e_Paper, Thursday, May 18, 2017

SECOND EDITION
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017 | Jyastha 4, 1424, Shaban 21, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 13 | www.dhakatribune.com | 24 pages | Price: Tk10
Why do so many people
die from lightning in
Bangladesh?
STORY ON › 2
PHOTO: NABHAN ZAMAN

2
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
News
Death by lightning: Govt doing
little to prevent rising toll
Lightning strikes have killed 62 people across Bangladesh so far this year
• Syed Samiul Basher Anik
LEAD
MAY 5
Bangladesh has seen an alarming
rise in deaths caused by lightning
strikes in recent years, yet the government
has failed to devise an effective
plan to help reduce the risk.
The government declared lightning
a major disaster after 217 people
were killed by strikes in 2016
alone. So far this year, the Ministry
of Disaster Management and Relief
says 62 people have reportedly died,
bringing to 1,174 the number of people
killed by lightning since 2011.
Experts believe a lack of preventive
measures is a major reason for
the high death rate.
“People in urban areas are vulnerable
to lightning as most buildings
do not have a lightning prevention
system, even though it is
mandatory under Bangladesh National
Building Code,” said Gawher
Nayeem Wahra, director of BRAC’s
Disaster Management and Climate
Change programme.
Are the Jhau plantations protecting or harming the coast?
• Abu Siddique
ENVIROMENT
Over the last three decades, the
government has been planting
Jhau (Casuarina equisetifolia) trees
along the southeastern coastline as
part of a coastal afforestation initiative.
The evidence however, raises
questions as to whether the plants
are indeed helpful in protecting the
coasts or are in fact harming the
sand dunes.
In the last three years, Jhaus
have been planted over 258 hectares
along the coastline under
a project titled Climate Resilient
Participatory Afforestation and Reforestation
Project (CRPARP).
Of this, 183 hectares falls under
Cox’s Bazar, said Md Humayun Kabir,
divisional forest officer of Chittagong
Coastal Forest Division.
The objective of jhau plantation
along the coast, the project document
says, is to have these plants
“function as wind break and combat
tidal surges.”
But official data suggests that
the trees themselves are vulnerable
to tidal surges and high winds.
Death by lightning
in May 2017
7 people killed in 5 districts
MAY 9
16 people killed in 9 districts
MAY 13
8 people killed in 2 districts
MAY 15
2 people killed in 2 districts
MAY 16
1 man killed in Bogra
MAY 17
1 man killed in Noakhali
250
200
150
100
“Some old buildings have metal
rods or objects to divert lightning
strikes, but most of the new
buildings do not have such mechanisms,”
he added.
It is the people living in the rural
and haor areas, however, who are the
most vulnerable to lightning strikes
because of rapid deforestation.
“We are drastically cutting
Cox’s Bazar Divisional Forest
Officer Ali Kabir informed the Dhaka
Tribune that though the Forest
Department planted around 294
hectares of Jhau at different times,
currently there is only 190 hectares
of Jhau left, and the rest of it has
been destroyed in cyclones and
tidal surges.
Dhaka University botany Professor
Dr Mohammad Zashim Uddin
told the Dhaka Tribune, “Usually,
sand dunes are the natural barriers
against coastal surges. Jhau or
Casuarina is a plant that prevents
the growth of the dunes.”
50
0
Death toll due to lightning strikes
179
201
185
170
160
217
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
down large trees and making people
more vulnerable to lightning,”
said Gawher.
The Ministry of Disaster Management
and Relief has undertaken
a project to plant one million palm
trees across Bangladesh, especially
in haor areas in Sunamganj, Netrakona,
Sylhet and Brahmanbaria,
as a preventive measure.
Jhau plantation along the coast in Cox’s Bazar. Photo taken in 2016
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
In the Bahamas, an island state
in the West Atlantic Ocean, a study
has shown that the Jhaus are harmful
to the coasts as they are uprooted
by the first hit of cyclones due to
their thick and shallow roots.
The study, carried out by the
Bahamas National Trust, suggests
that Jhau plantation in sand dunes
is the wrong choice.
Unlike native shrubbery, the
thick shallow roots of the Jhau
make it much more susceptible to
high winds, leading to increased
beach and dune erosion and interference
with nesting activities of
People in urban
areas are vulnerable
to lightning as most
buildings do not
have a lightning
prevention system,
even though it is
mandatory under
Bangladesh National
Building Code
“We have instructed each upazila
administration to plant at least
2,500 trees in every upazila if the
space is available,” said Abu Sayeed
Mohammad Hashim, additional
secretary at the ministry.
But these trees will take five to seven
years to grow to their full height,
and the government has no plans to
prevent lightning-caused injuries and
deaths for the interim period.
Gawher suggested that the government
consider planting date
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
sea turtles there, the study says.
Even in Bangladesh, Jhau tree
is not a natural vegetation for the
sand dunes, a senior forest official
with long experience in coastal afforestation
told the Dhaka Tribune.
“When the trees are planted
in any sand dune and they grow,
it stops the natural growth of the
sandy beach which is raised gradually
as sand comes in with the
waves,” the official said.
“Therefore, the growth of the
sand dunes, which is the natural
embankment to protect against
tidal surges, has stopped and made
palm trees as they grow faster than
other palm trees.
Samarendra Karmaker, the former
director of the Bangladesh
Meteorological Department, said
minute particles were to blame for
the increase in the number of thunderstorms
hitting Bangladesh.
“The amount of aerosol has increased
in the air, which is why
lightning strikes are more frequent
now,” he said.
As thunderstorms are most
common during the period of
March-July and are usually the
most powerful in the afternoon,
Samarendra advised people - particularly
those who work in open
spaces - to be aware of this and to
stay indoors for a couple of hours
when a storm happens.
He also advocated very shortrange
weather forecasting using
the ‘nowcasting’ method.
“People should get updates
every hour when a thunderstorm
occurs. The met office has good
radar coverage; they can use it for
nowcasting and help people be
safe,” he added. •
the coasts vulnerable,” the official
added.
Asked about negative impacts
of Jhau, CRPARP project Director
Uttam Kumar Saha said: “Look,
we have been planting the Jhau
trees in the coast since 1990s, but
we did not have seen any negative
impact.”
The CRPARP project, worth
US$33.8 million, was sanctioned
under the Bangladesh Climate
Change Resilience Fund (BCCRF)
in 2013.
The $190 million fund was established
in 2012 with contributions
from development partners
including Australia, Sweden, Switzerland,
UK and USA for adaptation
measures to tackle adverse impacts
of climate change.
Of the fund, $22 million goes
to afforestation and reforestation
programmes implemented by the
Forest Department.
Under the programme, a total of
17,000 hectares along the 1,672km
coast was supposed to be covered
with plantation.
Of that, Jhau would have been
planted on 410 hectares of coastal
sand dunes. However, finally the
project achieved a target of 258
hectares. •

News 3
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
SC: Constitutional framework may define
state-armed forces relationship
Constitution to protect against military with political ambitions, politicians with military ambitions
• Ashif Islam Shaon
COURT
The Appellate Division of
the Supreme Court says firm
constitutional guarantees should
protect the state including the
armed forces from two potential
dangers: politicians with military
ambitions and military with
political ambitions.
The court also recommended
a six-point model on how armed
forces could be established and
control could be exercised on it in
a democratic society. It said a clear
legal and constitutional framework
may define the basic relationship
between the state and armed
forces.
The court made the observation
in the full text of a verdict
that upheld a High Court order
asking the government to return
Tk615.55 crore extracted from businesses
and individuals by the army-backed
caretaker government
in 2007-08.
A four-member bench led by
Chief Justice Surendra Kumar
Sinha issued the verdict on March
16 this year, rejecting the central
bank’s appeal. The 89-page verdict
has been released recently.
Between April 2007 and Novemebr
2008, the Directorate General
of Forces Intelligence (DGFI),
on behalf of the then caretaker
government, confiscated around
Tk1,232 crore from 40 organisations,
companies and businesses in
the name of collecting VAT, income
tax, advance income tax and duty
on bond in phases.
After democracy was restored
in 2008, 16 companies filed 11 writs
between 2009 and 2010 seeking
the return of their money amounting
to Tk615.55 crore.
Responding to the petitions, the
High Court instructed Bangladesh
Bank to return the money in separate
orders issued in 2010, 2012 and
2013. Later, Bangladesh Bank challenged
the verdict with the appeals
court and lost the battle on March
16 this year.
The High Court in its verdict observed
that the DGFI did not have
any authority to collect tax; it was
not justified in extracting money
from the citizens in the name of
taxation without parliament’s approval.
“Though the DGFI denied its
role in the extortion of money, the
documents filed by the Bangladesh
Bank clearly show that the money
has been collected by Lt Col Md
Afzal Naser Bhuiyan of the DGFI,”
the appeals court verdict said.
The court reminded the DGFI
that its primary role was “to specialise
in the collection, analysis
and assessment of military intelligence.
Its purpose is to collect,
collate and evaluate and disseminate
all services strategic and
topographical intelligence about
law and order situation and armed
forces, and to ensure counterintelligence
and security measures for
Bangladesh and Bangladesh Armed
Forces.”
“The High Court Division in the
premises has rightly held that ‘no
situation, be it emergency or otherwise,
justifies such action by any
Governmental agency to extract
money from citizen in the name
DT
of taxation without the sanction of
Act of Parliament in excess of Constitutional
limitations,” the verdict
said.
“We take note that though all
money were extorted by DGFI and
deposited with Bangladesh Bank,
the latter tried to justify its action
which is reprehensible. It is the
custodian of the public money – it
has nothing to do with any action
of the government or its agencies
as to whether those actions were
justified or unjustified.”
The apex court suggested that
there be a hierarchical responsibility
of the military to the government
through a civilian organ of
public administration – a ministry
or department of defence – that is
charged, as a general rule, with the
direction and supervision of its activities.
•
Putin offers to
give Congress
notes of Lavrov-
Trump meeting
• Tribune Desk
WORLD
Russia President Vladimir Putin
offered Wednesday to turn over to
US Congress records of President
Donald Trump’s discussions with
Russian diplomats in which Trump
is said to have disclosed classified
information. His offer added a bizarre
twist to the furor over Trump’s
intelligence disclosures, the Associated
Press reports.
Putin’s remarks come as Washington
was reeling over revelations late
Tuesday that Trump personally appealed
to FBI Director James Comey
to abandon the bureau’s investigation
into National Security Adviser
Michael Flynn. The White House
issued a furious denial after Comey’s
notes detailing Trump’s request.
The White House has played
down the importance and secrecy
of the information Trump gave to
the Russians, which was supplied by
Israel under an intelligence-sharing
agreement. Trump himself said he
had “an absolute right” as president
to share “facts pertaining to terrorism”
and airline safety with Russia.
Putin told a news conference that
he would be willing to turn over notes
of Trump’s meeting with the Russian
diplomats if the White House agreed.
He dismissed outrage over Trump’s
disclosures as US politicians whipping
up “anti-Russian sentiment.” •
This portion of the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover, starting from the FDC intersection and ending in Karwan Bazar before the
Sonargaon Hotel, is opened to traffic yesterday
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
Dhaka not regaining GSP facility anytime soon
• Shohel Mamun
BUSINESS
The third council meeting of Trade
and Investment Cooperation Framework
Agreement (Ticfa) has indicated
that Bangladesh will not regain
the much-desired GSP facility to the
US market anytime soon as the issue
has been skipped in the meeting.
The daylong meeting was held
in the state guest house Padma in
Dhaka yesterday, which was focused
on boosting trade and commerce
between the countries by
solving the existing barriers.
Bangladesh’s Commerce Secretary
Shubhashish Bose and Assistant
US Trade Representative Mark
Linscott led their respective countries’
teams in the meeting.
Dhaka has long been craving
the US preferential trade benefits,
or GSP status, ever since the Obama
administration suspended the
facility for Bangladesh, citing dangerous
conditions in the country’s
apparel industry.
Speaking to reporters, Shubhashish
said: “The GSP issue was
not discussed in the meeting, because
it was not on the agenda.”
Replying to a query, US Ambassador
Marcia Stephens Bloom
Bernicat said Bangladesh was improving
but was yet to properly ensure
labour rights at RMG factories,
which was the most important factor
to get the GSP facility back.
She added that US had no agreement
with Bangladesh on duty-free
access to the country’s RMG market.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has
been willing to send skilled health
professionals like nurse and midwife
to the US.
Linscott said the US wanted a
more transparent process of public
procurement and tendering system
in Bangladesh that could help them
participate in the country’s development
programmes. •
Nayem Ashraf
arrested from
Munshiganj
• Tanjil Hasan, Munshiganj and
Arifur Rahman Rabbi
CRIME
Nayem Ashraf, one of the prime accused
in the Banani rape case, has
been apprehended by police from
Munshiganj.
IGP AKM Shahidul Haque confirmed
he was arrested from Khidirpur
Louhajong upazila around
8:45pm yesterday. He said the police
team left for Dhaka with the
fugitive immediately.
Munshiganj Superintendent
of Police Jayedul Alam said an
undercover detective team from
police headquarters were behind
the arrest. SP Jayedul said the
detective team had arrived in
complete secrecy and quietly
arrested Nayem without involving
the local police.
Louhajong Officer-in-Charge
Anisur Rahman said Nayem was
hiding in the home of one of his
distant relatives.
Nayem is the last of the five accused
in the rape case to be caught. •

4
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
News
Bidi workers march against finance minister
• Moazzem Hossain, Lalmonirhat
NATIONAL
Workers and officers of two Bidi
factories in Lalmonirhat yesterday
protested against the finance
minister with brooms and sticks in
hand.
The protesters who marched on
the Lalmonirhat-Burimari highway
from Saptibari Upazila to the
deputy commissioner’s office also
submitted a memorandum to the
DC protesting the minister’s recent
comments about the industry.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith
has said several times over the last
few weeks that the government
wants the Bidi, cheap cigarettes
made of unprocessed tobacco, to
disappear.
The workers gathered in front of
the Akiz Bidi Factory in Saptibari in
the morning. Azizar Rahman, head
of the Lalmonirhat Bidi Sramik
Shongram Parishad (workers’ association)
and Jashim Uddin, assistant
in-charge of Akiz local office,
led the march.
Local and multinational
cigarette companies are
engaged in a conspiracy
to destroy this industry
Workers of local Abul Bidi Factory
also took part in the procession.
Some 10,000 people are employed
at the two factories, according
to officials.
The memorandum submitted
to the DC reads that the local and
multinational cigarette companies
are engaged in a conspiracy to destroy
this local industry that employs
many people.
“Hundreds of thousands of poor
people, widows, abandoned wives
and disabled are working to make
Bidis. These multinational companies
have been conspiring to destroy
their livelihoods,” it adds.
The demonstrators called on
the government to classify Bidi
making as a cottage industry in
the upcoming budget instead of
imposing taxes.
Azizar Rahman said rural employment
had been hit by the taxes
imposed on the Bidi industry.
“We are protesting against the
taxes and the finance minister’s
comment,” he said.
Akiz official Jashim said he
was taking part in the protest as a
worker. •

News 5
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
Masses panic as CHIK virus resurfaces
DT
• Mahadi Al Hasnat
HEALTH
A mosquito-borne virus endemic
to Africa, Southeast Asia and India
has recently re-surfaced in Dhaka
and some other regions of Bangladesh,
causing the masses to panic.
First detected in the country
back in 2008, the chikungunya virus
(CHIKV) has been spreading
fast in the city due to the intermittent
rains, say experts.
The Institute of Epidemiology
Disease Control and Research (IED-
CR) has asked people to be aware
of the viral infection, especially as
it has symptoms similar to dengue
fever caused by the Aedes Aegypti
mosquito.
The name chikungunya is derived
from the Kimakonde word
meaning “to become contorted,”
as sufferers of the disease often
appear stooped because of joint
This patient from Comilla, who has had a high fever for eight days, was diagnosed with
the viral infection Chikungunya at Dhaka Medical College Hospital MEHEDI HASAN
pain (arthralgia), states the World
Health Organisation.
According to IEDCR Senior Scientific
Officer Dr ASM Alamgir, the
virus is transmitted to humans via
the bite of infected female mosquitoes,
most commonly, the Aedes
aegypti and Aedes albopictus.
He added that the Aedes mosquito,
which bites during the daytime,
breeds in flower vases, water-storage
containers, air coolers,
construction sites, coconut shells
and discarded junk items including
used tyres, plastic and metal cans.
Both dengue and Chikungunya
have common symptoms such as
high fever and pain and both have
no specific treatment.
Most patients infected with
CHIKV develop acute symptoms,
usually 2 to 6 days after being
bitten. The first symptoms start
abruptly and last for about a week
before the patient begins to show
signs of improvement, but relapses
within ten days.
Treatment is focused on relieving
the symptoms only. Paracetamol
is the drug of choice for relieving
both fever and pain and patients
are asked to drink lots of water.
“The most frequent symptoms
are high fever and arthralgia,
which affects multiple joints, back
pain and rashes. Fever is usually
high at around 102-105°F and responds
poorly to antipyretics,” said
Dr Alamgir.
Joseph Stalin, 27, who lives in
Farmgate has been suffering from
Chikungunya for several days. He was
diagnosed last week and continues to
suffer from severe pain in his peripheral
joints like wrists and ankles.
“The pain is so severe that I cannot
even move. It is in all my joints,
spine and gums. The doctor told
me to stay bed-rested and to drink
lots of water. I can walk around
now but am still in a lot of pain,” he
told the Dhaka Tribune.
IEDCR Director Dr Meerjady
Sabrina Flora believes that people
should not feel panicked.
“The disease has a very low
rate of fatalities in Bangladesh, so
I believe if people are conscious of
it and proactive in keeping their
houses and nearby areas neat and
clean, the Aedes mosquito will not
be able to breed and die out,” she
suggested, adding, “People should
also use mosquito nets whenever
they go to bed, even during the
daytime.” •
PM: I don’t care about any conspiracy
• BSS
POLITICS
IS attack at Afghan state TV station
• AFP, Jalalabad
WORLD
Suicide bombers stormed the
national television station in
Afghanistan’s Jalalabad city on
Wednesday, killing six people as
gunfights and explosions rocked
the building with journalists
trapped inside, officials and
eyewitnesses said.
At least 17 others were left
wounded in the four-hour assault
on Radio Television Afghanistan,
which marks the latest in a string
of attacks on media workers in the
conflict-torn country.
Islamic State jihadists have
claimed responsibility for the raid
in eastern Nangarhar province,
where the US military dropped
its largest non-nuclear bomb
last month in an unprecedented
strike.
“There were four attackers, one
blew himself up at the gate, killing
the guard. Three others entered
the building but were killed after
our security forces fought them for
four hours,” Nangarhar Governor
Gulab Mangal told reporters.
“Six people, including four civilians
and two policemen, were
killed and 17 others wounded,” he
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
yesterday reiterated her firm
determination to take Bangladesh
to its desired goal, saying that she
doesn’t care about any conspiracies
to this end.
“I have been observing the conspiracies
from my childhood ... I
don’t care it. I believe that as long
as the almighty Allah, the people
and the blessings of my parents remain
with me, we could reach our
desired goal,” she said.
The prime minister said this
when leaders of Bangladesh Awami
League and its associate bodies
came to Ganobhaban, the official
residence of the PM, this morning to
greet her on the occasion of Sheikh
Hasina’s 37th homecoming day.
On this day in 1981, Sheikh Hasina
returned home after six years in
exile following the brutal assassination
of Father of the Nation and
the architect of independent Bangladesh
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman and most of his family
members on August 15 in 1975.
Sheikh Hasina and her younger
sister Sheikh Rehana escaped the
carnage as they were in Germany at
that time.
Earlier, the leaders of Bangladesh
Awami League and its associate
bodies greeted the prime minister
by presenting bouquets and
chanting slogans on the occasion
of the Homecoming Day.
The prime minister said all have
the responsibility for letting know
the real history of the country to the
people and putting Bangladesh on a
dignified position in the world.•
added.
Nangarhar province is a hotbed
of IS jihadists, who claimed
Wednesday’s attack through its
propaganda agency Amaq, the
SITE Intelligence Group said.
The US military last month
dropped the GBU-43/B Massive
Ordnance Air Blast bomb, dubbed
the “Mother Of All Bombs”, on IS
positions in Nangarhar, killing dozens
of jihadists.
According to the US Forces-Afghanistan,
defections and recent
battlefield losses have reduced the
local IS presence from a peak of as
many as 3,000 fighters to a maximum
of 800. •
Govt to build new airport on
west bank of Padma River
• Shariful Islam
BUSINESS
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa
Kamal has said the government
will construct a new airport on the
west bank of Padma River where
wide-bodied aircraft equivalent to
Airbus A380 could land and take
off from the first day.
“We have already taken up
projects aiming to modernise the
existing airports including Dhaka,
Chittagong, Khulna and Cox’s Bazar.
All these projects are going on,
but not sufficient.”
“We will build a new airport
on the West bank of Padma River.
Since the first day of operation, aircraft
equivalent to Airbus A380 will
land at the airport,” Kamal said in
his address as the chief guest during
a roundtable discussion in a
city hotel yesterday.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (DCCI) in association
with Bangladesh Investment Development
Authority (BIDA), the
World Bank Group and UK AID organised
the daylong seminar titled
“Bangladesh Infrastructure”.
The Planning Minister said the
country’s economy has not yet
started getting on the upswing. It is
just preparing to take off.
The round-table programme
was addressed by former DCCI
president Aftab Ul Islam and Chittagong
Port Authority (CPA) Chairman
Admiral M Abdul Khaled
Iqbal, among others.
The discussants emphasised
moderate and befitting land act,
construction of deep seaport, completion
of infrastructure development
projects within stipulated
time, effective public-private partnership
and formation of a very
high-powered committee for supervising
infrastructure projects.
“Bangladesh is the 45th largest
economy in the world, but its position
in infrastructure competitiveness
is 114th,” said Wendy Jo
Werner, IFC country manager for
Bangladesh, Bhutana and Nepal, in
her keynote speech.
DCCI President Abul Kasem Khan
said: “Our GDP remains trapped primarily
due to lack of modern and
efficient infrastructure.”
BIDA Executive Chairman Kazi M
Aminul Islam said they have taken
massive reform initiatives across the
country prioritising improvement to
investment climate in the country.
“We have been working to ensure
that business can be done
with ease. Earlier, investors had to
wait for at least 269 days to get construction
approval, but we reduced
it to 60 days,” said Aminul. •
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY
Dhaka 34 26 Chittagong 32 27 Rajshahi 36 25 Rangpur 32 24 Khulna 36 26 Barisal 35 26 Sylhet 31 23
Cox’s Bazar 33 27
RAIN LIKELY
THURSDAY, MAY 18
DHAKA
TODAY
TOMORROW
SUN SETS 6:35PM
SUN RISES 5:14AM
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW
37.0ºC
23.4ºC
Satkhira
Srimangal
Source: Accuweather/UNB
PRAYER
TIMES
Fajr: 4:45am | Zohr: 1:15pm
Asr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 6:40pm
Esha: 8:30pm
Source: Islamic Foundation

6
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
News
Macron blurs party lines
with mixed French cabinet
• AFP, Paris
WORLD
French President Emmanuel Macron
appointed his first cabinet on Wednesday
mixing Socialists, centrists and
rightwingers with newcomers to politics
as he pressed ahead with plans to
create a broad governing coalition.
The new cabinet of 22 people meets
campaign pledges of being smaller
than its predecessors and having gender
parity, with European lawmaker
Sylvie Goulard landing the prestigious
defence portfolio.
She will take over from veteran
Socialist Jean-Yves Le Drian who will
move over to foreign affairs, while
rightwinger Bruno Le Maire was appointed
economy minister.
Other key figures instrumental in
Macron’s sensational victory in this
month’s election were given senior
roles, with the Socialist mayor of
Lyon, Gerard Collomb, named as interior
minister while centrist ally Francois
Bayrou becomes justice minister.
Macron faced a tricky balancing act
in naming his first government, with
French President Emmanuel Macron
REUTERS
the 39-year-old needing to keep his allies
happy while opening up positions
to the rightwing Republicans party.
France’s youngest ever president
wants to create a new centrist force in
French politics, at the expense of the
traditional Socialist and Republicans
parties, which will be put to the test in
parliamentary elections next month.
Without a parliamentary majority,
he will find it hard to push through
his ambitious plans to loosen France’s
strict labour laws, boost entrepreneurship
and reduce class sizes in tough
neighbourhoods.
Along with politicians, the government
will feature new faces from civil
society, including black Olympic fencing
champion Laura Flessel, renowned
environmentalist Nicolas Hulot and
publisher Francoise Nyssen.
The announcement of the government
was delayed by 24-hours on Tuesday,
officially due to the need to carry
out more extensive screening of candidates,
but which might also have been
down to last-minute negotiations.
Macron has promised a new law introducing
higher ethical standards for
lawmakers as one of his first pieces of
legislation and was keen to avoid possible
embarrassments, aides said. •
Apan owner: We all
do business this way
• Arifur Rahman Rabbi
CRIME
One of the owners of Apan
Jewellers, Dildar Ahmed, has
said he runs a legal business
and all gold traders in Bangladesh
do business in the exact
same manner.
Dildar, the father of rape
accused Shafat Ahmed, was
speaking to journalists yesterday
after meeting Customs
Intelligence and Investigation
Department (CIID) officials in
their Kakrail office.
“We do business the same
way everybody else in the
gold business does. If my
shop is closed, then all the
gold shops should be closed.”
he said.
CIID has seized 498kg of
gold and 61g of diamond from
Apan Jewellers outlets and
says the company has failed
to produce necessary papers
for the seized items.
Three brothers - Dildar
Ahmed, Gulzar Ahmed and
Azad Ahmed - met CIID officials
in the afternoon.
“We have been asked to
show papers for our goods. It
is not possible to produce all
the documents immediately,”
Dildar said outside the office
after their interview.
He had sought 15 days of
time to produce the paperwork,
he said.
“This is not an illegal business.
I have been in business
for 40 years; Apan earns the
bread for 200,000 families,”
he said.
He said Apan regularly
pays VAT and taxes.
There has been no gold import
in the last five years and all
the gold here is recycled from
resold jewelleries, Dildar said.
“Gold import is illegal,” he
added. Apan had imported
the diamond and had the papers
to show for it, he said.
Asked whether he was facing
any sort of persecution, he
said: “I will not say that. If I
have made a mistake I ask the
nation for their forgiveness.”
‘Raids based on specific
allegations’
CIID Director General Moinul
Khan said raids at the five
Apan Jewellers outlets had
been carried out based on
specific allegations.
“We have seized 498kg
gold from their outlets worth
about Tk250cr and they have
not been able to produce the
paperwork for it,” he said.
“Apan owners sought time
and we gave them till May 23.”
The CIID was working on
gold smuggling and there are
allegations against several
jewellers, he said.
“One of the accused in a recent
rape case directly admitted
that his father is involved
in gold smuggling,” he claimed.
“We took this into cognisance,”
he said.
Apan Jewellers has said at
least 10kg of the gold belongs
to its customers, Moinul said.
“These customers will be
able to collect their gold from
our Kakrail office on Monday
April 22 from 2pm to 5pm by
presenting the relevant documents,”
he said.
Managing Director of Banani’s
Raintree hotel Shah
Adnan Harun, who was also
summoned by CIID for storing
liquor without licence,
sought more time to appear
before it. CIID asked Harun to
be present on May 23. •
3 girls of a family drown
in Chittagong
• FM Mizanur Rahaman,
Chittagong
NATIONAL
Three minor girls, including
a pair of twins, drowned in a
pond in Boalkhali upazila in
Chittagong on Wednesday afternoon.
The deceased were identified
as two-and-half year old
twins Israt Jahan and Nusrat
Jahan, daughters of expatriate
Md Harun and his brother
Md Faruk’s two-year-old
daughter Wahida Hasan Farjana,
said police sources.
Boalkhali police station’s
Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md
Salauddin Chowdhury told
the Dhaka Tribune: “The incident
took place at Ward No:
6 under Sreepur-Kharandwip
union of the Boalkhali area.”
“The girls went missing
from their home around
2:00pm. Family members spotted
them in the pond after two
hours and sent the girls to the
Upazila Health Complex where
the on-duty doctor declared
them dead,” added the OC. •

Naikkhyangchhari road
repair work grossly irregular
• S Bashu Das, Bandarban
NATIONAL
The repair work of Naikkhyangchhari-Sonaichhari
road in Bandarban has been plagued
by gross corruption and irregularities.
The residents of the nearby areas complained
that the construction company had
been using poor materials to embezzle a
large sum of money.
However, Naikkhyangchhari Upazila
Engineer Shahidul Islam claimed that the
people had been questioning the quality of
work due to their ignorance.
The Tk1 crore project of repairing the
5km-long Naikkhyangchhari-Sonaichhari
road was bought from Milton Traders by
Abu Bakar who has been using poor quality
materials to line his pocket.
According to the upazila engineering department,
the work started in the late April
this year and is supposed to be completed
by the end of June. So far, repair of 3kmstretch
has been completed.
During a visit on Tuesday, this Dhaka
Tribune correspondent found that even
though the contractor was supposed to fill
the existing potholes with soil at a cost of
Tk40,000, no soil was used during the repair
works at all.
The drain alongside the road was supposed
to be three-foot wide but it was found
to be 2.5 feet.
On the other hand, the road carpeting
was supposed to be 12mm thick while it was
actually only 4-5mm in reality.
Moreover, the bitumen used for carpeting
was supposed to be of 60-70 grade, but
the contractor has used diluted and low
quality bitumen.
Due to the irregularities, the surface has
already developed curves in different places
of the road.
Rezaul Karim, assistant engineer of LGED’s
Naikkhyangchhari office who is supervising
the repair work, claimed that he had advised
the contractor to maintain standard.
“If we find any irregularities, we will take
steps against the firm,” he told the Dhaka
tribune. •
News 7
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT

8
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
News
Manufacturers: Better price a must to
make apparel business sustainable
• Ibrahim Hossain Ovi
BUSINESS
In order to grab more market share
of Denim products and better prices,
Bangladesh has to concentrate on value
addition, innovation and investment
in technological upgradation,
say stakeholders.
The Bangladesh garment manufacturers,
however, said it is quite impossible
to make apparel business sustainable
without better price.
Buyers’ representatives, experts and
sector people made the comment while
talking to the Dhaka Tribune at Bangladesh
Denim Expo – a two-day international
show on the denim industry that
kicked off in the capital yesterday.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed
inaugurated the event.
Bangladesh is in a difficult position
in the sense that it has very much engaged
in manufacturing low-cost products,
said Gustaf Asp, H&M country
director for Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“Over the last 10 years our profit
margins have significantly decreased.
We are not in a position to freely give
away money in that sense,” said Asp.
Bangladeshi manufacturers need to
add value to products and enter new
product categories and only then prices
will go up, he narrated.
“In the global market we have global
competitions. Every entrepreneur
has to make ensure that you have valuable
customers and only then we can
pay more,” added Asp.
“Everyday manufacturers have to
work to perfect their business model
to produce competitive offers to H&M
that we can sell to our customers.”
Meanwhile, Bangladeshi manufacturers
said they are now equipped
with innovation and have started to
produce quality products for global
markets, especially for European consumers
as well as Americans.
According to Bangladesh Denim
Expo Founder and CEO Mostafiz
Uddin, Bangladesh is on the way to
achieve sustainability in manufacturing
clothing products.
“We have already got 67 green factories
rebuilding Bangladesh’s image
as having compliant RMG industry,” he
said, adding that Bangladesh is entering
into the value-added segment with
innovative designs.
Shasha Denim Director Mohammad
Jamal Abdun Naser told the Dhaka
tribune that they have invested a lot
of money to make the production process
sustainable thorough consumption
of less water and electricity.
“We have already developed research
and innovation cell for quality
products and best designs.”
Now there is a massive value in
denim business and have new luxury
segment. Luxury brand is investing
in denim market and performing extremely
well, observed Tilmann Wrobel,
creative designer, MONSIEUR-T, a
denim lifestyle studio. •
Bangladesh garment exporters said it is quite impossible to make apparel
business sustainable without better price
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
UN world court to rule
today on Indian spy case
• AFP, The Hague
WORLD
The UN’s top court will rule
Thursday on an urgent bid by
India to stop Pakistan from
carrying out a death sentence
on one of its nationals convicted
of spying.
In an emergency hearing
swiftly organised on Monday,
lawyers for New Delhi had
urged the International Court
of Justice to halt the execution
of Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav.
Jadhav was arrested from-
Balochistan last year and Pakistani
officials claim he has
confessed to spying for Indian
intelligence services. He was
convicted by a court martial
and sentenced to death.
The UN tribunal, based in
The Hague, said in a statement
it “will deliver its order on the
request for the indication of
provisional measures made by
India in the Jadhav Case tomorrow
on Thursday 18 May 2017”.
The president of the court,
Ronny Abraham, will read out
the decision at midday.
The case, a rare foray for
the two nations into the international
courts, has highlighted
the recent sharp uptick in
tensions between the two nuclear-armed
rivals.
India has denied Jadhav was
a spy, and on Monday accused
Pakistan of “egregious violations
of the Vienna convention”
by denying him access to
legal counsel and consular visits,
and refusing to reveal the
charge sheet against him.
Jadhav was “an innocent Indian
national, who, incarcerated
in Pakistan for more than a year
on concocted charges ... has been
held incommunicado... and faces
imminent execution,” Indian
lawyer Deepak Mittal said. •

News
9
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
Activists: Ash from
Rampal will destroy
Sundarbans
• Nawaz Farhin
RIGHTS
Diplomat Faruq Ahmed
Choudhury passes away
• Tribune Desk
OBITUARY
Environmental activists and
researchers yesterday claimed
that the ash which will be produced
as a by-product of the
Rampal power plant will destroy
the ecology of the Sundarbans
mangrove forest.
According to their statistics,
the proposed coal-fired power
plant at Rampal will produce
more than 38 million tonnes
of ash during 60 years of operation
at 90% electric load generation
capacity.
The activists made the
comments at a programme titled
“Environmental Hazard
Assessment of Coal Ash Disposal
at the Proposed Bangladesh-India
Friendship Power
Company Plant in Rampal,
Bangladesh,” organised by the
National Committee to Protect
Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources,
Power and Port at the Dhaka
Reporters Unity Auditorium.
Based on projected ash recycling
plans, only a portion of
coal ash would be used in domestic
concrete or brick industries.
Even if half of all ash produced
is recycled into these
industries, the ash disposal
pond would still be full in 12
years with 20 million tonnes
of ash left over, said US Forest
Service researcher Dennis
Lemly while briefing the programme
via video conference.
Furthermore, Lemly said
that sufficiently strong storms
and high water levels may
breach the ash pond and lead to
an environmental catastrophe
by covering the entire region in
toxic heavy metal waste.
The activists hence suggested
that the government
shift the location of the power
plant to the banks of the Burishowr
River, at the coastal district
of Barguna, to minimise
the impact on the Sundarbans.
With the aim of keeping up
with the country’s growing energy
needs, Bangladesh plans to
establish a 1320MW coal-fired
power plant at Rampal with the
support of India. The plant is to
be located adjacent to the Sundarbans,
the world’s single largest
mangrove forest. •
Former foreign secretary and
ambassador Faruq Ahmed
Choudhury has passed away at
a city hospital. He was 84.
He breathed his last around
4:30am Wednesday, one of his
fellow colleagues told UNB.
His first namaz-e-janaza
was held at the Foreign Ministry
and second namaz-e-janaza
held at Baitul Aman Mosque in
Dhanmondi 7. He was buried
afterwards at Azimpur graveyard.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,
President Abdul Hamid,
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood
Ali, State Minister Md Shahriar
Alam and Foreign Secretary
Shahidul Haque expressed
shock and profound regret at
his death.
Faruq entered Pakistan Foreign
Service in 1956 and subsequently
held various appointments
in the Pakistan Foreign
Office and missions abroad.
He was appointed the first
chief of protocol of Bangladesh
in 1972.
The diplomat served as
deputy high commissioner
of Bangladesh in the United
Kingdom from 1972-76 and
was also involved with the final
phase of the negotiations
leading to Bangladesh’s entry
to the Commonwealth.
From 1976-78, he was ambassador
to the UAE and Bahrain,
and ambassador to EEC
and Benelux countries from
1978-82.
He also served Bangladesh
Rural Advancement Committee
(Brac), one of the largest
NGOs of the world, in different
capacities. •

10
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
Advertisement

Mastercard to
train more women
entrepreneurs
• Rafikul Islam
BUSINESS
Mastercard, a leading global
payments and technology
company, has announced the
fourth phase of its financial
and business literacy programme
for women entrepreneurs
in Bangladesh.
The programme is intended
to provide financial and
business literacy education
to 15,000 low or no-income
women in Bangladesh in 2017
under the fourth phase, bringing
the total figure to 150,000
since 2013, said a press release.
In line with the Mastercard’s
global focus of harnessing entrepreneurship
in women and
children, the new programme
offers training to ensure the
efficient use of microfinancing
loans for women entrepreneurs
across the country.
Mastercard launched the
first phase of its financial
and business literacy programme
in 2013 to mark the
opening of their first office in
Bangladesh. The second phase
followed in 2015 and the third
in 2016.
In association with BURO
Bangladesh and Bangladesh
Bank, Mastercard has provided
financial literacy and business
skills trainings to over
135,000 entrepreneurs and
“10-taka account” holders.
Bangladesh Bank Deputy
Governor SK Sur Chowdhury
formally inaugurated
the fourth phase as
the chief guest.
Mijanur Rahman Joddar,
Executive Director of Bangladesh
Bank, was present as
special guest and Vikas Varma,
Senior Vice President, South
Asia, Syed Mohammad Kamal,
Country Manager, Mastercard
Bangladesh, and Zakir Hossain
and Executive Director
of BURO Bangladesh, among
other officials, were present at
the function at a hotel in Dhaka
on Tuesday.
“I believe what gets in the
way of many hardworking and
self-determined Bangladeshi
women to success is lack of
privilege and financial illiteracy,”
said SK Sur Chowdhury.
Vikas Varma said: “In Asia
Pacific, Mastercard aims
to provide entrepreneurial
opportunities to more
than 400,000 women and
girls by 2020.”
Justna Begum, a woman
entrepreneur, said: “I am now
successful in my business. Mastercard
and BURO helped me
succeed in the business.” •
News 11
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
CEMS-Global USA and Asia Pacific Group President and Managing
Director Meherun N Islam inaugurates a five-day Fashion and Lifestyle
Expo – Asian Eid Ramadan Fest 2017 – at Istanbul Convention Centre in
Gulshan 2 of the capital yesterday. In this expo, exhibitors will showcase
fashion items, lifestyle products, gift items, etc. The show will be a onestop
single platform for shopping pleasure marking Ramadan and Eid
Asiatic 3Sixty, a leading communication group of Bangladesh, recently
organised “Art of War”, a biennial training and development workshop
for employees, at the BRAC CDM, Savar near Dhaka. Eight teams
consisting the brightest young minds across a number of disciplines in
communication industry participated in the workshop

DT
12
Editorial
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
TODAY
Keeping our heads
above water
We have known for decades about the
problem presented by rising sea levels.
We must start preparing to face this
problem in a rational manner
PAGE 13
How we imagine
far and near
That’s how the past is. Dynamic. So is the
present. So will be the future. Change is
the only constant of the human condition
PAGE 14
Mobile courts do not serve
justice
BIGSTOCK
Life in shambles
A hundred percent of the crops in Haor
areas have been damaged. So, everyone,
including the poor and the rich, are in
crisis in terms of basic human rights
PAGE 15
Be heard
Write to Dhaka Tribune
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DhakaTribune.
The views expressed in opinion
articles are those of the authors
alone and they are not the
official view of Dhaka Tribune
or its publisher.
No single entity has the right to play judge, jury, and executioner.
But this is exactly what mobile courts do.
As such, the High Court’s decision to declare mobile courts
unconstitutional is a step in the right direction.
Mobile courts are nothing if not regressive.
It is high time we rid ourselves of the archaic Mobile Court Act of 2009
and moved on to better and more efficient systems for justice.
Mobile courts make unrealistic demands of defenders, with some
conditions, such as punishments to pay fines immediately, being stark
reminders of this most unreasonable clause.
Is it any surprise that most mobile court judgements are overturned
once they reach the judge?
In fact, most of it is run by crooks within the system who use their
power to bully and extort.
The government must understand that mobile courts are inherently
undemocratic. In a functioning democracy, those accused must be
allowed to defend themselves, must be prepared for this defense, and
their defense must be presided over by a judge.
A mobile court allows for none of these things.
With provisions which allow for instant execution of imprisonments,
mobile courts exist merely to remind us of a most undemocratic
operation in an otherwise undemocratic system.
While we agree that they might serve some function in a nation as
overpopulated as ours, what we must improve, in the end, is the way our
judiciary functions.
Too much of it is overburdened and run inefficiently, with those
involved spending countless years and much of their hard-earned money
in the process.
It is about time this changed. Mobile courts are unconstitutional.
In a functioning
democracy, those
accused must be
allowed to defend
themselves

Opinion 13
Keeping our heads above water
A realistic vision of adaptation to rising sea levels
DT
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
Protect our homes
• Zahin Hasan
It is widely known that
Bangladesh will suffer greatly
due to rising sea levels as the
Antarctic ice gradually melts.
Greenhouse gases emitted over
the centuries since the industrial
revolution have already warmed
the planet, making some sea level
rise inevitable; no one knows how
much.
In an article available on the
IUCN website, “Climate Change
Induced Migration in Bangladesh,”
Abul Kalam Md Iqbal Faruk writes
that “about 15 million people in
Bangladesh alone could be on
the move by 2050 because of
climate change causing the worst
migration in human history.”
In another article available on
the Scientific American website,
“The Unfolding Tragedy of
Climate Change in Bangladesh,”
Robert Glennon writes that “some
scientists project a five-to-six foot
rise by 2100, which would displace
perhaps 50 million people.”
Bangladesh must prepare
for these dire scenarios. In
Bangladesh, rural families who are
displaced from their lands usually
move to large cities like Dhaka
and Chittagong in search of work;
industrial jobs are concentrated in
these two cities.
Unplanned growth has already
made Dhaka unliveable for the
unfortunate working class who are
crammed into slums; Chittagong is
in danger of going down the same
path.
It is quite obvious that these
two cities will not be able to absorb
15 million migrants by 2050, or 50
million migrants by 2100.
The obvious solution is for
Bangladesh to plan the growth
of several small towns into
large industrial cities, so that
Bangladeshis who become
landless will have somewhere
to go (other than Dhaka and
Chittagong).
We should pick at least 20 small
towns and develop them into large
cities over the coming decades.
Each of these towns should
grow into a city of 750,000 people
by 2050; in other words, the 20
towns should accommodate a total
of 15 million migrants by 2050.
Subsequently, each of these
towns should grow further into a
city of 2.5 million people by 2100;
in effect, the 20 towns should
accommodate a total of 50 million
migrants by 2100.
Which towns should be grown into
large cities?
The government has wisely begun
to set up special economic zones
(SEZs) in many districts. It would
make a lot of sense to set up a
public hospital, a public university,
government schools, and a power
plant in the town nearest to each
SEZ; that would effectively turn
each new SEZ into the nucleus
for a new city. Educational and
medical services and power supply
should grow as a town becomes
industrialised and its population
grows; otherwise the town
becomes unliveable.
Which towns should not be turned
into industrial cities?
We need to recognise that many
low-lying towns could become
permanently flooded as sea levels
rise; many climate scientists feel
that the sea level is likely to rise
three or four metres in the next
century or two.
Keeping low-lying cities
above water will require huge
investments in building dykes
and embankments. Some lowlying
cities will eventually be
abandoned; no one will want to
live in a city which is permanently
flooded. With this in mind, we
should not plan to expand those
cities and towns which are already
in danger of being inundated by
rising sea levels. All the towns
which are selected for expansion
We have known for decades about the problem presented by rising sea
levels. We must start preparing to face this problem in a rational manner
should be at least five metres
above sea level.
How can we pay for all this?
Developing 20 small towns into
20 industrial cities could easily
require infrastructure investments
of $20 billion (Tk160,000 crore);
after all, each city will need a big
investment in roads, water and
sewer lines, electric lines, power
plant, sewage treatment plant, and
solid waste landfill.
I assume that gas lines will
not be needed, as our gas-fields
appear to be quickly running out
of natural gas; in the future most
households and businesses will
BIGSTOCK
probably be burning cylinders of
imported gas.
How can the government raise
Tk160,000cr?
Most tax revenue is collected
through VAT and import duties. In
Bangladesh, taxes on consumption
(like VAT and import duties) have
proven easier to collect than
income taxes. One obvious way to
raise money is to tax fossil fuels
(gas, coal, and oil).
Global warming is mostly
caused by CO2 emissions from
burning fossil fuels; it makes sense
to tax fossil fuels in order to give
companies an incentive to invest
in renewable energy.
Bangladesh should impose
taxes on fossil fuels, and also
pressure foreign governments to
do the same. All economists agree
that taxing fossil fuels is the best
way to slow down global warming.
We have known for decades
about the problem presented by
rising sea levels. We must start
preparing to face this problem in a
rational manner.
Millions of Bangladeshis will
lose their homes and their lands,
and be forced to migrate; we
must create cities where they will
find work, and have a reasonable
quality of life. •
Zahin Hasan is a businessman, and a
member of the board of directors of
Dhaka Tribune.

14
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
Opinion
How we imagine far and near
How did South Asia come to be what it is?
• Garga Chatterjee
There is this amazing guy
called Ollie Rye who lives
in the UK. He has been
making history-based
animations, and for a few years,
has been putting them on Youtube
as videos which are watched by
hundreds of thousands of people.
There I came across an
animation video on the history of
what is now vaguely called South
Asia. It starts roughly with the
Harappan era and ends with the
21st century.
The video shows the changing
political landscape in that period
by showing political boundaries
of all autonomous and semiautonomous
entities.
Thus, it tries to give a
very fine-grained idea about
political entities -- spanning
small, medium, and large-sized
kingdoms, empires, semiindependent
governorates,
colonial empires, princely states,
and contemporary entities
like Indian Union, Pakistan,
etc including erstwhile semiindependent
countries like Sikkim.
It does all of this in about 10
minutes. In those 10 minutes,
orders changed, countries
vanished and appeared, far away
things joined up and then split up
and joined up with something else
and so on. It was dynamic.
Change is the only constant
That’s how the past is. Dynamic.
So is the present. So will be the
future. Change is the only constant
of the human condition.
Now what struck me in seeing
this, and I have had this thought
before, is that our imaginations of
what is our homeland, what is far,
what is near, is so much shaped
in a top-down manner by present
political ideologies which we as
citizens are expected to accept as
our own identities.
Thus, Indian Union constructs
the “Indian” with an increasingly
not-so-subtle Hindu overtone,
whereas a West Bengali is
expected to feel more at one
with a Tamil or a Haryanvi than
an East Bengali. Pakistan started
as a “Muslim India” of sorts and
still carries on a schizophrenic
existence torn between that idea
and an idea that uses the Indus
river as the civilisational binding
axis.
In the former imaginary,
as a “Pakistani,” a Pathan was
supposed to feel closer to an East
Bengali Muslim and less close
to a Pathan across the Durand
line. Even the idea of South Asia
Some identities are merely imagined
presents such a problem -- is
Pakistan western South Asia or
eastern Middle East?
And these questions are
not merely geographical, but
ideological. And one needs to look
deep into questions like why are
these binaries presented, how did
we acquire them, why did earlier
identities change, how is even this
sense of “earlier” constructed,
what kind of anxieties of both
the citizen and the state animate
such anxieties of identity, whose
purpose does each imaginary
serve, what is the relationship of
each of those many imaginaries
with the person and, most
importantly, the mother of all
questions -- how did we come to
be the way we are?
Imaginary distances
Such imaginations also change
distances -- distances in the
real world, distances of the
mind. Thus, in a certain kind of
imaginary that Delhi inherits from
London and also wants to push
as part of its geo-politics, Isfahan
is farther from Lucknow than
London, and Nanjing is farther
from Chennai than New York or
even more ridiculously, Dhaka is
farther from Kolkata than Delhi.
Such distances serve power.
Such distances destroy parts of our
culturally-inherited multi-faceted
selfhoods. They do create new
facets also, in line with power.
Thus, in these times, when
one starts measuring distances
differently from what your state
authorities want you to do, it is
deemed bizarre at best, seditious
at worst.
For Islamabad wants you to
think that Pakistan has natural
and ideological coherence and
concocts it daily. So does Delhi.
The whole imaginary Himalayan
barrier and the seas around the
peninsula with what lies within
being a “natural” unit is a concept
that is in the service of integrity.
Anxieties about this integrity
make power drive in such concepts
of coherence every moment
into the heads of its citizenry
-- media, schools, universities,
textbooks, official narratives,
allowed histories, foundational
myths, monuments, plaques,
remembrances, creation of figures
who are beyond critique and so on.
But still, memories persist,
other imaginaries persist, and
even the state cannot control
every aspect of every dynamic that
shapes human beings. And in that
space that power can’t control, in
that crack, lies hope.
In the 15th century with
contemporary transport
technologies, the so-called
“natural” barrier of the Himalayas
did not stop 12 diplomatic
missions from the independent
country of Bengal to the court
of the Ming emperor of China in
Nanjing. After Bengal’s Hindu
king Ganesh installed his son
Jadu (who later converted to
Islam and became Jalaluddin as a
truce between the Muslim Pathan
nobility, Muslim clergy and the
Hindu king Ganesh), a section of
the clergy was not happy with
the sham “Islamic” arrangement
where Ganesh remained the power
behind the throne.
Surely, many non-spiritual
interests of this section of the
Muslim clergy were also affected.
They banded together to invite
the Sultan of Jaunpur to invade
Bengal. Who does Bengal call to
avert this crisis? Well, the Ming
emperor of China. The emperor
sends a senior government
functionary as well as forces
under a senior admiral by sea. The
invasion does not happen due
to China mediated negotiations.
Delhi was not part of this picture
at all.
What is India?
Where, then, was India or even
South Asia for that matter?
How did Bengal then imagine
its neighbourhood? Did it have
Jaunpur, Bengal, China, and
what’s now Burma? Whatever it
was, it wasn’t Bharatmata for sure.
Areas, closeness, and alliance
were very differently imagined
not too long ago before the British
BIGSTOCK
That’s how the past is. Dynamic. So is the
present. So will be the future. Change is the
only constant of the human condition
acquired Bengal and went on to
add things to this “Bengal” so
much so that at one point of time it
was the whole Gangetic plain and
even Punjab.
That even west Punjab
was nominally under the
administrative unit called Bengal
as late as 1858 was reversed in 1971
when East Bengal fought to be
free from West Punjab rule. The
British grabbed lands, joined them
together, and the result was called
India.
Our contemporary imagination
of East Asia, South Asia, Central
Asia, South-East Asia, and our
ideas of them as distinct politicocultural
spheres are the result of
European colonialism in Asia.
Distances were different earlier.
Bengal sent the same gift to China
twice in the first half of the 15th
century and it reflected Bengal’s
international trade links then --
the imaginary of near and far.
The gifts were imported to
Bengal and then exported to
China. It was not muslin. They
were giraffes from Africa. •
Garga Chatterjee is a political and
cultural commentator. He can be
followed on Twitter @gargac.

Life in shambles
We must do more to support victims of flash floods
Opinion 15
DT
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
Everything washed away
• Md Sariful Islam
On my trip to Sunamganj
in April, I met 32-yearold
Nazma Khatun
who spoke to me about
her woes: “All of our cultivated
paddies have gone under water.
Our livelihood, children’s
education, food, treatment, and
shelter are under threat as we
depend on the paddy. We took
Tk30,000 as a loan from a Local
NGO to cultivate. I don’t know
how I will return the loan.”
When Nazma was describing the
effects of the recent disaster in
the Haor, it seemed her future had
been destroyed.
Nazma lives on government
land in Sonapur village,
Bishwamvarpur Upazila in
Sunamganj, with her husband and
four children.
The house she lives in is like a
small lean house. Fences of the
house are fragile and there is no
electricity. Every year she and her
husband take loans to cultivate the
land so that they can survive for
the next year. But alas. Flood has
washed away their crops and with
that their hopes for the future.
She said: “Three of my children
go to school but now I have to stop
their schooling as we can no longer
afford it. I don’t know how we
will survive. We don’t have food
or money. My husband can’t even
find work as there is a work crisis
going on.”
After my conversation with
Nazma, her husband, Jamal Mia,
wanted to show me the now
flooded Haor land where he used
to cultivate crops.
He said: “This year the water
came early and all our cultivated
lands have gone under water. I
couldn’t harvest a single kilogram
of rice. If we got even 15 days, we
could have harvested the crops.”
Every year people like Jamal
Mia catch fish after the paddy
sessions as an additional source
of income. But this year the
secondary option was also lost to
them as the floods destroyed the
fish population.
Everyone is affected
While most of those who lost their
crops in the Haor are very poor,
the big farmers were also badly
affected. During my visit, I made
sure to talk to different stakeholders
from different classes.
Since small farmers and
marginalised people depend on
the big farmers for livelihood and
employment, their suffering will
A hundred percent of the crops in Haor areas have been damaged.
So, everyone, including the poor and the rich, are in crisis in
terms of basic human rights
be multiplied.
One day I was on my way to
Tahirpur to see the affected areas
of Sonir Haor, another big Haor
in Sunamganj district which
is totally affected. There I met
Shamsuddin, a big farmer who
cultivated 62 bigha (20 hectares) of
land in Sonir Haor. He said: “All of
my investments have gone under
water in one night. I harvest 60-70
tons of rice every year. This year I
couldn’t harvest any.
“The water land you see was
full of paddy. We tried to save
the dam to protect our crops.
The dams were too weak to save
because the water flow by flash
floods and rain in advance was
devastating. Crops over hundreds
of hectares of land are now under
water.”
All of the big farmers like
Shamsuddin are in crisis now.
They can’t even go for open
market sale (OMS) rice as they
want to maintain their social
status.
All of the crops in Haor areas
have been damaged. So, everyone,
including the poor and the rich,
are in crisis in terms of basic
human rights.
The situation is made worse
by the fact that people’s basic
ingredients for survival have also
been washed away.
Helping the Haor people
I think the following issues should
be addressed in order to mitigate
the loss and damage to the Haor
people.
First, we must ensure food
security through various programs
such as Vulnerable Group Feeding
(VGF), Cash for Work (CFW), and
OMS. Installment payments for
all ongoing loans should be halted
till next harvest. Fishing can be
facilitated as another option of
livelihood, perhaps by cancelling
all the lease contracts of the waterbody
so all farmers can use it to
AZAHAR UDDIN
catch fish. Zero interest and soft
conditional loan for the farmer for
next cropping season should be
initiated.
Apart from those, there are
other measures the government
can take such as cash for work
programs for dam repairing, free
medical support and treatment for
one year, free mid-day meals at
schools to prevent school dropout.
While talking to the people of
Haor communities, I have come
to know that they have not seen
such devastating damage nor
experienced such staggering loss
in the last 50 years.
According to the Department
of Agricultural Extension (DAE),
the damage of standing crop due
to the flooding is around Tk20
billion.
This flash flood impacted
Sunamganj, Netrokona, Sylhet,
Moulvibazar, Habiganj, and
Kishoreganj which are commonly
referred to as Haor basin areas of
Bangladesh. It has been already
reported that more than 0.4
million hectares of land have been
affected along with the partial
to complete damage of 17,000
houses. And this is just the shortterm
loss. If we want to minimise
the long-term effects, we must act
now. •
Md Sariful Islam is a Senior
Communication Officer at ActionAid
Bangladesh. He can be contacted at
md.sariful@actionaid.org.

16
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
Downtime
CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Strikes (4)
5 Sea nymph (5)
8 Talisman (6)
9 Nimble (4)
10 Mineral spring (3)
12 Clergyman (6)
13 Holiday period (6)
15 Stanzas (6)
18 Looked after (6)
20 United (3)
21 Place for bees (4)
23 Seemingly mocked
by fate (6)
24 Workshop machine (5)
25 Bill (4)
DOWN
1 Inconsiderate speed (5)
2 Little devil (3)
3 Rotates (5)
4 Arch (3)
5 Directed a course (7)
6 Corrosion (4)
7 At hand (4)
11 Skin opening (4)
12 Daydream (7)
14 Prayer ending (4)
16 Glisten (5)
17 Small spot (5)
18 Work hard (4)
19 That following (4)
21 Fireplace shelf (3)
22 By way of (3)
CODE-CRACKER
How to solve: Each number in our
CODE-CRACKER grid represents a
different letter of the alphabet. For
example, today 2 represents H so fill H
every time the figure 2 appears.
You have two letters in the control
grid to start you off. Enter them in the
appropriate squares in the main grid, then
use your knowledge of words to work out
which letters go in the missing squares.
Some letters of the alphabet may not be
used.
As you get the letters, fill in the other
squares with the same number in the
main grid, and the control grid. Check
off the list of alphabetical letters as you
identify them.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
CALVIN AND HOBBES
SUDOKU
How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the
numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must
contain all nine digits with no number repeating.
PEANUTS
THURSDAY’S SOLUTIONS
CODE-CRACKER
CROSSWORD
DILBERT
SUDOKU

What’s on
17
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
12 Angry Men premieres today
• Showtime Desk
Open Space Theatre group is all set
to stage the cult classic courtroom
drama 12 Angry Men today. The
stage drama’s premiere show will
be held at the Experimental Theatre
Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala
Academy, at 7pm today.
Based on a screenplay written by
Reginald Rose, 12 Angry Men chronicles
a jury’s deliberations in a capital
murder case. A 12-man jury is sent to
begin deliberations in the first-degree
murder trial of a 19-year-old
young man, accused in the stabbing
of his father, where a guilty verdict
means an automatic death sentence.
12 Angry Men explores many
techniques of consensus-building,
and the difficulties encountered in
the process, among a group of men
whose range of personalities adds
intensity and conflict.
Launched in January 2017, Open
Space Theatre group is inspired by
the passion and love for theatre. It
is an open platform for everyone to
practice theatre.
Open Space chose to stage 12
Angry Men as their first production
because the script has a wide range
of performance opportunities, is
brilliantly written, and has the
potential to influence the viewers’
psyche. •
EVENTS AROUND TOWN TODAY
MUSIC
MOVIE
FAIR
STAR CINEPLEX
Where Bashundhara City, Dhaka
What Movie showtime (May 18)
WILD BREW PRESENTS MOSH-PIT
When 2:30-8pm
Where Russian Cultural Centre, Road 7, Dhanmondi, Dhaka
What a two-day event of music video premiere by Plasmic
Knock and live concert.
JATRA BIROTI LIVE PERFORMANCES
When 7-11pm
Where Jatra Biroti, 60 Kemal Ataturk Ave, Dhaka
What Live music and open mic.
CONFERENCE
REDRAWING GENDER BOUNDARIES IN LITERARY
TERRAINS
When 9am
Where BRAC University, 66 Mohakhali, Dhaka
What A two-day international conference organised by the
department of English and Humanities of BRAC University.
STARTUP WEEKEND DHAKA
When 10:30am-8pm
Where GP House Bashundhara, Bashundhara R/A, Dhaka
What A two-day startup conference providing opportunities
for pitching unique ideas.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
(3D): 11:20am, 2pm, 4:40pm,
7:30pm
Smurfs: The Lost Village (3D):
11:30am, 1:30pm, 5pm
Fast & Furious 8 (3D): 11:10am,
2:10pm, 4:30pm, 7pm,
Fast & Furious 8 (2D): 10:50am,
1:35pm
One (2D): 4:20pm, 7:20pm
Beauty and the Beast (3D):
11:00am, 1:50pm, 7:10pm
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
(3D): 10:50am, 1:40pm, 3:50pm,
4:30pm, 6:50pm, 7:20pm
BLOCKBUSTER CINEMAS
Where Jamuna Future Park, Dhaka
What Movie showtime (May 18)
Rings (2D): 2:50pm, 5:05pm
Tumi Robe Nirobe (2D): 1pm, 3pm,
5pm, 7pm
The Shack (2D): 12:10pm, 7:25pm
Power Rangers (2D): 11:40am,
2:15pm, 4:55pm, 7:30pm
Fast and Furious 8 (3D): 11:30am,
2:15pm, 5pm, 7:45pm
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (3D):
11:30am, 2:15pm, 5pm, 7:45pm
EID-UL-FITR ENSEMBLE AT DRIK
When 10am-8pm
Where Drik Gallary, Dhanmondi 27, Dhaka
What A tow-day-long fair showcasing clothing for Eid.
SUMMER MEET-UP 2017
When 12pm
Where Clay Station Dhaka, House 28, Road 20, Block K,
Banani, Dhaka
What A tow-day-long fair showcasing fashion items by MIB
Spirit - Made in Bangladesh.

DT
18
Sports
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim plays one to the on-side during their match against New Zealand in Dublin yesterday
Neesham, Bennett propel
Kiwis against Tigers
• AFP, Dublin
New Zealand beat Bangladesh by
four wickets in the third match of
the Tri-Series in Clontarf yesterday,
finishing on 258 for six from 47.3
overs. Tom Latham and Jimmy
Neesham led the way for the Kiwis
with brisk half-centuries.
Earlier, the Black Caps restricted
Bangladesh to 257 for nine in the
third game of the series despite three
batsmen making half centuries.
Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim
and Mahmudullah all reached
50 but none could go on and
Soumya ended up as the top scorer
with 61.
Hamish Bennett, the one change
in the Black Caps line-up which
beat Ireland in their first match
on Sunday - he replaced Scott
Kuggeleijn - was rewarded for an
economical 10-over spell with two
wickets in the last over to finish
with three for 30.
Bangladesh also had to had
make one change to their first lineup
with Mashrafe bin Mortaza, who
had been suspended for the Ireland
game last Friday, returning in place
of Taskin Ahmed.
The Tigers enjoyed a bright start
with Tamim Iqbal and Soumya
putting on 72 for the first wicket
but they had lost two wickets by
the first drinks break with Tamin
caught on the cover boundary
for 23 and eight balls later, Sabbir
Rahman was bowled by Mitchell
Santner, the Black Caps five-wicket
man of the match on Sunday.
Santner was even more economical
on Wednesday, conceding
just 37 runs, but that was his only
wicket and it was Ish Sodhi who
INTERNET
upstaged him with two for 40, ending
Soumya’s 67-ball innings which
included just five boundaries.
Despite the short boundaries
at the compact Clontarf ground,
Bangladesh struggled to find them
with Mahmudullah the most successful,
hitting six in his 51 while
Mushfiqur hit the only six of the
innings in his 55.
Mosaddek Hossain picked up the
pace in the closing stages with a runa-ball
41 (four fours) but it was New
Zealand - three places higher than
Bangladesh in the ranking - who will
be the happier at the break.
Despite having 10 players away
at the Indian Premier League, they
continue to look an impressive outfit
although Neesham’s two wickets
cost 68 runs and Seth Rance in
his second ODI, had figures of 0-66
in his nine overs. •
SCORECARD
BANGLADESH R B
Tamim c Munro b Neesham 23 42
Soumya c Latham b Sodhi 61 67
Sabbir b Santner 1 4
Mushfiq c Ronchi b Neesham 55 66
Shakib c Neesham b Sodhi 6 14
Mahmudullah c Rance b Bennett 51 56
Mosaddek c Rance b Bennett 41 41
Miraz c Rance b Bennett 6 6
Mashrafe run out (Ronchi) 1 3
Rubel not out 0 0
Extras (lb 1, w 10) 11
Total (9 wickets; 49.5 overs) 256
Fall Of Wickets
1-72 (Tamim), 2-79 (Sabbir), 3-117
(Soumya), 4-132 (Shakib), 5-181 (Mushfiq),
6-242 (Mahmudullah), 7-253 (Mosaddek),
8-255 (Miraz), 9-256 (Mashrafe)
Bowling
Rance 9-0-66-0, Bennett 9.5-1-31-3, Santner
10-1-37-1, Neesham 9-0-68-2, Sodhi
10-1-40-2, Munro 2-0-14-0
NEW ZEALAND R B
Latham c Mushfiq b Rubel 54 64
Ronchi c Mahmudullah b Mustafiz 27 27
Worker run out (Sabbir) 17 24
Taylor lbw b Mustafizur 25 40
Broom lbw b Rubel 48 65
Neesham c Mosaddek b Mashrafe 52 48
Munro not out 16 14
Santner not out 5 3
Extras (lb 4, w 10) 14
Total (6 wickets; 47.3 overs) 258
Fall Of Wickets
1-39 (Ronchi), 2-80 (Worker), 3-110
(Latham), 4-147 (Taylor), 5-227 (Broom),
6-241 (Neesham)
Bowling
Mashrafe 6.3-0-58-1, Shakib 10-1-50-0,
Mustafizur 9-1-33-2, Miraz 8-0-45-0,
Mahmudullah 1-0-8-0, Mosaddek 3-0-7-0,
Rubel 10-0-53-2
New Zealand won by four wickets
MoM: Jimmy Neesham
Bangladesh-
Australia Tests
hinge on Carroll
security report
• Tribune Report
A lot will depend on Cricket Australia’s
anti-corruption and security
unit manager Sean Carroll’s
report after he inspected Mirpur’s
Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium
yesterday.
In his last day visit to Bangladesh,
Carroll had a meeting with
RAB before heading to the home of
cricket.
“I am very happy with the security
plan provided by the BCB
but it won’t be appropriate for me
to make any comment at the moment.
But I will definitely inform
CA regarding my satisfaction over
the security measures from the
BCB. I would like to thank BCB for
all the support,” Carroll told the
media.
However, when queried if Australia’s
tour of Bangladesh will go
ahead as per the previous schedule,
Carroll sounded a diplomatic
tone and wasn’t willing to make
any final comment.
“See, I have already told you
that I am happy with the security
plan given by the BCB but I can’t
say any further regarding the issue
at the moment. I will convey my
finding regarding the series to CA,”
he said.
If everything falls into place,
the first Test match will be played
before the Eid-ul-Adha holidays,
from September 1-5. The second
Test, slated for Chittagong, will be
held following the holidays.
Earlier, CA postponed its two-
Test series in 2015 citing security
concerns. •
Pakistan bans
spinner Nawaz
for one month
• AFP, Lahore
The Pakistan Cricket Board yesterday
banned all-rounder Mohammad
Nawaz for one month and
fined him approximately $2,000
after he admitted failing to disclose
an approach by a bookmaker to engage
in corrupt practices.
The 23-year-old was part of the
Twenty20 squad in the West Indies
in March but returned home without
playing a match.
He becomes the second casualty
of a wide-ranging investigation after
fast-bowler Mohammad Irfan
was banned for six months with six
suspended and fined one million
rupees ($10,000) after admitting to
similar charges. •

Sports
19
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
Roqibul regrets premature retirement incident
Roqibul Hasan, skipper of Mohammedan in the DPL, scored 190 against Abahani to become the highest scorer in a List A
match in Bangladesh. Roqibul holds the distinction of being Bangladesh’s maiden first-class centurion when he smashed 313
for Barisal against Sylhet in 2007. Following his record 190, Roqibul gave an exclusive interview to Ali Shahriyar Bappa of
Dhaka Tribune, sharing his thoughts on his form, future plans, his premature retirement and his days as a Bangladesh
cricketer. Here are the excerpts:
You are the only Bangladeshi triple
centurion in first-class cricket.
Now, you have scored 190 in a List
A match. How do you feel?
It feels good. I don’t play for records.
Team are my first concern. I
always play for the team. I always
try to play my best cricket. After
scoring big, I always try to justify
innings and ask myself: did I play
according to my potential? That
answer is more important to me
than records. I believe I have plenty
to offer as a cricketer. I am trying
to achieve those. One more thing,
I try to set a good example for the
young batsmen and inspire them
out there. I always try to give them
belief and motivation that, okay,
Roqibul bhai scored 300 in National
Cricket League or 190 in 50-over
match, so we can score 350 or 400.
Or we can score 200 in 50 overs.
Do you harbour any hope of
returning to the national team?
I have no specific goals. I just want
to enjoy my cricket and score as
many runs as I can. I just concentrate
on my batting. I want to improve.
Last year I scored 700 runs.
This season, I want to score more.
During your international days,
you were criticised for your strike
rate (61.32 in 55 ODIs). Recently
you have improved your strike
rate. How did it happen?
Look, in my international career so
far, I was given a specific role. The
role was anchoring the innings. If
two-three early wickets fall, I have
to steady the innings and build the
momentum later. Yes, it would
have been better but I think that
was probably a reason for my relatively
low strike-rate.
You decided to retire in 2010. Do
you think it was a mistake?
It was an emotional decision. And
obviously it was a mistake. My
teammates, players and family
members told me not to retire. But
I took the decision emotionally.
At that time, I scored a century in
the first innings and remained not
out in the second against England
during a tour match in Chittagong.
After the century, I was high on
emotion and took the decision
emotionally. Everyone has to pay
for mistakes and probably I had to
pay the price for my mistake as the
player who replaced me played really
well and cemented his place.
Who is your mentor?
From the U-17 level, my mentor is
Nazmul Abedeen Fahim sir. He is
my coach, mentor, and in a sense,
the guardian of my career.
Any role models from Bangladesh?
I was fond of [Aminul Islam] Bulbul
bhai, [Minhajul Abedin] Nannu
bhai. I also played and followed
Alok Kapali and Tushar Imran. And
from abroad, I was fond of Mohammad
Yousuf. I even played against
him in Pakistan. He gave me tips
about my batting. And later, I liked
AB de Villiers. But from my childhood,
my favourite was Sachin
Tendulkar.
When you were in the national
side, Australia’s Jamie Siddons was
the head coach. What impact did
he have on your career?
I believe Siddons left a great mark
in Bangladesh cricket. In his tenure,
players started to believe that
Bangladesh can win abroad. Siddons
made a positive change in
our mindset. And from the batting
point of view, he was outstanding.
If you look at Tamim [Iqbal], Shakib
[al Hasan], Mushfiqur [Rahim],
[Mahmudullah] Riyad and myself,
Siddons worked with our batting
and basics closely. All these players
benefited so much in terms of batting
from Siddons. We are reaping
the success of Siddons’ hard work.
Our current coach [Chandika] Hathurusingha
is brilliant as well. Hathurusingha
made progress and produced
positive results. But I believe
it all started in Siddons’ time. He left
a great impact in our cricket. •
DHAKA PREMIER DIVISION CRICKET LEAGUE SEASON 2016-17
Centuries galore as Abahani still second
• Tribune Report
Boosted by in-form opening batsman
Liton Kumar Das’ second
century this year, Abahani Limited
defeated Legends of Rupganj in
the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket
League season 2016-17 yesterday.
With this win, holder Abahani
maintained second position in the
12-team points table with eight victories
in 10 matches.
Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club
secured their seventh win this season
with a dominating victory over
Khelaghar Samaj Kalyan Samity
with opener Imtiaz Hossain smashing
an unbeaten century for the
winning side.
Meanwhile, Victoria Sporting
Club, struggling at the bottom of
the table, finally tasted their first
win this year defeating relegation
contender Partex Sporting Club.
Abahani v Rupganj, BKSP 4
Liton slammed a whirlwind hundred
as Abahani clinched a 49-run
win over Rupganj. Batting first, Abahani
openers toyed with the Rupganj
attack with Liton and left-handed
batsman Shadman Islam posting
207 for the opening wicket stand.
Shadman scored 85 with seven
boundaries and five over boundaries
before getting dismissed. Liton
however, marched on to make 136
in 142 deliveries with the help of 20
fours and three sixes before Rupganj
pacer Mohammad Sharif removed
him in the 33rd over. The Sky Blues
eventually put up 333 in 49.5 overs
before being all out.
Liton is shining bright for Abahani
having scored a half century
and 135 in his previous two outings.
The right-hander is the highest
run-scorer in the tournament
so far with 578, including two tons
and three half-centuries.
Chasing the target, captain
Naeem Islam scored 123, featuring
11 boundaries and three sixers,
but the effort went in vain as Rupganj
made 284 in 50 overs losing
six wickets. Lower-order batsman
Mosharraf Hossain added 67. Abahani
pacer Abu Jayed picked up
three wickets.
Doleshwar v Khelaghar, Fatullah
Doleshwar’s Imtiaz Hossain hoicks one towards the leg-side during their DPL game
against Khelaghar in Fatullah yesterday
MD MANIK
Imtiaz blasted an unbeaten century
as Doleshwar strolled to a 10-wicket
win against Khelaghar.
Chasing a below-par 179-run target,
Imtiaz was destructive, hammering
107, composed with 10 fours
and three sixes, while his opening
partner Abdul Mazid remained not
out on 64 as Doleshwar reached their
target in 33.1 overs without loss.
Earlier, Khelghar were asked to
bat first and riding on middle-order
batsman’s Amit Majumder’s
73, posted 178 on the board losing
all of their wickets in 45.3 overs.
Left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny, the
leading wicket-taker of the tournament,
bagged three wickets for
Doleshwar to take his tally to 26
wickets in 10 innings.
Victoria v Partex, BKSP 3
In the battle between the relegation
contenders, Victoria defeated
Partex by two wickets.
Taking first guard, Partex put up
298 losing nine wickets in 50 overs.
Pacer Mahbubul Alam took four
wickets for Victoria. Later, riding
on half-centuries from No 3 Arun
Karthik (89) and opener Rubel Mia
(73 not out), Victoria reached their
target with three balls remaining. •
DPL, ROUND 10
RUPGANJ 284/6 (Naeem 123,
Mosharraf 67) lost to ABAHANI 333 in
49.5 overs (Liton 136, Shadman 85) by
49 runs
DOLESHWAR 181 in 33.1 overs (Imtiaz
107*, Mazid 64) beat KHELAGHAR 178
in 45.3 overs (Amit 73, Randiv 41) by 10
wickets
VICTORIA 299/8 in 50.3 overs (Arun
89, Rubel 73) beat PARTEX 298/9
(Sukkur 95, Sazzadul 75) by two wickets
POINTS TABLE
Teams Mat Won Lost Pts
Gazi 9 9 0 18
Abahani 10 8 2 16
Prime 9 7 2 14
Doleshwar 10 7 3 14
Mohammedan 9 6 3 12
Jamal 9 5 4 10
Rupganj 10 5 5 10
Brothers 9 3 6 6
Khelaghar 10 3 7 6
Kalabagan 9 2 7 4
Partex 10 1 9 2
Victoria 10 1 9 2
FIXTURE
TODAY’S MATCHES
Kalabagan v Gazi, Fatullah
Mohammedan v Brothers, BKSP 3
Prime v Sk Jamal, BKSP 4

20
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
Sports
Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez shoots at goal during their Premier League match against Sunderland at the Emirates on Tuesday
EPL RESULTS
Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland
Sanchez 72, 81
Man City 3-1 West Brom
Jesus 27, De Bruyne 29, Robson-Kanu 87
Toure 57
REUTERS
Arsenal in race,
City all but there
• AFP, London
Alexis Sanchez sank Sunderland
to keep Arsenal in the hunt for
Champions League qualification
on Tuesday, while Manchester City
all but secured a top-four place by
beating West Bromwich Albion.
Sanchez scored two late closerange
goals to earn Arsenal a 2-0
POINTS TABLE
Teams P W D L GD Pts
Chelsea 37 29 3 5 48 90
Tottenham 36 24 8 4 79 80
Man City 37 22 9 6 36 75
Liverpool 37 21 10 6 33 73
Arsenal 37 22 6 9 31 72
Man Utd 36 17 14 5 23 65
home victory over relegated Sunderland,
while Kevin De Bruyne
starred as City comfortably defeated
West Brom 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
City climb to third in the Premier
League. •
Abahani crash
out of AFC Cup
• Tribune Report
BPL winner Dhaka Abahani Limited
crashed out of the AFC Cup
group stage after conceding a 2-0
defeat against Maldives champion
Maziya Sports and Recreation
Club at National Stadium in Male
yesterday. Two second-half goals
from the home side meant Maziya
moved to the top of Group E with
12 points from five matches while
Abahani remained at the bottom
with three points from the same
number of outings.
The Sky Blues, who defeated
Indian champion Bengaluru FC in
their previous home match, will
host Kolkata giant Mohun Bagan in
their sixth and last group match at
Bangabandhu National Stadium on
May 31. Following a barren opening
half, midfielder Mohamed Umair
put the Maldives outfit ahead a
minute before the hour mark before
striker Aleksandar Rakic doubled
the lead in the 85th minute.
Earlier, Abahani head coach Drago
Mamic gave young forward Saad
Uddin his first appearance in the
AFC Cup starting XI. Saad and Rubel
Mia both scored against Bengaluru
in the last match and were rewarded
with starting places up front
against Maziya, alongside Welshman
Jonathan Brown and Nigerian
Emeka Darlington. The Sky Blues
had a chance to go ahead in the
game in the seventh minute when
defender Rayhan Hasan’s left-footed
shot from outside the box went
wide. Maziya captain Abdulla Asadullah
and forward Rakic kept the
opposition defence busy. •
Ord named new Bangladesh
football team coach
• Tribune Report
The BFF yesterday decided to
appoint English-born Australian
coach Andrew Ord as the new head
coach of Bangladesh football team.
The new coach is likely to join the
men in red and green in the first
week of June this year.
A meeting of the BFF national
team management committee was
held yesterday after which the decision
was taken. Ord is likely to
sign the official deal, expected to
span a year, with the football federation
within 7-10 days.
Rahmatganj held
• Tribune Report
Old Dhaka outfit Rahmatganj Muslim
Friends Society and Brothers
Union played out a goalless draw
in their last group stage match in
the Walton Federation Cup 2017 at
Bangabandhu National Stadium
yesterday. With the draw, Brothers
sealed their place in the quarter-finals
as the group runners-up while
Rahmatganj already confirmed
their berth in the knockout stage
before yesterday’s game.
Following the end of the Group
D matches, Rahmatganj top the
group with four points from two
matches while Brothers have two
points from two draws. Team
The national team management
committee, led by chairman Kazi
Nabil Ahmed, short-listed three
foreign coaches for the national
job, among which one was Spanish
and the other being Italian. Ord
got the nod due to his experience
of working in Asia and his involvement
in scouting.
“BFF started contacting with
him (Ord) around one and a half
month ago. He has experience
working in Asia. He has good
knowledge about south Asian
football. He will be in Dhaka in the
first week of June and is likely to
BJMC crashed out of the tournament
with one point. Rahmatganj
could have broken the deadlock in
the 37th minute but Brothers goalkeeper
Kamal Hossain Titu made
a brilliant save to deny Rashedul
Islam Shuvo’s powerful strike from
the top of the box.
Meanwhile, former champion
Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club
and Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra
will take on each other in their last
group stage match at the same venue
today at 6:45pm. Both the sides
defeated Farashganj Sporting Club
in their opening match to confirm
their berth in the quarter-finals and
today’s game will only decide who
finish as Group B champion. •
sign a one-year contract after his
appointment is approved in the
board meeting,” said BFF general
secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag
yesterday.
Ord’s last job was for Australia’s
A League side Perth Glory where he
was the assistant coach of the club.
He joined the Australian outfit in
2013.
The 37-year old coach also managed
young footballers in Myanmar
and coached Thai clubs Tero
Sasana and Muang Thong United in
2012-13.
Bangladesh don’t have any
scheduled tournaments or matches
in the near future but there are two
AFC competitions for junior sides
this year. •
NATIONAL HOCKEY GOLD CUP
Navy, Army face off in final today
• Tribune Report
Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh
Army reached the final of the 31st
ATN Bangla National Hockey Gold
Cup Tournament after winning
their respective semi-finals at
Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium
in Paltan yesterday.
Bangladesh Army earned a comfortable
4-0 victory over Dhaka
district in the first semi-final of the
day. Shafiqul Islam scored twice
while Pushkor Khisa Mimo and
Manoj Babu added one apiece for
the winning side.
Star-studded Bangladesh Navy
had to toil hard to beat Dhaka Education
Board 4-3 after coming
from behind from a two-goal deficit.
Pramod Dewan and Shawon
Sheikh gave DEB a 2-0 lead within
22 minutes before Russel Mahmud
Jimmy proved to be the rescuer for
Bangladesh Navy by netting two
goals in either half. Kaushik and
Rimon Kumar netted one each for
Bangladesh Navy while Prince Lal
Samanta scored the other for DEB.
Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh
Navy will face each other in
the final at the same venue today at
3:15pm while Dhaka and DEB will vie
for third place in the afternoon. •

Sports
21
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
Sharapova retires after
French Open snub,
Murray stunned
• AFP, Rome
Maria Sharapova retired with
injury in her second-round
match in Rome, just hours after
she was denied a wild card
for the French Open, while defending
champion Andy Murray
crashed to a heavy defeat
in his opener against Fabio
Fognini on Tuesday.
Sharapova, who was wearing
a bandage on her left
thigh, pulled out of her contest
against Croatian veteran Mirjana
Lucic-Baroni while leading
4-6, 6-3, 2-1 to round out a
miserable day for the five-time
Grand Slam champion.
World number one Murray’s
Rome Masters title defence
then ended worryingly early as
he was comfortably beaten 6-2,
6-4 by local favourite Fognini
after a first-round bye. Murray
limped to another premature
exit with flamboyant shotmaker
Fognini bossing the Scottish
top seed around at will and
breaking him four times. Murray
succumbed to the Italian in
just over 90 minutes. •
Falcao, Coentrao in Spanish tax evasion lawsuits
• AFP, Madrid
Spanish prosecutors said Tuesday
they had filed lawsuits against Colombian
striker Radamel Falcao and Portuguese
defender Fabio Coentrao for
allegedly hiding millions of euros in
income from the tax office.
AS Monaco’s Falcao is suspected of
failing to correctly declare 5.6m euros
($6.1m) of income earned from image
rights between 2012 and 2013 while he
was at Atletico Madrid, Madrid’s regional
prosecutor said in a statement.
Coentrao, who plays for Real Madrid,
is accused of hiding nearly 1.3m
euros in income earned from his image
rights between 2012 and 2014, it
added.
The two players are suspected of
using a web of shell companies in the
British Virgin Islands, Ireland, Colombia
and Panama to avoid taxes on the
income from their image rights. •
Maria Sharapova of Russia returns against Mirjana Lucic of Croatia
during their Rome Open second round match on Tuesday REUTERS
ITF ASIAN U-12 TEAM TENNIS 2017
Bangladesh boys, girls
into semis
• Tribune Report
Both the Bangladesh boys and
girls tennis teams swept into
the semi-finals of the ITF Asian
U-12 Team Championship 2017
(south Asia regional qualifiers)
after winning their respective
group stage matches in Kathmandu,
Nepal on Tuesday.
Having been placed in
Group B along with Sri Lanka,
Pakistan and host Nepal, the
Bangladesh boys won all their
matches to reach the last four
as group champion while the
girls finished as Group A runners-up.
The Bangladesh boys came
from behind to beat Sri Lanka
FOOTBALL
TEN 1
12:40AM
Sky Bet EFL League 2 Playoff
SF: Luton Town v Blackpool
TEN 3
DAY’S WATCH
2-1 in their last match of the
group stage. Jubaer Utsha lost
Bangladesh’s first singles before
Rumman Hossain levelled
the margin winning the second
singles. Alvi and Rumman pair
won the doubles to confirm top
spot from the group.
The Bangladesh girls, who
earlier defeated Bhutan, lost
to Sri Lanka 3-0 in their second
match to finish as group runners-up.
The Bangladesh girls team,
comprising Sadia Afrin, Mashfia
Afrin and Dipanwita will
face India in the semi-final today
while the boys will take on
Bhutan on the same day in the
battle for the final. •
12:45AM
Sky Bet EFL League 2 Playoff
SF: Exeter City v Carlisle United
STAR SPORTS SELECT HD 1
12:35AM
English Premier League
Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur

22
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
Showtime
5 most
anticipated films
from this year’s
Cannes
• Nasir Rayhan
The sail has been set for cinema’s most esteemed yearly event, the Cannes Film Festival 2017. Back to the
cinephiles of the world for the 70 th time, this year the festival returns to the French Riviera for more glamour,
eclectic line-ups, star-studded parties and of course, a showcase of the best upcoming films.
With coverage beginning on Thursday, here are our top picks—some of the films that filmgoers can’t wait to
see at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
24 Frames (Abbas Kiarostami)
24 Frames is the work of one of the greatest directors of our time.
Passing away at the age of 76 last summer, Abbas Kiarostami was
able to extract the essence of the human soul throughout his
career, leaving behind a number of essential films. Inspired from
still images, including paintings and his own photographs, he
directed the experimental project 24 Frames, which is a collection
of four and a half minute films, for his last work. Why is it so
special? Let Kiarostami speak for himself.
“I always wonder to what extent the artist aims to depict the
reality of a scene. Painters capture only one frame of reality and
nothing before or after it. For the 24 Frames I decided to use the
photos I had taken through the years,” Kiarostami said on his final
film.
“ I included 4’30” of what I imagined might have taken place
before or after each image that I had captured,” he added.
The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola)
Before a summer release, Sofia Coppola is back to the Cannes Film
Festival with The Beguiled, a film which revolves around a girls’
school in Virginia during the Civil War, where the young women
have been sheltered from the outside world, a wounded Union
soldier is taken in. Soon, the house is taken over with sexual
tension, rivalries, and an unexpected turn of events.
The “vengeful bitches” of The Beguiled include Nicole Kidman,
Elle Fanning, and Kirsten Dunst, while Colin Farrell plays the
wounded soldier under their care. Although, the original material
of the film belongs to Don Siegel, whose Clint Eastwood-led
original piece has been tailor-made for Coppola and is expected to
be one of the sexiest, impassioned thrillers of the year.
Claire’s Camera (Hong Sang-
Soo)
Hong Sang-Soo earned a
reputation for being one of
the most consistent Korean
directors, who unsurprisingly
also has a shocking stamina.
Claire’s Camera is one of three
films Hong is releasing in 2017,
and his second at this year’s
festival.
Before Claire’s Camera,
Hong has a history with
Oscar-nominee Isabelle
Huppert. In 2012, the duo
created something beautiful
named In Another Country, in
which Isabelle gave one of her
greatest performances to date.
This made the aficionados
speculating about the reunion
of two artists, while expecting
a similarly pleasing experience
from Claire’s Camera.
Premiering as a Special
Screening is a film he actually
shot at the festival, Claire’s
Camera, which also stars Kim
Min-hee, follows a part-time
high school teacher and writer.
Based on a True Story (Roman
Polanski)
Roman Polanski is back after
a hiatus of four years since
his last feature and this time
the auteur has reunited with
his wife Emmanuelle Seigner
for the erotic thriller Based
on a True Story. Based on a
True Story follows an author
with writer’s block who finds
inspiration in a friendship that
soon becomes disturbing. The
feature stars Seigner as a writer
who enters into a dangerous
relationship with an obsessive
fan, played by Eva Green.
If we can have the
quintessential Polanski of
The Tenant or to exemplify
from his more contemporary
ventures like Venus in Fur and
his 2010 film The Ghost Writer,
Based on a True Story is sure to
be a dish fit for Gods.
Happy End (Michael Haneke)
From the director of Amour
and The White Ribbon, Happy
End is a drama about a family
set in Calais with the European
refugee crisis as the backdrop
and is already a favourite to win
the Palme d’Or, while not even
having an official poster.
If everything goes as the
current vibe suggests, Haneke,
who won back-to-back Palmes
for his last two films, is going
to make it for the third time
in a row. Happy End reunited
Haneke with his revered Amour
stars Isabelle Huppert and Jean-
Louis Trintignant •

Showtime
23
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
Richard Marx plays Bappa’s guitar
• Showtime Desk
US contemporary and pop/rock
singer-songwriter, Richard Marx,
performed in Bangladesh for
the first time ever on Tuesday
evening. The crowd witnessed
an evening of unmitigated rock,
with the sensational artist in an
all black outfit, and his signature
raspy voice.
Unlike the appearance of Marx,
the acoustic guitar he was playing
on stage was a little familiar to the
local audience, which has added a
new dimension to the excitement.
But the reason behind their hushhush
got revealed after a few
moments when Shahan Kobond,
the band manager of famous
Bangladeshi band, Dalchhut,
confirmed that the guitar Marx
was playing throughout the
concert actually belongs to
Bappa Mazumder, the Dalchhut
frontman.
“Marx’s favourite guitar broke
unfortunately, while unloading
from the plane on Tuesday
morning, and left Marx in a
dilemma as he did not bring any
extras. Marx then went on to
ask the organisers from Creinse
Limited, for a new guitar with
specific requirements, without
which, performing in the evening
will be difficult for him,” said
Kobond.
The organisers started their
quest for the guitar Marx needed.
However, it wasn’t easy to find a
guitar with these specifications
at such a short notice. The news
reached Bappa Mazumder, who
then came forward to help Marx
by lending his own guitar of the
same kind.
“I came to know about the
incident around afternoon and
found out that my favourite Taylor
guitar meets all the requirements
Marx had asked for. Without a
moment of hesitation, I agreed
to hand it over to him. Although,
due to some personal reason, I
was unable to join the show, but
it’s actually a pleasure for me to be
able to help an artist of his stature
with my own guitar,” said Bappa
Mazumder.
Titled as ‘Richard Marx Live
in Dhaka’ the concert was held
in Bangabandhu International
Conference Centre, on Tuesday
evening. Young local guitarist,
Kazi Faisal, also played in the
famous track ‘Hazard’ alongside
Marx. Consumer engagement,
music and entertainment
company, Creinse Limited, hosted
the event featuring the musician.
Born in 1963, the songwriter and
producer’s nearly three-decadelong
career has had innumerable
highlights. The Chicago native
had a stream of hit singles in the
late 1980s and 1990s. The talented
singer’s work includes both ballads
and classic rock, such as “Don’t
Mean Nothing,” “Should’ve Known
Better,” “Satisfied,” and “Too Late
to Say Goodbye.” Marx placed
himself in the record books by
being the first solo artist to have
his first seven singles hit the Top
5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles
chart.•
Michael Moore pledges
to defeat Donald Trump
with new documentary
• Showtime Desk
On Tuesday, American film-maker
Michael Moore said that his newly
revealed documentary about Donald
Trump will finally defeat the
US president.
Under a “cloak of secrecy,” the
production of his new documentary
Fahrenheit 11/9, named after
the date when Donald Trump
was declared president-elect, has
already begun. The documentary
chronicles Trump’s victory over
Democratic presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton, and his tumultuous
tenure as the US commander-in-chief.
Moore said in a statement, “No
matter what you throw at him, it
hasn’t worked. No matter what
is revealed, he remains standing.
Facts, reality, brains cannot defeat
him. Even when he commits a
self-inflicted wound, he gets up
the next morning and keeps going
and tweeting. That all ends with
this movie.”
Though no release date has
been slated, producers Bob and
Harvey Weinstein informed that
they have already purchased the
rights of the documentary.
An Oscar winner for his gun-violance
documentary Bowling for Columbine,
Michael Moore is also set
for a one-man show expected to
premier on Broadway this summer.
Previously, Moore made another
film about Trump titled Michael
Moore in TrumpLand, which was
released in October last year. •
Another Brit love interest for
Taylor Swift
• Showtime Desk
Reportedly, Taylor Swift has been enjoying secret romance
with Joe Alwyn, a budding 26 year-old London based actor,
who still lives with his parents.
Taylor’s previous relationships with a number of British
stars including Tom Hiddleston, Calvin Harris, and Harry
Styles were eventually shaken off. But this time, it seems
she intends to keep her love life private.
The Sun reported that the 27 year-old singer and the actor
have been sneaking around London in disguise, in a bid to
keep their budding romance under cover for “several
months”.
She believes that the media revelations
surrounding her relationship with Tom
Hiddleston doomed their shortlived
romance. Joe is the first
person Taylor has been
linked to since her
split with Tom.
Joe Alwyn
made his feature
film debut
opposite
Kristen
Stewart in
Long Halftime
Walk, and
set to play
Emma Stone’s
love interest
in Yorgos
Lanthimos’
upcoming historical
drama The Favourite. •

24
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
DT
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Sexual harassment: Most students
unaware of complaint committees
• Afrose Jahan Chaity
RIGHTS
An overwhelming majority of
women encounter some level of
sexual harassment in their pursuit
of an education or livelihood in
Bangladesh, despite the High Court
issuing guidelines in May 2009 to
help prevent sexual harassment
at educational institutions and in
workplaces.
The court said in its verdict seven
years ago that complaint committees
should be formed at all
public and private sector workplaces
and educational institutions to
receive complaints and to conduct
investigations and make recommendations.
It also asked all the universities
to undertake awareness-raising
programmes on sexual harassment,
including holding seminars
and debates.
However, the Bangladesh National
Woman Lawyers Association
(BNWLA) project manager, Mitali
Jahan, has told the Dhaka Tribune
that many of the educational institutions
did comply with the High
Court directive.
“Those institutions that have
such committees did not precisely
follow the court’s directives when
forming them,” he said. “In some
cases, students themselves are ignorant
about the existence of such
committees at their institutions.”
Students oblivious of complaint
committees
Nusrat Jahan (not her real name)
was sexually harassed by one of
her classmates when she first enrolled
at a public university.
The victim, who is now studying
at a private university, informed
her parents of the matter, but they
pinned the blame on her because
she had allowed herself to fall prey
to harassment.
The postgraduate student had
been in the dark about the High
Court directives and complaint
committees at universities.
“My family is conservative.
They put the blame on me for the
incident, and I had nothing to do,”
Nusrat told the Dhaka Tribune.
She said she was only made
aware of the requirement for
complaint committees by this
newspaper.
“I would have not switched my
previous university had I known
about this earlier,” Nusrat said.
Iritra Nazafarin, an East West
University (EWU) student, said
she had also not heard of any such
complaint committee.
“Generally, we report to proctors’
office when we fall victim to
sexual harassment,” she said.
A study by the BNWLA revealed
that around three in four university
students are oblivious of the
court’s 2009 directive on the formation
of mandatory complaint
committees.
Mouli Azad, member secretary
to Sexual Harassment Prevention
Committee of University Grants
Commission (UGC), said only 25
public and 34 private universities
have reported having complaint
committees on their campuses.
“Many students - in some cases
teachers themselves - are ignorant
about this,” he said.
Prof Dr Mohibul Aziz, a member
of Sexual Harassment Complaint
Committee at Chittagong University,
found la ack of awareness building
campaigns to be the reason
for students’ ignorance about the
committees.
Few reports, limited campaigns
After speaking to the authorities
of six public and private universities,
the Dhaka Tribune found only
one had an active and functional
complaint committee: University
of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).
The others without committees
were Dhaka University (DU), Jahangirnagar
University (JU), Chittagong
University (CU), Ahsanullah
University of Science and Technology,
and EWU.
ULAB Assistant Proctor and the
committee’s chair Arzoo Ismail,
Banani rape: What matters and what doesn’t
• Tanim Ahmed
NEWS ANALYSIS
Why did she go to the hotel? It does not
matter if she went to a restaurant or a
hotel.
Wasn’t it almost dark when she
went? It does not matter what time of
day or night it was.
Did she have someone older accompany
her? Did she at least have a friend
go with her? It does not matter whether
she was alone or with a gang of friends.
Was it at least a public place where
they went? It does not matter if she
went up to the poolside restaurant,
rooftop bar or the honeymoon suite.
Was she high or drunk? It does not
matter if she was drinking or smoking
up or doing drugs.
What was she wearing? It does not
matter if it was halter neck and mini
skirt, a saree or a burqa.
Is she a virgin? It does not matter if or
how many men she had slept with before.
Does she have boyfriends? It does not
matter if she has a string of them either.
Was she married before? It does not
matter if she has been divorced or is currently
married.
Did she stay out at night often? It
does not matter if she did not come
home for days at a stretch or if she never
strayed out of home.
● Students ignorant of HC
directives, complaint
committees
● Complaint receiving
bodies non-functional at
many institutions
● Lack of awareness
campaigns to blame
● Need for monitoring cells,
campaigns stressed
BIGSTOCK
Did she bring male friends home? It
does not matter if she socialised with
men, women or hijras.
She was asking for it when she
agreed to go to the hotel, wasn’t she?
No she wasn’t.
Was she giving vibes that could mislead
him? That does not matter either.
Is she religious? Her piety, or the lack
of it, does not lessen or increase the
chances of being raped.
Just similarly it does not matter what
the boy was wearing or if he was under
the influence of drugs.
It does not matter if he has a string of
girlfriends. It does not matter if he had
been married once or several times. It
does not matter if he is religious. It does
not matter what his father is quoted to
have told the media.
The question is whether Safat had
forced himself upon the girl. The question
is whether she had agreed to sex.
The entire exercise hinges on finding
out whether she had protested against
intercourse. The entire exercise should
hinge on establishing that single point.
Everything else is irrelevant.
It is pointless to dwell where she
was, what she was wearing or what time
of the evening she went out. It is not like
the law applies any less to scantily clad
women lounging about hotel rooftops
in the evenings or that the law is stronger
in case of pious women. It is not like
hotels become hubs of lecherous men
however, said in the last one year
they received only three complaints
and had been asked to submit
a report to the UGC.
“Our students are aware of the
committee as we regularly organise
awareness raising programmes,”
he said.
The JU Complaint Cell authorities
informed that they were now
investigating two incidents of sexual
harassment, and the report on another
incident had been submitted
to the university administration.
Prof Dr Rasheda Akhtar of the
university said they had already
organised 18 programmes to raise
awareness among students about
sexual assault.
Inun Ripa, a student of women
and gender studies department at
DU, said: “We have an active committee,
but the problem is there is
no awareness programme as such
on the campus.”
Meanwhile, the CU authorities
informed that they had received
only one complaint in the same
period. The accused was later released
as he was not found guilty
during a probe.
BNWLA Executive Director Salma
Ali suggested the government
formulate a specific law to prevent
sexual harassment and constitute
a national level monitoring cell to
implement the law.
“In the short term, the government
needs to make sure the High
Court directives are properly being
implemented,” she stressed. •
by night where becomes okay to manhandle
or rape women there. There
is no point of time of the day rights as
a human being cease to be in effect.
These do not matter at all.
It takes a lot of courage and resolve
for a woman to come out and allege
rape in this society. Regardless of the
outcome of the case, the fate of these
women is bound to be bleak, at least
in Bangladesh. Yet two women have
done that, perhaps even at the risk of
alienation from their families. Instead
of seeking explanation from the two
women and asking about their morality,
the least everyone could do is look for
the relevant answers that would see the
end of this affair swiftly and justly. •
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