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Friday, July 23, 2010

[ALOCHONA] Re: [Dahuk]: Bloggers dig deep into Peelkhana tragedy



Friends


It is nothing new that BAKSAL never ever talked the truth since they are barred from the same by the mentor HINDUSTAAAN. A person with  minimum IQ would say that the report that was submitted is a concocted,falsified,made up stories to help the main actors remain behind the scene.  Just after the horrendous n gruesome killing,rape(of families),loot n arson lot of investigative news items published in almost all the main stream print/electronic media suggesting serious foul play by some top notcher of the ruling party.

But it is sad that having losing some brilliant and well trained Army Officer of International repute the ruling elites did nothing to dig the truth ibstaed they had been busy spreading hatred against the people who were trying to get the truth.

The tragedy of Bangladesh is that till date we could not feel that we are independent and free to go alone to find our own destiny. We are looking for fathers/mentors beyond the border to strengthen and perpetuate our power grip and this is paving the way for the hidden infiltrator BASTARDS to buy the leaders off n play havoc with every thing. So was the case with the Pilkhana Tragedy.

One most important point to ponder that since taking over the role of "Jonogoner Shebak"( jonogon is feeling the pinch of it by now ???) the BASTARD HINDU STAAANI  BESTIAL FORCE bsf KILLED ABOUT 200 PEOPLE BUT THE "Jonogoner Shebak" SARKAR DID NOT RATHER
COULD NOT PROTEST THE GRUESOME COLD HEADED MURDERS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
The people are asking question where the equation lies ????????????????????????

Still they want us to believe that are only and the only safe guard of our coveted Shadhinata. No absolutely not rather they are gradually binding us in the chain of subjugation in the name of eternal friendship with the BERAST.

Faruque Alamgir

On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 8:17 AM, Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com> wrote:
 

Bloggers dig deep into Peelkhana tragedy
 
M. Shahidul Islam and Sadeq Khan
 
The timing of the submission of charge sheet of the CID before the trial court of the grisly BDR mutiny and massacre, seventeen months after its occurrence, coincides with a government decision to adopt a 'hard line' to suppress burgeoning opposition agitation. The opposition slogans highlight government failure to contain inflation, including spiralling food prices, and other crises of civic existence like power failures, shortage of gas and water supply, traffic disorder, industrial unrest and awful breakdown of law and order situation.
   
Private enterprises and private householders, they say, are terribly insecure. But the ruling party says the opposition is out on the streets to "foil the war crimes trial." To prevent political capitalisation of the adverse conditions of civic life, the government has put into operation an undeclared emergency rule. Police state tactics are being employed to terrorise opposition activists.
   
A listed number of people are being arrested by using arbitrary police powers, not after finding prima facie culpability by preliminary investigation as laid down in criminal procedure code (CrPC), but with intent to involve them in one or other of many gang cases filed in police records. Forced confessions obtained in oppressively long remands are being used as charges for their further detention, notwithstanding the state's guarantee of a fundamental right that "no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself", as laid down in the Constitution.
   
   Muffling dissident media
   Some government for muffling dissident sections of the media have also raised eye-brows internationally amongst media freedom watchdogs. Democracy watchdogs like Freedom House and Fund for Peace are also critical of the dysfunctional state of governance in Bangladesh and of abject failings in democratic accommodation by and between the polarised camps of Bangladesh polity. The ruling party's political drive to mobilise 'street power' to buttress propaganda over the war crimes trial process, and its branding of all opposition movements as mischief to derail the war crimes trial, has also given rise to many questions abroad.
  
 Human rights watchdogs and news analysts are sceptical, and suspicious of the government's "political" motive behind the war crimes trial agenda. Diplomatically, foreign governments are sending undisguised messages that for the war crimes trial after forty years of liberation war, and after condoning of the principal perpetrators i.e. the occupation army of Pakistan, to be internationally acceptable, the manner of prosecution and adjudication would have to meet international standards. A multiplex trust-deficit is thus haunting the present administration in Bangladesh, which also compromises the credibility of the CID charge sheet on the BDR mutiny. Lack of credibility has indeed put the CID report on BDR mutiny under critical scrutiny of Bangladesh-watchers, including the expatriate Bangladeshi community and contracted Bangladeshi wage-earners abroad. More than in Dhaka, Bangladeshis in foreign capitals are buzzing with concern over that report.
   
   Credibility gap
   There is yet another dimension to the credibility gap over the manner of investigation and prosecution of BDR mutineers. While at least for the time being, vocal opposition is cowed down by the government's "hard-line", and media criticism remains muffled internally as well as managed externally under the distraction of rapid developments and surprises in geo-politics, the alternate media on the worldwide web remains gaping and articulate, beyond the whips of authority of the Bangladesh government.
   
   Alternate media
   The alternate media has been spitting fire and frenzy through web communication over the Peelkhana massacre, the impact of which is unmistakable on the young minds of bloggers and Internet enthusiasts in Bangladesh and outside. In their eyes, it is not the BDR mutineers but their connections inside governing elite of Bangladesh who should be on the dock. To give just one example of the heat being generated on the issue by Internet aficionados, we quote Taher Mia from Richmond, U.S.A.
   
Posting from his email address: taher197554@yahoo.com on March 30, 2010, Taher dismissed the flurry of publicity over the departmental courts trying various sections of BDR mutineers around the country as "eyewash", since the BDR courts under the Act was only mandated to punish indiscipline, the maximum punishment being confinement for two years and/or dismissal, in effect rendering any felony compounding the act of indiscipline to simply conduct unbecoming of a man in BDR uniform. Taher observed: "Some poor BDR soldiers are going to be made scapegoats in order to protect the main culprits. Some misguided BDR soldiers and non-commissioned officers were lured to take part in carrying out the heinous crime against humanity."
   
   Puzzling misgivings
   He put forward a number of misgivings as his puzzle:
   1. Why did the Prime Minister and Defence Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the Army Chief of Staff Gen. Moyeen U Ahmed, not allow the Bangladesh Army, RAB, or the police to try to crush the uprising? Most retired army officers opined that it would have taken less than an hour for the rebellion to be crushed.
   2. Why did the Prime Minister spend hours together negotiating with the rebels, but did never ask about the whereabouts of the BDR DG and other Bangladesh Army officers. The negotiations and the declaration of amnesty encouraged BDR units in border outposts to rebel too, so that they do not miss the prizes of a 'successful' rebellion.
   3. The Prime Minister's security did not record the names and addresses of the rebels who went to meet her. Is this not very unusual?
   Safe passage for escape
   4. Indian TV channels ran news of the killings in Peelkhana before the local television media could even pick up the news. Is this not very unusual?
   5. Fazle Noor Tapash MP asked the residents to vacate the civilian residential quarters around Peelkhana. He advised that if Peelkhana was stormed by the Army, the rebels would retaliate by shelling civilian targets around.
   The Army was prevented from storming Peelkhana by the same excuse. In effect, the vacant residential quarters around Peelkhana provided the mutineers safe passage for escape.
   6. Home Minister Sahara Khatun went to the BDR headquarters several times, but did never inquire about the condition of the officers, or their families. Nanak and Azam, Members of Parliament, also met the rebels several times, but did never ask about the conditions of the officers and their families.
   7. The rebels had non-stop telephonic conversations with Tapash on the 25th and 26th of February 2009. The rebels also communicated with senior AL leader & MP Sheikh Selim and many other AL leaders time and again using mobile phones. Is this not political conduct?
   8. The rebels reviled the army officers entrapped by them while targeting their guns at them repeating the following words over and over again: ''You army officers killed Bangabandhu; you people killed Sheikh Kamal; you killed Sheikh Jamal; Sheikh Russel; you killed Sheikh Moni; you killed Tajuddin Ahmed-Monsur Ali-Syed Nazrul Islam-Kamruzzaman; you are sons of bitches -- none of you will be spared.'' Is this not politically inspired and tutored tirade?
   9. Not long after the Peelkhana killings Awami League leaders started to say that most of the army officers that were killed belonged to the Awami League family. How could there be any political allegiance amongst the members of a professional army? A few days ago (28 March, 2010) the Prime Minister herself said that out of the 57 army officers killed in Peelkhana, 37 belonged to Awami League families. Retired army officers are aghast at such attempts to politically divide the army.
   
   Discrepancies, defaults
   Other bloggers, less incisive than Taher, have pointed out several discrepancies and glaring defaults in the CID final report on the BDR mutiny:
   An arrested sepoy Ashraful had disclosed to the enquiry commission led by retired civil servant Anisuzzaman, and also to the army-led investigators that the decision to launch the mutiny, as well as to kill so many officers, was taken on February 24 in the presence of a ruling party MP who is related to a very senior leader of the party. This information is said to be contained in both the army-led investigation and in the government-sponsored Anisuzzaman Commission reports unofficially posted in Face book and other webpage's. It has not been followed up in CID report.
   
   Foreign commandos, truck
   Internet postings, reproduced in Bangladesh media, also noted the reported arrival in Sylhet on or by January 11, 2009 of some foreign commandos. There were speculations in the media including the Internet that they were there in BDR headquarters half-masked during the mutiny, and had entered into the Peelkhana compound at about 8.15 AM on February 25 through gate No 4 mounted on a BDR vehicle (Bedford) which a designated DAD is said to have arranged to send for them. This patent geo-political lead also appears to have been totally disregarded.
   
The CID investigation also overlooked, Internet postings suggest, the role of another vehicle, an ash-colour pickup van, which carried the initially used arms and ammunitions from outside, within minutes of the entry into the Peelkhana compound of the aforesaid Bedford truck. Some of those 'foreign arms' were left behind by mutineers, and discovered amongst the regular BDR weaponry abandoned by the escapees. Major Awal of the Army and Lt. Ashiquzzaman of the Navy recorded their discovery in the arms recovery list.
   
A number of bloggers have simply inferred that the CID report is but a shabby exercise. So serious an occurrence as a war of insurrection against the state, and accompanied felonies of mass murder rape and plunder including arms smuggling, cannot be treated merely as a collective bargaining 'gherao' gone wrong in a law-enforcement agency under the Home Ministry. Nor should suspicions of foreign and local agents conspiring to destroy our armed forces be ignored.
   
If something, such bloggers say, looks suspicious, smells suspicious and seems suspicious, it must be probed. That is the common sense approach. When such suspicions involve attempts, in this case ruthlessly executed on the ground, to eliminate some elite members of our defence forces and to demoralise our defence establishment and border surveillance in totality, not to speak of the destabilising repercussion on the society as a whole, it is the government's bounden duty to vigorously follow up all leads and all suspicions to unmask those behind the terrible occurrence of Peelkhana massacre are thoroughly exposed and decisively addressed.
 




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[ALOCHONA] ZIA'S FIFTH AMENDMENT AND THE MULTIPARTY DEMOCRACY IN BANGLADESH



ZIA'S FIFTH AMENDMENT AND THE MULTIPARTY DEMOCRACY IN BANGLADESH

Abid Bahar , Canada
abidbahar@yahoo.com

Hasina is poised to change the Fifth Amendment. People question, was Zia, A military Dictator or the Father of Bangladesh's Multiparty Democracy  in Bangladesh? Is Zia the Founder of Modern Bangladesh?

Link:
http://www.bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=299367

Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made the Fourth Amendment and President Ziaur Rahman made the Fifth Amendment is evident in the constitutional amendment bills. The Constitution (Fifth Amendment) Act was passed by the Jatiya Sangsad on 6 April 1979. This Act amended the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution by adding a new Paragraph which is # 18.

The changes:
(1) The expression ˜BISMILLAH-AR RAHMAN-AR-RAHIM™ was added before the Preamble of the Constitution.
(2) The expression ˜historic struggle for national liberation." in the Preamble was replaced by the expression a historic war for national independence.
(3) The one party BKSAL system was replaced by multiparty system. Newspaper freedom was restored.
(4) Fundamental principles of state policy were made as 'absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah, nationalism [Bangladeshi nationalism], democracy and socialism meaning economic and social justice.
 
President Ziaur Rahman a man (came from cantonment) came closer to his people by establishing the multi party democracy over BKSAL's one party system and allowed Hasina to enter in politics and he helped to bring order over chaos of Bangabandu's BKSAL.Bangabandu originally fought for democracy all his life but installed the BKSAL one party rule and banned all the opposition party newspapers.Here history tells us that one doesnt always have to be a military leader to become a, we see many of the presidents of USA and UK came from army career dictator and in the same was a civilian leader is not always democrat, as is the case of Bangabandu. Additionally. It is also true about some Russian leaders.

To me the interpretation that Ziaur Rahman (of Bangladesh, not Pakistan) was a dictator is wrong. Ziaur Rahman opened the multi party democratic process where he also helped open a political party. Thus the interpretation that Zia was a military dictator even we see repeated in the Daily Star columns is a distortion of history. It seems that such interpretation is based on the West Bengali and Indian Congress's xenophobic interpretation of South Asian history based on its false moral high ground where they see Bangladesh¨s political development necessarily follows developments similar to Pakistan. Certain AL analysts ignoring facts conveniently copy this type of misleading interpretation.
 
Further Readings::
(1) Abid Bahar, Zia, the Father of Modern Bangladesh
(2) Abid Bahar, Claims of Ownership, Politics of Vengeance and Anarchy in Bangladesh 



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[ALOCHONA] Live & Work in Australia/New Policy





 
Dear Friends,

It is to inform you that New Australian Immigration policy has just been announced. If you are interested in Australian Immigration and Belong to any of the professions below then feel free to contact us for free eligibility assessment:
  • Construction project manager                       
  • Project builder                        
  • Engineering manager
  • Child Care centre manager                           
  • Medical administrator         
  • Nursing clinical director
  • Primary health organisation manager           
  • Welfare centre manager        
  • Accountant (general)
  • Management accountant                               
  • Taxation accountant              
  • External auditor
  • Internal auditor  
  • Actuary                                  
  • Land economist
  • Valuer         
  • Ship's engineer                      
  • Ship's master
  • Ship's officer 
  • Architect                                
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  • Cartographer          
  • Surveyor                        
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  • Chemical engineer          
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  • Quantity surveyor                     
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  • Industrial engineer                               
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  • Production or plant engineer
  • Mining engineer                                          
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  • Aeronautical engineer
  •  Agricultural engineer                               
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  • Engineering technologist
  • Environmental engineer                              
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  • Agricultural consultant
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  • Forester                          
  • Chemist
  • Medical laboratory scientist              
  • Veterinarian    
  • Early childhood (pre-primary school) teacher
  • Secondary school teacher                       
  • Special needs teacher Teacher of the hearing impaired
  • Teacher of the sight impaired        
  • Special education teachers nec         
  • Registered nurse
  • ICT business analyst                              
  • Systems analyst                    
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  • Social worker                        
  • Civil engineer draftsperson             
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  •  Electrical engineer draftperson                            
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  Contact Australian Embassy or write.























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[ALOCHONA] Re: Economy passing to alien hands

It is not Alochoks who are saying "Economy passing to alien hands", the article says it is none but BGMEA and BKMEA, the topmost national Trade bodies, who are saying so.

As organizations running the largest garment industry in the world, we can be rest assured that 'BGMEA & BKMEA' know more "economics" than a few alochoks.

1) In which "foreign hands" has China been in? China has NEVER been under foreign hands, and still is, the most protected economy in the world.

2) Yet, just last week China gave Bangladesh DUTY-FREE access to 4000 items that BD can export to China. That happened only 1-month after Hasina met China's PM.

3) And after 38 years, India is still dragging its feet, dangling the carrot to BD, for making a single item duty-free from BD to India. All this SAARC junk that India cooks, to attract (and decieve) its neighbors is basically a FAARCE.

3) Meanwhile India exports $3.5 Billion to BD, while BD exports almost nothing to India. The 'trade deficit' to India for BD is $3.5B.

4) In the whole world 'TRADE' means "Give & Take policy", but for India 'trade' means "Give & Give". You have to GIVE everything to India, give them business, transit, water, land, borders, Talpotti, Teen-Bigha, Farakka, Tipaimukh - the list goes on.

5) But what has India given to BD since 1971?
Ans: a well-built security wall all around BD, and daily killings of BD citizens at India borders.

Should alochoks NOT be concerned about the Economy passing to alien hands??

K. Gazi

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


--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, "ANDREWL" <turkman@...> wrote:
>
> If Foreign Investments and building of factories in Bangladesh is being considered 'Economy passing to Alien hands', China's Economy has been in Foreign hands for last quarter century. Are the Foreigners running Communist China and she is not a free country?

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

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[ALOCHONA] War on Terror or War of Terror?



Evidence Suggest U.S.-U.K. Wars Increase Global Terror Threat

War on Terror or War of Terror?

By ANTHONY DiMAGGIO

Critical evidence from the British government and other sources suggest that the "War on Terror" has
 
 actually destabilized the Middle East and increased the terror threat throughout the globe.  The former head of Britain's MI5 – Baroness Manningham-Buller – finds that the Iraq war has dramatically contributed to the growing terror danger as directed against the United Kingdom and its citizens.  Britain has been forced to double the budget devoted to investigating terrorist plots following the 2003 invasion.  An official British inquiry into the proposed invasion warned of just such an increase in the terror threat.  This means that the destabilizing affects of Western attacks were predicted in advance of attacks that were seen as illegal under international law (as British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg recently conceded) .

Buller's confession is an admission that the war in Iraq has further inflamed anti-U.S. and anti-U.K. sentiment.  When considering it along other critical studies, it looks as if the war has contributed to a greater hostility toward British foreign policy more generally among the majority of Middle Easterners, and among British nationals more specifically (Buller is most concerned with the latter group).  She concludes that "a whole generation of young people" have been "radicalized' by what is perceived as an attack on Islam.  The Blair administration, Buller states, conceded that the war increased the terror threat at home: the budget increases for anti-terror operations were "unheard of, certainly unheard of today, but he (Blair) and the Treasury and the chancellor accepted that because I was able to demonstrate the scale of the problem that we were confronted by."  The growing threat to Britain seems all the more plausible in light of the 7/7 2005 terrorist bombings in London, which killed more than 50 civilians and were motivated by anger at the British invasion of Iraq. 

Buller concedes what should be known by most in the U.S. and U.K. today – the terror threat has grown in the wake of the Iraq invasion, despite the fact that Iraq posed no real national security threat to the West.  Buller admits that MI5 had refused to contribute to the intelligence comprising the British government's dossier against Iraq's "WMD threat" in 2002.  The reason is clear enough: there was "no credible evidence" that Iraq was linked to the 9/11 attacks, and Saddam Hussein was "unlikely" to support any attacks against the U.S. or U.K. unless his regime's survival was threatened.  These conclusions were shared with the Bush administration at the time, and promptly ignored by a U.S. administration whose members had been set on going to war for more than 10 years. 

Buller also discusses a point well known among critics of U.S. foreign policy on the left: the invasion of Iraq has actually served as one of the best recruiters for Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, and loosely affiliated Islamist terror groups.  As Buller describes with regards to U.S.-U.K. actions in Iraq: "Arguably, we gave Osama bin Laden his Iraqi jihad."  In short, those throughout the Muslim world see the U.S.-allied occupation as motivated by imperial ambitions for oil; they see the torture and abuses in which American and British troops are responsible, and they are reacting critically.  Targeting of U.S. and allied forces has become far more common now than it was prior to 9/11. 

Buller's MI5 based conclusions are not the first time it's been conceded that the "War on Terror" actually increases the global terror threat.  Terrorism experts Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank found through their own statistical analysis that the 2003 invasion was accompanied by an "Iraq Effect" in which terrorist attacks escalated dramatically from 2003 to 2006 (the time period when the study was conducted).  More specifically, their report finds that: "the rate of terrorist attacks around the world by jihadist groups and the rate of fatalities in those attacks increased dramatically after the invasion of Iraq. Globally there was a 607 percent rise in the average yearly incidence of attacks (28.3 attacks per year before and 199.8 after) and a 237 percent rise in the average fatality rate (from 501 to 1,689 deaths per year). A large part of this rise occurred in Iraq, which accounts for fully half of the global total of jihadist terrorist attacks in the post-Iraq War period. But even excluding Iraq, the average yearly number of jihadist terrorist attacks and resulting fatalities still rose sharply around the world by 265 percent and 58 percent respectively."  Subsequent empirical studies of the decline of violence in Iraq after 2007 demonstrated that the reduction came about, not because of the success of the "surge" in promoting humanitarianism, but because the ethnic cleansing in cities like Baghdad had essentially succeeded (with the help of U.S. troops disarming Sunni communities in the name of "counter-insurgency"), and with the Shia militias winning the civil war against Iraq's Sunnis (for more, see: http://www.juancole.com/2008/07/social-history-of-surge.html and dimaggio02272009.html).  In short, violence declined because there were fewer people to kill following the successful ethnic cleansing.

Additional journalistic investigation finds that the policy of torture and mistreatment at Guantanamo, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan (often directed against those whose terrorist ties were questionable to non-existent, but were nonetheless picked up in blanket raids in Afghanistan and Iraq) led to a further intensification of anti-U.S. sentiment in the Muslim world.  As McClatchy Newspapers concluded in an eight month investigation in 11 countries, U.S. detainees were often kept "on the basis of flimsy or fabricated evidence…McClatchy interviewed 66 released detainees, more than a dozen local officials in Afghanistan, and U.S. officials with intimate knowledge of the detention program...This unprecedented compilation shows that most of the 66 were low level Taliban grunts, innocent Afghan villagers, or ordinary criminals.  At least seven had been working for the U.S. backed Afghan government and had no ties to militants…many of the detainees posed no danger to the U.S. or its allies". 

Through its investigations, McClatchy found that "prisoner mistreatment became a regular feature in cellblocks and interrogation rooms at Bagram and Kandahar air bases, the two main way stations in Afghanistan en route to Guantanamo…the investigation found that top Bush administration officials knew within months of opening the Guantanamo detention center that many of the prisoners there weren't 'the worst of the worst,'" as "it was obvious [from military administrators] that at least a third of the population didn't belong there."

American soldiers were often gullible in that they accepted "false reports passed along by informants and officials looking to settle old grudges in Afghanistan, a nation that had experienced more than two decades of occupation and civil war before U.S. troops arrived".  The lack of connections of many detainees to any terror operations looks especially tragic in hindsight, considering that the torture visited upon these individuals contributed to their radicalization against the United States.  As McClatchy reports, "U.S. detention policies fueled support for extremist Islamist groups.  For some detainees who went home far more militant than when they arrived, Guantanamo became a school for jihad." 

The above evidence strongly suggests that the U.S. and U.K. primarily play a destabilizing role throughout the world, rather than fighting terrorism and ensuring world order out of chaos.  Global public opinion polls have long found that most throughout the world view the U.S. as one of the primary threats to global security, rather than the protector of world order.  These revelations are likely to elude many Americans, as the evidence above is not widely disseminated in the U.S. press.  American journalists have long been content to uncritically repeat statements from liberal and conservative political officials (typically accompanied with no evidence) that the "War on Terror" must continue in order to keep America, its allies, and the Middle East "safe."  In reality, though, the U.S. and U.K. are not fighting a War on Terror, but a War of Terror.

Anthony DiMaggio is the editor of media-ocracy (www.media-ocracy.com), a daily online magazine devoted to the study of media, public opinion, and current events.   He is the author of When Media Goes to War (2010) and Mass Media, Mass Propaganda (2008). He can be reached at: mediaocracy@gmail.com
 


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[ALOCHONA] Have Bangladesh-India relations hit a snag?




RECENTLY in a seminar arranged by the Policy Research Institute (PRI), the Minister for Commerce made a statement that poured cold water on the spin of optimism that the foreign minister had succeeded in giving in the media to the Prime Minister's state visit to India in January. The foreign minister had given the visit a perfect score. She also spoke in a number of seminars arranged to evaluate the visit. In these seminars, she articulated herself brilliantly, based on the agreements and the Joint Communiqué of the visit, to convince everybody that Bangladesh-India relations were poised for a paradigm shift for the better to the mutual benefit of the two countries. She had then said that India's sincerity was amply manifested in its positive response to Bangladesh's power needs in giving Bangladesh a US $1 billion credit and a host of other offers that spoke of India's goodwill in improving Bangladesh-India relations.

The commerce minister regretted that even after six months of the visit, specific decisions on the agreement on removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers have not been implemented. In speaking to the media after the PRI seminar, he criticized the bureaucrats on either side for things not moving the way they should have following the Prime Minister's successful visit. The foreign minister did not appear before the media for clarification on her colleague's statement. Her silence and that of her Ministry on the commerce minister's statement has surprised many who are following Bangladesh-India relations and left them guessing about what is exactly happening.

A few other developments have added to the confusion. The foreign minister seems to have lost her enthusiasm in the visit rather abruptly. Meanwhile, the task of coordinating follow up action on the agreements and the Joint Communiqué to move relations forward has been entrusted to the Economic Adviser of the Prime Minister who led a delegation to India some months ago for the purpose. No news has come out from his office or from him about his visit. In fact, if anyone would know about the current state of affairs of Bangladesh-India relations in the context of the Prime Minister's visit, it is the Economic Adviser and not the commerce minister who has spoken on it and the foreign minister, who has not spoken on the visit lately.

The government has not presented the agreements reached during the visit in Parliament nor made these public, which has added to public confusion. A few important decisions that had encouraged the public to hope that the Prime Minister had indeed succeeded in achieving a major breakthrough have not gone the expected way. The 250MW of electricity that India had agreed to give will require a 100 KM transmission line to join the power grids of the two countries. This transmission line will take two years to build after the award of the contract, for which a decision is yet to be reached. Agreement on sharing of water of Teesta seems to be getting perpetually delayed although in the meantime the Bangladesh water minister had given hope some months ago that an agreement was just round the corner. India has recently expressed its determination to build the Tippaimukh dam although during the visit Sheikh Hasina was assured that India would pay heed to interests and sentiments of the people of Bangladesh.

There is news which suggests that things may be moving in the right direction in some areas. An inter ministerial committee was formed in July last year with the Prime Minister in the Chair and with her Economic Adviser as the prime mover for economic integration of Bangladesh with the economies in the region, including India's northeast states. The foreign minister is a member of the committee. This development is positive but curiously it has not been given publicity. The development appears even better when seen in the context of what former Union Minister Mani Sankar Aiyar had to say on a recent visit to Bangladesh. He said that the Indian government has a plan to spend Rs 20 lakh crore for development of India Northeastern provinces that lacks managerial, technical and technological support, by the year 2020. He felt that Bangladesh could, by extending its hand of cooperation, get a good share of that cake. In the case of such an integration, where politics must play second fiddle to the dictates of economics, Bangladesh will surely benefit as it has what India's northeast provinces lack. Bangladesh, in addition to its managerial, technical and technological abilities, has the ports that could figure in a major way in the success of the proposed integration and also the success of the Indian investment.

Historically and economically, such integration makes great sense. I remember sitting in a meeting that Sheikh Hasina had during her 1996-2001 tenure with the chief minister on one of the Northeast Provinces of India. To convince the Prime Minister that Bangladesh should allow border trade, the chief minister said that the trouser and the shirt he was wearing were manufactured in Bangladesh as was his belt and shoes. He said that most of the people in his province were using a lot of Bangladeshi manufactured goods that were being smuggled and wondered why the two governments could not formalize the illegal exchange of goods that would drive the smugglers and the middlemen away and allow legality to come into the economic reality to the mutual benefit of the two countries.

Of course, things were then as it is now, not easy to do as the chief minister had then wanted. India has been seeking land transit through Bangladesh to its Northeast so that the economic benefits of the Taka 20 lakh crore go to investors and businessmen in India and not Bangladesh. Therefore, although one would like to believe with Mani Sankhar Aiyar that Bangladeshi businessmen would be allowed to play a significant role in the development of India's Northeast, India's past in dealing with Bangladesh does not encourage analysts of Bangladesh-India relations to hope too much into the prospects of Bangladesh's integration in that development and benefit from it.

There is reason to look seriously into what the commerce minister really intended to say. Indian bureaucracy is powerful and capable of working independently of its political masters. In 1985, Rajiv Gandhi as the new Prime Minister of India made gestures to give Bangladesh its water needs. The then Bangladesh High Commissioner in New Delhi was AK Khandker who was about to send a very optimistic message to Dhaka. On second thought, he sent his officer dealing with water issues to the Indian Joint River Commission to check if what the Prime Minister was hinting was really true. The Member of the Indian JRC told the Bangladesh High Commission official bluntly that there was no likelihood of any change in India's position, the Prime Minister's hints notwithstanding.

Bangladesh-India relations can change positively when the political leaders in New Delhi and Indian bureaucrats dealing with Bangladesh are in agreement. That does not appear to be the case on trade and water issues, where the core of discord rests on Bangladesh's side. Bangladesh has, meanwhile, handed in more ULFA insurgents, a key Indian concern. Bangladesh has also followed up on areas where it needs to act on the Joint Communiqué and the agreements despite its weak bureaucracy and serious problems in coordinating functions involving many ministries. It is time for India to show its hands on the concerns of the commerce minister and on water where an immediate agreement on Teesta is crucial. More importantly, the return visit of the Indian Prime Minister has to take place soon to motivate the Indian side to positive action.

The author is a former Ambassador to Japan and Egypt and Director in the Centre for Foreign Affairs Studies.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=147935



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[ALOCHONA] Business Projects :Bangladesh Army following model of Pak Army



Business Projects :Bangladesh Army following model of Pak Army
 
Says BBC radio documentary
 
The business Bangladesh Army is carrying out in the country, is just following the model of Pakistan Army, reported the second episode of the nine-part BBC radio documentary "Probaho" yesterday.

The documentary revealed this while investigating business projects of Bangladesh Army, particularly the Mongla Cement Factory in Khulna.

Regarding the relations between two armies, eminent expert on military affairs in the sub-continent Dr Ayesha Siddika told the weekly BBC documentary, "There is a keen interest in building links with Bangladesh. I mean, older officers, Pakistan Army officers, want to develop a close relationship with Bangladesh Army."

Ayesha also said that she had taken part in many discussions in which high ranked officials of Pakistan Army and Air Force talked without due respect and dignity that another sovereign country deserves. "I know a retired general of Pakistan who is a businessman nowadays and frequents to Bangladesh. He can be defined as a medium of communication," Ayesha added.

While investigating the history of Mongla Cement Factory, a concern of Bangladesh Army Welfare Trust, the documentary found that a bilateral deal was signed between Pakistan and Bangladesh on October 13, 1988 focusing on a loan of $ 5 crore at 2 percent interest.

The deal was signed at a time when Gen Ziaul Haque of Pakistan was killed in a mysterious plane crash nearly two to three months back and Pakistan was heading for a general election.The then Pakistan Army chief was Aslam Begh when Pakistan government approved the loan for Bangladesh considering it as a state matter, the documentary said.

The Mongla factory was financed by a portion of the loan. A government document shows though there were discrepancies in the deal the two states signed, Sena Kalyan Sangstha (SKS) did not face much problem in purchasing machineries for the cement factory project.

The documentary quoted a letter addressed to the then managing director of SKS on June 6, 1990."The deal between SKS and Pakistan Heavy Mechanical Complex Ltd have discrepancies …..The institutional deal allows payment in advance, which was not entertained in the state deal. We need an immediate explanation in this regard," the letter reads.

The time when the cement factory was financed also coincides with the military rule in Bangladesh.High ranking army officers of that time confirmed BBC that the then Pakistan high commissioner in Bangladesh was much eager to have the loan used in implementing the cement project of SKS.

The documentary said that the cement factory in 2008 earned Tk 24 crore as profit--equivalent to the half of the total business profit earned from the business ventures under the trust.The trust was established in Bangladesh in June in 1998 following the model of Pakistan Army Welfare Trust, which was established in 1965.

Pakistan army established the trust showing reasons that as army is the biggest defence force in the country and largest number of personnel are going into retirement every year, the force needs a separate business platform for welfare of the soldiers, said a book titled "Military Inc: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy" by Ayesha Siddiqa.

The projects taken under the trust are more profitable than SKS's and mainly controlled by army headquarters, the documentary added.
 


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[ALOCHONA] Ramadan Mubarak



Dear friends:

 

In a few days the holy month of Ramadan will start. In Bangladesh, the price of essentials have already started to rise which only highlights the fact that most people miss the spirit of the month of Ramadan. Some of us will fast, some will miss out on this great opportunity to come near our Lord. Let us prepare ourselves for Ramadan, let us fast the right way, let us pray for all members of our human race. Let us come one notch nearer our holy scripture which was sent during this month. Let us keep the poor in our mind when we take our food. Let us train ourselves to feed more and eat less.

 

I wrote the following piece some years back. I am forwarding this for all, specially to remind myself, my family members and dear friends. Please take a few minute to share this with me.

 

Ramadan Mubarak.

 

 

WELCOMING RAMADAN

Aziz Huq

 

 

Ramadan is a blessed and festive month for the Muslim communities around the world. It has been reported that Prophet Muhammad (SWS) used to prepare himself and talk about Ramadan before the month started. I remember, with great nostalgia, my experience of spending wonderful days of Ramadan amongst the Muslims in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and America. The experience is diverse yet bound by common thread of faith, culture and understanding. 

 

If we can visualize the atmosphere of the localities where majority dwellers practice Islam, especially during the evenings of Ramadan awaiting Ifta'r, we would realize what I am talking about.  It is a scene marked with peace, patience, tranquility, and anticipation for the call of Adhan followed by breaking of fast and Maghrib prayer. One who does not fast will never experience this wonderful joy.

 

Fasting the month of Ramadan is obligatory for all Muslim men and women. Allah (SWT) says in the holy Qur'an (2:185), "Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur'an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (signs) for guidance and judgement (between right and wrong), whosoever of you is present, let him fast the month." The Messenger of Allah (SWS) has said that if someone does not fast for a day of Ramadan without genuine excuses, then fasting for his whole life cannot compensate for that one neglected day unless Allah's mercy and forgiveness is received.

 

Muslims believe that all acts commanded by Allah (SWT) and the Prophet (SWS) have benefits for man, both in this life and in the hereafter. Doctors and scientists have indicated the health benefits of fasting, so have the experts on diet and nutrition. It has been suggested that fasting help rest the stomach, balance and stabilize blood pressure, strengthen arteries and help control obesity and diabetes problems. Some benefits are known, others are being known with scientific development, yet others may never be known to man. Therefore, we must practice fasting correctly and sincerely to satisfy the obligations to our Lord so that the blessings and benefits of Ramadan can be achieved.

 

One of the general benefits of fasting is behavior moderation and modification. To achieve what the Prophet (SWS) has advised for the Muslims to desist obscenity and extremism, practicing decent behavior and nice thinking during the period of fasting may instill Islamic morality and etiquette into our characters. Hence, fasting is not only to refrain from food and drink, fasting is also to refrain from disagreeable actions and thoughts. It is an important advice from the Prophet (SWS) saying that if someone verbally abuses you or acts ignorantly towards you, tell them that you are fasting.

 

Fasting is incomplete unless one is restraining his or her stomach and other body parts such as the tongue by not backbiting, slandering and telling lies, eyes by not looking at things unlawful, ears by not listening to haram things, heart and mind from not indulging in things other than the remembrance of Allah (SWT). Possibly, that is the reason why the Prophet (SWS) said that many people who fast do not receive anything from their fasting other than the pain of hunger and thirst.

Fasting helps in conditioning the heart, the soul, and the body on the virtues of patience, tenacity and firmness in the face of adversity. The realization that the barriers between us and the food/drink is our consciousness of the Creator, and it can make us able to exercise patience in virtually every thing in life.

 

Fasting should teach us maintaining solidarity with individuals, families, and the communities. The rich people may have the opportunity to experience what it feels like to be hungry. It also strengthens family ties by doing Iftar, Sahur and Taraweeh Sala'h together with friends, families, and neighbors. Children and young people develop the Islamic habits and cultures by participating in the rituals and practices with the adults. Ramadan always turns out to be a time for social interactions that play a vital role on the center stage of the Islamic culture.

 

Ramadan by its unique precepts and religious significance naturally imparts God-fearing consciousness which is referred to as "Taqwa". So, one of the main objectives of fasting is to increase the level of Taqwa of a Muslim. Taqwa extends its meaning to man's heedfulness to the injunctions and admonitions of Allah (SWT). As a term, Al-Taqwa means to abstain from sin and realizing the consequences of sin. It means to restrain or guard one's behavior against all evils. In essence, it implies righteousness, piety and good conduct.

 

The Qur'an never tires of playing upon the terms by repetition, expansion, variation or clarification. The term Taqwa with its derivatives has been mentioned in the Qur'an about 250 times indicating that it requires a proper attitude of the mind for grasping the presence of Allah, the nature and limitations of human life, and the requirements for judicious use of wealth, resources, intellects, mental faculties, and spiritual abilities of man. Consequently it demands a high degree of self-control over man's inherent vices such as pride, anger, envy, greed, temptation and vanity. Fasting in Ramadan by its intrinsic abilities can subdue many of the human vices.  

 

Ramadan is a month of camping for self-training and purification. This is the month of blessings and forgiveness; and thus we pray and beg Allah (SWT) for His mercy and forgiveness. We make promises to obey Him and follow the Sunnah of the  Prophet Muhammad (SWS).

 

The following guide-lines in this month will be helpful in achieving many of the objectives mentioned above:

 

1.    Confess the wrong doings and make serious Tauba (repentance) in constant remembrance of Allah (SWT).

2.    Do not miss any single day of fasting unless there are acceptable excuses.

3.    Protect your eyes, ears, and tongues against unlawful and harmful actions.

4.    Do not indulge in frivolous conversations and vulgar entertainments.

5.    Guard your private parts against unlawful use and indecent exposure.

6.    Perform all prayers on time in jama'h (congregation) and with constant dhikir.

7.    Study the Qur'an, Ahdeed, and the lives of the Ambias & ulamas.

 

Several years ago my boss at work told me upon hearing that I was fasting: "Why do you not close your door and eat, none will see you". This comment struck me with a massive impact of realization that we Muslims really fast keeping Allah in our conscience otherwise we could easily cheat.

 

If we could do our daily chores with the same mindset in our other mundane activities then how wonderful our social achievements could be and how corruption-free our society could have become.

 

The month of Ramadan is preceded by the month of Shaban. The Prophet (SWS) fasted in this month, which is deemed to be in preparation for Ramadan. He did not choose any specific day of the month of Shaban for fasting. The month following Ramadan is called Shawwal. Fasting six days in Shawwal is highly recommended by the Prophet (SWS).

 

In the holy month of Ramadan, we pray that our merciful and compassionate Allah (SWT) helps us in all our needs, guide us from going astray, and keep us on the right path of Islam in practicing justice, kindness, patience and forbearance for all and everything to harvest the fruits of fasting and achieving the final destination of Jannah.  

 



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