e_Paper, Tuesday, September 5, 2017

SECOND EDITION 

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017 | Bhadra 21, 1424, Zil-Hajj 13, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 117 | 24 pages | Price: Tk10 

The long 

walk for 

survival › 2 

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU 

Professor 

Akhtaruzzman 

appointed as 

interim DU 

VC › 5 

Trump expected to end 

protection for dreamers › 6 

Eid a bittersweet occasion at 

Old Rehabilitation Centre › 7 

‘Bangladesh 

may go to polls 

in Dec 2018’ › 8

2 

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017 

DT 

‘The Rohingya 

are pouring 

into Bangladesh 

like water’ 

Little aid for those outside camps 

• Adil Sakhawat 

CURRENT AFFAIRS 

Rohingya fleeing the violence in 

Myanmar are desperate to enter 

Bangladesh to save their lives. 

Thousands are stranded at various 

points along the Naf River where 

they await entry into the country. 

Those who already crossed the 

border are either starving or facing 

acute medical needs, said human 

rights activists and journalists 

working on the ground. 

Yesterday, thousands more journeyed 

across the border. 

Journalists stationed at the 

Hnila border in Teknaf said there 

was “literally thousands of people 

crossing the border. Smoke all 

along the border today.” 

UN sources say nearly 90,000 

Rohingya have crossed the border 

to enter Bangladesh since the latest 

episode of military crackdown began 

in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on 

August 25, reported Reuters. 

However, locals and volunteers 

working in Teknaf said the number 

could easily be close to 200,000. 

“I can confidently say that the 

number of Rohingya fleeing the 

atrocities of Myanmar has now 

crossed 1.5 lakh,” human rights 

activist Nur Khan told the Dhaka 

Tribune on Monday morning. “The 

Rohingya are pouring into Bangladesh 

like water. It can be tough to 

estimate the actual number, but one 

can easily say it is 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh.” 

The Rohingya have built huts 

for themselves in the hills. As they 

could not bring any possessions 

with them, they now wait for aid, 

he added. 

Nur further said that international 

humanitarian agencies are 

providing aid inside the camps, 

where the new arrivals are taking 

shelter. Besides that, the journalists 

and human rights activists have 

not shared much, but are observing 

from the international humanitarian 

agencies outside of the camps. 

Only Teknaf and Ukhiya locals 

and some local NGOs are providing 

dry food and water to the new Rohingya 

arrivals. 

“But these are also inadequate. 

I have not yet observed any relief 

work being carried out outside the 

camps. What they in fact need is 

medical assistance. I have seen 

many mothers give birth to new babies, 

but the mothers have become 

weak. Many elderly Rohingya need 

medical assistance. Many with bullet 

wounds need immediate medical 

treatment when entering Bangladesh,” 

Nur further said. 

When the Dhaka Tribune asked 

Joseph Tripura, the Bangladesh 

spokesperson of UNHCR, about the 

humanitarian assistance it has provided, 

he said: “We are in fact engaged 

in providing assistance to the 

Rohingya who have already arrived 

inside the registered refugee camps. 

“We cannot say much about outside 

the camps, but we are offering 

shelter, food and other humanitarian 

assistance to the Rohingya, 

whose numbers are estimated to be 

about 21,500 in the Kutupalong Rohingya 

registered camp and 8,500 

in the Nayapara Rohingya refugee 

camp.” 

Other than the UNHCR, the 

Dhaka Tribune tried to contact the 

International Organization for Migration 

as well to find out about 

its humanitarian assistance to the 

new arrivals, but was unable to 

contact anyone. • 


News 

UN sources say nearly 90,000 Rohingya have crossed the border to enter Bangladesh since the latest episode of military 

crackdown began in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on August 25 


Long walk for survival: A tale 

of fleeing Rohingya 

• Adil Sakhawat from Bichari 

border 


Leaving behind most of their belongings 

back home, they had started 

the journey through the mountain 

range in Myanmar’s Rakhine 

state five to seven days back, only to 

avert the ongoing persecution there. 

Walking even up to 100 kilometres, 

they finally managed to escape 

with their life and enter Bangladesh, 

taking temporary shelter in 

a mountainous region of the Chittagong 

Hill Tracts (CHT). 

The Dhaka Tribune came across 

such 1,500 people in Bichari, a remote 

area in the hilly Bandarban, 

who narrated the miseries they suffered 

while on their way to Bangladesh. 

Bichari is also very close to 

the Myanmar border. 

At a remote location which is a 

six-hour walk and around 10 kilometres 

from Ukhia upazila of Cox’s 

Bazar, thousands of people arrive 

every day. 

They had to trek through four 

mountain ranges in Myanmar outside 

the ones in the CHT, which 

takes almost a week in many cases. 

Abdul Alim, who carried his octogenarian 

mother on his back, said: 

“We have been walking for the last 

four days and my mother is too old 

to walk so long. So I had to carry her.” 

Throughout their journey, they 

could not eat or drink properly, he 

said, adding, they had been passing 

the last few days either half-fed or 

without food on many occasions. 

Then again, he was happy to be 

still alive. 

“I am elated that at least we are 

not dead,” he said. 

Hasina, another Rohingya, was 

also being carried in the same manner 

by her husband as she just gave 

birth to a child soon after entering 

Bandarban. 

They were among the 1,500 people, 

including the elderly, children 

and women, who were found walking 

through the woods of Bichari 

towards Ukhia on Saturday. 

Even some pregnant mothers 

and physically-challenged people 

were among them. 

Only ARSA can do 

something positive 

for the Rohingya 

which may not be 

possible for any 

other organisation 

Ten months’ pregnant Ayesha said 

she was feeling so tired that she 

might start having labour pains in 

a few hours. 

Many of them also brought 

along domestic animals with them. 

Children became scared when 

this reporter tried to talk to them 

and take pictures. 

Marium Begum, mother of a 

four-year-old boy, said her son was 

seized with panic ever since the 

atrocities in their locality started. 

Calling Myanmarese forces 

Moghs, she said her son saw their 

homes being torched and people 

being tortured and killed, which 

left him traumatised. 

Marium said she still had no 

idea about whether her husband 

was alive or not. 

With the fear of being pushed 

back by Bangladeshi authorities on 

their mind, the Rohingyas had set 

off from six villages in Maungdaw, 

Rathedaung and Buthidaung townships 

under Rakhine State, said 

many of the ill-fated. 

ARSA men helping exodus 

Meanwhile, the reporter found 

several youths supporting Arakan 

Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) 

in the Bichari area. 

They were around 20 to 25 years 

old, and were mainly assisting the 

female Rohingyas to get to Ukhia. 

They dressed up the way the 

ARSA members do, as shown in 

the videos of the insurgent group 

which are available online. 

When asked, some of the youths 

admitted supporting the insurgent 

outfit, though many of them denied 

the fact primarily. 

One of them, without revealing 

his identity, said: “Only ARSA can 

do something positive for the Rohingyas 

which may not be possible 

for any other organisation.” 

The evidence of ARSA helping the 

Rohingya people enter Bangladesh 

was attested by many, who already 

reached the refugee camps in Ukhia. 

Boni Adam, an elderly Rohingya 

man, said ARSA was fighting to ensure 

their rights in Myanmar. 

“The ARSA leaders are also eyeing 

a justice system for us in the 

Rakhine State,” he said. 

After the recent tension started 

on August 25, ARSA attacked at 

least 30 camps of Myanmar security 

forces. 

The retaliation came following 

the Myanmarese forces started 

clearance operation from the second 

week of August, forcing thousands 

of Rohingya people to flee 

their homes. •

News 

TUESDAY, 

3 

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017 

DT 

Myanmar blocks all UN aid to Rohingyas 

• Tribune Desk 


Myanmar has blocked all United 

Nations aid agencies from delivering 

vital supplies of food, water 

and medicine to thousands of desperate 

civilians at the centre of a 

bloody military campaign in Myanmar, 

reports the Guardian. 

The world body halted distributions 

in northern Rakhine state after 

militants attacked government 

forces on August 25 and the army 

responded with a counter offensive 

that has killed hundreds. 

The Office of the UN Resident 

Coordinator in Myanmar told the 

Guardian that deliveries were suspended 

“because the security situation 

and government field-visit 

restrictions rendered us unable to 

distribute assistance”, suggesting 

authorities were not providing permission 

to operate. 

“The UN is in close contact with 

authorities to ensure that humanitarian 

operations can resume as 

soon as possible,” it said. Aid was 

being delivered to other parts of 

Rakhine state, it added. 

In the deadliest violence for 

decades in the area, the military 

is accused of atrocities against the 

persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority, 

tens of thousands of whom 

have fled burning villages to neighbouring 

Bangladesh, many with 

bullet wounds. 

Staff from the UN refugee agency 

(UNHCR), the United Nations 

Population Fund (UNFPA), and the 

United Nations Children’s Fund 

(Unicef), have not conducted any 

field work in northern Rakhine for 

more than a week, a dangerous halt 

in life-saving relief that will affect 

poor Buddhist residents as well as 

Rohingya. 

The UN World Food Programme 

(WFP) said it also had to suspend 

distributions to other parts of the 

state, leaving a quarter of a million 

people without regular food access. 

Sixteen major non-government 

aid organisations – including Oxfam 

and Save the Children – have 

also complained that the government 

has restricted access to the 

conflict area. 

Humanitarian organisations are 

“deeply concerned about the fate 

of thousands of people affected by 

the ongoing violence” in northern 

Rakhine, said Pierre Peron, spokesman 

for the UN Office for the Coordination 

of Humanitarian Affairs 

(Ocha) in Myanmar. 

Refugees who have made it to 

Bangladesh during the past week 

have told horrific stories of “massacres” 

in villages that they say were 

raided and burned by soldiers. 

Along miles of the border, thick 

black smoke can be seen rising 

from small settlements surrounded 

by green fields. 

The government blames insurgents 

for burning their own homes 

and accuses them of killing Buddhists 

and Hindus, a claim repeated 

by some residents. 

Although the Rohingya have 

suffered oppression for decades, 

the recent bout of violence is seen 

as a dangerous escalation because 

it was sparked by a new Rohingya 

militant group called the Arakan 

Rohingya Salvation Army. 

The military says 400 people 

have been killed, the vast majority 

of them “terrorists”, although a 

government block on access to Rakhine 

makes it impossible to verify 

official figures. 

Suu Kyi faces chorus of anger 

Nobel peace laureate Malala 

Yousafzai and Muslim countries in 

Asia led a growing chorus of criticism 

on Monday aimed at Myanmar 

and its civilian leader Aung 

San Suu Kyi over the plight of its 

Rohingya Muslim minority. 

The growing crisis threatens 

Myanmar’s diplomatic relations, 

particularly with Muslim-majority 

countries in Southeast Asia where 

there is profound public anger over 

the treatment of the Rohingya. 

The Maldives announced on 

Monday that it was severing all 

trade ties with the country “until 

the government of Myanmar takes 

measures to prevent the atrocities 

being committed against Rohingya 

Muslims”, the foreign ministry said 

in a statement. 

Indonesia’s foreign minister 

Retno Marsudi met Suu Kyi as well 

as Myanmar’s army chief General 

Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw on 

Monday in a bid to pressure the 

government to do more to alleviate 

the crisis. 

Iranian foreign minister Javad 

Zarif added in a recent tweet: “Global 

silence on continuing violence 

against #Rohingya Muslims. Int’l 

action crucial to prevent further 

ethnic cleansing - UN must rally.” 

Muslim-majority Malaysia has 

also seen public protests since the 

latest round of violence began. 

Since the latest fighting broke 

out, al-Qaeda’s offshoot in Yemen 

has called for retaliatory attacks 

against Myanmar while the Afghan 

Taliban called on Muslims to “use 

their abilities to help Myanmar’s 

oppressed Muslims”. • 

‘Rohingyas 

need to be put 

in a safe zone 

in Myanmar’ 

• Asif Showkat Kallol 


Finance Minister AMA Muhith has 

urged the global leaders` to push 

Myanmar in creating a “safe zone” 

inside its territory for the Rohingya 

who are facing brutal persecution. 

“We are worried and angry about 

this crisis. I think this needs the international 

community’s urgent intervention,” 

he told reporters yesterday 

at his Secretariat office. 

He said the Myanmar government 

would not create such safe 

zone on its own and the UN would 

have to force them for the protection 

of the Rohingya Muslims. 

A UN peacekeeping force will 

have to guard that safe zone and 

also bar the “rogue Myanmar 

army” from coming anywhere near 

that place, Muhith said. 

“We are trying our best. But it 

is not fair that we take all the Rohingya 

in. Our country remembers 

the shelter we got in India [in 1971]. 

That is also why we cannot drive 

these homeless people away.” 

Calling the Myanmar government 

“rogue,” he said: “Action 

should be taken against it and the 

international community should 

take it, which of course Kofi Annan 

and others are trying to do... We are 

seeking international cooperation 

to solve the crisis while doing our 

best to maintain a good relationship 

with Myanmar.” • 

The Kutupalong camp alone is accommodating around 20,000 Rohingya with some 10-15 people co-existing in a single, 

small shanty 


Fleeing Rohingya pack refugee 

camps in Cox’s Bazar 

• Abdul Aziz, Cox’s Bazar 


Refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf 

and Ukhiya upazilas have been filled to 

capacity following the huge influx of 

Rohingya during the recent violence 

in Rakhine state of neighbouring Myanmar. 

Every day for the past two weeks, 

an endless caravan of people has been 

flowing across the border, light of possessions 

but weighed down by the 

traumas they have left behind. 

The many thousands of Rohingya 

refugees are seemingly desperate to 

confirm their status in the makeshift 

camps in the Kutupalong and Balukhali 

areas of Ukhiya and in the Leda, Nayapara 

and Shamlapur areas of Teknaf. 

The Kutupalong camp alone is 

accommodating around 20,000 Rohingya, 

with this Dhaka Tribune correspondent 

finding some 10-15 people 

co-existing in a single, small shanty. 

They face a wide range of difficulties 

including sanitation. 

“Members of Border Guards Bangladesh 

(BGB) and the Bangladesh 

Coast Guard have been taking stern initiatives 

to prevent the Rohingya influx, 

but the current situation is a bit different 

than before,” Deputy Commissioner 

of Cox’s Bazar, Md Ali Hossain, told 

the Dhaka Tribune. 

The deputy commissioner said a 

control room was about to be set up 

in his office from where anyone would 

be able to get the latest update on the 

Rohingya issue. The contact number 

of the control room was however not 

revealed. 

Additional Superintendent of Police 

in Cox’s Bazar, Afruzul Haque Tutul, 

said the BGB and coast guard have 

been relentlessly working along the 

border areas in a bid to avert any sort 

of untoward incident. • 

BNP: Shelter 

Rohingyas in 

Bangladesh 

• Manik Miazee 


BNP again requested the 

government to provide shelter, 

security and to take necessary steps 

for the Rohingya who are being 

forced to flee, following a fresh 

spurt of violence in Rakhine state. 

The party’s Joint Secretary 

General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said: 

“On behalf of the BNP, I again call 

on the Bangladesh government to 

provide the Rohingya with shelter 

in Bangladesh and stand with 

them.” 

Rizvi made the statement at a 

press briefing yesterday at 12pm. He 

added that everyone should stand 

with the oppressed community for 

the sake of humanity. 

The secretary general held 

the briefing at the party central 

office and said, while undergoing 

treatment in London, BNP 

Chairperson Khaleda Zia last 

week appealed to the government 

to provide a safe haven to the 

Rohingya. 

On August 28, in a party 

statement, Khaleda expressed 

deep concern and condemnation 

over the Myanmar security forces 

attack on the Rohingya, which left 

many dead. She then asked the 

Bangladesh government to take 

diplomatic initiatives in order to 

send the Rohingya back only after 

ensuring the security of their lives 

and property. •

4 


DT 

News 

Two injured in 

Narayanganj gas 

line explosion 


NATION 

3 killed, 12 injured 

in Cox’s Bazar road 

accident 

• Abdul Aziz, Cox’s Bazar 

NATION 

Three people have been killed 

and 12 others injured as a picnic 

bus turned turtle in Ramu 

upazila in Cox’s Bazar. 

The deceased are Saymum, 

15, Ershad, 20, Hasan, 25. 

Tulabagan highway police 

station Officer-in-Charge 

(OC) Mozahidul Islam said: 

“A Cox’s Bazar-bound bus of 

Asma Express turned turtle on 

Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar highway 

when its bus driver lost 

Two people were critically injured 

in a gas line explosion at 

a building in Rupganj upazila 

of Narayanganj district. 

The injured are Ibrahim, 21, 

the son of the building owner 

Abul Khayer, and Aynal, 30. 

Both received 50% burn injuries 

and were admitted to 

Dhaka Medical College Hospital. 

One side of the roof and a 

wall of the building – named 

Comilla House – collapsed after 

the explosion at 3am last 

Friday, Narayanganj Superintendent 

of Police (SP) Moinul 

Haque said. 

“Though we believe that 

the cause of the incident is 

a gas line explosion, a five 

member committee has been 

formed to further investigate 

the matter,” he said. 

The bomb disposal unit 

and fire service raided the 

house but did not find any explosives 

or bomb-making materials, 

the SP added. 

Narayanganj Fire Service 

Deputy Director Mamunur 

Rashid said they too believe a 

gas line explosion in the kitchen 

is behind the wall collapse. 

Police at first had thought 

it was a bomb explosion and 

cordoned off the building. 

According to Rupganj police 

OC Ismail Hossain, they 

are investigating whether or 

not the injured have any militant 

links. 

The bomb disposal unit left 

the scene after the raid. 

Three units from Narayanganj, 

Demra, and Kanchan 

brought the fire under control. 

Narayanganj SP Moinul 

Haque said an additional SP 

and deputy assistant director 

of the Narayanganj fire service 

will lead the probe team and 

submit their report within a 

week. 

Rupganj police station Officer 

in-Charge (OC) Ismail 

Hossain said a laptop belonging 

to Ibrahim was seized. 

Meanwhile, police questioned 

building owner Abul 

Khayer, his wife, the caretaker 

and caretaker’s wife in this 

connection. They were released 

after interrogation. 

Abul came to Bangladesh 

from Kuwait to celebrate Eid 

with his family on August 22, 

reports the Bangla Tribune. 

He said: “We woke up hearing 

the sound of the blast. 

When we went to the flat, we 

saw that Ibrahim and Aynal 

were burnt.” 

Three others – Maksud 

Alam, his wife Shahanur Begum 

and their daughter Maksuda—were 

also injured when 

the wall of the building collapsed 

on their tin-shed house 

after the explosion. • 

his control over the steering 

7am on Monday. 

“All the three people died 

on the spot.” 

Of the injured, two were 

taken to Chittagong Medical 

College Hospital in a critical 

condition while the other 

were taken to Cox’s Bazar Sadar 

Hospital. 

Cox’s Bazar fire service 

Deputy Director Abdul Malek 

said firefighters went to the 

spot and recovered the bodies. 

He said the bodies have 

been kept at Cox’s Bazar Sadar 

morgue. •

News 5 


Eid-ul-Azha celebrated across the 

country 

DT 



Accompanied by their parents, two little boys are seen having fun at Dhaka Shishu Park on Eid-ul-Azha 

Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest 

religious festival of Muslims, was 

celebrated across the country on 

Saturday with much enthusiasm 

and religious solemnity. 

Well-off Muslims sacrificed animals 

commemorating Prophet 

Hazrat Ibrahim’s devotion to the 

Almighty as illustrated by his readiness 

to give up his beloved son 

Hazrat Ismail. 

Hundreds and thousands of 

Muslims across the country offered 

prayers seeking divine blessings, 

peace and progress for the country. 

The main congregation of Eidul-Azha 

was held at National Eidgah 

in Dhaka at 8am, where President 

Abdul Hamid offered his Eid 

prayers along with hundreds of 

people from all walks of life at National 

Eidgah, UNB reported. 

Cabinet members, judges of the 

Supreme Court, members of parliament, 

senior political leaders and 

high civil and military officials also 

offered their prayers at the main 

Eid jamaat (congregation). 

Eid congregations were held at 

Baitul Mukarram National Mosque 

at 7am, 8am, 9am and 10am. 

Special diet was served in hospitals, 

jails, government orphanages, 

centres for persons with 

disabilities, shelter homes and 

vagrant and destitute welfare 

centres. 

State-run Bangladesh Television 

and Bangladesh Betar as well 

as private TV channels and radio 

stations aired special programmes 

on the occasion. 

In Chittagong, the main Eid jamaat 

was held at Jamiatul Falah 

National Eidgah in the city at 8am. 

In Khulna, the main Eid congregation 

was held at Khulna Circuit 

House Eidgah Maidan at 8am. 

In Rajshahi, the main congregation 

was held at Hazrat Shah Mukhdum 

Central Eidgah city at 8am. 

In Sylhet, the main jamaat was 

held at Shahi Eidgah at 8:30am 

where Finance Minister AMA Muhith 

offered his Eid prayer. 

In Barisal, the main Eid congregation 

was held at Central Hemayet 

Uddin Eidgah Maidan at 8am. • 

Dhakaites ignore designated slaughter spots, 

city corporations still optimistic 

• Abu Hayat Mahmud 

METRO 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

The mayor of Dhaka South City 

Corporation (DSCC) praised the 

“success” of a city-wide cleaning 

programme after many residents 

violated the instructions of the city 

authorities by sacrificing their cattle 

on the streets of the capital during 

Eid-ul-Azha on Saturday. 

The DSCC and the Dhaka North 

City Corporation (DNCC) had designated 

1,174 spots around the city 

for slaughtering sacrificial animals 

in a bid to keep the city’s roads and 

thoroughfares clean. 

However, several of these sites 

went unused, leading to roads becoming 

covered with blood and the 

contamination of the surrounding 

environment. 

DSCC Mayor Mohammad Sayeed 

acknowledged the widespread 

violations and said 90% of the animal 

waste left on streets across the 

city had been removed by Sunday 

afternoon. 

On Eid day, few locals agreed to 

speak with the press but when visiting 

several neighbourhoods under 

the DSCC in Dhanmondi, Kalabagan, 

Shukrabad and Rajabazar, 

this correspondent found residents 

– including local influential leaders 

– sacrificing their cattle in front of 

their houses, or on the streets and 

alleyways. 

The DNCC-designated spot in 

West Rajabazar was found vacant 

during Eid; no one in the surrounding 

areas used it to sacrifice their 

cattle despite the instructions of 

the local authority and Local Government 

Division. 

An influential leader in West 

Rajabazar said the roads would be 

cleaned after 2pm. On the same 

day, a Shukrabad local, when asked 

why he had not gone to the nearest 

designated slaughter spot to sacrifice 

his cattle, said: “The roads will 

be cleaned as soon as everyone was 

done.” 

Some of the residents also told 

this correspondent that they were 

not aware of the city corporations’ 

decision to set up the slaughter 

spots. 

According to DSCC Mayor Khokhon, 

around 17,000 workers started 

cleaning the roads around 2pm on 

Eid day, removing almost 14,000 tons 

of waste in Dhaka South and clearing 

8,000 tons from Dhaka North. 

“We have managed to clean up 

around 22,000 tonnes of waste in 

the last 24 hours up to 2pm today,” 

Khokhon said on Sunday at a press 

conference jointly organised by the 

two city corporations at the DNCC 

office in Gulshan. 

“Almost 90% of the total solid 

animal waste has been removed 

and dumped into the Matuail and 

Aminbazar landfills.” 

Khokon said both city corporations 

had managed to fulfil the 

commitments they made to city 

residents before Eid. 

The DSCC mayor said the city 

corporations would supply bags, 

bleaching powder and sanitiser at 

the designated slaughter spots and 

would collect the waste bags on 

Sunday and Monday – the second 

and third days of Eid. 

On Eid day itself, Khokon inspected 

the cleaning operation 

which was already underway at 

Sadek Hossain Khoka playground, 

the site of a makeshift cattle market 

in Dhaka, and said the waste would 

be removed by 2pm the next day. 

During the programme, he also 

added the DSCC residents could 

send complaints about poor cleaning 

service through the “Nogor” 

app or reach him directly through 

Viber and Whatsapp, while DNCC 

residents could send complaints 

through the helpline 09611 000999 

during the Eid holidays. • 

Prof Akhtaruzzaman 

appointed as 

interim DU VC 

• DU Correspondent 

EDUCATION 

Professor Dr Md Akhtaruzzman has 

been appointed as the temporary 

vice chancellor of Dhaka University. 

He was appointed by the chancellor 

of the university President 

Abdul Hamid yesterday, according 

to a presidential decree signed by 

Habibur Rahman, deputy secretary 

of the Education Ministry. 

He has been serving as a teacher 

in the university’s Islamic History 

and Culture department with an 

outstanding academic background. 

He had been serving as the pro- 

Vice Chancellor (admin) of the 

university. He graduated as the valedictorian 

of his bachelor and master’s 

class at the Dhaka University 

with a concentration in Islamic History 

and Culture and joined in the 

department as a lecturer in 1990. 

He completed his PhD in History 

from Aligarh University and 

was Fulbright scholar at Boston 

College, USA, who also served as a 

British Council Visiting Scholar at 

University of Birmingham, UK. 

He has 42 research articles published 

in different referred journals 

and edited books. Some of his notable 

works include Muslim Itihastattwa 

(Muslim Historiography), Society 

and Urbanisation in Medieval 

Bengal, Liberation War of Bangladesh: 

Background and Event, and 

A Quest for Islamic Learning: Essays 

in Memory of Professor Serajul 

Haque. 

His fields of interest are Socio-economic 

history of medieval 

India, Historiography: Muslim 

Historiography, minority studies, 

medieval urbanisation in Bengal, 

Bangladesh studies. He served as 

the dean of arts faculty from 2014- 

16, and as vice president of the 

Dhaka University Teachers’ Association 

in 2009 and 2011. He also 

chaired his department from 2008- 

11. He received The Justice Ibrahim 

Gold Medal for extraordinary research 

in 2008. • 

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY 

LIGHT TO MODERATE 

RAIN LIKELY 


Dhaka 34 28 Chittagong 33 28 Rajshahi 35 26 Rangpur 34 26 Khulna 34 26 Barisal 34 27 Sylhet 32 25 

DHAKA 

TODAY 

TOMORROW 

SUN SETS 6:13PM 

SUN RISES 5:42AM 

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW 

36ºC 24.1ºC 

Rajshahi 

Sandwip 

Source: Accuweather/UNB 

PRAYER 

TIMES 

Cox’s Bazar 32 26 

Fajr: 5:05am | Zohr: 1:15pm 

Asr: 5:00pm | Magrib: 6:26pm 

Esha: 8:15pm 

Source: Islamic Foundation

6 


DT 

News 

Trump expected to end 

protection for dreamers 


WORLD 

Young immigrants and supporters walk holding signs during a rally 

in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in Los 

Angeles, California on September 1, 2017 

AFP 

US President Donald Trump 

is expected to announce that 

he will end protections for 

young immigrants who were 

brought into the country illegally 

as children, but with 

a six-month delay, people 

familiar with the plans said, 

reports the Associated Press. 

The delay in the formal 

dismantling of the Deferred 

Action for Childhood Arrivals, 

or DACA programme, 

would be intended to give 

Congress time to decide 

whether it wants to address 

the status of the so-called 

Dreamers legislation, according 

to two people familiar 

with the president’s 

thinking. 

But it was not immediately 

clear how the six-month delay 

would work in practice and 

what would happen to people 

who currently have work permits 

under the program, or 

whose permits expire during 

the six-month stretch. 

It also was unclear exactly 

what would happen 

if Congress failed to pass a 

measure by the considered 

deadline, they said. The two 

spoke on condition of anonymity 

because they were 

not authorized to discuss the 

matter ahead of a planned 

Tuesday announcement. 

The expected move 

would come as the White 

House faces a Tuesday deadline 

set by Republican state 

officials threatening to sue 

the Trump administration if 

the president did not end the 

program. It also would come 

as Trump digs in on appeals 

to his base as he finds himself 

increasingly under fire, 

with his poll numbers at 

near-record lows. 

Trump had been personally 

torn as late as last week 

over how to deal with what 

are undoubtedly the most 

sympathetic immigrants living 

in the US illegally. Many 

came to the US as young children 

and have no memories 

of the countries they were 

born in. • 

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Dhaka Tribune 

3 journalists pass away 

during Eid holidays 


OBITUARY 

Three senior journalists 

passed away in Dhaka 

during Eid-ul-Azha holidays 

due to health-related 

issues. Kazi Siraj, 

70, editor of Bangla daily 

the Dainik Dinkal, died 

of cardiac failure around 

10pm on Thursday. 

Cousin of late Jatiya 

Party leader and former 

prime minister Kazi Zafar 

Ahmed, Siraj was the 

founding convener of 

Swechchhasebak Dal and 

a former leader of Bangladesh 

Chhatra Union. 

BNP chief and former 

prime minister Khaleda 

Zia as well as leaders of 

Bangladesh Federal Union 

of Journalists (BFUJ) 

and Dhaka Union of Journalists 

(DUJ) expressed 

deep shock at the death 

of the senior journalist. 

National Press Club 

President Muhammad 

Shafiqur Rahman and 

General Secretary Farida 

Yasmin also expressed 

condolences over his 

death, UNB reported. 

Journalist Sanjib 

Chowdhury passed away 

on the same night. 

Sources close to the 

family said Sanjib, 68, 

was in his office at the 

New Nation when he suddenly 

fell ill. 

He was immediately 

taken to a nearby 

hospital where doctors 

pronounced him dead 

around 10:30pm. 

BNP expressed shock 

at the death of the former 

news editor of Daily Amar 

Desh. 

Journalist Saleh 

Chowdhury 81, died in 

a city hospital on Friday 

evening, UNB reported. 

President of Bangladesh 

Chapter of Commonwealth 

Journalists 

Association (CJA) and 

a permanent member 

of National Press Club, 

Saleh worked as a senior 

assistant editor for 

the now-defunct Dainik 

Bangla. • 

Female police 

constable 

stabbed by 

youth inside 

running bus 

• Mehedi Hasan, Chuadanga 

CRIME 

A female police member was 

stabbed by a youth inside a running 

bus on Chuadanga-Darshana road in 

Chuadanga’s Damurhuda upazila. 

According to witnesses, Oishe 

Khatun, 25, a constable of Chuadanga 

Police Line, was badly injured in the 

head when a youth, named Shariful 

Islam, stabbed her with a knife around 

9pm on Sunday. She was traveling 

from Jessore to reach her work station. 

Some passengers of the bus immediately 

caught the assailant and 

beat him up. They later handed 

him over to police. 

The injured police member is 

now taking treatment in Chuadanga 

Sadar Hospital. Any further 

detail about the youth or the motive 

behind the attack could not be 

known immediately. 

Chuadanga Additional SP Abdul 

Momen said the process was on to 

file a case with Chuadanga police 

station in this connection. •

News 

TUESDAY, 

Eid a bittersweet occasion at 

Old Rehabilitation Centre 

7 

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017 

EU’s refugee 

relocation plan 

faces legal 

reckoning 

• AFP, Brussels 

WORLD 

DT 

For the most part, residents of Old Rehabilitation Centre in Gazipur are happy 

with what they have - the fellow residents who are now each other’s family. But 

on special occasions such as Eid, the air becomes heavy as the elderly residents 

remember what is truly missing in their lives - their real families 

RAJIB DHAR 

• Fazlur Rahman Raju 

SPECIAL 

For the residents of Old Rehabilitation 

Centre in Gazipur, the occasion 

of Eid comes with more sorrow 

than joy. 

This correspondent visited the 

old age home and met with some 

of the residents on Eid-ul-Azha on 

Saturday, all of whom had a look 

of longing when they spoke about 

celebrating the occasion – they all 

wanted to be with their families. 

“I have been waiting to celebrate 

Eid with my only son, but he has not 

visited me yet,” said Firoza Rahman, 

former economics teacher of Oxford 

International School in Dhaka. 

Firoza, 67, had an impressive 

life when she was young. After 

completing her honours and masters 

degrees in economics at Aligarh 

Muslim University in India, 

she came back to Bangladesh. 

She got married to a businessman, 

but unfortunately, she lost 

him after nine months of marriage. 

In 1998, she joined Oxford International 

School to teach O Level 

and A Level economics, and retired 

in 2015. 

Her only child, Mamun (not real 

name), went to Dhaka University 

to complete MBA and is currently 

running a coaching centre in the 

city’s Dhanmondi area tutoring for 

O Level and A Level exams. 

She has not been living in the 

old home for long. 

“I had a fight with my son over 

some family matters. I left home 

angry and came here,” she told the 

Dhaka Tribune. 

“I hoped that my son would 

come to take me back home, but he 

never came. He fulfils his responsibility 

by sending me some money 

from time to time,” she added. 

“I want to go back home. If my son 

came now to take me back, I would 

definitely go with him. But he has 

not even come to see me on Eid day,” 

Firoza said, her eyes full of tears. 

Gulnahar, a 59-year-old mother 

of four, has been living in the home 

for two years. 

“I always wait for my sons and 

daughters to call me, especially on 

Eid. But they never do. I am dead to 

them,” she said, crying. 

Ferdousi Khatun, a 77-year-old 

woman from Savar, said she had 

been a resident of the home for the 

last 25 years. 

“During this time, not one person 

has visited me. I only get visitors 

when people from media come 

here on Eid to talk to us. You are 

like my sons and daughters,” the 

elderly woman told this reporter. 

’I prefer living here’ 

Not all is doom and gloom for some 

of the residents, though. 

“I am happy here, living in this 

old age home. I prefer living here,” 

said Rashid (not real name), a former 

government official. 

The 65-year-old retired in 2003 

from his post of audit and account 

officer at the Office of Controller 

General of Accounts under the Finance 

Division. 

“I invested all my money from 

my pension and other benefits in 

the share market, but lost all of it 

in 2003. I became a burden for my 

engineer son; my daughter-in-law 

abused me verbally every day. I 

could not take it. So I left home in 

2005 and came here,” he said. 

In the old age home, Rashid has 

gathered a group of friends who are 

more like his family now. 

“I do miss my family sometimes, 

but I am very happy here with by 

old-age buddies. They are helpful 

and my companions,” he said. 

On Saturday, Rashid and his 

friends performed Eid prayers together 

before having many delicacies 

for breakfast that the old age 

home authorities provided. 

One of his friends, 67-year-old 

Abdur Rahim, who has been living 

there fore seven years, said: “We live 

here like a family. Eid brings more joy 

for us. But we do miss our families.” 

Rashid requested this correspondent 

not to use his real name 

to protect his family. “I do not want 

to put them in an embarrassing situation,” 

he said. 

Trying to bring joy to the helpless 

Old Rehabilitation Centre is a privately 

run establishment at Bishia- 

Kuribari in Monipur, Hotapara, 

Gazipur. 

It is home to 101 men and 109 

women who have now become 

each other’s family. 

Khatib Abdul Zahid Mukul, chairman 

and managing director of Givensee 

Group of Industries Ltd, established 

the old age home in 1987 

and has been running its operations 

and looking after the residents with 

his own funds. He has never taken 

any form of financial support from 

outside to run the home. 

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, 

Abu Sharif, caretaker of Old Rehabilitation 

Centre, said: “We provide 

everything that the residents need: 

food, beds, clothes, shoes, toiletries, 

etc. They all live here like a big 

family.” 

When the Dhaka Tribune met 

with Sharif, he was busy cooking 

beef for the residents for lunch. 

“Although we take care of everyone 

here, some of the residents 

want to go home for Eid, but very 

few get to do that.” • 

The EU’s top court will issue the 

ruling on the legality of a controversial 

quota scheme that Brussels 

launched two years ago to force 

member states to admit thousands 

of asylum seekers. 

The European Court of Justice 

will issue its verdict tomorrow on 

a legal challenge that Hungary and 

Slovakia lodged against the scheme 

that requires bloc members to take 

in Syrians and others from overstretched 

Greece and Italy. 

The European Union (EU) approved 

the scheme as part of efforts 

to boost EU solidarity and end the 

chaos generated by Europe’s worst 

migrant crisis since World War II. 

The Luxembourg-based court’s 

senior lawyer Yves Bot recommended 

in July that the judges throw out 

the challenge, arguing the so-called 

relocation scheme was a proportionate 

means to help Greece and Italy. 

The court often follows such 

opinions but not always. 

At stake is the EU’s legal authority 

to take joint action to ease 

an unprecedented crisis and override 

opposition from a minority of 

member states. 

In this case, eastern member 

states rejected the plan on grounds 

they lack the capacity to integrate 

foreigners, most of them Muslim. 

‘Legally binding’ 

No matter the outcome of the court 

case, the scheme has been troubled 

from the start. 

EU figures show that just under 

28,000 people have been relocated 

since a majority of member states 

agreed in September 2015 to relocate 

160,000 Syrian, Iraqi and Eritrean 

asylum seekers from Italy 

and Greece by September this year. 

Officials in Brussels have argued 

the scheme is legally binding on 

all member states, including those 

who voted against the quotas like 

Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic 

and Romania. 

But in June, the European Commission, 

the 28-nation EU executive, 

launched legal action against 

Poland and Hungary for having 

failed to admit any asylum seekers. 

It also took legal action against 

the Czech Republic for having 

stopped taking them but spared 

Slovakia which agreed to take a 

handful of them. 

Although it voted for it, Poland 

has come out strongly against the 

plan since a right-wing government 

came to power. 

Other EU member states have 

dragged their feet despite having 

voted for the plan. •

8 


DT 

News 

A joyless Eid for flood 

victims 

• Md Taiyeb Ali Sarker, 

Nilphamari, Ariful Islam, 

Kurigram and Faruk Hossain, 

Dinajpur 

NATION 

Flash floods, caused by torrential 

rain and landslides have taken 

out all the joy of Eid-ul-Azha from 

thousands of families in flood-affected 

districts. 

Nilphamari 

A resident of Dimla upazila of 

Nilphamari, where 41,535 families 

have been affected, Ramzan Ali 

told the Dhaka Tribune: “I managed 

to sacrifice an animal in the 

last Eid-ul-Azha, but could not do 

so this year. Floods have inundated 

my home and my Aman paddy 

crops in 4-bigha farmland. I am 

currently penniless and do not 

have any food left.” 

Abu Taher, a labourer living in 

the same upazila, is facing a similar 

conundrum. Taher said, he had sacrificed 

an animal in the last Eid, by 

sharing the cost with 6 others. This 

year however, he can hardly manage 

his day-to-day household expenses. 

The flood has forced Rehana Begum 

to take refuge on the Columbia 

embankment. For the penniless 

woman, survival has greater significance 

than the Eid celebrations. 

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, she 

said: “The government has given 

me 10 kilograms of rice as aid, and 

nothing else. Some people are getting 

aid multiples times, and some 

are not getting any aid at all.” 

The flood waters have receded 

there, but the damage to the people’s 

livelihood is done. 

Many children in Nilphamari 

could not even eat a piece of meat 

on Eid day. Families have lost their 

entire livelihoods, including fish 

enclosures, homes, and crops, to 

the flash floods. 

The people living on the banks 

of the Teesta River were also in a 

perilous situation. They have lost 

their homes and their crops. 

‘The government 

has given me 10 

kilograms of rice 

as aid, and nothing 

else. Some people 

are getting aid 

multiples times, and 

some are not getting 

any aid at all’ 

Kurigram 

Kurigram is not faring any better 

than the rest of the flood hit regions 

of Bangladesh. Erosion caused by 

strong currents of the Dharla River 

had destroyed the homes of more 

than 70 families of sadar upazila, 

nearly 3 weeks ago. Some have taken 

refuge on the nearest embankment, 

and others are living with 

their relatives. 

The sudden erosion has forced 

the people to flee with only the 

clothes on their backs. The currents 

took their homes, food grains 

and poultry. The victims have been 

left penniless overnight. 

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, a 

resident of the Dakkhin Kadamtala 

village named Rafial said: “We do 

not have the money for 3 square 

meals a day, how are we going to 

sacrifice an animal? None of the 

villagers have the money to sacrifice 

an animal, and none of us are 

having meat on Eid day.” 

Dinajpur 

70-year-old Abdul Khaleq and his 

wife Asma Begum used to live in 

Mahutpara area of Dinajpur sadar 

upazila. Floods recently destroyed 

an embankment there. The resulting 

flash flood washed away most 

homes in Mahutpara. The elderly 

couple barely survived the flood, 

but lost their home and all their belongings. 

There was no joy for them on 

the Eid day. The couple is no longer 

self-dependent, and has been surviving 

on government aid. To make 

matters worse, Khaleq took loans 

from several non-government organisations, 

and now he has to pay 

them back. 

Similar is the story of Ahsan Ali, 

another 70-year old man living in Bijora 

union of Dinajpur. Floods have 

washed away his crops and his cattle. 

Agriculture was the only means 

of income for the elderly man, and 

he has to look after his 2 young sons. 

Ahsan Ali broke into tears while discussing 

his misfortune. 

Local government officials and 

public representatives say, aid consisting 

of rice, financial support 

and dry food have been distributed 

to the people of flood affected 

regions. They added that further 

aid will be provided to the flood 

victims for rehabilitation, as soon 

as the government dispatches it. • 

‘Bangladesh may go 

to polls in December 

2018’ 

• Asif Showkat Kallol 

POLITICS 

The government is planning to 

hold the next general election on 

December next year. 

Finance Minister AMA Muhith 

made the revelation while talking 

to reporters at the Secretariat yesterday. 

“The way the Election Commission 

has been planning things, 

hopefully, the national election 

will be held by December next year. 

The Election Commission does not 

have much left to do, besides updating 

the voters’ list and redrawing 

boundaries of some areas.” 

Financial Institution Division 

Senior Secretary Eunusur Rahman 

and Finance Department Senior 

Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamun, 

among others, were also present by 

the minister’s side. 

RAJIB DHAR 

Muhith also said: “Though the 

election is almost round the corner, 

you will not see any enthusiasm 

regarding election even in remote 

areas.” 

“People are more concerned 

about the Rohingya issue. We too 

are worried about this. We too are 

angry.” 

He urged the international community 

to create “safe zones” inside 

Myanmar to protect the Rohingyas. 

He continued: “How a Nobel 

laureate like Aung San Suu Kyi approves 

of such persecution on the 

Rohingyas is beyond me. I find the 

steps so far she has taken abhorrent. 

We are seeking international 

cooperation to solve the Rohingya 

crisis, simultaneously, we are doing 

our best to maintain a good relationship 

with Myanmar.” • 

Banglatribune.com has contributed 

to this article 

Man held for trying to rape 

granddaughter in Gazipur 

• Raihanul Islam Akand, 

Gazipur 

CRIME 

A man has been arrested from Gazipur’s 

Shreepur upazila on a charge 

of attempted rape of his five-yearold 

granddaughter. 

Shreepur police station Sub-Inspector 

(SI) Nazmul Shakib said 

they arrested Abul Kashem, 50, 

from his residence at MC Bazar under 

Telihati union on Sunday night. 

Kashem was arrested in a case 

filed by his daughter on the same 

day, added the SI. 

The man allegedly tried to rape 

his granddaughter while she was 

asleep on his bed last Wednesday 

night, according to the complainant. 

The complainant said her parents 

lived in a rented house next 

to his home. Her five-year-old girl 

used to sleep with her grandparents 

quite often. The elderly couple 

operated a grocery store adjacent 

to their living room. 

Around 10:30pm on Wednesday, 

Kashem entered the room from the 

store. The girl was asleep on the bed 

at the time. Kashem told his wife to 

go to the store and laid down next 

to his granddaughter to rest. 

Sometime later, Kashem’s wife 

heard her granddaughter scream 

and rushed inside. 

Kashem instantly suggested 

that their granddaughter might be 

crying because of a bad dream. 

As the girl would not stop crying, 

she was taken to her mother. 

The girl later disclosed to her mother 

that her grandfather had pulled 

down her half-pant in her sleep and 

also covered her mouth with his 

hand when she was crying. 

The girl’s father, who was informed 

about the incident later, 

discussed the matter with a group 

of elders of the locality on Sunday 

afternoon. The man was advised to 

keep calm over the incident. 

However, the mother broke the 

silence and filed a complaint after 

some hours. 

Law enforcement officials have 

recorded the victim’s statement 

under Section 22 of the Code of 

Criminal Procedure (CrPC). •

News 

Eid grace? 20 militants get bail over three days 

• Nuruzzaman Labu 

MILITANCY 

Last week, just before the holidays 

for Eid-ul-Azha began, 20 militants 

were released from prison on bail. 

From Wednesday to Friday, 

the militants were released from 

Kashimpur High Security Jail. Prison 

authorities shrugged when inquiries 

were made, and said a court 

order could enforce the release of 

the most dangerous of criminals. 

Officers of the law enforcement 

agencies were shocked and appalled 

by the fact that their hard 

work to track down each criminal 

was nullified by a court order. Various 

senior officials expressed their 

dissatisfaction with the bails. 

Prashanta Kumar, superintendent 

of Kashimpur High Security 

Jail, said the prison authorities began 

processing the release of a prisoner 

as soon as they received the 

bail orders. 

However, in the case of dangerous 

criminals or people affiliated 

with banned organisations, the 

authorities promptly inform law 

enforcement agencies and intelligence 

services. 

On Thursday morning, Hizb ut- 

Tahrir member Abdul Baten was 

released from Kashimpur. He has 

four cases against him – two in 

Manikganj and two in Dhaka – under 

the Anti-Terrorism Act and the 

Special Powers Act. 

An hour after Baten’s release, 

Abul Kalam, Mizanur Rahman and 

Selim Mia walked out of the prison. 

All three were charged under the 

Anti-Terrorism Act. All in all, four 

were released on Thursday. 

On Friday, Jama’atul Mujahideen 

Bangladesh (JMB) members 

Shariat Ullah alias Shuvo, Ashikul 

Akbar and Nazmus Sakib, and Mamunur 

Rashid, Yasin, Jahidul Islam 

and Morshed – a total of seven militants 

– were let out from Kashimpur 

after receiving bail. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Monir 

‘Almost all the militants return to militancy 

upon release. They go into hiding and resume 

their subversive activities’ 

Hossain and JMB’s Aminul Islam 

received bail and were released 

from Kashimpur jail. 

The public prosecutor at Dhaka 

Speedy Trial Tribunal denied knowing 

of any recent bail from his court. 

Deputy Attorney General Motahar 

Hossain Saju said militants or people 

affiliated with banned organisations 

were not supposed to receive bail. 

“Even if by some unfortunate 

chance they do get bail, the office 

of the attorney general appeals to 

suspend the bail. We have a ‘zero 

tolerance’ directive when it comes 

to militants,” he said. 

Several members of various anti-terrorism 

task forces lamented 

the spree of militant bails, saying 

the people who dedicated so much 

of their time to identify and track 

down threats to the country were 

the only ones who genuinely know 

the pain of seeing these people 

walk out so easily. 

“Almost all the militants return to 

militancy upon release. They go into 

hiding and resume their subversive 

activities,” said a task force member. 

Prison sources informed that 

between January and June 2017, 

a total of 148 militants have been 

released from Kashimpur High 

Security Jail on bail. A source 

with a law enforcement agency 

corroborated the claim, adding that 

the number exceeded 200 through 

July and August. 

The militants out on bail are affiliated 

with Middle East-based terror 

organisation IS, old JMB, New 

JMB, Ansarullah Bangla Team, 

Harkat-ul Jihad Bangladesh (Hu- 

JiB) and Hizb ut-Tahrir. • 

This story was first published on 

banglatribune.com 

9 


Chuadanga AL 

man injured in 

infighting dies 

• Mehedi Hasan, Chuadanga 

NATION 

DT 

An Awami League activist has 

succumbed to injuries from an 

explosion during a brawl over Eid 

prayers in Chuadanga’s Alamdanga 

upazila. 

The deceased is Jainal Abedin, 

45. Sources said he died at Dhaka 

Medical College Hospital (DMCH) 

around 3pm yesterday. 

A clash broke out between two 

factions of the ruling party on Saturday, 

the Eid day, over conducting 

the Eid prayers. At one stage, 

the brawl intensified and the two 

groups started hurling bombs 

at each other on the Eid prayer 

ground, injuring at least 24 people. 

Many of the injured were 

rushed to different local hospitals, 

while the rest, including Jainal, to 

the DMCH the same day where he 

finally died. •

10 


DT 

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DT

DT 

12 

Editorial 


TODAY 

Let them in 

Aung San Suu Kyi 

has run out of 

excuses 

Is Aung San Suu Kyi a Nobel Peace 

Prize laureate, or just another craven 

politician who will abide by “ethnic 

cleansing” to not rock the boat, and 

allow her to stay in power unchallenged 

PAGE 13 

Saturday night fever 

Maybe we need to reimagine how we 

work, and how we get things done. 

If work has become dread, what is 

motivating people to keep going back? 

PAGE 14 

The persecution of the Rohingya by the Myanmar government is one of the 

worst humanitarian crises of our time. 

As such, it has become imperative that, since no one else will, 

Bangladesh opens its borders to the fleeing Rohingya. 

We understand that Bangladesh is already overpopulated and underresourced. 

We know that with the recent flooding, we have our own problems to 

deal with. 

And we know that we have already done more than most in providing shelter 

both now and in the past to the Rohingya. 

We also understand that the current crisis has put our government in an 

unenviable, no-win situation, which would tax anyone’s ingenuity and goodwill to 

resolve. 

In addition to the estimated half million who are already here, we have already 

taken in, by the latest count, some 90,000 in the past month. 

What more, the government may reasonably ask, must we do? 

The difficult answer is that we must open our borders fully to the Rohingya 

and continue to provide a safe haven for every one of them fleeing death and 

destruction in their native land of Rakhine. 

It will not be easy, and it will not be without severe costs, economic and 

otherwise, both in the short-term as well as the long. Nor can it be a permanent 

solution to the crisis. 

But simple humanity dictates that this is what we must do. We cannot close 

our doors to people fleeing ethnic cleansing. 

We acknowledge that, in doing so, we are helping the Myanmar army and 

government in their terrible goal of uprooting the Rohingya people from Rakhine. 

We understand that the Myanmar government cannot be allowed to persist in 

their inhuman pogrom against the Rohingya, and must be forced to bring an end 

to the carnage on our south-eastern border. 

But neither can we stand by and let an entire people be, surely and steadily, 

wiped out. 

As a nation which has rebuilt itself from the ashes of 1971, as a people who 

have been subjected to the brutalities of genocide and ethnic cleansing ourselves, 

we should understand better than anyone what the Rohingya people are going 

through. 

Our history and our humanity require that we let each and every person who is 

suffering the same fate into our country. 

If no one else will step up to shelter the Rohingya, then it falls upon us to do so. 

We cannot close 

our doors to people 

fleeing ethnic 

cleansing 

The world must act 

Tip of the iceberg 

The public nature of such punishment 

maybe unacceptable to our civilised 

sensibilities, but they do send a clear 

message 

Be heard 

Write to Dhaka Tribune 

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, 

Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 

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The views expressed in opinion 

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official view of Dhaka Tribune 

or its publisher. 

PAGE 15 

While we are in favour of opening up our borders to the 

Rohingya fleeing persecution in their homeland, that 

does not mean that we believe that Myanmar should 

simply be permitted to continue to ethnically cleanse 

the Rohingya from Rakhine. 

The ethnic cleansing being carried out by the Myanmar 

army needs to cease, and the only way to achieve that is for the 

international community to step up and put the necessary pressure 

on Myanmar. 

But that has, unfortunately, not been the case so far. 

By limiting its actions to mere lip service, the international 

community has blood on its hands. 

The UN has been disappointingly limp and lifeless, and must share 

the shame and blame for what is occurring right under its nose, in the 

full view of the entire world. 

This is not a situation that can be resolved through passive 

diplomacy and hand-wringing admonitions anymore. 

We need the world, especially countries which Myanmar touts 

as trade partners, to take collective action to bring an end to the 

pogrom. 

If the political will were there, Myanmar could be brought to heel 

in days. 

The fact that this has not happened yet, shames the whole world. 

The silence and acquiescence of the international community to 

the ethnic cleansing in Myanmar has been a disgrace. 

It has to end, and Myanmar must be held to account. 

In 2017 the world cannot simply sit back and let this atrocity 

occur. 

This is not a situation 

that can be resolved 

through passive 

diplomacy and handwringing 

admonitions 

anymore

Opinion 13 

DT 


Aung San Suu Kyi has run out of excuses 

The state councilor of Myanmar must choose a side 

What is Aug San Suu Kyi afraid of? 

• Azeem Ibrahim 

The Final Report of 

the UN Commission 

to the Rakhine State 

led by Kofi Annan has 

just been published and its 

recommendations are clear: 

• Myanmar must use its existing 

nominal citizenship pathway 

processes to actually extend 

REUTERS 

citizenship to over one million 

Rohingya who are entitled to it 

• It must overhaul the 1982 

Citizenship Law which the 

Myanmar authorities have used 

to render almost the entire 

Rohingya population stateless in 

the land of their birth, against the 

prescriptions of international law 

• It must lift restrictions against 

the freedom of movement of 

Rohingya in the state 

• It must close the internally 

displaced people’s (IDP) camps 

and allow the Rohingya interred 

there to return to their properties 

• It must allow full 

humanitarian access to UN 

agencies and international NGOs 

• It must allow full access to 

both local and international media 

to document the situation in the 

state 

• It must allow the Rohingya 

and any other minority group 

equal access to health care and 

education to every other citizen of 

the country 

• It must allow and facilitate 

representation of the Rohingya 

and any other minority groups in 

local and central government 

• Myanmar’s judiciary must 

practice the rule of law and abide 

by international standards of 

impartiality and transparency 

What does history tell us? 

All perfectly sensible 

recommendations which those of 

us in the international community 

who have been following the 

plight of the Rohingya have been 

calling for years. 

In the past, the Myanmar 

government used to deflect such 

recommendations, whether 

they were put forward by UN 

humanitarian officials, or NGOs 

such as Médecins Sans Frontières, 

on the grounds that they were put 

Is Aung San Suu 

Kyi a Nobel Peace 

Prize laureate, or 

just another craven 

politician who will 

abide by “ethnic 

cleansing” to not 

rock the boat, and 

allow her to stay in 

power unchallenged 

forward by “international pressure 

groups” who were politically 

hostile to the government. 

Even after the 2015 election 

which brought Nobel Peace Prize 

winner Aung San Suu Kyi to 

power, the same line was taken: 

Suu Kyi has always said that 

the situation in Rakhine state is 

complicated, and nobody should 

rush to specific solutions. 

It was in fact in this context 

that she commissioned Kofi Annan 

to investigate and produce a 

report on the matter. The Annan 

Commission was a political ploy 

to demonstrate to the world that 

she is doing what she can, getting 

to the bottom of the problem with 

the help of one of the world’s most 

respected diplomats. 

Sly Suu 

It is on the back of this approach 

that she even managed to get 

sanctions lifted from Myanmar by 

convincing former US President 

Obama that things were moving 

towards resolution in Rakhine 

State at reasonable speed. 

All the while, she was playing 

to the domestic crowd and to the 

army, by dragging things out and 

taking no action on the ground 

against either the ultra-nationalist 

civilian groups, the Rakhine State 

authorities, or the segments of the 

federal security forces who were 

carrying out the abuses against the 

Rohingya. 

But now matters have come to 

a head. 

Despite the artificiallyrestricted 

remit Annan was given 

for his investigations, the findings 

are much the same as those of the 

previous humanitarian observers 

-- if couched in somewhat more 

placid language to mollify the 

Myanmar government. 

And the recommendations 

are what we knew was needed 

and what we have called for all 

along. Suu Kyi asked for neutral 

recommendations from a globally 

respected international diplomat 

and she got them. 

What happens next? 

This is where the politics of the 

matter become difficult for Suu 

Kyi. She can no longer tow the 

neutral line in the middle and 

pretend to be all things to all 

people. 

She must now choose a side. 

Is she on the side of human 

rights and international 

humanitarian and ethical 

standards, or is she on the side of 

the ultra-nationalists and the army 

hardliners in her country? 

Is Aung San Suu Kyi a Nobel 

Peace Prize laureate, or just 

another craven politician who will 

abide by “ethnic cleansing” to not 

rock the boat, and allow her to stay 

in power unchallenged. • 

Azeem Ibrahim is Senior Fellow at 

the Centre for Global Policy and Adj 

Research Professor at the Strategic 

Studies Institute, US Army War College. 

He tweets @AzeemIbrahim. This article 

previously appeared on Al-Arabiya.

14 


DT 

Opinion 

Saturday night fever 

The inner workings of a tired and deeply unhappy generation 

THE 

WORLD IN 

PARENTHESES 

• SN Rasul 

When Sweden realised 

that fewer and 

fewer people were 

becoming nurses 

who would care for their ageing 

population, they conducted a twoyear 

experiment in which they 

shortened the working day to six 

hours instead of eight. 

The results were positive. 

The nurses handed in fewer sick 

leaves, felt healthier, and boosted 

their overall productivity by 85%. 

Sweden, however, chose to not 

go ahead with the plan because it 

was far too expensive to continue, 

as the nurses were being paid 

the same for the same amount of 

work. 

To the slaughter 

This year, with Qurbani Eid falling, 

cruelly, on a Saturday, instead 

of the usual three days off, most 

employees received one extra day 

to celebrate and rest. 

On Thursday and Friday they 

spent all day bargaining for cattle, 

walking through the dung-infested 

streets, came back home, woke 

up in the morning the next day, 

went for Eid prayers, came back 

home again, spent the morning 

Saturdays, I see it in the faces of 

the desperate worker-cogs, faces 

clutching on to the dying hours 

of the last weekend, dreading the 

backbreaking cycle of work-tolive-to-work. 

This year, with the 

excruciatingly few number of Eid 

holidays, it seemed, last Sunday, 

that it was my friends and cousins 

and fellow citizens who were 

headed for the slaughter. 

Are we all Sisyphus? 

In most places, holidays are few 

and far in between. Most people 

plan their lives around these days, 

waiting for when they will come 

around. 

The incessant need with which 

they crave these holidays states 

one rather sad fact: People are not 

happy with their lives. 

Bangladesh’s booming economy 

and hyper-capitalism (which I’ve 

mentioned incessantly before) do 

little to assuage the manufactured 

need that most young blood feel: 

Study business (and oversaturate 

the market with BBA graduates), 

work at an MNC (prestige, status), 

earn more money (more of the 

same, and so that one can afford 

the nicest things). 

After all, a very concrete path 

has been set, which requires us 

to take care of our family, to get 

married in dhoom-dharakka 

fervour, maybe buy an apartment 

some day if we haven’t inherited 

any, do something ourselves once 

we start loathing our respective 

bosses, et cetera. 

Maybe we need to reimagine how we work, 

and how we get things done. If work has 

become dread, what is motivating people to 

keep going back? 

In this daily work schedule, burnout is inevitable 

BIGSTOCK 

looking after the slaughter and 

the hacking, went all around town 

distributing the meat to family 

and friends and the needy, only 

to wake up the next morning with 

the dread of work the next. 

This isn’t uncommon. 

I cannot speak extensively 

for other nations, be it more 

developed or less, but, from what 

has inevitably become the norm 

here, especially in the “corporate” 

sector (and elsewhere too) is a 

schedule that overtakes life, as 

opposed to one that complements 

it. 

Thursdays people rejoice. On 

But these massive life goals, all of 

which require financial support, 

ignore the nitty gritty of the 

quotidian. 

They forget that each day has 

one good moment: When we can 

leave work. 

And each week has one good 

day: The 24 hours from Thursday 

night to Friday night. 

Once that’s done, we, like 

Sisyphus, must push that boulder 

up the hill all over again, so that it 

can roll back down again, and we 

rinse, and repeat. 

Where’s the satisfaction, the 

joy, the meaning in that? 

Rearrange priorities 

Society, not just here, but the 

whole world perhaps, has lost 

sight of what’s important: 

Happiness, satisfaction, selfactualisation 

-- at the risk of 

paraphrasing John Lennon. 

Nine-to-fives have steadily 

eroded into myth; five-day work 

weeks too. Some places are kind, 

but go to a bank and you see the 

smartly dressed 20-somethings 

burning the midnight oil away 

along with their souls. 

I do not mean to condescend 

workaholics or those who enjoy 

this sort of work; but what has 

become apparent is that not only 

are corporations taking advantage 

of the artificially generated greed 

imbibed in most young people in 

the country, but that most people, 

sadly, have accepted it as their 

life’s calling. 

No one is saying that the 

Swedes had the perfect idea, or 

even that we should move away 

from allowing people the freedom 

to earn as much as they want, 

however they want. 

But the system we have in place 

right now, which utilises such an 

anarchistic approach to well-being, 

a wellbeing which has invariably 

intertwined itself with material 

gains, is leading to an overworked, 

tired, deeply unhappy generation. 

Maybe we need to reimagine 

how we work, and how we get 

things done. 

If work has become dread, 

what, in the end, is motivating 

people to keep going back? 

Is it money? Is that enough? 

And do we really want to raise 

a generation whose primary 

objective is to be richer than the 

rest? • 

SN Rasul is an Editorial Assistant at the 

Dhaka Tribune. Follow him @snrasul.

Tip of the iceberg 

Opinion 15 

We need clearer, more defined laws against rape in order to eliminate it 

DT 


Rape ruins lives 

• Habibul Haque Khondker 

Rupa -- her name literally 

meaning “silver” -- 

was a golden girl. An 

independent young 

woman who took the reins of her 

fatherless family from an early 

age. 

But, just as she was about to 

take full control of her life and that 

of her family’s, by finally getting 

a job, her life was ended brutally 

-- not by a traffic accident, nor an 

incurable disease. 

Perhaps I’m wrong here. Maybe 

it was a disease that took her life -- 

a disease that still ails our society. 

Rupa was the victim of a brutal 

rape and murder by a gang of 

monsters. The driver and helpers 

of the bus she was on were 

supposed to protect and guarantee 

her safe travel to her family. 

But instead they became the 

perpetrators of a heinous crime. 

How many girls must be raped 

and killed to awaken our society 

and the government and deal with 

the epidemic of brutalities against 

women in a determined and 

robust way? 

In the little over two weeks that 

I spent in Dhaka in early August 

2017, I read newspaper reports on 

the rape of a college girl in Bogra, a 

northern district, by Tufan Sarker, 

a thug who doubled as council 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

member at the local government. 

Taking advantage of his 

political connections, Sarker 

ordered his underlings to kidnap 

the college girl from her home -- 

his savagery not limited to his act 

of rape. 

When the girl reported the 

crime, she and her mother were 

hauled out of their home, had 

their heads shaved, and then 

paraded in public. 

This was a sheer spectacle 

of the power of Tufan Sarker, 

because, through that not-sosubtle 

message, he let everyone 

in the community know the 

consequence of going against his 

might. 

The government took swift 

action in arresting the miscreant 

with the ruling party expelling him 

from their ranks. Time will tell if 

and when he is going to face the 

full force of law. So far Sarker and 

certain members of his family are 

in custody. 

A four-year-old girl in a Dhaka 

squatter settlement was raped 

and killed by a 35-year-old ex-con 

as reported by the Dhaka Tribune 

on July 31. Victims of rape are not 

limited to a certain classes either, 

as a teacher was raped by six men 

after school in a classroom as she 

was preparing to return home with 

her husband in Barguna in mid- 

August. 

In societies such as ours, rape 

is a show of male power. The rape 

and death of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a 

student of Victoria College within 

Comilla cantonment, is still under 

investigation. The snail’s pace 

of ensuring justice for the raped 

further emboldens perpetrators. 

However, the examples cited 

above are only the tip of the 

iceberg. 

In some countries, 

rapists are publicly 

punished. The public 

nature of such 

punishment maybe 

unacceptable to our 

civilised sensibilities, 

but they do send a 

clear message 

Not just harrowing statistics 

According to Ain-O-Salish Kendra, 

a human rights NGO, from January 

to June 2017, 280 women were 

raped, of whom 16 were killed, 

five of them committing suicide 

in order to save their “honour.” Of 

the 280 victims, 20 were children 

aged below six, and 64 were 

between the ages of seven and 12. 

Of the 280 victims, 74 were gangraped. 

According to Sishu Adhikar 

Forum, 1,301 children were 

raped between January 2012 and 

September 2016. According to 

Bangladesh Mohila Parishad, in 

2016, 1,050 women and girls were 

raped, which included 166 gang 

rapes and 44 being murdered after 

they were raped. 

The number of gang rapes 

in 2015 was 199. According to a 

study conducted by BRAC, 1.7% 

of all children were raped in 

Bangladesh, on an average, in 

2016. What can we do to tackle 

this epidemic of violence against 

women and children? 

Basic tools against violence 

against women and children 

First, drop euphemisms such as 

“eve-teasing” -- harassment is 

harassment. It is a violation of a 

person’s rights and should be dealt 

with as such. 

Second, we often talk about 

the best practices ranging from 

governance, improvement in 

education, and sports. Law and 

administration of justice should 

not be exempted from such topics 

of discussion. 

The law in countries such as 

Singapore, where punishment 

for sexual molestation includes 

caning, should be considered 

-- because, in many cases, 

punishment works. 

Third, raising social awareness 

and bringing out the good in 

people through public education 

can be an ideal path. 

But, at the same time, harsh 

punishment is something that 

people like Tufan Sarker or the 

perpetrators of the Rupa rape/ 

murder will understand better. 

In some countries, rapists are 

publicly punished. The public 

nature of such punishment 

maybe unacceptable to our 

civilised sensibilities, but they 

do send a clear message, and can 

be considered as a short-term 

deterrence. 

Moreover, a national 

commission should inquire into 

the epidemic of rape and publish 

a report -- and based on their 

recommendations, the laws should 

be amended. Implementation of 

the law, and ensuring fair trials are 

also areas where we need to focus. 

According to NHRC Chairman 

Kazi Reazul Hoque: “88% of the 

accused in cases linked to violence 

against women, including murder, 

rape, and torture are being 

acquitted.” 

If Bangladesh wants to be a 

middle-income nation, young 

women like Rupa first must 

have the freedom to travel by 

themselves, regardless of the 

time of day, and not be raped and 

murdered. • 

Habibul Haque Khondker is a sociology 

professor at Zayed University, Abu 

Dhabi.

16 


DT 

Downtime 

CROSSWORD 

ACROSS 

1 Burn slightly (4) 

5 Bake (5) 

9 Spring back (6) 

10 Hawaiian garland (3) 

11 Insects (4) 

12 Manservant (5) 

14 Force back (5) 

16 Region (4) 

19 Permits (4) 

21 Family member (5) 

24 Company of lions (5) 

27 Advise strongly (4) 

29 Corn spike (3) 

30 Hospital employees (6) 

31 Kind of wheat (5) 

32 Wagers (4) 

DOWN 

1 Crustacean (4) 

2 Female bird (3) 

3 Starry (6) 

4 Get up (4) 

5 Opposite in position (7) 

6 Everyone (3) 

7 Observe (3) 

8 Tenth part (5) 

13 Drink (3) 

15 Enduring with 

fortitude (7) 

17 Reluctant (6) 

18 Deceives (5) 

20 Finish (3) 

22 Check (4) 

23 Untidy state (4) 

25 Sharp blow (3) 

26 Wrath (3) 

28 Obtain (3) 

CODE-CRACKER 

How to solve: Each number in our 

CODE-CRACKER grid represents a 

different letter of the alphabet. For 

example, today 15 represents N so fill N 

every time the figure 15 appears. 

You have two letters in the control 

grid to start you off. Enter them in the 

appropriate squares in the main grid, then 

use your knowledge of words to work out 

which letters go in the missing squares. 

Some letters of the alphabet may not be 

used. 

As you get the letters, fill in the other 

squares with the same number in the 

main grid, and the control grid. Check 

off the list of alphabetical letters as you 

identify them. 

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

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

Biz Info 

NCC Bank donates Tk3crore to 

PM’s relief and welfare fund 

17 


Prime Exchange Singapore 

organises meeting with Monetary 

Authority of Singapore (MAS) 

DT 

A meeting was held between Prime Exchange Co. Pte. Ltd. Singapore 

and Monetary Authority of Singapore yesterday. Marcus Lim, deputy 

director and head of Payment & Infrastructure Division, Monetary 

Authority of Singapore, Tanjil Chowdhury, chairman, Prime Exchange 

Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore, Habibur Rahman, DMD and chief officer, ICC & 

Global Business of Prime Bank and Mohammed Samiullah, CEO, Prime 

Exchange Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore were present at the meeting. • 

NCC Bank donated Tk3crore to the Prime Minister’s relief and welfare fund for people affected by the 

recent floods as a part of its corporate social responsibility. Md Nurun Newaz Salim, chairman and Mosleh 

Uddin Ahmed, managing director and CEO of NCC Bank handed over the cheque to the Honourable Prime 

Minister Seikh Hasina at her residence Ganabhaban on August 30, 2017. Md Nazrul Islam Mazumder, 

chairman of Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) was also present at the occasion.• 

Islami Bank Officer Kallyan Samiti 

holds Eid Reunion 

MOVIE 

STAR CINEPLEX 

Where Bashundhara City, 

Dhaka 

What Movie Showtime 

(September 5) 

BLOCKBUSTER CINEMAS 

Where Jamuna Future Park, 

Dhaka 

What Movie Showtime 

(September 5) 

• Features Desk 

Islami Bank Officer Kallyan 

Samiti organised an Eid Reunion 

program participated by all 

levels of executive officers and 

employees of the head office, 

zonal offices and corporate 

branches in Dhaka on September 

4 at the Islami Bank Tower, a 

press relese from the bank said. 

Md Abdul Hamid Miah, 

Managing Director and CEO 

of the bank exchanged Eid 

greetings and addressed 

the program as the chief 

guest. Md Mahbub-ul-Alam, 

Additional Managing Director, 

Abdus Sadeque Bhuiyan, Md 

Shamsuzzaman, Mohammed 

Munirul Moula, Mohammad Ali, 

Abu Reza Md Yeahia and Taher 

Ahmed Chowdhury, Deputy 

Managing Directors and Zafar 

Alam, Executive Vice President 

of the bank spoke at the event. 

Md Aminur Rahman, President 

of the Samiti presided over the 

program. • 

Annabelle: Creation (2D): 

11:20am, 2pm, 4pm, 5pm, 

7pm, 7:30pm 

Spiderman Homecoming (3D): 

10:50am, 1:45pm, 4:40pm, 

7:30pm 

Atomic Blonde (2D): 11:10am, 

1:40pm, 4:20pm, 7:20pm 

Voyangkor Sundor (2D): 

1:50pm, 6:50pm 

The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2D): 

11:30am, 2:10pm, 4:40pm, 

7:10pm 

Rangbaaz (2D): 11am, 4:10pm 

Dunkirk (2D): 10:50am, 1:10pm 

The Mummy (3D): 2:35pm, 

5pm 

Spider-Man: Homecoming 

(3D): 1:45pm, 4:30pm, 7:20pm 

Baywatch (2D): 2pm 

Transformers: The Last 

Knight (3D): 12pm, 1:50pm, 

4:50pm,7:20pm 

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

3pm, 5:05pm 

Rongbaz (2D): 11:30am, 

2:15pm, 5pm, 7:50pm 

The Glass Castle (2D): 11:45am, 

7:45pm 

Annabelle: Creation (2D): 

11:30am, 5:20pm, 7:30pm, 

7:50pm 

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth 

to Power: 11:50am 

Ohongkar (2D): 7:25pm, 

2:15pm, 11:30am 

Shona Bondhu (2D): 4:30pm

DT 

18 

Sports 


Sabbir: Australia sledged, so I 

returned the favour 

• Tribune Report 

When lower-order batsman Sabbir 

Rahman went out to the middle 

to bat yesterday, Bangladesh were 

struggling on 117 runs for the loss 

of five wickets against the Australia 

spin attack. 

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon had 

already set a record, of dismissing 

the first four batsmen courtesy 

LBWs, and the pressure was building 

on the home side. 

But guided by his captain Mushfiqur 

Rahim, Sabbir took charge of 

releasing the pressure through aggression. 

The right-handed batsman 

unleashed a bagful of strokes 

and went flamboyant to send the 

ball to the fence often. 

In between all the action, there 

was a lot of “sledges” exchanged 

between the two teams. 

Sabbir informed that he sledge 

backed at the Australians because 

they do it too. 

The exchange of pleasantries 

however, did not disturb Sabbir, 

rather, as he mentioned, he enjoyed 

it as he reached his fourth 

Test half-century. 

Entering into the last 10 overs of 

the day, Bangladesh were at ease 

when they lost Sabbir for 66, after 

he lost balance trying to pull only 

to see the wicket-keeper stumping 

him. 

This broke the 105-run stand for 

the sixth wicket between him and 

Mushfiq. 

His 113-ball innings included six 

boundaries and an over boundary 

and he was such a delight that Lyon 

compared him to a certain Indian 

captain - Virat Kohli. 

“First of all, Lyon is a great bowler. 

I congratulate him on taking five 

wickets. It is possible for me to become 

a batsman like Virat Kohli as 

everything is possible in this world. 

But I can’t be compared to him; for 

me it is more important to score 

runs for the team,” Sabbir told the 

media during the post-day press 

conference at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury 

Stadium. 

“I couldn’t keep my balance. We 

would have been in a better position 

had I remained unbeaten. But 

I thought we did well [yesterday]. 

The wicket isn’t easy to bat on, but 

we did try to play till the end of the 

day. Mushfiq and Nasir [Hossain] 

are still out there,” he said. 

Sabbir might have just appeared 

in his eighth Test match for Bangladesh, 

his partnership with Mushfiq, 

playing his 56th Test, was a picture 

of composure. 

According to Sabbir, being a 

youngster in the team, one requires 

the right mindset to execute in accordance 

with the situation. 

“The right mindset is very important. 

I had set my mind while 

going out to bat and was successful. 

Yes, I could have scored some 

more runs but I am happy for being 

able to contribute,” said the 25-year 

old. • 

Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim 

bats during day one of their second 

Test against Australia in Chittagong 

yesterday 

MD MANIK 

2ND TEST, DAY 1 

BANGLADESH 1ST INNINGS R B 

Tamim lbw b Lyon 9 34 

Soumya lbw b Lyon 33 81 

Imrul lbw b Lyon 4 11 

Mominul lbw b Lyon 31 67 

Shakib c Wade b Agar 24 52 

Mushfiq not out 62 149 

Sabbir st Wade b Lyon 66 113 

Nasir not out 19 33 

Extras (b 5) 5 

Total (90 Overs) 253/6 

Yet to bat 

Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam and 

Mustafizur Rahman 

Bowling 

Cummins 17-4-33-0, Lyon 28-6-77-5, 

O’Keefe 20-0-70-0, Agar 17-6-46-1, Maxwell 

3-0-6-0, Cartwright 5-1-16-0 

Fall Of Wickets 

1-13 (Tamim), 2-21 (Imrul), 3-70 (Soumya), 

4-85 (Mominul), 5-117 (Shakib), 6-222 

(Sabbir) 

Toss: Bangladesh

PLAYS OF THE DAY 

Dead straight Lyon 

Australia captain Steve Smith made 

an unique move when he gave 

spinner Nathan Lyon the new ball in 

just the second over of the day after 

fast bowler Pat Cummins bowled the 

first one. According to statistics, this 

is the first time Australia have opened 

the bowling with a spinner since legbreak 

bowler Bill O’Reilly in 1938. And 

the off-spinner duly fulfilled his duty 

with accurate line and length and 

took four important wickets of the 

Tigers top-order. Interestingly, all the 

wickets – opening batsman Tamim 

Iqbal, No 3 batter Imrul Kayes, opener 

Soumya Sarker and middle-order 

batsman Mominul Hauqe – came 

from LBWs against the experienced 

off-spinner. Lyon’s haul of wickets is 

the first time in Test history that the 

top four batsmen in an innings got 

out lbw to the same bowler. Later, 

Lyon also picked up the important 

wicket of lower-order batsman Sabbir 

Rahman in the 82nd over when his 

partnership alongside captain Mushfiqur 

Rahim was going strong. 

Mominul’s return 

After Mominul’s initial exclusion from 

the Test squad, there were much 

criticisms regarding the decision, 

which eventually paved the way for 

the left-hander to return to the side. 

Bangladesh dropped one pacer in the 

second Test – right-armer Shafiul Islam 

- and added an extra batsman to the 

batting order in order to bolster the 

depth. So all eyes were on Mominul 

as his recent form not quite reflected 

his blistering start to his international 

career. Not so long ago, he was even 

compared with the legendary Sir Don 

Bradman in terms of batting average in 

Test. However, Mominul made all the 

hard work and played nicely until he 

tried to defend Lyon off his back-foot 

in the last ball of the 34th over. He was 

dismissed for 31 runs. As the previous 

three batsmen all got out lbw, Mominul 

should have played that defensive 

shot with care as Lyon was often skidding 

the ball. Anyways, it was a short 

yet good innings from Mominul. But 

after getting set and being dismissed 

in that way was costly in context of 

the game. It was a good chance for 

Mominul to convert his good start into 

a big one but he missed it. 

Sabbir counter-attack 

Bangladesh were under pressure 

as they lost wickets at regular 

intervals and could not build a good 

partnership, despite small starts from 

the top-order batsmen. Bangladesh 

lost the crucial wicket of all-rounder 

Shakib al Hasan in the 47th over over 

when only 117 were on the board. The 

Tigers were facing a tough time out 

there as Australia bowled tight line 

and length. But from there, Sabbir 

took charge and played his natural 

game. Sabbir did not miss out on any 

scoring opportunities and played 

shots all around the wicket. 

Ali Shahriyar Bappa from Chittagong 

Lyon: Sabbir’s innings reminded 

me of Virat Kohli 

• Ali Shahriyar Bappa from 

Chittagong 

Sports 

Australia’s Nathan Lyon bowls on way to his 11th five-wicket haul in Tests 

Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon 

praised Bangladesh middle-order 

batsman Sabbir Rahman after his 

commanding half-century during 

a crucial stage on day one of the 

second and final Test match at Zahur 

Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium 

yesterday. 

Lyon dismissed the entire Bangladesh 

top four and surprisingly, 

all the wickets were lbws and the 

quartet were all left-handed batsmen. 

In the latter stages of the day, 

Sabbir and Mushfiq were batting 

confidently but Lyon also broke 

that partnership in the 82nd over 

of the game. 

This is the 11th time Lyon 

scalped five wickets in Tests. 

The experienced Aussie compared 

Sabbir’s knock to the ones 

played by Indian captain Virat 

Kohli as the champion batsman often 

plays attacking cricket even in 

pressure situations. 

“Sabbir is a good player. He 

reminds me of Virat Kohli. He’s 

probably a pretty good role model 

to have in the sub-continent. But 

that’s only on his person out there 

and the way he walks around the 

crease and the shots he’s played 

here. We find he doesn’t really 

want to defend, he wants to take 

the game on and that’s brave cricket. 

So he batted pretty well,” said 

Lyon after the day’s play in the port 

city. 

“He played some nice shots. He 

was lucky here and there but you 

need a bit of luck in cricket. I had 

a bit of luck with the stumping (of 

Sabbir), it probably wasn’t the best 

ball I’ve ever bowled in Test cricket 

but at the end of the day that’s 

luck, and you’ve got to go out there 

and enjoy the game of cricket. He’s 

a good cricketer, we’re definitely 

paying him a lot of respect, that’s 

for sure,” he added. 

Australia faced a long, hard 

day’s play of Test cricket amid hot 

and humid conditions after losing 

the toss and invited to field. 

Lyon admitted that they rally 

had to work hard to cope up with 

the conditions. 

“That’s up there with the hardest 

Test match cricket days I’ve 

ever had. This would be my 69th 

Test match and I don’t think I’ve 

been tested like that physically. 

The pitch was pretty good, to be 

fair, there’s not much spin there at 

all. I think I bowled four straight 

ones early and all hit the pads. (The 

heat) is just one of those things. 

This is why we do pre-season. You 

want to test yourself in the hardest 

conditions and see how you react,” 

Lyon explained. 

“I’ve got no idea what a good 

score is. We’ve got to wait until 

we see both teams bat on it. At the 

MD MANIK 

moment we need to go out there 

and take the four wickets and bowl 

really well in partnerships like we 

started off this morning. I think 

the wicket’s going to deteriorate, 

yeah for sure, but I think I might 

have spun one ball out of 28 overs 

[yesterday]. There’s not much spin 

there at the moment so it’s a good 

challenge for us spinners to challenge 

the batters and challenge 

their defence on a wicket like this. 

But subcontinent wickets around 

the world spin when the game goes 

on so I’ve got no doubt that this 

one will,” he added. 

Lyon said the day ended evenly 

in favour of both teams and that he 

is proud of the effort exhibited by 

the Australian bowlers. 

“It’s pretty even. They played 

well. Sabbir and the skipper 

[Mushfiqur Rahim], they batted 

really well, took the game on, 

played some brave cricket. You’ve 

got to give credit where credit’s 

due. But at the end of the day I 

was pretty proud of our bowlers’ 

efforts to go out there and keep 

fighting all the way through to the 

90th over. As I said before, (those 

were) the hardest conditions I’ve 

ever had. The wicket’s not really 

doing much, there’s not much spin, 

there’s no bounce. So to challenge 

the Bangladesh batters as much 

as we could, I thought it was a 

pretty good day to be honest,” he 

concluded. • 

19 


Sylhet rope in 

Nasir, Nurul and 

Taijul for BPL 5 

• Minhaz Uddin Khan 

DT 

Sylhet Surma Sixers, the newest franchise 

of the BPL T20, have recruited 

middle-order batsman Nasir Hossain, 

wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan 

and spinner Taijul Islam for the fifth 

season of the tournament. 

The side had earlier roped in 

hard-hitting batsman Sabbir Rahman 

as their Icon/A+ category cricketer. 

The BPL governing council had given 

Sylhet the luxury of directly picking 

three local players from the available 

list in order to match the other six 

teams of the tournament in the players’ 

draft, scheduled to be held on September 

16 this year. 

The other six teams had already retained 

three cricketers from last season. 

Yesterday was the deadline for Sylhet 

to submit their three local picks to 

the BPL GC. 

Nasir last played for holder Dhaka 

Dynamites and recently returned to 

the international scene with the twomatch 

Test series between Bangladesh 

and Australia. 

Nurul was released by last season’s 

runners-up Rajshahi Kings. 

Taijul meanwhile, last played for 

Barisal Bulls, a franchise which have 

been ruled out from the tournament 

this season after failing to meet financial 

terms with the BPL GC. As far as 

foreign recruits are concerned, Sylhet 

are still settling up the office. 

According to Sylhet CEO Yasir 

Obaid, “We are looking into a few options 

and are currently in discussion. 

As a new franchise, we are still settling 

down and hopefully will get a clear picture 

of our foreign signings as we get 

closer to the players’ draft.” 

The Sylhet official clarified the confusion 

over the team’s name which is often 

referred to as “Sylhet Super Sixers”. 

Yasir informed that they had initially 

come up with the name as Surma 

Sixers but given the guidelines set 

by the BPL GC regarding a team’s title, 

they had to shorten it to Sylhet Sixers. 

“There is a lot of confusion given we 

have not come out to the field officially. 

There are speculation on the name 

and who we have signed as our overseas 

players. We will be having a press 

conference on Sunday where we will 

launch our logo, the vision and mission 

and all other details of the team. I hope 

everything will be clarified after that 

event,” said Yasir. 

The event will be held in Sylhet with 

the idea that the teams belong to the 

people of Sylhet. 

Meanwhile, the BPL GC is currently 

in last-minute preparation for the BPL 

players’ draft 2017. 

Grading of the local cricketers have 

been done by the BPL GC after receiving 

list from the national selection panel. 

In terms of foreign cricketers’ participation 

in the draft, at least 200 

overseas players have registered for the 

draft in five categories and are waiting 

the BPL GC’s approval. •

20 


DT 

Sports 

Costa out 

of Chelsea’s 

Champions 

League squad 

• AFP, London 

Exiled striker Diego Costa was not 

included in Chelsea’s 25-man squad 

for the Champions League group 

phase yesterday. 

Costa, 28, has been frozen out 

by Chelsea manager Antonio Conte 

and spent the transfer window 

angling for a return to former club 

Atletico Madrid that never materialised. 

Atletico, who were drawn 

in Champions League Group C 

alongside Chelsea, are banned 

from signing new players until January. 

By not including Costa in their 

squad, Chelsea have ensured he 

will not become cup-tied, meaning 

he could play in the competition 

for another team in the second part 

of the season. 

Despite being named in Chelsea’s 

Premier League squad, Costa 

has not played in any of their 

league games to date, his place taken 

by £58m ($75.1m, 63.1m euros) 

record signing Alvaro Morata. 

Chelsea will also face Roma and 

Azerbaijani newcomers Qarabag in 

their group. 

Manchester United included 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic in their squad 

despite his current unavailability 

as he recovers from a serious knee 

injury. 

United manager Jose Mourinho 

has said Ibrahimovic, 35, will not 

be available until next year, but 

his inclusion in United’s squad will 

raise fans’ hopes he could return 

ahead of schedule. 

United open their Champions 

League campaign at home to Basel 

next Tuesday and will also 

face Benfica and CSKA Moscow 

in Group A. Mourinho also found 

room for 21-year-old striker James 

Wilson, who has not played a competitive 

game for United since October 

2015. • 

Argentina's Lionel Messi and Uruguay's Cristian Rodriguez in action during their 2018 World Cup Qualifiers match in Montevideo on Thursday 

Uruguay battle Argentina to predictable stalemate 

• Reuters, Montevideo 

Uruguay and Argentina drew 0-0 in 

an uninspiring but hotly contested 

World Cup qualifier in Montevideo 

on Thursday, a result that leaves 

both sides still needing points to 

guarantee a place at Russia 2018. 

The home side had the better of 

the first half and Argentina were on 

top during the second period but 

neither team posed much of a goal 

threat in a typically tense encounter. 

Uruguay’s Diego Rodin had a 

goal chalked off for offside in the 

first half and Luis Suarez saw his 

45-yard attempt to lob keeper Sergio 

Romero sail narrowly over. 

At the other end, Lucas Biglia 

Maria Sharapova of Russia hits to Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia during their US 

Open fourth round match at Flushing Meadows on Sunday 

REUTERS 

had a 30-yard strike deflected just 

wide and Lionel Messi saw a shot 

turned around the post after a brilliant, 

jinking run and one-two with 

Paulo Dybala. 

Suarez, who recovered from a 

right knee injury just in time to 

play, limped off with eight minutes 

left but said on Twitter that he had 

just suffered a cramp. 

Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli 

made his disappointment clear 

with the result. 

The draw means Argentina lie in 

fifth place in the South American 

qualifying table with 23 points, behind 

Chile on goal difference. 

Uruguay, who have now gone 

six games without a win, are a 

point above them in third. 

Brazil, the only one of the 10 

teams to have already qualified 

for Russia, lead the table with 36 

points after defeating Ecuador 2-0 

at home. 

REUTERS 

The top four teams qualify automatically 

for Russia 2018 and the 

fifth-placed side goes into a playoff 

against a rival from the Oceania 

confederation. 

In the region’s other games on 

Thursday, Artur Vidal scored a 

spectacular own goal as Chile lost 

3-0 at home to Paraguay. 

Vidal dived to head out a Paraguay 

free kick midway through the 

first half but his header soared into 

the corner of his own net. 

Victor Caceres doubled the lead 

nine minutes into the second period 

and Richard Ortiz added a third 

in injury time. Colombia drew 0-0 

at Venezuela and remain in second 

place with 25 points. • 

Sharapova ousted at US Open 

• AFP, New York 

Maria Sharapova’s Grand Slam return 

after a 15-month doping ban 

ended Sunday with a fourth-round 

defeat at the US Open but the former 

world number one considered 

it a major step in her comeback. 

Latvian 16th seed Anastasija 

Sevastova rallied to eliminate the 

five-time Grand Slam champion 

5-7, 6-4, 6-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium, 

booking a quarter-final against 

American Sloane Stephens, who 

ousted Germany’s Julia Goerges 

6-3, 3-6, 6-1. 

Sharapova, the 2006 US Open 

RESULTS 

Venezuela 0-0 Colombia 

Chile 0-3 Paraguay 

Vidal 24-og, Caceres 55, Ortiz 90+3 

Uruguay 0-0 Argentina 

Brazil 2-0 Ecuador 

Paulinho 69, Coutinho 76 

Peru 2-1 Bolivia 

Flores 55, Cueva 59 Alvarez 72 

winner, was able to find the positives 

after making 51 unforced errors 

to only 14 by Sevastova, whose 

21 winners were half the 30-yearold 

Russian’s total. 

“Reflecting back on the week, I 

can be happy,” Sharapova said. “It 

has been a really great ride. Ultimately, 

I can take a lot from this 

week.” 

Today’s other quarter-final will 

match Czech 13th seed Petra Kvitova, 

a two-time Wimbledon champion, 

against US ninth seed Venus 

Williams, seeking her eighth Slam 

title and third US Open crown. 

Kvitova eliminated Spanish 

third seed and two-time Slam winner 

Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 

while Williams beat 35th-ranked 

Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 

3-6, 6-1. 

In Sharapova’s first Slam since 

she tested positive for the banned 

blood booster meldonium at the 

2016 Australian Open, she ousted 

second-ranked Simona Halep in 

the first round and served notice 

to any contender her game remains 

formidable. 

“She played unbelievable 

throughout the first and second set 

and I just kept fighting, running for 

every ball,” Sevastova said. •

Sports 

21 


DT 

Lukaku sends 

Belgium to World 

Cup with 2-1 win 

in Greece 

• Reuters, Athens 

Belgium became the first European 

team to qualify for next year’s World 

Cup when a Romelu Lukaku header 

gave them a 2-1 win away to Greece 

on Sunday with the goals coming in 

a five-minute second-half spell. 

Belgium became the sixth team 

to make sure of their place at the 

2018 tournament alongside Brazil, 

Japan, Iran and Mexico, plus Russia 

who qualified automatically as host. 

The win left Belgium with 22 

points from eight games at the top 

of Group H, eight clear of Bosnia 

who won 4-0 away to Gibraltar. 

They each have two games to play. 

The winner of the nine European 

groups qualify directly and the 

best eight runners-up play off for 

four more places. 

Belgium were missing defender 

Vincent Kompany after he took a 

knock in the 9-0 win over Gibraltar 

on Thursday while Eden Hazard 

started on the bench. 

Greece managed to stifle Belgium 

with a five-man defence in 

the first half and twice came close 

to scoring on the break. 

Anastasios Donis surged forward 

from midfield and tested Thibaut 

Courtois, then Konstantinos 

Stafylidis produced a thumping 

drive which was heading for the 

top corner until the goalkeeper 

tipped it away. 

Defender Jan Vertonghen gave 

Belgium the lead in the 70th minute 

with a left-foot drive into the 

bottom corner. • 

DAY’S WATCH 

CRICKET 

STAR SPORTS SELECT 1 

9:50PM 

Australia Tour Of Bangladesh 

2nd Test, Day 2 

FOOTBALL 

SONY ESPN 

12:30AM (Wednesday) 

Fifa World Cup Qualifiers 2018 

Turkey v Croatia 


Equador v Peru 


Paraguay v Uruguay 

SONY TEN 1 


Italy v Israel 

SONY TEN 2 


Colombia v Brazil 


Argentina v Venezuela 

TENNIS 

STAR SPORTS SELECT HD 2 

10:00PM 

US Open 2017 

India’s Virat Kohli plays a shot during their fifth ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Sunday 

Kohli steers India to 5-0 whitewash over Sri Lanka 

• AFP, Colombo 

Virat Kohli hit his second century 

in a row as India thrashed Sri Lanka 

by six wickets in the fifth one-day 

international Sunday to inflict a 

humiliating 5-0 series defeat on the 

beleaguered host. 

Kohli smashed nine fours in his 

unbeaten 110-run knock to help 

the visitor achieve the target of 239 

with 21 balls to spare at the R. Premadasa 

stadium in Colombo. 

The series win came after India 

swept the preceding three-Test rubber 

3-0, capping their domination 

of the home side which has been 

beset by injury and selection woe. 

This was India’s second 5-0 

whitewash in an away ODI series 

with Kohli’s men having blanked 

Zimbabwe in 2013. 

Sri Lanka squandered the opportunity 

to salvage some pride, 

folding up for a below-par 238 in 

49.4 overs after paceman Bhuvneshwar 

Kumar grabbed a career-best 

5-42. 

The Indians had a shaky start 

but Kohli anchored the innings 

Rooney promises no England U-turn 

• AFP, London 

Wayne Rooney has insisted there 

will be no going back on his decision 

to retire from England duty in 

a bid to at last enjoy a successful 

World Cup campaign. 

The former England captain, 

charged with drink-driving on 

Friday, retired from international 

football last month having 

scored a national record 53 goals 

in 119 appearances that included 

three World Cups and three European 

Championships. 

And the Everton striker said 

even the fact that the 2018 World 

Cup in Russia was on the horizon 

would not lead him to change his 

decision. 

“My mind’s made up,” he told 

talkSPORT radio on Sunday. 

“I’ve seen it a few times when 

players come out of retirement and 

gone to tournaments and it’s not 

right. 

“I think the lads now who are 

trying to qualify for Russia, if they 

get there they’re the players who 

will deserve to play in the tournament, 

so my decision is made.” 

Rooney made his move despite 

England manager Gareth Southgate 

offering to recall him for the World 

Cup qualifier against Malta on Friday, 

a match England won 4-0. 

England have won the World 

Cup just once, on home soil back in 

1966 and Rooney’s three editions 

all ended in bitter disappointment. 

He was shown a red card during 

the 2006 quarter-final defeat by Portugal, 

with England suffering a second-round 

loss to Germany in 2010 

and failing to get out of their initial 

group in Brazil four years later. 

Rooney said he had been particularly 

angered by the conduct 

of then England manager Fabio 

Capello, an Italian, and his staff at 

the 2010 edition. 

“At the World Cup in South Africa, 

Fabio and his coaches were 

watching Italy play and they were 

jumping up and cheering when Italy 

scored and he’s there as England 

manager. I don’t think it was right 

but it didn’t work and we moved 

on.” 

Rooney re-joined boyhood club 

Everton in the pre-season after a 

successful 13-year spell at Premier 

League rivals Manchester United 

that saw him win five Premier 

League titles, one FA Cup, three 

League Cups, the Europa League 

and the 2008 Champions League, 

as well as becoming the Red Devils’ 

all-time leading goal-scorer. • 

BRIEF SCORE, 5TH ODI 

INDIA 239 for 4 (Kohli 110*, Jadhav 

63) beat SRI LANKA 238 (Thirimanne 

67, Mathews 55, Tharanga 48, 

Bhuvneshwar 5-42) by six wickets 

REUTERS 

with a 99-run partnership with 

Manish Pandey (36) for the third 

wicket. 

He also put on 109 runs with Kedar 

Jadhav who scored a fine 63 off 

73 balls. 

Kohli, 28, looked in sublime 

form, hitting Milinda Siriwardana 

for three fours in an over to bring 

up his half-century. 

The right-hander went on to 

complete his 30th ODI century, 

equalling former Australian captain 

Ricky Ponting’s tally. 

Only Indian great Sachin Tendulkar 

has scored more centuries 

in the 50-over game with 49 tons. 

Earlier, Kumar made the most of 

the conditions, reducing Sri Lanka 

to 40-2 before Lahiru Thirimanne 

(67) and Angelo Mathews stitched 

together a 122-run stand for the 

fourth wicket to steady the innings. 

The dismissal of the two set 

batsmen triggered a collapse that 

saw the host lose seven wickets 

for 53 runs. Thirimanne, who hit 

three fours and a six in his 102-ball 

knock, was bowled by Kumar, the 

man of the match. •

22 


DT 

Showtime 

5 must watch Satyajit Ray films 

• Showtime Desk 

Satyajit Ray is undoubtedly one of the greatest film makers in the history 

of Indian cinema who garnered international recognition with his 

legendary film Pather Panchali. The film maker has given the audience a 

number of great films which are phenomenal, catering to film enthusiasts 

around the world. Showtime took time to list some of Ray’s finest films 

for you to watch which are known to represent our society, making them 

ever so relatable for us. 

Jalsaghar - The 

Music Room 

(1958) 

Jalsaghar, (The Music 

Room) is set in the 

1920s, after the Indian 

government had 

abolished the feudal 

zamindari system. 

The film stars Chhabi 

Biswas as a landed 

aristocrat, Roy, who 

sequesters himself 

in his grand home, 

taking refuge in his 

beloved classical 

music while the 

winds of change rage 

outside. Ray brings 

Roy’s perfumed world 

to life with glittering 

images of fireworks, 

gleaming chandeliers and the cavernous extravagance of his music 

room, where he invites satirists and dancers to entertain him and his 

guests. But there are also portentous images of doom – a lightning 

storm, an insect drowning in a goblet, a spider crawling across the 

portrait of one of his illustrious ancestors – which suggest that these 

musicians are merely fiddling while Roy’s Rome burns. 

Mohanagar - The Big 

City (1963) 

There’s a scene minutes 

into The Big City when 

Arati Mazumdar (Madhabi 

Mukherjee) turns to her 

husband, Subrata (Anil 

Chatterjee), saying, “If 

you saw me at work you 

wouldn’t recognise me.” 

Her eyes are bright with 

pride, widened by new 

experiences. He’s envious 

of his wife’s professional 

prowess, and struggling to 

adapt to these changes in 

the subservient housewife 

he loves. 

Finding it hard to support 

a large, extended family 

on his bank-clerk salary 

alone, she persuaded him to let her take a job as a saleswoman. To 

her surprise, and the consternation of her hidebound, traditionalist 

family, Arati - who has never known much outside cooking and 

cleaning at home - takes to the world of work like a duck to water. 

She finds herself surprisingly adept at earning money, and laps up 

her newfound independence in the city, the camaraderie of her 

colleagues, and glowing praise from her boss. With this 1963 drama, 

Ray found himself railing against the “a woman’s place is in the 

home” mentality, making a sassy, nuanced and deeply moving film 

about the gathering speed of modernity and feminism in his home 

city of Calcutta. 

Pratidwandi (1970) 

Ray’s ode to the prevalent Naxalism during the mid- 

70s in Calcutta, and the uprising of CPML under Charu 

Majumdar, the film showcases a stellar performance 

from Dhrittiman Chatterjee as the protagonist. 

The story revolves around a young college graduate 

who is struggling to find a job. He lives in a flat with his 

younger, employed sister, revolutionary brother and 

widowed mother. The strain of the situation ultimately 

causes him to hallucinate. 

This story was originally written by Sunil 

Gangopadhyay while the screenplay was written by Ray 

himself. 

Shatranj ke Khiladi – The 

Chess Players (1977) 

Shatranj ke Khiladi, Ray’s satire 

on the annexation of Awadh is 

based on the source material 

of Munshi Premchand’s short 

story of the same title. Amjad 

Ali Khan plays Nawab Wajid 

Ali Shah, while Sanjeev Kumar 

and Saeed Jaffrey play two 

noblemen obsessed with chess. 

Satyajit Ray portrays the 

nawab as an extravagant but 

sympathetic figure. He is an 

artist and poet, no longer in 

command of events and unable to effectively 

oppose the British and fight to retrieve his throne. 

Parallel to the wider drama is the personal (and 

sometimes humorous) tale of two rich noblemen 

of this kingdom, Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Roshan 

Ali. Inseparable as friends, the two nobles became 

passionately obsessed with the game of shatranj 

(chess), neglecting his (Mirza Sajjid Ali’s) wife 

and failing to act against the real-life seizure 

of their kingdom by the East India Company. 

Aranyer Din Ratri - Days and Nights in the 

Forest (1970) 

Mentored by the great French filmmaker Jean Renoir 

in his early career, Ray created a tribute to Renoir’s 

classic Partie de campagne (1936) with Days and Nights 

in the Forest, transplanting the scene from pastoral 

France to the forests of north-eastern India. In Bangla, 

this film is known as Aranyer Din Ratri. 

Widely considered as Ray’s best film, it talks about 

four men in their late twenties looking to take a 

vacation to escape the boredom of their city lives. The 

little vacation, in the end, turns out to change their 

lives forever. 

Like the Renoir film, the story is about middle-class 

city folk taking a holiday to the countryside. Four male 

friends from Calcutta go on a road trip to rural Bihar, 

where they lodge at a forest guest house despite the 

protestations of its caretaker. They’re from the big 

city: brash, confident, careerist and ready to lord it 

over the more “backward” tribal communities living 

near their lodging. They vow not to shave, but that 

changes when they come across two beautiful women 

staying nearby, and an elegant game of flirtation and 

embarrassment ensues. 

Instead, the two nobles abandon their families 

and responsibilities, fleeing from Lucknow to play 

chess in a village, living in exile and untroubled 

by greater events. Ray’s basic theme in the film 

is the message that the detachment of India’s 

ruling classes assisted a small number of British 

officials and soldiers to take over Awadh without 

opposition. 

Surprisingly, Shatranj ke Khiladi was Ray’s only 

Hindi film. •

Showtime 

23 


DT 

Celebs celebrate 

• Showtime Desk 

If you ever wondered whether celebrities spend their Eid 

day meeting other celebrities then the answer is “yes.” 

Stars were seen celebrating Eid with their family, friends, 

and with other famous people. 

Actress and singer Mithila Rashid’s Eid day was spent with her family. 

She, her siblings and cousins spent precious time with their “dadu.” 

Actress Meem Rashid and singer Shayan Chowdhury Arnob were also 

seen with them. Why you might ask. Because Arnob is Mithila’s sister, as 

many came to know from that photo on social media. They did not forget 

to play music and sang together either. 

Anchor and actor Aleef Chowdhury’s Eid is unfulfilled without the 

presence of friends. As usual, he was photographed surrounded by 

friends. Partha Barua was spotted beaming from the middle of the 

picture. 

Fashion designer Bizli Hoque 

and Emdad Hoque kept their 

tradition alive by celebrating Eid 

at home in Old Dhaka. She was 

seen maneuvering delicious Eid 

nourishment in a big ‘dekchi’ pot. 

From there, anchor Samia Afreen 

ran to a destination just on the 

outskirt of the city to spend the 

rest of the Eid day. 

For Sabnam Faria, this Eid was melancholic without her dad. So, Sadia 

Jahan Prova, fellow thespian, paid a visit to lift her spirit. 

Khayam Sanu Sandhi, Swagata and Shovvota always have boisterous 

celebrations and this time it was no exception. They were joined by 

Swagata’s husband cinematographer Rashed Zaman and cartoonist 

Tonmoy. 

But Sanu’s Eid wasn’t confined in the house. He was dutifully present 

at his FM station to entertain his audience along with Kona and Sarjina. 

Srabonno Touhida spent a quiet 

Eid abroad with her husband. Elita 

Karim celebrated double because 

it was her birthday too. Mostofa 

Sarwar Farooki, Tisha and Sumi 

from the band Chirkutt paid Elita 

and her husband Ashfaque Nipun 

surprise visit with a birthday cake. 

Pori Moni spent time with FDC 

junior artists on the Eid day, which 

is seemingly becoming a routine 

of hers, as this is a repeat from 

the previous Qurbani Eid. To her, 

the junior artists are part of the 

backbone for a successful film.•

24 


DT 

A JOYLESS EID FOR 

FLOOD VICTIMS › 8 

Back Page 

LYON: SABBIR’S INNINGS REMINDED 

ME OF VIRAT KOHLI › 19 

5 MUST WATCH SATYAJIT 

RAY FILMS › 22 

Sabbir, Mushfiq fifties 

propel Bangladesh 

Sabbir Rahman plays a shot during day one of their second Test against Australia in Chittagong yesterday 

• Ali Shahriyar Bappa, 

Chittagong 

SPORTS 

Bangladesh finished day one of 

their second and final Test match 

against Australia on 253 runs for 

the loss of six wickets with skipper 

Mushfiqur Rahim unbeaten on 62 

on a relatively slow pitch at Zahur 

Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday. 

Australia spinner Nathan 

Lyon took five wickets for 77 runs 

to finish an entertaining day of Test 

cricket in the port city. 

Bangladesh won the toss and 

as expected, elected to bat first on 

a pitch which was predicted to be 

slow. Although there was not much 

turn on day one, the surface seems 

slow while the outfield was quite 

slow as well, compared to Dhaka’s 

Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National 

Stadium. The Tigers made one 

change from the Mirpur Test playing 

XI. Paceman Shafiul Islam, who 

bowled six overs in the first innings 

and did not even bowl in the second 

essay, got dropped and top-order 

batsman Mominul Haque replaced 

him. 

The Aussies also made changes 

to their playing XI. Paceman Josh 

Hazlewood was injured and as 

guessed correctly in many quarters, 

spinner Steve O’Keefe was 

recalled to the XI straightaway. The 

surprise change, however, was that 

of batsman Usman Khawaja, who 

made way for all-rounder Hilton 

Cartwright. 

Bangladesh made a cautious 

start as the opening bowling pair 

of paceman Pat Cummins and Lyon 

bowled in good areas and did not 

give any room to the Tigers openers 

Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar. 

Tamim was lucky in the seventh 

over as he edged a three-quarter 

delivery outside off stump against 

Cummins but all-rounder Glenn 

Maxwell, one of the finest fielders in 

the Australian side, put down a sitter. 

But Tamim could not capitalise on 

the chance as he was trapped in front 

in the 10th over for nine off a relatively 

straight delivery from Lyon. 

No 3 batsman Imrul Kayes (four) 

also got lbw trying to sweep Lyon 

four overs later. Then Soumya and 

Mominul formed a 49-run partnership 

for the third wicket before the 

former was trapped lbw by Lyon 

during the last over before lunch. 

Souyma scored 33 facing 81 balls 

but eventually got out after all the 

hard work, missing a Lyon arm-ball 

following minimum foot movement 

in the 30th over. 

And so, four left-handers all got 

out lbw against Lyon as another 

left-hander, Shakib al Hasan, came 

in to bat at No 5, ahead of Mushfiq. 

MD MANIK 

Mominul was not out on 24 at 

lunch as much of the spotlight was 

on him in his return to the playing 

XI. But his promising innings ended 

when Lyon trapped him lbw in 

the last ball of the 34th over. There 

was a good chance of him scoring a 

big one but the left-hander missed 

it while trying to play a defensive 

shot off the back foot. He was eventually 

trapped lbw. 

This is the first time in Test history 

that the top four batsmen in an innings 

got out lbw to the same bowler. 

Shakib scored three boundaries 

and formed a little partnership with 

Mushfiq before getting out off the 

bowling of spinner Ashton Agar. 

Wicket-keeper Mathew Wade took 

a sharp catch behind the stumps 

and Agar took the crucial wicket of 

Shakib (24) in the 47th over when 

the scoreboard read 117. 

Lower-order batsman Sabbir 

Rahman then arrived to the middle 

in what was an extremely crucial 

stage of the innings, forming a 

brilliant stand with his captain. 

The run rate was slow at that 

time as Bangladesh scored around 

120 after 47 overs. But since Sabbir’s 

arrival, the runs came more frequently, 

thanks to the right-hander’s 

natural stroke-play. Mushfiq 

took his time initially to settle 

down but eventfully played a solid 

knock for the team once again. • 

Prince William and Kate 

expecting third child 


WORLD 

Prince William’s wife Kate is expecting 

their third child, Kensington Palace 

announced yesterday, adding that she 

would not be attending a planned engagement 

due to morning sickness. 

William, 35, is second in line to the 

throne and the new baby will be fifth 

in line, bumping William’s younger 

brother Harry down the order of succession. 

The news comes at the start of the 

week that the royal couple’s eldest 

child, four-year-old Prince George, begins 

school in London. 

They also have a daughter, twoyear-old 

Princess Charlotte. 

“Their royal highnesses the Duke 

and Duchess of Cambridge are very 

pleased to announce that the Duchess 

of Cambridge is expecting their third 

child,” the palace said in a statement. 

There was no immediate indication 

when the baby was due or whether it is 

a boy or a girl. 

Queen Elizabeth II, William’s grandmother, 

was said to be “delighted” at the 

news, as were members of both families. 

Prime Minister Theresa May was 

quick to offer her congratulations, 

saying in a message on Twitter: “This is 

fantastic news.” 

The palace confirmed that “as with 

her previous two pregnancies, the 

duchess is suffering from Hyperemesis 

Gravidarum”, an acute form of morning 

sickness. 

Kate, 35, was hospitalised with the 

condition during her first pregnancy in 

2012, while it also forced her to cancel 

a trip to Malta when she was pregnant 

with Charlotte in 2014. 

“Her royal highness will no longer 

carry out her planned engagement at 

the Hornsey Road Children’s Centre in 

London today,” the palace said. 

“The Duchess is being cared for at 

Kensington Palace.” 

William and Kate moved back to 

London from their rural home in eastern 

England this summer as they take 

over more engagements from the ageing 

senior royals. 

The 91-year-old queen has reduced 

her public events in recent years and 

Prince Philip, her 96-year-old husband, 

officially retired in August. • 

AFP 

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, 

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