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Leading
News
Deputy Commissioners’
Conference 2008 begins
CA directs DCs to start preparatory work for holding
election
Staff Correspondent
Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed on Saturday directed the
Deputy Commissioners to start preparatory work at local
level to create grounds for holding free, fair, credible
and acceptable election within December this year.
"From right now you will have to start preparatory work in
a bid to hold election. The present caretaker government’s
main aim is to hold a free, fair, credible and acceptable
election within December this year. You will have to
remain ready to cooperate with the Election Commission in
this regard in all situations," the Chief Adviser said
while inaugurating four-day Deputy Commissioners’
Conference 2008 at the International Conference Centre.
Fakhruddin Ahmed also asked the Deputy Commissioners to
hold regular meeting with the business community with a
view to control the abnormal price hike of essentials.
"Despite taking various steps and initiatives by the
government, prices of essentials have also gone beyond the
reach of common people. So you will have to sit with
traders and business community regularly in a bid to bring
the market price under control" he said.
The Chief Adviser said the Election Commission is working
with its all efforts. "The Election Commission has made
considerable progress to this end and it held dialogue
with political parties and civil society members on
electoral reforms. With the direct cooperation of
military, district and upazila administrations and various
educational institutions, the voter listing work with
photographs has progressed fairly well," he further said.
Fakhruddin termed law and order situation as very
important to hold a free and fair elections. "District
administrations will have to keep up their activities to
maintain sound law and order situation in their respective
districts," he added.
The Chief Adviser asked the government officials and
employees to give top priority for welfare of the people.
"You have the constitutional responsibilities to attach
the highest importance for the welfare of the people. You
will have to be uncompromising when it comes to honesty,
neutrality and patriotism. Your accountability to the
state, people, law and constitution has to be beyond
question. Transparency, accountability, efficiency and
professionalism will have to maintained in your every
activity," he told the conference. The Chief Adviser said
government has taken all out possible measures to face the
food price situation. "Imports both by the private and
public sectors have increased, while the import process,
conditions and system have been simplified," he further
said.
UNB Dhaka adds : A four-day Deputy Commissioners’
conference that began on Saturday in the capital has been
cut short by a day for "unavoidable circumstances".
According to an official handout, the conference will now
conclude on April 7 at noon.
I want rice
Staff Correspondent
"I want rice. Give me rice.
I don’t want to listen to anything except getting rice.
Over the last two days, I had to return to my residence
without rice as the BDR OMS shop failed to give me rice.
If I become unable to collect rice from this shop today
(Saturday), I along with my kids will have to pass days
without having any meal," wearing a scarf, a middle-aged
woman, who was in a long queue in the city’s Rampura area,
expressed her utmost disappointment in this way.
Talking to The Bangladesh Today, a fourth-class government
employee said, "I have come here to collect rice of OMS
but I am really astonished seeing a large number of people
waiting in the long queue. But I do not know whether I
would be able to mange the rice from this OMS outlet."
Meanwhile, Rizia Begum, a garment worker who came to a BDR
outlet at Pallabi of Mirpur said, " I am here to buy rice
from the BDR shop at 4.30 am with a view to collecting the
rice before 10:30 as I thought I would be able to go to my
work place after buying it. But now it is 11: 00 am and I
am yet to manage the rice from the shop. There should be
some shops only for the garments workers and those shops
will start selling rice from 7 O’clock in the morning so
that the garment workers can go to their work place in
time after purchasing rice.
Expressing resentment over the OMS management system,
Bilkis Begum who came to another BDR outlet with her two
years old son, said, "I have been waiting in the long
queue for the last three hours but in spite of having
enough rice, the people involved in selling rice are too
slow to provide."
Some small traders urged the government to set up more
outlets in the different locations in the capital as well
as across the country to make sure of availability of rice
for the low and middle income people.
Some waiting people at the shops alleged that 3 to 4
members of the same family are competing to collect the
rice with others for avoiding the long queue everyday
which is another factor for run out of rice earlier from
most of the OMS shops.
Everyday hundreds of people are returning home failing to
buy rice from the OMS centers after waiting for hours in a
long queue despite opening of 189 more OMS shops in the
city to mitigate the sufferings of the middle income
groups due to abnormal rice price hike.
While this correspondent on Saturday visited different OMS
in the city, saw an anarchic situation prevailing in those
areas. "I am waiting in the queue since morning for buying
rice but I am yet to get any. I do not know when I will be
able buy rice from the OMS shop at Tk 25 per kg," an
elderly woman alleged.
Meanwhile, a section of people especially young and
children from various classes are thronging the OMS shops
for buying rice. After buying rice, these groups are going
to different kitchen markets and selling the food grain at
Tk between 34 and 35. As a result, the worst hit people
are failing to buy rice, according to competent sources.
On the other hand, a large number of people from middle
class group are also rushing to the OMS markets for
getting rice at fair price but they are being harassed in
many ways.
Nor’wester
may hit BD within day or two and continue intermittently
till May
Staff Correspondent
Following a deep depression which has formed over the Bay,
severe nor’wester may sweep the country in a day or two,
Met Office cautioned on Saturday. "As a deep convection
has formed over the Bay, it is predicted that severe
nor’wester may hit the country including capital Dhaka
within a day or two", talking to The Bangladesh Today,
said Md Shadekin Alam, a meteorologist of Bangladesh
Meteorological Department. He said a 100 kilometer per
hour nor’wester coupled with squally wind and thunder may
lash different parts of the country and it will last for
about 40 minutes. "It is apprehended that if the
nor’wester lashes different places of the country, it will
cause huge destruction to human habitats and agriculture
sectors", he added. All parts of Dhaka, Rajshahi, Sylhet,
Barosal and Chittagong have possibility to be affected by
this storm which may hit within a short time.
According to meteorological experts, these types of
nor’wester occur in three months of March, April and May.
So, these will continue to hit different parts of the
country up to the end of May. They said although a storm
is expected in a day or two but after a gap of some days
another spell of storms will occur across the country.
With the passage of time the possibility and number of
storm will increase. In this moth a total of five or six
severe storms may hit east and middle of the country like
Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet while three or four storms
may hit other areas of the country. Besides, at the end of
April the areas of Sylhet and Chittagong may be inundated
due to sudden rise of water in the surrounding rivers due
to heavy precipitation.
It may be mentioned that highest frequency of thunder
storms namely nor’easter is recorded in the USA while the
West Bengal and Bangladesh are suffering from the second
highest numbers of thunder storms namely nor’wester. But
the volume of loss is less in the USA due to preventive
measures and public awareness.
AL
threatens to launch tough action if Hasina not freed soon
City AL’s mass signature campaign begins
Staff Correspondent
Acting AL president Zillur Rahman on Saturday threatened
to launch a tough action programme if the Caretaker
Government doesn’t release detained party chief Sheikh
Hasina before completion of the ongoing Mass Signature
Campaign.
"Former Prime Minister has been detained in connection
with false and politically-motivated cases, immediate
release of her is the demand of the present time. With a
view to saving the country from prevailing crises,
including soaring price of essentials, there is no
alternative but the leadership of Hasina who earlier
ensured the people’s fundamental demands during her
regime," he observed.
Zillur was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the ‘Mass
Signature Campaign’ at the auditorium of the Diploma
Engineers Institution at Kakrail in the city at 11 am
yesterday.
AL presidium member Amir Hossain Amu hoped that the
government would take necessary steps to free Sheikh
Hasina immediately and send her to the United States for
treatment before completion of the mass signature
campaign.
He called upon the partymen to utilise the ‘Collecting
Mass Signatures’ programme properly to make the way smooth
for the next course of action in near future.
Another presidium member Abdur Razzaque cautioned the
Government saying, "The authorities concerned will be
responsible, if any untoward incident occurs with our
party chief for want of proper treatment. You will face
dire consequences."
AL presidium member Tofael Ahmed demanded of the
Government to release Hasina immediately and later all
problems will be solved. Referring to recent comment on
‘Silent Hunger’, AL presidium member Suranjit Sengupta
said, "Hunger is hunger, it may not be silent."
"AL’s Mass Signature Champaign has turned into a
‘Mass-Protest’, he added saying AL will realize their
demand immediately.
Among others, central and city unit leaders of the party
also spoke at the inaugural function.
UZ
election not after nat'l polls by any means: Sakhawat
UNB, Comilla
Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain
on Saturday said Upazila Parishad elections would not be
held after national polls anyway.
He says they want to remain as hero, not zero, in the
history of Bangladesh completing their electoral task
through holding the elections timely.
"The upazila elections won’t be held after national
elections. When time will come, you’ll see whether the
elections will be held before the national elections or
simultaneously," Sakhawat told a view-exchange meeting at
Titas Upazial Parishad of the district.
Chaired by Upazila Nirbahi Officer AHM Abdul Karim, the
meeting was arranged to mark the activities of voter list
plus photograph and national identity card distribution.
The Election Commission’s (EC) main objective is to hold
the national elections and it is advancing to that end, he
said, adding that the stalled national elections would
definitely be held by December next.
"It’s not only a promise to the nation but also to the
international community… We want to be hero, not zero, in
the history of Bangladesh," the Election Commissioner
emphatically said.
He said some 18 to 19 percent less voters would be counted
this time across the country since there is no scope for
enrolling name more than once on the photo voter list.
So, Sakhawat said, around one crore voters would be
reduced on the voter list compared to the past voter list
and the field-level task of preparing voter list would be
completed by June next.
"All the local-body elections will be held in phases.
We’re waiting for the electoral law. There will be a lot
of reforms in selecting candidates and electoral code of
conduct when the law, which is now in the making, will be
approved," he told his audience.
The Election Commissioner pointed out that there is
pressure on the EC for holding elections without symbol
and said that it is not possible to implement such a
proposal due to the political and electoral culture of the
country. "Cast your vote not considering the symbol, but
considering the qualified candidate," he requested people.
Deputy Election Commissioner of greater Comilla and
Noakhali Anwar Hossain, additional district commissioner
(education and development) Aminul Islam, district
election officer Shahedulla Chowdhury and Major Jahangir
Nasir of 16 East Bengal regiment also spoke at the
programme.
Modalities
for political dialogue being worked
out, says CA’s Press Secretary
UNB, Dhaka
Modalities of the government-sponsored dialogue with
political parties, expected sometime this month, are now
being set for a focused discussion on the issues, the
press secretary to the Chief Advisor said on Saturday.
"Modalities are being worked out," Syed Fahim Munaim told
UNB. Although a firm date of the dialogue has not yet been
finalized, he said, hopefully it will start this month.
Asked if detained BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and Awami
League president Sheikh Hasina will be allowed to join the
proposed dialogue, the press secretary said the modalities
would determine every detail as to who will participate,
whether it would be together with all parties or
separately.
Meanwhile, IANS from Brussels on Saturday reported that
Foreign Advisor Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told a meeting
with prestigious Belgium think-tanks that the caretaker
government intends to begin the political dialogue within
two weeks. "It is our primary goal, indeed our
constitutional obligation, to hold free, fair and credible
elections. The response from all political parties and the
public has been very positive," said Chowdhury.
He said over 50 million voters had been registered and the
voters’ cards—the most sophisticated in the world—would
also serve as national identity cards. "So far, everything
is on track. What is left, however, is a dialogue with the
political parties," the Advisor said.
Meanwhile, major political parties, including Awami League
and BNP, welcomed the much-awaited dialogue aimed at
removing all mistrust and distrust about the December
parliamentary elections. The parties said they would raise
the issues of release of the two detained former Prime
Ministers, lifting the state of emergency and bringing
down the sky-high prices of commodities.
Back Page
BKMEA expresses
concern over gas supply reduction
Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh Knit Wear
Manufacturer and Exporters Association (BKMEA) on Saturday
expressing grave concern over the government's move to
reduce gas supply to industries and factories, said the
export will fall by US$ 6 million per day.
"If our industries and factories don't get adequate gas,
our production will be badly affected. As the government
decided to reduce gas supply by 40 percent to the
factories and industries, the export will fall by US$ one
billion in the next three months. As a result, the
country's one of the vital sectors will have to face a
serious set back. In the greater interest of the country,
we are calling upon the government to continue smooth
supply of gas to industry," BKMEA President Fazlul Haque
told reporters at a press conference at the association
office in the city's Banglamotor yesterday.
The factories need an uninterrupted 11/12 hours supply of
electricity generated by gas to run the dying machine. If
the supply is reduced, the quality of the fabrics will
also be affected, he said.
This would create a 50-65 percent fall in the production
and we would fail to deliver in due time the order of
products to the international buyers, he said, adding,
this will hamper the growing industry which is earning a
huge amount of foreign exchange.
A vested quarter is hatching conspiracy to make the
present government unpopular by cutting gas supply to the
billion Taka-knitwear industries which is boosting day by
day. Even the Titas Gas Company or the government did not
discuss with us before finalizing such an important
decision.
The BKMEA leaders urged the government to take immediate
steps to save the Knitwear Industry in the greater
interest of the country and this export sector should be
kept out side the purview of such a decision.
Power
Sector
PDB struggles to meet growing demand
UNB, Dhaka
The global rise in the installation cost of power plants
has been a major concern for the Power Development Board (PDB)
as it is struggling to meet the country's growing
electricity demand.
In 1998-2000, installation of a one-megawatt plant cost
US$ 0.6 million and it shot up to 0.8 million
internationally within a decade, according to official
sources. For instance, they said, 450MW Meghnaghat Power
plant was installed at a cost of US$ 290 million. Now the
cost of installing similar capacity power plants like
Bibiyana and Sirajganj is being estimated at US$ 400
million. The cost of 80MW Tongi peaking power plant was
US$ 45 million in 2004. Now a similar capacity power plant
is said to cost US$ 65-70 million.
PDB officials said the installation cost of power plant
has gone up by 30-40 percent internationally in recent
years. They said the booming economies like India, China,
Brazil, Russia and some African and Middle East countries
have driven up a huge demand for power plants, pushing up
the prices of power plant equipment, particularly that of
gas turbine.
Besides, the global rise in the steel products has added
to the rise in the power plant equipment prices, he said.
They said famous power plant equipment manufacturers like
GE, Mitsubishi, Alstom and BHEL are not taking any order
for near future, as they are already booked until 2009 to
supply equipment.
The recent rising trend in the cost of power plants has
been a big concern for the PDB. Because when it plans to
install a power plan it has to estimate a cost and have
that approved for that cost from the government's highest
authority. But, after a long process when they go to
invite tender for the project, it is commonly found that
the received offer from the bidders crosses the estimated
cost. In such a case, the PDB has to either go for
re-tender or cancel the project or has to get approval for
the enhanced project cost.
CA's Special Assistant Dr M Tamim also gave a hint about
such a problem. In a recent press briefing, he said the
per megawatt power plant project cost is one million US
dollar. It was found that inordinate delay in its
implementation pushes up the cost in most cases. Realising
the situation, the sources said, the present caretaker
government started laying emphasis on timely
implementation of the projects.
Despite that push from the highest policymakers, the
progress in implementation of the pending power plant
projects is very slow, the sources said. According to
them, at least 6 power plant projects remained pending at
different stages of their implementation. Those are 100 MW
Shikalbaha plant, Sylhet 100 mw plant, 300 mw Shidddirganj
peaking plant (150x2), 150 mw Sirajganj Power plant and
150 MW Khulna power plant and 150 MW Chandpur plant.
Experts said the unusual delay in implementation of the
projects would only push up their implementation costs,
intensifying the PDB's concern.
"Because international bidders are losing their interest
in participating in the tendering process for the
inordinate delay in decision making and repeated
cancellations of tenders," said one of the experts.
The country's demand for power generation is increasing by
8-10 percent a year, widening the gap between the demand
and supply which now stands at more than 1,500 MW as the
country generating 3500 MW against the demand for over
5000 MW.
‘Field-level
corruption’ not ebbing: TIB
Bdnews24, Dhaka
Field-level corruption has not come down despite an
intense anti-graft crackdown by the caretaker government,
said the chief of Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB).
"Bribery is on the rise," Prof Mozaffer Ahmad, chairman of
the TIB trustee board, told bdnews24.com. He based his
observation on TIB's corruption database for the year
2007, which is likely to come out by the end of April. The
database was prepared on the basis of newspaper reports,
which the TIB said had been verified on a random basis.
Prof Ahmad pointed to corruption in the police, land
office, education and health ministries and other public
offices.
"No mentionable change in corrupt practices has occurred
at the field level," Prof Ahmad said.
The Anticorruption Commission has succeeded in reducing
large-scale corruption, but "petty corruption" has not
come down, he said.
Another database was prepared on the basis of surveys
carried out on more than 3,000 households. Its findings,
which are almost ready, will be made public by the end of
April, the TIB chief said.
The TIB has carried out the survey on people from
different sections since the caretaker government took
office after the exit of the BNP-led four-party coalition
government.
Crime
Teenage
murderers arrested
Staff Correspondent
At least five teenage murderers were arrested by police
from Hajaribagh area in the capital on Saturday. Acting on
a tip-off, a patrol team of police led by sub-inspector
Tajul Islam raided Bhagolpur under Hajaribagh police
station at about 10:30 pm of Friday and arrested Zavedh,
14 and Saidul Islam, 16. Following their confessional
statements, police along with them went Kalunagar area at
about 11:00 am yesterday and arrested Shah Parayan, 13,
Akash, 15 and Sohel, 16.
The arrestees are accused in several criminal activists
including snatching, drug trafficking and murder, police
sources said.
Earlier, the arrestees along with other miscreants were
taking share of stolen money inside Rupali Tannery.
Following an altercation Akash with the help of other
accomplices swooped on Zatan and stabbed him
indiscriminately. The gang managed to flee the spot
leaving him dead on the spot, the arrestees confessed
during interrogation.
A case was lodged with Hajaribagh police station and
police arrested them in this connection.
Outlaw gets 10-yr RI
UNB, Barisal
A court here on Thursday sentenced a leader of outlawed
Sarbahara Party to 10 years Rigorous Imprisonment (RI)
under Arms Act. The convict was identified as M Imam
Hossain Sikdar, a Sarbahara leader of Aduna village in
Gournadi upazila.
After examining eight witnesses, Joint District and
Sessions Judge-1 Wahiduddin Sikdar handed down the verdict
in the crowded courtroom. According to the prosecution,
Rapid Action Battalion, acting on a tip-off, arrested Imam
Hossain from Dhaka on July 12, 2005 and as per his
confessional statement, a shotgun and a sharp weapon were
recovered from his village home.
Deputy Assistant Director of RAB Abdul Kuddus lodged a
case against him under Arms Act with Gournadi police
station. After investigation, Sub Inspector Mosharraf
Hossain submitted charge sheet against Imam Hossain on
July 26, 2005.
Husband kills wife
UNB, Cox's Bazar
A pregnant young housewife was strangulated to death by
her husband following a family feud at Shikderpara village
in Tecknaf upazila Thursday night.
Police quoting local people said an altercation took place
between Golbahar Begum, 20, and her husband Ali Hossain on
Thursday night over a trifling matter. But at one stage of
angry argument Ali Hossain strangulated her to death and
then hanged the body to prove that she had committed
suicide. Finding the body hanging from the ceiling of the
house on Friday morning local people informed the police.
Later police rushed to the spot and sent the body to
hospital morgue for autopsy. Police also arrested Ali
Hossain and his mother in this connection.
Dacoit ‘sharder’ killed in gunfight with police
UNB, Chuadanga
An alleged robber leader was killed in a gun battle
between police and a gang of robbers at Jagannathpur in
Alamdanga upazila Friday midnight.
The dead was identified as Mahir, son of Jalaluddin, of
the village. He was wanted in a number of cases, police
said.
Acting on a tip-off, police cordoned off a graveyard near
Jagannathpur School at about 11.15pm where the gang was
holding a clandestine meeting.
Sensing the presence of police, the robbers fired on them.
In retaliation, the law enforcers also fired back that
triggered the gun battle, leaving Mahir dead on the spot.
At one stage, other members of the gang fled the scene.
Police recovered the body and sent it to morgue for
autopsy. Police also recovered three guns, nine bullets
and some cartridges from the scene.
Political leader killed, his 5 family members injured in
terror attack
UNB, Mymensingh
A BNP leader was killed and his five family-members were
injured in attack by terrorists at Talali village in
Gafargaon upazila early Saturday.
Police said, a gang of 20/25 terrorists stormed into the
house of Nurul Huq, 60, former Gafargaon Niguary union BNP
unit president at about 2:00 am and stabbed him to death
when he tried to resist them. The terrorists also
indiscriminately hacked his two sons Mosharraf Hossain
Khan Swapan, 38, and Mozammel Hossain Khan Ripon, 30,
Ripon's wife and two others when they tried to save Nurul
Huq, leaving them critically injured. The hoodlums later
looted cash, gold ornaments and other valuables worth over
Tk one lakh and fled the scene.
Injured Swapan and Ripon were admitted to Dhaka Orthopedic
Hospital in critical condition. Police arrested two local
youths - Sujan and Russell - in connection with the
incident. Police suspected that previous enmity might be
the reason behind the attack.
Husband accidentally kills wife
UNB, Mymensingh
A housewife was accidentally killed by her husband at
Dhamsur village in Bhaluka upazila Friday morning. Police
said Ruhul Amin at one stage of altercation with his
uncles Hanif and Manik over a land dispute tried to hit
them with a sharp weapon but missing the target the weapon
hit his wife Sakina, 30, accidentally who was standing
beside them. She died on the spot.
In another incident, three-year-old Sabbir Hossain, who
was in the lap of his mother, was injured after he was hit
by a brick during a clash between two rival groups at
Charipara village in Muktagachha upazila on Tuesday. The
victim was rushed to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital
in critical condition where he died on the following day.
8 held in Ctg
BSS, Chittagong
Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested eight
persons for their suspicious movements from Alankar area
in the city on Friday. The arrested were identified as
Mohiuddin, Jashim, Hanif, Rubel, Dulal, Alauddin and Mamun.
RAB sources said on primary enquiry they confessed that
they were the members of a criminal gang and involved with
various wrongdoing like stealing, forgery and pick
pocketing. The elite force also said after looting of a
house at Gulshan in Dhaka, the police lodged a case on
February 14 and since then the police was trying to
apprehend the culprits. Meanwhile, arrested left Dhaka for
Ctg where were arrested.
Body of an old man recovered
UNB, Narayanganj
Body of an old man was recovered from a ditch at Chatlar
Math area under Fatulla thana on Friday.
The deceased was identified as Abdus Sattar, 55. On
information by local people, police recovered the body
that bore some injury marks and sent it to hospital morgue
for autopsy.
UNB Bhairab correspondent adds: Body of a rickshaw- puller
was recovered from Moheshpur village in Poura area on
Friday.
Sources said Mozibur Rahman, 30, went out of his house
with his rickshaw on Tuesday afternoon and remained
missing. Later, local people found the body in a paddy
field in the area on Friday afternoon. On information,
police recovered the body and sent it to hospital morgue
for autopsy. Police suspected that muggers after murdering
him took away his rickshaw.
Trafficker held in B'baria, 4-yr rescued
BSS, Brahmanbaria
Police arrested one trafficker while he was trafficking a
four-year child named Mozammal Haque from Bishwa road area
here on Friday.
The arrested was identified as Abdus Samad, 55, son of
late Ahmad Ali of nasirnagar upazila in the district.
Police said Samad picked up the child Mozammal Haque from
pirbari area and after being informed, they arrested Abdus
Samad. A case was filed with Brahmanbaria Sadar thana
under Women and Children Repression Act in this
connection.
Editorial
Bandying Words about
Food Shortages
A
couple of days back, the Adviser for Food contended that there
was no famine in the Country as none was dying of starvation
but that there was “Hidden Hunger”, adding further that there
were such “hidden hungers” in the past too. Such bandying of
words by a person in such a responsible position is in no way
going to solve our problems of food shortages and high prices
of food commodities. While the Food Adviser was coining new
phrases and giving us a lesson on the history of starvation,
within the last one week prices have risen again and OMS is
unable to fulfill the demands of people for food at affordable
prices, particularly in cities; in the rural areas OMS is
non-existent and programs like VGF have been unable to cover
even the majority of the most vulnerable.
The sudden turn of the weather for the worse, has raised
apprehensions that the expected Boro crops may be severely
damaged prompting people last Friday to call upon Allah to
protect them and their crops from devastations by natural
disasters; this in the absence of any Government action to
protect the lives and living of the people. Perhaps the people
ought to have prayed to the Almighty to also protect them from
a Government which is more interested in forming new phrases
to define starvation rather then taking practical steps at
solving it.
The weather is not the only threat that farmers are facing
this year. New crop diseases and insects are taking their toll
of crops particularly of the high yield variety in many areas
of the Country; the Agricultural Ministry and its various
district and thana level offices are sluggish in responding to
these threats quickly and appropriately. Coupled with these
are persistent shortages of fertilizers and power for
irrigation.
Meanwhile, the Finance Adviser has been holding discussions
with various groups of people regarding the upcoming budget.
The Finance Adviser has bypassed the politicians in this
dialogue, having forgotten the fact that half of the budget
that he would be framing would have to be implemented by the
next elected government which would be formed by politicians.
It is absolutely essential that politicians and political
parties have a stake and a commitment to the economic concerns
and policies of the Nation as reflected in the budget
particularly at this time of economic crisis. Once committed,
politicians would be able to mobilize public support that
would strengthen the government’s hand at tackling
unprecedented problems. Instead of making politicians and
political parties partners in governance, the Emergency
Government seems to be doing everything to antagonize them.
Nobody is in any doubt where all these Governmental
indifferences and complacency are going to lead to. Public
dissatisfaction is widespread and political parties are just
beginning to take advantage of that to make a comeback after
an enforced suspension of over a year; threats of mass
movements and agitations are being bandied about. Political
and social unrests are the last thing we need at a time when
we ought to get the whole Nation together to tide over the
terrible economic situation we are in right now.
Woes of Working Women
Many of the working women
in the city are plunged in a state of deep agony and
uncertainty as their residential accommodation problem
continues to worsen instead of being resolved. With the
passing of time more and more educated women are being
employed in different government, semi-government and private
organisations. Besides, thousands of women are working in the
garment sector. But the accommodation facilities for the
working women in the city is very scanty.
After the completion of higher studies, many young women,
hailing from different parts of the country, join different
offices with various jobs every year. But majority of these
working women do not get residential accommodation in the
working women's hostels. There are only three such hostels run
by the government and a few others by private organisationas
in the city. In the government- run hostels the number of
seats are inadequate to accommodate the working women and the
rent in the hostels run on commercial basis is very high. As a
result most of the working women have to opt for making
private arrangements for staying in the capital. But this is
not an easy task. Because, most of the house owners are
reluctant to welcome a single woman as a tenant.
Against this backdrop, the residential problem of the working
women in the city is aggravating day by day. In order to
resolve this problem the government should construct a number
of more hostels for the working women and take appropriate
steps to discourage the private hostel owners who charge seat
rent at an abnormally high rate. Moreover, the government
should also ensure a good working condition and security for
the working women to encourage the women to join the country's
work- force.
Analysis
McCain’s Islamic Demagoguery
Even in the most desperate of situations if the
Islamic masses are given the vote and open choice they will
often enough vote for moderates who shun violence.
Jonathan Power
First
it was Mitt Romney who wrote in Foreign Affairs that “radical
Islam’s threat is just as real as that posed before by the
Nazis and the Soviet Union”. And now, last week, it was John
McCain saying the U.S. needed a leadership “to confront the
transcendent challenge of our time: the threat of radical
Islamic terrorism”.
To realize what poisonous nonsense this is you only have to
turn back a page to the time of the Palestinian liberation
movement, whose daring terrorism at the Munich Olympics and
constant plane hijackings kept the world as jittery as it is
now with Al Qaeda. The IRA managed, together with its
Protestant opposite numbers, to hold hostage to violence a
whole province of the United Kingdom, beside murdering the
queen’s uncle and nearly succeeding in murdering the prime
minister, Margaret Thatcher. These were very disturbing
events, and if the terrorists had had just a tiny bit more
success, with a lucky hit like 9/11- and it wasn’t for lack of
trying- they really would have rocked western societies. But
to my recollection no one, neither politician nor commentator,
said this was “the transcendent challenge of our time” or
likened these minority movements to the threat of the biggest
military powers of the 1940s and 50s. If anyone had it would
have been considered over the top, clearly non comparable to
the threat of Nazi conquest or, later, world wide atheistic
communism whose creed was permanent revolution. Likewise, it
was non comparable to the economic angst of the 1980s or to
the oppression in southern Africa or to the maliciousness of
dictatorship in South America.
Hold on, wait a moment will say my critics. Romney and McCain
said “radical Islam”. They were not tarring the whole of the
Muslim religion. But context is everything. Those in the
Islamic world who follow the Western debate know their texts
and how it all began. First with the academic scholarship of
Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington. Huntington’s words in his
world-famous book, “The Clash of Civilizations” still chill
the bone: “The underlying problem for the West is not Islamic
fundamentalism, IT IS ISLAM, a different civilization whose
people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and
are obsessed with the inferiority of their power”.
If McCain wants to continue like this in the campaign to come
I would ask him first to reflect on the recent remarks of
Zbigniew Brzezinski who observed in response to Romney’s
statement, “A candidate who says that kind of stuff either
thinks, probably correctly, that the American people are not
well informed- in which case he’s demagoguing- or he’s stupid
enough to believe it himself. In either case it offers a
compelling argument as to why such a candidate should not be
president.”
This in a nutshell is what is wrong with McCain’s talk. The
recent election in Pakistan should give him pause. One good
reason given by the anti-Musharraf voices for having an open
election was that with the parties competing in the western
border areas, where the Taliban are active and the Al Qaeda
leadership may be hiding, was that it would make it more
difficult for the Islamic fundamentalist parties, then in
power, to win another election. The Americans and the British
refused to buy this argument, preferring Musharraf to kill off
the militants. But this indeed is what happened. The militant
religious parties were roundly defeated in the North-West
Frontier Province by a moderate regional party, the Awami
National Party. Although Pathan-based they want to end the
violence not by military might but by sustained dialogue and
reviving the neglected economic development of the province.
The conclusion is obvious. Even in the most desperate of
situations if the Islamic masses are given the vote and open
choice they will often enough vote for moderates who shun
violence. In recent years they have done so consistently in
Indonesia and Turkey, Islam’s two most populous states and so
have they done in Malaysia and Nigeria.
Every time some outrageous act is committed by the
fundamentalist supporters of an extreme version of Sharia law
the western press, and now some of its politicians, highlight
it. What they should do instead is to highlight the last 1400
years of Islamic behavior. When confronted with Islam the
Christian nations have persecuted it. But the Islamic world
when confronted with Christians in their midst preferred
tolerance.
Islamic terrorism is a marginal force still. Its adherents and
sympathizers have grown because of the crudity and violence of
the policies of George W. Bush and Tony Blair. McCain seems to
be heading to stir the pot even more. Then the chickens really
will come home to roost.
(Jonathan Power is an internationally renowned freelance
columnist. Copyright Jonathan Power. April 5th 2008.
E-mail: jonatpower@aol.com
Of stealing litchis, clips, gold and
wives
Foxes must not be offered the
custody of hens. Rats pilfering rice must be ferreted out from
the boroughs hidden inside our granaries before encountering
the onslaught of rats from outside.
Maswood Alam Khan
Whenever
I buy litchis or pass by a litchi tree a picture of the
pitiable condition of the naughty boy—-who was caught
red-handed and punished by the gardener as he trespassed on
someone’s orchard to steal litchis—-alights upon my mind,
evokes my vivacious childhood thrills and stirs me up to laugh
once again the way I as a little boy used to burst into peals
of laughter while reciting my most favorite poem: “Lichu Chor”
by our great poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.
Not a single Bangladeshi can be found who has not been
inspired to steal fruits from others’ orchards after ever
reciting “Lichu Chor”. The first fruits I, in collaboration
with my friends stole from our neighbor’s garden were a few
green coconuts when I was a student of a primary school.
Lifting the green coconuts absolutely for free lifted my
spirit to indulge in a shoplifting just a few weeks later as I
visited a village fair. While sampling a whistle made of
tinfoil and watching the shopkeeper’s attentions I was looking
for the most opportune moment, when I swallowed the whistle
itself inside my mouth, stole out of the shop and quietly
mingled into the crowd. I was, as a matter of fact, inducted
that day as a probationary thief.
Had my father, who was a magistrate by profession, not been
rich enough to bear all my living and education expenses I
perhaps would have been today a member of the organized
criminal gang who had stolen as many as 3,500 clips from over
600 meters of Dhaka-Chittagong railway tracks near Banani
railway station in the capital last week. Perhaps none of
those gang members was as naughty as I was in his childhood to
shoplift a whistle.
A chill stole over my body when I first heard over television
the news of the biggest ever rail clip theft in a single day
in the history of Bangladesh. The theft has exposed a stark
picture of how vulnerable, an unguarded length of 2,855 route
kilometres of multiple tracks of Bangladesh Railway laid on
remote and rural areas, is to pilferage and sabotage.
As reported by different newspapers, pilferage of rail
slippers, joint plates, nuts, bolts, elastic rail clips,
guardrails, bearing plates, rail posts, stones and rail panels
from tracks and bridges and wires and spares from signal posts
in different parts of our country has increased manifold in
recent months causing trains to run at abnormally low speeds
while crossing those rickety tracks shorn of vital supports
thus stolen. At places local public representatives and some
dishonest railway employees were reportedly involved in such
grand larceny and railway police forces were of no help in
letting up the pilferage. Guardsmen who were supposed to
safeguard railway properties seem to have been turned into
grabbers assisting thieves to loot vital parts of rail tracks.
An ominous culture indeed foreboding deaths of railway
passengers!
An upheaval must be created by arresting people en masse in
and around the vulnerable spots where such thefts are rampant
in order to send a loud message to the local people and the
villagers that they must pay a heavy price if they fail, as
obligation of patriotism, to safeguard the railway properties
near their homesteads and if they don’t call the police by
their cell phones whenever they would be suspicious of
anybody’s behaviour and whenever they would find any railway
property stashed anywhere outside of the railway compounds.
A law in this regard may also be framed to motivate people to
guard national resources by employing dwellers living along
the rail tracks as guardians of railway properties in return
for their using the side-lands of the railways on concessional
leases as kitchen gardens for cultivating vegetables. Nearby
forges where blacksmiths work and rerolling mills where metal
scraps are processed should also be under vigil watch of the
law enforcement agencies.
If exemplary punishment is not awarded to those arrested and
to those who abated the crime and if the concerned authority
cannot dig out the main culprits and conspirators inside and
outside of the Railway department, the train service in
Bangladesh which is poised to take an international stature
with Dhaka-Kolkata train service due to begin on the 14th
April, we are afraid, would soon have to grind to a dead
stop—-to the delight of some vested quarters like bus owners
who think trains are robbing them of their extra profits.
Foxes must not be offered the custody of hens. Rats pilfering
rice must be ferreted out from the boroughs hidden inside our
granaries before encountering the onslaught of rats from
outside. There should be cleansing operations inside our
railway department to get rid of those foxes and rats before
turning the service industry into a profitable company. Each
and every railway employee must be imbued with professionalism
to make the service attractive to tourists and travelers from
home and abroad as people nowadays prefer rail trains to road
vehicles for safety, liberty and comfort in journeys.
Law, punishment, motivation, and shame, nevertheless, are at
times blunt instruments to deter thefts, especially when kings
and queens are themselves tempted to shortchange their
subjects, or when love blinds a man to elope with someone
else’s wife, or when an addict becomes desperate for his daily
quota of heroin—-and, when a father’s head reels when his
child screams out of hunger pangs.
Thievery is a human discovery—-an invention mothered out of
dire necessity. A man, unless psychologically derailed, does
not want to be recognized as a thief in his society if he is
content with scopes to earn his livelihood. It is the
government which must provide each and every citizen with a
job or a scope that can fetch him minimum earnings to meet his
three basic needs: food, shelter and medicine. The government
has no right to spend a single unit of money in a project or
on entertainments that help the ‘haves’ more than the
‘have-nots’, when a single citizen is denied any of his those
three basic physiological needs—-his irrevocable birthrights
bestowed upon by his creator, but robbed of by His creatures.
Therefore, the government should not have any moral right to
punish a thief if he steals to slake his hunger unless at
least food and medicines are distributed for free to the
hungriest and the sickest. That is why Venezuelan government
decriminalized the theft of food and medicine ushering in a
revolutionary penal reform by introducing a new clause dubbed
“famine-theft” under which those who would steal or take food,
medicine or inexpensive goods without using violence to ease
hunger caused by prolonged and extreme poverty are not be
punished.
The level of tolerance and honesty shown by our people in
spite of being afflicted by abject poverty is a rarity in the
developed world, a behavioral pattern made possible due to our
religiosity and our fear of punishment in the aftermath of our
life—-a behavioral conduct impossible to emulate under a lax
enforcement of law such as it is in our country on the part of
a westerner blessed with riches of modern life.
Stealing is perhaps the oldest profession, the most common
criminal behaviour, a malignant by-product of modern
civilization that has separated us from the rest of a myriad
of animals, birds, insects and other living beings who fend
for themselves with no necessity of thievery.
As the parable goes, ‘Rur’ was the currency of the mythical
kingdom of Ruritania where one Rur was worth 20 grams of gold.
A new king ascended the throne of Ruritania, and, being
chronically short of money, announced a mammoth call-in of all
the old gold coins of his kingdom, each then dirty with wear
and with the picture of the previous king stamped on its face
to be replaced by brand new coins with the new king’s face
stamped on them.
But, during the course of this recoinage, the king changed the
definition of the Rur from 20 to 16 grams. He then pocketed
the extra 20% of gold, minting the gold for his own use and
pouring the coins into circulation for his own expenses. The
number of coins of gold, to the knowledge of commoners,
ostensibly remained the same, but in reality the money supply
in Rurs in the society had gone up by 20%, driving up prices
in the economy in terms of Rurs.
To blind the commoners with a technical term of science this
act of theft by the ancient kings or by the present heads of
government is denoted by economists as debasement or
devaluation, not thievery.
The term theft thus changes colors depending on the status of
the perpetrator. When an American steals a street signboard
bearing an erotic phrase like “Welcome to Intercourse,
Pennsylvania” the theft is considered a prank and the stolen
object a collectible for a hobbyist, not a thievery. When a
Bangladeshi steals hundreds of fruits from his poor neighbor’s
orchard in broad daylight the theft is a fun committed in a
picnic spirit of camaraderie, not a thievery. When a man
kidnaps another man’s wife the abduction is veneered with a
romantic flavor of elopement out of passionate love, not a
thievery. When a lady belonging to a high social stratum
shoplifts a brooch, fastens it to her clothes and quietly
steals out of the mall her act of commission is defined as
kleptomaniac—-nothing to do with thievery.
But, when hunger pangs trigger desperate signals to a man’s
hypothalamus deep inside his brain pushing him at the end of
his tether of honesty and compelling him to lift an iron bolt
from a railway yard or a manhole cover from a desolate lane or
a coin from someone else’s pocket, he is a confirmed thug to
be beaten by masses to death.
(Maswood Alam Khan; General Manager, Bangladesh Krishi Bank.
E-mail: maswoodalamkhan@gmail.com)
Viewpoints
Standing Firm with
China
It is not surprising that it is perceived to be
the major economic threat by many. Actually what worries many
is how much stronger will China become?
Ikram Sehgal
The
manner in which events have unfolded recently in Tibet
suggests that this was no happenstance; there was method in
the madness as properties of the Han Chinese were singled out
for destruction. By March 14, large scale attacks on
non-Tibetan ethnic groups unleashed a pillage of rioting,
looting and burning. James Miles of “The Economist” who
returned from Tibet confirmed that this was pre-planned and
orchestrated, to quote his interview with CNN, “What I saw was
calculated targetted violence against an ethic group, or I
should say two ethnic groups, primarily ethnic Han Chinese in
Lhasa, but also members of the Muslim Hui minority in Lhasa.”
Any doubts about the unrest being anything other than
organized activity were put to rest by the calculated manner
many Chinese Embassies and Consulates were attacked by
‘Tibetan’ protestors in several countries almost
simultaneously.
A section of the international media went into overdrive,
seeing demons where there were none. Having been on the
receiving end of many motivated media campaigns, Pakistanis
should be quite aware of this. Violence was labeled as
‘peaceful demonstrations’ while efforts of law enforcers to
maintain social order was maligned as ‘crackdown on
protestors”. The gung-ho attitude of the media, especially in
the captioning and cropping of images, is not only unethical,
it definitely had ulterior motives. “The Washington Post” used
pictures of baton-wielding Nepalese police in clashes with
Tibetan protestors in Katmandu, claiming the officers were
Chinese police. A German station N-tv admitted it had
‘mistakenly’ aired footage from Nepal during a story on
Chinese riots. On March 24, 2008 German TV news channel RTL
disclosed that one photograph depicting rioters had been
erroneously captioned. Even the prestigious BBC released a
picture on its website showing Chinese Armed Police officers
helping medical staff move a wounded person into an ambulance
but the caption read, “there is a heavy military presence in
Lhasa”, neglecting the First Aid and Red Cross signs on the
ambulance.
The most fundamental journalistic principle of ‘truth’ was
violated at will. Spreading rumors to tarnish China’s image
and undermine the Olympics is certainly motivated, a section
of the media chose not to verify facts before publication. How
come the media ignored the grim statistics that rioters in
Lhasa had set fires at more than 300 locations, including
residential houses and 215 shops, smashed or burnt 56 vehicles
killed 18 civilians and one police officer and wounded another
620 people? Peaceful demonstrations very deliberately? During
the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident in Beijing, similar
misreporting was resorted to. To quote my article on June 27,
1989 entitled CHINA: HANDLE WITH CARE, “The actual military
operation to restore order has been reported in various ways
but some facts are hard to digest by those familiar with
street fighting and the firepower available to combat troops.
If the PLA was really bloody-minded, how come so many military
vehicles were burnt, some still lined up in convoys if the
demonstrators were peaceful and the troops relatively brutal?
How come so many armored personnel carriers were set on fire
(along with their crews in full view of western TV) without
the machine-gunning of people in droves? If tanks were
trampling bodies, how was a complete column of tanks stopped
in broad daylight for over 30 minutes (as recorded by the
international media for the world) by a single unarmed man
(who also clambered onto the leading tank before being
escorted away by friends)? If the repression was so complete,
why did the Chinese leadership allow the international media
to function in virtual freedom and suffer their criticism day
after day?” Tony Gleason, Field Director of Tibet Poverty
Alleviation Fund, an American organization helping Tibetans
through skill training, has also confirmed that the many
reports of a violent crackdown were not accurate. He recalled
seeing protestors throwing bricks and rocks at cars on the
street and smoke spiraling out from different areas but he did
not see police open fire. Eyewitness accounts from other
foreigners living in Lhasa corroborate Gleason’s version.
Given the fact that only two weeks before the March riot, over
200 Dalai Lama supporters took off from his HQ in Dharmsala on
a “Long March” to Lhasa, there is prima-facie evidence that
the riots were organized, masterminded and incited by the
Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama’s role since his exile has always
been questionable. While constantly refusing to recognize the
current political system in Tibet, he has been attempting
establishing a so-called “Greater Tibet Area” covering nearly
a quarter of Chinese territory, something that has never
really existed in history. Claiming that Tibet is a nation
occupied China, the Tibetan “government in exile” has also
proposed a “Charter of Tibetans in Exile” to establish a
so-called “Federal Democratic Self-governing Republic” in the
Tibetan region. Such activities are meant to destroy China’s
national unity and are obviously supported by those who have
their own axes to grind with China.
But why is the Dalai Lama stirring up conflict between the Han
and Tibetan people? The Central Government is pouring huge
amounts of funds and manpower into the region. In the past
five years, it has given 95 billion Yuan ($13.5 billion) as
aid and subsidies. Since 2001, government enterprises and
ministries have initiated 2,876 projects towards Tibet’s
development. People of all ethnicity live in peace and harmony
in Tibet; this worries the Dalai Lama because in the long run
it means public support for secession will diminish. Ever
since Beijing won the chance to host the 29th Summer Olympiad,
efforts have been underway to use the event to boycott China
under whatever rationale serving opponents’ interests, be it
Darfur or a domestic issue. The immediate aim of the
China-haters is clear, sabotage the Olympic Games in Beijing.
While no government has yet announced a boycott of the
Olympics, some leaders are toying with the idea of staying
away from the opening ceremony; this will be unfortunate. The
international community must, stand united against any
attempts to undermine the Olympics; this is a solemn
international event that should never be spoiled by politics.
To quote my article entitled SOLIDARITY WITH CHINA published
on Sep 26, 1989, “The great economic reforms carried out over
the last decade have been unbelievable, the hundred flowers
have now symbolically bloomed; even the Soviets have turned
themselves to the emerging Chinese model. The entire coastal
belt has seen a radical change in direction as regional
managers have benefited by economic devolution. Small
farm-unit ownerships has given astounding results, the
agricultural production has multiplied manifold, lessening the
burden on imported food grains. The change manifest in the
entire agricultural spectrum has been nothing short of
spectacular.” The motivation behind the calculated and
pre-planned move designed to malign China should not be too
surprising. China is an economic powerhouse of some reckoning,
racing away from others China’s ascendancy has taken many by
surprise and disbelief. It is not surprising that it is
perceived to be the major economic threat by many. Actually
what worries many is how much stronger will China become?
(Ikram Sehgal is an internationally renowned columnist and
the Editor of the Pakistan Defense Journal)
Is
It Not Time to Disband the Atlantic Alliance?
By allowing NATO to be driven in new directions without
confronting the hard questions on its future, we are in danger
of breaking the whole alliance on which it is founded.
Adrian Hamilton
It
was British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, ever shrewd in
the ways of politics, who said that the only way to hold a
successful summit was to have the communiqué already written
before you arrived. On that reading, the NATO summit in
Bucharest has all the elements of a truly miserable failure.
The participants are at odds over expansion to the East, with
the US, backed by the new entrants, urging Georgian and
Ukrainian membership against the public doubts of Germany and
the vehement opposition of Russia. The core members are at
odds over their individual contributions to the war in
Afghanistan. If this were a family it would compete with the
Royal Tenenbaums for disfunctionality. Of course it won't be
allowed to end in a climax of slammed doors. The North
Atlantic Treaty Organization is regarded as far too important,
and prestigious, for that. Indeed no NATO meeting is complete
without a chorus of pronouncements by premiers, politicians
and pundits stressing just how important the alliance is to
the West and how, despite the end of the Cold War that was its
raison d'etre, it is still needed more than ever in the
post-9/11 world.
All true, no doubt - or at least in part. NATO has been an
extraordinarily effective organization in locking the US into
Europe militarily and in containing the Soviet Union. But past
pre-eminence is no guide to future purpose and it is the lack
of definition of what NATO is for that is now producing all
the strains. With the Cold War the organization had a defined
enemy and a clear function - to defend Western Europe against
conventional or nuclear assault. Without the Cold War it has
no clear enemy or function, only the persistence of a
well-honed military structure. The "War on Terror" proponents
see that honed structure as a ready-made means of combating
the new enemies in a world of Muslim extremism and nuclear
proliferation. If Europe was its theater of operations in the
Cold War, NATO's role after 9/11 is, according to this
doctrine, to go "out of theater" to engage in operations in
Afghanistan, the Middle East, Africa or wherever else a threat
is perceived. At the same time President Bush, in pursuit of
his vision of "democracy" around the world and in search of a
legacy for his failing presidency, wants to use NATO
membership to secure the new democracies of the Orange and
Rose revolutions. Hence his enthusiasm to start the process of
entry for Ukraine and Georgia. Add to that a new president of
France who wants re-entry to full military participation in
NATO as a means to take France back to the heart of
international decision-making, and you have more energy for
movement in NATO than in a generation. Only it is an energy
without consensus or agreed direction. The reluctance of
member states to send more troops to Afghanistan or to send
them to the hot spots is not, as Washington would brief, a
matter of cowardice or parsimony. It is because, for a number
of European countries, there is no public support after Iraq
for an operation which makes NATO troops into a white, Western
occupying force. In the same way President Bush, and the
Ukrainian and Georgian leaders, would make eastward expansion
into a matter of facing down Russia. But fear of Russia is not
the main reason for German (and French, Belgian and Dutch)
doubts. The problem is that expansion this far east would take
NATO right into the middle of the conflict between Russian-
and Ukrainian-speaking halves of Ukraine, never mind the
problem of the breakaway parts of Georgia, disputes that could
easily escalate into confrontation with Moscow. For the very
reason that the two countries want membership, the
organization should be wary of it. For, as Moscow not
unreasonably argues, if Russia is no longer regarded as the
enemy, why are we doing it and in such haste? This isn't a
case of if we didn't have NATO we'd have to invent it. The
opposite is true. If we didn't have NATO we'd invent something
quite different at this point. We would be involved in a
different way, if at all, in Afghanistan. We'd be using
membership of the EU as the means of securing the democracies
of the former Soviet republics. And we'd be developing an
independent European defense capability. The fearful prospect
at Bucharest is that, by allowing NATO to be driven in new
directions without confronting the hard questions on its
future, we are in danger of breaking the whole alliance on
which it is founded.
Source: www.arabnews.com
Comment
The 3 km leash
If
the world needed proof that the Indian government is kept on a
tight leash, we have gone and shown them exactly how tight it
is. Indian authorities have considerately cut the Olympic
torch route in Delhi by more than a tenth of what it was the
last time, just in case China's big occasion is disrupted by a
bunch of Tibetan agitators. Three kilometres will be the full
length of the relay route, and it reveals the extent of the
government's self-inflicted humiliation. Of course, we have
extended hospitality and succour to the Dalai Lama and Tibetan
exiles for half a century now, but the government seems to
have been bulldozed by its allies from the Left into buying
the Chinese desire for zero-tolerance of the protests. Call
this independent foreign policy?
In giving itself the 3 km comfort, the government even
misunderstands the idea of the Olympic torch. The Olympics are
the great games of the world, not China's personal coming out
party. While the torch is on Indian soil it is by no means
representative of any other country. Was it so hard to stick
to the Indian Olympic Association's plan for the torch relay?
Yes, there might have been Tibetan protests - but why
shouldn't there have been, even as greater numbers of Indians
would have celebrated the flame? Also, why should we behave as
though China's interests are the same as ours, instead of
improving relations from a position of self-aware strength?
The Chinese government summons the Indian ambassador at 2 am
to voice displeasure about Tibetan protests at the embassy in
India, and we meekly await a forthcoming certificate of good
behaviour. The unsettling thing about India's official
reaction is how it denies its own history. Of course, India
cannot and must not advocate secessionism anywhere in the
world. But we have lived through a parade of violent protest
movements. And through those protests we have arrived at
negotiated peaces. Let us deal with this our way. The right to
dissent is a cherished freedom in India. After all, the
Tibetans who protest have been around on Indian soil for
decades.
Or could it be the case of the UPA's allies that we reconsider
the residency given to the Dalai Lama? After all, that is the
slippery slope the government has been going down ever since
it drove Taslima Nasreen away.
editor@expressindia.com
International
UN warns of ‘very
grave’ problems in Iraq
AFP, Amman
A top UN official warned on Friday of "very grave"
humanitarian problems in Iraq, including a lack of food
and the internal displacement of more than two million
people.
"There are very grave humanitarian problems, the most
serious is the internal displacement of the Iraqis... this
is a phenomenon which we believe has slowed down
significantly in recent months," UN Undersecretary General
for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told a news
conference in Amman.
The UN refugee agency said on Tuesday that the number of
internally displaced Iraqis had risen to more than 2.77
million people by the end of March, five years after the
US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Two million Iraqis have also fled to neighbouring Jordan
and Syria, where social and health services are struggling
with the influx.
Holmes, who is in Jordan on his way to Iraq, said basic
services in many areas in Iraq "are still deteriorating."
"For example there are four million people who do not have
enough food, only 40 percent of the population have
reliable access to safe drinking water and one third of
people are cut off from essential health care, life saving
medication and basic immunisation," he said.
According to Holmes, between four and nine percent of
children under five are suffering from acute malnutrition.
"The humanitarian needs have risen significantly... over
the past two years... we are not encouraging people to
return to Iraq at the moment," he said.
Meanwhile, a UN official said on Friday that an estimated
700 people had been killed in the fighting between Iraqi
government forces and Shiite militiamen last week.
"The conflict of the last few days we estimate has claimed
more than 700 lives -- 700 people have been killed and
more than 1,500 wounded," UN Humanitarian Coordinator for
Iraq David Shearer told a press conference in Amman.
"That could increase as facts and the numbers become more
clear."
The fighting was triggered by an Iraqi offensive against
Shiite militias in the southern oil port of Basra, which
set of a wave of clashes in other Shiite areas of the
country.
Previous Iraqi government figures have said at least 461
people were killed and more than 1,100 wounded in the
unrest, which largely involved the Mahdi Army of powerful
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Shearer, who returned from Basra on Thursday, did not
elaborate on the UN figures, but said that "since the
ceasefire two or three days ago the city has rapidly
returned to normal."
Meanwhile, a bomb exploded in a bus near Baghdad's Sadr
City district killing at least three people on Saturday,
security officials said.
At least 16 passengers were also wounded in the blast that
struck at around 8:30 am (0530 GMT). The explosion took
place around 200 metres (yards) from Sadr City in Beirut
Square as the bus was leaving the district.
Chinese police open fire during Tibetan ‘riot’: Official
media
AFP, Beijing
Chinese
police opened fire during a "riot" in a Tibetan-populated
area of southwest China, the official Xinhua news agency
reported on Friday, the latest in three weeks of deadly
unrest.
One local official was seriously wounded during the
incident, which took place on Thursday evening in Garze
county of Sichuan province, Xinhua reported.
"Local officials exercised restraint during the riot and
repeatedly told the rioters to abide by the law," Xinhua
quoted an official with the local government as saying.
"(But) police were forced to fire warning shots and put
down the violence, since local officials and people were
in great danger."
Xinhua did not give any other details in its brief
dispatch.
The London-based Free Tibet Campaign, citing a source in
the region, said security forces opened fire when 370
monks from the Tongkhor monastery and about 400 other
Tibetans staged a protest there.
Eight Tibetans had been killed after security forces
opened fire on the protesters, Free Tibet Campaign
spokesman Matt Whitticase said, citing the source.
He identified seven of those people. However, he
emphasised he only had the information from one source.
Whitticase said the Tibetans had been protesting over the
detention of two monks on Thursday. He said the two monks
had been held because they had been found with photos of
exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
The protest was the latest in three weeks of deadly unrest
pitting Tibetans against Chinese security forces.
The protests began in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, to mark the
anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule
of the remote Himalayan region.
Four days of peaceful protests erupted into rioting in
Lhasa on March 14, and the unrest spread to other areas of
western China with Tibetan populations, including Sichuan
province.
China says Tibetan rioters have killed 18 civilians and
two policemen. Before the latest unrest, Tibetan exiled
leaders said 135-140 Tibetans had been killed in the
Chinese crackdown.
China has ruled Tibet since 1951, after sending in troops
to "liberate" the Buddhist region the previous year.
Sadr calls mass anti-US protest in Baghdad
AFP, Najaf
Moqtada al-Sadr Friday called a mass rally for April 9 in
Baghdad against US forces in Iraq, as Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki ordered his troops to halt raids on the Shiite
cleric's militiamen.
The venue for the protest had earlier been set as the
central shrine city of Najaf but a Sadr spokesman said it
would be more effective in the Iraqi capital and allow
more people to take part.
April 9 marks the fifth anniversary of the overthrow of
Saddam Hussein's regime following the US-led invasion of
March 20, 2003.
"The Sadr movement has decided to change the venue of the
huge demonstration that had been announced for Najaf on
April 9," said Salah al-Obeidi, spokesman for Sadr's
office in Najaf.
"A protest in Baghdad will be more effective because it is
in the capital, and secondly, a protest there will allow
people of other sects to participate," Obeidi told AFP.
"This demonstration is not limited to the Sadr movement.
We want all Iraqis to take part. The target of the protest
is the (US) occupation," he added.
The announcement came after crowds of people spilled on to
the streets of Shiite areas of east Baghdad following the
main weekly Muslim prayers to denounce Maliki and demand
that US troops quit their areas.
"No! No! to occupation. Yes! Yes! to Islam," chanted the
crowd in Sadr City, the cleric's main Baghdad bastion,
many of them carrying posters showing a caricature of the
premier bearing the words "Maliki is a puppet of Hakim."
Sadr's supporters accuse Maliki of siding with rival
Shiite politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim in the battle for
control of Basra-Iraq's main oil hub-ahead of provincial
elections in October.
Maliki meanwhile tried to calm tensions by ordering his
troops to stop random raids across the country.
He said in a statement he was allowing time to those
wanting to surrender their weapons after fierce clashes
between his security forces and Shiite militiamen last
week which killed at least 700 people, according to the
United Nations.
"To give a chance to those who wish to lay down their
arms, all raids and search operations will be stopped in
all areas," Maliki said. The prime minister had earlier
given residents of the second city of Basra an April 8
deadline to hand over heavy and medium weapons in return
for cash in a bid to cut the supply of weapons to
militiamen.
Tough road lies ahead for global climate deal
AFP, Bangkok
There have been numerous
disagreements during a week of intense climate change
talks in Bangkok but there is one point all sides agree
on-a long, tough road lies ahead.
The five-day negotiations stretched past midnight on
Friday before reaching a deal aimed solely at setting up
more talks, the eventual goal to draft by the end of next
year the most far-reaching treaty yet to battle global
warming.
Rich and poor nations were at loggerheads, with developing
countries especially suspicious of a Japanese-led proposal
on industry standards and demanding greater aid to help
them cope with the ravages of climate change.
The talks set up seven more sessions-three this year and
four next-amid growing global concern that rising
temperatures could put millions of people at risk by
century's end through drought, floods and other extreme
weather.
The next session meets in June in Bonn, Germany.
"We have 18 months to agree on a deal and it is probably
one of the most important deals that mankind has
negotiated," said Marcelo Furtado of Greenpeace Brazil.
"This is showing that we still lack political will and
that is something we're very concerned about," he said.
The treaty due next year is meant to decide on an action
plan after the Kyoto Protocol's obligations to slash
greenhouse gas emissions expire at the end of 2012.
The United States, which snubbed Kyoto, and developing
nations, which have no obligations under it, agreed at a
conference in December in Bali, Indonesia, to negotiate to
craft the next treaty.
Yvo de Boer, head of the UN body on climate change,
acknowledged there were issues that each side was "very
attached to" and said the Bangkok agreement created
"bite-sized chunks" to allow smoother negotiations.
"It takes time to find a way out and they did," he said of
the Bangkok negotiations.
De Boer said the Bangkok talks made genuine headway by
approving a statement that lauds the burgeoning market in
carbon emissions trading.
Under Kyoto, countries and companies can buy and sell
credits to emit greenhouse gases so as to meet their own
requirements.
De Boer said the statement sent a strong signal that the
market would continue even after Kyoto's obligations run
out.
81 percent of Americans say
US on wrong track
AFP, New York
More than 80 percent of Americans say in a new poll they
are unhappy with the country's direction, the highest
level of dissatisfaction recorded since the early 1990s,
The New York Times reported Friday.
Fully 81 percent agreed that "things have pretty seriously
gotten off on the wrong track," sharply up from 69 percent
a year ago and 35 percent in 2002, the New York Times/CBS
News poll found.
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