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SECOND EDITION<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong> | Shrabon 8, 1424, Shawwal 28, 1438 | Regd No DA 6<strong>23</strong>8, Vol 5, No 76 | 24 pages plus 8-page business supplement | Price: Tk10<br />
113 verdicts<br />
in 850<br />
militancy<br />
cases over<br />
18 years › 2<br />
RAJIB DHAR<br />
BUSINESS SUPPLEMENT<br />
Fears of more Israeli-<br />
Palestinian violence<br />
over holy site › 6<br />
With climate change<br />
driving child marriage risks,<br />
Bangladesh fights back › 7<br />
Local brands<br />
dominate<br />
smartphone<br />
market › 2<br />
Bangladesh to turn<br />
mobile manufacturer<br />
soon › 3
2<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
113 verdicts in 850 militancy cases over 18 years<br />
• Arifur Rahman Rabbi<br />
SPECIAL <br />
A total of 850 militancy cases have<br />
been lodged across the country<br />
over the last 18 years, from 1999<br />
to March <strong>2017</strong>. Out of these, only<br />
13.29% have been settled, while the<br />
rest remain bogged down under<br />
trial and investigation.<br />
Two people lost their lives and<br />
scores were injured in a militant<br />
attack on the Tazia procession of<br />
Husseini Dalan in Old Dhaka on<br />
October <strong>23</strong>, 2015. It took 18 months<br />
to start proceedings of the case<br />
under the Anti-Terrorism Act as<br />
police took a year to file the charge<br />
sheet, accusing 10 militants. The<br />
trial finally began on May 31 this<br />
year.<br />
This is not even the worst<br />
instance of a delay in a militancy<br />
case. Similar incidents have been<br />
under trial for years, while some<br />
have seen no progress in a decade<br />
and a half.<br />
Nine militancy cases were filed<br />
between 1999 and 2004, with all<br />
of them yet to be concluded. Seven<br />
are under trial, while the remaining<br />
two are still in the investigation<br />
phase.<br />
According to the militant<br />
monitoring cell of police<br />
headquarters, around 3,457<br />
members of militant outfits have<br />
been arrested in the 850 militancy<br />
cases. Police have submitted<br />
charge sheets to the court for 598<br />
of these cases, 21 final reports have<br />
been filed and <strong>23</strong>1 militancy cases<br />
are still under investigation.<br />
The sluggish progress of<br />
militancy cases not only thwarts<br />
justice, but also raises other terror<br />
related concerns, say analysts.<br />
Militants out on bail<br />
Many militants are released on bail<br />
due to the slow progress of their<br />
cases, making it more difficult for<br />
law enforcement agencies to track<br />
their whereabouts.<br />
According to jail authorities,<br />
more than 100 militant prisoners<br />
have been released on bail from<br />
jails over the past six months.<br />
Among them are members of<br />
New JMB, old JMB, Ansarullah<br />
Bangla Team, Harkatul Jihad<br />
(HuJIB) and Hizbut Tahrir.<br />
New JMB’s Abdur Rouf Prodhan,<br />
arrested from Dhaka in January<br />
this year, was released on bail after<br />
giving his confessional statement<br />
on June 2. Old JMB’s Saleh Ahmed<br />
was released on bail the same day,<br />
while Ansarullah Bangla Team<br />
member Ariful Islam was released<br />
the day before.<br />
Faruk Ahmed, who has handled<br />
a number of militancy cases as a<br />
defence lawyer, told the Dhaka<br />
Tribune that militancy trials have<br />
to be completed within 360 days as<br />
per the code of criminal procedure.<br />
Long trial proceedings that require suspected militants to be repeatedly shuttled between the court and jail increases the risk<br />
of escape. One only needs to think back to February 2014, when members of JMB killed a policeman and rescued three of their<br />
detained operatives from a prison van in Trishal, Mymensingh<br />
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU<br />
The main reason<br />
trial proceedings of<br />
militant cases stall is<br />
due to the absence<br />
of witnesses on the<br />
scheduled date. Not<br />
limited to civilian<br />
witnesses, police are<br />
also often guilty of<br />
failing to show up<br />
and give statements<br />
If a trial cannot be completed<br />
within this time, then the court<br />
may grant bail to the accused.<br />
When contacted, Counter<br />
Terrorism and Transnational<br />
Crime (CTTC) unit officials have<br />
expressed their anxiety about<br />
the release of militants on bail,<br />
confirming that it creates difficulty<br />
in monitoring them and leads to<br />
the risk that they may carry out<br />
further attacks.<br />
A window for escape<br />
Furthermore, long trial proceedings<br />
that require suspected militants to<br />
MILITANCY CASES OVER 18 YEARS<br />
YEAR<br />
TOTAL<br />
CASE<br />
FINAL<br />
REPORT<br />
CHARGE<br />
SHEET<br />
be repeatedly shuttled between the<br />
court and jail increases the risk of<br />
escape.<br />
One only needs to think back<br />
to February 2014, when members<br />
of JMB killed a policeman and<br />
rescued three of their detained<br />
operatives from a prison van in<br />
Trishal, Mymensingh. One of the<br />
militants was recaptured within<br />
hours, while the other two are<br />
believed to have fled to India.<br />
When asked about the risk of<br />
escape during transfer of militants<br />
to court, Senior Superintendent of<br />
Kashimpur High Security Central<br />
UNDER<br />
INVESTIGATION<br />
UNDER<br />
TRIAL<br />
FINISHED<br />
TRIAL<br />
1999-2004 9 0 7 2 7 0<br />
2005 203 16 187 0 203 83<br />
2006 47 0 45 2 45 17<br />
2007 29 3 26 0 29 5<br />
2008 11 0 11 0 11 3<br />
2009 39 0 39 0 39 4<br />
2010 38 0 38 0 38 0<br />
2011 43 0 43 0 43 0<br />
2012 42 0 42 0 42 0<br />
2013 35 1 33 1 34 1<br />
2014 58 0 56 2 56 0<br />
2015 77 0 63 14 63 0<br />
2016 178 1 8 169 9 0<br />
March <strong>2017</strong> 41 0 0 41 0 0<br />
Total 850 21 598 <strong>23</strong>1 619 113<br />
Jail Mizanur Rahman told the<br />
Dhaka Tribune that it was the duty<br />
of the police to handle the prisoner<br />
from the gate of the jail to court<br />
and back.<br />
Senior police officials said that<br />
they had taken measures regarding<br />
the problem of escape attempts<br />
when transferring militant<br />
prisoners.<br />
Deputy Commissioner (Media)<br />
of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police<br />
Masudur Rahman said: “After<br />
the Trishal incident the police<br />
are much more careful about the<br />
transfer of militants and special<br />
SOURCE: POLICE HEADQUARTERS<br />
security measures are put in place<br />
whenever they have to be moved.”<br />
Militant activities in jail<br />
Law enforcement officials<br />
have also raised concerns that<br />
militants held in jail may seek to<br />
radicalise other inmates. However,<br />
Kashimpur High Security Central<br />
Jail authorities have dismissed<br />
the concerns as they said special<br />
measures were taken for militant<br />
prisoners.<br />
Kashimpur Senior Jail<br />
Superintendent Mizanur Rahman<br />
said: “We are aware of who the<br />
militant prisoners are. They are<br />
separated from other prisoners in<br />
the jail and we constantly observe<br />
them. It is impossible for any<br />
militant prisoners to hold meetings<br />
and plan subversive activities<br />
while in jail.”<br />
Why do the cases stall?<br />
Abdullah Abu, public prosecutor of<br />
the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions<br />
Judges Court, told the Dhaka<br />
Tribune that the main reason trial<br />
proceedings of militant cases stall<br />
is due to the absence of witnesses<br />
on the scheduled date.<br />
Not limited to civilian witnesses,<br />
police are also often guilty of failing<br />
to show up and give statements.<br />
There are a number of instances<br />
where the investigating officer was<br />
absent at court despite the accused<br />
having been produced before it, he<br />
said<br />
Abdullah added that, for old<br />
cases specifically, there was a<br />
problem of cases proceeding in<br />
various courts of the country<br />
against the same militant.<br />
“This wastes time, as the<br />
accused cannot be produced at a<br />
court if he is already at another one<br />
on the same date,” he said.<br />
A police official from the<br />
prosecution department said<br />
for most of the cases where the<br />
witnesses failed to show, they<br />
were not found at the addresses<br />
which were mentioned in the case<br />
statements as they had changed<br />
residences.<br />
In order to resolve the issue,<br />
witnesses in more recent cases<br />
have to provide alternate addresses<br />
and mobile phone numbers as<br />
well as their current address, he<br />
added.<br />
However, it was more difficult to<br />
fix the issue of witnesses that later<br />
decide against giving statements to<br />
the court out of fear that militants<br />
may look for retribution, the police<br />
official said.<br />
Attorney General Mahbubey<br />
Alam, chief legal official of the<br />
state, told the Dhaka Tribune<br />
that most trials for militant cases<br />
were delayed in the lower courts.<br />
However, some militant cases,<br />
including that of HujiB leader<br />
Mufti Hannan, have been resolved<br />
quickly in the High Court. •
News<br />
SUNDAY,<br />
Local administration had also harassed<br />
UNO over Bangabandhu portrait<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
Barguna sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer<br />
(UNO) Gazi Tarique Salman<br />
was not only harassed through a<br />
defamation case, but also by the local<br />
administration over his printing<br />
of an invitation card with an image<br />
of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur<br />
Rahman drawn by a child.<br />
On April 3, the UNO was first<br />
served with a show cause notice<br />
from the divisional commissioner of<br />
Barisal, when the former was serving<br />
as the UNO of Agailjhara upazila<br />
in Barisal. Salman responded to the<br />
notice, which claimed the image<br />
had disrespected Bangabandhu.<br />
On April 18, the then divisional<br />
commissioner of Barisal Md Gaus<br />
issued a letter in response to Salman’s<br />
answer.<br />
The letter read: “Gazi Tarek Salman<br />
has responded to the show<br />
cause notice and explained why<br />
the card was printed with a picture<br />
of the Father of the Nation without<br />
Would Trump self-pardon end Russia investigations?<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
US President Donald Trump has insisted<br />
he has “the complete power to pardon”<br />
- fuelling speculation he is considering<br />
using the device to extricate himself and<br />
members of his team from an investigation<br />
into collusion with Russia to interfere<br />
in the US election.<br />
The President made the statement<br />
during an early-morning stream of posts<br />
on Twitter, saying: “While all agree the US<br />
President has the complete power to pardon,<br />
why think of that when only crime so<br />
far is LEAKS against us. FAKE NEWS.”<br />
It comes amid mounting pressure on<br />
the leader and his administration over<br />
their alleged links with the Kremlin’s<br />
purported attempts to influence the vote<br />
last November in his favour.<br />
Just yesterday, White House deputy<br />
press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders<br />
refused to rule out the possibility Trump<br />
would use his pardon power to shield<br />
himself, his family, and his administration<br />
from federal lawsuits.<br />
The US Constitution does not specifically<br />
prohibit presidents from pardoning<br />
themselves before they’re formally<br />
accused of wrongdoing.<br />
So if President Trump, who has not<br />
been implicated in wrongdoing, were to<br />
decide to grant himself a pass from any<br />
prospective prosecution, he would not<br />
be violating the letter of the Constitution.<br />
But he would be stretching the<br />
bounds of presidential power as they’ve<br />
never been tested before – and, more<br />
Police escort Barguna UNO Gazi Tarique Salman after he was granted bail in a case<br />
filed for disparaging Bangabandhu on <strong>July</strong> 13, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DHAKA TRIBUNE<br />
proper respect. His answer was not<br />
satisfactory.”<br />
On May 24, Salman was transferred<br />
from Agoiljhara to Barguna,<br />
joining in June.<br />
When asked about Salman’s<br />
transfer, the deputy commissioner<br />
said: “After receiving a complaint<br />
from an important person, the divisional<br />
commissioner instructed me<br />
to seek an explanation from Salman.<br />
Accordingly, I issued the notice<br />
to which Salman responded.”<br />
importantly, legal experts said, Trump<br />
probably would not be able to halt Justice<br />
Department and congressional investigations<br />
simply by pardoning himself and any<br />
allies known to be under scrutiny.<br />
In fact, attempting to use pardons to<br />
obviate the special counsel investigation<br />
could backfire, said Walter Dellinger, who<br />
wrote about prospective presidential<br />
pardons as a top official in the Clinton<br />
Justice Department in 1995.<br />
No court in the US has ever had to<br />
decide whether a president has the<br />
authority to pardon himself because no<br />
president has ever done so.<br />
The Nixon memo<br />
Before Trump, the only previous president<br />
known to have contemplated a<br />
pardon for himself was Richard Nixon as<br />
he faced possible obstruction of justice<br />
charges from the Watergate special<br />
“However, I did not respond to<br />
Salman’s reply, the divisional commissioner<br />
did,” he added.<br />
Then divisional commissioner<br />
Md Gaus said: “Some party men<br />
came to me and complained about<br />
the card and the picture. There was<br />
no written complaint.”<br />
“The picture was printed on the<br />
back page of the card instead of the<br />
front page, which violates the rules<br />
issued for printing Bangabandhu’s<br />
picture. Thus Salman’s answer was<br />
prosecutor.<br />
Nixon asked his Justice Department<br />
(DoJ) whether a self-pardon was legal.<br />
Justice lawyers issued a memo opinion<br />
in 1974 advising that it was not. The DoJ<br />
memo said that under the age-old legal<br />
maxim that no one can be the judge of<br />
his own case, even the president of the<br />
United States cannot pardon himself.<br />
The 1974 Justice Department memo<br />
is the first, last and only official word on a<br />
US president’s power to pardon himself,<br />
according to Michigan State law professor<br />
Brian Kalt, who has been thinking and<br />
writing about presidential self-pardons<br />
since he was a Yale Law student in the<br />
1990s. The issue has simply never come<br />
before a US court, even tangentially.<br />
Article II of the Constitution authorises<br />
the president to “grant reprieves and<br />
pardons for offences against the United<br />
States, except in cases of impeachment.”<br />
President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One, on <strong>July</strong> 22, <strong>2017</strong> AP<br />
marked as unsatisfactory,” he added.<br />
Advocate Obaedullah Saju,<br />
Awami League Barisal city unit religious<br />
affairs secretary, filed a Tk5<br />
crore defamation case against Salman<br />
at the Barisal Chief Metropolitan<br />
Magistrate’s Court on June 7.<br />
Salman was sent to jail regarding<br />
the case on <strong>July</strong> 12 and was released<br />
on bail on <strong>July</strong> 13.<br />
The portrait, drawn by a student<br />
of class five in Barisal, was selected<br />
through an official competition<br />
on the occasion of Bangabandhu’s<br />
birthday and printed on the back of<br />
an invitation card for the local administration’s<br />
Independence Day<br />
official event.<br />
Awami League has since suspended<br />
Saju from his post as Barisal<br />
city unit Religious Affairs secretary,<br />
after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina<br />
expressed extreme dissatisfaction<br />
at the mistreatment of UNO Salman<br />
over an act that she said “should be<br />
considered praiseworthy.” •<br />
The story was first published on the<br />
Bangla Tribune.<br />
Unbearable pressure<br />
The pardons clause explicitly says that<br />
presidents cannot grant pardons from<br />
“cases of impeachment.”<br />
That clause, said former Clinton<br />
Justice official Dellinger, could give special<br />
counsel Mueller a mandate to continue<br />
investigating the Trump campaign even<br />
if the president were legally entitled prospectively<br />
to pardon himself and everyone<br />
else under Mueller’s scrutiny for possible<br />
violations of federal criminal laws.<br />
Dellinger drew an analogy to Whitewater<br />
independent counsel Kenneth<br />
Starr, who did not charge President Bill<br />
Clinton with crimes but prepared a report<br />
that served as the basis for articles of<br />
impeachment against the president.<br />
If Trump were to pardon himself prospectively<br />
– and particularly if he were to<br />
attempt to use that pardon as a rationale<br />
to end Mueller’s investigation prematurely<br />
– the FBI and Congress could end<br />
up investigating whether the president’s<br />
motives, and the motives of Justice<br />
Department officials who implemented<br />
his orders, were proper.<br />
Presidential pardons do not carry<br />
an implication of guilt. Presidents have<br />
exonerated people who steadfastly<br />
maintained their innocence even as they<br />
accepted the pardon. If President Trump<br />
were to pardon himself, he’d be conceding<br />
nothing about his criminal liability in<br />
the Russia investigation.<br />
But given the questionable legality<br />
of the maneuver and the likelihood that<br />
probes would continue and even intensify,<br />
it’s hard to see what a self-pardon<br />
would accomplish for the president. •<br />
3<br />
JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Judge who<br />
punished UNO<br />
owes govt<br />
Tk93,950<br />
in rent<br />
• Anisur Rahman Swapan,<br />
Barisal<br />
NATION <br />
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate<br />
(CMM) Md Ali Hossain of Barisal,<br />
who sent UNO Gazi Tarique Salman<br />
to jail for using an image of Bangabandhu<br />
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman<br />
drawn by a child, has not paid the<br />
rent for staying at Barisal Circuit<br />
House for eight months.<br />
Then Nezarat deputy collector<br />
of Barisal District administration<br />
Kalyan Chowdhury sent a letter<br />
to CMM Ali Hossain asking him to<br />
repay his pending dues on August<br />
4, 2016, according to a government<br />
document.<br />
The document says CMM Ali<br />
Hossain had used room number 7<br />
of the Barisal Circuit House from<br />
October 27, 2015, to June 28, 2016.<br />
Although he paid Tk390 as rent<br />
Although letters<br />
were issued to the<br />
judge asking that<br />
he pay the rent, he<br />
did not respond<br />
positively<br />
from October 27 to November 1,<br />
2015, he has not paid any rent for<br />
the remaining days.<br />
According to government policy,<br />
the charge for staying at the house<br />
for between one to three days is<br />
Tk90 per day, while it is Tk120 per<br />
day for the next four. If the stay exceeds<br />
seven days, the rent is Tk400<br />
for each subsequent day. Considering<br />
these rates, the CMM’s dues<br />
now stand at Tk93,950.<br />
The Dhaka Tribune made several<br />
attempts to contact the judge,<br />
but the phone calls remained unanswered.<br />
Barisal district Deputy Commissioner<br />
Gazi Md Saifuzzaman said<br />
CMM Ali Hossain had stayed in the<br />
room in district’s circuit house for<br />
eight months, but paid the rent for<br />
only five days.<br />
“Suddenly we came to know<br />
that he had left the Circuit House,”<br />
the DC said, adding that the judge<br />
did not even notify him before<br />
leaving the Circuit House.<br />
Although letters were issued to<br />
the judge asking that he pay the<br />
rent, he did not respond positively,<br />
the Barisal DC added. •
4<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
Dhaka College students block road<br />
over Shahbagh incident<br />
• Arifur Rahman Rabbi and<br />
Tarek Mahmud<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
Agitated students of the Dhaka College<br />
have blocked the key street in<br />
front of their institution protesting<br />
against Thursday’s police action on<br />
Dhaka University-affiliated college<br />
students at Shahbagh.<br />
The demonstrators kept the<br />
important street occupied for<br />
more than half an hour, disrupting<br />
traffic.<br />
New Market police station Officer-in-Charge<br />
Md Atikur Rahaman<br />
told Dhaka Tribune: “The<br />
student blocked the street from<br />
Qatar emir calls for negotiations to ease Gulf boycott<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
In his first speech since four Arab<br />
countries severed ties with his<br />
country, Qatar’s emir called for dialogue<br />
to resolve a political crisis<br />
pitting his country against them.<br />
A defiant Sheikh Tamim bin<br />
Hamad al-Thani said life was continuing<br />
as normal despite what<br />
he described as an unjust “siege”<br />
from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab<br />
Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.<br />
The countries cut ties and imposed<br />
sanctions on Qatar last<br />
month, accusing it of financing<br />
extremist groups and supporting<br />
terrorism, which the emir denied.<br />
“Qatar is fighting terrorism relentlessly<br />
and without compromise,<br />
and the international community<br />
recognises this,” Sheikh<br />
Tamim said in the televised speech.<br />
He spoke hours after US Secretary<br />
of State Rex Tillerson said<br />
the United States was satisfied<br />
with Qatar’s efforts to implement<br />
an agreement aimed at combating<br />
terror financing, and urged the four<br />
states to lift their “land blockade”.<br />
11:45am to 12:25pm on Saturday.”<br />
He said: “The students returned<br />
to classes after being assured that<br />
their demands will be fulfilled.<br />
At least two students, including<br />
Siddiqur Rahman of Titumir College<br />
were injured in a clash with<br />
police on Thursday morning when<br />
students of seven government<br />
colleges, affiliated with the Dhaka<br />
University, were staging a peaceful<br />
demonstration at Shahbagh demanding<br />
dates for their examinations<br />
be announced.<br />
The exam dates were announced<br />
after the clash.<br />
Police on Thursday filed an attempted<br />
murder case against 1,200<br />
unidentified suspects over the<br />
Previously planned campaign<br />
The crisis revolves around allegations<br />
that Qatar supports Islamist<br />
militant groups, including in Syria<br />
and Libya, and hosts members of<br />
the Muslim Brotherhood.<br />
It began after a speech in late<br />
May by Sheikh Tamim appeared<br />
on the state news agency’s website,<br />
which Doha said he had never<br />
made and indicated the website<br />
had been hacked from one of its<br />
neighbours, indicating the UAE.<br />
The Washington Post, citing US<br />
intelligence officials, last week reported<br />
that the United Arab Emirates<br />
had arranged for Qatari government<br />
social media and news<br />
sites to be hacked in order to post<br />
the fiery but false quotes. The UAE<br />
denied any involvement.<br />
Sheikh Tamim described the<br />
sanctions as a campaign that had<br />
been pre-planned against Qatar,<br />
calling it an act of aggression<br />
against Doha’s foreign policy.<br />
“Its planners planted statements<br />
to mislead public opinion<br />
and the countries of the world,” he<br />
said.<br />
Sheikh Tamim vowed to withstand<br />
the sanctions and said he had<br />
instructed the Qatari government<br />
that Qataris should become more<br />
self-reliant and called for the economy<br />
to be opened up to foreign investments.<br />
“The time has come for us to<br />
spare the people from the political<br />
Shahbagh incident.<br />
Meanwhile, Dr Iftekhar Md Munir,<br />
an associate professor the National<br />
Institute of Ophthalmology<br />
(NIO), said they had operated upon<br />
the eyes of the injured, Siddiqur<br />
Rahman, yesterday on Saturday<br />
morning.<br />
“There is less chance of him<br />
[Siddiqur] getting back his eyesight.<br />
We are skeptical about how<br />
much he could be able to see. Later<br />
he may need more than one operation,”<br />
Dr Munir said, adding, both<br />
the two eyes of Siddiqur were severely<br />
damaged due to injuries.<br />
“Cornea, prisons and many other<br />
things are related with eyesight.<br />
They came out of Siddiqur’s right<br />
Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani delivers a televised speech in Doha, Qatar, <strong>July</strong> 21, <strong>2017</strong><br />
differences between the governments,”<br />
he said, urging dialogue.<br />
UAE welcomes anti-terror move<br />
In a sign of progress, an Emirati<br />
state minister on Friday welcomed<br />
changes to Qatar’s anti-terror legislation<br />
as a “positive” step.<br />
Qatar announced a emiri decree<br />
on Thursday establishing two nominal<br />
lists of individuals and terrorist<br />
entities, and the requirements<br />
for being included in them.<br />
It also defined terrorists, terrorist<br />
crimes, terrorist entities as well<br />
as the financing of terrorism.<br />
The decree follows the signing<br />
on <strong>July</strong> 11 of a US-Qatar agreement<br />
to combat terror funding during a<br />
visit to Doha by Tillerson.<br />
However, the four Arab countries<br />
at odds with Doha dismissed<br />
eye. And everything has become<br />
displaced in the left eye,” he added.<br />
On the other hand, Dhaka Metropolitan<br />
Police (DMP) Commissioner<br />
Asaduzzaman Mia has said in a program<br />
that they will investigate the<br />
Shahbagh clash where a student<br />
suffered serious eye injuries.<br />
“Police and students are making<br />
contradictory claims over the incident.<br />
Protesters said Titumir College<br />
student Siddiqur Rahman was<br />
hit by a teargas canister but police<br />
said he was injured when the protesters<br />
threw flowerpot, bricks and<br />
stones,” he said.<br />
“We will investigate the incident<br />
and take action accordingly,”<br />
the DMP chief added. •<br />
REUTERS<br />
that deal as “insufficent”.<br />
On Friday, the UAE state minister<br />
for foreign affairs welcomed the<br />
latest Qatari move.<br />
“It is a positive step to deal seriously<br />
with the list of 59 terrorists,”<br />
Anwar Gargash tweeted. “The<br />
pressure linked to the crisis has begun<br />
to bear fruit.”<br />
But Gargash, repeated his demands<br />
for Qatar to reorient its policies<br />
in order to ease the crisis with<br />
its Arab neighbours.<br />
“It would be wiser (for Qatar) to<br />
totally change its (political) orientation,”<br />
he said.<br />
The changes Qatar announced<br />
to its anti-terror legislation amend<br />
an earlier law published in 2004<br />
but Thursday’s decree did not provide<br />
details of the exact nature of<br />
the revisions. •<br />
HSC, equivalent<br />
exams results<br />
<strong>Sunday</strong><br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
EDUCATION <br />
This year’s results of the Higher<br />
Secondary Certificate (HSC) and<br />
its equivalent examinations will be<br />
published today.<br />
Education Minister Nurul Islam<br />
Nahid will handover the results to<br />
the prime minister in the morning.<br />
Later, the minister will formally<br />
announce the results at 1pm at a<br />
press briefing, reports UNB.<br />
Tapan Kumar Sarker, examination<br />
controller at Dhaka Education<br />
Board, said the results will be published<br />
simultaneously from respective<br />
certre or college and online at<br />
1:30pm.<br />
Institution-based result sheet<br />
has to be downloaded through entry<br />
of EIIN of respective educational<br />
institution from www.dhakaeducationboard.gov.bd.<br />
Students can also collect their<br />
results from www.educationboardresults.gov.bd,<br />
result corner of<br />
www.educationboard.gov.bd and<br />
website of respective education<br />
board.<br />
The written tests of the yearly<br />
public examinations ended on May<br />
15 while practical exams on May 25.<br />
A total of 1,183,686 students<br />
took the exams this year from ten<br />
education boards. •<br />
DU student<br />
killed in Cox’s<br />
Bazar landslide<br />
• Abdul Aziz, Cox’s Bazar<br />
NATION <br />
A student of Dhaka University was<br />
killed in a landslide when he went<br />
to see the Himchhari waterfall in<br />
Cox’s Bazar yesterday afternoon.<br />
The deceased is Ridwanul Alam<br />
Sabbir, a second year student of the<br />
university’s Marketing Department.<br />
Two others—Rahat Alam, 24,<br />
and Md Ibrahim, 21-- of the same<br />
department received minor injuries<br />
in the incident.<br />
Dr Imran Uddin Rubel of Cox’s<br />
Bazar Sadar Hospital said members<br />
of the army rescued Sabbir and the<br />
duo and took them to the hospital<br />
around 4pm.<br />
Sabbir, aged around 20, was<br />
brought dead, the physician said,<br />
adding, the injured were released<br />
after primary treatment.<br />
The three youths fell victim to a<br />
landslide, he said quoting the army<br />
men.<br />
Mentionable, a team comprising<br />
at least ten students of the university<br />
had come to Cox’s Bazar on a tour<br />
three days ago. Then, they boarded<br />
an army resort in the area. •
News 5<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
‘Dhaka has a unique opportunity<br />
that other cities don’t have’<br />
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune’s Ibrahim Hossain Ovi, Chief Economist for South Asia Region<br />
of the World Bank Martin Rama discusses Dhaka’s unique opportunity to transform itself by<br />
well-planned expansion east of the Balu River<br />
DT<br />
How can Bangladesh attract more<br />
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)<br />
when private sector investment<br />
has only seen very slow growth?<br />
What brings FDI is the opportunities<br />
a country provides. The fact<br />
that Bangladesh has been doing<br />
so well with ready made garments<br />
(RMG) but has had difficulty expanding<br />
beyond that could be partly<br />
related to the business environment,<br />
the ease of doing business.<br />
This is also related to logistics and<br />
logistical cost. A place that is too<br />
congested, that does not have good<br />
infrastructure may not attract investors<br />
because you lose a lot of<br />
money just getting things going.<br />
From that perspective, if you<br />
think of a corridor to Chittagong<br />
from east Dhaka over the Padma<br />
Bridge then Dhaka will have a very<br />
good connection towards the west<br />
of the country. In a way Dhaka is<br />
the hub of Bangladesh and having<br />
a functional hub can be a way to<br />
attract FDI.<br />
Think of different scenarios for<br />
east Dhaka. For example, you can<br />
have a scenario where east Dhaka<br />
is very much like west Dhaka and<br />
you do the same thing, put in people<br />
until there is no more space<br />
left, that is unlikely to attract much<br />
FDI. You will have factories, you<br />
will have shops but you will not be<br />
a very attractive place.<br />
Now you can really develop east<br />
Dhaka much better than west Dhaka.<br />
That is a place where you can<br />
build high quality services such as<br />
universities, hospitals, schools and<br />
IT and that will be much more attractive<br />
for FDI.<br />
Which sectors can attract FDI in<br />
Bangladesh?<br />
What you will expect from the<br />
stage of development Bangladesh<br />
is in, to move towards other light<br />
manufacturing jobs. The candidates<br />
for foreign direct investment<br />
are pharmaceuticals, shipbuilding<br />
and appliances.<br />
The experience of South East<br />
Asia’s development was that these<br />
were the next thing that came after<br />
garments, but poor logistics and<br />
If the logistics and the business environment are conducive, you<br />
can take advantage of the fact that there are many investors who<br />
are looking for places that have a good labour force and Bangladesh<br />
has a good reputation<br />
difficulty of doing business is making<br />
it difficult here. Again, good development<br />
of Dhaka could change<br />
that dramatically.<br />
Bangladesh’s export earning is<br />
starting to decline. Do you see an<br />
export opportunity to the South<br />
Asian markets?<br />
Bangladesh is on the road between<br />
India and South East Asia (Asean)<br />
which are two of the most dynamic<br />
markets in the world. That opens<br />
up an enormous opportunity.<br />
There is also the fact that western<br />
RAJIB DHAR<br />
economies are starting to recover<br />
from the recession and Bangladesh’s<br />
exports are concentrated in<br />
Europe and US, that should help.<br />
If the logistics and the business<br />
environment are conducive, you<br />
can take advantage of the fact that<br />
there are many investors who are<br />
looking for places that have a good<br />
labour force and Bangladesh has a<br />
good reputation. It also does not<br />
have a high labour cost. So if the<br />
logistics and business environment<br />
can be addressed I am confident<br />
Bangladesh can get a lot of investment<br />
from the Japanese and the<br />
Chinese.<br />
Since old Dhaka is on the banks<br />
of the Buriganga River, how can<br />
Dhaka use river transport to ease<br />
the traffic on the roads?<br />
Rivers are very important in Bangladesh<br />
and Dhaka has so many rivers,<br />
those rivers have challenges<br />
as they are already half dead. But<br />
navigation could be improved and<br />
a viable connection made to Chittagong.<br />
You see now, Industrial and Export<br />
Processing Zones (EPZs) are<br />
being developed in places where<br />
you can directly be on the river.<br />
The connectivity to Kolkata will<br />
happen with Padma Bridge which<br />
will give an enormous dynamism<br />
to that area.<br />
Since Bangladesh is moving into<br />
being a middle income country<br />
what should be the focus on<br />
increasing the GDP?<br />
You can think about this in several<br />
ways. You can think about it in<br />
terms of sectors like how do you<br />
move out of mainly RMGs to other<br />
things as well, and that is important<br />
and that would require improvements<br />
in the business environment<br />
but you can also think of it spatially<br />
- growth happens in cities.<br />
When some one moves from the<br />
countryside, from being a farmer<br />
to working in a city, there is a gain.<br />
That person gains higher earnings,<br />
and the country also gets higher<br />
productivity. Successful urbanization<br />
is very important for the<br />
growth of Bangladesh.<br />
When you look at the size of<br />
Dhaka relative to Bangladesh, to<br />
me the success of Bangladesh is<br />
very much dependent on the success<br />
of Dhaka. So being strategic in<br />
making Dhaka a much better city is<br />
a priority.<br />
Two things that are very important<br />
to Bangladesh, exports and<br />
migrant workers, both have<br />
slowed in growth recently. What<br />
do you think Bangladesh should do<br />
to revive or refocus our energies?<br />
The prospect of exporting labour<br />
depends on the economic situation<br />
of what happens in Gulf countries<br />
and things like fuel prices. These<br />
are things that are beyond the control<br />
of Bangladesh. You can be sad<br />
if opportunities decline but what<br />
is under the control of Bangladesh<br />
is having vibrant job creation in<br />
Bangladesh. You can cope with<br />
reduction of opportunity in gulf,<br />
if you have job creation in Bangladesh<br />
and jobs are created in cities,<br />
so job creation in cities should be a<br />
top priority. •<br />
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY<br />
Dhaka 32 26 Chittagong 31 27 Rajshahi 32 26 Rangpur 32 26 Khulna 28 25 Barisal 30 26 Sylhet 32 25<br />
Cox’s Bazar 28 26<br />
RAIN LIKELY<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DHAKA<br />
TODAY<br />
TOMORROW<br />
SUN SETS 6:46PM<br />
SUN RISES 5:24AM<br />
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW<br />
35.3ºC<br />
24.2ºC<br />
Sylhet<br />
Rangamati<br />
Source: Accuweather/UNB<br />
PRAYER<br />
TIMES<br />
Fajr: 4:50am | Zohr: 1:15pm<br />
Asr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 6:58pm<br />
Esha: 8:45pm<br />
Source: Islamic Foundation
6<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
PM urges hajj<br />
pilgrims to pray<br />
for peace<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has<br />
urged the hajj pilgrims to seek mercy<br />
of Almighty Allah while offering<br />
prayers at the holy mosques to allow<br />
Muslims, as well as people of<br />
other faiths in the country, to live<br />
peacefully and to continue the nation’s<br />
progress.<br />
“You are going to the holy places.<br />
You will offer prayers so that<br />
Muslims and people of other faiths<br />
can live in this country peacefully<br />
and may Allah allow the peoply<br />
wrongle interpreting Islam to return<br />
to the right path,” the premier<br />
said while inaugurating this year’s<br />
Hajj programme at Ashkona Hajj<br />
Camp Saturday.<br />
Sheikh Hasina said we should be<br />
careful that no one can misuse Islam,<br />
as the religion never supports<br />
killing of innocent people and indulgence<br />
in militancy and terrorism,<br />
reports BSS.<br />
Due to the activities of some<br />
misguided people, the whole Muslim<br />
Ummah is in danger, she said,<br />
adding that Muslims are being harassed<br />
around the world and are<br />
even being killed.<br />
“We will not allow them to carry<br />
out their activities in our country,<br />
as Islam is a religion of peace and<br />
Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (Pbuh)<br />
Fears of more Israeli-Palestinian<br />
violence over holy site<br />
• AFP, Jerusalem<br />
WORLD <br />
Stabbings and clashes that left six<br />
people dead raised fears on Saturday<br />
of further Israeli-Palestinian<br />
violence as tensions mount over<br />
new security measures at a highly<br />
sensitive Jerusalem holy site.<br />
Friday’s violence – a stabbing<br />
attack that killed three Israelis and<br />
clashes which left three Palestinians<br />
dead – was among the most<br />
severe in recent years.<br />
There were concerns over whether<br />
it would spark wider unrest as Israeli<br />
officials grappled with how to<br />
ease tensions over the Haram al-Sharif<br />
mosque compound, known to<br />
Jews as the Temple Mount.<br />
The site in Jerusalem’s Old City<br />
that includes the revered al-Aqsa<br />
mosque and Dome of the Rock has<br />
been a rallying cry for Palestinians.<br />
Tensions have risen throughout<br />
the past week because of new Israeli<br />
security measures at the compound<br />
following an attack nearby that<br />
killed two policemen on <strong>July</strong> 14.<br />
The measures have included the<br />
installation of metal detectors at<br />
entrances to the site, which Palestinians<br />
reject since they view the<br />
move as Israel asserting further<br />
control over it.<br />
Israeli authorities say the <strong>July</strong> 14<br />
attackers smuggled guns into the<br />
holy site and emerged from it to<br />
shoot the policemen.<br />
Abbas freezes contacts<br />
Three Palestinians between the<br />
ages of 17 and 20 were shot dead.<br />
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported<br />
450 people wounded in Jerusalem<br />
and the West Bank, including<br />
170 from live or rubber bullets.<br />
In the evening, a Palestinian<br />
broke into a home in a Jewish settlement<br />
in the West Bank during a<br />
Sabbath dinner and stabbed four<br />
Israelis, killing three of them.<br />
The 19-year-old Palestinian was<br />
shot by a neighbour, an off-duty<br />
soldier, and was taken to hospital.<br />
Preparations were also being<br />
made to demolish the attacker’s<br />
home, a measure Israel regularly<br />
employs because it views it as a<br />
deterrent, although human rights<br />
groups say it amounts to collective<br />
punishment.<br />
Amid mounting pressure to<br />
respond to the dispute over the<br />
mosque compound, Palestinian<br />
president Mahmud Abbas announced<br />
late Friday he was freezing<br />
contacts with Israel. •<br />
Islamist parties in trouble over 33% female leadership rule<br />
• Manik Miazee<br />
SPECIAL <br />
The Islamist parties of Bangladesh are<br />
facing an unprecedented challenge, trying<br />
to meet the Election Commission’s<br />
requirement of having female members<br />
in at least one-third of all committee<br />
memberships.<br />
Although none of the registered<br />
political parties have met this requirement<br />
yet, many including the two<br />
major parties have reported significant<br />
progress to the EC. The deadline for<br />
this condition is 2020.<br />
But for the Islamist parties this is<br />
both an ideological and a logistic crisis.<br />
Many are unwilling to commit to having<br />
female leadership because of their religious<br />
views and some do not even have<br />
enough female members to fill 33% of<br />
the leadership positions.<br />
EC asked all registered political<br />
parties to include 33% women in their<br />
committees before 2020 with a view<br />
also always preached that. No one<br />
has the right to kill innocent people.<br />
The Almighty will pass the final<br />
judgment. Why can’t they have faith<br />
in Him?” the prime minister added.<br />
She said the people misinterpreting<br />
Islam are creating confusion<br />
among members of the public, such<br />
as claiming that a person who commits<br />
suicide would go to haven. But<br />
Islam never says that, she said, adding<br />
that “we don’t want our country<br />
to be ruined in this way.”<br />
Later, the premier sought help<br />
from the pilgrims to reach out to<br />
people with the true message of the<br />
religion. “You will pray to Allah so<br />
that his blessings fall on these people<br />
and they change their minds.”<br />
Secretary of the Ministry of Religious<br />
Affairs Abdul Jalil gave the<br />
welcome address while prayers<br />
were offered for safe journey of the<br />
pilgrims and acceptance of the holy<br />
Hajj by the Almighty.<br />
Later, the prime minister exchanged<br />
pleasantries with the pilgrims.<br />
The first Hajj flight to Saudi Arabia<br />
this year, carrying 419 pilgrims,<br />
will take off from Hazrat Shahjalal<br />
International Airport on June 24<br />
morning. This year, the Hajj flights<br />
will continue till August 26, <strong>2017</strong>.<br />
Biman Bangladesh Airlines<br />
and Saudi Airlines will carry some<br />
127,198 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia<br />
this year to perform Hajj. •<br />
to increasing women’s participation in<br />
politics.<br />
Leaders of different Islamist parties<br />
told the Dhaka Tribune that they are<br />
not morally happy in doing this, but<br />
they are working on including women<br />
in their committees as per the EC’s<br />
instructions.<br />
“We are working to change our<br />
party charter as required to follow the<br />
EC provision,” a leader of an Islamist<br />
party said.<br />
Currently, Bangladesh has more<br />
than 20 Islamic political parties, of<br />
whom 11 are registered with the EC.<br />
The EC announced the rule in 2008,<br />
but none of the registered Islamist<br />
parties have submitted the required<br />
progress reports. Currently, most of<br />
these parties have less than 1% female<br />
representation in their committees.<br />
Only Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami<br />
took a visible step last year, amending<br />
their party charter to have 33% women<br />
in their committee by 2020.<br />
The Pir of Chormonai Sayed Rezaul<br />
Palestinians react following tear gas that was shot by Israeli forces after Friday prayer on a street outside Jerusalem’s Old city<br />
<strong>July</strong> 21, <strong>2017</strong><br />
REUTERS<br />
Karim, who is the ameer of Islami Andolon<br />
Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune<br />
that they do not have a single woman in<br />
their committee yet.<br />
“Our party is working to include<br />
33% women in our committee by the<br />
deadline. The latest party meeting on<br />
<strong>July</strong> 15 decided to move forward on<br />
this,” he said.<br />
In the parties that do have women<br />
in various committees, none of these<br />
women are working directly in the<br />
field and are not a part of the decision<br />
making process, sources in Islamist<br />
parties said. They also said female<br />
members are not interested to be in the<br />
committees.<br />
Leaders of Islamic parties are saying<br />
they are working to find a way to include<br />
women in the committees while<br />
keeping their ideologies unchanged.<br />
Islami Oikya Jote Secretary General<br />
Mufti Faizullah said his party was allowing<br />
women into the party’s upper levels<br />
in a way that is permissible in Islam.<br />
“We are working on this matter and<br />
will submit our report soon to EC,” he<br />
said.<br />
Sources said Islamic parties would<br />
require more time, may be till 2030, to<br />
comply with the EC recommendation.<br />
Most of the parties will send papers to<br />
the EC reporting on the present status<br />
of women in their committees.<br />
The EC on June 13 sent letters to 40<br />
registered political parties inquiring about<br />
their current status, but in reply, most<br />
Islamist parties have sought more time.<br />
Currently, there are no women in<br />
the central and grassroots committees<br />
in different parties including Jamiat-E-<br />
Ulema-E-Islam Bangladesh, Bangladesh<br />
Khelafat Andolon, Bangladesh Islami<br />
Front (BIF), Islami Andolan Bangladesh<br />
(IAB) and Bangladesh Khelafat Mojlish.<br />
Khelafat Majlis Secretary General<br />
Ahmad Abdul Quader told the Dhaka<br />
Tribune that they had sought more<br />
time from the EC.<br />
He said the party had recently<br />
formed women’s units to try and recruit<br />
more women. The secretary general<br />
failed to say what the percentage of<br />
women is in the party at present.<br />
“We have opened women’s units in<br />
Sylhet, Moulvibazar and other districts,”<br />
he added.<br />
“Islam does not allow women in<br />
the top leadership of a party. Although<br />
there some conflicting issues here, we<br />
are nevertheless working to to fulfill the<br />
EC’s condition. But we need more time.”<br />
He said because of social and cultural<br />
realities it would not be possible<br />
to fulfill the EC’s condition within the<br />
deadline and that the condition was<br />
unfair.<br />
“Not a single political party, including<br />
Awami League, BNP and secular<br />
parties, meet this condition,” Faizullah<br />
added.<br />
He said: “Some one of our party<br />
leaders said if we might need to bring<br />
our domestic helps into the party to<br />
fulfill the conditions.”<br />
He criticised the EC’s condition, saying<br />
it was illogical and an idea imported<br />
from the west. •
News<br />
SUNDAY,<br />
7<br />
JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
With climate change driving child marriage<br />
risks, Bangladesh fights back<br />
• Reuters<br />
RIGHTS <br />
Climate change-driven extreme<br />
weather – from flooding and mudslides<br />
to blistering heat – is accelerating<br />
migration to Bangladesh’s<br />
cities, raising the risks of problems<br />
such as child marriage, according<br />
to UNICEF’s head of Bangladesh<br />
programmes.<br />
“In Bangladesh, climate change<br />
is in your face. You can’t avoid it.<br />
You can see it happening,” said<br />
Sheema Sen Gupta in an interview<br />
in London with the Thomson Reuters<br />
Foundation.<br />
“Every year you have cyclones,<br />
floods, landslides. It’s a given. It’s<br />
now part of everyday living, and<br />
the clearest thing you see (from it)<br />
is rural to urban migration.”<br />
But surging migration to cities<br />
by rural families no longer able to<br />
make a living from farming or fishing<br />
brings other threats, from worsening<br />
urban overcrowding to child<br />
marriage, as families seek to keep<br />
girls “safe” in a new environments.<br />
“I hesitate to say climate change<br />
and urbanisation are the major<br />
causes of child marriage. But they<br />
do compound it and make it a bit<br />
more difficult to intervene,” said Sen<br />
Gupta, who has been in Bangladesh<br />
for seven months and previously<br />
worked for UNICEF in India, Sri Lanka,<br />
Myanmar, Ghana and Somalia.<br />
However, innovative efforts<br />
to curb the threat – particularly<br />
training young people to help each<br />
Hefazat chief Shafi flown<br />
to Delhi for treatment<br />
• Anwar Hussain, Chittagong<br />
NATION <br />
Ailing Hefazat-e-Islam chief Shah<br />
Ahmed Shafi has left Dhaka for<br />
New Delhi for better treatment.<br />
Azizul Haque Islamabadi, central<br />
organising secretary of the<br />
Islamist platform, told the Dhaka<br />
Tribune that a flight carrying Shafi<br />
left Hazrat Shahjalal International<br />
Airport at 10am Saturday.<br />
“He [Shafi] has been suffering<br />
from various old age complications.<br />
He is now taking liquid food<br />
through tube. His respiratory problem<br />
has also worsened. That’s why<br />
he is going Delhi for better treatment.<br />
Delhi’s Deoband Madrasa<br />
teacher Arshad Madani will look<br />
after him during the treatment session,”<br />
Azizul said.<br />
The 96-year-old was undergoing<br />
Across Bangladesh, more than 4,000 youth clubs have been set up which gather young people regularly to listen to radio<br />
broadcasts on human rights issues, health, nutrition and other topics, and then discuss the issues<br />
REUTERS<br />
other – are paying off, with Bangladesh’s<br />
government now incorporating<br />
programmes started by<br />
organisations such as UNICEF and<br />
Save the Children, she said.<br />
Across Bangladesh, more than<br />
4,000 youth clubs have been set<br />
up which gather young people regularly<br />
to listen to radio broadcasts<br />
on human rights issues, health, nutrition<br />
and other topics, and then<br />
discuss the issues.<br />
Youth Initiatives<br />
Preventing child marriage is one of<br />
treatment at a private hospital in<br />
Chittagong city after he fell sick on<br />
May 18.<br />
He was flown to Dhaka on June<br />
6 after his condition deteriorated.<br />
Doctors at Asgar Ali Hospital in<br />
Gendaria treated him for old age<br />
complications and released him<br />
from the hospital on <strong>July</strong> 10.<br />
The controversial nonagenarian<br />
leader, who is known as Boro<br />
Hujur (the oldest cleric) among his<br />
followers, is heavily lambasted by<br />
progressive people for his highly<br />
prejudicial views on various social<br />
issues and also for the radical Islamist<br />
platform’s pledge of Islamising<br />
Bangladesh.<br />
Shafi is the rector of Al-Jamiatul<br />
Ahlia Darul Ulum Moinul Islam, also<br />
known as Hathazari Madrasa, and<br />
the chairman of Befaqul Madarisil<br />
Arabia Bangladesh, the largest Qawmi<br />
Madrasa board in the country. •<br />
15 years on, no disability allowance<br />
for Mir Kashem<br />
• Abdul Aziz, Coxs Bazar<br />
NATION <br />
Despite being<br />
a physically<br />
and psychologically<br />
challenged<br />
person, Mir<br />
Kashem of<br />
Ramu upazila<br />
Cox’s Bazar<br />
have repeatedly<br />
been<br />
approaching<br />
the administration to get his disability<br />
allowance for the last 15 years.<br />
An inhabitant of Ilishia village of<br />
Joyarinala Union Parishad under the<br />
upazila, Kashem, who has been speech<br />
impaired for last 30 years, is visiting<br />
the government offices for last 15 years<br />
after the allowance was introduced.<br />
the main focuses of the groups, Sen<br />
Gupta said, with members keeping<br />
an eye out in the community for<br />
girls at risk, and then, if they see a<br />
threat, alerting community leaders,<br />
who are able to step in.<br />
“The best tool is the adolescents<br />
themselves,” she said “They intervene<br />
– they know who to contact,<br />
they have a helpline. They call and<br />
say a marriage is planned.”<br />
Better yet, said Sen Gupta, a psychologist<br />
by training, the groups<br />
have created a growing conviction<br />
among many girls that early marriage<br />
is not only bad for their health<br />
and prospects, but something they<br />
can avoid with community support.<br />
“Adolescents themselves are<br />
more able to say ‘I’m not getting<br />
married’” she said. “Girls are able<br />
to stand up to their parents.”<br />
Monitoring of child marriage<br />
rates over the last two years suggests<br />
that numbers are falling, but<br />
Sen Gupta said UNICEF is not yet<br />
fully confident of the data.<br />
Bangladesh in February passed<br />
a Child Marriage Restraint Act,<br />
His mother Nur Jahan had been<br />
looking after him since his father Hazi<br />
Yusuf Ali passed away 12 years ago.<br />
But, she too died two weeks ago<br />
making him an orphan. Kashem cannot<br />
explain people about his problems and<br />
he can not walk either.<br />
“We have visited different government<br />
offices for my brothers disability<br />
allowance for last 15 years, but the<br />
wait is not over yet,” said his brother<br />
Mofizur Rahman, a schoolteacher at<br />
Sabrang upazila of Teknaf.<br />
It has become very difficult for<br />
Mofizur to look after his brother as he<br />
comes to Ramu every Thursday and<br />
have to go back to Teknaf on Saturdays.<br />
The 30-year-old disabled Mir Kashem<br />
is yet to get any help from government<br />
or private sources. Although it<br />
has passed 15 years after introduction<br />
of disabled allowance by government,<br />
but his name is not enlisted there yet.<br />
Their parents, while alive, had tried<br />
which bans marriage of girls under<br />
18 – a significant change in a<br />
country where 18 percent of girls<br />
are married before 15 and more<br />
than half by 18, according to a 2016<br />
UNICEF study.<br />
However, the new ban has a<br />
gaping loophole that allows parents<br />
to agree to such marriages in<br />
“exceptional circumstances” with<br />
a magistrate’s approval, Sen Gupta<br />
said.<br />
UNICEF and other partners are<br />
now “trying to frame the rules<br />
about what the exception is so<br />
everything doesn’t become an exception”,<br />
she said.<br />
Sen Gupta said that low-lying<br />
and densely populated Bangladesh,<br />
widely seen as one of the<br />
countries most vulnerable to climate<br />
change, sees the risks and has<br />
proved adept at scaling up successful<br />
pilot efforts run by non-governmental<br />
organizations into broader<br />
government-run programmes.<br />
“Bangladesh has a good framework<br />
of climate adaptation, based<br />
on the fact that they need to survive,”<br />
she said. “Clearly there is an<br />
awareness (climate impacts) are increasing<br />
and we need to do something.”<br />
That is an attitude needed more<br />
globally, she said.<br />
“People need to understand<br />
how important this is for kids,<br />
for their rights, for their development,”<br />
she said. “If we don’t look at<br />
climate change, at addressing these<br />
issues, we won’t make the progress<br />
we’re committed to making.” •<br />
hard and soul to have Kashem’s name<br />
enlisted for the allowance, but in vain.<br />
Now, his brother Mofizur is fighting to<br />
do something for him. When asked,<br />
local UP member Mofizur Rahman said<br />
said he was unaware about the matter.<br />
“I will try to enlist his [Kashem’s]<br />
name this time,” said the UP member,<br />
who is now serving his third term.<br />
Cox’s Bazar Social Welfare Directorate<br />
Deputy director Pritam Kumar<br />
Chowdhury said: “After the allowance<br />
was introduced, the upazila social welfare<br />
office enlisted names of disabled<br />
people as suggested by local UP chairman<br />
and members. As the local Union<br />
Parishad could not submit the name of<br />
Mir Kashem, it was not included.”<br />
Ramu Upazila Nirbahi Officer<br />
Shahajahan Ali said: “I came to know<br />
about the matter. Instructions have<br />
been made so that Mir Kashem gets<br />
all government facilities, including<br />
disability allowance soon.” •
8<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
Trump attacks Washington Post<br />
report on Sessions Russia meeting<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions<br />
US President Donald Trump went<br />
on the offensive on Saturday morning,<br />
after the Washington Post reported<br />
that his attorney general,<br />
Jeff Sessions, discussed Trump’s<br />
White House bid with the Russian<br />
ambassador to Washington in 2016,<br />
the Guardian reports.<br />
The president did not defend<br />
Sessions, whom earlier this week<br />
he criticised strongly for his recusal<br />
from the Russia investigation.<br />
Instead, Trump complained about<br />
“illegal leaks” and demanded:<br />
“Why isn’t the AG or Special Council<br />
[sic] looking at the many Hillary<br />
Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000<br />
e-mails deleted?”<br />
The Post report cited US intelligence<br />
intercepts which contradict<br />
Sessions’ assurances that the campaign<br />
was not discussed. Sergey<br />
Kislyak told his superiors in Moscow<br />
he talked about campaign-related<br />
matters and significant policy issues<br />
during two meetings with Sessions,<br />
according to current and former US<br />
intelligence officials, the Washington<br />
Post reported on Friday.<br />
The ambassador’s accounts of<br />
the meetings, which US spy agencies<br />
intercepted, clash with those of Sessions<br />
and pile fresh pressure on the<br />
attorney general just days after the<br />
president publicly criticised him.<br />
On Saturday morning, Trump<br />
tweeted his anger.<br />
On Friday, Gen Raymond Thomas,<br />
head of Special Operations<br />
Command, blamed a “media leak”<br />
for one instance of Islamic State<br />
leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, escaping<br />
capture or death.<br />
Trump did not immediately follow<br />
up or expand his argument,<br />
instead tweeting about a speaking<br />
engagement in Norfolk, Virginia.<br />
He then tweeted a reference to<br />
reports, met with horror among<br />
Democrats, that White House advisers<br />
were exploring the possibility<br />
of presidential pardons.<br />
“While all agree the US President<br />
has the complete power to<br />
pardon,” Trump wrote, “why think<br />
of that when only crime so far is<br />
LEAKS against us.FAKE NEWS.”<br />
The Post cited an unnamed US<br />
official who called Sessions’ statements<br />
“misleading” and “contradicted<br />
by other evidence”. An unnamed<br />
former official said the intelligence<br />
indicated Sessions and Kislyak had<br />
“substantive” discussions on matters<br />
including Trump’s positions on<br />
Russia-related issues and prospects<br />
for bilateral relations in a Trump administration,<br />
the paper reported.<br />
The officials acknowledged that<br />
the ambassador could have mischaracterised<br />
the meetings in his<br />
briefings to Moscow.<br />
Madaripur residents await<br />
Habiganj Bridge that will cut<br />
distance by 30km<br />
AP<br />
The attorney general has repeatedly<br />
said he never discussed campaign-related<br />
issues with Russian officials<br />
and that it was in his capacity<br />
as a senator, not a Trump surrogate,<br />
that he met Kislyak. “I never had<br />
meetings with Russian operatives<br />
or Russian intermediaries about the<br />
Trump campaign,” he said in March.<br />
The president, marking six<br />
months in office, appeared to be<br />
venting concern that the investigation<br />
headed by special counsel<br />
Robert Mueller was reportedly expanding<br />
to include his business ties<br />
with Russia.<br />
The report about the Russian<br />
ambassador capped another tumultuous<br />
day in Washington. Sean<br />
Spicer resigned as White House<br />
press secretary, ending a controversial<br />
tenure as the administration’s<br />
public face. He stepped down<br />
after the president tapped Anthony<br />
Scaramucci, a New York financier<br />
and longtime Trump supporter, as<br />
the new White House communications<br />
director. •<br />
Magura bullet-hit girl’s<br />
2nd birthday today<br />
• Khan Mazharul Haque,<br />
Magura<br />
NATION <br />
Today is the 2nd birthday of Suraiya,<br />
who received bullet injuries<br />
while in her mother’s womb during<br />
a Jubo League factional clash in<br />
Magura on <strong>July</strong> <strong>23</strong>, 2015.<br />
The parents of the girl are worried<br />
thinking about her future as<br />
her physical growth seems to be<br />
unlikely compared to other children<br />
in the society.<br />
While this correspondent visited<br />
Suraiya yesterday, she was noticed<br />
in the lap of her mother, Nazma<br />
Begum, in the house yard.<br />
Nazma said: “Though we are<br />
happy and arranged everything<br />
to celebrate the day according to<br />
our ability, at the same time we<br />
are worried thinking about her future<br />
as she cannot speak, walk and<br />
move like a normal child.”<br />
“She lost an eye after being hit<br />
by a bullet in my womb, is now losing<br />
vision in the other eye too,” she<br />
also said.<br />
“She has been recommended<br />
regular treatment and checkups,<br />
but we are unable to afford the<br />
treatment cost,” the mother added.<br />
“Doctors at Bangladesh Eye<br />
Hospital in Dhaka prescribed regular<br />
medication for Suraiya. But I do<br />
not have the ability to continue her<br />
treatment due to financial crisis,”<br />
Suraiya’s father Bachchu Bhuiyan<br />
said.<br />
She was also having other physical<br />
complications, Bachchu said,<br />
adding that Suraiya was unable to<br />
walk and speak though she should<br />
have been doing these at this age.<br />
He said that after the incident,<br />
the government, different organisations<br />
and individuals visited the<br />
house and extended financial support<br />
for the family.<br />
“But no one comes to see us or<br />
asks about the wellbeing of Suraiya<br />
now,” the father said.<br />
Earlier on <strong>July</strong> <strong>23</strong>, 2015,eightmonth<br />
pregnant Nazma was shot<br />
in her abdomen during an attack by<br />
a faction of Magura Jubo League on<br />
their rival faction in Doarpar area<br />
of Magura town. The attack also<br />
left one killed.<br />
A bullet pierced through the unborn<br />
baby’s right shoulder and also<br />
injured her right eye.<br />
Miraculously, the baby survived<br />
after being delivered following a<br />
two-hour caesarean on her mother<br />
at Magura General Hospital. Nazma<br />
Khatun also survived the accident.<br />
The baby was sent to the DMCH<br />
on <strong>July</strong> 26 without her mother<br />
as her condition was critical. Responding<br />
to doctors’ advice Nazma<br />
was brought to the DMCH on <strong>July</strong><br />
30 from Magura General Hospital to<br />
breastfeed her baby as the newborn<br />
needed it the most to survive.•<br />
DHAKA TRIBUNE<br />
• Manjur Hossain, Madaripur<br />
NATION <br />
Several hundred thousand people<br />
of several union parishads under<br />
Madaripur Sadar upazila are awaiting<br />
the inauguration of Habiganj<br />
Bridge on the Arial Khan River.<br />
The bridge, once opened to<br />
traffic, will reduce the distance<br />
between the Sadar and Shibchar<br />
upazilas, where the approach<br />
road of the much-hyped Padma<br />
Bride is situated, by around 30 kilometres.<br />
Locals say the bridge will greatly<br />
help commuters travel in the region<br />
and even in Dhaka smoothly<br />
and comfortably.<br />
Construction of the bridge,<br />
520-metre long and 9.3-metre<br />
wide, started on February 15, 2013<br />
at an estimated cost of Tk63.94<br />
crore.<br />
Moreover, the local government<br />
department has recently repaired<br />
12.3 kilometre road stretching<br />
from Khagdi bus stand to Srinadi<br />
area between the two upazilas to<br />
help smooth traffic through the<br />
bridge.<br />
Dhurail Union Parishad Chairman<br />
Md Majibar Rahman Mridha<br />
said the people living in the area<br />
have been suffering for want of a<br />
bridge for decades.<br />
“Education, health, electricity<br />
and communication is the area are<br />
badly affected owing to the situation,”<br />
he said, hoping, the bridge<br />
will help the people get rid of all<br />
the problems.<br />
Madaripur Local Government<br />
Engineering Department’s Executive<br />
Engineer Malay Chakrabarti<br />
said they will fix a date to formally<br />
inaugurate the bridge. •
News<br />
9<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Who gouged Shahjalal’s eyes out?<br />
• Rafsan Jani<br />
NATION <br />
A man from Khulna has alleged that<br />
policemen from Khulna’s Khalishpur<br />
police station had gouged out his<br />
eyes after he refused to bribe them.<br />
The victim, Shahjalal, is now<br />
undergoing treatment at the Dhaka<br />
Medical College Hospital (DMCH).<br />
Shahjalal said: “I went out to buy<br />
milk for my daughter in the evening,<br />
on <strong>July</strong> 18, when policemen arriving<br />
on three motorcycles picked me up<br />
saying that there were many complaints<br />
against me. They beat me up<br />
mercilessly at the police station and<br />
demanded Tk1 lakh for my release.<br />
“When I said that I did not have<br />
the money, they took me out of the<br />
station saying that I would be admitted<br />
to the hospital. Then they<br />
took me to Bishwa Road area and<br />
gouged out my eyes after tying up<br />
my hands, feet and mouth.”<br />
He said when only the driver of<br />
the police van was wearing uniform<br />
while the others were in plainclothes.<br />
However, Khaliashpur police<br />
station Officer-in-Charge Nasir<br />
Khan claimed that it was the people<br />
who gouged out Shahjalal’s eyes<br />
after he was caught snatching a bag<br />
from one Suma Aktar near Khalishpur’s<br />
Golakhali rail line.<br />
He said police later rescued him<br />
and took him to the police station.<br />
The OC further said a woman<br />
who was hijacked filed a case against<br />
Shahjalal with the police station.<br />
“Shahjalal is also accused in six<br />
to seven cases filed in different police<br />
stations,” he added.<br />
Shahjalal’s wife Rahela Begum<br />
said: “Hearing the news that my<br />
husband was picked up by Inspector<br />
Rasel and Mamun, I rushed to<br />
the station. I was allowed to see my<br />
husband for Tk100. His eyes were<br />
fine at the time. Then a police officer<br />
said they would release my<br />
husband if we give them Tk1 lakh.<br />
Then they asked me to leave.<br />
“I stayed in front of the police<br />
station that night and saw that the<br />
policemen took Shahjalal out of<br />
the station around 11:30pm. I kept<br />
waiting, but my husband was not<br />
brought back to the station on that<br />
night. Police later asked me to go<br />
to the hospital. I rushed there and<br />
found him lying on the floor.”<br />
Dr Faridul Hasan of Dhaka Medical<br />
College said: “The injury is so<br />
severe that we are not sure whether<br />
he will get back his eye sight. •<br />
This story was first published on the<br />
Bangla Tribune.<br />
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Situation in Myanmar<br />
Yanghee Lee speaks during a news conference in Yangon REUTERS<br />
UN envoy complains of<br />
state surveillance, access<br />
restrictions in Myanmar<br />
• Reuters, Yangon<br />
WORLD <br />
Activists and journalists in<br />
newly democratic Myanmar<br />
continue to be followed and<br />
questioned by state surveillance<br />
agents, a UN envoy said<br />
on Friday, at the conclusion of<br />
a visit she said was beset by<br />
official snooping and access<br />
restrictions.<br />
Aung San Suu Kyi came to<br />
power last year after a landslide<br />
in the landmark 2015 elections.<br />
She does not oversee the<br />
police or the military, which<br />
ruled the country for decades<br />
and retains its powerful position<br />
under a constitution<br />
drafted by the former junta.<br />
Special Rapporteur Yanghee<br />
Lee told a news conference<br />
at the conclusion of her 12-day<br />
visit that she faced “increasing<br />
restrictions” on her access.<br />
Lee said the government,<br />
citing security concerns, had<br />
prevented her from visiting<br />
parts of the northeast where<br />
the military is accused of<br />
abuses against civilians in its<br />
conflict with ethnic rebels.<br />
She was also not allowed<br />
to visit three journalists detained<br />
last month by the army<br />
and charged with contacting<br />
a rebel group, despite the site<br />
of their detention being a popular<br />
tourist spot, the human<br />
rights envoy said.<br />
Myanmar regularly blocks<br />
monitors and journalists from<br />
travelling to areas near the<br />
conflicts citing concerns over<br />
safety. Security officials say<br />
monitoring prominent people<br />
is a normal part of their work.<br />
Lee said it was “unacceptable”<br />
that people meeting her<br />
were watched and even followed<br />
by agents she suspected<br />
to be from the police Special<br />
Branch that once stalked political<br />
opponents during almost<br />
half a century of dictatorship.<br />
“I have to say I am disappointed<br />
to see the tactics<br />
applied by the previous government<br />
still being used,” she<br />
said.<br />
“In the previous times,<br />
human rights defenders,<br />
journalists and civilians were<br />
followed, monitored and surveyed<br />
and questioned. That’s<br />
still going on,” Lee added.<br />
Suu Kyi’s office did not directly<br />
address the issues of access<br />
or surveillance, but said it<br />
was “disappointed” with Lee’s<br />
end of mission statement,<br />
which “contains many sweeping<br />
allegations and a number<br />
of factual errors”. •
10<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
Indo-Bangla border changes due<br />
to continuous river erosion<br />
• Nuruchsafa Manik,<br />
Khagrachhari<br />
SPECIAL <br />
The Indo-Bangla border has been<br />
changing due to continuous river<br />
erosion caused by the incessant<br />
monsoon rain in Khagrachari.<br />
Around eight hectares of land<br />
surrounding the Feni river in Khagrachari’s<br />
Matiranga upazila. Hundreds<br />
of Bangali settler families are<br />
living in fear in these areas.<br />
In the recent years, river erosion<br />
has become more intense due to<br />
lack of governance, locals claim.<br />
However, the Bangladesh Water<br />
Development Board (BWDB) have<br />
evaded the matter by saying that<br />
they were unable to monitor the<br />
area due to lack of road communication.<br />
Besides patrolling the area, the<br />
Bangladesh Border Guards (BGB)<br />
has been using their own funds<br />
and working with the locals to prevent<br />
the situation. They have been<br />
continuously trying to stop the<br />
river erosion by dumping concrete<br />
blocks and sacks of sand.<br />
Although India has demarcated<br />
their boundary with barbed wires,<br />
Bangladesh has yet made any such<br />
effort. Thus, in some of the areas,<br />
the river has been considered as<br />
international maritime boundary.<br />
Bangladesh is losing its land mass<br />
every year due to the lack of river<br />
governance, whereas new shoals<br />
are emerging at the Indian side.<br />
BGB 40 Battalion Commanding<br />
Officer Lt Col Md Khalid Ahmed<br />
said that BGB has taken the responsibility<br />
of protecting 40km of<br />
the Indo-Bangla border areas. He<br />
added: “39 international boundary<br />
markers have completely submerged<br />
and 16 of them are now in<br />
the river. We have collected these<br />
information by conducting a joint<br />
survey with India and then notified<br />
the authorities concerned. Bangladesh<br />
will be in a crisis without adequate<br />
river governance.”<br />
BWDB Deputy Divisional Engineer<br />
(Khagrachari office), Md Nurul<br />
Absar Azad, said: “The government<br />
has taken the initiative for river<br />
governance in order to stop the<br />
erosion of rivers at the border. On<br />
<strong>July</strong> 11, after a discussion chaired<br />
Many agricultural lands have been affected by the erosion of Feni river<br />
BGB jawans are helping the locals to dump concrete blocks to prevent the land from the river erosion of Feni DHAKA TRIBUNE<br />
DHAKA TRIBUNE<br />
by the prime minister, a project has<br />
been approved regarding this matter.<br />
The construction of this project<br />
will start in the next dry season.”<br />
Hundreds of crops and agricultural<br />
lands in Matiranga are now in<br />
crisis.<br />
Whereas, to avoid any such a predicament<br />
India has created a concrete<br />
dam around the bank of Feni<br />
in Tripura state’s Amarpur. To ensure<br />
the movement of Border Security<br />
Force (BSF), they have also constructed<br />
roads in the border area.<br />
In contrast, Bangladesh has not<br />
made similar efforts which rendered<br />
much of its land mass to go<br />
under the river.<br />
A local from Bornal Amtoli village,<br />
Chinglaprot Marma, said that<br />
he has lost around 0.4 hectares<br />
of land due to river erosion in the<br />
past few years. His entire family<br />
depended on what they earned by<br />
cultivating crops on this land.<br />
Another local, Komol Bikash<br />
Chakma, said: “Twenty days ago, I<br />
took a piece of land on lease for cultivating<br />
crops from a local, Yusuf<br />
Mia. Within a few days of sowing<br />
the seeds, around 0.64 hectares of<br />
this land went under Feni river due<br />
to the incessant rain. I also took a<br />
loan to buy the seeds and fertilisers.<br />
Now, I do not know what to do.”<br />
A local from Dewan Bazar area,<br />
Md Mizan, said: “All my life, I<br />
have noticed India building dams<br />
around the river to protect their<br />
surrounding areas. I have not witnessed<br />
such an effort being made<br />
by Bangladesh and that is way so<br />
much of our land is getting submerged<br />
in the river every year.”<br />
Predicting a severe land mass<br />
crisis, Chairman of Mantiranga<br />
Bornal union, Ali Akbar, suggested<br />
that the government should start<br />
dumping concrete blocks promptly<br />
to protect the areas around the<br />
river from being flooded. He added:<br />
“The union’s Tholapara, Kadamtoli,<br />
Noyapara and Amtoli area<br />
have already lost around 2 hectares<br />
of agricultural land due to the river<br />
erosion. Around three hundred<br />
Bangali settler families have been<br />
also affected in Motumog Karbari<br />
area, Dewanpara and other surrounding<br />
villages.” •<br />
US friendly fire<br />
kills 12 Afghan<br />
policemen<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
An errant US airstrike has killed<br />
12 Afghan National Police officers<br />
who were fighting the Taliban and<br />
wounded two others.<br />
Helmand provincial police chief<br />
Abdul Ghafar Safi said on Saturday<br />
that the death toll in Friday’s airstrike<br />
was determined after a site<br />
inspection of the compound in<br />
Gereshk District.<br />
The Pentagon confirmed the airstrike<br />
on the Security Forces compound<br />
happened during a US-supported<br />
operation against Taliban<br />
insurgents in the area, and offered<br />
its condolences to the families of<br />
the security forces who were killed.<br />
While much of Helmand province<br />
is under the control of Taliban,<br />
Afghan national security forces<br />
have been waging fierce battles to<br />
retake territory.<br />
Nato and US troops are in Helmand<br />
to assist Afghan troops.<br />
Safi told press that the dead<br />
were police officers who were operating<br />
with the army in the area.<br />
The Helmand governor, Hayatullah<br />
Hayat, said it was believed<br />
the police officers were not in uniform,<br />
which may have resulted in<br />
mistakenly identifying them as<br />
Taliban fighters.<br />
A Taliban statement meanwhile<br />
claimed a victory and said 16 Afghan<br />
soldiers were killed.<br />
Iran accuses US<br />
of nuclear deal<br />
sabotage<br />
• AFP, Vienna<br />
WORLD <br />
Iran on Friday vented frustration<br />
over fresh US sanctions which it<br />
says “violate” the terms of a 2015<br />
landmark nuclear deal, raising its<br />
concerns at a meeting with major<br />
world powers in Vienna.<br />
“We talked in detail about the<br />
sanctions and the instances that<br />
the Americans had delayed in fulfilling<br />
their commitments, the instances<br />
where they violated the<br />
deal,” Tehran’s lead nuclear negotiator<br />
Abbas Araqchi told reporters.<br />
“We showed one by one the instances<br />
where the American side<br />
in the last year and a half acted<br />
without good will and even acted<br />
with ill intention. US was “trying to<br />
sabotage the situation, to threaten<br />
or scare off foreign companies to<br />
invest in Iran”, Araqchi said.<br />
The regular quarterly meeting to<br />
review the deal heard, as Washington<br />
already confirmed earlier this<br />
week, that Iran is sticking to its side<br />
of the pact with the US, Russia, China,<br />
Britain, France and Germany. •
News 11<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Neil Armstrong’s moon bag sells for $1.8m<br />
Sotheby’s Cassandra Hatton displays the Apollo 11 Contingency Lunar Sample<br />
Return Bag, used by Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11 to bring back the very first<br />
pieces of the moon ever collected, during a media preview for Space Exploration<br />
auction in New York on <strong>July</strong> 13, <strong>2017</strong><br />
AFP<br />
• AFP<br />
WORLD <br />
A bag Neil Armstrong used to collect the<br />
first ever samples of the moon — which<br />
was once nearly thrown out with the<br />
trash — sold at auction Thursday for $1.8<br />
million, Sotheby’s said.<br />
The outer decontamination bag,<br />
which was flown to the moon on Apollo<br />
11 and still carries traces of moon dust<br />
and small rock, was sold on the 48th<br />
anniversary of the first moon landing in<br />
1969.<br />
Auctioneer Joe Dunning introduced<br />
the lot as “an exceptionally rare artifact<br />
from mankind’s greatest achievement.”<br />
It sold to an anonymous buyer on the<br />
telephone following a sluggish five-minute<br />
bidding war.<br />
Its previous owner was an Illinois<br />
lawyer, who bought it in 2015 for $995.<br />
But even with the buyer’s premium<br />
added to Thursday’s $1.5-million hammer<br />
price, the bag fell short of Sotheby’s<br />
pre-sale estimate of $2-4 million.<br />
Sotheby’s said it was the only artifact<br />
from the Apollo 11 mission left in private<br />
hands. After Apollo 11 returned to Earth,<br />
nearly all the equipment from the mission<br />
was sent to the Smithsonian, the<br />
world’s largest museum.<br />
But an inventory error left the sample<br />
bag languishing in a box at the Johnson<br />
Space Centre.<br />
Staff were about to throw it out before<br />
offering it to a collector who ran a<br />
space museum in Kansas, keeping it unaware<br />
of its provenance.<br />
When the collector was later convicted<br />
of theft, fraud and money<br />
laundering, the FBI seized the box<br />
from his garage to auction it off for<br />
restitution.<br />
The bag — which has a tear and is<br />
made of the same fire-retardant material<br />
as space suits — was offered four<br />
times for sale, before the Illinois lawyer<br />
bought it in 2015.<br />
Noticing dark smudges inside, she<br />
sent it to NASA for testing, which confirmed<br />
in 2016 it was indeed moon dust<br />
from the Apollo 11 landing site, and that<br />
it was the decontamination bag listed in<br />
the Apollo 11 stowage list.<br />
A legal battle ensued over ownership,<br />
which ended in a federal judge<br />
ordering NASA to return the bag to the<br />
lawyer — who then offered it for sale. •<br />
Interpol circulates list of 173 suspected<br />
members of IS suicide brigade<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
IS fighters in Raqqa in 2014<br />
Interpol has circulated a list of 173<br />
Islamic State fighters it believes<br />
could have been trained to mount<br />
suicide attacks in Europe in revenge<br />
for the group’s military defeats<br />
in the Middle East, the Guardian<br />
reports.<br />
The global crime fighting agency’s<br />
list was drawn up by US intelligence<br />
from information captured<br />
during the assault on IS territories<br />
in Syria and Iraq.<br />
European counter-terror networks<br />
are concerned that as the IS<br />
“caliphate” collapses, there is an<br />
increasing risk of determined suicide<br />
bombers seeking to come to<br />
Europe, probably operating alone.<br />
There is no evidence that any of<br />
the people on the list have yet entered<br />
Europe, but the Interpol circulation,<br />
designed to see if EU intelligence<br />
sources have any details on<br />
the individuals, underlines the scale<br />
of the challenge facing Europe.<br />
The list, sent out by the general<br />
secretariat of Interpol on 27<br />
May, defines the group of fighters<br />
as individuals that “may have<br />
been trained to build and position<br />
improvised explosive devices in<br />
order to cause serious deaths and<br />
injuries. It is believed that they can<br />
travel internationally, to participate<br />
in terrorist activities.”<br />
The data was originally collected<br />
by the US intelligence “through<br />
trusted channels”. The material<br />
was handed over to the FBI, which<br />
transmitted the list to Interpol for<br />
global sharing.<br />
Reliability of the sources<br />
US intelligence is apparently confident<br />
about the reliability of the<br />
sources used to compile the list.<br />
But western counter-terrorism<br />
forces have said they face an uphill<br />
struggle identifying potential suspects,<br />
who have access to a mountain<br />
of false documents, double<br />
identities and fake passports.<br />
Interpol stressed the list’s transmission<br />
came as part of its role<br />
circulating information between<br />
national crime-fighting agencies.<br />
“Interpol regularly sends alerts and<br />
updates to its national central bureaux<br />
(NCB) on wanted terrorists<br />
and criminals via our secure global<br />
AP<br />
police communications network,”<br />
a spokesman said. “It is the member<br />
country which provides the information<br />
that decides which other<br />
countries it can be shared with.<br />
In 2015 the UN considered there<br />
were 20,000 foreign fighters in Iraq<br />
and Syria, of whom 4,000 were<br />
from Europe, but there has not previously<br />
been a specific list of those<br />
fighters including those born in the<br />
Middle East who have been identified<br />
as potential suicide bombers.<br />
The speed with which IS fighters<br />
are likely to attempt to reach<br />
Europe will depend on a range of<br />
issues including whether the group<br />
tries to set up a new base in Syria<br />
in the wake of the impending fall<br />
of Raqqa, its last major redoubt in<br />
north-west Syria. There is a growing<br />
suggestion that IS fighters will<br />
shift south from Raqqa to the defensible<br />
territory stretching from<br />
Deir el-Zourez-Zor to Abu Kamal.<br />
US Army Col Ryan Dillon on Friday<br />
estimated there were around<br />
2,000 IS militants in the city, who<br />
he said were using civilians and children<br />
as human shields. The distance<br />
between SDF forces on the eastern<br />
side of the city and on the western<br />
fronts is now just under 2km.<br />
The United Nations estimates<br />
that about 190,000 residents of<br />
Raqqa province have been displaced<br />
since April, including about<br />
20,000 since the operation to seize<br />
the provincial capital began in early<br />
June.<br />
US diplomats this week admitted<br />
that the SDF forces, due to<br />
their ethnic make-up, will be constrained<br />
from going south of Raqqa<br />
to pursue IS as far as Deir Azzour,<br />
saying this may be the task of the<br />
Syrian forces under Bashar al Assad,<br />
or even Iranian-backed Shia<br />
militia. •<br />
Bangladesh Public Relations Association (BPRA) celebrated 38th anniversary of<br />
its founding bu cutting a cake at the National Press Club in Dhaka on Saturday. The<br />
function was attended by Samakal Editor Golam Sarwar, National Press Club General<br />
Secretary Farida Yasmin, BPRA President Mostafa-E-Jamil, Secretary General<br />
Moniruzzaman Tipu and journalists and public relations officers from different<br />
organisations, said press release. BPRA was founded on <strong>July</strong> 22 in 1979 COURTESY<br />
Govt, Green Delta sign<br />
deal on healthcare project<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
METRO <br />
Health Economics Unit (HEU)<br />
of Ministry of Health and Family<br />
Welfare and Green Delta Insurance<br />
signed an agreement for<br />
implementation of second phase<br />
of Shashthya Shurakhkha Karmashuchi<br />
(SSK) project.<br />
Green Delta has been working<br />
as the scheme operator of the SSK<br />
since launching of the programme<br />
on March 24, 2016, said a press release.<br />
Now the HEU is initiating the<br />
second phase in Kalihati, Ghatail<br />
and Modhupur of Tangail and<br />
Green Delta will be continuing its<br />
services as the scheme operator.<br />
SSK is a “dream project” of<br />
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for<br />
the population living below poverty<br />
line.<br />
The World Health Organization<br />
(WHO) has brought a concept titled<br />
“Universal Health Coverage (UHC)”<br />
to ensure health care for everyone,<br />
regardless of their social status.<br />
The Bangladesh government<br />
has also taken up the challenge to<br />
achieve the UHC by the year 2032<br />
through implementing the SSK<br />
project.<br />
The project was initially taken<br />
up in Kalihati of Tangail district<br />
and was seen as a huge step in<br />
revolutionising the healthcare delivery<br />
system for the poor by introducing<br />
micro insurance.<br />
The poor people selected under<br />
certain criteria will get a card to<br />
receive treatment for 50 diseases<br />
commonly found in them.<br />
The treatment will take place in<br />
government health facilities of the<br />
district. The government will give<br />
Tk1,000 per family each year as<br />
the premium for a pool fund. One<br />
family will get Tk50,000 treatment<br />
a year.<br />
The signing ceremony was held<br />
at the health ministry office. HEU<br />
Director General Md Ashadul Islam<br />
and Managing Director and CEO of<br />
Green Delta Insurance, Chartered<br />
Insurer Farzana Chowdhury ACII<br />
(UK) signed the MoU on behalf of<br />
their respective organisations. •
DT<br />
12<br />
Editorial<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
TODAY<br />
The road to peace<br />
IPHRC has been charged to play a more<br />
pro-active role in promoting human<br />
rights<br />
PAGE 13<br />
BIGSTOCK<br />
Who is selling out,<br />
exactly?<br />
BBC is a pinko propaganda machine,<br />
they hollered. And the casting decision<br />
was yet another PC sell-out move, they<br />
raged on<br />
PAGE 14<br />
Time for a new port<br />
Chittagong port has more on its<br />
plate than it can handle right<br />
now.<br />
And it is no surprise that vessel<br />
congestion has been choking the port,<br />
considering that 90% of the country’s<br />
imports and exports go through there.<br />
The solution lies in developing a new<br />
port on a priority basis, as near-complete<br />
dependence on Chittagong is clearly not<br />
sustainable.<br />
Furthermore, Chittagong port’s<br />
capacity also needs to be upgraded -- the<br />
infrastructure at the port right now is<br />
woefully inadequate, and no jetty has<br />
been constructed in the last nine years<br />
in spite of significant increases in cargo<br />
volume.<br />
Chittagong port’s<br />
capacity also needs to<br />
be upgraded<br />
A failure to protect<br />
Bangladesh has been walking a<br />
tightrope for too long, as the state is,<br />
dangerously close to giving legitimate<br />
space to Islamist fanatics<br />
Be heard<br />
Write to Dhaka Tribune<br />
FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath,<br />
Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207<br />
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The views expressed in opinion<br />
articles are those of the authors<br />
alone and they are not the<br />
official view of Dhaka Tribune<br />
or its publisher.<br />
PAGE 15<br />
Sending the right message<br />
Hats off to Prime Minister Sheikh<br />
Hasina for doing the right thing.<br />
It is heartening to see PM Hasina,<br />
president of the AL, take action<br />
against the Barisal lawyer who sued UNO Gazi<br />
Tarek Salman over publishing a drawing of<br />
Bangabandhu on an invitation card.<br />
We are glad to see that the rule of law, as well<br />
as common sense, has prevailed.<br />
But more importantly, this action on part<br />
of the AL sends out a much-needed message:<br />
Over-zealous actions which persecute citizens<br />
under such false pretenses will not be tolerated.<br />
The actions of Obaedullah Saju do not<br />
honour the memory of the Father of the Nation,<br />
but quite the opposite.<br />
Neither the government, the AL, nor the<br />
people will fall for such antics.<br />
The actions of<br />
Obaedullah Saju do not<br />
honour the memory<br />
of the Father of the<br />
Nation, but quite the<br />
opposite
The road to peace<br />
The OIC and its monitoring of human rights<br />
Opinion 13<br />
DT<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
P O S T<br />
BREAKFAST<br />
• Muhammad Zamir<br />
The preamble of<br />
the Universal Declaration<br />
of Human Rights states:<br />
“The inherent dignity and<br />
equal and inalienable rights of all<br />
members of the human family is<br />
the foundation of freedom, justice,<br />
and peace in the world.”<br />
Upholding of human rights<br />
has gained focal attention all over<br />
the world. It is generally agreed<br />
that absence of this important<br />
factor within the paradigm of<br />
governance affects individual<br />
security, collective security, and<br />
also national security.<br />
In this context, there is also<br />
consensus that elements like<br />
sectarianism and absence of<br />
respect of socio-cultural rights<br />
respect and protection for<br />
different societies with separate<br />
value-structures.<br />
The youth is our future<br />
This has been done with the belief<br />
that this will strengthen the role<br />
of youth and also foster peace and<br />
development in all OIC member<br />
states.<br />
Details of the efforts<br />
undertaken by the IPHRC in this<br />
regard was recently enumerated<br />
by its Vice Chairperson, Dr Rashid<br />
Al Balushi, during the 44th session<br />
of the OIC Conference of Foreign<br />
Ministers (CFM) held in Abidjan<br />
Republic of Cote d’Ivoire from<br />
<strong>July</strong> 10-11. His address touched<br />
on the theme of “Youth, Peace,<br />
and Development in a World of<br />
Solidarity.”<br />
Dr Balushi also pointed out<br />
that despite resource constraints;<br />
IPHRC’s effort was being widely<br />
recognised by the international<br />
human rights community. In<br />
this context, he also informed<br />
Don’t just promote human rights, ensure them<br />
BIGSTOCK<br />
IPHRC has been charged to play a more proactive<br />
role in promoting human rights<br />
among different communities<br />
have also had an effect on the subregional<br />
and regional matrix.<br />
The prevailing situation<br />
of terrorism and violence in<br />
different parts of the world --<br />
resulting out of fundamentalism,<br />
communalism, populism, and<br />
misinterpretation of religion --<br />
has resulted in displacement of<br />
populations, both internally as<br />
well as across frontiers.<br />
Such an equation has<br />
particularly emerged within the<br />
parameters of parts of Africa<br />
in general and North Africa in<br />
particular, and also in several subregions<br />
within the Middle East and<br />
parts of South and Southeast Asia.<br />
Armed violence has contributed<br />
to instability, loss of lives, and<br />
tension in the context of bilateral<br />
relations.<br />
Recognition of these factors<br />
appears to have persuaded<br />
the Organisation of Islamic<br />
Cooperation (OIC) member states<br />
to focus their collective attention<br />
towards the upholding of human<br />
rights. In this context, the OIC<br />
Independent Permanent Human<br />
Rights Commission (IPHRC) has<br />
been charged to play a more proactive<br />
role in not only promoting<br />
human rights but also ensuring<br />
the member states about IPHRC<br />
conducting two field visits to<br />
Palestine and Kashmir and also<br />
preparing detailed reports on the<br />
ongoing human rights situation in<br />
these sensitive areas.<br />
The IPHRC has apparently<br />
also carried out research and<br />
prepared a detailed report on the<br />
subject of “Sexual orientation and<br />
Gender identity” and also tried<br />
to review the Cairo Declaration<br />
on Human Rights in Islam against<br />
existing universal human rights<br />
instruments.<br />
Both these studies with<br />
concrete recommendations were<br />
later submitted to the 44th CFM<br />
for consideration and appropriate<br />
follow up. It would be fitting at<br />
this point to outline the manner in<br />
which the IPHRC evolved within<br />
the OIC. It is an expert body<br />
with advisory capacity that was<br />
established by the Organisation of<br />
Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as one<br />
of the principal organs working<br />
independently in the area of<br />
human rights.<br />
A new avenue of peace and order<br />
The creation of IPHRC was<br />
enunciated in the New OIC Charter<br />
adopted by 11th Islamic Summit<br />
held in Dakar, Senegal, on March<br />
13-14, 2008. The commission<br />
was formally launched with the<br />
adoption of its statute by the<br />
38th session of the Council of<br />
Foreign Ministers held in Astana,<br />
Kazakhstan, on June 28-30, 2011.<br />
The nascent commission has<br />
since emerged as a fully functional<br />
human rights mechanism<br />
pursuing its multidimensional<br />
objectives and mandates. From<br />
its first regular session, the<br />
commission adopted a set of five<br />
guiding principles for its work.<br />
These include the principles of<br />
complementarity, introspection,<br />
prioritsation, incremental<br />
approach, and credibility.<br />
The IPHRC has also claimed<br />
that they are now offering<br />
programs of assistance to member<br />
states in a variety of areas such<br />
as advancing human rights,<br />
reviewing the corresponding<br />
domestic legislations, counseling<br />
with regard to obligations<br />
under international human<br />
rights instruments, awareness<br />
campaigns, and provision of<br />
technical assistance for capacity<br />
building, etc. One can only hope<br />
that these objectives do not suffer<br />
due to absence of political will or<br />
financial contributions.<br />
Support is key<br />
The OIC, in this significant<br />
journey, needs to fully support<br />
the IPHRC while it undertakes<br />
measures towards advancing<br />
human rights and fundamental<br />
freedoms in member states<br />
as well as the fundamental<br />
rights of Muslim minorities and<br />
communities in non-member<br />
states in conformity with the<br />
universally recognised human<br />
rights norms and standards and<br />
with the added value of Islamic<br />
principles of justice and equality.<br />
This effort aimed at promoting<br />
and strengthening human rights<br />
in member states should also<br />
include interfaith and intercultural<br />
dialogue as a tool to promote<br />
peace and harmony among<br />
various civilisations and the<br />
promotion of the true image of<br />
Islam -- as a religion of peace and<br />
understanding.<br />
This will need extending<br />
support to member states and<br />
their national institutions in<br />
the promotion and protection<br />
of human rights for all in an<br />
independent manner. It will also<br />
require reviewing the OIC’s own<br />
human rights instruments and<br />
recommending ways for their finetuning,<br />
as and where appropriate,<br />
including the option of<br />
recommending new mechanisms<br />
and covenants.<br />
Subsequent promotion of<br />
cooperative working relations<br />
with relevant bodies of the<br />
United Nations will help to<br />
strengthen regional human rights<br />
mechanisms with the support<br />
and association of accredited civil<br />
society organisations.<br />
A vast network<br />
IPHRC, with its member states<br />
spread over four continents<br />
is designed to work as a<br />
cross-regional human rights<br />
mechanism that brings together<br />
and promotes the universal<br />
character of human rights. Over<br />
the last three years, the IPHRC<br />
appears to have deliberated on<br />
a number of important issues of<br />
contemporary concern such as<br />
rights of women and children,<br />
right to development, combating<br />
Islamophobia, extremism, and<br />
intolerance.<br />
It would, however, be fitting<br />
for OIC member states to<br />
understand that the objectives<br />
for setting up the IPHRC can only<br />
be meaningfully achieved if they<br />
seriously abide by the stipulations<br />
set forth in international<br />
instruments and not just in lipservice.<br />
Conformity with these<br />
aforementioned principles will<br />
then ensure good governance<br />
particularly with regard to the<br />
millions of expatriate workers<br />
-- both female and male -- who<br />
now work in the Middle East from<br />
least developed and developing<br />
countries.<br />
It will be a challenge, but I shall<br />
try to make certain of this during<br />
my tenure as an elected member<br />
of the IPHRC for three years from<br />
February, 2018.•<br />
Muhammad Zamir, a former<br />
Ambassador and Chief Information<br />
Commissioner of the Information<br />
Commission, is an analyst specialised in<br />
foreign affairs, right to information, and<br />
good governance. He can be reached at<br />
muhammadzamir0@gmail.com.
14<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Opinion<br />
Who is selling<br />
out, exactly?<br />
The new Doctor Who is a woman.<br />
So what?<br />
• Syed Raiyan Nuri Reza<br />
The BBC declared<br />
the person to play<br />
the Doctor’s 13th<br />
reincarnation, and I was<br />
duly reminded that I am quite the<br />
sorry excuse of a Whovian with an<br />
awful lot to catch up on.<br />
And while I make a mental note<br />
to pick up the Doctor Who series<br />
from the second season -- [gulps]<br />
fellow Whovians, I can explain -- I<br />
was taken aback at some of the<br />
reactions online.<br />
They, those behind the said<br />
surprising reactions, threw a bit<br />
of a tantrum over the fact that the<br />
iconic fictional character -- a time<br />
travelling alien with regeneration<br />
ability that confers it near<br />
immortality as it can reincarnate<br />
itself with new bodies -- is, for<br />
the first time, to be played by an<br />
actress.<br />
BBC is a pinko propaganda<br />
machine, they hollered. And the<br />
casting decision was yet another<br />
PC sell-out move, they raged on.<br />
Say, the casting decision was<br />
indeed politically and socially<br />
motivated. So what, I retort?<br />
It is but the utmost naivety to<br />
assume fiction is conceived of in<br />
a vacuum. Their creation draws<br />
from the social, economic, and<br />
political trends. Their themes and<br />
setting reflect the beliefs (or a lack<br />
thereof) of their creators. And<br />
reality itself is refracted in the lens<br />
of fiction.<br />
Orwell’s acclaimed novels<br />
1984 and Animal Farm come to<br />
And are we to forget the<br />
very British James Bond series?<br />
Written in post-war United<br />
Kingdom where Britain still had<br />
an empire to its name, the series<br />
had unsurprisingly pro-imperial<br />
undertones.<br />
Of course, to say nothing of CS<br />
Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia,<br />
which promoted Christianity and<br />
is suffused with religious allegory.<br />
And even with my superficial<br />
degree of familiarity with the<br />
authors’ lives, I can discern their<br />
personal background smudged in<br />
between the lines of their work.<br />
Orwell had his brush with death<br />
and communism at the Spanish<br />
Civil war.<br />
Ian Fleming served for British<br />
intelligence. And CS Lewis<br />
rediscovered religion in his 30s<br />
after renouncing his Christian faith<br />
in adolescence.<br />
See the connections, right?<br />
Now, I will leave it to you<br />
to dig a bit deeper onto who is<br />
running the show at Doctor Who<br />
and put two and two together.<br />
Instead, I will tell you this. In our<br />
increasingly polarising political<br />
and social atmosphere, we need to<br />
grow up.<br />
In our escapades within fiction,<br />
we should not angrily switch<br />
channels when we see the very<br />
humdrum concerns of our lives<br />
that we are trying to leave behind<br />
stare right back at us. That’s not<br />
how it works. Fiction is drawn<br />
from facts and real life.<br />
Let us remember that the script<br />
writers, producers, and directors<br />
BBC is a pinko propaganda machine, they<br />
hollered. And the casting decision was yet<br />
another PC sell-out move, they raged on<br />
Some people don’t like the idea of Doctor Who in heels<br />
REUTERS<br />
mind in this regard. The former a<br />
dystopian narrative and the other<br />
a cautionary tale, both literary<br />
reactions to the totalitarian<br />
regime of Soviet Union and rise of<br />
communism.<br />
are creatures of flesh and blood<br />
and hormones and entitled to their<br />
viewpoints and can incorporate<br />
them in their work all they like.<br />
Provided they do so gracefully<br />
and intelligently and still give<br />
us worthy plot with memorable<br />
characters, making our moments<br />
of entertainment worthwhile.<br />
Yet if the whiff of social and<br />
political activism proves too much,<br />
if any is there in the first place,<br />
instead of incoherent rambling just<br />
articulate an intelligent opinion.<br />
And sure, who am I to stop<br />
you from balling up your fists and<br />
ranting under your breath against<br />
the politically correct invasion<br />
of pop culture. But it does make<br />
me wonder: Who exactly is the<br />
snowflake here again? •<br />
Syed Raiyan Nuri Reza is a freelance<br />
contributor writing from Iran.
A failure to protect<br />
Opinion 15<br />
Economic growth means nothing if we can’t keep girls and women safe from abuse<br />
DT<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Young girls should never have to face abuse<br />
Bangladesh has been walking a tightrope for too long, as the state is,<br />
now more than ever, dangerously close to giving legitimate space to<br />
Islamist fanatics<br />
• Jahanara Nuri<br />
Bangladesh is going<br />
through hard times.<br />
“People” have grown<br />
too dependent on their<br />
rulers, and the rulers are suffering<br />
from a lack of perspective being<br />
surrounded by sycophants, leading<br />
to disjointed decisions being made<br />
regarding the future of our nation.<br />
On the February 27, the Child<br />
Marriage Restraint Act <strong>2017</strong><br />
was passed despite nationwide<br />
protests and requests from the<br />
more civil parts of our society. In<br />
order to make a decision which<br />
may have devastating effect on the<br />
lives of women, the administration<br />
resorted to a game of semantics to<br />
confuse and confound us.<br />
What kind of a law is it that<br />
allows the parents of a girl who<br />
was raped to marry her off to the<br />
rapist himself?<br />
The state could have delivered<br />
a stern warning by rejecting the<br />
bill, signaling that perpetrators<br />
of violence against women and<br />
girls wouldn’t be spared, and that<br />
the victims of violence would<br />
get better legal and physical<br />
assistance.<br />
A country failing to provide<br />
safety to its citizens should come<br />
as a sobering testimony of the<br />
gross lack of human rights here.<br />
We are now openly fighting every<br />
inch of our way for a pluralist,<br />
liberal way of living.<br />
In Bangladesh, women and<br />
girls are safe nowhere, not even<br />
within their families. We may have<br />
failed to put an end to violence<br />
against women in our society, but<br />
our failure to save children from<br />
being molested and/or sexually<br />
assaulted in madrasas and on the<br />
streets is simply inexcusable.<br />
Bangladesh has been walking<br />
a tightrope for too long, as the<br />
state is, now more than ever,<br />
dangerously close to giving<br />
legitimate space to Islamist<br />
fanatics. It’s worrying that our<br />
politicians are now willfully<br />
diluting the secular foundations<br />
upon which our nation was built to<br />
that end.<br />
The number of women being<br />
subjected to violence, in both<br />
domestic and public settings, is<br />
the highest it has ever been. Islam<br />
has a storied history of oppressing<br />
women, the fact that the<br />
administration is now increasingly<br />
DHAKA TRIBUNE<br />
pandering to Islamists, coupled<br />
with the Child Marriage Restraint<br />
Act, all but makes sure that we<br />
have our own special version of<br />
the Sharia Law in effect.<br />
No. Parading around a battalion<br />
of female police officers at the<br />
UN or pointing out a handful of<br />
ministers in the cabinet wearing<br />
blouses does not count as “female<br />
empowerment.” Far from gender<br />
parity, Bangladesh lacks any<br />
semblance of safety for women<br />
who need to step out of their own<br />
homes to support their families.<br />
Certainly, Islamist fanatics<br />
such as Hefazat, with their<br />
13-point demands against the<br />
empowerment of women, are<br />
celebrating. But Bangladesh is far<br />
from the “happy nation” that the<br />
international audience thinks of<br />
us as.<br />
Growth indicators can only do<br />
so much. •<br />
Jahanara Nuri is a writer and human<br />
rights activist.
16<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Downtime<br />
CROSSWORD<br />
CODE-CRACKER<br />
ACROSS<br />
1 Banquets (6)<br />
4 Poor actor (3)<br />
7 Vestige (5)<br />
8 Longing (6)<br />
11 Ignited (3)<br />
12 Level (4)<br />
13 Emotional state (4)<br />
15 Out of sorts (5)<br />
16 Remedies (5)<br />
20 Neckwear (4)<br />
<strong>23</strong> Body of water (4)<br />
24 Knight’s title (3)<br />
25 Seesaw (6)<br />
26 Fragrance (5)<br />
27 Female swan (3)<br />
28 Disconcert (6)<br />
DOWN<br />
1 Loses colour (5)<br />
2 Cheat (7)<br />
3 Slender support (4)<br />
4 Circle of light (4)<br />
5 Sour (4)<br />
6 Encountered (3)<br />
9 First women (3)<br />
10 Observe (3)<br />
14 Wealthy (7)<br />
17 Rodent (3)<br />
18 Supplement (3)<br />
19 Durable fabric (5)<br />
20 Weary (4)<br />
21 Metal (4)<br />
22 Main actor (4)<br />
24 Plant juice (3)<br />
How to solve: Each number in our<br />
CODE-CRACKER grid represents a<br />
different letter of the alphabet. For<br />
example, today 11 represents P so fill P<br />
every time the figure 11 appears.<br />
You have two letters in the control<br />
grid to start you off. Enter them in the<br />
appropriate squares in the main grid, then<br />
use your knowledge of words to work out<br />
which letters go in the missing squares.<br />
Some letters of the alphabet may not be<br />
used.<br />
As you get the letters, fill in the other<br />
squares with the same number in the<br />
main grid, and the control grid. Check<br />
off the list of alphabetical letters as you<br />
identify them.<br />
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<br />
CALVIN AND HOBBES<br />
SUDOKU<br />
How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the<br />
numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must<br />
contain all nine digits with no number repeating.<br />
PEANUTS<br />
YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS<br />
CODE-CRACKER<br />
CROSSWORD<br />
DILBERT<br />
SUDOKU
What’s on<br />
17<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
EVENTS AROUND TOWN TODAY<br />
THEATRE<br />
MOVIE<br />
SEMINAR<br />
STAR CINEPLEX<br />
Where Bashundhara City, Dhaka<br />
What Movie Showtime (<strong>July</strong> <strong>23</strong>)<br />
KONJUSH<br />
When 7-9pm<br />
Where National Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala<br />
Academy, Shegun Bagicha, Dhaka<br />
What An adaptation of the Molière satire The Miser, to be<br />
staged by the theatre troupe Loko Natyadal.<br />
EXHIBITION<br />
BEACONS 3.0<br />
When<br />
Where Drik Gallery, House 74, Road 8a, Dhanmondi, Dhaka<br />
What The third phase of Beacons - a multidimensional art<br />
exhibition, most of which is done by Team Icarus.<br />
SOLO PAINTING EXHIBITION<br />
When 10am-8pm<br />
Where Gallery Chitrak, House 4, Road 6, Dhanmondi, Dhaka<br />
What 3rd solo painting exhibition by artist Sultan Ishtiaque.<br />
The Mummy (3D): 11:30am,<br />
2:10pm, 5pm<br />
Nabab (2D): 3:50pm, 7pm<br />
Spiderman Homecoming (3D):<br />
10:50am, 1:45pm, 4:30pm,<br />
4:40pm, 7:10pm, 7:30pm<br />
Baby Driver (2D): 11:10am, 1:30pm,<br />
7:20pm<br />
Despicable Me 3 (3D): 11am, 1pm<br />
Dunkirk (2D): 11:20am, 1:50pm,<br />
3pm, 5:15pm, 7:30pm<br />
War for the Planet of the Apes (2D):<br />
10:50am, 1:40pm, 4:10pm, 7:15pm<br />
BLOCKBUSTER CINEMAS<br />
Where Jamuna Future Park, Dhaka<br />
What Movie Showtime (<strong>July</strong> <strong>23</strong>)<br />
CAREER IN IOT<br />
When 3-5:30pm<br />
Where AUST Innovation and Design Club, 141 & 142 Love<br />
Road, Dhaka<br />
What Seminar hosted by AUST Innovation and Design Club,<br />
and Toru Institute of Inclusive Innovation.<br />
PHD APPLICANT: FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY<br />
When 4-5:30pm<br />
Where EMK Center, Midas Center Building (9th Floor) House<br />
5, Road 16, Dhanmondi, Dhaka<br />
What Join the session to know first hand what it takes to be a<br />
PhD applicant.<br />
MUSIC<br />
TRIBUTE TO CHESTER BENNINGTON<br />
When 3-8pm<br />
Where BRAC University, 66 Mohakhali, Dhaka<br />
What An event where the BRAC University Cultural Club and<br />
two other bands will perform songs from the band Linkin<br />
Park, as a tribute to Chester Bennington.<br />
BURDEN<br />
When 5-8pm<br />
Where Kalakendra, 1/11, Iqbal road (3rd floor),<br />
Mohammadpur, Dhaka<br />
What A twenty-day solo art exhibition by A Rahman.<br />
WORKSHOP<br />
TALK<br />
DARE TO LEAD WITH ASHFAQUE KABIR<br />
When 11am-1pm<br />
Where Department of Management Studies, Jagannath<br />
University, Chittaranjan Avenue, Dhaka<br />
What An hour-long session on leadership and career<br />
development<br />
Rajneeti (2D): 12pm, 3pm, 6pm<br />
Spider-Man: Homecoming (3D):<br />
11:30am, 1:45pm, 2:10pm, 4:30pm,<br />
7:20pm<br />
Baywatch (2D): 12pm, 2:30pm,<br />
5pm, 7:30pm<br />
The Mummy (3D): 12:30pm, 5pm,<br />
7:30pm<br />
Transformers: The Last Knight<br />
(3D): 11:30am, 2:30pm, 4:55pm,<br />
7:25pm<br />
Despicable Me 3 (3D): 11:40am,<br />
2:55pm, 5:30pm<br />
Dunkirk (2D): 12:30pm, 2:50pm,<br />
5:10pm, 7:30pm, 7:55pm<br />
IDP IELTS MASTERCLASS<br />
When 10am-4pm<br />
Where Raowa Convention Hall, Mohakhali DOHS, Dhaka<br />
What A unique and premium IELTS workshop organised by<br />
IDP.
DT<br />
18<br />
Sports<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Mustafizur Rahman bowls during training in Mirpur yesterday<br />
BCB CEO: Australia delegation<br />
to arrive in Dhaka Tuesday<br />
• Ali Shahriyar Bappa<br />
An Australian delegate team will<br />
arrive in Bangladesh on Tuesday,<br />
ahead of the Aussies’ tour of Bangladesh,<br />
informed BCB CEO Nizamuddin<br />
Chowdhury.<br />
Australian players have been<br />
involved with their board in a pay<br />
row for months now and only recently,<br />
Australia A side boycotted<br />
their tour of South Africa as the<br />
dispute between Cricket Australia<br />
and the Australia Cricketers’ Association<br />
did not resolve.<br />
Australia are supposed to play<br />
two Test matches against the Tigers<br />
this August.<br />
Bangladesh are currently practising<br />
hard in the fitness and conditioning<br />
camp, ahead of their<br />
much-awaited home series against<br />
Australia.<br />
As the series nears, BCB high-up<br />
Nizamuddin yet again said CA has<br />
not informed anything regarding<br />
the cancellation of their Bangladesh<br />
Tests and that a delegation<br />
team will arrive in Dhaka on Tuesday<br />
to inspect the facilities.<br />
“There is no talks from CA regarding<br />
the abandonment of the tour.<br />
But we will discuss today. A delegate<br />
team will visit Bangladesh<br />
on Tuesday. The delegate team<br />
have visited Dhaka on previous<br />
occasions. They were here during<br />
the England series (last year) and<br />
observed our security system. The<br />
team which visited Bangladesh<br />
Playing cricket is important for us.<br />
Australia’s participation is important. We<br />
don’t see any chance of the series losing<br />
glamour if anything does happen<br />
MD MANIK<br />
will observe the logistics and other<br />
facilities here. If they have any<br />
suggestions then they share them<br />
with us,” Nizamuddin told the media<br />
in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National<br />
Stadium yesterday.<br />
“BCB is preparing to host Australia.<br />
We are working according<br />
to that. CA is working on that too.<br />
What they are doing to resolve<br />
their dispute is their internal matter.<br />
We don’t want to make any<br />
comment on that,” he said.<br />
According to some media reports,<br />
Australia might send a<br />
weakened team to Bangladesh.<br />
When asked regarding the<br />
speculation, the BCB CEO<br />
confidently said Bangladesh<br />
are fully focused on Australia’s<br />
visit and that they are preparing<br />
accordingly for the tour, rather<br />
than concentrating on which side<br />
the Aussies might send.<br />
“Playing cricket is important for<br />
us. Australia’s participation is important.<br />
We don’t see any chance<br />
of the series losing glamour if anything<br />
does happen,” concluded<br />
Nizamuddin. •<br />
Decision on<br />
number of<br />
BPL foreigners<br />
in playing XI<br />
tomorrow<br />
• Tribune Report<br />
The franchises’ opinion on the<br />
foreign players’ policy in the<br />
Bangladesh Premier League<br />
Twenty20 is likely to end up even<br />
square.<br />
It is understood that among the<br />
eight teams, four have made their<br />
opinion of allowing maximum<br />
four foreign cricketers while equal<br />
number of teams have asked the<br />
BPL governing council to allow<br />
maximum five cricketers in the<br />
playing XI.<br />
An official announcement from<br />
the BPL GC is however, due.<br />
It is learnt that a final decision on<br />
the issue will be reached tomorrow<br />
in a BPL GC meeting.<br />
The meeting will also finalise<br />
the names of the Icon cricketers for<br />
the tournament’s fifth season and<br />
also other policies related to the<br />
competition.<br />
Yesterday was the deadline for<br />
the eight BPL franchises to submit<br />
their opinion on the overseas<br />
players’ policy for the fifth edition<br />
of the tournament, which is<br />
scheduled to begin in November<br />
this year.<br />
The BPL GC during a press<br />
conference in May this year had<br />
informed that they were mulling<br />
allowing five foreigners in the<br />
playing XI and that the request<br />
had come from the franchises<br />
and for the greater benefit of the<br />
tournament.<br />
The opinion by the BPL GC<br />
paved the way for mixed emotions.<br />
Bangladesh ODI captain<br />
Mashrafe bin Mortaza and opener<br />
Tamim Iqbal went on record, saying<br />
five overseas cricketers should not<br />
be allowed in the playing XI.<br />
Mashrafe, who is set to play for<br />
Rangpur Riders this season while<br />
Tamim for Comilla Victorians, have<br />
said playing five foreigners will cut<br />
the opportunity of the local players<br />
in the tournament.<br />
If five overseas cricketers in the<br />
XI is allowed, it will not be the first<br />
time of such instance happening in<br />
the tournament.<br />
The money-spinning BPL T20<br />
in its first two seasons allowed a<br />
maximum of five foreigners in the<br />
playing XI.<br />
Mashrafe in both the seasons<br />
captained Dhaka Gladiators and<br />
lifted the title.<br />
The Gladiators were scrapped<br />
later following fixing controversies.<br />
•
Sports 19<br />
DT<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Mezbah, Shirin best Bangladesh<br />
athletes yet again<br />
Players and officials of the Titans Khulna Masters react during the press conference in Mirpur yesterday MD MANIK<br />
<strong>2017</strong> MCC players’ draft held<br />
• Ali Shahriyar Bappa<br />
The players’ draft of the Masters<br />
Cricket Carnival <strong>2017</strong> was held yesterday<br />
in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla<br />
National Stadium.<br />
Six franchises completed their<br />
squad formalities during the players’<br />
draft.<br />
The teams are - Titans Khulna<br />
Masters led by Habibul Bashar, previously<br />
known as Gemcon Khulna<br />
Masters, Ispahani Chittagong<br />
Masters led by Akram Khan, Acme<br />
Rajshahi led by Khaled Mashud,<br />
Expo All Stars led by Hasibul Hossain<br />
Shanto, Raw National Dhaka<br />
Metropolis led by Khaled Mahmud<br />
and Bashundhara Dhaka division<br />
led by Naimur Rahman.<br />
Former players, who played for<br />
the national team or “A” side or the<br />
Dhaka Premier Division Cricket<br />
League for at least five years are eligible<br />
to take part in this tournament.<br />
The 18-over-a-side tournament<br />
will start from Wednesday in Cox’s<br />
Bazar’s Sheikh Kamal International<br />
Cricket Stadium.<br />
This is the second edition of the<br />
tournament.<br />
The first edition was also held in<br />
Cox’s Bazar.<br />
Khulna were victorious in the<br />
MCC <strong>2017</strong> SQUADS<br />
inaugural edition.<br />
Defending champion Khulna<br />
have changed their name this year<br />
and will participate as Titans Khulna<br />
Masters.<br />
Former Bangladesh captain Habibul<br />
Basahr Sumon is the Icon of<br />
the team and will lead the Titans<br />
Khulna as the previous year.<br />
With the participation of six<br />
sides divided into two groups, the<br />
final of the four-day long tournament<br />
will also be held in Cox’s Bazar<br />
on Saturday.<br />
The tournament will be organised<br />
by Walton and powered by<br />
Scan Cement. •<br />
• Tribune Report<br />
Mezbah Ahmed became the fastest<br />
man of the country for the sixth<br />
consecutive time while Shirin Akter<br />
emerged as the nation’s fastest<br />
woman for the fifth straight instance<br />
as the sprint duo continued<br />
their supremacy in the 100m of the<br />
National Summer Athletics Championship<br />
<strong>2017</strong> yesterday.<br />
There were complaints from<br />
both the sprinters regarding the<br />
poor condition of the track at Bangabandhu<br />
National Stadium as Mezbah<br />
took 10.80s to complete his<br />
run while Shirin clocked 12.30s to<br />
touch the finishing line.<br />
Both the timings were recorded<br />
through hand-timing, which was a<br />
common scene throughout the twoday<br />
event that concluded yesterday.<br />
The 22-year old Mezbah has been<br />
dominating the BNS track since<br />
2013 and the Bangladesh Navy<br />
sprinter needed only one more title<br />
to touch a 34-year-old record created<br />
by Mosharraf Hossain Shamim,<br />
who won seven straight titles from<br />
the late 1970s to the early 80s.<br />
“My target was to make it sixth<br />
straight time. Now I will try to extend<br />
it to seven and eight, if possible<br />
more, before going into retirement,”<br />
said a delighted Mezbah<br />
after finishing his run.<br />
He added, “Since Shamim sir<br />
has seven titles then my target is to<br />
make it eight.”<br />
Mezbah’s best timing is 10.72s,<br />
which he set in the 2013 Bangladesh<br />
Games.<br />
He then went on to win three<br />
national crowns and two titles in<br />
the summer athletics.<br />
“I’m not satisfied with my timing<br />
but at the same time, it is not<br />
possible to produce great timing on<br />
that field. The field is old now and<br />
the track is slow,” said Mezbah.<br />
“I’m leaving the country for the<br />
World Championship on August 1.<br />
If I made any mistakes [yesterday]<br />
it would be a setback to my participation<br />
in the World Championship.<br />
If I have to make a better result, I<br />
need international standard training.<br />
It is better if we get our times<br />
in electronic timing,” concluded<br />
Mezbah, who clocked 10.88s in<br />
Bhubaneswar in India last month.<br />
Mezbah will be the only athlete<br />
from Bangladesh to take part in<br />
the World Athletics Championship<br />
<strong>2017</strong>, which will be held in London<br />
from August 4-13. Mezbah is scheduled<br />
to fly on August 1.<br />
Like Mezbah (Bagerhat), Shirin<br />
(Satkhira) also hails from south<br />
Bengal and both participated in the<br />
Olympics for the first time in Rio,<br />
Brazil last year. Shirin, whose personal<br />
best is 11.99s, is determined<br />
to win a gold medal in the next<br />
South Asian Games.<br />
“I was training in BKSP for quite<br />
a while under Kafi sir. I believe I<br />
can improve my timing in the upcoming<br />
events, both at home and<br />
abroad,” said a confident Shirin. •<br />
Expo All Stars<br />
Masudur Rahman Mukul, Talha Jubair,<br />
Mohammad Asadullah Khan Biplob,<br />
Mohammad Ehsanul Haque Seezan,<br />
Hasibul Hossain Shanto, Rashidul<br />
Haque Sumon, Mehrab Hossain Opi,<br />
Morshed Ali Khan Sumon, Jahangir<br />
Alam, Neaz Morshed Nahid, Sohel<br />
Hossain Pappu, Jahirul Haque Khan<br />
Rashed, Mohammad Nuruzzaman Tuhin<br />
and Baqui Billah Himel<br />
Dhaka Metro Masters<br />
Khaled Mahmud Sujan, Neeyamur<br />
Rashid Rahul, Tanvir Ahmed Timir, AIM<br />
Moniruzzaman, Faisal Hossain Dickens,<br />
Anisur Rahman Sanchoy, Monirul<br />
Islam Taj, Mohammad Anisul Hakim<br />
Rabbani, Mohammad Iqbal Hossain,<br />
Sajjad Ahmed Shipon, Minhaj Ahmed<br />
Shafil, Imran Hamid Partho, Mir Ziauddin<br />
Ahmed and Mizanur Rahman Babul<br />
Acme Rajshahi<br />
Khaled Masud Pilot, Abdul Hannan<br />
Sarkar, Mohammad Rafikul Islam Khan,<br />
Javed Omar Belim, Sheikh Golam<br />
Mostofa, Mohammad Monjurul Islam,<br />
Mahmudul Hasan Rana, Mohammad<br />
Rasheduzaman, Ali Arman Rajon,<br />
Tarikul Islam Tarek, Gazi Alamgir, Imtiaz<br />
Mohammed Polash and AZM Shafayatul<br />
Kirom<br />
Bashundhara Dhaka division<br />
Zakir Hasan, Mohammad Sanuar Hossain,<br />
Naimur Rahman Durjoy, Mohammad<br />
Rafique, Shahriar Hossain Biddut, Towhid<br />
Hossain Shamol, Arafat Salauddin, Lablur<br />
Rahman, Shafaq al Zabir, Imran Parvez<br />
Ripon, Adil Ahmed, Humayun Kabir, Sabbir<br />
Khan Shafin and Towhidul Islam Chapal<br />
Titans Khulna Masters<br />
Mohammad Harunur Rashid Liton, Mohammad<br />
Salim, Jamaluddin Ahmed, Mohammad<br />
Hasauzzaman Jhoru, Habibul<br />
Bashar Sumon, Neaz Morshed Poltu,<br />
Shafiuddin Ahmed Babu, Mohammad<br />
Murad Khan, Tasrikul Islam Totam, Anwar<br />
Hossain Monir, Fahim Muntasir Sumit,<br />
Mohammad Mizanur Rahman Patwary,<br />
Shakil Kashem and Amiruzzaman Babu<br />
Ispahani Chittagong Masters<br />
Akram Khan, Minhajul Abedin Nannu,<br />
Enamul Haque Moni, Tareq Aziz Khan,<br />
Ahsanullah Hasan, Shahnewaz Kabir<br />
Shuvro, Saifullah Khan Jem, Saiful Islam<br />
Khan, Mushfiqur Rahman Babu,<br />
Zubair Mohammed Ishtiak, Fazle Bari<br />
Khan and Golam Mortuza<br />
Shirin Akter and Mezbah Ahmed celebrate winning the 100m sprint in the National<br />
Athletics Championship at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday COURTESY
20<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Sports<br />
Neymar posted this photograph on his official Instagram account, stirring much speculation that he is perhaps mulling moving<br />
to Paris from Barcelona<br />
INTERNET<br />
Morata completes<br />
Chelsea move, targets<br />
silverware<br />
• AFP, London<br />
Premier League champion Chelsea<br />
completed the signing of Real<br />
Madrid striker Alvaro Morata on a<br />
five-year-deal on Friday in a deal<br />
reported to be worth up to 80m euros<br />
($92.2m).<br />
“I am so happy to be here. It’s<br />
an incredible emotion to be part<br />
of this big club. I am looking to<br />
work hard, score as many goals as<br />
I can and to win as many trophies<br />
as possible,” the 24-year-old told<br />
Chelsea’s club website.<br />
Morata put pen to paper with<br />
the London giants after undergoing<br />
a medical and he is now expected<br />
to link up with his new teammates,<br />
who are preparing to play<br />
Arsenal in a pre-season friendly in<br />
Beijing yesterday.<br />
He could make his debut against<br />
Bayern Munich in Singapore next<br />
Tuesday.<br />
Morata, who scored 20 goals in<br />
43 appearances for Real last season<br />
on their way to the Champions<br />
League and Spanish title, also has<br />
nine goals in 20 appearances for<br />
Spain - including three at last year’s<br />
European Championship.<br />
Chelsea technical director Michael<br />
Emenalo said Morata can<br />
make a huge impact domestically<br />
as well as in the Champions<br />
League.<br />
“We are delighted to complete<br />
Alvaro’s signing and welcome him<br />
to the club. We believe he can make<br />
a great impact for Chelsea and look<br />
forward to seeing him in action,”<br />
said Emenalo.<br />
“Alvaro has proven class at the<br />
highest level and his quality will<br />
be a huge asset to Antonio and the<br />
squad.”<br />
Earlier Friday, Chelsea coach<br />
Antonio Conte marvelled at the<br />
“crazy” transfer fees demanded for<br />
players, though he praised Morata<br />
as a young but experienced striker<br />
with a bright future.<br />
“He’s a good striker. He’s a player<br />
with the right prospect for Chelsea.<br />
He’s very young and for sure<br />
he can improve a lot,” Conte told a<br />
press conference on the eve of the<br />
game against Arsenal.<br />
Chelsea had long been linked to<br />
a move for Everton striker Romelu<br />
Lukaku, but they signed Morata after<br />
the Belgian international joined<br />
Manchester United instead for a reported<br />
85m euros.<br />
Asked whether the price paid for<br />
Morata was fair after he had previously<br />
warned about the spending<br />
power of Chinese clubs, Conte<br />
acknowledged that “for sure this<br />
transfer market is crazy”.<br />
“I think if you want to buy a simple<br />
player, okay, a normal player,<br />
you have to start to think to spend<br />
40-50m euros, and I think this is incredible,”<br />
he said. •<br />
Five things on Alvaro Morata<br />
• AFP, London<br />
Decent proposal<br />
Morata possesses a flamboyant side<br />
as he revealed when he proposed to<br />
his sweetheart Alice Campello. He<br />
did so at a show by magician Antonio<br />
Diaz in Madrid. Diaz instructed<br />
Alice to face one way on the<br />
stage and then turn round adding:<br />
“This’ll be the best trick you’ve ever<br />
seen.” As she wheeled round she<br />
saw Morata down on bended knee<br />
with a ring in his hand. “I was more<br />
nervous that day than any other,”<br />
he told The Guardian in April this<br />
year. “When you’re taken away<br />
from your pitch, your territory, the<br />
nerves are greater.” The happy couple<br />
were married in Venice in June.<br />
Conte a long-time admirer<br />
Morata will at last be managed<br />
by Antonio Conte after the latter<br />
coaxed him into joining Juventus in<br />
2014 from Real Madrid and jumped<br />
ship to take over the national side<br />
days before the Spaniard signed<br />
his contract. However, Morata is<br />
positively dewy-eyed about Conte.<br />
“Conte is the manager who most<br />
‘bet’ on me, without even ever<br />
having had me in his team,” he told<br />
the Guardian. “I’m very conscious<br />
of that: he bet on me for Juventus<br />
but left before I arrived. He knows<br />
me better than I could imagine, I’m<br />
sure, and that’s important: it motivates<br />
you to work hard, train well.”<br />
Sensitive side<br />
Morata has very fine locks admired<br />
Picture this! Neymar<br />
stirs PSG fever<br />
• AFP, Paris<br />
Neymar’s decision to post a photo<br />
of himself in thoughtful contemplation<br />
sparked a fresh wave of<br />
speculation that he is on the verge<br />
of sealing a world record 222-m-euro<br />
($256.8m) move from Barcelona<br />
to Paris Saint-Germain.<br />
The Instagram picture, even accompanied<br />
by a matching emoji,<br />
shows the 25-year-old Brazilian superstar<br />
stretched out on the pitch<br />
with his chin resting on his left hand.<br />
It garnered more than 1.5m<br />
“likes” within 12 hours of it being<br />
posted in the United States where<br />
Barca are on a pre-season tour.<br />
Three of the “likes” came from<br />
PSG players - winger Angel di Maria,<br />
goalkeeper Kevin Trapp and<br />
midfielder Marco Verratti.<br />
French newspaper Le Parisien<br />
fuelled speculation Friday with an<br />
unsourced report that Neymar had<br />
told several Barca teammates of his<br />
Alvaro Morata is all smiles with the Chelsea jersey<br />
by many. Sergio Ramos had a ritual<br />
whereby he shaved Morata’s head<br />
hoping it would bring them goals<br />
but last year he appeared shorn for a<br />
very different reason. It turned out<br />
he was doing it in support of child<br />
cancer sufferers at the Hospital<br />
Nino Jesus de Madrid. “There were<br />
some kids at a hospital that wanted<br />
to have the same hairstyle as me,<br />
but they couldn’t (due to cancer).<br />
Instead for them to have my hair<br />
style, I cut my hair and got their<br />
hairstyle,” he said.<br />
Father figure Buffon<br />
Morata left Juve for a return to<br />
Real last year but he will forever<br />
be indebted to legendary Juve<br />
and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi<br />
Buffon. He found life hard in Turin<br />
until Buffon took him to one side<br />
and told him not to show how he<br />
was feeling in public, lest others<br />
use it to their advantage. “All<br />
lads who aren’t mature yet live<br />
various situations to the extreme.<br />
intentions to join PSG, adding that<br />
the transfer is considered a done<br />
deal by some Barca players.<br />
That echoes media company<br />
Esporte Interativo’s insistence that<br />
an agreement has been reached<br />
for Neymar to move to the French<br />
capital from Barca, where he has<br />
played since 2013.<br />
On Tuesday, PSG skipper - and<br />
fellow Brazilian - Thiago Silva gave<br />
a digital thumbs up to a mocked-up<br />
photo montage published by Esporte<br />
Interativo showing Neymar in a PSG<br />
shirt along with compatriots and prospective<br />
teammates in France.<br />
Barca coach Ernesto Valverde<br />
described the ongoing saga as a<br />
“time of rumours”.<br />
That match will give Neymar a<br />
chance to display his coveted skills<br />
for the first time this summer.<br />
PSG skipper Thiago Silva told Le<br />
Parisien he had no idea if the Brazilian<br />
star was about to switch to<br />
the French capital. •<br />
INTERNET<br />
They live with great joy or with<br />
great depression if things aren’t<br />
going well,” Buffon told Real<br />
Madrid TV last year. “Alvaro had<br />
some negative thoughts in his last<br />
period at Juve, we talked about it<br />
a bit because I felt sorry for him,<br />
he was a lad I really liked and I<br />
wanted to help him and give him<br />
security. He deserved the help<br />
of a teammate, and I have huge<br />
affection for him.”<br />
Morientes’ stamp of approval<br />
Morata has been often compared<br />
with former Real striking great<br />
Fernando Morientes - who formed<br />
a lethal partnership with Raul for<br />
many years. Morientes himself is<br />
a great admirer of Morata. “He’s a<br />
penalty area player who plays well<br />
high up the pitch. He’s a goalscorer<br />
and a complete player,” he told<br />
Omnisports last year. “And apart<br />
from that he’s a player you can use<br />
out wide. He’s very quick and he<br />
can go past players.” •
Sports<br />
21<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Ashes might<br />
be scrapped<br />
• AFP, Sydney<br />
Australia’s cricketers have been<br />
warned this year’s Ashes series<br />
could be scrapped, even if a new pay<br />
deal is reached with the game’s governing<br />
body, reports said yesterday.<br />
ACA chief Alistair Nicholson has<br />
warned the players via email the<br />
showpiece Test series against England,<br />
due to begin in Brisbane on<br />
November <strong>23</strong>, is under threat.<br />
Negotiations over a new Memorandum<br />
of Understanding between<br />
players and CA have all but broken<br />
down, although Nicholson and CA<br />
counterpart James Sutherland are<br />
scheduled to meet today, Fairfax Media<br />
said. CA said it was surprised and<br />
perplexed by the ACA’s claims but<br />
would not comment on key details.<br />
Australia’s next series is a Test<br />
tour of Bangladesh in August.<br />
While the Ashes are four months<br />
away, much preparation, including<br />
broadcast inventory and sponsorship<br />
and advertising deals, must be locked<br />
in far earlier, Fairfax Media said.<br />
It added that the players had<br />
thought the two parties had<br />
reached common ground since<br />
Sutherland joined negotiations<br />
earlier this month. •<br />
Lord’s to cut<br />
down on booze<br />
• AFP, London<br />
English cricket ground Lord’s is<br />
clamping down on alcohol allowance<br />
for fans after a recent “incident” at<br />
the first Test between England and<br />
South Africa, the Marylebone Cricket<br />
Club announced.<br />
Fans at the famous stadium<br />
have long been allowed to bring in<br />
as much of their own booze as they<br />
like, but new rules suggest that this<br />
will be a thing of the past.<br />
Lord’s members may only be<br />
allowed to take up to two pints of<br />
beer into the grounds if it is under<br />
6% alcohol, or a single 75cl bottle<br />
of wine if it is between six and 18%<br />
- the same restrictions as Wimbledon.<br />
“Amounts of alcohol in excess of<br />
these limits...will be confiscated,”<br />
said the MCC. •<br />
DAY’S WATCH<br />
FOOTBALL<br />
TEN 2<br />
3:00AM<br />
International Champions Cup <strong>2017</strong><br />
Real Madrid v Man United<br />
CRICKET<br />
STAR SPORTS 1<br />
3:00PM<br />
ICC Women’s World Cup<br />
Final: England v India<br />
India’s Mithali Raj bats during training yesterday, ahead of their Women’s World Cup final against England today<br />
India will offer England stern test in final<br />
• Reuters<br />
England start as favourite to lift<br />
their fourth Women’s World Cup<br />
title at Lord’s today, but face an<br />
Indian side high on confidence<br />
after knocking out defending<br />
champion Australia in the semifinal.<br />
Indian middle-order batter<br />
Harmanpreet Kaur took centre<br />
stage with an unbeaten 171 and<br />
was backed by a disciplined<br />
performance by her bowlers as<br />
India pulled off a 36-run upset<br />
win over six-time world champion<br />
Australia.<br />
England, captained by Heather<br />
Knight, edged out South Africa<br />
by two wickets in the other semifinal,<br />
and hold the head-to-head<br />
advantage over India in the 50-<br />
over format at World Cups, with six<br />
wins to the visitor’s four.<br />
But the Indian squad’s ability<br />
to grind out results under pressure<br />
will not have gone unnoticed, least<br />
of all by the English, who were<br />
beaten by India by 35 runs in their<br />
first match of the tournament.<br />
Since that defeat the host have<br />
won seven matches in a row to<br />
reach the final.<br />
Knight and opening batter<br />
Tammy Beaumont have been<br />
consistent at the top of the order,<br />
scoring 750 runs in the tournament<br />
so far, while the reliable Natalie<br />
Sciver at No 4 is the only player to<br />
have recorded two centuries.<br />
India, skippered by Mithali Raj,<br />
are chasing their first World Cup<br />
title and are known for their strong<br />
batting line-up, but it is their spin<br />
bowling trio that has wreaked the<br />
INTERNET<br />
most havoc during the tournament.<br />
Off-spinner Deepti Sharma has<br />
been the key to their success in the<br />
middle overs, picking up 12 wickets<br />
on her World Cup debut.<br />
Sharma has been backed by<br />
leg-spinner Poonam Yadav and leftarm<br />
spinner Ekta Bisht, who decimated<br />
Pakistan with a five-wicket<br />
haul earlier in the tournament.<br />
Raj and veteran fast bowler Jhulan<br />
Goswami are the only two members<br />
from the last Indian side that reached<br />
a World Cup final - when they lost to<br />
Australia in 2005. •<br />
Bangla Bantams to help<br />
disadvantaged fans enjoy<br />
Bradford matches<br />
• Agencies<br />
A Bradford City supporters’ group<br />
is looking to raise £10,000 to enable<br />
deprived members of the community<br />
to watch the club’s games.<br />
The Bangla Bantams is looking<br />
to raise the cash through crowdfunding<br />
to give people from across<br />
the Bradford district, specifically<br />
U-16s and their families, free tickets<br />
to a Bantams home match at<br />
Valley Parade this season.<br />
The scheme has been running at<br />
the club since 2015, but its organisers<br />
are now looking to expand it<br />
after initially giving tickets to residents<br />
of Manningham.<br />
The appeal total would be spent<br />
on travel expenses for its volunteers<br />
on matchdays, and transportation<br />
costs.<br />
It also aims to introduce more<br />
girls to the sport and the club and<br />
will be open to people from all<br />
faiths and cultures.
22<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Showtime<br />
Bollywood hobbies<br />
WHAT TO WATCH<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Bollywood stars make a whole lot<br />
of money for acting in movies.<br />
But just like all of us, they too<br />
need a break from their jobs to do<br />
something different, only they<br />
get to buy a football team if their<br />
hobby happens to be football. But<br />
keeping that aside, they do need<br />
little bit of solitude every now<br />
and then when they are all tired<br />
from being rich and famous.<br />
Here is a list of Bollywood<br />
stars and the hobbies they like to<br />
spend time doing:<br />
Kangana Ranaut<br />
She slays on-screen with her<br />
acting skills but not many people<br />
know that she is also a great cook.<br />
Some even claim Kangana is an<br />
even a better cook than an actor.<br />
The crew members of Queen are<br />
a few lucky ones who got to taste<br />
Kangana’s homemade Chinese<br />
delicacies.<br />
Cars<br />
9:30pm, Star Movies<br />
A hot-shot race-car named<br />
Lightning McQueen gets<br />
waylaid in Radiator Springs,<br />
where he finds the true<br />
meaning of friendship and<br />
family.<br />
Voices: Owen Wilson, Paul<br />
Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Cheech<br />
Marin, Tony Shalhoub<br />
Aamir Khan<br />
Beside his obsession for<br />
becoming perfect as an actor,<br />
Aamir Khan is actually honing<br />
his skills as a rockstar. It could<br />
surprise you that Mr Perfectionist<br />
is a pretty darn good drummer.<br />
Some insiders have revealed that<br />
the actor even has a 32-piece<br />
drum kit at his disposal and play<br />
it quite often. For the promotion<br />
of his film Peepli Live!, Aamir<br />
was spotted rocking the drums<br />
in a concert with the band Indian<br />
Ocean.<br />
Saif Ali Khan<br />
Another rockstar in the list. Saif<br />
Ali Khan is as good a guitarist<br />
as he is an actor. Well, he may<br />
be no Van Halen, but he loves<br />
performing live and rocks his<br />
audience hard. He actually toured<br />
with the legendary rock band<br />
Parikrama.<br />
Akshay Kumar<br />
Here comes the Khiladi with his<br />
karate chop. Well, not exactly<br />
Karate, but Akshay Kumar is a<br />
master of Tai Chi. Not impressive<br />
enough? He also holds a 6thdegree<br />
black belt in Thai Boxing.<br />
Akshay left school after the 11th<br />
grade to pursue martial arts.<br />
Salman Khan<br />
No, driving and hunting are<br />
not his hobbies. Salman Khan’s<br />
actual hobby is quite peaceful.<br />
Crazy bhai fans must know this<br />
one. Salman Khan likes to paint<br />
to calm his mind. Not only that,<br />
Bhai is quite known for being a<br />
good painter.<br />
Ranbir Kapoor<br />
We can’t really call it a secret after<br />
Ranbir Kapoor bought a football<br />
team. Ranbir is a football fanatic,<br />
a football player and also an ISL<br />
football team stakeholder now.<br />
He loves Barcelona and is also an<br />
honorary fan of the Catalan club.<br />
Sonam Kapoor<br />
She is known to the world as<br />
a fashionista but many of us<br />
probably don’t know that the<br />
daughter of Anil Kapoor is a crazy<br />
shopaholic. The diva hunts down<br />
the best clothes from the best<br />
designers and shopping outlets<br />
to catch the latest trends even<br />
before they become trendy. In<br />
January, she went for a shopping<br />
extravaganza with her bestie<br />
and sister Rhea Kapoor, when<br />
she posted on her Facebook:<br />
“Nothing like a bit of retail<br />
therapy with my partner in crime<br />
to happy things.”<br />
Hrithik Roshan<br />
We know Hrithik looks amazing<br />
in front of the camera, but in his<br />
alone time the actor and dancer<br />
likes to spend time behind<br />
it. The Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai<br />
famed Bollywood superstar has<br />
immense love and passion for<br />
photography. Whenever he gets<br />
time, he picks up his camera and<br />
starts clicking. The actor once<br />
mentioned how photography<br />
is something he can never get<br />
enough of.<br />
Ranveer Singh<br />
Apparently, his hobby is as cool<br />
as he is. Ranveer loves to rap. His<br />
rapping skills are so impressive<br />
that he’ll be playing a full-time<br />
rapper in Zoya Akhtar’s next film<br />
Gully Boy. The Bollywood star has<br />
also rapped in some of his songs<br />
like “My Name is Ranveer Ching”<br />
and “Aadat se Majboor.”•<br />
Suicide Squad<br />
7:18pm, HBO<br />
A secret government agency<br />
recruits some of the most<br />
dangerous incarcerated supervillains<br />
to form a defensive task<br />
force. Their first mission: save<br />
the world from the apocalypse.<br />
Cast: Will Smith, Jared Leto,<br />
Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman,<br />
Viola Davis, Jai Courtney<br />
Spectre<br />
2:15pm, Movies Now<br />
A cryptic message from Bond’s<br />
past sends him on a trail to<br />
uncover a sinister organization.<br />
While M battles political forces<br />
to keep the secret service alive,<br />
Bond peels back the layers of<br />
deceit to reveal the terrible<br />
truth behind Spectre.<br />
Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph<br />
Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ben<br />
Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave<br />
Bautista, Andrew Scott<br />
John Wick<br />
5:25pm, Zee Studio<br />
An ex-hitman comes out of<br />
retirement to track down the<br />
gangsters that took everything<br />
from him.<br />
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Michael<br />
Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem<br />
Dafoe, Dean Winters
Showtime<br />
Films coming out this Eid<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
With one and a half months<br />
remaining till the next Eid, hall<br />
owners, producers along with the<br />
actors are super busy with their<br />
Eid releases. Rangbaaz, Ohongkar,<br />
Mone Rekho, Ontor Jala, Pashan are<br />
on the list of the films expected to<br />
come out this Eid. Posters of some<br />
of these ‘expected-to-be-released’<br />
films have already been unveiled.<br />
However, complications are<br />
arising regarding two of the films,<br />
the Indo-Bangla joint venture<br />
film, Noor Jahan and the domestic<br />
Pashan. In case of Noor Jahan, the<br />
recent stance of the information<br />
ministry has left the future of the<br />
film in uncertainty, as the ministry<br />
is working on creating a new policy<br />
for cross border collaboration<br />
films, in light of the recent rapid<br />
production of films through<br />
Bangladesh-India joint ventures,<br />
and postponed activities related<br />
to joint production films until the<br />
new policy is made into law. This<br />
means that there is no chance of<br />
Noor Jahan getting released until a<br />
new preview committee is formed<br />
before Eid, which is highly unlikely<br />
to happen.<br />
Pashan, on the other hand, is<br />
likely to hit roadblocks with the<br />
“Cholochitro Pradarashak Samiti”<br />
and that’s because of one of the<br />
cast of the film, Misha Sowdagar,<br />
ran into trouble with hall owners<br />
after he had heated exchanges<br />
with them on the matter of jointproduction<br />
films. Consequently,<br />
the hall owners union took a bold<br />
step against Sowdagar by banning<br />
the screening of all films in which<br />
the actor will appear, making the<br />
release of Pashan quite uncertain.<br />
Both Pashan and Noor Jahan are<br />
Jaaz Multimedia productions.<br />
“I am looking forward to<br />
releasing both the films this Eid.<br />
There’s still time and the<br />
preview committee could<br />
be formed any time<br />
before Eid,” Aziz<br />
said about the<br />
release of Noor<br />
Jahan. About<br />
Pashan, on<br />
the other<br />
hand, Jaaz<br />
Multimedia<br />
said, “I’ll<br />
be able to<br />
release the<br />
film only if<br />
Misha breaks<br />
the ice with<br />
the owners<br />
union before<br />
Eid. Otherwise, it is<br />
impossible to release the<br />
film.”<br />
The release of Rangbaaz and<br />
Ohongkar has been confirmed by<br />
the directors of the films. They<br />
have already started to book halls<br />
nationwide for their films. “We’ve<br />
already confirmed 83 halls. We are<br />
looking forward to a number of<br />
150 halls to release our film,” said<br />
Sahadat Hossain, the director of<br />
Ohongkar.<br />
The much talked about,<br />
Rangbaaz, which was scheduled<br />
to be released during the previous<br />
Eid, got caught up in a wrangle<br />
with the Parichalak Samiti and<br />
was stalled. But the film is finally<br />
coming out this Eid, confirmed<br />
producer Mozammel Haque.<br />
According to the producer, nearly<br />
80 halls are already booked for the<br />
film and the number may rise up<br />
to 150.<br />
Both Rangbaaz and Ohongkar<br />
feature the buzz making duo<br />
Shakib Khan and Bubly. Bubly,<br />
who made her debut on the silver<br />
screen with two films during the<br />
Eid-ul-Adha last year, is coming<br />
out after a hiatus and that too in<br />
two of Shakib Khan films.<br />
“Rangbaaz was supposed to<br />
come out last Eid. But for some<br />
reason it didn’t happen and that’s<br />
why it going to come out this Eid.<br />
However, even if the films weren’t<br />
originally meant to come to the<br />
theatres at the same time, their<br />
simultaneous release is actually<br />
going to be a good thing for me,”<br />
said Bubly.<br />
Dhaka’s Mahi and Kolkata’s<br />
Bonny starrer Mone Rekho will also<br />
be released this Eid, confirmed<br />
Wazed Ali, the director of the film.<br />
“We are working with a view to<br />
release the film this Eid. We’ve<br />
already sent the posters to the<br />
distributor office,” he said.<br />
Although, Porimoni and<br />
Jayed Khan starrer Ontor Jala is<br />
speculated to be released this Eid,<br />
director Malek Afsari refused to<br />
confirm the release as of yet. •<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Celebrity actor Ben Affleck<br />
might soon be hanging<br />
up his Batman cape and<br />
mask as Warner Bros is<br />
reportedly plotting a future<br />
for the Batman movie<br />
franchise without Affleck.<br />
The news came at a time<br />
when the actor is on the<br />
heels of dropping out of the<br />
upcoming Netflix project,<br />
Triple Frontier.<br />
According to the<br />
Hollywood Reporter,<br />
Warner Bros has plans to<br />
“gracefully” usher the movie<br />
superstar out of the DC<br />
movie universe as it moves<br />
forward with a planned<br />
trilogy of Batman movies by<br />
director Matt Reeves.<br />
Affleck, who is currently<br />
45 years old, would quickly<br />
be approaching 50 by the<br />
time The Batman comes out<br />
in 2019 or later, which is<br />
being considered as a major<br />
reason for the potential<br />
change, sources confirm.<br />
It is to be noted that<br />
<strong>23</strong><br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Affleck’s Batman no<br />
more?<br />
critics immediately slammed<br />
Warner Bros. choice when<br />
Affleck was announced as<br />
the next Bruce Wayne. Even<br />
then the detractors cited the<br />
actor’s age as one of their<br />
reasons for disapproving<br />
Affleck’s casting in the role.<br />
According to the<br />
Hollywood Reporter, there<br />
would be an in-continuity<br />
reason for the change in<br />
Batman actors, which<br />
probably means that the<br />
Affleck’s Bruce Wayne would<br />
either retire or be killed off.<br />
Ben Affleck, who was<br />
set to direct a planned<br />
standalone Batman movie<br />
for Warner Bros, has decided<br />
not to helm the project a few<br />
months ago.<br />
However, Ben Affleck<br />
will star as Batman in<br />
Justice League, which will<br />
be released on November<br />
17, <strong>2017</strong>. So far, Affleck has<br />
played the Dark Knight<br />
in last year’s Batman v<br />
Superman: Dawn of Justice<br />
and a cameo in Suicide<br />
Squad.•<br />
DT
24<br />
SUNDAY, JULY <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Back Page<br />
INDO-BANGLA BORDER CHANGES DUE<br />
TO CONTINUOUS RIVER EROSION › 10<br />
<strong>2017</strong> MCC PLAYERS’<br />
DRAFT HELD › 19<br />
FILMS COMING OUT<br />
THIS EID › <strong>23</strong><br />
How did Hungama Ltd’s Tk2lakh investment<br />
make Tk13cr in profit?<br />
• Hitler A Halim<br />
SPECIAL <br />
Hungama Bangladesh Private Limited<br />
– an Indian digital media company<br />
– invested Tk2lakh in Bangladesh<br />
and has sent back nearly<br />
Tk13cr in profits to India.<br />
The profit is a whooping 320 times<br />
its original investment. Bangladesh<br />
Bank is treating the subject as an<br />
“unusual business activity.” As such,<br />
the central bank has twice asked the<br />
chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication<br />
Regulatory Commission<br />
(BTRC) via letters on their opinion<br />
on “Hungama Bangladesh Private<br />
Limited sending excessive dividend<br />
to non-residential shareholders.”<br />
Bangladesh Bank alleges that<br />
Hungama invested only Tk2lakh in<br />
Bangladesh and has sent back profits<br />
in crores. In 2015, it sent back<br />
Tk6.74cr as dividend and in 2014 it<br />
was Tk6.07cr. The total dividend of<br />
the past two years is 320 times the<br />
original investment in Bangladesh.<br />
The central bank, in its investigation,<br />
found that Hungama Bangladesh<br />
has just one employee. It<br />
has no fixed assets in Bangladesh.<br />
The fact that a “small-capital”<br />
managed to raise profit 320 times<br />
its original investment has given<br />
Bangladesh Bank a cause for concern.<br />
In the letters to BTRC, Hungama<br />
is referred to as a “disreputable<br />
company with 100% foreign ownership”<br />
by Bangladesh Bank.<br />
Hungama Bangladesh is a subsidiary<br />
of India’s Hungama Digital<br />
Media Entertainment Private Limited.<br />
The company is helmed by<br />
Neeraj Roy, who serves as both the<br />
managing director and the chief executive<br />
officer. Hungama provides<br />
a diverse array of mobile services<br />
ranging from WAP, CRBT (Caller<br />
Ring Back Tone), IVR (Interactive<br />
Voice Recognition) and music<br />
streaming.<br />
Bangladesh Bank analysed the<br />
financial reports of Hungama and<br />
found that the majority of its income<br />
came from selling various services<br />
to different mobile operators.<br />
Bangladesh Bank Deputy General<br />
Manager (Foreign Exchange<br />
Investment Department) Md Ali<br />
Akbar Farazi signed the letter that<br />
was conveyed to the BTRC. In the<br />
letter, Bangladesh Bank asked if<br />
the provision of any such services<br />
required taking permission from<br />
the BTRC, and asked if there was<br />
any justification in permitting a<br />
“disreputable company which is<br />
fully owned by foreigners” and<br />
whether there should be any regulation<br />
in mobile phone operators<br />
charging such exorbitant prices in<br />
providing WAP, CRBT, IVR and music<br />
streaming services.<br />
Recently, Hungama applied to<br />
the BRRC for a shortcode service.<br />
The shortcode has been requested<br />
for e-entertainment services (music,<br />
wallpaper, animation, games,<br />
videos). Hungama paid the BTRC<br />
Tk1.15lakh (VAT inclusive) through<br />
a cheque. The shortcode application<br />
bears the authorisation of<br />
CEO-MD Neeraj Roy, followed by<br />
his phone number in India. The<br />
pad bears a Gulshan address, but<br />
no Bangladesh contact number or<br />
e-mail address.<br />
The BTRC has said that they will<br />
look into the matter after Bangladesh<br />
Bank expressed its concerns.<br />
The office of Hungama Bangladesh<br />
is located on Road 126 in Gulshan.<br />
They share an office with an<br />
accounting firm. A visit to the office<br />
on Thursday revealed that the digital<br />
media company occupies just<br />
one room, which often remains<br />
closed, even on weekdays. A CIMA<br />
employee said that the Hungama<br />
office has just one employee, who<br />
only shows up from time to time.<br />
Hungma is registered with the<br />
Bangladesh Office of the Registrat<br />
of Joint Stock Companies and<br />
Firms with the number C-86484.<br />
The contact number on the application<br />
was called and the receiver<br />
said it was the Mumbai office of<br />
Hungama. The received said Neeraj<br />
Roy was not in the office and his<br />
contact number was not permitted<br />
to be given out. After persisting,<br />
the call was transferred to a woman<br />
who identified herself as Priyanka,<br />
overseeing the Mumbai operations<br />
of Hungama.<br />
She said that Hungama operates<br />
out of their Gulshan office in Bangladesh.<br />
She failed to provide a reason<br />
when asked why the office was<br />
closed on weekdays.<br />
Priyanka also said that mobile<br />
phone users in Bangladesh purchase<br />
content from them. When<br />
asked for details, she could not provide<br />
any further insight.<br />
She took the caller’s number<br />
and said that the legal department<br />
of Hungama Digital Media will contact<br />
them with the details. But as<br />
of this report was written, nobody<br />
from Hungama reached out.<br />
Officials at several mobile<br />
phone operators in Bangladesh<br />
have revealed that their users often<br />
download songs, wallpapers,<br />
ringtones or welcome tunes from<br />
various content providers. The users<br />
are charged from their account<br />
balance. Businesses like Hungama<br />
share the profits with the mobile<br />
phone operators. Said profit has<br />
amounted to Tk13cr, which has<br />
been transferred back to India as<br />
dividend for the shareholders.<br />
BTRC Secretary Md Sarwar Alam<br />
said the central bank has informed<br />
that this firm has no fixed asset in the<br />
country and has only one employee.<br />
He said: “We have asked all the<br />
mobile phone operators to provide<br />
us with information to help with<br />
our investigation. Afterwards, we<br />
will decide on our next course of<br />
action.” •<br />
This story was first published on the<br />
Bangla Tribune.<br />
International Math Olympiad: Bangladesh best in South Asia<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
FEATURE <br />
Bangladeshi students have won four<br />
medals, including two silver and two<br />
bronze, in the 58th International<br />
Mathematical Olympiad held in Rio de<br />
Janeiro, Brazil.<br />
Though one of the students missed out<br />
on a gold medal by one point, Bangladesh<br />
ranked 26th, while India finished 52nd, Sri<br />
Lanka 62nd, Pakistan 81st and Nepal 110th<br />
among 111 countries. Bangladesh was<br />
ranked in the 35th position last year.<br />
The silver medal winners are Asif-e-<br />
Elahi of MC College, Sylhet and Ahmed<br />
Jawad Chowdhury of Cantonment<br />
English School and College of Chittagong.<br />
The bronze winners are Tamjid<br />
Morshed Rubab of Notre Dame College<br />
and Rahul Saha of Dhaka College.<br />
Sabbir Rahman of Notre Dame<br />
College and AM Naimul Islam of Amrita<br />
The Hungama office has just one employee,<br />
who only shows up from time to time<br />
Lal Dey Mohabiddyaloy were given<br />
Honourable Mentions for their scores in<br />
the competition.<br />
Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, vice president<br />
of Bangladesh Mathematical Olympiad<br />
committee, said: “Missing gold for<br />
one point is heart breaking but I will not<br />
let this to ruin my joy. I am proud of our<br />
BdMO team and congratulate everyone.<br />
“It must be fun to beat every country<br />
in our region and climb 8 steps up in<br />
world ranking,” he added.<br />
The 58th International Mathematical<br />
Olympiad (IMO <strong>2017</strong>) was held in Rio de<br />
Janeiro of Brazil from <strong>July</strong> 12 to <strong>23</strong>.<br />
This was the first IMO to be held in<br />
Brazil. However, the history of the IMO<br />
goes back to 1959 when its first edition<br />
was held in Romania.<br />
Since then, the competition has<br />
provided a stimulus to mathematics,<br />
offering a great opportunity for the creative<br />
exchange of ideas and experiences<br />
among students from various cultures. • The Bangladesh team poses for a photo after the announcement PHOTO: COLLECTED<br />
Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower,<br />
8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com