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Sunday, October 10, 2010

[ALOCHONA] FW: [Dishari] a picture tells us about ongoing human rights violations in Bangladesh




 
 





The ruling party Bangladesh Awami League musclemen brandishing their weapons after attacking a peaceful BNP procession and beating up Boraigram Upazila Chairman Mr Sanuallah Noor Babu (writhing in pain on the ground) in Natore, Bangladesh on 08 October 2010. Mr Babu died soon afterwards. For more information, please visit The Daily Star, Dhaka, 09 October 2010 at

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=157755





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[ALOCHONA] The Mouse and the Digital Bangladesh



The Mouse and the Digital Bangladesh
 
 


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[ALOCHONA] Killers in frame



Killers in frame
 
 

The TV grabs show how Boraigram upazila chairman and local BNP leader Sanaullah Noor Babu was brutally beaten to death Friday allegedly by AL men. The police so far have identified 16 of the 27 accused from the videotape. One was arrested, but main accused Zakir Hossain, identified in red circle, stayed out of police reach.
 


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[ALOCHONA] Jubo Dal men on the rampage



Jubo Dal men on the rampage

Factions turn its district conference into battlefield in Comilla

A section of Jubo Dal activists, three of them wearing masks, shoots at rivals during a factional clash centring the council of the organisation's South Comilla district unit yesterday

Feuding factions of Comilla District (South) Jubo Dal yesterday turned Kadirpara area of the district town into a war zone, exploding Molotov cocktails, and firing sawed-off rifles, pistols, revolvers, and homemade guns.The incident, which was sparked centring a conference of the BNP youth front's unit, left 30 persons including four police personnel wounded.

http://www.bd-pratidin.com/?view=details&type=single&pub_no=167&cat_id=1&menu_id=1&news_type_id=1&index=1

The injured police personnel are Officer-in-charge (OC) of Kotwali Model Police Station Mohiuddin Mahmud, sub-inspectors (SI) Mosaddekul Maula and Md Shahjahan, and a havildar.Police picked up 15 persons on charges of involvement in the incident, and recovered a revolver, a bullet, and a cocktail from the spot.During the clash, 10 cocktails were exploded and at least 20 shots were fired by a faction of Jubo Dal activists, some of whom were in black masks.


Students of educational institutions and pedestrians ran for cover as the feuding groups chased each other. Shops pulled their shutters down. Police fired tear gas shells to bring the situation under control.Police, leaders and workers of Jubo Dal, and other witnesses said followers of Comilla district unit BNP General Secretary Aminur Rashid Yasin, and supporters of his rival -- former organising secretary of the party unit Monirul Haque Sakku, took positions against each other at the Town Hall in the morning.
 

The clash started around 12:00pm when Sakku's followers threw a Molotov cocktail at the rear of a microbus carrying the organisation's central leaders including its President Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal. The vehicle was entering the Town Hall Auditorium premises, the venue of the conference scheduled to start at 10:00am.

They then exploded nine more cocktails at the Chowrangi Crossing area.Some of Sakku's followers were wearing black masks and were armed with pistols, LGs, revolvers, and sawed-off rifles. They fired shots at the Town Hall ground that was empty by then. At least 20 gun shots were heard. Two young men in jeans and T-shirts were seen firing guns, but their identities could not be known immediately.

At one stage, supporters of Yasin, armed with sticks, chased their rivals, sparking an exchange of brickbats. Later police came to the scene and lobbed tear gas canisters to disperse the warring groups.Sakku's supporters Milon, Ferdaus, and Russell were hit by bullets, and were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Mazharul Islam, a fourth year accounting student of Comilla Government College, was hit by a bullet in the chest. OC Mohiuddin Mahmud was injured in the leg, SI Mosaddekul Maula was injured in the head and abdomen, SI Md Shahjahan and the havildar were injured in the hands. Four pedestrians were also injured, who were admitted to local clinics. Police recovered an abandoned revolver from the front of the district BNP office. Rapid Action Battalion arrived at the spot around 1:30pm.

District Jubo Dal Joint Convener Ashikur Rahman Mahmud Wasim, a supporter of Yasin, said, "Our rivals opened fire in broad daylight in a bid to foil the conference, but their attempt failed."The unit's First Joint Convener Nazrul Islam Bhuiyan, a follower of Sakku, said, "I was in charge of conducting the conference. I don't know what happened outside."

Police picked up 15 persons from the conference venue on charges of involvement in the incident, who are Md Sumon, 20, Mostafizur Rahman, 35, Hridoy, 20, Rony, 25, Ripon, 20, Abul Hasan, 24, Monir Hossain, 24, Yasin, 20, Pavel, 28, Jahir, 22, Rafiqul Islam, 22, Anu Miah, 35, Rubel, 25, Kishore Kumar Debnath, 35, and Ripon, 20.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=157988


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[ALOCHONA] Indian BSF constructs road, bridge inside Bangladesh territory



Indian BSF constructs road, bridge inside Bangladesh territory


 
Despite protest from Bangladesh side, the Indian border security force BSF has started construction of a road and a bridge inside Bangladesh territory at Goainghat upazila in Sylhet district.Sources said, tense situation have already been spread among the people of border area and they have already started leaving their villages. The situation of the border area is going to be hot again.

The sources further said, Indian BSF personnel on October 1 suddenly entered the territory of Bangladesh alongside the border pillar 1270 and 1271 near Pratappur BDR outpost at the upazila. After entering the area, they took a move to construct a road on about 230 acres of lands in Bangladesh territory with a bridge.

It was alleged that to connect the Panichhula upazila of India with the Padua camp headquarters, which is situated near Pratappur, the BSF men were constructing the road and bridge. The bridge is being constructed on the Piain River which is flown on Goainfhat upazila.

Manjur Ahmed, a local journalist, told this reporter that 60 per cent construction work of the road and bridge has already been completed. "With the aim of establishing habitation in the territory of Bangladesh and occupying the resources side, the BSF men have taken plan. They are cutting trees and cleaning jangles to implement their aim and plan for occupying the area," he said. The local people fear that clashes between the two borders forces may occur cantering the construction work. For this reason the border of Goainghat may be restive again.

The BDR protested the activities of Indian forces and requested them to stop the construction work in the country's territory. But they were continuing the construction work ignoring the protest and request of BDR, said Pratappur BDR camp commander Nayeb Subedar Md Shahed Ali.

Admitting the activities of BSF, he told this reporter, "They are constructing road and bridge in Bangladesh territory. We have protested strongly and sent them protest letter 4 times. Despite being our protest, BSF is continuing the work denying our protest."Replying to the protest, the BSF men claimed that they are not constructing any new road or bridge in the area, they are just repairing an old road at their territory.

But the BDR camp commander Shahed Ali claimed that the speech of BSF is not true. The BDR was watching the situation carefully, he added."We have informed the matter to our higher authority. Our manpower is ready and they were deployed there. The number of manpower has been increased. If we get any order from high authority, we are ready to do anything," he said.

The 21 Rifles Battalion of BDR repeated the request of stopping construction work. At the time BSF agreed to conduct a joint survey for ensuring the ownership of the land where the road and bridge were being constructed. After some time, the Indian forces denied the agreement saying that the company level or battalion level authorities had no right to conduct such kind of survey. They said the matter should be discussed at the state level.

A Sub-inspector of Goainghat Thana Md Shahidullah told The New Nation that the BDR authority has not informed us about the matter till now. "We will contact with BDR to know about the activities of BSF to construct a road and bridge and after that we will fix our responsibility," he said.

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/10/10/news0688.htm


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[ALOCHONA] Mohammad Kamal Uddin - Housing the urban poor in Bangladesh:Problems and Prospects

Housing the urban poor
Jeremy Seabrook meets Mohammad Kamal Uddin, who has worked tirelessly for two decades to transform people's lives in Bangladesh.
NEW INTERNATIONALIST
http://www.newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2010/09/07/housing-the-urban-poor/

I first met Kamal Uddin 20 years ago. At that time, the NGO of which he is director, ARBAN (the Association for the Realization of Basic Needs), was working on a programme of literacy and numeracy for women in the poorest areas of Dhaka. We visited 25 or 30 slum settlements, mostly self-build bamboo and wood huts around polluted ponds or on low-lying marshy ground. This was government land, occupied by the poor, but controlled by powerful individuals who took a toll, or rent, from the people. Many were paying over half their monthly income to these unofficial landlords.

This was the beginning of a scheme in which garment-workers, maidservants, rickshaw drivers, construction workers, vendors and labourers would accompany ARBAN on a journey towards its most recent venture – the building of multi-storey apartments for the working poor. In the process, the lives of the people have been transformed: they acquired new skills, their livelihoods were enhanced by co-operative working, microcredit and social education, and their savings used to acquire land, on which the first block of flats has now reached its full six storeys in Mirpur in the north of Dhaka.

If this is an inspirational venture, it has been beset by every imaginable obstacle.

KAMAL: Poor people used to build bamboo pillars on stilts around ponds; sometimes the structures reached three or four storeys. But in the past decade, sands have been dredged from river beds to fill in ponds and low-lying water-bodies for the purpose of private construction. Canals and ponds belong to the government; but builders, in league with corrupt officials, have been raising 15 or 20-storey blocks. The ponds and swamps used to be recharged by monsoon rains, providing stability to the soils in the dry season. Abuses by developers have made Dhaka more vulnerable to flooding – any building may be inundated after an hour's rain, including the Prime Minister's office, the Secretariat and the British High Commission.

A hundred years ago, Dhaka, criss-crossed by 60 canals and rivers, was known as the Venice of the East. It was a living city, with tides that cleansed the waste water. The rivers allowed country boats full of vegetables and fruits to come up to the markets in the heart of Dhaka. Every middle-class homestead had its own pond for drinking, bathing and washing. Now most of these have been buried. In their place are glittering buildings and glass skyscrapers – monuments to the dead waters of Dhaka.

People who had come from rural areas created degraded villages around the ponds. Their lives were insecure, subject to rape, extortion, land-grabbing. In Bangladesh rich families whisper to their babies at birth: 'Have land, get land, grab land by any means you can.' About 80 per cent of land is held by less than 20 per cent of the people. The other 80 per cent live on what is left. The people of Dhaka are all provisional tenants – the driver is tenant of the car he drives for someone else; those who make garments do not wear them; those who cook the choicest dishes do not taste them; the maid on the veranda depends for her sleeping-mat on her employers.

The most obvious fact in Dhaka, and all cities of South Asia, is that the poor are being compressed: compelled to live on less and less land. The construction of skyscrapers, malls, garment factories, hospitals and universities (there are 54 private universities in Dhaka) creates the impression of a 'world-class city', and poor people 'disappear', swallowed up in windowless concrete rooms, on rooftops, cellars and remote tin sheds, out of sight. They are also removed further from their place of work, so that bus fares or exhausting journeys on foot add to an already lengthy working day. The two million garment workers of Dhaka are also the lowest-paid in the world.

KAMAL: In the late nineties, several thousand people began saving towards the purchase of a plot on which flats would be constructed to provide them with a safe shelter of their own. We bought a small piece of land in Mirpur. Over time, the dream became tarnished for many people who, tired of long years of waiting, dropped out of the scheme. Their money was returned to them. It has been 13 years since the project was started; and the first block of 45 flats is now almost complete. We have also acquired some land cheaply from the family of well-known Muslim mystic in Rampura; and there, we hope to build 250 flats.

The site of the first building is cramped – it is only about a metre away from adjacent buildings; light and air are at a premium. Although brick and concrete debris still litter the staircases, each two-room apartment is taking shape, and the internal walls are complete. ARBAN plans to erect a shelter on the roof to provide accommodation for garment workers in nearby factories.

KAMAL: Work on construction was slow, since funds which had been promised did not materialize. The people have provided one-fourth of the cost, and ARBAN has invested an equal amount from its own profitable social businesses. The remaining half – about $200,000 – was promised to ARBAN in 2009 by UN Habitat, in an agreement signed in Nairobi. So far, however, not one cent has been received.*

Permission had to be sought from the Bureau of Non-Government Organizations. It could not be allowed, because it was a loan, not a grant. The request went to the External Resources Division of the Ministry of Finance. There were no rules for individuals or businesses to take loans from outside the country. No such transaction was possible.

Mohammad Kamal Uddin had been at university with a Deputy Governor of the bank, and after some months, the loan was sanctioned under 'special consideration', and the required No-Objection certificate was obtained. But by that time, leadership of UN Habitat had changed. The new chief economist insisted the documentation should all be re-submitted, and questions were asked about ARBAN's procurement plans.

KAMAL: We were not using middle-men. We were employing masons, bricklayers and carpenters from among our own beneficiaries. We supplied all the information they asked for. The delay in Bangladesh was because we had not factored into our costs bribes and kickbacks for those expected to facilitate the loan. Responsible persons convey to me the assumption that I'll use 70 per cent of the money and give the rest to those whose job it is to expedite the transaction. Even the Housing Ministry, which has a relationship with Habitat, let it be known that 5-10 per cent would be acceptable.

Still Habitat has raised objections. They questioned the ability of our people to pay. They calculated it would require a monthly payment of 4,100 taka ($60) to ARBAN, and they said this is far beyond the ability of slum families. We have shown that they can pay it. The monthly income of our families is between 8,000 and 15,000 ($115-$215) a month. Habitat said studies show this is an inflated sum, above the average for Dhaka. That is quite true. Our people are a self-selecting group: they have undergone training, education; they have acquired a competence unavailable to most poor people in Dhaka. Eventually, Habitat accepted the affordability of the scheme, but then they raised the objection that the building was not insured. So we took out insurance, even though most buildings in Dhaka are not insured.

The biggest obstacle to the realization of the project has been our absence of corruption. By refusing to give bribes, we have been our own worst enemy.

There is something both noble and quixotic in the integrity of ARBAN. Kamal points out that he is not asking for aid or a grant: the money will be paid back by the people.

KAMAL: If workers have independence and security, this will also provide economic benefits to the employers. They will have more energy for their labour if they do not have to stand in line to use the toilet or get water or take illegal electricity connections. The urban poor are workers. They are not beggars. They can pay. The Constitution says that government land should be given to the poor. The Deputy Commissioner's Office is the source of greatest corruption, because it is there that false documents are made, rivers buried and sealed, land given to those who already own vast tracts of the city and country. The principal activity of the Deputy Commissioner's office and the Land Ministry is to show that land does not belong to government. This is done by a stroke of the pen that can change the character of land – marsh becomes cropland, rivers become the ancestral possession of influential people. Government machinery is used to rob the poor and give to the rich, to enhance their already substantial fortunes.

The biggest land-grabbers have their boards all over the city, advertising new apartments: Eastern Housing Society, Basundhera Group, Jamuna Group. It is estimated that 5,000 acres of land have been alienated in this way. But in the whole of Dhaka, and the surrounding areas of Gazipur and Narayanganj, there must be 10,000 acres still nominally in government ownership. It is that land which should go to the poor, not at artificial prices dictated by political, bureaucratic and business collusion, but given, so that the four million people in the city who want decent shelter shall be provided for, among whom are most of the ill-housed garment workers: the government receives 75 per cent of its foreign exchange from the garments industry, but the people who actually earn it are still subject to a minimum wage of 1662 taka ($24), while the costs of rent and food have doubled in the past two years.

Dhaka, says Mohmmad Kamal Uddin, is an 'occupied city'. You can see what he means. The monsoon sky sits heavily upon pastel-coloured apartments, malls of glass, private offices and institutions; while at street level, the inextricable tangle of cycle-rickshaws, the procession of young women that fill the city with colour in the early morning, before being absorbed into the factories, the construction workers whose washing dances in the concrete of the unfinished block, increasing density of a humanity confined into declining space; sad and menacing prospect in this, one of the most congested cities in the world.

KAMAL: The working poor will pay the market price to live vertically in secure buildings with basic amenities. All they want is a dignified life. If they are relieved of the anxiety of living, they will perform their economic tasks better. The truth is, élites regard poor people as lesser human beings; ancient ghosts of caste and status still haunt this country whose freedom has yet to reach the majority of its people.

*Editor's note: The money promised by UN Habitat in 2009 was abruptly cancelled in 2010, shortly after this interview took place.


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Re: [ALOCHONA] The new indemnity law unacceptable



What is the difference between the indemnity acts that the so-called Soirachar( Ershaidda the Luichcha) made with direct help of Hasina, then leader of opposition n BAL 

and the new said Law to save the thugs from being caught for manipulating price for procurement of Power Station without tender n pay double or triple the amount quoted by the same contractors in open tenders which the incapable BNP could not settle for asking booty by then tainted n much talked about Prince Tareq.

Both BNP n BAL took the jonogon of Bangladesh as mentally retarded or dumb so anything n everything could be done violating the constitution, the existing laws to reap personal n family n party interest above the interest of the nation for which they were voted to power.

Shame on the thieves n thugs whosoever it is.

Faruque Alamgir

On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 2:04 PM, Emanur Rahman <emanur@rahman.com> wrote:
 

This bill makes complete sense to me. It paves the way for the traitors in power to hand over our energy security to their India.

Quite right too - pesky Bengalees denied Mujib before he could complete his mission. At least he can now finally rest in peace.

Emanur Rahman | m. +447734567561 | e. emanur@rahman.com


From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2010 07:02:17 +0600
Subject: [ALOCHONA] The new indemnity law unacceptable

Editorial
The new indemnity law unacceptable
 
The just-concluded session of the current parliament, prorogued on Tuesday, saw passage of quite a few of government bills without much discussion, thanks to undemocratic attitude of the governing coalition and the perpetual absence of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party from the House. Subsequently, the people of the country have been deprived of the opportunity to clearly know the contents of the laws made by an otherwise loyal parliament. Still, the media did not fail to take special note of one of the bills passed – Bidduth O Jalanir Druto Sorboraha Briddhi (Bishesh Bidhan) Bill, 2010 – which is absolutely undemocratic and unjust, and therefore anti-people. The law, said to have been enacted for ensuring quick supply of electricity and fuel to the people, stipulates that no court of the country will have the right to take into cognisance for trial of any steps taken under the legislation in question by any authorities, public or private, in the future. In other words, the parliament members belonging to the ruling coalition have enacted in advance, with the opposition MPs absent from the House, an indemnity law to save the skin of the government of the day, and its private sector partners concerned, from the trial of any illegal steps to be taken, and corruption to be committed, in the business of generation and supply of power and electricity.
   
No doubt that the country has been suffering from acute shortage of electricity since long, before the incumbents took office in January 2009. The ruling party was adequately aware of the shortage before the last general elections, for which the party routinely criticised its political predecessors. Moreover, in its election manifesto, the ruling Awami League had marked gas and electricity generation as a priority issue to be addressed immediately after the formation of the government. The party was voted to power about two years ago but its government has done nothing significant about resolving the power crisis. Now, with almost two years of its tenure already over, the government has made the 'special' law to urgently solve the problem, with the 'help' of some private companies, and arranged for indemnity in advance so that they are not tried in the future for any illegal and irregular steps, if taken, in the process of buying or generating power! The very act of making such a law in advance clearly hints that the government and its private sector partners have already planned some illegal and non-transparent steps, understandably to make some quick money, in the name of solving power crisis on an urgent basis. Where was this 'urgency' over the last two years? One wonders if the government deliberately allowed the problem to become more severe only to justify this indemnity to a vicious group of people planning to plunder a huge amount of money from the public exchequer.
   
The concept of indemnity itself is undemocratic, for it ignores the issue of accountability to the people — a core principle of democratic governance. The newly enacted indemnity law is, therefore, unacceptable, completely unacceptable. The politically conscious and democratically oriented sections of society, therefore, need to raise their voice against this indemnity law before the public money is being plundered under it. The power sector, after all, involves a huge amount of money.
 




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[ALOCHONA] Re: KOILA HAZAR BAR DHUILEO SADA HOY NA - Florida (USA) BNP President & his wife are arrested for 1 M $ tax misappropriation and corruption

This is what they do.

If every district in Bangladesh was on fire and there was only one fire engine they will say with a straight face "Desh ta ke je dhori rakse Allhamdullilah" and then divert you to a bum grocery store kingpin in Florida. As if anyone is remotely surprised. Tax evasion is part of our national heritage.

If that bum was a successful owner of shops selling fish he would have been head of his local unit of AL.

Fishmongers and grocery store owners. Choose your career for a bright future in the international politics of Bangladesh.

--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, "Engr. Shafiq Bhuiyan" <srbanunz@...> wrote:
>
> KOILA HAZAR BAR DHUILEO SADA HOY NA
>
> Florida (USA) BNP President & his wife are arrested for 1 M $ tax
> misappropriation and corruption
>
>
> Florida (USA) BNP President & his wife are arrested for 1 M $ tax
> corruption – 9.10.10
>
> He, BNP President, started work as an employee in 1980 in a daily grocery
> store. Then in 1990 he jointly (with 2 more people) bought a store.
>
> Now this corrupt BNP couple is owner (jointly) of 118 grocery stores by
> cheating taxes..
>
> KOILA HAZAR BAR DHUILEO SADA HOY NA
>
> Their bail petition was rejected and now they are behind the bar.
>
>
> Now, Jamat-BNP supporters may blaim present Awami League(AL) lead govt is
> behind this arrest and bail rejection (happened in USA by US Govt and court)
> and
>
>
> Let they, Jamat-BNP supporters, call a HARTAL in Florida !!!!
>
> For more detail, please read attached PDF file and the following link of
> today's (9.10.10) newspaper link
>
> http://ittefaq.com.bd/content/2010/10/09/news0669.htm
>
>
> --
> "Sustha thakon, nirapade thakon ebong valo thakon"
>
> Shuvechhante,
>
> Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan (ANU)
> Auckland
> NEW ZEALAND.
>
> Phone: 00-64-9-620 2603 (Res), 00-64-02 1238 5500 (mobile)
> E-mail: srbanunz@...
>
> N.B.: If any one is offended by content of this e-mail, please ignore &
> delete this e-mail. I also request you to inform me by an e- mail - to
> delete your name from my contact list.
>


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[ALOCHONA] Berth operators for army deployment



Berth operators for army deployment

Private berth operators on Sunday demanded deployment of army personnel at Chittagong Port to ensure its entire security as well as to resolve the ongoing problems of the port.

Berth Operator Owners Association made the appeal at a press conference held at a local hotel in the port city in the afternoon, reports our staff correspondent in Chittagong. "We want immediate deployment of army personnel to ensure entire security of the port and to resolve the existing problems," said Shahadat Hossain Selim, senior vice-president of the association. The newly appointed six private berth operators at General Cargo Berths (GCBs) could not start their scheduled operation on Friday in face of protest by the dock workers.

On October 8, around 15 workers of a private berth operator were injured and three port officials assaulted when dock workers protested against the handling of containers by the operators before fulfilling their demands. Everest Enterprise, one of the six newly appointed private berth operators, was scheduled to start handling containers on the day but they could not start operation following the attack.



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[ALOCHONA] Democratisation of politics or politicisation of democracy?



Democratisation of politics or politicisation of democracy?

In the neo-liberal era Bangladesh may not succeed in installing the founding act of liberal democracy without keeping close attention to the ultimate aim of democratic politics which is the withering away of the state. People will still require a state and its form will be democratic in contrast to the ambiguous status of liberal states. It implies that cultivation of the people's power is the condition for strengthening democracy. Democratic state will not be a permanent institution. In that case it will mean that class will remain a permanent phenomenon of society. It will mean that democratic state is a transitional phase that will lead to its withering away

by by Farhad Mazhar

WE INTEND to address the theme 'democratisation of politics' suggested by New Age for its supplement issue; however, we immediately perceive a difficulty. The theme 'democratisation of politics' cannot be addressed immediately since we are not sure what our assumptions are about and what we mean by 'democracy' or by 'politics'. Most importantly, we are not aware of the limits and possibilities of these categories and, therefore, not capable yet to determine the utility of these notions. Noting that 'democracy' is today the 'main organiser of consensus,' Alain Badiou, the well-known French philosopher, says the word is assumed to 'embrace the downfall of Eastern Socialist Societies, the supposed well-being of the countries as well as Western humanitarian crusades.' It has become the tool for regime change and nation-building project as we see integral to the current global wars such as in Iraq and Afghanistan. The xenophobic anti-Islamic hatred is cultivated contrasting non-western societies on the basis of degree of absence of democracy. To Badiou, the word 'democracy' is inferred from what he terms 'authoritarian opinion'. With sarcasm, he says 'it is somehow prohibited not to be a democrat.' If individual are suspected of not being democratic they are deemed pathological (Badiou, 1998).

   The textbook meaning of democracy that it is the will and interests of the large majority determining the decisions of the state has been overrun by the concern of what another philosopher calls 'formal legalism'. Its minimal definition is the 'unconditional adherence to a certain set of formal rules which guarantee that antagonisms are fully absorbed into the agonistic game (Zizek, 2003). 'Democracy' now means that 'whatever electoral manipulation took place, every political agent will unconditionally respect the results.' One can easily fit electoral realities of Bangladesh to the notion of 'formal legalism' Zizek is talking about.

   The difficulty also lies elsewhere. Why 'democratisation of politics' and not 'politicisation of democracy'? Indeed, democracy requires to be politicised. We cannot discuss democracy anymore unless we problematise the notion with politics, or, in other words, unless we learn to make the critique from the political necessity of the people to constitute themselves as power, as agents of history. We must grasp 'democracy' as a political notion and not merely as moral notions such as tolerance to other, remaining sympathetic to opinions different from our own, right to vote and decide who should be ruling us; strictly remain obliged to a rule-based game such as election to transfer power from one section of rulers to another, to economically exploit the majority by a few every five years; etc. To distinguish 'democracy' from such commonplace notions, usually an adjective is used, to distinguish it from 'democracy' proper; it is known as 'liberal democracy'. We can perceive, even at the outset, that there is a difference between liberal democracy and democracy. To highlight the importance of democracy in contrast to liberal democracy, the revolutionary left has often termed democracy proper or 'true democracy' as people's democracy. The necessity to inscribe people on the term democracy may appear superfluous, and perhaps rightly so. But the necessity arose because 'liberal democracy' has been touted as the only democracy available for us and thus glorious struggle of the people for democracy, even liberal democracy, has often been effaced. To situate democracy within the history of people's struggle or, in other words, to frame it within the perspective of class struggle, it has become a norm to term democracy as people's democracy in contrast to 'democracy' – in our daily use which always means liberal democracy. Our task here is to make these differences clearer and rescue democracy from liberal abuse in order to raise fundamental questions that can guide our politics and assure us the necessity of the democratic transformation of Bangladesh. We obviously cannot deal with it fully here but at best suggest a direction for our investigation.

   Liberal democracy

   LIBERAL democracy is the political ideology of capitalism. Its paramount function is to justify the distribution of property and power that permits a minority of rulers and exploiters to exploit and dominate the lives of the majority. This is done by a theory of political and juridical equality in order to maintain the economic foundation of the economic inequality of capitalism; this arrangement allows self-expansion and accumulation of capital and reproduces unequal capital-labour relation.

   Liberal democratic order can be traced in the period roughly from the fifteenth to the end of the nineteenth century. During this period, feudal society was breaking down and the embodiments and advocates of liberal democracy, by and large, were those whose social influence was grounded in their control over the developing power of capital. Power passed progressively from church to prince to parliament and finally to the marketplace. Liberalism developed as a result of the defeat of the landed classes in the hands of the emerging bourgeoisie. Against the feudal conservatives were the liberals or the bourgeoisie forging alliances with oppressed classes represented by the working class and their ideological supporters.

   In the struggle of liberalism against conservative feudal aristocracy or landed class, democracy was a vital weapon. It was set against fixed status, hierarchy, authority and extra-worldliness and, on the side of mobility, contract, legal equality and choice. Liberal democracy universalised political and legal equality and choice, contract and mobility to ensure proper functioning of capitalist system since these appeals have ensured widest popular support against landed classes. In this sense, liberal democracy is an advance over many of the conditions that prevail in pre-capitalist societies.

   However, ambiguity and the reactionary character of liberal democracy started to manifest as soon as the working class started to challenge the capitalist class with the same tools that were used against the landed class. Under these circumstances, liberalism had to find devices to protect itself from the ideology and movement of the working class. It is clear that working movement has been threatening its destruction from below since the development of capitalism. Therefore, liberalism may insist on democracy, but it must formulate the democratic creed in such a way that private property is protected against the increasingly franchised working class. Liberalism may profess itself as an advocate of equality, but it must shape 'equality' in a way that the capitalist class is able to retain its superior power. Liberalism may speak powerfully for freedom but the freedom it prescribes is to protect a system of privileged

   liberty against the threat of growing labouring class. This ambivalence can be read in the treatises of great liberal thinkers such as Locke

   and Mill.

   
Democracy question from

   people's perspective


   BECAUSE of the ambiguity produced and conditioned by history as well as class contradiction in capitalist society, the democracy question cannot remain limited to the ideology of liberal democracy. The radical posture of democracy that we historically experienced should be reclaimed and its fuller development must be envisaged through people's struggle for realising the imminent potential of democracy. This is what I would like to call politicising or politicisation of democracy. Democracy must not be degraded to 'legal formalism' although democracy requires certain formal rules to practise. Politicisation of democracy requires getting rid of the habit of thinking that democracy is opposed to dictatorship or dictatorship is contradictory to democracy. Such binary opposition, privileging democracy over dictatorship, does not help us to understand the nature of political power and, consequently, the potential and meaning of democracy. Political power is always dictatorial class power, although it may or may not be dictatorship of individual ruler. Liberal democracy is not merely a set of political or juridical practices; it is also a state form suitable for the bourgeoisie or the capitalist class to exercise dictatorship against the labouring oppressed classes under capitalism. It is democracy for the bourgeoisie but dictatorial rule against the class that is enemy to its existence. In essence, it implies dictatorship of a few against the rest of the majority of the people. To fully realise its own potential, democracy must become the democracy of the people. Given the nature of the democratic power, this will also be the dictatorial rule against the class that likes to maintain the economic inequality and oppression – the foundation of the capitalist regime. If democracy is to realise its potential historically, it must evolve from liberal democracy to democracy proper and this will inevitably take place. We are not talking about the subjective wish or capacity of any class in particular. If democracy signifies the power of the people, it would also mean the power to dictatorially fight and rule against the class that maintains the inequality in the economic sphere. We are discussing the nature of power and the imminent possibility of democracy and not what we subjectively like or dislike.

   Democracy question is questions of power and form of the state

   THE second vital point in order to politicise democracy is to insist that addressing the question of democracy is always addressing the question of the form of the state. Different democracies are 'forms of the state' and not merely set of formal rules and practices; they are particular configuration of the separate character of the state and the formal exercise of sovereignty. Democracy has always been related to the question of power, the power of the 'demos' or people, the capability of the 'demos' to exert coercion by itself.

   However, dictatorial coercion by one class against the other is the reality as long as a society is a class society. If the task of democratic politics is to eliminate all inequalities including inequalities arising from the very foundation of capitalism, it also implies that the democratic struggle is the struggle for the elimination of all classes and conditions of their existence; in other words, it is the struggle for a society not based on class. If democratic struggle succeeds in achieving this state it also implies that there will be no need for coercive exercise of class power through the instrument of the state. So, we land on the well-known thesis of the 'withering away of the state'.

   Whether human history will be able to achieve that state is a different question. What we have argued here is that the question of democracy cannot be addressed without interrogating its potential or future possibilities, without a reasonable assumption of the future of democracy. Democracy has the potential to wither away as a state, it has a self-annihilating character by which, if practised properly as a political project, it will end up in withering away itself as a state-form. This is the most interesting aspect of democracy that can be revealed to us as soon as we get rid of the hangovers of liberal democracy.

   In this regard, liberal democracy is an opportunity as well as a hindrance. Opportunity in the sense that it may be a useful tool to eliminate legacies of pre-capitalist inequalities including feudal strains or relations allowing the constitution of a politico-juridical sphere above the inequalities and economic competition of civil society. Democratic functioning of the sphere of legal and political equality despite the existence of socioeconomic inequality is the most important element of liberal democracy. The importance of universal suffrage, granting all adult citizens the right to vote regardless of race, gender or property rights, is an important achievement of liberal democracy. However, its greatest failure from its own perspective manifests in decisions made through elections that are not made by all of the citizens, but rather by those who choose to participate by voting; the number of voters could be very low making a mockery of liberal representative government.

   On the other hand, liberal democracy is a hindrance, the primary adversary and enemy of democracy. Democratic struggle has no other options but to expose the historically determined reactionary character of this side of liberal democracy in order to unleash the potential of democracy. While liberal democracy maintains and reproduces the economic inequality based on the institution of private property and developed historically as capitalism, the democratic struggle is the politics to eliminate economic inequality per se, creating conditions for the elimination of the classes and thus ensuring the withering away of the state.

   The liberal democratic constitution defines the democratic character of the state. However, liberal democracy requires a founding act, a revolutionary moment to break away from the past and initiate a process for the people to constitute themselves as the state through the constitutive process of a constituent assembly in order to frame a liberal democratic constitution. This is known as the bourgeois democratic revolution.

   Despite the glory of the liberation struggle of 1971, Bangladesh failed to institute a liberal democratic order. The constitution of Bangladesh had not been framed by the people. The representatives who were elected for the constituent assembly of Pakistan declared themselves as such after the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan. This is the main reason why the people of Bangladesh failed to reap any benefit from liberal democracy. It has artificially imputed and, since 1971, has been used as a veil for brutal economic exploitation by the classes that carry all the legacies of pre-capitalist societies including feudalism.

   In the neo-liberal era Bangladesh may not succeed in installing the founding act of liberal democracy without keeping close attention to the ultimate aim of democratic politics which is the withering away of the state. People will still require a state and its form will be democratic in contrast to the ambiguous status of liberal states. It implies that cultivation of the people's power is the condition for strengthening democracy. Democratic state will not be a permanent institution. In that case it will mean that class will remain a permanent phenomenon of society. It will mean that democratic state is a transitional phase that will lead to its withering away.

   Neo-liberalism has shifted the power of the state to the global corporations. In this new situation the democratic struggle of the people will have to be directed against the elite of global corporation. The class struggle will increasingly take the form of antagonism between people across borders against the few global elite who rules the world through the economic institutions of capitalism such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation, etc. Present politics of Bangladesh cannot be democratised as such, but we can politicise democracy to learn quickly the strategy and tactics to install the founding act of democracy as quickly and as early as possible.

   References:

   Badiou, A, 1998, 'Highly Speculative Reasoning on the Concept of Democracy', in lacanian link 16

   Zizek, S, 2003, 'Too Much Democracy', http: //www.makeworlds.org/node/159, accessed on September 21

http://www.newagebd.com/2010/oct/10/anni10/anni10.html



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[ALOCHONA] Law and order situation deteriorates 30 killed in last 15 days



Law and order situation deteriorates 30 killed in last 15 days
 

The law and order has deteriorated seriously across the country over establishing supremacy by the ruling Awami League (AL) activists with the killing of rivals in recent times much to the concern of the common people.(The New Nation )

Establishment of supremacy and extortion by the ruling party hoodlums have assumed to a serious proportion in the length and the breadth in the country, police sources said.

In the meantime, at least 30 people have been killed by the criminals in last 15 days much to the concern of the people in absence of enough law enforcers.

Chairman of Boraigram upazila under Natore district and president of pourasava BNP Sanaullah Nur Babu was killed following an attack by the activists of Awami League at Bonpara Bazar on Friday.

Sanaullah was attacked by the ruling party men while chairing a rally organised as part of the opposition's countrywide month-long demonstrations.

Witnesses and police said, as soon as the rally began at least 50 men armed with sticks and sharp weapons swooped on the rally. The upazila chairman along with 25 others, including three local journalists, were injured while they tried to resist the attack.

Meanwhile, the president has pardoned 20 death-row prisoners four years after they were sentenced to death for the murder of the then ruling party activist, Sabbir Hossain Gama, in Natore on September 7.

Gama was murdered on February 7, 2004 at Naldanga upazila in Natore. Gama was also a nephew of former BNP state minister Ruhul Quddus Talukdar Dulu.

Avilash Chakma, 37, another leader of PCJSS, was shot dead in Kalyanpur area of the Rangamati town early on Friday.

Miscreants forcefully entered his house at Kalyanpur and shot him dead. Avilash was general secretary of PCJSS Naniarchar Upazila wing.

A Jubo League leader Yousuf Sarder was killed by a group of local Bangladesh Chhatra League activists in a row over submitting bids for selling old motorcycles of the Red Crescent in the city's Moghbazar on Thursday.

Five young men were killed in separate incidents in the city's different parts and Savar on Sunday.

In an incident, unidentified miscreants stabbed Alamgir Hossain, 25, an alleged drug addict and security guard Bulbul, 30, to death behind Savar Municipal market around 3:00am.

Police recovered the bodies and sent those to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Alamgir's wife Rani Begum filed a murder case with the Savar Police Station in this connection.

In South Keraniganj, police yesterday morning recovered the body of an unidentified youth wearing a jean pant and a red shirt from a wetland.

In another incident, police also recovered the body of another youth in the morning from under the sand in the area. Locals saw the head of the body in the sand and informed police of the matter.

Yet another incident, Darus Salam police recovered the body of a young man from inside Mirpur Martyred Intellectuals Graveyard on Sunday. There were mark of injuries inflicted by blunt weapons behind his head.

Unidentified criminals slaughtered three members of a family-- businessman Mizanur Rahman, his mother Sufia Khatun, and his wife Bithi Rahman at their Shaheed Faruk Road residence at Jatrabari in the capital on September 30.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday directed the authorities concerned to take stern actions against the Awami League men who are tarnishing its image by involving in unlawful activities.

Hasina, who heads the ruling AL, issued the order at the party's central working committee meeting at her political office in Dhanmondi yesterday.

"We've got the video footage of the killing of Natore BNP leader. Everyone will be identified through it and brought to justice," AL General Secretary and LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam told reporters after the three-hour meeting chaired by its president premier Sheikh Hasina.

 http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/10/10/news0694.htm

 
http://www.jugantor.info/enews/issue/2010/10/10/news0603.php
 
http://amardeshonline.com/pages/details/2010/10/10/48038

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Re: [ALOCHONA] The new indemnity law unacceptable



This bill makes complete sense to me. It paves the way for the traitors in power to hand over our energy security to their India.

Quite right too - pesky Bengalees denied Mujib before he could complete his mission. At least he can now finally rest in peace.

Emanur Rahman | m. +447734567561 | e. emanur@rahman.com


From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
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Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2010 07:02:17 +0600
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Subject: [ALOCHONA] The new indemnity law unacceptable

Editorial
The new indemnity law unacceptable
 
The just-concluded session of the current parliament, prorogued on Tuesday, saw passage of quite a few of government bills without much discussion, thanks to undemocratic attitude of the governing coalition and the perpetual absence of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party from the House. Subsequently, the people of the country have been deprived of the opportunity to clearly know the contents of the laws made by an otherwise loyal parliament. Still, the media did not fail to take special note of one of the bills passed – Bidduth O Jalanir Druto Sorboraha Briddhi (Bishesh Bidhan) Bill, 2010 – which is absolutely undemocratic and unjust, and therefore anti-people. The law, said to have been enacted for ensuring quick supply of electricity and fuel to the people, stipulates that no court of the country will have the right to take into cognisance for trial of any steps taken under the legislation in question by any authorities, public or private, in the future. In other words, the parliament members belonging to the ruling coalition have enacted in advance, with the opposition MPs absent from the House, an indemnity law to save the skin of the government of the day, and its private sector partners concerned, from the trial of any illegal steps to be taken, and corruption to be committed, in the business of generation and supply of power and electricity.
   
No doubt that the country has been suffering from acute shortage of electricity since long, before the incumbents took office in January 2009. The ruling party was adequately aware of the shortage before the last general elections, for which the party routinely criticised its political predecessors. Moreover, in its election manifesto, the ruling Awami League had marked gas and electricity generation as a priority issue to be addressed immediately after the formation of the government. The party was voted to power about two years ago but its government has done nothing significant about resolving the power crisis. Now, with almost two years of its tenure already over, the government has made the 'special' law to urgently solve the problem, with the 'help' of some private companies, and arranged for indemnity in advance so that they are not tried in the future for any illegal and irregular steps, if taken, in the process of buying or generating power! The very act of making such a law in advance clearly hints that the government and its private sector partners have already planned some illegal and non-transparent steps, understandably to make some quick money, in the name of solving power crisis on an urgent basis. Where was this 'urgency' over the last two years? One wonders if the government deliberately allowed the problem to become more severe only to justify this indemnity to a vicious group of people planning to plunder a huge amount of money from the public exchequer.
   
The concept of indemnity itself is undemocratic, for it ignores the issue of accountability to the people — a core principle of democratic governance. The newly enacted indemnity law is, therefore, unacceptable, completely unacceptable. The politically conscious and democratically oriented sections of society, therefore, need to raise their voice against this indemnity law before the public money is being plundered under it. The power sector, after all, involves a huge amount of money.
 


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Re: [ALOCHONA] New BNP stance on war crimes trial unfair, unacceptable



The war crimes trial is unacceptable and irrelevant.

Who is speaking for the "injustice towards those who were killed, tortured, raped and burnt" by successive "democratic" governments?

I am tired of lip service about law and order, the constitution and people's rights - none of these exist. Until these are extended to the living, all attempts to extend them to the dead are cynical political ploys. No more, no less.

Emanur Rahman | m. +447734567561 | e. emanur@rahman.com


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Subject: [ALOCHONA] New BNP stance on war crimes trial unfair, unacceptable

New BNP stance on war crimes trial unfair, unacceptable

THE opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has visibly changed its position as regards the trial of the Bengali collaborators of the Pakistan army that committed war crimes against the people of Bangladesh in 1971. Until Tuesday, the party's spokespersons maintained that the BNP does not have any problem with the war crimes being investigated and the criminals tried, while warning the government that it must not victimise leaders and activists of the opposition camp, in the name of trying war crimes. Fair enough. But on Tuesday, the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, told a gathering of a section of the freedom fighters, according to a report front-paged by New Age on Wednesday, that 'attempts are being made to push the nation to a confrontation in the name of war crimes trial four decades after independence.' Referring to the clemency given to the guilty of the Pakistani army by the post-independence government of the Awami League, and subsequent 'general amnesty' to the collaborators, Khaleda also said 'such double standard' of the ruling party 'must be resisted'. The BNP chairperson has taken a clear position against the 'war crimes trial' in the name of consolidating 'national unity'. We believe the new BNP stance on the issue of war crimes trial is unfair—and thus unacceptable—as it amounts to injustice towards those who were killed, tortured, raped and burnt by the occupation forces of Pakistan and their local collaborators during the country's liberation war.
   
It is historically true that the post-independence government of the Awami League officially 'forgave' the guilty officers of the Pakistan army, saying that 'the Bengalis know how to forgive.' It is also true that the Awami League government of the day granted 'general amnesty' to the local collaborators, of course, barring those involved in heinous crimes like killing, rape and arson. We believe such steps of the post-independence Awami League government were unjust, as those amounted to injustice towards those who sacrificed lives, underwent brutal torture, humiliation and enormous ordeal for the sake of national liberation. We believe the government of the day did not have the moral right to 'forgive' the perpetrators of war crimes.
  
 However, the inability, or opportunistic reluctance, of the post-independence government to try the perpetrators of war crimes and their collaborators does not mean that the crimes cannot be investigated and the criminals punished now, forty years after the war of independence. There are instances in history that war crimes have been tried several years after the crimes were committed. It is better late than never, especially when it comes to justice. We have no reason to believe the mere trial of war crimes would divide the nation anew – the nation is already divided on political lines – as the number of 'collaborators' in 1971 was very few as against the entire population of the day who stood for the country's liberation from the occupation forces.
   
We, therefore, believe the government should go ahead with the trial of the collaborators of war crimes, and demand that the surviving officers of the Pakistan army who perpetrated war crimes in Bangladesh should be handed over to the war crimes tribunal for trial. Notably, the Pakistani authorities, while signing the tripartite agreement with Bangladesh and India for the repatriation of the guilty officers to Pakistan in 1973, promised to try their crimes in their homeland. But the Pakistani authorities failed to keep the commitment. It is time that Bangladesh demanded, at the least, that the guilty officers be tried in Pakistan in accordance with the commitment that its government had made four decades ago.
   
Meanwhile, the country's democratically oriented citizens committed to justice require to keep an eye on the whole process of the trial in Dhaka, so that the trial is fair and transparent, and that the government of Awami League cannot victimise its political rivals in the name of trying the perpetrators/collaborators of war crime, nor can it prolong the trial unduly for politically using the issue for parochial partisan interests for the years to come, as it has done before.
 


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Re: [ALOCHONA] Bangladesh troops to Afghanistan: should we feel flattered?



I quote -

"No way. A country that gave a sea of blood to win liberty could not go and fight to kill forces resisting foreign occupation. A military dictator had sent troops to the First Gulf War. A democratic government has better and wiser things to do."

Let's get our facts straight:

• We did not win liberty.
• We do not have a democratic government.
• No elected government since the fall of the military dictator has done anything better or wiser.

Let's get our expectations straight:

• We have traitors in power.
• The ahl al Mujib has already destroyed the BDR.
• The ahl al Mujib will look upon this as an opportunity to destroy the army.

I fully expect our troops to be sent to their death.

Anyone who doesn't is ahl al Mujib or ahl al Fool.

Emanur Rahman | m. +447734567561 | e. emanur@rahman.com


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Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2010 13:43:08 +0600
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Subject: [ALOCHONA] Bangladesh troops to Afghanistan: should we feel flattered?

Bangladesh troops to Afghanistan: should we feel flattered?
 
Dr. Zakir Husain
 
Beleaguered US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Hollbrooke (of Kosovo fame) reportedly did request Bangladesh foreign minister for troops to Afghanistan.
 
Apart from its merit, the request reflects the desperate situation faced by the American led NATO occupation troops. Also perhaps a presumed vulnerability of Bangladesh to earn few brownie points from the US. But no need for a rocket scientist, even a junior student of diplomacy would know that powerful countries conduct foreign affairs and collect friends only in national interest and as long as needed. There is no such thing as fidelity. Forget the incestuous relationship enjoyed by Israel. That is an aberration of extreme rarity.
 
Coming back to Afghanistan where the mightiest power (military power that is) leads a 40-odd contributing countries to fight a few thousand Talibans where is the need for a few hundred Bangladesh troops? What role for them? Certainly not to escort school kids home!
 
So are they needed to put a "Muslim face" on a "Christian" campaign (Bush's crusade) to civilise the "uncivilised" Afghans? Or does the US envoy assume that Bangladesh troops are available as mercenary troops on hire to the highest bidder? And at cheaper rate too!
 
Yes, Bangladesh is a major contributor of troops to the UN peace keeping missions. But where is the peace to keep in Afghanistan? The contrary fact is: Afghanistan is deeply troubled. Only the proverbial fools would rush in where angels fear to tread. The well meaning and altruistic "angels" of NATO went in, messed up and made things even worse; now they are calling for help from any unsuspecting source. Does Bangladesh has to be naive or vulnerable? None I believe.
 
What difference could a Bangladesh contingent make when the blueblood "super troops" from America, joined by Britain, Germany and Canada proved incompetent and utterly clueless? Now one by one allies are abandoning the ship. America feels abandoned and so is in search of new "partners" even if from the "third world"! The US president already announced plans to planning to start exiting by mid 2011. The cheerleader Bush is having the last laugh leaving incumbent Obama such a precarious choice to "win victory". But is there a simple choice? No. Afghanistan has been tribal territory and tribal retaliation can be unforgiven and unremitting as history proved time and again.
 
Richard Hollbrooke we know is no amateur diplomat. That is why I am curious, indeed very curious. Does he take poor puny Bangladesh for granted? And naive too? What made him judge that Bangladesh will jump on the US bandwagon of a losing if not lost war for a pat on its back or worse still for a few dollars more?
 
No way. A country that gave a sea of blood to win liberty could not go and fight to kill forces resisting foreign occupation. A military dictator had sent troops to the First Gulf War. A democratic government has better and wiser things to do. If necessary a look at Pakistan torn apart by sectarian violence and slaughter of civilians and militants alike should bring second thoughts. How strange that Pakistan's military ruler had plunged into the American war on Afghanistan. Now the people of Pakistan are paying the price — a very stiff price indeed. For what? A few billion dollars worth military hardware to fight someone else's war and slaughter thousands of troops as canon fodder? What a shame! What travesty of democracy!
 
Indeed Bangladesh has enough on its plate at home to counter militant extremism. Why should the country invite and import even more?
 


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