| Dhaka, Delhi set to renew water transit protocol Ashuganj may be included as new port of call for goods between Kolkata and Agartala Raheed Ejaz Dhaka and New Delhi are set to renew the inland water transit and trade deal soon where Ashuganj may be included as a new port of call, especially for easy transport of Indian goods from Kolkata to Agartala through Bangladesh. |
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| Tipaimukh dam restarts to dry up Surma, Kushiara Tipaimukh barrage barely one kilometer away from Jakiganj border.With the end of winter the rivers in Bangladesh begin to dry up. The consequence of dams, dykes and barrages built on major rivers by upper riparian India has been disastrous for Bangladesh. Free flow of water in the Padma has been hindered. A process of desertification has already started and even the dredging proved fruitless to keep the navigability intact. Besides, this has created ecological imbalance in the whole country. Irrigation has been hampered. Building barrage over Tipaimukh will dry up the flow of rivers Surma and Kushiara rendering a vast tract of land in Sylhet fallow. Despite vigorous protests from Bangladesh side work on Tipaimukh barrage in Assam resumes and this is not taken kindly by the lower riparian people. UNB adds: India has started construction of Tipaimukh barrage barely one kilometer away from Jakiganj border threatening to dry up the flow of the Surma and Kushiara rivers during the winter. The barrage on the Barak River at Churachandpur district in Assam will render barren vast arable lands in north-east of Bangladesh, change ecology and climate in the region. Officials of the Water Development Board told UNB today that work on the barrage was started in March 2007 but postponed in the face of protest within and outside India. A long march from Sylhet to Jakiganj and environmentalists in India had strongly protested construction of the barrage. They said Indian state-owned NIPCO Company recently started the groundwork on the barrage. An appraisal committee of river valley and hydro-electric experts of India issued the clearance certificate for the barrage few months ago. Sajjadul Hasan, deputy Commissioner of Sylhet, said he would inform the appropriate quarter about the latest development on Tipaimukh barrage. The barrage at the catchment of Surma and Kushiara rivers at an estimated cost of Rs 4 crore is aimed at building up a 1500-megawatt hydel project. When completed by 2012 the barrage, 350km Surma River and 110km Kushiara River will dry up in the winter seriously affecting agriculture and bringing about ecological change in the region, experts said. |
Voice of Bangladeshi Bloggers
A Group Blog to talk about Bangladesh Politics, Society, Media and Human Rights
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Bangladeshi war criminals in the USA
Audacity of the supporters of Bangladeshi war criminals in the USA During 1971 Bangladesh's war of liberation, a handful of hardcore Islamic militants carried on genocide in Pakistan occupied Bangladesh. In the name religion, they helped the brutal Pakistani army to perpetrate mass murder of innocent citizens and rape of women. Mr. Abul Kalam Azad is one of such notorious war criminals. Unfortunately, that despicable mass murderer is now a "respectable Islamic scholar" in Bangladesh. This happened because of certain historical events. On August 15 1975 the founding father of Bangladesh, the secular nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with his family members and other party members in a pro-Pakistani military coup. After the coup, the country suddenly went to pro-Pakistani (to some extent soft on Islamism) direction. Abul Kalam Azad and many brutal Islamist killers of 1971 emerged from their hideouts. Some of them were inside the country living underground. Some of them were living in countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. After 1975, the country of Bangladesh witnessed the expansion of Islamist and war criminal lobby, which were rejected by the people in 1971. One after another Bangladeshi military generals with a pro-Pakistani political persuasion ruled the country with iron fist. On the one hand they curtailed democratic freedom to a large extent, on the other the war criminals of 1971 were given enough opportunity to organize and strengthen their constituency. Thus Bangladeshi Islamist lobby gradually got a strong foothold in a number of Western countries. It goes without saying, their tentacles reached the heartland of the United States. That is why, Abul Kalam Azad does not have any problem visiting USA quite frequently. He was in this country in August of last year (2008)(source: deshivoice).He is back in USA a few days ago. On January 24th, 2009 he had the golden opportunity to give a speech in the Muslim Community Center mosque in Silver Spring, Maryland. Presence of a few demonstrators in front of the mosque let him know loud and clear that his fundraising activity to strengthen Islamist lobby will not go unchallenged.On 25th January, 2009, this killer of 1971, was invited to speak in a Mosque's Fundraising Dinner in New York. The program was scheduled in a basement of Tajmahal Restaurant, in Hillside, Jamaica, New York. Before the evening the place was crowded by expat Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. In the meantime a number of expatriate Bangladeshi activists staged a demonstration outside the restaurant. One after another activist was rendering speech detailing the war crime this "Islamic scholar" committed in nine months of 1971. As one of the concluding speakers was finishing his speech, a few supporters of Abul Kalam Azad started to hurl insults to the speakers. They were quite amazingly accompanied by another very notorious mass murderer of Bangladeshis, now a US citizen, Ashrafuzzaman Khan. A scuffle broke out between the two parties. One of the activists was seriously injured. His nose was bleeding visibly. In the meantime the police came to scene. One of the supporters of Abul Kalam Azad/Ashrafuzzaman Khan was arrested. An updated report says, the "Islamic scholar" could not make it to give his fundraising sermon. The owner of the restaurant, a freedom fighter of Bangladesh war of liberation, did not mind to cancel the event thus losing six thousand dollars in this economic crisis period.Below you will find the first link to the press conference of the activists regarding the incidence. Please note, the speeches were given in Bengali:Now you will see the link to the scuffle and police intervention:
Posted by Deshi Blogger at 9:25 AM
http://deshivoice.blogspot.com/2009/01/bangladeshi-war-criminals-in-usa.html
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dear all you will be glad to know that Falgun 1415 and Ekhushey 2009 issue of our popular online magazine. ur criticisms, feedback, articles, literary works will be highly appreciated.. best regards shamim |
Dear All,
As the part of worldwide "Green Revolution", storing natural surface water (from rain, streams, lakes,etc.) to man-made water reservoirs such as dighi or pukur in Bangladesh, levy protected large reservoirs upstream of water treatment plants for potable water supply or upstream of hydro-plants etc. in different countries, initiatives and projects are being taken to resolve the scarcity and problems of drinking water and using water for farming or cultivation. Surface water stored in these man-made sources will be arsenic free. In Bangladesh, the water of monsoon can be stored easily, in the monsoon season, into the man-made reservoirs all over the country, even around every house. People will be able to drink for the rest of the non-monsoon seasons, arsenic free natural monsoon water from these man-made stores. Since arsenic has become so prevalent in the underground tube well water, Bangladeshis may change the habit, leaving the habit of drinking underground water; and develop the habit of our past generations, to drink surface water. Our ancestors could drink directly from the natural water sources, without having very less bad affects, for the main reason that the pollution was very very low in the nature at that time. Since pollution is high now, it would only be beneficial to store pure monsoon water in protected man-made water reservoirs, and drink with minor filtration, and boiling & cooling if needed, based on the case by case situations.
People and Government together may form Public-Private ventures, for promotion, capital, planning, design, construction, regulation, circulation, etc.
Since monsoon will last for ever (at least in the next hundreds of years), this initiative will resolve the major problems of potable and irrigation water for ever. This is just a thought and if it makes sense to the others, let's try to promote this idea, for the benefit of the people of the country and for our future generations.
Thanks,
KR
Re:Open Letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Arsenic Disaster in Bangladesh. About two years ago we raised important questions about the improper disposal of arsenic waste from the Sono filters as well as other filters and treatment units in Bangladesh regarding its environmental concerns. As experienced environmental professionals, we believe that it is our moral obligation to bring this issue to the promoter of the filters, users of the filters and the govt agencies so that everyone is aware of the issue and take necessary steps to stop improper disposal of arsenic waste. We shared numerous articles and case studies with the scientists who are promoting and allowing the improper disposal of arsenic waste to occur in Bangladesh. They neglected to heed our call and instead promoted the open dumping of toxic arsenic waste based on false data and poor assessment. Many people asked why the UNICEF and other NGO's are using these filters if the filters' arsenic waste disposal violates the scientific laws and principles of environmental health? Why is the World Health Organization not concerned about the indiscriminate disposal of arsenic waste in Bangladesh, Nepal, India and other countries? Are these organizations aware of the EPA's arsenic waste disposal regulations and impacts of arsenic waste to the public health, ecosystem and environment etc? In July 2007 in the article entitled, "Emergency Water Supply: Arsenic Removal Filters? Or Use of Tube wells in Wet season, and Dug wells and River Waters in Dry Season?," we presented the following solutions for arsenic disaster in Bangladesh. Emergency Water Supply Solutions to the Arsenic Affected Regions of Bangladesh: Wet Season Solution: Why is the above mentioned wet season solution considered to be the best solution? Because during the wet season plenty of arsenic free waters can be abstracted from tube wells and dug wells, and prior to the arsenic disaster in Bangladesh people abstracted arsenic free water from dug wells for thousands of years and from tube wells for 70-80 years from above the present arsenic contaminated zone (the thousands of year old oxidation zone that is overlain by the recently created new oxidation zone). In the event that bacteria is present in wells, both the wells and water can be disinfected through chlorination. The disinfection of water by chlorination is much cheaper and convenient than the arsenic removal filters. During the wet season, arsenic free water can be produced from dug wells and tube wells at a cheaper price than any other method. The people won't have to deal with toxic arsenic waste at all. The implementation of this project will reduce the toxic waste and the water supply cost by at least 50% than the current arsenic removal systems round the year. This method will fully protect the health and safety of the people, ecosystem and environment of Bangladesh from the arsenic disaster. We do not think any Bangladeshi or foreign environmental geologist, hydrogeologist, water engineer, environmental economist, policymaker and politician are able to present a better solution than this one. We think the above mentioned solution is the best environment friendly, cost effective, emergency water supply solution for the wet season. We can destroy pathogenic bacteria, but we can't destroy arsenic. The honorable ministers of LGRD, Water Resources, Agriculture, Environment, Science and Technology, Education, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the elected opposition political party leaders should immediately explore the above mentioned water supply method. This is a serious national issue and we request that they work together to protect the people of Bangladesh from the arsenic disaster. We would like to assure the govt. of Bangladesh that the well trained and experienced scientists and engineers will fully agree with our proposal and they would fully support the implementation of this emergency water supply system in Bangladesh. We request that the Prime minister Sheikh Hasina and the opposition group leaders immediately examine, evaluate and compare this method with other alternative solutions on an urgent basis. Now the question is how much cost is involved to implement this project? How much time is required to fully install the tube wells in the affected areas? How many tube wells need to be installed? What are the sources of financial support needed to execute this project? How much money is available to the Bangladesh govt. to implement the project etc.? The DPHE is the main organization capable of implementing the project. The DPHE and the National Arsenic Mitigation Committee of Bangladesh have detailed information necessary to examine and evaluate the project within a few weeks. They can take help from the Bangladesh Water Development Board, Geological Survey of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation and other professional NGO's in this regard. If they need any help from us to execute the project, the WATC International Research team will provide them with all the necessary information and the team will examine the various aspects of the proposed project and work with Bangladesh govt. for implementing the project. If the DPHE and Bangladesh National Arsenic Mitigation Team are not capable of preparing the plan, we would like to inform the the govt. of Bangladesh that WATC international research team will be happy to develop a plan for both wet season and dry season. The dry season is fast approaching and during this time the sufficient arsenic free water is not available in Bangladesh for drinking, irrigation and industries. The journalists of Bangladesh are keeping us informed about the extent of arsenic poisoning on a regular basis. So what are the best solutions for the dry season? Is there any more cost effective and environmentally friendly solutions than the present arsenic removal filters operating in Bangladesh? We would request the govt. and the people of Bangladesh to review the following articles:1. Arsenic Threatens Global Health:, http://www.sciencea 2. Desert gust blows health risks from Calif. mines: http://www.msnbc. The situation in Bangladesh is getting worse every day. We believe the people of Bangladesh will be able to realize and learn from these articles about what is happening and what will happen to the public health, ecosystem and environment in Bangladesh from the indiscriminate disposal of arsenic waste. We think we can solve the arsenic disaster in Bangladesh with the help of the international community. In order to convince the international community to provide financial and technical assistance, we must develop sustainable, cost effective and environment friendly solutions based on sound scientific data and evidence. The data must be collected and interpreted by professionals who have had proper institutional training and working experience in dealing with soil and groundwater contamination projects. Respectfully, Meer Husain,P.G. Environmental Geologist, Kansas Dept. of Health & Environment, Cowley County Community College, Team Leader-Wichita Area Technical College International Arsenic, Water, Ecosystem and Environment Research Center, Wichita, Kansas, USA. Continue.... |
This is the only you since you live in a closed box, you even don't know the color of the sky. There are thousands of people who support CBd except you which is very acceptable. CBd will not support one particular party and one type mentality, you need to be pro Bangladesh, not to pro one party. People in the blogs and internet media know about your closed minded attitude and you are welcome in this free world, but not welcome to degrade others in name of protecting your own interest and your own party. Welcome to the new world. Regards, M. M. Chowdhury (Mithu), USA --- On Fri, 2/13/09, Shamim Chowdhury <veirsmill@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Shamim Chowdhury <veirsmill@yahoo.com> |
Give me a little lie
--------------------
A little lie won't kill,
A little pretension
might even soothe.
Be my dream girl,
Say, you love me;
Say, you miss me.
Say it, as if it were true,
As if the only truth
in the world;
in the universe.
Be my valentine,
Fall in love with me,
As if, this is for real.
---------------------
New York
February 14, 2009
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Pakistan on the BrinkBy BRIAN M. DOWNING Pakistan might collapse. It faces regional insurgencies, political failures, rising Islamism (in the public and army alike), and reprisals from India over the Mumbai attacks of last November. The trouble in the US's principal though duplicitous partner in the war on terror is all the more worrisome because it has nuclear weapons. A great deal of Pakistan's trouble is the fault of its military, which has thwarted political development, encouraged Islamism, and supported terrorism. From its inception in 1947, Pakistan was predisposed to military rule. The British colonial army of the subcontinent was drawn predominantly from the Punjab, a region that became part of Pakistan upon independence. From that point on, the Pakistani army was more unified and capable of concerted action than were the political parties. Seeing itself as embodying the nation far more than they did, the army would push aside civilian governments and take the reins of power when it saw fit. There's no edifying morality play here. Pakistan's political parties are corrupt, oligarchic patronage networks that bear considerable blame as well for the situation today. The Pakistani army, more so than the political parties, benefited from Cold War dynamics. India, though more powerful than Pakistan and hostile to China, chose a path of nonalignment and so Pakistan (along with Iran) became the US's partner in the region. Arms and money and advisors flowed in, adding to the army's hypertrophy. The military used its muscle in politics often and the results were not good. Military governments thwarted the development of stable political partnerships and coalitions, failed to integrate the various provinces of the country (Balochistan and the North-West Frontier Province) into a national whole, and also failed to find a political arrangement to limit sectarian clashes. The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 greatly strengthened the army (especially a section of it), which at the time was ruling the country after overthrowing and eventually executing Ali Bhutto. The US and Saudi Arabia poured money into Pakistan to aid the various mujahadin groups fighting just to the north, most of whom could readily be considered Islamist. The supply effort was entrusted to a section of the military – the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI). In order to inspire new recruits for the war in Afghanistan (and for the struggle over Kashmir and revanchism over the loss of East Pakistan) madrasas were funded. Along the way, the ISI became a state within a state, an army within an army, a praetorian guard within a praetorian guard. The Soviet-Afghan War of the 1980s was a boon for the Pakistani army and the ISI. They emerged from the war with large amounts of US money and equipment and with institutional prestige infused with victory, which reinforced the conviction that they alone knew best how to lead the country. This sense of national mission had theretofore not been weak but it had been based in part on an uncertain foundation: an hysterical reaction to, and the need to deny, the incompetence it had exhibited in wars with India, one of which, in 1971, had led to the loss of East Pakistan and resulted in a national trauma that shapes national thought to this day. The chaotic aftermath of the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 presented the Pakistani military and ISI with new security concerns. Though victorious, the guardians saw Afghanistan as a dangerous front in the conflict with India, which had attained influence with Tajik, Uzbek, and Hazara peoples of central and northern Afghanistan. These northern groups (essentially the future Northern Alliance) were posed against the Pashtun tribes in the south and in the region across the porous frontier in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province and its Federally Administered Tribal Agencies. The ISI looked to counter the Indian-backed tribes and also for stability to allow commerce to flow with the independent states of Central Asia that emerged with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The mujahadin had never solidified into a unitary movement, remaining instead an assortment of groups with a common interest in expelling the Soviet Union and its collaborators in Kabul. Following the Soviet Union's exit in 1989, the groups vied for power cruelly but inconclusively. Warlordism flourished; Pakistan's security to the north remained in doubt. The ISI found its answer to security and commercial matters in the Taliban, which arose, probably without ISI assistance, in 1994 as a fundamentalist sect that suppressed brigandage preying upon commerce in southern Afghanistan and which, with ISI assistance, spread among the Pashtun tribes, especially those whose structure had been badly damaged by decades of war. The Taliban offered new or restored traditional forms of social integration, authority, and patronage. Most of all, they ended crime and anarchy. By 1996, it had swept across most of Afghanistan, cornering the Northern Alliance. Soon thereafter the Clinton administration negotiated with the Taliban to build oil and gas pipelines to bring the resources of Central Asia to Pakistan, then on to foreign markets. The Pakistani guardians were elated. The ISI had secured its northern front for the time being and established itself as the hub of a wide-ranging network of militant and terrorist organizations to fight India over Kashmir and to one day restore lost honor over East Pakistan. The Taliban handled the north; various groups such as Markaz Dawa-Wal-Irshad, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and others staged guerrilla attacks in and near Kashmir. (Lashkar-e-Taiba likely executed the Mumbai attacks in November 2008.) Both fronts benefited from mujahadin veterans, some of whom became al Qaeda. The soldiers of the Punjab had once been mainstays of British imperial might and ambition; the generals of the Punjab were now players in the newest round of the Great Game. The 2001 attacks on New York and Washington by a group at least on the fringe of the ISI's network, and ensuing events, revealed how poorly the Pakistani military and intelligence played the region's famous geopolitical game. In late 2001 the Northern Alliance, aided by US air power, rolled up Taliban and al Qaeda positions and seized Mazar-e-Sharif, Kabul, and Kandahar. The ISI's clients were trapped in distant redoubts and on the verge of annihilation. The ISI claimed to support the US but rescued the Taliban and al Qaeda forces, and airlifted them into Pakistan – Operation Evil Airlift, as an aghast but helpless US special forces witness called it. Pakistan's duplicity continued for years but has now become apparent to all. The US has cooled toward Pakistan and the ISI's Islamist clients are turning on it. Overt support for the US has caused Islamist clients to turn on the government (military or civilian) and develop into serious insurgent groups. The Taliban reconstituted in Pakistani sanctuaries, allied with a kindred Pakistani movement (Tehrik-e-Taliban), and is now seizing control of swaths of the North-West Frontier Province. To the west, the Taliban, in concert with Baloch insurgents, are asserting control over the northern part of Balochistan Province. Losing control of these areas means losing US/NATO supply routes but attempts to fight the insurgents makes the military seem even more obeisant to the US, which of course strengthens the insurgencies. US leaders are turning to supply routes across Central Asia; and Russia, concerned about an Islamist empire forming to its south, has recently announced greater logistical support for US/NATO forces, which it otherwise vehemently opposes in Eastern Europe. Pakistan is of diminishing usefulness to US/NATO efforts in Afghanistan, but of increasing alarm to the region and to much of the world. Its army and ISI are no longer able to govern the country or even hold it together – and neither can the newly installed civilian government, whose capabilities the military has stunted and some of whose leaders it has murdered. A reasonable interpretation of recent events is that the military helped assassinate Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 in order to prevent the accession of a popular civilian government, and that it increased guerrilla operations in Kashmir last summer and aided in the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 in order to rally Islamist militants to the nationalist, anti-Indian cause. Disintegration continues. The Pakistani army is a highly centralized bureaucracy that is organized for conventional war, praetorian meddling, and authoritarian rule. It lacks the flexibility and willingness to delegate authority necessary for counterinsurgency operations and indeed it has allocated guerrilla expertise to the groups it is now fighting. Other politically engaged armies have come to see political involvement as destructive, withdrawn from politics, and focused on building professional, nonpolitical forces. The French army, after agonizing colonial wars and absurd coup attempts, is a case in point. Late in the Franco regime the Spanish army came into contact with the apolitical officers of NATO and saw their professionalism and mastery of technique as more desirable than political involvement. And numerous South American armies have realized that they are unable to govern and opted to go back to the barracks. But this might not be possible for the Pakistani army and the ISI. Their encouragement of Islamism brought the militant faithful into the officer corps, as they were thought more dedicated to confronting India than those with more moderate religiosity. Islamist militants are all but dominant in the officer corps now, even in the ranks of those who will control the general staff in a few years. The generals have brought Pakistan to the edge of the abyss. The protégées they took in, nurtured, and promoted may be the ones to push the country in, making the Pakistani generals the most recent losers in the Great Game, which has never had a long-term winner. Brian M. Downing is a veteran of the Vietnam War and author of several works of political and military history, including The Military Revolution and Political Change and The Paths of Glory: War and Social Change in America from the Great War to Vietnam. He can be reached at: brianmdowning@gmail.com |
Our forces weren't increased… we have weaknesses and [the Taleban] are taking advantage of that weakness 