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Hannan Shah rearrested
Staff Correspondent
BNP Chairperson’s Adviser
ASM Hannan Shah was released on bail from Naraynganj jail
on Tuesday (12 February 2008); his bail bond was sent to
the prison at around 2’o’ clock in the afternoon but he
was released at 8 PM . Within less then 24 hours he was
rearrested from his Mohakhli DOHS residence at around 8 PM
on Wednesday night(13 February 2008).
According to party insider, a special squad of police
cordoned his residence at about 8 pm and arrested him
probably on an extortion case filed against him in 2006.
Later, he was taken to the Cantonment police station. It
may be pointed out that he was released after three months
detention. Further details about his arrest could not be
known
immediately.
Earlier in the morning ASM Hannan Shah expressed optimism
about the much-talked-about party unity. He was talking to
newsmen after meeting with the BNP Secretary General,
Khandoker Delwar Hossain, at his Nam flat in the capital
yesterday. Khandoker Delwar Hossain and ASM Hannan Shah
held a 45-minute-long meeting behind closed doors.
"We have talked about the country’s prevailing political
situation as well as organisational matters," Hannan Shah
said adding: "as I was detained 95 days and I know nothing
about the party affairs. I will have to discuss with the
other party leaders and ex-MPs. So I will come before you
(newsmen) with political statement later, I want to convey
through you my gratitude to the countrymen and party
leaders and activists." When reporters sought his comments
on the party unity, he said, "I would talk about the issue
later on." He, however, hastened to say, "I am a man of
optimism and of victory."
BNP leaders Nazrul Islam Khan, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed,
former MPs Principal Sohrab Uddin, Selim Reza Habib and
Abdul Momen Talukdar were present outside during the
meeting.
Govt terms avian flu situation ‘pre-pandemic’
BSS, Dhaka
The government at a high-level meeting on Wednesday termed
the bird flu situation as ‘pre-pandemic’ and sought
support from development partners to contain the disease
that already affected 41 districts since February last
year.
"Bangladesh is in the pre-pandemic condition now as 140
outbreaks of bird flu have occurred during last one year,"
Dr Mehedi Hussain of Department of Livestock said on a
power point presentation at a meeting here.
Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock organised the meeting
to review the ongoing prevention and control measures of
bird flu, which has forced authorities to cull 581,286
chickens, ducks, pigeons and destroy as many eggs during
last 12 months in the country.
Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant for Livestock Manik Lal
Samaddar, Livestock Secretary Ataur Rahman, Mission
Director of US Agency for International Development (USAID)
Denise Rollins, Food and Agriculture Representative of the
UN to Bangladesh AD Spijkers, Country Representative of
World Health Organization Duangvade Sangkhobol and
representatives from the UNICEF, Asian Development Bank
and European Commission were present.
"You are not alone, We are with you," assured FAO
representative Ad Spijkers at the meeting, adding that the
present communication strategy was inadequate to make
people aware and protect the poultry sector. He said the
communication programme should be revised and revitalized.
He also said a concerted effort is a must to keep the
situation under full control, without giving any chance to
turn it into a pandemic situation, where H5N1 virus can
transmit from human to human.
USAID Mission Director Rollins said her government and the
US Army have already sent 16,500 personal protection
equipment (PPE) to Bangladesh and 24,500 more would reach
by March.
"I can assure that 4,500 PPE will reach by February 22 and
the rest 20,000 by March," she said, adding that a core
team on communication should be formed so that it can help
develop emergency communication strategies to face future
risks.
Manik Lal said the risk communication has become a major
issue to tackle the present situation where effective
communication materials can remove fears from the minds of
people to consume poultry foods as usual. The poultry
consumption has been witnessing a sharp decline after
recent outbreaks across the country, he added.
"Please convey the message that fully-boiled eggs and
chicken meats are safe to eat," he said at the meeting,
apparently pointing to the UNICEF that has been developing
communication materials. He also said the government has
been putting more emphasis on biosecurity measures at
farms and mass awareness.
Ataur Rahman said the government has been attaching high
importance to protecting the poultry sector, which has
about 220 million chickens, and 37 million ducks and
employs five million people directly. Millions of
households also rely on poultry production for income and
food. He sought suggestions and cooperation from
development partners to face the situation.
Livestock ministry sources said they are in need of
community animal health workers (CAHW) at field levels,
20,000 more PPE, 7,000 hand gloves, 7,000 masks, 160
vehicles, detection kits and improved lab facilities to
control the disease at the earliest.
On a demand from the government, the FAO and Palli Karma
Shahayak Protishthan (PKSF) promised to provide 450 CAHW
on an ad hoc basis up to June this year.
Govt's dialogue with political leaders uncertain
Staff Correspondent
The much-talked-about Govern-ment sponsored dialogue with
the political parties is uncertain as the Government is
yet to take preparation to begin dialogue while the EC’s
dialogue with the political parties is yet to be completed
by February, sources said.
The Election Commission (EC) was supposed to complete
talks with the political parties on electoral rules by
February but it is yet to finish the first round of talks.
Moreover, the EC’s dialogue with BNP remains pending with
the court following an appeal by a faction of BNP.
Meanwhile, the EC is going to hold second round of talks
with political parties individually soon although it had
planned to hold talks with all political parties together
in the second round, sources said.
The Government has not made any preparation so far to
start talks with the political parties although Chief
Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed at his address to the nation on
January 12 announced that the Government would begin
dialogue soon. About the Government’s preparation to begin
dialogue, the Chief Adviser’s press secretary Fahim Munaim
recently told newsmen that the format of discussion was
not decided. The issue of dialogue got momentum as soon as
the government recruited some new advisers who disclosed
that the Government at its special meeting decided to hold
dialogue with the political parties to create a congenial
atmosphere to hold the parliament election by the end of
2008.
Various quarters including the foreign diplomats have
urged the Government to sit with political parties to
create an environment for free and fair election to
restore democracy. Following the Government’s decision
earlier, the different political parties are taking
preparation to hold dialogue with the Government. Awami
League in its presidium meeting on January 18 decided that
it would join the dialogue if the Government formally
invites them.
Sources said the two factions of BNP are preparing their
respective agenda for dialogue with the government. The
reformist faction in BNP would join the
government-sponsored dialogue without setting any
preconditions. While the Khaleda-led faction wants release
of Begum Zia before the dialogue so that she can lead the
BNP in the dialogue.
City footpaths again occupied by hawkers
Ainul Haque Royal
With the help of police and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC)
employees, vendors and hawkers again have occupied most of
the city’s footpaths and open spaces causing suffering to
pedestrians. As soon as the present Caretaker Government
assumed office on January 12, 2007, the hawkers had been
ousted from the footpaths. But within a few-months
following the gabbing of the footpaths by hawkers, the
city’s foot paths and open spaces have turned into crowded
and noisy places.
The DCC, as the regulatory body responsible for keeping
the footpaths free from unwanted vendors and hawkers which
cause severe traffic problems and hamper the smooth
passage of the pedestrians, are not doing anything about
it but are realising tolls from the hawkers. During a
visit to different areas in the capital, this
correspondent found an anarchic situation prevailing
there. As soon as a passerby steps on the footpath, he
falls prey to the hawkers. They start dragging him to
their shops. They also force the pedestrian to buy their
items and all these are happening under the very nose of
police. The members of the law enforcing agencies,
responsible to maintain law and order, are themselves
engaged in collecting tolls from the hawkers, sources
said. The hawkers are paying tolls through middlemen on
daily and monthly basis to each police station in the
capital. Extortion is rampant in the city’s foot path.
Police as well as professional extortionists and other
toll collectors have started extorting money from footpath
hawkers everyday silently. "Extortionists under their
godfathers illegally collect tolls in thousands everyday
from two and half lakh hawkers of the city’s different
strategic spots," a group of hawkers at Motijheel said
while talking to this correspondent.
"The extortionists were detained several times for toll
collection. We lodged complaints with the police several
times against the extortionists but failed to get any
response from them. Moreover, police threatened us for
lodging complaint against the extortionists," the sources
alleged. While talking to this correspondent hawkers
disclosed the names of some ‘identified’ extortionists, on
the basis of newspapers reports and their own findings,
who collect from the hawkers of the different parts of the
city including Gulistan, Farmgate, Baitul Mukarram area,
Paltan, New Market, Malibagh, Mirpur and Mouchak areas.
Talking to this correspondent a group of hawkers at
Farmgate said don’t ask us about toll collection. "If we
tell you about the toll collectors, we will be ousted from
the footpath tomorrow (Thursday). If we fail to run our
business, we will have to starve with our family members,"
they said adding when police collect toll from us they
usually come in civil dress.
BD proposes import of rice annually from Myanmar
UNB, Dhaka
Bangladesh has
made a package of proposals to Myanmar including import of
300,000 metric tons of rice, buying gas, delimiting
maritime boundary, repatriation of Rohingya refugees and
easing visa regime during a bilateral consultation in
Yangon.
The 3rd Foreign Office Consultation between Bangladesh and
Myanmar took place in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, on Tuesday.
Foreign Secretary M Touhid Hossain led the Bangladesh side
while Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Kyaw Thu headed
the Myanmar side at the meeting.
A release from Bangladesh Embassy in Yangon said the two
sides discussed all bilateral issues including Rohingya
refugee repatriation, direct road link project, border
management, trade and investment, border trade, contract
farming, import of rice, gas and hydroelectric power, and
the issue relating to maritime boundary delimitation
between the two countries.
The meeting was told that rice from the Rakhine state was
being exported to Bangladesh and facilitating
non-conventional coastal shipping would boost such
exports.
The two sides agreed to remove barriers to trade by
improving banking arrangements, allowing businessmen to
travel more freely to Sittwe for up to two weeks and to
increase the validity of border passes from three to seven
days on recommendation from Chambers of Commerce. One-year
continuous stay for businessmen in Myanmar would also be
considered.
Myanmar side also agreed to consider purchase of gas by
Bangladesh. The two sides agreed to take necessary steps
for renewing the coastal shipping agreement to facilitate
trade.
Bangladesh delegation also included Bangladesh Ambassador
to Myanmar Major General Abu Roshde Rokonuddawla, Defence
Attache’ Brig General ANM Showkat Jamal, Counsellor
Sultana Laila Hossain, Commercial Counsellor Aftabuzzaman
and Director, Foreign Ministry, Tareq Ahmed.
Soaring rice prices cause suffering, discontent
Proposal for importing 5 lac tons of rice from India
approved
Staff Correspondent
Again the
unchecked price of rice has triggered widespread
hardship, worry and discontent among the people across
the country. People from all walks of life yesterday
expressed their grave resentment and anger over the sky
rocketing price of rice. They demanded immediate
solution to the price hike of rice. Following Indian ban
on rice export recently, the price at different city
markets has gone up abnormally and coarse rice is being
sold at Tk 32 to 33 although it was being sold at Tk 28
to 29 three days back. Against this backdrop, the
Government on Tuesday approved a proposal for importing
five lakh tons of rice from India directly under an
agreement between the two countries.
Advisers Committee on Public Purchase gave the approval
at its meeting at the Secretariat yesterday. According
the proposal, the import of rice would not require any
tendering process as there is an agreement signed
between the two governments.
Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukharjee during his
visit to Bangladesh promised that India would allow
Bangladesh the import of 5 lakh tons of rice to cope
with the post-Sidr period. Accordingly, the government
is continuing negotiation to import the rice to keep the
domestic rice market stable and the government claimed
that it had progressed to import the rice soon, sources
said. Average purchase price of the rice from India has
been fixed at US$ 399 per metric ton and it is expected
that the rice will reach the country within 75 days in
phases.
Within a 25-day on Tuesday fine variety of rice was sold
at Tk 42-45 per kg at different markets in the city and
its suburbs. The price of coarse varieties also shot up
and was selling at between Tk 32 and Tk 35 per kg.
Yesterday Elachi Lal was selling at Tk 32 per kg,
Mompalish at 33, Mala, Tk 35, Pariza at Tk 35, Minicate
at Tk 38 and Parija new at Tk 35.
As the procurement of boro rice will take minimum two
months to come to markets, the unscrupulous rice
traders, wholesalers and retailers are active to extort
excess money from the commoners. According to sources
country’s six crore families consume some 60 thousand
metric tonnes of rice everyday. Importers, wholesalers
and retailers have started hoarding rice along the
bordering areas. All efforts made by the Government to
stabilise the rice market went in vain as it totally
failed to bring the situation under control. As a result
people are worried over serious food crisis. In the
capital, common people were seen thronging the BDR-run
markets for buying rice. People specially middle class
and low income groups in large number are now gathering
at BDR operated 40 markets for buying rice at different
places in the city. According to sources the retailers
are blaming the wholesalers and the wholesalers are
blaming the importers for the abnormal rise of rice
price. On the other hand some 16 big business houses,
the main importers of rice from India are blaming the
government and the government is saying it does not have
any control on rice price.
Country’s economist apprehends that if the caretaker
government fails to offset the latest spurt in rice
price, the objective of the government will be
frustrated. Talking to the Bangladesh Today on Tuesday
Muzaffar Ahmed said as the government has failed to take
proper action against the rice traders engaged in hike
of rice price through syndication, these unscrupulous
businessmen remain active. As result, sufferings of the
poor and low income group will be intensified further,
he said adding the Government will also have to ensure
proper distribution of rice. "Our businessmen don’t have
moral obligation. They only know how to extort money
from the people by increasing price of rice," the
Transparency International Bangladesh Chairman said. He
reiterated his call and said rationing system should be
introduced soon, otherwise the country might face a
famine like situation which may hamper the government
plan to go forward with its mission and vision.
"Following the World Bank prescription, we have
destroyed our system by ourselves. Had the rationing
system continued, we would not have to face such
disastrous situation," he added.
DF-QF market access to US
Govt to examine the benefit : Zillur
Staff Correspondent
The Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman on Monday
said the government, business bodies, trade unions and the
stock holders should do their best to get the Duty-Free
and Quota-Free access to the US market.
The government is examining whether the country will be
benefited from the Duty-Free Quota-Free (DF-QF) market
access for all export items to the United States, the
Adviser said. He was talking to reporters after
participating in a dialogue on " The New Market Access
Initiative of US Congress: Concerns and Interests of
Bangladesh" organized by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)
at the city’s CIRDAP auditorium yesterday.
He said, "Particularly a section is very much interested
in getting the DF-QF access to the US market, but a united
effort is needed for continuing negotiation with the US
Congress to get the opportunity."
Zillur Rahman said, " Bangladesh is trying to make
economic progress but LDC share report is not encouraging
for the country as world trade shares of LDC is decreasing
every year, besides discrimination between the Asian and
African countries is an alarming sign for us."
Asked about the terms and conditions for being eligible
for getting market access, the Adviser said, "the US bill
has set up some conditions including enforcement of law
concerning child labour and political pluralism. But we
must take the interests of our future exporters into the
consideration."
Stressing about the need for speaking in one voice, the
Adviser said, " It will not be wise if we think that it is
only the interests of the present exporters, but we also
have to consider the benefits of the future exporters."
Executive Director of CPD, Prof Mustafizur Rahman,
presented the keynote paper on " The New Market Access
Initiative of the US Congress : Concerns and Interests of
Bangladesh, and Possible Strategies", with Prof Rehman
Sobhan in the chair.
In his keynote paper, Mustafzur Rahman said Bangladesh
should convince Sub Sahara African (SSA) countries that
most of the concerns with regards to the context of the
Bill are shared by all the beneficiary countries and
therefore, they should attempt to have a mutually
acceptable stand on those. He said, "Bangladesh needs to
follow-up on her concerns and interests in the context of
the NPDA 2007 through continuing engagements with US
authorities. He said Bangladesh will be able to earn more
US $ 500-1000 million every year by exporting only RMG
products if it gets the DF-QF access to the US market.
Speaking on the occasion, Former Secretary Faruq Sobhan
said, " this is the last opportunity for Bangladesh to get
the DF-QF access to the US market and that’s why all the
economic sector along with the government will have to
take immediate steps to convince the congressmen through
Bangladesh Embassy in Washington."
He also urged the government and the RMG entrepreneurs to
come forward for ensuring labour rights immediately for
getting the opportunity.
Back Page
92,000
BD workers to get jobs abroad
Staff
Correspondent
Foreign Adviser Iftekhar
Chowdhury on Wednesday said about five million
Bangladeshis were working in 100 countries.
"In a bid to export more manpower, we are hunting job
markets in different foreign countries including Europe A
batch of 100 semi-skilled and skilled workers departed for
Romania, and other European destinations will be added
soon," talking to journalists at Foreign Ministry Iftekhar
said.
He said in January nearly 92,000 workers found employment
abroad, which is an all-time record. Indeed, during the
past year over 832,000 workers were cleared for foreign
employment and the amount of remittances received was US $
6.56 billion, both figures being also records.
"There is a huge potential for foreign employment for
Bangladeshi workers and the government is seeking to take
advantage of these possibilities in a carefully planed
manner," Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said.
The Foreign Adviser observed that booming economies in the
Middle East and gulf region, ageing population in European
countries and increasing skills of Bangladeshi workers
were helping this process of market expansion.
"We are seeking to enter into more and more written
agreements and also work with international organizations
like the IOM to organize this temporary migration in an
orderly manner, and also protect our workers' rights," he
added.
"At the same time host countries are becoming increasingly
concerned about both illegal migration and unlawful
activities in their countries, as is obvious. That is why
I have asked the Ministry to adopt measures to raise
awareness of these facts and strengthen pre-departure
briefings to workers," the Foreign Adviser said.
He said Bangladeshis are seen to be hard working and
disciplined, but they have been some reports of illegal
activities and misbehavior and it would be a great pity if
hundreds and thousands suffer for the faults of few. "We
are maintaining continued dialogue with destination
countries," he said.
Women entrepreneurs
CA asks for easy loans,
reduced bank interest
UNB, Dhaka
Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed Wednesday spelt out a
four-point measure for fair lending to SME sector, with a
special focus on helping female entrepreneurs, for
flourishing small and medium enterprises in the country.
He advised the commercial banks and financial institutions
to ease lending procedure and reduce the existing interest
rates for small women entrepreneurs.
Inaugurating the daylong 2nd National Women SME
Entrepreneurs Conference 2008, Dr Fakhruddin, an economist
and former governor of Bangladesh Bank, put forward the
four steps for creating a fair and sustainable loan system
in the Small and Medium Enterprise sector.
The dos are: reduce the existing rates of bank interest,
set up SME unit or desk in commercial banks and financial
institutions to make loan-disbursement procedure quicker
and simpler and incorporate business strategy for
providing SME loan, create woman-friendly environment in
banks and financial institutions, and fix SME-friendly
tax, duty and VAT structure.
The head of caretaker government said it is very essential
today to consolidate and coordinate women's participation
in main stream of the country's economy. And the present
government is very keen and active on this matter.
The policymakers have to know the impediments facing women
during participation in industrialization and formulate
suitable policy guidelines, if necessary, he told the
function.
'Empowering Women Entrepreneurs towards a Shared Economic
Growth' was the theme of the conference organized by the
SME Foundation at Hotel Sonargaon.
Special Assistant to Chief Adviser in charge of Industries
Ministry Mahbub Jamil, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr
Salehuddin Ahmed, Asian Development Bank country director
Hua Du, managing director of the SME Foundation and
Secretary in Charge of Food and Disaster Management
Ministry M Ayub Mia and convenor of the National SME Women
Entrepreneurs Forum Pervin Mahmud also spoke at the
function, presided over by SME Foundation chairperson
Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury.
The Chief Adviser lamented that though a good number of
women of the country set example of success as
entrepreneur, they have to face various problems during
investment in industry.
Specially, he pointed out, showing collateral for getting
bank loan, high-rated bank interest, inadequate market
information, existing management culture, and, many times,
family responsibilities create barriers to their
initiatives.
He urged the commercial banks and financial institutions
to formulate gender-sensitive conditions and form a
special fund for women entrepreneurs.
He said the government has given importance to labour-
intensive small and medium industry to accelerate the
economic growth through poverty alleviation and reducing
unemployment.
In this regard, enthusiasm and eagerness have already been
created in Bangladesh and this interest of private
entrepreneurs, including women entrepreneurs, in setting
up industries undoubtedly carries a positive message for
the country's economy, he observed.
BB governor Dr Salehuddin said an about Tk 605-crore fund
has been developed for SMEs of which Tk 95 crore is
earmarked only for women entrepreneurs with maximum 10
percent interest rate.
The ADB Country Director appreciated commendable
progresses of the Bangladeshi women community in
socioeconomic areas. She however noted that, despite the
advances, women remain vulnerable, suffering from poverty
and social deprivation.
Women entrepreneurs from across the country and
distinguished personalities were present at the function.
Britain to continue support
to CSR in BD
Staff Correspondent
The Deputy British High
Commissioner in Dhaka Duncan Norman on Wednesday said
Britain will continue its support to the development of
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in a wide variety of
export oriented factories in Bangladesh with a special CSR
training event for factory managers, said a press release.
While speaking at a working session on 'Corporate Social
Responsibility in the Factory' the Deputy British High
Commissioner said 'Ethical policies are good for business;
CSR can give companies a competitive edge-it has become a
big selling point of buyers and consumers. There is a
growing realization that CSR is the smart route for
Bangladeshi business and can be applied particularly." The
'Good for Business, Good for Bangladesh ' project was
successfully launched in January 2008 by the British High
Commissioner Anwar Choudhury and aims to embed practical
CSR measures which can actually help Bangladeshi firms
gain more business, as well as support the rights of
workers. The second event, Corporate Social
Responsibility, is expected to attract even greater
attendance than the first, showing the growing levels of
interest in making CSR profitable and practical.
" That a large number of senior factory managers have
already confirmed their intention to attend this training
conference is proof' say conference organizers Reed
Consulting Bangladesh Ltd, " of the timely nature of the
British High Commission initiative for business
development."
Under the project, the British High Commission project is
also making available, for interested companies, free
resources on how to make CSR work for them, including a
factory CSR guide book, ' Corporate Social
Responsibility', A Guide for companies operating in
Bangladesh'.
Crime Watch
35 arrested in Rajshahi
BSS, Rajshahi
Police, in anti-crime drives, picked up 35 persons
including an alleged drug-peddler on various charges from
different areas in city and nine upazilas of the district
in last 24 hours till Wednesday evening, police sources
said.
Of them, 17 including the drug-peddler were picked up from
different areas in the metropolis while 18 others from
nine upazilas of the district.
Police arrested the drug-peddler identified as Zillur
Rahman, 28, son of Anisur Rahman with 55 bottles of
phensidyl and seized huge smuggled spare parts of bicycle
during two separate raids at different places in the
district.
After recording separate cases in these connections the
arrested persons and the seized goods were sent to the
court.
Traffic police lodged 47 cases under the motor vehicles
ordinance and seized six motorbikes and a truck for either
without registration or not having valid documents during
drives against the non-registered motor vehicles and other
document related malpractices in different parts of the
city during the time.
Five held with phensidyl
BSS, Chuadanga
132 bottles of Indian smuggled phensidyl were recovered
and five persons were arrested in this connection by the
police from two different places of the district Tuesday.
Police said acting on secret information a police team
from Jibannagar police station rushed at Hashada bus stand
and recovered 100 bottles of phensidyl from three
passengers of a Kaliganj bound minibus who were also
arrested by the police.
The arrested are: Shomidul Islam 32, Feroz 22, and
Joshimuddin 19.
A case was started in this connection with Jibannagar
police station.
On the other hand Hizolgari camp police of Chuadanga sadar
upazila recovered 32 bottles of phensidyl from the
possession of two young boys from village "Dosto" under
Chuadanga sadar upazila.
The arrested are Tokbir 20, and Shafayet 22. Police said
acting on secret information a police team from Hizolgari
police camp rushed to the spot and recovered the phensidyl.
A case was started in this connection with Chuadanga sadar
police station.
1 killed, 2 injured in city
Staff Correspondent
Sohrab Hossain, 38, an employee of a residential hotel at
Nawabpur in the city was killed and two were critically
injured during a clash between the employees of the hotel
on Wednesday morning.
According to sources, the employees of the hotel were
locked in a quarrel at about 5.30 am. Following the
incident, around four to five employees swooped on Sohrab
Hossain leaving him critically injured.
Locals sent him to the Mitford Medical College Hospital
where the attending physician declared him dead. Shamim,
25 and Alam, also the employees of the hotel, were injured
during the clash. They were also hospitalised.
Police rushed to the spot and arrested Siplu, 28, in this
connection. Uzzal, brother of the deceased, lodged a case
with Katwali police station.
57 nabbed in Chuadanga
BSS, Chuadanga
Police arrested 57 persons on various charges in four
upazilas of the district during the last 48 hours.
The upazilas are Chuadanga sadar, Alamdanga, Damurhuda and
Jibannagar.
Police said the arrested persons were terrorists, dacoits,
murders, drug addicts, drug peddlers and criminals.
Vishnu statue worth Tk 1 cr recovered
BSS, Sirajganj
A delegation of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of
police Wednesday recovered a Vishnu statue of black stone
from a motorbike rider on the Hatikamrul-Banpara highway.
Police arrested the motorbike rider, Abdul Hai, 35, son of
late Nasir Uddin of Chatmohor, Pabna, and seized the
motorbike.
CID sources said, acting on a tip-off, the CID team took
position in Mohishluti area under Tarash thana on the
highway and arrested Hai when he reached there riding a
motorbike. The CID personnel recovered the 10-kg Vishnu
statue from his bag.
The price of the statue is about Taka 1 crore, CID said. A
case was filed in this connection.
One gets 17-year RI
BSS, Jhenaidah
Additional District and Sessions Judge Rokeya Begum on
Monday sentenced one person to 17 years of rigorous
imprisonment (RI) for possessing illegal firearms.
Court sources said, the convicted Ayub Ali,36, son of
Farid Ali under Sadar upazila.
The prosecution story in brief is that, the convict Ayub
Ali was arrested by members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)
from Dak Bangla Bazar under Sadar upazila on October 21,
2006.
After his confessional statement, one shutter gun and two
round of bullets were recovered. A case was filed with
sadar thana under Arms Act.
The judge, after examining witnesses and relevant
documents, found the accused guilty and declared the
verdict.
4 persons, forest officer suspended for bribery
BSS, Bagerhat
Four including a forest officer were suspended temporarily
under East Sundarban Division of the district on charge of
taking bribe on Monday.
The suspended persons are forest officer KM Kabir Uddin
and forest sentries Abu Musa, Julfikar Ali and BM Golam
Mostafa.
The forest department sources said they were suspended for
taking bribe from fishermen.
Husband to die for killing wife
BSS, Feni
A court here Wednesday sentenced one person to death for
killing his wife Ferdousi Ara Begum (25) at Debipur
village under sadar upazila of the district five years
ago.
Judge of the Women and Children Repression and Prevention
Special Tribunal-1 M Nazrul Islam handed down the verdict
in the crowded courtroom in presence of the convict, Nizam
Uddin (38).
Editorial
Violence in Campuses
The
Emergency did not affect or influence, to any positive degree,
politics, conflicts and violence in public universities,
colleges and institutes. This is evident from various
incidences of conflict and violence which took place within
the last one year. In August 2007, a minor incident led to
country-wide protests by public university teachers and
students which led to violence to such an extent that a 3-day
curfew had to be imposed in all major cities; on 11 January
2008, altercations between two students led to large-scale
violence between the JCD and BCL in Jahangirnagar University
which left 80 students injured and on 10 February 2008, a
fierce clash, this time involving lethal weapons, occurred
between the BCL and Chattra Shibir resulting in serious injury
of 45 students.
All of these incidences of violence in campuses have 3 things
in common : Firstly, small personal incidents are being made
into issues by student wings of political parties; Secondly,
these issues then lead to large-scale violent clashes
resulting in injuries and destruction of property and thirdly,
issues are not forgotten but are transferred from one campus
to another thereby enlarging and aggravating the conflict and
polarizations. Conflicts and violence therefore, become
endemic and deep-rooted engendering more or less a “culture”
of intolerance and conflict. Unfortunately, this culture of
conflict and violence is most prevalent in our higher
educational institutions particularly the public ones. Such a
situation is once again the “contribution” of our political
parties who have all opened up student wings in all
universities and colleges not with the intent of furthering
education or good citizenship but with the cynical purpose of
using young muscle power in street-fights against one another,
in collecting “contributions” of money, in enforcing
extortion, in controlling zones of influence and interest and
finally in outright serious criminal activities such as arson,
loot and murder. Resultantly our entire education system has
been corrupted and destroyed. So when we get recruits into
government service, into law-enforcement, into law, into
business, into politics and into every other field of
activity, we basically get already hardened corrupted people,
at times, with criminal minds to run our society, our economy
and our politics. Thus a predatory criminal society is
gradually leading to a predatory criminal State where
everything is up for graps by the most corrupt, the most
criminal and the most ruthless.
One had hoped that the Emergency Government with its
commitment to root out corruption would go into the depth of
things and into making substantial changes for the better in
areas which matter such as in our education sector but that
confidence has been largely frustrated and misplaced. The
Emergency Government seems now to be merely interested in
maintaining itself and if forced to, give an election and exit
with its skin intact.
The political parties are not in the least bit interested in
these issues particularly ones which would challenge their
dominance and control of the minds and bodies of our young
people studying in universities and colleges. More than once
there have been demands, suggestions and proposals for banning
politics by students and teachers in campuses but each time
political parties have brushed aside such suggestions on the
plea that each person over 21 years of age has the
Constitutional right to do politics but it is one thing to
hold political opinions and to do politics and quite another
to hold public higher educational institutions, their students
and teachers ransom to conflict, violence and corruption.
Ultimately political parties win while the Nation suffers.
Tackling the food shortage
As
the country is passing through a crisis period and the
government is grappling with a series of problems specialy the
food shortage, it is quite reassuring that the bottleneck in
importing rice from India has been removed. At long last a
deal has been signed between Bangladesh and India and now five
lakh tons of Indian rice can be imported within next 75 days
through official channel, while the way has been paved for
import of substantial quantity of rice for which LC have
already been opened by private importers. This is a good news.
Because, the arrival of this huge quantity of rice from India
will definitely help ease the food shortage in the country,
although meeting the food shortfall totally will still remain
a long way off.
No body will raise any question about the government's
sincerity in tackling the food shortage as they are making
all-out efforts to this end, but question is there as to why
did it take long two and half months, after Indian Foreign
Minister made firm commitment in this regard in early
December, to strike the deal of rice import and why 75 days
will be needed to bring rice from neighboring India? The
country needs the arrival of food grains much earlier, because
it will continue to face the crucial phase of food shortage
during the next 75 days while the situation is likely to
improve after that due to harvesting of boro crops within
about three months from now.
It should also be kept in mind that 5/6 lakh tons of Indian
rice will not be adequate enough to meet our huge food
shortage and we have to import much more from other countries.
It is encouraging that the government has started tapping
other sources for import of rice. This process should be
stepped up and all efforts should be made to ensure immediate
import of food grains from other countries including Myanmar,
Thailand, Vietnam and china.
Meanwhile, the government should keep on monitoring the rice
market to stop hoarding, artificial crisis and raising the
prices by profit-mongers.
Analysis
The Economic Disaster that is
Military Keynesianism
Our excessive military expenditures did not
occur over just a few short years or simply because of the
Bush administration's policies. They have been going on for a
very long time in accordance with a superficially plausible
ideology.
Chalmers Johnson
Global
confidence in the US economy has reached zero, as was proved
by last month’s stock market meltdown. But there is an
enormous anomaly in the US economy above and beyond the
subprime mortgage crisis, the housing bubble and the prospect
of recession: 60 years of misallocation of resources, and
borrowings, to the establishment and maintenance of a
military-industrial complex as the basis of the nation’s
economic life
The military adventurers in the Bush administration have much
in common with the corporate leaders of the defunct energy
company Enron. Both groups thought that they were the
“smartest guys in the room” the title of Alex Gibney’s
prize-winning film on what went wrong at Enron. The
neoconservatives in the White House and the Pentagon
outsmarted themselves. They failed even to address the problem
of how to finance their schemes of imperialist wars and global
domination.
As a result, going into 2008, the United States finds itself
in the anomalous position of being unable to pay for its own
elevated living standards or its wasteful, overly large
military establishment. Its government no longer even attempts
to reduce the ruinous expenses of maintaining huge standing
armies, replacing the equipment that seven years of wars have
destroyed or worn out, or preparing for a war in outer space
against unknown adversaries. Instead, the Bush administration
puts off these costs for future generations to pay or
repudiate. This fiscal irresponsibility has been disguised
through many manipulative financial schemes (causing poorer
countries to lend us unprecedented sums of money), but the
time of reckoning is fast approaching.
There are three broad aspects to the US debt crisis. First, in
the current fiscal year (2008) we are spending insane amounts
of money on “defence” projects that bear no relation to the
national security of the US. We are also keeping the income
tax burdens on the richest segment of the population at
strikingly low levels.
Second, we continue to believe that we can compensate for the
accelerating erosion of our base and our loss of jobs to
foreign countries through massive military expenditures
“military Keynesianism” (which I discuss in detail in my book
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic). By that, I
mean the mistaken belief that public policies focused on
frequent wars, huge expenditures on weapons and munitions, and
large standing armies can indefinitely sustain a wealthy
capitalist economy. The opposite is actually true.
Third, in our devotion to militarism (despite our limited
resources), we are failing to invest in our social
infrastructure and other requirements for the long-term health
of the US. These are what economists call opportunity costs,
things not done because we spent our money on something else.
Our public education system has deteriorated alarmingly. We
have failed to provide health care to all our citizens and
neglected our responsibilities as the world’s number one
polluter. Most important, we have lost our competitiveness as
a manufacturer for civilian needs, an infinitely more
efficient use of scarce resources than arms manufacturing.
Fiscal Disaster
It is virtually impossible to overstate the profligacy of what
our government spends on the military. The Department of
Defense’s planned expenditures for the fiscal year 2008 are
larger than all other nations’ military budgets combined. The
supplementary budget to pay for the current wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, not part of the official defence budget, is
itself larger than the combined military budgets of Russia and
China. Defence-related spending for fiscal 2008 will exceed $1
trillion for the first time in history. The US has become the
largest single seller of arms and munitions to other nations
on Earth. Leaving out President Bush’s two on-going wars,
defence spending has doubled since the mid-1990s. The defence
budget for fiscal 2008 is the largest since the second world
war.
Before we try to break down and analyze this gargantuan sum,
there is one important caveat. Figures on defence spending are
notoriously unreliable. The numbers released by the
Congressional Reference Service and the Congressional Budget
Office do not agree with each other. Robert Higgs, senior
fellow for political economy at the Independent Institute,
says: “A well-founded rule of thumb is to take the Pentagon’s
(always well publicized) basic budget total and double it”.
Even a cursory reading of newspaper articles about the
Department of Defense will turn up major differences in
statistics about its expenses. Some 30-40% of the defence
budget is “black”,” meaning that these sections contain hidden
expenditures for classified projects. There is no possible way
to know what they include or whether their total amounts are
accurate.
There are many reasons for this budgetary sleight-of-hand
including a desire for secrecy on the part of the president,
the secretary of defence, and the military-industrial complex
but the chief one is that members of Congress, who profit
enormously from defence jobs and pork-barrel projects in their
districts, have a political interest in supporting the
Department of Defense. In 1996, in an attempt to bring
accounting standards within the executive branch closer to
those of the civilian economy, Congress passed the Federal
Financial Management Improvement Act. It required all federal
agencies to hire outside auditors to review their books and
release the results to the public. Neither the Department of
Defense, nor the Department of Homeland Security, has ever
complied. Congress has complained, but not penalized either
department for ignoring the law. All numbers released by the
Pentagon should be regarded as suspect.
In discussing the fiscal 2008 defence budget, as released on 7
February 2007, I have been guided by two experienced and
reliable analysts: William D Hartung of the New America
Foundation’s Arms and Security Initiative and Fred Kaplan,
defence correspondent for Slate.org . They agree that the
Department of Defense requested $481.4bn for salaries,
operations (except in Iraq and Afghanistan), and equipment.
They also agree on a figure of $141.7bn for the “supplemental”
budget to fight the global war on terrorism that is, the two
on-going wars that the general public may think are actually
covered by the basic Pentagon budget. The Department of
Defense also asked for an extra $93.4bn to pay for hitherto
unmentioned war costs in the remainder of 2007 and, most
creatively, an additional “allowance” (a new term in defence
budget documents) of $50bn to be charged to fiscal year 2009.
This makes a total spending request by the Department of
Defense of $766.5bn.
But there is much more. In an attempt to disguise the true
size of the US military empire, the government has long hidden
major military-related expenditures in departments other than
Defense. For example, $23.4bn for the Department of Energy
goes towards developing and maintaining nuclear warheads; and
$25.3bn in the Department of State budget is spent on foreign
military assistance (primarily for Israel, Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Republic, Egypt
and Pakistan). Another $1.03bn outside the official Department
of Defense budget is now needed for recruitment and
re-enlistment incentives for the overstretched US military, up
from a mere $174m in 2003, when the war in Iraq began. The
Department of Veterans Affairs currently gets at least
$75.7bn, 50% of it for the long-term care of the most
seriously injured among the 28,870 soldiers so far wounded in
Iraq and 1,708 in Afghanistan. The amount is universally
derided as inadequate. Another $46.4bn goes to the Department
of Homeland Security.
Missing from this compilation is $1.9bn to the Department of
Justice for the paramilitary activities of the FBI; $38.5bn to
the Department of the Treasury for the Military Retirement
Fund; $7.6bn for the military-related activities of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and well over
$200bn in interest for past debt-financed defence outlays.
This brings US spending for its military establishment during
the current fiscal year, conservatively calculated, to at
least $1.1 trillion.
Military Keynesianism
Such expenditures are not only morally obscene, they are
fiscally unsustainable. Many neo-conservatives and poorly
informed patriotic Americans believe that, even though our
defence budget is huge, we can afford it because we are the
richest country on Earth. That statement is no longer true.
The world’s richest political entity, according to the CIA’s
World Factbook, is the European Union. The EU’s 2006 GDP was
estimated to be slightly larger than that of the US. Moreover,
China’s 2006 GDP was only slightly smaller than that of the
US, and Japan was the world’s fourth richest nation.
A more telling comparison that reveals just how much worse
we’re doing can be found among the current accounts of various
nations. The current account measures the net trade surplus or
deficit of a country plus cross-border payments of interest,
royalties, dividends, capital gains, foreign aid, and other
income. In order for Japan to manufacture anything, it must
import all required raw materials. Even after this incredible
expense is met, it still has an $88bn per year trade surplus
with the US and enjoys the world’s second highest current
account balance (China is number one). The US is number 163
last on the list, worse than countries such as Australia and
the UK that also have large trade deficits. Its 2006 current
account deficit was $811.5bn; second worst was Spain at
$106.4bn. This is unsustainable.
It’s not just that our tastes for foreign goods, including
imported oil, vastly exceed our ability to pay for them. We
are financing them through massive borrowing. On 7 November
2007, the US Treasury announced that the national debt had
breached _$9 trillion for the first time. This was just five
weeks after Congress raised the “debt ceiling” to $9.815
trillion. If you begin in 1789, at the moment the constitution
became the supreme law of the land, the debt accumulated by
the federal government did not top $1 trillion until 1981.
When George Bush became president in January 2001, it stood at
approximately $5.7 trillion. Since then, it has increased by
45%. This huge debt can be largely explained by our defence
expenditures.
The Top Spenders
Our excessive military expenditures did not occur over just a
few short years or simply because of the Bush administration’s
policies. They have been going on for a very long time in
accordance with a superficially plausible ideology, and have
now become so entrenched in our democratic political system
that they are starting to wreak havoc. This is military
Keynesianism the determination to maintain a permanent war
economy and to treat military output as an ordinary economic
product, even though it makes no contribution to either
production or consumption.
This ideology goes back to the first years of the cold war.
During the late 1940s, the US was haunted by economic
anxieties. The great depression of the 1930s had been overcome
only by the war production boom of the Second World War. With
peace and demobilization, there was a pervasive fear that the
depression would return. During 1949, alarmed by the Soviet
Union’s detonation of an atomic bomb, the looming Communist
victory in the Chinese civil war, a domestic recession, and
the lowering of the Iron Curtain around the USSR’s European
satellites, the US sought to draft basic strategy for the
emerging cold war. The result was the militaristic National
Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68) drafted under the
supervision of Paul Nitze, then head of the Policy Planning
Staff in the State Department. Dated 14 April 1950 and signed
by President Harry S Truman on 30 September 1950, it laid out
the basic public economic policies that the US pursues to the
present day.
In its conclusions, NSC-68 asserted: “One of the most
significant lessons of our World War II experience was that
the American economy, when it operates at a level approaching
full efficiency, can provide enormous resources for purposes
other than civilian consumption while simultaneously providing
a high standard of living”.
With this understanding, US strategists began to build up a
massive munitions industry, both to counter the military might
of the Soviet Union (which they consistently overstated) and
also to maintain full employment, as well as ward off a
possible return of the depression. The result was that, under
Pentagon leadership, entire new industries were created to
manufacture large aircraft, nuclear-powered submarines,
nuclear warheads, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and
surveillance and communications satellites. This led to what
President Eisenhower warned against in his farewell address of
6 February 1961: “The conjunction of an immense military
establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American
experience” the military-industrial complex.
By 1990 the value of the weapons, equipment and factories
devoted to the Department of Defense was 83% of the value of
all plants and equipment in US manufacturing. From 1947 to
1990, the combined US military budgets amounted to $8.7
trillion. Even though the Soviet Union no longer exists, US
reliance on military Keynesianism has, if anything, ratcheted
up, thanks to the massive vested interests that have become
entrenched around the military establishment. Over time, a
commitment to both guns and butter has proven an unstable
configuration. Military industries crowd out the civilian
economy and lead to severe economic weaknesses. Devotion to
military Keynesianism is a form of slow economic suicide.
Higher Spending, Fewer Jobs
On 1 May 2007, the Center for Economic and Policy Research of
Washington, DC, released a study prepared by the economic and
political forecasting company Global Insight on the long-term
economic impact of increased military spending. Guided by
economist Dean Baker, this research showed that, after an
initial demand stimulus, by about the sixth year the effect of
increased military spending turns negative. The US economy has
had to cope with growing defence spending for more than 60
years. Baker found that, after 10 years of higher defence
spending, there would be 464,000 fewer jobs than in a scenario
that involved lower defence spending.
Baker concluded: “It is often believed that wars and military
spending increases are good for the economy. In fact, most
economic models show that military spending diverts resources
from productive uses, such as consumption and investment, and
ultimately slows economic growth and reduces employment”.
These are only some of the many deleterious effects of
military Keynesianism.
It was believed that the US could afford both a massive
military establishment and a high standard of living, and that
it needed both to maintain full employment. But it did not
work out that way. By the 1960s it was becoming apparent that
turning over the nation’s largest manufacturing enterprises to
the Department of Defense and producing goods without any
investment or consumption value was starting to crowd out
civilian economic activities. The historian Thomas E Woods Jr
observes that, during the 1950s and 1960s, between one-third
and two-thirds of all US research talent was siphoned off into
the military sector. It is, of course, impossible to know what
innovations never appeared as a result of this diversion of
resources and brainpower into the service of the military, but
it was during the 1960s that we first began to notice Japan
was outpacing us in the design and quality of a range of
consumer goods, including household electronics and
automobiles.
Can we Reverse the Trend?
Nuclear weapons furnish a striking illustration of these
anomalies. Between the 1940s and 1996, the US spent at least
$5.8 trillion on the development, testing and construction of
nuclear bombs. By 1967, the peak year of its nuclear
stockpile, the US possessed some 32,500 deliverable atomic and
hydrogen bombs, none of which, thankfully, was ever used. They
perfectly illustrate the Keynesian principle that the
government can provide make-work jobs to keep people employed.
Nuclear weapons were not just America’s secret weapon, but
also its secret economic weapon. As of 2006, we still had
9,960 of them. There is today no sane use for them, while the
trillions spent on them could have been used to solve the
problems of social security and health care, quality education
and access to higher education for all, not to speak of the
retention of highly-skilled jobs within the economy.
The pioneer in analyzing what has been lost as a result of
military Keynesianism was the late Seymour Melman (1917-2004),
a professor of industrial engineering and operations research
at Columbia University. His 1970 book, Pentagon Capitalism:
The Political Economy of War, was a prescient analysis of the
unintended consequences of the US preoccupation with its armed
forces and their weaponry since the onset of the cold war.
Melman wrote: “From 1946 to 1969, the United States government
spent over $1,000bn on the military, more than half of this
under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations the period
during which the [Pentagon-dominated] state management was
established as a formal institution. This sum of staggering
size (try to visualize a billion of something) does not
express the cost of the military establishment to the nation
as a whole. The true cost is measured by what has been
foregone, by the accumulated deterioration in many facets of
life, by the inability to alleviate human wretchedness of long
duration.”
In an important exegesis on Melman’s relevance to the current
American economic situation, Thomas Woods writes: “According
to the US Department of Defense, during the four decades from
1947 through 1987 it used (in 1982 dollars) $7.62 trillion in
capital resources. In 1985, the Department of Commerce
estimated the value of the nation’s plant and equipment, and
infrastructure, at just over _$7.29 trillion… The amount spent
over that period could have doubled the American capital stock
or modernized and replaced its existing stock”.
The fact that we did not modernize or replace our capital
assets is one of the main reasons why, by the turn of the 21st
century, our manufacturing base had all but evaporated.
Machine tools, an industry on which Melman was an authority,
are a particularly important symptom. In November 1968, a
five-year inventory disclosed “that 64% of the metalworking
machine tools used in US industry was 10 years old or older.
The age of this industrial equipment (drills, lathes, etc.)
marks the United States’ machine tool stock as the oldest
among all major industrial nations, and it marks the
continuation of a deterioration process that began with the
end of the second world war. This deterioration at the base of
the industrial system certifies to the continuous debilitating
and depleting effect that the military use of capital and
research and development talent has had on American industry.”
Nothing has been done since 1968 to reverse these trends and
it shows today in our massive imports of equipment from
medical machines like _proton accelerators for radiological
therapy (made primarily in Belgium, Germany, and Japan) to
cars and trucks.
Our short tenure as the world’s lone superpower has come to an
end. As Harvard economics professor Benjamin Friedman has
written: “Again and again it has always been the world’s
leading lending country that has been the premier country in
terms of political influence, diplomatic influence and
cultural influence. It’s no accident that we took over the
role from the British at the same time that we took over the
job of being the world’s leading lending country. Today we are
no longer the world’s leading lending country. In fact we are
now the world’s biggest debtor country, and we are continuing
to wield influence on the basis of military prowess alone”.
Some of the damage can never be rectified. There are, however,
some steps that the US urgently needs to take. These include
reversing Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for the wealthy,
beginning to liquidate our global empire of over 800 military
bases, cutting from the defence budget all projects that bear
no relationship to national security and ceasing to use the
defence budget as a Keynesian jobs programme.
If we do these things we have a chance of squeaking by. If we
don’t, we face probable national insolvency and a long
depression.
(Source: www.mondediplo.com/2008/02/05military)
Viewpoints
The Ground Floor:
for parking or for people?
We begin to suspect that the city was created not for us, but
for our vehicles.
Maruf Rahman
Traveling
through a section of Dhaka recently, I noticed an interesting
phenomenon. A new building, going up on one side of the road,
was true to the new theory and rules of construction: the
ground floor is left empty and open, for parked cars, while
the upper floors are meant for people (homes, workplaces,
shops, etc.). On the other side of the street were existing
buildings, with the ground floor occupied by shops, and
dwellings above. Despite the poor condition of the footpath,
many people were outside, walking and milling about. The
street was lively, with much to see and look at.
As I continued along, I passed other new buildings where the
ground floor is occupied by car parking. Anyone wishing to
access a service along that portion of the street must first
climb up at least one flight of stairs. A popular restaurant
spans the 2nd and 3rd floor of a building, while a handful of
cars occupy the ground floor—and of course still spill out
over the footpath. When we discover that simply vacating the
ground floor for car parking isn’t enough, then what—will we
keep moving higher and higher up, giving more and more space
to cars? Will we build expensive underground parking lots for
cars, even though we can’t provide affordable housing for all
our people?
I thought about my own situation, in a ground floor office
with a constant flow of visitors. The ready access to the
street makes it inviting, and those visitors are the lifeblood
of our work. I thought about the people I know who live or
work on the ground floor, and the shortage of housing for
different people’s needs, and the current trends to shift
people to the upper levels and reserve the ground floor for
parked cars. Where would we all go, if we are evicted by car
parking?
In shopping malls, and in multi-storey buildings, the shops on
the lower floors command the highest rents. When people walk,
they don’t look up; they observe what is at their level. The
ground floor is of great commercial importance, because it is
the most visible and the most accessible. People will only
notice upper-floor shops and businesses if they make an
effort, and a further effort is required—even if there is a
lift—to access them. They will never attain the easy flow of
those on the ground floor. Why give our most valuable
commercial real estate to cars?
When we live on the ground floor, or on a lower floor, it is
easy for us to go in and out. If we return home and discover
we have neglected to buy milk or eggs, we can easily go out to
the neighborhood shop. We can visit others, or partake of the
street life. When we live high up in an apartment building,
the prospect of waiting for the lift, and riding it for many
floors, is often enough to convince us to stay home in front
of the TV rather than venturing back out again.
Further, when the ground floor is occupied by parked and
moving cars, there is little room or safety for those on foot.
Even on the footpath, we must always be on the alert for cars
driving onto the footpath to park, or over it to access a
building. As we walk along, we see not shops or restaurants,
not signs of human life, but rather parked cars. Rather than
interesting and lively streetscapes that give us incentive to
walk—and inspire affection for our surroundings—we face steel
and cement. When we enter buildings, we pass not through doors
meant for people, but through parking lots full of cars.
In parks and empty lots, people seeking recreation and
enjoyment must vie for space with the cars. We begin to
suspect that the city was created not for us, but for our
vehicles. We are encouraged to cross streets underground or by
bridges, because the street level is for cars. We are told
that our problems will be solved by building public
transit—below ground. Our housing, shops, restaurants, and
workplaces are shifted to the upper floors. As human life at
ground level gives way to cars, we begin to feel that we are
the invaders of the city, and it is cars that fully belong.
Certainly this is evident on many streets, where people are
prevented from crossing by barbed wire, giving a prison-like
environment to our streets and a very clear message to those
on foot.
But as we give more and more of our space away to cars, as we
retreat further and further from the streets and the street
level in order to make space for cars, perhaps we should
question how much we gain, and how much we lose, by doing so.
One thing should be clear by now: there can never be enough
space for cars. However much we give them, they will always
demand more. No city has solved its traffic or parking
problems by building more roads or providing more parking;
demand always outpaces supply.
But those cities who have reversed the trends, and actively
taken space away from cars and given it back to people, have
discovered that, ironically, their parking and congestion
problems actually lessen. When people can no longer easily
park for free throughout the city, they question the need to
take the car for short trips. When there is less space on the
road for cars and more for pedestrians and cyclists, more
people walk and cycle. When we reassert that the streets are
for people, people regain the streets—and the city.
Perhaps it’s all a bit like the schoolyard bully. He demands
lunch money from his peers, and they hand it over. He and his
friends take over the yard, and send everyone else into a
corner. The more you give him, the more he takes. How can we
make him stop? Isn’t he ever satisfied? Then one day, the
other kids get together and take him on, and he relents. The
kids again get to spend their lunch money on themselves, and
play freely in the yard. They look at each other, and shrug,
and laugh: how could we ever have been so foolish, to think
that he would become satisfied and stop demanding more? And
now that we are back in control, enjoying what always should
have been ours, we are never going back! We will reoccupy the
ground floor, reoccupy our cities, and only give to cars what
extra space we can afford to give away, without losing our
rights, our footpaths, our streets and the most essential
parts of our buildings.
(Maruf Rahman. E-mail: marufrbd@yahoo.com)
Nato’s concerns
Most Europeans regard the
Afghan conflict as a. wrong and immoral; b. America's war; c.
all about oil; and d. probably lost.
Eric
Margolis
LAST
week's Nato conference at Vilnius, Lithuania produced some
interesting fireworks. An angry US Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates accused some European nations of not being prepared to
'fight and die' in Afghanistan in the battle against Taleban.
The undiplomatic Gates is quite right. Most Europeans regard the
Afghan conflict as a. wrong and immoral; b. America's war; c.
all about oil; and d. probably lost. To many Europeans, the Nato
alliance was created to deter the once real threat of Soviet
aggression, not to supply foot soldiers for George Bush's wars
in the Muslim World.
While Gates and Canada's government were pleading for more
troops, the commander of the 40,000 Nato troops in Afghanistan,
US Gen Dan McNeill, landed a bombshell of his own. If proper US
military counter-insurgency doctrine were followed, said McNeill
at a Washington conference, the US and Nato would need 400,000
troops to defeat Pashtun tribal resistance to Western occupation
of Afghanistan.
When the Soviets occupied Afghanistan, they deployed 160,000
troops and about 200,000 Afghan Communist troops - yet failed to
crush the mostly Pashtun resistance. Now, the US and Nato are
trying the same mission with only 66,000 troops, backed by
ragtag local mercenaries grandly styled the Afghan National
Army.
Canada's calls for a 1,000 more Nato troops, and the US decision
to send 3,200 marines, will not alter the course of this war,
which is turning increasingly against the Western occupiers. In
fact, the war is spreading into neighbouring Pakistan,
stretching beleaguered US and Nato forces ever thinner.
A primary reason for Gates' recent request for Islamabad to
'invite' US troops to begin assaults against pro-Taleban Pashtun
tribesmen inside Pakistan is due to their growing attacks on US/Nato
supply lines to Afghanistan. As this column has reported, over
70 per cent of US/Nato supplies come in by truck through
Pakistan's tribal belt known as FATA, including all of their oil
and gas. Attacks by pro-Taleban tribesmen against these
vulnerable supply lines are jeopardising Western military
operations inside Afghanistan.
The hunters are becoming the hunted. Cutting off invader's
supply lines is a time-honoured Pashtun military tactic. They
used it against Alexander the Great, the British, and Soviets,
and are at it again.
What angry Sec Gates fails to see is that by pushing Nato into a
distant Asian war without political purpose or seeming end, he
is endangering the very alliance that is the bedrock of US power
in Europe.
Europeans increasingly ask why they need the US-dominated
military alliance, a Cold War relic, in which they continue to
play foot soldiers to America's atomic knights, to paraphrase
the late German statesman, Franz Josef Strauss.
Why does the rich, powerful European Union even need Nato any
more? The Soviet threat is gone - at least for now.
Nuclear-armed France and Britain are quite capable of defending
Europe against outside threats. Why cannot the new European
Defense Force take over Nato 's role of defending Europe and
protecting EU interests? United Europe will inevitably field its
own integrated military force. Arm-twisting Europe to fight a
highly unpopular war in Afghanistan will only hasten this
development.
In short, most Europeans see no benefit in playing junior
members in an alliance whose historic time has passed, and that
serves primarily as an instrument of US power. Washington's
sharpest geopolitical thinker, Zbigniew Brzezinski, calls Nato a
'stepping stone' the US uses to project power into Europe.
By pushing Nato towards a bridge too far, the Bush
Administration may end up fatally undermining Nato and
encouraging anti-American forces in Europe. In fact, it's
becoming evident that the cash-strapped US needs the EU more
than the EU needs the US.
Final point. If impassioned claims by US and Canadian
politicians that the little Afghanistan war must be won at all
costs, then why don't they stop orating, impose conscription,
and send 400,000 soldiers, including their own sons, to fight in
Afghanistan?
Of course they won't. They prefer to waste their own soldiers,
and grind up Afghanistan, rather than admit this war against 40
million Pashtun tribesmen was a terrible and stupid mistake that
will only get worse.
Source:www.khaleejtimes.com
Time for course correction
Kosovo’s Parliament had declared independence from Serbia on
July 2,1990, and had incurred brutal retaliation from
Belgrade.
AG Noorani
Kosovo's independence can
no longer be delayed. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's
Special Envoy on Kosovo Martti Ahtissari said in his report on
March 26, 2007, "I have come to the conclusion that the only
viable option for Kosovo is independence, to be supervised for
an initial period by the international community. My Kosovo
Status Settlement sets forth these international supervisory
structures." Ban endorsed, both, his report and his
comprehensive proposal, which has aroused criticism in Kosovo
for restricting its independence.
Russia opposes the proposal for independence. On January 31,
2006, President Vladimir Putin said: "If someone thinks that
Kosovo can be granted full independence as a State, then why
should the Abkhazia or South-Ossetian people not have the
right to statehood?" Fears of secessionism led some others to
join him, overlooking the fact that Kosovo was acquired by
Serbia only in 1913 thanks to the 'Great Powers'. Putin does
not stop at rewriting history. He grossly misquoted the
unanimous UN Security Council Resolution 1244 that was passed
on June 10, 1999, to bring to an end Nato's military action
against Serbia: "There is a UN Security Council Resolution
1244, which states that Kosovo is an inalienable part of the
Federation of Serbia." It said nothing of the kind. It merely
recognised that Kosovo was a part of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (FRY), not Serbia. The word "inalienable" was not
used. The UNSC held in Resolution 1022 of 1995 that Josip
Tito's Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia "has ceased to
exist". Slobodan Milosevic's FRY was a new entity, not its
successor. Slovenia, the first of the constituents of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to become
independent, has the presidentship of the European Union (EU)
till the end of June. Its Foreign Minister Dhitrij Rupel
asserted last month that Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, who
comprise 90 per cent of the country's population, have the
same right to self-determination that Slovenia had won. His
aim is to accelerate EU membership applications of the five
other former Yugoslav countries: Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. Why jibe at Kosovo?
On November 17 last year, Kosovo voted to power Hashim Thaci's
Democratic Party of Kosovo in a vote for independence. The
final text of the conference on Kosovo held in February 1999
at Rambouillet, France, said, "Three years after the entry
into force of this agreement, an international meeting shall
be convened to determine a mechanism for a final settlement
for Kosovo, on the basis of the will of the people, opinion of
relevant authorities, each party's efforts regarding the
implementation of this Agreement, and the Helsinki Final Act."
Kosovo's Parliament had declared independence from Serbia on
July 2, 1990, and had incurred brutal retaliation from
Belgrade.Serbia stakes its claims in spurious revivalist,
revanchist terms that sadly pass muster in some places. It
centres on its defeat to Ottoman Turkey in the battle of
Kosovo in 1389 where its ruler Lazar was slain as was the
Ottoman ruler Sultan Murat I. Lazar became a cult figure in
the 19th century. Writer and historian Noel Malcolm delved
into 31 archives - British, French, American, Italian and
those at the Vatican - to write a definitive history of
Kosovo. He demolishes the myth that Kosovo was once part of
the medieval Serbian empire until its conquest in 1389. Russia
was the original nucleus of medieval Serbia around 610.
"Kosovo did not fall within the Serb territory... Serbian
expansion into Kosovo began in earnest only in the late 12th
century." Bulgaria took over Kosovo in the 850s.Serbian
expansion began during the 1180s. Only by 1216 did the entire
Kosovo come under Serb rule. It ended in 1389 after 173 years.
The Ottomans ruled over Kosovo for 523 years till 1912. The
Serbian empire had disintegrated soon after the death of Tsar
Dusan in 1389. Lazar ruled over "a patch work of
principalities" with only a strip of Kosovo. The whole idea of
a national-religious celebration "is a 19th century
invention". Milosevic revived the slogan in 1987. It helped
him to capture the party and launch bloodshed in the Balkans.
Source:
www.hindustantimes.com
International
‘No progress’ in
Mideast peace process: Arab League, EU
AFP, Valletta
Arab League chief Amr Moussa on Tuesday
slammed a lack of progress in the Middle East peace
process as EU and Arab foreign ministers wrapped up two
days of talks in Malta.
"We see no progress. We want to send a message, a message
of concern," he said following the talks, the first
between the two blocs at the level of foreign minister.
He added: "We all supported the process with the hope that
it will bring peace in 2008. We are now asking what
happened, why no progress?"
At the US-hosted meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president
Mahmud Abbas agreed to try to conclude a peace deal by the
end of this year.
But a top Israeli minister said on Monday the Jewish state
was not aiming for a peace treaty with the Palestinians
this year, but only a declaration of principles.
In a final communique, the ministers said they supported
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