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Leading
News
Speaker slams government
Staff Correspondent
Speaker Barrister Jamiruddin
Sircar on Tuesday blasted the caretaker government for not
holing the parliament election within the stipulated 90
days and urged the government to hold the general
elections without any further delay. "Ninety days have
already passed but you (caretaker government) have failed
to hold parliament election. Hold election as early as
possible and hand over power to the elected government.
Without democracy and a parliament, the country can’t
proceed forward and its administration can’t play any
constructive role. There is no alternative to democratic
and parliamentary government," he said while addressing at
a discussion to mark the first death anniversary of former
BNP leader KM Obaidur Rahman held at the National Press
Club yesterday.
He said in the face of massive demand by the Awami League
and Jamaat the then BNP government had introduced the
concept of present caretaker government system. "The Awami
League and Jamaat are responsible for giving the idea of
such an undemocratic system of government. From the very
beginning I had opposed the concept of caretaker
government as democratic government can not handover the
state power to an undemocratic government," he said.
About the division in BNP, Jamiruddin said, "the division
will not continue soon after the announcement of the
election schedule as both the factions of BNP are
following Begum Zia as their supreme leader."
BNP Chairperson’s adviser Brig (retd) ASM Hannan Shah
said, "The unity is an imperative in BNP for its survival.
Had there been KM Obaidur Rahman alive, the BNP would not
have divided. Let us unite the BNP to restore democracy in
the country. No ploy of the conspirators would be
successful, if we remain united." He called upon the
partymen to unite and launch a movement to free detained
political leaders including Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh
Hasina.
Former Prime Minister Shah Moazzem Hossain heavily came
down on the government saying, "It is not fair that a
section of corrupts will be tried and other will enjoy
impunity."
Former DU Vice Chancellor Emajuddin Ahmed said, over the
last 36 years the political parties of the government have
failed to give the nation a vibrant democracy. He
underscored the need for reaching a consensus on some key
national issues through holding dialogue among the main
stakeholders of the politics.
Sector Commanders' Convention to be held on March 21
Staff Correspondent
The Sector Commanders’ Forum
(SCF) on Tuesday vowed to hold their twice-postponed
national convention at any cost on March 21 in the capital
to press home their demand for the trial of war criminals.
"We have vowed to hold the convention at any cost and to
this end, we have even agreed to abide by the government
instructions," former Army Chief and the Chief Coordinator
of the SCF Harun-Ar-Rashid told a press conference at the
forum’s Banani office yesterday. "We would not make any
provocative remarks or campaign using loudspeakers and
posters," He said adding, "Even after that if there are
any obstacles on holding the convention, the forum and all
freedom fighters of the country will defy all sorts of
obstacles." About 1,500 divisional representatives and 800
guests of different professions from across the country
are expected to join the convention. "All the preparations
have already been made and we hope the government will
take steps to ensure that the convention is held
peacefully," Rashid said.
Calling upon the government to take immediate steps to try
the war criminals, Rashid said, "Though the demand for the
trial of the war criminals has become a popular demand
now, the government is not starting the trial in name of
election. The war criminals should be tried for the sake
of nation. The present government has undertaken many
initiatives which have no link with the elections. In that
way, the government should start the process of trying war
criminals."
The forum extended its thanks and gratitude to those
foreign embassies for taking initiatives on their request
not to provide the war criminals with any help, giving
visa, in particular. The convention was scheduled to be
held on March 15 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship
Conference Centre (BCFCC) in city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar
but was rescheduled as the government did not allow them
fearing violence. Again, the forum applied to the home
secretary seeking permission for holding the convention on
March 21 at the same venue.
The forum chief asked the countrymen to put off the light
for a while on March 25 midnight across the country to
recall the brutal attack by the Pakistani occupation
forces on innocent Bengalis on that night in 1971.
Talks
with Indian rice exporters end inconclusively
Bdnews24, Dhaka
Bangladesh ended a two-day discussion
on Tuesday with Indian exporters but failed to fix prices
or a timeline for importing 400,000 tonnes of rice, an
official said.
The Indian exporters will return on March 23 to resume the
discussion after taking notes from their central
government.
"The two sides will hopefully reach a decision in the next
meeting," said the Food Directorate’s director general
Pius Costa. Costa said Bangladesh was giving importance to
the import of 4 lakh tonnes of rice out of 5 lakh.
"We want India to export the rice within one month but
they want 90 days. Bangladesh is not ready to accept their
timeframe," Costa told reporters.
He said Bangladesh wanted to receive the remaining 1 lakh
tonnes between April 15 and April 30.
"In this case prices are not so important as the
timeframe," Costa said.
"It will not be of any use if we don’t get the rice by
that deadline. We want it to keep the prices stable in the
market before the boro harvest," he said.
The Food Directorate chief said the government had enough
stocks to tackle the market. He said 17,000 tonnes of rice
entered the country through Chittagong seaport Monday and
another 50,0000 tonnes of rice have already been received.
"So we have fixed at the highest 60 days for procuring the
rest of the rice," Costa said.
He said the Indian side took the proposals and they would
make their decision through consultation with their
government.
On the matter of price, Costa repeated that they were more
orried about the timeframe.
"I don’t think there will be a problem about the price,"
he said without elaboration.
Release,
proper treatment of Hasina demanded
Staff Correspondent
Leaders of Awami League-led 14-party combine, like-minded
political parties and civil society members have demanded
of the Caretaker Government to release the detained AL
president Sheikh Hasina and ensure her proper treatment
abroad soon. "Bangladesh is passing the worst time in its
history. With a view to overcoming such the crisis and
save the country from this, there is no alternative except
movement under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, daughter
of the father of nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,"
they observed.
These opinions were voiced at a discussion meeting in
observance of 88th birth anniversary of Bangabandu at the
auditorium of Engineers’ Institution, Bangladesh, in the
capital on Tuesday afternoon.
They urged the government to announce the date of the next
parliament election as per the earlier announced road map,
lifting of the State of Emergency, resumption of indoor
politics across the country within the shortest possible
time. Acting AL president Zillur Rahman said, "Bangladesh
had not fallen in such critical junctures in the past.
Without the unconditional release of the detained former
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the nation will not get
relieve from such crisis."
Acting AL General Secretary Syed Asraful Islam urged the
government not to dishonour the written appeal of AL for
sending Hasina to the USA for better treatment after an
unconditional release." "The government must think of the
sentiments of the people and consequences of not doing so.
We don’t want to choose any alternative way to press home
the demand of the mass people in this regard."
Fixed
and Low-income groups face the worst
Staff Correspondent
Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam on Tuesday said the
fixed income groups and poor people are facing worst hit
by sky rocketing price of essentials. "Obviously the fixed
groups are the worst hit by price hike. The government is
considering to increase salary of the fixed income group.
But I can’t say specifically on the issue," replying to a
query after meeting with Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha (BSRS)
and Bangladesh Shilpa Bank (BSB) the Finance Adviser told
journalists at his Secretariat Office yesterday. However,
he said the government officials and employees did not
submit any proposal in this connection.
Talking to this correspondent employees and staffs of the
Secretariat said as they depend on monthly earning, they
are now faced with severe financial hardships struggling
to bridge the gap between their income and expenditure.
"Price hike of essentials and increase in water,
electricity, gas rates and house rent are making the
burden quite unbearable for us. A very little rise in
their earning is offset by rise in the bills of the
utility services. How can we continue our life with such
little earning. We are repeatedly saying to our
authorities concerned for increase in our salary," they
said.
On the other hand, people are apprehensive of further
price increases of food, fertilizer and seedlings as the
donor agencies including Asian Development Bank, World
Bank and International Monetary Fund are putting pressure
on the government to raise the prices of fuel, gas and
power. The recent government move to increase the prices
of fuel, gas and power have dashed the hope of the common
men to keep their body and soul together and sustain.
Frustration and uncertainty have gripped the common people
due to sky rocketing of price of essentials and other
commodities and continuous increase in water, electricity,
gas and fuel prices.
According to observers, on the pretext of price hike in
global markets our past and present governments increased
the prices of these essentials. But no government has
thought of the welfare of the common people. The
government is saying that as the state owned loosing
mills, industries, factories and other organisations have
been subsidised by it for a long time it would be very
tough to run these surviving in the race of global
markets, if the prices of fuel, gas and power are not
increased. But, simultaneously the government should think
of the purchasing capacity of the commoners, observers
pointed out.
Annisul
panel roars to victory in FBCCI polls
Bdnews24, Dhaka
The panel led by former BGMEA president Annisul Huq has
won a big-margin victory in the biennial election to the
governing body of FBCCI, according to official results
announced early Tuesday.
Annisul’s panel beat businessman MA Rouf Chowdhury’s group
11 to 1 in the chamber group and bagged eight posts of
director out of 12 by edging out its rival in the
association group, FBCCI election board chairman Ali
Ashraf said. Vote-taking continued from 9am Monday to
4:30pm for voters to elect 12 directors each from chamber
and association groups.
In the chamber group, 306 people cast votes, and 1,135
voters out of the 1,235 cast votes in the association
group.
Earlier, 14 directors—seven members from as many chambers
and another seven from seven associations—had been
nominated.
All 38 directors will elect the president and the vice
presidents Wednesday.
Annisul Huq, already a nominated director, and Rouf
Chowdhury, who won a post of director in the association
group in Monday’s election, are running for president.
An upbeat Annisul told bdnews24.com: "I have now 20 votes,
enough to win the FBCCI’s presidential election."
FBCCI administrator Syed Manzur Elahi told reporters: "The
government set us a deadline to hold an election by April
5. I am glad we held the election by the deadline."
Annisul alleged that his rival candidate Rouf Chowdhury of
Bangladesh Edible Oil Refiners’ Association had printed
names of three candidates of his panel in the Rouf panel.
Rouf denied the allegation. "The three candidates came to
our panel voluntarily," he said.
10
special courts to try cases under CrPC
Bdnews24, Dhaka
Ten special judge’s courts in the Sangsad Bhaban area have
been given judicial powers to conduct criminal cases, the
law ministry said in a circular on Tuesday.
The courts earlier assigned to deal with only corruption
cases will now be able to try murder, rape, extortion and
arms cases under the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code). The
special judge’s courts sited in the Sangsad Bhaban will be
called special courts of sessions, according to the
circular. A court official said the extortion case against
BNP senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman and
other high-profile cases including the one of murder
against former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar
could start in any of the 10 courts.
Back Page
Seismic Survey in
the Bay Underway
Staff Correspondent
Under-water survey for oil
and gas is being conducted with the joint partnership of
the government of Bangladesh and a private company by the
name of "Total E & P Bangladesh." The organization begun
the mineral resource exploration survey on March 14
last.The mineral resource exploration survey will cover
the coasts of Shaplapur, Shilkhali, Jahajpura, Borodail
and Teknaf under the district of Cox's Bazar.
The coast areas are within the Block No. 17 and Block No.
18 in the deep sea.
The search for oil and gas in the Bay is going on in full
swing with the help of a vessel named MV Geco Diamond. The
vessel is continuing the survey day and night without any
interruption. At the time of searching survey, the vessel
takes away a row of exploration equipments by pulling from
one part of the exploration areas to the other, at the
speed of 9.26 kilometres per hour. The equipments are 6
kilometres in length and 700 metres in width. At the tail
of each of the exploration equipment rows, a yellow-coloured
buoy remains floating on the water so that the watercrafts
can avoid any accident in the sea during mineral resource
search.
Checking Bird-flu in Dhaka
Staff Correspondent
Speakers at a discussion
meeting on Tuesday called upon the businessmen not to
bring any poultry birds in the capital from the bird
flu-affected areas of the country to contain the spread of
the infectious disease in the city. The poultry farms of
the adjoining areas of the capital might be affected if
the flu-attacked fowls from different parts of the country
are taken to the city's chicken markets, they apprehended.
Speaking on the occasion, DCC mayor Sadek Hossain Khoka
said that with the help of concerned authorities, socials
activists and NGO workers steps are being taken to contain
the situation. We should take steps to prevent the
country's poultry sector from the disease. In a bid to
save the industry, the people should be united and more
proactive to protect the disease in the greater interest
of the country's economy. Several DCC surveillance and
monitoring teams equipped with bird flu checking equipment
have been deployed in and around the city for monitoring
wastage dispatch activities.
Gold Price Hike
Fahmida Rahman Karobi
Silver is gradually capturing the gold markets as the
price of the gold is increasing day by day. The common
people who used to present gold ornaments to their near
and dear ones or relatives on various occasion, are now
buying silver-made ornaments due to sky rocketing price of
gold.
Talking to the Bangladesh Today, Ashraf Hossain, owner of
the AL Hossain Jewelers in the city's Chadni Chalk Market
said, "Due to abnormal price hike of gold in recent years,
it is now impossible for the middle income groups to buy
the gold ornaments. So the uses of silver ornaments have
increased largely and people are now using silver
ornaments, only in few cases they give gift to their close
relatives in cases of utmost necessity." He also said, "As
the price spiral of gold is abnormal in the local markets
following the price hike in the international markets and
nobody would be able control the current price hike.
That's why the sale of gold has also declined and people
are buying silver ornaments and I think in the coming days
the price would go up further."
Meanwhile, Talking to this correspondent, eminent
economist, Mozaffar Ahmed said, "The dollars value is
gradually falling in the international market and that's
the main reason of price spiral of gold across the
world."Gold price hit all time high at Tk 23386 a bhori
(11.66 grams) in the local market, showing an increase
trend of nearly Tk 1768 each year as in the year of 1999,
the price of each bhori gold was Tk 5750.
Taskforce against Jute Sector Corruption
Rabiul Islam
Taskforces against Corruption and Serious Crime would
launch anti-graft drives against alleged corrupt officials
in jute sector soon. "We will request taskforces to take
steps immediately to unearth corruption in jute sector",
said Jute and Textile Adviser Anwarul Iqbal while talking
to newsmen at his Secretariat office on Tuesday. He noted
that the taskforce should investigate into assets and
wealth of the officials who earlier served in the
state-run jute mills under the Bangladesh Jute Mills
Corporation (BJMC). The Jute Adviser said, "We are getting
allegations of corruption against jute mills officials
under the BJMC and carrying out investigation into it".
The outcome of the enquiry against corrupt suspects in
jute sector would be made public this month, he hoped.
Due to unabated corruption and mismanagement, the
state-run jute mills incurred huge loss and failed to make
profits after Independence, Iqbal said, adding the Finance
Ministry declined to allocate money for the sector. He
said, "We decided to lease out eight jute mills
considering the interest of the workers rather than
closing down". Asked whether there is any prescription
from the World Bank to lease out state-owned jute mills,
Iqbal said, "I don't have any prescriptions in my ministry
and if there are any prescriptions in the Finance
Ministry, the authoritires concerned can say about this".
The jute mills are: Quami Jute Mills in Sirajganj,
Karnaphuli Jute Mills in Chittagong, Forat Karnaphuli
Carpet Factory in Chittagong, Peoples Jute Mills in Khulna,
M M Jute Mills, R, R, Jute Mills and Baghdad-Dhaka Carpet
Factory in Chittagong and Alim Jute Mills in Khulna. "We
would send letters to the highest bidders soon to sign
agreements for leasing out six state-run jute mills", said
the Adviser while answering queries from newsmen.
Crime
Husband goes to gallows for killing wife
UNB, Dinajpur
A man was convicted and sentenced to death by a special
court here on Tuesday for killing his wife for dowry in
2004.
The condemned convict is Jatish Chandra Roy, son of
Bhromor Chandra Roy of Mahadevpur village in Birganj
upazila.
According to the prosecution, Jatish had used to torture
his wife Moyna Rani, daughter of Chakradhar Roy of
Sundarighat village in the same upazila, for dowry since
their marriage.
At the fateful night of March 14, 2004, Jatish tortured
Moyna to death as she refused to meet his demand.
After the incident, victim's father filed a murder case
against six people, including son-in-law Jatish, with
Birganj thana.
After examining records and witnesses, Women and Children
Repression Prevention Tribunal Judge Badsha Alamgir found
Jatish guilty and pronounced the verdict.
The court, however, acquitted five others as their guilt
was not proved.
Man awarded 27-yr jail
UNB, Chuadanga
A court here Monday convicted a man and awarded him 27
years imprisonment for possessing arms and ammunition.
The convict is Selimuddin, son of Gohor Ali of Bagan para
of the town.
According to prosecution, police arrested Selimuddin along
with a shutter gun and eight rounds of bullet from a train
at the rail station in the town on April 17, 2007. A case
was filed.
After examining records and 13 witnesses judge of special
tribunal Motahar Hossain awarded him 20 years imprisonment
for possessing arms and seven years for possessing
ammunition.
Brother kills brother
UNB, Bagerhat
A young man was hacked to death by his brother at Dewtala
village in Morelganj upazila on Monday.
Police said Bhobasindhu Bairagi hacked his younger brother
Akhil Bairagi, 18, to death following an altercation over
sharing of money. The body was sent to morgue for autopsy.
Police arrested Bhobasindhu from Mongla upazila after a
hot chase.
Young man killed
UNB, Sirajganj
A young man was strangulated to death by unidentified
miscreants at Rampatti village in Enayetpur upazila early
Tuesday.
On information, police recovered the body of Bellal
Hossain, 23, son of Haider Ali from his room this morning
and sent it to the Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Police said that he might have been killed following a
land dispute. A case was filed in this connection.
Pourasava chairman suspended
UNB, Meherpur
Meherpur pourasava chairman Motassim Billa Matu now under
detention has been suspended by the government.
Accused in as many as 16 criminal cases he was arrested by
the joint forces on June 7 last year.
Informed sources said a former JP leader Mutassim had no
political link with the previous governments of BNP and
Awami League. He was elected chairman for two consecutive
terms.
Another report said Ahmed Ali, Gangni pourasava chairman,
suspended by the government was arrested from the jail
gate soon after released on bail on Monday evening.
Arrested by the joint forces on July 8 last year he faces
a number of criminal cases.
Young man injured in acid attack
UNB, Bogra
A young man was injured in an acid attack allegedly by his
rival group at Langolmora village in Sherpur upazila on
early Monday.
Local people said assailants threw acid on Zahidul Islam,
30, as he came out of his house responding to the call of
nature at about 3:30 am, leaving him critically injured.
Hearing his cry for help, neighboures rushed in and
admitted Zahidul to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College
Hospital. Later, he was shifted to Dhaka Acid Survivors
Foundation in Dhaka.
Fake marriage registrar arrested
BSS, Nilphamari
Police arrested a fake marriage registrar from Sadar
upazila of the district on Sunday. The arrested was
identified as Aftab Uddin, 55.
Police also seized a bag of false documents of marriage
registration.
Police said acting on an allegation from the district Kazi
Samiti, police arrested Aftab Uddin from his home at
Sangolshi village of the upazila.
He has been cheating people from a long time, the sources
said.
Two fugitives held
BSS, Rangamati
Police arrested two absconding convicts in separate drives
in the town on Monday.
Acting on secret information, a team of police raided a
house at officers' colony at Tobalchhari in the town on
Monday and arrested Alal, 28, son of late Abdul Jabbar.
The arrested was sentenced to two and a half years in a
narcotics related case by a court here in August 2004.
In another drive police arrested an absconding convict
named Yunus, 30, son of Aminur Rahman at Patharghata area
of Reserve Bazar in the town on Monday. Yunus was
sentenced to two years in a dowry related case in 2004.
The arrested persons were sent to jail when police
produced them before the court.
Two netted with fake notes
UNB, Khulna
Rapid Action Battalion members arrested two people along
with fake notes of Tk 28,600 at Khalishpur in the city
Tuesday morning.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of RAB-6 arrested Masud Parvez,
27, and Sheikh Selim, 25, from Chitrali in Khalishpur area
at about 6am.
Searching their bodies, police also recovered 286 fake
notes of Tk 100 denomination.
Two drug peddlers busted
BSS, Rajbari
Police in separate drives arrested two-drug peddlers and
51 small packets of heroin from different places of the
district on Sunday.
The arrested were identified as Pithali Begum, 45, wife of
Alam Mia, and her son Mohammad Sumon, 25, of Poravita
village of Daulatdia union under Goalondo upazila.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of police raided the house of
Pithali Begum and recovered 51 packets of heroin from her
possession.
In another drive, Pangsha thana police arrested drug
peddler Minhaj Mia, 26, son of Akbar Sheikh of village
Kumri of Narail district on Sunday.
On information police searched a Dhaka bound coach at Aziz
Sarder bus stand and recovered 21 bottles phensidyl from
his possession.
1,330 held across country
UNB, Dhaka
Police, in separate drives, arrested 1,330 people across
the country in the last 24 hours ending at 6:00 am on
Tuesday.
During the drive, the law-enforcers also recovered 17
firearms, 10 other weapons, one cocktail and 31 bullet.
Four cases were also filed under Arms Act, said a press
release.
Besides, they seized 67 motorbikes without valid documents
and some 364 cases were lodged under Motor Vehicles Acts.
48 persons arrested in Rajshahi
BSS, Rajshahi
Police, in anti-crime drives, arrested up 48 persons on
various charges from different areas in city and nine
upazilas of the district on Monday.
Of them 10 were picked up from different areas in the
metropolis while 38 others from nine upazilas of the
district.
Traffic police lodged 16 cases under the motor vehicles
ordinance and seized one motorbike and a tempo for without
registration during drives against the non-registered
motor vehicles from different parts of the city during the
period.
Editorial
Present Government Irregular not Illegal
Barrister
Jamir Uddin Sircar, the Speaker of the last Parliament has
opined that the present Government is not an illegal
government but an irregular one, citing various provisions of
the Constitution in support of his contention. One is not sure
as to why the Speaker, of the now defunct Parliament, had to
express this particular point of view, specially when nobody
asked him for an opinion on the matter. He has moreover,
confused the issue further by citing provisions of the
Constitution which relate to the Caretaker Government as far
as holding national elections within 90 days is concerned
perhaps overlooking or sidetracking the fact that as soon as
the President declared the Emergency, Caretaker Government
ceased to exist in fact and in law. By providing an opinion
which is neither here nor there he has opened up a totally new
front in an already heated debate about what this Emergency
Government is all about.
Historically and logically speaking a government-in-being,
whatever its type and composition has never been considered
illegal by anyone, anywhere in the world, otherwise it would
not be a government and one has only to study the
Constitutional history of Bangladesh to realize how true that
is in the case of Bangladesh. Since almost the very inception
of Bangladesh, governments have rarely changed hands through
well defined processes except for the period 1991 – 2006; for
the rest of our history one merely sees a procession of
martial-law regimes changing hands through violent means. All
such governments were de facto or governments-in-fact which
later became de jure or legitimized themselves through
amendments of our Constitution at appropriate times – all on
the plea of necessity or as the CEC would like to term it
“Doctrine of Necessity”. No one in Bangladesh has ever
challenged the existence of such governments as being either
irregular or illegal even after such governments were deposed,
removed or changed. The Emergency Government too came into
existence because one single person, the President decided or
was convinced to decide that that an “emergency situation”
existed where certain provisions of the Constitution relating
to citizen rights needed to be suspended and the government
run by decrees; the Emergency Government did not come about
because people voted it to State power and it will not go away
if people wish it so. Suppose the Speaker had opined that this
Government is illegal, would the Government have disbanded
itself ? So the whole question of legality, regularity,
illegality or irregularity is really not very relevant now.
The point at issue here is not the legalistic, hair-splitting
opinions of lawyers regarding the nature of this Government;
the issue here is that we have been imposed upon by an
Emergency Government which really is unable to tackle the
numerous problems that the Nation and its people face right
now and the people have no option in replacing this government
with another one which will make an effort at solving their
problems and paying heed to their needs and demands. Although
the Emergency Government is telling us that election are just
down the road, nobody is able to take that for granted; not
the politicians, not the economists, not the media, not the
lawyers, nor even the common people. This uncertainty
regarding the future of government and governance is taking
its toll on every sphere of national life but more
particularly on the economic and social spheres. Therefore,
people are demanding immediate elections and a return to a
regularity of political processes, however flawed, whereby the
people are at least sure that they have the option of changing
governments at regular intervals; if they cannot live with one
particular government they will have a chance of getting rid
of it after five years. This is what is at stake here – the
right of people to choose their governments; the Emergency is
preventing that.
Analysis
Letter from Toronto-4
Bangladesh government should retain 51 percent
of Biman to maintain control of it. After all, it is our
flagship carrier.
Shahriar Shibley
According
to Warren Buffett, you can make millions in airline stocks
only if you start with a billion. It is really tough to make
money running an airline company. The competition is very
stiff and external factors are very unpredictable. Fuel price
fluctuate. Then there are accidents and passenger law suites.
So many airline companies went bankrupt and investors lost
billions of dollars. Pan Am, People Air, Piedmont, Eastern
Airline are just to name a few. Each of these US airlines had
big fleet. People Air, for example, was a no frills airline.
Passengers had to bring their own food and had to carry their
own luggage. It was a brand new concept. Business was booming.
They expanded their fleet. Eventually, debt was unmanageable.
Eastern Airline’s story was somewhat different. Its CEO, Frank
Lorenzo was a renowned “union buster”. The machinist’s union
and the CEO did not see eye to eye. There was a strike
situation. The slogan was “Union yes, Frank Lorenzo, hell no”.
Planes were grounded. Losses quickly mounted and the company
failed.
9-11 brought substantial misery to airline industry. Passenger
number took a tumble. Companies were losing money left and
right. At the same time jet fuel price was spiking high. A
double dipping situation. US government was pumping billions
of dollars just to keep the airline companies afloat.
Canadian Government refused to subsidize its airlines. At the
same time dot com bubble was slowly bursting. Many of the high
paying information technology jobs were disappearing. The
number of dot com frequent flyers also dropped. Canadian
airlines were suffering badly.
Now, let me tell you the tale of two airlines. Air Canada was
a crown corporation (A Canadian government owned corporation).
Since the government was losing money in it, they decided to
divest out of it and make it a publicly traded company. The
company became profitable. Another company, Canadian Airlines,
came into the market. It too was profitable. It expanded its
fleet till interest expenses were more than its revenue. Air
Canada decided to buy out Canadian Airlines. It paid about $11
a share to take it over. Within a couple of years, it too was
in debt problem. Its net asset value was less then what it
owed the bank. A company called ACE Aviation Holding came to
its rescue. The shareholders who owned over 10,000 shares of
Air Canada received shares of ACE Aviation Holding; others did
not receive any compensation. Now, Air Canada is doing fairly
good. Two other Canadian airlines Air Transat and Canada 3000,
caught up in the 9-11 and dot com related downturn and had to
liquidate.
Biman’s woes are probably not all Biman’s fault. Of course
there were mismanagement, but some of its failures were
associated with the industry they are in. Now, airline
industry is quite stable. Biman’s decision to buy 8 Boeing
aircrafts over 10 years is a bold decision and it is the right
one. Biman needs to expand its services as more and more
Bangladeshis are spreading all over the world. To many
Bangladeshis living in North America, it is a win win
situation. Because, many Bangladeshis are working for Boeing.
On the top of that, many Bangladeshis are shareholders of
Boeing. Boeing had been a good stock to invest. It is one
those stocks that you buy, hold and prosper. In the past, it
had many 2 for 1 splits. In 2007, its revenue rose 8% to $66.4
billion and net income increased to $4.1 billion. Biman’s
order of $1.265 billion will definitely add to its profit
margin.
Biman should be careful in managing its future debt. It should
be aware that debt problems had been historically haunting
airline industry. It should think of other ways of raising
capital, than go to the bank. Here in North America, publicly
traded companies sometimes sell more of their shares at market
value to raise capital. Then again, the buy back their shares
when they think that shares are selling less than fair value.
Sometimes they sell non voting preferred shares. Once in a
while they sell corporate bonds (junk bonds) which are insured
by bond insurers. In Biman’s case, issuing common shares had
long been anticipated. In selling those shares, Biman should
not forget Bangladeshis living abroad. They are Biman’s most
loyal customers. It makes good business sense to maintain
liaison with them as customers and prospective investors. A
percentage of IPO should be allotted to be sold for
Bangladeshis living abroad. Biman should create a huge
database of email addresses of Bangladeshis living abroad (in
absence of loyalty program) and update them of recent
developments and seat sales. Biman should also maintain close
contacts with Bangladeshi owned travel agencies operating in
foreign countries. Bangladeshis abroad are interested in
airline industry. Some are opening airlines themselves. Biman
should capitalize on that interest. Biman should send open
invitation to those to join in a broader effort. It should
take the leadership role of organizing Bangladeshi investors
abroad and bringing them under one strong umbrella.
Bangladesh government should retain 51 percent of Biman to
maintain control of it. After all, it is our flagship carrier.
In that structure, government will have the right to appoint
half the number of directors and other share holders will have
the right to elect the rest. A similar structure now exist in
a Canadian Corporation, Petro Canada, where Canadian
government owns a portion of the company and shareholders from
Canada, USA and all over the world owns the rest of the
company. It has exploration activities all over the world and
is good, profitable company to invest in.
Trivial may it sound, Biman has a beautiful name. All the
respect to the person who came up with the name 31 years ago.
The name Biman Bangladesh Airlines is so meaningful and it has
certain ring to it that no other airline has. Biman should
protect its name at any cost. Name is serious game in the
corporate world. Some years ago, General Motors of USA came up
with a model of sedan named Chevy Beretta. Italian gun maker
sued GM for the name and won. Other day I saw the ad of a
Bangladeshi owned airline company using the name of a major US
airline company. That’s a no no. I can smell law suits in the
air.
Let us all keep our hopes high in Biman’s new journey ahead.
Let’s be optimistic that Biman will be as successful as some
very profitable airline companies who are expanding. For
example, Westjet of Canada. It is the leading low-fare airline
here. It started in 1996 with 200 employees and 3 aircrafts.
Its domestic market share rose 35 percent in 2006. In 2004 it
entered trans border market. In 2006 it entered international
market with year end 4974 full-time employees and fleet size
of 63. The net earning of 3rd quarter of 2007 increased 44
percent to $76.1 million compared to $52.8 million of same
quarter of 2006. Their business is seasonal in nature. Their
domestic business is high in the summer months. In winter they
make money carrying passengers (often called snow birds) to
sunny southern United States destinations.
(Shahriar Shibley, email: globalsymi@msn.com)
Building
Ecotopia: Dietary Considerations
The environmental impact of a vegetarian diet, when examined
against the environmental impact of a carnivorous diet, comes
out way ahead.
Chuck Hall
Building
an Ecotopia requires redesigning our current consumer culture
by starting over from the ground up. Our most basic needs are
food, clothing and shelter. Today we’re literally going to
start at the ground level by discussing the agricultural and
dietary components of our Ecotopian society.
The ideal form of diet in Ecotopia would be vegetarianism.
There are a number of reasons for this. The first and foremost
reason is the independence such a diet offers. For example,
growing your own food at home reduces grocery bills, or
eliminates them altogether. When you grow your own food, you
have control over pesticides and herbicides as well, so you
don’t have to guess whether the food you’re eating is truly
‘organically grown.’
There’s also good news for those of you who think that you’d
need a huge farm to grow your own food. A new form of
gardening, called ‘biointensive gardening,’ has shown that it
is possible to greatly increase the yield from the average
home garden. John Jeavons and Alan Chadwick, pioneers in this
field, have demonstrated that it is possible to feed a family
of four vegans with only 1/8 of an acre. Jeavons gives an
in-depth review of his methods in his book, How to Grow More
Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land Than
You Can Imagine (2006, Ten Speed Press).
Another reason for vegetarianism in our Ecotopian society is
the plethora of health benefits such a diet offers. I’ve
already written about these benefits back in September of last
year. Since that time, health studies continue to compile
evidence that vegetarianism is the way to go! Neal D. Barnard,
M. D president of Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine, says that “For people battling overweight and heart
disease, a vegetarian diet can be a life-saving prescription.”
Finally, the environmental impact of a vegetarian diet, when
examined against the environmental impact of a carnivorous
diet, comes out way ahead. The Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) of the United Nations formed the Livestock,
Environment and Development (LEAD) to study the impact of the
livestock industry on the environment. In 2007, a report
entitled Livestock’s Long Shadow was released by this agency.
Some of the findings of this report included:
It takes up to 1000 pounds of water to produce one pound of
beef
Americans who eat meat are responsible for 1.5 more tons of
carbon dioxide per year than those who don’t
The beef industry is responsible for around 18% of greenhouse
gas emissions
Rapid deforestation of rain forests is largely due to the beef
industry (grazing lands)
Consider the fact that using biointensive gardening, you can
feed a vegan family of four on 1/8 of an acre, but in order to
feed one cow, you need 2.5 acres! In spite of all of this, I
know that there are those who won’t be able to give up
meat-eating altogether. That doesn’t mean that those of you
who won’t give up meat, can’t make an impact as well. For
example, if everybody in North America skipped one hamburger
per week, that’d reduce the world’s beef consumption by nearly
50 million pounds! Think about that the next time you’re at
the drive-through.
(Chuck Hall is a freelance columnist writing on climate change
and environmental issues. You may contact Chuck by
email at: chuck@cultureartist.org.)
Protecting
an increasingly scarce resource
Water is life: The impact of water shortage is being felt
all over the world, in the industrialised as well as
developing countries.
Ban Ki-moon
Unlike
oil, there are no substitutes for water. But today, fresh
water resources are stretched thin. As the global economy
grows, so will its thirst.
Water is life: The impact of water shortage is being felt all
over the world, in the industrialised as well as developing
countries.
At the United Nations, 22nd March is World Water Day. We don't
expect people to stop what they are doing and observe a moment
of silence - but maybe they should. Every 20 seconds, a child
dies from diseases associated with a lack of clean water. That
adds up to an unconscionable 1.5 million young lives cut short
each year.
More than two and a half billion people in the world live in
the most abysmal standards of hygiene and sanitation. Helping
them would do more than reduce the death toll; it would serve
to protect the environment, alleviate poverty and promote
development. That's because water underpins so much of the
work we do in these areas.Water is essential for survival.
Unlike oil, there are no substitutes. But today, fresh water
resources are stretched thin. Population growth will make the
problem worse. So will climate change. As the global economy
grows, so will its thirst.
Risk of conflict
As with oil, problems that grow from the scarcity of a vital
resource tend to spill over borders. International Alert has
identified 46 countries, home to 2.7 billion people, where
climate change and water-related crises create a high risk of
violent conflict. A further 56 countries, representing another
1.2 billion people, are at high risk of political instability.
That's more than half the world.
This is not an issue of rich or poor, north or south. China is
diverting hundreds of millions of cubic metres of water to
drought-prone Beijing ahead of the Olympics, but shortages are
expected to persist for years to come. In North America, the
mighty Colorado river seldom reaches the sea. Water stress
affects one-third of the United States and one-fifth of Spain.
Depleting river waters
The water system of Lake Chad, in central Africa, supports
some 30 million people. Yet over the past 30 years, it has
shrunk to one-tenth of its former size, thanks to drought,
climate change, mismanagement and overuse. Visiting Brazil
this fall, I had to cancel a trip down a major tributary of
the Amazon. It had dried up.
I have spent the past year beating the drum on climate change.
We've seen the results in the "Bali road map," which charts a
course for negotiations on a legally binding treaty limiting
greenhouse gas emissions to take over when the Kyoto Protocol
expires in 2012.
This year, I will make a similar effort to raise public
awareness of the Millennium Development Goals.
Among other things, the so-called MDGs set a target of cutting
by half the number of people without safe access to water by
2015. This is critically important. When you look at the
health and development challenges faced by the poorest of the
world's population - diseases like malaria or TB, rising food
prices, environmental degradation - the common denominator
often turns out to be water.
Evolving better strategies
This September, I will gather top-level officials from across
the world at a summit in New York on how to reach the Goals,
particularly in Africa. In the meantime, we need to begin
thinking about better strategies for managing water - for
using it efficiently and sharing it fairly. This means
partnerships involving not just governments but civil society
groups, individuals and businesses.
We are in the early stages of this awakening. But there are
some encouraging signs, especially in the private sector.
Corporations have long been viewed as culprits. The
smokestacks from power plants pollute our air, the effluents
from industry spoil our rivers. But this is changing. More and
more today, businesses are working to become part of the
solution, rather than the problem.
Corporate commitment
Earlier this month, members of the UN Global Compact, the
world's largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative,
gathered in New York for a meeting on water. The companies in
that room had a total worth of about half a trillion dollars
with employees in some 200 countries. The main theme: moving
beyond the mere use of water to stewardship. This translates
into a commitment to engage with the United Nations,
governments and civil groups to protect what is becoming an
increasingly scarce resource and ensure that local communities
benefit.
Every journey is comprised of myriad small steps, and they
spoke about those, too. A major textiles company told [us] how
it was working with local governments and farmers to conserve
watersheds in growing cotton. A jeans designer is planning to
change its labels, calling for washing in cold and hanging dry
as a step to save water. A drop in the bucket, yes. But I see
it as the first wave in a tide of change.
Source: www.hindu.com
Viewpoints
Is
Pakistan in the making?
Regional turmoil should occupy the full
attention of the new House, as much as the economic as well as
security matters of a weakening Pakistan, ill-focused by a
“friendly” India.
Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
The political storm that was set in
Pakistan on 11 March, following the communiqué issued by
President Pervez Musharraf, summoning parliament to meet on
March 17, today, seems to be subsiding and the issue of future
of incumbent President getting gradually relegated to side
ways with the emergence of a new set of issues before the
opposition leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan
Muslim League (PMLN), now busy debating other crucial issues
before the parliament. As a result, the leaders are coming
together to form the central as well as provincial governments
by concentrating on removal of the differences that have
cropped up in each party as well as in their negotiations for
power-share, rather than fighting with Musharraf right now.
As it stands, the PPP is all set to form government at the
centre with the backing of former premier Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N
and the Awami National Party, which draws its support from the
ethnic Pashtun minority. At regional levels, too, they are
finalizing the candidates for top slots. The combined
opposition is five seats short of a two-thirds majority in the
lower house of parliament; having won a total of 223 seats in
the 342-member National Assembly (the PPP has 120 seats, the
PML-N 90, and the Awami National Party (ANP) 13 seats). The
position of other parties is: Muttahida Qaumi Movement has 25
seats, the Muttahida Majlas-e-Amal six seats, the Pakistan
Muslim League-Functional five seats and the Pakistan People’s
Party-Sherpao, National People’s Party and Balochistan
National Party-Awami one seat each. The PML-Q, which backs
Musharraf, is the third largest group in the National Assembly
with 51 seats.
The struggle thus has crossed from “Musharraf versus
opposition” to several other domains including the choice of
right people for top government slots and other issues now.
The parliament would, by all probability, discuss the role of
presidency and its place in relation to parliament, role of
military in Pakistan and its role in relation to legislature,
role of judiciary and appointment of judges, choice of
Prime-Minister are doing rounds in political discourses of the
opposition conclaves, though fate of Musharraf seems to be
still in the background of their talks. Most import, the PPP-PML(N)
have to now decide about persons for country’s major offices,
Premier, Speaker and, if necessary, the President. Nawaz
Sharif seems to be still eying the presidency.
Murree Declaration signed on March 09 by Pakistan People’s
Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif is an important event
and its enforcement could change the course of politics. This
is the second most important document signed by the two
parties. First was the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed in
2006, which is regarded as the best piece of paper produced in
the country after the 1973 Constitution. Both documents show a
bipartisan manner in which the two big parties want to pursue
the common objective of democratic and constitutional rule.
Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has so
far played a pro-active role in softening the opposition anger
towards Musharraf’s presidency, on the one hand and balancing
with opposition interests, on the other. Under the Murree
Declaration, both parties agreed to restore the judges of the
judiciary, including deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammed
Chaudhry, as it existed on November 3, 2007. The PML-N and its
leader Nawaz Sharif have been very vocal on this issue. But
both are vague over the issue. The media, civil society,
lawyers, the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) and the
PML-N are only stressing on the restoration of judges. The
issue related to the constitution is only mentioned as a
passing remark. There still is debate in the country whether a
resolution of the National Assembly or even the parliament
will be sufficient to restore the judiciary in the Supreme
Court as well as four high courts. The issue of judges has not
been the central problem of PMLN or PPP, but it came handy in
fighting elections to marginalize Musharraf.
NEW PREMIER: THE CONTROVERSY
There have been “wheels within wheels” in every party that
keep turning on different vital issues, especially on the
choice of premiership. Sources report that there is a lot of
undercurrent on the final choice of the premier, still causing
problems in the opposition camp, while Musharraf is closely
watching the developments and meeting the leaders across the
political spectrum.
Makhdoom Amin Fahim, whom the PPP had proposed in the
beginning, has become irrelevant now. The opposition parties
oppose his candidature because of his proximity to Musharraf
and military, but Fahim says he has met Musharraf several
times on behalf of PPP and there is nothing special
about seeing him now. PML-N leader Khawaja Asif, who earlier
emerged as a possible choice, was in fact “launched” by PPP-PML(N)
only to “discredit and ditch” Fahim on a wink from high-ups.
His outburst against Fahim was not something out of the blue;
it was well planned and well considered. It was intended to
give a clear message to Fahim that the major coalition partner
of the PPP was not willing to accept him as the candidate for
prime minister. This has enabled Zardari to make it clear to
Fahim that he could not name him as the PPP candidate because
he had been opposed by his major coalition partner without
whose support his party could not form the government at the
Centre.
Before Khawaja Asif came out in the open, Nawaz Sharif had set
the ball rolling when he had stated that anybody who was
“wired” should not be nominated as the prime minister. He had
made this all-embracing remark during a news conference at
Bhurban that he had addressed with Zardari following their
historic accord to restore the deposed judges and form
coalition governments at the Centre and in the Punjab.
Many usually well informed senior party leaders do not
precisely know why such eruption of angry remarks against the
respected Makhdoom, proposed earlier by PPP as the final
choice for Premiership, took place. After Zardari dropped
Fahim there has been a sense of disquiet in political circles.
On March 14 PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif and ANP chief Asfandyar
Wali chose not to meet Makhdoom Amin Fahim citing prior
engagements, but he did manage to meet JUI-F chief Maulana
Fazlur Rehman here at the latter’s residence. His meeting with
the JUI-F leader has been termed `informal`. However, no
senior PPP leader was willing to talk about it, saying they
did not want to comment on it as already the media was fueling
the controversy within the party. Rehman said after the
meeting that it is PPP`s internal matter to nominate a
candidate for the prime minister and his party would not
interfere in it. He said his party supports the PPP and has no
reservations on whosoever becomes prime minister.
Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, another important contender for the
post, has now emerged as the apparent sole front-runner in the
race for the top slot, has made some interesting remarks to
prove his “credentials”. For example, he has stated that a
smooth working relationship can be worked out with President
Pervez Musharraf. He has also declared that he would vacate
the top office for Zardari after the latter’s election as MNA
to assume the charge.
Meanwhile, Veteran PPP leader Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani told he
would win the Prime Minister race, thereby adding a new
dimension to the problem. Gillani had started his political
career when he was made a member of Gen Ziaul Haq’s handpicked
Majlis-e-Shoora. He remained with the Pakistan Muslim League (PML)
for a few years. Later, he joined the PPP with which his
attachment continues to this day. He suffered a lot because of
his imprisonment on a frivolous charge of recruiting people in
the National Assembly Secretariat when he was its speaker.
Asif Ali Zardari
Of course, as it is known, PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari
expressed his ambition to assume the premiership as soon as he
is cleared of his graft charges and he expects it would take
about 3 months. Meanwhile, the Accountability Court No 3,
Rawalpindi, acquitted on 14 March Asif Ali Zardari in the BMW
car reference, the last corruption reference against him,
suspending all the previous orders related to the confiscation
of his property.
The conciliatory approach being adopted by PPP toward
President Musharraf has undoubtedly set the stage for a
fruitful coordinative administration in Pakistan. This
approach, in turn, has helped change the charged political
atmosphere in Pakistan. The court, in its judgment, observed
that the alleged involvement of Zardari in importing a BMW car
from England and evading the customs duty could not be proven.
In the BMW case, Zardari was accused of impersonating as a
student and importing a 1993 model armored luxury vehicle with
the intention to evade duties that caused the national
exchequer a loss of Rs 10 million. The Sindh High Court (SHC),
in its ruling, had recently directed the attorney-general and
the NAB authorities to withdraw the corruption cases filed in
Switzerland by the Government of Pakistan, and the SHC would
take up the case on March 21. Pakistan media report that
Zardari would be the premier.
The PPP’s nominee for the slot of the speaker and his domicile
would be keenly watched. Fahim, disappointed by the turn of
events denying him the premiership, seems to have declined to
accept Speaker-ship. Rumors are that both the prime minister
and the speaker were unlikely to be taken from the same
province though such an arrangement might be a stopgap
arrangement. However, Asif Zardari will take the final
decision about the prime minister slot after consulting with
the PML-N and ANP. Most probably a nominee of PML (N) would be
selected for the Speaker-ship; a seasoned politician Javed
Hashmi might be considered for this important job of balancing
the hot politicians in the Hall.
Regional turmoil should occupy the full attention of the new
House, as much as the economic as well as security matters of
a weakening Pakistan, ill-focused by a “friendly” India.
Amid the confusion being generated by the post-poll
adjustments made for the final selection of premier and
speaker, one thing is becoming amply clear: the opposition led
by PPP leader Zardari has shelved their major goal of removing
Musharraf from presidency, at least for the time being. That
is indeed a positive signal for Pakistan and its people; both
have suffered a great deal. Musharraf, who has declared his
support to the new government, was also elected by
constitutional means and is not a threat to legitimate
interests of either Pakistan or Kashmir. But a unified
leadership is in Pakistan’s as well as Kashmir’s advantage.
(Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal is a Research scholar, School of
International Studies, Jawaharlal University, Delhi 110067)
US Must Reject the Juvenile Bush Vision
The challenge for the next US administration is
to create a new Middle East strategy that rejects the juvenile
Bush vision of Iraq as a playing field against Al-Qaeda.
Max Hastings
The Iraq War
has shown how high is the pain threshold of the West. Five
years after the 2003 invasion, the daily roll call of Iraqi
suicide bombings, murders, firefights and body bags has become
as familiar a part of our landscape as traffic jams on the M1
and Los Angeles freeway.
The media class on both sides of the Atlantic is deeply
engaged, indeed impassioned. The war is much discussed in the
US presidential election campaign. But most Americans and
Europeans display vastly less interest in the Middle East than
in troubles closer to home - the global banking crisis
foremost among them. They have grown used to Iraq in the way
they do to a chronic personal ailment. It is there. It is
nasty. They wish that it would go away. But it does not
inflict the sort of agonizing pain that causes democracies to
force urgent action upon their governments.
At this week's bleak anniversary, statisticians measure the
cost. Joseph Stilts and Linda Biomes tell us that the US faces
a total bill of $3 trillion, and still counting. About 4,000
American soldiers, 171 British and anything between 200,000
and 600,000 Iraqis have died. It would be madness to describe
these numbers as acceptable. But they have not proved so
unacceptable that the US or British government, or even the
Iraqi administration in Baghdad, has found it necessary to
adopt any radical shift of policy.
The Shiite-dominated government of Nuri Al-Maliki still
recoils from empowering Iraq's Sunnis. The Bush administration
declines to make serious advances to Iran and Syria, vital
players in any credible Iraqi outcome, or to qualify its
unstinting support for Israel. Gordon Brown maintains a token
British contingent outside Basra, which does little, but
avoids an outright breach with Washington. It seems futile,
five years on, to waste words rehearsing once more the folly
of the invasion, launched under false pretences, on the basis
of WMD evidence that some of us, including me, were foolish
enough to swallow. Likewise, the blunders of the early
occupation are common ground even in sentient zones of the
White House. All that matters now are the present and future.
George Bush's troop surge has been a tactical military
success. Though violence in February and March has increased
from the low January level, with 10 US soldiers dying last
week, far fewer Iraqi lives are being lost than at this time
last year. Local cease-fires have made notable progress, with
militias receiving American pay to refrain from attacks on
either US forces or other factions. Al-Qaeda insurgents have
suffered repeated military defeats, and political eclipse.
Many Sunni communities have rejected Al-Qaeda's murderous
hegemony, together with the cost of allowing their towns and
villages to become battlefields.
The great unanswered question is whether this amounts to
sustainable progress, or merely to a temporary hiatus which
fails to address the fundamental issues that will decide
Iraq's future. Dr. Stephen Biddle of the US Council on Foreign
Relations has acquired an intimate knowledge of Iraq, and
offered an interesting assessment to the House Armed Services
Committee in January. While accepting that all the options
remain bleak, he suggested that there is today a better chance
of salvaging something than seemed possible six months ago. He
argued that a long-term US peacekeeping commitment - perhaps
for 20 years - remains essential.
"We are the only plausible candidate for this role for now -
no one else is lining up to don a blue helmet and serve in a
UN mission to Iraq," he said. "We are not widely loved by
Iraqis ... Yet we are the only party to today's conflict that
no other party sees as a threat of genocide ... we are
tolerated across Iraq today in a way that is unique among the
parties."Biddle cherishes no delusions about the weakness,
approaching paralysis, of the national government in Baghdad.
The Shiite Prime Minister Maliki, he says, can more readily
live with continuing war than address the political challenges
of reconciliation and compromises with the Sunnis, which peace
would render inescapable. Instead, he suggests that "a
patchwork quilt of uneasy local cease-fires" may be
attainable, with adjoining areas run by local Sunni and Shiite
militias, and essential services provided by trusted
co-religionists. All this fits with the bottom-up rather than
top-down approach that has been at the heart of Gen. David
Petraeus' strategy since he assumed command. Yet massive
uncertainties overhang the vision propounded by Biddle and
others. Will the local cease-fires and reduction of violence
be maintained, as US troop numbers on the ground inevitably
decline ? Can intercommunal stresses, not least with the
Kurds, be contained while the key issue of dividing oil
revenues remains unresolved? And whoever becomes president in
January, will the American people be willing to sacrifice the
blood and treasure involved in a long-term troop commitment to
Iraq? Whether McCain, Obama or Clinton reaches the White
House, each will face the same dilemma: Would any of the three
accept responsibility for presiding over a possible bloodbath,
if he or she gives an order to bring the boys home?A familiar
tension will persist, between the visible cost of staying, and
the huge unknown of getting out. If violence on the ground
seems containable, if the present flickering candle-flames of
optimism remain unextinguished, the next president seems
likely to persevere in Iraq. If, pain increases, bloodshed
worsens, then the American people will surely force the hand
of the White House, and insist upon a closure.No American
general is likely to accomplish more than Petraeus. Current US
political strategy in Iraq is probably as enlightened as it is
going to get. The big, empty field is that of wider American
policy in the Middle East, which is critical in determining
the context in which Iraq's fate will be decided. Under Bush,
this has been sterile. In theory at least, a big opportunity
awaits a new president - that of making a new start with Iran,
Syria, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The challenge for the next US administration is to create a
new Middle East strategy that rejects the juvenile Bush vision
of Iraq as a playing field against Al-Qaeda; which reaches out
to moderate Iranians; and which accepts that until there is
justice for the Palestinians, American mood music can never
play right anywhere in the Muslim world.The Iraq experience
has laid bare the limits of raw military power. It would be
naive to suggest that an abrupt American departure would now
promise the country a happy future. But there seems no purpose
in a continued US military presence, save within the context
of new regional policies vastly different from those that
prevail today.
Source:
www.arabnews.com
International
Tibet isolated
after Chinese lockdown
AFP, Beijing
Tibet remained largely cut off from the outside world
Tuesday after a crackdown by China, which said violence
there was backed by the Dalai Lama and aimed at
undermining the Olympic Games in Beijing.
With the remote region under virtual lockdown by Chinese
security forces, it was not known what had happened after
an overnight deadline for protesters in Tibet to turn
themselves in to authorities or face serious consequences.
China blamed Tibetan "mobs" for the deaths of 13 people in
violent anti-Chinese rioting on Friday, while Tibetan
exile groups have said around 100 people or more were
killed as China quashed the protests.
Foreign tourists and journalists have been blocked from
entering the region, and even activist groups with
long-standing connections in Tibet indicated they were
having difficulty finding out what was happening there.
"It is a very, very tense and terrifying situation," Kate
Saunders, from the International Campaign for Tibet, an
activist group, told AFP. "But it has become much more
difficult to get information out."
Premier Wen Jiabao, asked about Tibet in his annual news
conference Tuesday, blamed the region's exiled spiritual
leader, the Dalai Lama, and said protesters were
attempting to spoil China's Olympic showpiece in August.
"They want to undermine the Beijing Olympic Games," Wen
said. "We should respect the principles of the Olympics
and the Olympic Charter. We should not politicise the
Games."
He said China would "consider the possibility" of
organising access to Tibet for foreign journalists but did
not say when that might happen.
Wen said the situation in Lhasa was returning to normal,
and a Chinese resident of the city contacted by AFP
reported that some businesses were reopening.
The unrest-and the virtual sealing off of the region-has
renewed international attention on China's human rights
record amid scattered calls from Tibetan activists and
campaigners to boycott the Games.
But while many nations have called on China to use
restraint in dealing with the protesters, none have said
they would boycott the Olympics.
Asked Tuesday whether his country would consider skipping
the Games, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura
replied: "No." He said events in Tibet were "a domestic
issue."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called on the
Chinese authorities to "avoid further confrontation and
violence" in his first public comments since the
crackdown. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called
on Beijing to open talks with the Dalai Lama-who has
lashed out at Chinese "cultural genocide" in Tibet but has
also stopped short of calling for an Olympics boycott.
But Wen said Beijing would only hold talks with the Dalai
Lama if he gives up independence ambitions for his
Himalayan homeland-a vast region more than twice the size
of France that makes up about one-eighth of China.
"We have plenty of evidence that proves that these
incidents were organised, premeditated, masterminded and
incited by the Dalai clique," the premier said at his news
conference.
"Claims that the Chinese government is involved in
so-called cultural genocide are nothing but lies," he
said. The Dalai Lama has denied being behind the unrest.
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks renewed on sour note
AFP, Jerusalem
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resumed on a sour note on
Monday with the Palestinian negotiator blasting Israel for
vowing to continue settlement activity in the occupied
West Bank.
"There was a meeting to resume the negotiations but after
what the Israeli prime minister said about settlements,
the meeting was an unofficial not an official meeting,"
former Palestinian premier Ahmed Qorei said after his
two-hour meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
in Jerusalem.
Just hours before the talks, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
reiterated Israel would continue to build Jewish
settlements in annexed east Jerusalem-despite
international concern that the action could hamper peace
talks.
"I expressed our strong anger and complete rejection of
this position which was declared by the Israeli prime
minister," Qorei said in a statement, adding that it
violated Israel's commitment to the international roadmap
peace plan.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said Livni
and Qorei "restarted their dialogue and met face-to-face
for two hours", but he gave no further details.
The last time the two met was on February 19 when Olmert
and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas chaired a session
of the Middle East peace talks that were relaunched in
late November to great fanfare under US stewardship.
Abbas had suspended the talks on March 2 amid Israeli army
operations in Hamas-run Gaza in response to increased
rocket fire, a massive assault that killed more than 130
Palestinians, including dozens of civilians.
Five Israelis were killed during the fighting.
On a subsequent visit to the region, US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said the two sides had agreed to resume
negotiations, but new Israeli settlement projects in the
occupied West Bank have since heightened tensions.
Contacts between the two sides officially restarted on
Friday, when Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad and a
senior Israeli defence ministry official met Lieutenant
General William Fraser, a US envoy charged with overseeing
the implementation of the 2003 roadmap peace blueprint.
The internationally-drafted document calls on Israel to
freeze settlement activity and the Palestinians to improve
security in the territories, but on Friday both sides
accused the other of shirking their obligations.
Indian police bust captive blood donor racket
AFP, New Delhi
Police in
northern India said Tuesday they have broken a racket in
which a gang held 17 men captive and forced them to give
blood several times a week, selling it for thousands of
dollars.
The men-all poor migrant workers-were so weak when they
were rescued that they could not stand up, and are now
being treated in hospital, police said.
"Five men who were running this racket were arrested,"
police official Piyush Mordia told AFP from the the town
of Gorakhpur, in northern Uttar Pradesh state, adding
police were searching for another four men.
The arrested men have been charged with selling blood,
which is banned in India, and unlawfully confining their
victims.
The gang promised jobs to poor labourers who traveled to
the town and persuaded them to undergo blood tests by
paying them 50 rupees (1.25 dollars).
They were then paid 1,500 rupees (37.5 dollars) a month
for giving blood on a frequent basis, and were too weak to
challenge their captors.
The blood was then sold to local hospitals for between 800
rupees to 4,000 rupees a unit, depending on the rarity of
the blood type, with the gang making as much as 30,000
rupees per "donor" each month, Mordia said. Police were
also investigating a laboratory technician at the town's
main hospital for links to the gang, a report in the Times
of India said Tuesday.
The case comes just months after police in a suburb of the
Indian capital busted an organ theft gang that also lured
poor labourers with job offers, only to steal their
kidneys.
A severe shortage of blood has seen "unscrupulous
elements" trying to make money from donations, said
Khushroo Poachaa, who started indianblooddonors.com, an
online registry of 45,000 voluntary donors, eight years
ago. "There are huge shortages," said Poachaa, who
estimates a gap of about 40 percent. "People have to run
about from here to there to find a blood donor."
Pakistan could get woman as speaker of parliament
AFP, Islamabad
The party of slain former
prime minister Benazir Bhutto set to lead Pakistan's
coalition government nominated a woman MP Tuesday to
contest for the office of national assembly speaker,
officials said.
Fahmida Mirza, 52, is now all but certain to win the top
post in the 342-seat lower house of parliament, which will
hold the election for the post on Wednesday.
Mirza, a seasoned politician from Bhutto's home province
of Sindh, would be the first woman speaker of the
parliament in the 60-year history of this deeply
conservative Islamic nation of 160 million people.
Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide attack at an
election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27. Her party is
the largest in parliament.
The party supporting President Pervez Musharraf, which
suffered defeat in the elections last month, is also vying
for the speaker's post.
Five years on, US soldiers
recall Iraq war horrors
AFP, Washington
Private Clifton Hicks reopened painful memories as he
recalled how his unit in Iraq had raced out to aid fellow
US soldiers who had come under fire, only to have to
clumsily sweep up the tragic results of a furious
counter-attack.
"A patrol of 82nd airborne infantry guys in Humvees with
machineguns on either side were attacked from the left by
two or three insurgents," Hicks said, staring vacantly
ahead as he gave testimony at "Winter Soldier," organized
by Iraq Veterans against the War (IVAW).
"Some of the guys also heard gunfire from the right, where
there was housing for disabled families from the Iraqi
army. So the whole platoon returned fire in both
directions," he said.
Three people at a wedding party inside the house were hit.
"An old man was slightly wounded. A girl of 10 was
slightly wounded. A girl of six was dead," said Hicks.
"She had been shot by a bunch of teenage American kids."
The 82nd left Hicks's unit to call the casualties in to
the tactical operations center. "They told us: 'Charlie
Mike.' That's military jargon for continue mission," he
said.
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