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SECOND EDITION<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong> | Bhadra 15, 1424, Zil-Hajj 7, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 5, No 114 | 24 pages | Price: Tk10<br />
Who took<br />
them?<br />
Those who return<br />
say nothing › 2<br />
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN<br />
REUTERS<br />
Assault on Rohingyas: Brutality<br />
‘breaks all previous records’ › 5<br />
Indian cattle imports dampen<br />
Bangladeshi farmers’ hopes › 8
2<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE DISAPPEARED<br />
Who took them?<br />
Missing ones return, but say nothing<br />
• Tarek Mahmud<br />
SPECIAL <br />
In the last eight years, almost 400<br />
people have disappeared across<br />
the country. Only a fraction of<br />
them have returned. The disappearances<br />
follow a similar pattern:<br />
a group of men claiming to be law<br />
enforcement personnel pick up the<br />
victim and vanish. When asked,<br />
the respective agencies deny any<br />
involvement. Sometimes the abductors<br />
call for a ransom, but mostly<br />
they remain silent.<br />
More disturbingly, the handful<br />
of people who return remain utterly<br />
silent about their ordeals. The few<br />
who talk can say nothing about the<br />
identity or motive of the abductors.<br />
Numbers from various rights<br />
groups show that such disappearances<br />
are on the rise, going from<br />
18 in 2010 to 91 in 2016 by one estimate.<br />
Families and rights groups usually<br />
blame law enforcement agencies<br />
for the abductions, but a police<br />
spokesperson says law enforcers<br />
have nothing to do with it.<br />
AIG Sahely Ferdous, the media<br />
spokesperson for Police Headquarters,<br />
instead blames the victims<br />
who have managed to return from<br />
their ordeals for their silence.<br />
“If they spoke up instead of<br />
staying quiet, it would be easier for<br />
police to investigate these issues,”<br />
she says.<br />
Living in fear<br />
This correspondent reached out to<br />
many such persons and only two<br />
were willing to talk. One, a doctor<br />
from Lakshmipur who was picked<br />
up from Dhaka, had been missing<br />
for six months. He described being<br />
tied up and locked in a dark room.<br />
But he claimed to have no idea who<br />
his abductors were or what they<br />
wanted from him.<br />
Pradip Kumar Saha from<br />
Chashara Narayanganj, was abducted<br />
from the capital’s Motijheel area<br />
on May <strong>30</strong>. His kidnappers asked<br />
the family for Tk50,000 in ransom.<br />
But before the family had paid<br />
out, he was found from New Airport<br />
Road on June 2. He said some<br />
people picked him up and forced<br />
him into a vehicle but he could not<br />
identify the abductors. Pradip’s<br />
description of his experience was<br />
almost the same as Dr Iqbal.<br />
Sujon Ghorami, 27, from Barisal’s<br />
Babuganj, went missing from<br />
the capital’s Banani area on December<br />
1 last year with his three friends<br />
Mehedi, Pavel and Shafayat.<br />
Sujon discovered himself near<br />
Aminbazar on May 29. He later said<br />
Year<br />
No. of the<br />
disappeared<br />
persons<br />
Enforced Disappearances (2009-2016)<br />
Allegedly disappeared by<br />
RAB Police RAB-DB<br />
Police<br />
DB Police Industrial Police Ansar- Police Claiming to be<br />
members of<br />
Law Enforcement<br />
Agency<br />
2016 91 27 14 2 23 0 0 25<br />
2015 66 24 6 3 24 0 1 8<br />
2014 39 25 2 3 8 0 0 1<br />
2013 53 23 1 0 17 0 0 12<br />
2012 26 10 1 2 6 1 0 6<br />
2011 31 14 2 0 11 0 0 4<br />
2010 18 14 2 0 2 0 0 0<br />
2009 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0<br />
Dr Iqbal Mahmood, from Lakshmipur<br />
district, was abducted by seven<br />
or eight people from the Science<br />
Laboratory intersection in Dhaka on<br />
October 15 last year.<br />
The physician had just got off an<br />
inter-district bus, Royal Coach, coming<br />
from Lakshmipur around 3:10am,<br />
when the abductors forcibly put him<br />
in a microbus. The abduction was<br />
captured on a nearby CCTV camera.<br />
Iqbal, who returned home on<br />
May 31, recently spoke to Dhaka<br />
Tribune about everything regarding<br />
his captivity, but he could say nothing<br />
about his kidnappers.<br />
“I was kept blindfolded almost all<br />
the time during my captivity. I was<br />
kept in a dark room and my hands<br />
and legs were tied up. They would<br />
untie me only for meals. I could not<br />
identify anyone. They just came into<br />
the room to give food. I never heard<br />
them speak.<br />
“When I was picked up I fell into<br />
deep sleep in the car. When I awoke<br />
up, the men walked me for two<br />
hours and brought me to a building.<br />
After many days, they left me near<br />
Lakshmipur Sadar area from where I<br />
managed to return home.”<br />
Asked whether he knew why he<br />
was abducted, Iqbal said he knew<br />
nothing. He came to know after<br />
his release that the abductors had<br />
claimed an amount as ransom from<br />
his family but he was freed before<br />
they could pay. Iqbal, son of freedom<br />
fighter AKM Nurul Alam, lives<br />
in Lakshmipur with his family. He frequently<br />
moves between Dhaka and<br />
Lakshmipur for work.<br />
Abduction<br />
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN<br />
SOURCE: ODHIKAR<br />
Dead Body<br />
recovered<br />
they were picked up by unidentified<br />
men in a microbus. The men had<br />
sprayed something on their faces<br />
and they all lost consciousness.<br />
Mehedi, a third year honours student<br />
of BM College, returned before<br />
Sujon on April 18. The other two,<br />
who are students of North South<br />
University, are still without trace.<br />
On May 22, Jagannath University<br />
physics student Sadekul Islam<br />
Milon was picked up from his<br />
home by several men who claimed<br />
to be policemen.<br />
The family asked for their ID<br />
cards but the men roughed them up<br />
and took away Milon. Later someone<br />
called the family from Milon’s phone<br />
and demanded Tk<strong>30</strong>,000 in ransom.<br />
At least 50-60 enforced disappearances<br />
are occurring every<br />
year, said human rights activist<br />
Nur Khan Liton, former executive<br />
director of the rights organisation<br />
Ain O Salish Kendra.<br />
“As enforced disappearances<br />
happen all the time everywhere,<br />
those who are lucky enough to return<br />
continue to live in fear. That is<br />
why they remain silent when asked<br />
about the abductors,” he said.<br />
Powerful people<br />
Nur said the victims believe that<br />
the abductors are powerful people<br />
in strong positions in the state apparatus.<br />
They are therefore afraid<br />
to take action against them.<br />
Human rights organisations reported<br />
at least 320 cases of disappearances<br />
since 2009. These include<br />
people suspected of criminal activities<br />
and militancy, as well as members<br />
of the political opposition.<br />
Local and international rights<br />
Released after<br />
In May 2016, the<br />
Supreme Court<br />
ruled that law<br />
enforcement<br />
agencies could<br />
no longer arrest<br />
suspects without a<br />
warrant. The apex<br />
court observed<br />
that the incident<br />
of citizens being<br />
arrested by law<br />
enforcers in plain<br />
clothes was a<br />
“serious” issue.<br />
Enforced Disappearance (January - June <strong>2017</strong>) By Law Enforcement Agencies<br />
(as reported by family members/eyewitnesses/colleagues)<br />
RAB inform<br />
about arrest<br />
44 2 7 3<br />
Background: Awami League-1, Chattra League-1, Juba League-1, BNP-1, Jubo<br />
Dal-1, Chattra Dol-2, Businessman-4, Service Holder-4, Teacher-1, Principal-1,<br />
Student-3, Construction worker-1, Motor Mechanic-1, Bicycle mechanic-1, Easy<br />
bike driver-1 and Unknown profession-20.<br />
Source: Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK)
News<br />
WEDNESDAY,<br />
3<br />
AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
organisations such as Ain O Salish<br />
Kendra, Odhikar, Human Rights<br />
Watch and Amnesty International<br />
say many of the victims are from<br />
the political opposition.<br />
BNP central leader Ilias Ali and<br />
his driver were last seen at midnight<br />
on April 17, 2012 in Dhaka.<br />
His private car was found by police<br />
near his Dhaka home but the two<br />
are still missing. BNP Chairperson<br />
Begum Khaleda Zia alleges Illias<br />
was kidnapped by security forces<br />
on instructions of the Awami<br />
League government.<br />
Another top leader of BNP, Salauddin<br />
Ahmed, was allegedly<br />
picked up from his Uttara house in<br />
March 10, 2015. Local police found<br />
him in Shillong, the capital of the<br />
neighbouring Indian state of Meghalaya,<br />
after about two months. His<br />
wife Hasina Ahmed said Salauddin<br />
was picked up by the security forces<br />
while Salauddin said he was left in<br />
Shillong with his hands and legs tied.<br />
Nur said that justice in cases such<br />
as the Narayanganj seven-murder<br />
case, in which a court sentenced<br />
to death several members of the<br />
elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)<br />
and a ruling party leader, can help<br />
reduce the frequency of enforced<br />
disappearance incidents across the<br />
country. Punishment of the perpetrators<br />
will give confidence to the<br />
victims, he added.<br />
The victims, Narayanganj City<br />
Corporation Councilor Nazrul Islam<br />
and his aides, were picked up<br />
by RAB men from Dhaka-Narayanganj<br />
Highway, and their bodies<br />
were found after a couple of days.<br />
Ain O Salish Kendra, in its latest<br />
report, said 44 people went missing<br />
in the first six months of this<br />
year. All of them were picked up by<br />
people who identified themselves<br />
as law enforcement personnel.<br />
No Arrest without due process<br />
Human Rights Watch said 48 disappearances<br />
were reported in the first<br />
five months of <strong>2017</strong> while allegations<br />
of severe torture and ill-treatment<br />
were found in secret custody.<br />
AIG Sahely Ferdous denied allegations<br />
against law enforcement<br />
agencies regarding enforced disappearances.<br />
She said: “No unit of Bangladesh<br />
police is involved with such offence.<br />
Some criminal rackets use the badges<br />
of security agencies. We are taking<br />
action against such gangs.”<br />
Despite her claims, the reality is<br />
that very few such cases have been<br />
solved so far.<br />
In May 2016, the Supreme Court<br />
ruled that law enforcement agencies<br />
could no longer arrest suspects<br />
without a warrant, or without displaying<br />
official identification.<br />
The apex court said the incident<br />
of citizens being arrested by law<br />
enforcers without uniform was a<br />
“serious” issue.<br />
The judges cited an instance<br />
where the son of a freedom fighter,<br />
who was a bodyguard of Bangabandhu<br />
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was<br />
allegedly picked up by some people<br />
claiming to be law enforcers. But he<br />
has not been found. The court noted.<br />
Human rights activists say the<br />
court’s ruling is being widely flouted.<br />
AIG Sahely Ferdous pointed to<br />
one incident that she said showed<br />
law enforcement agencies were<br />
getting unnecessary blame for disappearances<br />
- the recent disappearance<br />
and return of Farhad Mazhar.<br />
Columnist and right-wing activist<br />
Farhad Mazhar, 70, claimed he was<br />
picked up by some unknown men<br />
on July 3 near his home. Police then<br />
found him on a bus headed from<br />
Jessore to Dhaka, 18 hours later.<br />
Police later presented some evidence<br />
and suggested that Mazhar<br />
was moving freely and did not appear<br />
to be acting under duress.<br />
Human Rights Watch, in its latest<br />
82-page report titling ‘We Don’t Have<br />
Him: Secret Detentions and Enforced<br />
Disappearances in Bangladesh’, said<br />
Bangladesh law enforcement authorities<br />
have illegally detained hundreds<br />
of people since 2013, including<br />
scores of opposition activists, and<br />
held them in secret detention.<br />
The report asked the government<br />
to “immediately stop this<br />
widespread practice, order prompt,<br />
impartial, and independent investigations<br />
into these allegations, provide<br />
answers to families, and prosecute<br />
security forces responsible for<br />
such egregious rights violations.”<br />
Under international law, a<br />
forced disappearance is the deprivation<br />
of liberty by agents of the<br />
state, followed by a refusal to acknowledge<br />
the deprivation of liberty<br />
or by concealment of the fate<br />
or whereabouts of the disappeared<br />
person, which place such a person<br />
outside the protection of the law. •<br />
Chittagong gold trader Mridul<br />
Chowdhury was picked up by some<br />
unknown people – who identified as<br />
members of Rapid Action Battalion<br />
and Detective Branch – from Telegraph<br />
Road area on February 11, 2014.<br />
After six days, Mridul was found<br />
unconscious beside Comilla-Brahmanbaria<br />
Highway in Comilla’s<br />
Burichong area. The man could not<br />
remember anything then due to trauma,<br />
and police said he might have<br />
been kidnapped by some gang over<br />
previous enmity.<br />
Mridul’s brother Shimul Chowdhury,<br />
however, pointed to the then<br />
RAB 2 official Maj Raqibul Amin, his<br />
source Fahad and driver Babul and<br />
said they had a feud with Mridul over<br />
the loss of gold ornaments.<br />
Mridul’s family lodged two cases<br />
at Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate<br />
court and Chittagong Kotwali police<br />
station. Mridul declined to say anything<br />
about his abduction, and said<br />
that he had withdrawn the cases<br />
after returning. “I am not physically<br />
and mentally fit to run the cases. So<br />
I withdrew them,” he told Dhaka Tribune<br />
on <strong>August</strong> 24 over the phone.<br />
Out of tears<br />
• Tarek Mahmud<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
Two businessmen, a bank<br />
official kidnapped in <strong>August</strong><br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
Unidentified miscreants released<br />
IFIC Bank official Shamim<br />
Ahmed on Monday night,<br />
five days after he was abducted<br />
from outside a restaurant in Paltan.<br />
The kidnappers left a blindfolded<br />
Shamim near Motijheel<br />
in Dhaka.<br />
He was picked up by relatives<br />
after the abductors gave<br />
his location to his wife, Shilpi<br />
Ahmed, in a phone call around<br />
9:<strong>30</strong>pm.<br />
“Shamim is in good health,”<br />
said Shilpi, who had filed a general<br />
diary with Paltan police<br />
station in the hours after her<br />
husband was abducted.<br />
At around 1:40pm on <strong>August</strong><br />
23, Shamim was bundled into a<br />
white microbus in front of the<br />
Khana Basmati restaurant by<br />
kidnappers who had introduced<br />
themselves as police detectives.<br />
Although Shamim came<br />
back unharmed, two businessmen<br />
who were also picked up<br />
by unknown men in the same<br />
fashion in Dhaka this month are<br />
yet to be found.<br />
On <strong>August</strong> 22, Syed Sadat<br />
Ahmed, a BNP leader and managing<br />
director of ABN Group,<br />
was picked up in a microbus on<br />
Airport road under the Banani<br />
flyover.<br />
On <strong>August</strong> 27, Oniruddha<br />
Honourable PM,<br />
our sons can come<br />
back if you want<br />
them to. We know<br />
you have felt the<br />
pain of losing<br />
family members<br />
Family members of the disappeared<br />
plead with Prime Minister<br />
Sheikh Hasina to help find<br />
their loved ones before Eid-Ul-<br />
Azha.<br />
“Please bring my papa back<br />
to me. I want to celebrate Eid<br />
with papa,” implored Hridi in<br />
a heartbreaking plea to Prime<br />
Minister Sheikh Hasina.<br />
Hridi, the young daughter<br />
of Parvez Hossain, who went<br />
missing three years and eight<br />
months ago, added that she<br />
would wait for her father to go<br />
shopping for Eid.<br />
Another child named Ahad,<br />
whose father Khaled Hasan Sohel<br />
has also gone missing said:<br />
“I miss my father very much.<br />
I want him back. I want him<br />
home for Eid.”<br />
Apart from Hridi and Ahad,<br />
Lamia and Ariyan, aged from<br />
eight to 12 also yearn for their<br />
fathers who have been missing<br />
for a long period of time.<br />
<strong>August</strong> <strong>30</strong> marks the International<br />
Day of the Disappeared,<br />
which focuses on the people<br />
who have gone missing with<br />
their whereabouts completely<br />
unknown to their relatives.<br />
Family members of 29 alleged<br />
victims of enforced disappearance<br />
shared their grief at<br />
a discussion organised by ‘Mayer<br />
Dak’ at National Press Club’s<br />
VIP Lounge on Tuesday.<br />
Bearing the slogan “Give<br />
back disappeared sons to their<br />
mothers before Eid”, the victims’<br />
family members demanded<br />
the formation of an independent<br />
probe commission<br />
saying they would take tougher<br />
measures from December if no<br />
action was taken immediately.<br />
Some cried. Others said even<br />
their tears had run dry after<br />
years of waiting for loved ones<br />
to return.<br />
Mother of Masum who was<br />
a third year student of Government<br />
Titumir College, said:<br />
“My son has been missing for<br />
three years and eight months.<br />
Miscreants picked him up. I had<br />
many dreams for my child. Only<br />
sorrow and anxiety fill my days.<br />
When will the waiting end?”<br />
Addressing the premier, she<br />
also said: “Honourable PM, our<br />
sons can come back if you want<br />
them to. We know you have felt<br />
the pain of losing family members.”<br />
Some mothers broke down<br />
and were unable to speak at all.<br />
Mahmudur Rahman Manna,<br />
convener of Nagarik Oikyo, presided<br />
over the discussion.<br />
Jharna Khanom, wife of KM<br />
Shamim Akhter said: “Shamim<br />
was forcibly disappeared in October<br />
2011. Forget about justice<br />
for the time being. I do not even<br />
know where my husband is.<br />
The government did not play its<br />
role properly.”<br />
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur<br />
Rahman’s bodyguard<br />
Quazi Motin, whose son Quazi<br />
Rakibul Hasan Shaon disappeared<br />
in 2014, said: “My son<br />
was organising secretary of<br />
Bangladesh Chatra League’s<br />
Comilla Victoria College unit.<br />
I sought help from everyone. I<br />
even went to the prime minister.<br />
Now I am helpless.”<br />
Director ASM Nasir Uddin of<br />
Odhikar, a Bangladesh-based<br />
human rights organisation<br />
said: “The home minister said<br />
there is no such thing enforced<br />
disappearance. When the law<br />
enforcement agencies pick up<br />
common people on a regular<br />
basis, does the government act<br />
to stop this?”<br />
Dhaka University’s Law Department<br />
Professor Asif Nazrul<br />
said: “We assume that the premier<br />
does not hear the cries of<br />
these families.”<br />
Naripakkho Member Shirin<br />
Haq said: “We are all frustrated<br />
now. We have no place to turn.”<br />
Human rights activist Nur<br />
Khan Liton, also the former executive<br />
director of Ain O Salish<br />
Kendro, said it was the government’s<br />
job to safeguard the<br />
lives and liberty of citizens. •<br />
Roy was picked up in front of<br />
a private bank on Gulshan Avenue<br />
in a microbus in the afternoon<br />
by three men.<br />
“We still do not know who<br />
the kidnappers are. We are investigating<br />
the matter,” Paltan<br />
police station Sub-Inspector<br />
Saidul Islam said.<br />
Police have collected CCTV<br />
footage but have not been able<br />
to identify the culprits and are<br />
struggling to understand the<br />
motives for the abductions with<br />
no ransoms being demanded.<br />
According to human rights<br />
watchdog Ain o Salish Kendra,<br />
a total of 519 people have been<br />
abducted in Bangladesh since<br />
2010, with some found killed<br />
and many still missing. •
4<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
North Korea defends ‘tough counter-measures’ as missile alarms Japan<br />
• AFP, Seoul<br />
WORLD <br />
North Korea defended its right<br />
to take “tough counter-measures”<br />
in response to what it called<br />
US aggression, after firing a ballistic<br />
missile over Japan which<br />
sparked fear and fury in Tokyo<br />
Tuesday.<br />
The test launch by the nuclear-armed<br />
nation was seen as a major<br />
escalation that triggered global<br />
alarm and an angry response from<br />
the Japanese government.<br />
A visibly unsettled Prime Minister<br />
Shinzo Abe said it was an “unprecedented,<br />
serious and grave<br />
threat”, while the UN Security<br />
Council called an emergency meeting<br />
at Tokyo and Washington’s request.<br />
But North Korean ambassador<br />
Han Tae-Song, addressing the UN<br />
Conference on Disarmament in Geneva,<br />
said his country had the right<br />
to react to ongoing US-South Korean<br />
military exercises.<br />
Washington, he said, would be<br />
responsible for “the catastrophic<br />
consequences” that may result<br />
from heightened tensions on the<br />
Korean peninsula.<br />
The North always condemns the<br />
annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian<br />
exercise and other joint drills as a<br />
rehearsal for invasion, while Seoul<br />
and Washington say they are purely<br />
defensive.<br />
Sirens blared out and text messages<br />
were fired off across northern<br />
Japan Tuesday warning people<br />
in the missile’s flight path to take<br />
cover. •
News 5<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Assault on Rohingyas: Brutality<br />
‘breaks all previous records’<br />
• Abdul Aziz from the<br />
Bangladesh-Myanmar border<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
Rashid Ahmed thought he had seen<br />
it all during his seven decades as a<br />
persecuted Rohingya inhabitant of<br />
Rakhine state in Myanmar.<br />
But that was before last Friday,<br />
when at least 89 people including<br />
a dozen security force members<br />
were killed as Rohingya insurgents<br />
reportedly besieged border posts in<br />
the troubled state.<br />
The response of the Myanmar<br />
army was to launch a new crackdown<br />
on the Rohingyas, triggering<br />
a fresh exodus of refugees to Bangladesh.<br />
“I saw the brutalities of the then<br />
junta government against us in<br />
1980s (and) I witnessed many of<br />
our community being assaulted in<br />
90s,” said Rashid. “But the atrocities<br />
we are facing now have broken<br />
all the previous records.”<br />
Rashid, who is classified as a Rohingya<br />
IDP (internally displaced person),<br />
spoke to the Dhaka Tribune on<br />
Monday after fleeing Miarpara village<br />
in the Dekiboni union of Rakhine.<br />
“Rakhine state will soon wear<br />
a deserted look if the campaign of<br />
assault continues for a few more<br />
days,” the septuagenarian said.<br />
“Army men have taken away<br />
three of my six sons. They slit the<br />
throat of one of my grandsons<br />
named Abuiya before my eyes.<br />
Finding no other place to take shelter,<br />
I have come here.”<br />
Holding his grandson by one<br />
hand, the elderly man was walking<br />
with a cane in the other hand, tired<br />
UN: Systematic Myanmar abuses fuelling Rakhine violence<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
The UN rights chief yesterday said decades<br />
of systematic abuses against Rohingya<br />
Muslims were largely to blame<br />
for spiralling violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine<br />
state, insisting authorities could<br />
have prevented the bloodshed.<br />
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein expressed<br />
alarm at the upsurge in fighting in Rakhine,<br />
an impoverished state neighbouring<br />
Bangladesh, which has been raging<br />
since Friday when Rohingya militants<br />
staged coordinated ambushes against<br />
Myanmar’s security forces.<br />
Rohingya children cross the Bangladesh-Myanmar border fence as they try to enter Bangladesh in Bandarban, an area under<br />
Cox's Bazar authority, Bangladesh, <strong>August</strong> 29, <strong>2017</strong><br />
REUTERS<br />
after a 20km trek to the Bangladesh-Myanmar<br />
border.<br />
He was seen stumbling and taking<br />
a rest after every few minutes<br />
on his way to the ‘no man’s land’ of<br />
Jalpaitali point in Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari<br />
upazila.<br />
“We have been undergoing oppression<br />
for decades. We have no<br />
freedom to move despite living in<br />
our own country,” he said.<br />
Rashid was accompanied by his<br />
eldest son, Abdul Zabbar. Fighting<br />
back tears, Zabbar said they were<br />
“bound for a destination unknown”.<br />
“Our journey is endless. We do<br />
not know whether we could ever<br />
More than 100 people, including<br />
around 80 militants, have been confirmed<br />
killed in the fightback, which has<br />
seen at least 8,700 Rohingya villagers<br />
fleeing for Bangladesh.<br />
“I utterly condemn the violent attacks<br />
on security personnel, which have<br />
led to the loss of many lives and the<br />
displacement of thousands of people,”<br />
Zeid said in a statement.<br />
But the rights chief stressed that the<br />
turn of events was not only “deplorable.<br />
It was predicted and could have been<br />
prevented.”<br />
“Decades of persistent and systematic<br />
human rights violations, including<br />
the very violent security responses to<br />
be able to return to our home. We<br />
do not even know what happens<br />
to us on our journey,” Zabbar said,<br />
with his newborn baby on his lap.<br />
Zabbar said his ancestors had<br />
been living in Rakhine for centuries.<br />
“They (the Myanmar government)<br />
will not give us our due rights: citizenship.<br />
But why this massacre?<br />
Why are they killing our youths after<br />
picking them up?” he said.<br />
Like Rashid and Zabbar, thousands<br />
of other Rohingyas including<br />
women and children are stranded<br />
in ‘no man’s land’ and pass their<br />
days without food and water while<br />
both the Border Guard Police (BGP)<br />
the attacks since October 2016, have<br />
almost certainly contributed to the nurturing<br />
of violent extremism, with everyone<br />
ultimately losing,” Zeid said.<br />
Myanmar’s military reacted with a violent<br />
clearance operation, which UN has<br />
warned could amount to ethnic cleansing.<br />
The militants struck again on Friday,<br />
attacking around <strong>30</strong> police posts in predawn<br />
raids, and killing at least a dozen<br />
security force members using knives,<br />
homemade explosives and guns.<br />
Zeid called for those who attacked<br />
security forces and civilians to be<br />
brought to justice, and urged all sides to<br />
stop fuelling the violence.<br />
Zeid voiced particular concern at<br />
in Myanmar and Border Guard<br />
Bangladesh keep a vigil on their respective<br />
sides.<br />
They join the more than 70,000<br />
Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh<br />
in the aftermath of the October 9,<br />
2016 attacks on security posts, and<br />
the estimated 500,000 refugees<br />
who have come to Bangladesh during<br />
decades of persecution in their<br />
motherland.<br />
The previous counterinsurgency<br />
operation ceased in mid-February<br />
this year, ending a fourmonth<br />
sweep that the UN said may<br />
amount to crimes against humanity<br />
and possibly ethnic cleansing. •<br />
“irresponsible” claims made by the<br />
government department run by Nobel<br />
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi that international<br />
aid workers were complicit in or<br />
supporting the attacks.<br />
Meanwhile, Thailand is preparing to<br />
receive people fleeing fighting in Myanmar<br />
and send them back “when they are<br />
ready”, the prime minister said yesterday.<br />
Thailand was once a popular transit<br />
route for the Rohingya. But a 2015 Thai<br />
police crackdown on human trafficking<br />
syndicates led to ships with migrants<br />
aboard being abandoned at sea. It also<br />
disrupted the networks that brought<br />
migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh<br />
to Thailand and Malaysia. •<br />
UNHCR asks<br />
Bangladesh to<br />
accept Rohingya<br />
refugees, offers<br />
support<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
In light of escalating tensions in<br />
Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the United<br />
Nations High Commissioner for<br />
Refugees (UNHCR) yesterday urged<br />
Bangladesh not to turn back Rohingyas,<br />
while also communicating<br />
its readiness to support Bangladesh<br />
in helping the Rohingya flee.<br />
UNHCR Chief Spokesperson<br />
Adrian Edwards made the call at a<br />
press conference held at the Palais<br />
des Nations in Geneva, according<br />
to a UNHCR press release.<br />
“UNHCR is aware of several reported<br />
instances of people being<br />
prevented from entering Bangladesh.<br />
This poses very grave risk<br />
to the individuals affected. Bangladesh<br />
has hosted refugees from<br />
Myanmar for decades, and UNHCR<br />
believes it is of the utmost importance<br />
that it continue to allow<br />
Rohingya fleeing violence to seek<br />
safety there. UNHCR also calls on<br />
the international community to<br />
support Bangladesh in doing so,<br />
with all necessary aid and other<br />
help,” Edwards said. •<br />
475 Rohingyas<br />
pushed back<br />
amid tension in<br />
Rakhine state<br />
• Abdul Aziz, Cox’s Bazar<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB)<br />
members have pushed back some<br />
475 Rohingyas, , including women,<br />
children and elderly people, who fled<br />
Rakhine state in the face of Myanmar<br />
security forces massive crackdown.<br />
Teknaf BGB 2 Commander Lt Col<br />
SM Ariful Islam said: “They were<br />
sent back when they tried to trespass<br />
into Bangladesh by crossing<br />
the Naf River from last night to till<br />
Tuesday morning.”<br />
Last October, Rohingyas tried<br />
to intrude into Bangladesh in the<br />
same way after violent clashes<br />
broke out in Rakhine state.<br />
This year, thousands of Rohingyas<br />
have already started gathering at<br />
Bangladesh border as fresh fighting<br />
erupted in Rakhine state between<br />
militants and security forces. •<br />
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY<br />
Dhaka 34 28 Chittagong 33 27 Rajshahi 34 26 Rangpur 32 26 Khulna 33 26 Barisal 33 27 Sylhet 31 26<br />
Cox’s Bazar 31 26<br />
RAIN LIKELY<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DHAKA<br />
TODAY<br />
TOMORROW<br />
SUN SETS 6:19PM<br />
SUN RISES 5:40AM<br />
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW<br />
34.5ºC<br />
23.9ºC<br />
Rajshahi<br />
Rangamati<br />
Source: Accuweather/UNB<br />
PRAYER<br />
TIMES<br />
Fajr: 5:00am | Zohr: 1:15pm<br />
Asr: 5:00pm | Magrib: 6:41pm<br />
Esha: 8:<strong>30</strong>pm<br />
Source: Islamic Foundation
6<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
Hajj pilgrimage entangled<br />
in web of Saudi politics<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
WORLD <br />
More than 1.7 million Muslims from<br />
around the world have arrived in<br />
Saudi Arabia for the start of the annual<br />
hajj pilgrimage this week. Once<br />
in Mecca, the site of Islam’s holiest<br />
place of worship, they will be reminded<br />
that the ruling Saud family<br />
is the only custodian of this place.<br />
Large portraits of the king and<br />
the country’s founder hang in hotel<br />
lobbies across the city. A massive<br />
clock tower bearing the name of<br />
King Salman’s predecessor flashes<br />
fluorescent green lights at worshippers<br />
below. A large new wing<br />
of the Grand Mosque in Mecca is<br />
named after a former Saudi king,<br />
and one of the mosque’s entrances<br />
is named after another.<br />
It’s just one of the many ways<br />
that Saudi Arabia uses its oversight<br />
of the hajj to bolster its standing in<br />
the Muslim world, and to spite its<br />
foes, from Iran and Syria to Qatar.<br />
Its archrival, the Shia power Iran,<br />
has in turn tried to utilise the hajj<br />
to undermine the kingdom.<br />
The hajj has long been a part of<br />
Saudi Arabia’s politics.<br />
Sole custodianship<br />
For nearly 100 years, the ruling Saud<br />
family has decided who gets in and<br />
out of Mecca, setting quotas for pilgrims<br />
from various countries, facilitating<br />
visas through Saudi embassies<br />
abroad and providing accommodation<br />
for hundreds of thousands of<br />
people in and around Mecca.<br />
The kingdom has received credit<br />
for its management of the massive<br />
crowds that descend upon Mecca<br />
each year, and blame when things<br />
go wrong at the hajj. All able-bodied<br />
Muslims are required to perform<br />
the pilgrimage once in a lifetime.<br />
Saudi kings, and the Ottoman<br />
rulers of the Hijaz region before<br />
them, all adopted the honorary<br />
title of Custodian of the Two Holy<br />
Mosques, a reference to sites in<br />
Mecca and Medina.<br />
Whoever controls Mecca and<br />
Medina has tremendous soft power<br />
said Ali Shibahi, executive director<br />
of the Arabia Foundation, a<br />
pro-Saudi centre in Washington.<br />
“Saudi Arabia has been extremely<br />
careful from day one not to restrict<br />
any Muslim’s access to hajj so they<br />
never get accused of using hajj for<br />
political purposes.”<br />
But the reality is different.<br />
Politicisation<br />
The Syrian government says Saudi<br />
authorities continue to place restrictions<br />
on Syrian citizens looking<br />
to take part in the hajj. Saudi<br />
Arabia has no diplomatic ties with<br />
President Bashar Assad’s government<br />
and since 2012, requires all<br />
Syrians seeking to make the hajj<br />
to obtain visas in third countries<br />
through the “Syrian High Hajj<br />
Committee,” which is controlled<br />
by the Syrian National Coalition, an<br />
opposition political group.<br />
The hajj became further entangled<br />
in politics following the<br />
fallout between Saudi Arabia and<br />
Qatar when the kingdom and three<br />
other Arab countries cut all diplomatic<br />
and transport links with<br />
the small Gulf state this year. In<br />
a surprise this month, Saudi Arabia<br />
announced it would open its<br />
border for Qatari pilgrims seeking<br />
to perform the hajj and that King<br />
Salman would provide flights and<br />
accommodation to Qataris during<br />
the hajj.<br />
AFP<br />
Saudi-Iran rivalry<br />
While the hajj is a main pillar of Islam,<br />
the custodianship of its holy<br />
sites is a pillar of the Saud family’s<br />
legitimacy and power. Iran has<br />
consistently tried to call that into<br />
question.<br />
Two years ago, a stampede and<br />
crush of pilgrims killed at least<br />
2,426 people, according to an Associated<br />
Press count. Iran, which lost<br />
464 pilgrims in the stampede, immediately<br />
used the disaster to call<br />
for an independent body to take<br />
over administering the hajj. Those<br />
calls were vehemently rejected by<br />
Saudi Arabia.<br />
The hajj took place last year under<br />
the shadow of the two countries’<br />
rivalry. Saudi Arabia and Iran<br />
severed ties in 2016, and as a result,<br />
no Iranians were at the pilgrimage<br />
last year.<br />
It wasn’t the first time Iran and<br />
Saudi Arabia sparred over the hajj.<br />
In 1987, Saudi police opened fire on<br />
Iranian pilgrims protesting during<br />
the hajj, killing more than 400 people.<br />
For two years after that, Iran<br />
did not send pilgrims to the hajj.<br />
Ahead of this year’s hajj, Iran’s<br />
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali<br />
Khamenei essentially called on pilgrims<br />
to hold protests again, saying<br />
the pilgrimage offers “Muslims<br />
with a great opportunity to express<br />
their beliefs”.<br />
“Where else, better than Mecca,<br />
Medina ... can Muslims go to<br />
express their concerns regarding<br />
al-Aqsa and Palestine?” Khamenei<br />
said, referring to one of Islam’s holiest<br />
and most contentious sites in<br />
Jerusalem. •<br />
Chinese troops<br />
to patrol border<br />
area after India<br />
stand-off<br />
• AFP, Beijing<br />
WORLD <br />
China said Tuesday that its troops<br />
would continue to patrol a disputed<br />
Himalayan border area after<br />
resolving a months-long military<br />
stand-off there with India.<br />
Foreign ministry spokeswoman<br />
Hua Chunying refused to disclose<br />
future plans for the road project<br />
that had triggered the confrontation<br />
on the remote Doklam plateau.<br />
“I’ve said that Chinese border<br />
troops will continue to be stationed<br />
and patrol in Doklam and we will<br />
continue to exercise our sovereignty<br />
according to historical conventions,”<br />
Hua told a regular press briefing.<br />
The standoff began in mid-June<br />
after Chinese troops started building<br />
a road in the area, which is disputed<br />
between China and India’s<br />
ally, Bhutan.<br />
India itself does not claim the<br />
territory but has a military presence<br />
in Bhutan.<br />
The Indian government announced<br />
on Monday that Beijing<br />
and New Delhi had agreed to pull<br />
back back their border forces.<br />
When asked whether China<br />
would halt road-building, Hua<br />
told reporters: “We’ll take into<br />
consideration all relevant factors,<br />
including weather, to make any<br />
infrastructure plans, including<br />
road-building.”<br />
The border tensions eased days<br />
before India’s Prime Minister Narendra<br />
Modi is expected to travel to China<br />
for a summit of the BRICS group<br />
of countries, which also include Brazil,<br />
Russia and South Africa. •
News<br />
WEDNESDAY,<br />
7<br />
AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
‘Allegations of favouritism against me<br />
are unfortunate’<br />
Professor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique became the 27th vice-chancellor of Dhaka University in<br />
2009. He was the first person who completed a full tenure as an unelected VC in the 96-year<br />
history of the university. President Abdul Hamid appointed Prof Arefin for four years from a panel<br />
of three candidates elected by the DU Senate on <strong>August</strong> 24, 2013. His tenure just expired and is<br />
up for re-election in October. Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune’s Asif Showkat Kallol and Fahim<br />
Reza Shovon, he talks about the current controversies surrounding him and his tenure.<br />
INTERVIEW <br />
There have been allegations<br />
against you that you have<br />
appointed loyalists as lecturers<br />
and professors. What is your<br />
reaction to this?<br />
Dhaka University is the only public<br />
university in Bangladesh where the<br />
pro-VC (education) appoints lecturers,<br />
assistant professors and equivalent<br />
officials and the pro-VC (administration)<br />
appoints section officers<br />
and other equivalent officials.<br />
The office of the vice-chancellor<br />
is not responsible for the appointments.<br />
These allegations against<br />
the office of the vice-chancellor are<br />
unfortunate.<br />
According to rules and regulations<br />
stipulated by the Dhaka<br />
University Ordinance 1973, the<br />
recommendations are made by the<br />
statutory body for any recruitment<br />
of teachers during the syndicate<br />
meetings.<br />
I must approve these unanimous<br />
recommendations as the<br />
chair of the syndicate.<br />
Some reports published in a local<br />
newspaper have levied unfair<br />
allegations against me and that is<br />
a glaring example of yellow journalism.<br />
The reports said the quality<br />
of some of the appointed teachers<br />
were not up to par and were<br />
published during the time of the<br />
vice-chancellor panel election to<br />
affect the election results. Some<br />
teachers were definitely involved<br />
in spreading this misinformation.<br />
The media can publish whatever<br />
it wants but unfortunately a lack<br />
of professionalism and bias these<br />
days is responsible for how newspapers<br />
have lost their objectivity.<br />
The numbers given by the<br />
newspaper report were false as it<br />
claimed that 907 teachers were<br />
recruited. The authority did not<br />
recruit non-deserving teachers for<br />
the position. Their merit was the<br />
first priority.<br />
Another allegation that was levied<br />
against the authorities was that<br />
we recruited graduates as lecturers<br />
instead of postgraduates. We<br />
recruited the graduates in the engineering<br />
affiliated department as<br />
engineering universities of Bangladesh<br />
including Buet can recruit<br />
graduates. They can complete their<br />
post-graduation, PhD after being<br />
appointed.<br />
We wanted to hire lecturers with<br />
Master’s degrees in engineering for<br />
applied chemistry and chemical engineering<br />
as that is the rule of Dhaka<br />
University. But after repeated<br />
advertisements, nobody with that<br />
requirement applied for the job. So,<br />
we were bound to recruit meritorious<br />
students from Buet. This is a<br />
valid rule in the sub-continent.<br />
The paper also alleged that we<br />
If regular students<br />
come under the<br />
leadership of<br />
the students’<br />
organisations<br />
then Ducsu can<br />
be activated again<br />
easily. We have to<br />
understand why<br />
Ducsu was closed in<br />
the first place<br />
recruited lecturers who did not<br />
meet the required score in their SSC<br />
and HSC exams of 4.25 GPA. This<br />
rule was decided by the syndicate.<br />
The selection committee recommended<br />
some meritorious students<br />
who secured 1st or 2nd position in<br />
their respective departments who<br />
had a 4.15 or 4.10 in SSC or HSC.<br />
Those who make criteria can<br />
also change those criteria. All aspects<br />
of any topic must be presented<br />
by a newspaper. It is then up to<br />
the reader to decide what is right<br />
and what is wrong.<br />
Were you able to ensure a levelplaying<br />
field for all the political<br />
student organisations during your<br />
tenure?<br />
There has always been a level-playing<br />
field for student organisations<br />
at Dhaka University. They have<br />
always been able to hold programmes,<br />
protests etc.<br />
Basically, for the last eight<br />
and a half years, we have tried to<br />
make sure violence does not erupt<br />
on campus because of the programmes<br />
organised by some organisations.<br />
See, when student organisations<br />
come under the stewardship of some<br />
irregular students, that is when the<br />
trouble begins. When regular students<br />
have control, they bring dynamism<br />
to the organisations.<br />
During my tenure, there was not<br />
a day lost in the academic calendar.<br />
What have you done to reinstate<br />
Dhaka University Central Students’<br />
Union (Ducsu) that has been<br />
inactive for the past 27 years?<br />
If regular students come under the<br />
leadership of the students’ organisations<br />
then Ducsu can be activated<br />
again easily.<br />
We have to understand why<br />
Ducsu was closed in the first place.<br />
It was because of murders and sabotage<br />
on campus. We do not want<br />
that situation again. If the student<br />
organisations consolidate their leadership,<br />
then we can reinstate Ducsu.<br />
The university administration<br />
and politicians should reach<br />
a consensus on regular students<br />
joining politics. Our goal is to activate<br />
Ducsu again. We want regular<br />
students to take leadership roles<br />
and contribute to national politics<br />
through the Ducsu election.<br />
Can the university authorities<br />
free the men’s halls from political<br />
influence?<br />
The authorities at the girls’ halls<br />
strictly adhere to the rules and they<br />
are better managed.<br />
The boys, however, tend to be<br />
outside their dorms longer even<br />
after curfew and we are trying to<br />
get the authorities to manage them<br />
better.<br />
We have instructed the hall authorities<br />
to stick to the rules and regulations<br />
and run the halls properly.<br />
Teacher-student goodwill is<br />
a tradition at the university. If a<br />
provost behaves inappropriately<br />
with a student at the hall, we will<br />
take measures against them when<br />
a complaint is filed.<br />
RAJIB DHAR<br />
Why were the girls at Sufia Kamal<br />
Hall being morally policed by a<br />
dress code recently?<br />
The Sufia Kamal Hall provost told<br />
me that the dress code notice was<br />
distorted by people who made it<br />
go viral online. It may have been a<br />
case of trying to get the hall authority<br />
into trouble.<br />
During the Ducsu VC panel election<br />
on July 29, there was an altercation<br />
between DU students and a<br />
Jagannath University teacher<br />
outside the Senate building. Video<br />
footage showed the JnU teacher<br />
assaulting a DU student. Why was<br />
he even allowed to be there during<br />
the elections?<br />
Anyone can visit the campus. Perhaps<br />
the Jagannath University<br />
teacher was a former student. No<br />
one has yet been proven guilty of<br />
the incident.<br />
While the world moves away from<br />
print media, why are you setting<br />
up a printing and publication<br />
studies department?<br />
The publication industry is growing<br />
in Bangladesh and a department<br />
like this will help build essential<br />
skills for those joining the<br />
printing industry after graduation.<br />
Our country did not have the<br />
necessary skills for this industry. It<br />
was all learned on the job. This is<br />
why the Academic Council of Dhaka<br />
University has decided to open<br />
the department based on these<br />
concerns. One also has the opportunities<br />
to study online and read<br />
e-books for printing and publication<br />
studies.<br />
Can Dhaka University ever regain<br />
the reputation for academic<br />
excellence as the Oxford of the<br />
East?<br />
Our first vice-chancellor Sir Philip<br />
J Hartog modelled the university’s<br />
rules and regulations after Oxford<br />
in the UK. The university had a<br />
tutorial system which was replaced<br />
by the semester system. This<br />
I believe is the reason why we<br />
have lost some of the academic<br />
excellence. We are not satisfied<br />
by the quality of education as it<br />
stands today and hope to regain<br />
the reputation of being the Oxford<br />
of the East again. •
8<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
Indian cattle imports dampen Bangladeshi farmers’ hopes<br />
• Shariful Islam<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
Bangladesh farmers fear the domestic<br />
cattle market will be flooded<br />
with cows from India ahead of<br />
Eid-ul-Azha, despite local farmers<br />
having reared a sufficient number<br />
of animals to meet the seasonal demand.<br />
That is because of the decision<br />
by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB)<br />
to open the Bangladesh-India corridors<br />
for transnational cattle trade,<br />
which has dampened the hope of<br />
many farmers like Mohammad Imran<br />
Hossain, the owner of Sadeeq<br />
Agro in Dhaka.<br />
Sadeeq Agro sold 326 cows out<br />
of 351 during last year’s Eid-ul-<br />
Azha and it has raised 600 bulls for<br />
this year’s festival, shifting <strong>30</strong>0 by<br />
the start of <strong>August</strong>.<br />
“The BGB’s announcement has<br />
brought down the sale figure to<br />
zero now,” he said.<br />
“Customers are waiting for the<br />
relatively less expensive Indian<br />
cattle to arrive on the market.”<br />
Imran Hossain - who is also<br />
the president of Bangladesh Dairy<br />
Farmers’ Association - said the majority<br />
of the suppliers to the Eid-ul-<br />
Azha cattle market are the marginal<br />
farmers who are still reeling from<br />
the recent monsoon floods.<br />
“The decision to import Indian<br />
cattle had just added to their<br />
woes,” he said.<br />
During the last three years, local<br />
farmers have received fair prices<br />
due to the embargo on Indian<br />
Usually, Indian cows enter Bangladesh in small numbers throughout the year using legal and illegal channels. According to<br />
BGB sources, a total of around 450,000 cows arrived during the January-July period in <strong>2017</strong><br />
RAJIB DHAR<br />
cattle.<br />
When asked about the local<br />
farmers’ opposition to the decision<br />
to lift the embargo, BGB Director<br />
General Major General Abul Hossain<br />
appealed to the forces of supply<br />
and demand.<br />
“Let the market be free in this<br />
matter,” he said. “If local farmers<br />
properly manage to distribute<br />
cattle across the country, no one<br />
would buy the Indian ones.”<br />
The BGB chief said while announcing<br />
the decision at a press<br />
briefing on <strong>August</strong> 2 that traders<br />
from both Bangladesh and India<br />
could trade cattle legally through<br />
the corridors under the BGB’s conditions.<br />
“We have said that traders from<br />
the both sides will go to the zero<br />
line using the corridors. They [the<br />
Indians] will leave the cows at<br />
the zero line and traders from the<br />
Bangladesh side will collect them<br />
there,” said Major General Abul<br />
Hussain.<br />
Usually, Indian cows enter Bangladesh<br />
in small numbers throughout<br />
the year using legal and illegal<br />
channels. According to BGB sources,<br />
a total of around 450,000 cows<br />
arrived during the January-July period<br />
in <strong>2017</strong>.<br />
However, the vast majority of<br />
cattle arrives ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.<br />
Our Correspondents from Rajshahi,<br />
Chapainawabganj, Jessore, Benapole<br />
and Satkhira report that a<br />
huge number of cows have already<br />
entered the country through the<br />
corridors.<br />
“In July alone, 68,501 cows<br />
entered through two corridors of<br />
Chapainawabganj while the number<br />
in <strong>August</strong> stands at 59,631 so<br />
far,” said Md Roisuddin, revenue officer<br />
of Chapainawabganj Customs.<br />
Every year over 5 million cows<br />
are sacrificed across the country<br />
during Eid-ul-Azha. Four in every<br />
five of these are supplied by local<br />
farmers, with the rest of the demand<br />
met by cattle from Myanmar<br />
and India, according to the Department<br />
of Livestock Services (DLS).<br />
DLS data shows that of the 54.6<br />
million animals reared on 525,000<br />
farms across the country, 11.6 million<br />
of them are reared for Eid-ul-<br />
Azha. In 2016, a total of 10.5 million<br />
animals were sacrificed and this<br />
year, the DLS estimates the number<br />
will rise to 11.5 million.<br />
“There is an adequate number<br />
of (locally-reared) animals to meet<br />
the demand,” DLS Director General<br />
Ainul Haque said.<br />
Bangladesh Meat Merchants’<br />
Association Secretary General Robiul<br />
Alam said: “To control the<br />
meat market we have to reduce the<br />
dependency on foreign cattle.” •<br />
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9<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT
10<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
News<br />
Rana Plaza owner gets three years’ jail in ACC case<br />
• Md Sanaul Islam Tipu<br />
COURTS <br />
A Dhaka court has sentenced Rana<br />
plaza owner Sohel Rana to three<br />
years imprisonment in a case filed<br />
for not submitting wealth statement<br />
to Anti-Corruption Commission<br />
(ACC).<br />
Judge KM Imrul Kayes of Dhaka<br />
Special Judges Court gave the verdict<br />
Tuesday afternoon.<br />
The court also fined him<br />
Tk50,000, in default, he will have<br />
to serve extra three months in jail.<br />
The trial against Rana began on<br />
March 23 after the court framed<br />
charges against him in the case<br />
filed by ACC Deputy Director Mahbubul<br />
Alam. The deputy director<br />
had filed the case with Ramna police<br />
station on May 20, 2015.<br />
On April 1, 2015, the ACC sent a<br />
notice to a senior jail superintendent<br />
of Kashimpur Jail in Gazipur<br />
where Rana remained detained to<br />
convey the message to him (Rana)<br />
that the ACC asked him to submit<br />
his wealth statement to it within<br />
ACC-stipulated time.<br />
On April 26, 2015, Rana sent back<br />
the notice without giving any information<br />
of his wealth statement. On<br />
behalf of Rana, his wife made a plea<br />
before the ACC seeking more time<br />
for submitting the wealth statement.<br />
First power plant fully<br />
funded by India to be<br />
set up in Bhola<br />
• Aminur Rahman Rasel<br />
POWER <br />
Power Development Board<br />
(PDB) signed a power purchase<br />
agreement (PPA) with<br />
Nutan Bidyut Bangladesh<br />
Limited on Monday to set up a<br />
220MW power plant in Bhola.<br />
Nutan Bidyut is a subsidiary<br />
of the Indian corporate giant<br />
Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure<br />
Capital Company Ltd.<br />
The combined-cycle power<br />
plant will be an independent<br />
power producer which will<br />
sell electricity to PDB for 22<br />
years. Authorities estimate the<br />
plant will supply the national<br />
grid by December 2019.<br />
The plant will produce<br />
220MW using natural gas, and<br />
212MW with diesel in case<br />
there is a gas shortage.<br />
The agreement was signed<br />
by PDB Secretary Masuduz-Zaman<br />
and Nutan Bidyut<br />
Bangladesh Limited Director J<br />
Sinha Mahapatra on Monday.<br />
The deal with Shapoorji<br />
Pallonji was struck under the<br />
Speedy Supply of Power and<br />
Energy (Special Provisions) Act<br />
2010.<br />
According to the agreement,<br />
PDB would purchase<br />
per unit at US Cent 3.98<strong>30</strong> or<br />
Tk3.24 from the gas production<br />
and US Cent 16.9621 cent<br />
or Tk13.8 from the diesel unit.<br />
Currently, PDB operates a<br />
194MW combined cycle gasbased<br />
power plant in Bhola<br />
while a private firm called<br />
Venture Energy Resources<br />
Company Limited supplies<br />
33MW power from its own<br />
plant on a rental basis.<br />
State Minister for Power,<br />
Energy and Mineral Resources<br />
Nasrul Hamid attended the<br />
ceremony with Power Division<br />
Secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus,<br />
Petrobangla Chairman Abul<br />
Mansur Md Faizullah and PDB<br />
Chairman Khaled Mahmood.<br />
The state minister praised<br />
the conditions which is encouraging<br />
greater foreign investment<br />
in Bangladesh. He<br />
emphasised that Germany<br />
and Sweden and several other<br />
European countries are also<br />
interested in investing in the<br />
power sector in Bangladesh.<br />
The interest is not without its<br />
reasons, as the minister stated<br />
that power demand is rising by<br />
10-20% or 2,000MW per year.<br />
State Minister Nasrul<br />
Hamid also hailed the project<br />
as the first power plant to<br />
be fully funded by an Indian<br />
company. •<br />
HC questions gazette on<br />
MBBS, BDS admission fees<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
COURTS <br />
The High Court has issued a<br />
ruling asking why the government<br />
gazette that sets Tk19.90<br />
lakh as admission fee for MBBS<br />
and BDS courses in private<br />
medical and dental colleges<br />
should not be declared illegal.<br />
A bench of Justice M<br />
Enayetur Rahim and Justice<br />
Md Jahangir Hossain passed<br />
the order on Tuesday, reports<br />
BSS.<br />
The ruling asked for an explanation<br />
within four weeks<br />
The commission rejected the appeal<br />
on May 18, 2015 and approved filing<br />
a non-submission case.<br />
On April 28, 2013, Rana was arrested<br />
from Benapole while he was<br />
trying to flee to India.<br />
At least 1,136 people were killed<br />
in the Rana Plaza collapse on April<br />
24, 2013. •<br />
from the health secretary, director<br />
general of Directorate<br />
General of Health Services of<br />
Bangladesh Medical and Dental<br />
Council, vice-chancellor<br />
of Dhaka University and the<br />
board of directors of Dhaka<br />
National Medical College.<br />
The court came up with<br />
the order following a writ filed<br />
by Supreme Court lawyer Md<br />
Eunus Ali Akand. He filed the<br />
writ on Monday saying the gazette<br />
issued by the Ministry of<br />
Health and Family Welfare on<br />
October 26, 2014, is contrary to<br />
Article 27 of the Constitution. •
News 11<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
McGill student<br />
missing from<br />
Dhanmondi<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
COLLECTED<br />
Ishrak Ahmed, 20, a student<br />
at McGill University, Canada<br />
allegedly went missing from<br />
Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area<br />
three days ago.<br />
Ishrak was last seen near<br />
Star Kabab at Dhanmondi road<br />
no 15 around 8:<strong>30</strong>pm on Saturday,<br />
according to police and<br />
family.<br />
His father Jamaluddin<br />
Ahmed on Sunday lodged a<br />
general diary (GD) over his<br />
disappearance with the Dhanmondi<br />
police station, confirmed<br />
its Officer-in-Charge<br />
(OC) Abdul Latif.<br />
“Ishrak came to Dhaka<br />
on vacation in June. On the<br />
evening of <strong>August</strong> 26, he was<br />
with his friends in front of<br />
Eden Multi-care Hospital next<br />
to Star Kabab. In the CCTV<br />
video footage we collected, we<br />
saw Ishrak and his friend leave<br />
Star Kabab around 8:<strong>30</strong>pm. He<br />
then came back and left again<br />
towards Eden and then returned<br />
again to Star Kabab and<br />
then disappeared into the camera’s<br />
blind spot. There was no<br />
sign of him after that,” he said.<br />
The OC said police were<br />
also looking into possible ties<br />
to any militant or extremist<br />
group.<br />
He also said they tried to locate<br />
Ishrak through his mobile<br />
phone signal but it is currently<br />
turned off: “We also questioned<br />
his friends but they<br />
were unable to shed any light<br />
on his disappearance either.”<br />
The family also has not received<br />
any calls for ransom,<br />
police said.<br />
According to the GD his father<br />
filed, Ishrak, the eldest<br />
child of his parents, was wearing<br />
a pair of blue jeans and a<br />
blue shirt when he was last<br />
seen in public.<br />
His father, Jamaluddin told<br />
the Bangla Tribune: “We don’t<br />
know what happened to him.<br />
Our house is only minutes<br />
away from the place where he<br />
was last seen. We’re confused<br />
and scared.” •<br />
This article was first published<br />
on Bangla Tribune<br />
Radisson Blu Dhaka<br />
offers attractive<br />
Eid package<br />
• Tribune Desk<br />
METRO <br />
Located in the scenic outskirts<br />
of town, Radisson Blu Dhaka<br />
Water Garden is the flagship<br />
5 star luxury hotel in Dhaka.<br />
This Eid, it offers an attractive<br />
package for guests to enjoy<br />
its lavish upscale rooms,<br />
sumptuous dining outlets, spa<br />
and picturesque landscape.<br />
The package includes<br />
accommodation of single<br />
night for couple with<br />
complimentary breakfast at<br />
the Water Garden Brasserie<br />
restaurant. Guests will also<br />
receive complimentary pick<br />
up and drop by the hotel car<br />
around five kilometres radius<br />
in the city.<br />
Guests check in time is<br />
2pm and check out time<br />
is 12pm on the following<br />
day. Advance reservation is<br />
required for this package. All<br />
Bangladeshi nationals and<br />
foreign nationals residing in<br />
this country are eligible for<br />
this package.<br />
It will continue from<br />
September 1 till September<br />
10, <strong>2017</strong> and will cost only<br />
Tk15,999 (inclusive VAT and<br />
Service Charge).<br />
For more information, visit<br />
https://www.radissonblu.<br />
com/hotel-dhaka. •
DT<br />
12<br />
Editorial<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
TODAY<br />
Teacher, lead<br />
the way<br />
Teach <strong>30</strong>0 children under a project, you<br />
are a celebrity. Forget the teachers who<br />
have taught for a lifetime<br />
PAGE 13<br />
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU<br />
Play fair with the cattle markets<br />
Make medicine<br />
accessible to all<br />
The region’s economic status is<br />
changing for the better, a positive sign<br />
that, however, will lead to reduced<br />
access to medicines and vaccines<br />
PAGE 14<br />
Cattle markets are a big business in the capital<br />
during the Eid-ul-Azha season.<br />
Makeshift markets pop up at specific places<br />
in Dhaka every year, which tells us that a lot of<br />
land is getting leased out for that purpose.<br />
While the leasing of land is supposed to be a free and<br />
open process through bidding, the reality of the situation<br />
is that only a handful of people get the leases every year.<br />
The haats are almost always leased out to people in<br />
positions of power, mostly ruling party affiliates and<br />
ward councilors, profiting off the backs of tax-payers.<br />
This is not fair play.<br />
There is a good amount of money to be made by<br />
our city corporations through these leases, money<br />
that can be spent on improving our city. Instead, most<br />
of it gets pocketed by a few enterprising party men<br />
and administrative heads, effectively making this an<br />
oligopoly.<br />
This unscrupulous practice should be ended.<br />
The haats are almost<br />
always leased out to<br />
people in positions of<br />
power<br />
The wrong kind<br />
of attention<br />
Students are the ones who can take a<br />
strong stand against sexual harassment<br />
Be heard<br />
Write to Dhaka Tribune<br />
FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath,<br />
Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207<br />
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DhakaTribune.<br />
The views expressed in opinion<br />
articles are those of the authors<br />
alone and they are not the<br />
official view of Dhaka Tribune<br />
or its publisher.<br />
PAGE 15<br />
Save St Martin’s before it is too late<br />
St Martin’s Island is one of the most<br />
popular tourist destinations in the<br />
country for its natural, scenic appeal,<br />
sunshine, and tranquil waters.<br />
Yet, unless we take good care of it, we will<br />
surely lose all of the qualities that we love about<br />
this beautiful island.<br />
In fact, the island is already showing<br />
distressing signs of degradation. Pollution, poor<br />
waste-management, and illegal construction are<br />
causing severe and possibly irreversible damage<br />
to the environment and biodiversity there.<br />
According to a recent report by the<br />
Department of Environment, all of this is a direct<br />
consequence of rampant and unplanned tourism.<br />
Bangladesh is a country blessed with<br />
abundant natural resources that we can derive<br />
much utility from, but it is foolish to destroy<br />
them in the process.<br />
We hope the government will enforce proper<br />
regulations to save St Martin’s before it’s too late<br />
-- before we lose another precious gift of nature.<br />
Pollution, poor wastemanagement,<br />
and<br />
illegal construction are<br />
causing severe and<br />
possibly irreversible<br />
damage
Teacher, lead the way<br />
What happened to the joy of learning for its own sake?<br />
Opinion 13<br />
DT<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
The classroom is where the magic is meant to happen<br />
RAJIB DHAR<br />
• Arpeeta Shams Mizan<br />
A<br />
while ago, one of my<br />
friends shared on<br />
Facebook a list of 15<br />
young Bangladeshis<br />
celebrated in the field of<br />
leadership. Going through the<br />
list, I could not help feel strange,<br />
because the list was basically<br />
dominated by people undertaking<br />
business and entrepreneurship<br />
ventures.<br />
Today’s Bangladesh, for good<br />
reason, has become the country<br />
for young entrepreneurs and startups.<br />
No matter what discipline the<br />
youth are studying, it is as if the<br />
most vibrant of the lot go for startup<br />
initiatives. Or so it seems.<br />
The “smartest” people are the<br />
ones who are in the business or<br />
social business sector. There are<br />
lots of trainings on leadership,<br />
entrepreneurship, and capacity<br />
building.<br />
But what is leadership? What<br />
is capacity building? Is it only<br />
the ability to design and run a<br />
breakthrough project for solving a<br />
socio-economic problem?<br />
Every once in a while, I need<br />
to remind myself that the society<br />
and the world is not besotted<br />
with business only. True, without<br />
business and entrepreneurship,<br />
society and economy won’t<br />
go very far. But one might<br />
wonder: Since when did capacity<br />
building and leadership become<br />
synonymous with start-ups and<br />
project management?<br />
Social business is the talk of<br />
the town. Everyone is set on<br />
creating their own company,<br />
everyone focused on setting up<br />
own non-profit initiative. Go to the<br />
bookstore, most of the best-sellers<br />
are books on motivation, problem<br />
solving, and project designing.<br />
But amidst this positive vibe,<br />
I feel a terrible absence. And I<br />
feel like the odd one out. Because<br />
when I hear the word “smart,” I<br />
picture a person who can analyse<br />
Wordsworth and Rabindranath’s<br />
interpretation of human life.<br />
When I hear the word<br />
“capable,” I see someone who<br />
cannot only innovate but also<br />
use old traditional solutions<br />
for new age conflicts, one who<br />
understands what is necessary<br />
may not be what is needed.<br />
When I hear the word “leader,”<br />
I think of a person who enables<br />
others to use their own qualities,<br />
who shows others how to know<br />
themselves.<br />
And I sadly notice that<br />
teaching, learning, and academia<br />
are not in a leadership position in<br />
today’s Bangladesh.<br />
The first leaders<br />
The first leaders in human<br />
history were the teachers, unless<br />
one argues that Socrates and<br />
Plato were not leaders. Today in<br />
Bangladesh, the word leadership<br />
does not convey the image of a<br />
teacher (and by teacher, I refer to<br />
primary, secondary, and higher<br />
secondary teachers as well as<br />
university faculty members).<br />
Teachers are now perceived as<br />
passive, bookish, disconnected<br />
from reality, and are pushed to the<br />
background. The critical problem<br />
solving skills of leadership<br />
are frequently attributed to<br />
entrepreneurs, and seldom to<br />
academics.<br />
The new age<br />
Ironically, teaching does get<br />
appreciated when done under the<br />
garb of entrepreneurship, social<br />
business, and start-ups.<br />
No one dreams to be a school<br />
teacher anymore, unless that<br />
comes with the perks of a branding<br />
in the garb of “teach English to<br />
underprivileged communities”<br />
sort of attire. Then, teaching<br />
becomes smart. Teach <strong>30</strong>0<br />
children under a project, you are a<br />
celebrity. Forget the teachers who<br />
have taught for a lifetime. Marketcentric<br />
is the new smart. Classic is<br />
the new archaic.<br />
And along with teaching,<br />
learning for the sake of gaining<br />
knowledge has also met its end.<br />
Everything today, including<br />
learning and reading, has become<br />
more or less market-centric.<br />
Classic subjects like literature,<br />
language, philosophy are<br />
“outdated” -- never mind that<br />
Oxbridge or Ivy Leagues still have<br />
the classic subjects as the most<br />
prestigious departments.<br />
In Bangladesh, we study<br />
literature if we don’t get better<br />
subjects in the admission test.<br />
Then we sidetrack it to ensure<br />
enough time to prepare for BCS or<br />
a business degree.<br />
Reading Gora, Gilgamesh, or<br />
War and Peace is a waste of time<br />
unless we are intending to write<br />
for publication.<br />
Read Mahabharata to launch<br />
an exciting gaming app. Enjoying<br />
Gopal Bhar’s witty comments<br />
towards Raja Krishnachandra is<br />
useless if they don’t teach us how<br />
to manage our boss.<br />
It is unnecessary to learn to<br />
identify the coarse textures of<br />
various hand-loom saris unless<br />
we don it for next season’s fashion<br />
statement. We don’t study home<br />
economics anymore, we study<br />
fashion designing or interior<br />
decoration.<br />
Teach <strong>30</strong>0 children under a project, you are a celebrity. Forget the<br />
teachers who have taught for a lifetime. Market-centric is the new smart<br />
Something was lost<br />
Nothing flourishes unless<br />
appreciated. Academia stopped<br />
flourishing because it stopped<br />
being appreciated. We set up<br />
ideation labs but not reading<br />
centres. We have leadership<br />
training but not innovative teacher<br />
training, we have capacity building<br />
workshops but no interdisciplinary<br />
learning programs.<br />
The school and college teachers<br />
are celebrated till the board<br />
exams. University faculty are<br />
acknowledged so long they receive<br />
media coverage through talk<br />
shows or roundtables.<br />
But not as leaders. They are<br />
just people who give lectures, and<br />
sometimes publish books which<br />
few read. If a teacher becomes a<br />
popular writer, she or he remains<br />
“the writer” more than the<br />
academic.<br />
And thus, we prepare for the<br />
market. And survive. But survival<br />
is not living. While racing to the<br />
top, we have forgotten the joys of<br />
learning.<br />
Yet, once in a while, we shall<br />
come across someone who reads<br />
books not to pick up smart quotes<br />
for presentations, but to enjoy a<br />
good book, who reads voraciously<br />
not to provide numerous<br />
references, but to introduce the<br />
students to the diversities of the<br />
world, who solves crossword<br />
puzzles not to sharpen competitive<br />
cognitive skills, but because it’s<br />
just fun, who thinks listening to<br />
the nature is worthwhile as much<br />
as listening to Ted talks.<br />
And may be that person will be<br />
considered backdated, impractical.<br />
But then …<br />
The wizards were preparing<br />
for their big show. They had set<br />
up the high-tech gizmos, which<br />
through the sound vibrator would<br />
create the ethereal magic. The<br />
inventor who had designed the<br />
show was happy. But the vibrator<br />
malfunctioned.<br />
The only solution was to read<br />
the rune incantations and create<br />
the vibration manually. The<br />
inventor couldn’t, he always used<br />
apps. The illusionists had never<br />
bothered to learn the obsolete<br />
language either. Then came<br />
the young wizard, mocked for<br />
studying ancient runes. Taking<br />
a look at the ancient scripture,<br />
he tuned his voice to create the<br />
vibration.<br />
And the day was saved. •<br />
Arpeeta Shams Mizan teaches law at<br />
University of Dhaka, and is a socio-legal<br />
analyst.
14<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Opinion<br />
Make medicine accessible to all<br />
For a healthier, more equitable region<br />
• Poonam Khetrapal Singh<br />
Access to medication<br />
is a critical factor for<br />
ensuring healthy lives<br />
and promoting the wellbeing<br />
of all people across all ages.<br />
Thanks to modern medical<br />
science, treatment in the form<br />
of medication now exists for<br />
almost all ailments, but essential<br />
medicine is still inaccessible to<br />
many people for reasons beyond<br />
their control.<br />
Affordability can be a barrier;<br />
the medicine may be in short<br />
supply due to delivery issues in<br />
distribution channels, making<br />
continuity of treatment difficult;<br />
it may be of sub-standard quality,<br />
making it less effective and<br />
potentially dangerous.<br />
The sentinel role of countries<br />
in terms of access to medicine has<br />
become more challenging than<br />
ever before, given the nature of<br />
the pathogens and reduction in<br />
time and space on travel.<br />
The rising concern of noncommunicable<br />
diseases requiring<br />
life course management makes<br />
access to medicine key for good<br />
health and prosperity.<br />
Ensuring that all people<br />
everywhere can access essential<br />
medicines is one of WHO South-<br />
East Asia’s priority areas of work<br />
and a key tool for achieving the<br />
Sustainable Development Goals<br />
agenda 20<strong>30</strong> of health and wellbeing<br />
for all.<br />
In recent years, many countries<br />
have made notable progress in this<br />
regard. Affordability of priority<br />
medicines has increased, and<br />
supply has become steadier.<br />
Flexibilities in global trade<br />
agreements have been leveraged<br />
to reduce prices in several<br />
countries; there are numerous<br />
regional examples of improved<br />
public sector purchasing.<br />
The countries in the region have<br />
updated their Essential Medicines<br />
lists; supply-chain management<br />
systems have improved to be more<br />
effective and reliable.<br />
And action by countries to<br />
improve quality of medicines has<br />
accelerated. Many countries have<br />
included health as the top priority<br />
in national goals. But we could do<br />
better.<br />
Certain persistant inadequacies<br />
are yet to be addressed: Out-ofpocket<br />
spending -- including on<br />
essential medicines -- remains<br />
high; further, supply chains in<br />
some areas remain weak and<br />
countries lacking manufacturing<br />
capacity often cannot leverage<br />
competitive prices from suppliers.<br />
Despite challenges, the region’s<br />
Everyone everywhere should have access to essential medicines<br />
The region’s economic status is changing for the better, a positive sign<br />
that, however, will lead to reduced access to external financing for<br />
medicines and vaccines<br />
economic status is changing for<br />
the better, a positive sign that,<br />
however, will lead to reduced<br />
access to external financing for<br />
medicines and vaccines. This calls<br />
for self-reliance and collaboration<br />
among the countries in the region.<br />
WHO takes initiative<br />
The Southeast Asia region<br />
member countries, supported by<br />
WHO, launched South-East Asia<br />
Regulatory Network (SEARN) to<br />
enhance information sharing,<br />
collaboration and convergence<br />
of medical product regulatory<br />
practices across the region to<br />
guarantee access to high-quality<br />
medical products to their people.<br />
There are three key areas of<br />
action: First, countries keep their<br />
Essential Medicines List (EML)<br />
and medicines policy current. By<br />
developing clear accountability<br />
systems for medicine selection and<br />
procurement, health authorities<br />
can harness opportunities for<br />
access to affordable medicines.<br />
In response to the rising antimicrobial<br />
resistance, WHO experts<br />
have made major revisions in the<br />
antibiotics section of the EML, so<br />
countries in the region can follow<br />
the directions for proper antibiotic<br />
use.<br />
Also, across the region,<br />
countries are yet to capitalise on<br />
the massive drop in prices for a<br />
range of game-changing medicines<br />
-- most notably for Hepatitis C.<br />
Second, guarantee quality and<br />
affordability of medicines.<br />
The role of the National<br />
Regulator should be redefined<br />
to that of a facilitator for quality<br />
production.<br />
This entails providing<br />
adequate technical assistance<br />
and handholding for achieving<br />
quality standards at the level of<br />
manufacturing as well. Countries<br />
should continue with targeted<br />
quality control and testing of<br />
medicines that are sub-standard<br />
or falsified.<br />
From manufacture to sale,<br />
locally produced medicines<br />
should always meet international<br />
standards.<br />
For affordability, the emphasis<br />
is on promoting competition,<br />
implementing a series of price<br />
control measures, encouraging<br />
doctors to prescribe generics, and<br />
regulating wholesale and retail<br />
mark-ups.<br />
Developing pricing strategies<br />
linked to health insurance<br />
programs, especially where<br />
national schemes are in place,<br />
is equally important. Further,<br />
countries can actively exploit<br />
flexibilities in global trade<br />
agreements and bargain<br />
collectively when negotiating with<br />
medicine manufacturers.<br />
The SEARN can help make<br />
regulation more efficient by<br />
BIGSTOCK<br />
developing the region’s diverse<br />
capacities and strengths, with<br />
significant gains.<br />
Third, generating high-quality<br />
information on access to essential<br />
medicines within the countries so<br />
that the problems may be better<br />
addressed.Knowing where and<br />
why people are facing shortages,<br />
where unsafe or ineffective<br />
medicines are being sold, is<br />
essential to developing lasting<br />
solutions.<br />
From smart-phone apps to<br />
household surveys, the array of<br />
tools at health authorities’ disposal<br />
is extensive.By using them<br />
effectively, authorities can gather<br />
the information needed to make<br />
smart, high-impact interventions<br />
that drive life-changing gains.<br />
Essential medicines should<br />
be accessible to all, to achieve<br />
universal health coverage.<br />
Supported by a clear vision, the<br />
dream of health equity and the<br />
Sustainable Development Goals<br />
of health and wellbeing for all are<br />
within reach.<br />
A healthier, more equitable and<br />
sustainable Southeast Asia Region<br />
can be ours. •<br />
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh is the<br />
Regional Director of the World Health<br />
Organization South-East Asia Region.
Opinion 15<br />
The wrong kind of attention<br />
We need to talk more about sexual harassment<br />
DT<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
But this isn’t always that<br />
easy, especially when the media<br />
is dragged in. Although there<br />
are some news media that are<br />
concerned about the victim and<br />
hide his/her identity, there are<br />
others that fail to conceal the<br />
victim’s identity for petty profits,<br />
which makes the life of the victim<br />
all the more difficult.<br />
This is mostly why many<br />
victims do not want to seek legal<br />
justice.<br />
Sadly, society is of no help.<br />
Most people try to blame the<br />
victim for the harasser’s offense,<br />
or say it is a plot to extort money.<br />
So unless we evolve into a good,<br />
supportive society, victims will<br />
think twice before taking the<br />
matter to the police.<br />
Considering the effects on the<br />
victim, the best way to deal with<br />
sexual harassment is to have an<br />
ironclad policy in the university<br />
and a safe, supportive, nonjudgmental<br />
environment for the<br />
victims so they can easily get<br />
the assistance and justice they<br />
deserve.<br />
Do we have a system in place to complain about harassment?<br />
BIGSTOCK<br />
The government can help<br />
The government can take many<br />
practical steps such as including<br />
the topic in textbooks, requiring<br />
every educational institute to have<br />
a strict policy about it, establishing<br />
a special hotline to report<br />
• Niaz Islam Arif<br />
What is “sexual<br />
harassment”?<br />
The answer is<br />
simple: Any kind<br />
of unwanted activity directed<br />
at a particular person, which is<br />
sexually offensive in nature, is<br />
sexual harassment.<br />
It could happen in different<br />
forms: Verbal, non-verbal, or<br />
physical -- such as spreading<br />
rumours, lewd jokes, comments<br />
on personal choices, and<br />
unwanted physical contact.<br />
As society advances, people are<br />
using new ways to harass others<br />
via things like fake photos, social<br />
media, text, email, etc. University<br />
students, especially female<br />
students, are some of the primary<br />
victims of sexual harassment.<br />
In Bangladesh, now and then,<br />
we hear about some harassment<br />
of university students by their<br />
own professors, but they are<br />
not the only victims. Moreover<br />
their professors are not the only<br />
offenders.<br />
A university student often gets<br />
harassed by classmates, seniors,<br />
lovers, and in some cases, even<br />
by the staff. It is also true that the<br />
harasser could be of the same sex<br />
as the victim. To stand against<br />
this social menace, we can take<br />
precautions, but even that fails to<br />
guarantee its prevention -- but the<br />
most effective measures can be<br />
taken by the victim.<br />
Speak up<br />
When facing any sort of<br />
harassment, the best way to deal<br />
with it is to speak up. One has to<br />
speak instantly when it occurs,<br />
and tell the harasser in a definitive<br />
manner to stop doing it, regardless<br />
of how trivial the offense may<br />
seem. Because, when someone<br />
does not protest small matters, it<br />
often paves the way for serious<br />
offenses.<br />
And sometimes, the offender<br />
is unaware of the fact that his/<br />
her actions are hurting someone<br />
else or that for someone else, it is<br />
an invasion of personal space. In<br />
those cases, if the victim speaks<br />
up, then the harasser understands<br />
his own fault.<br />
And if the victim feels shy<br />
about talking to the offender, then<br />
this could be handled in several<br />
other ways too.<br />
Victims could write anonymous<br />
letters or send an email to the<br />
harasser explaining the incident<br />
that troubled her/him. And it is<br />
always a good idea to keep a copy<br />
of the letter or email as it can be<br />
used as evidence in the future,<br />
in case the offender does not<br />
cooperate.<br />
If things start to get out of<br />
hand, then students must speak<br />
up, loudly and clearly. In many<br />
cases, the offender gets scared<br />
when someone asks loudly to stop,<br />
because he/she fears that someone<br />
may hear and come to the rescue.<br />
Fortunately, we now live in an<br />
era of technology where victims<br />
can easily use that for his/her<br />
defense -- by voice recording,<br />
taking pictures, and making<br />
videos.<br />
And to be on the safe side,<br />
victims should write down the<br />
offensive act in a diary or in an<br />
electronic device with all the<br />
details.<br />
It is always a good idea to<br />
inform someone else about the<br />
harassment, like a close friend or<br />
a classmate, so that someone else<br />
can also look out for the victim<br />
and at times can speak on behalf of<br />
the victim.<br />
The next step is to involve the<br />
appropriate university authority in<br />
the matter.<br />
Educational institutions can<br />
do a lot to help victims. Every<br />
institute should have a definitive<br />
policy on how to handle such<br />
matters.<br />
Often, the victim gets blamed<br />
for the offender’s crime. University<br />
authorities have to be very<br />
cautious, and make sure that it<br />
does not happen.<br />
If the university doesn’t have<br />
such a policy, then students<br />
should talk to the faculty about it,<br />
and ask the policy-makers to make<br />
one. Even then, if they fail to do<br />
so, students should take further<br />
action.<br />
University students can also<br />
increase awareness by arranging<br />
seminars, workshops, street plays,<br />
etc around the campus. They can<br />
distribute informational leaflets<br />
and put up posters so that every<br />
student knows what they can do<br />
when they face sexual harassment.<br />
Break the taboo<br />
The more we talk about it and let<br />
people know about it, the better.<br />
Students are the<br />
ones who can take a<br />
strong stand against<br />
sexual harassment<br />
incidences of sexual harassment,<br />
providing shelter, and ensuring<br />
safe passage of the victims to<br />
normal life.<br />
Students themselves are the<br />
ones who can take a strong stand<br />
against the sexual harassment<br />
that goes on within their own<br />
institutions. They have to<br />
stick together to fight sexual<br />
harassment. They have to<br />
support each other and always<br />
be conscious of what is going on<br />
around them.<br />
If students set an example for<br />
society, other people will soon<br />
follow. Hopefully, one day, we<br />
will be able to live in a beautiful<br />
society free from such horrible<br />
sexual harassment. •<br />
Niaz Islam Arif is a freelance contributor.
16<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Downtime<br />
CROSSWORD<br />
ACROSS<br />
1 Apportion (5)<br />
4 Scourge (4)<br />
7 Roof of the mouth (6)<br />
8 Numeral (5)<br />
10 Period of time (4)<br />
11 Result from (5)<br />
12 Decay (3)<br />
14 Building cover (4)<br />
17 Easy pace (4)<br />
19 Wildebeest (3)<br />
20 Inconsiderate speed (5)<br />
23 Destiny (4)<br />
25 Ranks (5)<br />
26 Meddle (6)<br />
27 Festivity (4)<br />
28 Dissolves (5)<br />
DOWN<br />
1 State as true (6)<br />
2 Frank (4)<br />
3 Makes brown (4)<br />
4 Thickness (5)<br />
5 Consumed (3)<br />
6 Time of the year (6)<br />
9 Power of rejecting (4)<br />
13 Much ornamented (6)<br />
15 S-shaped moulding (4)<br />
16 Bothers (6)<br />
18 Motif (5)<br />
21 Slender support (4)<br />
22 Weary (4)<br />
24 Make lace (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 23 represents D so fill D<br />
every time the figure 23 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 />
Conference for the heads of BGB-run<br />
educational institutions held<br />
Art competition held to<br />
commemorate World<br />
Ozone Day <strong>2017</strong><br />
17<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
• Features Desk<br />
A four-day-long conference on<br />
‘What an ideal school should<br />
look like’ started on <strong>August</strong> 28<br />
at Pilkhana with all the heads of<br />
BGB-run educational institutions.<br />
The event was inaugurated by<br />
the Director General of Border<br />
Guards Bangladesh Maj Gen<br />
Abul Hossain at the Captain<br />
Shaheed Ashraf Hall. A total<br />
of 24 heads of educational<br />
institutions in different BGB<br />
units across the country are<br />
attending the conference. During<br />
the inauguration ceremony<br />
teachers from Birshreshtha Noor<br />
Mohammad Public College,<br />
Birshreshtha Munshi Abdur Rouf<br />
Public College and high ranking<br />
BGB officials were present, a<br />
press release from BGB said.<br />
The BGB Director General said<br />
that human resources are most<br />
valuable and that is why there is<br />
no alternative to education for<br />
turning the future generation into<br />
human resources. “The use of<br />
information and communications<br />
technology in the education<br />
sector of the country has reached<br />
international standards. We are<br />
doing our best to achieve the<br />
desirable improvements in the<br />
BGB-run institutions. To that<br />
end, the role of the heads of<br />
these institutions is vital,” said<br />
Director General Hossain. He<br />
said that the feedback from the<br />
attending institutional heads will<br />
be considered very seriously in<br />
achieving the goals. Maj Gen Abul<br />
Hossain also praised the efforts<br />
of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina<br />
saying that she has been working<br />
relentlessly to ensure hundred<br />
percent education in the country.<br />
BGB Guimara sector<br />
commander Colonel Abdullah<br />
Al Mamun presented a keynote<br />
speech at the beginning of the<br />
conference explicating the<br />
goals and other aspects of the<br />
four-day event. The summary<br />
and recommendations from<br />
the discussions during the<br />
conference will be presented to<br />
the Minister for Education Nurul<br />
Islam Nahid on the concluding<br />
day of the conference on <strong>August</strong><br />
31. •<br />
An art competition for children<br />
was organised on <strong>August</strong> 26 at the<br />
Bangladesh Shishu Academy to<br />
observe World Ozone Day <strong>2017</strong>.<br />
The winners of the competition<br />
will be awarded at a seminar to<br />
be held on September 16 marking<br />
the International Day for the<br />
Preservation of the Ozone Layer.<br />
Around 400 participants took part<br />
in the art competition organised by<br />
the Department of Environment,<br />
Government of Bangladesh, in<br />
three different categories.<br />
Abdullah Al Islam Jacob,<br />
honourable deputy minister,<br />
Ministry of Forest and Environment<br />
and Md Raisul Alam Mondol,<br />
director general, Department of<br />
Environment were present at the<br />
occasion to encourage the young<br />
participants. •<br />
Extravagant Eid Seafood Festival<br />
at Six Seasons Hotel<br />
NSTU and Agrani Bank sign agreement<br />
worth Tk50 crore<br />
Noakhali Science and Technology<br />
University (NSTU) and Agrani<br />
bank have signed a corporate<br />
wholesale loan agreement worth<br />
Tk50 crore on Sunday, <strong>August</strong> 27<br />
at the university’s auditorium.<br />
Prof M Wahiduzzaman, vicechancellor,<br />
Dr Md Abul Hossian,<br />
pro vice-chancellor and Prof Md<br />
Mominul Haque, registrar signed<br />
the agreement on behalf of the<br />
university while Md Manzurul<br />
Karim, manager, Agrani Bank<br />
NSTU branch signed on behalf of<br />
the bank.<br />
Dr Md Ashraful Alam, associate<br />
professor, ACCE department, Dr<br />
Md Hanif, associate professor,<br />
mathematics department, Abdul<br />
Jalil, director, accounts and<br />
Prof Md Yusuf Miah, president,<br />
Teachers’ association, NSTU were<br />
present at the ceremony among<br />
others. •<br />
During Eid-Ul-Adha, there is no<br />
getting away from the aroma of<br />
fresh and mouth-watering red meat.<br />
To complement the joys of our<br />
sacrifice, Six Seasons has arranged a<br />
predominantly seafood buffet.<br />
Hosted at Sky Pool, Six Seasons’<br />
picturesque, poolside rooftop<br />
restaurant, it promises to be one<br />
unforgettable event. The festival<br />
will be composed of a plethora of<br />
options including a Live Kabab<br />
Station, Live Pasta Station, Live<br />
Sweet and Savoury Crepe Station,<br />
and the first outdoor live<br />
Pizza Station in Dhaka.<br />
Along with the live attractions,<br />
the buffet will also contain<br />
specialties such as grilled prawns,<br />
whole tandoori pomfret, tuna<br />
steak, sizzling calamari, whole<br />
steamed fish, spicy masala crab,<br />
and some white and red meat<br />
thrown in for good measure.<br />
The extravagant affair will<br />
be priced at Tk. 3499 net, with<br />
an offer of “buy one get one<br />
free” with selected banks and<br />
telecommunication partners. The<br />
festival will run from <strong>August</strong> 31 to<br />
September 9, <strong>2017</strong>.<br />
For details, call 01987009810.•
DT<br />
18<br />
Sports<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
1ST TEST, DAY 3<br />
BANGLADESH 1ST INN 260 IN 78.5<br />
OVERS (Shakib 84, Tamim 71)<br />
AUSTRALIA 1ST INN 217 IN 74.5 OVERS<br />
(Shakib 5/68, Miraz 3/62)<br />
BANGLADESH 2ND INN OVERNIGHT<br />
45/1 IN 22 OVERS R B<br />
Tamim c Wade b Cummins 78 155<br />
Taijul lbw b Lyon 4 22<br />
Imrul c Warner b Lyon 2 18<br />
Mushfiq run out (Lyon) 41 114<br />
Shakib c Cummins b Lyon 5 11<br />
Sabbir c Handscomb b Lyon 22 36<br />
Nasir c Wade b Agar 0 4<br />
Miraz c Khawaja b Lyon 26 35<br />
Shafiul c Handscomb b Lyon 9 28<br />
Mustafizur not out 0 1<br />
Extras (b 15, lb 3, w 1) 19<br />
Total all out (79.3 Overs) 221<br />
Bowling<br />
Hazlewood 4.1-2-3-0, Cummins 14-3-38-1,<br />
Lyon 34.3-10-82-6, Maxwell 5-0-24-0,<br />
Agar 20.5-2-55-2, Khawaja 1-0-1-0<br />
Fall Of Wickets<br />
2-61 (Taijul), 3-67 (Imrul), 4-135 (Tamim),<br />
5-143 (Shakib), 6-186 (Mushfiq), 7-186<br />
(Nasir), 8-186 (Sabbir), 9-214 (Shafiul),<br />
10-221 (Miraz)<br />
AUSTRALIA 2ND INNINGS R B<br />
Warner not out 75 96<br />
Renshaw lbw b Miraz 5 20<br />
Khawaja c Taijul b Shakib 1 6<br />
Smith not out 25 58<br />
Extras (b 3) 3<br />
Total (<strong>30</strong> Overs) 109/2<br />
Yet to bat<br />
Lyon, Handscomb, Maxwell, Wade, Agar,<br />
Cummins and Hazlewood<br />
Bowling<br />
Miraz 14-2-51-1, Nasir 3-2-2-0, Shakib 8-2-<br />
28-1, Taijul 4-0-17-0, Mustafizur 1-0-8-0<br />
Fall Of Wickets<br />
1-27 (Renshaw), 2-28 (Khawaja)<br />
Australia need 158 more runs to win<br />
Australia’s Dave Warner drives the ball during day three of their first Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur yesterday<br />
Australia wrest initiative<br />
away from Bangladesh<br />
• Minhaz Uddin Khan<br />
Bangladesh need to pick up another<br />
eight wickets and defend<br />
156 runs following the conclusion<br />
of the third day’s play of their first<br />
Test match against Australia in Mirpur’s<br />
Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium<br />
yesterday.<br />
Batsmen David Warner and Steven<br />
Smith remained unbeaten on<br />
75 and 25 respectively to keep the<br />
visiting side at bay in the game<br />
which so far has swung like a pendulum.<br />
However, opener Tamim Iqbal’s<br />
78 in the second innings was the<br />
only highlight for the host on the<br />
day.<br />
Chasing 265, Australia were<br />
in early trouble owing to ace<br />
all-rounder Shakib al Hasan and<br />
off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz’s<br />
efforts.<br />
Miraz removed opener Matt<br />
Renshaw for five while Shakib just<br />
six deliveries later dismissed No 3<br />
Usman Khawaja for one to leave<br />
the Aussies reeling on 28 for two.<br />
Smith had given chances to<br />
Bangladesh but they were tough to<br />
say the least.<br />
The Australia captain was first<br />
involved in a close stumping call<br />
and then gifted a catch at short-leg,<br />
which practically was tough for the<br />
fielder to take.<br />
The next 20 remaining overs of<br />
the day saw Warner and Smith add<br />
81 unbroken runs to the chase for<br />
the third wicket stand and complicate<br />
a possible maiden Test win<br />
against the Aussies for Bangladesh.<br />
The situation for Bangladesh<br />
would have been better if not for<br />
yet another poor show with the<br />
bat.<br />
Tamim and nightwatchman<br />
Taijul Islam resumed the second<br />
innings on day three with the momentum<br />
of leading the game by 88<br />
runs with nine wickets in hand.<br />
Tamim, the Tigers’ Test vice<br />
captain, registered his second<br />
half-century of the game.<br />
The Chittagong lad was composed,<br />
just like the first innings,<br />
and had done almost everything<br />
according to the book to deserve a<br />
century to mark his 50th Test.<br />
Resuming on <strong>30</strong>, Tamim lost two<br />
partners before captain Mushfiqur<br />
Rahim joined him in the middle.<br />
The Tigers lost Taijul (four) early<br />
but that should not have affected<br />
the plan of putting as many runs as<br />
possible on the board.<br />
Top-order batsman Imrul Kayes<br />
failed once again in the game, this<br />
time contributing only two.<br />
Mushfiq and his deputy Tamim<br />
took charge of the show and posted<br />
68 for the fourth wicket.<br />
Tamim was then removed as<br />
his gloves kissed a snorting short<br />
ball from fast bowler Pat Cummins<br />
which flew through to wicket-keeper<br />
Matthew Wade, who<br />
MD MANIK<br />
grabbed an overhead chance.<br />
Mushfiq added 41 before getting<br />
run out in unfortunate fashion.<br />
Mushfiq was standing just outside<br />
the crease when on-strike<br />
batsman Sabbir Rahman hit a<br />
straight drive.<br />
The ball clipped spinner Nathan<br />
Lyon’s fingers on way to hit the<br />
non-striker’s stumps.<br />
This was followed by a lower-order<br />
collapse as the last five wickets<br />
fell for just 35 to allow Australia to<br />
come back in the game.<br />
Lyon bagged most credit for the<br />
Aussie fightback with his six for 82.<br />
Lyon found turn and sharp<br />
bounce from the pitch to trouble<br />
the Bangladesh batsmen and record<br />
his best second-innings performance<br />
in an Asian Test.<br />
The home side had only Sabbir<br />
and Miraz who reached double figures<br />
as the others, including Shakib<br />
and all-rounder Nasir Hossain, fell<br />
cheaply. •
Cummins: We’re in<br />
a great position<br />
• Ali Shahriyar Bappa<br />
Australia are on course to chase<br />
down the 265-run target set by<br />
Bangladesh as two of their most<br />
experienced batsmen in the form<br />
of David Warner and Steve Smith<br />
are both well set, having finished<br />
day two’s play with a solid batting<br />
display.<br />
Visiting paceman Pat Cummins<br />
admitted that the Aussies are in<br />
a good position to win the Test<br />
match but said the first hour of day<br />
four would be extremely crucial.<br />
“I think it is a great position. I<br />
think the pitch seems to have mellowed<br />
out a little bit compared to<br />
day one. I mean, I think keeping our<br />
target to 260 really kept us in the<br />
game and to finish off [yesterday<br />
night] like we did, if we have a good<br />
first hour [today] it should really set<br />
the game up. So I think we’re in a<br />
great position,” Cummins told the<br />
media after the day’s proceedings<br />
in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National<br />
Cricket Stadium yesterday.<br />
Warner played a pivotal role in<br />
Australia’s surge during the difficult<br />
run chase and Cummins said<br />
the left-handed opener changed<br />
the mindset of chasing with his<br />
quickfire unbeaten half-century.<br />
“David Warner is such a big<br />
player for us and you could just see<br />
it in his eye when he was out there.<br />
He was so focused. We always say<br />
‘be the bull’ and he looked like he<br />
was ‘the bull’ out there; just focussed<br />
and taking the game on. He<br />
got his 50 rapidly and I think it just<br />
changes the whole momentum but<br />
also the mindset for the other batsmen<br />
who are to come in, just taking<br />
the game on. It is great,” explained<br />
the right-arm pacer.<br />
Cummins took the crucial wicket<br />
of opener Tamim Iqbal when the<br />
Bangladesh cricketer was heading<br />
towards his ninth hundred and<br />
give the Tigers a healthy lead.<br />
The brilliant delivery that get rid<br />
of Tamim was crucial in the context<br />
of the match and Cummins<br />
gave credit to wicket-keeper Matthew<br />
Wade and all-rounder Glenn<br />
Maxwell for reviewing the original<br />
decision.<br />
“I think it just kicked off a<br />
length. I think the pitch is doing a<br />
couple of little things every now<br />
and then but it was just one that<br />
happened to kick up a bit and fortunately<br />
hit the glove,”said the 24-<br />
year old.<br />
“I thought I heard something<br />
but I normally hear things when I<br />
bowl. It was actually Matty Wade,<br />
he definitely heard something.<br />
Glenn Maxwell at point (also heard<br />
it). They’re pretty good behind the<br />
stumps, Matty Wade doesn’t get<br />
too many wrong. He’s got a theory<br />
when point also hears something<br />
it’s normally a spot. It was a pretty<br />
good view, it was only a faint nick,”<br />
he concluded. •<br />
Nathan Lyon bowls as Tamim Iqbal looks on<br />
Tamim rues dismissal<br />
• Tribune Report<br />
Bangladesh’s need to have spin<br />
tracks in domestic cricket has<br />
been questioned and discussed<br />
abundantly over time.<br />
But there has hardly been any<br />
effort made to work on what has<br />
been said or claimed repeatedly<br />
as playing cricket on flat tracks,<br />
favouring the batsmen, remain<br />
the norm in domestic tournaments.<br />
It should not be complicated<br />
for one to understand that not<br />
having sporty wickets in domestic<br />
competition only makes the<br />
situation tough for a batsman<br />
when they are playing an international<br />
match at home.<br />
The wickets in international<br />
games played in Bangladesh<br />
are made to aid the home side’s<br />
spinners but make the operation<br />
tough for the batsmen.<br />
Scenarios are not rare for<br />
Bangladesh batsmen failing<br />
to counter the opponent spinners,<br />
much the first Test match<br />
against Australia in Mirpur’s<br />
Sports<br />
Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.<br />
The host were in total control<br />
of the game until day three,<br />
yesterday, when the majority of<br />
the Bangladesh batsmen failed<br />
to resist the Australia spinners<br />
in the shape of Nathan Lyon and<br />
Ashton Agar.<br />
Bangladesh in their second<br />
innings had only opener Tamim<br />
Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim who<br />
offered any kind of resistance as<br />
others crumbled around them,<br />
thus setting the visiting side a<br />
265-run target.<br />
“My question is how many<br />
times do we get to play in these<br />
wickets in domestic cricket?<br />
We only play in these wickets<br />
during international matches<br />
(at home), because it gives us<br />
an advantage over the foreign<br />
side. We are busy with grassy<br />
wickets in domestic cricket although<br />
we never play in those in<br />
international matches at home.<br />
This thinking has to change.<br />
We tour once or twice a year in<br />
places where we confront grassy<br />
The ball clips the non-striker’s stumps after deflecting off Lyon’s hands as<br />
Mushfiqur Rahim watches on helplessly<br />
COURTESY<br />
MD MANIK<br />
wickets. I feel that if we want<br />
to play international matches<br />
in these surfaces, we should do<br />
the same in domestic cricket. At<br />
least one or two grounds should<br />
have these wickets so that it creates<br />
a habit,” Bangladesh Test<br />
vice-captain Tamim told the<br />
media at the post-day press conference.<br />
Tamim topped Bangladesh’s<br />
innings with his 78 runs to mark<br />
his 50th Test.<br />
Tamim on the day was well<br />
on track to set a big score for the<br />
Tigers.<br />
But uneven bounce from<br />
pacer Pat Cummins saw the ball<br />
brush Tamim’s glove as it ended<br />
into the safe hands of wicket-keeper<br />
Matthew Wade.<br />
The dismissal broke a 68-<br />
run stand for the fourth wicket<br />
between Tamim and captain<br />
Mushfiqur Rahim and started<br />
a late order debacle as Bangladesh<br />
went from a relatively good<br />
score of 135 for four wickets to<br />
221 all out.<br />
“There shouldn’t be any<br />
questions about the way I got<br />
out [yesterday]. It was not in my<br />
control. I think in both innings I<br />
worked very hard and deserved<br />
at least one hundred, but you<br />
never know what’s coming next<br />
in this wicket,” said Tamim.<br />
Australia need another 156<br />
with eight wickets and two days<br />
in hand.<br />
A result is quite possible by<br />
today and Bangladesh’s first job<br />
will be to remove the dangerous<br />
David Warner and skipper Steven<br />
Smith in order to pull the<br />
rope towards them and go for<br />
their maiden Test win against<br />
Australia. •<br />
19<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
PLAYS OF THE DAY<br />
Hazlewood goes off early<br />
Australia lost key paceman Josh Hazzlewood<br />
quite early on day two. Hazlewood bowled three<br />
overs on day one. On day two, the tall right-arm<br />
fast bowler bowled only one over before suddenly<br />
feeling uncomfortable in his second over.<br />
He eventually left the field. In his second over, he<br />
clutched his left side, before signaling to captain<br />
Steve Smith that he would need the problem to<br />
be assessed. He did not return in the entire second<br />
innings and thus, Australia had to bowl with<br />
one pacer as the right-armer Pat Cummins took<br />
the workload solely upon his shoulders. Later a<br />
Cricket Australia spokesperson confirmed that<br />
he’d pulled up with a “sore side”.<br />
Positive intent from Bangladesh batsmen<br />
Opener Tamim Iqbal hit a boundary in the very<br />
first ball of the day. That indicates the intention<br />
from Bangladesh. After top-order batsman<br />
Imrul Kayes and nightwatchman Taijul Islam<br />
got out, captain Mushfiqur Rahim came out to<br />
bat. As Tamim was calm and composed at the<br />
other end, Mushfiq was equally on song. Then<br />
came a flighted delivery from off-spinner Nathan<br />
Lyon. Mushfiq charged down the ground and<br />
smashed the delivery over the mid wicket fence<br />
for a six. There was fielder at long on and deep<br />
mid wicket. The ball was turning and sometimes<br />
even bounced awkwardly. But the Tigers captain<br />
showed aggression and gave the message that<br />
the Tigers are indeed in the driving seat.<br />
From 186/5 to 186/8!<br />
Bangladesh were batting well and piling runs<br />
against Australia. Muhfiq and middle-order batsman<br />
Sabbir Rahman was batting well and scoring<br />
valuable runs. Then Muhfiq got out in unlucky<br />
fashion, or should we say brilliance from Lyon<br />
in the last ball of the 68th over. It was a flight<br />
delivery in the trajectory of the middle- and offstump.<br />
Sabbir ran down and hammered his drive<br />
straight back to Lyon, who got a bit of a hand<br />
on that as the ball deflected onto the stumps.<br />
Mushfiq was late to realise and react. Australia<br />
clinched a vital breakthrough. Such moments of<br />
brilliance often bring good fortune. And that’s<br />
what exactly happened. That run out certainly<br />
ignited the Australians and they produced a fine<br />
bowling performance at the end as Bangladesh<br />
were reduced to 186/5 to 186/8 in between<br />
overs 67.5 overs to 69.1. After Mushfiq’s run out,<br />
Bangladesh lost both Sabbir and all-rounder Nasir<br />
Hossan’s wickets within just nine balls. And so<br />
the momentum swung in Australia’s favour.<br />
Soumya’s costly dropped catch<br />
Australia were under pressure while chasing 265<br />
on a difficult pitch. At the end of the day, the dangerous<br />
David Warner played a great knock to keep<br />
Australia in the chase. But the left-hander gave a<br />
chance in the eighth over towards first slip against<br />
left-arm spinner Shakib al Hasan’s bowling. But<br />
fielder Soumya Sarkar missed it. It was a bad miss<br />
from the first slip fielder as he was kind of frightened<br />
to catch the ball. And that dropped proved<br />
costly at the end as Warner was not on 75 and<br />
leading from the front with a superb counter-attacking<br />
batting display to edge Australia ahead of<br />
Bangladesh. One tough catch was also dropped of<br />
captain Steve Smith off youngster Mehedi Hasan<br />
Miraz’s bowling in the 13th over as Imrul failed to<br />
hold onto the ball at silly mid on. But it was hit hard<br />
and it was a really tough chance. Soumya’s miss at<br />
first slip was horrible and at the end of the day, that<br />
dropped opportunity remains a big regret.<br />
Ali Shahriyar Amin<br />
DT
20<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Sports<br />
Hazlewood<br />
ruled out of<br />
Chittagong Test<br />
• Ali Shahriyar Bappa<br />
Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood<br />
has been ruled out of the<br />
Chittagong Test match against<br />
Bangladesh, starting on Monday,<br />
due to injury.<br />
The tall right-arm pacer bowled<br />
only seven balls on day two and felt<br />
discomfort.<br />
He eventually left the field and<br />
did not return in the entire second<br />
innings of Bangladesh.<br />
Fellow Australian paceman Pat<br />
Cummins confirmed the news during<br />
the post-match press conference<br />
yesterday.<br />
“He’s going to be really hard to<br />
replace. He’s played all but one<br />
of the last <strong>30</strong> Tests. He said it is<br />
going to be pretty hard sitting at<br />
home watching, he hasn’t done<br />
that for three or four years. So<br />
he’s a big member around the<br />
group. I am going to miss having<br />
dinner with him every night,”<br />
Cummins told the media in<br />
Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National<br />
Cricket Stadium.<br />
“But we have got Jackson Bird<br />
waiting in the wings which is<br />
great. He’s been bowling beautifully.<br />
Again, someone who has<br />
been around the team a long time<br />
and been bowling really well. Had<br />
some great performances for Australia<br />
in the past as well. It’s not<br />
good to miss Joshy, but we’re lucky<br />
we have such a strong squad over<br />
here,” he said.<br />
However, Hazelwood will bat if<br />
needed during their chase of 265,<br />
set by Bangladesh.<br />
Australia have Bird as the third<br />
seamer and all-rounder Hilton Catteright<br />
in the squad.<br />
But Bird is likely to get the nod<br />
for the second and final Test. The<br />
second Test will be held at Zahur<br />
Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. •<br />
Maria Sharapova of Russia in action against Simona Halep of Romania during their US Open first round match at Flushing Meadows on Monday<br />
Sharapova wins Slam return, ousts Halep at US Open<br />
• AFP, New York<br />
Former world No 1 Maria Sharapova<br />
made a triumphant return to Grand<br />
Slam competition Monday after a<br />
15-month doping ban, outlasting<br />
second-ranked Simona Halep 6-4,<br />
4-6, 6-3 at the US Open.<br />
The <strong>30</strong>-year-old Russian, who<br />
had only one hardcourt tuneup<br />
match due to a nagging forearm<br />
injury, swatted 60 winners with 64<br />
unforced errors, setting the tempo<br />
and baffling Halep at times in a<br />
tension-packed thriller.<br />
Sharapova, who tested positive<br />
for meldonium at last year’s Australian<br />
Open, improved to 7-0 in<br />
her all-time rivalry with Halep,<br />
extending her mastery over the<br />
25-year-old Romanian.<br />
An emotional Sharapova punctuated<br />
her shotmaking, at times erratic<br />
and other moments spectacular,<br />
with screams and fist pumps.<br />
She was energetic even at rest,<br />
closing her eyes and bouncing her<br />
legs as she sat between sets.<br />
After the final point, Sharapova<br />
dropped to her knees in tears as a replay<br />
appeal showed what she already<br />
knew. She later battled back tears as<br />
she blew kisses to spectators, sobbed<br />
at times and mouthed “Thank you”<br />
Monaco sign Jovetic from Inter<br />
• Reuters<br />
French champion AS Monaco have<br />
signed striker Stevan Jovetic from<br />
Italy’s Inter Milan on a four-year<br />
contract for an undisclosed fee, the<br />
Ligue 1 and Serie A clubs said yesterday.<br />
Montenegro international<br />
Jovetic joined Inter Milan from<br />
Manchester City on a permanent<br />
basis in January after an<br />
18-month loan spell at the Italian<br />
club.<br />
The 27-year-old spent the latter<br />
half of last season on loan at La<br />
Liga side Sevilla, where he scored<br />
seven goals and provided five assists<br />
in 24 appearances for the<br />
Spanish club. •<br />
Montenegro’s Stevan Jovetic poses with a Monaco jersey<br />
INTERNET<br />
REUTERS<br />
to fans that were devoted throughout<br />
the two hour and 45 minute drama.<br />
Sharapova, whose major titles<br />
include the 2006 US Open, advanced<br />
to a second-round matchup<br />
against Hungarian Timea Babos,<br />
whom she has never played.<br />
Sharapova won only 5 of 22<br />
break points in the match while<br />
Halep won 4 of 10 and produced<br />
only 15 winners against 14 unforced<br />
errors.<br />
It was Sharapova’s first Grand<br />
Slam match since a quarter-final<br />
loss to Serena Williams in last<br />
year’s Australian Open.<br />
Sharapova, ranked 146th, returned<br />
in April but the French Open<br />
snubbed Sharapova for a wildcard<br />
entry and she missed Wimbledon<br />
with a thigh injury.<br />
Sharapova walked onto the<br />
court at Arthur Ashe Stadium to<br />
rousing applause. She wore a black<br />
dress, visor, socks and shoes, the<br />
same style she sported in taking<br />
the trophy nine years ago on the<br />
New York hardcourts.<br />
Halep hit a backhand long to<br />
hand Sharapova a break and 2-0<br />
lead in the last set and the Russian<br />
held to the finish, escaping a break<br />
point in the final game when Halep<br />
netted a forehand. •<br />
Dortmund sign Yarmolenko<br />
• Reuters, Berlin<br />
Borussia Dortmund signed Ukraine<br />
winger Andriy Yarmolenko from<br />
Dynamo Kiev on Monday, quickly<br />
replenishing their squad after selling<br />
attacking midfielder Ousmane<br />
Dembele to Barcelona three days<br />
ago.<br />
The 27-year-old, who will wear<br />
the number nine shirt, has spent<br />
his entire professional career at<br />
Dynamo, making 339 appearances<br />
over the course of 11 seasons and<br />
scoring 137 goals.<br />
“I’m very grateful that Dynamo<br />
Kiev have allowed me to fulfil my<br />
dream by moving to a big European<br />
club,” he said in a statement on<br />
Dortmund’s website.<br />
“I will work hard in training to<br />
help BVB reach their highest goals.”<br />
France international Dembele,<br />
who scored 10 goals and provided<br />
20 assists in all competitions to<br />
help Dortmund finish third in the<br />
Bundesliga last season, was sold<br />
to Barca on Friday for 105m euros<br />
($125m).<br />
The deal’s add-ons will make it<br />
the second most expensive transfer<br />
of all time.<br />
Yarmolenko, who won three<br />
Ukrainian league titles with Dynamo,<br />
has made 69 appearances for<br />
Ukraine, scoring 29 goals.<br />
“Andriy is a player we’ve been<br />
following for some time,” said<br />
Dortmund’s sporting director Michael<br />
Zorc. •
Sports<br />
21<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Hope, Brathwaite<br />
shine again as WI<br />
scent win<br />
• Reuters, London<br />
Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope<br />
reprised their first innings heroics<br />
to give West Indies the scent of the<br />
most unlikely of victories on an<br />
engrossing final day of the second<br />
Test against England at Headingley<br />
yesterday.<br />
The pair, who had both scored<br />
hundreds while putting on 246 first<br />
time around, again combined superbly,<br />
compiling another century<br />
partnership to leave the visitors<br />
on 199 for three at tea in pursuit of<br />
their target of 322, with a minimum<br />
of 35 overs to come.<br />
The Windies, whose pitiful performance<br />
in the innings defeat<br />
at Edgbaston in the first Test had<br />
prompted much criticism, again responded<br />
with remarkable resilience<br />
as they reduced their target for levelling<br />
the three-match series to 123.<br />
Yet when Moeen Ali tempted<br />
Brathwaite into a drive just before<br />
tea to have him caught at first slip<br />
by Ben Stokes for 95, it left this<br />
most excellent of contests on an<br />
even sharper knife edge. •<br />
Chelsea set to sign Oxlade-<br />
Chamberlain, says report<br />
• BBC<br />
Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain<br />
is on the brink of<br />
joining Premier League champion<br />
Chelsea, reports bbc.com.<br />
Oxlade-Chamberlain, 24, will be<br />
out of contract next summer and<br />
has refused to sign a new deal at<br />
Emirates Stadium.<br />
Chelsea have declined to comment<br />
but it is understood they<br />
have agreed a transfer fee with<br />
their London rivals for the England<br />
international.<br />
Liverpool have also shown an interest<br />
and could still make an offer<br />
for the former Southampton player.<br />
DAY’S WATCH<br />
CRICKET<br />
STAR SPORTS SELECT HD 1<br />
9:50AM<br />
Australia Tour Of Bangladesh<br />
1st Test, Day 4<br />
SONY SIX HD<br />
5:00AM (Thursday)<br />
Caribbean Premier League <strong>2017</strong><br />
Jamaica Tallawahs v St Kitts and Nevis<br />
Patriots<br />
TENNIS<br />
STAR SPORTS SELECT HD 1<br />
9:00PM<br />
US Open Tennis <strong>2017</strong><br />
West Indies' Kraigg Brathwaite bats during their second Test against England in Leeds<br />
Oxlade-Chamberlain has started<br />
every game for the Gunners so far<br />
this season, including Sunday’s 4-0<br />
defeat at Liverpool, when he was<br />
substituted.<br />
The midfielder would be Chelsea’s<br />
fifth major signing of the summer<br />
following the arrivals of striker<br />
Alvaro Morata, goalkeeper Willy<br />
Caballero, defender Antonio Rudiger<br />
and midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko.<br />
Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has<br />
made 198 appearances for Arsenal<br />
since joining them from Southampton<br />
in <strong>August</strong> 2011, would be the<br />
first arrival since the Italian said he<br />
wanted to sign four more players.<br />
The Blues have allowed a host<br />
of players - including defenders<br />
John Terry, Nathan Ake and<br />
Kurt Zouma, and midfielder<br />
Nemanja Matic - to leave this<br />
summer, while last season’s top<br />
scorer Diego Costa has been told<br />
he can leave.<br />
They have won two of their<br />
opening three Premier League<br />
matches.<br />
Arsenal, meanwhile, have lost<br />
their past two games, including<br />
Sunday’s defeat at Anfield.<br />
Like Oxlade-Chamberlain, forward<br />
Alexis Sanchez and midfielder<br />
Mesut Ozil are also out of contract<br />
next summer. •<br />
Sri Lanka selectors resign after India debacle<br />
• Reuters, Colombo<br />
Sri Lanka’s selection panel, led by<br />
former captain Sanath Jayasuriya,<br />
will step down after the current<br />
limited overs series against India<br />
following the team’s slump in form,<br />
according to reports yesterday.<br />
The pressure on the panel to resign<br />
had intensified after Sri Lanka<br />
were beaten 3-0 in the home test<br />
series against India, who have also<br />
taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in<br />
the ongoing five-match ODI series.<br />
Barcelona hopeful<br />
over Coutinho signing<br />
• Reuters, Barcelona<br />
The five-member panel will<br />
stay on only for the next two ODIs<br />
and the sole Twenty20 against India,<br />
ESPNcricinfo reported citing a<br />
sports ministry statement.<br />
“A combined letter bearing the<br />
names of the above committee has<br />
conveyed this decision to sports<br />
minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. According<br />
to the letter, their tenure<br />
will end on September 7,” the ministry<br />
was quoted as saying.<br />
Angelo Mathews stepped down<br />
as Sri Lanka captain from all formats<br />
last month after they succumbed<br />
to their first ever ODI series<br />
defeat against Zimbabwe.<br />
Dinesh Chandimal was put in<br />
charge of the test team who were<br />
whitewashed in the Test series by<br />
India and now face a similar humiliation<br />
in ODIs against the neighbours.<br />
Irate fans have staged protests<br />
over the team’s poor form and<br />
some of them hurled water bottles<br />
to hold up play in Sunday’s ODI<br />
against India at Pallekele. •<br />
REUTERS<br />
Barcelona sporting director Robert<br />
Fernandez hinted on Monday that<br />
he is negotiating with Liverpool<br />
over Philippe Coutinho and hoped<br />
to complete a deal before the transfer<br />
window closes. After signing<br />
Ousmane Dembele from Borussia<br />
Dortmund for a fee which could<br />
rise to 147m euros, Fernandez announced<br />
his intention to bring two<br />
more players to the Nou Camp.<br />
“It’s true we are in negotiations<br />
over a player to try and sign them.<br />
We hope to reach a deal and present<br />
a new player,” said Fernandez<br />
told a news conference when asked<br />
about Barca’s hopes of signing Brazilian<br />
playmaker Coutinho.<br />
Barca had also been linked to<br />
Nice midfielder Jean Michael Seri.<br />
Seri is totally ruled out. After<br />
analysing (the situation) calmly, we<br />
decided that our priority was other<br />
positions,” Fernandez said.<br />
Coutinho plays in a more advanced<br />
role than Seri and is reported<br />
to be Barca’s top target, with<br />
Paris St Germain’s Angel di Maria<br />
also linked to the club.<br />
“My intention is to sign another<br />
player, if it’s possible, two,” added<br />
Fernandez.<br />
Barca have added Gerard Deulofeu,<br />
Nelson Semedo, Marlon,<br />
Paulinho and Dembele to their<br />
squad for the new season. •
22<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
Showtime<br />
Director and producer sibling<br />
duo cooks for culinary show<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Aynabaji director Amitabh Reza<br />
Chowdhury is renowned for<br />
his film making and creative<br />
endeavours, while his younger<br />
sister Mahjabin Reza Mou works<br />
for his production house, Half<br />
Stop Down, as the executive<br />
producer. The sibling duo have<br />
always been busy with their<br />
hectic filming schedules.<br />
Now for the first time, they<br />
will be seen cooking together on<br />
TV during the upcoming Eid. A<br />
special culinary TV show is in the<br />
making based on the theme of<br />
“celebrities vs homemakers.”<br />
Amitabh Reza Chowdhury and<br />
Mahjabin Reza have participated<br />
as celebrity guests for the show,<br />
titled Aarong Dairy Ranna<br />
Khetro.<br />
In a quick chat, Mahjabin told<br />
Showtime, “We prepared sweet<br />
and sour eggs on the show. And<br />
please don’t think that I cooked<br />
it, it was my brother who made<br />
all the preparations.”<br />
Mahjabin also added that she<br />
does not have enough time to<br />
spend in the kitchen and that, it<br />
was a precious opportunity for<br />
her to spend some quality time<br />
with her brother while helping<br />
him cook.<br />
Aarong Dairy Ranna Khetro<br />
will be aired on GTV in seven<br />
episodes during Eid. Nawsheen<br />
Nahreen Mou is hosting the show<br />
while Alpana Habib and Nahid<br />
Osman are the judges. With<br />
different celebrity guests for<br />
each episode, the culinary show<br />
will also feature stars like Zakia<br />
Bari Momo, Schumann Patwary,<br />
Shafin Ahmed, Nabila, Mithila<br />
and Iresh Zaker. •<br />
Karan and Kajol<br />
declare truce?<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
Social media is a wonderful thing when it is<br />
used right. It can bring together like-minded<br />
people, reunite lost friends, and maybe even<br />
help patch up previous differences. In the<br />
case of Karan Johar and Kajol, social media<br />
may well be helping them mend fences.<br />
Recently, Karan “liked” a post by Kajol,<br />
a seemingly mundane event that has<br />
Bollywood fans speculating about a possible<br />
icebreaker.<br />
A spat that arose from conflicting release<br />
dates of Karan’s film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and<br />
Ajay Devgan’s Shivaay, that created fullblown<br />
hostility up to the point that the two<br />
concerned parties refused to speak to one<br />
another even when they turned up at the<br />
same event. They even unfollowed each<br />
other on social media.<br />
Interestingly, Karan and Kajol have<br />
recently added each other back on<br />
Instagram. Does this mean the pair are<br />
moving towards becoming BFF’s again? Only<br />
time will tell. •<br />
Beyonce<br />
set to record next<br />
James Bond theme<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
After Daniel Craig’s return was<br />
officially announced, it has been<br />
reported that Beyonce has had<br />
several meetings with Bond<br />
producers before agreeing to<br />
record the theme song for James<br />
Bond’s 25th big screen outing, to<br />
be released in 2019.<br />
The “Halo” singer who recently<br />
gave birth to twins – Rumi and Sir –<br />
might also rope in rapper husband<br />
Jay Z to help her write the song.<br />
Beyonce is set to follow the<br />
footsteps of Dame Shirley Bassey,<br />
Adele, and most recently Sam<br />
Smith by recording a coveted<br />
theme tune for the iconic spy<br />
franchise. A source told the Daily<br />
Star that “the two spoke before<br />
Bey’s first meeting with film<br />
bosses and Adele told her how<br />
co-writing and performing a Bond<br />
theme gave her an amazing career<br />
hike. Not many of the themes have<br />
been as successful – but there are<br />
tens of millions of Beyoncé fans<br />
out there.”<br />
“To tie-up a deal with Beyoncé<br />
for the theme song for Daniel’s<br />
fifth appearance as 007 would<br />
really be the icing on the cake,” an<br />
MGM studio executive added.<br />
Earlier this month, Daniel Craig<br />
confirmed that he will return as<br />
James Bond for one final film<br />
ending months of speculation.•
Shakib<br />
Khan to<br />
donate<br />
TV shows<br />
earning<br />
for flood<br />
victims<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
In a special television show for<br />
Asian TV titled Eid With Movie<br />
Star, Shakib Khan is set to appear<br />
for an exclusive interview. Hosted<br />
by Nawsheen, the show will<br />
feature the super star talking<br />
about various issues revolving<br />
around his recent career, as well<br />
as his likes and dislikes.<br />
Talking about the show, Shakib<br />
Khan said, “I really enjoyed being<br />
in the show. I did not sit for too<br />
many TV interviews this Eid, so<br />
this is going to be an exceptional<br />
one.” Shakib Khan, who usually<br />
has a hectic schedule prior to Eid<br />
holidays because of numerous<br />
TV shows, either to promote his<br />
films or just to appear in celebrity<br />
shows, has decided to spend his<br />
earnings from this appearance for<br />
a good cause by giving donations<br />
to flood victims.<br />
“I will contribute my earnings<br />
from the TV show to the people<br />
who are severely affected by the<br />
floods. I feel this should be a<br />
moral obligation for every one of<br />
us during this time of calamity,”<br />
said Khan.<br />
Showtime<br />
“People from many parts of<br />
the country won’t be able to see<br />
my films in the theatres because<br />
of the natural disaster. They are<br />
in dire need. I think it’s my duty<br />
to stand beside those people,” he<br />
added.<br />
In the show, Shakib Khan will<br />
be seen singing a song from his<br />
upcoming film.<br />
Produced by Sudipto Sarkar,<br />
the show will be aired on Asian<br />
TV at 7:10pm, on the third day of<br />
Eid. •<br />
HBO’s new series on Game Of Thrones<br />
23<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
Remembering the legacy<br />
of Tobe Hooper<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
The recently deceased<br />
filmmaker Tobe Hooper began<br />
his filmmaking career with<br />
The Heisters, a 1964 comedy<br />
short that was the first film<br />
ever produced in Austin to be<br />
distributed all over USA.<br />
It took a decade for Hooper<br />
to get nationwide fame with<br />
1974’s The Texas Chain Saw<br />
Massacre. One of the most<br />
influential horror films of all<br />
time, the film was a low-budget<br />
masterpiece and it ranked<br />
as one of the most profitable<br />
independent films of the<br />
decade.<br />
Even though The Texas<br />
Chain Saw Massacre was<br />
an immediate sensation,<br />
critics received it with less<br />
compassion. A Los Angeles<br />
Times critic termed it as “a<br />
despicable film,” “ugly and<br />
obscene,” and “a degrading,<br />
senseless misuse of film and<br />
time.”<br />
However, the film helped<br />
give birth to the slasher genre,<br />
revolutionising the entire<br />
horror scene. Eventually,<br />
critics caught up with the<br />
public as the film was screened<br />
at Cannes as a part of the<br />
Directors’ Fortnight program in<br />
1975, and returned to Cannes in<br />
2014 for a special screening on<br />
its 40th anniversary.<br />
Tobe Hooper, who died<br />
at the age of 74 on Saturday,<br />
has made several films which<br />
horror fans will remember<br />
fondly such as Poltergeist,<br />
The Funhouse and Salem’s<br />
Lot, but he will forever be<br />
remembered for the genredefining<br />
The Texas Chain Saw<br />
Massacre.<br />
Hooper’s Stephen King<br />
adaptation, Salem’s Lot, was<br />
also a success in 1979, while<br />
the slasher film, The Funhouse,<br />
achieved cult status.<br />
In an earlier interview,<br />
Hooper revealed that his<br />
mother went into labour at<br />
the cinema, and that, his<br />
parents were hotel managers<br />
who owned a movie theatre<br />
in San Angelo. After studying<br />
filmmaking at the University<br />
of Texas, Hooper worked as a<br />
documentary cameraman and<br />
later, as a college professor.•<br />
DT<br />
• Showtime Desk<br />
With an appropriately epic season<br />
finale, Game of Thrones may have<br />
wrapped up its latest season on<br />
Sunday night, but HBO won’t<br />
leave fans completely in the dark<br />
until the next year’s final season.<br />
HBO had planned a seven-part<br />
behind-the-scenes series focusing<br />
on season 7 titled The Game<br />
Revealed and its first episode<br />
is available now on HBO Now,<br />
HBO Go, HBO On Demand and<br />
affiliated portals.<br />
The first episode of The Game<br />
Revealed opens with a look at the<br />
opening scene from Season 7 as<br />
Jeremy Podeswa, the episode’s<br />
director, explains why that scene<br />
was chosen to begin the season.<br />
He also explains how Maisie<br />
Williams was given a realistic<br />
mask of David Bradley’s face to<br />
help sell the illusion of Arya’s<br />
disguise.<br />
David Benioff, the coshowrunner,<br />
talked about why<br />
they approached Ed Sheeran for a<br />
cameo as a Lannister soldier.<br />
In addition, the episode<br />
also delves into the creation<br />
of Cersei’s map room at King’s<br />
Landing, and the prosthetics<br />
behind the army of the dead.<br />
Following episodes of the<br />
series feature interviews with the<br />
cast and crew that provide new<br />
info and insights on how some<br />
of the biggest moments from the<br />
latest season evolved.<br />
With subsequent episodes<br />
following every week, the next<br />
episode will be released on<br />
Monday, September 4.•
24<br />
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST <strong>30</strong>, <strong>2017</strong><br />
DT<br />
McGILL STUDENT MISSING<br />
FROM DHANMONDI › 11<br />
Back Page<br />
AUSTRALIA WREST INITIATIVE<br />
AWAY FROM BANGLADESH › 18<br />
SHAKIB KHAN TO DONATE TV<br />
EARNING FOR FLOOD VICTIMS › 23<br />
Eid travellers facing road chaos<br />
• Shohel Mamun<br />
CURRENT AFFAIRS <br />
Eid-ul-Azha holidaymakers are enduring<br />
a torrid time at entry and<br />
exit points in Dhaka due to chronic<br />
gridlock caused by a traffic system<br />
under severe strain.<br />
Homebound people have to wait<br />
for hours at counters and on roads,<br />
with transport workers blocking<br />
roads by parking their vehicles indiscriminately<br />
in the middle of the<br />
carriageway and traffic police not<br />
working at night.<br />
Besides, the condition of major<br />
highways is also not satisfactory although<br />
repair work, costing Tk<strong>30</strong>0<br />
crore, has been continuing in full<br />
swing at different spots.<br />
It takes passengers two to four<br />
hours to cross major intersections<br />
including Abdullahpur, Gabtoli<br />
and Saidabad as the spots remain<br />
choked with vehicles all the times.<br />
and Dhaka-Aricha highways.<br />
‘Roads in a better state’<br />
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune,<br />
Road Transport and Highways Division<br />
Secretary MAN Siddique<br />
said: “There has been no negligence<br />
in the repair work. Highways<br />
are in a better state now.<br />
“A number of teams are working<br />
to avoid possible chaos and mismanagement<br />
at terminals.”<br />
Striking the same note, Road<br />
Transport and Bridges Minister<br />
Obaidul Quader said: “The state<br />
of all highways is good. Vulnerable<br />
spots are passable.”<br />
Mentioning that the responsibility<br />
to mitigate traffic congestion in<br />
Dhaka lies with the mayors, he said<br />
he was not responsible for traffic<br />
management in Dhaka.<br />
The minister made the remarks<br />
yesterday when visiting Saidabad<br />
that connects Dhaka with the<br />
country’s southeastern districts.<br />
The government has formed<br />
and Jatrabari.<br />
Abdur Rajjak, joint commissioner<br />
(traffic, north) of Dhaka Metropolitan<br />
Police, said: “We have<br />
already deployed additional traffic<br />
controllers for round-the-clock service<br />
at entry and exit points.<br />
“We are keeping vigil on the<br />
points, but in some cases it is difficult<br />
for us to be strict because of<br />
the huge rush of holidaymakers.”<br />
RANGPUR<br />
Drivers should comply with<br />
rules to help ensure smooth vehicular<br />
movement, he stressed.<br />
Ferry services in trouble<br />
Ferry services on Kathalia-Shimulia<br />
and Paturia-Daulatdia routes<br />
have been disrupted due to strong<br />
currents in the Padma River.<br />
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport<br />
Corporation (BIWTC) operates<br />
around 36 ferries on the routes to<br />
carry thousands of vehicles across<br />
the Padma.<br />
BIWTC officials said they were<br />
facing immense difficulties in<br />
operating their services due to<br />
the strong currents in the Padma.<br />
Each ferry is barely making<br />
20 trips across the river every day<br />
whereas normally the ferries can<br />
make <strong>30</strong> trips. •<br />
Major highways<br />
Huge traffic jam<br />
Roads are in sorry state due to floods<br />
and poor repairs<br />
SYLHET<br />
Recent floods and heavy rainfall left most<br />
of the roads in a sorry state. The situation<br />
has gotten even worse due to the increased<br />
number of cattle-laden vehicles and homegoers.<br />
Roadside cattle markets in Dhaka and<br />
on some highways are also responsible for the<br />
discomfort of the travellers<br />
DHAKA<br />
MYMENSINGH<br />
Highway woes<br />
Recent floods and heavy rainfall<br />
left most of the roads in a sorry<br />
state. The situation has gotten<br />
even worse due to the increased<br />
number of cattle-laden vehicles<br />
and home-goers. Roadside cattle<br />
markets in Dhaka and on some<br />
highways are also responsible for<br />
the discomfort of the travellers.<br />
There is also a possibility of<br />
5-10mm rain in the next five days<br />
that might be compounding the<br />
travellers’ woes.<br />
Traffic situation has slightly improved<br />
on the Dhaka-Chittagong<br />
and Dhaka-Tangail highways after<br />
the repair work. But, weighing<br />
scales and the narrow two-lane<br />
Meghna-Gumti bridge are contributing<br />
to slow speed on the Dhaka-Chittagong<br />
Highway. The situation<br />
is similar on the Dhaka-Sylhet<br />
several vigilance teams to monitor<br />
and ensure uninterrupted vehicular<br />
movement on the roads during<br />
the Eid-ul-Azha holidays.<br />
Bus owners, however, alleged<br />
that negligence of the authorities<br />
concerned, traffic police, vigilance<br />
teams are causing gridlock at the<br />
entry and exit points.<br />
Exit points in Dhaka<br />
Alhough it takes only five minutes<br />
to cross Abdullahpur intersection,<br />
Wasim, a Gazipur-bound passenger<br />
from Dhaka, said he had been stuck<br />
in traffic for two hours at the intersection<br />
yesterday.<br />
The condition at Gabtoli-<br />
Aminbazar point is even worse.<br />
Hundreds of vehicles were seen<br />
stuck in the area, bringing traffic<br />
movement to a grinding a halt – a<br />
scenario prevalent also at Saidabad<br />
●<br />
●<br />
●<br />
KHULNA<br />
CHITTAGONG<br />
The connecting points of two-lane Meghna-Gumti bridge and four-lane<br />
Dhaka-Chittagong highway are seeing traffic jams. Slowed-down vehicles at<br />
the weight calculating counters of the highway are also causing long tailbacks<br />
Tongi, Tangail, Jamalpur, Rangpur, Kurigram, Jhenaidah and Khulna are facing<br />
traffic because of poorly repaired highways full of potholes<br />
The Daulatdia-Paturia ferry ghat is witnessing long tailbacks due to overflow of<br />
water from Padma River and negligence of authorities concerned<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