e_Paper, Thursday, September 7, 2017

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 | Bhadra 23, 1424, Zil-Hajj 15, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 119 | 24 pages plus 24-page Arts & Letters supplement | Price: Tk10 

Stories of horror pile on 

› 2, 3 

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

2 

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 

DT 

News 

Breaking Buthidaung: The second 

chapter in the Rakhine conflict 

• Adil Sakhawat 

CRISIS 

How do you break a city or a town 

or any human settlement? You can 

demolish it with heavy machinery 

or weaponry, but it can always be 

rebuilt. To destroy a township, you 

must destroy its people and their 

will to return, and kill their hopes 

and dreams of reconciliation. 

Maungdaw may be the only 

township in Rakhine that has been 

publicly declared a military operational 

zone, but Buthidaung is 

just as much at risk, if not more 

so. With over 250 residents already 

reported dead, another chapter in 

this sordid tragedy of humanity is 

unfolding. 

But why are we only hearing 

about this now, when the latest 

conflict ignited on August 25? Because 

it takes 11 days to cross the 

hills and jungles from Buthidaung 

to Bangladesh. 

The worst is yet to be heard 

The August 25 attack by the Arakan 

Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) 

on Myanmar security forces started 

at Buthidaung. If the latest 

group of Rohingya refugees are to 

be believed, then the conditions in 

Buthidaung and Rathedaung (another 

township) eclipse those of 

Maungdaw. 

The Dhaka Tribune could only 

talk to former denizens of Buthidaung. 

According to the escape 

routes the refugees are taking, it 

will take at least another two days 

for the Rathedaung refugees to 

reach Bangladesh. 

The distances on foot are considerable. 

While Maungdaw lies 

just across the Naf river, less than 

10km from Bangladesh, the town of 

Buthidaung is a further 25km into 

Myanmar and Rathedaung around 

55km more distant from there. 

Therefore it is a 90km trek through 

jungles and over the hills and 

across rivers from Rathedaung to 

Bangladesh. According to witnesses, 

the Myanmar army has a very 

heavy presence in the river and 

hilly areas, making the flight for the 

Rathedaung refugees even harder. 

The survivors’ accounts 

The Buthidaung refugees scarcely 

mention the ARSA. For them, the 

Tatmadaw (official name of the 

Myanmar armed forces) is terror 

manifest. 

It was difficult to get coherent 

accounts from the latest refugees. 

Traumatised by the horrors visited 

upon them, they wept, cried 

openly, shook uncontrollably and 

gripped with bony hands whatever 

they could to steady themselves. 

With eyes agape, two Rohingya 

7 more Rohingya 

children, women 

drown in Naf 

men who used to live in a village 

tract called Taung Bazar in Buthidaung 

gradually expressed what 

they saw. 

Riajul Karim and Mohammad 

Nosim claimed at least 250 of the 

village’s nearly 10,000 people 

were killed by the Tatmadaw. That 

equates to 2.5% of the population 

These soldiers strutted into our village, looking 

for young men. My boy was so young, so 

strong. So he must be an insurgent, right? 

That’s what they decided 

snuffed out in a matter of days. 

Lives are becoming more and more 

arbitrary as the statistics pile up. 

“The military came to our village 

armed with heavy weaponry, 

looking for Baghi,” Riajul says, using 

the local term for Rohingya insurgents. 

“They would get on their knees 

about 200 metres from the houses 

and let loose with a volley from 

their rocket launchers. It was a 

hellish scene, fire and smoke all 

around, and the indiscriminate 

slaughter of our people.” 

Riajul said he had seen “at least 

200” houses in Taung Bazar destroyed 

by the army, and he named 

several of his neighbours who were 

killed in the onslaught. He remembered 

Jaber, Mojibullah Moulovi, 

Amir ad-Din, Omar Faruq and Abdul 

Aziz. 

Nur Ankish is a 21-year-old 

woman who fled Khanjarpara village 

in Buthidaung. She described 

the same wanton use of heavy 

weaponry and the destruction of 

a minimum of 200 houses. But she 

had more to add. 

“The Tatmadaw grabbed as 

many men as they could from our 

village and lined them up,” Nur told 

the Dhaka Tribune. “Their hands 

were tied behind their backs. We 

cried and begged for their release 

(and) then they fired. They shot 

dead my sister’s husband, they 

shot two of my neighbours. And 

they took the rest away.” 

With tears in her eyes and jagged 

nails pressed between her teeth, 

Nur ceased describing her ordeal. 

To be young in Rakhine is to be 

dead 

Mohammad Rafiq was one of those 

shot dead. He was a 26-year-old 

neighbour of Nur who lived with 

his mother, Kulsuma Khatun. 

The bereaved mother sat on her 

haunches, dejected and exhausted. 

“How do you fight fate? How 

do you speak up against people 

with big weapons pointing towards 

you?” she asked. 

“These soldiers strutted into our 

village, looking for young men. My 

boy was so young, so strong. So he 

must be an insurgent, right? That’s 

what they decided. They dragged 

him out of the house, threw him in 

with the other men and just shot 

him. 

“Any Rohingya who looked 

young and healthy was an immediate 

threat. So the army now plans 

on making sure they are all dead,” 

Kulsuma said, her voice reduced to 

a whisper. 

Run! Run! Run! 

The Rohingya from Buthidaung 

Township also alleged that the 

Mogh people (a Buddhist ethnic 

community in Rakhine) had attacked 

them with machetes following 

the Myanmar army’s operations. 

“The Moghs came screaming 

‘Run! Run! Run!” Nosim said. 

Nosim said the blood-curdling 

battle cry of the Moghs in the wake 

of the army’s devastation had scattered 

the Rohingya people. Those 

who ran, survived. Anyone who 

froze where they stood, or stumbled 

in escape, were cut down by 

the blades of the young Mogh zealots. 

Border Guard Bangladesh provide 

new shelters 

From Sunday, September 3, the 

Border Guard Bangladesh has been 

directing the stream of refugees to 

a new makeshift camp in the Lombar 

Bil area of Putibunia in Teknaf. 

The Putibunia camp looks like it 

can support about 10,000 people, 

but there are already too many 

people as it is and more are arriving 

every day. 

For every person who finds shelter, 

10 other remain under the open 

sky. But at least they are not being 

gunned down. • 

• Abdul Aziz, Cox’s Bazar 

CRISIS 

Police have recovered the bodies 

of seven Rohingya who drowned 

in the Naf river estuary while 

trying to flee the violence in Rakhine 

state of neighbouring Myanmar. 

The three children and four 

women were found at the Majarpara, 

Mistripara and Poshchimpara 

points of Shah Porir Dip in Teknaf 

upazila, Cox’s Bazar. 

According to local residents, the 

dead bodies were washed ashore 

on Wednesday morning after their 

boat capsized in the river. 

“A total of 65 dead bodies have 

been recovered since the latest 

crackdown erupted in Myanmar’s 

Rakhine State,” Teknaf Model police 

station Officer-in-charge Main 

Uddin Khan told the Dhaka Tribune. 

Meanwhile, some 2,649 Rohingyas 

were returned to Myanmar by 

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) 

members while they were trying to 

enter Bangladesh through different 

points of the Naf River in Teknaf 

upazila. 

Additional District Magistrate of 

Cox’s Bazar Khaled Mahmud confirmed 

the push backs to the Dhaka 

Tribune, citing BGB. • 

The bodies of Rohingya refugee are brought to shore on a boat by fellow Rohingya after being recovered on the Naf River 

yesterday 

AFP

Dhaka protests over 

Myanmar’s suspected 

landmine use 

near border 

• Agencies 

CRISIS 

The Bangladesh foreign ministry 

lodged a protest with Myanmar 

yesterday amid claims that landmines 

have been deliberately laid 

near their shared border to trap 

fleeing Rohingya, reports Reuters. 

The move came after reports 

and pictures emerged in the media 

this week of two Rohingya children 

and a woman who had their legs 

blown off by apparent landmine 

blasts as they tried to escape the 

latest violence in Rakhine state. 

A Myanmar army crackdown 

triggered by an August 25 attack by 

Rohingya insurgents on security 

posts has led to the killing of at least 

400 people and the exodus of nearly 

125,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh. 

When asked whether Bangladesh 

had lodged the complaint, 

Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque 

said “yes” without elaborating. 

We have not seen 

such laying of 

landmines in the 

border before 

Three other government sources confirmed 

that a protest note was faxed 

to Myanmar in the morning, saying 

the Buddhist-majority country was 

violating international norms. 

“Bangladesh has expressed 

great concern to Myanmar about 

the explosions very close to the 

border,” a source with direct 

knowledge of the matter said, on 

condition of anonymity. 

A Myanmar military source said 

landmines were laid along the border 

in the 1990s to prevent trespassing 

and the military had since 

tried to remove them. But none 

had been planted recently. 

Two Bangladeshi sources said 

they believed Myanmar security 

forces were putting the landmines 

in their territory along the 

barbed-wire fence between a series 

of border pillars. Both sources 

said Bangladesh learned about the 

landmines mainly through photographic 

evidence and informers. 

“Our forces have also seen three to 

four groups working near the barbed 

wire fence, putting something into 

the ground,” one of the sources said. 

“We then confirmed with our informers 

that they were laying landmines.” 

The sources did not clarify if the 

groups were in uniform, but added 

that they were sure they were not 

Rohingya insurgents. 

Manzurul Hassan Khan, a Border 

Guard Bangladesh (BGB) officer, 

said earlier that two blasts 

were heard on Tuesday on the Myanmar 

side, after two on Monday 

fuelled speculation that Myanmar 

forces had laid mines. 

“One boy had his left leg blown 

off on Tuesday near a border crossing 

before being brought to Bangladesh 

for treatment, while another 

boy suffered minor injuries,” Khan 

said, adding that the blast could 

have been a mine explosion. 

A Rohingya refugee who went 

to the site of the blast on Monday 

- on a pavement near where civilians 

fleeing violence are huddled 

in a no man’s land on the border - 

filmed what appeared to be a mine: 

a metal disc about 10cm in diameter 

partially buried in the mud. 

He said he believed there were 

two more such devices buried in 

the ground. 

Two refugees also said they saw 

members of the Myanmar army 

around the site in the immediate 

period preceding the Monday 

blasts, which occurred around 

2:25pm local time. 

It was not possible to independently 

verify that the planted devices 

were landmines and that there 

was any link to the Myanmar army. 

The Myanmar army has not 

commented on the blasts near the 

border. Zaw Htay, the spokesman 

for Myanmar’s national leader, 

Aung San Suu Kyi, was not immediately 

available for comment. 

On Monday, he said clarification 

was needed to determine “where 

did it explode, who can go there 

and who laid those landmines. 

Who can surely say those mines 

were not laid by the terrorists?” 

Bangladesh Home Secretary, 

Mostafa Kamal Uddin, did not respond 

to calls seeking comment. 

The border pillars mentioned by 

the Dhaka-based sources mark the 

boundaries of the two countries, 

along which Myanmar has a portion 

of barbed wire fencing. Most 

of the two countries’ 217-km-long 

border is porous. 

“They are not doing anything 

on Bangladeshi soil,” said one of 

the sources. “But we have not seen 

such laying of landmines in the 

border before.” 

Myanmar, which was under military 

rule until recently and is one 

of the most heavily mined countries 

in the world, is one of the few 

countries that have not signed the 

1997 UN Mine Ban Treaty. • 

News 

THURSDAY, 

3 

SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaks with UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Robert D Watkins at 

her office yesterday 

PID 

PM seeks UN intervention for swift 

repatriation of Rohingya refugees 

• Tribune Desk 

CRISIS 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 

Wednesday urged the United Nations 

(UN) to aid in the swift repatriation 

of Rohingya refugees 

displaced from Myanmar and currently 

residing in Bangladesh, reports 

UNB. 

Hasina also reiterated calls for 

the international community to 

mount pressure on the Myanmar 

government to stop the driving of 

Rohingya into Bangladesh, and to 

take back those taking shelter here. 

“The UN should act in such a 

way so that the refugees are repatriated 

quickly,” the prime minister 

said during a meeting at her office 

Suu Kyi silent on Rohingya exodus 

• Reuters 

CRISIS 

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi on 

Wednesday blamed “terrorists” for 

“a huge iceberg of misinformation” 

on the violence in Rakhine state 

but made no mention of the nearly 

126,000 Rohingya Muslims who 

have fled over the border to Bangladesh 

since August 25. 

The leader of Buddhist-majority 

Myanmar has come under pressure 

from countries with Muslim 

populations over the crisis, and on 

Tuesday UN Secretary-General Antonio 

Guterres warned of the risk of 

ethnic cleansing and regional destabilization. 

In a rare letter expressing concern 

that the violence that has 

raged for nearly two weeks in the 

northwestern state could spiral into 

a “humanitarian catastrophe”, Guterres 

urged the UN Security Council 

to press for restraint and calm. 

Suu Kyi spoke by telephone on 

with outgoing UN Resident Coordinator 

and UNDP Resident Representative, 

Robert D Watkins. 

Praising the Bangladesh government 

for their humanitarian 

efforts and acceptance of the refugees, 

Robert D Watkins expressed 

his apprehension that the numbers 

of Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh 

may rise in the coming days. 

Over 126,000 new refugees have 

entered Bangladesh so far. 

“The government will arrange 

makeshift shelters for them,” 

Sheikh Hasina said. “Vashanchar 

island shall be designated for refugee 

support and assistance.” 

The prime minister added that the 

government prepares a list whenever 

refugees enter Bangladesh. 

Tuesday with Turkish President 

Tayyip Erdogan, who has pressed 

world leaders to do more to help a 

population of roughly 1.1 million he 

says are facing genocide. 

In a statement issued by her office 

on Facebook, Suu Kyi said the 

government had “already started defending 

all the people in Rakhine in 

the best way possible” and warned 

against misinformation that could 

mar relations with other countries. 

She referred to images on Twitter 

of killings posted by Turkey’s 

deputy prime minister that he later 

deleted because they were not 

from Myanmar. 

“She said that kind of fake information 

which was inflicted on the 

deputy prime minister was simply 

the tip of a huge iceberg of misinformation 

calculated to create a lot of 

problems between different countries 

and with the aim of promoting 

the interests of the terrorists,” her 

office said in the statement. 

The latest violence in Rakhine 

DT 

Regarding insurgency problems 

in the Rakhine state, the premier 

questioned where the supply of 

finance and arms to the insurgents 

was coming from, and urged the international 

community to look into 

the matter. 

Meanwhile, Robert D Watkins 

added that the UNHCR has already 

offered to assist in the identification 

process of the Myanmar nationals 

in Bangladesh, which the 

Prime Minister appreciated. 

He also stressed the UN secretary 

general’s personal involvement 

in dealing with the Rohingya 

crisis. 

The PM’s Principal Secretary Dr 

Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury 

was present during the meeting. • 

state began 12 days ago when Rohingya 

insurgents attacked dozens 

of police posts and an army base. 

The ensuing clashes and a military 

counter-offensive have killed at 

least 400 people and triggered the 

exodus of villagers to Bangladesh. 

Suu Kyi has been accused by 

Western critics of not speaking out 

for the minority that has long complained 

of persecution, and some 

have called for the Nobel Peace 

Prize she won in 1991 as a champion 

of democracy to be revoked. 

Myanmar says its security forces 

are fighting a legitimate campaign 

against “terrorists” responsible for 

a string of attacks on police posts 

and the army since last October. 

Myanmar officials blame Rohingya 

militants for the burning 

of homes and civilian deaths. But 

rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing 

to neighbouring Bangladesh 

say the Myanmar army is trying to 

force them out with a campaign of 

arson and killings. •

4 


DT 

News 

Madrasa student missing for 12 

days in Manikganj 

• Motiur Rahman, Manikganj 

Correspondent 

NATION 

Tamim Hossain, a 13-year-old madrasa 

student in Manikganj, has 

been missing for the past 12 days. 

He is a 4th grade residential student 

of Rawan Bin Ramzan Cadet 

School and Hifzul Quran Madrasa 

in the Sadar upazila. 

Tamim’s mother Ruma Begum 

filed a general diary at Manikganj 

Sadar police station over his disappearance 

yesterday. His family 

lives in Outpara area, under Betila 

Mitra union of Manikganj Sadar 

upazila. 

Ruma Begum told Dhaka Tribune: 

“I received a call from the principal 

of the school on August 26, 

informing me that Tamim had gone 

missing from the campus. I immediately 

started calling my relatives, but 

could not find any trace of my son. I 

filed a general diary at Manikganj Sadar 

police station today [yesterday] 

in this regard.” 

Md Didar Elahi, principal of 

Rawan Bin Ramzan Cadet School 

and Hifzul Quran Madrasa, said: 

“Tamim had a habit of running 

away from the madrasa. His mother 

was contacted on August 26, to 

inform her about Tamim’s disappearance.” 

Police have not been contacted 

by the school authorities over 

Tamim’s disappearance, the principal 

added. • 

Bangabandhu Memorial Boat Race held 

• Manoj Kumar, Gopalganj 

NATION 

‘Tamim had a habit of running away from 

the madrasa. His mother was contacted on 

the August 26, to inform her about Tamim’s 

disappearance’ 

Like every year, a colourful traditional 

boat racing competition titled Bangabandhu 

Smriti Nouka Baich was organised 

on the Kumar River on Tuesday 

amid festivity and enthusiasm. 

The people of Batikamari Union 

Parishad and Nikharhati village organised 

the event, which was witnessed 

by hundreds of people to 

remember Bangabandhu Sheikh 

Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the 

Nation. 

Fifty giant boats from Gopalganj 

and Faridpur took part in the race. 

The race has been taking place in 

the village for 10 years. 

The upazila unit Awami League 

President Atiqur Rahman Mian, who 

was chief guest at the event, distributed 

prizes among the winners. • 

Police assault Dhaka 

Tribune journalist 

in Rangpur 

• Liakat Ali Badal, Rangpur 

NATION 

A Dhaka Tribune reporter and one 

other journalist were assaulted by 

two policemen outside the Special 

Judge Court premises in Rangpur 

District yesterday. 

Liakat Ali Badal, who works as 

the Rangpur correspondent for this 

news organisation, and Nazrul Islam 

Raju, who covers the district 

for both Ekushey TV and Independent 

TV, were waiting outside a 

courtroom at around 11am. 

They and several other members 

of the press were expecting a 

statement from Public Prosecutor 

Rathish Chandra after a hearing on 

the Rahmat Ali murder case. 

However, witnesses said the 

two journalists were suddenly assaulted 

by two policemen, naming 

one as Constable Rasel. They said 

the senior police officials who were 

also present at the scene did nothing 

to stop the unprovoked attack. 

Local journalists will form a human-chain 

in front of the Rangpur 

Press Club on Thursday to protest 

the incident. 

Witnesses said the 

two journalists were 

suddenly assaulted 

by two policemen, 

naming one as 

Constable Rasel 

Earlier on Wednesday, five prosecution 

witnesses had testified before 

the court over the November 

2015 murder of Ali, who was a local 

Awami League leader and a shrine 

caretaker in Rangpur’s Kaunia. 

Nine members of the banned 

militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen 

Bangladesh (JMB) were 

charged for his murder and are currently 

being tried. 

Judge Naresh Chandra Sarker 

has set September 11 and 13 for 

recording the statements of other 

witnesses in the case. •

News 5 


Seven burnt bodies at Mirpur militant den 

RAB’s 38-hour-long raid ends with recovery of bodies of JMB member Abdullah and his family members 

DT 

• Tarek Mahmud 

MILITANCY 

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) 

yesterday recovered seven bodies 

including those of two women 

and two children from the militant 

hideout at Darus Salam in Dhaka’s 

Mirpur after a 38-hour-long raid. 

The charred remains were found 

inside an apartment on the fourth 

floor of the six-storey Komol Prova 

apartment building on Bordhon 

Bari Road, about 250 yards far from 

the Darus Salam police station. 

RAB officers were still sweeping 

that floor for more explosives after 

a suspected New JMB militant, 

his four family members and two 

associates had blown themselves 

up on Tuesday night. 

“We have found seven skulls 

from the militant den,” the elite 

force’s director general, Benazir 

Ahmed, told reporters at the scene 

yesterday afternoon. 

“They are of militant Abdullah, 

his two wives, two children and 

two associates. The blasts and 

fire have fully burnt the bodies 

(so) identifying who is who is not 

possible right now.” 

Benazir added that they had 

finished removing both used and 

unused explosives and hazardous 

items from the third floor and were 

continuing the sweep on the fourth 

floor. 

“The building is still risky for 

its residents to live in and we are 

working to make it safe for them,” 

he said. 

Suspected 

Jama’atul 

Mujahideen Bangladesh (New 

JMB) member Abdullah lived in 

the flat with his wives Nasrin and 

Fatema, and two children Osama, 

2, and Omar, 11, according to Darus 

Salam police’s tenant database. 

The RAB chief said: “We have 

also learnt that many members 

of new faction of banned militant 

outfit JMB, including its chiefs 

Tamim Chowdhury and Sarwar 

Jahan, often stayed in this house.” 

Earlier in the day, Benazir 

and Inspector General of Police 

AKM Shahidul Hoque visited the 

area and the militant den, where 

Abdullah allegedly had stored a 

large amount of explosives and 

had been holed up since early 

Tuesday when RAB laid siege to 

the building. 

RAB spokesperson Mufti 

Mahmud Khan told reporters that 

the building was now in “a risky 

condition” because of the bombs 

the militants exploded on Tuesday 

night. The blasts had damaged the 

third and fourth floors mostly. 

The explosions had occurred 

after RAB, following hours of 

negotiation, had persuaded 

Abdullah to agree to his surrender 

in the evening. 

Firefighter Rahid Khan told 

the Dhaka Tribune of how he had 

entered the building on Wednesday 

morning with RAB teams. 

“We found some kind of acid 

probably meant for the IPS units 

on the ground floor. The security 

forces will have to take time to 

sweep the dangerous elements 

out,” he said. 

On Monday, RAB arrested two 

other militants from their home at 

Elenga in Tangail’s Kalihati upazila 

and recovered several firearms and 

a large quantity of Jihadi books. 

During interrogation, they had 

revealed Abdullah’s residence as a 

militant hideout. 

These militants, who are also 

brothers, had planned to carry out 

attacks using explosive-carrying 

drones. They had also initially 

targeted some places for their 

attacks, RAB said. 

RAB Additional Deputy General 

(Operations) Col Anwar Latif Khan 

told the Dhaka Tribune: “The 

building’s owner, Habibullah Bahar 

Azad, and Abdullah’s sister are still 

in our custody. We are questioning 

them. 

“The other residents of the 

building who were rescued early 

Tuesday have also been sent home 

after verification,” he said. 

A total of 65 residents of 23 flats 

in the building were evacuated by 

dawn on Tuesday, several hours 

after RAB began the raid. 

Mohammad Abu, a resident 

of another building near Komol 

Prova, told the Dhaka Tribune at 

around noon on Wednesday: “I returned 

from Dinajpur this morning 

but could not get into my home. 

My family has been stuck inside 

the house since this raid started.” 

Locals said the cable and internet 

connections in the area had 

been either disconnected or disrupted 

until Wednesday evening, 

while all shops and markets in the 

Darus Salam area had been mostly 

closed since Tuesday morning. 

Some of the residents of the area 

held building owners responsible, 

alleging they take in new tenants 

randomly even without verifying 

their identities. • 

Six-storey Komol Prova building on Bordhon Bari Road in Murpur where militants blew themselves up on Tuesday. The photo 

was taken yesterday 

COURTESY 

Neighbours shocked to find they 

were living next to a militant 


Residents of the Darus Salam area 

of Mirpur are extremely shocked 

at having lived next door to a militant 

for years, they said, hours 

after three suspected New JMB 

members blew themselves up in 

front of police. 

Suspected militant Abdullah 

and two other associates detonated 

explosives at the Komol Prova 

building in Mirpur’s Bordhon 

Bari Road on Tuesday evening, 

even after they negotiated their 

surrender with Rapid Action Battalion 

(RAB) following a 24-hour 

anti-militant drive. 

Abdullah’s two wives Nasrin, 

35, and Fatema, 25, and his two 

children Omar, 11, and Osama, 2, 

were also killed in the explosions. 

Abdullah was thought to belong 

to the new faction of the 

banned militant outfit Jama’atul 

Mujahideen Bangladesh (New 

JMB) and had moved into the 

apartment in 2003, according to 

Darus Salam police’s tenant database. 

A local tailor Mohammad Akbar 

Hossain, who moved to the 

neighbourhood the same year, 

told the Dhaka Tribune that he 

had known Abdullah for the past 

14 years. 

“From the looks of it, we could 

have never guessed he was a militant. 

He never talked to us about 

his beliefs or anything,” he said. 

“He had people coming in and 

out of his house but I never found 

any of it suspicious.” 

A university student, Milon, 

who also lived next door to Abdullah 

said: “I never thought this 

man could have been a militant. 

He was pious for sure but never 

displayed the kind of behaviour 

that could be deemed dangerous.” 

RAB Director General Benazir 

Ahmed said they came to know 

about Abdullah from a fellow 

New JMB member who was jailed 

following an anti-militant drive 

last year. 

“We came to know of Abdullah’s 

activities after a Shura member 

of New JMB mentioned Abdullah’s 

name as a financier who 

gave shelter to members of the 

militant outfit,” he said. 

On Monday, RAB detained two 

militant brothers from Tangail 

who had also told them about 

Abdullah’s involvement in the organisation 

and even provided his 

location. 

The two brothers told RAB 

that they used Abdullah’s house 

to plan an attack and store a large 

amount of explosives. 

Darus Salam police said Abdullah 

was the son of late Meer Yusuf 

Ali, from Alokdia area of Chuadanga 

district. He used to have an 

instant power supply (IPS) device 

store in the area but the business 

closed so he continued to make 

the devices from home. 

RAB yesterday confirmed the 

charred bodies at the apartment 

were of Abdullah, his family 

members and two associates after 

they killed themselves with 

five explosives. • 

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY 

CHANGE IN 

TEMPERATURE LIKELY 


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

DHAKA 

TODAY 

TOMORROW 

SUN SETS 6:11PM 

SUN RISES 5:42AM 

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW 

36.4ºC 

25.0ºC 

Bhola 

Badalgachhi 

Source: Accuweather/UNB 

PRAYER 

TIMES 

Cox’s Bazar 31 26 

Fajr: 5:10am | Zohr: 1:15pm 

Asr: 4:45pm | Magrib: 6:25pm 

Esha: 8:15pm 

Source: Islamic Foundation

6 


DT 

News 

Indian journalist shot dead at her 

residence 

• Reuters 

WORLD 

A senior Indian journalist was shot 

dead on Tuesday in the southern 

city of Bengaluru by unidentified 

assailants, police said. 

The body of Gauri Lankesh, the 

editor of an Indian weekly newspaper, 

was found lying in a pool of 

blood outside her home. 

“People in front of her house 

heard gunshots,” the city’s Police 

commissioner, T Suneel Kumar, 

told reporters. “We found four 

empty cartridges from the scene.” 

Lankesh was known as a fearless 

and outspoken journalist. She was 

a staunch critic of right-wing political 

ideology. 

Last year, she was convicted of 

criminal defamation for one of her 

articles. 

While the motivation for the 

killing was not immediately clear, 

political leaders, journalists and 

activists took to Twitter to express 

their outrage and denounce 

intolerance and any threat to free 

speech. 

Karnataka state’s chief minister 

Siddaramaiah called it an “assassination 

on democracy”. • 

Indian journalists, activists protest murder of 

newspaper publisher 

• Reuters, Bengaluru 

WORLD 

Indian journalists and rights activists 

protested on Wednesday 

against the murder of an outspoken 

publisher of a weekly tabloid amid 

growing concerns about freedom of 

the press at a time of rising nationalism 

and intolerance of dissent. 

Gauri Lankesh, 55, the editor 

and publisher of the Kannada-language 

“Gauri Lankesh Patrike” 

newspaper, was shot dead on 

Tuesday by unidentified assailants 

near her home in the southern city 

of Bengaluru. 

She had parked her car outside 

her gate and was walking to the 

main entrance of her home when 

the attackers fired at least seven 

rounds, killing her, police said. 

The motive was not known. 

Lankesh was a fierce advocate 

of secularism and opposed hardline 

Hindu groups associated with 

Prime Narendra Modi’s right-wing, 

nationalist ruling party. 

Her weekly, with a circulation of 

more than 5,000, is regarded as influential 

in the state, read by policy 

makers and politicians. 

Lankesh spent decades with 

various media outlets before taking 

over the newspaper started by 

her father. 

Several journalist groups, including 

the Editors’ Guild, Press 

Club of India and Press Association, 

held protests in cities across India, 

calling her murder a “brutal assault 

on the freedom of the press”. 

They said she was a critical, secular 

voice at a time when the country 

was being swept by a wave of 

right-wing, Hindu nationalism. 

“She was an idealist and would 

Gauri Lankesh 

take on the right-wing forces on 

several controversial issues,” said 

Y P Rajesh, an executive editor at 

the news website The Print and a 

long-time friend of Lankesh. 

The US embassy in New Delhi 

also condemned the killing. 

Insults 

The murder is a new low in India’s 

recent record of protecting journalists. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists 

has said that there have been 

no convictions in any of the 27 cases 

of journalists murdered in India because 

of their work since 1992. 

This year, the country of 1.3 billion 

people slipped three places 

to 136th in the World Press Freedom 

Index, compiled by Reporters 

Without Borders. 

TWITTER 

The group said Hindu nationalists, 

on the rise since the Bharatiya 

Janata Party (BJP) swept to power 

in 2014, were “trying to purge all 

manifestations of anti-national 

thought”. 

Journalists seen to be critical 

of Hindu nationalists are often insulted 

on social media, and some 

women reporters have been threatened 

with assault. 

People, including BJP members, 

have also openly insulted journalists, 

using terms like “presstitute” - 

a combination press and prostitute 

- to berate them. 

In recent weeks, Lankesh had 

posted videos on her Facebook 

page that were critical of Modi’s 

economic policies and the rise of 

hardline Hindu groups since he 

came to power. 

Last year, she was sentenced to 

six months in jail after a defamation 

case was filed by a BJP member. 

She was released on bail. 

Ananth Kumar, a federal minister 

in the Modi government, said 

the state government must arrest 

those behind the killing. 

The state government in Karnataka, 

run by the Congress party, 

said it had set up a special investigations 

team to investigate and police 

were examining CCTV footage. 

M N Anucheth, a senior police 

official investigating the case, said 

Lankesh was shot in the head, next 

and chest. 

“This is an attempt to silence 

all of us – all of those who believe 

in democracy and decency,” Ramchandra 

Guha, a historian told the 

Indian Express newspaper. • 

Indian activists take part in a protest rally against the killing of Indian journalist Gauri Lankesh at the India Gate memorial in 

New Delhi on September 6, 2017 

AFP 

Catalonia 

announces law 

to formalise 

October 1 vote on 

split from Spain 

• Reuters, Madrid 

WORLD 

Catalonia on Wednesday announced 

a law to make formal its plans for an 

Oct. 1 referendum on whether to 

declare independence from Spain, 

a vote the government says is illegal 

and has said it will stop. 

Catalan lawmakers are due to 

vote later on Wednesday on the 

referendum law and the legal 

framework needed to set up an 

independent state. The laws will 

likely be approved because pro-independence 

parties have a majority 

in the regional parliament. 

Polls in the northeastern region, 

whose capital is Barcelona, show 

support for self-rule waning as 

Spain’s economy improves. But the 

majority of Catalans do want the 

opportunity to vote on whether to 

split from Spain. 

The government on Wednesday 

said it had asked the Spanish constitutional 

court to declare the referendum 

law void as soon as it approved 

by the regional parliament. 

The Spanish constitution states 

that the country is indivisible. 

“What is happening in the Catalan 

parliament is embarrassing, it’s 

shameful,” Deputy Prime Minister 

Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said. 

The details of the referendum, 

which aims to pose the question 

“Do you want Catalonia to be an independent 

republic?” to all Spanish 

citizens living in Catalonia, were 

revealed amid a tense atmosphere 

in the regional parliament. 

“Be very clear that you will 

not split up Spain, but you are 

breaking up Catalonia,” Alejandro 

Fernandez of the ruling People’s 

Party (PP) told pro-independence 

lawmakers. “You’re putting social 

harmony at risk.” 

There will be no minimum turnout 

requirement to make the result 

of the vote binding, regional government 

head Carles Puigdemont 

said in a recent briefing. Ballot boxes, 

voting papers and an electoral 

census are at the ready, he said. 

Under the terms of the new 

laws, the Catalan parliament will 

declare independence within 48 

hours of a ‘yes’ vote. 

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano 

Rajoy told a news conference 

on Monday the government would 

come down with all the force of 

the law to ensure no referendum 

would go ahead on October 1. 

Courts have already suspended 

from office and levelled millions of 

euros in fines at Catalan politicians 

who organised a non-binding referendum 

in 2014, which returned a 

“yes” vote on a low turnout. •

News 

THURSDAY, 

7 

SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 

DT 

Study: The emerging threat of microplastic 

in drinking water 

• Dan Morrison and 

Christopher Tyree 

SPECIAL 

Microscopic plastic fibres are pouring 

out of household water taps 

from New York to New Delhi, according 

to original research by Orb 

Media, a non-profit digital newsroom 

in Washington, DC. 

Working with researchers at the 

State University of New York and the 

University of Minnesota, Orb tested 

159 drinking water samples from cities 

and towns on five continents. 

At least 83% of those samples, 

including tap water from the US 

Capitol complex, Environmental 

Protection Agency headquarters 

in Washington, DC, and the Trump 

Grill in New York, contained microscopic 

plastic fibres. 

If synthetic fibres are in tap water, 

they’re also likely in foods prepared 

with water like bread, pasta, 

soup, and baby formula, researchers 

say. 

A growing body of research has 

established the presence of microscopic 

plastic pollution in the 

world’s oceans, freshwater, soil, 

and air. 

This study is the first to show 

plastic contamination in tap water 

from sources around the world. 

Scientists say they don’t know 

how plastic fibres reach household 

taps – or what the health implications 

might be. Some suspect they 

originate in synthetic clothing like 

sportswear, or in textiles like carpets 

and upholstery. 

Experts are concerned these 

fibres may transfer toxin, acting 

as a kind of shuttle for dangerous 

chemicals from the freshwater environment 

into the human body. 

In animal studies, “it became 

clear very early on that the plastic 

would release those chemicals 

and that actually, the conditions 

in the gut would facilitate really 

quite rapid release,” said Richard 

Thompson, the associate dean for 

research at Plymouth University. 

“We have enough data from 

looking at wildlife and the impacts 

that it’s having on wildlife” to be 

concerned, said Professor Sherri 

Mason, a microplastics research pioneer 

who supervised Orb’s study. 

“If it’s impacting them, then how 

do we think that it’s not going to 

somehow impact us?” 

The contamination defies geography 

and income: The number 

of fibres found in a tap water 

sample from a washroom sink at 

the Trump Grill was equal to that 

found in samples from Quito, Ecuador. 

Orb also found plastic fibres 

in bottled water, and in homes 

served by reverse-osmosis filters. 

The US doesn’t have a safety 

Dr Matthew Cole, a researcher at the University of Exeter, England, works on an experiment about microplastics in zooplankton 

in the school’s lab 

COURTESY 

standard for plastic in drinking water, 

an EPA spokeswoman said, nor 

are they on the agency’s Contaminant 

Candidate List of unregulated 

substances that are known to appear 

in tap water. 

The European Union requires 

member states to ensure drinking 

water is free of contaminants. 

Of 33 tap water samples from 

across the United States, 94% 

tested positive for the presence 

of plastic fibres, the same average 

for samples collected from Beirut, 

Lebanon. 

Other sampled locations include 

New Delhi, India (82%); Kampala, 

Uganda (81%); Jakarta, Indonesia 

(76%); Quito, Ecuador (75%); and 

Europe (72%). 

Mason, who chairs the department 

of geology and environmental 

science at the State University 

of New York at Fredonia, designed 

the study. Researcher Mary Kosuth 

performed the tests at the University 

of Minnesota. Kosuth will 

submit the study results for publication 

in a peer-reviewed journal 

later this year. 

“Since this is the first global tap 

water survey of plastic pollution 

to have been completed, the results 

of this study serve as an initial 

glimpse at the consequences of 

human plastic use [and] disposal 

rather than a comprehensive assessment 

of global plastic contamination,” 

Kosuth wrote. “These results 

call for further testing within 

and between regions.” 

Samples were collected by scientific 

professionals, journalists, 

and informed volunteers following 

Dr. Mason’s protocols. “This research 

only scratches the surface, 

but it seems to be a very itchy one,” 

said Hussam Hawwa, CEO of the 

environmental consultancy Difaf, 

which collected the study’s Lebanon 

samples. 

Experts say it’s too soon to know 

how plastic in tap water might 

compare in importance with better-known 

chemical and biological 

contaminants. “The research on 

human health is in its infancy,” said 

Lincoln Fok, an environmental scientist 

at the Education University 

We really think that the lakes [and other water 

bodies] can be contaminated by cumulative 

atmospheric inputs 

of Hong Kong. 

Orb’s research “raises more 

questions than it answers,” said Albert 

Appleton, a former New York 

City water commissioner. “Does 

it bio-accumulate? Does it impact 

cell formation? Is it a vector for 

transmitting harmful pathogens? If 

it breaks down, what are its breakdown 

products?” 

The world cranks out 300 million 

tons of plastic each year. More 

than 40% of that mass is used just 

once, sometimes for less than a 

minute, and discarded. But plastic 

persists in the environment for 

centuries. A recent study estimates 

more than 8.3 billion tons of plastic 

have been produced worldwide 

since the 1950s. 

Researchers say trillions of pieces 

of microplastic waste litter the 

ocean surface. Surveys have found 

plastic fibres inside fish sold at 

markets in Southeast Asia, eastern 

Africa, and California. 

But the notion of plastic-contaminated 

drinking water inspires 

confusion and denial. 

“Our ongoing test results show 

no elevated levels of plastic and/ 

or their breakdown constituents,” a 

spokeswoman for the Los Angeles 

water department said. 

Still, two out of three of Orb’s 

tap water samples from Los Angeles 

contained microscopic plastic 

fibres. 

“It’s bad; one hears so many 

things about cancer,” Mercedes 

Noroña, 61, said after learning a 

sample from her home south of 

Quito held plastic fibres. “Maybe 

I’m exaggerating, but I’m afraid of 

the things that come in the water.” 

Many people are. A recent Gallup 

poll found 63% of Americans worried 

“a great deal” about polluted 

drinking water, the most since 2001. 

“We have never found anything 

like that,” said James Nsereko, a 

fisherman on the shore of Lake 

Victoria in Uganda. But a 500ml 

sample from Nsereko’s local tap 

contained four plastic fibres. 

That number was far exceeded 

by the totals in some samples collected 

in the US. A half-litre sample 

of tap water from the US Capitol 

visitors centre yielded 16 fibres, 

one of the highest totals, as did one 

from EPA headquarters. A sample 

from New York City Hall had ten. 

The Trump Organisation didn’t 

respond to calls and emails seeking 

comment. The New York and 

Washington DC water departments 

each said their water meets federal 

guidelines. 

There’s one confirmed source of 

plastic fibre pollution, and you’re 

probably wearing it. Synthetic garments 

emit up to 700,000 fibres 

per washload, researchers at Plymouth 

University found. In the US, 

wastewater plants catch more than 

half; the rest pour into waterways. 

That’s 29 tons of plastic microfibres 

a day, according to one study. 

Some experts suggest these fibres 

are taken up by water systems 

in downstream communities, and 

piped into homes. “We’re all downstream 

from someone,” Mason said. 

Another source might be the 

air. A 2015 study estimated that 

between three and 10 tons of synthetic 

fibres fall onto the surface of 

Paris each year. 

“We really think that the lakes 

[and other water bodies] can be 

contaminated by cumulative atmospheric 

inputs,” Johnny Gasperi, 

a lecturer at University Paris-Est 

Créteil, said. “What we 

observed in Paris tends to demonstrate 

that a huge amount of fibres 

are present in atmospheric fallout.” 

This may explain why fibres 

are found in remote water sources 

around the world. But Orb also 

found fibres in tap water drawn 

from underground sources. Are 

microscopic plastic fibres as small 

as one-tenth of a millimetre contaminating 

groundwater sources 

in places like Delhi and Jakarta? Or 

are the plastic fibres getting in the 

water via contaminated delivery 

and treatment systems? 

We’re left with a host of unknowns. 

How great is the danger if, 

for example, plastic fibres absorb 

endocrine-disrupting chemicals, 

which alter the hormonal systems 

of humans and wildlife, before being 

consumed with drinking water? 

“We’ve never really considered 

that risk before,” said Tamara Galloway, 

an eco-toxicologist at Exeter 

University. 

Cities are only just beginning to 

reckon with plastic fibre pollution 

and the role household laundry 

plays in it. Kartik Chandran, an environmental 

engineer at Columbia 

University, said slowing the wastewater 

treatment process would allow 

for the capture of more plastic 

fibres. It could also increase costs. 

Leading apparel brands say they 

are working to improve their synthetic 

fabrics to reduce fibre pollution 

in the environment. 

And a new crop of filters, washing 

machine inserts and other products 

has emerged to reduce household 

laundry fibre emissions. Independent 

testing will show which of these 

methods is most effective. 

Mason, who was the first researcher 

to find microplastic pollution 

prevalent in the North American 

Great Lakes, said she was 

stunned by the tap water findings. 

“People were always like, ‘Is this in 

our drinking water? Is this in our 

drinking water?’” 

“I didn’t really think that it 

was.” •

8 


DT 

Irma: Atlantic’s most 

powerful hurricane 

ever makes landfall 

in Caribbean 

News 


WORLD 

The most powerful Atlantic Ocean 

hurricane in recorded history has 

made its first landfall on the islands 

of the north-east Caribbean, 

following a path predicted to hit 

Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, 

Haiti and Cuba before possibly 

heading for Florida over the weekend, 

the Guardian reports. 

The eye of Hurricane Irma passed 

over Barbuda at about 1.47am local 

time, the National Weather Service 

said. Residents said over local radio 

that phone lines had gone down. 

Heavy rain and howling winds hit 

the neighbouring island of Antigua, 

sending debris flying as people 

huddled in their homes or government 

shelters. 

In Barbuda, the storm ripped 

off the roof of the island’s police 

station, forcing officers to seek refuge 

in the nearby fire station and at 

a community centre serving as an 

official shelter. It also knocked out 

communication between islands. 

Irma then slammed into the 

islands of Saint Barthelemy and 

Saint Martin, causing major flooding 

in low-lying areas. 

Coastlines are being “battered 

extremely violently” by the sea, 

the French weather office said, 

adding: “These islands are suffering 

major impacts.” 

As the category 5 storm approached 

French-run Saint Barthelemy, 

a favourite jet-setters’ 

destination also known as St 

Barts, the office measured winds 

of 244km/h. Its monitoring equipment 

has since been destroyed by 

the hurricane, it said. 

Category 5 hurricanes are 

rare and are capable of inflicting 

life-threatening winds, storm surges 

and rainfall. Hurricane Harvey, 

which last week devastated Houston, 

was category 4. 

Other islands in the path of the 

storm included the US and British 

Virgin Islands and Anguilla, a 

small, low-lying British island territory 

of about 15,000 people. 

The US president, Donald 

Trump, declared emergencies in 

Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin 

Islands. 

The storm’s eye was expected 

to pass about 80km from Puerto 

Rico late on Wednesday. Hurricane-force 

winds extended outward 

up to 95km from Irma’s centre 

and tropical storm-force winds 

extended outward up to 282km. 

Florida 

In Florida, people also stocked up on 

drinking water and other supplies. 

The governor, Rick Scott, activated 

100 members of the Florida 

National Guard to be deployed 

across the state, and 7,000 National 

Guard members were to report 

for duty on Friday when the storm 

could be approaching the area. On 

Monday, Scott declared a state of 

emergency in all of Florida’s 67 

counties. • 

Children attend regular classes at the Sonar Bangla Children Home 

Sonar Bangla: A home for 

children of sex workers 


SPECIAL 

Barsha [not her real name] is a 

seventh grader who has a natural 

talent for sketching. She keeps a 

drawing book in a trunk under her 

bed. She has done a sketch of her 

mother with the caption: “A mother 

is the only bank in the world, 

where we deposit all our happiness 

and sorrow.” 

Another girl, a tenth grader, has 

won four gold medals in karate 

competitions held in Nepal since 

2012. Three other girls can play 

the violin. There are some talented 

boys living there too. Many of them 

dream of becoming world-famous 

cricketers, and others have gained 

expertise in singing, martial arts 

and playing the drum. 

These talented children live and 

study at Sonar Bangla Children 

Home in Kuizbari village under 

Tangail sadar upazila. They are the 

children of sex workers. Many of 

their mothers work in Kandapara 

brothel in Tangail. However, their 

children now have a shot at a normal 

childhood and a life free from 

exploitation. They complete their 

primary education here and then 

continue at other secondary educational 

institutions across Tangail. 

The children’s home is being 

run in association with Terre 

des Hommes Netherlands, and a 

non-governmental organisation 

called Society for Social Service 

(SSS) since 1998, to help rehabilitate 

vulnerable children in Tangail. 

The home has separate accommodation 

facilities for boys and girls. 

The children living here have 

Children of sex 

workers can prove 

themselves to be 

equally competent, 

if given an 

opportunity in 

any field 

won several awards in a number of 

cultural events, including one from 

Bangladesh Shishu Academy. Trophies 

and medals are on display in 

a showcase at the office of Principal 

Md Abdul Haq. 

“The children are engaged in 

learning and playing the violin, 

singing songs and other cultural 

activities so that they do not feel 

depressed. We also offer counselling. 

Their mothers visit them 

here every Friday, who say they 

would not encourage their daughters 

about prostitution,” Abdul Haq 

said. 

Tangail and Dhaka North City Corporation 

have jointly undertaken 

a project titled “Combating Commercial 

Sexual Exploitation of 

Children.” The project is funded by 

the European Union and technically 

supported by Terre des Hommes 

Netherlands. A Dhaka-based 

child-focused NGO, Social and Economic 

Enhancement Programme 

(SEEP), and Breaking the Silence 

(SSS) are also running similar projects 

in tandem with the Society for 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

Social Service (SSS). 

The Dhaka Tribune got in touch 

with the children and their mothers. 

There are 56 students in SSS 

Municipality High School. The 

mothers of most children live in a 

brothel, while many others live in 

rented buildings. The school also 

has a student from the transgender 

community. The children’s home 

also established a primary school, 

and it allows the children to study 

tuition free. 

The children living at Sonar 

Bangla Children Home are being 

provided with necessary skill development 

and vocational training. 

The training programme enables 

them to pursue a sustainable livelihood. 

“We have been working with the 

children for a long time. We managed 

to stop at least a few children 

from entering the sex trade. Most 

importantly, children of sex workers 

can prove themselves to be 

equally competent, if given an opportunity 

in any field,” said Abdul 

Hamid Bhuiyan, executive director 

of Society for Social Service (SSS). 

Rubi [not her real name] said 

she had sent her two sons to the 

children’s home when they were 

very young. Both the boys are now 

studying in separate colleges in 

Dhaka. Another girl is doing her 

post-graduation at a college in Tangail. 

Many of the girls living at the 

home have been trained in nursing. 

Several former students are studying 

and working in Dhaka. 

Fourteen girls, who lived and 

studied at the children’s home, got 

married without having to conceal 

their identities. •

News 

9 


DT 

UN probe finds Syrian govt behind sarin gas attack in April 


UN-mandated investigators said 

Wednesday that Syrian President 

Bashar Assad’s air force conducted 

a sarin-gas attack in the spring 

that killed at least 83 civilians and 

sparked a retaliatory US strike. 

The investigators also appealed 

What happens to Dreamers 

after Trump revokes their 

residence rights? 

• AFP, Washington, DC 

WORLD 

The Trump administration on 

Tuesday ordered the end of 

the “Dreamers” programme 

that allowed illegal immigrants 

who came to the United States 

as children to remain in the 

country. 

That move threatens the 

futures of some 800,000 people, 

many now in schools, with 

jobs and families in the United 

States. 

What is the ‘Dreamers’ 

programme? 

In a presidential order in June 

2012, president Barack Obama 

launched DACA – Deferred 

Action for Childhood Arrivals 

– that aimed to provide a stable 

future for people who arrived in 

the country illegally as children 

and stayed. Dubbed “Dreamers”, 

they were granted under 

presidential order the right to remain 

and study or work legally, 

renewing their status regularly. 

The programme was devised 

after Congress failed to pass legislation 

to address the status of 

millions of illegal immigrants 

who had lived in the country for 

decades, many with families, 

permanent homes and businesses. 

DACA applied to people who 

were under the age of 31 as of 

June 15, 2012, and had been 

continually present in the US 

since 2007. It covered anyone 

in school or who had a graduate 

certificate, who was serving in 

the armed forces, and who had 

never been convicted of a serious 

crime. 

Why end DACA? 

But Trump argued that DACA 

protected people who broke US 

laws, was unfair to legal immigrants, 

and encroached Congress’s 

power to make immigration 

laws. 

The government also argued 

that legal challenges by a number 

of states made DACA and a 

2014 sister programme, DAPA, 

untenable. 

DAPA was a proposed Obama 

programme to open the way for 

other illegal immigrants, those 

who came as adults, to gain legal 

status, but was blocked from 

implementation by legal challenges. 

Recently Texas led other 

states in a threatened action to 

similarly seek to block DACA. 

Faced with legal challenges, 

the Trump administration said it 

falls to Congress to fix the problem, 

not the executive branch. 

But legal experts say Obama’s 

DACA order was constitutionally 

sound and would survive court 

challenges. “The least disruptive 

alternative would have been 

to let the DACA programme continue,” 

said Stephen Yale-Loehr 

of Cornell University. 

What happens to the Dreamers? 

Encouraged by Obama’s move, 

about 800,000 people registered 

under DACA, confident 

that they would be safe from 

expulsion. Now the government 

has access to all their personal 

data, making it hard for most to 

hide. 

About 200,000 of them will 

see their resident permits expire 

by the end of 2017. Another 

275,000 expire in 2018, and the 

rest between January and August 

2019. 

Under Trump’s order, those 

with permits are safe until their 

expiry. People with permits 

that expire within the next six 

months – before March 5, 2018 – 

can apply to renew them before 

October 5. But new applications 

will not be accepted. 

Once their DACA permits expire, 

individuals will not have 

the legal right to work, and 

theoretically could be deported 

any time – though current 

policy only threatens illegal immigrants 

who have committed 

serious crimes. 

The White House has indicated 

that the six month grace period 

gives Congress an opportunity, 

if it wants, to come up with 

legislation that could replace 

DACA and strengthen its legal 

foundations. • 

to the US-led coalition to better protect 

civilians as it strikes at Islamic 

State militants in the east. 

The latest report by the Commission 

of Inquiry on Syria offers 

among the strongest evidence yet of 

allegations that Assad’s forces conducted 

the April 4 attack on Khan 

Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib province 

in which dozens of people were 

killed. The United States quickly 

blamed the Syrian government and 

launched a punitive strike on Shayrat 

air base, where the report says 

the Sukhoi-22 plane took off. 

Syrian government officials have 

denied responsibility, and said last 

month that they would allow in UN 

teams to investigate. 

“We have analysed all the other 

interpretations” of who might have 

conducted the attack, commission 

chairman Paulo Pinheiro said at a 

Geneva news conference. “It is our 

task to verify these allegations, and 

we concluded ... that this attack was 

perpetrated by the Syrian air force.” 

Wednesday’s report, the 14th by 

the commission since it was set up 

by the UN’s Human Rights Council 

in 2011, covers little more than four 

months, from March to early July. 

The report is based on information 

retrieved from satellite images, video, 

photos, medical records, and 

over 300 interviews. •

10 


DT 

News 

Most female job seekers and migrant workers fall prey to unregistered brokers, though there is a government-to-government system in effect for the offers in Saudi Arabia 

CREATIVE COMMONS 

The sorry tale of a Bangladeshi maid in Saudi Arabia 

• Bilkis Irani 

SPECIAL 

It was not an easy decision for Monowara (not 

her real name) to leave her home in the Dohar 

upazila of Dhaka district and fly 4,000km to 

Saudi Arabia. 

She was leaving behind a seven-year-old 

son who needed surgery to correct a speech 

impairment, and a 17-year-old daughter who 

was soon to be married off. 

The costs for both could not be met with 

the income of her husband, Abdul Baten, 

a betel leaf vendor. A radical solution was 

needed. 

Eight months ago, Monowara came to 

know about two brokers – Hashem and 

Kashem – and visited them at an office in the 

Hemayetpur area of Savar upazila. The two 

brothers arranged an overseas job for her and 

gave assurances that she would not need the 

help of any recruiting agency. 

The broker brothers said the Saudi Arabia 

venture would not cost her a single penny, 

but she ended up giving them Tk12,000 in 

several installments before her departure. 

All this was despite the forewarnings of 

her uncle Shahid, who was already resident in 

Saudi Arabia and advised her against taking 

the job, saying it might lead to “very bad consequences”. 

But for Monowara, the hardship 

at home was too much to endure. 

On February 16, she landed at King Fahad 

International Airport in Dammam. A man was 

waiting there to receive her and took her directly 

to a house in the city, where she was to 

start work as a maid for a family of 12. 

Monowara thought she was doing a housemaid’s 

job on monthly payment. It was only 

when she demanded her salary after six 

weeks that the matriarch of the family, Nawal, 

told her that they had actually bought her. 

Facing her protests, the employer paid 

Monowara 1,000 Riyal (Tk21,700) and took 

her to an office in Dammam. 

She was not acquainted to anyone in that 

office, but they arranged another job for her 

as a housemaid in Hafar-al-Batin city for a 

family of seven. 

The new situation was no improvement on 

the last: Monowara’s new employers used to 

call her names and began torturing her physically 

only one week into the placement. After 

Monowara refused to continue working 

there, her employers left her at the same office 

in Dammam, but without any payment. 

The office sent her to another house, but 

she returned again after 20 days this time, 

complaining of inhuman torture at the hands 

of her employees. She was given only one 

meal in a day at that house. 

Monowara cannot recall the name of the 

office or any of the officials except that of 

Adi, a man of Saudi origin. She could not contact 

anyone else as she had already lost her 

mobile phone. 

Adi took Monowara to the house of one of 

his relatives but she refused to stay there, and 

requested Adi to arrange for her return to Bangladesh. 

He refused and kept her imprisoned for 

10-15 days, often threatening her with a knife. 

She made two attempts to escape from 

that house, but ended up returning both 

times. After her first escape, Monowara went 

to the nearby police station but Adi arrived 

and took her to that house again, promising 

to arrange for her return to Bangladesh. 

After facing a similar treatment as before, 

Monowara fled for the second time. She spent 

15 days in police custody only to be handed 

over to Adi again. 

Adi took her to a distant location and sold 

her to another man of Saudi origin. Her new 

captor detained her in a house in a desert 

area for 10-15 days before sending her to a 

family house. 

Monowara said she could not do any work 

at that house: “There was acute pain in my 

limbs and all throughout the body. I could 

not even hold still to lift a drinking glass from 

the table.” 

After two days, she managed to run away 

again and went to a local police station. The 

law enforcers took her fingerprint and sent 

her to a detention centre, where Monowara 

found other women who had experienced 

similar hardships and abuse. 

Fortunately, the Dhaka-based organisation 

Ain o Salish Kendro (ASK) was able to trace 

Monowara to the detention centre with the 

assistance of officials from the Bangladesh 

mission in Saudi Arabia. 

At last, Monowara was booked onto a flight 

home with the help of the government officials, 

landing in Dhaka last Friday afternoon. 

Pointing to Monowara’s sad tale, ASK Executive 

Director Sheepa Hafiza said three in 

every four (76%) female migrant workers fall 

prey to unregistered brokers, even though 

there is a government-to-government system 

in effect for job offers in Saudi Arabia. 

“Neither the government nor the recruiting 

agencies acknowledge the existence of 

the brokers,” she said. 

“Ain o Salish Kendra has long been demanding 

that the government changes its attitude of 

denying the existence of brokers and give them 

formal recognition so that the ones involved in 

fraud can be detected.” •

News 11 


First return Hajj flight of Biman lands after two-hour delay 

DT 

• Ishtiaq Husain 

CURRENT AFFAIRS 

The first return Hajj flight of Biman 

Bangladesh Airlines landed at Hazrat 

Shahjalal International Airport 

at 8:20pm yesterday. 

The flight, which carried 419 

hajjis on its first return journey, 

was scheduled to land at 6:10pm, 

but was delayed for two hours. 

Biman attributed the delay to a 

huge pressure of returnees at the 

Jeddah airport in Saudi Arabia. 

In a press briefing yesterday 

after the flight landed, Biman 

Managing Director and CEO 

Mosaddek Ahmed said it was due 

to traffic jam in the Saudi cities 

that prevented Hajis from reaching 

the airport on time, plus their 

check-ins, as everyone was rushing 

towards the airport to catch 

their flights. 

“Therefore, falling behind on 

the flight schedule is natural, but 

we are trying our best to minimise 

the delay.” 

Talking to the Hajis at the airport 

yesterday, this correspondent 

learnt that widespread mismanagement 

caused heavy sufferings 

to those that went to perform Hajj 

under the Government Hajj 

Scheme. 

Most of them blamed the authorities 

for not providing them 

with sufficient food, and they had 

to spend a lot of money on food. 

Aminul Islam, one of the Hajj 

pilgrims, said he went through a 

rough patch in Mina as he had to 

live on only rice and lentil for five 

days in a stretch. 

The national flag carrier operated 

a total of 187 flights for Hajj 

this year. Due to passenger shortage, 

it was forced to cancel 24 

dedicated flights, which incurred 

a loss of Tk44 crore in revenue 

this year. 

The problem arose as a lot of 

devotees failed to get their visas on 

time. • 

A girl wades through a water-logged area on her way to school after 

heavy rains at Sri Lanka Basti on the outskirts of Agartala, India on 

September 5, 2017 

REUTERS 

Thousands hit by malaria, 

dengue as South Asia’s 

worst floods in a decade 

recede 

• Reuters, New Delhi 

WORLD 

Thousands of people are suffering 

from an outbreak of diarrhea, 

malaria and dengue in 

Bangladesh and Nepal as the 

waters from the worst floods 

in a decade recede, officials 

and aid agencies said on 

Wednesday. 

More than 1,400 people 

have died in the floods that 

have swept South Asia over 

the past two months and tens 

of thousands are living in 

tents, schools and even just 

under tarpaulins. 

“These people need our 

help, and we are doing all we 

can to meet their needs,” said 

Martin Faller, deputy director 

of the International Federation 

of the Red Cross in the 

Asia-Pacific region. 

About 13,000 people are ill 

with diarrhea and respiratory 

infections in densely populated 

Bangladesh after floods 

in its north, where the Brahmaputra 

and Jamuna rivers 

broke their banks. 

“Diseases such as diarrhea, 

malaria and dengue are 

on the rise in some areas and 

we need support to prevent 

further death and suffering,” 

said Mozharul Huq, secretary 

general of the Bangladesh 

Red Crescent Society. 

In the Himalayan nation of 

Nepal, 26,944 cases of illness 

have been reported by district 

health facilities, while 

39,712 people had been treated 

in health camps by Aug. 

30, the health ministry said. 

But no epidemic has yet 

been reported, although 

health officials were monitoring 

conditions in flood-affected 

areas to spot possible 

outbreaks, the ministry said 

in a status report. 

Save the Children said some 

communities had been entirely 

wiped out in India’s eastern 

state of Bihar, just over the border 

from Nepal, with not a single 

building left undamaged. 

The agency estimated 17 

million children needed help 

with protection, health care 

and basic nutrition in India 

alone. •

DT 

12 

Editorial 


TODAY 

Looking for refuge 

In 1978, a similar ethnic clash led 

to thousands of Rohingya entering 

Bangladesh, but the then government 

channels negotiated to resettle close to 

30,000 Rohingyas 

PAGE 13 

The politics 

of triple talaq 

How did the BJP become interested 

in Muslim personal laws, and that too 

being a Hindu nationalist political party, 

whereas others maintained a careful 

distance? 

PAGE 14 

A new chance 

at life 

REUTERS 

Is there a doctor in the 

house? 

Lay to waste 

The daily waste production in Dhaka 

city is about 3,000 metric tons, of which 

40% is left on the streets 

Be heard 

Write to Dhaka Tribune 

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, 

Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 

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or its publisher. 

PAGE 15 

Our government has done the right thing. 

As Myanmar’s ethnic cleansing of the 

country’s Rohingya minority rages on without any 

intervention in sight, it is heartening to see steps 

being taken to give shelter to the ones who have managed to 

cross over to our side of the border. 

With the Rohingya pushed more and more into our 

borders, our government appears to have instructed border 

officials to ease up on the Rohingya and allow some of them 

into Bangladesh. 

What is more, the Border Guard Bangladesh has, 

reportedly, been helping out those fleeing violence set up 

shelters for others. 

We cannot even imagine the relief that those few must be 

feeling right now. 

These disenfranchised people have finally been given a 

glimmer of hope. 

To that end, we applaud Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 

whose government made this possible, and we hope 

Bangladesh will continue offering its help. 

As the world stands still and watches the Myanmar 

government lay waste to the Rohingya population, there is a 

certain hope in knowing that Bangladesh has stepped up in 

whatever way it can. 

In fact, it is a positive sign that now the government of 

Indonesia has offered to help us deal with the Rohingya crisis. 

A wonderful gesture of goodwill, if anything, and we hope 

other countries will follow suit. 

However, Myanmar still has a lot to answer for, and the 

world should never let the Myanmar government off the hook 

for committing such terrible crimes against its own people. 

Hospitals have a solemn responsibility to 

look after their patients, even in the holiday 

season. 

That is why it is so utterly unacceptable 

that at least 40 patients were left to die at Sher-e- 

Bangla Medical College in Barisal from a lack of medical 

attention after most of their doctors, including interns, 

went on holiday. 

This is gross negligence bordering on criminal. What 

is worse is that the hospital broke its promise -- it had 

earlier announced that it would provide “uninterrupted 

treatment” and have 10 doctors on duty over the Eidul-Azha 

holidays, but only three could be found. 

Employees have every right to take leave, but the 

way this particular occasion was handled at Sher-e- 

Bangla Medical College was inexcusable, with most 

staff being absent without giving prior notice. 

Doctors swear an oath to help their patients, and 

this oath stands 365 days a year. For a country that 

aspires to be on the road to development, our health 

care system has a lot of answering to do. 

In a nation with such a large labour force, it is not 

excusable for a shortage of workers, especially given 

the gravity of the responsibility. Better management 

and accountability can fix this problem. 

Incidences such as this cause people to seek out 

expensive medical treatment in foreign shores, and 

give our country’s institutions a bad name. 

One of the most important rules of the Hippocratic 

Oath is “first, do no harm.” It is time our doctors started 

taking those words seriously.

Looking for refuge 

As the Rohingya pour into Bangladesh, we must do the right thing 

Opinion 13 

DT 


• Ziaur Rahman 

Genocide, a hated word 

in history, was first 

introduced in 1944 

by Polish-Jewish 

lawyer Raphael Lemkin who 

coined the term in a book 

documenting the Nazi policy of 

systematically destroying the 

national and ethnic group. 

Since then, this word has been 

accepted in all judicial lexicons 

and in most crimes against any 

ethnic community. Time and 

again, we had only hope for a 

peaceful, calmer world where the 

much-hated word “genocide” 

would perish forever. 

Unfortunately, history has 

come to inform us that humanity 

has failed, the devil incarnate 

has risen with its deadly talons, 

killings, raping, maiming, burning 

village after village in the pretext 

of searching for militants in the 

Rakhine state in Myanmar. 

The story of the Rohingya 

In October of 2016, an alleged 

homegrown militant group called 

the Arakan Rohingya Salvation 

Where will they go? 

REUTERS 

In 1978, a similar 

ethnic clash led 

to thousands of 

Rohingya entering 

Bangladesh, but the 

then government 

channels negotiated 

to resettle close to 

30,000 Rohingyas 

Army attacked some border 

military camps of the Mynamar 

government. Since then, the 

government carried out their 

killing of the Rohinhya Muslim 

population and most recently, 

even the Hindu population in 

Rakhine State. 

Distrust between the 

government of Myanmar (mostly 

controlled by the military junta) 

and the Rohingya has deep-rooted, 

historical animosity. 

The government of Myanmar 

tends to demonise their Rohingya 

population, calling them 

migrants from Bangladesh, and 

in many governmental notes 

and discussions, they cleverly 

and deceptively term them as 

“Bangalis” -- which is nothing 

short of a planned strategic 

manipulation of the masses, in 

other words, a blatant lie. 

It is also an affront to 

Bangladesh, because its majority 

ethnic community is “Bangali.” 

The death and devastation 

now is so pervasive that Rohingya 

inhabitants of Rakhine State, 

mostly Muslims, are pouring in 

through the Myanmar-Bangladesh 

border with empty hands. 

Run or die 

The numbers have risen beyond 

100,000, causing serious pressure 

on Bangladesh. The magnitude of 

depravity is alarming and gripping; 

one feels complete dejection at 

the horrendous state of affairs 

that they are living in -- harrowing 

conditions with no food, water, 

medicine, and shelter. 

With little children, the elderly, 

and young women in the family, 

the Rohingya are fighting off death 

every step of the way -- only with 

the hope of freedom of life. 

As a citizen of Bangladesh and 

an avid supporter of human rights, 

I strongly condemn the gross 

violations of human dignity and 

atrocities committed in Myanmar. 

The most persecuted minority 

in the world had the choice of 

clinging to their ancestral homes 

and face brutal annihilation, or run 

for their lives. 

The border guards of 

Bangladesh initially tried to push 

back. 

However, when the flood of 

people rose to thousands, they 

rightly showed magnanimity and 

allowed them temporary abode 

in Bangladesh territory under the 

open skies; some lucky ones even 

found make-shift tents. 

The government of Bangladesh, 

local bodies, the general public, 

voluntary and aid organisations, 

and religious bodies have all 

played their role, and rose to 

the occasion by extending 

support. Our security forces also 

compassionately reached out to 

the dying and suffering, providing 

necessary medical care, as some 

had bullet-wounds and scars of 

mutilation and torture. 

What can we do? 

In this abhorrent situation, 

we urge the government of 

Bangladesh to invite global bodies, 

agencies like the United Nations, 

European Union, and other 

communities to step in and broker 

peace as soon as possible, before 

more torture, mutilation, rape, 

and death in Myanmar take place. 

In 1978, a similar ethnic clash 

led to thousands of Rohingya 

entering Bangladesh, but the then 

government channels negotiated 

to resettle close to 30,000 

Rohingyas in 1979 through a sixmonth 

period. 

An immediate effort must 

be launched to have a count 

of documented Rohingya, and 

inter-governmental talks must be 

initiated in this regard. 

A call for raising global 

awareness is urgent; we ask all to 

voice complete condemnation, 

disgust, and frustration on this 

grave, merciless, and outrageous 

brutality against the Rohingya. 

Being the historically underprivileged 

and down-trodden 

community in Myanmar, they are 

being tortured and decimated. 

They are fleeing under the 

watchful eyes of the Myanmar 

administration and military, 

leaving land to be happily grabbed 

by the state machinery or ruling 

elites. 

Aung San Suu Kyi has been 

tone deaf in these times of sheer 

madness in her country. At times, 

it seems that this brutality is part 

of a grand scheme to control large 

land patches that may have untold 

riches waiting to be excavated -- 

merrily with all Rohingya slain or 

forced to cross over to Bangladesh, 

all to the benefit of vested local 

and international interests. These 

two state organs are allegedly 

complicit to the crimes, and we 

also seek justice against these 

perpetrators. 

We saw with flickering hope 

how the pope condemned this 

genocide. We want the military 

and administration in Myanmar to 

immediately stop their nefarious 

acts and establish peace and 

harmony. 

The regime of carnage 

in Myanmar should not go 

unchallenged, and international 

human rights organisations must 

take on legal battles against the 

evil-doers in Myanmar. 

The power of the people 

The President of Turkey Tayyip 

Erdogan, Prime Minister of 

Malaysia Najib Razak, Indonesian 

President Joko Widodo, Nobel 

Peace-prize winner Malala 

Yousafzai, and many other world 

leaders have spoken of their 

disgust for the heinous acts 

committed -- once again, let us 

collectively speak against these 

crimes against humanity of all 

shades, religions, and colours. 

Decisive leadership engagement 

with the Myanmar regime must 

continue while keeping world 

bodies involved in the negotiation 

process. 

The government of 

Bangladesh must also pressure 

the international community to 

show a sign of humanity to the 

Rohingya, even possibly offer 

them citizenship. • 

Advocate Ziaur Rahman is the CEO, 

IITM.

14 


DT 

Opinion 

The politics of triple talaq 

Good change takes time 

A better deal for Muslim women? 

REUTERS 

activists and a sizable section of 

Hindu community keeping the 

provision opting out in marriage 

registration. All quarters of the 

community are more or less happy 

and Awami League’s traditional 

Hindu vote bank remains intact. 

Ideally though, a law confirming 

this simple basic right shouldn’t 

have taken so long. 

How did the BJP become 

interested in Muslim personal 

laws and that too being a Hindu 

nationalist political party, whereas 

Congress and others maintained 

a careful distance? There are two 

explanations. 

Pretense of progress 

Firstly, the fact that the BJP aim 

for Hindu vote consolidation 

in its favour with anti-Muslim 

rhetoric. Thus it generally has no 

expectations for Muslim votes. 

It can have several tones. 

One, they don’t do (so-called) 

Muslim appeasement, like others. 

Two, they have sympathy for 

the oppressed quarters of the 

minority. Often the BJP talks about 

Muslims being used as vote bank 

by pseudo secularists, implying 

that the BJP are the real seculars, 

just a Hindu party. Perhaps the 

truth lies somewhere between the 

two explanations. 

Only .03% of Indian Muslim 

women were affected by triple 

talaq. It’s not a major issue 

concerning Indian Muslims. 

The triple talaq judgment 

actually won’t change the careful 

approach the Indian state takes to 

personal laws of the minorities. 

The judges who gave their 

decision in favour of banning 

triple talaq delivered it from 

the theological ground that 

the practice isn’t mentioned in 

the Qur’an, and hence is not 

fundamental to the Qur’an. 

They were perhaps mindful of 

the sensitivity and long-settled 

status of Muslim personal laws 

in the Indian context and the 

social dangers of rapid judicial 

interventions in a politicallycharged 

environment. 

Good changes must come. It’s 

better that they come gradually. • 

Sarwar Jahan Chowdhury is a freelance 

commentator on politics, society and 

international relations. He currently 

works at BRAC Institute of Governance 

and Development (BIGD). 

• Sarwar Jahan Chowdhury 

The Supreme Court of India 

recently suspended the 

practice of Talaq-e-Biddat 

(instant triple talaq) as 

unconstitutional for six months, 

and asked the government of India 

to enact statute to this effect, 

including other relevant aspects of 

Muslim marriage and divorce. 

The judgment came on a 

narrow 3:2 split decision from 

a five member bench which 

included the then chief justice JS 

Khehar. 

Interestingly, all five judges 

come from five different religions 

-- Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Parsi, 

and Christianity. However, regular 

triple talaq with proper procedure 

and time was not an issue in the 

petition and hence, stands valid as 

always. 

The credit of moving the 

petition primarily goes to few 

brave Muslim women who 

courageously moved to the apex 

court against this highly regressive 

religious practice. 

It’s noteworthy here that in 

Bangladesh and Pakistan, instant 

triple talaq has been banned for 

ages. But, like in Bangladesh, 

successive government in India 

were hesitant to deal with matters 

of minority personal laws. 

Even the British Raj was careful 

about socio-religious practices of 

the people of the sub-continent, 

and they basically created laws 

to give formal character to these 

practices in their system, for 

example, the Sahriayat Act 1937. 

After 1947, both in India and 

Pakistan, the governments did 

some codification of personal laws 

of their majority communities, 

for example, the Hindu Code Bill 

1951 and the Muslim Family Laws 

Ordnance 1961. 

It was relatively easy to pass 

common Hindu family laws 

because of the diversity within the 

Hindus and absence of a Muslimlike, 

well organised communal 

jurisprudence. 

Too much trouble 

Bangladesh, after its 

independence, furthered the 1961 

Act with Family Act Ordnance of 

1985. All these states refrained 

from doing or were very slow to 

do much to codify the minority 

personal laws, let alone reforming 

those. 

For example, despite the big 

number of cases of Bangladeshi 

Hindu women being abused and 

abandoned by their husbands, 

and in spite of repeated demands 

from prominent activists, the 

Hindu Marriage Registration Act 

has only recently been enacted 

in Bangladesh, and that too 

as a voluntary basis -- not as 

compulsory. 

There has hardly been any 

formal record of marriage of Hindu 

women in Bangladesh, nor were 

there any provisions of alimony 

from ex husbands or property 

rights (from both father and 

husband). Mainstream political 

parties don’t want to get into 

these issues considering these 

troublesome. All mainstream 

political parties in South Asia 

maintained a traditional apathy 

and careful distance from minority 

personal matters due to the 

communally charged history of 

the sub-continent. 

In fact, this sort of disinterest 

closes most channels for women 

within the minority communities 

if they wish for any justice against 

the highly regressive patriarchal 

practices of their communities. 

Politics behind laws 

However, of late, there have been 

some movements. Pakistan, like 

Bangladesh, has also enacted 

Hindu marriage act, and the 

Indian court has banned instant 

triple talaq. But there seems to be 

varying degree of politics linked 

to it. 

In Bangladesh, the incumbent 

Awami League, which is officially 

a secular party, only did it after 

substantial pressure from rights 

How did the BJP become interested in Muslim 

personal laws, and that too being a Hindu 

nationalist political party, whereas others 

maintained a careful distance? 

and they work for their slogan 

“Sab ka sath, sab ka bikas” (with 

all, progress for all). 

In reality, it often seems, they 

have no wish to offer any social 

progress package to the socially 

backward Muslims. Rather, their 

activities with regards to cow 

protection have indeed put the 

Indian Muslims, for whom beef 

is a staple food and cheap source 

of protein, in considerable peril 

from the newly cropped up cow 

vigilante goons. 

That being said, with not 

much progress in development 

matters, the party is looking for 

votes from any corner to prevent 

anti-incumbency momentum 

developing before 2019. Hence, 

more Hindutva are targeting a 

section of Muslim women votes. 

The second explanation is a 

more naïve one, which is the BJP 

is getting interested to become an 

all-inclusive party gradually, and 

it wants to shed the label of being

Opinion 15 

DT 


Lay to waste 

How can we manage Dhaka’s overwhelming waste problem? 

Not good for the people 

• Shishir Reza 

Waste management in 

pre-industrial times 

was trouble-free, as 

most of the waste 

consisted of unrefined materials 

which decomposed naturally. 

With the change of 

consumption patterns, nonbiodegradable 

synthetic materials 

such as plastic have become one of 

the leading causes of marine and 

coastal pollution. 

The management of waste is 

one of the obligatory functions of 

urban governance institutions in 

Bangladesh. The yearly escalation 

in urban population of Bangladesh 

is over 3.3%. 

Population Division of UN 

(2016) has mentioned the urban 

population status in Bangladesh: It 

was 23.8% in 2000; 30.4 % in 2010, 

and it is 34.9% now. It can be 38% 

of the total population by the year 

of 2020. 

Waste generation has also 

augmented proportionately 

with the intensification of urban 

inhabitants. As such, innercity 

governing institutions are 

facing difficulties to keep up and 

ensure ample waste management 

services. 

Staggering numbers 

Approximately 250 industries 

discharge chemical effluents into 

urban water bodies. Each day, 

4,000 tonnes solid waste and 

22,000 tonnes tannery waste mix 

with water in four rivers of Dhaka 

city. 

Pollution in Dhaka city is mainly 

composed of 48% pulp and 

paper, 16% pharmaceuticals, 15% 

metals, 12% food industry, and 7% 

fertilisers/pesticides. 

In urban areas, waste is 

discharged directly into the rivers 

and low-lying parts around the 

urban areas. Disposal management 

of solid waste in the urban area is 

inadequate. Household garbage, 

industrial waste, and waste 

from clinics and hospitals are all 

dumped in the same place. 

The daily waste production in 

Dhaka city is about 3,000 metric 

tons, of which 40% is left on the 

streets. 

Nowadays, in Dhaka South 

City Corporation, 3,500 tonnes of 

waste are generated from which 

only 1,900 tonnes are processed. 

Although there are 1,000 street 

cleaners in the Dhaka City 

corporations, most of the streets 

are never swept. 

In addition, the generation 

of electronic waste -- such as 

television, refrigerator, computer, 

tube lights, and mobile phones 

-- has created a new threat for us. 

Environment and development 

organisations mention that during 

the period of 2011-12, it was five 

million metric tons and over 

2013-14, it was 11 million metric 

tons. The figures are on the rise in 

Bangladesh. 

Can anything save us? 

With the current practices in 

collection and transportation of 

solid waste in municipal areas of 

Bangladesh, the city corporations 

are faced with severe challenges 

to tackle the rapid deterioration 

of environmental and sanitation 

security. 

This results in unhygienic and 

filthy living conditions in urban 

The daily waste production in Dhaka city is about 3,000 metric tons, of 

which 40% is left on the streets 

Dhaka. 

With the multiplicity of 

environmental problems created 

by urban waste, now the question 

of governance regarding urban 

solid waste management is more 

imperative than ever. 

As an urban governance 

institution, the city corporation is 

primarily accountable to enforce 

existing policies in managing its 

solid waste through recycling and 

non-polluting disposal methods. 

In general, governance of 

waste management is essential for 

environmental security. 

Integrated waste management 

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU 

includes re-use, source reduction, 

recycling, composting, land-filling, 

and incineration. 

Better use of the 3Rs (reuses, 

reduce, and recycle) strategy can 

play a vital role to 100% waste 

reduction. In addition, largescale 

composting and recycling 

programs ensure 10% and 30% 

waste reduction. 

For liquid wastes and effluents 

disposal, we have to set up 

waste and effluent treatment 

plants in every red and orangecoloured 

factory, enlisted by 

the environment department 

following environmental laws and 

policies. 

For medical waste disposal, 

incineration would be feasible. 

As the heap of waste materials 

create odour pollution, the 

establishment of green buildings 

and related incentives would give 

confidence to take up recycledcontent 

materials and instruments 

at new construction sites. 

In urban areas, awareness 

about waste management, odour 

pollution, and impacts of effluents 

among people is urgent. • 

Shishir Reza is an environment analyst 

and Associate Member of Bangladesh 

Economic Association.

16 


DT 

Downtime 

CROSSWORD 

ACROSS 

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CODE-CRACKER 

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As you get the letters, fill in the other 

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CALVIN AND HOBBES 

SUDOKU 

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the 

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

contain all nine digits with no number repeating. 

PEANUTS 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS 

CODE-CRACKER 

CROSSWORD 

DILBERT 

SUDOKU

What’s on 

17 


DT 

EVENTS AROUND TOWN TODAY 

EDUCATION 

MOVIE 

SCREENING 

BLOCKBUSTER CINEMAS 

(Sept 7) 

SPOT ASSESSMENT: KENT STATE UNIVERSITY 

When 4-6pm 

Where Pacasiabd, 166/1, Ground Floor, Mirpur Road, 

Kalabagan, Dhaka 

What Meet the representatives and faculty memebers of KSU, 

and assess your eligibility of studying in USA’s one of the 

most high ranked and affordable university. 

ENGLISH PRACTICE SESSION 

When 2-3pm 

Where The American Center, Block – J, Plot – 1, Progati 

Sharani, Baridhara, Dhaka 

What Free English club, featuring interactive discussions 

led by native English speakers every week at the American 

Center. 

MUSIC 

Transformers-The Last Knight (3D): 

12pm, 1:50pm, 4:50pm, 7:20pm 

Spider-Man Homecoming (3D): 

1:45pm, 4:30pm, 7:20pm 

The Mummy (3D): 2:35pm, 5pm 

Ohongkar (2D): 11:30am, 2:15pm, 

7:25pm 

Shona Bondhu (2D): 4:30pm 

Baywatch (2D): 2pm 

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

3pm, 5:05pm 

The Glass Castle (2D): 11:40am, 

7:45pm 

Rongbaz (2D): 11:30am, 2:15pm, 

5pm, 7:50pm 

Annabelle: Creation (2D): 11:30am, 

5:20pm, 7:30pm, 7:50pm 

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to 

Power (2D): 11:50am 

AMERICAN CENTER CINEMA 

When 3-5pm 

Where The American Center, Block – J, Plot – 1, Progati 

Sharani, Baridhara, Dhaka 

What The screening of A Beautiful Mind. Acting Public 

Affairs Officer Rex Moser will host the screening and lead 

a discussion.songs, before they take a break to go into the 

studio. 

CONFERENCE 

0PENING 

JATRA BIROTI LIVE PERFORMANCES 

When 9-11pm 

Where Jatra Biroti, 60 Kemal Ataturk Avenue, Banani, Dhaka 

What Live performance by Aklima Fakirani – a devout 

follower of Lalon Fakir. 

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY 

FORUM OPENING 

MEETING 

When 4-7pm 

Where EMK Center, Midas Center 

Building (9th Floor) House#5, 

Road 16, Dhanmondi, Dhaka 

What The inaugural ceremony 

of Health Technology Forum in 

Dhaka. 

HOUSE OF YOUTH DIALOGUE MODEL UN 

CONFERENCE 

When 9am-10pm 

Where Army Golf Club, Airport Road, Dhaka Cantonment, 

Dhaka 

What To be hosted at the capital of its base country, this 

conference is a monumental step in the revolution of the 

MUN circuit in Bangladesh. 

Pickaboo partners with Radisson 

Blu Dhaka Water Garden 

An agreement signing ceremony 

was held at Pickaboo’s office in 

Gulshan 1, Dhaka, recently, where 

Pickaboo, has partnered with 

Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden 

as part of their loyalty program 

partnership. 

Present in the ceremony 

were Shahrear Satter, Chief 

Operating Officer, Pickaboo. 

com; Christoph Voeghli, General 

Manager, Radisson Blu Dhaka 

Water Garden; Hameem Al Shariar 

Ahmmed, Assistant Director, 

Online Marketing, Radisson Blu 

Dhaka Water Garden, and Ahmed 

Nafees Osmani, Head of Loyalty 

Program, Pickaboo.com, among 

others. 

In lieu of this agreement, 

‘Pickaboo Club’ members can 

now avail special discounts in 

Spice & Rice Restaurant and Spa & 

Cuisine. 

Pickaboo Club is an exclusive 

membership program for all 

registered customers of Pickaboo. 

com. Through this program 

customers can earn club points, 

avail exclusive offers from 

Pickaboo loyalty partners and 

enjoy a wide range of deals. 

Learn more about Pickaboo Club 

membership here: https://www. 

pickaboo.com/pickaboo-club •

DT 

18 

Sports 


Fizz wishes to develop new variation 

• Ali Shahriyar Bappa 

from Chittagong 

Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman 

yesterday admitted he has to 

find new variations in order to settle 

down in Test cricket and work 

hard to convert his limited-over 

success to the five-day arena. 

Mustafizur bagged one wicket 

on day two but bowled well on day 

three, picking up two important 

wickets, including the all-important 

scalp of vice captain David 

Warner. 

“I have to find new variations. 

I have the cutter but now I have 

to do something new. I usually 

don’t bowl the bouncers. I have 

only played for two years so I am 

trying to land two bouncers in an 

over. I have trained for a little while 

so I haven’t got the hang of it yet. 

I am bowling faster but I have to 

do something about the line and 

length,” Mustafizur told the media 

during the post-day press conference. 

“I bowled in the right areas, 

possibly four in every over. Some 

didn’t pitch in line. I didn’t have 

to change my line or length from 

[Tuesday],” he said. 

Mustafizur believes Bangladesh 

have a good chance of extracting 

a positive result of the second and 

final Test match at Zahur Ahmed 

Chowdhury Stadium but for that 

to happen, they need to get the last 

wicket quickly today. 

“Nothing is impossible if we can 

play well. There are still two days 

left in the game. We have to take 

their last wicket and then if the 

batsmen can do well, we can give 

them a big target,” Mustafizur explained. 

Yesterday was Mustafizur’s 

22nd birthday and when questioned 

about his special day, the 

pace bowler replied that everyone 

wished him well, including his IPL 

teammates via whatsapp. 

“We have a whatsapp group for 

the [Sunrisers] Hyderabad team. 

Everyone wished me there, including 

Warner,” he concluded. 

Bangladesh players also celebrated 

his birthday later in the 

evening and Mustafizur shared 

those pictures on his verified facebook 

page. • 

Mustafizur Rahman bowls during day three 

MD MANIK 

Bangladesh’s Nasir Hossain celebrates 

after Shakib al Hasan (not pictured) 

catches Australia’s Peter Handscomb 

short of the crease in Chittagong 

yesterday 

MD MANIK 

2ND TEST, DAY 3 

BANGLADESH 1ST INNINGS 305 IN 113.2 

OVERS (Mushfiq 68, Lyon 7/94) 

AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS OVERNIGHT 

225/2 IN 64 OVERS R B 

Warner c Imrul b Mustafizur 123 234 

Handscomb run out (Shakib) 82 144 

Maxwell c Mushfiq b Miraz 38 98 

Cartwright c Soumya b Miraz 18 28 

Wade lbw b Mustafizur 8 31 

Agar b Shakib 22 35 

Cummins lbw b Miraz 4 8 

O’Keefe not out 8 28 

Lyon not out 0 1 

Extras (b 8, lb 3, w 1) 12 

Total (118 Overs) 377/9 

Bowling 

Miraz 38-6-93-3, Mustafizur 20-2-84-3, 

Shakib 30-2-82-1, Taijul 21-1-78-1, Nasir 

6-2-14-0, Mominul 2-0-6-0, Sabbir 1-0- 

9-0 

Fall Of Wickets 

3-250 (Handscomb), 4-298 (Warner), 

5-321 (Cartwright), 6-342 (Wade), 7-346 

(Maxwell), 8-364 (Cummins), 9-376 (Agar) 

Australia lead by 72 runs

Sports 

19 


DT 

Nasir’s funny gesture with 

umpire Llong 

Bangladesh all-rounder Nasir Hossain 

made a comical move by exhibiting the 

“out” signal in front of on-field umpire 

Nigel Llong which created quite a buzz 

on social media. The incident happened 

in the 109th over. Off-spinner 

Mehedi Hasan Miraz bowled to tailender 

Pat Cummins outside off and 

the batsman in question offered no 

shot. The bowler appealed but umpire 

gave it not out. Captain Mushfiqur 

Rahim reviewed the decision and 

eventually it got overturned. But the 

funny part is, when Llong was showing 

the overturned decision, Nasir, standing 

just beside the umpire, copied 

him and produced the out signal. The 

funny gesture from Nasir amused the 

local crowd and a few moments later, 

it went viral. 

Dropped chances hurt 

Bangladesh progress 

Bangladesh’s fielding effort was not 

upto the mark on day two and the 

below-par catching continued on day 

PLAYS OF THE DAY 

three as well. A few catches were put 

down on day three which should have 

been taken. The course of the Australian 

innings could have changed if those 

chances were taken. The first dropped 

catch came in the 84th over. Miraz put 

down a sitter at third slip. All-rounder 

Glenn Maxwell was the batsman and 

he was batting on 10 off 32 balls then. 

He went on to score 38 off 98 balls. 

The struggling Soumya Sarkar missed 

a tough chance of vice captain David 

Warner in the 87th over. Miraz also 

missed a caught and bowled chance, 

that of all-rounder Hilton Cartwright, 

in the 91st over, which ultimately 

injured him for a short time as the ball 

hit his rib cage. Soumya again dropped 

a dolly at first slip in the first ball of the 

117th over. The lucky batter was lower-order 

batsman Ashton Agar and the 

unlucky bowler was all-rounder Shakib 

al Hasan. Shakib eventually cleaned 

up Agar five balls later. But such kind 

of misses by a first slip fielder looked 

shocking. 

Ali Shahriyar Bappa from Chittagong 

Warner: Bangladesh need 

to look after Mustafizur 

• Ali Shahriyar Bappa from 

Chittagong 

Australia opener David Warner said 

Bangladesh need to look after the 

fast bowlers, especially left-arm 

paceman Mustafizur Rahman, the 

Aussie vice captain’s Sunrisers Hyderabad 

team mate. 

The left-handed batsman made 

the remark when queried to share 

his insight into Mustafizur’s performance 

in the two-match Test series 

between the two teams. 

“I think he (Mustafizur) is a very 

good bowler. I think the one thing 

that I think Bangladesh have to 

do is look after him. We’ve been 

through it for an extensive period 

of time as well. You have to look 

after your fast bowlers, so if he’s 

your No 1 strike bowler moving forward 

when you’ve got a couple of 

Test matches and one-dayers coming 

up, you’ve really got to monitor 

that and you’ve got to obviously 

prioritise whether it’s Test cricket, 

one-day cricket, T20 cricket,” 

Warner told the media following 

the third day’s play of the Chittagong 

Test at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury 

Stadium in Chittagong. 

Mustafizur, who plays under 

Warder for IPL T20 franchise Sunrisers 

Hyderabad, has not been 

able to meet expectations in recent 

times. 

The Tigers pacer made a flying 

to start to his international career 

in 2015, in the home series against 

India. 

Nasir Hossain imitates on-field umpire Nigel Llong 

David Warner jumps to celebrate his 20th Test hundred 

But since then, and more so after 

surgery on his shoulder in August 

last year, Mustafizur has been 

found struggling on occasions. 

Mustafizur in his maiden appearance 

for Sunrisers in the IPL 

was key to the side’s title winning 

campaign. 

But just the following season, 

the Bangladesh pacer was found 

sitting on the bench more often 

than not. 

Warner said Mustafizur and 

the Bangladesh team can think of 

prioritising a format, rather than 

pushing in all three in order to get 

the best result. 

“That’s obviously a conversation 

for them to have with him but 

I think he’s an exceptional talent, 

an exceptional bowler, and it’s obviously 

upon him to work out if he 

wants to play all three forms, one 

form, or two forms,” Warner explained. 

Warner and Mustafizur are great 

friends both on and off the field and 

the former rates the latter highly. 

Mustafizur in the first Test 

against Australia last month remained 

wicket-less, bowling only 

nine overs in the game. 

In the Chittagong Test, where 

host Bangladesh are looking for a 

clean sweep, Mustafizur’s fortunes 

have improved slightly. 

The left-armer picked up three 

wickets to cut off the Aussie lead. 

Australia are currently leading 

by 72 with a wicket in hand in the 

first innings, replying to Bangladesh’s 

305 all out. • 

BCB 

Patient Warner terms 

Ctg ton as his best 



Australia vice captain David 

Warner admitted that his century 

against Bangladesh in the second 

and final Test match at Zahur 

Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium is 

definitely among his best innings in 

terms of patience as the conditions 

were one of the hottest he has ever 

played in. 

Warner was not out on 88 after 

day two and added 35 more runs on 

day three, picking up his 20th Test 

century in the port city yesterday. 

“I think from a patience point 

of view, definitely it was my best 

ton. I always talk about trying to 

bat long periods for time in these 

conditions and by far that’s the 

hottest I’ve ever played in. It was 

quite challenging to be out there. 

Coming off [Tuesday], it was every 

minute that I was out there. We 

were out there for 100 overs the 

day before,” Warner told the media 

after the day’s play. 

“A lot of credit has to go to 

the two fast bowlers as well. The 

amount of work that they’ve put 

in, I think they’ve both bowled 20 

overs apiece in this heat. It takes 

someone with some good fitness 

to bowl through that definitely,” he 

said. 

Warner’s track record was not 

good in Asia before the Bangladesh 

Tests but back-to-back hundreds 

indicate his growing maturity in 

challenging sub-continent conditions. 

MD MANIK 

“It’s a tough environment to 

come out and try to play your shots 

and play your natural game. You 

have to find a way and for me it’s 

taken almost 16, 17 Tests in these 

conditions to work out what my 

game plan is and stick to it. As I 

said before, if they play on your 

ego a little bit, they shut down your 

runs, they shut down your boundary 

options, and you’ve got find the 

ones,” Warner explained. 

“You’ve got to be prepared to bat 

time and you’ve got to have the fitness 

edge as well to do that. That’s 

probably the thing that’s going to 

keep motivating me more now to 

show to myself that I’ve done that, 

and now moving forward I can 

achieve the same success that I’ve 

had so far over here moving down 

the line,” he added. 

In the process he became the 

sixth Australia player after Bob 

Simpson, Allan Border, Damien 

Martyn, Mike Hussey (twice) and 

Michael Clarke to hit consecutive 

Test hundreds in Asia. 

But Warner said he is focusing 

more on team performance rather 

than personal milestone. 

“It is satisfying for myself but 

at the end of the day we’re here to 

win games. I’m doing myself and 

the team as much favours as I can 

by trying to put on runs, as everyone 

else is. At the moment we’ve 

got a lead of 77 (72) I think it is, so 

we’ve got to try and capitalise on 

that [today] morning to push forward 

for maybe a 100 (run lead),” 

he concluded. •

20 


DT 

Sports 

Brazil, Colombia share points as Argentina held off by Venezuela 

• Reuters 

Colombia and Brazil shared a 1-1 

draw in a hard-fought draw World 

Cup qualifier after Radamel Falcao’s 

second-half header cancelled 

out Willian’s stunning first-half 

volley on Tuesday. 

Colombia have still never beaten 

Brazil in a World Cup qualifying 

match but the draw marked the 

first time in 10 games that Brazilian 

coach Tite has come away from a 

qualifier with anything other than 

all three points. Brazil have already 

qualified for the finals in Russia 

next year. 

Argentina came from behind to 

draw 1-1 with Venezuela on Tuesday 

but their inability to take what 

should have been an easy three 

points means the 2014 losing finalists 

are still a long way from guaranteeing 

their place in Russia next year. 

The home side had won all six 

of their previous home qualifiers 

against Venezuela and were expected 

to do the same against the team 

that is bottom of the South American 

group. Argentina’s failure to 

take all three points left them fifth 

in the standings with two matches 

remaining, out of the top four spots 

which bring with them direct qualification 

for the finals. 

Spain crush Liechtenstein, Iceland given 

World Cup hope 

• Reuters 

Spain hammered Liechtenstein 8-0 

as Alvaro Morata and Iago Aspas 

both struck twice to maintain their 

country’s lead over Italy at the top 

of World Cup qualifying Group G 

on Tuesday. 

The victory in Vaduz took Spain 

to 22 points from eight games, 

three ahead of the Italians who beat 

Israel 1-0 in Reggio Emilia thanks to 

Ciro Immobile’s second-half strike. 

Julen Lopetegui’s Spain side 

scored three goals in the first 16 

minutes to ensure the rest of the 

game was a formality against the 

overwhelmed host. 

Iceland gave their hopes of an 

unlikely World Cup finals appearance 

a huge boost on Tuesday 

when two goals from Gylfi Sigurdsson, 

the first scored controversially, 

gave them a 2-0 win over 

Ukraine in a key qualifier. 

The win meant Iceland, who delighted 

the sports world by reaching 

the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 

last year, went level on 16 points 

with Croatia at the top of Group I. 

Croatia, beaten 1-0 by Turkey, lead 

on goal difference. 

Italy recovered from Saturday’s 

mauling by Spain to beat Israel 

1-0 in their World Cup qualifier on 

Tuesday, although it was far from 

Uruguay, who play Paraguay later 

on Tuesday, are in third, while 

Peru beat Ecuador 2-1 to move up 

into fourth and keep alive their 

hopes of a first World Cup Finals 

appearance since 1982. 

RESULTS 

Bolivia 1-0 Chile 

Arce 59-P 

Colombia 1-1 Brazil 

Falcao 56 Willian 45+2 

Ecuador 1-2 Peru 

E. Valencia 79-P Flores 73, Hurtado 76 

Argentina 1-1 Venezuela 

Feltscher 54-og Murillo 51 

Paraguay 1-2 Uruguay 

Romero 88 Valverde 76, Gomez 80-og 

In the evening’s other early 

game, second-bottom Bolivia got 

just their fourth win in 16 qualifiers 

when they deservedly beat Chile 

1-0 thanks to a second half penalty 

from Juan Carlos Arce. The Bolivians, 

who sit second-bottom with 

no chance of going to Russia, were 

on top for most of the game played 

at altitude in La Paz. Their win 

complicates life for the Copa America 

champions, who started the day 

in fourth place but now seem likely 

to lose ground. • 

plain sailing as they were jeered by 

the home crowd at halftime. 

Forward Ciro Immobile came to 

Italy’s rescue early in the second 

half when he headed the only goal 

in the Group G game after a sluggish 

first-half performance saw the 

four-times world champion roundly 

booed. 

Aleksandar Kolarov’s second 

half strike put Serbia on the verge of 

World Cup qualification and delivered 

a hammer blow to Group D rivals 

Ireland’s chances in a 1-0 victory at 

Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on Tuesday. 

The win puts Serbia four points 

Spain's Sergio Ramos heads in a goal against Liechtenstein during their FIFA World 

Cup 2018 Qualifications match in Vaduz on Tuesday 

AFP 

Neymar of Brazil in action against Abel Aguilar and James Rodriguez of Colombia during their 2018 World Cup Qualifications 

match at Barranquilla, Colombia on Tuesday 

REUTERS 

clear at the top of the group with 

two games to play - away at Austria 

and home to Georgia and relegated 

Ireland to third place, a point behind 

a resurgent Wales who they 

travel to in their final game. 

Serbia, who like both Ireland 

and Wales went into the game with 

an unbeaten record, had the better 

early chances and deservedly 

took the lead on 55 minutes when 

Kolarov hammered a shot in off the 

bar to silence the home crowd. 

A wasteful Wales scored two 

late goals to beat Moldova 2-0 in 

their World Cup qualifier on Tuesday 

as a diving header by Hal Robson-Kanu 

and a deflected Aaron 

Ramsey strike spared their blushes 

against Group D’s bottom side. 

With group rivals Ireland slumping 

to a 1-0 defeat at home to Serbia, 

the result lifted Wales into second 

place ahead of the Irish. • 

RESULTS 

GROUP D 

Ireland 0-1 Serbia 

Kolarov 55 

Moldova 0-2 Wales 

Robson-Kanu 80, Ramsey 90+3 

Austria 1-1 Georgia 

Schaub 44 Gvilia 8 

GROUP G 

Italy 1-0 Israel 

Immobile 53 

Liechtenstein 0-8 Spain 

Ramos 3, Morata 15, 54, Isco 16, 

Silva 39, Aspas 51, 63, Goppel 89-og 

Macedonia 1-1 Albania 

Trajkovski 78-P Roshi 52 

GROUP I 

Kosovo 0-1 Finland 

Pukki 83 

Iceland 2-0 Ukraine 

Sigurdsson 47, 66 

Turkey 1-0 Croatia 

Tosun 75 

S Korea, Saudis 

reach World Cup 

• AFP, Tehran 

Omar Al Soma’s stoppage-time 

equaliser took war-torn Syria into 

Asia’s World Cup play-offs on Tuesday, 

as South Korea and Saudi Arabia 

both booked their spots at next 

year’s tournament. 

Syria were 2-1 down against Iran 

and heading out when Al Soma 

threaded his shot through goalkeeper 

Alireza Salimi’s legs in the 

third added minute, sparking wild 

celebrations. 

The 2-2 draw means Syria, who 

have defied the odds while civil 

war rages in their country, now 

face Australia home and away, with 

the winner going into an intercontinental 

play-off. 

On the final night of Asia’s qualifying 

group games, South Korea 

drew 0-0 with Uzbekistan to reach 

their ninth straight World Cup, 

while Saudi Arabia joined them 

with a 1-0 win over Japan. 

Fahad Al Muwallad’s thunderous 

winner in Jeddah qualified the 

Saudis for their fifth World Cup, 

snatching the second automatic 

spot in Group B - and relegating 

Australia to the play-offs. 

The Koreans, Saudis and already-qualified 

Japan and Iran will 

now hope to improve on Asia’s disappointing 

2014 World Cup, when 

no team from the region reached 

the knock-out stage. •

Sports 

21 


DT 

Venus beats Kvitova, 

to face Stephens in US 

Open semis 

• AFP, New York 

Seven-time Grand Slam champion 

Venus Williams became the oldest 

semi-finalist in US Open history 

at age 37 on Tuesday by defeating 

two-time Wimbledon champion 

Petra Kvitova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2). 

US ninth seed Williams, seeking 

her third US Open crown, advanced 

to today’s matchup against 83rdranked 

compatriot Sloane Stephens 

for a spot in Saturday’s final. 

In the men’s event, South Africa’s 

Kevin Anderson reached a 

Grand Slam semi-final for the first 

time where he will face Spain’s 

Pablo Carreno Busta who will also 

be appearing in his maiden lastfour 

at a major. 

Injured Murray 

says likely to 

miss rest of 

season 

• AFP, London 

Britain’s Andy Murray said yesterday 

he is unlikely to play again this 

season due to a nagging hip injury 

that forced him to pull out of the 

US Open. 

The 30-year-old Scot played at 

Wimbledon in July but lost in the 

quarter-finals to American Sam 

Querrey. 

“Unfortunately, I won’t be able 

to compete in the upcoming events 

in Beijing and Shanghai, and most 

likely, the final two events to finish 

the season in Vienna and Paris due 

to my hip injury which has been 

bothering me the last few months,” 

the three-time Grand Slam champion 

said on his Facebook page. 

“I will be beginning my 2018 

season in Brisbane in preparation 

for the Australian Open.” 

Murray, who has won Wimbledon 

twice as well as the US Open, 

said he was looking forward to 

playing in Glasgow later in the 

year in a charity exhibition match 

against Roger Federer. • 

DAY’S WATCH 

CRICKET 

STAR SPORTS SELECT 1 

9:50PM 

Australia Tour Of Bangladesh 

2nd Test, Day 4 

STAR SPORTS SELECT 2 

3:58PM 

England Tour Of West Indies 

3rd Test, Day 1 

Stephens, who missed 11 months 

with a left foot injury before returning 

at Wimbledon, matched 

her best Grand Slam showing by 

outlasting Latvian 16th seed Anastasija 

Sevastova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4). 

If Americans Madison Keys and 

CoCo Vanderweghe win Wednesday, 

they will produce the first 

all-American US Open semi-finals 

since 1981. 

Legends Roger Federer and Rafael 

Nadal each practiced ahead of 

Wednesday quarter-finals. 

Carreno Busta, the first player in 

any Grand Slam to face four qualifiers, 

cruised into his first Slam 

semi-final by ousting Argentine 

29th seed Diego Schartzman 6-4, 

6-4, 6-2. • 

Venus Williams of the United States returns a shot to Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic on day nine of the U.S. Open tennis 

tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre on Tuesday 

REUTERS 

PSG has nothing to hide in probe 

• AFP, Paris 

Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser 

Al-Khelaifi said yesterday the 

club had nothing to hide as Uefa 

investigate over alleged violations 

of its financial fair play rules. 

Al-Khelaifi, speaking at the official 

unveiling of French striker 

Kylian Mbappe, one of the players 

whose signing has sparked the 

probe, said PSG had respected all of 

Uefa’s rules. 

“We are very confident in our 

position and in our recruitment,” 

he told a press conference. 

“Uefa can do as it wishes, but we 

have done everything in a transparent 

way. We haven’t hidden anything 

and we don’t need to hide 

anything.” 

PSG, owned by Qatar sovereign 

wealth fund QSI, broke the world 

transfer record to pay 222m euros 

($264m) for Brazilian superstar 

Neymar in August before signing 

Mbappe on loan with an option to 

buy the 18-year-old from Monaco 

for up to 180m euros in the second 

largest deal in history. 

The massive outlay sparked 

complaints from clubs in Spain and 

Germany that they were competing 

with a state-backed entity. 

The president of Spain’s La Liga, 

Javier Tebas, said Wednesday PSG 

were laughing at the system. 

Uefa announced Friday it was 

looking into whether PSG had broken 

the FFP rules that are designed 

to prevent clubs spending more 

than they earn. 

Al-Khelaifi said: “We respect all 

of Fifa and Uefa’s rules. It’s not our 

problem if other clubs aren’t happy. 

“My concern is that we achieve 

our aims.” 

Mbappe said that at the end of 

last season he had decided to stay 

with Monaco, but certain events 

happened which made me change 

my mind. 

He insisted he had not fallen out 

with the Monaco ownership and 

praised the club’s vice president 

Vadim Vasilyev. • 

New Paris Saint-Germain signing Kylian Mbappe and chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi pose with the club shirt after the 

unveiling and press conference in Paris yesterday 

REUTERS 

West Indies eager 

to embarrass 

England again 


Brian Lara revealed this week that 

Sachin Tendulkar had sent him a 

text message saying the West Indies’ 

victory over England in the 

second Test at Headingley was “a 

success the entire world needed.” 

So what the India hero will say 

if fellow batting great Lara’s Caribbean 

successors follow up their 

win in Leeds by clinching a threematch 

series in a decider at Lord’s 

starting today is anyone’s guess. 

Having dusted down the “obituaries” 

after the series opener at 

Edgbaston - understandable after 

England won the inaugural day/ 

night Test in Britain inside three 

days by the margin of an innings 

and 209 runs - few pundits gave 

Jason Holder’s novice West Indies 

side any chance of a revival in 

Leeds. 

Yet despite being set over 300 to 

win in the fourth innings following 

a declaration by England captain 

Joe Root, the West Indies won by 

five wickets . 

England still have doubts about 

their problem top-order batting 

positions with number three Tom 

Westley under most scrutiny after 

a run of single-figure scores. 

Having gone wicketless on the 

last day in Leeds, Anderson arrives 

at Lord’s still three away from becoming 

the first England bowler to 

take 500 Test wickets. 

“We desperately need to win 

this Test match to win the series so 

I’m going to be focused completely 

on doing my job for the team when 

we get out there.” 

The third and final Test starts at 

Lord’s today. •

22 


DT 

Showtime 

Stage play Rizwan garners attention 

• Showtime Desk 

Syed Jamil Ahmed’s latest stage 

directorial venture Rizwan has 

garnered plaudits for its “antigenocide 

message” and “outof-the-box 

presentation.” The 

renowned theatre personality 

and founder of the Department of 

Theatre of Dhaka University (DU) 

has returned in directing on stage 

after a long hiatus. 

From September 1, theatre 

troupe Natbangla has had staged 

two shows of its play Rizwan at 

Experimental Theatre Hall of 

Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy 

every day at 4pm and 8pm. As 

part of Eid theatre festival, the 

show has been organised to 

raise funds for the flood affected 

people. 

Planned and directed by Syed 

Jamil Ahmed, the play depicts a 

region which has been torn apart 

by a war waged in the name of 

religion. Portraying the story of 

siblings Rizwan and Fatima, the 

play shows the sufferings of the 

people who have lost everything 

in the war. 

An adaptation of Urdu language 

poet Aga Shaheed Ali’s poem "A 

Country without a Post Office", 

the play is translated and adapted 

to stage by Kolkata based theatre 

activist Wrishibesh Bhattacharia. 

The shows of Rizwan will run 

till September 10. 

Syed Jamil Ahmed last directed 

Bishad Shindhu, a Dhaka Padatik 

production based on the Mir 

Mosharraf Hossian’s epic novel, 

in 1992. In 2012, Ahmed worked 

in stage and light designing for 

Mamunur Rashid’s Target Platoon. 

Ahmed’s unique views are 

reflected through some of his 

other notable works such as 

Dhaka Theatre’s Chaka and 

the Department of Theatre, 

DU’s productions Komolaranir 

Shagordighi, Behular Bhashan and 

Shong Bhong Chong. • 

Aditya Pancholi hits back at 

Kangana Ranaut 

Tanjina Toma’s solo show 

at National Museum 


In a recent interview with India 

TV, famous B-town actor Kangana 

Ranaut accused Aditya Pancholi 

of holding her under house arrest. 

The 52-year old actor, producer 

and playback singer finally 

decided to hit back and reacted 

on Kangana Ranaut’s allegations 

against him. 

Calling the 31-year-old actor 

a ‘mad girl’, Pancholi said that 

he would take legal action 

against her. In an interview with 

BollywoodLife.com, the actor 

denied the allegations and said 

that she is ‘lying.’ 

“She is a mad girl, what to do, 

did you see the interview? Didn’t 

you feel like some mad person 

was talking? Who talks like that? 

We have been in the industry for 

so long, nobody has ever spoken 

anything so evil about anyone. 

What should I say, she’s a mad 

girl. If you throw stones in mud, 

it will only spoil your clothes,” 

BollywoodLife.com quoted Aditya 

Pancholi as saying. 

Earlier, Kangana Ranaut, who 

is busy with the promotions of her 

upcoming film Simran, has made 

explosive revelations about Aditya 

Pancholi in her last few interviews. 

Aditya Pancholi became vocal 

about the dispute and reportedly 

planning to take legal measures 

against the Gangster actor. 

“I am going to take a legal 

action against her. She is lying 

that’s why I am taking legal action 

against her. I don’t know about 

other people, but as far as my story 

goes and what she has spoken 

about me, she has said all lies. She 

has to prove that I have done that. 

My family is very much affected 

by it. My wife and I will take 

legal action against her,” Aditya 

Pancholi told BollywoodLife.com. 

The 52-year-old actor, who is 

best known for his role in films like 

Yes Boss and Hameshaa, added, 

“I am so worried about her, she 

is such a good actress. God has 

given her so much, she should 

be grateful about it. She should 

be now more humble and nice to 

everyone. According to her, the 

entire world is villain and only she 

is nice.” 

However, Kangana Ranaut 

was reportedly in a relationship 

with Aditya Pancholi during her 

blooming days in Bollywood. But 

in a recent interview with India TV, 

the Queen actor said that Pancholi 

‘exploited’ her and held her under 

house arrest. She also said that 

she filed an FIR against Aditya 

Pancholi despite him warning her 

that her career would be ruined. 

Kangana Ranaut is currently 

busy with her upcoming film 

Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, 

directed by Krish. She is also 

awaiting the release of her Hansal 

Mehta directed film Simran. • 


Rabindra sangeet artist Tanjina 

Toma is set to perform at Begum 

Sufia Kamal Auditorium at the 

National Museum on September 

8 at 6pm. 

Organised by the National 

Museum, the musical soiree will 

feature songs of Rabindranath 

Tagore and DL Roy, Rajanikanta 

and Atul Prasad performed by 

Tanjina Toma. 

Following her career as a 

singer and a teacher over the 

last two decades, Toma founded 

Bibhash in 2015, a learning centre 

for music and art, which keeps 

her busy alongside her music 

and media pursuits. Toma is 

also a frequent host of a popular 

morning show Robir Abeer on 

SATV. 

Preeminent record label 

Hindusthan Records of India 

has recently published Hriday 

Majhe, a solo album by Tanjina 

Toma which features eight 

songs from various segments of 

Gitabitan. These include “Eki 

Shotto Shokoli Shotto”, “Nupuro 

Beje Jay Rini Rini”, “Amar Hiyar 

Majhe”, “Sajani Sajani Radhika”, 

and “Amar Poran Jaha Chay”. 

Hriday Majhe was Toma’s 

seventh solo album. 

Earlier, HMV (now Sa Re Ga 

Ma) released her much celebrated 

album Tumi O Ami from India in 

2015. G Series published Khuje 

Berai among her albums that 

won accolades from her fans. •

Showtime 

23 


DT 

First look: Rami Malek as 

Freddie Mercury 


The first look at Rami Malek 

playing Freddie Mercury came 

out on Tuesday. And the fans can 

see the resemblance of the Mr 

Robot star with the flamboyant 

lead singer of the 1970’s rock 

legend group Queen. 

Talking about donning the 

iconic role, Rami Malek told 

People, “When you’re able 

to open your eyes and see a 

different person staring back 

at you in the mirror, it’s a very 

affirming moment.” 

The Queen biopic titled 

Bohemian Rhapsody, directed 

by X-Men famed Bryan Singer, 

follows Freddie Mercury after 

he teamed with Brian May and 

Roger Taylor in 1970 up until the 

band’s performance at Live Aid 

in 1985. 

The first look picture shows 

Malek imitating Mercury’s style 

from the world-wide charity 

concert. 

The 36-year-old actor said that 

his resemblance to the Queen 

singer “only adds to the level of 

confidence that one would need 

to play Freddie Mercury.” 

In the film, a combination 

of Mercury’s and Malek’s voice 

will be used in regards to the 

legendary voice which “sounds 

alike filling in the gaps.” 

“We’re going to use Freddie as 

much as possible and use myself 

as much as possible,” Malek 

added.• 

Brad Pitt makes amends 


It may have been decades since 

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston 

split up but it’s never too late to 

make amends, or at least that’s 

what Pitt believes. Recently he 

has reportedly apologised to 

Aniston, stating that he admits 

he was an ‘absentee husband’ 

and later leaving her for 

Angelina Jolie. 

His second wife Jolie filed for 

divorce last year September after 

being married to him for two 

years and dating him since 2004. 

According to a source, Pitt has 

been engaged in deep thoughts, 

following which, he decided 

to touch base and apologise to 

Aniston, reports mirror.co.uk. 

“He’s been determined to 

apologise for 

everything he 

put her through, 

and that’s 

exactly what he 

did. It was the 

most intimate 

conversation Brad 

and Jen have ever 

had,” the source 

stated. 

When it 

happened, “Jen 

was overcome 

with emotion. All 

the hurt feelings 

and resentment 

she’d suppressed 

for years came 

flooding to the 

surface, and she 

broke down in 

tears,” the source 

continued to add. 

“He apologised to Jen for 

being an absentee husband, for 

being stoned and bored much of 

the time. He also made amends 

for leaving her for Angelina,” it 

added. 

Aniston, who has been 

married to actor Justin Theroux 

since August 2015, accepts Pitt’s 

apology. • 


A book focusing on the life and 

works of legendary actor Abdur 

Razzak is being written by Shopner 

Thikana famed Dhallywood 

director Chotku Ahmed. “Final 

talks have been done with BD 

Publications regarding the 

publication of Razzak bhai’s 

biography,” Chotku wrote in his 

status on Facebook, confirming 

the news. 

According to the director, the 

book is titled “Nayak Raj Razzak- 

Tallygonj Theke Dhallywood” and 

will be published on the occasion 

of the upcoming Ekushey Boimela 

Actress and acting coach 

Elizabeth Kemp dies at 65 


Elizabeth Kemp, an actress 

and acting teacher, has 

died on September 1 at 

the age of 65. She was 

an acting coach who 

helped many megastars 

including Bradley Cooper, 

Lady Gaga and Harvey 

Keitel, 

She died in Venice, 

California after battling with 

cancer. 

After she passed away, Rosa 

Asor Morelli, the administrator 

of Kemp’s Hooligan Dreamers 

Facebook posted, “Elizabeth is 

family to me and I know that her 

time here in Italy, and everywhere 

she’s been teaching, has always 

been a special mixture of powerful 

work, fun, experimenting, 

inspiration and unconditional love 

and support.” 

Kemp was one of the youngest 

members who was admitted to the 

Actors Studio in 1975. Her career 

took off through the original 

production of The Best Little 

Whorehouse in Texas at the Actors 

Studio, where she later taught as 

an acting coach. 

She also starred on Broadway 

in the play Once in a Lifetime, and 

Biography 

of Nayakraj 

to be 

published 

next year 

next year. 

The director also informed that 

he communicated with Bapparaj 

and Samrat, sons of the acting 

legend, regarding the publication 

of the book. 

“There’s a lot to learn from 

Razzak’s life. The biography of 

Razzak will be a great guide for the 

new generation, which is why I’ve 

come to the thought of writing the 

book,” said Chotku, the director 

who featured Razzak in three of 

his films, including his directorial 

debut Natbou. 

Legendary film star Razzak died 

at the age of 75 on August 21 at the 

United Hospital in Dhaka. • 

later in a 1980 film He Knows 

You’re Alone, opposite Caitlin 

O’Heaney and Tom Hanks. 

L.A. Law and Law & Order are 

some of the several television 

shows where Kemp made 

appearances. 

Hugh Jackman paid tribute 

to the late teacher and tweeted, 

“Elizabeth Kemp I celebrate your 

life and am profoundly grateful 

to have spent precious time with 

you.” To which, Gaga replied 

with, “She loved you so much 

and talked about you and lit up 

when we worked. She helped me 

want to dream again and know it’s 

power.”•

24 


DT 

THE TALE OF A BANGLADESHI 

MAID IN SAUDI ARABIA › 10 

Back Page 

FIZZ WISHES TO DEVELOP 

NEW VARIATION › 18 

FIRST LOOK: RAMI MALEK 

AS FREDDIE MERCURY › 23 

Australia’s Hilton Cartwright looks on as Bangladesh’s Soumya Sarkar is about to take his catch during day three of their second Test in Chittagong yesterday 

Patient Warner takes Australia ahead of Bangladesh 



SPORTS 

Australia managed to take a 72-run 

first innings lead riding on vice 

captain David Warner’s 20th century, 

after day three of their second 

and final Test match against Bangladesh 

at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury 

Stadium yesterday. 

In what was a rain-interrupted 

day, Australia posted 377 for the 

loss of nine wickets at stumps with 

lower-order batsmen Steve O’Keefe 

and Nathan Lyon unbeaten on 

eight and nought respectively. 

The day three’s play started after 

lunch, at 1:15pm local time, as 

constant rain halted play in the 

morning session. 

Bangladesh made the breakthrough 

in the 10th over of the 

day as middle-order batsman Peter 

Handscomb was run out by a 

brilliant throw from midwicket by 

all-rounder Shakib al Hasan. 

Warner was on 99 and tried to 

take a cheeky single but eventually 

called off the run. 

But a sharp throw from Shakib 

hit the timber in the non-striker’s 

end and Handscomb returned to 

the dressing room scoring 82. 

Warner later bagged his second 

century of the series. 

The fourth-wicket partnership 

between Warner and all-rounder 

Glenn Maxwell stretched to 48 before 

left-arm seamer Mustafizur 

Rahman took the important wicket 

of the former in the 89th over. 

Warner tried to pull a bouncer 

from Mustafizur but got caught by 

leg gully fielder Imrul Kayes. 

Australia’s middle- and lower-order 

batsmen then built up small 

partnerships to extend the lead and 

eventually ended the day on 377/9. 

Both Maxwell (38) and 

all-rounder Hilton Cartwright (18) 

crafted good starts but failed to 

convert their innings into big ones. 

Wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew 

Wade continued to struggle 

with the bat as he missed a straight 

delivery from Mustafizur and got 

trapped in front for only eight. 

Mustafizur was impressive on day 

three as he picked up two wickets. 

Youngster Mehedi Hasan Miraz 

also took two for the Tigers on 

day three while Shakib and leftarm 

spinner Taijul Islam took one 

apiece. 

Shakib’s dismissal of lower-order 

batsman Ashton Agar hinted 

MD MANIK 

that the pitch might turn on day 

four and five as the ball turned 

quite sharply and surprised 

everyone before the last over of 

the day. 

Bangladesh dropped quite a few 

catches, particularly Miraz grassing 

Maxwell when he was on 10, while 

the struggling Soumya Sarker 

dropped Agar in the late hour. 

As Australia are already leading by 

72, Bangladesh’s target will be to take 

the final wicket as early as possible 

and bat well in their second innings. 

But rain may interrupt more in 

the remaining days, as forecasts 

predict more rainfall. • 

Leaked document reveals UK Brexit plan to deter EU immigrants 


WORLD 

Britain will end the free movement 

of labour immediately after Brexit 

and introduce restrictions to deter 

all but highly-skilled EU workers 

under detailed proposals set out 

in a Home Office document leaked 

to the Guardian. 

The 82-page paper, marked 

as extremely sensitive and dated 

August 2017, sets out for the 

first time how Britain intends to 

approach the politically charged 

issue of immigration, dramatically 

refocusing policy to put British 

workers first. 

“Put plainly, this means that, 

to be considered valuable to the 

country as a whole, immigration 

should benefit not just the 

migrants themselves but also 

make existing residents better 

off,” the document says. 

The government envisages 

a dual system for EU citizens 

arriving after Brexit, with those 

wishing to stay long-term needing 

to apply for a two-year residence 

permit. 

Those deemed “highly-skilled”, 

however, would be allowed to 

apply for a permit for up to five 

years under the proposals. 

In the lengthy document, 

marked “sensitive”, Britain’s 

interior ministry also says it 

may “tighten up” the definition 

of family members allowed to 

accompany EU workers in Britain. 

Partners, children under 18 and 

adult dependant relatives are the 

suggested limit. 

Changes would also be seen 

at Britain’s borders, with the 

document detailing government 

plans to require all EU citizens to 

travel on a passport rather than a 

national identity card as currently 

allowed. 

This latter measure could be 

imposed as soon as Britain leaves 

the bloc – set for March 29, 2019 

– but the Home Office promises 

“adequate notice” will be given. 

A period of at least two years 

following Brexit is foreseen to 

fully implement the plans. 

An ‘extreme’ hard Brexit 

The proposals immediately 

attracted criticism and were 

dubbed “back-of-an-envelope 

plans” by Britain’s trade union 

umbrella group, the TUC. 

“These plans would create 

an underground economy, 

encouraging bad bosses to 

exploit migrants and undercut 

decent employers offering good 

jobs,” said TUC general secretary 

Frances O’Grady. 

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, 

from the opposition Labour party, 

said the document paved the 

way for “an extreme form of hard 

Brexit” which risked splitting up 

families. 

“It reads like a blueprint on how 

to strangle London’s economy, 

which would be devastating not 

just for our city but for the whole 

country,” he said. 

A spokesman for the Home 

Office said the government would 

not comment on the leaked draft. 

“We will be setting out our 

initial proposals for a new 

immigration system which 

takes back control of the UK’s 

borders later in the autumn,” the 

spokesman said. 

The issue of citizens’ rights has 

been labelled a top priority by the 

EU during Brexit negotiations, 

which are being held in stages and 

hosted by Brussels. 

In June the British government 

outlined plans for EU citizens in 

the country before Brexit, which 

would see them apply for “settled 

status” granting indefinite leave to 

remain. • 

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

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

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