e_Paper, Tuesday, August 29, 2017

SECOND EDITION 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2017 | Bhadra 14, 1424, Zil-Hajj 6, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 113 | 24 pages | Price: Tk10 

No respite for the Rohingya 

› 2 

REUTERS 

Rice production to 

fall as floods ravage 

farmland › 8

2 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2017 

DT 

News 

‘No respite’: Myanmar troops force 

Rohingyas into Bangladesh 

• Adil Sakhawat from 

Naikhongchhari border 

SPECIAL 

I was at a strategic point from 

where the Bangladesh-Myanmar 

border fence and a border post of 

Myanmar Border Guard Forces 

(BGF) on the other side was visible. 

What I observed from this vantage 

point came as a complete surprise. 

Around 11am, while I was talking 

to the newly arrived Rohingyas 

at a temporary shelter at the 

international border, they were 

suddenly instructed to voluntarily 

dismantle their shelters and move 

near the border fence. 

They were not forced to go into 

Myanmar territory from where 

they fled but they were told to take 

shelter near the border fence as the 

situation seemed to have calmed 

down, said a Border Guard Bangladesh 

(BGB) official. 

As instructed, the Rohingyas 

moved to a position beside the 

fence. But there was to be no respite 

for them. 

At around 1pm, two bursts of gunfire 

were heard and smoke began to 

curl up from the horizon. Locals and 

Rohingya refugees told me it was 

the village Debuinna in Maungdaw 

township that was burning. 

Within 10 minutes, a group of at 

least 100 Rohingyas appeared on 

the other side of the fence, running 

down the hillside. 

From the other side of the hill 

where the BGF border post was 

situated, several Myanmar border 

guards came down at the same time. 

Rohingya people sits on the Bangladesh side as they are restricted by the members of Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB), to go 

further inside Bangladesh, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh August 28, 2017 

REUTERS 

Their border post was on the hill 

numbered 12-15. 

But to my surprise, they did not 

advance towards the fleeing Rohingyas. 

Instead, they moved to 

the fence, cut a human-sized hole 

in the wire fence and withdrew to 

their post once again. 

In the next two hours, Rohingyas 

who were fleeing Myanmar 

exited the country through those 

holes. 

BGF members stood not far 

from the fence, eyeing the fleeing 

Rohingyas. But they did not react 

or open fire, only standing there 

until the Rohingyas were well inside 

Bangladesh territory. 

I found out that along this area, 

there were four to five holes like 

this in the border fence. 

The Rohingyas who had been 

moved closer to the fence in the 

morning again moved back near 

Bangladeshi territory. 

Throughout the day I heard 

several other gunshots and explosions, 

believed to be 4-5km from 

the border fence. A helicopter was 

seen flying in the sky and landed 

next to the BGF border post. 

I saw the Rohingyas who had 

taken shelter near the border staring 

back at their country, where for 

decades their own government has 

branded them illegal Bangladeshis 

and taken away their basic rights. 

Asked about the current situation 

at the border, BGB 34 Battalion 

Commanding Official Monzurul 

Hasan Khan told me: “We do not 

know what is happening on the 

other side, but the Rohingyas are 

now taking shelter at the zero line. 

We hope that they will go back to 

their country.” 

Asked whether he was expecting 

more Rohingyas to come into 

Bangladesh, he replied: “Maybe, 

maybe not. We have to wait. It depends 

on the situation.” 

I asked International Organisation 

for Migration Cox’s Bazar chief 

Sanjukta Sahany about estimates of 

To my surprise, 

they did not 

advance towards 

the fleeing 

Rohingyas. Instead, 

they moved to the 

border fence, cut a 

human-sized hole 

in the wire fence 

and withdrew to 

their post 

newly arrived Rohingyas and plans 

to provide humanitarian assistance 

to them. She replied that it was too 

early to comment as the situation 

had begun only three days ago. 

“We are carrying out our regular 

activities. We have not started anything 

yet. We thought to observe 

the situation as we experienced 

this the last time as well. After observing 

for two or three days we 

will plan something for these people,” 

she said. 

UNHCR Bangladesh Spokesperson 

Joseph Tripura said that by 

their estimate, up to August 27 at 

least 3,000 Rohingyas had entered 

the camps in Bangladesh. • 

‘We have lost everything’: A resistance born out of persecution 

• Tribune Desk 

NEWS ANALYSIS 

As the violence in Myanmar’s troubled 

Rakhine state escalates, Rohingya families 

stream across the border into Bangladesh, 

bringing with them stories of 

killings, rape and torture at the hands of 

Myanmar soldiers. 

The sound of gunfire floats across 

the Naf river as desperate men, women 

and children with bullet wounds and 

other injuries seek refuge and treatment 

in Bangladesh. What was a tale of persecution 

and systematic marginalisation is 

rapidly turning into a full-scale guerrilla 

war in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. 

Although Aung San Suu Kyi’s government 

has denied reports of atrocities 

committed by the army, and accused 

the Rohingya of setting fire to villages 

and using child soldiers, independent 

observers, aid workers and UN officials 

have condemned what they say is a 

disproportionate response to Rohingya 

attacks on police outposts. 

The attacks by the Arakan Rohingya 

Salvation Army, an armed group which 

says it is fighting to regain basic rights 

for the Rohingya, began last year and 

marked a significant escalation of the 

long-simmering conflict between the 

Rohingya minority and the Myanmar 

government. 

Ataullah, the leader of ARSA, told a 

Dhaka Tribune correspondent that his 

group only attacked military targets. Although 

the group receives support from 

Rohingyas living abroad, its leaders insist 

that it is a home-grown movement. 

Conflict experts warn that Myanmar’s 

campaign to clear Rakhine of 

rebels could lead to hundreds of thousands 

of refugees crossing the broad 

Naf river into Bangladesh, as they did in 

the 1970s and 1990s when military operations 

triggered a refugee crisis. 

The Burmese army’s crackdown 

risks increasing support for the newly-formed 

Arakan Salvation Army, 

formerly known as Harakah-al-Yaqin, 

which already has backers among the 

Rohingya diaspora in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan 

and elsewhere. 

The problem on the border could 

also hurt regional stability. Bangladesh, 

which is battling the rise of militant 

groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic 

State on its territory, has long expressed 

worry that international terrorist 

organizations could seek to exploit 

the Rohingyas’ anger. 

“It could create conditions for further 

radicalizing sections of the Rohingya 

population that transnational 

jihadists could exploit to pursue their 

own agendas in the country,” the Brussels-based 

International Crisis Group 

said in a report last year. 

For years the Rohingya have been repressed, 

a Muslim minority in a mostly 

Buddhist nation where their sole political 

goal is to be allowed to exist. They 

are denied citizenship and the right to 

travel freely. Over 100 were killed in 

sectarian clashes in 2012. Recent articles 

in state media have described the 

crisis in Rakhine as being caused by “human 

fleas.” 

The latest violence, though, is qualitatively 

different from earlier outbreaks 

as some Rohingyas seem to be getting 

organized to fight back. 

In retaliation, human rights groups 

say, the army is targeting civilian populations 

in what amounts to collective 

punishment. Satellite images last year 

showed widespread destruction in Rohingya 

villages and U.N. officials spoke 

out about “daily reports of rape and killings 

of Rohingya”. 

Although ARSA doesn’t appear to 

have a transnational jihadist agenda, 

according to International Crisis Group’s 

report published last year, a brutal 

counterinsurgency could radicalize 

some of the million-strong Rohingya, 

most of who live in congested, decrepit 

camps for internally displaced people. 

Matthew Smith, Executive Director of 

Fortify Rights, a human rights group 

that has worked in Rakhine for many 

years, says the fledgling militant outfit 

was “born out of persecution.” 

This was echoed by Rohingyas who 

have fled Rakhine in recent days. 

“We have lost everything,” one man 

said. “We want to fight back. We are 

all ARSA.” •

News 

TUESDAY, 

3 

AUGUST 29, 2017 

DT 

‘They torched our houses and 

shot at us as we fled’ 

Injured Rohingyas at CMCH share the horror they experienced as they ran for their lives 

Bangladesh 

offers to conduct 

joint raids with 

Myanmar 


CURRENT AFFAIRS 

• Anwar Hussain, Chittagong 


A loud cry echoed through the hospital 

corridors as 20-year-old Ilias, 

a Rohingya man, screamed from 

the pain of his gunshot wounds. 

He kept calling out for his parents. 

Ayaz, his elder brother tried 

to calm him down. Ayaz said that 

they had fled the trouble-torn Rakhine 

area last week, and the current 

whereabouts of his loved ones 

remained unknown to him. Ilias’s 

maternal uncle Hamid Hossain 

watched his nephew anxiously. 

When the Dhaka Tribune asked 

his uncle Hamid Hossain how Ilias 

was shot, he narrated a horrific tale 

of atrocities happening in the Rakhine 

State, North-West Myanmar, 

where government troops say they 

are hunting militants. 

“It was 3am on Thursday. Ilias 

and his cousins were asleep near 

their fishing nets on the river bank 

when, all of a sudden, gunshots 

woke them up. When they went 

to see what was going on, Ilias was 

shot in the head while three others 

managed to escape.” 

On Sunday the Dhaka Tribune 

went to the Neurosurgery Department 

of Chittagong Medical College 

Hospital (CMCH) where several 

Rohingyas, including two young 

boys were undergoing treatment 

for gunshot injuries. The Rohingyas 

told consistent stories of troops 

firing on Rohingya families and setting 

houses on fire. 

According to Hamid, who is also 

a resident of Nachidong area of 

Maungdaw in Rakhine, the Myanmar 

Army raided their village on 

Thursday night, shooting a number 

of his neighbours. 

Ilias, badly hurt, was later rescued 

by his three cousins who 

brought him to the border. They 

managed to cross the border at 7am 

with the help of agents. 

After receiving primary treatment 

at a clinic run by Medecins 

Sans Frontieres (MSF) at Kutupalong 

in Cox’s Bazar, the bullet-hit 

youth was then brought to 

the CMCH early Sunday. 

When asked how they managed 

to sneak across the border, Hamid 

said, “There are some middlemen 

on both sides of the border who 

help cross frontiers on a contract 

basis.” 

“The amount is not fixed and 

it depends on the patrolling border 

guards. If you are lucky, you 

can cross the border paying only 

Tk500-1,000.” 

“Ilias was admitted in a critical 

state. A CT scan found a haemorrhage 

in his brain,” said the on-duty 

physician. 

Idris, a 10-year-old boy, sustained 

injuries when a stray bullet 

hit him in the head. 

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, 

his father Md Rashid, said: “My son 

was playing, when all of sudden a 

stray bullet hit him in the head.” 

A bullet penetrated the throat 

of a 12-year-old Rohingya boy, Mobarak, 

who was also undergoing 

treatment at the Neurosurgery unit 

of CMCH. 

Requesting anonymity, the 

ADIL SAKHAWAT 

on-duty doctor of the Neurosurgery 

Department told this correspondent 

that the bullet tore Mobarak’s 

vocal cord, rendering him 

unable to speak. 

“To make matters worse, the 

boy cannot move his legs either. 

We are keeping a close watch on 

him.” 

As of Monday evening, a total 

of nineteen Rohingyas are being 

treated at CMCH. Among the nineteen, 

five were victims of arson attacks 

and bomb blasts. 

Another three with gunshot 

wounds were admitted to CMCH 

at 3pm on Monday. Among them, 

20-year-old Jannatullah was in critical 

condition, doctors said. 

The crackdown on Rohingyas 

started after insurgents wielding 

guns, sticks and homemade bombs 

attacked 30 police posts and an 

army base, in the border state of Rakhine, 

taking the death toll to 104 

people. A large number of Muslim 

Rohingya and Buddhist civilians 

have fled across the border to Bangladesh, 

according to Reuters. • 

Dhaka has proposed starting a joint 

anti-terrorist crackdown with Yangon 

against insurgent outfits operating 

out of Myanmar. 

Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry 

made the proposal after summoning 

Myanmar’s acting ambassador 

in Dhaka, Aung Myint, yesterday. 

An official of the ministry, requesting 

anonymity, said it was a 

new proposal intended to improve 

security. 

“We have shown our interest to 

help Myanmar get rid of its security 

concerns,” the official added. 

Alhough the Myanmar forces 

have been accused by the United 

Nations and international human 

rights groups of carrying out atrocities 

in Rohingya villages in the 

country’s Rakhine State since last 

year, Yangon recently claimed that 

‘Bangali terrorists’ were doing so. 

Yangon frequently uses the term 

‘Bangali’ to describe the Rohingya. 

When asked if the use of the 

term “Bangali terrorists” was discussed, 

the Foreign Ministry official 

said, “We have expressed our 

concern about the term.” 

Bangladesh floated a similar proposal 

for joint operations with Myanmar 

in August 2016, which was 

not as elaborate as the latest one. 

A meeting between the border 

forces of both sides called to discuss 

the issue earlier this year ended 

without agreement. • 

This article was first published on 

banglatribune.com 

141 Rohingyas 

pushed back 

amid tensions in 

Rakhine state 

• Abdul Aziz, Cox’s Bazar 


Border Guard Bangladesh 

members have pushed back 

some 141 Rohingyas who fled 

Rakhine state in the face of 

Myanmar security forces massive 

crackdown. 

“They were sent back 

when they tried to trespass 

into Bangladesh by crossing 

the Naf River from last night 

to till Monday morning,” 

Teknaf BGB 2 Commander Lt 

Col SM Ariful Islam said. 

Rohingyas, who have been 

sent back, included women, 

children and elderly people. 

In October 2016, Rohingyas 

tried to intrude into Bangladesh 

in the same way after violent 

clashes broke out in Rakhine. 

This year, thousands of 

Rohingyas have already started 

gathering at Bangladesh 

border as fresh fighting erupted 

in Rakhine state between 

militants and security forces. •

4 


DT 

News 

Myanmar army conducts clearance operations in Rakhine 


WORLD 

Myanmar security forces intensified 

operations against Rohingya 

insurgents on Monday, police and 

other sources said, following three 

days of clashes with militants in 

the worst violence involving Myanmar’s 

Muslim minority in five 

years. 

The fighting - triggered by coordinated 

attacks on Friday by insurgents 

wielding sticks, knives and 

crude bombs on 30 police posts and 

an army base - has killed 104 people 

and led to the flight of large numbers 

of Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist 

civilians from the northern 

part of Rakhine state. 

The violence marks a dramatic 

escalation of a conflict that has 

simmered since October, when a 

similar but much smaller series 

of Rohingya attacks on security 

posts prompted a brutal military 

response dogged by allegations of 

rights abuses. 

The treatment of about 1.1 million 

Muslim Rohingya in mainly 

Buddhist Myanmar has emerged as 

the biggest challenge for national 

leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has 

condemned the attacks and commended 

the security forces. 

The Nobel peace laureate has 

been widely accused by critics of 

not speaking out on behalf of the 

long-persecuted minority, and of 

defending the army’s sweep after 

the October attacks. 

The Rohingya are denied citizenship 

in Myanmar and classified as 

illegal immigrants, despite claiming 

roots there that go back centuries, 

with communities marginalised 

and subjected to communal violence. 

“Now the situation is not good. 

Everything depends on them - if 

they’re active, the situation will be 

tense,” said police officer Tun Hlaing 

from Buthidaung township, referring 

to the Rohingya insurgents. 

Rohingya villagers make up the 

majority in the area. 

A Buthidaung-based reporter, citing 

police sources directly involved 

in events, said three police posts in 

northern Buthidaung had been surrounded 

by Rohingya insurgents. 

Many houses had been burning 

since Sunday in parts of neighbouring 

Maungdaw town, another 

journalist and a military source in 

Maungdaw told reporter. 

A Rohingya villager in the area 

said the army attacked three hamlets 

in the Kyee Kan Pyin village 

group with shotguns and other 

weapons, before torching houses. 

“Everything is on fire,” he said by 

phone. “Now I’m in the fields with 

the people, we’re running away.” 

A military source in Rakhine 

state confirmed that houses were 

burned in the area but blamed the 

insurgents, who he said opened fire 

when soldiers came to find them 

and clear landmines. 

The Myanmar military reported 

clashes over the weekend involving 

hundreds of insurgents, taking the 

death toll to at least 104, the majority 

militants, plus 12 members of the 

security forces and several civilians. 

There were no official updates 

from the army or the government 

on Monday. • 

Vatican announces 

Pope Francis visit to 

Dhaka in November 



Pope Francis will make an official 

visit to Bangladesh on a 

three-day visit on November 

30. 

The visit, at the invitation 

of Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina and Catholic Archbishop 

of Dhaka Cardinal Patrick 

D’Rozario, was officially 

announced in Dhaka and Vatican 

simultaneously. 

President Abdul Hamid 

will receive the pope at the 

airport. 

Pope Francis will meet 

President Abdul Hamid, 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 

among other engagements. 

An advanced team from 

the Vatican recently visited 

Bangladesh to coordinate the 

preparation of the visit with 

the protocol wing of the Foreign 

Ministry. 

Pope Francis has previously 

appointed His Eminence 

Patrick D’Rozario, the Archbishop 

of Bangladesh, as the 

first ever cardinal from Bangladesh 

on November 19, 2016. 

Dean of Diplomatic Corps 

Ambassador of Vatican to 

Bangladesh Archbishop 

George Kocherry confirmed 

the visit yesterday at a press 

conference. He said: “Detailed 

programme for the visit 

will be published shortly.” 

The pope will also make 

an apostolic visit to Myanmar 

from November 27 to 30 before 

coming to Dhaka. In Myanmar, 

he will visit the cities 

of Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw, 

reports UNB. 

Ambassador Kocherry 

said: “The Vatican Embassy 

in Dhaka, the Ministry of Foreign 

Affairs and the SSF are 

working together to finalise 

his programme in Dhaka. The 

ministry and SSF are cooperating 

very well with us. I appreciate 

their readiness and 

supports.” 

Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario 

said: “Pope Francis is a voice 

of conscience for all political, 

economic, social and environmental 

issues in the world. He 

leads a very simple life. His 

love towards marginalized 

people, those who are suffering, 

who are weak, who are affected 

by disasters, migrants.” 

On November 26, 1970, the 

sixth Pope was the first person 

who visited Bangladesh 

(then East Pakistan) during an 

hour-long stopover here on 

his way to Manila. Pope John 

Paul II visited Bangladesh in 

1986. 

As per the draft programme, 

Pope Francis will 

place wreaths at the National 

Martyrs Memorial in Savar 

and will pay respect to Father 

of the Nation Bangabandhu 

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. •

News 5 


DT 

Should EC officials get magisterial 

powers during national polls? 

Awami League and BNP oppose the idea, which some say could ensure a fair 

election if executed the right way 

• Bilkis Irani 

ELECTION 

Election Commission officers 

have proposed reforming the Representation 

of the People Order 

(RPO) in order to give their field 

officials more authority during parliamentary 

election. 

They say the field officials 

should be given magisterial power 

to promptly deal with election-time 

irregularities – an idea 

opposed by both the Awami League 

and the BNP. 

Apart from additional power, 

Election Commission officials also 

want the field officers to act as returning 

officers with magisterial 

power during the national polls. 

Currently, the field officials can 

serve as returning officers without 

such authority during the by-polls 

and local government elections in 

line with the electoral system created 

based on the constitution. 

Traditionally, the commission 

gives the roles of returning officers 

with magisterial power to the deputy 

commissioners (DC) of the districts 

only during the parliamentary 

election. 

An official of the commission, 

asking not to be named, told the 

Dhaka Tribune that the Shamsul 

Huda-led commission had proposed 

to employ Election Commission 

officials as returning and 

assistant returning officers in the 

national election. 

But Huda’s successor Kazi 

Rakibuddin Ahmad and his commission 

did not agree and continued 

employing the DCs as returning 

officers following the tradition. 

The official said allegations of 

corruption and irregularities were 

raised against the returning officers 

during the 2014 general election. 

“Magistrates generally have 

enough power that can influence 

any election. When administrators 

are given that power, they 

gain more confidence to figure out 

opportunities for corruption and 

spread political influence,” said the 

official. “We fear that the national 

polls can be politically influenced 

because most DCs are either directly 

or indirectly involved in politics.” 

“Most commission officials have 

proposed giving them the magisterial 

power to ensure a free and fair 

election. But to do that, the RPO 

will have to be amended,” the official 

added. 

Saying the EC officials’ demand 

was logical, former election commissioner 

Brig Gen M Shakhawat 

Hussain alleged that everything 

regarding the recruitment and promotion 

of the DCs gets priority by 

political consideration. 

“The DCs can be influenced because 

of their political ties. But EC 

officials will not be politically influenced,” 

he added. 

“The EC can give its officials 

magisterial authority if it thinks 

they can work better with this 

power.” 

Shakhawat suggested appointing 

some, if not all, EC officials as 

returning officers in the next national 

polls, due between late 2018 

and early 2019. 

What AL and BNP think 

BNP Standing Committee Member 

Abdul Moyeen Khan told the Dhaka 

Tribune that the issue of magisterial 

power during elections had been 

a controversial matter. 

“Magistrates deployed on the 

election day already have the power, 

while the issue of providing 

magisterial power to other civil officers 

or commission officials will 

depend very much on the category 

of the officers or in other words, to 

which level this magisterial power 

can be authorised to.” 

“I think the real issue is not 

about the power itself but about 

whether it is exercised under political 

influence or in a rational, 

fair and neutral way,” he said. “Ultimately, 

the decision rests on the 

commission’s real motive.” 

Khan said his party wanted only 

the army to be deployed with that 

very authority on the election day. 

Awami League Joint General 

Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif 

also questioned the commission 

officials’ demand for more power. 

“Their purpose should be clarified 

first… [and] they should also 

point out the downsides of the 

current system,” he told the Dhaka 

Tribune. 

Hanif said there were “many 

precedents” of abusing magistracy 

power in Bangladesh. “Some 

people cannot properly utilise this 

power most of the time. So I think 

magisterial power should not be 

given to everyone as it could be 

misused,” he added. 

Badiul Alam Majumder, secretary 

of citizens’ platform Sushasoner 

Jonno Nagorik (SHUJAN), 

said the constitution’s Section 119 

granted the Election Commission 

enough power to take necessary 

measures to ensure fair polls. 

“A Supreme Court verdict had 

also said that the commission and 

its officers hold the power to revoke 

the results of any election in case 

of any irregularities, corruption, or 

foul play. The returning officers can 

stop the balloting too if necessary.” 

Badiul, however, said: “Even 

if the commission’s field officials 

are given this magisterial power, I 

think they won’t be able to maintain 

law and order during polls, because 

the corrupted won’t simply 

obey them. 

“The commission will have to 

be strict in this case. If that happens, 

obstructing their duty will 

become very hard for anyone. But 

if not, then fair election won’t be 

certain.” 

He also suggested deploying the 

army to maintain law and order 

and avoid such irregularities during 

the balloting. 

Badiul stressed that magisterial 

power should not be given to anyone, 

even to the army. “The army 

should play its usual role on the 

election day and the DCs with magistracy 

authority should accompany 

them.” 

Giving anyone the magisterial 

power was a very risky thing to do 

as there were always high chances 

of power abuse, he added. “The 

power itself will lose importance if 

it is misused. So it should be given 

to people chosen carefully.” 

EC: Demand logical, but matter of 

discussion 

Election Commissioner Kabita 

Khanam said their proposal for 

more power for the field officers 

was logical as they face problems 

during every election. 

“Their opinions and demands 

must be taken seriously. In the 

meantime, the proposals that are 

reasonable, easy and timely to 

make selection process will be 

identified,” she said. 

The commission’s Acting Secretary 

Helaluddin Ahmed said: 

“Our field officials made their demands 

and suggestions after we 

asked for their opinions. After listening 

to everyone, the commission 

will decide which proposals 

will be accepted.” 

The commission, now led by 

Chief Election Commissioner KM 

Nurul Huda, on July 16 this year announced 

their 18-month work plan 

for the 11th national polls. 

As part of that roadmap, it held 

talks with the civil society on July 

31. Dialogues with the media were 

held on August 16 and 17. It started 

talks with the political parties last 

Thursday. • 

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN 

EC to consider 

common 

suggestions 

made during the 

dialogues 

• Bilkis Irani 

ELECTION 

The Election Commission (EC) will 

consider all proposals that were 

in common during their dialogues 

with the civil society, political parties 

and the media for the up-coming 

general elections. 

Speaking to the media after dialogues 

with two political parties 

yesterday, the Election Commission’s 

acting secretary Helaluddin 

Ahmad said: “There were some 

common suggestions made during 

the dialogues such as the deployment 

of the army during the elections, 

eradication of strong arming 

voters and black money. These will 

be considered to be incorporated 

into our election plan.” 

Yesterday’s dialogue Bangladesh 

Muslim League (BML) in the 

morning and Bangladesh Khelafat 

Majlish in the afternoon. 

Both the parties yesterday proposed 

the deployment of the army 

with magisterial powers during 

the elections, the dissolving of 

the parliament before the polls, 

the handing over power to the 

subsidiary government/caretaker 

government, organising national 

dialogue, withdrawal of political 

cases during the election, stopping 

the influence of power and black 

money, empowering the election 

commission, a the relaxing the rule 

stipulated by the EC to ensure 33% 

of party leaders to be women. 

The acting EC secretary said: 

“We have assured both of the parties 

that the EC will do everything 

to ensure fair elections.” 

When asked about their demand 

for the withdrawal of politically 

motivated cases made by both the 

parties, EC’s Helaluddin said: “The 

commission cannot determine 

with absolute certainty which cases 

are politically motivated and 

which ones are not. We cannot recommend 

the withdrawal of them 

since they involve the burning of 

buses where people died.” 

Helaluddin Ahmed further added: 

“We sent a letter to political 

parties about to ensuring that 33% 

of their leadership roles would 

have comprised of women. Most 

of the parties replied positively except 

seven of them. 

“They assured us that, by 2020, 

they will be able to fulfill the conditions 

having 33% of women leadership.” 

• 

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY 

Dhaka 34 28 Chittagong 33 27 Rajshahi 33 26 Rangpur 33 27 Khulna 32 26 Barisal 32 27 Sylhet 33 25 

Cox’s Bazar 31 25 

RAIN LIKELY 


DHAKA 

TODAY 

TOMORROW 

SUN SETS 6:20PM 

SUN RISES 5:39AM 

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW 

35.3ºC 

24.4ºC 

Sylhet 

Sylhet 

Source: Accuweather/UNB 

PRAYER 

TIMES 

Fajr: 5:00am | Zohr: 1:15pm 

Asr: 5:00pm | Magrib: 6:41pm 

Esha: 8:30pm 

Source: Islamic Foundation

6 


DT 

News 

India, China agree to end 

Doklam border standoff 

• Reuters, New Delhi/Beijing 

WORLD 

India and China have agreed to an “expeditious 

disengagement” of troops 

in a disputed border area where their 

soldiers have been locked in a standoff 

for more than two months, India’s 

foreign ministry said on Monday. 

The decision comes ahead of a summit 

of the BRICS nations - a grouping 

that also includes Brazil, Russia and 

South Africa - in China next month, 

which Indian Prime Minister Narendra 

Modi is expected to attend. 

Indian and Chinese troops have 

been confronting each other at the 

Doklam plateau near the borders of 

India, its ally Bhutan and China, in the 

most serious and prolonged standoff 

in decades along their disputed Himalayan 

border. 

The Indian ministry said the two 

sides had agreed to defuse the crisis 

following diplomatic talks. 

“In recent weeks, India and China 

have maintained diplomatic communication 

in respect of the incident at 

Doklam,” the ministry said. 

“On this basis, expeditious disengagement 

of border personnel at 

the face-off site at Doklam has been 

agreed to and is on-going,” it said in a 

statement. 

China said Indian troops had withdrawn 

from the remote area in the 

eastern Himalayas. Chinese foreign 

ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying 

said Chinese troops would continue to 

patrol the Doklam region. 

“China will continue to exercise sovereignty 

rights to protect territorial sovereignty 

in accordance with the rules of 

the historical boundary,” she said. 

India and China have been unable 

to settle their 3,500km frontier and 

large parts of territory are claimed by 

both sides. 

The trouble started in June when 

India sent troops to stop China building 

a road in the Doklam area, which is 

remote, uninhabited territory claimed 

by both China and Bhutan. • 

Biman flies 64,873 

pilgrims to KSA 

• Ishtiaq Husain 


Pre-Hajj flight of Biman Bangladesh 

Airlines ended yesterday 

after the national flag carrier 

transported a total of 64,873 

pilgrims from Dhaka to Jeddah. 

Meanwhile, around 400 

pilgrims couldn’t reach Saudi 

Arabia for performing Hajj this 

year due to issues relating to 

visa and ticket. 

Civil Aviation and Tourism 

Minister Rashed Khan Menon 

came up with the disclosure 

at a press briefing held at the 

secretariat yesterday. 

“A total of 1,27,500 pilgrims 

were supposed to go Saudi 

Arabia to perform Hajj. Of 

them, 1,27,103 managed to go 

there while 397 failed to make 

it,” said Menon. 

According to Hajj flight 

schedule, Biman was supposed 

to carry 63,599 pilgrims, 

but it transported 

64,873 pilgrims. 

The national carrier operated 

a total of 187 Hajj flights to 

carry the pilgrims. 

Meanwhile, Biman was 

forced to cancel 24 dedicated 

Hajj flights due to passenger 

shortage. 

Biman’s last flight left Dhaka 

yesterday morning which 

carried 418 pilgrims. 

The return flight with hajjis 

would start on September 6 

and it will continue till October 

5. • 

BSMMU packed with 

Chikungunya patients 

• Jakia Ahmed 

HEALTH 

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib 

Medical University’s (BSM- 

MU) Department of Rheumatology 

has introduced an 

arthritis clinic for Chikungunya 

patients who are suffering 

from joint and muscle pain, an 

after effect of the virus. 

After the clinic was introduced 

on August 13, the ward 

has become overcrowded 

with patients and the doctors 

of the clinic are being forced to 

work overtime. 

Chikungunya is a viral 

disease transmitted to humans 

by infected mosquitoes. 

Around 85% of all Chikungunya 

patients suffer from pain 

after recovering from fever, 

headache, muscle pain, nausea, 

fatigue and rashes. 

An on-duty doctor at the 

clinic, Sigma Hossain, said: 

“We have so many patients that 

sometimes we struggle with 

space for their data keeping.” 

At least 10 doctors are 

on duty from Saturday to 

Thursday, she said. 

“We faced less pressure before 

as many of the patients 

did not know about the service. 

But now we have to work 

overtime almost every day as 

the patients keep coming even 

after the regular hours,” she 

added. 

Fatema Rahman, 55, Selina 

Begum, 45, Samia Khatun, 34, 

and Sharifa Begum Kona, 45, 

are some of the patients who 

came to BSMMU on Sunday 

to receive treatment for their 

joint pain after contracting 

Chikungunya. 

Fatema said: “I suffered 

from high fever and joint pain 

after Eid-ul-Fitr. After five 

days, the fever fell but the 

pain is still here.” 

“I was admitted to a private 

clinic for this pain but I did not 

feel any better,” she added. 

Selina Begum of West Jurain 

said she suffered from 

fever thrice in one week. Each 

time the fever left her with unbearable 

suffering that makes 

it hard for her to carry out her 

everyday activities. 

When this reporter entered 

the room where the arthritis 

clinic is situated, he noted 

two teams of doctors providing 

treatment to the patients. 

There was barely any space, as 

too many patients had gathered 

exceeding the room capacity. 

Dean of the Department 

of Medicine at BSMMU Professor 

Dr ABM Abdullah said: 

“If an arthritis patient wants 

medication, he/she must consult 

a doctor. If the pain is too 

extreme, the patient should 

have a cold press. They should 

drink a lot of water as well.” 

According to Dr Lelin 

Chowdhury, a preventive 

medicine specialist at BSM- 

MU, patients should never decide 

their treatment by themselves. 

The wrong treatment 

may prove to be dangerous for 

them. • 

This article was first published 

on banglatribune.com

News 

TUESDAY, 

7 

AUGUST 29, 2017 

DT 

20 cattle markets to open tomorrow 

• Abu Hayat Mahmud 

METRO 

The sole surviving permanent cattle 

market and 19 other makeshift 

cattle markets in Dhaka will officially 

open tomorrow ahead of the 

start of Eid-ul-Azha. 

Apart from the permanent market 

at Gabtoli, Dhaka South City 

Corporation (DSCC) has set up 12 

temporary markets and Dhaka 

North City Corporation (DNCC) has 

set up seven. 

Both authorities have asked 

leaseholders not to begin operations 

until the official openings on 

Wednesday. 

However, leaseholders at the 

Gabtoli market have already allowed 

traders to unload their animals. 

MIRPUR 

Free space 

at Eastern 

Housing 

BOSILA 

Bosila Police 

Lines 

UTTARA 

No. 1 intersection 

in Sector 15 

MIRPUR DOHS 

KHILKHET 

Free space at Banarupa Housing 

BASHUNDHARA 

Khilkhet 300-ft Road 

Local cows supply boost 

On a visit to a few of the markets, 

this Dhaka Tribune correspondent 

found a large number of herdsmen 

there with their animals – local and 

Indian cows, buffaloes, or goats 

mostly from the western districts 

of the country. 

At the Gabtoli market, trader 

Altaf Ali said a “good number” of 

traders were already on their way 

to the Dhaka city markets with 

their cattle. 

“This year, the supply of local 

cows is higher than that of last 

year, so prices for local cows will be 

reasonable,” he said. 

A group of traders supported 

Altaf’s prediction and said Indian 

cow traders may face a loss as a 

large number of local cows are in 

stock and customers are increasingly 

favouring the latter. 

Traders are asking for an average 

of Tk65,000 for 100kgs of meat, 

which was priced at more than 

Tk60,000 last year. Red meat traders, 

however, said that cattle traders 

will sell at a lower price if pressed. 

Haat closures 

Meanwhile, DSCC Chief State Officer 

Kamrul Islam on Sunday told the 

Dhaka Tribune the makeshift cattle 

market at Armanitola Playground has 

been closed, as bidders failed to offer 

the amount demanded by the city 

corporation. The DSCC had asked for 

Tk4.86 crore for the haat, but only received 

a bid of Tk1.33 crore. 

He added that three cattle markets 

are still awaiting approval 

from the Local Government Division 

(LGD), with tenders to raise 

the bids for the ‘haats’ having been 

invited on three occasions. 

Sources said that haats had also 

failed to raise the bid in previous 

years, but in those instances the 

LGD eventually granted permission 

at the prices that had been 

offered. The highest bidders for 

the pending haats have already finished 

necessary preparations. 

JIGATALA- 

HAZARIBAGH 

Beside Leather 

Engineering 

College 

KAMRANGIRCHAR 

Islam Chairmanbari 

However, DNCC Chief Estate Officer 

Aminul Islam yesterday told 

the Dhaka Tribune that the DNCC 

has closed two of the proposed 

haats. The two were to be located 

at the free space at Khilkhet Banarupa 

Housing Project and Ashiyan 

City Housing. 

The cattle market oligopoly 

An Eid cattle market in the capital 

is a massively profitable business. 

For a lease of Tk1 crore at any of 

the two city corporations, cattle 

markets can make Tk10-12 crore in 

three days. 

GANDARIA 

Dhupkhola East and 

Club ground 

Although the haats are meant 

to be leased out through an open 

bidding process, the Dhaka Tribune 

has found that only a handful of people 

get the leases every year. 

Six ruling party men and two 

pro Awami League organisations 

were granted leases for the city 

cattle markets in the last two years, 

while only one person has been 

leased the Kamrangirchar haat for 

the last 10 years. • 

BHATARA 

Free space between Ashian 

City and Bhatara 

Sayeednagar 

GABTOLI 

Gabtoli Cattle Market 

MERADIA BAZAR 

Khilgaon 

SHAHJAHANPUR 

Moitri Shangha playgouund, 

Railgate Bazar 

KAMALAPUR 

Kamalapur Railway 

Station 

GOPIBAGH 

Brothers Club math 

DHOLAIKHAL 

Sadek Hossain 

Khoka ground 

LALBAGH 

Rahmatganj 

playground 

JATRABARI 

Donia College playground 

POSTOGOLA 

Shashanghat free space 

KADAMTOLI 

Shyampur Balurmath

8 


DT 

News 

Around 5,000 hectares of vegetable crops have been inundated while around 8,000 hectares of Aush paddy has also been 

badly hit by the floods ahead of harvesting 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

Rice production to fall as 

floods ravage farmland 

• Abu Siddique 


The production of rice is expected 

to fall in the next cycle 

as around six lakh hectares of 

Aman paddy fields have been 

inundated with floodwater. 

According to a floods bulletin 

issued by the Department 

of Disaster Management on 

Monday, a total of 591,647 hectares 

of Aman paddy field in 32 

districts have been affected. 

Unofficial sources, however, 

put the total damage 

to crops including paddy far 

higher. 

According to the Ministry 

of Agriculture, the average 

Aman paddy production in 

Bangladesh is around 2.5 tons 

per hectare. Therefore the 

country is expected to produce 

around 15 lakh tonnes 

less Aman paddy this season. 

In addition, around 5,000 

hectares of vegetable crops 

have been inundated while 

around 8,000 hectares of 

Aush paddy has also been 

badly hit by the floods ahead 

of harvesting. 

This year the government 

set a target to bring around 54 

lakh hectares of agricultural 

land under Aman production. 

The country produces 

around 34.7 million tonnes 

of rice against its annual demand 

for 32.4 million tonnes. 

Among the paddy varieties, 

Boro accounts for the 

bulk of total production – 

ranging around 19.5 million 

tons – while Aman production 

comes second annually. 

Meanwhile, the government 

has started distributing 

Aman paddy seedlings in different 

districts where floodwater 

is receding. 

Sources said there is an 

acute shortage of seedlings 

after the flood. 

Food Loss 

Just a few months ago during 

the Boro season, the country 

lost around 20 lakh tonnes of 

Boro rice due to sudden flash 

floods in six districts along 

the Haor basin. 

The food shortage over the 

last few months hiked the 

coarse rice price in local markets 

by Tk18 a kg compared to 

the same period a year ago. 

With its limited stocks, 

the government is struggling 

to provide support for Safety 

Net Programmes including 

Vulnerable Group Feeding, 

Vulnerable Group Development 

and Gratuitous Relief. 

As of yesterday, the 

government’s food reserve 

stood at 446,000 tons. Of the 

total, there were 312,000 tons 

of rice and 134,000 tons of 

wheat grains. 

The Floods 

According to Flood 

Forecasting and Warning 

Centre, water levels of the 

Brahmaputra-Jamuna and 

Ganges-Padma rivers are in 

falling trend while Surma- 

Kushiyara is rising. 

Under the influence of 

current floods, 18 river points 

out of 90 measured stations 

in different rivers in all three 

basins – Ganges, Brahmaputra 

and Meghna – have seen 

water flow above the danger 

level. 

At the same time, water 

The food shortage over the last few 

months hiked the coarse rice price in 

local markets by Tk18 a kg compared 

to the same period a year ago 

levels have been rising in 31 

points in the rivers across the 

country. 

Of them, the Kushiyara 

river at Amalshid point has 

risen by 101cm, the Gur river 

at Singra point by 71cm and 

the Atrai river at Baghabari 

point by 19cm. 

In addition, the level of 

the Lakhya river has swollen 

at Lakhpur point by 91cm, 

the Padma river at Goalanda 

point by 10cm, and the Surma 

river at Kanaighat point by 

42cm. 

All of these are above the 

danger level. •

Advertisement 

9 


DT

10 


DT 

News 

Houston crippled by catastrophic flooding 

• Reuters, Houston 

WORLD 

Houston is facing worsening floods 

in the coming days as Tropical 

Storm Harvey dumps more rain on 

the city, swelling rivers to record 

levels and forcing federal engineers 

on Monday to release water 

from area reservoirs in hopes of 

controlling the rushing currents. 

Harvey, the most powerful hurricane 

to strike Texas in more than 

50 years, first hit land late on Friday 

and has killed at least two people. 

It has since lingered around Texas’ 

Gulf Coast, where it is forecast to remain 

for several more days, drenching 

parts of the region with a year’s 

worth of rain in the span of a week. 

Schools, airports and office 

buildings in the nation’s fourth 

largest city were ordered shut on 

Monday as scores of roads turned 

into rivers and chest-high water 

filled neighbourhoods in the 

low-lying city that is home to about 

2.3 million people. The area’s vital 

petrochemcial industry also was 

crippled. 

Torrential rain also hit areas 

more than 240km away, swelling 

rivers upstream and causing a 

surge that was heading toward the 

Houston area, where numerous 

rivers and streams already have 

been breached. 

More flooding is expected as 

water levels continue to rise, putting 

more residents at risk. More 

than 30,000 people are expected to 

be placed temporarily in shelters, 

FEMA Administrator Brock Long 

said at a news conference on Monday. 

The National Weather Service 

said the worst of floods are expected 

Wednesday and Thursday, 

although there is still uncertainty 

over the storm’s path. • Residents wade through flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas, US August 27, 2017 REUTERS

Import impasse blamed 

for high prices of salt 

• Asif Showkat Kallol 

BUSINESS 

An inability to process lighter cargoes at Chittagong 

port is being blamed by traders for 

their failure to import unrefined salt since the 

government took action to stabilise the market 

following Cyclone Mora and flash floods 

last month. 

On July 5, the government in a statutory 

regulatory order allowed authorised importers 

to bring in 500,000 tonnes of salt from abroad 

after the natural disasters hit local production. 

According to Commerce Ministry officials, 

however, a total of 232 importers who were 

given permission to import salt have failed to 

bring in any shipment in that time. 

Some of the importers have already informed 

the ministry that importing has been beset by 

uncertainty because they have not been able to 

hire the lighter vessels needed to unload the imported 

salt when a mother vessel is held at the 

outer anchorage of Chittagong port. 

“There has long been a crisis of lighter cargoes 

at Chittagong port,” Chittagong Salt Mill 

Owners’ Association President Nurul Kabir said. 

In addition, port sources said at least 15- 

20 days would be needed for the shipment of 

unrefined salt imports from India to arrive at 

5 suspected hackers confess, 

9 muggers held in Dhaka 

• Arifur Rahman Rabbi 

CRIME 

the port and another 20 days to complete the 

various processes at the port. 

While accepting that the lack of lighter 

vessels had been one of the reasons for the 

supply shortage of salt in the local market, 

Commerce Secretary Shubhasish Basu said 

the problem had recently been solved. 

Prices remain high, however: a 75 kg sack 

of salt is selling at Tk1,100-1,200 at the mill 

gate in Chittagong - a rise of 10% from just two 

weeks ago. Last year, the price stood below the 

Tk500 mark. High prices at the mill gate have 

already led to the increase of retail prices. Now 

unpacked refined salt is selling at Tk25 a kg, 

whereas the rate was Tk18-19 just a week ago. 

“The government will take stern action 

against the unscrupulous salt traders if they increase 

the prices abnormally ahead of the Eid,” 

the commerce secretary told the Dhaka Tribune. 

The Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) 

has also been protesting the salt price inflation. 

Usually, a total of 30,000 tonnes salt is 

needed to process the raw hide that is expected 

to be collected from across the country 

during Eid-ul-Azha. 

But in a press conference in Dhaka on August 

19, the BTA alleged that some unscrupulous 

businesspeople had increased the prices 

of salt creating an artificial crisis in the market 

ahead of the Eid-ul Azha. • 

Five members of a computer hacking group 

have confessed to stealing over one million 

taka using cloned SIM cards and a mobile 

money transfer service. 

The Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested 

them from the Banasree area of Dhaka 

on Sunday night, seizing a number of unregistered 

SIM cards which had been used for 

sending money through bKash. Internet modems 

and software used for hacking were also 

seized in the raid. 

“We held them on charges of illegally transferring 

money from bKash accounts,” Dhaka Metropolitan 

Police Deputy Commissioner Masudur 

Rahman told a media briefing yesterday. 

The detainees are Khorshed, Abul Bashar, 

Md Arifur Rahman, Md Iqbal Hossain Opu and 

Md Hamidur Rahman Tushar. 

Separately, another team of DB arrested 

nine alleged muggers from the capital’s 

Chawkbazar area on Sunday night. 

The detainees were identified as Azizur 

Rahman Shekh, Ripon Ahmed, Md Labu, Monir 

Hossain, Jakir Hossain, Pappu Khan, Lutfor 

Rahman, Billal Hawlader and Ajim Bapary. 

He said it was typical for several hijacking 

and dope gangs to become active ahead of religious 

festivals such as Eid-ul-Azha. • 

News 11 


DT 

A 10-member team of bKash went to the remote islands of Brahmaputra to distribute relief among the 

flood victims in Kurigram. They aided the flood-victims with rice, lentil, oil, salt, sugar, milk, chili, spices, 

drinking water, biscuits, emergency medicine, saline, water purification tablets 

COURTESY

DT 

12 

Editorial 


TODAY 

The greatest 

sacrifice 

With the ever-changing nature of how 

we function as fluid cultures in an era 

of increasing globalisation, maybe 

these are signs we need to start taking 

seriously 

PAGE 13 

Safe to drink? 

BIGSTOCK 

How Partition 

helped Muslims 

I shudder to think of our fate in the 

absence of Partition 

PAGE 14 

One in eight people in Bangladesh drink water from wells 

which have dangerous levels of arsenic. 

This is a frightening reality that countless Bangladeshis 

have to live with on a daily basis. 

Arsenic, which is colourless, tasteless, and odourless, can lead 

to devastating outcomes for entire populations, causing the likes 

of cancer, skin lesions, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. 

What is encouraging to see, however, is that the government 

has taken an initiative to tackle the problem, which would fight 

the problem at the grassroots level. 

It is important not only that the water is tested, but that the 

people drinking the water are aware of the dangers of arsenic 

poisoning, and are provided with alternatives. 

Though the government has put forth initiatives before, they 

lost momentum and were unsuccessful. 

This cannot be allowed to happen again. 

With 5% of deaths in the country coming from arsenic 

poisoning, and its long-term effects well known, it is crucial that, 

this time round, we tackle this problem head on. 

It is important not only 

that the water is tested, 

but that the people 

drinking the water are 

aware of the dangers 

More than two’s a 

crowd 

Just because something is not illegal 

does not make it right 

Be heard 

Write to Dhaka Tribune 

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, 

Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 

Send us your Op-Ed articles: 

opinion.trib@gmail.com 

www.dhakatribune.com 

Join our Facebook community: 

https://www.facebook.com/ 

DhakaTribune. 

The views expressed in opinion 

articles are those of the authors 

alone and they are not the 

official view of Dhaka Tribune 

or its publisher. 

PAGE 15 

We have the potential, 

now we need the skills 

With over 2.2 million young people entering 

Bangladesh’s work force every year, we should 

have all the manpower we need to tackle the 

various challenges that plague the country. 

Unfortunately, according to reports, some three quarters 

of these workers do not have the adequate skills to take the 

country forward. 

Many who are equipped with the right skills choose to 

look for work overseas, with more than seven million people 

leaving in 2016. 

With our mounting problems and the increasing brain 

drain, it is important that we come up with long-term 

solutions to the skill shortage here at home. 

We need to train our workers here, and give them the 

opportunities they deserve so that they are incentivised to 

stay in the country. 

These young worker have the potential to truly take 

our country forward on the path towards not only middleincome 

status, but towards solving the issues of corruption, 

infrastructural inadequacy, and climate change, among 

others, which continue to derail us. 

We need to train our 

workers here, and give 

them the opportunities 

they deserve

The greatest sacrifice 

How does the tradition of Eid-ul-Azha define us? 

Opinion 13 

DT 


THE 

WORLD IN 

PARENTHESES 

• SN Rasul 

When Abraham was 

asked to sacrifice 

his son, his faith 

was so strong that 

he actually went ahead with it. 

Fortunately, a messenger of God 

interrupted him and Abraham 

ended up sacrificing a ram instead 

and, in the subsequent centuries, 

God was kind enough to continue 

the tradition of sacrificing animals 

instead of children. 

The second Eid brings with it 

perhaps the most contentious of 

21st century practices, and one of 

the most misconstrued of religious 

traditions. 

On paper, the Eid of sacrifice 

makes sense: It is one of the many 

socialist aspects of religion, and is 

a good method of redristibution 

by which those who cannot afford 

it are assured of bounty from the 

richer. 

There are those who choose to hold the blade themselves 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

With the ever-changing nature of how we function as fluid cultures in 

an era of increasing globalisation, maybe these are signs we need to 

start taking seriously 

It tests the faith of the person who 

is a believer, whereby he is asked 

to give up something he truly 

values -- and this sacrifice not only 

tests his faith, but, as mentioned 

above, succeeds in providing 

much-needed food to the needy. 

But such practices were, 

perhaps, meant for a different 

time, a different era. It behoves 

those practising it to reform, if 

not the religion, then in methods 

utilised by which the sacrifice is 

practiced. 

In increasingly urbanised 

jungles, in countries where the 

floods have not only spilled into 

our homes, drowning us in their 

cruelty, but also, subsequently, 

brought with them the multitude 

of diseases which come with such 

a happenstance, it is not only 

a mere matter of choice, it is a 

necessity. 

A mirror you can’t avoid 

Though the stigma around blood 

pouring into our drains and 

coming back to haunt us has 

become more commonplace than 

it used to be, I remember a time 

when the idea of going to the haat, 

buying a cow or goat, walking it 

back home, feeding it stray leaves 

for a few days or a week, and then 

slaughtering it in your garage 

or in the street in front of your 

house was common and a defining 

moment of Qurbani Eid. 

For many, this is still the case. 

There are, in fact, many who 

revel in the entire process to such 

a degree that they not only stay 

back to witness the cutting up of 

the meat, but also to take part in 

the actual slaughtering for extra 

brownie points. 

These are some reasons 

amongst many as to why the 

government and city corporations 

have had such a difficult time 

moving the slaughter away from 

the streets. 

Though many might not admit 

or remember, the actual Qurbani 

slaughter has always been an 

integral part of Eid culture. 

Of course, the blood poured 

over the streets and the smell 

stunk up the entire city. 

And we, donned in sandals and 

panjabis, meandered through the 

obstacle course of overflowing gut 

and stray flesh. 

Since then, there has been 

much improvement. But the Eid of 

Sacrifice has always, in a way, held 

up an essential mirror up to the 

forward-looking Muslims which 

inhabit any Islam-majority nation, 

a mirror that they are not wont to 

look at too clearly. 

Capitalism vs religion 

The initial problem exists, in 

a country such as Bangladesh, 

because of the hyper-capitalistic 

mentality of its economy and 

inhabitants which, in many 

ways, negate the lessons of the 

sacrifice. The very definition of 

sacrifice requires the giving up 

of something that is not only 

valuable in terms of money, which 

it has inevitably become, but 

also of intrinsic value to the one 

making the sacrifice. 

Of course, that has not 

remained the case for decades, if 

not centuries. 

The size and price of the cow 

rule the conversation. For a 

millionaire, the Tk100,000 cow 

is no actual sacrifice. There is 

nothing of value actually lost. 

Not that this is without benefit. 

With one-third of the proceedings 

going to the poor, the poor are 

benfitted greatly. But does this 

create an actual difference in 

poverty, or does it only provide a 

seasonal pat on the back for good 

and rich Muslims? 

Mounting hypocrisies 

Those who are sickened by the 

prospect of such slaughter but still 

eat meat or use animal products 

betray a mounting hypocrisy. In 

fact, when cattle is bought and fed 

in the comfort of your own garage, 

they are much better treated than 

if they were spending their last 

days in slaughterhouses. 

The Eid of Sacrifice, in its very 

nature, is not supposed to be an 

easy task. 

If it were easy, then whence 

cometh the sacrifice? Which 

is why, one presumes, there 

are those who choose to hold 

the blade themselves, for the 

dirty deed must be done by you 

yourself. 

These hypocrisies are 

inevitable. It is understandable 

that looking at death is much more 

difficult than listening to stories 

of it, when the lives of animals 

become mere numbers. But it’s 

important that these hypocrisies 

are recognised. 

I, like many of us, have felt 

empathy for animals, cared for 

them, and yet, when the life is 

taken out of them and placed on a 

plate in front with the appropriate 

seasoning, have devoured that 

same life with little to no thought 

to from where it came. 

But Muslims, and nations, have 

to recognise, more and more, that 

the flaws in the system of animal 

carnage are important to take 

note of, as they tell us where our 

priorities lie when it comes to our 

values as a society. 

With depleting resources, global 

warming, and the ever-changing 

nature of how we function as fluid 

cultures in an era of increasing 

globalisation, maybe these are 

signs we need to start taking 

seriously. 

Maybe the greatest sacrifice we 

can make right now is letting go 

of the many traditions and rituals 

which have, for the longest time, 

wrongly, defined us.• 

SN Rasul is an Editorial Assistant at the 

Dhaka Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @ 

snrasul.

14 


DT 

Opinion 

How Partition helped Muslims 

Bengali Muslims would have been worse off had there been no Partition 

A necessary division 

BIGSTOCK 

• Abdul Hannan 

The Partition that 

happened 70 years ago 

has generated much 

interest recently in the 

American and British press and 

television. Surprisingly, there has 

not been any significant discussion 

on the matter here -- although 

Bengali Muslims played a vital 

role in the struggle for Indian 

independence. 

The Partition of India and 

Pakistan was based on the twonation 

theory that Muslims and 

Hindus are two distinct nations. 

It was the August 1946 Calcutta 

Hindu Muslim communal riots 

that I witnessed as a boy of 12 

years of age, which precipitated 

the partition. 

The struggles of Muslims 

Nothing illustrates the condition 

of Muslims in pre-partition Muslim 

majority East Bengal better than 

the life sketch of my late father, 

born to a poor impoverished 

cultivator’s family. Muslims 

then were mostly a cultivator’s 

class deprived of economic 

opportunities of education, jobs, 

health care, hygiene, and housing. 

Whatever social opportunities 

were available were confined to 

the Hindus and patronised by the 

British who believed in “divide 

and rule.” They constituted what 

was known as Hindu bhodrolok 

community of lawyers, doctors, 

teachers, writers, businessmen, 

and government officials. 

The Muslims suffering from 

neglect, destitution, exclusion, 

and perpetual pain of debt were 

literally the hewers of wood and 

drawers of water for the Hindu 

landed gentry. 

In our village, my father was 

the first Muslim who completed 

his graduate studies with 

distinction because of his sheer 

determination in overcoming 

daunting circumstances, mostly 

of financial distress. He walked 10 

miles each day back and forth from 

his home to his school and college. 

He defrayed the expense of his 

education by engaging in private 

tuition of boys and girls. 

Pressed by poverty, he 

abandoned hopes for higher 

studies; and in order to support 

my grandfather’s family of nine 

I shudder to think 

of our fate in the 

absence of Partition 

children, he looked for a job. 

But in those days, it was not 

easy for Muslims to find a job 

without influence. Muslims then 

were virtually in a state of social 

segregation and apartheid. 

Forlorn and depressed, one 

day he showed up at a recruiting 

centre in police lines in our district 

town in Comilla. He was offered a 

job, at the lowest rung in the police 

department. He had no choice. 

Starvation was staring in the face 

of his family. 

It was in 1927 that he accepted 

the job, and he languished for 20 

years in subordinate positions 

as assistant sub-inspector 

of police, sub-inspector of 

police, and police inspector till 

Independence in August 1947, 

when he was promoted as deputy 

superintendent of police and 

moved from Calcutta to Dhaka 

-- the provincial capital of East 

Bengal, later named East Pakistan. 

The discrimination 

Dhaka in 1947, even after Partition, 

witnessed intermittent communal 

riots between Hindus and 

Muslims. Concerned about our 

security, my father sent me and 

my elder brother to Brahmanbaria, 

our sub-divisional hometown for 

admission in Annada High School, 

reputed for academic excellence. 

The tough looking Hindu 

headmaster Binod Behari Dev, 

with a pugnacious mustache, said 

in a gruff voice that there was 

no seat vacant in his school, and 

advised us to seek admission in 

George High School or Edward 

High School. Later we discovered 

that his high school was 

exclusively for Hindus. My father 

was adamant. 

We were finally admitted due 

to his insistent personal interest 

and the intervention of local 

authorities. In the evening, when I 

moved about in the town, I noticed 

that there was no sign of a Muslim 

presence in the society. 

I had the same experience in 

1951, when I moved for my college 

education to Faridpur, a district 

town where my father was posted. 

In Rajendra College, there was 

not a single Muslim professor in 

the faculty belt with the solitary 

exception of one who taught 

Urdu and Arabic. The names of all 

doctors, lawyers, and shops in the 

town bore distinctly Hindu names. 

As a child, I imagined in my 

naivete that Hindus were a 

superior race and Muslims lacked 

merit and talent. Hence we were 

left out of the loop of privilege. 

It was only later when I grew up 

that I realised that the causes 

of backwardness of Muslims 

was discrimination and a lack of 

economic opportunities to them. 

An unpleasant truth 

Years later in 1980, when I was 

serving as a first secretary in our 

diplomatic mission in Calcutta, I 

went to see Annada Shankar Roy, a 

noted Bengali writer and a former 

formidable Indian civil service 

(ICS) officer, the administrative 

arm of the British Raj. He looked 

at my visiting card and said that it 

was unfortunate for him to remain 

alive to see a Bengali introducing 

himself as a diplomat of a foreign 

country. 

I could not help but retort, 

pointing out the exploitation 

of Muslims by Hindus who 

treated Muslims most unfairly, as 

untouchables and outcasts. He 

looked at me with a grimace. It 

was clear he was not prepared for 

such a blunt unpleasant truth. 

During the remaining nine years 

of his career after Partition, my 

father received two promotions 

as additional superintendent of 

police and superintendent of 

police in quick succession. After 

retirement, he built a house 

in Dhanmondi. He raised his 

children with the best education 

opportunities he could afford. 

We have had the privilege and 

opportunity to spread out around 

the world and hold high-ranking 

jobs in the US and the UK. 

Thus, we were no longer 

a downtrodden class of 

poor peasants steeped in 

the stranglehold of poverty, 

deprivation, and ignorance. By 

now, we have climbed the social 

ladder and transformed of our 

lives from rural folks to urban 

elite in the course of less than 

15 years since Partition -- even 

within the limits of disparity and 

discrimination under Pakistan 

colonial rule, it was nothing short 

of miracle. 

Partition and its fruits 

It is apparent that Partition helped 

the social mobility of Muslims of 

East Bengal. The success story of 

my father and our family, typical 

of many more similar Muslim 

families, would have remained 

a far cry, a distant mirage in the 

absence of Partition. 

It is true that the aftermath 

of Partition left in its trail an 

enduring scar of dispossession, 

displacement, and blood of both 

communities. But it is equally true 

that it ushered in unprecedented 

opportunities for Muslims in East 

Bengal free from upper-class 

Hindu domination -- sadly, this 

is often the missing narrative to 

many in the new generation in 

Bangladesh. 

Some 37 million Muslims 

decided to stay back in India after 

Partition. The number has since 

swelled to 172 million. Indian 

Muslims are now being persecuted 

by Hindu lynch mobs on the 

rampage for eating or storing 

beef, harassed, and harried for 

marrying or dating Hindu girls, 

or are subjected to a campaign of 

conversion under BJP rule headed 

by Prime Minister Modi, far 

removed from Nehru’s secularism. 

I shudder to think of our fate in 

the absence of Partition. • 

Abdul Hannan is a columnist and former 

diplomat.

More than two’s a crowd 

Polygamy is just not OK 

Opinion 15 

DT 


woman works from dawn to dusk 

to build her home. Sometimes she 

does not even have the time to 

take a break. 

She works just as hard as her 

husband, and yet the husband 

occasionally abuses her. Unable to 

endure the abuse, she sometimes 

seeks shelter at her parental home, 

but they force her to return. Thus, 

she is forced to consent to her 

husband’s second marriage as she 

has no other option. 

Marriage is a sacred bond between two individuals who respect one another 

BIGSTOCK 

A woman’s ordeal 

In many cases then, whether 

through social and familial 

pressure or through financial 

dependence, a woman is 

compelled to agree to something 

that goes against her own 

happiness. 

Some of our laws have also 

given unfettered power to men 

over women, and resulted in the 

worst possible outcome, affecting 

the most vulnerable sectors of 

society. 

Polygamy is a very disrespectful 

and unjust practice that has 

historically been a part of many 

societies around the world, but has 

declined over time. 

In modern Bangladesh, there 

are only a few rural areas where 

polygamous marriages are still in 

• Miti Sanjana 

Last week, I was visiting 

one of the most beautiful 

cities in the Mediterranean 

basin, Cairo, Egypt. 

The city’s night sky is simply 

mesmerising, with thousands of 

stars like blinking neon lights; 

the shining silver moon was fully 

visible in the sky, and I could see 

its reflection in the Nile like a 

mirror. 

We were chauffeured in 

a private car with our own 

driver, a Mr Yaseer. He was very 

entertaining, and told us many 

stories about the places we toured. 

We had a hearty discussion on 

society, values, and attitudes 

towards life in our respective 

cultures. 

Then, at one point, he asked my 

husband whether he has just one 

wife or more. My husband replied, 

with a smile, that he has only one 

wife. Yaseer happily accepted the 

fact. 

The law and social values 

I asked Yaseer if the old tradition 

of polygamy is still in practice in 

Egypt, and he said yes. He went 

on to say that if a wife is unhappy, 

doesn’t smile, and is always 

grumpy, then it is fair and just for 

the husband to marry someone 

more beautiful and cheerful. 

I was a little shocked to hear 

this and I asked: “What if the man 

is just selfish and does not respect 

his wife?” 

I tried to make him understand 

that polygamy is not a good 

practice, and that it is disrespectful 

towards women, but my logical 

reasoning went right over his head 

and he was not at all convinced. 

I felt the pain that women 

in such cultures, in which this 

man’s attitude is the common 

attitude, must feel all the time: 

Like hundreds of arrows piercing 

thorough my heart. At least in 

Bangladesh the practice is much 

less common and usually looked 

down upon. 

According to the Marriages and 

Divorces (Registration) Act, 1974, 

a Muslim man in Bangladesh can 

marry up to four wives at the same 

time, subject to the permission of 

his existing wives. 

As per section 6(1) of the Act, 

no man -- during the subsistence 

of an existing marriage -- can 

contract another marriage without 

the permission of the arbitration 

council. 

An application for permission 

must be submitted to the council 

chairman stating the reasons for 

Just because something is not illegal does not 

make it right 

the proposed marriage and with 

the consent of the existing wife or 

wives. 

So, there is some legal provision 

to protect the woman’s rights in 

the marriage, but it is up to the 

arbitration council to ensure that 

the provision is followed -- that 

the consent of the existing wife 

(or wives) is sincere, and that she 

is not being coerced into it by her 

husband. 

The law provides that if the 

man wants to marry against the 

existing wife’s wishes, he must 

immediately pay her the entire 

amount of the dower already 

agreed upon. Failure to pay 

the dower will be an offence 

punishable with the maximum 

imprisonment of one year, or 

with a fine which may extend to 

Tk10,000, or both. 

Unfortunately, our society 

does not recognise a wife’s 

contributions to the marital home 

or the sacrifices she makes. A 

practice, but in urban areas the 

practice has drastically fallen. It 

is gratifying to see that though 

polygamous marriages are legal 

in Bangladesh, the percentage 

is much lower than the average 

rates found in other Eastern 

Mediterranean and African 

countries. 

Some people think polygamy 

is still acceptable. No! Slavery was 

legal at one time, but we know it’s 

not OK. Just because something is 

not illegal does not make it right. 

Why should, in today’s world, 

a woman have to undergo such 

an ordeal in order to maintain a 

marital home that she is already 

devoting her life to? 

Why should oppressive customs 

from medieval times still be used 

to torture women today? • 

Miti Sanjana is a Barrister-at-law from 

Honorable Society of Lincoln’s Inn 

and an Advocate of Supreme Court of 

Bangladesh, and an activist.

16 


DT 

Downtime 

CROSSWORD 

ACROSS 

1 Be concerned (4) 

5 Put into circulation (5) 

8 Keen insight (6) 

9 Bill of fare (4) 

10 Frozen formation (3) 

12 Duty list (6) 

13 Pay attention (6) 

15 Tentacle (6) 

18 Small horses (6) 

20 Drink (3) 

21 Insects (4) 

23 Bring out (6) 

24 Supple (5) 

25 Refuse (4) 

DOWN 

1 Ship of the desert (5) 

2 Top card (3) 

3 Ladder steps (5) 

4 Flightless bird (3) 

5 Chants (7) 

6 Slight parody (4) 

7 Water pitcher (4) 

11 Yield (4) 

12 Arbitrator (7) 

14 Worshipped image (4) 

16 Man’s name (5) 

17 Corroded (5) 

18 Container for liquids (4) 

19 That following (4) 

21 Assist (3) 

22 Metal (3) 

CODE-CRACKER 

How to solve: Each number in our 

CODE-CRACKER grid represents a 

different letter of the alphabet. For 

example, today 10 represents U so fill U 

every time the figure 10 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

Toshiba TEC Corporation 

and International Office 

Machines Limited have recently 

announced the launch of the 

e-STUDIO3508LP series – the 

first series of monochrome 

multifunction systems with 

Toshiba’s unique hybrid print 

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capable of printing conventional, 

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temporary, erasable documents 

using either regular black or 

erasable blue toner. The unique 

erasable function of the systems 

ensure that the toner on the 

temporary documents can be 

wiped out and the paper can then 

be reused for printing. 

Temporary documents are 

printed every day for proofreading, 

reviewing or as a 

reminder. These documents 

are usually thrown away after 

only a few hours. By being able 

to reuse regular office paper 

multiple times, the overall paper 

consumption can be reduced 

significantly. Toshiba’s hybrid 

copier’s rules-based printing 

feature enables users to select 

toner setting defaults based on 

the application. 

Printing temporary items, 

such as emails or documents for 

proofreading, can be designated 

in erasable toner (at 35 pages-perminute) 

to conserve paper. While 

more permanent documents such 

as receipts, insurance and onboarding 

forms may designated 

for monochrome output (at 45 

pages-per-minute). Additionally, 

Two renowned Indian specialist 

doctors along with their general 

physicians and surgery team have 

recently joined Zainul Haque 

Sikder Women’s Medical College 

and Hospital. The principal of 

the college, Dr Saiz Uddin Kabir 

introduced both the doctors 

yesterday at a press conference 

held at the conference room of 

the hospital. The doctors are 

Cardio Thoracic Surgeon Dr 

Lokesh BM and neuro surgeon Dr. 

Hariprakash Chakravarthy. 

Dr Lokesh BM is am expert 

of minimally invasive cardiac 

surgery who has already 

conducted more than 50 complex 

heart surgeries at ZH Sikder 

Women’s Medical College and 

Hospital with 0% mortality. Dr 

the product’s e-BRIDGE Paper 

Reuse Report reduces paper 

use and provides additional 

insight into an organisation’s 

environmental impact. 

“Many organisations are trying 

to reduce their CO2 footprint 

and be more environmentally 

friendly,” said Ahmad Ikram, 

head of product marketing 

business solutions, Toshiba 

TEC Singapore. “Toshiba’s new 

Hybrid Printing systems handle 

conventional printing and paper 

reusing in a single system. By 

reusing paper five times before 

recycling it, it is possible to save 

up to 80% of natural resources 

which are otherwise needed. 

Paper is indispensable for 

economic activities. Simply using 

less paper is desirable, but using 

it more effectively is even better.” 

The e-STUDIO3508LP series 

consists of two models with a 

print speed of 35 and 45 pages 

per minute (ppm) respectively for 

Lokesh used to work at Manipal 

Hospital, Apollo Hospital 

and Sri Jayadeva Institute of 

Cardiology in India previously. 

He is currently the chief cardio 

thoracic and vascular surgeon 

and the Hospital Administrator 

at ZH Sikder Medical College & 

Hospital. 

Dr Hariprakash Chakravarthy, 

on the other hand, joined the 

hospital as the chief brain 

and spine surgeon at the 

Neurosciences Institute. A 

famous neurosurgeon from 

Bangalore, India, Dr Hariprakash 

has over 10 years of experience 

in treating neurosurgical patients 

and has been trained under some 

of the best neurosurgeons in India 

and around the world. He has 

Biz Info 

Toshiba presents world’s first 

multifunctional hybrid printing system 

Promises erasable feature which reduces significant 

paper consumption 

permanent prints and 35 ppm on 

both models when printing with 

erasable toner. The series offers 

an extensive range of options and 

features to customise the systems 

according to a company’s needs. 

In order to support modern 

document workflow, the new 

models include the ability for 

cloud and mobile printing which 

can easily be connected to third 

party applications. With stateof-the-art 

security features, 

Toshiba’s Hybrid printing series 

ensures the highest possible data 

protection. 

The development of the 

unique hybrid print technology 

is yet another confirmation 

of Toshiba’s strong focus on 

environmental issues as one of its 

top management priorities. The 

e-STUDIO3508LP series has been 

designed to reduce the carbon 

footprint of companies and is 

one of Toshiba’s environmentally 

friendly products.• 

Introduction of Indian medical team at ZH Sikder 

Women’s Medical College 

already conducted more than 30 

complex brain tumor and spinal 

surgeries at the hospital and has 

previously worked at Sapthagiri 

Institute of Medical Science, 

MS Ramaiah Medical College & 

Research Institute India, Brain 

and Spine Hospital, and has also 

served as the registrar of the 

Department of Neurology, Apollo 

Hospital, India. • 

A seminar on “Strategic Accident 

Reduction Program (SARP): 

Joining Hands of Research 

and Realisation,” organised by 

Accident Research Institute 

(ARI), BUET was held on Sunday, 

August 27 at the BUET Council 

Building. A H M Mustafa Kamal, 

MP honourable minister, Ministry 

of Planning, Government of The 

People’s Republic of Bangladesh 

was present as the chief guest 

while Prof Dr Saiful Islam, 

honourable vice-Chancellor, 

BUET chaired the event. 

Among others, A K M 

17 


Seminar on strategic accident 

reduction program held at BUET 

Citibank, N.A. Bangladesh has 

won the Global Finance Magazine 

country award for excellence in 

digital banking across corporate 

and institutional banking for 

the tenth consecutive year. Citi 

also swept the country awards 

for Australia, Hong Kong, 

India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, 

Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, 

Singapore, South Korea, Sri 

Lanka, Philippines, Thailand, and 

Vietnam. 

Citi also won five regional 

sub-category awards, including 

the Most Innovative Digital Bank, 

Best Online Cash Management, 

Best Online Treasury Services, 

Best in Mobile Banking and Best 

Mobile Banking App. 

Rajesh Mehta, head of treasury 

and trade solutions (TTS), 

Citi’s Asia Pacific said, “We are 

honoured to be recognised by 

Global Finance for our efforts. 

Being truly digital is fundamental 

to our strategy. We continuously 

invest in the next generation 

of technology, intuitive user 

interfaces and advanced online 

Shahidul Hoque BPM, PPM, 

inspector general, Bangladesh 

Police, Ebne Alam Hasan, chief 

engineer, Roads and Highways 

Department, Md Moshiar 

Rahman, chairman, Bangladesh 

Road Transport Authority, 

Brigadier General Ali Ahmed 

Khan, PSc, director general, 

Bangladesh Fire Service and 

Civil Defense were present as 

special guests. Prof Dr Moazzem 

Hossain, director, ARI and 

professor, Department of Civil 

Engineering, BUET delivered the 

keynote speech at the seminar.• 

DT 

Citi Bangladesh sweeps Global 

Finance Magazine country award 

for tenth consecutive year 

analytics, and are early adopters 

in exciting areas such as robotics, 

predictive analytics, blockchain 

distributed ledger technologies, 

and digital identity solutions. 

Winning these awards would 

not have been possible without 

our clients, since we have a 

very client-centric approach to 

innovation and actively engage 

with them to co-create innovative 

and differentiated solutions that 

are relevant to them.” 

“Citi pioneered digital banking 

in Bangladesh and the ten 

consecutive Best Digital Bank 

awards signify Citibank’s 

stronghold in this crucial 

segment. Digital banking has 

transformed the way most 

businesses operate and Citibank 

has been paving the way with 

continued investment in 

technology and best-in-breed 

systems to design innovative 

solutions that meet clients’ 

evolving treasury management 

and trade needs,” said Moinul 

Huq, head of treasury and trade 

solutions, Citi Bangladesh.• 

Ispahani introduces Blender’s 

Choice black tea from Africa 

Ispahani, the pioneering 

beverage brand of Bangladesh 

has recently introduced 

world-class black tea from 

Africa. Their latest brand, 

Blender’s Choice Black 

Tea seems promising 

enough to draw in local tea 

connoisseurs. 

It is particularly 

exceptional because it 

combines the best of 

Bangladeshi and African 

blends. The blending experts 

at Ispahani tea go through a 

rigorous procedure to ensure 

that only the best, freshest 

and finest leaves are included 

in every Blender’s Choice 

pack. •

DT 

18 

Sports 


1ST TEST, DAY 2 

BANGLADESH 1ST INN 260 IN 78.5 

OVERS (Shakib 84, Tamim 71) 

AUSTRALIA 1ST INN OVERNIGHT 18/3 

IN 9 OVERS R B 

Renshaw c Soumya b Shakib 45 94 

Smith b Miraz 8 16 

Handscomb lbw b Taijul Islam 33 67 

Maxwell st Mushfiq b Shakib 23 39 

Wade lbw b Miraz 5 9 

Agar not out 41 97 

Cummins b Shakib 25 90 

Hazlewood c Imrul b Shakib 5 15 

Extras (b 15, lb 3, w 5) 23 

Total all out (74.5 Overs) 217 

Bowling 

Shafiul 6-0-21-0, Miraz 26-6-62-3, Shakib 

25.5-7-68-5, Taijul 8-1-32-1, Mustafizur 

8-3-13-0, Nasir 1-0-3-0 

Fall Of Wickets 

4-33 (Smith), 5-102 (Handscomb), 6-117 

(Renshaw), 7-124 (Wade), 8-144 (Maxwell), 

9-193 (Cummins), 10-217 (Hazlewood) 

BANGLADESH 2ND INNINGS R B 

Tamim not out 30 70 

Soumya c Khawaja b Agar 15 53 

Taijul not out 0 9 

Extras 0 

Total (22 Overs) 45/1 

Yet to bat 

Imrul, Sabbir, Shakib, Mushfiq, Nasir, Miraz, 

Shafiul and Mustafizur 

Bowling 

Hazlewood 3-1-3-0, Cummins 2-0-5-0, 

Lyon 9-3-11-0, Maxwell 3-0-17-0, Agar 

5-0-9-1 

Fall Of Wickets 

1-43 (Soumya) 

Bangladesh lead by 88 runs 

Bangladesh’s Mehedi Hasan Miraz bowls as Australia’s Glenn Maxwell looks on during day two of their first Test match in Mirpur yesterday 

Shakib five-for as Bangladesh 

enjoy near perfect day 

• Minhaz Uddin Khan 

Ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan 

registered a five-for in his 50th Test 

match for Bangladesh as the home 

side ended with a 88-run lead 

against Australia on day two in the 

first Test in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla 

National Stadium yesterday. 

The Tigers ended the day with 

45 runs on the board for the loss of 

oSoumya Sakrar’s (15) wicket in the 

second innings. 

This is only the second time the 

Tigers took a lead in a Test against 

the Aussies, courtesy Shakib’s 16th 

five-wicket haul. 

The world’s No 1 all-rounder in 

Tests, Shakib’s 16th five-for in the 

longest format meant he became 

only the fourth bowler - after Sri 

Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan and 

Rangana Herath and South Africa’s 

Dale Steyn - to bag five scalps in an 

innings against the nine Test-playing 

countries. 

At this point, Bangladesh are 

clearly in the driving seat and if 

they set any target close to 350, it 

should be a good total to test the 

Aussie batsmen. 

The day was near perfect for 

Bangladesh. 

After being restricted to 260 in 

the first innings, the Tigers had come 

back strong with the ball to skittle 

Australia out for 217 on day two. 

But the fall of Soumya in the 

second last over of the day should 

be a reason to regret. 

The left-handed batsman had 

walked into the middle with his 

opening partner Tamim Iqbal with 

the intention of surviving the remainder 

of the day. 

The 20-odd overs that the Bangladesh 

openers had faced were 

steady and errorless, until Soumya 

hit out against spinner Ashton Agar. 

Standing at long off, Usman 

Khawaja caught the ball after much 

juggling and parrying and the 

southpaw had to take the long walk 

back to the dressing room. 

The in-form Tamim stayed 

unbeaten on 30 alongside nightwatchman 

Taijul Islam, who was 

yet to open his account. 

Earlier, Bangladesh resumed the 

day with a lot of momentum, having 

removed three Australia batsmen 

for only 18 runs on the first day. 

It was important for the host to 

make early inroads with opener 

Matthew Renshaw and captain Steven 

Smith in the middle. 

And they did not have to wait 

long. 

Into the second over of the day, 

off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz 

cleaned up Smith for eight to leave 

the tourist reeling on 33 for four. 

MD MANIK 

Renshaw and middle-order 

batsman Peter Handscomb added 

a cameo partnership, posting 69 

for the fifth wicket before spinner 

Taijul Islam pinned Handscomb in 

front for 33. 

This paved the way for yet another 

debacle for Australia as the 

side slid from 102 for five to 144 for 

eight and saw Shakib take his wicket 

tally to three. 

Tail enders Pat Cummins and 

Agar resisted the Bangla spinners 

to add 49 to the board for the ninth 

wicket. 

The partnership however, would 

have ended early if Cummins’ 

catch was not spilled by sweeper 

cover fielder Shafiul Islam. 

Shakib then initiated the final 

blows in Australia’s innings as he 

dismissed Cummins for 25 and later 

No 11 Josh Hazlewood for five to 

end on a glorious note. • 

4 

IN NUMBERS 

Bowlers to have taken 

five-wicket hauls against 

nine different Test teams. Shakib 

al Hasan has joined Rangana 

Herath, Dale Steyn and Muttiah 

Muralitharan in this elite club. 

Shakib is easily the quickest to this 

feat having got there in his 50th 

Test match. 

Tests in which Shakib has 

8 scored a fifty and taken a fivewicket 

haul. Only Ian Botham has 

achieved this more often, having 

done so 11 times. 

Wickets taken by 

47 Bangladesh’s spinners out 

of the 48 taken by all their bowlers 

in the last three Tests played in 

Bangladesh. The only wicket taken 

by a pace bowler was by Kamrul 

Islam Rabbi. 

Australia’s lowest 

217 team score against 

Bangladesh, in six innings. This 

is also the second instance of 

Bangladesh getting a lead against 

Australia. They took a first-innings 

lead of 158 in Fatullah in 2006. 

- Scores between 15 and 35 for 

7 Peter Handscomb in his nine 

innings in Asia. He has one 50-plus 

score, against India in Ranchi. 

Handscomb averages 28.87 from 

nine innings in Asia.

‘Had plans to bowl to Smith round the wicket’ 

• Minhaz Uddin Khan 

Having removed three Australia 

batsmen in quick succession with 

only 18 runs on the board in nine 

overs, Bangladesh needed to hold 

onto the momentum and initiate 

early blows on day two with visiting 

captain Steven Smith and opener 

Matthew Renshaw at the crease. 

Astonishingly, host Bangladesh 

did not have to wait long as 

off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz 

dismissed Smith only in the third 

over of the day. 

This is considered to be the 

turning point for Bangladesh in the 

game as Australia suffered a debacle 

to end their first innings on 217, 

replying to Bangladesh’s 260. 

At stumps, the Tigers were in 

Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal glances one towards the on-side 

Agar: I believe we can chase any target 

• Ali Shahriyar Bappa 

Australia spinner Ashton Agar believes 

Australia can turn the first 

Test match around, despite being 

in the backfoot against Bangladesh 

after day two in Mirpur’s Sher-e- 

Bangla National Cricket Stadium 

yesterday. 

The Aussies were bundled out 

for 217 runs and the Tigers finished 

the day on 45 for the loss of 

Soumya Sarkar’s wicket, a lead of 

88 on a turning wicket. 

Anything around 250 could be 

a challenging total to chase on a 

spinning track like this where 21 

wickets fell in the first two days. 

the driving seat with a 88-run lead 

and nine wickets in hand. 

According to Miraz, Bangladesh 

had a set plan for the Australia captain, 

which was to make him play 

round the wicket. 

“We had a plan for him (Smith). 

Mushfiqur [Rahim] bhai had told 

me on the first day to bowl to him 

round the wicket as it makes it 

difficult for him to play. He does 

not get to use his feet and tends 

to play on the front foot. This 

creates opportunity for the ball 

to turn and go either towards the 

stumps or end up in a catch. I tried 

to follow the plan and it worked,” 

Mehedi explained at the postday 

press conference in Mirpur’s 

Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium 

yesterday. 

“I believe that we can chase anything 

because I think we can bowl 

them out pretty quickly [today]. 

It’s going to be hard, any lead is 

competitive out there at the moment 

with the way the wicket’s going, 

but I’m sure our batters will all 

learn from our first innings,” Agar 

told the media yesterday after the 

day’s play. 

“We’re positive. We’ve had a 

pretty good fightback [yesterday] 

and anything can happen on this 

wicket. Things happen so quickly 

when the ball’s spinning and 

turning and as you saw [yesterday] 

a few of them really jumped, so 

we’re confident that if we get on a 

Sports 

With the substantial lead and 

wickets in hand, Miraz believes any 

target above 300 will be enough for 

the Tigers to keep the Test against 

Australia in control. 

“We do not have any specific 

target, rather we want to put a 

big score on the board. We plan 

to score as much as possible. But 

given the behaviour of the wicket, 

I think any total above 300 will be 

good enough for us,” said the former 

Bangladesh U-19 captain. 

Bangladesh’s job with the ball 

was made easy by ace all-rounder 

Shakib al Hasan. 

A record five-wicket haul by the 

left-arm spinner was key for the 

home side to restrict Australia for 

217 in the first innings. 

Shakib’s 16th five-wicket haul in 

bit of a roll [today] we can knock 

them over,” he said. 

Agar praised Bangladesh’s spin 

trio of Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Taijul 

Islam and Shakib al Hasan for their 

brilliant performance with the ball. 

“They bowled quite well to their 

credit, their spinners were really 

accurate, it was quite tough out 

there at times and you just have to 

wait for a bad ball and something 

you can capitalise on as a batsman,” 

he said. 

While Agar informed that the 

pitch is becoming more difficult 

for batsmen, Bangladesh batters 

played well against them in the late 

session of day two. 

the longest format saw him emerge 

as the fourth bowler after Sri Lanka’s 

Muttiah Muralitharan and 

Rangana Herath and South Africa’s 

Dale Steyn to bag a five-for against 

nine Test-playing countries. 

“Shakib bhai has been 

dominating (the world) as an allrounder 

in all the three formats 

of the game. It feels good and I’m 

proud to see our country have an 

all-rounder like him, and that I 

am able to play alongside him in 

the team. No words are enough to 

describe him. I feel happy that he 

holds so many records and that 

I play with him and get to learn 

from his experience,” said Miraz, 

who also contributed significantly 

to Bangladesh’s cause by notching 

three wickets. • 

MD MANIK 

Agar admitted their spin department 

has to bowl accurately to trouble 

the Bangladesh batsmen today. 

“It’s definitely getting a bit 

harder. It’s going to get harder and 

harder to bat on. This is what spinners 

love, when the ball jumps and 

spins, especially off the good part 

of the wicket. This is what we really 

like,” he explained. 

“You have to remain patient 

though, they’re good players of 

spin, and they played it pretty well 

tonight so me, Gazza (Nathan Lyon) 

and Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) are going 

to have to be patient and really 

accurate [today] and hopefully we 

get our rewards,” he concluded. • 

19 


MOMENTS OF 

THE DAY 

Smith wicket sets the tone 

Australia were under pressure after 

their mini collapse on day one. A lot 

was expected form overnight batsmen 

Matthew Renshaw and captain 

Steven Smith. Particularly Smith, 

who is currently the No 1 batsman 

in the world, according to the ICC 

Test ranking. But youngster Mehedi 

Hasan Miraz struck immediately in 

the third over of the day by claiming 

the vital wicket of Smith. 

Soumya’s madness 

Soumya Sarkar got out cheaply for 

eight in the first innings. There was a 

little bit pressure on him in the second 

innings. The left-hander started his 

innings with much more composure 

compared to the first innings. 

Bangladesh were cruising nicely in 

the second innings. Both the openers 

Soumya and Tamim Iqbal batted confidently 

and were heading towards a 

flawless session. But suddenly, a mad 

looking shot from Soumya ended his 

promising innings and Bangladesh 

had to face a nervous few overs at the 

end. The way Soumya got out was really 

shocking as he charged down the 

ground against spinner Ashton Agar 

in the 21st over and lofted a shot over 

mid on. Australia’s Usman Khawaja did 

fumble a few times but caught it in the 

end. Soumya was lucky just two overs 

ago against off-spinner Nathan Lyon 

when his defensive shot saw the ball 

roll back to the stumps. The stumps 

were touched slightly but the bails did 

not drop. But Soumya did not capitalise 

from that touch of fortune. 

Fizz checks the runs 

Pacer Mustafizur Rahman was one of 

the main threats stated by Australia 

prior to the start of the Test match. The 

left-arm paceman hasn’t picked up any 

wicket so far but bowled well in good 

channels. He bowled two crucial spells 

in the innings. Australia formed a slight 

resistance after Smith fell early in the 

day. Renshaw and Peter Handscomb 

formed a valuable 69-run partnership 

for the fifth wicket. After Renshaw got 

out, all-rounder Glenn Maxwell came 

in. At that stage, Mustafizur came 

on to bowl his first spell and bowled 

accurately. In the second spell, he also 

bowled in a good trajectory and did not 

give any room to the batsmen to score. 

Shafiul’s drop proves costly 

Australia were wobbling at one 

stage, having lost their eighth 

wicket for 144. From there, No 9 

batsman Pat Cummins and Agar 

formed a valuable 49-run stand 

which helped Australia get close to 

Bangladesh’s total. But that vital 

partnership could have been broken 

earlier if Shafiul Islam did not miss 

a relatively easy catch of Cummins 

off all-rounder Shakib al Hasan’s 

bowling. The incident happened in 

the last ball of the 54th over when 

the scoreboard read 166. 

Ali Shahriyar Bappa 

DT

20 


DT 

Wenger: Arsenal performance 

absolutely disastrous 

• Reuters, Liverpool 

Arsenal’s performance in their 4-0 

Premier League loss at Liverpool on 

Sunday was “absolutely disastrous”, 

their manager Arsene Wenger said 

after a game in which the club’s fans 

again called for his removal. 

A lacklustre Arsenal were outplayed 

by a rampant Liverpool with 

some dreadful defensive mistakes 

and a complete absence of energy 

throughout the side. 

“The result is a consequence 

of our performance. We were not 

good enough. We were beaten 

everywhere physically, in the end I 

believe we made it easier for them, 

and the mistakes gave them a cushion,” 

Wenger told reporters. 

“Our performance was absolutely 

disastrous. Not to become 

too emotional, we have to take 

some distance, and there are some 

reasons behind it, and the players 

now go on their international 

break, but we do have to take the 

consequences of our performance 

today,” added the Frenchman. 

Asked about the fans chant of 

Sports 

‘We Want Wenger Out’ at Anfield, 

Wenger said: “I don’t want to answer 

that, that’s part of the crowd’s 

feelings. If I am the problem, I am 

sorry, but I believe all together we 

lose. The only thing we can do is 

come back and give them a better 

level of performance.” 

Wenger was unable to pinpoint a 

specific area that let Arsenal down. 

“From the first to the last minute, 

not physically, not technically 

not mentally we were not at the 

level and we were punished. It was 

a tough day. You can analyse the 

EPL 

Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal 

Firmino 17, Mane 40, 

Salah 57, Sturridge 77 

Tottenham 1-1 Burnley 

Alli 49 Wood 90+2 

Chelsea 2-0 Everton 

Fabregas 27, Morata 40 

WBA 1-1 Stoke 

Rodriguez 61 Peter Crouch 77 

chances we gave away but overall 

the performance was not at the requested 

level,” he said. 

Wenger suggested he had an 

explanation for the display but did 

not want to share his viewpoint. • 

Asensio magic 

rescues Real 

against Valencia 

• Reuters, Barcelona 

Spanish champion Real Madrid 

had to rely on two stunning strikes 

from a relentless Marco Asensio as 

they drew 2-2 at home to Valencia 

on Sunday while Sevilla grabbed a 

scarcely deserved first win of the 

campaign by beating Getafe 1-0. 

Asensio, 21, delighted the Santiago 

Bernabeu with a long- range 

opening strike but Valencia scored 

two impressive team goals either 

side of the break through homegrown 

youngster Carlos Soler and 

debutant Geoffrey Kondogbia. 

Marcelino’s side led with 13 

minutes to go, forcing Asensio to 

rescue Real with a superb free kick 

in the 83rd minute. 

Real missed the presence of their 

talisman Cristiano Ronaldo and 

captain Sergio Ramos through suspension 

but almost stole the three 

points in stoppage-time when Karim 

Benzema’s shot was turned on to the 

post by Valencia goalkeeper Neto. 

“We’ve paid for the intense 

month we’ve had,” said Real defender 

Dani Carvajal after his side’s 

fifth competitive game in 20 days. 

Sevilla, who finished fourth last 

season, produced another unconvincing 

display at Getafe and are still 

finding their feet under Berizzo, but 

earned the win thanks to a moment 

of inspiration from Ganso. • 

LA LIGA 

Real 2-2 Valencia 

Asensio 10, 83 Soler 18, 

Kondogbia 77 

Getafe 0-1 Sevilla 

Ganso 83 

Espanyol 0-1 Leganes 

Mantovani 28 

Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge scores their fourth goal against Arsenal during their Premier League match in Liverpool on Sunday 

BCB to hold AGM, EGM on September 30 

• Tribune Report 

The BCB is set to have its Annual General 

Meeting and Extraordinary General 

Meeting on September 30 this year. 

The BCB in a meeting yesterday took 

the decision, given it has now received a 

copy of the Supreme Court’s verdict on 

the “amendment of constitution of the 

board” issue. 

The SC in July this year ruled BCB’s 

appeal to hold right to amend its constitution. 

Headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar 

Sinha, a three-member bench of the 

Appellate Division passed the order after 

disposing an appeal filed by the BCB and 

National Sports Council. 

The appeal was filed against a High 

Court verdict. 

The verdict had declared an amendment 

to the BCB’s constitution, made by 

the NSC, illegal back in January 2013. 

The HC that year termed the amended 

BCB constitution illegal, citing reasons 

that the NSC did not hold the authority 

to make the change. This was after a writ 

petition was filed by cricket organisers 

Yousuf Jamil Babu and Mobasher Hossain. 

“We had a few important decisions 

to make from which we have decided to 

hold the AGM and EGM on September 

30. A committee has been formed to do 

the needful for the AGM and EGM. Enayet 

Hossain Siraj, Mahbub Anam, Ismail 

Haider Mallick, Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan 

and BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury 

are the members of the committee,” informed 

BCB president Nazmul Hasan to 

the media yesterday. 

The board has also decided to make a 

Tk two crore donation for the flood victims 

from the fund that was allocated for 

the BPL T20 2017 opening ceremony. 

BCB had cancelled the plan earlier but 

decided the amount of the contribution 

yesterday. 

The BCB has already participated in 

aiding the victims earlier this week with 

relief products. 

“We will not have any opening ceremony 

for BPL. We have already visited 

a place with relief products for the flood 

victims and [yesterday] approved budget 

for more relief,” said Nazmul. 

“At the same time we have decided 

to hand over Tk two crore to the Prime 

Minister Sheikh Hasina. The board 

has decided not to have any opening 

ceremony in BPL this year, rather use the 

fund for the flood victims,” the BCB boss 

added. • 

REUTERS 

Eibar 0-1 Athletic 

Aduriz 38 

BCB HP squad named for 

United Kingdom tour 

• Tribune Report 

Led by Nazmul Hasan, a 16-member BCB High Performance 

team are set to tour the United Kingdom next 

month. 

The BCB announced the squad yesterday, naming six 

stand-bys. 

Nazmul will have Tanbir Hayder as his deputy. 

The BCB HP Unit during their 14-day long tour will 

play eight 50-over matches. 

The tourist will play matches against the second XI 

teams of Nottingham, Northants, Lancashire, Warwickshire, 

Worcestershire and MCCYC. 

Squad: Nazmul Hossain (C), Zakir Hasan (WK), 

Mosaddek Hossain, Shadman Islam, Tanbir Hayder 

(VC), Irfan Sukkur, Yasir Ali, Saifuddin, Al Amin, Mehedi 

Hasan, Jubair Hossain, Abu Haider, Ebadat Hossain, Imran 

Ali, Syed Khalid and Subashish Roy 

Stand-bys : Mehedi Siddiqui, Azmir Ahmed, Abul 

Hasan, Abu Jayed and Nihaduzzaman •

Sports 

21 


DT 

McGregor eyes more money fights as Mayweather retires 

• Reuters, Las Vegas 

DAY’S WATCH 

CRICKET 

STAR SPORTS SELECT HD 1 

9:50AM 

Australia Tour Of Bangladesh 2017 

1st Test, Day 3 

STAR SPORTS SELECT 2 

3:58PM 

West Indies Tour Of England 2017 

2nd Test, Day 5 

TENNIS 

STAR SPORTS SELECT HD 1 

9:00PM 

US Open Tennis 2017 

England lead by 188 in 

gripping Windies Test 

• Reuters, Leeds 

England had built a lead of 188 runs 

over West Indies with three wickets 

remaining at tea on the fourth 

day of the second Test at Headingley 

yesterday to give themselves a 

fighting chance of victory. 

After losing skipper Joe Root for 

72 in the morning session a patient 

61 off 186 balls from Dawid Malan 

and a more aggressive 58 from Ben 

Stokes gave England confidence of 

setting West Indies a challenging 

total to chase. 

Malan and Stokes put on 91 runs 

for the fifth wicket partnership 

before Stokes was well caught by 

Floyd Mayweather of the US and Conor McGregor of Ireland pose in the post-fight conference in the USA on Sunday REUTERS 

Kraigg Brathwaite on the long-off 

boundary. 

Spinner Roston Chase bowled 

Malan before picking up the crucial 

wicket of Jonny Bairstow (18), who 

dragged on when reverse-sweeping. 

West Indies had earned a 169- 

run lead from the first innings but 

could now face a challenging total 

on the final day as they look to level 

the three-Test series. 

Earlier, Root was caught at gully 

by Shai Hope who grabbed the 

ball at the second attempt after 

the England captain was unable to 

keep down a sharply rising delivery 

from Shannon Gabriel. • 

Described as the fight the fans 

asked for by the executives who 

made it happen, Saturday’s clash 

between Floyd Mayweather and 

Conor McGregor was only ever 

about one thing - money. 

Having beaten the Irish pretender 

with a 10th-round technical 

knockout, Mayweather can retire 

with a perfect 50-0 record and a payday 

said to be worth up to 300m dollars, 

and the American has promised 

never to return to the ring. 

McGregor, however, is a different 

story. 

His 30-million-dollar purse for 

the fight is 10 times his previous 

best disclosed purse from the Ultimate 

Fighting Championship, 

where, as he says, he endures 

“shinbones to the head” as he 

makes his living. 

In the altogether more genteel 

surroundings of the boxing ring, he 

made a lot more money with a lot 

less damage, and his appetite has 

surely been whetted by the enormous 

riches on offer. 

McGregor has made no secret of 

his desire for more. 

Asked what he liked most about 

his boxing experience, “Money” 

Mayweather prompted UFC lightweight 

champion McGregor to say 

the cash. 

“The cheque is alright. The 

cheque is not bad,” the Irishman 

laughed as he sipped his own “Notorius”-brand 

whiskey on the podium 

of the post-fight media conference. 

“I’ve already been raising the 

MMA (mixed martial arts) cheques. 

I’m still going to be raising the 

MMA cheques when I go back 

there,” he added. 

The 29-year-old has started his 

own website, a clothing line and a 

Sharma ton seals India series win 

• Reuters, Pallekele 

Opener Rohit Sharma smashed an 

unbeaten 124 to help India overcome 

a top-order wobble and register 

a series-clinching six-wicket 

victory in the third one-day international 

against Sri Lanka on Sunday. 

Paceman Jasprit Bumrah laid 

the foundation for India’s victory 

with a career-best 5-27 to help restrict 

Sri Lanka to 217-9 at the Pallekele 

International Cricket Stadium. 

India slumped to 61-4 in 14 overs 

but Sharma and Mahendra Singh 

Dhoni accomplished the chase with 

an unbroken 157-run stand to put India 

3-0 up in the five-match series. 

The match was held up towards 

the end when irate fans, who have 

been protesting since India blanked 

Sri Lanka 3-0 in the preceding test 

series, hurled water bottles and 

forced the players off the ground 

for about half an hour. 

Earlier, Sri Lanka captain Chamara 

Kapugedera won the toss but the 

host did not get the kind of start they 

needed. Bumrah dismissed Niroshan 

Dickwella and Kusal Mendis to 

reduce Sri Lanka to 28-2 before Lahiru 

Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal 

tried to steady the innings. 

Once Hardik Pandya dismissed 

Chandimal for 36, Sri Lanka lost 

wickets at regular intervals and did 

not get any significant partnership. 

Bumrah dismissed Thirimanne for 

80 and accounted for the wickets of 

number of other businesses, and 

he was clearly delighted to see the 

logo of his latest venture, McGregor 

Sports and Entertainment, in 

the ring at Saturday’s fight. 

The value of his brand, however, 

stems from what he does in the 

ring or the octagon and the brash 

personality he displays as he goes 

about his sporting business. 

UFC president Dana White is 

keen for McGregor’s boxing experiment 

to end sooner rather than 

later, and said that he was in a position 

to offer McGregor similar riches 

for mixed martial arts bouts. 

“If our fights do what the (payper-view) 

buys did here tonight, 

and the gate, we’ll all be good, trust 

me. Nobody will be bitching about 

anything,” White told reporters. 

“It takes two very special people 

in the right place at the right time 

to do the freakish kind of numbers 

and the watercooler talk that these 

guys had. You’ve got to have the 

right people in the right place at the 

right time.” 

With Mayweather, holder of 

a handful of the biggest pay-perview 

sales of all time, vacating the 

stage at the age of 40, there is an 

opening for McGregor to move in 

and take over as the biggest draw 

in combat sports. • 

England's Ben 

Stokes in action 

against the West 

Indies during 

day four of their 

second Test in 

Leeds yesterday 

REUTERS 

Akila Dananjaya and Milinda Siriwardana. 

India started their reply weakly. 

Opener Shikhar Dhawan 

dragged a Lasith Malinga delivery 

on to his stumps and skipper Virat 

Kohli flicked Vishwa Fernando to 

the long leg fielder. 

Dananjaya’s six-wicket haul had 

nearly derailed India’s chase in the 

previous match and the off-spinner 

dismissed KL Rahul and the Kedar 

Jadhav cheaply to rekindle Sri Lanka’s 

hopes of staying alive in the series. •

22 


DT 

Showtime 

• Showtime Desk 

The MTV Video Music Awards 

(VMAs) is an anticipated night 

for both pop music lovers and 

artists. The 2017 MTV Video Music 

Awards were held on August 

27 at The Forum in Inglewood, 

California. Honouring music 

videos released between June 25, 

2016 and June 23, 2017, the 34th 

annual award show, which is often 

referred as the “Super Bowl for 

youth» was hosted by Katy Perry. 

A politically charged VMA night 

Aside from the mind-blowing 

performances by the leading pop 

artists, this year’s VMAs were also 

dominated by political statements 

at a fiery show in Los Angeles 

on Sunday night as artists were 

seen to be vocal against white 

supremacy and urged suicide 

awareness throughout the show. 

Days after US President Donald 

Highlights from 

2017 VMA's 

Trump signed a directive to 

ban them, transgender military 

personnel also attended the 

grandiose ceremony. To make their 

stance against hatred and white 

supremacy clearer, the mother 

of Heather Heyer, killed during a 

protest against a far-right march, 

was seen presenting an award. 

A night of Kendrick Lamar 

Kendrick Lamar, who kicked off 

the night, set the stage ablaze with 

his audacious, high-energy set 

performance, followed by some 

adrenaline- pumping stunts. The 

rapper, who led the night with 

eight nominations, won for best 

video, best hip-hop video, best art 

direction, best visual effects, best 

cinematography and best direction. 

Taylor Swift hits back against 

haters 

While Taylor Swift took home 

the evening’s Best Collaboration 

honor, she also had the privilege of 

debuting her new music video in 

the show. 

The highly anticipated video 

for her track “Look What You 

Made Me Do” premiered during 

the primetime awards show, only 

to provoke legions of commentary 

online and IRL. 

The vengeful video of the singer 

has already garnered 4.5million 

views on Youtube since its VMA 

premiere early Sunday evening. 

The full list of winners: 

Video of the Year: Kendrick Lamar - Humble 

Artist of the Year: Ed Sheeran 

Best collaboration: Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift - I Don’t Wanna 

Live Forever 

Best New Artist: Khalid 

Best Hip Hop: Kendrick Lamar - Humble 

Best Dance: Zedd and Alessia Cara - Stay 

Best Pop: Fifth Harmany feat. Gucci Mayne - Down 

Best Fight Against the System: The Hamilton Mixtape - Immigrants 

(We Get the Job Done), Alessia Cara - Scars to Your Beautiful, 

John Legend - Surefire, Logic feat Damian Lemar Hudson - Black 

Spiderman, Big Sean - Light, Taboo feat. Shaliene Woodley - Stand 

up/ Stand N Rock #NoDapl 

Best Direction: Dave Meyers and The Little Homies (for Kendrick 

Lamar - Humble) 

Best Cinematography: Kendrick Lamar - Humble 

Best Art Direction: Kendrick Lamar - Humble 

Best Choreography: Kanye West - Fade 

Song of the Summer: Lil Uzi Ver - XO Tour L1if3 

Best Visual Effects: Katy Perry feat. Skip Marley - Chained to the 

Rhythm 

Best Editing: Young Thug - Wyclef Jean 

Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award - Pink 

Outstanding performances 

Katy Perry’s failure to capture 

the audience with her not-socharming 

hosting skills was 

reimbursed by some absolutely 

outstanding performances by 

the participating artists. Fifth 

Harmony performed a medley of 

“Down” and “Angel” featuring 

Gucci Mane and won over 

the crowd, while Miley Cyrus 

performed “Younger now”. Other 

outstanding performances of the 

night included, Pink’s medley of 

“Get the party started,” “Raise 

your glass,” “So what,” “Just give 

me a reason,” “Perfect,” “What 

about us,” “Don’t let me get me” 

and “Blow me (one last kiss)”, 

Logic’s “1-800-273-8255” featuring 

Alessia Cara and Khalid, which 

promoted a suicide awareness 

among the audience.• 

Zayed’s screen comeback 


Zayed Khan, good looking star 

kid of Bollywood was not as 

successful as his father Sanjay 

Khan, who is still famous for his 

historical presence as Tipu Sultan. 

Zayed Khan is most known for 

his role in the film Main Hoon Naa 

and other films like Fight Club 

and Blue. Not all of his films were 

successful back then. But now the 

actor is all set to return on-screen. 

This time though, Zayed has 

chosen to make his presence felt 

on the smaller screen with the TV 

series Haasil. 

Haasil is being pegged as 

a romantic thrill er and it will 

be a finite series, with limited 

episodes. The initial impression 

about the series has been positive 

so far. Zayed has also shared 

some photos from the sets of 

his comeback vehicle on his 

Instagram. 

In an earlier interview with 

indianexpress.com, Haasil 

producer Siddharth P Malhotra 

had shared, “Zayed has been 

a friend for long and I always 

had him in my mind for this 

role. When I met him at a party 

recently and offered him this 

role, he happily said yes. As an 

actor, he too wanted something 

substantial and he seems really 

excited about this project.” 

The show also stars Vatsal 

Sheth and Nikita Dutta, who 

had made her debut with Ranbir 

Kapoor‘s cousin Armaan Jain in 

the movie Lekar Hum Deewana 

Dil and starred in the serial Ek 

Duje Ke Vaaste. Zayed plays a 

business tycoon Ranvir Raichand, 

who, as per the promo likes to 

wear good suits, walk in slow 

motion and look menacing. •

Showtime 

23 


DT 

A small film with a big heart is making the 

international film festival circuit 

It’s almost the end of the 

month and Ronny’s mother has 

to be creative about her cooking, 

considering she has limited 

resources. She’s making egg curry 

and khichuri (lentils and rice) for 

the family. 

High in calories, low in cost, 

but leaves the family feeling 

gastronomically satisfied. While 

everyone is having a miserable 

day, Bangladesh is playing a dream 

final with the game reaching a nail 

biting last over. • 


A short film made in Bangladesh 

is making a big name of itself in 

the international film circuit. Life 

in Other Words, directed by Abrar 

Athar has been nominated for the 

San Jose International Short Film 

Festival. 

The movie has a Wes Anderson 

feel to it the way it channels 

nostalgia of growing up. The plot 

of the movie circles around a day 

in the Kabir family’s life. The apple 

of their eye, their son Ronny, once 

again failed class five and has to 

repeat another year. 

Kabir Shaheb wishes the sun 

would not rise so he can avoid all 

possible human interaction. Ronny 

has put the family to shame and 

Kabir Shaheb feels he can never 

hold his head up high in society. 

Their daughter Reenu has had 

enough with her company. She 

has threatened to quit because 

the promise of a much deserved 

pay rise hasn’t materialised. To 

make matters worse, there are the 

unending sweaty bus rides full 

of lecherous men harassing her 

everyday. 

Rock from the 90s 


A mega album titled Aabar with 

38 songs from the artists of 33 

rock bands, which either got 

their breakthrough or had been 

admired by fans in the 1990s, 

recently hit the market. With an 

album cover the size of an EP, the 

album comprises of three CDs, 

and a booklet which recounts 

the history of rock music in 

Bangladesh. 

The album was launched in a 

ceremony held on Saturday in the 

capital which was graced by Foad 

Nasser Babu, Nakib Khan, Labu 

Rahman and Omar Khalid Rumi, 

among others. Ferdous Bappy 

hosted the launching ceremony. 

Bands like Feedback, 

Renaissance, Ark, Different 

Touch, Paper Rhyme, Pentagon 

and Winning have contribution 

to the effort which is brought to 

the market under the banner of 

Ashik Music. 

Gohare Ashik, the CEO of the 

music production company, has 

co-ordinated the whole musical 

project while the rest of the 

bands include Bangladesh, Blue 

Birds, Blue Hornet, Blue Ocean, 

Cadence, Digital, Dreamland, 

Faith, Eves, Monitor, Music 

Touch, New Eves, Nexus, 

Northern Star, Octave, Odyssey, 

Pulse, Spark, Spartan, Starling, 

Sudden, Tarun Band, Tirthok, 

The Kid, The Words and Winds. 

Labu Rahman, guitarist and 

vocalist of Feedback, wrote on 

social media, “Lots of Band 

singers from 90’s came up with a 

Band mix with new songs. In one 

album with three CD’s. Including 

the history of Band music of 

Bangladesh.” 

“Please appreciate good music 

by buying it,” Rahman requested 

everyone to buy the music to give 

a boost to the struggling industry. 

The album is available in 

major music shops. • 

Kit Harington and Liv Tyler 

in BBC historical drama 


The BBC has released 

the images and a 

special teaser of the 

Game of Thrones 

actor Kit Harington’s 

upcoming drama 

Gunpowder, a 

historical thriller also 

starring Liv Tyler, on 

Monday. 

Kit Harington and 

The Lord of the Rings: 

The Fellowship of the Ring actress 

will be seen for the first time in the 

explosive new drama. 

Kit Harington plays Robert 

Catesby in the forthcoming BBC 

One drama, a Warwickshire 

gentleman who was the 

mastermind behind the plan to 

blow up the Houses of Parliament 

on November 5, 1605. Tom Cullen 

from Downton Abbey plays Guy 

Fawkes, the figure that many 

viewers will be more familiar 

with, which can be seen alongside 

Harington in a first-look trailer. 

While Liv Tyler plays Catesby’s 

cousin Anne Vaux, who gets 

caught up in the plot. 

The short teaser depicts a trail 

of gunpowder leading to a cellar 

where Fawkes is waiting, but when 

the camera pans further round it 

shows Catesby standing behind 

him narrating the clip. 

In a primetime Saturday 

night slot, the three-part drama 

will air on BBC One this fall. 

The fast-paced period thriller 

relates the famous story of the 

“Gunpowder Plot,” a 17th-century 

conspiracy to blow up the British 

House of Lords in an attempt to 

assassinate King James I. The 

event is commemorated every 

November 5 in Britain as Guy 

Fawkes Day, named after one of 

the conspirators. •

24 


DT 

20 CATTLE MARKETS TO 

OPEN TOMORROW › 7 

Back Page 

MCGREGOR EYES MORE MONEY FIGHTS 

AS MAYWEATHER RETIRES › 18 

ROCK FROM 

THE 90S › 23 

Shakib, number one for a reason 

• Ali Shahriyar Bappa 

Shakib al Hasan, the No 1 all-rounder 

of the world, has reached another 

milestone in his glittering career 

as he became the fourth bowler 

in Test match history to claim 

five-wicket hauls against nine 

Test-playing nations. 

Such rare feats have been 

achieved by only three bowlers before 

– Sri Lankan spin duo Muttiah 

Muralitharan and Rangana Herath 

and South Africa fast bowler Dale 

Steyn. 

Shakib has claimed five wickets 

against Zimbabwe three times, 

twice against England, New Zealand, 

South Africa and Sri Lanka 

and once against India, Pakistan 

and Australia. 

Shakib’s bowling figure stands 

as 25.5-7-68-5 after the first innings. 

Shakib broke the threatening 

partnership between opener Matthew 

Ranshew and middle-order 

batsman Peter Handscomb by dismissing 

the latter during the 33rd 

over. 

Shakib also removed the dangerous 

Glenn Maxwell in the 43rd 

over when he beat him for flight 

and wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim 

did the rest by stumping him. 

And at the end, when Australia 

built resistance through their late 

order, adding 49 runs for the ninth 

SHAKIB TEST CAREER (BOWLING) 

Innings Wkts BBI BBM Ave ER SR 

83 181 7/36 10/124 33.04 3.02 65.6 

Haryana guru gets 20 years for rape 


WORLD 

An Indian court on Monday sentenced 

a controversial spiritual 

leader to a total of 20 years in prison 

for raping two of his devotees, 

days after his followers went on a 

rampage that left 38 dead. 

The riots broke out on Friday 

when Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, 

50, was convicted of raping 

the two women at the sprawling 

headquarters of his hugely popular 

Dera Sacha Sauda sect in the northern 

state of Haryana in a case that 

dates back to 1999. 

“He has been sentenced for 10 

plus 10, which is a total of 20 years 

of imprisonment,” said Abhishek 

Dayal, spokesman for India’s Central 

Bureau of Investigation (CBI), 

after the sentencing hearing. 

“I have the judgement which 

details the sentence.” 

A lawyer for the victims earlier 

said that Singh had been sentenced 

to 10 years in jail. In fact, he was given 

two consecutive 10-year sentences. 

Authorities had imposed a security 

clampdown on the city of 

Rohtak where Singh is being held 

due to fears of a repeat of Friday’s 

violence, when tens of thousands 

of his supporters set fire to cars and 

clashed with security forces. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi 

condemned the violence but his 

Becomes fourth 

bowler to claim 

5 wickets in an 

innings against 

9 Test-playing 

nations 

ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, 

which is also in power in Haryana, 

was criticised for failing to anticipate 

the riots. 

Police were taking no chances 

Monday in Rohtak, where mobile 

internet has been cut, roads barricaded 

with barbed wire and soldiers 

deployed to man checkpoints. 

A judge was flown in by helicopter 

to sentence the spiritual leader, 

known as the “guru in bling” for his 

penchant for bejewelled costumes. 

The rape case was brought after 

an anonymous letter was sent 

to then-prime minister Atal Bihari 

Vajpayee in 2002, accusing Singh of 

repeatedly raping the sender and 

several other women in the sect. 

Singh also stood trial for conspiracy 

over the murder in 2002 of 

a journalist investigating the rape 

allegations. He denied the charge 

and the case is ongoing. 

India has been rocked by numerous 

scandals involving popular 

SHAKIB’S 16 5-WKT 

HAULS 

v Zimbabwe (Thrice), 

v England (Twice) 

v South Africa (Twice) 

v New Zealand (Twice) 

v Sri Lanka (Twice) 

v West Indies (Twice) 

v India (Once) 

v Pakistan (Once) 

v Australia (Once) 

wicket, Shakib removed Pat Cummins 

as well. 

So throughout the day, Shakib 

made two important breakthroughs 

in crucial moments 

which eventually halted Australia 

from getting closer to Bangladesh’s 

total. 

The year 2017 is running brilliantly 

for Shakib in Tests. 

He became the highest individual 

scorer for Bangladesh by 

smashing a double century (217) 

against New Zealand in Wellington 

in January this year. 

In 2017, the left-hander played 

11 innings and scored 634 runs with 

an average of 57.63, including two 

hundreds and three half-centuries. 

Apart from his double hundred, 

his other ton came against Sri Lanka 

in Colombo last March in Bangladesh’s 

historical 100th Test. 

The prolific performer’s hundred 

was one of the defining innings 

of that historic win when 

Bangladesh registered their first 

ever victory over the island nation. 

At one stage in his career, Shakib 

had to take a lot of workload in 

bowling as he was, and still is, one 

of the main weapons of Bangladesh’s 

armoury in both home and 

abroad. 

But in recent years, the leftarm 

spinner’s workload has eased 

somewhat as youngster Mehedi 

Hasan Miraz and the hard-working 

Taijul Islam gave good support to 

the Magura cricketer. 

Probably that made an impact 

in his batting as in 2017, his batting 

average jumped to 57.63. 

His overall career average now 

stands at 41.43 in 93 innings with a 

total of 3563 runs until yesterday. • 

ascetics claiming to possess mystical 

powers. 

Singh’s sect describes itself as a 

social welfare and spiritual organisation 

but he is no stranger to controversy. 

In 2015 he was accused of encouraging 

400 followers to undergo 

castration at his ashram so they 

could get closer to god. • 

RMM Group 

MD abducted, 

family says 

• Arifur Rahman Rabbi 

CRIME 

Aniruddha 

Kumar Roy, 

the managing 

director 

(MD) RMM 

Group, has 

reportedly 

been missing 

from 

Gulshan 

area in Dhaka. 

He was abducted around 

4:30pm on Sunday, alleged his 

family members. 

Confirming the news, Gulshan 

police station Officer-in-Charge 

Abu Bakkar Siddique said:“Some 

men identifying themselves as law 

enforcers kidnapped Aniruddha 

from in front of Union Bank’s Gulshan 

branch.” 

The RRM MD was picked up in a 

microbus, he said, adding, the incident 

was being interrogated. 

As of 10pm yesterday, there was 

no trace of Aniruddha while his 

nephew Kollol Hajra filed a general 

dairy with the police station earlier 

in the day. 

According to the GD, three people 

posing themselves as members 

of detective branch (DB) of police 

picked up Aniruddha, who was accompanied 

by his chauffeur at that 

time, but the latter was released 

later on. 

After being escaped, the chauffeur 

informed the matter to Aniruddha’s 

family members, who 

finally contacted police in this regard. 

“We started probing the allegation 

and trying to recover the CCTV 

footage of the bank,” he said, adding 

that the DB also started finding 

out the missing person. • 

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

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

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