DT e-Paper 22 July 2017

SECOND EDITION 

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 | Shrabon 7, 1424, Shawwal 27, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 75 | 24 pages plus 8-page sports supplement | Price: Tk10 

Draft law unlikely 

to stop illegal 

organ trade › 2 

BIGSTOCK 

‘No one can 

draw an exact 

sketch of 

Bangabandhu’ 

› 3 

‘Strong political 

commitment 

can transform 

Dhaka into a 

livable city’ › 5 

5 of a family 

killed in 

Chittagong 

landslide, 4 

rescued › 6 

Trump legal team looking to investigate Mueller aides › 6 

DT 

Sports Tribune 

Age is just 

a number 

Federer joy at record 

3 eighth Wimbledon title 

Muguruza will ‘Today they hate me, tomorrow 

6 learn from past 6 they love me, whether I win or lose’ 

SPORTS SUPPLEMENT 

Federer joy at record eighth 

Wimbledon title › 3 

Muguruza will learn 

from past › 6 

‘Today they hate me, 

tomorrow they love me, 

whether I win or lose’ › 6

2 

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 


News 

Draft law unlikely to stop illegal organ trade 

• Nawaz Farhin 

SPECIAL 

The recent amendment to the draft 

Transplantation of Human Organs 

Act, 2017 is not only unlikely to 

stop illegal trade of human organs 

but may well cause a new problem 

for doctors, claim experts. 

With nearly 20 million of Bangladesh’s 

160 million people suffering 

from some form of kidney 

disease, and given the rise in the 

spread of chronic kidney diseases, 

the country’s highest number 

of organ transplant surgeries are, 

naturally, kidney transplants. Experts 

say that Bangladeshis spend 

an estimated Tk300cr annually for 

kidney transplants abroad, as the 

procedure is still rather restricted 

in Bangladesh. 

In an effort to develop treatment 

services and to prevent illegal organ 

trade, on July 17, the Cabinet 

approved a draft law expanding the 

list of relatives who can donate organs 

to a person. This, move, however, 

may not suffice. 

Professor AK Azad Khan, president 

of the Diabetic Association of 

Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune: 

“The sale of any human organ 

is illegal in Bangladesh, but the 

government needs a high powered 

committee to address the issue so 

that illegal trading is identified.” 

“Although the amended law 

may help reduce the illegal trade 

somewhat, it may also become 

problematic for many patients. If 

they cannot manage organ from 

close ones, how will they get organs?” 

he explained. 

Doctors feel that desperate patients 

may now resort to passing 

off unrelated donors as relatives as 

it would be difficult for hospitals to 

verify the recipient’s true relationship 

with the donor. 

For over a decade, illegal trade 

of organs has reportedly been 

going on in as wealthy recipients 

and brokers convince poor and 

illiterate people to sell their 

organs by making false promises of 

money, jobs and travel to foreign 

countries. 

According to a 2017 report by 

Global Financial Integrity (GFI), 

entitled “Transnational Crime 

and the Developing World”, a 

kidney is available for as little as 

$2,000 (around Tk160,000) in 

Bangladesh. 

Although dealing in organs is 

illegal in Bangladesh, many poor 

people, particularly from rural areas, 

are compelled to sell their organs 

primarily to settle debts or for 

brief moments of financial respite, 

states the report. 

It suggests that out of around 

120,000 organ transplants in 2014, 

approximately 12,000 were illegal. 

Two-thirds of these illegal transplants 

were of kidneys, followed 

by liver, heart, lung and pancreas 

Bangladeshis spend an estimated 

Tk300 crore annually for kidney 

transplants abroad as the procedure is 

restricted in Bangladesh 

More than 10% of the population suffers 

from some form of kidney disease 

transplants, respectively. 

“Once the law is enforced, 

grandparents, grandchildren and 

first cousins will be able to donate 

organs while the existing law allows 

only parents, spouses, children, 

siblings and blood-related 

aunts and uncles to donate. It is expected 

that the crisis of organs may 

decline as the number of donors 

have been increased,” says Bangabandhu 

Sheikh Mujib Medical 

University Vice Chancellor Kamrul 

Hasan Khan. 

However, Sandhani National 

Eye Donation Society President 

Professor AKM Salek said the law 

did not go far enough to solve the 

crisis. 

“Complying with this law is 

The new draft law expands the list of relatives 

who can donate organs to a person 

Violation of the law may be punishable 

by 3 years’ rigorous imprisonment or a 

TK10 lakh fine or both 

Complying with this law is difficult as cases show organs are 

matched with family members in only 50% of cases. There 

are cases when people want to donate a kidney to a friend 

or someone else for humanitarian reasons. But the law 

creates a barrier 

difficult as cases show organs are 

matched with family members in 

only 50% of cases,” he said. 

“There are cases when people 

want to donate a kidney to a friend 

or someone else for humanitarian 

reasons. But the law creates a barrier.” 

The expert suggested that the 

government form a strong monitoring 

committee to stop illegal organ 

business. 

Doctors say over 200 kidney 

transplants were performed annually 

in the last few years at the 10 

government and private hospitals 

approved by the ministry for carrying 

out such procedures. 

They are BSMMU, Birdem hospital, 

National Institute of Kidney 

Diseases and Urology, Kidney 

Foundation, Dhaka Medical College 

Hospital, Chittagong Medical 

College Hospital, Shyamoli Center 

for Kidney Diseases and Urology 

Hospital, Apollo Hospital, United 

Hospital and Popular Medical College 

and Hospital. 

According to BSSMU, about 

1,600 kidneys have been replaced 

at the 10 approved hospitals in 

34 years until 2016. Every year, 

around 45,000 patients are registered 

as patients suffering from 

kidney related diseases. 

Although the cost of kidney replacement 

is between Tk2-5 lakh 

in Bangladesh, some private hospitals, 

which are approved by the 

government for doing transplants, 

Doctors fear hospitals will not be able 

to comply with the law by verifying 

donors’ identities 

The cost of kidney replacement is between 

Tk2-5 lakh in Bangladesh, although 

some private hospitals charge much more 

BIGSTOCK 

are doing it for a much higher cost. 

“Risk of death of from kidney 

disease is 10 times higher than 

death from heart attack. The law’s 

provision for relatives donating organs 

to patients will ensure safety, 

but the law should not act as a barrier 

for patients who fail to manage 

organs from relatives,” said Bangladesh 

Medical Association President 

Dr Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin. 

According to the draft law, if 

a person gives false information 

about the donor, they can be punished 

with a maximum of two 

years of rigorous imprisonment or 

a maximum penalty of TK5 lakh or 

both. 

In addition, violating any of the 

other sections of the law, or for aiding 

or abetting anyone else to do so, 

can result in a maximum penalty 

of 3 years’ rigorous imprisonment 

and a fine of TK10 lakh or both. If 

a physician is convicted of this act, 

they will lose their licence. 

The law states that without government 

approval, no hospitals can 

conduct human organ transplantation 

in the country. It, however, 

also stipulates that public hospitals 

with specialised transplantation 

units can do the job without taking 

any approval. 

Repeated phone calls to the 

Health Minister Mohammad Nasim 

and the State Minister for Health 

Zahid Maleque for comments, 

went unanswered. •

News 

SATURDAY, 

3 

JULY 22, 2017 


‘No one can draw an exact sketch of Bangabandhu’ 

• Pavel Haider Chowdhury 

CURRENT AFFAIRS 

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has 

defended Barguna Sadar Upazila 

Nirbahi Officer Gazi Tariq Salman, 

former UNO of Agoiljhara upazila, 

who was harassed after using 

a sketch of Father of the Nation 

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 

on an invitation card. 

“The UNO did an appreciable 

job using the sketch of Bangabandhu 

which was drawn by a child in 

an art competition. 

“No one has drawn an exact 

sketch of Bangabandhu as of now. 

The sketches which we use also 

have some flaws. These are not exact, 

I know.” 

Hasina made the comments 

when she was informed about the 

harassment of the UNO, said several 

sources of Gonobhaban and 

Prime Minister’s Office. 

Two sources at the PMO said 

during a discussion with officials 

over the incident on Thursday that 

the prime minister said the sketch 

drawn by a child of class V was not 

bad. 

“The kids have drawn Bangabandhu 

as they imagined him. The 

initiative of printing invitation 

cards using such a sketch is undoubtedly 

appreciable. It is also a 

big achievement that an art competition 

was arranged on Bangabandhu. 

“A praiseworthy issue has been 

made controversial,” said Sheikh 

Hasina as she expressed her discontent 

over the harassment of the 

UNO. 

She also said: “Whoever did this 

surely did not do the government as 

well as the party any favours. The 

judge who sent the government official 

to jail might have passed the 

order out of super pro-activeness 

or he might have been influenced 

by someone’s phone call. 

“Now, whose phone call it was 

needs to be found out. 

“Departmental permission is 

needed to take legal action against 

a government official. Did he take 

permission?” the premier said. 

Several sources in Gonobhaban 

said the harassment of the UNO 

had caused strong reactions inside 

the government, and the prime 

minister has expressed her own 

opinion to tackle such situation. 

The sources addaed that the 

premier was informed about the 

matter quite late, but she took rapid 

steps once informed. • 

This story was first published on the 

Bangla Tribune 

Prime minister surprised at Barisal UNO’s arrest 

• Tribune Desk 


Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was 

surprised by a case filed against 

a government official over publishing 

a portrait of Bangabandhu 

Sheikh Mujibar Rahman drawn by 

a child, BBC Bangla reported. 

The news portal interviewed her 

Political Adviser HT Imam in a programme 

on Thursday night, where 

he said the prime minister and officials 

at her office were shocked 

when they saw the news. 

The former bureaucrat said he 

showed the portrait of the arrested 

upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) to the 

premier. 

“The officer did a great job by organising 

a drawing competition of 

fifth graders. The portrait that was 

drawn is now before me and you 

can see it. There is nothing slanderous 

in it,” the prime minister 

was quoted as saying by HT Imam. 

“Rather, the portrait deserves to 

be awarded and so is the officer,” 

Hasina praised, according to her 

political adviser. 

HT Imam further said PM Hasina 

criticised the filing of the case, 

terming it condemnable. 

“Being the highest level government 

official at the upazila level, a 

UNO cannot be punished or sued 

or slapped with any other action 

without the government’s approval,” 

he said, blaming Barisal’s deputy 

commissioner (DC) and superintendent 

of police (SP). 

“I would hold both the DC and SP 

of Barisal responsible for the misbehaviour 

the UNO had faced and 

the way he was arrested,” HT Imam 

continued, adding: “We may have 

to take action against the duo.” 

He also raised his eyebrows as 

to how the police recorded the case 

and the district judge of Barisal accepted 

it. 

The premier’s political adviser 

also expressed his solidarity with 

the field level government officials 

who are offended by the incident. 

After learning about the case, 

Hasina reacted saying: “What is the 

identity of the person who filed the 

case?” 

HT Imam, claiming to have immediately 

gathered information 

about the plaintiff, said: “The intruder, 

who was not even involved 

with Awami League five years ago, 

did it all out of over-enthusiasm. 

And, some flatterers like him are 

harming us,” he observed. 

‘Being the highest level government official at 

the upazila level, a UNO cannot be punished or 

sued or slapped with any other action without 

the government’s approval’ 

Snapshot of the invitation card 

BANGLA TRIBUNE 

“Maybe, some people were angry 

with the UNO and they wanted 

to insult him. Secondly, the filing 

of the case was aimed to create a 

chaotic situation among different 

services of the government. Tarnish 

the image of the government 

maybe the last reason,” he stated. 

The ruling party and its 

like-minded parties expressed their 

adverse reaction over the matter. 

They say a group of flatterers 

have been putting the government 

in an embarrassing situation at 

times by filing such lawsuits, mainly 

by raising an issue by misusing 

the name of Bangabandhu. 

Party sources said around 50 organisations 

are running their activities 

using the name of Bangabandhu 

and Awami League. 

‘He has never seen Bangabandhu’ 

The plaintiff, Barisal Bar Association 

President Obaedullah Saju, 

meanwhile told the Bangla Tribune’s 

Harun Ur Rashid yesterday 

that the Barguna Sadar UNO Gazi 

Tarek Salman was not even born 

during the Liberation War. 

“He did not even see Bangabandhu. 

And, this is why he published 

Bangabandhu’s distorted 

portrait. Had he been born during 

the time of Bangabandhu, Gazi 

Tarek would have realised who 

Bangabandhu was,” he said. 

Saju, however, claimed he did 

not know that a child had drawn 

the portrait. 

Saju had filed the Tk5 crore defamation 

case with Barisal Chief 

Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on 

June 7 for using the portrait in invitation 

cards for the last Independence 

Day’s official event organised 

by the local administration, when 

Gazi Tarek was the UNO of Barisal’s 

Agoiljhara upazila. 

Gazi Tarek hopeful about PM’s 

action 

Gazi Tarek, who was sent to jail in 

the case on Wednesday and then 

released on bail later the same day, 

said he is a victim to conspiracy. 

“An influential quarter, who 

failed to do illegal activities when 

I was the Agoiljhara UNO, are behind 

the case. I know the prime 

minister is just. Being Bangabandhu’s 

daughter, she will understand 

my love for him,” he told the Bangla 

Tribune on Thursday night. 

“I will not have to apply to her. 

I believe that she herself would 

take action against the conspirators,” 

he said. • 

AL suspends 

party man who 

sued UNO 



Awami League 

has suspended 

its Barisal 

city unit Religious 

Affairs 

Secretary Advocate 

Obaedullah 

Saju, 

for suing Barguna 

Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer 

(UNO) Gazi Tarek Salman over his 

use of a portrait of Bangabandhu 

drawn by a child. 

Awami League President Sheikh 

Hasina, also the prime minister, 

made the decision on Friday, asking 

the party’s high command to 

explain why Saju should not be expelled 

permanently. 

Saju, who is the president of the 

Barisal Bar Association, filed the Tk5 

crore case with Barisal Chief Metropolitan 

Magistrate’s Court on June 7. 

Party sources who were present 

at Gonobhaban yesterday afternoon 

confirmed the matter. 

Awami League General Secretary 

Obaidul Quader said they 

expelled Saju as per the Article 47 

(Ka) of the party constitution. 

Prior to the suspension, Awami 

League leaders placed the issue of 

the UNO being sued in a meeting of 

the party’s local government election 

nomination board. 

At the meeting, Hasina asked 

party leaders about Saju, ordering 

the leaders of Barisal division to take 

organisational action against him. • 


Bangla Tribune

4 



News 

Eden College students yesterday condemn police action and demanded compensation for the students injured on Thursday 

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU 

Attempted murder 

case filed against 

1,200 students after 

Shahbagh clash 

• Arifur Rahman Rabbi 


Police have filed a case for 

attempted murder against 

1,200 unknown persons over 

a clash at Dhaka’s Shahbagh 

with protesting students. 

Shahbagh police station’s 

Inspector (investigation) 

Jafar Ali Biswas told the 

Dhaka Tribune the case was 

filed on Thursday night at 

the station by Sub-Inspector 

Mazharul Islam. 

No one has been arrested 

in the case, he said. 

Those who were held during 

the clash have been released 

after questioning. 

Students of seven government 

colleges in Dhaka 

which have been recently 

formally affiliated with the 

Dhaka University staged the 

demonstration demanding 

that the dates for their pending 

Master’s and Honour’s 

exams be announced. 

The seven colleges are: 

Government Titumir College, 

Dhaka College, Eden Mohila 

College, Begum Badrunnesa 

College, Kabi Nazrul Government 

College, Shaheed 

Suhrawardy College and Mirpur 

Bangla College. 

Dates for the examinations 

were announced after 

the clash. 

Eden College students 

protest police action on 

Shahbagh demonstrators 

Students of Eden Mohila 

College have staged a demonstration 

in front of their institution 

protesting against 

Thursday’s police action on 

Dhaka University-affiliated 

college students in Shahbagh. 

The protesters blocked 

the Azimpur Road on Friday 

morning, disrupting traffic 

for about half an hour. 

The Eden College students 

condemned police action and 

demanded compensation 

for the students injured on 

Thursday. 

Thursday’s clash 

At least two students were 

injured during the clash with 

police on Thursday morning 

while staging a peaceful 

demonstration at Shahbagh 

intersection. 

Protestors claim police 

charged without warning, 

while police sources said the 

protestors had thrown bricks 

and stones at them when police 

asked them to clear the 

road. 

On Thursday afternoon, 

BCS General Education Association 

President IK Selim 

Khondoker confirmed that the 

exam schedule for the seven 

colleges have been finalised. • 

Sean Spicer resigns as 

Trump seeks to repair 

public image 

• Reuters 

WORLD 

White House spokesman Sean 

Spicer resigned yesterday, 

ending a brief and turbulent 

tenure that made him a household 

name, amid further upheaval 

within President Donald 

Trump’s inner circle. 

A White House official confirmed 

the departure of Spicer, 

45, and said Trump had named 

Wall Street financier Anthony 

Scaramucci as his new, top 

communications official. 

While not a surprise, 

Spicer’s departure was 

abrupt and reflected heightened 

turmoil within Trump’s 

legal and communication 

teams amid a widening investigation 

into possible ties 

between Trump’s 2016 campaign 

and the Kremlin. 

Parodied memorably by 

Melissa McCarthy on the 

“Saturday Night Live” sketch 

comedy show for his combative 

encounters with the 

White House press corps, 

Spicer became one of the 

Trump administration’s most 

recognized figures. 

While the White House 

official gave no reason for 

Spicer’s resignation, the New 

York Times reported that he 

had quit over Scaramucci’s 

appointment. Spicer had 

been serving as both press 

secretary and communications 

director, but with a lower 

profile recently. •

News 5 


‘Strong political commitment can 

transform Dhaka into a livable city’ 

Zhu Ruo Lin, the former dean of Pudong Planning and Design Institute and a professor of urban planning 

at Tongji University, China speaks to the Dhaka Tribune’s Shohel Mamun about how Shanghai became 

a world-class city and what Dhaka can learn from it 

INTERVIEW 

What are the development 

priorities for a mega city like 

Dhaka? Can you draw any parallels 

with Shanghai? 

Zhu Ruo lin: To transform a city 

into a livable space with great facilities, 

at first you need political 

commitment. Second is capacity 

building, that means enhancing 

skill and improving the implementation 

quality for sustainable development. 

Dhaka is facing massive challenges. 

If Dhaka aims to become a 

smart city, the authorities should 

improve the city gradually in a 

planned and coordinated way. 

Once Shanghai was at the stage 

that Dhaka is in now. 

The central government of China, 

along with the city government of 

Shanghai, had decided to transform 

Shanghai into a livable city in the 

1990s. As per the decision, authorities 

set up committees of experts 

who designed the city with high 

quality technical know-how. Urban 

planners were hired to enhance the 

capacity of various agencies to implement 

the plan to turn Shanghai 

into a globally acceptable livable city. 

Dhaka’s traffic system is currently 

quite poor and that is a major 

problem that needs to be fixed. 

The city environment is over-polluted, 

something that disrupts 

everyday life. 

But Dhaka has an opportunity to 

transform itself into a livable city 

gradually. First, authorities should 

implement a mass rapid transit system 

for better traffic flow and also 

remodel the drainage system. 

Shanghai has an extensive metro 

rail (MRT) and bus rapid transit 

network. The city designed a 

standard water management system 

to protect the city from waterlogging. 

The idea was borrowed 

from Australia. 

In a densely populated city, any 

large-scale construction work, be it 

a flyover or a metro rail line, causes 

a lot of suffering for citizens. How 

can Dhaka pursue infrastructure 

development without disrupting 

city life? 

Zhu Ruo Lin: Such a problem can 

be overcome by drawing up a proper 

design using skilled architects 

and engineers before implementing 

the development work. So 

there should be skilled professionals 

working on the design and implementation. 

Urbanisation is challenging 

everywhere. Proper maintenance is 

one of the key challenges for a city. 

Traffic gridlock is Dhaka’s bane. 

How did Shanghai solve its urban 

transportation problems? What 

lessons can Dhaka draw from that 

experience? 

Zhu Ruo Lin: I have to say the transformation 

of Shanghai was not so 

easy. We are continuously fixing 

the city for the last 20 years with a 

strong political commitment. 

Highrise buildings, commercial 

networks, connectivity and transportation 

systems are developed 

now. 

But Pudong, Shanghai is still 

facing challenges to maintain the 

quality of a livable city, especially 

in providing education, health, 

sports, entertainment and amusement 

facilities to keep pace with 

rising demand. 

However, our planners and architects 

designed the city facilitating 

all necessary services. For 

example, highrise commercial 

buildings, schools, playgrounds 


China is now on a zero tolerance path with traffic and waste 

management systems. No one can violate the traffic rules and nobody 

is allowed to contaminate the environment. The regulatory bodies are 

strictly implementing the law. This lesson should be followed in every 

city that wants to become livable 

and hospitals are all situated not 

inside the residential area but nearby 

in the city. Where should a fire 

station or a university be set up? 

All of that is in the city plan even 

though social demands are always 

changing. 

China is now on a zero tolerance 

path with traffic and waste 

management systems. No one can 

violate the traffic rules and nobody 

is allowed to contaminate the environment. 

The regulatory bodies are 

strictly implementing the law. The 

lesson should be followed in every 

city that wants to become livable. 

It’s not easy to get a car licence 

plate in Shanghai. The owner of the 

car must be show a driving licence 


along with other documents and 

follow many other rules to get the 

number plate. 

We already built extensive Mass 

Rapid Transit and Bus Rapid Transit 

networks to develop mass transportation. 

Even, sharing a bicycle is also 

popular in Shanghai. If someone 

wants to move from one place to 

another, he or she can hire a cycle 

and after reaching the destination, 

the bicycle can be handed over at 

that place. 

How important is coordination 

between government agencies 

that provide various services? 

Is it better to have a centralised 

city authority or to have various 

specialised agencies? 

Zhu Ruo Lin: In China, such a development 

committee has two 

parts. One part makes plans working 

as planning committee and the 

second is the executive committee 

which is in charge of implementation 

and maintenance. 

There are always challenges but 

they can be overcome by ensuring 

integrated performance between 

the agencies. 

How should Dhaka manage rural to 

urban migration? 

Migration of people is one of the 

key challenges for every city. So, 

when a city will be designed, the 

migrant issue will be considered by 

the planners. A proper design will 

always attempt to ensure facilities 

for a spike in population. 

However, in Dhaka, the migration 

of people from rural to urban 

areas is happening in an unplanned 

way. Dhaka can discourage rural 

people from moving to the city by 

charging higher fees for substitute 

services and ensuring they get 

cheaper services back home. 

If urban migration is increasing 

rapidly, the government can increase 

the living cost gradually to 

discourage rural people from migrating 

in large numbers. 

As a planner, I would like to say 

that although we often want to restrict 

the entry of rural people into 

the city, you should not ignore the 

issue of human rights. • 

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY 

Dhaka 33 27 Chittagong 32 27 Rajshahi 32 27 Rangpur 32 26 Khulna 31 26 Barisal 32 27 Sylhet 33 26 

Cox’s Bazar 30 26 

RAIN LIKELY 


DHAKA 

TODAY 

TOMORROW 

SUN SETS 6:47PM 

SUN RISES 5:24AM 

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW 

32.7ºC 

24.4ºC 

Srimangal 

Sandwip 

Source: Accuweather/UNB 

PRAYER 

TIMES 

Fajr: 4:50am | Zohr: 1:15pm 

Asr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 6:58pm 

Esha: 8:45pm 

Source: Islamic Foundation

6 



News 

Five of a family killed in Chittagong 

landslide, four rescued 

• Anwar Hussain, Chittagong 

NATION 

Five members of a family have 

been killed in a landslide in remote 

hilly area of Chittagong’s Sitakunda 

upazila. 

The deceased are Bibi Fatima, 

35, her son Md Yunus, 10; Rabeya, 

26, and her daughter Samiya, 7 and 

Lamiya, 2. 

Four persons were pulled out 

alive. Fatema’s husband Rafique, 

50, two daughters- Jannatul Ferdous, 

12 and Salma, 11 and Rafique’s 

younger brother Giashuddin. 

Rafique’s younger sister Rabeya 

along with her children came to his 

brother’s to stay with his brother. 

Assistant Commissioner (land) 

Sitakunda Ruhul Amin told the 

Dhaka Tribune that the incident, 

which took place at the Jongol Salimpur 

area around 4am on Friday, 

also left several others injured. 

Md Alauddin Saberi, vice chairman 

of Sitakunda, said the situation 

had been aggravated due to 

illegal hill-cutting and illegal settlement 

on the government land. 

He said landless people from different 

parts of Bangladesh settled 

in the area with the help of land 

grabbers, adding that the place was 

vulnerable to landslides. 

Currently there are more than 

20,000 people living in the area. 

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) 

Nazmul Islam Bhuyian said the 

bodies have been recovered. 

The incident took place when 

a huge chunk of earth fell on their 

house after a night long rainfall, 

Nazmul added. 

Trump legal team looking to investigate Mueller aides 


WORLD 

A landslide in the Jongol Salimpur area of Sitakunda upazila in Chittagong left five, including three children, dead yesterday 

Six fire service vehicles have 

rushed to the spot to conduct a 

rescue operation. Chittagong Deputy 

Commissioner Zillur Rahman 

Chowdhury urged the settlers 

living in the area to move to safer 

locations to avert further landslide 

related casualties. 

How the landslide happened 

According to Nazmul Islam Bhuyian, 

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) 

of Sitakunda, it was the nightlong 

incessant rain which triggered the 

landslide. 

“We requested the residents of 

the area to move to safer places to 

US President Donald Trump’s legal 

team is evaluating potential conflicts 

of interest among members 

of special counsel Robert Mueller’s 

investigative team, according to 

three people with knowledge of 

the matter. The revelation comes 

as Mueller’s probe into Russia’s 

election meddling appears likely to 

include some of the Trump family’s 

business ties. 

Attorney Jay Sekulow, a member 

of the president’s external legal 

team, told The Associated Press 

Thursday that the lawyers “will 

consistently evaluate the issue of 

conflicts and raise them in the appropriate 

venue.” 

Two of the people with knowledge 

of that process say those efforts 

include probing the political 

affiliations of Mueller’s investigators 

and their past work history. 

Trump himself has publicly challenged 

Mueller, declaring this week 

that the former FBI director would 

be crossing a line if he investigated 

the president’s personal business 

ties. 

The focus on potential conflicts 

with Mueller’s team may well be an 

effort to distract from snowballing 

federal and congressional investigations 

into possible election year 

coordination between Trump’s 

campaign and Russia. While 

Trump has assailed the probes as a 

partisan “witch hunt,” the investigations 

have increasingly ensnared 

his family and close advisers, including 

son Donald Trump Jr. and 

son-in-law and White House senior 

adviser Jared Kushner. 

As the investigations intensify, 

avert any possible landslide. However, 

the warnings went unheeded,” 

said the UNO. 

According to the Chittagong 

Patenga Met Office, 108 mm rainfall 

was recorded in the last 24-hour till 

3pm yesterday (Friday). 

Recounting the landslide, Jannat, 

Rafique’s daughter who narrowly 

escaped the tragic incident, 

said: “All on a sudden a huge chunk 

of mud collapsed on our house. I 

cried out for help and the neighbours 

rescued me.” 

A brick kiln worker by profession 

and a resident of Noakhali district, 

Rafique came to the remote 

Trump’s legal team is also undergoing 

a shakeup. New York-based 

attorney Marc Kasowitz, whose 

unconventional style has irked 

some White House aides, is seen as 

a diminishing presence in the operation, 

according to the two people 

with knowledge of the matter. 

John Dowd, an experienced 

Washington attorney, is expected 

to step up his role on the president’s 

outside legal team, which 

also includes Sekulow. They’re just 

a few of the fast-growing cadre of 

attorneys stepping up to represent 

the president, his family and close 

advisers as the investigations continue 

to expand. 

In another sign of a shakeup, 

Mark Corallo, who has been working 

as a spokesman for the legal 

team, is no longer part of the operation, 

according to those familiar 

with the situation. They insisted 

RABIN CHOWDHURY 

hilly area and erected the house 

two years ago. 

Razed hills collapsed 

Although Salimpur union is located 

under Sitakunda upazila of the 

district, Shershah Banglabazar of 

the city is the main entrance to the 

accident spot. 

The area is full of wobbly dwelling 

houses constructed at the pockets, 

peaks, ravines, flanks and slopes 

by cutting, leveling and razing hills. 

Rafique built his three-room 

house by cutting hills. A 40-ft stair 

of sand bags was made to reach the 

rickety house. • 

on anonymity because they were 

not authorised to discuss the matter 

publicly. 

Trump has grown increasingly 

frustrated with the investigations, 

which threaten to shadow his administration 

for months or even 

years. In an interview Wednesday 

with The New York Times, Trump 

warned Mueller that it would be a 

“violation” if he investigated the 

Trump family’s financial entanglements. 

White House spokeswoman Sarah 

Huckabee Sanders said Trump 

has no intention of firing Mueller 

“at this time,” but she did not rule 

out doing so in the future. She also 

reiterated Trump’s concern about 

the scope of Mueller’s investigation, 

saying it “should stay in the 

confines of meddling, Russia meddling, 

and the election and nothing 

beyond that.” • 

Civil society 

urges the 

govt to take 

preventive 

steps against 

landslides 

• Abu Siddique 

EVENT 

The recent landslide which is one 

of the biggest in the country’s history 

was the result of unplanned 

development and settlement in the 

hilly region, experts pointed out 

yesterday. 

Speaking at a discussion, Dhaka 

University Disaster Management 

Professor Mahbuba Nasreen said: 

“Lack of coordination among the 

policy makers played a major role in 

creating such an incident,” she also 

suggested the government to build 

awareness in order to avoid housing 

and settlements under the hills. 

Civil society members came 

together at CIRDAP auditorium to 

speak on the recent landslides that 

killed more than 160 people. They 

urged the government to follow 

and implement planned development 

in the hilly region to avoid 

disasters like landslide. 

Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon 

(BAPA), Bangladesh-China Chamber 

of Commerce and Industry, Bangladesh-China 

Cultural and Economic 

Centre and Chinese Embassy jointly 

organised the discussion. 

Analyzing the two largest landslides 

in Bangladesh the one in 2007 

and this year, Dhaka University Geography 

Professor M Shahidul Islam 

said both natural and man-made 

situations can cause landslides. 

“Incessant rainfall during monsoon 

and earthquakes has been 

reducing the temperament of hills 

that are mostly made of sandy soil. 

Naturally, these hills cannot resist 

the forces of heavy rainfall. 

“Another major reason for landslides 

is when the hills are cut to 

make way for settlements. Deforestation 

and trying to supplant traditional 

Jhum cultivation practices 

with flat land agricultural practices 

contribute heavily to destabilising 

the foundations of hills,” said Professor 

Shahidul in his keynote speech. 

He suggested the government 

to take the issue seriously considering 

this year’s landslide a national 

disaster and take preventative 

methods accordingly. 

Professor Shahidul said the probe 

report from the 2007 landslide is yet 

to be published. It has 22 recommendations 

to the government including 

coordinated land management and 

water-shed management. 

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister 

Rashed Khan Mennon, Syed 

Abul Moksud, Proffesor Badrul 

Imam and BAPA secretary general 

were present at the seminar. •

News 

SATURDAY, 

7 

JULY 22, 2017 


Chittagong port congestion may result in 

huge losses for businesses 


BUSINESS 

The RMG sector and other export-import 

businessmen of the 

country are counting the costs of 

chronic delays to container ship 

movement through Chittagong 

port. 

The port has seen significant 

vessel congestion for the past two 

months, forcing many ships to wait 

at the outer anchorage for up to 10 

days. This has caused shipping companies 

to raise freight charges to recoup 

their own astronomical losses. 

BGMEA Vice President Md Ferdous 

has urged the shipping ministry 

to take steps to “immediately 

resolve the problem”, saying the 

vessel congestion was having an adverse 

effect on the RMG sector. 

“The persistent vessel congestion 

will put the country’s number 

one export sector in further jeopardy,” 

he told the Dhaka Tribune. 

“A bulk portion of the imported 

containers contain raw materials 

of readymade garments like cloth, 

cotton, yarn, button and other accessories.” 

An estimated 90% of all export 

and import activity in Bangladesh is 

processed through Chittagong port, 

located by the estuary of the Karnaphuli 

River. 

The port has experienced 16% 

to 17% growth in cargo and container 

handling in the past few 

years. According to Chittagong 

Port Authority (CPA), 100,000 

Twenty-foot Equivalent Units 

(TEUs) laden with goods are imported 

through the port every 

month. 

However, no jetty has been constructed 

in the last nine years while 

the damaging of two gantry cranes 

in an accident on June 25 has substantially 

disrupted the container 

handling operations of the port. 

“The infrastructural facilities of 

the sea port should be increased,” 

Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary of 

Bangladesh Inland Container Depots 

Association (BICDA), told the 

Dhaka Tribune. “The port authorities 

assured us that the two damaged 

gantry cranes would be replaced 

by mobile cranes soon.” 

Against this backdrop, the leaders 

of the FBCCI met Shipping Minister 

Shajahan Khan at the secretariat 

on Tuesday. 

The leaders of the apex trade 

body of the country expressed their 

“grave concerns” over the vessel 

congestion and its impact on trade 

and commerce. 

According to the importers, an 

average of 15 container ships are 

backed up at the outer anchorage, 

with ships experiencing waits for 

berthing permission of up to 10 

days. 

Under normal circumstances, 

the average wait for a container vessel 

to receive a berthing schedule 

is supposed be not more than two 

days. 

This in turn affects the turnaround 

time, a port-efficiency index 

which begins from the time a vessel 

arrives at the port until it sails out after 

discharging imported goods and 

loading exports. 

To recoup huge losses, shipping 

companies have already raised 

freight charges for container vessels 

bound for Chittagong port from different 

ports of the world. 

As such, Bangladesh businessmen 

and importers could incur 

their own financial hit: an additional 

amount of Tk80 crore per month if 

$100 is imposed on each container 

on the pretext of additional surcharge. 

According to Mahfuzul Haque 

Shah, director of Chittagong Chamber 

of Commerce & Industry, the 

vessel congestion at country’s main 

maritime port has reached a tipping 

point. 

“Regrettably, the infrastructural 

capacity of Chittagong port has not 

increased over the years to cope 

with the ever-increasing growth,” 

the CCCI director said. 

“Due to the overstay of vessels 

at the outer anchorage, the vessel 

operators will demand additional 

service charges from the exporters 

and importers which will push up 

the costs for local businesses.” 

Mahfuzul also noted that the 

country’s exports growth had 

slumped to 3.67 % in the first 11 

months of the just concluded 2016- 

17 fiscal year. 

Ahsanul Haque Chowdhury, 

chairman of Bangladesh Shipping 

Agents Association, said the chairman 

of Chittagong port had held a 

meeting with stakeholders to discuss 

the congestion. 

“The gearless ships (ships without 

crane) are facing congestion up 

to 10-12 days at the outer anchorage 

of the port. To address the problem, 

the port authorities decided to use 

a dedicated jetty for the containers 

carrying export goods,” Ahsanul 

Haque said. 

However, the president of the 

Berth Operators and Ship Handling 

Operators Association, Fazle Ekram 

Chowdhury, downplayed the gravity 

of the situation. 

“There was nothing to worry 

with regard to the present vessel 

and container congestion as the situation 

is still under control,” he said. 

“Eid vacation, rough weather induced 

by heavy rains and a recent 

cyclonic storm are responsible for 

the current congestion. The situation 

is likely to improve within two 

weeks.” 

Shipping Secretary Ashok 

Madhab Roy said a meeting had 

been organised for July 31, at which 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will 

preside. 

Another meeting of Parliamentary 

Standing Committee on Ministry 

of Shipping will be held on 

Thursday to discuss over the issue, 

he added. • 

Study in India fair kicks off in Dhaka 

• Nawaz Farhin 

EVENT 

The ‘Study in India’ fair, aimed at 

providing easy access for Bangladeshi 

students to prominent Indian 

universities and boarding Schools, 

kicked off in Dhaka on Friday. 

When inaugurating the event, 

organised by the Indian High Commission 

in Dhaka at Bangabandhu 

International Conference Centre, 

Indian High Commissioner to 

Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla 

said: “The opportunity to go to 

study in India has opened a large 

door for Bangladeshi students to 

further improve their talent. It 

would be an excellent opportunity 

for Bangladeshi parents to provide 

a world class education to their 

wards at affordable costs in a comfortable 

and safe environment.” 

Over 30 universities, colleges 

and residential schools from 

various regions of India gathered 

together at the fair, to allow 

students and parents of students 

aspiring to study in India the 

chance to speak to them directly. 

Information on course fees, 

admission systems and course requirements 

are all available at the 

fair, while spot registration for admission 

to various courses in different 

Indian institutions are also 

Spot registration for admission to various Indian schools and universities are 

on offer at the ‘Study in India’ fair that began at Bangabandhu International 

Conference Center in Dhaka on July 21, 2017 


on offer. 

“Participating schools will 

offer admission from Standard II 

to XII with a choice between Girls 

Schools and Co-ed Schools,” High 

Commissioner Shringla added. 

Providing words of advice 

for students attending the fair, 

Sanjeev Bolia, founder and MD 

of India-based education fair 

and convention organiser Afairs 

Exhibitions and Media Pvt Ltd, 

said: “Make an informed decision 

about your career and pursue a 

course only if you feel you have a 

knack for it and interest in it. ” 

Afairs Exhibitions and Media 

Pvt Ltd, in collaboration with the 

Indian High Commission in Dhaka, 

provides premier education consultancy 

in Bangladesh. 

Some of the prominent Indian 

universities and colleges participating 

in the fair are Sharda University, 

Amity University, SRM University, 

Acharya Institute, Manav Rachna 

University, Alliance University, 

Lovely Professional University, 

Mody University, Apeejay Stya University, 

and the AIMS Institutes. 

The fair will conclude on Saturday, 

running from 10am to 5pm.• 

Vessel workers’ strike may 

increase Chittagong port 

congestion 



A vessel workers’ union has announced 

a countrywide strike for an 

indefinite period from July 24 which 

is likely to worsen the recent congestion 

of vessels at Chittagong port. 

Bangladesh Vessel Workers’ 

Federation (BVWF) made the announcement 

at a press conference 

at National Press Club on July 15. 

“We have been compelled to go 

for the strike as our 21-point demands 

were ignored. The strike 

will continue for an indefinite period 

until our demands are fulfilled,” 

said BVWF Joint Secretary Khorshed 

Alam, adding that all types of vessels 

except for fishing trawlers would fall 

under the purview of the strike. 

Their demands include lifting 

the restriction imposed on plying 53 

decade-old oil tankers, immediate 

release of 16 vessel workers who are 

languishing in Indian and Bangladeshi 

jails and stopping the corrupt of 

the Directorate General of Shipping. 

Cargo handling at the port’s outer 

anchorage will remain suspended 

during the strike as 1400 lighter 

vessels of Chittagong region are affiliated 

with BVWF. 

Meanwhile, Chittagong Chamber 

of Commerce & Industry (CCCI) 

urged BVWF to withdraw the strike. 

Expressing grave concern over 

the strike, Mahbubul Alam, president 

of the CCCI, issued an urgent 

statement to the media on Thursday. 

In the statement, the trade body 

leader feared the strike would take 

heavy toll on the countrywide supply-chain 

of essentials, raw materials 

for industries and food items. 

“Due to the recent backlog of 

ships at the port’s outer anchorage, 

the unloading operations are 

being delayed by 15-20 days. Duly, 

the cost of importing goods is rising 

substantially. The strike will also 

halt the operations of other sea and 

river ports of the country, causing 

the country’s economy to pay a 

heavy price,” said Mahbubul. 

Currently, container vessels experiencing 

a delay of maximum 

10-11 days in receiving berthing 

permission are also expanding the 

turnaround time at the port. 

The average stay time for a container 

vessel for getting schedule of 

berthing in the jetties is supposed 

be around one or two days under 

normal circumstances. •

8 



News 

US House body approves funds to 

improve Bangladesh labour conditions 

• Lalit K Jha 

LABOUR RIGHTS 

A US Congressional committee has 

asked the State Department to provide 

financial assistance to Bangladesh 

for improving labour conditions 

in three industries – readymade 

garments, shrimp and fishing. 

This directive was mentioned 

in a report by the House Appropriations 

Committee that was sent 

to the US Congress along with the 

Israel bars Muslims from entering 

al-Aqsa Mosque amid protests 


WORLD 

Israeli police said on Friday that Muslim 

men under the age of 50 will not 

be allowed at al-Aqsa compound, 

in an announcement made hours 

ahead of expected mass protests. 

At least one Palestinian has been 

killed, according to local media, 

and hundreds more injured amid 

mass protests over new Israeli 

security measures at the al-Aqsa 

Mosque compound. 

An Israeli settler killed an 

18-year-old Palestinian man in the 

Ras al-Amud neighbourhood in occupied 

East Jerusalem, according to 

the Palestinian Ministry of Health. 

Israeli police also fired live 

ammunition, tear gas and rubber-coated 

bullets at Palestinians 

protesting against the new measures, 

including the barring and the 

installation of metal detectors. 

The protests come a week after 

a deadly shoot-out at the occupied 

East Jerusalem compound, which 

triggered tensions. 

At least 140 Palestinians have 

been injured in occupied East Jerusalem 

and the West Bank, according 

to the Palestinian Red Crescent. 

Earlier in the day, police 

swarmed into Jerusalem’s Arab 

2018 State and Foreign Operations 

Bill. The bill was passed by the 

House on Wednesday. 

The legislation funds the US State 

Department, the United States Agency 

for International Development 

(USAID), and other institutions have 

ties with international affairs. 

The committee also directed the 

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to 

submit a report on how the Bangladesh 

government “is supporting 

human rights and workers’ rights; 

implementing policies to protect 

neighbourhoods, particularly in 

and around the walled Old City. 

At least 3,000 Israeli police and 

border police units had been deployed 

to the area. 

Clash outside al-Aqsa Mosque 

Israel’s security cabinet said that 

Israeli police would decide when to 

remove metal detectors and turnstiles 

installed at the compound last 

week, a disappointing statement to 

Palestinians who view the measures 

as collective punishment and 

an infringement on the status quo, 

freedom of expression, association, 

and religion, and due process 

of law; and ensuring free, fair, and 

participatory elections.” 

Tillerson is asked to submit his 

report within 90 days of the enactment 

of the law. The bill now needs 

to be passed by the Senate, before 

it can be sent to the White House 

for the US President to sign and to 

make it binding. • 


Bangla Tribune 

Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian man following clashes outside Jerusalem’s 

Old city on July 21, 2017 

REUTERS 

which gives Muslims religious control 

over the compound and Jews 

the right to visit, but not pray there. 

Israel tightened its grip on the 

compound after two Israeli security 

officers were killed in an alleged 

attack by three Palestinians, who 

were killed by Israeli police following 

the violence. 

Palestinian member of the 

Knesset Mohammad Barakeh told 

a meeting of Palestinian leaders in 

Jerusalem early on Friday that the 

security cabinet’s decision is a “political 

game”. • 

In this August 22, 2015 file photo provided by the South Korean Unification 

Ministry, top officials from South Korea and North Korea shake hands during 

their meeting at the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea AP 

What’s behind North Korean 

silence to talks offer 


WORLD 

At the start of the week, South Korea 

offered to hold rare face-to-face talks 

with North Korea at their shared 

border village in the Demilitarised 

Zone. One set of talks was proposed 

for Friday to discuss easing military 

confrontations and another on August 

1 to discuss restarting reunions of families 

separated by the 1950-53 Korean 

War. The day for the first talks came 

without a response from the North. 

A look at what North Korea’s 

silence may mean for new South Korean 

President Moon Jae-in’s outreach 

to the North and future ties between 

the rival countries. 

Why no response 

Pyongyang may be debating whether 

to accede to both sets of talks or just 

one; or what kinds of demands it would 

make for talks to be held. For instance, 

the North might have been deliberating 

whether it’ll use the military talks 

to repeat its call for a suspension of 

regular South Korea-US military drills, 

a demand that Seoul will surely reject 

again, according to analysts. 

Scepticism remains high 

Analyst Park Hyung-joong at Seoul’s 

Korea Institute for National Unification 

is sceptical about the prospects of talks. 

“It’s South Korea that is desperate for 

talks right now, not the North. Pyongyang’s 

goal is to maximise its nuclear 

ability so that it could alter political 

and security dynamics in the region - it 

wants to create more tension, while the 

South wants to reduce it,” Park said. 

No inter-Korean hotline 

Just to communicate about talks 

is challenging. That could trigger a 

backlash from conservatives who 

argue it’s time to pressure the North, 

rather than seek dialogue. In the past, 

the two Koreas sometimes resorted to 

behind-the-scene contacts to set up 

more high-profile talks. 

Fate of talks 

Despite the silence, many experts 

say North Korea will eventually come 

to the military talks, because it can 

use them as a venue to call for a suspension 

of propaganda loudspeaker 

broadcasts that both Koreas began 

at the border after the North’s fourth 

nuclear test. It’s widely believed the 

South Korean broadcast sting more in 

the strictly controlled North. 

Prospect for overall ties 

The prospects for South’s efforts to 

improve ties with North Korea don’t 

immediately appear bright. The North 

has higher expectations for what it can 

get from Moon, the first liberal leader 

in South Korea in about 10 years, and 

an elevated assessment of its own 

status as a nuclear weapons state. 

The North’s state media on 

Thursday described Moon’s overall 

North Korea policy as “nonsense,” 

noting that South Korea also supports 

US-led efforts to strengthen sanctions 

against the North. • 

Local firm to launch Uber-like app Ezzyr 


METRO 

Innovadeus Pvt Ltd, an e-commerce 

consultant firm in Bangladesh, 

has developed an app called 

“Ezzyr” like Uber and Pathao to 

provide car reservation services in 

the country. 

The app will have its test-launch 

this August. It will be easier to book 

a car, bike, or ambulance installing 

the app, according to a press release. 

Besides, one can have a vehicle 

waiting on one’s doorstep for a long 

distance journey using its pre-reservation 

services. The Ezzyr is now 

available on Google play store, and 

will soon be available at iStore. 

It will be launched in Chittagong 

and Sylhet as well later this year. 

“Our first registered members 

will always have some discounts 

throughout the year,” Ezzyr Director 

Kamrul Hassan Imon said. 

Would ezzyr be a competition to 

Uber and Pathao? 

Imon said Uber is a successful company 

running in 674 cities of 80 

countries. “We also love to dream. 

We want to cross international 

boarders as Bangladeshis are satisfying 

our own land first.” 

“Pathao is our native entrepreneurs. 

We won’t be competing with 

each other, rather we can co-operate 

with each other serving our 

people together,” he added. •

News 

9 



Bogra bus-truck collision 

leaves three dead 

• Nazmul Huda Nasim, Bogra 

NATION 

Three people have been killed and 

eight others injured in a head-on 

collision between a bus and a truck 

on the Dhaka-Bogra Highway in 

Bogra’s Sherpur upazila. 

The bus, heading towards Gaibandha 

from Dhaka, was hit by the 

corn-laden truck in the upazila’s 

Dhankundi area around 12pm Friday, 

Sherpur Fire Service Officer 

Sohel Rana said. 

One of the deceased is Abdul Jalil, 

65, from Gaibandha, while the other 

two, both men and aged around 40, 

could not be identified immediately. 

Meanwhile, the injured including 

two women have been taken 

to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical 

College Hospital. Doctors said none 

of them are in a critical state. 

Abdul Jalil, who was in the bus, 

died on the spot, while ten other 

passengers were rescued after an 

hour and then rushed to the hospital, 

the fire brigade officer said. 

One of the injured died on the 

way to the hospital and the other 

succumbed to his injuries in the 

operation theatre. 

Police managed to seize the 

truck but its driver and his assistants 

fled the scene. 

Traffic on the highway in the 

area came to a halt for half an hour, 

which was finally eased following 

police intervention. • 

Zakir Naik stateless as India 

revokes his passport 

• Agencies 

WORLD 

Controversial Islamic preacher and 

televangelist Zakir Naik is headed 

for more trouble as his passport 

was revoked after failing to appear 

before the Indian investigation 

agency in connection with alleged 

terror-funding cases. 

The passport office in Mumbai 

revoked Naik’s passport, acting on 

the direction of the Indian Ministry 

of External Affairs (MEA). 

The revocation of the passport 

makes Zakir Naik a stateless person. 

Naik was on three occasions 

issued notice and summoned before 

the investigating agency, but 

he consistently failed to appear, 

prompting the agency to approach 

the passport office. 

Naik is thought to be hiding in 

Malaysia where he has been granted 

permanent residency. 

His NGO, Islamic Research Foundation, 

has been banned for five 

years and he himself is under the 

scanner for terror funding. His role as 

a chief motivator of Islamic State (IS) 

recruits is also being investigated. 

Confirming the news, Sharad 

Kumar, director general of Indian 

National Investigation Agency, , 

said: “His passport has been revoked. 

We will soon be acting to 

bring him back to India. We are examining 

legal options.” 

The 50-year-old came under the 

scanner of Indian authorities after 

Dhaka accused him of delivering 

speeches that possibly inspired 

some of the terrorists who attacked 

Holey Artisan bakery in July last 

year, killing 20 people. • 

Former addl secy 

Shahryar Iqbal’s 

funeral today 


OBITUARY 

Former Additional 

Secretary 

of the Ministry 

of Information, 

Shahryar ZR 

Iqbal’s namaze-janaza 

will 

be held today after Zohr prayers 

at Baitus Salam Jam-e Masjid, 3/11 

Iqbal Road, Mohammadpur. 

The lifelong civil servant passed 

away on July 15 in Toronto, Canada. 

He will be buried at the Azimpur 

graveyard. 

He started his career as a Magistrate 

in Moulvibazar and later served 

as the assistant private secretary to 

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. 

He was married to late professor 

Khadija Rahman, and leaves 

behind his two children, Zeenat Rahman 

and Tausif Rahman. •


10 

Editorial 


TODAY 

A dreamless nation 

We need to show our youths how 

to dream on a bigger canvas rather 

than setting goals of becoming petty 

professionals 

PAGE 11 

BIGSTOCK 

Different crises, 

same cause 

Trump’s impeachment would not 

change the regime, only its head. And in 

Pakistan, if the Supreme Court decision 

results in an advanced general election, 

it is not clear to me that Sharif’s party 

would not win again 

Dignity in 

sovereignty 

PAGE 12 

The core of education must be so that it 

can turn its people into social capital 

PAGE 13 

A misguided reaction 

Can a drawing, lovingly made by a child, 

be so offensive that the government 

official responsible for publishing it on an 

invitation card should be sent to jail? 

We believe the over-zealous action taken by 

a Barisal lawyer against UNO Gazi Tarek does a 

disservice to us all, and actually dishonours the 

memory of our greatest leader and Father of the 

Nation. 

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman belongs 

to all Bangladeshis, and to punish someone for 

publishing a drawing which was done with the 

utmost respect is not what this country, or the spirit 

of our Liberation, is about. 

Litigation against a child’s drawing appears petty 

and vindictive, and does nothing to uphold the 

great principles that Bangabandhu stood for. 

A roof over one’s head 

We believe the overzealous 

action taken by 

a Barisal lawyer against 

UNO Gazi Tarek does a 

disservice to us all 

Be heard 

Write to Dhaka Tribune 

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, 

Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 

Send us your Op-Ed articles: 

opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com 

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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. 

For too long, Dhaka has grown in an 

unplanned, haphazard way. 

Because of a lack of vision, as things 

stand now, slums in the city are nearly 

uninhabitable -- with dilapidated buildings, lack 

of proper sanitation and waste management, 

and extremely unhygienic conditions. 

That is why it is of utmost importance to 

have good quality affordable housing, and for 

that, the government should come forward and 

commit to proper public housing that addresses 

the needs of the urban poor. 

For this purpose, multi-storied complexes, 

as opposed to one-storied slums, would make 

more efficient use of land in the city. No one 

should be without a roof over their head. 

It is of utmost 

importance to have 

good quality affordable 

housing

A dreamless nation 

Our country is a reservoir of untapped potential 

Opinion 11 



Have we forgotten how to dream? 

LARGER 

THAN LIFE 

• Ekram Kabir 

In our youth, when we 

were graduating from our 

colleges and going for higher 

education, we were faced with 

a stark reality of choosing what 

we would study. We wanted one 

subject and our parents wanted us, 

their children, to study another. 

I have many friends who 

couldn’t study the subjects of their 

choosing, but had to graduate in 

subjects their parents had chosen 

for them. 

One of my friends wanted to 

study economics, completing 

which, he wanted to become 

a university teacher as well as 

a researcher. However, he was 

forced to study medicine which 

he never practiced as a physician. 

Since then, he has been working 

in the health care development 

sector. 

At that time, there was a 

craze to become engineers and 

physicians. Our parents always 

wanted us to be either a doctor or 

an engineer. 

The bigger objective 

The reason behind this thinking 

was that these kinds of 

professionals were financially 

well off. Now, could becoming 

financially solvent be an objective 

of life? Isn’t it part of a bigger 

objective? 

In a recent survey, 63% of 

Bangladeshi youth have that they 

don’t know what their objectives 

or aims in life are. This certainly 

is a dismal scenario as far as our 

national future is concerned: 

We become doubtful of our 

destination as a nation. 

There’s another risk. When 

we don’t know what our aims in 

life are, we become susceptible 

to becoming anything. If anyone 

wants, it’s very much possible 

to push an aimless person to get 

involved with the negative aspects 

of life. It’s very easy to push 

these kinds of people to criminal 

activities. 

The survey said that 37% 

claimed that they knew what their 

aims were. However, my question 

about these 37% is: Are they sure 

about what they’ve claimed? Did 

they understand properly when 

they decided on their objectives? 

I have my doubts. I strongly 

think that most of these people are 

thinking about their professional 

life, not life as a whole. 

Just cause 

Life’s essence is, I believe, beyond 

just becoming professionally 

successful or changing one’s 

financial status. Life should focus 

on a cause. 

For example, a physician should 

be aiming at making society free of 

disease. The engineers’ cause may 

be to build Bangladesh as the most 

environmentally friendly nation. 

Allow me to tell my own 

story. From grade 8 I dreamt of 

becoming an architect, to design 

beautiful villages, cities, and 

houses. I was preparing myself in 

that fashion and, that’s why, from 

grade 9 to 12, I studied engineering 

drawing instead of biology. 

However, I failed to qualify 

to for the lone architecture 

department of the country at 

the time, and my dream was lost 

forever. 

Then, I started dreaming of 

becoming a writer. 

Now, if I could study 

architecture and become an 

architect, would it be fair to say 

that my life’s objective would be 

fulfilled? How would we define 

this aim? 

Is it only to become a successful 

professional? Is studying the right 

subject that I want to and reaching 

my professional success regarded 

as an aim or objective? If that’s 

the case, it’s a very narrow way of 

thinking. 

Allow me to talk about 

Humayun Ahmed. He always 

wanted to study economics. 

However, he ended up in 

chemistry and became a teacher 

of the subject. In the middle of his 

teaching career, he started writing 

novels. 

He left his teaching profession 

and became a full-time writer. 

Now, the question is: Was he 

taking the right decision about his 

life’s objectives when he started 

to teach at the university? Maybe, 

yes. 

But when he discovered his love 

for writing, he gave up teaching. 

Then he began to chase his dreams 

and spread them through his 

work. 

Who’s the leader? 

I’d like to focus on our national 

aim/goal/objective for a while. 

Do we know what our national 

objectives are? We once dreamed 

of becoming an independent 

country; then, we wanted to 

rebuild this war-ravaged nation. 

Since then, we haven’t had any 

such guidance from any leader 

about our national dreams. Prime 

Minister Sheikh Hasina was 

perhaps the first leader to have 

floated some visions about our 

country. She’s still continuing with 

those ideas. 

However, the ideas are related 

to business and the economy: We 

want to become a richer nation. 

What I’d love to hear from our 

prime minister are the words 

which would characterise us as a 

nation. Are we a loving nation? Are 

we a hospitable lot? What has been 

our evolution as a collective? 

I have a strong belief that we 

may have to learn to dream first 

before deciding on our goals. 

Our dreams would lead us to the 

thought of deciding on the aims of 

life which could be implemented 

in our lifetime. 

A population needs 

an atmosphere as well as 

encouragement to be able to 

dream. My own dream is to write 

novels for the international 

market. 

However, our country is too 

insignificant for the international 

publishers; they wouldn’t 

even bother to listen to what a 

Bangladeshi writer has to offer. So, 

We need to show our youths how to dream on a bigger canvas rather 

than setting goals of becoming petty professionals 

my dream, mostly likely, won’t see 

the light of day. 

We, as a nation, couldn’t create 

an environment in which people 

can dream about their future. 

Our country is a reservoir of 

untapped potential. With a little 

inspiration, we could become the 

most passionate dreamers and 

consequently, we could work to 

achieving those dreams. 

We need to show our youths 

how to dream on a bigger canvas 

rather than setting goals of 

becoming petty professionals. In 

our own dreamlessness, we’re not 

setting these goals. • 

Ekram Kabir is a fiction writer. 

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

12 



Opinion 

Different crises, same cause 

There are many similarities between the political turmoil in Pakistan and the US 

Some politicians think that they are above the law 

• William Milam 

While I was looking in 

another direction, 

Pakistan has been 

suddenly (to me at 

least) been enveloped in a new 

and serious political crisis. My first 

reaction to a friend whose column 

in a Pakistani newspaper had 

alerted me to the crisis was, “Oh 

please, not another political crisis; 

I can barely stay on top of the one 

unfolding in my own country; 

couldn’t our political leaders do 

these things sequentially?” 

Well, no respite, it seems for 

those of us who are concerned 

about democracy in these times 

of its seemingly universal troubles 

and crises. 

We are, thus, trapped in crisis 

politics, which seem to be the 

hallmark of our times. 

I have been consumed by the 

crisis of democracy in the US and 

I had, frankly, lost track of the 

Panama Papers investigations in 

Pakistan. Although I knew the 

Supreme Court had appointed a 

Joint Investigation Team (JIT), 

I was caught short by its rapid 

work and extremely explosive 

conclusions. 

These investigating 

bodies, whether called teams, 

commissions, committees, or 

whatever, usually take a very 

long time to do their work, and 

are often not able (or willing) 

to produce unambiguous 

conclusions. 

Think of the investigation now 

underway on the connections 

between President Trump’s 

campaign organisation and 

Russian intelligence. 

That started under then-FBI 

chief James Comey, who was fired, 

probably for his serious intent 

to follow the evidence trail to its 

logical conclusion, and continues 

under Special Counsel William 

Mueller since May, and is expected 

to go on under the methodical 

Mueller until next year sometime. 

Yet the JIT in Pakistan seems to 

have completed its work in about 

two months. 

And, if I remember the Panama 

Papers revelations clearly, its 

work would have involved tracing 

financial transactions over a 

number of years through foreign 

banks and companies. 

This seems to me to be fairly 

intricate work, requiring financial 

and accounting expertise, and 

even with such expertise would 

have taken time, perseverance, 

and patience. A completed report 

of that magnitude in two months 

is remarkable. This will, of course, 

throw suspicion on the report as 

having been rushed through to 

Trump’s impeachment would not change the regime, only its head. 

And in Pakistan, if the Supreme Court decision results in an advanced 

general election, it is not clear to me that Sharif’s party would not 

win again, even without Sharif 

REUTERS 

predetermined conclusions for 

political reasons. 

I did not know, until I read it 

in the press after the JIT report 

had been released, that military 

intelligence officers had been 

included in the JIT’s ranks. 

Whether this was to supply 

needed technical expertise or to 

push it to the rapid completion 

of its task is unclear to me, but 

it raises notions of military 

interference, or bias, and casts a 

certain cloud of suspicion on the 

report. 

On the other hand, I read 

that the JIT also was able to 

employ outside and foreign 

firms specialising in forensic 

investigation of financial flows and 

other issues. 

This undoubtedly was the main 

factor in its ability to produce its 

report so quickly. 

According to some reports, 

other countries were also helpful 

in providing information. None 

of this, however, is likely to allay 

suspicion that it is biased, given 

the rush in which the report was 

pushed through. 

I have found little consensus 

in the gamut of analytic opinion 

available to me except on a couple 

of factors. First, all are astonished 

that the report has been completed 

in only two months, given the 

paucity of expertise in financial 

forensics available in Pakistan. 

Second, the presence of military 

intelligence personnel on the 

JIT has convinced many that the 

military is involved. But there is no 

agreement on what it might want 

to accomplish by being involved. 

Nor is there any agreement on 

its likely outcome; the predictions 

run from it being lights out for 

Prime Minister Sharif to it being 

just another show of political 

strength by the military, a poised 

hammer if he continues to try to 

claw back power. 

Of course, things may be much 

clearer by the time that readers see 

this piece. 

The JIT report will be examined 

by the Supreme Court this week, 

and there could be a denouement 

by Friday. 

But many of the analysts appear 

to believe that the court fight will 

be long and drawn out. 

If so, it is hard to see how 

Nawaz Sharif can remain PM while 

he is under threat of indictment. 

Sitting here in the US, watching 

our own political crisis unfold 

(like watching paint dry; it is 

so painfully slow), I am struck 

by some similarities and some 

differences between the American 

and Pakistani crises. Though in 

the end, the two crises may turn 

out to last about the same length 

of time, one clear difference is the 

sequence and the speed of the 

investigative phases of the two 

crises. 

The Pakistan crisis dates to 

the Panama Papers revelations of 

April 2016, but began in earnest in 

August when Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf 

leader Imran Khan filed a 

petition in the Supreme Court to 

disqualify PM Nawaz Sharif. 

The hearings before the 

Supreme Court lasted from 

November 2016 to April 2017, at 

which time, the SC ruled that 

there was insufficient evidence to 

remove Sharif and ordered the JIT 

to conduct the investigation. 

The JIT, faced with an 

investigation the difficulty of 

which I described above, reported 

back to the SC in July, a bit over 

two months later. 

To the outsider, still 

watching the paint dry on the 

investigation into the Trump 

campaign’s relations with Russian 

intelligence, already almost six 

months along (with some hitches 

and organisational problems 

to be sure), this does not make 

for solid confidence in the 

JIT’s investigative procedure’s 

methodology or conclusions. 

So we shall see whether this is 

the final act of the Nawaz Sharif 

political melodrama, thrown out 

of office twice by the military, 

imprisoned by the military, and 

now threatened to be both thrown 

out of office and imprisoned again. 

If it happens, it will be pretty sure, 

though possibly never provable, 

that in a sense, the “deep state” 

got him, those (mostly mythical in 

my view) amorphous, anonymous, 

supposedly entrenched 

institutions and personnel that 

operate under the surface in great 

secrecy to control government 

policy making. There is no state 

more likely to have an extant deep 

state these days than Pakistan. 

One might say that both deep 

states are pushing for regime 

change. 

But in the US, Trump’s 

impeachment would not change 

the regime, only its head. And in 

Pakistan, if the Supreme Court 

decision results in an advanced 

general election, it is not clear to 

me that Sharif’s party, the PML-N, 

would not win again, even without 

Sharif at its head. 

In any case, there are primary 

causes and immediate causes in 

politics as in everything else. The 

immediate cause of PM Sharif’s 

problems is Imran Khan, the 

Panama Papers revelations, the 

Army’s dislike of him, or all three. 

The immediate cause of 

Trump’s difficulties is his 

campaign’s relations with Russian 

intelligence. But the primary cause 

of both their travails is similar: The 

abuse of power and the feeling of 

so many politicians, that they are 

above the law. • 

William Milam is a Senior Scholar at the 

Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington 

DC, and a former US diplomat who 

was Ambassador to Pakistan and 

Bangladesh. This article was previously 

published in The Friday Times.

Opinion 

13 



Dignity in sovereignty 

How can we turn knowledge into virtue? 

• Brig Gen AF Jaglul Ahmed 

The purpose of knowledge 

was to improve human 

society in both thoughts 

and deeds, and dedicated 

to improve life in harmony with 

nature. 

Dutch philosopher Baruch 

Spinoza said once: “Only 

knowledge, then, is power 

and freedom; and the only 

permanent happiness is the 

pursuit of knowledge and joy of 

understanding.” 

At the time of Socrates, the 

widely used phrase “knowledge 

is power” was unknown, rather 

“knowledge is virtue” was the 

popular concept. The term 

“virtue” indicates power of acting, 

a form of ability to do good to 

humanity and to oneself. 

The more a man can preserve 

his being and seek what is useful 

to him, the greater is his virtue. 

In the long journey, the pursuit of 

knowledge gave pleasure or virtue, 

and gave more space to power and 

freedom. 

As the world stepped into 

modernity, the term virtue eroded 

and power emerged. 

Power in modernity 

Why do men need power? 

The primordial history of 

mankind suggests that they 

needed power to survive against 

the odds of nature or hunt 

animals. There was no race for 

power but cooperation to gain 

power to protect themselves. 

Social formation evolved 

from the necessity of organised 

cooperation needed to distribute 

food to the whole of community. 

The need for some kind of social 

contract became essential to 

maintain order in the community. 

Power was again dominant to 

maintain that kind of contract to 

ensure that kind of order. 

Individual satisfaction replaced 

societal responsibilities in the 

name of individual sovereignty in 

the post-enlightenment era. 

The primordial period reveals 

that discovery of newer knowledge 

was dedicated to the service of 

humanity, and philosophers used 

to extract pleasure out of the 

discovery of newer knowledge. 

There was no patents, no 

intellectual property rights 

-- service to human beings was 

the only goal of pursuing new 

knowledge. 

Knowledge was, thus, 

popularised as virtue and 

preponderant over power. 

Is the term power derogative? 

The term power denotes “the 

Knowledge is power 

capacity or ability to direct or 

influence the behaviour of others 

or the course of events.” There is 

no place for honour, chivalry, or 

fair play in power. Any means can 

be used to attain power, where 

success is the key. 

Therefore, the goals changed, 

and race for competition began 

replacing cooperation. 

Pursuit of knowledge was 

more directed towards attaining 

power for self-satisfaction far from 

virtuous goals. 

Virtue took a back seat as 

human beings preferred to live 

happily more as individuals, rather 

than social beings. 

The notion of sovereignty first 

arose when hunter-gatherers 

domesticated plants and animals 

and needed a space free from any 

external interference to enjoy 

this domestication in a relatively 

peaceful manner. 

To settle disputes, arose the 

notion of kingship and the notion 

of their sovereignty from trying to 

maintain a space for the tribe or 

community. 

Sovereignty and the new world 

Westphalian sovereignty 

surfaced with a stronger sense 

of chauvinistic nationalism. The 

post-Westphalia world drew line 

between temporal and spiritual 

life of human beings, and devised 

new systems of statehood with 

mammoth changes in the social 

and political practice. 

Moral practice was no more 

put under spiritual scrutiny; 

rather left out to individual choice 

The core of education must be so that it can 

turn its people into social capital 

and destiny. The concept of 

community, political education in 

civic virtue lost their way to power 

and recognition overshadowing 

virtue. 

Knowledge declared 

sovereignty in the individual 

satisfaction to enhance individual 

gains or glory. 

Does sovereignty mean 

individual satisfaction, or a 

specific social group or political 

community? 

The Hobbesian idea of 

popular sovereignty and Locke’s 

individual liberty brought a sense 

of individual recognition to the 

forefront. 

Sovereignty of the individual 

surfaced much higher than any 

social group. Accordingly, pursuit 

of knowledge remained no more 

a matter of happiness, and joy of 

understanding rather turned into 

an unholy race to attain power for 

better recognition. 

Despite advances in modern 

technology, notion of individual 

and national sovereignty spawned 

not only crass materialism and 

commercialism, but caused 

degradation of moral values 

clouded by curtains between the 

temporal and spiritual life. 

Religion has tried, in a 

somewhat feeble way, to get us 

out of this “knowledge is power” 

mess, but the attempts have 

failed repeatedly even in the early 

stages, merely through the dictum 

that “my religion is superior to 

yours.” 

Separating knowledge from 

sovereignty 

The majority of current conflict 

in the world results from this 

misconception and lack of efforts 

to view knowledge from balanced 

perspectives. 

If knowledge has to add to 

human values and dignity, it is 

time to approach knowledge from 

all directions. 

Should that knowledge be 

utilised for peaceful means of 

social good or to extend hegemony 

of the sovereign or to raise unholy 

greed for individual glory? 

A peaceful pursuit of 

knowledge to fulfill material and 

spiritual needs will add dignity; 

otherwise, knowledge, through 

abuse, will become a means to 

accumulate power and ultimately, 

lead to the fall of both sovereignty 

BIGSTOCK 

of individual and the sovereign. 

The world is spending billions 

of dollars for weapons. It is only 

enlarging the domain of human 

conflicts. 

Only virtuous activities 

directed towards community goals 

can redeem the world from this 

conflicting situation. 

Money spent for education, 

health development, food 

production can be useful to turn 

knowledge into virtue, rather 

than power and sovereignty into 

dignity. The essence of sovereignty 

can lie in the sense of dignity 

of life, self-empowerment, 

self-determination, and right 

education to cope with and gain 

from both the temporal and 

spiritual reality. 

A nation needs to develop its 

education with an unsentimental 

understanding of its own situation 

in order to build its leadership, 

who can prepare their citizens 

to cope with multi-perspective 

realities. 

The core of education must 

be so that it can turn its people 

into social capital, who can 

maturely understand their stake 

to develop national culture and 

institutions, and manage the 

republic, satisfying the temporal 

and spiritual need. 

A nation with such virtuous 

education can only make 

sovereignty worthwhile and 

dignified. • 

Brigadier General AF Jaglul Ahmed is 

Commandant, East Bengal Regimental 

Centre.

14 



Kids 

colour it 

maze

Kids 

15 



VIDEO GAME REVIEW 

The Powerpuff Girls: Defenders of 

Townsville 

BOOK 

Sweety’s blue pen 

If you love Powerpuff girls for 

their awesome super powers 

and cuteness, you have reason 

to celebrate because the cuties 

are back with a video game! 

In the action-adventure 

game, “The Powerpuff Girls: 

Defenders of Townsville,” 

Blossom, Bubbles and 

Buttercup have forgotten 

how to use their superpowers 

and it’s all Mojo Jojo’s fault! 

The bad monkey zaps them 

with a flash of light and when 

the three sisters wakeup, all 

they can 

remember is 

how to run. 

As they 

go through 

the different 

mazes 

fighting 

Mojo Jojo’s 

robots, 

they slowly 

begin to remember how to 

use their powers like flying 

and punching. With each new 

power, the girls find new roads 

but the robots get stronger too, 

and the fight becomes harder. 

Based on an all-time favourite 

cartoon, this game is fun for 

both girls and boys!• 

DIY 

Making clay figures 

Sweety is a seven year old girl 

who was walking around in her 

garden admiring its beauty. She 

had with her, her favourite blue 

pen but suddenly she loses it! 

Oh no! 

She looks around 

everywhere but it is nowhere to 

be found. 

Sweety starts crying and 

suddenly, she hears someone 

asking, “Are you looking for 

your pen?” 

Sweety turns around and 

sees three pretty little fairies – a 

red fairy, a white and a blue 

one! 

“We will help you,” the 

fairies assured her. 

Will Sweety be able to find 

her pen? Read Angel and the 

Blue Pen by Khairul Babui 

to find out. A fun story with 

colourful pictures drawn by 

Lutfun Nahar, you will surely 

fall in love with this Bangla 

book. • 

TRIVIA 

Did You Know 

The Sun 

Time to get messy because we 

are going to make clay figures! 

Things you’ll need: 

• Plain clay or soft soil 

• Water 

• A wooden or plastic board. 

• A toothpick 

Instructions: 

• You can find clay/soil 

almost anywhere. Dig some 

up from a field or you can 

also buy some from a plant 

nursery. 

• See if the soil is soft enough 

to mould it into different 

shapes. If not, mix it with 

some water until it is soft 

but make sure that it’s not 

too runny. 

• To make a figure on the 

board, shape some clay 

into a rectangle for the 

body. Make a small ball for 

the head. Make long sticks 

for hands and legs. Attach 

them together by pressing 

them in with a little water. 

• Use a toothpick to draw the 

face in. 

• When finished, keep the 

figure in a warm sunny 

place and let it dry and 

harden for 2-3 days. 

Don’t worry if your first 

attempt doesn’t look like a 

million dollar artwork, take 

inspiration from the fact that 

practice makes one perfect. 

Try making other things too! • 

• All living things on 

Earth need energy 

from the Sun to stay 

alive. 

• The Sun is a star. It is 

one of the 100 billion 

stars in the Milky Way 

galaxy. 

• The Sun is placed right 

in the middle of our solar 

system. All planets orbit 

around it. 

• The Sun is very hot. The 

outer part of the sun is 

about 10,000 degrees 

Fahrenheit, 50 times the 

temperature at which 

water boils! 

• The Sun is made up of 

gases. Around 74 per cent 

of it is hydrogen, 24 per 

cent h elium while gases 

such as oxygen, carbon, 

iron and neon make up the 

rest. 

• It takes 8.3 minutes for 

light from the sun to reach 

the Earth. 

Many early civilisations 

worshipped the Sun as a 

god. For example, Ancient 

Egyptians had a sun god 

called Ra while the Aztec 

civilisation in Mexico 

prayed to a sun god named 

Tonatiuh.•

16 



Downtime 

CROSSWORD 

ACROSS 

1 Numeral (3) 

3 Male deer (4) 

6 Former Iranian leader (4) 

7 Indicate agreement (3) 

9 Single entity (4) 

10 Band’s engagement (3) 

11 Hazard (4) 

13 Sheeplike (5) 

16 Dodge (5) 

18 Eager (4) 

19 Cereal (3) 

20 Prophet (4) 

21 Corn spike (3) 

23 Severe (4) 

24 Festive (4) 

25 In favour of (3) 

DOWN 

1 Dance (5) 

2 Which person? (3) 

4 Army weapon (4) 

5 Obtain (3) 

6 Vision (5) 

8 Impel (5) 

9 Second-hand (4) 

12 Silly (5) 

14 Change direction (4) 

15 Bullock (5) 

17 Mistake (5) 

18 Part of a yacht (4) 

20 Droop (3) 

22 Fuss (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 N so fill N 

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 



EVENTS AROUND TOWN TODAY 

SCREENING 

MOVIE 

SEMINAR 

STAR CINEPLEX 

Where Bashundhara City, Dhaka 

What Movie Showtime (July 22) 

FIRST BIMSTEC FILM FESTIVAL 

When 9am-9pm 

Where BIMSTEC Secretariat, NW (1-6), Road 53, Gulshan 2, 

Dhaka 

What The film festival will run till July 26. 

EDUCATION 

INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL BUSINESS SUMMER 

PROGRAM 2017 (ISBSP) 

When 10am-7pm 

Where Daffodil International University, 102 Shukrabad, 

Dhanmondi, Dhaka 

What The program will be hosted by Daffodil International 

University, and will conclude on August 1. 

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

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

The Mummy (3D): 11:30am, 

2:10pm, 5pm 

Nabab (2D): 3:50pm, 7pm 

Spiderman Homecoming (3D): 

10:50am, 1:45pm, 4:30pm, 

4:40pm, 7:10pm, 07:30pm 

Baby Driver (2D): 11:10am, 1:30pm, 

7:20pm 

Despicable Me 3 (3D): 11am, 1pm 

Dunkirk (2D): 11:20am, 1:50pm, 

3pm, 5:15pm, 7:30pm 

BLOCKBUSTER CINEMAS 

Where Jamuna Future Park, Dhaka 

What Movie Showtime (July 22) 

SKILLS FOR THE INNOVATOR’S MINDSET 

When 3:30-5:30pm 

Where AUST Innovation and Design Club, 141 & 142 Love 

Road, Dhaka 

What Seminar hosted by AUST Innovation and Design Club, 

and Toru Institute of Inclusive Innovation. 

GET YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE AND MARKETING 

IDEAS 

When 3:30-7pm 

Where Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, 

Dhaka 

What Hosted by Hostmight.com, the event will discuss 

pointers on business website development and how to 

promote businesses online. 

GET STARTED WITH AMAZON WEB SERVICES 

When 3-4pm 

Where Brian Station-23, Plot 2, 8th Floor, Bir Uttam Ak 

Khandaker Road, Mohakhali C/A, Dhaka 

What The event is for sharing information and providing 

support to those who need it for Amazon Web Services (AWS 

| Cloud). 

MUSIC 

SEMINAR ON STUDY IN POLAND SERIES 

When 11am-4pm 

Where 44/9 Haque Tower (2nd Floor), West Panthapath, 

Dhaka 

What Hosted by Universal Education and Immigration, the 

free seminar will discuss options of studying in Poland. 

DISCURSIVE DIALOGUE 04: CHALLENGES TO 

ISLAMIC EDUCATION 

When 10am-1pm 

Where South Asian Youth Research Institute for 

Development-SAYRID, (8th Floor), SEL Centre, 29 West 

Panthapath, Dhaka 

What Muhaimin Chowdhury is the speaker at the dialogue 

that will draw focus on a research paper prepared by Ali Riaz, 

Professor and department chair of Illinois State University. 

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

Spider-Man: Homecoming (3D): 

11:30am, 1:45pm, 2:10pm, 4:30pm, 

7:20pm 

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

5pm, 7:30pm 

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

7:30pm 

Transformers: The Last Knight 

(3D): 11:30am, 2:30pm, 4:55pm, 

7:25pm 

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

2:55pm, 5:30pm 

Dunkirk (2D): 12:30pm, 2:50pm, 

5:10pm, 7:30pm, 7:55pm 

NAGORIK SHRODDHA 

When 5:30-7:30pm 

Where Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, 14/3 Segunbagicha 

Road, Dhaka 

What Organised by AECOR Communication, the event will 

feature videograhy and music performances to pay tribute to 

Lucky Akhand 

CAMPAIGN 

FREE MEDICAL CAMP 

When 8am-1pm 

Where Caring India, House 214, Road 13, New DOHS, 

Mohakhali, Dhaka 

What The two-day long free medical camp will feature 

renowned doctors from India and will conclude on July 23.


18 

Sports 


Bangladesh U-16 girls’ football team pose for photographs after their return from South Korea 

BFF 

Choton praises U-16 girls upon return 

• Tribune Report 

Bangladesh U-16 girls’ football 

team head coach Golam Rabbani 

Choton believes his charges are 

more confident than ever before 

after returning home from their 10- 

day long camp in South Korea. 

With only one and a half months 

left before their historic participation 

in the AFC U-16 Women’s 

Championship in Thailand, the 

Bengal girls have been preparing 

for quite a while now. 

But their South Korea tour was 

FARAAZ FOOTBALL 

CHALLENGE CUP 

Quarterfinals 

line-up 

completed 


The quarter-finals line-up of the Walton 

Inter-University Football Tournament 

(Faraaz Challenge Cup) was 

completed after ULAB and IUB finished 

as champion and runners-up 

respectively from Group B yesterday. 

IUB edged past North South University 

1-0 in the last match of the 

group stage at Kamalapur Stadium, 

which sent NSU crashing out of the 

event and allowed IUB and ULAB to 

move to the quarters as the last two 

teams. Earlier, Far East University 

and Daffodil University from Group 

A, Brac University and IUBAT from 

Group C and Green University and 

City University from Group D confirmed 

their places in the last eight. 

The last match of Group D saw 

Green University thrash City University 

6-1. • 

significant in that they played a 

friendly against a team who will 

also be participating in September’s 

much-awaited event, said Choton. 

“We were in the dark regarding 

the teams who we will be playing in 

the Championship. After the game 

against a strong Korean side in an 

unfamiliar place, we learned more 

about ourselves. It was a great experience 

for the girls and they are 

now more confident,” Choton told 

Dhaka Tribune yesterday. 

The Bengal girls, who returned 

to Dhaka on Thursday night, faced 

Ramanayake resigns as SL bowling 

coach, hints of joining BCB 


South Korea U-16 team within a 

day upon their arrival in Korea and 

lost 6-0. 

“It (result) could have been better 

if we had some more days before 

the first game. They are very 

tough team with better physical 

presence. Still I think we played 

good. We started well. Monica hit 

the bar once,” said Choton. 

Bangladesh played three more 

practice matches against local opposition, 

winning twice and drawing 

once. 

“We played compact in every 

There are a few vacant spaces which 

the BCB is looking to fill, namely the 

posts of batting coach, spin bowling 

coach and national team physio. 

BCB has decided not to continue 

with Tigers batting consultant, Sri 

Lankan Thilan Samaraweera. 

Earlier in September last year, 

Samaraweera was appointed the 

batting consultant of the Tigers 

and was given an extension till the 

2017 Champions Trophy this year,. 

According to sources, the players 

were not happy with the Lankan’s 

effort. BCB was looking for a longterm 

appointment for this post but 

as the 2019 World Cup is just two 

years away, the board is likely to go 

for a short-term solution. 

Among the names being discussed, 

former Australia cricketer 

Mark O’Neill’s name has been 

heard strongly. 

Meanwhile, it was also learned 

that the board has shown its interest 

to hire another former Sri 

Lankan bowling coach Champaka 

Ramanayake once again. 

He worked as the Tigers fast 

bowling coach back in 2008 with 

great success. The 52-year old has already 

resigned from the bowling coach 

post ahead of Sri Lanka’s home series 

against India citing personal reasons. 

Chaminda Vaas will take over the job 

as the bowling coach of Sri Lanka. 

According to sources, Ramanayake 

will work in the BCB’s High 

Performance Unit as a consultant 

while West Indies legend, Tigers 

bowling coach Courtney Walsh, 

will remain with the national team. 

On the other hand, BCB is still 

waiting for reply from incumbent 

physio Thihan Chandramohan as 

he did not join the training camp 

ever since the conclusion of the 

Champions Trophy. BCB informed 

that Chandramohan, who had 

joined the Bangladesh team during 

the Sri Lanka tour before his stint 

was extended till the Champions 

Trophy in June, had an accident 

earlier this month, causing him to 

miss the start of the training camp 

on July 10. 

Chandramohan is still in hospital 

and the board will only start 

looking for a new physio after he 

informs about his availability. • 

match, we dominated ball possession, 

created chances, defended 

well and it was like a presentation 

of total football,” he said. 

“It was totally a professional 

camp. The girls enjoyed the time 

fully and they were always busy 

with football throughout their stay. 

The academy we had stayed in provided 

modern training facilities. 

Along with daily training and practice 

sessions, there were tutorial 

classes, health and fitness consultancy 

as well,” he added. 

Choton was full of praise regarding 

his players. 

He informed that goalkeeper 

Mahmuda showed notable improvement. 

He also praised Sanjida, who 

scored in two matches, and Shamsunnahar 

for their contributions. 

Sanjida started as right-back but 

also covered the right wing during 

opposition attacks. The same can 

be said about defender Shamsunnahar. 

The Bengal girls are expected to 

fly off to Vietnam on Thursday for 

another training camp. • 

Much improved 

U23s concede 

defeat to 

Tajikistan 


Despite a positive first-half display, 

Bangladesh Under-23 national 

football team conceded a 3-1 defeat 

against Tajikistan U-23 side 

in their second match of the AFC 

U-23 Championship 2018 Qualifiers 

at Dura Stadium in the Palestinian 

city of Hebron, West Bank yesterday. 

Young forward Sohel Mia gave 

the men in red and green the lead 

in the first half before three second-half 

goals by Tajik forwards 

Safarov Amirdzhon, Babadjanov 

Nozim and Zoir Jurabaev ensured 

Bangladesh’s second straight defeat 

in Group E. 

Bangladesh head coach Andrew 

Ord made four changes to the starting 

XI that lost 7-0 against a strong 

Jordan side in the first match with 

scorer Sohel being one of the replacements. 

•

Sports 19 



Lukaku on target 

as Utd down City 

• AFP, Houston 

Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford 

were on target as Manchester 

United defeated Premier League 

rival Manchester City 2-0 in their 

International Champions Cup 

pre-season clash here Thursday. 

Belgian international Lukaku 

grabbed his second goal in his 

second start for United as the Red 

Devils eased past a disjointed City 

at Houston’s NRG Stadium. 

England striker Rashford meanwhile 

continued his impressive 

pre-season form with his third goal 

in three games of United’s US tour. 

The game was the first ever Manchester 

derby played on foreign soil 

and both teams commemorated the 

May 22 attacks at a concert in the 

city shortly before the kick-off. 

“It was a very good training session,” 

United manager Jose Mourinho 

said afterwards. 

“We had to play well in the first 

half, is good intensity, the players 

are tired. I am really pleased and 

I’m sure Pep (Guardiola) is the 

same. The result is not the most 

important thing.” 

City manager Pep Guardiola 

meanwhile shrugged off the loss, 

preferring to enthuse about the performance 

of teenager Phil Foden, a 

17-year-old who has emerged from 

the club’s youth set-up. 

“I don’t have words...It’s a long 

time since I saw a performance like 

this - it was another level,” said 

Guardiola, who also confirmed that 

defender Aleksandar Kolarov was 

on his way out of the club, with 

Roma the likely destination. 

“I don’t like working with people 

who don’t want to stay. He has 

a big chance to go to Roma. He has 

said he wants to leave,” said Guardiola. 

Earlier, United enjoyed the better 

of the early exchanges, with 

Henrikh Mkhitaryan testing new 

City keeper Ederson with a longrange 

effort just after 20 minutes. 

Ander Herrera also tried his luck 

from distance shortly afterwards 

but the young Brazilian gathered 

comfortably. At the other end 

meanwhile, City, who handed a 

debut to new signing Kyle Walker, 

slowly got into their stride, with a 

deflected Raheem Sterling effort 

tipped over by David De Gea. 

City should have had a penalty on 

31 minutes when youngster Patrick 

Roberts was tugged back by Chris 

Smalling as he burst into the area. 

Instead Smalling managed to get 

a foot in and clear with Sterling’s 

follow-up effort blocked. 

Six minutes later United took 

the lead. A long clearance from 

Paul Pogba drew Ederson off his 

line but Lukaku managed to nod 

the loose ball past the stranded 

City goalkeeper before finishing 

from a tight angle. Two minutes 

afterwards, United doubled their 

lead with another swift counter-attack. 

• 

Bonucci’s Milan move marks end 

of Juve’s famed BBC defence 

• Reuters 

One of European football’s most formidable 

and long-standing defences 

was officially broken up on Thursday 

when AC Milan confirmed that 

they had completed the signing of 

Leonardo Bonucci from Juventus. 

Bonucci had formed part of the 

so-called BBC defence at Juve along 

with Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio 

Chiellini. They had been together 

since 2010 and helped their club 

win the last six Serie A titles. 

Juve had also reached two 

Champions League finals in the last 

three seasons, losing both to Barcelona 

and Real Madrid respectively. 

Italy international Bonucci 

made 319 appearances for the Turin 

club. He joined Milan last week 

for a fee of 42m euros ($48.9m) 

subject to a medical. 

As the club finalised the move 

on Thursday, Milan coach Vincenzo 

Montella described Bonucci as the 

best central defender in the world 

alongside Spain’s Sergio Ramos. 

“For me, it’s a dream to be able 

to coach him,” he said on Milan’s 

website (www.acmilan.com). 

Bonucci later said on Instagram 

that he wanted to “write a new 

chapter in the history of the club 

and in my career”. 

He added: “When you think of 

Milan, you immediately think of its 

history and all the champions who 

have worn the shirt. 

“I think of (Franco) Baresi, 

(Alessandro) Costacurta, (Paolo) 

Maldini, (Alessandro) Nesta, (Mauro) 

Tassotti. I admire them for what 

they have given to football and this 

club. • 

Mourinho wants 

United to wrap up 

transfer business 

• AFP, Houston 

Jose Mourinho urged Manchester 

United bosses to wrap up the club’s 

transfer business as quickly as possible 

after watching new signing 

Romelu Lukaku find the net once 

more in a 2-0 win over Manchester 

City on Thursday. 

Lukaku, who joined United last 

week from Everton in a British record 

transfer, bagged his second 

goal in as many starts while teenager 

Marcus Rashford also scored in 

the win at Houston’s NRG Stadium. 

Afterwards a satisfied Mourinho 

expressed delight with the way 

that Lukaku and fellow new recruit, 

defender Victor Lindelof, had 

settled in at the club. 

But the Portuguese manager, 

who wants to sign at least one more 

player before the window closes 

next month, said he hoped further 

transfer deals could be completed 

rapidly. 

“When I look to the team and 

Lukaku, Lindelof, I would like my 

squad to be here, my whole squad,” 

Mourinho said. “If you manage to 

get one more player - I’m not even 

crying for two - if we get one player, 

as soon as possible. 

“Because we can see Lindelof is 

in a team, Lukaku is in a team. The 

understanding between the players, 

the Paul (Pogba) pass, the way 

Lukaku holds the ball. 

“We need a bit more and when you 

see the other teams in the Premier 

League, the way they get players and 

good players and you see the champions 

(Chelsea) buy three fantastic experienced 

players, City go to the market, 

Liverpool and West Ham gets Joe 

Hart, Chicharito and Arnautovic.” •

20 



European Transfer 

Guardiola: Kolarov set for Roma switch 

Manchester City’s left-back Aleksandar Kolarov is on 

the verge of a move to Serie A side AS Roma, Blues 

boss Pep Guardiola said yesterday. The Serbia international 

was left out of the side beaten by Manchester 

United in the Houston friendly on Thursday, and 

former Barcelona boss Guardiola says he won’t stand 

in Kolarov’s way after he expressed a desire to leave. “I 

don’t like working with people who don’t want to stay. 

He has a big chance to go to Roma,” confirmed the City manager. “He has said 

he wants to leave. I wish him all the best.” Kolarov has been a key component of 

City’s success since joining the club from Roma’s fierce rivals Lazio in 2010 for 

£16m ($20.8m, 17.8m euros), winning two Premier League titles, two League 

Cups and one FA Cup. 

Foxes deny Roma bid for Mahrez 

Leicester City manager Craig Shakespeare has confirmed 

the club received an offer from AS Roma for 

want-away winger Riyad Mahrez but have declined the 

Italian club’s bid. Mahrez, who was instrumental to the 

club’s remarkable Premier League title triumph in 2016, 

publicly announced his desire to leave Leicester City at 

the end of last season after three seasons with the East 

Midlands club. Roma would fit the bill for the ambitious 

Mahrez after they finished second in Serie A last season to secure a place in next 

season’s Champions League. “I think I was quoted as saying on the last press day 

that there had been no bids, but there was a bid from Roma,” Shakespeare said 

on Friday. “I was told after, so I’d like to put the record straight on that one. 

Stoke sign Zouma on loan from Chelsea 

Stoke City have secured the signing of Chelsea 

defender Kurt Zouma on a season-long loan deal, they 

announced yesterday. The French centre-back is believed 

to have turned down a host of sides from around 

Europe, and has opted for the West Midlands club after 

completing a medical at the Potters’ Clayton Wood 

training complex. “Kurt is undoubtedly one of the most 

talented young defenders in the game, so naturally his 

arrival will enhance our playing squad for the forthcoming campaign,” beamed 

Stoke manager Mark Hughes. “He first caught my attention as a 17-year-old 

during his time at Saint-Etienne, and in fact, I actually tried to sign him at that 

point in his career, but whilst that deal never materialised I am delighted to 

finally get the opportunity to work with him now. 

Sports 

Hands off Coutinho, says Klopp 

• AFP, Hong Kong 

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp 

on Friday brushed off a reported 

$93m offer from Barcelona for Brazilian 

playmaker Philippe Coutinho, 

insisting: “We’re not a selling 

club.” 

“We want to work together and 

we want to make the next step, and 

to do this we need to stay together,” 

the German told reporters before 

his side face Leicester City in 

the final of the Premier League Asia 

Trophy in Hong Kong today. 

“The very important message is 

that we are not a selling club,” added 

Klopp. 

As Barcelona circle for Coutinho, 

Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana 

backed the mercurial Brazilian to 

help lead the Reds to success in the 

new season. 

“He’s a fantastic player so it’s no 

surprise that there’s teams interested 

in him,” said Lallana. 

“I feel like we’re going to achieve 

big things here and I feel like Phil is 

going to be a big part of that. 

“He’s in that elite bracket and 

there is no reason he can’t continue 

to be in that elite bracket and 

continue here at Liverpool,” added 

Lallana. 

“We’re a massive club. We’re in 

the Champions League - okay we 

Liverpool’s Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho 

need to qualify - but if we are going 

to win competitions like that, and 

the Premier League, we need to 

keep hold of players like Philippe.” 

Fan favourite Coutinho signed 

a new five-year contract at Anfield 

in January that did not include a 

release clause. 

“He can improve his consistency 

but there is no doubt about his 

quality,” Klopp said of the 25-yearold.” 

• 

Newcastle sign Manquillo from Atletico 

Newcastle United have signed right back Javier 

Manquillo from Atletico Madrid on a three-year contract, 

the newly-promoted Premier League club said on 

Friday. Madrid-born Manquillo, 23, started his career at 

Atletico and has previously featured in the English top 

flight during loan spells at Liverpool and Sunderland. 

He will join Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez’s side at 

their pre-season training camp in Ireland. “From the 

first moment that Rafa Benitez called me, I just knew that I had to come here, to 

such a big club,” Manquillo, who made 20 league appearances for Sunderland 

last season, said in a statement. “I’ve come here to work hard and give everything 

on and off the pitch. 

West Ham agree terms for Hernandez 

West Ham United have agreed a deal to sign Mexico 

striker Javier Hernandez from German side Bayer 

Leverkusen, the Premier League club said on Thursday. 

The 29-year-old former Manchester United and Real 

Madrid player, known as “Chicharito”, is expected to 

arrive in London in the next few days for a medical and 

to finalise personal terms on a transfer British media 

are reporting to be worth 16m pounds ($20.75m). 

Hernandez joined Manchester United from Chivas in 2010 and scored 59 goals in 

156 appearances, as well as having a loan spell at Madrid, before joining Leverkusen 

in August 2015. In Germany, he netted 39 times in 76 matches, and he is also 

Mexico’s all-time leading goalscorer, after he scored his 47th international goal 

on his 91st appearance, against Croatia in May. 

SOURCE: AFP, REUTERS 

Arsenal’s German midfielder Mesut Oezil 

Ozil on verge of new Gunners deal 

• AFP, London 

Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil is 

close to signing a new contract 

with the Gunners, according to 

British media reports yesterday. 

The German World Cup winner’s 

current deal runs out at the end of 

the 2017/18 season, but Arsenal are 

confident of wrapping up negotiations 

in the next couple of weeks. 

According to reports, the terms 

for the 28-year-old’s proposed 

new deal are around £280,000 

($363,000, 313,000 euros) a week, 

which would make him the club’s 

top earner, although it’s believed 

that Ozil was originally holding out 

for closer to £350,000. 

Ozil and Chile international 

forward Alexis Sanchez have both 

been linked with moves away from 

Emirates Stadium this summer, 

with Sanchez attracting interest 

from some of Europe’s biggest 

clubs. 

Ozil signed for the north Londoners 

in a £42.5m ($55.3m, 47.5m 

euros) deal from Real Madrid in 

2013. •

Sports 

21 



India hails World Cup girl power 

• AFP, New Delhi 

Where the men failed, India is hoping 

its female cricketers can blaze 

to glory when they face England in 

the World Cup final tomorrow. 

Images of captain Mithali Raj 

and star batswoman Harmanpreet 

Kaur adorned front pages and 

dominated social media after India 

stunned defending champions 

Australia in Thursday’s semi-finals. 

Kaur hit an unbeaten 171 to propel 

India into the final at Lord’s, 

England’s spiritual home. 

The win comes as a welcome 

boost with India in need of cricket 

cheer after the men’s team capitulated 

to Pakistan in the Champions 

Trophy final last month. 

The performance came as no 

surprise to former players who believe 

Indian women’s team is destined 

for the big time. 

“Hats off to Harmanpreet. It’s 

a great victory for the India women’s 

cricket team and for women’s 

cricket in India,” former team 

captain Diana Eduljee told NDTV. 

“I thank the girls for the opportunity 

they have given to all 

women cricketers and the future of 

women’s cricket is now here to stay 

in India. 

“I am sure this victory is going 

to be historic as we have already 

beaten New Zealand, Australia and 

England. I’d think the World Cup 

is already in India irrespective of 

whatever happens [tomorrow],” 

added Eduljee. 

Kapil Dev, who won the World 

Cup with the men’s team, said he 

was “filled with pride” after seeing 

the women in action against the 

Aussies. 

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar 

tweeted: “Brilliant finish by the 

#WomenInBlue!...Here we come 

Lord’s!”. 

India’s Harmanpreet Kaur plays a shot during their Women’s World Cup semi-final against Australia at County Ground in Derby on Thursday 

Kaur, who last year became the 

first Indian woman to play in the 

women’s Big Bash League in Australia, 

grabbed the limelight with a 

115-ball innings laced with 20 fours 

and 7 sixes. 

Widely described as an “unforgettable 

knock” on social media, 

Kaur’s efforts took India to their 

second women’s World Cup final 

after they were beaten by Australia 

at Centurion in 2005. 

“This is a genuinely Kapil- 

Ailing Sri Lanka captain 

Chandimal out of Galle test 

• Reuters 

Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal 

will miss next week’s first Test 

against India after being diagnosed 

with pneumonia, dealing a big 

blow to the host ahead of the three- 

Test home series against their 

neighbour. 

The 27-year-old was named 

test captain earlier this month after 

long-serving skipper Angelo 

Mathews stepped down following 

Sri Lanka’s first one-day international 

series defeat to Zimbabwe. 

The right-handed batsman then 

led Sri Lanka to a win in the one-off 

Test against the same opposition. 

“Chandimal was down with 

flu and was taken to the hospital 

Dev-at-Tunbridge-Wells kind of 

innings,” leading Indian commentator 

Harsha Bhogle tweeted, comparing 

it to Dev’s 175 against Zimbabwe 

in a 1983 World Cup match. 

“Hope it inspires other young girls 

to follow.” 

ESPNcricinfo senior editor Sharda 

Ugra called the win a “turning 

point” in Indian women’s cricket, 

but said the performance was not 

a surprise. 

“We knew that there is a new 

this morning,” a Sri Lanka Cricketspokesman 

told Reuters. 

The first Test against Virat 

Kohli-led India starts on Wednesday 

at Galle. 

“We were actually only told late 

last night - the blood test came a bit 

late. He’s got pneumonia,” Asanka 

Gurusinha, Sri Lanka’s cricket 

manager, was quoted as saying 

by ESPNcricinfo. 

“He was admitted to hospital 

this morning at 9 AM (local time), 

and he’s definitely out of the first 

Test.” 

Sri Lanka have limited-overs 

captain Upul Tharanga in the side 

while spin spearhead Rangana Herath 

has also lead the side last year 

in the absence of Mathews. • 

AP 

generation of young players who 

play it like a modern game,” she 

told AFP. 

“They are physical, they field 

well, are aggressive. They are like 

21st century kind of women. I think 

it was this particular innings and 

this particular game that will prove 

to be the turning point of Indian 

women’s cricket.” 

India’s women have been one of 

the stronger teams at the 11th women’s 

World Cup with Raj the tournament’s 

second highest run-getter. 

Raj, 34, became the first batswoman 

to score 6,000 runs in 

one-day internationals in a league 

game against Australia, surpassing 

the record previously held by England’s 

Charlotte Edwards (5992). 

“She has been a very big influence 

in the sense of her presence 

and the fact she is such a big figure 

in the women’s game,” Ugra said of 

Raj, who averages over 50 in 185 

ODIs and 10 Tests. • 

It’s Premier League title 

or nothing for Carrick 

• Reuters 

Manchester United cannot be content 

with a top-four finish and must 

target the Premier League title next 

season, captain Michael Carrick has 

said. The 35-year-old won three 

league titles in his first three seasons 

at United and collected two 

more before long-serving manager 

Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. 

“It’s all about winning things,” Carrick 

told British media on Thursday. 

“In some ways, it’s winning the 

league or nothing...I can’t get my 

head around that – to say top four 

is acceptable. I know we’ve had 

changes and adjusted as players 

have come in and out and you can’t 

expect to win the league every year, 

but you’ve got to set out to do that. 

“I was obviously fortunate 

enough to win the league straight 

away and, having that run we did 

in my first three years, gives you 

that taste of ‘Right, it’s all or nothing 

now’, so maybe I was spoiled in 

my early years.” 

The England midfielder also 

said that talented players failed at 

United as they could not handle 

the intensity of playing for the Old 

Trafford club. 

“I think it has done over the 

years, we can all see that, there are 

big players who come here and, for 

whatever reason, it hasn’t worked 

for them,” Carrick added. 

“They haven’t been able to deal 

with it. There is a certain level of 

expectation, standards and scrutiny 

you probably don’t get elsewhere.” •

22 



Showtime 

Bollywood movies based on sports 

• Showtime Desk 

Bollywood is obsessed with 

cricket. From Iqbal to Kai Po Che, 

Lagan to biopics like M S Dhoni 

– film makers are always up for 

cricket based movies. However 

there are also some movies which 

are based on other sports. Here 

is a list of movies for all sports 

enthusiasts. 

Dangal (2017) 

Dangal, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, 

stars Aamir Khan as Mahavir Singh 

Phogat, an amateur wrestler, who 

trains his daughters Geeta Phogat 

and Babita Kumari to be worldclass 

wrestlers, both of whom 

go on to win medals at the 2010 

Commonwealth Games. Fatima 

Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra 

play the older selves of the sisters, 

while Sakshi Tanwar play their 

mother and Aparshakti Khurana, 

their cousin. According to the 

latest reports, Dangal has earned 

Rs1,756 crores worldwide. 

Besides Aamir Khan, Dangal 

starred Fatima Sana Shaikh, 

Sanya Malhotra, Zaira Wasim, 

Sakshi Tanwar and Aparshakti 

Khurrana in the lead roles. The 

film was acclaimed by critics 

almost unanimously and saw 

innumerable people flocking to the 

theatres to catch a show. 

Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992) 

Mansoor Khan’s sports drama 

was the story of several highschool 

students vying for a cycling 

competition, juxtaposed with a 

love story. Sanju (Aamir Khan) 

is Ratan’s younger brother and 

is everything that Ratan is not. 

He’s a carefree youngster who is 

full of himself and is always in 

trouble with his father Ramlal 

(Kulbhushan Kharbanda), who 

wants him to act more maturely 

and become responsible like 

Ratan. The Aamir Khan-starrer 

made Rs3.30 crores at the box 

office. 

Sultan (2016) 

Sultan Ali Khan (Salman Khan) 

is a middle-aged ex-wrestling 

champion, who lives a mediocre 

and lonely life in a small town in 

Haryana. Aakash Oberoi (Amit 

Sadh), the founder of a private 

mixed martial arts league, is 

encouraged by his father to hire 

an Indian wrestler to salvage 

the league’s popularity. Sultan 

is directed by Ali Abbas Zafar. 

Produced by Aditya Chopra under 

Yash Raj Films banner, the film 

stars Salman Khan and Anushka 

Sharma in the lead roles. 

Mary Kom (2014) 

The biographical film directed 

by Omung Kumar saw Priyanka 

Chopra essay the role of the 

eponymous boxer, while 

Darshan Kumar and Sunil Thapa 

played supporting characters. 

The film won the Best Popular 

Film Providing Wholesome 

Entertainment honour at the 62nd 

National Film Awards and made 

Rs56 crores at the box office. 

Hawaa Hawaai (2014) 

Amole Gupte (of Taare Zameen 

Par) directed the film starring 

his son Partho and Saqib 

Saleem, which was about an 

underprivileged child’s dream to 

skate. It made Rs10.42 crores in 

box office collections. 

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) 

The film starring Farhan Akhtar 

was based on the life and struggles 

of legendary athlete Milkha Singh, 

and was directed by Rakeysh 

Omprakash Mehra. It won Akhtar 

several best actor awards that year 

and earned nearly Rs109 crores at 

the box office. 

Breakaway (2011) 

Breakaway, or Speedy Singhs (the 

Hindi version of the movie), is 

the story of Rajveer Singh (Vinay 

Virmani), a young and dedicated 

teenager who gave up college due 

to his lack of interest. Rajveer 

and his father Darvesh had never 

gotten along. Rajveer meets up 

with his friends, and when they 

get time, they play hockey. One 

day, while practising hockey, a 

few players on the Hammerheads 

insult the Singhs, and Rajveer and 

his friends beat the other players 

at hockey. Realising how good they 

are, Rajveer decides to make a 

hockey team with his friends. 

Brothers (2015) 

Filmmaker Karan Malhotra 

directed actors Akshay Kumar 

and Sidharth Malhotra in the 

official remake of the 2011 film 

Warrior, an action drama based on 

mixed martial arts. Also starring 

Jacqueline Fernandez, Jackie 

Shroff and Shefali Shah, the film 

earned Rs82 crores in box office 

collections. 

Saala Khadoos (2016) 

R Madhavan played coach to 

newcomer and real-life boxer, 

Ritika Singh, in director Sudha 

Kongara’s sports drama. An 

under-fire boxing coach, Prabhu 

is transferred from Hisar in 

Haryana to Chennai, as his bosses 

at the Boxing Council do not like 

his disrespectful, rule-breaking 

and unconventional ways. In 

Chennai, he chances upon the 

raw fighting talent of Madhi, the 

sibling of aspiring boxer Lakshmi. 

Simultaneously made in Tamil 

as Irudhi Suttru, the film was coproduced 

by Rajkumar Hirani, and 

made Rs14 crores at the box office. 

Striker (2010) 

Striker was a crime thriller 

revolving around the life of a 

ghetto-born carom champion. 

Directed by Chandan Arora, it 

made Rs84 lakhs in box office 

collections. 

Chak De India (2007) 

Shimit Amin’s film saw actor 

Shah Rukh Khan play coach to 

a women’s hockey team and 

take them to international glory, 

inspired by the team’s real-life 

win at the 2002 Commonwealth 

Games. It won the National 

Film Award for Best Popular 

Film Providing Wholesome 

Entertainment that year and made 

Rs35 crores at the box office. 

Apne (2007) 

Directed by Anil Sharma, this is 

the first and one of the three films 

to feature real life father and sons 

Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and 

Bobby Deol together. Sunny and 

Bobby had worked together before 

in Dillagi and Dharmendra and 

Sunny had also appeared together 

in Sultanat (1986) and Kshatriya 

(1993). Kirron Kher, Shilpa Shetty 

and Katrina Kaif play the female 

leads. The film opened to an 

excellent response across India 

and emerged as a hit overseas as 

well. 

Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (2007) 

The film, starring John Abraham, 

Bipasha Basu, Arshad Warsi and 

Boman Irani, was based on the 

fictional story of the south Asian 

community’s struggle to play 

professional football in the UK. 

Directed by Vivek Agnihotri, it 

made Rs15 crores at the box office. 

My Brother…Nikhil (2005) 

One of Bollywood’s earliest takes 

on homosexuality, director Onir’s 

film was the story of an AIDSafflicted, 

state-level swimming 

champion played by Sanjay Suri. 

The critically acclaimed feature 

only made Rs1.20 crore at the box 

office. 

Bend it Like Beckham (2002) 

Bend It Like Beckham is a comedydrama 

film starring Parminder 

Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan 

Rhys-Meyers, Anupam Kher, 

Shaznay Lewis, and Archie 

Panjabi, first released in the United 

Kingdom. The film was directed by 

Gurinder Chadha. Its title refers to 

the football player David Beckham 

and his skill at scoring from free 

kicks by bending the ball past a 

wall of defenders. •

Showtime 

23 



Dunkirk is here 


Acclaimed writer-director 

Christopher Nolan’s film Dunkirk, 

which has a strong feasibility of 

being Nolan’s magnum opus, is 

in Bangladesh now. The film was 

released in Dhaka’s Star Cineplex 

on July 21, along with some 3,600 

theatres around the world. 

Set during the Second World 

War, the film concerns the 

Dunkirk evacuation and tells 

the story of allied soldiers from 

Belgium, the British Empire and 

France, who are surrounded by 

the German army and evacuated 

during a fierce battle in World War 

II. To contain little dialogue and 

create suspense solely through 

details, Nolan told the story of 

Dunkirk from three perspectives – 

the land, sea and air. 

The film stars Fionn 

Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, 

Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, 

Aneurin Barnard, James D’Arcy, 

Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, 

Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance 

and Tom Hardy. Distributed by 

Warner Bros Pictures, the film is 

an international co-production 

between the United Kingdom, 

the United States, France and the 

Netherlands. 

Christopher Nolan, who 

has gone from low-budget 

independent films to working on 

some of the biggest blockbusters 

ever made, is best known for 

his cerebral, often nonlinear 

storytelling. The auteur du 

jour has previously captivated 

millions with his films, including, 

Inception, Memento, The Dark 

Knight trilogy, Interstellar. 

Written, co-produced and 

directed by Christopher Nolan, 

the film is receiving critical 

acclaim, with critics praising the 

cinematography, direction, acting 

and Hans Zimmer’s musical score. 

Some are even calling it both one 

of the greatest war films ever, as 

well as Nolan’s best film to date. 

The film’s pristine reviews so far 

ensure that Dunkirk will be the 

hottest film ticket for the time 

being.• 

WHAT TO WATCH 

Jumanji 

4:20pm, Zee Studio 

When two kids find and 

play a magical board game, 

they release a man trapped 

for decades in it and a host 

of dangers that can only be 

stopped by finishing the game. 

Cast: Robin Williams, Jonathan 

Hyde, Kirsten Dunst, Bonnie 

Hunt, Bradley Pierce 

Celebrities react to Chester Bennington’s death 


Leaving his million aficionados 

to a sheer outcry, Chester 

Bennington, the front-man of the 

alternative rock band Linkin Park, 

has committed suicide on July 

20. Many have taken it to various 

social media outlets upon the 

diffusion of the news. Tributes 

are still pouring in on Facebook, 

Instagram and Twitter by many 

widely famous bands, musicians 

and actors, who are expressing 

their grief, gratitude and love for 

the untimely demise of the singer 

and songwriter. 

Bandmate Mike Shinoda 

confirmed the news in his 

somber tweet: “Shocked and 

heartbroken, but it’s true.” 

Late night host Jimmy 

Kimmel wrote, “Chester was 

one of the kindest men I’ve 

had on my show,” adding 

that his heart breaks for 

Bennington’s family 

and friends. 

The Glitch Mob said 

they were “having a 

moment of silence” for 

Bennington, and Nikki 

Sixx of Motley Crue said 

he was “in tears” over 

the loss of “such a sweet 

and talented man.” 

Paul Stanley pleaded with 

those who need help to reach 

out. He wrote, “We can never 

know someone’s pain.” 

Others were simply 

devastated. OneRepublic tweeted 

in all caps, saying “T his breaks 

our heart.” “Oh dear God! Massive 

RIP to Chester Bennington of 

Linkinpark, this breaks our heart. 

Suicide is the devil on earth 

walking amongst us.” 

Imagine Dragons said they 

were “so heartbroken” and had 

“no words.” 

Dwayne Johnson, the Rock, 

sent his “love, strength and light” 

to Bennington’s family and band 

mates. “So sorry to hear the 

news about Chester Bennington. 

Sending so much love, strength 

and light to his family, kids and 

Linkin Park,” he tweeted.• 

Kung Fu Panda 2 

6:11pm, HBO 

Po and his friends fight to 

stop a peacock villain from 

conquering China with a 

deadly new weapon, but first 

the Dragon Warrior must come 

to terms with his past. 

Voices: Jack Black, Angelina 

Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary 

Oldman, Jackie Chan 

The Bourne Legacy 

11:45pm, Movies Now 

An expansion of the universe 

from Robert Ludlum’s novels, 

centered on a new hero whose 

stakes have been triggered 

by the events of the previous 

three films. 

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Edward 

Norton, Rachel Weisz, Scott 

Glenn 

The Incredibles 

12:36pm, Star Movies 

A family of undercover 

superheroes, while trying to 

live the quiet suburban life, are 

forced into action to save the 

world. 

Voices: Craig T Nelson, Holly 

Hunter, Jason Lee, Samuel L 

Jackson, Dominique Louis

24 



STUDY IN INDIA FAIR KICKS 

OFF IN DHAKA › 7 

Back Page 

CHOTON PRAISES U-16 

GIRLS UPON RETURN › 18 

CELEBRITIES REACT TO CHESTER 

BENNINGTON’S DEATH › 23 

First Chikungunya, now dengue 

strikes Dhaka 


HEALTH 

Amid the spread of Chikungunya, 

a viral disease transmitted 

to humans through infected 

mosquitoes, in the capital Dhaka, 

another mosquito-borne disease 

dengue has silently struck the 

city amid the variation in rainfall 

pattern. 

Dengue is a seasonal fever. Generally, 

people in the capital get 

infected with dengue virus when 

monsoon begins since mosquitoes 

find a suitable atmosphere and 

spread the virus. 

Official data reveals that only 68 

people got infected with dengue virus 

in first four months of 2016. On 

the other hand, a total of 254 people 

suffered from dengue during 

the same period this year. 

A large number (91) of people 

were infected with dengue virus in 

the city in January this year while 

58 cases were reported in February, 

followed by 33 in March and 72 in 

April this year, according to the 

data provided by the National 

Health Crisis Management 

Centre and Control Room of the 

Director General of Health Services 

(DGHS). 

Dengue fever, also known as 

breakbone fever, is a mosquito-borne 

tropical disease caused by 

the dengue virus. Dengue is spread 

by two mosquito species-Aedes aegypti 

and to a lesser extent Aedes 

albopictus-both of which breed in 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE 

PREVENTION OF CHIKUNGUNYA 

Clear out any accumulated water from 

behind fridges and AC units, every 

three days 

Use mosquito nets while sleeping, 

even during daytime 

Infected people should stay inside 

mosquito nets 

Clean potential breeding grounds 

of the Aedes mosquito 

If possible, use nets on windows 

Use mosquito repellent (such as 

Odomos) on all exposed skin 

Regularly clear out any still water 

around your home 

Raise awareness by talking about these 

issues with family and friends 

stagnant water pools. 

According to experts, global 

climate change contributes to 

variation of rainfall pattern in the 

South Asia, including Bangladesh, 

resulting in early outbreak of viral 

diseases like dengue fever. 

“We first identified infections of 

dengue virus in the capital Dhaka 

in early January last since rain 

started early this time and helped 

mosquitoes spread the virus fast,” 

in-charge of the National Health 

Crisis Management Centre and 

Control Room Dr Ayesha Akhter 

said while talking to UNB. 

The June-September period 

is the season of dengue fever in 

Bangladesh. But, the season for the 

dengue virus is prolonging here as 

it starts early and continues even 

after winter sets in. 

Official data shows that so far 

over 660 dengue cases with two 

fatalities have been reported this 

year in the capital. Of them, 121 

dengue cases were reported in 

May, followed by 202 in June and 

84 up to July 16, 2017. 

In 2016, some 6,060 dengue 

cases with 14 fatalities were found 

in the city. Maximum 1,544 people 

suffered from dengue in September 

last year while 1,451 cases were 

found in August, followed by 

1,077 in October, 928 in July, 522 in 

November, 254 in June and 145 in 

December. 

Analysing these official data, it 

has been found that the prime period 

of dengue outbreak is still ahead 

and it may hit the capital hard in 

the coming days. “If the monsoon 

prolongs, obviously more people 

will be infected by dengue this 

year,” Dr Ayesha said. 

Dengue cases are increasing 

in the country, especially Dhaka 

and its adjoining areas, day by 

day. But, it gets less focus due to 

Chikungunya prevalence. So far, 

around 17 patients affected with 

dengue get admitted to different 

hospitals while 642 got released 

after taking treatment from 

hospitals this year. 

The symptoms of the dengue 

are sudden high fever, severe 

headache, muscle and joint pains, 

and a characteristic skin rash that 

is similar to measles. In a small 

proportion of cases, the disease 

develops into the life-threatening 

dengue hemorrhagic fever, 

resulting in bleeding, low levels of 

blood platelets and blood plasma 

leakage, or into dengue shock 

syndrome, where dangerously low 

blood pressure occurs. • 

Google’s sterile mosquitoes to eradicate Aedes population 


WORLD 

Alphabet Inc’s Verily Life Sciences 

unit, formerly known as Google Life 

Sciences, has begun releasing infertile 

bacteria-infected male mosquitoes in 

California’s Fresno. 

According to Verily, the campaign 

started on July 14 marking the launch 

of Debug Fresno, a field study that 

aims to clear yellow fever mosquitoes 

from the central California, reports the 

MIT Technology Review. 

The yellow fever mosquitoes, also 

known as Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, 

which first arrived in the area in 2013 

and are known to spread the chikungunya, 

Zika virus and dengue, although 

none of these viruses are currently 

spreading in Fresno. 

Verily said it has built a robot 

that can raise infertile male insects 

and Verily is working with Fresno’s 

Consolidated Mosquito Abatement 

District to release 1 million male mosquitoes 

every week for 20 weeks the 

first batches will contain a total of 20 

million sterilized mosquitoes. 

This field trial is expected to be the 

largest US release to date of male mosquitoes 

treated with Wolbachia, a type 

of naturally occurring bacteria that 

infects many types of insects in the 

wild. The mosquitoes being released 

are not genetically modified. 

If the released infected male 

mosquitoes continue to mate with 

the uninfected female mosquitoes, 

the mosquito population should drop 

because females’ eggs aren’t able to 

develop properly and don’t hatch. 

The idea is that the sterile males will 

help reduce the local mosquito population. 

Male mosquitoes do not bite 

humans and cannot transmit disease to 

people, so Verily and its partners aim 

to release only males. 

Verily says it is using custom-built 

software algorithms and machines to 

ramp up the number of mosquitoes 

it’s able to grow and release. The 

mosquitoes are part of the company’s 

plan, announced last October, to fight 

diseases like Zika and dengue fever. 

MosquitoMate worked with 

CMAD to release about 800,000 

Wolbachia-infected males in 2016 in 

Fresno and the pilot experiment was 

determined to be risk-free by the Environmental 

Protection Agency. 

Therefore, the EPA expanded the 

experiment, renewing in September 

2016. • 

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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