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Leading
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BNP reformists on the rebound
Staff Correspondent
The much-talked-about reunification in BNP is still a far
cry as the acting Chairperson of the reformist faction in
BNP, M Saifur Rahman, on Sunday emphatically ruled out any
possibility of canceling the disputed standing committee
meeting on 29 October night.
Khaleda Zia-appointed party Secretary General Khandakar
Delwar Hossain on Saturday unequivocally declared that
reunification of the party would not be possible without
cancellation of the October 29 standing committee meeting
that totally went against the party Constitution.
"We will not cancel either the meeting of 29 October or
its proceedings," Saifur reacted angrily when waiting
reporters drew his attention to Delwar’s call to cancel
the disputed standing committee meeting to pave the way
for reconciliation in BNP.
Saifur Rahman came face to face with the newsmen after
holding a one and a half hours-long meeting with his
followers at his Gulshan residence yesterday. Prominent
among the participants are Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Major (retd)
Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, ZA Khan, Shah Mohammad Abul Hossain,
Mofazzel Karim and Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf.
Although the acting Secretary General claimed that some 42
ex BNP MPs, among others, were present in the meeting,
this correspondent found that the total number of
participants can hardly be around forty." "How can we
cancel the standing committee meeting and its proceedings
as the decisions taken at that meeting were on the basis
of some principle," he wondered. "No talks and
subsequently no reunification in the party can be held
until and unless the preconditions given by the loyalists’
camp are withdrawn," he said. Taking a swipe at Khaleda-appointed
party Secretary General Delwar Hossain for not complying
with the call made by the detained Party Chief Begum
Khaleda Zia for unity in the party, Saifur said: "how does
the unity come into being and how can we sit with the
leader (Delwar) who does not even believe the message of
his Chairperson. On the other hand, a petty leader and a
boy of yesterday (Rizvi Ahmed) are now refusing the fact
of holding meeting with me."
Earlier, briefing the newsmen, Hafiz said, "we want both
the reforms and the unity to be carried out in the party.
Although most of leaders and workers in even our rival
camp want unity, only two or three leaders do not want
so."
"We are very much shocked and disappointed with the
statement of Khondoker Delwar Hossain. He should not have
imposed any preconditions for the party reunification
whereas our leader Begum Khaleda Zia called for the party
unity at any cost," Hafiz observed.
AL to forge grand alliance To confirm victory in next
polls
Sahidul Islam Rana
Awami League is trying to forge a grand electoral
alliance, even beyond the ambit of 14-party combine, to
ensure a massive victory in the next general election.
Alongside, according to party insiders, AL has initiated
concerted approach to consolidate the organizational base
of the party and strengthen the unity of 14-party alliance
on the basis of a common programme. As part of organizing
the grand alliance AL has started its discussion with the
components of the alliance on Sunday. On the first day AL
sat with the Workers Party leaders at the residence of the
acting AL president Zillur Rahman’s at Gulshan in capital.
Talking to The Bangladesh Today, some midlevel AL leaders
said that they want to achieve the victory against the
erstwhile BNP-Jamaat government. Considering the issue,
the detained AL President Sheikh Hasina directed the
acting party chief to form electoral alliance with all
progressive and pro-liberation political parties. Sources
said, the proposed grand alliance will be issue-based and
it would follow the previous system but their formal
declaration would come before finalizing the nominations.
The party President and former prime minister Sheikh
Hasina and some other front line AL leaders including
genral secretary Abdul Jalil, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim,
Kazi Jaforullah, Mohiuddin Khan Alamir and Obaidul Quader
remain behind bars, so the party high command is thinking
of new candidates in those constituencies from where they
would be able to come out successful among the like-minded
political parties, said sources.
Earlier, AL presidium member Tofael Ahmed, in a meeting at
the AL central office at Bangabandhu Avenue recently,
hinted that they were trying to make an electoral alliance
with pro-liberation forces. Meanwhile, most of midlevel AL
leaders do not want Gano Forum in the grand alliance as
they said, after the promulgation of the state of
emergency; the remarks of Dr Kamal Hissain against AL and
Hasina tarnished the image of the party. But senior
leaders want to continue the alliance with Dr Kamal as the
Gano Forum believes on the same spirit of liberation war
and has similar anti-BNP-Jamaat stand.
Asked about the position of Gano Forum on the alliance,
co-coordinator of AL-led 14-party combine Tofael Ahmed on
Sunday did not make any comment.
An hour-long bilateral meeting discussed the possible
agenda for the ensuing dialogue with the caretaker
government. Tofael Ahmed said, "We will hold dialogue with
the government with unconditionally and the agenda would
be as per 23-point demands of the 14-party alliance
earlier placed by the then opposition leader in the
parliament Sheikh Hasina."
Workers Party President Rashed Khan Mennon said, "No
dialogue will be held with pre-conditions. Dialogue
between the government and political parties is a must to
resolve the prevailing problems." He also demanded
immediate release of detained former premier Sheikh Hasina
and others, and holding the upcoming general election as
early as possible.
Senior party leaders of both the parties were present in
the meeting. AL will hold next meeting with the Samyabadi
Dal tomorrow (Tuesday) at Gulshan.
BCL-Shibir clash at Polytechnic Institue
Staff Correspondent
A fierce clash Between Bangladesh Chhatra League and
Chhatra Shibir left around 45 students injured on Dhaka
Polytechnic Institute campus at Tejgaon in the city on
Sunday centering sitting in the dining room.
To avert further untoward incident, Polytechnic Institute
authorities asked the students to vacate the Abdul Latif
hostel by 5 pm yesterday. Following the incident a heavy
contingent of law enforcers have been deployed in and
around the Institute campus.
Of the injured S. M. Srabon, 25, Mohammad Raihan, 20,
Sajedur Rahman, 20, Akhtaruzzaman, 22, Motahar, 22 and
Mohammad Shakil were admitted to Dhaka Medical College
Hospital (DMCH), six to Al Razi Hospital and four to
Orthopedic Hospital.
According to police and local sources the clash ensued
centering a very trifle matter in the dining hall on
Saturday midnight.
"When a group of BCL student were waiting for lunch in the
dining hall of Latif hostel on Saturday midnight, another
group of Shibir students entered the dining room and took
away chairs from beside the BCL students. BCL students
became furious and they tried to bar the Shibir activists.
They were locked in furious altercation, but they did not
engage in clash that time," an employee of the Institute
said.
Following Saturday’s night incident both BCL and Shibir
members on Sunday started making provocative remark to
each other. At one stage they swooped on each other at
about 10 am. Chase and counter chase also took place and
later they beat up each other. Within moments the whole
area turned in to a battle filed.
Both the student wings of Bangladesh Awami League and
Jamaat-Islami blamed each other for the trouble.
Shibir activists said a gang of BCL students first locked
the main gate launched an attack on the Shibir activists
and beat them up indiscriminately and ousted Shibir
activists from the hall. The agitated students later
ransacked 10 rooms of the hostel, furniture, windowpanes
and other valuables of the institute.
Dhaka WASA realises revenues of Tk 310 cr last year
Staff Correspondent
The Dhaka WASA
realized outstanding revenues of Taka 310 crore during the
period from January to December last year.
Sources said, the WASA recovered more dues from its
consumers last year compared to the previous year.
Of the total realized revenue, the amount of outstanding
collection was Taka 281.58 crore and other collections
were Taka over 30 crore. The total amount of outstanding
recovery increased by Taka 80 crore last year compared to
the year 2006.
Of the collected revenue, Taka 105.55 crore was realized
by conducting some 108 mobile courts by the Dhaka WASA
while more than Taka 3.50 crore was realized by disposing
of around 300 cases regarding tube-well sinking in the
city.
However, the amount of unrealised revenue is more than
Taka 230 crore now.
The amount of outstanding revenues of last year was about
Taka 300 crore. Of this, a large sum of money cannot be
collected at all. The amount of such dues may exceeds Taka
100 crore, sources said. Meanwhile, the WASA has implement
several projects to improve water supply in the capital
specially during the dry season while some other projects
are under implementation and work on these projects are
going on in full swing.
Implementation of all the projects will ensure increased
water supply against the increased demand for water while
some other projects have already been implemented, sources
said.
The Dhaka WASA usually cannot keep pace with the increased
demand for water throughout the year as its daily supply
of water cannot fulfill the city dwellers’ demands.
The daily demand for water in the city is over 220 crore
litres. But the Dhaka WASA can supply only 115 crore
litres of water everyday.
Under the long-term projects, a water purification plant
having capacity for purifying 23 crore litres of water
will be set up in the city’s Sayedabad. The project will
be implemented at a cost of Taka 829 crore. The DANIDA
will finance the project.
Another water treatment plant having capacity for
purifying around 50 crore litres of water daily will be
built soon. The project will be implement with the
financial assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
On an average, the Dhaka WASA can purify around 168 crore
litres of water every day with the help of its 474 deep
tube-wells and four water treatment plants.
The quantity of purified water will increase in five
litres if the sinking work of 21 deep tube-wells is
completed. It is quite impossible for the Dhaka WASA to
meet the increased demand for water in the city without
taking necessary steps to reduce the huge system loss
which is causing huge financial losses to the public
office. The system loss in Dhaka WASA amounts to about 40
percent, sources said.
BB to continue financial sector reforms
Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh
Bank (BB) on Sunday said the ongoing structural as well as
financial sector reforms and reasonable socio-political
stability and policy should be continued to ensure GDP
projection at percent 6 to 6.2 percent in the financial
year of 2008.
This was said by Dr Mustafa K Mujeri, chief economist of
the BB, at the publication ceremony of Oct-Dec quarterly
magazine, at BB auditorium on Sunday.
Indicating GDP fall, he said, "Against the estimated
growth of 6.5 percent in FY 07, the target GDP growth rate
for FY 08 was set at 7.0 percent in the budget. However,
recent domestic and global developments in natural
calamities, temporary disruptions in domestic production
and adverse price developments in the international market
have adversely affected the growth performance of the
economy requiring a downward adjustment in the GDP growth
rate for FY 08. The revised GDP growth rate has been put
by Bangladesh Bank (BB) in the range of 6.0percent to 6.2
percent in FY 08."
"The developments in the real sector in Q2 FY 08 generally
hold that the real sector growth is likely to be moderated
somewhat resulting in a downward revision by BB of GDP
growth rate between 6.0 percent and 6.2 percent in FY 08.
This growth outlook is dependent on measures by the
government to address the emerging constraints. It is
likely that the country’s near-term growth prospects would
become brighter through repaid and effective
implementation of policy strategies and reform programmes
taken up by the government", he added.
He said, "In view of the buoyant global demand in the face
of tight world supply and present domestic supply
constraints especially for the food products, the supply
side factors would play the major role in moderating the
inflationary pressure in the economy and setting the
course of inflation during the rest of FY 08. Accordingly,
BB’s policy stance would be to support increased output
growth in the domestic economy especially in agriculture
and keep the demand side pressure under control so that
inflation expectations remain subdued."
"Despite the negative impact of the floods and the cyclone
and the risk of rising inflation currently existing in the
country, the near-term economic outlook remains favourable
mainly because of the potential of strong recovery by all
economic sectors. Since the presence of excess liquidity
with the DMBs shows that no significant demand pressure
currently exists in the economy, encouraging adequate
credit flows to all productive sectors would be crucial to
realising the expected increase in economic activities in
the coming months", he said.
He spoke on the need for ensuring repaid rehabilitation of
the livelihood activities in the flood and cyclone
affected areas such that the adverse impact of the
disasters are mitigated within the shortest possible time,
production losses are recouped and supply of essential
products increases to create positive impact on food and
essential commodity prices.
Referring to gradual recovery from the economic setback,
he said the real economy showed an improving pace of
growth as the domestic production activities started to
rebound after the floods and the cyclone (Sidr) and export
growth started to gather pace. The growth momentum of the
economy, which somewhat slowed down in the previous
quarter primarily due to slow growth in agriculture and
depressed growth in the manufacturing sector, showed a
recovering trend amidst an upward pace in services sector
activities.
He said the positive near-term outlook is underpinned by
continuous pursuit of supportive macroeconomic policies,
heightened business confidence and desired growth in
private sector led investment, effective measures to
address power, transport, other infrastructure constraints
affecting production and other economic activities and
speedy implementation of ongoing structural, financial
sector reforms till the general election scheduled for
late 2008.
EC ready to resume talks with political parties
Staff Correspondent
The Election Commission is ready to hold the second round
discussion with political parties on the proposed
electoral law from the next week. Besides, the EC has
finalized a draft proposal on electoral code of conduct
which includes provisions to ban wall writing and
postering and it will be sent to the local government
ministry for its approval soon.
This was stated by the Election Commissioner, Sohul
Hossain while talking to reporters at his office
yesterday. He said, " the EC will discuss separately with
each political party, not with the all the political
parties at a time." Sohul said, " after getting the
clearance from the High Court, the EC will first hold
dialogue with the BNP and then it will hold talks with
rest of the political parties." It may be mentioned that
the hearing on the writ is scheduled on February 12.
Asked if there are delays in getting a court verdict,
Sohul said," If there is any delay, the EC will not wait
any more for BNP and it will start the second round of
talks on proposed electoral laws from the next week."
Sohul said, "this time the discussion with political
parties will be held in reverse to the alphabetical order
and after holding talks with all political parties, the
draft will be finalized through a presidential ordinance."
About the draft proposal on electoral code of conduct,
Sohul said if the Local Government Ministry refuses to
accept such a proposal, then the EC will include it on its
own decision with its existing code of conduct to ban the
wall writing and postering before three month of holding
general election.
He said there will be a provision for a fine of Tk 10000
and in default one month imprisonment for any violation of
the law.
IOM to assist Bangladesh on migration issues
Staff Correspondent
Geneva based International Organization for Migration
(IOM) will assist Bangladesh on migration issues.
IOM regional representative Rabab Fatima on Saturday
called on Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury at the
Foreign Ministry and assured him that IOM would assist
Bangladesh on migration issues.
They discussed a possible Action Plan to explore the
possibilities of diversifying export of Bangladeshi labour
to different destinations, including Eastern Europe.
"Last year we were able to send over 650,000 workers
abroad, which is an all-time record, and earned nearly US
7 billion remittances, which is also a record. We have now
decided to upgrade skills, and look for newer markets such
as in Eastern Europe. We have already sent some to Romania
recently, as the media has noted," Iftekhar Chowdhury said
to the press afterwards.
Back Page
Swiss AG takes
over BD Oriental Bank Ltd.
Staff
Correspondent
A private enterprise of
Switzerland is going to acquire the country's Oriental
Bank Limited by this month. According to sources in the
Bangladesh Bank, the ICB Financial Group AG of Switzerland
has expressed its willingness to acquire the ownership of
the Bangladeshi bank. The Swiss company has already
submitted its formal proposal to the authorities
concerned.
The enterprise along with the Domestic Investor
Consortium, Bangladesh has opened an account with the
relevant bank in favour of its proposal to acquire the
Oriental Bank. The Central Bank sources said, the Swiss
company has proposed to buy the ownership of the bank at a
cost of Taka 355,77,43,000.
It is not clear yet as to what will be the fate of the
bank as the authorities have not made any final decision
regarding the proposals. The final decision will be made
by the Central Bank authorities by February 11 next,
sources said.
It may be mentioned that an incident of misappropriating
Taka 5,96 crore was detected by a special investigation
team of Bangladesh Bank in 2006. The authorities of the
Oriental Bank misappropriated the huge amount of money
with the connivance with a section of bank officials.
Following the investigation, the central bank authorities
took over the bank in the greater interest of the
depositors. Sources said, the authorities will take
necessary steps so that all clients of the bank get their
money back and the process of transfer the ownership of
the bank will be finalized through ensuring the
depositors' interest.
The sales agreement and purchase contract between the
Central Bank authorities and the highest bidder will be
signed on February 28 next.
Bangladesh-UK relations form a Global Partnership:
Foreign Adviser
Staff Correspondent
Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury on Sunday said
that the relationship between Bangladesh and the UK
constitute a "partnership for which both sides are proud".
He made this remark while commenting on the outcome of the
visit by UK Foreign Minister David Miliband to Bangladesh.
"Recently we have had two Cabinet-level visits from the
UK, from Development Cooperation Minister Douglas
Alexander and Foreign Minister David Miliband, one
following the other. I had held meetings with both in
Kampala and invited them to come. I had also traveled to
London and met with Miliband's predecessor, Foreign
Secretary Margaret Beckett. Meantime we have hosted many
British Members of Parliament including Parliamentary
Secretaries. These interactions have cemented this
partnership," the Foreign Adviser added.
"In addition, we have a very large diaspora residing in
the UK. They comprise both British-Bangladeshis and NRBs.
They constitute a significant economic and emotional
bridge between Bangladesh and Britain and both countries
are proud of those linkages," Iftekhar Chowdhury said.
"There are many other elements that connect our two
countries and societies", the Foreign Adviser observed:
"these involve common values, the English language and
shared ideals that lead us to take similar positions on
the international stage on such issues as Climate Change,
development, and global peace and security," he added.
The Foreign Adviser stated that several joint activities
are being planned to bring these relationships into a
framework of partnership. This is not confined to
governments only, he underscored, but involves the two
peoples as well, he added "and spreads across past,
present and future."
Education sector
graft will not be spared: Mashhud
BDNEWS24, Dhaka
ACC Chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury said on Sunday the
anti-graft drive would not spare the education sector,
which is often thought to be infested with irregularities
and mismanagement.
He said his people were gathering information on
irregularities in the sector to make a start on unmasking
those involved with corruption.
"The ACC will soon sit with the concerned senior officials
in identifying the persons responsible for corrupting the
education sector," he said at the opening of the annual
Youth Engagement and Support conference.
"We will make sure the offenders are punished," said the
ACC chairman. He said their final effort would commence
after the officials completed their investigations.
Transparency International Bangladesh and Sachetan Nagorik
Committee (citizens' committee) organised the conference
in the city's Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference
Centre, as part of a campaign against pervasive
corruption. The watchdog boss said the majority of the
people bear the brunt because of a few corrupt people.
"The corrupt are the enemies of the people. We expect the
country's youth to lead national efforts in the fight
against the monsters," Mashhud said.
"You must speak against the vices of corruption and the
corrupt, trying all the time to dissuade them from evil
doings. You must succeed, eventually," he said.
Mashhud was hopeful that the ACC would continue to work
under political governments to fight corruption. Sultana
Kamal, TIB trustee and former adviser to the caretaker
government, asked the young people in attendance to look
back to 1952, 1969 and 1971, saying: "You'll realise that
we have never lost in the past."
"If we chastise the offenders morally and socially, we'll
succeed once again," she said.
Mohammad Jafar Iqbal asked young people to come forward
and join hands in the cause of fighting corruption.
"My generation has taken part in the War of Liberation and
wrestled freedom for you."
"Now it's your turn to root out corruption and rebuild
Bangladesh," he said.
Iftekharuzzaman, TIB's executive director, said their
effort to uproot corruption has been strengthened because
of the young people joining the fight for the cause.
1,300 migrant workers on strike in Bahrain over pay
AFP, Manama
Around 1,300 migrant
workers helping to build a luxury coastal development in Bahrain have
gone on strike to demand higher wages, a company official said on
Sunday.
The workers are employed by the contracting firm GP Zachariades to work
on the Durrat al-Bahrain development in the south of the wealthy Gulf
archipelago.
"Around 1,300 workers on the Durrat al-Bahrain project have been on
strike since Saturday to demand an increase in their wages," the firm's
health and safety chief Abdul Wahed al-Umran told AFP.
The workers have been confined to their living quarters by police while
labour ministry officials try to persuade them to call off the strike,
Umran added.
Official figures state Bahrain has approximately 270,000 expatriate
workers who are mostly from the Asian sub-continent and employed mainly
in unskilled jobs.
Umran said the labourers downed tools after hearing that around 750
workers employed by Almoayyed Contracting Group last week forced the
firm to boost their salaries after going on strike for two days.
Crime Watch
Youth shot dead, 4 dacoits lynched
UNB, Chittagong
Four dacoits were killed in a mob-lynch attack while a
youth was shot dead by the robbers at Azampur village in
Mirsharai upazila here early today (Sunday).
Police said a gang of 11 bandits stormed into the house of
Bulu Mokter at about 5am and looted cash and valuables at
gunpoint.
At one stage the robbers shot dead Bulu Mokter's grandson
Nazrul Islam Shipon, 26, when he tried to resist them.
Hearing screams of the house inmates, local people chased
the bandits and caught eight of them.
Later, the angry mob beat them mercilessly leaving three
of them dead on the spot and injuring five others
critically. Two of the deceased were identified as Sabuj,
29, Hasan, 34 while another could not be identified
immediately.
Of the injured Shawkat, 31 succumbed to his injuries on
way to local hospital while Nurul Amin, Iqbal Hossain,
Mohammed Mia and Abdur Rahim were admitted to local health
complex and Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
Farmer killed
UNB, Brahmanbaria
A farmer was stabbed to death by miscreants at village
Birpasha in Sadar upazila on Friday night.
The deceased was identified as M Shamsul Huq, 40, son of
Siddiqur Rahman of the village.
Local people said some local miscreants following a
previous enmity swooped on Shamsul Huq at 11pm on his way
back home from a religious gathering. They beat him
mercilessly and at one stage stabbed him to death.
On information, police recovered the body and sent it to
Sadar hospital morgue for autopsy. A case was filed.
39 alleged criminals arrested
BSS, Rajshahi
Police, in anti-crime drives, arrested 39 persons
including a drug-peddler on various charges from different
areas in city and nine upazilas of the district in last 24
hours till on Saturday evening, police sources said.
Of them, 19 were picked up from different areas in the
metropolis while 20 others including the drug-peddler from
nine upazilas of the district. Police arrested the
drug-peddler identified as Tutul alias Titul, 22, with 41
bottles of phensidyl during a raid at his Helalpur village
under Bagha upazila of the district. The arrested persons
along with the seized goods were sent to the court after
recording separate cases in these connections.
Traffic police lodged 35 cases under the motor vehicles
ordinance and seized three trucks and two motorbikes
without registration during drives against the
non-registered motor vehicles and other document related
malpractices in different parts of the city during the
time.
Dacoity in Chandpur
BSS, Chandpur
A docoity was committed at Paikpara village under
Faridganj upazila in the district on Wednesday night.
Sources said the dacoits numbering about 15 stormed into a
house of the village by breaking open the door and
attacked the inmates of the house. Four persons were
injured in the attack.
The dacoits looted gold ornaments and cash worth about Tk
five lakh and left the place.
A case was filed with Faridganj thana in this connection.
One arrested, pistol, phensidyl seized
BSS, Jessore
Police arrested a person and seized a pistol and 15
bottles of phensidyl from his possession in a drive at
rail gate area of the town on Saturday night.
The arrested person was identified as Shahidul Islam, 30
of Rail Gate Pashchim Para of the town.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of police raided the house of
Shahidul and arrested him along with the Indian made
pistol and 15 bottles of phensidyl.
A case has been filed with sadar police station in this
connection.
Man stabbed to death in Ctg
UNB, Chittagong
A Juba League leader was stabbed to death by the
miscreants at Madanhat in Sitakunda upazila Saturday
midnight.
Local people said the miscreants numbering 5/6 intercepted
Juba League Sonaichhari union secretary Ridwan Ahmed, 36,
when he reached Madanhat bazar on way home at about 12:30
am.
At one stage of a scuffle the miscreants stabbed Ridwan
Ahmed indiscriminately leaving him critically injured.
Local people hearing the hue and cry of the victim rescued
him but he succumbed to his injuries on way to a local
hospital. The reason behind the murder could not be known
immediately.
A case was filed.
2 inter-district dacoits held
BSS, Rajbari
Rajbari sadar thana police arrested two alleged
inter-district dacoits during the last 24 hours till
Sunday noon.
On a tip-off, a team Rajbari police raided Jaldia village
of Sultanpur under sadar upazila and picked up Bablu Dakat
(40). Bablu was the second in command of so called Selim
Bahini.
Besides, they arrested another dacoit in a raid from the
same area.
The arrested was identified as Zahid (35). Police said the
dacoits were active in the area.
Two nabbed with phensidyl
BSS, Satkhira
Members of Rapid Action Battalion
(RAB) arrested two drug sellers along with 70 bottles of
phensidyl from one Abdul Quader's house at Baliadangi
village under sadar upazila here on Friday.
Police said, the arrested were identified as Siddiqur
Rahman,25, son of Mohammad Ali Sana of Keragachi village
under Kalaroa upazila and Safiqul Islam,30 son of Alfaz
uddin at the same village.
On secret information, a RAB team raided the house and
arrested two persons with the phensidyl.
Later, the arrested persons handed over to sadar police
station.
A case was filed with sadar police station in this
connection.
3 bodies recovered
BSS, Gaibandha
A body was recovered from the Bawgati river near Dewantala
bridge under Shaghata upazila in the district on Friday.
The body was identified as Abu Taleb, 55, son of late
Mujibar Rahman of Chalkdatea village of the upazila.
Sources said locals found the body floating in the Bawgati
river on Friday morning and informed the police.
Police recovered the body and sent it to hospital morgue
for autopsy. An UD case was filed with Shaghata police
station.
UNB from Sylhet adds: Bodies of two young man were
recovered in
Dakkhin Surma and Biswanath upazilas of the district on
Friday.
Police said local people found the body of the
unidentified man, aged around 25, floating in a pond at
Joinpur in Dakkhin Surma upazila in the afternoon and
informed them.
Later, police recovered the body that bore marks of injury
and sent it to the Osmani Medical College Hospital morgue
for autopsy. In another incident in Biswanath upazila,
police recovered the hanging body of young man at the
upazila headquarters Friday noon.
Police said local people found the body of Manik, 30, of
Bajitpur village in Doarabazar upazila of Sunamganj,
hanging from a tree adjacent to the house of his master
Manjur Ali of Rajnagar village in the upazila.
Later, police recovered the body and sent it to the same
hospital morgue for autopsy.
The housemaster Manjur Ali said Manik left the job on
Tuesday taking his salary from him.
Separate UD cases were filed.
Editorial
Visit of UK Foreign Minister
The
UK Foreign Minister is on a 2-day visit to Bangladesh on the
invitation of our Foreign Adviser who has asserted that within
the last few months many foreign ministers visiting the
Country has strengthened Bangladesh's foreign relations and
has created firm friends among foreign lands. Perhaps it has
but we don't see any signs of it because Bangladeshis -
expatriates, travelling or otherwise - are under pressure
everywhere. Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Gulf countries,
Malaysia, UK, USA and other European countries use and
relentlessly exploit Bangladeshi labour and manpower but are
downright hostile to granting minimal human rights and
regularly institute "pogroms" to contain and sort them out. As
far as trade, commerce and other economic matters are
concerned Bangladesh remains at the receiving end. Consider,
for example, the recent decision by the EU to change rules
governing GSP severely disadvantaging Bangladeshi exports;
consider also the US decision not to allow any advantage to
Bangladeshi garments exports, advantages which it is providing
to others such as the Caribbean, the South American and
certain African nations. So what "friends" and "strengthened
relations" is our Adviser for Foreign Affairs talking about.
Coming to the specific visit of the UK Foreign Minister, we
would like to take issue with the many pertinent and
impertinent comments he has already seen fit to make to the
media. As is usual for visiting foreign dignitaries, the
British Minister started out by praising various measures,
actions and activities of the Emergency Government and while
doing so he welcomed our Government's steps at respecting
human rights and freeing the media, adding further "...both
governments will work together to tackle extremism". Perhaps
the British Minister is totally unaware of the recent Human
Rights Watch Report 2008 which thrashed the Emergency
Government for massively violating human rights, for attempts
at muzzling the press and for scaring the living daylights out
of journalists and politicians. As for extremism, the British
Government and its Embassy in Bangladesh have consistently
maintained that Bangladesh is "a moderate Muslim Nation" and
that too right when our Country was going through a spate of
violence instigated by a rightist-fundamentalist religious
group. So where does the British Minister see extremism in
Bangladesh and where is the scope for the "two governments to
work together" to tackle extremism when there is none in
Bangladesh. Everyone is well aware that British and US
intelligence services maintain a "presence" here in Bangladesh
whose function, in the absence of anything else, is to
interfere in our politics and our economy with a view to
ensuring that their interests are maintained which ever be the
form and type of government in Bangladesh.
This is exactly the point that foreigners - dignitaries or
otherwise - talk about a Bangladesh so entirely different from
the one Bangladeshis live in that it is sometimes difficult to
understand what they are really talking about or what they
really want. Take for example the British Minister's
solicitious but delusional demands to "see full functioning of
democracy" in Bangladesh. What democracy is the British
Minister talking about? The democracy of loot, violence and
chaos which Bangladesh had to suffer for the last 37 years or
the democracy practiced in UK which pushes Bangladeshi born
British citizens into the ghettos of Manchester and
Birmingham; which permits the unrestricted tolling of church
bells but will not allow British Muslims to issue calls for
prayers or perhaps a democracy which permits Norwegian
cell-phone operators to make millions through illegal VOIPs or
a Nico which burns away millions of cubic feet of our gas
through utter negligence. The British Minister also wants the
Emergency to be withdrawn soon; an Emergency which their High
Commissioner had so enthusiastically supported just a few
months back and which he had so actively helped to bring
about. Therefore and thus it behoves foreigners - Ministers,
dignitaries, Ambassadors or otherwise - not to get involved or
comment or pursue matters which they have little understanding
about and which does nothing but exposes their contradictions
and hypocrisy.
Analysis
Will Bush fight Iran?
“Some people with good reason fear an
Iranian-US military clash before Bush leaves office in 12
months time.”
Jonathan Power
I
interviewed Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's national
security advisor and now foreign policy mentor to Barack Obama,
before the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran was
published. But it did not go into print until this month (in
World Policy Journal in the U.S., Prospect magazine in
Britain, Global Affairs in Russia and the Arab News in Saudi
Arabia, among others). I asked Brzezinski if he wanted to
re-write his apocalyptic scenario for Iranian-U.S. relations.
He didn't. "Some people with good reason fear an Iranian-US
military clash before Bush leaves office in 12 months time",
he says.
"There are still some people in the Administration of Neo-Con
persuasion who seem to be tempted by what I believe is a
suicidal inclination to compound the Iraqi problem by some
sort of military action against Iran."
Brzezinski's fear is that the Iraqi war instead of winding
down could be enlarged before Bush's departure. "War is
inherently dynamic", reasons Brzezinski. "There maybe some
collisions, flashes, provocations, a clash with Iran, perhaps
some terrorist act in the U.S. which can credibly be blamed on
the Iranians. Al Qaeda has stated not long ago that such a
collision between America and Iran will be very much in its
strategic interest."
Brzezinski worries that the U.S. risks becoming "a huge gated
community self-isolated from the world......One of my
indictments of Bush is that he has fostered a culture of fear
in this country rather than diminished it."
For America to give Iran a military thump that it won't easily
forget it is not necessary for Bush to have convincing
intelligence that it is building a nuclear weapon.
U.S.-Iranian relations have soured for many reasons, not just
the nuclear one, and conflict could be ignited over Iranian
support for Shiite movements in Iraq, the support for
anti-American warlords in Afghanistan or because of an Al-Qaeda
initiated provocation.
The outcome would be disastrous. Muslim opinion all over the
world is already extremely anti-American. It would be further
enraged and the hand of Al-Qaeda and its allied movements
strengthened, not least some of the Pakistani religious
militants who are already one step closer to capturing control
of Pakistan's nuclear weapons than they were six months' ago.
So what could be on Bush's mind? What are the hard men behind
him, such as Vice-President Richard Cheney, pushing for? The
Middle East experts, Vali Nasr and Ray Takeyh, attempt to
answer that question in the current issue of Foreign Affairs.
"For the Bush administration containing Iran is the solution
to the Middle East's various problems", they write. Its
officials "seem to feel that in the midst of disorder and
chaos lies an unprecedented opportunity for reshaping the
region so that it is finally at ease with U.S. dominance and
Israeli prowess."
That such a scenario is built on what most of us would regard
as a fantasy seems not to bother them. But can one really
imagine Sunni Arab states will unite to support the present
Shiite dominated Iraqi government so as to undermine Iranian
influence there? Or that Saudi Arabia will work to de-claw
Hezbollah because they fear Shiite primacy in Lebanon? Or that
Israel and the Arabs will work together against Hamas in
Palestine to thwart Iranian influence?
Well, if you believe all this it is not surprising that you
also believe that Iran, with or without a bomb, can never be a
constructive presence in the Middle East. Yet there is no sign
that Iran, as it did under the Shah, is seeking to become the
pivotal state in the region. It is not creating disorder to
fulfill some misread scriptural promise. Nor is it by nature
an expansionist power. Iran has not begun a war for over 200
years. When Saddam Hussein's Iraq attacked Iran, Iran was
clearly the innocent party.
The Arab states may worry about Iran's growing influence, but
they know a good part of the reason is Israeli intransigence
with the Palestinians. Continuous and consistent pro
Palestinian support has given Iran a big return on its soft
power; whilst American hard power is a declining asset- there
is no way that the U.S. can maintain large numbers of troops
in the region indefinitely.
With Iraq still a quagmire, with the NATO partners losing the
war in Afghanistan, with the Lebanon in turmoil, and with very
little prospect of substantial Israeli concessions to the
Palestinians this is not the time for cranking up hostility
towards Iran. As Nasr and Takeyh remind us, "The last time the
U.S. rallied the Arab world to contain Iran, in the 1980s,
Americans ended up with a radicalized Sunni political culture
that eventually yielded Al Qaeda".
(Jonathan Power is an internationally renowned freelance
columnist. Copyright Jonathan Power. Dateline London, Feb 4th
2007.E-mail: JonatPower@aol.com or phone: +46 706 510879)
Iraq's
Civil War, the Sadrists and the Surge
Made under heavy U.S. and Iraqi pressure and as a result of
growing discontent from his own Shiite base, Muqtada's
decision to curb his unruly movement was a positive step.
The
dramatic decline in bloodshed in Iraq - at least until last
week's terrible market bombings in Baghdad - is largely due to
Muqtada al-Sadr's August 2007 unilateral ceasefire. Made under
heavy U.S. and Iraqi pressure and as a result of growing
discontent from his own Shiite base, Muqtada's decision to
curb his unruly movement was a positive step. But the
situation remains highly fragile and potentially reversible.
If the U.S. and others seek to press their advantage and deal
the Sadrists a mortal blow, these gains are likely to be
squandered, with Iraq experiencing yet another explosion of
violence. The need is instead to work at converting Muqtada's
unilateral measure into a more comprehensive multilateral
ceasefire that can create conditions for the movement to
evolve into a fully legitimate political actor.
The Sadrists appeared on a steady rise in 2006 and early 2007.
They controlled new territory, particularly in and around
Baghdad, attracted new recruits, accumulated vast resources
and infiltrated the police. But as the civil war engulfed much
of the country, Iraqis witnessed the Sadrists' most brutal and
thuggish side. Their increasingly violent and undisciplined
militia, the Mahdi Army, engaged in abhorrent sectarian
killings and resorted to plunder and theft. Militants claiming
to be Mahdi Army members executed untold numbers of Sunnis,
allegedly in response to al-Qaeda's ruthless attacks, but more
often than not merely because they were Sunnis.
The Sadrists were victims of their own success. Their
movement's vastly increased wealth, membership and range of
action led to greater corruption, weaker internal cohesion and
a popular backlash. Divisions within the movement deepened;
splinter groups - often little more than criminal offshoots -
proliferated. As a result, anti-Sadrist sentiment grew,
including among Muqtada's Shiite constituency. The U.S. surge,
which saw the injection of thousands of additional troops,
particularly in Baghdad, worsened the Sadrists' situation,
checking and, in some instances, reversing the Mahdi Army's
territorial expansion. Finally, in August 2007, major clashes
erupted in the holy city of Karbala between members of
Muqtada's movement and the rival Shiite Islamic Supreme
Council of Iraq (ISCI), which further eroded the Sadrists'
standing.
In reaction, Muqtada announced a six-month freeze on all Mahdi
Army activities. It applies to all groups affiliated (loosely
or otherwise) with the Mahdi Army, and Muqtada reportedly
dispatched his most loyal fighters to tame holdouts. Most
importantly, his order removed the veil of legitimacy and
lifted the impunity that many groups - criminal gangs
operating in the Mahdi Army's name and Sadrist units gone
astray - had enjoyed.
The ceasefire largely has held and, together with bolstered
U.S. and Iraqi military presence in Baghdad, helps account for
a dramatic drop in violence. But the respite, although
welcome, is both slightly misleading and exceedingly frail.
Muqtada's decision likely reflected a pragmatic calculation:
that a halt in hostilities would help restore his credibility
and allow him to reorganize his forces and wait out the U.S.
presence. Their retreat notwithstanding, the Sadrists remain
deeply entrenched and extremely powerful in a number of
regions. Fleeing military pressure in Baghdad, Mahdi Army
fighters redeployed to the south, thereby setting up the
potential for an escalation of the class-based confrontation
with the U.S.-backed ISCI.
Among Sadrist rank and file, impatience with the ceasefire is
high and growing. They equate it with a loss of power and
resources, believe the U.S. and ISCI are conspiring to weaken
the movement and eagerly await Muqtada's permission to resume
the fight. The Sadrist leadership has resisted the pressure,
but this may not last. Critics accuse Muqtada of passivity or
worse, and he soon may conclude that the costs of his current
strategy outweigh its benefits. In early February 2008, senior
Sadrist officials called upon their leader not to prolong the
ceasefire, due to expire later in the month.
The U.S. response - to continue attacking and arresting
Sadrist militants, including some who are not militia members;
arm a Shiite tribal counterforce in the south to roll back
Sadrist territorial gains; and throw its lot in with Muqtada's
nemesis, ISCI - is understandable but short-sighted. The
Sadrist movement, its present difficulties aside, remains a
deeply entrenched, popular mass movement of young, poor and
disenfranchised Shiites. It still controls key areas of the
capital, as well as several southern cities; even now, its
principal strongholds are virtually unassailable. Despite
intensified U.S. military operations and stepped up Iraqi
involvement, it is fanciful to expect the Mahdi Army's defeat.
Instead, heightened pressure is likely to trigger both fierce
Sadrist resistance in Baghdad and an escalating intra-Shiite
civil war in the south.
Muqtada's motivations aside, his decision opens the
possibility of a more genuine and lasting transformation of
the Sadrist movement. In the months following his
announcement, he sought to rid it of its most unruly members,
rebuild a more disciplined and focused militia and restore his
own respectability, while promoting core demands - notably,
protecting the nation's sovereignty by opposing the occupation
- through legitimate parliamentary means. The challenge is to
seize the current opportunity, seek to transform Muqtada's
tactical adjustment into a longer-term strategic shift and
encourage the Sadrists' evolution toward a strictly
non-violent political actor.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To Muqtada al-Sadr and the Sadrist Leadership:
1. Ensure greater discipline and accountability among Sadrist
ranks by:
(a) prolonging and strictly enforcing the ceasefire; and
(b) articulating a clear and comprehensive political program.
To the U.S. and the Iraqi Government:
2. Narrowly circumscribe operations against the Mahdi Army and
Sadrist movement by:
(a) focusing on legitimate military targets, including armed
groups involved in attacks against civilians or U.S. or Iraqi
forces, weapon stockpiles and hideouts, or arms smuggling
networks;
(b) taking action against Sadrist-manned patrols or
checkpoints; and
(c) tolerating Sadrist activities that are strictly
non-military, including those involving education, media,
health services and religious affairs.
3. Freeze recruitment into the Shiite sahwa (awakening), the
U.S.-backed tribe- and citizen-based militia set up to fight
the Mahdi Army, and instead concentrate on building a
professional, non-partisan security force, integrating vetted
Mahdi Army fighters.
To Najaf-based Clerics:
4. Allow Sadrists to visit religious sites in the holy cities
as long as they are unarmed and show appropriate restraint.
(The above is a report by the International Crisis Group.
Middle East Report; 7 February 2008 Source:
www.crisisgroup.org)
Letter to the Editor
Immediate dialogue, early elections needed
Dear Sir,
I shall be grateful if you allow me to
express my views on the country's political situation,
proposed dialogue and next elections.
In my opinion, the country is passing through a crisis which
is worsening day by day. Besides political uncertainty,
economic crisis is deepening and cost of living is rising
causing untold miseries to the common people and a sense of
despair is gripping the nation. Only an elected government
with people's mandate can tackle such situation. So, the
sooner the elections are held and a representative government
is installed to run the country, the better.
However, for holding credible and fair elections some measures
should be taken first. These should include, completion of the
voter list as early as possible, lifting of restriction on
indoor politics and finally withdrawal of emergency so that a
congenial atmosphere is created for poll campaign.
Above all, an understanding should be reached at between the
government and the political parties on the modalities of
transfer of power and the actions to be taken to endorse the
ordinances, and legalise the actions taken during the
emergency period. If this is not done, there may be some
problems of serious type, even a political deadlock, after the
elections.
It may be pointed out that the entire electoral process will
be hampered and delayed if the voter list is not complete in
time. So, the voter listing work should be stepped up by the
authorities concerned. And the government should immediately
set in motion a process of dialogue with the political parties
as their views and cooperation are vital for the country's
return to democracy.
Imtiaz Rana
Dhaka
Viewpoints
Family Cohesion and
not Chaos
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams has recently (BBC
Radio, 8 February 08) sparked a motion of public debate in
England by advocating for inclusion of some family laws or
Shariah of Islam for the British Muslims in Britain.
M.T.Hussain
The
head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Rowan Williams has recently (BBC Radio, 8 February 08) sparked
a motion of public debate in England by advocating for
inclusion of some family laws or Shariah of Islam for the
British Muslims in Britain along with the existing single code
for all British citizens. He stood for his stance for
improving family cohesion. Some politicians have stood to
oppose the issue as the Archbishop has advanced. The British
politicians have been arguing against the Archbishop about the
proposal if brought to book as it might create social chaos.
So far, however, no politician has argued that the proposal if
enacted as law might create family chaos, as well.
The Archbishop is not only an evangelic but also a social
thinker by dint of his high- level education, knowledge base
and social position that had been prerequisites of his
appointment as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest
position in the official religious hierarchy in Britain.
There is nothing unusual in Britain arguing for and against
any new idea; it is rather very much usual and commendable. It
is in Britain that they long ago termed their talking shop or
parliament so powerful in talking about business and passing
legislation that the parliament can make and unmake everything
except making 'a man a woman and a woman a man'.
That is no doubt the beauty of the British system for arguing
on issues and certainly is laudable. Even so, they had to
restrict their power subject to nature's laws just as a man is
different from a woman. But another issue connected with
raring of children is cohesive family ties as distinct from
separated couples is not an unimportant thing so far as
natural mental growth of young children is concerned; that has
been a serious concern of late not only in Britain but in all
western industrialized countries, because, broken families is
a common thing almost everywhere in all those societies.
Muslims now live everywhere in the West and other countries.
In Britain immigrant Muslims are now about 2 million. In the
USA, Muslims are nearing ten million figures and have been
having one of the fastest growth rates. In France the highest
of religious minorities are about 6 million Muslims. Even
living in those permissive countries Muslims maintain
traditional family ties, as is well known and ordained by
legal codes bound essentially by sexuality within lawful
husband and wife, and nothing beyond. Rare exceptions only
prove the rule.
The West and their followers have many good social norms-
freedom, liberty, educational and economic opportunities open
to all, social security, health care, mobility and so on so
forth. But in midst of these good things broken homes is a
common scenario. Single parent family is a common phenomenon.
Sexual perversion is not limited to promiscuity alone but has
gone on to homosexuality legalized to the extent of marriage
between same sex partners. These unnatural human acts have
been given State sanctions and legal nod in many countries in
the West now for 'freedom' and 'liberty' of individuals that
are also being misused for breakdown of marriage relations
even for silly reasons like seeking separation and divorce for
'snoring' of one spouse by the other. Many unkindly Muslim men
in particular were well known to go for divorce taking
advantage of the ease of such British laws.
Broken homes and promiscuity have given rise to other social
vices. Sex has turned wrongly into a 'service' and otherwise
productive young women into nothing but sex slaves, but make
them destitute ones as soon as their youth and natural beauty
is gone. The vice has further lacuna in spreading the killer
disease AIDS that not only kills many immaturely but also is
an impediment to productivity, on the one hand, and economic
burden on the society, on the other.
I had been fortunate to live in the British and American
society for years in phases for university education, and so
experienced their society from within. Let me not elaborate
much about the evils about the phenomenon among the average
non-Muslims in those countries, but among the Muslims. I knew
a few young Muslim girls in London who grew up to my
knowledge, schooled there, went to job, got married, and
unfortunately divorced and separated in a very short period,
in most cases, soon after the first child of the couple was
born. They were as from working class families as from well to
do highly educated middle class ones, as well. What I saw and
felt for all those couples hardly for any serious fault of the
fair sex partners but for the male partners as they had, in
the poor state of sex morals, ease of British laws in regard
to marital relations for divorce and separation and openness
to enough scope for promiscuity.
Although divorce is permissible in Islamic Sharia, it is very
much discouraged and provided for good scope for
reconciliation before final separation. Had the society not
been flooded with scopes for sex service girls, the things
would have been, I am sure, different. In Britain and also in
America sale and purchase of sex service is illegal. But that
is in paper book only and not in practice. In practice, the
prostitutes not only operate in front of the law enforcing
agencies but also at times join in procession to protest
against what they call excesses of police. Once I saw to my
amazement that a large group of prostitutes made a siege of
the local church for hours in the day time I used to live in
the Kings Cross area in central London raising banner in their
hands that read, 'Stop police excesses against the
prostitutes'!
In the widespread backdrop of erosion of sexual morality in
the western countries obviously for isolating society from
religious morality or secularization of politics and society
having endless ill chain effects in society, the suggestion
put forward by the Reverend Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan
Williams is a timely wake up call and warning that he hinted
at to begin providing along with existing English law for
Sharia codes for the British Muslims, possibly because, the
Muslims as a community there have still been having more
affinity for keeping family relations through observing the
Sharia than almost all other religious groups living in
Britain. The suggestion is more likely to increase family
cohesion and reduce family level chaos in the British society.
(M.T.Hussain; 795/2 Ibrahimpur; Dhaka-1206, 09 February
2008)
Mother Courage
The award of the Bharat Ratna
to Bilkis Bano would not only honour her indomitable spirit
and courage but may help to usher in a new era of political
and ethical awareness.
Vinay Lal
In
the figure of Bilkis Bano, an extraordinarily deserving, if
unlikely, candidate for the Bharat Ratna has finally been found.
Not only did Bilkis survive a terrible ordeal, but she has also
prevailed, where most others in her position would have
succumbed, in securing justice. And in the loud din being heard
these days over the emergence of a new, young, and confident
India, typified as much by India's cricketing triumphs as by the
launch of a dream car for the 'common man' and brash talk of
India as a global power, Bilkis represents a genuine ray of hope
that there is something to live for in the idea of Indian
democracy.
The Bharat Ratna, initiated in 1954, is supposed to be conferred
on those who have rendered meritorious public service to the
nation or whose accomplishments do the nation proud. No one will
dispute the worthiness for this supreme civilian honour of such
eminent practitioners of the arts as Satyajit Ray, M.S.
Subbulakshmi, Lata Mangeshkar, and Ustad Bismillah Khan. But the
award has not been without its controversies, and the statute of
1955 that allowed posthumous conferral of the award has been the
subject of some litigation. The posthumous conferral of the
award upon Subhas Chandra Bose in 1992 led to an unusual outcome
in that the award was withdrawn when it was argued that the
government could not offer conclusive evidence of Bose's death.
Close to half of the 40 awardees of the Bharat Ratna, including
six former Prime Ministers, held high political office. It is
understandable that the luminaries so honoured should include
Jawaharlal Nehru, who served as the country's first Prime
Minister for 17 years but whose formidable place within the
struggle for independence is equally indisputable. One need not
even speak of his large and rather rich corpus of writings and
his mastery of English prose. Nevertheless, it is worth asking
why the notion of 'public service of the highest order' has been
so narrowly defined as to preponderantly favour those who, as
holders of elected office, were perforce performing their duties
- and sometimes, to be candid, abusing the privileges of their
office. The real question is not whether all recipients of the
Bharat Ratna honoured for 'public service' have been worthy of
the honour, but whether holders of office, who are getting
recognition enough, should at all be rewarded. Far more
deserving seem to be those, such as Baba Amte and Sunderlal
Bahuguna, who have silently laboured over the years to bring
tangible improvement to the lives of people who, in numerous
ways, are at the margins of Indian society.
In the midst of the controversy over the recent proposal to
award the Bharat Ratna to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose detractors
have put forth the names of Kanshi Ram and Jyoti Basu as more
viable candidates for this honour, we ought to entertain with
seriousness the case for conferring India's most coveted
civilian honour upon a young and largely uneducated Indian woman
who would have remained unknown but for her courage and
determination that her tormentors should not escape punishment
for their vile deeds. The unspeakable horrors of the Gujarat
pogrom of 2002 have been recounted often enough, but Bilkis
Bano's harrowing tale cannot effortlessly be assimilated into a
cauldron of stories of murder, rape and mayhem. Much of her
family, including her three-year-old child, having been
butchered before her eyes. Bilkis, then seven months pregnant,
was herself repeatedly raped. She was left alive so that she
could be among the living dead - dead to herself, and to the
world, and yet alive so that she, among others, should visibly
serve as an object lesson to members of her community.
Bilkis's rapists and the killers walking around with utter
abandon had vastly underestimated her resolve and sense of
justice. Not one to be cowed into submission, Bilkis filed a
First Information Report (FIR) the day after she was gangraped,
and nearly two years later the CBI, which had taken over the
case following Bilkis's petition to the Supreme Court,
apprehended 12 of the accused named in the FIR. At Bilkis's
request, her case was shifted to a state outside Gujarat, where
victims such as herself cannot expect justice.
Though Bilkis is not a lettered woman, she recognised that the
communal outlook is so deeply entrenched in Gujarat that no
institution of either State or civil society can be said to be
free of its grip or reach. Though subjected to rigorous
cross-examination by the defence, Bilkis identified all the
accused in court and could not be intimidated into abandoning or
contradicting her testimony. Eleven of the accused have now been
found guilty of criminal conspiracy, murder and rape and
sentenced to life imprisonment, and the police official who
sheltered them has been handed out a three-year prison term.
So wherein lies Bilkis Bano's achievement? If one is called to
admire her sense of justice and ability to persevere in the face
of nearly insurmountable odds, it should not merely be from some
sentimental notion of the 'power of the wretched' or even from
the idea, which has little basis in life as such, that justice
always prevails. Indeed, though it was Mumbai Sessions Judge U.D.
Salve who vindicated Bilkis, the victims of the Bombay riots of
1992 still await justice. Nevertheless, to gauge just how
monumental her achievement is, we must weigh it against the fact
that the middle-class in Gujarat has yet again voted into power
a man who must be viewed as one of the chief instigators of the
killings of 2002 that took the lives of over 2,000 Muslims and
left tens of thousands more homeless. If Gujarat's chilling
endorsement of brute authoritarianism, and some will say
fascism, puts India to eternal shame, Bilkis Bano's courage,
dedication to the truth, and faith in the judicial system offer
a faint glimmer of hope that Indian democracy is not entirely
moribund.
Bilkis's husband and lawyers stood by her through thick and
thin. But the greater marvel is that she sustained her faith in
the Constitution of India over six long years, and that too at a
time when the middle-class has all but jettisoned the document
and its promises of equality and justice. The middle-class
endorsement of Rang de Basanti, a film that repudiates the
political even as it celebrates a crude notion of vigilante
justice, stands in stark contrast to Bilkis's extraordinary
embrace of the spirit of the Indian Constitution. The award of
the Bharat Ratna to Bilkis Bano would not only honour her
indomitable spirit and courage but may help to usher in a new
era of political and ethical awareness.
Vinay Lal teaches history at the University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA) and is the Director of the University of
California's Education Abroad Program in India.
Source:www.hindustantimes.com
Opinion
Kicking a Bear
Had
the $100 barrel of oil happened 20 years ago and Russia's
present oil and gas been flowing to the world then as it is
now, communism and the Soviet Union might not have collapsed.
It is arguable that it was economic as much as moral and
political decay that led to the disintegration of the old
Soviet command economy and its empire in 1991.
The Cold War ended because Moscow could no longer afford to
fight it. The fact that politicians in the West are now
talking about a new Cold War stems in part from the fact that
now it can. The country that dropped to its financial knees
with the collapse of the ruble in 1998 is currently awash with
money which it is once more reinvesting in the so-called
military industrial complex that sustained the old Soviet
Union at the height of its power.
Russians, who post-Gorbachev were once welcomed as new
commercial partners and political allies by the United States
and Europe, are again being viewed with suspicion. The
metaphor of the "Russian bear" has returned with all the
fearful resonances of brute power and untrustworthiness.
From the West's point of view, Russian revanchism is evidenced
by high-handed bullying tactics over gas supplies to the
Ukraine and Europe, Putin's threat to resile from nuclear arms
control agreements and now the warning on Thursday that a new
arms race was beginning.
But the West's point of view - particularly the view of the
Republican Bush administration in Washington - has been
remarkably blinkered. The key blind spot was American gloating
at the Soviet collapse, characterized as the US victory in the
Cold war. As Yeltsin threw open the Russian economy to market
reform, Western business and banking stormed in, intent on
sealing their victory by buying up the commanding heights of
the Russian economy. Now that the Russians spoke capitalism,
they would dance to Washington's tune.
In time it proved that this invasion of capital encountered
the same resistance that met the soldiers of Napoleon and
Hitler. The Russian economy was just too big to be overrun at
a single charge and besides, while foreign carpetbaggers and
Yeltsin's cronies became wealthy, ordinary Russians saw few
economic benefits.
Source:www.arabnews.com
International
Suu Kyi still
junta's main challenger
AFP, Yangon
Aung San Suu Kyi's soft voice and
demeanour belie a steely resolve in the long and painful
struggle to bring democracy to Myanmar after decades of
military dictatorship.
A slender woman who often wears flowers in her hair and
prefers traditional Myanmar clothing, she has spent 12 of
the past 18 years under house arrest in a rambling,
lakeside home after leading her party to a landslide
victory in 1990 elections.
With the nation now seemingly on track for a
constitutional referendum in May and new elections in
2010, she remains the leading opponent to the junta
despite efforts to silence her by keeping her under house
arrest.
Her confinement has only heightened her stature as a
symbol of the nation's struggle against tyranny. Aung San
Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar's founding father
General Aung San, but came relatively late to the
political scene after spending much of her life abroad.
She studied at Oxford, married a British academic, had two
sons and seemed settled into a life in Britain. But when
she returned to Yangon in 1988 to tend to her ailing
mother, she found the city gripped by protests against the
military. Later that year she saw the aspirations for
democracy evaporate as soldiers fired on crowds of
demonstrators, leaving thousands dead.
Within days she took on a leading role in the
pro-democracy movement, petitioning the government to
prepare for elections and delivering impassioned speeches
to hundreds of thousands of people at the city's
glittering Shwedagon Pagoda.
In September 1988 she helped found the National League for
Democracy (NLD), an alliance of 105 opposition parties,
and campaigned across Myanmar for peaceful change.
Aung San Suu Kyi mesmerised huge crowds with her
intelligence, poise and rhetoric, helped by her family's
legacy in the liberation movement. Her father had been
assassinated just months before independence from Britain
in 1948.
Alarmed by her fearlessness and the support she commanded,
in 1989 the generals ordered she be placed under house
arrest, and she has spent most of the intervening years
under home detention or in jail.
Nevertheless, she led the NLD to a landslide election
victory in 1990, winning 82 percent of parliamentary seats
in a result the junta refused to accept. Her dedication to
non-violence won her the 1991 Nobel peace prize, putting
her beside Nelson Mandela among the world's leading voices
against tyranny.
During a brief moment of freedom, she told AFP in a 1999
interview that the military struggled to accept the very
concept of dialogue.
"They don't understand the meaning of dialogue, they think
it is some kind of competition where one side loses and
the other wins, and perhaps they are not so confident they
will be able to win," she said.
Electricity, fuel become key weapon in Hamas-Israel
standoff
AP/UNB, Gaza City
Mahmoud Qassem, a fishmonger, stores his wares on ice
overnight in case the fridge shuts down. Suheil Shaban,
62, a diabetic with a bad knee, rarely leaves his
ninth-floor apartment - he can't trust the elevator to
function. A pediatric hospital director says the generator
he relies on is almost out of fuel.
Blackouts dictate the rhythm of life in Gaza these days.
The electricity flow has been temperamental for years, but
rolling power cuts of at least eight hours a day are the
norm since Israel began reducing fuel shipments in October
to pressure Gaza's Hamas rulers to halt rocket fire on
Israeli border towns. Last week it went further, starting
to trim the supply it delivers from its own power station
across the border.
Israel argues that "economic warfare" is less painful than
an offensive against rocket squads that could kill
hundreds. Human rights groups call it collective
punishment of a population of 1.5 million and a violation
of international law. Israel dismisses warnings of a
humanitarian crisis as Hamas propaganda, saying Gazans can
redistribute diminishing resources to keep hospitals,
water wells and sewage treatment plants running. Gaza
engineers say that's often technically impossible.
Tiny Gaza has to import fuel, electricity and raw
materials to survive, but Israel and Egypt are unwilling
to open their borders as long as Hamas remains in power in
Gaza. Yet Hamas has shown no signs of relenting, and has
kept up the rocket attacks. Gaza's electricity crisis
began in June 2006 when Israeli warplanes bombed its only
power plant, following the capture of an Israeli soldier
by Hamas-allied militants.
The bombing gutted six transformers and led to months of
blackouts, at first of up to 16 hours a day. The plant has
since installed new, smaller transformers, and manager
Rafiq Maliha said he can now produce up to one-third of
Gaza's needs - but only if he gets about 900,000 gallons
of diesel fuel a week. The fuel is paid for by the
European Union, a major donor to the Palestinians.
But Israel is the sole supplier, and since it scaled back
shipments, Maliha said he's only getting enough to produce
55 megawatts - 25 megawatts short of capacity - and would
have to shut down within two days if fuel shipments were
halted.
Tensions mounting between Nepal peace partners
AFP, Kathmandu
Mounting
tensions between the partners in Nepal's peace deal are
posing a serious challenge to its stability two months
ahead of polls meant to transform the country into a
republic, analysts say.
Former rebel Maoists faced heavy criticism this week after
their supporters were accused of attacking and wounding 17
people, including a member of parliament, who were
campaigning in the west for Nepal's biggest party, the
Nepali Congress.
Later the same day, hundreds of police raided the
headquarters and offices of the controversial Maoist Young
Communist League, with local media reporting that the
raids were retaliation for the beatings.
On Wednesday, a Maoist announcement that they will revive
local-level Maoist organisations prompted accusations they
are restarting the parallel government they ran in areas
under their control during the bitter insurgency.
"We are approaching a critical few weeks," said analyst
Rhoderick Chalmers, Nepal's country director for the
International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention
think-tank. "It was inevitable that things would bubble up
at some point. There is a lot of jealousy and rivalry (in
the interim government) so it's not surprising," said
Chalmers, saying the worsening tensions have highlighted
the fragility of the country's 2006 peace deal.
"Just because you have signed a piece of paper does not
mean you have genuine consensus. It (the interim
government) is a convergence of interests that may or may
not last," said Chalmers.
The elections on April 10, designed to elect a body that
will rewrite Nepal's constitution, now look set to take
place amid questions over whether the peace pact can hold.
In December, the country's interim parliament-made up of
Maoists and mainstream parties-approved a motion to scrap
the monarchy and declare a republic immediately after the
election.
But a survey last week showed that 49.3 percent of Nepalis
wanted some form of monarchy preserved. The monarch is
considered by devout Hindus to be an incarnation of the
Hindu god of protection Vishnu.
In addition, there has been festering ethnic unrest in the
south that has killed at least 200 people in the last
year, and dozens of small bombs have been thrown at
political rallies.
Dumpling scare should not harm Japan-China ties
AFP, Tokyo
A nationwide health scare in
Japan over contaminated Chinese dumplings should not harm
warming Sino-Japanese ties, the finance ministers of both
countries agreed on Sunday.
Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga and his Chinese
counterpart Xie Xuren also agreed during talks here that
both nations should work to prevent a similar food safety
scare in future.
"The ministers agreed that this issue should not be an
obstacle to the rapidly warming relationship between Japan
and China," a finance ministry official told reporters.
The talks between the pair were the first face-to-face
ministerial meeting since news of the poisoned dumplings
emerged late last month.
The ministers agreed that "both |