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Leading News

Launch Accident
Results in scenario of death

Ainul Haque Royal

Munshganj-bound motor launch Sourov-1 with around 150 passengers on board from Sadarghat in Dhaka, sank in the river Buriganga on Thursday afternoon near Postgola Bridge under South Keraniganj police station, leaving at least 30 people including women and children dead. Besides, it is apprehended that at least 40 passengers trapped inside the launch are also dead.
The launch left Sadarghat terminal at about 3 pm yesterday and capsized after it was dashed by a sand laden Narayanganj-bound Cargo vessel AL-Amin. Bodies of some 13 women, seven children and nine men were recovered from inside the ill-fated launch. Rescue vessels M V Rustam is on the way to salvage the launch Sourov-1 from the river. The sunken launch was lying about 15 feet under water.
Of the deceased, 13 have been identified as Koheli, Jorina, Lipi, Jonaki, Helami, Arafat, Anwara, Kohinnor Joynob, Ranjit, Abdul Hakim, Farhad and Anwar Hossian. The identified bodies are now being handed over to their relatives. The unclaimed bodies were taken to the bank of the river where hundreds of people, looking for their missing near and dear ones, had gathered.
"I have been waiting here and running along the bank of the river Buriganga for my wife, kids and children who boarded the launch at Sadarghat," said Mohammad Habibur Rahman of Munnshiganj district while talking to The Bangladesh Today.
Keraniganj and Fatullah thana police rushed to the spot and started rescue operation along with fire service personnel while navy divers joined them later to recover the bodies. Divers and Fire Brigade units from Sadarghat terminal, Fatullah, Narayanganj and Dhaka jointly carried out the rescue operation along with local people till filing of the report on Thursday night. Communication Adviser and other high-ups of the concerned ministry rushed to the spot. Meanwhile, the Government formed a three-member probe body to investigate the incident and asked it submit the report within 15 days.

Militant Activities on the Increase
Staff Correspondent

Under the banner of new names, squads of different banned extremist groups are now reorganising in the country’s southwestern and northwestern regions and they are very active to launch attack anytime.
This was disclosed at a roundtable on ‘Trend of Militancy in Bangladesh and Possible Responses" held at Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) Conference room in the city on Thursday. BEI President Farooq Sobhan, Home Secretary Abdul Karim, members of civil society and foreign diplomats addressed the function. BEI presented a research report on Militancy in Bangladesh at the discussion.
The militant groups have not limited themselves only to regrouping and recruiting; rather they have also planned to make some major operations. In recent months, a new pattern of activity of the militants has been unfolding. The arrested militants either try to revolt in the jail or escape from the jail. In September, the detained militant commanders Javed Iqbal and Sohag made a plan to revolt in Chittagong Central Jail. However, the police was able to tackle this revolt because of prior information.
According to report around six thousand members of both outlawed left-wing and right-wing parties, are regrouping in those areas. Bangladesh has been experiencing two different types of extremism: one is the left-wing extremism and the other is the right-wing Islamic militancy. Right-Wing Organisation: Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji), Jamaat-UL-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladedsh (JMJB), Hizbut Tauhid, Allahar Dal and Hizb-ut-Tahrir and the Left-wing organisation are Purba Bangla Communist Party (PBCP), Red Flag, Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF), Biplobi Communist Party, Sarbahara Party, Janajuddho and Gono Bahini.
According to report after the execution of the six militant kingpins, the command and control of their organisations have suffered a great setback. Therefore, their militant activities through bomb or grenade attacks have decreased a lot. However, recently, they are trying to regroup themselves under new names and forms and their activities are an ongoing process. Many detained JMB leaders and activists at the grassroots level have disclosed during interrogation that the leaders and members have been reorganising.
It has been found that after the incidents of August 17 serial bomb blast in 2005, some of the militants fled from the country but recently they have returned to their areas and started regrouping. After the interrogation of the arrested 6 members of Allahar Dal police informed that this militant group is trying to regroup secretly in three south-western parts of Bangladesh namely Kushtia, Meherpur and Chuadanga.
It has been reported that about 250 activists of Allahr Dal are active in the three south-western districts of Bangladesh namely Kushtia, Meherpur and Chuadanga are urging people to join them for establishing 'rule of Islam' in Bangladesh. Most of these activists are teachers and students of Madrasa and Imams. Some teachers of colleges and schools and government employees are also associated in the mission.
Apart from preaching the Jihadi ideas, their activities also include training course on militancy. It has been reported that Hizbut Touhid organized a 4-day training course held on board a launch under the guise of a boat journey Dhaka to Kuakata from 4 -7 April, 2007, where over 1500 people including 700 women activists took part. One of the participants in the course informed that "male participants took training in bomb making and other weapons operation separately while women participants took training in recruiting techniques. Party leaders prefer women members as they can easily motivate the local people, especially the local women."
Besides, JMB has threatened to set fire to Petrobangla building. The threat came within hours after three militants belonging to the JMB were charged with carrying out serial bombings in four cinemas in Mymensingh.
The report also said the members of extremist parties are engaged in killings, extortions and robberies in 16 districts in the southwestern region including Jessore, Kushtia, Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Rajbari, Jhenidah, Magura, Narail, Meherpur, Chuadanga, Rajshahi and Naogaon.

  EC-political parties talks ends
All demand lifting the state of emergency for election-friendly environment

Taib Ahmed & Rabiul Islam

All the 15 political parties, invitees of the EC-sponsored second round dialogue, have unanimously demanded immediate withdrawal of the state of emergency to pave way for creating a conducive election-friendly atmosphere in the country.
Although these fifteen political parties have raised different demands in accordance with their parties’ stand, all these 15 parties were unanimous on some key issues such as lifting the state of emergency at the quickest possible time, not holding the local body election before that of national one and not carrying out delimitation before the stalled parliamentary election and these parties also agreed to bar the convicted war criminals from participating in the polls.
Casting their doubts over holding the stalled ninth parliamentary election on time, most of these parties demanded a specific poll date to dispel the confusion and doubt and cautioned that going for the tasks of delimitation before the national polls might thwart the election process. All these parties observed that a congenial atmosphere should be created first by lifting the ban on political activities and the state of emergency should go right now.
However, despite all the political parties’ unwillingness, the Chief Election Commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on Wednesday said that it would announce the election schedule of the city corporations next month.
Except Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote, almost all the political parties requested the EC not to allow the religion-based political parties to be registered with the EC. On the contrary Jamaat and Islami Oikya had strongly protested the demand arguing that it is a democratic as well as constitutional right of the citizens to do politics on basis of their own philosophy. In response, the EC has agreed with the argument and also said the politics on the basis of religion is practised around the world.
On February 24 last, the EC kicked off the dialogue that was wrapped up on Thursday by holding talks with the three political parties –Krishok Sramik Janata League, Islami Oikya Jote and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Meanwhile, Law Adviser A. F. Hassan Ariff on Thursday said the state of emergency would certainly have to be withdrawn ahead of general election scheduled by the end of 2008. He stated this while briefing newsmen at the conference room of the Land Ministry yesterday. The issue to withdraw the state of emergency is being discussed as a whole so that the Emergency Powers Rules (EPR) is withdrawn before the national polls, the law adviser informed. Asked whether the emergency is required at the present context, he said that it is a matter of collective decision to lift the emergency before election. The law adviser made the remark in favour of full withdrawal of the state of emergency at a time when foreign diplomats, economists and political parties are putting pressure on the Government to lift the emergency.
Ruling out the full withdrawal of the emergency, the law adviser had earlier told newsmen at a regular briefing that the national election can be held amid the state of emergency but some provisions of the EPR will have to be relaxed so that the political parties can work for election. In reference to the Election Commission’s announcement that it would hold election to the four City Corporations, eminent lawyer Hassan Ariff also said the Government would have to suspend some provisions of the EPR which are obstacles to the election activities.
Touching upon various issues of his ministry, the law adviser also said, "We are working to set up session courts in the three districts of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) to ensure access to justice for the hills people". It is very hard for the people from remote areas of Chittagong Hill Tracts to face cases as there is no session court there, he mentioned.
The Law Adviser said that his ministry is amending the Contempt of Court Act-1926 to ensure individual’s right. The matter, being very sensitive, the Law Ministry is meticulously examining the act so that no obstacle emanates on the way to ensuring everyones' rights, he added.

Govt to formulate anti-terrorism law: Home Secretary
BSS, Dhaka

Home Secretary Abdul Karim on Thursday said the government is going to formulate anti-terrorism act to check all kinds of terrorism in the country.
The home secretary told a day-long conference that the act of terrorism by the outlawed groups including Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) have reduced to a satisfactory level after the government has intensified extensive security campaign since January 11, 2007.
The conference on ‘Trend of Militancy in Bangladesh’, was organised by the Bangladesh Enterprise Instutite (BEI).
BEI President Farooq Sobhan presided over the function while Director of Counter Terrorism Intelligence Bureau (CTIB) Brig. General ATM Amin was present.
Academics, diplomats, religious leaders and politicians were present in the conference. BEI research assistant Zohra Akhter presented the keynote paper, based on reports published in the daily newspapers since August 2007 to January 2008.
Abdul Karim observed that the trial processes of the outlawed those who attacked different places are now at final stage. It is not quite true that most of the Islamic militants come from madrasas as extreme outlawed could be emerge from different spectrum of the society, he added.
He called upon the religious leaders, imams, teachers, NGOs, and media people to come forward to cooperate the government’s efforts to make a true liberal democratic country by rooting out all sorts of
terrorism.
Farooq Sobhan said the country’s militancy was dramatically dropped after the government has started a massive anti-terrorism campaign. As part of this, the BEI president said the country continues to remain democratic and
moderate.

Back Page

Economic turnaround likely: ADB
Staff Correspondent

A turnaround in the Bangladesh economy is likely to take place in the second half of the fiscal year 2007-08 despite severe floods, a cyclone and a fall in confidence among the businessmen. This observation was made by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the December 2007 issue of its "Quarterly Economic Update, Bangladesh." The quarterly report was released at a press briefing at the Bangladesh Resident Mission of ADB in the city on Thursday.
Exports are gradually increasing with an uptrend in the country's knitwear exports, the report said adding despite pressures on the current account, the amount of foreign exchange reserves remain satisfactory. Underpricing of energy products is posing a major risk to the economy of Bangladesh and containing high inflation remains a major challenge.
About the agricultural sector, the report said agricultural growth in the current fiscal year is expected to remain moderate because of serious natural calamities like floods and devastating Sidr. The floods and cyclone caused extensive damages to the agricultural sector by affecting crops, livestock, poultry and aquaculture. In the fiscal year 2007-08, Aman production is estimated at 9.60 million metric tons compared to 10.80 million metric tons in the preceding fiscal. If the weather remains favourable and availability of adequate quantity of agro-inputs is ensured, an increase in Boro production is likely to partly compensate for the loss of the Aman crop, the report mentioned.
Regarding economic growth, the report said, gross domestic product (GDP) growth is likely to be below 6 percent in the current fiscal year against 6.50 percent in the previous year as a result of a lack of confidence among the businessmen, natural calamities and fall in external demand for garments. The growth outlook points to the need to boost business confidence, restore flood and cyclone-affected infrastructure and livelihood and augment the sphere of external competitiveness.
Appreciating fiscal management by the government, the report said revenue performance continues to be buoyant and also underpinned by vigorous tax collection and reform programmes. Government revenue collection by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) increased by 24.60 percent over the last seven months of the current fiscal against the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
ADB country director Hua Du, deputy country director Nurul Huda and head of ADB Economics Unit Rezaul K. Khan spoke at the press briefing.

Poverty on the increase in 11 regions
Staff Correspondent

The government should prepare 'Poverty Reduction Strategic Paper (PRSP)-2 in a bid to alleviate poverty especially in the most poverty-stricken regions.
This was observed by speakers at a discussion on "Addressing Regional Inequalities: Policy Options and Strategies" organized jointly by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CDP) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city on Thursday.
PRSP-2 is going to be formulated by the government three years after preparing the PRSP-1, they said, but the government always insists on the GDP growth rather than on poverty alleviation and giving priorities to the most poverty-torn areas of the country.
Referring to an analysis of poverty increase in different regions, they said poverty has increased in 11 regions-Bogra, Dhaka, Jamalpur, Jessore, Khulna, Noakhali, Pabna, Patuakhali, Rajshahi, Rangamati and Tangail while poverty decreased in nine regions. The regions are Barisal, Chittagong, Comilla, Dinajpur, Faridpur, Kushtia, Mymensingh, Rangpur and Sylhet.
From the fiscal year 1995-96, poverty situation has been deteriorating in the eleven regions of the country as result of lack of authentic programmes for poverty reduction.
Lack of developed infrastructure, communication facilities, industrialization, availability of power, easy access to education and are responsible for poverty increase in these regions, they said.
On condition of implementing different projects to develop the under-developed regions of the country's northern parts by the government,, the donor agencies provided financial assistance to Bangladesh in a bid to help build the Jamuna Bridge. But the previous governments did not prepare any development projects to implement in these regions, they observed.
"Since the return to democracy in 1991, Bangladesh's economy has achieved a steady growth and a continuous fall in poverty. In fact, the country experienced more than 10 per cent fall in poverty rate in between 2000 and 2005. One can argue that the rapid rise in the government spending particularly in the areas of infrastructure development, health and education acted as a major force behind this progress. However, the progress in terms of reduction in incidences of poverty is not taking place equally all through Bangladesh and there are actually some regions where the situation has even worsened. This is definitely a cause of concern," they said.

Banks fail to meet the agri-credit needs: BB
UNB, Dhaka

Commercial banks have failed to keep pace with the credit requirement to help recover the agriculture output losses from two recurrent floods and devastating cyclone Sidr.
During July-January period of the current fiscal year, the banks disbursed only 54 percent against the requirement of around 80 percent of the year's total credit target of Tk 8,370 crore to stimulate agriculture production.
The disbursement of Tk 4,551 crore during the period was, however, 62 percent more than what the commercial banks disbursed during same period in the previous fiscal, according to Bangladesh Bank figures released on Thursday.
Bangladesh Bank has been insisting the banks since the second flooding last year to increase agriculture credit and disburse 80 percent of the fiscal year's total credit target by January so the farmers could recoup their production losses through increased boro cultivation.
"The response from the state-owned banks has been slow. The private banks did better," Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed said Thursday.
He was exchanging views with the new executive committee of Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) at the Bangladesh Bank conference room on current economic issues including government's borrowing from the banking system, inflation and foreign exchange reserve position.
The Governor said the central bank would again talk to the commercial banks to expedite agriculture credit disbursement and achieve the target by next month (March).
He advised the banks not to chase the certificate cases while considering loan disbursements, as the amount stuck up against the cases would be at most Tk 50 crore, which is much less than one single loan defaulter from the large sectors. On the most recent estimate of increased government borrowing from the banking system, Dr Salehuddin said: "The 4.7 percent budget deficit is quite tolerable. It's unlikely to affect the inflation as well as the private sector lending."
He said the government borrowing so far was not so high except for the portion of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).
The government has so far borrowed only Tk 4,667 crore, excluding BPC' s Tk 7,000 crore, from the banking system during the current fiscal year against total budgeted amount of Tk 7,253 crore.

Crime Watch

3 get death sentence
A Correspondent, Barisal
A court in Patuakhali on Thursday sentenced three men including the husband to death for killing Tahmina Sharmin Taia (28), teacher of Shahid Babul Academy of Khilgaon and daughter of Md Gafur, deputy general manager of Rupali Bank Dhaka south zone.
The convicted are, Jahid Hasan Jewel (35), husband, Shahin Alam (37), driver of the rented car, and Mizanur Rahman Mizan (39), a mercenary killer.
Prosecution said Jewel, a shipping agency employee and masters degree holder in management, on a pre-plan went to a pleasure trip in Kuakata by a rented car with wife Tahmina Sharmin Tania, a brilliant masters degree holder in Zoology on January 27, 2007. Three days later on way to return Dhaka Jewel staged a scene of hijacking near Rajopara sluice gate area of Kuakata at about 11:00 pm on January 30 and claimed that the car driver in association with hijackers chopped his wife Tania to death and fled away after looting.
Police recovered the dead body and arrested Jewel and Raihan Gafur, brother of Tania, lodged a murder case with Kalapara police station of Patuakhali on January 31.
On February 03, 2007, Jewel confessed his involvement with killing and according to that confession police arrested the car driver Shahin from Brahmmanbaria and the killer Mizan from Khilgaon of Dhaka, and they gave confessional statements before the magistrate on March 15 and March 18, 2007 respectively.
Sub Inspector Farukuzzaman, investigation officer, submitted the charge sheet against the accused persons on April 04, 2007. Abubakar Siddiki, district and session judge of Patuakhali, handed down the verdict in presence of the accused on Thursday noon after examining 30 witnesses and other evidences within 22 working days.
Family members of the victim were present at the court room and demanded immediate execution of the death sentences.
The accused pleading themselves not guilty vowed to appeal to higher court against the verdict.

1 gets life-term RI
A Corres-pondent Sirajganj
A court in Sirajganj sentenced life-term to a man with Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) in a murder case on Thursday.
The court also fined the convict Tk 5,000, in default, to suffer another six months RI more.
The convict is Md Delshat Hossain (30), son of Surza Pramanik, of village Panagari under Kazipur upazila of the district.
ABM. Nizamul Hoque, the additional and session judge-2, pronounced the verdict.
According to the prosecution, the convict stabbed his brother-in-law, Zainal Abedin (35), son of Sukur Ali, in his residence of the same village on 27 May 1995 following a previous family-feud.
After five days of the incident, the victim died in a clinic.
Later, deceased's brother, Abu Taher, lodged a case with Kazipur police station accusing Delsahat who is at present in hiding.

10 bombs, phensidyl recovered
A Correspondent, Chapainawabganj
Police recovered 10 bombs from Rahanpur Rail Station area under Gomostapur upazila in the district here on Tuesday.
Police sources said acting on secret information, a special squad of Rahanpur Police raided one Aslam's commercial house which was rented to one Motiur Rahman of Noorgola under Gomostapur upazila and recovered 10 abandoned bombs.
A GD was filed with Gomostapur thana and none was arrested in this connection, sources said.
Besides, 200 bottles of phensidyl were recovered from a peddler in the district on Tuesday morning. Sources said, acting on secret information, a special squad of Nachol thana police raided Rajbari area and recovered the contraband item and arrested a peddler named Yusuf Ali (30), son of Humayan Ali of North Uzirpur under Shibganj upazila.
 
Body recovered in Atrai
A Correspondent, Naogaon
Atrai thana police recovered a dead body recently.
The deceased was identified as Kafil Uddin Monsal (65), a farmer, of Saullahpara village of Atrai upazila.
Police suspects that he was murdered as several injury marks by sharp weapons have been found on the body
Beeljau Bewa, wife of the deceased, filed a case with the thana. She also reported that her husband did not return home from his work.

Farmer killed, 3 charge sheeted
A Correspondent, Manikganj
An elderly farmer was killed in an attack by some of his neighbours at a feud over water distribution on irrigation project of Betulia village under Saturia police station in Manikganj on May 12, 2007.
The victim was identified as Intaz Ali (80) of Betulia village under Saturia police station in Manikganj.
Liakat Ali, son of Jamal Uddin, Safikul Islam, son of Gopal and Rafikul Islam, son of Nepal, all of Dakkhin Khagra village under Nagarpur Police station in Tangail went to the spot, border place of Manikganj and Tangail, beat up the elderly farmer Intaz Ali and his daughter Fulmala and grand son Ziarat Ali where they were working at their crop land.
The elderly farmer Intaz Ali died on way to Saturia Health Complex at 11:35 pm on the following day.
When contacted Habibur Rahman told this correspondent that his IO submitted the charge sheet against the criminals after investigation.

Editorial

EC-Jamaat Dialogue

The EC has held a dialogue with the Jamaat-e-Islami on 26 February 2008 where the Jamaat ostensibly acceded to the EC's proposed electoral laws barring convicted war criminals from participating in any polls while at the same time expressing reservations about banning political parties with religions agendas, saying that, "such move might thwart democratic atmosphere in the Country."
The Jamaat certainly knows its business well and even more certainly knows what it is saying and doing. By accepting to bar "convicted war criminals" from elections, it has assented to nothing because there are no "convicted war criminals" in Bangladesh; war criminals have never even been brought to trail, at least not the once who had initiated and led that genocide in 1971 despite efforts by the civil society, over the last 3 decades, to bring these criminals to justice. As a matter of fact, the most prominent of these war criminals have found place in our polity as honoured citizens, provided with places in our governments, made ministers and are now sitting in dialogues with our EC, advising us on the course of our future politics and governance. Such blatant hypocrisy on the part of our EC and our Emergency Government shames us and angers us to an extent impossible to put into words. No, it is not "convicted war criminals" that the entire Nation wants to ban from politics; it is the accused, the alleged accused, the suspected that we want not only to ban from politics but also from enjoying the rights of a citizen of this great Nation. In this one single regard we do not want an emphasis on the letter of the law, on legalities and processes; we want emphasis on the Spirit of the law because it is these processes and legalities which have so long permitted the War Criminals to escape Justice. If we are accused of intolerance, so be it, because when these criminals massacred us with such abandon in 1971, they showed neither tolerance, nor mercy, nor yet Justice but all of which these criminals now claim from a Nation whose birth they attempted to prevent by mass murder.
As for religions based political parties, it goes without saying that it implies and denotes the existence and activities of non other than Jamaat-e-Islam. The concept of politics and government of parties like Jamaat directly contravenes the basic essential premises of our Constitution. Such parties aim to change the existing social, political and economic structures of our Nation-state and replace it with their versions of totalitarian regimes. Under the circumstance these religious based parties and individuals must be prevented from practicing their brand of politics on the soil of Bangladesh - allowing them political space would thwart democracy and preventing them from operating would clear the path for democracy.

Crisis of textbooks

Every year a fresh crowd of students start their education in the secondary and higher secondary levels in a hope of a better future but their dreams fade away when they do not get books to study. Every year the damage done by textbook crisis remains as a scar in the country's educational system.
In a report from Manikganj in The Bangladesh Today last week it has been known that students in high schools and madrashas are facing problems getting textbooks which are supposed to be in the market by the end of January. There are less copies and prices are higher than ever. Most of all, business men who are engaged in publication of these textbooks are making sky high profits by creating artificial crisis and by selling papers which are intended for printing of textbooks.
According to National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), around 1.93 crore copies of secondary level textbooks have been printed this year. Eighteen lakh more books were expected to hit the market soon. But publishers said still there will be a shortage of around 32 lakh books.
Academic activities of the new academic calendar began on January 1. But at least 30 percent primary schools, especially the institutions in extreme remote areas and primary-cum-high schools in metropolitan cities and district headquarters have yet to receive the textbooks.
The primary and mass education ministry in the first week of January had decided that primary schools attached to high schools would not be given free textbooks. Later, the rule was withdrawn, but most of the teachers, guardians and students were not informed. These faults result in creating confusion and immense suffering.
In addition, information from the Bangladesh Publishers and Book Sellers Association confirms that NTCB committed a mistake in assessing the demand for textbooks and they did not coordinate with them while the printing season has started with out fixing any estimated number of books which are to be printed. This year the publishers have done it alone. Therefore published books are out numbered by demand of textbooks. This is another reason for sparking the textbook crisis.
Besides, like previous years, a syndicate in connivance with dishonest NCTB officers has created an artificial shortage, forcing guardians to buy the books from the market. Publishers in Dhaka grip the market all over the country through monopolization. About one hundred and fifty five printing and publishing houses are engaged in printing and marketing textbooks in the country.
This abnormal situation of textbook crisis and distribution mismanagement cannot sustain forever. It must be stopped. And the concerned authority must take necessary actions, like the drive taken by the law enforcers at Banglabazar against substandard textbooks last Monday initiated by the education ministry in December 2007 asking the deputy commissioners to take all possible measures, including mobile court drives, to stop the marketing of notebooks, guidebooks and substandard textbooks. It also has to be ensured that the number of published textbooks must balance the number of students and that no irregularities or any kind of corruptions can take place.

Analysis

Diplomacy in an Age of Faith

US diplomacy should move resolutely to make the defense and expansion of religious freedom a core component of U.S. foreign policy.

Thomas F. Farr

The United States is a religious nation, but neither scholars of U.S. foreign policy nor its practitioners have taken religion very seriously. From the inception of international relations as a discrete discipline, its approach has been defined by the seventeenth-century Westphalian subordination of religion to the state. Consequently, as the international relations scholar Daniel Philpott has observed, most in the field have simply "assumed the absence of religion among the factors that influence states."
But the world today is, as the sociologist Peter Berger puts it, "as furiously religious as it ever was, and in some places more so than ever." Berger was one of the first scholars to challenge "secularization theory," which holds that religion will wither as modernity advances. In fact, over the past several decades, the opposite has happened. Faith, far from exiting the world's stage, has played a growing role in human affairs, even as modernization has proceeded apace. Iran's Shiite revolution in 1979, the Catholic Church's role in the "third wave" of democratization, the 9/11 attacks -- all illustrated just how important a global force religion has become. For the most part, however, analysts and policymakers have remained either ignorant or baffled. Scholars are now scrambling to reexamine the question of faith in international affairs -- its "return from exile," as one study puts it. Unfortunately, policymakers are lagging even further behind, and the implications for U.S. national interests are troubling.
To the extent that U.S. analysts and policymakers have registered the resurgence of religiosity at all, they have viewed it as a problem for U.S. foreign policy. Such concern is misguided. The United States should not see global desecularization in strictly defensive terms; it is as much an opportunity as it is a threat. Rather than being inimical to the advance of freedom, as many secularists assume, religious ideas and actors can buttress and expand ordered liberty. For much of the world, the religious quest lies at the heart of human dignity. History, moreover, suggests that protecting religious freedom and harnessing it for the common good are vital if democracy is to endure. Social science data show strong correlations between religious freedom and social, economic, and political goods.
Accordingly, U.S. diplomacy should move resolutely to make the defense and expansion of religious freedom a core component of U.S. foreign policy. Doing so would give the United States a powerful new tool for advancing ordered liberty and for undermining religion-based extremism at a time when other strategies have proved inadequate. One week before the presidential election in November, the landmark International Religious Freedom Act will have its tenth anniversary. That law mandated that the promotion of religious liberty be a central element of U.S. foreign policy. But neither Democratic nor Republican administrations, nor the U.S. State Department, have seen the IRF Act as a broad policy tool -- indeed, as anything more than a narrow humanitarian measure unrelated to broader U.S. interests. A new policy on religious freedom can begin by tapping the law's considerable potential. But long-term success will require a significant broadening of the current emphasis on opposing religious persecution and getting religious prisoners out of jail. An effective IRF policy must also address the balance between the overlapping authorities of religion and state, in particular the critical question of how religiously grounded norms might legitimately influence public policy.
DESECULARIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS
The reappearance of public religion on the world stage has complex implications. Religion has both bolstered and undermined stable self-government. It has advanced political reform and human rights but also induced irrationality, persecution, extremism, and terrorism. Radical Islam may dominate the headlines, but the importance of religion is hardly confined to Muslim-majority countries or the Muslim diaspora. An explosion of religious devotion among Chinese citizens increasingly worries communist officials. Religious ideas and actors affect the fate of democracy in Russia, relations between the nuclear powers India and Pakistan, and the consolidation of democracy in Latin America. Even in western Europe -- which has seen itself as a laboratory for secularization -- religion, in the form of Islam and pockets of Christian revival, simply will not go away.
The world is overflowing with religious communities, theologies, and movements -- with very public consequences. And there is little reason to believe that this state of affairs will change anytime soon. Polls from across the globe show a growth in religious affiliation and in the desire for religious leaders to be more involved in politics. Two leading demographers of religion, Todd Johnson and David Barrett, have concluded, "Demographic trends coupled with conservative estimates of conversions and defections envision over 80 percent of the world's population will continue to be affiliated to religions 200 years into the future."
The central U.S. national security issue is Islamist terrorism, fed by radical interpretations of Islam. Wahhabism, which has provided much of the theological oxygen for al Qaeda, is still dominant in Saudi Arabia and has been exported to Sunni communities internationally. But Osama bin Laden and Wahhabism are hardly the only examples of "political Islam" that have major implications for U.S. security. In Iraq, Shiite doctrines and leaders are a major factor in determining whether Iraqi democracy will survive. In Iran, a central question is whether religious actors can reform the revolutionary Shiism bequeathed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Across the Middle East, the Sunni-Shiite divide is of growing importance.
Elsewhere in the Muslim world, religion drives powerful political forces in countries central to U.S. interests. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood represents a strain of Islamism that has spawned or nourished radicals from Sayyid Qutb to Ayman al-Zawahiri and bin Laden, although it now operates as a democratic political party. An offshoot of the Brotherhood, Hamas, gained power in Palestinian elections and has put Islamist extremism at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hezbollah has emerged as a major player in Lebanese politics, even as it is funded from Tehran and continues to threaten Israel.
There are also encouraging developments in the Muslim world. In Turkey, the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) won a decisive victory in parliamentary elections last year despite deep-seated fears of political Islam among wide swaths of a Turkish society weaned on Kemalist imposed secularism. The AKP is demonstrating that religious parties need not veer into fanaticism; it has succeeded with good governance, good economic policies, and the development of an Islamic governing philosophy that contains significant liberal elements. Polls show that Turks are becoming more religious and, at the same time, more opposed to extremist sharia laws. In Indonesia, Islamic communities are resisting extremism and making significant contributions to civil society and democratic governance. While Freedom House ranks Turkey and Indonesia high on political freedom and civil liberties, both remain weak on religious freedom. The consolidation of democracy in each will require progress on that front. Interestingly, that prospect seems to be increasing, not decreasing, with the democratic involvement of Islamic communities.
The response of U.S. diplomacy to the religious scaffolding that bestrides the international order has been at best inconsistent and often incoherent. A recent study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies concludes, "U.S. government officials are often reluctant to address the issue of religion, whether in response to a secular U.S. legal and political tradition ... or simply because religion is perceived as too complicated or sensitive. Current U.S. government frameworks for approaching religion are narrow, often approaching religions as problematic or monolithic forces, overemphasizing a terrorism-focused analysis of Islam and sometimes marginalizing religion as a peripheral humanitarian or cultural issue."
Ambivalence toward religion in general and Islam in particular has been a profound weakness in the U.S. strategy to counter Islamist extremism. In regard to public and private diplomacy and foreign-aid and democracy programs, U.S. policy has been plagued by confusion about what role, if any, should be played by Islamic communities. In deciding how to "drain the swamps" of the social, political, and economic pathologies that feed Islamist extremism, U.S. officials have never arrived at an overarching policy toward Islam -- or even decided what, exactly, a "moderate Muslim" is. U.S. dollars for democracy promotion have flooded the Middle East since 9/11, but the resulting programs as a rule have not addressed the main drivers of culture, politics, and civil society there -- Muslim religious communities and Islamist political parties.
Various strategies for engaging Muslims have been floated and withdrawn, from the ill-fated Shared Values Initiative to the Muslim World Outreach program. Some reflected the United States' own moral confusion and poll-driven culture. Attempts to "reach out" to Muslim youth have often centered on American pop music; a chair of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors once solemnly declared that the pop star Britney Spears "represents the sounds of freedom." Assessing the performance of the departing public diplomacy czar, Karen Hughes, the political scientist Robert Satloff observed that she saw her job as increasing U.S. poll numbers, not engaging in Islam's war of ideas.
THE SECULARIST BLIND SPOT
The problem is rooted in the secularist habits of thought pervasive within the U.S. foreign policy community. Most analysts lack the vocabulary and the imagination to fashion remedies that draw on religion, a shortcoming common to all the major schools of foreign policy. Modern realists see authoritarian regimes as partners in keeping the lid on radical Islam and have nothing to say about religion except to describe it as an instrument of power. Liberal internationalists are generally suspicious of religion's role in public life, viewing religion as antithetical to human rights and too divisive to contribute to democratic stability. Neoconservatives emphasize American exceptionalism and the value of democracy, but most have paid little serious attention to religious actors or their beliefs. The U.S. "freedom agenda" has been seriously weakened as a result.
There is widespread confusion over the proper role of religion in public policy. The persistent belief that religion is inherently emotive and irrational, and thus opposed to modernity, precludes clear thinking about the relationship between religion and democracy. Insufficient policy attention is paid to the work of social scientists, such as Brian Grim and Roger Finke that suggests religious freedom is linked to the well-being of societies. Most U.S. officials were weaned on a strict separation-of-church-and-state philosophy and simply resist thinking about religion as a policy matter. (In the late 1990s, a memorandum to the secretary of state on the subject of religion was returned by a senior official with a stern note saying that this was not an appropriate subject for analysis.) Although some U.S. actions in the realm of religion may raise constitutional issues, the U.S. Constitution neither mandates ignorance about religion nor proscribes its public practice. What it unambiguously requires is the defense of religious freedom.
Such disarray cuts across the conventional left-right divide. The left's strict separationist instincts dictate that religion should be a private matter, but liberal multiculturalism pushes in a different direction. Some on the right want their religion in the public square, but not Islam, which they view as theologically flawed and a launching pad for extremism. In this sense, conservatives' views on political Islam coincide with those of liberal secularists.
Unduly influenced by such thinking, U.S. foreign policy does not seek to advance religious freedom in any systematic way. The State Department has made modest efforts to fight persecution, but U.S. denunciations seldom have much impact. And even if they did reduce persecution, that alone would not constitute religious freedom. In a press conference to announce the governments that are considered, under the IRF Act, to be the worst religious persecutors, a State Department spokesperson said that U.S. policy goals were "to oppose religious persecution, to free religious prisoners, and to promote religious freedom." That summary exemplifies what has gone wrong. The first two goals have been so dominant that the third has been all but lost.
Religious persecution is generally associated with egregious abuse -- torture, rape, unjust imprisonment -- on the basis of religion. A political order centered on religious liberty is free of such abuses, to be sure, but it also protects the rights of individuals and groups to act publicly in ways consistent with their beliefs. Those rights include, most importantly, the freedom to influence public policy within the bounds of liberal norms. Addressing this aspect of religious liberty is a critical step in creating stable self-government in societies with powerful religious groups -- a step that current U.S. policy ignores.
After the United States deposed the Taliban in 2001, the Afghans elected a democratic government and ratified a democratic constitution, and the terrible religious persecution of Afghan women and minority Shiites slowed dramatically. But these developments did not bring about religious freedom. The Afghan government no longer tortures people on the basis of religion, but it continues to bring charges against apostates and blasphemers, including officials and journalists seeking to debate the teachings of Islam. Instead of seeing such cases as serious obstacles to the consolidation of Afghan democracy, the State Department has treated them as humanitarian problems. It declared victory when U.S. pressure sprang the Christian convert Abdul Rahman from an apostasy trial (and from certain execution), permitting him to flee the country in fear of his life.
But the Rahman case was actually a defeat for U.S. IRF policy, because it ignored the real problem: Afghanistan's democracy is unlikely to endure unless it defends the right of all Afghan citizens to full religious liberty, especially the right of Muslims to debate freedom and the public good, the role of sharia, and the religion-state nexus. This kind of sustained discourse is vital to the success of any Islamic democracy and to overcoming Islamist radicalism. U.S. IRF policy should be confronting this problem in Afghanistan and elsewhere, but it lacks the resources, the bureaucratic clout, and the policy mandate to do so.
The IRF Act created an office in the State Department, headed by an ambassador at large, to monitor religious persecution around the world, to issue an annual report on religious freedom, and to produce an annual list of the worst persecutors. When a country appears on the list, the secretary of state must consider taking some punitive action, such as imposing economic sanctions, against it. This framework has had some modest successes. IRF ambassadors have headed off the passage of some bad laws and achieved the release of some religious prisoners. The current ambassador has negotiated with governments on the list, most notably Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, over what they must do to be taken off.
Unfortunately, the effort against religious persecution is generally considered little more than an isolated humanitarian gambit. Most foreign governments view it as a matter of "America management." In the State Department, IRF policy is functionally and bureaucratically quarantined. Both the Clinton and the Bush administrations nested the IRF ambassador and his office in the human rights bureau, itself outside the mainstream of foreign policy. This means, among other things, that the ambassador is subordinate to a lower-ranking official and, unlike other ambassadors at large, does not attend senior staff meetings. When senior meetings are held on U.S. policy in China or Saudi Arabia -- or even on engaging Islam -- the IRF function is not considered relevant. This may seem trivial to those outside the State Department. Inside, it communicates a deadly message: IRF is not a mainstream foreign policy issue and can safely be ignored.
Some of these problems are slowly being addressed. U.S.-funded programs, especially those administered by the Asia Foundation, are paying dividends in Indonesia, where a moderate understanding of sharia appears to be developing. The U.S. embassy in Nigeria has gotten Muslims and Christians thinking together about the religious benefits of democracy. But such programs are under resourced and are operating without any clear policy mandate.
The situation will truly improve only if Washington more fully integrates religious considerations into its foreign policy. The message cannot be carried by one ambassador in one small office in the State Department who is unfortunately perceived as the representative of a special interest. This must be addressed within the department by, among other things, elevating the ambassador's authority. But much more will be required than bureaucratic reshuffling. Major policy changes will be necessary if religious freedom is to contribute to U.S. national security.
DESECULARIZING DIPLOMACY
How can a new strategy on religion and religious freedom lend consistency to U.S. foreign policy while advancing U.S. security interests in the Muslim world and elsewhere? First, by adopting an overarching principle: religion is normative, not epiphenomenal, in human affairs. Policymakers should approach religion much as they do economics and politics -- that is, as something that drives the behavior of people and governments in important ways. Like political and economic motives, religious motives can act as a multiplier of both destructive and constructive behaviors, often with more intense results. When faith is associated with social identity, ethnicity, or nationality, it becomes all the more important as a focus of foreign policy.
The problem is most urgent in the greater Middle East. At least five states in that region -- Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt -- are of critical importance to U.S. national security, because each is a major source of Islamist extremism. The consolidation of democracy in any one of them would provide a boost to reform in nearby countries, but each presents distinct, formidable obstacles. The United States' current IRF policy is seen by reformers in these countries as U.S. unilateralism and cultural imperialism. A refurbished policy could help overcome such fears, encourage religious actors to embrace democratic institutions, and lead over the long term to religious freedom and durable democracy.
Iraq's quasi-liberal constitution and elections have both demonstrated how Iraqi political culture is driven by religion. It is now clear that the United States did not pay sufficient attention to this factor, along with many others, in its planning for Iraq. A lasting solution in Iraq will require the involvement of religious actors who can speak from the heart of their respective communities. U.S. diplomacy, accordingly, should work to empower religious leaders such as the influential Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and his Sunni counterparts. The Iraq Study Group's recommendation for an American Shiite envoy to Sistani should be adopted, but he should not be treated as simply one among other sectarian leaders in Iraq. Sistani's brand of Shiism, which is open to democratic and, to some extent, liberal norms, could be instrumental in consolidating Iraqi democracy. It could provide a theological warrant for tolerance and, over time, religious freedom. It could also play a positive role in Iran, where Sistani was born and educated and where he now has many followers.

(Continued on page-5)

Viewpoints

Diplomacy in an Age of Faith

(Continued from page-4)
Iran has substantial democratic potential, and not simply among the 30-something secular modernists who are the hope of Western analysts. A little-studied path to democratic reform in Iran lies with Iranian jurists who might be diverted from the Khomeini model of clerical despotism, some of whom are interested in the Sistani experiment. For the time being, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, despite popular dissatisfaction with the current government, have succeeded in connecting dissent with treason. But U.S. policymakers should still find ways to work with Iranian religious scholars in Qom and elsewhere. Among other things, this means clearly communicating that the United States is interested in, and open to, Shiite reformers. For example, the Catholic University of America's Interdisciplinary Program in Law and Religion has yielded substantive exchanges with Iranian jurists on topics such as family law and weapons of mass destruction. By judiciously supporting such efforts, the United States can encourage internal reform that rejects both theocracy and terrorism as inimical to Shiism.
Saudi Arabia is the most difficult of the Muslim states to envision as a democracy, notwithstanding mild reformist tendencies shown by King Abdullah. The Wahhabi establishment and its pernicious political theology remain deeply rooted, and no political or social institution has been effective in countering its influence. Wahhabi-blessed candidates would very likely dominate national elections. U.S. diplomacy should be working to change this dynamic -- for example, by pressing Abdullah to permit the development of national Islamic political parties, both Sunni and Shiite that are open to democracy. Washington should urge the disbandment of the mutawiyin (religion and morals police), which is currently under unusual scrutiny for its usual extremist activities, and support the emergence of a non-Wahhabi Islamic polity that is capable of developing liberal norms. This could take several forms, including a constitutional monarchy.
Pakistan's nuclear weapons capability, its status as a safe haven for Islamist extremists, and its instability in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto make the country an exceptionally important case. Pakistan's military, like that of Turkey, has played a critical role in the development of the state's political culture. Unlike the secular Turkish military, however, Pakistan's military (including former General Pervez Musharraf) has supported extremist Islamist parties as a means of retaining power. But radical Islamists have not achieved electoral success on their own in Pakistan. Historically, their popularity has increased with authoritarianism and decreased with free and fair elections. The United States should adopt a broader antiradical agenda in Pakistan. It should certainly encourage a return to democracy, the development of a moderate political center, and more effective action against Islamist extremists. It should also support religious actors who are capable of undermining extremism by developing a more liberal political theology, sustaining madrasah reform, and conducting a public debate over Islam and democracy.
Egypt arguably has the greatest potential for lasting democratic reform. It is the largest of the Arab states and the traditional center of Sunni jurisprudence. Despite half a century of authoritarian regimes, it has some experience with constitutional rule, the beginnings of a civil society, professional and entrepreneurial classes, a fairly independent judiciary, and a Christian Coptic community that accounts for 10-15 percent of the population. Over the years, the United States has paid Cairo more than $50 billion to buy stability and predictability and keep the lid on radical Islam. According to Hosni Mubarak's government, if the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist opposition movement, were to gain power, it would revoke the Camp David accords, precipitate war with Israel, and work to restore a caliphate.
U.S. aid has helped, but it has prevented neither the growing appeal of radical Islam in Egypt nor its continued export, both of which are increased by Mubarak's policies. If free elections were held, the Muslim Brotherhood would very likely win. Unfortunately, the United States has little idea what this would mean. Despite indications that some Brothers are adopting liberal norms, Washington refuses to talk to them officially and rejects opportunities to influence their political evolution. Its policy is to support the Mubarak regime and hope for the best.
This is the logic that led to 9/11. The United States cannot eradicate Islamist radicalism through unconditional support for authoritarian regimes. Even in Iraq, assuming the continued success of U.S. military strategy, extremism and terrorism can in the final analysis only be defeated by Muslims speaking from the heart of Islam. And the only means of affording them the opportunity is durable democracy grounded in religious freedom for all -- especially Muslims.
In Egypt, the United States should adopt a policy of engaging all religious and political communities, including the Muslim Brotherhood. But it should not assume that the Brothers are liberals aborning. To the contrary, it must find out precisely what they are and whether they are capable of political and theological evolution. The United States must not repeat the mistakes it made in Iran during the late 1970s, which led to its waking up one morning to face an Islamist group in power without any secure understanding of its vocabulary, let alone its goals.
The objective should be to encourage the Brotherhood to explain publicly what Islamic democracy would mean in Egypt. Handled correctly, this would force the organization to clarify its understanding of religious freedom and, necessarily, of pluralist democracy. Does the understanding include, for example, the right to debate Islamic teachings in public, to demand full equality under the law for women and religious minorities, to change religions? It is by no means inevitable, but certainly possible, that nascent liberals would be empowered by such a discourse. At the very least, it would increase U.S. understanding of what the Brotherhood in power would mean.
This strategy of discovery could include several elements adaptable to a global IRF policy. What the Brotherhood says in private must be said publicly, in Arabic, in Egypt. U.S. diplomats must speak not only the Brothers' Arabic language but their religious language as well. Training at the Foreign Service Institute should be revamped. The self-defeating instruction to U.S. diplomats "Avoid using religious language," which was presented in the 2007 public diplomacy strategy paper, should be reversed. Washington should support the development of Islamic feminism, a potentially fruitful skirmish in the Muslim war of ideas. A privately funded Islamic Institute of American Studies on U.S. soil could bring the best jurists and religious leaders from across the Muslim world to study U.S. history, society, politics, and -- most important -- religion.
REDISCOVERING THE AMERICAN MODEL
Despite the failure of U.S. foreign policy to understand and address religion, the U.S. system of religious freedom remains vigorous and adaptive. American history should itself be instructive as U.S. policymakers seek to adjust their bearings in an age of faith. In the 1660s, colonial Congregationalists tortured and hanged Quakers on Boston Common. A century later, Americans embraced a system of religious liberty that remains unsurpassed in history. This system was not the result of the Enlightenment alone or of separating religion from society or politics. It was the result of theology and politics developing in tandem. Surely that system has contributed to the fact that American Muslim communities, despite being subject to Wahhabi influences for decades, have not been radicalized in the way that many of Europe's Muslim communities have. The Economist noted the irony: "The strange thing is that when America has tried to tackle religious politics abroad -- especially jihadist violence -- it has drawn no lessons from its domestic success. Why has a country so rooted in pluralism made so little of religious freedom?"
As the United States commemorates the tenth anniversary of the IRF Act, its foreign affairs scholars and foreign-policy makers must retrieve one of the nation's founding beliefs: religious freedom means much more than the right not to be persecuted for one's religion or the right to worship as one pleases in private; religious liberty protects human dignity and bolsters civil society. It means the durable and mutual accommodation of religion and the state within the boundaries of liberal democracy. And this accommodation matters not only for humanitarian reasons. It will also give the United States a new and powerful tool for addressing national security threats and foreign policy challenges that have so far proved confounding to a foreign policy establishment blinded by secularism.

(THOMAS F. FARR is Visiting Professor of Religion and Foreign Affairs at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He was the first Director of the State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom.).

American Media Needs a New Lens

The United States is seen as using democracy to serve its own interests and the interests of its Middle Eastern allies, but not the people's.

Eman Bukhari and Nirja Parekh

Sharjah, UAE/ Boston, Massachusetts - In the United States, there are assumptions that anything Arab and Islamic is intrinsically anti-American. Media is one channel through which such misperceptions are exacerbated. There are two issues that need to be addressed with regard to how the American media relates to Muslim-Western issues: a biased image of Arabs and Muslims and a simplified account of US foreign policy.
The media has the power to create stereotypes and influence public understanding and opinion. By consistently covering stories of extremist Muslim groups and showing Arabs as violent or anti-American, the media conveys a distorted image of Arab society and Islam while disregarding the reasons for Arab resentment. Thus, media should focus more on causes of their fury, which is the American foreign policy in the Middle East, and less on the violent acts committed by a small minority.
Mass communication theorist, Mark Fishman, looks at the way news is produced and believes that "by acting in accordance with our conception of the ways things are, we concertedly make them that way." Thus, what American mass media defines as being intrinsically Islamic may not be accurate, but still perpetuates a certain stereotype.
For example, in coverage of the Iraq War, the many articles pertaining to violence by suicide bombers sometimes implicate Islam as inherently zealous or fanatical. Media has the responsibility to provide a fair and balanced image of the Muslim identity and to help create an understanding of foreign politics at play in the Middle East, the consequences of which contribute to the rise of a radicalized, Muslim identity.
In 2006, renowned Georgetown University professor John Esposito published results from a Gallup Poll Survey that asked both moderate and extremist Muslims what they liked about the United States. Technology, political systems, democracy, respect for human rights, freedom of speech, and gender equality topped their list. When asked what they didn't like, many Muslims said American foreign policy in the Middle East.
The United States is seen as using democracy to serve its own interests and the interests of its Middle Eastern allies, but not the people's. For example, the United States provides political and military support to Israel, despite many of its policies running counter to its own values.
After the end of imperialism in the early 20th century, attitudes in the Muslim world changed. People turned to religion as a way of rejecting and defying the policies of the West that their governments had been forced to implement for so long. Governments that continued to support those policies favorable to the West were seen as imperialist allies, responsible for holding the interests of foreign powers over those of their own people. Eventually, the politically oppressed began focusing their anger towards those foreign powers.
As we can see from this brief account of history, Muslim resentment for the West stems from a history of imperialism coupled with present-day Western policies that are perceived as unfair or unjust. But with the media's influence in America, many see differences in culture and religion, rather than foreign policy, as the main cause of tension and violence against the West. According to intellectual and political activist Noam Chomsky, "the public is exposed to powerful persuasive messages from above… with leaders using the media to generate support, compliance, and just plain confusion among the public."
Polarizing theories, such as Bernard Lewis's "The Roots of Muslim Rage" and Samuel Huntington's theory "The Clash of Civilizations?" is often adopted by the media and used to negatively influence people's perception of the other. Both scholars argue that Islam is incompatible with the West. Although there are many works that promote positive images of the Muslim world, such as those by Edward Said, they are not predominant. But if highlighted, they could play a major role in shaping public perception.
The public has a tendency to simplify complex ideas and draw straightforward conclusions. The solemn duty and responsibility of the media rests in the pursuit of providing a balanced, objective lens by which the public can be informed. In the American media, it is common to present America's foreign policy and actions in the Middle East as initiatives to spread democracy and capitalism, and to maintain peace. Such simplified coverage does not promote a balanced view of either the Muslim or the American side.
But American media is not the only one to blame for the biased public perception of Muslims. Because the actions of minority groups of Muslims have become the general stereotype within the mass media, it is up to the majority of Muslims to make a concerted effort to challenge these portrayals and definitions. Through words or demonstrations, Muslims can make a change by uniting their voices and displaying the diversity that truly exists amongst them.
These highly contested portrayals will only be made clear if both sides take action and make changes, and in this case, it is clear that not only the United States, but also Muslims have to challenge the stereotypes. Muslims themselves have not taken a strong united stand against stereotypes and have not taken measures to portray their true image. If they do take action such as promoting their positive image in the media they would help the West break away from such misplaced beliefs.

(Saudi student Eman Bukhari is pursuing an international studies degree at the American University of Sharjah. Nirja Parekh is studying international and global studies and journalism at Brandeis University. Source: Common Ground News Service, 26 February 2008.Copyright permission is granted for publication.)

History written in concrete

Public opinion is divided over whether to raze or preserve these remnants of Europe's worst nightmare.

Michael Johnson

THE plan's scope was enormous. The surviving examples are as common across Europe as Roman ruins. More than 330,000 men struggled against the clock to meet construction schedules. Yet all the effort proved fruitless.
Today, 63 years after the end of World War II, the remains of the Nazis' Atlantic Wall are there for all to see, although few observers realise the extent of what they are seeing. No complete inventory has ever been done, but specialists estimate that some 6,000 pillboxes and blockhouses still dot Europe's coastline.
Constructed between 1942 and 1944, the Wall stretches from Finland and Norway, southwest through Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Channel Islands, down into France and Spain. Its purpose was to halt any Allied invasion by stopping it at beach level. The Allies suffered heavy losses in the Normandy landing partly because of these defenses. They serve no purpose today other than as impromptu pit stops for beachcombers.
The man who organised this colossal system, Fritz Todt, would not be pleased. Todt was a member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle, having risen from Storm Trooper to super-contractor in the early 1930s. He built the German autobahn highway network and drew up plans to extend it through France into Spain following the war.
The Todt Organization, as his semi-autonomous group was named, had a grand plan for 15,000 coastal bunkers with 600 shapes and sizes to be dug into the coastline at the most vulnerable invasion points. But the Allied landing in 1944 interrupted construction. Public opinion is divided over whether to raze or preserve these remnants of Europe's worst nightmare. A few hundred have been destroyed by various municipalities, mainly to make room for parking lots or shopping malls. The current debate over what to do with the bunkers revolves around the need to deal with unsettling memories. The European Commission in Brussels was moved a couple of years ago to support conservation, putting up 100,000 to finance an Atlantic Wall virtual museum that has been travelling around Europe. The lead organisers, based at the architecture department of Milan's Politecnico University, are looking for future destinations.
The main designer of the museum, Gennaro Postiglione, a professor at the architecture school, believes the bunkers have been left abandoned until now because they were "too terrifying. People opted for virtual deletion from their memory." But he feels strongly that it is healthier to face the past. Others have joined the effort to conserve the structures. Sébastien Devière, of Binche, Belgium, works in the construction field and devotes most of his free time to defending the Atlantic Wall. "It is regrettable that these bunkers are considered by some to be undesirable, as if they were blots on the landscape," he said. "In fact they are part of 20th century military heritage. Others have learned to live with them, citing the prohibitive cost of dismantling. The largest structures, remants of six German submarine-repair bases in France, have reinforced concrete walls up to 15 feet thick stretching as long as two football fields. In Bordeaux, a blackened concrete U-boat base stands incongruously in view of a Toys "R" Us store and a popular supermarket. One Bordeaux artist proposed that the structure be concealed behind climbing vines. "Blowing it up would be impractical - it would take half of Bordeaux with it," he said. The city fathers rejected his proposal on the grounds that his plan was insufficiently ambitious.

Source: www.khaleejtimes.com

International

11 Palestinians killed in Gaza flare-up
AFP, Gaza City

Eleven Palestinians, including a six-month-old baby, were killed in Israeli attacks on Wednesday while Palestinian rockets killed an Israeli in a sharp escalation of violence.
Following a day of unrest, Israeli helicopters launched a night raid on the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza, firing three missiles and seriously damaging the five-storey building, witnesses said.
According to a hospital source, the baby was killed in the attack, with witnesses reporting damage to houses surrounding the ministry and at least 20 other casualties.
The deadliest attack occurred earlier in the day in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis where five Hamas fighters were killed in an Israeli army raid which also wounded one person, medical sources told AFP.
A second raid on the same site moments later injured another three people.
Hamas then claimed responsibility for what was the first killing of an Israeli by Gaza rocket fire since May 2007 -- before the movement seized power in Gaza in June-saying it had been to avenge the death of its militants.
Israel in turn launched further deadly air strikes following the Israeli fatality caused by a rocket that slammed into a college on the outskirts of the southern Israeli town of Sderot.
Some 50 rockets were fired from Gaza including one that exploded in a hospital parking lot just outside Ashkelon without wounding anyone, the army said.
"The attacks by Hamas against Israeli civilians from areas in which Palestinian civilians live is a crime against humanity that affects Israelis as well as Palestinians," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak visited the scene of the Israeli casualty later at night, a government statement said. National radio said Barak warned during his visit that the pounding would now intensify.
Two Palestinians, whose identities were not immediately known, were killed in an afternoon air strike on a Gaza City neighbourhood from which rockets had just been fired, witnesses said.
Another air strike just after nightfall near a petrol station north of Gaza City killed another two Palestinians and wounded 12 others, including four children aged between six and 10, medics said.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the strike had targeted a group about to launch rockets.
In the West Bank, undercover Israeli troops shot dead an 11th Palestinian, a militant, during an arrest raid in the town of Nablus, security and medical sources said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, on a visit to Japan, vowed to continue operations in Gaza, where Hamas seized power in June after routing forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
 

Thaksin returns home, ending exile
AFP, Bangkok

Ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra flew home Thursday to an ecstatic welcome from thousands of supporters, kissing the ground as he ended nearly one and a half years of self-imposed exile.
Immediately after landing in Bangkok, he was driven under police escort to the Supreme Court to face corruption charges filed by the military regime that deposed him in a bloodless September 2006 coup.
The court freed him on bail of eight million baht (250,000 dollars) after a 20-minute hearing over charges that he used his influence as premier to win a property deal for his wife in 2003.
A statement from the court said Thaksin would have to ask permission from the judges if he wants to travel outside the country. The first hearing in the trial was set for March 12. Thaksin and his wife, Pojaman, each face up to 13 years in prison in the case.
He was then escorted to the Attorney General's Office where he was to hear separate charges of making fraudulent filings to securities regulators in the listing of a property company.
The charismatic tycoon had emerged from the airport to cheering crowds, and fell to his knees to bow and kiss the ground of his home country.
Thaksin has spent most his time since the coup living in Britain.
More than 10,000 supporters, many carrying red roses and waving blue flags, gathered at Bangkok's international airport. Some arrived before dawn to get a prime spot to greet their ousted leader.
The crowd sang songs praising Thaksin, filling the airport with a carnival atmosphere, while banners read "We love you" and "We miss you."
"Our land needs him. Nobody can push him out. He is a good guy. Thai people love him," said Malee, a 53-year-old businessman who did not want to give his last name.
Speaking to reporters, including AFP, on the Thai Airways flight from Hong Kong, Thaksin insisted the graft charges were politically-motivated.
"My reputation has been tarnished. I have done a lot for my country," said Thaksin, dressed for his homecoming in a smart black suit and white shirt.
"The allegations are made up. They are made to justify the coup."

Indian missile test to trigger arms race: Pakistan
AFP, Karachi

Pakistan's military chief on Wednesday said that a test by India of a sea-based nuclear-capable missile would start a new arms race between the South Asian arch rivals, state media reported.
India conducted its first test of a nuclear-capable missile from an undersea platform on Tuesday, completing its goal of having air, land and sea ballistic systems.
"This is going to start a new arms race in the region," the Associated Press of Pakistan quoted naval chief Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir as telling a group of journalists at a ship-building facility inauguration in Karachi.
"We are aware of these developments, and these developments are taking place with a view to put nuclear weapo