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SECOND EDITION<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong> | Shrabon 23, 1424, Zul-qadah 13, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 91 | 24 pages plus 8-page world supplement | Price: Tk10<br />
PTI<br />
What does the China-India<br />
standoff mean for Bangladesh? › 2<br />
DT<br />
World Tribune<br />
Venezuela crisis<br />
deepens<br />
WORLD SUPPLEMENT<br />
Key figures in Venezuela political crisis › 2<br />
Long history of US leakers to media<br />
facing charges › 3<br />
WHY VENEZUELA IS<br />
2 IN CRISIS<br />
3<br />
LONG HISTORY OF US<br />
LEAKERS TO MEDIA<br />
FACING CHARGES<br />
BEING OUTSIDE COULD<br />
BECOME DEADLY IN<br />
7 SOUTH ASIA<br />
Being outside could become deadly<br />
in South Asia › 7
2<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
What does the China-India standoff<br />
mean for Bangladesh?<br />
• Syed Zainul Abedin, Ashis<br />
Biswas and Shahariar Sajib<br />
SPECIAL <br />
The international border between India and China at Nathu La Pass, Sikkim<br />
Himalayan border standoff<br />
India and China have each deployed around 3,000 troops to positions<br />
on the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction – the point where the three<br />
Himalayan regions of Sikkim, Tibet and Bhutan meet<br />
AFGHANISTAN<br />
N EPA L<br />
PAKISTAN<br />
Arabia n<br />
S e a<br />
500 miles<br />
800km<br />
H<br />
I M<br />
Darjeeling<br />
CHI N A<br />
Mount<br />
Kailash<br />
I NDI A<br />
A L<br />
B a y<br />
o f<br />
Benga l<br />
A Y<br />
I NDI A<br />
Sources: Global Security, Press Trust of India, Stratfor<br />
A<br />
SIKKI M<br />
Gangtok: Headquarters<br />
of 17 Mountain Division<br />
S<br />
Kalimpong: Headquarters<br />
of 27 Mountain Division<br />
WEST<br />
BENGAL<br />
CHI N A<br />
Mount<br />
Everest<br />
NEPAL<br />
Siliguri<br />
Corridor<br />
I NDI A<br />
CHI N A<br />
ARUNACHAL PRADESH<br />
Largely claimed by China<br />
SIKKIM<br />
BHUTAN<br />
INDIA<br />
BANGLADESH<br />
B a y o f Benga l<br />
MYANMAR<br />
125 miles<br />
200km<br />
TIB E T<br />
AUTON O M O U S<br />
R EGION<br />
Doklam Plateau: Disputed<br />
territory. China is building road<br />
towards Gamochen, capable of<br />
taking weight of military vehicles<br />
Dhoka La:<br />
Standoff<br />
at border<br />
tri-junction<br />
Gamochen<br />
BHUT A N<br />
Thimphu<br />
25 miles<br />
40km<br />
© GRAPHIC NEWS<br />
PHOTO: COURTESY<br />
Chinese and Indian military forces<br />
have been in a standoff in the<br />
Doklam area at the tri-junction of<br />
the India-China-Bhutan border.<br />
The latest round of dispute started<br />
on June 18, <strong>2017</strong> when Indian<br />
troops opposed the building of a<br />
road by Chinese forces at Doklam,<br />
which is under China’s control but<br />
is claimed by Bhutan.<br />
The two countries have never<br />
been so close to a confrontational<br />
situation since 1962.<br />
The crisis began when China<br />
claimed the Doklam plateau, located<br />
in the north of Bhutan, as part<br />
of its territory, to build a link road<br />
which would allow China access<br />
to the Chumbi valley from where<br />
the Siliguri Corridor, aka Chicken’s<br />
Neck Corridor of India, would be<br />
within the range of Chinese artillery.<br />
Apart from its responsibility to<br />
maintain Bhutan’s territorial integrity<br />
as part of a long-term agreement,<br />
India would never want to<br />
lose its control over the Siliguri<br />
Corridor as it is the sole route that<br />
connects the northeast of India<br />
with the rest of the country.<br />
The standoff between the two<br />
mighty neighbours puts Bangladesh<br />
in precarious situation, not in<br />
the least because it has extensive<br />
ties with both countries on the political,<br />
economic and military front.<br />
Security experts in Bangladesh<br />
and India are already speculating<br />
that in the event China takes the<br />
Doklam plateau, India would want<br />
to use Bangladesh as a transit for<br />
military purposes, which would<br />
leave Bangladesh in a serious predicament.<br />
Bangladesh is heavily dependent<br />
on India for water, trade, and<br />
even food security, not to mention<br />
the two countries share a more<br />
than 4,000km border, one of the<br />
largest borders between two countries.<br />
On the flip side, China is en<br />
route to becoming the single largest<br />
individual investor in Bangladesh.<br />
Recently, the two countries<br />
have signed a $13.6bn worth of<br />
deals in trade and investment, and<br />
China has promised to provide<br />
Bangladesh with a loan assistance<br />
of $20bn. Ever since the fiasco surrounding<br />
the financing of the Padma<br />
Bridge project, Bangladesh has<br />
become increasingly dependent<br />
on China for its infrastructure and<br />
development projects. According<br />
to Bangladesh government statistics,<br />
a total of $61 million was<br />
channelled from China into Bangladesh<br />
as foreign direct investment<br />
in 2016.<br />
Being a relatively weaker country<br />
in what can become a reasonably<br />
volatile region, Bangladesh<br />
cannot afford to put all the eggs in<br />
one basket. It is also not clear that<br />
how long India’s Nehruvian defence<br />
policy would last, especially<br />
amidst the ongoing rise of right<br />
wing politics in India, with BJP<br />
often playing up anti-Bangladesh<br />
sentiments in the east and northeastern<br />
India.<br />
Surrounded by a highly<br />
militarised zone – northeastern<br />
India and a semi-hostile neighbour<br />
in Myanmar – Bangladesh<br />
needs some degree of military<br />
preparation in the event it finds<br />
itself in any worst-case scenario.<br />
In that case, ironically, Bangladesh<br />
would have to resort to Chinese<br />
armaments for their affordability<br />
and reasonable standard. Recently,<br />
Bangladesh has procured two<br />
submarines from China for $203<br />
million. On the flipside, Bangladesh<br />
signed a comprehensive defence<br />
agreement with India during<br />
the Prime Minister’s latest tour<br />
to India. Although details of the<br />
agreement are yet to be made<br />
public, media reports suggest the<br />
India’s underlying motive for the<br />
agreement is to have some sort<br />
of supervision over Bangladesh’s<br />
defense cooperation with China.<br />
Not all is however lost for Bangladesh.<br />
There are a couple of scenarios<br />
which could lead both the<br />
parties to avoid such hostility.<br />
Firstly, India is a whopping $1.2bn<br />
market for Chinese goods and products.<br />
Secondly, the growing Indian<br />
economy will go through massive<br />
infrastructural development for<br />
which it would have to resort to<br />
Chinese products and technology.<br />
Thirdly, both of the countries<br />
might stay away from engaging in a<br />
conflict fearing prolonged regional<br />
instability and involvement of other<br />
foreign nations.<br />
According to security expert Maj<br />
Gen (retd) Abdur Rashid, the area<br />
of contention is very remote and<br />
almost impassable as it remains<br />
under snow for eight months in a<br />
year. As a result, the cost for operating<br />
a war in that region would be<br />
huge for both the countries.<br />
“But if the countries do engage<br />
in war, it may cause regional polarisation<br />
throughout Asia. Japan<br />
and the ASEAN states might take<br />
the side of India owing to the aggressive<br />
advancement of China towards<br />
the South China Sea.”<br />
“In that case, it would be difficult<br />
for China to carry out the One<br />
Belt, One Road initiative,” the security<br />
expert added.<br />
The risk of a confrontation cannot<br />
be completely ruled out as it<br />
involves the image of China at the<br />
global level.<br />
M Shahiduzzaman, a professor<br />
of International Relations at Dhaka<br />
University told the Dhaka Tribune:<br />
“If China compromises on the issue<br />
of Doklam, it has to compromise<br />
on its territorial claims forever, including<br />
Arunachal.”<br />
He also opined that India’s economy<br />
would collapse within a week<br />
if it goes to a war with China.<br />
According to former ambassador<br />
Humayun Kabir, both the conflicting<br />
parties should consider the<br />
interest of Bhutan as it would suffer<br />
the most should any confrontation<br />
take place.<br />
“India is pressing the Bhutanese<br />
government to get back to the<br />
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal<br />
motor vehicles agreement (BBIN<br />
MVA) on one hand, while China is<br />
looking forward to building a link<br />
road in its territory, on the other.<br />
But no one is considering the threat<br />
to Bhutan’s integrity because of<br />
these projects,” the former diplomat<br />
added.<br />
Government officials of Bangladesh<br />
however said the BBIN agreement<br />
may end up being a connecting<br />
route between Bangladesh and<br />
India, as Bhutan and Nepal has already<br />
expressed reluctance to be a<br />
part of this endeavour. •
News<br />
MONDAY,<br />
3<br />
AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
BISHWAJIT MURDER<br />
HC upholds death penalty for two<br />
Family unhappy with verdict<br />
• Ashif Islam Shaon<br />
COURTS <br />
The High Court has upheld death<br />
for two out of eight Bangladesh<br />
Chhatra League men initially sentenced<br />
to hang by a lower court for<br />
killing Bishwajit Das in old Dhaka.<br />
The two convicts are former<br />
leaders of Chhatra League in Jagannath<br />
University Rafiqul Islam<br />
Shakil and Rajon Talukdar.<br />
Delivering its verdict on death<br />
references and appeals yesterday,<br />
the High Court bench of Justice Md<br />
Ruhul Quddus and Justice Bhishmadev<br />
Chakraborty commuted<br />
sentences of four to life imprisonment<br />
while the remaining two – Md<br />
Saiful Islam and Qayum Mia Tipu —<br />
were acquitted.<br />
The four who were given the<br />
benefit of doubt are Mahfuzur Rahman<br />
Nahid, Emdadul Haque Emdad,<br />
Rasheduzzaman Shaon and<br />
Noor-e-Alam Limon.<br />
Among 13 accused who were<br />
sentenced to life imprisonment by<br />
the trial court in December, 2013,<br />
two — AHM Kibria and Golam<br />
Mustafa — appealed against their<br />
sentences. The High Court acquitted<br />
them, but made no comment<br />
about the remaining 11, who are<br />
now on the run.<br />
The fugitives are Saiful Islam<br />
Saiful, Tarique Bin Zohur, Azizur<br />
Rahman, Al Amin Sheikh, Alauddin,<br />
Obaidul Quader Tahsin, Imran<br />
Hossain, Khandaker Md Yunus Ali,<br />
Monirul Haque Pavel, Mosharraf<br />
Hossain and Kamrul Hasan.<br />
A total of 21 members of Chhatra<br />
League, the student front of<br />
the ruling Awami League, were<br />
convicted of murdering Bishwajit,<br />
a tailor by profession, on the way<br />
to his tailoring shop at Laxmibazar<br />
in Old Dhaka on December 9, 2012<br />
during a strike enforced by the<br />
BNP-led opposition.<br />
Bishwajit, then 24, was hacked<br />
and beaten to death by the Chhatra<br />
League men. The brutal killing in<br />
broad daylight was caught on cameras<br />
of four TV channels and several<br />
newspapers.<br />
As law enforcers present in the<br />
area did not stop the attackers, a<br />
rickshaw puller rescued and took<br />
him to a hospital where on-duty<br />
doctors declared him dead.<br />
Terming the attack “a senseless<br />
act of merciless murder,” the High<br />
Court lambasted former sub-inspector<br />
of Sutrapur Police Station<br />
Jahedul Haque, saying he made an<br />
incomplete report on Bishwajit’s<br />
death.<br />
It asked the police chief to find<br />
out if Jahedul was negligent while<br />
conducting the inquest into the incident.<br />
The court also criticised Dr Md<br />
Maksud, who performed Bishwajit’s<br />
autopsy at Sir Salimullah Medical<br />
College, saying he did not properly<br />
discharge his duties.<br />
The Ministry of Heath and Family<br />
Welfare, Directorate General of<br />
Health Services, and Bangladesh<br />
Medical and Dental Council were<br />
ordered to check if there was any<br />
negligence by Maksud.<br />
The High Court called on Human<br />
Rights and Peace for Bangladesh<br />
(HRPB) President Advocate<br />
Manzill Murshid to keep an eye<br />
on the inquiries and report to the<br />
court from time to time.<br />
Family’s reactions<br />
Bishwajit’s family and relatives,<br />
who were happy with the lower<br />
court’s verdict, said the High Court<br />
verdict acquitting four of the 21 accused<br />
pained them unspeakably.<br />
“There is no word to describe<br />
our grief over this verdict,” Ananta<br />
Kumar Das, father of Bishwajit,<br />
told journalists.<br />
They urged the authorities concerned<br />
to uphold the earlier judgment.<br />
Court’s observation<br />
Announcing the judgement, the<br />
High Court bench said: “Nowadays,<br />
we notice that the glorious<br />
history of student politics has seriously<br />
been stigmatised by some of<br />
the derailed youths who have got<br />
involved in criminal activities such<br />
as extortions, arms and drug trading,<br />
murder and violence.<br />
“Some political leaders patronise<br />
these youths. Even, we see<br />
the youths beat their teachers as<br />
the latter do not let them follow<br />
unfair means in public examinations.<br />
Also, some of them who are<br />
involved in politics are seen forcing<br />
general students to take part in political<br />
activities with them.”<br />
The court said it was the duty<br />
of national leaders to address these<br />
problems and authorities at educational<br />
institutions should adopt<br />
policy to stop such practice. •<br />
Amid US-Russia feud, Tillerson and Lavrov hold talks<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
The United States and Russia are<br />
feuding, expelling diplomats in<br />
what Washington calls a new post-<br />
Cold War low. But that didn’t stop<br />
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson<br />
and Russian Foreign Minister<br />
Sergey Lavrov from meeting for the<br />
first time since the Trump administration<br />
imposed new sanctions<br />
against Moscow.<br />
As investigations plow ahead<br />
into Russia’s meddling in the 2016<br />
US presidential election, the two<br />
held talks Sunday on the sidelines<br />
of an Asian regional gathering in<br />
the Philippines. They smiled and<br />
exchanged pleasantries but made<br />
no substantive remarks to journalists<br />
briefly permitted to observe<br />
the start of the meeting.<br />
Neither Tillerson nor Lavrov<br />
responded to a shouted question<br />
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,<br />
shakes hands prior to their talks in Moscow on April 12, <strong>2017</strong><br />
AP<br />
about how the new US penalties<br />
might affect their discussions.<br />
More than an hour later, Tillerson<br />
emerged from the meeting and<br />
boarded his motorcade without<br />
commenting.<br />
Bishwajit Das, 24, was beaten and hacked to death by Bangladesh Chhatra League men on December 9, 2012<br />
Tillerson and President Donald<br />
Trump opposed the sanctions<br />
package, passed by Congress in<br />
July, that makes it harder for Trump<br />
to ever ease penalties on Russia.<br />
Trump signed the bill last week,<br />
but called it “seriously flawed.”<br />
The White House said Trump’s<br />
opposition stemmed from the bill’s<br />
failure to grant the president sufficient<br />
flexibility on when to lift<br />
sanctions. Trump’s critics saw his<br />
objections as one more sign that<br />
he is too eager to pursue closer ties<br />
to Russia, or to protect the former<br />
Cold War foe from penalties designed<br />
to punish Moscow for its actions<br />
in Ukraine, election meddling<br />
and other troublesome behavior.<br />
Even so, Trump’s administration<br />
has argued there’s good reason for<br />
the US to seek a more productive relationship.<br />
Tillerson has cited modest<br />
signs of progress in Syria, where<br />
the US and Russia recently brokered<br />
a cease-fire in the war-torn country’s<br />
southwest, as a sign there’s fertile<br />
ground for cooperation.<br />
Yet Russia continues to chafe at<br />
the suggestion it interfered in the<br />
US election. The former Russian<br />
ambassador in Washington, Sergey<br />
COLLECTED<br />
Kislyak, denied those allegations in<br />
an interview Saturday on Russian<br />
state television. He said he was<br />
merely carrying out his duties as a<br />
diplomat when he met with members<br />
of Trump’s campaign team.<br />
“Any diplomat, Russian or not,<br />
works to better understand the<br />
policy of a country he’s posted to,<br />
figure out what the new administration’s<br />
course is and understand<br />
where cooperation is possible,”<br />
Kislyak said.<br />
Still, a US Justice Department<br />
investigation is moving ahead into<br />
Russia’s election interference and<br />
potential Trump campaign collusion.<br />
Trump denies any collusion and<br />
has repeatedly questioned US intelligence<br />
about Moscow’s involvement.<br />
Trump has tried to turn the<br />
issue into a political rallying cry, arguing<br />
that the controversy is an attempt<br />
by Democrats and the media<br />
to undermine the many millions of<br />
Americans who voted for him. •
4<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
No progress made two years after<br />
blogger Niloy’s murder<br />
• Md Sanaul Islam Tipu<br />
CRIME <br />
Even after two years, there has<br />
been no significant headway in<br />
the investigation of the murder of<br />
blogger Niloy on <strong>August</strong> 7, 2015.<br />
Niladri Chatterjee Niloy, 27, was<br />
popularly known as Niloy Neel on<br />
blogging platforms and Facebook,<br />
was killed by four assailants with<br />
machetes posing as prospective<br />
tenants at his Goran residence in<br />
Dhaka.<br />
At least 23 dates were fixed by<br />
Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrates<br />
Court asking the investigators<br />
to submit their probe report<br />
but the investigators have missed<br />
every extended deadline provided.<br />
Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan<br />
Magistrate Lutfor Rahman<br />
Shishir has again asked the Investigation<br />
Officer of the case, Counter<br />
Terrorism and Transnational Crime<br />
(CTTC) of Police, Inspector Bahauddin<br />
Faruki, to submit the probe<br />
report by September 17, yesterday.<br />
Niloy, well known for his secularist<br />
and atheist views worked for<br />
an NGO called Research and Development<br />
Collective, was afraid<br />
for his safety that summer saying<br />
he was being followed and tried to<br />
file a general diary with the police<br />
twice but was instead told by a police<br />
officer to “leave the country as<br />
soon as possible.”<br />
Officers at both Khilgaon and<br />
Shahjahanpur police stations<br />
claimed that Niloy’s concerns did<br />
not fall within their jurisdictions<br />
as they sent him back and forth<br />
between the stations, with one officer<br />
explaining off the record that<br />
police were unwilling to register<br />
such diaries because the recording<br />
officer would be held responsible<br />
for the safety of the complainant.<br />
His post-mortem examination<br />
revealed 14 stab wounds with eight<br />
deep wounds that killed him on the<br />
spot.<br />
After the murder, the victim’s<br />
wife Ashamoni had lodged the<br />
murder case with Khilgaon Police<br />
Station.<br />
Law enforcers arrested eight<br />
suspects, speaking to the Dhaka<br />
Tribune investigators said they<br />
found involvement of members of<br />
the banned militant organisations<br />
Ansarullah Bangla Team and Ansar-Al-Islam<br />
behind Niloy’s murder.<br />
Tarikul Islam, Masum Rana,<br />
Saad Al Nahiyan, Kamal Hossain,<br />
Kawsar Hossain, Mortuja Faysal,<br />
Mufti Abdul Gaffar and Abdur<br />
Rashid—were arrested in connection<br />
with Niloy’s murder.<br />
Investigation Officer of the case,<br />
CTTC inspector Bahauddin Faruki<br />
said: “After we interrogated the arrested<br />
men we found the involvement<br />
of several other people in the<br />
case and we are trying to catch them.<br />
“We would submit the charge<br />
sheet shortly, as soon as we arrest<br />
the rest of the suspects.” •<br />
Trump turns to base<br />
to protect imperilled<br />
presidency<br />
• AFP, Bedminster<br />
WORLD <br />
Beset by investigations, dire<br />
approval ratings and growing<br />
party dissent, Donald Trump<br />
is stirring up his base, hoping<br />
to mobilise an army of political<br />
shock troops to protect his<br />
presidency.<br />
Revelations that a grand<br />
jury has been impanelled to investigate<br />
his finances and his<br />
campaign’s ties to Russia raises<br />
the spectre of indictments<br />
and subpoenas that would<br />
shake any administration.<br />
But for Trump, who is just<br />
six months into his presidency,<br />
it represents more turmoil<br />
after an exodus of top White<br />
House officials and humiliating<br />
recent reverses in Congress.<br />
Facing the prospect of<br />
limping through another three<br />
and a half years, Trump is settling<br />
on a strategy of shoring<br />
up the support of voters who<br />
propelled him to the White<br />
House with a series of rightwing<br />
policy announcements<br />
and red-blooded speeches.<br />
In little more than a week,<br />
Trump has encouraged police<br />
to dole out rough justice,<br />
summarily threatened to kick<br />
transgender personnel out of<br />
the military and played up the<br />
threat of Hispanic gangs.<br />
Energising the core<br />
There is still little clarity on<br />
how the ban on transgenders<br />
can be implemented while<br />
White House sources admit<br />
that the immigration proposal<br />
has scant hope of passing<br />
through Congress.<br />
Emily Ekins, polling director<br />
at the CATO Institute,<br />
believes it is too simplistic to<br />
think of Trump voters as a homogeneous<br />
group, but rather<br />
a loose coalition of conservatives,<br />
free marketers, cultural<br />
preservationists, anti-elites<br />
and the politically disengaged.<br />
But, she says, opposition to<br />
immigration is a rare common<br />
thread running through most<br />
of the US president’s base.<br />
“The thing that really made<br />
this election distinctive were<br />
attitudes toward immigration,<br />
his core supporters were the<br />
most energised on the issue of<br />
immigration,” Ekins said.<br />
After losing a key vote on<br />
health care and then having<br />
his hands tied on dealing with<br />
Russia by a vote on sanctions<br />
that he has tried to disown,<br />
Trump has become openly<br />
critical of Congress – even<br />
though his Republican party<br />
has a majority in both houses.<br />
While Trump regularly<br />
railed against the Washington<br />
“swamp” on the campaign<br />
trail, he appeared to recognise<br />
the need to work with the Republican<br />
establishment once<br />
in power by bringing some of<br />
its main movers and shakers<br />
into the White House.<br />
But the recent exits of his<br />
chief of staff Reince Preibus and<br />
chief spokesman Sean Spicer<br />
has made Trump’s already difficult<br />
relationship with the GOP<br />
look ever-more tenuous. •
News 5<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
What do you do with rape victims? You send<br />
them away<br />
DT<br />
• Udisa Islam<br />
HUMAN RIGHTS <br />
Eleven years ago, 10-year old Sitara<br />
from Sirajganj was raped by three<br />
men from her village. Her parents<br />
did not file a case against the rapists.<br />
The village came together, and<br />
after a “shalish,” caned the rapists<br />
as punishment. However, Sitara’s<br />
mother left next year for her parents’<br />
house in Pabna along with 11-<br />
year old Sitara, never to return.<br />
Sitara is now 21 years old, with a<br />
family of her own. But she still has<br />
not been able to get over what happened<br />
to her as a child. She still has<br />
to suffer name-calling and insults<br />
reminding her of the childhood<br />
trauma.<br />
When Sitara’s mother was asked<br />
why she left her village, she said:<br />
“If only you knew how many people<br />
harassed my child. My daughter<br />
was in no way responsible for<br />
what happened. She was innocent.<br />
But the situation only worsened<br />
after everyone found out about<br />
the rape. Everyone used to tease<br />
her. I had to protect my daughter<br />
from the abuse. But even now, I<br />
am afraid that the word will spread<br />
here eventually.”<br />
Moni from Dinajpur was a victim<br />
of rape when she was four<br />
years old. She came into the public<br />
eye after suffering grievous injuries<br />
during the assault, and received<br />
proper medical aid as a result. Although<br />
a year has passed since the<br />
incident, her family still bears the<br />
scars of the trauma, and Moni herself<br />
relives the incident because<br />
of the constant name-calling. Her<br />
mother is always trying to shield<br />
Moni from vicious onlookers.<br />
While weeping profusely, she said:<br />
“I want to send to her to the other<br />
side [to India].”<br />
Sitara and Moni are only two<br />
examples of the many women and<br />
children who fight the trauma of<br />
their rape every day, trying to live a<br />
life away from society and people.<br />
The negative perceptions of society<br />
as well as wrongful accusations<br />
often drive many rape survivors to<br />
commit suicide.<br />
Social scientists and psychologists<br />
say although the victims are<br />
not responsible for the traumatic<br />
incidents, they have to live their<br />
entire lives feeling that way. The<br />
relationship between the rapist<br />
and victim is always one of unbalanced<br />
power. Oftentimes the victims<br />
have to leave their homes because<br />
the perpetrators do not face<br />
justice.<br />
Women’s rights activist Khushi<br />
Kabir said: “The women who are<br />
victims of rape have no fault in it.<br />
But they have to face the full force<br />
of society’s repercussions. They<br />
do not receive justice, but have no<br />
space left in society to recover. Although<br />
some people show solidarity<br />
at first, the lack of a follow-up<br />
means that victims have to continue<br />
the struggle for their lives on<br />
their own.<br />
“Since the perpetrators usually<br />
have more power in society than<br />
the victims, it is quite obvious why<br />
it becomes impossible for those<br />
victims to continue living in that<br />
society. We have also failed in creating<br />
that kind of atmosphere in<br />
our societies,” she added.<br />
Rokeya Kabir, executive director<br />
of Bangladesh Nari Progoti<br />
Shangha, believes that a lack of<br />
societal support system is at fault<br />
for the displacement of rape victims.<br />
“If the government does not<br />
provide her with the necessary security,<br />
she will have to find that on<br />
her own. The state of our society<br />
is such that we unfairly judge the<br />
Venezuelan authorities crush military rebellion<br />
• Reuters, Caracas<br />
WORLD <br />
Venezuelan authorities have suppressed<br />
a military rebellion near<br />
the central city of Valencia, a ruling<br />
official said on Sunday, days after<br />
President Nicolas Maduro formed a<br />
legislative superbody internationally<br />
condemned as a power grab.<br />
Socialist Party deputy Diosdado<br />
Cabello made the announcement<br />
shortly after the release of a video<br />
showing a group of men in military<br />
uniform announcing a rebellion<br />
and calling for a broad uprising<br />
against President Nicolas Maduro.<br />
One witness in the area of a military<br />
base in the town of Naguanagua<br />
reported hearing gunshots<br />
before dawn, but Cabello said the<br />
situation had been brought under<br />
control. Officials said the rebels,<br />
whom they described as “terrorists,”<br />
were trying to steal weapons<br />
and that seven people were detained<br />
after the attack on the base.<br />
The Defence Ministry did not<br />
immediately respond to a request<br />
for comment. But government allies<br />
were quick to denounce the<br />
attack as a right-wing plot aimed<br />
at bringing down the “Bolivarian<br />
revolution” started nearly 20 years<br />
In most cases, rape survivors become pariahs in our society<br />
Venezuelan Bolivarian National Guard officers fire teargase towards resident that<br />
try to walks to the Military base Paramacay in Valencia on <strong>August</strong> 6, <strong>2017</strong><br />
AP<br />
ago by the late Hugo Chavez and<br />
carried on by his protege Maduro.<br />
“These attacks, planned by<br />
delirious minds in Miami, only<br />
strengthen the morale of our<br />
armed forces and the Bolivarian<br />
people,” tweeted Socialist Party official<br />
Elias Jaua.<br />
BIGSTOCK<br />
On Friday, government allies<br />
inaugurated a new legislative superbody<br />
that the Venezuelan opposition<br />
and leaders around the<br />
world denounced as a power grab<br />
by Maduro.<br />
In Sunday’s video, a man who<br />
identified himself as Juan Carlos<br />
Caguaripano, a former National<br />
Guard captain, said: “We demand<br />
the immediate formation of a<br />
transition government.” He was<br />
flanked by about a dozen men in<br />
military uniforms.<br />
“This is not a coup d’etat,” he<br />
said. “This is a civic and military<br />
action to re-establish constitutional<br />
order. But more than that, it is<br />
to save the country from total destruction.”<br />
On Saturday, Maduro’s new<br />
“constituent assembly” removed<br />
the chief prosecutor from her post<br />
and ordered her to stand trial,<br />
confirming opposition fears that<br />
it would use its powers to root out<br />
critics of the government. •<br />
victim instead of the rapist,” she<br />
said.<br />
Prof Sadeka Halim from Dhaka<br />
University believes that such conversations<br />
are a step in the right<br />
direction. “Providing rape victims<br />
with special assistance draws further<br />
attention to them, and it is a<br />
very precarious matter to balance.<br />
We have to try to change society’s<br />
perception of such incidents. If we<br />
can ensure justice, it might change<br />
how we think about the perpetrators<br />
and the victims. This is just as<br />
important as trying to help the victims<br />
themselves.”<br />
Psychiatrist Mekhala Sarkar believes<br />
that society is ill-equipped<br />
to provide physical and mental<br />
support for victims of rape. She<br />
said: “The victims cannot escape<br />
their trauma and reintegrate back<br />
into society because of society itself.<br />
Society can erase their presence<br />
as well. They have to live<br />
feeling that they cannot be a part<br />
of society while being in it. This<br />
makes it impossible for them to<br />
live a normal life.” •<br />
Names of victims have been changed<br />
to protect their identities<br />
This article was first published on<br />
banglatribune.com<br />
Suspected<br />
Bangladeshi<br />
terrorist arrested<br />
in India<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
TERRORISM <br />
A suspected<br />
Bangladeshi<br />
terrorist associated<br />
with al<br />
Qaeda-inspired<br />
extremist<br />
group Ansarullah<br />
Bangla Team has been arrested<br />
by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist<br />
Squad from Muzaffarnagar, reports<br />
Hindustan Times.<br />
The detained, identified as Abdullah,<br />
had an Aadhar card and a passport<br />
under fake alias, said the ATS officials.<br />
He was allegedly involved in<br />
arranging fake identity papers for terrorists,<br />
especially from Bangladesh,<br />
and their safe hideouts in India. •<br />
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY<br />
LIGHT TO MODERATE<br />
RAIN LIKELY<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Dhaka 33 28 Chittagong 32 27 Rajshahi 34 27 Rangpur 33 26 Khulna 32 27 Barisal 30 27 Sylhet 29 25<br />
DHAKA<br />
TODAY<br />
TOMORROW<br />
SUN SETS 6:38PM<br />
SUN RISES 5:31AM<br />
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW<br />
34.4ºC<br />
24.5ºC<br />
Jessore<br />
Rangamati<br />
Source: Accuweather/UNB<br />
PRAYER<br />
TIMES<br />
Cox’s Bazar 30 26<br />
Fajr: 4:55am | Zohr: 1:15pm<br />
Asr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 6:55pm<br />
Esha: 8:45pm<br />
Source: Islamic Foundation
6<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
PWD props up cracked hospital<br />
ceiling with bamboo<br />
• Md Tauhid-Uz-Zaman, Jessore<br />
NATION <br />
Engineers of the Public Works Department<br />
(PWD) have made good<br />
use of bamboo stumps in the repair<br />
and risk management of an ageing<br />
structure.<br />
It is two months since the PWD<br />
engineers were called to inspect<br />
the vulnerable ground floor ceiling<br />
of the Old Building at Jessore General<br />
Hospital, but no steps were<br />
taken towards repairing it.<br />
The plaster of the ceiling was<br />
falling off at a number of different<br />
places, exposing the supporting<br />
iron rods, while a serious crack<br />
became evident above the ground<br />
floor veranda. Now, as a section<br />
along the crack has tilted, the engineers<br />
have arranged for the installation<br />
of 10 bamboo stumps to<br />
prevent a possible collapse.<br />
Hospital staff and patients on<br />
the ground floor of the Old Building,<br />
which holds 30 beds, are reported<br />
to have been in a state of<br />
panic ever since the tilt became<br />
apparent on Saturday.<br />
Shirin Sultana, a nurse at the<br />
hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune<br />
that she was startled to see the<br />
bamboo stakes supporting the fractured<br />
segment of the ceiling when<br />
she came to work on Saturday<br />
morning.<br />
Resident Medical Officer Dr<br />
Waheduzzaman said the relevant<br />
Cracked roof of the old building of Jessore General Hospital being propped up by bamboo sticks to prevent the building from<br />
collapsing entirely<br />
MD TAUHID-UZ-ZAMAN<br />
PWD engineer was informed about<br />
the fracture in the ground floor<br />
ceiling two days prior to the last<br />
Eid-ul-Fitr.<br />
PWD officials were again called<br />
on Saturday to assess the situation,<br />
and decided to support the ceiling<br />
with bamboo stumps.<br />
Contacted for comment,<br />
PWD Sub-Assistant Engineer<br />
Tarikul Islam said: “Some beams<br />
in the ceiling are weak and there<br />
is a problem at the side of the<br />
veranda. But it is nothing to<br />
panic about. There is no need to<br />
move the patients. Only movement<br />
around the veranda should be<br />
avoided.”<br />
An estimated cost for the urgent<br />
repair works had been forwarded<br />
to higher authorities, he added. •<br />
Southeast Asian nations feud over China<br />
India forms<br />
committee to<br />
oversee border<br />
fencing<br />
• Shilajit Kar Bhowmik, Tripura<br />
WORLD <br />
The Indian Supreme Court has established<br />
a committee to oversee<br />
the fencing of the Bangladesh-India<br />
border.<br />
The order was issued by Justices<br />
Ranjan Gogoi and Rahinton Fali<br />
Nariman on Friday.<br />
The order came at the hearing of<br />
a case bought by the Assam Public<br />
Works, the All Assam Ahom Association,<br />
and the Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha,<br />
a confederation of indigenous<br />
people. They allege that illegal<br />
migrations from Bangladesh into Assam<br />
is undermining the sovereignty<br />
and territorial integrity of India.<br />
The formation of the committee,<br />
which was due to be established<br />
in July, was necessitated after the<br />
chair of the previous overseeing<br />
committee, former Home Secretary<br />
Madhukar Gupta expressed<br />
his inability to continue in the role,<br />
citing personal reasons.<br />
The three-man committee will<br />
be chaired by Former Union Home<br />
Secretary GK Pillai, who sits alongside<br />
former BSF Director-General D<br />
K Pathak, and Abdul Mannan, a former<br />
professor at the department of<br />
statistics of Gauhati University. It is<br />
due to present its first report within<br />
three months.<br />
In early <strong>2017</strong>, the court ordered<br />
that construction of the border<br />
fence begin immediately. •<br />
• AFP, Manila<br />
WORLD <br />
Southeast Asian nations feuded<br />
yesterday over how to respond to<br />
Chinese expansionism in the South<br />
China Sea, with Vietnam insisting<br />
on a tough stance but Cambodia<br />
lobbying hard for Beijing, diplomats<br />
said.<br />
The debates among foreign<br />
ministers of the 10-member Association<br />
of Southeast Asian Nations<br />
(Asean) at a security forum in the<br />
Philippines were the latest in years<br />
of struggles to deal with competing<br />
claims to the strategically vital sea.<br />
The ministers failed to release<br />
a customary joint statement after<br />
meeting on Saturday because of<br />
their differences on the sea issue,<br />
and follow-up negotiations on Sunday<br />
did not end the stand-off, two<br />
diplomats involved in the talks<br />
said.<br />
"Vietnam is adamant, and China<br />
is effectively using Cambodia<br />
to champion its interests. But the<br />
Philippines is trying very hard to<br />
broker compromise language."<br />
Vietnam had insisted that tough<br />
language be inserted into the statement<br />
expressing concern over<br />
"land reclamation", a reference<br />
to an explosion in recent years of<br />
Chinese artificial island building in<br />
contested parts of the waters.<br />
Cambodia, one of China's<br />
strongest allies within Asean, has<br />
firmly resisted, according to the<br />
diplomats involved in the talks in<br />
Manila, as well as an excerpt of proposed<br />
Cambodian resolution.<br />
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono (6th L) joins Association of South East Asian<br />
Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers and representatives for the ASEAN-Japan Ministerial<br />
Meeting of the 50th ASEAN regional security forum in Manila on <strong>August</strong> 6<br />
AFP<br />
China claims nearly all of the<br />
sea, through which $5trn in annual<br />
shipping trade passes, and its artificial<br />
islands have raised concerns<br />
it could eventually build military<br />
bases there and establish de facto<br />
control over the waters.<br />
Its sweeping claims overlap with<br />
those of Asean members Vietnam,<br />
the Philippines, Malaysia and<br />
Brunei.<br />
No consensus<br />
Tensions over the sea have long<br />
vexed Asean, which operates on a<br />
consensus basis but has had to balance<br />
the interests of rival claimants<br />
and those more aligned to China.<br />
Critics of China have accused<br />
it of trying to divide Asean with<br />
strong-armed tactics and chequebook<br />
diplomacy, enticing smaller<br />
countries in the bloc such as Cambodia<br />
and Laos to support it.<br />
The Philippines, under previous<br />
president Benigno Aquino, had<br />
been one of the most vocal critics<br />
of China and filed a case before a<br />
UN-backed tribunal.<br />
The tribunal last year ruled China's<br />
sweeping claims to the sea had<br />
no legal basis.<br />
But China, despite being a signatory<br />
to the UN's Convention on the<br />
Law of the Sea, ignored the ruling.<br />
The Philippines, under new<br />
President Rodrigo Duterte, decided<br />
to play down the verdict in favour<br />
of pursuing warmer ties with Beijing.<br />
This in turn led to offers of<br />
billions of dollars in investments or<br />
aid from China.<br />
The Asean foreign ministers and<br />
their Chinese counterpart, Wang<br />
Yi, on Sunday adopted a framework<br />
for negotiating a code of conduct<br />
to defuse tensions in the sea.<br />
Wang hailed this as a breakthrough.<br />
But analysts cautioned not to<br />
place too much significance on<br />
the agreement on a framework,<br />
pointing out it came 15 years after a<br />
similar document was signed committing<br />
the parties to negotiating a<br />
code of conduct. •
News<br />
MONDAY,<br />
Padma Bridge authorities<br />
seek more time<br />
• Shohel Mamun<br />
DEVELOPMENT <br />
The Padma Bridge project authority<br />
has submitted a proposal recently<br />
to the government requesting an<br />
extension of the deadline to complete<br />
the project – till June 2019 instead<br />
of December 2018.<br />
According to the authority, piling<br />
work for the bridge was disrupted<br />
due to uncontrollable current<br />
on the river bed, as well lack of<br />
hard soil underneath.<br />
The incumbent Awami League<br />
government, however, is committed<br />
to complete the priority project before<br />
the next parliamentary election.<br />
“Bangladesh Bridge Authority<br />
has already submitted the proposal<br />
to the Implementation Monitoring<br />
and Evaluation Division (IMED) for<br />
a new deadline,” said an official.<br />
“The IMED has already given a positive<br />
response after evaluating the<br />
condition of the river.”<br />
However, none of the officials,<br />
including the project Director Md<br />
Shafiqul Islam, made any comment<br />
on the issue.<br />
When asked, Road Transport<br />
and Bridges Minister Obaidul<br />
Quader said: “The government did<br />
not accept such proposal on the<br />
Padma Bridge project.”<br />
“Padma is one of the uncertain<br />
rivers of the world, like the Amazon.<br />
There will be ups and downs<br />
in its flow. But we are still firm on<br />
our decision to complete the bridge<br />
by December 2018,” the minister,<br />
also the general secretary of Awami<br />
League, added.<br />
The plan was to<br />
install the first span<br />
on the Mawa side,<br />
but now the span will<br />
be installed at the<br />
Jazeera point<br />
Meanwhile, Professor Jamilur Reza<br />
Choudhury, head of the advisory-panel<br />
of the project, said: “We<br />
have given some additional directives<br />
and guidelines to the construction<br />
firm to strengthen the piling<br />
work. Especially 14 (piers) pillars are<br />
proving to be problematic, which is<br />
why it should be re-analysed.”<br />
“If we have to remodel the pillars,<br />
it can take more time,” the renowned<br />
professor added.<br />
Padma Bridge will stand over 42<br />
pillars, including two transition pillars<br />
towards the land, with the support<br />
of 240 piles. These pillars will<br />
carry 41 spans. Each of the span’s<br />
length is 150 metres. The Padma<br />
Bridge will be 6.15km long.<br />
According the design, the depth<br />
of the piles was 90 metres to 120<br />
metres. But during the construction,<br />
the soil underground turned<br />
out to be in very poor state. As a<br />
result, the expert team headed by<br />
Prof Jamilur Reza set the pile depth<br />
at 130 metres for selected piles.<br />
The piles on the Bangabandhu<br />
Bridge over the Jamuna River were<br />
constructed on only 78 metres<br />
depth.<br />
Bridge authority officials said<br />
some 44% construction work of<br />
Padma Bridge was completed till<br />
June and the first span of the bridge<br />
will be installed in September.<br />
Initially, the plan was to install<br />
the first span on the Mawa side, but<br />
now the span will be installed at<br />
the Jazeera point because of strong<br />
current in the river.<br />
The total project cost stands at<br />
Tk28,793cr after three re-estimations.<br />
The authority has already<br />
spent Tk13,000cr on the project.<br />
The China Major Bridge Engineering<br />
(CMBE) Co. Ltd is constructing<br />
the main Padma Bridge<br />
since December 2014, following<br />
a work order of the Bridge Division<br />
on November 26, 2014, at a<br />
cost of Tk12,133.39. Sinohydro<br />
Corporation Ltd China is doing<br />
the river training work at a cost of<br />
Tk8,707.81cr. •<br />
7<br />
AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Biggest gold bust of the<br />
year at Dhaka airport<br />
• Arifur Rahman Rabbi<br />
CRIME <br />
Customs officials at Hazrat Shahjalal<br />
International Airport yesterday<br />
seized 25kg of gold from a man<br />
who arrived from Singapore on a<br />
wheelchair, in the biggest bust of<br />
this year.<br />
The seized 256 gold bars are<br />
worth about Tk15.5 crore.<br />
The detained Jamil Akter, 48,<br />
is a Nilphamari native, arrived on<br />
a Singapore Airlines flight around<br />
10:30pm on Saturday.<br />
This is the largest gold bust of<br />
this year. Last year, another passenger<br />
on wheelchair was caught<br />
with 23kg gold.<br />
“Acting on a tip-off, our team<br />
confronted the man when he was<br />
crossing the green channel on a<br />
wheelchair, pretending to be unwell,”<br />
Dhaka Customs House Preventive<br />
Team Assistant Commissioner<br />
Ahsanul Kabir said.<br />
“He denied having any gold initially,<br />
but admitted to it later, during<br />
interrogation. We found 250 gold<br />
bars in a vest kept between his legs.<br />
“The man has a chips shop in<br />
Singapore. He went in and out of<br />
the country 13 times in the last six<br />
months,” the customs official added.<br />
Customs officials were preparing<br />
to hand over him to police after<br />
filing a criminal case.<br />
Meanwhile, Another team found<br />
The wheelchaired man was challenged<br />
by customs officials at green channel<br />
COURTESY<br />
6kg gold abandoned in a plane<br />
that arrived from Singapore on a<br />
US-Bangla Airlines flight, yesterday.<br />
Acting on a tip-off another customs<br />
official team found out that<br />
gold was being smuggled through<br />
a US-Bangla Airlines flight. It was<br />
coming from Singapore yesterday<br />
at 7:45am. They found the 6 gold<br />
bars abandonded in the plane’s<br />
bathroom, said AC Ahsanul Kabir.<br />
He said the 6 gold bar were<br />
scotch taped together. Each gold<br />
bar was weighs 1kg and is said to be<br />
worth Tk3 crore in the market.<br />
The Customs officials will take<br />
legal action against both the incidents<br />
he added. •<br />
India police: Pakistan-based Lashkar behind Hindu pilgrim murders<br />
• AFP, Srinagar<br />
WORLD <br />
An entourage of pilgrims on the way to Amarnath. Eight Hindu pilgrims on the way from Amarnath Temple in Kashmir valley<br />
were killed in a terror attack<br />
AP<br />
Indian police said Sunday a Pakistan-based<br />
Islamist militant group<br />
blamed for the 2008 Mumbai<br />
attacks was responsible for last<br />
month’s killing of eight Hindu pilgrims<br />
in Kashmir.<br />
Police said an investigation had<br />
concluded that Lashkar-e-Taiba<br />
(LeT) and Kashmiri accomplices<br />
were behind the July 10 attack that<br />
saw militants open fire on a bus<br />
carrying Hindus on the annual Amarnath<br />
pilgrimage.<br />
“Lashkar was involved and the<br />
accused have been identified,” Inspector<br />
General of Police Muneer<br />
Ahmed Khan told reporters in<br />
Anantnag district in Indian-administered<br />
Kashmir.<br />
“Once the investigation was<br />
started it was revealed that... a Pakistani<br />
militant of Lashkar along<br />
with two other militants and one<br />
local Kashmiri Lashkar militant<br />
carried out the attack.”<br />
Three others who provided<br />
logistical support to the militants,<br />
including hiding places and vehicles,<br />
had been arrested.<br />
The July shooting was the worst<br />
such attack in the divided Himalayan<br />
region since 2000, when<br />
gunmen fired on a group of Hindu<br />
pilgrims and killed 32 people including<br />
two police officers.<br />
Khan said the militants had carefully<br />
plotted to attack any police or<br />
tourist vehicle that crossed their<br />
path on the evening of the assault.<br />
“They had kept separate code<br />
words for tourist and CRPF (Central<br />
Reserve Police Force) vehicles...<br />
It was purely an act of terrorism<br />
carried out with an aim to spread<br />
fear,” he said.<br />
LeT has been blamed for a string<br />
of deadly attacks inside India, most<br />
notably the Mumbai carnage in November<br />
2008 when heavily armed<br />
gunmen battled commandos on<br />
the streets of the financial capital.<br />
It took the authorities three days<br />
to regain full control of the city and<br />
New Delhi has long said there is<br />
evidence that “official agencies” in<br />
Pakistan were involved in plotting<br />
the attack.<br />
Islamabad denies the charge.<br />
Rebel groups, including LeT, have<br />
for decades fought Indian troops<br />
and police deployed in Kashmir,<br />
demanding independence or a<br />
merger of the former Himalayan<br />
kingdom with Pakistan.<br />
Kashmir has been divided<br />
between India and Pakistan since<br />
the end of British colonial rule in<br />
1947, but both claim the territory<br />
in full. •
8<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Call: 0161-I-WANT-DT (01614926838) | Visit: dhakatribune.com/subscribe<br />
News<br />
Finance Division worried<br />
about budget deficit<br />
• Asif Showkat Kallol<br />
ECONOMY <br />
Finance Division officials have expressed<br />
concerns over meeting the<br />
deficit in the current budget at the<br />
beginning of the fiscal year, citing<br />
the unimplemented VAT law.<br />
Even Finance Minister AMA Muhith<br />
is not immune from worry, as<br />
he has also expressed doubts about<br />
meeting the ambitious budget targets<br />
without the implementation<br />
of the 2012 VAT Act. The minister<br />
has sought a work plan from the<br />
National Board of Revenue (NBR)<br />
to find ways to meet the deficit.<br />
After a two-hour meeting on<br />
Thursday, Muhith directed NBR<br />
Chairman Najibur Rahman on the<br />
creation of a work plan, said Finance<br />
Division officials. The Finance<br />
Division will start a revision<br />
of the budget after the NBR has<br />
Dhaka to open new<br />
diplomatic missions<br />
• Asif Showkat Kallol and<br />
submitted the plan.<br />
fall Tk67,000 crore short of the Shohel Mamun<br />
On July 30, members of the parliamentary<br />
target due to postponement of the<br />
standing committee on new law which introduces a 15% FOREIGN AFFAIRS <br />
the Finance Division discussed the flat VAT rate on all sectors.<br />
budget, suggesting that the deficit The decision to postpone the Bangladesh is going to open seven<br />
of Tk17,000 crore would be met by VAT law has raised eyebrows, questioning<br />
new fully fledged diplomatic mis-<br />
expansion of VAT areas along with<br />
the government’s ability to sions in Toronto, Sydney, Chennai,<br />
collection of large dues by the NBR. meet its budget deficit, and the Finance<br />
Freetown, Bucharest, Kabul and<br />
An estimated Tk5,000 crore will<br />
Division says the deficit may Khartoum in a bid to expand its ex-<br />
be earned from taxes and duties on force the government to borrow port market.<br />
cigarettes and biris, Tk500 crore more from saving instruments and The missions will also aim to<br />
from bank accounts and Biman banking sectors.<br />
strengthen diplomatic relations<br />
tickets as excise duties, and Tk100 The NBR has increased revenue with the countries, said officials.<br />
crore from fast food and 10% supplementary<br />
targets by 34% to Tk91,275 crore in A proposal of the Foreign Minis-<br />
duties. Tk6,000 crore the current fiscal year through VAT try on the matter will be placed at<br />
will be earned from other sectors as and supplementary duty collections.<br />
the weekly cabinet meeting today<br />
additional earning, according to Internal<br />
The target for revenue from with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina<br />
Resources Division sources. those sources for the fiscal year in the chair.<br />
The NBR is also set to earn 2016-17 was Tk74,114 crore.<br />
According to the proposal, the<br />
Tk22,000 crore from Petro Bangla In the last fiscal year, the NBR Foreign Ministry has decided to set<br />
through dues, and an additional managed to collect Tk52,842 crore up new embassies or diplomatic<br />
Tk2,000 crore from Petro Bangla up till April, which was 18.4% higher<br />
missions in Canadian city of To-<br />
during the current year.<br />
than the same period in the fiscal ronto, Australian city of Sydney,<br />
According to Finance Division year 2015-16, which was Tk44,631 Romania’s capital Bucharest, Sierra<br />
calculations, VAT collection will crore. •<br />
Leone’s capital Freetown, Indi-<br />
Downing Street dismisses £36bn Brexit divorce bill<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
speech towards the end of the summer with additional money to make up the “rights and obligations”.<br />
fleshing out details of any offer to<br />
€40bn figure that UK negotiators hope News of the figure will be controversial<br />
WORLD <br />
Brussels, while a series of papers are will break the deadlock in talks.<br />
among some Conservative MPs who<br />
expected in coming weeks on how the<br />
The Sunday Telegraph quoted a<br />
believe the UK should not pay as much,<br />
Downing Street sources have played UK proposes to manage a transition. Whitehall source saying: “We know that or anything at all. Just three weeks ago<br />
down reports that the UK is prepared to A Number 10 official told The Independent<br />
(the EU’s) position is €60bn, but the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said EU<br />
pay a divorce bill of up to £36bn to try<br />
that reports the Government actual bottom line is €50bn.<br />
leaders could “go whistle” if they expected<br />
and force progress in stalled Brexit talks. was preparing to offer the EU payments “Ours is closer to €30bn, but the Britain to pay an “exorbitant” divorce bill.<br />
The figure amounting to some<br />
of €10bn every year for up to three<br />
landing zone is €40bn even if the public The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator<br />
€40bn would be offered in a bid to<br />
years after Brexit were “highly speculative<br />
and politicians are not all there yet.”<br />
Michel Barnier warned it is “very<br />
push discussions on from withdrawal<br />
and wrong”.<br />
Brexit Secretary David Davis and unlikely” talks can progress in October as<br />
and towards a future trade deal, according<br />
It was claimed on Sunday that the May have both said that the Govern-<br />
planned if there is not better progress.<br />
to reports.<br />
commitment to the ongoing budget ment would work with Brussels to<br />
May is preparing to give a speech<br />
Theresa May is expected to give a payments would then be supplemented determine a fair settlement of the UK’s close to the start of September in which<br />
Like what you’re reading?<br />
an city of Chennai, Afghan capital<br />
Kabul and Sudanese capital Khartoum.<br />
A senior Foreign Ministry official<br />
said the opening of new missions is<br />
part of the Awami League government’s<br />
plan to prioritise economic<br />
diplomacy in its foreign policy.<br />
Upholding the government’s decisions,<br />
the official said it became<br />
necessary for Bangladesh to open<br />
more embassies to serve the growing<br />
number of expatriate Bangladeshis,<br />
raise exports and boost<br />
diplomatic ties with Europe, Africa<br />
and North America.<br />
As per the Foreign Ministry estimates,<br />
about 7 million Bangladeshis<br />
now live abroad and send home<br />
around $12bn a year as remittance.<br />
Currently, 72 Bangladeshi missions,<br />
high commissions, consulates,<br />
deputy high commissions,<br />
assistant high commissions and<br />
visa offices are operating in 56<br />
countries. •<br />
she is expected to spell out details of<br />
the EU withdrawal agreement including<br />
a divorce bill.<br />
Positioning papers on how the UK<br />
might manage customs arrangements<br />
during a transition and the issue of the<br />
border between Ireland and Northern Ireland<br />
are expected as early as next week.<br />
There will also then be a string of<br />
other papers detailing various aspects<br />
of May’s proposals, including the<br />
approach to the single market during<br />
transition, as the Government attempts<br />
to show it has a solid plan for Brexit.•
News<br />
9<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Joining Arab states, Israel<br />
plans to ban al-Jazeera<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
Israel said Sunday it plans to ban<br />
Qatar’s flagship al-Jazeera news<br />
network from operating in the<br />
country over allegations it incites<br />
violence, joining Arab nations that<br />
have shut down the broadcaster<br />
amid a separate political dispute,<br />
reports the Associated Press.<br />
Communications Minister Ayoob<br />
Kara said he plans to revoke<br />
the press credentials of al-Jazeera<br />
journalists, effectively preventing<br />
them from working in Israel.<br />
Kara said he has asked cable and<br />
satellite networks to block al-Jazeera<br />
transmissions and is seeking<br />
legislation to ban them altogether.<br />
The minister, a member of<br />
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s<br />
Likud Party, gave no timetable<br />
for such measures.<br />
Doha-based al-Jazeera did not<br />
immediately respond to a request<br />
for comment. Its Arab and English<br />
channels reported the news.<br />
Walid al-Omari, the broadcaster’s<br />
bureau chief in Jerusalem, said<br />
on air that his office has not been<br />
informed by Israeli officials of any<br />
possible measures the government<br />
might take.<br />
Communications<br />
Minister Ayoob<br />
Kara said he plans<br />
to revoke the press<br />
credentials of al-<br />
Jazeera journalists<br />
Al-Jazeera, a pan-Arab satellite network<br />
funded by the Qatari government,<br />
already has been targeted by<br />
Arab nations now isolating Qatar<br />
as part of a months-long political<br />
dispute over Doha’s politics and alleged<br />
support for extremists.<br />
Jordan and Saudi Arabia have<br />
recently closed al-Jazeera’s local<br />
offices, while the channel and its<br />
affiliate sites have been blocked in<br />
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates,<br />
Egypt and Bahrain.<br />
“Lately, almost all countries in<br />
our region determined that al-Jazeera<br />
supports terrorism, supports<br />
religious radicalisation,” Kara said.<br />
“And when we see that all these<br />
countries have determined as fact<br />
that al-Jazeera is a tool of the Islamic<br />
State, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran,<br />
and we are the only one who have<br />
not determined that then something<br />
delusional is happening here.”<br />
American viewers became familiar<br />
with al-Jazeera after the attacks<br />
of September 11, 2001, when<br />
its golden-hued Arabic logo became<br />
synonymous with video messages<br />
by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin<br />
Laden. That sparked frequent complaints<br />
by then-President George<br />
W Bush’s administration. The station<br />
defended its policy, saying the<br />
messages were newsworthy.<br />
Al-Jazeera was the first Arab satellite<br />
news channel to offer a range<br />
of views outside of heavily censored<br />
state media across the region<br />
and extensively covered the 2011<br />
Arab Spring. It also was the first<br />
Arab-owned news outlet to host<br />
Israeli officials and commentators,<br />
which some analysts note coincided<br />
with Qatar’s ties with Israel at<br />
the time. •<br />
Muktamoni in her hospital bed at DMCH<br />
Muktamoni out of danger<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
Muktamoni is now out of danger<br />
after her surgery, said Dr Samanta<br />
Lal Sen, coordinator at the National<br />
Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery<br />
of Dhaka Medical College Hospital<br />
(DMCH).<br />
“Her wounds have been dressed<br />
today. She is speaking normally. In<br />
regard to her surgery, there is nothing<br />
to be concerned about,” the<br />
doctor said on Saturday.<br />
Muktamoni is an 11-year-old girl<br />
who has been suffering from a mysterious<br />
disease that resulted in a<br />
malignant growth on her right arm.<br />
MEHEDI HASAN<br />
A team of specialist doctors of<br />
the DMCH burn and plastic surgery<br />
institute and the anaesthesia department<br />
conducted her operation on<br />
Saturday.<br />
Muktamoni’s father Md Ibrahim<br />
said the doctors were taking<br />
good care of his daughter. He asked<br />
everyone to pray for her.<br />
Last month, DMCH doctors identified<br />
the mysterious illness afflicting<br />
Muktamoni as lymphatic malformation.<br />
The affliction has resulted in a<br />
malignant growth on Muktamoni’s<br />
right arm, rendering her bedridden<br />
for the last two years. •<br />
This article was first published on<br />
banglatribune.com<br />
Drilling starts at<br />
Shahbajpur<br />
East-1 well<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
ENERGY <br />
Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration<br />
and Production Company<br />
Ltd (Bapex), Bangladesh Gas<br />
Fields Company Ltd (BGFCL)<br />
and Sylhet Gas Field Ltd (SGFL)<br />
have inked an agreement with<br />
Russian energy giant Gazprom<br />
for drilling 10 wells.<br />
Of the wells, the Bapex, a<br />
Petrobangla subsidiary, owns<br />
four wells (Shahbazpur-3 and<br />
4, Semutang-6 and Begumganj-3),<br />
says a press release. .<br />
Srikail 4 well was drilled by<br />
Gazporm, which has already<br />
completed 15 wells, among<br />
them Bapex has 5 wells and<br />
the other two companies have<br />
10 wells.<br />
The Bapex has planned to<br />
dril 108 wells (53 exploration<br />
wells, 35 development wells<br />
and 20 work-over wells) to<br />
provide 1000 million cubic<br />
feet of gas to the national grid<br />
by 2021 for the implimentation<br />
of short, medium and longterm<br />
gas production plans.<br />
In order to implement Vision<br />
2021, the prime minister<br />
gave an approval on 10 special<br />
initiative projects taken up by<br />
Bapex on 12-05-2016 under the<br />
“ Increasing supply of electricity<br />
and fuel (Special provisions)<br />
Act, 2010”.<br />
Among the 10 projects, the<br />
plan for drilling 23 exploration<br />
wells, 2 development wells and<br />
3 work over wells under the<br />
Rupkolpo-1 to Rupkolpo-7 within<br />
the tenure of the government.<br />
In this regard, Bapex has recruited<br />
three group of contractors<br />
on the turn-key basis for<br />
drilling 13 exploration wells.<br />
Two exploration wells<br />
(Shahbazpur East-1 and Bhola<br />
North-1) and two work-over<br />
wells have been planned to be<br />
drilled under the Rupkolpo 4<br />
drilling project.<br />
On May 5, 2016, the premier<br />
had approved the drilling of<br />
the two wells.<br />
In the context, Bapex’s Addendum-<br />
6 has been signed<br />
with Gazporm, with a contract<br />
value of $ 33.2 million. Under<br />
the agreement, the drilling of<br />
Shahbajpur East-1 well was inaugurated<br />
yesterday. •
10<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
US, China pressure North Korea<br />
after sanctions vote<br />
• AFP, Manila<br />
WORLD <br />
The United States and China piled<br />
pressure on North Korea Sunday<br />
to abandon its nuclear missile programme<br />
after the UN Security Council<br />
approved tough sanctions which<br />
could cost Pyongyang $1bn a year.<br />
One day after Council members<br />
voted unanimously for a partial ban<br />
on exports aimed at slashing Pyongyang’s<br />
foreign revenue by a third,<br />
top diplomats from the key powers<br />
in the dispute met in Manila.<br />
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson<br />
said he was encouraged by<br />
the vote, but officials warned that<br />
Washington would closely watch<br />
China – North Korea’s biggest trade<br />
partner – to ensure sanctions are<br />
enforced.<br />
China’s Foreign Minister Wang<br />
AmarMP site<br />
wins Indian<br />
mBillionth award<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
EVENT <br />
Bangladesh’s voluntary organisation<br />
AmarMP.com has won the<br />
prestigious mBillionth Award <strong>2017</strong><br />
for providing comprehensive information<br />
of parliament members and<br />
means to communicate with them.<br />
“Amar MP” delegation received<br />
the award in a gala event held at<br />
New Delhi, India, on <strong>August</strong> 4.<br />
The delegation included Titu<br />
Das, Mahabub Alam, Imtiaz Emon,<br />
Md Shahin, Abdur Rahman and<br />
Nazrul Islam.<br />
The mBillionth Award South<br />
Asia is presented each year, starting<br />
in 2010, for socially valuable<br />
innovations in mobile communications<br />
in South Asia.<br />
The scheme is run by the Digital<br />
Empowerment Foundation, an<br />
Indian NGO seeking to improve<br />
access to and usage of digital communications.<br />
Seven organisations were selected<br />
out of 196 in the category of<br />
Government and Citizen Engagement<br />
this year.<br />
“This recognition will inspire<br />
us. We have been awarded several<br />
times this year because of the hard<br />
work of our volunteers,” said Sudhanta<br />
Das Gupta, chairman of AmarMP.com.<br />
AmarMP.com, a social initiative,<br />
has started a ground-breaking, social<br />
democratic movement by coordinating<br />
all information about MPs. •<br />
Yi met his North Korean counterpart<br />
Ri Hong-Yo before a major regional<br />
security forum being hosted<br />
by the 10-nation Association of<br />
Southeast Asian Nations.<br />
He urged the North to halt its<br />
nuclear and ballistic missile tests.<br />
Pyongyang’s top envoy has so<br />
far avoided the media in Manila.<br />
But in a characteristically fiery<br />
editorial before the latest sanctions<br />
were approved, the North’s ruling<br />
party newspaper Rodong Sinmun<br />
warned against US aggression.<br />
“The day the US dares tease our<br />
nation with a nuclear rod and sanctions,<br />
the mainland US will be catapulted<br />
into an unimaginable sea of<br />
fire,” it said.<br />
‘Military option’<br />
The urgency of the situation was<br />
underlined by President Donald<br />
Trump’s national security adviser<br />
H R McMaster, who told MSNBC<br />
Weeklong Chinese food festival<br />
kicks off at Westin Dhaka<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
METRO <br />
The Westin Dhaka will organise<br />
Chinese food festival “Culinary<br />
Treats from China,” at the hotel’s<br />
buffet restaurant Seasonal Tastes,<br />
where guests can come and taste<br />
exclusive delicacies from all over<br />
China for a week.<br />
The festival will start today and<br />
continue until <strong>August</strong> 13. Chef Tan<br />
news that the US leader was reviewing<br />
plans for a “preventive<br />
war”.<br />
“He said he’s not going to tolerate<br />
North Korea being able to<br />
threaten the United States,” Mc-<br />
Master said.<br />
Saturday’s UN resolution<br />
banned exports of coal, iron and<br />
iron ore, lead and lead ore as well<br />
as fish and seafood by the cashstarved<br />
state.<br />
If fully implemented it would<br />
strip North Korea of a third of its<br />
export earnings – estimated to total<br />
$3bn per year despite successive<br />
rounds of sanctions since the<br />
North’s first nuclear test in 2006.<br />
The resolution also prevents<br />
North Korea from increasing the<br />
number of workers it sends abroad.<br />
Their earnings are another source<br />
of foreign currency for Kim’s regime.<br />
Kwang Aik from JW Marriott Hotel in<br />
Kolkata has been flown in as the guest<br />
chef, according to a media release of<br />
the hotel. He who will be delighting<br />
guests with his culinary magic.<br />
Meanwhile, a press conference<br />
and a food tasting event were held<br />
yesterday ahead of the festival in<br />
the hotel’s Silver Room, where Tan<br />
Kwang, Westin Dhaka’s Executive<br />
Chef Stephen Mcgarrie, Director (operations)<br />
and acting General Manager<br />
Shakawath Hossain, and Director<br />
It prohibits all new joint ventures<br />
with North Korea, bans new<br />
investment in current joint companies<br />
and adds nine North Korean<br />
officials and four entities including<br />
the North’s main foreign exchange<br />
bank to the UN sanctions blacklist.<br />
What next?<br />
Trump hailed the vote – saying<br />
in a tweet that the sanctions will<br />
have “very big financial impact!” –<br />
and thanked Russia and China for<br />
backing a measure that either could<br />
have halted with their UN veto.<br />
The United States began talks<br />
on a resolution with China a month<br />
ago, after Pyongyang launched its<br />
first intercontinental ballistic missile<br />
on July 4, followed by a second<br />
ICBM test on July 28.<br />
But the measure does not provide<br />
for cuts to oil deliveries, which<br />
would have dealt a serious blow to<br />
the North’s economy. •<br />
Guest Chef Tan Kwang Aik from the JW Marriott Hotel Kolkata poses with some of the many dishes on offer at the Westin<br />
Dhaka on the occasion of Chinese Food Festival <strong>2017</strong><br />
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN<br />
(sales and marketing) Md Al-Amin<br />
were present. During the food tasting<br />
session, Chinese dishes such as<br />
sweet and sour fish, Hunan Kung<br />
Pao and Sichuan style lamb with ginger<br />
were prepared by guest chef Tan<br />
and presented to guests for tasting.<br />
The food festival is a dinner-only<br />
event, and the buffet dinner<br />
is priced at Tk5,000 per person.<br />
Guests will have to make reservations<br />
by calling at +8801730374871<br />
to attend the dinner. •<br />
Chhatra Dal<br />
leaders deny<br />
conducting<br />
urine tests on<br />
aspiring leaders<br />
• Md Wali Newaz, Manik<br />
Miazee<br />
NATION <br />
Are political leaders – especially<br />
young leaders of tomorrow – required<br />
to be drug-free?<br />
BNP’s wing organisation Bangladesh<br />
Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal’s<br />
Boalmari upazila unit seems to<br />
think so. The upazila Chhatra Dal<br />
secretly conducted a urine test of<br />
eight candidates for its committee.<br />
According to locals, former MP<br />
and BNP’s central leader Shah Md<br />
Adu Jafar collected the urine samples<br />
and sent it to a diagnostic centre<br />
in Dhaka on Friday for analysis.<br />
When asked, the senior leader<br />
told the Dhaka Tribune that he was<br />
asked by central leaders of Chhatra<br />
Dal and women leaders in the district<br />
to usher in a new generation of<br />
pure leadership.<br />
“The next generation of leaders<br />
should not be addicted to marijuana,<br />
phensedyl or yaba, we cannot have<br />
drug addicts as leaders,” he said.<br />
But when the district Chhatra<br />
Dal unit President Benazir Ahmed<br />
Tabriz was asked, he denied knowing<br />
of any such matter.<br />
He said: “Abu Jafar has no right<br />
to interfere in anyone’s personal affairs,<br />
especially matters regarding<br />
bodily functions.”<br />
Chhatra Dal President Rajib Ahsan<br />
also denied of any such drug<br />
tests being taken.<br />
He called the test fake news and<br />
said a upazila unit has no right to<br />
elect members for a committee.<br />
He said: “We have no information<br />
about the committee and our<br />
student organisation has no systems<br />
regarding this manner.” •<br />
Syrian army<br />
takes last IS-held<br />
town in Homs<br />
• Reuters, Beirut<br />
WORLD <br />
Syrian government and allied forces<br />
have taken the last major town in<br />
Homs province from IS, the Syrian<br />
Observatory for Human Rights said,<br />
as the army advances toward militant<br />
strongholds in the east of the country.<br />
The town of al-Sukhna lies some<br />
50km northeast of the ancient city<br />
of Palmyra, which was captured by<br />
government forces in March.<br />
al-Sukhna is some 50 km from<br />
the administrative frontier of Deir<br />
al-Zor province, which is almost entirely<br />
under Islamic State control. •
Accused in Chittagong<br />
cocaine haul case files<br />
Tk100cr lawsuit<br />
• FM Mizanur Rahaman,<br />
Chittagong<br />
NATION <br />
An accused in the 2015 liquid<br />
cocaine haul in Chittagong<br />
has filed a Tk100 crore defamation<br />
lawsuit with a Chittagong<br />
court against seven<br />
companies and three individuals,<br />
two of whom are Bangladesh-born<br />
UK citizens.<br />
Nur Mohammad, chairman<br />
of Khan Jahan Ali Group in<br />
Chittagong, filed the lawsuit<br />
with the Chittagong Joint District<br />
Judge’s Court 3 on July 27<br />
this year claiming he was innocent<br />
and had no connection<br />
with the cocaine consignment<br />
that was seized by customs intelligence<br />
officials at the Chittagong<br />
port on June 6, 2015.<br />
“Taking the case into cognisance,<br />
the court heard it today<br />
[yesterday] and asked the 10<br />
accused to appear before it on<br />
October 8 with written explanations,”<br />
Nur’s counsel Ibrahim<br />
Hossain Chowdhury told<br />
the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.<br />
“Nur Mohammad is a reputed<br />
businessman in Chittagong.<br />
He had no connection<br />
BCL urges govt to bring back<br />
Bangabandhu’s killers<br />
• Fazlur Rahman Raju<br />
METRO <br />
Bangladesh Chhatra League<br />
has urged the government to<br />
bring back and hang the seven<br />
killers of Bangabandhu<br />
and his family members.<br />
with the liquid cocaine smuggling<br />
but was made accused<br />
in the case, which tarnished<br />
his image and caused him<br />
and his business financial<br />
losses. That is why he is seeking<br />
Tk100 crore as compensation,”<br />
the lawyer added.<br />
Nur’s counsel Ibrahim said<br />
the accused in the lawsuit<br />
used Khan Jahan Ali Ltd’s address<br />
to smuggle the cocaine<br />
into the country.<br />
The 10 entities sued in the<br />
case are: Import Export Elvaivent<br />
SRL Calle of Bolivia,<br />
COSCO Container Lines Ltd,<br />
South Freight Logistics Ltd,<br />
COSCO Bangladesh Shipping<br />
Ltd, Carlos Correa Ltd, cocaine<br />
carrier vessel MV Thorstream<br />
VTH067, its Bangladeshi<br />
agent PIL (Bangladesh)<br />
Ltd, Prime Hatchery Ltd Manager<br />
Golam Mostafa Shohel,<br />
Leaders and activists of<br />
the ruling party’s student<br />
wing made the demand during<br />
a human chain event from<br />
Shahbagh to Doyel Chattar in<br />
Dhaka yesterday morning.<br />
They claimed that Bangladesh<br />
lost its guardian when<br />
Bangabandhu and his family<br />
Brac CDM announces<br />
monsoon offers<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
BUSINESS <br />
Brac CDM Savar and Rajendrapur<br />
offered special monsoon<br />
hospitality packages<br />
which starts from Tk2,500<br />
per night for a room which<br />
can accommodate two<br />
guests, said a press release.<br />
Nur Mohammad is a reputed<br />
businessman in Chittagong. He<br />
had no connection with the liquid<br />
cocaine smuggling<br />
Dalton Zahir, Head of<br />
Sales and Marketing of<br />
Brac Services Ltd, said Brac<br />
CDM Savar is “delighetd<br />
to announced the package<br />
which start from Tk2,500 per<br />
night for a double room while<br />
Brac CDM in Rajendrapur<br />
also offers the doubleroom<br />
package starting from<br />
Tk4,000 per night.”<br />
and UK citizens Bokul Mia<br />
and Fazlur Rahman.<br />
The name of Nur’s company<br />
Khan Jahan Ali Group<br />
came to light after the Customs<br />
Intelligence and Investigation<br />
Directorate (CIID)<br />
seized a consignment of liquid<br />
cocaine which was smuggled<br />
into the country in sunflower<br />
oil barrels in June 2015.<br />
The case regarding the haul,<br />
filed with Bandar police station<br />
under the Narcotics Control<br />
Act on June 28, 2015, named<br />
Khan Jahan Ali Group as the<br />
importer of the consignment.<br />
The Detective Branch<br />
of police pressed charges<br />
against eight people on November<br />
19, 2015, while RAB<br />
also submitted a charge sheet<br />
against 10 people, including<br />
Nur Mohammad in the case<br />
on April 3 this year. •<br />
members were brutally assassinated<br />
on <strong>August</strong> 15, 1975.<br />
After the demonstration,<br />
Chhatra League activists led<br />
by President Saifur Rahman<br />
Shohag and General Secretary<br />
Jakir Hossain handed over<br />
a memorandum to Foreign<br />
Minister AH Mahmood Ali. •<br />
The package includes<br />
accommodation, boating,<br />
breakfast and this offer will<br />
be valid during the month of<br />
<strong>August</strong>, <strong>2017</strong>.<br />
Brac said the conditions<br />
apply to the offers<br />
and requested to contact<br />
for any query related<br />
to offers at the numbers:<br />
+8801777707781-5. •<br />
News 11<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Emirates launches enhanced<br />
Onboard Lounge for A380<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
BUSINESS <br />
The much-talked-about enhanced A380 Onboard<br />
Lounge of Emirates has made its operational<br />
debut on a flight to Kuala Lumpur,<br />
marking the 9th anniversary of the airline’s<br />
award-winning A380 service.<br />
The Onboard Lounge was first introduced<br />
on <strong>August</strong> 1, 2008 and has since become the<br />
mainstay of Emirates’ flagship aircraft. Till now,<br />
the upgraded lounge is arguably the most popular<br />
social spot at 40,000 feet of the airlines.<br />
The latest makeover inspired by private<br />
yacht cabins features a more intimate and social<br />
area, said a press release issued recently.<br />
With a clientele made up of Business and<br />
First Class customers on board the A380, the<br />
exclusive lounge accommodates 26 guests<br />
DT<br />
and serves the finest beverages from all over<br />
the world. It also serves over 18 different bar<br />
snacks, the most popular of which are the<br />
smoked salmon bagels and fresh fruit skewers.<br />
Emirates has over 6,000 crew trained as mixologists<br />
who can whip up up to 14 cocktails.<br />
The menu also includes juices, Illy coffee<br />
and several varieties of tea from Dilmah for<br />
those preferring to perk me up. At the back of<br />
the lounge, a 55-inch LCD screen gives customers<br />
the latest flight information, live TV broadcasts<br />
of the latest news and sports updates.<br />
Emirates has also recently expanded its<br />
Wi-Fi offering free to its Skywards members<br />
throughout their flight.<br />
Emirates flies the A380 to 48 cities on six<br />
continents. Being the world’s largest operator<br />
of A380 aircraft, it has 96 of such double-decked<br />
aircraft in service while 46 more<br />
are on order. •
DT<br />
12<br />
Editorial<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
TODAY<br />
Is Islam the<br />
ultimate solution?<br />
Ironically, most of the Islamists are<br />
graduates of secular educational<br />
systems and lack formal training in<br />
Islamic jurisprudence<br />
PAGE 13<br />
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN<br />
A worrying trend<br />
An apology<br />
to my students<br />
While I just observe, my students take<br />
action to change their world<br />
Sultan of smut<br />
Write to Dhaka Tribune<br />
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PAGE 14<br />
An educated man without scruples<br />
filming others in intimate moments to<br />
make money and create torment is the<br />
ultimate debasement of social ethos<br />
Be heard<br />
PAGE 15<br />
The fact that there are criminals posing as<br />
DNCC officials and duping hard-working<br />
citizens out of their hard-earned money is<br />
worrisome.<br />
Promising to install GPRS name plates, the<br />
perpetrators took money from the residents of<br />
Dhaka North.<br />
What is worse is that, once people realised they<br />
had been deceived and contacted the DNCC, the<br />
DNCC were unresponsive.<br />
The job of each mayor’s office is to ensure<br />
that the people under their jurisdiction are not<br />
only taken care of, but that their inquiries and<br />
complaints are listened and responded to in an<br />
efficient manner as well.<br />
The authorities must nip this problem in the bud<br />
immediately.<br />
Not only must they catch the criminals<br />
responsible, but also ensure that something like this<br />
does not happen again.<br />
Well in development<br />
Bangladesh has experienced drastic progress<br />
when it comes to our economy, that much<br />
is certain.<br />
However, something that we seldom<br />
hear about is the progress that we have made when<br />
it comes to social indicators, as made evident by our<br />
strong trajectory in meeting the UNDP’s Sustainable<br />
Development Goals.<br />
Bangladesh has achieved much with regards to<br />
ending poverty, dealing with climate change, and<br />
retaining environmental integrity, despite being a<br />
least developed country.<br />
But there is still a lot more which needs to be<br />
done.<br />
We must make sure that we carry this momentum<br />
along through our journey into meeting the SGDs,<br />
and make Bangladesh the most prosperous nation it<br />
can hope to be -- both economically and socially.<br />
Falling behind now is not an option.<br />
Not only must they<br />
catch the criminals,<br />
but also ensure that<br />
something like this does<br />
not happen again<br />
We seldom hear about<br />
the progress that<br />
we have made when<br />
it comes to social<br />
indicators
Opinion 13<br />
Is Islam the ultimate solution?<br />
How the Muslim Brotherhood kick-started a fire that refuses to be put out<br />
DT<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Groups such as IS are the culmination of a decades-old battle of ideologies<br />
REUTERS<br />
(abode of Islam) and the Dar-al-<br />
Harb (abode of war). Considering<br />
the presence of a vibrant Muslim<br />
diaspora in the West, such binary<br />
division seems archaic and<br />
redundant.<br />
They claim to have exclusive<br />
access to God and hurl their critics<br />
with charges of illegitimacy and<br />
blasphemy while purporting to<br />
have found an unadulterated<br />
version of the teachings of Islam.<br />
Ironically, most of the<br />
Islamists are graduates of<br />
secular educational systems and<br />
lack formal training in Islamic<br />
jurisprudence.<br />
Islamist pioneers like Banna<br />
and Nabhani branded their<br />
movements as “social and<br />
cultural puritanical movements”<br />
in contrast to the status quo.<br />
Nevertheless, the Islamists<br />
Erdogan’s Justice and<br />
Development Party (AKP) are<br />
Ottoman nostalgists who are<br />
ideologically aligned with<br />
the Brotherhood -- they have<br />
shown a remarkable level of<br />
adaptation with the secular state<br />
apparatus. The Tunisian Ennahda<br />
(Renaissance) party formed a<br />
coalition government with the<br />
secular Nidaa Tounes party. The<br />
Jordanian Brotherhood has a<br />
parliamentary wing, Jabhat al’-<br />
Amal al-Islami (The Islamic Action<br />
Front).<br />
Does the accommodation<br />
of Islamists in the mainstream<br />
politics mean that once in power<br />
they will honor the supremacy of<br />
the popular will? Will they cease<br />
to be Islamists and give up their<br />
dreams of establishing the Islamic<br />
state order?<br />
• Siddhartha Dhar<br />
The global pan-Islamic,<br />
transnational Islamist<br />
movements envision an<br />
idealistic global order<br />
where popular sovereignty will be<br />
supplanted by an Islamic Sharia<br />
based state.<br />
Imbued with traits of<br />
modernity, Islamism is a modern<br />
day ideology that attempts to<br />
reinterpret the Islamic doctrine<br />
into its desired mold while<br />
vigorously resisting any liberal<br />
interpretations or efforts of<br />
cultural modernisation.<br />
The Islamist thinkers castigate<br />
the “man-made” nation-states<br />
while suggesting the Islamic<br />
system as an alternative to<br />
socialism, nationalism, and the<br />
cultural and political hegemony of<br />
the West.<br />
Where it all started<br />
The fall of the Ottoman empire<br />
and the subsequent abolition<br />
of the Islamic Caliphate created<br />
a sudden pandemonium in the<br />
Muslim world. In 1928, it was<br />
against this backdrop that Hasan<br />
Al Banna (1904-1949), a schoolteacher<br />
from the British-controlled<br />
town of Isma’iliyya in Egypt,<br />
formed the youth club Muslim<br />
Brotherhood to resist what he<br />
deemed “orientations to apostasy<br />
and nihilism” which was engulfing<br />
the Muslim youth.<br />
It was in response to the<br />
British mandate and Zionist<br />
colonialisation in 1936-7 that the<br />
Muslim Brotherhood transformed<br />
itself into a political entity. It<br />
declared Islam as: (1) A “selfevolving<br />
system” and the ultimate<br />
path of life that (2) emanates from<br />
“the Qur’an and the prophetic<br />
tradition” which is (3) applicable<br />
to “all times and places.”<br />
In the 1950s and 1960s,<br />
buttressing its position as<br />
a resistance movement in<br />
opposition to the Nasserite state<br />
ideology of “Arab nationalism,”<br />
the Brotherhood extensively<br />
propagated their staple slogan<br />
“Islam is the solution.”<br />
It eventually evolved into<br />
the most controversial Islamist<br />
political organisation to this date.<br />
Bitter squabbles between<br />
the conservative and reformist<br />
bents have often hindered the<br />
Brotherhood’s ability to develop<br />
a more cohesive strategy. The<br />
creation of the military wing<br />
Nizam al-khass and the advent of<br />
the radical ideologue Sayyid Qutb<br />
as a higher echelon dented its<br />
status of a non-violent movement.<br />
Indicted for treason, Qutb was<br />
eventually hanged to death by the<br />
Nasserite regime in 1966 which<br />
impelled the Brotherhood to take<br />
a more conciliatory approach.<br />
The extremist bent formed small<br />
spin-off groups and one of them,<br />
Al-Jihad assassinated the Egyptian<br />
President Anwar Sadat in 1981.<br />
The glory days of Tahrir<br />
Sheikh Taqiuddin al-Nabhani,<br />
founder of the global Islamic<br />
political party Hizb-ut-Tahrir (The<br />
Liberation Party), considered the<br />
Islamic system as unique to its<br />
right and rejected the ideas of Arab<br />
nationalism and Ba’athism, which<br />
he believed are stripped off Islamic<br />
ideology.<br />
Prioritising the Arabic language<br />
and ethnic Arabs as essentials<br />
parts of Islam, Al-Nabhani<br />
envisaged the revival of Islam<br />
among the Arabs, which would<br />
subsequently be embraced by<br />
other non-Arab Muslim populace.<br />
Officially established in<br />
Jerusalem in 1953, Tahrir earned<br />
a reputation for its neutral stance<br />
in the sectarian conflicts among<br />
Muslims and its explicit refusal<br />
to the use of violence. But it<br />
struggled to face the growing tide<br />
of Arab nationalism and failed<br />
in its attempt to overthrow the<br />
Jordanian regime.<br />
The apparent bleak prospects<br />
in the Arab political climate forced<br />
Tahrir to shift its focus beyond<br />
the boundaries of the Middle East.<br />
It faced the same fate, and, as of<br />
today, Tahrir is banned in at least<br />
13 countries worldwide.<br />
In the Indian sub-continent,<br />
the Islamist philosopher and jurist<br />
Syed Abul A’la Maududi founded<br />
the political group Jama’at-i-Islami<br />
(People of Islam) in 1941. He wrote<br />
a pamphlet titled “Human rights<br />
in Islam” where he castigated<br />
the Western society and argued<br />
for the superiority of the Islamic<br />
civilisation over the West.<br />
Fearing that remaining Muslims<br />
will lose their identity in the Hindu<br />
state of India, Maududi initially<br />
opposed the creation of the state<br />
of Pakistan. After Partition, a<br />
humbled Maududi moved to<br />
Pakistan and worked to shape the<br />
contour of Pakistan as an Islamic<br />
state. The party’s East Pakistan<br />
chapter was heavily involved in<br />
war crimes during Bangladesh’s<br />
Liberation War of 1971.<br />
Islam and war<br />
The Islamist denominations<br />
worldwide hold a Manichean<br />
proposition where the world is<br />
divided between the Dar al-Islam<br />
Ironically, most of the Islamists are graduates<br />
of secular educational systems and lack formal<br />
training in Islamic jurisprudence<br />
actively participated in the<br />
democratic apparatus they<br />
vouched to uproot. When they<br />
fail to change the system from<br />
within, in such occasions, they<br />
often seek support from the<br />
military apparatus to stage coups<br />
in support of their cause.<br />
The Islamists believe in a<br />
border-less supra-national<br />
community, or Ummah, yet, in<br />
reality, they have mostly confined<br />
their activities within state<br />
boundaries.<br />
Despite its rigid stance against<br />
popular sovereignty, the Muslim<br />
Brotherhood often adopted<br />
politically-expedient policies over<br />
the course of time. It participated<br />
in the parliamentary elections it<br />
vowed to abolish and flirted with<br />
the military regimes in times it<br />
deemed necessary to stay relevant<br />
in the political context.<br />
Following the Arab spring, the<br />
Brotherhood galloped to power<br />
despite its timorous absence in<br />
the early days of anti-Mubarak<br />
protests, fearing a backlash<br />
from the Mubarak regime. It’s<br />
Palestinian offshoot Hamas<br />
distanced itself from the pan-<br />
Islamist ideas, concentrating<br />
solely on the cause of Palestinian<br />
independence. Hamas seeks to<br />
emulate the “Erdogan Model”<br />
in Turkey which is a blend of<br />
Islamism and conservative<br />
nationalism.<br />
In the Islamic Republic of Iran,<br />
the Guardian Council calls the<br />
shots in every major decision,<br />
thus crippling any popularly<br />
elected legislature. A newly passed<br />
referendum in Turkey has made<br />
president Erdogan effectively a<br />
dictator. Conversely, the Tunisian<br />
Ennahda is trying to ditch its<br />
Islamist heritage.<br />
The Brotherhood’s chief<br />
benefactor Qatar is facing a<br />
blockade from its previous patron<br />
and friend-turned-foe Saudi<br />
Arabia and other Gulf countries.<br />
All these events point to the<br />
fact that, rather than a static<br />
ideology, the Islamist movement<br />
is a constantly evolving social<br />
phenomenon which deserves<br />
rigorous studying. In the absence<br />
of a liberal alternative, the<br />
Islamists are often successful in<br />
tapping into the grievances of the<br />
ordinary people and channel those<br />
to their benefit.<br />
But they also find it extremely<br />
difficult to accommodate the<br />
nuanced Muslim voices worldwide<br />
in their black-and-white moral<br />
absolutism. One thing is for<br />
certain, the Islamist panacea to<br />
solve all the quandaries of the 21st<br />
century proves to be more fragile<br />
than ever. •<br />
Siddhartha Dhar is a Sweden-based<br />
Bangladeshi blogger, writer, and<br />
translator.
14<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Opinion<br />
An apology to my students<br />
We should support students, not try to control them<br />
Students are the rightful voices of tomorrow<br />
BIGSTOCK<br />
• Rifat Mahbub<br />
to an<br />
unavoidable<br />
circumstance,<br />
“Due<br />
the authority<br />
of (name any public university)<br />
has declared that the university<br />
will remain closed until further<br />
notice” -- this is the most common<br />
and frustrating news that any<br />
student who studied or studies<br />
in public universities gets here in<br />
Bangladesh.<br />
Days pass by, uncertainties<br />
brew in, frustration mounts -- and<br />
one day the universities open,<br />
classes are managed, and exams<br />
are taken.<br />
The situation has changed<br />
slightly for the better recently,<br />
when many public universities<br />
are maintaining their academic<br />
calendars accurately.<br />
The semester system means<br />
that teachers and students need<br />
to move by the clock, life becomes<br />
busy, work is routinised, exams<br />
are standardised, results are duly<br />
published, and the next semester<br />
comes by too quickly.<br />
The boom and success of<br />
private universities in Bangladesh<br />
partly lie on the long-standing and<br />
unresolved failures of the public<br />
universities.<br />
In the early 2000s, when<br />
private universities first started<br />
to increase in numbers, they were<br />
a breather in our claustrophobic<br />
and vision-less higher education<br />
system. We envied our distant<br />
friends who were able to study at<br />
private universities because their<br />
parents could afford to.<br />
Their fluent English, their<br />
rambling about presentations<br />
and quizzes, their confidence<br />
lin anding a job shamed us. Our<br />
only consolation was repeating<br />
to ourselves we were the truly<br />
brilliant students, yet, deep inside,<br />
we knew even that was not true.<br />
I now teach at a private<br />
university. And I see my students<br />
with wonder.<br />
They are kids of today, as I look<br />
at them and I realise, silently yet<br />
rapidly, how our education system<br />
(not all the structural criticism<br />
withstanding) has produced<br />
groups of young people who are<br />
While I just observe, my students take action to change their world.<br />
They are no copycats; they are human beings with a real sense of<br />
perception and ability. They are firm and controlled -- they know how<br />
to share the world together<br />
brilliant and empathetic, who<br />
are global thinkers yet are firmly<br />
rooted in their local causes.<br />
I teach courses on feminism in<br />
literature, media, and culture; and<br />
I see how my students take in the<br />
lecturers to transform themselves<br />
and their surroundings for the<br />
better. I see them boiling in anger<br />
when they realise that discussions<br />
in the classroom are the hardest to<br />
translate in the real world.<br />
Our society changes slowly,<br />
the education system moves in<br />
contradictory directions, and the<br />
entrenched autocratic system,<br />
even in the relatively liberal<br />
institution such as universities, are<br />
fed on the power of iron hands.<br />
While I just observe, my<br />
students take action to change<br />
their world. They are no copycats;<br />
they are human beings with a real<br />
sense of perception and ability.<br />
They are firm and controlled --<br />
they know how to share the world<br />
together.<br />
Let them grow up, let them be<br />
the rightful voices of tomorrow.<br />
They are our best parts. If<br />
we destroy them, we will be<br />
destroying ourselves. •<br />
Rifat Mahbub is Assistant Professor,<br />
Department of English and Humanities,<br />
BRAC University.
Opinion 15<br />
DT<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Sultan of smut<br />
What does the case of Md Fuad Bin Sultan say about our society?<br />
SERPENT<br />
IN EDEN<br />
• Towheed Feroze<br />
The news was possibly a<br />
surprise for many though<br />
I am sure there are those<br />
who are keen social<br />
observers and notice the murky<br />
sides of life cleverly concealed by<br />
a layer of pseudo modesty. I am, of<br />
course, talking about the arrest of<br />
the local Sultan of porn.<br />
The man in question left a<br />
conventional career and decided<br />
to delve into the world of the<br />
forbidden to make a fast buck. As<br />
far as we know, he ran an escort<br />
service -- providing women willing<br />
to be intimate to clients for a price<br />
-- and also used his flat to offer<br />
discreet meeting spots for such<br />
trysts.<br />
One act leads to another<br />
It seems that the man in question,<br />
reportedly the son of a retired<br />
police officer, had been running<br />
the operation of providing female<br />
companionship in exchange for a<br />
fee for some time. In the West, this<br />
business, though not discussed<br />
at public forums too often, is a<br />
legitimate way of earning since the<br />
women involved are believed to<br />
have entered the work willingly.<br />
A few years ago, an<br />
international news channel ran<br />
a story about recession-time<br />
students earning to pay for their<br />
tuition working as part-time<br />
escorts. Many of the women<br />
later went on to enter perfectly<br />
acceptable professional positions,<br />
leaving that small bit of their lives<br />
behind.<br />
In recession time, there have<br />
been incidents when women, for<br />
a short while, have been seen to<br />
work as escorts to pass through a<br />
hard patch. Desperate times call<br />
for desperate measures, as they<br />
say.<br />
There’s always the chance to<br />
wipe the slate clean and start over.<br />
Our man in question, who<br />
conveniently has Sultan in<br />
his name, began his business<br />
providing escorts, but later,<br />
possibly driven by greed, decided<br />
to film the intimate moments and<br />
then use the clips to blackmail<br />
the client and also the women<br />
involved.<br />
Obviously, with the secret<br />
filming, the whole affair took a<br />
very diabolic turn. One should<br />
not endorse escort services from<br />
a puritanical point of view, but<br />
A symptom of a sexually-repressed society?<br />
we need to look at this social<br />
phenomenon not with the<br />
blinkered view of a purist but with<br />
that of a rationalist.<br />
Driven by moralist zeal, many<br />
denounce brothels on the grounds<br />
that they undermine traditional<br />
values and then force sex workers<br />
on the street into a world of<br />
brutal exploitation, disease, and<br />
depravity.<br />
No matter how conservative we<br />
try to portray ourselves to be, the<br />
fact is we have registered brothels<br />
where thousands live and play<br />
a vital role in maintaining social<br />
civility.<br />
The crime is the secret filming<br />
Whether someone wants to be a<br />
discreet special companion for<br />
livelihood is that person’s choice<br />
but making secret films and then<br />
using that for blackmail takes us<br />
into darker territory. Obviously,<br />
in this downward slope, the yaba<br />
tablet, known for its inhibitionbusting<br />
powers, plays a central<br />
role.<br />
In fact, if we meticulously look<br />
at all current-day social anomalies,<br />
from rising brutality to savage<br />
behaviour to the rise of divorce<br />
rates in urban areas, a link to the<br />
drug can eventually be found.<br />
I hear from my media friends<br />
that the common line in all current<br />
day crime related investigations is:<br />
“What is the baba (a euphemism<br />
An educated man without scruples filming others in intimate moments<br />
to make money and create torment is the ultimate debasement of social<br />
ethos<br />
for yaba) connection?”<br />
The latest case is no exception;<br />
yaba was found in the man’s flat<br />
where he allegedly drugged both<br />
men and women and then led<br />
them to indulge in unrestrained<br />
acts, filmed by hidden cameras.<br />
The most perturbing aspect<br />
of this whole sordid affair is that<br />
the person in question is not<br />
unrefined or boorish but someone<br />
who is educated and comes from a<br />
respectable background.<br />
Values wither when the profit is<br />
quick<br />
We are not wrong in guessing that<br />
in the face of fast profit, all social<br />
inhibitions of the so called “porn<br />
king” dissipated. Whether he has a<br />
university degree or not becomes<br />
irrelevant since society now knows<br />
him as a blackmailer.<br />
Reminiscent of the soft-spoken<br />
but thoroughly vile Sherlock<br />
Holmes master blackmailer,<br />
Charles <strong>August</strong>us Milverton, who<br />
made a handsome livelihood by<br />
selling the secrets of others.<br />
An educated man without<br />
scruples filming others in intimate<br />
moments to make money and<br />
create torment is the ultimate<br />
debasement of social ethos.<br />
A few years ago, another such<br />
person, a photographer, was<br />
arrested by police when he lured<br />
children from underprivileged<br />
backgrounds with cash to pose for<br />
photos which were later sold to<br />
pedophiles abroad.<br />
Is it time for legitimate adult<br />
entertainment?<br />
Some say we should bring down<br />
the vacuous brouhaha over the<br />
cliched lines of conservative<br />
values and lifestyle according<br />
to impractical social restrictions<br />
-- and try to come to terms with<br />
the metamorphosis which has<br />
happened behind the curtain of<br />
puritanism.<br />
Stands to reason, adult<br />
entertainment is a global trend; we<br />
may not admit it in public but, in<br />
Bangladesh, the hits into over 18<br />
sites are staggering.<br />
And, if we go back in time,<br />
we recall (even in the 80s) the<br />
RAB<br />
roaring business of the makeshift<br />
VCR theatres in Thataribazar,<br />
Begumbazar which mainly showed<br />
adult movies.<br />
Society has ingrained within<br />
us that anything to do with<br />
physical pleasure is a taboo<br />
topic and cannot be discussed<br />
openly. Interestingly, way back<br />
in the 70s, during a brief period<br />
of enlightened thinking, a film<br />
for adults (possibly called Gopon<br />
Kotha), featuring top movie<br />
stars of the time, openly talked<br />
about puberty, family planning,<br />
and other issues topped with a<br />
balanced dose of tantalising thrill.<br />
The recent case of Sultan is<br />
another incident which asks us<br />
not to hide under a make-believe<br />
blanket of prudery and address<br />
several social proclivities with a<br />
healthy dose of liberalism.<br />
Such sultans of smut will<br />
proliferate unless we talk about<br />
areas of life which have been<br />
blocked out irrationally. •<br />
Towheed Feroze is a journalist working<br />
in the development sector.
16<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Downtime<br />
CROSSWORD<br />
ACROSS<br />
1 Thunder god (4)<br />
5 Self-defence style (4)<br />
10 Burden (4)<br />
11 Fresh (3)<br />
12 Remedies (5)<br />
13 Unwell (3)<br />
14 Sample (5)<br />
16 Hexes (6)<br />
18 Reflected sounds (6)<br />
21 Unit of capacity (5)<br />
23 Insane (3)<br />
24 Lowest point (5)<br />
26 Consumed (3)<br />
27 Not working (4)<br />
28 Twenty quires (4)<br />
29 Nimble (9)<br />
DOWN<br />
2 Multitude (5)<br />
3 United (3)<br />
4 Cattle thief (7)<br />
6 Single entity (4)<br />
7 Cancel (6)<br />
8 Night bird (3)<br />
9 Book of the Bible (4)<br />
15 Goes up (7)<br />
17 Roof of the mouth (6)<br />
19 Command (5)<br />
20 Hindu garment (4)<br />
22 Notion (4)<br />
23 Spoil (3)<br />
25 High mountain (3)<br />
CODE-CRACKER<br />
How to solve: Each number in our<br />
CODE-CRACKER grid represents a<br />
different letter of the alphabet. For<br />
example, today 18 represents M so fill M<br />
every time the figure 18 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
Biz Info<br />
17<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
NESTLÉ Bangladesh gives out gifts<br />
to contest winners<br />
Aziz al Masud, managing director of Partex Fashions Ltd, inaugurating the mega<br />
showroom for “Red Origin” by Partex Group at Jumauna Future Park. Managing<br />
director of Partex Beverage Ltd Rubel Aziz, general manager (finance and<br />
accounts) M M Nurun Nabi and other officials were present at the ceremony.<br />
New VC of Stamford<br />
University appointed<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Nestlé Bangladesh Limited<br />
organised a celebration for the<br />
contest winners of “Pushtir<br />
Patshala” for its Breakfast Cereal<br />
consumers on <strong>August</strong> 3, <strong>2017</strong> at<br />
Nestlé Bangladesh Head Office.<br />
The contest starting on March<br />
1, <strong>2017</strong> and ending on April 30,<br />
<strong>2017</strong> was based on the theme of<br />
bond between mothers and their<br />
children and involved sharing<br />
their photos and stories on<br />
Facebook.<br />
During the contest,<br />
participating mothers made their<br />
submissions through the Nestlé<br />
Corporate page on Facebook<br />
and were judged based on the<br />
quality and engagement on<br />
their posts. The contest winners<br />
were selected outlet-wise and<br />
the first winners received brand<br />
new bicycles. The second and<br />
third prizes were trendy skating<br />
board and mini basketball sets<br />
respectively. The Pushtir Patshala<br />
contest was conducted in 19 key<br />
stores across Dhaka City.<br />
Senior Management Team and<br />
members of Nestlé handed out<br />
the gifts to the winners. •<br />
Nando’s Master Grillers’ Challenge <strong>2017</strong> held<br />
Renowned professor and architect<br />
Professor Mohammad Ali Naqi<br />
has been appointed as the new<br />
Vice-Chancellor of Stamford<br />
University Bangladesh. He has<br />
been appointed as the VC for the<br />
next four years by the Chancellor,<br />
President of Bangladesh Abdul<br />
Hamid Chowdhury.<br />
Professor Mohammad Ali Naqi<br />
completed his undergraduate in<br />
Architecture from BUET in 1989<br />
with first class and completed his<br />
M. Arch. from the same university<br />
in 2004.<br />
He started his career as a<br />
lecturer at Khulna University in<br />
1991 and subsequently promoted<br />
to an Asst. Professor in 1994<br />
and Associate Professor in 2001.<br />
He also became the head of the<br />
architecture department at Khulna<br />
University during his tenure<br />
there. In 2006 he joined Stamford<br />
University Bangladesh as the Chair<br />
of the department of architecture.<br />
Well known for designing a<br />
number of notable architectural<br />
structures in the country,<br />
Professor Naqi has many<br />
publications in reputed journals.<br />
He has succeeded the former VC<br />
Professor Feroze Ahmed. •<br />
UGC chairman to deliver<br />
memorial lecture at the former<br />
Islamia College in Kolkata<br />
Like every year, Nando’s<br />
Bangladesh organised the Master<br />
Griller’s Challenge <strong>2017</strong> at its<br />
Gulshan 1 branch last Saturday.<br />
Anthony Shoikat Gomes seized<br />
the winning title and as the<br />
regional winner of this year<br />
he will be joining the Nando’s<br />
Master Griller’s Challenge in<br />
South Africa.<br />
He will represent the Nando’s<br />
Bangladesh team against the<br />
master grillers of 24 countries<br />
in this prestigious culinary<br />
battle. MGH Restaurants Pvt<br />
Limited (MRPL) has been the<br />
Master Franchisee of Nando’s in<br />
Bangladesh for 10 years.<br />
The special guest judges<br />
of this festive fight included<br />
celebrity singer Hridoy Khan,<br />
model and presenter Ismath<br />
Zerin Chaity, television host<br />
Samia Afrin, the winner of<br />
Nando’s customer survey Ashik<br />
Noon.<br />
The 12 griller Nandocas<br />
(the name given to a Nando’s<br />
team member) went through<br />
a month of intense training<br />
sessions and screening tests.<br />
The master grillers Md Al<br />
Mamun (Dhanmondi), Uttam<br />
Sarker (Gulshan 2), Md Al Imran<br />
(Banani) and Anthony Shoikat<br />
Gomes (Gulshan 1) became the<br />
finalists of <strong>2017</strong>. The finalists<br />
had only fifteen minutes to<br />
prepare and grill their best<br />
PERI-PERI chicken and impress<br />
the judges.•<br />
Bangladesh Deputy High<br />
Commission in Kolkata has<br />
organized a memorial lecture on<br />
‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur<br />
Rahman and Bangladesh’ on<br />
<strong>August</strong> 17 to mark the national<br />
mourning day on <strong>August</strong> 15.<br />
This <strong>August</strong> it will be the 42nd<br />
martyrdom anniversary of the<br />
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu<br />
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.<br />
The memorial lecture, for<br />
the first time will be held at the<br />
former Islamia College (presently<br />
Maulana Azad College), where<br />
a young Bangabandhu studied<br />
and started his political career.<br />
Professor Abdul Mannan,<br />
Chairman, University Grants<br />
Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh<br />
will deliver the memorial lecture<br />
as the keynote speaker. Other<br />
speakers include Professor<br />
Suranjan Das, Vice-Chancellor,<br />
Jadavpur University, Paschim<br />
Banga and Professor Bijoy Krishna<br />
Roy, Principal, Maulana Azad<br />
College, Paschim Banga, India,<br />
who will speak on the topic ‘the<br />
life and works of Bangabandhu.’ •
DT<br />
18<br />
Sports<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
World championships<br />
men’s 100m final<br />
Usain Bolt of Jamaica, Justin Gatlin of the US and Christian Coleman of the US compete in the final of the men’s 100m event in the London World Athletics Championship<br />
on Saturday<br />
REUTERS<br />
Bolt stunned by Gatlin in 100m farewell<br />
• Reuters, London<br />
Justin Gatlin ruined Usain Bolt’s<br />
farewell party when the 35-year-old<br />
American won the world 100 metres<br />
title on Saturday, beating the Jamaican<br />
superstar into third and sparking<br />
a chorus of boos from a London<br />
crowd unhappy with his doping past.<br />
What was meant to be a glorious<br />
celebration of the departure of the<br />
sport’s greatest showman turned<br />
into a condemnation of its biggest<br />
pantomime villain as Gatlin, twice<br />
banned for drug offences, rolled<br />
back the years to win a second world<br />
title 12 years after his first and 13 after<br />
claiming Olympic 100m gold.<br />
As so often before Bolt made a<br />
terrible start but for once could not<br />
make it up as Christian Coleman, the<br />
21-year-old American who beat him<br />
in the semi-finals, looked set for victory.<br />
But Gatlin, who stumbled at<br />
the death to lose the 2015 world final<br />
to Bolt by a hundredth of a second,<br />
on this occasion timed his surge and<br />
dip to perfection to win in 9.92s.<br />
Coleman, who has run over 40<br />
races this year but turned professional<br />
only a few weeks ago, took<br />
silver in 9.94. Bolt, straining every<br />
sinew, fought all the way to the line<br />
but the pace and grace that took<br />
him to his world record of 9.58<br />
eight years ago has withered with<br />
age and perennial injury battles<br />
and this time he ran out of track.<br />
“It’s just one of those things,”<br />
Bolt said. “My start is killing me.<br />
Normally, it gets better during the<br />
rounds but it didn’t come together.”<br />
When the results flashed up on<br />
the giant screen the crowd immediately<br />
began repeating the booing<br />
with which Gatlin’s name had been<br />
greeted since the heats on Friday.<br />
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his first<br />
response was to put his finger to his<br />
Bolt reacts as Gatlin pays homage to the Jamaican<br />
lips to indicate silence.<br />
The crowd reacted by chanting<br />
Bolt’s name and the Jamaican<br />
hugged Gatlin and told him he did<br />
not deserve the disrespect.<br />
“I tuned it out (the boos)<br />
through the rounds and stayed the<br />
course. I did what I had to do,” said<br />
Gatlin, who served a four-year ban<br />
from 2006 for a second doping offence<br />
- which he always denied.<br />
“The people who love me are<br />
here cheering for me and cheering<br />
at home.<br />
“It is Bolt’s last race and he’s<br />
the man so it’s not about beating<br />
him. I have had many victories and<br />
many defeats down the years, he’s<br />
pushed and inspired me to be the<br />
athlete I am today.” •<br />
REUTERS<br />
1. Justin Gatlin (US) 9.92<br />
2. Christian Coleman (US) 9.94<br />
3. Usain Bolt (Jamaica) 9.95<br />
4. Yohan Blake (Jamaica) 9.99<br />
5. Akani Simbine (SA) 10.01<br />
6. Jimmy Vicaut (France) 10.08<br />
7. Reece Prescod (Britain) 10.17<br />
8. Su Bingtian (China) 10.27<br />
Gatlin: I have<br />
done my time<br />
• Reuters, London<br />
Justin Gatlin said it was sad that<br />
fans booed his victory in the world<br />
100m final on Saturday, saying he<br />
had “done my time” for his doping<br />
offences - and Usain Bolt, the man<br />
he beat into third place, agreed<br />
with him.<br />
Gatlin took the title in 9.92 but<br />
instead of acclaiming the remarkable<br />
success of a 35-year-old triumphing<br />
13 years after he won the<br />
Olympic title, vast swathes of the<br />
crowd booed him in response to his<br />
two bans for drugs offences earlier<br />
in his career.<br />
“It’s kinda sad that my boos<br />
were louder than some of the others’<br />
cheers,” Gatlin told reporters.<br />
“I wanted to keep it classy and at<br />
the end of the race bend the knee<br />
to Usain. Pay homage to him. This<br />
night is still a magical night for<br />
track and field and for Usain Bolt;<br />
he’s done so much in his career.”<br />
“I wasn’t booed in 2010, 2011<br />
or 2012 - or 13, 14 or 15 - and now<br />
I am. I’m just sitting up here, I’m a<br />
runner, I’m back in the sport, I’ve<br />
done my time, I’ve done community<br />
service. I’ve talked to kids, I<br />
inspire kids - that’s all I can do,” the<br />
American added.<br />
“Society does that with people<br />
who make mistakes and I hope<br />
track and field can understand that<br />
too.”<br />
Bolt, who finished third behind<br />
American Christian Coleman,<br />
agreed.<br />
“Over the years I’ve always said<br />
he’s done his time,” said the Jamaican,<br />
who was the first to hug Gatlin<br />
post-race.<br />
“If he’s here, it’s okay. I’ve always<br />
respected him as a competitor.<br />
He deserves to be here, he’s<br />
worked hard.<br />
“I treat him like any other athlete<br />
- as a competitor.”<br />
Gatlin was asked if he thought<br />
his victory had been a disaster for<br />
the spot.<br />
“I wasn’t focused on the boos, I<br />
wasn’t thinking about whether my<br />
win tonight was a disaster for the<br />
sport,” he said.<br />
“I really did it for my fans, my<br />
support staff, my countrymen, the<br />
people who really believe in me.” •
Sports 19<br />
DT<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Dhaka Derby today<br />
• Tribune Report<br />
Archrivals Dhaka Abahani Limited and Mohammedan<br />
Sporting Club Limited will take on each other in<br />
the first Dhaka derby this season in the third round<br />
of the Bangladesh Premier Football League 2016-17<br />
season at Bangabandhu National Stadium today at<br />
7:15pm.<br />
Bangla TV will telecast the match live.<br />
Considering the quality and strength of the squad,<br />
five-time professional champion Abahani might<br />
appear favourite but it was only in their last match<br />
against Farashganj Sporting Club that they conceded<br />
their first league defeat after a 23-match unbeaten<br />
run.<br />
Abahani defeated their archrival twice in the<br />
league last season before going on to win the league<br />
without losing a single match.<br />
They also won this season’s Federation Cup while<br />
Mohammedan, like every tournament last season,<br />
crashed out in the quarter-finals.<br />
The two sides faced each other 19 times in 10 years<br />
of professional league history with Abahani winning<br />
seven times and Mohammedan winning four.<br />
Eight encounters ended in a draw.<br />
Mohammedan’s struggle continued in the league<br />
as well as they suffered two defeats against Sheikh<br />
Jamal Dhanmondi Club Limited and Chittagong Abahani<br />
Limited in their first two matches while Mohammedan<br />
won their first game against Saif Sporting Club<br />
but suffered a surprising defeat at the hands of Farashganj.<br />
• Mohammedan and Abahani players during training in Dhaka yesterday, ahead of the Dhaka derby today MD MANIK<br />
O’Neill: I’m trying to prepare them for a Test match<br />
• Tribune Report<br />
Bangladesh team practised at Zahur<br />
Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium<br />
in Chittagong yesterday, ahead of<br />
the two-match Test series against<br />
Australia. Tigers batting coach<br />
Mark O’Neill, who was appointed<br />
prior to the Australia series, has expressed<br />
satisfaction with the batsmen<br />
following the nets session.<br />
“I am impressed how our batsmen<br />
batted in the nets, particularly<br />
[yesterday]. Batsmen are working on<br />
several techniques which can help<br />
them in Test cricket. I am trying to<br />
develop them for Test cricket as Australia<br />
series is looming,” said O’Neill.<br />
“I am trying to ensure that batsmen<br />
are playing proper shots in the<br />
nets and can realise the value of<br />
their wicket in the longer-version.<br />
A batsman has to concentrate on<br />
timing and weight transfer in longer<br />
format, rather than hitting too hard.<br />
“The basic thing about batting<br />
in Test cricket is patience. The basic<br />
thing is to stay steady in your<br />
strength, and not being in the position<br />
of another’s strength. Belief<br />
in yourself is important,” he added.<br />
Top-order batsman Soumya Sarkar<br />
has been struggling in recent times.<br />
The Australian coach however,<br />
believes there is no chance of<br />
changing Soumya’s batting style.<br />
“I do not see any problem with<br />
his technique. Not only him but<br />
also the other batmen in the team<br />
are also very good just like other<br />
batsmen of the world. Most of the<br />
time he plays with the middle bat.<br />
He can hit anywhere he likes. The<br />
matter is psychological, they have<br />
to believe that they are world-class.<br />
If they are confident of their abilities<br />
then Australia will have a great<br />
test in the upcoming series,” said<br />
O’Neill.<br />
“If you get a ball to hit then you<br />
will have to hit it. I do not want to<br />
change anyone’s batting technique<br />
as a batting coach in any way. My<br />
job is to tell them what they can<br />
do consistently without taking too<br />
many risks and not to play bad<br />
shots,” explained the former firstclass<br />
cricketer.<br />
One of O’Neil’s major work will<br />
be to work with tail-ender batsmen<br />
and improve their performance.<br />
The batting coach thinks tailenders<br />
can produce valuable contributions<br />
for the team.<br />
“One of the issues of lower-order<br />
batsmen is that, as a bowler,<br />
they do not get enough time to bat.<br />
They even get rare opportunities to<br />
bat in practice. But both as a player<br />
and coach, I have seen many times<br />
that the team is winning when the<br />
lower order batsmen survive and<br />
contribute for the team,” he said.<br />
“To get something from them,<br />
you have to pay more attention to<br />
them, give more time and opportunity<br />
to bat in practice. They should<br />
be encouraged to play according to<br />
their own strengths and play a role<br />
of giving back the strike at the other<br />
end,” he added.<br />
The first Test will played in Dhaka<br />
from <strong>August</strong> 27-31 while second<br />
Test will be played in Chittagong<br />
from September 4-8. •<br />
Courtois, Morata gift Arsenal<br />
Community Shield<br />
Arsenal’s Sead Kolasinac scores their first goal against Chelsea during the Community Shield in London yesterday<br />
REUTERS<br />
• AFP, London<br />
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and<br />
star signing Alvaro Morata were the<br />
Chelsea fall guys as Arsenal won<br />
the Community Shield 4-1 on penalties<br />
at Wembley yesterday.<br />
Goals from Chelsea’s Victor Moses<br />
and Arsenal new boy Sead Kolasinac<br />
sent the game to a shootout<br />
and with both Courtois and Morata<br />
limply squandering their spotkicks,<br />
Arsenal won the trophy for<br />
the third time in four years.<br />
Courtois blazed his penalty over<br />
the bar before substitute Morata,<br />
a £58m capture from Real Madrid,<br />
shot wide, allowing Olivier Giroud<br />
to seal victory for Arsenal.<br />
Arsenal, embarking upon their<br />
first season without Champions<br />
League football since 1997, have<br />
won on their last nine visits to<br />
Wembley, a run stretching back to<br />
a victory over Wigan Athletic in the<br />
semi-finals of the FA Cup in 2014.<br />
Arsene Wenger’s side open the<br />
Premier League season at home to<br />
2016 champions Leicester City on<br />
Friday, with Antonio Conte’s Chelsea<br />
beginning their title defence at<br />
home to Burnley the following day.<br />
Moses was also sent off after<br />
receiving a second yellow card for<br />
diving as Arsenal stunned Chelsea<br />
2-1 in May’s FA Cup final. •
20<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Sports<br />
Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery celebrates with the trophy after winning the DFL-Supercup Final against Borussia Dortmund in Dortmund on Saturday<br />
REUTERS<br />
Bayern beat<br />
Dortmund to<br />
win German<br />
Super Cup<br />
• Reuters<br />
German champion Bayern Munich<br />
beat Cup holder Borussia Dortmund<br />
5-4 on penalties to win a record<br />
sixth Super Cup after the entertaining<br />
curtain-raiser to the new<br />
season finished 2-2 in regular time<br />
on Saturday.<br />
Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich<br />
saved Marc Bartra’s sudden-death<br />
spot kick to settle a riveting tie at<br />
Dortmund’s packed Signal Iduna<br />
Park.<br />
Dortmund looked to have<br />
done enough after top scorer<br />
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang<br />
scored a superb 71st-minute goal<br />
to give the home side a 2-1 lead but<br />
they were undone by a late Lukasz<br />
Piszczek own-goal.<br />
American forward Christian<br />
Pulisic fired Dortmund ahead in the<br />
12th minute when he robbed Javi<br />
Martinez and steered the ball past<br />
Ulreich after Robert Lewandowski<br />
fired over the bar at the other end. •<br />
PSG will make<br />
Neymar best<br />
in world, says<br />
Pastore<br />
• AFP, Paris<br />
Paris Saint-Germain midfielder<br />
Javier Pastore has pledged Neymar<br />
that his new club will help him become<br />
the best player on the planet.<br />
Neymar became the most expensive<br />
player in history when the Ligue<br />
1 giants snatched the 25-year-old<br />
Brazilian from Barcelona after paying<br />
the 222m euros release clause.<br />
Neymar was joyously welcomed<br />
at Parc des Princes on Saturday<br />
night at his official unveiling before<br />
PSG’s opening Ligue 1 win over Amiens.<br />
“He’s one of the best players in<br />
the world. He’s a decisive player,<br />
who scores goals. The whole team<br />
are going to help him become the<br />
best player in the world,” vowed<br />
Pastore.<br />
“For us it’s fantastic, we’re<br />
thrilled that he’s come here,” added<br />
Pastore, who has relinquished<br />
his No.10 shirt to the Brazilian star.<br />
“We’re waiting now for him<br />
to play to start to help us win<br />
everything this season.”<br />
Red tape forced Neymar to skip<br />
his hoped for debut in Saturday’s<br />
2-0 win as his international transfer<br />
certificate wasn’t lodged in time<br />
with the French league, meaning he<br />
had to watch Pastore and his new<br />
team-mates from the stands. •<br />
Neymar watches as PSG beat Amiens<br />
• Reuters<br />
Neymar’s Paris St Germain debut<br />
was put on ice as red tape reduced<br />
him to the world’s most expensive<br />
spectator but his ineligibility<br />
proved no problem for the hosts as<br />
they beat Amiens 2-0 in their Ligue<br />
1 opener on Saturday.<br />
The 25-year-old Brazilian, who<br />
cost PSG a world-record doubling<br />
222m euros ($261.32m) from Barcelona<br />
this week, had hoped to be<br />
making his debut but his transfer<br />
was not registered in time and he<br />
will have to wait until next week.<br />
RESULTS<br />
Paris SG 2-0 Amiens<br />
Cavani 42, Pastore 80<br />
Lyon 4-0 Strasbourg<br />
Diaz 23, 61, Fekir 59-P, 90+1<br />
Metz 1-3 Guingamp<br />
Roux 14 Briand 39-P, Blas 71, Diallo 84<br />
Montpellier 1-0 Caen<br />
Camara 58<br />
Saint-Etienne 1-0 Nice<br />
Bamba 4<br />
Troyes 1-1 Rennes<br />
Grandsir 46 Tell 69<br />
PSG’s Neymar watches their Ligue 1 game against Amiens from the stands in Paris on Saturday<br />
He still stole the limelight though<br />
as he was paraded before kickoff in<br />
front of tens of thousands of ecstatic<br />
fans who hope the striker can turn<br />
them into kings of Europe. Neymar,<br />
who was joined by the club’s CEO<br />
Nasser Al-Khelaifi on the pitch an<br />
hour before kickoff, delighted his<br />
new fans with some ball skills and<br />
threw his shirt into the crowd.<br />
He also addressed the fans, saying<br />
he wanted to win trophies for<br />
the club. Neymar, whose salary is<br />
reported to be 45m euros, meaning<br />
he earned around 123,000 euros for<br />
his pre-match ball juggling. •<br />
REUTERS<br />
Klopp delighted<br />
by cut-price<br />
Liverpool stars<br />
• AFP, Dublin<br />
Liverpool’s German boss Jurgen<br />
Klopp will keep an open mind on<br />
the Reds’ participation in the transfer<br />
market, after signing off on an<br />
unbeaten pre-season with a 3-1 win<br />
over Spanish top-flight side Athletic<br />
Bilbao.<br />
The Reds boss watched 19-yearold<br />
summer signing Dominic<br />
Solanke score again, along with<br />
17-year-old Ben Woodburn, while<br />
Alberto Moreno impressed at full<br />
back.<br />
Klopp shelled out a club record<br />
£34m to Roma for Mohamed Salah<br />
this summer, and £8m for Scottish<br />
full back Andy Robertson from Hull<br />
but he’s been enthused by the impressions<br />
made by those who cost<br />
little or nothing.<br />
“We’ve always said that until<br />
<strong>August</strong> 31 we’ll run through the<br />
world with open eyes, that’s clear,<br />
but it’s not us alone who decides<br />
about these things. It’s all about<br />
other clubs [too],” said Klopp.<br />
“I thought today and this<br />
pre-season brought us new players,<br />
if you want. Alberto Moreno is 100<br />
per cent back, which is very nice after<br />
a really difficult year.<br />
“Andrew Robertson shows all<br />
the skills he has, of course he still<br />
has to adapt to our way of playing<br />
but you can already see what a<br />
threat he can be offensively. •
Jadeja bowls India to<br />
series-clinching victory<br />
• Reuters, Colombo<br />
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja<br />
broke the back of Sri Lanka’s resistance<br />
after lunch to secure India’s<br />
series-clinching victory by an<br />
innings and 53 runs in the second<br />
Test yesterday.<br />
The all-rounder claimed his<br />
ninth five-wicket haul as Sri Lanka,<br />
forced to follow on after being<br />
shot out for 183 in the first innings,<br />
made 386 in the second before<br />
collapsing minutes before the tea<br />
break on the penultimate day.<br />
It was a first victory by an innings<br />
or more for India in Sri Lanka<br />
and, following their biggest victory<br />
by runs in Galle last week, ensured<br />
an eighth straight series triumph<br />
under Virat Kohli.<br />
Kohli will fancy equalling Australia’s<br />
modern era record of nine<br />
Historic win<br />
for Nofel SC in<br />
Championship<br />
League<br />
• Tribune Report<br />
Newly formed Nofel Sporting Club<br />
kicked off their first ever Bangladesh<br />
Championship League campaign<br />
with a comfortable 2-0 win<br />
over former premier league outfit<br />
Feni Soccer Club at Birsreshtha<br />
Sepahi Mustafa Kamal Stadium in<br />
Kamalapur yesterday.<br />
It was the inaugural match of<br />
this season’s second tier league and<br />
also the first official match of Nofel,<br />
who were formed early this year.<br />
Both the clubs – Nofel and Soccer<br />
Club – are managed by the same<br />
owners.<br />
Ariful Islam netted the historic<br />
first goal for Nofel in the 26th<br />
minute before Mohammad Sazzad<br />
Zaman doubled the lead in the 45th<br />
minute.<br />
Relegated from the top flight<br />
last season, Soccer Club shuffled<br />
the entire squad and formed a new<br />
team.<br />
They later struggled to script a<br />
comeback to the game. •<br />
DAY’S WATCH<br />
CRICKET<br />
STAR SPORTS SELECT 1<br />
4:00PM<br />
South Africa Tour of England<br />
4th Test, Day 4<br />
SONY SIX HD<br />
6:00AM<br />
Caribbean Premier League<br />
Trinbago Knight Riders v St Lucia<br />
consecutive Test series wins when<br />
India host Sri Lanka for three<br />
matches later this year.<br />
Sri Lanka will take a modicom<br />
of confidence into that series from<br />
a second innings resurgence that<br />
was built around the 191-run stand<br />
between Dimuth Karunaratne and<br />
Kusal Mendis, who fell for 110 on<br />
Saturday.<br />
Lefthander Karunaratne’s gallant<br />
141 merely delayed the inevitable<br />
on Sunday, though, as Jadeja<br />
(5-152) and spin partner Ravichandran<br />
Ashwin (2-132) tormented Sri<br />
Lanka on a worn-out track where<br />
the ball spun alarmingly and often<br />
kicked off.<br />
Sri Lanka had resumed the<br />
fourth day on 209-2 at the Sinhalese<br />
Sports Cricket Ground with<br />
Karunaratne continuing his grim<br />
battle with the Indian bowlers. •<br />
Sports<br />
Siddikur finishes 29th in TAKE<br />
Solutions Masters<br />
• Tribune Report<br />
Premier Bangladesh golfer Siddikur<br />
Rahman finished 29th, alongside<br />
five others, as the fourth and<br />
final round’s play in the TAKE Solutions<br />
Masters concluded yesterday<br />
at Karnataka Golf Association Golf<br />
Course in Bengaluru, India.<br />
Siddikur carded two-under-par<br />
69 yesterday to take his overall aggregate<br />
to two-under-par 282, 14 shots<br />
India’s Ravindra Jadeja in action during day four of their second Test against Sri<br />
Lanka in Colombo yesterday<br />
REUTERS<br />
behind champion Poom Saksansin<br />
of Thailand, who pocketed $54,000.<br />
The 32-year old Siddikur from<br />
Madaripur, who hit four birdies<br />
against a single bogey in the 11th<br />
hole, received $2,380 for his 29th<br />
place finish.<br />
TAKE Solutions is a globally recognised<br />
knowledge intensive player,<br />
delivering comprehensive and<br />
niche solutions in Life Sciences.<br />
TAKE Solutions will title sponsor<br />
the new Asian Tour tournament<br />
in India for the next three years until<br />
2019.<br />
Through this new collaboration<br />
between TAKE Solutions, Asian<br />
Tour and PGTI, at least 40 Indian<br />
golfers will have the opportunity to<br />
compete against the region’s leading<br />
golfers where a win will be rewarded<br />
with full playing rights on<br />
the Asian Tour until the end of the<br />
2018 season. •<br />
Alexander Zverev of Germany hits a forehand against Kei Nishikori of Japan (not pictured) in the men’s singles semi-final at<br />
Fitzgerald Tennis Centre. Zverev won 6-3, 6-4<br />
AP<br />
21<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
2ND TEST, DAY 4<br />
Jadeja<br />
suspended for<br />
Pallekele Test<br />
• Agencies<br />
DT<br />
India 1st innings 622-9 dec (C. Pujara 133,<br />
A. Rahane 132; R. Herath 4-154)<br />
Sri Lanka 1st innings 183 (N. Dickwella 51,<br />
A. Mathews 26; R. Ashwin 5-69)<br />
Sri Lanka 2nd innings (overnight 209-2;<br />
D. Karunaratne 92, M. Pushpakumara 2)<br />
Karunaratne c A. Rahane b R. Jadeja 141 307<br />
U. Tharanga b U. Yadav 2 9<br />
K. Mendis c W. Saha b H. Pandya 110 135<br />
M. Pushpakumara b R. Ashwin 16 58<br />
Chandimal c A. Rahane b R. Jadeja 2 6<br />
A. Mathews c W. Saha b R. Jadeja 36 66<br />
Dickwella c A. Rahane b H. Pandya 31 56<br />
D. Perera st W. Saha b R. Jadeja 4 10<br />
D. de Silva c A. Rahane b R. Jadeja 17 17<br />
R. Herath not out 17 30<br />
N. Pradeep c S. Dhawan b R. Ashwin 1 9<br />
Extras (lb5, nb2, w2) 9<br />
Total (all out; 116.5 overs) 386<br />
Bowling: U. Yadav 13-2-39-1, R. Ashwin<br />
37.5-7-132-2, M. Shami 12-3-27-0, R. Jadeja<br />
39-5-152-5, H. Pandya 15-2-31-2<br />
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (U. Tharanga), 2-198 (K.<br />
Mendis), 3-238 (M. Pushpakumara), 4-241<br />
(D. Chandimal), 5-310 (D. Karunaratne),<br />
6-315 (A. Mathews), 7-321 (K. Perera),<br />
8-343 (D. de Silva), 9-384 (N. Dickwella),<br />
10-386 (N. Pradeep)<br />
Result: India won by an innings and 53 runs<br />
Series: India take three-match series 2-0<br />
India spinner Ravindra Jadeja has<br />
been suspended from the third and<br />
final Test of the series against Sri<br />
Lanka after accumulating six demerit<br />
points over a 24 month period,<br />
reports espncricinfo.<br />
Jadeja had come into the Colombo<br />
Test with three demerit points,<br />
slapped on him for running on the<br />
pitch in Indore in October 2016. Now,<br />
the ICC have penalised him further<br />
after an incident in the 58th over of<br />
the Sri Lankan second innings.<br />
Jadeja had fielded the ball off his<br />
own bowling and then thrown it a<br />
the batsman Dimuth Karunaratne<br />
“in a dangerous manner” according<br />
to the on-field umpires Rod Tucker<br />
and Bruce Oxenford. This was in<br />
breach of article 2.2.8 of the player’s<br />
code of conduct which deals<br />
with “throwing a ball (or any other<br />
item of cricket equipment such as<br />
a water bottle) at or near a Player,<br />
Player Support Personnel, Umpire,<br />
Match Referee or any other third<br />
person in an inappropriate and/or<br />
dangerous manner during an International<br />
Match”.<br />
Jadeja admitted to the offence<br />
and accepted his sanction by match<br />
referee Richie Richardson. In addition<br />
to the demerit points, which<br />
tallied up to a suspension, he was<br />
fined 50% of his match fees. Jadeja<br />
had been a vital part of India’s innings<br />
victory at the SSC, becoming<br />
one of only two Indians ever to hit a<br />
fifty and take a five-for in the same<br />
Test. With him forced into the sidelines,<br />
India might look to play leftarm<br />
wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav in<br />
Pallekele on <strong>August</strong> 12. •
22<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Showtime<br />
Bangladeshi youngster Shomi<br />
directs SRK and Diplo<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
For his latest venture, Jab Harry<br />
met Sejal, Shah Rukh Khan has<br />
collaborated with Grammy winner<br />
DJ Diplo for a song titled “Phurrr”.<br />
The American rapper and singer<br />
has composed the song with<br />
Pritam and Rocky Wellstack for<br />
the film. The video was directed<br />
by Shomi Patwary, a Bangladeshi<br />
youngster, along with Mikhail<br />
Mehra from India.<br />
“Phurrr” was made as a<br />
promotional for King Khan’s film<br />
and was released day before the<br />
release of Jab Harry Met Sejal. The<br />
2 minute 20 second long video<br />
instantly created a buzz, and has<br />
been viewed more than 10 million<br />
times as of now.<br />
One of the executive producers<br />
of the video, Punom Tanzina, is<br />
also a Bangladeshi and married<br />
to Shomi. Born in Dhaka, Shomi<br />
Patwary’s original name was<br />
Mahfuzur Patwary, who moved<br />
to USA with his family in 1990. In<br />
2010, Shomi married Noakhali’s<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Months after her father and<br />
Soundgarden front man Chris<br />
Punam Tanzima. Together, the<br />
couple run a production house<br />
named Shot By Shomi.<br />
With his sheer love and<br />
eagerness for making videos,<br />
Shomi, who has no institutional<br />
knowledge in the field, joined Star<br />
Trek, the studio of the famous<br />
American rapper and singer<br />
Pharell Williams, as an intern.<br />
Shomi and sensational record<br />
producer Diplo were introduced<br />
back in 2011, when Diplo’s fame<br />
wasn’t as widespread as it is<br />
today. Mikhel Mehra, the other<br />
director of the video, also knew<br />
both of them, hence proposed<br />
that the duo to collaborate with<br />
him. Later, Diplo created “Phurrr”<br />
with Bollywood music director<br />
Pritom’s composition. The number<br />
was voiced by Mohit Chauhan and<br />
Tushar Joshi.<br />
The opportunity of working<br />
with Shah Rukh came as a<br />
breakthrough for Shomi. Before<br />
the shoot of “Phurrr”, Imtiaz Ali,<br />
the director of the film, wrote<br />
to Shomi, “I’ve watched your<br />
Chris Cornell’s daughter pays<br />
tribute to him and Chester<br />
Cornell committed suicide,<br />
and after Linkin Park singer<br />
and their family friend Chester<br />
Bennington died in the same<br />
previous works. I have my full<br />
confidence in you. Good Luck,”<br />
Shomi confirmed with Prothom-<br />
Alo.<br />
According to Shomi, Shah Rukh<br />
Khan, who has earlier collaborated<br />
way weeks later, Toni Cornell<br />
has taken to the stage to perform<br />
an emotional tribute for the two<br />
iconic singers.<br />
During Friday’s Good Morning<br />
America, the 12-year-old<br />
daughter of Chris Cornell stepped<br />
up to join OneRepublic on stage,<br />
to perform a poignant version of<br />
Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”.<br />
They dedicated the cover to the<br />
iconic rock singers who took their<br />
own lives in identical ways.<br />
In a statement, Toni Cornell<br />
said, “It’s an honour to perform<br />
this for my dad and Chester and<br />
to sing for them.”<br />
OneRepublic front man Ryan<br />
Tedder said, “Chester sang this<br />
at Cornell’s funeral, and this<br />
is arguably one of the greatest<br />
songs written in the last 50 years.<br />
It’s a very special song to us,<br />
and I think to most people and<br />
especially to Toni [Cornell] as<br />
well.”<br />
Toni Cornell and Ryan Tedder<br />
alternated lead vocals on the<br />
cover, singing in unison at the<br />
end. The audience members<br />
were visibly weeping during the<br />
performance. Linkin Park were<br />
scheduled to perform at Central<br />
Park on Friday as part of Good<br />
Morning America’s Summer<br />
Concert series. •<br />
with international music sensation<br />
Akon for chartbuster “Chammak<br />
Challo” from RaOne, gave the<br />
jacket he wore in the video to<br />
Shomi and praised the couple,<br />
saying, “You are too professional. I<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Recently, Kazi Hayat has created<br />
quite a buzz by announcing he<br />
will be steping out from the<br />
Bangladesh Film Directors’<br />
Association over a dispute with<br />
the association of film-makers.<br />
His film-making career comes<br />
to an end here, as the eight<br />
time National Award winning<br />
director has sent a membership<br />
cancellation application to the<br />
association on Thursday.<br />
Hayat’s return to filmmaking<br />
depends on finding a<br />
solution to his discontent with<br />
the association, which is yet to<br />
materialise.<br />
Now, the veteran film-maker<br />
and actor has made another<br />
headline by being a model in<br />
an upcoming music video. Kazi<br />
Hayat played the father of singer<br />
liked working with you.”<br />
The budding director has<br />
previously worked with the likes<br />
of Beyonce, Kanye West and Kylie<br />
Jenner and looks forward to make<br />
films in future. •<br />
Kazi Hayat dons role of<br />
Imran's father in music video<br />
Imran for his upcoming music<br />
video “Jodi Haat Ta Dharo,”<br />
while Khaleda Aktar Kolpona, the<br />
veteran film actress, played the<br />
singer’s mother in it.<br />
Bristy, one of the top seven<br />
participants of Bangladeshi Idol<br />
in 2013, sang the song, besides<br />
appearing in the music video.<br />
Faisal Rabbikin penned the<br />
lyrics of the song, while Imran<br />
composed it. Saikat Reza directed<br />
the music video.<br />
Talking about his upcoming<br />
musical venture, the singermusician<br />
said, “It’s a very proud<br />
moment for me as I had the<br />
opportunity to work with film<br />
personalities like Kazi Hayat and<br />
Khaleda Akter Kolpona. I hope this<br />
will be a perfect Eid treat for my<br />
fans.”<br />
The music video will come out<br />
during Eid-ul-Adha. •
Showtime<br />
MONDAY,<br />
23<br />
AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Rumour has been making<br />
rounds that DJ Khaled, the<br />
popular record producer, radio<br />
personality and DJ broke a horse’s<br />
back while riding on it. VYBZ<br />
Media, a relatively unknown site<br />
posted the news on <strong>Monday</strong> in<br />
this regard, saying that Khaled<br />
had broken a horse’s back<br />
during his recent vacation at the<br />
Bahamas, where the popular<br />
hip-hop producer saddled on the<br />
steed.<br />
“He said he weighed 200<br />
pounds. But our horse’s back<br />
determined that was a lie,” the<br />
Porimoni<br />
to star in<br />
a Chinese<br />
fi l m<br />
Photo: Hossain Ninjoy<br />
site said, quoting an unnamed<br />
employee of the resort. They<br />
added that the producer/DJ<br />
offered to pay for the horse’s<br />
funeral. To prove the authenticity<br />
of their news, VYBZ Media posted<br />
a YouTube video of the heavyset<br />
producer, repeatedly getting off<br />
and on the horse. In the video,<br />
DJ Khaled was also seen boasting<br />
about his latest album, saying<br />
that the album hit number one<br />
two weeks in a row.<br />
The news, which went viral<br />
through various social media<br />
outlets, later, proved false. DJ<br />
Khaled’s representatives denied<br />
the claims.<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Popular Dhallywood star,<br />
Porimoni is about to make her<br />
debut in a Chinese film. Titled<br />
Chasing Murder, the film will<br />
be made based on a true event<br />
that took place in China on<br />
May 6, last year, and became<br />
famous as “Xiangxia shooting<br />
murder.”<br />
Porimoni will be seen as a<br />
member of international police<br />
interrogating the murder, with<br />
a number of actors from China<br />
and Hong Kong, confirmed the<br />
actor herself.<br />
If everything goes as<br />
planned, Porimoni will be the<br />
first Bangladeshi to act in a<br />
Chinese film. “It’s pleasing<br />
to think that I’m going to be<br />
the first Bangladeshi to act<br />
in a Chinese movie,” she said<br />
expressing her delight.<br />
“I’ve visited China recently.<br />
As you know, many of the<br />
popular social apps are banned<br />
there, which is why I started to<br />
use We Chat, and got to know<br />
That’s one DJ who’s never going to be a<br />
knight in shining armour<br />
To verify the<br />
authenticity<br />
of the news,<br />
Snopes, an<br />
Internet<br />
reference<br />
source,<br />
contacted<br />
Christina<br />
Turner, who<br />
runs Horseplay,<br />
a horseback riding<br />
business in Nassau,<br />
Bahamas that Khaled visited<br />
with his family. Turner turned<br />
down the rumour and said that<br />
Khaled’s horse ride took place<br />
on July 10, <strong>2017</strong> and lasted,<br />
“probably less than 10 minutes.”<br />
“I got a call from the Ocean<br />
Club, where DJ Khaled was<br />
staying, saying that he wanted to<br />
do a family ride with his wife and<br />
child…His wife rode the horse<br />
in the water, his son rode the<br />
horse and then he rode the horse,<br />
and he did a little quick clip for<br />
his Instagram. They were a very<br />
friendly, great family,” she said.<br />
“That was the extent of the<br />
story,” she added, “until the crazy<br />
rumours.”<br />
She also confirmed that the<br />
horse in question is not owned by<br />
the resort.<br />
To confirm the story, she sent a<br />
picture of herself with the animal<br />
healthy Eclipse, Khaled was<br />
riding, standing next to a copy of<br />
some Bangladeshi people<br />
living there. There was a young<br />
Bangladeshi who is working<br />
with the film company and<br />
out of nowhere he offered me<br />
the role. Later, he took me to<br />
the production house. I had a<br />
meeting with the kingpins of<br />
the company, who described<br />
the whole story to me. They’ve<br />
contacted me again after<br />
my return to Bangladesh.<br />
That’s how I got connected,”<br />
the Mohua Sundori actor<br />
explained.<br />
She also added that the<br />
official contract with the<br />
production house will be<br />
signed this coming September.<br />
The actor is now busy taking<br />
Mandarin lessons in a language<br />
teaching institute of Dhaka.<br />
Chasing Murder will be<br />
directed by two directors,<br />
Huxiahui and Denipang, under<br />
the banner of Fengu Tiangxia<br />
Film company. Shooting of the<br />
film will take place in China<br />
and Bangladesh, Porimoni<br />
confirmed. •<br />
the Nassau Guardian newspaper<br />
from July 18, <strong>2017</strong>, eight days<br />
after DJ Khaled’s visit.<br />
Additionally, members<br />
of his entourage were later<br />
photographed riding the same<br />
horse.<br />
Aside from his popularity<br />
as a hip-hop producer, Khaled<br />
received significant attention<br />
on the internet due to a number<br />
of Snapchat videos of Khaled’s<br />
detailing his “key to success” his<br />
larger-than-life persona, mainly<br />
popularised by the YouTube<br />
channel h3h3Productions in late<br />
2015–16. This newfound online<br />
recognition instantly made him<br />
an “internet phenomenon,”<br />
with some describing him as<br />
a “living meme” or “meme in<br />
human form,” which may have<br />
contributed in the wide spreading<br />
of the news. •<br />
WHAT TO WATCH<br />
Step Up<br />
4:39pm, WB<br />
Tyler Gage receives the<br />
opportunity of a lifetime after<br />
vandalising a performing arts<br />
school, gaining him the chance<br />
to earn a scholarship and<br />
dance with an up and coming<br />
dancer, Nora.<br />
Cast: Channing Tatum, Jenna<br />
Dewan, Mario, Drew Sidora,<br />
Alyson Stoner<br />
Lights Out<br />
11:11pm, HBO<br />
Rebecca must unlock the terror<br />
behind her little brother’s<br />
experiences that once tested<br />
her sanity, bringing her face to<br />
face with an entity attached to<br />
their mother.<br />
Cast: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel<br />
Bateman, Alexander DiPersia,<br />
Billy Burke, Maria Bello<br />
WALL-E<br />
9:30pm, Movies Now<br />
In the distant future, a<br />
small waste-collecting robot<br />
inadvertently embarks on<br />
a space journey that will<br />
ultimately decide the fate of<br />
mankind.<br />
Cast: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight,<br />
Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard,<br />
MacInTalk<br />
Avatar<br />
6:06pm, Star Movies<br />
A paraplegic marine<br />
dispatched to the moon<br />
Pandora on a unique mission<br />
becomes torn between<br />
following his orders and<br />
protecting the world he feels is<br />
his home.<br />
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoë<br />
Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver,<br />
Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen<br />
Lang, Joel David Moore
24<br />
MONDAY, AUGUST 7, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Back Page<br />
PWD PROPS UP CRACKED HOSPITAL<br />
CEILING WITH BAMBOO › 6<br />
Restaurant fined<br />
for cheating<br />
customer with<br />
overpriced<br />
bottled water<br />
BOLT STUNNED BY GATLIN<br />
IN 100M FAREWELL › 18<br />
PORIMONI TO STAR<br />
IN A CHINESE FILM › 23<br />
• Afrose Jahan Chaity<br />
CONSUMERS’ RIGHTS <br />
People frequently overlook when<br />
they are charged extra for products,<br />
or provided with low quality<br />
goods or services at markets, fearing<br />
the hassle and embarrassment<br />
that comes with a confrontation, or<br />
simply because they are ignorant<br />
of their rights as consumers.<br />
Fear no more, because now<br />
there is an effective solution.<br />
If you are charged extra for a<br />
product, deceived by a seller or a<br />
service provider in any form – be<br />
it lower quality/adulterated products/prohibited<br />
products in food,<br />
food or medicine past their expiry<br />
date – you can complain to the<br />
National Consumers Rights Protection<br />
authority.<br />
Ambarin Zaman Khan, intern at<br />
the National Credit & Commerce<br />
Back Ltd, was at a reputed restaurant.<br />
When she ordered a 500 ml<br />
bottle of water with her food, she<br />
found that she had been charge Tk5<br />
extra for the bottle.<br />
When Ambarin asked why she<br />
had been charged extra, she received<br />
a dismissive reply from the<br />
management. She told the Dhaka<br />
Tribune: “I felt bad and I left that<br />
restaurant with a copy of the bill<br />
and filed a complaint against them<br />
at the Directorate of National Consumers<br />
Rights Protection (DNCRP).<br />
Ten days later, I received a reply<br />
from the authorities asking me to<br />
come to a hearing.”<br />
She went to the directorate<br />
where both parties gave statements<br />
on July 31.<br />
The restaurant owner was fined<br />
Tk50,000 at first. “He asked me to<br />
withdraw my complaint, but I did<br />
not. Later, on his request, the matter<br />
was reconsidered and the fine<br />
was changed to Tk5,000,” she said.<br />
Ambarin Zaman Khan, the<br />
plaintiff received Tk1,250, which is<br />
25% of the compensation, as stipulated<br />
by the Consumers’ Right Protection<br />
Act 2009, on July 31.<br />
According to the Consumers’<br />
Right Protection Act 2009, in<br />
Section 40, if any person sells or<br />
offers to sell any goods, medicine<br />
or service at a price higher than<br />
the price set under any Act or<br />
law, they shall be punished with<br />
imprisonment for a term not<br />
exceeding one year, or with fines<br />
not exceeding Tk50,000, or with<br />
both.<br />
Director General of the Directorate<br />
of National Consumers Rights<br />
Protection, Md Shafiqul Islam<br />
Laskar told the Dhaka Tribune:<br />
“We receive around 30-40 complaints<br />
every day. People are now<br />
more aware about their consumer<br />
rights and we are willing to receive<br />
complaints from them.”<br />
According to DNCRP, in 2015 the<br />
complaint wing received 225 complaints,<br />
in 2016 they received 1622<br />
complaints, and in <strong>2017</strong> they received<br />
more than 6,000 complaints<br />
till today.<br />
Md Shafiqul Islam Laskar said:<br />
“We receive about 1,000 complaints<br />
in a month, which is a positive<br />
sign, and the number of complaints<br />
is increasing each day as<br />
people are becoming more aware<br />
of their consumer rights and about<br />
the complaint centre now.”<br />
How to file a complaint<br />
A complaint form has been uploaded<br />
to the website of the DN-<br />
CRP. If anyone wants to complain,<br />
they will need to have a copy of the<br />
bill and other related documents,<br />
such as photographs of the actual<br />
price of the good which was purchased<br />
by the consumer.<br />
The form is available at this link<br />
Consumers can also make phone<br />
calls to the National Consumers<br />
Complaint Centre by dialing<br />
8801777-753668, or email them at<br />
nccc@dncrp.gov.bd. •<br />
When the main roads are packed with traffic, motorcycle riders in Dhaka take the liberty to take up the space on the footpaths<br />
too. The photo was taken at Monipuri Para in Farmgate area yesterday<br />
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN<br />
Nasa’s response to a 9-year-old<br />
will motivate you to work harder<br />
Nine-year-old Jack Davis’ letter to<br />
Nasa applying for the position of<br />
Planetary Protection Officer, left,<br />
and Nasa’s response to the letter<br />
asking him to study hard so he could<br />
join the space organisation one day<br />
COLLECTED<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
FEATURE <br />
When most elders struggle to frame job<br />
applications, a self-described “Guardian<br />
of the Galaxy” decided to apply for<br />
his dream job.<br />
Nasa lately announced a job opening<br />
for a “Planetary Protection Officer,”<br />
a role established in 1967. The job is<br />
to prevent alien contamination during<br />
Nasa space missions and any alien microorganisms<br />
from reaching Earth. It<br />
pays around $124,406-$187,000 per<br />
year plus benefits.<br />
Nine-year-old Jack Davis reached<br />
out to them, and he had his reasons.<br />
In the letter, he introduces himself<br />
as the guardian of the galaxy. The<br />
fourth-grader wrote: “I maybe nine but<br />
I think I would be fit for the job.” He bolsters<br />
in the fact that he had watched<br />
all space and alien movies he could.<br />
But the most convincing reason is the<br />
fact that he is young, so he can learn to<br />
think like an alien.<br />
Jack’s case was prompting enough<br />
for Dr James L Green, director of Nasa’s<br />
Planetary Service Division, to not let him<br />
down. Green wrote back to Jack, appreciating<br />
his interest. His letter said: “I hear<br />
you are a ‘Guardian of the Galaxy’ and that<br />
you’re interested in being a NASA Planetary<br />
Protection Officer. That’s great!”<br />
Green went on to explaining what<br />
the job was about and why it was important.<br />
He encouraged Davis to study<br />
hard, and expressed his hope to see<br />
him at Nasa one day.<br />
Nasa’s encouragement didn’t stop<br />
there. Jonathan Rall, Nasa’s planetary<br />
research director, personally congratulated<br />
Jack on his interest in the position.<br />
The surprise pleasant exchange received<br />
huge attention on social media.<br />
In a press release, Nasa also explained<br />
that the Planetary Protection<br />
Officer position may not have its literal<br />
meaning, but it promotes the responsible<br />
exploration of the solar system by<br />
preventing microbial contamination of<br />
other planets and our own.<br />
Nasa continues to inspire dreams<br />
in young minds. If you are an aspirant,<br />
Nasa might be rooting for you too. •<br />
Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower,<br />
8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com