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SECOND EDITION<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong> | Shrabon 14, 1424, Zul-qadah 4, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 82 | 24 pages plus 8-page sports supplement | Price: Tk10<br />
Shahbaz Sharif<br />
will be the<br />
next prime<br />
minister › 2<br />
White House<br />
tensions catch<br />
fire with new<br />
comm director<br />
interviews › 4<br />
Suspected<br />
Gulshan attack<br />
planner Rashed<br />
arrested in<br />
Natore › 5<br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
Sports Tribune<br />
Sublime<br />
Shrubsole<br />
Political turmoil<br />
in Pakistan as<br />
Nawaz Sharif<br />
ousted › 2<br />
Mashud: I was a more attacking World Cup heroine Shrubsole Why Mbappe is<br />
3 batsman early in my career 4 lives out Lord’s dream 6 highly rated<br />
SPORTS SUPPLEMENT<br />
Masud: I was a more<br />
attacking batsman<br />
early in my career › 3<br />
World Cup heroine<br />
Shrubsole lives out<br />
Lord’s dream › 4<br />
Why Mbappe is<br />
highly rated › 6
2<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
News<br />
Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif ousted in<br />
Panama <strong>Paper</strong>s probe<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
Pakistan’s Supreme Court disqualified<br />
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif<br />
from office on Friday over undeclared<br />
assets, plunging the nation<br />
into political turmoil after a period<br />
of relative stability.<br />
Sharif swiftly resigned but in<br />
a statement his spokesman said<br />
there were “serious reservations”<br />
about the judicial process after the<br />
court ordered a criminal probe into<br />
his family over allegations stemming<br />
from the “Panama <strong>Paper</strong>s”<br />
leaks of international offshore<br />
companies.<br />
Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim<br />
League-Nawaz (PML-N) party,<br />
which won a majority in parliament<br />
in 2013, has decided unanimously<br />
that Punjab Chief Minister<br />
Shahbaz Sharif, Nawaz’s younger<br />
brother, to replace the former as<br />
prime minister of the country.<br />
The incoming leader will have<br />
to tackle worsening ties with the<br />
United States, frayed relations<br />
with arch-foe India, and persistent<br />
threat from militants.<br />
The ouster of Sharif, 67, who has<br />
now served as premier on three<br />
separate occasions, also raises<br />
questions about Pakistan’s fragile<br />
democracy. No prime minister has<br />
completed a full term in power<br />
EVENTS LEADING UP TO NAWAZ SHARIF’S OUSTER<br />
April 4, 2016<br />
The Panama <strong>Paper</strong>s show involvement of<br />
Sharif’s family in offshore companies.<br />
April 22, 2016<br />
Sharif asks the Supreme Court to form a<br />
commission to investigate the Panama leaks<br />
after pressure from the opposition. Cricketerturned-politician<br />
Imran Khan demands an<br />
independent probe by the high court itself.<br />
April 24, 2016<br />
Khan threatens protests against Sharif and<br />
says the prime minister had lost “moral<br />
authority” to rule.<br />
May 16, 2016<br />
Sharif proposes parliamentary commission<br />
probe into the scandal; opposition walks out.<br />
October 28, 2016<br />
Khan accuses government of placing him<br />
under virtual house arrest; supporters fight<br />
police ahead of plan to shut down capital in<br />
protest.<br />
November 1, 2016<br />
Khan backs down from a threat to paralyse<br />
capital with a “lockdown” after violence breaks<br />
since independence from British<br />
colonial rule in 1947.<br />
The verdict<br />
The Supreme Court’s five-member<br />
panel ruled unanimously that Sharif<br />
should be disqualified, enacting<br />
little-used Article 62 of the Constitution<br />
which allows dismissal of<br />
out with many of his supporters injured and<br />
the Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments<br />
to form a commission to investigate Sharif.<br />
November 2, 2016<br />
Supreme Court agrees to set up a judicial<br />
commission to probe corruption allegations<br />
against Sharif, stemming from Panama<br />
<strong>Paper</strong>s leaks.<br />
April 20, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Supreme Court rules there was insufficient<br />
evidence to order Sharif’s immediate<br />
removal but orders a Joint Investigation<br />
Team to look further into the source of his<br />
family’s wealth.<br />
<strong>July</strong> 11, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Judicial investigators rule Sharif’s family<br />
accumulated unusual wealth; allies denounce<br />
findings.<br />
<strong>July</strong> 27, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Longstanding political ally and Interior<br />
Minister Nisar Ali Khan says he would<br />
quit once top court rules on corruption<br />
allegations, regardless of the verdict.<br />
<strong>DT</strong> GRAPHICS / **SOURCE: REUTERS<br />
any lawmaker found to be dishonest.<br />
The court said Sharif failed to<br />
declare income from a company in<br />
United Arab Emirates ahead of the<br />
2013 poll.<br />
The controversy erupted last<br />
year with the publication of 11.5m<br />
secret documents from Panamanian<br />
law firm Mossack Fonseca documenting<br />
the offshore dealings of<br />
many of the world’s rich and powerful.<br />
Three of Sharif’s four children<br />
were implicated in the papers.<br />
The Supreme Court had ordered<br />
an investigation in April.<br />
That enquiry found there was a<br />
“significant disparity” between the<br />
Sharif family’s income and lifestyle<br />
in its report, which was submitted<br />
to the Supreme Court earlier this<br />
month.<br />
The findings sparked an uproar,<br />
including the claim that documents<br />
regarding Sharif’s daughter and her<br />
link to some of the family’s London<br />
properties were “falsified”, dated<br />
2006, but typed in Microsoft’s Calibri<br />
font, which was not released<br />
for commercial use until 2007.<br />
Sharif has been ousted by graft<br />
allegations once before, when<br />
he was sacked by the country’s<br />
then-president during his first term<br />
as prime minister in 1993. He was<br />
removed from office in his second<br />
term by a military coup in 1999.<br />
‘Victory day’<br />
The court verdict marks a major<br />
political victory for opposition<br />
leader Imran Khan, a former cricket<br />
star who last year threatened<br />
mass street protests unless Sharif’s<br />
wealth was investigated. Khan had<br />
pounced on the leaking of the Panama<br />
<strong>Paper</strong>s, which revealed Sharif’s<br />
family had bought posh London<br />
apartments through offshore<br />
companies.<br />
“Today is a victory day for Pakistan,”<br />
said Khan. “Today onward,<br />
big thieves will be caught.”<br />
Khan himself is also under Supreme<br />
Court investigation on allegations<br />
he failed to declare sources<br />
of income, a charge he denies. •<br />
Shahbaz Sharif will be the<br />
next prime minister<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
Activists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party gather to celebrate the Supreme Court (SC) decision against Prime Minister Nawaz<br />
Sharif, in Peshawar on <strong>July</strong> 28, <strong>2017</strong>. Pakistan’s Supreme Court on <strong>July</strong> 28 disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from<br />
public office over long-running corruption allegations, a decision that ousts him from the premiership for the third time in a<br />
chequered political career<br />
AFP<br />
Pakistan’s ruling Muslim League-<br />
Nawaz (PML-N) has finalised name of<br />
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif<br />
to replace Nawaz Sharif as prime minister<br />
of the country.<br />
According to Geo News, the decision<br />
was taken at a meeting of the<br />
ruling party after Supreme Court disqualified<br />
Nawaz Sharif as the prime<br />
minister.<br />
Citing sources, the TV channel said<br />
the meeting left the final decision to<br />
choose the new candidate for the<br />
coveted post to Nawaz Sharif.<br />
Shahbaz Sharif will be put to a<br />
vote in the National Assembly, a rubber<br />
stamp affair as the PML-N holds a<br />
strong majority in the house.<br />
The young Sharif is currently chief<br />
minister of powerful Punjab province,<br />
the Sharif family stronghold. He<br />
would have to step down from that<br />
role and be elected to the National<br />
Assembly before he was eligible to<br />
Shahbaz Sharif<br />
AFP<br />
become prime minister.<br />
That will require a party loyalist to resign<br />
from his seat in the national parliament,<br />
sparking a hasty vote that Shahbaz<br />
would contest on the PML-N ticket.<br />
Shahbaz is considered more intelligent<br />
but less charismatic than his<br />
older brother.<br />
He has controlled Punjab, Pakistan’s<br />
most populous and prosperous<br />
province, for much of the last decade,<br />
presiding over a series of big ticket<br />
infrastructure projects, including Pakistan’s<br />
first metro bus service. •
News<br />
SATURDAY,<br />
3<br />
JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
Small power, big costs<br />
Why is the government authorising more small power plants?<br />
• Aminur Rahman Rasel<br />
POWER <br />
The government is planning to approve<br />
the construction of at least<br />
20 oil-based small-scale power<br />
plants within a short time, directly<br />
contradicting its own proclaimed<br />
policy of exiting oil-based power<br />
production.<br />
The new plants will have a total<br />
capacity of 3,000MW, but all<br />
of them are small, ranging from<br />
50MW to 300MW. Experts say<br />
these small plants will increase the<br />
cost of power production sharply.<br />
Power plants under the capacity<br />
of 300MW are considered small.<br />
The government’s own master plan<br />
for power advocates for larger power<br />
plants because of their cost-effectiveness<br />
and fuel efficiency and says<br />
oil-based production should stop.<br />
A Power Development Board<br />
(PDB) official, seeking anonymity,<br />
said some of these plants will be established<br />
through deals under the<br />
Speedy Supply of Power and Energy<br />
(Special Provision) Act 2010, which<br />
allows ‘quick disposal’ of power sector<br />
contracts, bypassing provisions<br />
of the normal tender process.<br />
Meanwhile, the government’s<br />
plans to establish large-scale power<br />
plants are making little or no progress.<br />
Experts say there is a lack of<br />
proper planning and supervision<br />
from the concerned ministry, leading<br />
to a situation where the power<br />
supply is now largely dependent on<br />
small-scale plants.<br />
The Power Division, a unit of<br />
the Ministry of Power, Energy and<br />
Mineral Resources, has already<br />
received proposals from around<br />
35 different private companies for<br />
setting up diesel and furnace oilbased<br />
power plants to generate<br />
over 6,600MW. Each of these companies<br />
have offered to establish<br />
plants with capacity of 50MW to<br />
300MW electricity.<br />
The Summit Group has proposed<br />
a 310MW plant in Kodda,<br />
Gazipur and another 300MW plant<br />
in Mirsarai, Chittagong. Bangla<br />
Trac has proposed a 300MW and a<br />
100MW plant in any suitable location.<br />
Doreen Power has proposed a<br />
215MW plant in Manikganj. United<br />
Enterprise has proposed a 200MW<br />
plant in Mymensingh, Precceson a<br />
150MW plant in Chittagong, Orion<br />
a 100MW plant in Santahar, Bogra,<br />
Energy Pac a 100MW in Thakurgoan<br />
and Midland Power a 50MW<br />
plant in Ashuganj.<br />
Bigger is always better<br />
BD Rahmatullah, former head of<br />
the Power Cell, said the smaller<br />
plants pose risks for the grid, while<br />
large plants provide stability and<br />
improve its durability.<br />
“Also, because smaller plants<br />
are less fuel-efficient than large<br />
power plants, the cost of power<br />
production will go up. That burden<br />
will ultimately fall on the consumer,”<br />
he said.<br />
“The construction cost of these<br />
plants is also high, and you need<br />
more land for them.”<br />
The government agrees, on paper.<br />
The Power System Master Plan<br />
2016, which is likely to come into<br />
effect soon, calls for “an exit strategy<br />
from the reliance on expensive<br />
oil-based rental power.”<br />
The master plan, prepared with<br />
support from Japan International<br />
Cooperation Agency (Jica), is<br />
aimed at guiding the government’s<br />
power and energy policy up to the<br />
year 2041.<br />
The plan says the government<br />
should review the “exponential increasing<br />
of oil based rental power<br />
plants and development constraints<br />
of domestic primary energy.”<br />
Bangladesh’s current oil annual<br />
demand is around 5 million tons,<br />
and the self-sufficiency rate is only<br />
5%. The reliance on imported oil<br />
leaves the country’s economy vulnerable<br />
to sudden shifts in oil prices<br />
in the international market. The<br />
government heavily subsidises the<br />
price of oil.<br />
The Power System Master Plan<br />
says the government should move<br />
away from oil product subsidy.<br />
“Energy subsidy is a tough challenge,<br />
because there’s always a concern<br />
that drastic increase of fuel and<br />
electricity prices may trigger another<br />
negative effect on the national<br />
economy,” the PSMP 2016 says.<br />
Why the small-mindedness?<br />
Power-sector analysts said the government<br />
wants to generate around<br />
3,000MW of additional power by<br />
March 2018, with the upcoming<br />
general elections in mind. PDB officials<br />
said oil-based plants are an<br />
attractive option right now as the<br />
price of fuel oil is currently low in<br />
the international market.<br />
But despite the low prices of oil,<br />
the economy is already burdened<br />
with the high costs of oil-based<br />
power. The cost of electricity per<br />
unit from a gas-run plant is less<br />
than Tk2 while the cost of electricity<br />
per unit from a diesel or furnace<br />
oil-run plant is Tk14-18.<br />
There are now 45 oil-based<br />
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN<br />
The Power System Master Plan 2016, which is likely to come<br />
into effect soon, calls for ‘an exit strategy from the reliance<br />
on expensive oil-based rental power’<br />
power plants in the country, of<br />
which 36 are furnace oil-based and<br />
have a total generation capacity of<br />
2,800MW; the remaining nine are<br />
diesel-based plants with a total capacity<br />
of 1,032MW.<br />
Although the government has<br />
made major efforts to boost the<br />
power generation sector in its two<br />
terms, all of the power plants that<br />
have been established are fuel oilbased<br />
and privately owned. Not<br />
a single large-scale power plant,<br />
which might help control costing,<br />
has been established so far.<br />
Experts think it is unlikely that<br />
the government will be able to<br />
make any of the large under-construction<br />
coal-based power plants<br />
operational within this tenure.<br />
As all the proposed power plants<br />
are also oil-based, consumers will<br />
ultimately be victims of periodic<br />
retail power price hikes.<br />
The government is nevertheless<br />
pushing for the smaller plants,<br />
even going so far as to push financiers<br />
to come to the aid of the companies<br />
bidding to construct the<br />
plants.<br />
Earlier this year the Power Ministry<br />
asked the Finance Ministry to<br />
amend the bank company law to<br />
speed up loan facilities for these<br />
companies. On June 21, State Minister<br />
for Power Nasrul Hamid attended<br />
a meeting with top bankers,<br />
urging them to give Tk20,000 crore<br />
in loans for the power sector.<br />
“We have decided to build some<br />
new power projects to generate<br />
3,000MW electricity within a short<br />
period of time,” Nasrul Hamid had<br />
previously told this reporter.<br />
‘Load-shedding as excuse’<br />
After there were bouts of<br />
load-shedding this summer, the<br />
Power Ministry told government<br />
policymakers that it needed to<br />
build more small-scale power<br />
plants to meet the deficit.<br />
PDB officials say the key reasons<br />
behind the load-shedding<br />
were electricity towers damaged<br />
in storms, maintenance work of 10<br />
power plants and gas crisis.<br />
The maintenance reduced the<br />
generation by 1,900MW, while the<br />
gas crisis has cut it down by another<br />
800MW.<br />
But interestingly, when these<br />
problems are solved, the gap between<br />
the shortage and the capacity<br />
of the new power plants would<br />
stand at only around 300MW.<br />
On June 11, State Minister for<br />
Power Nasrul Hamid told Parliament<br />
that the government is implementing<br />
various programmes<br />
for increasing power generation<br />
capacity up to 24,000MW by 2021.<br />
‘New plants could become a<br />
burden’<br />
Energy Adviser to Consumers Association<br />
of Bangladesh Prof M<br />
Shamsul Alam thinks that the government<br />
has allowed the power<br />
sector to turn into a money-making<br />
opportunity for vested interests.<br />
“Costly power plants are being<br />
established so power generation is<br />
becoming costlier. It goes beyond<br />
the affordability of people. The<br />
government is creating a business<br />
group which has no connection<br />
with the people, rather personal<br />
financial gain is given priority,” he<br />
said.<br />
Dr Ijaz Hossain, a professor of<br />
chemical engineering at Bangladesh<br />
University of Engineering<br />
and Technology, asked: “Are these<br />
small power plants a quick fix to<br />
the failures in building the big<br />
ones?”<br />
When asked about the issues,<br />
PDB Chairman Khaled Mahmood<br />
would only say: “We have taken up<br />
the initiative because of the deficit<br />
of electricity. We follow the decisions<br />
taken by the government.”<br />
Nasrul Hamid could not be<br />
reached despite several attempts<br />
to get comment for this story. •
4<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
News<br />
White House tensions catch fire<br />
with new comm director interviews<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
Open warfare erupted inside US<br />
President Donald Trump’s inner<br />
circle as his new communications<br />
director, Anthony Scaramucci,<br />
attacked senior White House colleagues<br />
in obscene comments published<br />
on Thursday.<br />
Scaramucci blasted White<br />
House chief of staff Reince Priebus<br />
and Trump’s chief strategist,<br />
Steve Bannon, in an article in The<br />
New Yorker based on a telephone<br />
conversation on Wednesday night<br />
between one of the magazine’s correspondents<br />
and Scaramucci.<br />
Amid a stream of vulgar language,<br />
the former Wall Street financier<br />
named to the communications<br />
post last Friday called Priebus<br />
a “(……profanity) paranoid schizophrenic”<br />
and accused Bannon of<br />
trying to build his own brand “off<br />
the (…..profanity) strength of the<br />
president.”<br />
In a Twitter message after the<br />
article appeared online, Scaramucci<br />
said: “I sometimes use colourful<br />
language. I will refrain in this arena<br />
but not give up the passionate fight<br />
for @realDonaldTrump’s agenda.”<br />
Asked about the article, White<br />
House press secretary Sarah<br />
Sanders said the administration<br />
was focused on healthcare and<br />
other items.<br />
“He used some colourful language<br />
that I don’t anticipate he’ll<br />
do again,” she told reporters. Any<br />
apology “needs to happen personally<br />
between them,” she said.<br />
Priebus and Bannon had no<br />
comment.<br />
Trump himself made no public<br />
comment on his aide’s outburst.<br />
Some of Trump’s advisers have<br />
questioned Priebus’ competence<br />
and his position appeared weak.<br />
Republicans close to the White<br />
White House<br />
Communications<br />
Director Anthony<br />
Scaramucci talks<br />
to the media<br />
outside the<br />
White House in<br />
Washington, DC<br />
on <strong>July</strong> 25, <strong>2017</strong><br />
REUTERS<br />
House said Trump’s family had also<br />
been critical of his chief of staff.<br />
The drama was the latest sign of<br />
disarray within the Trump White<br />
House even as it tries to advance<br />
healthcare and tax reform legislation.<br />
The president himself is<br />
preoccupied with an investigation<br />
into Russian meddling in last year’s<br />
presidential election and has been<br />
fiercely critical in recent days of<br />
his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions.<br />
The scathing remarks by Scaramucci<br />
came as he and other Trump<br />
loyalists ratcheted up pressure on<br />
Priebus, a former Republican National<br />
Committee chairman, who<br />
does not have years-long ties with<br />
Trump.<br />
There has been speculation<br />
that Priebus, who steered the party<br />
apparatus behind Trump’s unorthodox<br />
candidacy in last year’s<br />
election, is on his way out because<br />
Trump has no major legislative<br />
achievements in his first six<br />
months in office. •<br />
Construction<br />
of four new<br />
haats along<br />
Indo-Bangla<br />
border delayed<br />
• Shilajit Kar Bhowmik, Tripura<br />
FOREIGN AFFAIRS <br />
The construction of four border<br />
‘haats’ along the India-Bangladesh<br />
border at Meghalaya has been delayed<br />
pending a joint inspection by<br />
officials from both countries.<br />
India and Bangladesh have approved<br />
the setting up of the weekly<br />
markets along the shared border<br />
to increase bilateral trade and improve<br />
the living conditions for border<br />
residents.<br />
“We’ve received a letter from<br />
Bangladesh where it expressed<br />
its inability to conduct the joint<br />
inspection due to floods,<br />
landslides and other natural calamities<br />
there,” said an official of<br />
the Meghalaya state government<br />
in India.<br />
According to officials, India’s<br />
central government has already<br />
earmarked funds for the project.<br />
The approved border haats<br />
will be set up at Bholaganj and<br />
Ryngku in East Khasi Hills district,<br />
at Nolikata in South West Khasi<br />
Hills, and at Sibari in South Garo<br />
Hills.<br />
Meghalaya already has two<br />
border haats at Kalaichar in South<br />
West Garo Hills and at Balat in East<br />
Khasi Hills. •
News 5<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Suspected Gulshan attack planner<br />
Rashed arrested in Natore<br />
• Arifur Rahman Rabbi, Dhaka,<br />
Nazmul Huda Nasim, Bogra<br />
and M Kamal Mridha, Natore<br />
MILITANCY <br />
Aslam Hossain Rashed alias<br />
Rashedul Islam alias Rash, suspected<br />
to be a coordinator and one<br />
of the key planners of the Gulshan<br />
attack, has been arrested from Natore.<br />
The Counter Terrorism and<br />
Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit,<br />
Police headquarters, Bogra and Natore<br />
police jointly conducted drives<br />
and arrested him from the Shingra<br />
Bus Stand area around 5am yesterday.<br />
Bogra Additional Superintendent<br />
of Police Arifur Rahman Mondol<br />
confirmed the matter.<br />
DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman<br />
Mia said Rashed was brought to<br />
Dhaka yesterday evening and he<br />
would be placed before the court<br />
for a remand prayer today.<br />
According to CTTC sources,<br />
Rashed was very close to Tamim<br />
Chowdhury, who masterminded<br />
the Gulshan terror attack and was<br />
killed in a Narayanganj den.<br />
The sources claimed that<br />
Hate crime in Britain: Anxiety among Bangladeshi<br />
communities on the rise<br />
• Munzer Ahmed Chowdhury<br />
WORLD <br />
Acid attacks have emerged as a new<br />
weapon in communal violence in<br />
Britain with Bangladeshi communities<br />
becoming a primary target of the<br />
aggression.<br />
Four of the eight acid attacks in the<br />
last month alone have been carried out<br />
in different Bangali-inhabited areas of<br />
East London. The latest acid attack was<br />
on two Bangladeshi youths at Tower<br />
Hamlets on <strong>July</strong> 25.<br />
Such hate crimes against the Muslim<br />
community in Britain have risen sharply<br />
since the terrorist attacks in Manchester<br />
and London. Muslim women<br />
have also been facing physical assault<br />
because of their attire.<br />
Bangladeshi community activists in<br />
London organised a meeting chaired by<br />
Councilor Maiyum Mia to discuss and<br />
PHOTO: COLLECTED<br />
Rashed was involved in the arms<br />
supply and planning of the attack,<br />
as well as in the reconnaissance of<br />
the attack location at the Holey Artisan<br />
Bakery. He left home in 2016.<br />
Locals of Kanchanpur village in<br />
Manda upazila of Naogaon district,<br />
where Rashed’s house was said to<br />
be located, said that he was known<br />
to them under the name Aslam Ali<br />
Mohon.<br />
protest the series of acid attacks.<br />
Maaj Selim, a renowned face in<br />
Britain’s anti-racism movement whose<br />
father was killed by white supremacists<br />
in Birmingham last year, said: “What<br />
is going on in Britain right now is not<br />
acid attacks, it is racially-motivated acid<br />
terrorism.”<br />
KM Abu Tahir Chowdhury, a senior<br />
leader of the Bangladeshi community<br />
in Britain, said that more than 400 acid<br />
attacks have been recorded in London<br />
and Wales by London metropolitan<br />
police in the last six months.<br />
“Most acid attacks have been taking<br />
place in the Newham, Barking and<br />
Tower Hamlets areas, where a large<br />
number of Bangladeshi people live,”<br />
Tahir added.<br />
Asked about the reason behind<br />
such frequent attacks, Tahir replied:<br />
“The current government of Britain has<br />
reduced the number of police officers<br />
in the name of budget cuts, which is<br />
They added that Rashed and<br />
his family had left the area around<br />
seven years ago, after his father Abdus<br />
Salam had been convicted in a<br />
cheque fraud case.<br />
Rashed’s paternal uncle Abul<br />
Kalam, who still lives in their village<br />
home, confirmed to the Dhaka<br />
Tribune that Rashed’s father<br />
had been absconding since he was<br />
sentenced to a year in prison by<br />
a Naogaon court for the cheque<br />
fraud case, while his family had<br />
moved to Rajshahi.<br />
Kalam added that locals had<br />
thought Rashed had died in crossfire<br />
with Rapid Action Battalion<br />
(RAB) about two years ago, though<br />
the picture of the deceased shown<br />
by RAB at the time did not match.<br />
He further said that Rashed<br />
had been known to be a good boy,<br />
and there had been no indication<br />
that he would become radicalised.<br />
Rashed completed his SSC at a local<br />
school in Kanchanpur and had<br />
been admitted for HSC at a college<br />
in Rajshahi.<br />
Manda Police Station Inspector<br />
(Investigation) Mahbub Alam<br />
said that Rashed had no previous<br />
history of crime according to their<br />
records, though his father is indeed<br />
a vital reason behind the increased<br />
number of crimes.”<br />
He said that 41 policemen were<br />
recruited in Tower Hamlets with council<br />
listed as an absconding convict in a<br />
cheque fraud case.<br />
Rashed’s mother Nasima Khatoon<br />
refused to identify the arrested<br />
youth as her son until she saw<br />
him face to face or a photo.<br />
“My son is Aslam Ali Mohon, not<br />
Rashed,” she said<br />
She added that her son had been<br />
missing from his rented mess in<br />
Rajshahi since early June, 2016.<br />
Meanwhile, Home Minister<br />
Asazuzzaman Khan Kamal said at<br />
a programme yesterday that the<br />
investigation regarding the Holey<br />
Artisan Bakery was entering the final<br />
stages.<br />
“As I said earlier, citizens of our<br />
friendly countries have died in this<br />
attack. So, police are working to<br />
submit a perfect charge sheet. In<br />
the end, we will be able to submit<br />
a charge sheet in the fastest time,”<br />
he said, adding that Rashed was a<br />
key planner of the Gulshan terror<br />
attack.<br />
At least 20 hostages and two<br />
police officers were killed in the<br />
attack at Holey Artisan Bakery on<br />
<strong>July</strong> 1, 2016.<br />
Earlier police claimed that 22<br />
people were involved in the Holey<br />
Artisan attack while five attackers<br />
funding during the tenure of the borough’s<br />
former mayor, Lutfur Rahman.<br />
“The number has been reduced to<br />
six in recent times. It is quite difficult<br />
A police official seen pouring water on the body of one the victims who was<br />
attacked by a suspected noxious substance on <strong>July</strong> 25 COURTESY: DAILY MAIL<br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
– Nibras Islam, Rohan Imtiaz, Meer<br />
Saameh Mubasser, Khairul Islam,<br />
Shafiqul Islam – directly took part<br />
in it.<br />
Tamim and seven other suspects<br />
– Abdur Rahim alias Sarwar<br />
Jahan, Tanvir Qadri, Major (retd)<br />
Zahidul Islam alias Murad alias<br />
Jahangir alias Julhas, Nurul Islam<br />
Marjan, Abu Raihan Tarek, Abdullah<br />
and Faridul Islam alias Akash –<br />
were killed during operations.<br />
Officials with knowledge of the<br />
investigation said Sarwar was a top<br />
leader of New JMB who supervised<br />
the whole attack.<br />
Earlier this month, CTTC chief<br />
Monirul Islam said five militants<br />
– Sohel Mahfuz alias Hatkata Mahfuz,<br />
Basharuzzaman alias Chocolate,<br />
Mizanur Rahman alias Choto<br />
Mizan, Rashedul Islam alias<br />
Rash, and Hadisur Rahman Sagor<br />
– played important roles in the attack.<br />
“If we can arrest at least three of<br />
them, it will help submit a charge<br />
sheet,” he said.<br />
Of them, Hatkata Mahfuz was<br />
arrested on <strong>July</strong> 8 while Basharuzzaman<br />
and Mizanur Rahman died<br />
in a gunfight with police in Chapainawabganj.<br />
•<br />
to maintain law and order in such a<br />
big area with such a small number of<br />
policemen,” he said.<br />
Former Conservative Party councilor<br />
Dr Anwara Ali said the government<br />
has to undertake three initiatives to<br />
prevent acid terrorism.<br />
“Firstly, the availability and sale<br />
of corrosive substances must be<br />
controlled. Secondly, strict punishment<br />
should imposed on perpetrators and<br />
thirdly, awareness campaigns need to be<br />
arranged across the country,” she said.<br />
President of the UK-Bangla Press<br />
Club Reza Ahmed Faisal Chowdhury<br />
Shoaib said: “In 2014, some 200 acid<br />
attacks took place in London while the<br />
number increased to 431 in 2015.”<br />
“According to the statistics, it can<br />
be derived that an acid attack has been<br />
taking place every 20 hours.” •<br />
This story was first published on<br />
the Bangla Tribune<br />
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY<br />
LIGHT OR MODERATE<br />
RAIN LIKELY<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Dhaka 34 28 Chittagong 33 28 Rajshahi 34 27 Rangpur 33 27 Khulna 34 27 Barisal 33 28 Sylhet 33 26<br />
DHAKA<br />
TODAY<br />
TOMORROW<br />
SUN SETS 6:43PM<br />
SUN RISES 5:27AM<br />
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW<br />
35.8ºC<br />
24.7ºC<br />
Jessore<br />
Rangamati<br />
Source: Accuweather/UNB<br />
PRAYER<br />
TIMES<br />
Cox’s Bazar 32 27<br />
Fajr: 4:55am | Zohr: 1:15pm<br />
Asr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 6:55pm<br />
Esha: 8:45pm<br />
Source: Islamic Foundation
6<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
News<br />
Russia hits back over sanctions,<br />
orders US diplomats to leave<br />
• Reuters, Moscow<br />
WORLD <br />
Russia told the US on Friday that some of its<br />
diplomats had to leave the country in just<br />
over a month and said it was seizing some US<br />
diplomatic property as retaliation for what it<br />
said were proposed illegal US sanctions.<br />
Russia’s response, announced by the Foreign<br />
Ministry, came a day after the US Senate<br />
voted to slap new sanctions on Russia,<br />
putting President Donald Trump in a tough<br />
position by forcing him to take a hard line<br />
on Moscow or veto the legislation and anger<br />
his own Republican Party.<br />
President Vladimir Putin had warned on<br />
Thursday that Russia had so far exercised<br />
restraint, but would have to retaliate against<br />
what he described as boorish and unreasonable<br />
US behaviour.<br />
Relations between the two countries,<br />
already at a post-Cold War low, have deteriorated<br />
even further after US intelligence<br />
agencies accused Russia of trying to meddle<br />
in last year’s US presidential election, something<br />
Moscow flatly denies.<br />
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday<br />
that the United States had until September<br />
1 to reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia to<br />
455 people, the same number of Russian diplomats<br />
it said were left in the US after Washington<br />
expelled 35 Russians in December.<br />
It said in a statement that the decision<br />
by Congress to impose new sanctions confirmed<br />
“the extreme aggression of the United<br />
States in international affairs.”<br />
“Hiding behind its ‘exceptionalism’ the<br />
United States arrogantly ignores the positions<br />
and interests of other countries,” said<br />
the ministry. •<br />
Outgoing Indian president Pranab Mukherjee waves after inspecting a guard of honour during a<br />
ceremony at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi on <strong>July</strong> 25, <strong>2017</strong><br />
AFP<br />
Has Pranab Mukherjee<br />
helped Bangladesh?<br />
• Ranjan Basu, Delhi<br />
WORLD <br />
As outgoing Indian President Pranab Mukherjee<br />
prepared to ride the presidential limo for the last<br />
time on <strong>July</strong> 25, many in the upper echelons of the<br />
Bangladesh government could well have been sad<br />
to see him go.<br />
Under Pranab, the first Bengali president in the<br />
history of India, the relationship between the two<br />
countries has been understandably the warmest<br />
since independence.<br />
His first international visit was to Bangladesh,<br />
while Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and President<br />
Abdul Hamid are just two of many high-ranking<br />
Bangladeshi government officials to have visited<br />
the Indian president’s official residence during<br />
Pranab’s tenure. Indeed, from Tofael Ahmed to<br />
Obaidul Quader, all top Bangladeshi ministers to<br />
have visited India within the last five years have<br />
been to the Indian president’s residence.<br />
However, whether this warm relationship has<br />
actually influenced diplomatic ties and is likely<br />
to change under new Indian President Ramnath<br />
Kobind is more difficult to answer.<br />
Veteran diplomat Deb Mukherjee, Delhi’s former<br />
High Commissioner in Dhaka, once said: “To be honest,<br />
personal relationships definitely have an impact<br />
[on diplomatic relations]. It adds warmth to the diplomatic<br />
atmosphere. But at the end of the day, personal<br />
relationships can never be the defining principle in<br />
diplomatic relationships. This means that no matter<br />
how close the premiers of two countries are, it has<br />
no bearing on diplomatic relations between the two.”<br />
The fact that the Teesta Water-Sharing Agreement<br />
remains unsigned is a testament to Deb Mukherjee’s<br />
words.<br />
Suggesting that progress in such agreements<br />
may have stalled in spite of the president’s intentions,<br />
grassroots West Bengal MP Mamtaz Sanghamita,<br />
a member of the Indian Foreign Ministry’s<br />
Parliamentary Standing Committee, told the Bangla<br />
Tribune: “You have to keep in mind that while Mr<br />
Mukherjee was president, the ruling party in Delhi<br />
was such that he had no hand in their foreign policy.<br />
The president has little say in the foreign policy<br />
of the country, let alone during a government with<br />
which he does not always agree!”<br />
“There is no way to deny that when the two<br />
Bengali communities from across the border meet,<br />
there is a Bengali sentiment between them. Mr<br />
Mukherjee’s wife was from Norail. And since the<br />
time he began engaging in congressional politics,<br />
he had family ties with Sheikh Hasina. It is not easy<br />
to ignore these facts,” she added.<br />
However, these same ties which led to a close<br />
relationship between the outgoing Indian president<br />
and current Bangladesh government also had<br />
an inverse effect on his relationship with opposition<br />
party BNP. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia notably<br />
did not meet with Pranab Mukherjee during his<br />
state visit to Bangladesh, citing hartals in Dhaka.<br />
As such, while Pranab Mukherjee’s tenure as<br />
president did see a particularly warm relationship<br />
between Bangladesh and India, this did not really<br />
translate itself into results in the diplomatic arena.<br />
The outgoing Indian president still has his critics<br />
in Bangladesh, and with Teesta remaining a longstanding<br />
sticking point in negotiations between<br />
both sides, they are not entirely without merit. •<br />
This story was first published on the Bangla Tribune.
News<br />
SATURDAY,<br />
7<br />
JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
No asphalt on the road, how<br />
about crops instead?<br />
• Mohammed Afzal Hossain,<br />
Tangail<br />
NATION <br />
Residents of a populous region<br />
in Tangail took umbrage with the<br />
negligence of a major road, and<br />
planted paddy on the unpaved<br />
road to make their complaints evident<br />
to the local government.<br />
The Kachua-Sharashia-Basarchala-Mahanandapur<br />
The six kilometer-long road<br />
stretching from Kachua to Mahanadpur<br />
passes through Sharashia,<br />
Basarchala and almost 10<br />
other villages. It has been in dreadful<br />
condition for over 15 years. The<br />
lack of paving irked the locals to<br />
such an extent that they decided to<br />
protest in an innovative way.<br />
The road is used by thousands<br />
of people every day, yet the local<br />
government’s negligence has prolonged<br />
the suffering.<br />
At least 15 educational institutions<br />
are in the area including Kachua<br />
Primary School, Kachua High<br />
School, Sharashia-Basarchala High<br />
School, Sharashia Primary School,<br />
Mahanandpur High School, Mahanandpur<br />
Primary School, Sunstar<br />
BM College and several kindergartens.<br />
There are two community<br />
clinics and five major local bazaars<br />
on the road.<br />
Locals plant paddy on the road in Tangail<br />
Teachers and students alike<br />
have to fraught the arduous crossing<br />
of the road in monsoon. There<br />
are numerous complaints of people<br />
tripping and falling in the mud.<br />
The poor condition of the road<br />
also makes it difficult for farmers<br />
to take their produce to the local<br />
bazars for sale.<br />
Abul Hossain, an eggplant farmer,<br />
said: “I planted eggplants over<br />
three acres of land. I could have<br />
US orders Venezuela embassy<br />
families out, crisis deepens<br />
• Reuters, Caracas<br />
WORLD <br />
Riot security force members run after demonstrators at a rally during a strike<br />
called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government in<br />
Caracas on <strong>July</strong> 27, <strong>2017</strong><br />
REUTERS<br />
The US government ordered family<br />
members of employees at its<br />
embassy in Venezuela to leave on<br />
Thursday as a political crisis deepened<br />
ahead of a controversial vote<br />
critics contend will end democracy<br />
in the oil-rich country.<br />
Violence continued to rage on<br />
the street, with another seven people<br />
killed during the latest opposition-led<br />
strike against President<br />
Nicolas Maduro’s planned election<br />
for a powerful new Constituent Assembly<br />
on Sunday.<br />
Adding to Venezuela’s growing<br />
international isolation, Colombian<br />
airline Avianca suddenly stopped<br />
operations in the country on<br />
Thursday due to “operational and<br />
security limitations”.<br />
Maduro’s critics were planning<br />
to pile more pressure on the<br />
unpopular leftist leader by holding<br />
roadblocks across the nation<br />
dubbed “The Takeover of Venezuela”<br />
on Friday.<br />
The government banned protests<br />
from Friday to Tuesday, raising<br />
the likelihood of more violence<br />
in volatile Venezuela. Many people<br />
have been stocking up food and<br />
staying home.<br />
As well as ordering relatives to<br />
leave, the US State Department<br />
on Thursday also authorised<br />
the voluntary departure of any<br />
US government employee at its<br />
compound-like hilltop embassy in<br />
Caracas. •<br />
DHAKA TRIBUNE<br />
made a fortune on them, but I ended<br />
up spending a fortune on transporting<br />
them.”<br />
Afroza Akhter, an eighth grader<br />
at Kachua High School, lamented<br />
the misfortune of having to traverse<br />
three kilometers of rough terrain<br />
which renders the students<br />
haggard for the rest of the day.<br />
The Dhaka Tribune asked a local<br />
government official, Kazi Fahad<br />
Quddus, about what they were doing<br />
about it. He said that a proposal<br />
to pave the road has been sent to<br />
the administration.<br />
The local government’s lack of<br />
assurance did not impress any of<br />
the locals. They are still fuming<br />
over the losses for being unable to<br />
transport crops to the bazaars.<br />
A local, refusing to be named,<br />
said: “They won’t pave the roads?<br />
Fine, we’ll plant crops on the road<br />
then!” •<br />
Saudi coalition<br />
downs Yemen<br />
rebel missile<br />
near Mecca<br />
• Reuters, Riyadh<br />
WORLD <br />
A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s<br />
Houthi rebels toward the Muslim<br />
holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia<br />
was shot down late on Thursday.<br />
Air defence forces downed the<br />
missile over the Wasaliyah area of<br />
Taif province, 69km from Mecca,<br />
without causing any damage, the<br />
coalition said in a statement carried<br />
by Saudi state news agency SPA.<br />
The statement called the missile<br />
launch “a desperate attempt<br />
to spoil the haj pilgrimage,” due to<br />
begin next month.<br />
The Iran-aligned Houthis and allied<br />
militias loyal to former Yemeni<br />
President Ali Abdullah Saleh said<br />
on their official news agency they<br />
had launched a Burkan-1 missile<br />
into Saudi Arabia, but said it was<br />
aimed toward the King Fahd air<br />
base in Taif.<br />
The coalition blamed a lack of<br />
control over the Yemeni port city<br />
of Hodeidah and misuse of permits<br />
for aid shipments for the continued<br />
smuggling of missiles into Yemen.<br />
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies<br />
have intervened in Yemen’s civil<br />
war since March 2015 in a campaign<br />
to restore the ousted internationally<br />
recognised government of President<br />
Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. •<br />
US Senate health bill collapses<br />
in bitter blow to Trump<br />
• AFP, Washington, DC<br />
WORLD <br />
US Republicans failed spectacularly<br />
Friday in their latest effort<br />
to dismantle Obamacare, leaving<br />
the party shocked and in disarray<br />
and signalling the potential death<br />
knell for President Donald Trump’s<br />
dream of repealing his predecessor’s<br />
health reforms.<br />
The vote, held in the dead of<br />
night, came down to the wire, with<br />
the decisive moment resting with<br />
Senator John McCain, recently diagnosed<br />
with brian cancer, who<br />
sided with two moderate Republicans<br />
and all Democrats in opposing<br />
the legislation.<br />
“This was a disappointment, a<br />
disappointment indeed,” Senate<br />
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell<br />
told colleagues after one of the<br />
most tense votes in years on the<br />
Senate floor.<br />
The collapse marks a major setback<br />
for Republican leadership and<br />
for Trump, who had campaigned<br />
relentlessly on a pledge to repeal<br />
and replace the Affordable Care Act<br />
that passed into law under his predecessor<br />
Barack Obama in 2010.<br />
Friday’s vote, which capped<br />
a series of failed efforts in recent<br />
months to get an Obamacare repeal<br />
measure over the line, was on<br />
a so-called “skinny repeal” bill that<br />
would have rolled back only parts<br />
of Obamacare but kept the bulk of<br />
the law intact.<br />
It crashed to defeat, 49-51, leaving<br />
Trump’s singular legislative<br />
initiative, and Republicans’ seven-year<br />
pledge to rip out the health<br />
care law, in tatters.<br />
Trump, who had long cajoled<br />
and strong-armed Republicans in<br />
a bid to get them into line, swiftly<br />
spoke out about the failure, apparently<br />
unmoved by Democratic<br />
pleas for the parties to work together<br />
and improve the existing law.<br />
“3 Republicans and 48 Democrats<br />
let the American people<br />
down,” Trump tweeted. “As I said<br />
from the beginning, let ObamaCare<br />
implode, then deal.” •
8<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
News<br />
Final draft of SOP to bring<br />
back illegal Bangladeshis<br />
from Europe set for August<br />
• Sheikh Shahriar Zaman<br />
MIGRANTS <br />
The government expects to complete<br />
the draft paperwork to repatriate<br />
illegal Bangladeshi immigrants<br />
living in EU member<br />
countries by the end of next month.<br />
An official of the Bangladesh<br />
Foreign Ministry said a written request<br />
to hold talks had been sent<br />
to the EU, so that the draft of the<br />
Standard Operating Procedures<br />
(SOPs) can be finalised by August.<br />
The official said: “We don’t want<br />
thousands of Bangladeshis living<br />
in different countries of Europe<br />
with valid papers to face problems<br />
because of some irregular immigrants.<br />
Besides, the matter is also<br />
tarnishing our image.”<br />
According to EU data, as of 2016<br />
around 200,000 Bangladeshis were<br />
living in 27 European countries (excluding<br />
the UK) with proper documents<br />
for residence and employment.<br />
The EU bloc issued 26,000 residency<br />
permits to Bangladeshis<br />
in 2014, 21,000 in 2015 and nearly<br />
25,000 in 2016. However, as of June<br />
this year, only 4,100 Bangladeshis<br />
had received the permits.<br />
Regarding the lower number of<br />
residency permits granted, another<br />
Talk of sea border with Britain riles May’s DUP allies<br />
• Reuters, Dublin<br />
WORLD <br />
Northern Irish protestant politicians<br />
who are propping up British<br />
Prime Minister Theresa May’s minority<br />
government reacted with<br />
fury on Friday to a report that Ireland<br />
wants the Irish Sea to be its<br />
border with Britain after Brexit.<br />
official of the Bangladesh Foreign<br />
Ministry said: “The reason behind<br />
the reduction in permit issuance is<br />
that many irregular Bangladeshis<br />
are currently staying in Europe, especially<br />
in Italy.”<br />
EU statistics revealed that over<br />
8,000 Bangladeshis entered Italy<br />
illegally in 2016, and that over<br />
8,500 had done so up to <strong>July</strong> 19 of<br />
this year.<br />
As a result of the increase in<br />
intrusions, the EU has urged the<br />
Bangladesh government to arrange<br />
for the repatriation of illegal Bangladeshi<br />
immigrants living in EU<br />
member countries.<br />
The Foreign Ministry official<br />
added: “Some 17,300 Bangladeshis<br />
sought political asylum in Europe<br />
till 2016. Among them, 11,800 were<br />
rejected and most of the remaining<br />
applications will also possibly be<br />
rejected.”<br />
“Those whose applications were<br />
rejected have no right to stay in Europe.<br />
They will be brought back here<br />
after verifying their nationality.”<br />
The official said the exact number<br />
of Bangladeshis living in European<br />
countries illegally was unknown.<br />
Another official said the country’s<br />
embassies in different European<br />
countries had issued around<br />
4,500 travel permits from January<br />
2015 to March <strong>2017</strong> in order to return<br />
Bangladeshis who had been<br />
living there without papers.<br />
“The government is not insincere<br />
in bringing back irregular Bangladeshis,<br />
as it tarnishes the nation’s<br />
image and puts Bangladeshis with<br />
permits in trouble. Furthermore,<br />
EU countries are taking a tougher<br />
stance in giving residency permits<br />
to qualified Bangladeshis as a result<br />
of the irregulars,” he added.<br />
The ministry official further said<br />
that the legal system of certain EU<br />
countries sometimes created problems<br />
with repatriation, as a person<br />
cannot be repatriated without verifying<br />
their nationality.<br />
“Some irregular Bangladeshis<br />
could not show any passport, NID<br />
or driving licence for verification of<br />
their nationality. It becomes tough<br />
to identify them if they give the<br />
wrong address,” he said<br />
He also identified the behaviour<br />
of some Bangladeshis facing deportation<br />
as a roadblock to repatriation.<br />
“Some Bangladeshis start shouting<br />
and even attack someone when<br />
they are brought to an airport for<br />
deportation. Some airlines do not<br />
allow such passengers to board,”<br />
the official said. •<br />
The story was first published on the<br />
Bangla Tribune<br />
Undocumented<br />
Bangladeshis told to leave<br />
KSA or face deportation<br />
• Agencies<br />
MIGRANTS <br />
The amnesty for undocumented<br />
workers to leave Saudi Arabia<br />
without penalty and fines will not<br />
be extended further, according to<br />
a Saudi high official involved with<br />
the process.<br />
This is likely to result in the<br />
deportations of a large number of<br />
Bangladeshis who have been working<br />
in the kingdom without the<br />
proper paperwork.<br />
The four-month-long amnesty<br />
under the so-called ‘Nation Free<br />
of Violators’ campaign came to an<br />
end on Monday - one month later<br />
than initially planned.<br />
“Four months given to violators of<br />
residency and labour laws to leave the<br />
Kingdom voluntarily were enough,”<br />
Maj Gen Solaiman Al-Yahya, director<br />
general of the KSA Passports Department,<br />
was quoted as saying by the<br />
Saudi daily al-Madina.<br />
Al-Yahya warned that those who<br />
did not benefit from the amnesty<br />
will be apprehended and punished.<br />
“These are reckless people who<br />
have no respect for the law. Therefore<br />
they will be penalised,” he said.<br />
“The amnesty was a golden opportunity<br />
for the violators to leave voluntarily<br />
and be able to come to the<br />
Kingdom any time legally”.<br />
According to Maj Gen Solaiman<br />
Al-Yahya, over 15,000 of the<br />
600,000 violators who left the<br />
They described the idea as “absurd”<br />
and “unconstitutional”. One<br />
senior member of the Democratic<br />
Unionist Party (DUP) suggested it<br />
now meant “a very hard border”<br />
returning to the island.<br />
It is a particularly sensitive issue<br />
given the decades of violence in<br />
the province that ended in a peace<br />
deal less than 20 years ago.<br />
The border between the Irish Republic,<br />
a member of the European<br />
Union, and the British province of<br />
Northern Ireland will be the only<br />
land frontier between the United<br />
Kingdom and the European Union<br />
once Britain leaves the bloc in early<br />
2019.<br />
Politicians in London, Dublin,<br />
Belfast and Brussels have all said<br />
they want to avoid the return of a<br />
“hard border” on the divided island,<br />
although no progress has yet<br />
been made. It is one of the key decisions<br />
to be made before a Brexit<br />
agreement can be reached.<br />
In the latest wrinkle, The Times<br />
newspaper reported that the Irish<br />
government’s preferred option is for<br />
customs and immigration checks to<br />
be located away from the land border<br />
and at ports and airports.<br />
That would effectively draw a<br />
new border in the Irish sea, possibly<br />
meaning one between Britain<br />
and its province.<br />
Ian Paisley Jr, one of the 10 DUP<br />
members of the British parliament<br />
allowing May’s government to stay<br />
in power, went on Twitter to condemn<br />
the idea.<br />
“1 of 2 things will now happen<br />
1. A very hard border 2. Ireland will<br />
wise up and leave the EU,” he said.<br />
May has said she wants the<br />
post-Brexit border to be as seamless<br />
as possible. Dublin, meanwhile,<br />
fears anything resembling<br />
the land border posts of the past<br />
could pose a risk to peace.<br />
Kingdom have returned legally on<br />
new work visas.<br />
Al-Yahya explained that those<br />
who benefitted from the amnesty<br />
were not given Murahal (deportee)<br />
fingerprinting, so it was easy for<br />
them to come back leg\\ally.<br />
He warned that those who completed<br />
their departure procedures<br />
during the amnesty period, but<br />
who remained in the Kingdom, will<br />
be fined and deported. He said a<br />
“massive crackdown campaign” in<br />
which 19 government departments<br />
will participate will soon start to<br />
apprehend violators.<br />
Envoy urges irregular BD nationals<br />
to return from Saudi<br />
The Bangladesh ambassador in<br />
Riyadh, Golam Moshi, has urged<br />
every “irregular” Bangladeshi to return<br />
home and gain re-entry to the<br />
country through legal channels.<br />
“They (irregular Bangladeshis in<br />
KSA) can go to Saudi Arabia legally<br />
again. There’ll be no problem,”<br />
UNB quoted him as saying.<br />
The ambassador also urged the<br />
Bangladesh nationals in the KSA<br />
not to tarnish Bangladesh’s image<br />
there by getting involved in illegal<br />
activities.<br />
He was addressing an opinion<br />
exchange meeting in Dammam, a<br />
city in Saudi Arabia, on Thursday,<br />
according to a press release.<br />
The ambassador said the embassy<br />
in Riyadh will remain receptive<br />
to the needs of Bangladeshi expatriates<br />
in the Kingdom. •<br />
Anti-Brexit campaigners, Borders Against Brexit protest outside Irish Government<br />
buildings in Dublin, April 25, <strong>2017</strong><br />
REUTERS<br />
About 30,000 people cross the<br />
current, invisible frontier each day<br />
for work and many farms straddle<br />
both sides of the border.<br />
Any hindrance to cross-border<br />
trade would hit Northern Ireland<br />
harder. The Republic accounts for<br />
25% of Northern Irish exports outside<br />
the UK, compared with just<br />
1.4% going the other direction. •
News<br />
9<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
2 teenagers held for<br />
brutally torturing<br />
boy in Satkhira<br />
• Asaduzzaman, Satkhira<br />
NATION <br />
Police have detained two teenage<br />
ice factory workers from<br />
Dangipara area of Satkhira Sadar<br />
upaizla for allegedly torturing<br />
a minor boy by inserting<br />
an ice-bar into his rectum.<br />
Satkhira Sadar police station<br />
Sub-Inspector Selim Reza held<br />
Shamim Hossain, 15, son of Nur<br />
Islam from Brahmarpur union,<br />
and Nazmul Hossain, 15, son of<br />
Shafiqul Islam from Dhulihor<br />
union, on Thursday evening.<br />
Dablu Miah, 9, son of Bablu<br />
Mia from the same area, used to<br />
go to Ashik Super Ice Bar regularly<br />
to get ice-creams for free.<br />
When he called on the ice<br />
factory workers for an ice<br />
cream on Thursday afternoon,<br />
the duo caught him, inserting<br />
an ice bar into his rectum.<br />
Returning home, the boy revealed<br />
the matter to his father,<br />
who instantly filed a complaint<br />
with the police station. Police<br />
acted promptly and held the<br />
accused from the factory.<br />
The tortured boy also underwent<br />
medical tests, which<br />
confirmed that his injury was<br />
not too serious, said police,<br />
who also held the ice factory<br />
owner for interrogation.<br />
Incidents of child torture<br />
by inserting objects into the<br />
rectum have regular over the<br />
last couple of years.<br />
A child named Md Rakibul<br />
Islam was killed on August<br />
13 in 2015 when three adults<br />
pumped air through his rectum<br />
in a garage in Khulna.<br />
On <strong>July</strong> 24 in 2016, a 10-yearold<br />
boy named Sagar Barman<br />
was killed in the same manner<br />
at Zobaida Textiles in Rupganj<br />
upazila of Narayanganj.<br />
And on December 14 last<br />
year, Md Yamin, 17, succumbed<br />
to his injuries at Dhaka<br />
Medical College Hospital<br />
after being tortured in the<br />
same way by his colleagues<br />
at a spinning mill in Narayanganj’s<br />
Sonargaon area. •
<strong>DT</strong><br />
10<br />
Editorial<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
TODAY<br />
Our red buses<br />
You are not alone in experiencing this<br />
obnoxious traffic situation day in and<br />
day out. We’re all in the same boat<br />
together<br />
PAGE 11<br />
BIGSTOCK<br />
The case for Arabic<br />
To be a conscious Muslim, one must<br />
learn the language of the Holy Qur’an<br />
and the hadith as well, as Muslims<br />
believe that it is also the language of<br />
hereafter<br />
The sixth river<br />
PAGE 12<br />
Pakistan’s cockpit is overcrowded with<br />
would-be pilots determined to snatch<br />
the joystick from the designated captain<br />
PAGE 13<br />
Enrich Bangla, not Urdu<br />
Why would the new stream of madrasas focus on<br />
Urdu education?<br />
Perhaps the desire to emphasise those<br />
languages comes from the somewhat misguided<br />
notion that Urdu is more Islamic than Bangla; that Urdu is<br />
somehow closer to Arabic.<br />
What Bangladeshi Islamic scholars should be focusing on,<br />
is not Urdu education, but on translation of relevant Islamic<br />
texts from Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and even English into<br />
Bangla.<br />
Making works of Islamic scholarship accessible to readers<br />
of Bangla would go a much longer way than this futile move<br />
to push for Urdu.<br />
Furthermore, it makes no sense to assume all madrasa<br />
students will go on to become Islamic scholars. The ones who<br />
do may opt to take up Urdu at a later stage in their education.<br />
There is no way to defend the spending of tax-payer<br />
money on enriching Urdu in the way that has been proposed.<br />
Money in your mobile<br />
Making works of Islamic<br />
scholarship accessible<br />
to readers of Bangla<br />
would go a much longer<br />
way than this futile<br />
move to push for Urdu<br />
Be heard<br />
Write to Dhaka Tribune<br />
FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath,<br />
Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207<br />
Send us your Op-Ed articles:<br />
opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com<br />
www.dhakatribune.com<br />
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DhakaTribune.<br />
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 />
Mobile banking usage has surged in<br />
Bangladesh -- this is welcome news.<br />
More and more people are now<br />
utilising mobile financial services, with<br />
the average daily use having broken Tk1,000 crore<br />
barrier.<br />
This is the way forward.<br />
Bangladesh needs to capitalise on the<br />
opportunities that services such as these provide, as it<br />
allows people from all walks of life to take part in the<br />
economy of our country.<br />
MFS is particularly beneficial to poor people, as it<br />
serves as a great alternative for those who do not have<br />
access to conventional banking services.<br />
This is indeed the path to financial inclusion.<br />
This is indeed the path<br />
to financial inclusion
Opinion 11<br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Our red buses<br />
We are all stuck in the same traffic<br />
Breaking rules is not the way to go<br />
LARGER<br />
THAN LIFE<br />
• Ekram Kabir<br />
One of my journalist<br />
friends, one day, while<br />
sitting in an infuriating<br />
traffic jam in Gulshan,<br />
saw a government vehicle<br />
suddenly going in the wrong<br />
lane in order to avoid the road<br />
congestion. So he also directed his<br />
chauffeur to follow that car.<br />
The policeman, however,<br />
stopped his car, but let the<br />
government vehicle go. My friend,<br />
then, told the on-duty traffic<br />
personnel: “If you can let him<br />
go, you have to let me go too. If<br />
you don’t let me go, you have to<br />
stop that car.” The traffic official<br />
couldn’t challenge his statement<br />
and let him pass through the<br />
wrong lane.<br />
Well, everyone isn’t as fortunate<br />
as my friend.<br />
The police don’t let us pass;<br />
they only let the fortunate pass on<br />
the “wrong” side of the road. Most<br />
of us, the commoners, have to wait<br />
in the snail’s-pace queue in order<br />
to reach our destinations.<br />
The Bangali commoners are a<br />
tolerant lot; we, sort of, believe<br />
that sitting tight on the road<br />
inside the vehicles is our destiny,<br />
ordained by God Almighty upon<br />
Bengali commoners.<br />
However, many times, we wish<br />
we could follow -- but most of the<br />
times we don’t dare -- the officials<br />
who, we thought, were meant to<br />
serve the interests of the common<br />
lot.<br />
We the commoners may not<br />
always follow the footsteps of our<br />
officials, but a bunch of young<br />
people, studying in the capital<br />
city’s public universities, consider<br />
the officials as their idols.<br />
On their route to universities<br />
and back home, they are, these<br />
days, seen to follow the footsteps<br />
of the officials who they want to<br />
become one day.<br />
The students of our public<br />
universities are seen taking<br />
the wrong lanes when they are<br />
going to the campus or returning<br />
home. The newspapers are full of<br />
front-page pictures of their traffic<br />
violations.<br />
Recently, some students, on a<br />
double-decker bus of a university,<br />
had attacked a police sergeant who<br />
reportedly tried to prevent them<br />
from going through the wrong<br />
lane. We have also heard from<br />
many people who have seen the<br />
students taking wrong lanes.<br />
Old habits die hard<br />
The unwanted practice of going<br />
through the wrong lane is<br />
becoming a habit of the students<br />
of public universities.<br />
Moreover, they become<br />
arrogant whenever the pedestrians<br />
or the traffic personnel tell them<br />
not to do so.<br />
We feel let down when they<br />
commit such an act of violation.<br />
We don’t feel let down when the<br />
government officials take the<br />
wrong lane. No matter how wrong<br />
that would seem, we know the<br />
government officials won’t listen<br />
to what the commoners would<br />
expect them to do. That’s them.<br />
But when it comes to university<br />
students, the common people<br />
do have some expectations.<br />
University students of this country<br />
have contributed to our history<br />
and economy so amazingly that we<br />
have immense respect for them.<br />
The glory of the past<br />
It’s the students who made all our<br />
national revolutions successful;<br />
the students of the universities<br />
contributed the most during the<br />
War of Liberation as well as in the<br />
run-up to our liberation.<br />
The students played a great<br />
role in our national politics even<br />
after our liberation; they had<br />
successfully ousted an autocrat<br />
who vowed not to give up.<br />
Students who are violating<br />
traffic laws would, one day,<br />
become our own government<br />
officials and run the state of<br />
affairs.<br />
When they become those<br />
officials, they would, we believe,<br />
certainly continue to break the<br />
laws of the roads. We certainly<br />
don’t wish to have officials who<br />
would break the laws that they are<br />
supposed to uphold.<br />
We do understand that they, the<br />
students -- while going to attend<br />
classes or returning home from<br />
class -- are in a hurry. We know<br />
that traffic in Dhaka is horrendous,<br />
and it is frustrating to be on the<br />
road, sitting in one place for hours.<br />
You are not alone<br />
You, dear students, are not alone<br />
in experiencing this obnoxious<br />
traffic situation day in and day<br />
out. We’re all in the same boat<br />
together. We the commoners also<br />
have important tasks to achieve,<br />
we also have to return home to be<br />
with our families.<br />
No matter how painful it is,<br />
we the commoners sit tight in<br />
the vehicles and don’t think of<br />
breaking the laws.<br />
We, dear students, expect you<br />
to lead by example; please be an<br />
example yourself. •<br />
Ekram Kabir is a fiction writer.<br />
MEHEDI HASAN<br />
You are not alone in experiencing this obnoxious traffic situation day in<br />
and day out. We’re all in the same boat together
12<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
Opinion<br />
The case for Arabic<br />
We use many Arabic words in everyday life, so learning it should not be too hard<br />
• Khan Sarifuzzaman<br />
On the last Eid day, we<br />
were listening to a<br />
religious khutba by<br />
an Imam, along with<br />
around 7,000 people who stood for<br />
prayer at Kolatia Eidgah ground,<br />
Keraniganj.<br />
The speech was full of emotion.<br />
But, within a short span of<br />
time, my heart was filled with<br />
grievances and questions such as:<br />
What type of a nation are we, who<br />
cannot understand the religious<br />
sermons delivered in mosques?<br />
So passionately the Imam<br />
was presenting his lecture, that<br />
even the movement of his hands<br />
demonstrated his fervent spirit,<br />
but what a sorry audience, because<br />
we could hardly understand the<br />
lecture delivered in Arabic.<br />
The same thing is repeated<br />
on every Friday, during khutba<br />
while crores of Muslims across<br />
the country -- young and old<br />
-- pass the time by only looking<br />
at the Imam as part of religious<br />
obligation but understanding<br />
nothing. Every day, almost every<br />
Muslim is reading or reciting the<br />
holy Quran and the hadith but<br />
most of us don’t understand, let<br />
alone learn anything from these<br />
great sources of knowledge.<br />
The purpose of this writing is<br />
to show some rationale of learning<br />
Arabic.<br />
One of the causes of religious<br />
misconceptions, extremism, and<br />
militancy is the failure to learn and<br />
develop proper religious concepts<br />
from our scriptures written in<br />
Arabic, which are recited in our<br />
regular salat (prayer) and ibadat<br />
(servitude). We, such an ignorant<br />
nation, regularly read, as well as<br />
listen to sermons and lectures,<br />
but we do not, or even try to,<br />
understand its meaning.<br />
Other benefits<br />
Bangladeshis residing in the<br />
Middle East form the largest<br />
community of Bangladeshi<br />
diaspora worldwide. Out of the<br />
3,975,550 Bangladeshis abroad,<br />
approximately 2,820,000 live<br />
within the Middle East, 0.075% of<br />
Reading the Qur’an with understanding<br />
the Middle East population, with<br />
half of them in Saudi Arabia, and a<br />
quarter of them in the United Arab<br />
Emirates.<br />
Saudi Arabia alone has been<br />
the largest source of remittance<br />
as non-residents Bangladeshis<br />
(NRBs) living there sent $2.694<br />
billion from the kingdom in 11<br />
months until May of the 2015-16<br />
fiscal year.<br />
According to available statistics<br />
at Bangladesh Bank, Saudi<br />
Arabia, followed by the UAE, are<br />
the highest contributors to our<br />
remittance. Bangladesh received<br />
a total of $7.72bn from all eight<br />
countries in the Middle-East,<br />
including the two countries (Saudi<br />
Arabia and UAE) in 2014-15.<br />
If the government, the NGOs,<br />
and agencies teach Arabic in short<br />
or long courses in a planned way<br />
before sending our workers to<br />
Middle East countries -- then our<br />
unskilled workers would face<br />
much less hassle in setting up<br />
since they can communicate with<br />
native people.<br />
In the school, college,<br />
university, and madrasa curricula,<br />
the government should include<br />
To be a conscious Muslim, one must learn the language of the Holy<br />
Qur’an and the hadith as well, as Muslims believe that it is also the<br />
language of hereafter<br />
communicative Arabic lessons<br />
beside Bangla and English.<br />
Moreover, because of the Arabic<br />
language skill, the demand of<br />
Bangladeshi workers obviously<br />
will augment in Arab countries as<br />
well as other Arabic-spoken places<br />
of the world.<br />
Language and history<br />
We got the English Language as a<br />
colonial legacy, but earlier, during<br />
the Muslim rule in India, its official<br />
language was Farsi as well, as its<br />
source of law was Islamic sharia<br />
law written in Arabic.<br />
For the long rule of Muslim<br />
Nawabs and Sultans along with<br />
the arrival of Arabian merchants<br />
and Islamic preachers in Bengal,<br />
the Bengali language is a fusion of<br />
Arabic words.<br />
Given that out of all foreign<br />
words in the Bengali language,<br />
Arabic words contribute to it the<br />
most -- learning Arabic should be<br />
easy for us.<br />
Arabic, which is a very rich and<br />
easy language amongst all other<br />
dominant languages in history,<br />
reminds us of the glorious Islamic<br />
civilisation that led half of the<br />
world for 1,400 years.<br />
Communication, especially<br />
language skill, is one of the most<br />
important factors for all sorts of<br />
economic activities in this age of<br />
globalisation. Above all, to be a<br />
conscious Muslim, one must learn<br />
the language of the Holy Qur’an<br />
and the hadith as well, as Muslims<br />
believe that it is also the language<br />
of hereafter. •<br />
Khan Sarifuzzaman is an MPhil<br />
researcher on Middle East Politics<br />
in Dhaka University, and Assistant<br />
Professor of BGS, Social Science Faculty,<br />
Scholars School & College, Dhanmondi.<br />
BIGSTOCK
Opinion<br />
13<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
The sixth river<br />
Pakistan is running on autopilot<br />
Disqualified, disgraced<br />
Pakistan’s cockpit is overcrowded with would-be pilots determined to<br />
snatch the joystick from the designated captain<br />
• FS Aijazuddin<br />
Punjabis have a feline thirst<br />
for blood.<br />
When the Lion of the<br />
Punjab -- Maharaja Ranjit<br />
Singh -- predicted that, after him,<br />
his kingdom would be overrun by<br />
the red of British occupation, he<br />
had not anticipated how deep that<br />
colour would seep into the soil of<br />
his beloved Punjab. It tinctures<br />
even today, 175 years after his<br />
death, the politics of this region.<br />
The release of a film titled The<br />
Black Prince is a reminder of how<br />
much or how little the politics<br />
of the Punjab has changed. This<br />
low-budget film (about $5 million<br />
worth) recounts the life of Ranjit<br />
Singh’s “accepted” son Maharaja<br />
Duleep Singh, from his turbulent<br />
accession to Ranjit Singh’s golden<br />
throne in 1843 to his death as an<br />
indebted pauper in a seedy hotel<br />
in Paris in 1893.<br />
Gifted with nothing more than<br />
a contested lineage inherited<br />
from his father Ranjit Singh and<br />
from his mother Rani Jindan a<br />
pair of beautiful eyes (an admirer<br />
described them as “magnificent<br />
orbs”), Duleep Singh, still a<br />
child, witnessed the murderous<br />
convulsions that followed Ranjit<br />
Singh’s death.<br />
Understandably, he converted<br />
from Sikhism which he associated<br />
with barbarism to the more<br />
genteel alternative -- Christianity.<br />
Transported to England, there he<br />
became a bejeweled, colourful<br />
ornament at the court of Queen<br />
Victoria. He acquired a huge<br />
unaffordable estate in Norfolk<br />
where he could indulge himself in<br />
a sport in which he excelled. He<br />
was regarded as one of the top five<br />
shots in the United Kingdom.<br />
He returned to India in 1861 and<br />
being reunited with his mother, by<br />
then almost half-blind, he brought<br />
her back with him to London.<br />
Within two years, the<br />
redoubtable Rani managed to<br />
dismantle the Christian persona<br />
his tutor Dr John Login and<br />
Queen Victoria had assiduously<br />
REUTERS<br />
fabricated.<br />
From being three-quarter<br />
British/one quarter Sikh, he<br />
became a full-blooded Punjabi<br />
determined to reclaim his<br />
sovereignty.<br />
His ambitions however<br />
exceeded his resources. Dismayed<br />
by the ennui of the Tsar of Russia<br />
who he had hoped would assist<br />
him organise an uprising against<br />
the British, Duleep Singh retreated<br />
penniless to Paris where he<br />
died, un-mourned, a footnote in<br />
Punjab’s history.<br />
A moveable Wailing Wall<br />
To modern Sikhs, hungry for<br />
heroes, Duleep Singh’s reversion<br />
to his paternal faith is a case study<br />
in belated nationalism, ripe for<br />
resurrection. Ignoring the advice<br />
of the writer Khushwant Singh<br />
not to make a heroic figure out<br />
of Duleep Singh (he could see<br />
the fault-lines in the marble they<br />
proposed to use), reconstructions<br />
of his life such as the film The<br />
Black Prince serve Punjabis as a<br />
moveable Wailing Wall, a reminder<br />
of their lost heritage, of glories<br />
squandered, of nationhood<br />
forfeited.<br />
The producers of the film,<br />
like Duleep Singh himself, face<br />
an uphill task in re-awakening<br />
Punjabi nationalism. One reason<br />
may be the attitude of Punjabis<br />
on either side of the border. The<br />
only Sikh visible in Lahore’s<br />
Cineplex cinema where the film<br />
was screened recently, had bought<br />
a ticket to see a 3D action thriller<br />
showing in an adjacent hall,<br />
because he had no idea who The<br />
Black Prince was or Maharaja<br />
Duleep Singh.<br />
The river runs red<br />
History has shown that blood<br />
flows like the sixth river of the<br />
Punjab. Its banks are murder and<br />
mayhem.<br />
Pakistan’s first Prime Minister<br />
Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated<br />
in Rawalpindi in 1951. Pakistan’s<br />
first post-1971 Prime Minister<br />
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged<br />
in Rawalpindi jail in 1979. His<br />
daughter Benazir Bhutto -- herself<br />
twice prime minister -- lost her life<br />
in Rawalpindi in 2007. A sitting<br />
Governor of the Punjab Salmaan<br />
Taseer was gunned down in<br />
Islamabad in 2011.<br />
And in 2015, the Punjab Home<br />
Minister Shuja Khanzada was<br />
murdered.<br />
One has lost count of those<br />
hundreds of others -- civilians<br />
and officials -- who have been<br />
martyred in suicide attacks<br />
or bomb blasts because they<br />
happened to be in the wrong place<br />
at the wrong time.<br />
Future historians will detect<br />
a level of sophistication Punjabis<br />
have perfected in recent years.<br />
Today’s political assassinations<br />
use weapons that leave no smell<br />
of cordite or trace of gunpowder.<br />
They are cloaked in a lawyer’s<br />
brief. Liquidations are conducted<br />
in broad daylight, amplified by the<br />
media.<br />
There can be no rationalminded<br />
Pakistani who predicts<br />
a productive outcome of the<br />
gladiatorial contest between the<br />
PTI and the Jamaat-i-Islami and<br />
their victim, Nawaz Sharif.<br />
Nawaz Sharif was disqualified<br />
for being unable to justify his<br />
wealth, and so will Imran Khan.<br />
Both could be faulted by the<br />
Supreme Court for suffering from<br />
accounting amnesia.<br />
But one thing is clear. Pakistan<br />
is flying on autopilot. Its cockpit is<br />
overcrowded with would-be pilots<br />
determined to snatch the joystick<br />
from the designated captain.<br />
Napoleon, a contemporary<br />
of Ranjit Singh, once explained:<br />
“Anarchy is the stepping stone to<br />
absolute power.”<br />
Pakistan’s high-flying suicidal<br />
litigants might heed that canny<br />
Frenchman’s warning. •<br />
FS Aijazuddin is an art historian. This<br />
article was previously published in<br />
Dawn.
14<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
Kids<br />
colour it<br />
maze
Kids<br />
15<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
MAGIC TRICK<br />
The rubber-y pencil<br />
BOOK<br />
Bees and flowers<br />
illusion.<br />
What you’ll need:<br />
• A pencil with a rubber end<br />
• Lots of practice<br />
The “rubber pencil” is one<br />
of the most common tricks<br />
every magic=ian knows of.<br />
You can fool all your friends<br />
and impress them by using a<br />
normal pencil and making it<br />
look like it is made of rubber<br />
that wiggles and jiggles. It is a<br />
super easy magic trick which<br />
is actually a really cool optical<br />
How to do it:<br />
All you have to do is hold<br />
the end (the rubber end) of<br />
the pencil with your index<br />
finger and thumb loosely.<br />
Hold it sideways, facing your<br />
audience, and wave it fast,<br />
moving your hand up and<br />
down vertically. This will make<br />
the pencil bounce, but it will<br />
look like it is bending. •<br />
DIY<br />
Masks galore<br />
Bhonbhonia the bee and the<br />
promegranate flower are<br />
great friends. One day, when<br />
Bhonbhonia comes to visit<br />
his friend, he sees the flower<br />
with a little boy named Mishu.<br />
Bhonbhonia is scared and hides<br />
behind a tree.<br />
The bee whispers to the<br />
flower, “Who is the little boy?”<br />
The flower smiles and says,<br />
“He is my friend too!”<br />
Bhonbhonia shyly asks, “Can<br />
he read? Can he sing and dance?<br />
Can your friend draw?”<br />
The flower replies, “Mishu<br />
is very nice! He can do<br />
everything!”<br />
Bhonbhonia claps happily<br />
but still feels shy.<br />
Will Mishu and Vonvonia<br />
ever become friends? Read<br />
Bhonbhonia written by Mahfuz<br />
Jewel and find out what<br />
happens next to Bhonbhonia,<br />
Mishu and the pomegranate<br />
flower. The Bangla book<br />
for children comes with<br />
wonderful illustrations by artist<br />
Sabyasachi Hazra. •<br />
Animal facts<br />
TRIVIA<br />
Make these awesome funky<br />
masks yourself, following<br />
these easy steps.<br />
Things you’ll need:<br />
• A plate<br />
• Chart paper<br />
• Pencil<br />
• Straw<br />
• Scissors<br />
• Colours (pencil/wax/poster)<br />
and decorative items such<br />
as ribbons, buttons, glitters<br />
and cotton<br />
• Scotch tape<br />
Instructions:<br />
• Get a plate that’s the same<br />
size as your face.<br />
• Place the plate on the chart<br />
paper and trace the outline<br />
with a pencil.<br />
• Cut out the shape with the<br />
help of an adult.<br />
• Get an adult to hold the<br />
cut-out shape on your face<br />
and mark the place where<br />
your eyes are. Ask them<br />
to cut out holes in those<br />
places.<br />
• Now decorate the mask<br />
anyway you like!<br />
Place the straw near the end<br />
of your mask where your chin<br />
is and attach it to the back of<br />
your mask with scotch tape. •<br />
ARMADILLOS<br />
• Armadillos are<br />
mammals that look<br />
like small rats with<br />
a pointy nose, long<br />
sharp claws and a<br />
body covered with<br />
bony plates like a<br />
shell.<br />
• Armadillo comes<br />
from the Spanish<br />
word, meaning “little<br />
armoured one.”<br />
• Armadillos can be pinkish,<br />
dark-brown, black, red,<br />
gray or yellowish in colour.<br />
• They have poor eyesight<br />
but are excellent diggers,<br />
climbers and swimmers.<br />
• They can hold their<br />
breath for six minutes<br />
underwater.<br />
• They sleep 16-18 hours per<br />
day in their burrows.<br />
• Armadillos dig around<br />
in the ground to look for<br />
insects,<br />
baby birds, eggs, roots and<br />
fruit and fire ants.<br />
• Four identical armadillos<br />
are born from one egg and<br />
are called quadruplets.<br />
• Armadillos live for four to<br />
seven years in the wild and<br />
12-15 years in captivity.<br />
They are an endangered<br />
species. •
16<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
Downtime<br />
CROSSWORD<br />
CODE-CRACKER<br />
ACROSS<br />
1 Drinking vessels (4)<br />
3 Cautious (4)<br />
7 Born (3)<br />
8 Sky-coloured (5)<br />
11 Says further (4)<br />
12 Flies upwards (5)<br />
13 Choose by vote (5)<br />
15 Diplomacy (4)<br />
18 Hazard (4)<br />
19 Sovereign (5)<br />
20 Best part (5)<br />
21 Let it stand (4)<br />
23 Danger (5)<br />
24 Favourite (3)<br />
25 First man (4)<br />
26 Serpents (4)<br />
DOWN<br />
1 Mouth of a volcano (6)<br />
2 Temporary stops (6)<br />
4 Also (3)<br />
5 Lower in price (6)<br />
6 Acceptance (3)<br />
9 Firework (6)<br />
10 Consume (3)<br />
11 Shrewd (6)<br />
14 Elevated (6)<br />
16 Makes vigilant (6)<br />
17 Sings with vibratory<br />
effect (6)<br />
19 Tear (3)<br />
21 Mineral spring (3)<br />
22 Greek letter (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 21 represents V so fill V<br />
every time the figure 21 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 />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
EVENTS AROUND TOWN TODAY<br />
MUSIC<br />
MOVIE<br />
THEATRE<br />
HAJAR BOCHORER BANGLA GAAN<br />
When 6.30pm<br />
Where Jatiyo Natyoshala, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy,<br />
Dhaka<br />
What Organised by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and<br />
Government Music College. Free entry.<br />
AN EVENING OF SONGS BY NURJAHAN ALIM TUNI<br />
When 6.30-8:30pm<br />
Where Kobi Sufia Kamal Auditorium, Bangladesh National<br />
Museum, Dhaka<br />
What A celebration of the 86th birth anniversary of legendary<br />
singer Abdul Alim, the singer’s father. Free entry.<br />
STAR CINEPLEX<br />
Where Bashundhara city, Dhaka<br />
What Movie Showtime (<strong>July</strong> <strong>29</strong>)<br />
The Mummy (3D): 2:10pm, 7:20pm<br />
Nabab (2D): 3:50pm, 7pm<br />
Dunkirk (2D): 11:20am, 1:50pm,<br />
3pm, 5:15pm, 7:30pm<br />
A Dog’s Purpose (2D): 11:30am, 5pm<br />
CAREER<br />
PATHABHINOY UTSHOB<br />
When 7pm<br />
Where Studio Theatre Hall,<br />
Bangladesh Shilpakala<br />
Academy, Dhaka<br />
What Organised by Lok<br />
Natyodol, will include Hamlet,<br />
Payer Awaj Pawa Jay, Shesh<br />
Shonglap, The Zoo Story and<br />
more.<br />
DISCUSSION<br />
OPEN SPACE<br />
When 11am--2pm<br />
Where National Press Club, Topkhana Road, Dhaka<br />
What A dialogue session on women empowerment, sexual<br />
harassment and consent. A part of Project Britto.<br />
DEBATE ON SECULARISM<br />
When 5-7pm<br />
Where Center for Bangladesh Studies, House <strong>29</strong>, Road 1,<br />
Dhanmondi, Dhaka<br />
What A discussion and debate on secularism and secularity.<br />
War for the Planet of the Apes (3D):<br />
10:50am, 1:40pm, 4:10pm, 7:15pm<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 />
Despicable Me 3 (3D): 11am, 1pm<br />
BLOCKBUSTER CINEMAS<br />
Where Jamuna Future Park, Dhaka<br />
What Movie Showtime (<strong>July</strong> <strong>29</strong>)<br />
Transformers: The Last Knight<br />
(3D): 11:30am, 2:30pm, 4:55pm,<br />
7:25pm<br />
Spiderman Homecoming (3D):<br />
11:30am, 1:45pm, 2:10pm, 4:30pm,<br />
7:20pm<br />
The Mummy (3D): 12:30pm, 5pm,<br />
7:30pm<br />
Rajneeti (2D): 12pm, 3pm, 6pm<br />
Baywatch (2D): 12pm, 2:30pm,<br />
5pm, 7:30pm<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 />
WOMEN RECRUITMENT OPEN DAY<br />
When 10am-2pm<br />
Where Ballroom 1, The Westin Dhaka, Main Gulshan Avenue,<br />
Plot 1, Road 45, Dhaka<br />
What Recruitment opportunity at the Westin Dhaka.<br />
Requirements include good communication skills.<br />
WORKSHOP ON IT CAREER GUIDANCE<br />
When 10am-2pm<br />
Where United International University Auditorium,<br />
Dhanmondi 15, Dhaka<br />
What Introducing students to the world of work and career<br />
development in the IT sector.<br />
Zurhem and BMW team up to<br />
promote Bangladeshi luxury couture<br />
With an aim to create strategic<br />
benefits for both their client<br />
bases and give local buyers an<br />
experience of world-class, high<br />
end couture that are proudly<br />
designed and made in Bangladesh,<br />
Zurhem and BMW have signed a<br />
partnership deal.<br />
From BMW, Dewan Sajid<br />
Afzal, GM, Executive Motors Ltd.<br />
Bangladesh and from Zurhem,<br />
Saadat Chowdhury, chairman, and<br />
Mehruz Munir, CEO, signed the<br />
MoU.<br />
As part of the arrangement,<br />
every BMW buyer will receive a<br />
made to measure designer Zurhem<br />
suit. The biannual fashion shows<br />
exclusively featuring Zurhem’s<br />
fall/winter and spring/summer<br />
collections will also be powered<br />
by BMW. Both brands feel that this<br />
partnership will expand the luxury<br />
TG and boost confidence in local<br />
couture.<br />
To celebrate the occasion, an<br />
intimate dinner was hosted by<br />
BMW at its showroom in Tejgaon,<br />
Dhaka on <strong>July</strong> 22, <strong>2017</strong>. Among<br />
notable guests at the dinner were<br />
cricketer Tamim Iqbal; Farzana<br />
Chowdhury, CEO, Green Delta<br />
Insurance Ltd; Md Zia Uddin,<br />
chairman, Active Fine Chemicals<br />
Ltd; and Nawshin Khaer, board of<br />
trustees, Bengal Foundation. •
<strong>DT</strong><br />
18<br />
Sports<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Action from the Bangladesh Premier League opener between Abahani and Saif Sporting at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday<br />
Australia cricket manager hopeful of<br />
Bangladesh visit next month<br />
• AFP, Dhaka<br />
Australia’s cricket authorities are<br />
hopeful that a Bangladesh tour due<br />
to start in less than a month will<br />
go ahead despite a player rebellion<br />
over pay, a senior team official said.<br />
The scheduled two-Test series<br />
has been placed in jeopardy by the<br />
long-running dispute, which has<br />
pitted Australia’s top cricket stars<br />
against the game’s governing<br />
body.<br />
“There is obviously a lot of work<br />
to be done. But we are hopeful<br />
and optimistic that the tour will<br />
go ahead,” Gavin Dovey, Australia<br />
cricket team manager told reporters<br />
in the Bangladesh city of<br />
Chittagong late Thursday.<br />
The fate of the series depends<br />
on the resolution of a revenue sharing<br />
deal between Cricket Australia<br />
and players. An Australia A tour of<br />
South Africa has already been cancelled<br />
because of the dispute.<br />
Cricket Australia said Thursday<br />
it will take the bitter row to independent<br />
arbitration if an agreement<br />
cannot be reached by early<br />
next week.<br />
Dovey made his remarks at the<br />
end of a four-day tour by a Cricket<br />
Australia team to inspect facilities<br />
and security arrangements in<br />
the South Asian nation.<br />
The team visited the Zahur<br />
Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in<br />
Chittagong which is to host the second<br />
Test from September 4-8.<br />
Australia are scheduled to arrive<br />
Bangladesh on August 18. The first<br />
Test is at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla<br />
National Stadium on August 27-31.<br />
Australia have not played a Test<br />
in Bangladesh since Ricky Ponting’s<br />
team visited in 2006, six years<br />
after Bangladesh were granted Test<br />
status.<br />
They were due to play two Tests<br />
in Bangladesh in October 2015 but<br />
the tour was cancelled amid security<br />
fears after attacks by Islamist<br />
extremists in the Muslim-majority<br />
nation.<br />
Australia refused to send their<br />
team to last year’s Under-19 World<br />
The Australian delegation team visited the port city of Chittagong yesterday to inspect the facilities<br />
MD MANIK<br />
Cup in Dhaka over security worries.<br />
Bangladesh hosted England last<br />
year, drawing the Test series 1-1.<br />
“We were very disappointed<br />
not to come in 2015 but obviously<br />
the safety and security of the<br />
players and the team is paramount,<br />
irrespective of whether we tour to<br />
Bangladesh or anywhere else in the<br />
world,” Dovey said.<br />
Bangladesh has promised headof-state<br />
style security for Australia’s<br />
cricketers this time. •<br />
RABIN CHOWDHURY<br />
Abahani begin<br />
with exciting<br />
victory<br />
• Shishir Hoque<br />
Holder Dhaka Abahani Limited<br />
kicked off their Bangladesh Premier<br />
Football League 2016-17 season campaign<br />
with a 3-2 victory over Saif<br />
Sporting Club in a thrilling encounter<br />
at Bangabandhu National Stadium<br />
yesterday.<br />
Prolific Nigerian striker Emeka<br />
Darlington netted a quick brace in<br />
the first half to give the traditional<br />
Sky Blues the perfect start but goals<br />
from Topu Barman and Jewel Rana<br />
just before and after the break left<br />
the reigning champion stunned.<br />
Thanks to veteran defender Nasir<br />
Uddin Chowdhury’s header in<br />
the dying stages of the game, Abahani<br />
sealed all three points.<br />
The victory means the five-time<br />
professional league champion are<br />
unbeaten in domestic football since<br />
the start of the last season’s premier<br />
league. This was Abahani’s first win<br />
in the league’s opening match after<br />
two seasons. They drew against<br />
Chittagong Abahani Limited and<br />
Rahmatganj Muslim Friends Society<br />
in the last two seasons.<br />
Tall Gambian midfielder Landing<br />
Darboe started on the bench as<br />
Croatian head coach Drago Mamic<br />
continued to field his starting XI<br />
with veteran Ghanaian defender<br />
Samad Yussif and Emeka. Two U-19<br />
youngsters in the shape of Saad Uddin<br />
and Tutul Hasan Badshah started<br />
in the first match of the league<br />
for the very first time.<br />
Saif Sporting brought in five national<br />
players from Abahani to make their<br />
top-flight debut this season, among<br />
which defenders Ariful Islam and<br />
Topu and Hemanta Vincent Biswas<br />
started the game, along with new<br />
signing, Colombian forwards Lordaba<br />
Escarpeta and Valencia Olaya.<br />
Emeka gave the Sky Blues the<br />
lead in the 21st minute with a precise<br />
header from a Waly Faisal<br />
cross following Rubel Miah’s short<br />
corner. Emeka doubled the lead<br />
seven minutes later from a penalty<br />
after Saif Sporting defender<br />
Rahmat Miah brought down Saad<br />
inside the danger zone.<br />
Topu, the former Abahani defender,<br />
pulled one back moments<br />
before the first-half whistle with an<br />
opportunist header after Rayhan<br />
Hasan failed to clear a free-kick<br />
from Jamal Bhuiyan. Jewel came<br />
off the bench to equalise the margin<br />
four minutes into the second<br />
half, heading home from the edge<br />
of the six-yard box, following a Rahim<br />
cross from the left side.<br />
Nasir put Abahani ahead again in<br />
the 84th minute heading home from<br />
the right side of the box after Rayhan’s<br />
long throw-in was headed back by Saif<br />
Sporting defender Rahmat Uddin. •
Sports<br />
Rajshahi to face All Stars in MCC final<br />
• Ali Shahriyar Bappa<br />
from Cox’s Bazar<br />
Acme Rajshahi will face Expo All<br />
Stars in the grand finale of the<br />
Masters Cricket Carnival in Cox’s<br />
Bazar’s Sheikh Kamal International<br />
Stadium in tomorrow.<br />
In the first semi-final, Rajshahi<br />
beat Titans Khulna Masters by<br />
three runs.<br />
And later, the All Stars defeated<br />
Basundhara Dhaka division by 16<br />
runs.<br />
Khulna v Rajshahi<br />
Rajshahi edged Khulna in a hardfought<br />
contest.<br />
Khulna skipper Habibul Bashar<br />
won the toss and elected to field.<br />
The star-studded Rajshahi batting<br />
line-up was checked by controlled<br />
bowling by the Khulna<br />
bowlers.<br />
In-form Rajshahi opener Hannan<br />
Sarkar got out in the third over<br />
for eight.<br />
Khaled Mahsud Pilot’s 24 and<br />
Alamgir Kabir’s late 17-run innings<br />
BRIEF SCORES<br />
RAJSHAHI 92/6 in 15 overs (Mashud<br />
24, Neaz 2/22) beat KHULNA 89/7 in<br />
15 overs (Neaz 14, Alamgir 2/13) by three<br />
runs<br />
ALL STARS 113/8 in 15 overs (Seezan<br />
64, Shafiq 3/18) beat DHAKA<br />
DIVISION 97 in 14.1 overs (Sanwar 23,<br />
Talha 3/28) by 16 runs<br />
19<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Rafique: Preparation key for bowling long spells<br />
• Ali Shahriyar Bappa<br />
from Cox’s Bazar<br />
Left-arm spinner Mohammad<br />
Rafique, who played 33 Test matches,<br />
125 ODIs and a solitary T20I<br />
for Bangladesh, is the first Tigers<br />
bowler to take 100 wickets in both<br />
five-dayers and one-day cricket.<br />
Following his retirement, there<br />
has been an influx of left-arm spinners<br />
in the country, thanks in no<br />
small part to the 46-year old’s exploits.<br />
Having hung up his boots,<br />
Rafique is busy with business at<br />
the moment although he has plans<br />
to soon form a cricket academy in<br />
Keraniganj.<br />
In the sidelines of the Masters<br />
Cricket Carnival, Rafique talked<br />
with Dhaka Tribune about his playing<br />
career, including some of his<br />
most memorable memories, and his<br />
future plans, among other topics.<br />
Here are the excerpts:<br />
How are you passing your time<br />
these days?<br />
I’m doing business at the moment.<br />
I have worked with Rangpur Riders<br />
in the BPL T20. Earlier I worked<br />
with Abahani. I performed Hajj recently.<br />
That’s why I had taken break<br />
from cricket. Recently a stadium is<br />
being constructed in my local area.<br />
The work will end soon. I have a<br />
plan that after Eid-ul-Adha, I will<br />
soon establish a cricket academy<br />
there in the name of Keraniganj.<br />
You’re out on the field after many<br />
days. How does it feel?<br />
It feels great obviously. When<br />
I play on the field, I act like a<br />
professional. Honestly, now I can’t<br />
beat a young player in terms of<br />
running or fitness or shot-playing.<br />
But preparation for game is still<br />
same like my playing days.<br />
Do you miss T20s?<br />
Actually whatever we played in<br />
our time, that was our best cricket.<br />
I always played power cricket.<br />
May be if I was here in these times,<br />
probably I could have been the best<br />
player in T20s. There is no regret<br />
actually. Cricket is changing day<br />
by day. Bangkok is organizing sixa-side<br />
tournament now. Recently<br />
the ICC introduced a new type of<br />
play, which comprises 100 balls. So<br />
cricket is changing.<br />
Akram confident of<br />
Australia arrival<br />
• Ali Shahriyar Bappa<br />
from Cox’s Bazar<br />
Former Bangladesh cricketer Mohammad Rafique bowls during the Masters Cricket Carnival <strong>2017</strong> in Cox’s Bazar<br />
Bangladesh will start their conditioning<br />
camp in Chittagong from Friday<br />
by playing practice games, ahead of<br />
the Australia Test matches at home.<br />
“National team is performing<br />
well in the camp in Dhaka. They are<br />
doing batting and bowling in the<br />
nets there. Bangladesh will start<br />
their conditioning camp in Chittagong<br />
by playing practice game.<br />
We have a scheduled Test in Chittagong<br />
against Australia. So our<br />
main target will be to cope with the<br />
wicket and condition soon,” Akram<br />
Khan, chairman of the BCB cricket<br />
operations committee, told the media<br />
in Cox’s Bazar yesterday.<br />
Akram is currently in Cox’s Bazar<br />
for the Masters Cricket Masters<br />
Carnival.<br />
Australia’s tour of Bangladesh is<br />
still hanging in the balance as the<br />
ongoing dispute between Cricket<br />
Austalia and its players has not<br />
resolved yet. Akram however, expressed<br />
hope that the series will<br />
take place as scheduled.<br />
“It’s an internal problem of CA.<br />
But we are taking preparation for<br />
the series as per schedule. We are<br />
thinking positively about the series.<br />
This series is very important<br />
for us as we have the South Africa<br />
tour after that,” he said.<br />
BCB has not renewed the contract<br />
of batting coach Thilan Samaraweera<br />
after the <strong>2017</strong> Champions Trophy.<br />
Akram informed that an appointment<br />
will be made soon in that regard.<br />
“We are negotiating with a batting<br />
coach. Probably he will arrive<br />
within a few days. He will work<br />
particularity with lower-order batsmen.<br />
We are hiring him for short<br />
term. If he fits with us well, then<br />
he can be with us for a long time. I<br />
can’t tell the name as per the code<br />
of conduct but can say he is an Australian,”<br />
concluded Akram. •<br />
Do you recollect the memories of<br />
your Test century against the West<br />
Indies?<br />
It was memorable obviously. I<br />
scored 111. Could have been better<br />
if I scored more.<br />
There are less spectators in the<br />
Dhaka Premier League these days.<br />
Why is that?<br />
I played DPL since 1984. In those<br />
days, gallery was full. That time<br />
we did not have money but<br />
players were hungry to perform<br />
better for themselves and also<br />
for the development of cricket.<br />
But nowadays, there are lots of<br />
money involved in the DPL. But<br />
unfortunately, spectators are not<br />
there in the field. There are some<br />
COURTESY<br />
reasons. People get fewer facilities<br />
in fields like foods or other things.<br />
Whenever matches are being<br />
hosted at BKSP or Fatullah, there<br />
are no such facilities available.<br />
Only two teams go there. We played<br />
at Bangabandhu National Stadium<br />
and Abahani ground. There were<br />
lots of spectators there. We need<br />
to increase more fields. Mirpur<br />
Stadium is okay. But we need<br />
to start cricket in Bangabandhu<br />
National Stadium as well. We<br />
played there for years. During that<br />
time, both cricket and football<br />
were played there in the same year.<br />
If Bangabandhu National Stadium<br />
is open for DPL cricket again along<br />
with the other grounds then I think<br />
spectators will increase.<br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
You were the main left-arm<br />
spinner in the side back in your<br />
times. Later, many spinners,<br />
especially left-armers, donned the<br />
red and green jersey. Any plans to<br />
work with them?<br />
I always want to work with young<br />
players. Even when I was a running<br />
player I informed the management<br />
that I want to work with young<br />
bowlers in future. But that never<br />
happened. I tried several times.<br />
But no significant offer came from<br />
the board or management.<br />
You were the highest wicket-taker<br />
in both Tests and ODIs. How did<br />
you see this?<br />
Records are made to be broken one<br />
day. We played very less cricket<br />
than the current team. We probably<br />
played Asia Cup once after every<br />
three years. These days, Bangladesh<br />
play almost 60-70 matches in<br />
around three years. So these days I<br />
could have played more matches. I<br />
was the first Bangladesh bowler to<br />
take 100 wickets in both Tests and<br />
ODIs. These records will stay forever.<br />
No one will overtake me as the<br />
first 100 wicket-taker, even after<br />
500 years (smiles).<br />
You have bowled long spells in<br />
your Test career. What was the key<br />
behind bowling long spells?<br />
Actually a bowler has to do a lot of<br />
practice and must have determination<br />
for such habit. If you play<br />
a Test and want to bowl a long<br />
spell then you have to plan and<br />
take preparation in order to bowl<br />
around 40 overs per day. You have<br />
to be mentally tough to do that. •<br />
helped Rajshahi to 92 from their<br />
stipulated 15 overs.<br />
Neaz Morshed and SA Babu took<br />
two wickets for Khulna.<br />
Khulna made a moderate start<br />
while chasing. Bashar (12) was<br />
bowled by medium-pacer Hannan<br />
in the fifth over.<br />
Four Khulna batsmen, including<br />
Bashar, reached double figures but<br />
was unable to score big as Khulna<br />
eventually fell three short of the<br />
target.<br />
Eight runs were required in the<br />
last over and at one stage, four runs<br />
were needed off the final delivery.<br />
Rajshahi bowler Alamgir was<br />
cleaned up by Khulna’s Mohammad<br />
Selim in the last ball of the<br />
innings.<br />
Alamgir was adjudged man of<br />
the match for his all-round performance.<br />
All Stars v Dhaka division<br />
All Stars captain Hasibul Hossain<br />
Shanto won the toss and elected to<br />
bat first.<br />
Opener Mehrab Hossain Opee<br />
lost his wicket early but the other<br />
in-form opening batsman Ehsanul<br />
Haque Seezan played another brilliant<br />
innings of 64 off 40 balls to<br />
guide his side to 113 for the loss of<br />
eight wickets in 15 overs.<br />
Shafaq al Zabir took three wickets<br />
for 18 runs for Dhaka division<br />
while Mohammad Rafique bagged<br />
one wicket conceding 25 runs.<br />
Dhaka were bundled out for 97<br />
in 14. 1 overs while chasing.<br />
Captain Sanwar Hossain topscored<br />
with 23 while Rafique<br />
scored 17.<br />
Talha Jubaer took three wickets<br />
for Dhaka while Masudur Rahman<br />
Mukul took two. •
20<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
Sports<br />
Neymar storms<br />
out of training<br />
• Reuters<br />
Brazilian striker Neymar stormed<br />
out of a Barcelona training session<br />
on Thursday as speculation mounted<br />
about a world-record move to<br />
PSG. A personal appearance in<br />
China next week was cancelled because<br />
he was said to be “busy with<br />
transfer business”.<br />
Pictures of Barca training in<br />
Miami for today’s game against<br />
arch-rival Real Madrid in the International<br />
Champions Trophy<br />
showed Neymar having to be kept<br />
apart from team mate Nelson Semedo<br />
before removing his bib and<br />
stomping away from the session.<br />
Suggestions that he might have<br />
weighty matters on his mind increased<br />
when Chinese travel agent<br />
Ctrip posted on its official Weibo<br />
account that it has had to cancel an<br />
event with Neymar because he is<br />
“busy with transfer business”.<br />
Ctrip said the event was scheduled<br />
for Shanghai next Monday.<br />
PSG have reportedly held discussions<br />
with Barcelona about a transfer<br />
for the 25 year-old that would<br />
smash the world record 89m pounds<br />
Manchester United paid for France<br />
midfielder Paul Pogba last year. •<br />
Cook misses<br />
ton but Stokes<br />
takes fight to<br />
South Africa<br />
• Reuters, London<br />
Alastair Cook missed out on a 31st<br />
Test hundred but Ben Stokes continued<br />
to take the fight to South Africa<br />
with an unbeaten counter-attacking<br />
half-century as England<br />
forged on to 269-6 at lunch on the<br />
second day of the third Test at The<br />
Oval yesterday. Cook, who had batted<br />
throughout the rain-interrupted<br />
opening day to anchor his side’s<br />
struggle to an overnight 171 for four,<br />
added six runs before being trapped<br />
lbw for 88 by Morne Morkel.<br />
The dismissal brought together<br />
Stokes and Jonny Bairstow, no<br />
strangers to putting the Proteas to<br />
the sword after their epic stand of<br />
399 in Cape Town last year, and the<br />
pair again combined sweetly in a<br />
sixth-wicket partnership of 75.<br />
Stokes raced to the 10th<br />
half-century of his Test career off<br />
72 balls before consolidating to<br />
move more sedately to 64 by lunch<br />
with seven thumping boundaries.<br />
After South Africa had taken<br />
the second new ball, Bairstow was<br />
quickly snaffled for a 52-ball 36 by<br />
Faf du Plessis at slip off Kagiso Rabada.<br />
The touring side were again<br />
hampered in their new ball assault<br />
by not being able to call on key<br />
paceman Vernon Philander. •<br />
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Neymar take part in a training session in Miami on Thursday<br />
Rooney returns in Everton win<br />
• AFP, Liverpool<br />
Wayne Rooney made his second<br />
competitive “debut” for his boyhood<br />
club Everton on Thursday,<br />
as Leighton Baines grabbed a 1-0<br />
Europa League third-round qualifying<br />
victory over Slovakian side<br />
MFK Ruzomberok.<br />
The former Manchester United<br />
and England captain had revealed<br />
in the build-up to the match at<br />
Goodison Park that it had been a<br />
lifelong ambition to play for Everton<br />
in Europe.<br />
Thirteen years after leaving<br />
Merseyside for Old Trafford, Rooney<br />
finally fulfilled that ambition although<br />
it was a frustrating evening<br />
for manager Ronald Koeman and<br />
his new-look Everton side.<br />
The £75-m ($98m) sale of Romelu<br />
Lukaku to United has funded<br />
a close-season of big expenditure<br />
by the club and Rooney joined<br />
England defender Michael Keane,<br />
former Ajax captain Davy Klaassen<br />
and ex-Southampton full-back<br />
Cuco Martina in making debuts.<br />
And while Rooney’s return was<br />
greeted with the expected enthusiasm<br />
by a sold-out, if reduced-capacity,<br />
Goodison Park crowd, last<br />
season’s third-placed Slovakian<br />
team provided dogged opposition.<br />
It was not until the 65th minute,<br />
when a Kevin Mirallas corner was<br />
headed out to Baines 25 yards from<br />
goal, that Evertonians could finally<br />
relax in this first leg tie.<br />
Everton's Wayne Rooney vies with MFK Ruzomberok's Matej Kochan during the ir<br />
Europa League third qualifying round, game one in Liverpool on Thursday AFP<br />
Baines struck a magnificent shot<br />
but it still required a kind deflection<br />
off Erik Daniel to wrong foot goalkeeper<br />
Matus Macik and fly into the<br />
visitors’ goal.<br />
Early signs had been promising<br />
for Everton when Ruzomberok<br />
captain Dominik Kruzliak sliced<br />
the ball horribly as Klaassen surged<br />
into the area and almost put the<br />
ball into his own goal before the<br />
keeper cleared.<br />
Then, on 19 minutes, Rooney<br />
spied his first sight of goal back<br />
in an Everton shirt after another<br />
flowing attack, which ended with<br />
Klaassen sweeping the ball wide<br />
for Baines to pick out the striker<br />
who spun and sent a powerful shot<br />
wide.<br />
Just before the half-hour, Dominic<br />
Calvert-Lewin, hero of England’s<br />
under-20 World Cup win this<br />
summer, showed great skill to win<br />
a tackle on his way into the box and<br />
his short cross found Rooney who<br />
slipped as he shot goalwards.<br />
Calvert-Lewin was involved<br />
again a minute later, this time setting<br />
up Klaassen with an intelligent<br />
pass, but the Dutchman shot<br />
into the side-netting with the goal<br />
seemingly at his mercy.<br />
It was looking an increasing<br />
danger that those misses might<br />
prove costly and before the break<br />
Daniel was given acres of room<br />
to deliver a 22-yard shot which<br />
Maarten Stekelenburg kept out,<br />
diving sharply to his right. •<br />
Sanchez<br />
due back<br />
with Arsenal<br />
tomorrow<br />
• AFP, London<br />
AFP<br />
Amid persistent reports that Alexis<br />
Sanchez wants to leave Arsenal,<br />
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger says<br />
the Chile forward will return to<br />
training tomorrow.<br />
Sanchez missed Arsenal’s<br />
pre-season tour to Australia and<br />
China while he rested after playing<br />
for his country at the Confederations<br />
Cup.<br />
The former Barcelona star’s absence<br />
couldn’t quell speculation<br />
he could be on the way out of the<br />
Emirates Stadium after refusing to<br />
accept Arsenal’s offer of a new contract.<br />
Sanchez’s current deal runs out<br />
at the end of the forthcoming season<br />
and with Arsenal so far unable<br />
to meet his reported demand<br />
for wages of £300,000-per-week<br />
($393,000, 336,000 euros), he has<br />
been linked with Paris Saint Germain,<br />
Manchester City, Juventus<br />
and Bayern Munich.<br />
Despite Sanchez’s apparent desire<br />
to leave, Wenger, who reportedly<br />
clashed with the striker after<br />
dropping him for a match at Liverpool<br />
last season, has remained<br />
steadfast in his belief he will be<br />
able to persuade the 28-year-old to<br />
stay. •
Sports<br />
21<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
Kohli, Mukund punish SL as India eye big win<br />
• Reuters, Galle<br />
1ST TEST, DAY 3<br />
INDIA 1ST INNINGS 600 in 133.1 overs<br />
(Dhawan 190, Pujara 153)<br />
SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS (OVERNIGHT<br />
154/5) R B<br />
Mathews c Kohli b Jadeja 83 130<br />
Perera not out 92 132<br />
Herath c Rahane b Jadeja 9 13<br />
Pradeep b Pandya 10 26<br />
Kumara b Jadeja 2 12<br />
Extras (w 1, lb 4) 5<br />
Total all out (78.3 Overs) <strong>29</strong>1<br />
Fall Of Wickets<br />
6-205 (Mathews), 7-241 (Herath), 8-280<br />
(Pradeep), 9-<strong>29</strong>1 (Kumara)<br />
Bowling<br />
Shami 12-2-45-2, Umesh 14-1-78-1, Ashwin<br />
27-5-84-1, Jadeja 22.3-3-67-3, Pandya<br />
3-0-13-1<br />
INDIA 2ND INNINGS R B<br />
Dhawan c Gunathilaka b Perera 14 14<br />
Mukund lbw b Gunathilaka 81 116<br />
Pujara c Mendis b Kumara 15 35<br />
Kohli not out 76 114<br />
Extras (w 2, lb 1) 3<br />
Total three wickets (46.3 overs) 189<br />
Fall Of Wickets<br />
1-19 (Dhawan), 2-56 (Pujara), 3-189<br />
(Mukund)<br />
Bowling<br />
Pradeep 10-2-44-0, Perera 12-0-42-1,<br />
Kumara 11-1-53-1, Herath 9-0-34-0, Gunathilaka<br />
4.3-0-15-1<br />
India lead by 498 runs<br />
DAY’S WATCH<br />
FOOTBALL<br />
TEN 2<br />
International Champions Cup<br />
5:30PM<br />
Chelsea v Inter Milan<br />
4:00AM<br />
Manchester City v Tottenham<br />
6:00AM<br />
Real Madrid v Barcelona<br />
CRICKET<br />
TEN 3<br />
10:30AM<br />
India Tour of Sri Lanka<br />
1st Test, Day 4<br />
STAR SPORTS SELECT HD 1<br />
4:00PM<br />
South Africa Tour of England<br />
3rd Test, Day 3<br />
12:00AM<br />
Natwest T20 Blast<br />
Essex v Gloucestershire<br />
A dominant India spared Sri Lanka<br />
the ignominy of a follow-on but<br />
Virat Kohli and Abhinav Mukund<br />
struck fluent half-centuries to<br />
tighten the touring side’s grip on<br />
the first Test yesterday.<br />
The world’s top-ranked Test<br />
team shot out their depleted host<br />
for <strong>29</strong>1 to take a 309-run first innings<br />
lead and were 189-3 after<br />
third day’s play at the Galle International<br />
Stadium.<br />
Sri Lanka, already a batsman<br />
short after Asela Gunaratne fractured<br />
his thumb, received a new<br />
setback when Rangana Herath,<br />
leading the side in absence of ailing<br />
regular skipper Dinesh Chandimal,<br />
left the field with a hand injury.<br />
India captain Kohli was unbeaten<br />
on 76 at stumps, after adding 133<br />
runs with Mukund whose dismissal<br />
for 81 signalled the end of the<br />
day’s play.<br />
Earlier, Sri Lanka resumed on<br />
154-5 and could have been in bigger<br />
trouble but for Dilruwan Perera’s<br />
gutsy 92 not out.<br />
Angelo Mathews held the key to<br />
Sri Lanka’s survival and the former<br />
captain made 83 before Ravindra<br />
Jadeja (3-67) sent him back.<br />
The spinner sent down a flighted<br />
delivery and Mathews moved<br />
towards leg and slapped it straight<br />
to Kohli at short cover. Mathews hit<br />
11 boundaries and a six.<br />
Perera enjoyed an eventful stay<br />
at the crease.<br />
Two balls after an appeal for a<br />
catch off his boot was turned down,<br />
Perera was adjudged lbw to Jadeja.<br />
The decision was overturned after<br />
replays suggested the ball would<br />
have sailed over the stumps.<br />
Perera hit Ravichandran Ashwin<br />
India’s Virat Kohli plays a shot during the third day of their first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle yesterday<br />
for a six and took a single off the next<br />
ball to bring up his fifth Test fifty.<br />
Jadeja dismissed Herath for nine<br />
and debutant Hardik Pandya castled<br />
Nuwan Pradeep for 10 to claim<br />
his first Test wicket.<br />
Perera was eight runs away from<br />
his maiden Test century when he<br />
ran out of partners. His belligerent<br />
knock included 10 fours and four<br />
sixes.<br />
Perera then returned to dismiss<br />
Shikhar Dhawan for 14 after India<br />
opted against enforcing the follow-on<br />
and Lahiru Kumara sent<br />
back Cheteshwar Pujara for 15. •<br />
Warner hits back in bitter Australia pay row<br />
• AFP, Sydney<br />
Australia vice-captain Dave Warner<br />
has accused Cricket Australia of<br />
wrongly blaming players for not<br />
resolving a bitter pay dispute saga<br />
which threatens next month’s Test<br />
tour to Bangladesh.<br />
CA chief executive James Sutherland<br />
upped the ante on Thursday<br />
when he said unless intensive talks<br />
over the next few days produced<br />
a compromise, his organisation<br />
would seek the intervention of an<br />
industrial umpire to end the impasse.<br />
The Australian Cricketers’ Association<br />
hit back, saying CA was<br />
to blame for the crisis dragging on<br />
and that it had “lost the players”<br />
through its hardball tactics.<br />
Warner, who has been outspoken<br />
in the push for players to keep<br />
a 20-year revenue-sharing arrangement<br />
in place against CA opposition,<br />
also fired back at the governing<br />
body.<br />
“This Baggy Green (cap) means<br />
AFP<br />
the world to me,” he wrote on Instagram<br />
late Thursday beneath a<br />
picture of himself in his Test kit.<br />
“Myself and all the other players,<br />
female and male, want to get<br />
out there and play.<br />
National<br />
Volleyball<br />
semis today<br />
• Tribune Report<br />
The semi-finals line-up of the National<br />
Volleyball Championship<br />
final round <strong>2017</strong> was confirmed<br />
yesterday.<br />
Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh<br />
Navy, Power Development Board<br />
and Titas Gas reached the last four<br />
in the men’s 28th edition of the<br />
national championship while Chittagong,<br />
Rajshahi, Team BJMC and<br />
Bangladesh Ansar moved to the<br />
semi-finals of the women’s 23rd<br />
edition.<br />
Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh<br />
Navy, PDB and Titas defeated Bhola,<br />
Pabna, Khulna and Chittagong<br />
University by 3-0 sets respectively<br />
while Narail, BJMC, Bangladesh<br />
Ansar beat Khulna, Bangladesh<br />
Police and Chittagong University<br />
respectively by the same margin in<br />
the women’s event. •<br />
Swimmer<br />
Sagor finishes<br />
82nd in World<br />
Championship<br />
• Tribune Report<br />
Bangladesh swimmer Mahfizur<br />
Rahman Sagor finished second out<br />
of 10 participants in the heat of the<br />
men’s 50m freestyle event yesterday<br />
in the 17th Fina World Championship,<br />
which is being held in<br />
Budapest, Hungary.<br />
With a timing of 24.16s, Sagor’s<br />
position however, was 82nd in the<br />
heat summary, among 118 athletes<br />
who competed in a total of 13 heats.<br />
The Bangladesh Navy swimmer<br />
took second spot in the fifth heat of<br />
the day out of 10 participants. •<br />
“We offered Aus$30m ($24m) of<br />
our money to grassroots as a peace<br />
plan. It was ignored. We asked for<br />
mediation twice before and it was<br />
rejected. Now CA says there is a<br />
crisis.<br />
“The players are unemployed<br />
and some are hurting financially<br />
but continue to train. Administrators<br />
all still being paid. How is it our<br />
fault no deal is done?”<br />
After months of negotiations,<br />
the players and CA have failed to<br />
reach agreement, leaving 230 cricketers<br />
unemployed since the end of<br />
June when their contracts expired.<br />
Sutherland went on the attack<br />
after knocking back recent compromise<br />
proposals from the ACA, who<br />
remain adamant that players must<br />
receive a percentage of the game’s<br />
gross revenues. •
22<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
Showtime<br />
Bhaijaan to host Bigg Boss 11<br />
D-Rockstar<br />
Shuvo to<br />
release<br />
new<br />
album<br />
this Eid<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Winner of the first D-Rockstar,<br />
Shuvo moved to Australia back<br />
in 2014 to pursue higher studies.<br />
Much to the delight of his fans, the<br />
singer has returned home for good.<br />
Shuvo continued to indulge in<br />
music while studying and being<br />
involved in other fields, such as<br />
event management. “To be honest,<br />
I was very homesick. I kept coming<br />
back the whole time I was in<br />
Sydney and I finally decided that<br />
living abroad wasn’t for me. So,<br />
I came back after finishing my<br />
studies and I want to do music full<br />
time from now on,” Shuvo said.<br />
Shuvo studied music<br />
production in Australia and wants<br />
to put everything he studied to<br />
good use in his career. He is set to<br />
release a new album during Eid<br />
ul Adha. A music video of a song<br />
titled “Atopor” from the upcoming<br />
album has already been released.•<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
After having certain personal clashes in the last<br />
two seasons of the show, rumours had been<br />
making rounds suggesting that Salman Khan<br />
will refrain from hosting Bigg Boss 11. However,<br />
Bigg Boss had other plans in mind and was not<br />
ready to let Bhaijaan go so easily. The makers of<br />
the show have finally confirmed that the actor<br />
will be hosting the 11 th season of the popular<br />
reality show.<br />
Sources confirmed that Salman Khan will<br />
be flying down all the way from Morocco to<br />
shoot the promos for the latest season on<br />
Sunday, <strong>July</strong> 30. Furthermore, reports<br />
suggest that the show will have an<br />
entirely new theme, which will be<br />
unveiled with the first promo to<br />
be released soon. The channel is<br />
likely to start the show earlier<br />
than previous years, starting<br />
the season in September<br />
instead of October.<br />
Another report also<br />
claimed that there is<br />
a new twist in the<br />
selection of commoners<br />
for this season. “They<br />
need to be in pairs of<br />
mother-daughter,<br />
father-son, siblings,<br />
to make it (the show)<br />
more interesting and<br />
create sparks as they<br />
will be able to reveal<br />
something new about<br />
each other’s past,<br />
which could be spicy<br />
and controversial,”<br />
a source close to the<br />
makers confirmed.•<br />
WHAT TO WATCH<br />
Big Game<br />
Zee Studio HD, 6:20pm<br />
A young teenager camping in the<br />
woods helps rescue the President<br />
of the United States when Air<br />
Force One is shot down near his<br />
campsite.<br />
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Onni<br />
Tommila, Ray Stevenson<br />
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider<br />
Zee Studio, 11:25pm<br />
Video game adventuress Lara Croft<br />
comes to life in a movie where she<br />
races against time and villains to<br />
recover powerful ancient artifacts.<br />
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight,<br />
Iain Glen<br />
Cars<br />
Star Movies, 4:39pm<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, Bonnie<br />
Hunt, Paul Newman<br />
Apocalypto<br />
Sony PIX, 9:00pm<br />
As the Mayan kingdom faces its<br />
decline, the rulers insist the key to<br />
prosperity is to build more temples<br />
and offer human sacrifices. Jaguar<br />
Paw, a young man captured for<br />
sacrifice, flees to avoid his fate.<br />
Cast: Gerardo Taracena, Raoul<br />
Max Trujillo, Dalia Hernández<br />
I Am Legend<br />
HBO, 11:39pm<br />
Years after a plague kills most<br />
of humanity and transforms<br />
the rest into monsters, the<br />
sole survivor in New York City<br />
struggles valiantly to find a<br />
cure.<br />
Cast: Will Smith, Alice Braga,<br />
Charlie Tahan
Showtime<br />
23<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
Bollywood<br />
mourns the<br />
untimely<br />
death of Inder<br />
Kumar<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Bollywood actor Inder Kumar,<br />
best known for his performance in<br />
Wanted alongside Salman Khan,<br />
passed away on Friday, <strong>July</strong> 28, at<br />
the age of 45. Sources close to the<br />
actor’s family confirmed that Inder<br />
suffered a massive heart attack at<br />
around 12:30am, at his residence<br />
in Andheri, Mumbai.<br />
The actor has appeared on<br />
several films including the likes of<br />
Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye, Tumko<br />
Na Bhool Paayenge and Khiladiyon<br />
Ka Khiladi. He was also seen<br />
donning the role of Mihir Virani<br />
in Ekta Kapoor’s long running TV<br />
soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu<br />
Thi. It has been learnt that Inder<br />
was currently working on a film<br />
titled, Phati Padi Hai Yaar.<br />
Several actors and actresses<br />
took to social media to condole<br />
the untimely death of the actor.<br />
Actress Raveena Tandon, who<br />
worked with Inder in Kahin Pyaar<br />
Na Ho Jaaye back in 1996, posted<br />
on her Twitter handle: “Omg<br />
shocking news.worked with him in<br />
‘khiladiyon ka khiladi’ Too young<br />
to go.May his soul rest in peace.<br />
God give strength to his family.”<br />
Veteran actor Anupam Kher<br />
wrote, “Deeply saddened by<br />
untimely demise<br />
of #InderKumar.<br />
Have acted with<br />
him in few films.<br />
He was very<br />
simple, humble<br />
and a very<br />
committed actor,”<br />
while Abhishek<br />
Bachchan shared,<br />
“God! Just read of<br />
the passing of Inder Kumar. Very<br />
sad. He was such a nice guy and<br />
actor. Always was very kind to<br />
me. Rest in peace.”<br />
Actor Riteish Deshmukh<br />
posted, “Too young to go, deeply<br />
saddened by the passing away<br />
of the actor #InderKumar - he<br />
always met with a smile. #RIP<br />
condolences to the family.” •<br />
Nolan reveals why he keeps Tom Hardy’s face out of his films<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Filmmaker Christopher Nolan<br />
has explained why he decided to<br />
cover up Tom Hardy’s face again<br />
in Dunkirk after The Dark Knight<br />
Rises.<br />
The Inception director and actor<br />
have reunited for the highlyacclaimed<br />
World War II drama,<br />
which hit theaters on <strong>July</strong> 21. The<br />
pair’s third reunion for Dunkirk<br />
once again features Hardy’s face<br />
being largely obscured on-screen<br />
due to his character’s air mask. It<br />
was similar to the time when the<br />
actor played the role of Bane in<br />
The Dark Knight Rises.<br />
When Christopher Nolan was<br />
asked if the two costume choices<br />
were a coincidence, the director<br />
told Press Association, “I was<br />
pretty thrilled with what he did<br />
in The Dark Knight Rises with two<br />
eyes and a couple of eyebrows and<br />
a bit of forehead. So I thought,<br />
‘Let’s see what he can do with no<br />
forehead, no real eyebrows, and<br />
maybe one eye.’<br />
“Of course Tom, being Tom,<br />
what he does with single eye<br />
acting is far beyond what anyone<br />
else can do with their whole body,<br />
that is just the unique talent of the<br />
man, he’s extraordinary.”<br />
But it’s not only Christopher<br />
Nolan, Hardy’s face was also<br />
covered up for the beginning parts<br />
of George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury<br />
Road and behind a scraggly beard<br />
in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s<br />
The Revenant.<br />
Nolan, who has been linked<br />
with directing a James Bond<br />
movie, has also backed Hardy to<br />
play the iconic spy. •
24<br />
SATURDAY, JULY <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>DT</strong><br />
Back Page<br />
RUSSIA HITS BACK OVER SANCTIONS,<br />
ORDERS US DIPLOMATS TO LEAVE › 6<br />
RAFIQUE: PREPARATION KEY<br />
FOR BOWLING LONG SPELLS › 19<br />
BHAIJAAN TO HOST<br />
BIGG BOSS 11 › 22<br />
INTERNATIONAL TIGER DAY TODAY<br />
Sundarbans tiger census to confirm<br />
population by 2019<br />
• Hedait Hossain, Khulna<br />
WILDLIFE <br />
It will take two years to determine<br />
the exact number of Royal Bengal<br />
Tigers living in the Bangladesh part<br />
of the Sundarbans, according to officials<br />
conducting a census in the<br />
country’s lone natural tiger habitat.<br />
The Forest Department is conducting<br />
the census in collaboration<br />
with WildTeam, an NGO working<br />
for tiger conservation in the country,<br />
under the Bengal Tiger Conservation<br />
Activity project funded by<br />
the USAID.<br />
The census, which began in November<br />
last year, is using camera<br />
trapping methodology to determine<br />
the overall tiger population<br />
in the world’s largest mangrove<br />
forest, of which around 60% lies<br />
within Bangladesh.<br />
The most recent census which<br />
concluded in 2015 recorded a tiger<br />
population of only 106 in the Bangladeshi<br />
Sundarbans, down from<br />
440 in 2004. Project officials will<br />
want to know if this number has<br />
held up, or fallen further.<br />
Data collection for the current<br />
census has already been completed<br />
in the Satkhira range of the mangrove<br />
forest and will be extended to<br />
the Khulna, Sharankhola and Chandpai<br />
ranges by the end of 2019.<br />
Sources familiar with the project<br />
said the primary monitoring<br />
and count using the cameras in<br />
Satkhira began on December 1 and<br />
ended on March 15. A total of 45<br />
officials and experts divided into<br />
six teams conducted the survey to<br />
determine the tiger population in<br />
Satkhira range.<br />
In addition to recording tiger<br />
numbers, the project is also tracking<br />
their population density, movement<br />
and activity.<br />
“We set up 804 cameras at 402<br />
stations in the range to collect data<br />
of tiger movement and density in<br />
the area,” said Md Sayed Ali, divisional<br />
forest officer at the Sundarbans<br />
West Zone. “Each camera<br />
takes a photo every 5-10 seconds.”<br />
Using photos taken by the cameras,<br />
the population in Satkhira<br />
range will be determined by analysing<br />
the stripes on the tigers –<br />
each tiger has its own unique set of<br />
stripes, similar to fingerprints for<br />
humans.<br />
“We will have the accurate number<br />
of tigers in Satkhira<br />
by September,” Sayed<br />
added.<br />
Besides the camera<br />
trapping method, the<br />
team has also surveyed<br />
tiger activity in the canals.<br />
Amir Hossain Chowdhury,<br />
director of the<br />
census project, said:<br />
“The photos are being<br />
analysed using the latest<br />
technologies. Once<br />
the analysis is done, we<br />
will get an idea about the<br />
population density and<br />
footprints of tigers in<br />
Satkhira range.”<br />
Once the census in<br />
Satkhira is complete, the<br />
project will progress to<br />
survey the other three<br />
ranges of the Sundarbans,<br />
he added.<br />
“It might take two<br />
more years to complete<br />
the survey in the entire<br />
Sundarbans and find the<br />
exact number of tigers in the forest,”<br />
Amir said.<br />
The Forest Department has undertaken<br />
the project following the<br />
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN<br />
declaration at the International Tiger<br />
Forum which took place in St<br />
Petersburg, Russia in 2010.<br />
According to the Wildlife Management<br />
and Nature Conservation<br />
Division, the previous census began<br />
in November 2013 and ended in<br />
2015, also using a camera trapping<br />
method.<br />
At that time, the census covered<br />
just the areas with high population<br />
density, which amounted to only<br />
26% of the 6,017 square kilometres<br />
of the mangrove forest inside<br />
Bangladesh.<br />
Thirty officials conducted the<br />
census using photos collected by<br />
90 cameras, and recorded only 106<br />
tigers living in the Sundarbans.<br />
The population was 453 in 1982<br />
and 440 in 2004, according to the<br />
Forest Department. It attributed<br />
the massive drop in numbers in<br />
just a decade to illegal poaching of<br />
wildlife and increasing human-tiger<br />
conflict.<br />
At least 49 tigers were killed<br />
between 2001 and 2014, while 232<br />
people were killed in tiger-human<br />
conflict during the same period, an<br />
official of the Forest Department<br />
said.<br />
The Royal Bengal Tiger has been<br />
listed as “endangered” on the IUCN<br />
Red List of Threatened Species<br />
since 2010. •<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 />
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