__._,_.___
A leading news agency in Bangladesh has catered a news item on Professor Anu Mahmud demanding release of detained garment workers leader Moshrefa Mishu. This is not only alarming but very much disturbing news indeed, as Mishu's name came as the top instigators behind series of anarchies at various ready made garment factories in Bangladesh.
According to the news, a so-called citizen's platform has called for removal of US ambassador to Bangladesh, James F Moriarty. It also urged the government to declare him 'unwanted'. The group claimed that the ambassador was a lobbyist of foreign companies eyeing the country's oil and gas sector.
The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports made the demand at a press conference in Dhaka.
The committee secretary Anu Mohammad said, as disclosed in WikiLeaks cables, the US ambassador was pressurising prime minister's energy advisor Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury to permit Asia Energy for open-pit coal mining in Phulbari.
The Phulbari open-pit excavation was halted following a violent protest in 2006 that killed three people.
The cables also revealed Moriarty held talks with Chowdhury in 2009 and urged him to approve British company Global Coal Management [GCM] to begin open-cast coal mining, the Guardian newspaper of UK reported based on WikiLeaks cables.
"He repeatedly put pressure on Bangladesh government to give the lease of the gas blocks to ConocoPhillips Company through export oriented agreement. He also put pressure to permit Chevron to buy old compressor machines and instruments in a high price. These US companies have been given advantages as per his directives.".
Anu Mohammad called those, who were involved in controversial oil-gas agreement, etc. as oil-gas-coal criminals. He suggested trying them as criminals.
Moshrefa Mishu, president of the Garments Sramik Oikya Forum [garment workers unity forum] is actively involved in series of notorious activities aimed at sabotaging country's textile and readymade garment sectors. It is important to mention here that, Bangladesh annually earns a few billion dollars of foreign exchange from the export of textile products. It is alleged that, Mishu is serving the purpose of vested interest groups with the aim of damaging Bangladesh's prospective export market thus creating opportunity for those competing nations in ultimately grabbing Bangladesh's stake in the international market. With such heinous agenda, Mishu has been actively involved in giving instigation as well as hiring hooligans in staging anarchism at various readymade garment factories with various lame excuses. Due such activities of Mishu, Bangladeshi textile and readymade garment exporters have lost at least a few hundred million dollars already due to rampage at various factories as well as delay and cancellation of export orders.
There is approximately 4,000 garment factories operating in Bangladesh. Factory owners mentioned in the media a number of times that in most cases, groups of outsiders [in the name of workers], vandalised the factories - sometimes in the presence of law enforcers. Due to such anarchism and vandalism, a large number of factories have even been forced to shut down due to huge financial losses.
Interestingly, following the arrest of Moshrefa Mishu, anarchism and vandalism in the textile and readymade garment sectors by unruly workers have totally stopped. This certainly proves that, Mishu was behind each of those notorious activities. It is quite interesting to see that Anu Mahmud has become very vocal in favor of this female hooligan.
On the other hand, Professor Mahmud has called for expulsion of the US ambassador in Bangladesh, James F Moriarty and demanded him to be declared Personna Non Grata [unwanted in his words]. He [Mahmud] sees US ambassador's efforts in favor of American companies as 'illegal'. Professor Anu Mahmud has shown the reason behind such demand stating the US ambassador is actively lobbying in favor of Asia Energy, a company already infamous in Bangladesh following the fatal shooting and murder of civilians at coal mining project at Phulbari area.
Asia Energy plc AIM: GCM is a new company, without any history of previous mining experience, quoted in the London Alternative Investment Market, set up to exploit open cast coal mining opportunities in the Phulbari region of Bangladesh. Asia Energy now trades under the name Global Coal Management. Asia Energy was incorporated in London in September 2003 and acquired 100% of Asia Energy Corporation Pty Ltd, which held the licenses to explore and mine the Phulbari Coal Project. Asia Energy Corporation Pty Ltd entered the coal mining scenario in 1998 by buying the mining contract originally awarded to international coal giant BHP on August 20, 1994. BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance [BMA] is Australia's largest coal producer and a leader in the international coal industry.
On the 29th August 2006 six protesters had been shot dead at Phulbari area, by paramilitary forces, when a crowd of 30,000 people stormed the local offices of Asia Energy. On the 30st August 2006 further unrest the day after the shootings when widespread half day strikes were organized. The Bangladesh government imposed a ban on further protests at the mine site. Gary Lye, chief executive of Asia Energy Corporation [Bangladesh] Pty Ltd, was quoted as saying "It is up to the authorities to determine exactly what happened, but it would appear that the unforgivable events and the needless loss of life and suffering that took place yesterday in Phulbari are entirely the fault of the organizers [of the protest]. Asia Energy has since had its right to mine in Bangladesh withdrawn.
On news of the withdrawal of mining rights, shares in Asia Energy PLC crashed, falling from 284p to 117.5p in a single day. The company requested trading be suspended, on 31 August 2006, saying "Asia Energy PLC became aware this morning of press reports quoting a junior minister in Bangladesh stating that the Bangladesh Government is canceling all existing agreements with Asia Energy. The Company had not received any communication from the Government to this effect. In view of this the shares of Asia Energy were suspended from trading on the AIM Market at 08:40 hrs [BST] this morning."
After the fatal shootings, on 11 January 2007 Asia Energy changed its name to Global Coal Management PLC at the same time as maintaining that it was 'fully committed to the Phulbari Coal Project in Bangladesh'.
I personally do not see any crime in Moriarty's efforts in favor of Asia Energy, because, in today's world, diplomacy is more related to economic issues. James F Moriarty is also trying his best in upholding the interests of American companies. It is also important to note that the ambassador is not lobbying in favor of Asia Energy without any signal from administration in Washington under the leadership of President Barack Hussain Obama. Here the ambassador has not personal interest. What he is doing is definitively aimed at protecting the interest of US companies.
If Bangladeshi government will pay any heed to what Professor Anu Mahmud demanded, it will certainly put Dhaka-Washington relations into the worst ever crisis. And of course, in that case, the worst sufferers will be textile and readymade garments exporters of Bangladesh, who earns billions by exporting products to US market. Do we see any similarity between Mishu and Professor Mahmud's agenda?
December 29, 2010
New Look for Mecca: Gargantuan and Gaudy
By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/arts/design/30mecca.html?pagewanted=print
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia — It is an architectural absurdity. Just south of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the Muslim world's holiest site, a kitsch rendition of London's Big Ben is nearing completion. Called the Royal Mecca Clock Tower, it will be one of the tallest buildings in the world, the centerpiece of a complex that is housing a gargantuan shopping mall, an 800-room hotel and a prayer hall for several thousand people. Its muscular form, an unabashed knockoff of the original, blown up to a grotesque scale, will be decorated with Arabic inscriptions and topped by a crescent-shape spire in what feels like a cynical nod to Islam's architectural past. To make room for it, the Saudi government bulldozed an 18th-century Ottoman fortress and the hill it stood on.
The tower is just one of many construction projects in the very center of Mecca, from train lines to numerous luxury high-rises and hotels and a huge expansion of the Grand Mosque. The historic core of Mecca is being reshaped in ways that many here find appalling, sparking unusually heated criticism of the authoritarian Saudi government.
"It is the commercialization of the house of God," said Sami Angawi, a Saudi architect who founded a research center that studies urban planning issues surrounding the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, and has been one of the development's most vocal critics. "The closer to the mosque, the more expensive the apartments. In the most expensive towers, you can pay millions" for a 25-year leasing agreement, he said. "If you can see the mosque, you pay triple."
Saudi officials say that the construction boom — and the demolition that comes with it — is necessary to accommodate the ever-growing numbers of people who make the pilgrimage to Mecca, a figure that has risen to almost three million this past year. As a non-Muslim, I was not permitted to visit the city, but many Muslims I spoke to who know it well — including architects, preservationists and even some government officials — believe the real motive behind these plans is money: the desire to profit from some of the most valuable real estate in the world. And, they add, it has been facilitated by Saudi Arabia's especially strict interpretation of Islam, which regards much history after the age of Muhammad, and the artifacts it produced, as corrupt, meaning that centuries-old buildings can be destroyed with impunity.
That mentality is dividing the holy city of Mecca — and the pilgrimage experience — along highly visible class lines, with the rich sealed inside exclusive air-conditioned high-rises encircling the Grand Mosque and the poor pushed increasingly to the periphery.
There was a time when the Saudi government's architecture and urban planning efforts, especially around Mecca, did not seem so callous. In the 1970s, as the government was taking control of Aramco, the American conglomerate that managed the country's oil fields, skyrocketing oil prices unleashed a wave of national modernization programs, including a large-scale effort to accommodate those performing the hajj.
The projects involved some of the world's great architectural talents, many of whom were encouraged to experiment with a freedom they were not finding in the West, where postwar faith in Modernism was largely exhausted. The best of their works — modern yet sensitive to local environment and traditions — challenge the popular assumption that Modernist architecture, as practiced in the developing world, was nothing more than a crude expression of the West's quest for cultural dominance.
These include the German architect Frei Otto's remarkable tent cities from the late 1970s, made up of collapsible lightweight structures inspired by the traditions of nomadic Bedouin tribes and intended to accommodate hajj pilgrims without damaging the delicate ecology of the hills that surround the old city.
Fifty miles to the west, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Hajj terminal at King Abdul Aziz International Airport is a similar expression of a form of modernity that can be sensitive to local traditions and environmental conditions without reverting to kitsch. A grid of more than 200 tentlike canopies supported on a system of steel cables and columns, it is divided into small open-air villages, where travelers can rest and pray in the shade before continuing their journey.
The current plans, by contrast, can read like historical parody. Along with the giant Big Ben, there are many other overscale developments — including a proposal for the planned expansion of the Grand Mosque that dwarfs the original complex — in various mock-Islamic styles.
But the Vegas-like aura of these projects can deflect attention from the real crime: the way the developments are deforming what by all accounts was a fairly diverse and unstratified city. The Mecca Clock Tower will be surrounded by a half-dozen luxury high-rises, each designed in a similar Westminster-meets-Wall Street style and sitting on a mall that is meant to evoke traditional souks. Built at various heights at the edge of the Grand Mosque's courtyard, and fronted by big arched portes-cocheres, they form a postmodern pastiche that means to evoke the differences of a real city but will do little to mask the project's mind-numbing homogeneity.
Like the luxury boxes that encircle most sports stadiums, the apartments will allow the wealthy to peer directly down at the main event from the comfort of their suites without having to mix with the ordinary rabble below.
At the same time, the scale of development has pushed middle-class and poor residents further and further from the city center. "I don't know where they go," Mr. Angawi said. "To the outskirts of Mecca, or they come to Jidda. Mecca is being cleansed of Meccans."
The changes are likely to have as much of an effect on the spiritual character of the Grand Mosque as on Mecca's urban fabric. Many people told me that the intensity of the experience of standing in the mosque's courtyard has a lot to do with its relationship to the surrounding mountains. Most of these represent sacred sites in their own right and their looming presence imbues the space with a powerful sense of intimacy.
But that experience, too, is certain to be lessened with the addition of each new tower, which blots out another part of the view. Not that there will be much to look at: many hillsides will soon be marred by new rail lines, roads and tunnels, while others are being carved up to make room for still more towers.
"The irony is that developers argue that the more towers you build the more views you have," said Faisal al-Mubarak, an urban planner who works at the ministry of tourism and antiquities. "But only rich people go inside these towers. They have the views."
The issue is not just run-of-the-mill class conflict. The city's makeover also reflects a split between those who champion turbocharged capitalism and those who think it should stop at the gates of Mecca, which they see as the embodiment of an Islamic ideal of egalitarianism.
"We don't want to bring New York to Mecca," Mr. Angawi said. "The hajj was always supposed to be a time when everyone is the same. There are no classes, no nationalities. It is the one place where we find balance. You are supposed to leave worldly things behind you."
The government, however, seems unmoved by such sentiments. When I mentioned Mr. Angawi's observations at the end of a long conversation with Prince Sultan, the minister of tourism and antiquities, he simply frowned.
"When I am in Mecca and go around the kaaba, I don't look up."
A nice story
Every Friday afternoon, after the Jumma prayers, the Imam and his eleven
year old son would go out into their town and hand out "PATH TO
PARADISE "and other Islamic literature.
This particular and fortunate Friday afternoon, as the time came for the
Imam and his son to go to the streets with their booklets, it was very cold
outside, as well as pouring rain.
The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said, 'OK, dad, I'm
ready!' His dad asked, 'Ready for what' 'Dad, it's time we go out and distribute
these Islamic books.'
Dad responds, 'Son, it's very cold outside and it's pouring rain.'
The boy gives his dad a surprised look, asking, 'But Dad, aren't people
still going to hell, even though it's raining?'
Dad answers, 'Son, I am not going out in this weather.'
Despondently, the boy asks, 'Dad, can I go Please'
His father hesitated for a moment then said, 'Son, you can go. Here are the
booklets. Be careful son.'
'Thanks, Dad!'
And with that, he was off and out into the rain. This eleven year old boy
walked the streets of the town going door to door and handing everybody he
met in the street a pamphlet or a booklet.
After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking, bone-chilled wet and
down to his VERY LAST BOOKLET. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone
to hand a booklet to, but the streets were totally deserted.
Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to
the front door and rang the door bell. He rang the bell, but nobody
answered..
He rang it again and again, but still no one answered. He waited but still
no answer.
Finally, he turned to leave, but something stopped him.
Again, he turned to the door and rang the bell and knocked loudly on the
door with his fist. He waited, something holding him there on the front
porch!
He rang again and this time the door slowly opened.
Standing in the doorway was a very sad-looking elderly lady. She softly
asked, 'What can I do for you, son?' With radiant eyes and a smile that lit
up her world, this little boy said, 'Ma'am, I'm sorry if I disturbed you,
but I just want to tell you that ALLAH REALLY LOVES AND CARES FOR YOU and I
came to give you my very last booklet which will tell you all about God,
the real purpose of creation, and how to achieve His pleasure.'
With that, he handed her his last booklet and turned to leave.
She called to him as he departed. 'Thank you, son! And God Bless You!'
Next week on Friday afternoon after Jumma prayers, the Imam was giving some
lectures. As he concludes the lectures, he asked, 'Does anybody have
questions or want to say anything?'
Slowly, in the back row among the ladies, an elderly lady's voice was heard
over the speaker. 'No one in this gathering knows me. I've never been here before. You see,
before last Friday I was not a Muslim, and thought I could be. My husband
died few years ago, leaving me totally alone in this world... Last Friday,
being a particularly cold and rainy day, I was contemplating suicide as I
had no hope left.
So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of my
home... I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof then stood on
the chair and fastened the other end of the rope around my neck. Standing on
that chair, so lonely and broken-hearted I was about to leap off, when
suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me. I thought,
I'll wait a minute, and whoever it is will go away.
I waited and waited, but the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more
insistent, and then the person ringing also started knocking loudly....
I thought to myself again, 'Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever rings my
bell or comes to see me.' I loosened the rope from my neck and started for
the front door, all the while the bell rang louder and louder.
When I opened the door and looked I could hardly believe my eyes, for there
on my front porch was the most radiant and angelic little boy I had ever
seen in my life.. His SMILE, oh, I could never describe it to you! The words
that came from his mouth caused my heart that had long been dead TO LEAP TO
LIFE as he exclaimed with a cherub-like voice, 'Ma'am, I just came to tell
you that ALLAH REALLY LOVES AND CARES FOR YOU!'* *
Then he gave me this booklet, Path To Paradise that I now hold in my hand.
As the little angel disappeared back out into the cold and rain, I closed my
door and read slowly every word of this book. Then I went up to my attic to
get my rope and chair. I wouldn't be needing them any more.
You see? I am now a Happy Vicegerent of the One True God. Since the address
of your congregation was stamped on the back of this booklet, I have come
here to personally say THANK YOU to God's little angel who came just in the
nick of time and by so doing, spared my soul from an eternity in hell.'
There was not a dry eye in the mosque. The shouts of TAKBIR...ALLAH AKBAR..
rented the air. Imam-Dad descended from the Mimbar to the front row where the little angel
was seated.He took his son in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably.
Probably no jama'at has had a more glorious moment, and probably this
universe has never seen a father that was more filled with love and honor
for his son... Except for One. This very one...
Don't let this message die, read it again and pass it to others. Heaven is
for His people!Remember, Allah's message CAN make the difference in the life of someone close
to you.
[Quran 5:3]: This day I've perfected your religion for you, and completed my
favor on you, and chose Islam for you as religion..
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dahuk/message/21582
74.01% Prothom Alo readers do not support for an airport at Arialbeel
http://www.prothom-alo.com/onlinepoll
India Succumbs To US Pressure: Iran Halts Oil Sales To India
An oil trading dispute between India and Iran has further escalated, with Tehran refusing to sell oil to India under new rules instituted by New Delhi
The Reserve Bank of India has said that deals with Iran must be settled outside the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) system used by it and other member nations' central banks to settle bilateral trades.
Iran's state-owned oil company has refused to accept payments for oil sales to India without guarantees from India's central bank.
Iranian sources have confirmed the dispute and Indian sources said officials from the central banks of the two countries are set to meet on Friday to further discuss the matter.
Iran, which is under UN sanctions over its nuclear programme, is likely to want to rescue a trade that is worth about $12bn a year.
While the UN sanctions do not forbid buying Iranian oil, the US has been pressing governments and companies to stop dealing with Tehran.
Trade trouble
On Wednesday, two Indian industry sources said National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) had turned down Indian oil firms' requests for payment outside the ACU.
"Indian firms had asked Iran to immediately nominate a bank in Europe through which payment can be made. But NIOC refused," said one of the sources.
A NIOC source said any mechanism outside the ACU "is not acceptable" because "this exercise is in place for so many years".
"How can India unilaterally decide to halt it without any alternative mechanism? How can you demolish a building without renting out an apartment?" the source added.
The ACU includes the central banks of India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Iran, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
India is the biggest buyer of Iranian crude in the group, consuming around 400,000 barrels per day between two state-owned refiners and privately-owned Essar Oil.
US Pressure
The Hindu on Thursday reported that the move is an example of India succumbing to American pressure. The report states that Indian Reserve Bank's move is the direct result of American pressure.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/12/20101229182547512814.html
US ambassador's removal demanded
Dhaka, Dec 30 (bdnews24.com)—A citizen's platform has called for
removal of US ambassador to Bangladesh, James F Moriarty. It also
urged the government to declare him 'unwanted'.
The group claimed that the ambassador was a lobbyist of foreign
companies eyeing the country's oil and gas sector.
The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power
and Ports made the demand on Thursday, at a press conference held at
Mukti Bhaban, at Paltan, Dhaka.
The committee secretary Anu Mohammad said, as disclosed in WikiLeaks
cables, the US ambassador was pressurising prime minister's energy
advisor Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury to permit Asia Energy for open-pit
coal mining in Phulbari.
The Phulbari open-pit excavation was halted following a violent
protest in 2006 that killed three people.
The cables also revealed Moriarty held talks with Chowdhury last year
and urged him to approve British company Global Coal Management (GCM)
to begin open-cast coal mining, the Guardian newspaper of UK reported
based on WikiLeaks cables.
"He repeatedly put pressure on Bangladesh government to give the lease
of the gas blocks to ConocoPhillips Company through export oriented
agreement. He also put pressure to permit Chevron to buy old
compressor machines and instruments in a high price. These US
companies have been given advantages as per his directives," said the
Guardian report.
Anu Mohammad called those, who were involved in controversial oil-gas
agreement, etc. as oil-gas-coal criminals. He suggested trying them as
criminals.
The committee also demanded release of detained garments workers
leader Moshrefa Mishu.
It announced a countrywide procession on Jan 5 next year and also a
protest meeting and procession at Muktangoan in Dhaka at around 3pm
the same day.
Additional programmes include meeting at the divisional towns and
countrywide foot march from Jan 10 to Jan 30. Other members of the
committee were also present at the conference.
http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=183039&cid=2
------------------------------------
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