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Leading
News
Political parties express concern
about polls
Staff Correspondent
Different political parties
including Awami League and BNP on Sunday expressed concern
about the holding of national election as per schedule as
the government is still delaying the electoral process.
They were participating in a roundtable conference on
"Election, Emergency and our Politics" organised by the
daily Ittefaq held at the National Press Club yesterday.
"The Election Commission is yet to finalise the electoral
rules, area demarcation, and preparation of voter Identity
Cards as per its roadmap announced by the commission
earlier. The army personnel wanted to complete voter ID
cards within six months. But six months have already
elapsed and only 40 per cent ID cards have been prepared.
As people from all walks of life want to see an elected
political government, we are asking the government to hold
election as per roadmap and handover the power to the
elected political party," they said.
Speaking on the occasion, Tofael Ahmed said the people of
the country are waiting for an election which will be free
from black money, muscle power and partiality. "Although
the Chief Adviser, the Chief Election Commissioner and
Army Chief are frequently telling us that parliament
election will be held by December 2008, but no works are
being completed yet as per the roadmap as the EC has
failed to finalise the electoral rule by February and
hasn’t started demarcating constituencies", he added.
Hannan Shah said, "When the people are waiting for the
national election, the government is busy with holding
local government election in a bid to divert the attention
from the main issue. The government is not lifting the
emergency rule as they want to continue in power. In a
country like Pakistan where every day people are being
killed by terror attacks, the parliament election was held
there at an emergency free atmosphere."
Goyeshwar Roy said the government will not hold election
until minus two formula is implemented. "Whatever the
judgment of courts, we demand unconditional release of two
leaders Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina," he added.
Dr. Kamal Hossain said a national unity is needed under
the banner of pro liberation forces. "We need political
reform for building a prosperous and happy Bangladesh
where there will be no nomination business and political
criminalization," he added.
Hasanul Haque Inu said BNP and Jammat are responsible for
the political catastrophe. "BNP and Jamaat using President
Iajuddin Ahmed wanted to come to power again through
election engineering. As a result emergency has been
promulgated. For their mistake the entire Nation is still
suffering," he said.
In his speech Rashed Khana Menon said that by holding a
national convention of union parishad Chairmen and
Members, the caretaker government is encouraging them to
divert the people away from the general election towards
local government election.
AL blames govt, EC for inefficiency
Skyrocketing prices, deadlock over reform
talks
Staff Correspondent
The Awami League has blasted
the present Caretaker Government for its failure to
perform its responsibilities properly and also the
Election Commission for mishandling the electoral reform
talks specially with the BNP. These opinions were voiced
at a meeting of AL presidium members and the organising
secretaries at Dhanmondi AL office in the capital on
Sunday. Emerging from the two-hour meeting, acting AL
General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said, "Different
prevailing issues - including the State of Emergency,
indoor politics, treatment of the ailing AL chief Sheikh
Hasina, Bangabandhu’s birth anniversary and the possible
date of the next parliament election have dominated the
discussion."
Expressing grave concern over the health condition of the
detained former Prime Minister, the emergency meeting of
AL demanded of the government to send her to United States
for the better treatment on humanitarian grounds.
AL condemned the ‘controversial role’ of the government in
discouraging the Sector Commanders’ meeting recently. It
also urged the authorities concerned to allow the veteran
freedom fighters to play their positive role against the
war criminals. About the birth day of the father of nation
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mijubur Rahman on March 17, the meeting
urged the government to observe the day as "National
Children Day’ and declare the day as a ‘Public Holiday’.
Demanding the lifting of emergency rules from the country
within the shortest possible time, the AL leaders demanded
an announcement of the date of the upcoming parliamentary
election before June 26.
Replying to a query, the acting AL General Secretary said,
"We want Parliamentary Election first; then that of the
Local Government. If the government takes steps in holding
Local Government polls prior to the National Election, the
AL Working Committee will take final decision whether we
would participate in the election or not."
Referring to the price spiral of the essentials, Ashraful
said, "The government has already proved their widespread
inefficiency to some extent mainly in arresting the price
hike."
About the remarks of Regulatory Reforms Commission
Chairman Akbar Ali Khan that a ‘Silent Famine’ was
ravaging the country, the AL leader said, "Mr Khan spoke
rightly."
Asraful Islam strongly criticised the activities of the
Chief Adviser’s Office where the AL’s letter - requesting
the government for sending Sheikh Hasina abroad for better
treatment - was received by a messenger. "There are many
officials at the CAO, why such situation?" he questioned
adding "This government is not serious in its function."
Among others, Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzaque, Tofael
Ahmed, Kazi Zaforullah, Abdul Mannan, Saber Hossain
Chowdhury, AKM Jahangir Hossain and Sultan Muhammad Mansur
also attended the
meeting.
Hannan
Shah backtracks on unity move
Staff Correspondent
BNP Chairperson’s adviser Brig (retd)
ASM Hannan Shah, who had become vocal in favour of unity
in the party, has apparently backtracked from his earlier
stand after Khandoker Delwar Hossain disowned his unity
move. According to sources, Hannan Shah for the time being
aborted his agenda of bringing the reformists back into
the mainstream party. Soon after coming across the
statement given by the party Secretary General from New
York through a news agency, Hannan Shah got furious. The
statement said there is no reason to believe Hannan Shah
and Begum Zia gave no message to him for unity.
Against this backdrop, Khandoker Delwar Hossain’s son
Dublu went to the New DOHS residence of Hannan Shah on
Saturday and tried to calm him down. At one stage, Dublu
requested Hannan Shah to talk to Delwar Hossain over cell
phone, but Hannan Shah refused saying, "I will talk to him
physically." Later, pro-Delwar ex-MP Maj (retd)
Akhtaruzzaman, who made a statement against Hannan Shah’s
unity move, went to meet Hannan Shah. Sources close to
Hannan Shah told this correspondent, "With this new
development, Hannan Shah has shifted from his earlier
stand and decided to halt his activities until Delwar
returns home."
Hannan Shah had decided to convene an extended party
meeting with Presidents and Secretaries General of all
front organisations which was scheduled to be held on
Sunday at his residence, but it was suspended. Although
Hannan Shah had said that the extended meeting would have
chalked out the programmes to mark the Independence Day,
the party insiders claimed that the meeting might have
discussed about the unity affairs. The standing committee
members were expected to attend the meeting as was claimed
by Hannan Shah.
Talking to this correspondent, a close associate of Hannan
Shah said, "The leader has postponed all sorts of meetings
for the time being." On the other hand, the pro-Delwar
camp in the loyalist faction are planning to hold an
meeting immediately to chalk out the programmes on the
Independence Day and Hannan Shah is expected to attend
that meeting. Meanwhile, the loyalist faction held a milad
mahfil at the mosque of High Court on Sunday to pray for
early recovery of the party secretary general, Khandoker
Delwar Hossain, now in New York for treatment.
Economic
recession continues
Staff Correspondent
Economic recession continues in the country causing
endless miseries to the common people, resulting in
abnormal price spiral of essential commodities and
reduction of earnings of low and middle income groups.
Despite different government steps to reinvigorate the
economy of the country, the economy is not gaining
strength.
Sources said, the country fell in the grip of economic
recession from the beginning of 2007 and it intensified
rapidly this year. During the present fiscal year, severe
floods and a devastating cyclone further worsened the
situation, affecting millions of people of more than 40
districts. According to the economists, an increase in
government expenditure due to price hike of fuel oil and
frequent floods and cyclone in the country have caused
decrease in Saving Certificate sales and resulted in
further inflation. The government has already borrowed
huge money from the local banks as it is unable to meet
the increased expenditure with remittances, foreign loan
and grant. The government is to import a huge quantity of
food grains from abroad as food deficit has increased to a
large extent as a result of natural calamities in the
fiscal year 2007-08.
According to official sources, the government exceeded its
annual loan target over the last five months though it
planned to borrow a total of Taka 7,253 crore from the
country’s local banks during the present fiscal. It has
already taken out a loan of Taka 7,927 crore. During the
first five months of the fiscal 2006-07, the amount of
government borrowings was Taka 4,722.60 crore.
According to sources in the ministry of finance, the
amount of budget deficit in the current fiscal is Taka
25,581 crore. To meet the deficit, the government planned
to borrow Taka 6,305 crore from the foreign sources and
Taka 19,276 crore from internal sources. Of the internal
sources, Taka 7,253 crore will be borrowed from local
banks and Taka 4,500 crore from other than bank sources.
Of the loan borrowed from other than bank sources, Taka
3,778 crore will be taken from The National Saving
Certificate project and Taka 722 crore from other sources.
The government has to pay a total of Taka 498 crore as
interest if it takes out a loan of Taka 10,403 crore from
the external sources in accordance with its foreign loan
target. According to a Bangladesh Bank report, the rate of
loan growth was 11.70 percent in 2007 fiscal while the
deposit growth rate was 15.49 percent.
In 2006, the loan growth rate was 17.99 percent and
deposit growth rate was 19.67 percent. However, during the
fiscal 2005-06, the loan growth rate was about 21 percent.
Till December, 2007, the amount of total deposit in the
local banks increased in Taka 2,14,891 crore and the total
amount of disbursed loan was Taka 1,72,426 crore.
During the same period of the year 2006, total deposit in
the banks amounted to Taka 1,86,62 crore and total
disbursed loan Taka 1,54,363 crore.
A Bangladesh Bank statistics said, the rate of opening
Letter of Credits (L/C) regarding capital machinery import
decreased by 28 percent during the period July-September
last against the corresponding period previous year.
Present
CG not illegal : JS Speaker Sircar
UNB, Dhaka
Speaker of the Parliament Barrister Jamir Uddin Sircar
on Sunday termed the present caretaker government as an
irregular government for its failure to hold elections
within 90 days as per the Constitution.
"This government is not an illegal government, rather we
can say this government is irregular," he said at the
launching of "strengthening Public Accounts Committee
project" at hotel Sonargaon.
Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat and the World Bank
jointly organised the function.
The Speaker said that caretaker government is a creation
of the Constitution.
"The priority works of this government is to do routine
works and assist the Election Commission to hold a
general election within 90 days," he said.
Responding to a question, he told newsmen it does not
mean that the caretaker government would be illegal if
its failed to hold elections within 90 days.
"There may be so many reasons behind their failure," he
said. The Speaker said that if this government is
illegal then there would be no Constitution in the
country.
Replying a question, the Sircar said that he had no
doubt about the holding of elections within this year.
"The chief of this government mentioned this several
times that the elections will be held within this year.
I don’t have any doubt about that," he said.
He also underscored the need for strengthening the
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and said that directly
or indirectly the Prime Minister is also accountable to
this committee.
Speaking at the function, World Bank country director
Xian Zhu said that the effectiveness of the government
has been constrained by the lack of any requirement for
the government to respond to the PAC’s recommendations.
He said its inability to follow up recommendations stems
from the lack of continuity and permanent staff,
research capacity and other logistic weaknesses.
"The PAC hearings are not open to public, despite the
public interest and non-partisan nature of its mandate.
As a result, the public are not well informed on the
debate on auditors’ findings, the position of the
government, action taken in relation to the
parliamentary scrutiny of the auditors’ work," he said.
He also underscored the need for continuation of the
work of the defunct PAC in whatever form the government
may deem fit. Regrettably, despite the government’s firm
commitment, progress towards an effective ad-hoc
arrangement in the absence of the PAC is not visible, he
added.
Emphasizing the need of interim arrangements till the
formation of the next PAC under the forthcoming
parliament, he said, the delay may cause unnecessary
hardship to retired civil servants whose pension payment
may have been on hold and audit reports for three
consecutive years remain unattended.
Under the "Strengthening Public Accounts Committee
Project" the World Bank will provide Tk 5.5 crore to the
parliament secretariat to ensure effective and efficient
operation of the constitutionally mandated functions of
the PAC.
Govt
formulates Community Radio Policy
BSS, Dhaka
The government has formulated a community radio policy
allowing installation of small radio stations on non-
profit basis for the service of area-based or local
communities across the country, an information ministry
spokesman said on Sunday.
"The policy has been formulated following internationally
recognized and practiced community radio policies allowing
organizations or institutions having a background of five
years of community service," the spokesman told BSS. He
said, the community radio stations would be allowed to
transmit their services on non-profit basis within 17
square kilometre areas around the centre using 100-watt
transmission metres in plain areas and 250 watt in hilly
terrains.
The spokesman said, the community radios must highlight
the local issues and culture and promote education, public
health, environment, agriculture while the stations would
run under a board of directors ensuring local
stakeholders. Under the policy, the intending
organisations or institutions would have to apply in
prescribed forms and require clearance from the home
ministry, a regularity committee and a technical committee
of the Information Ministry and obtain the frequency from
the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Authority (BTRC).
Back Page
WB & IMF Destroyed
Jute Sector: Experts
Rabiul Islam and Fahmida Rahman Karobi
The World Bank (WB) and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a planned way are
destroying country's jute sector in a bid to make
Bangladesh foreign aid dependent and create India's jute
export in the global market. "WB does not want to see
Bangladesh grow as an industrial country. On the other
hand WB maintains a good relation with India; it is
encouraging the country to set up more jute mills. But at
the same time it is pressurising Bangladesh to close down
the jute mills. But we are surprised very much when we see
that Bangladesh government is playing its role as a silent
spectator. But our climate is very much favourable for
growing of the finest jute in the world," economists, jute
experts and political leaders told journalists at a press
briefing held at the Dhaka Reporters Unity on Sunday.
Under the banner of "Peoples Commission on Jute and Jute
Industry" Economist Anu Mohammad, Justice Mohammad Golam
Rabbani, Jute Expert Shah Alam and Communist Party of
Bangladesh leader Shahidullah Chowdhury talked to the
journalist about the latest condition of the jute sector.
They said at present, there are 22 jute mills under the
Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation with over 43,000 workers
and employees on its pay roll. Of them seven have already
been closed down. Two are on the process of leasing out to
the private sector, they said adding a few other jute
mills are run by the private sector.
"At least 28 lakh workers, employees and officials were
directly and indirectly involved in the jute industries in
1982. But within 24 years, 27.5 lakh workers, employees
and officials became jobless or retrenched following the
closure of the jute mills," they added.
Expressing grave concern they said many jute industrial
belts including Khulna, Sirajganj and Chittagong have
turned into a bleak and desolate landscape with the
workers, employees and officers of jute mills with their
family members passing days without food, house and
treatment due to nonpayment of salaries, leading to the
deaths of nine workers from starvation.
It is learnt that in fiscal year 1972-73, Bangladesh had
produced 0.45 million tonnes of jute products, but by
2005-06 fiscal production had declined to only 0.15
million tonnes. On the other hand Indian production had
increased by nearly 60 per cent in the period to 1.6
million tonnes.
Meanwhile, the present caretaker government has decided in
principle to cut the number of workers in public sector
jute mills by 50 per cent to make the state-owned mills,
now reeling under perennial losses, commercially viable.
It may be pointed out jute has once been the called golden
fibre of Bangladesh and the farmers used to call it a cash
crop. The previous government shut down the country's
largest Adamjee Jute Mills due to mismanagement and
corruption.
Meanwhile, a move is underway to disclose the list of
corrupt suspects responsible for ruination of the jute
industry this month. "We are continuing investigation at
various levels to identify the corrupt suspects in jute
sector and hope that the identity of many corrupt suspects
would be disclosed this month", BJMC Chairman Ataharul
Islam told The Bangladesh Today over phone on Sunday.
Sources said inquiries are going on against store
officers, Project Chief, Engineer, Accountants, Jute
officers, Scale Man, Production Manager and Quality
Controller under the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC).
There are massive allegations of misappropriating crores
of Tk. against these officials who have pushed the jute
sector on the verge of ruination, sources said.
Sources said the officials in the state-run jute mills
have built magnificent houses at Gulshan and Banani. If
enquiries are carried out fairly and are made public,
corruption in the jute sector will come out, sources said.
"We will at first recover the finance from the corrupt
suspects and afterwards we will refer cases to the
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for taking legal action",
the BJMC chairman said.
RAILWAY SECTOR
ADB to provide $430m
Bdnews24, Dhaka
The Asian Development Bank
is set to provide the government with $430 million in
funds for the development and reform of Bangladesh
Railway, an official said on Sunday. Communications
secretary Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman briefed reporters on
the move in his office following a monthly meeting of
agencies and departments under the communication ministry.
The funds are being given with the provision that
Bangladesh Railway is turned into a public limited company
when the reforms have been completed.
The caretaker government has already started working on
the development programme, said the secretary, who added
that the reforms would be completed by 2012. After the
work is completed Bangladesh Railway would be turned into
a PLC like Biman Bangladesh Airlines, he said. Rahman said
Bangladesh Railway is incurring a loss of about Tk 500
crore every year, while in the previous fiscal year the
loss was Tk 509 crore. During the period the railway's
annual income was Tk 466 crore, while its expenditure was
Tk 975 crore, he said.
The secretary said economic reality made it difficult for
the government to run Bangladesh Railway. "According to
the ADB condition, after development and reform of the
Bangladesh Railway is completed it will be turned into a
PLC," said Rahman. The secretary said Bangladesh Railway
has 2,835 kilometres of track in 44 districts, with 454
stations and 258 passenger coaches. It also has 54 freight
coaches, and up to 8 percent of the population uses the
service regularly. The government has taken an initiative
to increase the number of passengers that use the system,
said Rahman.
The secretary said provisions would be made for less
well-off passengers under the revamped railway system,
without giving further details on the provisions. Rahman
said recent accidents on the railway were caused by a lack
of skilled management and responsibility.
Power generation to increase after March
UNB, Dhaka
Chief
Adviser's Special Assistant for Power and Energy Ministry
Dr M Tamim on Sunday said the power generation in the
country would increase from the end of this month.
He said this while addressing a discussion meeting
organised by PGCB Diploma Engineers Association on
electricity transmission at BCIC Auditorium.
PGCB Chairman Khwaja Golam Ahmed and Managing Director
Harunur Rashid also spoke at the programme.
The CA's Special Assistant said the country is presently
experiencing load shedding of 200-400 MW due to short
supply of gas. He said the daily power generation is
between 3,400 MW and 3,800 MW across the country.
The BUET Professor-turned caretaker government's
functionary noted that the government now has to supply
gas to fertiliser factories on priority basis for
undisrupted production of the agri-input.
But, he said, the fertiliser factories will not require
huge gas after the end of March and that gas supply will
be diverted to power plants that will help generate 300 MW
more electricity.
He said short supply of power has become acute in recent
days due the shutdown of a 125MW unit of Barapukuria power
plant.
Dr Tamim said the power generation would continue to
increase in the days ahead as a number of new power plants
would go into operation. Some rental power plants are
among them, which are supposed to come into operation in
May next.
Emphasizing the need for having a long-term plan for the
power sector, he said the government has taken initiatives
to set up some large power plants in the country.
Crime
Touchstone statue recovered
UNB, Gopalganj
RAB members recovered a touchstone made statue of Lord
Krishna worth about Tk one crore at Baksakhola village in
Moksudpur upazila and arrested a man on Saturday.
Acting on a secret information, the elite force went to
the house of Khokon Sheikh in the guise of buyer and
arrested Khokon along with the one-kg statue.
Khokon was handed over to police and a case was filed.
Five wounded in bomb attack
UNB, Jessore
Five persons were wounded in underground terrorist bomb
blast near Noapara rail station in Aboynagar upazila late
Saturday night.
Witnesses said terrorists hurled two bombs at a police
team that was patrolling the area. But the bombs missed
the target and exploded in front of a tea stall leaving
wounded stall owner Sayem and four pedestrians Abdur Rahim,
Afzal, Habibur Rahman and Fazar Ali.
They were rushed to Abhoynagar Health Complex where
doctors said the condition of Abdur Rahim was serious.
Abhoynagar police denied that the patrol team, away from
the place of bomb blasts, was not the target. They said
the target was rival group of the underground Purbo
Banglar Communist Party, which is divided into several
factions.
None was arrested in connection with the bomb blasts till
Sunday evening.
Housewife commits suicide
UNB, Jessore
A young housewife allegedly committed suicide by taking
poison at Salua village in Chougachha upazila Friday night
failing to bear her husband's brutal torture.
Local people said rickshaw-van-puller Alam used to torture
his wife Ratua Khatun, 21, soon after their marriage some
years back for dowry.
On Friday night Alam beat her mercilessly following a
quarrel over a trifling matter. Offended Ratua later took
poison when all the family members were asleep. Neighbors
rushed her to Jessore General Hospital in critical
condition while she died.
A case was filed with local police station.
Housewife killed for dowry
UNB, Brahmanbaria
A young housewife was allegedly killed by her husband and
in-laws for dowry at Ramdhannagar village in Akhaura
upazila Thursday night.
Local people said M Niaz Mia of the village married his
daughter Lovely Akter, 19, to his co-villager Sayeb Ali,
son of Abdul Mia, three years ago with a promise to give
Tk 50,000 as dowry.
Soon after the marriage Sayeb Ali, 27, started torturing
Lovely for the dowry money. On Thursday Sayeb picked up a
quarrel with her over the issue and at one stage he with
the help of his family members strangulated her to death.
But he informed Lovely's parents that she fell seriously
ill.
Later, Lovely's elder brother came to Sayeb Ali's house
and found her body in her bedroom. On information, police
recovered the body and sent it to the Sadar Hospital
morgue for autopsy.
Sayeb and his family members went into hiding. A case was
filed with the police.
Man strangulated to death
UNB, Magura
A man was strangulated to death by some unidentified
assailants at Laxmikon village in Sadar upazila Friday.
Family sources said some unidentified men called Foyzul
Miah, 35, out of his house Friday night and his dead body
was found in the nearby area the following morning. Being
informed by local people police recovered the body and
sent it to hospital morgue for autopsy. Police suspected
that the miscreants following a previous enmity might have
strangulated him to death. A case was filed.
10 injured in Sirajganj clash
A Correspondent, Sirajganj
AT least 10 people were injured in a clash between two
village groups following a land-feud in Taras upazila
under Sirajganj district on Saturday.
Police and local sources said a group of people led by
Mozammel Hoque Master went to grab lands of some dispute
houses at Guchchugram area of the same village at about
11:00 am.
While the opponents opposed Mozammel and his accomplices,
they at one stage started biting and ransacking their
dwellings. At this ten opponents including Tara Mandal,
40, Zillur, 38, Shah Ali, 28, Khalil, 29, Taser Mandal,
47, Shahidul, 35, Mannan, 27, and Basir, 29 were injured.
Police rushed to the spot after two hours and took the
situation under their control. Five of the injured were
given first aids at Ullapara Upazila Health complex
Hospital.
Md. Abdul Bari, a sub-inspector said both group were
called at Salanga police station to hear their problems.
Earlier same incidents happened several times-he added.
Smuggler suspect nabbed
A Correspondent, Sirajganj
A team of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-12 nabbed a
smuggler with a fake gold statue at Mohesh Rauhali village
in Taras upazila in Sirajganj on early Saturday.
RAB said, acting on tip-off, they nabbed the convict, Md.
Maznu Mian, 35, son of late Tasir Uddin Fakir at about
2:00 am.
Later they recovered a golden statue from his residence.
The arrested were handed over to Taras police.
ASP Shaid Ullah, the squad commander said the convict used
to cheat some businessmen by this bronze-statue.
3 held with fake notes
UNB, Satkhira
Police in a drive arrested three people along with fake
notes of Tk 10,000 at Mohajanpur village in Ashashuni
upazila Saturday morning.
Acting on a tip-off a team of DB police, led by SI Masud,
raided the village in plainclothes at about 10:30am and
arrested Hazrat Ali, 42, and Alaur Rahman, 22, of the
village and Firoz Khan Modhu, 45, of Gonakartaki village
in the upazila.
Police searching their bodies recovered the fake notes of
various denominations. A case was filed in this
connection.
Another report from Narayanganj adds: Police in a raid
arrested two drug peddlers along with 30 bottles of Indian
phensidyl sryrup from a bus near Asharia Bridge in
Sonargaon upazila on Saturday. Police said acting on
secret information they raided the Dhaka bound bus from
Comilla at the spot and arrested Foisal and Ali alias
Bappi along with the contraband drug.
A case was filed against them under Narcotics Control Act.
Smuggled urea seized
UNB, Dhaka
Police in separate drives recovered some 147 sacks of urea
fertiliser in Jhenidah and Satkhira districts on Friday.
In Jhenidah, acting on a tip-off, police raided the
godowns of Hasanuddin and Ansaruddin at Natima Bazar in
Moheshpur upazila at about 9pm and recovered 99 sacks of
agri-inputs hoarded for selling in the black market.
Police could not arrest any one as the hoarders fled away
sensing their presence. In Satkhira, police and officials
of local administration recovered 48 sacks of urea
fertiliser at Khariati village in Ashashuni upazila Friday
night.
Being tipped-off police and the local administration
officials, led by UNO Ananda Kumar Biswas and Ashsashuni
police station Officer-in-Charge Humayun Kabir, raided the
houses of Jahan Ali Khan, Rajab Ali and Joynul Hossain at
10:00 pm and recovered the fertiliser.
Separate cases were filed with the police.
Robber loots money, gold
A Correspondent, Faridpur
A gang of bandits looted cash money about Tk 30 thousand,
four tolas of gold, a mobile set at three homes under
Chumurdi of Bhanga thana in Faridpur district.
Sources said, at mid night, the bandits attacked and broke
into two houses of Md. Baki Mollah, 42, and Md. Motheir
Mollah, 48.
Editorial
Cancellation of Freedom Fighters’ Convention
The
Emergency Government has not encouraged a Convention called by
the Sector Commander's Forum which was scheduled to be held on
15 March 2008 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Center on the
excuse that such a convention "might create a law and order
situation". The Convention called by the freedom fighters, as
represented by the Sector Commander's Forum, intended to
garner public support and opinions in favor of holding trials
of war criminals of 1971. By discouraging the Convention this
Government has not only discouraged the right of some of its
citizens to express their views but more importantly it has
denied honor and respect to our 'freedom fighters', a group of
people who fought to make this Nation independent. It is
because these people were ready to fight and die in 1971 that
we have a government at all and yet one such government denies
them a convention on an issue of such crucial importance to
the entire Nation and that too on such a coarse excuse as
"might create a law and order situation".
One might well ask where was the Emergency Government when
last Friday, 14 March 2008, thousands of radicals marched down
the center of Dhaka, threatening the Government with dire
consequences if it supported equal right to women as regards
inheritance. Did these religious radicals seek Government
permission to hold such protest marches? Or were these people
in the least bit bothered about breaking the EPR? Didn't these
people "create a law and order situation" by holding up
traffic for hours together and scaring the hell out of people
living in that area of Dhaka? That speaks volumes for what
this Emergency Government is all about; that also speaks
volumes about the hypocrisy of a Government which has imposed
itself on this Nation on the plea of a deteriorating "law and
order situation".
It comes as a surprise to all of us that many in Bangladesh
today talk of human rights, due process of law, procedures of
justice and trials when referring to trials of war criminals.
Where were such people when the war criminals of 1971 were
murdering our people en masse? Did the War Criminals follow
codes of human rights, due process of law, procedures of
justice and trials when they were carrying out the genocide in
Bangladesh? So why should we now raise these questions when
dealing with these animals in the guise of humans?
The issue of the trial of war criminals does not in the least
bit divide this Nation, on the contrary it unites this Nation
behind bringing to trial and just retribution those who have
opposed Independence and have carried out genocide to prevent
that Independence. The freedom fighters do not in the least
bit need to garner public support or sympathy for their cause;
it is already there and will be there until the war criminals
are brought to justice. The people who brought out that
procession on Friday are moved and motivated by the same
ideology which had led an earlier generation of criminals to
carry out mass murders in 1971; it is these who must be
stopped and not the Sector Commander's Forum or the freedom
fighters. Perhaps the freedom fighters need to take a leaf out
of that book and go out and hold a convention after next
Friday prayers in front of the Biatul Mukarram mosque and let
us all see who holds them back.
Consumers’ Rights
The
demand for the enactment of a 'Consumers' Rights Act' is
gaining momentum day by day. Speakers at a seminar in the city
on Saturday urged the government to enact Consumers' Rights
Act immediately in order to protect the interest of the
consumers. They said that due to lack of any such law the
consumers were being forced to pay unreasonably high prices
for the essentials and being cheated in many ways. Cheating in
weight and selling of adulterated goods are also rampant for
the absence of any law to protect the rights of the consumers.
Almost every country of the world does have laws to protect
the consumers' rights. But Bangladesh is yet to have any such
law although the people have been voicing the demand for it
since long. In the absence of such a law the consumers are
virtually held hostages by the profit-monger business
syndicates, wholesalers, middlemen and retailers who raise the
prices of essentials on various pretexts every now and then.
The skyrocketing of the prices of essential items, that are
causing immense sufferings to the people, are the worst impact
of the absence of any law to protect the rights of the
consumers.
It is against this backdrop that the demand for enactment of a
law to protect the consumers' rights is intensifying . The
market situation has reached a critical stage plunging the
consumers into a grave crisis. So, a law must be enacted
immediately and its strict enforcement must be ensured to
protect the consumers' rights. It is a good sign that
awareness is growing among the consumers about their rights.
This trend should be encouraged. Besides, the consumers should
forge unity and launch a social movement against hoarding,
syndication, market manipulation, price hiking and
profit-mongering by dishonest and greedy traders.
Analysis
Islamophobia: a new
instrument to taint Muslims
Islam's tenets are frequently distorted and
taken out of context, with some invented tales, acts or
practices being plucked with an ulterior motive to
misrepresent a rich religious faith.
Maswood Alam Khan
Last
Thursday leaders of the world's Muslim states while attending
in the Senegalese capital Dakar the triennial convention of
the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) vehemently
criticised a burgeoning trend of "Islamophobia" in the West.
Delegates of the OIC, a 57-nation body founded in 1969 in
reaction to an arson attack against Al-Aqsa Mosque, also
pledged to combat extremism and blamed a handful of Muslims,
the purport of whose extremist activities has given rise to
such a phobia.
Adolph Hitler was a democratically elected leader of Germany;
he took captaincy of the nation in the first place with a seed
of vengeance seated deep inside his psyche against the Jews of
the world. He studied history day in, day out in quest for a
ploy that could make Germans' skins get goose bumps out of a
phobia at the very thought of some people he would portray as
enemies. He delved into every branch of military science to
master the art of firing zeal among German soldiers. He knew
his soldiers must practice their battling lessons against some
soft targets before embarking upon his grander design of
invading the whole world. The soft target he had chosen was
the community having their faith in Judaism and he left no
stone unturned to motivate every single German soldier to
harbour anti-Semitism---a prejudice and hatred towards Jews
that ultimately gave birth to Holocaust under Hitler's Nazi
Germany, the most infamous pogrom in the history of
brutalities that killed six million Jews.
Hitler was almost successful in translating his dream of
conquering the world by invasion into reality. Had he been a
little patient and eschewed excesses like wholesale killing of
Jews, intensive bombardments of London in September, 1940 and
persuaded Japan not to bombard Pearl Harbour in December, 1941
in favour of a long term global strategy of cornering the Jews
by introducing a slow, steady and silent xenophobic culture
against Judaism history would perhaps taken a different
pathway and Jews all over the world would have been totally
extinct religiously, politically and economically by this
time.
Hitlers of modern times have got a very valuable lesson from
World War II: "Don't attack enemies blatantly; rather send to
their camp a few spies who would follow their religion, wear
their garbs, speak their language and motivate them to indulge
in a passion that would bare them as savage animals to the
eyes of the world. Now you can kill your enemies who are
already branded as animals and who people have developed a
phobia about."
The term Islam has of late been branded synonymous with
terrorism in the western world the way Semitism was viewed in
the early part of the last century as an alien faith of
exploiters whose only job was to grab commerce and wealth all
over the world, a form of economic terrorism. As a new phrase
born out of religious bigotry Islamophobia has gripped the
whole western world. The moment a westerner hears about Islam
or meets one wearing beard and turban bearing a first name
like Muhammad fears send a chill down his/her spine. Such fear
is not totally unjustified because most of the terrorism
activities, especially with the September 11, 2001 attacks,
have probably been carried out predominantly by Muslims led by
people like Osama Bin Laden.
Islamophobia has gripped the Muslims, no less. Nowadays Muslim
parents in our country while choosing names of their newborns
opt for even Christian names or Muslim names with twisted
spellings or any other nomenclatures that must not sound
Islamic or Arabic as parents are concerned about their
children's future safety when they would be travelling, lest
their passports bearing Muslim names arouse suspicion.
American journalist Stephen Schwartz has defined Islamophobia
as the condemnation of the entirety of Islam and its history
as extremist, denying the existence of a moderate Muslim
majority, regarding Islam as a problem for the world, treating
conflicts involving Muslims as necessarily their own fault,
insisting that Muslims make changes to their religion, and
inciting war against Islam as a whole.
Islamophobia contributed to a great extent to the practice of
discriminating against Muslims by stripping them of
opportunities in economic, social and public life in the west
and to the perception that Islam has no values in common with
other noble cultures, is inferior to any other religion, and
is a violent political ideology rather than a religion leaving
Muslims around the world feeling aggrieved and misunderstood,
fearing for their physical safety, and, bereft of their
rights.
Two questions should gnaw the conscience of the Muslim world:
Are Muslims to take the blame for leaving such a negative
impression about Islam with the non-Muslim people? Is it the
end result of some far-reaching conspiracy hatched by those
who have been stunned by the unprecedented renaissance of a
comparatively new faith which is only 1500 years old? The
answer, to my humble opinion, is yes to both the puzzles. We
as Muslims have failed to educate ourselves with the truth of
Islam. We have distanced ourselves from two fundamental
teachings of Islam: education in the true sense of the term
and compassion for humans irrespective of their colour, creed
and religion. Our last prophet advised us to travel all the
way even to China in quest for knowledge and Islam has taught
us to show utmost compassion for the helpless, for the
orphans, for the women and even for the enemies.
In the name of education we are depriving students studying in
madrasas of the most essential knowledge about science and
modernity. We as parents think if we only can make our
children learn to recite the whole Koran by rote our roads to
haven are paved. We believe that Arabic is the only language
we have to communicate in when we would be dwelling in our
havens; so we shut the doors for our children to learn any
other foreign language.
As regards to compassion many of us sympathise with a young
guy who in the name of Jihad commits suicide and some of us
feel ecstatic when an unarmed American dies from a bomb blast
knowing full well that suicide in Islam is completely 'haraam'
(forbidden) and relishing killing of an unarmed man is sadism
which has been repeatedly termed as unislamic and sinful in
our Koran and Hadith.
Islam has of course taught us not to idle away time as sitting
ducks for enemies to swoop on. Before fighting back against
oppressors we have to evaluate our strength, our firepower,
first. If our prowess as warriors is not enough to outmatch
that of the oppressors (who may be deemed enemies) our wisdom
should dictate us to be a little patient while spending our
time and resources to exhort our leaders for good governance,
enrich our knowledge about science and whet our appetite for
diplomacy.
The long list of Nobel laureates on physics, chemistry and
medicine is occupied by mostly Jews. Why? Because, with six
millions of their brethren and sisters ruthlessly killed by
the hands wielding guns they reinvented the truth that
'knowledge is the only power that ultimately emboldens the
firepower'. Do millions of Muslims need to commit suicide or
be killed before they take this historical lesson on the
prowess of knowledge?
Islam as a religion had gained astronomical popularity
especially among the oppressed who were discriminated against
for ages---hapless earthlings like helpless slaves who were
deemed purchasable commodities and wretched beings like
dependent women who were meant only for procreation, at a time
when the society was distinctly divided between upper and
lower classes, between the ruler and the ruled, between the
rich and the servile and, between the masters and the slaves.
Islam ushered in a fresh philosophy that all humans are equal,
when humanity was at stake, when a newborn girl was buried
alive and when a grandson took his revenge on the grandchild
of an enemy of his grandfather.
One and a half billion people, roughly one-fifth of the world
population, are adherents of Islam. This huge community of
Muslims, if they could remain united, would have made the
hegemonic lords of the world die of insanity or insomnia. But,
Muslims---unlike Jews---are divided into inimical sects like
Sunnis and Shias and many other groups separated by
historical, cultural, linguistic and geographical boundaries.
Muslims so divided are further pulverised by dogmas,
fanaticism, misdirected education and narrow vision making
their young children easy targets to be indoctrinated from
their early age with misinterpreted teachings of Islam. A
young Muslim so indoctrinated commits suicide in the name of
Jihad as he has been spoon-fed a dose of unflinching belief by
scholars (perhaps hired by hegemonic lords) like Osama Bin
Laden from Saudi Arabia and Bangla Bhai from Bangladesh that
the moment he detonates the suicide bomb he books in advance
his and his relations' confirmed tickets to haven.
Islam's tenets are frequently distorted and taken out of
context, with some invented tales, acts or practices being
plucked with an ulterior motive to misrepresent a rich
religious faith. Disparaging remarks about Muslims are allowed
to pass in the media without censure, deepening the spiral of
suspicion and alienation. Islam is branded in the West as
incompatible with democracy, irrevocably hostile to modernity,
and subversive to the rights of women---a concoction that is
just diametrically opposite to the related teachings of Islam.
Muslims are depicted as opposed to the West, despite a history
of commerce and cooperation, and Western people immensely
benefiting from the scientific learning and literature of
Islamic scholars of the bygone eras.
Disunited as the Muslims are, time has not yet completely run
out for the trapped Muslims to rediscover their strength and
potency. A united ummah of one and a half billion Muslims can
contribute their might and means to make this world liveable
in peace and harmony, if true teachings of Islam---not that
teaching on buying heaven's ticket through suicide
bombings---can be propagated through truly educated Muslim men
and women with all their tools and all their wills, not
through those fanatic Muslims who think Sanskrit is the
language of the malefactors and Arabic the language of the
benefactors.
OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu during a session of
the OIC conference in Dakar has rightly said: "Ignorance about
Islam and calculated animosity with deep historic roots on the
part of a minority in the West, as well as our failure to
defend the true values of Islam, are the reason for the
increasing wave of Islamophobia." Delegates in the same
conference also criticised those who carried out attacks in
the name of Islam.
OIC as a world body to represent Muslims has a great role to
play to foster unity among Muslims and dissipate misgivings
about Islam. But, it is lamentable that despite huge money
power of many of the member states OIC has not yet come up
with a concrete roadmap to promote economic and educational
developments of all the member states. OIC in their past
summits decided to establish an Islamic peacekeeping force, a
university, a common market, and a robust investment fund, but
most of the decisions have not yet been implemented perhaps
due to absence of cohesion among member states and paucity of
fund. A $ 10 billion fund for Islamic development set up by
the organization has so far received pledges for only $ 2.6
billion.
Now is the time for the OIC member states to consolidate their
unity to fight poverty as a strategy to counter Islamophobia,
because poverty breeds easy recruits for extremism that in
turn has given birth to Islamophobia. Unless OIC, through aids
from oil-rich Arab states, fosters both economic and
educational developments in poor member states like Bangladesh
and in countries of sub-Saharan Africa al Qaeda extremists
would be gaining their footholds wherever they would find a
poor, uneducated and gullible youngster who can be easily
mesmerised to blow his life off by a suicide bomb in exchange
for some money and promised havens for himself and for the
family members he would be leaving behind.
(Maswood Alam Khan; General Manager, Bangladesh Krishi
Bank.E-mail: maswoodalamkhan@gmail.com)
BANGLADESH:
Dysfunctional criminal justice system needs urgent reforms
A court convicted three persons to rigorous imprisonment for
life, which means 14 years in jail, for an alleged charge of
kidnapping of a girl in Jhalakathi district where, in fact,
the said crime did not take place .
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
A
media report implies serious questions about the credibility
of Bangladesh's criminal justice system, including the
investigation, prosecution and the judiciary, as well as the
qualifications of the concerned professionals in those
institutions.
A Dhaka based national daily newspaper, The Prothom Alo,
reported on 13 March 2008 that a court convicted three persons
to rigorous imprisonment for life, which means 14 years in
jail, for an alleged charge of kidnapping of a girl in
Jhalakathi district where, in fact, the said crime did not
take place.
According to the news report, Ms. Liza Akther alias Fuli, who
is now 19-years-old, fled from her maternal uncle's house
eight years ago as a result of intolerable treatment inflicted
upon her by her uncle and aunt, Mr. Anowar Hossain and his
wife, Mrs. Shefali Begum. Strangely, four years later Mr.
Anwar lodged a kidnapping case with the Jhalkathi police
station on 31 May 2004 against three persons; Mr. Rustom Ali
Shikdar, a petty fisherman, Mr. Harun Hawladar, a day laborer,
and Mr. Nuru Hawladar, a small businessman. The Jhalkathi
police recorded the case under the Women and Child Repression
Prevention Act.
Following the complaint, which alleged that the three persons
kidnapped Liza and trafficked her to elsewhere, the police
investigated and, subsequently, brought charges of kidnapping
and trafficking in their report. The Special Tribunal of Women
and Child Repression Prevention of Jhalkathi convicted the
three persons for committing the so called crime in its
verdict declared on 7 February 2007. The judge ordered each of
them to 14 years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of 10
thousand taka. The three alleged accused were already in
detention since the verdict was declared. Later, the three
convicted persons challenged the verdict before the High Court
Division of the Supreme Court, which granted bail for Harun
and Nuru, who were released on 27 January, while the Court
rejected Rustom's petition, which prolonged his detention in
the Barisal Jail.
Liza visited Jhalkathi to rescue the three persons and told
the media that she had fled from her uncle's house to Dhaka
following intolerable torture by her uncle and aunt and
managed to get a job in a garment factory. She later married a
businessman. She then heard the story of three persons being
convicted of her 'kidnapping'. She immediately went to
Jhalkathi and lodged a General Diary (GD) with the Jhalkathi
police station, and to a Notary Public for an affidavit, in
which she gave her testimony.
The lawyer of the three convicted persons, Mr. Abdur Rashid
Howlader told the reporter that they produced Liza before the
Chief Judicial Magistrate's (CJM) Court on 5 March as soon as
the GD was recorded with the police and requested the Court to
record Liza's testimony in a petition. However, the CJM Mr.
Reza Tarique Ahmad, who was the judge of the Special Tribunal
that declared the verdict, rejected the petition and released
Liza under her own custody.
The Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Jhalkathi police station Mr.
AKM Faruk, while admitting this miscarriage of justice, told
the media that one of the two investigation officers (IO) of
this case, Inspector Mr. Sohrab Ali, who was the OC at that
time, had already passed away while the other, one Sub
Inspector Mr. Muzibur Rahman, was in service elsewhere.
The three families suffered immense loss, including financial
and social dignity, following the case, conviction and the
subsequent expenditure. The three victims and their families
need to be compensated for the grave suffering that has been
caused to them over this incident and for a long period of
time. Besides, this whole incident needs to be thoroughly
investigated all those who are directly involved as well as
those who are responsible by way of command responsibility
should be brought to justice. Until this happens they should
all be removed from the positions they hold within the
criminal justice system of Bangladesh.
In terms of civil and political rights guaranteed to the
citizens this incident reveals the following gross abuses of
human rights: the police investigators have failed to
critically examine the fabricated charge of kidnapping as well
as of attributing the crime to these three suspects; the
prosecutors have failed to scrutinize evidence before filing
charges and the judiciary has failed to ensure a fair trial in
the case.
First of all, the professionals concerned about human rights
and rule of law of Bangladesh should commend such reporting in
the media. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) encourages
similar reporting, which places like Bangladesh requires
regularly.
This report creates an obligation upon the policy makers of
Bangladesh to look into their existing criminal justice
system. The investigators, prosecutors and the judges in this
case created a case of fiction instead of facts while they
arranged depositions from so called prosecution witnesses to
convict the three persons. This could only have happened in a
situation of dysfunctional institutions. This story fully
illustrates just how impaired the system truly is. All the
basic rule of law institutions, especially, the criminal
investigation, prosecution and the judiciary, failed
completely in this case. The authorities, as well as the
professionals related to the justice delivery system, must ask
themselves as to whether any of these three departments have
the minimum level of efficiency or commitment or ethical
accountability to the nation that are required for upholding
the law of the land.
The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the Bangladeshi
authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation
into this case. The professionals involved in this case- from
the investigators to the judiciary should be held accountable
for the suffering caused to these three men and their
families, not only for the stress and humiliation but also the
financial loss they incurred. Subsequently, there should be a
high level commission formed comprising of professionals
having comprehensive knowledge about the legal procedure and
practice to examine similar cases as well as to determine the
defects of the system for a radical reform to ensure justice,
which is urgently needed in the nation.
(About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a
regional non-governmental organization monitoring and lobbying
human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was
founded in 1984.)
Viewpoints
Change
of Scope for Land of Hope
Indeed, American foreign policy towards Africa
has seldom been addressed by U.S. presidential hopefuls.
Hany Besada & Miran Ternamian
Fraught
with intractable violence, interminable disease and abject
poverty, Africa is traditionally observed by policymakers
through a humanitarian lens. However, Africa's emerging
geo-strategic importance transcends such condescending
colonial overtones of the continents inescapable realities to
command U.S. attention beyond the moral, humanitarian and
security imperatives. Distracted by long winded plans to end
the War in Iraq, one is hard-pressed to detect any semblance
of serious interest on the websites of American presidential
candidate's that goes beyond ending the genocide in Darfur or
supporting HIV/AIDS initiatives in Africa. Indeed, American
foreign policy towards Africa has seldom been addressed by
U.S. presidential hopefuls.
Equally disheartening has been the fourth estates deafening
silence on this matter. As if to further ostracize the
continent into inconsequentiality, foreign policy questions
filed by prominent national newspapers prior to the final
Democratic debate in Ohio neglected to address a single
African issue directly. The U.S. strategy of indifference
towards Africa's ever-growing importance is counterproductive
and potentially dangerous.
U.S. economic stake in Africa's success cannot be overstated.
Energy hungry nations like China, India, Malaysia, South Korea
and Brazil are fiercely competing for access to Africa's
resources to fuel their voracious economies. China, in
particular has made significant inroads in securing African
resources and agricultural produce with financial incentives
from Beijing encouraging more Chinese companies to invest.
Currently, Africa provides 16% of U.S. oil imports, equivalent
to Middle Eastern supplies, and is poised to double its output
in the next decade. A surge in competition however may thwart
attempts to secure future supplies. Africa's energy oasis is
of great strategic importance to the U.S. considering that
nearly all of the continents oil reserves lie in unstable
countries threatened by strife and violence. Turning a blind
eye to serious violations of human rights and weak governance
may risk jeopardizing long term U.S. interests in the region.
Meanwhile, according to the U.N's most recent
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Africa may be most
vulnerable to adverse environmental impacts. Rampant poverty,
fragile governance, lack of disaster management and limited
financial resources present a sobering threat for some
countries given their low adaptive capacity. Unpredictable
harsh weather patterns and increasing temperatures would
further strain already scarce water resources and food
supplies leading to a widespread humanitarian crisis. This
looming danger not only threatens coastal communities and
infrastructure in vital oil producing regions but more
importantly undermines subsistence agriculture, the only
livelihood for many Africans. Expanding U.S. military and
security interests on the continent has broad appeal in
exerting regional influence while battling insurgents in
America's war on terror. However, this has not shielded
Washington from a barrage of criticism for its decision to set
up its new African Command (AFRICOM), a Unified Combatant
Command of the United States Department of Defense. Fully
operational by September 2008, its mandate will facilitate
U.S. military operations for all African states, with the
exception of Egypt.
Despite assurances to the contrary and apart from Liberia's
vocal support, AFRICOM is viewed by many as yet another U.S.
veiled attempt to cement its foothold in Africa to safeguard
precious energy imports and counter terrorist threats; notably
in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. These efforts would
bolster several military initiatives, such as the Combined
Joint Task Force of the Horn of Africa and the Trans-Saharan
Counterterrorism Initiative already in operation. Critics,
both on the continent and abroad, however remain wary and have
long argued that this new combatant command centre will
essentially serve U.S. geo-political interests while enticing
terrorism and instability on the continent. Perhaps the only
issue where the U.S. has received much praise, even from its
fiercest critics that chide socio-economic development on the
continent, has been its health initiatives. The Bush
administration has devoted more attention in recent years to
supporting Africa's battle to contain the HIV/AIDS epidemic
and the devastating effects of malaria. Since 2003, the U.S.
government has allocated $15 billion over five years - $10
billion in new money - to provide desperately needed drugs to
more than $1.3 million people who would not have been able to
afford them. This has had a tremendous impact in scaling up
access to AIDS treatment. The President's Emergency Plan for
AIDS relief is the largest ever global initiative dedicated to
tackling a single disease.
Although candidates remain focused on addressing the domestic
issues of a crumbling economy and a tattered healthcare
system; changing the perception that Africa only matters
marginally in U.S. foreign policy must evolve not on moral
merit alone but more importantly for the US's future stability
and prosperity. There is a need to move beyond the colonial
misconception that Africa is merely a region endowed with
abundant natural resources and plagued by regional conflict.
`All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward',
warns the adage. Growth however requires change, and only then
may forward movement occur. To believe that one leaders
`audacity of hope can transform Washington's audacity of
indifference, first requires each citizen to become the change
they want to see. Americans deserve to hear more from their
presidential hopefuls about their vision regarding the land of
hope: Africa.
(Hany Besada is Senior Researcher at the Centre for
International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo,
Canada. Miran Ternamian is a CIGI researcher.)
National Election: Minus 2 and State of Emergency must hold
Let the nation steam off renewed and onward journey leaving
these 2 crooks behind.
Mohammad Gani
Most
of us have heard of this "true" story before! An Indian
gentleman came to visit England for the first time and was
staying at his friend's house in London. One Sunday
morning, he was surrounded and greeted by a group of
friendly Nuns/Pastors out from the nearby church while he
was walking along the side walk around the neighborhood.
They as usual smiled at him, talked to him nicely with
affection and kindness before giving him a long and touchy
lecture on God, Heaven and the Hell for more than half an
hour.
This Indian gentleman was not really interested in all
these heavenly information early in the morning and was
pretty much not paying attention. They noticed this in his
face and then one of the visibly unhappy Pastors quickly
asked him, "Sir, don't you like to go to Heaven?" The
reluctant Indian gentlemen politely replied, "I think, I
am O.K here and no, I do not want to go the Heaven. After
all, if Heaven were truly that great place to live in, the
BRITISH would have occupied the Heaven long time ago"!!
Last night, God has sent an Angel to interview our
original champions of Democracy Hasina and Khaleda in
their luxurious sub-jail mansions. He inquired about their
personal life, their health and welter of their political
life; especially the reasons behind their long time
"silent absence" from performing "frequent fliers OMRAH
HAJ" as they used to do almost every month in the past.
After the long interviews with these 2 step sisters of
multiple personality characters, the holy Angel proposed
them to choose the Heaven and go with him instead of
screwing up this poor nation of 150 million people again
and again. No sooner had he said so than contentious and
petulant Hasina stood up, started yelling at and chasing
out the holy Angel, calling him "Pakistani Razakar number
2" [Please note: The Razakar number 1 is Golam Azam!].
Interestingly, stupefied but relaxed Queen and pioneer of
all corruptions Khaleda was reticent and afterward briefly
spoke to the Angel by saying, "No, thanks; I like my Howa-Bhaban
better". Disappointed Angel then abruptly vanished back to
the Heaven, leaving Bangladesh in the hands of these 2
picaresque traitors and their "Company limited". Now,
anyone can easily imagine how much these 2 "JonoNetri" and
"GonoNetri" love this nation from the middle of their
hearts, from deep inside of their souls (Let paradise get
lost!]. Shame on this Care Taker Government for confining
our prides, the only 2 left over patriots in Jails (?).
Cruelty should have a limit!
So, what did the so-called Democracy exactly deliver
"good" to this poorest nation on earth for last 37 years?
Is there really anything to good to say? Absolutely none!
This nation has so far never tasted the flavor of
"civilized democracy" since its "inception" as a free
nation; our democracy was first choked around its neck to
death by our founding father Sk., Mujib himself with his
declaration of "State of Emergency" on 25 January 1975.
Mujib's pet Parliament (?) then "democratically" amended
the Constitution under State of Emergency, banning all
opposition political parties and declaring Mujib the
"President for life", giving him extraordinary
superpowers! As its continuation, our Democracy of
"Accountability and Transparency" fell into the "BLACK
HOLES" of 2 splenetic tyrants Hasina and Khaleda 15/16
years ago that instantly vanished (to nothing) and then a
local Big Bang generated out a super democracy of
corruptions, extortion, bribery….. but cunningly enough
with the rhetoric of freedom of speech, human rights, free
and fair election and Razakars. You shall not hear Hasina,
Khaleda and their surrogates ever talking against
corruptions, grafts, extortions…. etc those made
Bangladesh the most corrupted country in the Universe [and
it is agreed by our favorite western civilized world too].
Our political lieutenants worldwide, front runners of
democracy and human rights, especially Awami-llectuals
always come up with their perennial distortions on
"Democracy of Accountability and Transparency" in
Bangladesh and shy of saying anything against endemic
corruptions.
So, "Road to Democracy in Bangladesh" now needs an
alternative approach instead of a conventional one or the
brasses of so-called "free and fair election". This
democracy must come out through the barrels of guns like
in Japan and in Germany after World War II. Nation simply
can't afford giving out free rides any longer to this
notorious bunch of thieves. The upcoming election, likely
in November 2008 must be conducted under Emergency Rule
that would protect the security and freedom of choices of
150 million citizens, prevent all political hegemony,
deaths of innocent voters, secure a "free and fair"
election and finally prevent the losing "Patriots" from
digging for excuses of calling it a fraud election.
Lifting Emergency shall cause more harms to this nation
than good because of the exigent and circumstantial field
reality. To the contrary, the President may consider
calling the armed forces to crack down on all the "unruly
and hostile patriots" those would attempt fomenting
lawlessness, shall prevent them from hurting our law
abiding citizens during rancorous election campaign. If
any untoward situation or development warrants, President
could also consider dismissing the Care Taker Government,
postponing the election indefinitely and declaring Martial
law for 3 to 5 years or until the country becomes ready
for a "free and fair" election. Politicians must
understand that only the Care Taker Government alone can't
secure a "free and fair" election unless political parties
come up with open mind toward accomplishing that mission.
Another disturbing and convoluted puzzle is that in
Bangladesh, there can not be any "free and fair" election
unless Awami League and BNP both win with majority seats
in the Parliament!
Meanwhile, the exciting MINUS 2 formula and REFORMS inside
political parties those once were hovering above and among
the "tranquilized politicians" immediately after 1/11,
appear to have been frozen, if not dead. No, not so fast!
Let the nation steam off renewed and onward journey
leaving these 2 crooks behind. These crusaders of
democracy love Hasina and Khaleda much more than they
actually love their families, this nation and democracy,
if any at all. We must come out from the umbilical cord of
Mujib and Zia, set ourselves free and secure practicing
true democracy. My other favorite character, Alhaj General
Mowlana Ershad that has been surfing these days, to
re-establish amorous relationship with his former and
estranged sweet-heart, lovely Bidhisa should also be
included with this MINUS 2 list. Very important but
needless to mention that unlike all other previous
Governments, the Care Taker Government should seriously
consider excluding enemies of our freedom Nezami and "his
accessory accomplishes" from participating in the National
election. This nation should no longer continue rewarding
these enemies of our freedom and they must pay heavy
prices for their brutal roles during our struggles for
independence.
No, I am not a misogynist and often feel guilty of being
so brutal to these 2 "innocents" ladies, I mean until
proven and found guilty by a judicial process! Why only
blame Hasina and Khaleda alone? Look at me, Mohammad Gani;
for more than 2 months now, I can't sleep well at night
for the worst mistake I have ever done in my entire life!
It was simply a dumb stupidity that I should never have
done! See, it does not make any sense to me; why have I
been flipping Burgers in USA for last 26 years instead of
working as a "Meter Reader" with "Titas Gas Transmission
and Distribution Company" in Bangladesh! If I would have
done so 15 years ago, I could have lived like a King or at
least like "Emperor Babor" along with my entire future
generations for 500+ more years! A terrible feeling of
committing such an irreparable mistake is still haunting
me 24/7 and I am afraid; this dream of becoming a "Meter
Reader" with Titas Gas Company shall not escape from my
head any time soon!
Finally, these 2 vicious women leaders in Bangladesh
national politics indeed have "heart problems" or have "no
heart" of kindness and love for this poor nation except
their obsessed, perverted and fatal attractions for power,
greed for public wealth and love for their own political
family trees. Despite unfolding many convincing and
circumstantial evidences of known and hidden crimes, these
patriots so far have demonstrated no sense of remorse or
guilt whatsoever and are becoming obstinately defiant
against all allegations. This should not be the teaching
of "civilized democracy" or "democracy of Accountability
and transparency", is it? We, the ordinary citizens of
Bangladesh now need to bear in mind that our national
security, spirits of freedom and freedom itself must win
over anything including over "Hasina/Khaleda brand"
democracy at all times and at any cost. Care Taker
Government must be girding for more punches of its
protracted struggle in defeating these "aggressive evils"
of circus democracy as well as have the mission of
establishing true democracy of Accountability and
transparency in Bangladesh. Delivering smiles to 150
million people can not be endangered and spoiled for years
together.
(Mohammad Gani is an engineer residing in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, USA. E Mail: mgani69@gmail.com)
Comment
Necessary Beginning
All the indications
are that the peace agreement signed yesterday by the Sudanese
and Chadian presidents gives little ground for optimism that
it will translate into an end to hostilities between these two
countries. Almost immediately, rebels on both sides dismissed
the deal, one group describing it as "a piece of paper". But
what this contemptuous reaction entirely overlooks is that one
day, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, it really will
be a piece of paper, and only a piece of paper, that brings
this venomous violence to a halt.
President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and his Chadian counterpart
Idriss Deby should be congratulated for their accord reached
at the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
in the Senegalese capital Dakar. There have been peace
agreements before which have quickly broken down and the omens
for this one do not look outstanding. The government in
Khartoum seems intent on crushing the Darfur rebels, using its
own regular forces along with the Janjaweed militias, while
the Deby administration is still struggling to maintain itself
in power after a strong rebel assault on the capital
N'Djamena.
If both countries quit sponsoring each other's rebel
movements, it would, at the very least, contain the violence.
Once that had been achieved, each government could settle down
to the difficult job of addressing the issues that fostered
rebellion and unrest on their respective territories. What the
savagery of the past few years has demonstrated is that the
gun offers no solution to any side. Indeed, it only deepens
the troubles. Darfur, the genesis of the conflict, was already
pitifully poor before age-old ethnic tensions led to violence.
At present, as with every such range war, power rests in the
barrel of a gun - but power to steal, intimidate and kill the
opposition. This leads nowhere.
If Darfur could be given the economic opportunity that rebels
originally claimed was denied it by Khartoum, the situation
could be transformed. The international community - including
Islamic states that seem singly focused on rallying behind
their legitimate opposition to brutal Israeli policy than
effectively decrying nearby Muslim-on-Muslim atrocities - is
partly to blame. No one has yet looked at what can be done to
give the people of Darfur a reason to choose peace and a
convincing hope of some prosperity. Chad has the beginnings of
its oil wealth, which, if wisely invested in the economy, can
offer its people a better future. But Darfur remains a vast
and difficult region, bereft of economic opportunity.
Productive international investment, rather than just band-aid
support for refugees, could make a difference. Unfortunately,
such a long-overdue initiative will now have to be implemented
under the guns of the men of violence, who, in stealing food
destined for refugees from their own communities, have
demonstrated a complete loss of moral direction. Nevertheless,
the Dakar accord is a necessary beginning. Much more has yet
to be done.
Source: www.arabnews.com
International
Eighty ‘confirmed’
killed in Tibet unrest
AFP, Report
Eighty people have died in a wave of unrest and a Chinese
crackdown in Tibet, the Himalayan region's exiled
government said Sunday.
Tibetan officials in Dharamshala, the base of exiled
spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, said the 80 "confirmed"
dead included 26 people who were shot near a prison in
Lhasa.
"Regarding bodies, it's 80. We have 80 unidentified
bodies," the spokesman for the government-in-exile,
Thubten Samphel, told reporters.
He said the toll had been established from "calls made
from Tibet" by witnesses, and added that at least 72
people had been injured.
"At this point of time, we have 80 dead, confirmed,"
Tenzin Taklha, a close aide to the Dalai Lama, also told
AFP -- repeating the figure that is far higher than the 10
deaths reported by Beijing.
He added the dead included people shot outside Drapchi
prison in Lhasa on Saturday and five girls. He said there
were also unconfirmed reports of three killed in
neighbouring Sichuan province and the suicides of five
Buddhist monks.
"The majo |