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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

[ALOCHONA] Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war



Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war

• Man codenamed Curveball 'invented' tales of bioweapons
• Iraqi told lies to try to bring down Saddam Hussein regime
• Fabrications used by US as justification for invasion

Read the full story of how the US was duped
 

The defector who convinced the White House that Iraq had a secret biological weapons programme has admitted for the first time that he lied about his story, then watched in shock as it was used to justify the war.

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed Curveball by German and American intelligence officials who dealt with his claims, has told the Guardian that he fabricated tales of mobile bioweapons trucks and clandestine factories in an attempt to bring down the Saddam Hussein regime, from which he had fled in 1995.

"Maybe I was right, maybe I was not right," he said. "They gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. I and my sons are proud of that and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy."

The admission comes just after the eighth anniversary of Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations in which the then-US secretary of state relied heavily on lies that Janabi had told the German secret service, the BND. It also follows the release of former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld's memoirs, in which he admitted Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction programme.

The careers of both men were seriously damaged by their use of Janabi's claims, which he now says could have been – and were – discredited well before Powell's landmark speech to the UN on 5 February 2003.

The former CIA chief in Europe Tyler Drumheller describes Janabi's admission as "fascinating", and said the emergence of the truth "makes me feel better". "I think there are still a number of people who still thought there was something in that. Even now," said Drumheller.

In the only other at length interview Janabi has given he denied all knowledge of his supposed role in helping the US build a case for invading Saddam's Iraq.

In a series of meetings with the Guardian in Germany where he has been granted asylum, he said he had told a German official, who he identified as Dr Paul, about mobile bioweapons trucks throughout 2000. He said the BND had identified him as a Baghdad-trained chemical engineer and approached him shortly after 13 March of that year, looking for inside information about Saddam's Iraq.

"I had a problem with the Saddam regime," he said. "I wanted to get rid of him and now I had this chance."

He portrays the BND as gullible and so eager to tease details from him that they gave him a Perry's Chemical Engineering Handbook to help communicate. He still has the book in his small, rented flat in Karlsruhe, south-west Germany.

"They were asking me about pumps for filtration, how to make detergent after the reaction," he said. "Any engineer who studied in this field can explain or answer any question they asked."

Janabi claimed he was first exposed as a liar as early as mid-2000, when the BND travelled to a Gulf city, believed to be Dubai, to speak with his former boss at the Military Industries Commission in Iraq, Dr Bassil Latif.

The Guardian has learned separately that British intelligence officials were at that meeting, investigating a claim made by Janabi that Latif's son, who was studying in Britain, was procuring weapons for Saddam.

That claim was proven false, and Latif strongly denied Janabi's claim of mobile bioweapons trucks and another allegation that 12 people had died during an accident at a secret bioweapons facility in south-east Baghdad.

The German officials returned to confront him with Latif's version. "He says, 'There are no trucks,' and I say, 'OK, when [Latif says] there no trucks then [there are none],'" Janabi recalled.

He said the BND did not contact him again until the end of May 2002. But he said it soon became clear that he was still being taken seriously.

He claimed the officials gave him an incentive to speak by implying that his then pregnant Moroccan-born wife may not be able to travel from Spain to join him in Germany if he did not co-operate with them. "He says, you work with us or your wife and child go to Morocco."

The meetings continued throughout 2002 and it became apparent to Janabi that a case for war was being constructed. He said he was not asked again about the bioweapons trucks until a month before Powell's speech.

After the speech, Janabi said he called his handler at the BND and accused the secret service of breaking an agreement that they would not share anything he had told them with another country. He said he was told not to speak and placed in confinement for around 90 days.

With the US now leaving Iraq, Janabi said he was comfortable with what he did, despite the chaos of the past eight years and the civilian death toll in Iraq, which stands at more than 100,000.

"I tell you something when I hear anybody – not just in Iraq but in any war – [is] killed, I am very sad. But give me another solution. Can you give me another solution?"Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq. There were no other possibilities."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/defector-admits-wmd-lies-iraq-war

Curveball's lies – and the consequences



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[ALOCHONA] Bangladesh: Suppressing Media Freedom



Bangladesh: Suppressing Media Freedom

By Dr. K. M. A. Malik

War on Amar Desh and Mahmudur Rahman

When the current Awami League (AL)-led government came to power in January 2009, they promised to allow freedom of expression, not to control media and not to interfere with the judicial process, and so on. But their policies and performance during the last one and a half years in office suggest that there is a wide gap between their public utterances and their actions.

The latest example of the government's dealing with the prestigious daily newspaper Amar Desh and its acting editor Mahmudur Rahman exposes the hypocrisy of the ruling group towards 'embarrassing media' in general and an extreme form of vengeance towards an 'uncompromising editor' in particular. This sort of actions against a national daily and its editor is totally unjustifiable and unacceptable.

Amar Desh was closed down last week (on June 1) and Mahmudur Rahman arrested after a night-long seize of the paper's headquarters and its printing press by strong contingents (about 200) of police and security personnel. These brutal actions were taken without any court order, but on the basis of an allegation extracted under duress by the National Security Intelligence (NSI) from the publisher of the paper. Mr. Rahman was sent to jail immediately after his arrest. The whole nation witnessed, with great apprehension and horror, another mid-night drama staged by the Awami League government during the closure of Amar Desh and arrest of Mahmudur Rahman.

According to media reports on June 7 (bdnews24.com), the government charged Mr. Rahman for alleged 'sedition' (in addition to fraud, obstructing police in their duties, etc) and took him into police 'remand' for questioning. The latest news on June 8 is that the remand period has been extended to twelve days and that he has been charged with another serious 'crime' of 'militancy'. We do not know the exact language of these charges at the time of writing this article, but it looks like the government wants to 'finish off' Mahmudur Rahman by implicating him with 'sedition', 'conspiracy' and 'Islamic militancy'. These are all very serious charges and the government would probably produce fabricated documents and false 'witnesses' to 'prove' the allegations in a 'kangaroo court' so that Mahmudur Rahman is awarded the heaviest punishment possible. The government does not seem to have an iota of shame in resorting to outright lies and nakedly using the state organs to demonise and destroy the strongest media voice in the country.

The AL leaders and their apologists, say that Amar Desh was closed by the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Dhaka, who is theoretically in charge of permitting or canceling the publication of a newspaper and that the government has nothing to do with it. Nothing can be further from the truth. The DC could not take such a controversial decision without instructions from 'higher authorities'. In fact, the DC is as guilty as the 'higher authorities' for not acting upon the request of Amar Desh owners for the change of publisher's name in time. The facts related to the dispute between the government and Mahmudur Rahman on Amar Desh and leading to the latest episode has been described by eminent journalist Shafiq Rehman (http://www.dailynayadiganta.com/2010/06/06). It is evident from this report that it is not Mahmudur Rahman but the government itself which is guilty of creating such a dangerous situation with unforeseen consequences.

Sheikh Hasina's role

Is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina beyond criticism for the government's latest assault on their perceived enemies and 'disobedient' media? The answer is most probably 'no'. It is no secret that the current government is basically 'one person' show (a legacy of past Bangladesh history); she is surrounded by about sixty ministers and advisers but most of them are only 'post holders' and not decision makers. Top posts everywhere in the administration and security services are entrusted only to those who are Hasina loyalists and have pro-India leanings. This is very sad, but true. There has been a witch-hunt in all government departments including the police and security agencies and those officers suspected to be disloyal to Hasina and India have been ruthlessly thrown out of service. It is also known that those within the ruling party notorious for making controversial, crude and motivated comments against political opponents as well as a few with allegations of criminal acts are close to Sheikh Hasina. She is forgiving to the misdeeds of her own family members and followers but totally uncivil and hostile to her political opponents. She enjoys being called the so-called 'daughter of democracy' and 'champion of human rights' by her sycophants and blind followers, but in reality she is extremely autocratic in decision making, vitriolic to opposition leaders but indifferent to the crimes of her own party leaders and 'cadres'.

Mahmudur Rahman has been a thorn in the flesh of Hasina government and her foreign patrons, but he is neither a 'conspirator' nor a 'traitor' as alleged by the government. He wrote powerful columns during the highly controversial Moeenuddin-Fakhruddin regime against the arbitrary arrest and detention of both Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina (as well as hundreds of political and business leaders and thousands of grass-root political workers). He argued for quick restoration of democracy and the need for legitimacy by electoral mandate to govern the country. He was one of the very few journalists and columnists to unmask the evil designs of Bangladesh's foreign enemies and their local collaborators including the 'gang of four Generals'. Mahmudur Rahman earned nation-wide fame and respect by virtue of his knowledge, personal and intellectual honesty, analytical skill, and, above all, by his sincerity in belief and commitment to democracy and justice. But at the same time he earned the wrath of powerful quarters for being straightforward in expressing his views and exposing their deficiencies and misguided policies to make Bangladesh a vassal state of the Indian hegemons.

To many observers, the latest measures against Amar Desh and Mahmudur Rahman could not have been taken by the state organs/authorities unless ordered, instigated or allowed by Sheikh Hasina herself. She is the 'supreme leader' of AL and its allies, and nothing significant happens in Bangladesh today without her order or consent. This tradition of 'personal power' exposes the bankruptcy of the major political parties, and intolerance and cruelty of our rulers as a whole, but especially of those under the AL flag. Their contempt for freedom of expression and rule of law has no parallel. According to one senior political analyst, Sheikh Hasina thinks that her father made Bangladesh and only she and her family have the natural right to own and rule the country. In her mind, no other leader or party have any right to rule the country even if they are elected by the people.

Mahmudur Rahman's life in danger

Everybody knows what the word 'remand' means in Bangladesh. This dreadful word means psychological pressure, blackmail and physical torture on the detainees to extract confessional statements, extort money, and in extreme cases even to eliminate hostile witnesses. During the BDR investigations, for example, hundreds of detainees were tortured and many (about 70) of those allegedly died 'from heart attack' or they committed 'suicide' as the government would claim. But those stories were received with skepticism by most human rights workers who believe that the detainees died due to carelessness and/or excessive torture by the interrogators. In the existing culture of torture in detention and the blanket impunity enjoyed by those responsible for such unlawful practices, we have every reason to be seriously concerned about the safety and life of Mahmudur Rahman.

The human rights organization, Odhikar, is also seriously concerned about the life of Mahmudur Rahman. In a statement issued on June 6, it says "The chain of events is very alarming. Mahmudur Rahman has been physically attacked a couple of times. Heavy stones and bricks have been thrown at his car in Bangladesh and he was also attacked with a sharp object during his visit to London, which could have fatally injured him. Given this history the repeated attempts by the government to take him to remand is of grave concern to us."

"Odhikar has always fought against custodial torture and death. Despite the fact that the government has made repeated promises to the international community regarding upholding human rights, gross violations of human rights have not abated in the country. In this context, Odhikar is deeply concerned about the life and safety of Mahmudur Rahman. We therefore, appeal to all the human rights defenders to write to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh to ensure the safety of Mahmudur Rahman and to stop all attempts to take him into remand, against the fundamental principles of human rights and international norms."

It is to be noted that eliminating political opponents is nothing new to AL culture. Remember the murder of Siraj Shikder under detention in dubious circumstances on January 2, 1975, and the subsequent boasting by the topmost AL leader? How many people belonging to the opposition parties were killed during the first AL rule (1972-75) by the infamous Rakkhi Bahini and pro-government activists? The commonly quoted figure is twenty-five to thirty-five thousand. How many newspapers were banned? All but four daily newspapers under government control. Was there any guarantee of 'natural death' for journalists? No, not for those writing critical reports on the AL corruption and violence, according to the legendary journalist Nirmal Sen.

People may be more conscious now than in 1970s about their political and intellectual freedom, but has the character of the ruling elite changed? Have they become more tolerant and less aggressive towards the opposing points of view and those perceived as contenders or threat to their power, position and privileges? The answer is 'No', if we consider the recent moves by the government.

II

All round condemnation

The banning of Amar Desh and taking into remand its acting editor Mahmudur Rahman have been seriously protested and condemned, both nationally and internationally. The British and US diplomats in Dhaka are reported to have expressed concerns at the government's attempt to gag the media and to curtail freedom of expression.

Editors of 27 national dailies, weeklies, news agencies and periodicals in a joint statement on June 5 demanded immediate withdrawal of the order canceling the declaration of the daily Amar Desh and release of its acting editor Mahmudur Rahman. (New Age, June 6, 2010).

The statement reads, "We think such steps of the government are a grave threat to the freedom of expression. The decision to close down a newspaper would send a negative message to international arena about tolerance towards others' opinions, democratic values and culture in Bangladesh. At the same time it will be seen as an obstacle to practice of democracy and its nurture at home."

"Besides, the decision would make seven hundred permanent and part-time staff of the newspaper jobless and throw their families into terrible hardships. We call for immediate withdrawal of the order canceling the declaration of the daily Amar Desh and release of its acting editor Mahmudur Rahman," it said.

Several international media watch-dogs and human rights organisations have also condemned the latest actions by the government against Amar Desh and Mahmudur Rahman.

Paris-based international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned Bangladesh authorities for closing Amar Desh and expressed concerns about the paper's detained editor. "The night-time raid by armed police on the daily's headquarters and the use of force to arrest editor Mahmudur Rahman are unworthy of a government that claims to respect the rule of law," the group said in a statement. It also said that members of the National Security Intelligence service had taken the publisher, Hashmat Ali, to their headquarters where he was forced to sign blank sheets of papers.

The Vienna-based (Austria) International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, expressed concerns. "We are concerned that the Bangladeshi government is using administrative sanctions to limit the newspaper's ability to criticize its policies," said IPI Director David Dadge. "I urge Prime Minister Sheik Hasina to live up to her promises and ensure that journalists are allowed to distribute information and opinions free of harassment or intimidation," he added.

The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued similar statements. It termed the shutdown as politically motivated. "Using 200 police to shut down a newspaper in the middle of the night over alleged publication irregularities is excessive and suggests the government is trying to suppress a critical media outlet," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator.

The Hong Kong-based rights group Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urged the Bangladesh government to stop media repression. It urged the Bangladeshi authorities to restore the publication of the newspaper and also to release the detained media workers immediately and withdraw fabricated cases against them.

Other media outlets censored/closed

Amar Desh and its acting editor are the latest victims of the AL assault on free media, but not the only ones. According to AHRC, "the cancellation of the declaration of the daily Amar Desh was not an isolated incident in Bangladesh, it was, rather, part of a 'trend that has happened as a continuous process in the closing of two private television channels and the blocking of Facebook in the country without any reasonable grounds."

During the last eighteen months, the government has closed down two TV stations, Channel One and Jamuna TV, and banned DeshCalling blog, Youtube and Facebook on various pretexts. It has closed several TV talk shows and imposed different restrictions on what can be telecast. There are informal instructions by the government agencies not to invite 'wrong' kind of people in TV programmes. Newspapers editors have been asked not to print material critising government and its policies. Mr. Nurul Kabir, Editor of the daily New Age was attacked by pro-government hooligans for his strong criticisms of some government policies.

Many other political, media and community groups both in Bangladesh and abroad including The Voice for Justice World Forum, Justice for Bangladesh, Journalist Rights International, Amar Desh Readers Forum, Campaign for Freedom of Press and Media based in London have condemned the government actions and demanded withdrawal of ban on Amar Desh and release of Mahmudur Rahman.

The report on Amar Desh and Mahmudur Rahman got headlines in the foreign press including BBC, the Guardian in UK, The Hindu in India, and AFP.

Why close Amar Desh and punish Mahmudur Rahman?

It is now clear that the AL government has been suppressing the media in fear of criticism of its own actions that threaten the democratic process and rule of law in Bangladesh. But why the government has let loose such a reign of terror specifically on Amar Desh and Mahmudur Rahman when it is already under severe criticism on the recent Facebook ban?

According to journalist Shafiq Rehman, Amar Desh and Mahmudur Rahman are targets of government vendetta for five reasons: The paper has published (1) regular reports on the deteriorating law and order situation and exposing the criminal activities of its youth and student wings, (2) statistical reports on the crease in the price of essential items, (3) report on the connection of Sheikh Hasina's son Shajib Wajed Joy with the US oil giant Chevron and alleged corruption, (4) report that the father of Engineer Mosarraf Hossain, a minister and Sheikh Hasina's close relative, was a 'razakar' (a fact also confirmed by Hasina's deputy Sajeda Chowdhury), and (5) connection of state minister Kamrul Islam and his family with 'Hekimi' or 'Islamic' medicine business and other allegations. (Daily Naya Diganta, June 6, 2010).

The reasons mentioned by Shafik Rehman are all fact-based and valid. But in my opinion, there are also other very crucial reasons (not discussed openly) which led to the government's deadly assault on Amar Desh and Mahmudur Rahman.

Firstly, Amar Desh has been publishing (in several installments), prior to its closure, the 'official' version of the Anisuzzaman Report on BDR Massacre, which clearly implicates the controversial roles of some AL leaders including Nanak, Taposh and Mirza Azam in the dreadful massacre, and the sheer incompetence and/or stupidity of some ministers including Faruk Khan and Sahara Khatun. The Report has raised more questions than providing credible answers on the roles of some AL leaders and some officers within the security/intelligence establishments. As is the usual practice, the government does not want the truth to be revealed, so that their own alleged involvement in the crime is not exposed. The agenda to destroy the BDR and Army has been implemented without people realising how deep was the conspiracy and who masterminded the whole scheme.

Publication of Anisuzzaman Report and other articles related to BDR conspiracy, BSF killings at the border, lowering the guard on the country's own defence and security, etc., could not be tolerated by leaders who have personal, family and political debt to pay to others. They have to strike back at those media and people who are considered as 'trouble-makers' and 'enemies'.

Second, Amar Desh and Mahmudur Rahman, together with some other writers and analysts at home and abroad, have been in the fore-front to expose the imperialist and hegemonic agenda (led by India and supported by the US, EU and some international organisations including the rubber-stamp UN, IMF, World Bank, ADB) to turn Bangladesh into a vassal state like Bhutan (without any disrespect to the Bhutanese people).

Third, Sheikh Hasina is now giving away (for what?) genuine national, economic and strategic interests of Bangladesh to the New Delhi rulers in different fields such as permitting India transit/corridor facilities through Bangladesh at the latter's cost (money borrowed from India at much higher interest rate than available from other sources such as China, South Korea, WB, etc), offering sea port facilities for unknown gains, giving a free hand or preference to Indian citizens and businesses in different sectors including telecommunications, transport, health, media, entertainment, etc. Amar Desh as a media and Mahmudur Rahman as a columnist and campaigner have been constantly asking questions about these offers to India by the AL government without any concrete returns to Bangladesh.

Fourth, India's water aggression against Bangladesh (Farakka, Tipaimukh, Teesta, Brahmaputra, etc) is a topic AL wants not be raised and discussed. Amar Desh has become an enemy of AL, Hasina and India by raising this issue. Photographic depictions of the dry river beds of Padma, Teesta and Brahmaputra in recent issues of Amar Desh must have embarrassed the incumbent rulers and their Indian patrons.

Fifth, Amar Desh has given prominence to the news and views on the deployment of Indian Commandos (special forces) in different places in the country including its Embassy in Dhaka and bringing in Indian 'air marshals' in Dhaka airport. These steps and also the arrests and handover of some leading Indian insurgent leaders in secret operations have been published in Amar Desh, to great annoyance of AL and India.

Sixth, Hasina under Indian pressure has distanced Bangladesh from China, entered into secret military pact with India in a scheme to turn Bangladesh army into a reserve force for India's ongoing wars in the north east and possible future conflict with China. Mahmudur Rahman has raised a strong voice against this evil design and also against Bangladesh becoming a 'junior partner' in the US-India-Israel led 'war on terror'.

Conclusion

Amar Desh and Mahmudur Rahaman have become deadly targets by the AL government and their foreign patrons for many visible and invisible reasons. No body should think that this is a simple legal or procedural dispute. It is a declaration of war on free media by a regime, which is contemptuous to opposing political views and revenge-driven. We must realise that if they succeed in 'finishing off' Amar Desh and Mahmudur Rahman now, there would be more victims in the coming days and months.

[The author is a former Professor, Dhaka University (Bangladesh) and Lecturer, Cardiff University, UK. Contact e-mail: kmamalik@aol.com]
 


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[ALOCHONA] The Shame Of Being An American...



The Shame Of Being An American...

 
The United States government has overestimated the amount of shame that it and American citizens can live down.  On February 15 "the indispensable people" had to suffer the hypocrisy of the U.S. Secretary of State delivering a speech about America's commitment to Internet freedom while the U.S. Department of Justice (sic) brought unconstitutional action against Twitter to reveal any connection between WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning, the American hero who, in keeping with the U.S. Military Code, exposed U.S. government war crimes and who is being held in punishing conditions not permitted by the U.S. Constitution. The corrupt U.S. government is trying to create a "conspiracy" case against Julian Assange in order to punish him for revealing U.S. government documents that prove beyond every doubt the mendacity of the U.S. government.

This is pretty bad, but it pales in comparison to the implications revealed on February 15 in the British newspaper, The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/curveball-iraqi-fantasist-cia-saddam 

The Guardian obtained an interview with "Curveball," the source for Colin Powell's speech of total lies to the United Nations about Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Colin Powell's speech created the stage for the illegal American invasion of Iraq.The Guardian describes "Curveball" as "the man who pulled off one of the greatest confidence tricks in the history of modern intelligence." As The Guardian puts it, "Curveball" "manufactured a tale of dread."

U.S. "intelligence" never interviewed "Curveball."  The Americans started a war based on second-hand information given to them by incompetent German intelligence, which fell for "Curveball's" lies that today German intelligence disbelieves.

As the world now knows, Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The Bush/Cheney Regime, of course, knew this, but "Curveball's" lies were useful to their undeclared agenda. In his interview with The Guardian, "Curveball," Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, admitted that he made the whole story up. He wanted to do in Saddam Hussein and told whatever fantasy lie he could make up that would serve his purpose.

If the Bush/Cheney Regime had really believed that Saddam Hussein had world-threatening weapons of mass destruction, it would have been a criminal act to concentrate America's invading force in a small area of Kuwait where a few WMD could have wiped out the entire U.S. invasion force, thus ending the war before it began.

Some Americans are so thoughtless that they would say that Saddam Hussein would never have used the weapons, because we would have done this and that to Iraq, even nuking Baghdad.  But why would Saddam Hussein care if he and his regime were already marked for death? Why would a doomed man desist from inflicting an extraordinary defeat on the American Superpower, thus encouraging Arabs everywhere? Moreover, if Saddam Hussein was unwilling to use his WMD against an invading force, when would he ever use them?  It was completely obvious to the U.S. government that no such weapons existed. The weapons inspectors made that completely clear to the Bush/Cheney Regime.  There were no Iraqi WMD, and everyone in the U.S. government was apprised of that fact.

Why was there no wonder or comment in the "free" media that the White House accused Iraq of possession of terrible weapons of mass destruction, but nevertheless concentrated its invasion force in such a small area that such weapons could easily have wiped out the invading force?

Does democracy really exist in a land where the media is incompetent and the government is unaccountable and lies through its teeth every time if opens its mouth?

"Curveball" represents a new level of immorality.  Rafid al-Janabi shares responsibility  for one million dead Iraqis, 4 million displaced Iraqis, a destroyed country, 4,754 dead American troops, 40,000 wounded and maimed American troops, $3 trillion of wasted US resources, every dollar of which is a debt burden to the American population and a threat to the dollar as reserve currency, ten years of propaganda and lies about terrorism and al Qaeda connections, an American "war on terror" that is destroying countless lives in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and which has targeted Iran, and which has destroyed the Bill of Rights, the US Constitution, and the civil liberties that they guarantee.  And the piece of lying excrement, Rafid al-Janabi, is proud that he brought Saddam Hussein's downfall at such enormous expense.

Now that Rafid al-Janabi is revealed in the Guardian interview, how safe is he?  There are millions of Iraqis capable of exterminating him for their suffering, and tens of thousands of Americans whose lives have been ruined by Rafid al-Janabi's lies. 

Why does the U.S. government pursue Julian Assange and WikiLeaks for telling the truth when "Curveball," whose lies wiped out huge numbers of people along with America's reputation, thinks he can start a political party in Iraq? If the piece of excrement, Rafid al-Janabi, is not killed the minute he appears in Iraq, it will be a miracle.

So we are left to contemplate that a totally incompetent American government has bought enormous instability to its puppet states in the Middle East, because it desperately wanted to believe faulty "intelligence" from Germany that an immoralist provided evidence that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction.

And America is a superpower, an indispensable nation. 

What a total joke!


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[ALOCHONA] Tagore house broken



Tagore house broken
 
 


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[ALOCHONA] The Pharaohs Of India



The Pharaohs Of India

By Satya Sagar

When will the Indian public rise up by the millions against its corrupt rulers a la Egypt or Tunisia? When will the Indian sub-continent witness a mass upsurge against exploitation of the majority by a decadent minority elite? How long will the Indian people continue to put up with rising prices, grinding poverty, rampant disease and loot of the country by its leaders?

These are some of the questions being repeatedly asked by thousands of Indians clued into international news, in universities, colleges on internet chat sessions ever since the inspiring winds of change started blowing in the Arab world early this year.

The questions are quite natural, given the great discontent that has been swelling up among the people of India for many years now. Problem is, they may be way off the mark in their hopes about what is happening in the Arab world as also their understanding of what India is really all about.

To begin with, though there is no doubt the ouster of dictators from both Egypt and Tunisia are historical events; it is too early to say whether they are really revolutions that will transform the lives of their ordinary folk. The devil as they say lies in the details and doubts remain as to what the current upheaval will mean in specific terms of social welfare or democratic and political rights.

In both countries for example the transition to new regimes have been quite carefully orchestrated by the military, the same institution holding power behind the previous one. The history of betrayal of revolutions by clever generals spouting populist rhetoric, while forging a new dictatorship, is too long in the region for anyone to forget.

Secondly, the United States has welcomed the changes in both countries, another bad sign, given the evil role it has played in propping up one dictator after the other in the region. US politicians championing 'Liberty and freedom', have as much credibility as say MacDonald's promoting a healthy and balanced diet. The truth is that Uncle Sam does not mind – as Henry Kissinger's colourfully put it once- any bastard in power as long as it is ensured he is 'our bastard'.

Thirdly, even if Egypt and Tunisia transform into liberal democracies with regular elections, separation of powers between the legislature, executive and judiciary at best they will start looking like the many democracies in the developing world. As long as the rules governing accumulation and inheritance of wealth are not radically changed to ensure more equitable distribution of resources, power too will always remain concentrated in a few hands.

If the protestors in Arab world are not careful and persistent enough the danger is they could in fact become like India, the world's 'biggest democracy'! What that really means, we will come to a bit later, but first a recounting of modern Indian history.

India's own big, united national movement against concentrated despotism happened during the time of their fight against British colonial rule. The presence of a single, identifiable enemy helped to mobilise a diverse range of forces around the sub-continent, even though the tragic Partition of India and Pakistan underscored its great weaknesses too.

The momentum of that grand struggle spawned the trappings of Indian democracy capped by a liberal and progressive Constitution, something that the Egyptians and Tunisians are demanding now. There can be no doubt about the importance and achievements of the Indian anti-colonial movement but all that is well and truly over now.

In the past six decades since Independence, slowly but steadily, every modern democratic institution in the country has now been shorn of its original intent or values, degraded and even destroyed by a deadly marriage between unprincipled politics and ill-gotten wealth. A marriage brokered by the vast state machinery of the Indian bureaucracy and police and guaranteed by the third largest standing army in the world.

The educated Indian middle-classes, who could be the guardians of liberal democracy, are too busy feasting at this Big Fat Wedding reception of business and power to take notice. It is an unscrupulous gluttony paid for through the looting of ordinary Indian people, who don't get even the leftovers of this orgy and suffer endlessly, often living inhuman lives or simply curl up and die.

Many are protesting too and what is paradoxical is that while the Indian masses may not be together in one big national movement, everywhere you see people also continuously protesting against such despotism. Whether it is movements against land grab by corporations, dysfunctional governments, regional discrimination or oppression of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities the Indian public is in permanent but scattered revolt.

They have no single target to vent their ire upon because the targets are too many in a vast and diverse country like India, which is the size of many Egypts and Tunisias put together. There are not one but hundreds of Pharaohs like Hosni Mubaraks and Ben Alis strewn all around the nation, each running his or her own despotic fiefdom of business or politics or feudal control.

The surface competition among these various Pharaohs as they fight over the loot gives ordinary citizens some space between the legs of the dinosaurs and the illusion that there is still some democracy left in the country. Look around carefully though and what you will find are multiple cartels of politicians, businessmen, feudal lords and state officials scratching each other's backs while saving each other's ass too.

This is what Indian democracy has become, a coalition of homegrown colonialists fighting over an inherited Empire but carefully ensuring complete impunity to each other. Not a single important politician or businessman or bureaucrat in modern India has ever gone to prison for corruption or cheating the public of their resources or for that matter organizing murderous riots repeatedly.

At the same time India's 1356 prisons are bursting at their seams, overcrowded beyond capacity with over 384,753 prisoners, as per 2008 figures of the National Bureau of Crime. Of these a whopping two thirds are undertrials, the highest proportion of such prisoners anywhere in the world, indicating a complete collapse of our criminal justice system.

Most of these are from the Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim communities underscoring the racist and discriminatory nature of the current Indian Empire. As Dr Binayak Sen, the well-known health and human rights activist, has pointed out Dalits and Adivasis are also the biggest sufferers of the millions of deaths due to malnutrition that take place in the country every year.

So on top of everything else Indian rulers are also guilt of nothing less than a silent, ongoing genocide, which the world has turned a blind eye to. That Dr Sen is right now in prison, 'convicted' by a Raipur sessions court for 'sedition' and denied bail by the Chhattisgarh High Court is testimony to the hazards that dissidents in India face today for speaking truth to power.

The political trial and conviction of Dr Sen itself, condemned globally, also underscores the rot in the Indian judiciary, which forms the very core of our democracy. With a few honorable exceptions the country's judiciary has been reduced to a bunch of folks who have neither head, nor heart, nor conscience, as they slavishly turn the creaking wheels of a colonial legal apparatus for the benefit of their business and political patrons

So how and when will India change and what does it mean to be inspired by the mass revolts in Egypt, Tunisia or elsewhere against despotism? The answers are not easy as the sheer size and diversity of the Indian subcontinent means the list of grievances and demands is also bound to be long and varied.

But it is possible and indeed imperative to find common grounds for coming together in a nationwide movement also. The themes of this united front have to be economic and social justice, respect for the demands of India's diverse nationalities, an end to the unholy alliance of business and political power and an insistence on turning the Indian state into servants of the people instead of the masters they have become now.

To begin with, a good demand would be for immediate implementation, in both letter and spirit, of the Indian Constitution. As the only widely agreed set of rules to emerge from the Indian freedom movement, safeguarding the Constitution is the key to both achieving and deepening Indian democracy

Successive Indian government and agencies of the state have been the biggest violators of the Constitution and failed to uphold its principles as evidenced by the widespread poverty, corruption and abuse of fundamental rights in the country. India can indeed be both inspired by Egypt or Tunisia and also become a model for their future only when we end the impunity of our own Pharaohs and establish a genuinely democratic Republic NOW!

Satya Sagar is a writer, journalist and public health activist based in New Delhi. He can be reached at sagarnama@gmail.com
 


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[ALOCHONA] 'Yunus should retire'



'Yunus should retire'
 
Dhaka, Feb 15 (bdnews24.com)--The finance minister has said that Grameen Bank boss Muhammad Yunus should retire. Abul Maal Abdul Muhith told the BBC on Tuesday that Yunus had reached the normal retirement age for private bank executives. The latest comments reflect an increasing divide between the Awami League-led government and Yunus, stated the report.

Muhith said that the government began talking about who would succeed Yunus and redefining the bank's role almost a year ago. The minister pointed out that according to Bangladeshi rules, the retirement age for executives at private banks was 65. Yunus is 70. "He should give it to others to continue because you never continue all the time in any institution," Muhith told the BBC. However, the minister did agree that the retirement rules were seldom implemented to the letter.

Grameen Bank has recently come under the spotlight after a Norwegian television documentary alleged that aid money was wrongly transferred to another part of the bank in the mid-1990s, which bdnews24.com also covered. Subsequently there was another story on Yunus' family business being managed by Grameen Bank in bdnews24.com which had obtained a copy of the contract handing over all management responsibilities of Yunus' family owned Package Corporation to Grameen Bank.

The government set up a review committee in January to look into the bank's affairs. Yunus declined to comment on the finance minister's remarks. 

 


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[ALOCHONA] INDIAN TRANSHIPMENT



INDIAN TRANSHIPMENT
'NBR has to make it happen'
 
Dhaka, Feb 15 (bdnews24.com) – The shipping ministry finds no problem with the transhipment of Indian goods from Kolkata to Agartala through Ashuganj other than the NBR services for making the thing happen.

"We [shipping ministry] have no problem in the transhipment of Indian goods from Kolkata to Agartala through Ashuganj, but thing is that NBR has to provide necessary services to facilitate movement of the products," shipping secretary Abdul Mannan Howlader said on Tuesday.

In a hurriedly organised press conference on his return from India, he said "We have allowed India to use Ashuganj port and we don't have any problem with that. But we are not responsible for any tariff or fee charged for the transhipment".

In India, the top bureaucrat signed the renewal agreement on protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade for one year.

The Ashuganj port on an average handles 50,000 tonnes of bulk cargoes every day and the shipping ministry has no problem if any Indian party use the port for sending goods to Agartala from Kolkata, he said.

Bangladesh in May last year allowed India to tranship its products from Kolkata to Agartala through the land port.

"The NBR has informed us that it has already approved setting up of an office in the port, but I still don't know if the office is operational or not," he added.

India made several requests to BIWTA from June 2010 to allow them to send bulk cargoes through Ashuganj, but it is yet to be materialised.

"The vessel fare from Kolkata to Ashuganj is yet to be decided but it will be fixed soon," Howlader said.

Vessel owners get $12 for carrying per tonne of products from Kolkata to Narayanganj.

About Khanpur container terminal, he said the Indian side expressed its interest to operate the terminal on pilot basis.

"We asked them [India] to provide us terms and conditions and they will make decision after analysing the issue," he said adding, "They will provide their conditions within 15 days."

The containerised trade movement between Bangladesh and India will be possible if Khanpur terminal becomes activated, he observed.

The secretary said in the sidelines of their official talks, the delegations informally discussed to have a separate agreement on entire shipping sector. "It was not in the protocol agenda, but we discussed the issue."

http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=187405&cid=2



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[ALOCHONA] INDIAN TRANSHIPMENT



INDIAN TRANSHIPMENT
'NBR has to make it happen'
 
Dhaka, Feb 15 (bdnews24.com) – The shipping ministry finds no problem with the transhipment of Indian goods from Kolkata to Agartala through Ashuganj other than the NBR services for making the thing happen.

"We [shipping ministry] have no problem in the transhipment of Indian goods from Kolkata to Agartala through Ashuganj, but thing is that NBR has to provide necessary services to facilitate movement of the products," shipping secretary Abdul Mannan Howlader said on Tuesday.

In a hurriedly organised press conference on his return from India, he said "We have allowed India to use Ashuganj port and we don't have any problem with that. But we are not responsible for any tariff or fee charged for the transhipment".

In India, the top bureaucrat signed the renewal agreement on protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade for one year.

The Ashuganj port on an average handles 50,000 tonnes of bulk cargoes every day and the shipping ministry has no problem if any Indian party use the port for sending goods to Agartala from Kolkata, he said.

Bangladesh in May last year allowed India to tranship its products from Kolkata to Agartala through the land port.

"The NBR has informed us that it has already approved setting up of an office in the port, but I still don't know if the office is operational or not," he added.

India made several requests to BIWTA from June 2010 to allow them to send bulk cargoes through Ashuganj, but it is yet to be materialised.

"The vessel fare from Kolkata to Ashuganj is yet to be decided but it will be fixed soon," Howlader said.

Vessel owners get $12 for carrying per tonne of products from Kolkata to Narayanganj.

About Khanpur container terminal, he said the Indian side expressed its interest to operate the terminal on pilot basis.

"We asked them [India] to provide us terms and conditions and they will make decision after analysing the issue," he said adding, "They will provide their conditions within 15 days."

The containerised trade movement between Bangladesh and India will be possible if Khanpur terminal becomes activated, he observed.

The secretary said in the sidelines of their official talks, the delegations informally discussed to have a separate agreement on entire shipping sector. "It was not in the protocol agenda, but we discussed the issue."

http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=187405&cid=2



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[ALOCHONA] Sheikh Mujib is sighted as 'Shadhinoter Ghoshok' in the reprinted Constitution



 
http://www.amardeshonline.com/pages/details/2011/02/15/68323
 
Let all be cleared that whether written in the constitution or not, what is not true, will remain untrue for ever. History evolves in it's own way with the right information with correct perspective.


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Re: [ALOCHONA] Bangladesh bickers as overseas cash falters




This should by our main focus for Bangladesh. BAL was elected to run the country not spend too much time to "Tackle" BNP. People already did that by voting against BNP. It seems BAL is wasting too much time in mega projects that we do not need and not looking into increasing efficiencies in vital sectors like power, transportation, man power export, water resource planning and environment.

We have witnessed changes in exchange rate recently. This is going to impact most Bangladeshis in a bad way (OK few garment owners will be happy!).


-----Original Message-----
From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
Sent: Tue, Feb 15, 2011 2:27 pm
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Bangladesh bickers as overseas cash falters

 
Bangladesh bickers as overseas cash falters

By Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

Bangladesh, which maintained annual economic growth of over 6% when the mightiest world economies were on their knees during the 2007-2009 financial turmoil, is facing a possible balance of payments crisis as a key part of that success story - remittances from overseas workers - appears set to decline.

Remittances, worth as much as 11% of gross domestic product, show signs of reversing their usual strong growth, with an actual fall-off in recent months. As the government and recruiting agents squabble over what is going wrong and how to fix it, Malaysia last month turned the screw by saying it would send home more than 300,000 Bangladeshi workers for visa-related reasons.

"It is definitely a matter of concern," Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (IDS) research director Zaid Bakht told Asia Times Online. The decline is due to sluggish migration, which in turn is linked to a slow global economic recovery, he said.

The changing trend of remittances from workers, most sent abroad by recruiting agencies such as Riaz Overseas Ltd, Greenland Overseas Ltd, Ahmed and Co Ltd, hurts families and also damages Bangladesh's foreign currency reserves and the country's ability to pay for imports.

"Remittances have always helped Bangladesh with a strong foreign currency reserve till now," said Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of the governing body of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) (Rural Work-Aid Foundation) Dhaka. "It is imperative for the Bangladesh government to determine the reasons behind the decline."

IDS director Bakht said: "If the declining trend in remittances persists, our economy will face serious balance of payment problems soon."

The country's overall balance of payments recorded a US$873 million deficit in the five months through November 2010 compared with a $2.2 billion surplus in the year-earlier period due to a lower growth of inward remittances and a deficit balance in the financial account, the central bank announced last week. The current account balance decreased by over 66% to $563 million from $1.67 billion.

"The pressure on external sector may continue in the near future following a widening trade gap and poor performance of inward remittances," Financial Express reported, citing director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Mustafa K Mujeri.

Pressure on foreign exchange reserve has increased a more is being paid for imports, particularly for fuel oils, food grains and power plant equipment, Financial Express reported.

Remittance growth slowed to a 13% increase, with cash flows rising to about US$11 billion, in the 12 months to June 30, 2010, down from 31% growth in early 2008. In January this year, remittances declined to $960 million from $969.4 million a month earlier and $998.98 million in November 2010.

That could point to an annual decline this financial year. As it is, workers sent home $7.7 million less to their families in the seven months through January than the $6.5 billion received in the corresponding months of fiscal 2010.

Remittances during the financial crisis helped the country to maintain vibrant growth, as exports of readymade garments and frozen food, the two most important export sectors, were affected by the global meltdown.

Money sent home from abroad is now worth more than three times the $3.37 billion sent in the year to June 2004 and, until the past few months, was climbing to almost double the $6 billion reached in 2006 and 2007, just before the global financial crisis struck, according to data from the Foreign Exchange Policy department of the Bangladesh Bank (BB).

The country's central bank, Bangladesh Bank (BB) says the latest figures point to dwindling export of manpower and warn that in lieu of drastic measures, the decline in remittance growth will continue.

BB sources attributed the change in remittance trend to Bangladeshi workers being laid off in top destinations in the Arabian Gulf and Asia Pacific countries. Middle Eastern countries employ over 65% of migrant Bangladeshi workers, and last year the number going to Saudi Arabia fell 55.4%, and to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates about 28% each, while further west 46.7% fewer went to Libya.

Overall, the number of workers heading from Bangladesh to other countries dropped more than 20% to 376,327 in calendar 2010 compared with 475,278 in 2009, even as the number of female workers sent overseas increased 11%, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET). As many as 875,055 workers were sent abroad in 2008.

In Southeast Asia, Malaysia will send back some 350,000 Bangladeshi expatriates for overstaying or working without valid visa, Bangladesh expatriates' welfare and overseas employment minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, announced on January 4 this year. The number of workers sent to Malaysia had already dropped 93.5% in 2010 against 2009, according to BMET. Across the border in Singapore, 10.33% fewer Bangladeshi workers were employed last year.

The central bank in Dhaka recommended in its year-ending remittances statement in 2010 that the government explore "new markets for Bangladeshi workers as the existing markets, especially the Middle East, were reluctant to take more workers from the country".

But why this sudden fall?

The thousand or so recruiting agencies involved in moving workers overseas pin the blame on the government and its embassies for failing to identify potential markets and work projects. At a January 3 press conference titled "Deadlock in the manpower export sector", the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) said the state-owned international recruitment and training agencies, Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Ltd (BOESL) and BMET, had failed to accomplish their respective assignments of channeling manpower with jobs in foreign countries, training and sending manpower abroad.

It added, "We, about 1,100 recruiting agencies, are passing days in uncertainty as during the last three years, Bangladesh has lost a large chunk of job markets in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Oman and other countries."

The present government, after assuming office in 2009, promised to send workers to new destinations in Europe, North America and other continents, but "we are yet to see significant progress on these promises as the manpower export continues to fall," BAIRA secretary general Ali Haider Chowdhury told Asia Times Online.

Chowdhury, who also speculated that recent labor unrest in Middle East countries played a role in migrant worker decline, said improper policy implementation and inefficient crisis management by the overseas employment ministry were important factors.

A government agency points the finger elsewhere, not least at the complaining recruiting agents, with the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) singling them out in several of the 15 reasons it gives for the manpower export trend, according to Bangladeshi English-language newspaper The Independent, when on December 30 it cited a copy it had obtained of a DGFI report.

While pointing out that the country was producing too few skilled and professional personnel, the intelligence report accused some private recruiting agencies of profit grabbing and fraudulent behavior. Officialdom was also criticized, the report citing embassies that failed to find prospective projects where Bangladeshi workers could be sent, irresponsible bureaucrats, unethical government officials, and flaws in government foreign policy.

It also costs more to send a worker from Bangladesh overseas than it does to send workers from other South Asian countries to the same destinations, parliamentarians were told on January 2.

Negative propaganda by opposition party-members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, affected manpower export to most Muslim countries, especially to Saudi Arabia, the report said, while bad impressions were being created by Rohingyas who travel to foreign countries with fake Bangladeshi passports. The ethnic group, based in southwest Myanmar, speaks a language similar to Bangladeshis across the border.

Some of the DGFI claims were quickly dismissed. Tasneem Siddiqui, a professor of political science and chairperson of Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit (RMMRU) of Dhaka University, waived away the allegations of political propaganda.

"Political propaganda does not have the capacity to affect the export rate to such an extent. More than this, negative reports about Bangladeshi workers stealing items in foreign lands, labor unrest and so on have struck the export rate," Siddiqui told Asia Times Online.

A more effective government approach to tackling the problem would include PR campaigns "to build a stronger image for Bangladeshi workers", while worker training also had to be improved.

"Positive PR campaigns could have been initiated by the government, which needs to perceive this sector from a business angle as it is contributing so largely to the economy," Siddiqui said. "A $10 billion industry like the human resources export sector needs not just a bureaucratic ministry handling it, but an entire business system along with well thought-out marketing schemes.

"The 38 public technical training centers in Bangladesh are highly redundant in the training of migrant workers. Foreign trainers can be hired to train the trainers at these centers," she said, urging more coordination between the education, foreign and overseas employment ministries in this regard.

Most Bangladeshis working overseas are unskilled or semi-skilled, and "it's about time we developed skilled workforces who can satisfy the foreign countries' demands, channeling in more foreign currency [to Bangladesh]," Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said.

"Our exported workforce has remained unskilled and semi-skilled for the last two decades." Sri Lanka and Nepal "send a smaller population abroad compared to our exported population. However, they still enjoy higher remittances as the workers they send are being paid twice or thrice the salaries due to their sophisticated skills," he said.

Bakht of IDS said that "in the long run, the government must improve the language and technical skills of our workers."

The present government has taken steps to increase the export of workers, including introduction of BMET smart cards, ratification of the UN Convention 1990 on migrant workers' rights, and establishing the Prabashi Kalyan Bank (or Workers' Welfare Bank), which will make it easier for overseas workers to remit money home and obtain loans. The bank is expected to start operations this year.

Still, more needed to be done through concrete objectives, Saddiqui said.

Last month, the Labour and Overseas Employment Ministry published a statement that did not go well with the BAIRA members, following BAIRA's news conference on January 3, claiming that after meeting with the respective authorities of different countries, it came to know that the "Bangladeshi people were paying higher cost for getting overseas jobs but not earning salaries to the same extent."

The ministry said a team from Malaysia would be visiting Dhaka to "sort out an effective, fair and transparent way" for taking skilled workers from Bangladesh. The Malaysian team duly visited Dhaka by mid-January.

The government agencies claim not to be involved as a business entity but seek "help the people through their efforts". The BMET and government-formed company BOESL train and send workers on foreign government projects. If the Malaysian government, for example, is planning a large housing project, it might require thousands of semi-skilled workers at a lower cost if it hired Malaysian workers. Malaysian would then ask for tender applications for the project from other governments. If Bangladesh's offer is acceptable, the government in Dhaka will ask the BMET to train the workers according to the skills required and send them.

The BMET is also assigned to receive workers' complaints.

BOESL says it is "dedicated to ensure supply of quality workers within [the] shortest time span and minimum migration. Profit making is not motto of the company. The main purpose of creating this company is to provide honest, efficient and quick services to the valued foreign employers in the matter of recruitment and deployment of manpower."

While this is the case, the BMET and BOESL only sent around 700 people abroad in 2009 when the private recruiting agencies and individuals sent around 474,628 people. Again in 2010, the BMET did not send anyone and the BOESL sent only 1,941 when the private agencies and individuals sent around 289,963 workers.

There have been allegations that the BMET and BOESL have not been working as they should but are being bribed by the private recruiting agencies. Even then, there are doubts about the recruiting agencies' numbers, with claims that these are under-reported to evade taxes.

The government has "fixed 84,000 takas [US$1,160] for sending people to Malaysia, including all costs and one-way air fare". However, the statement added, migrant workers are currently being charged three to four times this amount by private recruiting agencies. These expenses are taken out of the workers' wallets by the agencies in the name of training, passport issuance expenses, immigration taxes and so forth. As the workers are mostly ignorant of the actual expenses, they rely blindly on what the private recruiting agencies are telling them.

Contracted workers, often poorly educated rural people many of whom sell their small holdings to finance the initial fees, are paid from 9,000 to 2,000 takas per month. Although told they will be provided food and expenses during their stay in the foreign countries, they often find once there that this is not the case and have to spend most of their income on their own upkeep, leaving little to send home although this was their motivation for going overseas in the first place.

The ministry statement concluded that despite repeated requests to BAIRA for proposing a reasonable fee, it had received no response from the trade body after two years.

BAIRA secretary general Ali Haider Chowdhury, asked about the migration cost, told Asia Times Online, "the government needs to be more realistic about the sector. The allegations of higher costs are imaginary as there will be costs where there is trade." These also varied from one foreign destination to the other.

"We agree with notions that migration costs should be reduced and skilled workers should be sent. However, the government needs to make decisions after evaluating the demand and supply arrangements properly." The visit and evaluation by the Malaysian team was a "positive development", but "it will take some time for this process to reach a fruitful stage," he said.

Dhaka University's Siddiqui warned that by trying to reduce the migration costs, "the government seems to be in a conflict with the private recruiting agencies. While reduction in workers' exploitation and migration costs can help the overall situation, the private sector can be provided with incentives to increase their accountability as the private recruiting agencies are the biggest entrepreneurs in this sector."

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury is a senior staff writer at New Age in Dhaka.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MB15Df03.html


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