DT e-Paper 29 March 2017

SECOND EDITION 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2017 | Chaitra 15, 1423, Jamadi-us Sani 29, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 331 | www.dhakatribune.com | 24 pages | Price: Tk10 

RAJIB DHAR 

The perils of mega projects › 2 

Five days of death and 

terror comes to 

an end › 3 

Teachers in lucrative 

question leak 

trade › 5 

'Dhaka'r pola' Taskin 

shines with brilliant 

hat-trick › 18

2 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2017 

DT 

News 

The perils of mega projects 

• Mahadi Al Hasnat 

Land grabbers continue to pile misery upon Santals 

• Adil Sakhawat 

Dwijen Tudu who was blinded 

in the left eye during the attack 

on Santals in Gaibandha last November 

came to Dhaka to speak 

at a public hearing yesterday even 

though he and his wife were both 

threatened not to attend. 

He spoke about the inaction of 

local lawmakers and the Chairman 

of Shapmara Union Parisad at the 

public hearing on the violation of 

human rights of indigenous people 

organised by the Institute for 

Environment and Development at 

CBCB Centre. 

Speaking on how their land was 

being taken by land grabbers, he 

said: “We are still being threatened 

to not return, even today when we 

Poor condition of the drainage system in Malibagh’s DIT Road often results in water stagnation without any rain, as seen 

yesterday afternoon. Such a condition becomes a matter of concern as open manholes and deep potholes remain submerged 

and unnoticed by commuters, increasing the chances of fatal accidents 

RAJIB DHAR 

MAJOR CONSTRUCTION SITE ACCIDENTS 

The Bahaddarhat Flyover accident 

in Chittagong occurred on 24 

November 2012 when steel 

girders collapsed, killing at least 12 

people. 

Rabbi Ahmed Emon, a construction 

worker of the Moghbazar-Mouchak 

flyover, suffered multiple injuries 

when an iron rod fell on his head at 

Most of the mega development 

projects the government has implemented 

or is working on put people 

and construction workers at grave 

risk due to a lack of proper safety 

measures. 

Despite the March 13 death of 

a worker in a girder collapse of the 

much-hyped under-construction 

Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover in 

Malibagh rail gate area, safety issues 

in construction sites continue to remain 

neglected. Two others were 

also badly injured in the accident. 

During some recent visits to such 

construction sites, including the 

flyover’s Malibagh part and Mirpur 

where work on the metro-rail 

project is under way, workers were 

found discharging their duties with 

little safety gears. 

Though most of them were wearing 

helmets, not all of them were 

seen using special boots and retro-reflective 

vests, masks and even 

gloves, mandatory for such work. 

There is even no fence around 

the construction site of the flyover, 

leaving vehicles and pedestrians in 

danger of serious casualty. However, 

there are some enclosures at the 

metro-rail project site. 

An accident can very easily be 

triggered by a falling brick, a broken 

bamboo panel or scrawny metallic 

pieces, with such risk increasing 

manifold at night. 

There is hardly any signboard 

or cautionary signals at the sites to 

warn people to remain vigilant. 

Such risky construction sites are 

a gross violation of the Dhaka Metropolitan 

Building (Construction, 

Development, Protection and Removal) 

Rules of 2008 which has stipulated 

necessary safety measures in 

and around any construction site. 

According to the rules, it is a must 

to set up temporary barriers and alternative 

roads to ensure the safety 

of the people. 

The workers are operating heavy 

machines in dusty and toxic environments, 

further exposing themselves 

to health hazards. 

“Our employer has provided us 

with some helmets, anti-slip footwear 

and protective vest etc, but 

they are inadequate,” a construction 

worker at the flyover told the Dhaka 

Tribune, requesting anonymity. 

“We are yet to get protective 

masks, special glasses and first aid 

were coming to attend the programme 

we were warned. 

“No one has been arrested for 

the attack even though it has been 

four months. We demand the government 

let us return to our land 

and build permanent homes for us 

there.” 

The indigenous people from 

Pahan, Santals and Oraon spoke of 

the continuous harassment they 

faced with false cases being filed 

in their names, which they say is a 

ploy by Bangalis to grab their lands. 

They demanded these allegations 

be properly investigated by 

NGOS and the government. 

It has been four months since 

the attacks happened and a lot of 

Santals are still homeless and living 

in desperate conditions. 

work on March 16 last year. Afterwards, 

he succumbed to his injures 

at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. 

SM Piyal Ahmed, a private job 

holder, sustained injuries in his 

head as construction materials fell 

on him from the under-construction 

flyover in front of Fortune 

Shopping Mall at Mouchak crossing 

facilities at the construction yard,” 

he added. 

When contacted, the construction 

firm Toma Group’s Chairman 

and Managing Director Ataur Rahman 

Bhuiya Manik, responsible for 

the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover, 

claimed to have taken all necessary 

safety measures for the workers. 

He instead accused the workers 

of not being accustomed to using 

the safety tools. 

“The accident was merely an 

accident despite all sorts of safety 

on December 22, 2016. 

On April 4 in 2015, construction 

workers Asaduzzaman, 18, his 

brother Majedul, 16, and several 

others, including Majur Hossain, 

were working at the flyover near 

Moghbazar crossing. Suddenly, a 

bus ploughed through them, killing 

both the siblings on the spot. 

“We are continuously being harassed 

by the police with these false 

cases being filed against us. We are 

so scared that our children do not 

leave the house, not even to go to 

school,” said Olivia Hembrom at 

the hearing. 

Three indigenous people were 

killed and seven people disappeared 

during the attack on the 

indigenous people in Gobindaganj 

of Gaibandha district on November 

6, 2016. 

Even though so much time has 

passed no progress has been made 

by the government, the speakers at 

the public hearing said. 

Uzzal Pahan from Akkelpur 

upazila of Joypurhat lost his uncle 

Mohonlal Pahan in August last 

year. He was killed by land grabbers. 

“The only reason I lost my uncle 

is because the land grabbers lost 

the false case they filed against us 

and they took revenge by killing 

him,” Uzzal alleged. 

“They also attacked our home,” 

he added. 

The hearing was full of people 

saying the practice of land grabbers 

filing false cases was rampant. 

“There is a huge financial burden 

that comes with having to hire 

a lawyer and going to court. At this 

rate, we are going to be left landless 

and destitute,” said Robisoy from 

Nawabganj, Rajshahi. 

Bicitra Tikri of Chapainawabganj 

lamented on the extent of 

their rights being violated, having 

been raped by land grabbers when 

measures,” Manik claimed. 

Passersby and locals suggested 

more precaution and a safety campaign 

at Malibagh rail-crossing area 

since scores of trains run along the 

route every day. 

Abul Hashem, gatekeeper of 

Malibagh level crossing, said another 

girder had fallen on the ground at 

the same of the March 13 accident, 

recently. Luckily, nobody was injured 

then. 

Terming negligence of safety 

precaution by construction companies 

a key reason for accidents, 

Buet’s Professor Shamim Z Basunia 

said: “This is not a problem at Malibagh-Mouchak 

flyover alone. The 

reality is that the safety issues have 

always been neglected by the construction 

companies in the country.” 

He also raised questions over 

safety measures at the Padma Bridge 

construction site, another mega project, 

where people visit whimsically, 

caring very little about own safety. 

“Safety measures for the workers 

and the pedestrians are never 

ensured in these projects areas”, he 

observed. 

The Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development 

Project, the official name 

of the metro rail scheme, stretching 

from Uttara to Motijheel, was undertaken 

for a safe, fast, affordable and 

modern means of public transportation 

to reduce the perennial traffic 

congestion in Dhaka and environmental 

pollution. But, the project is 

itself causing environmental degradation 

since construction equipment 

and materials are left lying around 

defying relevant law. 

People walking by the site were 

seen wearing masks to protect 

themselves from dust. 

At the Shewrapara area, roads 

were excavated haphazardly and 

that too without proper fencing, 

adding to the woes of the commuters 

and locals. 

When this reporter asked a labourer 

about the situation, he said 

they were told to mount the soil beside 

the road after digging. 

The project director, Md Mofazzel 

Hossain said: “We have a 

safety guideline provided by Jica to 

ensure necessary safety measures 

around the construction site and we 

will try our best to ensure hundred 

percent public security.” 

Nevertheless, the main construction 

of the project will begin by November, 

he stated. • 

she tried to get her deceased husband’s 

land. 

“The government is blind to 

the level of harassment the indigenous 

people are subjected to. They 

should form a land commission for 

the indigenous community,” she 

said, adding that the government’s 

inaction has been nothing short of 

frustrating. 

After hearing all these allegations 

Srijoni Tripura, a Supreme 

Court lawyer, urged the government 

to take separate initiatives to 

stop the human rights violation of 

indigenous people. 

She also suggested lawmakers 

be stripped of their position if 

found guilty of being involved 

in land grabbing of indigenous 

people. •

News 3 


5 days of death and terror comes to an end 

• Tarek Mahmud, from Sylhet, 

Mohammed Serajul Islam, 

Sylhet 

After five painstaking days that included 

a suicide attack on a crowd 

and numerous other explosions, 

the raid on a militant den in the 

Shibbari area of Sylhet has finally 

ended through a combined effort 

of Army’s Para-Commando battalion, 

CTTC, SWAT, RAB and police. 

Ten people, including four militants, 

have died in these five days, 

while more than 40 people have 

been injured. 

Earlier in the day, a huge explosion 

triggered by refrigerator 

rigged with IEDs left the building 

structurally unstable, said military 

intelligence unit Director Brig Gen 

Fakhrul Ahsan. 

Ahsan officially called an end 

to the operation at a press briefing 

around 8pm yesterday although 

there are live IEDs on the second, 

third and fourth floor of the building. 

The Criminal Investigation Department 

of the police will now 

take over the site to defuse the explosives. 

The bodies of four militants, including 

a woman, were recovered 

from the hideout and sent to MAG 

Osmani Medical College for autopsy. 

The autopsy was conducted by 

a 4 member team under the direction 

of Dr Shamsul Islam. 

Two of the bodies, including 

that of the female, were handed 

over on Monday, but handover of 

the other two bodies were delayed 

till yesterday as they were still 

wearing suicide vests. 

It is suspected that one of the 

male militants is New JMB leader 

Mainul Islam Musa, but law enforcers 

were not ready to confirm it before 

the autopsy report. 

The initial autopsy report on 

the female militant suggested she 

was one Morjina. Morjina’s ID was 

used to rent the flat, and she is also 

suspected to be the sister of Kamal, 

one of the deceased New JMB 

militants from the recent raid in 

Sitakunda. However, police are as 

yet unclear as to whether this is her 

real name. 

Police said that identification of 

the militants was proving difficult 

as the bodies were unrecognizable. 

Morjina was so badly burned that 

Musa likely among dead militants 

• Kamrul Hasan and Tarek 

Mahmud 

The Counter-Terrorism and Transnational 

Crimes (CTTC) unit of police 

suspects that one of the four 

militants killed during the joint 

operation of security forces in Sylhet’s 

Shibbari could be Mainul Islam 

Musa, the alleged chief coordinator 

of New JMB. 

CTTC investigators told reporters 

yesterday that a photo of one 

of the dead militants bore strong 

resemblance to Musa. 

On Monday, Bangladesh Army 

recovered two of the four bodies 

from inside Atia Mahal and handed 

them over to the local police. 

A CTTC high official, seeking 

anonymity, said: “One of the militants 

does look like Musa, but faces 

usually get mangled during such 

incidents. We are trying to match 

the face of the militant with that of 

Musa using the photo we received 

during the Ashkona raid. We will 

collect DNA samples and other evidence 

and send it to the forensic 

lab for examination.” 

Police collected Musa’s picture 

from the tenant form that he 

provided to the house owner’s 

daughter while renting a flat in 

Ashkona. 

Police received Musa’s name 

from Afif Qadri, son of top New 

JMB leader Tanvir Qadri, who gave 

Para-commandos break through a wall during a raid of a militant den at Atia Mahal in Pathanpara area of Shibbari, Sylhet. The 

photo is a screen-grab of a video released by ISPR on Sunday 

a confessional statement before a 

court, said CTTC chief Monirul Islam 

at a press conference last year. 

After Ashkona raid on December 

24 last year, Monirul confirmed 

that Major (retd) Zahidul Islam alias 

Zahid and some other top leaders 

and mid-level leaders of New 

JMB have been on the run since the 

death of their leader and Gulshan 

attack mastermind Tamim Chowdhury 

in another CTTC raid. 

Once a second tier leader in New 

JMB, Musa then took charge of coordinating 

the group, Monirul said. 

After the arrest of Jahangir alias 

Rajiv Gandhi, he became the most 

active leader in the field, said CTTC 

officials. 

Musa, who was described as 

well-mannered by his neighbours 

back at his village home in Bagmara, 

Rajshahi, was radicalised by 

Faisal, his expatriate friend who 

lives in Bahrain. 

He was an avid follower of executed 

JMB leader Siddiqul Islam 

alias Bangla Bhai and was close 

to Major Zahid, living in the same 

building with Zahid and his family, 

his mother Sufia Begum said. 

Before leaving home for socalled 

jihad, Musa destroyed 

everything that could link him to 

his home, so that law enforcers 

He was an avid 

follower of executed 

JMB leader Siddiqul 

Islam alias Bangla 

Bhai and was close 

to Major Zahid 

could not track him, she added. 

He was very active on social 

media but he removed his friends 

from his Facebook account and 

eventually deactivated his account. 

“When his involvement in 

militancy came to light following 

the killing of Zahid, I found his 

phone switched off. I tried to see 

his Facebook page but did not find 

it,” said one of Musa’s former colleagues, 

requesting anonymity. • 

New JMB, new bombs 

• Tarek Mahmud and 

Kamrul Hasan 

Law enforcers say militant outfit 

New JMB is changing their modus 

operandi, going by raids over the past 

two years. 

The recent raid in Sitakunda, codenamed 

Operation Assault 16, revealed 

intriguing facts about the change in 

the bombs used by the militants. 

Conspicuous wiring used by a 

tenant raised the suspicion of the landlord, 

who later discovered they were 

used in explosive timers. He alerted the 

police which led to the Sitakunda raid. 

Based on recent information, 

police believe JMB has indeed evolved 

their arsenal. Bombs are no longer of 

rudimentary design but are becoming 

more lethal. 

An active component of the latest 

bombs is ammonium nitrate, an 

explosive mixture used to blast stone 

in quarries. 

According to a member of the 

Counter Terrorism and Transnational 

Crimes (CTTC) unit of the police, ammonium 

nitrate is imported from India 

through Chapainawabganj as an industrial 

material and is strictly regulated. 

The CTTC official also disclosed 

that the company which imports 

the explosive material has also been 

identified. 

CTTC suspect Mizanur Rahman 

alias Boma Mizan is New JMB’s demolitions 

expert. However, they are unsure 

whether it is Mizan who has adapted 

his methods or whether someone new 

is designing the new bombs. 

Mizan’s signature bombs used 

gunpowder, an assortment of chemicals 

and a pin to produce a crudely-made 

grenade. 

The recent bombs are being improvised 

and improved upon with ammonium 

nitrate and a new auxiliary switch 

that allows for delayed explosions. 

During Operation Twilight at 

Sylhet, army spokesperson Brig Gen 

Fakhrul Ahsan told the media that 

the bombs discovered at Atia Mahal 

– the militant den – surprised the law 

enforcers. 

He noted that the shockwave, 

when the bombs were defused, could 

be felt about two kilometres away. 

According to the Bomb Disposal 

Unit (BDU), the bombs recovered 

from the Ashkona militant den in 

December last year were much more 

powerful than any explosives recovered 

before. 

Additional Deputy Commissioner 

(BDU) Rahmatullah Chowdhury said 

the timers on the latest bombs were 

set to go off after four or five minutes. 

Police suspect the two blasts outside 

the Sylhet den were time bombs, 

and said they would know more after 

the operation. • 


it could only be discerned that she 

was female through henna on her 

toenails, while the faces and bodies 

of the others were mangled. 

The raid had begun on early Friday 

after police had cordoned off 

the area around the militant hideout, 

Atia Mahal, at 1:30am, upon 

information received during the recent 

raid in Sitakunda, Chittagong. 

The Brigadier General said a 

number of factors contributed to 

ensuring that this particular raid 

would not be over quickly. Foremost 

among these was the “well 

trained and well equipped” militants, 

who had managed to rig the 

entire building with improvised 

explosive devices (IEDs), he said. 

SWAT had made the initial assessment 

before requesting assistance 

from the army. 

The five-storey building had 

6 flats on each floor, totalling 30 

flats. Of these, families were staying 

in 28 flats. The trapped families 

were rescued on Saturday morning 

through the efforts of the para-commandos. 

A total of 78 people were rescued 

from the building, including 

30 males, 27 females and 21 children. 

Saturday, however, would not 

end on such a happy note. Six 

people, including two suspected 

bombers and two police officers, 

were killed and more than 40 people 

injured in what was initially 

described as twin “suicide” blasts. 

The intelligence chief of RAB Lt Col 

Abul Kalam Azad was also seriously 

injured in the explosion and is now 

undergoing treatment in Singapore. 

Law enforcers on Sunday said 

the explosions may have been triggered 

by a “time bomb-like” device 

found in a bag no more than 250 

metres from Atia Mahal. A case was 

filed in this regard on Monday. •

4 



News 

British PM looks 

forward to meeting 

Sheikh Hasina 

Sheikh Hasina shares a page of the recently released book, ‘Karagarer Rojnamcha,’ the second autobiography of Father of the Nation 

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at its launch organised by Bangla Academy in Bangladesh Krishibid Institution at Khamar Bari in 

Farmgate yesterday 

BSS 

• Syed Zainul Abedin 

British Prime Minister Theresa 

May has expressed an interest 

in holding her first official 

meeting with her Bangladeshi 

counterpart Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina. 

In a letter, May acknowledged 

the strong and growing 

relationship between Bangladesh 

and the United Kingdom. 

Permanent Under-Secretary 

at the British Foreign 

and Commonwealth Office Sir 

Simon McDonald confirmed 

this to reporters after signing a 

MoU yesterday morning. 

Simon said: “We are celebrating 

45 years of diplomatic 

relations with our first strategic 

dialogue which I am very 

happy to conduct with my 

honourable opposite number.” 

The British diplomat with 

his Bangladeshi counterpart, 

Foreign Secretary of the Ministry 

of Foreign Affairs Shahidul 

Haque, held their first 

ever strategic dialogue at the 

Padma State Guest House in 

Dhaka with a view to strengthening 

bilateral relations and 

taking them to the next level. 

Acknowledging the importance 

of historic relations with 

Bangladesh beyond Europe, 

Simon said the UK wants a 

better relationship with Bangladesh 

in the future outside of 

the EU. 

When asked about global 

terrorism, he said: “This is a 

priority issue for both governments. 

We work closely.” 

They discussed preparations 

for the Commonwealth 

Summit to be held next year. 

Various issues were discussed 

at the meeting, including 

sustainable development 

goals, airport security, Rohingya 

issue, economic cooperation, 

post-Brexit impacts, 

security cooperation, and 

combating militancy and visa 

issues, according to a foreign 

ministry source. • 

60 British MPs laud 

country’s progress 

• Tribune Desk 

Some 60 members of the British 

Parliament have lauded 

Bangladesh’s ongoing development 

efforts under Prime 

Minister Sheikh Hasina, said 

a press statement released by 

Bangladesh High Commission 

London yesterday. 

Bangladesh has made significant 

progress and they 

would stand by this South 

Asian country in its efforts to 

improve the lives of its people, 

the MPs said in a March 

27 event at the Palace of Westminster’s 

Terrace Pavilion, 

stated the press release. 

UK Awami League’s President 

Sultan Mahmud Shariff 

and General Secretary Syed 

Shazidur Rahman Faruk confirmed 

that nearly 60 MPs had 

joined the event to observe 

Bangladesh’s 47th Independence 

Day and National Day. 

Chief guest State Minister 

for Foreign Affairs Shahriar 

Alam, MP, thanked the British 

lawmakers for joining the celebration 

organised by UK Awami 

League. 

He said that Bangladesh, 

“under the leadership of 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 

has made significant progress 

in social and economic areas, 

and is very much on the road 

to becoming a middle-income 

country by 2021.” 

“We need the continued 

support and assistance of the 

UK government and private 

bodies in our journey” to fulfil 

the goal of Bangladesh becoming 

Sonar Bangla, he added. 

Bangladeshi-British MPs 

Tulip Siddiq, Rupa Huq and 

Rushna Ali, among others, 

made brief speeches. Bangladesh 

High Commissioner to 

UK Md Nazmul Quaunine also 

addressed the guests. 

State Minister Shahriar 

Alam and the MPs condemned 

the terrorist acts that have taken 

place across the globe, especially 

the attacks in Britain 

and Bangladesh. 

Labour Party MP Tulip 

Siddiq, also Bangabandhu 

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s 

granddaughter, said everyone 

should be alert against acts of 

terrorism. 

“Terrorists do not represent 

Islam or Muslims, but resort 

to violence to fulfil their own 

needs,” she said. •

News 5 


Teachers in lucrative question leak trade 

• Kamrul Hasan and Sanaul 

Islam Tipu 

A nexus of employees from the 

question paper formulation committee 

of education boards, the 

district administration and the 

Bangladesh Government Press, 

colluding with school and college 

teachers, are behind the frequent 

leaks of SSC and HSC questions. 

Nine people, including four 

teachers, were detained yesterday 

from the Dhaka’s Tejgaon, not many 

days after the education minister’s 

allegation that some unscrupulous 

teachers are behind the crime. 

The teachers apparently use different 

social media sites and apps, 

including closed Facebook groups, 

to disseminate screen shots of 

questions before the exams. 

The four detained teachers are 

Ashulia’s AM High School and College’s 

principal Md Mozaffar Hoaasin, 

its teacher Md Ataqul Islam, 

Srishty Central School and College’s 

teacher Md Jahangir Alam 

and Tongi-based coaching instructor 

Md Hamidur Rahman. 

Detective Branch of DMP detained 

them, in two separate operations, 

and found several sets 

of question papers of a number of 

subjects of last year’s JSC exams 

and the recently finished SSC exam. 

The DB members also seized 

screen shots of rumours of question 

leak and mobile sets during the raids. 

DB Joint Commissioner Abdul 

Baten in a press briefing said the 

dishonest officials sent screen 

shots to the teacher Jahangir while 

the MCQ questions were being delivered 

to the exam centre from 

district administration office, an 

hour before the exam. 

Later, Jahangir spread the questions 

through different social networking 

sites, especially Facebook, 

WhatsApp and Imo. 

“They have a closed group in 

Facebook with around 2,000 candidates, 

where the questions were 

posted,” he said, adding, upon receiving 

the question, a group of 

teachers solved it and passed on the 

answers to the deviant students. 

Principal Mozaffar was helping his 

clients see the answers before the exams, 

Baten continued. They charged 

up to Tk5,000 for each question and 

collect the money from mobile financial 

service bKash, Baten said. 


“We are observing three points 

– the question formulation committee, 

the government press and 

the DC office, from where the questions 

are supplied to exam halls. 

These people were working in the 

third point,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the arrestees were 

put on a one-day remand each after 

police filed a case with Tejgaon 

industrial area police station. 

Earlier, on March 8, police detained 

eight people, including a 

teacher of Kamalapur Sher-e-Bangla 

Railway High School, for leaking 

this year’s SSC question.• 

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Dhaka Tribune 

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY 

Dhaka 33 25 Chittagong 29 24 Rajshahi 35 24 Rangpur 28 22 Khulna 35 25 Barisal 32 25 Sylhet 29 21 

Cox’s Bazar 31 24 

RAIN LIKELY 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29 

DHAKA 

TODAY 

TOMORROW 

SUN SETS 6:13PM 

SUN RISES 5:53AM 

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW 

33.8ºC 

20.1ºC 

Chuadanga 

Dimla 

Source: Accuweather/UNB 

PRAYER 

TIMES 

Fajr: 5:30am | Zohr: 1:15pm 

Asr: 5:00pm | Magrib: 6:20pm 

Esha: 8:15pm 

Source: Islamic Foundation

6 



News 

Idols desecrated at two temples in Sirajganj 

• Aminul Islam Khan Rana, 

Sirajganj 

Miscreants have desecrated three 

idols of Hindu goddesses at two 

temples in Belkuchi upazila of Sirajganj. 

They decapitated the idol at 

Baroari Kali Temple and vandalised 

a Kali idol and a Sarashwati 

idol at one Kalipada Sarker’s family 

temple in Khidra Joknala village of 

Bhangabari union of the upazila in 

the dead of night on Monday, according 

to locals. 

A team of police have already 

visited the area. 

Belkuchi police station Officerin-Charge 

Sazzad Hossain said the 

miscreants had broken into the 

temples sometime in the night and 

vandalised the idols. 

Upazila Puja Udjapon Committee’s 

General Secretary Baidyanath 

Ray condemned the incident and 

demanded the speedy arrest of the 

culprits. 

A case is yet to be filed regarding 

the matter. 

Police are also investigating 

whether the desecration of the 

idols has any link to a recent brawl 

over the student elections at a local 

primary school. • 

Three killed 

in Bagerhat 

trawler capsize 

• SM Samsur Rahman, 

Bagerhat 

At least three women drowned 

and 20 people went missing as a 

trawler, carrying 60-70 passengers, 

capsized in the Panguchi River in 

Moralganj upazila of the district 

yesterday. 

The deceased were Beauty, 38, 

resident of Kalikabari, Peyara, 50, 

resident of Guyabaria and Sufiya, 

75, resident of Chingrigat area, police 

said. 

Morrelganj OC Rasedul Kabir 

said the trawler sank in the river 

around 10:30am while heading 

towards Purano Thanaghat from 

Srombariaghat. • 

One gets life-term for 

killing wife 

• Motiur Rahman, 

Manikganj 

A court in the district sentenced 

a man to life term imprisonment 

for killing his wife 

in Sadar upazila of the district. 

District and Session Judge 

Md Mizanur Rahman pronounced 

the verdict convicting 

Roman Mian, son of Farid 

Mian of village Beutha in the 

upazila, for killing his wife 

Urmi Akter in 2014. 

According to the prosecution, 

on April 19 in 2014, 

Roman Mian went to his father-in-law’s 

house at Gilando 

village in the district to bring 

back his wife. But his mother-in-law 

did not allow him 

to bring his wife back, which 

made him furious. 

At one stage, he attacked 

his wife with sharp knife, leaving 

her seriously wounded. 

Urmi was first admitted to 

Manikganj Sadar Hospital in 

a critical condition. Later she 

was shifted to Dhaka Madical 

College hospital where she 

died on April 21 in 2014. 

The next day (April 22), Abul 

Kalam Azad, father of the victim, 

filed a case with Manikganj 

Police Station against Roman, 

his two friends and his parents. 

Police after investigation 

submitted a charge-sheet to 

the court. 

The judge after examining 

the witnesses and evidences 

handed down the verdict today. 

• 

Man gets life for raping 

handicapped teen girl 

• SA Shahriar Milton 

A 37-year-old man has been 

sentenced to life term rigorous 

imprisonment and fined Tk 

50,000 for raping a physically 

challenged teenage girl in 

Sherpur. 

Judge Md Mosleh Uddin of 

the district’s Women Children 

Repression Prevention Tribunal 

yesterday pronounced the 

verdict against Mofiz Uddin, a 

resident of Nalitabari upazila’s 

Sidhuli village. 

The judge also ordered the 

authorities concerned to realise 

the fine and give it to the victim’s 

family as compensation. 

Public Prosecutor Golam 

Kibria Bulu said that Mofiz 

picked up the girl, who was 

just 14 then, from her house, 

where she was living with her 

grandmother Firoza Begum, 

to a nearby bamboo grove, 

raping her there on April 25 

evening last year. 

After she started screaming, 

Firoza came to her rescue, 

though Mofiz, an irrigation 

machine operator, managed 

to flee the scene in the meantime, 

the PP added. 

Later a case was filed 

against Mofiz as the lone suspect, 

in which saw nine prosecution 

witnesses testified. 

The victim’s parents are 

apparel workers in Dhaka, 

where they were during the 

incident. •

News 7 



ASSAULT ON SCHOOL TEACHERS, STAFFS 

No action yet against 

Netrakona municipal 

councillor’s son 

• Hanif Ullah Akash, 

Netrakona 

Police is yet to take any action 

against Netrakona municipality 

councillor and panel 

mayor Sheikh Helal Uddin’s 

sixth-grader son Sheikh Urdho 

and his associates who 

were accused in a case filed 

four days ago for assaulting 

teachers and staffs of Dutt 

High School. 

Urdho along with 15-20 of 

his associates allegedly intruded 

the school premises 

on Saturday afternoon and 

assaulted its teachers Mahbubur 

Rahman Polash, Rezaul 

Karim, senior office assistants 

Sharif Uddin Khan Pathan, Bedana 

Akhter and Mina Begum. 

The school’s assistant head 

teacher Mujibur Rahman filed 

a case with Sadar police station 

in this connection on the 

same day. 

Three of the injured took 

treatment at Netrakona Sadar 

Hospital. 

Officer-in-Charge of Sadar 

police station Abu Taher Dewan 

said police were trying to 

arrest the accused in the case. 

Injured teacher Mahbubur 

Rahman Polash alleged a 

group of stalkers took position 

at the gate of Dutt High School 

and started stalking the girls 

of Government High School 

located just opposite to it. 

The teacher said he had 

gone to the school gate with a 

stick to resist the stalkers and 

hit Urdho twice with it around 

12:30pm. 

“I didn’t know Urdho is 

Sheikh Helal’s son. If I knew 

it, I wouldn’t have done anything 

to him,” said Mahbubur. 

Sheikh Helal is said to be an 

Awami League backed councillor 

of the municipality. 

Teachers and staffs of the 

school had decided to stage 

demonstrations protesting the 

incident, but later suspended 

the programmes following a request 

from State Minister Arif 

Khan Joy, who is also the MP of 

Netrakona-2 constituency. 

Dutt High School’s Board 

of Directors President Habibur 

Rahman Khan Ratan 

said the State Minister had 

expressed his concern over 

the incident and sought time 

from the teachers’ community 

till March 31 to resolve the 

matter. • 

Govt shuts down illegal 

British Standard School 


The government has ordered 

the shutdown of British 

Standard School in Rangpur 

city for operating without approval 

and irregularities. 

The Directorate of Secondary 

and Higher Education 

(DSHE) has also been asked to 

file a case against the school’s 

managing committee. 

An Education Ministry order 

issued on Monday said that 

the school had not secured the 

government approval and had 

various charges of irregularities 

proven against it. 

The school authorities are 

accused of numerous irregularities 

including charging extra 

admission fees. 

The DSHE director general 

has been asked to inform the 

ministry by April 20 about implementation 

of its orders. • 

New JMB’s Jahangir confesses 

to killing ex-JMB man 

• Md Tazul Islam, 

Gaibandha 

Gulshan attack mastermind 

Jahangir Alam has admitted 

that he was involved in the 

murder of former JMB member 

Mazedul Islam alias Fazle 

Rabbi in 2015. 

Arrested from Tangail on 

January 13, Jahangir alias Rajib 

alias Gandhi alias Shubhash 

alias Shanto alias Tiger 

alias Adil alias Jahid was remanded 

for seven days in the 

case on March 20. 

He gave confessional statement 

before the court of Gaibandha 

Additional Chief Judicial 

Magistrate Joynal Abedin 

Monday evening, CID Inspector 

Saidul Alam said. •


8 

World 


SOUTH ASIA 

US asks Maldives to 

restore democracy 

The US on Tuesday asked the Maldives 

to restore faith in democracy 

after the government deployed 

troops to parliament to forcibly remove 

opposition politicians, sparking 

chaotic scenes. US expressed 

concern about “irregularities” that 

impeded a free and fair vote in parliament, 

after plain-clothes soldiers 

evicted MPs as they attempted to 

impeach the speaker. AFP 

INDIA 

Four killed in clashes in 

Kashmir 

Three civilians and one rebel were 

killed and at least 28 people were 

injured Tuesday in clashes between 

protesters and troops and police in 

Kashmir, police said. The clashes 

started when soldiers cordoned off 

a house in a village in central Kashmir’s 

Chadoora area in which at least 

one armed militant, who was killed 

later in the day, was hiding. AFP 

CHINA 

China calls on France to 

protect its citizens after 

killing 

China Tuesday urged France to 

protect the safety and rights of its 

citizens after police in Paris killed 

a Chinese national, sparking a violent 

protest. French police arrested 

35 people after a demonstration 

late Monday by the capital’s Asian 

community over the killing turned 

violent. AFP 

ASIA PACIFIC 

Cambodia bans human 

breast milk exports to US 

Cambodia officially banned selling 

and exporting locally-pumped 

human breast milk Tuesday, after 

reports exposed how women were 

turning to the controversial trade 

to boost meagre incomes. The 

order comes after Cambodia temporarily 

halted breast milk exports 

by Utah-based Ambrosia Labs, 

which claims to be the first firm to 

source the product from overseas 

and distribute it in the US. AFP 

MIDDLE EAST 

UN: Iraq, US must avoid 

civilian deaths in Mosul 

The UN human rights chief urged 

the Iraqi government and US-led 

coalition on Tuesday to review 

tactics in Mosul to spare civilians 

he said were being deliberately 

put at risk by IS. At least 307 

civilians have been killed and 

273 wounded in western Mosul 

between February 17 and March 

22 as IS fighters herd people into 

booby-trapped buildings as human 

shields. REUTERS 

Worst humanitarian crisis hits as 

Trump slashes foreign aid 


The world’s largest humanitarian 

crisis in 70 years has been declared 

in three African countries on the 

brink of famine, just as President 

Donald Trump’s proposed foreign 

aid cuts threaten to pull the US 

from its historic role as the world’s 

top emergency donor. 

If the deep cuts are approved by 

Congress and the US does not contribute 

to Africa’s current crisis, 

experts warn that the continent’s 

growing drought and famine could 

have far-ranging effects, including 

a new wave of migrants heading to 

Europe and possibly more support 

for Islamic extremist groups. 

The conflict-fuelled hunger crises 

in Nigeria, Somalia and South 

Sudan have culminated in a trio of 

potential famines hitting almost 

simultaneously. Nearly 16m people 

in the three countries are at risk 

of dying within months. 

Famine already has been declared 

in two counties of South Sudan 

and 1m people there are on the 

brink of dying from a lack of food, 

UN officials have said. Somalia has 

Nato-Russia talks on eve of Tillerson visit 

• AFP, Brussels 

Nato ambassadors will meet the Russian 

envoy on Thursday in a new bid 

to ease tensions on the eve of the alliance’s 

first talks with US Secretary of 

State Rex Tillerson. 

The ambassadors will discuss the 

crisis in Ukraine as well as Afghanistan’s 

security, and terrorism in the 

region, a Nato official said. 

“Following consultations with the 

members of the Nato-Russia Council 

(NRC), I have invited them to a meeting 

at ambassadorial level,” Nato chief 

Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement. 

The NRC had met regularly until the 

Ukraine crisis plunged relations with Moscow 

into the deep freeze in 2014, though 

this will be the fourth meeting since the 

forum resumed nearly a year ago. 

Nato was alarmed when Moscow 

annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 

2014 and has accused Russia since of 

fuelling a rebellion in eastern Ukraine 

against the government in Kiev. 

US-led Nato has suspended all 

practical cooperation with Russia over 

its role in Ukraine but Stoltenberg has 

said political channels of communication 

have always remained open. 

Russia’s ambassador to Nato Alexander 

Grushko and alliance counterparts 

will also discuss “military activities, 

reciprocal transparency and risk 

reduction in order to improve stability 

and security in the Euro-Atlantic area,” 

the Nato official said on condition of 

anonymity. • 

Powerful cyclone slams into Australia’s 

tropical northeast 


A powerful cyclone packing winds 

of up to 260-kmph roared across 

Australia’s tropical northeast on 

Tuesday, uprooting trees, tearing 

down fences and knocking out power 

to thousands, officials said. 

Cyclone Debbie, which slammed 

into the coast of Queensland state 

as a fierce Category 4 storm, quickly 

began to weaken after making 

landfall near the resort town of 

Airlie Beach, the Australian Bureau 

of Meteorology said. By Tuesday 

night, it had been downgraded to a 

Category 2 storm, with wind gusting 

up to 155-kmph. 

One man was injured after a wall 

collapsed in Proserpine, a town 

south of Airlie Beach, Queensland 

A baby suffering from severe acute malnutrition is weighed at Al Sabbah 

Children’s Hospital in Juba, South Sudan on March 14 

AP 

Strong wind and rain from Cyclone Debbie is seen effecting trees at Airlie Beach, 

located Australian city of Townsville on March 28 

AP 

Police Commissioner said. 

The extent of the damage from 

the storm was not known as night 

fell across the region, but there 

were reports of roofs peeling from 

homes, fences crumbling and 

trees snapping in half. The idyllic 

Whitsunday Islands, a popular 

tourist destination, were hit particularly 

hard, with one recorded 

wind gust of 263-kmph, the meteorology 

bureau reported. • 

declared a state of emergency over 

drought and 2.9m of its people face 

a food crisis that could become a 

famine, according to the UN and 

in northeastern Nigeria, severe 

malnutrition is widespread in areas 

affected by violence from Boko 

Haram extremists. 

At least $4.4bn is needed by 

the end of March to avert a hunger 

“catastrophe” in Nigeria, Somalia, 

South Sudan, and Yemen, 

UN Secretary-General Antonio 

Guterres said in late February. But 

according to UN data, only 10% 

of the necessary funds have been 

received so far. 

If Trump’s foreign aid cuts are 

approved, the humanitarian funding 

burden for the crises would shift 

to other large donors like Britain. 

But the US’s influential role in rallying 

global support will slip. • 

Trump to sign 

order sweeping 

away Obama-era 

climate policies 

• Reuters, Washington, DC 

US President Donald Trump will 

sign an executive order on Tuesday 

to undo a slew of Obama-era 

climate change regulations that his 

administration says is hobbling oil 

drillers and coal miners, a move environmental 

groups have vowed to 

take to court. 

The decree’s main target is former 

President Barack Obama’s Clean 

Power Plan, requiring states to slash 

carbon emissions from power plants, 

a critical element in helping the US 

meet its commitments to a global 

climate change accord reached by 

nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015. 

The so-called “Energy Independence” 

order will also reverse 

a ban on coal leasing on federal 

lands, undo rules to curb methane 

emissions from oil and gas production, 

and reduce the weight of climate 

change and carbon emissions 

in policy and infrastructure permitting 

decisions. 

The wide-ranging order is the 

boldest yet in Trump’s broader push 

to cut environmental regulation to 

revive the drilling and mining industries, 

a promise he made repeatedly 

during the presidential campaign. 

But energy analysts and executives 

have questioned whether the moves 

will have a big effect on their industries, 

and environmentalists have 

called them reckless. •

World 

Brexit explained: What’s next on the 

UK’s road out of the EU 


The British government announced 

Monday that it will formally begin its 

exit from the EU on March 29. Prime 

Minister Theresa May will invoke Article 

50 of the key EU treaty, the official 

start of the two-year divorce process. 

Then comes the hard part- the arguments, 

the lawyers, the squabbles over 

money. Here’s a look at the main issues 

and what happens next: 

What is the EU and why is UK 

leaving? 

The EU is a bloc of 28 nations sharing 

relatively open borders, a single market 

in goods and services and, for 19 

nations, a single currency, the euro. 

Former Prime Minister David Cameron 

offered voters a referendum on 

EU membership, and in June they voted 

by 52-48% to leave. 

How does UK file for divorce? 

The UK government will invoke Article 

50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which says a 

member state may “notify the European 

Council of its intention” to leave the bloc. 

Who conducts the negotiations? 

On the UK side, David Davis will take 

the lead, reporting to May. UK’s ambassador 

to the EU, Tim Barrow, will also 

play a major role. 

French diplomat Michel Barnier is 

the chief negotiator for the European 

Commission, the bloc’s executive arm. 

He’ll receive direction from the Council, 

which represents the leaders of the 

member states. 

What is the most pressing issue? 

UK’s vote to leave the EU has meant uncertainty 

for 3m EU citizens living in the 

UK, and 1m Britons who reside in the EU 

nations. Both sides agree that giving such 

citizens a guarantee that they will be able 

to stay where they are is a top priority. 

What will be the main conflicts? 

The first major battle is likely to be about 

Scottish MPs to hold 

referendum on eve of Brexit 

• AFP, Edinburgh 

Scotland’s parliament is poised to 

call for an independence referendum 

Tuesday, another headache for 

Prime Minister Theresa May as she 

battles to keep the country united 

just a day before triggering Brexit. 

Lawmakers in Edinburgh are expected 

to vote in favour of Scottish 

leader Nicola Sturgeon’s plan for an 

independence referendum despite 

the May’s last-minute appeals. 

Sturgeon will then make a formal 

request for a referendum but 

she needs approval from the British 

government and parliament to do 

so and May has already said that 

money. The EU says Britain must pay a 

hefty divorce bill of up to $64bn, to cover 

EU staff pensions and other expenses 

the UK has committed to. 

There’s also likely to be friction over 

UK’s desire to maintain free trade in 

goods and services with the bloc, without 

accepting the EU’s core principle of 

free movement of workers. UK has said it 

will impose limits on immigration, and so 

will have to leave the EU’s single market 

and customs union. That makes some 

barriers to trade seem inevitable. 

When will it be over? 

Under the terms of Article 50, UK will 

cease to be an EU member in March 2019. 

But EU negotiators warn it could take 

two years just to settle the divorce terms; 

agreeing on a new relationship for the UK 

and the EU could take years longer. If the 

rest of the EU agrees, the two-year negotiating 

period can be extended, leaving 

Britain in the EU for a while longer. • 

China holds military drills near restive Myanmar border 

• AFP, Beijing 

China’s army held drills near its 

border with Myanmar on Tuesday, 

state media reported, in a show of 

strength from Beijing following 

weeks of clashes between ethnic 

rebels and Myanmar’s military. 

Tens of thousands of people 

have fled to China in recent 

months to escape the battles in 

Myanmar’s restive borderlands. 

China’s infantry, artillery and 

air force took part in Tuesday’s 

exercise, the official Xinhua news 

agency said, adding the drills were 

part of annual training. 

“The Chinese People’s Liberation 

Army (PLA) forces on Tuesday 

“now is not the time”. 

May will on Wednesday begin the 

process of ending Britain’s 44-year 

membership of the EU by invoking 

Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, 

opening two years of negotiations. 

Last year’s Brexit vote has spurred 

the independence campaign of Sturgeon, 

head of the ruling party, who argues 

that Scotland is being forced out 

of the European bloc against its will. 

Both Scotland and N Ireland 

voted to remain in the EU, but they 

were outnumbered by voters in England 

and Wales who backed Brexit. 

Most recent polls show support 

for independence is high but still 

short of a majority. • 

Turkey sends team to UK 

over flight ban 

• AFP, Ankara 

Turkey sent a team of experts to 

Britain Tuesday to try to persuade 

London to lift a ban on passengers 

carrying large electronic devices 

on flights from Istanbul, the Turkish 

transport minister said. 

Britain issued a ban last week 

on laptops and tablet computers 

in the passenger compartment of 

flights from five countries from 

the Middle East and northern Africa 

as well as Turkey. 

Ahmet Arslan said Turk he 

“felt” Britain would shortly lift the 

ban “because our meetings suggest 

this” but said talks with the US 

This photo is taken on January 21, 2017 shows a Burmese refugee family in front 

of their temporary shelter near Lung Byeng village, Kachin state 

AFP 

Demonstrators hold placards during a protest in favour of amendments to the 

Brexit Bill outside the Houses of Parliament, in London, March 13 REUTERS 

staged an air-ground, live-fire drill 

in south China, close to the border 

with Myanmar,” Xinhua said. 

It quoted Colonel Fang Xin as saying 

the drill “demonstrated the PLA’s 

resolve and will in safeguarding national 

security” and “protecting 

people’s safety and their property”. 

would likely be “longer-running.” 

The British move came after 

Washington banned electronic 

devices larger than mobile phones 

on direct flights to the US from 10 

airports in seven Middle Eastern 

countries and Turkey, allowing 

them only in hold luggage. 

The UK ban affects 14 airlines 

including British Airways, EasyJet 

and flag carrier Turkish Airlines, 

whose profits have already been hit 

by a slew of terror attacks in 2016. 

In a bid to make passengers 

“more comfortable” after the 

bans, the airline said passengers 

could use their laptops until they 

board. • 

Beijing held similar exercises in 

2015 when several of its nationals 

were killed by stray rockets fired 

by Myanmar’s army during a surge 

in violence in the Kokang border 

region in northeastern Shan state. 

This month Chinese authorities 

said a citizen was injured by a projectile 

that strayed across the border. 

Observers believe Beijing holds 

significant sway over Myanmar’s 

ethnic fighters and has been angling 

to increase its key role in the 

government’s peace process. 

China has called for an immediate 

ceasefire and officials have 

reportedly been holding talks with 

rebel groups in a bid to calm the 

fighting. • 

9 



USA 

Ryan has full confidence 

in House Intelligence 

election probe 

US House of Representatives 

Speaker Paul Ryan has “full confidence” 

in the investigation of possible 

Russian influence on the 2016 

US election campaign being led 

by House Intelligence Committee 

Chairman, Ryan’s spokeswoman 

said in a statement. REUTERS 

THE AMERICAS 

Colombia’s ELN rebels 

accused of ‘massacring’ 5 

Colombian prosecutors accused the 

ELN rebels Monday of “massacring” 

five people in an attack aimed at 

taking control of the narcotics trade 

in a remote, impoverished region. 

Prosecutor said seven guerrillas 

wearing camouflage and ELN arm 

bands attacked the northeastern 

town of Litoral de San Juan on 

Saturday, killing five people and 

forcing 52 from their homes. AFP 

UK 

UK raises prospect of direct 

rule for Northern Ireland 

Britain will consider all options for 

Northern Ireland including direct 

rule from London if politicians 

there fail to form a regional government 

in the next three weeks, 

the minister for the province said 

on Tuesday. Northern Ireland politics 

has been in crisis since Irish 

nationalist party Sinn Fein pulled 

out of government in January, 

sparking a March 2 election that 

ended the majority pro-British unionists 

had enjoyed in the province 

for almost a century. REUTERS 

EUROPE 

Nato, Russia ambassadors to 

meet to resolve differences 

Ambassadors from Nato and Russia 

will meet this week for the first 

time this year in a fresh attempt 

to resolve some of their differences. 

Nato Secretary-General Jens 

Stoltenberg said in a statement 

Tuesday that a Nato-Russia Council, 

their main forum for dialogue, 

would be held at the military 

alliance’s Brussels headquarters 

on Thursday. AP 

AFRICA 

Congo tense as Catholic 

bishops withdraw from 

talks 

Isolated unrest broke out in Congo’s 

capital on Tuesday after Catholic 

bishops withdrew from their role 

as mediators between the government 

and opposition in talks 

aimed at paving the way for delayed 

elections this year. Demonstrators, 

some burning tyres at city crossroads, 

took to the streets in several 

areas in Kinshasa. In one instance, 

police fired tear gas to disperse a 

small group of youths. REUTERS


10 

Business 


CAPITAL MARKET SNAPSHOT: TUESDAY 

DSE Broad Index 5,737.4 0.7% ▼ Index 1,297.4 0.1% ▼ 30 Index 2,095.2 1.1% ▼ Turnover in Mn Tk 9,959.4 28.2% ▼ Turnover in Mn Vol 296.8 19.0% ▼ 

CSE All Share Index 17,800.8 0.7% ▼ 30 Index 15,562.3 1.0% ▼ Selected Index 10,787.9 0.7% ▼ Turnover in Mn Tk 665.1 -3.4% ▼ Turnover in Mn Vol 22.4 2.7% ▼ 

BB heist: Muhith 

confident about 

getting back money 

• Asif Showkat Kallol 

Finance Minister AMA Muhith reiterated 

that Bangladesh would be 

able to recover the money stolen 

from its central bank account in the 

United States. 

“We definitely have to get back 

the money from the Philippines as 

that money is ours,” Muhith told a 

meeting with the Bangladesh Bank 

officials yesterday in Dhaka. 

Law Minister Anisul Huq, Home 

Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, 

Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir 

and Attorney General Mahbubey 

Alam also attended the meeting. 

About the fire incident at the Bangladesh 

Bank building on Thursday, finance 

minister said the fire originated 

from an electric short circuit. 

A Bangladesh Bank representative 

informed the meeting that 

the Philippines President Rodrigo 

Duterte had earlier promised to 

return the money to Bangladesh 

through regular procedures. 

A meeting source quoted law 

minister who at the meeting urged 

the authorities concerned to take 

strict legal actions to bring the 

money from Philippines within the 

stipulated time. 

A representative of the Central 

Investigation Department said Finance 

Division should not disclose 

Bangladesh Bank report on the cyber 

heist. 

“It’s a sensitive issue and the 

disclosure may affect the recovery 

process,” he said. 

A high Finance Division official 

who also attended the meeting 

said a big part of the stolen money 

might be returned, which would be 

“surprising to all.” 

In February, 2016 the hackers 

stole $81m from Bangladesh Bank account 

with Fed Reserve in New York. 

A total of $15m returned to 

Bangladesh by the Philippines government 

and the rest of amount 

still remain in the country. 

Five transactions issued by the 

hackers, worth $101m, and withdrawn 

from the account, were 

succeeded, with $20m traced to Sri 

Lanka and $81m to the Philippines. 

The Federal Reserve Bank of NY 

blocked the remaining thirty transactions, 

amounting to $850m, at 

the request of Bangladesh Bank. • 

Organisers announce the Dhaka International Tourism Fair 2017 at a press conference yesterday. The 14th edition of the 

three-day fair will begin Thursday at Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka 

COURTESY 

Tourism fair begins tomorrow 

• Tribune Business Desk 

A three-day international tourism 

fair titled US-Bangla Airlines Dhaka 

Travel Mart (DTM) 2017 will begin 

at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel tomorrow. 

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister 

Rashed Khan Menon will formally 

inaugurate the fair. 

Kazi Wahidul Alam, editor, The 

Bangladesh Monitor and Chairman 

of the US-Bangla Airlines DTM 2017 

Organising Committee, came up 

with this disclosure at a press conference 

held yesterday at Pan Pacific 

Sonargaon Hotel. 

Imran Asif, CEO of US-Bangla 

Airlines, Dr Md Nasir Uddin, CEO 

of Bangladesh Tourism Board, Dr 

Aparup Chowdhury, chairman, 

Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, 

and Md Abu Taher, DGM, Sales, Biman 

Bangladesh Airlines, spoke on 

the occasion. 

The orgniser said a total of 50 

organisations from different countries 

and host Bangladesh are taking 

part in US-Bangla Airlines Dhaka 

Travel Mart 2017. 

The participants include national 

tourism organisations, airlines, 

tour operators, hotels, resorts, online 

booking portals, healthcare 

service providers, etc. Visitors will 

be able to visit the fair from 10am 

to 8 pm from Thursday to Saturday, 

paying an entry fee of Tk30. 

Raffle draw will also be held on the 

concluding day on April 1 at 7:30pm 

at the fair venue in front of visitors. 

Prizes will include airline tickets 

to various destinations at home 

and abroad, exciting tour packages, 

star hotel accommodation, lunch/ 

dinner coupons and others. 

“With a view to unlocking the 

country’s tourism potential, we 

launched this event 16 years back, 

and since then we are holding this 

fair as a regular annual event,” said 

Wahidul Alam. 

“We believe that Dhaka Travel 

Mart has been playing a very supportive 

role in the development of 

country’s tourism sector.” 

For a sustainable tourism sector 

and for attracting more foreign 

tourists, a lot more things need to 

be done, he said, adding that first 

of all appropriate tourism products 

need to be identified and promoted 

them worldwide. • 

ECB optimistic about global deal 

on bank rules 

• AFP, Frankfurt 

Regulators at the European Central 

Bank said they are “optimistic” 

that talks on harmonising rules for 

banks around the world will soon 

end in a deal. 

The so-called “Basel III” round 

of banking talks has stalled in recent 

months as negotiators battle 

over questions like how big banks’ 

capital reserves should be and how 

they should judge risk. 

Observers feared that Donald 

Trump’s incoming adminstration - 

seen as favouring looser regulation of 

banks and distrustful of multilateral 

cooperation - would hold up the talks. 

But “I’m optimistic and positive” 

that a deal will soon be 

reached, top ECB regulator Sabine 

Lautenschlaeger said at a Frankfurt 

press conference. 

“I have not yet got any news 

from the US American colleagues, 

but I do see that all of us are very 

aware” of the need for standardised 

rules, she insisted. 

As proof, Lautenschlaeger 

pointed to a statement signed by 

G20 finance ministers at a meeting 

in Germany last week, committing 

the world’s most powerful countries 

- including the US-- to “finalise 

the Basel III framework”. 

“All of the compromises are on 

the table, and we just need to have 

a final meeting,” she said. 

Capital requirements have been 

at the heart of a European-US split 

over the draft banking rules. 

The US has favoured forcing 

banks to have more capital on 

hand, while European governments, 

regulators and finance 

groups fear stringent capital requirements 

will hobble their banks 

and economies. •

Business 11 

Govt to adjust workers welfare 

association with ILO standard 

• Ibrahim Hossain Ovi 

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed 

yesterday said the government will 

adjust Workers Welfare Association 

(WWA) with the ILO convention to 

ensure equal rights for workers employed 

in the country’s Export Processing 

Zones and beyond. 

The minister came up with the 

comment while addressing journalists 

after a meeting with the 

European Union (EU) parliamentary 

delegation lead by Arne Lietz, 

a member of the European Parliament 

at his office yesterday. 

“There is a question about trade 

union at EPZ, but Bangladesh has 

WWA, which is almost similar to 

trade unions in terms of enjoying 

workers rights,” the minister said. 

“But we must adjust with the 

International Labour Organisation 

(ILO) rules. It has been discussed 

with the delegation.” 

The delegation will meet the 

Ministry of Labour and Employment 

and Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina to discuss the issue. 

Bangladesh will give importance 

to the issues, which the EU 

is concerned with, since benefits 

come from them, said Tofail. 

There will not be any problem 

between EU and Bangladesh, and if 

any, they would be resolved through 

discussion, the minister said, adding 

that all issues would be discussed in 

the meeting on Sustainability Compact 

to be held in May. 

Talking on the EPZ workers 

rights issues, Arne Lietz, a member 

Dhaka Bank Limited and International Finance Corporation recently signed $55m 

Facilities Agreements. High officials of both sides seen at the signing ceremony 

of the European Parliament said 

EPZ Law needs to be rethought. He 

urged the authorities concerned to 

come up with the standard of UN 

convention and ILO standard in 

terms of workers rights inside and 

outside EPZs. 

Replying to a question on Ashulia 

labour unrest that took place in 

December last year, Arne said it has 

been discussed with the international 

partners like H&M, C&A and 

others working here. 

The workers are fighting for 

better wages system and it is very 

logical. 

“We are experiencing such 

demonstration everywhere in our 

countries and sometimes we see 

street blockade. It is a part of trade 

union to fight for the right,” according 

to the head of delegation. 

He hopes that a strong result 

might come from tripartite agreement 

and it is a good start to develop 

new rules and pathways to deal 

with the issues. 

The EU delegates also talked on 

the amendment to Labour Act to 

address the issue relating to freedom 

of association and collective 

bargain, to introduce same standards 

and equal labour rights in and 

outside EPZs factories and simplify 

the trade union registration process. 

“We feel there is a need for 

amendment to some provisions 

of Labour Act and we will sit with 

the national tripartite consultation 

committee on the amendment,” 

said Mujibul Haque, state minister 

for labour. • 

The winners of the ‘Nescafe Rocking Offer’ pose for photo at Nestle Bangladesh 

Head Office Dhaka yesterday. The coffee brand awarded the offer to four individuals 



Ecnec approves 

12 projects 

involving over 

Tk10cr 

• Tribune Business Desk 

The Executive Committee of the 

National Economic Council (Ecnec) 

yesterday approved 12 projects, including 

one for urban governance 

and infrastructure development, 

involving a total of Tk10,147.57 

crore. 

The approval was given in the 

Ecnec meeting held at the NEC 

conference room at Sher-e-Bangla 

Nagar with ECNEC chairperson and 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 

the chair, reports BSS. 

Of the total project cost, 

Tk6,280.64 crore will come from 

the National exchequer, Tk235.59 

crore from the funds of the implementing 

agencies and the remaining 

Tk3,631.34 crore as project assistance, 

Planning Minister AHM 

Mustafa Kamal told journalists at a 

post-meeting briefing. 

He said the urban governance 

and infrastructure development 

project (III) is a revised one and it 

will be implemented at a cost of 

Tk4,046.17 crore. 

Implementation of this project, 

communication, water supply, 

sewerage and sanitation systems in 

36 municipalites will be developed 

which would help bring change to 

the socioeconomic condition of the 

poor, he said. 

Kamal said the prime minister 

directed the authorities concerned 

to set up incinerators in abandoned 

land outside the urban area. About 

the landfill project in Matuail, the 

premier ordered to keep canals and 

water reservoirs near the landfill, 

he added. 

The planning minister said EC- 

NEC held a total of 21 meetings in 

the current fiscal year when a total 

of 174 projects involving Tk4,12,149 

crore were approved. • 

Asian markets rise after Trump sell-off, dollar struggles 

• AFP, Hong Kong 

Asian markets mostly bounced 

back yesterday from the previous 

day’s hefty sell-off, on hopes Donald 

Trump can push through his 

economy-boosting agenda despite 

last week’s healthcare debacle. 

However, with expectations 

about the rate of future US interest 

rate rises receding, the dollar is 

struggling to break back against its 

major peers. 

Markets across the world tumbled 

after the tycoon’s repeal of 

Obamacare fell at the first hurdle 

Friday as he failed to garner 

enough votes from his own Republican 

party, which controls both 

houses of Congress. 

The failure fuelled worries 

Trump would not be able to drive 

his much-vaunted tax-cutting, infrastructure 

spending, deregulation 

plans, with analysts pointing out it 

would leave the administration with 

less cash to pay for such measures. 

Hopes for his stimulus plan 

helped fuel a surge in global markets 

and in the dollar since the November 

election. 

While New York and European 

markets ended on a low, they 

were well off their early losses and 

provided Asian traders with something 

to play with as the dust settles 

after Trump’s bruising defeat. 

“What seems to be going on in 

US stocks is that President Trump 

is being given the benefit of the 

doubt that he will be able to deliver 

on tax and infrastructure,” said 

Greg McKenna, chief market strategist 

at AxiTrader. 

Tokyo ended 1.1% higher, having 

slumped 1.4% Monday. 

Hong Kong added 0.6% and Sydney 

rallied 1.3%, while Seoul put on 

0.4%, Singapore 0.8% and Manila 

1.2%. However, Shanghai fell 0.4%. 

‘Buying opportunity’ 

“On balance the underpinnings 

are strong enough that we want to 

stay long” on stocks, Ted Weisberg, 

president at New York brokerage 

Seaport Securities, told Bloomberg 

TV. “We are viewing any kind of 

selloff as a buying opportunity.” 

However, while equities picked 

up, the dollar remained subdued, 

sitting at four-month lows against 

the yen. The euro has been buoyed 

by upbeat data out of the eurozone. 

Weighing on the greenback were 

comments from the head of the Chicago 

branch of the Federal Reserve 

Charles Evans that it might only 

need to raise borrowing costs twice 

this year considering an uncertain 

outlook for inflation and Trump’s 

big-spending and tax-cutting agenda. 

The yen has climbed more than 

seven percent against the dollar 

since the start of the year while the 

single currency is up about five percent. 

Even the pound, which was 

battered last year by Britain’s vote to 

leave the European Union, has risen 

five percent from its January lows. 

The US unit had already been 

under pressure after Fed boss Janet 

Yellen said this month that the 

pace of rate rises would be slower 

than initially expected. 

“The market will be... interested 

- or hoping (vainly) for new insights 

from Fed Chair Yellen’s address” 

later Tuesday, said David de Garis, 

director of fixed income, currencies 

and commodities at National 

Australia Bank, in a commentary. 

In morning European trade London 

rose 0.2%, Paris added 0.1% 

and Frankfurt added 0.6%. •


12 

Editorial 


TODAY 

Brexit through the 

looking glass 

Interrelationships and mutual selfinterest 

between the EU and UK are too 

large and run too deep for common sense 

to be kept at bay for much longer 

PAGE 13 

Demystifying 

transfer pricing 

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU 

Given that transfer pricing is a new 

subject for the Bangladesh tax 

authorities, our tax department may 

consider investing time in the skills 

development of the officers 

PAGE 14 

Work in progress 

Keeping up with the 

Modi wave 

This is the genesis of the famous 

and much talked about Modi wave, 

comprising explicit development and 

implicit Hindutva 

PAGE 15 

Be heard 

Write to Dhaka Tribune 

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, 

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The views expressed in opinion 

articles are those of the authors 

alone and they are not the 

official view of Dhaka Tribune 

or its publisher. 

When it comes to labour rights, Bangladesh has come a 

long way. 

There is no doubt that the Rana Plaza incident was one 

of the worst industrial accidents in history, and that it 

exposed many flaws within our industries, especially our RMG sector. 

But, since then, industry stake-holders have worked tirelessly to 

improve working conditions. 

Which is why the EU’s threats of excluding Bangladesh from the 

Generalised System of Preferences based on the current conditions of 

our labour rights is unwarranted and completely unnecessary. 

With Bangladesh currently enjoying duty-free access to the EU 

under the Everything But Arms (EBA) preference tariff scheme, losing 

this would be an immeasurable blow to the Bangladeshi economy. 

Expelling Bangladesh from the GSP would translate to a 12% tariff 

on exports to the EU. 

To remain competitive in the global market, it’s crucial that 

Bangladesh keeps its prices low. 

Bangladesh and its government understand that labour rights 

are important. In light of the recent Ashulia protests, there is no 

denying that much still needs to be done, with workers’ wages still 

a particularly contentious issue that we have yet to find a workable 

solution to. 

But it is not up to the EU to govern the way we do business. Such an 

attitude goes against the very nature of free trade. 

We understand that the recent delegation from the EU seeks 

uniform labour standards in the country, but that shouldn’t mean that 

Bangladesh be threatened into submission. 

Labour rights are a work in progress, as it has been in every country, 

and the Bangladeshi government has been moving to ensure the 

continued development of the nation, labour rights included. 

With over 60% of our garment exports going to the EU, this is not a 

market where Bangladesh can afford to lose its current position. 

Instead, the EU would do well to work patiently and constructively 

with stake-holders to ensure that worker rights are protected. After all, 

working together is the only way we will see any real progress. 

The Bangladesh 

economy has been 

moving at breakneck 

speed to ensure 

the continued 

development of the 

nation, labour rights 

included

Opinion 13 

Brexit through the looking glass 

The clock is ticking. Time to get real 



• Niaz Alam 

Be careful what you wish 

for. 

This seems to be the 

only lesson possible to 

draw nine months on after the 

UK’s referendum decision to leave 

the European Union. 

In the very week Theresa May 

formally triggers Article 50 to start 

the process of withdrawal, UKIP 

-- the fringe yet influential party 

that inspired Brexit -- bites the 

dust in Westminster as, with all 

irony intended, its sole elected MP 

has declared he will now sit as an 

independent. 

Not that UKIP is entirely 

without electoral representation. 

Just that most of this lies in the 

24 seats it won in the European 

Parliament in 2014. Come the 

actual day the UK actually leaves 

the EU, all these seats will be 

abolished. Nigel Farage’s included. 

The list of Brexit’s political 

victims is a long one. 

David Cameron obviously. 

Jo Cox, the MP murdered a 

week before the vote, most sadly. 

Not to mention various Brexiteers 

who either hadn’t wanted to 

win or ended up sidelined by 

a new prime minister who had 

campaigned to remain. 

Spare a thought too for the 

Bangladesh Caterers Association, 

whose leader campaigned for 

Brexit in the belief it would make it 

easier to import chefs from South 

Asia. Despite him being on the 

winning side, this looks less than 

likely to happen. 

Hardly surprising given the 

caterers’ aim depends on the 

equation “more xenophobia + less 

immigration = fewer Europeans/ 

more Asian immigrants” making 

logical and political sense. 

Yet, similar ideas have long 

been encouraged by a mixed bag 

of libertarians and rose-tinted fans 

of empire prominent among Brexit 

advocates. 

Britain “freeing” itself from 

Europe “will open the UK to the 

world” is one of the older, and 

superficially more attractive, 

stands of Eurosceptic thinking in 

right-wing circles. 

Such strands largely got blown 

away almost immediately the 

Leave result was announced. 

However individuals voted, 

media and public opinions alike 

tended to quickly agree to mainly 

attribute Brexit to desires to “take 

back control from Europe” and 

“control borders.” 

Overnight, the hitherto 

plausible option of the UK 

remaining in the Single Market 

after leaving the EU, suddenly but 

seemingly decisively, became dead 

in the water. 

Less obviously, the referendum 

result also became a stick 

with which to bash Jeremy 

Corbyn’s tenure as Leader of 

the Opposition. While Cameron 

walked away to a quiet retirement, 

Corbyn got the full trifecta. 

Remainers complaining he did 

not campaign hard enough even 

though he was not responsible for 

the result. 

Leavers criticising him for 

being a Remainer, even though 

his position was lukewarm and 

much the same as Theresa May. 

And to boot, a divisive and wholly 

unnecessary leadership election 

helping push the Labour party 

down in opinion polls. 

Most seriously of all, Labour’s 

problem is not that its MPs have 

been unwilling or unable to find 

Interrelationships 

and mutual selfinterest 

between 

the EU and UK are 

too large and run too 

deep for common 

sense to be kept at 

bay for much longer 

a more popular alternative to 

Corbyn, but that Theresa May 

has stolen Jeremy Corbyn’s best 

clothes. 

Being softly spoken, appearing 

unassuming. Not being (as) 

obsessed with hour by hour 

headlines as the Blair, Brown, 

Cameron governments. Generally 

being a grown up. Theresa May 

can do that in spades. 

If polls are to be believed, all 

she has to do to guarantee winning 

next time, is to deliver Brexit. 

Everything else is mere timing. 

Events and bad economic news 

could get in the way of course, but 

such is true come what may. 

As is true also for the Scottish 

government talking itself into 

pushing for an early rerun of 

the 2014 Scottish Independence 

referendum. Theresa May might 

What does the ‘divorce bill’ mean for the UK? 

be gifted new opportunities to 

look strong. 

Paradoxically, given her style, 

Theresa May’s biggest advantage 

could just turn out to be spin. 

In politics, perception is 

(nearly) everything. 

Spend months letting the media 

tell everyone how complicated, 

lengthy, and difficult it will be for 

the UK and EU to negotiate an 

orderly Brexit, as most in Brussels 

and London tend to agree, and 

everyone will look good when a 

deal is done. 

Until now, the wait for Article 

50 has kept cheap talk and 

encouraged much hot air. 

For sure, some decision makers 

in the EU really do want to set an 

example and ‘’punish’’ the UK 

“pour encorager les autres.” 

And it is true there is talk of a 50 

billion pound “divorce bill” being 

demanded of the UK by the EU. As 

it is also that politicians all across 

Europe, not just the UK, have 

blithely talked about the millions 

of EU citizens living and working 

in the UK, and vice versa, as being 

“bargaining chips’’ in forthcoming 

negotiations. 

But the clock is ticking now. 

Time to get real. When the EU has 

a large trade surplus over the UK 

(and EU companies such as BMW 

own many of the UK’s leading 

exporters) talk of tariffs and 

punishments makes no economic 

sense. 

Interrelationships and mutual 

self-interest between the EU and 

UK are too large and run too deep 

for common sense to be kept at 

bay for much longer. 

Likewise, it is pure politics, 

fiction, and grandstanding for 

London and Brussels to collude 

in pretending large numbers of 

EU citizens living and working in 

other EU states, all of whom are 

meant to have equal rights under 

European law, are at risk of having 

rights taken away or even being 

deported. 

Yes I know. Nationalism, 

xenophobia, racism, and indeed, 

fascism in all its forms are on 

the rise and global politics is in a 

disturbing phase right now. 

But, assuming European 

economies muddle on as they 

have, and the EU remains largely 

intact, it’s scarcely credible to 

imagine European countries 

demanding stringent visa 

requirements of UK nationals to 

stop them visiting on post-Brexit 

holidays, let alone engaging in tit 

for tat expulsions of each others’ 

citizens. Even in a world with 

President Trump. 

When it comes to immigration, 

the unspoken truth, which deep 

down most people appreciate, 

even after debate has been 

poisoned by racist rhetoric, is 

that there is only one guaranteed 

and practical way for a rich 

complex economy in Western 

Europe, to reduce immigration 

-- by becoming less economically 

attractive. The paradox of course 

is that recession and economic loss 

are nobody’s idea of a vote winner. 

As for that 50bn pound demand 

from Brussels? It sounds steep 

at first, and could just be bluff, 

but if you bear in mind the UK 

government currently pays 13bn 

pounds a year, it’s around four 

years of gross subscriptions. 

REUTERS 

Given the UK is implicitly 

committed to giving two years 

notice and is part of funding many 

programs which either demand 

transitional arrangements or 

which it may want to continue 

being part of, and this too might be 

more a matter of perception and 

presentation. 

Truth be told, compared to the 

bigger picture of global challenges 

of climate chaos and inequality, 

faced by the world’s economy 

and people, negotiating a smooth 

Brexit is a breeze in the park. Even 

for the UK, in the long run, it is 

likely to make far less difference 

than say, Scotland becoming 

independent, or the island of 

Ireland voting for unification. 

More apocalyptic scenarios, 

especially for the UK as the smaller 

party, are available (POTUS related 

and otherwise). 

In more likelihood though, 

and however much high powered 

negotiators will be loath to 

admit it, much of the future of 

impending Brexit, is going to 

depend on both the EU and UK 

keeping a lot of laws, rules, and 

relationships much as they already 

are. 

The more things change on the 

surface, for good or bad, the more 

they may remain the same. 

Plus ça change. • 

Niaz Alam is a member of the Editorial 

Board of Dhaka Tribune. A qualified 

lawyer, he has worked on corporate 

responsibility and ethical business 

issues since 1992. He sat on the Board 

of the London Pensions Fund Authority 

between 2001-2010 and is a former 

vice-chair of War on Want.

14 



Opinion 

Demystifying transfer pricing 

We need to understand transfer pricing to create a welcome environment for investors 

In order to be a competitive economy, one needs to accept global tax regulations 

BIGSTOCK 

The future 

In order to be a competitive 

economy which attracts large 

investments, one needs to accept 

the global tax regulations, and the 

environment which is prevailing 

in the tax world to bring in more 

transparency and accountability. 

Bangladesh tax authorities 

should aim to strike a balance 

between being aggressive and 

subjecting every tax-payer to a 

TP adjustment with an intent 

of collecting taxes, as opposed 

to following a well thought out 

approach based on the merits of 

the case. 

This would send out the correct 

signal to the foreign investor 

community, as Bangladesh is 

currently a fast growing economy 

with GDP growth rate at more than 

7%. 

Any arbitrary step with just 

the intent to collect additional 

revenue may tarnish the image 

of Bangladesh as an attractive 

investment destination. 

With the advent of BEPS and 

adoption of the country-bycountry 

reporting structure (as 

• Mamun Rashid 

Taxation has become a 

dynamic and crucial issue 

in the global world. As 

countries become more 

connected through the advent of 

technology, tax authorities have to 

create more complex regulations 

in order to keep pace. 

One such regulation is transfer 

pricing (TP), which aims to reduce 

tax avoidance through crossborder 

transactions. Transfer 

pricing refers to the pricing of 

cross-border transactions between 

two related entities. 

When two related entities 

enter into any cross-border 

transaction, the price at which 

they undertake the transaction 

is the “transfer price.” Due to 

the special relationship between 

related entities, the transfer price 

may be different than the price 

that would have been agreed 

between unrelated parties. Price 

between unrelated parties in an 

uncontrolled conditions is known 

as the “arm’s length” price (ALP). 

Globalisation and the rapid 

growth of international trade has 

made inter-company pricing an 

everyday necessity for the vast 

majority of businesses. However, 

the growth of national treasury 

deficits and the frequent use of the 

phrase “transfer pricing” in the 

same sentence as “tax shelters” 

and “tax evasion” on the business 

pages of newspapers around the 

world have left multinational 

enterprises in a storm of 

controversy. 

Tax authorities have made 

the regulation and enforcement 

of the arm’s length standard 

a top priority. A key incentive 

for challenging tax-payers on 

their transfer prices is that the 

authorities see transfer pricing as 

a soft target, with the potential to 

collect significant tax revenue. 

Since there is no absolute 

rule of thumb for determining 

the arm’s length price for an 

international transaction, there 

exists huge disagreement as to 

whether the correct amount of 

tax has been paid in a particular 

jurisdiction. 

Global regulations and 

Organisation for Economic 

Co-operation and Development 

(OECD) 

Most of the world’s major nations 

have implemented transfer pricing 

regulation in their respective tax 

codes, and those who have not are 

contemplating to do so. 

The dispute of transfer pricing 

has been so enormous over the 

years, that OECD, with the help 

of G20 countries, have developed 

the principle of Base Erosion and 

Profit Shifting (BEPS) with specific 

action points on transfer pricing 

issues. This is primarily because 

of the new norm of transparency 

and accountability of all the 

multinationals operating globally. 

Bangladesh is also a part of the 

over 80 countries who have joined 

the BEPS inclusive framework and 

committed to the implementation 

of the minimum standards of the 

BEPS package. 

Bangladesh TP regulations 

Bangladesh TP regulations are 

relatively new, inserted in the 

Finance Act, 2012 with effect from 

July 1, 2014. 

TP principle will have 

enormous significance for 

both inbound and outbound 

multinationals operating in 

Bangladesh. 

These multinationals will 

now have to comply with TP 

provisions, formulate proper TP 

policies, and defend aggressive 

positions taken up by tax 

authorities of Bangladesh. 

The TP guidelines is a part of 

Chapter XIA of the Income-tax 

Ordinance 1984 as amended by the 

Finance Act, 2012. 

The legislation provides that 

“the amount of any income, or 

expenditure, arising from an 

international transaction shall be 

determined having regard to the 

arm’s length price.” 

The Bangladesh TP regulations 

are in line with the best practices 

followed by various countries 

across the globe with very few 

minor changes based on local 

requirement. 

Multinationals operating in 

Bangladesh are required to file 

Given that transfer pricing is a new subject 

for the Bangladesh tax authorities, our tax 

department may consider investing time in the 

skills development of the officers 

a Statement of International 

Transactions when one has 

entered into cross-border 

international transaction. 

Further, if the transaction 

exceeds a certain threshold 

criteria (which now stands at Tk3 

crore) one is required to file an 

accountant’s report as and when 

asked by the revenue authorities, 

and also to maintain and produce 

the TP documentation to the 

revenue authorities when called 

for. 

Multinationals in Bangladesh 

may feel that TP regulations are a 

tool to curb capital outflow from 

the country, which may not be the 

correct perspective. 

TP regulations should be 

seen in the light that it has been 

brought for more transparency, 

accountability, and best practices. 

Since Bangladesh is one of the 

fastest growing economies in the 

world, it is a welcome move to 

address profit/revenue shifting. 

recommended by the OECD), most 

countries are considering transfer 

pricing regulations as one of the 

tools to counter shifting of profits 

outside the country. 

Given that transfer pricing is a 

new subject for the Bangladesh tax 

authorities, our tax department 

may consider investing time and 

energy in the skills development/ 

competency building of the tax 

officers. 

This will go a long way to 

ensure the readiness of the tax 

officers to face the complexity 

involved in transfer pricing 

audits, and ensuring a welcome 

environment for existing 

multinationals as well as new 

investors. • 

Mamun Rashid is the Managing Partner 

at PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC) 

Bangladesh. This article has been put 

up with extensive help from Prasun 

Kumar Maiti from PwC India and Fahmin 

Rahman from PwC Bangladesh.

Opinion 15 

Keeping up with the Modi wave 

Does Modi mark the end of secularist parties? 



• Sarwar Jahan Chowdhury 

The recent elections in 

India ended with some 

interesting outcomes. 

Provincial election took 

place in five states, among which 

Uttar Pradesh (UP) is by far the 

largest province in India in terms 

of population and political clout 

as it has the most seats in a single 

state (about 15%) out of India’s 29 

states. 

It’s also the second largest 

economy amongst Indian states 

and it’s adjacent to the federal 

capital Delhi. Elections were also 

held in two medium-sized states, 

Punjab and Uttarkhand, and in two 

smaller states, Manipur and Goa. 

The BJP won the biggest prize 

-- Uttar Pradesh -- with a majority. 

It has stormed into power in UP 

after 15 long years and it appears 

that it did so by riding on the 

Narendra Modi wave. Mr Modi was 

actively involved in the campaign 

and addressed huge numbers 

of rallies. He became the face of 

the campaign for the party in UP, 

despite being the country’s prime 

minister. 

However, for the grand old 

Congress party, it wasn’t all doom 

and gloom this time. They won 

back Punjab decisively from the 

regional Sikh Akali Dal-led alliance 

where the BJP is a junior partner. 

They are also the single largest 

party in Manipur and Goa. 

The supposed new political 

force, the Aam Admi Party (AAP), 

was projected to do well in Punjab 

and Goa, but it under-performed; 

although it was able to become the 

main opposition in Punjab despite 

running for the first time. 

Politics in India is extremely 

complex as it is fraught with 

many factors such as caste, 

communalism, linguistic ethnicity, 

leadership, reservations, and of 

course, current developmental 

issues. Often it’s not easy to 

precisely predict which factor 

would become predominant in 

which election. Mr Modi had some 

developmental success in Gujarat 

where he was the chief minister 

for more than a decade. With that, 

he craftily re-branded himself 

from a dubious Hindutva leader, in 

the context of Gujarat riot of 2002, 

to a developmental messiah. 

A strong personality, possessing 

effective oratory skills, Modi 

communicates much better with 

people than his challenger -- the 

polished Rahul Gandhi. 

In India, political capital of 

a charismatic leader normally 

lasts for two terms or a decade 

in one go. Sonia Gandhi attained 

A development messiah? 

charisma by guiding the Congress 

alliance to victory in 2004, and 

rose to high stature by refusing 

to take up coveted premiership, 

as some of the defeated BJP 

leaders raised her Italian origin 

issue, which she could easily have 

ignored. 

The success was repeated 

in 2009 with the help of the 

knowledgeable and modest 

Manmohan Singh, prompting a 

change in the old guards of BJP 

high command in 2014. As the 

Congress-led alliance lived its life 

span, and development slowed 

down, the stage was set for the 

development messiah in the form 

of Modi. Modi did well to gradually 

phase out the Advani-led old 

guards, co-opted some intelligent 

ones like Arun Jaitley and Rajnath 

Singh, and took his chances in 

the 2014 general election with the 

assistance of loyal strategist Amit 

Shah. 

While his RSS back ground and 

post 2002 credentials ensured his 

implicit Hindutva image, he did 

what he needed to do -- talk again 

and again about development with 

his very effective articulations. 

This is the genesis of the famous 

and much talked about Modi wave, 

comprising explicit development 

and implicit Hindutva. 

Despite their initial open 

Hindutva agendas like Ram 

Mandir, BJP has demonstrated 

some flexibility and responsibility 

while in power in the past. It’s a 

large party and there are various 

streams and sub-streams within it. 

There are raw hinduntavadis 

like Yogi Adityanath, moderates 

like Shivraj Sing Chauhan, and 

also polished educated gentleman 

like Arun Jaitley. While some 

radical youths are prone to 

persecuting minorities and Dalits, 

the moderates try to hold them 

back; for example, Modi openly 

renounced cow vigilantes a few 

months back. Many moderates 

ride the saffron bandwagon 

but ultimately work to make it 

moderate. If a right wing force 

accepts moderation, that’s a good 

thing for the society and polity, 

and the party will deserve some 

commendation in such cases. 

BJP, though, nominated Yogi 

Adintyanath as UP’s chief minister 

with two moderate deputies after 

the election. It also has a masked 

caste calculation like its allocation 

of tickets for the assembly 

election. It’s to be seen now, how 

Adityanath, a raw populist in 

Hindutva constituency, fits into 

Modi’s development schemes. 

Can Adityanath moderate 

himself as already expected by 

BJP’s commands? 

It’s clear that BJP wont deviate 

much from the current mixture 

of development and some bit of 

Hindutva, a winning formula in 

recent years. It has been a debacle 

for the traditional secular parties 

in UP, this election. Despite the 

phenomenal numbers in terms 

of seats, BJP received about 40% 

of votes while the fragmented 

seculars received more than 50%. 

A secular unity like the one 

in 1993 of the two major parties 

the SP and the BSP could have 

prevented the Modi wave as a 

similar collaboration did in Bihar 

last year. But in UP, that alliance 

didn’t happen. 

One key observation is that, 

many Indian secularist politicians, 

media, and intelligentsia 

sometimes overplay their hand, 

especially when it comes to 

secularism and minorities. Amit 

Shah and his strategist read 

that perfectly. While SP and BSP 

were overtly fighting for Muslim 

minority votes alongside their 

caste bases, BJP propaganda 

reduced these parties to mere 

minority-based parties and 

consolidated the bulk of majority 

votes across the caste cleavage in 

favour of them. 

The secularist ideologues and 

politicians need to understand 

the Muslim minority, and that too 

a fragmented one, can’t win the 

REUTERS 

This is the genesis of the famous and much talked about Modi wave, 

comprising explicit development and implicit Hindutva 

election. 

The decline of Congress 

and lack of leadership of Rahul 

Ghandhi is quite noticeable. Its 

lack of dynamic leadership in 

major provinces due to its over 

dependence on the Gandhi family 

is another issue. One exception 

was Punjab, due the presence of 

likeable and visionary Amrinder 

Singh. Congress won it fair and 

square. The Gandhis keep the 

Congress united, yet they should 

take a back seat for some time 

and allow some other and more 

people-connected leaders to grow. 

It’s neither the end of secularist 

parties, including the Congress, 

nor is the Modi wave perennial. 

The latter will get few more years’ 

time to deliver something remarkable. 

An average or below average 

performance will allow others to 

reclaim the political space. Overall, 

in India, politics still operates 

within some kind of workable 

democratic order under a modern 

constitution. Keeping it going is 

the most important thing. • 

Sarwar Jahan Chowdhury is an freelance 

commentator on politics, society and 

international relations. He currently 

works at BRAC Institute of Governance 

and Development (BIGD).

16 



Downtime 

CROSSWORD 

ACROSS 

1 Scold (6) 

5 Drink slowly (3) 

7 Whatever (3) 

8 Part of the eye (6) 

11 Decay (3) 

12 Combine (5) 

14 Table-shaped hill (4) 

16 Minister's residence (5) 

18 Angry (5) 

20 Scottish dance (4) 

21 Corolla leaf (5) 

23 Opening (3) 

24 Danger signals (6) 

27 United (3) 

28 Finish (3) 

29 Interfere (6) 

DOWN 

1 Obstacle (3) 

2 Rodent (3) 

3 Give life to (7) 

4 English river (4) 

5 Calm (6) 

6 Seabird (6) 

9 Water pitcher (4) 

10 Limb (3) 

13 Floral ornamentation (7) 

14 Mix in (6) 

15 Undermined (6) 

17 Appear to be (4) 

19 Greek letter (3) 

22 Drug-yielding plant (4) 

25 Colour (3) 

26 Prosecute (3) 

CODE-CRACKER 

How to solve: Each number in our 

CODE-CRACKER grid represents a 

different letter of the alphabet. For 

example, today 15 represents M so fill M 

every time the figure 15 appears. 

You have two letters in the control 

grid to start you off. Enter them in the 

appropriate squares in the main grid, then 

use your knowledge of words to work out 

which letters go in the missing squares. 

Some letters of the alphabet may not be 

used. 

As you get the letters, fill in the other 

squares with the same number in the 

main grid, and the control grid. Check 

off the list of alphabetical letters as you 

identify them. 

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

CALVIN AND HOBBES 

SUDOKU 

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the 

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

contain all nine digits with no number repeating. 

PEANUTS 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS 

CODE-CRACKER 

CROSSWORD 

DILBERT 

SUDOKU

What’s on 

17 



EVENTS AROUND TOWN TODAY 

WORKSHOP 

MOVIE 

EXHIBITION 

STAR CINEPLEX 

Where Bashundhara City, Dhaka 

What Movie showtime (March 29) 

EASY SPOKEN 

When 10-11:30am 

Where British American Resource Center, 5th Floor, H 36, 

Garib-E-Newaz Avenue, Sector 11, Uttara 

What Workshop on how to speak fluently, naturally, and 

with confidence. For more information, call 01617302010 or 

01617302011. 

TALK 

PUBLIC LECTURE BY NOBEL LAUREATE 

When 11:30am-1pm 

Where North South University, Basundhara, Dhaka 

What Nobel Laureate, biochemist and molecular biologist Sir 

Richard J Roberts will promote education and research at the 

highest level. 

Power Rangers (2D): 2pm, 4:30pm, 

7:10pm 

Bhubon Majhi (2D): 1:30pm, 4pm, 

6:40pm 

AN ABSTRACT AFFAIR 

When 10-8pm 

Where Bay’s Edgewater, Gulshan 2, Dhaka 

What Edge, The Foundation presents a solo exhibition of 

renowned Bangladeshi artist Mohammed Eunus. 

EMOTION OF SUFI MUSIC 

When 3-9pm 

Where Alliance Française de Dhaka, 26, Mirpur Rd, Dhaka 

What Solo art exhibition by AZ Shimul. 

SEMINAR 

UPCOMING 

HIGHER STUDY PROSPECT IN THE US 

When 3-4pm 

Where EducationUSA Bangladesh, J Block, Progoti Sharoni, 

Baridhara, Dhaka 

What The cultural affairs officer of EducationUSA Bangladesh 

will talk in detail about higher study in the US. 

MARCH 31 

Logan (2D): 1:50pm, 4:30pm, 

7:20pm 

FAIR 

FOOD MARATHON MARCH 2017 

When 9am-11pm 

Where International Convention City Bashundhara – ICCB, 

Dhaka 

What Food Marathon will take place on March 9 and 10, 

with more than 25 amazing food brands, music, one minute 

games, recipe classes, the classic food contests, and much 

more. 

MARCH 31 

SHREYA GHOSHAL MELODY NIGHT LIVE IN DHAKA 

When 4pm-11pm 

Where International Convention City Bashundhara – ICCB, 

Dhaka 

What Indian melody legend Shreya Ghoshal is coming to 

Bangladesh. For tickets, call 01632067238. 

Tomake Chai (2D): 2:10pm 

Beauty and the Beast (3D): 

1:40pm, 4:10pm, 4:40pm, 

6:50pm, 7:30pm 

Kong: Skull Island (3D): 1:40pm, 

4:50pm, 7:20pm 

CENTRAL MEMBERS’ CONFERENCE 2017 

When 9am 

Where TSC, University of Dhaka 

What Organised by Shishu Kishore Mela, the day-long event 

will offer numerous fun activities for children.


18 

Sports 


Bangladesh’s Taskin Ahmed celebrates cleaning up Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Pradeep during the second ODI in Dambulla yesterday 

'Dhaka'r pola' Taskin shines 

with brilliant hat-trick 

• Ali Shahriyar Amin 

from Dambulla 

Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed became 

the fifth Bangladeshi to clinch a hattrick 

in ODIs when he took three 

wickets in as many balls in the last 

over of Sri Lankan’s innings in the 

second game of the three-match 

series at Rangiri Dambulla International 

Cricket Stadium yesterday. 

It wasn’t all plain sailing though. 

At one stage, the Lankans were 

going strong, thanks to Kusal 

Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal’s 

third-wicket partnership. And 

when their stand reached the 50- 

run mark, the DJ played the famous 

Bengali song titled “Dhaka’r pola”. 

Since Taskin hails from Bangladesh’s 

capital city and lives there, 

you never know, the track might 

have boosted his energy levels! 

Taskin picked up his first scalp 

in the third ball of the 50th and 

final over. It was a fuller delivery 

outside off-stump and middle-order 

batsman Asela Gunaratne 

drove uppishly. Fielder Soumya 

Sarkar was stationed inside the circle 

and duly took the catch. 

The second Lankan to get out 

was lower-order batter Suranga 

Lakmal. It was a full toss in the 

line of the middle stump and 

Lakmal swung hard. However, he 

was unable to connect properly 

and Mustafizur Rahman did the 

rest, grasping a good catch at mid 

wicket. 

The hat-trick ball was perhaps 

BANGLADESH HAT- 

TRICKS IN ODIS 

Player Opposition Venue Year 

Shahadat Zimbabwe Harare 2006 

Razzak Zimbabwe Dhaka 2010 

Rubel New Zealand Dhaka 2013 

Taijul Zimbabwe Dhaka 2014 

Taskin Sri Lanka Dambulla 2017 

the best of the lot. No 11 Nuwan 

Pradeep was helpless as Taskin unleashed 

a peach of a yorker. 

Before Taskin, four Bangladeshis 

notched trebles – right-arm pacer 

Shahadat Hossain against Zimbabwe 

in Harare in 2006, left-arm 

spinner Abdur Razzak against Zimbabwe 

in Dhaka in 2010, right-arm 

paceman Rubel Hossain against 

New Zealand in Dhaka in 2013 and 

left-arm slow bowler Taijul Islam 

against Zimbabwe in Dhaka three 

years ago. 

Prior to his hat-trick, Taskin 

had bagged the important wicket 

of centurion Kusal Mendis in the 

38th over. Mendis hit the ball hard 

straight towards Taskin, who failed 

to catch it at the first attempt. The 

ball went on to hit Taskin's left 

shoulder before popping up into 

the air. The right-arm speedster 

then completed the catch. 

Taskin ended up with bowling 

figures of 4/47 from 8.5 overs. • 

Rain has final laugh in 

second ODI 

• Ali Shahriyar Amin 

from Dambulla 

The second ODI between Sri Lanka 

and Bangladesh was called off 

due to rain at Rangiri International 

Cricket Stadium in Dambulla yesterday. 

Sri Lanka posted a challenging 

total of 311 runs losing all wickets 

as Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin 

Ahmed claimed a hat-trick in the 

last over of the innings. The rain 

came around 10 minutes after the 

innings break and continued till 

8:15pm local time. Eventually, the 

match was called off at 8:45pm. 

The third and final ODI will be 

played at SSC in Colombo this Saturday. 

Earlier, interim Lankan captain 

Upul Tharanga won the toss and 

elected to bat first. Sri Lanka started 

aggressively but Bangladesh 

limited-over skipper Mashrafe bin 

Mortaza struck the first blow in the 

third over. 

AFP 

Tharanga and Kusal Mendis 

however, formed a brilliant 111-run 

partnership for the second wicket. 

Bangladesh then got a lucky break 

in the 25th over as Tharanga was 

run out off a no ball, thanks to some 

brilliant work by Mahmudullah at 

short fine leg. Tharanga scored 65 

of 76 balls with nine boundaries. 

Mendis though batted beautifully 

and carried his innings forward 

before scoring his maiden ton. 

Mendis was finally out after scoring 

102 as Taskin took a brilliant catch 

off his own bowling. 

Mendis' knock was composed 

nine boundaries and a six. When 

Mendis got out, Sri Lanka were still 

in a good position; the scoreboard 

reading 216/4 in the 38th over. 

Later, the Bangladesh bowlers 

came back well, conceding 90-odd 

runs in the last 13 overs. 

Taskin took four wickets while 

Mashrafe, Mehedi Hasan Miraz and 

Mustafizur Rahman all bagged one 

apiece. •

Sports 19 



2ND ODI 

SRI LANKA R B 

Gunathilaka c Mushfiq b Mashrafe 9 11 

Tharanga run out (Mahmudullah) 65 76 

Mendis c & b Taskin 102 107 

Chandimal lbw b Mustafizur 24 30 

Gunaratne c Soumya b Taskin 39 28 

Siriwardana b Miraz 30 30 

Perera run out (Mushfiq) 9 6 

Dilruwan run out (Mushfiq) 9 8 

Kulasekara not out 2 2 

Lakmal c Mustafizur b Taskin 0 1 

Pradeep b Taskin 0 1 

Extras (b 4, lb 10, w 7, nb 1) 22 

Total (all out; 49.5 overs) 311 

Fall Of Wickets 

1-18 (Gunathilaka), 2-129 (Tharanga), 3-212 

(Chandimal), 4-216 (Mendis), 5-271 (Siriwardana), 

6-280 (Perera), 7-300 (Dilruwan), 

8-311 (Gunaratne), 9-311 (Lakmal), 

10-311 (Pradeep) 

Bowling 

Mashrafe 10-1-55-1, Miraz 10-0-50-1, 

Mustafizur 8-0-60-1, Taskin 8.5-0-47-4, 

Shakib 10-0-59-0, Mosaddek 3-0-26-0 

Match abandoned due to rain 

Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis plays a 

paddle sweep as Bangladesh’s 

Mushfiqur Rahim looks on AFP 

MOMENTS OF THE DAY 

Bizarre Tharanga run out 

Makeshift Sri Lanka captain Upul Tharanga 

formed a crucial 111 third-wicket 

partnership alongside centurion Kusal 

Mendis. Tharanga was batting well 

and the Lankans were cruising after 24 

overs. But Tharanga’s promising innings 

ended courtesy a bizarre run out. Pacer 

Mustafizur Rahman bowled a waist high 

full toss down the leg side. Wicket-keeper 

Mushfiqur Rahim dived full length to 

his right and deflected the ball to short 

fine leg. All-rounder Mahmudullah, stationed 

at short fine leg, effected a direct 

hit at the bowler's end as Tharanga 

rushed across the other end. Tharanga’s 

casual approach gifted Bangladesh a 

lucky breakthrough. There is only one 

possible way to get out off a no-ball. 

And that’s exactly what Tharanga did! 

Ran himself out off a no ball! 

Sharp Mushfiq run out 

Mushfiq was sharp behind the stumps 

throughout the second ODI. After winning 

the toss, the home side started 

their innings aggressively. Opening 

batsman Danushka Gunathilaka topedged 

an in swinging delivery from limited-over 

captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza 

in the third over. The ball went high and 

Mushfiq ran towards short fine leg to 

grab the catch. It was a fine effort from 

the diminutive stumper. Another important 

moment came in the 47th over. 

Mashrafe made a strong appeal against 

all-rounder Thisara Perera. Perera was 

looking dangerous as he was batting 

on nine off six balls at that moment. 

Messi banned for four int’l matches 

• Reuters 

Argentina forward Lionel Messi 

has been banned from their next 

four competitive internationals, 

starting with yesterday’s World 

Cup qualifier in Bolivia, for swearing 

at a match official, Fifa said on 

Tuesday. 

The decision was announced 

less than six hours before kickoff 

of the match in La Paz and means 

that the five-times world player of 

the year will play in only one of Argentina’s 

remaining five World Cup 

qualifiers. 

His absence will be a severe blow 

to the two-times world champions 

who are struggling in the marathon 

South American campaign where 

their results have included home 

However, Perera went for a quick single, 

Mushfiq grabbed the ball quickly 

and effected a direct throw to end his 

innings. It might just have saved Bangladesh 

15-20 runs as Perera made a blistering 

35-ball 55 in the first ODI. Later, 

Mushfiq also ran out Dilruwan Perera in 

a similar fashion in the 49th over. 

Rain wins at the end 

Sri Lanka posted a challenging total of 

311, riding on Mendis’s maiden ODI century. 

But then, rain intervened just after 

defeats by Ecuador and Paraguay 

and a 3-0 mauling by arch-rivals 

Brazil. 

Fifa said Messi had “directed 

insulting words at an assistant referee” 

during the 1-0 win over Chile 

on Friday, in which he scored the 

only goal from a penalty. 

Television pictures showed him 

swearing at Brazilian linesman 

Emerson Augusto do Carvalho at 

the end of the match after being 

harried and fouled by Chilean player 

Jean Beausejour. The official 

patted him on the head and tried 

to calm him down but Messi kept 

ranting. 

Fifa said in a letter to the Argentine 

Football Association, published 

by Argentine media, that the 

incident was not detailed in the 

the innings break. It continued to pour 

down heavily for around half an hour. 

As the drizzling continued to get heavy, 

match officials had no other option but 

to call off the game at 8:45pm. Following 

their first ODI thrashing, the Lankans 

came back well and registered a fine 

batting display yesterday. The home fans 

were in upbeat mood but rain eventually 

had the final say on proceedings. • 

ALI SHAHRIYAR AMIN 

FROM DAMBULLA 

referee’s report at the time and was 

brought to their attention by the 

media. 

According to the letter, Carvalho 

said he did not understand at the 

time what Messi was saying. 

“I only realised he was swearing 

afterwards on reading the press,” 

he said. 

Messi, 29, will also miss games 

away to Uruguay and home to Venezuela 

and Peru. The Barcelona 

forward will be eligible again when 

Argentina visit Ecuador on Oct. 10. 

Argentina are third in the 10- 

team South American group with 

22 points from 13 games but have 

only a two-point cushion over 

sixth-placed Chile, with Colombia 

(21) and Ecuador (20) sandwiched 

in between. •

20 



Sports 

SCORECARD 

BANGLADESH R B 

Saif c Vesawkar b Karn 7 10 

Azmir c Aasif b Karn 0 4 

Mominul c Malla b Lamichhane 61 78 

Mithun c Airee b Karn 0 4 

Shanto b Alam 4 12 

Nasir not out 109 115 

Afif lbw b Lamichhane 14 16 

Saifuddin run out (Malla) 13 18 

Rahatul st Nath b Malla 4 12 

Abul c Bhandari b Airee 29 30 

Nasum not out 1 1 

Extras (w 15) 15 

Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 257 

Bowling 

Karn 8-1-46-3, Alam 6-0-25-1, Airee 7-0- 

40-1, Vesawkar 4-0-24-0, Lamichhane 

10-0-41-2, Karki 5-0-30-0, Malla 10-0-51-1 

NEPAL R B 

Malla c Shanto b Saifuddin 0 10 

Dhamala c Saif b Saifuddin 1 13 

Aasif c Mithun b Abul 12 15 

Nath b Rahatul 41 62 

Airee c sub (Salman) b Rahatul 56 85 

Vesawkar c & b Rahatul 2 5 

Alam c Nasir b Rahatul 10 17 

Bhandari b Saifuddin 33 23 

Karki c Azmir b Abul 6 16 

Lamichhane not out 3 8 

Karn run out (Saif) 1 2 

Extras (lb 5, w 3, nb 1) 9 

Total (all out; 42.3 overs) 174 

Bowling 

Abul 8-0-40-2, Saifuddin 8.3-4-22-3, 

Nasum 8-0-19-0, Nasir 8-0-28-0, Rahatul 

7-0-45-4, Afif 1-0-10-0, Mominul 2-0-5-0 

Bangladesh won by 83 runs 

BRIEF SCORES 

HONG KONG 79 in 31.2 overs (Rath 27, 

Usama 7/14) lost to PAKISTAN 327/4 

(Imam 120, Imran 108) by 248 runs 

INDIA 167/3 in 30.1 overs (Gill 51*, 

Easwaran 42) beat MALAYSIA 163/9 

(Aziz 53, Gani 3/27) by seven wickets 

AFGHANISTAN 285 in 47.1 overs 

(Najibullah 87, Shahidullah 53) lost 

to SRI LANKA 320/6 (Asalanka 105, 

Perera 84) by 35 runs 

Bangladesh’s Nasir Hossain plays a shot against Nepal during the Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2017 in Cox’s Bazar yesterday 

MAX ACC EMERGING TEAMS CUP 2017 

Ton-up Nasir as Bangladesh into semi-finals 

• Tribune Report 

All-rounder Nasir Hossain’s brilliant 

unbeaten century helped 

Bangladesh register their second 

successive win, against Nepal in 

Cox’s Bazar's Sheikh Kamal International 

Cricket Stadium yesterday. 

Nasir made 109 as the home side 

posted 257 runs for the loss of nine 

wickets against Nepal in a Group 

B encounter. In reply, the visiting 

side were all out for 174 in 42.3 

overs, falling short by 83 runs. 

In the process, Bangladesh progressed 

to the last four with a game 

to spare, against Pakistan. 

However, at one stage, Bangladesh 

were struggling on 33/4 when 

vice-captain Nasir walked out to 

the middle and joined captain Mominul 

Haque. 

And the two produced a 

much-needed partnership, putting 

on 78 runs for the fifth wicket. Mominul 

scored the majority of the runs 

before getting dismissed for 61. Nasir 

though maintained his composure, 

remaining undefeated as Bangladesh 

registered a challenging total. 

The national discard scored 109 

off 115 deliveries, performing the 

role of chief anchor for his side. Nasir 

hammered a dozen boundaries 

and two over boundaries. 

Bangladesh did not start all 

that well as opening batsman Azmir 

Ahmed got dismissed without 

troubling the scorers in the sixth 

ball of the innings. Other opener 

Saif Hasan soon joined his partner 

in the dressing room after being 

dismissed for seven. Mohammad 

Mithun (nought) and Nazmul Hossain 

Shanto (four) fared little better. 

Left-arm pacer Avinash Karn 

was the wrecker in chief, bagging 

three wickets conceding 46 runs in 

eight overs. 

Nepal's chase was disrupted by 

left-arm spinner Rahatul Ferdous 

as he took four wickets conceding 

45 in seven overs. Middle-order 

batsman Dipendra Airee topscored 

with 56 as Nepal fell well 

short of their target. 

Bangladesh top Group B, ahead 

of Pakistan, with two wins in as 

many games. 

Meanwhile in the other game of 

the group yesterday at the second 

ground of the same venue, Pakistan 

thrashed Hong Kong by 248 runs. 

In Group A, India yesterday recorded 

their second consecutive 

win when they defeated Malaysia 

POINTS TABLE 

Group A 

Teams M W L Pts 

India 2 2 0 4 

Afghanistan 2 1 1 2 

Sri Lanka 2 1 1 2 

Malaysia 2 0 2 0 

Group B 

MD MANIK 

Teams M W L Pts 

Bangladesh 2 2 0 4 

Pakistan 2 2 0 4 

Nepal 2 0 2 0 

Hong Kong 2 0 2 0 

by seven wickets in Chittagong's 

MA Aziz Stadium while on the same 

day at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury 

Stadium in the port city, Sri Lanka 

beat Afghanistan by 35 runs. • 

Australia’s Jackson Irvine (3L) and teammates watch the ball go across the line as he scores against the UAE in their World Cup 

qualifying match in Sydney yesterday 

AFP 

Deschamps eyes 'glamour' Spain 

match, Dutch without Blind 

• AFP 

A rejuvenated France will take on 

Spain in a "glamour" friendly yesterday 

as coach Didier Deschamps 

looks to rotate his squad in a bid 

to extend a seven-match unbeaten 

streak. 

Fresh from a 3-1 victory over 

Luxembourg in a World Cup qualifier 

at the weekend, the Euro 2016 

runners-up will line up against a 

Spanish side that has dipped since 

winning the treble of two Euros 

(2008, 2012) and the 2010 World 

Cup, but remains strong on paper. • 

INT’L FRIENDLIES 

Georgia v Latvia 

Albania v Bosnia 

Egypt v Togo 

Estonia v Croatia 

Macedonia v Belarus 

Russia v Belgium 

South Africa v Angola 

Luxembourg v Cape Verde 

Austria v Finland 

Netherlands v Italy 

Portugal v Sweden 

Rep of Ireland v Iceland 

Cameroon v Guinea 

France v Spain

Sports 

21 



QUICK BYTES 

Injured Kohli may 

miss start of IPL 

India’s firebrand skipper Virat 

Kohli may miss the start of the lucrative 

Indian Premier League T20 

tournament as he races against 

time to recover from a shoulder 

injury. Kohli, the captain of the 

Royal Challengers Bangalore 

team, hurt his right shoulder while 

diving to stop a boundary during 

the drawn third Test against 

Australia in Ranchi. -AFP 

BFF committee 

disciplines 

Farashganj SC 

The disciplinary committee of the 

BFF yesterday ordered Farashganj 

Sporting Club to pay their old 

fine to the federation within a 

fortnight. The Old Dhaka outfit 

have to pay fine of Tk15,92,000 

within April 13 this year. The 

committee also suspended Jahid 

Hasan, a footballer from Jessore 

for playing in the U-18 National 

Football Championship 2017. 

Jahid apparently breached the 

disciplinary code and has been 

subsequently banned from 

playing in any BFF-organised 

tournament. The Jessore District 

Football Association has been 

fined Tk20,000 while the DFAs of 

Bhola and Meherpur were warned 

for their walk-overs in the same 

tournament. – TRIBUNE REPORT 

PDB face Army in 

volleyball final 

Bangladesh Power Development 

Board and Bangladesh Army 

reached the final of the Independence 

Day Volleyball Championship 

2017 after winning their 

respective semi-finals at National 

Volleyball Stadium yesterday. 

Bangladesh Army outplayed 

Bangladesh Navy in the first 

semi-final, winning by 25-20, 25- 

18, 25-14 and 23-25 points, while 

BPDB defeated Titas Club 25-22, 

18-25, 27-25. The grand finale and 

the third-place decider will be 

held today at the same venue in 

the afternoon. – TRIBUNE REPORT 

City fined £35,000 

over Liverpool 

protest 

Manchester City have been fined 

£35,000 ($44,000, 40,000 

euros) by the Football Association 

for a failure to control their 

players against Liverpool earlier 

this month. City pleaded guilty 

to a misconduct charge last week 

after several players were seen 

protesting against the award of a 

penalty to Liverpool in a Premier 

League match at Eastlands on 

March 19. - AFP 

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar presents the Border–Gavaskar Trophy to regular skipper Virat Kohli and interim captain 

Ajinkya Rahane after the team won the Test series against Australia in Dharamsala yesterday 

AP 

'Unbelievable' India maintain Test run 

• AFP 

India thrashed Australia by eight 

wickets yesterday to seal a Test series 

marked by outbursts and controversies 

2-1 and underline their 

status as the number one side. 

Chasing 106 on the penultimate 

day of the fourth Test, opener 

Lokesh Rahul hit 51 not out in 

Dharamsala as India seized back 

the Border-Gavaskar trophy from 

Australia. India's stand-in skipper 

Ajinkya Rahane (38 not out) hit two 

sixes in a row off Pat Cummins en 

route to the comprehensive win, 

SA reeling but have praise for Kane 

• AFP 

South Africa paid homage to a "fabulous" 

Kane Williamson yesterday 

after the New Zealand captain's 176 

left the Proteas on the ropes with 

a day to play in the deciding final 

Test in Hamilton. 

"We've got a mountain to climb," 

assistant coach Adrian Birrell said 

after South Africa were reduced to 

80 for five at stumps on day four, 

95 runs short of making New Zealand 

bat again. 

With Colin de Grandhomme also 

firing with the bat with a quickfire 

4TH TEST, DAY 4 

AUSTRALIA 300 & 137 lost to INDIA 

332 & 106/2 in 23.5 overs (Rahul 51*, 

Rahane 38*) by eight wickets 

as fans waved giant India flags and 

danced in the stands. 

India have now won seven 

Test series win in a row, a run that 

kicked off with their triumph in Sri 

Lanka in 2015, and includes victories 

over New Zealand, England 

and Bangladesh in an extended 

home season. 

Skipper Virat Kohli, who was 

3RD TEST, DAY 4 

SOUTH AFRICA 314 & 80/5 in 

39 overs (Amla 19, Patel 2/22) trail 

NEW ZEALAND 489 in 162.1 overs 

(Williamson 176, Raval 88) by 95 runs 

57, New Zealand started the day 

seven runs ahead and added 168 

before they were all out for 489. 

De Grandhomme then ignited 

the assault on the South African 

top order in the sixth over when 

he removed Dean Elgar for five and 

later took a smart catch to dismiss 

Hashim Amla for 19. 

forced to sit out the final Test with 

a shoulder injury, said the hardfought 

win over Australia was the 

most satisfying of the recent run. 

Australia captain Steve Smith 

apologised for letting emotion get 

the better of him. On Monday, footage 

indicated he called Murali Vijay 

a "cheat" for wrongly claiming a 

catch on Monday. It was one of several 

incidents during the bad-tempered 

series, including Kohli accusing 

Smith of systematically abusing 

the decision review system during 

the second Bangalore Test. 

In the maiden Test played in 

Theinus de Bruyn was run out 

for 12 in a bizarre mid-pitch collision 

when he was ball-watching 

and veered into Amla, leaving the 

batsmen sprawled on the ground. 

Birrell said the Proteas' batting 

mayhem was part of the flow-on 

effect from Williamson's marathon 

innings. 

Faf du Plessis and Quinton 

de Kock were both 15 not out at 

stumps. Birrell said they were looking 

for de Kock, who set up their 

eight wicket win in the second Test 

to go 1-0 up in the series, to go on 

the attack when play resumes. • 

Aussies no 

longer friends, 

says Kohli 

• AFP 

Indian skipper Virat Kohli said he 

no longer considered Australian 

cricketers as friends after winning 

a tense Test series marked by bad 

blood in Dharamsala yesterday. 

Kohli, who remarked before 

the series that he was "really good 

friends" with some Australian players, 

said things had changed during 

the bitter contest between the 

world's top two sides. 

"I thought that was the case but 

it has changed for sure. As I said 

in the heat of the battle, you want 

to be competitive but yeah I have 

been proven wrong," he said in a 

post-match press conference. 

"The thing I said before the first 

Test (about being friends), I have 

certainly been proven wrong, and 

you won't hear me say that ever 

again." 

The 28-year-old skipper caused 

a furore in the second Test after 

accusing his counterpart Steven 

Smith of repeatedly abusing the 

decision review system. 

Critics questioned Kohli's conduct 

under pressure, and also 

his form in the series, with the 

right-hander scoring just 46 runs 

from five innings. • 

Dharamsala, India scored 332 in 

their first innings in reply to Australia's 

300, before the tourists collapsed 

for just 137 on the third day. 

On day four, India lost Vijay to 

fast bowler Cummins and Cheteshwar 

Pujara to a run out, but they 

were the only scares for the hosts 

who reached their target in less 

than 24 overs. India owed their win 

to Ravindra Jadeja, who top-scored 

with 63 runs in the first innings 

before taking three wickets during 

Australia's second knock - and was 

duly named man of the match and 

man of the series. • 

Root urges new 

free-to-air TV deal 

• AFP 

England Test captain Joe Root believes 

the new planned city-based 

T20 event must be shown on freeto-air 

TV if it is to achieve its aim 

of attracting a new generation of 

cricket fans. The ECB announced 

its intention to press ahead with a 

new eight-team T20 event, which 

they aim to launch in 2020. ECB 

chiefs believe they need something 

similar to help them reach family 

audiences and encourage children 

to become fans of the sport. •

22 



Showtime 

Taapsee urges women 

to fight back 

• Showtime Desk 

drives home an important start living their lives in their 

point – “Don’t be afraid to own way. This video is a wakeup 

After battling with the demons 

of society in Pink, Taapsee 

Pannu literally takes the fight 

to the street in her new film 

Naam Shabana, where she 

plays a secret service agent 

whose martial arts moves look 

good enough to rival those of 

Bruce Lee. 

Now Taapsee has a very 

important message to impart 

via a new video by Blush. 

Titled Taapsee Unblushed, the 

video asks women to learn 

self defence, and hit back. 

Through the video, the actress 

defend yourself if the situation 

demands it.” 

The video shows many 

women who are seen 

apologising for wearing a 

short skirt, for having a drink, 

for walking home alone and 

everything else that they do 

for the fear of societal norms. 

Just then, Taapsee Pannu 

walks in and tells the audience 

that they aren’t apologising to 

society – they are apologising 

to themselves and their 

bodies. It’s time women learn 

to fight with these men, and 

call to all the young women 

in order to make them realise 

that self defence is no longer 

just an option, it’s a necessity, 

and a must-have skill for every 

woman. 

“It’s time for us to be 

responsible for our own safety 

and learn to protect ourselves. 

The video resonates with 

me and I am glad to be a part 

of something so powerful, 

something I hope every 

woman will understand and 

act upon,” said Tapsee. • 

Rahsaan Noor and Ridy Sheikh 

to be seen in Bengali Beauty 

Sunil is not leaving The 

Kapil Sharma Show 


Rahsaan Noor and Ridy Sheikh 

will soon be seen in a romantic 

period movie, titled Bengali 

Beauty. Mushfiqur Rahman and 

Tanha Zafreen of Bioscopewala 

Productions are producing the 

film. Rahsan Noor will also direct 

the film, which will be shot in 

Dhaka this spring. 

The movie is set in Dhaka 

during 1970, and the story goes 

on to portray the love story 

between a radio presenter 

(Rahsan Noor) and the beautiful 

daughter of an Army general 

(Ridy Sheikh). 

Noor was last seen in the 

2015 film The Spectacular Jihad 

of Taz Rahim, where he starred 

opposite Bollywood actress, 

Monica Dogra. The film was 

featured by Film India Worldwide 

at the Berlinale Film Festival. 

Ridy Sheikh was also featured as 

the Bengali face for UNESCO’s 

internationally renowned 

documentary The Ethnic Origins 

of Beauty. Before that, she also 

participated in So You Think You 

Can Dance Russia, in 2014. 

Bioscopewala Productions 

is a Bangladeshi based film 

production house. They are also 

currently developing a romantic 

comedy, Motka, the second film 

in their 2017 slate.• 


Here’s some good news for all Dr 

Mashoor Gulati fans – Sunil Grover 

(aka Dr Mashoor Gulati) is still 

part of The Kapil Sharma Show. 

Contrary to reports, he has not left 

The Kapil Sharma Show, but he is 

on a strike, and will not resume 

working until his demands are 

met. 

Sunil Grover, better known as 

Dr Mashoor Gulati, is protesting 

against the string of attacks on 

doctors by civilians. Doctors are 

being attacked by patients and 

common people at different places 

across Maharashtra. While the 

regular doctors have ended their 

strike already and returned to 

work, Grover isn’t satisfied with 

the government’s response, and 

is continuing his strike. In fact, 

Sunil himself was attacked by 

a fellow passenger on a flight, 

while returning to Mumbai from 

Australia. The fellow passenger, 

who called himself a comedian, 

threw a shoe at Sunil, and also 

abused him verbally. He will 

continue to be on strike until the 

Mahrashtra government provides 

assurance of security to doctors 

from civilians. 

In fact, if reports are to be 

believed, Grover will be shooting 

for the upcoming episode, along 

with Chandan Prabhakar and Ali 

Asgar. 

For those who missed the 

earlier incident, Sunil Grover’s 

mid-air fight is slowly becoming 

a soap opera that everyone is 

hooked to. Two of the most 

famous comedians of India got 

into a mid-air fight last week, and 

have been on the headlines ever 

since then.•

Showtime 

23 



Loss of an iconic Dhallywood actor 


Mizu Ahmed, renowned for his 

super-villain roles in Dhallywood, 

passed away on Monday. Ahmed 

breathed his last aboard a train at 

Airport Railway Station, Dhaka 

around 8pm, following a heart 

attack. He was on his way to 

Dinajpur to shoot for the film Manus 

O Omanus, a directorial venture of 

Ahmed Ilias Bhuiyan. 

Born on November 17, 1953 in 

Kushtia district, Ahmed was a 

theatre enthusiast. In the following 

years, Ahmed got involved with a 

local theatre troupe. His birth name 

is Mizanur Rahman. 

Mizu Ahmed made his debut on 

the big screen with Trishna in 1978. 

After working on a couple of films, 

he established himself as a villain in 

the Bangladeshi film industry. 

To recognise his acting, Ahmed 

was awarded with the National Film 

Award in 1992 in the Best Supporting 

Actor category for his role in Trass. 

One of the most prolific actors of 

the industry, he has worked in more 

than 400 films. His notable works 

include Mahanagar (1981), Surrender 

(1987), Chakor (1992), Tag (1993), 

Bashira (1996), Ajker Santrashi 

(1996), Hangor Nodi Grenade (1997), 

Coolie (1997), Lal Badsha (1999), 

Gunda No One (2000), Jhar (2000) 

and Itihash (2002). 

Apart from acting, Ahmed started 

producing films from his own banner 

Friends Movies in cooperation with 

another Dhallywood actor Wasimul 

Bari Rajib. 

He left behind his wife Parvin 

Ahmed, two daughters Keya and 

Mou, and a son Haarsat. • 

Indian Idol 2017 ready 

for finale night 


The singing reality show Indian 

Idol 9 is gearing up to shoot 

its final episode. The popular 

musical reality show on Sony 

has been entertaining audiences 

with its exceptional musical 

performances every week, and 

the talented contestants are 

being showered with praise from 

judges and audiences alike. 

The grand finale of the show 

will be held on April 2. Recently, 

L V Revanth and Rohit, two of 

the top four contestants, visited 

their hometown, Hyderabad. 

Needless to say, they received a 

grand welcome from their family 

and fans. 

In the last episode, L V 

Revanth also impressed Vidya 

Balan with “Moh Moh Ke 

Dhaage” from the film Dum Laga 

Ke Haisha. Another contestant, 

Maalavika Sundar, sang “Piya 

Baware” from Rekha starrer 

Khubsoorat. Last but not the 

least, Rohit’s rendition of “Bin 

Tere” was appreciated by 

everyone. Anu Malik, Farah Khan 

and Sonakshi praised him for 

his performance and gave him a 

standing ovation. 

There were also some amusing 

moments on the show, where 

Vidya flaunted her witty skills of 

hosting. However, the result was 

quite unexpected as Maalavika 

Sundar was eliminated from the 

show. • 

Adele may never 

tour again 


The “Hello” singer said that 

she may never tour again after 

wrapping up a string of shows in 

Australia and New Zealand. 

“Touring isn’t something 

I’m good at,” she told the 

40,000-strong crowd. “Applause 

makes me feel a bit vulnerable.” 

“I don’t know if I will ever tour 

again. The only reason I’ve toured 

is you. I’m not sure if touring is my 

bag.” 

The 28-year-old singer also 

burst into tears as she called 

her latest tour the “greatest 

accomplishment in my career.” 

“It’s changed my life. I 

understand why I do it,” she 

added. 

Adele’s 2011 tour ended in a 

ruptured vocal chord, surgery and 16 

cancelled shows. During that time, 

she told Rolling Stone that she hates 

live performing so much it once 

made her throw up on someone. 

“I just gotta bear it,” she said. 

“But I don’t like touring. I have 

anxiety attacks a lot.” 

She told NPR in 2015 that her 

stage fright was “actually getting 

worse. Or, it’s just not getting 

better, so I feel like it’s getting 

worse, because it should’ve gotten 

better by now.” 

Adele is confirmed to perform 

four more shows between June 

28 and July 2, dubbed as “The 

Finale”, at the Wembley Stadium, 

bringing an end to her 15-month 

world tour. •

24 



Back Page 

BB HEIST: MUHITH CONFIDENT 

ABOUT GETTING BACK MONEY › 10 

RAIN HAS FINAL 

LAUGH IN 2ND ODI › 18 

LOSS OF AN ICONIC 

DHALLYWOOD ACTOR › 23 

Going native with 

telecom towers 

• Ishtiaq Husain 

A Malaysia-based telecommunications infrastructure 

company has teamed up with engineers 

of Bangladesh University of Engineering 

and Technology to build the country’s first 

cell phone tower made from bamboo. 

Edotco Group (“edotco”), the world’s 14th 

largest tower company, which is owned by 

Axiata Group, the largest shareholder in Robi 

Axiata, is behind the initiative. 

BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood 

inaugurated the bamboo tower yesterday at a 

programme in Dhaka’s Westin Hotel. 

Edotco utilised bamboo in the construction 

of a telecommunication tower, which was installed 

on a rooftop in Uttara Model Town of 

the city. 

The BTRC Chairman said if the use of bamboo 

tower turns out to be successful, incentives 

would be offered for the home-grown 

technology. 

Edotco Bangladesh Co. Ltd. has developed 

the bamboo tower in collaboration with Bangladesh 

University of Engineering (Buet). 

The research and development of the project, 

led by Professor Dr Syed Ishtiaq Ahmad 

of Buet’s Civil Engineering Department, focused 

on the design and viability of bamboo 

as an alternative material to traditional steel 

structures in telecommunications. 

“We are very pleased to see the installation 

of the first bamboo telecoms tower in our country. 

Bangladesh is a country with plenty of natural 

resources, including bamboo, which is a 

renewable material,” Professor Dr Syed Ishtiaq 

Ahmad said while speaking at the inauguration. 

“Feasibility studies showed that bamboo 

is a good material choice for telecom towers 

due to its properties. We thank Edotco for believing 

in such an initiative that contributes to 

nation-building and conservation of the environment,” 

he added. 

Studies indicate that untreated bamboo has 

the ability to bear the weight of concrete while 

possessing the rigidity and tensile strength to 

support its own weight, making it a suitable 

material for telecom structures. 

It can withstand gusts of up to 210km/h, 

with an expected lifespan of about 10 years. 

A bamboo tower takes around 12 days to 

construct, and consumes less energy to manufacture 

compared to traditional steel towers. 

The structure has a capacity to house up to 8 

antennas at a time, enabling co-location. • 

Five to die for killing 

photojournalist Aftab Ahmed 

• Md Sanaul Islam Tipu 

COURTESY 

A Dhaka court yesterday awarded five with 

death sentence for killing Ekushey Padak winning 

photojournalist Aftab Ahmed. 

Judge Abdur Rahman Sarder of Dhaka Speedy 

Trial Tribunal 4 pronounced the verdict after crossexamining 

20 out of 25 prosecution witnesses. 

The convicts are Humayun Kabir, Habib 

Hawlader, Belal Hossain, Raju Munshi and Md 

Rasel. However, Rasel and Raju have been absconding 

ever since the case was filed. 

The court also sentenced Sabuj Khan to 

seven-year imprisonment and fined him 

Tk10,000, in default of which, he will have to 

serve one more year in jail. 

According to the case, on December 25, 

2013, the 80-year-old photojournalist was 

killed at his Wapda road house in Rampura, 

Dhaka. A case was filed with Rampura police 

station accusing some unnamed people then. 

On March 25, 2014, Sub-Inspector Md Ashik 

Iqbal of RAB 3 submitted the charge sheet to 

the Dhaka CMM court accusing the six people. 

The court indicted them including Humayun 

Kabir, driver of the slain photojournalist 

on July 24 in 2014. 

Aftab had a long and illustrious career 

when he served as chief photographer for the 

Bangla newspaper the Daily Ittefaq. • 

A fire, originating from a kitchen burner, gutted 80 shanties at a slum in Chittagong’s Muradpur area 

yesterday. Nine vehicles of four fire fighting units brought the fire under control. No casualties were 

reported, as most slum residents were at work. Some children and older residents managed to escape 

on time 

RABIN CHOWDHURY 

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

DT e-Paper 29 March 2017

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