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Friday, October 2, 2009

[ALOCHONA] Hand of admin in August 21 attack



Hand of admin in August 21 attack

CID mentions in charge sheet but makes no effort to dig into it

 

Despite hints in the charge sheet that administration under the BNP-Jamaat alliance might have aided and abetted the August 21 grenade blasts, no investigation has been done along that line.

The 41-page charge sheet submitted 15 months back suggests that Abdus Salam Pintu, a former BNP deputy minister, had assured Huji leaders of administrative help in carrying out the attack to kill Sheikh Hasina.

He gave the assurance at a meeting at his residence three days before the blasts that left 23 people killed and over 300 injured at an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in 2004.

The charge sheet however does not elaborate on the finding which crime experts say surely warrants further probe.

Investigation from this angle, the experts believe, might help unmask the masterminds behind the August 21 carnage.

Ending a long drama over enquiry into the attack, Criminal Investigation Department pressed charges against 21 leaders and activists of banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami and Salam Pintu on June 9 last year.

After AL-led grand alliance came to power in January, the prosecution prayed for further investigation to unearth the sources and supplier of the grenades used in the attack.

The court granted permission for more probe, and CID's Abdul Kahar Akand has been assigned to do the job.

ASM Shahjahan, former caretaker government adviser who also served as inspector general of police, told The Daily Star, "If the investigation officer thinks the point [mentioned in the charge sheet] should be probed, he can do it by informing the court or taking permission from it."

He can seek to find out what the charge sheet means by "administrative support" and if anyone did lend administrative support to the attackers, Shahjahan added.

According to the charge sheet, Moulana Abu Taher, president of Dhaka city Huji, took fellow Huji leaders Mufti Abdul Hannan and Ahsan Ullah Kajal to the then deputy minister Pintu's Dhanmondi house to discuss the plot.

Pintu's brother Moulana Tajuddin, an absconding accused in August 21 case, was also present at the meeting where Pintu said Hasina has to be killed.

Pledging funds and manpower, he said "prosashonik sohaiota" (administrative support) too would be given to pull off the plot.

Anisul Huq, an expert on criminal laws, told The Daily Star, the extent of the then government's involvement in the ghastly attack may be known if the investigators could make out the ex-deputy minister's expression "proshashonik shohaiota".

The expression suggests the administration had either sought to make the attack successful or shield the masterminds and perpetrators from investigation.

The dubious role of police and intelligence personnel at Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21 supports that kind of thinking.

Citing Hasina's statement to the investigation officer, the charge sheet said members of the Special Branch fired a few rounds to counter the attack, but the DMP team assigned to ensure her security did nothing.

The police men on duty were rather hampering her retreat from the scene. They were firing tear gas shells and bullets as her SUV was heading towards Zero Point through the road on west side of the Outer Stadium.

Some experts and analysts say the words "administrative help" can be interpreted in many ways.

It is significant when a minister speaks of providing administrative help.

It adds weight to AL's allegations that some influential people in the then government had a hand in the blasts.

Besides the controversial role of the law enforcers during and before the attack, there is the issue of attempts to prevent a fair investigation in the August 21 blasts case.

Three CID officials including two former IOs face criminal charges for misleading the probe.

Experts say the investigators should see if the bid to divert the course of investigation was part of the administrative help Pintu had pledged to the Huji top brass.

Following a probe under supervision of Lutfozzaman Babar, state minister for home at that time, police arrested 20 people including Shaibal Saha Partha, a student, and AL leader Mokhlesur Rahman for suspected links to the bloodbath.

However, none of them who had to endure harassment and torture was found guilty in the latest investigation.

The farce over August 21 probe culminated in the BNP-Jamaat-led government claiming that a criminal gang had staged the attack.

The basis of their claim was so-called confession of Joj Miah, Abul Hashem alias Rana and Shafiqul Islam.

Fakhruddin Ahmed-led caretaker administration later found those confessional statements to have been obtained under duress.

Moreover, the CID investigators and supervising officer concerned were found to have paid Joj Miah's family for the statement.

The one-member judicial probe committee of Justice Joynul Abedin went as far as to see a "foreign enemy country's involvement" in the incident.

The charge sheet however has nothing to bear out his claim.

Speaking about the charge sheet at a press briefing in June last year, the then CID Chief Additional Inspector General Jabed Patwari said Huji carried out the attack to kill Hasina as it believed she would harm Islam if alive and in power.

Except Salam Pintu, all accused are Huji leaders and activists.

Pintu has been included as an accused in the charge sheet as he met the attackers twice at his residence to discuss the blasts plan.

Contacted, the third IO of the case who pressed the charges declined to talk about the matter.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=108039



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[ALOCHONA] Deadly garbage



Deadly garbage

Mushfique Wadud roams hospitals and pathological centres in the city to investigate the medical waste management procedures adopted in these institutions and talks to experts regarding the risk posed to public health by the haphazard disposal of medical wastes
 
 
 


 
An air of uncertainty, even bordering on panic, surrounded onlookers as they caught the rather grotesque sight of a human body-part, floating past them on the Dhanmondi Lake, on July 5. After an autopsy, the Dhanmondi Thana police declared that the body-part in question was a woman's and was highly infectious.

   Police later confirmed that as it was not in its normal shape, they had to assume that a doctor might have separated that part of the body for purely medical purposes. They also informed reporters that it was a part of the waste that one of several hospitals in the area might have disposed of.

   The aforementioned incident does not necessarily call for an overly uncommon or unusual labelling to it in Dhaka city. On many an occasion, parts of the human body have been seen to surface in different parts of the city following medical institutions' failure to properly dispose of their extras in the medical wastelands that primarily consist of roadside bins or lakes in and around the city.

   With the ever-growing number of hospitals and medical centres in the city, a good quantity of waste is obviously generated and this may yet prove to be a cause for concern for authorities and city-dwellers alike. According to the Directorate General (Health) office, there are some 2,286 private hospitals and 4,767 pathological and diagnostic centres in the country, most of which are mushrooming in Dhaka city. There are a good number of blood banks in the capital as well along with slightly less than a handful of unauthorised clinics.

   According to the Solid Waste Management Division of the Dhaka City Corporation, the amount of total solid waste generated in the city is around 3,500 tonnes each day of which, around 50 tonnes are medical wastes. However, most hospitals have failed to implement a safe waste management system, with there being a few exceptions to that notion.

   Director (Hospital) of DG Health Dr Akhter Hossain Bhuiyan informs Xtra that government hospitals adopt an in-house waste management policy, wherein, all the medical excesses are piled up in an area, waiting to be collected and disposed of by City Corporation vans.

   An Xtra investigation provides further evidence of the inadequacies and the general lack of competence or attention paid to the subject of safe waste disposal by the majority of hospital authorities in the city. However, there are exceptions to the unfortunate scenario, with a particular government hospital along with a few private ones, that have adopted a set of procedures to properly manage their excesses with the aid of Prism Bangladesh.

   While government hospital authorities claim that they dispose of the waste through an in-house management system, there is a distinct dearth of any actual set of procedures followed.

   Upon a visit to the Shishu Hospital, two City Corporation vans were seen waiting just outside the hospital's main gate as the hospital attendees stockpiled all the excesses into the vans. When completely filled, the vans drove off to the BNP slum area, a mere mile away from the hospital, where they were emptied into a waste depot, containing other household wastes.

   Wastes are disposed of in similar fashion at the National Orthopaedic Hospital as a City Corporation van rids all the excesses into an open field opposite to the hospital. In some cases, attendees are even seen throwing medical wastes into the drainage lines of the hospital, which explains why people in those localities often see medical waste floating around during water-loggings.

   Private hospital authorities too, despite the large sums of money they charge to ensure safe health and high quality service, are accountable for contributing towards the city's as well as its people's detriment when it comes to waste management. The authorities of such hospitals again claim that they deal with their wastes in a safe and sensible manner, within their own capacity but then refuse to provide any details of the process they use to do so.

   When a customer supervisor of the United Hospital was contacted, he informed Xtra that the hospital manages its wastes on its basement.

   'We manage dangerous medical waste in our basement and the Dhaka City Corporation collects the wastes that are not dangerous to public health to have them disposed of,' says Asad.

   While he fails to inform Xtra the exact procedures followed to manage the waste, he suggests that the chief clinical support department of the hospital could shed more light into the matter. However, the chief clinical support of United Hospital could not be reached. When the Director of Clinical Development, Dr Abu Sayeed MM Rahman, was contacted by Xtra, he refused to comment on the matter. He said, 'as far as I am concerned, the hospital authorities manage waste with the help of an NGO.' He however vouches for the implementation of a safe medical waste disposal system.

   Director of house keeping and management of Apollo Hospital, Abdur Rahman, informs Xtra that the hospital has a hygiene control department and that department monitors the waste disposal system of the hospital.

   'We isolate different wastes in our own capacity and then an NGO takes them away to dispose them of safely and in a scientific way,' he says.

   Prism Bangladesh is an NGO working with hospitals to manage their excesses. The NGO collects a fee from hospitals to aid them with services to deal with their medical wastes. Fees for hospitals have been set in accordance to the number of beds in each hospital.

   'We have all modern equipments for safe disposal of medical waste and we dispose them in a scientific way,' says Torit Kanti Biswas, programme co-ordinator, Prism Bangladesh.

   Prism Bangladesh has acquired one acre of land in Dhaka's Matuail, where there are some modern equipment for safe disposal of medical waste, informs Torit. The medical wastes are first separated and stored in closed boxes by hospital authorities for Prism to collect and dispose in its Matuail plant.

   The list of equipment at the plant includes an incineration machine, with which, medical wastes are reduced to ashes. In case of wet medical wastes or any body-parts, Prism resorts to burying them.

   Hospitals and other medical institutions generate different types of waste. They include human tissues, blood, body fluids, organs, body parts, human foetuses, and other similar waste organs from surgeries. Biopsies and autopsies, dressing materials of infected or surgical wounds, disposable towels, gloves, and broken hospital equipment, needles, syringes, scalpel blades, as well razors, infusion sets along with broken glass and blood tubes, are all parts of the list.

   These wastes generated by the different hospitals and medical institutions are not to be cast aside lightly as medical experts affirm that they pose a serious threat to public health. Medical wastes contain the threat of passing viruses and infections and therefore, demand a systematic manner of disposal with various safety measures.

   'Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and different liver diseases can be contracted from the medical wastes if they are not disposed of in a safe way,' warns Professor Dr Anisur Rahman, head of Epidemiology of National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM)

   'Also, people can be exposed to some skin diseases through such wastes,' he adds.

   'If they are disposed of in any lake or pond, some waterborne diseases can be spread from them. If the pond or lake has any connection to the drinking water system, people can be afflicted by various diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and jaundice among others.'

   An assistant professor of the same department Monira Akhter believes medical wastes could be the root cause of some deadly diseases.

   'In case of any exposure to a decomposed part of a particular human body,' she says, 'people may be affected by the diseases that the person to whom the part belonged to may have had and this may well spread among the masses.'

   She also informs Xtra that any plastic medical waste like syringes can be very dangerous since some unscrupulous factions of society can remodel and sell them in the market for reuse. This again can trigger the spread of various harmful diseases such as hepatitis, HIV, tuberculosis, gangrene and tetanus.

   'All forms of wastes are dangerous for public health but more so with medical waste. We should remember that these wastes come from people who have been suffering from different diseases,' says Professor Mahmudur Rahman, director, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). He highlights the need to implement a systematic set of procedures to deal with such wastes citing the various health hazards it poses, including liver diseases.

   Dr Akhter Hossain says that the government is planning to implement a scientific medical waste management system to be followed by all government hospitals very soon.

   'Mitford Hospital has already started a scientific medical management system with the help of a NGO and within very short time all the government hospitals will be under safe waste management system,' he concludes.
 



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[mukto-mona] Press release and pictures of BEN climate change rallies [5 Attachments]

[Attachment(s) from Kamrul Ahsan khan included below]

Dear All,

Please  read & circulate where ever you can and assit Enviroment movement
Regards
 
Kamrul

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

BANGLADESH ENVIRONMENT NETWORK (BEN)

A global network to assist Bangladesh in protecting her environment

www.BEN-Center.org

http://listserv.cc.emory.edu/archives/ben.html

 

সংবাদ বিজ্ঞপ্তি

 

বাংলাদেশের জন্য জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন-সৃষ্ট দুর্যোগের প্রতি বিশ্ববাসীর দৃষ্টি আকর্ষণ করার লক্ষ্যে বাংলাদেশ পরিবেশ নেটওয়ার্ক (বেন) গত শুক্রবার ১৮ই সেপ্টেম্বর এক বিশ্বব্যাপী কর্মসূচীর আয়োজন করে। ঐতিহাসিক এই কর্মসূচীর অংশ হিসেবে যুক্ত্ররাস্ট্রের নিউ-ইয়র্ক, অস্ট্রেলিয়ার কেনবেরা ও সিডনী, জাপানের কিতাকিউসু, ও পৃথিবীর বিভিন্ন শহরে এবং বাংলাদেশের অভ্যন্তরে জমায়েত অনুষ্ঠিত হয়। "জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন বন্ধ কর, বাংলাদেশ রক্ষা কর!" স্লোগানের ভিত্তিতে অনুষ্ঠিত এইসব জমায়েতের পক্ষ থেকে বাংলাদেশের দৃষ্টিকোণ থেকে জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন সম্পর্কিত বিশ্লেষণ ও দাবী সম্বলিত একটি স্মারকলিপি জাতিসঙ্ঘের মহাসচীব, জনাব বান কিমুনের নিকট প্রেরণ করা হয়।

 

 

নিউ ইয়র্ক জমায়েত

-------------

 

জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন বিষয়ক বিশ্বব্যাপী কর্মসূচীর অংশ হিসেবে বাংলাদেশ পরিবেশ নেটওয়ার্ক ও বাংলাদেশ সোসাইটি, নিউ ইয়র্ক ইনক-র উদ্যোগে এবং নিউ ইয়র্ক ও পার্শ্ববর্তী এলাকার বিভিন্ন বাংলাদেশী সংগঠনের সহযোগে জাতিসঙ্ঘের নিউ ইয়র্কস্থ সদর দফতর প্রাংগনের রালফ বুঞ্চ পার্কে বাংলাদেশীদের একটি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ সমাবেশ অনুষ্ঠিত হয়।

 

সাড়ে নয়টায় জাতিসংঘের মহাসচিবের সমীপে লিখিত একটি স্মারকলিপি প্রদানের মাধ্যমে এই সমাবেশের কার্যক্রম শুরু হয়। মহাসচিবের পক্ষে জাতিসংঘের স্থায়ী উন্নয়ন বিভাগের পরিচালক ডঃ তারিক বানুরী এই স্মারকলিপি গ্রহণ করেন। ডঃ বানুরী স্মারকলিপির বক্তব্যের সাথে একমত পোষণ করেন ও আশা ব্যাক্ত করেন যে, বাংলাদেশ সরকারও আগামী ২২শে সেপ্টেম্বর অনুষ্ঠিতব্য জাতিসংঘের সাধারণ পরিষদের জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন বিষয়ক শীর্ষ বৈঠকে অনুরূপ বক্তব্য পেশ করবে। তিনি জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন ইস্যু নিয়ে জাতিসংঘের আওতায় পরিচালিত কার্যক্রমের সর্বশেষ পরিস্থিতি সম্পর্কে বিস্তারিত অবহিত করেন। স্মারকলিপি প্রদানের এই অনুষ্ঠানে সমাবেশের পক্ষ থেকে উপস্থিত ছিলেন তওফিক চৌধুরী, অধ্যাপক খালেকুজ্জামান, নুরুল কবীর, ডঃ সারওয়াত চৌধুরী, খোরশেদুল ইসলাম, সৈয়দ ফজলূর রহমান, অধ্যাপিকা হুসনে আরা, নিনি ওয়াহেদ, বদরুন্নাহার আহমেদ, ফাহিম রেজানুর, ও ডঃ নজরূল ইসলাম। এছাড়া ডঃ তারিক বানুরীর সহকর্মী জাতিসংঘের বেশ কয়েকজন কর্মকর্তাও এই অনুষ্ঠানে উপস্থিত ছিলেন।

 

স্মারকলিপি প্রদান শেষে সকাল দশটা থেকে শুরু হয়ে বেলা দেড়টা পর্যন্ত দীর্ঘ সাড়ে তিন ঘন্টা ধরে সমাবেশের মনোগ্রাহী কর্মসূচী অনুষ্ঠিত হয়। বেনের নিউ ইয়র্ক, নিউ জার্সী, ও কানেকটিকাট রাজ্যের সমন্বয়কারী এটর্নী তওফিক চৌধুরীর সভাপতিত্বে এই সমাবেশে প্রথমে পেনসেলভেনীয়ার লক হ্যাভেন বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের অধ্যাপক খালেকুজ্জামান জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনের কারণে বাংলাদেশ কিভাবে ক্ষতিগ্রস্থ হবে তার ভয়াবহ চিত্র তুলে ধরেন, ও তা প্রতিরোধের উপর গুরুত্ব আরোপ করেন। ডঃ সারওয়াত চৌধুরী বেনের স্মারকলিপি উপাস্থাপিত দাবীগূলো সম্পর্কে সকলকে অবহিত করেন।

 

সমাবেশের প্রতি সমর্থন ও সহমর্মীতা প্রকাশ করে যারা বক্তব্য রাখেন, তাদের মধ্যে ছিলেন সদ্য নিযুক্ত জাতিসংঘে বাংলাদেশের স্থায়ী প্রতিনিধি ডঃ আব্দুল মোমেন, নিউ ইয়র্কস্থ বাংলাদেশ কনস্যুলেট জেনারেল শামসুল হক, যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের ডেমোক্রেটিক পার্টির স্থানীয় নেতা মোরশেদ আলম, ডঃ সারওয়াত চৌধুরী, লেখক বেলাল বেগ, সাংবাদিক মাহমুদ উল্লাহ, চিত্র পরিচালক কবীর আনোয়ার, সাংবাদিক, সমাজকর্মী ও সাংস্কৃতিক সংগঠক নিনি ওয়াহেদ, অধ্যাপিকা হুসনে আরা, মৌলভীবাজার সমিতির সভাপতি মিনহাজ আহমেদ, ভয়েস ফর জাস্টিসের প্রতিনিধি লুতফর চৌধুরী, শ্রোতার আসরের সভানেত্রী রানু ফেরদৌস, জাতিসংঘের আইন উপদেষ্টা সিরাজ চৌধুরী, প্রোগ্রসিভ ফোরামের সভাপতি খোরশেদুল ইসলাম, বেনের নিউ ইংল্যান্ড শাখার প্রতিনিধি নুরুল কবীর, সমাজ কর্মী ফাহিম রেজানুর, প্রকৌশলী খুরশীদ খন্দকার, ব্রুকলীনের সমাজকর্মী নজরুল ইসলাম, সমাজকর্মী সৈয়দ ফজলুর রহমান, প্রমুখ। সমাবেশের প্রতি বাংলাদেশ সোসাইটি, নিউ ইয়র্কের সাধারণ সম্পাদিকা রানা ফেরদৌসের পক্ষ থেকে শুভেচ্ছা বক্তব্য রাখেন জাহিদুল ইসলাম।

 

এছাড়াও সমাবেশের সাথে সহমর্মীতা প্রকাশ করে বক্তব্য রাখেন জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন বিষয়ক আন্তর্জাতিক সংগঠনের প্রতিনিধি সুসান আলজনার ও বেন মারগোলিস এবং এটর্নী শাকীল কাজমী ও এটর্নী জন রীভস।

 

সমাবেশের আকর্ষনীয় অংশ ছিল বক্তৃতার বিভিন্ন পর্যায়ে অনুষ্ঠিত সাংস্কৃতিক পর্ব। এতে কবি জীবনানন্দের কবিতা আবৃত্তি করেন সুমন বসুনিয়া ও রেখা আহমেদ। কবি নজরুলের কবিতা আবৃত্তি করেন মুমু আনসারী। দেশপ্রেমিক সংগীত পরিবেশন করেন লিমন চৌধুরী।

 

সমাবেশের সমাপনী বক্তব্য রাখেন বেনের বিশ্ব-সমন্বয়কারী ডঃ নজরুল ইসলাম। তিনি জানান যে, বেনের উদ্যোগে একই দিনে বিশ্বের অন্যান্য দেশেও প্রবাসী বাংলাদেশীরা জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনের ইস্যুতে সমাবেশ অনুষ্ঠিত করছেন। এর মধ্যে রয়েছে অস্ট্রেলিয়া, জাপান, কানাডা, ও অন্যান্য। বাংলাদেশেও প্রবাসীদের উদ্যোগের সমর্থনে বাংলাদেশ পরিবেশ আন্দোলন (বাপা) কর্মসূচী হাতে নিয়েছে। বাংলাদেশের সমর্থনে সারা পৃথিবীব্যাপী একই দিনে কর্মসূচী পালনের এটাই প্রথম উদাহরণ। সেজন্য আজকের দিনটি একটি ঐতিহাসিক দিন হিসেবে ইতিহাসে চিহ্নিত হয়ে থাকবে। ডঃ নজরূল বলেন যে, ১৮ই সেপ্টেম্বরের এই কর্মসূচী একটি সংগ্রামের সূচনামাত্র। জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনের সমস্যা যেমন একদিনে সৃষ্ট হয় নি, তেমনি একটি সমাবেশের মধ্য দিয়েই এই সমস্যার সমাধান হবে না। বাংলাদেশীদের একটি প্রল্লম্বিত সংগ্রামে নিয়োজিত হতে হবে। এই সংগ্রামে প্রবাসী ও স্ববাসী বাংলাদেশীদের যৌথভাবে, সহযোগীতার মাধ্যমে এগিয়ে যেতে হবে। প্রবাসী বাংলাদেশীদের এই সংগ্রামে বিশেষ গুরুত্বপূর্ণ ভুমিকা রাখা সুযোগ রয়েছে। ডঃ নজরুল আশা প্রকাশ করেন যে আগামীতে প্রবাসীরা আরও বিপুল সংখ্যায় এই সংগ্রামের কর্মসূচীতে যোগ দিবেন।

 

১৮-ই সেপ্টেম্বরের সমাবেশে যোগ দেয়ার জন্য তিনি সকলকে ধন্যবাদ জানান। বিশেষত যাদের অক্লান্ত পরিশ্রমের ফলে এই সফল সমাবেশ অনুষ্ঠিত হয়েছে, তাদের প্রতি তিনি সকলের পক্ষ থেকে আন্তরিক কৃতজ্ঞতা প্রকাশ করেন।

এই সমাবেশে অংশগ্রহণকারী শিল্পীদেরকেও তিনি বিশেষ ধন্যবাদ জানান।

 

জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনের ইস্যুতে বেন আয়োজিত বিশ্বব্যাপী কর্মসূচীর অংশ হিসেবে পৃথিবীর অন্যান্য দেশেও জমায়েত অনুষ্ঠিত হয়। তার মধ্যে অস্ট্রেলিয়ায় রাজধানী কেনবেরা ও সিডনী উভয় শহরেই কর্মসুচি পালিত হয়। বেন-অস্ট্রেলিয়ার সমন্বয়কারী কামরুল খানের সভাপতিত্বে অনুষ্ঠিত কেনবেরায় জমায়েতে বাংলাদেশীরা ছাড়াও অস্ট্রেলিয়ার অনেক পরিবেশবাদী ও জনপ্রতিনিধিরা উপস্থিত ছিলেন। অস্ট্রেলিয়ার রাজধানী এলাকার আইনসভার স্পীকার শেইন রেটেনবারি ও সদস্যা কেরোলিন লে'কটিউর এই জমায়েতের সাথে সহমর্মিতা প্রকাশ করে বক্তৃতা করেন। অন্য যারা বক্তব্য রাখেন, তাদের মধ্যে ছিলেন ডঃ মঈনউদ্দিন, ডঃ কামালউদ্দিন, দঃ আবেদ চৌধুরী, ডঃ অজয় কর, ডঃ ময়জুর রহমান, লেখিকা আইভি রহমান, আনামুল হক, প্রমুখ। জমায়েত শেষে জাতিসংঘের স্থানীয় অফিসে বেনের স্মারকলিপি প্রদান করা হয়। পরবর্তীতে কেনবেরায় অবস্থিত বাংলাদেশের দূতাবাসে একটি অলোচনা সভা অনুষ্ঠিত হয়, এবং বাংলাদেশের রাস্ট্রদূতের নিকট বেনের স্মারকলিপির কপি দেয়া হয়।

 

সিডনী শহরের সমাবেশের শুরুতে অস্ট্রেলিয়ার সবচেয়ে বর্ষীয়ান বাংলাদেশী জনাব নজরুল ইসলাম জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনের উপর বক্তব্য রাখেন। বেনের সিডনী শাখার সমন্বয়কারী ডঃ স্বপন পাল সমাবেশের পটভূমি ও উদ্দেশ্য ব্যাখ্যা করেন এবং বেনের স্মারকলিপিতে উপস্থাপিত বিশ্লেষণ ও দাবীসমূহ তুলে ধরেন। সিডনী শহরের হাইড পার্কে অনুষ্ঠিত এই জমায়েত অয়ানেকেরই দৃষ্টি আকর্ষণ করে। সমাবেশ শেষে জাতিসংঘের স্থানীয় অফিসে বেনের স্মারকলিপি প্রদান করা হয়।

 

জাপানের কিতাকিউসু শহরেও বেন-জাপান শাখার উদ্যোগে সভা অনুষ্ঠিত হয়। ডঃ আতিক আহাদের সভাপতিত্বে অনুষ্ঠিত এই সভায় স্থানীয় বাংলাদেশীরা ও জাপানের পরিবেশবাদীরা যোগ দেন। সভা শেষে বেনের স্মারকলিপি জাতিসংঘের টোকিও অফিসে ফ্যাক্স মারফত প্রেরণ করা হয়। জাপানের অন্যান্য শহরে বসবাসকারী বাংলাদেশীরাও সাক্ষর অভিযানের মাধ্যমে বেনের এই স্মারকলিপির সাথে একাত্মতা প্রকাশ করেন।

 

বাংলাদেশের ঢাকাতেও জলবায়ু ইস্যুতে প্রবাসী বাংলাদেশীদের বিশ্বব্যাপী কর্মসূচীর সমর্থনে জমায়েত অনুষ্ঠিত হয়। বাংলাদেশ পরিবেশ আন্দোলন (বাপা) আয়োজিত এই জমায়েতে সভাপতিতক করেন ডঃ মোজাফফর আহমেদ। অন্যান্যদের মধ্যে বক্তব্য রাখেন বাপা সাধারণ সম্পাদক ডঃ আব্দুল মতিন, যূগ্ম সম্পাদক প্রকৌশলী তাকসীম খান, প্রমুখ। জমায়েত শেষে বেনের স্মারকলিপি জাতিসংঘের ঢাকাস্থ অফিসে প্রদান করা হয়।

 

জলবায়ু পরিবর্তনের ইস্যু নিয়ে প্রবাসী বাংলাদেশীদের একটি শক্তিশালী আন্দোলন গড়ে তোলার একটি দীর্ঘমেয়াদী লক্ষ্য নিয়ে বেন অগ্রসর হচ্ছে। সকল দেশপ্রেমিক বাংলাদেশীদের এই আন্দোলনে যোগ দেয়ার জন্য বেন উদাত্ত আহ্বান জানাচ্ছে।

 

 

------------------

 

বিঃ দ্রঃ সভার ছবি ও ভিডিও-ক্লিপের জন্য যোগাযোগ করুনঃ s_n_islam@yahoo.com kamrul_k@hotmail.com অথবা kamrulk@gmail.com

 



 



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[mukto-mona] Pakistan backstabbing USA?



Shame on ISI Agents laughing at Murders of PushToon Moslims fighting to remain free of crazy Taliban ...!
May Allah give them taste of their own Medicine and punish them for their Sins ...!
This ISI Agent claims, USA is trying to destabilize Pakistan but may I ask, ...
.
* ... why does not Pakistan run by Pak Army does not go to United Nations to file a Complaint against USA then?
* ... Why Pak Army and ISI-run Pakistan does not take action against Media that has become Agent of Foreign Countries?
* ... How the hell, Pak Army's own illegitimate Children, the Taliban became Agents of CIA or USA, when they hate USA?
* ... Why is 700,000 strong Pak Army fighting with just 10,000 Taliban for last 8 years and has not succeeded against them despite getting $ 6 billion worth of Defense Aid Charity, when only 90,000 of its soldiers had been able to control 55% of Pakistan's population in just 5 days without billions of US Military Aid?
-----------------------

--- On Fri, 10/2/09, Khurram Hussain <khurramhussein@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hahaha..........
 
No matter how much American and RAW paid writers link Mohammad Malik, Hassan Iftikhar Ahmed and other RAW and CIA sponsored writers can change their IDs but cannot hide.
 
We can see how GEO TV give then Air Time and rum Voice of America on prime time from 2 to 9 PM. Geo TV is CIA financed media in Pakistan.
 
We Pakistanis all know how they RAW and CIA are working to demonize Pakistan image and Pakistan Army after their failure of disintegration of Pakistan by using so called TTP in SWAT  and other conspirators (CIA and RAW sponsored Taliban fighting only in Pakistan and not in Afghnistan are dead and rest will be killed very soon InshAllah).   

Khurram Hussain

 

 

 




 

Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 22:29:01 -0700
From: turkman@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Pakistan backstabbing USA?
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com; khurramhussein@hotmail.com
CC: indiathinkersnet@yahoogroups.com; indianjustice@yahoogroups.com; pwap@yahoogroups.com; khabor@yahoogroups.com; bogra@yahoogroups.com; sa7rong@yahoogroups.com; tritiomatra@yahoogroups.com; diagnose@yahoogroups.com; calcutta@yahoogroups.com; alochona@yahoogroups.com

Why the hell are you lying so much?
Is Lying permissible in Islam or in Fort of Islam now?
Farhat Taj does not exist and you are claiming to know so much about him?
It is just a fake I.D. of a former Pakistani that was helping a Norwegian write this article in English. He has used his real name to avoid retaliation of Pakistan's Gustapo, ISI, that you work for.

--- On Wed, 9/30/09, Khurram Hussain <khurramhussein@hotmail.com> wrote:
Another email of black propaganda campaign by anti Pakistan pric who are bound to fail and their lies will die before them.
 
Farhat Taj is know for the links with Indian high comission and was present in the party in Islamabad arranged by American Ambassador to help RAW recruit agents in Pakistan.


 
Khurram Hussain

 

 

 




 
From: turkman@sbcglobal.net


 
--- Mohammad Ayub Khan Yousafzai <afghan41@...> wrote:
>
> The Taliban and Salarzais
>
> Sunday, September 27, 2009
> by Farhat Taj
>
> I was in Pakistan in August and had the opportunity to meet the leaders of the anti-Taliban lashkar (volunteer army) of Bajaur's 'Salarzai' tribe. I am honoured that upon my request they travelled from Bajaur to meet me in 'Nowshehra' and shared with me information about their anti-Taliban struggle. I am not mentioning their names for reasons of their security.
>
> The area of the Salarzai tribe is on the border with Afghanistan. The tribe have collectively decided that there won't be any Taliban on their soil (left). The Taliban have been driven-out of the Salarzai area. The Salarzai Lashkar, mostly made up of labourers and peasants has successfully kept the Salazai area free of the Taliban.
>
> Tens of Salarzail lashkar leaders have been 'target-killed' (secretly). The Salarzai leaders informed me they hold the ISI (the Pakistan Army's Intelligence Agency) responsible for the Targeted Killings (of their Leaders). "The Taliban are just a Fade. The real force is the ISI punishing us for our anti-Taliban struggle, ...", said one of the leaders.
>
> The leaders said that 'Mamond' Taliban headquarters used to be in 'Damadola', which is a few kilometres from the FC Fort in Bajaur. The Mamond Taliban used to bomb Salarzai villages. The Salarzai tribal elders requested the Political Agent, the authorities of the FC and the Pakistani army to stop the Mamond Taliban. None of these offered any help (against Taliban). Finally the Salarzai lashkar took positions on the mountains and for two hours heavily bombarded the surrounding villages of the Mamond Taliban. At that point the Political Agent (the Pakistan Government imposed Ruler of the region) and a Colonel of the (Pakistan) army asked the Salarzai lashkar to stop the bombing. They gave the same old logic: "Who will fight the NATO forces from across the Afghan border if you eliminate the Taliban?"
>
> Following such encounters with the state authorities, the Salarzais decided to fire at any forces entering their area: be it the Taliban, Al Qaida, the army or the US or NATO. The Salarzais have taken-up positions all over the area and are always on guard. The tribesmen take turns to defend those positions. Unlike the bombed-out schools in the Taliban-controlled areas, all schools in the Salarzai region are functioning. The Tribesmen are performing Security Duties in both Girls' and Boys' schools in the area.
>
> The leaders informed me, "There is a set pattern of Target-killing of anti-Taliban Salarzai leader. Before each Targeted Killing all Telephone Links with the far-flung Salarzai area are cut off (by the Government of Pakistan on the orders of Pakistan Army). The Targeted Killing takes place 24 to 48 hours later. The Telephone Links are restored a couple of days after the Assassinated Leader has been buried. A day or so later a News Item of a few lines appears in the Newspapers about that Killing. No one in Pakistan seems to be bothered about the State-sponsored Targeted Killings of anti-Taliban Salarzai leaders. Our area is too far from the rest of Pakistan and our agony means nothing to fellow-Pakistanis. The Pakistani Media never ever tries to probe into the targeted killings, ..." said one of the Salarzai leaders.
>
> All Telephone Lines to the Salarzia area were dead the day I was meeting with the leaders. They said they were deeply worried, whose turn it might be to be targeted for killing. Two days later the Telephone Links were restored. The same day they informed me on Telephone that Malik Munasib Khan, the spokesman of the Salarzai lashkar had been killed. They held the ISI responsible for his killing (also).
>
> The Salarzai leaders also informed me that last year the Army deliberately fired at those villages in Bajaur that were known to be staunchly anti-Taliban. They said one of their colleagues called Maj Gen Alam Khattak to ask him to stop the bombing of his village. "Major General Sahib ...! I will start a vendetta with you if you did not halt the bombing of my village immediately. I will make sure to kill you and your family at the first available opportunity" , they quoted one of their colleagues as saying. "The Major General asked him to meet Col. Sajjad, who was bombing the anti-Taliban villages from his base in 'Timergara'. That colleague saw a big Bajaur map affixed on the wall in the office of Col Sajjad. The map had several encircled villages. Col Sajjad informed him that the map had been handed over to him by his commanders with the order to bomb all the encircled villages. Our colleague's blood boiled with anger: (because) none of the villages had Taliban in them", said the Salarzai leaders. The Villages included 'Butmali', 'Danqul', 'Attkay', 'Matasha', 'Baro', 'Raghjan' and 'Nazkai'.
>
> On the other hand, those Salarzai villages that had Taliban were not marked on the map or bombed by the Army, such villages are 'Pashat', 'Banda', 'Malasyed', 'Darra' and 'Gundai'. Now the Salarzai lashkar has cleared these villages from Taliban control, without any state support.
>
> The leaders also made the accusation that the Salarzais are discriminated against by the state in allocation of Developmental Funds due to their hostility to(wards) the Taliban. The FATA Rural Development Project (FRDP) is working in Bajaur Agency but entire Salarzai area of the agency has been deliberately excluded by from the project. "A wilful under-development has been imposed on us as punishment for our anti-Taliban stance. The Salazai area would be included in FRDP if we allowed the Taliban to take control of our area. Without this, we Salarzais can beg as much as we can for development but the state will never budge", said the Salarzai tribal leaders.
>
> The reason, I write this piece is not to defame the institution of the Pakistani Army, which I hold in high esteem. I just wish to request the President of Pakistan, the Chief of Army Staff and the DG of the ISI to pay attention to the complaints of the Salarzais and resolve their problems to the satisfaction of the tribe. The Salarzai leaders categorically told me they are loyal Pakistanis but they are not ready to let the peace of their area be destroyed for the Power Games of the Intelligence Agencies. All they want from the state is peaceful and development.
>
> I would request fellow-Pakistanis all over the country to support the Salarzais. I wonder, why the civil society of Pakistan is so silent over the heroic anti-Taliban struggle of the Salarzais. Salarzais are the natural allies of all those, who are against the Taliban and Civil Society should forcefully support them. I would request the Pakistani Media to keep a close watch on the Salarzai area to discourage Targeted Killings there.
>
> The Taliban are Anti-civilisation. The Salarzais are the embodiment of civilisation because they are so oppose to the Taliban. I would request all Civilised People in the world to morally support the Salarzais in the name of Human Civilisation.
------------ --------- ------
> The writer is a Research Fellow at the 'Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research', 'University of Oslo' and a member of 'Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy'.
>
> Email: bergen34@...



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[ALOCHONA] Toxic tannery waste is used as poultry feed



Toxic tannery waste is used as poultry feed
 
 
 
 



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[mukto-mona] How Muslim Culture Influenced America// SBIA Family Night-Oct-2-2009



SBIA FAMILY NIGHT

"My Family is at the Masjid"

You are all cordially invited with your family and friends along with all the Community members to the monthly SBIA Family Night Educational & Social program and dinner as per the following:

Date:  October 2, 2009,  Friday, Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Downtown San Jose Masjid, 325 N. 3rd Street,  San Jose, CA 95112, USA., Phone: 408-947-9389

SBIA website: www.sbia.info
AGENDA
  
6:50 PM:  Magrib Prayer,   7:00 PM:  Dinner,   8:00 PM: Isha Prayer,
8:15 PM to 9:45 PM: Presentations
 
TOPIC:
How Muslim Culture Has Influenced America for the Better -
From the Time of Columbus to the Present Day
 
SPEAKER: 
Jonathan Curiel, Author-Journalist
Speaker's Bio:  Author of "Al' America: Travels Through America's Arab and Islamic Roots," which won a 2008 American Book Award, Research fellow at Oxford 2005-2006, Fulbright Scholar at Punjab University in Pakistan 1993094, Staff writer at San Francisco Chronicle for 20 years, Wrote for Wall Street Journal, Columbia Journalism Review LA Times.

Abstract:  The talk will explain how Muslim culture has had a positive influence on America for more than 500 years. Everything from Islamic architecture to the Arabic language, Arab music to food and drink from Muslim lands, has impacted America for the better, starting with this country's beginnings with Christopher Columbus in 1492. The influence continues to today. 

 

====================================================================

Please attend this monthly SBIA Family Night program. You do not have to buy any tickets to attend this Community gathering, educational and social program and dinner. Donations are welcome. Please come to this program with your whole family including your spouse, children & friends, and have dinner & socialize with other community members. This SBIA Family Night program is held on the first Friday evening of every month. So, please mark your calendar ahead of time, and please make genuine efforts to attend. Contact person: Mahbub Khan, E-mail: mahbubkhan@ieee.org  E-mail: mahbubkhan35@hotmail.com Phone: 408-859-3566-cell,  SBIA website: www.sbia.info

=====================================================================

 



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[ALOCHONA] Obituary - Faheem Hasan - A pakistani Physicist who supported Bangladesh in 1971





Faheem Hussain - As I Knew Him

by

Pervez Hoodbhoy

 

From: Pervez Hoodbhoy <hoodbhoy@MIT.EDU>

Subject: Faheem Hussain - As I Knew Him

To: "Pervez Hoodbhoy" <hoodbhoy@MIT.EDU>

Date: Thursday, October 1, 2009, 6:36 AM

 

 

 

It was mid-October 1973 when, after a grueling 26-hour train ride from Karachi, I reached the physics department of Islamabad University (or Quaid-e-Azam University, as it is now known). As I dumped my luggage and "hold-all" in front of the chairman's office, a tall, handsome man with twinkling eyes looked at me curiously. He was wearing a bright orange Che Guevara t-shirt and shocking green pants. His long beard, though shorter than mine, was just as unruly and unkempt. We struck up a conversation. At 23, I had just graduated from MIT and was to be a lecturer in the department; he had already been teaching as associate professor for five years. The conversation turned out to be the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Together with Abdul Hameed Nayyar - also bearded at the time - we became known as the Sufis of Physics. Thirty six years later, when Faheem Hussain lost his battle against prostate cancer, our sadness was beyond measure.

 

Revolutionary, humanist, and scientist, Faheem Hussain embodied the political and social ferment of the late 1960's. With a Ph.D that he received in 1966 from Imperial College London, he had been well-placed for a solid career anywhere in the world. In a profession where names matter, he had worked under the famous P.T. Mathews in the group headed by the even better known Abdus Salam. After his degree, Faheem spent two years at the University of Chicago. This gave him a chance to work with some of the world's best physicists, but also brought him into contact with the American anti-Vietnam war movement and a powerful wave of revolutionary Marxist thinking. Even decades later, Faheem would describe himself as an "unreconstructed Marxist". Participating in the mass anti-war demonstrations at UC had stirred his moral soul; he felt the urge to do more than just physics. Now married to Jane Steinfels, a like-minded soul who he met in Chicago, Faheem decided to return to Pakistan.

 

Faheem and Jane made an amazing couple. Fully immersed in the outstanding causes of the times, they seemed to have a limitless amount of revolutionary energy. Long before I knew them, they had been protesting against the Pakistan Army's actions in East Pakistan. As Faheem would recount, this was a lonely fight. Many Marxists in those times, inspired by Mao's China, chose to understand the issue in geopolitical terms rather than as a popular struggle for independence. Some leftists ended up supporting the army's mass murder of Bengalis.

 

With Bangladesh now a reality, things moved on. Bhutto's rhetoric of socialism and justice for the poor had inspired nascent trade union movements to sprout across Pakistan's cities. Many, however, quickly turned into organizations for labour control rather than emancipation. There were genuinely independent ones too, such as the Peoples Labour Federation (PLF), an independent Rawalpindi based trade union that saw through Bhutto's shallow rhetoric. In the early 1970's, Faheem and Jane were highly influential in this organization, sometimes providing security and cover to its hunted leadership. Iqbal Bali, who passed away in the middle of this year, would vividly recount those days.

 

Very soon, I joined the small group of leftwing activists that looked up to this couple for instruction and guidance. We formed study groups operating under the PLF, both for self-education and for spreading the message through small study groups of industrial workers. Some, including myself, branched out further, working in distant villages. Gathering material support for the Baloch nationalists, who were fighting an army rejuvenated by Bhutto, was yet another goal for the group. The dream was to bring about a socialist revolution in Pakistan.

 

All this crashed to an end with Bhutto's death by hanging in 1979 and the subsequent consolidation of General Zia-ul-Haq's coup. Pakistan's Dark Age had just begun. Although Bhutto's regime had turned repressive and violent in its last desperate days, it was gentle in comparison with what was to follow. With dissent savagely muzzled, the only option was to operate underground. On 3 November 1981, three of our QAU colleagues and friends were caught, imprisoned, and savaged by the military regime. Jamil Omar, a lecturer in computer science and the "ring leader" - was tortured. Two others - Tariq Ahsan and Mohammed Salim - were also imprisoned and their careers destroyed. Their crime was involvement in the secret publication of "Jamhoori Pakistan", a 4-page newsletter that demanded return to democracy and the end of army rule. A triumphant Zia-ul-Haq went on Pakistan Television, congratulated the men who had succeeded in arresting the teachers, and pledged to "eliminate the cancer of politics" from Quaid-e-Azam University.

 

Although Faheem was not directly involved in "Jamhoori Pakistan", we knew he was being closely watched by the intelligence and could have chosen to hide. Instead, with characteristic fearlessness, he did all that was possible to help locate the abducted teachers, and then to secure their release. Tariq Ahsan wrote to me from Canada that "His solidarity during those long years was an invaluable source of support for our families and friends."

 

But the struggle took its toll. By the mid 1980's, Faheem was in the doldrums. Situated in an academically barren environment, he was able to publish little research of worth. Politically, there was no chance of doing anything significant in the climate of repression. Things had gone downhill in personal terms as well - his marriage with Jane was coming apart. To the great sorrow of their friends, the couple parted ways and Jane returned to America. Encouraged by Faheem, she had written school books on Pakistani history that are still sold and used today. In 1989, Faheem left QAU formally but his involvement in academic and political matters had already dropped off in the year or two before that.

 

From this low point in his life, Faheem struggled upwards. Initially in Germany, and then elsewhere later, he now concentrated solely upon his profession and was able to learn an impressive amount of new physics. Professor Abdus Salam, who by now had received a Nobel Prize for his work, invited Faheem to become a permanent member of the theoretical physics group at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy. Faheem remained there until his retirement in 2004. Getting this position was no mean achievement: theoretical physics is a fiercely competitive and notoriously difficult subject. Faheem was the first Pakistani to publish a research paper in one of its most challenging areas - superstring theory.

 

With a cheerful and positive disposition, and an abiding concern for the welfare of others, Faheem quickly became popular at the ICTP. His laughter would resonate in the institute's corridors. With time, he took on administrative responsibilities as well and was instrumental in setting up a "Diploma Programme" that admits students from third world countries for advanced studies in various areas. Now married to Sara, a beautiful and even-tempered Italian woman, he was equally comfortable with Italians and Pakistanis or, for that matter, Indians. To Faheem, a cultural amphibian, differences between nations carried no meaning.

 

And then came retirement time. What to do? I wrote to Faheem: come back! He agreed. Finding money was not a problem - Pakistan's higher education was experiencing a budgetary boom. But his old university, plagued by base rivalries and a contemptuous disdain for learning, refused. Specious arguments were given to prevent one of its own founding members, now one of Pakistan's most distinguished and active physicists, from being taken on the faculty. Initially at the National Centre for Physics in Islamabad, Faheem was eventually offered a position at the newly established science faculty of LUMS in Lahore.

 

Faheem's unpretentious mannerisms and gentleness of spirit ensured that LUMS too was enamored of him. Asad Naqvi, one of Pakistan's leading physicists and a faculty member at LUMS, wrote to me upon hearing of Faheem's death: "I am lost after hearing this. I only knew him for about 5 years, and in that short time, I had grown really fond of him. We are all poorer today, having lost such a lovely person who touched us so deeply."

 

Surely, there shall be many other such tributes from Faheem's many friends. But, to be true to him as well as my own self, I must admit that in later years we did disagree on some important things - "unreconstructed Marxism" to me is an anachronism, a relic of the 1960's and still earlier, meaningless in a world that has become far more complex than Marx could have possibly imagined. Nor can I reflexively support today's so-called "anti-imperialism" of the left that ends up supporting the forces of regressive fundamentalism. But let these issues stand wherever they do. Why is it necessary for friends to agree upon everything?

 

From atoms to atoms - death is inevitable, the final victory of entropy over order. Meaningless? No! To have lived a full life, to have experienced its richness, to have struggled not just for one-self but for others as well, and to have earned the respect and love of those around you. That is a life worth living for. Faheem, my friend, you are gone. May you now rest in peace, with a job well done.

 

 

 

---------

Pervez Hoodbhoy

Chairman, Department of Physics

Quaid-e-Azam University

Islamabad, Pakistan

Phone: 92-51-9064-2125 (Off), 260-1108 (Off)



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