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Acute scarcity of 'safe drinking
water'
UNB, Dhaka
'Water, water, everywhere,
but not a drop to drink', so said eminent English poet S T
Coleridge in his poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'
over 100 years ago.
Such a drastic situation might not exist in Bangladesh,
but it is neither so far away with many of its population
having to look frantically for a drop of "safe" drinking
water.
Bangladesh is known from ancient times for its abundance
of water from various sources, but it has been suffering
for decades from acute scarcity of safe drinking water.
Experts identify many types of constraints in ensuring
safe water in the country, especially in the coastal belt,
hilly region and city slums.
NGO Forum for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation, a
local NGO, said about 30 million people face health hazard
due to arsenic contamination of the ground water sources,
while 55 million others denied the use of water from
tubewell due to fall in ground water level during the dry
season. Another 14 million people in coastal areas are
also badly affected economically due to excessive
salinity, it said.
National Sanitation Status, June 2007 states that 97.6
percent of country's population drink piped water as well
as from public taps, boreholes/tubewells, and protected
wells and spring or rainwater. But the discovery of the
widespread arsenic contamination of groundwater has
undermined this commendable success, and effectively
lowered safe drinking water coverage to only 74 percent of
the population.
The report also showed that 28-35 million people are
exposed to arsenic contamination above 50 ppb (parts per
billion), while 46-57 million others exposed to arsenic
contamination above 10 ppb. Former chairman of Dhaka Water
and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and Professor of Geography
and Environment Department Nazrul Islam observed that safe
drinking water both in rural and urban areas is under
threat as hand tubewells, the major source of water in the
rural areas, are being contaminated by arsenic. Piped
water in the country's large cities including Dhaka gets
polluted due to old pipelines and leakage, and for lack of
proper maintenance, he said. Nazrul Islam, also the
Chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC), said 35
percent slum dwellers in the big cities including Dhaka,
Chittagong and Khulna do not get piped water due to
certain laws now in force and also shortage of water.
A situation report on 'Water, Sanitation and Hygiene'
(March 5, 2003) says the disparity between demand and
supply of water and sanitation services is worst in the
urban slums of capital Dhaka, where only 16 percent of the
slum population has access to safe water.
Inefficient management and operation of urban water
networks leads to a substantial waste of precious water
and more than 40 percent of water is unaccounted for in
the major cities of Bangladesh, the report added.
Joseph Halder, Chief, Advocacy and Information of NGO
Forum, said acute shortage of 'normal water' is found in
hilly areas, where water coverage is not more than 15-20
percent.
Hydrogeologist Nurun Nabi, who worked with groundwater
(hydro) and surface water, said sources of safe water are
being gradually decreased or destroyed as level of
groundwater is being contaminated by arsenic and other
heavy metals due to unplanned use of water by installation
of hand pumps. Surface water is also being polluted for
lack of proper maintenance of domestic and industrial
wastes. The Joint Monitoring Project (UNICEF-WHO) found
that between 1990 and 2005, the percentage of the
population with access to safe water only increased by 4
percent - from 71 percent to 75 percent - despite
concerted efforts to provide people with safe water.
Furthermore, Bangladesh now experience a developing water
crisis. According to Bangladesh's Water Development Board
(BWDB), more than 170 of Bangladesh's 230 large and medium
rivers suffer from pollution and poor water management.
Besides, a large number of people use unsafe sources of
water for personal and domestic needs like cooking,
bathing and washing utensils, due to lack of awareness.
According to the situation paper (2003), everyday some
20,000 metric tons of human excreta are deposited on
public lands and waterways and this is one of the main
causes that contaminate surface water.
EC can't finalize proposed electoral laws soon
Staff Correspondent
The Election Commission (EC)
cannot finalize its proposed electoral laws soon due to
its failure to hold dialogue with the BNP although it has
wrapped up the second round talks on electoral reforms
with other political parties.
"We will not finalize our reform proposals until and
unless we hold the dialogue with BNP," the Chief Election
Commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, said this repeatedly
during five-day long second round talks with 15 political
parties. "The EC's dialogue with the political parties
will not be adjudged as complete or credible if the BNP is
left out of the process," Huda said.
Holding the dialogue with BNP seems to be delayed as it
completely hinges on the decision of the High Court as the
issue was moved to the court following EC's unilateral
invitation to pro-government BNP faction disregarding the
BNP Secretary General's request. The issue is still
pending in the High Court since the detained chairperson
Begum Khaleda Zia lodged a writ with the court against the
EC's decision. It is to be noted, the next hearing of the
writ will be held on March 03.
The EC has not been able to hold even the first round of
the talks with the BNP because of the legal tangle. At
least two major political parties -Bangladesh Awami League
and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh held the EC responsible for
creating complexities as regards holding dialogue with the
BNP and urged it to solve the problems without any further
delay to pave the way for holding a contested election.
"It is the EC which is responsible for the complexities
and the EC will have to take initiatives to solve the
problems as solution to the problem lies in your (Election
Commissioners) hands," Tofayel Ahmed said adding, "If the
EC does not take immediate steps to solve the problem, the
people of country might think that the EC has invited a
splinter faction of BNP in a bid to delay the election
process."
In reply to Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mujaheed's
question as to why the EC did not invite the mainstream
BNP, the CEC said, "We have invited Major (retd)
Hafizuddin Ahmed in our best judgment examining the BNP's
constitution." He, however, said, "I would not comment
much on the issue as the issue might have reached this
stage from a small beginning."
Talking to The Bangladesh Today, BNP acting Office
Secretary, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed said, "It is the EC
which is responsible for not holding dialogue with us as
it invited the so-called reformists' faction disregarding
the BNP's Constitution.
BD Workers Abroad
Saudi Arabia
Staff Correspondent
Bangladeshi workers are facing worsening situation in
Saudi Arabia as that Country remaining at its hard line,
is retrenching, harassing and misbehaving with the
Bangladesh workers. On the other hand, joint initiatives
taken by the Overseas Employment Ministry and Foreign
Ministry, are failing to convince the Saudi Government to
discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, Saudi Govern-ment had allegedly asked different
companies to retrench the Bangladeshi workers from their
organisations and recruit Pakistani and Indian workers.
Following this government order, the companies have
started retrenching the Bangladesh workers and cancelling
the tenure of their visa.
Talking to this correspondent, a relative of a Bangladeshi
worker in Saudi Arabia said, "The workers from other
countries like Africa, India and Pakistan are engaged in
criminal activities but the Saudi government is targeting
and terminating Bangladeshi workers on mere surmise."
Early February 2008, a four member team led by Secretary
of Expatriates' Welfare Ministry Abdul Matin decided to go
to Saudi Arabia but their visit was postponed as the
Foreign Adviser himself wanted to go there but as yet the
foreign adviser has not visited the country.
It may be recalled that recently some adverse publicity
against Bangladeshis have found their way into Saudi
media. The matter was discussed in the Shoura. Saleh bin
Abdullah bin Humaid has visited Bangladesh twice and is
seen as a friend of Bangladeshis.
The Bangladesh mission in Saudi Arabia has been instructed
to report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Expatriates' Welfare on the situation on a regular basis.
Malaysia
Staff Correspondent
Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said to the
Bangladesh Mission and to Malaysian officials meeting him
in Kuala Lumpur during his brief transit on the way back
from Tokyo to Dhaka, that: "the welfare of Bangladeshi
workers abroad must get top priority".
He returned to Dhaka on Thursday night after a 3-day
official visit to Japan. During his five hour transit halt
in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, the Foreign Adviser held
meetings with the Secretary General of the Malaysian
Foreign Ministry Tan Sri Rastam Mohammed Isa, Secretary
General of the Malaysian Ministry of Home who also looks
after labour issues, Dato Raja Azhar bin Raja Abdul Manap
and Dato Husni Zai Yaacob, Under Secretary of the Foreign
Ministry, according to the Foreign Ministry source.
He also met with the newly set up Bangladesh Workers
Welfare Association and discussed proposals with them as
to how to address effectively the problems faced by
Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia. During both meetings
Bangladesh High Commissioner in Malaysia, Ambassador M.
Khairuzzaman was present.
Foreign Adviser, who is also in charge of the Ministry of
Expatriate's Welfare and Overseas Employment, was informed
that Malaysian authorities have agreed for the first time
to allow the transfer of workers from one Company to
another.
A Workers' Welfare Committee had been set up to assist the
High Commission to tackle the problems. A large hostel to
accommodate 800 to 1000 workers has been set up as a
shelter for distressed workers. A microbus is being
procured for their transport. Additional personnel are
being hired to strengthen the Mission's hands. Discussions
were also held about the possibility of "Out-sourcing"
some critical functions to enhance Mission's effectively.
"I hope these measures will have the desired positive
impact. These senior Malaysian officials told me they will
help in every possible way and control those Malaysian
agents that are responsible. Also, we have decided to
start formal Foreign Office consultations within a month's
time," Chowdhury told reporters afterwards. It may be
mentioned that so far about 3,10,000 Bangladeshis have
already gone to Malaysia against attestation given for
4,30,000.
Australia
UNB, Dhaka
Eminent Sydney lawyer Stewart Levitt on Friday said
Bangladeshi people can take advantage of the unique
opportunity to study in Australia and obtain permanent
residency as Australia still suffers an acute shortage of
skilled manpower.
"There is no shortage of facilities to cater for their
lifestyle in major cities where 'Halal' food is readily
available and there are mosques in most areas in proximity
to colleges and universities," Levitt, proprietor of
Levitt Robinson Solicitors & Attorneys, said this while
speaking at a seminar in the city. Global United
Corporation Bangladesh in corporation with Levitt Robinson
Solicitors & Attorneys, a leading migration agent from the
Sydney law firm, organized the seminar, said a press
release.
Director of Firm and Migration Education Expert Satya Shah
said shortest and most cost-effective pathway to gaining
Australian residency through study and that a practical
trade qualification provided a surer route to migration
than higher education in some academic areas. Students are
able to earn money by working up to 20 hours/week during
term time and full time, during holidays, Shah added.
"Once permanent residence is gained, students can access
all of the rights available to an Australian, including
health care and educational fee concessions".
BNP passes critical juncture: Delwar
BSS, Dhaka
BNP Chairperson nominated
Secretary General Khandkar Delwar Hossain on Friday said
the party is passing a critical juncture in its history.
"BNP will not take part in any election keeping its
chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia in jail, he said while
talking to the leaders and workers of Meherpur district
unit of the party who called him at his NAM flat
residence.
Terming BNP a pro-election political party, Delwar said
his party would register massive victory if free and fair
elections are held right at this moment.
He called upon rank and file workers and leaders of the
party to cement further party's unity and integrity and
expand organizational activities.
Dewar said once the party overcomes the present crucial
phase, the dedicated workers of the party would be
properly evaluated. Among others, party joint secretary
general Begum Selima Rahman, office secretary Rizvi Ahmed,
ex-MPs Principal Sohrab Uddin and Abdul Moment Talukder
and district unit vice-president Ilias Hossain spoke on
the occasion.
Back Page
Revitalising jute:
BB takes a role
Rabiul Islam
"The Bangladesh Bank has
asked us to submit a proposal as to how the jute sector
can be revitalised", BJMC Chairman Ataharul Islam told The
Bangladesh Today. A meeting in this regard was held at the
secretariat on Thursday with Jute and Textile Ministry
Adviser Anwarul Iqbal in the chair, sources said. Jute
Secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar, Bangladesh Bank Governor
Salehuddin Ahmed, BJMC Chairman and concerned officials
were present at the meeting. "We have discussed various
issues as to how the jute sector can be saved", Anwarul
Iqbal told this correspondent over phone. The meeting
discussed the loans provided by the four nationalised
banks to state-owned jute mills and how the loans can be
paid, sources said.
Sources said the state-owned jute mills owe Tk. 35,00
crore to the Janata, Sonali, Agrani and Rupali banks. With
huge burden of loan over the years, the mills are heading
towards bankruptcy although the jute goods are now in high
demand on global markets, sources said. At this critical
juncture, the Jute and Textile Ministry wants to
revitalise the jute sector with which around four crore
people are directly and indirectly involved, the ministry
sources said. "We will request the central bank to take
steps to cut the interest of the loans provided by the
four nationalised banks so that the jute mills can be
saved", the BJMC told this correspondent.
Sources said these banks are cutting 30 percent interest
from the fund earned from the export of jute goods. After
receiving the proposal from the BJMC, BB Governor would
hold meeting with the heads of the four nationalised banks
as to how the loans and interests can be settled.
Economist Atiar Rahman told this correspondent that
unemployment has been created due to closure of jute mills
one after another. The Government should take steps to
resume the operation of the jute mills to generate
employment, he said, adding a comprehensive plan is needed
to make the jute mills profitable. He suggested the
existing management to be changed as it causes loss due
too unabated corruption and mismanagement.
Although the Government ignored the jute sector over the
years for multifarious reasons including the decline of
jute goods in international market and huge loss, it has
recently earned Tk.267 crore from export of jute goods in
the last six months, a high official of the jute ministry
said. The Jute and Textile Ministry reveals that the
Government incurred a loss of Tk. 229 crore in the year
2005-2006 and Tk. 385 crore in 2006-2007. Sources said,
without identifying the causes of loss in jute sector, the
Government has shut down the state-owned jute mills one
after another or privatised those, bringing down the
number of jute mills to 14 from 77. Now only 14
state-owned jute mills are running under the Bangladesh
Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC).
Financial Sector Review
Transportation, infrastructure
services need restructuring
UNB, Dhaka
Public entities in
transportation and related infrastructure services need
restructuring like the recent corporatisation of
nationalised commercial banks (NCBs), suggested Bangladesh
Bank's independent Policy Analysis Unit (PAU).
The PAU also suggested restructuring of public entities
beyond financial sector, including distribution of energy
products and traditional industrial units.
The policy recommendations were put forward at the PAU's
half-yearly Financial Sector Review (FSR) released on
Thursday.
Meanwhile, the government has initiated discussions on
corporatisation of state-run Bangladesh Road Transport
Corporation (BRTC) and already made some progress in
offloading shares of Jamuna Bridge, Communications
Ministry sources said.
"Though the recent corporatisation of three NCBs is a step
in the right direction, continuous efforts are needed to
address the issues of reorganisation and restructuring of
publicly-owned entities," said the FSR.
The current issue of the FSR presented a comprehensive
assessment of the recent developments in the financial
sector, keeping in view the monetary policy stance of the
Bangladesh Bank announced in January 2008 and the recent
macro-financial developments.
The FSR pointed out that the structure of the financial
system remained almost unchanged except transformation of
the three NCBs into public limited companies, now known as
state-owned commercial banks (SCBs).
It also analysed the direct effect of financial sector
policies on poverty and said the effect could be mediated
through different ways, such as cost and other conditions
for access to credit, level and pattern of private
investment, and means of financing fiscal deficits.
"Several financial policies in Bangladesh are likely to
contribute positively to poverty reduction through their
efforts of directing adequate credit to structurally
disadvantaged sectors like agriculture, SMEs, and the
rural non-farm sector."
The review said the central bank has encouraged the
commercial banks, especially the private ones, to provide
credit to agriculture and other pro-poor sectors.
"The MFIs serve as important conduits to bring credit to
the poor and vulnerable households in the country," it
said, adding that the Bangladesh Bank also introduced a
refinancing scheme for loans for low-cost housing.
The FSR said the share of SCBs in total deposit fell
during Q3 2007, while the share of PCBs increased. Between
December 2001 and September 2007, the share of rural
deposits declined while the share of urban deposits
increased from 80.4 percent to 86.9 percent.
The total deposit mobilisation by the banking system as
percentage of GDP has been growing over time and stood at
43.1 percent at the end of September 2007.
It said disbursement of bank credit somewhat slowed down
during the first three quarters of 2007 largely due to low
demand by the borrowers. Nominal bank credit grew by 8.6
percent during the first three quarters of 2007.
Crime Watch
Man gets life for killing brothers
UNB, Sylhet
A court here Wednesday convicted a man and awarded him
life term imprisonment for killing his two stepbrothers.
The court also fined the convict, Swakat Ali (35), Tk
25,000, in default, to suffer one year more RI.
According to prosecution, Swakat Ali hit his stepbrother
Ayub Ali with a sharp weapon following past enmity,
leaving him injured at Dumka village in Goainghat upazila
on March 6,2005.
Swakat also hit his another stepbrother Mahmud Ali when he
came to save his brother Ayub, leaving him injured.
The injured were admitted to Osmani Medical College
Hospital where the two siblings-Mahmud and Ayub Ali
succumbed. A case was filed.
After examining records and 16 witnesses, district and
session judge Md Abdul Gafur handed down the verdict.
One jailed for life
BSS, Sirajganj
One Delsat Ali was sentenced to life term improsonment by
a court here on Thursday for killing his brother- in-law
(sister's husband), Joynal Abedin.
Sirajganj District and sessions judge ABM Nizamul Haque
delivered the verdict in absence of convict Abedin in a
crowded courtroom yesterday. The court also fined him Taka
5,000,in default, to suffer six months more in prison.
The prosecution story, in brief, is that the convict
Delsat Ali, 28, in a family dispute, stepped his
brother-in-law Jonyal Abedin,35,at his belly by knife on
May 27,1995.Joynal died after five days of his admission
to a clinic in the town.
Joynal elder brother Shahab Ali filed a case at Kazipur
thana accusing Delsat Ali.
The convict have been absconding since the incident.
The Police submitted charge-sheet before the court
accusing Delsat Ali after investigation.
After examining witnesses and evidence, the judge of the
court handed down the verdict.
From Source, the law enforcers arrested them with Tk 7
thousand.
Six netted for bribery, stealing
BSS, Rangpur
The joint forces in separate drives arrested six persons
including officials and employees for bribery and stealing
VGF rice from Panchagarh and Nilphamari districts on
Thursday evening, police sources said.
The sources said the joint forces of Panchagarh Army camp
conducted a sudden raid at District Land Record Office and
arrested Office Assistants Zarif Uddin (52) and Bijay Das
(42) and their broker Litan (22) red-handed while taking
bribe from a civilian.
The joint forces team led by Major Shafiq also recovered
Tk 7,000 bribe money from their possessions and later
handed them over to Panchagarh Sadar police station at
night.
In another drive, the joint forces of Nilphamari Army camp
arrested three persons including an engineer of Syedpur
pourashabha in Nilphamari for stealing VGF rice on
Thursday evening.
The arrested persons were identified as Mechanical
Engineer of Syedpur Pourashabha Morshedul Islam Morshed
(39) and two employees of his section Mujahid (36) and
Monwarul Islam (35).
The joint forces arrested the criminals and seized
red-handed two sacs stolen VGF rice from their possessions
while they were distributing VGF rice among 500 distressed
people at Syedpur pourashabha premises.
35 maunds jatka seized
BSS, Barisal
A mobile court, led by first class Magistrate Mahbubul
Karim, in a drive seized 35 maunds of jatka from the
fisheries landing center in Barisal on Thursday.
The owner of the jatka fled away sensing the presence of
the mobile Court. The drive was conducted on the basis of
a secret information and seized the jatka.
A total of 140-kilograms of jatka were distributed free of
cost among the three madrasas, orphanage and the Barisal
central jail.
The rest jatkas were sold in an open auction at Tk 55,550
and the money was deposited to revenue department.n
Fertiliser seized
UNB, Comilla
Police seized 855 sacks of fertiliser from Baghmara in
Sadar Dakkhin upazila of the district Wednesday night.
Police said they raided the area following a tip-off that
Hanif Majumder and Obaidul Haq hoarded various types of
fertilisers for smuggling.
Police arrested Hanif Majumder but Obaidul managed to flee
from the spot. They are not authorised dealers of
fertiliser, police said.
A case was filed.
34 persons busted
BSS, Rangpur
Police arrested a total of 34 persons including notorious
criminals on different charges from various places of
eight upazilas in the district last night.
Police said the arrested persons included listed
terrorists, drug smugglers, addicts, convict, gamblers and
accused persons in different cases, rapists,
drug-peddlers, muggers, thieves, extortionists and other
anti-social elements.
Police also recovered huge quantities of narcotics
substances including ganja, mini ganja packs, phensidyl,
locally produced wine, stolen and robbed goods and other
illegal things during the drives. Police arrested
absconding convict Ohab, 48 of village Char Durgapur,
Killer Badsha, 21, of village Kuri- Biswa, thief Zahidul,
35, of village Shyampur, drug traffickers Mostak Ahmed, 30
and Abul Kalam, 32 with 205 bottles of phensidyl during
the period. Kotwali police arrested 12 persons, Gangachara
three, Taraganj three, Badarganj one, Mithapukur eight,
Pirganj one, Pirgacha three and Kawnia police arrested
three persons during the drives.
The arrested persons were sent to jail hajat when police
produced them before different Rangpur courts today,
police said.
Dacoities on picnic buses
A Correspondent, Naogaon
Two daring dacoities took place on busses of two picnic
parties respectively on February 10 and 11in the district.
On February 11 passengers of a picnic bus was robbed at
Khotapara in Sapahar upazila in the district.
Fifteen mobile phone sets, three cameras and about Tk
forty thousands in cash were looted by the dacoits. It has
been reported that, during the robbery passengers were
also injured as they were tortured.
In another incident on February 10, two busses carrying a
picnic party consisting students, teachers of Nanda
upazila Shaheed Mamun High School and College were
attacked by decoits on Naogaon-Badalgachi Road as they
were returning from Rangpur.
Twelve sets of mobile phones, four wrist watches, twelve
vories of gold ornaments, Tk thirty thousand in cash were
reported to be robbed.
Beauty, Polly and Sima, three female students, reported to
be injured during the dacoity.
Editorial
Recent Rise in
Crimes
An
important factor to be taken into consideration in tackling
crimes, is the role and efficiency of law-enforcement agencies
such as the Police. As with all our state institutions, the
Police too were formed by the British - their role that of
coercion. In an independent Bangladesh the Police are used not
merely coercively but also violently. Not only that but the
Police are also highly corrupt using institutions and
processes for personal gains in so organized a manner that
such activities could quite easily be termed "organized
crime". This was quite clearly recognized by the IGP when he
commented that most criminals commit crimes with the knowledge
of the Police or have links with them - this while speaking at
a foundation laying ceremony of Katiadi model police station
in Kishoreganj on 27 February 2008. One has but to cursorily
glance through the Police Act of 1861 and its child, the
Police Regulations of Bengal 1943 to grasp how irrelevant
these acts and regulations are to the political, social and
economic realities of Bangladesh and yet these are adopted and
adapted in Bangladesh because successive governments and
regimes - democratic or otherwise - have found it convenient
to use the Police for political purposes and gains through the
use of these regulations. Therefore, unless we look at, not
mere change or reform, but a complete reorganization of the
structures, rules, acts and regulations of the Police,
criminals and crimes will always stay a step ahead of
law-enforcement.
More pertinently as the Nations economic and social conditions
go into a steep nose-dive, crimes of all sorts, particularly
violent ones, are on a steep rise, all over the country but
more so in large urban areas where victims with money are more
readily available and vulnerable. Crimes during times of
economic and social dislocations are not merely the preserve
of law-enforcement agencies or of the judiciary; it then
becomes a matter for the State to resolve through economic and
social measures - both short and long term - which will permit
people to earn a living lawfully as well as provide them with
an environment which is safe and secure for both life,
livelihood and property.
The rapid increase of crimes during recent times ought to have
been an indicator of the social and economic malaise
inflicting our Nation but unfortunately the Government finds
it more comfortable to view it as a law and order problem. The
"law and order" point of view is not only not going to solve
the problem, it is going to aggravate it further because the
root causes are not being paid attention to and tackled in a
practical and constructive manner. Unless economic and social
measures are thought out and implemented determinedly, social
and economic disintegration will continue and crimes will keep
on rising.
The
Buriganga Tragedy
A
large number of people, mostly women and children, died when a
overloaded passenger launch capsized in the Buriganga river on
Thursday afternoon. The motor launch was going to Munshiganj
from Sadarghat of the capital with more than 150 passengers.
When it reached near Pagla a cargo vessel loaded with sand hit
it from behind and the launch sank instantly. As many as 39
bodies were recovered on Thursday and Friday while many more
were still reported missing.
This latest launch accident is tragic indeed. It is more so,
because the fatal accident took place in broad daylight in
absolutely fine weather condition. Accidents in waterways are
nothing new in the country, but normally those take place due
to head-on collision between two vessels in the darkness of
night, or if the weather is rough and a vessel is caught in
the storm. But there was no such reason or situation behind
the Thursday's accident. It was clearly the carelessness of
the driver of the cargo that led to the accident which could
easily be avoided.
Before this, the last launch accident occurred in the
Buriganga on 20 February 2005 and at least 149 lives were lost
in it. In another accident on 21 April 2004 a total of 138
people died when a passenger launch capsized in the Buriganga
near Fatullah.
A report published earlier in the TBT revealed that as many as
5862 people died in 506 major launch disasters at different
places of the country over the 28 years till May 2005. In one
of the major accidents 400 passengers lost their lives when a
launch capsized in the Meghna river near Chandpur in 1986. It
was a matter of relief that no major launch disaster took
place during the last two years. But that sense of respite
came to an end on Thursday.
According to informed sources the major causes of the
accidents include design and structural faults of the
launches, inefficiency and negligence of the drivers, carrying
of passengers beyond capacity, transportation of goods in
passenger launches, overloading and violation of Marine Act
etc. The number of river craft in operation in the country is
over 20 thousand, but only 8800 of them are reportedly
registered under the Marine Act.
Whenever a launch accident takes place, all including the
administration, media and public become vocal for steps to
stop such accidents and punishment for those responsible. But
after a few days every one forgets everything leaving only the
relatives of the victims to bear the brunt of the tragic
deaths of their loved ones in the accidents.
According to experts, one of the main reasons for the launch
accidents is lack of any stringent law and, worse still,
non-implementation of whichever law is in force to punish
those responsible for the accidents. To prevent recurrences of
accidents in the waterways tougher laws should be enacted with
provisions for awarding punishment to those responsible for
the accidents and payment of adequate compensation to the
victims by the owners of the vessels concerned.
Analysis
A Day of a Day Laborer
A patch of dark cloud is hovering on our sky---any moment the
cloud may gather strength and swirl into a horrific cyclone!
Maswood Alam Khan
During
the last two years I have been fortunate to see people and
places in Barisal and Khulna divisions from a close point of
view, thanks to my place of posting. Every time I met a family
in a rural area or a vendor in a village market I made
attempts to empathize with their pains and pleasures, but
mostly in vain.
My colleagues, especially the driver of my jeep, initially
used to feel queasy whenever I tried to mix up with a poor guy
in a village or an urchin on the street or an ear picker
strapping around his neck a bag of ear scoops and medicines,
whose job is to clear people's ear-canals of wax. My driver
would frown at my behavior whenever I broached with a stranger
the subject of his living---how much he earns a day, what was
his breakfast in the morning, how many hens are there in his
house which lay eggs etc. To be honest, I picked from my
father this queer habit of prying into privacies of common
people, a habit not so safe when you talk to a
stranger---there is a chance you are misconstrued or even
mishandled if you don't know how to befriend the guy before
you knock at his private door.
One day my driver said: "Our previous boss never ever came out
of this jeep while crossing on a ferry boat during his
official tours and if he needed something to eat or drink he
would have asked me to fetch it." I could understand the
message he wanted to convey to me.
Lest my driver's vanity is hurt by dilution of his boss's
personality I used to avoid him in the afternoons when I would
drive myself to a far flung area where after a little bit of
walking here and there, would enter a tea stall to relish an
evening tea sitting very close to poor people with none of my
acquaintances around to eavesdrop my hobnobbing with them.
Sitting with the underprivileged was not always a pleasant
experience.
One favorite spot in Barisal for my relaxing in the evenings
was a tea stall near Kalizira Bridge, an half an hour drive
from downtown. Customers who frequented the stall were mostly
wage laborers, more known as day laborers. They used to know
me by my face, but I never disclosed to them my profession as
a banker. Perhaps they guessed I was one of those
drivers---eying at my way of wearing a white T-shirt, a simple
trouser and a pair of sandals.
We humans cannot afford to remember each and every detail of
our bygone days. But there are events and faces which you
cannot really afford to erase from your memory. We love to
store those reminiscences in the deep freezer of our mind the
way we store in our refrigerator beans to keep them fresh. A
picture, a news item or even a faint smell serves as a thread
to open the lid of a virtual urn storing one of those
unforgettable faces or events we encountered in the distant
past.
The other day I was traveling by Sundarban Express---a nice
train newly imported from Indonesia---sitting on a
well-upholstered window-side chair for a ten-hour whole-night
journey from Dhaka cantonment to Khulna. I was truly upset as
I was reading a news item on 'how people are being debt-ridden
while meeting their food expenses' on the front page of a
Bangla evening newspaper "Diner Sheshey" I bought for a paltry
Taka two from a vendor.
According to an economist Dr. Khaliquzzaman, as the boxed news
item narrated, there are seventy million people in our country
whose daily income is unbelievably less than Taka thirty---who
have been described by the reporter as almost dead but only
with a little pulse of life. Some of them are cashing their
savings and others taking microloans from NGOs at high rates
of interest for buying food.
A person in the present day market of abnormally high prices
needs to spend Taka 37 for his/her one meal of steamed rice,
lentil soup and mashed potato (sounds pretty delicious to a
foreigner when described in English though), which are "bhat,
daal and aloo bharta" in Bangla that represents a poor man's
dish devoid of bare calorie needs a human being can live on.
No coarse rice at lesser than Taka 30 a kilo is available in
the market, one liter edible oil is selling at Taka 110, one
kilo ata (course flour) at Taka 43, mashur daal (lentil) at
Taka 78, potato at Taka 15. That translates into Taka 148 for
a family of four to consume 400 gram of rice, 50 gram lentil,
250 gram potato, 50 gram edible oil---all for two meals (lunch
and dinner) and an additional 150 gram of coarse flour for
breaking their fast in the morning. Fish or meats are simply
out of their dreamland. This family of four living in a rural
area perhaps has only one earning member who must find a
regular work at least as a day laborer for Taka 150 a day. But
a day laborer does not return home every day with a smile!
As Sundarban Express was racing at a very high speed on its
broad-gauge track threading its way through the nocturnal
panorama I made an attempt to forget the news on the plights
of people living on 'bhat, daal and aloo bharta' while gazing
through the windowpane at the fleeting scenes of darkish trees
and bushes under a moon-lit sky. But my powerless mind, lulled
by rocking rhythms of the train, traveled two years back to an
evening at the tea stall near Kalizira Bridge in Barisal.
My intention behind visiting the tea stall near the Kalizira
Bridge was not for my mere longing to taste a tea, but also
for a chance to blend with the commoners---to know them, to
hear them, to live and breathe their way of living. I also
tried to speak with them in their dialect that I defectively
picked during my sojourns in Barisal; but they would ridicule
my weird use of their vernacular.
More I wanted to be informal with them more they behaved
formally. I could not really make them open their hearts to
me. They rather wanted to show off their best as if they were
the happiest people in the neighborhood. I knew with political
upheavals and unending 'hartals' wrecking the whole country
during that time they were passing miserable days with no
work, no income; but I failed to make them vent out their
pains. They perhaps did not like the idea of disclosing
themselves as inferior to me.
My hunt however struck gold one evening. Conversation of two
intimate friends---both of them day laborers---who sat just
behind my back at the tea stall opened for me a rare window to
pay a surreptitious visit to their homesteads and partly
experience their haplessness from the comfort of my sipping a
tea in the stall. What I overheard is difficult to narrate,
anyway.
They come to visit the tea stall in the evening only on those
days when they get a job of day laboring. They are basically
helping hands to a mason. None of them owns any cultivable
land and their only earning is from laboring mostly at the
construction sites in the town. One of them has a milking cow
which provides a little additional income from selling its
milk. That evening, both the friends were happy as they worked
as picketers for a political party and earned Taka one hundred
each in addition to their free lunch.
One friend lost his wife a few weeks back who died from giving
birth to his second child. He terribly misses his wife
especially at dawn when he milks his cow. "Why when milking
your cow?" his friend enquired. "My wife is no more there to
chase away mosquitoes." the widower answered.
I could not really make out what he was meaning by his wife's
chasing away mosquitoes. Later, I came to learn that it is
very important to keep a cow steady when she is
hand-milked---a job done by one pulling down on the teats of
the cow's udder to squirt milk into a bucket and another
brushing the cow's body with a 'gamsa' (towel) to chase away
mosquitoes so that the cow does not tweak or kick the bucket
of milk to rid itself of biting mosquitoes.
But words in a hushed voice of one of the friends that made my
heart heavy illustrated something different. "Dear friend, I
hardly skip any of my five prayers nowadays. After milking my
cow at the small hour of night I rush to the mosque to say my
'fazr' prayer." "You solicit God's blessings for your departed
wife?" his friend asked. "Yes." "What else do you beg every
morning at the end of your 'fazr' prayer?" His whispered voice
replies: "Allow me, Allah, to get a work for the day. I don't
want to come back home in the morning to hear my daughter ask:
'Abbajaan, you didn't get any work today?"
This widower is perhaps one of our seventy million people who
as wage laborers earn less than Taka 30 a day on an
average---as was surmised by the economist Dr. Khaliquzzaman
and reported in the Bangla evening newspaper "Diner Sheshey".
Soaked in sweat, they toil with their stooped shoulders and
shrunken bodies. Many of these destitute laborers have to
return home most of the days finding nobody to buy their labor
or many of them are not strong enough to perform everyday a
strenuous job as they subsist on diets like 'bhat, daal and
aloo bharta' that are too poor in caloric value to endow them
with strength---affecting their health, productivity and sense
of hope. A day for a day laborer without any scope to sell his
labor means absolute hunger for his whole family. These humans
deemed beasts by us go to bed hungry on many more nights than
filled.
With recession looming large in the world, hiking prices of
daily necessities crippling the poor, inefficiency on the part
of our market overseers failing to control prices, starvation
seems staring in the eyes of our poor people and the shadow of
destitution hanging over their hovels. A patch of dark cloud
is hovering on our sky---any moment the cloud may gather
strength and swirl into a horrific cyclone!n
(Maswood Alam Khan, General Manager, Bangladesh Krishi
Bank.
E-mail:
maswoodalamkhan@gmail.com )
Kosovo,
Israel and Palestine
Like the Israelis, the Serbs are also immersed in their past.
For them as for us, history is more important than the
present. The future is a hostage of the past.
Uri Avnery
A
Serbian is driving down the highway in the wrong direction,
listening to music on the radio. Suddenly the program is
interrupted by an urgent announcement: "Warning! A crazy
driver on the highway is going in the wrong direction!"
"Only one?" the Serb exclaims, "All of them!"
"Wow!" the thought crossed my mind when a Serbian friend told
me this joke, "How much they resemble us!"
And indeed, much as Serbs are different from Israelis, it
seems that we have a lot in common. Both peoples believe that
"the whole world is against us". Both are completely convinced
that they are absolutely in the right, even when everybody
else is telling them otherwise.
Like the Israelis, the Serbs are also immersed in their past.
For them as for us, history is more important than the
present. The future is a hostage of the past.
Many centuries ago, the Serbs lived in Kosovo. According to
them, that patch of ground was the cradle of their nation.
There, in June 1389, the defining event of their history took
place: the great battle against the Ottoman Turks. The fact
that the Serbs were decisively beaten does not diminish the
memory. It also does not matter to them that afterward, a
people of Albanian descent took root in the country. In their
eyes, the people that has now been living in Kosovo for many
centuries is "foreign", the country is "the patrimony of our
forefathers" and "belongs to us because our religion (the
Eastern Orthodox) says so." Doesn't that sound at bit
familiar?
In World War II, the feeling of solidarity between Serbs and
Jews was cemented. Our heart was, of course, with the
courageous partisans. The Jews who succeeded in reaching
Tito's liberated areas were saved from the Holocaust. Serbs
and Jews were murdered together in the Croatian concentration
camps, which were so gruesome that even SS officers shuddered
when they visited them. The death of Tito and the collapse of
his regime did not put an end to the feeling of solidarity. On
the contrary. Our Rightists fell in love with Slobodan
Milosevic. Ariel Sharon supported him publicly. Perhaps he
liked the combination of deeplyvfelt victimhood and merciless
brutality. All this explains the mixed feelings many Israelis
have toward the declaration of independence of Kosovo.
I am afraid that in this matter, too, my views diverge from
those of many other Israelis. My heart was with the masses of
Albanian Kosovars who rejoiced and danced this week in the
streets of Pristina. They reminded me of the masses
celebrating in the streets of Tel Aviv some 60 years ago, when
the UN General Assembly decide to set up a Jewish state (It
also decided to set up a Palestinian-Arab state, but that has
been well-nigh forgotten.)
This week, people throughout the world are debating the
question: Do the Kosovars have the right to a state of their
own - or not? International law is being analyzed, possible
precedents examined, learned arguments raised pro and contra.
To me this seems irrelevant. When a population decides that it
is a nation, behaves like a nation and fights like a nation -
well, then it is a nation and has the right to its own
nation-state. That is the only test that counts. And the
Kosovars have stood this test. Therefore, there is a Kosovar
nation, and it has a right to a state. Long Live the Republic
of Kosova!
The midwife of the independent Republic of Kosovo was the
genocidal Milosevic. When he decided to carry out a murderous
ethnic cleansing and to drive out millions of Kosovars from
their country, he put an end to the right of Serbia to go on
ruling Kosovo. It proved again how right Thomas Jefferson was
when he demanded, in the American Declaration of Independence,
"a decent respect for the opinion of mankind".
Milosevic, like his admirer Sharon, had only contempt for the
opinion of mankind. They were both wrong. as was Stalin when
he asked contemptuously: "How many divisions has the Pope?"
The establishment of the Republic of Kosovo is a punishment
for Milosevic, much as the establishment of Israel was a
revenge on Adolf Hitler - even if it was the Palestinians who
paid the price. The conscience of mankind was outraged by the
monstrous expulsion, and this time it did have divisions - or
at least squadrons. The US Air Force bombed Serbia and
compelled Milosevic to stop the despicable operation. The
Kosovars returned to their homes, and since then independence
was only a matter of time.
The lesson of the Kosovo chapter is simple: Since World War
II, one can no longer commit genocide without the conscience
of the world being aroused and action taken to stop it.
Sometimes this happens late, even shockingly late, but in the
end the selected victim will stand on his feet again.
A more general question arises: When does a national minority
have the right to secede and establish a nation-state of its
own? If the Kosovars have this right, why not the Basques in
Spain? The Corsicans in France? The Tibetans in China? The
Tamils in Sri Lanka? The Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and
Syria? The Luo in Kenya? The Darfurians in Sudan?
That is a subject best left to professors of political
science. Reality has its own language. No one case is the same
as another. There is no international tribunal to decide,
according to established standards, who has this right - and
who does not. The matter is decided in practice: when a
particular population is determined to achieve independence at
any cost, and when it is ready to fight and sacrifice for its
independence - then they have the "right" to independence.
The aspirations of a minority depend also on the attitude of
the majority. A nation that is wise enough to treat its
national minorities with decency and accord them real equality
will succeed in keeping the state intact. Countries like
Canada and Belgium understand this and endeavor to prevent the
breaking up of the state. But when the dominant people
mistreat the minority - as the Serbs did in Kosovo and the
Russians are doing in Chechnya - they reinforce the motivation
to achieve independence.
* Yugoslavia has broken up, and now even Serbia has broken up.
The unity of Canada and Belgium is fragile. Kenya is breaking
apart between ethnic units ("tribes"). In many place around
the world, minority peoples are dreaming about new nation
states of their own.
* Apparently, a paradox. A small state, even a medium-sized
state cannot maintain real independence in a world that is
inevitably moving towards globalization. States like Germany
and France are compelled to transfer large chunks of their
sovereign powers to regional superstates, like the European
Union. The French economy and the German Army are subject to
Brussels more than to Paris and Berlin. So what is the sense
in creating even smaller states?
The answer lies with the power of nationalism, which is not
decreasing, but rather the opposite. One hundred or two
hundred years ago, Corsica could not defend itself. To be
secure, it had to be part of the French kingdom. The Basque
homeland could not sustain an independent economy and needed
to be part of a larger economic unit, like Spain. But today,
when decisions are made in Brussels, why should Corsicans and
Basques not have their own states and be separate members of
the EU?
That is a worldwide tendency. Separate nations do not unite in
new states, but on the contrary, existing states break up into
national components. Anyone who believes that Israelis and
Palestinians will unite tomorrow in one state does not live in
the real world. The slogan "two states for two peoples" is
relevant today more than ever.
So Israel, approaching its own 60th anniversary, should
recognize the Republic of Kosovo and wish it well.
Source: www. arabnews.com
Viewpoints
Feeding a Global Trade Opportunity
Rising food prices might also create an
opportunity to break an international logjam on agricultural
policy and reinvigorate stalled global trade talks.
Lee Hudson Teslik
Prices
of foodstuffs, particularly basics like wheat and corn, are
spiking worldwide (Economist), ending a three-decade trend of
price decline. The shift could hold myriad consequences,
including some very worrisome ones for parts of the developing
world. Yet analysts detect a silver lining-rising food prices
might also create an opportunity to break an international
logjam on agricultural policy and reinvigorate stalled global
trade talks.
Hope springs from the fact that higher food prices are forcing
many countries to adjust their thinking on agricultural import
tariffs to try to maintain steady food supplies. The Wall
Street Journal recently reported that the European Union, long
one of the world's most protected agricultural markets, will
for the first time remove import duties on cereal. Meanwhile,
China and several other large emerging countries such as
India, Brazil, South Korea, Nigeria, and Russia have cut
import tariffs to prevent food shortages.
Both the United States and the United Nations project food
prices will remain high, at least for the next year. Should
these predictions hold true, economists say food prices may
well continue to prompt tariff reductions, which are seen as
the best way to promote increased production (Marketplace).
Countries scrambling to fill grocery shelves may be willing to
bend where they haven't previously. If major exporters start
exporting less, this in turn could make farm industries in
developed countries like the United States feel less
threatened by imports. In the Journal article cited above,
Peter Mandelson, the EU trade minister, notes a shift already
afoot: "There's much less of a need for protectionism than
when we started [the Doha Round of global trade talks] in
2001."
It remains to be seen whether this dynamic could revive
multilateral trade talks like the Doha Round, which has been
stalled by the unwillingness of crucial states to
substantially reduce agricultural tariffs. Trade officials
from the major parties to Doha, including Mandelson and U.S.
Trade Representative Susan Schwab, say they will meet in
Geneva before June. But many obstacles stand in the way of
rapid progress on the Doha talks. For starters, the U.S.
Congress is working on a new farm bill that seems unlikely to
produce major cuts (The Hill) in farm subsidies. But Jake
Caldwell of the Center for American Progress calls it an
opportunity for the United States "to boost its economic
leadership and increase international market access for
competitive U.S. farmers."
Yet opinion in Washington remains starkly divided. One trade
expert and one representative from the American Farm Bureau
discuss whether the United States should cut its farm
subsidies in a recent CFR.org Online Debate. More basically,
discussion of the merits of free trade itself remains highly
politicized on Capitol Hill, and the recent expiration of
President Bush's "fast-track" trade promotion authority means
any potential multilateral trade deal would be subject to
congressional markups. None of this would prevent trade deals
from proliferating in the developing world. The question
raised by experts like CFR's Jagdish Bhagwati is whether the
United States will be a part of these deals.
(Lee Hudson Teslik is Assistant Editor of Council of Foreign
Relations. Source: www.cfr.org)
Afghanistan: Defeat or victory?
If they did not come trying
to impose their "odious" ways on us! What right do we have to
go there?
Debbie Menon
THE
Pashtuns are perhaps the only logical and perhaps a possible
path to "peace" in Afghanistan... if, you perceive "peace" to
mean an end to hostilities, particularly hostilities involving
foreigners, the US, UN, NATO and the forces of the "willing
coalition", a motley collection of US lackeys, in Afghanistan.
Why should the Pashtuns even be considered? Logically, the
only option because of their disproportionately high number in
comparison to the others, say, the Tajik, Uzbek, etc.
Eventually, of course, the US and the "willing coalition" will
have to make some accommodation with the Pashtun, as well as
the other tribes and peoples, and the fighting will end,..for
them, for now, and they will call it "peace," and a victory
for themselves.
The politics and practices of the Taleban movement which
emerged in Afghanistan was almost purely theological, but its
foreign policy was not in accord with Western wishes, and
therefore became distasteful to Western political minds, who
interpreted and identified the most severe of the
fundamentalist's practices as examples of an undesirable and
despicable government. All coins in the American realm have,
of course, only one side!
The Taleban movement in Afghanistan, as well as theological
government in almost any other place it is found, is hardly
different in principle from the Puritan movement in England,
the persecution of which inspired the Puritan Pilgrimage to
America. It is in principle, that same type of government
which we see George Bush and others attempting to establish in
the US, although I would suspect that Afghan Taleban are more
sincere and faithful in their theological motivation and lack
the depths of hypocrisy of the American Puritan Pilgrims and
the George Bush neo-Christian Right.
I am sure that Muslim women, and Taleban women in particular,
do not have all the "freedoms" of some of the women in Western
culture, but do we have to look too far to find the pot
calling the kettle black? My objection in this aspect, is that
the black pot is painting and casting the kettle even blacker
than it actually is.
Having lived in an Islamic country for 20 years where many
women wear the headscarf, many wear a more severe and formal
dress, and some wear the full garb. And greater many also wear
nothing at all of that nature! I have yet to hear any woman or
husband, complain or protest. No one and nothing makes them
dress the way they do, except convention, the same determinant
behind how me and my sister, those women in Afghanistan, and
anywhere else dress.
Having lived in an Arab country, surely I am aware that most
of the Secular Ruling and Leading Religious class crimes
against the people are committed out of secular motivation,
invoked and enforced by ideological interpretations in
contravention of the theological laws.
Yes, the Taleban did punish deviation from the ideological/
theological norms. Women were whipped for the way they
dressed, and men were beaten for shaving. What would happen in
New York if you or I were to perform some severe aberrant
violation of American custom? We would be punished according
to local law! Perhaps by Taleban standards, an inadequate
punishment... but then, different strokes for different folks?
Would they want Taleban coming into their countries and
advising them on how to punish their thieves, rapists, spousal
and child abusers, and murderers? Why should they invite 'us'
into theirs to advise them by our standards?
How would they like Taleban to come to their home and tell
them how to vote, dress, behave, whether they could go to
school or not, and punish them if they missed Church,
Synagogue or Mosque at the prescribed times?
If they did not come trying to impose their "odious" ways on
us! What right do we have to go there?
As I recall, one of their greatest crimes was blowing up some
ancient statues which they considered offensive to their
religious interpretations. Well, it happened in their own
country, and they were the sovereign government. Oh, the other
big crime was their refusal to come to terms with an offer
from Unocal and Exxon to build some kind of pipeline from
Uzbekistan to Pakistan. Perhaps they refused to accept the
bribes and blowback, and offended some important people.
But we worked that one out didn't we, with the current Free
and Democratic Government which the people were so happy, with
an assist from us, to vote into office after the Taleban left?
Apply those shoes to some Afghan Taleban they will fit no
better on those other feet.
I have read recently about the removal of some religious icons
from the public schools, Federal Court Houses and other public
places in America, and the banning of Religious ritual in
Public Places. No one seems to be as excited about those
things as they purported to be about the statues. Principle?
As an aside, I might note that in the Muslim country that I
lived in, their Municipal Counsels, and Federal Governments,
and all local businesses, spend millions of Dirhams each year
decorating buildings, markets and shopping Centers with
lights, banners, tinsel, false snow, crucifixes, crèches and
crosses to celebrate the great Christian event 'Christmas' the
birthday of the Christian prophet. They are not allowed to do
that in the Great Christian Nation the United States of
Ambiguity.
I think the best solution is something like this....
"You leave us alone and we will leave you alone. We can trade
and do business if you like (but don't encourage us to go into
the poppy agriculture industry because we have traditions
which prohibit such trade) and don't tell us how to live, and
we will not tell you how to live. And, if you find our ways
odious, or if we find your ways odious, then you can leave us
alone, and we will get along without your trade, as I am sure
you can get long without ours. Just stay home, and don't come
over here interfering with us, or we will bring grievous hurt
upon you!"
Afghanistan, to me at least, evokes the image of a cowering
battered, bruised, bloodied and disheveled woman, chained, and
at the mercy of her captors. Perhaps I have too vivid an
imagination.
I suspect a lot of this is in Wikipedia. But, then, the
writing in Wikipedia is not very exciting, is it!
Afghanistan? Back in the days of Marco Polo, which was not his
real name but Western historians have seldom got such
irrelevant facts correct anyway, one of the main trade routes
between East and West ran smack through Afghanistan, up the
Khyber Pass and on into Asia. This narrow and arduous passage
on such a great and valuable road made Afghanistan an
important player in what was then considered the all-important
game of World Trade. They were the gatekeepers, and toll
collectors, on the Gate between East and West. Whoever
controlled them, or their gate, controlled world trade.
Considered by most of the "First World" countries, at the
time, as ignorant hillbillies who made a living kicking sheep
and goats up and down hill all day, they were considered a
pushover for domination.
Many countries tried it over the centuries; some of which no
longer exist; but Afghanistan is still there., and most of the
"leading" and advanced countries in the world still see them
as a backward nation of sheep and goat kickers. Few of them
have ever studied why Afghanistan has never, for long, come
under the domination of any foreign nation, and have sent so
many of them home, tail between their legs with noses
bleeding.
Afghanistan is now the low-cost source for the majority of the
illicit drugs traded in the most profitable industry, next to
warfare, in the modern world and, as a nation of ignorant
hillbillies, they are a sitting duck for any ambitious nation
or group who wants to come by and knock them off.
The fact that they lie directly in the path of what some
people see as a new trade route for oil and gas, is simply
reminiscent of the old days of caravansary and camel glory.
No one has yet figured exactly how a nation of such
disorganisd and ignorant, backward hillbillies has been able
to defeat and repel some of the mightiest nations in the
world, but many are still sending armed envoys there to find
out.
It seems that no matter how much blood flows in this school,
how many bodies fail the course, no one has discovered the
secret.
Source: www.khaleejtimes.com
Blair's hopes of leading
Europe are doomed
Europe's history is littered
with the failed ambitions of those who would wear the crown.
Simon Jenkins
Europe's
history is littered with the failed ambitions of those who
would wear the crown.
The headline read, "Stop Blair: ambition to lead Europe hits
fierce opposition." Forget the opposition, I wondered, what
about the ambition? We thought Tony Blair hated Europe,
loathed its summits and preferred the Anglo-American
camaraderie of Camp David. Europe has never tolerated being
led. Diversity is its glory, cantankerousness its defence. It
is not a family or a community but a marketplace. Those who
have sought its unity, even as a political metaphor , have
come to grief.
The first man to lead Europe did so only after Antony "thrice
presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse."
Julius Caesar died slumped in a pool of blood. His eventual
successors were seen off stage as they have always been, by
other Europeans, variously Huns, Goths, Franks, and Saxons.
Not until Charlemagne in the 9th century did something like a
European empire re-emerge, corresponding to a remarkable
extent to the original six nations of the common market. But
half a century of dynastic wars and Viking raids soon
destroyed it, a point glossed over by the Eurocrats who cite
Charlemagne as their forebear. The key to the much-underrated
Viking expansion was that it was colonial rather than
imperial.
Not so the Holy Roman Empire. Its rulers rarely found peace,
whether at home or overseas. The 12th-century Frederick
Barbarossa ended his attempt to amalgamate Europe under the
banner of the third crusade, in the course of which he
drowned.
Charles V of Spain, perhaps the first true leader of a
European coalition, was elected head of the Holy Roman Empire
with the help of German money. But that involved the enmity of
France and England, resolved by constant wars and
excommunications. Charles' supremacy was supposedly "to
exterminate heresy," yet he tolerated the Protestant sack of
Rome and fended off the imperial ambitions of Suleiman the
Magnificent, another potential ruler of Europe who conquered
its eastern half and reached the gates of Vienna. In 1556,
Charles wisely vanished to a monastery.
The story of 17th and 18th century Europe mirrors that of
post-war Brussels, of attempts by the custodians of a big
idea, in that case Popes and inquisitors, to impose a
centralised bureaucracy. The House of Hapsburg believed itself
dynastic ruler of Europe but was rarely accepted as such.
Attempts to unify the core nations of Europe, from the Peace
of Ryswick to the treaties of Utrecht, Aix-la-Chapelle and
Paris, read like a catalogue of dyspeptic Euro-summits. All
ended in conflict and war. Europe seemed at peace only when it
stuck to trade - be it the Lombard banks, the Calais Staple or
the Hanseatic League.
Edward Gibbon, writing of the fall of Rome, might have been
describing his contemporary Europe when he concluded that,
rather than empire, "independent states linked by a general
resemblance of religion, language and manners are productive
of the most beneficial consequences to the liberty of
mankind."
Yet one megalomaniac after another thought he could buck the
trend. Napoleon understood the concept of subsidiarity, of
"nationalities freely formed and free internally," but as
under all dictatorships, and the EU, things never work out
that way. His European ambition, he later wrote, "will be
linked to my person because I have carried its torch." Adolf
Hitler approached international leadership in a similar
spirit. "Never tolerate the establishment of two continental
powers in Europe," he wrote.
Those who used to play the board game called diplomacy will
recall that certain patterns recurred irrespective of the
skill of the players. Germany always did well for a while,
until everyone combined against it. Britain did best by
standing aloof. The two states on the fringes of Europe -
Russia and Turkey - could never win but could cause havoc.
Determinists would argue that any attempt to "lead" Europe is
bound to fail for two reasons. First, its nation states, big
or small, are culturally too idiosyncratic to be led by any
but their own. Secondly, the mere act of trying to lead
induces a putative ruler to stray "out of area" and overreach
himself, as if Europe exists only against a common foe.
That overreaching also has a pattern. It seeks to control the
Near East and it seeks to conquer Russia. All champions of
Europe have met their fate on the roads to Moscow or
Jerusalem. It is uncanny that Mr. Blair's two great failures
in foreign policy - which surely disqualify him as a leader -
involved alienating Russia and the Muslim world.
Source: www.hindu.com
International
Children among 19
killed as Israel pounds Gaza
AFP, Gaza City
Israel pounded Hamas-run Gaza on Thursday,
killing 10 militants, four children and four civilians, as
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to make the Islamists pay
a heavy price for rocket attacks.
The children, aged eight, nine, 11 and 12, were killed as
they played in a field during an Israeli air strike around
the northern town of Jabaliya, Palestinian medics said.
Another 12-year-old boy died of wounds sustained in a Gaza
raid the previous day, and a shepherd was killed in
northern Gaza.
The Israeli army said it carried out several air strikes
targeting rocket-launching sites.
Palestinian medical sources said four people were killed
in two separate air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip on
Thursday evening.
Two of them were killed in one car driving in the north of
the Gaza Strip. A third was found dead in an electricity
company vehicle, which carried another Palestinian who
later died of his injures, they said.
Thirty-three Palestinians and one Israeli have now been
killed in two days of bloodshed, all but three of them in
and around the impoverished Gaza Strip, where Israel has
imposed a punishing blockade.
Among those killed have been a six-month-old baby in Gaza
and a man in southern Israel who became the first Israeli
victim of a Gaza rocket attack in nine months.
A Hamas gunman was also killed in an Israeli strike near
the house of Ismail Haniya, the premier in the Hamas-led
government that Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas fired
after the Islamists seized control of Gaza in June.
Following talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice in Tokyo, Olmert vowed to punish Hamas for the rocket
attacks despite US concerns about civilians in Gaza.
"We will make the terrorists pay a very heavy price,"
Olmert told reporters. "We are at the height of this
battle and we will pursue it until the danger threatening
residents in the south ends."
Defence Minister Ehud Barak warned that "a large-scale
ground operation is being considered" and Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni urged the international community to accept
such an operation.
"We don't accept arguments that there are victims in both
camps, as one cannot put Palestinian terrorism that
targets innocent civilians on the same footing as those
who combat it, even if civilians are killed
unintentionally," Livni said.
Rice said earlier she told Olmert that she supported his
determination to end the Palestinian rocket attacks. "The
issue is that the rocket attacks need to stop."
She is due to visit the Middle East next week as part of
Washington's efforts to advance the peace process that was
relaunched in late November but has made little progress
since.
Egyptian FM blames Israel for plight of Gaza
AFP, Cairo
Foreign
Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told a high-level Israeli
delegation on Thursday that Egypt blames Israel for the
worsening humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, a
ministry official said.
"Egypt does not accept the collective punishment meted out
by Israel which worsens the suffering of those in Gaza,"
spokesman Hossam Zaki quoted Abul Gheit as telling the
visiting delegation led by Israeli foreign ministry
director general Aaron Abramovich.
In a statement Zaki said the visiting delegation also
included the political adviser to Israeli Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni.
"Israel is behind the worsening humanitarian situation in
the Gaza Strip," Abul Gheit said, and stressed Egypt's
"concern about military operations in which innocent
civilians are the victims."
The Cairo talks came as Israeli forces pounded the Hamas-run
Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing four children and 10
militants, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to make
the Islamists pay a heavy price for rocket attacks on
Israel.
At least 28 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed
in two days of bloodshed, all but three of them in and
around impoverished Gaza, where Israel has imposed a
punishing blockade.
Thaksin is not 'the real PM,' Thai premier tells
AFP, Bangkok
Thai Prime
Minister Samak Sundaravej told a senior US envoy Friday
that Thaksin Shinawatra will not run his government from
behind the scenes, now that the deposed premier has
returned from exile.
Samak met Friday with Christopher Hill, the US pointman
for East Asian affairs, just one day after Thaksin staged
a dramatic homecoming after nearly a year and a half in
self-imposed exile.
Thaksin was toppled in a coup in 2006, and a
military-backed court has banned him from politics for
five years.
Although Thaksin has publicly vowed "never, ever" to
return to politics, he has already played a critical role
in ensuring Samak's victory in elections held in December.
Many analysts say Thaksin will try to keep Samak on a
tight leash.
Samak, a charismatic but combative right-winger, has
bristled at suggestions that he is Thaksin's puppet, and
told Hill that he hold the reins of government, according
to his spokeswoman Suparat Nakbunnam.
"Today the critics say that the real prime minister has
returned to Thailand, but today is my day as prime
minister," Samak told Hill during their meeting, according
to the spokeswoman.
Hill met with Samak just hours before he made his first
official visit overseas as head of government, travelling
to neighbouring Laos.
Hill also gave Samak a message to deliver from the United
States to the ruling military junta in Myanmar, Thailand's
neighbour and a key trading partner, she said.
Suparat declined to give details of the message, but said
Samak was likely to visit Myanmar next week.
Thaksin's homecoming to rapturous crowds Thursday eclipsed
Samak's profile as prime minister, sparking widespread
speculation in Thai media that Thaksin was returning to
keep the premier under his thumb.
Although Thaksin personally tapped Samak to lead his
supporters in the last elections, the two have a prickly
history.
They both served as deputy prime ministers during the late
1990s, and bickered so intensely that the revered King
Bhumibol Adulyadej publicly scolded them.
Missile strike on Pakistan militant hideout kills 13
AFP, Islamabad
A suspected US missile strike destroyed an Al-Qaeda and
Taliban hideout in a Pakistani tribal area Thursday,
killing 13 alleged militants including several Arabs,
security officials said.
Residents of Azam Warsak village in South Waziristan told
AFP that a house was blown up by a missile fired from a
pilotless drone and the loud blast was heard miles (kilometres)
away in the rugged valley.
US drones have launched several strikes on the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border targeting members of Osama bin
Laden's network, although Islamabad never confirms such
attacks due to issues of national sovereignty.
"A house used as a den by Al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban
militants was hit by a missile. Thirteen people were
killed and around 10 were wounded," a senior Pakistani
security official told AFP.
"There was no immediate information about the presence of
any high-value target," the official said.
A security source based in the northwestern city of
Peshawar, which adjoins the lawless tribal belt, said the
missile was fired by a US drone at about 2:00 am Thursday
(2100 GMT Wednesday).
Another security official said most of the dead were
Arabs.
The militants were using the house as an "operational
base" for attacks on NATO-led and US troops in
Afghanistan, as well as a meeting place for Taliban and
Al-Qaeda militants, the official said.
Armed militants cordoned off the site after the missile
strike, residents said. They said four unidentified
"guests" had arrived late Wednesday at the destroyed
house, although their identities were not known.
South Waziristan is also the base of Baitullah Mehsud, an
Al-Qaeda-linked warlord accused by Pakistan of
masterminding the December slaying of former premier
Benazir Bhutto, but officials said the strike was not in
the area he commands.
A spokesman for the US-led coalition force based in
Afghanistan said it had "no reports" that either it or the
separate NATO-headed force were involved in the strike.
In its first official comment, the Pakistani military said
late Thursday that the deaths were caused by an explosion
at a hideout in the area.
"As per our information it was an explosion caused by
explosive material in a house," chief military spokesman
Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.
The blast reportedly killed 10 to 12 people, he said,
adding that it was not clear if all those who died were
foreigners.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan does not confirm US involvement in
military action in the tribal belt since Islamabad has
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