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Sunday, October 18, 2009

[ALOCHONA] Nethris and Ershad



Hi Robin

Glad you found it funny too J

But don’t tell me you think I’m a fan of Ershad the Coxswain! That’s too funny!

Let me elucidate as to why I never mention him:

1.       He doesn’t create noise and is hardly in the news.

2.       At the age of 80ish he is a political has been.

3.       After the last election he has little room to negotiate with anyone.

4.       His party lacks any potential in any real sense. His party will be decimated in the next election without him

5.       I can’t remember the last time anyone wrote about Ershad on the net.

6.       Whatever ground he had has been washed away by his foolish personal life.

7.       His role in the continuing ruination of our political soul is over.

8.       His irresponsibility has made his wife and his brother his political successors.

9.       Just because I forget about him – as he is forgettable - doesn’t mean I like him.

10.   Ershad is not primarily responsible for the condition of our political soul today.   

By all means please mention all the leaders of all political parties in Bangladesh whenever you want to.

However it is expedient and efficient to deal with, and be derisory about, the leaders of the ruling party and main opposition party.

So thanks. It was a very funny point about the concubines of Ershad – and a correct point.

Let us heap derision wherever it is deserved. Rather than keep silent because in Bangladesh silence is described as applause.

And if I should miss out on a washed 80 year old Ershad please do correct me. I stand corrected. Thank you.

After Hasina – Rehana. After Rehana – Joy. After Khaleda – Tareq. After Tareq – his wife.

Each shall get their fair portion of derision backed up by technically sound argument. Oh yeah! Let’s not forget Ershad.

So the Foreign Minister came back gushing about good ties with India – and Deshis continue to be shot dead at the border!

But it is of some real consolation that Ershad, 18 years ago, couldn’t have done any better.

Deshi politics! Ho Ho Ho!

Ezajur Rahman

Kuwait

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ezaj & Musa

Ho Ho Ho!

 

I am curious how did our studly netas handle their equally frequent visits to Holy land. Did the valiant Coxwain Ershad take his wives & concubines Can you elucidate or you didnt keep track because you feel the "Netris" are the only ones who should be the object of your derision.

 

Ho Ho Ho to you both!!!

 

Robin Khundkar

-----Original Message-----
From: Ezajur Rahman
Sent: Oct 18, 2009 12:31 AM
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ALOCHONA]

 

Dear Musa

Yes – it is hilarious isn’t it?

One Nethri has to take her partner secretly and the other Nethri couldn’t take her partner if she wanted to!

Man! Are you still laughing?

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ezajur Rahman

Kuwait

--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, "musasarkar" <m_musa92870@...> wrote:


Source: http://www.bdnews24.com/bangla/details.php?id=110228&cid=3&aoth=1
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[mukto-mona] FW: ACC Toothless Tiger Being Made Clawless too : Short And Long Term Solution--Asia Post editorial editorial dated 18.10.09



 

 

-----

            ACC Toothless Tiger Being Made Clawless too : Short And Long Term Solution

 

 

Press has reported that the  current  Anti Corruption Commission Chairman Mr. Golam Rahman in a press briefing on the 14th October lamented that the Commission is a toothless tiger and now being made clawless too. He has, however, blamed the judiciary for sloth procedural and for peripheral lacunas of the system of administering law that he wished to have reformed immediately for promptly punishing the corrupts from the society.

We feel that Mr Rahman has not mentioned the political difficulties he had faced or facing.He should have mentioned these difficulties also. We know the political culture in Bangladesh is bad  and it is further declining. The short term actions are improving the legal framework of ACC and political co-operation. However in the long run these are not enough.It is granted that some corruption will reman but in the long run we have to go to causes. One  important issue is the crucial need for building up of national character of our younger generation through value based education system followed by socio-economic set up that would take pride in moral values commensurate with our own ethical aspirations. In other words, a moral regeneration from current erosion of moral values clearly manifested unfortunately at each level of human endeavor or exercise is needed..

 

The  other issue is present  free market economy based on human greed and material gains and having been underpinned by the principle of the laissez faire and licentious indulgence in consumption spree behavior constitute cause and effect of moral erosion. Fortunately, Islam and Islamic life style that asks for simple living and egalitarianism may well reinforce moral standard of our upcoming citizens, provided we train them in the way with spiritual motivation and incentives. Unless Bangladesh goes for these changed issues, programs, attitudes and outlook, and instead continue with the status quo , there is no hope for anything better..

 

 






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[mukto-mona] Richard Gombrich - Book Launch





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[mukto-mona] Interview: Chandra Muzaffar on Islamic Inclusivism and Muslim Exclusivism

Chandra Muzaffar is Malaysia's leading public intellectual. Author of numerous books, mainly on religion, hegemony and resistance, he is the President of the International Movement for a Just World. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about various aspects related to Islam and Islamic assertion in Malaysia.

Q: Could you tell us something about yourself and your academic and activist background? How did you get interested in Islam?

A: I was born in 1947 in the state of Kedah in northern Malaysia. Both my parents were Hindus who were originally from Kerala in southern India. My mother was a third generation Malaysian but my father had been born and brought up in India.

Since my teens I evinced a strong interest in religion. I kept wondering about the purpose of life, life after death and so on. And so I began reading about religion. I started with Hinduism, and then went on to Christianity and then to the Bahai Faith. I was even actively involved with a Bahai group but I left after a while. There was more emphasis upon rituals than I had expected. In 1967, I enrolled at the University of Singapore to do a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Politics and History, eventually specializing in Politics and that is where I began reading about how Western philosophers looked at the big existential questions about life.

In the second year at the University, I became very close to a leading Malaysian intellectual, who was at that time the head of the Department of Malay Studies at the University of Singapore—the late Syed Hussein Alatas, a very well-known sociologist and author of numerous books on Islam. I began spending a lot of time with him in his house. He had just then set up an opposition political party in Malaysia, and so we would spend hours together discussing politics, national unity, inter-communal relations and social justice in Malaysia. It was he who inspired me to start reading about Islam. I read numerous works by many Muslim authors who represented a diverse range of understandings of Islam. I also read Alatas' own works on Islam and was influenced particularly by his personality, lifestyle and his very universalistic understanding of and approach to Islam.

After graduating from Singapore I returned to Malaysia, where I registered at the Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang to do a Master's degree. For my thesis I worked on Malaysian politics, in the course of which I did fieldwork, which gave me the opportunity to meet many Malay Muslim leaders from the Islamic party PAS and to learn more about their understanding of Islam as a political ideology. By this time, I had strengthened my own conviction in Islam—not the ritualistic, dogmatic sort of Islam, but the Islam that stands for universalism, that stresses fundamental values over forms, that does not recognize mere rituals and externals as a criterion of one's religious commitment. And so in May 1974 I formally embraced, or, as it is said, reverted to, Islam.

Q: You mentioned that one reason for your disenchantment with the Bahai Faith was its ritualism. Given what some might call the excessive ritualism associated with the general practice of Islam in Malaysia and elsewhere, it might seem strange that you were attracted to Islam, is it not?

A: As I just mentioned, I was attracted by the universalism that I discovered in the Quran, but which Muslim practice very often tends to completely negate by associating Islam with a particular community and with a set of rituals. This is quite in contrast to the understanding of Islam that I learnt from Syed Hussein Alatas. I think one could argue that every religious community has betrayed its leading figure by turning into a separate group, using rituals to shore up boundaries to set it apart from other similarly constructed groups. This has happened with Muslims as well, and has led to the universal message of Islam being negated in practical terms.

My own understanding of Islam is that it is basically a worldview, a distinct attitude, a weltanschauung, and not the creed of a narrowly-defined community. I do not believe that the purpose of Islam is to create a community defined in this sense. Rather, it is to nourish a certain outlook or way of living that reflects certain basic values and which should not be seen as being confined to a certain community. My understanding of Islam is one that is fundamentally opposed to communal thinking. I mean, how can one consider a person who commits a heinous crime like murder a 'Muslim' in the true sense of the word—which means one who submits his will to God—simply because he has an Arabic name and has verbally recited the shahada, the Islamic testimony of faith?

I firmly believe that the various messengers of God did not intend to create new communities of followers defined by external markers and rituals that had little or nothing to do with the central core of their message. Instead, they were sent by God to reform attitudes, to nourish proper ways of being human. Sadly, however, precisely the opposite happened after their demise in every case. According to conventional religious thinking, people are judged or viewed not in terms of the basic values that the prophets stressed, on the basis of how they relate to others, to Nature, and so on, but in terms of an elaborate set of rituals and external markers. This is really tragic.

Q: You seem to argue, if I get you correctly, that Islam did not intend to establish a separate community. But what about the concept of Muslims as an ummah, as a separate people defined on the basis of religion?


A: I think there is a lot of confusion about the term ummah. The Quran uses the term in different senses, which do not negate each other. For instance, it is used in the context of the ummah of Medina, which included the Muslim Ansars and Muhajirin and various non-Muslims, including Jewish tribes who were brought together through the Covenant of Medina. A second sense in which the term ummah is used is for those who accepted God and Muhammad as His messenger, as opposed to those who rejected one or both. A third sense in which it is used is to refer to the whole of humankind in general. In none of these senses does it necessarily convey the exclusivist notion of community that many Muslims understand it as.

So, I would contend that one of the major challenges before Muslims today is to reappraise the whole notion of ummah, to retrieve what I believe is its actual connotation as a group based on values and that transcends communal divisions. This notion of the ummah is suggested in the Quran but it has been subverted in the ways in which it has conventionally been understood and interpreted. I believe that in today's context of rapid communications and the breaking down of barriers dividing countries and communities, it could be possible to move towards what I regard as the true Quranic understanding of the ummah that goes beyond the narrow notion of religious-based communities.

For this we also need to reevaluate our understanding of what 'Muslim' means. A Muslim should be understood not as someone born into a particular community that claims to be 'Muslim', but, rather, as a person who upholds certain values and reflects or possesses certain attributes, a person who believes in the one God, submits to His will and does good, irrespective of his or her community. This is why the Quran regards all the many thousands of prophets who appeared before the Prophet Muhammad, in different parts of the world, as Muslims. This means that belief in and devotion and surrender to God, which is also reflected in righteous deeds, suffices to be considered a Muslim in the literal sense of the term as one who has submitted to God's will.

The Quran refers to the Prophet Abraham as a true believer, as a Hanif, and when it specifies that he was neither a Christian nor a Jew it seems to me to suggest the point that he did not create any sect or community defined in this narrow sense, and that he was free of any narrow communal affiliation.

Q: If, as you say, to be a Muslim is to believe in the one God and lead a righteous life, and that this suggests Islam's universalism, why do 'Muslims' in practice place so much more importance on the Prophet Muhammad over the other prophets although the Quran very clearly specifies that all the prophets are equal and that no distinction should be made between them?


A: I think this has a lot to do with history, with the development of identity of an expanding community over time. So, very often what Muslims are protecting in the name of Islam is this narrowly-conceived identity or historical tradition rather than what the Prophet stood for—the basic values and beliefs, which, unfortunately, are not conventionally understood as the defining attributes of Muslims today. And what many of them defend in the name of Islam is not what the Prophet taught and stood for, but, rather, what some medieval scholars and jurists or fuqaha had written centuries ago, which they wrongly equate with Islam.

This blind adherence to the views and prescriptions of the fuqaha is one of the most fundamental problems of Muslims. Ironically, those who claim to interpret the divine word are themselves considered 'divine' now. Much of what passes off as divine shariah, which Muslims generally think is wholly unchangeable, is actually fiqh, the product of the ijtihad or the thinking and interpretation of ulema, who were after all, fallible human beings like the rest of us.

Q: Let's turn to Malaysia. Many Muslims (and others) outside Malaysia think of Malaysia as a 'model Muslim state' or even as a 'model Islamic state'. Do you agree with this perception?

A: What those who think in this way see when they look at Malaysia is just the brighter side of the picture: a country with a fairly high per capita income, a very high literacy rate and good infrastructure, and which has to a great extent succeeded in eradicating absolute poverty. On all these indices undoubtedly Malaysia has done well, much better than most other Muslim-majority countries. So, when non-Malaysian Muslims see all this they regard it as the achievement of a people and government who do not subscribe to a narrow version of Islam, and who are trying to ward off the creeping influence of this sort of Islam, and they contrast this with their own countries. They admire the fact that Malaysia, as a Muslim-majority country, has been able to do well by these standards without imposing a narrowly-conceived shariah state, for they know that the kind of progress Malaysia has achieved could not have happened if we were ruled by that sort of state.
This is what particularly impresses them. Also perhaps the willingness of the former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to challenge the dictates of the International Monetary Fund and to raise the issue of continued Western imperialism.
But what people who consider Malaysia as a model Muslim country don't look at is the other side of the picture: crass capitalism, rampant consumerism, lack of integration between the different communities and so on.


People who uncritically regard Malaysia as a 'model' Muslim state do not see or know that generally Muslims in Malaysia are very conservative when it comes to things that are presented in 'Islamic' terms, and that what the traditional ulema say or believe is still considered by most Malaysian Muslims as binding. Often, Malaysian Muslims have no problems if you talk about something as long as you don't bring in Islam, but the moment you do, their approach becomes very traditional. A good instance of this is our legal system. In our civil courts we have had Muslim women judges for a long time. That has never been a problem. In fact, a few years ago the Chief Judge of peninsula Malaysia was a Malay Muslim woman. But till today we have had not a single woman judge in the shariah courts although there are many women in this country who are well-versed in what is considered to be Islamic law. This is because of a very conservative understanding of
the Malaysian ulema that women cannot be judges in shariah courts, although there is actually no rule in Islam forbidding this. Even in countries like Sudan, Iran and Indonesia there are women shariah court judges, so why not in Malaysia?

Q: Are you suggesting that, overall, the traditional ulema still have a very decisive influence in shaping Malaysian Muslim understandings of their religion? What about alternate voices? The Malay middle-class has grown vastly in recent decades. Has this resulted in any sort of movement pressing for a re-thinking of Islamic theology and jurisprudence, for a contextual understanding of Islam?


A: There are only a very few, scattered individuals who are trying to do this sort of work. It certainly has not taken the form of a movement in this country. It is true that the modern educated and economically well-off Malay or Muslim middle class has expanded considerably in Malaysia. But still you find that when it comes to Islam they generally remain very conservative. For instance, on the issue of apostasy from Islam, a hugely controversial issue in Malaysia, most of middle-class Malays, despite their education, would continue to insist on its criminalization by the state even though this does not have any Quranic sanction and in fact violates the Quran's insistence that there is no compulsion in religion.

Q: Scholars have argued that to a great extent the practice and perception of Islam among the Malays is influenced by Malay ethnicity. Does that have anything to do with the sort of conservatism that you refer to?


A: Yes, to a great extent. So, for instance, the issue of apostasy is also seen even by many well-educated Malays as a threat to the Malay community and its 'special position', as threatening Malay solidarity in the face of other ethnic communities in the country. This is a reflection of a pervasive fear among many Malays that if they move out of their ethnic cocoons, which they seek to bolster through appeals to a conservative version of Islam, and open up and embrace others the Malays will be overwhelmed by others. This is how Malay ethnicity and insecurities shape 'Islamic' understandings in the country.

Q: How valid are these insecurities, though?


A: Some decades ago some of these insecurities would have been understandable. At that time, the economy was almost entirely controlled by foreigners and ethnic Chinese. But today there is a very sizeable Malay middle class. Malays now play significant roles in the upper reaches of the economy.. So, I feel there is no need for them to feel insecure any more. Sadly, however, the political parties keep playing up, even creating and further magnifying, these insecurities. Even Islamic groups that otherwise insist that ethnic chauvinism is contrary to Islam are not averse to this sort of political manipulation.

I must add that this is not a phenomenon unique to the Malays. In large parts of the American mid-West you can find people who subscribe to the ridiculous theory that their country is under threat from poor little Cuba. Or in India many Hindus believe that the impoverished Dalits or heavily marginalized Muslim minority are a threat to them, while this is not the case at all. But because of this sort of ethnic and religious collective consciousness, which, contrary to what Marx claimed, is much stronger than class consciousness, many Malay Muslims, mid-West Americans or Indian Hindus would not be enthusiastic about opening up to others.

Q: Despite generous government patronage of various Islamic institutions, it appears that Malay intellectuals have not made a significant contribution to contemporary debates about Islam or in developing socially relevant and contextual understandings of Islam. This is in contrast to neighbouring Indonesia, where Muslim intellectuals have a rich legacy of articulating alternate Islamic perspectives on a host of social issues of contemporary concern. How do you see this?

A: Perhaps the over-dependence of the bulk of the Malay middle-class on the state, for patronage or for jobs or whatever, is itself a reason for the stagnation of Islamic discourse in the country. Obviously, if you are dependent on the state for your job or sources of funds you cannot really defy the line of the state, be it on Islam or any other issue. But equally or perhaps even more crucially, because of the ethnic issue in Malaysia few Malay intellectuals are willing to be seen as going against what is seen as the interests of their community. So, for instance, when it comes to many socio-economic or socio-political matters, very few of them would stress Islamic universalism over what they perceive as the 'Malay position'. Another factor for the retardation of Islamic discourse in Malaysia is that, on the whole, the middle class Malay mindset is still conservative in matters of religion, relatively untouched by reformist trends in other Muslim
countries.

When one compares the situation in Malaysia with that in neighbouring Indonesia the difference appears stark. There are several reasons for this. For one thing, religious reform movements were an integral part of radical nationalist and anti-colonial struggles in Indonesia. The Dutch in Indonesia directly interfered in Islamic matters. They did away with the local Sultans and set up their own board of Islamic affairs, which was staffed with Dutch administrators. This naturally made the Indonesian ulema much more involved in the anti-colonial and nationalist movement. In what was then Malaya, on the other hand, the British retained the royal houses of the Sultans and appointed them as 'heads' of Islam in their own states and generally refrained from interfering in Islamic matters. The perpetuation of these monarchical structures also resulted in the strengthening of a conservative approach to the religion since the Sultans wanted to preserve the
status quo..

A second, and equally crucial, factor for the difference is that Muslims form almost 90 per cent of Indonesia's population, while they only a little more than 60 per cent of Malaysia's population. That is why Indonesian Muslims are much more confident about their identity and feel less threatened by other communities in their midst than the Malays. And so Indonesian Muslim religious intellectuals are much more open to questioning conservative understandings of religion and to promoting more contextually-relevant responses to a range of contemporary issues.

Q: Given the inextricable link between religious and ethnic assertion among the Malays, which numerous scholars have alluded to, how do you see the phenomenon of what is commonly described as Islamic revivalism in contemporary Malaysia? Is it really a purely religious or even spiritual phenomenon? Or does it have more to do with assertion of Malay communal identity?

A: I think it is related to a large extent to the quest for the assertion of Malay identity.in multi-ethnic Malaysia. It has little, if at all, to do with any spiritual awakening. In Malaysia, this superficial so-called Islamisation and Malay ethnic assertion are in many senses synonymous because 'Malay' and 'Muslim' are regarded as interchangeable terms. The Constitution of Malaysia even lays down that considering oneself a Muslim is an integral part of being Malay. So, especially due to the sort of ethnic-based politics in Malaysia, instead of heralding a truly cosmopolitan Islam, the sort of 'Islamisation' that Malaysia has witnessed is leading to further reinforcing of a narrowly conceived Malay ethnic consciousness. While it is portrayed as 'Islamisation' it is actually little more than Malay ethnic assertion.

Take, for instance, the question of hijab or modest women's clothing. Today most Malay women wear a head-covering, though it is clear that the sort of covering that they are so particular about is not mandated in the Quran. But for many Malays, the woman's head-cover is not just a religious statement. It serves as a crucial marker of Malay ethnic identity, to mark off Malays/Muslims from others.

Q: From Mahathir Mohamad onwards, successive Malaysian Prime Ministers have been using Islam as an ingredient in Malaysia's economic development strategy. Has that at all worked?

A: I don't quite agree. I don't think Mahathir's version of Islam or the Islam Hadhari of his successor, Abdullah Badawi, had any major role to play in shaping or influencing Malaysia's development strategy. Mahathir's use of Islam was a very political move in recognition of societal pressures, to win Malay votes and to out-maneuver the 'Islamist' opposition. So, he set up some 'Islamic' institutions, but was careful not to touch the country's capitalist system. On the economic front, he established an Islamic Bank. His experiment in 'Islamic insurance' has not taken off. Other than this, he made no other effort to 'Islamise' the economy. And I must add that I don't think the so-called 'Islamic banks' are really Islamic at all. At least in the form they have assumed in Malaysia, they have fully adjusted themselves to capitalism, and are now a lucrative means to make a lot of money, while small borrowers actually pay more
than what they would have to if they took loans from commercial banks.

I don't think genuinely Islamic banking needs an'Islamic' label. Any system that aims at proper generation and distribution of wealth, that helps sustainable growth along with equity, can be considered Islamic without needing the 'Islamic' tag. If someone wants to call it 'Christian' or 'Buddhist' banking it's fine by me. I can still call it 'Islamic' if it cares for the poor and reinforces justice and equity.

Why must we want to put a so-called 'Islamic' label on everything? It is a reflection of a narrow-minded, communal, indeed tribalistic approach to Islam and Muslim identity, one that I feel is contrary to the Quranic spirit and its universalism. So, you have people talking about 'Islamic' sociology or 'Islamic' environmental science and even 'Islamic English' and so on. I think this is a very restrictive way of understanding Islam. We have to get out of this suffocating obsession with such labels.

Q: Let's come back to the question of a certain vision of Islam, as articulated by Mahathir Mohamad or Abdullah Badawi, as an 'input' in Malaysia's economic development policy. Can you elaborate a little more?

A: I don't think Islam has been an input in this sense. Perhaps the only case is that of the Tabung Haji, the government-run Haj Fund, to which people who want to perform the Haj can contribute every month. Just before they leave for the Haj they are given the money that they have saved plus some bonus. The money collected by the Tajung Haji is invested in various companies. That, I believe, is the only Islamic 'input', if you can call it that, into Malaysia's otherwise capitalist path of development which undoubtedly has some elements of social justice.

Q: Mahathir Mohammad and, after him, Abdullah Badawi, repeatedly stressed what they considered to be an 'Islamic' work ethic as essential to the country's development. How effective were these exhortations actually?

A: Yes, Mahathir repeatedly stressed values such as dedication, hard work, loyalty and obedience, but overall in such a way as to make them capitalism-friendly. He did not, of course, refer to other such Islamic values as redistribution of wealth, compassion and social justice that would in any way challenge capitalism.

As for Abdullah Badawi's Islam Hadhari, I don't think it worked at all. Although it also ostensibly sought to promote a certain work ethic, and the agencies of the state tried to promote it, , it had no impact at all on people and society in general. Islam Hadhari consists of ten points. I have no quarrel with these points, which sound very lofty, but why brand this as a certain type of Islam or add an adjective to Islam? If you want to change Muslim attitudes you have to present and approach Islam as Islam itself, without any additional adjectives, like 'Hadhari' or whatever. That way of packaging Islam puts off Muslims and is sure to be rejected. This is one reason why many Malaysian Muslims resisted the very concept or label of 'Islam Hadhari'.
=======

Chandra Muzaffar can be contacted on cmuzaffar@gmail.com

*

Yoginder Sikand works with the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Social Policy at the National Law School, Bangalore.


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[ALOCHONA] Who Pioneered "Crossfire in Bangladesh?



Crossfire or extra-judicial killings are now-a-days very common practice among the so-called law enforcers.
However, when it was pioneered in the history of Bangladesh? The historical facts show that it was Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ever first introduced
"Crossfire" in Bangladesh. The first victim of his Crossfire was Siraj Shikder. After his brutal killing, the so-called "Jatir Pita" shouted in the Parliament "Where is Siraj Shikder Now?". What a Pita who sent his son to be tortured and brutally killed!
 
SH
Toronto





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Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: Pakistan Army Headquarter Seize Ends: What about Hasina style



Again a big lie. Golam Azam's son served in the military for 30 years. In 30 years, didn't break the law for even once. Earned respect from colleagues for professionalism. Sk Hasina soon after gaining the power of Bangladesh within 3 months she made the terror hot spot in Bangladesh, 30 years a long time to test someone.
Pakistan strong handedly crushed the terrorists while your leader Sk Hasina had a wonderful connection with the terrorists of Pilkhana. Her nephew gave the terrorists a way out of Pilkhana wile her golden boys the great terrors serving in a so callled democratic government Mirza Azam and Nater guru Guru Nanak were busy killing the military officials. Do you know the fact that on the earth at this moment only two known terrorists are in the cabinet of any government and they are - Nanak and Azam?
 
 
 

--- On Thu, 10/15/09, ShamimC <veirsmill@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: ShamimC <veirsmill@yahoo.com>
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Re: Pakistan Army Headquarter Seize Ends: What about Hasina style
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, October 15, 2009, 3:27 PM

 

Think what would happen if Golam Azams son were still in the army, a known Taliban supporter would lead the attack. God saved our country by ousting him from the army.

 

Pakistani story is different, more or less all Pakistani governments are part of talibani regime. Pakistan chooses to share their bed with terrorist since its emancipation as nation and will continue to do so until its total destruction.

Shamim Chowdhury

Maryland, USA
--- In alochona@yahoogroup s.com, Shumon Ahmed <shumonoh@...> wrote:
>
> Imagine the same happens in a military head quarter in Bangladesh and Sk Hasina is in control with the help of Pranab Mukherjee. She will select the most criminal minded ones of her party to assure the terrorists that the PM is with them. Then she will have a long chat with their leaders and assure them their safe passages while the culprits keep on killing the hostages.
> Paki leadership ( I am not sure if one exists) have done a good job. They have done an excellent job right after Pilkhana incident in a police compound where thugs attacked the Pakistani Police Cadets. Remember the Pakistani security forces didn't deal with the rebels they dealt with the suicide squad.
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> --- On Wed, 10/14/09, S A Hannan sahannan@... wrote:
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> From: S A Hannan sahannan@...
> Subject: [khabor.com] FW: Pakistan Army Headquarter Seize Ends: What Is The Solution--Asia Post editorial dated 13.10.09
> To: dahuk@yahoogroups. com, "mahdiunite@ yahoogroup" mahdiunite@yahoogro ups.com, "mukto-mona@ yahoogroups" mukto-mona@yahoogro ups.com, sonarbangladesh@ yahoogroups. com, khabor@yahoogroups. com, witness-pioneer@ yahoogroups. com
> Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 3:37 AM
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> Pakistan Army Headquarter Seize Ends: What Is the Solution
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> Agencies have reported that Pakistani commandos freed dozens of hostages held by militants at the army's own headquarters Sunday, ending a bloody, 22-hour drama that embarrassed the nation's military as it plans a new offensive against al-Qaida and the Taliban. At least 19 people died in the standoff, including three captives and eight of the militants, who wore army fatigues in the audacious assault. The rescue operation began before dawn Sunday, ultimately freeing 42 hostages, the military said. One attacker, described as the militants' ringleader, was captured. Earlier Agencies reported that Militants held several security officers hostage inside an intelligence wing of the army headquarters Saturday after they and others attacked the complex in an audacious assault on Pakistan's most powerful institution. The attack, which left at least 10 people dead, was the third major militant strike in Pakistan in a week and came as the government was planning an
> imminent offensive against militants in their strongholds in the rugged mountains along the border with Afghanistan. It showed that the militants retain the ability to strike at the very heart of Pakistan's security apparatus despite recent military operations against their forces and the killing of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack in August. The attack began shortly before noon when the gunmen, dressed in camouflage military uniforms and wielding assault rifles and grenades, drove in a white van up to the army compound and opened fire, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas and a witness said."There was fierce firing, and then there was a blast," said Khan Bahadur, a shuttle van driver who was standing outside the gate of the compound. "Soldiers were running here and there," he said. "The firing continued for about a half-hour. There was smoke everywhere. Then there was a break, and then firing again."Pakistani media said the Taliban
> claimed responsibility for the attack, and Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the ongoing assaults strengthened the government's resolve to launch the offensive.
> We condemn this pointless attack. A terrorist outfit can not gain in this way .It will only enhance hatred against them and enhance their rout. No sane person will support such groups, whatever be the cause. We are worried that this outfit is doing all this in the name of Islam though all Islamic movements and leaders have rejected this madness.
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[mukto-mona] United Nations report: Israel's Gaza operation



U.N. report condemns Israel for Gaza operation

CNN) -- Israeli soldiers routinely and intentionally put children in harm's way during their 22-day offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza, according to a United Nations report made public Monday.
On March 6, a Palestinian boy sits on the rubble of a building destroyed during Israel's 22-day Gaza offensive.
On March 6, a Palestinian boy sits on the rubble of a building destroyed during Israel's 22-day Gaza offensive.
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 The report said a working group had documented and verified reports of violations "too numerous to list."
For example, on January 15, in a town southwest of Gaza City, Israel Defense Forces soldiers ordered an 11-year-old boy to open Palestinians' packages, presumably so that the soldiers would not be hurt if they turned out to contain explosives, the 43-page report said.
They then forced the boy to walk in front of them in the town, it said. When the soldiers came under fire, "the boy remained in front of the group," the report said.
It said the boy was later released.
Also cited were "credible reports" that accused Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that runs Gaza, of using human shields and placing civilians at risk.
But it singled out the Israelis for more sweeping criticism.
A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister called the report another example of the "one-sided and unfair" attitude of the U.N. Human Rights Council, which requested it.
The report cited two alleged incidents from January 3. In one, it said, after a tank round struck near a house, a father and his two sons -- both younger than 11 -- emerged to look at the damage.
"As they exited their home, IDF soldiers shot and killed them (at the entrance to their house), with the daughter witnessing," the report said.
In the second, it said, "Israeli soldiers entered a family house in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. Standing at the doorstep, they asked the male head of the household to come out and shot him dead, without warning, while he was holding his ID, hands raised up in the air, and then started to fire indiscriminately and without warning into the room where the rest of the family was huddled together.
"The eldest son was shouting in vain the word 'Children' in Hebrew to warn the soldiers. The shooting did not stop until everyone was lying on the floor. The mother and four of the brothers, aged 2-12 years, had been wounded, one of them, aged 4, fatally."

The alleged instances occurred during Operation Cast Lead, which was launched December 27 to halt rocket attacks into southern Israel from Gaza and ended January 17 with a cease-fire.

The U.N. report called the response by Israel disproportionate.
Of the 1,453 people estimated killed in the conflict, 1,440 were Palestinian, including 431 children and 114 women, the report said.
The 13 Israelis killed included three civilians and six soldiers killed by Hamas, and four soldiers killed by friendly fire, it said.
The report said the Israeli operation resulted in "a dramatic deterioration of the living conditions of the civilian population."
It cited "targeted and indiscriminate" attacks on hospitals and clinics, water and sewage treatment facilities, government buildings, utilities and farming and said the offensive "intensified the already catastrophic humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people."
It said Israeli strikes damaged more than 200 schools and left more than 70,000 people homeless.
"There are strong and credible reports of war crimes and other violations of international norms," it said, adding that many observers have said war crimes investigations should be undertaken.
"The alternative is de facto impunity," it said.
It called for the end of Israel's blockade of Gaza and the free passage into the territory of food, medicine, fuel and construction supplies.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, called the report "another example of the one-sided and unfair attitude of the rapporteur of the Human Rights Council, a council that has been criticized by current and previous secretaries-general for its unbalanced attitudes toward Israel."
He added, "The negative fixation on Israel by the council has done a disservice to the issue of human rights internationally as has been attested to by the leading NGO's [nongovernmental organizations] on human rights."
Another report issued Monday also was critical of the IDF. The report from Physicians for Human Rights said the Gaza incursion violated IDF's own code of ethics.
The report by the medical group, which shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, cited instances where it said IDF forces did not evacuate injured civilians for days and prevented Palestinian teams from reaching the wounded, and said some of them died as a result.
It said 16 Palestinian medical personnel were killed by IDF fire and 25 were wounded during the IDF operation, and accused the IDF of attacking 34 medical centers in violation of the IDF's own "ethical code for fighting terror."
In response, the IDF accused Hamas of having used medical vehicles, facilities and uniforms to conceal its members' activity.
"Hamas used ambulances to 'rescue' terror activists from the battlefield and used hospitals and medical facilities as hiding places," the Israelis said in a written statement.
"Despite this, throughout the fighting, IDF forces were instructed to avoid firing at ambulances, even if they were being used by armed fighters. They were instructed only to shoot if there was fire towards our forces emanating from the direction of the ambulance."
Regarding the reported delays in casualty evacuations, "there existed real difficulties in evacuating the injured, due to the roadblocks, booby-trapped roads and dirt mounds placed by the Hamas as well as the considerable damage to the infrastructure," the statement said.
Nevertheless, it said, an IDF investigation is ongoing and its conclusions will be made public once it is complete.
But Dr. Dani Filc, PHR-Israel chairman, was skeptical that the investigation would prove useful. "There are considerable doubts that the IDF is the correct institution to investigate suspicions of these violations," he said.
"The IDF's repeated promises to the High Court to look into attacks on medical teams and medical centers have gone unfulfilled, and there are suspicions concerning its seriousness and readiness to carry out the matter."
The Israeli military did accept criticism Monday on another matter -- the practice of some Israeli soldiers of wearing T-shirts that appear to condone acts of violence against Palestinians.
The Israeli daily Haaretz newspaper reported that Israeli soldiers who had finished basic training ordered the shirts, one of which showed a pregnant Arab in the crosshairs of a gun sight with a caption reading "1 Shot 2 Kills." Another showing a small child in a gun's sight was captioned, "The smaller they are, the harder it is."
"The examples presented by The Haaretz reporter are not in accordance with IDF values and are simply tasteless," the Israeli military said in a written statement. "This type of humor is unbecoming and should be condemned."
Israeli soldiers said last week that Palestinian civilians were killed and Palestinian property intentionally destroyed during Israel's military campaign in Gaza, according to Haaretz.
The IDF has said it is investigating the claims, but its top general expressed skepticism Monday.
"I don't believe that soldiers serving in the IDF hurt civilians in cold blood, but we shall wait for the results of the investigation," Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi, the chief of staff, said in a speech.
"I tell you that this is a moral and ideological army."
He blamed Hamas for choosing "to fight in heavily populated areas.
"It (was) a complex atmosphere that includes civilians and we took every measure possible to reduce harm of the innocent," he said, according to an IDF statement.
 

UN report condemns Israel

Workers World - ‎2 hours ago‎
These protests will also demand that the Goldstone Report not be suppressed, that Israeli war criminals be punished, that war crimes against the people of ...
BBC NEWS | Middle East | UN condemns 'war crimes' in Gaza
Sep 16, 2009 ... There is evidence that both Israeli and Palestinian forces committed war crimes in the Gaza conflict, the UN report concludes.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8257301.stm - Cached - Similar



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[mukto-mona] United Nations endorses Israeli war crimes report



[United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employees hold a U.N. flag stained with red paint during a protest in the West Bank city of Hebron against Israel's offensive in Gaza January 12, 2009. (Reuters/Nayef Hashlamoun/West Bank)]U
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employees hold a U.N. flag stained with red paint during a protest in the West Bank city of Hebron against Israel's offensive in Gaza January 12, 2009.
(Reuters/Nayef Hashlamoun/West Bank)
 
UN backs Gaza war crimes report
The UN human rights council has endorsed the Goldstone report on Israel's war on Gaza, which accuses the military of using disproportionate force as well as laying charges of war crimes on Israeli occupation forces and Hamas.

The council's resolution adopting the report was passed in Geneva by 25 votes to six with 11 countries abstaining and five declining to vote.
The inquiry, lead by Justice Richard Goldstone, calls on Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, to monitor whether Israel and Hamas conduct credible investigations into the conflict which took place last winter.
Should the two sides fail to do so, it calls on the UN Security Council to refer the allegations to the International Criminal Court.
Hamas 'thankful'

The Palestinian Authority had initially agreed to defer a vote on the UN-sanctioned report, but later backtracked under domestic criticism.
Goldstone report vote
 For: Argentina, Brazil, China, Russia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Djbouti, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia

Against: US, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine

Abstentions: Belgium, Bosnia, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia and Uruguay

No vote: UK, France, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan and Angola
The United States and Israel were among those countries which voted against the resolution.
Mike Hanna, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Geneva, said the vote was a "very strong victory" for the supporters of the resolution, but that the large number of abstentions was also "very significant".

Mousa Abu Marzook, the deputy chairman of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, Syria, told Al Jazeera: "We thank our people, all those who support to submit again this report to the human rights committee and all the countries who voted for the report.
"I think if the Palestinian Authority didn't withdraw this report it will be more efficient and the result will be stronger than the resolution.
 
"We will co-operate with this report and we will establish a new committee to investigate.
"Right now, there is no talking with Fatah, but during the dialogue between Fatah and Hamas in Egypt, within a few weeks, we are going to talk about reconciliation and, of course, this kind of subject we are going to talk about."
Israel condemned

In addition to endorsing the report, the resolution "strongly condemns all policies and measures taken by Israel, the occupying power, including those limiting access of Palestinians to their properties and holy sites".
In depth

 Video: Anger at Abbas
 Video: Interview with Richard Goldstone
 Timeline: Gaza War
 Analysis: War crimes in Gaza?
 Goldstone's full report to the UN rights council
 Key points of the Goldstone report
 UN inquiry finds Gaza war crimes
 'Half of Gaza war dead civilians'
 PLO: History of a Revolution
 'Israel has to be accountable'
Al Jazeera is not responsible for external websites' content 
It also calls on Israel to stop digging and excavation work around the al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem as well as other Islamic and Christian religious sites.

Israel rejected the charges saying the resolution – drafted by the Palestinians with Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, on behalf of non-aligned, African, Islamic and Arab nations – threatened peace efforts.

A statement from the Israeli foreign ministry said: "The adoption of this resolution by the UNHRC impairs both the effort to protect human rights in accordance with international law and the effort to promote peace in Middle East".

Sherine Tadros, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said: "Israeli officials we spoke to said that in their opinion most of those states that voted in favour of the resolution did so, not out of conviction, but really for their own domestic reasons - to cover up their own human rights violations.
"Whereas democratic states didn't favour the resolution, either they didn't vote or they abstained or they voted no.
"This has really been Israel's line of defence from the beginning of this process - to try to discredit the Goldstone mission and the resolution by discrediting the human rights council itself.
"By saying that its members have always been overwhelmingly biased against Israel and really trying to land Israel in hot water whatever motion was in front of them," she said.

'Rights undermined'
The Goldstone report recommended that its conclusions be sent on to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor in The Hague if Israel and Hamas do not hold their own credible investigations into allegations of war crimes within six months.
FROM THE BLOGS
Reaction out of Gaza to yet another UN resolution
By Ayman Mohyeldin in The Middle East blog
The report accused Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It also accused the Hamas movement, which has de facto control of Gaza, of war crime violations, but reserved most of its criticism for Israel.

Amr Hamzawy, a political scientist, told Al Jazeera: "The [endorsement] is a very positive step and indeed a victory for Palestinian-Arab diplomacy after the misery of the last two weeks.
"It definitely eats away at Israel's moral legitimacy which existed to an extent before the Lebanon and Gaza war.
"Israel is under extreme legal pressure internationally and morally, and they really have to account for what [happened] in Gaza during the war," he said.
At least 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during Israel's war on Gaza [EPA]
On Thursday, Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief, endorsed the report, calling for "impartial, independent, prompt and effective investigations" into the alleged war crimes.
Pillay said: "A culture of impunity continues to prevail in the occupied territories and in Israel," Pillay said during the UN Human Rights Council's special debate session on the report on Thursday.
In her speech, Pillay cited concern about the restrictions on Palestinians wishing to enter al-Aqsa and expressed "dismay" about the Israeli blockade of Gaza that she said "severely undermines the rights and welfare of the population there".

On Thursday, Goldstone, a former South African judge, criticised the resolution, saying: "I hope that the council can modify the text."

About 1,400 Palestinians – the majority of them civilians - and 13 Israelis were killed during Israel's three-week war on Gaza, which had the stated aim of stopping rocket attacks by Palestinian fighters from the coastal territory.
 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
 

UN body endorses Gaza report

Palestinian bodyguards wait to escort Gaza's Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh as he leaves a mosque after Friday prayers, in Gaza City, Friday, Oct. 16, 2009. The U.N. Human Rights Council is heading for a showdown vote on a report accusing Israeli forces and Palestinian militants of war crimes during their conflict in Gaza last winter.

Palestinian bodyguards wait to escort Gaza's Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh as he leaves a mosque after Friday prayers, in Gaza City, Friday, Oct. 16, 2009. The U.N. Human Rights Council is heading for a showdown vote on a report accusing Israeli forces and Palestinian militants of war crimes during their conflict in Gaza last winter. AP

Concludes Israel used disproportionate force during Dec/Jan conflict and accuses Palestinian armed groups including Hamas of deliberately targeting civilians
"Israel's future is very dim!"
Future generations including Israelis are not going to accept two classes of citizens ...
comments(46) [Add comment]
 
The UN report, commissioned by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said the Israeli military intentionally fired at UN facilities and civilians hiding in ...
english.aljazeera.net/news/.../05/200955143232389149.html - Cached - Similar
U.N. Condemns Israeli Offensive - washingtonpost.com
World news headlines from the Washington Post,including international news and opinion from Africa,North/South America,Asia,Europe and Middle East.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/.../AR2006111701769.html - Similar
May 6, 2009 ... Obama hints at tough line on Israel A United Nations investigation yesterday accused Israel of "reckless disregard" for human life.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle.../article6229545.ece - Similar
 



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