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TIME Monday, Jun. 15, 1981
Life in all parts of beloved Bangladesh has returned to normal," Dacca's state radio announced triumphantly last week. For 48 hours Bangladesh had teetered toward civil war, following a coup attempt in the southeastern port of Chittagong in which President Ziaur Rahman, 45, was gunned down by an assault force of mutinous troops. Major General Abul Manzur, 40, who led the putsch against his longtime rival, had hoped for help from the military across the country. Instead, army units stormed the rebellious military garrison in Chittagong. While trying to flee to Burma, Manzur was captured and summarily shot by "angry soldiers," as Dacca radio explained. Government troops discovered Zia's body in a shallow grave 22 miles from the official guesthouse where he had been assassinated. During a state funeral in Dacca last Tuesday, a million Bangladeshi jostled and shoved to catch a glimpse of the cortege bearing Zia's simple wooden coffin.
The assassination of the popular leader, who had retired from the military in 1977 in order to take office as President and lead Bangladesh back to civilian rule, left a power vacuum in the poverty-stricken country that acting President Abdus Sattar, 75, a mild-mannered moderate, was not likely to fill for long.
The nation's constitution calls for elections within six months, but with Zia's majority Bangladesh Nationalist Party now bereft of a strong leader and the 29 opposition parties fragmented and fractious, the fate of civilian rule seemed to depend on who flexes the biggest muscles. For the moment at least, the military's guns were supporting the government.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949190,00.html
TIME Monday, Jun. 08, 1981
Manjur's confident proclamation of a coup seemed premature. The official Bangladesh radio in the capital of Dacca assured the country's 90 million people that the government was safely in the hands of Vice President Abdus Sattar. The government declared a state of emergency and called upon the rebels to surrender. Moreover, stressed the state radio, all international agreements remained in force.
Bangladesh's long-troubled relations with India, the country that had helped it win independence, seemed to be at the heart of the assassination. The two nations are divided by bitter issues primarily concerning the lower Ganges River, which meanders through both countries as it flows out into a vast delta. Tensions have built up over rights to the Ganges water, various solutions to the water question and territorial claims to islands formed by silt at the mouth of a boundary river. The sovereignty question is particularly volatile: there are hopes of finding oil under nearby waters. While Zia had pressed India strenuously on the diplomatic front—even sending gunboats to one of the 'disputed islands last month—he was apparently not aggressive enough for a fiercely anti-Indian element with a strong base in Chittagong. The assassins were apparently linked to these militants.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922557,00.html
There are no trouble makers left in hell; they have all been shipped to Bangladesh. Once we were colonized by the Brits; Hutus and the Tutsis were colonized by the Belgians. In uncivilized Africa, political power is defined through the number of cows owned. Similarly in my native Bangladesh, political power is defined through the head count of 'cows'. Where is the difference? How prophetic Hazrat Churchil was, when he opined that the democracy is the worst form of government? Bengalis take pride in the cliché, 'what the Bengal thinks today; rest of India thinks tomorrow'. Yesterday I was watching Bangladesh parliament session on TV. There were EU lawmakers in the parliament observing the democracy in action. Instead of talking about the serious issues facing the nation—they were inviting each other for fist-fights. They were calling names. They were calling each other Khoonees! Changing the name of the Airport was the number one item on the agenda! What a disgraceful display! Both sides were acting like immature pigs. The EU delegate left in disgust. As I see it, this nation is uncivil, undisciplined, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, uneducated, and yes—ungovernable. How else one would describe these Bangladeshis? Bangladesh is the freest country on earth. You don't need license to do anything. Catch some fish from the river and setup shop anywhere you like. You can not only sell without license, you can get the fish cut, washed, and even cooked, right on the sidewalk. Bring your cow, goat, chicken or any damn thing you want to sell—setup your shop on the footpath—yes in the most fashionable area of the town. Setup your own Daal/ Bhaat shop on the main road. Setup your own Aaloo Bhaajee and Rutee shop right on the footpath. You can use any side walk to urinate--passerbys won't even notice. The cooks urinate, without washing their hands they continue to serve the waiting customers. Here is what triggered my Adrenaline rush and made me even more insane than those I am accusing of being insane. A Student was killed today. Hearing this news, students went on rampage and destroyed at least 100 vehicles around the country. The innocent vehicle owners, their drivers, their children were terrorized to death as their cars were being pelted with rocks and sticks without any reason whatsoever. These are your so called elite students? This is the behavior of your best and the brightest? A tragedy is that this is not an isolated event; it is happening everyday, all over Bangladesh. There is just no respect for rule of law.
There are no trouble makers left in hell; they have all been shipped to
SaifDevdas
islam1234@msn.com