e_Paper 1-12-2016

SECOND EDITION 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016 | Agrahayan 17, 1423, Safar 30, 1438 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 214 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10 

Mongol Shobhajatra inscribed in 

Unesco cultural heritage list › 3 

Nasirnagar attack: Probe report finds 

no motive › 2 

Robo-race for glory › 32 

Team Icarus wins Digital 

Khichuri Challenge › 32 

The smaller the better › 21 

Brig Gen AF Jaglul Ahmed writes on the size of states 

Fidel Castro takes final voyage across Cuba › 9 

High-flying Dhaka cement 

top spot › 24

2 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016 

DT 

News 

NASIRNAGAR ATTACK 

Probe report finds no motive 

• Adil Sakhawat and 

Mohammad Jamil Khan 

The Brahmanbaria district administration’s 

report on the communal 

attacks on Nasirnagar Hindus has 

been unable to pinpoint perpetrators 

or find a motive for the incident. 

The report’s 12-point findings 

describe the time line and major 

incidents of the day of the attack, 

all of which have already been reported 

by the press. 

Its conclusion says that the attack 

intended to “destroy the communal 

harmony among different 

religious groups in Nasirnagar.” 

The 76-page report, a copy of 

which has been obtained by the 

Dhaka Tribune, makes no headway 

into who may have carried out the 

said destruction or to what end. 

The three-member probe committee 

formed by the Brahmanbaria 

district administration submitted 

the report to the divisional 

commissioner of Chittagong on 

November 13. 

The report said it had recorded 

testimonies of 78 people from the 

area and heard more than 100 people 

in Nasirnagar Sadar and Harinber 

during its investigation. 

In several cases, the committee’s 

findings run counter to the 

findings of the Dhaka Tribune and 

other news media. 

Were local Muslims involved? 

Videos made by witnesses during 

the attack as well as accounts from 

victims heard by the Dhaka Tribune 

place several local influential 

Muslim community members at 

the forefront of that day’s attack. 

The probe report’s findings, however, 

point to outsiders coming to 

Nasirnagar Sadar to carry out the 

attack and state that “according to 

witnesses those who took part in the 

rallies did not carry out the attack.” 

The report rather emphasises 

UN: 10,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh 

• AFP 

At least 10,000 Rohingya have 

arrived in Bangladesh in recent 

weeks after fleeing violence in 

neighbouring Myanmar, the United 

Nations said on Wednesday. 

An estimated 30,000 Rohingya, 

a Muslim minority living mostly 

in Myanmar, have been forced to 

leave their homes since a bloody 

crackdown by the army in the 

western state of Rakhine. 

Bangladesh has stepped up patrols 

on the border to try to stop 

them from entering, but last week 

The file photo shows a Hindu woman holding burned puja materials. The photo was taken in Nasirnagar early last month 

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU 

that local Muslims tried to counter 

the attackers that day. 

One person whose house was 

attacked on that day told the Dhaka 

Tribune yesterday over the phone: 

“Yes, some local Muslims tried to 

protect the temples and our houses 

but they were very few.” 

The victims said: “Most attackers 

were from outside Nasirnagar 

Sadar. But if some influential Muslims, 

some of whom are ruling party 

leaders, had not taken part in the 

procession that came towards the 

Hindu areas of Nasirnagar Sadar 

after attending the protest in the 

playground, the damage would not 

have been so high.” 

Among the witness statements, 

only Kajal Datta of Dattapara states 

that his Muslim neighbours tried to 

protect the temple in his house. 

But statements from other Hindus 

do not mention anything like this. 

it said thousands had flooded into 

the country, many with nothing 

but the clothes they were wearing. 

“Based on reports by various 

humanitarian agencies, we estimate 

that there could be 10,000 

new arrivals in recent weeks,” said 

Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the 

UN refugee agency in Bangkok. 

“The situation is fast changing 

and the actual number could be 

much higher.” 

Those interviewed by AFP inside 

Bangladesh had horrifying 

stories of gang rape, torture and 

murder at the hands of Myanmar’s 

security forces. Analysis of satellite 

images by Human Rights Watch 

found hundreds of buildings in Rohingya 

villages have been razed. 

Myanmar has denied allegations 

of abuse, but has also banned foreign 

journalists and independent 

investigators from accessing the 

area to investigate. 

Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung 

San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, 

has faced a growing international 

backlash for what a UN 

official has said amounts to a campaign 

of ethnic cleansing. 

Yesterday she vowed to work 

Accused man gives testimony 

One of the men who gave testimony 

to the committee has been 

widely accused by the local communities 

of having instigated the 

attack. 

The man is Abdur Rahim, headmaster 

of Ashutosh Pilot High 

School and brother of the suspended 

Awami League leader and Nasirnagar 

Sadar union Chairman Abul 

Hashem. 

Several students of that school 

told the Dhaka Tribune that Abdur 

Rahim held a meeting inside the 

school compound to help organise 

the protests that ultimately led to 

the attack. 

Some students also claimed that 

Rahim told other teachers to order 

the students to attend the protests. 

Some locals claimed that the 

UNO permitted the rallies because 

of Rahim, who had given his assurance 

to make the protest peaceful. 

However, Rahim’s testimony to 

the committee denies all this and 

reads as though the man was a bystander 

to the events. 

Rallies allowed despite shortage 

of police 

According to the report, on that day 

a large number of Nasirnagar policemen 

were assigned to upazila 

election duty. 

The day before of the attack the 

OC was not also on duty. He joined 

the station the next day. 

To hold the protests, the organisers 

sought permission from the 

UNO on the night before the attack. 

Despite knowing that there will be 

a shortage of police members to 

control such a protest and that the 

OC was absent, the UNO gave permission 

for arranging the protest. 

The probe committee suggested 

for “peace and national reconciliation”, 

saying her country faced 

many challenges, but did not mention 

the violence in Rakhine state. 

Rohingya community leaders 

in Bangladesh said another 3,000 

displaced Rohingya were stranded 

on an island in the Naf river that 

divides the two countries, attempting 

to enter Bangladesh. 

“They have been stuck in the 

island for almost a week without 

sufficient food and clothes,” Abu 

Ghalib said. 

But a spokesman for the Bangladesh 

Border Guards said the claims 

that the upazila administration and 

the police should have been more 

cautious. 

No investigation into political 

motive 

Of the 15 people whose testimonies 

have been described in the report, 

three say political contentions may 

be behind the communal attack. 

However, the probe committee 

did not touch on the issue itself. 

It just suggested finding out the 

actual person who mainly used 

Rasaraj’s Facebook account to post 

the controversial picture that started 

it all. 

Rasaraj’s statement to the 

committee 

Rasaraj in his statement to the 

probe committee denied his involvement 

with posting the picture 

to his Facebook wall. His Facebook 

password was known to three persons 

including his younger brother 

Palash, neighbour Ashutosh, and 

cousin Hridoy, he said. 

When he was fishing in the 

marsh, he was called by Ashutosh 

to return home. When he returned, 

some five to six Muslim youths beat 

him and later Haripur union Awami 

League president along with others 

handed over him to the police. 

He did not know who had posted 

to his Facebook wall. 

The probe committee in its 

recommendation suggested the 

attackers should be detected and 

brought under the law, victimised 

Hindus should be compensated, 

and views exchange meetings 

with religious and political leaders 

should be held to restore communal 

harmony. 

Asked to comment on the 

shortcomings of the probe report, 

committee members Assistant 

Mashkate Rabbi and Additional 

District Magistrate Mohammad 

Shamsul Haque refused to give any 

answers. • 

could not be verified as the island 

was not Bangladeshi territory. 

Bangladesh has reinforced its 

border posts and deployed coast 

guard ships in an effort to prevent 

a fresh influx of refugees. 

In the past two weeks, Bangladeshi 

border guards have prevented 

hundreds of boats packed with 

Rohingya women and children 

from entering the country. 

Nevertheless Rohingya leaders 

in Bangladesh said the number of 

arrivals had risen this week. 

But so far little or no aid has been 

provided for the new arrivals. •

Dialysis for failing 

kidneys now at 

Tk400 only 

• Kamrul Hasan 

Poor patients of kidney diseases 

can now have costly dialysis done 

for Tk400 only. 

Health Minister Mohammed 

Nasim yesterday inaugurated a project 

to facilitate patients of Bangladesh 

with dialysis at the lowest possible 

cost at the dialysis service centre 

of the National Institute of Kidney 

Diseases and Urology (Nikdu). 

The project is coordinated between 

the Public Private Partnership 

(PPP) authority and the Health Ministry, 

and sponsored by Indian Healthcare 

Company Sandor Medicaids. 

Nasim said the facility would allow 

the poor to gain access to highly 

advanced dialysis technologies at 

minimum cost. He termed the initiative 

a sign of long-term friendship 

between India and Bangladesh. 

He said Bangladesh government 

would work to expand the facilities 

at the district level. 

According to Nikdu Director 

Professor Nurul Huda Lenin, the 

dialysis services available at private 

hospitals cost Tk8,000, but 

at Nikdu it can be done for a mere 

Tk400 if a patient is deemed unable 

to bear the expenses. Financially 

capable families can also use the 

dialysis facilities for Tk2,190. 

Financial capability is to be 

determined by consulting the patient’s 

families. 

Director General of the PPP Authority 

Dr Nasir Uddin said the dialysis 

service project is one of the 

eight projects to have materialised. 

Rajeev Sindhi, managing director 

of Sandor, said they have 55 

such facilities in India and that this 

was their first investment abroad. 

Sandor has so far provided 45 dialysis 

machines – 14 in Nikdu and 31 

in CMCH; 45 more are to follow in 

the second phase of the project. 

The facilities at Chittagong are 

to open by December 10. • 

News 3 


Mongol Shobhajatra inscribed in Unesco 

cultural heritage list 

• Tribune Desk 

Unesco yesterday recognised 

Mangal Shobhajatra, the Bangla 

New Year procession, as Intangible 

Cultural Heritage of Humanity. 

Mongol Shobhajatra is an integral 

part of Pohela Boishakh, 

the first day of Bangla New Year, 

celebration in Bangladesh. 

The colourful annual festivities 

have been inscribed in 

Unesco’s Representative List of 

Intangible Cultural Heritage of 

Humanity at the 11th session of 

the Inter-governmental Committee 

on Safeguarding Intangible 

Cultural Heritage held in Ethiopian 

capital Addis Ababa. 

In its decision, the committee 

said Mongol Shobhajatra “symbolises 

the pride of the people of 

Bangladesh in their living heritage 

as well as their strength and 

courage to fight sinister forces, 

and their vindication of truth 

and justice.” 

A procession featuring large 

colourful masks, animal-shaped 

carnival floats and other motifs 

of Bangladeshi culture, Mongol 

Shobhajatra was the brain child 

of three students of Dhaka Fine 

Arts Institute, now the Faculty of 

Fine Arts at the Dhaka University 

– Mahabub Jamal Shamim, Moklesur 

Rahman and Heronmay 

Chanda. 

Inspired by a similar procession 

that had taken place in Jessore 

in 1985, the trio along with 

Lawsuit against NY Federal Reserve likely soon 

• Asif Showkat Kallol 

The government is likely to file a 

case against the Federal Reserve 

Bank of New York over the cyber 

heist of $81 million from Bangladesh 

Bank’s reserve account. 

“We will discuss the issue further 

once Law Minister Anisul Huq, 

who is now in the Philippines, returns,” 

Finance Minister AMA Muhith 

said after a meeting of the cabinet 

committee on economic affairs 

at the Secretariat yesterday. 

He made the remark in reaction 

to news that Rizal Commercial 

Banking Corp (RCBC) of the Philippines 

refused to pay back the money 

stolen by hackers in February. 

Clad in colourful attires thousands of people take part in the traditional Mongol Shobhajatra festooned with life-sized replicas of bird, fish, animals, and other 

motifs, brought out on Pohela Boishakh in Dhaka last year 

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN 

Muhith pointed out that although 

the Federal Reserve Bank 

of New York gave authorisation of 

transaction of money with doubt, 

later it transferred the reserve 

money to the RCBC. 

Muhith said he was surprised by 

the RCBC’s latest stand. 

He said: “I do not understand 

what has happened to Rizal Commercial 

Banking Corp. Two days 

ago I wanted to thank the Rizal 

Commercial Bank authority for returning 

the Bangladesh Bank’s stolen 

money.” 

Muhith said the RCBC is now 

blaming the Bangladesh Bank for 

being negligent. 

The Philippine bank termed the 

their classmates and friends 

first brought out the procession 

in 1989, which over the years 

spread countrywide and became 

an integral part of Bangali culture. 

Since then, the DU Fine Arts 

Faculty has been organising 

Mongol Shobhajatra every year 

in Dhaka, which is attended by 

not only the students and teachers 

of the university, but also 

thousands of people from all 

walks of life. • 

DT 

NY Federal Reserve Bank’s transaction 

unauthorised and based on 

that it is saying it would not give 

back Bangladesh Bank its stolen 

money, Muhith observed. 

The minister said: “I am not 

giving any detailed explanation on 

the matter until the law minister 

returns and I will have a talk with 

our ambassador in the Philippines. 

“I want to know the stand of 

the Philippines government on the 

matter.” 

Muhith said: “I still believe continued 

diplomatic negotiation can 

ensure the return of the stolen 

money.” 

On disclosure of the report of 

Farashuddin on the BB heist the finance 

minister said he would make 

it public at the right time. 

The actions so far taken by the 

Bangladesh Bank will not work 

once the report is published, he 

said. 

Muhith said he thinks the return 

of the heist money will be delayed 

after the case is filed against the NY 

Federal Reserve Bank. 

The RCBC in the Philippines recently 

said it is not liable to compensate 

Bangladesh for the bank 

heist money deposited in its accounts 

and instead blamed Bangladesh 

Bank for being negligent. 

The RCBC said it would not compensate 

Bangladesh because the 

initial security breach was Bangladesh’s 

own fault. 

A high-level delegation from 

Bangladesh, including Law Minister 

Anisul Huq and Bangladesh 

Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, is now 

in Manila to speed up recovery of 

the stolen money. 

Unknown cyber criminals tried 

to steal nearly $1bn from Bangladesh 

Bank in February, one of the 

biggest bank frauds ever. 

They succeeded in transferring 

some $81m via an account at the 

New York Federal Reserve to four 

accounts in fake names at a branch 

of the RCBC in Manila. Most of the 

money was laundered through casinos 

in Manila and remains missing. 

•

4 


DT 

News 

Committee on blocking porn sites likely to sit next week 

• Ishtiaq Husain 

The committee for blocking websites 

containing pornography, vulgar 

pictures and videos may sit 

next week over the issue. 

“Though we did not get any official 

letter yet, an official of Posts 

and Telecommunications Division 

informed me that the committee 

may sit next week for the first 

time,” a member of the committee 

told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday, 

seeking anonymity. 

Initially, they would make a list 

of websites that contain raw pornography, 

said the member. 

“Now, I cannot disclose our 

strategy, as it is secret information,” 

said the member. 

On Monday, Posts and Telecommunication 

Division formed the 

committee led by Director General 

of Bangladesh Telecommunication 

Regulatory Commission (BTRC). 

Other members of the committee 

are from Ministry of Information, 

National Telecommunication 

Monitoring Cell (NTMC), Internet 

Service Provider organization and 

representatives from mobile operators 

and law enforcing agencies. 

The committee had been asked to 

submit its report to the Telecom Division 

within seven days. After getting 

the list of such websites, the Telecom 

Division will shut all of them. 

Earlier, BTRC gave a direction to 

all mobile operators to filter pornography 

and objectionable contents. 

Once the government pass the 

order to shut the objectionable websites, 

the International Internet Gateway 

has to carry out the decision, 

otherwise they will face penalty. • 

BD calls Slovenia 

to import medicine 

from Bangladesh 


Bangladesh’s State Minister for 

Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam 

called upon Slovenia to import 

medicine from Bangladesh. 

He made the call during a 

meeting with Slovenia’s Deputy 

Minister for Agriculture, 

Forest And Food Tanja Strniša 

held yesterday at the Foreign 

Affairs Ministry. He also informed 

the Slovenian deputy 

minister about different 

development programmes 

undertaken by the present 

government for the country’s 

socio-economic progress. 

At the meeting, the visiting 

minister expressed interest 

in strengthening bilateral and 

economic relations between 

the two countries. 

While taking about trade 

opportunities, she said Slovenia 

could import ready-made 

garments, vegetables and 

fruits from Bangladesh and 

offered Bangladesh to import 

agricultural equipment from 

Slovenia. 

The Slovenian deputy minister 

came to Bangladesh on 

November 28 for a three-day 

visit and was scheduled to 

leave Dhaka yesterday night, 

according to a press statement 

issued by the ministry. • 

PHULBARIA COLLEGE NATIONALISATION 

Demonstrators call 

off movement 

• Ashrafuddin Seizel, 

Mymensingh 

The movement for nationalisation 

of Mymensingh’s Phulbaria 

Degree College has been 

suspended for a month after 

demonstrators were assured of 

changes in the college’s management 

committee by the religious 

affairs minister. 

Religious Affairs Minister 

Motiur Rahman assured that the 

local lawmaker Advocate Moslem 

Uddin Ahmed, head of the 

college’s managing committee, 

and Principal Nasir Uddin will 

be removed from their posts. 

Movement committee convener, 

Abul Hashem, made the 

disclosure after a five-hourlong 

meeting at Mymensingh 

Circuit House yesterday afternoon. 

The call for their removal 

came at the meeting after 

demonstrators claimed Moslem 

Uddin’s involvement in 

the police action. They said the 

police charged at the procession 

on the orders of the local 

lawmaker. They also demanded 

the removal of the college’s 

principal at the meeting. 

The lawmaker, who was 

present at the meeting, agreed 

to the decision. 

On November 27, two 

people, including a college 

teacher, were killed, as police 

charged batons on them during 

a demonstration at Phulbaria 

upazila headquarters. 

Teachers and students 

brought out a procession in the 

district town on that day, demanding 

nationalisation of the 

college. Later, police charged 

batons and fired rubber bullets 

at the demonstrators, leaving 

at least 20 people injured. 

Of the injured, Safar Ali, a 

pedestrian, died on the way to 

Churkhai Community Hospital 

while Abul Kalam Azad, an associate 

professor of Phulbaria 

Degree College, died at Phulbaria 

Upazila Health Complex. •

EMERGENCY LANDING OF PM’S PLANE 

News 5 


Biman suspends six staff members 


Biman Bangladesh Airlines yesterday 

suspended six of its employees 

involved in the inspection of Prime 

Minister Sheikh Hasina’s VVIP aircraft, 

which made an emergency 

landing en route to Hungary due to 

low lubricant oil pressure. 

The management of the national 

flag carrier took the decision as per 

the report of the investigation team. 

The suspended officials are – S 

M Rokonuzzaman, Samiul Haque, 

Lutfor Rahman, Milon Chandra 

Biswas, Zakir Hossain and Siddiqur 

Rahman. 

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister 

Rashed Khan Menon came up 

with the disclosure at a press conference 

held at the secretariat in 

Govt unwilling 

to implement 

CHT accord 

• Nure Alam Durjoy 

The government’s reluctance to 

implement the Chittagong Hill 

Tracts peace accord is jeopardising 

possible peaceful political solution 

to the CHT issue, said Parbatya 

Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti 

(PCJSS) chief Santu Larma. 

Santu, who signed the 1997 accord 

with the then Awami League 

government, has accused the Sheikh 

Hasina administration of showing 

utter disregard for the accord. 

“…As a result, the overall situation 

in the CHT is becoming apprehensive,” 

he said in a written 

statement, marking the 19th anniversary 

of the accord yesterday. 

The peace accord between Shanti 

Bahini and the government ended 

decades of bloody armed struggle in 

the volatile hill tracts region. 

Since laying down arms, Santu 

Larma-led PCJSS has been pressing 

for full implementation of the accord. 

Santu Larma has, in the past, 

warned of bloody struggle in the 

hills for realising the rights of the 

tribal population. 

“If the accord is not implemented 

… the tribal people will be forced 

to seek alternative ways for the 

sake of their existence.” 

Columnist and researcher Syed 

Abul Maksud, Bangladesh Adivasi 

Forum Secretary Sanjeeb Drong, 

Executive Director of Institute for 

Environment and Development 

Numan Ahmed Khan, among others, 

attended the press briefing. • 

Dhaka yesterday. 

Rashed Khan Menon said: “The 

investigation committee found 

lack of responsibility. Though the 

technical glitch may occur due to 

default of aircraft engine or related 

with weather. But the committee 

didn’t find any fault related to engine 

or weather.” 

Those responsible all are from 

the engineering department of the 

organisation. 

Biman formed a four-member 

investigation committee led by 

Chief of Technical Captain Fazal 

Mahmud Chowdhury to investigate 

the incident. 

Biman sources said the committee 

found them guilty. 

Biman management handed 

over the investigation report to the 

Aviation minister before the press 

conference. The committee was 

supposed to submit the report on 

Thursday, but they submitted it 

one day earlier. 

On November 23, a VVIP flight 

carrying Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hasina was forced to make an 

emergency landing at Ashgabat International 

Airport in the capital of 

Turkmenistan on her way a UN water 

summit in Budapest, Hungary. 

The plane was carrying 99 passengers 

including the premier, four 

cockpit crews, 20 cabin crews and 

four aircraft engineers. 

The fuel pressure of the aircraft 

carrying PM was abnormally falling 

due to a technical glitch according 

to a Biman official. 

Sources said there were some 

technical glitches when the aircraft 

was flying over the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan 

border. 

After noticing the rapid declining 

of fuel pressure, the captain 

of the aircraft decided to make an 

emergency landing at the nearest 

airport which was Ashgabat International 

Airport of Turkmenistan. 

The aircraft safely landed at 

Ashgabat airport for inspection 

and repairs. Four onboard flight 

engineers examined the engine 

and discovered a loose nut in the 

lubricant oil system. The engineers 

tightened the nut and replaced 

the lubricant oil. After completing 

the repairs, the captain operated a 

test flight for a final check-up. The 

entire procedure took a little over 

four hours. • 

Armed Forces Division’s Principal Staff Officer Lieutenant General Md Mahfuzur Rahman welcomes Indian Defence Minister 

Manohar Parrikar at the Bangabandhu Airbase in Kurmitola, Dhaka yesterday 

ISPR 

Indian defence minister visits Dhaka 

• Mohammad Jamil Khan 

Indian Defence Minister Manohar 

Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar arrived 

in Dhaka yesterday with an 

delegation of 11 dignitaries for a 

two-day long visit. 

According to reports from top 

Defence Ministry officials, the focus 

of the trip is to deepen security ties 

and finalise the Defence Cooperation 

Agreement that is likely to be signed 

when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 

visits India around December 17. 

The Indian Media also reported 

that Parikkar’s visit marks the first 

an Indian defence minister has 

come to Bangladesh in 45 years. 

The minister and the 11 member 

delegation landed in Dhaka on a 

special Indian flight at Bangladesh 

air force base at Kurmitola according 

to statement of Inter Service 

Public Relation (ISPR) Directorate. 

Armed Forces Lt Principal Staff 

Officer Gen Md Mahfuzur Rahman 

and officials from the different 

ministies greeted the defense minister 

and his delegation at the air 

force base. 

Indian High Commissioner to 

Dhaka Harsh Vardhan Shringla was 

also present. 

The Indian delegation, which includes 

the Indian Army, Air Force 

and Navy deputy chiefs will hold 

courtesy meetings with the president 

and prime minister of Bangladesh. 

They will also meet with the Bangladesh 

Army, Air Force and Navy 

chiefs to discuss broadening international 

relations and cooperation. 

World AIDS 

day Today 

• Kamrul Hasan 

DT 

Bangladesh will observe World 

Aids Day today to raise awareness 

of HIV and AIDS and to honour 

those who passed from AIDS related 

complications. 

Although Bangladesh has had 

a historically lower rate of HIV infection, 

a lack of awareness, safe 

sex practices and detection centers 

mean public health is still at risk. 

The National AIDS/STD Programme 

(NASP project under the 

Health Ministry is the largest national 

AIDS prevention and care 

program which will end on December 

31 leaving the very vulnerable 

at risk of contracting and those already 

affected. 

The NASP is implemented by 

three NGOs – Mukto Akash, CAAP 

Confidential Approach to AIDS Prevention 

(CAAP) and Ashar Alo on a 

field level. 

Director General of Directorate 

General of Health Services Abul 

Kalam Azad said the government 

is trying to get funding from their 

global partners and will hopefully 

extend the project. 

According to data from NASP 

the number of detected cases of 

HIV in 2010 was 343, in 2011 it was 

445, in 2012 it dropped to 338, in 

2013 there was minor increase to 

370, in 2014 it rose to 433 and in 

2015 it increased to 469. 

A sources at the NASP project 

asking not to be named said the 

number HIV infection this year was 

more than 600 but said the actual 

number would be revealed by the 

Health Minister today marking 

World AIDS day. 

Experts cite two reasons for this 

rise in HIV infection in the country. 

One is the fluid mobility of migrant 

workers from South East Asia 

and the Middle East and the other 

is the lack of safe sex practiced by 

long haul truck drivers. • 

The defense minister and his 

delegation will also hold a meeting 

with the Security Advisor to the 

Prime Minister Major General (rt) 

Tarique Ahmed Siddique. 

The visit will cover the areas of 

naval cooperation which have been 

proposed including the option of 

coordinated patrolling along International 

Maritime Boundary Line 

(IMBL), bilateral martime exercise, 

joint surveillance of the Exclusive 

Economic Zone and cooperation in 

hydrography. • 

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY 

Dhaka 29 18 Chittagong 28 21 Rajshahi 29 19 Rangpur 28 17 Khulna 30 16 Barisal 29 18 Sylhet 29 15 

Cox’s Bazar 29 21 

PARTLY CLOUDY 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1 

DHAKA 

TODAY 

TOMORROW 

SUN SETS 5:11PM 

SUN RISES 6:25AM 

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW 

30.5ºC 

14.2ºC 

Teknaf 

Sreemangal 

Source: Accuweather/UNB 

PRAYER 

TIMES 

Fajr: 5:45am | Zohr: 1:15pm 

Asr: 4:00pm | Magrib: 5:22pm 

Esha: 7:30pm 

Source: Islamic Foundation

6 


DT 

News 

Narayanganj seven-murder verdict Jan 16 

• Tanveer Hossain, 

Narayanganj 

A Narayanganj court has fixed January 

16 for delivering the verdict in 

the sensational seven-murder case. 

District and Sessions Judge Syed 

Enayet Hossain fixed the date yesterday 

afternoon. 

Public Prosecutor Wazed Ali 

Khokon said: “The court fixed the 

date after concluding a hearing.” 

On April 27, 2014, Nazrul Islam, 

his three associates and driver 

were abducted from Fatullah area. 

At the same time, senior lawyer of 

the Narayanganj District Judge’s 

Court Chandan Kumar Sarker and 

his driver were abducted on their 

way to Dhaka. 

Three days into their abduction, 

the bodies of six people, including 

Nazrul and Chandan, were recovered 

from the Shitalakkhya and 

Dhaleshwari Rivers on April 30. 

The body of Nazrul’s driver Jahangir 

was recovered from the Shitalakkhya 

River on May 1. 

Two cases were filed in connection 

with the murders. Nazrul’s 

wife Selina Islam Beauty filed a 

case against six people, including 

former councillor Nur Hossain, 

while Chandan’s son-in-law Bijoy 

Kumar Paul filed the other case 

against some unidentified people. 

Later, Shahidul Islam, Nazrul’s 

father-in-law, claimed that RAB 

officials had killed Nazrul and 

others in exchange for Tk6 crore 

from Nur Hossain, the prime 

accused in the murder case, and 

other accomplices. 

The three former RAB officials 

were sent on forced retirement for 

their alleged involvement in the 

incident. They are now in jail. Lt 

Col Tareq is the son-in-law of Disaster 

Management and Relief Minister 

Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury 

Maya. 

On June 14, West Bengal police 

arrested Nur Hossain and his aides 

from an apartment in Kolkata for illegal 

entry and possession of arms. 

The government has been working 

to bring back Nur to Bangladesh. 

Several investigation committees 

were formed to look into the 

sensational murders. On June 4 

last year, the High Court directed 

RAB, the government’s seven-member 

probe committee, the 

inspector general of police and the 

CID to submit progress reports on 

their investigations. 

The probe body formed by RAB 

found 27 of its members including 

three top officials of RAB 11 unit involved 

in the incident. • 

Victims’ families 

want death penalty 

for accused 

• Tanveer Hossain, 

Narayanganj 

Family members of Narayanganj 

seven-murder victims 

demanded death sentence of 

all accused. 

They came up with the demand 

after a court in the district 

yesterday recorded the final 

depositions of the witnesses in 

presence of 35 accused. 

Selina Islam Beauty, wife of 

deceased panel mayor Nazrul 

Islam, told the Dhaka Tribune 

that after filing the case he 

family members were always 

under threat. 

“I had to face difficulty for 

running the case,” she also 

said. 

“I want death penalty of 

the accused,” she added. 

Bijoy Kumar Pal, daughterin-law 

of deceased, Chandan 

Kumar Sarkar demanded exemplary 

punishment of the 

criminals. 

Nupur Begum, wife of deceased 

driver Jahangir, demanded 

justice to the state. 

Rafique Mian, brother of 

deceased Liton, said: “We 

have lost our relatives, we 

want death sentence of the 

accused.” • 

ASI’s dress ripped 

off for demanding 

extortion 

• Hanif Ullah Akash, 

Netrakona 

Being irritated by extortion’s 

demand, locals of Dyarkanda 

village, Kamalkanda upzila in 

Netrakona made an assistant 

sub-inspector nude yesterday. 

According to local sources, 

Assistant-Sub-Inspector Imrul 

Kayes and constable Mozammel 

of Kamalkanda police 

station went to local kitchen 

market riding on motor cycle 

in plain clothes. 

They then demanded 

Tk20,000 to Al Amin, a stone 

trader, while he was taking tea 

with some of his friends in the 

afternoon. 

The ASI claimed that Al 

Amin was an accused of a case. 

He then asked extortion from Al 

Alamin saying that he dropped 

the name of him from charge 

sheet, if he provided with with 

the amount of money. 

On receiving information, 

locals gathered on the spot 

and at one stage they beat up 

Imrul. They also snatched the 

handcuff with him and vandalised 

the motor cycle. The 

also took off pants and shirts 

of the policemen. 

The policemen fled from 

the scene after being stripped 

off by locals. 

When contacted, Abu 

Bakar Siddique, officer-incharge 

of the police station, 

said he had been informed the 

incident. 

“Steps will be taken after 

investigation,” he added. 

Superintendent of Poilce 

Joydev Chowdhury said divisional 

punishment would be 

given to the ASI if he was involved 

with the crime. •

Nine get life-term for killing 

journo Manik Saha 

• Hedait Hossain, Khulna 

A Khulna court has sentenced nine 

people to life-term imprisonment 

for killing Ekushey Padak winning 

journalist Manik Saha. 

Khulna Speedy Trial Tribunal 

Judge MA Rab Hawlader gave the 

verdict on Wednesday afternoon. 

The court fined the nine convicts 

Tk10,000 each. In default, they will 

have to serve one year extra in jail. 

The nine convicts are Shomon 

alias Nuruzzaman, Ali Akbar alias 

Shaon, Bulbul alias Bulu, Akram 

Hossain alias Boma Akram, Sattar 

alias Disco Sattar, Belal, Mithun, 

Sarwar alias Sorow, Safayet alias 

Showkat alias Saka. 

The court acquitted two of the accused-- 

Omor Faruk alias Kochi and 

Hye Islam alias Kochi-- in the case. 

Poor evidences fail to ensure 

death penalty of accused 

News 7 


The court also acquitted 10 of 

them in another explosive case 

filed over the same incident. 

Manik Saha was killed in a bomb 

attack near Khulna Press Club on 

December 16, 2004. 

Trial of his murder opened in 

June 2008 against 14 people. Of 

them, three were killed in “gunfights” 

with law enforcers. Six of 

them remained absconding. • 

DT 

Tampaco owner gets bail 

• Raihanul Islam Akand, 

Gazipur 

A Gazipur court yesterday granted 

interim bail to Tampaco Foils Ltd 

owner Syed Mokbul Hossain and 

sent five officials of the factory to 

jail in connection with two cases 

filed over a fire incident that killed 

39 workers of the factory recently. 

Gazipur District and Session 

Judge AKM Enamul Haq passed the 

order after they surrendered before 

the court in the after following 

High Court order. 

The five others officials are factory 

Managing Director Syed Tanvir 

Hossain, General Manager Safiqur 

Rahman, Deputy General Manager 

Safius Sami Alamgir, Managers (administration) 

Moniruzzaman and 

Abu Hanif. 

On September 10, a fire, followed 

by a huge explosion, ravaged 

the cigarette and food packaging 

factory located in Tongi, Gazipur. 

Around 70% of the three-storey 

factory collapsed due to the 

fire. The death toll has risen 

to 39. • 

• Md Hedait Hossain 

Molla, Khulna 

A death-sentence was anticipated 

by many for the 

much-publicised killing of 

Ekushey-award winning 

journalist Manik Saha, but in 

an unexpected turn of events 

lifetime imprisonment was 

announced. 

The judge specifically 

mentioned insufficient evidences 

and lack of information 

presented by the witnesses 

as the main reason 

for this verdict during his 

announcement at the empty 

court room yesterday. 

One of prime reasons was 

identified as lack of cooperation 

from late Manik Saha’s 

family, most of who were 

absent despite being summoned 

to the court many 

times during the trial to present 

information as witnesses. 

Also in some instances, 

they appeared as disinterested 

in providing information 

to the court. 

Consequently summing 

up these events together, the 

court gave the verdict of lifetime 

imprisonment to nine 

accused of this case largely 

based on police investigations. 

Wishing anonymity, one 

of the advocates of this case 

said: “The trial for this case 

had been going on for nearly 

12 years. During this time, no 

statements from Manik Saha’s 

daughter Moumita Saha and 

former journalist Sahabuddin 

Ahmed could be taken as 

none of them were in Khulna. 

Manik Saha’s younger brother 

was summoned to the court 

many times, which he initially 

declined. Eventually, 

although he did appear at the 

court, he however refused to 

present information despite 

the lawyers probing him with 

questions to find answers.” 

The state 

has failed to 

identify the 

direct culprits of 

this killing and 

provide justice. 

Khulna Divisional Fast Track 

Tribunal Public Prosecutor 

(PP) Advocate Enamul Haque 

said although he had anticipated 

the highest penalty or 

death sentence for this case, 

the judge had to give lifetime 

imprisonment penalty under 

the given circumstances. He 

said if the witnesses presented 

their information boldly, 

the outcome could have been 

as expected. The PP said he 

is, however, not disappointed 

with the verdict. PP Advocate 

Enamul believes that 

justice has been obtained 

through this verdict and it 

will serve as an example of 

the firmness of the country’s 

law enforcement and justice 

system. 

During the announcement 

of the verdict, the Khulna Divisional 

Fast Track Tribunal 

Judge M A Rob Hawladar in 

his brief statement said: “The 

witnesses of this case have 

not provided sufficient evidence 

and information. Information 

provided by Manik 

Saha’s family, relatives and 

colleagues were not as useful 

or cooperative as expected. 

The verdict is being given 

mostly based on the case 

documents.” 

Khulna court’s Additional 

PP M M Sajjad Hossain said: 

“Despite being a very strong 

case, only because of insufficient 

information from the 

witnesses, such is the outcome 

of the trial. Had the 

evidences been presented in 

a better manner and the family 

and colleagues been more 

cooperative, the highest penalty 

could have been ensured 

to the convicts.” 

Khulna Press Club President 

S M Nazrul Islam and 

General Secretary Mamun 

Reza along with the other 

members however pointed 

out poor investigation done 

by the police as the reason 

why all the culprits behind 

this killing could not be identified 

and brought to justice. 

Khulna Journalists’ Union 

President S M Jahid Hossain 

said they would comment 

when an analysis was made 

after they received a copy of 

the verdict. 

He said: “Only the analysis 

will clearly explain why 

death penalty was not given 

to the convicts, and we will 

take the next steps accordingly.” 

Manik Saha’s brother 

Pradip Saha said: “The state 

has failed to identify the direct 

culprits of this killing 

and provide justice. The state 

is the plaintiff for this case 

and the state must consider 

this in taking the next steps.” 

Incidentally, journalist 

Manik Saha was killed on 

January 15, 2004 near Khulna 

Press Club in a planned bomb 

attack and the case was filed 

on January 17 with the Khulna 

police station. •

DT 

8 

World 


SOUTH ASIA 

UN: Conflict displaces 

record number of Afghans 

The number of people displaced 

by conflict in Afghanistan this year 

has surpassed half a million people, 

the UN reported on Wednesday, the 

highest number since it began tracking 

such statistics in 2008. More 

than 515,800 people have been internally 

displaced by fighting in 2016, 

surpassing the previous record of 

about 471,000 set last year. REUTERS 

INDIA 

Army plane crash kills 

three Indian officers 

Three army officers were killed 

Wednesday after their five-seater 

Cheetah helicopter crashed while 

landing in eastern India, a defence 

official said. Another officer was 

seriously injured in the crash that 

occurred in a military camp in 

West Bengal’s Sukna district, a 

spokeswoman of the Indian Army’s 

Eastern Command said. AFP 

CHINA 

China slams Taiwan on 

Hong Kong debate 

China called on Wednesday on 

Taiwan to stay out Hong Kong’s 

affairs, saying self-ruled Taiwan was 

talking nonsense about the former 

British colony and warning it not to 

damage Hong Kong’s stability. Chinese 

leaders are concerned about a 

fledgling independence movement 

in Hong Kong and recent protests in 

the city. Relations between China 

and Taiwan have worsened since 

the election of the DPP’s Tsai as Taiwan 

president in January. REUTERS 

ASIA PACIFIC 

Philippines ends siege 

against IS-linked rebels 

Filipino troops on Wednesday, 

ending an intense five-day siege 

that killed dozens of fighters the 

authorities say had pledged allegiance 

to IS. The military stepped 

up its offensive after the weekend, 

pounding rebels holed up in a disused 

municipal hall with artillery 

and bombs dropped from aircraft. 

The army said 30 security forces 

were wounded and 61 rebels killed 

in the operation. REUTERS 

MIDDLE EAST 

Abbas to address 1st Fatah 

congress since 2009 

President Mahmud Abbas addresses 

his Fatah party’s first congress since 

2009 on Wednesday as he contends 

with internal dissent and grim prospects 

for advancing his decades-long 

goal of achieving a Palestinian state. 

Speculation has mounted over who 

will eventually succeed him as Palestinian 

president. He has not publicly 

supported a successor. AFP 

UN: Myanmar’s reputation at stake 

over Rohingya crisis 

• Tribune International Desk 

The reputation of Aung San Suu 

Kyi’s government in Myanmar is 

at stake amid international concerns 

over how it is dealing with 

violence in the country’s divided 

northwest, a senior United Nations 

official warned on Tuesday. 

The conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine 

State has sent hundreds of 

Rohingya Muslims fleeing across 

the border to Bangladesh amid 

allegations of abuses by security 

forces. The crisis poses a serious 

challenge to Nobel Peace Prize 

winner Suu Kyi, who swept to 

power last year on promises of national 

reconciliation. 

In a statement, Adama Dieng, 

the UN’s special adviser on the prevention 

of genocide, said the allegations 

“must be verified as a matter 

of urgency” and urged the government 

to allow access to the area. 

“If they are true, the lives of 

thousands of people are at risk. 

The reputation of Myanmar, its 

new Government and its military 

forces is also at stake in this matter,” 

he said. 

“Myanmar needs to demonstrate 

its commitment to the rule of 

law and to the human rights of all its 

populations. It cannot expect that 

such serious allegations are ignored 

or go unscrutinised,” he said. 

Soldiers have poured into the 

area along Myanmar’s frontier 

with Bangladesh, responding to 

coordinated attacks on three border 

posts on October 9 that killed 

nine police officers. 

Myanmar’s military and the 

government have rejected allegations 

by residents and rights 

groups that soldiers have raped 

Rohingya women, burnt houses 

and killed civilians during the military 

operation in Rakhine. 

Suu Kyi vows reconciliation 

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi 

vowed on Wednesday to work for 

peace and national reconciliation 

amid mounting international condemnation 

of a bloody army crackdown 

on her country’s Muslim Rohingya 

minority. The Nobel Peace 

Prize winner did not mention the 

violence in Rakhine state, but told 

a business forum in Singapore that 

multi-ethnic Myanmar needed to 

achieve stability to attract more 

investment. 

Criticism of Buddhist-dominated 

Myanmar’s treatment of 

the Rohingya has been intense in 

Muslim-majority neighbours Indonesia 

and Malaysia. Suu Kyi was 

scheduled to visit Indonesia after 

Singapore but postponed the trip 

in the face of public protests and 

a thwarted bomb plot against the 

Myanmar embassy. 

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib 

Razak will take part in a rare rally 

during the weekend to protest the 

crackdown on Rohingyas, an official 

from his office said Tuesday, as 

the UN rights agency reiterated its 

claim the stateless minority may 

be victims of crimes against humanity. 

• 

Rush to build bunkers in Pakistani Kashmir as fears grow 

• AFP, Neelum Valley, Pakistan 

Residents in Pakistani Kashmir 

are racing to build underground 

bunkers for the first time since the 

1990s, frightened by what they say 

is the worst cross-border violence 

since a ceasefire was agreed in 2003. 

Months of tension between India 

and Pakistan have erupted into 

shellings and gunfire across the 

disputed Kashmir frontier, claiming 

the lives of dozens of people, 

including civilians. 

People in Azad Kashmir’s 

Neelum Valley say the attacks 

come once or twice a week, and 

they never know when they might 

have to dive for cover. 

Chand Bibi has concrete and 

steel rods waiting to be transformed 

into an underground 

bunker where her terrified family 

can take shelter as the monstrous 

boom of shelling reawakens old 

nightmares. 

“You are talking about fear,” the 

62-year-old says. “We are near to 

dying at the moment we hear the 

STATELESS ROHINGYA 

Myanmar is carrying out “ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims”, 

a UN official has reportedly said 

DHAKA 

BANGLADESH 

Some 30,000 people 

have abandoned 

their homes, 

at least 70 killed under 

military lockdown in 

the north of Rakhine 

since October 

Ukhia 

Hundreds 

of families 

in camps 

Around 300,000 Rohingya 

live in coastal areas 

near the border 

Cox's Bazar 

Some 32,000 registered 

Rohingya refugees 

Ongoing violence 

BAY OF 

BENGAL 

Teknaf 

Hundreds 

of families 

in camps 

More than 1,000 

buildings and houses 

destroyed, based on 

analysis of satellite 

imagery by 

Human Rights Watch 

boom. 

When it comes, Bibi and her 

relatives pile blankets, quilts and 

clothes on top of their children to 

muffle the noise and their panic. 

Soon the extended family of 

about 20 people will be able to 

flee underground to the bunker 

they have paid 300,000 Pakistani 

rupees ($3,000) to build – just under 

the cost of constructing a mud 

house in the valley, where the average 

worker makes around 800 

rupees per day. 

Sultan Ahmed is spending even 

more: up to 500,000 rupees for a 

three metre by four metre space 

reinforced by more than 20 centimetres 

of concrete, fortified with 

steel rods, and buried under nearly 

a metre of soil. 

Some 25 people will be able to 

take shelter inside the bunker once 

it is completed, the 47-year-old 

teacher says. 

Valley cut off 

Cross-border firing hit a civilian 

bus there on November 23, killing 

INDIA 

Buthidaung 

Maungdaw 

Deadly attack on 

police posts Oct 9 

Sittwe 

Home to most of the 

1 million Rohingya 

Buddhist-majority 

Myanmar see the 

Rohingya as 

illegal Bangladeshi 

immigrants 

The Rohingya are 

denied citizenship 

and smothered 

by restrictions on 

movement and work 

RAKHINE 

STATE 

Over 120,000 

people have fled 

Rakhine since religious 

violence in 2012, 

according to UNHCR 

MYANMAR 

Source : UNHCR/HRW 

In this photograph taken on November 18, 2016, a Pakistani Kashmiri woman walks 

out of an underground bunker in Athmuqam village at the Line of Control AFP 

at least nine people, one of the 

highest one-day tolls since the latest 

unrest began. 

In response authorities shut 

down the main road connecting 

the Azad Kashmir capital of Muzaffarabad 

with the valley, effectively 

sealing it off from the rest of 

Pakistan with no word when it will 

be reopened. 

Before the valley was closed, many 

residents said they could not afford to 

leave and had nowhere to go. 

Others, however, said they refused 

to be driven away. 

Those who cannot pay the high 

cost of transporting bunker materials 

from Kashmir’s main cities to 

the remote valley are fortifying their 

homes in whatever way they can. •

World 

Trump to leave business to focus 

on presidency 

• Reuters, New York/ 

Washington, DC 

US President-elect Donald Trump 

vowed on Wednesday to step back 

from running his business empire 

to avoid conflicts of interest, while 

turning to Wall Street for nominees 

for two key economic leadership 

posts who promised tax 

reform and a tougher approach to 

China. 

Trump sent out a series of early 

morning tweets saying he will 

hold a news conference in New 

York on December 15 with his children 

on how he will separate himself 

“in total” from his worldwide 

business holdings. 

Steve Mnuchin, a private equity 

investor, hedge fund manager 

and Hollywood financier, and billionaire 

Wilbur Ross, who heads a 

private equity firm, appeared on 

CNBC and confirmed their nominations 

to be Treasury secretary 

and Commerce secretary, respectively. 

The Trump transition team 

announced the nominations on 

Wednesday morning. 

Transition sources also said 

Trump had chosen Chicago Cubs 

Fidel Castro takes final voyage across Cuba 

• AFP, Havana 

The ashes of Fidel Castro begin 

a four-day journey across Cuba 

Wednesday to his final resting 

place, retracing the late communist 

leader’s revolution victory 

tour of 1959. The “caravan of 

freedom” will leave from Havana, 

making symbolic stops along the 

950km trek that will end in the 

eastern city of Santiago de Cuba 

over the weekend. 

The trip follows two days of 

tributes in Havana where hundreds 

of thousands were encouraged 

by the government to view 

a picture memorial to Castro 

at the Revolution Square. The 

commemorations in the capital 

ended with a massive rally Tuesday 

night at the square attended 

by Latin American, African 

and Caribbean leaders, along 

with the Greek prime minister, 

the only European leader at the 

event. 

Raul Castro, 85, thanked the 

“countless gestures of solidarity and 

affection from around the world” 

and ending with the revolutionary 

battle cry, “Until victory, always!” 

‘I am Fidel!’ 

Leftist Latin American leaders 

vowed to carry the torch of Castro’s 

revolution as they addressed 

co-owner Todd Ricketts as deputy 

commerce secretary. 

Mnuchin and Ross laid out 

Trump’s economic objectives, 

including a tax reform plan that 

would, among other things, cut 

corporate tax rates to 15%. 

Focus now on secretary of state 

Trump also is working to fill out 

his foreign policy team, with a 

major focus this week on who his 

secretary of state should be. 

He dined with a former rival, 

2012 Republican nominee Mitt 

Romney, at a French restaurant 

near Central Park on Tuesday 

night. Romney, held in suspicion 

by Trump supporters because of 

his harsh criticism of Trump, made 

an impassioned statement in support 

of Trump after their meal. 

Trump was to meet on Wednesday 

with another potential secretary 

of state pick, retired Marine General 

John Kelly. He also is considering 

former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 

US Senator Bob Corker of 

Tennessee and former CIA Director 

David Petraeus for the job. 

Trump also had meetings 

planed with Linda McMahon, a 

the rally on Tuesday night and the 

crowd chanted “I am Fidel!” 

“Today it is up to us to raise the 

flags of independence of the great 

fatherland, today it is up to us to 

hold the flag of dignity and freedom 

of the people,” said Venezuelan 

President Nicolas Maduro, 

whose late mentor, Hugo Chavez, 

had a special bond with Castro. 

Allies praised Castro in almost 

religious tones, with Bolivian President 

Evo Morales saying, “Fidel is 

not dead, Fidel is more alive than 

US President-elect Donald Trump, centre, dines with Mitt Romny, right, and 

Reince Preibus, left, at Jean-Georges restaurant at Trump International Hotel 

and Tower on November 29 

AFP 

former Senate candidate in Connecticut, 

former Georgia Governor 

Sonny Purdue and US Senator 

Dan Coats of Indiana. 

A variety of critics have raised 

questions about how Trump 

would avoid a conflict of interest 

between the presidency and a 

real estate empire with properties 

around the world. 

Three days after Trump won 

the presidential election on November 

8 the Trump Organisation 

said it was looking at business 

ever, more necessary than ever.” 

Reunion with Che 

Castro’s ashes were placed in a 

rectangular, dark wood urn that 

was kept at the armed forces ministry 

and only shown once on 

state television. The urn will be 

laid to rest on Sunday at the Santa 

Ifigenia cemetery, next to the 

mausoleum of 19th century independence 

hero Jose Marti. 

Before that, Castro’s ashes will 

travel across the country, taking 

structures aimed at transferring 

management control to Trump’s 

three oldest children. 

Clearly reluctant to give up a 

business that made him a brand 

name around the world, Trump 

also had previously argued that 

he had no need to separate himself 

from the Trump Organisation. 

But criticism has mounted. An 

analysis by the New York Times, 

published last Saturday, said 

Trump’s companies have business 

operations in at least 20 countries. • 

The urn with the ashes of Fidel Castro is seen in Havana starting a four-day journey across Cuba on November 30 

AFP 

the reverse route that his band of 

guerrilla fighters took after defeating 

dictator Fulgencio Batista. 

From January 2 to January 8, 

1959, the bearded rebels travelled 

from Santiago to Havana, stopping 

in Castro’s home region, Holguin, as 

well as the cities of Camaguey, Las 

Tunas, Sancti Spiritus, Santa Clara 

and Matanzas. One of the most symbol-filled 

stops of this last trip will 

be in Santa Clara, where the ashes 

of his Argentine comrade-in-arms, 

Ernesto “Che” Guevara, rest. • 

9 


DT 

USA 

CIA chief warns Trump 

against ripping up Iran 

deal 

CIA director John Brennan warned 

Wednesday that tearing up the 

Iran nuclear deal, as US President-elect 

Donald Trump promised 

during his election campaign, 

would be disastrous. He said it 

would be “almost unprecedented” 

for one administration to tear up 

an agreement made by a previous 

one. It could lead to a weapons 

programme inside of Iran that 

could lead other states in the 

region to embark on their own programmes, 

with military conflict, 

Brennan warned. AFP 

THE AMERICAS 

Colombian peace deal 

passed by senate 

Colombia’s senate approved a new 

peace deal with Farc rebels late on 

Tuesday, despite objections from 

former president and now Senator 

Alvaro Uribe. The agreement was approved 

by 75 to zero after lawmakers 

from Uribe’s Democratic Centre party 

left the floor of the Senate in protest 

just before voting began. REUTERS 

UK 

New £5 note contains 

animal fat causing outrage 

The Bank of England admitted 

Monday that traces of tallow, derived 

from animal fat, can be found 

in the new £5 notes that went into 

circulation in September. The news 

prompted an immediate outcry 

from vegetarians and vegans, some 

of whom called on the central bank 

to stop using animal products in its 

currency. INDEPENDENT 

EUROPE 

EU to boost joint defence 

spending 

The EU unveiled ambitious plans 

Wednesday to boost joint defence 

spending including on shared assets 

like drones and helicopters, as 

concerns grow that President-elect 

Donald Trump may downgrade the 

US security commitment. Trump 

shocked long-time Nato allies in 

Europe when he suggested on the 

campaign trail be would think twice 

about coming to their aid if they had 

not paid their defence dues. AFP 

AFRICA 

Rwanda to probe France 

genocide role 

Rwanda has launched an inquiry 

into the possible role of at least 20 

French military and other officials 

in the 1994 genocide, the prosecutor 

general said on Wednesday. 

Rwanda has frequently had 

diplomatic rows with France since 

the genocide, when about 800,000 

mostly ethnic minority Tutsis and 

moderates from the Hutu majority 

population were killed. REUTERS

10 


DT 

World 

Gulf gathering aims to protect endangered heritage 

• AFP, Abu Dhabi 

Experts and government delegates 

from around the world 

will gather in the Gulf on Friday, 

seeking to build a global 

alliance to protect cultural 

heritage threatened by extremism 

and conflict. 

The “Safeguarding Endangered 

Cultural Heritage” 

conference is an initiative 

by Sheikh Mohammed bin 

Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu 

Dhabi and Deputy Supreme 

Commander of the Armed 

Forces, and French President 

Francois Hollande. It will be 

held under the patronage of 

the United Nations Educational, 

Scientific and Cultural 

Organisation (Unesco) at the 

Emirates Palace. 

France and the United 

Arab Emirates are leading 

the initiative at a conference 

in Abu Dhabi to establish an 

international partnership 

that could respond to dangers 

such as Islamic State 

group jihadists rampaging 

through ancient sites in Iraq 

and Syria. 

Appalling footage of IS 

using sledgehammers, bulldozers 

and explosives to 

erase ancient cultural sites – 

some of them millennia-old 

– that they deemed un-Islamic 

have spurred the calls 

for action. 

The proposed partnership 

would include governments, 

public institutions, private 

groups, non-governmental 

CULTURAL SITES DESTROYED BY JIHADISTS 

Libya 

Mausoleums 

2012-2013 

Islamist 

extremists 

ALGIERS 

Algeria 

Marabout 

sanctuaries 

1990s 

Islamist groups 

BAMAKO 

Timbuktu 

Syria 

Temple of Bel 

Islamic State 

(IS) group 

TRIPOLI 

Zliten 

Misrata 

Mali 

Mausoleums 

2012 

Ansar Dine 

Iraq 

Museum 

IS group 

SYRIA 

IRAQ 

Palmyra 

JORDAN 

Afghanistan 

Giant 

Buddhas 

200 1 

Taliban 

Bamiyan 

TURKEY 

Tal Afar 

Mosul 

Tal Ajaja 

Apamea 

Dura 

Nimrud 

Europos 

Hatra 

LEB. 

DAMASCUS 

BAGHDAD 

KABUL 

1,000 km 

IRAN 

100 km 

Source: maps4news.com/©HERE 

Archaeological treasures destroyed because Islamists 

considered them “anti-Islamic” or “idolatrous” 

organisations and experts. 

The gathering will include 

French President Francois Hollande, 

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince 

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed 

al-Nahyan, Unesco director Irina 

Bokova and representatives 

of some 40 nations. 

It comes “in response to 

the growing threats to some 

of the world’s most important 

cultural resources arising from 

sustained periods of armed 

conflicts, acts of terrorism and 

illicit trafficking of cultural 

property”, organisers said. 

The United Nations Educational, 

Scientific and Cultural 

Organisation says that 55 out 

of a total of 1,052 heritage 

sites around the world are 

now listed as World Heritage 

in Danger. 

Round-table forums will focus 

on three themes – prevention, 

emergency protection and 

post-conflict rehabilitation. 

The conference aims to 

create an international Geneva-based 

fund of $100m, according 

to French authorities 

behind the initiative. 

‘Refuge zones’ for art 

France and the United Arab 

Emirates will be key contributors 

to the fund that would help 

cover the cost of transporting, 

safeguarding and restoring affected 

monuments – including 

using 3D reconstruction. 

France will contribute $30m 

to the fund, former culture 

minister Jack Lang, who heads 

the Paris-based Institut du 

Monde Arabe, said on Tuesday. 

Another aim is to establish 

“refuge zones” around the 

globe for endangered works of 

art, a source close to organisers 

said. 

“Just as there is a right 

for asylum (for refugees)... 

we should also have asylum 

rights for artefacts,” Hollande 

said in an address at the Metropolitan 

Museum in New 

York in September. 

On November 1, he announced 

a safekeeping facility 

due to open in northern France 

in 2019, which in addition to 

housing the Louvre Museum’s 

stored collection, could also 

be a refuge for endangered artworks. 

The facility will have “another 

role, sadly linked to the 

events, dramas and tragedies 

which may unfold in the 

world, wherever works of art 

are in danger because terrorists, 

because barbarians have 

decided to destroy them... 

(especially) in Syria and Iraq,” 

Hollande said. 

He said France will make 

the proposal during the Abu 

Dhabi conference. 

The Louvre Abu Dhabi, 

whose delayed opening is now 

expected in 2017, “could also 

become a refuge zone” for endangered 

artefacts, a French 

official said. 

How to safeguard works 

of arts would depend on the 

governments of the countries 

involved, but the UN Security 

Council could be drawn in to 

establish general guidelines 

based on international law, 

French officials say. 

Mali President Ibrahim 

Boubacar Keita and Afghanistan’s 

Ashraf Ghani are expected 

to be among the heads 

of state attending the two-day 

conference. Both their countries 

have seen cultural heritage 

destroyed by extremist 

Islamists. 

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi is investing 

billions of dollars to 

establish a thriving cultural 

scene with several museums 

including a branch of the Guggenheim, 

as well as the Louvre 

Abu Dhabi. 

The UAE, considered less 

conservative compared with 

its Gulf peers, applies a zero-tolerance 

approach towards 

radical Islamism. •

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11 


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12 

Business 


CAPITAL MARKET SNAPSHOT: WEDNESDAY 

DSE Broad Index 4,801.2 0.2% ▲ Index 1,140.6 0.5% ▲ 30 Index 1,775.3 0.4% ▲ Turnover in Mn Tk 6,305.9 -22.0% ▼ Turnover in Mn Vol 201.5 -32.0% ▼ 

CSE All Share Index 14,778.2 0.0% ▲ 30 Index 13,178.9 -0.2% ▼ Selected Index 8,987.7 0.0% ▲ Turnover in Mn Tk 394.9 -14.2% ▼ Turnover in Mn Vol 14.4 -32.9% ▼ 

Huawei plans to be top smartphone 

brand in Bangladesh by 2018 


Huawei mobile company is a Chinese 

multinational telecommunications 

company with presence in 

more than 170 countries. One-third 

of the world’s population are said 

to be using Huawei products and 

solutions. 

Ingmar Wang, director (device 

business) of Huawei Technologies in 

Bangladesh, has recently been interviewed 

by Dhaka Tribune. Excerpts 

from the interview are as follows. 

How will you evaluate Huawei’s 

performance in Bangladesh 

market? 

Huawei is the fastest growing 

brand in Bangladesh. Though the 

company has so far held 3% of the 

market share, it is now the third 

largest brand following Symphony 

and Samsung in Bangladesh. 

We, in fact, started Smartphone 

business here just last year on a 

large scale. Previously, we had a 

limited production for the market. 

Huawei is growing fast. Is it going 

to overtake other competitors in 

the market soon? 

We want to be the number one 

brand in Bangladesh by 2018. We 

expect we will rise to the second 

position next year. 

Smartphone now accounts for 

around 30% of the country’s mobile 

phone market, which is growing 

every year. The growth was 

boosted especially after the launch 

of the 3G mobile broadband. 

Users of all ages are now having 

smartphones as prices have become 

reasonable. We believe that 

there is an ample scope for the sector 

to grow further. We can further 

expand the marker to semi-urban 

and rural areas. While now more 

than half a million smartphone sets 

are being sold a month, the number 

may increase to 800,000 in next 

couple of years. 

Why did users respond so well? 

First, this was because of our product 

itself. People love our innovative 

product designs. Our product 

prices are also within reasonable 

level compared to others. 

We also have invested big 

amounts in promotional campaign 

and publicity. Star cricketer Shakib 

Al Hasan is our partner in publicity 

campaign. We already opened 

nearly 350 outlets across the country. 

Huawei has opened six service 

Ingmar Wang, director (device business) of Huawei in Bangladesh, speaks to Dhaka Tribune recently 

centres to provide post-sale customer 

services. By the end of this 

year, the number of service centres 

will reach 13. 

How did Huawei face competition 

when it entered the market? 

At the beginning, we faced a hard 

competition from the brands 

aleady existing. But we believed 

that we could overcome by ensuring 

quality. We understood that our 

prices should be reasonable as other 

brands had a bit high prices. 

Does Huawei have any plan to set 

up handset manufacturing plant in 

Bangladesh? 

Definitely we have a plan to open a 

mobile phone handset plant here. 

Huawei focuses on quality products. 

We have handset test centres 

in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen 

of China. First we want to ensure 

quality and so, before launching a 

plant, we will set up a test centre. 

India is quite a similar to that of 

Bangladesh. Three years ago, when 

I visited India, someone asked me 

the same question about setting 

up of factories. After 3 years, the 

dream would come true in India. 

How much the company 

investments in its Research and 

Development wing? 

Every year Huawei invested 3% of 

its total revenue in research and 

development. We guarantee our 

customers that we will offer them 

the latest technology. For example, 

we can offer the best speed due to 

an agreement with google. Google 

has chosen us because of our product 

quality. 

What are the challenges in this 

market? 

Grey market is one of the key challenges 

that we see in the coming 

days. We ask for strict policy and 

proper enforcement in this regard. 

High import duty is also another 

challenge. If this can be kept within 

a reasonable limit, we believe 

the smartphone industry will grow 

further in Bangladesh. Big competition 

is in price as most of Bangladesh 

consumers are sensitive to 

price levels. 

Do you have any good news for the 

Bangladesh customers? 

We are launching a new flagship 

handset GR5 2017 for our Bangladeshi 

customers. We will launch 

the product on December 1, 2016 in 

the market. Moreover, a new promotional 

handset will be launched 

jointly with Grameenphone, 

MEHEDI HASAN 

Banglalink and Robi with special 

bundle offers. Besides, we are giving 

customers SD cards, T-shirts and 

selfie sticks as gifts with handsets. 

Going beyond Bangladesh, where 

does Huawei stand in the global 

market? 

I would say we are doing excellent 

job in the global smartphone market. 

In 2012 we launched the product. 

We design our products so 

they suit to the tastes of people of 

all ages. In just two years, we rose 

to the second position in global 

market. Now we hope to be the top 

global brand. • 

Date to launch 

limited tender 

for China soon 

• Asif Showkat Kallol 

Bangladesh and China will jointly 

announce the date for introducing 

limited tender processing system 

for Chinese firms soon to implement 

the development projects in 

Bangladesh with Chinese credits. 

Finance Minister AMA Muhith 

came up with the disclosure while 

talking to the reporters after the 

meeting of the Cabinet Committee 

on Economic Affairs held at the 

secretariat yesterday. 

‘The limited tender 

system is for the 

China-funded 

projects taken after 

Aug 12, 2015’ 

Muhith said: “A total of seven 

pending Chinese development projects 

in Bangladesh will be executed 

under the government-to-government 

process.” 

The cabinet committee has approved 

a proposal to introduce 


for Chinese firms to implement development 

projects in Bangladesh 

with Chinese credits. 

According to the ERD proposal, 

the limited tender system would 

be applicable to the China-funded 

projects taken after August 12, 2015 

while direct procurement system 

would be applied for the projects 

taken before August 12, 2015. 

Ministries and divisions will follow 

the directives given by the cabinet 

division in relation to the China-funded 

development projects. 

In the proposal, the ERD said: 

“China has abstained from investing 

in new Bangladeshi projects as 


for the Chinese firms has not been 

finalised yet.” •

Slovenia wants to 

increase garment 

imports from 

Bangladesh 

• Tribune Business Desk 

Visiting Slovenian Deputy 

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry 

and Food Tanja Strnisa 

yesterday said her government 

will take steps to increase import 

of RMG products as there 

is huge demand of Bangladesh 

apparel products. 

Meanwhile, Bangladesh 

government assures taking 

necessary steps to enhance 

RMG export to the European 

country. 

Tanja Strnisa came up with 

the remarks after meeting with 

Commerce Minister Tofail 

Ahmed at his office in Dhaka. 

According to Export Promotion 

Bureau (EPB) data, in 

the last fiscal year, Bangladesh 

export to Slovenia stood at 

US$39.17 million and it is dominated 

by the clothing products. 

Of the total amount, $34.60 

million came from the RMG sector 

while Bangladesh imported 

products worth $15.20 million 

from Slovenia. 

“Bangladesh readymade 

garment sector is doing well 

and its quality is good. In Slovenia, 

there is huge demand 

of Bangladeshi apparel products,” 

said Tanja Strnisa. We 

will take initiatives to import 

clothing products from the 

country, said Tanja Strnisa. 

Bangladesh can use our 

ports as it would provide benefits 

to the country to enter the 

other member countries of the 

EU, added the deputy minister. 

Commerce Minister Tofail 

Ahmed said: “Bangladesh will 

take steps to increase export 

to Slovenia as there is huge 

demands for Bangladeshi 

products.” 

“Bangladesh- Slovenia bilateral 

trade is $54.37 billion and it 

is in favor of us, which can be 

increased manifolds. The government 

will take all the necessary 

steps to increase export to 

the country,” said Tofail. 

Currently, Bangladesh enjoys 

duty free market access 

to the country under Generalised 

System of Preferences 

(GSP) as it is a member of European 

Union. 

Though the trade volume 

is small but the potentiality is 

unlimited. Business to business 

meeting and government 

initiatives can help to devise 

ways to increase the trade and 

commerce, which would be 

taken soon, said Ahmed. 

Meanwhile, the Slovenia has 

proposed Bangladesh to use its 

ports to ship products to the 

other EU member countries. 

Senior Commerce Secretary 

Hedyetullah Al Mamoon was 

also present at the meeting. • 

Business 13 

DT 


‘Chinese yuan still a strong 

currency, should stabilise’ 

• Reuters 

Current conditions point to a 

stabilisation of China’s yuan 

after a volatile recent performance 

against the US dollar, 

a central bank vice governor 

said, adding that the currency 

remains strong. 

The yuan’s decline in value 

has accelerated since Donald 

Trump’s surprise victory in 

Nov 8’s US presidential election 

and it plumbed 8-1/2 year lows 

versus the dollar last week. 

“(China’s) international balance 

of payments are basically 

stable, the merchandise trade 

surplus remains relatively 

large, and the Chinese yuan has 

the conditions to remain basically 

stable within a reasonable 

range in the future,” People’s 

Bank of China vice governor Yi 

Gang said on state TV. 

Yi said the yuan showed 

characteristics of a strong 

currency as it has fallen less 

than other currencies against 

the dollar in recent weeks and 

rose versus other units in October, 

according to the official 

Xinhua news agency. 

He said the yuan’s volatility 

had been due mainly to 

unexpected events including 

Trump’s election, a sudden increase 

in expectations that the 

Fed will raise interest rates, 

and Britain’s vote in June to 

leave the European Union. 

“The movement of the US 

dollar going forward is uncertain, 

and we can’t rule out the 

possibility that changing market 

expectations will cause 

some decline in the dollar,” Yi 

was quoted as saying. •

14 


DT 

Business 

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Dhaka Tribune 

Oil jumps 8% as 

Opec agrees first 

production cut 

since 2008 

• Reuters 

Oil prices jumped more than 

8% yesterday to a five-week 

high as some of the world’s 

largest oil producers agreed 

to curb oil output for the first 

time since 2008 in a last-ditch 

bid to support prices. 

Opec will reduce production 

by 1.2 million barrels a 

day to 32.5 million a day, two 

delegates said during a ministerial 

meeting in Vienna, 

asking not to be identified as 

the decision isn’t yet public. 

Benchmark Brent crude rose 

8% to $50.07 a barrel in London 

at 1:37 pm local time. 

The Organization of the 

Petroleum Exporting Countries 

has agreed its first output 

limiting deal in eight years, an 

Opec source told Reuters as 

the debates continued in Vienna 

on the exact size of each 

member’s cuts. 

Key Opec member Saudi 

Arabia said it was prepared 

to accept “a big hit” on its 

own production and agree to 

arch-rival Iran freezing output 

at pre-sanctions levels. 

“It does rather look as 

though Opec is going to come 

to an agreement,” said Colin 

Smith, director of oil and gas 

research at Panmure Gordon 

in London. A preliminary 

agreement struck in Algiers 

in September set an output 

cap at around 32.5-33 million 

barrels per day compared with 

the current 33.64 million bpd. 

Before Wednesday’s meeting, 

Saudi Energy Minister 

Khalid al-Falih said Opec was 

indeed focusing on reducing 

output to a ceiling of 32.5 

million bpd and hoped Russia 

and other non-Opec producers 

would contribute a cut of 

another 0.6 million bpd. 

“The extent of the (price) 

move shows no one wants to 

miss the boat. There must be 

a general consensus that there 

will be a cut, whether it’s going 

to be bullish, I don’t know, 

but it’s the domino effect,” 

PVM Oil Associates analyst 

Tamas Varga said. 

Traders said markets were 

jittery and prices could swing 

sharply in either direction depending 

on developments in 

Vienna. 

Iran and Iraq have been 

resisting pressure from Saudi 

Arabia to curtail production, 

making it harder for the group 

to reach an agreement on output 

cuts. 

Analysts at Goldman Sachs, 

Barclays, and ANZ said oil prices 

would quickly fall to the low 

$40s a barrel if Opec fails to 

strike a deal to cut output. • 

Philip Morris CEO looks 

towards phasing out 

cigarettes 

• Reuters 

Philip Morris International, 

the world’s largest international 

tobacco company, 

could eventually stop selling 

cigarettes, its chief executive 

told the BBC yesterday, as it 

launched its alternative product 

IQOS in Britain. 

The company’s IQOS 

smokeless cigarette, which is 

already on sale in over a dozen 

markets including Japan, Switzerland 

and Italy, heats tobacco 

enough to produce a vapor 

without burning it. The company 

believes that makes it much 

less harmful than cigarettes. 

Japan Tobacco International 

also has a tobacco-based 

cigarette alternative called 

Ploom Tech, and British American 

Tobacco said this month 

that it was also testing one. 

“I believe there will come a 

moment in time where I would 

say we have sufficient adoption 

of these alternative products ... 

to start envisaging, together 

with governments, a phase-out 

period for cigarettes,” Andre 

Calantzopoulos said in an interview 

on BBC Radio 4. 

“I hope this time will come 

soon,” he added. 

Philip Morris, the maker 

of Marlboro cigarettes everywhere 

except the United 

States, gets the vast majority 

of its sales and profits from 

traditional cigarettes, which 

kill an estimated 6 million 

people a year worldwide. •

Business 15 

DT 


CORPORATE NEWS 

Faruq A Choudhury 

Nasir A Choudhury 

Delta Brac Housing Finance Corporation Ltd has recently re-elected 

Faruq A Choudhury as its chairperson and Nasir A Choudhury as its vicechairperson 

for the year 2017, said a press release 

PTDCA Unique Group has recently held an event named Global HR 

Congress 2016 in Dhaka, said a press release. Vice chancellor of United 

International University, Professor Dr M Rezwan Khan inaugurated the 

congress as chief guest 

LankaBangla Securities has recently completed issuance of nonconvertible 

zero coupon bond worth Tk 48cr, said a press release. 

Chairperson of LankaBangla Group, Mohammad A Moyeen was present 

on the occasion along with Justice Siddiqur Rahman Miah, chairperson 

of DSE and Dr Muhammad Abdul Mazid, chairperson of CSE 

IDCOL has recently been recognised as one of the top taxpayers among 

non-banking financial institutions in assessment year 2015-16, said a 

press release. Chairperson of NBR, Nojibur Rahman handed over an 

award to the company’s deputy CEO, SM Monirul Islam in this regard

16 


DT 

Feature 

Population Growth: 

Boon or Bane? A Case in Bangladesh 

• Chowdhury Hasanul Panna 

The overwhelming 

population density of our 

country has always been 

a matter of great concern 

for our economic development. 

However, at the same time, 

skilled manpower is considered 

a resource for a country like 

Bangladesh as it plays a key role in 

different development sectors and 

is critical in boosting a country’s 

economy. But what happens if the 

population pressure is too high 

and exerts excess pressure on 

natural resources? 

The classical debate whether 

population growth is beneficiary 

or detrimental to development 

has been prevalent through 

centuries. In the Eighteenth 

century a British reverend and 

political economist Thomas 

Robert Malthus first proposed 

a reverse relationship between 

population growth and 

development. According to him, 

population growth must outstrip 

resource base to support that 

burgeoning population at some 

point, which is popularly known 

as Malthusian trap. Therefore, 

he suggested population growth 

must be checked in order to 

prevent poverty, famine or 

inequality of wealth distribution 

in the society. 

Over the course of Nineteenth 

and Twentieth century the 

Malthusian belief gained ground 

around the world, especially 

in developing countries like 

Bangladesh, India and China. 

As they were among the major 

food deficit countries and had 

been plagued by recurrent 

famines and poverty, Malthus 

as well as neo-Malthus devotee 

like Lester Brown, Paul Ehrlich 

argued these countries should 

prioritize restricting population 

growth rather than expanding 

production. They concluded 

that development growth will 

ultimately fail to catch up to 

population growth. 

However, there are other 

theories from both economic left 

and economic right, as well as 

empirical evidences that don’t 

coincide with this view. The other 

school of thought viewed growing 

population as an opportunity for 

economic development. Ester 

Boserup, a Danish economist 

presented her argument 

regarding population, argued that 

population pressure leads to the 

invention of modern agricultural 

practices and this was also 

evident in ancient civilizations. 

Women’s role in agriculture and 

rural economy brought changes 

in the social organization of 

the society with more women 

directly involved in agricultural 

production, which ultimately led 

to downward adjustments in their 

fertility rate after a period of high 

population growth. 

Photos: Bigstock 

Now the question is whether 

Malthusianism really holds water 

in Bangladesh or it’s theoretical 

mumbo jumbo. No other things 

have had such a direct influence 

to raising output than population 

growth. Interestingly, growing 

population act as consumers 

too. Farmers reengineered the 

production process to sustain 

with the population growth and 

to raise the level of productivity 

or income for ensuring the 

household survival. New 

technologies are introduced as 

well as labour input is raised to 

match the productivity. 

After independence, the 

population of Bangladesh was 

around 75 millions, whereas in 

2016 it is about 160 millions. 

Though current population is 

twice as much as it was in 1971, 

Bangladesh has appropriated 

food security compared to 

1971. Our country has made a 

tremendous success over the 

past few decades to ensure food 

security for its population. High 

population density with no new 

land for cultivation, our existing 

croplands have been used more 

efficiently by reducing the fallow 

period, introduction of high 

yield hybrid crops, crop rotation 

system, land management, and 

developed irrigation system. 

Moreover, Bangladesh is in such a 

demographic dividend situation 

where almost 11 people are 

capable workforce out of every 

15. So, there are available inputs 

of labour, which can increase the 

output as well. 

In developing countries like 

Bangladesh it has been observed 

that Malthusian crisis is waiting, 

given extreme pressures on 

land and impoverished agrarian 

sector. Yet, the diversification 

of livelihood created smallscale 

income generating source. 

Population growth increases 

the mouth to feed that directly 

creates the demand or market 

for the consumption. But if a 

society fails to manage it properly, 

poverty will increase which will in 

turn create a Malthusian trap. 

The response of population 

growth varies from country to 

country and locality to locality 

on the basis of their successful 

intensification of production. 

Considering Bangladesh’s 

case, significant increase in 

the agricultural production 

from 1950 to 1986 through the 

intensification process helped 

to lower the percentage of the 

population below the poverty line 

during this period. 

Taking all the theories into 

account it is quite obvious that 

neither model fit exactly in 

Bangladesh. Innovations such 

as tube well irrigation, high 

yielding crop varieties, and 

other technologies have meant 

that Bangladesh proved selfsufficiency 

in food production. 

Boserup, however, agree with 

Malthus that extreme population 

growth may have an adverse 

effect on development. Keeping 

this in mind, Bangladesh has 

succeeded to lower population 

growth and still has the 

tremendous opportunity 

to increase the agricultural 

production even further. • 

This article was co-authored 

by the students of MDS, 

Dhaka University.

Feature 

17 


DT 

‘Shonjibon’ a Social Enterprise 

Success story of Bangladesh’s Innovate, Incubate & Grow 

• Features Desk 

Saiful, a student of Shahjalal 

University of Science and 

Technology studying Social 

Science got a chance to spend 

a month in tea gardens as an 

engagement with a research 

work run by one of his professors 

in Sylhet, the largest hub of tea 

production in Bangladesh. He 

observed that the employees 

working in tea gardens earn 

less than 1 USD and only one 

member from family can get a job 

in tea garden average 7 people 

depend on that only employed 

person. Saiful felt an urge to do 

something for these communities. 

He was thinking of creating an 

opportunity for them to get 

alternative livelihood. By this time 

he attended an awareness session 

organised by the British Council. 

It was about a competition on 

Social Enterprise named Innovate, 

Incubate & Grow. The competition 

invited young people in 

Bangladesh to share how to solve 

any existing community problem 

(social or environmental) through 

a business model. After the session 

Saiful believed that he can solve 

the problem of tea garden worker 

by taking part in this competition. 

Then he formed a group with two 

of his friends which was a criterion 

of the competition. As he was from 

Social Science background, he 

identified one of his friends from 

business background to enhance 

strength of his team. 

These three young people 

finally took part in the competition 

as a team called ‘Shonjibon’ which 

means bringing back to life. Their 

objective was enabling income 

opportunities for young people 

living in tea garden area of Sylhet 

and providing them opportunity 

to start a new life by shedding 

frustration of unemployment. 

After receiving two consecutive 

capacity building training in boot 

camp and business planning 

workshop the team was confident 

to have the skills of a social 

entrepreneur and they started 

their ground work. 

They planned to train 

unemployed young people 

who are above 18 years old to 

make recycled paper bags. They 

analysed market of raw material 

and market of finished products 

and started working depending 

on data they gathered. They 

selected the areas for where they 

wanted to pick the participants 

for training. But it was quite 

challenging to communicate with 

the people living in tea garden 

area as the local community 

leaders do not allow everyone to 

get access to their community. 

Team ‘Shonjibon’ convinced 

the local leaders and got access 

to communicate with the 

participants as well as a place in 

the local club to use for meetings. 

Initially they arranged training for 

12 people who are now working to 

Photos: Bigstock 

make dream of ‘Shonjibon’ true. 

They have ensured safe working 

environment, fair wage with no 

discrimination in terms of age, sex 

and social background and made 

sure no environmental harm was 

They have ensured 

safe working 

environment, 

fair wage with no 

discrimination in 

terms of age, sex and 

social background 

and made sure no 

environmental harm 

was caused while 

managing garbage 

caused while managing garbage. 

Their plan was to reinvest major 

portion of profit to make the social 

enterprise sustainable and create 

education opportunities for the tea 

garden workers and their family 

members through their partners’ 

network. 

Products produced in the first 

lot have been already sold and 

preparation for second batch of 

production is going on. Team 

‘Shonjibon’ is now planning to 

introduce producing cloth bags 

which are more profitable and 

they are working to manage fund 

for starting that. ‘Shonjibon’ has 

brought light of new hope in few 

young peoples’ life which they 

wish to be spread to thousand’s 

life. •

18 


DT 

Biz Info 

| achievement | | event | 

Prime Insurance Company honoured 

at 16th ICAB National Awards 

ULAB IEEE Tech Fest 

2016 organised 

The department of Computer 

Science and Engineering (CSE) 

of the University of Liberal Arts 

Bangladesh (ULAB) and the ULAB 

IEEE student branch organised a 

three day ULAB IEEE Tech Fest 

’16. The event commenced on 

November 28, 2016 and is the first 

major IEEE event at ULAB. 

Pro vice-chancellor of 

ULAB Prof H M Jahirul Haque 

inaugurated the event. Prof Dr 

Sazzad Hossain, head of the 

CSE department, welcomed the 

special guests - Towhid Hossain, 

managing director and CEO 

of FIFO Tech, Syed Asif Aziz, 

business development manager of 

ACCA Bangladesh and Wellington 

Perera, Microsoft DX director of 

South East Asia New Markets. Prof 

Dr S M Mahbubur Rahman, adviser 

of the Electrical and Electronic 

Engineering Department of 

ULAB, Sajidul Haque Chowdhury, 

executive of PeopleNTech LLC, 

and team members of TechShop 

Bangladesh - Jubaer Al Noman, 

Mahmudul Hasan Rony and Tazul 

Islam - were also present at the 

inauguration ceremony of the 

fest. • 

On November 29, 2016, Prime 

Insurance Company Limited 

received the third prize for the 

“Best Presented Annual Report 

2015” in the Insurance Sector at 

the 16th Institute of Chartered 

Accountants of Bangladesh 

(ICAB) National Awards, held 

at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon 

Hotel. 

Mohammodi Khanam, CEO 

of Prime Insurance Company 

Limited, received the award from 

Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed 

MP. The ICAB awards are given 

upon extensive evaluation of 

the financial reports of all listed 

companies in different industries, 

and are recognitions of excellence 

in corporate governance. 

This year, ICAB awarded 24 

organisations in 10 categories for 

their performance in 2015. 

Md Zakiullah Shahid, 

chairman, Saheda Pervin Trisha, 

director, Syed Monirul Huq, • 

DMD and head of operations and 

Badal Kumar Rajbangshi, CFO of 

Prime Insurance Company were 

also present at the award giving 

ceremony. 

While receiving the award, 

Mohammodi Khanam expressed 

her delight and thanked all 

the business partner clients, 

stakeholders, the members of the 

board and employees of Prime 

Insurance Company for their 

support and cooperation. 

| education | 

BRAC Institute of Languages launches German language course 

The BRAC Institute of Languages 

(BIL), BRAC University (BRACU) 

has launched a German language 

course, a noteworthy addition to 

the list of language courses that 

BIL offers. The course-launching 

seminar for dissemination of 

information regarding this 

initiative 

was held at 

the BRACU 

auditorium 

on Thursday, 

November 24, 

2016. 

In her 

welcome 

speech at the 

seminar, Lady 

Syeda Sarwat 

Abed, director, 

BIL of BRACU, 

emphasised 

the importance 

of learning 

the German 

language 

in order to 

pursue higher 

education and 

explore career opportunities in 

Germany. Other speakers at the 

seminar shared their valuable 

experiences on life in Germany 

and provided an overview of 

higher education in German 

universities, more particularly in 

engineering subjects. They shared 

information on how to prepare 

for the admission in German 

universities and opportunities 

that the country offers by pointing 

out the increasing number of 

Bangladeshi students in Germany 

every year. The seminar was 

educating for the attendees, who 

were mostly students, researchers 

and faculty members of BRACU, 

as the speakers highlighted the 

significance of learning one of the 

major languages of the world. 

Germany offers numerous 

Master’s programmes where 

English is the medium of 

instruction, and BIL promised 

to help students enrolled in the 

German language course to also 

prepare for their IELTS. The 

speakers also informed how the 

Embassy of the Federal Republic 

of Germany in Dhaka would assist 

students in the admission process. 

Currently, BIL offers Chinese, 

Korean, Spanish, French and 

Arabic language courses. The 

institute promotes learning 

languages among the students 

with a view to expand students’ 

academic and career opportunities 

and broaden their horizons. 

Those who shared their 

thoughts in the seminar included 

Shehla Riaz Khan Bangash, 

German language instructor at 

BIL; Rumana Kabir, information 

and office manager from German 

Academic Exchange Service 

(DAAD); Ramita Atiq, culture 

and education officer, Culture 

Section, and Mujtoba Ahmed 

Murshed, former political adviser 

at the German embassy; Sharif 

Hossain, head of Languages of 

Goethe Institute Bangladesh; and 

Majumder Fazle Haider, lecturer at 

BRACU.•

| agreement | 

Biz Info 

DHL Express Bangladesh signs agreement with 

National Bank Limited to provide international 

express services 

| event | 

Kabab Factory celebrates 

Universal children’s day 

19 


DT 

DHL Express, the world’s leading 

express international service 

provider, recently signed an 

agreement with National Bank 

Limited, to provide international 

express delivery service to the 

bank and its customers. 

Under this agreement, 

National Bank Limited will 

use DHL Express services for 

time-sensitive international 

documents. DHL have also 

offered new value added 

product & services in order to 

fulfill bank’s need. DHL Express 

will also provide services 

such as automated shipment 

preparation, pre-scheduled 

pick-ups, a modern shipment 

tracking system and shipment 

processing at DHL’s state-of-theart 

operational facilities in the 

country. 

Desmond Quiah, country 

manager of DHL Express 

Bangladesh said, “As the largest 

international express delivery 

company in Bangladesh, we 

are pleased to provide quality 

and best-in-class logistics to 

help businesses maintain and 

strengthen their reputation for 

service excellence. We also hope 

to provide a springboard for 

businesses to go global, with our 

network of over 220 countries and 

territories worldwide.” Shad Syed 

Abdul Bari, deputy managing 

director of National Bank Limited 

said, “National Bank Limited, 

being one of the leading private 

banks of the country will use 

DHL Express services for all kinds 

of time-sensitive international 

documents. 

The official corporate signing 

ceremony between DHL Express 

Bangladesh and National Bank 

Limited took place recently at 

the head office of National Bank 

Limited. Sheikh Shahiduzzaman, 

Tanzil Chowdhury from DHL & 

M A Wadud, ASM Bulbul from 

National Bank Limited, along 

with other senior officials of both 

organisations were also present 

on the occasion.• 

November 20 marks as the 

Universal Children’s day. It’s 

a day, to be observed as a day 

of worldwide celebration of 

childhood and children. 

For the last two years, Kabab 

factory has been successfully 

organising a celebratory festival on 

Children’s day. It is a hit event with 

numerous smiling faces turning up 

each year to enjoy the festivities. 

The main attractions of the day 

include a whole day of music and 

dancing with delicious food. There 

will also be fun photo booths 

with professional photographers, 

to capture your child’s precious 

moments along with fun rides for 

them to enjoy. Other attractions 

include magic shows, storytelling, 

and the children being attended 

by their favorite life sized cartoon 

characters. 

Following last year’s 

tremendous success, Kabab 

factory returns with the 

celebration of Universal children’s 

day. This year, instead of enjoying 

this joyous occasion for just 

one day, they will expand and 

celebrate the joy of childhood for 

two consecutive days. The event 

will take place on November 19 

and 20, in the Gulshan branch. 

The whole festival is a vision 

of The Director of Chaity Group, 

Fahmida Shabnam Chaity. She 

is the first restaurant owner of 

the city to organise a massive 

celebration of Children’s day; a 

celebration where the parents, 

along with their friends and 

family, can have a memorable time 

with their kids.• 

| meal | | experience | 

The Westin Dhaka introduces new bistro 

menu 

The Westin Dhaka is introducing 

a bistro menu at Prego, their 

signature Italian restaurant. Now 

guests can come and enjoy their 

favourite bistro food for a quick 

lunch or dinner at the signature 

restaurant situated on Level 23. 

The new bistro menu adds a 

lineup of a few tantalising new 

dishes in the salad, sandwich, 

burger, main course and dessert 

sections. Chinese BBQ Chicken 

Caesar and Cobb salads, Honey 

Mustard Grilled Chicken 

Sandwich, Prego Special 2 in 1 

burgers and Hickory Barbecue 

Bacon Cheeseburgers are the 

newest addition in their salad, 

sandwich and burger sections. 

The main course section 

will now also offer special 

Watermelon Ribs, Coffee Crusted 

Grilled Lamb Chops, Prego 

Barramundi Fish & Chips and 

other delicious bistro food that 

can be great, quick meal for all 

times. 

For those with a sweet tooth, 

the Chocolate Peanut Butter Fun 

Cake and the Black Sesame Pear 

Cake are a must try. 

The bistro items start from 

Tk800++. Guests can call 

+8801730374873 to know more 

and to make table reservations.• 

Le Méridien Dhaka launches 

Chefs of the World at Latest 

Recipe 

Le Méridien Dhaka 

brings a wonderful 

opportunity for 

their guests at 

Latest Recipes every 

Wednesday, starting 

from November 30, 

2016. 

Guests can enjoy 

an interactive dining 

experience with Le 

Méridien Dhaka’s 

talented and diverse 

“Chefs of the World”, 

as well as the delicious 

meals prepared by 

Le Méridien Dhaka Chefs from 

around the world at Latest Recipe 

live kitchen. 

The Chefs of the World 

interactive dining is from 6.30PM 

to 11.30PM every Wednesday. 

Guests can avail this offer at BDT 

3600++ per person. 

Special discounts and buy 

one get one free offers are 

available with various bank 

and telecommunication 

partners. Guests may 

contact +8801990900900 or 

+88017666673443 to learn more 

or reserve tables. •

DT 

20 

Editorial 


TODAY 

France, Germany 

to honour brave 

women, men 

The fight for human rights must be 

conducted together and at all levels. 

The Franco-German Prize for Human 

Rights and the Rule of Law reflects this 

PAGE 21 

The smaller 

the better 

Numerous stronger states like the 

UK find it difficult to secure national 

politico-cultural interests in a globalised 

economy 

PAGE 22 

BIGSTOCK 

Protect our water resources 

Ambitious, but 

largely unsuccessful 

Perhaps this will be the last time that 

America’s vision for the world will 

matter. After Trump, America will lack 

both the power and the moral authority 

to lead 

PAGE 23 

Be heard 

Write to Dhaka Tribune 

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, 

Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 

Send us your Op-Ed articles: 

opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com 

www.dhakatribune.com 

Join our Facebook community: 

https://www.facebook.com/ 

DhakaTribune. 

The views expressed in opinion 

articles are those of the authors 

alone and they are not the 

official view of Dhaka Tribune 

or its publisher. 

Water is a fundamental human right, and the most 

precious resource on the planet. 

To that end, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 

words at the Budapest Water Summit are timely, and 

we would do well to heed her directives and make water a priority. 

Water scarcity and water pollution remain issues for a great 

number of countries, but Bangladesh is particularly affected by a 

lack of easily available drinking water. The PM’s proposed sevenpoint 

agenda is admirable in that it lays out the groundwork 

for how we can work to mitigate the water crisis for not just 

ourselves, but for future generations. 

The main reason behind the persisting water crisis in 

Bangladesh is a lack of equitable distribution. 

Bangladesh has been experiencing water shortages due, in 

large part, to the Gajoldoba barrage and the Indian government’s 

various attempts at diverting water flow away from Bangladesh. 

The solution to this problem is within an arm’s reach in the 

form of the Teesta treaty, the signing of which has been endlessly 

stalled for short-sighted political reasons. 

It would behoove us to take direction from the four core 

tenets of the PM’s agenda for water: Resilience, management, 

cooperation, and funding. 

Water plays a key role in the culture, ethos, lives, and 

livelihoods of people the world over -- everything from agriculture 

to personal health hinges on ample availability of water. 

A resource so inextricable with the very existence of the human 

race should not be held ransom because of the indifference or 

greed of politicians, businesses, and bureaucrats. 

Water plays a key role 

in the culture, ethos, 

lives, and livelihoods 

of people the world 

over -- everything from 

agriculture to personal 

health hinges on ample 

availability of water

Opinion 21 

DT 


France, Germany to honour brave women, 

men fighting for human rights of others 

Bangladeshi civil society member among the awardees 

United for a cause 

COURTESY 

Helmets, a group of volunteers 

who are risking their own lives to 

help rescue people following air 

strikes and to rebuild destroyed 

infrastructure. 

All these individuals have 

something in common: Wherever 

they come from, whatever they 

have been through, they are 

dedicating their lives to others. 

To pay tribute to the inspiring 

engagement of these brave women 

and men throughout the world, 

the two of us have decided to 

establisha Franco-German Prize 

for Human Rights and the Rule of 

Law. 

This week, we will award the 

prize for the first time. We will 

honour women and men who 

are showing great dedication in 

standing up for the rights of their 

fellow human beings. 

They often do so at significant 

personal risk and under difficult 

conditions. They deserve our 

thanks and support. 

Protecting and promoting 

human rights is at the core of 

French and German foreign policy 

endeavours. 

Human rights constitute the 

foundation of peace and justice in 

our world. 

This is why we, as the 

international community, pledged 

to protect and promote these 

rights following the terrible 

world wars of the 20th century, 

undertaking to do so within the 

framework of the United Nations, 

the OSCE, the Council of Europe, 

and the European Union. 

Yet, we now need to ensure 

that this great achievement is not 

called into question. We see the 

governmental organisations are 

being arrested, where people 

are tempted to build walls, even 

though history has taught us that 

walls never solve anything. 

France and Germany stand 

firm. 

On our many joint trips, we 

have both seen up close what it 

means when people are denied 

their fundamental rights. 

That is why we are taking 

resolute action -- using the 

entire spectrum of foreign policy 

instruments available, from 

supporting local human rights 

defenders to strengthening 

democratic governance, from 

crisis prevention to post-conflict 

peace-building. 

As foreign ministers, we will 

continue to work tirelessly every 

day, not only to break the silence, 

but also to act effectively to 

prevent the violation of people’s 

fundamental freedoms. 

The fight for human rights must 

be conducted together and at all 

levels. The Franco-German Prize 

for Human Rights and the Rule of 

Law reflects this. 

On the basis of joint 

proposals from German and 

French missions abroad, this 

year’s Prize will be awarded to: 

Tahmina Rahman (Bangladesh), 

Aleh Hulak (Belarus), Maria 

da Penha (Brazil), Thun Saray 

(Cambodia), Maximilienne Ngo 

Mbe (Cameroun), Beverley K 

Jacobs (Canada), Jacqueline 

Moudeïna (Chad), Wang Qiaoling 

(China), Montserrat Solano 

Carboni (Costa Rica), Mme Sunitha 

Krishnan (India), Mme Mary 

Lawlor (Ireland), Pietro Bartolo 

• Frank-Walter Steinmeier and 

Jean-Marc Ayrault 

This week, France 

and Germany will be 

honouring brave women 

and men who are fighting 

for the rights of others throughout 

the world. 

Maria da Penha from Brazil 

has used a wheelchair since 

being attacked by her husband 

in the 1970s, and now campaigns 

tirelessly for the protection of 

women against domestic violence. 

Sunitha Krishnan from India is 

fighting forced prostitution and 

human trafficking in her country, 

where so many young women -- 

and even girls -- are being caught 

up in systemic prostitution. 

The fight for human rights must be conducted together and at all levels. 

The Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law 

reflects this 

Jacqueline Moudeïna from Chad 

has been fighting for over 15 years 

to bring Hissène Habré to justice 

for atrocities committed during his 

presidency. 

Before the Syrian conflict, Raed 

al-Saleh was a businessman who 

sold electrical equipment; he is 

now the head of Syria’s White 

danger of erosion -- in a world 

where an increasing number of 

governments are restricting public 

and individual freedoms in the 

name of security, political stability, 

or cultural idiosyncrasies. 

We also see this happening in 

democracies, where journalists, 

lawyers, and members of non- 

(Italy), Eva Abu Halaweh (Jordan), 

Sarah Belal (Pakistan), Valentina 

Cherevatenko (Russia), and the 

White Helmets (Syria). • 

Frank-Walter Steinmeier is Foreign 

Minister of the Federal Republicof 

Germany, and Jean-Marc Ayrault is 

Foreign Minister of the French Republic.

22 


DT 

Opinion 

The smaller the better 

It is easier to meet the needs of the people in smaller states 

It is difficult to hold on to a singular identity when countries are so big 

• Brig Gen AF Jaglul Ahmed 

The idea of the state 

evolved from the concept 

of city states and singlerace 

concepts like that of 

Florence and Athens. Eventually, it 

became larger until it became the 

nation state. 

The idea of the state, when 

conceived, was not envisioned to 

be as large as continents or prenation 

state empires. 

The role it needs to play to 

satisfy the needs of the people 

has now become complex. 

Every nation needs to satisfy the 

political and economic needs of 

its people within its own national 

boundaries. 

Varying sizes of the nation state 

have varying degrees of need for 

resources. Thus, every nation, 

regardless of its size, needs to set 

its national interests based on the 

choices of the people. 

The idea of a national interest is 

of significance and lies at the heart 

of every nation. 

The term “national interest” 

looms extremely large, not bound 

by national boundaries, the 

physical feature that distinguishes 

one nation from the other. 

Its attainment may demand any 

means necessary, even if it crosses 

the moral boundary. 

The idea often becomes 

convoluted and leaves nations 

constantly struggling to secure 

it. The obsession with the idea 

misleads and causes unnecessary 

tension in matters of security. 

Rarely is a nation able to secure 

its national interests to the fullest; 

wars are usually waged with 

fallacious promises to its people. 

During the Enlightenment, 

changes were brought about in 

the socio-economic-political 

landscape of states. 

A new ideology was developed 

on how the world should work 

and what people should do, an 

ideology of secularism as a result 

of unmanageable conflict in 

religious ideology. 

Political governance was 

limited to serve the interests of 

the masses. Politics has been 

subservient to the economy to 

allow more space for liberalisation. 

The economy has 

overshadowed all other national 

lines of interest due to the 

insatiable appetite of the few. 

The nation state is now in a fix 

to serve its people and secure their 

interests. 

The question arises: What size, 

geographically, is manageable for 

BIGSTOCK 

securing national interests? 

Should a state be happy 

securing the economic comfort 

of its people and stop aspiring for 

more? 

What is more important for a 

state to serve its people: Politics 

or economy? Can social or 

ideological identity be subjugated 

to or overshadowed by economic 

comfort? 

The term national interest has 

therefore turned into a cliché, 

demanding additional attention 

to it. 

Nations are independent 

and have the right to formulate 

policy beyond the influence of 

other nations -- this is the truth. 

Likewise, the other truth is that it 

has to take into account the reality 

of geo-politics, geo-strategy, or 

geo-economics while securing its 

own interests. 

People elect their governments 

to ensure their all-round security, 

and rarely consider the complete 

capacity of its government while 

making irrational demands. 

The paradox in the government 

and the intense desire to return to 

power force them to conceal the 

global reality and constantly resort 

to deceitful promises of securing 

interests even when it is beyond 

their capacity. 

As a result, national interests 

not only fail to be secured, but end 

up becoming further endangered, 

with the nation’s people 

constantly deceived. 

However powerful or strong 

a nation may be, it compromises 

its national interests to others 

for either geo-politics or geoeconomical 

compulsion. 

But seldom does it inform 

its people of the same thing 

happening to them for fear of 

being unable to come to power at 

the end of their tenure. 

Governance is built on a 

foundation of fallacy because of 

power. 

The government, upon being 

elected, finds itself in a position 

from which it can subjugate 

its people rather than feeling 

pressured by people’s power to 

Numerous stronger states like the UK find it difficult to secure national 

politico-cultural interests in a globalised economy. For instance, 

national interest was subdued by the interests of federal unions like 

the EU, resulting in Brexit 

remove them. 

Therefore, the relationship 

between the people and the 

government suffers. 

There is a disconnect between 

the government and the people 

in the understanding of national 

interests and global realities. 

Globalisation brought forth 

trends such as the expansion of 

international financial systems, 

interconnectedness of national 

interests, the rise of the global 

media and communication 

technologies, and the mass 

migration of people. 

All such trends are taking place 

within and across the boundaries 

of sovereign nation states. 

Even the stronger states find 

it difficult to adjust to the global 

realities. 

The market economy in the 

guise of globalisation is forcing 

some nations to become totally 

subservient to the global economy. 

This has happened to such an 

extent that seldom are national 

economic interests preserved 

within national boundaries. 

The global economic institutes 

have become too powerful. 

It becomes necessary for 

weaker states to compromise their 

interests for global realities. 

In the name of globalisation 

-- or shall we say neo-colonisation 

-- business tycoons prefer being 

global citizens rather than national 

citizens to secure their economic 

interests. 

Numerous stronger states like 

the UK find it difficult to secure 

national politico-cultural interests 

in a globalised economy. 

For instance, national interest 

was subdued by the interests 

of federal unions like the EU, 

resulting in Brexit. 

A larger geographical unit to 

serve common interests appears 

fallacious against the perceived 

realities. 

Paradoxically, a borderless 

economy both benefits and 

encumbers both the stronger and 

weaker states. 

All states prefer to reap the 

benefits of the global economy, 

but are not ready to merge into a 

single race socially, culturally, or 

ideologically. 

Hence, there are fissures 

creeping over socio-cultural and 

ideological lines, which endanger 

the identity of the individual 

nation. 

It benefits the stronger states 

but endangers its social and 

cultural identity due to the influx 

of immigrants into their system. 

The identity of the nation state 

suffers despite the comfort given 

by an inter-connected economy. 

The formation of a nation state 

arose from the need to preserve all 

national interests, not just along 

economic lines. 

Economic interests can conceal 

the other fault-lines for the time 

being. But no sooner does the 

economy suffer a downturn do 

other fissures erupt like a volcano, 

putting the state on the brink of 

collapse. 

The bigger the size of the state, 

the larger the need of its people. In 

this context, the idea of a nation 

state to some is sometimes too 

weak, while to some too strong. 

The smaller the state, the easier 

it is to secure the interests that 

satisfy its people, and there is less 

room for power. 

It is easier to maintain a social, 

cultural, and ideological identity. 

There is more space for peace and 

less for conflict. • 

Brigadier General AF Jaglul Ahmed is 

Commandant, East Bengal Regimental 

Centre.

Opinion 

23 


DT 

Ambitious, but largely unsuccessful 

Things don’t look good for Obama’s foreign policy legacy 

• Azeem Ibrahim 

When President Obama 

took the presidency 

eight years ago, we 

looked set for an 

overhaul of America’s place in 

the world and the world order 

enshrined at the end of the Cold 

War. In the depths of the worst 

financial crisis since the Great 

Depression following 1929, we had 

reasons to be hopeful: The world’s 

foremost superpower was finally 

ruled by a liberal of conviction, 

a thoughtful and intelligent man 

with great ambitions for a better 

world. 

And as we stand on the cusp 

of the Trump presidency, we are 

indeed in a far different world. 

Unfortunately, the world now is 

different mostly for the worst. 

Obama was successful in steering 

the world through the aftermath 

of the global financial crisis, and 

we have avoided a 1930s-style 

depression. 

No one will be able to take that 

away from him. But as for the rest 

of his legacy, things do not look 

good. 

Everything he has stood 

for and everything he would 

have advertised as his greatest 

achievements six months ago 

-- from bringing health care to 

millions of uninsured Americans 

to the pivot to Asia, to the Paris 

How will history judge him? 

REUTERS 

Perhaps this will be the last time that America’s vision for the world will 

matter. After Trump, America will lack both the power and the moral 

authority to lead 

Accord on climate change -- are 

things that Trump has vowed to 

overturn. And what is more, it is 

precisely those commitments that 

have won Trump the presidency. 

But Obama’s failure to bring 

Americans, and the rest of the 

world, over to his way of thinking 

will have its most profound 

and long-lasting effects in the 

international arena. In the 

beginning, Obama addressed the 

Arab world with great hopes of a 

long-overdue settlement of the 

Israel-Palestine conflict. 

Now that relations between 

Israel and the US are at their 

lowest point ever, and the US 

has virtually no leverage to stop 

continued Israeli settlement in the 

Occupied Territories. 

Promises 

When Obama promised a more 

open world, many of the youth of 

the Middle East took to the streets 

in the Arab Spring, and we in the 

West gave them our blessings. 

But six years later, most of those 

revolutions have floundered, and 

those which did not, most notably 

Libya and Syria, have been left in a 

state of perpetual civil war. 

Relations with Asia remain 

patchy as China resented his 

expansionary approach in their 

backyard, while the Philippines 

is moving, slowly but surely, out 

of the US sphere of influence. 

And the three great openings of 

Obama’s tenure, Myanmar, Iran 

and Cuba, all look shaky at best. 

In Myanmar, Obama was too 

quick to give Aung San Suu Kyi 

the benefit of the doubt, and lift 

sanctions. 

But many parts of the state and 

the economy remain firmly under 

the control of the former military 

regime, and now those parts are 

waging open war on the Rohingya 

Muslim minority while the Nobel 

Peace Prize laureate is standing 

idly by. 

Obama was the main man to 

push for the improvement of 

conditions for this oppressed 

group, but now that he is on the 

way out, it seems like there is 

precious little standing between 

the Rohingya and outright 

genocide. In Iran, the nuclear 

deal championed by Obama has 

given us some reprieve from 

Iranian nuclear development but 

at a tremendous cost to American 

interests in the region. 

The lifting of sanctions has 

given the Iranians the confidence 

and the resources to push their 

agenda in the region with renewed 

zeal, and the heavy lifting that 

Iranian militias and troops are 

doing in Iraq and Syria for factions 

that are not aligned with US 

interests will be just the beginning 

of our problems. 

Above all stands the renewed 

Cold War with Russia. Some 

analysts warn that this kind of 

language is alarmist, or even that it 

may aggravate tensions needlessly, 

but the facts speak for themselves. 

The US and its Western allies are 

imposing sanctions on Russia, 

while Russia is waging open 

cyber-warfare on the West, its 

institutions and, most seriously of 

all, its democratic process as we 

have seen from the involvement 

of Russian hackers in the US 

elections. 

Chaos 

In all this chaos, this new world 

disorder, the only major Obama 

foreign policy foray that still has 

legs is the reopening of relations 

with Cuba. But even that is 

hostage to the caprices of Raul 

Castro and Donald Trump. And 

who knows what might happen 

there next. 

And that is the real tragedy at 

the end of the Obama presidency. 

Here is a man of vision and 

principle, of intelligence and 

intent. 

If anyone could have been 

trusted to take the world as they 

found it in 2008 and made it 

better by 2016, it would have been 

Obama. And he cannot be faulted 

for not trying. But once again, 

America’s vision for the world 

has been left in disarray by the 

vagaries of history. 

And perhaps this will be the last 

time that America’s vision for the 

world will matter. After Trump, 

America will lack both the power 

and the moral authority to lead. 

And the world is not a better place 

for it. • 

Azeem Ibrahim is Senior Fellow at 

the Centre for Global Policy and Adj 

Research Professor at the Strategic 

Studies Institute, US Army War College. 

He tweets @AzeemIbrahim.

DT 

24 

Sport 


TOP STORIES 

Dominant Comilla 

thrash Rajshahi 

Rajshahi Kings made life difficult 

for themselves to qualify for the 

playoffs when they were beaten 

comprehensively by eight wickets 

by holders Comilla Victorians in 

their BPL 2016-17 season match in 

Mirpur yesterday. PAGE 25 

Football mourns 

Brazilian players 

Emotional tributes were paid to 

the football team Chapecoense 

Real that was virtually wiped out 

in a plane crash in the Colombian 

mountains that killed 71 people. 

Tributes came in from all over the 

world. PAGE 26 

Zamal set for 

Panasonic Open India 

The $400,000 Panasonic Open 

India gets underway today at Delhi 

Golf Club with Zamal Hossain 

Mollah the only participant from 

Bangladesh. Holder Chiragh 

Kumar of India will headline the 

sixth edition. PAGE 27 

Argentina’s Davis 

Cup winners return 

Argentina’s Davis Cup champions 

returned to a heroes’ welcome 

in Buenos Aires on Tuesday after 

clinching their maiden title with a 

stunning 3-2 final win over Croatia 

at Zagreb Arena, Zagreb at the 

weekend. PAGE 28 

Dhaka Dynamites’ Evin Lewis hoicks one during their BPL 4 match against Rangpur Riders in Mirpur yesterday MD MANIK 

High-flying Dhaka cement top spot 

• Ali Shahriyar Bappa 

Dhaka Dynamites registered a 

commanding 42-run win over 

Rangpur Riders in their Bangladesh 

Premier League Twenty20 

2016-17 season match in Mirpur’s 

Sher-e Bangla National Cricket 

Stadium yesterday. 

Chasing Dhaka’s 188/7, Rangpur 

lost wickets at regular intervals 

and eventually finished their 

innings on 146/8. 

Pakistan all-rounder Shahid 

Afridi opened the innings for 

Rangpur with compatriot Nasir 

Jamshed. But Afridi frustrated the 

weekday crowd by getting out for 

a second-ball duck. He charged 

down the wicket to Dhaka paceman 

Abu Jayed only to misjudge 

the delivery and produce a top 

edge that West Indies all-rounder 

Andre Russell gladly accepted at 

long-off. 

None of the other Rangpur 

top-order batsmen managed to 

contribute and at one stage, they 

were 46/6 inside nine overs. 

Then, all-rounders Ziaur Rahman 

(60 off 43 balls) and Sohag 

Gazi (36 off 26 balls) formed a 

brilliant 87-run partnership for 

the seventh wicket. But it was not 

enough to snatch victory from 

Dhaka’s grasp. 

Dhaka captain Shakib al Hasan 

bowled brilliantly, picking up two 

wickets for just 11 runs from his 

quota of four overs. Jayed also 

bowled impressively, taking three 

wickets conceding just 20 runs 

from his four overs. 

Earlier, Shakib won the toss 

and elected to bat first. 

Dhaka rested Sri Lankan legend 

Kumar Sangakkara and replaced 

him with West Indies 

opening batsman Evin Lewis. 

POINTS TABLE 

TEAMS M W L PTS 

Dhaka 10 7 3 14 

Chittagong 10 6 4 12 

Khulna 10 6 4 12 

Rajshahi 10 5 5 10 

Rangpur 10 5 5 10 

Comilla 10 3 7 6 

Barisal 10 3 7 6 

Lewis made his mark with a blistering 

innings of 75 off just 34 

balls. The left-hander smashed 

three fours and eight sixes during 

his explosive innings. The other 

opener Mehedi Maruf also played 

well, adding 103 runs alongside 

Lewis. 

Maruf was dismissed in the 

10th over after scoring 40 off 31 

balls. Russell soon joined Maruf 

in the dressing room as he was 

dismissed for just eight runs. 

Shakib (29 off 20 balls) later 

scored some quick runs to help 

Dhaka post 188 runs on the board. 

Arafat Sunny captained the 

Rangpur side yesterday and surprisingly 

bowled only one over. 

Pacer Rubel Hossian bowled 

with good pace for Rangpur, bagging 

three wickets conceding 25 

runs from his four overs, while 

seamer Soumya Sarkar and Ziaur 

shared four wickets between 

themselves. 

Dhaka cemented their position 

at the top of the points table 

with 14 points from 10 matches 

while Rangpur slid to fifth with 10 

points from as many games. • 

SCORECARD 

DHAKA DYNAMITES R B 

Maruf lbw b Soumya 40 31 

Lewis c sub (Elias) b Soumya 75 34 

Prasanna c Soumya b Ziaur 1 2 

Russell c Dawson b Ziaur 8 7 

Shakib b Rubel 29 20 

Bravo b Rubel 16 13 

Mosaddek not out 14 9 

Nasir c sub (Elias) b Rubel 3 4 

Sanjamul not out 0 0 

Extras (b 1, w 1) 2 

Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 188 

Fall Of Wickets 

1-103 (Maruf), 2-104 (Prasanna), 3-122 

(Lewis), 4-129 (Russell), 5-163 (Bravo), 

6-172 (Shakib), 7-184 (Nasir) 

Bowling 

Rubel 4-0-25-3, Muktar 1-0-9-0, Gazi 2-0- 

25-0, Afridi 3-0-40-0, Sunny 1-0-10-0, 

Dawson 3-0-29-0, Soumya 3-0-27-2, Ziaur 

3-0-22-2 

RANGPUR RIDERS R B 

Jamshed c Mosaddek b Shakib 21 22 

Afridi c Russell b Jayed 0 2 

Mithun c Prasanna b Jayed 1 5 

Rupasinghe lbw b Shakib 8 8 

Dawson b Prasanna 11 11 

Ziaur b Jayed 60 43 

Soumya run out (Jayed) 1 1 

Gazi c Nasir b Bravo 36 26 

Muktar not out 4 3 

Extras (lb 2, w 1, nb 1) 4 

Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 146 


1-1 (Afridi), 2-9 (Mithun), 3-32 (Rupasinghe), 

4-43 (Jamshed), 5-45 (Dawson), 6-46 

(Soumya), 7-133 (Gazi), 8-146 (Ziaur) 

Bowling 

Jayed 4-0-20-3, Russell 4-0-33-0, Bravo 

4-0-43-1, Shakib 4-0-11-2, Mosaddek 1-0- 

9-0, Prasanna 3-0-28-1 

The Dynamites won by 42 runs 

MoM: Evin Lewis (DD) 

WHAT THEY SAID 

Dhaka opening batsman Mehedi 

Maruf 

Every match is important for us. We are 

at the top at the moment. But we want 

to hold onto the top position as it will 

ensure more chances for us to reach 

the final. I have enjoyed batting with 

Evin Lewis. He took charge from the 

beginning. That’s why I felt comfortable 

at the middle. We scored a big total. It 

was good for us. We want to carry the 

momentum forward. The inclusion of 

Andre Russell definitely improved our 

squad’s strength because he is very 

good in batting, bowling and fielding, 

and equally. 

Rangpur spinner Elias Sunny 

It was a brilliant wicket to bat on. 

Unfortunately, our top-order did not 

bat well. I think the most important 

thing in T20 cricket is committing less 

mistakes on the field. The side who 

commit less errors will win the match at 

the end. I think we are committing a lot 

of errors in recent matches. That’s why 

we are losing at the moment. We have 

to overcome our mistakes immediately, 

particularly in batting. We have some 

positives from the match. Hopefully we 

can take some confidence from that and 

win the next match. •

PLAYS OF THE DAY 

Dhaka v Rangpur 

Lewis storm hits SBNS 

The left-handed West Indies opening 

batsman Evin Lewis replaced Sri 

Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara in 

the Dhaka playing XI against Rangpur. 

And the Windies cricketer made his 

mark straightaway in the ongoing fourth 

edition of the BPL T20 by playing an 

explosive 75-run innings. He smashed 

eight sixes during his blistering knock. 

Rangpur’s Sohag Gazi has had a 

productive campaign thus far, opening 

the bowling regularly and checking the 

opposition’s run-rate with his off-spin. 

But Lewis attacked the off-spinner 

rightaway for three sixers. He also struck 

three maximums against Pakistan legspinner 

Shahid Afridi in the seventh over. 

Opener Soumya demoted to No 7 

Dashing left-handed opener Soumya 

has been struggling with the bat in the 

last few months and continued his poor 

form for Rangpur in BPL 4 as well. His 

run-drought continued against Dhaka as 

he scored only one. Interestingly, he was 

demoted to No 7 in the batting order to 

regain some confidence but it did not 

click for Soumya. This time around, he 

was caught short of the crease in the last 

ball of the ninth over. 

Comilla v Rajshahi 

Franklin’s last-over assault 

There was hardly any excitement 

during Rajshahi’s innings against 

defending champion Comilla, with the 

exception of the last over of course. 

Former New Zealand all-rounder James 

Franklin, playing his first game this 

season, smashed 24 runs in their 20th 

over, bowled by paceman Shahadat 

Hossain. Rajshahi scored just 100 runs 

heading into the final over and Franklin 

duly shifted the gear, striking a huge 

six off the very first ball to start off 

proceedings. He ended up smashing 

three sixes and two fours. • 

–ALI SHAHRIYAR BAPPA & 

MAZHAR UDDIN 

Sunny reported again 

• Mazhar Uddin 

Only two months after getting the 

clearance, left-arm spinner Arafat 

Sunny has been reported once 

again for suspect bowling action 

in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier 

League Twenty20’s fourth edition, 

informed Bangladesh Cricket 

Board’s media and communications 

committee chairman Jalal 

Younus yesterday. 

The on-field umpires reported 

Sunny’s action during the game between 

Rangpur Riders and Rajshahi 

Kings last Monday. 

“In the first ball of the 19th 

over of Rajshahi’s innings, Sunny 

bowled an armer delivery to Mehedi 

Hasan Miraz. It was struck 

for a boundary. According to the 

on-field umpires, it (Sunny’s delivery) 

was suspicious and therefore 

reported,” said Jalal, who is also 

TODAY’S MATCH 

Barisal Bulls v Rajshahi Kings, 5:45pm 

The game will be held at SBNS, Mirpur 

Sport 25 

Comilla Victorians paceman Mohammad Saifuddin celebrates one of his three wickets against Rajshahi Kings during their BPL 

4 match in Mirpur yesterday MD MANIK 

Dominant Comilla thrash Rajshahi 

• Mazhar Uddin 

Rajshahi Kings made life difficult 

for themselves to qualify for the 

playoffs when they were beaten 

comprehensively by eight wickets 

by holders Comilla Victorians in 

their Bangladesh Premier League 

2016-17 season match at Sher-e- 

Bangla National Cricket Stadium in 

Mirpur yesterday. 

Pakistan batsman Ahmed Shehzad 

blasted a 45-ball 46, featuring 

the chairman of the BCB’s bowling 

action review committee. 

However, Sunny can continue 

to play for Rangpur in BPL 4. The 

bowling action review committee 

will only assess his bowling action 

within 14 days of the tournament’s 

completion. If the committee finds 

something serious then they will 

do remedial work with Sunny. 

In accordance with the International 

Cricket Council’s rules and 

regulations, if a particular cricketer is 

reported for suspect bowling action 

twice in a year, the player will not be 

eligible to appear for the bowling action 

test for the next one year. 

Meanwhile, Khulna Titans’ West 

Indies seamer Kevon Cooper was 

also reported for suspect bowling 

action. The on-field umpires reported 

his action following their 

BPL 4 match against Chittagong Vikings 

on November 12. • 

four fours and a six, while West 

Indies batsman Marlon Samuels 

remained unbeaten on a 41-ball 

55, studded with four sixes and a 

couple of boundaries, as Comilla, 

chasing Rajshahi’s modest 124/7 

reached their destination with 

eight balls to spare. 

The holders registered only 

their third win in 10 games while 

Rajshahi suffered their fifth defeat 

in the same number of matches as 

Comilla. 

Women suffer crushing defeat 

• Tribune Report 

Bangladesh were handed a crushing 

nine-wicket defeat by Pakistan 

in their 2016 Women’s Twenty20 

Asia Cup match at Asian Institute 

of Technology Ground, Bangkok in 

Thailand yesterday. 

It was a day to forget for the 

women in red and green as they 

fell for the lowest ever total (44) in 

the history of women’s T20 cricket. 

The previous lowest total (54) also 

belonged to Bangladesh against 

India in the same tournament last 

week. 

Bangladesh captain Rumana 

Ahmed won the toss and elected 

to bat first but they made a terrible 

start, losing three wickets for only 

four runs within four overs. 

Only two players – Jahanara 

Alam (12 not out) and Rumana (11) 

- managed to reach double figures. 

In pursuit of 125, Comilla lost 

opening batsman Imrul Kayes 

(nine), who was dismissed by 

Rajshahi spinner Mehedi Hasan 

Miraz. However, Shehzad and Samuels 

ensured there would be no 

worries in their chase as the second 

wicket partnership added 90 runs. 

Earlier, Rajshahi made a flying 

start after electing to bat first. But 

following the departure of Mominul 

Haque (20) and Nurul Hasan (17), 

Rajshahi somewhat lost their way. 

Pakistan spinner Sana Mir took 

three wickets in her three overs 

conceding just five runs while pacer 

Aiman Anwar took two wickets 

giving away only nine runs in her 

four-over spell. 

Chasing 45 runs, Pakistan 

cruised to victory in 9.5 overs losing 

only one wicket, that of opening 

batter Ayesha Zafar (two). The 

other opener Javeria Khan remained 

unbeaten on 26 off 31 balls 

with four boundaries while Iram 

Javed was not out at the other end 

with 17 runs. 

Bangladesh spinner Khadij-tul 

Kubra picked up the only wicket to 

fall. 

Bangladesh, currently fourth 

in the six-team points table with 

four points from as many games, 

take on Sri Lanka in their final 

round-robin match this Saturday at 

the same venue. 

DT 


SCORECARD 

RAJSHAHI KINGS R B 

Mominul lbw b Rashid 20 17 

Nurul c Rashid b Mashrafe 17 13 

Sabbir c Kayes b Nabil 8 12 

Patel lbw b Saifuddin 4 11 

Miraz c Liton b Saifuddin 7 10 

Franklin not out 44 31 

Sammy c Liton b Saifuddin 0 1 

Farhad c Rashid b Mashrafe 13 14 

Abul not out 4 11 

Extras (b 1, lb 5, w 1) 7 

Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 124 


1-38 (Mominul), 2-46 (Nurul), 3-50 

(Sabbir), 4-52 (Patel), 5-59 (Miraz), 6-59 

(Sammy), 7-78 (Farhad) 

Bowling 

Mashrafe 4-0-24-2, Shahadat 4-0-41-0, 

Nabil 3-0-14-1, Rashid 4-0-16-1, Saifuddin 

3-0-12-3, Shanto 2-0-11-0 

COMILLA VICTORIANS R B 

Kayes c Sabbir b Miraz 9 18 

Shehzad c Franklin b Farhad 46 45 

Samuels not out 55 41 

Latif not out 7 10 

Extras (lb 4, w 2, nb 2) 8 

Total (2 wickets; 18.4 overs) 125 


1-16 (Kayes), 2-106 (Shehzad) 

Bowling 

Sami 4-1-19-0, Miraz 3-0-27-1, Nazmul 

3.4-0-31-0, Patel 2-0-14-0, Abul 1-0-9-0, 

Farhad 4-0-14-1, Franklin 1-0-7-0 

The Victorians won by eight wickets 

MoM: Mohammad Saifuddin (CV) 

Sabbir Rahman (eight), Samit 

Patel (four) and Miraz (seven) were 

all dismissed cheaply, making 

things difficult for the batting side. 

However, former New Zealand 

all-rounder James Franklin, playing 

his maiden BPL 4 match, struck 

a blistering unbeaten 44-run knock 

off just 31 balls. 

Comilla youngster Mohammad 

Saifuddin picked up 3/12 from his 

three overs while skipper Mashrafe 

bin Mortaza took two wickets. • 

Only the top two teams will progress 

to the grand finale, scheduled 

to be held in the Thai capital this 

Sunday. • 

BRIEF SCORE 

PAKISTAN 45/1 in 9.5 overs (Javeria 

26*, Javed 17, Kubra 1/18) beat 

BANGLADESH 44 in 15.3 overs 

(Jahanara 12*, Sana 3/5, Aiman 2/9) by 

nine wickets 

POINTS TABLE 

Teams M W L Pts 

India 3 3 0 6 

Pakistan 4 3 1 6 

Sri Lanka 3 2 1 4 

Bangladesh 4 2 2 4 

Thailand 3 0 3 0 

Nepal 3 0 3 0

DT 

26 


Sport 

People surround a church during a mass in memoriam of the players of Brazilian team Chapecoense killed in a plane crash in the Colombian mountains, in Chapeco, in Santa Catarina on Tuesday 

Football mourns Brazilian players killed in air crash 

• AFP, Medellín 

Emotional tributes were paid yesterday 

to the Brazilian football 

team Chapecoense Real that was 

virtually wiped out in a plane crash 

in the Colombian mountains that 

killed 71 people. 

The charter plane, a British 

Aerospace 146, reported electrical 

problems just before the crash 

as it arrived in Medellin where 

Chapecoense were to play in the 

Copa Sudamericana final. 

But a Colombian military source 

said the airliner may have run out 

of fuel. “It is very suspicious that 

Messi was on 

same plane before 

• Agencies 

Lionel Messu was recently on the 

same aircraft which tragically 

crashed in Medellin whilst carrying 

the Chapecoense football team, according 

reports in Catalonia. 

The chartered flight was transporting 

the players and staff to Colombia 

for their Copa Sudamerica 

2016 final. 

However, an electricity failure 

caused it to go down just 

outside the airport and the local 

rescue teams are still working on 

the site. • 

despite the impact there was no 

explosion. That reinforces the theory 

of the lack of fuel,” the source 

told AFP. 

The weather at the time of the 

disaster was bad. 

Six people miraculously 

survived the crash Monday 

night. Three of the survivors 

were footballers, but goalkeeper 

Jackson Follmann had his right leg 

amputated, said the San Vicente 

Foundation Hospital outside Medellin. 

Two flight crew and a journalist 

following Chapecoense for the 

game against Medellin also escaped. 

Brazil ordered three days of national 

mourning for the team. 

Fans flocked to the Chapecoense 

stadium in Brazil to mourn the 

team, who have emerged from nowhere 

over the past two years to 

take South American football by 

storm. 

Other Brazilian clubs have offered 

them players so they can 

carry on competing. Special funds 

have also been set up. 

Football legends Pele and Maradona 

and current superstars Lionel 

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo led 

tributes to the Chapecoense team. 

Ronaldo joined Real Madrid 

teammates in a minute’s silence for 

the Brazilian team. 

“The pain is terrible. Just as we 

had made it, I will not say to the 

top, but to have national prominence, 

a tragedy like this happens,” 

club vice-president Ivan Tozzo told 

Globo SporTV. 

“It is very difficult, a very great 

tragedy.” 

Chapecoense were on their way 

to play Atletico Nacional of Medellin 

in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana 

final. 

The two black box recorders 

have been found but no immediate 

Nacional ask for Chapecoense to be 

declared Sudamericana champions 

• Agencies 

Atletico Nacional have asked that 

Chapecoense be awarded the Copa 

Sudamericana title after a plane 

carrying the Brazilian team crashed 

on route to Colombia. 

The Chapecoense team were 

travelling to play Atletico Nacional 

in Medellin, Colombia, in the first 

leg of their maiden Copa Sudamericana 

final before an electrical failure 

caused their plane to crash, 

killing 71 out of the 77 passengers 

on board. 

Chapecoense were scheduled 

to play Atletico Nacional yesterday 

this week after beating Cerro Porteno 

in the semi-finals of the Copa 

Sudamericana. 

However a source close to the 

South American Football Federation 

said the match was unlikely 

to played after Atletico Nacional 

called on the federation to take the 

unprecedented move of awarding 

the trophy Chapecoense. 

The Colombian club confirmed 

they had asked CONMEBOL to 

award the Copa Sudamericana trophy 

to the Brazilian club in an official 

statement. 

“Pain overwhelms our hearts 

and invades our thinking in mourning. 

It has been unfortunate hours 

in which we have been dismayed 

by news that we never wanted to 

hear. The accident of our football 

brothers, Chapecoense, will mark 

us for life and will leave an indelible 

mark on Latin-American and 

world football,” said a statement. • 

Brazilian town 

grieves loss 

• Reuters, Chapeco 

AFP 

details were given. 

The dead included most of the 

team and 20 Brazilian journalists 

traveling to cover the match. 

Four people did not turn up for 

the flight including a journalist and 

two politicians. 

“It’s one of those things in life. 

Only God knows why I ended up 

staying behind,” said Luciano Buligon, 

the mayor of Chapeco in 

southern Brazil. 

Crying, Plinio Filho, the head 

of the club’s advisory council, recalled 

the players telling him they 

were off to “chase a dream” as they 

left.• 

Thousands of grieving fans in green 

and white filled the Chapecoense 

stadium in remote southern Brazil 

on Tuesday, singing their team’s 

praises and chanting one by one 

the names of players who lost their 

lives in a plane crash a day earlier. 

“We are champions!” they cried 

as club staff and relatives of the deceased 

joined hands in a circle at 

midfield, part of an impromptu ceremony 

that swung between mourning 

for the lives lost and pride in the 

unlikely feats of their fallen heroes. •

Gopalganj all set for 

top-flight football 


The Bangladesh Premier 

League returns to Gopalganj 

for the first time this season 

with the country’s fifth topflight 

venue, Sheikh Fazlul 

Haque Moni Stadium, all set 

to host the 18th round, starting 

from today. 

Bottom-placed Uttar 

Baridhara Club will take on 

fellow strugglers Team BJMC 

at 3pm - the first professional 

football match to be held in the 

southern part of the country. 

Bangladesh Football Federation 

added Gopalganj as the 

fifth venue after the first phase. 

Following 17 rounds of action 

at four different venues 

– Dhaka, Chittagong, Mymensingh 

and Sylhet – only one 

round, meaning six matches, 

will now be played in Gopalganj 

before the league moves 

back to Dhaka. 

With only five more rounds 

left, the upcoming matches 

are going to be crucial for the 

leading and bottom sides. The 

title race is pretty much a twohorse 

race now between the 

two Abahanis. Abahani Limited 

(39 points) sit comfortably 

at the top of the 12-team 

points table with a five-point 

lead over their namesake, 

Chittagong Abahani [34]. 

Abahani will face Mohammedan 

Sporting Club in the 

season’s last Dhaka derby this 

Tuesday - the last game to be 

held in Gopalganj. • 

Sport 27 

DT 


Zamal sole representative 

in Panasonic Open India 


The $400,000 Panasonic Open 

India gets underway today at 

Delhi Golf Club with Zamal 

Hossain Mollah the only participant 

from Bangladesh. 

Defending champion Chiragh 

Kumar of India will headline 

the sixth edition of the 

Panasonic Open India alongside 

countryman Jeev Milkha 

Sinngh, S Chikkarangappa 

and China’s Liang Wen-chong, 

who is making a welcome return 

to the country since his 

memorable victory at the historic 

venue in 2008. • 

Access maintain solo lead 


Despite a draw, Access Chess 

Club continued their solo lead 

at the top of the Marcel First 

Division Chess League 2016 

after the end of the eighthround 

games at the Bangladesh 

Chess Federation hallroom 

yesterday. 

Access CC, comprising Saiful 

Islam Chowdhury, Anustoop 

Biswas, Dewan Shahidul 

Amin and Asadul Haq, drew 

with Sheikh Russel Chess Club 

by 2-2 points. 

The leaders earned 13 

points out of seven games 

to top the table while Hasan 

Memorial Chess Club, who 

beat Kasparov Chess Club 4-0, 

are placed at second with 12 

points. Sheikh Russel CC remained 

third with 11 points.• 

New Formula 

One world 

champion 

Nico Rosberg 

poses for 

selfies with 

fans during a 

press event 

at his home 

town AFP 

CRICKET 

CHANNEL 9, SONY SIX 

5:45PM 

Bangladesh Premier League 

Barisal Bulls v Rajshahi Kings 

DAY’S WATCH 

FOOTBALL 

STAR SPORTS 1 

7:30PM 

Indian Super League 

Goa v Chennai

DT 

28 


Cook and Co to unwind 

before fourth Test 

• AFP, Mohali 

England captain Alastair Cook is 

looking forward to a rare week-long 

break in a hectic playing schedule 

after the heavy third Test defeat 

against India in Mohali Tuesday. 

Virat Kohli’s side won by eight 

wickets to take an unassailable 2-0 

lead in the five-Test series. 

But England’s players are looking 

to unwind with some welcome 

down time in Dubai before making 

the short trip from the Gulf resort 

city to Mumbai for the fourth Test, 

which begins on December 8. 

England add 

Jennings, Dawson 

Uncapped opener Keaton Jennings 

and all-rounder Liam Dawson 

will join the England squad as 

replacements for the remaining 

two Test matches against India, the 

team management said yesterday. 

Jennings, 24, will replace 

Haseeb Hameed, who has been 

ruled out of the remainder of the 

series after fracturing a finger 

during the third Mohali Test which 

England lost by eight wickets to trail 

the five-match rubber 2-0.• 

Pakistan to host 

first Davis Cup 

match in 12 years 

• AFP, Karachi 

Pakistan said yesterday it has received 

the green light to host its 

first Davis Cup tennis tie at home 

for 12 years, after being forced to 

play at neutral venues due to security 

fears. 

International sporting events 

have been rarely held in the country 

which has fought a homegrown 

Islamist insurgency for years, with 

foreign teams citing security fears 

ever since the 9/11 attacks on the 

United States. 

A 2009 militant attack on the 

Sri Lankan cricket team bus in Lahore 

effectively sealed Pakistan’s 

fate, with no international cricket 

fixtures played in the country for 

a further six years until Zimbabwe 

visited in 2015 for a low-profile tour 

that failed to create a breakthrough. 

Instead, Pakistan has been playing 

all major sports at neutral venues, 

with cricket in United Arab 

Emirates and tennis in their opponent’s 

countries. 

“We welcome the decision 

which will help tennis in the country,” 

said PTF secretary Khalid Rehmani.• 

“The break comes at a very good 

time, obviously, after three backto-back 

Test matches,” Cook told 

reporters after the defeat. 

Some of the England squad have 

been on duty since landing in Bangladesh 

on September 30 for three 

one-day internationals followed by 

the 1-1 draw in the Test series there. 

Cook himself has spent just 18 

hours with his new-born daughter 

after dashing home from the Bangladesh 

tour for her birth. 

“We have this week off and I 

think, most people going to Dubai,” 

said Cook. “Mentally it will be 

break from cricket. We will come 

back little bit more refreshed.” 

Cook’s team has endured tough 

couple of months after losing a Test 

to Bangladesh for the first time and 

are now staring at a series defeat 

against top-ranked India. 

But Cook remembered that four 

years ago in India England came 

back from 1-0 down to win the 

four-Test series 2-1 and said that if 

they show greater consistency they 

can still save the series. 

“The challenge is try and put in 

that performance in which consistently, 

over five days, we play well. 

“We have done it in one game (the 

first Test in Rajkot), we haven’t done 

it in the other two,” said Cook. • 

Sport 

Liverpool’s Ben Woodburn celebrates scoring their second goal against Leeds 

United during their EFL Cup quarter-final at Anfield on Tuesday 

REUTERS 

Klopp to keep 

record-breaker 

Woodburn 

under wraps 

• AFP, London 

Jurgen Klopp says he will do his 

best to protect starlet Ben Woodburn 

from the media spotlight after 

he became the youngest scorer in 

Liverpool’s history in their League 

Cup victory over Leeds. 

Woodburn, aged 17 years and 45 

days, edged out Liverpool legend 

Michael Owen by 98 days when he 

struck in the 81st minute of Tuesday’s 

quarter-final with the previous 

record holder sitting in the 

stands. 

He shared the backpage headlines 

with the air crash tragedy in 

Colombia that all but wiped out the 

Brazilian team Chapecoense. 

Klopp also praised other youngsters 

who played in the 2-0 win and 

said he thought the club would be 

able to control the situation. 

“The only problem is I’m afraid 

about all you in the media. That’s 

why I’m so quiet,” said Klopp after 

the victory. “We know how to handle 

the situation.” 

Klopp, who has engineered a revival 

in Liverpool’s fortunes since 

he took over late last year and guided 

them to second in the Premier 

League table, said Woodburn was 

not the finished article.• 

Pakistan’s Hafeez clears bowling action test 

• AFP, Karachi 

Pakistani allrounder Mohammad 

Hafeez was cleared to bowl at the 

international level yesterday, more 

than a year after his ban, cricket’s 

world governing body said as tests 

found his action was within allowed 

limits. 

The 36-year-old was banned 

from bowling for one year in July 

2015 after his action was deemed illegal 

in a Test in Sri Lanka a month 

earlier. 

But yesterday the International 

Cricket Council said Hafeez is now 

eligible to bowl in international 

matches. 

“Following remedial work and 

reassessment (in Brisbane in November), 

the bowling action of Hafeez 

has been found to be legal, and 

the player can now resume bowling 

in international cricket,” the body 

Argentina’s players pose with the trophy after winning the Davis Cup final in 

Zagreb, Croatia on Sunday. Argentina defeated Croatia 3-2 in the Davis 

AP 

said in a statement. 

Hafeez told AFP he was “very 

happy” with the decision. 

“I was missing my bowling in international 

matches and this clearance 

was very important for me as I 

can now contribute as an allrounder,” 

he said. 

ICC regulations allow bowlers to 

bend their bowling arm by 15 degrees, 

but anything beyond that is 

deemed illegal. 

Argentina’s Davis Cup 

winners return 

• Reuters, Buenos Aires 

Argentina’s Davis Cup champions 

returned to a heroes’ welcome 

in Buenos Aires on Tuesday after 

clinching their maiden title with a 

stunning 3-2 win over Croatia at the 

weekend. 

Injury-prone 2009 U.S. Open 

champion Juan Martin Del Potro 

led a spectacular final day comeback 

against the hosts that delighted 

the massed ranks of Argentine 

fans, including soccer legend Diego 

Hafeez was first reported for illegal 

action in November 2014 and 

was suspended after a bowling test. 

He was cleared in April last year, 

but despite remedial measures his 

action was reported for a second 

time in June 2015. Under ICC rules if 

a bowler is reported twice within two 

years he is banned for 12 months. Pakistan’s 

one-day performance slid after 

Hafeez and fellow spinner Saeed 

Ajmal were reported in 2014. • 

Maradona, who witnessed the final 

at Arena Zagreb. 

“I have achieved things throughout 

my career that have filled me 

with pride and my dreams came true 

but with this beautiful cup, I will 

sleep well,” Del Potro told a news 

conference in the Argentine capital. 

Del Potro won a silver medal at 

the Rio Olympics in August and 

played through the pain barrier as 

he rallied from two sets down with 

a broken finger to level the tie in 

Zagreb on Sunday.•

Downtime 

29 


DT 

CROSSWORD 

ACROSS 

1 Public speaker (6) 

5 Enemy (3) 

7 Female fox (5) 

8 Smiled radiantly (6) 

10 Fresh (3) 

12 Lacerated (4) 

13 Consume (3) 

14 Full extent (4) 

16 Corrosion (4) 

17 Old cloth measure (3) 

18 Woody plant (4) 

20 Church seat (3) 

23 Admit to holy orders (6) 

24 Rim (5) 

25 Sheltered side (3) 

26 Religious period (6) 

DOWN 

1 Spheres (4) 

2 Becomes less intense (6) 

3 Not concealed (5) 

4 Be carried (4) 

5 Marsh (3) 

6 United (3) 

9 Filled trench around 

castle (4) 

11 Pale (3) 

14 Snow vehicle (4) 

15 Delight (6) 

16 Corded fabric (3) 

17 Did wrong (5) 

18 Roman garment (4) 

19 Insect (4) 

21 Day before (3) 

22 Tiny (3) 

CODE-CRACKER 

How to solve: Each number in our 

CODE-CRACKER grid represents a 

different letter of the alphabet. For 

example, today 20 represents Y so fill Y 

every time the figure 20 appears. 

You have two letters in the control 

grid to start you off. Enter them in the 

appropriate squares in the main grid, 

then use your knowledge of words to 

work out which letters go in the missing 

squares. 

Some letters of the alphabet may not 

be used. 

As you get the letters, fill in the other 

squares with the same number in the 

main grid, and the control grid. Check 

off the list of alphabetical letters as you 

identify them. 

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

CALVIN AND HOBBES 

SUDOKU 

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the 

numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must 

contain all nine digits with no number repeating. 

PEANUTS 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS 

CODE-CRACKER 

CROSSWORD 

DILBERT 

SUDOKU

30 


DT 

Showtime 

TV artists protest, demand end of 

‘malpractices’ 

Tilda Swinton has a 

reason for not liking 

Harry Potter films 

• Showtime Desk 

With the slogan “Shilpey baachi 

shilpo baachai” (Living in art, 

liberating it), Bangladeshi actors, 

directors and crew who work 

for television formed a day-long 

protest yesterday at the Central 

Shahid Minar in the capital. 

Through a five-point demand, they 

urged the government to end some 

“malpractices” which existed in 

TV industry. 

Organised by Federation 

of Televison Professional 

Organisation (FTPO), the rally saw 

participation of members of seven 

other organisations including 

Artist Association, Directors’ 

Guild, Producer Association and 

Screenwriters’ Association. 

In the gathering, the FTPO 

leaders declared a five-point 

demand. Their demands included 

to stop the airing of foreign TV 

series dubbed in Bangla on private 

TV channels, TV officials not any 

outside client or agency should 

handle purchasing and transmitting 

of TV programmes, re-settlement 

of minimum and logical rate of AIT 

in TV industry, prevention of illegal 

foreign artists and crew and to stop 

the airing of local TV commercial 

on foreign channels through 

downlink channels. 

In their demand, they 

suggested that foreign artists 

and crew can work on special 

occasions if they are registered 

with the relevant organisations 

upon the government’s nod. 

The day-long rally commenced 

through placing wreaths by the 

entrants at the Central Shahid 

Minar at 11:00am. Later, leaders of 

the organisations delivered their 

speeches. • 

Chaiwala stars in a music video 


With sharp cheekbones and blue 

eyes, Arshad Khan, the Pakistani 

tea vendor, took the internet 

by storm earlier this year. His 

photo surfaced around social 

media, which was captured by 

photographer Jiah Ali and soon 

#ChaiWala started trending on 

Twitter. 

Arshad became an internet 

Photo: Sazzad Hossain 

sensation among the Indian 

subcontinental ladies. After 

landing a modelling job- he went 

on to give interviews on Pakistani 

national televisions, where he 

expressed his ambitions of making 

it big as a model. Later on, even 

SRK made comments on him, 

wishing him the best. 

The blue-eyed vendor 

turned model recently made an 

appearance on the music video of 

a tack titled, “Chaiwala,” by Sid 

Mr Rapper. The video has been 

viral in its own right so far, but the 

reactions are a bit polarized. Some 

are saying that the rapper is making 

fun of the naïve Arshad, other 

are saying that it was just for the 

fun. The song will probably never 

termed as a classic for its music, but 

it does have a catchy beat with a lot 

of comic relief shots. • 


Its normal to have opinions 

about Hogwarts, the British 

school where young witches and 

wizards were sent to learn about 

all things magical, for Harry 

Potter aficionados. 

However, Tilda Swinton 

seems to have a beef with 

Hogwarts due to its portrayal of 

boarding schools. 

Recounting her time at West 

Heath Girls’ School in Kent 

during an interview with Scots 

magazine, the Michael Clayton 

actress said, “I think they are 

a very cruel setting in which 

to grow up and I don’t feel 

children benefit from that type 

of education.” 

“Children need their parents. 

That’s why I dislike films like 

Harry Potter, which tend to 

romanticise such places,” she 

added. 

“Several pupils’ fates are 

also somewhat pre-ordained at 

Hogwarts, which is fine if your 

destiny is to slay dragons, but 

not so great in the more prosaic 

real world. I grew up under 

privileged circumstances and 

was expected to marry a duke,” 

Swinton explained. 

“I spent a lot of time and 

energy making certain that I 

would not find myself living a 

life that had been pre-ordained 

for me.” 

The actress is passionate 

about education, to the extent 

that she even set up her own 

independent school in 2013 

with an emphasis on “art based 

practical learning.” •

Showtime 

31 


DT 

From fat to fit: Aamir Khan’s dramatic 

body transformation for Dangal 


Even when you are known as 

Mr Perfectionist, there are a few 

challenges that seem impossible 

to achieve, even if you are Aamir 

Khan. At first, it seemed as if the 

actor had finally met his match. 

Aamir had to portray the various 

stages of wrestler Mahavir Singh 

Phogat’s life in Dangal, a biopic 

directed by Nitesh Tiwari. 

The logical thing would have 

been to shoot the young stages 

first and maybe put on a body 

suit for the rest. But not if you 

are Aamir Khan. According to 

him, there isn’t any fun in that. 

Mr Perfectionist told the director 

that he wanted to put on weight 

and act out the old, overweight 

Mahavir and later shed off the 

extra weight to play the fitter and 

younger days of the wrestler. The 

journey was captured on film and 

recently released on social media. 

There times when even Aamir 

lost hope but at the end of it, he 

emerged with a body fit enough to 

compete with younger actors. 

“Though I went through body 

building to get a certain look for 

my film, this (Dangal) one was 

one of the most dramatic body 

transformations so far. The film 

has two phases. For one part, I had 

to put on weight. So, I weighed 96 

kgs with 38 percent body fat and 

that I had to reduce to 9 percent 

body fat within five months. That 

was a huge task,” Aamir said as 

he believes this transformation to 

be the most dramatic one in his 

career. 

He added: “I would like to 

mention that putting on weight 

and losing it so fast is very 

unhealthy. I did it for my film 

under the supervision of experts, 

but it is very unhealthy for any 

regular person.” 

When asked why he didn’t 

using a bodysuit to play the 

character, the actor replied, “When 

you put on weight, it affects your 

breathing and body language. 

That naturally reflects on your 

performance. You cannot get that 

from a bodysuit.” 

He talked about the fabulous 

time he had when putting on 

weight: “I ate everything that I was 

not supposed to eat otherwise. I 

had samosa, vada pav, chocolate, 

cakes, brownies… I indulged in 

everything. Then when I had 

to lose the weight, I had a very 

different diet of 25 gms of upma 

and papaya. After gym, a glass of 

protein shake.” 

Aamir Khan will be seen as 

Mahavir Singh Phogat, father of 

wrestler Geeta Phogat (winner 

of India’s first ever gold medal in 

wrestling at the Commonwealth 

Games in 2010). The biopic is set to 

release on December 23. • 

Source: The Indian Express 

Ocean’s Eleven 

HBO, 6:45 PM 

Danny Ocean and his eleven 

accomplices plan to rob 

three Las Vegas casinos 

simultaneously. 

Cast: George Clooney, Matt 

Damon, Andy Garcia 

Despicable Me 

Sony PIX, 8:56 PM 

When a criminal mastermind 

uses a trio of orphan girls as 

pawns for a grand scheme, he 

finds their love is profoundly 

changing him for the better. 

Cast: Steve Carell, Jason 

Segel, Russell Brand 

Me, Myself & Irene 

Star Movies, 4:24 PM 

A nice-guy cop with 

dissociative identity disorder 

must protect a woman on 

the run from a corrupt exboyfriend 

and his associates. 

Cast: Jim Carrey, Renee 

WHAT TO WATCH 

Zellweger, Chris Cooper 

The Gambler 

WB, 3:21 PM 

Lit professor and gambler 

Jim Bennett’s debt causes 

him to borrow money from 

his mother and a loan shark. 

Further complicating his 

situation is his relationship 

with one of his students. 

Will Bennett risk his life for a 

second chance? 

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Jessica 

Lange, John Goodman 

Megamind 

Zee Studio, 2:50 PM 

The supervillain Megamind 

finally defeats his nemesis, 

the superhero Metro Man. But 

without a hero, he loses all 

purpose and must find new 

meaning to his life. 

Cast: Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, 

Brad Pitt • 

Kanye’s medical breakdown 


About a week ago, rapper Kanye West had a “nervous 

breakdown” ... which was probably triggered by 

the anniversary of his mother’s death. People who 

are very close to the artist told TMZ that “he was 

increasingly becoming a powder keg of 

emotions in the weeks leading up 

to his hospitalisation at the UCLA 

Medical Center, fuelled by what 

we’re told was a shocking lack 

of sleep and the pressures of 

touring, running his businesses, 

parenting and providing emotional 

support to his wife who was 

suffering her own emotional trauma 

after the Paris robbery.” 

His mother’s funeral was on 

November 20, the same day he cancelled 

his show at the L A Forum. The next day, 

he cancelled the rest of the tour and hours 

later, he suffered the breakdown. 

Reports suggest that Kanye became 

paranoid when he was taken to UCLA, refusing 

for a time to even let doctors touch him. He also 

ranted that people were trying to ruin his marriage. 

Later the rapper was sedated and is being treated 

by doctors. Doctors hoped to release him two days 

ago but it has been over two and the doctors are yet to 

confirm a new release date. •

32 


DT 

Back Page 

HUAWEI PLANS TO BE TOP SMARTPHONE 

BRAND IN BANGLADESH BY 2018 PAGE 12 

TV ARTISTS PROTEST, DEMAND 

END OF ‘MALPRACTICES’ PAGE 30 

Team Icarus wins Digital Khichuri Challenge 

• Mahadi Al Hasnat 

“Onimikh” - an idea to help young 

Bangladeshis who are seeking reflections 

of their identity in modern 

global culture won the Digital 

Khichuri Challenge, a new media 

and digital competition. 

The idea pitched by Team 

Icarus, one of the six main competitors, 

was declared the winner and 

was awarded with $7,500 by the organisers 

yesterday. 

The idea of the team was about 

a digital world that embraces Bangladeshi 

culture and heritage and 

appeals to young Bangladeshis 

seeking reflections of their identity 

in modern global culture. 

Abuzz that prevailed at the venue 

of the Digital Khichuri Challenge 

at Moar Coworking Event Space in 

Banani for last three days came to 

end yesterday. 

The three-day competition, 

the first of its kind competition in 

South Asia, invited young Bangladeshis 

to brainstorm to develop 

new solutions and produce new 

digital platforms using the existing 

technologies. 

The competition was co-sponsored 

by Facebook and the United 

Nations Development Programme 

(UNDP), with support from Google 

and organised by Affinis Labs and 

Al Jazeera’s social media network. 

The event came up as a platform 

to help country’s youngsters 

ICT State Minister Junaid Ahmed Palak snaps a selfie with the participants and organisers of the Digital Khichuri Challenge at 

Moar Coworking Event Space in Banani, Dhaka yesterday 

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU 

to showcase their creativity and 

innovation through creative storytelling 

with ability to bring the rich 

traditions of peaceful coexistence 

under the spotlight. 

A total of twenty-five young 

Bangladeshis, ranging from social 

entrepreneurs, programmers and 

grassroots leaders to designers, 

storytellers and students, have 

competed in the specially designed 

competition to develop the new 

platforms which will promote diversity, 

peace and tolerance in 

Bangladesh. 

“With it’s rich blend of lentils, 

rice and spice, the magic of khichuri 

comes from the balanced 

combination of the right different 

elements into one nourishing dish. 

This is a tasty symbol that exemplifies 

the strength of the diverse 

Bangladeshi cultural landscape, 

and we’ve named our event the 

Digital Khichuri Challenge to encourage 

creative Bangladeshis to 

Participants at the Buet Robotics Society’s Robo Carnival calibrate their line-following robots ahead of a race yesterday at 

Buet auditorium. The three-day carnival ends today with a showcase of industrial robots 

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN 

Robo-race for glory 


Lively seminars, thrilling robo race 

and practice sessions of the two 

big events – Industrial Automation 

Challenge and Rescue Bot – were 

the major attractions at the BRS 

Robo Carnival yesterday, the second 

day of the first-ever showcase 

of such kind. 

The three-day long BRS Robo 

Carnival 2016 kicked off on Tuesday 

evening at the Bangladesh University 

of Engineering and Technology 

(Buet) auditorium, with a 

goal to familiarise and motivate 

college and university students 

across the country about robotics. 

The morning session began yesterday 

with Race for Glory – the 

autonomous ground-wheeled line 

follower robot-race. Twenty-two 

teams from different universities 

participated in the event. 

There was also a workshop on 

create unique stories and platforms,” 

the organisers said at the 

programme. 

“Its Okay”- an idea by Team 

Rhombus received $5000 for the 

second place and “Banglawash” 

by Team Nameless received $2500 

third place. 

The idea of “Its Okay” was to 

build bridges between those struggling 

with mental health issues and 

the resources they need to heal by 

allowing them to share stories, create 

community, and connect with 

experts. 

On the other hand, “Banglawash” 

was plan of a digital platform 

designed to alleviate apathy 

among Bangladeshi youth and increase 

levels of empathy and solidarity. 

State Minister for ICT Zunaid 

Ahmed Palak awarded the winning 

teams at the gala event yesterday. 

The organisers will work closely 

with the winning teams for at 

least six months to provide mentorship 

and access to stakeholder 

networks and resources (where 

needed), guide project business 

development, and help successful 

candidates generate publicity and 

attract additional partners, investors 

and allies. 

“We had organised such programmes 

in Manila three days ago, 

in Indonesia in summer and in California 

in spring. Such initiative 

also took place in Kenya in August, 

Jakarta in June, Jordan in January 

and Abu Dhabi one and a half years 

ago,” said Shahed Amanullah, the 

co-founder and director of Affinis 

Labs. 

“This is the first of its kind in 

South Asia, we have further plans 

to encourage rural Bangladeshi 

youths and engage them with such 

initiative in the future so that they 

can properly utilise inherent merit 

and creativity,” he told the Dhaka 

Tribune. • 

Basic Robotics. The workshop was 

only open for college students. 

Around 220 robotics enthusiasts 

from established Dhaka colleges 

gathered for the workshop. 

A seminar titled “Global Problem, 

Local Solution” was conducted 

in the afternoon by noted Bangladeshi 

digital solution specialist 

Gorky Sakhawat Sobhan, who is 

the director of Monico Technologies. 

The final part of the day kick 

started the biggest events of the 

fest – practice sessions for the Industrial 

Automation Challenge 

and Rescue Bot competitions. The 

competitors had to come up with 

solutions for real life issues using 

automation technology. 

The three-day-long carnival, 

featuring 400 young talents from 

all over the country, is being organised 

by Buet Robotics Society 

(BRS). The carnival ends today. • 

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, 

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

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