Banner Advertiser

Saturday, February 13, 2010

[ALOCHONA] Water Security: Politico-Economic Considerations [1 Attachment]

[Attachment(s) from Isha Khan included below]

Water Security: Politico-Economic Considerations

Mahfuz Ullah


Attachment(s) from Isha Khan

1 of 1 File(s)


__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] Dying Sundarban



Dying Sundarban
 
 
 
 
 


__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] Interest rate of Indian credit higher than other overseas loans



Interest rate of Indian credit higher than other overseas loans
 

A proposed Indian credit worth $1 billion for Bangladesh could be the easiest loan deal between the two neighbours but its interest rate is going to be higher compared with loans from multilateral and bilateral lenders, officials and experts said.

Moreover, indications are there that Dhaka might be forced to swallow the 'costly' form of financial assistances, suppliers' credit, under which New Delhi would sell out its products as a condition to bankrolling the credit.

The prime minister's economic adviser Mashiur Rahman at a seminar on Sunday said the proposed loan programme under the Indian state credit had been offered at an interest rate of 1.75 per cent plus LIBOR (London Inter-bank Offered Rate) with a repayment period of 20 years after a grace period of five years.

'This will be the easiest loan Bangladesh has ever received from its big neighbours,' the communications minister, Abul Hossain, told New Age.

The communication ministry is expected to receive a half of the amount for funding a dozen transport-related projects. The credit was sought during the prime minister's visit to New Delhi in January, he said.

Ever since the visit and Hasina-Manmohan joint communiqué, economic experts and analysts inquired about the proposed billion-dollar credit programme as available public data showed Bangladesh had been receiving loans from many bilateral countries and multilateral lenders at a lower than 1.75 per cent interest rate.

Since 1973, Bangladesh has signed more than 150 loan deals with the Asian Development Bank. The interest rate of about 90 per cent of such deals is 1 per cent. Between 1988 and 2008, Dhaka struck 39 credit deals with Tokyo, all on 1 per cent interest rate, according to an ERD publication.

The experts inquired about the nature of the loans as the government has not clarified the matter as yet.

Former caretaker government finance adviser Mirza Azizul Islam observed there was ambiguity in the proposed credit which needed to be clarified. He observed if it was suppliers' credit, the country might be compelled to buy products from India at a higher rate.

Records showed more than one-third of the loans Dhaka received from New Delhi until 2008 were hard-term borrowings with higher than 5 per cent interest rate plus LIBOR and the suppliers' credit which forced the recipient country to buy commodities from the lending country.

Since its independence in 1971, Bangladesh has received assistance of around $440 million in the form grants ($113 million), commodity aid ($151.1 million) and project aid ($176) till 2008 from New Delhi, according to a publication of the Economic Relations Division.

The first bilateral financial deal was signed on May 15, 1972, between Dhaka and New Delhi for bankrolling of 80 million Indian rupees. It was mostly hard-term borrowing as its interest rate was 6.25 per cent with a five-year repayment period and one-year grace period.

There have been 24 other hard-term loans and 18 suppliers' credits offered by India for Bangladesh until now. For the suppliers' credits, Bangladesh needs to bear service charges of 12.5 per cent in addition to around 5 per cent in annual interest rate, said the ERD publication.

A meeting between the finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, and the Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, Rajeet Mitter, on Saturday on the implementation aspects of the proposed billion-dollar credit indicated that bulk of the amount would be in the form of suppliers' credit.

Rajeet Mitter told reporters after the meeting technical works had already begun under the joint communiqué.

'Three components — supply of locomotives and passenger coaches, buses, and dredgers — were included in the joint communiqué the technical works of which have already begun,' he said.

In reply to a question, he said they had also talks with their Bangladesh counterparts about the required supplies and the specification.

Multilateral lenders such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have strong reservations about suppliers' credit.

They have always suggested that the country should not to go for suppliers' credit as purchase rate for products becomes at last double than the actual prices.

 http://www.newagebd.com/2010/feb/14/front.html



__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] Secret Document Bares Indian Subversion in Pakistan



Secret Document Bares Indian Subversion in Pakistan
 

APP, New Delhi-Even as India and Pakistan were actively engaged in laying a framework for normalizing their relations in the aftermath of Operation Parkaram (Dec 2001- Oct 2002), RAW's Counter Intelligence Team X (CIT-X), assigned to conduct subversive operations targeting Pakistan was working relentlessly to destabilize the country.

According to well placed sources, the details of these plans came to light once a copy of the classified document detailing these activities was accidentally lost and became available for public scrutiny.

The strategy to advance the interaction with Pakistan on the diplomatic channels, while perpetrating acts of terrorism on a parallel track was envisaged after the failure of Indian spell of coercive diplomacy vis-a-vis Pakistan during the Premiership of Atal Bihari Vajpaee.

The document lays out the extensive espionage network dovetailed into the diplomatic missions in Central Asia, particularly Afghanistan and Middle East which the Indian under-cover intelligence operatives utilize to rake trouble not only in FATA but in Pakistani hinterland as well.

As per details given in the purloined paper, agents for anti-Pakistan subversion were trained in 57 training camps established in the IHK, East Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Assam.

Activists of anti Pakistan nationalist groups were the focus of Indian search for recruits who received cash, weapons and ammunitions from undercover RAW operatives masquerading as Al Qaeda agents. While sections of the Taliban have been named as perpetrators of some of the most heinous and bloody acts of subversion in Pakistan, it were their Indian handlers who manipulated the invisible strings. Mossad's tactics of infiltrating Palestinian resistance acted as model and provided the modus operandi for CIT - X to stir insurgency on Pakistan's Western border than, hitherto fore, had remained free from a military threat.

Apart from concentrating on the FATA Region, stoking the fires of sub-national movements in Pakistan can be identified as one of the vulnerable area where Indian Agencies are focused, reveals the document.

Targeting interior regions of Sind province, Seraiki belt and the Northern Areas of Pakistan forms pivots of the Indian plan, receiving riveting and ceaseless attention of CIT-X, reveals the classified document.

http://www.thebangladeshtoday.com/international.htm


__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] Tipaimukh meet ignores neighbour’s need



Tipaimukh meet ignores neighbour's need

A high level meeting on Wednesday last attended by the officials of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Power and National Hydro Power Co-operation Ltd under the chair of the Manipur Chief Minister, O Ibobi discussed on the proposed construction of controversial Tipaimukh Power Project in Manipur, Hueiyen News Service reported.

The high ranking officers of various central organisations has discussed on the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of the joint venture agreement between state-owned hydro power producers NHPC Ltd and Satluj Jal

Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN) and the Government of Manipur to develop Tipaimukh power project in Manipur, said an official of the state government.

Director of MHA, RR Jah (NE-2), joint secretary (Hydro) SK Jain, chief engineer of NHPC Ltd, Manipur Chief Secretary, DGP were among the officials present in the meeting held at 5 PM of Wednesday, the source added.

The meeting held at the official bungalow of the state Chief Minister under the chair of the Chief Minister, O Ibobi discussed on the Rs 8,138-crore project with the hurdle ahead of the project cleared when Mizoram state gave its consent in the last power summit held in Imphal.Earlier, the meeting was scheduled to be held on February 4, but it was postponed again on February 8 and then finally held Wednesday.

The environmental clearance to be given by the Mizoram government to the development of the project located at the border with the state was pending for the last many years since Centre sanctioned funds for the project to the Manipur government under PM Package of 2004.

The meeting prominently discussed on the deployment of security in the areas where the project is to be developed as joint venture undertaking by hydro power producers NHPC Ltd and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN) and the Government of Manipur.The agreement is likely to be signed by the end of this financial year, said an official of the state government.

In the joint venture project, NHPC would hold a majority 69 per cent stake in the project, while SJVN would take up another 26 per cent stake.The remaining 5 per cent would go in favour of the Manipur government.

The Union home ministry has already approved an outlay of Rs 300 crore on the project's security, apart from agreeing to release Rs 203 crore for the construction of a highway which would escalate the project cost to at least Rs 1,000 crore with the additional investment required for security and transport infrastructure to be developed.Tipaimukh Dam is a proposed hydro-electric project, to be built on the river Barak in Manipur state.

The project has sparked off controversy as India has unilaterally planned to build the dam just 100 km off the Bangladesh border and is likely to affect two major rivers of Bangladesh, namely the Surma and the Kushiara and another 60,000 Manipuri people who depend on the river for livelihood and other activities.

The Sinlung Indigenous People Human Rights Organisation (SIPHRO) said, "The process for choosing it (the project premises) ignored both the indigenous people and the recommendations of the WCD (World Commission on Dams)".

The dam will be 390m long and 162.8m high, across the Barak River, 500m downstream of the confluence of the Tuivai and the Barak on the Manipur-Mizoram border.

The dam will be at an altitude of about 180m above mean sea level with a maximum reservoir level of 178m. The project will have an installation capacity of 1500 MW and a firm generation of 412 MW.The dam will permanently submerge an area of 275.50 square kilometres.The exact location is 24°1"N and 93° 1"E. Majority Bangladeshis are in anticipated fear of the probable damage that may be created if the dam is launched.

The Tipaimukh area lies in an ecologically sensitive and topographically fragile region.It falls under one of the most seismically volatile regions on the planet.A major earthquake rocked Manipur-Myanmar border on August 06, 1988 at the epicentre of lat.
http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/02/14/news0857.htm


__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] Re: [notun_bangladesh] Re: AL GOVT. IS VERY SOFT AND LIBERAL !!!

Dear all,
By the grace of Almighty Allah (SWT), AL led grand alliance will be in power till 2021.
By that time Bangladesh will be a PROSPEROUS country of South Asia . Also by that time BNP, JAMAT & other pro-paki anti-liberation forces will be wipe out of DIGITAL BANGLADESH. Please read the article below for details :

 

http://priyo.com/news/2010/feb/13/35660.html

 

Dr. Manik





________________________________
From: Anis Ahmed <anis.ahmed@netzero.net>
To: Eastside Peds <eastside_peds@bellsouth.net>; Khabor groups <khabor@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: Allah_Alone@yahoogroups.com; alochona@yahoogroups.com; atn@dhaka.agni.com; ayubi_s786@yahoo.com; bangladesh_news_website@yahoogroups.com; bangladesh_politcs@yahoogroups.com; bangladeshcommunity@yahoogroups.com; bd_journalists@yahoogroups.com; bulbul@atnusa.com; chottala@yahoogroups.com; desheralo@hotmail.com; desheralomontreal@gmail.com; dhakamails-subscribe@yahoogroups.com; Diagnose@yahoogroups.com; faruquealamgir@gmail.com; history_islam@yahoogroups.com; joybanglanews@gmail.com; Motamot.editor@gmail.com; notun_bangladesh-owner@yahoogroups.com; notun Bangladesh <notun_bangladesh@yahoogroups.com>; Amra Bangladesi <amra-bangladesi@yahoogroups.com>; Bangla Zindabad <Bangladesh-Zindabad@yahoogroups.com>; Dr. Abid Bahar <abidbahar@yahoo.com>; Mo Assghar <moassghar@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wed, February 10, 2010 5:24:42 PM
Subject: [notun_bangladesh] Re: AL GOVT. IS VERY SOFT AND LIBERAL !!!

 
Dear Readers:
 
AL Government always likes to play double games. This government is cruel to the Bangladeshi Patriots (BNP, Jamat and Anti-Indian Awami League) to please India while it acts as liberal to them make happy to the Middle East and Western countries.
 
This government wants to earn foreign currencies by sending people to the Middle Eastern countries in the name of Muslim brotherhood while worshiping Indian Government to diminish "Islam" religion from Bangladesh in a secret planned way.
 
Anis Ahmed

----- Original Message -----
>From: Eastside Peds
>To: Khabor groups
>Cc: Allah_Alone@ yahoogroups. com ; alochona@yahoogroup s.com ; atn@dhaka.agni. com ; ayubi_s786@yahoo. com ; bangladesh_news_ website@yahoogro ups.com ; bangladesh_politcs@ yahoogroups. com ; bangladeshcommunity @yahoogroups. com ; bd_journalists@ yahoogroups. com ; bulbul@atnusa. com ; chottala@yahoogroup s.com ; desheralo@hotmail. com ; desheralomontreal@ gmail.com ; dhakamails-subscrib e@yahoogroups. com ; Diagnose@yahoogroup s.com ; faruquealamgir@ gmail.com ; history_islam@ yahoogroups. com ; joybanglanews@ gmail.com ; Motamot.editor@ gmail.com ; notun_bangladesh- owner@yahoogroup s.com ; notun Bangladesh ; Amra Bangladesi ; Bangla Zindabad ; Dr. Abid Bahar ; anis ahmed ; Mo Assghar
>Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 4:32 PM
>Subject: AL GOVT. IS VERY SOFT AND LIBERAL !!!
>
>
>  
>Dear All,
>Present AL Govt. is very LIBERAL & GENTLE!! Pro Jamati & BNP administration is still active in RU and many other institutions. Was it possible for Pro Awami elements to be active during BNP-JAMAT era !!! Read the attached article for details:
>http://www.thedaily star.net/ newDesign/ news-details. php?nid=125803
>
>Dr. Manik    

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ___
Diet Help
Reach your goals of being healthier and happier. Click here for diet tips and solutions.

RE: [ALOCHONA] Drunken driving, unlicensed gun and Joy





I really do not know if the information contained in this article  has been verified to be true.The specifics appear to be detailed and quite possibly are in fact true. I just hope that Sheikh Hasina has no intentions on imposing her son on our poor land.

Does anyone know what exactly is Joy doing nowadays? Last I heard he was enrolled at Harvard at the Kennedy School.

Reza




To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
CC: amin_chaudhury@yahoo.com; khabor@yahoogroups.com; WideMinds@yahoogroups.com; Bangladesh-Zindabad@yahoogroups.com; bangla-vision@yahoogroups.com; Diagnose@yahoogroups.com; sonarbangladesh@yahoogroups.com; ayubi_s786@yahoo.com; faruquealamgir@gmail.com; aminul_islam_raj@yahoo.com; eastside_peds@bellsouth.net; amra-bangladesi@yahoogroups.com; history_islam@yahoogroups.com; ahamed.ahmed@gmail.com; chowdhuryk@gmail.com; kaium91@yahoo.com; srbanunz@gmail.com; mollaltf@gmail.com; captchowdhury@yahoo.ca; rivercrossinternational@yahoo.com
From: anis.ahmed@netzero.net
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:59:46 -0500
Subject: Re: [ALOCHONA] Drunken driving, unlicensed gun and Joy

 

Thanks to Isha Khan for disseminating following article to us. Every Bangladeshi should read this. Anis Ahmed
 
----- Original Message -----
 
From: Isha Khan


Drunken driving, unlicensed gun and Joy

Joy, son of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, has been arrested for drunken driving on several occasions, was in possession on an unlicensed gun and guilty of a host of other misdeeds

When Sajib Wazed Joy, son of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, returned to Bangladesh after many years abroad, the massive reception organized for him at the airport reflected his mother?s wish that he be her successor in politics. But was he cut out for the tough task of a political career? It doesn?t seem so. He seems quite happy with his cushy life in the United States, notwithstanding his several scrapes with the law and other shady tales.

Going back

Joy has hardly much childhood association with Bangladesh. His mother lived a life in exile since August 1975, spending a long asylum in India under the patronage of the Indian government. She would live at Basant Bahar, the safe house run by the agencies there.

As a result, Joy had his early education in India where he spent much of his formative years. They may have returned to Bangladesh in 1981, but there was a sense of isolation from normal family life for Joy. This was only to be expected, given his boarding school years, the intense political activities of his mother, all compounded with the estrangement of his parents.

Persons who knew him then say he was a rather reckless youth. Even later, he reportedly met with an accident in Gulshan in the mid-nineties, totaling the Pajero jeep of a businessman of Narayanganj. Rather than keeping him in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina sent her son to the US for further studies. She perhaps felt that would give him some stability, a sense of responsibility.

Reckless driving

Life in the USA didn?t seem to change Joy much. That reckless trait in his character showed itself time and again. Records show several cases were filed against him. He has been charged on various occasions with drunken driving, speeding, reckless driving, unlawful use of radar detection device, and even carrying an unlicensed gun. He even had to spend time in jail for his misdemeanours, not to mention all the fines he had to pay too. If Hasina had political aspirations for him, she couldn?t have chosen a more unsuitable candidate.

As it is, he had a basically apolitical character. He disliked the gathering of poor people at home and expressed a distinct disinterest in politics. He often snubbed persons who, out of affection or simple curiousity, came to meet Sheikh Mujib?s grandson.

He continued his fast life in the US as he had no sense of belonging with Bangladesh, no affinity to his mother?s party and had no intention of living with his dysfunctional family at home. In was no secret that there was no love lost between Sheikh Hasina and husband Wazed Miah.

Clouds over love and marriage

During his mother's tenure as Bangladesh?s Prime Minister (1996-2001), Joy reportedly got engaged with an old girlfriend from his school days. She was an Indian girl of Sikh religion. Hasina, taking cover of an official visit, went to London to formalize the marriage. Along with the barat of close friends and relations, she even took along cooks of Dhaka?s famous Fakhruddin bawarchi. Her one condition was that the girl convert to Islam. The girl refused. Hasina was more than upset. She reportedly cancelled all programmes on that day. She shut herself up in her hotel room the whole day, refusing to talk to any one. She immediately returned to Dhaka. The marriage reception never took place, and her entourage, cooks and all, returned home without the taste of biriyani in their mouths.

Joy is presently married to American citizen Kristine Ann Overmire a.k.a. Kristine Wazed. They were married in the US on October 26, 2002. Kristine may have been previously married to a certain Richard D Loomis. There were rumours that Joy and Kristine were on the verge of a divorce, but if there had been a separation, things have apparently been patched up, perhaps with the birth of their child.

Informal entry into politics

Joy's arrival in Dhaka and grand reception by young cadres of the party at the airport, and the several subsequent meetings at Sudha Sadan, heralded his informal entry into politics. It is not clear how serious he actually was about politics. He may have just been out to impress his newly-wed American bride. Or he may have just been pacifying his mother who had big plans for her prodigal son.

It was clear that Sheikh Hasina wanted him to be her successor, but Sheikh Rehana had her reservations in this regard. This fact was brought home further by an article in the magazine Bichitra, owned by Hasina?s sister Sheikh Rehana. The article was vehemently opposed to the idea of Joy?s entrance into politics.

The matter of Joy?s political induction was made clear again by the visiting card he had printed. His designation was shown as Advisor to the Prime Minister. He would use the card in his meetings and dealings in the US.

Interestingly, after the grenade attack on August 21, 2004, Joy?s statement was published in the official Awami League website with special prominence. The website normally only carried news, analyses and statements of Sheikh Hasina. At times it would have statements of senior party leaders like Abdul Jalil or Zillur Rahman at the most. But then suddenly it began posting Joy?s statements prominently.

Power breeds money

When Awami League came to power and his mother became ruler of the country, Joy got involved in business. There was the Texas-based Infolink International (from November 1998 to March 2001) and Nova BD International, LLC (May 1998 to August 2000).  He had links with the SEAMEWE-4 undersea cable project through Nova BD International. He was also involved with Tyco Communications (USA) along with a certain Mahboob Rahman.

He also founded two other companies, Wazed Consulting and Sim Global Services in March 2005. This was after Awami League was out of power. Interestingly, the annual sales of these two companies were only 61,000 dollars and 35,000 dollars respectively. Yet Joy, in his own name, bought a brand new house at 3817 Bell Manor Court, Falls Church, Virginia, on May 12, 2006, worth about one million dollars. His wife is not a co-owner of the house. He used a fixed-rate mortgage and paid only about 200 thousand dollars (20 percent of the value) in cash. This was a clever move as it hid the real value of the property in terms of cash.

Earlier, together with his wife, he brought another property at 4823 Martin Street, Alexandria, VA 22312. The property is worth 749,000 dollars.

Business, not as usual

Like Joy, his brother-in-law Khandkar M Hossain, husband of sister Saima Wazed Hossain (Putul), started a few businesses in the US when his mother-in-law Sheikh Hasina came to power, but dissolved them after a couple of years. These businesses included Bangladesh Metals and Pipes Trading Corporation; Shonali Inc; Doug?s Wholesale Inc; Afsana Inc; and Jampy Corporation.

Apparently business was not quite the cup of tea for either of them. However, despite none of the businesses seeming to make any money and most of them being shut down before long, no one has ever heard of them suffering from financial difficulties. Perhaps mother?s affection helped them in this regard.

A reluctant successor

It was more than apparent to senior and mid-level leaders of Awami League in the mid-nineties that Sheikh Hasina to all intentions and purposes was intent on grooming Joy as he successor. Sheikh Rehana, Sheikh Selim and other in the family were no comfortable with this.

The Awami League leaders were noting with alarm that the post-2001 scene witnesses a gradual infiltration of newcomers into the membership of Hasina?s kitchen cabinet. Kazi Zafrullah, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Abul Hossain, Salman F Rahman and a number of former bureaucrats were gradually entering the hallowed circle of Hasina?s favoured ones, pushing the old-timer ?uncles? out of the way. Only Abdul Jalil and Zillur Rahman, together with half-baked politicians like Obaidul Kader, were allowed to come into prominence. Thanks to the pro-Awami League media who were friendly with the ?uncles?, the seniors managed to maintain some semblance of political visibility.

Sheikh Hasina is going through critical times. In all likelihood she will have to relinquish her leadership of Awami League. At this juncture, given South Asian political trends, it would have only been natural for Joy to step into his mother?s shoes. Now, however, that does not seem likely. His background and records hardly present him as leadership material, particularly when reforms are the call of the day. The party leaders will not accept him. After all, his propensity for joy rides seems to outweigh his penchant for politics.

Arrests and criminal charges

Criminal court clerk records identify the following criminal charges and arrests of Sajib Wazed Joy:

On June 14 1998, Joy was arrested in Tarrant County, Texas. He was charged on two counts of carrying an unlicensed handgun and one count of driving while intoxicated. He was convicted for drunken driving and was imprisoned for 120 days, sentenced to 24 months of probation and fined $500.

On February 6, 2000, Joy was charged with reckless driving and having a radar detector in Hanover County, Virginia. He was fined and incarcerated for one day.

On March 19, 2000, he was arrested and charged with reckless driving in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was found guilty and given a suspended 30-day jail sentence and 12 months probation along with a $400 fine.

On April 29, 2001, Joy was charged with speeding in Rappahannock County, Virginia.

On May 20, 2004, Joy was charged with speeding in Arlington County, Virginia.

Putul's property

Saima Wazed Hossain (Putul), Sheikh Hasina?s daughter and Joy?s younger sister, along with husband Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, own considerable property in the US. The houses they purchased there include:

456 North Bay Point Way, Jacksonville, Florida. This is a single family residence purchased by Saima and husband Hossain on November 1, 2005 for $245,000 from Merrill and Priscilla King.

845 York Way, Maitland, Florida. This is also a single family residence purchased by Saima and Hossain on October 16, 2004, for $311,000 from David and Elizabeth Cocchiarella. The property has an assessed value of $208,844.

2065 W 119th Avenue, Miramar, Florida. This single family residence was purchased by Saima and Hossain on October 28, 1998 for $154,300 from Pulte Home Corporation. On March 15, 2005, a non-purchase money loan of $197,000, was obtained from SunTrust Bank secured with this property. The property has an assessed value of $265,440.
 



____________________________________________________________
Nutrition
Improve your career health. Click now to study nutrition!




__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

Re: [ALOCHONA] August 15, 1975 Coup and the Executions

Dear Mr. Chowdhury,

Thank you so much for your writings with facts and arguments. What we are observing in Bangladesh now is just a replication of Feraun's so-called 'digital' version. However, the irony is that the curve of trend in the graph of history shows very fluctuating in short run and its shapes to a stable path over a long run with truths.

Heroes never die.....You all must have been acquainted with a great poem of Robert Browning's the Patriot ? Those were the freedom fighters who ran to the stage of gallows few days back will be retained as heroes over the graves of Feraun (non-freedom fighters) family soon. This was the same Bangladeshi who welcomed 1975 coup, and this will be the same indeed soon ( whatever the roles of 'circustic' media mafias are and whatever the positions of RAW-paid Intellects are).


Regards,

MSI


--- On Sat, 2/13/10, Cyrus <thoughtocrat@yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Cyrus <thoughtocrat@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [ALOCHONA] August 15, 1975 Coup and the Executions
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, February 13, 2010, 3:32 AM

A. O. Chowdhury... .enjoy the "Freedom of Speech" and the liberty to spread rubbish. Doesn't this nazi-like propaganda never end? This is like an article written by Sean Hannity with talking points from Sarah Palin. Comes straight out of a horse's arse. Someone with this much misinformation doesn't need a re-education, he/she needs a brain transplant.

C

From: Robin Khundkar <rkhundkar@earthlink .net>
To: alochona@yahoogroup s.com
Sent: Tue, February 9, 2010 1:44:26 PM
Subject: Re: [ALOCHONA] August 15, 1975 Coup and the Executions

A O Chowdhury

Dude - Get over it! Your write-up has so many assertions that are a combination of fantasy and falsehoods that it is not even worth reading let alone responding!! !

Robin Khundkar

cc: Goebelsian Isha pass it on to the Dude from the Big Apple!!!

-----Original Message-----
From: Isha Khan
Sent: Feb 8, 2010 1:44 AM
To: dhakamails@yahoogro ups.com
Subject: [ALOCHONA] August 15, 1975 Coup and the Executions

August 15, 1975 Coup and the Executions


A O Chowdhury

New York, USA

February 6, 2010


This is in response to the opinions expressed by Tayeb Husain, Jaffar Ullah and Shabbir Bashar on the subject in the readers column of this esteemed media.

Five of the 12 accused in the `Shiekh Mujib Murder Case' walked to the gallows on the night of January 27/28, 2010. One died in Zimbabwe in 2002. Six others live abroad and hunt for them goes on.

The conduct of the trial and executions raised a host of legal, administrative and humanitarian questions.

August 15, 1975 military coup was a successful one, or at the minimum an army mutiny. Successful coups/mutinies became part of the system, a factum valet and their leaders never faced trial. I do not want to waste time and space in giving examples of successful coups the world over. Bangladesh is the only exception in modern times where saviors of a nation had to face gallows. It looks like the country is in ransom in the hands of a vicious coterie!

Adult generations who lived in Bangladesh on August 15, 1975 and the days after, would recall how people hailed and rejoiced at the news of the coup and its outcome. It was a jubilation compared to the Victory Day of December 16, 1971. Bangladeshis at home and abroad distributed sweets in happiness. I did not see, read or hear of an iota of protest or challenge against the coup anywhere. The coup leaders were treated as heroes through five successive governments for the next 21 years. Things changed when Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the fallen leader, became prime minister in 1996. Hasina earlier vowed in private conversations (ref: Sirajur Rahman of BBC fame and former Col Harunur Rashid of DGFI) that her only objective to join politics and grab statecraft was to avenge the death of her father. And, she remained true to her pledge. Those who now try to look at the event of August 15 and its aftermath differently are either Awami blind copycats in their 40s or below who did not have the misfortune to experience Mujib's Bangladesh of 1972-75 or they are outright liars or at best opportunist turncoats.

Former Awami League president Abdul Malek Ukil termed Mujib a Feraoun while former speaker and foreign minister Humayun Rasheed Choudhury said in a public meeting in Sylhet in late eighties that if Mujib was hanged hundred times yet he would not be cleansed of his sins (Weekly Sugandha November 1, 1996). Another veteran Awami Leaguer, Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury said in 1977, if August 15 did not happen, Shiekh Moni would have staged his own coup sooner to grab power, eliminating his `mama' if needed.

It was, however, very unfortunate that Shikh Mujibur Rahman, most of his family members and others had to die during the short military action on that day. However, circumstances of their death are not very clear, the dramatization during the trial notwithstanding. From mid-sixties, Sheikh Mujib was a towering political figure in East Pakistan, though not without controversies. There is no denial of his great contribution towards Bengalis' renaissance and awakening that culminated in the independence of Bangladesh. He was not in the liberation war, but he was the most loved person on January 10, 1972 when he arrived in independent Bangladesh, following his release from Pakistani custody. But, look what he gave in return to the people in his 3 and a half years' rule instead---death to 40,000 political opponents, the draconian Rakkhi Bahini, the oppressive Emergency, the one-party BAKSAL, the detested 4th Amendment, loss of half a million lives in the man-made famine in 1974-75, just to name a few! The most loved man became the most hated and there was no Innalillah at the news of his death. Those who crow today for their `man-god' Mujib, in pretense or in ignorance, need to revisit the news archives and learn the Bangladesh history a little better, particularly of the period of 1972-75.

I am not aware who all were involved in the August 15 coup, other than those whose names came up during the trial. Awami League likes to believe that former president Ziaur Rahman and many others were part of the `conspiracy'. Some even extend the link to the US and Pakistan. Then army chief General Safiullah have been saying what he is worth. However, he admitted one truth: he found most elements of the army on August 15, 1975 supportive of the coup and not willing to take any action to counter the outcome. Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf perhaps came to the chief's residence that morning in sleeping suit, but according to various reports, he was the first senior officer to react positively about the coup and immediately singed off the release of shells to the tanks in the streets when he learnt that they were without ammunition. One tank and one artillery regiment with about 500 men took part in the coup while one infantry regiment from Joydevpur was to join but could not make it for whatever reasons. Does one need all that to make an ordinary `killing' for which the trial was held? Why were only 12 officers made scapegoats?

A former ambassador, who is known for his opportunist mentality and is often seen in talks shows with his pseudo philosophy, suggested that Col Shariful Haq Dalim be stripped of his "Bir Uttam" title, obviously aimed at pleasing his `Apa'. Does this man believe that Dalim was awarded Bir Uttam for his participation in the August 15 coup?

I recall a statement of former president H M Ershad. He told the journalists at the time of his arrest during Khaleda Zia's first administration, "Khaleda will not remain prime minister for ever and I will not stay in the jail for ever either." We know the rest of the story. At some future time, when the history of Bangladesh will be known and written in its true perspective and August 15 coup will find its respectful place, will the executioners of today, the prosecutors and judges included, be able to give back the lives of those heroes who saved the nation on August 15, 1975? One may not ignore the fact that on December 29, 2008, fifty two (52)% voters did not want Awami League to run the country. And, no government runs its show for perpetuity.

Since start of the Sheikh Mujib trial, the Awami circle, its sycophants and its sponsored media kept saying that it was not an ordinary death or killing, it was the killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Bangabandhu, the Father of the Nation and `Sorbakaler Sarboshrestho Bangali (the best Bengali of all ages). Even one of the Appellate Judges said so during the hearing (implying the honorable judge sat on the bench with a pre-conceived notion!). Agreed, it was not an ordinary death. Then why was the trial made of an ordinary murder? Bangabandhu, Father of the Nation etc. etc. are political titles, Sheikh Mujib was a political personality. As such, a political motif must have worked towards his death or killing. Why would a group of army officers go to the presidential residence and make it a `killing field'? Did the coup leaders have any personal enmity with Mujib? Was there any personal equation between them and Mujib? Did they want to grab the statecraft for themselves? There was no evidence of any affirmative answers to all these questions, yet ironically, the honorable judges failed to look at them. There was no evidence either that those officers acted on someone else's behalf. Belatedly though, the European Union said the August 15 event was a politically motivated action and could not be tried as simple murder. The Amnesty International, the apex human rights organization, said so repeatedly.

Besides, there was a constitutional indemnity preventing the trial of August 15 coup but the Awami League scrapped the law by simple majority in the parliament, thus violating a constitutional requirement which needed two-third majority vote to do so. That was not rule of law, irrespective of legal interpretation and judgment by partisan jurists.

The appeal hearing started on October 5, 2009 and the judges dismissed the appeals on November 19. Strangely, it took another one month for them to formalize or chart the roadmap to arrive at the decision. As a layman, it looked to me that the honorable judges were under pressure to dish out the guilty verdict in a hurry. During the appeal review, one judge commented that the appellants were trying to touch the moon. What a remark about persons who were standing on the edge of life and death! It perhaps implied that the honorable judges knew in advance, what they would do with the appeals. Indeed, the review hearing got upstaged, superseding over 400 pending cases, to hasten the execution.

The Law Minister, the Home Minister and the Attorney General were in such a haste to hang the accused that they expressed extreme displeasure when the jail authorities waited for the remaining two legal processes to be completed. As a few accused hinted that they would not seek clemency from the President, the jail authorities, albeit at the instance of higher ups, sent clemency applications to the president on their own. The accused, their attorneys and their family members knew nothing about those mercy petitions. Was it to show to the world that all legal facilities were provided to the accused for the sake of justice?

The review appeals were dismissed on January 27, 2010 and the authorities decided to hang them the same night, as if the accused could run away if delayed! Col Farook Rahman's mercy petition was processed and denied within hours, perhaps setting an unusual precedence. It looked like the elderly president was waiting impatiently with his pen in Bangabhaban to tick the `Declined' button and sign the dotted line. I do not want to go over the media circus that followed; it was despicable and sickening! Disrespect to dead bodies by throwing shoes, spitting or blocking burial was totally against our culture, tradition and faith.

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

[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.comYahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alochona/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alochona/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
alochona-digest@yahoogroups.com
alochona-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
alochona-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

RE: [ALOCHONA] FW: Blow to Religion-based Politics in Bangladesh



Most European countries have religion based political parties (Christan Democratic) yet Europe is most secular. While America has no major religion based political parties (at least by name) still religion plays a great role in America. 
 
There are three Jamaths (Islamic groups) in Bangladesh (JMB, JIB and the TJ). One is, most probably, banned. So, when one goes down the other will come up.
 
It will be interesting to see the direction Bangladesh takes.
 
 
 
farida_majid@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:30:03 -0500
Subject: [ALOCHONA] FW: Blow to Religion-based Politics in Bangladesh

 


       A very good summing-up without any frills. 
 
       I would clarify only one thing.  The notorious Fifth Amendment did not include the placement of "Bismillah" in the Preamble of the Consitution.  Therefore the repeal of the Amendment does not by itself remove "Bismillah".  There has to be another Parliamentary gesture to clean up the Constitution of any sign of preference for a particular religion.
 
             Farida Majid 



Blow to Religion-Based Politics in Bangladesh

Friday 05 February 2010

by: J. Sri Raman, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed



Here is some disconcerting news for all disciples of neocon gurus, who had discovered Islam as the enemy of democracy and the successor to the "evil empire" of the cold war era. An Islamic country of 160 million people, under an elected government, is witnessing important but ill-noticed moves to abolish religion-based politics.


On February 2, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh struck down a nearly 11-year-old constitutional amendment that had allowed religion-based political parities to function and flourish in the country. The ruling had the effect of restoring the statutory secularism, which Bangladesh adopted in 1972 after liberation from Pakistan and lost five years later following a series of military coups.


It may also have the effect of inspiring at least a debate on the issues in Pakistan, the other Islamic country of South Asia. It may also have a ripple effect, helping to raise the issues subsequently in sections of the rest of the Islamic world.


This only carries forward an old battle. The logic of Bangladesh's liberation war itself led the nation's founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to place its linguistic identity above the religious. The reverse of the same logic drove religion-based groups in the the pre-liberation East Pakistan to side with Islamabad in the war.


The first constitution of Bangladesh, under Article 38, placed a bar on religion-based parties and politics. Mujib, as he was popularly known, and most of his family were assassinated in a coup on August 25, 1975. A series of coups since then culminated in the country's takeover by Maj.-Gen. Ziaur Rahman in 1977. In April 1979, the Zia regime enacted the infamous Fifth Amendment to the constitution, paving the way for the return of religion-based parties and politics.


Article 38 of the original constitution proclaimed: "Every citizen shall have the right to form associations or unions, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of morality or public order." But it clearly added: "Provided that no person shall have the right to form, or be a member or otherwise take part in the activities of, any communal or other association or union which in the name or on the basis of any religion has for its object, or pursues, a political purpose."


As revised under the Fifth Amendment, the Article said: "Every citizen shall have the right to form associations or unions, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of public order or public health." The amendment scrapped the original Article 12, which enshrined "secularism" and "freedom of religion" in the supreme law of the land.


Earlier, by a proclamation, the martial law regime made other major changes in the constitution as well. The Preamble to the constitution was preceded by the religious invocation, "Bismillah-ar-Rahman-ar-Rahim" (in the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful). In the text of the Preamble, the words "a historic struggle for national liberation" were replaced with "a historic war for national independence." The phrase mentioning "nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism" as the "high ideals" in the second paragraph was replaced with "absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah, nationalism, democracy and socialism meaning economic and social justice."


Article 8 of the original constitution - laying down nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism as the four fundamental principles of state policy - was amended to omit "secularism" and replace it with "absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah." In repeated pronouncements, Zia also substituted "Bangladeshi nationalism" for the "Bengali nationalism" of the Mujib days that stressed a non-religious identity.


Lt.-Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who staged yet another coup and ruled Bangladesh during 1982-86, carried Zia's initiative forward by making Islam the "state religion" through the Eighth Amendment.


The battle between the secular and anti-secular camps continued through all this, and became more open after the country's return to democracy in 1991. The Awami League (AL), headed by Mujib's daughter Sheikh Hasina Wajed, has always fought for abrogation of the Fifth Amendment. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), founded by Zia and now led by his widow Begum Khaleda Zia, and its allies pursuing religion-based politics have remained uncompromising supporters of the amendment.


The AL and its allies scored a legal victory in August 2005, when the country's High Court held the amendment unconstitutional. The court said: "These changes (made by the Fifth Amendment) were fundamental in nature and changed the very basis of our war for liberation and also defaced the constitution altogether." It added that the amendment transformed secular Bangladesh into a "theocratic state" and "betrayed one of the dominant causes for the war of liberation."


The government in Dhaka, then a coalition of the BNP and the religion-based Jamaat-i-Islami (JeI), moved a petition in the Supreme Court against the ruling. The order was stayed and the issue of the amendment was put on the back burner, where it stayed for four years.


Then came a major political change. A year ago, on January 6, 2009, Hasina returned as prime minister after a landslide electoral victory. In early May 2009, the AL government withdrew the old, official petition for staying the 2005 court ruling. The BNP-JeI alliance was quick to react. BNP Secretary General Khondker Delwar Hossain and three lawyers from the JeI rushed to the Supreme Court with petitions seeking to protect the amendment. Their petitions have been thrown out.


The JeI and other religion-based groups did not endear themselves to the country, as the results of the last general election showed, with their violent activities. The serial bombing they carried out across Bangladesh in 2005, taking a heavy toll of human lives, did not help the BNP return to power through the ballot box. The period 2001-06, when the BNP-led alliance wielded power, witnessed "unprecedented" atrocities against religious and ethnic minorities, according to Bangladeshi rights activist Shahriar Kabir. The victims included Hindus, Ahmediyas and other communities and the atrocities ranged from killings and rapes to destruction and desecration of places of worship.


After the Supreme Court's verdict, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed has said that all religion-based parties should "drop the name of Islam from their name and stop using religion during campaigning." He has also announced that religion-based parties are going to be "banned." The government, however, has disavowed any intention to remove the Islamic invocation from the Preamble of the constitution.


All this has already drawn attention in Pakistan, which has continued to suffer from religion-based politics despite its popular rejection in successive elections. Veteran Pakistani columnist Babar Ayaz, in an article captioned "Amendments for a secular constitution" in the Lahore-based Daily Times, talks of the clauses in Pakistan's constitution, introduced by former dictator Zia ul-Haq "who considered himself a kind of religious guardian of the country."


Noting the moves in Bangladesh, Ayaz adds: "Pakistan may not be able to ban religion-based political parties in the near future, but it should move towards expunging the ridiculous constitutional clauses mentioned above ... It would be a long and hard struggle, but it is doable."


Bangladesh is in for a long and hard struggle, too. The BNP has threatened an agitation against the changes. It is likely to combine this with a campaign against India (under whose pressure Hasina is alleged to be acting), and New Delhi can be counted upon to keep providing grist to Khaleda's political mill with Big Brother-like actions widely resented in Bangladesh.


There are also limits to which a constitution alone can counter religion-based politics. The far right's activities in India, proud of its staunchly secular constitution, furnishes just one example.


The significance of what is happening in Bangladesh, however, cannot be belittled either. It demonstrates the far greater role popular will can play in combating religion-based politics than cluster bombs and drones.





Quantcast


Your Mail works best with the New Yahoo Optimized IE8. Get it NOW!.




Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft's powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now.



Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now.

__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___