politics”. 

The daughter of former navy 

chief MA Khan, Dr Zubaida “will be 

able to bring a qualitative change to 

the country’s politics with her aptitude 

and reputation,” they believed. 

The party’s grassroots workers, 

too, prefer her to play an active role in 

the party in absence of her husband. 

BNP standing committee member 

Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman 

said: “There is no obstacle to 

her joining politics. The country 

has been undergoing a political 

crisis. So, we need her in politics at 

this moment.” 

In August last year, Awami 

League President and Prime Minister 

Sheikh praised Zubaida, saying 

“she will do well as a politician.” 

Meanwhile, the BNP standing 

committee on Thursday called a 

meeting to discuss Bangladesh’s 

current political situation. • 

In this June 

13, 2000, file 

photo, then 

North Korean 

leader Kim Jong 

Il, left, and then 

South Korean 

President 

Kim Dae-jung 

shake hands in 

Pyongyang 

AP 

reaching anywhere in the US. 

After the launch, Kim said he 

would never negotiate his weapons 

programmes unless the US 

abandons its hostile policy toward 

his country. Kim’s statement suggested 

he will order more missile 

and nuclear tests until North Korea 

develops a functioning ICBM that 

can place the entire US within its 

striking distance. • 

DU teacher 

Fahmidul 

Haq regrets 

Facebook post 

• Fahim Reza Shovon 

CURRENT AFFAIRS 

A Dhaka University professor of 

journalism has expressed regret 

for a Facebook post which brought 

false allegations against a colleague. 

At an academic meeting held 

on Sunday afternoon, Associate 

Professor Fahmidul Haq came to a 

“mutual understanding” on the issue 

with Professor Dr Abul Mansur 

Ahmed, who are both of the mass 

communication and journalism 

(MCJ) department. 

MCJ Chairperson Professor Mofizur 

Rahman said: “After a discussion 

in the meeting, Prof Fahmidul 

expressed regret [for his initial post] 

and Prof Mansur expressed his willingness 

to withdraw the case.” 

Professor Dr Abul Mansur Ahmed 

had himself been criticised for filing 

a case against his departmental colleague 

on July 12 under Section 57, 

even though he spoke against the 

controversial issues of the section at 

a student rally only three days earlier. 

Section 57 of the ICT Act stipulates 

that any post, image, or video 

on an electronic format that “causes 

to deteriorate law and order, 

prejudice the image of the state or 

person or hurt religious beliefs” are 

non-bailable offences. 

Numerous journalists, students 

and teachers have been imprisoned 

under Section 57 and the act 

has been called “draconian” in its 

implementation and criticised for 

how it can be interpreted by law 

enforcement agencies. 

The punishment is a minimum 

seven years in prison and up to a 

maximum of 14 years. The fines 

can go up to Tk1 crore. 

In the case statement, Prof Mansur 

alleged that Fahmidul posted 

on a Facebook group bringing false 

allegation against him. 

Prof Fahmidul gave another post 

on the Facebook group saying sorry 

for his initial post, according to a 

press release issued by the journalism 

department on Sunday. • 

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY 

Dhaka 35 26 Chittagong 33 28 Rajshahi 35 27 Rangpur 36 27 Khulna 34 28 Barisal 33 27 Sylhet 35 26 

Cox’s Bazar 30 26 

RAIN LIKELY 

TUESDAY, JULY 18 

DHAKA 

TODAY 

TOMORROW 

SUN SETS 6:48PM 

SUN RISES 5:22AM 

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW 

37.6ºC 

25.6ºC 

Dinajpur 

Gopalganj 

Source: Accuweather/UNB 

PRAYER 

TIMES 

Fajr: 4:45am | Zohr: 1:15pm 

Asr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 7:00pm 

Esha: 8:45pm 

Source: Islamic Foundation

6 


DT 

News 

Mamata offended at Hindu extremists 

insulting Hasina 

• Ranjan Basu, Delhi 

WORLD 

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister 

of the Indian state of West Bengal, 

appears to have taken offense 

with the burning of an effigy of 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by a 

right-wing group in Kolkata. 

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a 

Hindu extremist group, held this 

demo outside the Bangladesh Deputy 

High Commission in Kolkata in 

protest of what they say is the persecution 

of Hindus in the country. 

Mamata, whose interpositions 

have kept the crucial Teesta River 

water sharing treaty between Dhaka 

and Delhi from happening for 

six years, inflicting a major dent in 

bilateral ties, appeared upset with 

this insult against Sheikh Hasina. 

She wrote a letter to the BJPled 

central government asking it 

to reign in the Parishad’s unruly 

activists, saying this disrespectful 

gesture towards Hasina would not 

bode well for India-Bangladesh ties. 

Hindu Parishad members shouted 

slogans against the Bangladesh 

government at their protest on July 

1, which Mamata’s government 

permitted to be held in front of the 

deputy high commission. They also 

submitted a memorandum to the 

commission that said the Bangladesh 

government had failed to protect 

the minority Hindu community. 

Two weeks after that protest, a 

letter was sent from the West Bengal 

chief minister’s office to Union 

NIA arrives in Dhaka to gather 

information on Hatkata Mahfuz 

• Arifur Rahman Rabbi 

CURRENT AFFAIRS 

India’s National Investigation 

Agency (NIA) has arrived in Dhaka 

yesterday, to speak to Sohel Mahfuz 

alias Hatkata Mahfuz, who is 

currently wanted in the country for 

the 2014 Burdwan blast case. 

The three-member team 

reached Hazrat Shahjalal International 

Airport yesterday morning. 

They met with Bangladesh police 

officials and exchanged information 

about the militancy issue that 

affects both the countries. 

Meanwhile, a team of the Special 

Task Force of Kolkata police 

(STF) has already arrived in Dhaka 

on Saturday for the same reasons. 

Assistant Inspector General 

(AIG) (Intelligence and Special 

Affairs) Md Moniruzzaman confirmed 

their arrival and told the 

Dhaka Tribune that a meeting was 

held with the NIA at the police 

headquarters regarding the militancy 

issue and Hatkata Mahfuz. 

“We discussed common militant 

operators who are in India. We are 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee greeted by Bangladesh Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina on their visit to the country in 2015 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

‘We have told them 

that some places in 

India are vulnerable 

and need increased 

surveillance’ 

sharing information about the arrested 

militants of both country. 

“We wanted to know about the 

militants who went to India, the 

source of arms or explosives and 

involvement in smuggling, their 

custodian and asylum assistants, 

who they have been interacting 

with, so on and so forth. 

“We have told them that some 

places in India are vulnerable and 

need increased surveillance. From 

the information we received, we 

have discovered that some of our 

wanted militants have already 

been arrested by the Indian police 

and we have been invited to go and 

interrogate them,” said AIG Moniruzzaman. 

When asked about the NIA’s interest 

in Hatkata Mahfuz, Moniruzzaman 

said: “Hatkata Mahfuz was 

in India for a long time. He is a militant 

involved in the Burdwan blast 

case. NIA shared the information 

they had on him and vise versa.” 

According to the sources, the 

Special Task Force (STF) members 

want to know about how the JMB 

and New JMB were organized in 

different provinces of India including 

the West Bengal. 

Top militants Hatkata Mahfuz 

has been involved with militant 

activities in the Murshidabad area 

of West Bengal from 2009 to 2014, 

almost five years. 

During his interrogation, Hatkata 

Mahfuz said he had a training 

camp at Shimulia Madrasa in 

Murshidabad. In the madrasa, he 

trained more than a hundred members 

of the JMB. Indian police officials 

are eager to know more about 

these people. 

A list of militants has been exchanged 

with India’s Special Task 

Force. They are particularly interested 

in the militants who have travelled 

to India from Bangladesh. They 

have also inquired if the New JMB 

had built a militant den in India. • 

Minister of External Affairs Sushma 

Swaraj. In that letter, Mamata 

demanded that the centre control 

the Hindu Parishad’s behaviour. 

“The manner in which the Viswa 

Hindu Parishad protested in Kolkata 

that day does not bode well for 

India-Bangladesh diplomatic relations. 

If the Indian government truly 

wants Dhaka on its side, it should 

control the unruly behaviour of the 

Sangh Parivar and its members,” 

Mamata wrote in the letter. 

Hindu Parishad and several 

other right wing Hindu nationalist 

organisations are members of the 

umbrella organisation Sangh Parivar, 

along with Rashtriya Swayamsevak 

Sangh (RSS), which is considered 

the parent organisation of the 

ruling BJP party. 

Hindu Parishad meanwhile reacted 

derisively to Mamata’s letter. 

“First of all, we don’t take orders 

from the BJP government in Delhi. So 

it is unclear what it means when she 

asks the central government to control 

us,” Parishad spokesperson Vinod 

Bansal told the Bangla Tribune. 

“Second, the Parishad is willing 

to listen to anyone but Mamata 

Banerjee about what will improve 

Bangladesh-India ties,” he added. 

Parishad sources also said that 

although Sheikh Hasina was a great 

friend of India, “she must take responsibility 

for the persecution 

of Hindus in Bangladesh and take 

measures to protect the Hindus.” 

The Viswa Hindu Parishad did not 

feel that bilateral ties would be affected 

if it reminds her of those responsibilities. 

External Affairs Minister 

Sushma Swaraj appeared in front of 

the press in Delhi the same day, but 

she or the ministry officials did not 

comment about Mamata’s letter. • 

This story was first published on the 

Bangla Tribune 

India votes for next president 

from Dalit background 

• AFP, New Delhi 

WORLD 

Indian lawmakers voted Monday 

for a new president certain to come 

from the bottom of the Hindu 

caste system, in an election seen as 

strengthening Prime Minister Narendra 

Modi’s grip on power. 

Some 4,900 legislators nationwide 

voted in what Modi termed 

a “historic” election to choose the 

titular head of state. 

Ram Nath Kovind, the 

candidate of Modi’s right-wing 

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a 

former lawyer and state governor 

from the Dalit community, is 

certain to win. 

His main rival is Meira Kumar, 

the nominee of the Congress-led 

opposition and also a Dalit. 

But the BJP, which won a landslide 

in a general election in 2014, 

has for the first time assembled 

enough electoral college votes 

across the country to push through 

its presidential candidate. Congress 

has traditionally dominated 

the post. 

The result will be announced 

Thursday. 

Dalit attack 

Analysts said the election of 

Kovind, 71, would help Modi tighten 

his grip on power and accrue 

political capital by sending an 

important message to the Dalits, 

a long-disdained electoral group 

once known as “untouchables”. 

Dalits, who number around 

200m in the nation of 1.3bn, are 

among India’s poorest communities 

and relegated to the margins of 

society. 

Despite legal protection, discrimination 

is rife and Dalits are 

routinely denied access to education 

and other advancement opportunities. 

On the day of the vote, media 

reported the case of a Dalit labourer 

allegedly beaten to death by upper-caste 

attackers, highlighting 

the plight of the “untouchable” 

caste. 

Votes from the BJP’s traditional 

Hindu base propelled Modi to his 

2014 legislative victory, especially 

in the battleground states of Uttar 

Pradesh and Bihar. 

Dalit support will be key for the 

BJP before the 2019 general election 

as the party has been largely 

shunned by Muslims. •

News 

TUESDAY, 

7 

JULY 18, 2017 

DT 

Measles outbreak among 

Sitakunda children 


HEALTH 

Nine children, who recently died 

in Sitakunda, were suffering from 

measles, says the Institute of Epidemiology, 

Disease Control and 

Research (IEDCR). 

“The children died in Tripura 

Para after they were affected by 

the measles virus...but the virus 

will not further spread,” Prof Abul 

Kalam Azad, director general of the 

Directorate General of Health Services 

told the media, reports BSS. 

He said a five-member rapid response 

team of IEDCR, led by its 

chief scientific officer, immediately 

visited Tripura Para and collected 

data from the field. It also visited 

two hospitals and collected samples 

of patients’ blood and throat swab 

and sent it to the IEDCR laboratory. 

Prof Azad said the samples were 

tested at the laboratories of IEDCR 

and Public Health Institute. Both 

identified the measles virus. 

“After examining symptoms of 

the patients and testing the samples, 

we can confirm that the children 

of Tripura Para were affected 

by the measles virus. As the children 

suffered from malnutrition, 

Six killed as 

Indian, Pakistan 

soldiers trade 

fire in Kashmir 


WORLD 

Four Pakistani soldiers, one Indian 

soldier and a child were killed Monday 

as Indian and Pakistani troops 

traded fire across a cease-fire line 

dividing the troubled Kashmir region 

between the two countries. 

Indian army spokesman Lt Col 

Manish Mehta said Pakistani troops 

fired mortar shells and automatic 

weapons into the Rajouri sector of 

Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday 

morning. A mortar shell landed 

on a bunker, wounding a soldier 

who later died at a hospital, he said. 

In Islamabad, the director general 

of military operations, Maj Gen 

Sahir Shamshad Mirza, accused 

Indian soldiers of attacking a Pakistani 

army vehicle, killing four 

soldiers. 

Three civilians, two on the Indian 

side and one on the Pakistani-controlled 

part of the Himalayan region, 

were also reported injured. 

Recent violence in the region 

has affected at least 5,000 civilians 

on the Indian side who have homes 

in the area. 

The two armies often blame 

each other for initiating firing 

across the cease-fire line. • 

JU, not police, is the plaintiff of May 27 vandalism case 

• Shoyaib Rahman 

EDUCATION 

An IEDCR scientist examines a child affected by the mysterious disease in Sitakunda on July 15, 2017 

the virus was spread from one’s 

body to another quickly,” he said. 

The director general said the 

Contrary to Jahangirnagar University 

(JU) vice chancellor’s claims 

that the police was the plaintiff in 

the case filed against 50 student 

protesters for vandalism, police 

are saying the university administration 

is the complainant and only 

they can withdraw it. 

JU Registrar Abu Bakar Siddique 

filed the case on behalf of the college 

administration, according to Ashulia 

police and the case’s lawyers. 

However, when students asked 

the university administration to 

withdraw the case, the administration 

repeatedly insisted that the 

police had filed the case and therefore 

the administration could not 

withdraw it. 

In response to the students’ 

hunger strike, on Sunday Vice 

Chancellor Farzana Islam told the 

Bangla Tribune: “The case is in 

the hand of the government now. 

The university administration no 

longer has jurisdiction on it.” 

On the other hand, Officer-in- 

Charge of Ashulia police station 

Abdul Awal said: “Usually the complainant 

is the plaintiff for the case. 

Since the JU registrar, Abu Bakar 

Siddique, filed the case, he is also 

the plaintiff, not the police. If they 

want to withdraw the case, they 

will have to take the necessary legal 

steps.” 

On May 26, two students named 

Nazmul Hasan Rana and Mehedi 

Hasan Arafat died in a road accident 

on the Dhaka-Aricha highway. 

On May 27, students demanded 

compensation for their families and 

to improve safety, while obstructing 

the roads. Police used tear gas and 

rubber bullets to disperse the students 

in the evening. In response, 

students vandalised the VC’s house. 

Some professors claimed that they 

were harassed during this time. 

A case was filed against some 50 

students. At midnight, 42 students 

were arrested by the police, who 

were later released on bail. 

Students also brought out a silent 

procession on July 11 and staged a 

human chain on July 9 demanding 

the withdrawal of the case. 

On May 28, while speaking at a 

press conference at her house, VC 

Farzana Islam said that it was no 

longer possible to withdraw the case. 

The next day, the Shikkhak-Shikkharthi 

Oikya Moncho, a platform 

of JU students and teachers, delivered 

a five day ultimatum to the VC 

to withdraw the case. In response, 

the VC said: “In order to withdraw 

the case, we will have to consult the 

syndicate and legal consultants.” 

But on June 17, at the annual 

senate session, VC Farzana Islam 

delivered a written statement saying 

that the syndicate meeting filed 

a complaint and the police filed a 

BANGLA TRIBUNE 

children of about 85 ethnic communities 

of Tripura Para were not 

brought under the coverage of immunisation 

since they kept themselves 

away from modern facilities 

due to their customs and beliefs. • 

Students of Jahangirnagar University are seen protesting the deaths of two other 

students in a road accident on Dhaka-Aricha highway in Savar on May 28, 2017 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

case based on the information. 

Since then, the university administration 

has claimed that the 

police or the state is the plaintiff 

for the case. 

According to administrative 

sources, at a recent meeting between 

the administration and the 

heads of departments, the VC and 

registrar insisted that the police was 

the plaintiff for the case and not the 

university administration. The case 

has claimed damages of Tk1 lakh. 

The court has asked for an investigation 

report on August 7 from 

Ashulia police Inspector Jahidul Islam, 

the investigating officer on the 

case. 

Lawyer for the defendants M Nur 

Uddin said: “The university’s Registrar 

Abu Bakar Siddique is the plaintiff 

for the case. To withdraw the 

case, both parties will have to appeal 

through the investigating officer to 

the police station or to the court and 

submit a statement of settlement.” 

When contacted on Monday 

morning, Abu Bakar Siddique denied 

being the plaintiff for the case, 

and said that the state was the 

plaintiff. He refused to comment 

any further. 

Assistant Professor for the Philosophy 

Department and spokesperson 

for the Shikkhak-Shikkharthi 

Oikya Moncho Professor 

Raihan Rayne told the Bangla Tribune: 

“No matter who the plaintiff 

is, if the university administration 

gives their permission, the case 

can be withdrawn. But they are not 

willing to do so, they have held on 

to their anger. They have no concern 

for the environment at the 

university.” •

8 


DT 

News 

Three-year jail or Tk10 lakh fine 

for illegal trade in human organs 


GOVERNMENT 

The Cabinet on Monday approved 

the draft law Transplantation of 

Human Organs Act, 2017, providing 

for three years’ rigorous imprisonment 

or Tk10 lakh fine or both as 

punishment for the illegal trade of 

human organs. 

The approval came during the 

regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet 

held at the Cabinet Division 

with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 

in the chair, reports UNB. 

Additional secretary M Ashraf 

Shamim told reporters after the 

meeting that without government 

approval no hospital could conduct 

human organ transplantation in 

the country. He added that public 

hospitals which have specialised 

transplantation units can do the 

job without taking any approval. 

He also said private hospitals 

have to apply to the authorities 

concerned for approval within 60 

days of enactment of the law. 

As per the proposed law, there 

will be a medical board in every 

hospital for deciding transplantation 

matters and a National Cadaveric 

Committee will oversee 

human organ transplantation 

across the country. 

Organ donation is the donation 

of biological tissue or an organ of 

the human body, from a living or 

dead person to a living recipient 

who needs a transplantation. 

In the name of organ donation, 

illegal trade of organs has reportedly 

been going on in the country for 

over a decade. 

Wealthy recipients and brokers 

trick poor and illiterate people into 

selling their organs by making false 

promises of money, jobs and travel 

to foreign countries. 

The existing law stipulates imprisonment 

for three to seven years, 

Tk3 lakh as fine or both for violating 

the law. • 

Salt import ban 

withdrawn for four 

months 

• Asif Showkat Kallol 

BUSINESS 

The government has allowed 

authorised importers to import 

0.5 million tonnes of 

unrefined salt from abroad to 

stabilise local market. 

The import ban on salt has 

been withdrawn for the next 

four months. 

NBR issued a statutory regulatory 

order (SRO) yesterday 

to allow import of 0.5 million 

salt for the next four months. 

According to the SRO, the 

authorised importers can bring 

One killed after BCL 

infighting in a Sylhet 

college 

• Mohammed Serajul 

Islam, Sylhet 

NATION 

An activist of Bangladesh 

Chhatra League (BCL) has 

been shot dead after a factional 

clash on Beanibazar 

Government College campus. 

The deceased is Khaled 

Ahmed Litu, 25, hailing from 

Khasa Ponditpara area of 

Beanibazar. 

Suggan Chakma, additional 

Superintendent of Sylhet 

district police, said the supporters 

of upazila Swechchhasebak 

League President 

consignments, and later refined 

edible salt will be marketed 

after quality assessment. 

Bangladesh imported 0.5 

million tonnes of unrefined 

salt in two phases this year. 

The Industries Ministry 

found a deficit in salt after 

the last salt cultivation season 

ended in June. About 1.3 

million tonnes of salt were 

produced during the season 

whereas the annual demand 

is around 1.5 million tonnes. 

Unrefined salt is currently 

on sale at Tk15 a kg while the refined 

packaged salt is selling at 

Tk40 per kg in local markets. • 

Pallab and district Chhatra 

League’s hospitality affairs 

secretary Pavel locked into a 

clash on Monday morning. 

Pavel group supporter Rifat 

Ahmed said they were 

holding a meeting at a classroom 

after the morning clash 

when some unidentified people 

shot Litu through the window 

in the afternoon. 

Being informed, police 

rushed to the spot and sent 

Litu to Beanibazar Health 

Complex where the duty doctor 

declared him dead. 

Police detained three Chhatra 

League activists in connection 

with the murder. •

News 

9 


DT 

Unregistered madrasas given three months to sign up 


EDUCATION 

The Education Ministry has given 

three months’ time to madrasas, 

running without government permission, 

to get registered under the 

Madrasa Education Board. 

The Technical and Madrasa Education 

Division of the ministry 

issued an order in this regard on 

Sunday. 

The madrasas have also been 

ordered to drop the words “cadet” 

and “international” from their 

names. 

The order, signed by Assistant 

Chhatra League leader 

admits to raping 

newlywed bride 

Secretary Abdul Khalek, asked 

madrasas to follow the curriculum 

and textbooks of the National 

Curriculum and Textbook Board 

(NCTB) and Bangladesh Madrasa 

Education Board. 

According to the order, the madrasas 

have to hoist the national 

flag and students must sing the national 

anthem. 

Each madrasa has to be registered 

under the Madrasa Board and 

tuition fees will have to be fixed 

and collected like other secondary 

education institutions, the order 

also stated. 

The Directorate of Madrasa 

Education, Madrasa Education 

Board, deputy commissioners, 

district education officers, 

upazila executive officers and 

education officers will monitor 

the activities of the madrasas 

regularly. • 

This story was first published on the 

Bangla Tribune 

• Anisur Rahman Swapan, 

Barisal 

CRIME 

Banaripara upazila BCL unit 

president Sumon Hossen 

Molla confessed to raping a 

newlywed bride after detaining 

her husband. 

Sajjad Hossain, officer incharge 

of Banaripara police station, 

said Sumon was arrested 

on Sunday night in a case filed 

by the victim’s husband. 

He was produced before 

the additional chief judicial 

magistrate court led by Magistrate 

Shihabul where the 

confessional statement was 

recorded. 

After his confession, the 

magistrate sent him to jail. 

The court also recorded 

the statement of the victim 

and her husband. 

Police arrested Sumon, 

president of Banaripara upazila 

Chhatra League, on Sunday 

from Kalibari road in Barisal 

for allegedly raping a newly 

married bride on July 15. 

Sub-Inspector of Detective 

Branch (DB) of Police Md Ruhul 

Amin said acting 

According to the case 

statement, Sumon demanded 

Tk1 lakh as extortion from the 

victim’s husband when came 

to visit Banaripara with his. 

When the extortion demand 

was refused, the Chhatra 

League thugs retaliated 

with rape. • 

Philippines offers Muslim 

self-rule to counter IS 

• AFP, Manila 

WORLD 

President Rodrigo Duterte 

offered self-rule to the Philippines’ 

Muslim minority on 

Monday in an attempt to defeat 

Islamist militants who seized a 

southern city in the gravest 

challenge to his year-old rule. 

Duterte hopes the promise 

of autonomy will persuade 

Filipino Muslims to reject the 

Islamic State group, whose 

followers still control parts 

of Marawi after nearly two 

months of fighting that had left 

more than 500 people dead. 

Duterte vowed to shepherd 

through Congress a “Bangsamoro 

Basic Law” bill jointly 

written and submitted to him 

Monday by government officials 

and the country’s largest 

Muslim guerilla group, the 

Moro Islamic Liberation Front 

(MILF). 

“This moment is a significant 

step forward in our quest 

to end centuries of hatred, 

mistrust and injustice that 

cost and affected the lives of 

millions of Filipinos,” he said 

in a speech to MILF leaders 

and government officials. 

Both sides said that giving 

the mainly Catholic nation’s 

large and largely impoverished 

Islamic minority a 

better choice was crucial to 

heading off the lure of violent 

extremism. 

“These misguided people 

have filled the vacuum created 

by our failure to enact the basic 

law, and feed into the frustration 

of our people,” MILF 

chairman Murad Ebrahim told 

the same gathering, referring 

to the Marawi gunmen. 

Muslims since the 1970s had 

waged a decades-old insurgency 

that claimed more than 

100,000 lives in the Mindanao 

region that includes Marawi. 

The MILF signed a peace 

treaty with Duterte’s predecessor 

Benigno Aquino in 

2014 but Congress refused to 

pass the self-rule bill, a key 

provision of the accord. •

10 


DT 

News 

UK Brexit Secretary David Davis, left, and the European Commission’s Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier talk to reporters 

at the start of a first full round of talks on Britain’s divorce terms from the EU, in Brussels on July 17, 2017 

REUTERS 

As London squabbles, full 

Brexit talks start in Brussels 

• Reuters, Brussels 

WORLD 

Britain’s Brexit minister vowed to 

“get down to work” as he kicked 

off a first full round of negotiations 

on Monday, but a year after Britons 

voted narrowly to quit the EU their 

government still seemed at odds 

over what it wants. 

“It’s time to get down to work and 

make this a successful negotiation,” 

veteran anti-EU campaigner David 

Davis said as he was welcomed to 

the European Commission by the 

European Union’s chief negotiator 

Michel Barnier for four days of talks. 

But back in London, British media 

were rife with talk of infighting 

that echoed the divisions Prime 

Minister Theresa May’s Conservative 

party suffered during the EU 

referendum. Foreign Secretary Boris 

Johnson, attending a different meeting 

in Brussels, passed up an opportunity 

to deny that was the case. 

His backing was seen as vital for 

the 52-48% victory of the Leave 

camp in June last year. Asked point 

blank on Monday if the cabinet was 

“split on Brexit”, Johnson simply 

said he was pleased negotiations 

had begun and then defended the 

offer May has made to protect the 

rights of EU citizens in Britain. 

Struggling for authority after 

losing her majority last month in 

an election she did not need to 

call, May faces questions inside her 

party on whether she can exercise 

control. That is worrying EU negotiators, 

who stress that 20 months 

until Brexit is very little time to negotiate 

an orderly divorce. 

Finance minister Philip Hammond, 

who like May campaigned 

last year to keep Britain in the EU, 

said on Sunday he believed most of 

his cabinet colleagues now backed 

the idea of having two years or more 

of a transition period after Brexit in 

March 2019 - to soften the disruptive 

effect on society and the economy. 

That had not been the case a 

month ago, Hammond said. That 

was a reminder of a gulf in perceptions 

across the Channel where 

EU leaders have assumed from 

the outset that Britain would need 

more than the two years allowed by 

treaty to negotiate the deal it wants 

to retain close, open trading links 

with the continent. 

Hammond accused unnamed 

colleagues of briefing against him 

to try to undermine what is seen 

as his push for a “soft Brexit” that 

would prioritise trade rather than 

hardliners’ demands for controls 

on EU immigration or an end to EU 

legal oversight. • 

British royals on Brexit 

diplomacy tour of 

Poland, Germany 


WORLD 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, 

Prince William and his wife 

Kate William, and their children 

arrived in Poland on Monday, on 

the first leg of a goodwill trip to 

two European Union nations that 

is intended to underscore Britain’s 

friendly ties with a bloc that it’s in 

the process of leaving. 

The visit is not officially tied to 

British-EU diplomatic relations but 

British media outlets have dubbed 

it the “Brexit diplomacy tour”. 

London’s shock decision to 

exit the European Union has been 

closely watched in Poland. There 

are just under a million Poles in 

Britan, making them the biggest 

minority community. 

But though the main goal appears 

to be a charm offensive by 

Britain, the visit will include a 

heavy emphasis on history. 

As guests of President Andrzej 

Duda and his wife Agata, the royals 

will visit the Warsaw Uprising Museum 

and the former concentration 

camp Stutthof, which Nazi Germany 

set up in 1939 in what was then 

the free city of Danzig and is now 

the Polish city of Gdansk. 

Walesa, Holocaust and Airbus 

Also in the Baltic port city, Kate 

and William will visit the European 

Solidarity Centre museum, which 

tells the story of the Soviet bloc’s 

only free trade union. 

They will also meet freedom 

icon Lech Walesa, who won the Nobel 

Peace Prize as the leader of the 

Solidarity trade union and later became 

Poland’s first democratically 

elected president after negotiating 

a bloodless end to communism for 

the country in 1989. 

But William and Kate will also 

experience modern-day Poland, 

meeting with young entrepreneurs 

at the top of a Warsaw skyscraper 

and also tour the new Gdansk 

Shakespeare Theatre. 

A meet-and-greet with actors 

dressed in Elizabethan costumes is 

also planned. • 

Left to right, Kate William, Prince William, Polish President Andrzej Duda and his 

wife Agata Kornhauser at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw on 17 July REUTERS 

Teenage Chakma girl raped 

by Tripura boyfriend in Ctg 

• FM Mizanur Rahaman, 

Chittagong 

CRIME 

A teenage indigenous girl was 

raped by a youth from a different 

indigenous community – reportedly 

her boyfriend – in the EPZ area in 

Chittagong on Friday. 

According to EPZ police, a 17-year 

old Chakma girl from Khagrachhari, 

was admitted to the One-Stop 

Crisis Centre at Chittagong Medical 

College Hospital (CMCH) with her 

genitals bleeding profusely. 

The accused, Sunil Tripura, 21, 

son of Kolakoli Tripura from Dighinala 

upazila in Khagrachhari, was 

arrested in the early hours of Monday 

from an apartment in Chittagong’s 

Barrister College Road. 

Sub-Inspector Jahedullah Zaman 

of EPZ police station told the 

Dhaka Tribune the victim’s father 

had filed a case against Sunil late 

Sunday night 

The SI said both the victim and 

the accused worked at different apparel 

factories in the Chittagong EPZ. 

Quoting the victim and her family, 

the police officer said Sunil talked 

her into a relationship. He then 

asked her to visit him at his house 

in the EPZ area on Friday morning 

where he rendered her unconscious. 

According to her testimony, the 

victim was unconscious between 

10am and 11pm, during which she 

war raped. • 

High Court verdict in Biswajit 

murder Aug 6 

• Ashif Islam Shaon 

COURTS 

The High Court will deliver its verdict 

next month on the death references 

and appeals filed by the killers 

of Old Dhaka tailor Biswajit Das. 

Justice Md Ruhul Quddus and 

Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty’s 

bench fixed August 6 for the 

verdict after concluding hearing on 

the petitions on Monday. 

A Dhaka court sentenced eight 

Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) 

activists to death and 13 others to 

life imprisonment on December 18, 

2013 for killing Biswajit. 

Eight of the convicts are in jail 

while 13 others are on the run. 

The convicts moved the High 

Court against the verdict while the 

death references were sent to the 

court for approval. The court held 

hearings on them simultaneously. 

Ruling Awami League student 

front Chhatra League activists beat 

and hacked Biswajit, 24, in broad daylight 

in presence of police on December 

9, 2012 soon after pro-opposition 

lawyers brought out a procession in 

support of a countrywide shutdown. 

Chhatra League activists 

claimed they had mistaken Biswajit 

for an opposition activist. 

The incident near Bahadur Shah 

Park in Old Dhaka was caught on 

camera and triggered a massive 

outpouring of anger across Bangladesh. 

• 

Cricketer Arafat 

Sunny gets bail in 

dowry case 

• Md Sanaul Islam Tipu 

COURTS 

A Dhaka court has granted bail to 

Bangladesh national cricketer Arafat 

Sunny in a case filed for demanding 

dowry from his wife Nasrin Sultana. 

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate 

Md Zakir Hossain Tipu passed the 

order on Monday, when the cricketer 

surrendered before it and sought bail. 

Earlier on Sunday, the same court 

issued an arrest warrant against 

Sunny. On January 23, Sunny’s wife 

Nasrin Sultana filed the case against 

Sunny and his mother Nargis Akter 

on charges of demanding Tk20 lakh 

as dowry and torturing her. •

Minister: No more 

Bangladeshi workers to 

be detained in Malaysia 


MIGRANTS 

Expatriates Welfare and 

Overseas Employment Minister 

Nurul Islam has said Malaysia 

authorities will not detain 

any Bangladeshi workers 

until December as Dhaka and 

Kuala Lumpur agreed in solving 

the illegal workers’ issue. 

“Bangladesh High Commission 

in Kuala Lumpur is 

maintaining close contact 

with the Malaysian government 

to find out a solution to 

undocumented Bangladeshi 

workers,” the minister told 

a seminar in Dhaka Sunday, 

reports BSS. 

“I am maintaining a 

constant contact with the 

officials of High Commission 

in Kula Lumpur so we could 

solve the problem of the 

undocumented workers,” 

he added. 

Reports for Bangladeshi 

Migration (RBM) organised 

the seminar to find out the 

ways of solving the problem 

of the Bangladeshi workers 

who failed to obtain proper 

documents from Malaysia 

authorities within a stipulated 

time-frame. 

Malaysia authorities 

swooped down on thousands 

of illegal foreign workers and 

detained hundreds of them, 

including many Bangladeshis, 

hours after a deadline for 

registering them passed on 

June 30. 

Additional Secretary 

of Expatriate Welfare and 

Overseas Employment Ministry 

Javed Ahmed told the 

seminar that the Malaysian 

authorities have already rehired 

2.50 lakh Bangladeshi 

workers providing them with 

proper documents. 

He said the problems of 

many other Bangladeshis 

working in Malaysia could 

also be solved with taking 

similar initiatives. 

“Kuala Lumpur is also 

considering hiring of 22,000 

Bangladeshi workers through 

G2G (government to government) 

basis,” he said, adding 

that this would help to ease 

the workers’ problem in Malaysia. 

Director General of Bureau 

of Manpower, Employment 

and Training (BMET) 

Selim Reza also spoke at the 

seminar. 

Member of the RBM Mohsin 

Ul Karim presented the 

keynote paper titled ‘Labour 

Market Situation in Malaysia 

and Middle East Countries: 

Present and Future Challenge’ 

at the seminar presided 

over by RBM President 

Firoj Manna. • 

Stamford University holds seminar 

on FY18 budget 


METRO 

Stamford University Bangladesh’s 

Department of Economics 

organised a seminar 

on the fiscal year 2017-18 

National Budget in its Dhanmondi 

campus, Dhaka last 

week. 

Chairman of the Department 

Prof Dr Md Habibur 

Best Electronics customer wins free Japan tour 


METRO 

Rahman presided the event 

where faculty members and 

students of the department 

discussed the opportunities 

and the constraints of the 

current budget, said a press 

release. 

Prof Rahman said the 

size of the 46th budget of 

Bangladesh has been fixed 

at Tk400,266 crore which is 

17% more in monetary terms 

than the previous year. 

He said although the government 

has announced a 

deficit budget, the country’s 

development work is progressing 

fast. He said implementation 

of such a budget 

would not be a big problem. 

The faculty members and 

students of the department 

attended the seminar to 

learn and share their views 

about the current fiscal year’s 

budget. • 

News 11 


At least 11 cobras were found in a house of Kushtia’s mirpur upazila 

11 cobras found in Kushtia 

• Al Mamun Sagor, Kushtia 

NATION 

Eleven cobra snakes have been found from a 

house in Kushtia’s Mirpur upazila. 

The venomous snakes were found from 

Ariful Islam Rifa’s house in Sadarpur union’s 

Mochai Nagar village around 5pm on Sunday. 

Ariful said : “I arrived home at noon and 

saw two baby cobras moving around on the 

floor, after killing both the snakes I noticed 

another one.” 

Being horrified by the presence of the cobras 

in the house, he called a snake-charmer- 

Anwarul Islam who found eight more 

cobras after digging up the floor. 

DT 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

“There can be more snakes in the premises,” 

the snake-charmer Anwarul suspected. 

This week a total of 116 cobra snakes were 

found from Kushtia’s Mirpur and Khoksha 

upazilas. 

Previously, on July 10, 28 cobras were 

found and killed inside a kitchen in Kushtia’s 

Mirpur upazila. 

On July 12, some 48 venomous cobra 

snakes were found inside a room of Asim 

Kumar Biswas house in the Chuniapara area 

of Khoksha upazila. On the same day 12 cobras 

were found in Mirpur upazila’s Malihad 

union. 

On Friday 16 baby cobras were found and 

killed in a house at Amla-Ghospara in Kustia’s 

Mirpur upazila. • 

Morsheda Khanam from 

Kallyanpur, Dhaka won a 

Free Japan Tour prize purchasing 

a microwave oven 

from the Best Electronics, a 

leading multi-brand electronics 

retailer in the country. 

Khanam yesterday received 

the prize which includes 

a free return air ticket 

to Japan and three-night stay, 

said a press release. 

Best Electronics Director 

Syed Tahmid Zaman Rashik 

and Senior Brand Manager 

Azmain Rahman, among other 

top officials, were present 

at the function. 

During this year’s Eid-ul- 

Fitr marketing campaign of 

the company, forty customers 

won free trips to Cox’s Bazar, 

gifts and discounts up to 

Tk10,000. •

DT 

12 

Editorial 


TODAY 

Death and taxes 

Time is taken off work, money is 

spent by the lakhs, and, with terminal 

diseases, the person ends up dying 

anyway 

PAGE 13 

BIGSTOCK 

A credible education 

The problem is 

when they protest 

In their relationship with domestic 

labour, the newer middle classes 

subscribe to a different ethic -- that of 

the market contract 

PAGE 14 

For too long, many madrasas have played 

by their own rules, refusing to follow 

the curriculum laid out by the education 

board. 

That is why it is a commendable and overdue 

initiative on part of the government to give 

madrasas a three-month deadline to sign up 

under the Madrasa Education Board if they have 

not done so already. 

No matter what madrasas may claim, many of 

these institutions do not provide well-rounded 

educations suitable for the modern world, and 

the need for oversight simply cannot be ignored. 

As Islamic education need not conflict with 

standardised tests and a more robust scientific 

education, and though madrasas may be 

resistant to change, ultimately it would do them 

a world of good. 

It is a commendable and 

overdue initiative on 

part of the government 

to give madrasas a 

three-month deadline 

A successful circus 

Trump is trying to shake things up, 

perhaps all for the better in the long run 

Be heard 

Write to Dhaka Tribune 

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, 

Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 

Send us your Op-Ed articles: 

opinion.trib@gmail.com 

www.dhakatribune.com 

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https://www.facebook.com/ 

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. 

PAGE 15 

To curb harassment, 

bridge the gender gap 

An ActionAid study has re-confirmed what most 

of us already know: Women face a tremendous 

amount of harassment in public places. 

With men running the show in most places, 

the playing field is anything but level. 

What we need are more gender-sensitive, womenfriendly 

options -- places where women can go, whether 

it is to lodge a complaint or to seek medical care, without 

the fear of encountering abusive behaviour from men. 

There should, then, be more women in positions of 

authority everywhere -- female police officers, hospital 

staff, public transportation staff. Police stations could 

have separate rooms run by female officers to ensure the 

safety of women seeking police help. 

Equal numbers in the workplace will go a long way in 

reducing the terrible harassment women have to deal with 

on a daily basis. 

Equal numbers in the 

workplace will go a 

long way

Death and taxes 

Opinion 13 

Do we want to be a country that sees health care as a birthright, or as a privilege? 

DT 


THE 

WORLD IN 

PARENTHESES 

• SN Rasul 

Few things are as scary as 

watching your parents 

grow old. 

And, the older I 

grow myself, the more acutely I 

become aware of the pitfalls of 

the phenomenon. As my father 

grows older, the weaker he gets, 

the more time he should spend at 

home and, as such, the less time 

he should spend working. 

The financial side-effects aside, 

what cannot be denied is that, 

with age, it is inevitable that there 

will come a time when the various 

tiny illnesses he already deals 

with (be it acidity, joint pain, gall 

bladder stones, or diabetes) will 

balloon into major ones. 

The joint pain will become 

arthritis, the stones will blossom 

into stomach cancer, the acidity 

will travel up the esophagus to 

reverberate in the form of a heart 

attack. 

And, selfish as that might be, 

I’m wondering: What then? 

Dead ends 

In Bangladesh, a medical 

catastrophe can make or break 

a family. This is something I 

personally witnessed when my 

mother was diagnosed with 

ovarian cancer. What was available 

locally (which was expensive) was 

most of the time not good enough, 

so my father had to take her across 

the border to India, where they 

had better services (which was 

still, of course, expensive). 

What happens is a scenario all 

too common: Time is taken off 

work, money is spent by the lakhs, 

and, with terminal diseases, the 

person ends up dying anyway. 

I do not mean to be cruel; this is 

the truth. When a medical tragedy 

hits, there are no safety nets. 

You put everything into what is 

oftentimes a literal dead end. 

In a class of one’s own 

But, we were lucky because we 

came from a reasonably well off 

family who had an apartment in 

Dhaka. What of the countless who 

don’t? 

Though government hospitals 

provide treatment to the most 

number of people the best they 

can, due to the sheer volume of 

people which inhabit this land, 

You can go broke paying medical bills 

this is obviously not enough. 

As much as we’d like to believe 

that the ideas of capitalism and 

freedom, which we nowadays see 

as the apex of mankind’s sociopolitical 

evolution, have provided 

us with, technically, a classless 

society, the inclusion of money 

makes it anything but. 

In a society where medical 

treatment is an immensely crucial 

factor which determines the 

very state in which you exist, is a 

society which can never offer true 

equality. Same as education. The 

evidence is there: Look at Europe 

and then at the US. 

Many don’t even grasp the idea 

of medical insurance, which can 

potentially cover us in instances 

when we, or our family members, 

are faced with insurmountable 

medical costs. 

A taste of your own medicine 

The problem, at the end of the 

day, remains corruption and 

selfishness. Small governments are 

always the heroes of those with 

money, and, like the vicious cycle 

that it has become, capitalism 

allows oligarchies to take over 

ensure that remains the case. 

What is ironic is that it is the 

rich who, through donations and 

so-called philanthropy, try to 

balance the equation for those in 

need. 

Time is taken off work, money is spent by the lakhs, and, with terminal 

diseases, the person ends up dying anyway 

What happens as a result is 

something that benefits them 

infinitely more than those who 

need assistance (be it medical or 

otherwise): Absolutely nothing. 

In a conversation I had with an 

American woman, her reasoning 

for the lack of universal health care 

in the US was simple: Why should 

I pay for someone else’s illnesses, 

especially when it could be 

because they couldn’t be bothered 

to take care of themselves? 

Fair enough. Or is it? What 

about the countless who don’t? 

What about the countless who 

are born into poverty and, then, 

find themselves in the impossible 

situation of parents with terminal 

illnesses which hadn’t been 

brought about by bad habits? 

And, even if it were, what sense of 

conscience allows people to die? 

And: What of children? 

A bitter pill to swallow 

In a recent study, it was found 

that millennials, who are typically 

presumed to be holding liberal 

values because of having grown 

up in an age of globalisation, were 

found to become more fiscally 

conservative the more they got 

money themselves. 

In another study, Bangladesh 

was found to be one of the most 

capitalistic-minded countries in 

the world. 

The idea of helping someone 

out is nice, but to actually induce 

change into society is a far more 

difficult task. It would, firstly, 

require a society which is not 

corrupt, it requires higher taxes, 

and it would require significant 

contributions, instead of the usual 

giving that extra Tk100 to the 

rickshaw-wallah because he looks 

kind of old and it makes you feel 

kind of better. 

Apologies for the digression: 

But the issue of health care is, at 

the end of the day, a philosophical 

issue. We must ask ourselves: 

What is the kind of country we 

want to live in? Is it one that 

sees health as a birthright, or a 

privilege? • 

SN Rasul is an Editorial Assistant 

at the Dhaka Tribune. Follow him 

on Twitter @snrasul. 

BIGSTOCK

14 


DT 

Opinion 

The problem 

is when they 

protest 

A protesting worker is seen as a 

disturber of the peace 

• Sanjay Srivastava 

Exploitative domestic 

labour provided by a 

hapless army of the 

economically and 

socially marginalised has been 

fundamental to the making of the 

Indian way of life. 

Indian fiction in English gushes 

about idyllic childhoods. Nonresident 

Indians reminisce about 

memories of home. 

And Karan Johar-ish cinema 

is populated by well-scrubbed 

people gamboling about their wellscrubbed 

homes in consumerist 

delight, with barely visible 

apparitions who clean up after 

them. 

Servitude is the spectre that 

haunts middle-class lives but our 

ghosts have been traditionally 

very silent. 

Till recently, that is. 

It is the din created by the 

ghostly providers of our comforts 

that lies behind the violence 

against them. It is not that we have 

suddenly become more callous. 

The good citizens of Noida’s 

gated enclave Mahagun 

Moderne -- where a domestic 

worker was allegedly held 

captive overnight by her former 

employers, leading to a riot-like 

situation -- have cause to be 

concerned. 

For, a combination of factors is 

leading to the rise of ghosts who 

speak rather than just stay in the 

background. 

A great deal has been 

written about “labour market 

dynamism” as a result of economic 

liberalisation. As far as women 

are concerned, the most dynamic 

sector is that of domestic labour. 

Women working as domestic 

help, for low wages and under 

uncertain conditions, account for 

a very significant section of the 

female labour force in India. The 

women who every morning make 

their way to the boom gates of 

Mahagun Moderne and various 

other such enclaves to look after 

children, cook, and clean are 

participants in this dynamic labour 

market. 

But something has changed 

in the labour market and in the 

relationship between the receivers 

of these comforts and those whose 

historical duty it has been to 

provide them. 

Fictitious kinship to contract 

The first change concerns 

the decline of older forms of 

exploitation and their substitution 

with the new. 

The older form of exploitation 

centred around fictive kinship 

terminology, where domestic 

workers became uncles and 

aunts, brothers and sisters and, 

sometimes, grandparents, whom 

the older middle classes frequently 

sourced through their village 

ties. And this fiction of kinship 

In their relationship 

with domestic 

labour, the newer 

middle classes 

subscribe to a 

different ethic -- 

that of the market 

contract 

functioned easily enough in the 

feudal-modernity of the older 

middle classes. 

In their relationship with 

domestic labour, the newer 

middle classes subscribe to a 

different ethic -- that of the market 

contract, unvarnished by the 

patina of noblesse oblige (which 

means that privilege comes with 

responsibility). 

The market-contract model for 

domestic labour is about minimal 

care while expecting maximum 

labour: No responsibility is to be 

taken for the worker’s sick child, 

infirm parent, personal injury, or 

living conditions. 

Don’t domestic workers have rights? 

Security apparatus 

Secondly, over the past few 

decades, there has emerged an 

entire industry based around 

middle-class security. It consists 

of private security agencies, a 

massive proliferation of closecircuit 

television cameras, and 

a variety of other processes and 

instruments. 

The rise of the urban security 

complex has been accompanied 

by extraordinarily discriminative 

measures to register domestic 

labour with the police: We want 

the poorest to work in our homes 

at the lowest rates of pay and treat 

them as natural criminals, rather 

than victims of circumstance. 

The irony is that the violence 

that domestic labour is subjected 

to by employers is very rarely 

punished, and the state security 

apparatus joins the private one in 

punishing the most vulnerable. 

The new ordinary 

Third, our urban spheres are now 

marked by the rise of an entirely 

new consciousness, where the 

idea of the ordinary has shifted 

from the poor to the middle 

classes. 

It is the latter who are now 

imagined as the most harassed: 

They pay for electricity but the 

poor steal it, they pay taxes but get 

no infrastructure in return, and 

they bear the brunt of corruption. 

The ordinary people are 

represented through a variety 

of bodies, such as resident 

welfare associations and nongovernmental 

organisations 

that agitate on their behalf, and 

processes, such as protests against 

increases in electricity tariffs. 

The rise of the new -- 

hardworking, tax-paying, honest -- 

ordinary translates into hardening 

attitudes towards the pretendordinary. 

The women who work 

in your homes are to be reported 

to the police, or subjected to 

some form of summary violence, 

should they be suspected of a 

misdemeanour because their 

actions affect the lives of the truly 

ordinary citizens. 

Gates that create difference 

Finally, there is the rise of gated 

residential enclaves. These have 

created ideas about insiders and 

outsiders of different kinds. 

Gated communities in India 

are not really as new as they 

are imagined to be. The newer 

residential enclaves were built 

upon older models and ideas, such 

as cantonment towns, industrial 

complexes, and institutional 

spaces. 

In larger cities, resident welfare 

associations started installing 

gates at the entrance of their 

localities, making gated enclaves 

out of formerly open spaces. In 

REUTERS 

Delhi, for example, the process 

appears to have begun in the 

early 1980s and coincided with 

the entry of a large numbers of 

migrant labourers involved in 

construction activity for the 1982 

Asian Games hosted by the city. 

Gates produce difference, and 

different kinds of outsiders now 

occupy the landscape of urban 

panic. However, rather than 

looking at the gated phenomena as 

one of the reasons for producing 

apprehension, we tend to see it 

as a solution against perceived 

threats from various quarters, such 

as rural migrants and “foreign” 

(Bangladeshi) elements. 

Actually, India is in the midst 

of gated nationalism where the 

ordinary resident is at war with his 

or her own poor citizenry as well 

as perceived foreign infiltrators. 

However, cheap labour is fine 

-- irrespective of where it comes 

from -- as long as it is provided 

without protest. 

It is the protesting labourer 

that is the problem. Her protests 

are seen as outrageous because it 

disturbs the peace of the ordinary. 

It hints at the fact that there is 

something extraordinary about the 

arrangements we have come to see 

as normal. • 

Sanjay Srivastava is a sociologist. This 

article previously appeared on www. 

scroll.in.

A successful circus 

Opinion 15 

Nothing shakes Trump’s stance. This is the concluding portion of yesterday’s two-part op-ed 

DT 


The great in mental ones has to 

do with space and time. No man 

is truly great, who is great only in 

his life-time. The test of greatness 

is the page of history […] Besides, 

what is short-lived and pampered 

into mere notoriety, is of a gross 

and vulgar quality in itself.” 

Since in the history of the US, 

Trump is an anomaly -- isn’t it 

too early to tell what he really 

is? Is he a short-lived notoriety, 

gross and vulgar, or a man of great 

inherent energy producing great 

results and great effects? In his 

inner attributes, does he relate to 

both time and space, or he is like 

a visible object relating to space 

only? Would he stand the test of 

time and history? When William 

Despite his antics, Trump stands as tall and erect as his own tower 

• Jalal Uddin Khan 

When you do 

something, you 

define what you do 

as much as what you 

do defines you. 

With his family -- wife, 

daughter, and daughter’s husband 

-- by his side wherever he goes 

-- Bangladesh style -- Trump is 

the ultimate grand-stander in 

today’s world politics, although he 

thought his fired FBI chief, Comey, 

was. 

Trump is the ultimate 

showboat, similar to the “ultimate 

Job Interview” on his show The 

Apprentice. 

That is why he took part in 

the Saudi sword dance and did 

not mind gently elbowing the 

Montenegro prime minister to 

push his way through to the front 

at the NATO summit in Brussels. 

That’s what he thinks putting 

America first means! 

Inexperienced in the 

ceremonies and symmetries of 

the highest and most watched 

elected office in the world (for 

which niceties and felicities 

he hardly cares), he is still the 

president of the United States. 

Saudis and Saudi-led Sunni 

coalition has his full support, 

and he has theirs, as opposed to 

their condemnation of the bloody 

Iranian-led Shiites. 

Saudis have a special 

responsibility to the Muslim 

world as far as the two holy sites 

are concerned. True, they are a 

monarchy, not a democracy. All 

systems have their positive and 

negative sides, their abuses and 

misuses. 

For example, democracy in 

Bangladesh or Egypt is actually 

“demo-crazy,” “dummy-cracy” 

and “demo-crisis.” Elections in 

Iran, though free and fair, mean 

nothing much when everything 

finally rests with the supreme 

leader of the country, the 

Ayatollah, who is a killer of Sunnis 

(look at Syria and Iraq), harking 

back to Karbala, and who is 

probably worse than India’s Modi. 

It is great to see that American 

leadership under Trump is 

with the Saudis and the Sunnis, 

although the latter group is hardly 

politically united. Qatar, for 

example, has its own narrative of 

the regional politics and Egypt has 

its own authoritarian government. 

To reiterate, Trump’s visit to 

Riyadh was a great success, far 

from being nasty and dangerous. It 

was a much-needed “circus” for a 

show of unity and strength by the 

Sunni allies brought together on 

one common platform. 

Trump is trying to shake things 

up, perhaps all for the better in the 

long run. 

Besides giving great speeches, 

Obama did virtually nothing and 

does not have much to show for. It 

was his passive non-action -- like 

a pedestrian onlooker at a crime 

scene -- that brought the political 

situation of the Middle East to this 

bloody extent. 

What Putin is doing in Syria, 

Obama should have done long 

ago: Stopping the butcher Bashar 

from killing his people. Obama’s 

idea of liberal democracy needs to 

be reformulated to include taking 

some action, especially in terms 

of moral and political imperatives, 

which is what Trump, who is 

actually neither Republican nor 

Democrat, is perhaps up to. 

It is however too early to say 

which category of the following 

two Trump belongs to: “Ingenuity 

is genius in trifles, greatness is 

genius in undertakings of much 

pith and moment. A clever or 

ingenious man is one who can do 

anything well, whether it is worth 

doing or not: a great man is one,” 

Hazlitt continues, “who can do 

that which when done is of the 

highest importance.” 

Trump has often been an 

embarrassment to America. But do 

Americans care? 

All they care about is having 

him do something to change 

the status quo, no matter how 

clownish he looks doing it. 

With their submerged or 

subconscious racism, Americans 

were tired of business as usual in 

Washington DC. Despite his antics, 

Trump stands as tall and erect as 

his Trump tower. If he leans, he 

does not lean more than the Tower 

of Pisa -- he stays steady. 

No wonder, Trump, a virtual 

king, mostly rules by presidential 

edicts and executive orders. He is 

however within his presidential 

prerogatives and proprieties to do 

so and he enjoys doing so and so 

does his electoral base. 

Personal conviction 

REUTERS 

While the other presidents lacked 

the courage to rule by decrees, 

if and when necessary, Trump 

has the personal conviction to 

do so, no matter how comically, 

like Professor Higgins in 

Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, with 

whom I drew a detailed analogy of 

Trump in another article called A 

Portrait of Donald Trump, which 

came out on weeklyholiday.net. 

To conclude: “A man at the 

top of his profession is not 

[necessarily] a great man. He is 

great in his way, but that is all,” 

Hazlitt goes on, “unless he shows 

the marks of a great moving 

intellect so that we trace the 

master-mind, and can sympathise 

with the springs that urge him on. 

The rest is but a craft or mystery.” 

While Trump at “the top of 

his profession” may yet be far 

from being “a mastermind” or 

“a great moving intellect” and 

may in fact never be so, he is not 

without his “craft or mystery.” In 

the words of Hazlitt, all along a 

liberal reformer and a supporter 

of Napoleon (unlike many of his 

contemporaries): 

“Greatness is great power, 

producing great effects. It is not 

enough that a man has great power 

in himself, he must show it to all 

the world in a way that cannot 

be hidden or gainsaid. He must 

fill up a certain idea in the public 

mind. I have no other notion 

of greatness than this two-fold 

definition, great results springing 

from great inherent energy. The 

great in visible objects has relation 

to that which extends over space: 

Trump is trying to 

shake things up, 

perhaps all for the 

better in the long run 

Wordsworth could not figure 

out what the solitary reaper was 

singing about, he asked the similar 

questions: 

Will no one tell me what she 

sings? 

Perhaps the plaintive numbers 

fl o w 

For old, unhappy, far-off things, 

And battles long ago: 

Or is it some more humble lay, 

Familiar matter of to-day? 

Some natural sorrow, loss, or 

pain, 

That has been, and may be 

again? 

The difference is that 

Wordsworth was at least sure 

and had the motivating mental 

satisfaction that the young 

village girl was singing a great 

overflowing song of haunting, 

inspiring music from the other 

side of the mountain. Does one 

have the luxury of being sure 

about anything about Trump 

-- familiar or unfamiliar, humble 

or great, high or low, domestic or 

international? • 

Jalal Uddin Khan teaches English in the 

Middle East and has a PhD from NYU 

New York.

16 


DT 

Downtime 

CROSSWORD 

ACROSS 

1 Wire enclosure (4) 

5 Venture (4) 

10 Part of speech (4) 

11 Church seat (3) 

12 Fragrance (5) 

13 First woman (3) 

14 Derogatory (5) 

16 Paper handkerchief (6) 

18 Give up (6) 

21 Prodded (5) 

23 Spinning toy (3) 

24 Soothes (5) 

26 America (init) (3) 

27 Keen relish (4) 

28 Girdle (4) 

29 Furniture item (4) 

DOWN 

2 Declares (5) 

3 Precious stone (3) 

4 Effacement (7) 

6 Copied (4) 

7 Venerate (6) 

8 Female sheep (3) 

9 Stop (4) 

15 Heckled (7) 

17 Set as a burden (6) 

19 Blockheads (5) 

20 Skin eruption (4) 

22 Gem (4) 

23 Bath (3) 

25 Utilise (3) 

CODE-CRACKER 

How to solve: Each number in our 

CODE-CRACKER grid represents a 

different letter of the alphabet. For 

example, today 3 represents C so fill C 

every time the figure 3 appears. 

You have two letters in the control 

grid to start you off. Enter them in the 

appropriate squares in the main grid, then 

use your knowledge of words to work out 

which letters go in the missing squares. 

Some letters of the alphabet may not be 

used. 

As you get the letters, fill in the other 

squares with the same number in the 

main grid, and the control grid. Check 

off the list of alphabetical letters as you 

identify them. 

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

CALVIN AND HOBBES 

SUDOKU 

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the 

numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must 

contain all nine digits with no number repeating. 

PEANUTS 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS 

CODE-CRACKER 

CROSSWORD 

DILBERT 

SUDOKU

What’s on 

17 


DT 

EVENTS AROUND TOWN TODAY 

THEATRE 

MOVIE 

EXHIBITION 

STAR CINEPLEX 

Where Bashundhara City, Dhaka 

What Movie Showtime (July 18) 

OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD 

When 7-9pm 

Where National Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala 

Academy, Segunbagicha, Dhaka 

What A production of Dhaka Theatre based on the novel The 

Playmaker. 

CAMPAIGN 

BRIDGING THE GAP FOR EVERY LAST CHILD 

When 6pm 

Where House CWN (A) 35, Road 43, Gulshan 2, Dhaka 

What A month-long campaign organised by Save the Children 

in Bangladesh, in partnership with Jaago and The Daily Star 

to engage a group of young people in helping underprivileged 

children. 

WORKSHOP 

ON CHILD 

PSYCHOLOGY; 

CHALLENGES & 

COUNSELING 

When 8:30am- 

4:30pm 

Where Peace Home, 

Washpur Garden 

City, Gate 2, Dhaka 

What Organised 

by Street Children 

LEEDO, the 

workshop will focus on critical psychological situation in 

children, case analysis, quality counselling and many other 

topics. 

ANTI-LITTERING CAMPAIGN 

When 10am 

Where Independent University, Bangladesh-IUB, Plot 16, 

Block B, Aftabuddin Ahmed Road, Dhaka 

What An awareness raising campaign. 

The Mummy (3D): 4pm, 6:45pm 

Nabab (2D): 3:45pm, 7pm 

Transformers 5 (3D): 11am, 2pm 

Spiderman Homecoming (3D): 

10:50am, 11:20am, 1:45pm, 2pm, 

4:40pm, 7:20pm, 7:30pm 

Baby Driver (2D): 11am, 1:20pm, 

5pm, 7:30pm 

Despicable Me 3 (3D): 11:30am, 

1:50pm 

War for the Planet of the Apes (2D): 

10:50am, 1:40pm, 4:30pm, 7:15pm 

BLOCKBUSTER CINEMAS 

Where Jamuna Future Park, Dhaka 

What Movie Showtime (July 18) 

Rajneeti (2D): 12pm, 3pm, 6pm 

Spider-Man: Homecoming (3D): 

11:30am, 1:45pm, 4:30pm, 5pm, 

7:20pm 

Baywatch (2D): 12pm, 2:30pm, 

5pm, 7:30pm 

War for the Planet of the Apes (2D): 

1:30pm, 2:10pm, 4:25pm, 7:20pm 

The Mummy (3D): 12:30pm, 5pm, 

7:30pm 

Transformers: The Last Knight 

(3D): 1:10pm, 4:15pm, 7:15pm, 

7:45pm 

Despicable Me 3 (3D): 11:40am, 

2:55pm 

SOLO PAINTING 

When 10am-8pm 

Where House 4, Road 6, Dhanmondi R/A, Dhaka 

What Solo Painting Exhibition by Sultan Ishtiaque. 

FASHION 

COLLECTION LAUNCH 

When 11:30am 

Where House 36, Road 12, Block 

E, Banani, Dhaka 

What Mumu Maria will showcase 

a preview of its 2017 Summer 

Collection and announce the Eid 

contest winner through a prize 

giving ceremony. 

TOGO FASHION 

WEEK 

When 10pm 

Where Le Meridien Dhaka, 

79/A Commercial Area, Airport 

Road, Nikunja 2, Khilkhet, 

Dhaka 

What Week-long fashion show 

hosted by Le Meridien Dhaka. 

Consumer Channel Summit 

at Philips 

Philips Lighting 

Bangladesh Limited, a 

100% owned subsidiary of 

Philips Lighting (Euronext 

Amsterdam ticker: 

LIGHT), a global leader 

in lighting, organised 

their Consumer Channel 

summit last Sunday at the 

Westin Hotel, Dhaka. The 

company started its commercial operations in Bangladesh in 

2016. The summit was attended by Philips Lighting distributors 

and dealers from across Bangladesh and during the daylong 

event, the top leadership of Philips Lighting Bangladesh shared 

the company’s future plans and strategy with the distributors 

and dealers. During the summit, the company also showcased 

several new innovative products that will be launched in 

Bangladesh over the next few months. The Bangladesh 

Leadership team also stated that the company envisions to 

bring the global ‘best in class’ lighting solutions to the people of 

Bangladesh at affordable costs.

DT 

18 

Sports 


Miraz receives NOC 

for CPL T20 stint 

• Ali Shahriyar Bappa 

Bangladesh all-rounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz has 

received the No Objection Certificate from the 

BCB for participating in the Caribbean Premier 

League T20 for his franchise Trinbago Knight 

Riders. 

BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury confirmed 

Dhaka Tribune that Miraz has already been granted 

the NOC to feature in the Caribbean. 

“BCB has approved NOC to Miraz for his CPL 

participation. He will leave for the Caribbean in 

the last week of July,” said Nizamuddin. 

The youngster will fly off to the Caribbean on 


Trinbago picked Miraz as the replacement of 

Australia spinner Brad Hogg during the second 

week of April this year. 

Trinbago have already signed Brendon McCullum, 

Hashim Amla, Shadab Khan, Colin Munro 

and Hamza Tariq as foreign recruits. 

Among local players, the franchise recruited 

the likes of Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, Kevon 

Cooper and Denesh Ramdin. 

Trinbago, who won the tournament in 2015, are 

a strong contender for the title and will be coached 

by former Australia opener Simon Katich. 

Miraz will be the third Bangladesh player to 

take part in the CPL after Shakib al Hasan and 

Tamim Iqbal. 

All-rounder Shakib will play for Jamaica Tallawahs 

for the second successive season. 

Shakib will leave here for the Caribbean on 


Miraz will play five or six matches there, provided 

he is included in the playing XI. 

He will be available for the matches on August 

4, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 14. 

Trinbago, formerly known as Trinidad and Tobago 

Red Steel, are based in Port of Spain. 

Red Chillies Entertainment, the parent company 

of IPL T20 franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, 

purchased stake in the Red Steel two years ago. 

Red Chillies is co-owned by Bollywood superstar 

Shah Rukh Khan. • 

Bangladesh’s Taijul Islam, Sanjamul Islam and Mehedi Hasan Miraz wait their turn to bowl during training 

in Mirpur yesterday 

MD MANIK 

Shakib returns to 

training, Rubel 

nearing comeback 


Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan 

returned to training yesterday after he was 

rested for twisting his ankle while pacer 

Rubel Hossain is on the verge of becoming 

fully fit, informed the BCB medical team. 

Shakib suffered a minor injury on Saturday 

and was under observation for 48 

hours. 

But the left-hander returned to the fitness 

camp yesterday and spent time in 

the gym, situated adjacent to the academy 

ground. 

“Shakib hurt his left ankle. He suffered 

ligament damage there. But it was minor. 

The injury is grade one type. He is under 

observation. The condition of the injury 

has improved in the last two days. Swelling 

also reduced. We hope that within twothree 

days he can perform upper body exercises, 

lower body cycling gradually,” informed 

BCB assistant physio Moinul Amin. 

Meanwhile, Rubel’s resting time after 

surgery ends this week. 

He underwent operation on June 21 following 

a bizarre injury. 

The right-arm paceman picked up the 

injury after colliding with a door in the 

team hotel during Bangladesh’s tour of 

England for the 2017 Champions Trophy. 

The incident occurred on June 15 following 

Bangladesh’s semi-final against India. 

Rubel is likely to join the camp in the 

first week of August. 

“Rubel will start his rehabilitation process 

soon. He has already taken almost four 

weeks’ recommended rest. After completing 

his rest he will start his rehab programme 

from lower body. He will start full training after 

six weeks following surgery. That means 

we are hoping that he will start full training 

after the 5th of August,” said Amin. • 

Soumya: My biggest challenge now is to score big 


Tigers opener Soumya Sarkar admitted 

that scoring big runs consistently 

is his biggest challenge at 

the moment. 

“I need to work on my batting, 

definitely. Inconsistency is the 

problem I think. My performance 

in the (2017) Champions Trophy 

was not up to the mark. But I 

played well in the tri-nation series 

(in Ireland). Personally, I am realising 

that my own problem should 

be solved by myself. If I get out in 

similar fashion regularly, then I can 

specify one problem. But I got out 

in different manner. So the problem 

is different as well. I am trying 

to solve this problem. I have to 

score big runs. This is my biggest 

challenge,” Soumya told the media 

in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National 

Cricket Stadium yesterday. 

“I was at the crease for sometime 

in the Champions Trophy, 

but in the other matches I got out 

quickly. Actually this is my batting 

style. When I get a big score, 

it is good to watch, but when I fail 

to score then my batting probably 

looks odd. Actually this is the style 

of my batting,” he said. 

The Tigers are practising hard 

in their ongoing fitness and conditioning 

camp. The players have 

mainly been concentrating on gym 

session and running in the last few 

days. 

“It is important to maintain the 

fitness. This kind of fitness camp 

always helps players to remain fit. 

I am working to become fit and also 

on my weak areas for further improvement,” 

he said. 

Bangladesh’s next assignment is 

against Australia at home. 

The Tigers last played a Testmatch 

series back in March against 

Sri Lanka and Soumya played both 

the games. 

He scored 71 and 53 in the Galle 

Test and made 61 and 10 in the Colombo 

Test. 

“If I get opportunity in the Australia 

series then I will try to do my 

best. Obviously there is a difference 

between Tests and ODIs. Often 

I have to play down the order in 

Tests. If management thinks I will 

be more effective down the order 

in the longer version then I have no 

problems with that. I am ready to 

bat in any position for the national 

team,” said Soumya. 

The Aussies last played a Test in 

Bangladesh back in 2006. 

They will be up against a resurgent 

Bangladesh side who have 

played well in Tests recently, both 

at home and abroad. 

The Tigers won a Test against 

England last year at home before 

winning against Sri Lanka in Colombo 

last March. 

“Generally, we get few chances 

to play Tests. But we are playing 

well recently. We played against 

England. It’s a good chance for us 

that Australia will come. We are eagerly 

waiting to play against them. 

We will try to win definitely. And 

personally, I want to make this series 

memorable. I will try to win 

Tests for my country through my 

batting,” said the 24-year old. 

Bangladesh have long been 

searching for a seamer-allrounder 

and as Soumya bowls medium pace 

quite often, he believes he can fill 

the vacuum when and if the team 

requires. 

“Well, I always bowl in the nets. 

I am maintaining my bowling during 

the practice sessions. Bangladesh 

now play with three pacers, 

often four. So it is difficult for me 

to bowl. But if I get the chance to 

bowl, I will try my best to do well 

for the national team. I got few 

chances in my career with the ball 

but am yet to make any impact. 

I have to earn my captain’s confidence 

so that I can be a useful 

bowling option. It’s a challenge for 

me now to prove myself in bowling 

as well. That’s why I am concentrating 

on my fitness because an 

all-rounder has to be fit,” said the 

Satkhira lad. 

Meanwhile, the left-handed 

batsman praised his opening partner 

Tamim Iqbal and informed that 

he is learning from his senior colleague. 

“Definitely, I learn a lot of things 

from him. From the non-striking 

end, I always follow his batting and 

imagine that if I was in his place, 

then how would I have played 

the shot. Tamim bhai’s play has 

changed a lot. He has matured a lot. 

He reads the game so well now. I always 

try to learn on and off the field 

from him,” he concluded. •

AFC U-23 CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 QUALIFIERS 

Bangladesh U23s reach 

Bethlehem, Palestine 

• Tribune Report 

Bangladesh U-23 team reached 

the city of Bethlehem in Palestine 

yesterday ahead of their AFC U-23 

Championship 2018 Qualifiers 

campaign, scheduled to get underway 

tomorrow. 

Following their three-day stay 

in Qatar’s capital Doha, the squad 

flew to Jordan’s capital Amman 

on Sunday from where the team 

started their journey for West Bank 

through a long bus journey, passing 

through the Allenby Bridge checkpoint 

of Israel. 

The team are currently staying 

at Al Jacir Palace in Bethlehem. 

Young forward Mohammad 

Ibrahim, who was in the waiting 

list when the 23-man final squad 

was announced, joined the team 

in Jordan as the replacement of 

Sports 19 

BCB HP Unit return home from Australia 


The BCB High Performance Unit returned 

home yesterday following 

their 16-day long tour of Darwin in 

Australia. 

The BCB HP Unit reached Dhaka 

yesterday night with a 100% winning 

record having won the fivematch 

one-day series. They also 

clinched victory in the lone threeday 

game. 

All the matches were played 

against Northern Territory Invitational 

XI at Marrara Cricket Ground 

in Darwin. 

Following a short break, the 

BCB HP Unit cricketers Anamul 

Haque, Liton Das, Saifuddin, Abul 

Hasan and Tanbir Hayder will join 

the national camp ahead of the 

Australia series and tour of South 

Africa. 

Bangladesh were victorious 

down under riding on joint effort 

by the team. 

Almost every single time when 

the chips were down, a different 

player stood up to the occasion. 

The BCB HP cricketers in the 

tour registered three centuries and 

as many half-centuries. 

The century tally started with 

youngster Nazmul Hossain Shanto’s 

101 off 102 before he retired out 

in the second one-dayer. 

The second century came from 

all-rounder Saifuddin, in the third 

one-dayer. 

Saifuddin struck an unbeaten 

104 off as many deliveries to guide 

his side to a defendable target. 

The third century came from the 

willow of wicketkeeper-batsman 

Irfan Sukkur. 

The right-handed batsman 

struck an unbeaten 104 in the 

three-dayer as the visiting side 

sealed a 21-run victory. 

As far as fifties are concerned, 

all-rounder Tanbir scored 51 in the 

first one-dayer while BCB HP captain 

Liton struck an undefeated 72 

in the fourth one-dayer. 

In the fifth and final one-dayer, 

stumper-batsman Anamul Haque 

registered 53 as the tourist whitewashed 

the home side. 

With the ball, Saifuddin, Tanbir 

and seamer Abul Hasan were in the 

limelight. 

Saifuddin and Abul picked up 

four and three wickets each in the 

second one-dayer while Tanbir 

grabbed four in the fourth one-dayer 

as BCB HP restricted Northern 

Territory to a low total. 

In the fifth one-dayer, Saifuddin 

and Abul put up a joint effort 

once again as the duo bagged three 

wickets each to steer BCB HP to a 

massive win. • 

DT 


winger Jewel Rana, who was ruled 

out due to groin injury sustained in 

Qatar. 

“Finally we are here in Palestine. 

All the teams are residing in 

the same hotel. Ibrahim joined the 

team in Amman. We had a three 

and a half hours hassle in the Israel 

boarder, which was unfortunate. 

After more than 12 hours of journey, 

we are here,” said team manager 

Satyajit Das Rupu yesterday. 

Assistant coach Roksy said, “We 

are now mentally prepared to face 

the upcoming challenges in the 

Qualifiers. From [yesterday] our 

main mission starts and we are fully 

focused for the tournament. We 

seek blessings from the people of 

Bangladesh.” 

Bangladesh will kick off their 

Qualifiers campaign with the 

match against Jordan tomorrow. • Bangladesh U-23 footballers and coaching staff arrive in Bethlehem, Palestine yesterday BFF 

Action from the friendly between Bangladesh U-16 women’s team and Hwacheon in South Korea yesterday 

BFF 

U16 girls come back 

from two goals down 


Bangladesh U-16 girls staged a brilliant 

comeback in the second half 

to play out a 2-2 draw against Korean 

side Hwacheon Information 

Industry High School Women’s 

Football Club in a friendly at KFA 

National Training Centre in Paju, 

South Korea yesterday. 

Youngster Sanjida Akhter found 

the back of the net while defender 

Shamsunnahar also netted one in 

the last 20 minutes of the game to 

help the visitor come back from a 

two-goal deficit. 

This was Bangladesh’s third 

friendly in their 10-day long camp 

in South Korea, which ends on 

Green, Brac, 

NSU win big 


Far East University, Green University, 

Brac University and North 

South University registered victories 

in the Walton Inter-University 

Football Tournament. 

Meanwhile, ULAB played out 

a goalless draw against Southern 

University. 

Far East University edged Daffodil 

University 1-0 while Green 

University outplayed Ahsanullah 

University 5-0. 

Brac University earned a convincing 

6-0 victory over Prime Asia 

University while NSU later handed 

Textiles University a 4-1 defeat. • 

Thursday. 

The Bengal girls lost their first 

friendly against their South Korea 

counterparts a day after their arrival 

before outplaying a local opposition 

9-0 in the second friendly 

three days ago. 

The home side went ahead in 

the 27th minute through a goal by 

Thapu before Chimg Ching Wu doubled 

the lead in the 63rd minute. 

Bangladesh went for a far more 

attacking strategy after that and 

duly got the rewards. 

Winger Sanjida, who can also 

play as a right-back, reduced the 

arrears 10 minutes later. 

Shamsunnahar restored parity 

five minutes later. •

20 


DT 

European Transfer 

Spurs’ Njie joining Marseille 

Tottenham Hotspur’s Cameroon forward Clinton Njie 

is moving to Olympique de Marseille on a permanent 

deal after spending last season there on loan, the 

Premier League club said on Sunday. “We have reached 

agreement with Marseille for the permanent transfer 

of Clinton Njie,” Spurs announced in a statement on 

their website. Njie made 23 appearances and scored 

four goals for the Ligue 1 team last term, having struggled to establish himself at 

Spurs especially after a serious knee injury in December 2015. 

Alves leaves Valencia for Flamengo 

Diego Alves, the Brazilian goalkeeper who has saved 

more penalties than any other player in the history of 

La Liga, has ended his decade-long spell in Spain by 

leaving Valencia to join Brazilian giant Flamengo, the 

Spanish side said on Sunday. Alves spent his first four 

years in Spain with Almeria after joining from Atletico 

Mineiro, keeping out 12 of the 18 spot kicks he faced 

with the Andalusian outfit before switching to Valencia 

in 2011 for three million euros ($3.44m). 

Nolito returns to Spain 

Spain winger Nolito has joined La Liga side Sevilla from 

Manchester City after failing to settle in England, the 

Premier League club said on Sunday. Nolito was signed 

for City by manager Pep Guardiola from Spanish side 

Celta Vigo last July and made 30 appearances last 

season, scoring six goals. City announced his departure 

in a brief statement on their official website, but did not 

disclose the fee they had received for the 30-year-old. 

Spanish media reported last week that Sevilla had agreed a fee of 10m euros 

($11.47m) with City to secure his services. 

Verdy abandon Totti chase 

Japan’s Tokyo Verdy have called off their bid to sign 

Italian superstar Francesco Totti after his wife turned 

her nose up at a move to the Far East, local media said 

yesterday. “Ultimately he was unable to get his family’s 

blessing,” Verdy president Hideaki Hanyu told Japan’s 

Nikkan Sports newspaper, claiming Totti’s celebrity wife 

Ilary Blasi had been a major factor in the collapse of 

their ambitious pursuit of the 40-year-old World Cup winner. “I’m afraid we have 

no choice but to pull out,” added Hanyu. “I was ready to fly to Italy tomorrow. I’m 

unhappy with the agent, but this has been a valuable learning experience.” 

Maccarone joins Brisbane Roar 

Former Italian international striker Massimo Maccarone 

has signed as Brisbane Roar’s marquee player 

for the next Australian A-League season, the club said 

yesterday. The former Middlesbrough Premier League 

forward, 37, joins the Roar from Serie A side Empoli. 

He scored 24 goals in 80 matches for Boro. Maccarone 

becomes just the second player to come to Australia’s 

A-League directly from the Serie A after Italy and Juventus legend Alessandro 

Del Piero. 

Romero pens United deal 

Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero has signed a new 

contract with Manchester United that will keep him at the 

Europa League holders until 2021, the Premier League 

club said on Sunday. Romero, understudy to Spain’s 

David de Gea since joining United in 2015, played in the 

Europa League campaign that ended in a 2-0 victory 

over Ajax Amsterdam in May. “I am delighted to have signed a new contract. Who 

wouldn’t want to be at the biggest club in the world?” said Romero, whose deal 

gives him the option of another season after 2021. 

Milan sign midfielder Biglia 

AC Milan have signed Argentine midfielder Lucas Biglia 

on a three-year deal from Serie A rivals Lazio for an undisclosed 

fee, the 18-time Italian champion have said. 

The 31-year-old won four Belgian titles with Anderlecht 

before moving to Lazio in 2013. He scored four goals 

in 29 league appearances last season as Lazio finished 

fifth. “AC Milan are delighted to announce the signing 

of Lucas Biglia from SS Lazio. The player has penned a three-year contract 

through to 30 June 2020,” the club said on their website. (www.acmilan.com). 

Sports 

South Africa's Quinton de Kock (L) appeals for the wicket of England's Moeen Ali 

on the fourth day of their second Test in Nottingham yesterday 

AFP 

South Africa thrash 

England in 2nd Test 

• AFP, Nottingham 

South Africa hammered England 

by 340 runs to win the second Test 

at Trent Bridge yesterday and level 

the four-match series at 1-1. 

England, set a mammoth 474 

runs for victory, collapsed to 133 all 

out in their second innings 40 minutes 

before tea on the fourth day. 

No England batsman made a fifty 

in an innings where former captain 

Alastair Cook’s 42 was the top score. 

England, who resumed on one 

without loss, lost four wickets before 

lunch and a further six before tea. 

Man-of-the-match Vernon Philander 

led South Africa’s attack 

on Monday with three wickets for 

24 runs in 10 overs, while left-arm 

spinner Keshav Maharaj took three 

for 42 in 12. Duanne Olivier ended 

the match by taking two wickets 

in two balls to dismiss tailenders 

Mark Wood and James Anderson. 

Returning South Africa captain 

Faf du Plessis, who did not play in 

the Proteas’ 211-run defeat in the 

first Test at Lord’s following the 

birth of his first child, made the 

bold decision to bat first after winning 

the toss and was rewarded by 

a total of 335 featuring several fifties 

including Hashim Amla’s 78. 

England could only manage 205 

in reply, with Joe Root making 78 in 

his second Test as captain. 

Amla (87), Dean Elgar (80) and 

du Plessis (63) piled on the runs in 

South Africa’s second innings 343 

for nine declared. 

It meant England needed to 

surpass the West Indies’ record 

fourth innings score to win a Test 

of 418 for seven against Australia 

at St John’s in 2003 if they were to 

achieve an improbable victory. 

But they never looked like getting 

close as South Africa won a Test at 

Trent Bridge for the first time since 

1965 despite being without suspended 

fast bowler Kagiso Rabada. • 

2ND TEST, DAY 4 

South Africa 1st Innings 335 (Amla 78, 

De Kock 68, Philander 54; Anderson 5-72, 

Broad 3-64) 

England 1st Innings 205 (Root 78; Maharaj 

3-21, Morris 3-38) 

South Africa 2nd Innings 343-9 dec 

(Amla 87, Elgar 80, Du Plessis 63; Ali 4-78) 

ENGLAND 2ND INNINGS (TARGET 474, 

OVERNIGHT: 1-0) R B 

Cook c De Kock b Morris 42 76 

Jennings b Philander 3 18 

Ballance lbw b Philander 4 15 

Root b Morris 8 20 

Bairstow c Morris b Maharaj 16 29 

Stokes c and b Philander 18 44 

Ali c Kuhn b Maharaj 27 37 

Dawson not out 5 13 

Broad c Morkel b Maharaj 5 12 

Wood c Morris b Olivier 0 1 

Anderson c De Kock b Olivier 0 1 

Extras (lb5) 5 

Total (all out, 44.2 overs, 214 mins) 133 

Fall of wickets 

1-4 (Jennings), 2-28 (Ballance), 3-55 

(Root), 4-72 (Cook), 5-84 (Bairstow), 6-122 

(Ali), 7-126 (Stokes), 8-133 (Broad), 9-133 

(Wood), 10-133 (Anderson) 

Bowling 

Morkel 13-4-30-0; Philander 10-3-24-3; 

Olivier 3.2-0-25-2; Morris 6-3-7-2; Maharaj 

12-2-42-3 

Result: South Africa won by 340 runs 

Man-of-the-match: Vernon Philander (RSA) 

Series: Four-match series level at 1-1 

with England winning first game 

Messi and Neymar praised by Barca boss 

• AFP, Barcelona 

New Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde 

laughed off the idea of bringing 

in new players yesterday saying 

the best signings were the players 

already in the dressing room. 

“I’m more than happy with the 

way things stand,” said Valverde 

when pressed on the potential 

signing of Paris Saint-Germain 

midfielder Marco Verratti. 

“Happy with the players, happy 

with their work and their attitude,” 

he said as his players prepare for their 

trip to the United States tomorrow. 

“I really don’t care about any 

player anywhere else,” he said, 

knowing fans will be keen to win 

back the Spanish League title and 

indeed the Champions League, both 

won by their arch-rivals Real Madrid. 

“Even if you might argue we 

need back up in certain areas,” he 

said, adding Barcelona had no offers 

on the table for any of their 

players either. 

“For me, the best signings are the 

players I already have in my team.” 

He said Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez 

and Neymar, Barcelona’s attacking 

trident were “a huge factor 

in the intimidation of our rivals.” 

“Messi is a unique player and 

wherever I play him he will flourish. 

He will continue in the role he 

has always had, he’ll continue to 

do that very well,” he said. 

Over the last two seasons Valverde’s 

predecessor Luis Enrique 

had sometimes strained relations 

with Messi, who he pulled deeper 

and then pushed out to the right. 

“We need him both as a creator 

of chances and a finisher of chances, 

where he really makes the difference,” 

insisted the former Athletic 

Bilbao coach. •

Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis plays a shot as 

Zimbabwe’s Regis Chakabva looks on 

during the fourth day of their one-off 

Test match in Colombo yesterday AFP 

ONLY TEST, DAY 4 

Zimbabwe 1st innings 356 (Ervine 160; 

Herath 5-116) 

Sri Lanka 1st innings 346 (Tharanga 71, 

Chandimal 55; Cremer 5-125) 

ZIMBABWE 2ND INNINGS (OVERNIGHT 

252-6; RAZA 97*, WALLER 57*) R B 

Raza b Herath 127 205 

Waller c Tharanga b Perera 68 98 

Cremer c Karunaratne b Herath 48 94 

Tiripano lbw b Perera 19 55 

Mpofu not out 9 17 

Extras (b4, lb14, w7, nb1) 26 

Total (all out; 107.1 overs) 377 


1-14 (Chakabva), 2-16 (Musakanda), 

3-17 (Masakadza), 4-23 (Ervine), 5-59 

(Williams), 6-145 (Moor), 7-289 (Waller), 

8-306 (Raza), 9-361 (Tiripano), 10-377 

(Cremer) 

Bowling 

Lakmal 14-0-43-0; Herath 39.1-5-133-6; 

Perera 30-2-95-3; L. Kumara 20-3-72-1 

(nb1, w3); K. Mendis 4-0-16-0 

SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS (TARGET 388 

RUNS) R B 

Karunaratne b Williams 49 84 

Tharanga c Moor b Cremer 27 69 

Mendis not out 60 85 

Chandimal c Masakadza b Cremer 15 17 

Mathews not out 17 33 

Extras (lb2) 2 

Total (3 wickets; 48 overs) 170 

Still to bat 

Gunaratne, Dickwella, Perera, Herath, 

Lakmal, Kumara 


1-58 (Tharanga), 2-108 (Karunaratne), 

3-133 (Chandimal) 

Bowling 

Raza 9-1-29-0; Williams 16-0-62-1; Cremer 

19-0-67-2; Waller 4-0-10-0 

Toss: Zimbabwe 

DAY’S WATCH 

FOOTBALL 

TEN 2 

International Champions Cup 

8:00AM 

Real Salt Lake v Manchester United 

6:00PM 

AC Milan v Borussia Dortmund 

CRICKET 

TEN 3 

11:30AM 

Zimbabwe Tour Sri Lanka 

1st Test, Day 5 

STAR SPORTS 1 

3:00PM 

ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 

1st Semi-Final: England v South Africa 

STAR SPORTS 2 

4:00PM 

South Africa Tour of England 

2nd Test, Day 5 

STAR SPORTS SELECT HD 2 

11:28PM 

Natwest T20 Blast 2017 

Kent v Gloucestershire 

Sports 

Mendis stays firm in record Sri Lanka chase 

• AFP, Colombo 

Kusal Mendis scored a fluent 

half-century to keep Sri Lanka’s 

hopes of chasing a record 388 alive 

on day four of the one-off Test 

against Zimbabwe yesterday. 

The hosts were 170 for three at 

stumps, with Mendis (60) batting 

alongside Angelo Mathews (17) at 

Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium. 

Sri Lanka’s highest-ever successful 

run chase was against South 

Africa in 2006, when they achieved 

their 352-run target in Colombo. 

Zimbabwe skipper Graeme Cremer 

dented the hosts with his leg-spin, 

claiming the important wickets of 

Upul Tharanga (27) and his opposite 

number Dinesh Chandimal (15). 

Opener Dimuth Karunaratne was 

bowled by left-arm spinner Sean 

Williams for 49 as the visitors persisted 

with an all-spin attack in the 

48 overs bowled in the innings so far. 

Karunaratne said Cremer - who 

bagged his maiden five-wicket Test 

haul in Sri Lanka’s first innings - 

would pose the biggest threat on a 

fifth-day track. 

Mendis, who fought off hamstring 

trouble in the final session 

of play, put together an unbeaten 

37-run stand with Mathews to take 

the delicately poised Test into its 

final day. 

Zimbabwe were earlier bowled 

out for 377 in the second session, 

with Sikandar Raza (127) top-scoring 

for the visitors with his maiden 

Test century. 

Cremer was the last man out for 

48 off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, 

who returned figures of 6-133 to 

take his match tally to 11 wickets. • 

Man City must win trophies next 

season, says Sterling 

• Reuters 

Manchester City have spent heavily 

in the close season to strengthen 

an already powerful squad and 

midfielder Raheem Sterling says 

winning the Premier League is the 

top priority. 

City, who last won the title in 

2014 and finished 15 points behind 

champions Chelsea last season, 

have added goalkeeper Ederson 

for a reported 34.7m pounds 

($44.92m), midfielder Bernardo 

Silva for 43m pounds and defender 

Kyle Walker for 50m pounds. 

Sterling said all the pieces were 

in place for a title run. 

“We need to be winning trophies; 

we need to be getting that 

Premier League title back,” the 

22-year-old told the club’s website. 

(www.mancity.com) 

“For me, that’s the most important 

thing for next year – to be the 

best team in England and we’ve already 

made some fantastic signings 

this summer that will only strengthen 

an already strong squad.” 

City will begin their pre-season 

campaign against Manchester 

United in the United States 

on Thursday in the International 

Champions Cup. “We’ve made sure 

we put the work in during the off 

period – our runs and our exercises 

– to come back ready for pre-season 

and we’ve been working hard all 

last week,” Sterling said. • 

21 


DT 

42-member 

Bangladesh 

women’s squad 

named 


The Bangladesh women cricketers 

will begin an eight-day long training 

camp, starting from Thursday, 

in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National 

Stadium. 

The BCB’s women’s wing yesterday 

named a 42-member squad for 

the camp. 

During the camp, the women 

cricketers will be divided into three 

teams – Padma, Meghna and Jamuna 

- for a practice tournament, set 

to start from Saturday. 

The cricketers have been asked 

to report to the board tomorrow 

morning. 

SQUAD 

Rumana Ahmed, Jahanara Alam, 

Sanjida Islam, Salma Khatun, Fargana 

Hoque, Ritu Moni, Nigar Sultana, 

Suriya Azmin, Panna Ghosh, 

Sharmin Akter Supta, Ayasha Rahman, 

Khadija-tul Kubra, Shaila 

Sharmin, Nahida Akter, Fahima 

Khatun, Sharmin Sultana, Morsheda 

Khatun, Jannatul Ferdous, 

Nuzhat Tasnia, Lata Mondal, Tripti 

Mondal, Shamima Sultana, Sanjida 

Jannat, Lily Rani, Subhana 

Mostary, Taj Nahar, Ishma Tanjim, 

Pabrita Roy, Labony Akter, Sandiha 

Islam Asha, Ismat Jahan Emu, 

Boyshaki Sultana Yasmin, Bristi 

Roy, Ismot Ara, Samia Akter Salma, 

Jannatul Ferdous Tithi, Puja 

Chakraborty, Ayesha Akter, Nipa 

Akter, Tania Sarkar Ela, Happy 

Alam and Sohely Akter 

Klopp eager to 

land Liverpool’s 

transfer targets 

• Reuters 

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp 

is determined to sign their top 

targets ahead of the new season, 

saying he has 100% backing from 

the club owners. The Merseyside 

club have already recruited winger 

Mohamed Salah from AS Roma and 

striker Dominic Solanke, whose 

contract expired at Chelsea. 

British media have reported that 

Klopp is interested in signing RB 

Leipzig midfielder Naby Keita but a 

57m pound ($74.52m) offer was rejected 

by the Bundesliga side. 

“We pretty much have all you 

need. But at the end it is still business,” 

Klopp told the British media. 

“You go out and see the car that 

you have been dreaming about 

your whole life...you say ‘here is 

the money’ but they say to you ‘I 

don’t want to sell the car’. You say 

‘but I have got the money’ but they 

say ‘I don’t want to sell’.” •

22 


DT 

Showtime 

Dance movies in Bollywood 

• Showtime Desk 

It’s difficult to separate Bollywood from 

dancing. Dance numbers with elaborate 

choreography are as numerous in Bollywood 

films as violence is omnipresent in every 

Tarantino movie. 

Recently Tiger Shroff-starrer Munna 

Michael, a film where the protagonist aspires 

to be a dance star, has been generating 

good buzz making news. The story follows 

his journey as he enters a national dance 

competition. 

With the Bollywood fans amped-up to 

see a movie with dance as the main subject 

matter, we list here are some of the other 

films where the stories revolved around 

dancers or dancing. 

Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955): 

One of the earliest Technicolor films made 

in India, director V Shantaram’s Jhanak 

Jhanak Payal Baaje was a love story of two 

dancers struggling to find balance between 

their craft and love. The Sandhya and Gopi 

Krishna-starrer made Rs1 crore at the box 

office. 

Subhash-directed film made Rs3 crore at the 

box office. 

Naache Mayuri (1986): The biographical 

drama directed by T Rama Rao was based on 

the life of classical dancer and actor Sudha 

Chandran who lost a leg in an accident and 

fought her way back to normalcy. The film, 

a remake of Telugu movie Mayuri (1984), 

starred Chandran as herself. 

Naach (2004): The Ram Gopal Varma-film 

was a love story between an aspiring actor 

and choreographer, played by Abhishek 

Bachchan and Antara Mali, respectively. It 

earned Rs3 crore in box office collections. 

Chance Pe Dance (2010): Director Ken 

Ghosh’s dance drama was set in the film 

industry and told the struggle of an aspiring 

actor. The Shahid Kapoor-starrer made close 

to Rs2 crore at the box office. 

Aaja Nachle (2007): Madhuri Dixit’s 

comeback vehicle was the story of a USbased 

choreographer trying to save her 

old small-town dance theatre from being 

demolished. The Yash Raj Films production 

netted Rs14 crore in box office collections. 

Navrang (1959): Another V Shantaramdirected 

film noted for its dance sequences 

with lead actress Sandhya and music by C. 

Ramchandra. It had grossed about Rs1 crore 

in box office collections. 

Ilzaam (1986): Govinda plays a street 

performer whose gang robs people’s homes 

while he distracts them with his dancing. 

The Shibu Mitra-directed film netted Rs3 

crore at the box office. 

ABCD: Any Body Can Dance (2013): 

Remo D’Souza’s dance drama told the 

struggles of a small-time Mumbai-based 

dance troupe. Featuring Prabhu Deva, 

Ganesh Acharya, Kay Kay Menon and a host 

of real-life dancers in lead roles, it made 

Rs39 crore in box office collections and 

spawned a sequel called ABCD 2 released in 

2015. 

Disco Dancer (1982): The Mithun 

Chakraborty-starrer was the rags-to-riches 

tale of a street performer. The Babbar 

Dil To Pagal Hai (1997): Yash Chopra’s 

coming of age romantic drama featuring 

Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and 

Karisma Kapoor was a love triangle between 

dancers in a musical dance troupe. The film 

that won much acclaim for the innovative 

choreography by then upcoming dance 

director Shiamak Davar earned Rs28 crore in 

box office collections. 

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008): After the 

wedding ceremony between Surinder Sahni 

and Taani, Surinder discovers that his new 

wife cares little for him. When she decides 

to enter a dance competition, Surinder 

disguises himself, joins the class and tries 

to befriend her. Taani soon falls in love with 

her new dance partner, Raj, unaware that 

he is in fact her husband. This romantic 

film was directed by Aditya Chopra, starring 

Shah Rukh Khan, Vinay Pathak, Anushka 

Sharma. 

Happy New Year (2014): A team of losers 

attempt to pull off mass revenge against a 

past traitor. They are required to win a dance 

competition as part of the plan, they get 

entangled with the presence of a somewhat 

unintelligent local dance performer who 

cannot learn the backstory of the betrayal. 

The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika 

Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu 

Sood, Boman Irani, Vivaan Shah and Jackie 

Shroff.• 

Source: IMDB

Showtime 

TUESDAY, 

23JULY 18, 2017 

DT 

Pashan eyeing Eid release 


Saikat Nasir’s latest film Pashan 

is gearing up for an Eid-ul-Adha 

release. The film starring Bidya 

Sinha Mim and Om from Kolkata 

will be submitted to the censor 

board this month after the 

dubbing of the film is completed. 

The plot of the film is yet to be 

revealed but rumour has it that 

Mim will be seen playing the role 

of a journalist. 

Saikat Nasir, who won the 

National Film Award in the best 

screenplay catergory for Desha: 

The Leader, has confirmed his 

plans to opt for an Eid-ul-Adha 

release saying “the audience 

aspire to watch something fresh 

during the season.” 

The filmmaker shared the 

reason why he took so much 

time for the making of Pashan 

saying that he never wanted to 

compromise its quality. “People 

love to watch a perfectly-made 

film with a fresh interesting 

storyline. I believe this would be 

a perfect treat for the Bangladeshi 

audience in the coming Eid,” 

Nasir added. 

The director also informed 

that the film’s first teaser will 

come out sometime next week. 

Saikat Nasir wrote the story 

and screenplay of Pashan. The 

cast includes the likes of Shadek 

Bacchu, Elora Gohor, Amir Siraji, 

Nader Ali, Tanvir Tanu and 

Shimul Khan. Late actor Mizu 

Ahmed played a special role in it 

while Bapasha Kabir performed 

an item song for the film. 

Mim recently wrapped up 

shooting for yet another film 

titled Yeti Obhijaan, directed by 

talented Indian filmamker Srijit 

Mukherjee, to be released in 

September. In Yeti Obhijaan, she 

shared the screen with Prosenjit 

Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, 

Ferdous Ahmed and Aryann 

Bhowmik. • 

Remembering Abdul Ahad 


Legendary music composer 

Abdul Ahad was remembered 

at a program titled “Sursrosta 

Abdul Ahad-er Gaan,” held at 

the National Music and Dance 

Auditorium, last Sunday. At 

the program, several artistes 

performed his songs while cultural 

personalities discussed his 

influence in the field of music. 

In co-operation with Mahmuda 

Khatun Siddiqua, Abdul Ahad and 

Hamida Khanom Smriti Parishad, 

Bangladesh Shilpakala 

Academy (BSA) organised 

the program in order to pay 

tribute to the late influential 

composer. 

Presided by Liaquat Ali 

Lucky, director general 

of Bangladesh Shilpakala 

Academy, the program 

featured Rafikuzzaman as the 

chief discussant. Rafikuzzaman 

stated, “Back in the days, 

composers like Abdul Ahad only 

composed music when they were 

able to comprehend the emotions 

of a Tagore song. That’s why 

the longevity of those songs was 

exemplary.” 

Fahim Hossain and Roquaiya 

Hasina performed Rabindra 

Sangeet at the event while Jharna 

Rahman, Arifur Rahman, Nasima 

Shaheen and Nashid Kamal 

performed songs by Abdul Ahad.• 

First female Doctor Who announced 


For the first time in its 50-year 

history, the lead role in the 

popular British sci-fi television 

series Doctor Who will be 

portrayed by a woman. 

BBC came up with the 

announcement last Sunday, that 

35-year-old British actress Jodie 

Whittaker, who acted in the 

award-winning television crime 

drama series Broadchurch, will 

play the role of the Doctor in the 

upcoming season. She will be 

playing the 13th Doctor of the 

franchise. 

The news was announced in a 

one minute video clip broadcast 

on television showing Jodie 

Whittaker walking through a 

forest, wearing a long coat and 

hiding her face with a hood until 

the final moment. 

Whittaker shared her feelings 

saying it was “completely 

overwhelming” to be taking on 

the role. She also wanted to tell 

the fans of the series “not to be 

scared” by her gender. 

“As an actor, as a human, 

as someone who wants to 

continually push themselves 

and challenge themselves, and 

not be boxed in by what you’re 

told you can and can’t be. It feels 

incredible,” Whittaker added. 

Chris Chibnall, the show’s 

new headwriter and executive 

producer said, “I always knew I 

wanted the Thirteenth Doctor to 

be a woman and we’re thrilled 

to have secured our number 

one choice. Her audition for The 

Doctor simply blew us all away. 

Jodie is an in-demand, funny, 

inspiring, super-smart force of 

nature and will bring loads of wit, 

strength and warmth to the role.” 

Jodie Whittaker will replace 

Peter Capaldi, who took on the 

role in 2013 amid an increasing 

clamor that it should go to a 

woman. Capaldi’s final episode 

will be the 2017 Christmas 

special.•

24 


DT 

MAMATA OFFENDED AT HINDU 

EXTREMISTS INSULTING HASINA › 6 

Back Page 

SOUMYA: MY BIGGEST CHALLENGE 

NOW IS TO SCORE BIG › 18 

PASHAN EYEING 

EID RELEASE › 23 

Lack of policy support drives coin out of market 

• Shariful Islam 

ECONOMY 

It is not long ago when coins of various 

denominations came in very 

handy with day-to-day financial 

transactions alongside currency 

notes, but nowadays the metallic 

money with smaller values have 

ceased to function. 

The lack of policy support by the 

central bank and its failure to control 

transactions using coins are attributed 

to the cause of their disappearance 

from the retail markets. 

Sources said instead of facilitating 

smaller transactions, they have 

ended up in the Bangladesh Bank 

vault, thus leading to crisis in the 

retail transactions by end users. 

Banking sources said except in 

some departmental stores or shopping 

malls, coins are not of much 

use in the market and those who 

save coins out of their interest also 

replace them with paper notes in 

the course of time. 

A source in the central bank said 

it has an accumulation of coins 

worth Tk500 crore of different values, 

including 1 paisa, 5 paisa, 10 

paisa, 25 paisa and 50 paisa, Tk1, 

Tk2 and Tk5. 

Of the smallest denominations 

of currency, 1 paisa, 5 paisa, 10 paisa, 

25 paisa and 50 paisa have lost 

their uses in the market, with Tk1, 

Tk2 and Tk5 remaining idle in the 

vault despite their necessity in the 

field of transactions. 

As the central bank’s vaults are 

almost overstocked with huge 

coins, it has directed banks to accept 

coins according to limits fixed 

on the basis of their branch sizes. 

The limit starts from Tk5,000 to 

Tk30,000 depending on branch 

sizes. 

Cashing in on the limit, some 

vested interests are collecting coins 

from the market and pouring them 

into the central bank’s stock. 

On the other hand, businesses 

alleged that different branches of 

scheduled banks across Bangladesh 

refused to accept coins from 

them. 

A Narsingdi Bakery owner Abul 

Khair told the Dhaka Tribune that 

he has around Tk13 lakh in the 

form of coins but the banks in his 

area are reluctant to take them. 

“I am now at a loss, since the 

banks are not taking the coins from 

me. I am running my business on 

bank loan. What shall I do if the 

banks do not accept coins?” Khair 

posed a question. 

Almost all countries in the world have made their coins an integral part of daily transactions and they do not have same currency notes alongside coins, but Bangladesh 

has both 

RAJIB DHAR 

According to the central bank directive, 

individual banks are bound 

to accept coins valued at Tk1,000 

from a person daily. 

It is noticed that the banks are 

disinterested in taking coins due to 

counting difficulty, thus disregarding 

the central bank’s instruction. 

Contacted, Bangladesh Bank Executive 

Director Subhankar Saha, 

also the spokesperson of the bank, 

told the Dhaka Tribune that all the 

authorised banks have to comply 

with the directive issued by the 

Bangladesh Bank and stern actions 

will be taken against those who fail 

to do so. 

Almost all countries in the world 

have made their coins an integral 

part of daily transactions and they 

do not have same currency notes 

alongside coins, but Bangladesh 

has both. 

Bangladesh Bank officials said 

except in some South Asian countries, 

nowhere in the world, coins 

and currencies of same denominations 

coexist. 

They cited India, Nepal and 

Bhutan having some currencies 

of same denominations alongside 

coins, but supply of those currency 

notes are few and far between. 

A source in the Ministry of Finance 

(MoF) said a cohort of the 

ministry officials pursue their 

high-ups to direct the central bank 

for printing currency notes of same 

denominations as coins to satisfy 

their self-interests. 

The central bank is often subjected 

to the pressure or influence 

of MoF, added the source. 

According to Bangladesh Bank, 

coins last at least 40 years, but 

notes depend on their uses. Sometimes, 

many notes turn unusable 

within a few months of printing. 

Experts said circulation of coins 

in the market is necessary to reduce 

dependence on paper notes 

whose printing is costlier than 

minting coins. 

Analysts say availability of both 

coins and paper notes of same denominations 

has encouraged people 

to opt for notes rather than 

coins during transactions to avoid 

weight in purses or wallets. 

Besides, they said there is an absence 

of options like vending machines 

and buying electronic tickets 

for buses or trains where people are 

to be compelled to use coins helping 

circulation of lower denomination 

currencies in the market. 

Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, former 

governor of Bangladesh Bank, said 

the central bank has failed to execute 

its existing policy on the use 

of coins. Not only this, Bangladesh 

Bank has also been unable to take 

up proper strategy to circulate 

coins in the market. 

“A certain amount of coin transaction 

has to be made compulsory 

in retail transactions so that people 

feel encouraged to exchange coins 

in their daily business activities.” 

The former governor also suggested 

not circulating same denominations 

of coin and currency 

in the market. 

Asked about putting an end 

to printing and minting currency 

notes and coins of same value, 

Bangladesh Bank spokesperson 

Subhankar Saha told the Dhaka 

Tribune: “We will decide on it after 

our policy review in this regard.” • 

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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