SECOND EDITION

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015 | Ashwin 21, 1422, Zilhaj 21, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 170 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015Advertisement2DT

US for joint e ort to address violent extremismn Mohammad Al-Masum MollaUnited States Ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat yesterday underscored the importance of joint e orts to address violent extremism.

Let me underscore the vital importance of our joint e orts to address violent extrem-ism. We have everything we need to ght the emergence of ISIL [Islamic State group] in Bangladesh, she said.

She was addressing a Diplomatic Corre-spondents Association Bangladesh (DCAB) meeting at the National Press Club yesterday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said there was no presence of the Islamic State group (referred to as ISIL or IS) in Bangladesh.

The US ambassador said the enemy was terrorism, in general, and IS, in particular, which has many resources.

Bangladesh has made extraordinary ac-complishments in a very short period of time. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can diminish those accomplishments.

Bernicat said Bangladesh has a prime min-ister who has taken a zero-tolerance position against terrorism.

As partners over the years, we have devel-oped the resources, the commitment, and the shared experiences we need to counter terror-ism and violent extremism. And we are deter-mined to work together with our partners for the safety and security of our countries. This

is a global issue that requires a coordinated, global approach.

She said there were so many important stories to share about the US-Bangladesh re-lationship.

Our two countries have a common vision

not just for our bilateral relationship, but for the region. Let me be clear: the US-Bangla-desh relationship is stronger than ever before and our interests are more closely aligned.

The US envoy also said: We approach PAGE 4 COLUMN 4

Ex-PDB chairman slaughtered at homen Mohammad Jamil Khan A former chairman of the Power Development Board (PDB) was found murdered at his home in the capitals in Madhya Badda area last night.

Former PDB chairman Khijir Khan, 66, was a freedom ghter, the president of the Kushtia District Association and a pir or holy man who operated his own khanqa sharif a religious meeting place. PDB o cials remember him as an e cient engineer.

Police said his assailants locked Khijirs family up before slaughtering him in his khanqa sharif, located on the second oor of the six-storey building. The family lives on the third oor.

Residents of the area and family members said six men, between 25 and 30 years of age, visited Khijir around 8:30pm to make an ad-vance rental payment for the ground oor of the house.

Md Wahab, the owner of a grocery shop, was the rst to enter the house after the mur-der. He told the Dhaka Tribune he found a pool of blood on the oor of the khanqa sha-

rif. The victims feet and hands had been tied together with the shrines curtains.

Krishna Pada Roy, joint commissioner (Crime) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said initial inquiries suggested there were six killers.

The killers rst visited the third oor of the house and then went to the shrine room on the second oor. The perpetrators bound the family members hands and feet and locked them upstairs while another group bound Khijirs hands and feet before slaugh-tering him, Krishna said.

Some time later, Khijirs daughter-in-law was able to free herself and came downstairs to nd her father-in-law lying dead slaugh-tered in a pool of blood, the joint commis-sioner said.

Khijirs driver Mostofa told the Dhaka Trib-une that the six visitors had come to the house on Monday saying they wanted to rent out the ground oor. They made a Tk5,000 advance payment on Monday and said they would pay the rest of the advance yesterday, Mostofa said.

PAGE 4 COLUMN 1

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015 | Ashwin 21, 1422, Zilhaj 21, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 170 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

MP LITON GONE BUT HIS GOONS STILL ON PAGE 6

THE DARK SIDE OF NOBEL- WINNING RESEARCH PAGE 9

PM PROMISES HUNGER-FREE COUNTRY PAGE 5

The untold tale of Hoshi Kunion Kamrul HasanSpeaking near the mosque next to his rented home where he recently convert-ed to Islam, the residents of Munshipara described the 65-year-old Japanese man who was brutally gunned down on Satur-day as a kindly man.

For most of the time they had known him, he had been known to his neigh-bours as Hita Kuchi.

The people he lived among recall a man who spoke little Bangla but never-theless always tried to communicate with his neighbours. They recall that his bro-ken Bangla made the children laugh.

It was only after his murder and the ensuing press coverage about him that Munshiparas residents learned that Hita Kuchis real name was Hoshi Kunio.

A female neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: He was a very good per-son who respected everyone, including the children, around him.

We knew him as Hita Kuchi. It was on the television that we learned that his original name was Hoshi Kunio.

But as of the 27th of Ramadan, Hoshi PAGE 4 COLUMN 1

Hoshis killers might haveused feeder roads to een Kamrul HasanSeveral check-posts were set up minutes after the murder of Japanese national Hoshi Kunio, but the killers might have escaped through one of the many unguarded feeder roads of the main highway in Rangpur.

Rangpur police, who are looking into the murder that took place on Saturday, however, have yet to make any signi cant progress in solving the murder mystery.

But local residents alleged that policehave been slow in reacting to the news of the murder.

Sarai Union Parisad Chairman Asraful Is-lam said the murder took place around 10am and he informed the OC of the Kawnia police station within 15 minutes. He also informed the high o cials of the district administration about the murder right after.

When contacted, OC Rezaul Islam said: After receiving information from the

PAGE 4 COLUMN 1

Two tourists anda guide missingin Bandarbann Our Correspondent, BandarbanTwo tourists and their guide have been miss-ing in Ruma upazila of Bandarban district since Saturday. Police have yet to nd their trace.

The tourists were identi ed as Munna, 35, and Jamil, 28, but the guide had not been identi ed yet when this report was led, sources at police told the Dhaka Tribune.

Locals said the tourists were from Mirpur, Dhaka and arrived in Ruma on September 28 to visit Boga Lake.

They were last seen near Raikhkhang Pukurpara area, close to Boga Lake, on Satur-day afternoon, they said.

When contacted, Ruma police station OC Shariful Islam said no complaint had been led yet with the police station in this regard.

However, sources at police said even though there is an o cial rule that tourists must register their names and personal de-tails with the local police station when visiting Ruma, the missing tourists had not done so.

The lack of information is making it even more di cult to nd them, they said.

PAGE 4 COLUMN 3

A police motorcade patrols a normally busy road in the diplomatic zone in the capital's Gulshan area that is now almost completely empty after security was beefed up yesterday in the aftermath of the murders of two foreign nationals SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015NEWS4DT

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

The untold tale of Hoshi Kuniohad acquired yet another name: Golam Kib-ria. Maulana Siddiqur Rahman o ciated at Hoshis conversion to Islam at the mosque near Hoshis rented at.

The mosques muezzin, Taijul Islam, said he had seen Hoshi take part in Maghrib prayers. He said Hoshi had taken the name Golam Kibria upon converting.

Asaduzzaman Lenin, another resident, re-calls that he had seen Hoshi at the Eid prayer this Eid -ul-Azha. He said he learned about Hoshis conversion at the Eid prayers.

Hoshis neighbours ask why the murderers killed their Hita Kuchi? They ask how Mus-lims can kill a man who came to this country, found it congenial and just three months ago became a Muslim?

The sexagenarian was in the habit of tak-ing a walk every evening. He bought bananas from the corner shop and tried to speak to the local children in Bangla, sometimes o ering them chocolates or bananas. He also tried to teach them Japanese.

Hoshi rst visited Bangladesh in 2011 for a week. He visited again for a week in 2013 be-fore nally deciding to live in the country this year.

Since foreign citizens cannot remain in Bangladesh for more than three months at a stretch without a work permit, he left and re-entered the country to renew his visa sta-tus, visiting China and, most recently, India, according to a police source.

Farming in a Rangpur villageNeighbour AKM Zakaria, who rented Hoshi his at, said Hoshi was a researcher who came to Bangladesh to conduct research that would have been very costly in Japan.

Police sources said Hoshi had taken Tk1,06,000 from Zakarias younger brother, Mison. They said it was through Mison that Hoshi had made arrangements to come to Bangladesh.

Hoshi began farming this year in Kachu Alutari village on 0.8 hectares of land leased

from three brothers Shah Alam, Shajahan Mia and Jahangir Alam.

Humayun Kabir Hira signed the agreement on behalf of Hoshi.

It says, Hoshi leased the land for Tk82,000, paying a Tk42,000 down payment on May 7 and the remaining Tk40,000 on July 15. Vil-lage resident Abdul Jabbar said Hoshi visited his farm every day, measuring the grass he was growing and occasionally weeding the plot. Hoshi told him the grass was growing more quickly in the soil of Rangpur than ex-pected.

During this period, the grass had grown more than three feet but would not have grown more than one or two feet in Japan, Hoshi had told him.

Police sources said Hoshi was not a wealthy man who had come to Bangladesh to improve his condition, adding that the relatively low cost of living in Bangladesh and its rich soil drove him to try his luckhere. l

Ex-PDB chairman slaughtered at homeDomestic helper Amena said the killers rst went to the third oor to meet Khijir and, because he was on second oor, went down-stairs. Amena said she was cleaning the wash room at the time.

Amena said after talking with Khijir for a while, the attackers suddenly began to tie his feet and hands. Amena said she came out of the wash room and started shouting when she saw what was happening.

Hearing the commotion, Khijirs wife Rubi came down from the third oor. When she reached the second oor, one of the attackers

greeted her and took her inside the khanqa sharif.

At this point, three of the killers went up to the third oor and bound the hands and feet of Mostofa, Khijirs two daughters and daughter-in-law. Three others tied up Rubi and Amenas hands and feet. Finally, to cries of Allahu Akbar, the men slaughtered Khijir.

Khijir, the son of the late Rahmatullah, was the third child among four brothers and two sisters. He is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.

His elder son, Motiur Islam, works as a PDB

computer engineer. His younger son, Ashraful Ahmed, studies at a private medical college. His two daughters are Rabeya Khatun and Ra-hela Khatun.

One of Khijirs followers, Towhidul Islam, said every Thursday special prayers were held in the khanqa which Khijir o ciated over himself. Some 50 to 60 people gath-ered for the prayers in the khanqa sharif,he said.

In reply to a question about whether the killing bore a resemblance to other mur-ders, Joint Commissioner Krishna said the

police were still collecting evidence and in-vestigating the case and that it was too earlyto say.

Khijirs remains have been sent to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy. His fam-ily said his remains will be taken to his native village in Kushtia district.

A year ago, on August 27, 2014, Channel I presenter Nurul Islam Faruqi was slaughtered in his home in the capitals Rajarbagh area. In 2013, a self-proclaimed pir or holy man named Lutfar Rahman and ve others were slaugh-tered at Lutfars residence in Gopibagh. l

US for joint e ort to address violent extremismBangladesh as our full- edged partner, whether we are collaborating on security, de-velopment or economic issues.

She said the US would continue to support Bangladesh to help it achieve the new sus-tainable development goals.

Bernicat said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasi-nas speech at the United Nations General As-sembly was a powerful speech in which the prime minister said terrorism and violent ex-tremism remain major impediments to global peace and development, and terrorists have no religion and respect no boundary.

The US envoy said her country would help Bangladesh if it requests help investigating the murders of two expatriates.

Both attacks were done in a very similar manner and these are unusual incidents in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi peoples hospital-ity to foreigners is legendary. This has not changed, she said.

Asked about the basis of information on threats in Bangladesh, Bernicat said in order for a threat to be considered credible, the US government looks at a range of sources.

Bernicat said when IS takes credit for such incidents anywhere in the world, the US rst attempts to verify those claims.

We are in the process of determining whether the claims are accurate.

She said as an ambassador it was her rst duty to protect her countrys citizens.

On the US travel advisory on Bangladesh, Bernicat said: Our advisory does not say Do not come to Bangladesh. Nor does it say Leave Bangladesh. Our advisory asks our citizens to exercise caution. We shared that information with our citizens not to create panic but to actcautiously. l

Hoshis killers might have used feeder roads to eechairman, I immediately called the local con-trol room and got check-posts set up at all the possible exit routes.

But all the check-posts at the main entry points came to no use because there are many feeder roads to the Rangpur-Haragachha road and the killers, who were riding a motorbike, might have used one of those, he said.

According to sources, there are at least ve roads, which the killers could have used to ee the crime scene. Three of those roads are within a ve kilometer radius from the place where the murder was committed.

Abdullah, a local businessman, said the killers might have ed towards the border us-ing the Aragachha feeder road. They might have also used the Haragachha-Madama-

dan-Mirbagh-Kawnia feeder road to escape towards Kawnia. That road leads to the neigh-bouring Lalmonirhat district and ends up near the border.

Police have detained a total of six people for interrogation; four of them were detained on the day of the incident.

Meanwhile, a second team of Japanese investigators arrived in Rangpur yesterday. They landed at the Syedpur airport around 5pm, went straight to the Kawnia Police Sta-tion and then to the crime scene.

Earlier, a team from the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka completed all formalities to take the dead body, but they were waiting until yester-day for the second team to arrive. In the mean-time, Hoshis body is being kept at the morgue

of the Rangpur Medical College Hospital. l

Two touristsLocals believe that the tourists and their guide had most likely been abducted by local gang of armed criminals.

The local law enforcement agencies are running an elaborate search operation in the area to nd the missing persons, said Kazi Mohammad Chahel Tostori, upazila nirbahi o cer in Ruma.

In a separate incident, two businessmen were abducted from the districts Alikadam upazila on Sunday.

Police said they have yet to nd any trace of the abductees and are looking for them. l

Medical college aspirants call strike tomorrown Tribune Report Medical college admission seekers yesterday announced a countrywide student strike to-morrow demanding fresh exams.

Progotisheel Chhatra Jote and Samrajjobad Birodhi Chhatra Oikya yesterday brought out a procession from Dhaka Universitys (DU) Modhur Canteen in support of the demands.

Over a hundred protesters congregated at the rally.

We will continue. Several organistions

have already thrown their weight behind our movement, said a protester.

A memo has been handed over to the Prime Ministers O ce requesting to retake exams of medical colleges. We are waiting for the PMs decision, said Imran Habib Rumon, central committee member of Shamajtantrik Chhatro Front.

The protesters said the actual exam was identical to one of the leaked question papers.

They demanded the previous exam results be annulled and fresh exams be taken. l

Police HQ: IS link claims grey propagandan Mohammad Jamil Khan Police are saying that reports about the Islam-ic States link to the recent murders of foreign-ers are nothing but grey propaganda from a former Mossad o cial, who now heads the group that made the alleged IS link claims.

In a press statement, Police Headquarters yesterday said reports of IS claiming respon-sibility for the murders were grey propagan-da by Rita Katz, the co-founder of Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Intelli-

gence Group, a private rm based in Washing-ton DC

During an attempt to verify the claim by SITE, Bangladeshi detectives said they found that Katz previously worked for Israeli intelli-gence agency Mossad. In the past, Katz the executive director of SITE group also worked for the FBI, according to the police statement.

Bangladeshi intelligence o cials pointed out that none of the seven known websites that o cially represent the militant out t IS had claimed responsibility for the murders. l

NEWS 5DT

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015

PM promises hunger-free, liveable Bangladesh n Tribune ReportDedicating all her awards to the countrys people, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yes-terday vowed to establish a poverty- and hunger-free liveable Shonar Bangla for the future generation.

She said this while addressing a civic re-ception arranged by Dhaka North City Corpo-ration (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corpora-tion (DSCC) at the south plaza of parliament as she won the Champions of the Earth Award and ICT Sustainable Development Award.

The United Nations Environment Pro-gramme (UNEP) and the International Tele-communication Union (ITU) conferred the awards on the prime minister during the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly.

Seeking support from people, Sheikh Hasi-na said the programmes her present govern-ment has taken for the countrys develop-ment have to be implemented.

Hasina also said she has dedicated her life to peoples wellbeing and the countrys over-all development, reports UNB.

The premier said all her achievements are for the people of the country. Because on my return home in 1981, I got the a ection and love of father, mother and brothers from these people I am ready to make any sacri- ce for these people.

Hasina repeatedly said she would never al-low the people of this country to move with their heads down. Our aim is to have a dig-ni ed place for the people of this country on the international stage, she added.

Talking about the vision of a Digital Bang-ladesh, she said her government wants to en-sure an improved lifestyle for the people of this country through the use of modern tech-nologies.

About ensuring basic rights like food,

clothes and accommodation, the prime min-ister said Bangladesh would have to ensure these rights using only its 54,000 square miles.

It is natural that for development there is some impact on the environment. We will have to do that development keeping the en-vironment unharmed.

Speaking on climate change, its e ect on Bangladesh and the challenges, Hasina said her government was not at all dependent on anyone.

Mentioning that her government has been

protecting the environment and biodiversi-ty using the countrys limited resources, she said: We started our programmes with our own resources, and this is now an example in the world.

Hasina said Bangladesh needs to be kept green protecting its wetlands and water-bod-ies and the biodiversity. On the other hand, we must expedite the countrys develop-ment. And for that we will have to lay empha-sis on research.

In this connection, she also brie y men-

tioned various achievements in researches conducted by the countrys scientists.

Earlier, the Prime Minister also witnessed a colourful cultural function.

Mayors of the two city corporations pre-sented a tree to the prime minister while two tiny tots read out a citation and gave it to her.

Chaired by DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq, the function was also addressed by Professor Emer-itus of Dhaka University Ra qul Islam, LGRD Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, and DSCC Mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon. l

Bijoya Dashami holiday on Oct 22n Tribune ReportThe government has rescheduled the Bijoya Dashami holiday on October 22, moving it from October 23.

Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters yesterday that the hol-iday would be observed on a day earlier than the previously xed date. The decision came from the Ministry of Public Administration. l

CESARE TAVELLA MURDER

Probe body formed to investigate police negligence n Mohammad Jamil Khan Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) yesterday formed a three-member probe body to inves-tigate if there was any negligence of on-duty police o cials when Italian citizen Cesare Ta-vella was murdered.

The committee headed by Diad Ahmed, additional commissioner of the Detective Branch (DB) of police, was asked to submit the report within seven working days.

The two other members of the committee

are Ataul Kibria, deputy commissioner of po-lice of Diplomatic Security and Tutul Chakra-barti, deputy commissioner of police of Pro-fessional Standard and Internal Investigation Division, according to the report of Dhaka Metropolitan Police news portal.

On September 28, some unidenti ed as-sailants riding on a motorbike shot Tavella to death in the highly secured diplomatic zone of Gulshan area in the capital.

Before the three-member probe body po-lice also formed an 11-member separate probe

body to investigate the murder case. Headed by Deputy Commissioner of DB

Mahbub Alam, four more additional deputy commissioners of the same department were included in the committee.

Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of DB police, will coordinate both the probe bodies investigations.

Contacted, Muntasirul Islam, deputy com-missioner of police of media and publication, says security in diplomatic areas has already been beefed up. l

Amir Ali Razakar arrestedn Our Correspondent, NoakhaliPolice in Noakhali yesterday arrested two sus-pected war criminals in the district.

Amir Ahmmed alias Amir Ali Razakar, 69, was arrested at his residence in Uttar Fakir-pur around 1pm, while Joinal Abedin, 73, was arrested at his house in Char Matua under Noakhali sadar upazila.

Anowar Hossain, OC of the Sudharam Model Police station, said that Amir Alis name appears at number two in the list of war criminals in Noakhali district. Amir is the son of late Moza ar Ahammed. The other arres-tee, Joinal Abedin, is the son of late Sekandar Mia. They have both been under police sur-veillance for the last three years. l

Five held with nine grenades in Chittagongn FM Mizanur Rahaman, ChittagongMembers of Detective Branch (DB) of Chit-tagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) yesterday detained ve alleged Islamist militants.

Police recovered nine grenades and a huge number of ammunition from their posses-sions.

They were picked up from Koashnagor area under Karnaphuli Police Station in Chit-tagong city yesterday evening.

Police, however, could not disclose the identities of the detainees nor they said

which organisation the militants belonged to.Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kusum Dewan

of the DB told the Dhaka Tribune that they were verifying everything and after which they would disclose the name of the organi-sation the militants belonged to.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Babul Akhtar of the DB (North Zone) told the Dhaka Tribune that being tipped o DB men carried out drive in a house at Koashnogar area and held the ve militants around 6pm.

Police recovered nine hand grenades, 120 rounds of bullets, a foreign-made pistol, 10

knives and huge bomb making materials from their possessions, added ADC Babul Akhtar.

ADC Babul said police recovered the gre-nades from a trunk of the house.

At the time of police raid the militants tried to attack police after they had sensed the presence of law enforcers but police thwarted their attempts.

We informed the bomb disposal unit while police were verifying their identities, said ADC Babul Akhtar.

Legal action will be taken against them, he said. l

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina receives a crest from two children at a reception hosted by the two city corporations of Dhaka yesterday to honour her for the Champions of the Earth and ICT Sustainable Development Awards. The photo taken at the South Plaza of the parliament building BSS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015NEWS6DT

MP Liton gone but his goons still onn Our Correspondent, GaibandhaSince Friday, after Gibandha lawmaker Man-jurul Islam Liton shot and injured eight-year-old Sourov and ed the area, there has been a lot of speculations about his whereabouts.

But for the residents of Sundarganj, where the shooting took place, this has not made any di erence.

The lawmaker might not be around, but his followers who are basically professional criminals have since made themselves very visible.

Every time anyone or a group of people tried to gather for a protest, demanding arrest and punishment for the MP, who was said to be drunk when he shot the boy, they have in-tervened and stamped out dissidents.

Law enforcement and local administration have been saying from the beginning that they had no clue about where the ruling party MP could be.

Not only has there been any improvement

on that, but there are also allegations that the local administration has been intimidating people not to raise voice against Liton.

Quite understandably, no common resi-dents of the Sundarganj area are ready to go on record. However, a local resident, seeking anonymity as was expected, told the Dhaka Tribune: Litons criminals and people from the administration are patrolling the entire area, so that nobody could hold a meeting or bring out a procession against him.

Even a section of the local Awami League leadership has also been annoyed with Litons whimsical activities as they raised a demand for his expulsion.

Masudul Islam Chanchal, president of Sundarganj municipality chapter of the Awa-mi League, said: Today [Monday], Sourovs classmates were getting ready to form a hu-man chain demanding Litons arrest. But some of Litons followers did not let them do it.

Yesterday evening, this correspondent luckily managed to reach the mobile phone of

Litons wife Syeda Khurshida Jahan, who has also been hiding along with her husband.

Asked about their location, she said: How could we stay at our [Bamandanga] house af-ter all this? But she refused to say anything more about their whereabouts.

We have continued to pay for the treat-ment of bullet-hit Sourov. We have so far do-nated Tk25,000 for this purpose.

However, Sourovs father Saju Mia said they had not got any money from the MP. In fact, he said, they are feeling really unsecured because Liton has yet to be arrested.

Because I have led a case against him, our family is being threatened continuously. More-over, we are nding it really di cult to carry the costs of Sourovs treatment, Saju said.

When contacted, Sundarganj police sta-tion OC Israil Hossain said: The accused is a member of parliament. Existing rules and reg-ulations will have to be followed for arresting him. But he is not anywhere around. Drives are on to arrest him. l

British Council starts Customer Service Weekn Tribune ReportThe British Council Bangladesh began cele-brating its Customer Service Week (CSW) yesterday morning, which will run until Oc-tober 9.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon inaugurated the CSW programme while attending as chief guest at the launch yesterday morning.

The event recognised the importance of customer service and of honouring the people who serve and support customers each day.

Papon said: Having been a student of Mar-keting, I deeply appreciate the importance of customer service.

Nowadays, customer service is not lim-ited to within a single department; rather it

plays an important role in bringing forward any organisation or company. It evolves everyday to a large extent, he said.

Speakers at the programme said CSW provides a unique opportunity for service and support professionals around the globe to join in a celebration of the important role that customer service plays in BritishCouncil.

The core goals for CSW include motivat-ing and rewarding customer service person-nel, recognising their contributions, raising awareness about the importance of customer service among sta , and reminding custom-ers of British Councils commitment to cus-tomer satisfaction, they added.

This years CSW theme is attracting, win-ning and retaining customers, with a vision to

deepen connection of the organisation and to ful ll customer expectations in order to carry the organisation forward.

During this CSW, British Council is arrang-ing face-to-face counseling session on stud-ying and living in the UK and a seminar on British Council Active Citizen and Social En-terprise, and also conducting the IELTS Con-sultation Programme (ICP).

An online chat session will also be held for distant customers from October 5-8 from 3pm to 5pm. Customers can also pose questions on studying and living in the UK on October 8 from 11 am to 1 pm.

British Council Director Barbara Wickham, Examinations Bangladesh Director Deep Adhikari, and Head of Customer Services Zu-nayed Ahmed also spoke at the event. l

Two BNP leaders sent to jail n Our Correspondent, MoulvibazarSadar upazila BNP General Secretary Md Fay-sal Ahmed and the district unit Jatiyatabadi Chhtra Dal (JCD) Joint Convener Md Sirajul Islam were sent to jail yesterday.

According to sources, District and Session Judge Court led by Judge Md Sha qul sent them to jail after appearing before the court.

They were accused of arson attack and damaging vehicles during the blocked pro-gramme of BNP led 20 parties alliance early months of this year. l

Two medical varsities get nal nodn Tribune ReportThe cabinet yesterday approved the drafts of Chittagong Medical University Act-2015 and Rajshahi Medical University Act-2015 for the establishment of two medical universities.

The draft acts were approved in the regular cabinet meeting held at the secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Brie ng reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the universities would provide post-graduate level studies and bachelor degrees in nursing. l

BBIN motorcade sets o Nov 14n Shohel MamunA transborder motorcade celebrating the signing of the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, In-dia and Nepal) motor vehicle agreement will be brought out on November 14.

The procession will travel four countries by crossing borders in accordance with the BBIN agreement before stopping on November 30.

The motorcade will commence its jour-ney from the Indian state of Odisha and will end in Kolkata after travelling through Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

It will be arrive in Dhaka on November 28 from Tripura and will return to Kolkata on No-vember 30, said Road Transport and Highways Division Deputy Secretary Sultana Yesmin yesterday after a meeting at the Secretariat.

The vehicles will enter Bangladesh through Akhaura border and will leave through Benapole frontier after a two-day stopover in Dhaka, she said.

Besides, the trial run of passenger vehicles among the BBIN countries will begin on Oc-tober 29.

Initially, during the test run, transports will only journey from Chittagong to Thimphu via Dhaka-Hatikumrul-Bogra-Rangpur-Burimari, Indias Changrabandha-Siliguri-Jaigaon and Bhutans Phuentsholing, said a Road Trans-port and Highways Division o cial.

Chandan Kumar Dey, joint secretary of the Road Transport and Highways Division, told the Dhaka Tribune: Even though it is the trial run for passenger vehicles, no ordinary passen-gers will actually be allowed to board vehicles. It is only for the BBIN o cials and experts.

The four nations have already completed a survey of the entire route of the motorcade.

The BBIN countries have nalised six trans-national routes that freight as well as private transports will use from January next year. l

The activists of Pragatishil Chhatra Jote and Chhatra Oikya bring out a procession in the Dhaka University area yesterday protesting the recent medical question leak and call a nationwide student strike for Wednesday demanding retake of the examination RAJIB DHAR

Parasite-busters win Nobel prize for medicinen ReutersThree scientists from Japan, China and Ireland whose discoveries led to the development of potent new drugs against parasitic diseases such as malaria and elephantiasis won the Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday.

Irish-born William Campbell and Japans Satoshi Omura won half of the prize for discovering avermectin, a derivative of which has been used to treat hundreds of millions of people with river blindness and lymphatic lariasis, or elephantiasis.

Chinas Youyou Tu was awarded the other half of the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has slashed malaria deaths and has become the mainstay of ghting the mosquito-borne disease.

Some 3.4bn people, most of them living in poor countries, are at risk of contracting these parasitic diseases.

These two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that a ect hundreds of millions of people annually, the Nobel Assembly at

Swedens Karolinska Institute said. The conse-quences in terms of improved human health and reduced su ering are immeasurable.

Today, the medicine ivermectin, a derivative of avermectin made by Merck & Co, is used world-wide to ght roundworm parasites, while artemis-inin-based drugs from rms including Sano and Novartis are the main weapons against malaria.

Omura and Campbell made their breakthrough in ghting parasitic worms, or helminths, after studying compounds from soil bacteria. That led to the discovery of avermectin, which was then further modi ed into ivermectin.

The treatment is so successful that river blind-ness and lymphatic lariasis are now on the verge of being eradicated. l

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015NEWS 7

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PM to open power connections to eight former exclavesn Aminur Rahman RaselPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina will formally in-augurate electricity connections to 2,371 resi-dents of eight former exclaves on October 15.

The Rural Electri cation Board (REB) is set to provide electricity connections to former exclaves.

Of the 111 former exclaves, 52 fall under the jurisdiction of the REB and the rest under the Power Development Board. There is no need to provide power in 20 of the 52 under the REB as no-one leaves there.

Earlier the prime minister instructed the power distribution agencies concerned to

provide electricity supply to the citizens of ex-claves, which are now part of Bangladesh after the historic exchange with neighbouring India.

From October 15, we will initially supply electricity connections to 2,371 families who live in the newly-added territories of Bang-ladesh. For that, we have already installed 44 kilometres of overhead power lines, REB Chairman Brig Gen Moin Uddin told the Dha-ka Tribune yesterday.

Of the 2,371 families, 232 will get new con-nections in Nilphamari, 643 in Kurigram and the remaining 1,496 in Thakurgaon.

We have got the prime ministers consent to provide these new connections, said the

REB chairman. The REB will install 299 kilometres of

overhead power lines for 11,032 consumers living in 32 former exclaves in Nilphamari, Kurigram and Thakurgaon. The government is spending around Tk30 crore to provide the new connections.

According to Brig Gen Moin Uddin, the Pal-li Bidyut Samity will set up another 30,000 power distribution lines to provide power for 3 million more consumers across the country in the scal year 2015-16.

We have a plan to bring electricity to all 20 million people of Palli Bidyut Samitys cover-age area by 2021. l

A giant tree falls on a parked car following sudden rains and gusty winds leaving three people injured. The photo was taken in front of the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

Charges framed in Rakib killing casen Our Correspondent, KhulnaA Khulna court has framed charges against three persons for the killing of 12-year-old Rakib, who died after the alleged murderers pumped air into his stomach.

Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge Dilruba Sultana framed the charges after the accused were presented before her court yesterday.

The three Md Sharif, his mother Beauty Begum and his so-called uncle Mintu Miah all pleaded innocence before the court.

The judge later adjourned proceedings, x-ing October 11 to start the recording of witness testimonies in the case.

The family members of Rakib who was reportedly killed because he had left his job at Sharifs garage were present during yester-days court proceedings.l

Cricketer Shahadat sent to jailn Md Sanaul Islam TipuA Dhaka court yesterday sent cricketer Kazi Shahadat Hossain alias Rajib to jail after re-jecting his bail petition in a case led for tor-turing domestic help.

Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Yusuf Hossain passed the order when Shaha-dat surrendered before the court and sought bail in the case.

The court also set October 12 for submission of probe report. Earlier in the day, Shahadat surrendered to the court and led the bail plea.

On Sunday, another court sent Shahadats wife Jesmin Jahan Nitto to jail after rejecting her bail petition in the case.

Police arrested Nitto at the Pabna Lane in the capitals Malibagh area on the same day.

Khandaker Mojammel Hossain, a journal-ist, led the case against the couple with Mir-pur Model Police Station on September 7 af-ter rescuing 10-year-old Happy, the domestic help, the night before in Pallabi.

Happy was rescued a day before l

Eight members of human tra cking gang heldn Mohammad Jamil Khan RAB has arrested eight members of an inter-national human tra cking group from di er-ent points of the capital.

The arrestees are Motin Miah, 47, Jahangir Alam Babu, 45, Abul Hossain, 81, Nur Islam, 30, Rezaul Karim Sohel, 31, Taiab Ali, 48, Bel-lal Hossain, 36, and Abul Hossain, 36.

The elite force also recovered 635 pass-ports, 2,265 fake visas of 18 countries, 929 fake visa stickers, 51 Libya visa holograms, 411 Bangladeshi passport visa pages, 12 visa endorsements, 87 endorsement blanks, four fake Nepal tourist visas and visa-making in-struments from the arrestees possession.

The group mainly targeted the lower class for tra cking, and airport o cials in Bangla-desh and some other countries might have links to the tra ckers, said Mufti Mahmud Khan, di-rector of the legal and media wing of RAB.

While addressing a brie ng at RAB head-quarters yesterday, Commander Khan said they arrested Motin and Jahangir on conduct-ing the rst drive at Insaf Hotel at North Kam-lapur in the capitals Motijheel area.

He said the tra ckers would mostly convince the poor to better their lives with their aid, and by providing fake visas, they would illegally send them abroad. l

Murder attempt on Pabna priestn Our Correspondent, PabnaThree youths yesterday attempted to kill a priest in Pabna by slitting his throat.

Luk Sarker, 52, a priest at a local baptist church, was attacked at his home in Ishwardi School Para in the morning. He was later ad-mitted to Ishwardi Upazila Health Complex and doctors said he was out of danger.

Md Abu Jahed, assistant superintendent of police of Ishwardi circle, said Luk has been living in the rented home with his family for the last ve years.

O cer-in-Charge of Ishwardi police sta-tion Biman Kumar Das said an investigation had been launched.

William C Campbell Satoshi Omura Youyou Tu

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015NEWS8DT

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:41PM SUN RISES 5:52AM

YESTERDAYS HIGH AND LOW

36.0C 23.7C

Jessore Sandwip

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 35 25Chittagong 34 27Rajshahi 35 24Rangpur 34 21Khulna 34 26Barisal 34 26Sylhet 35 25Coxs Bazar 32 27

PRAYER TIMESFajr 4:35am

Sunrise 5:51amZohr 11:47am

Asr 4:02pmMagrib 5:41pm

Esha 7:11pm

WEATHER

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

Hiked transport fare comes into e ect in Ctgn FM Mizanur RahamanThe transport fare of CNG-run vehicles has been o cially increased in Chittagong city following the price hike of fuel by the govern-ment on August 27.

The revised fare came into e ect yesterday after transport owners met with police and government authorities concerned and xed the new rate, sources at the meeting told the Dhaka Tribune. According to the revised rate, the fare has increased by Tk1 in di erent routes and the minimum fare is Tk5, said sev-eral transport workers.

Some drivers were seen carrying the revised fare chart in their vehicles as a proof for the pas-sengers that the rate had indeed been increased.

However, commuters complained about having to pay extra fare to ride vehicles run by oil as well. There were several instances of pas-sengers getting into arguments with conduc-tors and drivers, which in some cases turned into altercations, as the Dhaka Tribune found while visiting di erent areas around the city.

I ride the route 6 bus to go to work from Nimtal-Bishwa Road to New Market area, and buses on this route are run by oil. I have always

paid Tk7 for bus fare, but today they are asking Tk8-9, claiming their buses are run by CNG as well, said Saiful Islam Masum, a banker.

When contacted in this regard, Golam Ra-sul Babul, secretary general of Chittagong City Road Transport Owners Federation, ad-mitted that fare in oil-run transports had in-deed been increased.

The government has increased the price of oil-based fuel twice in the last two years, so we revised the new rate in such a way so that the fare hike in all public transports is the same, he told the Dhaka Tribune.

The transport owners increased the fare by Tk1 only, instead of Tk1.6 which was xed by the government.

However, SM Najer Hossain, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB)s Chittagong chapter, accused the trans-port owners of providing fake information in order to be able to charge passengers extra fare.

The transport owners are increasing the fare at their whim, because no one is moni-toring these things; Neither the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, nor the tra c de-partment of police are monitoring the fare hikes, he said. l

DB police among two held with yaba in Barisaln Our Correspondent, BarisalPolice arrested two persons, including a con-stable of Detective Branch of Barisal Metro-politan Police, and recovered 50 pieces of yaba tablets in the early hours of yesterday.

The arrestees were identi ed as Md Su-mon, a constable of DB of the BMP and Altaf Hossain alias Anwar, a drug peddler of Stadi-um Colony area of the city.

Abu Sayeed, assistant commissioner (DB) and spokesman of the BMP, acknowledging the fact said arrested constable Sumon had already been suspended.

Shakhawat Hossain, Kotwali police station o cer-in-charge, said a police team led by Sub-Inspector Delwar Hossain raided Hotel Sukhi locared in Bazar area of the city, in the early hours of the day.

From there police detained the aforesaid two and recovered 46 pieces of Yaba from DB constable Sumon and four pieces of Yaba from drug peddler Anwar.

During the raid, Sumon attacked police personnel and tried to ee from the scene.

SI Delwar as complainant lodged a case against ve people, including the arrested two, after interrogation.

The arrestees were sent to jail in the evening, the assistant commissioner added. l

Sylhet hajj pilgrims yet to receive luggagen Our Correspondent, SylhetHajj pilgrims in Sylhet have expressed resent-ment over mismanagement at Hazrat Shah-jalal International Airport that is delaying the delivery of their luggage.

Pilgrims have been returning to Bangla-desh since September 27 but none of those living in Sylhet have received their baggage while some in Dhaka have received theirs.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines, sources said, has been arranging luggage delivery of Hajj pilgrims for the last two years and appoint-ed a private agency to do the task. Last year, the agency served the pilgrims moderately but they complained that it has completely messed things up this year.

The agency opened three booths two in

Mecca and the other in Medina this year to receive the luggage from pilgrims, who board-ed ights of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, just 24 hours before their departure from the king-dom. The pilgrims in Sylhet were supposed to get back their luggage right after landing at the airport but they did not.

Many pilgrims said they brought to Bang-ladesh a variety of stu , including dates, from Saudi Arabia in their baggage and are now worried about when they would receive them.

Khandaker Sipar Ahmed, who returned on October 1, said he had paid all the fees to have his luggage brought to Bangladesh but was yet to receive it.

Pilgrims are facing problems every year and Biman Bangladesh Airlines should be blamed for all these because it is Bimans mismanage-

ment that creates the troubles, he said. The manager (civil aviation) of Osmani Inter-

national Airport in Sylhet, Ha z Ahmed, who himself performed Hajj this year, said he had not yet received his own luggage even though he boarded one of the early return ights.

Majibur Rahman, in-charge of Sylhet air-ports lost property service, said no luggage of pilgrims had reached Dhaka yet.

I think those are still in Jeddah because if those reached Dhaka, the owners would have received theirs by now, he said.

He also said he had been maintaining regu-lar contacts with Dhaka airport o cials.

Sylhet airport Manager Md Shawkat told the Dhaka Tribune he was on sick leave and was unable to make any comment on the de-lay in delivering luggage to pilgrims. l

RMG workers block road over Eid bonus n Tribune Report Around 2,000 readymade garment (RMG) workers of three factories yesterday blocked a road in Chittagong citys Bayezid area de-manding Eid bonus.

Following the barricade, tra c movement remained halted in Shershah Banglabazar area of Bayezid from 4pm till ling of this re-port creating huge gridlock on the both side of the road, said police.

Chittagong Industrial Polices Detective Branchs Inspector Arifur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that the workers from Asian Apparels Limited, Dap Apparels Limited and Fortune Apparels Limited took to the street demanding Eid bonus and started to stage demonstration around 4pm.

Inspector Arif said before Eid the owner of those factory asked the workers to take their bonus along with their wage as per as law but the workers demanded 100% percent bonus and the RMG workers only drew their salaries.

Then, RMG workers were assured by the factory owner that the bonus would be paid after Eid but the deadlock has been created as the owner went abroad after the Eid, said Arif.

Hearing the news, the workers halted their production works and took to the street yes-terday, he added. l

Bangladesh Shishu Academy brings out a colourful procession in the capital yesterday marking Child Health Day

MEHEDI HASAN

INSIGHT

The dark side of Nobel prize-winning researchn AFP, StockholmThink of the Nobel prizes and you think of ground-breaking research bettering mankind, but the awards have also honoured some quite unhumanitarian inven-tions such as chemical weapons, DDT and lobotomies.

Numerous Nobel prize controversies have erupted over the years: authors who were over-looked, scientists who claimed their discovery came rst, or peace prizes that divided public opinion.

But some of the science prizes appear in hind-sight to be embarrassing choices by the committees.

When the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize went to the Or-ganisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, it was perhaps a way of making up for the Nobel war prize it awarded to German chemist Fritz Haber in 1918.

Haber was honoured with the chemistry prize for his work on the synthesis of ammonia, which was cru-cial for developing fertilizers for food production.

But Haber, known as the father of chemical warfare, also developed poisonous gases used in trench warfare in World War I at the Battle of Ypres which he supervised himself.

After Germanys defeat in the war, he didnt ex-pect to win a prize. He was more afraid of a court martial, Swedish chemist Inger Ingmanson, who wrote a book about Habers prize, said.

Some saw it as a Germanophile prize. There were people who had wanted Sweden to join the war alongside Germany.

The prize remains one of the most contested Nobels ever awarded the jury had to be aware of Habers role in, and the e ects of, chlorine gas being used in the trenches. But he had also brought the world revolutionary fertilizers.

French chemist Victor Grignard, who also devel-oped poisonous gases, won a Nobel prize too, but that was in 1912, before the outbreak of World War I and before their uses in warfare.

Odd timingThe 1918 controversy might have encouraged the Stockholm jury to think carefully about the laure-ates they choose after a con ict.

Yet in November 1945, just three months after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Na-gasaki, the Nobel chemistry prize honoured the dis-covery of nuclear ssion. The laureate was another German, Otto Hahn, whose 1938 discovery was cru-cial to the development of atomic bombs.

However, Hahn never worked on the military applications of his discovery and upon learning,

while in captivity as a prisoner-of-war in England, that a nuclear bomb had been dropped, he told his fellow captives: I am thankful we (Germany) didnt succeed in building the bomb.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences choice is bewildering, especially given its apparent urgency right after the damages just wreaked by the bombs.

Nobel archives reveal that the Academy had wanted to honour Hahn already in 1940. As of 1944, he was considered by his peers as a secret Nobel laureate who just needed to wait until the end of the war to collect his prize.

According to a 1995 article in the scienti c journal Nature, Hahns nomination was supported by academ-ics who saw him the only candidate nominated for the Nobel Chemistry Prize in 1944 as a laureate worthy of the science prize regardless of political considerations.

Other jury members would have preferred to wait to nd out more about the US top-secret war-time re-search on the bomb, but they were in the minority.Hahn ultimately won the 1944 prize, though it was only awarded to him after the end of the war in 1945.

Scorned laureatesHahns discovery as such was not so controversial, only the later application of it.

The same cannot be said for some other Nobel research, including that of Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz, who won the 1949 Nobel Medicine Prize for his discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy in certain psychoses.

Today the brain surgery procedure is known as a lobotomy and is only used in rare circumstances. The Nobel Foundations website notes soberly that the surgery was controversial.

Bengt Jansson, a psychiatrist and former member of the medicine prize selection committee, wrote: I see no reason for indignation at what was done in the 1940s as at that time there were no other alternatives!

Chemical treatments for mental illnesses were later developed. And then there are the laureates blasted by environmentalists.

One year before Moniz, the medicine prize jury honoured Swiss scientist Paul Mueller for his discov-ery that DDT could be used to kill insects that spread malaria. DDT was later banned worldwide, after it was discovered to pose a threat to humans and wildlife.

Nonetheless, pesticides went on to play a role in another Nobel. In 1970, US biologist Norman Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize for introducing modern agricultural production techniques to Mexico, Paki-stan and India, including genetic crossbreeding. l

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015WORLD 9

DT

Assam MLA accused of raping minor domestic helpn Thomson Reuters Foundation, Guwahati

An Assam local assembly member has been arrested and charged with raping his 14-year-old domestic help, police said, after a month-long investigation which triggered public pro-tests by students over the authorities lack of action.

Police in the tea- and oil-rich in northeast-ern state said state legislator Gopi Nath Das had gone into hiding in early September after his maid accused him of raping her in his car.

Gopi Nath Das has been arrested today, Indrani Baruah, Kamrup district superinten-dent of police, said late on Sunday, adding that he was picked up near Guwahati, Assams main city, after a police search which involved raids at three residences.

The state legislator, who is in his late 50s, has been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual O ences Act, Baruah added.

Das, an MLA with the opposition party All India United Democratic Front, has denied the charges and said there is a political con-spiracy to malign him ahead of state elections next year, police said.

In November 2013, an Indian MLS (mem-ber of Lok Sabha) and his wife were arrested after their domestic help was found dead in their Delhi home. The MP was charged with concealing evidence and his wife with mur-der. The case has not yet come to court. l

ANALYSIS

Beef-related homicide threatens Modis inclusive agendan Reuters, BisaraThe murder by a Hindu mob of a Muslim man rumoured to have slaughtered a cow has thrown a spotlight on the hardline, po-larising agenda of some followers of Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi, undermining his promise of development for all.

On a tour of Silicon Valley last month where he was feted by US tech gurus and In-dian emigres, Modi won a pledge from Micro-soft to provide low-cost Internet for 500,000 villages to back his vision of a globally net-worked Digital India.

One such village is Bisara, 50km from the capital New Delhi, where a crowd of assail-ants broke into Mohammed Akhlaqs home last Monday night, beat him to death and dragged his body out into the street.

The local member of parliament, Mahesh Sharma, is also Modis culture minister and has hit the headlines of late with statements that show a di erent side to their ruling Hin-du nationalist party. Visiting Bisara this week to pay his respects to Akhlaqs family, Sharma said the killing could have been an accident.

Critics say Sharmas comment implicitly condoned Akhlaqs lynching and pandered to fringe Hindu militants who have recently become active in the district.

Blood on the wallsCommunal clashes had never erupted in Bis-ara, home to 400 landowning Hindu and 35 Muslim families. But an announcement by a Hindu priest over his temple loudspeakers that Akhlaq had butchered a cow and that his wife was cooking beef for dinner brought a sudden end to the villages tradition of toler-ance.

Akhlaqs youngest son, who su ered se-vere head injuries, is ghting for his life in a hospital intensive care unit after undergoing two brain surgeries.

Premeditated attack?Local Muslims say Akhlaqs killing was a pre-meditated attack aimed at polarising the village on religious lines by militant Hindu groups loyal to Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won power in the May 2014 gen-eral election.

Sharma and Modi are both members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), BJPs ideological parent. The movement propa-gates an ideology of Hindutva, or Hindu-ness, which asserts that India is a Hindu nation.

The region holds village council elections next week and Bisara has, in the wake of the killing, become a magnet for campaigning politicians.

Many Indian states, including the coun-trys largest Uttar Pradesh, where Bisara is situated, have banned cow slaughter for more than two decades.

Modis party has, in states where it rules, clamped down further on eating beef - even though India is the second largest ex-porter and fth biggest consumer in the world. In recent months, government lead-ers have advocated a national ban on cow slaughter.

Beef vigilantesCritics say tougher anti-beef laws discrim-inate against Muslims, Christians and low-er-caste Hindus who rely on the cheap meat for protein.

The crackdown has, meanwhile, pro-vided cover for the rise of Hindu vigilante groups.

Such groups attack cattle trucks, track reli-gious conversions in villages and towns, and warn Hindu girls against falling in love with Muslim boys. Modi has expressed no disap-proval towards them.

Sharmas o ce said the minister was de-manding an independent federal investiga-tion into Akhlaqs murder. Calls on Sunday to three o cials in Modis o ce went unan-swered. l

Clockwise, The most contrversial Nobel prize winners till date Fritz Haber; who discovered poisonous gas for trench warfare and won Nobel for it in 1918, Otto Hahn, who received Nobel prize in 1945 for discovering nuclear ssion, which was an essential part of developing atmoic bomb, and Paul Hermann Mller, who received the prize in 1948 for disovering DDT, which was later banned due to the harm it poses to human health WIKIMEDIA

WORLD10DTTUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015

Clinton to outline gun control plann Reuters, Manchester, New HampshireUS Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will outline speci c steps she would take to curb gun violence if elected during scheduled campaign stops in New Hampshire on Monday.

Clinton spoke out forcefully in favor of new gun control measures after a shooting last week on the campus of Umpqua Communi-ty College in Roseburg, Oregon, which killed nine people and wounded another nine.

In appearances after the shooting, Clinton said she wants to begin a national move-ment to counter the in uence of the Nation-al Rife Association, the nations top gun-rights advocacy group, but she has still to say what speci c measures she would take if elected to the White House in November 2016.

Among the steps that she will outline later on Monday, her campaign said, is the use of presi-dential executive authority to close a loop-hole to ensure people buying rearms at gun shows and on the Internet undergo the same background checks as when buying from tradi-tional retailers. Clinton will also push Congress to pass laws that prohibit all domestic abusers, including stalkers, from purchasing guns

Currently, if a background check is not completed within three days, a gun sale can proceed. l

Dozens of runners donned snow goggles and braved icy temperatures to participate in the worlds highest marathon in the foothills of Mount Everest Monday, ve months after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal. The annual Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon, which kicked o in 2003, is usually held in May to mark the anniversary of the rst conquest of Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953. But organisers postponed this years race to October after a massive earthquake hit the Himalayan nation in April, killing nearly 8,900 people and triggering an avalanche on Everest base camp that left 18 dead AFP

US top courts docket at the centre of 2016 presidential race debaten Reuters, Washington, DCThe nine justices of the US Supreme Court are set to wade into contentious social mat-ters in their new term beginning on Monday including a rmative action, union powers and voting rights, and could add major cases involving abortion and birth control.

The courts work on those hot-button issues in its term that ends next June will unfold during a US presidential campaign, meaning the justices could nd themselves at the centre of the political debate before the November 2016 election.

The justices often divide along ideological and political lines on pressing social issues.

The courts last term ended in June with rulings legalising gay marriage nationwide and rejecting a conservative challenge to President Barack Obamas healthcare law, ac-tions praised by liberals. But court observers expect the courts ve conservatives to pre-vail in most of the big, closely divided cases this term.

They say that unlike in the gay-marriage and Obamacare rulings, the conservative bloc is less likely to lose the courts regular swing vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy, on cases in-

volving race, unions and voting.In a major battle over the future of a rm-

ative action in college admissions, the justic-es for a second time will consider a lawsuit brought by Abigail Fisher, a white applicant who was denied admission to the entering class of 2008 at the University of Texas at Austin.

A rmative action is a policy under which racial minorities historically subjected to dis-crimination are given certain preferences in education and employment.

Conservative activists backing Fisher would like a rmative action thrown out entirely. Civil rights groups and the Obama administration support the policy to bring greater diversity to campuses and the Amer-ican work force.

The justices also will hear a case brought by conservatives that could weaken pub-lic sector unions, a challenge by nonunion public school teachers who say Califor-nias requirement that they pay the equiv-alent of union dues violates their free speech rights.

Republicans often take aim at public and private sector unions, which generally align with Democrats.

Voting rightsThe Supreme Court also will hear two voting rights cases brought by conservatives chal-lenging how electoral districts are drawn in Texas and Arizona. Wins for the plainti s could bene t Republicans in future elections.

The Supreme Court has not ruled on abor-tion since 2007 but that could change this term. This fall, the justices are due to decide wheth-er to hear a challenge to a Republican-backed Texas law restricting abortion access that abor-tion providers contend is aimed more at shut-ting clinics than protecting womens health.

The justices also will decide whether to rule on religious objections to the require-ment for contraception coverage under Obamas healthcare law. They also may get a chance to weigh in on Obamas executive actions aimed at shielding millions of illegal immigrants from deportation.

The justices maintain they are not behold-en to political sentiment. John Roberts, in an interview early in his tenure as chief justice, told C-SPAN, I think the most important thing for the public to understand is that we are not a political branch of government. They dont elect us. If they dont like what were doing, its more or less just too bad. l

Turkey intercepts Russian jet violating air space near Syrian AFP, AnkaraTurkey said on Monday its F-16 jets had at the weekend intercepted a Russian ghter plane which violated Turkish air space near the Syr-ian border, forcing the aircraft to turn back.

Turkey summoned the Russian ambas-sador in Ankara to the foreign ministry and strongly protested the violation, the Turk-ish foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Russian jet infringed Turkish airspace at 12:08pm (local time) on Saturday south

of the Yayladagi region in Turkeys southern Hatay province, according to the foreign min-istry.

Meanwhile, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg warned Russia on Monday to avoid escalat-ing tensions with the transatlantic alliance through unacceptable violations of Turkish airspace.

Russias violation of Turkish airspace over the Syrian border was likely deliberate, a sen-ior US defence o cial said Monday while ex-pressing concern over the incident.

Russia and Turkey have long been at odds over the crisis in Syria, with Moscow emerg-ing as Syrian President Bashar al-Assads key international backer and Ankara urging his ouster as the only solution to the con ict.

In 2012, Turkey intercepted and then grounded at Ankara airport a Syrian aircraft en route from Moscow to Damascus, saying it was carrying Russian military equipment bound for Syria.

Turkey has labelled Russias bombing campaign in Syria as unacceptable with

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning that Moscow was making a grave mistake.

Russias strikes in Syria began just a week after Erdogan visited Moscow to meet Presi-dent Vladimir Putin and attend the opening of a new mosque.

It is still unclear if Putin gave Erdogan any advance warning of Russias plan for the air strikes at the talks.

Britains ambassador to Ankara Richard Moore said Russias incursion into Turkish airspace was reckless and worrying. l

11DTEDITORIAL

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015

INSIDE

We are deeply saddened by the murder of Kunio Hoshi, the Japanese citizen gunned down in Rangpur.It is disturbing that this occurred so shortly after Cesare Tavella, an Italian national, was murdered in similar circumstances, and that in both cases, purported claims of responsibility have been made on behalf of the militant group IS.

The most important task for the government is to support the police in making swift progress in apprehending the killers.

Whether IS or similar groups are involved or not, the overriding priorities are to catch the killers and reassure the public that sensible security precautions are being implemented to prevent similar incidents.

It is important to keep a sense of perspective about these undoubtedly appalling and troubling murders. Violent attacks on foreign nationals are a rarity in Bangladesh and there is no reason to believe Bangladesh is any more vulnerable to international terrorist incidents than other countries around the world.

There is nothing to gain by indulging rumour mongering and unproven speculation. Indeed, hyping up the risks posed by terrorism can only embolden terrorists and their sympathisers by providing them with a platform to spread fear and propaganda.

A calm and measured approach which avoids over-reaction is necessary all round to reassure the public, and to prevent more cancellations of business meetings and tourist visits, as has been reported this weekend.

The government has made clear it is actively working to resist threats and restore normalcy.

Other nations must follow suit and work co-operatively to restore con dence.

Everyone shares a common interest in focusing on encouraging normality and discouraging panic. It is only criminals and terrorists who should have to live with fear and uncertainty, not the public.

Focus on encouraging normality and resisting threats. There is nothing to gain by unproven speculation

Do not let IS claims detract from catching killers and reassuring public

Apocalypse when?

Atheism and its discontentsEven though his foundational book was called The Origin of Species, Darwin was never able really to explain why di erent species emerge, like self-enclosed nodes of organisation, and this remains a profound mystery to this day

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Random acts of terrorNo country can guarantee safety for all who visit that country, not even in the most secure countries of the world, let alone Bangladesh. Yet, what all countries do is have demonstrable e orts to minimise threats to security for all individuals. This demonstration will come from apprehension of the criminals who perpetrate such acts

The basics remain the same: Climate change is happening, and fast. If there are people still out there who claim otherwise -- I do not, for the life of me, know even how they exist -- please read more, do more research

BIG

STO

CK

OPINION12DTTUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015

n Ziauddin Choudhury

In the con ict-ridden world of today, there is hardly any country that is not beset with a battle of one kind or another. The battles are either home-grown or externally driven. Western countries, including the US, are ghting what they deem as threats to their society and political values, while most other countries, including the developing ones, are ghting the sources of these threats from their own midst.

Muslim countries seem to have more than their share of battles of the last kind. In the Middle East, these come from committed religious militants who have been able to establish a territory of their own to implement their ideological values and force others to follow them.

In Africa, forces wedded to similar

ideologies are ghting to destabilise the countries and overthrow governments.

In Afghanistan, a country once governed by a sternly religious group, a return of that stoic but ferociously militant group is threatening to recapture the government after a long absence from power due to a US-led war there against them. In Pakistan, the countrys nemesis, Pakistan Taliban, continues to attack government forces at will and keep the country in a permanent state of fear.

In the scale of organised Islamic militancy world-wide, some stray incidents apart, Bangladesh had remained on the lower end for a long time. With its large Muslim population, Bangladesh had prided itself to be a moderate country with a edgling democracy, albeit with ups and downs. Time to time, the countrys Muslim population had vented its anger and frustrations at the

West, against purported acts of disrespect and insult to their religion, but none of these translated into organised violence against Western interests or individuals.

Bangladesh has had its own share of religious groups that also have political goals, but generally these have remained within the bounds of the countrys constitution and democratic process of elections. None of these groups -- at least, not o cially -- aligned itself with a militant ideology or with any international militant group.

One hears of names that may sound like a cross-boundary organisation of religious militants but they work more as underground set-ups than systematised establishment such as Taliban in Pakistan or Afghanistan. We have yet to hear, at least o cially, that there are branches of Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, or Islamic State in Bangladesh or the presence of their operatives in the country.

When terror attacks or strikes take place in most places of the world, either one of the known militant organisations takes credit or the perpetrator, when apprehended, admits to belong to one of these entities or the other. This serves two purposes. One, it gives the organisation the publicity it wants, and two, it attracts other would-be militants to their fold.

The news of the two most recent incidents of murder of foreign nationals in two di erent parts of Bangladesh is shocking. But what is more astounding are reports in the press of these incidents being the handiwork of ISIS. It is mind-boggling how ISIS, an

organisation that is supposedly busy ghting a war in the Middle East and seemingly managing a state there, would be sending out its recruits to kill foreigners in Bangladesh. What could be more distracting than this?

In the current world of informatics, when global communication is a split-second a air through the Internet, misinformation is anybodys game with a digital device in hand. A plain and simple murder and crediting a formidable militant group with the crime is an easy ploy to throw o the investigation and apprehension of the killers.

This kind of distraction can also impact apprehension of the perpetrators of the killing of the three bloggers earlier in the year. The bloggers were killed purportedly for their anti-religious writings. Now, the foreigners are killed for what, their religion?

I do not know if and when the killers and their associates in the blogger cases, and the most recent foreign citizen murders, can be found and tried. But what I do know is that Bangladesh can ill-a ord the presence of foreign-inspired militants in the country. The country may not have an o cially registered militant organisation, but there are individuals who would like to act on its behalf if asked because they are ideologically inclined.

This makes the war on such would-be terrorists more di cult. For Pakistan or Nigeria, it is easier to ght the adversary because they are known. In Bangladesh, they are faceless, and they work in isolation. Committing a terror act and then giving the credit to a known foreign entity is a fogging act that will allow the perpetrators to hide in public view and go to commit another act.

Bangladesh has been, for a long time, viewed as a moderate Muslim country, and rightly so. The majority of our people abhor the use of religion for politics and, most of all, any violence. Yet, we become news world-wide when a single act of violence a ecting foreigners occurs. We become a risky country for travel. Our sports fans become disappointed because foreign teams cancel trips.

No country can guarantee safety for all who visit that country, not even in the most secure countries of the world, let alone Bangladesh. Yet, what all countries do is have demonstrable e orts to minimise threats to security for all individuals. This demonstration will come from apprehension of the criminals who perpetrate such acts and their trial.

For Bangladesh, the rst steps will be to apprehend the killers of the bloggers and the two foreign citizens without getting distracted by news of which militant organisation takes credit for these acts. This should be followed by a protracted and systematic e ort to identify and prevent would-be militants from launching their malicious acts on people, domestic or foreign, in the future. Just ensure a safe country. l

Ziauddin Choudhury has worked in the higher civil service of Bangladesh early in his career, and later for the World Bank in the USA.

Random acts of terrorWe shouldnt be too ready to jump to the conclusion of organised religious militancy

No country can guarantee safety for all who visit that country, not even in the most secure countries of the world, let alone Bangladesh. Yet, what all countries do is have demonstrable e orts to minimise threats to security for all individuals. This demonstration will come from apprehension of the criminals who perpetrate such acts

It matters less who red the gun, and more that we catch the shooters BIGSTOCK

LONG FORM 13DT

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015

n Sal Imam

I would like to preface my piece with a strong and unreserved condemnation of the barbaric killings of atheistic-minded bloggers and authors in recent times, in Bangladesh. Speci cally, this kind of violent response to people speaking their own minds is contrary to Islamic scripture and traditions. As the Quran says, the correct response is to argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious (Surah XVI Nahl v125).

In this spirit of respectful debate, I would like to address the root cause of the disagree-ment, namely the question: Is there a God or not? This is a perfectly admissible question which can, and needs, to be addressed. In fact, in my reading of the Quran, its central purpose is precisely to address this particu-lar question -- which had presumably just started being raised at the level of general human consciousness around about 500 AD.

Of course, the Quran, by marshalling the logic of historical and scienti c arguments, the evidence of actual life experience and impassioned pleas to good sense, as well as, crucially, the very fact of its existence, intends to answer the question in the a rm-ative. Accordingly, there is a long history of disputation with the atheist viewpoint, and I am only grateful that I am able to take it up in light of the latest modern knowledge about the world. The intention is to convey the message to all, that there is absolutely no reason to suppress discussion on this topic by violence or any other means.

Charles Darwins findings and the role of natural selectionMost atheists and agnostics of today ground their views on the ndings of science, which is, therefore, an excellent starting point for this discussion. I think it would be fair to say that the archstone of the modern atheistic viewpoint is the belief that the mechanism driving evolution is that of natural selection triggered by entirely random events. This implies that the richness and diversity of natural life has come about by happenstance and not, as could appear at rst sight, because of the actions of any Benevolent Hand.

Let us look more closely at the thinking of Charles Darwin, the great man who rst developed this concept. Darwins most startling idea was that of universal common descent, implying that all the animal species on Earth (including humans), despite their surface di erences, were actually part of a single chain of being, that there was, in the felicitous phrase of the time, a Tree of Life, in which all species found their place and were connected with each other, in the way that the roots and branches of a tree can be said to be part of the same organism.

This kind of organic thinking was a ma-jor departure in Western philosophy, which normally deals in terms of rigid, discrete categories. It has been found to be largely justi ed as Earth does appear to feature a biological Tree of Life, but only in the broadest sense of this term. Crucially, the

details of how, or even why, its various roots or branches emerged have never been estab-lished, as there are large gaps and oddities in the fossil record. At the same time, we should note that this part of Darwins thinking, which has largely stood the test of time, does not necessarily promote an atheistic con-ception. Rather, the Tree of Life concept immediately raises the question of what was at the origin of the Tree and, by showing that there may have been an uninterrupted chain of being, does not exclude the possibility of an interventionist moment of creation. This scenario is thus more akin to the Islamic precept that Allahs command was Be, and it is, than not.

Interestingly, even though his foundational book was called The Origin of Species, Darwin was never able really to explain why di erent species emerge, like self-enclosed nodes of organisation, and this remains a profound mystery to this day. A species is said to exist when its members can produce fertile o spring only by mating among themselves. There is, as yet, no known biological principle which determines what causes this impenetrable barrier to be set up between di erent entities, thereby de ning each of the millions of di erent species on Earth.

Among the many profound mysteries enshrined in the fossil record is that of how and why the human species (homo sapiens) developed the massive brain capacity which sets it apart decisively from all other

primates (ie apes, monkeys, etc) and all other mammals too. A fascinating and wide-ranging recent book sets out the problem:

That evolution should select for larger brains may seem to us like, well, a no-brainer. We are so enamoured by our high intelligence that we assume that, when it comes to cerebral power, more must be better. But if that were the case, the feline family would also have produced cats who could do calculus, and frogs would by now have launched their own space program. Why are giant brains so rare in the animal kingdom? (A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.)

As Harari goes on to explain, maintaining

a large brain exerts a huge drain on the organ-isms energy resources, which is why most creatures do not bother to generate more brain capacity than is needed for their basic survival. Why did humans alone set about to produce a huge energy-expensive brain, in one geologically rapid jump, which even today with all our subtle philosophy and art and science, is often said to be using at only 5% of its potential?

There could not conceivably have been any direct survival advantage two million years ago for such an extravagant move. In the face of many such anomalies, I cant help but allow myself to hypothesise freely that there could well have been successive divine interventions which have brought about the shape and content of the overall Tree of Life.

The available evidence neither proves nor disproves this possibility.

To summarise, it seems that an evolutionary process has, indeed, taken place on Earth over millennia, but the process responsible for it remains undecided, in view of objections of the kind discussed below.

Let us turn accordingly to that part of Darwins argument which has been undermined by modern science. This is the notion that it was random accidents that produced minuscule changes in the organism which then turned out to be useful, and so gave that organism an advantage. This in turn gave it and its successors greater survival chances and so, over great periods of time, produced the incredibly detailed speci cations and near perfection that we see in most species which inhabit the Earth. Let us call this notion natural selection.

In Darwins time, it was not known how such changes emerge and how they could be propagated. It was only in the 20th century that, with the greater understanding of genes and ultimately DNA, a so-called neo-Darwinian synthesis emerged which proposed that successive random mutations in DNA each produced minute improvements in biological cells, which then, again, over great periods of time, produced the variety, beauty, and extreme e ciency which all plant and animal forms seem to show.

This is the general view that numerous popularisers of science, such as Richard Dawkins, have eloquently put forward to the general public, as a result of which natural selection seems to have become ingrained in the consciousness of most educated people, as the main driving force of evolution. l

The second part of this long form will be pub-lished tomorrow.

Sal Imam has an art gallery at Radius Centre, which is currently housing an exceptional exhibition based around works originally presented at the Dhaka Art Summit by Saidul Haque Juise, Uttam Kumar Roy and Biswajit Goswami.

Even though his foundational book was called The Origin of Species, Darwin was never able really to explain why di erent species emerge, like self-enclosed nodes of organisation, and this remains a profound mystery to this day

Atheism and its discontentsIslam and the search for truth are not mutually exclusive. This is the rst part of a three-part long form piece

We are yet to evolve beyond our inherent capacity for violence BIGSTOCK

OPINION14DTTUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2015

n SN Rasul

Do we know whats coming?The world is changing faster than you can say global warming. Or is it called climate change nowadays? Doesnt matter, really; whether ye be rich or poor, whether you are cocooned inside the top oor of your ivory tower or sleeping on bug-eaten sheets on the streets, it a ects us all, for you cannot escape the atmosphere. Not yet anyway, and to various extents, of course. Sea levels are rising, ice caps are melting, there are oods and droughts, droughts and oods, forced migration, food shortages, rising temperatures, plummeting temperatures, et cetera et cetera.

And Bangladesh, because of its geological location, obviously, is the country most vul-nerable to climate change. Su ce to say, cli-mate change, or global warming, or whatever you choose to call it, is the most important global issue of our time.

If only it werent so mind-numbingly boring.

Every climate change article or piece has three main running themes: Words like de-velopment and sustainable and goals and policy and adaptation, among others. And, more annoyingly, uncountable numbers of acronyms, bemoaning some NGO or others agenda or grief that the government or some organisation needs to change what theyre doing, or not doing it well enough. To top it o , there are copious amounts of facts and gures, either attempt-ing to prove that climate change is a real thing, or to explain to us how exactly this change is being brought about.

By the end of the article, the reader is left with barely a vague recollection of what he has perused, and a brain that is running low on energy and concentration power.

Do not get me wrong, reader mine. I do not wish to insult the intelligence of readers who actually imbibe the information swiftly and competently, and leave with a better understanding of the perils of global warm-ing and/or climate change. Nor do I wish to belittle the very idea of climate change; it is a very real thing, and it is most de nitely taking place as we speak. Nor do I wish to say that these facts, gures, acronyms, lexicons serve no purpose; they very much do, for we need the information, and ignoramuses (ig-norami?) such as ourselves need to be taught to take these phenomena seriously. Nor am I saying it is their job, this sector lled with sel ess people ghting for a cause, to make the material they handle more interesting, for who will care about interesting when were dying?

But I am a plebeian, and most of the world, too, is lled with plebes such as I.

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to have attended a discussion of sorts, at the residence of the French ambassador to Bang-ladesh, Sophie Aubert. The discussion, enti-tled Climate Risk and Popular Perceptions, was organised ahead of the COP21 (apologies for the acronym) -- Conference of Parties -- being held in Paris later this year over two days, speci cally, December 7 and 8.

It boasted a plethora of important gures from the eld, highlighting issues of grave importance, not just for us in Bangladesh, but for the whole world. Important state-ments were made, topics dealing with irrevocable damage to the environment were brought up. Philllippe Zeller, French ambassador at large for climate negotiations for Asia and Oceania (what a mouthful), an important gure leading up to the COP21, said that the COP21 was crucial as it would make a legally binding agreement among the countries regarding cutting emissions and concrete fund pledges.

Unfortunately though, halfway through, I was bemoaning the fact that I hadnt brought a whole tub of sleeping pills to end the tor-

turous monotony. Forgive me, dear reader, for what was I

to do? The heart feels what it feels, and it is a matter of great injustice and shame that I could barely focus on the important words that these important people were saying, words which it should have been my privi-lege to have been able to listen to. All I could think of was sweet, sweet escape.

Three hours later, I was free. But I was, despite by minds e orts to do the opposite, more enlightened as a result. I learnt, fo