Daily Online Alochona: Jul 9, 2009

Thursday, July 9, 2009

[ALOCHONA] Nation enters dangerous crossroads

Nation enters dangerous crossroads

M. Shahidul Islam

Bangladesh now stands at a very critical juncture of history amidst gradually-built anti-Indian feelings reaching the extreme point, while the Government's passive, meek and subservient attitudes towards 'Indian wish lists' are making things even worse.

Not only policies must be changed to save the nation from an impending spasm, the evolving geopolitical snapshots must be viewed from historical perspectives to unearth the plausible reasons of why so much of Indian influence is pervading into our national affairs.
As Delhi strives desperately to anchor its destiny on geographic hegemony, gaining an upper hand on water resources is the course India is set to pursue to optimize its gains. The Tipaimukh dam construction project is one of such major steps.

In the ancient world, water despotism was established in the fertile river valleys of Egypt, China, and Mesopotamia. In China, during the so-called Warring- States- Era, the Qin State created the Chengkuo Canal for geopolitical advantage over its local rivals. In Eurasia, successor state hegemonies were established in the Middle East by using the Sea -- successively or simultaneously -- by the Greek, Persian and Ottoman powers.
Later, Portugal, Spain, France, and Britain established their hegemonic centres around the Atlantic Ocean to shape global history and civilization by controlling geography.

   Yet, despite geography having determined the long and short term objectives of hegemony since time immemorial, collective human spirit managed to overcome subservience and brought end to such dominations of one particular nation or group by the other. The demise of ancient China's Pax Sinica and Europe's Pax Romana are no different than the termination of Pax Britania and Pax Americana in modern times.
   Regionally, the power wielded by the Mongol Empire and Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere too ended tragically.
   Like human beings, all hegemony is mortal and transient.

   Hegemony and subservience
   One of the most discernible symptoms of hegemony is the naked subservience of the sub-cultural entities, or their representatives. It is, therefore, is of little surprise that our Water Resources Minister, Ramesh Chandra Sen, said on July 6 that the 'Tipaimukh Dam will be beneficial for Bangladesh.' Surprising it may not, but it does provoke our angst and makes us more concerned about the nation's present and future.

Ironically, during the same briefing, the concerned Minister said he did not see the information reportedly handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Indian authorities. That too he need not; none knows better than him that it's a fait accompli.

Power hungry nations do not abide by law, more often than not. For decades, Delhi had pursued a nuclear policy without showing any regard for international conventions relating to the matter. Likewise, defying international laws has become official Indian policies in many fields.

   For example, in a letter on February 1, 2001, (Letter No.2/WCD/2001/DT (PR) Vol.-III) prepared by Indian Water Resource Ministry in response to the final report of the World Commission on Dams (WCD), the Ministry informed the WCD, "The guidelines for development suggested by WCD in the Final report are wholly incompatible with our development imperatives. Having made impressive strides since independence in developing our water resources, India proposes to continue with its programme of dam construction."

   Order from without
   That is why we feel disgusted that the sycophancy of Awami League (AL) government's Water Resource Minister Ramesh Sen has dwarfed the puppetry of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, or his cabinet colleagues. Even the fractured Afghan nation and its puppet regime do not dare to vouch for the USA as doggedly as did Bangladesh's Water Resource Minister Sen for India. For politicians, public interest is what matters.

   Interestingly, not only did the Water Resource Minister fail to study the technical papers and information to reach at such a definitive conclusion about the impact of the Tipaimukh Dam on our people, he has also blatantly gathered audacity to pull the heavy Indian cart by saying in public that the Dam will be beneficial for Bangladesh. This proves that our ministers have no qualm left for what in politics is known as 'concern for vote bank.'

   Police attack
   It's not also a coincidence that the minister's comments came within hours of a grisly attack on peaceful demonstrators in front of the Indian High Commission.. There is intense synchronization of actions in many fronts to render such an assertion invalid. Had that not been the case, why then, in that peaceful student demonstration of July 5, our own police force unleashed one of the most ferocious attacks on them and injured dozens.
   Lest one thinks that was an act to preempt any perceived malign intent of the students against foreign diplomats, it was not.

   The true intent of our police force got exposed when two Indian High Commission officials lurched themselves out of the mission's compound onto the street, called police officials on duty, and ordered them in the Hindi language to disperse the protestors immediately by any means.
   Thus the second phase of the attack started, at the behest of Indian officials, which led to over 100 injuries -- 5 seriously -- and two arrests. Worst still, the concerned judge refused to grant bail to the detainees.

   Heightened concerns
   These developments prove few things incontrovertibly while our concerns intensify further due to such occurrences transcending the border of tolerance and civility; both at the diplomatic and human levels.
   Our first concern is about our own Minister speaking for India, not for us. Not an expert of hydrology or seismology by any account - or of any other allied disciplines - the water resource Minister should not make definitive assertion about the Tipaimukh Dam being good for our country; that to, by his own admission, without bothering to study with minute detail the technical data provided by the Indian authorities, let alone after having them examined scrupulously by experts who should have briefed him on the matter in a competent and professional manner before his, so to speak, pronunciation of public support for India.

   Our second concern is about police taking orders from Indian officials. The demonstrators were at safe distance from the diplomatic premise; did not cause any untowardly or embarrassing incidents by throwing stones at the embassy; did not carry any weapons or weapon-like substances to provoke any security alarm. Yet, they were beaten once by our police to affect dispersion, and, a brutal offensive was conducted against them for the second time at the behest of Indian High Commission officials.

   Orders from diplomats
   While we must empathize that our police have a responsibility to protect diplomats, their missions and materials - which they have been doing well so far - we must also be mindful that they have no mandate whatsoever to take orders from foreign diplomats.

In the same vein, our Ministers are oath-bound to protect and preserve our national interests. Yet, defying a myriad of expert opinions -- including opinions from Indian experts -- our own Minister shall not venture into vouching for India; that too without even being familiar first with whatever technical data have reportedly been provided by the Indian Government to our foreign office mandarins.

   Our third concern is about the lack of coordination between various organs of the Government. If the Foreign Ministry had received technical data from the Indian Government on the Tipaimukh project -- which Foreign Minister Dipu Moni claimed to have received over four weeks ago -- why copy of that has not yet reached the Water Resource Ministry and the other concerned segments of the state apparatuses?

   Gone wild?
   Now look at things from a different prism which is comparable to a bull entering a china shop. Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakroborty has been behaving in quite an unruly manner in recent weeks.

   On July 3, he had disparagingly termed Bangladeshi water resources specialists as "so-called experts" at a seminar on regional connectivity in which our Foreign Minister ensconced herself on the stage beside the Indian envoy. We wonder what took our Foreign Minister three long weeks to say, "Maybe the Indian High Commissioner crossed the diplomatic limits."
   Before that, while addressing the issue of Bangladesh's concern over the Tipaimukh dam construction, Indian Water Resource Minister said in late May, "After Construction of the dam, we will decide what to do." All these indicate Delhi gives a damn to Bangladesh's concerns.

   Choice for people
   Now that we know India would not stop building the Tipaimukh dam unless legal actions are initiated sooner, Dhaka has little time to act. And, coming following the BDR rebellion and the consequent fallout within the national security establishments of the nation, all these dangers are posing like hungry vultures over the sovereignty of our nation.

That is why our main concern is about the priority of the Government with respect to the issues in hand. A content analysis of various cabinet meetings indicates those priorities being in the spheres of personal agenda, not the national and regional exigencies per se.

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[ALOCHONA] ASIAN HIGHWAY IN PRESENT FORM It's useless for Bangladesh

ASIAN HIGHWAY IN PRESENT FORM :It's useless for Bangladesh

Dr. Abul Hashem

The present Government of Bangladesh has already decided to sign the Asian Highway (AH) network agreement by accepting the routes proposed by India. It is strange that according to the ESCAP-crafted laws Bangladesh cannot even propose any amendment to the AH routes now without signing the agreement first! And not signing will mean that Bangladesh will be left out and the AH will bypass Bangladesh leaving it isolated and causing it to lose in the process the opportunities of trade, investment and service revenues. It is not clear where the AH can go in its westward advance if it bypasses Bangladesh.
This assertion has been made despite the knowledge that the cost-benefit of the proposed routes does not favour Bangladesh at all. Indeed Bangladesh will not be benefited from the currently proposed routes for the AH is quite clear. One question is whether this route would then serve merely as a transit corridor for India to carry its cargo of men and materials from its one part to another through Bangladesh.

   Bypassing Bangladesh through the Indian "chicken neck" is also improbable. Bangladesh has a bargaining chip here if the member countries of ESCAP are serious about running the AH from east and southeast Asia to the Sub-continent and beyond. India has been asking for an easy passage through Bangladesh.

   Cox's Bazar - Myanmar route
   The point here is that AH must serve the country's best interests - and to ensure that an AH passing through Chittagong - Cox's Bazar - Myanmar and beyond is the way. Since its inception in 1959 the perception has always been that the AH will pass through Cox's Bazar - Myanmar and onward east and west. Both AH 1 and AH 2 enter Bangladesh from India through Benapole, Jessore, Banglabandha and Dinajpur, respectively. Both converge on Dhaka and move on to Tamabil, Sylhet. Neither of them fulfil the ESCAP-laid principles that the AH connects the ports, container depots and business centres of participating countries.

There is no indication how the Nepalese and Bhutanese traffic will move westward along AH if the current route alignments stick. Will they move back westward through Benapole? The AH 2 also allows an easy access of North Indian traffic into Bangladesh and then on to Eastern India. Even then it remains no more than a sub-regional route.

By merging with both AH 1 at Jessore and AH 2 via Hatikamrul, AH 41 travels to Dhaka and then separates out to move to Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Teknaf to stop there. There is no indication that this route will move into Myanmar and beyond. The AH 2 also allows an easy access of North Indian traffic into Bangladesh and then on to Eastern India. Even then it remains no more than a sub-regional route.

   The route has been designated as a sub-regional route though it traverses Bangladesh territory only. India, Nepal and Bhutan are potential users. No other country will use this route. Thus Indian desire to use Bangladesh ports becomes easier to fulfil. Conceived fifty years ago, the Asian Highway's 141,000 km route charted out by ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) is hitherto an unfulfilled dream. Peoples from Turkey to Indonesia with Bangladesh and other countries in-between are yet to see AH's construction materialize. The dream of seeing loaded containers and international passenger buses rolling down this route from Shanghai or Singapore, or from Dhaka for that matter, to Istanbul and beyond, may not be fulfilled.
   Some progress regarding the AH has been achieved in recent years in defining the road links on the basis of an agreement among some of the member countries of ESCAP.

   Bangladeshi perspective
   In this backdrop I would like to see the prospects and possibilities of the proposed Asian Highway from a Bangladeshi perspective. I take the cue and clues from an interview of Dr. Rahmatullah, ex-Director of the Transport and Communication Division of ESCAP, published in a Dhaka daily on June 19, 2009. He has naturally been a vocal advocate of the AH since he handled the project since 1978 until his retirement in 2000. He has thus been instrumental in defining the road alignments and border crossing points on the basis of consultations with and submissions of individual countries regarding their road stretches to be designated as part of the AH. Until recently Bangladesh refused to sign the route agreement. As a result Bangladesh remains likely to be isolated from the Euro-Asian continent as the route will bypass Bangladesh. The country will thus lose enormous economic benefits from trade, tourism and investments.

   The long haul traffic movement along the AH may remain a distant dream given the complexities that have to be sorted out before traffic can move on. Even if it becomes possible otherwise, Bangladesh's benefits from such long haul road traffic through the routes, as currently proposed, remains very much doubtful.

   Wrong track
   The AH was one of the two major regional projects initiated by then ECAFE (Economic Commission for Asia and the Fareast), the other was the Mekong River project. The Trans-Asian Railway project was added to the list later. It may be mentioned here that the Asian Development Bank was also set up under the auspices of ECAFE with the primary focus on providing the financial underpinning to the regional projects like these. The projects however remained stalled due the Indochina war and the path of isolation chosen by Burma's military government since 1962. ESCAP (ECAFE's new name since 1974) revived the projects in the 1980-1990s. The Mekong River project has been successfully implemented to the satisfaction of the riparian countries with financial assistance of bilateral and multilateral donors. By now the AH has advanced a stage; but in this advance Bangladesh has fallen in the wrong track.

Now let us have a detailed look at the designated three routes through Bangladesh. Both AH 1 and AH 2 enter Bangladesh from India through Benapole, Jessore, Banglabandha and Dinajpur, respectively. Both converge on Dhaka and move on to Tamabil, Sylhet. Neither of them fulfil the ESCAP-laid principles that the AH connects the ports, container depots and business centres of participating countries. The justification for a second entry into Bangladesh through Dinajpur has been to give access to Bhutan and Nepal to AH. However to fulfil the ESCAP-laid requirement that the route originating in any country must connect the capital city of the next country of entry, then Nepal and Bhutan should travel to Delhi and then move on to Bangladesh through the Benapole border.

Furthermore, there is no indication how the Nepalese and Bhutanese traffic will move westward along AH if the current route alignments stick. Will they move back westward through Benapole? Is that a viable option for them? If the purpose of AH 2 is to give access to Nepal and Bhutan only then this route is the best candidate for becoming a sub-regional route rather than a part of the arterial AH. The AH 2 however also allows an easy access of North Indian traffic into Bangladesh and then on to Eastern India. Even then it remains no more than a sub-regional route.

The third route through Bangladesh (AH 41) is shown to originate at Mongla port and moves on to Jessore to meet AH 1 just after the Benapole border crossing and then moves on to Hatikamrul in Kushia to meet AH 2. By merging with both AH 1 at Jessore and AH 2 via Hatikamrul, AH 41 travels to Dhaka and then separates out to move to Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Teknaf to stop there. India, Nepal and Bhutan are likely users. No other country will use this route. Thus Indian desire to use Bangladesh ports becomes easier to fulfil.

The two main arterials of the AH thus enter Bangladesh from India in the west and converges on to Tamabil in Sylhet before crossing into the Indian state of Meghalaya on to Assam, Monipur and Nagaland. It can go further to Myanmar, Southeast Asia and China, and can serve as a sub-regional network in that area though its suitability as a continent-wide Asian Highway remains in doubt. Dr.. Rahmatullah has made it abundantly clear that the route through Tamabil is unsuitable for the AH. In addition to the 1200km extra distance, he says, "the route passes through a mountainous region through four Indian states through which vehicles can move only slowly as the gradients are steep. Trucks with heavy load will have difficulties in moving, fuel consumption will be huge, making travel costly".

   Tamabil is not suitable for India, Myanmar or Bangladesh or for any country between south and southeast Asia". It is not clear why India will not be benefited since it can easily move its cargo of men and materials through Bangladesh to eastern India, a long held aim of India. It can also move to Southeast Asia from its eastern states if it chooses and finds profitable.

   Viable for India
   It is thus clear that the route through Tamabil to cross into Meghalaya, Assam, Monipur, Nagaland to Myanmar is not viable for Bangladesh as for other countries except India, economically (distance and costs), physically (hilly terrain) and security wise ( because of the insurgencies in the region). It is also agreed that the Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Teknaf, Myanmar route is the shortest, most economical and relatively safe not only for Bangladesh but for all countries in the east and west.

   The reason why ESCAP could not consider the Chittagong - Cox's Bazar - Myanmar route as the Asian Highway is that more a 150 km or so road link from Myanmar to the Bangladesh border was totally missing, a 600km road to Yangoon was too narrow and substandard, and above all, Myanmar was not interested in developing this route because of the costs involved.

   India's transit corridor
   The question remains: Did ESCAP and ADB as the sponsoring and financing agencies for the project do enough to persuade Myanmar to agree to this route for the greater good of all beneficiaries of the Asian Highway? Most countries will have to upgrade to international standard their roads, ports, bridges and border facilities to make them useable as the AH facilities, and they will need financial assistance to do that from agencies like the ADB.
   That Bangladesh will not be benefited from the currently proposed routes for the AH is quite clear. One question is whether this route would then serve purely as a transit corridor for India to carry its cargo of men and materials from its one part to another through Bangladesh. I believe that the corridor concept is somewhat misplaced in this context. A corridor implies a narrow strip of sovereign territory of a country connecting one part of the country to another part through the territory of another country. To understand the corridor concept we do not have to go very far.

   Tinbigha's plight
   Our Tinbigha serves to illustrate. The narrow strip of 178- meter long road provides a passage from Bangladesh's mainland to some Bangladesh enclaves located within the Indian territory. The strip is being used by Bangladeshi people to and from the enclaves subject to Indian control as the sovereignty of the strip still belongs to India. India opens the gates for 12 hours a day (it was 6 hours earlier the gates opening and closing each alternate hour) from 6 am to 6 pm allowing entry and exit for the Bangladeshis living in the enclaves. India had agreed 35 years ago to cede the sovereignty of the road strip to Bangladesh but has not yet done so. So the strip is not a Bangladeshi corridor in the strict sense.

Bangladesh also will not be required to cede its sovereignty on the Asian Highway roads and the AH cannot, strictly speaking, be a corridor to any another country. It is more appropriate to say however that the AH as it is currently proposed and accepted will be an Indian Highway through Bangladesh, since few other countries, if any, will use it.

It is not clear whether the present Government will seek to renegotiate the routes and how easy it would be if it does. It is pointed out that ESCAP had made an attempt in 1997-98 to alter the Tamabil - Meghalaya route to Ostgram-Karimganj-Tamu which would have reduced the distance by 200-400 km compared to the route through Tamabil. The attempt failed. The reason for the failure is not stated nor is it clear what role the then Govt of Bangladesh had in that attempt at renegotiation. It may be suspected that the failure was due to Indian opposition. India's opposition is understandable since it has got the best bargain in the Tamabil route.

   The initiative of the previous political govt to establish an outlet through Cox's Bazar Myanmar has apparently fallen through. It has been suggested that even if Bangladesh wants to negotiate the Cox's Bazar- Mynmar route it must have the agreement of Myanmar and India among other countries to initiate a proposal. India is said to be an affected country and hence must be a party to any renegotiation proposal. It is not stated how India becomes an 'affected country' if the route passes through Chittagong-Cox's Bazar- Myanmar.

   Fragile argument
   It is easily understandable however that India would not like to lose the advantage it has secured through Tamabil and that India will never agree to any renegotiation. Bangladesh therefore is in a catch twenty-two situation. It must sign the existing agreement for any possible renegotiation. On the other hand, signing will mean allowing largely Indian movements along the three routes running through its territory. The contention that signing the agreement does not automatically mean traffic and transit rights to any other country is rather fragile. In the reality that faces Bangladesh it is impossible for her to refuse transit rights once the road network is identified as the Asian Highway. Bangladesh certainly cannot shut its Benapole or Banglabandha gates as India does in Tinbigha..

Bangladesh will thus in effect become a grazing ground for India with entries from Banglabandha and Benapole allowing movements to Mongla, Dhaka, Chittagong and most importantly to Sylhet-Tamabil. It will further facilitate India's claim for a connection to Agartala from Akhaura or Feni, which it has already been asking, along with the strengthening of the demand for using the two ports as suits its advantage. Those who advocate Mongla and Chittagong to be turned into sub-regional ports in this manner in the hope of earning a few dollars in transit and service fees forget that slicing the small territory of Bangladesh into so many pieces for the sake those few dollars inflicts serious wounds on its body and tantamount to a negation of its sovereignty. Furthermore, the staggering costs that Bangladesh will have to incur to provide those services must figure in the calculations.

   What option Bangladesh has in the circumstances? Bangladesh can still stay out of the AH. As I said, the AH cannot move westward from Myanmar and eastern India bypassing Bangladesh. Bangladesh's western links are already there through bilateral agreements with immediate neighbours and can expand further if at all SAARC ever becomes operational. Its western entry/exit points will remain open as now or even for through traffic not only in Bangladesh's interests but also in the interest of huge volumes of merchandise trade of our western neighbour with Bangladesh. Bangladesh's trade traffic westward beyond the Indian land mass is likely to remain insignificant in the foreseeable future.

   Cox's Bazar - Mynmar option
   The economics of transporting Bangladesh's European trade by land routes is dubious in the presence of existing sea routes with excellent port facilities in Europe. That Bangladesh will remain isolated if it does not enter the AH agreement is simply not true. Bangladesh however should vigorously pursue the Cox's Bazar - Mynmar option in which China and Thailand are also interested even if the route is not accepted as the AH. Unfortunately our relations with Myanmar has somewhat soured since last year pushing the dream of a Bangladesh-Myanmar moitree road into a distant future.

The writer is a former Section Chief of Economic Research and Policy Analysis, ESCAP.

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[ALOCHONA] RMG FACTORY RIOT CULPRITS IDENTIFIED

RMG FACTORY RIOT CULPRITS IDENTIFIED

Local MP, associates allegedly involved

Garment factories at Ashulia industrial belt early this month saw wanton violence including the blazing of a sweater factory owned by Ha-mim Group in the locality. The burning of the factory alone forced over 4,000 workers out of job.

Last week industries minister Dilip Barua, commerce minister M Faruk Khan and adviser to prime minister Dr Syed Mudasser Ali went on a site visit to the Ashulia industrial belt to see the scale of the destruction and assure the factory owners of the government highest priority to give protection to factories and save job to workers.

The minister went to the spot as the home minister advocate Sahara Khatun and state minister for home Suhel Taj is out of the country. The first one is receiving treatment at a Singapore hospital, while the second one is on an open-ended holiday to the USA. The home ministry wears a deserted look these days.
BGMEA president Abdus Salam Murshedy and managing director and owner of Ha-mim Group A K Azad and local MP Murad Jang were

   also present. Speaking on the occasion Murad Jang vowed that not a single worker of the area and especially the ruined sweater factory would be out of job. He told workers, as the daily Samakal reported on July 5, quoted him saying in presence of A K Azad that from that day he would take charge of the Ha-mim Group factories to make sure that they remain protected and not facing any more trouble.

   Culprits identified
   On the other hand, an investigative report by daily Manabzamin earlier on July 1, identified the local MP and his associates for staging the raid on the sweater factory and its burning. They carried out the attack under the cover of agitating workers to retaliate the factory owner's refusal to pay regular tolls and give them the disposal business of garment waste cloths or jhoot, the report said.

Murad Jang was speaking on that day as the factory owner A K Azad was blankly looking on. He said, "Ha-mim Group's factories were in his good book even before that event. He told workers, "I am taking responsibility of those workers from today who have become jobless for the incident."

Justifying his gesture, he said they are his voters and so he has a responsibility that he can not avoid. Pointing to A K Azad, he said Hamim Group's owner is his elder brother and he would always stand by him at critical times.. Referring to the burning of the sweater factory, he said he is ready to become harsher if the situation so requires to resist terrorism in the locality and ensure peace. He said he would not compromise in this regard adding that he was trying to identify the culprits who were engaged in the Ha-mim Group incident. He urged all not to take law in their own hand.

Commerce minister Faruq Khan said culprits who were engaged in spreading violence and staging raids in the garment factories would be chased and no one would be spared from punishment. He said some of the culprits have already been identified while investigation on others is in progress.

The minister said the government would set up industrial police very soon to keep full time vigilance aiming at providing total protection to the industries. The ministers were really shocked seeing the scale of devastation of the factories and especially the destruction of the sweater factory. They said they would lend all support to the factory owners to start the factory again.

   A K Azad said it may take at least one year to bring back to production, suggesting he may rent a new building to start operation and give employment to people now jobless from blazing the factory.

   Jhoot business
   Manabzamin report on the other hand, dwelt in detail the background to the attacks in the Ashulia industrial belt and said three factors mainly contributed to flare up the violence. In the first place leaders and workers of Awami League (AL) front organizations are bringing pressure on factory owners to allocate the jhoot business to them while fighting back BNP- led groups to force them abandon their hold on the business.

AL groups are also fighting amongst themselves to hold control of the business. Some NGOs are also blamed for inciting violence in the industry while working for third party from outside the country to destroy the industry here..

Previously, the local jhoot business was under the control of local BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Babu. When the grand coalition government took power, local Awami League MP Murad Jang and his associates tried to take over control of the business. But they were failing to come out openly as the AL high command had asked party leaders and workers not to fight.

The recent violence in the garment factories arising out of the killing of two garment workers from Ansar firing brought them the opportunity. Local party leaders and workers were having eyes on Ha-mim Group and Sharmin Group factories but as the managements were not agreeing to pay regular tolls and give them the jhoot business, they took advantage of the situation.

The news report said, Murad Jang was behind the attack on Ha-mim Group's factory. His people staged the raid on the factory and set it on fire. Local Jubo League leader of Yarpur union Shumon had led the procession of agitating workers to the factory under the cover of industrial unrest although he is not a worker nor a leader of any such group. He had other people with him in the procession.

Shumon spoke over mobile phone with an AL leader from the procession who had asked them to carry on the agitation which ended in the blazing of the factory, the report said.

Now the question is if an investigative report run by a daily newspaper can unveil the secret behind the incident, why could not the government intelligence agencies nab the culprits? The other question may be whether the Government is using the investigation game as a shield to protect party leaders and workers.

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[ALOCHONA] Inside China's unquiet west

Inside China's unquiet west

By Sreeram Chaulia

The outbreak of unprecedented street violence in the capital of China's far western Uyghur-populated region of Xinjiang, with more than 150 persons officially reported dead and 828 injured, has caught both the central government in Beijing and outside observers by surprise. To put these events in perspective, Beijing only admitted to the loss of 18 lives and around 600 injured during the last major uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule in areas adjoining Xinjiang in March 2008.

How could a volcano of this scale erupt in Xinjiang's tightly-policed capital city, which has a demographic break-up of 75.3% Han and only 12.8% Muslim - mostly Sunni - Uyghurs? Is it believable that protesters belonging to a regimented and closely-monitored minority community can organize into mobs and kill so many people of the dominant ethnic group with just "knives, bricks and stones", as is being announced by Xinhua, the Chinese government news agency? Of the 150-and-rising casualties, how many are actually victims of agents of state?

The state's version of what transpired is almost a facsimile of its rendering of the Tibetan revolt of last year: foreign-based diaspora provocateurs plotting to disrupt China's social harmony, violent rioting by minorities against innocent Han businesses and civilians and restoration of law and order through rapid deployment of army and police reinforcements. What is glaringly missing in this pro forma version is any mention of the role of the Chinese security forces in the violence.

Even more disingenuous is the Chinese state's bureaucratic attribution of upheavals in its mineral-rich and turbulent western fringes to the "three evils - terrorism, separatism and religious extremism". By denying mass-level socio-political grievances of minorities against majoritarian-cum-authoritarian rule and overwriting them with the script of "evils", Beijing is aggravating the festering discontent.

The specific matchstick to the current conflagration in Urumqi comes from an ethnically motivated "transfer policy" the Chinese government initiated in 2006, wherein state recruiters aggressively hired young Uyghur women to work as factory laborers at the other end of the country in provinces like Guangdong.

Parts of Xinjiang, where Uyghurs make up the majority of the population, are especially targeted for these controversial transfers, which are carried out via threats and intimidation. Once the jobless Uyghur women are physically removed and sent to do low-paying and hazardous work far from home, the state fills the emptied spaces in Xinjiang with subsidized Han economic migrants.

It is notable that the apparent trigger for the latest burst of violence in Urumqi was an attack in late June by an incensed Han gang on "transferred" Uyghur workers in a toy factory in the southeast of the country. This incident in Guangdong left two Uyghur workers dead and some 81 of them injured. Local security agencies in the city of Shaoguan have been accused by rights groups of standing by inactively as the Uyghurs were singled out for harm.

Once news of this injustice reached Urumqi, protesters came out to express their disgust at the government's forced depopulation of Uyghurs and their ensuing ill-treatment in China's manufacturing heartlands. To reiterate, what happened next and who killed whom is unfortunately never going to be impartially investigated.

Like the other inhumane demographic experiment in Tibet, Chinese officials justify the transfer policy from Xinjiang as being beneficial to Uyghurs as it generates employment opportunities. The extremely depressed and persecuted form of employment that internal migrant workers of minority nationalities face in the industrial citadels makes a mockery of this alleged modernizing benefit being imposed on the unwilling Uyghurs.

Forced population transfers have been a standard technique with which China managed to extend its sovereignty over lands and peoples in its western frontier with Central Asia. But the same incendiary method leads minorities to rise up in rebellion from time to time because of its implied endgame of extinction of a whole community possessing demarcating cultural characteristics. The poignancy of slowly becoming a minority in one's own territory (Han Chinese have grown from 5% of Xinjiang's population in the 1940s to more than 40% today) is fertile ground for people banding together and waging a struggle through violent or non-violent means.

China, in sticking to the blanket formulation of "evils" and attempting to hide the ugly underbelly of its vulnerable western flank, has not prevented the reality from leaking out. Tibetan and Uyghur activists in exile have been raising awareness about the intricacies of Chinese state policies and their disastrous effects on minorities in particular.

The turmoil in Urumqi is proof, if any were needed, that China's weaknesses are internal and unwilling to go away despite its iron-fist. As China has been carving out greater influence abroad through smart economic and military diplomacy, there has been a gradual shift in international attention to its seemingly inevitable march to superpower status. This focus has somewhat obfuscated the country's continuing domestic human costs and tragedies which refuse to die down.

Aside from being obvious cases of long-term injustice, the rumbles and occasional roars from Tibet and Xinjiang send out a clear message: one must keep a constant eye on the ball of China's core domestic contradictions.

Sreeram Chaulia is associate professor of world politics at the Jindal Global Law School in Sonipat, India.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KG08Ad01.html

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[mukto-mona] Bar Moudud Ahmed, May I Have Your Attention Please!

Dear Sir,

Please publish the attached article in your esteem site.

http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=381

Thanks a lot.

Shazzad Khan

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Re: [mukto-mona] Curse of Hijab.

The man who murdered an unfortunate woman cloaked in hijab is the real terrorist here. He should be sentenced to death. If wearing bikini is o.k., so is hijab as long as she does not hide a murderous weapon in it.

On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 11:22 PM, Akbar Hussain <akbar_50@hotmail.com> wrote:

Marwa Sherbini, an Egyptian woman, has been brutally murdered in a German court room by the man who called her a terrorist. She used to wear hijab which prompted the accused to call her a terrorist. The widespread abhorrence for Islam in the west is a matter of great concern for many in the Islamic community but hardly anybody tries to examine the root cause for this hatred. The terrorist attacks in New York, London and Madrid has invigorated a section of Muslims to call for a Holy war against the west and to go back to the middle ages to find spiritual backings for their cause. This wrong approach has prompted the conservative circles to eulogize niqab and hijab for the Muslim women as a sign of Islamic renaissance. But this so called Muslim dress code in the west is not a resolve to fix the weaknesses in the Islamic world rather it's a sign of desperation and frustration. The widespread call for jihad against the "infidels" is nothing but hypocrisy to conceal their failure to grasp the need for pragmatic solutions. Marwa Sherbini is an innocent victim of the false and vicious propaganda ignoring the realities on the ground.

The degeneration of a faith starts when its spiritual teachings are not adjusted in a proper manner to walk with the changing times.

Akbar Hussain

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Re: [mukto-mona] Moslims renouncing Islam

According to Fernand Braudel, Ibn Sina wondered about how Prophet Muhammad, the intelligent man as he was, could preach such rubbish as abounds in his religious literature. Then he came up with his solution:- since common man is usually of limited intelligence, he needs a quick answer to all problems, easy or difficult. He needs a God of some sort, then that God has to be almighty in course of time. Though he fails to control the Devil for ever, he needs to be worshipped. But for any intelligent person, religion is nonbinding. He can make his own code of life depending on the environment.

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 12:12 AM, Akbar Hussain <akbar_50@hotmail.com> wrote:

If faith is a personal matter anyone should have the right to renounce a faith.

Akbar Hussain

To: mirza.syed@gmail.com; afirozny@yahoo.com; msa7011@yahoo.com; enayet_2000@yahoo.com; mufassili@yahoo.co.uk; zckid@yahoo.com; malamgir1@aol.com; ahumanb@yahoo.com; drshabbir@bellsouth.net; abidbahar@yahoo.com; minayet@yahoo.com; mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com; alochona@yahoogroups.com; history_islam@yahoogroups.com; bancan@gmail.com; rascx@yahoo.com; ranuc29@hotmail.com; islam2743@yahoo.com; ajmol.ali@treas.state.nj.us; well.kaleem@gmail.com; abusol123@hotmail.com; mozumder@aol.com; mnaquvi@yahoo.com; nizam_moer@sky.com; celeti@aol.com; captmunir@gmail.com; ukabir@hotmail.com; s_ayubi786@yahoo.com; muhurys@yahoo.com; aftab_kazmi@hotmail.com; mukhan11@yahoo.com; islam1234@msn.com; abusayeedr@yahoo.com
CC: yousuftabish@yahoo.com; yunussidira@yahoo.com; ank2000pk@yahoo.com; khasif235e@yahoo.com; sa7rong@yahoogroups.com; bogra@yahoogroups.com; tritiomatra@yahoogroups.com; Diagnose@yahoogroups.com; ethad-e-islami@yahoogroups.com; ahlehaq@yahoogroups.com; amongbelievers@yahoogroups.com; communistpartyofpakistan@yahoogroups.com; Sindhpost@yahoogroups.come
From: turkman@sbcglobal.net
Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2009 19:38:53 -0700
Subject: [mukto-mona] Moslims renouncing Islam

If you are right then, the question is, how come more Moslims are renouncing Islam than Non Moslims converting?

* According to a Mollaa on Al Jazirah T V, 4 million Moslims are converting to Christianity every year.

* In Former Communist Countries tens of millions have renounced Islam since 1992 and some Mosques are now being closed-down since nobody goes there anymore.

A lot of Moslims are scared to renounce Islam because they can be assassinated by Moslim Extremists otherwise, there would be a lot more of such people.

Ex-Muslims Demand Right to Renounce Islamic Faith

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Are Ehsan Jami's methods promoting religious tolerance in the Netherlands?

Controversially, 9/11 was chosen as the date to sign the "European Declaration for Tolerance." It aims to draw attention to what the former Muslims see as the lack of freedom of religion within Islam.

Former Muslims from several European countries signed the declaration in the Hague on the sixth anniversary of the terror attacks in the United States Tuesday. Other signatories included many well-known Dutch politicians, authors and journalists.

The date of the declaration, Sept.11, was symbolically chosen in order to condemn the terror and intolerance perpetuated by radical Islamic militants, though critics argue that choosing the date unfairly links Islam to terrorism.

The ex-Muslim committees from the Netherlands, Britain, Germany and the Scandinavian countries wanted to draw attention to what they refer to as the "lack of freedom of religion within Islamic culture."

Ex-Muslim, Ehsan Jami, an Iranian-born Dutchman, launched the initiative to sign the Declaration of Tolerance. Jami, 22, a Labour Party member of the city council in a district near The Hague, has been attacked for his views three times.

"There are five sharia schools in Islam which say if you leave Islam you must be killed," Jami, 22, told Reuters in an interview.

Muslims are not allowed to renounce their faith, according to a strict interpretation of Islam and those who do are subject to imprisonment or death in some Muslim countries.

Ex-Muslims reignite divisive debate over Islam

The movement of Muslim apostate committees, which was spearheaded earlier this year by Jami and Mina Ahadi, an Iranian living in Germany, has reignited a divisive debate about Islam and has put the lives of such self-declared "ex-Muslims" in danger.
In Germany, Ahadi also lives under heavy police protection.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Mina Ahadi, head of German committee of ex-Muslims, which has 400 members
In highly publicized interviews, Jami's blunt attacks on Islam has offended many Dutch Muslims and commentators have drawn comparisons between the local politician and the rhetoric of right-wing politician Geert Wilders, who has called for complete ban of the Quran.

Jami has referred to the Muslim prophet Mohammed as "criminal," compared Islam to fascism and Nazism, and explained that he decided to launch the committee of former Muslims to call attention to "persistent taboos" about renouncing the Islamic faith.

Divided support for ex-Muslim group

Initially, the Labour Party did not support Jami and his committee, and the Dutch Vice-Prime Minister Wouter Bos told the news daily Volkskrant he did not approve of such a committee that "offends Muslims and their faith."

But the Dutch public rallied around Jami, putting pressure on Jacques Tichelaar, Labour's parliamentary leader to sign a declaration of support for the ex-Muslim committee.

However, Han Noten, who is the Dutch senate's Labour faction leader, criticized his party's stance.

In a commentary for Wednesday's NRC Handelsbad newspaper, he said the Committee of Ex-Muslims was "oversimplifying reality" and that Jami's methods succeeded in "polarizing society."

"Signing the declaration on September 11 can only be interpreted as a provocation," Noten added. "It suggests… that former Muslims are innocent and Muslims are guilty."

The right to renounce the Islamic faith

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Theo van Gogh, a filmmaker who criticized Islam was murdered in Amsterdam in 2004
Jami's "Committee of Ex-Muslims" wants imams and Muslims to recognize fellow Muslims' religious rights, including the right leave the faith.

"We are breaking the taboo that comes with renouncing Islam, but also taking a stand for reason, universal rights and values and secularism," said a declaration signed by Jami, Ahadi of the German chapter, and their British counterpart Maryam Namazie, who is also of Iranian origin.

Ahadi, who belongs to the German group called "Wir haben abgeschworen," meaning "We have renounced," said it was significant that the three leaders were from Iran, since they had all witnessed the political repression under the Islamic Republic firsthand.

There are some 400 committee members in Germany, including non-Muslim Germans, according to Ahadi. The British council of ex-Muslims has around 70 members, and Jami's committee has only two official members.

"We have received hundreds of support e-mails and that's what counts," Jami told the AFP news agency. "We're more of a movement."
www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2779524,00.html

--- On Tue, 7/7/09, AbuSayeed Rahman <abusayeedr@yahoo.com> wrote:

I must appreciate the person/persons who could convince/convert three great Guys

like SKM, Saif Devdas and Mohammad Asghar !!!!

They talk in same line and in same tune.

(are they financed by the same source??)

I do not know their 'religion' but their writings/postings all indicate that they are

on the 'Crusade' against Islam !!

I am just wondering what benefit they are getting from their sponsors !

Is that benefit worthy enough to sacrifice the life here after ???

If someone doesn't believe in the life here after, then it is OK.

But if they believe, then on what basis they are ready to sacrifice that ??

The standing of 'Islam' will never be dented by their effort.

Dr Abu Sayeed

Khurram

--- On Tue, 7/7/09, SAIF Davdas <islam1234@msn.com> wrote:

Dear Modern Day Apostle of Allah>

WoW! What a Big Time--Big-Bang answer to This Quranic Big-Bang Theory! O' all the Truth-Seekers of the World, let us all commit ourselves to the Art of Truth Telling---to Tell the Truth Like it is---Look for the Truth---Live for the Truth, Search for the Truth, and Speak nothing but the Truth--Even if you find Allah is standing in the way of Truth---Remove Him from the path! We have nothing to fear, nobody to fear, and we intend to Shame the Devil by telling the Truth. If we must pay the ultimate price to tell the Truth--So be it! No more lies! No more self-deception! By the way, The Nobel Laureate, Professor Abdus Salam warned the Muslims not to rely too much on the Quran's Big Bang Theory, for, what will happen 50 years from now, if Big Bang Theory is proven false?

SaifDevdas
islam1234@msn.com

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[ALOCHONA] Water Grabber India & Nuclear War - Part- I

Water Grabber India & Nuclear War - Part- I

By Zaheerul Hassan

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nation mentioned in his report that rural poverty and food insecurity has been intensified and is showing downward trend all over the world. Developing countries within the Asia-Pacific region represent more than half of the world population today (a total of 3.7 billion out of 6.3 billion people in 2000), which continued to grow at 1.4% per year (1990-2000) and slowing down to 0.7% per year in 2020-2025. The population in urban areas will increase from 37% to 51% during the same period. The report further reveals that majority of the worlds poor live in this region, about 829 million out of a world total of 1.2 billion, living on an average of just one dollar a day.

An alarming aspect of under discussion issue is that despite having maximum manpower, natural resources and all weather pieces of land, why Asian countries failed to bring Green Revolution. The answer is unequal distribution of manpower and ambitious desire of grabbing natural resources by the power greedy country India. New Delhi never realized that her wishful thinking of attaining supremacy and capturing natural resources is pushing the region into war. She has forgotten that hunger is the only factor which changes the human characteristics. It gave birth to the world terrorism too. Here, in Asia the ratio of poor people remained high as high Himalayan Mountain. Most of the governments in south Asian region cannot maintain even daily necessities of their nations. The countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal botched to promote their agricultural sector because of presence of a water grabber country in their neighbourhood.

India has given a new turn to the philosophy of war while using water as an instrument of war. She has the intentions of converting her neighbourhood's land into ruins and deserts through inundation and trickling of water. In this regard her actions speak that she is emerging as "Global Water Terrorist Country". New Delhi has planned number of barrages and dames while violating international water pacts. Now, it's the talk of the region that future war would be on water issue because none of the country will like to become barren as result of Water terrorism. Therefore, it is evident from the prevailing environment that if world community failed to control water grabber then insecurity of food would be the core issue of future Asia and would prove fatal for the world peace.

It is further emphasized that Agriculture sector is expected to continue to play the central role in achieving sustainable food security and poverty alleviation through increasing the food production, improving productivity and quality, expanding non-farm employment and enhancing trade and overall capital formation. But, the increase in capital is only possible if water resources shall be available to the countries. But its reality that development of any country revolves around Water since it's equally good for agriculture and industrial sectors apart for the daily routine maintenance. Unavailability or shortage of water might lead into environmental degradation, erosion of top soils, and depletion of soil fertility, pollution, starvation and low production of food.

The third word countries which are already suffering with depleted economies have to do something for their survival. The numbers of water issues of South Asian countries though have been taken up at various international fora but are still unresolved or pending due to disinclination attitude of India towards the execution of already concluded International Pacts. Indus Basin Water Treaty between India and Pakistan 1960, Indo-Bangladesh water dispute over the Farakka Barrage (The Ganges Water Treaty) and the Indo-Nepal dispute over the Mahakali River are the glaring examples of Indian refusal of abiding by the international agreements. The continuous Indian denial is endangering regional peace too. It is notable here that India always used water as blackmailing tool against Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The Indian rulers exploit this natural resource through blocking the flow of rivers which originate from the Indian controlled territories and claiming their rights of using Nepalese Origin Rivers too.

It is also notable here that major water issue between two nuclear powers (India and Pakistan) is directly linked with the territorial dispute too. Pakistan and India have fought four wars over Kashmir. The sources of three major rivers are located in Indian Held Kashmir (IHK). India has started construction of dams and barrages over these rivers with the aim of destroying agriculture sector of Pakistan. According to the sources, India has also suggested Afghan government to construct dam over Kabul River which is a main water contributor to Indus River. She has also offered technical assistance to Afghanistan. Therefore it's a proven fact now that India will never be our trustworthy friend because of her mean nature. Her only aim is to create instability and destruction of Pakistan.

Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal have tried to resolve their water issues with India while using various world and regional stages. These countries also used SAARC platform to settle their long outstanding issues over water but some how on one or other pretext New Delhi showed her unwillingness in resolving the issue. India straightaway refused to come on SAARC forum while saying that water clashes will be solved with Bangladesh and Nepal through tri-partite dialogues. In fact India is not interested to decide the issues at all and will keep on avoiding the talks on such delicate matters. Same situation is prevailing between Pakistan and India over water problem.

The reluctance of India in resolving of basic issues has further deteriorated the regional security. The political and military leaderships of India have failed to comprehend and read the delicacy of the current adverse regional situation. The ruling party of India is trying to corner the lonely Islamic nuclear power without realizing that Pakistan can not afford anymore conventional war with her. She must know that Pakistani nuclear programme is though very safe but off course in strong hands too. According to A Q khan Pakistan Nuclear Programme is of latest version and has edge over Indian nuclear programme too.

Pakistan has sufficient nuclear arsenals to meet any potent threat to her integrity. Careful analysis of contemporary political and security environment reveals that future nuclear war would be on water issue. India must know that Pakistan can go for nuclear strike first, since it's the matter of her survival on world map. To avoid this nuclear war, international community has to establish, deliberate and redress the major water issues of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal. I would like to mention here that details and formula of resolving this important issue and avoiding future nuclear war would be discussed in Part - II of the article.

The author can be reached at: zameer36@gmail.com

http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showexclusives.php?subaction=showfull&id=1247139893&archive=&start_from=&ucat=15&var1news=value1news

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[mukto-mona] CC Update 09, July- Afghan Genocide

Hello,

If you find this news letter useful, kindly forward it to your friends and encourage them to join this mailing list.
http://www.countercurrents.org/subscribe.htm.

In Solidarity
Binu

Afghan Genocide: An Open Letter
By Dr Gideon Polya

http://www.countercurrents.org/polya090709.htm

An Open Letter sent out to Anti-war groups and Anti-war folks around the world

Forget The Headlines: Iraqi Freedom Deferred
By Ramzy Baroud

http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud090709.htm

Before we take our eyes off Iraq, Americans must remember their own culpabilities in what transpired there. Antiwar activists and people of conscience must not forget that 130,000 US soldiers remain in the country; that the US has complete control over Iraqi airspace and territorial water; that there is not yet a reason to celebrate and move on

The Two-State Solution, Israeli-Style
By Jonathan Cook

http://www.countercurrents.org/cook090709.htm

Should Mr Abbas and his PA functionaries sign up to this Israeli vision of statehood, the defeat for the Palestinians will be greater still

Settlements First
By Yacov Ben Efrat

http://www.countercurrents.org/efrat090709.htm

Obama's basic problem when it comes to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the same as his problem when it comes to America's economic issues: he is trying to bring about far-reaching change within a failed framework. His apparent inability to go outside the box – global capitalism on the one hand, and the Oslo agreement on the other – is likely to be his nemesis

The Story Of Silwan
By Michael Galvin

http://www.countercurrents.org/galvin090709.htm

Palestinian residents of Silwan are threatened with demolition and expulsion

Obama's Cap And Trade Carbon Emissions Bill -
A Stealth Scheme To License Pollution And Fraud
By Stephen Lendman

http://www.countercurrents.org/lendman090709.htm

It's to let corporate polluters reap huge windfall profits by charging consumers more for energy and fuel as well as create a new bubble through carbon trading derivatives speculation. It does nothing to address environmental issues, yet on June 26 the House narrowly passed (229 - 212) and sent it to the Senate to be debated and voted on. More on that below

A Tale Of Two Encounters:
Dehradun And Batla House
By Manish Sethi & Adeel Mehdi

http://www.countercurrents.org/mehdi090709.htm

Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Group reiterates its demand for a judicial probe into the Batla House incident, and the application of the same standards of justice for Atif and Sajid as those applied in the unfortunate and tragic case of Ranbir Singh

So, Who Needs Corporations, Anyhow?
By Case Wagenvoord

http://www.countercurrents.org/wagenvoord090709.htm

I see the makings of wonderful guerilla campaign as young people spray paint the number "28" of walls and signs; I see pin and bumper stickers sporting the number "28" along with a line of T-shirts and hoodies displaying the same. This is a movement that could cut across class, gender and ethnic divisions because if there is one thing unifying America, it is our economic misery. And if nothing else, the drive for a 28 th Amendment would make our oligarchs and plutocrats sweat. That, alone, would make the effort worthwhile

Child Labour-A Hindrance In Development
By Divya Bhargava

http://www.countercurrents.org/bhargava090709.htm

Child Labour is not only a hindrance in child's development but also a hindrance in nation's development. Children are universally recognized as the most important asset of any nation and child Labour, in the recent past, has evoked a great concern among all. Children have been the main focus of attention especially after proclaiming the year 1979 as the International Year of the Child by the United Nation's General Assembly

Signs, Symbols And Arguments
By Chandi Sinnathurai

http://www.countercurrents.org/sinnathurai090709.htm

The Tamil struggle for freedom, equality, dignified and decent living is not something that requires re-kindling. The agonising voice of the Tamils in IDP camps is a living witness of suffering. Some one in Sri Lanka who had been working with the suffering people said over a telephone conversation to me that there are those who have lost limbs and arms were pleading passers by to scratch their bodies. Many have heat pimples and mosquito bites

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Re: [ALOCHONA] Oppressed in Iran by brutal laws

In a meeting I would meet 3 to 4 top officials - engineers, consultants, project directors all women. I usually find them well articulated, intelligent and authoratative, out of another 10 men officials.

They are well versed and knowledgeable in their respective fields.

Most of the government offices I found many of the support staff are female.

On the street of Tehran I would find all group of female walking freely with their friends or relatives, driving cars, selling merchandise in the shops what else - serving in the restaurants.

I came to know that divorce rate is low and family bond is stronger compare to neibouring states. Despite the attractions and enticement from the outside, Iranians still maintain their values and own identity. But I guess not for long. Free sex, broken family, burger, KFC, coke are crying loud to enter into their homes.

Mosaddeq was overthrown, after few decades Obama confessed that it was a mistake yet with another pretext same may be repeated, true Iranians can do really little to stop the process.

--- On Tue, 30/6/09, Farida Majid <farida_majid@hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Farida Majid <farida_majid@hotmail.com>
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Oppressed in Iran by brutal laws
To:
Date: Tuesday, 30 June, 2009, 7:36 PM

      When I praised Iranian women for their courage, inner strength and intelligence in an earlier post many people jumped to the easy conclusion and remarked how Iranian women are better off than most Muslim women.

         My appreciation is from a fellow-combatant -- I admire how they have suffered, tolerated, stood up and took it on the face for all these years, and now have thrown themselves in a do-or-die civil rights movement.

           Read the following article and get a feel for the reality of Iranian women under fundamentalist Islamic totalitarianism:

               Farida Majid

Feminist waves in the Iranian Green Tsunami? "one should not paint an overly rosy picture of women in Iran. Only 12.3% of them are part of the public workforce and for many marriage is the only gateway out of their parental home."

Also posted below is an article written by an Iranian woman:
"No Matter Who Is President of Iran, They Would Stone Me"

JUNE 24, 2009 6:01PM

http://www.opensalo n.com/blog/ sandra_no_ longer_miller/ 2009/06/24/ iranian_election _results_ in_women_ stoned_to_ death

A Facebook friend sent me this link, and after reading I was moved to repost it here, with full attribution - I just want to make sure my OS friends have a chance to read this perspective on events in Iran.
Please Reddit or Digg or Stumble the original article which can be found here .

***

No Matter Who Is President of Iran, They Would Stone Me
by Lila Ghobady

Why didn't I vote in the latest elections for the president of the country of my birth, Iran? Because no matter who is the president of Iran, they would stone me!

As an Iranian woman, I require big changes in order to convince myself that a change in president would mean an improvement of my basic rights as human being inside Iran.
I was among many Iranians who decided not to vote in the recent [s]election. We boycotted the sham election in my motherland and have not been surprised by the results publicized by the mainstream media, both in Iran and elsewhere. This puppet regime has never considered the people's wishes and has always acted in the interests of the few who are in charge of the prison called Iran. Cheating, lying and hypocrisy are the specialties of the religious demagogues that maintain the farce that Iran is a democratic state.
Here are some simple facts that demonstrate that irrespective of who is president, I would be stoned to death in Iran:

As a woman whose husband refused to divorce her when she escaped the country and came to Canada as a refugee, I am considered this man's wife as long as I am alive. It does not matter if I lived separate from him for years, have divorced him in my new country and am in a relationship with a new man. Under Iranian laws and the Iranian constitution, which are based on strict interpretation of Islamic laws, I am considered his wife and am at risk of being stoned for "adultery" if I ever go back to Iran. In fact as a woman, I have no right to divorce my husband under the country's laws while he has the privilege of marrying three more times without divorcing me. This is the case no matter who is the president of Iran; Ahamdinejad or Mousavi.

As a journalist and filmmaker, I am called upon by the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect the red lines. These "red lines" include belief and respect for the Supreme Leader and the savagely unjust rules of traditional Islamic law in my country. I am expected not to write or demand equal rights. I am not allowed to make the underground films I have made about the plight of sex trade workers and other social diseases rampant within Iran, as I did secretly 12 years ago. In fact, I am not allowed to make any film without the permission and without censorship by Iran's Minister of Culture. If I did openly do all these things in Iran, I would disappear, I would be tortured, I would be raped. I would be killed as have so many women journalists, filmmakers and activists in Iran. Among those killed include Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian-Canadian photo journalist, who was brutally tortured and murdered for attempting to photograph and publicize brutalities committed by the Iranian regime.

I would be considered an infidel if I was born into a Muslim family and later converted to another religion or had I considered myself a non-believer who does not follow strict Islamic morality. My branding as an infidel would result in my public murder, probably by stoning. No matter who is the president of Iran.

I would be lashed in public, raped in jail or even executed or stoned to death for selling my body in order to bring food to my family, as so many unfortunate Iranian women have been forced to do secretly including many single mothers who have no access to social assistance in a rich but deeply corrupted country like Iran. Even the simple crime of being in love, engaged in a relationship outside of marriage, or worse yet, giving birth to a human being out of Islamic wedlock is considered a crime against humanity! The product of such a union would be considered a bastard and would be taken away from me, and I would receive 100 lashes immediately after giving birth to my baby. No matter who is the president of Iran.

No matter who is the president of Iran, I would be denied a university education, a government job and a say in politics and it would be as if I basically did not exist if I was a Baha'i. I would be considered half a Shia Muslim if I was Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian or even a Sunni Muslim by all levels of society, no matter who is the president of Iran.

I would disappear and might be found dead if I were to keep writing and demanding my basic rights as a woman and an intellectual who has no say in politics (there was not even one female minister in the so-called "reformist cabinet" of Mohamad Khatami). This would be my fate had I continued to argue against and challenge the authorities to the fact that although Iran is one of the richest countries in the planet when it comes to resources, 70% of my people live in poverty because of corruption among the leaders and their generous contributions to external causes from fanatic Muslim Hezbollah in Lebanon to the communist government of Venezuela through which they build alliances around the world. Huge numbers of children go to sleep on empty stomachs. Little girls are forced to sell their bodies in the streets of Tehran, Dubai and even China just to survive. I would be jailed or disappeared no matter who is president of Iran.

No matter who is the president of Iran, I would not be able to be a judge or even a witness in court as a woman. This is because according to Islamic Courts, two women are equal to one man. No matter how educated and aware, I still would be considered half of a man who might be at a demonstrably much lower level of education and qualification, no matter who is the president of Iran.

No matter who is the president of Iran, I would be lashed if I did not cover my head and body in public in compliance with the mandatory Islamic dress code. If I would be caught at a private family/friend/ party or wedding taking place in mixed company, I would be punished for the crime of not being covered. Much worse would happen if I was caught drinking. It would not matter if I considered myself a non-believer of Islam who simply does not want to follow Islamic rules. I would be punished harshly, lashed, raped while in custody and even before going on trial. No matter who is the president of Iran.

No matter who is the president of Iran, I would be killed if I was openly a homosexual. I would be denied all rights as a human being since homosexuality is considered one of greatest possible sins under the Iranian Islamic regime. I would be considered a criminal and be killed because "there are no homosexuals in Iran!' That's odd, because some of my closest friends in Iran say they are gay, but stay "in the closet" for fear of execution, No matter who is the president of Iran.

No matter who is the president of Iran, Iranian activists living in exile, including myself and many others who are openly opposed to the regime for its cruel human rights violations, will not be able to enter the country. We would be caught at the airport by the regime's police forces and forced to sign an apology letter for our actions against the regime. If we refused, we would be jailed without trial for wanting freedom for our fellow people. I would be denied of my basic rights as an opposition to the regime and would be called a "spy", jailed, tortured, raped and executed. This would happen regardless of who was the president of Iran.
This is Iran. This is what it means to live under Ayotollah Khameini and his goons. No change is possible while Iran is controlled by autocratic, fundamentalist religious despots who determine the laws of the land. There has been no real election. Candidates are all hand-picked and cleared by a central religious committee. It is a farcical imitation of the free nomination/ election process that we have pictured in the free world. There is no possibility that a secular, pluralistic, freedom-loving democratic person who loves his or her country can become a candidate to run for president (or any other office) in Iran.
Twelve years ago, we went through the same process. Mohamad Khatami became the favorite of the western media, which called him a "reformist" who spoke beautifully about freedom of speech, civil rights and dialogue between cultures. But when he became president there was a crack down on a student uprising – a crackdown against the same students who voted for him. Many were killed, many disappeared, and many were tortured. Artists, authors and intellectuals disappeared and were found "mysteriously" murdered. The smooth-talking president Khatami, whom westerners loved, never tried to stop the violence and never showed sympathy to his supporters. Instead, he openly avowed that his responsibility was to respect the wishes of the supreme leader, Ayotollah Khameni, and to protect the security of the Islamic regime.
Now, the passionate and oppressed young generation of Iranians are going through exact same situation. They are supporting Khatami's friend, Mousavi. It is sad that history repeats itself so quickly in my beloved country of birth. The people of Iran were fed up with poverty, injustice, corruption and international embarrassment with the knuckle-dragging, anti-Semitic, war-mongering cretin who was President Ahmadinejad. They chose to support a bad choice – Mousavi – rather than the worse choice, Ahmadinejad. However, when an election is really a selection, choice is an illusion. Mousavi is from the Islamic regime; he is inseparable from it, and all its abuses and cruelties.
The reality is that Iran has not had a democratic, free election for the past 30 years. Mr Mousavi, if elected, will not make any changes, not because he is powerless to do so (as Khatami's supporters claimed during his presidency), but because he doesn't believe in a democratic state as his background shows. He belongs to the fanatic dictatorial era of Ayotollah Khomeini and he believes in the same command-and- control system of government. We should not forget Khomeini's statement in one of his speeches after the revolution about democracy. He said that "if all people of Iran say 'yes" I would say no to something that I would believe is not right for the Islamic Nation".
Let us not forget that Mousavi was Prime Minister of Iran in the 1980s when more than ten thousand political prisoners were executed after three-minute sham trials. He has been a part of the Iranian dictatorship system for the past 30 years. If he had not been, he would not be allowed to be a candidate in the first place.
In fact in a free democratic state someone like Mousavi should have gone on trial before becoming a presidential candidate for his crimes against thousands of freedom-loving political prisoners who were killed during the time he was Iran's Prime Minister.
A quick look at Mousavi's political biography reveals him to be a fanatic Khomeini supporter and a fanatic hard-liner similar to Ahmadinejad and others in control of the Islamic regime. His reign as Prime Minister was one of the darkest times in the history of Iran's Islamic regime in terms of censorship and human rights violations. He is also backed up by the Rafsanjani mafia family, who have stolen oil money for their own family interests while 70% of the population lives in poverty. So ingrained as he is in a system of corruption and exploitation, that how could anyone believe that Mousavi genuinely wants reform?
For these and many other reasons, I did not choose to vote and instead boycotted the election, along with many other Iranians. But this time, many Iranians who boycotted the vote in the last election voted in this one because of their profound disgust with Ahmadinejad. I sympathize with them, but I believe that there exists no better option for the people of Iran than to entirely overthrow the Islamic regime that oppresses the country of my birth. I strongly support my people's movement against the ever-present dictatorship and violence infecting my country. I will scream, along with my compatriots, "Down with dictators!" "Down with murderers!" "Down with the brutal oppression that is the Islamic regime and all of its toxic, self-serving alliances."
Long live freedom in Iran!
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