DT e-Paper Saturday 19 August 2017

SECOND EDITION
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017 | Bhadra 4, 1424, Zul-qaadah 25, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 103 | 24 pages plus 8-page sports supplement | Price: Tk10
West Bengal
blames Dhaka,
Delhi and
Kathmandu
for floods › 4
Awami League
activists
unhappy with
alliance MPs › 5
RAJIB DHAR
Unlicensed drivers dominate
the roads › 2
Rapist Tufan,
his aides
imprisoned
in the lap of
luxury › 6
Rights groups
slam Indian
plans to deport
Rohingyas › 7
DT
Sports Tribune
14 dead in
twin attacks
as police
launch
manhunt
in Spain › 3
Next
big
thing
Asensio brilliance leaves
3 Barca wondering
Does Farah leave the track Watch out Messi, here come
4 as greatest distance man? 7 the footballers at RoboCup
SPORTS SUPPLEMENT
Asensio brilliance
leaves Barca
wondering › 3
Watch out Messi, here
come the footballers
at RoboCup › 7

2
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
News
Transport system in the hand
of unlicensed drivers
• Nawaz Farhin
SPECIAL
It was a fine sunny morning on Monday
when 15-year old Nannu Miah
was found driving a three-wheeler
on the Farmgate-Jigatala route, one
of the busiest roads in Dhaka.
Like many other boys of his age,
he was supposed to be at school at
the time, but the opportunity never
knocked at his door as the untimely
demise of the child’s father
forced him to take up driving two
years ago to make ends meet.
“Initially, I worked as a conductor
but as I expressed my interest
to my ustad (master), he taught me
how to drive a vehicle,” Nannu told
the Dhaka Tribune. “Driving is now
my only profession.”
When asked if he had any licence,
the boy let out a loud burst
of laughter: “I am too young to take
a test for a licence. I do not need a
licence as the police never stop us
and ask to see it.”
“Our seniors who drive on the
same route know how to convince
cops and get us released when they
nab us for driving vehicles without
a licence,” he said.
Nannu said there is no need
for him to obtain a licence as he
claimed to be a more able driver
than many others of the profession
- despite facing five accidents in
the last two years.
Although it is illegal, many children
like 15-year old Nannu Miah steer such
vehicles amid a dearth of licensed
drivers. BRTA data reveal that there
are around 3.42m registered vehicles
in the country, but only 1.7m people
have driving licence
Authorised vehicles, unauthorised
drivers
Nannu is not the only one who
lacks a driving permit. Currently,
over one third of the country’s registered
vehicles are being operated
by unlicensed drivers.
According to the latest data of
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority
( BRTA), there are around 3.42m
registered vehicles in the country
but only 1.7m licence holders.
In addition to the registered vehicles,
the Bangladesh Passenger
Welfare Association (BPWA) Secretary
General Mozammel Haque
Chowdhury claims there are also
around 1.5m illegal vehicles.
This means there could be over
3 million legal and illegal vehicles
being driven by unqualified drivers
who are not only risking themselves,
but putting a large number
of people in peril.
What are the consequences?
Sources at the BRTA and Ministry
of Road Transport and Bridges
said the country saw 71,934 traffic
accidents from 1998 to 2014.
A recent study by Accident Research
Institute (ARI) at Bangladesh
University of Engineering and Technology
(Buet) revealed that road
accidents claim the lives of 12,000
people on an average annually and
leave a further 35,000 injured.
Jamir Hossain, a bus driver sentenced
to life imprisonment in a
case filed over the deaths of internationally-acclaimed
filmmaker
Tareque Masud, journalist and cinematographer
Mishuk Munier and
three others in a fatal traffic accident
in 2011, was reported to have
been unlicensed.
Allegations against BRTA
The BRTA issues two types of licence:
professional and non-professional,
and there are three categories
of vehicles under the professional licence:
heavy, medium and light.
However, a Dhaka Tribune inquiry
found there are only 142
BRTA-approved trainers across the
country and under 100 registered
training centres, while every day
NUMBER OF REGISTERED
VEHICLES
Year
Number
2013 137,109
2014 160,639
2015 321,215
2016 416,410
2017 (as of May) 163,145
hundreds of people are applying
for receiving training and licences.
On top of this, most of the instructors
do not properly perform
their duties, according to Kazi Md
Shifun Newaz, an assistant professor
at Buet’s ARI.
“BRTA has no control over the
training centres. Consequently,
there is a lack of surveillance on
important issues of the transport
KEY FACTS
3.42m vehicles registered
with BRTA
Only 1.7m valid licence
holders
As many as 3m legal and
illegal vehicles in the hand
of unlicensed drivers
Unauthorised drivers learn
driving from their ustads
80% of drivers do not have
appropriate licence
Road accidents claim
12,000 lives, injure 35,000
annually
71,934 road deaths
reported from 1998-2014
sector. The absence of sincerity in
ensuring passengers’ safety is also
noticeable,” Newaz said.
Because every commercial vehicle
has an additional driver, the
number of such unauthorised
drivers is likely to be even higher,
Newaz observed.
“Many of these drivers do not
even know the importance of obtaining
a valid licence. This is why
RAJIB DHAR
their number is on the rise,” he
added.
Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners’
Association Chairman Faruk
Talukder Sohel said: “About 80%
of drivers do not have appropriate
licences. Many of them are driving
heavy vehicles either with their
licences of light and medium
vehicles, or without any licence.”
BRTA Director (training)
Mohammad Sirajul Islam said most
of the drivers are running vehicles
using unauthorised, fake licences.
“Around 90% of them learned
driving from their ustads. We do
not have an exact record of such
unauthorised drivers,” he added.
BPWA Secretary General Mozammel
alleged that unskilled drivers
are bagging licences through
unfair means.
“There are complaints that the
drivers are declared qualified in
BRTA’s licence tests in exchange for
money, a portion of which is shared
among police and mobile courts,”
he added.
“If the trend continues, skilled
drivers would not be created,
which will result in more road accidents.”
Mozammel urged the government
to ensure fairness and transparency
in the tests and reform the
transport sector in order to purge it
of illegal drivers. •

News
SATURDAY,
3
AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
14 dead in twin attacks as police launch
manhunt in Spain
• Tribune Desk
WORLD
evening was potentially linked to the
attacks, believing those inside “were
preparing an explosive device.”
Spanish police hunted Friday for
the driver who ploughed a van into
crowds of pedestrians on a busy
avenue in Barcelona, just hours
before a second such assault hit a
nearby resort, in twin attacks that
left 14 dead and over 130 injured.
Police said they killed five “suspected
terrorists” during the night
and three others were arrested as
Spain reeled from the double tragedy
in Barcelona and in Cambrils.
But the driver responsible for
the carnage in Spain’s second largest
city remained at large, authorities
warned, while police said they
believed the two attacks were connected.
As world leaders united in condemning
the violence, the Islamic
State group propaganda agency
Amaq claimed one of its “soldiers”
carried out the rampage in Barcelona.
Organised ‘cell’
Both attacks followed the same
modus operandi, with drivers deliberately
targeting pedestrians with
their vehicles, slamming them to
the ground or sending them flying
in the latest such assault in Europe
where cars and vans have been used
as weapons of terror before.
Police manhunt focuses
on Moussa Oukabir
• Tribune Desk
WORLD
Spanish police have launched a major
manhunt for an 18-year-old man wanted
in connection with the terrorist
attack in Barcelona.
Suspect Moussa Oukabir is the
younger brother of 28-year-old Driss
Oukabir, who was arrested on Thursday
night because the van used in the
attack had been rented in his name.
Driss handed himself in to police
in the town of Ripoli, around 65 miles
north of Barcelona, after seeing his
name being linked to the attack.
The Oukabir brothers are of Moroccan
heritage but now live in Spain:
Driss in Ripoli and Moussa in Barcelona.
Police are reported to be investigating
why the older brother did
not report the alleged theft of his
identification documents earlier. They
are also looking into whether Moussa
Oukabir was one of the five suspected
terrorists killed during a police operation
in the coastal town of Cambrils.
Two years ago, an account
registered in the name of Moussa
Oukabir posted regularly on a question-and-answer
website called Kiwi.
Police evacuate people after a van crashed into pedestrians near the Las Ramblas avenue in Barcelona on August 17 REUTERS
Driss Oukabir
In response to a question asking what
users would do if they ruled the world,
he wrote: “Kill the infidels and leave
only Muslims who follow the religion.”
Asked where he would never want
to live, he replied: “The Vatican”.
Spanish police have arrested three
men in connection with the attack but
none are believed to be the driver of
the van. In addition to Driss Oukabir,
a Spanish man was arrested in Melilla
and another in Ripoli.
Five suspected attackers wearing
fake suicide belts were shot dead in
Cambrils after ramming into people
with a car in a second attack, leaving
seven people injured. •
Javier Zaragoza, a prosecutor
advising the attorney general in
terrorism matters, said the attacks
were most likely the work of an organised
“cell.”
In an additional twist, police
said an explosion in a house in another
part of Catalonia Wednesday
Lions and sandbags: Europe
protects against car attacks
• AFP, London
WORLD
Barriers, sandbags and concrete
lions are among the preventive
measures deployed in European
city centres in the wake of a spate
of vehicular terror attacks across
the continent over the past year.
Following two such attacks in
Barcelona and the nearby resort of
Cambrils, experts cautioned that
their low-tech nature and soft targets
make them impossible to prevent
altogether.
But in many countries roadside
obstacles and beefed-up policing in
crowded areas and city landmarks
are seen as a way of reducing the
risk.
Security barriers were hastily
put up along the pavements on
three bridges in central London
in June, days after three attackers
wearing fake suicide vests in a
van struck pedestrians on London
Bridge.
There have been several attacks
using vehicles in France since a
man rammed a truck into a crowd
in the Mediterranean resort of Nice
Many nationalities
Police announced the arrest of four
suspects, including a Spaniard and
a Moroccan.
Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia’s
president, warned the suspect still on
the run was potentially dangerous,
saying “these types of people have
already demonstrated they have the
will to harm whatever happens.”
There were at least 34 nationalities
among the dead and injured,
who came from countries as varied as
France, Venezuela, Australia, Ireland,
Peru, Algeria and China, according to
Spain’s civil protection agency.
At least two Italians were among
the dead, according to the foreign
ministry in Rome and the employer
of one of the victims, while Belgium
said one Belgian national died.
“We’re united in grief,” Rajoy
said Thursday in a televised
address after rushing to Barcelona,
the biggest city in Catalonia,
a region in Spain’s northeast
whose separatist government is
defying Madrid with a drive for
independence. •
on July 14, 2016, killing 86 people
and injuring 400.
Security measures have been
more limited in Germany despite
the Berlin Christmas market attack.
Concrete barriers were installed
in front of some markets at
the time but have since been taken
away.
Belgian security officials said
they have recommended setting
up concrete barriers and other
measures to protect soft targets
like large concentrations of people,
especially since the November 13,
2015, terror attacks in Paris. •

4
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
News
West Bengal blames Dhaka, Delhi
and Kathmandu for floods
• Ashis Biswas, Kolkata
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
When Bangladesh, India and Nepal are reeling
under heavy downpour and massive
floods, the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led
West Bengal Government is back to what it
does best: blaming others including neighbouring
countries for its own failures.
Not content with accusing the Centre of
having caused the “man-made” floods in
West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
has also urged Delhi to take up with Dhaka
the fresh inundation caused by the swelling
Atreyi and two other rivers that flow into
North Bengal from Bangladesh “at the appropriate
level.”
Her initial complaints were related to the
havoc caused by the rain and consequent
flooding in South Bengal. But, following
Mamata’s complaints against Delhi and Dhaka,
West Bengal’s Minister for Irrigation Rajib
Banerjee now points out how the excess flow
and discharge of water from rivers in Nepal
and the Bihar state have added to North Bengal’s
woes, causing prolonged water-logging
and bringing everyday activities of thousands
of people to a halt.
The complaints Rajib raised sound more
like an elementary lesson on problems of
regional river linkages than a serious, factbased
allegation. He did not refer to the
prime cause of the ongoing floods and damage
to property caused by recent long spells
of rain due to repeated depressions in West
Bengal and neighbouring areas including
Bangladesh. Taking a cue from his chief,
Rajib spoke to the media mostly about the
situation the state faced because of the high
discharge of excess water from Nepal and
Bihar. He had visited Malda and three other
districts before meeting the media.
Interestingly, whereas the present death
toll in Bangladesh on account of the recent
floods has been reported in Indian media under
20, the figures for Bihar, Nepal and Bengal
are 50, 55 and 45 respectively.
This naturally raises questions about the
preventive measures taken by respective countries,
central or state governments, and other
authorities in charge to ensure that the current
spell of bad weather did not cause much damage.
Not surprisingly, West Bengal’s record in
providing relief and immediate assistance to
the flood-affected people, currently estimated
at 5 million, did not inspire confidence.
As Kolkata-based TV channels have been
showing day after day, from Midnapore to
Cooch Behar, there are thousands of marooned
people virtually living in the open,
without much official help reaching them
by way of food, drinking water or medicine.
Most rivers are overflowing, and accumulated
water has been receding exceedingly
slowly. The reasons are: lack of drainage
channels, rampant human encroachment
along river banks and shorelines, illegal
building construction, and reckless sand lifting
to carry out illegal constructions, among
other factors.
As Mohammad Shafiq, a flood refugee in
Malda, was quoted as saying: “Quite apart
from the vagaries of the weather, people also
have to pay for the greed and corruption of
politically backed anti-socials.”
With little or no relief in sight, many people
whether in North or South Bengal, have
survived barely through the efforts of local
NGOs and peoples’ organisations. In both
parts of Bengal, there have been several instances
where official convoys carrying relief
materials have been looted by starving, angry
mobs, the more so in Jalpaiguri and Cooch
Behar. There have been allegations of firing
by police on such crowds in some areas, but
the officials concerned strongly denied this.
Quite apart from problems of riverbank
erosion and attendant issues, Bengal’s pathetic
failure to protect infrastructure such
as bridges and culverts – constructed by Public
Works Department, Irrigation Department
and other agencies – also came to the fore.
There are reports almost every day on how
poorly maintained and old bridges collapse,
leading to communication breakdowns between
the north and the south.
Two typical examples: about 48 hours
ago, an old bridge on the River Islamari collapsed
in Panhati area of Moinaguri, leaving
People paddle
their boats as
they try to move
to safer places
along a flooded
street in West
Midnapore
district, in the
eastern state
of West Bengal,
India, July 27,
2017
REUTERS
nearly 10,000 people without basic supplies.
Locals complained that there had been no
maintenance at all of the old bridge. And, at
flooded Raiganj in Simulguri, an old bamboo
bridge on the River Neem was swept away,
affecting normal communication, even
though a new pucca bridge had been built
nearby a decade ago. But the new bridge has
never been used in the last 10 years because
land disputes prevented the construction of
approach roads on both sides.
Shounak Mukherjee, a Kolkata-based
economist, said: “There are numerous examples
of such mind-boggling negligence, callousness
and the lack of elementary governmental
efficiency or interest in ensuring even
minimal public relief for taxpaying people in
West Bengal.”
Such failures get exposed during natural
calamities and blaming others will not conceal
Kolkata’s own failures.
Two researchers point out that unlike
Bangladesh or Nepal, where steps have been
taken officially to ensure that problems from
global warming and flash floods can be handled
more effectively, no similar exercise
has been carried out in West Bengal. Their
study claims that between 1824 and 1930,
the smaller rivers and creeks used to act as
drainage channels for bigger rivers. From
1950 onwards, as human pressure began to
grow exponentially, massive unregulated encroachments
and illegal building construction
destroyed the flow of the smaller rivers,
leaving no drainage channels, even within
the greater Kolkata.
The outcome of such reckless, politically
backed destruction of the environment,
caused mainly because of vote bank considerations,
can be seen in the prolonged water-logging
in parts of Behala in Kolkata and
Amta in Howrah, according to environmentalists.
•

News 5
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
Awami League activists unhappy
with alliance MPs
• Fazlur Rahman Raju
POLITICS
A number of Awami League leaders
and activists are complaining
about the activities of some ruling
alliance parliamentarians as the
party gets ready for the next election,
eyeing a third consecutive
term in office.
Several central leaders of the
Awami League have claimed that
the alliance MPs’ “failure to serve
the people” was in fact tarnishing
the ruling party’s image.
Most of these parliamentarians
from the Awami League-led alliance
are only interested in filling
their pockets, several district level
leaders of the ruling party have alleged
to the Dhaka Tribune.
Awami League has 272 seats in
the 10th parliament with its allies
occupying another 17 seats. The
Workers Party of Bangladesh has
seven, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal has
six, Jatiya Party (JP Monju) has one,
Bangladesh Tariqut Fedaration has
two, and Bangladesh Nationalist
Front has one.
TV actress
allegedly raped
by co-star
• Tribune Desk
CRIME
A television actress and presenter
has allegedly been raped by a costar
in Dhaka.
In a case filed with Kadamtali
police station on Wednesday, the
victim said had gotten close to
the accused, Shariful, during the
shooting of a drama in India in July
and decided to get married.
However, after returning to the
country, Shariful suddenly visited
her residence in Dhaka on August 2
and raped her.
He also made a secret video of
the incident and spread it among
the victim’s relatives and acquaintances
through social media.
Kadamtali police station OC
Kazi Wazed Ali said the victim had
been admitted in the One Stop Crisis
Centre of Dhaka Medical College
Hospital. •
This article was first published on
banglatribune.com
In the last election, the Awami
League allowed the Workers Party
a free run on the Satkhira-1 constituency,
with Mustafa Lutfullah winning
the seat.
Local Awami League leaders
and activists said the Workers Party
got the seat as a member of the
alliance even though there were
other deserving candidates in the
ruling party.
“Mustafa Lutfullah does not
work for the people. He only thinks
about his own gain,” alleged Satkhira’s
Awami League unit Organising
Secretary Foroz Kalam Shurvo.
Shuvro hoped his party would
not give up the constituency in the
next polls, which are due to be held
by early 2019.
Along with Shurvo, local Awami
League leaders Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, Laila Parveen Senjuti,
Kamruzzaman Shohag, Firoz
Ahmed Shawpon and Sheikh Nurul
Islam are also trying to get the party
nomination.
Meanwhile, the ruling party’s
Patuakhali district unit has expressed
its discontent with ABM Ruhul
Amin Howlader, the Jatiya Party
MP from Patuakhali-1 constituency.
No Awami League candidate
contested the seat in the last election
in 2014, when Howlader defeated
independent candidate Shafiqul
Islam. Howlader had also served
as the civil aviation minister in the
all-party election-time government.
However, Awami League activists
have alleged that Howlader
illegally seized government land,
canals as well as land belonging
to minority communities after the
ruling party helped him win.
His activities were damaging
the image of the government and
the Awami League, the activists
claimed, adding that they wanted
to see a parliamentarian from their
own party in the next election.
Awami League Central Working
Committee’s Information and
Research Secretary Afzal Hossain,
and the party’s district unit chief
and former state minister Shahajan
Mia, are the strongest contenders
for nomination from the seat.
There is a similar undercurrent
of discontent among Awami
League activists in constituencies
where the ruling party stood aside
for Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Workers
Party and Tariqat Federation.
However, Anisur Rahman
Mallik, former general secretary
and politburo member of the Workers
Party, told the Dhaka Tribune
that Awami League had been “ignoring”
the alliance members after
coming to power.
Awami League Presidium Member
Lt Col (retd) Muhammad Faruq
Khan, MP, admitted that there
were discord between activists of
the ruling party and its alliance
members at the grassroots level.
Tariqat Federation Joint Secretary
Syed Tayabul Bashar Maizbhandari
told the Dhaka Tribune:
“There are some disputes among the
[14-party alliance] members as their
ideologies are different but there are
no major conflicts among us.”
Faruq Khan said they were trying
to resolve the problem so that
the activists of the alliance could
work together.
Awami League presidium member
and 14-party alliance convenor
Mohammed Nasim could not be
reached for comments for this article
despite repeated attempts. •
Doctors trying
to wake Mayor
Annisul up
• Tribune Desk
CURRENT AFFAIRS
DT
Doctors at a London hospital are
trying to wake up Dhaka North City
Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Annisul
Huq from sedation in a normal way.
He is still in the ICU, said Mizanur
Rahman, the mayor’s personal
secretary. “His condition is currently
stable. Doctors hope it will improve
within the next few days.”
The mayor went to London on a
family tour on July 29. He was admitted
to the hospital after he fell ill.
Doctors said he was suffering
from cerebral vasculitis (inflammation
of the blood vessel wall involving
the brain).
The mayor’s family friend Dr
Abdun Noor Tushar on Thursday
said the doctors would remove the
ventilator anytime that day to wake
him up naturally from sedation.
“It is a complex process and the
doctors will try to bring him back to
a normal state gradually. Hopefully,
he will react to the medicines,”
Tushar wrote in a Facebook post. •
This article was first published on
banglatribune.com
Statue defaced as US Confederate monument
protests grow
• Reuters, Washington, DC
WORLD
A statue of Confederate General
Robert E Lee was defaced at North
Carolina’s Duke University and
there were more arrests on Thursday
over the toppling of a similar
statue as communities in the US
South faced a contentious debate
over such divisive monuments.
The discovery came as President
Donald Trump stoked the
controversy over the statues, echoing
white nationalists by decrying
the removal of what he said were
“beautiful” monuments to the
pro-slavery Confederacy.
The statue of Lee at the Duke
Chapel in Durham, North Carolina,
was found early on Thursday with
its nose and other facial features
chipped off, the university said in a
statement. Lee led the Confederate
Army during the American Civil War.
The university said that surveillance
camera footage was being
reviewed for clues as to who was
behind the attack on the statue,
which stands by the chapel entrance.
Security around the site is
also being stepped up.
A fresh debate over Confederate
symbols has roiled the US since
Saturday’s violence during a protest
by white supremacists in Charlottesville,
Virginia, against the removal
of a Lee statue in which one
woman died.
Statue of slavery advocate removed
Meanwhine, authorities in Maryland
on Friday removed a statue
of a 19th century Chief Justice who
wrote the pro-slavery Dred Scott
decision in the latest example of
action over memorials that have
sparked protests across the US.
Crews in state capital Annapolis
hitched straps overnight to the
145-year-old bronze statue outside
State House and lifted it from its base
with a crane, according to media reports
and social media postings.
“While we cannot hide from our
Damage is seen to the face of a statue of Confederate commander General Robert
E Lee at Duke University, North Carolina, US on August 17, 2017
REUTERS
history, nor should we, the time has
come to make clear the difference
between properly acknowledging
our past and glorifying the darkest
chapters of our history,” Maryland
Governor Larry Hogan said in a
statement on Wednesday.
Chief Justice Roger Taney’s
landmark 1857 decision said: “The
negro might justly and lawfully be
reduced to slavery for his benefit.”
Legal scholars say it is one of the
worst decisions in the Supreme
Court’s history. •
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY
HEAVY RAINFALL
LIKELY
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
Dhaka 34 27 Chittagong 34 27 Rajshahi 32 25 Rangpur 33 26 Khulna 32 26 Barisal 32 27 Sylhet 34 26
DHAKA
TODAY
TOMORROW
SUN SETS 6:29PM
SUN RISES 5:35AM
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW
34.5ºC
23.6ºC
Rangamati
Rangamati
Source: Accuweather/UNB
PRAYER
TIMES
Cox’s Bazar 31 26
Fajr: 5:00am | Zohr: 1:15pm
Asr: 5:00pm | Magrib: 6:41pm
Esha: 8:30pm
Source: Islamic Foundation

6
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
News
Rapist Tufan, his aides imprisoned
in the lap of luxury
• Nazmul Huda Nasim, Bogra
NATION
Two dead, six injured in Finland stabbing spree
• AFP
WORLD
Two people were killed and six
were injured in a stabbing spree in
the Finnish city of Turku on Friday,
police said, after officers shot one
suspect and warned several others
could still be at large.
“There are eight victims in the
stabbing. Two dead and six injured,”
Turku police tweeted after
the assault in a market square.
Police shot one suspect in the
legs and arrested him. Security
forces wrote on Twitter that police
were “looking for other possible
perpetrators”.
“They ask the population to
leave and avoid central Turku,” the
tweet added.
The motive of the suspect or suspects
was not immediately known.
The stabbing spree comes with
Tufan Sarker
Expelled Bogra Sramik League
leader Tufan Sarker and his relatives
and associates, who were
arrested over the rape and torture
of a female student, are reportedly
having a lavish life at Bogra district
jail.
Tufan, also an alleged drug
peddler, is even getting supplies
of phensidyl from outside the jail,
sources said.
It is being alleged that Tufan and
his arrested family members regularly
have talks for hours with their
relatives, friends and aides at the
visitors’ room, with food supplies
coming from their homes.
Tufan’s wife Asha Khatun, his
sister-in-law Bogra Municipality
Ward 2 Councillor Marzia Hasan
Rumki and her mother Rumi
Khatun, who are among the arrestees,
are being given special facilities,
said some accused who recently
came out of jail on bail.
The jail authorities have appointed
guards for Tufan and his
family members, they added.
When asked about the supply
of phensidyl, Bogra Jail Superintendent
Mokammel Haq said: “An
attempt was made recently to help
Tufan consume phensidyl through
a pipe at the visitors’ room. Someone
also threw several bottles of
the contraband syrup inside the
jail, but it is still not clear who that
was meant for.”
A few days after their arrest,
Tufan and the others started having
food from homes, sources
said, adding some jail officials and
employees were allowing them to
have long conversations with their
relatives and acquaintances at the
visitors’ room.
“The guards engaged to take care
of Tufan and other rape accused facilitate
them to talk with their visitors
longer than the stipulated time.
Taking advantage of the situation,
Tufan takes phensidyl through
pipe,” said one of the bailed accused,
requesting anonymity.
Female prison guard Rawshan
Ara had caught Tufan red handed
on August 12 when he was being
given phensidyl, he said.
Later, she informed the jail super
about the matter. Since then,
bottles of phensidyl are being
thrown for Tufan from the other
side of the jail boundary, which are
Europe on high alert a day after drivers
slammed vehicles into pedestrians
in two attacks in Spain, killing
at least 14 people and injuring more
than 100 others. The Islamic State
(IS) group has claimed responsibility
for the Barcelona attack.
In Turku, images of a body covered
in a white blanket at the scene
of the stabbing was published on
some online news sites, including
the local daily Turun Sanomat.
The attack took place in the heart
of the port city in southwestern Finland,
just after 3:00 pm (1300 GMT)
in a bustling neighbourhood.
“I saw an old woman, I tried to
help her. She was bleeding all over
her body,” Wali Hashi, who witnessed
the attack, told AFP.
“She was wounded to her neck
with the knife... I took her aside.”
Another witness, who did not
want to give his name, told public
television YLE: “A young woman
COLLECTED
afterwards sent to him.
On Wednesday afternoon, an inmate
was caught in possession of a
bottle of phensidyl that he collected
from near the north boundary wall
of the jail, and was taking to Tufan.
The jail super, when questioned,
admitted the matter.
Meanwhile, the jail authorities
ostensibly arranged a meeting between
Tufan and the rape victim
at the jail superintendent’s office
recently. But, the jail super denied
the conversation between the alleged
rapist and the victim.
According to sources, the victim
had been brought to the jail superintendent’s
office around 9pm
on August 7 where she had talked
to Tufan, hours after she and her
mother were issued a discharge
letter from Shaheed Ziaur Rahman
Medical College Hospital in Bogra.
screamed really loudly at one corner
of the square. We saw a man on
the square, with a knife in his hand
Tufan himself confirmed the
meeting to some jail guards, saying
that the victim would withdraw
the case and in exchange of that he
will marry her.
Bogra Sadar police station’s
Officer-in-Charge (investigation)
Aslam Ali said the jail authorities
had handed over the victim and
her mother one and a half hours
later, who passed the night at the
local office of the Detective Branch
of Police and were taken to Rajshahi
the next day.
He, however, failed to answer
why they were taken to the jail
from the hospital.
On the issue, the jail super said:
“There is no scope to bring any inmate
out of the jail at night. So, the
news of Tufan meeting the victim
is baseless and false. The other
accused are not in the jail hospital
as they are kept in prison cells like
other inmates.”
But, reliable sources said Tufan
was accommodated at the jail
hospital, which the jail authorities
are still denying. Rumki, Asha and
Rumi were kept at the women’s
ward though.
Tufan allegedly raped the girl, a
recent SSC graduate, on July 17, luring
her into his house promising financial
help for her college admission.
On July 28, Rumki and Rumi had the
victim, 17, and her mother dragged
to the same house again, where they
and Tufan’s aides brutally tortured
them and had their heads shaved.
Ten people were sued in two
cases – one for rape and the other
for torture – on July 29 and police
so far arrested 11 suspects. •
and he was waving it.”
Central Turku -- located about
140 kilometres (90 miles) from the
Police officers stand next to a person lying on the pavement in the Finnish city of
Turku where several people were stabbed on August 18, 2017
AFP
Advance sale
of Eid train
tickets begins
• Tribune Desk
METRO
Thousands of people have
thronged the rail stations in Dhaka
to purchase train tickets to travel to
their village homes during the upcoming
Eid-ul-Azha holidays.
Long queues of holidaymakers
were seen at the Kamalapur railway
station yesterday as ticket
sale began at 8am, reports UNB.
Tickets for travelling on August
27 were sold yesterday. Each passenger
can buy a maximum of four
tickets.
Tickets for August 28 will be
available today. Similarly, tickets
for August 29 can be purchased on
tomorrow, and so on.
Besides, the return tickets for
September 3 will be available on
August 25, and for September 4 on
August 26, and so on.
Railways Minister Md Mazibul
Hoque on Thursday said seven
pairs of special trains would run on
various routes from August 27 to 31
before Eid and from September 3 to
7 after Eid.
Besides, two trains will run on
the Eid day for Sholakia Eid jamaat,
said the minister.
Government Railway Police
(GRP), Railway Nirapatta Bahini
(RNB), Rapid Action Battalion
(Rab) and Border Guards Bangladesh
(BGB) will be deployed to
prevent ticket sale on the black
market.
Meanwhile, plying of Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka
Moitree train
will remain suspended from September
1-4 for Eid. •
capital Helsinki -- was swiftly cordoned
off and stores and restaurants
closed.
Police also tweeted that they
had raised their emergency readiness
nationwide, increasing security
at airports and train stations.
“The number of patrols is being
increased, information gathering is
intensified,” they wrote.
Threat level raised
Prime Minister Juha Sipila tweeted
that his government was “following
the situation in Turku closely and
the police operation underway.”
Police have refused to comment
on whether the stabbing may have
been terrorism-related.
In June, Finland’s intelligence
and security agency Supo raised
the country’s terror threat level by
a notch, from “low” to “elevated”,
the second notch on a new fourtier
scale. •

News
SATURDAY,
AL central leaders visiting flood-hit
areas in north
• Tribune Desk
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Central leaders of Awami League
have joined the party grassroots’
relief distribution efforts in Dinajpur
and Kurigram districts ahead
of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s
planned visit there on August 20.
A team, led by the party’s General
Secretary and Road Transport
and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader,
yesterday distributed rice and
cash money among 1,000 flood-affected
people from a programme at
the Raghupur High School premises
in Dinajpur’s Biral upazila.
Awami League Joint General
Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanok
and Awami League Organising Secretary
Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury
accompanied Obaidul during the
relief distribution.
The same team also distributed
relief items among 300 flood victims
from a programme near Saidpur
Stadium in Nilphamari’s Saidpur
upazila the same day.
Speaking at the programme, Obaidul
said his party will stand beside the
Rights groups slam Indian
plans to deport Rohingyas
• AFP, New Delhi
WORLD
flood-affected people until their
proper rehabilitation is ensured.
Meanwhile, Disaster Management
and Relief Minister Mofazzal
Hossain Chowdhury Maya led the
government’s relief distribution
DHAKA TRIBUNE
programmes in Thakurgaon and
Dinajpur districts the same day.
Speaking at the relief distribution
programme in front of Thakurgaon
Shilpakala Academy around
4:30pm, Maya asked the local
members of parliaments and the
officials of the administration to
put a concerted effort to help the
flood-affected people overcome
the sufferings.
“The government is taking all
the responsibilities, including
those of food, healthcare and housing,
until the day each and every
flood victim is able to return to
normal and healthy life,” he added.
The minister also cautioned that
stern actions will be taken if irregularities
are found in the relief distribution.
Former minister and MP Ramesh
Chandra Sen, MP Professor Yasin
Ali, MP Selina Jahan Lita were also
present at the programme. •
7
AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
‘16th Amendment
verdict denounces
Bangabandhu’
• Nadim Hossain, Savar
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Food Minister Qamrul Islam has
observed that the 16th Amendment
verdict of the Supreme Court
has denounced Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s leadership
in Bangladesh’s struggle for
independence.
“The leadership of the Liberation
War has been misrepresented.
Bangabandhu has led us through
the long 23 years’ struggle for independence
from ‘52 to ‘71. This
has been denounced by the 16th
Amendment verdict,” he said.
The minister came up with the
remarks at a discussion meeting at
the Savar upazila headquarters yesterday.
The upazila administration
organised the event to mark National
Mourning Day on August 15.
Qamrul also observed that Chief
Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha had
become a BNP favourite after the
verdict. •
Rights groups urged India to
abide by its international legal
obligations after the government
said it was looking
to deport tens of thousands
of Rohingya migrants.
India’s junior home minister
Kiren Rijiju told parliament
last week the government
had asked state
authorities to identify and
deport the Rohingya, a stateless
ethnic minority who
mostly live in neighbouring
Myanmar, where they face
discrimination and violence.
In recent years, thousands
have fled across the
border to Bangladesh and on
to other countries including
India, which does not recognise
them as refugees even
though the United Nations
says they are.
Human Rights Watch and
Amnesty International said
India should abide by its international
obligations.
“Indian authorities
should abide by India’s international
legal obligations
and not forcibly return any
Rohingya to Burma without
first fairly evaluating
their claims as refugees,”
said Meenakshi Ganguly,
the South Asia director at
A child from the Rohingya community stands outside a shack in a
camp in Delhi, India on August 17, 2017
REUTERS
Human Rights Watch, in a
statement on Thursday.
The number of Rohingya
migrants has swelled in
recent years. Rijiju said in a
written response to parliament
that around 40,000
were living illegally in India.
Thousands fled Myanmar
after a military crackdown
last October in Rakhine
state launched in response
to an armed attack on border
posts.
Witnesses brought stories
of soldiers raping and
murdering Rohingya and of
entire villages being burned
to the ground in a campaign
the UN has said may amount
to ethnic cleansing.
“Characterising Rohingya
refugees and asylum-seekers
as illegal immigrants... takes
no account of the reasons
why they had to flee their
homes and the grave risks
they may face if forcibly returned,”
said Raghu Menon,
advocacy manager at Amnesty
International India.
“Indian authorities are
well aware of the human
rights violations Rohingya
Muslims have had to face
in Myanmar and it would
be outrageous to abandon
them to their fates.”
Despite being home to
thousands of refugees, India
is not a signatory to the
1951 Refugee Convention or
the 1967 Protocol Relating
to the Status of Refugees. •

8
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
News
Prices of sacrificial cattle may
soar due to floods
Imran H Sarker
assaulted again
• DU Correspondent
CURRENT AFFAIRS
• Abu Siddique
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Despite a sufficient stock of cattle,
the price of sacrificial animals is
likely to rise during the upcoming
Eid-ul-Azha as the ongoing floods
may create an obstacle to transporting
cattle to markets across the
country.
Our district correspondents
informed that road networks in
different regions, particularly in
northern districts, had been severely
damaged due to the monsoon
rainfalls which have been
continuing for over a week.
According to the Department of
Livestock Services (DLS), this year
the country has a sufficient reserve
of 11,557,000 cows and goats, most
of which are home-reared, for the
annual Muslim festival of sacrifice.
This represents a surplus on the
estimated 10.5 million cattle which
were sold during the last Eid-ul-
Azha and the 9.64m in 2015.
“If the flood situation does not
deteriorate, the demand for cattle
may increase by 10% (and) we
think the demand could be met
by our home-grown cattle,” DLS
Director General MD Ainul Haque
told the Dhaka Tribune. “If the
flooding continues, the demand
will decrease, resulting in a surplus
of cattle.”
A DLS source said there were
23.8 million cows and buffalo, and
12m sheep and goats in the country.
At least 57 people died and over
25 districts were inundated in the
northern and north-eastern regions
due to the monsoon floods
KEY FACTS
Total number of cows, buffalo:
23,800,000
Sheep, goats: 12,000,000
Reserve for Eid-ul-Azha:
11,557,000
10,500,000 sold during the last
Eid-ul-Azha in 2016
Demand may see a 10% spike if
the flooding does not worsen
triggered by heavy downpours in
catchment areas of the Brahmaputra
and Ganges rivers, according to
the Department of Disaster Management
(DDM).
With the highest death toll, Dinajpur
saw 23 people killed, while
nine people died in Kurigram.
DDM data showed that the
floods left around 3,326,864 people
of the districts severely affected
and their properties badly damaged.
•
As the ongoing floods may create an obstacle to transporting cattle to markets
across the country, prices of cattle for the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha may see a rise
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
Gonojagoron Mancha spokesperson
Imran H Sarker was assaulted
by a group of unidentified miscreants
for the second consecutive
day yesterday, this time in front of
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical
University (BSMMU).
Prior to the most recent attack,
Imran and a group of other Gonojagoron
Mancha activists had gathered
at Shahbagh to protest the
attack on them that took place on
Thursday.
“We were returning home after
police disallowed the protest. Similar
to yesterday’s (Thursday’s) attack,
a group of about 25 unidentified attackers
launched an assault upon us
in front of PG hospital (BSMMU), and
we had to take shelter inside,” Imran
told the Dhaka Tribune.
The Gonojagoron Mancha
spokesperson also claimed the
nature of the attack proved that
the attackers were from the same
group as Thursday’s assailants.
Earlier on Thursday, a group of
unidentified launched an assault
on Imran in front of the National
Museum in Dhaka’s Shahbagh area,
when activists of Gonojagoron
Moncho were collecting funds to
provide aid to people in flood affected
areas.
Imran said a complaint had been
lodged with Shahbagh police station
regarding Thursday’s attack. •
Pakistan slams US for
blacklisting Kashmir
terror group
• AFP, Islamabad
WORLD
Pakistan criticised the United
States for blacklisting the Kashmiri
separatist group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
as a terrorist organisation,
calling the move “unjustified”.
The State Department designation
bans US citizens and residents
from dealing with the group and any
assets found to belong to it in areas
under US jurisdiction will be frozen.
“We are disappointed with the
US decision in view of the fact that
Kashmir is an internationally recognised
dispute with UN Security
Council resolutions pending implementation
for the last 70 years,”
Nafees Zakariya, Pakistan’s foreign
ministry spokesman, told reporters
in the capital Islamabad.
The move was “completely unjustified,”
he said.
After Washington announced
the decision on Wednesday, several
hundred activists gathered
in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered
Kashmir, and
chanted anti-US slogans.
Washington had already designated
the group’s leader, Syed Salahuddin,
a “global terrorist”, but he
still operates in Pakistani Kashmir,
where his group has strong support.
The designation comes the
week both India and Pakistan mark
70 years of independence from the
British Empire, and the start of bitter
rivalry and decades of conflict
over Kashmir.
Since 1989, rebel groups have
fought in Indian-held Kashmir, demanding
independence or a merger
of the territory with Pakistan,
and tens of thousands, mostly civilians,
have been killed.
India regularly accuses Pakistan
of arming militants, while Islamabad
denies the allegation, saying it
only provides diplomatic support
to Kashmiris seeking self-determination.
•
Berlin to host European conference on
alternative energy use in Bangladesh
• Tribune Desk
ENERGY
Environmental activists and researchers
from across the world
will meet in Berlin today to discuss
alternative energy sources in Bangladesh
and the negative aspects of
constructing a coal-based thermal
power plant next to the Sundarbans.
Representatives from the US,
Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands,
Norway and other European
countries will attend the two-day
conference, titled “Saving the Sundarbans
and Possibility of Alternative
Energy Policy in Bangladesh.”
The government is currently
constructing a coal-based thermal
power plant in Rampal, Bagerhat
on the fringes of the world’s largest
mangrove forest.
A signature collection campaign
is being conducted among
the conference participants for a
joint statement to save the Sundarbans
from damage caused by the
power plant. The “Berlin Declaration
2017” to save the Sundarbans
will be announced tomorrow, the
last day of the gathering.
International organisations like
Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth,
350 Organisation, Women Engage
for a Common Future and London
Mining and activists have already
signed the petition and expressed
their solidarity with the declaration.
Speakers at the conference will
include Prof Anu Muhammad of
Jahangirnagar University, Prof Wilfried
Endlicher of Humboldt University,
and the Managing Director
of German-based NGO Forum on
Environment Katherine Fink.
According to experts, the power
plant will cause unparalleled harm
to the biodiversity in the sundarbans,
which is a World Heritage Site
declared by Unesco. •

News
9
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
Workers are digging graves at the Paloko cemetery in Waterloo, Sierra
Leone on August 17, 2017
REUTERS
Death toll from Sierra
Leone floods passes 400
• AFP, Freetown
WORLD
More than 400 people have
died in mudslides and flooding
in Sierra Leone with 600
people still missing in the
stricken capital, the Red Cross
said Friday, as Britain promised
£5 million in fresh aid.
The disaster began on
Monday when heavy rains hit
the city and the partial collapse
of a hillside triggered
mudslides, engulfing homes
and wreaking destruction.
“Today we are counting
more than 400 people dead,”
the secretary-general of the
International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent
societies, Elhadj As Sy, told
reporters in Geneva.
Citizens and experts alike
have questioned why the government
has not done more to
Canada sees ‘unsustainable’
spike in asylum seekers at
US border
• Reuters, Toronto
WORLD
tackle illegal construction and
deforestation on the outskirts
of the overcrowded capital of
Freetown.
An unofficial morgue estimate
had previously put the
toll at around 400 dead, but
the figure had not been confirmed
until Friday.
Sy said the government of
the west African country was
facing a crisis “way beyond
(its) capacity” and appealed
to the international community
to significantly ramp up
its support.
The displaced are still
sleeping outside “because
there are not enough shelters
for everybody,” he said.
More than 300 victims were
buried on Thursday in a ceremony
in the nearby town of
Waterloo, laid to rest alongside
victims of the country’s last
crisis, Ebola. Around a third of
them were children. •
The number of asylum seekers
who illegally crossed the US
border into Canada more than
tripled last month, according
to Canadian government data
released on Thursday, as migrants
worried about the US
administration’s immigration
crackdown head north.
More than 3,100 people
walked across the border illegally
in July to file refugee
claims and were arrested, up
from 884 in June, the federal
government said.
96% of them went to Quebec,
where an influx of asylum
seekers, primarily Haitians, is
sparking a backlash from opposition
politicians and anti-immigrant
groups in the primarily
French-speaking province.
In the first 15 days of August,
an additional 3,800 asylum
seekers were arrested
crossing the US border into
Quebec, the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police said. More
than 1,000 people are living
in tents and government facilities
at a Lacolle, Quebec
border crossing across from
upstate New York.
“It’s not a crisis. It’s a situation
that is extraordinary. But
it’s well-managed,” Transport
Minister Marc Garneau told reporters
in Lacolle on Thursday.
Canada is struggling to
house and provide social assistance
for the influx of asylum
seekers as its refugee system
faces the worst delays in
years.
The Immigration and Refugee
Board (IRB), which is responsible
for hearing all asylum
claims, has redeployed
resources to deal with the
Quebec arrivals. •

DT
10
Editorial
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
TODAY
Substituting
software imports
Once pirated/imported software has
been replaced by free/open-source
software like LibreOffice and Linux, the
export figures of Bangladeshi software
will actually mean something
PAGE 11
NASHIRUL ISLAM
Response to
responsibility
As a nation, we’re still far from defining
and understanding the nuances of CSR.
I don’t think one consultation meeting
can complete the task
The Potohari
Bonaparte
Soon after he took over in 1958, Ayub
Khan was asked: ‘After you, who?’
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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The views expressed in opinion
articles are those of the authors
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official view of Dhaka Tribune
or its publisher.
PAGE 12
PAGE 13
Where are we going?
With the average traffic speed in Dhaka at a
pathetic 7km/h, it has become imperative
that the government implement its Bus Rapid
Transit routes as fast as possible.
While other countries have done this exact same thing
with aplomb, Bangladesh has been trying to do so for the last
20 years, and failing.
For any major metropolis, BRT routes are essential -- they
are cheaper and faster, and require little construction.
These projects are constantly held up by corrupted
officials, miscalculations, poor planning, and dodgy
estimations.
It is about time this stopped.
For the people of Dhaka, traffic congestion is no joke.
The government would do well to listen to the people and
work towards sustainable long-term solutions such as the
BRT and the MRT to improve the current traffic situation of
the capital.
Still waiting
Justice should not be dragging its feet.
But, even after 12 years, many involved in
the 2005 bomb attacks, where bombs went off
simultaneously in 500 places nationwide, have
yet to get punishment of any kind.
Some of them are even out on bail.
Much of the problem lies with the fact that
witnesses are becoming difficult to locate, and that
many districts have slower judicial systems.
An efficient and effective judicial system is crucial
to any democracy, and Bangladesh is no exception.
If justice for terrorism takes so long, and so many
are allowed to get away, terrorists inevitably become
emboldened.
It is time for our justice system to speed up, and
send a strong message.
For any major
metropolis, BRT routes
are essential
If justice for terrorism
takes so long, terrorists
inevitably become
emboldened

Opinion 11
DT
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
Substituting software imports with local
and open-source products
It is time to migrate to free and open-source software
• Zeeshan Hasan
It is gratifying to read Dhaka
Tribune news reports that
Bangladesh’s export of
software has finally reached
$191 million in the last financial
year.
However, before getting
complacent, we should recall
that the indicator of international
competitiveness in any industry
is net exports, which is the value
of exports minus imports. Positive
net exports in any sector implies
that the country sells more to the
world than it buys, and is thus
truly independent in that sector.
When we try to calculate
net exports of software from
Bangladesh, however, we run into
a major problem. We know that
the vast majority of computers in
the country run pirated versions of
MS Windows and MS Office.
These have not been paid for,
but by law, they must be paid
for as software piracy is illegal
(however, the laws of intellectual
property are poorly enforced
and so pirated DVDs of Microsoft
software are widely available).
However, we can calculate
the economic value of pirated
Microsoft software from published
statistics and market prices.
What kind of software do you use?
BIGSTOCK
Once pirated/imported software has been replaced by free/open-source
software like LibreOffice and Linux, the export figures of Bangladeshi
software will actually mean something
According to the World Bank,
in 2006, Bangladesh had 2.4
computers per 100 people. If we
conservatively assume that this
same figure still holds, then the
total number of computers spread
across the population would be
(2.4/100) x 165 million people or
about 4 million. Each of these
computers has a pirated copy of
MS Windows, which costs $100,
and MS Office which costs $200
(total $300).
So, the total value of pirated
Microsoft software in the country
is approximately $300 x 4 million
computers = $1200 million. This is
a large figure, but it is a total which
does not have to be purchased
annually.
Assuming each computer has
a life of five years, the annual
replacement cost will be $1,200
million/5 years = $240 million per
year. Even this conservatively
calculated figure is larger than
Bangladesh’s software exports;
so according to this calculation,
the country is a net importer of
software.
On the one hand, the local
software industry should be
congratulated for reaching a
respectable level. However, we
should bear in mind that we are
still far from holding our own in
the international IT market; the
value of our imports (in terms of
pirated MS software used) is still
higher than our exports.
Our current lax intellectual
property enforcement shields us
from this uncomfortable fact, but
as the US government pressures
Bangladesh to improve the
policing of Microsoft copyrights,
we can expect the pirated DVDs to
gradually disappear, as they have
in more developed countries. Then
the country will have to actually
pay for its imported MS software,
and the foreign currency from
software exports will effectively be
swallowed up by import bills.
A simple strategy of import
substitution would hugely benefit
the country. We can easily prevent
the loss of $240 million per year by
replacing MS software with free/
open-source software.
MS Office can easily be replaced
with LibreOffice, which is freely
downloadable from www.
libreoffice.org and has an MS
Office compatible word-processor,
spreadsheet, and presentation
tool.
MS Windows can also be freely
replaced by Ubuntu Linux (www.
ubuntu.com/desktop) which is
comparable in functionality and
ease of use.
Mozilla Firefox web browser
and Mozilla Thunderbird email
software are also included in
Ubuntu Linux as free alternatives
to Microsoft Explorer and Outlook.
Linux also includes free
equivalents to Adobe Photoshop
and Illustrator (www.gimp.org
and www.inkscape.org). Kazi
Farms Group, Central Women’s
University, Dhaka Tribune,
and Deepto TV are among the
organisations in Bangladesh which
have already switched to free/
open-source software, saving
the companies and the country
millions of dollars in software
licencing fees.
Other companies and
government departments should
proceed accordingly.
Once pirated/imported
software has been replaced by
free/open-source software like
LibreOffice and Linux, the export
figures of Bangladeshi software
will actually mean something, as
they will represent a net export.
The country will save hundreds
of millions of dollars in valuable
foreign currency every year as a
result.
All that is required is that IT
departments in government and
private organisations get trained
on Linux so that they can support
computer users as they migrate to
new alternatives.
Training of IT personnel in
Linux and free/open-source
software should therefore be a
priority. •
Zeeshan Hasan is a director of Kazi
Media, the company behind Deepto
TV. He is also the managing director of
Sysnova.

12
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
Opinion
Response to responsibility
What is CSR, and what can it be?
It’s time to have a national guideline
BIGSTOCK
the calamity. This response has
come from the citizens’ sense of
responsibility. They understand
that the government, as the
biggest corporation of the country,
would not be able to shoulder the
responsibility alone.
Therefore, the government
itself needs to realise that it alone
cannot do everything for the
people in need. It should develop
a mechanism or a framework that
could create the opportunity for
the citizens to participate.
To my mind, similarly, the
government should also create
an opportunity for the companies
to participate in social activities
or human activities. However,
this hasn’t been the case in our
country. This realisation has led to
the idea of developing a national
guideline.
Now, what should the CSR
guideline contain? I believe as a
nation, we’re still far from defining
and understanding the nuances of
CSR. I don’t think one consultation
meeting can complete the task of
understanding CSR. I have been
for a national CSR guideline for
the last 20 years, yet we couldn’t
LARGER
THAN LIFE
• Ekram Kabir
I
always thought that the
term “corporate social
responsibility” was a
least-adhered-to topic in
Bangladesh.
However, it feels quite nice
when I see the term and the
related activities along with it are
being discussed in a public forum.
In a recent workshop organised
by the Centre on Budget and
Policy of Dhaka University
and the Asia Foundation, CSR
experts sat together and opined
that the government, the
private sector, and charitable
organisations should think of
working together to ensure that
CSR funds are spent efficiently so
as to support communities as well
as the economy.
They emphasised on the “value
for money” while spending for
any CSR activity. They are so right
when they say this. These days,
while thinking of any CSR activity,
the importance of charity and
philanthropy has reduced among
the practitioners.
Companies around the world,
in the last decade, have been
considering a business link while
spending for CSR. For example,
a bottled water company would
think of choosing a CSR activity
in the water sector. It wouldn’t
choose something that doesn’t
connect with its core business.
The benefits of spending
However, spending for CSR in
Bangladesh couldn’t yet come
out of the concept of charity and
philanthropy. If we look at the how
the banks in Bangladesh have been
spending their money which has
doubled in the last decade, we’d
see most of them aren’t spending
those funds which are not related
to their core business. The benefits
of spending the money aren’t
returning to the banking sector.
On the other hand, the telecom
sector in the country has turned
around when they think of their
CSR strategy. They say that they
are digital companies and they
would think of doing something
that would improve and benefit
the digital environment of
Bangladesh.
This is indeed a welcome
phenomenon that they aren’t
spending their money for football
tournament or organising gettogethers
of alumni associations.
Rather, they are seen to focus on
technology and education.
What would a cement company
or a tobacco company do? They
As a nation, we’re still far from defining and understanding the nuances
of CSR. I don’t think one consultation meeting can complete the task
may certainly think of the
environment and the people’s
health. They wouldn’t do anything
for the sake of doing. What would
a beverage company do? It would
mostly likely do something
that raises its customers’ health
consciousness.
Many may term CSR activities
as voluntary work. Yes, it may
be voluntary, but the necessity
of running this voluntary work
should come from within the
companies, from their sense of
responsibility that directly or
indirectly connects the customers
as well as the society as a whole
with their core business.
And yes, the work has to be
sustainable; they mustn’t do
anything that they cannot do
every year. If they cannot continue
the activity or cannot increase the
intensity of the activity, the work
wouldn’t, then, be sustainable.
Remember when the rich
people were spending money on
charity and building schools and
hospitals? They were actually
spending those funds for their own
children and families. If there’s no
school in a village or a hospital in a
town, where would their children
study? Where would their family
members go for treatment? They
would have to travel to faraway
lands for these purposes.
Corporate human responsibility
The term CSR these days has
shed the word “social” and in
many countries has become only
“corporate responsibility.” And
in a few countries, they aren’t
even talking about corporate
responsibility; they’re discussing
“corporate human responsibility.”
The concepts aren’t being
confined to the companies
anymore -- they have crossed the
boundary of companies, they have
gone to the level of individual
citizens. We, in Bangladesh, are
also subconsciously thinking in
the same fashion.
Look at what the citizens
are doing for the flood-affected
people right now. They have
gone all-out in helping the
victims so that they survive
develop it.
Why? Because we haven’t been
talking about it, we haven’t putting
proper emphasis on what CSR
can achieve. The companies were
seen to have a CSR department on
the sidelines of their operations
just because the government had
asked them to do so. This practice
has borne very little result in the
society.
Therefore, I believe that the
guideline shouldn’t be developed
in haste. The planning ministry,
the think-tanks, or the academics
alone shouldn’t try to develop
the guideline. Rather, they must
include those, the companies to be
specific, who are already practising
CSR. We should gather all the
experience, and then examine
them with an open mind, and then
go for a guideline.
The guideline should be able to
inspire the companies to be more
responsive to their responsibilities
towards human beings -- their
customers. •
Ekram Kabir is a fiction writer.

Opinion
13
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
The Potohari Bonaparte
What Ayub Khan gave Pakistan
• FS Aijazuddin
Jinnah gave Muslims a
country; Ayub Khan gave the
Pakistan army a state.
Born in 1907, when the
Kaiser Wilhelm II was still the
aggressively militant emperor of
Germany, Ayub Khan spent his 20s
being disciplined at Sandhurst,
became the first local C-in-C of
the Pakistan army at the age of 44,
president of his country soon after
he turned 50, and had appointed
himself Field Marshal before the
age of 60.
It was a steep career trajectory
-- one worthy of a Potohari
Bonaparte.
Like many an incipient
dictator, Ayub Khan spent his
apprenticeship either outside the
rabble, or above it. He observed
with detachment the political
infighting that followed the death
of the Quaid in 1948 and the
assassination of PM Liaquat Ali
Khan, and which led to a collapse
of the democratic order envisaged
by both.
Opportunism replaced idealism
in civil society. It all too soon
infected the military. “It was a
curious phenomenon,” Ayub Khan
recalled in his memoirs Friends
Not Masters.
“Perfectly sensible people,
brigadiers and generals, would go
about bemoaning their lot. Each
one of them was a Bonaparte.”
Ayub Khan supported President
Iskander Mirza when, on October
4, 1958, Mirza abrogated the
1956 constitution, dismissed
the National and Provincial
Assemblies, promulgated
martial law, and appointed Ayub
Khan as the chief martial law
administrator.
Finding himself within stabbing
distance of an enfeebled Caesar,
he soon ousted Iskander Mirza and
appointed himself president, thus
setting into motion a pattern of
military interventions in Pakistani
politics that, like Winston
Churchill’s famous dictum
about second marriages, became
recurring examples of the triumph
of hope over experience.
Embedded in Ayub Khan’s
memoirs is a paragraph that
subsequent military usurpers
have understandably overlooked:
“Another worry I had was how,
if the army once got drawn into
political life […] it could withdraw
itself from the situation.”
He foresaw the possibilities
well enough: “A well-organised,
trained, and disciplined army
would find it extremely distasteful
to be turned into an instrument for
securing political power.”
Yet he succumbed to that
very temptation in October 1958,
condemning thereby his country
to being alternately ruled by the
sword and governed by the pen.
A personal mission to save
Pakistan
It is the credo of every military
dictator to believe that “the army
alone could act as a corrective
force and restore normalcy.” It is
his conviction that he alone is the
nation’s saviour.
Ayub Khan saw his intervention
in 1958 as a personal mission to
stabilise Pakistan, to put it on the
path to modernity. He declared at
his first press conference within
two days of assuming power
that his three immediate tasks
were “land reforms, refugee
resettlement, and educational
reforms.”
The ills of a feudal past, the
impact of an upheaval present,
and needs of the future he thought
were covered. Interestingly,
the cancer that caused his
intervention -- ie political
instability -- went untreated.
Until 1962, Ayub Khan could
do no wrong. He used his singular
authority to drag Pakistan into
the 20th century. He constituted a
platoon of National Commissions
to inquire into every aspect of
Pakistan’s governance.
With President Ayub Khan at
its epicentre, Pakistan’s progress
expanded radially.
Land reforms jolted the feudal
classes out of their complacency;
an amnesty flushed out ill-gotten
untaxed wealth; an Export
Bonus Scheme was introduced
to stimulate exports; the civil
service was pruned of inefficient
or corrupt officers; family laws
were tempered to align religious
dictates with justice; the capital
was to be relocated from Karachi
to Islamabad; and of course, the
battered plant of democracy had
to be re-potted.
Roots of democracy
An apologist in Ayub Khan’s
government explained that his
1958 “revolution was not directed
against democracy. It was meant to
preserve and promote democracy
-- by making it take roots.”
During the same period of
national reconstruction and
industrial growth, Ayub Khan
asserted Pakistan’s presence in
the international community.
Commitments such as the Indus
Waters Treaty with India in
1960 demonstrated Pakistan’s
willingness to work with its
neighbours.
Relations with the United
States reached new heights of
understanding, cooperation, and
personal bon homie between
Ayub Khan and the Kennedys, and
later Lyndon Johnson. Gradually
Ayub Khan became a significant,
recognisable player on the global
stage.
For dictators, timing is
everything. They know when
to strike, when to “seize the
moment.”
But being fallible, it is when
their sense of timing becomes
blunted by hubris that they are
most vulnerable.
If, before 1962, Ayub Khan
could do no wrong, after 1962,
his footsteps began to falter. In
June 1962, he lifted martial law,
releasing the vapours of public
opinion and press criticism.
Controversies closer to his
home unmasked nepotism and
Soon after he took over in 1958, Ayub Khan
was asked: ‘After you, who?’
greed among his ministers.
More damagingly, the business
exploits of his elder son Gohar
Ayub tainted his proclaimed
uprightness.
“On one occasion,” Ayub Khan
revealed in his selective memoirs:
“I had to tell one of my own
brothers, who was a major in the
army and had committed a serious
irregularity, that he must either
resign or face a court martial. He
resigned.”
Ayub Khan found it impossible
to apply the same standard of
probity to his son.
By the end of 1964, Ayub Khan
felt secure enough to test the
bridge he had fabricated from
benevolent dictatorship to the
far side of guided democracy. He
called for presidential elections.
To his consternation, Ms
Fatima Jinnah stood against him
as a candidate of the Combined
Opposition Parties (COP, or the
Cult for Power as Ayub Khan called
it).
On her side, she had pedigree,
Dictator or democrat?
an unblemished reputation, and
a commanding popularity; on
his, demonstrable experience,
the exercised muscle of an
incumbent’s authority, and the
reins of power securely in his
hands.
When the final results were
declared in January 1965, as
predicted, Ms Fatima Jinnah won
the popular vote and Ayub Khan
a majority from his obedient
electoral college.
Ms Jinnah could not do more
than dent Ayub Khan’s armour. It
was left to Ayub Khan’s protégé
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to break his
lance.
Blunted by hubris
Had Ayub Khan, at the first cabinet
meeting he called on October 27,
1958, foreseen that the young
Sindhi political novice he had
just inducted as a minister would
one day be his nemesis, he might
have airbrushed him out of his
consciousness.
Over the years of their
association, Bhutto insinuated
himself with such subtlety that
when Ayub Khan did discover
Bhutto’s darker talents, it was too
late.
Bhutto as foreign minister in
1965 instigated Operation Gibraltar
-- a plan to send infiltrators into
Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir.
It was poorly conceived and
incompetently executed.
After the Gibraltar debacle
and the humiliating Tashkent
Agreement that Ayub Khan signed
and Bhutto disowned, Bhutto took
advantage of Ayub Khan’s political
and physical weakness (he had
suffered a heart attack in 1966). He
began a campaign.
Beleaguered and dispirited,
Ayub Khan lost the will to retain
his presidency. In the face of
unquenchable public agitation
and implacable opposition, Ayub
Khan did what any self-respecting
unformed democrat would have
done.
On March 25, 1969, he called
upon his successor as C-in-C
General Yahya Khan to take over
the country.
Ayub Khan faded into
comfortable obscurity until his
death on April 19, 1974. Soon after
he took over in 1958, Ayub Khan
was asked: “After you, who?”
“Simple,” he replied, “After me
another general, and then another
general, and then another.”
With democracy sandwiched
somewhere in between. •
FS Aijazuddin is an art historian. This
article previously appeared in The
Herald.

14
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
Kids
colour it
maze
Answer

Kids
15
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
FUN SCIENCE
Testing molecular movement
MOVIE
The boy and the red balloon
We all know that everything is
made of molecules. And that,
these molecules are always
moving – some are slow while
others are faster. They have
different levels of attraction
towards each other depending
on whether the thing is a
solid, liquid or a gas. Here’s a
test for water molecules:
Things you’ll need:
• A clear glass of hot water
• A clear glass of cold water
• Any food colouring
• An eye dropper
Instructions:
• Make sure that the two
glasses have the same
amount of water.
• Put one drop of food
colouring into both glasses
as quickly as possible.
• Watch what happens to the
food colouring.
The science
If you watch closely, you will
notice that the food colouring
spreads faster in the hot water
glass than in the cold one. The
molecules in hot water get
more energy from the heat
and, hence, move at a faster
rate - spreading the colour
much faster than cold water
molecules.•
Whale tissue boxes
DIY
Ever wondered why tissue
boxes look so boring? Why
not brighten things up by
decorating your tissue boxes,
making it truly yours?
Things you will need:
• A tissue box
• A blue cloth longer than the
tissue box
• Blue string
• Strong glue
• Googly eyes
• Red, black and white
crayons or marker
• Scissors
Instructions:
• Apply glue on the top and
on the sides of the tissue
box.
• Wrap the blue cloth around
the top and sides of the
tissue box, leaving the
excess fabric on one side.
• Twist the excess cloth and
tie it with the blue string to
make it look like a whale’s
tale.
• Stick the eyes on the side of
the wrapped tissue box. If
you can’t get googly eyes,
you can always use white
and black markers to draw
them.
• Draw the whale’s smile on
the front with a red marker.
• Cut away a slit on the
opening of the tissue
box, allowing the tissues
through.
Once you are done, you will
have your very own funky
whale tissue box to show
off! •
The Red Balloon or Le Ballon
Rouge is a thirty-four minute
long, beautiful fantasy and
adventure short film about
a young boy and his best friend
– a bright red balloon.
The film which only has
few dialogues, begins with
the balloon itself, which looks
like no other balloon you’ve
ever seen. It shows the story
of Pascal, a French school
boy, who, on his way to the
school one morning, discovers
a large, helium-filled, round,
red balloon. He untangles the
bright red balloon from a lamp
post and tries to give it away,
but the balloon returns to him.
As Pascal plays with his
newfound toy, he discovers that
the balloon has a mind of its
own - it ducks into alleys, rises
suddenly to escape grabbing
hands, pauses in front of a
mirror to admire itself. It’s as
alive as the boy is. It begins to
follow him wherever he goes,
and, at times, floats outside
his bedroom window, since
Pascal’s mother doesn’t allow it
in their apartment.
The red balloon follows
Pascal through the streets
of Paris, and the pair gets
questioning looks from adults
and the envy of other children
as they wander the streets. At
one point the balloon enters
Pascal’s classroom, causing
chaos and distraction. The
noise alerts the principal, who
becomes very angry with Pascal
and locks him up in his office
until school is over. Next, Pascal
and his balloon encounter a
little girl, Sabine, with a blue
balloon that also seems to have
a mind of its own.
In their wanderings around
the neighborhood, Pascal and
the balloon encounter a gang
of bullies, who are jealous of
his balloon. The gang chases
the boy down, capturing the
balloon, and takes it to an
abandoned place where they
try to destroy it with rocks
and slingshots. While the boy
tries to rescue it, the balloon
grows weary looking, settles
to the ground, and is stomped
on, signaling a strange call for
help. Watch it to find out what
happens next.
Overall, this movie is a
classic and is fit for all ages. You
will surely love it! •

16
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
Downtime
CROSSWORD
CODE-CRACKER
ACROSS
1 Heavenly bodies (6)
6 Helpful hint (3)
9 Combine (5)
10 Habitual abode (4)
11 Of the kidneys (5)
12 Monkey (3)
13 Scaling aid (6)
15 Hindu garment (4)
18 Excuse (4)
21 Sport (6)
24 Metal-bearing rock
(3)
25 Presentation (5)
28 Employer (4)
29 Riverside embankment
(5)
30 Colour (3)
31 Held principles (6)
DOWN
1 Remedies (5)
2 United (3)
3 Person under age (5)
4 Greek letter (3)
5 Relate (4)
6 Ugly amphibian (4)
7 Obstruct (6)
8 Look narrowly (4)
14 Immerse (3)
16 Reluctant (6)
17 Tavern (3)
19 Depart (5)
20 South American
mountains (5)
21 Pleasure trip (4)
22 Require (4)
23 Auction (4)
26 Lump on skin (3)
27 Soak (3)
How to solve: Each number in our
CODE-CRACKER grid represents a
different letter of the alphabet. For
example, today 2 represents T so fill T
every time the figure 2 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
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
EVENTS AROUND TOWN TODAY
THEATRE
DHABOMAN
When 7-8:30pm
Where National Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala
Academy, Shegun Bagicha, Dhaka
What A play by the troupe: Dhaka Theatre, at the Selim Al
Deen Utsab 2017.
HELEN KELLER
When 7-9pm
Where Studio Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy,
Shegun Bagicha, Dhaka
What Troupe: Swapnadal will be staging the play on the
occasion of the 68th birth anniversary of Selim Al Deen, at
the Selim Al Deen Utsab 2017.
IT’S A SHE THING (BANGLA VERSION)
When 6-8pm
Where Red Shift Coffee Lounge, Bays Galleria 5th Floor, 57
Gulshan Avenue, Dhaka
What For the first time “It’s a SHE Thing” is being performed
in Bangla, titled (Nari Nokkhhotro).
FAIR
MOVIE
STAR CINEPLEX
Viceroy’s House (2D): 11:30am,
2:10pm, 4:40pm, 7:10pm
Dunkirk (2D): 1pm, 7:20pm
Spiderman Homecoming (3D):
10:50am, 1:45pm, 4:40pm, 7:30pm
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature
(3D): 10:50am, 3:20pm, 5:20pm
Atomic Blonde (2D): 11:10am,
1:40pm, 4:20pm, 7pm
Voyangkor Sundor (2D): 11am,
1:50pm, 4:10pm, 6:50pm
Annabelle: Creation (2D): 11:20am,
2pm, 5pm, 7:30pm
BLOCKBUSTER CINEMAS
EXHIBITION
MOAR GRAND LAUNCH WEEK: DIY DAY
When 11am-8pm
Where Moar Ventura Iconia (level 3), Plot 37, Road 11, Banani,
Block H, Dhaka
What Spend a day to make a personalised item (payment
required); something out of clay, or a phone stand, or maybe
a card light with the help of DIY enthusiasts. The event is
open to all.
A THOUSAND TALES
When 5-8pm
Where Gallery Chitrak, Road 6, House 4, Dhanmondi, Dhaka
What A group exhibition of artwork with their own diverse
stories by young artists, where renowned artist Mustafa
Monwar will be present as chief guest.
SOLO ART
EXHIBITION
When 5-8pm
Where EMK Center,
9th, Midas Center,
Road – New 16 Old 27,
Dhaka
What An art exhibition
by Syed Nazmus Sakib.
EDUCATION
7TH COMMUNICATION SUMMIT
When 9am-5pm
Where Le Méridien Dhaka, 79/A Commercial Area, Airport
Road, Nikunja 2, Khilkhet, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh
What A dominant dais for peer-to-peer learning
and knowledge sharing, bringing together leading
communicators, marketing and creative professionals from
different companies, NGOs and institutions to network and
discuss ideas on the most cutting-edge tools and strategies
in the field.
TRUNK SHOW
When 11am-9pm
Where Gallery Cosmos: Villa De Anjuman, House 115, Road 6,
New DOHS, Mohakhali,
Dhaka
What An exclusive private event, featuring the newest
collection of clothing and jewellery for the upcoming Eid.
Transformers-The Last Knight (3D):
11:30am, 4:30pm, 7:30pm
Spider-Man Homecoming (3D):
1:45pm, 4:30pm, 7:20pm
The Mummy (3D): 12:10pm, 5pm
Baywatch (2D): 12pm, 2:30pm
Despicable Me 3 (3D): 11:40am,
2:30pm
The Glass Castle (2D): 11:45am,
2:05pm, 2:20pm, 5pm, 7:10pm,
7:35pm
Voyangkor Sundor (2D): 7:30pm
Raiyan (2D): 2:20pm, 5pm
Annabelle: Creation (2D): 11:45am,
2:35pm, 4:45pm, 7:30pm
Viceroy’s House (2D): 12pm, 5pm,
7:25pm
WORKSHOP
3D CHARACTER DESIGN
When 3-6pm
Where Maverick Studios, 50 Lake Circus, Kalabagan, Dhaka
What The MVRK Lair is organising a free class on 3D
Character Design, conducted by 3D sculptor Nazmul Hoque.

DT
18
Sports
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
SAFF U-15 CHAMPIONSHIP
Bangladesh begin campaign with resounding victory
• Tribune Report
Bangladesh U-15 football team
kicked off the inaugural Saff U-15
Championship with a flying 4-0
win over Sri Lanka in the tournament’s
first ever match at ANFA
Complex in Satdobato, Nepal yesterday.
Forward Faysal Ahmed stole
the show with a spectacular hattrick
while Nazmul Biswas added
the other to set the foundation of a
comfortable victory, which almost
ensured a semi-final berth for the
junior booters.
The junior men in red and green
kept the Sri Lanka defence busy
throughout the game with continuous
attacks, dominating the game
with majority ball possession.
Apart from the goals, Bangladesh
were denied by the sidepost
and woodwork in the 72nd and
80th minute respectively.
Faisal gave the breakthrough
in the 28th minute, placing home
into the top right corner with a brilliant
strike from the left side of the
penalty area, giving Sri Lanka goalkeeper
Gihan Sandeepa no chance.
It was Faisal again as Bangladesh
doubled the lead four minutes
later.
The Sri Lankan keeper had little
Action from the Saff U-15 Championship match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Nepal yesterday
to do when Faisal’s grounder from
the edge of the box entered the net
through the bottom right corner.
A minute before the opening
half, Nazmul extended the lead
with a lovely strike, followed by a
free-kick from outside the box that
went through top right corner.
Hussey: Bangladesh a challenge
COURTESY
Miraj Molla exhibited his talent
with a bicycle effort from the middle
of the penalty area in the 54th
minute but he was unlucky to see
his strike hit the sidepost.
Faisal completed his treble in
the 74th minute from a penalty after
Yeasin Arafat was brought down
by an opposition defender inside
the box.
Faisal placed the ball into the bottom
left corner from the spot, sending
the custodian the other way.
This is the first time the Saff U-15
Championship is being held, which
is also a part of all the teams’ preparation
for the AFC U-16 Championship
qualifiers, scheduled to be
held later this year.
Bangladesh, who are defending
champion of the last Saff U-16
Championship in 2015, will take
on Bhutan in their second and last
Group A match on Tuesday at the
same venue.
Sri Lanka will face the same
opponent on Sunday and if Bhutan
win, Bangladesh will move to
the last four even before their last
group match.
Bangladesh U-15 starting XI
Emon Hawlader; Nazmul Biswas
(Runi Haider), Yeasin Arafat (Rony
Kumar), Jehad Hossain, Sadekuzzaman
Fahim, Akkas Ali, Faysal
Ahmed, Mohammad Sheikh Raja,
Shadin Karim (Habibur Rahman),
Uzzal Hossain and Miraj Molla
• Cricket.com.au
A burgeoning sense of self-belief
has powered Bangladesh’s recent
rise, with the host no longer intimidated
by Australia.
Steve Smith’s side departed yesterday
for a two-Test Qantas tour of
Bangladesh that starts on August
27.
It is already clear they will encounter
a far more determined, resilient
and talented outfit than the
team that became trivia night fodder
in 2006 when nightwatchman
Jason Gillespie scored an unbeaten
double century.
Bangladesh have recorded
maiden Test wins over Sri Lanka
and England during the past year.
There have also been some impressive
performances in the shorter
formats, including a semi-final
berth in the Champions Trophy.
Mike Hussey, who shared a 320-
run stand with Gillespie in the
match that went down in folklore,
believes Bangladesh will be a tricky
proposition on turning tracks.
“It’ll be a good series, a really
challenging series for Australia.
Bangladesh play their conditions
well and they’ve improved a lot,”
Hussey said.
“They’ve got a lot more belief
now. They have been challenging
Australian cricketer David Warner takes a selfie as Steve Smith and Nathan Lyon
look on during their flight to Bangladesh
INTERNET
some of the best teams around the
world.
“If you believe you can compete
and win, that’s half the battle in international
cricket. For many years
I don’t think they really had that
belief.
“And they’ve got players in their
squad now who have been around
for long periods of time, so they
understand their own games a lot
better.”
Habibul Bashar, who captained
Bangladesh during the 2006 series
and is now a selector for the
Tigers, recently expressed similar
sentiments. Bashar pointed to his
side’s breakthrough 108-run win
over England last year as cause for
confidence.
“There is a difference between
now and then, as this current side
has already established themselves
as a big force in world cricket,” said
Bashar.
“Difference in experience, difference
in number of match-winners...difference
in the reality
that the team has the world’s No
1 all-rounder (Shakib al Hasan) in
their arsenal.
“Their home win against England
has simply changed the whole
scenario. “They were trying to find
their footing (in 2006); now in 2017
winning is their only motto.” •
Siddikur misses
cut in Fiji
International
• Tribune Report
Premier Bangladesh golfer Siddikur
Rahman missed the cut in
the Fiji International as the second
round’s play at Natadola Bay
Championship Golf Course concluded
yesterday.
Siddikur carded five-over-par 77
in the first round and hit par score
of 72 in the second round to take
his overall aggregate to five-overpar
149, 12 shots behind the early
leaders in the $1.5m tournament.
The 32-year old golfer from
Madaripur ended his campaign at
88th position, tied alongside six
others.
Siddikur struck a birdie in the
very first hole yesterday but a bogey
in the 14th hole meant he had
to return home early from the tournament.
•

Sports
19
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
Saif Sporting make it three wins in a row
• Tribune Report
Newcomer Saif Sporting Club registered
their third straight victory
in the Bangladesh Premier Football
League as they comfortably defeated
Muktijoddha Sangsad Krira
Chakra 2-0 at Bangabandhu National
Stadium yesterday.
After losing the league opener
against holder Dhaka Abahani Limited,
big-spending Saif Sporting
scripted three wins in a row, which
placed them at third position in the
points table with nine points from
four matches.
Muktis moved to seventh with
six points from the same number
of outings.
Colombian forward Hember Arley
gave Saif Sporting the lead in
the 54th minute with a lovely effort.
Jewel Rana skipped past a defender
inside the right side of the
box before passing back to Hember,
who showed great skill to receive
the ball with his right foot before
placing home past the Muktis goalkeeper
with a calm left-footer.
In the 67th minute, national
midfielder Jamal Bhuiyan delivered
a brilliant lob to Jewel Rana at
the top of the penalty area but the
latter’s shot from the right side of
the box went straight to the hands
of the opposition custodian.
Matin Miah doubled the lead
with a brilliant solo effort in the
74th minute.
Youngster Matin snatched the
ball from the opponent, exchanged
one-touch passes with Hember to
break into the penalty area before
firing a shot toward Uttam Barua,
who tried to fist the ball away but
instead it bounced into his own net.
Meanwhile in the day’s other
match at the same venue, Arambagh
Krira Sangha earned their first
point in the league this season, as
well as their first win, when they
beat Brothers Union 2-0.
The first two goals came in the
very early stages of the game.
The Motijheel outfit went ahead
courtesy an own goal with five
minutes into the clock.
Nigerian striker Bukola Alamu
entered the penalty area but his
shot was fisted away by the Brothers
netminder Abdul Kader.
The rebound hit Brothers captain
Ashraful Karim’s head before
entering into his own net.
Bukola doubled the lead four
minutes later from a fine build-up.
Midfielder Robiul Hasan set up
the attack with a defence-splitting
through pass that allowed Shahriar
Bappy feed the unmarked Bukola
in front of the post and the Nigerian
made no mistake tapping home
from the six-yard box. •
Action from the BPL match between Saif Sporting and Muktijoddha at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday
MD MANIK
ASCENT CORPORATE FIVE-A-SIDE SOCCER CUP
Ascent, Bando, Tribune through to Cup pre-quarters
• Tribune Report
We were lucky to witness a bit
of history being made in the first
match of day two, when Sumon
Mondal of Dhaka Tribune scored
within two seconds of kick off.
It took him all of three touches
to put the ball into the Rahimafrooz
net and it immediately set
the pace of the match.
The Solar Power giant found it
to be one way traffic, as wave upon
wave of Tribune attacks confounded
their goalkeeper.
In fairness, they did pull two
goals back, but that was only after
BM Fazley Rabbi Moon of Tribune
had scored a hat-trick and Sumon
adding another along with Tareq
Action from the Ascent Corporate Soccer Cup match between Banglacat and Energypac in Dhaka yesterday
COURTESY
Miru and Baizid Haque Joarder.
No doubt, Rahimafrooz will
live to fight another day, but the
Tribune team is by far the most
improved side of this year’s tournament.
Among other results, Robi beat
Aamra 4-1, Rancon defeated Metronet
7-2, IDLC were edged 3-2 by
Jaago Foundation, Comfit Composite
thrashed Gemsclip 7-1, City Bank
thumped Asiatic 6-1, Augere beat
Lal Teer 3-0, Comfit put 11 goals
past IPDC against the opposition’s
solitary strike, Securex thrashed
Le Meridien 6-1, Ascent Group
thumped Multimode 4-0, Banglacat
beat Energypac 3-1, Bando Design
defeated MTB 6-1 while Green Delta
outclassed General Electric 11-1. •
Tribune
RESULTS
7-2 Rahimafrooz Solar
Robi 4-1 Aamra
Rancon 7-2 Metronet
Idlc
2-3 Jaago Foundation
Comfit Composite 7-1
Gemsclip
City Bank 6-1 Asiatic
Augere 3-0 Lal Teer
Comfit Composite 11-1
Ipdc
Securex 6-1 Le Meridien
Ascent Group 4-0 Multimode
Banglacat 3-1 Energypac
Bando Design 6-1 Mtb
Green Delta 11-1 General Electric
Costa determined
to rejoin Atletico
• Reuters
Chelsea striker Diego Costa is determined
to rejoin former side
Atletico Madrid despite the La
Liga club subject to a transfer ban
preventing them from registering
players until January.
Costa has not played for Chelsea
since the FA Cup final in May, following
which he claims manager
Antonio Conte sent him a text telling
him he was not in his plans for
the new season.
The Brazilian-born Spain international,
who joined Chelsea from
Atletico in 2014, has accused the
Premier League club of treating
him like a “criminal” and has said
he was willing to see out the remaining
two years of his deal unpaid
in Brazil.
“My destination is already set,”
Costa was quoted as saying by Brazilian
newspaper O Globo.
“I must return to Atletico next
season.”
The situation is complicated
by the fact that Atletico are
currently banned from signing
players in this window although
a loan deal would be possible.
The club have been handed a
two-window Fifa transfer ban for
signing minors. •

20
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
Sports
Girona bolstered by City links as they prepare for top flight debut
• Reuters, Barcelona
La Liga newcomer Girona hope
their link with Premier League
Manchester City will help them in
their bid to stay in Spain’s top flight
after an 87-year wait to get there.
The Catalan side begin their
first campaign among Spain’s elite
today with 10-time Liga champion
Atletico Madrid visiting their
Montilivi stadium, which has been
hastily expanded from a capacity
of 9,000 to 13,500.
Girona earned automatic promotion
last season after missing
out in the playoffs in three of the
previous four years, including two
final defeats.
Coach Pablo Machin has been at
the helm since 2014, avoiding relegation
to the third tier in his first
campaign before finally earning
promotion at the third time of asking
last season.
His side have been boosted by
the arrival of four players from City
for the upcoming season, renewing
an existing deal for right back
Pablo Maffeo and adding midfielders
Aleix Garcia and Douglas Luiz
as well as Colombia international
Marlos Moreno.
Girona’s alliance with City began
in August 2015 with the loan of
Spanish defender Ruben Sobrino
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Celta v Sociedad
Girona v Atletico
Sevilla v Espanyol
and Frenchman Florian Lejeune,
who has since returned to the Premier
League with Newcastle United.
A total of nine players have
moved between the two clubs in
the ensuing time.
Girona held part of their
pre-season training at City’s Etihad
Campus in July while City played
a friendly at Girona on Tuesday,
three days after beginning their
Premier League campaign, which
the Spanish side won 1-0.
British and Spanish media reported
that City Football Group,
the Premier League side’s parent
company, are finalising a takeover
of the Catalan club.
The deal will expand the number
of clubs under the City Football
Group’s umbrella to six with Girona
joining MLS franchise New York
City, Australian side Melbourne
City, Japan’s Yokohama F. Marinos
and Uruguay’s Club Atletico Torque
in addition to the Manchester club.
Cross-border club alliances are
not unprecedented in Spain. Girona
coach Machin is wary of Granada’s
example but welcomes his
side’s links with City.
“It makes us proud to have this
relationship with a big team like
City, and the aim is for both clubs
to make the most of it,” he said.
“City have a great place for their
young talents to grow and we hope
we can give them the opportunity
to be more competitive by giving
them the chance to compete in one
of the best leagues in the world.
“It’s positive for us but this club
is no testing ground. We are absolutely
clear that we want to stay up
and we only play the best players to
achieve that objective,” he added,
stressing that the loanees would
get no preferential treatment. •
Messi, Ronaldo lead sports stars in
condemning Barcelona attack
• AFP, Madrid
Football icons and longtime rivals
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
joined Spanish sports stars around
the world in expressing their grief
after Thursday’s terror attack in
Barcelona left 13 people dead.
Barca’s most famous street Las
Ramblas was packed with tourists
when a van drove into the crowds,
leaving scenes of carnage.
“I want to send my condolences
and all my support to the families
and friends of the victims of the
terrible attack in our beloved Barcelona,
in addition to totally rejecting
any act of violence,” Barca star
Messi, 30, wrote on Instagram.
“We are not going to give up,
there are many more of us who
want to live in a world in peace,
without hate and where respect
and tolerance are the basis of coexistence,”
added the Argentine.
Real Madrid’s Portuguese captain
Ronaldo took to social media
to express his shock at the attack
which left more than 50 injured.
“Dismayed at the news coming
from Barca. All the support and solidarity
(to) the family and friends of
the victims,” he wrote on Twitter.
Like Ronaldo and Messi, other
athletes took to social network in
an outpouring of solidarity with
the Catalan capital.
“All my support for the families
affected and the city,” Spanish
tennis ace Rafael Nadal wrote on
Twitter, while his great friend, basketball
player Pau Gasol, declared
himself “devastated by what happened
on the Ramblas in Barcelona.
All my support for the victims,
wounded and relatives in these difficult
times.”
All football clubs in the Spanish
first and second divisions will observe
a minute’s silence in memory
of the victims when the new La
Liga season started yesterday.
“All clubs will pay homage to
the victims and their families
after the tragedy in Barcelona,”
Spanish league officials said in a
statement. •
Palace look to Benteke to
exploit Liverpool defence
• Reuters, London
EPL FIXTURES
Swansea v Man Utd
Bournemouth v Watford
Burnley v West Brom
Leicester v Brighton
Liverpool v Palace
Southampton v West Ham
Stoke v Arsenal
Crystal Palace are hoping their
former Liverpool striker Christian
Benteke will be able to exploit the
Anfield club’s perceived defensive
weakness from set pieces in today’s
Premier League game.
The powerful Belgian has scored
five times in three league matches
at Liverpool as an opposition player,
including two when Palace won
there in April.
Meanwhile Liverpool conceded
three goals at Watford last weekend
and were widely criticised for
defensive laxity.
“Christian showed his importance
last season,” the Palace manager
Frank de Boer told a media
conference yesterday.
“Hopefully he can do that again
for us. We know set pieces are important,
they’re important to all
teams in the Premier League.”
The London side began the season
with a shock 3-0 home defeat
by promoted Huddersfield Town in
the Dutchman’s first league game
as manager since replacing Sam Allardyce
in the close-season.
“Hopefully the negative impact
of the 3-0 loss is gone,” De Boer
added.
“It will be a difficult game at Liverpool
but we’ll do our best. •

Sports
21
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
Cook passes
200 as England
turn screw on
Windies
• Reuters
Alastair Cook completed a fine double
century as England advanced
smoothly to 449 for four at lunch on
the second day of the first Test against
West Indies at Edgbaston yesterday.
Dawid Malan recorded his first
Test 50 in his third match and the
pair extended their fourth-wicket
partnership to 162 against a toothless
West Indies attack to put England
in a position of total dominance
in their first day-night Test.
Malan, on 65, edged spinner Roston
Chase to Jermaine Blackwood at
slip just before the interval but England,
with fast-scoring Ben Stokes,
Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali still
to bat, will be eying a huge first-innings
total. Resuming on 348 for
three, Cook and Malan started cautiously
but the seam bowlers continued
to serve up far too many loose
deliveries which were clinically dispatched
by the two left-handers.
Cook reached his fourth Test
double century with a thick edge to
the third man boundary off Kemar
Roach, the former captain’s 30th four,
and he was 213 not out at lunch. •
DAY’S WATCH
FOOTBALL
STAR SPORTS 1
8:30PM
Tri-Nation Football Series
India v Mauritius
STAR SPORTS SELECT 1
English Premier League
5:30PM
Swansea City v Manchester United
8:00PM
Liverpool v Crystal Palace
10:30PM
Stoke City v Arsenal
SONY TEN 1
Italian Serie A
10:00PM
Juventus v Cagliari
1:00AM
Hellas Verona v Napoli
SONY TEN 2
Spanish La Liga
10:00PM
Celta Vigo v Real Sociedad
12:00AM
Girona v Atletico Madrid
2:00AM
Sevilla v Espanyol
CRICKET
STAR SPORTS SELECT 2
7:00PM
West Indies Tour of England
1st Test, Day 3
SONY SIX
Caribbean Premier League
6:30AM
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots v Barbados
Tridents
10:00PM
Guyana Amazon Warriors v Trinbago
Knight Riders
1ST TEST, DAY 2, LUNCH
ENGLAND 449/4 in 117.2 overs (Cook
213*, Root 136, Malan 65) v WEST
INDIES
England's Alastair Cook bats during day two of their first Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston yesterday
Australia captain Smith backs Khawaja for recall
• Reuters, Melbourne
Australia captain Steve Smith has
backed discarded batsman Usman
Khawaja for a recall and a “big”
home summer against England after
he was overlooked for the Test
series in India.
The stylish No 3 Khawaja was
named in Australia’s squad for the
upcoming two-Test Bangladesh series
after missing out on selection
for the series defeat in India.
“I think Usman’s going to be a
really big player for us this summer,”
Smith told local media.
“He’s done incredibly well in
Australia over the last couple of
years and it would be good for
him to (play) some cricket...he’s
chomping at the bit to get out there
and I daresay he’ll get his opportunity.”
Australia play England in the
Bolt reveals injury details
• Reuters, London
Usain Bolt delivered a rebuke to
those who questioned whether he really
suffered an injury in his farewell
race at the World Athletics Championships
by revealing details of his
hamstring tear on Thursday.
The Jamaican, stung by speculation
that he had pulled up in the
anchor leg of the 4 x 100m relay final
in London on Saturday because
he was too far behind to win the
race, said the injury would need
three months of rehabilitation.
Accompanied by an x-ray of the
injury to his left hamstring, the
eight-times Olympics gold medallist
was also adamant in social media
posts that he never cheated his fans.
The 30-year-old explained on
Twitter: “Sadly I have tear of the
proximal myotendineous junction
of biceps femoris in my left hamstring
with partial retraction. 3
months rehab.
“I don’t usually release my
medical report to the public but
sadly I have sat and listened to
people questioning if I was really
injured.
REUTERS
five-Test Ashes starting in November
and five one-day internationals,
before taking on the same opponent
and New Zealand in a T20
tri-series.
In the last home summer, Khawaja
topped the runs list in a losing
cause against South Africa before
averaging 66.75 against Pakistan.
He was called up for the February-March
tour of India but ended
up carrying the drinks as his replacement
Shaun Marsh managed
only 151 runs at an average of 18.87
from his eight innings.
Khawaja was dismissed cheaply
in both innings of the intra-team
warmup match in Darwin this
week and there are queries over
his modest batting record in South
Asia. Khawaja was dropped for the
final match of the away test series
away against Sri Lanka last year after
a string of low scores. •
“I have never been one to cheat
my fans in any way & my entire
desire at the championship was
run one last time for my fans.
Thanks for the continued support
my fans and I rest, heal and move
onto the next chapter of my life
#Love&LoveAlone.”
The posts on Twitter were removed
shortly after they had been
posted. Bolt had been three metres
down on the two leaders as he took
on the last leg of the relay, which
was won by Britain, only to pull up
sharply and fall to the ground, coming
to a halt after a forward roll on
the track.
He speculated on Sunday that
the injury might have been caused
by having a long wait before the
race. •

22
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
Showtime
Review:
Voyankor Sundor
• Achuyat Saha Joy
It is a harsh reality that this world
isn’t meant for childish spirit. No
matter where you live, there are
social norms that will frown upon
a rich girl falling for a penniless
waiter, even if he is the one that
saves her.
Nayantara (Bhabna), has
escaped the prospect of an
arranged marriage, to a different
country in the hopes of finding
her calling even though the job
market is cutthroat and degree
holders are unemployed.
She lands in a hotel, where
she meets the sassy Muku
(Parambrata), and one can feel
the tension right away. While
she’s still making up her mind
about this man, Muku saves
Nayantara from being raped by a
local thug.
Up until this point, the story of
Voyankor Sundor follows the tried
and true masala script of Evil Rich
Daddy vs Penniless Hero. The
protagonists fall in love, move in
together and Muku finds a job.
Nayantara’s parents arrive and
predictably object to the match,
but she defies them and marries
Muku anyway, and together they
try to build a life together. And
that’s where the real story begins.
Something Dhaka residents
will find familiar, happens. The
place where the lovebirds live
is hit by an acute crisis of water.
Muku and Nayantara go from
door to door seeking some water,
but are coldly turned away, until
they find a water source where
women go daily to collect their
H2O.
When Nayantara goes to
collect water wearing her
rich-girl clothes, the locals jeer
at her and turn her away. The
immediate crisis is averted, but a
traumatised Nayantara begins to
hoard water for the future, with
vengeance on her mind. Sure
enough, when water shortages
hit the locality a year later, our
protagonist has stocked up on
enough water, but is now refusing
to share with anyone. The
desperate neighbours attack their
home and take the water anyway.
Voyankor Sundor, the second
feature film by Animesh Aich
is an adaptation of a novel by
Moti Nandi, intended to be a
commentary about class divides
as well as resource shortage.
While the characters were
perfectly cast, and the craft of
the film seems water-tight -
the overall storytelling leaves
something to be desired. The
metaphors presented in the story
seem to be a bit weak, and even
the capable cinematography by
Khair Khandaker cannot distract
from the flaws.
Is this one a hit or a miss? The
audience can decide. •
WHAT TO WATCH
14 Blades
8:30pm, Zee Studio
A kung fu thriller set during
the Ming Dynasty and centred
on a secret service agent in
the emperor’s court who is
betrayed and then hunted by
his colleagues.
Cast: Donnie Yen, Zhao Wei,
Wu Chun, Kate Tsui, Qi Yuwu
The Accountant
9:30pm, HBO
As a math savant uncooks the
books for a new client, the
Treasury Department closes in
on his activities, and the body
count starts to rise.
Cast: Ben Affleck, Anna
Kendrick, J K Simmons, Jon
Bernthal, Jeffrey Tambor,
Cynthia Addai-Robinson, John
Lithgow
Tom Cruise
breaks ankle while
filming MI6
• Showtime Desk
The shooting of the latest
installment of the Mission:
Impossible franchise has been
halted, after actor Tom Cruise
broke his ankle during the shoot
of a stunt, reports CNN.
The 55-year-old actor, who
is well known for doing his own
stunts, was hurt while filming
a jump between two high-rise
buildings in London, during the
weekend. There is even a video
of him crashing into the wall.
Cruise was later seen limping off
the set.
“During (the) production of
the latest Mission: Impossible
film, Tom Cruise broke his
ankle while performing a stunt,”
Paramount Pictures confirmed in
a statement.
However, Paramount Pictures
insisted that Mission: Impossible
6 is still on schedule to open
in July, next year. “Production
will go on a hiatus while Tom
makes a full recovery, but the
film remains on schedule to
open July 27, 2018. Tom wants
to thank you all for your concern
and support and can’t wait to
share the film with everyone
next summer.” they added.
Christopher McQuarrie, the
director of the film, said that
the star was “on the mend” in a
tweet, on Wednesday.
Tom Cruise will next been
seen in American Made, an
action film directed by Doug
Liman, based on a pilot who
works for the CIA. The film
is slated to be released on
September 29, this year.•
San Andreas
9:30pm, Movies Now
In the aftermath of a massive
earthquake in California, a
rescue-chopper pilot makes a
dangerous journey with his exwife
across the state in order to
rescue his daughter.
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Carla
Gugino, Alexandra Daddario,
Ioan Gruffudd, Archie Panjabi,
Paul Giamatti
The Avengers
12:48pm, Movies Now
Earth’s mightiest heroes must
come together and learn to
fight as a team if they are to
stop the mischievous Loki and
his alien army from enslaving
humanity.
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris
Evans, Scarlett Johansson,
Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy
Renner

Showtime
23
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
Atomic Blonde and Viceroy’s House at Star Cineplex
DT
• Showtime Desk
Star Cineplex is all set to release
two contemporary flicks – the
Oscar winning actor Charlize
Theron-starrer Atomic Blonde and
a British-Indian historical drama
film titled, Viceroy’s House.
Among the films, Atomic Blonde
is an action spy thriller film,
which chronicles the story of an
undercover MI6 agent who is sent
to Berlin during the Cold War to
investigate the murder of a fellow
agent and recover a missing list of
double agents.
Directed by David Leitch, the
film is the first solo directorial
credit to his name. Based on
Antony Johnston and Sam Hart’s
2012 graphic novel The Coldest
City, Kurt Johnstad penned the
story of Atomic Blonde. The film
stars Charlize Theron and James
McAvoy, with John Goodman,
Til Schweiger, Eddie Marsan,
Sofia Boutella and Toby Jones in
supporting roles.
Premiered on March 12, 2017,
it has already grossed over $63
million worldwide. Atomic Blonde
received generally positive reviews
from critics, who praised its action
sequences, Theron’s performance
and the soundtrack, while some
criticised the writing and pacing.
Viceroy’s House on the other
hand, is a historical film directed
by Gurinder Chadha and written
by Paul Mayeda Berges, Moira
Buffini, and Chadha.
Average Aslam gets married
The film revolves around
the final Viceroy of India, Lord
Mountbatten, who is tasked
with overseeing the transition of
British India to independence, but
meets with conflict as different
sides clash in the face of such
monumental change.
Viceroy’s House features the
likes of Hugh Bonneville, Gillian
Anderson, Manish Dayal, Huma
Qureshi, and Michael Gambon. It
has been selected to be screened
out of competition at the 67th
Berlin International Film Festival.
The film will be released in USA
on September 1, but the Indian
and Bangaldeshi film-audience are
having the opportunity to watch
the historical drama weeks before
the rest of the world. •
Sunil Grover set to return to TV
• Showtime Desk
Average Aslam, one of the
most widely appreciated
contemporary TV character, is
getting married in the upcoming
Eid special drama Married Life
E Average Aslam. According to
the director of the drama Sagor
Jahan, the audience will get to
see a whole new Aslam in the
upcoming instalment of the
popular TV drama.
Actor Mosharraf Karim,
who has donned the character
previously, will portray the
character once again, while actor
and model Shokh will play the
role of his wife.
The shooting for the drama
started in August at different
locations in Puran Dhaka and
will continue till August 26. A
significant part of the drama will
be shot outside Dhaka, confirmed
the director.
“Aslam will appear with
more of his trademark hilarious
activities. The drama will revolve
around some of his post-married
life incidents,” he added.
Married Life E Average Aslam
will air on Banglavision during
Eid. The drama also features the
likes of Monira Mithu, Golam
Farida Chanda, Jui and Marzuk
Russel in different roles. •
• Showtime Desk
Ever since the infamous fight
between two of the most popular
Indian standup comedians,
Kapil Sharma and Sunil Grover,
speculations were rife that the
latter will return on TV with his
very own show. Apparently, the
speculations are turning out to be
true for Grover fans. According
to reports, Sunil Grover, aka Dr
Mashoor Gulati, has bagged a
Television show and is all set to
return to giving the audience a
hearty dose of laughter in his own
style.
According to the reports, Sunil
will be seen replacing Elli AvrRam
on the upcoming show The Great
Indian Laughter Challenge. A
source close to the production
said, “We feel that she (Elli)
doesn’t fit the bill and isn’t able to
pull off the necessary amount of
Hindi required for the show. We’re
now in talks with Sunil Grover and
working on dates. If all goes well,
we will have him as the host.”
The cherry on top, however,
is the fact that Bollywood star
Akshay Kumar will also be back on
the small screen with the comedy
show. The makers have slightly
modified the concept of the show,
where contestants will be divided
into different teams and each team
will have a mentor with Akshay as
the super judge of the show.
The show will reportedly
see Zakhir Khan, Mallika Dua
and Hussain Dalal judging
the show and mentoring their
team members. The show is
set to premiere by the end of
September.•

24
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017
DT
TWO DEAD, SIX INJURED IN
FINLAND STABBING SPREE › 6
Back Page
BANGLADESH BEGIN CAMPAIGN
WITH RESOUNDING VICTORY › 18
AVERAGE ASLAM
GETS MARRIED › 23
Meet the underground network
of gold robbers
• Tarek Mahmud
SPECIAL
Imtiaz Uddin Babul left a modest
driving job about ten years ago to
become a gold robber.
By the time he was caught after
robbing several jewellery shops in
Chittagong in December 2014, he
was the leader of a 15-member gang.
Babul gave a confessional statement
revealing how his gang ran
precise, well-choreographed operations
at jewellery stores for years.
The gang was split into three
teams during a robbery: the patrol,
the operational squad and the
back-up team.
The patrol comprising of two to
three people were responsible for
spotting and casing suitable jewellery
shops, and checking security
systems and escape routes. When a
suitable shop was found, members
of the patrol went in posing as customers
and placed an order, asking
for it to be made urgently within
two or three days.
On the delivery date, the operational
squad picked a time when police
or RAB patrol teams were in the
middle of changing shifts. The patrol
member who placed the order entered
the shop to receive the goods.
When shopkeepers were busy
with the customer, the squad comprising
of five to six people entered
the shop, pulled out weapons and
began ransacking the jewellery.
Within three to five minutes, they
had cleared out the shop and sent a
signal to the back-up team.
The back-up team then exploded
hand bombs and firecrackers to
create panic in the vicinity of the
shop, helping their colleagues flee
the scene.
Babul said that he and his associates
had gone to Chittagong 15
days before the operation. However,
they failed to rob the targeted
shops as police arrived at the scene
too early and surprised them.
“Babul also confessed to his involvement
with three other such
robberies,” said AKM Mohiuddin
Selim, officer-in-charge of Chittagong’s
Kotwali police station.
Babul’s team, however, is not
unique in its operations. Countless
other gangs follow the exact
MAJOR JEWELLERY SHOP ROBBERIES ACROSS
THE COUNTRY
100 tola gold looted in Baufal, Patuakhali on February 25, 2017
500 tola gold looted in Bogra on January 14, 2017
46 tola jewellery looted in Siddhirganj, Narayanganj on January 12, 2017
100 tola jewellery looted in Jhalakathi city on November 21, 2016
60 tola jewellery looted in Keraniganj, Dhaka on September 26, 2016
50 tola gold ornaments looted in Sripur, Gazipur on August 11, 2016
200 tola jewellery looted in Faridpur city on July 21, 2016
100 tola jewellery looted in Boalia, Rajshahi on April 29, 2016
350 tola jewellery looted in Mirsarari, Chittagong on February 26, 2016
50 tola jewellery looted in Kotwali, Chittagong on December 12, 2014
800 tola jewellery looted in Feni on February 8, 2014
500 tola jewellery looted in Kalibazar, Narayanganj on June 21, 2013
same method to rob stores. Over
the years, police have seen some
names come up regularly in investigations
of gold robbery cases.
A list of 188 people has been
compiled from the cases filed in
the last five years. All of these robberies
have the same modus operandi:
robbers come in with guns
and throw bombs when escaping.
According to the reports of law
enforcement agencies and newspapers,
115 such robberies and
85 mugging incidents have taken
place since 2012.
About 3,957 tolas of gold ornaments
and jewellery made of other
gemstones, altogether worth
about Tk8.3 crore, were looted by
the robbers in last five years, the
reports said.
The latest of these incidents was on
March 11, when robbers looted about
100 tolas of gold ornaments from
Chapai Jewellers in Savar. The robbers
fired from their guns while fleeing the
scene, leaving the shop owner and
two of his employees injured.
Several jewellery shop robberies
have taken place in Barguna,
Patuakhali, Barisal, Pirojpur and
Comilla this year, according to media
reports.
Jewellery shop owners have
said many victims do not report
being robbed to police fearing legal
complications.
“Jewellery traders are in fear for
their safety and wellbeing because
of such robberies,” Bangladesh
Over 100 cases lodged across the
country for gold robbery and 205
people accused.
17 killed by mob beatings or in gunfights
with law enforcement. Some
permanently handicapped due to
mob beatings.
Of the remaining 188, some have
been arrested but a good number
are still at large.
Many arrestees have managed
to take bail and continue with
robberies.
MEHEDI HASAN
Source: Case documents and newspaper
reports
Jewellers Samity (Bajus) General
Secretary Dilip Kumar Agarwala
told the Dhaka Tribune.
“We have learned of many robberies
from all over the country.
When we hear the news, we urge
the respective police stations, law
enforcement and district administration
to take immediate action
to recover the looted valuables and
arrest the robbers.”
However, Dilip says Bajus keeps
no record of the incidents or looted
valuables.
Law enforcement officials say
robbers travel great distances between
two jobs and avoid committing
a second crime in the same
area for three to four months, to
avoid detection.
Many of the robbers have day
jobs as drivers, labourers, hawkers
and other blue collar workers,
which helps them stay under cover.
They carry out one or two robberies
per month to avoid the attention
of law enforcement agencies.
Detectives said the robbers
sometimes identify themselves as
law enforcement agency members.
“It is hard to detect a criminal
when they are in disguise before and
after committing an offence. These
robbers are using the trick to avoid
our vigilance,” Police Bureau of Investigation’s
Chief Deputy Inspector
General Banaz Kumar Majumdar said.
Most groups follow the threeteam
strategy that Babul’s gang
used, and are experts at what they
do. “The whole job is done in three
to 10 minutes,” Banaz said.
Banaz added that the robbers almost
always target the time of shift
change seeing as it is difficult for law
enforcement to respond at this time.
A police informer, who has been
collecting information about robbers
for the last 10 years, said: “Inter-district
robbery gangs began the
trend robbing with bomb blasts in
the last eight to nine years,” he said.
He said that he had received
several death threats from the robbers
who were arrested because of
the information he gave.
“There are many robbers who
got arrested and then came out on
bail resumed the same work again,”
he added.
Sahely Ferdous, assistant inspector
general of Police Headquarters,
said: “A list of robbers including
the persons who loot jewellery
shops by exploding hand bombs
was submitted to the Police Headquarters.
Police across the country
have been instructed to keep keen
eyes on the activities of robbers.”
She further said that apart from
their regular duties, they were mobilsing
community policing to prevent
such crimes.
“As such robbery incidents are
not frequent and most of the robbers
are not specialised in the trend,
we follow common techniques
against such offences,” she said.
Jewellery shops were requested
to install CCTV cameras so that police
can identify the culprits if any
incident takes place, she added. •
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