e_Paper, Friday, September 8, 2017

SECOND EDITION 

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 | Bhadra 24, 1424, Zil-Hajj 16, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 120 | 24 pages plus 24-page weekend supplement | Price: Tk10 

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN 

Bangladesh for peaceful solution 

to Rohingya crisis › 2 

US seeks 

free and fair 

elections in 

Bangladesh › 4 

Indian army chief 

warns of twofront 

war with 

China, Pakistan › 5 

Half of the 

country 

can’t read 

or write › 6 

California joins 15 

states taking legal 

action against 

Trump over DACA › 7

2 

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 

DT 

Bangladesh 

for peaceful 

solution to 

Rohingya crisis 

News 

A researcher and columnist, international relations 

expert, diplomat, human rights campaigner and 

politicians weigh in on the recent Rohingya crisis 

Afsan 

Chowdhury 

Columnist and 

researcher 

Muhammad 

Zamir 

Former 

ambassador 

• Sheikh Shahariar Zaman 

CRISIS 

Bangladesh is seeking a peaceful 

solution to the Rohingya crisis 

without getting involved in conflicts, 

maintaining friendly relations 

with Myanmar. 

Sheltering thousands of Myanmar 

nationals for the last three 

decades has been a big burden for 

Bangladesh. 

A senior government official, refusing 

to be named, said Dhaka was 

being extra cautious since Naypyidaw 

was its neighbour. The policymakers 

have a negative attitude 

towards applying any sort of force. 

The government has taken two 

types steps to solve the Rohingya 

crisis, the official said. 

The first one is to raise the matter 

with Myanmar bilaterally and 

secondly, to sensitise international 

organisations and various countries. 

Several countries 

including Turkey and 

Malaysia have shown 

interest in resolving 

the issue through 

discussion with 

Bangladesh 

“Our goal is to ensure a stable, 

peaceful and safe environment in 

the Rakhine state so that people of 

all religion, colour and community 

can live there in harmony, and we 

are holding discussions at various 

places to this end,” the official said. 

If it can be done, the repatriation 

of Rohingyas will be easier and 

those going back to Myanmar will 

not come back to Bangladesh, the 

official added. 

“We have seen in the past that Rohingyas 

who went back to Mynamar 

returned to Bangladesh after the 

start of military operations or communal 

violence,” the official said. 

There were an estimated 

300,000 unregistered and 33,000 

registered Rohingyas in Bangladesh 

until October last year. An 

estimated 75,000 people arrived in 

Bangladesh since violence began in 

October. 

Besides, the latest spell of violence 

has forced an estimated 

125,000 Rohingyas to flee into 

Bangladesh since August 25. 

Thousands more are stranded on 

the no-man’s land along the border. 

Rohingyas are one of the most 

persecuted communities in the 

world. They are denied citizenship 

and basic rights in the Buddhist-majority 

Myanmar. Naypyidaw 

calls the Rohingyas ‘Bengalis’ 

and see them as illegal immigrants 

from Bangladesh. 

Security and border cooperation 

Another senior government official 

said Myanmar conducts military 

operations in the pretext of rooting 

out extremists. Bangladesh has given 

several proposals on securing the 

border and suppressing extremists. 

The government is interested in 

giving this relation an institutional 

form. 

Bangladesh has proposed setting 

up border liaison office, security 

cooperation agreements, joint 

border patrol and joint operations 

against militants. 

“Unfortunately, Myanmar has 

not given us any concrete answer 

to any of our proposals,” the official 

said. 

International communication 

Various organisations like the UN, 

EU, OIC are working to solve the 

Rohingya crisis. Bangladesh provides 

them all sorts of assistance 

and holds talks with them whenever 

they approach the government, 

the official said. 

Another official said the UN security 

council had discussed the 

Rohingya issue and hoped that 

elaborate discussions would be 

held on the matter during the general 

assembly. 

Bangladesh supports creating a 

safe zone for Rohingyas inside the 

Rakhine, the official said. 

“Several countries including 

Turkey and Malaysia have shown 

interest in resolving the issue 

through discussion with Bangladesh,” 

the official added. • 

The article was first published on 

banglatribune.com 

The current state of Rohingya crisis is nothing but an 

example of the inefficiency of our diplomacy and political 

relations of Bangladeshi bureaucrats. It is quite clear that 

Rohingya population is being brutally tortured because 

Myanmar needs them to vacate the state for business 

interests with other countries. 

Since Myanmar knows these people would only come 

to Bangladesh and we cannot prevent them from coming, 

on humanitarian grounds, Myanmar keeps pushing them 

into our country. 

The influx began in 1977 and what Bangladesh have 

done in these 40 years? No plan or steps have been taken. 

In the latest development, India and China have also joined 

hands with Myanmar. We have failed to do anything with 

the international community, and now its too late. 

Imtiaz 

Ahmed 

International 

relations 

teacher 

at Dhaka 

University 

The influx of Rohingya refugees started in the 70ies and it 

will continue until Bangladesh becomes more proactive in 

discussions with Myanmar. 

The government needs to attend to the humanitarian 

side of the crisis and highlight the issue with international 

conferences. The Rohingya’s should be able to speak and 

be moderated by counties both friendly to Bangladesh and 

Myanmar. This way the real picture will emerge and this will 

get support from the international community. 

Nur Khan 

Liton 

Human rights 

campaigner 

The military crackdown on the Rohingyas’ will continue as 

long as they are living in Rakhine state. Their army is using 

‘terrorism’ as a tool to oppress them, which is actually a 

state sponsored drive for ethnic cleansing. Business interests 

might be at the core of this spate of violence. 

Bangladesh needs to convey the urgency of this crisis 

to the international community and get the necessary 

support from them in dealing with the crisis. 

The government should immediately register the Rohingya 

refugees. This will help us to know the exact number and 

let us send them back when the time is right. 

If Myanmar, in the future, denies Bangladesh’s claim of 

this number of refugees then we will have a documented 

proof of their identity. 

Obaidul 

Quader 

General 

secretary, 

Awami League 

Around 1.5 hundred thousand refugees have already entered 

Bangladesh and the situation is alarming. The government 

has informed the United Nations about the country’s 

concern over the crisis. The foreign office of Bangladesh 

has also summoned the Myanmar envoy in Dhaka four 

times to stop the violence on the Rohingya people. 

We have no capacity to host this large number of refugees. 

There is also a fear that drugs and arms will enter the 

country with the refugees. 

Bangladesh has protested against this push of Rohingya 

people into the country and strongly demanded the United 

Nations should immediately help return them to Myanmar. 

Ruhul Kabir 

Rizvi 

Senior joint 

secretary 

general of BNP 

BNP wants the government to resolve the Rohingya crisis 

through diplomacy and force Myanmar to take back the 

Rohingya refugees. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the 

crisis during his visit to Myanmar with Aung San Suu Kyi 

shocked and surprised us all. 

The United Nations and some Muslim countries have 

strongly condemned Myanmar but our government has 

not taken a strong stance against this. Our prime minister 

said her government is in contact with many countries to 

put pressure on Myanmar, but no visible steps were taken 

except the summoning of the Myanmar envoy.

News 

FRIDAY, 

UN expects 300,000 Rohingya to 

flee Myanmar violence for Bangladesh 

• Reuters, Cox‘s Bazar 

CRISIS 

Up to 300,000 Rohingya Muslims 

could flee violence in northwestern 

Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh, 

a UN agency official said on 

Wednesday, warning of a funding 

shortfall for emergency food supplies 

for the refugees. 

According to estimates issued by 

United Nations workers in Bangladesh’s 

border region of Cox’s Bazar, 

arrivals since the latest bloodshed 

started 12 days ago have already 

reached 146,000. 

Numbers are difficult to establish 

with any certainty due to the 

Rohingya camps/shelters 

Teknaf Game 

Reserve 

Rohingya 

Shelter-1 

Nayapara Registered/Unregistered 

Rohingya Refugee Camps 

turmoil as Rohingya escape operations 

by Myanmar’s military. 

However, the UN officials have 

raised their estimate of the total 

expected refugees from 120,000 to 

300,000, said Dipayan Bhattacharyya, 

who is Bangladesh spokesman 

for the World Food Programme. 

“They are coming in nutritionally 

deprived, they have been cut 

off from a normal flow of food for 

possibly more than a month,” he 

said. “They were definitely visibly 

hungry, traumatised.” 

The surge of refugees, many 

sick or wounded, has strained the 

resources of aid agencies and communities 

which are already helping 

hundreds of thousands displaced by 

Kutupalong Unregistered 

Rohingya Refugee Camp 

Balukhali Bazar Unregistered Temporary 

Shelter/Camp of the Rohingyas 

Palongkhali Temporary 

Rohingya Shelter 

Teknaf Game Reserve 

Rohingya Shelter 2 





Leda Rohingya Camp 

Temporary camps of Rohingya refugees 

in Teknaf’s Shah Porir Dwip 

Fire detected from satellite imagery in Maungdaw Township, Burma 

August 25, 28, 2017 

BANGLADESH 

Kyun Taung 

previous waves of violence in Myanmar. 

Many have no shelter, and aid 

agencies are racing to provide clean 

water, sanitation and food. 

Bhattacharyya said the refugees 

were now arriving by boat as well 

as crossing the land border at numerous 

points. 

Another U.N. worker in the area 

cautioned that the estimates were 

not “hard science”, given the chaos 

and lack of access to the area on the 

Myanmar side where the military is 

still conducting its ‘clearance operation’. 

The source added that the 

300,000 number was probably toward 

the worst-case scenario. 

The latest violence began when 

Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens 

of police posts and an army 

base. The ensuing clashes and a 

military counter-offensive killed at 

3 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 

6 Rohingyas 

drown in 

Naf River 

• Abdul Aziz, Cox’s Bazar 

CRISIS 

DT 

Police have recovered the bodies of 

six Rohingyas who got drowned in 

the Naf River estuary while trying 

to flee the violence in Rakhine state 

of neighbouring Myanmar. 

The bodies were recovered 

from Shah Porir Dwip, Sabrang and 

Noakhali Para area in Teknaf upazila 

Thursday morning. 

Teknaf Model police station Officer-in-Charge 

(OC) Main Uddin 

Khan said: “The dead bodies were 

washed ashore in the morning after 

their boat capsized in the river.” 

“A total of 71 bodies of the Rohingya 

Muslims have been recovered 

since the latest crackdown 

erupted in Myanmar’s Rakhine 

state,” OC Main Uddin said. • 

Turkish First Lady visits Rohingya refugee 

camp in Cox’s Bazar 

• Abu Siddique 

CRISIS 

Maungdaw 

Pa Da Kar Taung 

Hpu Khar Li 

Turkey’s First Lady Emine Erdogan 

has visited the Kutupalong Refugee 

camp in Ukhia upazila of Cox’s 

Bazar district. 

A chartered plane carrying the 

first lady landed in Ukhia around 

12pm on Thursday. 

While visiting the camp, Emine 

said: “I have seen the situation 

here. I will discuss it with the 

Turkish president. “We will place 

the matter in the next UN General 

Assembly.” 

Gone Nar 

Tha Yae Kone Tan 

(North) 

Gwa Son 

Zay Di Pyin 

Koe Tan Kauk 

least 400 people and triggered the 

exodus of villagers to Bangladesh. 

In a letter to the UN Security 

Council on Tuesday, Secretary-General 

Antonio Guterres expressed 

concern that the violence 

could spiral into a “humanitarian 

catastrophe”. 

Based on the prediction that 

300,000 could arrive, the WFP calculated 

that it would need $13.3m 

in additional funding to provide 

high-energy biscuits and basic rice 

rations for four months. 

Bhattacharyya called for donors 

to meet the shortfall urgently. “If 

they don’t come forward now, we 

may see that these people would 

be fighting for food among themselves, 

the crime rate would go up, 

violence against women and on 

children would go up,” he said. • 

Meanwhile, she also visited the 

Rohingyas living near the camp 

and handed over food supplies to 

the camp authorities. 

Emine Erdogan arrived in Dhaka 

to meet Rohingya Muslims who 

PM asks Myanmar 

to take back 

Rohingya 

refugees 

• Fazlur Rahman Raju 

CRISIS 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 

asked Myanmar to stop pushing its 

nationals into Bangladesh and take 

back Rohingya refugees. 

“It is disrespectful for a country 

when citizens of the country 

take shelter in other countries,” 

Prime Minister and Awami League 

President Sheikh Hasina came up 

with the statement during a central 

working committee meeting held 

at Ganabhaban yesterday. 

Sheikh Hasina said that beside 

Bangladesh, the international community 

is mounting pressure on 

Myanmar to stop pushing its nationals 

into Bangladesh, and take 

back the Rohingya refugees. • 

have fled persecution in Myanmar’s 

Rakhine State. 

The visit follows the latest 

bloodshed in Myanmar’s Rakhine 

State that resulted in the fresh influx 

of Rohingyas into Bangladesh. 

According to the United Nations, 

nearly 125,00 Rohingya Muslims 

entered Bangladesh from Myanmar’s 

northwestern Rakhine state 

since the violence began on August 

25, 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. •

4 


DT 

News 

Int’l community condemns 

violence in Myanmar 

• Tribune Desk 

CRISIS 

The United States and European Union 

have expressed concern over the 

escalation of violence in Myanmar’s 

Rakhine State, which has resulted into 

displacement of large number of Rohingya 

Muslims. 

Following suit, Norway and Canada 

have also condemned the deterioration 

of humanitarian situation, 

amidst an army counteroffensive that 

was sparked by insurgent attacks on 

August 25. 

“...this is something we’re monitoring 

closely,” the White House Press 

Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters 

on Wednesday in reply to a question. 

A State Department official also said 

that the US was “deeply concerned” 

about the impact of the violence and 

clashes on civilian populations in Rakhine. 

The official said: “We are in close 

contact with Burma’s [Myanmar] government 

regarding the situation and 

have discussed this issue at the highest 

levels. We are also in touch with 

their neighbours and other international 

partners.” 

The US also urged Myanmar government 

to thoroughly investigate 

all cases of alleged abuses, including 

those by security forces. 

The situation in 

Rakhine is extremely 

serious and has our 

full attention 

The EU’s high representative for foreign 

affairs and security policy, Federica 

Mogherini, in a statement yesterday 

said: “The situation in Rakhine 

is extremely serious and has our full 

attention.” 

Condemning the attacks and violence, 

she said: “I was in touch with the Foreign 

Minister of Indonesia, Retno Marsudi, 

following her visit to Myanmar 

and Bangladesh, and through our EU 

Delegation in Yangon and elsewhere, 

we are in close contact with the authorities 

in Myanmar, in the region 

and beyond.” 

The EU said it also stood in solidarity 

with Bangladesh, which is playing 

a crucial humanitarian role in welcoming 

the Rohingya refugees. 

Saying all sides in the conflict must 

show restraint, Norwegian Foreign 

Minister Børge Brende in a statement 

yesterday urged Myanmar to maintain 

its “responsibility to protect civilians 

from abuses, to stop the violence and 

to ensure humanitarian access”. 

Norway will increase its humanitarian 

aid by NOK 15 million for those 

affected, he added. 

Canada, joining the international 

community in condemning the violence, 

said it remained “very alarmed 

by the allegations of serious human 

rights abuses by security forces” in 

Rakhine. 

The US, EU and Norway also welcomed 

the final report of the Advisory 

Commission on Rakhine State 

released recently and offered assistance 

to Myanmar in implementing 

the recommendations. The countries 

also said that unrestricted access for 

aid workers was essential for reaching 

those who desperately need it. • 

US seeks free and 

fair elections in 

Bangladesh 

• Lalit K Jha 

ELECTION 

The Trump Administration 

has urged the Bangladeshi 

government to ensure free 

and fair elections in the country 

in 2018. 

The United States is working 

towards building “strong 

security partnership” with 

Bangladesh in the wake of the 

Holey Bakery attack, reports 

the Bangla Tribune. 

“As Bangladesh continues 

to struggle against these 

threats, we stress the importance 

of government officials 

and security forces respecting 

the rule of law and human 

rights in countering terrorism 

to bolster Bangladeshi society’s 

resistance to radicalisation,” 

US’ Acting Assistant 

Secretary of State for South 

and Central Asian Affairs Alice 

Wells told a Congressional 

Subcommittee in a written 

statement on Wednesday. 

“The United States also 

urges Bangladesh to ensure 

that its national elections in 

2018 are free and fair, and to 

preserve democratic space for 

civil society and the press to 

operate freely,” said Wells, who 

is also scheduled to testify before 

the House Foreign Affairs 

Subcommittee on Asia and the 

Pacific on “Maintaining US Influence 

in South Asia: The FY 

2018 Budget,” on Thursday. 

Bangladesh, she said, is a 

“development success story” 

and a growing market for 

US firms that has become an 

important venue in the fight 

against transnational terrorism. 

IS and al-Qaeda in the Indian 

Subcontinent (AQIS) have 

claimed responsibility for nearly 

40 attacks in Bangladesh. 

“In the wake of IS’ Holey Bakery 

attack in July 2016, we are 

advancing our strong security 

partnership through community 

policing, anti-money laundering 

and counter terrorism finance 

efforts, and military and 

joint exercises,” Wells said. 

Despite the country’s security 

challenges, Bangladesh remains 

the second largest supplier 

of apparel worldwide and 

an important economic partner 

for US buyers, she said, adding 

that the US works closely with 

Bangladesh and its international 

partners to improve worker 

rights and safety in this sector. 

Bangladesh has made important 

progress on factory 

building and fire safety, and it 

is currently considering legislative 

improvements that would 

conform its labour laws to international 

standards. “We continue 

to strongly advocate for progress 

in these areas,” she said. 

Wells said Bangladesh’s 

economy, which has averaged 

over 6% growth for more than 

two decades, has proven remarkably 

resilient, weathering 

natural disasters, political 

unrest, and stiff economic 

competition from abroad. 

More women have entered 

its workforce than ever before, 

which further fuels the 

nation’s development. “The 

World Bank calls Bangladesh 

a global model in human development 

and poverty reduction. 

Its advances in public 

health have cut infant mortality 

substantially over the past 

five years,” Wells said. 

The country achieved lower-middle 

income status according 

to the World Bank’s recent 

ranking, and is well-positioned 

to achieve middle-income status 

in the coming years, she 

said, adding that it is also beginning 

to diversify its economy 

away from apparel and agriculture 

to light manufacturing. 

“These are impressive 

gains, especially in light of 

the country’s daunting challenges, 

and its government is 

rightfully proud of these accomplishments,” 

Wells said in 

her written testimony. She also 

added that US assistance will 

continue to focus on expanding 

economic opportunities for 

Bangladeshis, improving governance, 

and developing basic 

education, which will greatly 

contribute to Bangladesh’s 

goal of becoming a middle-income 

country. 

The foreign assistance request 

of $138.5 million for 

Bangladesh utilises resources 

to counter terrorism and violent 

extremism, including 

strengthening law enforcement, 

the rule of law, and related 

capacities, she said. 

FY 2018 resources will be 

used to improve governance 

and continue support for civil 

society organisations. The 

funding will advance agricultural 

productivity; broaden 

access for US businesses; support 

workforce development 

for youth and other vulnerable 

groups; increase food 

security; and improve nutrition 

and maternal and child 

health, Wells said. •

News 5 


More explosives found at Komol Prova 

DT 

• Tarek Mahmud 

MILITANCY 

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) 

members on Thursday found more 

explosives from Komol Prova, the 

militant hideout at Darus Salam in 

Dhaka’s Mirpur area from where 

seven charred bodies were recovered 

the previous day after a 38- 

hour raid. 

RAB has decided to continue 

their sweeping operation in the 

six-storey apartment until the entire 

building is risk-free, said RAB 

spokesman Commander Mufti 

Mahmud Khan. 

“We have found some powerful 

IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device) 

from the fifth floor of the building 

and our Bomb Disposal Unit is working 

to defuse those explosives. 

“It would take some more time 

to sweep all the hazardous items 

from the building,” the RAB official 

added. 

Examining the entire building 

and the power of the explosives 

that were exploded and recovered 

following the raid, the RAB high 

official termed the militant den as 

the “bomb-making laboratory” of 

New JMB. 

Earlier, RAB personnel found 

10 IEDs from the militant hideout 

in the beginning of fourth-day’s 

operation, said RAB Media Wing 

Deputy Director Major Abdullah Al 

Mehedi. 

The RAB official said: “The IEDs 

we found were wrapped in paper. 

We are searching the building to 

check if there are more explosives 

in the flat.” 

Meanwhile, the head of Dhaka 

Medical College Hospital’s Forensic 

Department Dr Sohel Mahmud 

said: “The seven persons were 

killed in the explosion and their 

bodies were fully burnt.” 

“Among the seven, two were 

children. Splinters, wires and damaged 

parts of torch-lights were also 

found with the bodies.” 

“The bones were taken from 

the bodies in order to collect their 

DNAs,” said the physician, after 

completing the autopsy of the seven 

bodies. 

RAB-4 Deputy Assistant Director 

Mohammad Tareque lodged an 

unnatural death case with Darus 

Salam police station over the seven 

dead bodies found incident, said 

RAB spokesman Commander Mufti 

Mahmud Khan. 

Commander Mufti said: “The 

house owner of Komol Prova, Habibullah 

Bahar Azad, and the night 

guard Sirajul Islam, 25, were arrested 

in connection with the incident.” 

The missing night guard 

Sirajul, a night guard of Vanga Dewal 

lane – where the building Komol 

Prova is located, went missing 

on Monday night while the Rapid 

Action Battalion on Thursday confirmed 

that Sirajul was in their custody. 

Earlier, Sirajul’s wife Nazma Begum 

told the Dhaka Tribune: “My 

husband did not come back home 

on Tuesday morning. His mobile 

RAB members are seen examining the area where the militants exploded five bombs 

phone was found switched off.” 

Is Kamal among the dead? 

A 22-year-old man, who used to 

work at the Mirpur’s militant den 

as per his family, has been missing 

since Sunday. 

Kamal’s father Abdul Malek said: 

“I have had no contact with my son 

since the second day of Eid. He had 

worked at Abdullah’s residence for 

the last six months. He helped Abdullah 

to look after his pigeons.” 

“My son is not a militant. He 

used to pray but was not a fanatic. 

Abdullah is responsible for my 

son’s death,” he also said. 

Kamal’s parents believe their 

DHAKA TRIBUNE 

son was killed in the explosions at 

Abdullah’s house. 

Regarding Kamal’s absence, 

Commander Mufti told the Dhaka 

Tribune: “We found two bodies of 

Abdullah’s associates from the flat. 

But we are not sure whether Kamal 

is one of them. The bodies have 

been sent for DNA testing.” • 

Indian army chief warns of two-front war with China, Pakistan 


WORLD 

India’s army chief has said the 

country should be prepared for a 

potential two-front war given China 

is flexing its muscles and there 

is little hope for reconciliation with 

Pakistan. 

General Bipin Rawat referred to 

a recent 10-week standoff with the 

Chinese army in the Himalayas that 

ended last week. He said the situation 

could gradually snowball into 

a larger conflict on India’s northern 

border. Rawat said Pakistan on the 

western front could take advantage 

of such a situation. 

The Press Trust of India news 

agency quoted Rawat’s remarks at 

a seminar organised by the Centre 

General Bipin Rawat 

AP 

for Land Warfare Studies, a thinktank 

in New Delhi. 

India fought a war with China 

in 1962 and three wars with Pakistan, 

two of them over control of 

Kashmir, since securing independence 

from Britain in 1947. All three 

countries are nuclear powers. 

Rawat said credible deterrence 

did not take away the threat of war. 

“Nuclear weapons are weapons of 

deterrence. Yes, they are. But to 

say that they can deter war or they 

will not allow nations to go to war, 

in our context that may also not be 

true,” the news agency quoted him 

as saying. 

India last week agreed to pull 

troops from the disputed Doklam 

plateau high in the Himalayas, 

where Chinese troops had started 

building a road. The 10-week 

standoff was the two nations’ most 

protracted in decades, and added 

to their longstanding strategic rivalry. 

“We have to be prepared. In our 

context, therefore, warfare lies 

within the realm of reality,” Rawat 

said. 

His comments came a day after 

India’s Prime Minister, Narendra 

Modi, and China’s president, Xi Jinping, 

agreed on a “forward-looking” 

approach to Sino-India ties, 

putting behind the Doklam stando 

ff . 

Xi and Modi met on the sidelines 

of a summit of the Brics 

emerging economies in the south 

eastern Chinese port city of Xiamen. 

The BRICS nations are Brazil, 

Russia, India, China and South 

Africa. • 

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY 

Dhaka 33 27 Chittagong 32 27 Rajshahi 34 27 Rangpur 33 26 Khulna 33 26 Barisal 32 27 Sylhet 31 24 

Cox’s Bazar 29 26 

RAIN 


DHAKA 

TODAY 

TOMORROW 

SUN SETS 6:10PM 

SUN RISES 5:42AM 

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW 

36.4ºC 

23.9ºC 

Jessore 

Srimangal 

Source: Accuweather/UNB 

PRAYER 

TIMES 

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

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

Esha: 8:15pm 

Source: Islamic Foundation

6 


DT 

News 

Half of the country can’t read or write 

• Afrose Jahan Chaity 

EDUCATION 

At least half of the population of 

Bangladesh are unable to read and 

write as the world celebrates International 

Literacy Day under the 

theme ‘Literacy in digital world’ 

today. 

The exact literacy rate in Bangladesh 

has been a matter of contention, 

with the 2016 ‘Education 

Watch Report’ by the Campaign for 

Popular Education (CAMPE) putting 

the rate at 51.3% generally and 

54% among women. 

However, the ‘Sample Vital 

Registration System (SVRS)’ of the 

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 

(BBS) puts the rate for the 15-45 

year age group at 72.3% in 2016, an 

increase on the 62% figure given by 

the Bangladesh National Literacy 

Assessment Survey in 2011. 

The differences can be accounted 

for in the different criteria used 

for measurement. 

In the SVRS, a person able to 

write a simple letter has been 

deemed literate. But, according to 

Unesco, literacy incorporates three 

things: reading, writing and doing 

simple arithmetic. 

CAMPE Executive Director 

Rasheda K Choudhury told the 

Dhaka Tribune that they had conducted 

their survey using the three 

Unesco instruments plus one extra: 

application. 

“About the difference in data, 

I do not think the government assesses 

the application skills of people,” 

she said. 

The former caretaker government 

adviser said the government 

has to conduct a literacy census to 

find out the exact figure. 

Increasing the literacy rate has 

always been an important part of 

the election manifestos of political 

parties. The ruling Awami League’s 

Vision 2021 had plans to achieve 

100% literacy by 2017. 

In 1991, the BNP-led government 

launched four projects under 

the Integrated Non-Formal Education 

Programme (INFEP) which 

provided literacy to 18 million people. 

The INFEP was brought under 

the Directorate of Non-Formal Education 

(DNFE) in 1995. Three years 

later, Bangladesh won the Unesco 

Literacy Prize for successfully implementing 

literacy programmes. 

In 2000, the government unsuccessfully 

launched a district 

level-initiative called ‘Total Literacy 

Movement’, which Rasheda 

K Choudhury said had “weakened 

the entire adult literacy programme”. 

“It was an administrative initiative 

rather than an academic one. 

Other major reasons behind the 

failure were a lack of monitoring 

and assessment, discontinuing the 

programme, and discouraging of 

NGO initiatives,” she said. 

In addition to the governmental 

initiatives, literacy programmes 

were run by 250 NGOs in 1992, 426 

NGOs in 1995, 700 NGOs in 2000, 

and 1,300 NGOs in 2008. However, 

many of these NGOs are struggling 

to continue the programmes due to 

funding shortages. 

Rasheda K Choudhury said donors 

started investing in primary 

education as the UN Millennium 

Development Goals focused on this 

sector, leaving developing countries 

to raise funds for adult literacy 

themselves. 

“Donors and governments 

started believing that investing in 

primary education will give much 

more in return than investing in 

adult literacy, which is a global scenario 

affecting local scenario,” she 

added. 

After 2007, the government did 

not take any project to promote 

adult literacy, said CAMPE Deputy 

Director Tapon Kumar Das. However, 

CAMPE proposed bringing 37 

million people aged 15-45 under 

mass literacy campaigning. 

He said: “During last eight years, 

the government could not take any 

structural programme for adult 

literacy. At the same time, the government 

and international donors 

invested a lot in primary education. 

“Budget allocation was less on 

non-formal adult literacy where 

National Education Policy 2010 

and Skill Development Policy 2011 

clearly stated to provide literacy 

and skill training within specific 

time.” 

Tapan told the Dhaka Tribune 

that Bangladesh recently allocated 

Tk500 crore to implement a basic 

literacy programme in which 

CAMPE and Unesco are working as 

consultants to develop a sub-sector-wise 

plan for non-formal education. 

“Our literacy rate will increase 

if it is implemented properly,” he 

added. 

Rasheda K Chowdhury said the 

government should also introduce 

a needs-based skilsl training programme, 

a complete package of 

life skills and vocational training 

which will attract the population. 

“Also continuous follow up and 

investment at all levels – not only 

primary, secondary or short-term 

courses – are needed to achieve 

expected level of literacy and outcomes,” 

she said. 

Literacy is a key component of 

the UN’s Sustainable Development 

Goals and its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable 

Development. • 

School enrollment high but dropouts even higher 

• Mahadi Al Hasnat 

EDUCATION 

The government’s statistics from BANBEIS show that in 2015, the national dropout rate in the secondary level was 40.29%, 

out of which 45.92% were girls and 33.72% were boys 

RAJIB DHAR 

One in five children dropped out of 

school last year due to high levels of 

poverty, child marriage, social insecurity 

and marginalisation, experts have said. 

Although data from Bangladesh 

Bureau of Educational Information and 

Statistics (BANBEIS) showed a 10% 

increase in the net enrollment rate 

for secondary and primary schools in 

the last ten years, it also pointed to an 

alarming dropout rate. 

The rate of 19.2% recorded in 2016 

was just a single percentage point lower 

than that of 2015. 

The executive director of the Campaign 

for Popular Education (CAMPE), 

Rasheda K Chowdhury, said there were 

socio-economic reasons for children 

dropping out of school. 

“Although primary education is free 

and the textbooks are provided by the 

government, a large number of children 

from ultra poor areas - such as char 

areas, haor areas and the Hill Tracts - 

are barely enrolled in the public school 

system,” she said. 

“Things like poor teaching methods, 

incompetent untrained teachers, lack 

of encouragement has caused children 

to not continue their schooling. 

“The problem is worse for indigenous 

children because even though the 

government has published textbooks in 

five indigenous languages, the teachers 

are not equipped to teach them in it. 

These children are simply not comfortable 

in a mainstream classroom and so 

their dropout rates are higher”. 

The government, however, claims 

steps are being taken to reduce the 

high level of dropouts. 

Director General of Directorate of 

Primary Education (DPE), Dr Abu Hena 

Mostafa Kamal, said the national rate 

had fallen to 19.2% in 2016 from 47.2% 

in 2005. 

“This is progress,” he said. “The 

government has introduced stipend 

and stipulation to encourage school 

enrollment. The school feeding and 

take-home ration programmes have 

also played a pivotal role in eliminating 

the school dropout rate.” 

The government’s statistics from 

BANBEIS show that in 2015, the 

national dropout rate in the secondary 

level was 40.29%, out of which 

45.92% were girls and 33.72% were 

boys. That number slightly decreased 

last year with an overall dropout rate at 

of 38.30% with 42.19% being girls and 

33.80% being boys. 

“Physical disability is one of the 

major reasons behind the existing 

dropout rate while in some parts of the 

country, poverty plays a big role too,” 

said Dr Kamal. 

The overall enrollment in secondary 

level in 2016 was 67.84%, out of which 

73.10% were girls and 63.85% were 

boys. 

Prof Md Elias Hossain, the director 

(secondary) of the Directorate of 

Secondary and Higher Secondary 

Education, said child marriage was the 

key reason for girls dropping out of the 

secondary level. 

“Most of the female students under 

class VIII and IX drop out from school 

because of child marriage,” he said. “A 

lot of them are forced to get married if 

they fail their exams. 

“If these child marriages can be 

prevented, the dropout rate would be 

reduced significantly.” 

DSHE Director Elias suggested that 

if the students who failed the PSC and 

JSC level examinations were allowed to 

take admission in the next level or class, 

and a recovery system was introduced 

to retake the previous examination, 

then the rate of school dropout might 

reduce significantly. 

Rasheda K Chowdhury added that 

social insecurity for female students is 

a big reason for their higher percentage 

of dropout rate from secondary level. 

“There is also a gender preference 

still prevalent in many rural families 

where they actively choose to educate 

their male child and keep the girl child/ 

children at home to do chores,” she 

said. 

The CAMPE Executive Director 

recommended special measures to 

provide support, supervision and 

academic backing to those who are at 

risk of dropping from both primary and 

secondary levels of education. •

33% 

39% 

News 

FRIDAY, 

The Sylhet, Barisal 

conundrum 


EDUCATION 

Although a large number of people 

in Barisal division are poor, it has the 

lowest illiteracy rate while the rates 

for Sylhet division are quite opposite. 

Barisal has the highest poverty 

rate of 38.3%, and the lowest 25.1% 

was recorded in Sylhet, according to 

Bangladesh Poverty Maps 2010. On 

the other hand, Literacy Assessment 

Survey (Las) 2011 revealed that highest 

literacy rate (61.3%) was recorded in 

41% 

44% 

Chapainawabganj 

47% 

50% 

50% 

46% 

42% 

Chuadanga 

44% 

40% 

54% 

46% 

42% 

45% 

49% 

42% 

45% 

55% 

46% 

44% 

47% 

60% 

38% 

48% 

57% 

Barisal and the lowest 45.4% in Sylhet. 

Urban literacy rates are higher than 

the rural ones in the two divisions. 

Literacy rate in rural Barisal is 57.8% and 

39.9% in rural Sylhet, the survey shows. 

The highest rural-urban discrepancy 

in functional literacy rates was 

recorded at 13.3% in Sylhet and the 

lowest at 2.8% in Barisal. 

The Las 2011 also revealed that Barisal 

has the highest functional literacy 

rates at both advanced and initial levels 

and the least discrepancy in functional 

literacy rates in terms of gender. 

Urban functional literacy rates 

are almost similar in all the divisions 

except Barisal, where it was recorded 

at 74.9%, the highest compared with 

the other divisions. The lowest urban 

and rural functional literacy rates 

were found in Sylhet at 62% 

and 39.9% respectively. 

Speaking to the Dhaka 

Tribune, Talukder Md 

39% 

38% 

33% 

Bagerhat 

58% 

46% 

47% 

57% 

33% 

43% 

65% 

45% 

68% 

73% 

33% 

41% 

64% 

54% 

44% 

57% 53% 

59% 

Source: World Bank (The Bangladesh Interactive Poverty Maps) 

49% 

56% 

42% 

36% 

50% 

39% 

44% 

53% 

Yunus, a lawmaker from Barisal 2, said: 

“Historically, people in Barisal are always 

education enthusiasts and aware 

of illiteracy. This is why they always 

send their children to schools.” 

Asked the division’s poverty 

rates, he said the region’s people 

are poor due mainly to a lack of 

industrialisation and employment 

opportunities. 

Asked about Sylhet’s increased illiteracy 

rates, Imran Ahmad, a lawmaker 

from Sylhet 4, said there had been 

one or two teachers at each school in 

Sylhet since the colonial era. The numbers 

of schools and teachers began to 

rise particularly after 1996. 

Sylhet division has the lowest 

poverty rate because many people in 

the region are living abroad, earning 

themselves good amounts of money, 

he said, adding: “Historically, people 

in this division are from well-off backgrounds.” 

• 

Sunamganj 

49% 

50% 

44% 

61% 

54% 47% 

61% 

38% 

33% 

7 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 

DT 

California joins 15 states 

taking legal action 

against Trump over DACA 


WORLD 

California’s Attorney General says 

a separate lawsuit he plans to file 

over the Donald Trump administration’s 

plan to end protections 

for young immigrants will mirror 

the legal arguments made in a suit 

already filed by 15 states and the 

District of Columbia, reports the 

Associated Press. 

Attorney General Xavier Becerra, 

a Democrat, said on Wednesday he 

is going ahead with his own lawsuit 

because one in four participants in 

the Deferred Action for Childhood 

Arrivals (DACA) programme lives in 

California and the state will suffer 

the greatest harm from its termination. 

He says he’ll file the suit soon. 

Becerra says he’s been talking 

with fellow attorneys general for 

months about what to do if DACA 

is terminated and that the legal 

grounds of his case will be similar 

to the one filed earlier in the day by 

the other states. 

That lawsuit calls the move by 

Trump an unconstitutional culmination 

of his commitments to punish 

people with Mexican roots. 

Becerra says ending DACA will 

harm the people it protects along 

with California’s economy and 

higher education system. 

The 15 states filed a lawsuit in 

New York led by Washington state 

Attorney General Bob Ferguson, 

who called Trump’s act “a dark 

time for our country.” 

Plaintiffs include New York, 

Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, 

Delaware, District of Columbia, 

Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New 

Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, 

Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont 

and Virginia. 

On Tuesday, US Attorney General 

Jeff Sessions said the programme 

will end in six months to give Congress 

time to find a legislative solution 

for the immigrants. 

The participants were brought 

to the US illegally as children or 

came with families who overstayed 

visas. • 

China agrees UN action 

to end North Korea crisis 

• Reuters, Beijing 

WORLD 

China agreed on Thursday that the 

UN should take more action against 

North Korea after its latest nuclear 

test, while also pushing for dialogue 

to help resolve the standoff. 

North Korea, which is pursuing 

its nuclear and missile programmes 

in defiance of international condemnation, 

said it would respond to 

any new UN sanctions and US pressure 

with “powerful counter measures,” 

accusing the United States of 

aiming for war. 

The US wants the UN Security 

Council to impose an oil embargo 

on North Korea, ban its exports of 

textiles and the hiring of North Korean 

labourers abroad, and to subject 

leader Kim Jong Un to an asset 

freeze and travel ban, according to 

a draft resolution. 

Pressure from Washington has 

ratcheted up since North Korea conducted 

its sixth and largest nuclear 

test on Sunday. That test, along with 

a series of missile launches, showed 

it was close to achieving its goal 

of developing a powerful nuclear 

weapon that could reach the US. 

China is by far North Korea’s biggest 

trading partner, accounting for 

92% of two-way trade last year. 

US President Donald Trump has 

urged China to do more to rein in 

its neighbour, which was typically 

defiant on Thursday. 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo 

Abe and South Korean President 

Moon Jae-in spoke at the regional 

meeting in Vladivostok and agreed 

to try to persuade China and Russia 

to cut off oil to North Korea as 

much as possible, according to 

South Korean officials. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin 

said at the meeting he thought 

the North Korea crisis would not escalate 

into nuclear war, predicting 

that common sense would prevail. 

THAAD deployment 

Amid the rising tension, South Korea 

installed the four remaining 

launchers of a US anti-missile Terminal 

High Altitude Area Defence 

(THAAD) system on a former golf 

course in Seoul, early on Thursday. 

Two launchers had already been 

deployed. 

More than 30 people were hurt 

when about 8,000 police broke up 

a blockade near the site by about 

300 villagers and members of civic 

groups opposed to the THAAD deployment, 

fire officials said. 

The deployment has drawn 

strong objections from China, 

which believes the system’s radar 

could be used to look deeply into 

its territory. •

8 


DT 

RCBC manager 

indicted in $81m 

Bangladesh Bank 

heist case 


CRIME 

A branch manager of Rizal Commercial 

Banking Corp (RCBC) has 

been indicted in the Philippines 

over the cyber heist of $81 million 

from Bangladesh Bank in 2016. 

On August 30, eight counts of 

violation under the Anti-Money 

Laundering Act were filed by the 

Department of Justice against Maia 

Deguito. They have been raffled off 

to four branches of the Makati City 

Regional Trial Court. 

In February 2016, Deguito allegedly 

facilitated the transfer of the 

laundered money from Bangladesh 

Bank to different accounts held at 

the RCBC branch on Jupiter Street 

in Makati City. 

According to the criminal indictments, 

four of these payment 

instructions were cleared and credited 

to savings accounts held under 

four fictitious names: Michael 

Francisco Cruz, Jessie Christopher 

Lagrosas, Alfred Santos Vergara, 

and Enrico Teodoro Vasquez. 

From these accounts, the money 

was later allegedly consolidated 

into single US dollar account in the 

name of Filipino-Chinese businessman 

William Go. Later the money 

was withdrawn fast, converted into 

peso and deposited in at least three 

casinos. 

According to the DOJ, the accused 

helped one another in the 

withdrawal of $14,312,185.54 from 

William Go’s “irregular account”. 

The DOJ reported that the $14m 

was a part of the of the stolen $81m 

and that the ‘Know Your Customer’ 

(KYC) procedure was not followed. 

Under the KYC, taking notes and 

verification of identification of customers 

by banks are mandated by law. 

The DOJ said the accused proceeded 

with the transactions in 

the full knowledge that they were 

violating the Electronic Commerce 

Act and/or the Information and 

Communication Technology Act, 

the penal law of Bangladesh. 

For each count of money laundering 

for each of the accused, the 

court set the bail at Philippine Peso 

100,000. 

The DOJ earlier found probable 

cause to charge the owners of the 

remittance firm Philrem Service 

Corporation (Philrem) - spouses 

Salud Bautista and Michael “Concon” 

Bautista - for violations of the 

anti-money laundering law. It said 

PhilRem Anti-Money Laundering 

Compliance Officer Anthony Pelejo 

could also be charged. 

The names of the Bautistas and 

Pelejo were not in the criminal information 

filed with the Makati court. 

It has not been confirmed by 

the DOJ whether the complaints 

against the Philrem officials were 

junked on the basis of a motion for 

reconsideration. • 

News 

Nine Khulna cops among 13 sued 

for gouging man’s eyes out 

• Hedait Hossain Molla, Khulna 

CRIME 

Eleven cops and Ansar members, including 

the officer-in-charge (OC) of 

Khulna’s Khalishpur police station, 

have been sued on the charge of 

damaging both eyes of a man while 

torturing him in their custody. 

Renu Begum, the wife of the victim, 

Shahjalal, filed the complaint 

with the court of the chief metropolitan 

magistrate (CMM) yesterday, 

accusing nine police personnel, 

two Ansar members and two 

residents of Khulna city, and naming 

10 witnesses to the incident. 

The accused are OC Nasim 

Khan, Sub-Inspector (SI) Russel, SI 

Tapash Ray, SI Morselim Mollah, SI 

Mizan, SI Mamun, SI Noor Islam, SI 

Syed Saheb Ali, Ansar Sepoy Afsar 

Ali, Ansar Lance Naik Rezaul, Suma 

Akhter, a resident of Old Jessore 

Road, and Russel, a resident of Shiromoni 

Badamtala area. 

Taking cognisance of the complaint, 

CMM Amali Adalat Judge 

Shahidul Islam recorded the plaintiff’s 

statement and fixed September 

17 for giving the order regarding 

the investigation and the trial 

process. 

Earlier on July 18, Shahjalal 

was shown arrested in a case filed 

by Suma Akhter over the attempted 

pilfering of her vanity bag near 

Khalishpur’s Golakhali rail line the 

same day. 

The man was allegedly caught 

by some bystanders while snatching 

the bag. He reportedly underwent 

a mob beating there before 

being handed over to police. 

Shahjalal is now undergoing 

treatment at Dhaka Medical College 

Hospital (DMCH). The doctors 

have performed two surgeries on 

him to enucleate his eyes. 

Police have claimed that those 

involved in the beating are responsible 

for damaging his eyes. 

However, the man alleges he 

was tortured by the policemen inside 

and outside of the police station 

on the night of his arrest after 

he refused to pay them a bribe. 

According to the First Information 

Report (FIR) of the case filed 

by Suma, the alleged theft occurred 

around 11:30pm. 

However, some witnesses, as 

well as family members of the arrested, 

claimed that the incident 

took place a couple of hours earlier. 

A departmental probe body was 

formed to investigate the matter on 

July 27. • 

A supporter of German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds posters reading “For one Germany in which we will love to live and live 

good” before an election rally in Torgau, Germany on September 6, 2017 

REUTERS 

Holding the centre is key to the 

German election outcome 


WORLD 

Last year’s narrow and divisive 

election results in Britain’s EU referendum 

and the US presidential 

election appeared to have rung in 

a new era of political polarisation 

– yet the battle for Germany’s federal 

election will still be decided 

on the centre ground, the Guardian 

reports. 

As chancellor Angela Merkel 

campaigns to be re-elected for a 

fourth term in office on 24 September, 

more German voters define 

themselves as centrists than in any 

of the European Union’s other six 

largest states, a survey has shown. 

According to the Bertelsmann 

Foundation’s “eupinions” survey, 

which questioned 10,755 people 

across the EU, 80% of respondents 

in Germany describe their political 

views as either centre left or centre 

right, compared with 66% on 

average across the EU. Only 2% of 

German respondents said their political 

leanings were either extreme 

left or extreme right. 

In France, only 51% of respondents 

located their political views 

in the centre of the political spectrum. 

Some 7% of French voters 

said their leanings were extreme 

left, 11% described themselves at 

extreme right. 

Last Sunday’s TV debate between 

Merkel and her main rival, 

Social Democrat Martin Schulz, had 

aggrieved some commentators in 

Germany who bemoaned a lack of 

confrontation and emphasis on pragmatic 

consensus-building. “Merkel 

and Schulz are trapped in a vicious 

circle of compromises”, wrote Frankfurter 

Allgemeine Zeitung. 

But the survey showed the moderating 

course of Merkel’s Christian 

Democratic Union to be reflected in 

the attitudes of the voting public. 

“Pragmatic centrism remains a 

historical constant in postwar Germany 

for now,” said Isabell Hoffmann, 

one of the authors of the eupinion 

survey. “German voters are 

still a lot more reluctant to claim 

that they are on the left or the right 

than those in France, where wearing 

your political colours on your 

sleeve is a matter of good manners.” 

•

News 

9 


DT 

Government to import 

wheat from Russia 

• Asif Showkat Kallol 

ECONOMY 

Bangladesh has decided to import 200,000 

tons of wheat from Russia as the recent floods 

damaged vast areas of crop fields raising fears 

of food shortage in the country. 

The import will be carried out under a 

government to government (G2G) deal while 

the food grains will arrive in October, said officials. 

According to the Food Ministry website, 

the government food silos have only 443,000 

tons of wheat in stock as of September 4, 

2017. 

The Food Ministry made the proposal and 

was approved by the Cabinet Committee on 

Public Purchase at a meeting yesterday. 

Finance Minister AMA Muhith chaired the 

meeting. 

The committee’s members, senior secretaries 

of the Cabinet Division, secretaries to 

the ministries concerned and other senior officials 

attended the meeting. 

After the meeting, Additional Secretary to 

the Cabinet Division Mostafizur Rahman said 

the government would spend Tk418.32 crore 

to import 200,000 tons of wheat from Russia 

at $252 (Tk20,664) per tonne. 

Last month, a three-member Russian delegation 

met with the Food Ministry officials. 

The decision to import wheat was taken at 

the meeting, officials said. They said severe 

damage to the crop lands due to floods in 

northeast of Bangladesh had prompted the 

decision. 

Meanwhile, the government failed to meet 

the rice and wheat procurement targets this 

year as the production was hampered. Rather, 

the flood affected people had to be supplied 

with food from the stocks. 

To tackle the crisis, the government has 

decided to import 2.0m tons of food grains 

from different countries. Of the amount, 1.5m 

tons of rice and 500,000 tons of wheat will be 

imported. • 

Second submarine cable goes 

online from Sunday 

• Hitler A Halim 

CURRENT AFFAIRS 

Bangladesh will be connected to the 

long-awaited second submarine cable from 

September 10. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 

will inaugurate the SEA-ME-WE 5 from 

Ganabhaban on Sunday. 

Md Monwar Hossain, managing director of 

Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited 

(BSCCL), said that all necessary preparations 

have been completed. During the 

inauguration, he will be at the cable landing 

station n Kuakata. 

Monwar said: “On the day of inauguration, 

we will get a 200Gbps bandwidth which will 

gradually rise to 1500Gbps.” 

He also added: “The SEA-ME-WE-5 consortium 

is giving us 1500Gbps of bandwidth. 

First we need to assess what our demand is 

like and how much we need. If there is no demand, 

what do we do with this bandwidth?” 

The consortium was inaugurated on February 

21 in Turkey. The 20,000 kilometre SEA- 

ME-WE 5 submarine cable project with 24Tbps 

bandwidth was inaugurated in Hawaii back in 

January. SEA-ME-WE 5 stands for Southeast 

Asia, Middle East, Western Europe 5. Malaysia, 

Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, 

Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Arab Emirates, Oman, 

Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, France and 

Djibouti are a part of this consortium. 

This article was first published on banglatribune.com 

Slow internet from Sept 21-23 

• Hitler A Halim 

CURRENT AFFAIRS 

Due to maintenance work on the first submarine 

cable in Bangladesh, internet services 

may be sluggish during September 21-23. 

Authorities have said they will try to use 

the newly connected submarine cable to 

maintain internet services during the period. 

Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company 

Limited (BSCCL) Managing Director Md 

Monwar Hossain said: “Fixing the submarine 

cable repeaters is a regular process. It has 

not been done for quite some time. Over the 

three days, we will repair the repeater of the 

1,260km long SEA-ME-WE 4 cable.” 

Bangladesh gets 300Gbps bandwidth from 

the SEA-ME-WE 4 cable. But BSCCL only provides 

250Gbps from it. The national usage is 

currently 440Gbps. Six international extraterrestrial 

cable associations are importing 

another 150Gbps of bandwidth. 

This article was first published on banglatribune.com 

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Dhaka Tribune

10 


DT 

News 

Indian Vinyl World’s bid for 

beautification project rejected 

• Asif Showkat Kallol 

BUSINESS 

The cabinet committee on economic affair 

has rescinded the Road, Transport 

and Bridges Ministry proposal to award 

the beautification and maintenance 

work to the Indian joint-venture company, 

Vinyl World and Sign, for 10 years. 

The beautification includes the six 

kilometres eight-lane Banani railway 

overpass that stretches to the airport 

national highway. 

Following the cabinet committee 

meeting, additional Secretary to the 

Cabinet Division Md Mostafizur Rahman 

told reporters that the committee rejected 

the road and transport division’s proposal 

while a new proposal will be placed 

to the next cabinet committee meeting. 

He also said the committee recommended 

that the road and transportation 

division come up with another 

project related to beautification and 

maintenance. 

Regarding winning the beautification 

tender by Vinyl World, Mostafizur 

Rahman said: “I can officially say the 

cabinet committee on economic affair 

did not approve the road and transportation 

proposal.” 

The Road Transport and Bridges 

Ministry proposal said the Vinyl World 

and Sign firm previously conducted a 

beautification project for the road from 

Jahangir Gate to Kakoli intersection. 

It was also alleged that Vinyl World 

and Sign firm have planted foreign 

trees and bonsai instead of local ones 

and flowers for beautification of the 

Banani railway overpass to airport national 

highway – a project the foreign 

firm wants to get for 10 years. 

The Indian joint-venture company 

has already planted 100 bonsai trees on 

either side of the six kilometre road. 

The proposal signed by secretary 

MAN Siddique reads: “VVIPs, VIPs, 

foreign citizens and locals are using 

the highway to go Hazrat Shahjalal International 

Airport, and so it is necessary 

to beautify the six-kilometre-long 

Banani railway overpass to the airport 

national highway.” 

It is necessary to modify the 90’s 

beautification of the aforementioned 

highway, which will enhance the image 

of Bangladesh, the proposal reads. 

It adds that the government has no 

financial involvement in the beautification 

project as it will be handled by 

a sponsor. 

The proposal also said Vinyl World 

and Sign has submitted a proposal to 

procure LED display boards, digital 

displays, overhead boarding and digit 

bill boards at a cost of Tk99.38 crore. 

In the international tender floated 

by the Roads, Highways and Bridges 

Ministry, only Vinyl World and Sign 

firm submitted a bid, which was reviewed 

and approved for 10 years by 

a seven-member tender evaluation 

committee in September, 2016. • 

Donald Trump Jr 

New phase in Russia 

probe as Trump Jr 

begins interview with 

Senate committee 


WORLD 

AFP 

US President Donald Trump’s 

oldest son has arrived on Capitol 

Hill for a private interview 

with Senate staffers investigating 

Russian interference in 

the 2016 presidential election, 

reports the Associated Press. 

Donald Trump Jr is expected 

to face hours of questioning 

by the Senate Judiciary 

Committee staff. 

A person familiar with the 

process says Trump Jr provided 

an opening statement of 

about 15 to 20 minutes before 

the closed-door interview began. 

The person was not authorised 

to discuss confidential 

committee business and spoke 

on condition of anonymity. 

Questioning is expected to 

focus on a 2016 meeting that 

involved Trump Jr and a Russian 

lawyer, among others. 

Emails released in July show 

that Trump Jr was told before 

the meeting that it was part of 

a Russian government effort 

to help his father. 

Emails he released in July 

that detailed preparations for 

the June meeting show he expected 

to receive damaging 

information about his father’s 

opponent, Democrat Hillary 

Clinton, as part of what was 

described to Trump Jr as a 

Russian government effort to 

aid the GOP nominee. 

Special counsel Robert Mueller 

and the House and Senate 

Intelligence committees also 

are investigating that meeting, 

attended by President Donald 

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared 

Kushner, and then-campaign 

chairman, Paul Manafort. A 

grand jury has heard testimony 

about it. 

Trump Jr agreed to the 

interview after the committee 

chairman, Senator Chuck 

Grassley, R-Iowa, subpoenaed 

him and Manafort. The committee 

withdrew the subpoenas 

after the two agreed to be 

interviewed privately by staff. 

Grassley said they both would 

eventually be questioned by 

senators in a public hearing. 

Senators on the committee 

could attend the interview, 

but according to tradition 

they were not permitted to 

ask questions. 

Senators Richard Durbin, 

D-Ill, and Richard Blumenthal, 

D-Conn, said they would 

be there. Senator Chris Coons, 

D-Del, was considering it. California 

Senator Dianne Feinstein, 

the committee’s top 

Democrat, said she would not 

attend because she thought 

staff should be allowed to 

conduct the interview without 

interference. 

Feinstein said she and 

Grassley agreed to subpoena 

Trump Jr and Manafort if they 

don’t agree to attend a to-bescheduled 

public hearing. 

Trump Jr also was expected 

to appear before the Senate 

Intelligence Committee at 

some point. 

Manafort met privately 

with staff on that committee 

in July. Kushner has met with 

that staff, as well as members 

of the House Intelligence 

Committee. •

News 11 


Ending child marriage will benefit 

Bangladesh economically 

DT 


SPECIAL 

Seventeen-year-old Rahima was 

married off at 13 when she was a 

seventh grader. A year and a half 

later, she gave birth to her son. 

“I was not allowed to go to school 

after marriage. Honestly, I still do 

not feel like a mother,” she said. “I 

wish I could continue my studies.” 

Globally, 41,000 girls are forced 

into marriage everyday. 

Bangladesh, which has one of 

the highest child marriage rates 

in the world, could save 11.7% of 

its total education budget by 2030 

by eliminating child marriage and 

early childbirths, a report by World 

Bank Group and the International 

Center for Research on Women said. 

According to the “Economic 

Impacts of Child Marriage: Global 

Synthesis Report”, more than one 

in three girls are married off before 

18, and almost one in five have 

their first child before 18. 

Analysis suggests that the economic 

cost of child marriage is 

high. Ending the practice and early 

child-bearing could reduce fertility 

and lower population growth by 

about one-tenth in high prevalence 

countries. 

In 2016, Bangladesh Bureau of 

Statistics and Implementation, 

Monitoring and Evaluation Division, 

with UNICEF’s support, interviewed 

200,000 households and 

found that 35% women aged 20-24 

got married before 18. 

Fertility and population growth 

The World Bank report estimated 

that a girl marrying at 13 will have 

26% more children in her lifetime 

than if she is married at 18 or later. 

Child marriage forces at least 75% 

girls to have children before 18. 

Ending the practice will reduce 

fertility rate on average by 11% and 

could reduce share of girls having 

child before 18 by three-fourths. 

Bangladesh’s fertility rate is 

highest in South Asia – 2.1 according 

to the World Bank. The government 

aims to bring it down to 1.7. 

Three in four early childbirths 

may be linked to child marriage, 

the report estimates. The Demographic 

Health Survey says around 

84% of early childbirths in Bangladesh 

may be due to child marriage. 

According to estimates, globally 

(for 106 countries) the welfare 

benefits from reduced population 

growth by ending child marriage 

could reach $566 billion annually 

by 2030. 

Health, nutrition and violence 

Under-five mortality rate is 3.5% 

The World Bank report estimated that a girl marrying at 13 will have 26% more children in her lifetime than if she is married at 18 or later. Child marriage forces at least 

75% girls to have children before 18 RAJIB DHAR 

higher in children born of mothers 

under 18, the report said. Three 

percent under-five children deaths 

are directly attributable to early 

childbirths. 

The report suggests linkage between 

Intimate Partner Violence 

(IPV) and child marriage. A UNICEF 

study said 47% married girls aged 

15-19 are subjected to IPV. In Bangladesh, 

70% women go through 

IPV. 

A icddr,b study found that violence 

against women and stress affect 

both child care and child health 

and nutrition. It found that 60-74% 

married women subjected to IPV 

breastfed for a shorter period compared 

to non-abused women. 

The study also found that 

daughters of mothers exposed either 

to severe physical violence or 

a number of controlling behaviours 

by their husbands were more likely 

to die before five compared to 

daughters of non-abused women – 

but this was not the case for male 

children. 

The level of malnutrition in 

Bangladesh is among the highest in 

the world. 

On average, early childbirths resulted 

in stunting of one in 100 under-five 

children while being born 

of a mother younger than 18 increases 

the risk of stunting by 6.3%, 

the World Bank study showed. 

Eliminating child marriage and 

early childbirths between 2016 and 

2030 could save an estimated 3.6 

million and 4.4 million under-five 

children respectively from stunting. 

It could also save the lives of 

another 4.6 million children. 

This could save the world $98 

billion annually by 2030. 

Education 

A large number of girls drop out of 

schools in Bangladesh after their 

marriage. BBS data from 2015 puts 

the dropout rate of girls aged 15-19 

at 40%. 

“This may increase if we fail to 

stop child marriage,” Rasheda K 

Chowdhury, executive director of 

Campaign for Popular Education, 

said. 

Each year of additional secondary 

education reduces the risk of 

marriage before 18 by 4.1%, and the 

risk of having the first child before 

18 by 6%, the World Bank study 

suggests. 

“Through its impact on education, 

child marriage reduces earnings 

in adulthood for women marrying 

early by 9% and ending child 

marriage could increase the population’s 

earnings and productivity 

nationally by 1%,” it added. 

Rasheda said continuous investment 

in both primary and secondary 

education will help curb the 

practice. 

Child Marriage Restraint Act 

Bangladesh is the only South Asian 

country that allows child marriage 

in ‘exceptional cases’. 

The Child Marriage Restraint Act 

2017, passed on February 27, has a 

provision allowing underage marriage 

“under extraordinary circumstances 

in the best interest of the 

children” with consent of parents, 

guardians and the court. 

Rights groups fear loopholes in 

the bill could see victims forced to 

marry rapists. 

The National Action Plan 2017- 

2030, which is at the draft stage, is 

being formulated to prevent child 

marriage. It says child marriage 

forces 75.5% girls out of schools 

and increases maternal death risk 

by 5%. 

Mamunur Rashid, manager of 

civil society and policy advocacy 

of Save the Children, said they 

suggested the Ministry of Women 

and Children Affairs to incorporate 

children and adolescent in the proposed 

child marriage prevention 

committees at all levels. 

“We proposed strong safeguards 

to prevent taking advantage of the 

special clause. We strongly suggested 

against considering cases 

of abduction, rape, sexual harassment 

or any kind of violence 

against children under special circumstances,” 

he said. 

“We suggested that the final decisions 

of marriage should come 

from the court while considering 

special circumstances,” he added. 

The controversial Child Marriage 

Restraint Act has increased 

punishment for the offenders and 

rights activists hope that the final 

version of the Act will make child 

marriage difficult under special circumstances. 

•

DT 

12 


Editorial 

TODAY 

Run Rohingya run 

Bangladesh needs to ensure that the 

ones on the run are not turned away 

back to their hell 

PAGE 13 

Realising our 

potential 

Now more than ever, education has a 

responsibility to foster the right type of 

skills and behaviours that will lead to an 

inclusive and progressive world 

PAGE 14 

Averting a 

catastrophe 

No child 

left behind 

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU 

Europe bursts out 

of its Brexit blues 

A growing number of European leaders 

clearly believe that the most recent 

euroskeptic wave has passed its peak 

Be heard 

Write to Dhaka Tribune 

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, 

Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 

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The views expressed in opinion 

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alone and they are not the 

official view of Dhaka Tribune 

or its publisher. 

PAGE 15 

There are approximately 200,000 Rohingya refugees 

within the borders of Bangladesh, and these people 

are in need of food, water, shelter, and medicine. 

And while the Myanmar government may have 

turned its back its basic humanitarian obligations, it is good to 

know that Bangladesh has not. 

Let us leave politics aside for the moment -- the Rohingya 

have come into Bangladeshi land because they have 

nowhere else to go, because they are facing death in the own 

homeland. 

Our government has recognised its moral responsibility 

now to tend to the needs of these refugees, and avert a 

potential humanitarian catastrophe. 

To that end, a camp has been set up, as well as the 

World Food Program and the International Organisation for 

Migration, but there continues to be a need for food, as we 

cannot in good conscience let people starve in large numbers. 

And with thousands of Rohingya in desperate need for 

medical care, we are faced with a potential health crisis on 

a scale hitherto unseen, as many refugees have violencerelated 

injuries, or severely infected wounds, or advanced 

obstetric complications. 

The fact that they are forced to live in overcrowded, 

unsanitary conditions only exacerbates the problem -- some 

new arrivals are setting up camp wherever they can with a bit 

of plastic sheeting, and are fully exposed to the elements. 

It is, therefore important now to scale up our efforts to 

provide nutrition, clean drinking water, and medical attention 

to these camps, and ease the hardships of the Rohingya a 

little bit. 

We believe our government will rise to the occasion. 

A 

nation cannot move forward unless it takes care of its children. 

After all, today’s children are the ones who will be making 

the big decisions for the country tomorrow. 

So, amid all the exploitation and poverty we see children 

being subjected to, it is heartening to see that Sonar Bangla Children 

Home is Kuizbari village under Tangail sadar upazila is taking good care 

of one of the most underprivileged segments of children in our society 

-- the children of sex workers. 

These children, who would be turned back from other places, 

complete their primary education from Sonar Bangla and then go on to 

seek secondary education elsewhere in Tangail. 

But the child of a sex worker is like any other child, so why the stigma? 

This school is a beacon of hope because it removes this stigma and 

shows that all children deserve a chance, whatever skewed society 

perceptions may be. 

Of course, this one school cannot single-handedly solve the 

overwhelming problem of child exploitation, but it can inspire others to 

venture into similar projects. 

All children have potential, and they should not be left behind simply 

because of the disadvantaged circumstances of their birth. 

When children get caught up in unlawful or undesirable activities, it 

is a failure of our system to integrate them into society and shield them 

from abusive situations. 

And as has been seen from the students of Sonar Bangla Children 

Home, when given the chance, these children can excel in their studies 

and become good, productive citizens. 

In the longer term though, the root cause of children’s vulnerability in 

the first place -- poverty -- must be addressed. 

Ultimately, the real solution is in destroying the stigma associated 

with sex work, so that the children of sex workers can go to normal 

schools, like the normal children that they are.

Run Rohingya run 

Opinion 13 

DT 


The Rohingya are faced with violence and imminent death, and the world must come forward 

• Nusmila Lohani 

Instead of three bullies on 

bicycles, there is the Myanmar 

army and government who are 

hell-bent to cleanse their soil 

of the grotesque Muslim blood, 

and instead of leg braces to break 

free from, there is the weight of a 

religion too heavy to carry and the 

label of a minority too permanent 

to shatter. 

There is no way out except to 

walk for miles and rely on luck to 

reach the Myanmar-Bangladesh 

border in one piece, which 

includes escaping capture to 

be burned alive or shot dead or 

beaten to death or beheaded or 

mutilated. 

And if not captured, then they 

must attempt not to starve to 

death or step on mines or let bones 

break from this immense pressure 

and fear. There is no happy 

ending, lest you forgot that this is 

no movie. But there are plenty of 

reruns of history episodes. 

Never again 

I only read about the Bosnian 

genocide and watched a movie 

on the Rwandan genocide nearly 

a decade after their occurrence. 

And around the same time, came 

the wars of the 21st century in 

Afghanistan and Iraq -- or the then 

American president’s dreams. 

But time and distance helped. 

Even with the internet, these 

atrocities, harrowing political 

games and glory, gains in greed 

and power, and of course, death 

to the innocent masses -- all of it, 

seemed far. 

The last 20th century genocides 

and then the first 21st century wars 

seemed far, I could empathise, but 

time and distance helped to keep 

these information at the backseat 

of my thoughts. 

Yes, I understood the world 

is a terrible place and that 

unimaginable things happen, 

but I thought to myself (I blame 

the naivete of age), that at least 

it happened a long time ago, and 

that even if it is happening again 

(at that time), it is far away. 

War and genocide often go 

hand in hand, and it helps to 

digest the news more easily. 

Maybe the righteous mind won’t 

allow us to admit it loudly, but I 

think I speak for most when I say 

when genocide takes place alone, 

without civil wars or invasion -- 

reality checks become twice, if not 

manifolds, harder to accept. 

Genocide, on its own, means 

the international community has 

failed, the UN has failed, and every 

global alliance and body has failed, 

Can we ensure them a home? 

again. 

Because “never again” was 

promised after Rwanda’s 1994 

genocide loudly and collectively, 

but the Srebrenica massacre and 

Darfur genocide told a different 

story, shortly thereafter. 

Not to dampen our collective 

rose-tinted glasses (my personal 

favourite are the ones which come 

with unicorns and leprechauns), 

but war, genocide, and injustice 

prevail at any cost all the time 

because greed, power, and 

authority are the driving forces of 

our civilisation. 

Rohingya, dubbed as the most 

persecuted minority in the whole 

wide world, are no different than 

all who have fallen under the 

claws of the unpalatable system, 

“politics.” 

A deafening silence 

What is strange though, is 

that in the 21st century, long 

after the “never again” slogans 

and promises, and efforts and 

interventions (remember how 

America said it invaded Iraq to 

save its people from Saddam 

Hussein?), there is absolutely 

no pressure on the Myanmar 

government to stop its blatant 

and relentless slaughter of its own 

Rohingya population. 

And this time, this genocide 

is happening at our doorstep and 

right now. Time and distance 

aren’t helping much to put the 

mind at ease. 

Footage of the beheaded fourfive 

year olds, slain women cut in 

half, piles of dead bodies, bodies 

hanging from noose, mutilation, 

medieval and barbaric torture 

methods, masses lined and beaten 

-- is only the physical aspect of 

the on-going genocide which had 

failed to urge heads of states and 

world leaders in power to pressure 

Myanmar to stop its uninterrupted 

reign of terror. 

What is more is that Israel 

continues to arm Myanmar amid 

its military “crackdown,” and 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra 

Modi on Wednesday sang Aung 

San Suu Kyi’s song about the perils 

of “insurgency and terrorism” in 

the Rakhine State. 

Beacause you see, these heads 

of states are concerned about the 

security of its people from the 

Rohingya -- the slain, the dead, 

and the dying Rohingya. The one 

and the same. 

Death in greater numbers 

Scores of unarmed Rohingya 

are being mercilessly killed by 

the Myanmar army and security 

forces while the world stands 

still and witnesses this genocide 

unfold. Atrocities of unimaginable 

nature are being committed at an 

unprecedented scale, while the 

world takes its time to come to 

terms about how to address the 

Rohingya crisis. 

What have they done to deserve 

such a fate? They belong to a faith 

that is not the Buddhism. They 

did not take up arms to protest 

Myanmar regime, the likes of Syria 

war origin. They are not a people 

in a land, invaded by a foreign 

force; but hunted down like 

livestock to be slaughtered. 

58,000 

That is the number of Rohingya 

who walked into Bangladesh since 

late August 2017, fleeing violence 

and inevitable death. 

With little to no help from the 

international community, with the 

only exception of Indonesia (who 

had come forward in the hour of 

need to offer assistance in tackling 

the immense influx of Rohingya) 

-- Bangladesh still remains 

Rohingya’s safe haven. 

Undoubtedly, this humanitarian 

crisis puts us in a very difficult 

spot. But it also reveals the nature 

of the global order at large. 

One of the most ill-equipped 

regions surrounding Myanmar 

is having to bear the burden and 

fight this battle at the front-line 

alone, while “superpowers” in 

Southeast Asia remain silent, 

tone deaf, and/or exploitative of a 

perilous situation. 

The audacity of the countries 

in Southeast Asia to remain 

silent regarding the ongoing 

Rohingya genocide marks a 

REUTERS 

Bangladesh needs to ensure that the ones on 

the run are not turned away back to their hell 

grotesque characteristic of human 

civilisation that will most likely 

be documented and cried over by 

all parties in 50 years or a century, 

when new promises will be made 

for a better world. 

As the Aung San Suu Kyi-led 

government sees through with 

the genocide with an iron fist and 

denies international aid agencies 

and organisations alike access 

to Rakhin state, with 140,000 

Rohingya internally displaced 

and scores more on the run, the 

end seems near -- a complete 

ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya 

population in Myanmar. 

Now the most basic 

humanitarian initiative for 

Bangladesh needs to be 

strengthened and supported by 

the international community to 

ensure that the ones on the run on 

foot or boat are not turned away 

back to their hell. 

Now the most needs to be 

done on our part to help and 

shelter Rohingya on our side of 

the border, at least on a temporary 

basis, to let our humanity remain 

intact, to remain on the right side 

of history.• 

Nusmila Lohani is an Editorial Assistant 

at the Dhaka Tribune.

14 


DT 

Opinion 

Realising our potential 

On this International Literacy Day, we must reflect on our own education system 

Quality education and human development go hand in hand 

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU 

participation. The benefits for 

educating girls have a further long 

term, inter-generational impact. 

Even though Bangladesh 

has done phenomenally well 

in maximising primary level 

enrollments and closing the 

gender gap at primary, an 

estimated 5.5 million children still 

remain out of school. 

The characteristics of these 

children are typically those of 

disadvantaged population groups: 

Born to economically very poor 

parents with large household 

sizes, lack of sustained income 

which often leads to child labour; 

located in marshlands and 

char areas which remain under 

water for almost half of year, 

discriminated on the basis of 

gender, disability, ethnicity, and 

are further challenged by the lack 

of adequate, safe, and context 

appropriate educational facilities 

and infrastructure. 

A huge majority of those who 

enroll in schools are unable to 

read, write, and comprehend what 

they are being taught which makes 

education a dismal experience for 

them. Early grade literacy is the 

foundation of a lifelong journey of 

that for literacy to play a 

transformative role, in support 

of quality education, business as 

usual will not work. We need to 

fundamentally change the way we 

think about life long literacy and 

its role in human well-being and 

global development. 

Now in the current global 

scenario, more than ever, 

education has a responsibility to 

foster the right type of attitudes, 

skills, and behaviours that 

will lead to an inclusive and 

progressive world. The education 

community needs to act with 

a heightened sense of urgency 

reaching out beyond traditional 

boundaries and creating effective 

partnerships at all levels. 

Dimensions of quality have to 

be the central pillar for planning, 

implementation, and policy 

making in education sector. 

Teachers and educators are crucial 

partners who need to use their 

professionalism and commitment 

to ensure that students once 

enrolled, learn to read with 

fluency and comprehension, and 

proactively apply their learnings in 

and outside of schools. 

In Bangladesh, a systematic 

• Bushra Zulfiqar 

The world today is 

changing, at a fast, 

unprecedented pace. 

The wave of technology 

and communications have by far 

taken a central position in how we 

conduct our lives and business. 

There has been sustained 

economic growth in some 

South and East Asian countries, 

paralleled with population 

growth at a very high pace. 

Technologically well-connected, 

young adults and children are 

offering the high potential of 

capitalising the demographic 

dividend presented by the 

respective population pyramids of 

these countries. 

The scale of internet users 

and rise in online connectivity 

has penetrated through rural and 

remote areas, and really shrunk 

the global village even further. 

Unless these advancements 

are under-pinned by a quest 

for the pursuit of knowledge, a 

well-balanced, positive mental 

attitude, the consequences of this 

uneven global wave could be very 

lopsided. 

A scary future 

Interestingly, while there is growth 

on one hand, across middleincome 

countries, the inequalities 

are also widening sharply. By 2030, 

an additional 1 billion people will 

be living in urban environments 

facing multiple hazards and rough 

living conditions. 

The number of natural disasters 

have increased five times more 

today, than they were some 40 

years ago. Conflict is lasting the 

longest since World War II, with 

civil wars lasting at an average of 

10 years. 

In this polarised scenario, 

children are severely affected and 

their progress is slowest. Globally, 

more than 200 million children 

under age five do not reach their 

full potential due to lack of early 

childhood education. 59 million 

primary aged children are out of 

school. Girls represent 50% of this 

out-of-school population and if 

current trends continue, it will be 

2086 by the time the last girl in 

Africa is able to go to school. 

This is far too slow, dreadful, 

and disastrous to even imagine. 

More than 250 million children, 

which is one in four primary aged 

school children, are not learning 

to read and write, despite being 

in schools or other educational 

settings. 

This global learning crisis is 

costing governments $129 billion 

a year as 10% of global spending 

on primary education is being lost 

to poor quality that fail to ensure 

that children actually learn once 

enrolled in schools. 

Poor quality education is 

also leaving behind a legacy of 

illiteracy more widespread than 

previously believed. Around 

175 million young people in 

poor countries, equivalent to 

around one quarter of the youth 

population, cannot read all or part 

of a sentence. 

Persistent dropouts 

More than ever before, a good 

quality education which enables 

meaningful learning, seems 

a fundamental, single most 

important factor for human 

progress. 

Education and human 

development go hand in hand. 

The most recent Global Education 

Monitoring Report (GEMR) for 

2016 emphasises the centrality 

of education in achieving the 

Sustainable Development Goals 

(SDGs). The benefits of completing 

primary and secondary education 

are substantial, not only for 

individuals but also for families, 

communities, and countries at 

large. 

More educated men and 

women are more productive and 

income generating, live longer 

and healthier lives, are resilient 

to the impacts of climate change, 

and have higher rates of political 

Now more than ever, education has a 

responsibility to foster the right type of skills 

and behaviours that will lead to an inclusive 

and progressive world 

learning and self-enhancement. 

It is sad to see that vast majority of 

children in Bangladesh struggle to 

read and understand even simple 

Bangla language text. According 

to Bangladesh’s Ministry of Mass 

and Primary Education statistics, 

25% of students in grade three are 

unable to read simple sentences. 

Reading with fluency and 

comprehension levels are even 

worse, especially for younger 

children in grades one to three. 

Since except for English, all other 

subjects are taught in Bangla 

language, hardly any systematic, 

quality learning can take place. 

Language literacy remains very 

limited and burdened by this 

struggle, high student dropout 

levels persist especially during 

transition from primary to 

secondary schools. 

Education transforms 

On international literacy day, 

it is important to recognise 

push towards quality is going to 

be an innovation in itself. All new 

investments in education should 

be evaluated against a set quality 

criteria to ensure that children, 

especially those lagging behind, 

are able to acquire early grade 

literacy and reading skills essential 

for their lives in the 21st century. 

A systematic process of 

continued improvement is needed 

that tackles with barriers to 

learning, evaluates the results of 

on-going innovations, and uses 

evidence to consolidate successes, 

and alter course where needed. 

As Bangladesh is on its rightful 

trajectory to emerge on the global 

stage as a middle-income country, 

evidence based, quality centered 

education interventions are 

needed to realise the full potential 

of this gifted country. • 

Bushra Zulfiqar is the Director for 

Education at Save the Children, 

Bangladesh.

Opinion 15 

Europe bursts out of its Brexit blues 

European politicians have a spring in their step 

DT 


• Andrew Hammond 

These are unexpectedly 

good times for the 

European Union. More 

than a year after Britons 

voted to withdraw from the 

organisation, the euro has hit 

eight-year highs against the 

pound, Eurozone economies 

have recorded improved growth 

and voters have rejected far-right 

populists in France and Holland. 

European leaders have been quick 

to respond 

Just months after European 

Council President Donald Tusk’s 

February warning that the 

threats facing the EU were “more 

dangerous than ever” and that it 

had to tackle challenges “which 

have previously not occurred, at 

least not on such a scale,” Italy’s 

Europe Minister Sandro Gozi 

announced in May the union was 

entering “a new phase.” 

That phase is about more than 

the positive economic news or the 

election victories of French and 

Dutch centrists Emmanuel Macron 

and Mark Rutte. It’s also about an 

integration agenda framed around 

defense and security. 

With Britain preparing for 

Brexit, remaining European 

leaders are finding growing 

consensus over measures to 

enhance security and border 

protection and share intelligence. 

For Brussels, this includes 

an opportunity to accelerate 

plans for its European Defense 

Action Plan for greater military 

cooperation between the EU 

member states. 

The leaders’ agenda is fuelled 

by militant attacks on civilians 

like those in Barcelona; the 

ongoing pressure of migration 

and the launch last year by the 

high representative of the EU for 

foreign affairs and security policy, 

Federica Mogherini, of a new 

global strategy on foreign and 

security policy. 

Adding to this is Europe’s fear 

of Russian assertiveness after its 

annexation of Crimea and concern 

about US President Donald 

Trump’s uncertain commitment 

to NATO after his complaints 

that Washington is paying a 

disproportionately high amount to 

defend its European allies. 

A European army 

Britain had traditionally been 

opposed to greater defense 

collaboration on the continent 

because it feared it would 

weaken national sovereignty and 

potentially undermine NATO. 

What does the future hold for the post-Brexit world? 

Now the UK’s planned departure 

from the EU could bring those like 

European Commission President 

Jean-Claude Juncker and German 

Defense Minister Ursula von 

der Leyen closer to their goal of 

forming a European army. 

Of course, other obstacles to 

integration still exist. 

Macron’s ability to keep his 

promises about reshaping a post- 

Brexit Europe into a more viable 

union may be threatened by his 

loss of popularity among French 

voters. 

The challenges of Europe’s 

migration crisis and the increasing 

assertiveness of Russia also 

remain. 

Nonetheless, a growing number 

of European leaders clearly believe 

that the most recent eurosceptic 

A growing number of European leaders clearly believe that the most 

recent euroskeptic wave has passed its peak 

wave has passed its peak. Many on 

the continent are uniting against 

Brexit and Trump’s undiplomatic 

rhetoric in support for it. 

Juncker has told the US 

president that he “should stop 

wishing for others to imitate 

the British” and a Pew Research 

Center poll found that support for 

the Brussels-based organisation 

has risen across much of the 

continent in the last year, 

including by 18% points in both 

Germany and France. 

The latest round of Brexit 

negotiations may not have gone as 

well as Europe’s chief negotiator 

Michel Barnier would have liked, 

but it’s no wonder that European 

politicians now have a new spring 

in their step. • 

Andrew Hammond is an Associate 

at LSE IDEAS at the London School 

of Economics. This article previously 

appeared on Reuters. 

REUTERS

16 


DT 

Downtime 

CROSSWORD 

CODE-CRACKER 

ACROSS 

1 Cast off (4) 

4 Marine growth (5) 

9 Beverage (3) 

11 Climbing plant (4) 

12 Mistake (5) 

13 Superior English 

college (4) 

14 Tear (4) 

15 Perceived by ear (5) 

19 Condescend (5) 

21 Agreement (4) 

25 Region (4) 

26 Conscious of (5) 

28 Tinge (4) 

29 Present (3) 

30 Satisfied fully (5) 

31 Let it stand (4) 

DOWN 

1 Pace (4) 

2 Pronoun (3) 

3 Planet (5) 

5 Carry too far (6) 

6 Formal ceremony (4) 

7 Soon (4) 

8 Gives for temporary 

use (5) 

10 Large (5) 

16 Landed property (6) 

17 Regal (5) 

18 Short gaiters (5) 

20 Factory (5) 

22 Operatic air (4) 

23 Currency unit (4) 

24 Salamander (4) 

27 Fish eggs (3) 

How to solve: Each number in our 

CODE-CRACKER grid represents a 

different letter of the alphabet. For 

example, today 2 represents V so fill V 

every time the figure 2 appears. 

You have two letters in the control 

grid to start you off. Enter them in the 

appropriate squares in the main grid, then 

use your knowledge of words to work out 

which letters go in the missing squares. 

Some letters of the alphabet may not be 

used. 

As you get the letters, fill in the other 

squares with the same number in the 

main grid, and the control grid. Check 

off the list of alphabetical letters as you 

identify them. 

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

CALVIN AND HOBBES 

SUDOKU 

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the 

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

contain all nine digits with no number repeating. 

PEANUTS 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS 

CODE-CRACKER 

CROSSWORD 

DILBERT 

SUDOKU

Biz Info 

17 


DT 

NSU conducts relief campaigns 

In order to stand beside flood 

affected people across the 

country, the Department of 

Pharmaceutical Sciences of 

North South University, along 

with NSU Pharmaceutical Club 

conducted several relief and 

medical camps. Vice-chancellor 

Prof Atiqul Islam, pro vicechancellor 

Dr G U Ahsan, 

department chairman Dr Hasan 

Mahmud Reza, club advisor 

Nusrat Hossain and other faculty 

members and students were 

present to officially announce 

the relief campaign. 

The faculty members and 

students from the department 

formed four volunteer groups 

and distributed saline, medicines, 

water purifier tablets and packets 

of dry foods among the flood 

victims in Gaibandha, Kurigram, 

Jamalpur and Faridpur . Almost 

five thousand families received 

necessary medicines along with 

a supply of dry foods. Followed 

by the relief distribution, the 

volunteers also enlightened 

the locals on taking necessary 

measures and the importance of 

drinking purified water during 

this crisis. This relief campaign 

was generously supported by a 

number of leading pharmaceutical 

companies of the country. • 

MOVIE 

BLOCKBUSTER 

CINEMAS (Sept 8) 

Where Bashundhara City, 

Dhaka 

What Movie Showtime 

(September 8) 

Drugs and 

smuggled 

products worth 

Tk107.52 million 

apprehended 

in August 

Border Guard Bangladesh 

(BGB) has been able to 

confiscate various types of 

smuggled goods and drugs 

worth Tk107.55 billion in 

August, after conducting 

operations in border areas 

and other places in the 

country. 

The smuggled products 

include 5,90,660 pieces of 

Yaba tablets, 8,529 bottles 

of foreign liquor, 641 litres 

of alcoholic beverages, 

27,603 bottles of Phensidyl, 

2,094kg of marijuana, 

550kg heroin, 1,06,400 

anaagra/Senegra tablets, 

6,405 injections and 

79,44,435 other tablets. 

Also seized were 10,657 

saris, 3,113 pieces of threepiece 

suits and shirts, 2,217 

metres of fabric, 4,097 

woven garments, 9,798cft 

wood and 11kg 878-grams 

of gold. 

Also last month, 314 

people were accused in 

connection with smuggling, 

drug trafficking and 113 

Bangladeshi nationals have 

been handed over to the 

police for illegally crossing 

the border. 

Six Indian citizens have 

been handed over to the BSF 

and transferred to the police 

station for illegally crossing 

the border. Illegal migration 

of 21,885 Myanmar citizens 

has been resisted along 

the Bangladesh-Myanmar 

border. • 

VECV CEO meets Runner Motor’s 

Service 

On August 29, Vinod Agg arwal, 

MD and CEO of VE Commercial 

Vehicles (VECV) visited Runner 

Motor’s Service Center located 

Recently, Marriott International 

has appointed Shakawath 

Hossain as the resident 

manager of The Westin Dhaka 

(a Marriott International brand). 

With over 15 years of experience 

in the hospitality industry of 

Bangladesh, Shakawath is the 

youngest Bangladeshi to be 

assigned this role by Marriott 

International. Before being 

promoted, he was working as 

the director of operations of 

The Westin Dhaka. He was also 

the acting general manager of 

the luxury property and under 

his leadership The Westin 

Dhaka reached a number 

of prestigious milestones. 

During his tenure as acting 

general manager, The Westin 

at Gazipura,Tongi, Dhaka. 

He inaugurated a new 10 bay 

service shed there. After the 

visit he expressed his full 

Dhaka won the highly coveted 

World Luxury Spa Awards, 

TripAdvisor’s Certificate 

of Excellence and was also 

recognised as the highest Food 

and Beverage profit generating 

property amongst all Marriott 

International hotels in Asia 

Pacific. With his passion, 

dedication and leadership he 

has served the luxury business 

hotel for over 10 years and was 

also a part of the pre-opening 

hotel team. As a veteran 

professional his contribution 

for the property and the 

industry has been immense and 

he has mentored and developed 

over a thousand hospitality 

professionals in Bangladesh. He 

also has an MBA in Tourism and 

satisfaction with the 

standard of Service by 

Runner. He advised to 

establish some more 

modern service centres 

in various parts of 

the country. Hafizur 

Rahman Khan, chairman 

of Runner Group 

reiterated Runner’s 

Commitment to provide 

better service to their 

clientele. He further 

added that Runner’s 

endeavour in developing 

the Commercial Vehicles 

sector in Bangladesh will 

continue. 

High officials from VECV and 

Runner were also present at the 

event. • 

Resident manager of The Westin 

Dhaka 

Hospitality Management from 

the University of Dhaka. • 

Spiderman Homecoming (3D): 

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

7:30pm 

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

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

Voyangkor Sundor (2D): 

1:50pm, 6:50pm 

The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2D): 

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

7:10pm 

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

Dunkirk (2D): 10:50am, 

1:10pm 

Annabelle: Creation (2D): 

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

7pm, 7:30pm

DT 

18 

Sports 


2ND TEST, DAY 4 

BANGLADESH 1ST INNINGS 305 IN 113.2 

OVERS (Mushfiq 68, Lyon 7/94) 

AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS OVERNIGHT 

377/9 IN 118 OVERS R B 

O’Keefe not out 8 34 

Lyon c Imrul b Mustafizur 0 6 

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

Total all out (119.5 Overs) 377 

Bowling 

Miraz 38-6-93-3, Mustafizur 20.5-2-84-4, 

Shakib 31-3-82-1, Taijul 21-1-78-1, Nasir 6-2- 

14-0, Mominul 2-0-6-0, Sabbir 1-0-9-0 

Fall Of Wickets 

10-377 (Lyon) 

BANGLADESH 2ND INNINGS R B 

Tamim st Wade b Lyon 12 38 

Soumya c Renshaw b Cummins 9 16 

Imrul c Maxwell b Lyon 15 35 

Nasir c Smith b O’Keefe 5 18 

Shakib c Warner b Lyon 2 8 

Mushfiq c Wade b Cummins 31 103 

Sabbir st Wade b Lyon 24 59 

Mominul c Cummins b Lyon 29 61 

Miraz not out 14 54 

Taijul b Lyon 4 32 

Mustafizur b O’Keefe 0 4 

Extras (b 12) 12 

Total all out (71.2 Overs) 157 

Bowling 

Cummins 11-3-27-2, Lyon 33-11-60-6, 

O’Keefe 22.2-6-49-2, Agar 5-1-9-0 


1-11 (Soumya), 2-32 (Tamim), 3-37 (Imrul), 

4-39 (Shakib), 5-43 (Nasir), 6-97 (Sabbir), 

7-129 (Mushfiq), 8-149 (Mominul), 9-156 

(Taijul), 10-157 (Mustafizur) 

AUSTRALIA 2ND INNINGS R B 

Renshaw c Mushfiq b Shakib 22 40 

Warner c Soumya b Mustafizur 8 13 

Smith c Mushfiq b Taijul 16 9 

Handscomb not out 16 14 

Maxwell not out 25 17 

Extras 0 

Total (15.3 Overs) 87/3 

Did not bat: Cartwright, Wade, Agar, Cummins, 

O’Keefe, Lyon 

Bowling 

Mustafizur 5-1-16-1, Shakib 6-1-35-1, Taijul 

4-0-26-1, Nasir 0.3-0-10-0 


1-13 (Warner), 2-44 (Smith), 3-48 (Renshaw) 

Australia won by seven wickets 

MoM: Nathan Lyon 

MoS: Nathan Lyon & David Warner 

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim and his Australia counterpart Steve Smith are all smiles with the Test series trophy in Chittagong yesterday 

Mushfiq: Australia made better 

use of wicket than us 

• Ali Shahriyar Bappa 

from Chittagong 

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur 

Rahim admitted that their first 

innings score proved to be a vital 

factor in the context of the game 

and that Australia made better use 

of the pitch, compared to the host, 

which resulted in a seven-wicket 

victory for the visiting side at Zahur 

Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium 

yesterday. 

Bangladesh were bundled out 

for just 157 in their second innings, 

only setting the Aussies an 86-run 

target, which they duly achieved 

within 16 overs. 

“We knew that the wicket usually 

starts to deteriorate from the 

second day. But I felt that they 

made better use of the wicket. 

Nathan Lyon was the only dangerous 

bowler who made life difficult 

for our batsmen. Some dismissals 

were unlucky. But I feel we could 

have batted another session if we 

had better application,” Mushfiq 

told the media after the day’s play. 

“I think the first innings had a 

bigger role to play in this game. The 

spin on the first day wasn’t unplayable 

or risky. It was flat. We missed 

out on at least 150 more runs in the 

first innings. Throughout the series, 

our batting was the real weakness,” 

he said. 

Batting order was a mystery for 

Bangladesh as they promoted Nasir 

Hossain to No 4 and dropped Mominul 

Haque to No 8. 

The skipper explained that this 

decision was meant to be a tactical 

move. 

“We had planned to mix up the 

batting orders with the left-handers 

and right-handers. It wasn’t 

based on what someone did in the 

previous innings. We gave each of 

them a game plan but if they can’t 

execute it, the team management 

can’t be blamed,” he explained. 

“We still don’t have a specialist 

at No 4. We were not getting what 

we expected from Sabbir [Rahman]. 

He did well at No 7 in the 

last innings, so we kept him there. 

Shakib [al Hasan] always plays at 

No 5. We had three openers in the 

top-order so we couldn’t change in 

that area. We wanted to send out a 

right-hander to make it harder for 

them,” he added. 

Mushfiq could have brought 

himself up the batting order at No 

4, instead of Nasir, but the captain 

believes it is tough to bat at that position 

after keeping for more than a 

hundred overs. 

“It is a difficult question for me. 

It was a tactical move on our part 

but if you are talking about me, 

I would say it was not my sole responsibility 

to bat at No 4 after 

keeping for 120 overs. I can’t go out 

MD MANIK 

to bat at No 4 when we are batting 

first and then move to No 6 if we 

are batting second. It doesn’t happen 

anywhere. You can take this 

risk once or twice and it might not 

even click in those occasions,” he 

said. 

Bangladesh dropped quite a few 

catches in the close in fielding positions 

like slip, short leg and silly 

mid on in this series and Mushfiq 

is of the opinion that Bangladesh 

need to improve in this area. 

“We don’t have specialist slip 

fielders like other teams. Sometimes 

against their wish, we force 

certain players to stand in those 

positions. We also took some outstanding 

catches but I think we 

dropped more than the other teams. 

It is certainly a concern because we 

are lower ranked than most teams. 

So taking opportunities is very important. 

We must reduce the mistakes,” 

he concluded. •

Sports 

19 


DT 

Australia’s Nathan Lyon bowls en route to his match-winning haul of 13 wickets in the Chittagong Test 

Bangladesh one 

point away from 

No 8 Test spot 

• Tribune Report 

Bangladesh are now just one point 

behind the West Indies from sharing 

the No 8 spot in the ICC Test 

team ranking. 

The Tigers gained five rating 

points to take their tally to 74 from 

69 after the two-match Test series 

at home against the higher-ranked 

Australia ended in a 1-1 draw yesterday. 

The West Indies are at No 8 spot 

with 75 rating points. 

Host Bangladesh made a historical 

start to their first Test series in 

11 years against Australia, winning 

the first game in Dhaka by 20 runs 

last week. 

Bangladesh earned straight five 

points to reach an aggregate of 74 

rating points. 

Meanwhile, Australia bounced 

back to win the second Test and 

end the series level but the effort 

was not enough for the side as they 

slid down to No 5 in the ranking, 

Men’s Test Team 

Ranking 

Pos Team Rating 

1 India 125 

2 South Africa 110 

3 England 105 

4 New Zealand 97 

5 Australia 97 

6 Pakistan 93 

7 Sri Lanka 90 

8 West Indies 75 

9 Bangladesh 74 

10 Zimbabwe 0 

given their humiliating defeat in 

the first game of the series. 

Australia are now on 97 rating 

points, the same as New Zealand, 

but are behind on decimal points. 

To remain fourth, Australia had 

to win the series against the Tigers 

1-0 or better. 

Steve Smith’s men had started 

the series in fourth position at 100 

rating points. • 

Smith: Credit to Bangladesh 

for good cricket 

• Ali Shahriyar Bappa 

from Chittagong 

Australia captain Steven Smith felt 

relieved as they managed a convincing 

seven-wicket win against Bangladesh 

yesterday during day four of 

their second and final Test match at 

Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. 

Smith also credited Bangladesh 

for a competitive Test series. 

Australia were under pressure 

ahead of the second Test as they 

lost the first Test in Mirpur last 

week. 

If Australia had lost the series 

2-0 then they would have dropped 

to sixth position in the ICC Test 

ranking. 

But thanks to match-winning 

performances from vice captain 

David Warner and off-spinner Nathan 

Lyon, Australia rose to the 

occasion and played brilliantly to 

level the series 1-1. 

“We would have much preferred 

2-0 series win but it’s nice to get 

over the line here and have a 1-1 

draw. Credit goes to Bangladesh, 

I think they played some pretty 

MD MANIK 

good cricket throughout this series. 

It was nice to end with a 1-1 

draw. I still think have a lot of improvement 

in us. We probably let 

ourselves down at times throughout 

this Test match. I thought our 

first-innings bowling was very 

good to restrict them,” Smith told 

the media during the post-Test 

press conference. 

“Our first-innings batting, obviously 

the partnership between 

Peter Handscomb and Warner was 

fantastic. And then we got ourselves 

into one of our collapses that 

we’ve had. I think we’ve had 15 collapses 

in our last 14 games, our analyst 

told me [Wednesday]. That’s 

not good enough for an Australian 

cricket team. That’s something we 

really need to work on. We need to 

rectify that come the next series 

and the Ashes,” he said. 

Smith praised Warner and Lyon 

as these two were key figures 

throughout the series for Australia. 

“I’m really proud of Lyon. I think 

he’s come a long way particularly on 

the subcontinent over the last couple 

of years. He’s developed a different 

style at times. He knows when to 

bowl differently and when to bowl 

his stock ball. I thought the way he 

bowled throughout this series, to 

take 22 wickets in a two-match series 

is remarkable,” he explained. 

“And I thought Warner was magnificent. 

Obviously after the first 

innings he changed his game and 

found a style to play in these conditions. 

And the energy in his feet and 

the way he used his feet were spectacular. 

So, hopefully he can continue 

to do that in these conditions 

and continue to dominate,” he said. 

Bangladesh played a Test against 

Australia after 11 long years and after 

such competitive performance, 

Smith believes contesting Tests 

more often between the two teams 

would be great in near future. 

“It’d be good to play against 

Bangladesh in future. Tests after 

11 years is a long time. I think the 

way they played over here was exceptional. 

They obviously beat us 

in the first Test and challenged us 

again out here. If we get another 

opportunity to play against them, 

that’d be great,” he said. •

20 


DT 

Sports 

Del Potro upsets Federer, women’s semi to be all American affair 

• AFP, New York 

Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina returns a shot to Roger Federer of Switzerland on day 10 of the US Open tennis tournament 

at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre on Wednesday 

REUTERS 

Juan Martin del Potro sensationally 

gatecrashed the US Open again on 

Wednesday, stunning five-champion 

Roger Federer and shattering 

hopes of a first New York showdown 

between the Swiss legend 

and Rafael Nadal. 

The Argentine giant, who won 

his only Grand Slam title in the 

city in 2009 by beating Federer in 

the final after seeing off Nadal in 

the semis, triumphed 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 

(10/8), 6-4 in front of a spellbound 

Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd. 

The 28-year-old will once 

again face world No 1 Nadal in the 

semi-finals on Friday, a stunning 

achievement for a man who had 

saved two match points to beat 

sixth seed Dominic Thiem in the 

last 16. 

Nadal, who will keep his world 

No 1 status following third seed 

Federer’s exit, had earlier defeated 

Russian teenager Andrey Rublev 

6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in just 97 minutes. 

It will be a sixth US Open semi-final 

for Nadal and 26th at the majors 

while Del Potro, the 24th seed, will 

be playing in just his fourth lastfour 

match at the Slams. 

For 36-year-old Federer, it was a 

first Slam loss of 2017 after he had 

captured the Australian Open and 

Wimbledon titles to take his career 

tally to 19. 

Del Potro, whose career was almost 

ended last year after undergoing 

four wrist surgeries, wrapped 

up the first set thanks to a break in 

the 11th game secured with a blistering 

crosscourt pass. 

Federer, who had a 16-5 winning 

record over Del Potro ahead of the 

quarter-final, levelled the tie after 

breaking for a 3-1 lead in the second. 

However, the match turned in 

I didn’t deserve to win, says 

Federer after US Open exit 

• AFP, New York 

Roger Federer, foiled once again 

one match from a first-ever US 

Open match against Rafael Nadal, 

said he just didn’t deserve to beat 

Juan Martin del Potro in the rematch 

of their epic 2009 final. 

“I feel I have no place in the 

semis and he will have a better 

chance to beat Rafa, to be honest,” 

Federer said. 

“The way I played or am playing 

right now, it’s not good enough in 

my opinion to win this tournament. 

It’s better I’m out and somebody 

else gets a chance to do better 

than me.” 

On the same court where Del 

Potro ended Federer’s five-year title 

run and 40-match win streak, 

the reigning Australian Open and 

Wimbledon champion said, “Juan 

Martin fought like a lion.” 

“I didn’t even think about it, as I 

lost that match, that it’s not going to 

happen,” Federer said. “I’m dealing 

with just trying to understand what 

happened and just to overcome this 

in the next few hours, days, weeks, 

whatever it is. I’ll be fine. 

Federer reacts after losing the game against Del Potro 

“Of course it is a pity, but Juan 

Martin deserves it more.” 

“If I ran into a good guy, I was 

going to lose, I felt,” Federer said. “I 

don’t want to say I was in negative 

mindset, but I knew going in that 

I’m not in a safe place. 

Federer made 41 unforced errors, 

nine more than his rival, and 

some of them were woefully off 

target and well off the court. 

REUTERS 

“I tried until the very end, 

“Federer said. “And smashing 

certain stuff in the net that I 

normally wouldn’t, smashing 

forehand volleys into the back 

fence, I mean, that stuff sucked. 

You know, honestly, it was 

terrible.” 

“I’m out of this tournament because 

I wasn’t good enough in my 

mind, my body and my game.” • 

the third set tiebreak when Del 

Potro saved four set points before 

a weary and error-riddled Federer 

dropped serve again to trail 3-2 in 

the fourth. 

Victory was Del Potro’s eight 

minutes short of three hours with 

a deep forehand as Federer was left 

to survey the wreckage of 41 unforced 

errors. 

Nadal will take an 8-5 record 

over Del Potro into the semi-final 

where the winner will face either 

Kevin Anderson or Pablo Carreno 

Busta for the title. 

Rublev, bidding to be the youngest 

man in 17 years to reach the 

semi-finals, had no complaints 

over his loss to Nadal. 

The women’s semi-finals will be 

an all-American affair after CoCo 

Vandeweghe and Madison Keys 

set-up a last-four duel. 

Yesterday’s other tie will see 

seven-time major champion Venus 

Williams face Sloane Stephens. 

American 20th seed Vandeweghe 

claimed a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 win 

over the Czech Republic’s Karolina 

Pliskova, whose brief eight-week 

stay as world No 1 ended with Wimbledon 

champion Garbine Muguruza 

taking over. 

Vandeweghe’s victory means 

that the US Open will have an 

all-American semi-final line-up for 

the first time since 1981 after Keys 

defeated Estonian qualifier Kaia 

Kanepi 6-3, 6-3. 

“I won the juniors here when 

I was 16 and dreamed of playing 

on the real stage,” said 25-year-old 

Vandeweghe, who also made the 

semi-finals at the Australian Open, 

beating then-world number one 

Angelique Kerber in the process. 

The last time four US women 

were in the semis was 36 years ago 

when eventual champion Tracy 

Austin, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova 

and Barbara Potter all made it. 

The inspired Keys, the 15th 

seed, will be playing in her second 

Slam semi-final after the 2015 Australian 

Open. 

“It means the world to me,” said 

Keys, who underwent wrist surgery 

earlier this season. • 

Spaniard Muguruza to 

become world No 1 

next week 

• Reuters, New York 

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza will become 

world No 1 when the WTA 

rankings are released next week, 

dethroning Karolina Pliskova after 

the Czech fell to American CoCo 

Vandeweghe in the quarter-finals 

of the U.S. Open Championship on 

Wednesday. 

The 23-year-old Wimbledon 

champion reached the second 

week of the U.S. Open for the first 

time this year before falling to Petra 

Kvitova in the fourth round. 

“I’m very excited to share with 

all of you my dream of becoming 

the next world No 1 on Monday,” 

Muguruza said in a video 

message posted to her Twitter account 

on Wednesday. 

“I would never be in this position 

without the help of my family, 

my team, and my fans. Like I said 

before it’s a dream come true, so 

hopefully I can keep it up as long as 

possible.” 

Muguruza, who won the French 

Open last year, ends Pliskova’s 

eight-week reign at the top of the 

rankings, a position the big-serving 

25-year-old admitted came with 

extra pressure to perform. 

Muguruza has eight top 10 wins 

this year including victories over 

two reigning Nos 1, Angelique Kerber 

at Wimbledon and Pliskova in 

Cincinnati. •

Sports 

21 


DT 

City threaten 

Tebas with 

legal action 

• AFP, London 

Manchester City have threatened 

La Liga president Javier Tebas 

with legal action after he said their 

partnership with Spanish club Girona 

was an attempt to “cook the 

books”. 

Tebas made his remarks during 

an appearance at the Football conference 

in Manchester on Wednesday. 

He said City and French giant 

Paris Saint-Germain were “destroying 

football” with state-enabled 

spending. 

But a City spokeswoman, in a 

statement released late on Wednesday, 

said: “Mr Tebas’s statements are 

ill-informed and in parts pure fiction. 

Uefa has opened an investigation 

into PSG’s transfer dealings, but City 

are not under investigation. 

In particular, Tebas raised questions 

about the legitimacy of City’s 

decision to loan five players to Girona 

for the coming season, suggesting 

the players had been undervalued. 

Asked if City and Girona were 

trying to cook the books, Tebas 

replied, “They were trying to, but 

they didn’t manage to do it.” 

City purchased a 44.3% stake in 

Girona last month, matching the 

stake already held by City manager 

Pep Guardiola’s brother Pere. Girona 

were promoted to the Spanish 

top flight last season. 

Tebas is reported to have held a 

meeting to discuss the matter with 

City chief executive Ferran Soriano 

on Wednesday. 

France’s Professional Football 

League has strongly criticised 

Tebas. • 

DAY’S WATCH 

TENNIS 

STAR SPORTS SELECT 1 

10:30PM 

US Open 2017 

CRICKET 


3:58PM 

England Tour Of West Indies 

3rd Test, Day 2 

FOOTBALL 

SONY TEN 2 

1:00AM (Saturday) 

La Liga Santander 2017/18 

Celta v Alaves 

SONY ESPN HD 


French Ligue 1 

Metz v PSG 



Bundesliga 2017/18 

Hamburg v Leipzig 

India's Manish Pandey hits a boundary in their lone T20I against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Wednesday 

India clinch lone T20I to complete whitewash in SL 

• AFP, Colombo 

Virat Kohli hit a blazing half-century 

as India completed their rout of 

Sri Lanka on this tour, winning the 

one-off Twenty20 by seven wickets 

in Colombo on Wednesday. 

Chasing 171 for victory, India 

rode on a 119-run second-wicket 

stand between Kohli (82) and 

Manish Pandey (51 not out) to 

achieve their target with four balls 

to spare. 

The visitor remained unbeaten 

in their nine matches against Sri 

Lanka as they won the Test and oneday 

series 3-0 and 5-0 respectively. 

Kohli, who received the man of 

the match award, remained calm in 

a tricky chase with Pandey for company 

after India lost their openers 

for 42 runs in the sixth over. 

Rohit Sharma fell to veteran 

paceman Lasith Malinga for nine 

and Lokesh Rahul was done in by a 

superb catch by Dasun Shanaka at 

short cover off Seekkuge Prasanna. 

But Kohli took the attack to the 

opposition with seven fours and a 

six during his 54-ball knock before 

falling to Isuru Udana with India 

requiring just 10 runs to win. 

Pandey finished off the game 

with a boundary that brought his 

maiden T20 fifty in 36 balls. 

“We knew one good partnership 

will get us through. So it was 

about staying calm in the middle... 

and Manish was outstanding today. 

That partnership was very crucial,” 

said Kohli. 

Earlier leg-spinner Yuzvendra 

REUTERS 

Chahal played his part by claiming 

three wickets to restrict Sri Lanka 

to 170-7 after being put into bat first. 

Dilshan Munaweera hit a 29-ball 

53 before Ashan Priyanjan scored a 

run-a-ball 40 not out to lift the Sri 

Lankan total after a middle-order 

collapse. 

The host slipped from 99-3 to 

113-6 before Priyanjan put on crucial 

partnerships with lower-order 

batsmen including a 36-run unbeaten 

stand with No 9 Udana, who 

hit a 10-ball 19. • 

WI rocked as Anderson awaits 500th wicket 

England's James Anderson celebrates taking the wicket of West Indies' Kraigg 

Brathwaite during day one of their third Test in London yesterday 

REUTERS 

• AFP, London 

Ben Stokes took three wickets in 

quick succession as West Indies 

were reduced to 119 for seven at 

tea on the first day of the third Test 

against England at Lord’s yesterday. 

James Anderson, who had made 

the initial double strike before 

lunch, was unable to add to his tally 

in the second session, with the 

Lancashire swing king still a tantalising 

one away from becoming the 

first England bowler to take 500 

Test wickets. 

But all-rounder Stokes kept England 

on top, taking three for 22 in 

an unchanged 13-over spell spanning 

nearly two hours. 

West Indies captain Jason Holder, 

who had taken the bold decision 

to bat first after winning the toss on 

a green-tinged pitch, and Devendra 

BRIEF SCORE 

INDIA 174 for 3 (Virat Kohli 82, Manish 

Pandey 51*) beat SRI LANKA 170 

for 7 (Dilshan Munaweera 53, Ashan 

Priyanjan 40) by seven wickets 

Bishoo were both nine not out. 

Holder’s side upset the odds by 

chasing down a target of 322 to win 

the second Test at Headingley by 

five wickets and level the threematch 

series at 1-1. 

But they struggled in overcast 

conditions and only when Kieran 

Powell and Shai Hope - fresh from 

Headingley scores of 147 and 118 

not out, his first two hundreds in 

Test cricket - were sharing a partnership 

of 56 did West Indies look 

like getting back on level terms. 

Anderson, wicketless in the second 

innings at Leeds, should have 

had his 498th Test wicket when he 

took Kraigg Brathwaite’s outside 

edge with the opener, who made 

134 and 95 at Headingley, on three. 

But Alastair Cook, who floored 

two first-slip catches during that 

victory charge last week, dropped 

a seemingly routine chance. •

22 


DT 

Showtime 

Feluda premieres Saturday 

• Showtime Desk 

A new television series based on 

the famous Satyajit Ray character, 

Detective Feluda, is to arrive on 

Saturday September 9 at 7.50 

PM with its pilot “Sheyal Debota 

Rahasya” titled by Fresh on 

Channel i. In this series, popular 

actor from Kolkata- Parambrata 

Chatterjee dons the iconic avatar 

of Feluda, while Riddhi Sen will 

play Topse. 

Kandy Productions and TOM 

Creations have received the 

rights to work on Feluda from 

Satyajit Ray’s son, Sandeep Ray. 

The first season of the series 

will feature four episodes and 

the rest of the episodes will be 

made later in phases. The four 

stories that the episodes will 

be based on are Sheyal Debota 

Rahasya, Ghurghutiyar Ghatona, 

Golokdham Rahasya, and 

Gangtokey Gondogol. 

Satyajit Ray’s Feluda first made 

his first appearance in a Bengali 

children’s magazine called Sandesh 

in 1965, under the editorship of 

Ray and Subhas Mukhopadhyay. 

This story was written soon after 

Ray’s Charulatha was released, 

about a teenager who wrote about 

his cousin and his deduction skills 

in the form of the adventures they 

embarked on. 

Ray even drew the duo for his 

story, and subsequently published 

stories of their adventures, 

bringing in more characters to 

the fore. Sonar Kella (The Golden 

Fortress) continues to be the most 

popular Feluda adventure where 

they try to solve the mystery of a 

child who remembers events from 

his previous life. The story was 

adapted into a film by Ray himself 

in 1974. 

Soumitra Chatterjee, Sabyasachi 

Chakrabarty, Abir Chatterjee, Udai 

Paul (in a short film), Shashi Kapoor 

(in Hindi remake of Sonar Kella) 

have all played the famous sleuth 

so far. Parambrata Chatterjee, 

who played Topshe in Bombaiyer 

Bombete, Kailashey Kelenkari and 

Tintorettor Jishu now gets to be the 

famed detective himself. 

The viewers will also be able to 

watch this in Bioscope platforms 

in Bangladesh and in Adda Times 

from outside Bangladesh, after the 

TV telecast. • 

Saif in the kitchen 


Jon Favreau’s 2014 movie Chef 

has now been fully remade 

by Bollywood director Raja 

Krishna Menon. The remake was 

announced two years ago. The 

just-released trailer is garnering 

positive reviews from viewers. 

Saif Ali Khan plays Roshan 

Kalra, a chef in the film. Shugal 

Laga Le explores the father-son 

bond. Saif opens a food truck 

business named Raasta Café and 

tour some cities, serve food, 

make new friends and live life to 

the fullest. 

Just like in the original film, 

the story focuses on a burned-out 

chef (Saif Ali Khan) who throws 

his career on the fire to go on a 

food-fuelled road trip with his 

son (Svar Kamble). By the end of 

their journey, the father and son 

are serving food out of a doubledecker 

bus to throngs of hungry 

people. 

Judging by the trailer, this 

new film trades some of the 

crass humour of the original 

for deeper, heartfelt moments 

between the father and son, 

The last beat of the trailer, in 

particular, seems designed to 

make audience tear up a little 

bit and also will make audience 

smile at the same time. 

When the remake was 

announced, Favreau said, “I’m 

excited to see how this personal 

film translates to the Indian 

culture. The themes of food, 

music, and family should resonate 

well.” 

The remake of Chef is directed 

by Raja Krishna Menon. The film 

also features Dhanish Karthik, 

Dinesh Prabhakar, Chandan Roy 

Sanyal, Sachin Kamble, Shayan 

Munshi and Russell Peters in 

pivotal roles. The movie is 

scheduled to hit the screens on 

October 6. • 

Sarah Paulson up for 

Netflix’s ‘Ratched’ 


Ryan Murphy and Sarah Paulson 

have collaborated to great 

success on multiple endeavours, 

including American Horror Story 

and American Crime Story. Now, 

the writer-producer and actress 

once again team up for Ratched, a 

Netflix webseries about the origin 

of the nurse famously portrayed by 

Louise Fletcher in 1974’s One Flew 

Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Fletcher’s 

role as the malicious nurse in the 

film made her win an Oscar. 

The streaming network has 

given Ratched a two-season, a total 

of 18 episodes, commitment while 

it begins in 1947 and will chronicle 

Ratched as she transforms from an 

average healthcare worker into the 

malicious head nurse she became 

in the novel and subsequent film. 

Sarah Paulson will play the 

infamous nurse while Ryan 

Murphy is attached as executive 

producer. 

Originally a novel written 

by Ken Kesey, One Flew Over 

the Cuckoo’s Nest was adapted 

into a film in 1975 of the same 

name. Jack Nicholson played the 

lead role of Randle McMurphy 

alongside Louise Fletcher. The 

film won five Academy Awards, 

including Best Actress for 

Fletcher, Best Actor for Nicholson, 

as well as Best Picture. •

Showtime 

23 


DT 

Bhuban Majhi at National Museum 


To pay tribute to the recently 

demised Dohar frontman 

Kalikaprasad Bhattacharjee, team 

Bhuban Majhi is going to arrange 

an open screening session on the 

occasion of his coming birthday on 

September 11. 

The acclaimed folk artist and 

music director, who composed the 

songs of the film, died in a road 

accident near Gurap village in 

Hooghly district on March 7, aged 

47, four days after the release of 

the film. 

According to Fakhrul Arefeen 

Khan, the director of the film, 

an audience 400 strong will be 

able to join the open screening 

session, which is going to be held 

at the main auditorium of National 

Museum at 6pm. 

Previously, the team projected 

the film at an event in India, 

arranged in remembrance of the 

late folk singer. 

Bhuban Majhi, the 

government-funded film was 

released on March 3. The film 

stars Kolkata’s Parambrata 

Chatterjee, who plays the role 

of a spiritual singer Nahir who is 

inspired by a young lady named 

Farida, played by Aparna Ghosh, 

to join the war. Mamunur Rashid, 

Shushama Sarker, Naushaba, 

Majnun Mijan, and singer Syed 

Waqeel Ahad are also among the 

cast of the film. 

Directed by Fakhrul Arefeen 

Khan, the Liberation War drama 

has already been screened in 

international cities including 

the likes of Canberra, Paris and 

Sydney. • 

Gavin O’connor to helm 

Suicide Squad 2 


After courting Mel Gibson and 

Jaume Collet-Serra to direct the 

summer DC/WB sequel, Warner 

Bros. finally tapped Gavin 

O’Connor, who directed Ben 

Affleck in the hit action-thriller 

The Accountant, to write and 

helm Suicide Squad 2. 

It took months for Warner 

Bros. to find the perfect hand to 

direct the sequel to its all-star 

movie. 

Before taking the job of 

directing Jungle Cruise for Disney, 

the shark thriller famed director 

Jaume Collet-Serra and Mel 

Gibson, were two hot choices 

for the helm. 

Suicide Squad, directed by 

David Ayer, followed villains 

Deadshot, Harley Quinn, the 

Joker, Captain Boomerang and 

Killer Croc, who are forced into 

the service of the government in 

exchange for lighter sentences. 

According to sources, Ayer is 

now developing Gotham City 

Sirens with Harley Quinn actress 

Margot Robbie, which focuses 

on the female villains of the DC 

Universe. 

Although, work on the Suicide 

Squad follow-up is in full swing, 

the date of the shoot is yet to be 

decided. 

Most of the members of the cast, 

who are expected to return for 

the sequel, are really busywith 

their other ventures. Will Smith, 

for instance, is currently filming 

Aladdin, which will be followed 

by Ang Lee’s Gemini Man, while 

Robbie is busy filming Mary 

Queen of Scots. • 

The Last Samurai 

5:34pm, WB 

An American military advisor 

embraces the Samurai culture 

he was hired to destroy after he 

is captured in battle. 

Cast: Tom Cruise, Ken 

Watanabe, Shin Koyamada, 

Timothy Spall, Billy Connolly, 

Tony Goldwyn 

WHAT TO WATCH 

Skyfall 

3:25pm, Movies Now 

Bond’s loyalty to M is tested 

when her past comes back to 

haunt her. Whilst MI6 comes 

under attack, 007 must track 

down and destroy the threat, 

no matter how personal the 

cost. 

Cast: Daniel Craig, Javier 

Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, 

Naomie Harris, Berenice 

Marlohe 

The Avengers 

1:51pm, Star Movies 

Earth’s mightiest heroes must 

come together and learn to 

fight as a team if they are to 

stop the mischievous Loki and 

his alien army from enslaving 

humanity. 

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris 

Evans, Scarlett Johansson, 

Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy 

Renner 

Undisputed II: Last Man 

Standing 

9:30pm, Zee Studio 

Sequel to the 2002 film. This 

time, Heavyweight Champ 

George “Iceman” Chambers 

is sent to a Russian Jail on 

trumped-up drug charges. 

Cast: Michael Jai White, Scott 

Adkins, Ben Cross, Eli Danker, 

Mark Ivanir

24 


DT 

MORE EXPLOSIVES FOUND AT 

KOMOL PROVA › 5 

Back Page 

BANGLADESH ONE POINT AWAY 

FROM NO 8 TEST SPOT › 19 

BHUBAN MAJHI AT 

NATIONAL MUSEUM › 23 

Expat Bangladeshi 

filmmaker 

awarded for 1971 

documentary 


WORLD 

Bangladesh’s Sabbir Rahman is stumped by Australia’s Matthew Wade during day four of their second Test in Chittagong yesterday 

MD MANIK 

Arif Yousuf, expatriate Bangladeshi 

filmmaker living in 

USA, has won the World’s Independent 

Film Festival (TWIFF) 

award in Best Documentary 

Feature category for his documentary 

named “Blockade.” 

The documentary was made 

on a little-known true event 

happened in USA during Bangladesh’s 

Liberation War in 1971. 

It’s an inspiring story of how 

a group of people in Delaware 

Valley area (Philadelphia, Baltimore, 

Washington DC), irrespective 

of their nationality 

or religion, stood up in 1971 

against the brutal oppression 

of the Pakistani military in 

Bangladesh, the then East Pakistan. 

Brilliant Warner, Lyon inspire 

clinical Australia 

• Ali Shahriyar Bappa from 

Chittagong 

Australia defeated Bangladesh by 

seven wickets to level the twomatch 

Test series 1-1 during day 

four of their second Test at Zahur 

Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday. 

Bangladesh only set an 86-run 

target to the visitor and the Aussies 

reached the target in 15.3 overs losing 

their three top-order batsmen. 

All-rounder Glenn Maxwell 

scored the winning runs by smashing 

a sixer over deep mid wicket 

against off-spinner Nasir Hossain. 

Maxwell was unbeaten on 25 off 

17 balls while middle-order batsman 

Peter Handscomb was not out 

on 16 off 14 deliveries. 

Australia lost their first wicket 

in the fifth over when vice captain 

David Warner tried to pull and 

clear the boundary against left-arm 

pacer Mustrafizur Rahman only to 

be caught at the boundary line by 

Soumya Sarkar. 

Left-arm spinners Taijul Islam 

and Shakib al Hasan picked up the 

wickets of captain Steve Smith (16) 

and Matthew Renshaw (22) respectively 

when Australia still needed 

41 for victory. 

But a late Maxwell cameo ensured 

that there would be no more 

collapses in the end as Australia 

clinched victory by chasing down 

the relatively small target quite 

comfortably. 

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon finished 

the match taking 13 wickets 

conceding 154 and was adjudged 

man of the match. 

Warner and Lyon were named 

man of the series jointly. 

Warner scored 251 in four innings 

while Lyon took 22 wickets in 

the same number of innings. 

Earlier, Bangladesh drew first 

blood when they took the last 

wicket of Australia with the scoreboard 

reading 377. 

Australia in the process took a 

72-run first innings lead. 

Bangladesh’s start in their second 

innings was not upto the mark 

as they lost opener Soumya (nine) 

in the fifth over. 

Soumya tried to play an incoming 

delivery from paceman Pat 

Cummins and with less foot movement 

only managed an edge that 

was caught at second slip easily by 

Renshaw. 

In-form opener Tamim Iqbal (12) 

was then stumped by wicket-keeper 

Matthew Wade, who was sharp 

throughout the match, and that 

dismissal pegged Bangladesh back. 

Surprisingly, Bangladesh promoted 

Nasir Hossain (five) to No 4 but that 

move did not click as the right-hander 

also got out before lunch by giving 

a catch to first slip against left-arm 

spinner Steve O’Keefe. 

In the meantime, Bangladesh 

also lost No 3 batsman Imrul Kayes 

(15) and Shakib (two) very quickly 

and suddenly, the home side were 

shockingly on the verge of an innings 

defeat as they were tottering 

on 43/5 and still needed 29 more to 

make Australia bat again. 

Thanks to No 7 batsman Sabbir 

Rahman and captain Mushfiqur 

Rahim, that didn’t happen, as they 

formed some sort of resistance, 

putting on 54 for the sixth wicket. 

But Australia took Sabbir’s wicket 

quickly after lunch as he was 

stumped by another sharp reflex 

action from Wade. 

Left-hander Mominul Haque 

then came at No 8 for Bangladesh 

and formed a 32-run partnership 

with Mushfiq. 

Mushfiq’s resistance came to an 

end in the 53rd over. 

It was a beautiful delivery form 

Cummins as it kissed Mushfiq’s bat 

and Wade did the rest. 

Mominul (29) and youngster 

Mehedi Hasan Miraz (14 not out) 

scored some late runs to help Bangladesh 

post 157 in their second innings. 

Lyon once again was the main 

destroyer as he took six for 60 

while Cummins and O’Keefe took 

two each. 

It was a poor batting performance 

from the Tigers as they 

probably fell 100 short of a challenging 

total. 

But actually, the first innings 

batting was key behind the Tigers’ 

loss as they managed to post only 

305 on a relatively fresh day one 

pitch. 

In the end, it was an eventful series 

for Bangladesh as they played 

a Test against Australia after a long 

gap of 11 years. • 

The Pakistani military was 

carrying out genocide of epic 

proportions, which led to a liberation 

war, and eventually the 

birth of a new nation, Bangladesh. 

The film covers a series of 

events that started in June 

1971, when the New York Times 

published a story about two 

Pakistani military ships which 

were coming to the Eastern 

Seaboard of the US to load up 

arms supplied by the US government, 

without the Congressional 

approval and despite official 

ban. 

TWIFF usually recognises 

filmmakers from around the 

world and all walks of life, as 

well as celebrating films that 

raise awareness to global and 

local issues. • 

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

e_Paper, Friday, September 8, 2017

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