SECOND EDITION “The occupiers can

only terrorise civilians.

That’s all they can
do. But it won’t help
them.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky
on Russian missile strikes across
Ukraine

DHA K A F RI DAY MA RCH 1 0, 2023

Regd. No. DA 781 Vol. XXXIII No. 55 Falgun 25, 1429 BS Shaban 17, 1444 Hijri 16 Pages Plus Toggle : Tk 15.00

Writing was Tigers show

authority
on the wall
Negligence, greed of owners
in win over
England
ABDULLAH AL MEHDI from
ultimately led to Siddikbazar Chattogram

tragedy, say police Bangladesh’s Bangladesh put in a

Najmul Hossain massive effort with the
Shanto notched ball to come back into the
his third T20I fifty game after being put under
as the Tigers won the cosh before batters
the three-match showed an approach that
signaled the coming of
T20I series opener
a new Bangladesh in the
against England T20I format, leading the
by six wickets at Tigers to a convincing
the Zahur Ahmed six-wicket win against
Chowdhury Stadium world champions England
in Chattogram in the first T20I of the
STAFF CORRESPONDENT yesterday. The first bilateral T20I series
24-year-old seemed between the two sides.
The loss of at least 22 lives in Tuesday’s explosion at largely in control Either the way Jos
Siddikbazar in Gulistan area is the result of sheer greed and during his 30-ball Buttler came out of his
negligence of the owners of the building and the shop in its shell after being dropped
51 -- his second
basement, found primary investigation of the police. with England looking good
As per the Rajuk-approved design, the basement was fifty on the trot that to post 200 or the way
supposed to be used as car parking. was laced with Bangladesh got back into
But the building owners, without complying with the eight fours -- that the game could be the story
building code, rented it out to a trader who enclosed the helped set the tone of the match. The way some
entire 1,800-square-foot basement with glass, leaving no for Bangladesh’s that some just found their
space for air passage, said police. first T20I win feet on the international
The proprietor of the shop named “Bangladesh Sanitary” against England. stage after being away from
had installed two heavy-duty ACs but those were not serviced the international set-up
since 2010, said DMP’s Additional Commissioner Harun Or PHOTO: FIROZ AHMED
for long period or the way
Rashid. Najmul Hossain Shanto
“It was the responsibility of the building owners to use SEE PAGE 2 COL 5
the basement for car parking. There was no air ventilation
system there and those who rented the basement never

“It was the responsibility of the building

owners to use the basement for car Deaths won’t stop 2010
Rajuk not sure if
parking. There was no air ventilation
system there and those who rented the
basement never raised any questions.” as justice a mirage
Fire at Nimtoli killed
123 people, no case
was filed
building design
DMP’s Additional Commissioner
Harun Or Rashid
PARTHA PRATIM BHATTACHARJEE
and ZYMA ISLAM
to show up at court to testify because
of the fear of reprisal,” said Jyotirmoy
2012
Tazreen Fashion fire was followed
Barua, a human rights expert. killed 112, owner MOSTAFA YOUSUF
raised any questions,” he said at a press briefing at DMP Over the past decade, there has not “The court is still only a place for politically awarded
Media Centre yesterday. been a single conviction in any major the rich and the powerful,” he said. Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha still doesn’t know
“Their negligence caused so many deaths and injuries. fire, and in most cases, the affected Khandaker Golam Moazzem, 2013 whether the seven-storey building in which an explosion
So, the building owners and the shop owner cannot avoid establishments went back to business research director at the Centre for Rana Plaza tragedy on Tuesday claimed 22 lives was constructed as per the
responsibility.” as usual the minute media attention Policy Dialogue, said the government killed 1,140, only one approved design.
The additional commissioner at the briefing disclosed the shifted. is still at the stage where it is assessing in jail The Detective Branch of police obtained copies of two
arrest of two building owners, Wahidur Rahman, 46, and his Legal experts said the main reason the safety concerns at factories. designs from the owners: the one from 1983 mentions
brother Matiur Rahman, 36, and proprietor of Bangladesh for this is that the victims are poor and Apart from garment industries, no
2016 that it is a five-storey commercial building, but the other,
Sanitary Abdul Motaleb Mintu. vulnerable and the perpetrators are remedial steps have been taken for Tampaco Foils fire which is likely to be the revised design, is illegible.
They were held under section 54 of the Code of Criminal influential enough to manage the cases. any other industries or commercial killed 34, factory The revised design might have mentioned that it is a
Procedure, which allows police to arrest anyone without Between 2020 and 2022, there reopened seven-storey building, but officials do not know that for
establishments.
warrants. were 13,726 fires in industrial and sure.
A case over so many people’s deaths and injuries for “We do not see them [government] 2019
commercial establishments. The take any big steps and even after Hamidul Islam, director (Zone-05) at Rajuk, said the
their negligence would also be filed anytime, said Mashiur number includes cases of fires caused large disasters, most [factories or
Fire in FR Tower killed technical committee was looking for the documents and
Rahman, deputy commissioner of DB’s Lalbagh division. by boiler explosions or gas leaks. 26, investigation
Meanwhile, fire service officials recovered a body from the businesses] have been given the a possible revised design to be able to say whether the
site around 12:15pm yesterday.
At least 256 people died in these permission to reopen and operate. ongoing design was followed during construction.
incidents, and of them 13 were “A reason why unsafe factories An official, requesting anonymity, said Rajuk lost
The deceased was Mehedi Hasan Swapan, a manager of
firefighters killed in industrial fires.
2019
the shop in the basement, claimed his brother-in-law Abdus continue to operate is because the Chawkbazar fire killed around 10,000 documents to a termite infestation in 2003.
Sattar Babul. The fires also caused losses worth at Department of Inspection of Factories The files of the ill-fated building could be among those.
least Tk 291 crore. and Establishments and the fire
71, witness deposition Preferring not to be named, a DB officer who is in
After recovering the body, fire service officials said there
were no more bodies trapped in the rubble of the Siddikbazar Yet, the count of convictions is zero. service do not have the power to shut
yet to start the team searching for the documents in Rajuk, said
building. “When it comes to investigations, down factories,” said Moazzem. construction work did not start until 1990 even though
SEE PAGE 2 COL 2 things don’t move. Witnesses refuse SEE PAGE 2 COL 1 SEE PAGE 2 COL 6 SEE PAGE 2 COL 1

MONEY FOR ATMS

FOREX
Tk 9cr of Tk 11.25cr
RESERVES looted from vehicle
SLIP TO SIX-
YEAR LOW recovered: DB
Bangladesh’s 7 people detained
foreign currency
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
reserves have
slipped to a six-year Detectives claimed to have recovered about Tk 9 crore
low of $31.15 billion from the capital’s Khilkhet area yesterday, hours after
after the central robbers looted Tk 11.25 crore from a microbus of a private
bank cleared import security agency in Turag area.
bills to the tune of They also detained seven people, including two
$1.05 billion with directors of Money Plant Link Private Ltd, from different
a number of Asian parts of the capital.
countries, official The money was being taken to Ashulia EPZ area to
figures showed. refill Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited’s auto-teller machines
(ATMs) when the robbery happened.
This means the “We recovered about Tk 9 crore from three trunks and
reserves have fallen seized a microbus from Khilkhet. Drives are underway to
by about 30 percent recover the rest of the money,” said Harun or Rashid, chief
from $44.14 billion of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police,
recorded in March while briefing reporters in Khilkhet in the evening.
last year. However, Money Plant Managing Director Joshoda
The current level Jibon Debnath and Turag Police Station Inspector
of the reserves is (investigation) Shariful Islam said that about Tk 3.90
the lowest since crore was recovered from the three trunks.
the financial year The DB chief said, “It was a planned incident. We will
see why the security agency officials let the robbers take
of 2016-17 when away the money so easily. The robbers had been following
it stood at $33.49 the agency’s transportation of money for a long time. The
billion. staffers of the agency were not carrying any arms.”
Two rescuers at the scene of an explosion at the seven-storey building on North South Road yesterday. Dhaka South City Corporation has put
up a banner on the structure declaring it risky and prohibiting people from entering it. The blast on Tuesday left at least 22 people dead and The robbery took place in Turag area around 7:30am
STORY ON B1
over 100 others injured. PHOTO: PRABIR DAS SEE PAGE 2 COL 5
 City

NEWS
DHAKA FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023

2 FALGUN 25, 1429 BS

Biman training KHALEDA’S JAIL TERM

chief removed
Move comes following
slew of allegations
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Biman removed
Capt Sazid Ahmed
from the post of
chief of training with
immediate effect
yesterday.
He will act as a line
pilot of the Boeing 777-300ER from
now on.
The decision was made following
allegations against Capt Sazid that
include misusing power, giving undue
privileges to his pilot wife Sadia Ahmed
and others, and discriminating against
female cockpit crew members.
The move came after the national
flag carrier on March 6 formed a three-
member investigation committee to
look into alleged irregularities in hiring
pilots for the Boeing 777-300ER and
paying them hefty salaries.
The committee was also asked to
investigate the alleged forgery of pilot
Sadia Ahmed’s HSC certificate.
Biman formed the probe body in
response to a report by The Daily Star
published on March 1.
Headlined “Biman paying for hiring
unqualified Boeing 777 pilots”, the
Law ministry gets petition
for extending suspension
UNB, Dhaka
The law ministry yesterday received a petition from
the home ministry seeking another extension of
the suspension of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s
jail term.
“We have received a file from the home
ministry regarding the extension of Khaleda
Zia’s conditional release. We’ll send it back to the
home ministry with our recommendations,” Law
Minister Anisul Huq told UNB.
Replying to a question on whether the BNP
chief would be allowed to go abroad for treatment
this time, the minister said he still did not see the
file. “But I can say that the previous conditions will
remain in our recommendations.”
Khaleda’s younger brother Shamim Eskandar
submitted a fresh application to the home ministry
seeking an extension of her release period.
In the application, he asked to relax the
conditions of her release and allow taking her
abroad for treatment.
The government extended Khaleda’s
conditional release in two corruption cases several
times.
The former prime minister was sent to Old
Dhaka Central Jail after she was sentenced to five
People search the rubble of a house following a Russian strike in the village of Velyka Vilshanytsia, some 50km from Lviv, Ukraine years imprisonment by a special court in the Zia
yesterday. PHOTO: AFP
Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8,
2018.
She was convicted in the Zia Charitable Trust
ROAD CRASHES corruption case later.
The 77-year-old BNP chief has stayed at her

Funds there, victims yet to

newspaper reported that in February
last year, Biman recruited a batch of
contractual pilots to fly its Boeing 777-
300ERs, claiming that it needed pilots
immediately due to a shortage.
A year later, only five of the batch
of 14 pilots, have taken to the air. The
rest were lost in a quagmire of forged
certificates, incompetence and failed
licensing exams.
Biman spent a huge amount for
their inflated salaries and training, all
of which are now money gone down
the drain.
Biman’s operation manual
mandates that to fly the Boeing 777,
the world’s largest passenger jet in
production, all first officers must
have at least 300 flying hours in the
preceding two years under their belt.
But none of the recruits, including
Sadia, met that criterion.
The Civil Aviation Authority of
Bangladesh (CAAB) called it a “safety
concern” in official correspondence
and even the Prime Minister’s Office
intervened and asked the national
flag carrier to investigate.
According to a document of Biman
SEE PAGE 6 COL 4
get compensation
Trustee board formed for this yet to function fully
TUHIN SHUBHRA ADHIKARY
Although vehicle owners have been giving
money for the fund for road accident
victims since January, the authorities
could not yet start handing out the
compensations yet.
The trustee board, formed in October
2021 for the management of the fund,
could not start full-fledged operations for
several reasons.
The Road Transport and Highways
Division on Tuesday even issued a circular
regarding changes to be made in the board.
These developments came over two
months after the rules of the Road
Transport Act-2018 came into force,
though the absence of the rules was cited
as one of the reasons behind the board, led
by Bangladesh Road Transport Authority
chairman, being non-functional.
BRTA has received several applications
for compensations but could not yet start
giving the money to the victims.
Road transport authority sources said
the money collected for the fund, along with
earlier contributions by vehicle owners,
goes directly to the finance ministry.
BRTA recently wrote to the ministry,
requesting a transfer of the money to the
fund, but it is yet to get a response, the
sources said.
BRTA Chairman Nur Mohammad
Mazumder yesterday told The Daily Star,
“The problems regarding the fund are
almost over. We will call a board meeting
soon.”
Under the Motor Vehicles
Ordinance-1983, victims or their family
members can seek compensation at the
Motor Accident Claim Tribunal for deaths,
injuries, and damage caused to properties
in road crashes.
But the ordinance was repealed after
the Road Transport Act-2018 act came into
force in November 2019, narrowing the
victims’ scope for getting compensation.
In some rare cases, victims file writ
petitions with the High Court for
compensation.
Hundreds of people are killed and
injured in road crashes every year -- a
serious cause of concern for the country.
As per Road Transport Act, the
government will set up a fund for
compensation and treatment, if necessary,
for road crash victims, and a trustee board
will manage the fund and related works.
On October 10, 2021, the government
SEE PAGE 6 COL 4
Gulshan residence since her release. A special team
of her personal physicians has been overseeing her
treatment.
Man gets death penalty
for killing his cousin
after rape
COURT CORRESPONDENT
A Dhaka tribunal yesterday sentenced a man
to death for killing his cousin after rape in the
capital’s Bhasantek in 2018.
Judge Begum Shamsunnahar of Women
and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-5
handed down the verdict.
Md Tariqul Islam Raihan was later sent to jail
with a conviction warrant.
He had raped the girl, a first-year student of
Dhaka’s Pallabi Shahid Zia Degree College, around
9:00am on February 24, 2018.
Raihan then strangled her to death and later
dumped her body at Dhaka’s Airport Railway
Station area.
Following the incident, the girl’s uncle Nurul
Islam filed a case with Dhaka Railway Police Station.
Police then recovered the body and arrested Raihan.

Rajuk not sure

FROM PAGE 1
the original design was approved in
1983. Besides, the construction was
done in various phases.
Tonmoy Das, member
(development control) at Rajuk, told
The Daily Star that the building’s
current holding number was 180/1
and its original holding number was
different.
“Now we are looking for owners
and documents of the nearby
buildings to determine the old
holding number with which we will
search the documents,” he said.
The owner of this building
has died and his sons cannot say
anything about the documents, he
said, adding that their mother was
too old to remember anything about
the documents.
Rajuk formed a committee
convened by Major (retired)
Shamsuddin Ahmed Chowdhury to
decide the fate of the building.
Shamsuddin said the explosion
damaged nine of the 24 columns and
the structure needed to be stabilised
first.
“The committee will conduct
a detailed assessment from an
engineering perspective by Friday.
After that, we will decide whether
the building should be retrofitted or
demolished,” he said.
Deaths won’t stop as justice a mirage
FROM PAGE 1
The deadly fire at the BM Container
Depot in Chattogram’s Sitakunda
on June 4 last year shook the whole
nation with the scale of the disaster
and its sheer human cost. Yet, it has
now become a distant memory.
The fire killed 48, including 10
firefighters, and the depot was up and
running within five months.
The Detective Branch of police
in Chattogram is still investigating
the incident and it is yet to submit a
report. Nobody is in jail in connection
with the incident.
While investigators were dragging
their foot with the probe, there was
another fire at the very depot in
December, indicating lessons were
not learnt.
On July 8, 2021, a fire at a factory
of Hashem Foods and Beverages Ltd
killed 51 people, of whom at least 20
were children.
The children were engaged in
hazardous labour at the factory, and
the gates were locked, preventing
them from escaping the fire.
Hashem Foods and Beverages Ltd
is yet to suffer any consequences. All
its units in Rupganj of Narayanganj
Writing was on the wall
FROM PAGE 1
“We have been conducting the rescue
operation since the morning. So far,
we came to know there are no missing
persons. There is no other body inside
the building,” Md Akhtaruzzaman,
assistant director (Dhaka) of Fire
Service and Civil Defence, told reporters
on the spot.
Besides, another victim of the
Siddikbazar tragedy died at the Sheikh
Hasina National Institute of Burn and
Plastic Surgery.
Yasin Arafat, who was on life support
with 55 percent burns, breathed his
last around 8:00pm, Samanta Lal Sen,
chief coordinator of the institute, told
The Daily Star.
Arafat, 26, of Noakhali’s
Begumganj, used to live with his uncle
in Moghbazar, and worked at the
Bangladesh Sanitary.
Eight others undergoing treatment
at the burn institute are in critical
condition.
The death toll from the blast now
rose to 22.
The incident left over 100 injured
and 29 of them are now undergoing
treatment at Dhaka Medical College
Hospital and Sheikh Hasina National
Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.
POLICE FINDINGS
The explosion took place in the
basement around 4:45pm on Tuesday
and ripped through the seven-storey
are running at full throttle, except
the one that got burnt down.
Owner Abul Hashem and his four
sons were released on bail within a
month of their arrests.
Nearly two years on, the Criminal
Investigation Department is yet to
finish the probe.
Interestingly, a month prior to
the incident, the DIFE had filed a
case with the labour court against
Hashem Foods citing safety rules
violations. Even this trial has not been
completed, said investigators.
On Sept 10, 2016, a boiler exploded
at a foil-producing factory in Tongi’s
BSCIC industrial area killing at least
34 people.
Tampaco Foils Ltd in 2019 started
a “new state of the art plant with most
advanced technology, machinery,
safety and compliance features
ensuring modernaisation and
expansion”, according to its website.
“Every single work-related accident
with injury to a person is one accident
too many!” read the company’s
website, which has no mention of the
34 people who died within its walls.
Officials at Tampaco said nobody
building in Siddikbazar, a major
commercial area in the capital.
The top four floors of the seven-
storey building, known as Queen
Sanitary Market, on North-South Road
were for residential use while the rest
for commercial.
Police said Rajdhani Unnayan
Kartripakkha (Rajuk), the public agency
responsible for coordinating urban
development in Dhaka, approved the
plan for a 10-storey building in 1992.
Haji Mohammad Rezaur Rahman,
the father of arrested Rahman brothers,
first constructed the basement and
ground floor.
He then started an eatery called
Café Queen on the ground floor with
a kitchen in the basement. In 2004, he
constructed six more floors.
This kitchen used to get commercial
gas supply from Titas Gas Transmission
and Distribution Company Limited.
The line was surrendered to Titas in
writing after the café was closed.
But the gas connections to different
floors of the building remained
operational. So the accumulation of
gas from any leakage was possible and
just a spark could lead to an explosion,
police said.
After the closure of the café, the
owner initially rented the basement to
be used as a warehouse and later it was
rented out to the Bangladesh Sanitary
owner.
at the factory has been convicted and
that the police have not been able to
prove anything.
Officer-in-Charge Mohiuddin of
Tongi (east) Police Station does not
even know what happened to this
case. “Following the incident, the
Tongi police station was split into
east and west stations and the case
got lost during the process,” said
Mohiuddin.
Bangladesh Legal Aid Services
Trust, Ain o Salish Kendra, and
others had filed a writ petition with
the High Court seeking its directives
for adequate compensation for the
victims. The writ is still at the hearing
stage, said lawyers.
There is another similar cry for
compensation that went unanswered.
In 2020, the workers of Tazreen
factory spent up to a month on the
sidewalk in front of the National
Press Club demanding that they
be compensated according to
section-121 of the International
Labour Organisation.
The section states that the victims
must be compensated according to
the amount they would have earned
Rezaur Rahman died in 2011, and
his three sons, two daughters and wife
are the current owners.
According to the DB findings, the
septic tank of the building is seemingly
beneath a narrow lane -- not more than
three feet wide -- between the Queen
Sanitary Market and an adjacent five-
storey building.
Outdoor units of heavy-duty ACs of
the shops in the market faced that lane.
None of those ACs were serviced since
2010. They did not clean the septic
tank of the building ever.
Had there been a car parking in the
basement, there would have been an air
ventilation system in place and such an
explosion might not have happened,
they said.
Mentioning some other possible
reasons for the explosion, police also said
as the septic tank was not cleaned for a
long time and it is possible that biogas
was deposited and caused the explosion.
There were five shops on the ground
floor while the first floor housed two
clothing shops and a sanitary shop.
If the ACs in those were not serviced
regularly or had any faults, that also
could have caused the blast.
Harun Or Rashid said, “We talked to
the present owners of the building who
do not even know where the building’s
septic tank is located.
“Our investigation will continue
taking everything into consideration.”
in their remaining working lives.
Shahbagh police eventually
charged truncheon on them and beat
up the handicapped workers to chase
them away.
Meanwhile, the owner of the
factory was able to climb the political
ladder. He joined ruling party politics
in 2018 and in May last year, he
was elected president of Matshajibi
League’s Dhaka city north unit.
At the court, the trial goes on at
snail’s pace with the recording of a
handful of witnesses’ testimonies in
seven years.
On Dec 24, 2021, a fire broke out in
the engine room of MV Abhijan-10 on
the Sugandha river in Jhalakathi. At
least 41 died.
Vessel owner Hamzalal Sheikh and
two others were arrested but they are
now out on bail.
Even in the case of the Rana
Plaza collapse, the worst disaster in
Bangladesh’s history that caused
1,140 deaths, only one out of the 41
people accused is in jail.
The charges were framed in 2016
but none of the 40 could be arrested
in six long years.
Tigers show authority in win
FROM PAGE 1
dominated Mark Wood early could
all be cited as singularly memorable
events of the game as Bangladesh won
the first T20I at Chattogram’s Zahur
Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.
However, all those things happening
during the same game brought a much-
needed collective effort to the forefront
in a confidence-boosting victory.
Having won the toss, skipper Shakib
Al Hasan elected to field, citing that
they were not quite sure what total
they needed. During the first few overs
of the England innings, the decision
appeared to backfire.
Buttler and Phil Salt started steadily
and soon switched to aggressive mode,
with two dropped catches in the sixth
over -- one by Nasum Ahmed off his
own bowling before Shakib dropped
a sitter to let Buttler off on 19 -- saw
England put on 51 in the Powerplay.
And they were looking for more.
Salt departed in the 10th over,
getting the slightest nick through to
Liton Das and not even realising he had
done so until umpire raised his finger.
His partnership with Buttler had set the
tone and, although Dawid Malan was
dismissed cheaply by Shakib, Buttler
kept powering through, hitting to back-
Tk 9cr of Tk 11.25cr looted
FROM PAGE 1
when officials of Money Plant were
heading towards Ashulia EPZ in a
microbus from Mirpur DOHS, with
Tk 11.25 crore in four trunks, Morshed
Alam, deputy commissioner of DMP’s
Uttara Division, told reporters at his
office.
There was a manager, a supervisor,
two guards and a driver of Money
Plant in the vehicle. When it reached
near Uttara Centre metro rail station,
seven-eight men in a black microbus
intercepted the vehicle, he added.
“The door of the microbus was so
weak that the robbers dislodged it.
They forced three passengers and the
driver to get down. After driving the
microbus a few yards, they pulled over;
moved the four trunks into the black
microbus and fled,” the police official
said.
Morshed said that the security
agency was carrying the huge sum
without taking any help from the
DMP.
He said that they identified the
black microbus in footage which was
captured by the dashcam of a car.
Later, a DB team located the vehicle
in Khilkhet area around 3:45pm;
detained two men, including the
driver, and seized the vehicle and three
trunks from there.
Abul Kashem Md Shirin, managing
director of DBBL, said the bank
appointed a private company to carry
to-back sixes off Hasan Mahmud on way
to his fifty. England reached 126 for two
in 15 overs before Mustafizur Rahman
removed Ben Duckett in the 16th.
Hasan had been expensive in his
first two overs, conceding 21, but he
came back remarkably, removing
Buttler after a 42-ball 67 and Sam
Curran. More importantly, his last two
overs produced just five runs. England
run-rate’s steep climb was thwarted
and they managed just 156 for six.
The way Bangladesh started their
chase was crucial and a surprise was
in store as Rony Talukdar came in to
open with Liton Das. The duo started
positively, taking the attack to the
England pacers.
After Rony and Liton departed to a
14-ball 21 and nine-ball 12 respectively,
Shanto and debutant Towhid Hridoy
took over. The Powerplay produced 54
runs as Hridoy showed he was a proper
player. Then Shanto smashed Wood for
four fours on the trot in the seventh
over. The game was set.
Shanto smacked a 30-ball 51 while
Hridoy got 24 during a 65-run stand off
just 39 deliveries. Shakib came in and,
along with Afif Hossain, produced a 46-
run stand during an unbroken stand to
take Tigers to a tremendous win.
the cash to refill its ATMs in Savar.
The Money Plant MD said one
of the recovered trunks was found
empty. “The other two trunks were
half-emptied.”
Asked about the lack of security, he
said three microbuses left for Ashulia
yesterday morning. “Unfortunately,
there was a mechanical glitch in the
second one. The third microbus, which
was carrying two arms, pulled over to
help the second one. In the meantime,
the first vehicle got robbed as it had
gone a bit ahead.”
FROM PAGE 1
2020
N’ganj mosque blast killed 25,
chargesheet submitted
2021
Hashem Foods fire killed 51,
factory reopened
2021
Blast at Moghbazar shop killed
12, investigation ongoing
2021
Fire on launch killed 41,
investigation ongoing
2022
BM Depot fire killed 48, factory
reopened
DHAKA 3
DHAKA FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023
FALGUN 25, 1429 BS

Momen 4 metro stations to

denounces
appeal for
Prof Yunus
UNB, Dhaka
Foreign Minister AK
Abdul Momen yesterday
questioned the “intentions
of some people who are
talking against Bangladesh
and Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina”.
“It does not matter
much. It is irrational and
not objective,” he said at
the foreign ministry when
a reporter asked him about
an appeal made by 40
world leaders regarding
Prof Muhammad Yunus.
The global leaders
expressed their “deep
concerns for the well-
being” of the Nobel laureate
in an open letter to Hasina.
The letter also appeared
as a full-page ad in the
Washington Post on
Tuesday, March 7, 2023.
Momen said Bangladesh
is a role model of
development, and the
world acknowledged this.
He said the PM
is a determined and
SEE PAGE 4 COL 5
open this month
Kazipara,
Mirpur 11 open
March 15
Uttara South,
Sewrapara last
week of March
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The metro rail authorities will open Kazipara and Mirpur
11 stations on March 15, and Uttara South and Sewrapara
stations in the last week of this month.
MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass
Transit Company Ltd, shared the information at a press
conference yesterday.
He said a total of 7.9 lakh people used the service till
Wednesday and the authorities earned Tk 4.76 crore from
the service.
He also said they would start increasing the duration
of the train operation after opening all nine stations and
also go for full-fledged (morning to midnight) operation
from July.
Currently, metro trains are being operated from
8:30am to 12:30pm.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on December 28 last
year inaugurated the country’s first-ever metro rail and it
was opened to public on the following day.
PHOTO: RASHED SHUMON
At first, the trains were operated between Uttara to
With tears rolling down his cheek, Mohammad Ismail was seen waiting for his son Bablu, who got seriously hurt in Tuesday’s blast in the Agargaon without any stoppage. Later, two more stations
capital’s Siddikbazar, to fully recover and return to the family. Bablu works at a shoe factory and is the sole earning member of the family. -- Pallabi and Uttara Centre -- were made operational in
He is undergoing treatment at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. This photo was taken yesterday. two phases.

‘Ensure state Climate change

recognition for them’ causing rights
MY DHAKA Speakers tell discussion on women in agriculture violation
Speakers on coastal
women’s plight
STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Due to climate change, women in the southwest

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Although the contribution of women
in the agriculture sector has increased
significantly over the years, they still
lack equal access and state recognition,
said speakers at a discussion yesterday.
Around 98 percent of the work
performed by men is added to the
gross domestic product (GDP), while
the proportion is only 47 percent for
women.
Besides, women also ensure the
nutrition of family members as they are
directly involved with rearing and food
production.
PHOTO: SAAD ABDULLAH Speakers made the remarks at a
discussion on “Transforming Agri-
coastal region of Bangladesh have been facing
several violations of their gender rights, according
to a study.
The study, titled “Climate Injustice vs Gender
Justice: Why Should This Matter”, was conducted
by Center for Participatory Research and
programme officer at the Embassy of Development (CPRD). Md Akib Jabed, project
Switzerland in Bangladesh, said the coordinator (climate justice), and Naznin Sultana,
country has around 50 to 60 percent of CPRD research and advocacy officer, revealed the
women in the agricultural labour force. study findings at a seminar held at a city hotel.
However, they did not get equal access
to agricultural inputs compared to
their male counterparts.
“The gender gap is a major challenge
for women’s empowerment. Our
agricultural sector needs women
empowerment to utilise their resources
and decision-making capabilities out of
their income,” she said.
Md Farhad Zamil, country director
of Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable
Agriculture, said women are facing
a significant challenge as they have
limited access to resources, market PHOTO: STAR

The curious food Systems to Improve Nutrition in

Secondary Cities: The Role of Women”
organised at The Daily Star Centre in
Dhaka by Syngenta Foundation for
information and technologies, which
limits their productivity and income-
earning potential.
During his keynote presentation, Arif
The right to life and security, right to self-
determination, right to means of subsistence,
right to health, (Women’s) right to water, right to

case of Dhaka’s
Sustainable Agriculture.
Women should be brought under
technical assistance programmes,
like skill development, and financial
assistance such as providing credit
Hossain, CEO and executive director of
Farming Future Bangladesh, said the
country’s women spend 16 hours on
average per day in household chores and
agricultural work. “This contribution is
a standard of living -- including adequate houses,
food, water, sanitation -- and right to education
were violated due to the climate change, the study
mentioned.
Besides, the right to social security, right to

‘TRISTATE’
MH HAIDER
When someone said she was going
to be in the tristate area over the
weekend, I courteously asked what
time was her flight. After a confused
moment, she clarified, visibly irritated
by my ignorance, “I meant, around
Banani.”
That was the first time I heard the
term “tristate” being used to refer to
a location in Bangladesh, and not an
American place denoting a cluster of
three individual states -- New York,
New Jersey, and Connecticut for
example.
God bless America, but the hip,
trendy, posh tristate of the 21st
century is to be found in Bangladesh.
It’s Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara!
Apparently, it is a utopian place
where the wealthy people live, where
money flies about in the air, where the
refined upper-class resides in.
I am here to tell you that I myself
am a resident of this so-called tristate
-- not a humble brag -- I am none of
the aforementioned adjectives. I only
dream and pray that the assumptions
people make about my finances were
true!
But who can argue with people’s
perceptions? They are as unreasonable
as some of the prices and rent in
the tristate area (I personally call it
tristate-tax).
The other day, I overheard a
“ghotok” (matchmaker) enquiring
about a potential bridegroom and
what he does for a living: “Apnar
bhatija ki korey?”
to rural women, according to the equivalent to over $601 billion.” property, right to free choice of profession and
speakers. They also emphasised ending “Only 10 percent of female farmers employment, right to protection of health and
wage discrimination between men and in Bangladesh have access to formal safety in working environments, including the
women in agricultural work. credit. Social norms and gender safeguarding of the reproductive function and
Syeda Zinia Rashid, senior SEE PAGE 4 COL 1 SEE PAGE 4 COL 4
To which the other side replied,
“Bhabi, chhele Gulshan e thakey.”
Apparently living in Gulshan is
a job, a highly lucrative one in the
marriage market.
I even know someone who lives in
Badda but says that his house is in
“Gulshan-3”!
“It’s sort of an extension of Gulshan,
right? There’s Gulshan-1 and 2, and so
Badda is Gulshan-3,” he said.
“Well, next time you take a CNG-
run auto-rickshaw, let me see you
tell the driver that you want to go to
Gulshan-3,” another friend of mine
retorted back at him.
Meanwhile, some Baridhara
residents need to understand that just
because there are many embassies
in their neighbourhood doesn’t
magically make them ambassadors.
I rather side with those people who
are not impressed by the whole tristate
fiasco. We all know of exorbitantly rich
and influential people who hail from
all parts of Dhaka, and no amount
of money will make them move from
their beloved communities.
Please, stop chasing this “tristate
dream”. It is not the American dream
if there ever was one.
Every nook and cranny of Dhaka
have stories waiting to be told. “My
Dhaka” gives interested writers the
platform to share experiences of
city life. Only selected stories will
make it to our print edition and
digital platform. Send your Dhaka
story (within 450 words) to raffat@
thedailystar.net PHOTO: ANISUR RAHMAN
The Moghbazar-Mouchak DPDC road has been in this condition for the last two months. The road was dug to set up sewerage lines, but the
delay in completion has resulted in the suffering of pedestrians, vehicles and owners of roadside shops. The photo was taken recently.

DHAKA FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023
4 FALGUN 25, 1429 BS
Ensure state recognition for them
FROM PAGE 3 habits of families.
stereotypes limit Speaking as chief
women’s participation in guest, Corinne Henchoz
agriculture, ability to make Pignani, deputy head
decisions and negotiate of cooperation at the
with male family members Embassy of Switzerland
and other stakeholders.” in Bangladesh, said the
Md Shahid Uddin country is facing many
Akbar, CEO of Bangladesh challenges like the impact
Institute of ICT in of climate change, the post
Development (BIID), pandemic effects in trade,
said in urban areas, and the global economic
women are playing a slowdown following the
crucial role to ensure war in Ukraine. And this
nutrition as adolescent has affected the cost of
girls, entrepreneurs and commodities and food,
decision-makers related which is most challenging
to the food consumption for the poorest among the
Cancel
population.
FROM PAGE 5
group. “This agreement
To reduce the pressure,
with Adani is against the
she suggested bringing country and its people.
the country’s stakeholders
I would like to say this
together to address the
deal must be repealed
policy issues to ensure
immediately. At the same
food security, in terms of
time, the indemnity act for
policies, guidelines and
the power sector should be
infrastructure.
revoked,” he said.
Among others,
Association of Engineers
Alessandra Roversi,
Bangladesh (AEB) arranged
programme officer
the programme, titled
of The Swiss Agency
“Catastrophe in the Power
for Development and
Sector: Economy in Deep
Cooperation (SDC); Klaus
Crisis”, at a city hotel. AEB
Kraemer, managing
secretary general Engineer
director of Sight and Life
Hasin Ahmed delivered the
Foundation, a Switzerland-
key-note speech.
based nutrition think- Fakhrul said the Awami
tank; US Rokeya League government could
Akhter, national gender sign the deal with Adani
specialist of the Food and as it has no compassion
Agriculture Organization and responsibility for the
(FAO); and Pedro Andrés people.
Garzon Delvaux, FAO’s He said the ruling party
food system policy leaders are also plundering
economist, spoke at the public money to use it
discussion. during the next general
Simon Winter, executive election to ensure their
director of Syngenta victory as they did during
Foundation for Sustainable the 2018 polls.
Agriculture, delivered the “They’ll again rig the
closing remarks. election with money.
They’ll give money to
various institutions
involved in conducting
the election... envelopes
containing money will
go to all levels from the
presiding officers to the
law enforcers. This is true
as it happened in 2018,”
the BNP leader said.
The BNP leader said
the government has also
been using a new strategy
in the local body polls for
ensuring the victory of the
ruling party candidates
by changing the results of
different centers. “(Monirul
Haque) Sakku of Cumilla is
one of such victims”
Climate change
FROM PAGE 3
right to freely choose a
spouse and to enter into
marriage only with full
consent were also violated.
The study mentioned
NEWS
Sabrina Islam’s
death anniv
CITY DESK
The second
d e a t h
anniversary
of Sabrina
I s l a m
Chowdhury,
wife of Md
Quamrul Islam Chowdhury,
managing director and CEO
of Mercantile Bank Limited,
was observed yesterday, said
a press release.
On the occasion, a doa
and milad mahfil followed
by lunch for orphans were
arranged at an orphanage
in Dhaka. Prayers were also
held at her residence in
Gulshan. Relatives and well-
wishers have been requested
to pray for the salvation of
her departed soul.
Momen
FROM PAGE 3
courageous lady, and
those who are talking are
on a mission to create an
“unstable environment”.
Highlighting his
engagements in New Delhi
during the G20 Foreign
Ministers’ meeting, Momen
said, “We are very pleased.
India has done a very good
and unique job.”
He also raised bilateral
issues during a meeting
with his Indian counterpart
S Jaishankar. “We told them
to keep the commitment
on border issues.”
Momen said India will
send diesel to Bangladesh,
and Hasina and her Indian
counterpart Narendra
Modi will inaugurate the
initiative on March 18.
that natural calamities,
salinity, forced
displacement, consequent
dropping out of school
and unemployment, health
issues and child marriage as
a way of “transferring risks”
on the parent’s end, have
resulted in the violation of
the rights mentioned above.
Addressing the event
as chief guest, National
Human Rights Commission
Chairman Kamal Uddin
Ahmed urged development
activists to carry out a more
detailed study on the issue,
particularly on the violation
of human rights of the
affected and marginalised
communities.
“Women of all age groups
are highly vulnerable to
the cumulative impact
of climate change.
Human rights violations
of women may lead to
massive disasters in the
future and these should
be incorporated into the
policies and research
initiatives in this regard,”
said Shaheen Anam,
executive director of
the Manuser Jonno
Foundation (MJF).
The seminar was chaired
by Md Shamsuddoha, chief
executive of CPRD, while
Prasenjit Chakma, assistant
resident representative of
UNDP Bangladesh, and
Sabina Faiz Rashid, dean
and professor of Brac
James P Grant School of
Public Health, spoke as
special guests.
CITY
Cancel ‘anti-
state’ power
deal with Adani
Demands Fakhrul
UNB, Dhaka
Te r m i n g
the govern-
m e n t ’ s
p o w e r
deal with
the Indian
Adani Group anti-state,
BNP yesterday demanded
immediate cancellation of
the agreement.
“People of Bangladesh
have already received a copy
of the contract with Adani
Group. This is an extremely
uneven deal signed with an
ulterior motive,” said BNP
Secretary General Mirza
Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Speaking at a To know how kidney disease is connected with
roundtable, he said the
question has now arisen in
different countries about
how a government can ink
such an agreement as the
Washington Post exposed
the government’s power
agreement with the Adani
SEE PAGE 4 COL 4
‘She can’t take
daughters out
of Bangladesh’
SC on Japanese
citizen Nakano Eriko
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The Appellate Division
of the Supreme Court
yesterday ruled that
Japanese Citizen Nakano
Eriko cannot take her
two daughters -- Jasmine
Malaika, 12, and Nakano
Laila Lina, 10 -- abroad
until further order.
Jasmine is now with her
mother Eriko and Laila
with her father Imran
Sharif.
The SC also directed that
Jasmine will stay with her
mother and Laila with her
father until further order.
Yesterday, the bench,
headed by Chief Justice
Hasan Foez
passed the order.
Siddique
PRAYER
TIMING
MARCH 10
Fazr Juma Asr Maghrib Esha
AZAN 5-05 12-30 4-30 6-12 7-30
JAMAAT 5-40 1-15 4-45 6-15 8-00
SOURCE: ISLAMIC FOUNDATION
SHIPBREAKING YARDS
Where safety takes
a back seat
ARUN BIKASH DEY, Ctg
Another accident occurred at a shipbreaking
yard in Chattogram’s Sitakunda upazila
yesterday, claiming one life. But such
accidents, and the injuries and deaths that
accompany them, are nothing new there.
In the past 18 years, 251 workers have been
killed in accidents at shipbreaking yards.
According to experts and rights activists,
frequent accidents have been occurring at
these sites due to the “sheer negligence” of
owners regarding workers’ safety.
Yesterday morning, Ashraf Mollah, 66,
hailing from Narail’s Lohagara upazila, died
while working at Taher Ship Breaking Yard,
located at Bara Auliya, said Sub-Inspector
Nurul Alam Ashek of Chattogram Medical
College Hospital (CMCH) Police Camp.
“Mollah sustained burn injuries from an
explosion while cutting a pipe in a ship,”
Nurul said. “He was rushed to CMCH in a
critical condition, and the on-duty physician
declared him dead around 11:00am.”
According to the data of NGO
Shipbreaking Platform, an international
coalition campaigning for clean and safe ship
recycling, 249 people were killed in accidents
in Sitakunda between 2005 and 2022.
At least two workers have been killed this
7 hospitalised with dengue
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Seven more people were
hospitalised with dengue
in 24 hours till yesterday
morning.
Thirty-one dengue patients,
including 17 in the capital,
are now receiving treatment at recorded 62,423 dengue cases and
hospitals across the country. 61,971 recoveries last year.
year so far.
According to international rules, owners
must remove toxic elements from a ship
before bringing it ashore for breaking, but
most owners do not properly do this, said
Tapan Dutta, convener of Shipbreaking
Workers’ Trade Union Forum.
As per rules, owners must train workers
before making them break ships, but most
do not follow this. Instead, they just let
According to experts and
rights activists, frequent
accidents have been occurring
at these sites due to “sheer
negligence” of owners
regarding workers’ safety.
newcomers do the work without training,
which raises the risk of accidents, he said.
Fazlul Kabir Mintu, a member of the
forum, said owners do not provide workers
with adequate safety gear, and so when any
accident occurs, workers are more likely to be
vulnerable. Due to this, the rate of death in
these accidents is so high.
“As per the labour law, a worker involved
in risky work should get rest for half an hour
after every two hours of work, so that they can
So far, the DGHS has recorded
776 dengue cases, 736
recoveries, and nine deaths this
year.
The country logged 281
dengue deaths in 2022 – the
highest on record after 179
deaths recorded in 2019. Also, it
DHAKA FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023
FILE PHOTO
concentrate,” said Mintu. “This rule is absent
at shipbreaking yards.”
A press release of NGO Shipbreaking
Platform, issued on June 2, 2022, stated,
“Since the beginning of 2022, out of the
18 accidents that shook Bangladesh’s
shipbreaking industry, six have taken place
at yards owned by Kabir Steel Re-Rolling Mills
(KSRM), a concern of the conglomerate Kabir
Group.”
Asked, Dulalul Karim, director of Kabir
Steel Shipbreaking Yard, said they try their
best to ensure workers’ safety and supply all
safety equipment. However, accidents still
occurred at times.
Contacted, Abu Taher, president of
Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers
Association, said out of 300 shipbreaking
yards, 30 are now operating in Sitakunda. “All
the owners are now receptive to making the
yards safe for workers.”
Shuvankar Dutta, inspector at the
Department of Inspection for Factories and
Establishment, said he heard about the
accident in Taher Shipbreaking Yard. “I am
looking into it.”
About frequent accidents, he said work
is ongoing to make the yards green. “Seven
yards have already applied for this, and we
have certified two of them as green yards.”
5
FALGUN 25, 1429 BS
Climate change
leads to rise in
kidney patients
Experts tell seminar
OUR CORRESPONDENT, Savar
The risk of developing kidney disease is increasing
globally due to the detrimental effects of rising
temperatures caused by climate change, said
experts yesterday.
In this regard, Bangladesh ranks 10th among the
world’s most vulnerable countries, they mentioned.
They said this at a seminar jointly organised by
Gonoshasthaya Samaj Vittik Medical College and
Gonoshasthaya Dialysis Center at Gonoshasthaya
Kendra in Savar.
In the meeting, Chief Nephrologist of
Gonoshasthaya Dialysis Center Brig Gen (retd)
Prof Mamun Mustafi presented the article titled
“Climate Change and Kidney”.
climate change, he said, a group of doctors from
Brazil and Australia conducted a survey in all
hospitals of Brazil’s 1,816 cities from 2015 to 2020.
They recorded
how many kidney In the survey, it was
patients were found that around
admitted in the five 27 lakh people were
years due to excessive
heat caused by hospitalised with
climate change. kidney problems
due to the heat,
In the survey, they
found around 27 about 0.9 percent
lakh people were
hospitalised with
of the country’s
kidney problems due population.
to the heat, about
0.9 percent of the country’s population.
Accordingly, this result can be used to infer the
situation in Bangladesh, Mamun said.
He explained that due to heat, our body can face
various issues. Among them, the biggest one is heat
stroke, which can cause kidney failure. In this case,
the most vulnerable are children, elderly, and those
who are already suffering from various diseases.
Prof Ayub Ali Chowdhury, who is a kidney
expert, presented the article, titled “War and
Kidney”, at the seminar.
He said disasters and wars are injuring people
and increasing mental stress, which indirectly
leads to people suffering from kidney disease.
Dr Manjur Kadir Ahmed, coordinator of
Gonoshasthaya Kendra, presided over the
programme, in which Prof Altafunnesa Maya,
president of Gonoshasthaya Kendra Trust, was
chief guest. Besides, Md Abul Hossain, acting vice
chancellor of Gono Bishwabidyalay, was present as
a special guest.
 city

6 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

DHAKA FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023
FALGUN 25, 1429 BS

Giving it my all for

‘SHURONGO’ NISHO
SHAH ALAM SHAZU work and honesty.

Afran Nisho, who has proven his acting

prowess on the small screen and OTT
platforms, is now stepping into the
world of cinema. He is making his
film debut with the film, Shurongo,
directed by Raihan Rafi. Recently, the
shooting of the film started in Sylhet.
In a candid conversation with The Daily
Star, Afran Nisho talked about his new
film and more.
You are debuting on the big screen
with ‘Shurongo.’ How are you feeling?
This is the first time I am acting in a full-
length feature film. The shooting set,
location, and environment—everything
How was your shooting experience
with Tama Mirza and director Raihan
Ana De Armas,
Rafi?
Tama is very friendly and dedicated
Chris Evans pair up
to her job. She is very serious with
her acting. Although it’s my first in a new rom-com
collaboration with Tama, she is giving
more priority to my character in the Recently, the official poster for the Apple TV+
film, forgetting who I am in real life, produced film Ghosted has been unveiled. The
which is a good thing. spy-comedy stars Captain America famed Chris
Although Raihan Rafi is quite young, Evans and Academy Award nominated actress
he has good experience in this field. He Ana De Armas. The pair had previously worked
has proved himself through his works. together in Netflix’s Knives Out and The Gray
Man.
Tell us about the film ‘Shurongo.’ The official trailer for the movie casts Evans as
Through this film, we will try to the sweet Cole who spends a wonderful evening
connect the masses with our story. So with a young woman and later realises that he has
far, it has been going well. However, if feelings for her.
the technical side of the film goes well The movie is set to premier on April 21 this year
in post-production, then the film will be on Apple TV+.
a smash hit. We will try to make the film
enjoyable for the mass audiences. Every
person has some pain in their heart, we
will try to portray that on-screen. Indian actor-
Everyone wants to tell a different
story. Will you, with ‘Shurongo’?
All that we can do is portray our
director Satish
characters with utmost dedication. Of
course, as entertainers, we want to work
on something that is different from
Kaushik no more
others, but with this one, I feel like the Veteran Bollywood actor Satish
simplicity of the storytelling will catch Kaushik died of a heart attack
on. early Thursday morning at
the age of 66. His friend and
What are your plans moving colleague, Anupam Kher
forward? confirmed the news of his
Right now, I am only thinking about demise.
Shurongo. I am thinking about According to Anupam
my character in the film, and Kher, Kaushik complained
how I will do my shots. Raihan of feeling uneasy while
Rafi is a very flexible director. visiting a friend in Delhi.

feels different. However, I want to act,
regardless of the medium. I am learning
a lot from this team. Everyone on the
team is giving their best. I am also
trying to complete my duties with hard
PHOTOS: COLLECTED
He receives my inputs very “He felt uneasy and told the
positively which is a good driver to take him to the hospital;
thing for me. I hope the on the way, he had a heart attack
collaboration will do around 1 am,” Kher told PTI.
wonders. Kaushik was a director as well as a comedian.
His most popular films as a director are Tere
Naam, starring Salman Khan, and Mujhe Kuch
Kehna Hai, starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and
Tusshar Kapoor.

NEWS
N Korea fires ballistic missile Woman gang-raped Biman training chief Gunpowder
by supervisers FROM PAGE 12

ahead of US-South Korea drills FROM PAGE 12

AFP, Seoul
North Korea fired a short-range
ballistic missile yesterday, Seoul’s
military said, Pyongyang’s latest
show of force just days before
South Korea and the United States
kick off major joint military
exercises.
Relations between the two Koreas
are at one of their worst points in
decades, with the nuclear-armed
North conducting ever more
Denmark opens undersea graveyard
provocative banned weapons tests
as Seoul moved to ramp up security
cooperation with Washington in
response.
Last year, Kim Jong Un’s regime
declared North Korea an “irreversible”
nuclear power and vowed to
exponentially increase weapons
production, including tactical
nuclear weapons, as the US looks to
move more assets to the region to
defend ally Seoul.
On Wednesday night, eight people,
including Jamal Majhi, Nijam Majhi,
Kerani, and Dinaj broke into her
shanti and gang-raped her and burnt
her with cigarettes, she said in the
complaint.
After she called 999 yesterday, a
police team went to spot and rescued
her husband around 6:00pm, said
Mosleh Uddin, officer-in-charge of
Lakshmipur Sadar Police Station.
Police are looking for the accused,
he added.
FROM PAGE 2
dated February 13 this year, out of the
14 recruited, only four captains and a
first officer passed all the tests to fly
the plane.
Biman, however, has been flouting
rule after rule and going to great
lengths to protect the pilots who
failed.
In September last year, nine out
of 15 female cockpit crew members
of Biman alleged that their bosses in
training and scheduling departments
discriminate against them and
harass them so much so that it even
jeopardises flight safety on at least
one occasion.
They said the work environment
has become hostile due to intentional
discrimination, harassment,
regular verbal abuse, deprivation
of promotions, and training
opportunities.
This has caused female cockpit
crew members to be under
tremendous stress and some have even
quit Biman, the nine said in their first
group report -- Confidential Report
on Female Cockpit Crew Harassment
-- to Biman’s chief of flight safety,
other officials, and the Civil Aviation
Authority of Bangladesh.
the Ahmadiyya community demanding
cancellation of the three-day-long Jalsa
Salana, an annual gathering of the
members of the Ahmadiyya community.
The agitators set fire to many
houses and four shops belonging to
the members of the community. They
also attacked a local police station,
vehicles of law enforcers and a traffic
police office.
Thirteen cases -- 11 with
Panchagarh Police Station and two
with Boda Police Station -- have been
filed over the attacks, said police.
Two vendors
FROM PAGE 12

FROM PAGE 12
But unlike other projects that store
CO2 emissions from nearby industrial
sites, Greensand brings in the carbon
from far away.
“It’s a European success story of
cross border cooperation,” Ursula von
der Leyen, president of the European
Commission, said in video message
played at the ceremony.
First captured at the source, the
CO2 is then liquefied -- in Belgium in
Greensand’s case -- then transported,
currently by ship but potentially by
Govt working to build Sheikh Mujib Film City
FROM PAGE 12
29, yesterday the awards were formally
handed out to the winners.
The event was hosted by eminent
actor Ferdous and Dhallywood
actress Nusraat Faria.
The opening ceremony featured
a dance sequence paying tribute
to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, performed by Warda Rihab.
A special highlight from the
night was when Ilias Kanchan and
Dolly Zahur received the Lifetime
Achievement Award for their priceless
contributions to the industry.
Matia Banu Shuku’s production,
“Lal Moroger Jhuti” and Rezwan
Shahriar Sumit’s “Nonajoler Kabbo”
jointly received the prize in the “Best
Film” category.
The “Best Director” prize was taken
home by Rezwan Shahriar Sumit, for
his debut film “Nonajoler Kabbo”.
Adding to the list of awards that
were shared, Siam Ahmed (Mridha
pipelines, and stored in reservoirs
such as geological cavities or depleted
oil and gas fields.
At Greensand, the carbon is
transported in special containers to
the Nini West platform, where it is
injected into an existing reservoir
1.8 kilometres (1.1 miles) under the
seabed.
Once the pilot phase is completed,
the plan is to use the neighbouring
Siri field as well.
Danish authorities, who have set a
target of reaching carbon neutrality
Bonam Mridha) and Mir Sabbir (Raat
Jaga Phool) jointly claimed the “Best
Actor” award.
Similarly, the “Best Actress” award
was jointly received by Azmeri Haque
Badhan (Rehana Maryam Noor),
and an overjoyed Tasnova Tamanna
(Nonajoler Kabbo).
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in
her closing speech, said, “My heartiest
congratulation and best wishes to the
recipients of the National Film Awards
2021. We arranged for this ceremony
to take place in March, a month,
which holds a lot of importance for
us. Our Bangladeshi film industry was
able to flourish under the guidance
of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman. He worked effectively
to establish the Bangladesh Film
Development Corporation, which led
to the creation of movies like ‘Akash
Ar Mati’, ‘Ei Desh Tomar Amar’, and
many others.”
“After the Liberation War,
as early as 2045, say this is “a much
needed tool in our climate toolkit”.
Ineos CEO Brian Gilvary said at the
opening that at full-scale, the project
could meet 40 percent of Danish
requirements to reach “net zero” and
that it could account for 2.5 percent
or up to three percent of European
requirements.
The North Sea is particularly
suitable for this type of project, as
the region already has pipelines and
potential storage sites after decades
of oil and gas production.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman donated a total of 105
acres of land in Gazipur, so that
film fraternities would have a proper
location where they could shoot
their films. Continuing with his
vision, now we are working to build
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Film
City,” she continued.
“I’m grateful to everyone who
created movies in the pandemic.
Our cinema halls were very old
and poorly facilitated. We have
arranged a Tk 1,000 crore fund for
cinema hall owners so that they
can reconstruct their theatres. We
have also advised many cinema hall
owners to demolish their halls and
turn them into cineplexes where
families can watch and enjoy movies
together. While the grants for our
films might not have a big budget
right now, we plan to make this sum
even larger in our next budget,”
concluded Hasina.
Funds there, victims yet
to get compensation
FROM PAGE 2
formed the 12-member trustee board,
which could not begin functioning or
raise any funds as the rules of the act
-- which stipulate how the board will
work and the funds be raised -- were
not in force.
On December 27 last year, the
government finally issued a gazette
bringing the rules into effect and
outlining the work of the board and
the funds.
As per the rules, the family of a
person killed in a road crash due to
reckless or negligent driving will get
at least Tk 5 lakh in compensation.
Those who lose a limb or suffer
other forms of life-altering injuries
will get Tk 3 lakh each, while the
victims who are likely to recover from
injuries and return to normal life will
get Tk 1 lakh.
Meanwhile, owners of buses,
trucks, lorries and semi-trailer trucks
will pay Tk 1,500 a year each for the
fund, while owners of minibuses,
minitrucks, and pickups will give Tk
750; Tk 500 for owners of cars, SUVs
and microbuses; and Tk 300 for those
of three-wheelers. A motorcycle
owner must pay a one-time fee of Tk
1,000, the rules read.
Different authorities, including
BRTA mobile courts, district
administrations and police, who
impose fines under Road Transport
Act-2018, are also supposed to
contribute to the fund.
BRTA, as per the rules, started
collecting the money from early
January this year.
Contacted, Prof Tania Haque,
of women and gender studies
department of Dhaka University and
a member of the board, said she last
took part in a board meetingaround
a year ago.
“I have no idea what happened
afterwards,” she told this
correspondent on March 4.
Another trustee board member,
Khondaker Enayet Ullah, also
secretary general of Bangladesh
Road Transport Owners’ Association,
said they could not start giving
compensation as “they did not get
money for the fund”.
Another member, Osman Ali, also
the general secretary of Bangladesh
Road Transport Workers Federation,
is skeptical of when they might
be able to start handing out the
compensations.
Contacted, Nur Mohammad
Mazumder said that as per an earlier
circular, the BRTA secretary was
made an ex-officio member-secretary
of the trustee board.
But the government has abolished
the “secretary” post from all
government agencies and thus, a
new circular was issued on Tuesday,
making the director (audit and law) of
BRTA as the member-secretary of the
board, he said.
“This is another reason behind
the delay,” he said, adding the board
will start giving the compensations
following the necessary procedures
soon.
Meanwhile, BPC is yet to open the
letters of credit (LC) for six fuel cargos
out of the 16 due in March and 14 cargos
scheduled for April, according to
officials involved with the proceedings.
“It’s true that there is a dollar crisis
in the banks. So, we are behind in the
LC openings. But it’s not true that
we are not able to open LCs. We are
opening those but we are moving
slowly,” ABM Azad, chairman of BPC,
told The Daily Star.
At least two suppliers of diesel, jet
fuel, octane, furnace oil and marine
oil have expressed reluctance to
provide further cargo, according to
officials.
Besides Vitol Asia and Unipec, BPC
had selected the Emirates National
Oil Company, BSP Zapin of Indonesia,
PetroChina International and Indian
Oil Corporation to import 4.50 lakh
metric tonnes of fuel.
BPC imports 65 lakh metric
tonnes of various types of fuel a year
under different long-term contracts
or by issuing tenders.
Nat’l grid gets power
FROM PAGE 12
purchase agreement signed on
November 5, 2017, with Adani Power,
the Bangladesh Power Development
Board will purchase at least 34
percent of the power generated by the
plant over a 25-year period.
Three legal and energy experts at
home and abroad who reviewed the
contract at The Daily Star’s request
found it to be exceptionally expensive,
overtly favouring Adani Power and
ironclad.
Subsequently, several rights
organisations, political parties and
environmentalists demanded the
cancellation of the deal.
INTERNATIONAL 7
DHAKA FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023
FALGUN 25, 1429 BS

ANNUAL THREAT ASSESSMENT

Malaysia’s ex-
US worries China PM Muhyiddin
will use supply arrested
chains as weapon AFP, Putrajaya
AFP, Washington
Malaysia’s former prime minister Muhyiddin
The United States worries that China will use its power Yassin was arrested yesterday after anti-graft
in global supply chains as an additional weapon to authorities questioned him for alleged misuse of
advance its political and military might, a report released public funds meant to fight Covid-19. Muhyiddin,
Wednesday showed. who was prime minister for 17 months between
The “Annual Threat Assessment” issued by the Director 2020 and 2021, at the height of Malaysia’s
of National Intelligence said China is already using its battle against the coronavirus, is expected to be
supply chain dominance to force foreign companies slapped with multiple charges in court today, the
and countries to transfer technologies and intellectual Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)
property to it. said in a statement. He now leads an opposition
China hit back against the assessment yesterday, coalition against Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s
terming the report “slander” and saying it “confuses black government.
with white.”
The US intelligence community sees Beijing using
its economic power in parallel with military strength to
secure regional and global influence.
“The government of China is capable of leveraging Genderms try to disperse French labour unions’ protestors blocking A9 highway at the last toll near the
Nepal elects 3rd
its dominant positions in key global supply chains in an
attempt to accomplish its goals, although probably not
without significant cost to itself,” the report said.
France-Spain border in Le Boulou yesterday, as part of protests against the government’s proposed pensions
reform. PHOTO: AFP president
That could be a particular danger if China is able to take REUTERS, Kathmandu
over Taiwan, another leading contributor to industrial
and technology components, it said.
China seizing Taiwan “probably would have wide-
Russian strikes pound Ukraine Amid a bitter crisis in its
ruling coalition, Nepal
ranging effects, including disruption to global supply
chains for semiconductor chips because Taiwan
Six killed; Zelensky slams Moscow’s ‘miserable tactics’ yesterday elected a social
democrat as its third
dominates production of cutting-edge chips,” it said. president since the
The disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic showed REUTERS, Kyiv attack Ukraine’s civil infrastructure statement, describing strikes that
five months ago. hit infrastructure and residential Himalayan nation ended
the world the importance of supply chains -- the way a centuries-old monarchy.
components of products make their ways from myriad Russia launched a huge wave of Kyiv said it included an buildings in ten regions.
missile strikes across Ukraine while unprecedented six of Russia’s “The enemy fired 81 missiles in an The election of Ram
sources around the world through various countries for Chandra Paudel, 78, comes
preliminary and final assembly before products reach the people slept yesterday, killing at small arsenal of kinzhal hypersonic attempt to intimidate Ukrainians
least six civilians, knocking out cruise missiles, one of Moscow’s again, returning to their miserable after a split in the communist-
market.
electricity and forcing a nuclear most valuable weapons. tactics,” he said. dominated ruling coalition headed
The pandemic demonstrated how the disruption of a
single factory in China or elsewhere could halt the work of power plant off the grid for several “The occupiers can only terrorise Russia’s defence ministry said by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal,
major industrial operations around the globe. hours. civilians. That’s all they can do. it had carried out a “massive re- a former Maoist rebel chief. Last month, Dahal
The “Annual Threat” report singled out China’s The first big volley of missile But it won’t help them. They won’t taliation strike” on Ukrainian supported Paudel, a candidate of the opposition
dominance in technology sectors including strikes since mid-February avoid responsibility for everything infrastructure as payback for a Nepali Congress party, over one fielded by his
semiconductors, critical minerals, batteries, solar panels, shattered the longest calm since they have done,” President cross-border raid last week on a vil- key coalition partner, the Communist Unified
and pharmaceuticals. Moscow began a campaign to Volodymyr Zelensky said in a lage in Russia’s Bryansk region. Marxist-Leninist (UML) party.

AFGHAN BLAST
Taliban
governor
killed in his
office
AFP, Mazar-I-Sharif

The Taliban governor

of Afghanistan’s Balkh
province, known for
fighting against Islamic
State jihadists, was killed
in a suicide attack at his
office yesterday, officials
said.
The killing, a day after
he met top government
officials visiting
from Kabul, makes
Mohammad Dawood
Muzammil one of the
highest-ranking figures
slain since the Taliban
stormed back to power
in 2021.
Violence across
Afghanistan has
dramatically dropped
since the Taliban seized
control, but the security
situation has again
deteriorated with IS
claiming several deadly
attacks.
“Two people,
including Mohammad
Dawood Muzammil,
the governor of Balkh,
have been killed in an
explosion this morning,”
local police told AFP.

MIGRANT CRISIS

5,000 held
in Libya
detention
centres: IOM
AFP, Geneva

Around 5,000 migrants

are being held in official
detention centres in
Libya and they represent
just the tip of the iceberg,
the International
Organization for
Migration chief said
Wednesday.
“It remains very
unacceptable in terms
of the violation of the
rights of migrants in
the country. We have
always made it clear
that detention is not a
solution,” IOM director
general Antonio
Vitorino said during a
press briefing organised
by the UN in Geneva.
Under the UN, the
IOM collaborates with
the refugee agency
UNHCR to provide
life-saving assistance
to migrants in official
detention centres.
8 EDITORIAL
DHAKA FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023
FALGUN 25, 1429 BS

FOUNDER EDITOR: LATE S. M. ALI

Rewarding thuggery,
Time to fix our punishing talent
building vulnerability
Violation of building codes, lack
The worrisome state of our once glorious student activism
of awareness causing fires and THE THIRD in Dhaka College started joining the
protests and many of them enrolled in
making activities, with gangsterism
and activities that are generally
VIEW
explosions one or the other of the most prominent deemed as anti-social. Conversely,
student organisations of the time – stories of students participating in
Three accidents in less than three weeks have once again Mahfuz Anam both groups of the left-oriented East social causes, in fighting for human
highlighted how vulnerable Dhaka’s buildings are to fires, is the editor and publisher of Pakistan Student Union (EPSU) and rights, democracy, and justice in
The Daily Star.
explosions and such disasters. First, there was the fire in the student wing of Awami League, the general are getting rarer.
Gulshan, which killed two individuals. Then, there was a blast East Pakistan Students’ League. That With some variations, this is the
near the Science Lab intersection which killed three. And then was Dhaka College. picture of student activities in almost
MAHFUZ ANAM Student politics in our time was
came the explosion in Gulistan which killed at least 22. Their all colleges and universities throughout
locations – one in a posh area, one in a commercial area, and
the latest in a crowded area in Old Dhaka – suggest that when it Many factors that impact us as
comes to building accidents, no neighbourhood is safe enough. a country are not in our control
The risk seems to lurk everywhere in this megacity thanks to – the climate crisis, pandemics,
unplanned urbanisation, blatant violation of building and fire geopolitics, globalisation, energy
safety regulations, as well as lack of inspection and awareness. crisis, international terms of trade, the
This has been a proven recipe for disaster, and by the Ukraine war, etc. But some are, like
look of things, it has been getting worse. As per data from enabling our students to be among the
the fire service, there were 19,642 fires in 2018. The number best learners, if not in the world, then
rose to 24,102 last year. If the trend holds, and if the relevant at least in the region. So when we fail
authorities continue to refuse to learn and take preventive to do that, and knowingly continue to
actions, it is only a matter of time before tragedy strikes again. do the very opposite of it, we are forced
Ours is a city “strewn with ticking time bombs”, as the to ask: are we not destroying the future
of our students and, in the process,
headline of a report by this daily memorably put it. And why
jeopardising that of our country?
not? Given how callously building and fire safety regulations
I am fully aware of our history of
are treated, questions can be asked about the electrical and student activism and am a personal
structural safety of most buildings. Some of the commonly witness to the tremendous importance
cited reasons for recent fires/explosions include electric and benefits that it brought to us. I
short circuit, accumulation of gas in a confined space, poorly believe that students must have a role
maintained air conditioning units, etc. The Gulistan blast has to question what they see and protest
also been blamed on accumulated gas through concealed or whenever they see injustice, oppression,
disconnected gas lines. There is also the possibility of biogas corruption, abuse of power, etc. They
accumulating in the septic tank or a leaky sewer pipe turning must have the right to demand change
part of the building into a gas chamber, which was somehow if a situation calls for it.
ignited. Whatever the reason, it is obvious that it had to do But we must also ask: what has
with poor maintenance of the building. become of the student activism that
The question is, how many buildings are there with similar we were once so proud of? Do issues ILLUSTRATION: BIPLOB CHAKROBORTY
conditions? How will residents understand if there is a risk like justice, democracy, freedom, and
around New Market, Green Road, and the most serious schooling in social the country. The only brilliant
of gas accumulation and of explosion? Lack of awareness rights of others hold any meaning
Dhanmondi. If these students are the awareness, political consciousness exceptions were the school students
is an issue, of course, but as an expert recently noted, Titas for our present day students? How
products of our near-best colleges, one building, and familiarisation with demanding road safety measures in
may have stopped adding the distinctive foul-smelling conscious are they of the complexity
must worry about what’s happening in bigger issues like people’s struggles for 2018 and private university students
mercaptan to natural gas making it difficult to detect a of modern life and its challenges? How
the rest. economic, political, and cultural rights protesting against VAT on tuition
leakage. Most buildings in Dhaka also suffer from poor aware are they of the existential threat
What are we actually teaching and learning to link them with global fees in 2015. Instead of encouraging
ventilation. Unfortunately, the safety of buildings – including that humanity faces today – namely them to get more involved with social
them? And of what we teach, how issues like imperialist domination and
gas connections, electric lines, sewer pipelines, septic tanks, climate change? Do they know that causes, they were brutally suppressed.
much are they really learning? Are we the impact of colonialism. This led us to
elevators, etc. – is rarely inspected, while fire drills are quite their beloved motherland is at the Some are still facing police cases.
forefront of that crisis and is likely to preparing them to be suitable citizens life-changing self-awareness that made
unheard of, making it almost natural for tragedies to occur. of the 21st century? Do we really us better human beings. Simply put, As a participant and a direct
be one of its worst victims? Do they beneficiary of the student movements of
This must be stopped. We urge the relevant authorities, understand what being “citizens of the student politics made us enlightened
think that attacking opponents to the past, I cannot but raise the question:
including Wasa, Desa, Rajuk, fire service and the city sort out differences is the only way to 21st century” implies? We know that citizens of the country and, in many
corporations, to acknowledge the gravity of the danger it will be an artificial intelligence (AI)- ways, of the world. (We chanted endless why are we throwing our college and
go? Do they attach any value to having university students into this abyss of
that residents of this overcrowded city face. As experts have dialogues with those with whom they driven society. Will we be able to take slogans for the release of Nelson
suggested, the government should immediately introduce advantage of its enormous potential, Mandela and the fall of the Apartheid moral and ethical degradation? Will
disagree? Why is violence their first the future of our student community
a practice of providing occupancy certificates after yearly choice? What values, ideals, dreams are or will our students go out in anger regime, and in support of Palestine,
and break those machines as AI will Viet Nam, Angola and Mozambique). be sacrificed at the altar of criminal
inspection of all buildings. We need a thorough inspection they receiving from their education? activities and partisan politics? As long as
of all residential and commercial buildings, and all measures What is the role of educational inevitably start taking away our jobs? It’s not that there weren’t fights
a student is willing to add to the muscle
must be taken to improve their safety. We must also punish institutions in genuinely guiding these The good students who are still between students of different colleges or
power of one’s party, then whatever
those responsible for the frequent building tragedies. young lives to prepare better for the coming out of these colleges and between groups within each institution
else he does as a student is acceptable –
future? from others are doing so absolutely during our time. They, however, never should that be our position?
The above questions and many on their own, and not because of the defined the totality of student activities And all this when we stand at
institutions they study in. as they mostly do now.
DSA must be amended more forced themselves upon me
as I read our own recent reports on
the clashes between the students of
When we passed our matric
examination from St Gregory’s High
Just about a year ago, on April 18,
2022, a deadly clash erupted between
the doorstep of the most profound
changes that humanity ever faced
– negatively the climate crisis and
without delay Dhaka College, Dhaka City College,
and Ideal College. All three colleges are
School in 1965, all my friends who
did outstandingly well went to Dhaka
the Dhaka College students and the
traders and shopkeepers of the New
positively the AI revolution, especially
in the fields of physics, chemistry and
among the better ones in the city, with College, and those of us who belonged Market area. The clash lasted for two biology.
We support the call of UN rights creditable academic track records. Of to the second tier went to Notre Dame days until on the 19th, two persons There cannot be a more tragic
them, Dhaka College is the oldest, most College. As the protest against Gen – Nahid Mia and Mursalin – totally example of our future going astray.
chief in this regard prestigious and successful – till recent Ayub Khan’s rule and resentment unconnected with the incidents, were And we are solely responsible for it.
times. City College excels in commerce against West Pakistan’s domination killed. The reason was extortion. There is no “conspiracy” here, only
It bears repeating that the Digital Security Act (DSA) is nothing gained momentum, and especially Today, it is almost expected that
subjects, with Ideal College holding its our inexplicable and thoroughly
but a tool of repression as it is being used to muzzle freedom own at a satisfactory level. All three are after Bangabandhu launched his six- students will indulge in violence, that incomprehensible indifference to our
of speech and press freedom. This has been proven time and located in the upper middle class areas point programme in 1966, our friends they will be involved with money- future.
again in the last four years or so. The way it has been used
particularly to target and harass journalists, editors, political

A shameless attack on Iran’s schoolgirls

activists and human rights defenders is unacceptable in any
democracy. Unfortunately, despite activists frequently raising
concerns over its abuse and demanding its abolishment,
the government seems to be not only turning a deaf ear to
the demand but is, in a way, advocating its abuse. The law
minister’s recent comment – that the law is required in the
Noora Shamsi Bahar been taken off the website, thanks to A simple Google search can perhaps
is a writer, translator, and a senior
the efforts of Iranians who are actively take the reader to the Al Jazeera article
present context – is an example of this. lecturer at the Department of
English and Modern Languages in working on preventing the spread titled “Afghan schoolgirls ‘poisoned by
Against this backdrop, we appreciate the call of the United
North South University (NSU). of misinformation on the school Taliban’” published in May 2012. Given
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to
poisonings. the pattern, it is not absurd to conclude
amend the DSA. He has also raised concerns at the “increasing
This is clearly an act of biological that neither of these regimes wants
incidents of political violence, coupled with arbitrary arrests
terrorism aimed at schoolgirls who their girls to be educated, because
of political activists, and ongoing harassment of human
have been actively taking part in anti- clearly educated women are the ones
rights defenders and media personnel in the build-up to the
NOORA SHAMSI BAHAR regime protests in the ongoing “Zan, who can lead revolutions to bring down
elections.” We think these are all valid concerns, and should
Zendegi, Azadi” revolution. Besides any power that aims to trample upon
be addressed with the same urgency that the abuse of DSA
being a revenge mechanism, it is also their rights.
deserves. an intimidation tactic employed to If the regime in Iran is not guilty of
Since November 30, 2022, hundreds is problematic, given that the news
By now, there is ample evidence that the law has been of schoolgirls in a number of cities agency seems to be questioning the ensure that parents stop sending their deliberately poisoning the girls, how
abused to harass people unnecessarily, with the majority of in multiple provinces across Iran poisonings, and within this article, daughters to school. How convenient is it that they haven’t done anything
cases filed under it hanging unresolved for long. According to have been hospitalised due to Simon Wessely, a British psychiatrist it is that the CCTV cameras in the about it yet? One must bear in mind
the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS), at least 1,109 cases inhaling poisonous gas, assumed to who is NOT in Iran, did NOT interview school premises are switched off or that this is a regime that uses advanced
were filed between October 2018 and August 2022 – in which be organophosphates (insecticides), any of the victims, is NOT in touch out of order when these chemical facial recognition technology to
a total of 2,889 individuals were accused. What happened to that has left them with respiratory with the parents of these poisoned attacks take place! How questionable identify women who do not wear the
these cases? The CGS study has found that only two percent problems, nausea, dizziness, muscle schoolgirls, and is surely culturally is it that the concerned mothers of hijab in public spaces, so it will be
of the accused saw their cases come to a close, with the court weakness, altered sensorium, and removed from the current “Woman, these poisoned girls are barred from foolish to think that it doesn’t have
handing either a conviction, an acquittal or the dismissal of fatigue. Short video clips show these Life, Freedom” revolution in Iran, was entering the school premises and are the kind of intelligence or technology
the case. And the rest have been suffering through prolonged teen and pre-teen girls sprawled on considered to be a credible expert to in fact dragged away by the hair and to solve a recurring crime. Over three
investigation and trial processes. school grounds or lying in hospital comment on the situation. He had violently attacked? Why is it that the months have passed since the first
The CGS also found that, of all the cases filed under this beds, gasping for air, and screaming, the audacity to call this phenomenon school administrators are trapping chemical attack on school girls in the
draconian law, 60 percent were filed over Facebook activities, “I can’t breathe.” Videos of frenzied a result of “mass hysteria.” Later on, students inside classrooms by shutting province of Qom – and yet, nothing?
which is hardly surprising. And the fact that a total of 140 parents trying to break into schools due to the backlash received, the BBC the doors and windows and ensuring As an Iranian woman living in
cases were filed for allegedly defaming the prime minister have emerged, including a father amended the article and changed it maximum exposure to the toxic gas? Bangladesh, I weep for girls and women
alone further reveals the absurdity of the law. trying to climb over a school gate in a to “mass sociogenic illness,” which is How is it that we are not hearing about in Iran on International Women’s
Moreover, the cases filed under this law are not being desperate attempt to save his daughter. equally tactless and offensive. the teachers and staff in the schools Day this year. There’s nothing for me
handled as per the law. Reportedly, at least 725 of all the There is even a video clip of general What this British man did in essence suffering from the same symptoms? to celebrate when Iranian women’s
cases that police are now investigating are from before 2022. people trying to physically remove a was to gaslight Iranian women by The education minister has promised bodies are being used as jihad grounds
Although the law gives a 60-day time limit to submit an parked car from the street with their dismissing their biological symptoms to conduct an open investigation, to establish Islamofascist ideology. I
investigation report – with an extension of 15 days, if sought by bare hands to allow an ambulance to as being psychological and, in the but what’s the point? It’s like saying strongly urge fellow Bangladeshis to
an investigation officer – this is rarely followed. This is a clear pass through so it can reach a school process, intentionally or not, he spread the Taliban will conduct an open be the voice of the oppressed Iranian
violation of rules governing the investigation process. where one such chemical attack took dangerous pro-regime propaganda to investigation to look into the violation women because, as Afro-American
There is simply no reason anymore for the law to exist. place. Western news consumers. Likewise, in of women’s rights in Afghanistan. poet Audre Lorde once said, “I am not
Therefore, we demand that the government repeals this law The BBC published an article Psychology Today, a similar opinion Speaking of the Taliban, it’s not free while any woman is unfree, even
urgently, or at least amend it in a manner reflective of the titled “Are Iranian schoolgirls being was stated – that this is a case of “mass surprising that they employed the exact when her shackles are very different
concerns of the activists. poisoned by toxic gas?” which itself psychogenic illness.” This article has same tactic in Afghan girls’ schools. from my own.”

The Daily Star thedailystar.net EDITOR & PUBLISHER: Mahfuz Anam Registered & Head Offices: The Daily Star Centre Newsroom: Fax- 58156306 Advertisement: 01711623910 Subscription:
Reg. No. DA 781 bangla.thedailystar.net/ Printed by him on behalf of Mediaworld Ltd at Transcraft Ltd, 229, 64-65 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Dhaka-1215 reporting@thedailystar.net advertisement@thedailystar.net 01711623906
Tejgaon Industrial Area, editor@thedailystar.net Phone: 09610222222 GPO Box: 3257
OPINION
A large number of children in Bangladesh are suffering from multiple respiratory and immunity-related diseases,
thanks to air pollution.
Let us live, or we leave
Dhaka’s toxic air is killing our future generations
You don’t have to smoke a pack every
day to get lung cancer in Dhaka – the
air you breathe here will do it for you.
Breathing this air is unfortunately
not a choice for us; it’s a necessity. A
necessity that is also our kryptonite –
a slow poison that kills us every day.
Deep down we know that none of us
is well. Regardless of our habits, we
are all coughing every day. The few
trees that are left in Dhaka have also
given up. Their once green leaves are
now covered with thick layers of dust.
In Dhaka, we do not live; we
survive.
“Dhaka maintains its position
consecutively at the top five of the lists
of most polluted cities in the world,” a
ranking that we don’t wish to be a part
of, but our effortless performance
leaves us “breathless.” While smokers
can consciously refrain from smoking
in front of children, the poisonous
air of this city mercilessly enters
their still-developing respiratory
systems. As a result, their immunity
is heavily compromised. Currently,
a majority of children in Dhaka –
and Bangladesh – are suffering from
multiple respiratory and immunity-
related diseases. So, are we really
consciously letting our children
slowly die right before our eyes?
Dhaka’s air contains mercury,
chromium, nickel, zinc, arsenic
and all the other deadly elements
that can cause chronic respiratory
complications in humans, especially
in children. With their lungs still
developing, children are getting
exposed to extremely harmful
particles present in the air in
Bangladesh. Unlike adults, they have
a higher lung capacity, which makes
them inhale a larger amount of air,
thus making them more prone to
breathing in this poison.
According to The State of Global
Air 2019, a report by the US-based
organisations Health Effects Institute
and the Institute for Health Metrics
CROSSWORD BY THOMAS JOSEPH
ACROSS SSW
1 Doles out 31 That lady
6 Job reward 32 Attempt
11 Blunt of “A Quiet 33 Second-largest
Place” nation
12 One with a 35 November stone
record 38 Messing on TV
13 Grown girl 41 Full of energy
14 Garden starters 42 TV talk star
15 Tooth layer 43 Push away
17 Flying mammal 44 Was out
19 Cook’s need DOWN
20 Sewing aid 1 Kitty cry
23 Tennis star 2 Moody music
Andre 3 Schedule
25 “__ Lisa” 4 Flair
26 Recipe units 5 Nerve junction
28 Overly suave 6 Bowler’s button
29 Pad 7 Skating jump
30 Dir. Opposite 8 Skating surface
WRITE FOR US. SEND US YOUR OPINION PIECES TO
dsopinion@gmail.com.
Barrister Aiman R Khan
is associate advocate at Rahman
Law Associates and Company.
AIMAN R KHAN
and Evaluation, “The life of a South
Asian child will be shortened by 30
months on average as they grow
up in the current high levels of air
pollution.” Air pollution is directly
linked to diseases that can kill –
pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma
and many other irreparable lung
and heart conditions. The smaller
symptoms are mild lung infections
and allergies. There is a sudden spike
in infant mortality and premature
births Dhaka, which can also be
linked to air pollution.
What do all these statistics and
One doesn’t have
to be an expert to
test how much dust
is present in our
air. Just stand on
the footpath by the
Tongi Diversion
Road for 10 minutes.
Your eyes will start
to burn and you
will start coughing
heavily even if you
are wearing a face
mask.
health records mean to the ones
responsible? Nothing notable has yet
been done to address and tackle the
situation.
Back in 2020, the High Court
directed the authorities to submit
a report within a week on what
measures they had taken to reduce air
pollution. Three years later, just last
month, the court again called in the
authorities concerned as to what they
had done to implement the directives
issued back in 2020. Noticing that
nothing has been done yet, the court
asked the authorities whether they
9 Lawn material
10 USN rank
16 Make damp
17 Conductor’s need
18 Once more
20 Place for a break
21 Central
22 Mean-spirited
24 Devious
25 Unruly group
27 Holiday events
31 Greenish brown TUESDAY’S ANSWERS
33 Spelunker’s
place
34 Small valley
35 Ship sealer
36 Bullring call
37 Orange seed
39 Workout unit
40 Social worker
FILE PHOTO: AFP
“want to kill us.”
All that the authorities concerned
are doing is to go after the brick kiln
owners to stop their operations.
But brick kilns are just one of the
contributors. Nothing has been
done to stop the bus companies who
run public buses with apparently
no fitness whatsoever. These buses
still emit thick black smoke, in the
presence of the traffic authorities
who are responsible for regulating
said vehicles. Small factories inside
the city also emit poisonous smoke
as by-products. The regulatory
authorities don’t seem to bat an eye
as these violations keep occurring.
One doesn’t have to be an expert to
test how much dust is present in our
air. Just stand on the footpath by the
Tongi Diversion Road for 10 minutes.
Your eyes will start to burn and you
will start coughing heavily even if
you are wearing a face mask. Imagine
this amount of poison entering your
body every day. What’s even more
worrisome is how it’s affecting our
children.
Paediatricians these days are busy
treating children with allergy-related
complications caused by air pollution
on a regular basis, not to mention
respiratory issues. If this goes on, we
have to prepare for a very sick and
unwell generation ahead.
The popular quote “The great
Bangladeshi dream is to leave
Bangladesh” seems to make a lot more
sense now that parents have to see
their children suffer while breathing
in poisonous air. No wonder parents
who can afford it are sending their
children abroad for a better life. What
used to be an “elevation of standard
of living” has now become just the
bare minimum – to be able to breathe
clean air. If I want my children to
live, I’d either have to buy them an
expensive gas mask with an oxygen
tank, or leave this country for good.
No matter how unpatriotic it may
seem, I don’t want to see my kids
gradually die before my eyes. More
and more families are emigrating to
other countries to provide this basic
necessity to their children, and I
think nothing tops anyone’s priority
of ensuring a healthy life for their
children. If the authorities concerned
do not act now, we will have to pay a
heavy price in the future.
The ongoing economic
peril and our
plundered future
On March 2, 2023, this daily reported
that Moody’s, a major global
rating agency, had downgraded its
outlook of Bangladesh’s banking
system from stable to negative.
The report called this “a crushing
development” that would make
“foreign transactions trickier and
costlier for businesses and banks.” It
also noted that the latest downward
revision came after the lowering of
ratings of the Social Islami Bank
Ltd and putting the ratings of seven
Bangladeshi banks’ under review for
downgrade in December.
Reading the story reminded me
of a recently published book titled
“Lunthito Bhabishyat: Bangladesher
Arthanoitik Shonkoter Chalchitra”
(A Plundered Future: The Realities
of Bangladesh’s Economic Crisis),
in which Zia Hasan, a well-known
researcher on development and
economics, examined what
prompted international financial
institutions and rating agencies
to change their assessments of
Bangladesh’s economy within a few
months.
Hasan, in his essay, argues that
though Moody’s announcement
of placing Bangladesh’s Ba3 rating
under review for downgrade was
made on December 9, 2022, the
crisis originated years ago with
careless spending and reckless
borrowing from both domestic and
international sources. He argues
that the economy has been facing far
greater risks than what the national
and international institutions
have been projecting. According
to Hasan, most of us have been
focusing on three known issues:
loan-GDP ratio, interest liability
(which has reached about 20 percent
of the revenue), and expected higher
liability of paying off new interests
and loan instalments. But there are
three kinds of risks – known known
risks, known unknown risks, and
unknown unknown risks – and
the last two risks are being largely
ignored in most of the assessments.
The author shows how
seriously flawed our calculations
of GDP are and how such inflated
figures mislead other economic
measurements. He points out that
there are some sizable domestic
and foreign liabilities that have not
been taken into account, thereby
understating some unavoidable
consequences. By the time we would
realise the actual gravity of the crisis,
it would be too late, Hasan claims.
Zia Hasan’s forensic examination
of the state of the government
exchequer is a part of the book.
Ali Riaz, the book’s editor and a
distinguished professor of politics
at Illinois State University in the
US, explains in his introductory
note how Bangladesh, with a
gradual weakening of governance,
accountability and the rule of law –
which he describes as a “slow burn”
process – has reached the current
stage. Riaz argues that since 2014,
two controversial elections resulting
DHAKA FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023
FALGUN 25, 1429 BS
BOOK REVIEW
Kamal Ahmed
is an independent journalist. His
Twitter handle is @ahmedka1
KAMAL AHMED
in parliaments without an effective
opposition meant that none of
the economic and governance
issues have been meaningfully
debated. Besides, concentration of
unaccountable power has resulted
in the creation and consolidation
of a few cronies who have built their
wealth enormously, and many of
them have transferred assets abroad.
The book has four other critical
reviews on a few other crucial issues:
robbing of the banking sector,
aggravating the national economy;
unaccountable and unabated
corruption in the power sector
The author shows
how seriously
flawed our
calculations of
GDP are and how
such inflated
figures mislead
other economic
measurements.
He points out that
there are some
sizable domestic
and foreign
liabilities that have
not been taken into
account, thereby
understating
some unavoidable
consequences. By
the time we would
realise the actual
gravity of the crisis,
it would be too late,
Hasan claims.
building up huge liability for the
state exchequer; the government’s
development philosophy that
reflects its fascination with
megaprojects; and phenomenal
growth in money laundering by
cronies of the powerful elite.
Once you read this book, every
time you come across a story on
defaulted loans, management failure
of bankers, political interference
in banking, directors abusing their
positions, their influence over the
administration or inability of the
regulators, you will understand how
we ended up here. In his chapter,
Shawkat Hossain, head of online
at the daily Prothom Alo, takes us
through the evolution of banking in
the country, both under public and
private ownerships, and tells us how
the robbing of banks transformed
from using guns to gaining control
of the board room over the last five
decades.
He compiles most of the
violations of rules in sanctioning
and disbursing loans, validated
afterwards with political
interventions to the extent that
required changing laws as many
times as those offenders wanted
9
to have. These changes include
defining loan defaults, limitations
on holding directorships and day-
to-day management of banking
services. Reading Shawkat’s analysis
reminded me of one of the reports
published in this daily about the
International Monetary Fund’s
(IMF) diagnosis of the problems in
the banking system, including the
high volume of defaulted loans, as
one of the three domestic risks that
derail the economy in the short- to-
medium term.
Another insightful analysis in
this book is about the power sector,
which, according to its writer Ismail
Ali, chief reporter of the daily Share
Biz, identifies as one of the root
causes of the current economic peril.
Using the available official data, he
scrutinised rationales for paying
capacity charges, tax exemptions
and land allocations at cheaper rates,
who have benefitted from all these
special favours, wider variations
in cost calculations, discounts on
domestic loans, and the piling up of
foreign debts. His dissection of the so-
called quick rental contracts detects
several follies, including paying the
price for power to local independent
producers in foreign currencies. He
argues that it has facilitated transfer
of wealth abroad. He also argues that
the so-called inflated and unrealistic
capacity charge agreed upon with
India’s Adani Group would only
benefit the billionaire. Ismail says
that the indemnity act enacted
to protect everyone involved in
decision-making in the power sector
has resulted in reckless and to some
extent anti-national contracts.
Professor Ali Riaz in his scholarly
piece examines the development
principles of the Awami League
government, in which a clear trend
has emerged showing its emphasis
on megaprojects. The objective
is to make development projects
more visible than their cost-benefit
analysis. He draws lessons from
global experiences, including those
of the US and China, and identifies
some fundamental weaknesses
including reckless spending,
high level of corruption, and lack
of accountability, which have
VISUAL: TEENI AND TUNI
contributed to the growing debt
liabilities. A comparison between
all megaprojects in Bangladesh and
similar projects in other countries
would certainly make one aware of
the absence of accountability and
democratic governance.
The final chapter of the volume
is an overview of money laundering
abroad, the government’s inaction
and its political association. This
chapter is written by Tarique Chayan,
senior reporter at the daily Manab
Zamin, in which he argues that
political patronisation is the main
reason that enables the powerful
and corrupt elites to launder their
ill-gotten wealth to safe havens and
discourages, if not prevents, the
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)
from taking any effective role to
tackle it. Though the available data
shows a three-fold increase in money
laundering between 2004 and 2015,
the actual level of asset flight is
thought to be much higher.
Learning these facts together
may not be a happy reading and
certainly is a depressing exercise,
but it is essential to comprehend
what is happening in the country’s
economy.
10
DHAKA FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023
FALGUN 25, 1429 BS
Innovation and technology
is no silver bullet to
achieving gender parity
There is a Barrister Rashna Imam, an Oxford scholar,
very low is currently practicing as an Advocate at
the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. She is
representation
the Managing Partner of Akhtar Imam  &
of women in Associates and Executive Director of
the bench
Academy of Law and Policy (ALAP). On the
and the bar in occasion of the 8th of March International
Bangladesh Women’s Day, the Law Desk spoke with her
and the on the following issues:
reason is Law Desk (LD): The theme of this year’s
that the legal International Women’s Day is ‘DigitALL:
Innovation and technology for gender
profession
here is not equality’. How can we utilise innovation
and technology to eradicate inequality?
women-
friendly, less Rashna Imam (RI): Innovation and
so our courts technology is no silver bullet to achieving
gender parity, but it certainly provides an
in terms of opportunity to narrow the gender gap by,
infrastructure, among others, enhancing access of women to
working hours information, formal and informal learning,
and safety financial services, welfare services and giving
concerns. their businesses commercial advantage.
LD: The use of mobile financial services
(MFSs) has helped a lot of women carry out
small scale businesses from their home.
How can our laws and policies further
ensure progress in this aspect?
RI: According to the GSMA – The Mobile
Gender Gap Report 2022, Bangladesh has
the second highest gender gap for mobile
ownership (23%) and highest gender gap
for mobile internet usage (48%). Some of
the top barriers to mobile ownership and
mobile internet usage of women include
affordability, literacy and digital skills and
safety and security.
To remove these barriers what is required is
targeted intervention from industry (mobile
operators), policymakers, the development
community and other stakeholders. Some
recommendations include:
Affordability:
Sector-specific taxes have to be reviewed
and reduced to lessen the cost barrier.
Financial institutions have to be supported
to provide capital for handset loans for
women at lower interest rates.
Handsets for marginalised populations
should be subsidised in partnership with the
LAW & OUR RIGHTS
LAW INTERVIEW
private sector.
Innovative data pricing strategies should
be enabled and adopted to help providers
reach more women.
Digital literacy and skills:
Mobile and digital skills must be
mainstreamed in school, college and
university academic curricula.
Safety and security:
More and more awareness campaigns on
how to stay safe online must take place.
Review of existing laws is needed to ensure
that they recognise the different types of
cybercrimes reported.
Institutional capacity and mechanism
are to be built and strengthened to monitor,
investigate and prosecute online abuses.
To increase adoption of MFSs by women,
we must build and expand and extend the
network of female agents across Bangladesh
as surveys have shown that women are more
comfortable dealing with female agents.
We have to come up with innovative MFS-
products designed with the needs of women
MFS-users in mind and sustainability from a
business perspective. If the aim is meaningful
financial inclusion of women, the MFSs
cannot be limited to just payments (cash-in
and utility payments) and transfers (person-
to-person), but must expand to, among
others, savings mechanisms, loans and
insurance in case of emergency.
LD: Do you think there exist enough legal
remedies for women when they experience
gender-based violences (GBVs) online? If
not, what can be done about it?
RI: The spectrum of technology facilitated
GBVs is very wide and includes cyber stalking,
non-consensual distribution of intimate
image, deepfakes, hacking, identity theft,
revenge porn, threats, obscene messages, etc.
Bangladesh being a party to the core
international human rights treaties
like ICCPR, CEDAW and CRPD, it is her
international obligation to ensure the rights
of women and girls to safety and security. The
Constitution of Bangladesh also guarantees
the right to life, personal liberty, to be
treated in accordance with law and prohibits
discrimination on the grounds of, inter alia,
sex. While freedom of expression is also a
fundamental right, it is subject to restrictions
which must be reasonable, as per law, and
imposed due to reasons of morality, decency,
defamation, contempt of court, incitement to
an offence, etc.
Different forms of technology facilitated
GBVs have been made criminal offences under
different laws, punishable with imprisonment
and/or fine. Such laws include the Penal
Code 1860 (sections 509 & 500); the Dhaka
Metropolitan Police Ordinance 1976; the
Pornography Control Act 2012 (section 8); the
Information Communication and Technology
Act 2006 (as amended in 2013); the Digital
Security Act 2018 (sections 25, 26, 29 &
34); the Suppression of Oppression against
Women and Children Act 2000 (sections 10,
14 & 9A); the Bangladesh Telecommunication
Act 2001 (sections 69 & 70); the Children Act
2013; the National Broadcasting Policy 2014
(section 81); and so on.
Despite the above laws, the number of
cases filed by women are low. Some of the
reasons include reluctance to pursue legal
remedies due to fear of social stigma, lack
of awareness of the legal remedies, long,
protracted and cumbersome nature of legal
proceedings, threats from the perpetrator,
lack of digital literacy and the difficulty faced
by law enforcement agencies in tracking the
perpetrator in cases of cyber violence.
In my view, the legal framework is not
adequate to curb cyber violence. It is unclear
whether traditional crimes that occur in
the cyber space can be considered to be
cybercrimes. The laws do not address all
types of cyber violence that are reportedly
occurring. In some cases, such as the Digital
Security Act, the law goes beyond the stated
objective of addressing cybercrimes and
becomes susceptible to abuse by infringing
freedom of expression. There is no law on the
protection of victims and witnesses yet.
We need to enact or amend our laws and
policies to address the above inadequacies.
Government officials and justice sector
actors (lawyers, judges, police, legal service
providers) need extensive training and
orientation programmes on cyber laws, cyber
awareness and cyber security. National level
campaigns are needed to raise awareness of
cyber violence and legal remedies and services
by developing communications materials in
simple language with infographics.
LD: With the rise of female mobile and
social media users, there has been a rise
of #MeToo movement even in Bangladesh.
Did the movement do better or bad?
RI: The #MeToo movement has no doubt
raised awareness about the prevalence of
sexual misconduct against women, created
solidarity for victims, encouraged the
silent sufferers to speak up, and resulted in
action being taken against the perpetrators.
However, the movement has a dark side too
which is often overlooked. It has spurred on
false accusations followed by media trial.
Mere accusations become proof of guilt.
While the believe-all-women mentality may
be well-intentioned, it is misguided and
harmful to both genders in that genuine cases
of misconduct are being lumped together
with false ones and men are increasingly
becoming more reluctant to mentor women
in the workplace.
LD: Now a different but relevant question,
do you think there is a satisfactory number
of women in legal profession? What can we
do to increase female participation in both
bench and bar?
RI: Currently, out of 1600 judges in the
subordinate courts, only 580 are women,
and we have only seven women judges out of
110 judges, who serve in the Supreme Court.
Only five percent or so women represent in
the bench. Similar scenario, if not the same,
also exists in the bar. The reason for this
very low representation of women is that the
legal profession here is not women-friendly,
less so our courts in terms of infrastructure,
working hours and safety concerns. The
courts do not have adequate and hygienic
toilet facilities. There was hardly any day care
centre or breast-feeding corner (until very
recently). The elevators are mostly congested
making incidents of sexual harassment in
these not uncommon. Every female lawyer
in Bangladesh has had their share of sexual
harassment, be it in being stared at, followed
around from one court to another, unwanted
advances from their seniors to downright
unwanted physical advances. In 2021, the
Supreme Court pursuant to a direction of the
then Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Syed Mahmud
Hossain formed a five-member committee
for accepting and investigating complaints
of sexual harassment, against any people
working at the Supreme Court, including
judges, lawyers and court staff, occurring on
its premises and to recommend appropriate
action to the Chief Justice.
The profession is also not very supportive
of lawyers with family commitments,
particularly new mothers, and do not offer
reduced work schedule for proportional
compensation or work-from-home options.
Inevitably women either quit or fall behind in
their careers due to childbirth, child raising
and other family commitments. The solution
is that we need more women at the table,
so infrastructural changes take place and
policies and practices reflect and address
their concerns.
LD: Thank you for your responses.
RI: You are welcome.
RIGHTS WATCH
Freedom of
religion of the
Ahmadiyya
community
RAFID AZAD SAUMIK
In Bangladesh, the history of infringement of
the rights of the Ahmadiyya people goes back
a long way. The attack on Ahmadiyya Dhaka
headquarters in 1992, the killing of an Ahmadiyya
imam in 2003, and the besieging of Ahmadiyya
mosques in 2004 are just some of them.
Clearly, the intolerance and culture of impunity
responsible for the horrible attack of March 3,
2023 on the Ahmadiyyas in Panchagarh, has been
the product of the failures of the state for a long
time. It is still unclear who the real culprits are,
and whether the attack is purely due to religious
zealotry or if there is any political aspect involved.
But there is no doubt that this issue needs some
discussions from a legal point of view.
Firstly, many religious and non-religious
leaders have sometimes given many fatwas and
speeches regarding the Ahmadiyya community,
which have contributed to the dehumanisation
of the followers of this belief and incitement
to hatred and violence. The Supreme Court
of Bangladesh in the case of Tayeeb (Md) and
another v Government of the People’s Republic
of Bangladesh (2015) 67 DLR (AD) held that fatwas
generally are not unlawful.
However, if a fatwa given goes against the
laws of the country or if it affects the rights or
reputation protected by the laws of the country,
then the same will be void. Therefore, any fatwa
given that dehumanises the Ahmadiyya people
or threatens to violate their fundamental rights is
unlawful and void. Moreover, speeches by religious
clerics at different religious sermons or otherwise,
if they are intended to incite violence, constitute
a penal offence under section 505 of the Penal
Code, 1860. Despite there being many instances
of such incitement to violence, the local authority
has hardly ever taken against the instigators.
Secondly, the government has on several
occasions seized the publication of books
belonging to the Ahmadiyya faith under section
99A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898. For
instance, in 1985 a book titled Islam-i-Nabuat
was seized and later, the order was upheld to be
lawful in the Bangladesh Anjuman-e-Ahmedia,
represented by its Secretary, Umoor-e-Ama v The
Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government
of Bangladesh 45 DLR 185. Moreover, in 2004 a
blanket ban was given on all publications of the
Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at (AMJ). However, this
order was later stayed due to interference by the
High Court Division in the case of A.K. Rezaul
Karim and others v Bangladesh and others (Writ
Petition no. 7037 of 2004). It can be argued that the
initial decisions of the government to consider such
extreme demands by religious bigots only fuels the
hatred towards the Ahmadiyya community.
Thirdly, it is important to highlight the recent
incident of March 3, where an angry mob attacked
the houses and stores run by the people of the
community to protest the decision to arrange a
three-day long jalsa program. Such attacks violate
the freedom of religion enshrined under article 41
of the Constitution of Bangladesh. The Indian case
of Commissioner, Hindu Religious Endowments
Madras v Shri Lakshmindar Tirtha Swamiyar of
Shri Mutt (1954) AIR 282 can shed some light on
this topic. It was held in this case that the right to
freedom of religion not only protects the beliefs
and ideas of religions but also protects the rituals
and practices integral to them.
And lastly comes the demand to the government
to declare the Ahmadiyya sect as non-Muslims. It
begs the important question of whether the state
constitutionally can even make such a declaration.
Bangladesh, according to her Constitution, is a
secular state, and making such declaration would
surely go against the very fundamentals of the
Constitution and violate article 12, which pledges
to achieve secularism by eliminating all forms of
discrimination and persecution.
The government must make a careful balance
between the right of a certain portion of the
religious community of not to get its religious
sentiments hurt and the freedom of religion
of the Ahmadiyya sect. It is unfortunate that
a state which was liberated from the tyranny
of Pakistani military rule so that people of all
faith can live in harmony has reached a point
where communal violence is slowly becoming a
norm. The government is obliged to protect all
the fundamental rights of people belonging to
all religions not just by its Constitution but also
according to its international obligations under
the ICCPR and others. It is horrific that these
culprits, in most cases, are getting away from the
hands of the law enforcement force, which in turn
is creating a culture of impunity. An independent
probe must be formed to investigate the matter
and bring the truth behind such attacks to light,
and the government must take sufficient actions
so that such incidents never occur again.
The Writer is an Intern, Law Desk, The Daily Star.
 DHAKA FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023, FALGUN 25, 1429 BS
Intent without
the recklessness
SPORTS REPORTER from Chattogram
Bangladesh had been searching for the right batting
approach in T20Is for a long time, but while their ODI
approach has brought positive results, the results in T20Is
spoke of the need for an attitude that they did not often
measure up to.
Batters had eaten up deliveries trying to get set or
thrown away wickets in an attempt to accelerate while a
lack of power-hitting became a focal issue in autopsies
following T20I capitulations.
However, when asked to chase down the 156 put on by
England, the Tigers always kept themselves above the run-
rate that world champions England had managed during
the same phases in the innings.
Openers Rony Talukdar and Liton Das came out firing.
Often when wickets fall, things go downhill fast. But here
Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy accelerated in
an important 65-run stand that virtually took the game
away from the visitors. However, the intent was clear,
comfortable, neither hurried nor forced.
Shanto hit four back-to-back fours off Mark Wood in
the seventh over, each boundary seemingly giving him
more confidence to go for more. Hridoy had smashed
Chris Woakes down the ground before classy flicks for two
boundaries off the last two deliveries of the previous over
-- which made it six boundaries in a row.
The Sylhet Strikers duo had batted in the same
manner throughout the BPL and here they were given
the licence to go about their business in the same
manner. Hridoy’s approach is the one that also suits his
game, based on touch and timing.
“His [Hridoy’s] approach and intent, in his first
international match, gave me a lot of confidence. He
never got nervous playing against such a big team. We just
batted the way we batted in the BPL, where we had some
big partnerships.,” Shanto said yesterday at the press
conference.
Coach Chandika Hathurusingha had given them the
licence to play freely.
“They [Rony, Hridoy and Shanto] have done well in
domestic cricket so it is an opportunity for them to put
their hands up. I think they will get a lot of opportunities
to show what they can do. My message to them today was
to do what they normally do, but on the international
stage,” Hathurusingha had said just the prior day.
But for a culture to be built, a team has to be inspired.
For their insipid batting to reverse their approach, what
was needed was for the captain to turn up.
Shakib Al Hasan did both, giving youngsters confidence
and guiding them about tactical nous. It showed in the
practice session a day ahead of the game and it showed
in the method and freeness of the top-order. Whether
the trend continues will be depending on developing this
mindset.
Shakib himself was hopeful. “In T20s, when you don’t
think too much, you tend to play well. Hopefully, we can
keep this in the dressing room.”
One-dimensional PSG humbled again
REUTERS, Paris
Paris St Germain were knocked out in the
Champions League last 16 for the fifth
time in 12 seasons under big-spending
owners Qatar Sport Investment (QSI) and
it came as no surprise given the lack of a
club culture at the French capital club.
Poor recruitment decisions and blind
faith in the talent of Kylian Mbappe and
a handful of others meant PSG were not
armed against a Bayern Munich side
whose cohesion and strength in depth
made the difference in their 3-0 aggregate
victory.
PSG have been relying on the mercurial
Mbappe up front, but Bayern were well
prepared against such an elementary
strategy, while Lionel Messi has been
inconsistent since he joined from
Barcelona in 2021.
Neymar was out injured on Wednesday,
when PSG lost 2-0 despite a promising
first half, and while the team looked more
balanced with the Brazilian missing, the
lack of craft in the midfield was horribly
exposed. managed to stop the ball on the goal line
Marco Verratti has been a key player as he tried to finish a move by PSG in a
for PSG since 2011, but suspensions and title-deciding game against Strasbourg - a
injuries have worked against the Italian. mishap labelled the worst miss of all time
At the Allianz Arena his blunder by the media.
cost the visitors the first goal which Choupo-Moting has improved since
was scored by Eric Choupo-Moting - then and netted from close range after
a stinging irony after the Cameroon being set up by Leon Goretzka to put
forward became a laughing stock at PSG Bayern 1-0 in front before Serge Gnabry
before joining Bayern. put the result beyond doubt in the closing
In 2019, the striker somehow stages, leaving PSG to reflect on what
Both head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and skipper Shakib Al Hasan were delighted as Bangladesh made a great start to
their quest for the 2024 T20 World Cup with a comprehensive victory in the first of three T20Is against reigning world champions
England in Chattogram yesterday.
‘We will build the team
to do well like in ODIs’
ABDULLAH AL MEHDI from was plenty of criticism as well. He
Chattogram had said that there was a role he
needed to carry out for the national
The way Bangladesh’s bowlers side back then, but after the BPL,
thwarted England from getting a
where he ended as the top-scorer,
big score was commendable, but he was told to carry on with the
how did the Tigers’ chase go? It
approach he showed in the domestic
was a complete chase, done with T20 competition.
a coolness that displayed the “I wasn’t given a specific plan.
exuberance of youth, with left- We just tried to continue with
handed Najmul Hossain Shanto the momentum from the
leading from the front. openers. We stuck to a
How well the chase played out normal plan. We tried
could be surmised from Shanto’s to apply the way we
confident remarks at the press batted in the BPL,”
conference after beating world he said.
champions England in the first He found runs
of the three-match T20I series in in the England
Chattogram yesterday. ODIs and the BPL
“They are one of the best teams performances
in the world, so the win will give us allowed him to find
a lot of confidence. We will slowly a better tempo. “I
build the team, so we can do well just
as the ODI team,” Shanto said, with SCORES IN BRIEF
the intent in his voice suggesting the
confidence that he showed when he England:
played some smashing shots against 156 for six in 20 overs (Buttler 67,
some of the best in the business Salt 38, Duckett 20; Hasan Mahmud
during a 30-ball 51.
The ODI team has been successful
2-26, Shakib 1-26, Nasum 1-31)
in recent years but the T20 team has Bangladesh:
struggled for a long time. A new- 158 for four in 18 overs (Shanto 51,
look team had gone to the World Shakib 34*, Rony 21, Hridoy 24;
Cup in Australia last year but there Moeen 1-27, Rashid 1-25)
was far more newness to the team in
Result:
this series, Bangladesh’s first T20I
assignment since the World Cup. Bangladesh won by six wickets
Player-of-the-match:
Shanto himself had been at that
World Cup, ending as Bangladesh’s
highest run-getter. However, there
Najmul Hossain Shanto
went wrong again.
This time the joke was on the Paris
side and it was not the first time after
humiliating eliminations against
Barcelona and Manchester United in 2017
and 2019, respectively, after they had
taken a seemingly decisive advantage in
the first leg.
It is now the fifth time in the last seven
campaigns that PSG have exited Europe’s
elite club competition in the last 16.
PHOTO: FIROZ AHMED
have been scoring regularly, which
allows extra confidence. Game
awareness gets better. I had a better
understanding of building my
innings,” he said about being among
runs.
Before the chase, the team talk
had been to play normally, which
sounds simple but fits well with
Shanto’s game, anchoring and
accelerating as needed.
“They were telling me to
bat in similar fashion
[to the BPL],” he
informed about the
instructions.
But it was not
just Shanto. Towhid
Hridoy made his
international debut
while Rony Talukdar,
who came out to open,
returned after eight years
after playing a lone T20I.
Integration should not have been
easy, but Shanto said it was.
“I think the team environment
is great. We played together in the
BPL, so they didn’t take time to gel.
The good thing about our dressing
room is that a new player never feels
like he is new.”
The new faces and the returnees
added electricity on the field. Put
on the spot about whether they
would win the series, Shanto made
the following statement: “We
should win the series from this
position. We have to play well on
that particular day.”
“We have to stick together all the time.
We must have pride,” said Danilo Pereira,
who played well on Wednesday but cannot
be considered a world-class player.
The same goes for the likes of Vitinha
and Fabian Ruiz, who were partnering
Verratti in midfield.
While Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann
sent the experienced Leroy Sane and
Sadio Mane on from the bench, his PSG
counterpart Christophe Galtier had to
call on 17-year-old Warren Zaire Emery
and Hugo Ekitike, 20 late in the game.
Former PSG great David Ginola, a
pundit for Canal Plus, was fuming,
pointing out that the team lacked grit.
“There has been a real problem for
years. There are players in this team, I
wonder about the recruitment policy,” he
said.
“How can we have so little strength in
depth? We are still capable of living up to
our ambitions and having players who are
up to the task. Tonight Vitinha was not up
to it at all.
“If we want PSG to win the Champions
League, the players have to be more
invested in the club, more committed.”
Rubbing salt on PSG’s wounds, Bayern
president Herbert Hainer said: “You can
see that you can’t do everything with
money alone.”
In 12 years, PSG seem to have learned
almost nothing from their setbacks and
have failed to develop the club culture
of the likes of Bayern, Liverpool and Real
Madrid.
Star Sports 1 T Sports
India vs Australia Peshawar Zalmi
4th Test, Day 2 vs Multan Sultans
Live from Live from
10:00 am 8:00 pm
Under-20s eye
winning start
SPORTS REPORTER
Hosts Bangladesh are looking
forward to getting off to a winning
start in the AFC U-20 Women’s
Asia Cup Qualifiers when they take
on Turkmenistan in their Group
H opener at the Birshreshtha
Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in
Kamalapur today.
As the charges of Golam Rabbani
Choton have set their sights on the
next round of qualification, they
apparently have no alternative
but to secure three points in their
first match, especially after group
favourites Iran beat Turkmenistan 7-1
on Wednesday.
Even though Bangladesh are
believed to be favourites for this
match, they may face challenge from
a physically superior Turkmenistan
side.
“Actually, no team is weak and we
will try our best to make a winning
start,” captain Shamsunnar Jr said
after a practice session at the match
venue. “We watched their first match
and made our plan in that regard.”
Coach Choton said, “They already
have some experience after the first
match, so it is not going to an easy
encounter for us.”
Premier League
resumes on
April 7
SPROTS REPORTER
Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) yesterday
decided to resume the Bangladesh Premier
League on April 7, three days after the resumption
of Federation Cup, which is being held
simultaneously alongside the professional league.
The 13th edition of the league is scheduled to
come to an end on July 22 following two breaks --
the first one is FIFA window from June 12 to 20 and
the second one is for SAFF Championship from
June 20 to July 3. The final of the Federation Cup
has been fixed for May 30 after four quarterfinals
will be held between April 4 and May 2 while the
two semifinals will be held between May 9 and 16.
The decisions of the league committee also
indicates that the game’s local governing body is
setting less priorities on hosting world champions
Argentina in June Window
Besides, the Bangabandhu National Stadium is
not yet ready to host matches, even two years after
renovation work started. The youth and sports
ministry officials, who visited the venue yesterday,
did not either give any deadline for completion of
the remaining work before the June FIFA window.
“If we really want to bring Argentina, we will
have to work intensively on the renovation work
of the BNS,” BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem
Shohag said after a joint-coordination meeting.
“We will try our best to use the FIFA window
for the national team. In that case, If the BNS is
not ready, we can arrange international matches
in Sylhet or the team can go abroad to play
friendly matches as preparation for the SAFF
Championship,” Shohag told The Daily Star.
FIFPRO warns
against future
winter WC
REUTERS
FIFPRO said that the World Cup should never
again be squeezed into a November-December
window, and that Raphael Varane’s international
retirement should ring alarm bells about the
sport’s smothering schedule.
FIFPRO released their World Cup 2022
Post-Tournament Review and Player Survey on
Thursday, and said the results confirmed their
fears around players’ fatigue and injury risk.
Varane helped France reach the World Cup
final - then announced on Feb. 3 he was ending his
international career over a “suffocating” schedule.
“(Varane’s) decision should really, really make
organisers nervous, because it’s ultimately those
players who are creating the game, they’re creating
the product that is being sold by everybody ... and
they’re the players the fans come to see,” FIFPRO
General Secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann said on
Tuesday. “And if they’re taking career choices of
that drastic nature, based on their physical and
their mental health, caused by the pressure that is
on them, that is what we’ve been warning about.”
Varane had just eight days between the World
Cup Final and his first game back with his club
Manchester United. Eighty-six percent of players
want at least 14 days of preparation time, 61%
would like 14-28 days of post-World Cup recovery
time.
Baer-Hoffman said a repeat of 2022 would be
unacceptable.
“If you want to pursue a winter World Cup
again, you need (the leagues) to completely change
their schedule and provide appropriate training
and recovery time pre- and post-tournament,” he
said. “(It is) unlikely that they will agree to that.”
 city

12 DHAKA FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023, FALGUN 25, 1429 BS

Govt working SWADHINATA PADAK 2023

to build Sheikh 9 individuals, fire

Mujib Film City
PM says at Nat’l Film
Awards ceremony
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday
handed out The National Film Awards
2021 at a star-studded event, featuring
some of the biggest celebrities and artists
from across Bangladesh, as they all
gathered at Bangabandhu International
Conference Centre.
Usually, the award is given in a total
of 28 categories. However, this year,
34 awards were given in a total of 27
categories.
This year, the jury board selected the
winners from the eventual submissions
of 21 full-fledged films, 17 short films, and
7 documentary films -- totalling 45 films.
While the winners were announced by
the information ministry on January
SEE PAGE 6 COL 1
service chosen
UNB, Dhaka
Nine individuals and one institution have
been chosen for this year’s Swadhinata Padak,
Bangladesh’s highest civilian award, for their
contributions to the country.
Freedom fighter Colonel (retired) Shamsul
Alam, Lieutenant AG Mohammad Khurshid
(posthumous), martyred Khwaja Nizamuddin
Bhuiyan, and Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya
have been named as winners of the award for their
contributions to Bangladesh’s independence and
Liberation War.
Begum Nadira Jahan (Surma Zahid) and icddr,b
acting senior director Dr Firdausi Qadri will receive
the award for their contributions to research and
training, the Cabinet Division said in a notification
yesterday.
Mohammad Moinuddin Ahmed (Selim Al
Deen) will be given the award posthumously for
his contribution to literature.
Pabitra Mohan Dey and ASM Raqibul Hasan
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other dignitaries pose for a photo with the winners of the National Film Awards 2021 at the will receive the honour for their contribution to
Bangabandhu International Conference Centre yesterday. culture and sports respectively.
PHOTO: PID
The Department of Fire Service and Civil
Defence has been picked for the award in the

Gunpowder, Two vendors Nat’l grid “public service” category.

Bangladesh has been honouring individuals
gets power and institutions with the Swadhinata Padak since

petrol used from Adani

1977 ahead of Independence Day on March 26
every year.

in attacks on reluctant to supply on trial basis

Ahmadiyyas
Says Panchagarh SP
STAR REPORT
Miscreants used gunpowder and petrol
during attacks on members of the
Ahmadiyya community over a Jalsa event
that left two dead and over 50 injured on
March 3 in Panchagarh Sadar, said police.
SM Sirajul Islam Huda, superintendent
of the district police, came up with the
claim at a press conference at his office
yesterday, six days after the incident,
reports UNB.
The attackers used gunpowder and
petrol for setting establishments on fire,
he added, reports UNB.
Meanwhile, our Thakurgaon
correspondent reported that police
arrested 30 people in connection with
attacks between Wednesday night and
early yesterday.
With this, the number of total
arrestees is now 165, said police.
“We are arresting people on the
basis of specific information and
footage, irrespective of their political
backgrounds,” said SP Huda yesterday.
The incident was pre-planned and a
group of trained cadres, equipped with
lethal weapon, carried out the attacks
on the Ahmadiyya community, the
policeman claimed.
On March 3, two people were killed
and at least 30 others, including seven
policemen, injured in a clash between
law enforcers and supporters of Islamist
organisations demonstrating against
SEE PAGE 6 COL 6
STAFF CORRESPONDENT Denmark opens
fuel to BPC Electricity supply from
the controversial Adani undersea graveyard
Late payments to blame
power plant in Godda,
Jharkhand began on a
trial basis yesterday.
for imported CO2
MD NAZRUL ISLAM, Ctg wrote to the BPC about its dues. “We are getting 50
Then on March 4, a ship loaded with diesel megawatts of electricity
Two of the six vendors of the Bangladesh from Unipec arrived at the Chattogram port since 7:38 pm,” ABM
Petroleum Corporation have expressed but the cargo was barred from leaving the vessel Badruddoza Khan,
reservations about providing further fuel until the dues were cleared. spokesman for Power
cargos, in a development that raises questions “We couldn’t release the fuel due to the Grid Company of
of whether the state agency would be able to financial hold,” said an official of BPC on the Bangladesh, told The
ensure uninterrupted supply in the coming condition of anonymity to speak candidly on Daily Star.
months. the issue. The electricity
BPC owes Singapore-based Vitol Asia and was generated at a
On March 5, BPC made a payment of $62.27
China’s oil trading giant Unipec about $282 million to Unipec and was able to release the 1,600-megawatt ultra-
million amid the ongoing dollar crunch. supercritical power
cargo from the port.
Earlier in 2020, the two won a tender to The following day, BPC wrote to the ministry plant located on 425 AFP, Copenhagen
supply up to 1.06 million tonnes of power, energy and mineral hectares of land in an
of oil products in the first half of BPC owes Singapore- resources expressing concern Indian village about Denmark has inaugurated a project to store
the year after placing the lowest 100 kilometres from carbon dioxide 1,800 metres beneath the North
offers. based Vitol Asia and that if they are unable to clear
the dues, the company may the Bangladesh border Sea, becoming the first country in the world to
Vitol Asia, the Asian unit of China’s oil trading impose such a ban again. and delivered through a bury CO2 imported from abroad.
the world’s largest independent giant Unipec about If the fuel cargoes do not dedicated transmission “Today we opened a new chapter for the North
oil trading house, had dues of $282 million amid arrive as per schedule, the line. Sea, a green chapter,” Denmark’s Crown Prince
$152.60 million from BPC. Now the power plant Frederik on Wednesday said at the inauguration
the ongoing dollar fuel reserves would decline ceremony in the town of Esbjerg in the west of
The company sent emails will supply electricity to
on August 8 and 10 last year crunch. alarmingly.
“There will be uncertainty the national grid until Denmark.
informing that they will not be over supplying uninterrupted commercial operation The CO2 graveyard, where the carbon is injected
able to supply fuel to Bangladesh if BPC does fuel. As a result, it would impact the agriculture starts, Khan said, adding to prevent further warming of the atmosphere, is
not clear the dues and demanded interest on sector in the ongoing irrigation season,” the that the supply will on the site of an old oil field.
the late payments. letter added. gradually increase as per Led by British chemical giant Ineos and German
Then on February 28, officials of Vitol Asia Khalid Ahmed, BPC’s director of operations demand. oil company Wintershall Dea, the “Greensand”
met with BPC. and planning, played down the incidents. The plant was project is expected to store up to eight million
As of this month, BPC was unable to clear the “Such financial hold is nothing new. It’s like supposed to start tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030.
dues, an official of Vitol Asia Bangladesh told a strategy of the suppliers to keep BPC under commercial operation Still in their infancy and costly, carbon capture
The Daily Star asking not to be named. pressure.” by December 16 last year and storage (CCS) projects aim to capture and then
Similarly, Unipec -- a subsidiary of Chinese Vitol Asia got $30 million yesterday, he told but was later shifted to trap CO2 in order to mitigate global warming.
Sinopec, the world’s largest crude oil refiner by The Daily Star. The rest of the dues will be paid March 26 this year. Over 200 similar projects are currently
total capacity -- had dues of $129 million. in phases, Ahmed added. As per the power operational or under development around the world.
On February 28, the Beijing-based company SEE PAGE 6 COL 6 SEE PAGE 6 COL 6 SEE PAGE 6 COL 1

Woman gang-
raped by
supervisers
of brick kiln
OUR CORRESPONDENT,
Noakhali

The supervisors of a brick

kiln in Lakshmipur and
their cohorts gang-raped
and tortured a 18-year-
old woman on Wednesday
night, according to a
complaint filed with
Lakshmipur Sadar Police
Station.
The woman said the
accused confined her
husband to the brick kiln
and then raped her at her
home, which is nearby.
Two days before the
rape, the supervisors and
their men said a relative
of the woman’s husband,
a worker at the kiln, had
stolen their money.
On Tuesday, the men
held her husband captive
and asked him where his
‘SCUSE ME, MA’AM! … A chestnut-tailed starling tries to grab the attention of another, who seems to be lost relative could be found,
in its own thoughts! These birds are resident, or partially migratory, throughout India and much of Southeast said the mother of a two-
Asia. Usually spotted in the upper canopies and leaves of trees, they prefer areas such as open forests, year-old child.
The accused men
plantations, or cultivations. However, they do sometimes venture out into the concrete jungle, like these chained her husband and
two taking a tour of Babar Road in the capital’s Mohammadpur. Like other species of starlings, they too are tortured him. She went to
omnivorous – eating fruits, nectar and insects mostly. It is most fascinating to watch them fly together like the brick kiln and pleaded
a tight-knit family, often rapidly changing directions with exceptional synchrony. While the chestnut-tailed with them to release him,
starling is in the “least concern” category of the IUCN’s Red List, deforestation, like for all birds, remains a but to no avail.
threat to its population. PHOTO: MOSABBER HOSSAIN SEE PAGE 6 COL 3